I need a favor.

~H.S.

--

Anything.

~Marionette

--

Find or make a man fitting the "Tobi" description. Hair, height, scars, everything. Make sure it's recorded that his throat was slit in a small, no-name civilian village four years ago. Konoha may look into my therapy case to prove validity.

~H.S.

--

I'll work on it immediately. You've been in therapy with the blond for a year now, right? How are your sessions?

~Marionette

--

T&I hasn't provided me with any new information. Things have been going smoothly as of late, but expect a kick off by the end of this Academy year. Naruto and Sasuke have been working hard to catch up to me so that we'll graduate sooner. I don't know who our sensei will be, though.

~H.S.

--

That's good to hear. What about your sessions?

~Marionette

--

There have been no updates on anyone I'm keeping tabs on. The clans are quiet and meet to discuss matters with the Hokage twice a month. I may be scheduled to help guard it as part of my training. If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

~H.S.

--

Your sessions.

~Marionette

--

How are Suna and Iwa?

~H.S.

--

I know you're still angry about what I did to you. I admit it. I shouldn't have taken it so far. But the one thing we can't deny is that there is something wrong with you, and the problem is that you'd rather suffer than help yourself.

We have a chance to save everyone.

How are we going to do it if you aren't willing to save yourself?

~Marionette

--

I don't care what happens to me as long as they're happy.

~H.S.

::

Sasori read over their last correspondence with a sigh before burning the evidence. She had a steel will just as hard as her head, and it'd probably take a hit from a sledgehammer to finally knock some sense into her. He slid a plate of fish to Kou from across the table and leaned back to stare at the ceiling.

Nothing was happening in the Akatsuki. Unlike in Sakura's circumstances, there was nothing he could proactively do for or towards the organization. The bijuu weren't needed, he was still at a loss at the sudden change in leadership, and driving Gaara's and Deidara's paths were going by slower than he first anticipated. There was only so much time he could spare in going solo to monitor them.

While he spent half the time with the kids, the other half was used to find out what Yahiko and Konan were hiding. It took nearly two years of poking around with Sakura's help to understand this timeline's Akatsuki origins.

It all started with three children: Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato. War plagued their country, taking what they loved and leaving them orphans. Weeks of surviving led them to find Jiraiya and the sannin: getting their name from Sanshouo no Hanzo after being able to keep their lives.

So Jiraiya trained the three for as long as he could, left them to their own devices with the best of luck, and returned to Konoha. Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato continued to improve their skills that led them to form the Akatsuki-- a service to those who couldn't afford to ask shinobi villages for help. Granted, they had gained a reputation as 'mercenaries' due to an incident involving three tubes of toothpaste at a zoo, but that was besides the point.

Akatsuki started with just the three of them. First came Zetsu, then Kakuzu, then Nagato broke away. No reason was given except that an argument escalated to places nothing should have gone, tearing the original three apart. Nothing was known about his current status. That in itself was a little troubling considering he was the one who'd previously taken on Pein's persona.

"Sasori-kun~! More fish, nya~!"

"You have some."

"But I finished it!"

"And it's your fault."

Kou whined as he slunk over to rub his fur all over the man's facial region. That was the sight Kisame had unfortunately walked in on. He stared blankly.

"You know, I can pinpoint the exact moment you lost your shit," he said, taking a seat at the table. "Am I going to regret asking what you're doing?"

Sasori pried the cat from his face. At the continued whining, he sighed and ambled over to the fridge to get more fish. "Just received a message from a contact, though apparently their summon feels entitled to more than one whole decently sized mackerel."

Kisame wordlessly eyed the cat's devilish grin. It took a while to get used to Sasori's strangeness, but when it settled, he still felt that there was something was wrong with it.

One day four years ago, Sasori woke up confused. He asked a million questions he should have already known and looked around the base like he hadn't been in it before. Sasori helped build it. There was no excuse to not knowing where he was.

The brown cat gave a shriek of happiness when another plate of fish slid towards his direction. "Oh Sasori-kun, you're a dear!"

"Thank you. And your fur is as shiny as ever."

People didn't change overnight. Shinobi, especially, had the hardest times changing the monsters they'd grown into. Akasuna no Sasori gained his name by turning the sand red when he traveled Wind Country picking out bodies to use for his specialized jutsu. He even earned himself a reputation of being as sick and heartless as they'd come.

So imagine his disbelief when the man started acting like an eccentric human being. It was like a switch was flipped in his head, and he realized that there was more to life than being locked up in a room turning people into puppets.

"You're not really Sasori, are you?"

The one in question curiously turned his head. His eyes shone with something he couldn't decipher—amusement, maybe? "What makes you say something like that?"

A smile that made Kisame shift in his seat bloomed across the other man's face. There wasn't a fraction of threatening undertone in his expression, only a growing enjoyment. Mockery. Kisame's fingers twitched, almost itching to reach for Samehada. Then he realized that the familiar weight that rested against his back was absent and sitting in the common room.

"You're... weird," he tried to explain. He was never one for words and tried to use hand motions to get his reasoning across. "Ever since that day years ago, you've been weird."

Sasori cocked an eyebrow. "You can't justify calling someone weird by saying they're weird."

Kisame sighed. "Sasori-san, I've known you for six years. For the first two, you only talked when you needed to. I'm pretty sure you hated everyone and everything. Then you just... I don't know, changed or something. One day, you're the S-Class everyone's scared of. The next day, you, it's like you had amnesia or whatever! You got weird."

Kou kept chewing on his food from his spot on the table. He looked to be paying no mind to the conversation as his tail swished back and forth, but his ears were perked up and aimed at the two missing-nin. Sasori hummed and tilted his head.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Probably 'cause you've gone insane, but I'll listen."

His smile widened. "I'm supposed to be dead, but I was brought back into another timeline after spending eighty years in a place called the 'Void'. Well, it was only eight, but time doesn't work the same there than it does here. The person who came back with me said that following my death, a war broke out where over half the shinobi population died. I assume them and I are here to make sure the same doesn't happen here, but it's only been four years and it hasn't been nearly enough to do what I want. I guess you could also say the personality change came from years and years of nothing to do but think."

Kisame stared for a good ten seconds. "... You're on meds, aren't you?"

Sasori pulled a small bottle from his pocket. "Just gummy vitamins. I'm inclined towards the grape ones."

The ex-Kiri nin shook his head at the bizarre story before getting up and lumbering out the kitchen, saying something about going outside to air out the crazy. When his departure was assured, Kou sat up from his meal.

"Eighty years, " he purred. "That must've been quite the experience. Before, I heard you wanted eternity. Did you get that in the Void?"

Sasori turned his head to face the window. It was a clear day outside—bright and sunny in Tea Country. Orochimaru was off in the nearest village, probably to gather supplies or subjects for his experiments. At the moment, he was the only Akatsuki member in the house.

Sasori's eyes snapped open. The only thing he could see was the vastness of silver and blue, a world he didn't recognize. First, he moved his fingers. There was no signature crack of wooden joints, nor the feeling of having no feeling.

"What... is this?"

"You."

He cringed. The voice enclosed him with their tenor, rattling his brain and piercing through his eardrums.

"Eternity."

"What?"

"You wanted eternity, did you not?"

Sasori spun around and looked for where or who the voice was coming from. Yet still, there was nothing around him but the steady flow of ever-blending color. His lips turned down into a displeased scowl as he began to walk and find a way out of the damned place. This was a game, wasn't it? Fine. He'd play with whatever trapped him in here.

"If I do?" he bit out. There was a bout of silence before the voice spoke up again.

"Then it will be given to you. Five stages of the dead and dying, Sasori. Then you will understand," it said.

"Five stages?" he repeated, incredulous. "Of—dead? I'm dead? Wait, what are you talking about?!"

He received no answer.

"I did. Not in the most orthodox way, of course," he admitted. Kou slunk over to Sasori's relaxed figure and jumped onto his shoulders, causing him to mumble something about 'fish breath'. The cat stretched his body to relieve the pressure in his muscles.

"And what did you think, nya?"

Sasori glanced to the side, eyes growing heavy with the memories of eighty years he wanted to forget. "... Nothing, really."

::

Hinata still brimmed an embarrassed pink as she and Sakura walked down the street to meet up with the rest of their friends.

"Your sister likes you a lot," Sakura mentioned, causing Hinata to darken a little more, "but she's mad at me. I hope I'm not taking all your time away from her. We stay after school sometimes and have study sessions on Fridays or Saturdays. You can miss a few if you want to hang out with Hanabi-san."

They turned a corner to the direction of the Academy in the cool, Saturday afternoon.

"Hanabi-chan... s-she's stronger than me. She's o-only four years old, but-but she's not scared of anything and does better with t-training than I ever did... um, she can't look up to me forever. I'm not g-good enough for that," she mumbled. She looked so sad in that moment that Sakura had to sling an arm around her shoulders and pull her closer.

Hinata squeaked.

"C'mon, Hinata. What's that supposed to mean? You do awesome on tests and assignments and if we do a little more physical training, you'll be even more awesome than you already are!" Sakura encouraged. The Hyuuga flushed even further.

"B-But you, Sasuke-s-san, and N-Naruto-san are going to graduate at the end of the year..."

The other girl lifted a bandaged hand and waved it off. "So what? Just because we get to graduate early doesn't mean we're better than anyone else. And we can still hang out on our off day. Sounds good, right?"

She tucked some stray black hairs behind her ear and nodded, a cute little smile weaseling its way onto her face. As the two of them neared the Academy, someone stepped out the front doors with her hands planted on her hips and her lips pursed.

"We've been waiting for you guys! And I told you not to be late too!"

Sakura stuck her tongue out. "We're only five minutes late, Ino."

Ino stuck out her tongue with even greater force in retaliation. She brought Ino to the group by chance about half a year ago. Somehow, Ino learned her father was Sakura's psychiatrist and tagged along to the T&I building every Thursday. It slowly bled into a routine and next thing they knew, she was part of their study group. Thankfully she had enough impatience to get Shikamaru and Kiba to actually do their work.

Sakura's eyes roamed around the Academy's hallways as she thought about the whole other team of Konoha Twelve. Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Gai... Two of whom had died in the war. She hadn't seen any of them these past years save for that split second she passed by Neji a while back.

With a little digging and eavesdropping, she deduced she had nothing to worry about. Lee still had his chakra coils ruined, Tenten was the daughter of a well-known weapon making family, and Neji was still bitter about the loss of his father and being born as a branch member. They still remained a year ahead of the future rookie nine (now more than likely the rookie six) and would probably stay aligned with Maito Gai in the future.

Ino, Hinata, and Sakura stepped into their usual classroom to see Sasuke, Shino, and Chouji hovering around the chalkboard to write down their own ideas for their planning. Shikamaru, of course, was asleep at a desk, Kiba following suit beside him. Akamaru kept that happy smiling expression as his tail wagged back and forth.

"Shika! Kiba!" Ino shouted, stomping over to the desks. "What did I say 'bout sleeping? Huh? We have a meeting to plan Naruto's birthday, so slack off some other time! Sensei let us use his board!"

"And he's turning ten. Two digits. We have to make sure everything goes by smoothly," Sakura added. She walked up to the chalkboard and read everything listed down. Balloons, confetti, cake, presents... She winced, thinking of the disaster that would come if she let everyone try to make food. Hopefully, Chouji could get someone from the Akimichi Clan to help them out. They've always been some of the best cooks in all of Konoha. And had a mean barbecue recipe.

Besides, it's not like she'd trust any of them in the kitchen. She was positive that letting eight nine year olds around stove tops and ovens was far from responsible.

Especially after the potato incident.

Chouji set his piece of chalk down and turned towards Sakura.

"So for Naruto's presents... what are we going to get him?" he asked. She shrugged as she picked up the chalk he set down and wrote details of her own next to the ideas already listed. Her neat linear handwriting contrasted greatly with the much larger, sloppier ones.

"You still have two weeks to decide. Naruto's not used to getting things and I don't think he's ever had a party before, so I'm sure he'd like whatever you give him. Just put real thought into it," she replied. A newly awakened Kiba brandished a wide yawn.

"Like miso ramen?"

"Or maybe new kunai!"

"What? That's boring!"

"Hey, whose house are we gonna do it at?"

The group slowly crowded themselves around the board and started up an argument about what they should and shouldn't be doing for the party. They were so engrossed in the discussion that they failed to notice Sakura turn her head towards the classroom door then slip into the hallway. Iruka greeted her with a nervous smile, dark fingers tightening around some papers.

"Looks like you guys are, uh, having fun planning for Naruto's birthday. October 10th, right?" he questioned. She nodded slowly, suspicion growing. He fidgeted under her narrowed gaze before succumbing to the pressure and sticking out the paper for her to take.

"I-I—This is what—here, um—for Naruto's birthday!"

Sakura read the title on the first page. Immediately, she cracked a smile as she read through the official documentation. "Don't tell me you're doing this because he accidentally called you 'kaa-chan' that one time."

She remembered that only because she had to apologize afterwards for letting out a small laugh. Iruka had been praising him about a problem he solved correctly, causing the boy to let out the blunder. Their sensei went pink first as he bumped into a desk, then Naruto, after realizing what he'd done, turned as red as Sasuke's favorite tomatoes and hid behind Sakura's shoulder the rest of the day.

"No, no, of course not!" he assured. "I mean, I was surprised when he did it, but this... I've been planning this for a long time. Do you think he'll agree? I even talked to Mari-san about it..."

Sakura nodded. "It'll be the best gift someone could give him."

Iruka grinned, taking the papers back and carefully tucking them into his flak vest. Something like this he couldn't lose now. He had to get through a hell of a lot of paperwork and interviews, even with the Godaime, to get approval for it.

"I'll tell him after your guys' party for him, then. I'll see you all on Monday," he said as he turned around to head home. He looked over his shoulder after a thought. "And let me know if you need any help for it!"

Sakura waved and watched as he turned a corner and disappeared. A breath of relief escaped her. That was one more thing she didn't have to worry about, letting her focus on more important things like graduation or where to get more information on clans.

She spun on her heel to re-enter the classroom, but froze.

The window. The subtle chakra. Someone outside.

Her eyes flashed as they moved to stare out and across the field. In the shade of a tree, a man stood. His one eye bore into her: patient and waiting. He lifted a hand to sign her with the standard code taught to every newly honored chuunin.

-Do you know who I am, young one?-

She held in a breath and signed back.

-Yes.-

-Who?-

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek.

-Shimura Danzo.-

::

EDITED 2/1/18

::

And ending this chapter is an awesome fan-made cover by   :D !