Arc One: Seed

Leave your hearts in the dust

We ain't never giving up

Maybe you're startin' (maybe you're startin')

You're starting to forget

❀

The room was dark, a single light dangling on a thread above a large table flickered pathetically. Due to this, a series of fire lit torches illuminated the walls casting various shadows from the Akatsuki members already seated. Six men sat in chairs in varying states of injury. The largest man, Kisame, stuttered on a breath and his body contorted forwards so that he could violently cough. He hacked and heaved with a hand over his mouth and his other hand over his chest.

His partner Itachi sat at his side and lifted up a fist to his own mouth as he forced himself to stifle a cough.

Kisame finished with a final open mouthed hack and Deidara who sat across from him grimaced at him. "That's disgusting."

Kisame rolled his eyes, "I might hack up a lung but at least I came back with my partner and all my body parts."

Deidara frowned, "hey! I got what mattered!" He gestured harshly to Sasori by his side. However Sasori was not quite himself; Deidara had only managed to swipe Sasori's soul seal that kept him 'alive' after the battle was over and he himself had escaped. Now Sasori was bereft of all his main puppets as they had been destroyed in his last battle, his soul seal was implanted inside his last available puppet. This puppet body was a basic wooden form akin to a wooden figure that beginning artists would use to get pose references; he had no hair, no fingers or toes, not even a face. When he spoke, his voice sounded slightly muffled, like it was locked inside a wooden box.

"Yet you forgot our rings," he said. Deidara flinched.

Instead of making up excuses, he deflected attention from himself. "Let's not act like I'm the one here in the worst shape," and threw his only arm to the man next to him.

"Eat a dick!" Hidan yelled. The man was indeed in the worst condition, for his body was in pieces. A large straw basket sat atop his chair holding his severed arms, legs, torso, and his head sat atop the pile. Kakuzu sat in the seat beside him and seemed to be trying to tune out the flurry of profanities his teammate was spewing. Kakuzu was the only one at the table who seemed to be in good health.

Deidara casted him a dirty look, "I still don't get why you can't stitch us back together."

"First, you don't have your arm. Second, something about our fight left this idiot's body resistant to my threading jutsu. I'm not a medic. Even if you had your arm I don't know if my jutsu would work or if your body would reject it." He rubbed a hand on his covered forehead. Deidara clicked his tongue. "Sounds like excuses to me."

"Damn fucking right it's excuses. What the hell are we gonna do about me!?" Hidan's outburst then caused his head to fall onto its side. "Kakuzu! Put my head back up."

"No."

"Why not?!"

Kakuzu looked away. "I don't want to. You're being annoying."

"No shit! I'm in pieces and you can't fix me!" He yelled angrily. Deidara privately hoped his head would fall and thump on the floor. Before Deidara could reach over to push his head to the floor himself, the meeting door busted open.

"Hi, Hi, everybody!" Tobi cheered as Zetsu followed him inside and seated themselves. Tobi paused and looked at the group. He asked earnestly and cocked his head, "Hidan-san, did you shrink?"

"Shut the fuck up! You mask-wearing asshole!"

Before an argument could begin again, Pain entered the room. "That is enough." The group immediately fell into silence. They had all ultimately failed their mission from Pain to capture and extract the Jinchuriki and not only that, they had returned in terrible shape. The thought that Pain would be so angry at their failure, as to kill them and have Zetsu eat them was not an empty threat.

The leader took slow calculated steps around the table and behind the seated members. When he spoke, it was with a monotonous voice so unsettling in its unwavering delivery. "How is it," he came to a stop behind his chair opposite the entrance, "that the strongest missing-nin in the world, couldn't capture and extract a single jinchuriki." His spiralled eyes dragged across the injured, "Not only that, but you return in pieces."

Kisame spoke up, "with all do respect, it looks like we weren't given enough information on the targets before we were sent out." This brought all attention to the large man, it was quite the brash thing to say to their leader who was clearly angry below the surface of calm, but it put a portion of the blame also on that leader.

"Aw~, is that our fault?" Tobi cocked his head to Zetsu before clapping his hands together and bowing his head. "Tobi is so sorry! I promise we thought we had all the information on the jinchuriki!"

"Clearly wasn't fucking enough!" Hidan spat. "With how much you dumbasses left out, I'm shocked these guys are still even alive!"

"Hey, me and Sasori-danna came the closest! We actually captured it, just ran out of time before we were ambushed, if anything that means we did better than you." Deidara smirked and mocked the basket of body parts who began spitting curses again. Within the second voices were raised, Hidan and Deidara in a shouting match, Kakuzu and Itachi trying to tune them out, Kisame throwing snide comments only to be dragged into the argument as well, and Tobi frantically waving his arms to try and calm the group down but he only seemed to be making the angry shinobi angrier.

Clink! Clink!

The room was immediately silenced by the sound of two rings being dropped on the table. Konan had arrived soundlessly and with an arm outstretched she deposited Deidara and Sasori's missing Akatsuki rings. "Good work, Konan." Pain spoke. Tobi clapped his hands with a "Yay!" She briefly bowed her head in acknowledgement before her cold gaze breezed over the now silent group. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I feel it's time to discuss the urgent matter at hand, that being what to do about the injured." Her voice was matter-of-fact and cold as she spoke, "Pain and I have come to the decision that if you are not capable of being healed then our dealings will be terminated, and so will you."

"Hah!?" Hidan voiced. Konan raised a hand to silence him.

"That being said, we have identified someone with the capabilities enough that they could be able to heal you. Sasori reported to us a medic who not only defeated him but was skilled enough to counteract his poisons. Short of the Slug sage Sanin Tsunade, whom this medic is a disciple to, she should be one of the few medics in the world with enough qualifications to fix this."

Deidara shot a glance to the wooden man at his side who had yet to make a single movement. Kisame spoke up, "and if she can't heal us?" Konan matched his stare and that gave him his answer, they knew too much to be left alive if they couldn't contribute to the Akatsuki's goal. Kakuzu folded his arms.

Konan moved to stand at Pain's side and spoke. "Zetsu and Tobi, as the most able-bodied team here, your mission will be to retrieve our medic. She must be alive and unharmed." Tobi gave an overdramatic salute and Zetsu nodded. Konan then held up an outstretched hand and her skin began to unfurl, white pieces of paper peeling off like petals in bloom. They floated above her hand before swarming in the air to form a body, colour faded into the figure as the last pieces assimilated into it. What stood was a young Kunoichi of pink hair and a white circle atop her chest. Her eyes a vivid green and her uniform in warm red tones completed with her soft purple medics apron.

"Your target is Sakura Haruno, age 15, Village hidden in the Leaves kunoichi and disciple of Tsunade Senju." Konan explained. There were mixed reactions; Sasori remained motionless, Deidara recognised the medic from the brief run-in, Itachi seemed to know of the girl, Kisame simply blinked, and Kakuzu's eyes were unreadable though he unfolded his arms. Hidan's thoughts were loudly shouted.

"My wellbeing is in the hands of a scrawny kid!?" He knew the threat of death was meaningless to him, all he cared about was that he was put back together, and this short pink haired brat was all they had.

"Your complaint is noted." Konan said. Deidara cocked his head mockingly at Hidan, "ok Hidan, why don't we have a show of hands who think nabbing this medic is a good idea?" Deidara raised his arm happily at the other mans offended "fuck you!" as he couldn't move his disembodied limbs. Wanting to join the teen in pissing off Hidan, Kisame also raised his hand. Sasori slowly raised a wooden nub acting as his hand. Itachi remained impassive, but the shocking response came from Kakuzu who after a single look at this medic raised an unwavering hand. His wide eyes turned stone serious.

Tobi threw both his hands in the air above his head. "Yay! We're getting a cute new member!"

Kisame leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "am I right to assume she won't just comply?"

Konan turned to him. "We intend to alter her memories to manipulate her loyalties. I'll be in contact with who we'll need to accomplish this, so unless I come to you, I suggest you leave that to me." Kisame smiled and raised his hands in mock defence, "fair enough."

Konan turned to Pain, he nodded once to her before making his way to the door with a "dismissed." The men at the table began standing and leaving the room. Kakuzu left Hidan completely helpless in place, Kisame laughed before hauling the dismembered man in his basket up and taking him out the room. "Deidara, I'll need another of your birds to airdrop that poison again, this time on a smaller colony town." Konan said, Deidara shrugged "sure, just gimme a sec."

She turned back to Tobi and Zetsu, "I'll give you the necessary information, we need her as quickly as possible."

Zetsu breathed out a heavy, "understood," and Tobi nodded along.

"Do not be long."

❀

Konan's vacant eyes unfocused from the tiny barred window high on the wall. The dust particles danced in the faint light. She sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair beside a vacant bed wrapped in a pathetic single sheet intending to be for their soon-to-be medic. The spare room held sparse wooden furniture, a single light, and that lone window no bigger than a person's head - too small to escape from. Her hands were folded in her lap, her posture so straight that she briefly made note of the dull ache in her lower back. The lack of noise and emptiness of the room, it was so nothing, Konan wondered if dust had a smell.

Pain stood at her side, Itachi and Kakuzu stood silently against the far wall. She forced her eyes back into focus as the footsteps coming to the door made themselves known.

The inhabitants turned to see Tobi's arrival and unconscious in his arms was the medic. Tobi spoke in a loud whisper, "we got the medic! Can we keep her?"

Konan rose to her feet. "Place her on the bed." He did as he was told. Pain and the other men came to the bedside. The group had gone over the plan on how they would alter the kunoichi's memories to shift her loyalty earlier, now it was down to execution.

Unbeknownst to many, an ability unique to Itachi's eyes was the ability to enter a person's headspace to the point of viewing their memories. However the further back a person went, the harder that memory was to stay in. They planned to have Itachi sift through the girl's memories to find a moment in her life that defined her, a moment that she looks back on as a turning point in her life, something she holds close to her heart. Then they would simply add something there. Something that would connect her to them. She and Pain had come to the agreement that Konan would be that factor.

"As a woman she's more likely to trust me. I'm sure I'll be able to manipulate her into believing us."

To lock onto a memory, Pain was given a few incredibly thin pins akin to ones used in acupuncture by Kakuzu and he came to her head. They would use chakra to extend the pins and pierce the chakra into her brain, targeting spots that influenced memories and hold her there for Itachi to place Konan's likeness.

"Begin." Pain spoke. With a quick movement he pierced the centre of her forehead and those piercing green eyes flew open in a gasp. Immediately Itachi's eyes caught them and his vision swirled into her mind.

It was almost akin to a Genjutsu how it felt to walk in a person's memories. Itachi kept himself concealed as the world around him flickered. A technique like this was incredibly taxing, not to mention his already poor condition was making it harder to focus.

He watched as memories of important moments in the young girl's life flashed by. He watched flickers flint across his vision. Her fight with Sasori. Her becoming a Chunin. Her watching a teammate walk away. Another teammate walked away. Cutting her hair. He saw them all, but they weren't good enough alone.

Until he came across the perfect memories to manipulate.

The shivering form of a sobbing little girl hunched in on herself, attempting to curl her body in on itself, to force herself to take up as little space in the world as possible. A little blond girl with confidence in her strides and purpose in her eyes approached her and crouched down to force the girl to meet her eyes. Her confidence seemed to grab the sniffling child's attention and force her to speak up. Itachi watched the moment play out, he knew the more he saw, the more he realised this was the girl's starting point in her life. She didn't begin to live as the girl she is now until this moment here. He brought his fingers up in a sign and forced a pulse of chakra to flow through his throbbing eyes. He focused on three memories, and began reshaping one factor in each.

"You're the girl that's always getting picked on, aren't you?" Sakura tried to stifle a sniffle. She hadn't heard anyone approaching her, she probably looked pathetic crying out in the open like this.

"Who -hic- who are you?" She hiccupped and forced herself to meet the other's eyes.

"My name's Konan," they didn't look that different in age but Sakura knew from looking at the girl that she was destined to be someone important. Her hair flowed gently in the wind like it was a part of the breeze, her skin so fair and clean like a shining pearl, and her eyes. Her eyes reflected the sun and evening shine, as though the lights existed to be nothing but ornaments to decorate the girl's beauty. Sakura was so used to feeling insignificant that just being under the attention of a person so radiant made her feel even smaller than the pathetic little girl she felt she was. Konan's lips curved up into a patient smile and Sakura felt like she was standing in sunlight. "What's your name?"

She sniffled to try and clear her throat enough to speak, "I... I'm Sakura..."

Konan cocked her head slightly, "I couldn't hear you, say that louder."

Not wanting to let the girl down by failing a task so simple that would lead to her picking on Sakura, she found herself loudly proclaiming, "I'm Sakura Haruno!"

Her breath stuttered when she felt the girl touch her forehead. "Huh, so you do have a wide forehead, 'billboard brow' huh?" Sakura felt the tears welling back up, of course a girl as pretty as Konan would immediately notice. Of course she knew what the other girls said about her. She sniffled. "That's why you hide it behind your bangs, like a ghost..." Her voice softened but Sakura wouldn't be able to hold back her humiliated tears much longer.

Konan's eyes warmed, "Sakura, was it?" Hopelessly wanting the girl to like her, Sakura nodded. Konan paused a moment before standing, "come back here tomorrow, I'll give you something nice." Sakura watched her go, like a mythical being that came to enchant Sakura with just her attention, she flickered away.

Time moved, the memory changed.

Sakura felt bewildered. All Konan had done was brush her bangs to the side and tuck a paper flower behind Sakura's ear. But to the pathetic little girl, Konan had thrown open the windows to a dusty room, the light shining in unfiltered, the dust gone and the air crisp. "See, you look cuter like this, Sakura." She smiled and Sakura swore the clouds parted. "I'll give you this."

Sakura fisted her hands in her shirt, "T-Thanks, but... my forehead..."

Konan leaned down a little to meet Sakura's eyes again, "if you hide it, people will make more fun of you, you know? You have a cute face, Sakura, so you should be more confident." Sakura was basking in direct sunlight and she couldn't look away. It warmed her heart and brought the smallest smile to her lips.

Itachi let the moment play out as he stood unseen. He moved to the next memory.

The time in the memory sped by, the landscape blurring to catch up with the memory he'd chosen to resurface.  The sun was warm and seated on the grassy field floor sat a number of young girls too young to be kunoichi yet. They were listening to a lesson on flower arrangements as a viable way to send information when undercover for kunoichi. He once again pulled up his hand signs and the image of that young blonde girl next to Sakura shifted until she then looked like a young Konan. The girls got to their feet at the kunoichi's orders and began picking flowers. Sakura looked from the white thoroughwort flowers she had picked over to Konan who sat in place fiddling with something in her hands. Standing proudly next to the girl was a small arrangement she had already finished. "I'm... not very good at stuff like this." She mumbled as she came to sit beside her friend.

Konan moved her attention to the solemn girl. "Well that's no good, considering your names Sakura." Picking up on her dejected feelings, Konan paused her small project in her lap and began giving Sakura advice. "Listen. There are tricks to things like this. For flower arranging, after you've decided on a main flower then you add other flowers to decorate it. All flowers can’t assert themselves." As she gave a well thought out example, Sakura listened along stunned. Konan lifted the white paper rose in her lap she had been folding and tucked it behind her own ear. Both she and Sakura now had paper roses adorning them, "am I like the cosmos flower now? am I cute?" Sakura fumbled for a second before confirming that of course Konan was cute.

There was a brief scuffle when a group of girls saw the two getting along and made it their business to disrupt them. Thankfully Konan was quick to shut them down with a threat that left them running. Sakura looked back at Konan's warm smile and felt like a match trying to compare to the sun. So insignificant, a flame blown out by the smallest breeze spat by a cruel wind. Konan was a burning fire, her warmth open and encouraging others closer whilst being dangerous to the touch to keep cruel people away who would seek to snuff out her light. Sakura flickered under scrutiny while Konan seemed to only burn brighter.

"Sakura?" said girl's shoulders slumped. She slowly spun the flower in her fingers. "Konan-chan, if you're a cosmos, then I must be thoroughwort." Konan paused, she sighed and Sakura was pulled from her depressing thoughts by what the girl said next.

"In a manner of speaking, you're not a flower, but still a bud." Those words struck Sakura to her core. They gave her pause before she willed herself to ask a question that had been burning a hole in her chest.

"Konan-chan," Sakura lifted a hand to delicately touch a petal of the paper rose atop her ear, "why did you give me this?" Konan blinked, as though the answer was obvious, "I thought it would be a waste for you to wilt away as a bud... after all, there's no point if flowers don't bloom." The wind was a gentle caress of fingers through their hair, Sakura felt a shiver as Konan met her eyes and she willed herself not to cry, "for all we know... it just might become a flower even more beautiful than a cosmos." These were words this pathetic little girl needed to hear more than anything. Her parents' hollow encouragements, her teachers' meaningless advice, they had been stuck to her skin, but this girl in one conversation had blown them all away. Her words made something unfurl inside Sakura's heart. She forced herself to keep her tears down.

Konan turned to face her and she held out a piece of paper. "Do you want to help me make another?" Sakura nodded. This may have only been the start of something, but for now, for the little girl just beginning to like herself, this was enough.

Itachi gave her a moment for this memory to truly sit before he changed the scenery to the last memory.

This memory would be the easiest to alter, for it was just a simple scene, but the impact it left on this girl was enough to be a deciding point in her future.

Sakura stood, though the setting sun was warm, the chill kept her feet frozen in place. A head of spiky blond hair shifted until tearful green eyes were looking at the back of the receding form of Konan. The girl was going on a mission, or training, nevertheless it was a journey Sakura couldn't go on with her. Sakura was forced to remain as her childhood sunshine walked away. She knew deep in her heart that she would see the girl again, be it in months or years, they would see each other again. But that didn't dull the ache that the girl's absence left her with.

Sakura gripped her hands in front of her chest and made a vow to herself. She would be stronger. She would train until her hands bled, heal until her chakra emptied, and grow until she was a flower worthy of blooming. She would become a kunoichi strong enough that next time, she would be leaving with her. She and her best friend would fight alongside each other. She wouldn't be left here alone.

Her heart couldn't take the longing for a place beside her friend forever.

Her soul couldn't take the loneliness forever.

Itachi's head was spinning. It was taking his full concentration to keep the memory going. This last part of the mission was the most draining as he focused near all chakra he could through his eyes, he stretched his reach through the girls memories, seeking out the parts of her brain pierced by the acupuncture pins. He used them as lightning rods to focus on as he began the final step. To make sure she only remembered the memories Itachi altered but still kept her memories of being a medic, Itachi finished his jutsu and began to lock those memories away. He would muffle them behind a kind of chakra wall.

In mid-procedure, Itachi felt danger the second something struck him from behind.

He skidded as the landscape in the memory melted away, like a layer of wax surrounding him in walls in dull colours. 'what was that?' There had been nothing in the girls file about any kekkei genkai. His eyes met a void, a mass of dark nothingness with vibrant white eyes staring down at him. A fist was raised and came crashing down. Itachi avoided it in quick movements, ignoring the ache in his eyes as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. 'Get Out!' A deafening voice yelled as Itachi was suddenly struck in the side.  He grit his teeth as he pulled himself atop the enormous fist. 'How DARE you try to change my memories!' He ran up the arm towards the void, he dodged the other hand making to grab him and leapt through the air. As he fell he formed multiple hand signs to finish the jutsu. Whatever this presence was, it was a force trying to undo his progress and threaten their mission. It was too much of a wildcard, he'd have to use up nearly all of his chakra but there was no choice. He would seal this presence away with the memories.

Chains erupted from all sides, they wrapped around the presence that spoke with the girl's voice. In that second of shock, Itachi landed and finished his final hand sign. With a spin of his sharingan, a thick wall erupted. 'Ngah-!' The deafening scream was then muffled. The seal stretched out over all the memories except the ones he wanted to keep. They were dulled and forced practically into the girl’s subconsciousness, inaccessible to her now. He heaved a breath and felt his physical body gather blood in his mouth.

Once he was satisfied that the job was done and the girl was convinced, he brought up his hands into a seal and released his hold. He came back into his own mind all at once, nearly stumbling as his body was still weak from his fight and taking a second to catch his breath. Pain looked at him, "is it done?" Itachi confirmed, "it was successful. I altered memories of you as her only friend and you leaving her at her village. I also hid all other memories, they are still there but are out of her reach." Konan nodded.

"I will act as such." She said as she seated herself back down.

"Itachi-san you don't look so good," Tobi voiced, "I told you I could've done it since you're all sick!" Itachi shot the man a look. He wasn't really sure what the masked man's motives were but he had been insistent that he perform the mission, but Itachi stood firm he would do the mission regardless of his own physical health. With how abrasive and erratic yet secretive the man was, Itachi didn't trust him nor whatever his motives were.

"Regardless, will she wake soon?" Kakuzu crossed his arms where he stood now at the foot of the unconscious girl's bed.

"Soon." Itachi confirmed. "I will need to speak in private" He looked to Pain, no doubt the man noticed his condition and he would have to explain what he encountered inside her mind. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes slightly but remained silent.

"Very well," Pain spoke and he dismissed them. Konan was to remain until Sakura woke up, to gain her trust they would not introduce themselves all at once. Once Konan confirmed the girl's trust and convinced her to help, then it would be discussed further.

Konan analysed the sleeping girl. Itachi had given her a report of the girls 'memories' of her. For such a pathetic little girl to become a medic, second in the world only to the great Tsunade Senju. Those memories truly must hold a special place in her heart. She had changed the girl into a basic grey dress that could've once been white years ago, the cover story had been planned and would be told to the other Akatsuki members about now. There was a lot riding on Konan gaining the girl's trust, granted if it failed then they would simply kill the girl. But if the others wanted to be healed then they depended on this medic.

Konan turned her attention back to the tiny window. She blinked slowly, when was the last time she had a good night's sleep? The girls even breathing slowly became the rhythm of the room. Konan waited for her to wake.

❀

Her head was throbbing. It felt like her head had been hollowed out, bludgeoned within an inch of its life and then stuffed back to size with cotton. She grimaced and lifted a hand to rub at her temple. There was no bump or wound but it felt like she'd been knocked out for days. Her sense of time was completely askew, her eyes fluttered against the sun as she forced them open. The sunlight was blinding at first and she recoiled before she could open them again. The room was lit before her eyes focused and it dimmed. She blinked and put her hand back down.

This room. She had no idea where she was. The sheets were coarse and thin, she was wearing a plain dress she didn't recognise, but there was something she knew. Seated in her seat as delicately as morning dew on a spring morning rose and twice as beautiful was Konan. Her eyes were closed, hands rested gently on her lap, and her breaths quiet and even. Even asleep, her posture was perfect. The picture Konan posed was so serene that she didn't want to wake her.

Her eyes instead scanned around the room to try and find anything else she recognised but she was finding nothing. That left her only Konan. The girl was older, the last she remembered of her was years ago though she couldn't quite remember when. She was beautiful, her make-up and piercings extenuating her existing beauty. She shifted up to sit against the low headboard and the shuffling of the sheets must've been enough to wake the other girl.

Her head lifted and their wide eyes met.

"Konan-chan, sorry for waking you up." Sakura offered. Konan blinked before she spoke, "Sakura, how are you feeling?" Sakura... Yes, her name was Sakura. Her head throbbed and she winced.

"I... What happened? When... When did you get back? How long..." Her voice wavered as she began to lose confidence. Konan saw this and leaned forward. Sakura longed to pull her friend into a hug but it felt like it had been so long that she wasn't sure if it would be appropriate still. They aren't children anymore. "Sakura you've been out for a while, what do you remember?"

She furrowed her brow and brought a hand up to her temple. "I... I'm not sure. It's really foggy, like I remember things I must've done like go to an academy and have a job. I remember us. I remember you leaving. Then... I don't know."

Konan's eyes softened. "Sakura... I went on a mission with new teammates, it was only supposed to be a couple years but we got injured."

Sakura now alert stiffened and grabbed Konan's hand from her lap. "Oh my god! Konan, are you okay?" She instantly focused medical chakra into her hand to send a pulse through the girl's system and scan for any damage. Konan seemed to hesitate a moment before covering Sakura's hand in her other hand. "I'm okay, it's just my team." Sakura sighed with relief upon finding nothing wrong, but she still gently held Konan's hand. "I knew the only person in the world who could help my team was you, so I came back early... But the village, the little town we lived in, I don't know what happened but when I came back it was completely wiped out." Sakura held her breath. Her home... gone? She couldn't remember anything concrete about it but she must've had a family and friends. "You were the only person I could find. You've been unconscious for I don't know how long... I'm just happy you're okay." Sakura stuttered out a breath as she began to absorb what she was being told. Her grip on Konan's hand shook. Konan rubbed a thumb atop Sakura's hand to help calm her. Sakura's head throbbed.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. I feel guilty that I just care about finding you alive." Sakura's head shot up.

"Me too! I... I think I had a life there but... It hurts to think about." The more she thinks about her life, the more her head ached. The longer she tried, a piercing pain began to shoot through her head. Sakura winced.

"Sakura, it's okay, don't hurt yourself." Konan soothed. "As long as you're back here with me then we can get through this." Sakura nodded slowly. "I'm so happy you're here." Sakura leaned down and rested her head atop Konan's shoulder. "It hurts to think of home, but I remember feeling... loneliness. I don't think I was alone, but I think I felt really lonely. I missed you so much." Sakura figured Konan was facing the same dilemma as her, that since it had been so long since they'd been separated that she wasn't sure how to interact anymore, especially regarding hugs and touch. She was stiff a second before leaning her head on Sakura's.

"I'm happy to see you too, Sakura." She muttered.

Sakura suddenly recalled something Konan had said, "you said your teammates were injured! Are they okay?" Konan shook her head. "The mission we were on, they were all left incredibly injured, we've been waiting for you to wake up. Truthfully I was getting worried if you forgot you were a medic." Sakura shook her head, "no, no, I remember training and working as a medic!"

Konan winced, "I don't want you over exerting yourself, and with you so injured, I'm worried if keeping you here would be a good idea. Maybe it would be better if I took you to another village," Sakura shot to her knees. She may not remember much of her life's details, but there was one thing her heart knew, she couldn't go back to that loneliness. "Konan-chan, please, I promise I can help. I know I'm a good medic! I know I can help heal your teammates! I'll earn my keep, I promise," she held the girl's hand in a desperate grip. "Please, don't leave me behind again."

Konan was silent for a moment before sighing, she met Sakura's eyes and eventually gave a soft nod. "Alright, Sakura." Eager to prove her worth, Sakura swung her legs off the bed but the second she tried to carry any weight, her knees buckled. Konan was quick to grab her by the arms. "What are you doing? You just woke up," Konan scolded, gently forcing Sakura to sit on the bed.

"But your teammates, they need medical attention." Sakura insisted, but she couldn't resist the girl's gentle hands keeping her in place. Konan shook her head, "they'll survive the night. You stay in bed, I'll get you something to eat first, then you'll rest. Only after you're good enough to stand, then you can look at them." Sakura swallowed her protest, she knew the girl was right, and only then did she realise how hungry she was. "Okay..." She muttered.

Konan gave her a soft look before turning to leave the room, "I'll be right back." Sakura nodded and the door was closed.

This left Sakura alone with her thoughts. She once again tried to think back, logically she had a childhood but she struggled to focus on it. She remembered Konan, of course, but when she tried to think about any moments before or after those memories of the two, her brain felt a sharp stabbing pain. She tried to focus through the pain but it was becoming so intense that it was bringing tears to her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she sat there on the bed staring out into space with tears building in her eyes but it was long enough for Konan to return.

Sakura rubbed the tears from her eyes as the girl approached with food in hand. "I'm sorry we don't have much. This is a backup hideout of a backup hideout and so we really don't have much here." Sakura shook her head and accepted the thin wooden tray. "It's no trouble, thank you Konan-chan." The tray held a simple dinner, small bowls with rice, miso soup, seaweed, assorted vegetables, what smelled like mackerel, and a cup of tea. Sakura was famished but she'd never look a gift horse in the mouth. Her mouth watered as she began to eat, this would help her body heal up faster and get her prepared to go over her patients as soon as possible. She looked as Konan sat back down.

"Aren't you hungry?" Konan shook her head politely. Sakura wanted to protest but let it slide. "Are you sure you're okay, Konan-chan?"

"I'm fine, truly. Just tired and worried." Sakura's brow furrowed. She must be thinking of her teammates. Sakura spared herself the second to mull over her current uselessness, her body was too weak at the moment to do much more than a basic lookover to anyone. She knew Konan was right and she needed the rest first but it still hurt. She shook her head and ate some of the rice, though the dinner was warm and light it also was clearly made with little else in regards to seasoning. Sakura ate regardless, she decided that even if she couldn't heal anyone now, she could at least prepare.

"Konan-chan, could you tell me about your teammates? Have I met them?"

Konan shook her head, "no, a lot happened while we were separated and I met my new teammates all over the world. We've been working together for a while now but I haven't been able to introduce you to them." Sakura nodded encouragingly and Konan continued. "I should start off by saying I have nine teammates but only six of them are injured." Sakura practically choked on her tea, "nine!?" she sputtered.

Konan's eyes held a fraction of warmth before she spoke again, "yes, nine members. Most of them may have... odd appearances, but rest assured they understand that you're here to help them. They're also very secretive so I'll tell you a little about them. Pain, he is our leader, he makes all the decisions and handles our missions, I am his right hand so please if you need anything please come to me first." Her eyes were firm and Sakura nodded. "Zetsu may appear strange but he is a knowledgeable tracker and gatherer of information, he might be a little confusing but I suggest leaving him be. Tobi is rather loud and annoying but he is a hard worker, please don't take him too seriously." Sakura chuckled a little at the description and urged the girl on.

"As for the injured." Konan sat up a little straighter and her eyes became a little sharper, "Kisame and Itachi encountered an enemy that has left them coughing awfully and carrying themselves weaker, though Kisame seems to have taken the brunt of the infliction. Kakuzu seems relatively fine though he told me he will explain to you in his check up what is wrong with him, but his teammate Hidan is worse off, he sees himself akin to an immortal so I'll let you assess him when the time comes. Lastly, Deidara is our youngest member and is quite smart yet equally as impulsive, his problem is not unfixable but to his standards he may be difficult. His teammate Sasori's dilemma may be similar in that I think you could help, but he is somewhat of a perfectionist so he may be hard to please." Sakura nodded, taking mental note of everything the girl was saying.

She lowered her empty vegetable bowl and mulled over everything in her head. She met Konan's eyes when she came to a realisation, "equipment! I don't have any equipment with me." Konan's eyes were understanding, "I'll confess that we don't have any medical equipment on us, but if you tell me when you need then I will consult with Pain and we'll see what we can do."

"Well tomorrow I'm sure I'll be physically well enough to do check ups so on such short notice I'll just need a notepad or something-" Throb. Sakura winced. Konan was quick, she rested a gentle hand on Sakura's shoulder to ground her, "I'll find you something." Sakura was pulled from her thoughts and nodded. It didn't take much longer for Sakura to finish eating and feel a bone deep exhaustion. Konan picked up on this and urged her to rest.

"Promise you'll wake me up early tomorrow?" She said sleepily.

"I promise, and I'll find you something else to change into as well." Sakura felt grateful and smiled. Konan rose and glided to the door with graceful steps while Sakura laid back in the bed. The sun was gone and the room was illuminated by a candle on a small desk near the bed.

"Konan-chan," said girl stopped, and turned slightly back to her. Sakura's smile was warm, "thank you for coming back to me." Konan was rooted in place for the moment, her expression melted a little, "thank you for waiting for me." With that, the door closed gently behind her and Sakura's heavy eyes drooped shut.

When Sakura awoke, it was with the sun. Her body healthy and chakra replenished, she did have a pause for a moment when she stretched her body out on the bed, when examining her chakra there was something she noticed. She could feel her chakra circling her body naturally but there was something odd she felt, her chakra was pooling in the centre of her forehead, like a branch growing out the side that needed to be nurtured and watered daily. She wondered why she was automatically feeding a portion of her chakra there, but she could feel this was not a new development. That pool of chakra was at an amount only accomplished by almost 2 years of daily nourishment and additions.

Though she wasn't sure why she was doing this, Sakura felt that it must've been important. She sat up in the bed and crossed her legs, she focused feeling the chakra through her body and sectioning off a portion to that point. If it was so important that she with incomplete memories still knew to keep the connection going, then Sakura should keep it up. She meditated in place, minutes passed and the sun was beginning its ascent. Sakura's internal clock told her it was mid six-ish in the morning, her medic work must have had her naturally awake early.

Konan was probably planning to wake her up at a more appropriate time for a person recovering from a head injury, but Sakura felt refreshed enough. She swung her legs off the bed and touched her bare feet to the cool wooden floor. Sakura would hazard a guess and say it was the beginning of winter. The dress she was wearing was flimsy and a few steps away from being rags, but Konan had explained to her over dinner that when she found her, her clothes had been torn to near pieces and it was all she had on her at the moment.

Sakura rolled on the balls of her heels for a moment as she felt her muscle memory direct her like strings on a puppets body. She began doing her stretches. She knew what to do in the same way she knew how to be a medic. Like her body hadn't forgotten what her mind struggled to remember. If anything this filled Sakura with a surge of confidence. She went over what must've been her strength routine, she resolved to do this in her room as she didn't want to intrude on Konan's teammates before she met them. It must have been an hour later when she finished.

Sakura looked around the room and decided to fix it up a bit. Chances are, since Konan said they didn't have any medical equipment then they wouldn't have a medical room either, then she'd likely be working in here. Sakura made the bed, she opened the doors to a small closet and found a poorly held-together wooden broom. 'Oh well, beggars can't be choosers,' she took the broom and swept up what she could. She easily moved the desk to a better position and sat the chair opposite it for herself and the patient could use her bed.

Just as she was sweeping up where the desk had been, the crisp morning air blew a tiny breeze through the small window, there was a knock at her door. A curt two knocks and her head snapped up, "Come in," Sakura smiled. That smile froze when she realised that person wasn't Konan.

A man opened the door. He stood at roughly 185cm, standing tall and proud like a tree crowding atop Sakura's slighter frame. His cloak had the same pattern as Konan's, but his clothing covered much of his skin, a cloth over his head and mask covered his mouth. His eyes were striking, green irises like hollow leaves floating atop a pool of muted blood red sclera. Sakura's breath stuttered and she gripped the broom in her hands.

She forced her attention from his eyes to what he held  up in his hand. He carried folded fabric in blacks and greys and a white sash tied it together. 'Oh! clothes for me!' Sakura mentally shook herself. Clearly this was one of Konan's teammates, he could even be one of the injured, Sakura had been told they may look odd but they needed her help all the same.

She turned to fully face the man head on and smiled welcomingly. "Hello, you're one of Konan-chan's teammates, yes? My name's Sakura." She stepped up to him and bowed her head. The man with the slashed headband stood stock still for a moment before he nodded. "Kakuzu." His voice was like the deep rumbling of thunder. "So you've agreed to be our medic." It wasn't a question to him and it was just the same no-brainer to her, Sakura nodded eagerly.

"I have! And worry not, I plan to earn my keep." She beamed before recalling, "Konan-chan said you were among the injured, can I help you now? I don't have a notepad yet but I'm sure I could do somethi-"

"You needn't concern yourself with me yet," he cut her off with a raised hand, "I just wanted to meet our medic and get a read on you." She craned her head up to him as he handed her the clothing bundle, she tilted her head, "...well, how do I read?"

His eyes seemed to scrutinise her for a moment, "we'll see." Before he could say more, there was a knock and Konan let herself in while holding a tray lined with Sakura's breakfast. When her eyes met Kakuzu's, there was a mild stutter but the girl was far too refined to let it show, but Sakura could tell he hadn't told his teammate he was here.

"I see you've met Kakuzu," Sakura looked between them, wanting to ease the tension she smiled at Konan. "Yes, he was kind enough to bring me some clothes. I offered to check him over while he's here."

"The team has agreed on the order in which they'll have a check up," Konan seemed to be saying this more to Kakuzu than Sakura. Said girl was ready to defend the man but he spoke first.

"Worry not, I was just leaving." He made his way to the door. Sakura was quick to say, "I guess I'll see you later Kakuzu-san!" He nodded briefly before letting himself out and shutting the door behind him.

Konan sighed and placed Sakura's breakfast on the desk as she put the broom back away. "I apologise if he was rude." Sakura shook her head, "no, he was fine. Did surprise me a little but he was nice enough." Konan tilted her head, but she changed the subject. "I see you've redecorated." Sakura took the topic and explained over her breakfast what she had planned and what these check ups would entail.

"Are you sure you don't want a cup of tea too?" Konan shook her head reaffirming that she felt fine. Sakura pouted, "even so, us sharing tea would still be nice, like we used to." Konan looked at her hands in her lap.

"Maybe another time then?" She offered and Sakura eagerly agreed.

When she finished, Konan handed her a pen and basic black bound notepad to write in and Sakura couldn't be happier. "I'll be in the room with you for the checkups so you need not worry." Sakura nodded, she was a little nervous to be receiving so many patients but she was eager to prove herself as the genius medic Konan saw her as. "I'm ready when you are." She smiled, Konan nodded and left the room. Sakura took this moment to change into her new clothes. It was a basic black yukata that fell to Sakura's mid shins, layered on top was a thinner and shorter grey yukata cloak that crossed her body and was tied at the waist with the white wrap and finished it with the other white thinner cloth tied around the wrap. She'd likely receive shoes if she had to leave the hideout.

Konan returned then with Sakura's first patient. Kakuzu followed Konan into the room and Sakura beamed. "Kakuzu-san! Nice to see you again, I didn't think you'd be my first patient." She gestured to the bed and the man moved to stand in front of the mattress. Konan stood against the wall at Sakura's side. "Since he introduced himself earlier and is the least injured among us, we figured he may as well go first." Konan explained.

"I don't need much in the way of a checkup," he said, "I'll just tell you what I need."

Sakura spoke up, "I'm sure that would be easier but as your medic, I'd still like to assess your health regardless of how well you believe you are. From here on out, it's my job to make sure you're as well as you can be. If anything, could you humour me?" He was silent for a moment before he accepted what she said and unbuttoned his cloak.

Sakura bit her tongue to keep from gasping at what she saw. His sleeveless shirt allowed her access to the man's arm skin and from what she saw, he looked like a patchwork of skin, stitched together like fabric. Some patches darker and lighter, and the thread a special material so that it allowed him to loosen and tighten it at will. Sakura was so absorbed in her thoughts of what held this man together and what made him tick that she all but forgot to be horrified. She was fascinated. "Incredible..." she whispered to herself.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow and she sputtered. "I-I mean its incredible what your body is doing." She brought her chair closer and held out a hand for him to raise his arm to, allowing her a closer look at the stitching. "This thread is one of your own creation, isn't it? It has to be. It looks like your own skin, or a patchwork of similar skin that you've replaced, and so seamlessly integrated with your own chakra signature that it operated like you own!" She twisted his hand to examine the fingers. "Tell me, if you wouldn't mind, how much of your body is organically yours? To me it looks like if a body part had been severed or failed then you've used your threads to attach and assimilate replacements -which is incredible! A procedure like that on its own would be tricky but this looks expertly done." He hesitated a moment and Sakura took that silence to realise she had begun rambling.

Before she could apologise he spoke, "most is organically mine, and you're right that I do replace what I need." Sakura nodded eagerly. She felt for his pulse and it felt normal. She began a basic checkup, albeit without any equipment which made it slightly more difficult, 'note to self, equipment will be a must for future procedures and tests.'

With each test she gave, Kakuzu was turning up completely healthy. This did only fascinate Sakura more to ask him questions about how he functioned that she worried would be annoying. Once she finished and wrote in her notes the passing results of that test, she asked, "now that I've confirmed your health I have to ask, what exactly is the problem?"

At that, Kakuzu stood, took his shirt off, and turned around. There were three faces on his back sewed onto him. Sakura was once again, morbidly intrigued. "Each of these faces are a heart I have. I got injured in the fight and lost one. I refuse to work big missions when I'm not at full strength, so I need a replacement." Sakura nodded and leaned closer to the space a head was indeed missing, in its place was a patch of skin sewn and stretched across that portion of his back.

"I see," Sakura wrote down 'new heart, external transplant to patients back' and then put the pen to her chin. "Well that would be easy enough, I'm sure I can find a hospital with a heart on ice we could use."

Kakuzu shook his head and sat back on the bed. "Can't be just any heart. The one I lost belonged to someone with fire release, each heart allows me to use those chakra releases so I need a perfect replacement to be back at full strength." He crossed his arms.

Sakura leaned back in her chair and bit her lip. That made this harder. The only people in the world that knew what chakra types they were, were shinobi, of whom the vast majority were from clans. Clans had this common practice of burning their dead so that the secrets of said clan, their jutsu, or their village died with them. Ergo, the only people who donated their bodies to hospitals for transplants were primarily civilians. Who were not concerned with things like chakra release types and once a person has died, their chakra is gone, and there's no way to tell what their body could have been. Not to mention Shinobi could train themselves to use advanced chakra releases like magnet or ice. Civilians would most likely be a singular type as their chakra core was like an untrained muscle.

To get a heart that belonged to a person of a specific chakra type so that Kakuzu could assimilate it to his own chakra signature and utilise the heart and its chakra release type, this would be extremely hard. Sakura bit her lip as she thought it over and double circled on her notes 'FIRE RELEASE'.

"I see. Thank you very much for your cooperation, Kakuzu-san. I'll let you know when I've got a plan for you." She nodded, he rose to his feet and put his shirt and cloak back on. He paused before bowing his head slightly, Sakura practically glowed as she returned the gesture as he was led out by Konan.

"I think that went well," Sakura said, Konan affirmed with a nod.

"You handled him well. I wasn't sure how you'd take his appearance." Sakura scratched her chin.

"To be honest, I was a little worried that I freaked him out. I mean, it's just fascinating how his body functions."

"If Kakuzu were uncomfortable then he would let you know. You did well." Sakura sighed, "That's good." She scribbled in her notes a few things about Kakuzu before flipping the page over.

"I'm ready for my next patient, if you don't mind." Konan gave her a nod and left the room.

She returned a few moments later with a shorter boy with long blonde hair and a scrutinising look in his piercing eyes. "So you're our new medic, hm?" He breezed into the room easily and though he seemed aloof, he kept his eyes on her. Sakura bowed her head slightly, he looked closer to her age, "that's right, I'm Sakura, and you are?"

He smirked as he made his way to the gestured bed, "Name's Deidara, and hey you are smaller than I thought." Sakura wrote his name atop her page and let his comment roll off her shoulders.

"Okay Deidara-san, I'm going to give you a basic check up so if you could remove your cloak?" He did as instructed and Sakura immediately saw a problem. While he had two arms, one of them was in a more purple heugh and was clearly stitched on. It was flaring an angry red at the stitched end at his mid-upper arm. Clearly his body was rejecting the arm.

"Okay!" Sakura scooted closer to look at the arm. "Can I guess that your arm was sliced off and lost, and this one is a replacement that was stitched on a little less than a day later." Deidara gave a low whistle, "Yeah, you're pretty on the money there."

"So this isn't your arm?"

"Nope."

"Well, I can see the problem." She took a breath and gestured to the stitches with her pen. "Your body and chakra aren't compatible with the arm, and it looks like Kakuzu-san's stitch work which would work for his body but seems to just be able to function on yours, are you able to move it?" Deidara demonstrated by flexing the fingers and moving it up and down.

"Yeah I can move it but it feels real distant y'know? Like if I tell it to do something then it has to think about it." Sakura nodded along, she held his hand, palm up, she bent and pointed his fingers and wrist.

"Okay, so that's what I thought. Your body and your chakra aren't compatible with the arm. To reattach a working and human arm it would need to be done almost immediately as the point of separation would still be fresh with the blood and chakra points open. To keep a person from bleeding out, if it takes too long then the area is sealed off. But this means an organic arm is much harder to attach so you'd be given a prosthetic." She pulls the pen from where she'd tucked it in her hair and gestures to the centre of his wrist after sending out a pulse of medical chakra to confirm her hypothesis. "What's happening here is your body is rejecting the replacement and your chakra is the only thing keeping it moving. Prosthetics aren't capable of handling chakra so if you got one, the arm would be purely functional without any chakra in it. Since your replacement is being rejected, the blood of yours flowing in it isn't what's making it move, your chakra is doing all the work. That's what's making it feel sluggish. But because your chakra is making it function, that means it's getting no other nourishment and it's starting to decay. I give this arm about a month before it's completely dead weight." She released his hand and pulled her notepad to her lap to write her notes.

Deidara hummed, "well then what do you think, doc? I need a functioning arm not just ‘cause I wanna use hand signs but because I need another one of these." He held up his other hand and Sakura nearly startled at the mouth that smiled back at her.

"See this is my own special kind of modification to get the absolute best out of my art! So whatever solution you can think of, it's gotta be something that allows me the same thing." He said as Sakura took his hand and looked closely at the mouth. They were seamless! No seals, no markings, nothing. To the world it appeared like he naturally had a mouth on his palm. This made it slightly more difficult. Originally Sakura mulled over the thought of a prosthetic, but it quickly became clear that would hinder his abilities too much and be nothing better than dead weight anyway. But an organic one would be tricky to come by, Deidara's personal body modifications depended almost entirely on his chakra making the transition from palm to hand as seamless as possible, so to put on another arm it would be difficult to find one perfect enough to allow the chakra to fundamentally change it.

Deidara almost bounced eagerly when a thought lit up his features. "Maybe you could make one! I hear there's a mining town in Wind that has some amazing clay I've been dying to get my hands on! As an artist I could give you some pointers, have you made any art before?" His eyes practically shone and Sakura felt almost bad to let him down. "Sadly no, the closest I think I've come to 'making art' is making flower arrangements in Kunoichi classes when I was a kid." Deidara pouted before dismissively waving his foreign hand.

"Eh, it's a start, my village doesn't even have flowers for most of the year anyway. But if you set them on fire or something! Oh that'd be a sight!" His energy was almost infectious but Sakura kept herself tempered as she had to focus. She added to her notes as Deidara prattled off for a moment about his views on art.

He was pretty cooperative as Sakura checked his body over for any other damage but other than some kind of seal above his heart, "that one's not quite ready yet," he smiled, Deidara was otherwise well. Sakura was relieved that her first two patients weren't in any immediate danger. Kakuzu could last the longest at the moment, Deidara had at least a month before a working replacement wouldn't be possible. She finished her notes and smiled at the artist. "Thank you Deidara-san, try to keep moving your arm slowly to keep the circulation flowing for now, and I'll come back to you when I have a solution."

He shook his head, "Deidara is fine," he said as he stood and put his cloak back on. "See you later, doc!" He let himself out of the room when Konan opened the door.

Sakura sat in silence for a moment as she edited and added to her notes, she took a sip of the teacup Konan had left when she'd taken the food tray away. "Okay, I'm ready for the next patient." She smiled and Konan left again.

If Sakura had to describe the man she saw in one word, it would be 'heavy.' His piercing red stare was heavy, his shoulders hung heavy, each step he took felt heavy, and his every movement echoed out the feeling of heaviness. Sakura met his eyes and they gave her a pause before she introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Sakura, please have a seat." She gestured her hand to the bed and he began removing his cloak to then sit down.

"I am Itachi." Sakura felt the air in the room was heavy. As though his introduction held some kind of expectation for her, but she had nothing to offer other than a small smile to try to ease the tension. "Well, Itachi-san, I'm going to do a basic checkup and I'd like you to tell me of any problems you're facing." He allowed her closer and she began testing him. Immediately she felt through her chakra pulses that he was exhausted. His chakra was strained and near empty, his lungs were dry, his throat was irritated to the point of bleeding should he cough, and his body was way too dehydrated. He replied to her inquiry with purposeful words, as though they were rehearsed. "The enemy my teammate and I fought used some kind of poisonous jutsu that I inhaled, though Kisame took the brunt of the jutsu." Sakura nodded and added to her notes.

"It looks like your lung took the worst of it. Though thankfully it seems pretty self-contained. From what I've gathered, it looks like the poison is focused on dehydration. To get straight to the point, it's sucking the moisture and more importantly the oxygen from your body. You've probably noticed that you feel short of breath, quick to cough which most likely becomes laboured and bloody, and your inhales feel like they're not enough." Itachi made no indication that he agreed or disagreed, but his gaze on her was heavy with his attention so she continued. "It also looks like your chakra is doing a lot of the muscle work to keep the problem contained but it's being strained by constant use. Are you currently focusing your chakra?"

"Yes." He confirmed and Sakura furrowed her brow.

"Then I would seriously recommend stopping for now. Your body needs to circulate your chakra naturally so it can work against the problem for now until I have a solution." He kept his gaze but seemed reluctant. "As for a solution, since we're dealing with a foreign component that's affecting an organ, I'll need more tools to gauge whether or not surgery is a necessity." She sat back and continued writing and talking to herself. She occasionally met the man's red eyes to ask him a question regarding his affliction and added the response to her notes. Sadly her lack of equipment was becoming a problem, especially if the other three patients' conditions were similar or worse. Itachi said his partner was worse off than him so Sakura had to worry.

"Alright, Itachi-san, for now my advice is that whatever you're focusing your chakra on needs to stop. Let your body fight as I get what I need to make a better diagnosis and work to heal you."

Itachi was silent as he put his cloak back on. "We'll be in contact." Sakura bowed her head as he was led out. Konan was silent as Sakura chewed on her thumb. She flicked to a free page and began writing a list of equipment she'd need, especially if surgery was necessary then she was in dire need of professional tools. After a few moments she thanked Konan and the girl left to bring in her next patient.

The next man was large in every sense of the word. His skin was blue, his eyes piercing, his grin full of sharp teeth and his frame was imposing. He cut a mean shadow and he carried himself like a man who was proud of it. "Damn, Deidara was right, you are tiny." This statement was followed by a full bodied coughing fit that had the man hunching over. Sakura shot from her chair and over to grab the man by the arm and aid him to the bed. "Easy now. I'm Sakura and yes, I'm your medic. Now let's get this cloak off so I can give you a checkup." She helped him unbutton the cloak and ease him on the bed.

Even just by listening to the man's cough, Sakura knew immediately, this man didn't have long. His breaths were laboured and wet but his lungs were too dry. His chakra may be fighting hard, but the jutsu's poison was infecting even his blood. "Name's Kisame. " He hacked after finally finishing his coughing fit as Sakura sent pulses of healing chakra through different parts of his body. Sakura muttered to herself, wrote in her notes, and asked the man questions as she went.

"It looks to me that this affliction is mainly attacking your blood. It's slowing the amount of oxygen entering your body and then even attacking your bloodstream to dehydrate you. Your pulse is too slow for all your body is doing so your chakra is almost pumping your blood flow itself. But there are some differences in your body I detected with my chakra."

"Makes sense," He got his breathing under better control, "I don't know how much you know about sharks, but from what you can see kid, is that I'm built a bit different from a normal person."

"So your anatomy holds some similarities to shark anatomy that isn't just surface level?"

"Got that right, these gill’s aren't just for show." He pointed with a tilt of his head to the gills on his neck, "I can breathe underwater with them." Sakura tempered her fascination behind a wall of concern over the man's wellbeing.

She scribbled in her notes. "I'll need to read up on shark anatomy then. It looks like surgery here will be a must as the poison is affecting most of your organs."

"Here's the thing with that though," Kisame grabbed her attention and her head snapped up to meet him. "Surgery, that's gonna take what? Hours?" Sakura nodded.

"More or less, I'll know better after I do some reading on sharks and have the correct equipment for a more accurate diagnosis. But for an estimated guess, surgery to go over all affected areas could take up to 7 to 9 hours." Kisame grit his teeth in what could have been a grin if not for the clear attempt to keep his breathing under control.

"Something about sharks that'll be a problem for me then is I can't stay still for that long. My body isn't built for stillness. The longest I can sleep is about 5 hours before my body makes sure I'm moving. For me, lying still is fatal." Sakura bit her lip as she took the information in. 'This just got so much harder.' She added to her notes, then added a whole list of things to her equipment list.

"Alright, Kisame-san, is there anything else I should know?" She met his eyes. He relaxed his shoulders and the seriousness in his eyes melted into what could have been amusement.

"If you're as smart as they say, then you should be able to figure it out." He grinned.

She nodded and furrowed her brow, "well my advice for now is to stay hydrated. Keep a steady source of water going, try not to strain yourself, and let your chakra flow and work until I have a solution."

He hauled himself to his feet, "sure thing, squirt," he threw his cloak over his shoulders and pulled himself out the door. Sakura went over her notes and put an underline under Kisame's name atop the notes. He was currently at top importance. Kakuzu could wait, Deidara had some time, but since Kisame and Itachi were suffering the same affliction at different levels of intensity; they were at the top priority. Konan soon brought in Sakura's next patient.

Sakura had expected her next patient to be in a similar condition to the others. But what walked in was Deidara, he was walking with a large humanoid wooden doll, faceless and crude, with its arm over his shoulder.  Sakura was a little confused before she saw the doll's legs moving slowly in step with Deidara's, "what -this doll is alive?" She shot to her feet and Deidara brought it to sit on the bed.

"Yeah it's kinda funny," the blonde artist said as Sakura analysed the doll more. The only striking feature on the wood was a seal in the centre of the chest that seemed to attach to the body with spider-y veins protruding from it and into the wood. 'Scorpion' was written in kanji on the seal but the way it pulsed was intriguing. It seemed it somehow managed to seal a person's chakra, consciousness and possibly their soul, and it was able to imbue the wooden body with that person's life. Meaning as long as the seal was intact, the person was close to immortal; they'd live until it was broken.

"You catch on fast." Her eyes shot up to meet Deidara who had said that. She had unknowingly been explaining her thought process out loud and had been right on the money. Sakura furrowed her brow and looked closer at the seal.

"If that's the case and this body isn't organic, what do they need me for?"

"I'd rather you address me directly when discussing matters involving me," Sakura nearly startled at the voice coming from the doll. It was a stern voice that sounded like it was sealed inside a hollow box.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sakura, your medic and forgive me but I'm a little confused."

The voice seemed reluctant before he spoke. "This body of mine is my last. My previous one was destroyed and as you can see, this body lacks certain features I need to build a new one." Sakura nodded along.

"So you need me to build you a new body?"

The voice scoffed in offence, "I'd never trust anyone, let alone a person like you, to craft me a body." Sakura felt one of her eyes twitch at the insult. "A person like me? What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, her eyes hard at the place the doll's eyes would be if it had a face.

Deidara spoke up, "come on Sasori-danna, it might not be best to piss off the person we got to fix you." Sasori turned his head from her at that.

Sakura bit her tongue and decided to be the bigger person. "So you need a new body but don't want anyone to make it for you, Deidara is an artist so what if he does it when I solve his arm situation."

If possible, Sasori's voice sounded more offended, "I'd rather stay in this useless body than let this fool make me one." Deidara put his good hand to his chest in mock offence.

Sakura sighed and leaned back in her chair. "So you're a perfectionist and your body can only be made by someone like you." Sakura put her pen to her chin and mulled over the thought. Sasori's current body may be hard to manoeuvre and do things with considering its lack of assets such as complex joints and the lack of fingers, he was not in a position that had his life in danger. As long as he was left alone at the hideout and not in a fight then he would be alright.

"We're done here then," Sasori's body shuffled to his feet and Deidara paused a moment before helpfully guiding him up. Sakura spoke up, "What-"

"There's nothing else to say, so it's up to you to figure something out." His voice was snippy and really getting on Sakura's nerves how dismissive he was of her. She rose to the challenge. "Alright then, Sasori-san. I'll figure something out for you." She grit her teeth as the duo made their way out.

"We'll see." He said.

Deidara grinned, "and look at it like this, if she can't help you, then I'll just have to make you a body." Sakura imagined that if Sasori had a face, he would be grimacing, his eyes trying to set the other artist on fire with his glare. Sakura sighed as Konan shut the door behind them.

She came to Sakura's side as the medic leaned her head back and stared a hole into the ceiling above her. "Are you alright? I know Sasori can be difficult to deal with." Sakura's lips pulled flat as she thought over what she could do for him, if anything the challenge helped turn the wheels in her mind. As the healer, if she couldn't 'heal' the man, she would find a way to fix him. She hunched over her notebook and scribbled a few ideas down that she would brainstorm later. "I'm okay, Konan-chan. He's a little tricky since it's not a healable injury. But I think I'll be able to think of something. If I can't then, like Deidara said, once I fix him up then he'll fix Sasori-san." Sakura shrugged, she really didn't want it to come to that. It would mean the man's dismissal of her was warranted if she couldn't fix him. Sakura hated the thought. As she thought over the man's seal and body, Sakura felt the 'Thump, Thump' of her head. She gripped her temple, hoping she wasn't getting a stress headache over her patient's conditions. Konan rested a hand on her shoulder, this pulled Sakura from her thoughts, the thumping receded and Sakura smiled gratefully up to the girl. "I'm ready for my last patient."

"About fucking time," the crude voice was abrupt and Sakura turned to meet it. She didn't know what she was expecting with regards to her previous patients and their varying states of injury. But Kakuzu carrying a large straw basket holding severed body parts with a head resting atop the pile was not even close to what she thought she'd see. She collected herself so she could meet Kakuzu's eyes, "Kakuzu-san! Is this your teammate?"

In the same second the man responded with a dismissive "unfortunately," the man's head spat "what are you, slow of something? No shit I'm his teammate!" Sakura hoped the man's venomous attitude was the result of his current predicament and not his natural state of being. Sakura gestures to the bed and Kakuzu sat the basket of body parts atop the mattress. She stood and tilted her head as she took in the sight of the man. She raised a hand to touch an arm hanging limp out the top of the basket but paused, "may I? I'd like to get a closer look to see how your body works."

Kakuzu moved before the man could respond by gripping the grey hair in a fistful "-hey!" and threw the head to her, Sakura fumbled to catch the head as she hadn't expected before adjusting her hold to the sides of his head. "If Hidan complains, you can drop him," Kakuzu crossed his arms. Hidan responded with a few insults, but Sakura tuned them out as she was absorbed in her study of the man's head.

She rotated him from side to side, up and down. There was no bleeding, and with a pulse of medical chakra she felt nothing wrong. Had her eyes been closed, her analysis would tell her she was feeling a normal living adult. "Fascinating..." She murmured as she looked at the stump where his neck ended. "It looks like your head was sliced clean off then cauterised shut near immediately." She moved to the basket, she laid the bed pillow down and sat the head upright on it before pulling out the body parts and laying them out on the mattress, piece by piece. She examined them with pulses of chakra as she asked what did this to him.

Hidan spoke, "didn't know the dickhead we were fighting had lightning release, they managed to land some fast attacks and started slicing me up. Which usually ain't a problem since Kakuzu stitches me back together but for some reason he can't!"

Sakura began writing down her findings, "and I think I know why." She sat down in her chair and explained, "it looks like when they used their lightning release style attack, it struck where they sliced you, cauterising the points of impact immediately upon contact. Your limbs were sliced off the cleanest they could've ever been, apart from the obvious separations there is virtually no damage. All chakra points, muscles, veins, everything - it's all been sliced so neatly. Kakuzu's stitching jutsu is unique to his body so I wonder how it used to work on you, but as the limbs aren't 'open' so to speak, stitching you up won't work. With all the limbs sealed off, they're completely separated and wouldn't function if attached."

Sakura wrote down her findings and continued her examination. Curiously, though Hidan's head was perfectly fine and functional, his limbs were not. She felt no pulse, no thrum of chakra, his limbs weren't even stiff, though they appeared completely dead.

His heart was even still beating, though the rhythm was so slow it was almost missable. “How is your body still functioning even though the limbs have been separated? Is it a kekkei genkai?”

Hidan grinned, his expression one of great pride, “not even close. My jutsu is a blessing from the great lord Jashin-sama.” Kakuzu rolled his eyes, shook his head and dropped his shoulders with an exasperated, “not this shit again.” But Hidan was more absorbed in describing to Sakura that he was a part of a religion that obsessed over the nature of life and death, and through them, Hidan was taught this jutsu. Sakura nodded along, without any equipment she was at an impasse, though her analysis told her Hidan seemed to bizarrely be the patient the least in danger.

“Though you’re basically a head and a basket of non-responsive limbs, I can honestly say you are the patient at the bottom of my priority list. From what you’ve said that you’re basically immortal as long as your food and water needs are met, you will be just fine. I’d still like to get a solution as fast as possible as you aren't sure what an extended period of time could do to your limbs, that being if they still stay ‘alive,’ while unattached. I’ll start brainstorming what to do about reattaching your limbs, but until then I’m advising Kakuzu or another teammate to make sure you eat and drink when necessary.” She explained.

All Hidan really seemed to take away from that however was “what do you mean I’m low priority!?”

“I mean, I have patients that are in a more critical condition. Right now as far as I can see, this will be an inconvenience for you, but you will live.” That didn’t seem to please him but Sakura couldn’t offer much to appease him so she gave up.

“Look, I will heal you, it will just take time. Kakuzu-san, would you mind collecting your teammate?” Kakuzu unceremoniously began throwing the man's body parts back into the basket before collecting his head from the pillow. Hidan immediately complained at the way Kakuzu was handing him so he was once again grabbed by his hair and swung in the man’s grip as Kakuzu left the room with a parting nod of his head.

Sakura took in a deep breath of air, she held it for a second before exhaling and dropping her shoulders.

“I apologise on Hidan’s behalf.” Sakura looked at Konan standing behind her chair.

“Please tell me he's not always like that.”

“He’s been more vocal since the incident, crass as he may be, his current situation is a factor to his… rudeness.” Sakura nodded.

“Are you alright with what I said? That the basket of body parts and a screaming head is on my low priority list?” Konan seemed to hesitate a moment, as if mulling over her thoughts before she carefully placed a comforting hand on the medics shoulder and said. “He will complain, but he will live.” Sakura huffed a little laugh under her breath.

“Were those all my patients?” Konan nodded. “That was. How do you feel about this? Are you sure you wouldn’t feel better if I took you to a village?” Sakura immediately shook her head.

“No. I can do this. I want to do this.” Her eyes were hardened by her determination and she prayed Konan would see this. The other girl was looking deeply into Sakura’s eyes, after a second she seemed pleased with what she found and her lips curved slightly into the beginnings of a beautiful smile. “That makes me happy, Sakura.”

Relief lit up the medics features and she stood from the chair, notepad in hand and hugged the girl. Konan patted her back before they separated, “there’s only one thing left to do. When you’re ready, we’ll go to see my team’s leader Pain. To him you’ll report your diagnostics, and what you need to heal them.”

“And he’ll be able to get what we need? Because I’ll need more than just scalpels, for Kisame-san alone I’ll need an operating table and so much more.” Konan nodded.

“Pain is a great leader, whatever you need, he’ll find a way to get it.” This put an anxious part of Sakura at ease.

“Well I think I have everything written now. My diagnostics are done and my list of supplies is more than two pages. I can see him now if that’s okay?” Konan seemed to pause a second before agreeing.

“Alright. Come with me.” She moved to the door and Sakura sped around the desk to meet her. Konan opened the door and Sakura followed her out. She soaked in her surroundings like a sponge. Her eyes fluttered around as she kept pace behind her friend. The walls were old stone with the odd cracks and held up by wooden beams, the hallway they walked through had other doors that Sakura predicted were other bedrooms. Out the hallway they came to a large open room, a gathering room with old couches that sat Deidara, Kisame and Itachi. At the far end of the room Sakura could see a dining room lined with old wooden furniture and off past that was a kitchen. Konan spared no glances to her teammates but Sakura raises a hand and small smile in acknowledgement. Deidara’s only response was a cheeky smile and to poke out his tongue. Kisame was busy cleaning a sword and Itachi was nursing what smelled like a cup of tea. She followed Konan down another hallway lined with doors as they made a straight beeline to the door at the end of the hallway. Sakura nervously brushed out her yukata and ran her fingers through her hair.

Konan knocked and a deep voice told them to enter.

Sakura followed behind into an office room. She hadn’t expected two other people in the room. Sprawled out on a couch laid a tall man with an orange mask. Standing next to the imposing desk directly across from the door was a person whose head looked to be in the jaws of a plant. Finally the man who sat behind the desk organised with papers, books and scrolls was the man Sakura immediately knew was the leader; Pain.

The masked man, who’s energy was as animated as his voice, took notice of them first and sprang to his feet in cheer. “Ah! Our medic’s awake! Did you have a nice dream?” 

“Calm down, Tobi.” The person with a split colour down his body, his voice was a coarse breath through his teeth. Pain held up his hand and that stopped either person from speaking. Sakura unconsciously righted her posture as she came to stand beside Konan at the desk.

“Pain, Sakura has finished her diagnostics.” Konan’s voice was clear. The man’s eyes were entirely purple and spiralled, his many piercings highlighting the harsh lines of his face and he looked at Sakura.

“Proceed.” His voice was a rumble in Sakura’s gut. Like a brick of lead dropped in the ocean, his voice sent ripples of unease echoing through her body. She swallowed and steadied herself, she was a medic, she shouldn’t feel intimidated to report to anyone what she found. Konan said he was a good leader and would get her what she needed. Sakura chose to believe that.

“Sir,” she bowed deeply and then straightened herself. Sakura then ran on autopilot. She flipped through her notebook and began explaining each patient's diagnostics, what procedures she would need to perform on the ones she had solutions for, and the equipment she needed. He remained dead silent, the man taking in what she was saying and clearly taking it all as seriously as she had hoped.

“So Kisame and Itachi are dying.”

Sakura nodded with a grave expression, “in the bluntest terms, yes sir. Their bodies are fighting as best they can but I need to get to work as quickly as possible. I know I’m asking for a lot.”

He waved a hand and she held her tongue. “You need what you need, I will see it done.” He raised a few pieces of paper, opened letters, and looked at the written text.

“I have been contacted about a mission, a job in the Village hidden in the Rain. A wealthy benefactor who could have some influence at Petrichor Centre.” Sakura’s eyes lit up. A mission at the medical capital of the world!

Konan spoke up, “what are the details?”

Pain continued, “a simple mission, a wealthy man’s granddaughter is being held for ransom and the village refuses him aid so he has sought us.”

“I don’t want to overstep my bounds, but may I please be put on this mission?” His eyes drilled into hers. “Why.” A demand, not a question.

“Petrichor Centre is the height of medicine, my list of equipment requirements is complicated and time is of the essence. I’m more than happy to work with a team to make sure we use our payment to get exactly what we need.”

Konan looked to her in concern, “but Sakura, your injury, there’s so much you can’t remember. I don’t think sending you out on a mission would be safe.” Sakura’s posture softened and she reached out to put a hand on Konan’s shoulder.

“Konan-chan, please believe me when I say, more than anything, I want this. I may not remember some things. But I know I'm a capable fighter, and as a medic, it’s my duty to do anything to heal my patients. I will not be deadweight.” She hoped the other girl could feel the earnestness emanating from Sakura. The moment was interrupted by Tobi who was suddenly at Sakura’s other side and held her by the shoulders as he jumped in place.

“Aw~ Can she go, Pain-sama? -Oh! Can I go too? I promise to take good care of her and be the best teammate!” The tall man pleaded, his movements may be erratic but his touch on her shoulders were gentle. She wondered how the man was capable of talking to such an intimidating leader like this but all of Konan’s teammates had been odd in their own ways. He rambled along, “-I’ll feed her and make sure she goes to sleep on time and do all the fighting so she doesn’t have to and I’ll get her a pretty hat and-”

“Enough, Tobi!” The other person’s wispy voice spat like a chill breeze.

“But she would look so cute with a pretty hat, Zetsu-chan!” Tobi whiled and shook Sakura’s shoulders. Before this could continue further, it seemed Pain had come to his decision and he raised a silencing hand.

“I will assign Tobi and Zetsu to this mission, you may accompany them.” Sakura’s eyes lit up, “I will have a word with Itachi before you are to leave tomorrow morning.” Sakura nodded with a new found energy, Tobi let go of her shoulders and threw his arms up in the air with a happy “yay!”

“Thank you, sir!” Sakura bowed her head.

“Return to your room, I will have a report from you for each patient on what you are planning to do for them and the things you will require. You will give the reports to Konan to give to me before tonight. Zetsu will be in charge of this mission with all necessary details. You are dismissed.” Sakura bowed again.

“Do you remember the way back to your room?” Konan asked, Sakura’s smile was radiant.

“I do! I’ll see you later Konan-chan.” Sakura turned to look up to Tobi, she offered him a small but grateful “thank you, Tobi-san,” before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her. Sakura began walking back to her room and it was taking all her self control to not skip. Not only was she basically a part of Konan’s team, but if she proved herself on this mission, then she might even be asked to permanently become a teammate! Konan wouldn’t take her to some village to leave her alone, she would show her and her new teammates just how essential she would be to them. She resorted to immediately write those patient reports the second she got back to her room.

Back in Pain’s office, Tobi had moved back to his seat and dropped himself onto the cushion. Konan began her report. “She seems to be completely convinced. She’s expressive and earnest. I believe that she wholeheartedly believes we are friends and she is treating this mission with the utmost seriousness.” Pain nodded.

“You believe she will not run?”

“She will not. Even if she attempts to, Zetsu and Tobi were able to capture her once before. However I doubt it will be necessary.” She replied.

“Good. Continue to keep an eye on her when she returns. Zetsu and Tobi, you will not let her out of your sight. Make sure you know whatever she is doing while on the mission. If need be, if her memories return and she cannot be manipulated into healing the others, they will have to be disposed of and replaced. And she will also be terminated.”

Konan nodded, “I understand.”

❀

Tsunade grumbled a sound of protest deep in her chest as she finished signing off one request only to look to the never-ending pile and see her whole afternoon would be spent like this. She sighed and stretched in her seat, putting her hands to her hips and rolling her shoulders before pushing her chest forward and listening to the satisfying crack of her pack. “This posture will kill me long before anything else, I swear.” She grumbled and planted herself back atop the desk. Pen in hand and resignation in her face, Tsunade returned to her task. Shizune would no doubt chew her ear off if at least half of this pile wasn’t finished by dinner. Tonton let out a sleepy oink from atop her comfortable pillow she was currently napping on. Tsunade envied that.

Tsunade was part way through a request for leaf shinobi assistance regarding a fence that needed painting, a low rank job for a shinobi that wouldn’t mind the quick money, when she heard the frantic steps of Shizune speeding to her Hokage office doors.

“Tsunade-sama!” She threw the door open, consequently waking Tonton.

“Yes, Shizune I’m still working, don’t worry I should be done in time for us to go to that udon place you wanted to go to for dinner.” Tsuande drawled as she slowly looked up from the form in her hand. She froze when she saw the frazzled appearance and frantic look in Shizune’s eyes. Gripped tightly in her hand was a sealed scroll.

“This is from Gai-san!” She sped to the desk and slammed the scroll down. Tsunade thought the lack of report from Sakura was worrying. She’d assumed her apprentice would reach the Town in the Roots, immediately assess whether the poison was the same one she’d cured in Sand or if the antidote needed to be modified and then send Tsuande a report through Katsuyu. It had only been a couple days so Tsunade had assumed Sakura was modifying a cure and would report to her when she had the time, but for Gai to send them word before Sakura, Tsunade felt worry seep deep into her bones.

She unsealed the scroll and unfurled the text. With each word she read, she felt the cold grip of unease tighten her insides.

Shizune looked at her expectantly with worry etched across her features as she shuffled on her feet. “What does it say? Is Sakura alright?”

Tsunade shot to her feet, “she hasn’t arrived.”

Shizune froze in place, a horrified look in her eyes. A trip to the Town in the Roots was short, at most it could take two days for Sakura to arrive. But there was no way it would ever take Tsunade’s apprentice and someone with Sakura’s work ethic more than three days to get there. “Gai says they’ve been waiting and requests an update because no one has arrived yet.”

“But -But Sakura should be there by now! There’s no way. Do you think something has happened?” Tsunade stopped her from spiralling.

“Nevertheless. The Town in the Roots is still suffering and Sakura hasn’t arrived yet. Shizune, I’m assigning you to take Sakura’s antidote blueprints to the town and do what you must. I’ll contact Kakashi and a couple other Jonin to escort you there. Report anything you see that you think is notable and ask Gai if he and his team have noticed anything.” Shizune snapped to attention, the undertone of concern for Sakura still there but she took a deep breath and responded, “Yes, Tsunade-sama!” and left to get what she needed.

Tsunade turned slowly, she held Gai’s scroll in her hand and came to a stop at the massive window behind her desk. Her grip on the scroll tightened until it creaked in protest. Her eyes were hard but her eyebrows tight knit with worry. She was confident in Sakura’s skills and strength, the girl was her one and only disciple, nothing would stop her from this mission. Had her pride for her student momentarily blinded her? Had she needed an escort team and Tsunade had overestimated her? No. She knew her student. Something must have gone wrong. 

What had happened to Sakura?