Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Contentious Heart ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto, but the new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognize!) are mine. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

 

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!! Just for your info, we are about one-third way through the story. Yup, this is a long story. On another note, I've posted an Itachi-Sakura one-shot called The Chrysalis and a Kakashi-Sakura one called Icha Icha Thief if any of you want to read shorter fics.

 

Enough of my ramblings and onwards to the story…

 

…

 

 

The Contentious Heart by elle6778 - Chapter 8

 

 

It was a typical morning in Konoha. At the shops and stalls lining the streets, vendors were just starting up their businesses, conversing loudly amongst themselves. There were already a few early shoppers milling about, enjoying the crisp morning air.

 

It was definitely far too early to be awake, Shikamaru thought, shoulders slumping. Discreetly, he snuck a sideway glance at the reason for his predicament.

 

Temari, the Suna ambassador who had just arrived a few minutes ago was walking calmly beside him, her eyes occasionally darting to the wares on display in the stalls. He could not understand why, and he could not be bothered to think too much about it, but as troublesome as the woman was, he was once again by her side as an escort.

 

Knowing that he had brought this upon himself, Shikamaru sighed. Over the last one year, he had escorted her voluntarily. Not that she needed an escort, considering how often she and her siblings turned up in Konoha. It had been said more than once that the Leaf and Sand alliance was nothing like any other alliance. Whilst it was true that it had been set up politically, the whole alliance seemed to have veered towards a friendlier tone over the last couple of years.

 

“Oi, Shikamaru!”

 

Suppressing a weary sigh, Shikamaru turned around to face the owner of the boisterous voice. The grinning blonde walked over together with Sai, his eyes flicking back and forth pointedly between him and Temari. The last time Shikamaru had seen them, they were all bandaged up in the hospital as a result of their encounter with the Akatsuki. Whilst Sai's injuries were less severe, the blonde had been stuck in the hospital for a week to heal the effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

 

It was then that Kakashi had told them about Sakura position in the Akatsuki. According to Kakashi, Naruto's reaction had not been pretty, even though it was to be expected. Shikamaru could not help but feel sorry for the poor guy. First it was Sasuke, and now it was Sakura. Even though Sakura's case was completely different from Sasuke's, Naruto would not know better unless he, Tsunade or Kakashi said something. All in all, it was amazing that Naruto could still smile and joke around like nothing was wrong, even if it was only a façade.

 

“Naruto,” Shikamaru greeted blandly as he slouched on without pause.

 

Naruto leaned towards his ear. “Still not a date?” he whispered loudly, too loudly for it to be a real whisper. Then he gave him a nudge. “So when are you planning to make your move, eh, Shikamaru?”

 

Beside him, Temari froze. Pausing, Shikamaru closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable explosion. The Sand kunoichi's level of temper and violence almost matched a certain pink-haired missing-nin's. Temari was nothing short of scary when she was angry. He was not disappointed.

 

“I had enough!” she snapped furiously. “You'll stop this ridiculous talk about dates! Of all things, with the crybaby, no less.”

 

A dull thud sounded, followed by a cry of protest. Shikamaru opened his eyes to see Naruto crouched on the ground with his hand held protectively over his head. Holding her fan in her hand, Temari was glaring down at the blonde.

 

“Hm… I'm sure that foreign ambassadors are not allowed to attack our Leaf shinobi,” Sai muttered thoughtfully.

 

Sai had a point. How troublesome. Deciding that he should move to prevent this incident from spiraling into something uncontrollable, or worse, a political mess, Shikamaru reached out to grip Temari's elbow. Without a backwards glance, he swiftly guided her away from the two members of Team Kakashi.

 

“You can let go now,” she finally ground out when they reached the open area in front of the Hokage monuments.

 

Shikamaru released her elbow quickly, having forgotten all about it. “Sorry.”

 

“It's alright.” She gave him a small smile, and for some reason, Shikamaru felt something flip in his stomach. It must be because he had skipped breakfast this morning.

 

Before he could say anything else, a sudden breeze appeared. His eyes widened in comprehension when the ribbon of wind began to curl around him, nudging him insistently. It must be a message from Sakura.

 

“It's a message,” Temari observed, her expression betraying her curiosity.

 

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, not surprised that Temari had recognized it. After all, she was a wind user. Now, all he had to do was to stop her from asking more questions. “Looks like it,” he muttered noncommittally.

 

“Well, aren't you going to see what it says?” she pressed.

 

Why were women so curious, he wondered. It was such a bothersome habit.

 

Then Shikamaru turned up to the sky. The clouds were sluggish today, he noted idly. It was good day for cloud watching, then. Maybe he should head over to Chouji's place.

 

“Shikamaru!”

 

“Hm?”

 

“The message.”

 

Yes, the message. He could always hope that the message would go to Tsunade or Kakashi instead. Then he sighed when he realized that the Godaime was most likely still asleep, and who knew where Kakashi was. Otherwise, the message would not have come to him.

 

Yes, he knew he had to unseal it, but he could not do it with Temari right beside him. He needed to make some sort of excuse. His shoulders slumped even further at the thought. How troublesome.

 

“Shikamaru?” She was beginning to sound rather scary. Rather like his mother when his father had done something to annoy her, actually.

 

“I need to go. But I'll get someone to escort you to your quarters,” he said as he began to scan the area for a stray chuunin.

 

Laying a restraining hand on his wrist, Temari shook her head, sending her hair bouncing around her face. “You don't need to. I know how to get there.”

 

“Fine.” He paused momentarily, his attention drawn to the sight of her slender fingers on his wrist. For some reason, he found himself transfixed to the sight. How odd.

 

“Shikamaru?”

 

His eyes snapped up. Suddenly feeling rather disconcerted by his own distraction, Shikamaru quickly said, “I'll come find you later.”

 

She nodded. “Okay.”

 

With that, they walked off in opposite directions. The thread of wind was swirling around him faster now, impatiently urging him to release it. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he casually made his way to a secluded park. Once he was certain that no one was nearby, Shikamaru performed the necessary hand seals to decode the wind message.

 

“Phase 2 progressing well. Appear as if leader's permanent base is in Rain. Left some extraction info in pickup point 2. Side jobs pending in Snow for seven weeks. Then we will move in on the eighth vessel. Be prepared to mobilize then. Miss you all. Take care.”

Shaking his head, Shikamaru sighed. He should not have come up with this convoluted infiltration plan. But as troublesome as it was, he could only be glad that Sakura seemed to be doing well so far. Her messages were growing more infrequent, but that was understandable. He had figured that Sakura must be finding it hard to get away to send them messages, and Kakashi had confirmed it.

 

Deciding that the message was important enough to wake the Godaime, Shikamaru made his way to the Hokage Tower. The chuunins on duty greeted him as they passed each other on the stone stairs.

 

“Is the Godaime in?”

 

One of the chuunins nodded. “Though she's not answering the door. I think she's sleeping.”

 

Shikamaru sighed. How typical. “Can you find Hatake Kakashi and ask him to come here?”

 

“Yes. I will get on it right now.”

 

Thanking the teenage boy, he continued into the building and then along the corridor which brought him to Tsunade's office. Raising a hand, he rapped against the door loudly.

 

There was no answer.

 

Somewhat irritated, he knocked again, this time louder. He heard a muffled curse through the door as something hit the floor with a thump. Cautiously, he took a step away from the door.

 

Then he heard her. “What is it?!”

 

Deciding that it was safe to do so, he pushed the door open and walked in.

 

“Hokage-sama,” he greeted flatly as he closed the door behind him.

 

Tsunade blinked at him blearily. It was obvious that she had just woken up just a second ago.

 

“What is it, Shikamaru? Can't this wait until later?” the Godaime grumbled irritably.

 

“I got a message from her.”

 

The Hokage was instantly alert. “What does it say?”

 

“Looks like the Akatsuki was planning to move in on the hachibi in seven weeks.”

 

“Where?”

 

“She didn't say.”

 

Tsunade frowned as she propped her chin on her clasped hand. “Maybe she doesn't know yet. In that case, we'll probably hear from her again.”

 

Shikamaru nodded. “There are more. We need to check pickup point 2 for some information about the extraction process. She also said that they are doing side missions in Snow Country for the next seven weeks.”

 

Leaning back, Tsunade sighed. “I suppose I should make sure Team Kakashi steers clear away from that area.”

 

“That would be a good call.”

 

Tsunade frowned thoughtfully. “Sometimes I wonder if we should just tell Naruto the truth.”

 

Shikamaru slumped. He knew that this topic would come up sooner or later. In fact, he was tempted to agree with the Hokage, but his tactician side disagreed. “I'm not saying that Naruto couldn't be trusted, but less people know about this, the less risk we pose to the mission.”

 

A flash outside the window caught his attention then. Shikamaru looked up to find Kakashi peering in, surprised at the Copy-nin's uncharacteristically speedy arrival. Stepping across to the window, he opened it to allow Kakashi entry.

 

“Yo!” the Copy-Ninja greeted as he climbed in.

 

“There's such a thing as a door, Kakashi,” Tsunade pointed out dryly.

 

Eye creasing, Kakashi chuckled. “This is faster. So, what's the news?”

 

Shikamaru quickly brought the latecomer up to speed.

 

Turning to Tsunade, Kakashi said, “Telling Naruto would not really help Sakura. In fact, it would probably pose a risk to her.”

 

The Hokage grimaced. “Very well.” Turning to Shikamaru, she continued, “So we now know more about the leader and the next capture attempt.”

 

Shikamaru nodded, then he added thoughtfully, “Sakura mentioned that the leader, Pein is based in Rain Country.”

 

Tsunade glanced at him quickly. “You have something on your mind, Shikamaru?”

 

“Hm…”

 

Rain Country was notoriously difficult to get into. But if they managed it, they could ambush Pein. Without a leader, Akatsuki would certainly be destabilized, at least until they found another leader. This meant a delay to Akatsuki's plans. It was certainly something worth considering, even though it would be troublesome to come up with a plan.

 

“We could pay Rain Country a visit.”

 

 

…***…***…***…

 

 

The teahouse was like any other teahouse in Snow Country at this time of the year.

 

Empty.

 

Which was perfect for her.

 

Sakura closed her eyes as she breathed in the warm steam from the cup of tea between her hands. It had taken her a week to track down her contacts in Snow Country and haggle fees with them, but it was worth it since Pein approved and had given the go-ahead for all of the missions. Since she had done what she needed to do with the mission scouting and contacting Konoha with the latest development, she could relax a little.

 

Now, all she had to do was to wait for the four Akatsuki to join her. According to Pein, they would be arriving today. So, she had decided to wait for them in this teahouse instead of being out there in the snow.

 

It was then that she felt a familiar presence, and a moment later, a gust of frigid air as the door to the teahouse opened and shut.

 

“Tea, please.”

 

She raised her brow at the person who had sat down beside her.

 

Deidara raised his brow back at her. “What?”

She glanced over his shoulders. Finding no one, she turned her attention back to him. “Where are the rest?”

 

“I don't know about Itachi and Kisame, yeah, but Tobi's gone to do some reconnaissance around this village since we're making it our temporary base.”

 

“I've done that. The place is secure,” she told him impatiently. “There's no need to do it again.”

 

Deidara shrugged. “Keeps Tobi busy, yeah.”

 

Her lips twitched in amusement as she recalled their interactions over the past month or so. “What with you and Tobi? You always bicker like siblings who can't get along.”

 

“He's annoying, alright. Sasori was a much better partner, even if we argued all the time about art,” the blonde muttered. “But Sasori's wrong about permanence being the ultimate beauty of art. Something breathtakingly fleeting, there in an instant and gone another instant, that's what I call art.”

 

Sakura averted her eyes. Even though she knew that she shouldn't, she could not help but feel a little guilty about the part she played in his ex-partner's demise. Until now, she still remembered how twisted Sasori's thinking had been, wanting to be more a puppet than a human. She also remembered how he had calmly asked her if it was something a shinobi should say when she accused him of not knowing what a family was. But now that she thought about it, plus everything she had seen during her travels, that was exactly what was expected of most shinobi. They were expected to live and serve a cause, and put it before their personal interest. Maybe if she had known Sasori like she knew Deidara now-

 

“Hey!”

 

She glanced sharply at him to find him watching her with a thoughtful expression. “What?”

The waitress placed his tea before him, and Deidara frowned down at the steaming liquid. “About Sasori…” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Why does his name make you so uncomfortable, hm?”

 

She sighed, knowing that she could hardly tell him the truth because she did not even know the answer to that question. “I don't know. It happened such a long time ago.”

 

His lips twitched. “Yeah, you must be what at that time? Thirteen?”

 

Thirteen? Her eyes instantly narrowed when he glanced at her chest briefly. So briefly that she would have missed it if she was not looking directly at his face. Her fingers clenched into fists. Why, he had some nerve, implying that she was so flat-chested then that she could have passed for thirteen? Offended, she straightened to glare at him.

 

“Did I really look like I was thirteen then?” she gritted out.

His eyes shifted. “Um…”

 

“Deidara…”

 

Then to her surprise, he smiled slightly. “Sasori must have been so mad that he was defeated by someone so young.”

 

Sakura blinked, her ire deflating instantly. “Yeah. But I had help.”

 

“Still, Sasori is a genius like the rest of us. So it's a big thing that you defeated him, yeah. You should be proud of it.”

 

Feeling rather uncomfortable now, she muttered, “I'm not a genius.”

 

He gave her an exasperated look. “Akatsuki only recruits geniuses.”

 

In that case, why did Akatsuki recruit her? It was obvious that she was far from a genius, even though she could do better than most shinobi in various fields. If they wanted a genius, they should have gone for someone like Kakashi. But come to think of it, Kakashi had told her that she had surpassed him, even though she was sure that he was exaggerating.

 

“Geniuses like you, huh?” she teased with a chuckle.

 

Deidara smirked smugly. “My genius is expressed in my art.”

 

Rolling her eyes as she recalled what she had seen three years ago, she remarked, “You mean like that time you tried to blow up the entire forest? That explosion almost killed me.”

 

Raising a brow, he said, “See? That proves my point, hm? That beautiful explosion only lasted a fleeting moment, but you remember it years later.”

 

She laughed, not wanting to point out that she remembered Sasori's puppets too. “So, you use those mouths to create your art, huh?”

 

He placed his hand on the table, palm facing upwards to reveal a smiling mouth. It was the first time she had seen it close up. Her medical side kicked in as she stared at the mouth with interest. She was almost twitching to ask him to let her inspect it.

 

He must have sensed it, because he grinned. “You want to take a closer look at it, yeah?”

 

She nodded.

 

But to her consternation, his grin widened and he curled his fingers into a fist, blocking the mouth from her sight. “Now why should I show you, hm?”

 

Her eyes narrowed. The tease… “Why won't you show me?”

“Because it's my weapon, and it's stupid to let just anyone prod at it,” he declared.

 

She huffed. “Fine. The next time you're dying, I won't bother saving you.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“And if I wanted to kill you, I would have left you to die back with that hole in your gut.”

 

Deidara groaned.

 

Having proved her point, Sakura smiled smugly. Then her smile widened when he grudgingly extended his hand towards her, his expression turning slightly sulky. As she grabbed his hand eagerly, a stray thought occurred to her.

 

It looked like Deidara was not so bad after all, for an Akatsuki.

 

 

…***…***…***…

 

 

Itachi barely glanced at his surroundings as he trudged silently through the thick snow. All that remained of the forest were bare tree trunks, their darkness contrasting starkly with the white backdrop. Disregarding the snowflakes clinging to his person, Itachi continued forward in the direction of the village with Kisame beside him. This was where they were meant to regroup with Sakura, Deidara and Tobi.

 

Suddenly, Itachi's senses went on the alert.

 

Then his arm snapped out to intercept the kunai headed for his neck. A familiar chuckle reached his ears as he turned around slowly, masking his irritation at such a juvenile action. A little belatedly, he recalled doing the exact same thing to her a few weeks ago in the training grounds.

 

A moment later, a smirking Sakura appeared some distance away, flanked by Deidara and Tobi.

 

“Finally! I was beginning to think that the two of you got lost looking for this place,” she said.

 

“She almost got you, Itachi-san!” Tobi exclaimed cheerfully.

 

Itachi's eyes narrowed. Each time Tobi behaved like this, his suspicion that something was not right with the masked man was reconfirmed. His exuberance was too fake to be true. Still, Itachi knew that he had to bide his time. If his suspicions were right, it should not be too long more before Tobi would be forced to unmask himself, literally and figuratively.

 

“It was a close one, yeah,” Deidara said with a laugh.

 

“Well, I wouldn't say so. After all, this is Itachi-san we're talking about here, ne?” the kunoichi remarked with a smirk, closing the distance between them.

 

“Do not do that again,” Itachi warned flatly when she stopped in front of him.

 

She raised a brow. “Oh? Then maybe you should try to be on time, huh? You're late by a whole day.”

Kisame snorted. “We got held up.”

 

“What kind of excuse is that, hm?” Deidara interjected mockingly.

 

Frowning thoughtfully, Tobi turned to his partner. “You used that excuse before, Deidara-senpai. Many times, especially when you were spending time with those women.”

 

Deidara pinned a glare at Tobi. “Shut up, yeah!”

 

Deciding to ignore the bickering pair, Itachi fixed his attention on the kunoichi. “What is our mission?”

 

“I'll explain later.” She gestured to Deidara and Tobi. “Right now, they are ready to go. But we won't be setting out until tomorrow. We have to wait for another piece of information from my contact.”

 

“Hm.”

 

“So we'll meet back here, Sakura-san?” Tobi asked.

 

Tapping the ring on her finger, she said, “Pein wants you to report once you're done and then we can regroup for the next one.”

 

“Well, I guess we'll see you in about a few days, yeah,” Deidara said as he reached into his clay pouch and began to sculpt a bird.

 

The kunoichi pressed a piece of paper into Tobi's hand. “Remember to collect the remaining twenty-five million Ryou from the contact.”

 

Tobi nodded.

 

Itachi watched silently as they mounted the large clay bird sculpted by Deidara and soared away. Then he gave the kunoichi a questioning look.

 

Gesturing in the direction of the village, she explained, “We'll stay in the village for the night. I've arranged to meet my contact tomorrow at dawn.”

 

With that, she led them forward, her half-open Akatsuki cloak skimming the surface of the deep snow behind her. It seemed that she had not bothered with thicker clothing, remaining instead with her usual attire. With each step, the bottom of the cloak parted to reveal the gentle curve of her legs.

 

When Itachi realized that he was staring, he snapped his eyes away from the distracting sight. After a moment of consideration, he finally surmised that he was simply wondering if she even felt the cold, considering how little she wore underneath the cloak. But as far as he could tell from her steady steps and her even breaths, she was not feeling uncomfortable at all.

 

It occurred to him then that the kunoichi was a walking contradiction. Her appearance, for one, was completely unsuitable for a ninja. And yet, he knew that her slight build and her soft colors hid a monstrous strength. Then there was her lack of control over her emotions. No shinobi in their right mind would display as much emotions as she did, but she did not appear to be disturbed by it. Instead, she seemed to revel in her… humanity. And yet, as far as he could tell, this weakness of hers did not adversely affect her performance as a shinobi.

 

“This will do,” she announced when they reached what looked like an expensive inn.

 

“About time we got out of the cold,” Kisame muttered as they went in.

 

Deciding to allow the kunoichi to procure their rooms, Itachi stood behind her with Kisame. Until he heard her words, that was.

 

“I'll go get the two rooms, alright?”

 

Puzzled, Itachi exchanged a look with his partner. There were three of them, so why was she asking for two rooms only. “Sakura-san, are you not staying here?” he asked levelly.

 

“Of course I am.”

 

The innocent look on her face alerted him that something was amiss. “Then why only two rooms?”

 

“Maybe she doesn't know how to count,” Kisame mocked. “Quite a handicap for a treasurer, don't you think?”

 

A slow smile crossed her lips. “On the contrary. I'm simply making sure that we don't spend our funds unnecessarily.”

 

Itachi's eyes widened slightly when her meaning became apparent. “You will procure individual rooms for each of us,” he instructed stonily.

 

As Kisame sputtered in realization, the kunoichi shook her head. “It's only for one night.” Then her eyes gleamed. “Surely you can manage that without jumping each other.”

 

“Just what exactly are you implying, kunoichi?” Kisame growled in annoyance.

 

The muscle in his jaw ticking, Itachi suppressed the urge to hurl the kunoichi into the nearest wall. He was certain that the Akatsuki could afford one room each. This business of sharing rooms was simply unacceptable. He had enough problems sleeping as it was without the added distraction of someone else being in the same room.

 

“No.”

 

She raised a challenging brow. “You could always pay it out of your own pocket.”

 

Itachi was sorely tempted to do so. It was not as if he could not afford it. However, that was beside the point. He refused to let the kunoichi walk all over them in such a reprehensible manner, treasurer or not. They had always stayed in separate rooms unless there was no availability, so he did not see why anything should change now.

 

Kisame sneered, letting his eyes run up and down her body. “In that case, we should just get one room. Isn't that even better? All three of us can share. All nice and cozy.”

 

When Sakura's eyes narrowed, Itachi could not help but smirk inwardly. Surely she would drop this nonsense now.

 

“Fine.”

 

Kisame sucked in a sharp breath.

 

Hardly believing what he was hearing, Itachi ventured flatly, “You will share a room with us?”

 

She shrugged carelessly. “If it's going to resolve this, then yes, I'll share a room with you two.”

 

Dumbfounded, he simply stared at her. Sharing a room with Kisame was one thing, but sharing a room with the kunoichi as well? Had she taken leave of her senses? No kunoichi in her right mind would agree to such a thing when she could have her own room, unless she wished for certain activities to take place.

 

His mind instantly came up with an image of a nude Sakura pressed between him and Kisame, three pairs of hands roaming over each other's skin.

 

Itachi quickly flattened the unwanted image. The notion was downright disturbing and he did not understand why he even thought of it.

 

“One room then,” she tossed over her shoulders as she made her way back to the reception.

 

Itachi was beside her in a second. Before she could speak to the innkeeper, he bit out, “Two rooms.”

 

Much to his puzzlement, the look she shot him was nothing short of amused. Suspicion instantly coursed through him. Had she been playing a joke on them all along? His eyes narrowed slightly. How… juvenile. No, he refused to respond. Deciding to ignore her, he simply snatched up his key and walked away from her.

 

It was not until he had reached the room he was to share with Kisame that he remembered the scroll he meant to give the kunoichi. Deciding that it could wait until tomorrow, Itachi pushed opened the door and stepped into the room.

 

 

…***…***…***…

 

 

 

The second she closed the room door behind her, Sakura released the laughter she had held back earlier. Sliding down the door, she continued to laugh softly until her eyes became damp. The looks on their faces were priceless.

 

Of course she had no intention of sharing their room, and the two rooms thing was only a joke. If Itachi had not interrupted her, she would have asked for three rooms. But now, the two men were really stuck sharing a room.

 

A fresh burst of chuckles bubbled out of her lips before she froze. Her eyes went wide when she suddenly realized that this was the first time in a long while that she had laughed so hard. And the reason for it was the expressions on Itachi's and Kisame's faces. Konoha's enemies. Biting her lips worriedly, she sat down on the bed. It felt wrong to be laughing like this, even if it was at their expense, and it made her feel quite guilty.

 

Damn it, she really did not need to think about something like that now. It would just confuse her and complicate matters. She should just distract herself with something else now.

 

Sobering up, she reached into her pack to retrieve the scrolls she had been working on ever since she realized that she would be responsible for capturing the hachibi. Unrolling the smaller one, she performed a quick summoning jutsu. A soft puff of smoke exploded over it. Then the smoke dissipated to reveal two metal wristbands on the scroll.

 

Picking them up, she traced her fingers over the kanji carved on its surface. She had just begun to work on them, but she wished that she had the notes from her old research to make things simpler. As it was, she had to work from scratched based on what she remembered from before.

 

Her chakra began to fluctuate as she began to study them, stopping occasionally to write her findings down in the larger scroll. It was still all theory at this point, and she knew that there was nothing she could do to change that until she got hold of the hachibi's jinchuuriki.

 

A pang went through her heart at the thought of the jinchuuriki. What if this did not work? What if all their research had been wrong, and all she would end up doing was to kill the jinchuuriki?

 

Sighing heavily, she placed the wristbands back on the small scroll and performed the jutsu to seal it. Sakura rolled the scroll neatly after they disappeared in a small puff of smoke. There was no point thinking about it now, she guessed. There was still another hurdle to get through before she could even think of testing this on the hachibi. Pein might not allow her to do it after she explained fully what the entire thing would entail.

 

Still, she knew that she had to give it a try.

 

If it succeeded, then Naruto would be safe even if Akatsuki managed to catch him.

 

Idly, she wondered what her friends in Konoha were doing right now. Before the four Akatsuki had joined her, she had taken a short detour to check on one of the assigned pick-up points and to leave some coded information from Akatsuki's records for Konoha. But to her disappointment, she had found no message from Konoha. But then again, she should have known that they would not send her any messages unless it was urgent, not that it stopped her from checking.

 

Yawning, Sakura made her way to the bathroom to prepare herself for bed. Her exertion in the research had drained her more than she had realized. Stretching as she walked back out, she crawled into her bed and snuggled under the cover.

 

In no time at all, she fell into deep sleep.

 

She woke up just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. Tossing the covers off her, she began to prepare herself for the day. Her mind was filled with the mission ahead, she double checked her equipments and then slung her pack over her shoulders.

 

Closing the door behind her, she made her way to her teammates' room. The door opened before she could knock, revealing the tall Mist shinobi. He eyed her thoughtfully for a moment before stepping aside to allow her to enter.

 

Beaming, she asked, “Slept well?”

 

“Like a baby.”

 

She snorted as she stepped into the room. Somehow, the image of Kisame as a baby did not sit right in her mind. Glancing around, she wondered where Itachi was until she heard the sound of water being switched off.

 

A moment later, Itachi stepped out of the attached bathroom.

 

Clad only in a towel.

 

Sakura blinked at the sight before her. His clothes sure covered a lot. Slowly, without her consent, her eyes ran up his bare legs to his towel-clad midsection, and then paused at the damp skin stretched across his gently rippling pectorals. Unable to stop her wayward eyes, she continued her blatant ogling of his body until she reached his face. To her horror, she began to blush at the mortifying knowledge that he had caught her eyeing him like a piece of…

 

Wait! Was that amusement in his eyes?

 

Annoyance instantly overrode her embarrassment. Getting hold of herself, she tilted her head to the side, not breaking their eye contact. She had seen many, MANY male bodies. And this one was nothing special, she told herself firmly. It was just her female hormones reacting to the sight of a naked body, that was all. It could all be explained by simple human biology. So there!

 

Inner Sakura suddenly appeared in her mind, practically salivating as she declared, `Biology, my foot! Can't you see how nicely built his shoulders are? Or how sexy those hips look barely covered by a towel. Imagine that towel sliding-'

 

Sakura forcibly squashed Inner Sakura out of her mind before she could continue, horrified at the thoughts her inner self was entertaining. What was up with Inner Sakura lately? She had been gone for years and now she was suddenly back? Not only she was back, she was back with alarming signs of perversion.

 

A chuckle sounded behind her, snapping her back to reality.

 

“Like what you see, kunoichi?” Kisame teased.

 

She spun on her heels, glad for the excuse to remove her eyes from Itachi's distracting body. “Nothing I haven't seen before,” she declared flatly.

 

“I see. You seemed to be rather… fascinated… a second ago,” the Mist shinobi pointed out.

 

Sakura forced out a smirk. “There's nothing fascinating about naked male bodies, especially after seeing so many of them.”

 

Kisame raised a disbelieving brow. “That's interesting. I wouldn't have guessed that you're the type.”

 

Her eyes narrowed. What was he thinking? Maybe she should clarify it, just in case he got the wrong idea. “I'm a medic-nin, Shark-Face. Inspecting bodies is part of what we do.”

 

Kisame snorted. “I get it. But it definitely didn't stop you from looking just now.”

 

“I certainly hope that you do not make it a habit, Sakura-san. It was rather… inappropriate.”

 

At Itachi's voice, she turned around to find him raising a brow at her, now fully dressed. She could hardly believe that he had dressed right there without asking her to leave the room. Then when his words sank in, she gritted her teeth.

 

“Rest assured, Itachi-san, that I would attempt to curb my… fascination… in the future,” she responded levelly.

 

As Itachi's eyes gleamed with what looked like mirth, a bark of laughter escaped Kisame. How dare they laugh at her about something like this? Men! Deciding that she had had enough of their teasing, she turned to walk back out of the room.

 

“Well, are we ready to go?” she snapped impatiently as she planted the conical hat on her head. At least the hat would hide the furious flush on her cheeks.

 

“Aa.”

 

Acutely embarrassed and discomfited, Sakura kept her back to them as they exited the inn to be greeted by the snowy weather. She had barely taken a few steps into the snow before Itachi came to her side. Tensing immediately at his proximity, Sakura had to consciously force herself to relax. What did he want? Surely he was not there to tease her further. He did not seem to be the type.

 

“Pein wants you to have this.”

 

Her steps slowed as she turned to him, noting absently that his eyes were the only visible part of him. Then she saw the scroll in his hand.

 

Reaching out to take it, she asked, “What is this?”

 

His expression was unreadable. “Open it.”

 

Frowning slightly, she unrolled the scroll.

 

Then her breath suspended in her chest when she saw the familiar words. The scroll contained the research she had done on Naruto back when she was in Konoha. With some effort, she forced herself not to react outwardly, hoping that the bamboo hat had hidden any surprise she might have shown earlier. How on earth had Pein managed to get this information? It was a copy, but still, one had to go into Konoha to get it.

 

“Well, this is definitely not something I expected to see. Where did Pein get it?” she asked, surprised at the evenness of her own voice.

 

Itachi's eyes did not leave her. “Does it matter?”

 

She shrugged noncommittally.

 

After a moment of silence, Itachi said, “Pein gives his approval for you to commence the study.”

 

She forced out a smile as she rolled the scroll shut. “Then it's a good thing he got this for me. Saves me a lot of work.”

 

“Hm.”

 

Pushing the scroll into her pack with steady hands, Sakura turned back to face Itachi. “Let's go, or we'll be late.”

 

“Aa.”

 

As she began to walk again, Sakura tilted the hat lower over her face. Only then did she allow the worried frown to surface. This was not good. Whilst it was true that the research was no big secret in Konoha, the fact that the Akatsuki had gotten hold of a copy of it could only mean one thing.

 

The Akatsuki has spies in Konoha.

 

 

…***…***…***…

 

 

A/N: And that's it for this chapter. I hope that you are entertained by this chapter. As always, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave me a review to let me know what you think of it. Thanks!