Sorry for the late update. I got lost on the path of life with an old lady because I saw a black cat cross my path. Anyway, enjoy your chapter!

XX

Konan took pride in being a level-headed, patient woman. She lost everything once when she was a child to one of the many wars that shook the tiny village of Amegakure to the core. She didn't harbor any ill will towards the Konoha shinobi, even though they were technically responsible for her parents' deaths. She couldn't, especially after Nagato put all his faith and trust into one boy from that very same village. At first, she didn't understand why he did so. Nagato just met the boy, so why was he putting everything he lived for on his shoulders? But then, as Konan watched the boy do great things, watched him save lives, find peaceful solutions to otherwise violent problems and go through hell to protect his friends, she saw why Nagato put his trust in him. He was an example for all shinobi to follow, the light at the end of a dark tunnel. She could remember how boldly she followed Nagato's example and put her faith in Uzumaki Naruto as well, that fateful day Uchiha Madara snatched away her last tie to Nagato – the Rinnegan.

There were rumors of a girl who recently developed the Rinnegan. Nothing was set in stone, but Konan was fairly sure that girl was a kunoichi from Konoha. She didn't know her name, her age, her rank or anything else about her. It bugged Konan to no end. She wanted to meet this girl, to protect her, to make sure she stayed away from Madara's clutches. Almost every day, she considered going to Konoha to find this girl. But then she would remember how hopeless such a prospect was. She didn't know this girl personally; she couldn't have said she knew who she was either, because she had no idea what she looked like or even what her name was. Madara spared her life on a whim – it was up to her what she was going to do with the rest of her life.

"Konan-sama?" Konan looked up to see a shinobi standing in front of her, his hands clasped together. "These four Konoha shinobi have requested an audience with you." Konan sighed as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Send them in," she ordered. The shinobi bowed his head slightly and ran outside the office. Konan gazed around her office pensively. It was small and cramped – nobody said Amegakure had the best conditions in the shinobi world – but it was enough. On one wall was essentially a timeline of her life. Picture after picture hung side by side, and the faces in them smiled at her. The first one was of her and her parents – the only one that survived the war that killed them. The next few were of her, Nagato, Yahiko and Jiraiya. Then it was just her, Nagato and Yahiko. Then just her and Nagato. Then there were pictures of Akatsuki, the people in the pictures growing more numerous as the organization grew. And then the number of people decreased as the pictures moved on. And then it was her standing with a grinning Naruto with a small smile on her own face (she specially requested that they take one before she left Konoha). This picture of her with Naruto was what motivated her to continue working every day, to do everything in her power to help the war effort.

Naruto walked into her office, his arms stretched back behind his head. Next to him was a girl with pink hair and green eyes who was fiddling with her flak jacket. Next to the girl was a rather pale boy with matching black eyes and hair. On the other side of Naruto was Itachi's brother. A small smile made Konan's lips twitch upward slightly. "Hi Konan!" Naruto greeted loudly. The girl's face turned red as she turned away slightly and fidgeted more. Konan nodded her head.

"Naruto," she acknowledged. "You know how dangerous it is for you to come all the way out here." Naruto frowned.

"Well it's more dangerous for Sakura-chan anyway," he grumbled.

"No, it's more dangerous for you," the girl, presumably Sakura, objected.

"It's equally dangerous for both of you," the Uchiha interjected. "Naruto, he's after you because the Kyuubi completes his master plan. Sakura, he's after you because, with your Rinnegan, you could potentially become the key to the whole war effort."

"Did you just say Rinnegan?" Konan gasped, staring intently at the pink-haired girl. The girl Sakura looked away and began playing with her fingers nervously.

"Um…" Naruto mumbled. "You see… The thing is…"

"Sakura has the Rinnegan," Sasuke finished for him. Konan's face was blank and impassive as she quickly scanned each of their faces. Placid Sasuke, nervous Naruto, even more nervous Sakura and emotionless Sai. Konan let out a heavy sigh.

"Look," she said. "This is something Sakura and I have to work out on our own. I appreciate you three coming all the way here to support her, but with all due respect, this is between Sakura and me. So will you please give us a few minutes to talk alone?" Naruto, Sasuke and Sai left the office without another word. Konan gestured towards the chair in front of her desk. "Sit," she instructed. Sakura sat down gingerly, running her fingers through her hair self-consciously. Konan gave a gentle smile. "I assume you're here because you've discovered your true heritage and you've awakened your Rinnegan." Sakura nodded slowly. "Now before we begin talking, I would like to apologize for giving you up to that civilian family in Konoha. That was incredibly selfish of me and your father, and—"

"I'm not mad," Sakura interrupted her. This took Konan by surprise.

"You're not?" she asked. Sakura shook her head.

"No," she answered honestly. "Otou-san told me that you gave me up because you wanted to protect me from Izuna." She smiled. "Thank you for everything, Okaa-san." Konan pursed her lips, unsure of what else to say.

"Well…" she began awkwardly. "I certainly wasn't expecting that. I thought you would be furious with me for giving you up." Sakura shook her head again.

"Not at all," she replied." Konan stood up and made her way over to the wall lined with pictures.

"Come here, Sakura," she said. Sakura stood up and walked over to Konan. Konan draped one arm around her. She gazed up at the first picture. "This is me when I was a child," she said, pointing to herself in the picture, "and those are your grandparents. They've been dead for decades, but I never forgot them. Not once." Konan guided Sakura down several pictures to one of herself, Nagato and Yahiko.

"Otou-san," Sakura recognized immediately. "Who's that?" She pointed up to Yahiko.

"That's Yahiko, another one of our friends," Konan explained. "He died… in a little skirmish with Hanzo." Sakura's eyebrows furrowed when she heard his name. She gazed up at the last picture and smiled.

"You took a picture with Naruto," she said. Konan couldn't help but smile.

"Yes I did," she said. "Nagato entrusted his hopes and dreams to Naruto when he died. At first, I didn't believe it, but when Madara attacked me, I started putting my faith in him as well."

"He's pretty reliable," Sakura said, "but sometimes he has absolutely no sense of decency… Then again, when he doesn't have decency, he doesn't know he's doing anything wrong." Konan chuckled.

"So how did you find out about your heritage?" Konan asked.

"I always knew I was a war orphan," Sakura explained. "I mean, someone whose parents left her with a civilian family during the war. Finding out who my real parents were never really was my top priority until I got the Rinnegan." Konan nodded understandingly. "Okaa-san… there's something else. I didn't get the Rinnegan from Otou-san. He… he said that—"

"Nagato's been dead since Akatsuki attacked Konoha," Konan interrupted.

"But he became an Edo summon," Sakura protested, "and then he… died again." Konan sighed. "Anyway, he told me that once the Rinnegan was presented to one person, it would continue in that person's bloodline."

"Madara said that he gave Nagato the Rinnegan…" Konan mused.

"But I read on the wall of the Naka shrine that the Sage of the Six Paths gave his Rinnegan to her daughter so that she could reconcile her two brothers, and that if she failed, she would have to give it to one of her descendents who were strong of both body and mind." Konan's eyes narrowed in thought.

"So which story is true?" she asked rhetorically.

"I think Izuna's and the Naka Shrine's versions are true," Sakura said.

"Wait… Izuna?" Konan interrupted again. Sakura sighed and launched into her explanation. "I see," Konan said as soon as she was done. The door to the office suddenly opened, and Naruto, Sasuke and Sai entered.

"We're so sorry, Konan!" Naruto said. "The guard said he'd kick us out, so we came back in here." The faintest of smiles appeared on Konan's face.

"That's all right," she said. "Sakura and I were almost done talking anyway."

"So… are you two ok?" Naruto asked.

"Yup!" Sakura replied, grinning broadly.

"We're trying to figure out which theory about the Rinnegan is correct," Konan said. "Nagato's, that the Rinnegan would continue in its owner's bloodline, Izuna's, that he gave Nagato the Rinnegan in the first place, or the Naka Shrine's, that the Rinnegan would be given to the person strongest of both body and mind in the Sage of the Six Paths' daughter's bloodline."

"I say Izuna and the Naka Shrine," Naruto said.

"Same here," Sasuke agreed.

"But where could Izuna have possibly gotten a Rinnegan?" Sakura asked. Silence enveloped the room as the question lingered in the air.

"Kuwada Yuna," Sasuke said quietly.

"What?" Konan asked.

"The real Madara's fiancée," he explained. "She had the Rinnegan, and she died in the battle between Izuna and Senju Hashirama."

"So you're saying he took her Rinnegan and kept it for a hundred years before giving it to Otou-san?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Sasuke affirmed, "but that doesn't explain why you have the Rinnegan."

"If I have the Rinnegan, then I'm one of the Sage's daughter's descendants," Sakura said.

"Wait a minute," Sasuke interrupted. "What's your family name?"

"Kuwada," Konan said hesitantly.

"Then—" Naruto began. Suddenly there was a loud boom. A shrill, ringing noise filled the air, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The air seemed to swirl near the wall with the pictures, and out of that swirl dropped three people – two men and a woman. One man, a broad-shouldered man with pale skin and hair black as an oil slick, stood up first and dusted himself off.

"This is your fault, Akihiro," he said automatically. The second man, a tall, wiry-built man with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes, stood up shakily.

"I never did anything wrong, Hiroshi nii-san," he protested. He looked down to the woman. She had long pink hair and bright green eyes; she looked exactly like Sakura. "Yuna, are you all right?" She stood up gingerly and dusted off her red robes.

"Fine," she said simply. "Thank you, Akihiro nii-san."

"What happened?" Akihiro asked, gazing up at the ceiling.

"Where are we?" Hiroshi asked, gazing around the room.

"Who are they?" Yuna asked, staring straight at Konan, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Sai.

XX

Woooo another chapter done! And I leave you at another cliffhanger (tee hee). Soooo anyone up to date with the manga? It's so LAME! Kishi's running out of ideas, and he's probably just prolonging the manga as far as it will go for the extra money. Naruto's new power is borderline ass pull/plot-no-jutsu. Kishi put in ONE interesting scene to catch readers' interest and then made everything BORING again. I DON'T FREAKING CARE ABOUT KILLER BEE OR A. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO SASUKE AND SAKURA.

As for this fic, a mixture of writers' block and low self-esteem prolonged the wait for this chapter. I'm thinking of writing a fic starting at the beginning of Naruto. Instead of Sasuke being so consumed with vengeance and hatred, he has self-induced amnesia; after the Uchiha massacre, he subconsciously made himself forget everything related to the Uchiha clan and Itachi. The Third Hokage used a jutsu to wipe everyone's minds of the Uchiha clan and the Uchiha massacre except for a select few (Danzo, Kakashi, etc.). Sasuke lives a relatively happy life with his adopted grandfather Danzo (who took him in out of guilt and kindness on his part) and Sakura (who's his best friend). But then things from his old life start to surface as he grows older – his inherent knowledge of fire jutsus, his Sharingan, etc. I don't know. Do you think I should pursue this?

PLEASE REVIEW!