Pain was sitting on the tounge of the stone structure adorning the tower, his favourite spot for thinking. The air behind him swirled and he knew exactly what, or rather who was coming. He stood up and turned around to face the Uchiha in orange mask slowly materializing.

"How is the condition over here? Are the hidden villages still staying hidden?" Obito asked in deep voice. He gave up his Tobi persona a long time ago.

"They haven't made any move yet. Not since the destruction of Kumogakure." Pain replied remembering the terrible end of Village hidden in Clouds.

"Hn. That's good. Anything else?" Obito inquired.

"Some of the Daimyos of the remaining ninja Nations are now willing to fund the Akatsuki. In exchange of some favours, of course. Deidara and Itachi are mostly taking up those assignments and working out the quirks."

"Deidara you say?" Obito asks intrigued "Intresting development."

"Yes. Ever since his near-death experience with Sasuke Uchiha, the reckless brat we knew took a giant leap in unexpected direction. He became more... diligent." Pain says with a slight curve of lips. He trained him good. Stronger and smarter than before. "What about Madara sama? Is he going to be joining us?"

"I wouldn't say that now. He said that there are still somethings he needs to take care of before he officially takes over as the Leader of the Akatsuki. But he won't be far away. Until then, it will be us taking care of things here. The war is still not over yet." Obito says disappearing into his space-time jutsu.

Pain looked at the spot a little longer where Obito was, thinking.
He then goes inside the Tower.

There's something he needs to take care of as well.

***

The once renowned Cherry Blossom of Hidden leaf sat at one corner of the dingy dark cell with her back against the wall and knees pulled up to her chest somewhere at the basement levels the Akatsuki Tower. Her head was resting on her arms atop her knees. Her bright pink hairs were dull and dry with layers of dust and grime sticking to it giving it a dusty, lifeless hue, and her bright ,fiery emerald eyes had now lost all the previous luster, full of hopelessness and broken dreams.

Sakura knew that she was one of the only few prisoners of war that Akatsuki had taken. Those bastards don't usually take prisoners. They kill them straight away. But the one to bring her here was a rookie in the ranks of these S-class criminals. A rookie she knew all too well. But one thing she kept wondering for the past year she had been here. Why did he left her alive? Why didn't he just killed her? He could have if he wanted to. He had all the reasons and means. Then why?

Sakura squints her eyes,raising her hands up to cover them from the blinding light that came as the cell door opens with a loud creek. A tall, bulky, shark resembling man she knows as Kisame Hoshigaki came through, giving her a toothy grin showing his sharp-edged set of teeth.

"Haruno san. Lucky for you, Leader wants to talk." he says yanking her off the ground and throwing her on his shoulder. Despite Sakura's violent protest, he kept walking through the dim-litted corridors of the basement, going to the upper levels through a series of unending staircase. After a while of useless flailing, Sakura felt her Chakra being drained out by Samehada strapped on his back as she fell limp and soon dozed off.

When she woke up,she found herself in a place that was somewhat familiar to her. The white walls and floor,the metal beds and that smell of antiseptic solutions in the air. It didn't took her much time to know that she was in the medical bay of the Akatsuki Tower.

Her eyes scanned the room as they eventually falls on the frail figure on the hospital bed right in front of her.

"This is Renai. Your first patient here, Sakura Haruno." A deep male voice voice comes from behind her. She whipped her head around to detect the source of the sound, her vision following him as he comes to stand in between her and Renai, as she now knows her.

"You are a medical ninja. One of the best in your field, apprentice of the fifth Hokage and the one rumoured to surpass her." Pain stated the facts. "Why not give a little demonstration of your talents? Treat her wounds." He command.

"And just what made you think I would do that? Especially, after someone like you ask me to." She spat back looking at him defiantly, eyebrows scrunged up in anger and disgust.

Pain merely smirked at her outburst. By simply lifting his hand up, he made Renai float up in air. The sudden unexpected movement startled her as she freaks out.

"Because, if you don't, then I will have no other option than to kill her." Pain stated as his palm slowly curled up in a fist.

Renai thrashes around mid-air choking and holding her neck, desperately trying to claw the unseen force that was strangling her.

"Now,you wouldn't want a poor innocent soul to suffer and die because you refused to do your job because 'someone like me' asked you to. Would you, Haruno?" He says looking at Sakura with a sadistic smirk.

"No! Stop it." Sakura screams.

Pain tightens his fist making Renai gag and grunt in agony as she felt the death grip on her throat tightening. She felt like a fish out of water. She felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs as and she was losing consciousness with each passing second, unable to breathe.

Sakura panicked, not knowing what to do next. One one hand, she wasn't willing to help the Akatsuki in any way. But on the other hand, she couldn't let an innocent person die because of her stubbornness. 'Is this man really that cruel? Is he really heartless enough to kill the same person he wants me to heal?' she contemplated.

"Y-you are n-not g-going to kill her. Its just a b-bluff." She said wishing to God that she got it right and all of this is just an elaborate plot to make her to agree.

"Is it?" Pain smirked tightening his grip and Sakura, even amidst her audibly thumping heart, could hear the almost inaudible sound of bone cracking.

Sakura's eyes widens as she saw Renai give up her struggle to survive and soon her limp body was dangling mid-air. Her face was slowly turning blue due to lack of oxygen and the dark purplish finger marks on her neck becoming more and more prominent, being proof of the gruesome power he had on her. Even though he didn't even touch her or looked at her, he killed her effortlessly.

"Y-you wanted me to heal her... And you killed her yourself because I refused. Just what kind of a sick monster are you?" Sakura asks, tears pooling in her eyes as they were still fixed on Renai's lifeless body.

"You can still save her, if you are truly worthy of your reputation." Pain spoke gravely, his voice holding the same kind of authority that could make even the most stubborn of men think twice. "You are now the only person standing between her life and death. So, what is it gonna be?"

"I'll do it." Sakura spoke turning to look at Pain in the eye, "Put her down."

"Hn." Pain smirked, slowly bringing his hand down, setting Renai back on the bed softly.

Sakura immediately ran to her side checking her vitals to see if there is any hope left. "She will live." she said after a minute,sighing in relief.

Pain nods and turns around to leave "You will get whatever you need. Just get her back on her feet as soon as possible." He said on his way out.

Sakura woke up with a start hearing compulsive knocks at the door. "Coming." She yelled already irritated. She looks at Renai, who was still unconscious and sighs. She gets up from the chair next to her bed and goes to open the damn door. What happened next startles her even more.

"S-Sasuke kun..." She gasped seeing the youngest Uchiha.

"Sakura,huh." He spoke, a sly smirk coming upon his lips. "Didn't expected to see you here."

"What are you doing here, Uchiha?" Sakura's expression immediately changed to that of pure rage, giving up all the pretext of her once-upon-a-time puppy attraction towards him. She was beyond pissed.

"Hn. That's interesting." Sasuke says to himself seeing her reaction. "Anyway. I came here on another business. Itach...Nii-san, asked me to give you this. Pain wants the girl in his room as soon as she wakes up." He hands her a bag and leaves.

It took Sakura a moment to register what just happened. "Hey! Wait." She called out but he was long gone by then. "Fucking crazy Uchiha." She mumbled slamming the door hard. She came back inside the room with the plastic bag where she was met by a pair of piercing blue eyes looking at her.