Day 49

Sakura could sense that today was different from the second she woke up. Baiu had started teaching her how to read people's body language a few days ago, and when she saw him looming over her she could immediately tell he was tenser than normal.

"Get up." he said tersely.

She obeyed quickly, in case he got too impatient and tried to kick her. He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of her room and down the hall. Opening the door to the shower room, he shoved her inside.

"Keep your clothes on." he ordered. "They're filthy."

To her surprise, he walked out and shut the door, letting her have some actual privacy. Five minutes later, she walked out, her clothes damp and dripping. Baiu made a few hand-seals and muttered something too low for Sakura to hear, and a gust of warm air surrounded her. After a minute, the hot dry air became unbearable, but just when she was about to choke, Baiu ended the jutsu.

From time to time, some part of Sakura idly wondered whether she could kill Baiu in an all-out fight. Even after all the time spent together, he was always careful not to show her the extent of his power. He even went so far as to mutter his jutsu, so that she wouldn't learn anything he didn't deliberately teach her. Perhaps he knew when he first started training her that she would eventually start to think about killing him.

Once she was dry, he set off down the long corridor. She immediately followed, careful to always stay a step behind him. Last time she had tried to walk beside him, he had shoved her on the ground and broken her leg, then refused to let her heal it until she'd run twenty laps of the underground cavern.

She expected him to take her there, as they did most days. Instead, she followed him down six staircases, until they reached a metal door Sakura had never seen before. Only then, did Baiu finally explain what was going on.

"I've told Konan that you're ready to progress, so now she's going to test you. Do not fuck this up, or they'll kill us both, probably painfully for wasting their time."

His voice was calm, but she could see the panic in his eyes. He was as scared as the day Sasori had threatened him.

It was unsettling, but also quite satisfying.

She kept her face blank to hide her surprise. Some part of her had gotten used to the endless training, and forgotten that it was only temporary. How long had it been since she first started? She couldn't quite remember.

He took a deep breath and then he knocked on the door. The door swung open, and Baiu grabbed her by the hair and shoved her inside. She managed not to stumble, and instead went still, using only her eyes to look around.

She had expected to find Konan there, but seeing Pein standing next to her was a surprise. It was even more surprising when he raised his hand.

"Shinra Tensei."

She caught a glimpse of the little metal slug as it was propelled towards her. She dived out of the way as quickly as she could, and heard it slam into the door behind her with a loud clang.

She rolled to her feet, already anticipating another attack, but Pein simply stared at her.

"Well, she certainly hasn't lost her reflexes." Konan murmured.

Sakura blinked. They seemed almost casual for two people who had just tried to kill her. She locked eyes with Pein, who was still staring at her emotionlessly (Did he even have emotions?) She stared back, breathing slowly to try and appear calm even though her heart was racing.

Everything that Baiu had drilled in about Pein and the philosophy of the Akatsuki was echoing inside her head. This man was a god. He was the one she was here to serve. He was her true Master, not Baiu. His mere presence seemed to echo both menace and tranquillity, as if he would judge you and kill you with compete certainty that he knew what was best. All the knowledge Sakura had gathered about Pein only made her feel more powerless than she had felt when they first met. Nonetheless, she kept eye contact with him, trying to convey her submissiveness and hoping that he didn't mistake it as defiance.

After a minute, he finally spoke.

"Konan."

She nodded and stepped forward, her hands already moving into seals.

"I know that you and Baiu have been working on genjutsu, and that apparently you're quite talented at breaking out of them, but don't break out of this one immediately, understand?"

Sakura nodded.

"Your objective once inside the genjutsu is to locate a bald man wearing a red tie and to kill him as quickly as possible. If anyone sounds an alarm, or if you get a serious injury, the genjutsu will break. Only when you have killed this man can you break the genjutsu. Are you ready?"

By the time Sakura nodded, she was already inside the genjutsu.

The first thing she noticed was that she was in another corridor. She sighed. Her whole life was nothing but dark rooms, long corridors and electrical lights. She wondered where the light here was coming from. If she could cut off the power, her eyes were so used to darkness that she would have the advantage.

She quickly checked her pockets, wondering if she had any weapons. She found a few basic tools: kunai, shuriken, senbon and smoke bombs. As she checked her pockets, she began walking. Konan hadn't mentioned a time limit, but she had said to kill the man as quickly as possible, so it was best if she didn't waste time.

She turned a corner and almost bumped into a man. He was tall, in his late twenties and wearing normal shinobi gear. He was wearing a beanie, so she couldn't see if he was bald or not, but he didn't have a red tie on. He looked at her in surprise.

"Hey, kid, what're you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm looking for a bald man with a red tie." she replied.

He frowned, and she snuck a kunai out of her pocket and behind her back. He didn't notice.

"Sorry little girl, I dunno who you mean. But if you come with me-"

Her hand flickered out and buried the kunai in his brain. He crumpled to the ground and she pulled the kunai out and wiped it clean on his jacket. She frowned in thought, wondering how to dispose of the body. Baiu had taught her a few elemental jutsu, but she wasn't very good at them. Earth and water were the only ones she could use, and they'd only begun working on the basics. Still, there was one earth jutsu that could be useful.

"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu."

The ground beneath the body turned to sand, and slowly, the man sunk into the ground. Once he was down deep enough, the earth hardened and resealed. The only trace that a body had been there was the crack in the floor and a few drops of dried blood. It was the best she could do.

She set off, trying to put some distance between herself and the body. She had no idea where she was, so she just kept running down corridor after corridor. Were there any doors in this place?

After what seemed like an hour, she finally found a door that led to a staircase. The only way was up, so she scaled the steps four at a time, pushing chakra into her feet and using it to boost her up. Some part of her was wondering what was going on back in the real world. It felt like she was using jutsu, but was she really?

"Are you-?"

"I'm fine Nagato." Konan said curtly, her hands clasped in the ram hand-seal. "Can you still see what's happening to her?"

In front of them, Sakura stood motionless, staring at them blankly. Neither one of them paid any attention to her, both of them focused on the genjutsu world.

"I can see everything she's doing." Pein replied "But I'm more worried about you. This is a very high level genjutsu-"

"I can handle it." she said, cutting him off.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes, as both of them focused on watching Sakura navigate the genjutsu world. Finally, Konan broke the silence.

"The Akatsuki needs a genjutsu specialist."

"I'll look into it." Pein promised.

Sakura reached the top of the stairs and paused. In front of her was a huge door, and she had no idea what was beyond it. It wouldn't be smart to just rush into the room, so she just opened it a crack and peeked in.

The room was empty, apart from one man sitting against the wall. Her heart leaped. He was chubby and bald and he was wearing a red tie, and-

He was oozing blood.

She threw open the door and ran over. As she got closer she could see the shuriken embedded in his body. This was bad. What was she supposed to do if her target was already dead?

"Hello? Are you alive?" she called over.

There was no reply. The man could have been a corpse he was so still. Please be alive, please be alive.

She reached his side and crouched down beside him. To her relief, he was breathing. Cautiously, she stretched out her hand to touch his head.

His eyes snapped open.

Instinctively, she launched herself backwards. The shuriken that should have been embedded in his body flew over her head. One grazed her cheek, and she spared a second to lament the fact that Pein was probably judging her right now. Then she sprang to her feet and spun around.

The man slumped against the wall now had a bright red gash across his throat. Beside him, another man stood with a bloody kunai, looking at Sakura with amusement. He was also bald, and had a red tie. Unlike the first man, he was tall and thin.

"They said they'd send someone after me. Never said it'd be a kid though. Waste of a perfectly good decoy."

Sakura was frozen, staring at the blood dripping from the knife. Did Konan know about the woman? Did Baiu tell her about the nightmares? He only knew about a few of them, she'd been careful to stay quiet when she woke up. Was it just a coincidence?

The man flung the kunai at Sakura, and her reflexes made her dodge.

That's interesting. The voice inside her head piped up. All your physical limits match your genjutsu limits. It must be a pretty advanced genjutsu, working with your mind instead of trying to cloud it.

Sakura was still in too much shock to care about the fact that the mysterious voice had made a return to her head.

Right then, hate to rush you, but both our survival kind of depends on you acing this test, and your target's getting away.

That finally snapped Sakura out of her daze. She sprang into action just as the man raced out a set of double doors. She chased after him, bursting through the doors, only to stagger backwards. Bright light assaulted her eyes from all directions, and she threw her hands over her face to shield them from the glare. What was this?

Sunshine, kid. Jeez, if you can't even remember sunshine, we're gonna have a problem.

Sunshine. That was what this was. The sun, how had she forgotten the sun? Big ball of fire in the sky, keeping the earth warm, it was like forgetting what water was.

No time for that, we've got places to go, people to kill.

Of course. He was getting away.

She followed after him as he ran down an alley. What was it Konan said about alarms? Did that apply for the outside as well? She followed him as he sprang up onto a pipe, using it to swing onto the roof. She pushed chakra into her legs and jumped, bypassing the pipes and gaining some ground on the man.

She chased him across rooftop after rooftop; fully aware that time was running out but determined not to panic. If she didn't time this right she would waste even more of her already sparse supplies.

Just as he landed on the rooftop directly in front of her, she flung one of her shuriken at his feet. It caught the sole of his foot, causing him to stumble. Instead of continuing to run, he used his stumble to twist around and launch some more weapons at her. She dodged them with relative ease, and landed on the rooftop. Both of them stood poised and ready for a fight, yet neither of them made a move.

"You're a shinobi." she said, somewhat surprised. She assumed he would simply be a rich man with good security, not a fairly decent fighter.

"You're with the Akatsuki."

"I serve them, yes."

He grinned.

"Think if I send them your corpse it'll leave an impression?"

"No."

He shrugged.

"Guess I'll just kill you then."

Sakura waited impatiently for him to make the first move. He probably had more weapons then her, so if he could waste them trying to hit her, she could gain the advantage.

Sure enough, he reached into his pocket and drew out a pack of senbon. She tensed and grabbed a kunai as he clasped his hands in the tiger seal.

"Jouro Senbon."

After countless training sessions with Sasori, dodging the senbon was child's play.

I am a child, she thought, and a small smile flickered onto her face. She quickly wiped it off and prayed that Pein and Konan hadn't noticed.

Finally, the senbon ran out, and the man switched to flinging shuriken. He seemed so absorbed in the throwing that Sakura wondered if he even noticed she was still alive. It almost seemed too easy. This was it? The big test? This guy was nowhere near her level.

Soon enough, he ran out of shuriken too. He stood there panting, before looking up with a big grin on his face. It promptly vanished once he saw how alive and unharmed she was.

"My turn." she said simply.

He reached into his pocket and drew out two kunai, but she was ready. With a flick of her wrist, she threw her own two kunai, knocking his ones out of his hands. A shuriken to the knee made him stumble, and she finished it by running over and planting a kunai straight in his head.

His eyes rolled back and he flopped onto the rooftop. She stood there for a few seconds, wondering if that was it. When it was clear that the man was dead, she breathed a short sigh of relief. Now all she had to do was break the genjutsu. Baiu had taught her the hand-seal, which she made now.

"Kai."

Nothing happened.

"Kai."

Still nothing. She frowned.

"Kai."

If felt like the world shimmered slightly, but she still hadn't broken out. This was one tough genjutsu.

"She almost broke it."

She could sense Nagato's displeasure, but she knew that if she looked over Pein would be as emotionless as ever.

"I thought she only had begun learning genjutsu."

"Apparently Baiu wasn't exaggerating when he said that she's a natural at it."

"This is getting ridiculous. Is there anything she isn't impossibly advanced at?"

"She's only begun elemental jutsu, and her genjutsu skills aren't advanced. It's different from her other skills. This is raw talent and untapped potential, not like her taijutsu. I think-"

Konan buckled, her knees giving out. Instantly, Pein was there.

"Konan!"

"I'm fine." she whispered. "But she's almost out."

Sakura focused all her chakra into her brain. The effort she put into it was strenuous enough that she felt beads of sweat break out on her forehead. Gritting her teeth, she snapped:

"Kai."

And the world melted away.

It took every inch of her resolve not to collapse panting onto the ground. But Pein was back and he was staring mercilessly at her. She noticed that Konan was sitting on the desk, and felt a small glint of satisfaction that it had been tough on both of them, not just Sakura.

If she hadn't been in immediate need of great gulps of air, she would have held her breath as she waited for Pein's verdict.

"That was adequate." he drawled, and she was careful not to let her relief show on her face. However, her relief was short-lived.

"The next test will show how well you can cope with pain." he continued.

She had been expecting something like this, but that didn't stop her stomach from tightening. You'll be fine, she told herself, its only pain.

Konan stood up and came over to her. As she walked, part of her cloak seemed to peel off her, until it became two small sheets of paper.

"Hold out your hands." she instructed.

Sakura obeyed, praying that she wouldn't flinch.

The paper wormed its way under each of her thumbnails. The feeling was very unpleasant, but she forced herself not to tense up.

Konan jerked her hand upwards, and the paper came with it, ripping her thumbnails off in the process. The pain was horrible, and all she could think was it hurts it hurts it hurts. It felt like her thumbs were burning, and her hands trembled slightly. But she remembered all the kicks, punches and pinches Baiu had given her, and she kept her mouth shut.

She blinked once, and then she looked up at Pein.

"You can put your hands down now." he said.

She did, careful keep them straight by her side. Clenching them into fists would indicate that she was in pain, and she couldn't show weakness right now.

"Good." said Pein. "Only one test left. Baiu informed me that you have been working on some elemental jutsu. In your own opinion, how good are your earth and water jutsu?"

She wondered if this was some kind of trick question. Was she supposed to lie or exaggerate? She didn't know, so she decided to be honest.

"They're basic at best, sir." she replied.

"Show me." Pein commanded. "Use the target over there."

Sakura looked to where he was pointing and saw a straw dummy tucked into one of the office corners. Taking a deep breath, she began.

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu."

The earth below her opened up and swallowed her. Once she was fully underground, she felt her way through the earth to where she thought the dummy was. The next part was trickier. Pushing herself upwards, she grabbed onto the dummy and dragged it down into the earth, while simultaneously pushing herself upwards. The end result was the dummy buried up to its neck in the ground, while she stood above it. With a swift kick, she knocked its head off.

She turned and looked at Pein, but he simply nodded.

"Now show me a water jutsu."

Her chakra was running low from breaking out of the genjutsu, and her thumbs were still throbbing in pain. Nonetheless, she made the tiger hand-seal and focused her chakra.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu."

There was a cup of water on the table, and she used it to create the mist. It was fairly weak, but she hoped it hid her well enough to satisfy Pein. She held it for a minute or two before letting it disperse.

He stared at her for a moment, and she fought to keep calm and breathe evenly.

Boy, you're just a bundle of nerves, am I right?

Shut. Up. she thought forcefully, and to her surprise to voice stopped.

Pein turned around and looked at Konan, who merely raised an eyebrow at him. For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was Pein and Konan talking to each other in soft voices. Sakura kept still, and tried to hear what they were saying, but they were too far away.

Eventually, Pein turned around to face her.

"We agree that you are ready to move on to the next stage. Tomorrow afternoon Sasori and Orochimaru leave on a mission. You will accompany them and dispose of the bodies they will undoubtedly leave in their wake. Follow their every instruction, am I clear?"

Sakura nodded.

"Good." he said. "Konan, are you sure about this?"

"She looks like a street urchin in those clothes." Konan replied. "Trust me; I'll make her look as cute and harmless as possible."

"Very well." Pein said. "I'll inform Baiu of her new schedule."

He swept out of the office, leaving Sakura feeling strangely light. It was over, and she'd passed. She still didn't understand why it had been so easy, but she wasn't going to question it. Now all she had to do was get new clothes. Speaking of which:

Why had Konan volunteered to get her new clothes?

Why had she decided to do this? It would have been simple to assign the task to someone else, or even to let Sakura go as she was. But no, for some reason, Konan had decided to give the weapon-in-training a makeover.

"Come here." she said, pulling out a chair and patting it.

Sakura sat down, the fear still rolling off her in waves, as it had been since she entered the office. It was good that Sakura respected them, but she'd have to get over her fear of them. If the only reason Sakura obeyed them was fear, then she would bolt at the slightest opportunity. Maybe Konan could help fix that.

She gently ran her fingers through Sakura's hair, frowning at all the tangles. She reached into the drawer behind her and pulled out one of her emergency hairbrushes. She had various beauty supplies hidden around the village, including most of the buildings. She was God's Angel, if she didn't look beautiful, she would lose the people's respect for both her and Pein.

She gently ran the brush through Sakura's hair, tugging whenever she found a knot. As she worked, she began to talk.

"You're probably confused about why the tests were so easy. To tell you the truth, we had another set planned, but then the mission came up, and we decided not to hurt you too much so that you'd be fit to leave tomorrow."

Sakura didn't reply, probably not used to idle chatter. Neither was Konan, but she had to try. She ran the brush through another section of Sakura's hair.

"I doubt I'll be able to get your hair looking perfect, but I should be able to get rid of most of the knots. Do you have your own hairbrush?"

"No." Sakura squeaked, clearly both confused and afraid.

Konan frowned. She needed to make the child feel at ease, without ruining all of Baiu's progress. This would be difficult.

She finished brushing Sakura's hair, and fished out a mirror from her desk.

"What do you think?"

"It looks… better?" Sakura replied nervously.

Konan smiled, despite herself. She'd hadn't done this since before Yahiko-

Her smile vanished and quickly as it came.

"Come on." she said "Let's get you some clothes."

An hour later, Sakura stood in front of a full sized mirror, looking happier than Konan had ever seen her. Clothes were strewn haphazardly around the room, with most of them stuffed in a wooden trunk.

Sakura was dressed in a red dress, with a pink poncho over it. The poncho had a pattern of dark pink flowers on it, which Sakura seemed to like. She also wore black shinobi sandals, and underneath her dress was a pair of white linen shorts. She looked like an innocent little girl, which was exactly what Konan had been going for.

"What do you think?" she asked.

Sakura pinched the dress thoughtfully.

"It's a bit loose if I need to fight." she said, no longer so fearful about voicing her opinion.

Konan rummaged around the chest of clothes beside her, eventually pulling out a black sash. She tied it firmly around Sakura's waist.

"Better?" she asked.

Sakura nodded happily.

There was a knock on the door, and Sakura's face instantly dropped. Konan put a hand on her shoulder, and tried to sound comforting.

"It's ok, you'll be fine. Just do everything Sasori and Orochimaru tell you to, and you'll be back here before you know it. I'll have more clothes ready when you get back."

Sakura's face brightened and she gave Konan a beaming smile. Konan didn't smile back. There was a limit to how much she could pretend to care, and smiling was well over it.

She opened the door, to reveal Baiu standing on the other side. He looked at Sakura's new outfit, clearly not impressed. He knew better than to say anything though.

"I'm finished for today." Konan told him. "Take her back to her room."

Sakura walked down the corridor feeling happier than she had in a while. She didn't quite understand why Konan had been so nice, but she decided it didn't matter. For the first time she could remember, she'd had fun.

Baiu looked down and noticed her happiness.

"Did I tell you to smile?" he snapped.

Her grin vanished instantly.

"No sir." she replied, her voice back to the careful monotone she usually used.

"You smile again without permission and I'll bruise your face hard enough so that you'll never smile again."

And life went back to normal.

Konan watched them walk away until they had vanished around the corner. Only then did she roll her eyes.

"What do you want Nagato?"

Pein stepped out of the shadows, not looking the least bit embarrassed about being caught spying.

"Konan… why?"

She kept her eyes on where Sakura had disappeared.

"Baiu's methods are effective over a long period of time, but he's cruel and sadistic. Sakura needs better motivation to return; otherwise she would have run away during the mission. I treated her with kindness and made her trust me. That should be enough to keep her loyal. Also, she really did need new clothes."

"So it was all pretend?"

She avoided his questioning eyes, still alien in Yahiko's body even after all these years.

"I haven't forgotten Nagato." she replied. "She's only a weapon"