A/N: Sorry about this being so late. I wrote this chapter out but then my computer broke, and none of it saved. I didn't want to rewrite it again but I got around to it eventually. Then my computer broke again, so I had to start from scratch again. Anyway, the moral of this story is that I need a new computer.
In regards to Sakura's inner: The time travel messed up a lot inside Sakura's head, including Inner Sakura. Future Sakura no longer had an inner, current Sakura would have had one if the time travel hadn't happened. As it is, she does have an inner, but it's very different from her canon inner self. Again, can't say much because spoilers, but we will find out what exactly became of Inner Sakura.
18 days left
There was no clock in her room and she was too focused on healing herself to count how many hours she lay there, but when Sakura finally stood up and walked shakily towards the door, she was certain that at least a full day had passed.
She paused when she reached the door, reluctantly placing one hand on the doorknob. She took a few deep breaths, trying to be a hundred per cent sure that her lungs were fully healed. Sakura had no doubt that Baiu would dive straight back into strenuous training, so there was no point walking out of this room unless she was sure she was ready.
On the other hand, if she waited too long, she would probably displease Baiu. Knowing him, he'd do this all over again until her recovery time was acceptable. So, steeling herself for whatever lay outside, she opened the door.
She did not expect Konan to be standing right in front of her door. What was even more surprising was that Konan looked nervous. True, her face was impassive as usual, but her eyes kept glancing to her side, as if she thought someone besides Sakura was watching her.
"Konan? What-"
Konan grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her out of the room. Sakura stumbled down the corridor behind her, wondering what was going to happen to her. Was there going to be another test? Hopefully it wouldn't be a painful one. She really didn't feel like being tortured today.
When they rounded the corner, Sakura finally found her footing and quickly caught up to Konan. Once she saw that Sakura was walking beside her and not being dragged along, Konan let go of her arm and increased the pace.
"Baiu's spent the last three days waiting outside your room. Luckily, he takes frequent breaks, and doesn't bother assigning anyone else to guard. He'll check up on you in around half an hour, and you'll be back in your room ready to deny that you ever left, understood?"
She didn't really, but she had a feeling Konan wouldn't appreciate her honesty. So she decided to avoid the question with one of her own.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To the infirmary. You seem to have healed up, but you must still be stiff and sore. I have various ways of numbing the pain, as well as giving you energy boosts and properly healing your wounds so that they won't scar. Also, it's important that we hurry. Can you use your Shunshin? "
Sakura nodded, and together they vanished, reappearing at the end of the corridor. They repeated this again and again, Sakura following Konan's lead. According to Baiu her Shunshin no Jutsu was mediocre at best, and she was starting to understand why he said that. She could barely keep up with Konan, and her head was getting dizzy from all the rapid movement. She would need to work on that.
They reached a set of white double doors, which Konan threw open. To Sakura's surprise the room was empty. All the equipment was there, but there was no one manning any of them. Clearly, Konan had had words with the medical staff. Sakura wondered why it had to be kept a secret from Baiu.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting Konan to turn on her and send her back.
Konan's shoulders moved slightly, which Sakura guessed was her version of a sigh.
"Because I disagree with some of Baiu's methods and Nagato doesn't care enough to order him to change."
Nagato. That was Pein's real name; the one Sakura wasn't allowed to call him. She still wasn't sure why.
"But… can't you just tell Baiu yourself?"
"I could, but going behind Pein's back could cause future complications. It would make life in general more difficult. This way is easier to avoid conflict."
Sakura thought on that for a minute, while Konan busied herself grabbing medical supplies.
"So what Pein doesn't know won't hurt him, but the risk is that if he found out he would get very angry. By not telling Baiu, you're minimalizing that risk." Sakura summarized. She found it curious that she still couldn't place the relationship between Pein and Konan. Konan was definitely loyal to Pein, yet unafraid to do things without consulting him first. Was she as scared of Pein as the rest of them were? What did she know about him that the others didn't?
She realised that Konan was staring at her, and immediately went over everything she'd said. She felt her face flush in embarrassment.
"Sorry." she mumbled. "I know I'm not supposed to say stuff like that."
"No, it's fine" Konan said, although she was still frowning. "It's good that you understand how this works, I'm just surprised that you figured it out."
Sakura nodded, still feeling nervous. Konan seemed to understand.
"There's nothing wrong with understanding the situation Sakura. In fact, it's a valuable skill. But what's also important is learning how to manipulate the situation. If I figured out that the head medic was cheating on his wife, I could just tell her. But it would be more beneficial to use that information as blackmail. Do you understand?"
She did. That explained the empty ward, and it also made her understand why the shinobi who worked in this village seemed a little paranoid. Baiu had explained how Pein could use the rain to see everything that happened in the village, but he'd never told her why it was necessary, or what Pein did with that information. That was probably why Konan seemed a little cautious today. Even she couldn't know for certain that Pein wasn't watching her.
Which begged the question: Why was Konan taking such a risk? "I disagree with his methods." was a vague answer at best, and Sakura didn't understand why the woman who'd broken her fingers the first time they met was slowly starting to become… nice? No, that wasn't the right word. Konan wasn't quite nice, or kind, but she wasn't as cold towards Sakura as she used to be.
Sakura wanted to ask her why, but she decided to take Konan's advice. Instead of asking outright, she would try and read the situation a bit more, and then see if she could use whatever she discovered to her advantage.
Konan sat her up on one of the beds, before removing Sakura's clothes and examining her wounds. Sakura thought she saw her frown disapprovingly at one point, but that could have just been the dim lighting.
She reached across to the cabinet beside the bed, and grabbed a jar filled with a greenish-looking paste. There was a label on it, probably the name of the paste, but it meant absolutely nothing to Sakura. That was strange. Normally, she was quite good at identifying medical equipment.
She let out a small hiss when Konan dabbed the paste on some of her worst cuts. It stung for a little bit, but luckily it didn't last. She reached down to her arm and ran her finger along one of the cuts covered with the paste. To her surprise, it was already healing. That's some amazing medicine. I wonder if it's rare? That would explain why she had no memory of using it before this.
Once Konan had finished with the open wounds, she handed Sakura a glass of water and two white tablets.
"I can't bandage any of your cuts or Baiu will know someone helped you, but these painkillers should numb any lingering aches, as well as giving you an energy boost. Do you remember your way back?"
Sakura nodded.
"Good. Wait thirty seconds after I leave, then head back. Make sure to wash all the paste off before Baiu gets there. If all goes well, I should see you again in around two and a half weeks."
"Why? What's-" Konan was already gone.
Sakura sighed, before reclining back on the bed. It was a lot softer than the bed in her room, so she spent most of the thirty seconds with her head buried in the pillow. It was so comfy. It also made her realise how tired she was, so she hurriedly sat up before she could fall asleep.
She stuck her feet over the edge of the bed and gently pushed herself off, making sure not to make any noise when she landed. She snuck out of the room, checking behind her with every step she took. Her heart raced as she made her way back to her room. Was it just her imagination, or was that a flash of Pein's orange hair? When she turned around to check, there was nothing there. Still, she spent the rest of the journey back nervous that Baiu or Pein would suddenly appear.
She reached her bedroom and kept walking down the hall until she reached the bathroom. Stepping inside, she considered her options. She could use her hands and some water to wash the paste off, but it would be easier and more thorough to just use the shower. If Baiu came back… well, she'd deal with that if it happened.
She tugged her clothes off, careful to lay them down on a dry patch of the floor. If Konan wasn't coming back for two and a half weeks, this would be the only set of wearable clothes she had.
She stepped into the shower and let the cold water run over her, soothing her tense muscles. Huh, she had muscles now. She hadn't noticed them developing at all, but to be fair, she'd been a little preoccupied recently.
After a minute, she stepped out and dressed herself again, impatient to leave and get back to her room. The water in her ears had made it hard to hear much else, which meant that anyone could have come to check on her. She squeezed the water out of her hair. Had her hair grown longer? She ran her fingers through it; it was definitely longer then she remembered. Still, Baiu hadn't said anything about it, so it probably wasn't an issue.
She grabbed one of the threadbare towels and wrapped her hair up, before opening the door.
Baiu stood directly outside, staring at her. For the second time today, Sakura was caught off guard. She knew that she was supposed to deal with this somehow, but her brain had gone blank, so she just stared back at him. The silence was tense and uncomfortable, and it lasted for at least a minute before Baiu finally spoke.
"I see you've recovered."
Sakura nodded. Her mind was still blank.
"Right then. Back to training."
He walked off, and for a second Sakura remained frozen in the doorway, unable to believe it was that easy. Then her brain started working again, and she ran after him.
Baiu didn't say a word as they walked down the corridor, but after a few minutes Sakura realised that they weren't following the route towards their normal training grounds. In fact, this way led to…
The sound of the rain reached her as they turned the corner, and Sakura found herself standing at the entrance to the building. Baiu still didn't say a word, which did nothing to ease her nerves. She noticed that along with his usual gear he was carrying a brown backpack. It was too bulky for her to see what was in it, but as she watched he shifted his shoulders and she heard a light clinking sound coming from inside.
They walked outside into the pouring rain. Sakura couldn't help flinching when she felt it touch her. How much did Pein know now? Could he use the rain to read minds, or just find out her location? She needed to find out more about the people she was working for.
Sakura suddenly became uncomfortably aware that she'd left all her weapons in her bedroom. Baiu must have noticed by now that she didn't have them, which meant she wouldn't need them today. Either that or she'd be working with something new.
Baiu led her across the town, in the opposite direction to the route she had taken with Orochimaru and Sasori. On the way some people stopped to stare at her, probably because of her hair. But when they saw Baiu, they quickly turned away and pretended they hadn't been staring. Sakura watched them as they scuttled away, and wondered how high up Baiu was in this village. While she knew he wasn't an Akatsuki member, he was moderately powerful. When she first started training with him, he probably would have been able to beat her. Now, even though he was careful not to reveal his jutsu to her, she was fairly sure that she could take him in a fight. With the actual Akatsuki members she had met, she was one hundred per cent certain that at her current level they could beat her.
Of course, she would never actually attack Baiu or any of the Akatsuki. But the day might come where Sasori finally decided to seriously try to kill her or Pein decided that she was no longer useful. She was living amongst cold-blooded killers; it would be stupid of her not to prepare for that.
Baiu came to a stop in front of the tallest building Sakura had even seen. Granted, she could only remember being outside this village once, but it was still very tall. It was also made entirely of metal, and from what she could see it had no windows.
Baiu tugged the bag off his back and opened it, pulling out five hourglasses filled with sand. Sakura studied them carefully. They seemed normal enough, but she noticed that there was a small hole in the bottom of each hourglass.
"As you've probably guessed, today's training will be different from normal. Your goal is to make it up to the top of the tower with at least one grain of sand left. You can take as many of the hourglasses as you want. They're locked together so that the moment one runs out of sand it'll detach from the others and the second hourglass will start spilling out. The more you take the slower and more careful you'll have to be. Once you reach the top of the tower, a member of the Akatsuki will be waiting to take the remaining hourglasses off your hands. Are you ready?"
For a second Sakura considered asking which Akatuski member would be waiting for her, before she realised it didn't matter. It wouldn't be Konan, and every other member she knew was less than pleasant to interact with. She was fairly confident that any new member would be the same.
She looked down, trying to judge how many hourglasses she should take with her. Eventually, she grabbed three. She wasn't completely sure how fast the sand would spill out, so even if it spilled out quickly, three should give her enough time to make it to the top. Sakura was just about able to grip all three with one hand, which would leave her other hand free for fighting. Since she was fairly sure Baiu had more than just a simple race in store for her, she figured the free hand would come in handy.
Once she had made her decision, she walked towards the entrance to the tower. The closer she got the more it seemed to loom over her. She began doubting that three hourglasses would be enough, but quickly shut down that train of thought. She'd made her choice, and worrying about the other possibilities would get her nowhere.
"Begin!" Baiu barked out behind her.
She wrenched open the door and sprinted inside, vaguely registering it slamming shut behind her. It took her a second to locate the stairs, but when she did she shot up them. They were surprisingly easy to climb, which only made her more certain that there were traps up ahead.
After running up five floors, she understood why Baiu had chosen this building. The lack of windows and metal walls made this building so stuffy it felt like an oven. Sakura could feel sweat dripping down her neck, and she was only starting to climb the sixth set of stairs. By pushing chakra into her feet, she could scale half a staircase in one jump, but it meant that she was using up more energy than if she ran normally. The back of her throat felt dry, and it was only getting hotter the higher she climbed. Half the first hourglass was already gone, and some abstract part of her mind wondered who would have to clean up all the grains she was spilling. Knowing Baiu it would probably be her.
When she reached the seventh staircase without encountering any resistance, she started to get suspicious. Sure enough, at the top of the eighth floor something large and growling was waiting for her. As she got closer, she realised that it was a huge three-headed dog. It looked fairly vicious, but after months of living with the Akatsuki, it barely even fazed Sakura. What really made her pause was the fact that it had the exact same eyes as Pein.
She skidded to a halt a few steps below it and forced herself to look into its eyes. Immediately, she noticed a few differences between it and Pein's eyes. Pein's eyes were cold and shrewd, while the dog just looked angry and rabid. But the pattern and colour were definitely the same.
It lunged at her and for a second she panicked. Seeing the eyes of the man she feared above all others so full of hate and bent on destroying her, her mind froze for a second. By the time she'd recovered it was too late to push chakra into her fist. In desperation, she swung the hourglass, smashing it into the middle dog's mouth. She ducked as it shattered, sand spilling everywhere. The dog howled and flew over her head, crashing into the wall below her. She glanced down at the hourglasses and felt a surge of relief that the other two hadn't broken. The grains in the second one had just begun to spill, but there were no visible cracks.
She raced up the stairs, not daring to look back. The dog's snarls faded, but she had no doubt that it would still be chasing her. She reached the eighth floor and frantically looked around for the next staircase. On the other side of the room, there was a metal door with a note taped to it. She ran across and snatched the note. It was in Baiu's handwriting.
The ninth staircase lies beyond the door. To open it, you need to pour an hourglass of sand into the slot.
She should have expected something like this. The slot was easy to locate, just below the door handle. She jiggled the handle first, just in case it was a trick and the door was actually open. When it became clear that it was locked, she quickly wrenched the lid off the second hourglass and emptied it into the slot, conscious of the growling sounds behind her getting steadily louder. The door slid open and she jumped through.
The door slid shut behind her, but her relief was short-lived. Two pairs of hands lashed out, aiming for her final hourglass. She spun through the hands and came face-to-face with two Ame shinobi. They were wearing flak-jackets, but the nervous expressions on their faces gave them away. They were definitely just chunin.
One chakra-filled punch to each of their guts incapacitated the both of them, and Sakura was on her way. She raced up eight more flights of stairs, before entering a huge room. In the middle of it, a narrow spiral staircase led up to the top, where she assumed the Akatsuki member was waiting.
The second she walked into the room, she was forced to duck as a kunai embedded itself in the wall behind her. On the walls, various shinobi were aiming their weapons at her. After already smashing her first hourglass, Sakura didn't want to bend the rules any further, and decided to use the staircase instead of wall-walking to the top.
It was a difficult journey. Training with Sasori had given her plenty of practice at dodging weapons, and his senbon had more accuracy than the weapons of these shinobi, but during training she had always had her own weapon to help her dodge. Now she was forced to take a hit or two while trying to make sure no one got near the hourglass.
Halfway up the staircase, she decided that running on the railing would be quicker. Normally she wouldn't risk it, since balancing required concentration that was hard to maintain when she was surrounded by people chucking weapons at her, but the hourglass was down to its last quarter, so she leapt up and sprinted.
One stray kunai cut deep into her arm, and the pain almost made her slip, but she forced herself to get over the shock and kept on going. Failure wasn't an option, not when she was already on shaky ground with Baiu. She still didn't know what he thought of finding her in the bathroom. How much had he figured out? Did he already know that Konan had helped her? Was that why hadn't he asked her about her recovery?
A shuriken grazed her ear and she gave her full attention back to dodging. She could see the giant metal door, only a few more steps above her. Pushing more chakra into her feet she leaped upwards, landing directly in front of the door. Only then did she realise that there was no handle.
She heard the swishing sound of weapons behind her and jumped upwards, just in time. Four kunai and six shuriken embedded themselves in the door, right where she had been standing. She knew that she only had a second before they attacked again, so when she began falling she swung at the door with everything she had. The door crumpled like it was made of paper, and a roundhouse kick sent it flying backwards. She tumbled in after it, jumping to her feet and dodging the weapons that came flying in after her. Grabbing the door, she swung it around and slammed it back into place, relieved when none of the shinobi tried to follow her inside.
She let out a deep breath and dusted herself down, inspecting her wounds. None of them were serious, mostly just some scratches. She would heal them later. The only light she had came from two candles flickering on each side of the room, so she couldn't see well enough to check for bruises.
Something moved behind her and she froze, suddenly reminded that she was supposed to meet an Akatsuki member. She reached down and grabbed the hourglass, relieved to see that there were still a few grains left.
The man-or at least, Sakura thought it was a man-stepped into view. He was wearing the same robe as the other members wore, but all similarities ended there. This man had dark skin and green eyes with no pupils. He wore a white hood, and the lower half of his face was covered with a black mask. He towered over Sakura, and she forced down the urge to take a step back. There was something about this man that put her on edge. Maybe it was that didn't know who he was, and his mask made it hard for her to judge his mood. Was he annoyed? Angry? Calm? Did he find her appearance funny? She couldn't tell, and that was unsettling.
"You must be Sakura." His voice was deep, yet just as blank as his face. Once again, she had no idea what his mood was. "My name is Kakuzu."
She kept her face neutral and held the hourglass out to him. He took it, his eyes boring into her. She stared back. Was intense staring some form of greeting in the Akatsuki? Maybe he was trying to unnerve her, but it would take a lot more than staring at her to manage that. Seeing as he hadn't tried to kill her yet, he was currently one of the nicer Akatsuki she knew.
When it became clear she wasn't going to react, he grunted and turned away.
"Right then. I don't quite understand why Pein wanted me to meet you, but I presume I'll see you around if you do end up working with us. You can go back to Baiu now."
He tilted his head around slightly, just enough for his eyes to meet hers.
"Try and make me like you next time. Otherwise I'll end up killing you."
She hadn't been expecting that, but she managed to keep a straight face until he left, walking out the way she'd come in. She thought she caught some contempt in his eyes when he pushed the crumpled door aside. Maybe she shouldn't have entered with such a bang, but she'd been under pressure.
Sakura wondered if she should go back the way she came, or if the shinobi would start fighting her again. She didn't feel like going another round with the rabid dog either.
She went over to the doorway and grabbed one of the kunai that littered the ground. Then she walked over to the wall and tapped it. It sounded fairly thin to her, which was all the encouragement she needed.
Sticking the kunai into the wall, she carved out a doorway, and with a firm kick it crashed open, and she could see the sky again. Pushing the chakra into her feet, she made her way down the outside of the tower. As the ground got closer, she could see Baiu. She could also see the shock on his face when he saw her running down the tower, but when he realised that she could probably see him he looked away and pretended he hadn't noticed her. It almost made her grin.
She kicked off the wall and landed in front of him, one hand on the ground to steady herself. Although inside she was celebrating, she was careful to keep her face blank. It was becoming easier to make it her default expression, and soon she was pretty sure she would forget how to smile naturally. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Baiu stared at her expectantly.
"I completed the exercise, sir."
"Did you? Who did you give the hourglass to?"
"Kakuzu."
"Was he satisfied?"
He threatened to kill me. "Yes, sir."
"Alright then. Let's move on to the next exercise. We're going back to the cavern. That should have tired you out, so we'll only to a couple of thousand laps today."
Sakura felt the urge to roll her eyes. The image of a boy with huge eyebrows popped into her mind. He was wearing green spandex and walking around on his hands. It was so bizarre that she doubted it was an actual memory. No one could actually look that strange, right?
"I'm sorry about the misunderstanding Sasori, but you see, the villagers are under our protection, therefore you cannot experiment on them without their consent. If you need new test subjects we have plenty of missions available."
Sasori gave a disdainful huff, staring down at the trembling child cowering behind Konan. His puppet shell was discarded in the corner. Konan assumed that he needed his hands for whatever he was planning to do to the child.
"That's ridiculous. Part of the reason I joined your organization to further my research. Now you're telling me I have to limit it? I've accomplished everything I can with the resources you gave me. Perhaps it's time I moved on."
Konan raised one eyebrow, clearly not buying any of it.
"You've accomplished everything? So you've figured out a poison that can kill me?"
Sasori's eyes narrowed and his hand lashed out, flicking two senbon into her arm. Her arm immediately turned to paper and broke away from her body, floating onto the ground. Konan watched disinterestedly as the poison destroyed the paper in a matter of seconds. Her arm slowly began growing back, sheet by sheet.
"I assume this is your way of saying that you haven't figured it out yet."
When he merely glared at her in reply, she turned and walked away, dragging the weeping child along beside her.
"This is a warning Sasori. Leave the citizens of Amegakure alone."
His voice was so quiet she almost missed it. "You seem to have quite the soft spot for children Konan. I wonder if Pein knows that."
She kept walking, as if his words had no effect on her. If she gave him an inch, Sasori would take a mile.
"I assure you Sasori, Pein knows me far better than you do. If you have a problem with me, I wouldn't advise going to him about it. He doesn't have much patience for that kind of thing nowadays."
"Don't worry; I'm well aware of that." Sasori said, each word soft yet menacing. "If I feel like talking to him, I'll be sure to make it worth his while."
She left then, but not before she decided that Sasori would need to be kept away from both Pein and Sakura for a little while. She could make some arrangements tomorrow for both him and Orochimaru to leave on a mission.
Behind her, Sasori sneered.