Shades of Grey

Chapter 80

Sakura had braced herself to come face to face with a monster, but Pein was nothing at all what she had been expecting. She would even dare to think that he was a handsome man, if not for the insanity swimming in his eyes as for the woman Konan there was a serene beauty about her. She looked him up and down for any weakness, but he was far more powerful than her. The only thing which held more power than him was the statue in the middle of the room filled with stolen malicious energy.

Pein stood silent before her for several moments looking her from head to toe. His eyes took in her pink hair and jade eyes. She looked delicate, but he knew looks to be deceiving. This was the woman who had undone years of his carefully laid plans.

"You are not at all what I expected." Pein told her as he circled continuing his appraisal.

"You are not what I envisioned either." Sakura allowed him to see none of her fear.

"I can see why Itachi is so enamored with you." The man almost purred. "But you see my dear Sakura, you created quite the dilemma for me."

"I apologize." The sarcasm in her voice was clear.

"Such spunk." Pein chuckled. "But I would expect no less from the woman who single handedly set into motion the fall of Akatsuki."

"I had plenty of help." Sakura smirked. "You failed to inspire loyalty in your troops."

"And I suppose that you have their loyalty?" He growled.

"We would not be here if I did not." Sakura shrugged all the while carefully observing both the shinobi and their surroundings.

Pein took a step closer and the kunoichi saw Kisame's hand twitch towards Samehada. She stopped him by simply raising her hand. It was not time.

"You have made my original goal unreachable." Pein hissed. "I no longer have enough shinobi with a large enough chakra supply to remove your stolen tailed beast. The amount of time it would take me to amass a new group is unacceptable. So, you are going to help me with my revised plans."

"How can I help you?" Sakura was genuinely curious to see what the madman's new plans would be.

"Simple." He told her. "You have figured out a way to seal the nine tails within yourself. You are going to seal the other eight demons inside of me."

As he told her Sakura turned to look again to the hideous statue. Within its eyes she could see the enraged forms of the other tailed beasts. They all called to the demon that was contained within her. They wanted vengeance; they wanted blood.

"Fine." She agreed after a few minutes of thought. "But first you will do something for me."

"What do you require?" Pein asked, though he was sure he knew the answer.

"Bring out Itachi and Hidan." She demanded. "I have to see both of them alive, otherwise all deals are off."

Pein did not answer but motioned to Konan who disappeared down a corridor. To Sakura it felt like an eternity before the blue haired woman returned with her teammates in tow. She quickly scanned their forms and saw that they seemed no worse for the wear. Itachi had some bruising and cuts that had already started to heal.

Relief flooded through her; he had survived his fight with this devil. However, she was unsure that any of them would live through her hastily constructed plan. She knew though that it was their only hope of bringing Pein to his end. It was their only chance to bring peace to their lives, at least whatever peace a group of missing nins could hope to have.

"There as you can see, I caused no harm to your precious friends." Pein told her. "It is a shame I never recruited you, but then again you seem unable to accept that there must be losses to reach a goal such as mine. You actually would have been quite useless; I suppose it's the medic in you."