A/N: It's been 84 years… but I finally updated! I'm so, so sorry that it took so long, I'll try to be quicker from now on. It's been so long that I'm slightly worried my writing style has changed, but hopefully it isn't too noticeable in this chapter. As always, feedback is appreciated.
Konan watched the dead-eyed girl leave the room. Some part of her felt like following Sakura, in case the girl snapped and tried to harm herself in some way. Sakura had spent so long around Baiu, and despite the fact that he had been scum, the only stable routine and personality she had ever known was gone. Konan wasn't sure if she would be able to cope in Sakura's position, especially considering how young the girl was.
None of this felt right to Konan. She understood just how cruel the world could be, and had gone to great and terrible lengths to gain the position and power she had today, but breaking a child seemed needlessly cruel. She could only desensitize herself to so much of it, and the look on Sakura's face after she killed Baiu had unsettled Konan right to her core.
"Nagato," she whispered. "What have we done?"
"What we set out to do." If she didn't know better she would think Pein sounded joyful. "The conditioning was a success. Now that she has the right mentality, we can focus on making her stronger. Soon she will be the perfect weapon."
"She's a child." Konan hissed. "Do you even remember what it was like when we were young? I haven't forgotten. The reason the Akatsuki exists is so that no child will ever have to grow up like we did, and what we've done do this girl is far worse."
"Konan…" There was a dangerous edge to Pein's voice. "I thought I could trust you not to get attached? We're normally always on the same page, but her age has blinded you to the truth. She may remind you of your childhood self, but don't let that cloud your judgement."
He moved closer, resting his hand on her shoulder.
"She knows too much about us, while we still know nothing about her past. Our choices were letting Baiu break her or putting her down. We gave her the kindest fate we could, given the circumstances."
"I'm sorry Nagato." Konan said quietly. "But I can't agree with you on this. Yes, this world is harsh, but we could have given her a less cruel fate."
He moved closer again, and his arm wrapped around her.
"Nagato, what-"
When he spoke, Konan felt like an electric current had gone through her whole body.
"Konan," he murmured. "You know that I love you. I don't want us to fight. Please, let it go."
That was Yahiko's voice, as warm and energetic as it had been when he was alive. Konan hadn't thought that Nagato was capable of mimicking it to this degree. Even though he used Yahiko's vocal chords as Pein, there was always something dead about his voice. But this was so lively and similar to the real Yahiko's that she didn't know what to do. A wave of longing and nostalgia crashed over Konan, and her eyes fluttered shut as he wrapped his arms around her.
"You want peace don't you? Don't you trust me Konan?"
It had been years since he had been this close to her. She felt like crying at how little he had changed. He was nothing more than a corpse, so why did he still smell like Yahiko? Why was his soft touch so familiar? His breath ghosted over her neck, warm and distinctly Yahiko. She wanted to kiss him like she had when they were young, but something stopped her. The piercings she could feel in his arms were proof that this wasn't the boy she loved, and the unfairness of it made her want to scream.
She opened her eyes and looked up at his face. Instead of seeing Yahiko's comforting brown eyes, she was met with Nagato's cold purple ones. It gave her the shock she needed to shove him off her, her paper wings flashing out to push his arms away.
Nagato didn't look scared. Konan didn't think he was capable of fear anymore, but not even a god was infallible. Right now he was nervous and unsure. He had never done anything like that before; never used Yahiko's body against her, and neither of them knew what she would do now.
"Konan…"
When he spoke with his usual voice again, Konan felt some of the tension leave her chest. It was still Yahiko's voice, but there was coldness in it that belonged to Nagato. It was a poor imitation of the real thing, and it was a voice Konan could deal with.
"Nagato," Thankfully, her voice didn't shake; she didn't want him to see how much he had rattled her. "You know that I love and support you. I trust that you will be the one to achieve Yahiko's dream, and if you want Sakura to be a weapon then I won't fight you on this."
She could see the relief on his face, and that made her angry. Her voice grew terser as she continued.
"However, trust works both ways. If I want to give Sakura clean clothes or stop her from suffering unnecessary pain, you have to trust that I won't do it in a way that would reverse Baiu's hard work, understood?"
Pein nodded. The tension in the room had lessened, and thinking that it was over, he made to move past her.
"One last thing." she said, and he stilled. "You're the only family I have left, and the Akatsuki is Yahiko's legacy. Because of that I want to support both you and this organization."
Her voice turned icy, her eyes blazing with more fury than she'd felt in years.
"However, if you ever try something like that again, if you ever attempt to use Yahiko's body to manipulate me, I will leave the Akatsuki without a second thought, and you will need to find a new right hand. Is that clear?"
He met her eyes, and she knew he understood just how betrayed and violated she felt. He nodded and swept past her without another word.
She let out a breath as the last of the tension left her body. Now that it was over, her heart felt empty and part of her felt like curling up and crying. But just as Nagato was no longer capable of fear, she was no longer able to cry. Besides, she had work to do and a village to run.
Her next breath was steadier. She turned and left the room, Baiu's body floating along behind her.
Two days had passed since she had killed Baiu, and Sakura had been left to her own devices. When it became clear on the first morning that no one would come for her, she had made her way down to the training cavern and ran through her usual exercises. It was strange, not having the pressure of Baiu's beady eyes scrutinizing her every move. Sakura wasn't sure how to feel about it, and then she remembered that she wasn't supposed to feel at all.
On the second day she finished her laps a few seconds too slow and she cringed, expecting a kick to the ribs. When it didn't come it finally sank in properly that he was dead.
Baiu was dead. She should have felt relieved, but all she felt was frustrated that she hadn't finished her laps quick enough. She took off again, determined to improve her speed.
Once she was satisfied with her taijustu, she moved on to ninjustu. First, she healed all her cuts and bruises. Sakura was fascinated by how easy it was. She could feel the large amount of concentration and control required, but healing was so instinctive to her that it felt effortless. It was only when she focused on what exactly she was doing that she began to lose control.
She'd almost given herself a nasty scar one time when she got a little too interested in how exactly she was mending the broken skin, and her instinct had faded. Left in control of the healing chakra with absolutely no idea how to use it, she'd panicked. Baiu had had to knock her unconscious before she damaged her skin irreversibly.
Once she was fully healed she ran through the three basic ninjutsu. She made two clones and substituted one with a rock while transforming the other into a copy of Baiu. That had been one of the exercises they had done frequently, but now she let the clone disappear almost as soon as the jutsu was done. It was unsettling, looking at the face of a dead man, and it was all veering a little too close to mourning for Sakura's liking. Baiu didn't deserve her grief. If she hadn't grieved for the victims he forced her to kill, there was no way she would mourn his own death.
Instead, she focused on her Shunshin no Jutsu. Her taijutsu speed was alright, but in general she was far stronger than she was fast. If she was going to be a weapon she had a feeling she'd need stealth, and so she was determined to improve her Shunshin. She had good reflexes, but deliberately flickering from place to place was not one of the advanced skills embedded in her instincts.
After flickering around the cave as rapidly as she could, she eventually stopped when she narrowly avoided crashing into a wall. She took a few seconds to assess her chakra levels and, deciding that she had enough to continue, she then started practicing her elemental ninjutsu. She took a minute to arrange the training dummies, and then her hands began to form seals.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu."
She sank into the ground and easily located the first dummy. Dragging it underground she popped back up and slammed her hand on the ground.
"Doton: Tsuchi Nami no Jutsu."
The resulting shock waves were enough to make the second dummy topple over. She closed her eyes and make the tiger hand-seal.
"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."
She opened her eyes and focused on the nearby waterfall. After a few seconds, a human-shaped blob of water drifted over and slowly formed into a clone of Sakura. She frowned. The clone was fine, but the jutsu had taken far too long. She needed to get it down quicker.
The clone went over to the first dummy and easily took its head off, leaving Sakura to focus on the remaining dummy. There was one technique that she wanted to try. Baiu had said she wasn't ready for it yet, but since he was no longer around to hurt her she was determined to test it out. Her chakra levels had grown throughout her training, and at this point she knew that she had enough chakra left to attempt the A-rank jutsu. Her hands rapidly made the seals as she focused.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu."
At once, she knew that she had miscalculated. Nearly all her chakra was drained, but behind her, the water surged upwards. A massive cascade of water rained down on the second dummy, destroying it along with a good chunk of the cavern floor. Sakura fell to one knee, struggling to keep her eyes open as she watched the destruction she had caused.
It gave her a small thrill, knowing that all that rock had been shattered by her power. The thrill never lasted however, because soon after Sakura was always reminded that she would one day have to use a jutsu like that to kill someone. It would probably be an innocent, possibly a child. In the end, it wasn't really her power at all.
It was Pein's.
All of her power belonged to the Akatsuki, and any pride she once had in her own strength had long since been stamped out of her, often literally. This training session was the first time she had been allowed to use her power on her own terms, and she knew it wouldn't last long. The reason she was allowed to train and improve was so that Pein could use her as his weapon. Just because Baiu was dead did not mean she was free. In fact, it meant the opposite. Pein now had total control over her.
Sakura couldn't find it in her to care.
The exhaustion had passed, but she still wasn't satisfied. Baiu had always complained that she only had two nature types: water and earth. Sakura wasn't entirely sure how he figured that out just by getting her to hold bits of paper. Perhaps she had other elemental jutsu hidden in her instincts. Who knew how much power was being blocked by the amnesia?
She went through the hand-seals of the one fire jutsu Baiu had shown her. Inhaling as much air as possible, she tensed.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."
Nothing happened. She blew out the air, and not a single spark could be seen. Disappointed, she made the hand-seals again, trying to find the fire chakra within her. When she thought she felt something burn in her lungs, she exhaled.
All that came out was more hot air. She cursed in frustration. It would appear that Baiu had been right about her not being able to do fire jutsu. Wind and lightning however…
She racked her brains for any wind jutsu she could remember seeing, and eventually one came to mind. One of the shinobi that had attacked her during training had used this technique, and from what Sakura could remember it seemed simple enough.
"Fūton: Reppūshō."
She stuck her hands out, trying to generate a single bit of wind. The air remained completely still, almost as if it was mocking her. Gritting her teeth, she tried again. When she stuck her hands out again, the only sound she could hear was the waterfall thundering down at the side of the cave. Not a ripple could be felt in the air around her.
She wasn't very optimistic when she moved on to lightning jutsu, but she felt compelled to give it a shot, even if there was only a 0.1 per cent chance she would actually succeed. She couldn't actually think of any lightning jutsu she'd seen, so instead she focused on making a clone out of lightning.
"Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.
She didn't bother trying again. Baiu clearly hadn't been lying when he said she could only use two nature types. Disheartened, she switched back to earth and water jutsu to make herself feel better.
She was halfway through her fifth elemental clone when she felt someone watching her. Spinning around, she immediately dropped to one knee when she saw purple-ringed eyes staring at her.
"Pein-sama." she said quietly, keeping her eyes on the ground.
"I see that you have been practicing your elemental jutsu." His voice was as blank and cold as always, and he gave no explanation for his sudden appearance. "Tell me; are you able to use any other nature types beside water and earth?"
"No sir." she said, trying not to sound bitter about it.
With all the incredible skills she already had, it was arrogant of her to assume that she would also excel at all elemental jutsu. However, this was the first time her pre-amnesia instincts had not given her easy access to some new talent, and she was slightly taken aback by it.
"How disappointing." Pein drawled, already turning away. "I suppose my expectations were too high, thinking that you would be able to use all nature types. Still… merely being able to use two of them is… unfortunate."
Sakura kept her head lowered so that he wouldn't see her flush. She wasn't scared of him, not anymore. If he wanted her dead she would be dead in an instant so there was really no point worrying. But for the first time ever she felt ashamed. Yes, it was unrealistic to think she'd be skilled at everything, but disappointing Pein left her with a horrible knot in her stomach. She didn't like feeling like she wasn't good enough, like she was useless to him.
He left her then. As soon as she was alone again Sakura's hands began making seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."
Nothing happened. She made the hand-seals again.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
She kept at it for hours, making the hand-seals over and over again. She had long since lost count of how many times she tried the jutsu, but she was nearing 30000 attempts when her lungs started burning, and she coughed out black smoke.
It hurt, and her chest felt like it was on fire, but she still felt a spark of excitement run through her. With enough determination, perhaps she could force herself to learn fire jutsu after all!
When Pein found her the next morning, she was covered in ash and barely breathing.
He pulled her up roughly, and she swayed dizzily on her feet. He was glaring coldly at her, his hand bunched in her poncho. It was clear that he knew what she had been trying to do.
"This was far too reckless." he growled. "Stubborn foolishness is no good in a weapon. Logically, you should have accepted that you can't do fire jutsu and moved on. The fact that you didn't clearly shows that you let what little emotions you have left get the better of you."
"It won't happen again, sir." she mumbled, her voice raspy and her throat on fire.
"No," he agreed softly. "It won't."
He let go of her, and she fell to her knees as he walked away.
"Orochimaru has been badgering me to let him use you as a test subject. Up until now I refused, but if you are so eager for unnecessary pain I would rather it be productive. Today you will recover from your self-inflicted injuries. Tomorrow he will escort you to his lab. You won't die, but hopefully it will be a learning experience."
"Yes sir." she replied, coughing out another breath of ashy air.
The rest of her day was spent drinking from the waterfall and trying to build her energy back up so that she could heal herself. Her body felt charred on both the inside and outside, and by the time she had finished healing herself she felt someone enter the cavern. The dark, malevolent chakra almost made her shiver, and when she turned around she was met by gleaming snake-like eyes.
"Hello Sakura-chan." Orochimaru's voice was almost a hiss. "Are you ready to begin?"
Needless to say, the next few days weren't pleasant for Sakura. Most of her time was filled with pain, and by the fifth day she couldn't tell whether it was day or night. Her only respite came in between Orochimaru's 'experiments', when he gave her time to heal herself.
It was around the sixth or seventh day, Sakura wasn't quite sure, when her rescuer appeared. Orochimaru had just finished examining the bones in her arms, and she was in the middle of healing the holes he had drilled into her when she noticed someone above her. She was standing in front of the dim laboratory light, with paper wings extending from her shoulders. To Sakura's dizzy mind, she looked like a real angel.
"God's Angel." she croaked, her voice hoarse from screaming and not yet fully recovered from her disastrous attempts at fire jutsu.
"That's what the villagers say." Konan replied dryly, unhooking Sakura from her restraints.
She helped the little girl sit up and handed her a glass of water, which Sakura gulped down gratefully. She carefully pushed herself off the metal table, testing the strength in her legs. It seemed that most of her body had healed successfully, although she wasn't quite finished with her right arm. The skin had been stitched up, but there were still a few holes in her ulna that she needed to fix.
"How long have I been here?" she asked.
"Seven days." Konan replied, already moving towards the door.
Sakura followed her, grateful that Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. They made their way out of the basement and towards the exit of the Amegakure science division. Sakura was aware that Orochimaru's true lab were hidden somewhere south in the village, but apparently Pein didn't trust the Sannin that much when it came to her. Even though Pein had let her be tortured, Sakura was still glad that he hadn't discarded her completely. If she made another mistake, she had a feeling he would be much harsher.
"Pein needs you ready for a mission in two days." Konan explained as they walked. "You'll be briefed tomorrow on what exactly it entails. For now you need to rest up and heal. Get your chakra levels up and eat something more substantial then that concoction Orochimaru feeds his guinea pigs. I'll bring you fresh clothes in a little while."
They stepped outside, and Sakura inhaled the fresh air with relief. As they walked, she subtly observed Konan. Sakura was almost certain that the older woman disagreed with what Orochimaru did, but apparently Konan would tolerate it if Pein deemed it necessary.
"You know, I can see you staring." Sakura nearly jumped when Konan spoke. "Your subtlety needs some work. If you have a question, just ask it. Like I said at the beginning, I don't bite."
"You don't trust Orochimaru."
It was less of a question and more of a statement, but Konan nodded anyway.
"Do you trust any of the Akatsuki aside from Pein-sama?"
"No." Konan said flatly. "There are some I keep a closer eye on than others, but none of them are trustworthy to me. Do you trust any of them?"
Sakura thought about it for a few seconds, before shaking her head.
"That's good." Konan said quietly. "Obey them, but never trust them. One day one of them could decide to stab us in the back, and your help will be needed to put them down."
"I'm not sure what good I would do against them." Sakura said, finding it surprisingly easy to be honest around Konan. "I can feel the power some of them have; I'm pretty sure only Pein-sama could kill them all."
"They are certainly powerful, but that power can make them arrogant. Raw power does not mean invincibility. Observe them as I have done, and you will find a weakness."
"You think you can kill them?"
"I won't know until I try. What I do know is that I have a strategy ready for each member of the Akatsuki should they choose to attack us. I can't say with absolute certainty that I can defeat them, but if they threaten Nagato I won't be caught unaware and helpless. "
The tightness of her voice spoke of a story, but Sakura knew better than to ask about it. She was aware that whatever had happened to Konan in the past to make her so cold was not something she would divulge to Sakura. Konan was more open with Sakura than the rest of the Akatsuki were, but Sakura was still nothing more than a weapon to her. Just because she was less inclined to hurt Sakura for her own amusement didn't mean she thought of her as a human being, much less an equal.
"We're here."
They stopped in front of a building that Sakura recognized. She's spent most of her life, or at least the life she could remember, inside these grey metal walls. If she had any sentimentality left in her she would call it home, but as it was she considered it more of a base of operations.
She followed Konan inside and soon they were at her bedroom. They continued on until they reached the small bathroom, and Konan pushed open the door.
"Shower and heal yourself as best you can. I'll be back with the fresh clothes."
Sakura wanted to thank her, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be appreciated. Gratitude wasn't something a weapon should feel.
The shower was blissfully warm, and she felt some of the blood and sweat from Orochimaru wash away. She would still be a little stiff in some places for another few days, but that was to be expected with such thorough torture.
When she emerged, she didn't bother putting on her dirty clothes and instead made her way to her bedroom. Rooting around below the mattress, she eventually dug out a clean set of underwear. She left her dirty clothes in a pile in the corner of the room. She still hadn't figured out how the laundry or general maintenance was done in this building.
Konan walked into the room a few minutes later, a bundle of clothes in her arms. She tossed mesh under-armour and a pair of dark blue pants at Sakura, who caught them nimbly.
"Seeing as shinobi of your age and build are quite rare, I couldn't find any actual shinobi clothes your size. The pants are close enough to the regular uniform, and you still have your black sandals. As for your top half…"
She tossed another garment as Sakura, who caught it and opened it out. It was a black hoodie with a single red stripe stretching down each arm from the shoulders.
"The Akatsuki colours." she murmured.
"But not the actual uniform." Konan added. "It signifies your loyalties to us while also showing that you are not truly one of us- It was Nagato's idea."
"It's fitting." Sakura said, slipping it onto her. "Both the idea and the jacket itself, I mean."
"Good." Konan said. "Now, should I brief you on your assignment or do you need more time to heal?"
The fact that she was given a choice was surprising to Sakura, but then again Konan and Baiu were very different people. Baiu controlled everything she did because he had feared what Sakura would do to him if he lost control, while Konan had no need to restrict Sakura like that.
"I think I'm ready, and I'd like to know what this mission entails so that I can be prepared."
Konan nodded and sat down on the bed, leaving Sakura standing in the centre of the room.
"It will be your first solo mission, so we're starting you off light. I know that Baiu had you kill people before, and I'm sure Sasori and Orochimaru also made you hurt people, probably innocents. However in all those cases you were under strict orders and supervision. When you're alone out there, it'll be up to you to decide when killing in necessary. For example, say you need to sneak in somewhere and avoid detection. If you come across a guard, the easiest thing would be to kill him and dispose of the body. However, if the place is badly guarded and you feel like you can infiltrate it without needing to kill anyone, you can try it. Out on your own, it will be up to you to analyse the situation and make those calls, understood?"
Sakura nodded. So far, she still didn't understand what her assignment was. However, it didn't look like she would have to slaughter a bunch of people, which was a plus.
"Remember the Daimyō you were sent to assassinate? The Kusagakure shinobi that asked us to kill him were supposed to pay us for it, but they have yet to do so. It seems that they are unaware of the Akatsuki's strength, and so we're sending you to show them. The village head has a daughter. Your assignment is to kidnap her and take her to a secure hidden location that Nagato will show you before you leave. That should be enough encouragement to make Kusagakure give us what they owe us, and it will hopefully show them that the Akatsuki is not an organization they can cross."
"What happens once we reach the location? Do I kill the girl?"
"That depends on what the village head decides to do. If we get our money then the girl goes free, but if they refuse you kill her and come back to Amegakure. Nagato will give you a way to contact us before you leave."
Was it just Sakura's imagination, or did Konan look a little uncomfortable? A few weeks ago, Sakura wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, but Konan's voice had gone slightly more hesitant during the very last part of her speech. Sakura had a feeling that this communication method would not be pleasant for her, but at this point she doubted a little pain could bother her that much. Not on the back of a seven day Orochimaru torture session.
Once it became clear that Sakura had no questions, Konan left. That was fine with Sakura. She needed time to assess all the damage Orochimaru had done. She'd healed the most vital parts of herself as quickly as he'd damaged them, but there were smaller aches and pains that she needed to tend to. She spent the rest of the day healing herself and taking frequent breaks to fetch food and water. There was a small supply room at the end of the corridor with tins of canned food that she happily cracked open. Most of the food she recognized, and the ones she didn't she ate anyways. No point being fussy when she hadn't eaten properly in a week.
Water was slightly more difficult. She wasn't sure how clean the bathroom water was, and she couldn't think of a way to purify it. After searching the entire floor, she finally found a small drinking fountain near a set of stairs. As she walked back to the bedroom, she made careful note of the route to both the food and the water. With Baiu gone it was up to her to take care of her basic needs, and she found that she didn't mind the independence.
By the time she fell asleep, even the holes drilled into her bones had been fully healed, and only a phantom pain lingered behind.
The next day was spent training, although Sakura was very careful not to overexert herself. She would need her chakra for the mission tomorrow, and considering her last disastrous training session she wasn't inclined to push herself this time.
Her taijutsu was fine, which was a relief. Sakura was worried that it would have taken her longer to get back on form after her injuries, but apparently Orochimaru had listened to Pein and had actually respected his orders. It had been excruciating lying on that table with those sadistic snake eyes leering down at her, but now the only thing to prove it had actually happened was her memory of it.
She didn't practice much of her ninjutsu, but the small elemental jutsu she tried helped reassure her that her attempt to learn fire jutsu hadn't damaged her affinity for water and earth jutsu.
She went to bed early that night, and when she woke up Konan was standing in the doorway.
"Follow me." she said. "And remember the route. I'm taking you to our main base of operations."
The route there was simple enough. They made their way to the stairs and then began climbing to the very top of the building. Sakura was surprised by how many floors it had. From the outside it didn't look that big, but it was more of a tower then she had thought.
The top floor had two doors, and one clearly led to the roof. Konan opened the other door and they walked inside.
The room was gloomy, which did not surprise Sakura at all. There was an open semicircle of a window which let light in and gave her a view of the rest of the village. Pein stood in that window, gazing out. Sakura remembered that Pein could spy on the whole village, and she wondered what he was seeing when he looked outside.
He turned around, and she quickly fell to one knee. There was a huge map on the floor in front of her, and it was one she recognized.
A map of the world.
Sakura couldn't remember seeing one before, but the fact that she knew what it was meant that it was one of her pre-amnesia memories helping her out. She let her eyes scan over the map, various names popping into her head as she took in the different countries and cities. She found that she could name the five great hidden villages, but that she didn't have a single idea what they looked like. She paused for a second as she looked at the small dot with a leaf symbol above it.
Konohagakure.
The sight of that symbol gave her a strange feeling in her stomach, but she quickly shook it off before anyone noticed. Instead, she focused on Amegakure, Kusagakure, and the land between them.
"Konan already briefed you on the general intention behind this mission, but now I'll give you the specifics. First you will make your way to Kusagakure. Once you reached the outskirts, your goal is to create fear and spread panic. It's not good enough for the village leader to fear us; the entire village must understand that they do not want us as their enemy. As you make your way towards the village centre you must locate the village leader's home. Break in and kidnap his child. Make sure he knows that he needs to pay his debt to us if he wants to see her alive again. Once you have the girl, make your way to this cave here."
He pointed to a small hill on the map that was marked with an Akatsuki cloud. It was just inside the land belonging to… what country was Amegakure located in? Sakura couldn't remember, and the map only gave symbols. She did however; recognize the river next to the hill. Following it should be simple enough.
"We will wait two days for them to give us the ransom. If they do, we'll contact you and you can let the child go. If they don't, kill the child and return to Ame. Understood?"
"Yes sir." she said calmly.
This mission didn't sound too bad. At least this time there was a good chance she wouldn't have to kill the child. With all the blood on her hands she doubted killing one child would hurt her badly, but it was still something she would rather avoid.
"One last thing. In order to communicate with you over long distances, we've decided to use a certain seal. This seal will let me telepathically communicate with you at any time. To reply, you just need to make the ram hand-seal."
"Understood."
"However, in order to give you this seal, we're going to brand it into your skin. This is going to hurt, so brace yourself."
Sakura wasn't even surprised. She didn't bother asking if there was an easier way to do this. She simply stood there as Konan walked over and tugged her clothes off her right shoulder, leaving a patch of skin exposed. She heard Pein walk over and then his cold hand was on her back, right between her neck and shoulder.
A second was all she had to prepare herself before the searing pain began. She gritted her teeth, staring at the map in front of her. For some reason, her eyes stayed drawn to the leaf symbol, but instead of questioning it she focused on it. Staring at it helped her ignore the pain, and after a few seconds it was over. She drew in a few heavy breaths before steadying herself.
"That will be all." Pein said. "In two hours you may leave for Kusagakure. Use the time to pack what you'll need and prepare yourself for the journey."
"Yes sir." she said, standing and leaving the room.
Her shoulder burned, and she wondered if her healing chakra would work on a seal. She certainly hoped it would, or her journey to Kusagakure would be far more unpleasant. The leaf symbol was still at the forefront of her mind, seared into her brain like the seal embedded in her flesh. She didn't bother trying to figure out what it meant. Right now, she needed to prepare.
This was her first solo mission, and if she screwed it up she was fairly certain there wouldn't be a second.
As soon as Sakura left, Konan also turned to leave. Pein's voice stopped her.
"Konan." he said. "Where are you going?"
"To get Sakura some bandages and ointment." she replied, turning to face him. "I don't see much point in letting her walk around with a sore shoulder, do you?"
"She can take care of herself. You're help is unnecessary."
He was being careful. The memory of their last fight was still fresh in both their minds, and he didn't want to push too far. Nonetheless, he couldn't let her coddle the girl. It was bad for both her and Sakura.
Her eyes told him that she disagreed.
"I understand the need to make her self-sufficient, I do." she said. "But I made it clear that I wouldn't let her suffer unnecessary pain. I don't think giving her medicine to soothe her burnt flesh is going to cause her to completely revert to her original self and abandon us, do you?"
He could hear the edge in her voice and made no reply.
"Giving her some help for five minutes won't detract from anything important." Her voice got sharper. "I ran an entire village alone before she showed up so trust me when I say she won't interfere with my duties. You told me not to let her cloud my judgement, and now I ask the same of you."
She turned and left. Pein listened to the echo of her footsteps fade away, until he was alone in the room with the only sound being his own rain falling outside.