(A/N: Thanks for my first review! :] I'm getting the hang of this story thing. Enjoy! Like I did oh and sorry for the confusion between the italics and regular, there was meant to be a line break between them separating.)
Back in Konoha.
Sai was just now informed by Ino what had happened to a member of his team, immediately he felt almost as they did: hopeless. That was until he remembered something… and smiled big.
Naruto looked at Sai, he still had a long ways to go before learning the wrong and right time to smile, he scoffed and looked away. "How can you still smile after knowing what happened?"
"Because I know that we'll think of a plan soon enough to save her, that's why we're all here right? This is a meeting and we're all going to think of what to do, so I'm smiling because I'm happy that we're a team that refuses to give up even if it cost our lives, I haven't been a part of here for so long but I'm happy because I learn friendship better from you all better than any book"
Everyone was shocked by his response, no one really knew what they were doing here; sure a pursuit was on everyone's mind but the given circumstances and recent events it was hard to think about,
"Sai's right…if we take any longer and we'll never hear the end of it from her on how slow we took besides it shouldn't be hard to find her, you could see that forehead for miles." Ino giggled remembering her friend's short temper.
Everybody turned to Shikamaru and Neji in hopes they had a plan, they were notably the Group's geniuses.
Someone let out a big obvious sigh, "As troublesome as it is we can't pursue her without The Hokage's orders. Plus besides that we wouldn't know where to look." He glanced over at the Hyugas, Kiba and Shino, "Konoha's eyes, nose, and specialty, in other words our best tracking team even lost her completely…Also, we all know Sakura's pretty strong and can hold her own. She would have never let herself be taken hostage so easily, which could also mean that she might've been defea-"
"Shut up, there's no way… No way can she be…" He muttered, "She should have people that care about her come and help her, if you don't care then don't come." Naruto stopped in silence and clenched his fists, ultimately causing Shikamaru to stop talking.
He had obviously worded this all wrong, he unintentionally just degraded Hinata, Neji, Shino and Kiba's ability and unintentionally tried to make his comrades give up. He stopped completely after seeing the anger and sadness his words caused among his comrades, he sighed 'I ended up making it more troublesome than to begin with' he thought.
"That's not it, what I'm trying to say is…" He really had no idea what he was trying to say, he wanted to get Sakura back as much as they did, they just had to be reasonable. He hesitated then felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Kakashi who then gave him a slight nod as if to say 'I'll take it from here'.
"What Shikamaru is trying to say is that something like this was bound to happen, we're Shinobi after all. We all did exceptional on an S-Rank mission considering there was only one casualty but one thing for sure is they won't kill her yet and she won't go down so easily, there's time."
Kakashi had a habit of appearing out of nowhere; Shikamaru felt reassured but was that really what he was trying to say?
The group silenced, no one wanted to waste time but yet no one was eager to disrespect their Sensei.
That was until Naruto pointed at the memorial stone that was a short distance away
This memorial stone honored names of fallen Shinobi who have been died in action, Naruto remembers the first time he ever learned its purpose. Kakashi was seen standing before it often, before explaining to his students that it listed all the names of those he loved, those he regretted he couldn't save.
"That's where her name will end up too… if we don't do something, we can't waste time." He stammered
Kakashi stared at the stone before returning his attention back to Naruto.
'Nothing's changed' Kakashi thought. He could tell Naruto kept the lesson he had taught his students at this training ground as his personal value.
Kakashi sighed in defeat and looked over at Shikamaru
"I guess I better run it by the Fifth" He sighed before withdrawing in a cloud of smoke.
Shikamaru couldn't help but grin, knowing from the start that it was impossible to convince them otherwise.
"Any information anybody has about the Akatsuki is valuable as of now".
With that, the team relayed information from experience, studies or just rumors leading to:
Sasori: Shows his expertise in Puppetry as said by Sakura and Kankuro, It's been noted he had a technique that could control others acting as spies or to his own personal purpose. The sand had council members that were victimized as well as Kabuto for a short period.
Hidan and Kakuzu: The immortals, Hidan who couldn't be killed and Kakuzu who contained 5 chakra natures within 5 hearts. It was best to separate this duo if they were to ever run into them.
Itachi: Notorious for Genjutsu and his strength, encountering him was likely as he was a former Konoha Shinobi.
Deidara: Explosive kekkei genkai from clay, which seemed to detonate at his command. It's said that his explosives can be diffused with a lightning technique.
Kisame: The tail-less beast, had incredible chakra and strength. A swordsman commonly seen alongside Itachi
These are the results that would they could all use to their advantage
Now the group had intel about the organization's strengths and (some) weaknesses. Shikamaru felt responsible for conjuring up a plan and formation. There was pressure especially still remembering about his failure to bring back Sasuke, and those guys weren't even Akatsuki. Still they were all stronger now, and maybe he could make up for it.
He always thought of strategies as a game of Shogi, as the game required a unique strategy against a different opponent. You never act without acknowledging your other pieces; it was essential, as for one wrong move could leave others vulnerable. Before he planned formation he forgot to ask the most important part of understanding the enemy.
"Out of everyone why would they choose Sakura? It can't just be because she's exceptionally close to Naruto, I'm sure if any one of us were in her situation there wouldn't be a difference." He asked
Neji looked up towards his team, "It's obvious, it's because she's…"
Sakura
"The disciple of a Sannin/Hokage, student to the famous Copycat ninja, Best friends to Konoha's Jinchuuriki, and former teammate to the Uchiha Clan's survivor" Sasori recited, "I haven't forgot about you, and as I can also recall we have unfinished business."
He crouched down to face the Kunoichi, her eyes refused to meet his turning her gaze towards the ground.
She smirked, "You're better off killing me now if you think you're going to get any information out of me."
Sasori grabbed a fistful of the girl's hair and forced her to look at him, "What makes you think we want you for your intelligence? It seems that's the last thing you have by the way you're talking to me." He had the perfect chance to just kill her here rather than be disrespected.
"Sasori, remember the orders." A voice from behind them nagged, resulting in Sasori's grip on her hair to loosen.
'I forgot there were others, this must betheirhideout. Also orders from who? Were they orders to keep me alive?' Questions started to fill her mind; unlike earlier she hoped this time her friends were coming to save her.
She jerked her head away to withdraw from his hold, "My team should be on the way here now, and I'll be positive about your death" She mocked, she knew she sounded a little too confident in what she really believed.
"Your friends huh… Well I'm still alive" He joked and then stood up, "They gave up days ago, didn't they Deidara?"
Deidara stepped forward having been the other voice she had just heard
He looked over at his partner and then towards the girl, who was staring at him in disbelief. He was confused, this was the girl that his partner had trouble with?
What was Sasori doing actually wasting time? Sasori was the definition of the word hypocrite. All his partner had to do was bury her current memories or whatever he did and then start the lies! It was pointless this way, but yet he decided to give in. Whatever, he could just use this as leverage.
He put on a smirk and nodded, "He's right, I hear it was good battle too I'm pretty pissed I didn't get to join – un"
'Days passed?' She initially thought they were lying but there would be no way to actually tell. She was in a cave, with no sunlight and had been unconscious multiple times. She lost herself in her thought trying to think about the well-being of her teammates, were they okay? Why'd they retreat? Why'd they leave her here…
The two Akatsuki members glanced at each other and nodded with a grin after seeing the Kunoichi clearly distressed now would be the perfect time to do it, Sasori waved a few hand signs before:
"Sennō Sōsa no Jutsu!"
(A/N: It wasn't said how this Jutsu actually worked so I just compared to to Ino's. Oh and it basically means brainwash/sleeper jutsu :p )
The thoughts started fading from her head causing her to relax; she quickly looked down to see if it was possible she was losing consciousness from reopening a wound again then forgot what she was looking for. Upon panicking and trying to hold a grip onto reality confusion overtook her until it was all unclear.
'Who are they? Why are they smiling at me? Why am I in pain?' Was all she could think about.
"Took you long enough Sasori, jeez this was all you had to do and here you were wasting everyone's time, I swear next time I'll just take my sweet ass time on the next mission and-"
Deidara stopped clearly realizing he was being ignored and sighed.
"There's a reason in everything, start appreciating what I do. I was seeing what was important to her and what wasn't. I didn't let her forget everything." He retorted which lead to a small argument between the two.
She had no idea what they were talking about but upon hearing arguing made her uneasy, a feeling that felt eerily familiar like as if she was once with two people who would constantly argue and disagree. 'What were their names again…?'
"I'm sure there's other ways to get that Naruto brat anyways –un"
Hearing that name made her light up, 'That's right! His name was Naruto! The other one was…" She eventually gave up as it was too hard to remember she focused on what she already knew and asked
"What about Naruto?" She called out distracting the two from their conversation
"You idiot you actually let her remember that-"Deidara was shoved before he could continue
"You don't remember?" Of course she didn't his jutsu should be flawless, but he had to be sure that he hadn't underestimated her again and have it lead to future trouble.
She shook her head and stared unknowingly at the stranger before her
"Did you save me? My arm and my head hurts" She looked down examining her body, "Oh you stitched and treated my wounds! You must have saved me, thank you. But what happened? I heard you say Naruto, where is he?"
Sasori crouched down to eye level with her again this time taking a different approach, instead of grabbing her hair he stroked it calmingly and smiled back at her.
"I take it you don't remember why you're with the Akatsuki…" He whispered.
Deidara let out a grunt, he kind of understood why he would let her somehow remember Naruto but why let her know we're the Akatsuki
'Akatsuki?' The word alone bothered her, 'I don't know why I have a bad feeling right now but I should be fine, besides they helped me and they're the only ones that can answer my questions.'
"I know you helped me but why?" she looked eye to eye with the red haired man as he stroked her hair.
"We passed by seeing your team in battle on our way to completing a mission, upon returning we saw you alone, in a state worse than you are now. We just decided to just take you back and treat you, as it would be cruel to leave you how you were; even for us Akatsuki."
He was one hell of a liar, the Akatsuki doesn't give a damn about anyone's well-being besides their own and their on some cases their partners. He even put on a concerned expression in front of her just to add a touch.
"So they all left me then huh…so I was basically abandoned…." she couldn't remember how her team thought of her but it obviously wasn't as important considering she was left behind apparently dying she couldn't help but let this anger her.
"Think of it as sacrifice for the better, we actually care about you –un" Deidara answered rejoining the conversation. This was the real mission he agreed upon.
"You guys care about me?"
"Why would we take you back and treat you if we didn't care about you –un"
'Did Sasori's jutsu erase her common sense too?' he thought.
"So what happens to me next?" Sakura really didn't want to return to people who didn't care about her.
She heard footsteps along with a new voice approaching, "That's up to you, tell me out loud all you remember about yourself and you should be able to figure it out."
Sasori and Deidara knew someone was sent to check the status of the current mission they were assigned.
"Well okay… My name's Sakura Haruno, I'm from Konoha. I was sacrificed on a mission with my former comrades to the Akatsuki. I'm practically dead, and I still don't know… what I'll do next…"
"If you don't know what you'll do next, why don't you stay with us? Consider us your new team–un"
She looked up and smiled at her new comrades
"My name's Sakura Haruno, I'm from Konoha. I was sacrificed on a mission by people who don't care about me for the better. I'm not dead, and I found people who care about me. I'll become a part of The Akatsuki"
A pair of crimson eyes appeared before her before passing glances at Sasori and Deidara.
"You did better than expected." He said to the two, "All of you come with me."
Something about this guy seemed so familiar to her, his eyes? No it's more than that, as if she knows him from somewhere… she felt really comfortable being around him for some reason. Like as if she were safe, she concluded that she was overthinking since she felt safe with all of them individually anyways but she didn't even know their names.'Names could wait.' she nodded to herself
She stood quickly doubling over with pain forgetting about her injuries, quickly being grabbed before hitting the ground.
It was the guy with the red hair, "Thanks… um…"
"Sasori", he said pointing at himself in a stern voice before pointing at his partner with the name of Deidara.
She repeated the names in her head as she was told them, the new names of her comrades. Sakura looked at the guy with the crimson eyes, she really wanted to know his name. "And you're…?"
"We'll finish introductions with the others, come quickly" He replied
Sakura started walking alongside them eventually falling behind, her injuries exhausted her. She didn't want to hinder them so she held her breath and endured the pain.
They must have known she was struggling, a small bird made of what seemed to be clay flew under her relieving her from walking the rest of the way and was flown to catch up to the rest of her team.
Deidara turned and gave her a smile and she assumed it was his bird.
'They must really care about me'.
(A/N: I had a really hard time with this chapt. Surprisingly :O, it's probably changed like 3 times and I'm glad on the way this turned out hope you enjoy !)
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