Stumble [Rewrite]

Interest

Sasori wasn't the type to get confused. Ever. But sitting in a meeting for two hours while Pein, no—Yahiko, talked about plans he had never even heard of before really could throw someone in a loop. Yahiko discussed about finances and the new jobs the organization would be receiving, but he said absolutely nothing concerning the bijuu. So once the meeting came to an end and the rest of the Akatsuki members filed out of the room, Sasori approached his leader.

"Pei—Yahiko-sama, could I ask your opinion on something?"

Yahiko frowned while Konan curiously turned her attention to the conversation.

"... Go ahead."

"This is a purely hypothetical question, but if you ever had the option to capture all nine of the tailed beasts and use their power for your own desire and will, would you?" he asked. Yahiko stared at him for a long moment, his face devoid of any emotion.

"Have you gone mad?"

Sasori raised his hands in defense. "Like I said, hypothetical question. Would you do it?"

"Of course not," he answered immediately. "If that type of power fell into the wrong hands, do you know what kind of damage it would cause to the people? Terrible, horrible amounts. People who don't deserve it certainly shouldn't receive it."

"Ah, I see. Good day, then, P—Yahiko-sama," Sasori bid before leaving the room. Yahiko's brown eyes burned into his subordinate's back even after he had left the room. Konan walked up to her partner, an uncharacteristic worrisome twinge in her eyes.

"Do you think Sasori-san found out about him?"

"I wouldn't put it past him, but should've been highly improbable. No one could know who he is. For now... we'll watch him. He's been a curious case these last few weeks, anyways."

::

Sakura was standing in a weapon's shop with sweat and dirt matting every inch of her visible self. She had just finished subjecting herself to hours of push ups, crunches, punching and running up trees in Training Ground 44. She would've come to the weapon shop earlier in the day, but she spent the later portion of her training session wrestling an enormous centipede to the ground and tearing off its head.

Stupid bastard shouldn't have messed with her.

Now she was perusing the shelves of the weapon shop looking for a weapon that suited her fighting style. Aside from kunai and senbon, which she bought in bulk a week prior with the money she won in bar bets (in henge form, of course), she needed a special weapon she could utilize on the battlefield. Sakura never really found a weapon for herself in the other life due to the fact that she never had the time, but she was determined to find something doable this time.

Swords were out of the question. She never seemed to handle them well and tended to show her clumsiness when she handled them. She needed something that moved along with her body smoothly and efficiently. After all, she was more rounded for taijutsu than anything else. At the corner of the shop, Sakura found something she could work with. Retractable wrist blades. She took them off the shelf and brought them to the counter.

"Afternoon, little lady. You look a bit roughed up. Tough day?"

She smiled at him. "You could say that. How much for the blades, oji-san?"

"2,500 ryo. How are the senbon and kunai I sold you some time ago?"

"Great, actually. You really have good wares at this store."

Sakura pulled out her wallet from her pants pocket only to frown when she opened it. Crisp bills that added up to 2,000 stared back up at her. She almost sighed. Looks like she'd have to go back to those bars and hustle more of those—