AN: sorry for the long wait, but I have been getting major writers block recently, and I wasn't happy with the first version of this chapter, so I re-wrote it. Anyway, I'm going on holiday tomorrow, so there won't be any updates for a while, but I'll try as soon as I get back!
Sarcasm isn't an attitude, it's an ART.
Tsunade hand itched to reach out for the Sake in her desk draw. And she would've done, had Shizune not been breathing down her neck at that moment.
"Tsunade," said Shizune warningly, as she saw her hand twitch slightly.
Tsunade sent her a grumpy look and slumped down in her chair, with the air of a six year old having just been told off by their mother.
"Politics works better with alcohol," she muttered irritably.
"No, alcohol makes you forget about the paperwork that you should have done yesterday," rebuked Shizune, dumping a pile of paperwork in front of her "and the paperwork you should have done today." She proceeded to deposit a slightly larger pile on her desk.
Tsunade shot an evil glare at the paperwork, muttering mutinously "It would be so much easier if Sakura was here."
"Yes, but she's in hospital," said Shizune testily "And I don't mean to nag, but you really need to-"
She was interrupted by a sudden sound of frenetic knocking on the door, accompanied by panicked voices.
Tsunade stood up quickly as the door burst open, the four ANBU who tumbled through it not waiting for admission.
"What is the meaning of this?" she said austerely, narrowing her eyes at the audacious ANBUs in front of her "Why are you-"
"Hokage-sama- Akatsuki- in the-village," interrupted one of them, breathing in short rasps, trying to catch his breath.
"What?" she said sharply, striding over to the young ninja, who was still breathing heavily.
"Akatsuki- all of them- the gates," he said in between breaths.
Tsunade looked quickly over at Shizune, who wore a mixture of shock and panic on her face.
"Shizune, sound the alarms, then go over to the hospital and state the situation. You four-" she turned to face the ANBUs "I want you to alert all Chuunin, Jounins and the rest of the ANBU as to what is going on. Tell them to congregate at the gate."
Tsunade watched them as they disappeared, before turning to Shizune, who looked terrified. She nodded to her quickly, giving her a sign of dismissal, and watched as Shizune walked quickly out the door.
Deidara yawned, plopping himself down on a low wall and stretching his arms above his head. Kisame followed his example, but not without grumbling, "That was almost too easy. We practically just walked in. I thought you said this was hard, Konan."
Konan shot him a nasty look in answer, to which he promptly shut up.
"The alarm hasn't even gone off yet," stated Sasori contemptuously, leaning casually against the gate wall.
"This is fucking boring," muttered Hidan. "We didn't even get to kill anyone."
"We aren't here to kill anyone," hissed Pein "So when they finally show up, please try not to. That goes for all of you, especially you Deidara. If you even touch your clay without my express-"
His lecture was drowned by the sudden blare of wailing sirens that announced their discovery.
"Ah," said Konan, examining her nails "the alarms."
"About bloody time too," grumbled Kazuku.
"Do you reckon they'll be here soon, yeah?" asked Deidara "Because I'm really hungry, yeah."
"It would be you, Deidara," said Konan disdainfully, rolling her eyes.
Pein rubbed his forehead, ignoring the screams of the panicked villagers with ease. It was a sound he had grown accustomed to. Over the noises of terror, he heard a slight whooshing sound somewhere near him. Looking up lazily, he brought his hand up, catching the Kunai that had been headed straight for his forehead. Really, they would have to do better than that.
Within seconds, the Akatsuki were surrounded by a colossal amount of leaf nins, all in fighting stance with their Kunais drawn and pointing at them.
None of the Akatsukis even bothered to move, save for Deidara, who stifled yet another yawn.
"Hello, hello," muttered Konan under her breath, still examining her nails.
She had been tempted to just grab Haruno and run, and then get Deidara to blow the place to smithereens, but no, Madara and Pein had insisted they do it the old fashioned way. They were meant to be turning over a new leaf, she supposed, but still, doing it Deidara's way would have been so much easier. The only problem was, they wanted Haruno to come willingly, and not try to escape, and she doubted blowing up her village and possibly killing all of her friends would put them in her good books. Well, at least they had a fail-safe back up plan.
She looked up at all the Leaf nins, who were currently shooting each other confused looks, evidently wondering why the Akatsuki, who were supposed to be attacking them with ferocity, explosive clay, cannibals and Kami knows what else, were lounging around the gate, looking frankly disinterested with the whole situation.
Suddenly the leaf nins tight formation was broken as they parted way for their Hokage, who strode through, accompanied by a horde of ANBU.
"We'll not give you Naruto!" she said fiercely, watching Pein with narrowed eyes as he strolled towards her, looking around at the Kohona ninjas bearing down upon him as if they were scenery.
"The Kyuubi?" said Pein lazily, as he reached her "Who said anything about him?"
He watched with satisfaction as he saw the momentary confusion flicker across her face, before the expression was replaced with one of mixed determination and anger.
"We'd like to propose a deal," he continued, his tone becoming more business-like.
There was an outbreak of whispering as he uttered the words. Apparently, this was not what Kohona had been expecting.
"A deal?" said Tsunade blankly, looking up at Pein.
"One that involves the Kyuubi," he continued on, in his same matter-of-fact tone.
"Absolutely not!" said Tsunade at once, flaring up again.
"You haven't even heard our proposal yet," said Pein impatiently.
"We are not giving you-!"
"I haven't asked for him, nor do I want him," said Pein clearly, just so everyone could hear. "But, if you make this difficult, I will take him. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, it's your choice. Either way, I will get what I want, so it makes no difference to me."
There was immediate silence at his words. Pein looked down at the Hokage, who looked angry, but slightly apprehensive as well. Good. She would finally listen to him.
"As I was saying," he continued "I would like to propose an exchange. We will leave the Kyuubi alone, give up our hunt for all the demons, and leave Kohona and all of its citizens alone, if you will hand over Haruno Sakura."
From the moment the alarms had sounded Sakura had been on high alert. She was now in full gear, and ready to fight in case of disaster. She vaguely remembered nurses coming in and trying to usher her back to bed, pleading her to stay in her room, but she had ignored them. They apparently knew what was going on, but seemed unwilling to tell her, so she would just have to find out for herself.
She sped over the rooftops, towards the gates. She remembered one of the nurses whispering something about that to another, so she would try there first. She looked down at the streets, seeing them completely devoid of people. It must be something big.
She winced in pain as she felt her stomach twinge. It still wasn't entirely healed yet, but Sakura didn't really understand why she couldn't leave the damn hospital and go home. Sakura could just finish the treatment herself. It wasn't as if it was difficult, and she was a fully qualified medic after all.
As she neared her destination, she was able to make out a large group of shinobi, all apparently grouped around a few people. Her eyes narrowing, she picked up her pace, ignoring the growing pain in her stomach.
"What?"
"Haruno Sakura."
The Hokage looked flabbergasted at his words, her mouth open in shock.
"Why Sakura?" she asked. "What has she done to you?"
"Nothing, as of yet," Pein said calmly "But why we want her is not important. I can assure you that we won't kill her, nor will we deliberately harm her in any way."
After a moment of stunned silence, she asked "Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"I guarantee you it isn't," he said calmly "I have given you my terms. Will you agree?"
"And if I don't?"
Pein stared at her for a second, before turning to look pointedly at Deidara, who smirked at the Hokage and said "Yo"
"You wouldn't," she hissed, catching his plain signal.
He shrugged, saying carelessly "It wouldn't be any hardship for us. I told you, Tsunade, I will get what I came for, whichever way you choose to do things."
"You aren't leaving me with a choice," she said harshly, although Pein could hear the hidden anxiety in her tone.
"You never had one," he said bluntly. "Now, if you would be so kind as to fetch Haruno..."
AN: please review!