A/N: Exams are finally finished which means I can work on this story again! Thank you for being patient and sticking with the story despite my lack of frequent updates. I'll try not to leave more than two weeks between updates anymore. As always special thanks to everyone who reviewed, because holy hell you guys are amazing and lovely and I'm so, so grateful.

Kakashi knew that being summoned to the Hokage's office first thing in the morning wasn't good. He'd been hoping for more than a few days rest after the dramatic first C-rank with his genin, but judging by the amount of nervous chunin bustling about, something was wrong in the shinobi world.

He knocked once and entered the office, immediately noticing that the Third Hokage looked more worn than usual. Hiruzen had been a steady beacon of protection and peace to Konoha for many years, but the man wasn't immortal. Despite his healthy physique his age would catch up with him eventually and Kakashi was well aware that the village had no concrete plan as to who would be his successor.

For a second, Kakashi thought of his sensei, but the grief was fleeting. Right now he had work to focus on; he'd save the painful reminiscing for the memorial stone.

"Kakashi." The Hokage put aside his pen and stood up from his desk. "I'm glad you came. There was an attack on the merchants delivering wares from Iwa to Kumo."

Kakashi's eye widened just a tiny bit. The annual trade between Iwa and Kumo was incredibly important for the economy of both villages. Considering the amount of shinobi guarding the cargo, attacking it should have been a suicide mission.

Kakashi thought of the mission he'd just completed, and he got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he began to figure out why the Hokage had summoned him.

"The assailant was a young girl, around the age of your genin, with no hitai-ate. Her most noticeable traits were the symbol on her back and her pink hair."

"Shit." Kakashi sighed.

"Precisely. I have Jiriaya investigating the symbol, as it's connected to an organization he's already been looking into. But the pink hair reminded me of your encounter, and I'm wondering if it's the same person. She defeated around a hundred Iwa shinobi, a mix of genin, chunin and jonin. Do you think your mysterious girl could have been capable of this?"

Kakashi remembered the kunai poised above his eye, the look of calm competence in the girl's face as she prepared to kill him, and the horrible realisation that he was probably going to die at the hands of this deranged child.

"Considering Iwa only have a handful of S-rank shinobi left alive, and that they wouldn't send all of them and leave the village defenceless… I'd say that this was most likely her. She's strong enough to pull this off."

"I see." Sarutobi did not sound pleased by that. "In your initial report, you said that her only goal seemed to be to test her strength against you. Is it possible that was also her motive for this attack? Did she slaughter all those shinobi just to see if she could?"

"It's possible." Kakashi admitted. "She was mature in a lot of aspects, but one thing I found very childlike was this curiosity of hers. It was as if she considered the fight a game. I could see her hurting others just to prove she can."

"In that case, she's a threat to all shinobi. I'll send word to the other great villages informing them that this massacre was carried out by a girl with no allegiance or motivation other than to kill. She doesn't seem to be working for a village nor does she seem to be a mercenary for hire like most rogue shinobi. We can't predict what she'll do next, so they'll all need to prepare in case she tries to target them."

"What about this symbol on her back?" Kakashi asked. "This organization Jiraiya's looking into, perhaps she's working for them?"

"Much of Jiraiya's work is highly classified and his investigation is still on-going, but from what little I can disclose I can say that this organization isn't the kind to force her to do this. They take in the most depraved shinobi whose motivation mostly stems around killing or hurting, and they give them direction. If one member wants to blow the world to bits they'll offer him missions that require bombing entire towns. They have no standards, and what's worse is that their power is growing."

"I told you in my report that this girl mentioned Itachi." Kakashi commented. "Now that I think about it both of them have a common goal of testing their strength, regardless of who they need to hurt to do so. Could they both be working for this organization, and if so who is giving them these directions?"

The Hokage's hand twitched. For anyone else it would have just been a natural movement, but Kakashi took it as the warning sign it was.

"We still don't know who's running this group, and unfortunately I cannot tell you any more about the organization at this current time. I appreciate the information you've given us, but anything regarding Itachi Uchiha and this girl is above your clearance level. I'm sorry Kakashi."

"No, no, I understand." Kakashi waved breezily as he turned to leave the office. "I'd hate to compromise all of Jiraiya's hard work. Let me know if there's anything else I can do."

"I appreciate your discretion Kakashi."

"Of course Hokage-sama. Anything we talk about remains in this room until you're ready to reveal the truth. But just so you know… in the short time that they met, I fear that Naruto has grown some sort of connection to that girl. If he happens to encounter her again, I feel like he won't think like a shinobi, and he'll let his guard down."

He turned around to glance at Sarutobi. Unsurprisingly, the man looked quite unsettled at that news. Not only was Naruto a huge potential asset to the village, but the Hokage loved the boy. The thought of Naruto being too kind to see the girl as the danger she was did not sit well with either of them.

"In that case Kakashi, please protect him. He's a good child, and it would kill me to see this sociopathic girl use that to hurt him."

"Don't worry." Kakashi replied. "Our fight was a wake-up call for me. I promise, if she goes after Team 7 again, I'll kill her before she can even get near him."

Naruto raced into the playground, eyes frantically scanning the equipment until he reached the swings and the girl sitting on one.

"Ino! Ino did you hear the news?"

"You mean how our ghost girl has now gone and made herself an enemy of all the shinobi villages? Yeah I heard."

"This is so messed up!" Naruto groaned, flopping down onto the swing beside her. "Why is she doing this? Who's forcing her?"

"Maybe no one's forcing her." Ino said bitterly. "Maybe she's just a bloodthirsty psychopath."

"But the girl we know isn't like that!" Naruto began swinging vigorously back and forth. "Something must have happened to her."

"What girl?" Ino snapped. "The one that only exists in your imagination? Because from what people are saying the real girl isn't anything like that."

"Don't pretend that I'm the only one here with a connection to her." Naruto snapped back.

"You're right, but you know what? I don't want to have a connection with her anymore. I've never met this girl, and when we didn't know she was real I wanted to find out why it felt like I knew her, but now that she is real and she's a mass-murderer who tried to kill your sensei, I don't want to go anywhere near her!"

Naruto dragged his feet, slowing the swing down until he was level with Ino.

"I get where you're coming from, but Ino this connection exists for a reason! We can't just ignore it."

"What reason is that? Maybe you can't ignore it, but for me the connection is just a gut feeling. The reality is this girl is dangerous, and unless you can give me a good reason to keep looking into it I don't want to be connected to her."

"Fine!" Naruto leapt out of the swing, determination in his eyes. "I'll find a reason for you not to ignore it! I'm not losing my friend so easily!"

Ino's eyes softened and she reached forward to flick Naruto in the forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Naruto you dummy, when are you going to realise that I'm not just friends with you because of the ghost girl? I said I didn't want to be connected to her, not that I didn't want to be connected to you, so quit it with the insecurity."

"Oh." For a second Naruto looked stunned, but then the fire in his eyes flared up again. "Well I'm still going to convince you not to give up on her! Just you wait!"

"The ghost girl is an evil killer Naruto, good luck finding a way to convince me she's worth it."

"She's not evil! Something must have happened to her. Whoever the girl I fought is, she's not the same as the girl we know!"

"It's you." Tenryu gasped. "The girl who's been committing all those massacres."

"Glad you've heard of me." Sakura responded. "Hopefully this will make things easier."

Tenryu wasn't sure where exactly she'd taken him. One minute he was travelling back to Iwa with his team, then a blur of pink and black had attacked them and he'd felt something hit him hard on the head. He'd woken tied up in a cave of some sort, with the only light coming from the candle next to him. He didn't see his team anywhere, which terrified him. He knew that this girl always left very few survivors, if any.

"Did you kill my team?"

The girl made no response, busy sharpening a kunai. So far the only information she'd given him was her name: Hello, you're Tenryu, correct? My name is Sakura.

"You slaughtered my comrades when they were travelling to Kumo, and then you murdered another team returning from Suna." Tenryu felt anger overtake his fear. "I'll kill you!"

"No you won't." Sakura replied calmly. "You're going to die today."

"You won't get away with this!" Fear and anger made him loud. "You can't just go around aimlessly slaughtering shinobi! One of us is going to make you pay."

"I doubt that, seeing as it's been months since my first public attack and none of the villages even know my name. Also, who said it was aimless?"

Her eyes gleamed in the candlelight as she moved closer to him, the kunai looking uncomfortably sharp.

"We know that Iwa has the Gobi, and we've narrowed down the list of possible jinchuriki. One of them is a man you're familiar with, a jonin named Kosuke. You two are close friends, aren't you Tenryu?"

"I won't talk." His voice came out shakier than he would have liked. "No matter what you do I won't betray my village."

She sighed, taking a step away from him.

"Let me explain a few things to you Tenryu, because you don't seem to understand some key points here. The first thing you need to know is that you are going to die today. The only reason I am telling you about my name, our goal and everything else is because you will never leave this cave alive. I am going to kill you."

Hearing those words out loud made his blood run cold, but he refused to let the fear consume him.

"The second thing you need to understand is that you can't stop us. We will find the Gobi jinchuriki, and there's nothing you or your comrades can do about that."

They don't know that it's not Kosuke. Tenryu thought. They might not even have Han on this list of theirs. For now he's still safe.

"The third thing you should know is that you're going to give me Kosuke's location. It's as inevitable as the first two facts I've listed. You are going to die, we will find the jinchuriki, and you will give me Kosuke's location. You have no control over any of that, so put aside any delusions of protecting your village. The one thing you can choose is whether you die quick and fast or slow and painful. If you tell me how to find Kosuke -and don't bother lying I can tell if you're being dishonest- I will grant you a quick painless death. If not… well I have enough torture experience under my belt to make these last few hours of yours a living hell."

"You'd like that wouldn't you? You sadistic little psychopath!" Tenryu spat.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"Do you… do you actually think I want to torture you?" She laughed, and somehow that was scarier than all her previous threats. "Who do you think actually wants to do these things? I don't even want to kill you, but I need that information. I don't expect you to understand, but please, make the smart choice."

The gleam in her eyes was both manic and desperate, and with slowly creeping horror Tenryu realised that this little girl was insane. Somehow that made her even more terrifying. Why was she even doing this?

"I'm sorry kid, but Kosuke is my friend. I refuse to willingly sell him out."

She stared at him for a few seconds then shrugged, so nonchalant that the change in tone startled him.

"Suit yourself." She reached behind her and unrolled a set of needles, all coated with different liquids. "I won't apologize for this. I told you what your options were and you made your choice."

She selected the smallest needle, and Tenryu closed his eyes.

"Sasuke! Sasuke hey, wait up bastard!"

Sasuke turned around and glared at Naruto, but that was how Sasuke usually greeted him so he didn't let it deter him.

"Go away dobe, I'm not interested in a fight. Let me train in peace."

"No, no I'm not here for a fight." Naruto paused. "I mean, if you want one, sure I'd love to wipe the floor with you, but-"

"Get to the point."

Naruto scowled, but obliged.

"I need to talk to you about our mission to protect the bridge builder."

Sasuke eyed him, cautious. His wariness gave Naruto hope.

"What about?"

"The girl. The one who attacked Kakashi-sensei. Do you know her?"

"What?" Sasuke snapped. "That's ridiculous; I've never met her before in my life! I don't even know her name."

"But you have a connection with her." Naruto pressed.

"You're talking nonsense dobe. Did you hit your head during training?"

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, placing his hands on the other boy's shoulders. "You don't have to deny it, at least not to me. You're not crazy for feeling like you know her, and you're definitely not alone."

There was silence for a minute, and Naruto watched the emotions play out on Sasuke's face.

"How did you know?" Sasuke said at last.

"Because you and Ino might just have this weird sense of familiarity, but she's been haunting me for years. I used to see her when I looked at Kaori, or back at the Academy she was always near either you or Ino. That's how I know."

Sasuke's face grew paler.

"What the hell is going on?" he hissed, clutching his head. "My gut kept telling me there was something wrong with Kaori, and that the girl trying to kill us was actually our ally, but I had to ignore my suspicions because there was no logic behind them. Naruto, what is this?"

"There's nothing wrong with Kaori." Naruto replied. "Except that this ghost girl seems to think that she should be on Team 7 instead."

"But she's our enemy." Sasuke said. "She tried to kill Kakashi-sensei, so why would she want to take Kaori's place? How is she even doing this, affecting our thoughts and emotions? I felt like this before I even met her."

"I've felt like this for years." Naruto said reassuringly. "And Ino's in on it too, around the same level of weird instincts as you. We still don't know exactly why it's happening, but I don't think the girl is the one doing it. Something else is going on, and maybe if you talked to Ino the three of us could try and figure it out."

Sasuke mulled it over, to the point that Naruto started growing impatient. It was a yes or no kind of choice; Sasuke's decision making skills should be quicker than this.

"Fine." Sasuke said at last. "I'll talk to Ino; make sure this isn't some elaborate prank you're pulling."

"Like you're worth the effort." Naruto shot back, but there was a grin on his face and no bite to his words.

Never in a million years would Naruto have thought he'd be grateful to Sasuke. If miracles like that could happen, maybe solving the mystery of the ghost girl was also possible.

"So what's the new member like?"

Sakura watched in the mirror as Konan glanced over at Itachi while her scissors hovered below Sakura's hair.

"Violent and psychopathic." Itachi replied quietly, leaning against the dresser near the door. "His main goal in life seems to be to kill people for the sake of his god."

"He'll fit in nicely then." Sakura said dryly, causing Konan to smirk slightly.

"I've a feeling you two will either get on great or it'll be another Sasori case." she said.

"Hopefully the former."

It would probably be option two. While her image as a sociopathic killer brought great amusement to some of the openly bloodthirsty members like Kisame or Deidara, Sakura preferred spending time with the more restrained members like Konan and Itachi. Clearly, they felt the same way, as Itachi was spending his free time on the base watching Konan trim Sakura's hair and discussing various pieces of information relevant to the Akatsuki.

Of course, Sakura wasn't delusional. There was no doubt that Konan and Itachi had just as much blood on their hands as the other Akatsuki members. But they hid it well, and Sakura appreciated that, because it meant that she could have conversations that didn't revolve around torture, extortion or killing.

Konan had always been the member with the most stable temperament, least likely to lash out at Sakura just because she felt like it. But Itachi had surprised her. Once he'd gotten over whatever had initially bothered him about Sakura, he made a habit of interacting with her whenever he was on base. He was surprisingly gentle, but also very robotic.

As long as she didn't think about the fact that he'd snapped and murdered his entire clan, she could almost relax around him.

"Are you planning on introducing yourself to him, Sakura-san?" Itachi asked.

Sakura and Konan both froze at his words.

Itachi knew that Sakura was only a weapon, yet he never failed to address her politely. Thankfully Pein had never overheard, but even though it was nice to be considered worthy of respect, the politeness never failed to put Sakura on edge. Pretending she was a human being with autonomy had never ended well for her, so every time Itachi asked her if she wanted to train with him she always reminded him that the choice was entirely up to him. Nonetheless, he persisted with the manners.

As shinobi tics went it was far from the worst one. After a second of surprise Konan continued snipping away at Sakura's hair, uninterested in challenging Itachi's eccentricities.

"You can if you want Sakura, but he'll probably try and kill you." she said.

"Well someone tries to kill me at least once a week, and yet I'm still here."

Konan gave her another almost-smile and put the scissors down. Sakura examined her hair in the mirror and nodded. Since the day they'd found her she'd always had it just above shoulder length. Changing her hairstyle was not something a weapon would care to do as long as it didn't interfere with the mission.

She pushed herself off her chair and gave Konan a quick bow.

"So Pein told us that he's an immortal, homicidal maniac, but is there anything else I should know before I find our new member? Any jutsu he has that could catch me off guard?"

"His main weapon is a scythe, and if he cuts you with that you're dead. In order to please his god he takes his victims blood and performs a ritual to Jashin that acts as a jutsu. He stabs himself through the heart and it kills his victim, while he survives."

"So as long as he doesn't cut me I should be alright."

"Be careful."

"I'll be fine. This Hidan, he's the final member correct? The jinchuriki hunt will be the main focus now?"

"Correct."

Sakura nodded and moved towards the door.

"I'll try to make a good impression."

Ame, Hidan decided, was a boring little village.

Sure they had all those tall buildings and creepy architecture, but once you got over the eeriness you realised that everything here was so fucking gloomy. It was mind numbingly dull here, and despite it only being two days since his arrival he'd already gotten cabin fever.

Obviously, the only way to brighten the mood was to sacrifice a few heathens to Jashin-sama. The Leader had warned him not to kill any of his fellow Akatsuki members, who apparently all wore the same black and red uniform like some half-assed alternative band. The uniform definitely fit with the overall depressing aesthetics of the group; that was for sure.

He wasn't supposed to kill his fellow members, but the leader hadn't mentioned sparing anyone else. Hidan had decided to hunt around for some sacrifices, but it wasn't looking good. So far, he'd only found one miserable janitor, who hadn't even seemed shocked or scared.

"My wife told me not to take the job." he informed Hidan before he died. "She told me that the pay wasn't worth the risk of working with you freaks. But even now I don't regret it, not when I made enough money to buy a whore every Friday night."

"You're taking all the fun out of this." Hidan complained, stabbing himself through the chest.

Once he'd finished the ritual and left the mess for the new janitor to clean up, he'd continued on his way. Lord Jashin craved far more than one measly offering.

Turning a corner, Hidan grinned at what lay in front of him: A small pink haired girl, wearing a black t-shirt, shorts and shinobi sandals. Although Hidan couldn't see a hitai-ate, she looked like a genin to him.

He licked his lips as she turned around to face him with curious eyes. He could practically taste her blood, hear her dying screams.

Oh this was going to be a good one.

"Hey kid, are you interested in the teachings of Jashin-sama?"

She blinked at him, then bowed.

"You must be Hidan-sama, the new Akatsuki member. Welcome."

Being a member seemed to carry a lot of prestige in the village, but a little respect wasn't enough to save this kid.

"Thank you. Now do me a favour and stay still. I've got a sacrifice to make."

Unsurprisingly, the little fucker didn't stay still. She leapt away as he swung his scythe, and he cut nothing but air.

What was surprising was the sudden pain he felt just below his eye. He reached up and touched the pommel of something... a kunai?

"What the fuck!" he shrieked. "Did you just try and blind me, you little shit?"

"While Pein-sama told me that you were immortal, he didn't tell me if things like your eyes healed back after serious injury. In order not to damage an Akatsuki member I aimed a warning shot below your eye." She bowed again. "I apologize, but i cannot let you kill me unless you have permission from Pein-sama. While I am not allowed to kill you unless you betray the organization, I can restrain you using as much force as I deem necessary."

Her words were robotic and scripted, but there was a hint of smugness in her tone that let Hidan know that the little brat was toying with him.

"Just who the fuck are you kid?"

She straightened up and met his angry eyes with her cool green ones.

"My name is Sakura. I'm a weapon of the Akatsuki."

"So that means you're not a member, right? Because Pein only said I couldn't kill members."

"I won't let you kill me Hidan-sama." She took a few steps back and opened a door near the end of the corridor. "But I think I have something that should entertain you."

He took off after her as she walked inside. Regardless of what she was offering, he wasn't going to let her get away. Not when Jashin-sama was growing louder, demanding more blood.

"Listen here, Sakura-" he paused when he saw what was inside the room. Two grown men, tied up, bloody and wet from both tears and urine, judging by the smell. They looked like they'd been tortured, but they were still alive.

"Pein-sama told me that there were two moles among the Ame chunin. I promised him I'd flush them out and bring him their heads, but severing a head from a neck is so messy and time-consuming. Would you like to help me? You can sacrifice them both to your god first."

A grin stretched it's way across Hidan's face, the widest one he'd wore since arriving at this shithole. The man closest to him began trying to wriggle away, but he hooked his scythe between the ropes to stop him.

"You know kid, I still think you'd make an excellent sacrifice, but I also feel like we're going to get along just fine."