"Sakura~" White Zetsu spoke. "Are you awake? I hope you're not too tired."

Sakura opened her eyes slowly, blinked once, then twice. On the third blink she was wide awake. She felt different. Wasn't too sure what was different. 

"What did you do to me?" She asked. Surprisingly calm, considering the situation. 

"Nothing much. You'll see. Let's go and try the training exercise again now, shall we?" White Zetsu said. Black Zetsu was very quiet. 

"Uhm... Ok?" Sakura said. 

"And Sakura... Better go get a sacrifice, shouldn't we?"

Sakura remained silent. She knew she had to sacrifice someone within the next two days at least but she really didn't want to. But deep down she knew she had to do it, and she would. She had to beat her team. 

Zetsu carried her to the training ground they were at before. 

"So... how do I activate this ability that you've supposedly given me?"

"Pain." whispered Black Zetsu, eagerly awaiting Sakura's face to contort in pain. 

"Practice." said White Zetsu gleefully. 

"Well then let's get going with this exercise because it was pretty painful last time. And it is practice so it's both at the same time, perfect." Sakura smiled grimly. Zetsu sunk into the ground again, and the plants attacked. 

Again, Sakura jumped in the air, swung her scythe, channeled her chakra and so on. Same as last time. Except different. She wasn't completely sure what had changed. She wasn't losing chakra as quickly. Her abilities appeared to be the same, and yet her energy was the same as before the fight. Slowly her chakra dissipated, slowly slowly slowly. After an hour, her chakra suddenly burst up again. 

"Hey, what's this?" Sakura gasped, a bit surprised. She'd never had chakra come back so quickly for no apparent reason. But this took her concentration away from the plants and one of them hit Sakura into the ground. 

Yet another surprise was waiting for Sakura, because rather than getting hurt, she just sunk into the ground like Zetsu did. A bit uncomfortable, yes, but much better than being hit onto the ground. 

"Well shit, I guess I'm a plant now. Better than before." 

"No~ Sakura, you're not one of us, don't worry~" White Zetsu whispered into her ear. 

"What? You followed me underground?"

"Yes~ You can merely sink into the ground and go up, but you can't travel like we do and you aren't a plant. This is a passive jutsu; it will only be activated if you need it to be activated." White Zetsu said. 

"How do I get up?"

"That's your problem, isn't it? I didn't know what would happen when you went through our experiment~"

"Wait, you didn't even know what would happen to me?"

"We're part of the Akatsuki, we're not exactly the most humane group on this planet." Black Zetsu stated.

"Well no shit Sherlock. Right then I guess I'll try use the jutsu actively rather than passively." Sakura muttered, and concentrated her chakra. She wasn't really sure how, but she managed to make it back up to the plants. Soon, she had cut down or poisoned each and every plant in the area. 

"Good job Sakura~ I thought you were totally useless but it turns out you're only 99% useless~" White Zetsu smiled freakily. 

Sakura smiled, "Thank you~ but let me figure out how to use the passive jutsus actively~" Concentrating, she sunk underground again. And up. And down. And up. 

"Sakura~ Don't we need to sacrifice someone~?" Zetsu said. 

"Yeah yeah let's get going, motherfuckers. Jashin, I haven't felt this great in ages," Sakura grinned, "C'mon."

She went down into the ground again, left the training grounds and went to the closest village. Interesting how underground I can feel the vibrations of the people above. To my left, there's a village, and I can tell because of the vibrations. Nice. She thought. Once she made it close to the village, she went above ground again and watched the village from the trees. An old lady was shuffling her way out. "Bye!" The lady said to the two sentries. 

"Bye bye Aki-san. See you once you come back with the flowers." The sentries waved. 

Too bad she won't come back. Sakura knew. But she didn't really feel so remorseful anymore. Perhaps it was a side effect of the thing Zetsu did to her, she didn't know. Once the lady had shuffled out of sight of the guards, Sakura dropped down to greet her. 

"Hello," she smiled, being all friendly, acting like a creepy black-and-white humanoid plant wasn't behind her. "Your name was Aki-san?"

"Yes, but look out! You have something behind you!" 

"Ah, don't worry Aki-san. This is Zetsu. He's here to supervise me killing and sacrificing you to Lord Jashin, because you're a sinner."

"Wha- what? Who is Lord Jashin?"

"My god. The only true god. Those who don't follow His ways shall be sacrificed. Just like you." Sakura smiled, friendly again, then whipped out her scythe and beheaded the lady. Then she dragged her into the forest, creating the Jashin symbol. Then she sacrificed her for a couple hours. 

Feeling refreshed once her religious affairs had been completed, she turned to Zetsu. 

"What was the mission?"

Zetsu handed her a slip of paper. It read:

Task One: Sakura's training. 

Task Two: Sakura's Jashinism sacrifice.

Task Three: Kill Takiji (Village leader) meeting with Hoitsu-san (another village leader). Requested by Hoitsu-san. 

"Let's go. The meeting is in an hour. Shit timing, how are we supposed to get there that fast?"

"Don't worry~" Zetsu said. "Let's go." Zetsu grabbed Sakura and went underground. Just before the clock hit the time for the meeting, they appeared above ground. 

Hoitsu roared at Sakura and Zetsu, "It's nearly time for the meeting! Hide, goddammit, you need to kill him soon. I paid a hefty amount for this job, you know!"

Sakura nodded, and jumped into the trees. Zetus sunk into the ground. Half an hour later, Takiji appeared, with ten men guarding him. 

"I hope this isn't about the land, Hoitsu-san. It's ours, after all."

"It's not your land, Takiji you motherfucker." Hoitsu growled. "You're just a village leader, stop overestimating your position." Hoitsu looked up at Sakura, indicating Sakura should come down. 

"Hello, Takiji-san. I won't tell you my name, but don't worry, I'm from the Akatsuki so you won't escape. Please put your weapons down and give up. I need good sacrifices." Sakura was already smiling at the thought of being able to sacrifice another person, her conscience gone since Zetsu's experiment. 

"You're not from the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki has no women." Takiji was dressed like a businessman for a meeting in the forest in the middle of the two villages and it was kind of throwing Sakura off. Who would do that? 

"You're wrong, Takiji. I am female and I am part of the Akatsuki. Please remove your weapons and order your men to step away." Sakura said, coolly. 

"No, I am not taking orders from a fake Akatsuki member. Shut up and leave us to our business."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Alright then. The hard way it is." She went underground. Takiji  was stunned, then shrugged it off. 

"Hoitsu-san! I see even your kunoichi has run away. What a fool you are. Coming here nearly alone and with a fake Akatsuki kunoichi. Admit defea-" Takiji began, but was cut off as Sakura strangled him. 

The ten men around Takiji were startled, but sprung into action, with battle cries and weapons raised. But they were hardly a match for an Akatsuki member, albeit an apprentice Akatsuki. Sakura didn't even flinch as she kicked them away. Soon, Takiji slumped down on the ground, unconscious. Sakura dropped him, then concentrated on incapacitating the rest of the group. Barely a minute later, Sakura's incapacitating poison got everyone, even those with barely a scratch on them. They dropped like flies. 

Sakura flipped her hair, readjusted her hat and wiped her cloak down. "How's that, Zetsu-sensei? I didn't even go underground."

"It's okay~ I wasn't really expecting much~" White Zetsu said. 

Brimming with joy from the weak backhanded compliment, Sakura turned to Hoitsu. 

"Have you already paid for our services?"

"You didn't even kill any of them! Why should I pay the rest?"

"They're not dead yet. I'm going to sacrifice them to Jashin-sama, my Lord and God, the One True Savior."

"I'd like to see you kill them."

"Oki dokie," Sakura said. She pulled out her scythe, killed Takiji, drew the symbol, and started sacrificing. 

"What's she doing?" Hoitsu asked, rather curious more than terrified. The killing was what he had paid for, after all, but the sacrificing was not. 

"Sacrificing him to the great god Jashin." Zetsu answered. 

"How long will this take...?"

"A couple hours. Might as well sit if you want to wait it out."

Hoitsu sat for a few minutes, then got bored. "Thank you for your services. Here is the rest of the money." He handed a small bag to Zetsu. 

Zetsu stayed silent for a few seconds. The awkward silence continued, then Hoitsu said, "Right then. I'd best be off. Good luck to you and goodbye."