….
Kaguya pitched a blue manual at Sakura's head.
Sakura caught it with ease, but scowled. "Is this how all grand masters pass on new material to their pupils?"
Kaguya smiled coyly and said nothing.
"What's this?" She asked, examining the cover. After a moment of close inspection, Sakura settled her gaze back on the co-conspirator inside her mindscape. Then, back to the cover, which read: "Null Step".
"This isn't a jutsu, is it?"
Kaguya shifted to lean against a tree that mimicked those of Konoha.
Far from it, little one. Now that you have a solid foundation, you must commit yourself to learning how to wield your qi. This is a technique. Not that it matters, but these types of powers do not require handsigns, but instead the redirection and manipulation of your qi,—which is, essentially, your divine consciousness incarnate. Instead of your divine consciousness mimicking what you wish to manifest, these manuals will bring about the real thing. They will be a boon to you on your mission. On our mission.
Sakura nodded thoughtfully. She decided to begin at the beginning. "What is qi?"
Kaguya seemed to acknowledge this as an appropriate starting point as she allowed the question.
Qi is the boundless energy of life itself. Only the most true will connect deeply to their qi and alight the fire within. Your enemy is ruthless and unpredictable.
Kaguya paced in front of Sakura, hands clasped behind her, as she instructed:
Disadvantage can be turned to advantage. Five ounces can move a thousand pounds.
"What exactly is the 'null step' technique?"
The volume was written in Chinese. Not unusual for Kaguya, but definitely strange for anyone else.
While it's true that you can erase your chakra signature or quiet your presence, this technique allows the user to walk without leaving any trace of themselves behind,—probably most effective in snowy or generally layered terrains. It's handy if you're on the run, as well. You will leave no footprints as you walk; as if you were never there.
Sakura grinned, satisfied. "At your command, Kaguya-sama," she teased lightly.
And thus Sakura, under the tutelage of Kaguya, began to master the "null step" technique.
….
Uchiha Sasuke dreamt of her every night. A never ending tapestry of moments slowed down, because they hadn't had enough time together,—not nearly enough, not ever enough. Sakura surely didn't know it, but he'd gained a new tomoe in his Sharingan the night she'd left. It hadn't been fair, he often ruminated to himself, the way life had pulled them apart. It made the Uchiha's teeth grind.
It was the profound feeling of loss mirrored by hope, hope that it would all work out in the end between himself and Sakura… between Sakura and her destiny. During his reflections, he'd noticed the way Sakura was always the first shinobi on the ground, the one to clash with the enemy first… as if she had no fear of death.
The thought made him tsk. Sasuke knew she was more than capable, but the state in which Sakura had left Konoha was a sorry one. The moment he'd seen Kakashi's face twist at the sight of her. Not to mention that Sakura had departed slowly and on foot,—not something that fell in her regular pattern of behavior. He was awash with all-too-familiar emotions,—grief, worry, anxiety, and the terrible desire to grow stronger. Alongside his best friend, that blonde haired bastard.
I wouldn't have made it… I would have cracked by now without Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, thought Sasuke.
He frowned when he thought of Sai. Though he had joined the team under Sakura's person recommendation, he seemed not to know her. According to Sasuke's intel, they hadn't even met.
So, why him?
Sasuke flipped over in the bed, kicking his sheet off as he fell back into the resting state, during which Elder Sasuke revealed moments between himself and Sakura from their lives together.
Will I ever recover the chance to be with Sakura again? Sasuke hated to even consider that it was over between them. She had promised to return. He hated unfinished business.
Deep roots are not withered by frost, commented Elder Sasuke.
He shifted onto his side, away from the partially opened window.
Show me a memory that doesn't involve me being a total and complete asshole to her, thought Sasuke tartly.
Elder Sasuke's chuckle echoed across his mind.
Sure, little one. Would you like to see our reunion during the Fourth Shinobi War, when Sakura achieves her Byakugou Seal and summons the great Slug Queen, Katsuyu, saving the shinobi alliance?
Yes, I'd like to see that one… Sasuke murmured drowsily as he succumbed to the night.
The battle had been long. There were endless bodies on the field and Zetsu had summoned an army of formidable clones to defeat the alliance,—in fact, I looked back for a moment to see Hyuuga Hinata using her clan's 64 trigrams technique on a single clone; my point is, each one of these clones was strong. It was a moment of true despair for the allied nations. Naruto and I ran ahead and leapt into the din. We both felt a terrifying pulse of an enormous amount of chakra behind us. One of Zetsu's clones whirred past our periphery and into the chaos of battle. A blur of pink launched into the air, fist cocked back, as Sakura released her war cry "Shanarrrooo" and reshaped the landscape in one punch…
…
The Akatsuki seemed to be colleagues more than friends, but Sakura appeared to be the exception. She treated each member with the sarcasm and kindness of the family she had proclaimed to join when she burst through their doors and demanded a combat trial.
"Right, we're going to need a new hall, aren't we?" Sakura spoke with all the reckless abandon of a young teenager, and if the group hadn't seen, hadn't felt Deidara's bloody remains rain down on them after he lost, they would never have believed it.
"Given that you destroyed it, yes," deadpanned Pein.
"Not a problem, Leader-sama. May I have the honor?"
He nodded as the rest of the group watched on.
Sakura pictured the wooden structure in her mind, adding some intricate design work for the sake of prestige, before her hands slapped the ground and a mid-sized, two story building rose from the ground like an onion shoot rising toward the sun.
"There we go," said Sakura, dusting off dirt from her hands on her cloak. "What do you think?"
Her mokuton ability was still a surprise and mystery to her "fellows". Moments of silence followed and Sakura's eyebrows drew together and she frowned slightly.
"Well?"
"Ahem," coughed Pein, rinnegan eyes narrowing. "You've done well, Sakura-chan."
Sakura-chan? she thought, bewildered. I probably just remind them of the precious people they lost before ending up here. Another death that became their own, individual, villain origin stories.
Konan approached her and patted her on the head. "That's right, Sakura-chan. It's much prettier than the last one."
Sakura smiled brightly at Konan. She tugged on Konan's sleeve like a puppy asking for pets. "Really?"
'This one is weak to emotion. She is lonely,'surmised Sakura.
It's true; she could take up the role of older sister. She seems amenable to it.
Sakura turned to face the Akatsuki.
"I'm sorry for destroying your house. Hopefully, this will be a home to us."
Hidan went to speak,—there was no home between these individuals, between hardened criminals who cared only for themselves, who united only under the banner of mutual benefit, violence and murder,—but Konan slapped a hand over his mouth.
Konan nodded, allowing a mild smile to cross her face.
"That's a lovely sentiment, Sakura-chan." Konan looked at Pein, and he nodded. "It's time to receive your first mission. Sakura-chan, Itachi, and Kisame. Follow Pein inside please."
….
Pein leaned against the table as he looked sideways, rifling through different contracts, no doubt.
"So, now that I'm in the Akatsuki…. What do we actually do?" Sakura asked with a look of bored innocence.
"Well… we often lend our services out for money," Kisame chimed in.
Pein stopped sifting through the papers. "I have a mission for you, Sakura-chan. Itachi and Kisame will observe and play their parts in the espionage portion of this task."
Sakura nodded eagerly, looking expectant, so Pein continued.
"You will be disguised as a member of a prestigious dancing troupe, traveling with the Cloud Daimyo. He is traveling to Stone in order to negotiate a mutually beneficial peace accord between the two nations. Such a treaty would be highly disadvantageous to the Land of Mist, so they have hired us to imposter as Cloud's entertainment, before murdering the Daimyo and framing Stone. Leave none of your pursuers alive. Surely this is manageable for one such as your self, Sakura-chan. Is it not?"
Pein lifted his head, expecting to see dismay, only to be met with Sakura's calm visage. He clicked his tongue.
"You may not change your appearance. This is not just your first mission. It is also your debut."
Sakura's eyebrow twitched.
Ah, there.
She smiled elegantly and lowered into a deep, Western curtsy, hands elegantly grasping the fabric of the cloak that marked her as a member of the Akatsuki. "It's no problem, Leader-sama." The light in her viridian orbs danced with amusement. "I am truly eager to exceed your expectations."
….
Their first task was meeting with the client. Under the cover of night, the trio made their way towards the meeting point; an inn halfway between Mist and Cloud. The masked shinobi entered their private room to find an unusual sight: three shinobi wearing black cloaks with red clouds sewn into the fabric. A clan-killer, a shark, and a girl with… pink hair?
In these meetings only two things were exchanged: money and information. One masked man stepped forward and bowed. "We hail from the Village Hidden in the Mist. We are your contractors."
Itachi nodded. Apparently this level of secrecy was normal between clients, or… The Akatsuki already had the information they needed on this group.
They don't really seem like the reckless type, thought Sakura of the Akatsuki. She snapped back to reality when she heard the elegant pitch of Itachi's introductions.
"That's Kisame," Itachi made a slight gesture towards his blue, shark-like teammate, who was playing chess with Sakura in the southeastern corner of the room. The lumbering man of blue narrowed his eyes in frustration. Itachi continued: "He's the one getting beaten and the one doing the beating is Sakura."
Sakura smirked at this; there was something relaxing about their camaraderie already, in a way the ambiance between Team 7 could never match. Bitterly, Sakura thought to herself: For most of our shinobi careers, Team 7 was no team at all.
Their faces flickered through her mind, and that photograph,—that goddamn photograph,—they'd taken when it all began, and then, a second time when they were adults, haunted her. The violent urge to smile overtook her, a grin so dark and brittle that it unsettled all the man hunters in the room.
Kisame growled and looked darkly at Itachi. "How can you tell when you're not even paying attention?"
Itachi shrugged as Sakura continued to find amusement in the situation.
"I can just tell."
Sakura laughed wickedly as Kisame put his head in his hands. He stared at the board, eyes thoughtful.
"No, no, I've got you now, Pinky. You're mince meat, kid," laughed Kisame vengefully.
Sakura looked at the chess board. At first glance, it looked like a boring and dead-equal bishop ending. A draw.
Not my style, thought Sakura. It appears as though Kisame, playing Black, could just move his e-pawn and forever control the queening square for White's,—my,—h-pawn with his dark-squared bishop on d4. However, it's my win. Shinobi must learn to look beneath the underneath.
Sakura leaned towards the chess board. She moved to pursue Black's bishop.
If Kisame captures my bishop, then I can promote the h-pawn. Just a few real moves until victory.
Kisame's eye twitched as the familiar feeling of confusion washed over him. He may be a powerhouse, but one surrounded by geniuses. It wasn't very psychologically rewarding.
White again attacked Black's bishop, which was running out of squares on the diagonal.
There it is! The game-winning shot; still two moves away, Sakura thought, her competitiveness showing in her playing style yet absent from her face.
Kisame gasped as Sakura placed the Bishop en prise twice in a single move, forcing him to capture the White bishop.
"Y-you sacrificed your bishop in order to ensure the double promotion," accused the wandering Mist nuke nin.
"Everything except the King is expendable, Kisame-kun; one cannot succeed in chess without this notion hammered into their head," said Sakura in a distinguished, languid voice that hinted at years of delegation and authority. Sakura moved her White King to blockade the e-pawn, and Kisame's poor bishop was locked away from the queening square.
"Wow. I'm shellacking you," Sakura said with arms folded and a light smile, but her viridian eyes shone with victory. "Checkmate."
"You're prettier than him,"—pointing to Itachi with one of the fallen chess pieces,—"but you're also more annoying. More devious," Kisame complained dramatically.
"No need to be a sore loser," Sakura teased as she knocked Kisame's King over on its side. They watched as the wooden piece rolled off the board and onto the table.
Now, Kisame wasn't the world's worst chess player. He had even gotten Itachi to open his eyes in two different matches.
Brat… he thought a bit halfheartedly.
Sakura kept an eye on negotiations from her seat. The client was clear about what they wanted. She didn't always agree with their missions, but an alliance between Cloud and Stone would also be disadvantageous for Leaf. That is how she chose to rationalize her actions, and she wasn't looking back. She let Itachi take point before her real mission began.
…
As their cover was dancers within a performing troupe traveling with the young Cloud Daimyo, (young, arrogant, flirtatious with a wandering eye) they naturally had to dress the part. Itachi and Sakura went into their respective dressing rooms and immediately Itachi could hear a mumbles of dissatisfaction coming from the kunoichi. Itachi let the barest of smiles cross his lips, before he settled back into his usual facade. His costume was rather revealing, with only gaudy, loose fitting dancing bottoms and bells around his ankles. Only a light, lilac silk scarf, which seemed to float around Itachi, covered his upper body. He left his hair in its typical style, which worked well enough with the costume. Once he was done changing, he left the room. Itachi waited for a moment before knocking on his partner's door.
"Ready yet?"
A low growl emerged from the closed dressing room. "Almost there, give me a minute. I have a feeling my costume is a little more… elaborate than yours."
Inside the dressing room, Sakura took a look at herself, then eyed her costume. She could already tell by the dearth of material that it would be a skin-bearing outfit.
"Well, if I must dress up, I better look like the goddamn goddess that I,—we—are," ˆSakura said to her inner counterpart. Kaguya nodded, as if this were law. She stripped herself of her cloak, shirt, skirt and shorts.
Saskura first picked up the red bralette,—it was rather gorgeous, adorned with gold, green, and blue embroidery lining the top of the piece, and overtaking the straps which pulled her pert breasts up as to showcase their perfect, exaggerated form. The skirt, which had at first wrapped around her hips, just below her belly button, turned into thin strips of material fabric which partially covered her legs.
She scrunched her nose at the elaborate and ornate bangles she still had left to put on. Sakura slipped them onto her ankles and wrists.
Jingle, Jingle!
Sakura hissed. Shinobi were superstitious of any added sound to their person, anything that could give them away.
I'll have to ditch them when I run, she thought as her feet slid into dancing slippers.
She gave herself a once over in the mirror before exiting the changing room.
Good. I really do look like the star of a dancing troupe.
She emerged from the curtains to find most of the Akatsuki waiting for her. She blushed but said nothing.
….
"Sakura-chan! You look so beautiful," Konan gushed as her eyes settled on the Akatsuki's newest member. The pink haired teenager face flushed again and she looked sideways, mumbling to herself. Konan caught the tail end of her speech: "—tou, onii-chan…"
A warmth she hadn't felt in years came over Konan. She didn't know the little girl well, but already Sakura felt like a little sister. She was adorable; not harmless, but definitely cute. She even looked like a doll.
Judging by the look on her face, I'd say you profiled Konan well, commented Kaguya.
"That's the mission," Sakura responded incisively. "Though, I'm taking a liking to her as well."
The others said nothing through their lips. But Sakura was no stranger to reading body language. Sakura quickly buttoned her cloak over her costume. She nodded towards the now-cloaked Itachi and Kisame. The three stood before Pein. He handed each of them a paper detailing their false identities for the mission, and their directives.
Sakura took a look at hers. Her name was to be Megumi, and Itachi's would be Kaname. "Kaname" was there to supervise her during the mission, and Kisame would be waiting at a nearby checkpoint to provide backup. However, only "Megumi" would be participating in the assassination of the Cloud Daimyo and framing of Stone.
Haruno Sakura did not need backup, but she did need credibility. She needed trust.
"Any questions?" asked Pein.
Sakura looked up at him. "None."
Pein narrowed his eyes. None?
"Let's go," Sakura said, face set in a muted condition, neither giving nor taking, as she spun on her heel and exited the Akatsuki headquarters with two teammates in tow.
….
Actually meeting up and joining the dance troupe was easy. Shinobi were naturally gifted with athletic prowess, so Sakura wasn't nervous about dancing, either. Having shed their cloaks and given them to Kisame for safe keeping, Itachi and Sakura approached the head of the troupe confidently. The man, Sakura spoke first:
"Hello, might you be in charge?"
The offending man looked around, annoyed. "Yes, yes. What is it you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Megumi and I are the replacements for Airya-chan and Daisuke-kun," said Itachi, signaling Sakura into a low bow.
The troupe leader,—Haruto, he called himself, which Sakura found an ill-fitting name for the man,—locked his eyes on the two. "I've been waiting ages! The show begins in fifteen minutes. Did you have a chance to speak with the other dancers?"
Sakura and Itachi nodded amiably. While they hadn't spoken with the dancers, they had kidnapped them and extracted the dance from them in short order.
"Good. I don't want you making me look bad out there. We were specially chosen by the Cloud Daimyo for this peace accord. This could make or break us," said the troupe leader, after lighting his pipe. "What are you staring at? Get into position!"
Itachi and Sakura took their places behind the curtain, across the floor from one another. The dance was a classic enemies-to-lovers tale, with some sword dancing interwoven through the movements; a tale in which the villain's twisted and effusive love for a maiden causes him to kidnap her, and trap her for the rest of her days.
"And so, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests from both Stone and Cloud, please enjoy our performance."
Haruto bowed as the curtains began to raise.
Itachi and Sakura locked eyes. Her mission had begun.
….
The finale had to be extravagant,—she knew that, at least. Itachi, all grace and flowing robes, spun her over his back and released her like a spinning top, snapping her outward, where she let go of his hand, raising her arms like a swan and continuing the gorgeous rotation. Itachi's hand snaked around the small of her back and his other arm grabbed her left leg, lifting it upward, so straight he could kiss it, enough so that Sakura immediately fell into a back bend so deep that she was doing a standing splits,—her back bent so far back, in fact, that her hair whipped her standing leg.
Without prompting, Sakura's right arm reached out in brilliant, seductive, and artistic instinct. She shuddered at the heat of Itachi's warm breathing against her exposed leg, trying most desperately to ignore whatever it was that made her blush. Itachi could not see the dust of pink on her cheeks, but his eye sight was not his only notable prowess,—he could feel her heart thrumming against her chest, almost struggling to breathe as he drew her,—no, challenged her, in this rather close quarters situation.
They were on a mission.
They were on a mission.
They were on a bloody mission,—
Was he truly as insane as the rumors said?
With the strength of his arm around her waist, Itachi pulled Sakura back into his embrace as if she were lighter than air. Catching Itachi's,—was that an outright smirk?
She was going to kill him for this,—
The mission, child. You must complete the mission.
Sakura's back was pressed against Itachi's broad chest. She forgot herself for a moment and gave the audience a dazzling smile.
And then it was both the mischievous and destruction part of herself that brought her hand up to Itachi's cheek and brought him down so she could reach him. Standing on her tip toes, she planted a kiss on the cold Uchiha's cheek, and with harmonious glee watched him stiffen.
Haha! Look at him blush. Don't dish it out if you can't take it, Itachi, Sakura thought with profound satisfaction. The crowd loved her devious trick.
"Nice moves, Kaname-kun," she whispered into his ear, before releasing him from her grip and suddenly she could hear the crowd clapping and saw flowers being thrown on the stage. She grabbed Itachi's hand, which hadn't moved since she had, and led him into a showman's bow.
"Yours weren't too bad either, Sakura-chan," he whispered.
Sakura quietly pinched him.
"No real names, we're on a mission," she hissed.
They raised their heads and exited the stage. Itachi breezed past her and shot off: "you started it, oh dear partner."
She followed him, candy floss hair flowing behind her, "just because I didn't play fair doesn't mean you can too," she said tartly as she caught up to him.
Itachi chuckled. "I'm afraid that's exactly what it means."
Sakura felt a chill run down her spine. She felt she had… unlocked something. She ignored it.
"Get ready to run," she whispered under her breath. "Signal to Kisame."
Itachi nodded.
Sakura turned to face the Cloud Daimyo. "This is for slapping my ass earlier, idiot."
She shed her noisy bangles.
In fraction of a second, Sakura positioned herself diagonally from the Cloud Daimyo. Her wrist flicked outward, releasing a kunai tied to the fabric of one of her ribbons. It sliced cleanly through the Cloud Daimyo's left carotid artery and, given it's extra weight and angular momentum, wrapped around the man's neck. Sakura brutally wrenched the ribbon towards her and the Daimyo went flying, his face bright red, shocked and terrified.
Sakura had decided early on that the more pursuers, the better. So, instead of killing the Daimyo on site, she caught his writhing form, and made her escape via teleportation. The Cloud nin rioted and pursued the clues Sakura left for them as she fled.
….
It didn't take long for Sakura and the Cloud Daimyo to meet up with Itachi and Kisame. Itachi lifted his brow at the sight of the leashed Daimyo. Sakura kept him quiet by gagging him with another ribbon from her costume.
"It's all part of the plan," she said, waving him away. Sakura's eyes glowed bright green as she activated her Byakugan, turning her gaze towards the way she came.
"21 jonin level shinobi heading our way, fast. We can't outrun them. They'll have us surrounded soon." Sakura stated tonelessly. Her eyes lingered on Kisame and Itachi. If it were just her, she could easily outrun them, leaving no tracks, but as is…
Sakura's mind whirred.
It isn't as if I couldn't handle them but, there is a unique opportunity here. She nodded approvingly.
Ah, that's it.
Sakura looked to her keepers lazily. "You guys want to handle this, or should I?"
She wants to take out twenty one jonin level shinobi at once? By herself? Kisame wondered.
"Isn't this exactly how the second Hokage, Senju Tobirama died?" It wasn't as if he cared for her life… but her words and demeanor made him a bit curious.
"We are a team," interjected Itachi, staring her down as if to say, 'your arrogance exceeds no bounds.'
Sakura shrugged. "Alright. But I'm telling you, I can take them out in one go, but we'll have to make ourselves scarce pretty quickly."
Sakura returned Itachi's look with pursed lips. 'Don't interfere with my plan, Uchiha.'
He sighed and nodded in deference.
"Good. This won't take long. On my mark, make sure you bolt at least 5 kilometers that away. Upwind. Northwest, shall we say?" Her eyes flickered kaleidoscopic green as she once again used her Byakugan to survey the area. "In the clearing with six stones, next to the river."
Viridian eyes returned.
"Oh, and take these just in case." She tossed them vials with thin, short needles. The liquid inside them was a haunting yellow, a lurid kind of color that seemed to posses a light all its own.
"Ready, set, go."
The group of enemy ninja touched down from jumping from branch to branch and surrounded them.
Itachi and Kisame immediately disappeared and Sakura teleported to the top of the highest tree, chakra balancing her on the highest branch's apex, and watched in slow motion with her Sharingan as her enemies stared up at her. Sakura reached into her pouch and grabbed a glass ornament, filled with an insidious, purple gas. She grinned.
"Bye now," Sakura said as she hurled the glass full of poison at the ground below with considerable strength. She heard the sound of glass shattering and immediately the clearing was engulfed in the noxious gas. Not another sound was heard except for 21 bodies falling to the ground without a word. Sakura looked at the pitiful Daimyo in her arms. She undid the ribbon tied around his mouth. He immediately began spitting and speaking. Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Any last words, Daimyo-sama?"
The esteemed man looked at the poisonous gas below, eyes filled with dread.
"N-no! Please, d-don't—,"
Sakura dropped the Daimyo into the smoke.
As he fell, his eyes bulged and he let out his last wail, before disappearing into the purple smoke.
She arched her pink brow. "Well, that was easy."
'Well, the bait has been laid. Let's see if the puppet master will bite.'
You plan to… turn the Akatsuki? Starting with the puppet master? asked Kaguya in a strange tone.
'You catch on quickly. I only have about a year and a bit to do it. I must stop Pein's invasion. I wouldn't mind having their allegiance during the Fourth Shinobi War, either.'
Kaguya laughed heartily—a sound Sakura had never heard from her defacto sensei. I chose well, she breathed, wiping her eyes. Oh, so well.
Sakura's face split into a rare, authentic grin,—in the privacy of those woods she did not feel the need to constrain herself. She leapt down from the tree and landed in the middle of the poisonous fumes, once again thanking Tsunade for feeding her poisons in her previous timeline.
Sakura first stripped the shinobi of any evidence suggesting their affiliated nations. Then, she began to plant evidence of the Cloud Nation on their outer bodies,—weapons, poisons, even a summoning scroll on the leader's body,—before stuffing the more damning pieces of proof of affiliation with the Stone Nation. Directives, months of contrived correspondence between spies, evidence of Stone Nation sake droplets on scrolls; small, family heirlooms typical of shinobi from the Stone Nation.
It's so nice to be able to cause the chaos instead of cleaning up after the political mess for once, sighed Sakura, thinking of her ANBU and Hokage days. Or, as she thought of her tutelage under Tsunade, cleaning-up-after-the-Hokage days.
I know you aren't daft, remarked Kaguya. So I'll say it once: you're tiptoeing toward leading the shinobi world towards war, and not the one you're willing to fight… Not the one you came here to fight.
Is this how Itachi felt when presented with an impossible mission? She wondered. My loyalty is to Konoha, and Naruto. I am the invisible hand choking Pein, though he does not know it. But, if I kill him now, I'll simply be the 'girl who murdered Pein.' I must win over their hearts and minds.
Sakura turned and made for the rendezvous spot after confirming her kills.
…
"They're all dead?" asked Kisame. "That couldn't have taken more than three minutes."
Sakura shrugged. "You can go and count the bodies yourself, if you like. Though I'd recommend giving yourself the antidote first. Poisonous gases tend to linger in the air."
Itachi spared a quick glance at the vial she had given them.
"No need."
Sakura looked at him expectantly. "So, mission accomplished?"
Kisame looked at Sakura,—she had just killed twenty one shinobi with a single poisonous bomb.
Sasori was going to have kittens.
'How… efficient,' Itachi found himself thinking.
Together, after shedding their costumes for more shinobi-friendly clothing, Sakura, Itachi, and Kisame made their way back to Akatsuki headquarters.
….
'Sakura-sama! It's Xinglong! I have news from Naruto. It doesn't seem urgent, but he seems to be worried about Team 7.'
Sakura jolted as she heard Xinglong's voice in her head while jumping from branch to branch, flanked by real Akatsuki members.
'Xinglong! You can contact me through thought?'
She felt a wave of affirmation find home in her mind. This was a power she could never in her greatest dreams wished for, given the situation she was in… Surrounded by missing-nin, loyal only to the concept of disloyalty.
'What news? Can you dictate his message to me?'
Another wave of affirmation. 'Go on,' she chided.
'Sakura-chaaaaaaannnn!' Sakura's head jerked as she received the loud transmission, but she invited Xinglong to continue.
'We miss you so much. Everybody in the village blames us for your absence. This new Sai guy is a real asshole, Sakura-chan. Why did you pick him? He's got Sasuke all turned around, that's for sure. I'm pretty sure he thinks of Sai as a replacement for himself, crazy as it sounds. It's like he's jealous even though you're not even here! So, pretty please send him at least one note. Think of it as rallying your teammate. Sakura-chan, we'll always be teammates, right? We'll always be Team 7. Don't you dare forget about us. Best, Naruto.'
Sakura held back tears,—those special droplets one reserves for an overabundance of meaning; so abundant is said meaning, that it is ineffable. 'Fine. I'll pen a response when I have time. Upon returning,' she resolved. Her eyes turned forward, she continued to jump from branch to branch, face a mask of lackadaisical boredom.
….
The trio returned to Akatsuki headquarters with good news. Itachi gave Pein his report, which seemed to satisfy him. After debriefing "Leader-sama", Sakura found herself walking to a nearby river. She rolled up her black pant legs, removed her sandals, and entered the flowing water. Sakura sensed an approaching presence but continued with her leisurely activities.
"Hello!"
The greeting came from the shore, and could only be one person: Uchiha Obito, playing the part of "Tobi".
She whirled around to meet a singular eye peeking out of his swirling, orange mask. While she simulated scenarios in which he would die,—sorry, Kakashi, she thought,—she began to play her part in the facade.
"You must be Tobi-san!" Sakura smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you, Tobi-san."
Sakura bowed respectfully, though her mind was spitting insults at this timeline's Obito every moment.
"You are Sakura-chan, right?!" Obito gleefully pointed to his dark hair. Sakura allowed another smile to grace her features.
"That's right. My hair is my namesake. You know, Tobi-san, I'm quite a fan of word play. Do you know what an anagram is?"
Tobi stiffened. Sakura laughed as she played in the river, holding her Akatsuki cloak above her knees in order to avoid getting it wet. She looked back at Tobi with her most innocent smile,—-even more nefariously, Sakura had seen photographs of Rin and studied her body language; what's more, Sakura was a medic nin from the Leaf. She observed Obito; she had seen that look before. Sakura had successfully triggered a flashback. It wasn't in her nature to be so cruel as to put someone through retrauma, but "Tobi" wasn't her patient and masking herself under the umbrella of 'Rin-like' would protect her from Obito's observant eye.
"You know Tobi-san, I once knew a man with your name, but he was no great friend of the Uchiha. In fact," she giggled. "You might even say he was their sworn enemy."
Obito just stared for a moment, mind whirling, defenses up. Sakura watched Obito's pupil dilate; she had rattled him. Sakura's game was to scatter suspicion so widely that no matter what Obito found out about her, he would never be satisfied with the information that represented "the whole Sakura". And she wasn't lying.
Sakura really had met Senju Tobirama in her previous timeline.
She rummaged through her pockets and retrieved a lump of bird food. Poisoned bird food. She held her hand out to the skies, quieting her chakra, especially the scent marks of the Animal Kings. Sakura closed her lids, focusing on moulding her chakra into something warm and bright,—welcoming, like Naruto's. When she felt the claws of a little bird upon her thumb, she opened her eyes. The blue bird leaned down to peck at the seeds in her open palm.
One, two, three—and the bird keeled over immediately, dead. Her palm glowed blue with the fire of Chiyo's jutsu; this much would take mere seconds from her life and she could give up this much for the sake of her mission. The blue bird chirped happily, and began to eat the seeds again. The process repeated.
As Sakura observed the blue bird, she watched as mortality sought itself; how animals rush again and again to death, not towards life. In the radical pursuit of living, humans endanger themselves the most. Being a shinobi was to toe that line; to straddle life and death like a saddled horse.
"That's so amazing, Sakura-chan! How did you do that?" Obito pressed in his obnoxious and child-like manner, waving his arms from his seat on the medium-sized rock he'd found by the river. However, there was a strange combination of sharpness and desperation in his voice that undercut Obito's facade.
"Well," Sakura began. She paused for dramatic effect, seeming cautious. "There is a jutsu one can use to revive the dead, though usually at the cost of one's own life. However, I managed to find a work around for this."
'I just used Chiyo's jutsu, but it will masquerade as Edo Tensei for my purposes. Well, it was really Tobirama who created it, Orochimaru who improved it, and Kabuto who nearly perfected it.'
Just lie. The truth is not your friend here, chided Kaguya in her mind.
Obito stared at her for a long moment. His eyes settled on the girl before him. "In what capacity would they be revived?"
Sakura stopped playing in the river. She chuckled.
"Nothing gets by you, Tobi-san. It is not a true life, and there is no true sacrifice. There are some important items needed for the jutsu. The user must first acquire some of the DNA of the person they wish to reincarnate. This really amounts to grave robbing, if you're okay with that," she said as she sat on the ground next to Obito's spot on the rock. "The soul must be a pure soul and not one given in sacrifice, say, as in the case of the Shinigami. The next requirement is a living sacrifice for the reincarnated soul to inhabit as a vessel."
Sakura stopped her explanation. "There's more to it but, you get the idea."
Oh, there's much more to it, but I've piqued your interest now, haven't I, Obito?
Sakura looked up at the typically chatty Obito posturing as Tobi. "You must know that if the reincarnated soul is affected in some emotional way that gives them closure, their souls have the power to break free of the Impure World Reincarnation's influence, meaning the land of the living; when that happens, they turn to dust. However, their soul may linger briefly. Enough to say goodbye, at least."
She turned her eyes skyward in the unusual silence. In the stark absence of Obito's masked personality, she could hear the cogs in his mind turning. She knew, at least a little about what he was thinking. It was never Obito's intention to reincarnate Rin, simply to bask in the sweet memories he had of her, and meet her in the afterlife. Sakura had deliberately pivoted away from his dream and into the realm of possibilities. Because the person he would resurrect, the person Obito did resurrect, was Uchiha Madara.
….
Sakura was hungry. After their return and her conversation with Obito, she found her stomach in dire need of nutrition. She grabbed her herb pouch from her bedroom and trundled off to the kitchen.
"What can I cook here…?" Sakura wondered aloud as she opened the refrigerator. "I bet that chicken would be mighty tasty if I added the right herbs…"
After Sakura retrieved the chicken from said refrigerator, she began to massage it with oil and a few different herbs she always had with her,—some for taste, some for nutrition, and some for aesthetic purposes.
Should I fry them? I do love fried chicken.
Sakura dropped the pieces of chicken into boiling oil with the all the esteemed experience of a mother and medic nin. Behind the sizzling, Sakura noticed a presence she would never forget approach. She heard the dragging of a chair behind her; apparently, Sasori of the Red Sand was not trying to mask his presence.
Sakura neither acknowledged his presence nor ignored it. She plated two servings of chicken, knowing well that Sasori had relinquished his need for food long ago. Nonetheless, she turned, expecting to see Hiruko's menacing appearance, but she was surprised to see Sasori's true face. Sakura took it in stride, placing a plate in front of the puppet master.
"Here you go, Sasori-san."
Sasori stared at the pink haired teenager. "This is perfect for one of my human puppets. Soon-to-be human puppets, arigatou."
Sakura felt a chill run down her spine, but smiled happily. "I'm glad to be of help."
Sasori shifted in his seat. "I noticed you used some poisonous medical herbs in this recipe."
Sakura nodded excitedly. "How clever of you to notice, Sasori-san! Some poisons can be used for medical and nutritional purposes in small amounts, or when mixed with other specific herbs."
To all others, Sakura looked like the picture of innocence. However, Sasori found himself resisting this impression due to a certain story he'd heard about the kunoichi during her first mission.
"I'm good with poisons and antidotes. I'm an iryo-nin, a medical ninja, after all," chatted Sakura. She took her first bite into the chicken and sighed.
Mmmmm. That's good, nice and crunchy. I've still got it. If only I had some beer.
During Sakura's small daydream, Sasorigrabbed her wrist and began dragging her out of her seat and down the hallway.
"S-Sasori-san? What is the meaning of this?" Sakura tried her best to look comically confused,—she had learned from Naruto that these were disarming qualities. She even added some arm waving for effect… Though, she did not truly resist.
Sasori's head creaked as it spun to look at her, and Sakura was reminded of Sasori's own puppet body, for a brief moment before resuming their journey. "A little shark told me about something interesting you did. I thought we could… chat about it."
Sasori led Sakura into what could only be described as an underground laboratory. His worn and withered chemical journal lay on top of his desk, while the tables and closets were filled with puppet parts.
That locked cabinet in the corner probably has his human puppets in it.
Sakura looked to Sasori, placing the plate on one of the work stations beside her. "Where is your soon-to-be puppet? I made fried chicken, after all."
'Kami-sama, I forgot how handsome Sasori was. Not someone to get involved with but… not a terrible person to lay your eyes upon,—'
You will die quickly with that line of thinking,boomed Kaguya. Then, in a smaller voice: Though I have to agree.
'Hypocrite,' Sakura griped.
Sasori seemed to ignore her question completely. He was more of a straight shooter. "What kind of poison was it that you used on the Cloud nin?"
Sakura smiled darkly. She allowed a few seconds to elapse in which she leaned against a desk, facing Sasori, and brought her hands together in a cage. She stared up at him.
"Secrets do not come for free Sasori-san, not even for pretty human dolls."
The redhead's eyes narrowed. 'Fine. Let's start somewhere else.'
"Your footprints leave no tracks," announced Sasori. "Just what kind of jutsu are you using?"
Sakura giggled. "You're the first to notice! It's my natural constitution. I'm so slim that I can slip between raindrops. Well, if that's all,—"
Sasori scowled. 'Ugh, I forgot she has the brain of a 14 year old. I'm getting nowhere.'
"—Spar with me," Sasori interrupted her as she moved to rise. "If I win, you give me the formula for the poison you used on those Cloud nin. If I lose, I'll grant you one wish. Sound fair?"
Sasori was confident. He was stronger than Deidara.
Sakura's smile was saccharine. 'Like a moth to a flame.'
"Any wish?" returned Sakura, arms folding at her chest, eyes locked onto his.
"Any wish."
"Fine, but we must travel a ways away from HQ," said Sakura, staring at her palms.
"Why?"
She simply smiled, closing here fist. What a rush. "Oh, no reason."
Just that every time I fight, I tend to restructure the landscape. No biggie.
"Will you get angry if I destroy your puppets, Sasori-san?" Sakura was teasing the ego out of Sasori, and her small, innocuous appearance only helped her in this regard.
Sasori let out an uncharacteristic laugh. "I promise, I won't get mad."
'What a foolish man,' she thought.
This entire organization is full of them, breathed out Kaguya. And one harmless woman.
'I wouldn't write off Konan just yet, Kaguya. She almost defeated Obito, though the effort cost her life,' she contemplated.
"But first!" Sakura held her hand up to an increasingly excited Sasori. "I have to speak with Leader-sama about something important."
Sasori nodded and watched her back as she exited his lab.
….
Sakura entered the main hall, and politely greeted Pein, Kisame, and Itachi.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" asked Kisame, his grin showing off a rarified and rather intimidating set of razor sharp teeth.
Sakura inhaled. She pulled her most compelling, pleading expression.
"Eh… do we have an allowance…?" Sakura asked, looking up at Pein still rather unabashedly. "I don't have parents and my money from missions is all but gone. I wasn't in Leaf long, I suppose when you think about it."
Kisame chuckled. "So, we're officially taking in another penniless orphan-brat?"
Sakura's pink hair swayed as she snapped her neck toward Kisame and growled.
"I'm not an orphan brat; I told you, I'm already fourteen!" she insisted, sending Kisame into a greater fit of laughter.
"Well, if she can't fight, I suppose we can make her the Akatsuki's jester," commented Itachi. Sakura's mouth practically dropped to the floor. Had Itachi just made… a joke?
Kisame began leaking tears between giggles.
"Okay, sushi-chan. Watch your words! I would just love to open up that rib cage of yours and wear it as a hat!" Sakura found herself in the unique position not of being underestimated, but of not taken seriously.
And that is how the most powerful member of the mastermind criminal organization became known as "The Akatsuki's Jester."
….
Hey guys! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Plot restructuring and general life-stuff got in my way, but I'm back. Please read and drop a review! Goodness knows I love a surprise review. WE REACHED 50 REVIEWS! AHHHH!
Before you ask: yes, I was a little nerdlet on the chess team. I omitted a few moves from this specific strategy for the sake of readability. But, you get the idea.
I'd like to thank a few people specifically:
Terrence Rogue: Thank you for your lovely review. I teared up!
Faixaroxa89: Thank you for the compliment! As this is my first fanfic, there is definitely a steep learning curve.
APridefulSin: So glad you're having fun with the story. Happy reading!
See you on the next episode of "Daughter of Prometheus" :)!
Ever yours,
PeregrinePassage