Stumble [Rewrite]

Knowing

When Sakura woke up the next day, her eyes were puffy and she found the upper half of her body draped along the edge of the low table. A black cloak was draped around her shoulders, and once she turned her head to the side, she saw Sasori crouched in front of the window.

"What are you doing?"

"Obviously what it looks like."

"...So you can't figure out how to pop the window latch the normal way? Incredible."

He tossed her a glare from over his shoulder. "If I wanted sass, I'd talk to myself," he said. Eventually, he begrudgingly relented and took the seat opposite her like he had the day before. His expression softened as she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "How do you feel?"

"Not terrible," she replied, shrugging off the cloak as she set her chin into her open palm. "So what are we going to do for the next two weeks?"

He frowned. "What do you mean 'what are we going to do for the next two weeks?'? We're going on an adventure, so pack your things. I'm going to get breakfast using the door since the window is rude enough to not cooperate with me," he sniffed. Sasori walked towards the door.

"Hey..."

He looked at her. Sakura smiled. "Thanks."

He returned the gesture and stepped out to get their food.

It was an hour later that the two of them were out on the road to leave towards Suna. The "adventure", as her friend put it, was to discuss what they had to work with so far. They would take five years of information into consideration to change what they could or protect what needed to be kept.

"The Nagato situation is... complicated," Sasori started as he bit into his muffin. "Nothing's changed from what I've told you about last time. His story started when he, Yahiko, and Konan became orphans in the war and Jiraiya took it upon himself to train them. They formed the Akatsuki for world peace, brought Zetsu and Kakuzu into the organization, then Nagato left and hasn't been seen or heard from since."

"And our summons haven't been able to pick up any trace no matter what country we send them to. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth. What should we do? Keep looking?" she questioned. He took another bite of his muffin.

"I think we should. You said that he was able to have a change of heart and land on Naruto's side at the end of his attack and sacrifice his life for everyone else, right? He's already an unstable mind to begin with, so without Naruto's influence, there's a chance he's still out to destroy this world in his hopes for 'peace' or whatever he calls it."

Sakura scratched her neck and took out the small notebook she kept, jotting down what they decided upon. It kept her's and Sasori's recount of their old lives documented that was a memory to them both, but would seem like complete gibberish to others who read it. "So what'll we do if he's as twisted as before and has a different version of the paths to protect him? That's seven in total we have to take down and I know we'll have enough trouble dealing with one. Maybe even two. And I'd rather not have anyone from Konoha back us up."

"We might have to if it comes down to it. Morino Ibiki and Shiranui Genma, possibly. I'm sure Kisame can be on our side for this one- Komushi, maybe? But even that's a stretch."

There was a beat of silence before they both heaved identical sighs.

"I hate this world."

"Same."

As Sasori finished his muffin, he silently debated on whether or not he should voice his understanding of the conclusion Kou helped him with a while back. He wanted to tell her that he believed they should seek out the people they knew in the other timeline to make sure nothing took a turn for the worst, but they should also take themselves into consideration as well.