J A D E

Chapter Fifty - One

"You did what?" Itachi asks me surprised as I finish telling how I dealt with his little brother. Shisui is laughing loudly next to me, his hand around Kisame, who is tied up with Chakra restrictions. The shark looks at us confused, he was shocked, when I and Shisui with help of Itachi managed to defeat him and not kill him. Technically, he is still enemy.

"It seems that your brat deserved it from Pinky." Kisame comments with a shrug. After several hours of sitting around fire exhausted, Kisame decided that it would not hurt to open up to us and to tell us his story.

"Well, he did." Shisui chuckles, shaking his head. "He seemed...darker." Shisui adds in ominous tone, his eyes casted down.

"Someone will need to teach him a lesson, sooner or later." I shrug my shoulders and sigh, rubbing my temples. I can feel most of my chakra returning back to me. "Though, we have to go back in the village, soon." I mumble tiredly. "Tsunade-sama gave us only one month, which is almost up."

"What are you going to do with me, pinky?" Kisame laughs. I click my tongue and look at two Uchihas before answering. "You are coming with us. I am going to try pardoning three Akatsuki members, so I doubt you will be any problem." I rub my head and grin.

"Three?" Shisui raises his eyebrows. "Sasori is already pardoned and Itachi does not needs to be pardoned." He points out as if I did not know it already.

"Yes, but I have Deidara, Kakuzu and Hidan to take care of." I shrug my shoulders. Kisame laughs loudly, his whole body shaking in the process. Shisui looks surprised, but his surprise is soon replaced with smirk, while Itachi looks amused.  "Come on, I want to go home."

Pain is going to attack soon. And this time, I want to save as much as possible.

***

"Sakura..." Tsunade rubs her temples, tired. Currently, we are in the large meeting room, members of council and heads of clans are all present. With my four members of Akatsuki. Kakashi, Shisui, Ibiki, Anko and Sasori are standing together with Sai and Yamato. My friends are with their parents, mouth agape. Asuma is in the wheelchair, gritting his teeth. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji look pissed. As if somehow, I betrayed them.

"Tsunade-sama." I start with politeness in my voice. I look directly at my mentor, ignoring others' eyes. Only warmth I am receiving are from my family, and Uchihas and also Inoichi-san. He has been next to me for the longest time. He is the only one, who knows how dark and twisted my mind really is. "I know what you are going to say." I start with deep breathe. "That they are S-class criminals, that cannot be pardoned." Tsunade nods. "But... Also, they are humans, who made mistakes." I whisper in a low voice, but loud enough for everyone to hear. "For different reasons, they had to depart from their villages... And they had not place to go... So, Akatsuki offered them one." I whisper with a smile. "And like me, they were obeying their leaders. Currently, I have killed more than each one of them, yet no one is judging me, only because I am with a village, and I was acting under it." My voice gets louder, clearer. "There is no right or wrong side, you know?" I start with trembling voice, remembering my last conversation with my previous mentor. Just before she died. "There are no good or evil, it's just matter of perspective, Tsunade-sama." I smile at the blonde woman. "We are no better than them, because our greater good may be their disaster. We have same goals, but we achieve them differently, according from which angle we see the things." I smile at everyone presented in the room. "People are usually manipulated." I start with a deep sigh, I look at Deidara, whose eyes are casted down. He is nervous. Hidan tries to act rough, but I can see sadness behind his red eyes. And Kakuzu, he is stoic, yet hope is still glittering in his orbs. No one really wants to die. "And these people here, they had no choice." I bite my lower lip. "We are willing to give chances to people, who did not deserve it, yet, why can't we give chance to them?" I point at the three of them.