AN: Hey, all. Sorry for the late post (again)
breakups, family drama, sickness, all that good stuff.
Needless to say, August was a long month.

Read, review!

Chapter 5

Sakura glared at the still unopened parcel on her bed with distaste. The little brown package seemed to mock her, its contents silently laughing at her predicament. Sakura stomped into her bathroom, stood over the sink and began pulling at her face. Her hands moved of their own accord, pulling her cheekbones higher, her eyes thinner, her mouth wider. Sakura's hands moved together, forming seals. A little puff of smoke appeared and she leaned in closer to study her henge.

She barely even recognized herself. Shiny, voluminous dark brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, curling out slightly at the ends, just under her shoulder blades. Tanned skin complemented wide, light brown eyes and her full lips pursed as she noticed a large decrease in forehead size. Her face held a much older appearance, angular yet soft. She looked less like a teenager and more like an adult.

Sakura committed her appearance to memory for later use as loud, sharp noise rang out through her room. She immediately released the henge and threw the door open to see Hidan push her parcel off the bed and lazily flop onto it. She cringed.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" He snarled.

"What the fuck are you doing on my bed?" She countered.

"Observing. Have to know what you leaf pussies look like and act like so I can impersonate your ass."

"Ridiculous," Sakura muttered before turning into her bathroom again, "Hey, if you're gonna be in here, you might as well make yourself useful." She called from the bathroom.

Hidan ignored her, instead choosing to puncture her pillows will his scythe and drag them over to where he was laying.

Sakura walked out, in henge, and faced him. Looking up at her Hidan snorted before throwing his head back down on her pillow.

"So?"

"It's too nondescript, dumb ass. You look too plain to be an akatsuki member. How the fuck would anyone think you're part of the group? Take a look at every member we have, they all have some kind of quirk in appearance and ability. You look like any weak ass little medic from any weak ass hidden village. That's what they're looking for."

Sakura stalked back into the bathroom and faced her mirror. A few hand seals later, she walked back out. Purple eyes, pale skin, and a large scar stood out. Hidan nodded.

"And here I thought you were gonna change your damn hair color."

Sakura scoffed

"I'm not that stupid."

Hidan rolled his eyes and got up, feathers flying as his scythe pulled out of the pillow. To Sakura's surprise, he was silent when he exited the room. The sharp pound of the door slamming shut and his heavy footsteps resonated as Sakura released her henge.

Picking up the forgotten parcel, Sakura ripped the paper off. She first pulled out the cloak, which she threw to the bed. Next was the scroll. Carefully unrolling it, she laid it on the floor. The scroll was adorned with paintings of weapons. Beautifully crafted, true to life drawings of senbon, bladed fans, shuriken, and katana seemed to gleam in the light of her room. She turned back to her bed, grabbing the wrapping paper. On the interior were instructions for opening the weapons scroll.

Sakura read the instructions several times before attempting to open it. The first try, she missed a seal and the edges of the scroll began to singe. Akatsuki's security was impeccable, she noted.

The second try, the weapons began appearing. Sakura started by picking up the bladed fan. As large as her torso, the fan was difficult to wield. Hands shaking, she tried to emulate moves she'd seen from Temari of the Sand. The fan slipped in her fingers and nicked her forearm. She sighed in pure frustration, glaring at her battle wound. Sakura put the fan down and reached for the katana. Anbu-style, the sword was simple, light, and long. Too long, in fact. She had trouble just unsheathing the weapon. Sakura moved on to familiar weapons. She picked up a windmill shuriken, spinning it around and practicing stances. Caught up in her forms, she didn't notice a brief knock on her door.

"Haruno-san." A smooth, cool voice swept into her room.

Sakura put down the shuriken and opened her door. Itachi immediately strode past her.

"I'm here to see your henge. I've also decided that this room is suitable for any medical practice you plan on doing tonight."

"Yes, yes. I've been working on it a bit," Sakura nodded, "though I'm still working out the details."

Sakura made quick work of transforming. She, now in henged form, stared at Itachi with a look of satisfaction.

"Well?"

"It's almost too obvious, but that won't matter much. It's doubtful that you'll actually be pulled into battle. If, in any case, a Konoha nin intercepts us, it will undoubtedly target Hidan and I. Of course, you'll still need a weapon. Show me your choice."

Sakura nodded, grabbing the windmill shuriken.

"Good enough, I suppose. I'm going to assume you have experience with that particular weapon. If you do end up getting pulled into battle, be sure to rely on everything but your chakra control. If anyone sees any kind of skill with chakra, they will know it's you."

"I know," Sakura said, "I'm more worried about my fighting style. My taijutsu is very recognizable to anyone from Konoha."

"Then we'll just have to make sure you don't get put into that situation. I'll inform Kisame before we depart."

The air in the interrogation room felt stagnant to Tsunade. The room was dark, no windows adorned the walls, but a single lightbulb hung from the ceiling. The hard, concrete floor amplified the sound of her footsteps, echoing through the nearly empty room. She walked towards a table, set in the middle of the room. On one side sat Ibiki, cool as ever, an empty chair placed next to him. Tsunade couldn't see the face of the woman across from Ibiki, but could feel her tension. Waves of nervous energy saturated the room. Tsunade made her way to the empty chair and sat down, a steely expression plastered on her face. Rin Yamakishi looked to her for some kind of explanation, hope glistening in her eyes. Tsunade ignored her, instead choosing to focus on the several anbu entering the room.

"There is no need for you here," Tsunade said, "one of you may guard the entrance to this room, the rest are dismissed."

Wordlessly, the anbu complied, filing out of the room. Before exiting, one of them stepped forward and offered a scroll to Tsunade. Unrolling the scroll, she set it in front of herself and Ibiki.

"Shall we get started?"

Rin Yamakishi immediately stiffened, the hands in her lap wringing furiously. Ibiki stood and began walking around the room, his leisurely pace offsetting the thick tension in the room.

"Yamakishi, what is your relationship with Sakura Haruno?" Ibiki asked, almost conversationally.

"She's a talented medic. We don't speak much, but I deeply respect her." Rin's voice, frail and broken, carried through the room.

"She is. So talented, in fact, that it puts anyone else's medical skills to shame." Ibiki said.

Rin sat, silent.

"There must be a lot of tension between the medics. I would imagine even more with Sakura. She is the Hokage's apprentice, after all."

"We compete with each other, but there's no ill intent there."

"What is it that you all compete for?" Tsunade asked.

"Anything. Medic slots on anbu teams, promotions, anything that could give us a reputation boost," Rin stammered, "but we're all friendly with each other. We wouldn't take one of our own out to put ourselves ahead."

"Is that so?" Ibiki's face contorted into a deeply disturbing mix between a grimace and a smile. He walked back over to the table and reached for the scroll.

The door to the interrogation room flew open as Ibiki's fingertips touched the scroll. In a flash, Tsunade was up. A large man stood in the doorway, his chakra completely undetectable. He wore a long, black coat with a hood pulled down over his face. One look at him and Tsunade knew he was not one of her shinobi. He, though not visible, gave off an aura that Tsunade didn't recognize whatsoever. He was an outsider.

"Who are you?" Tsunade asked.

The man made no response, instead choosing to pull a katana out of his cloak. Ibiki grabbed some kunai out of his weapons pouch, ready for an attack. Tsunade pulled some chakra into her fist and made a move towards him. He evaded her move and ran towards Rin.

"Where the fuck are my anbu?" Tsunade shouted.

She turned just in time to see the man's katana go straight through Rin Yamakishi's chest. Rin choked, a little blood spilling out between her lips. She watched as he turned the blade and pulled it out, wiping it on his cloak. Before Tsunade could take another breath, the man was gone. The cloud of smoke that accompanied his disappearance disintegrated before her eyes.

"What the fuck was that?" Ibiki yelled, "We almost had her."

"I think that was the plan." She said.

Just seconds too late, several shinobi came running in. Tsunade addressed the few anbu among them.

"All anbu operatives in my office at once. Everyone else, see to putting this village on lockdown. I want nobody leaving, nobody entering. Send out the message. Bring me Shikamaru and some fucking sake."

AN: This chapter was a lot longer, originally. Actually double this size. I decided to split it into two different chapters, for my own sake.

Also, I've got a little bit of a problem. I need a beta! I've lost touch with my current beta and need someone to help me out, if only for a little while.
I'm a bit of an unreliable author, and I need someone that can keep up with me and my constant procrastination and extended deadlines.
If you're interested, please PM or email me at my fanfiction related email, hellomysweetheart live . com

Anyway, I probably won't put out part two of this until I get a new beta, just because it's easier on my life.