Sakura has nothing else to fear, this whole nightmarish experience taught her to just take actions. She doesn't need to think twice anymore. She confidently knocked on Pein's door and entered, followed by Itachi, without waiting for his response.

"Sakura! Oh, so the Konoha team is here" Pein said as soon as he saw them.

"I have a favour to ask you before I get this mission done" Sakura said giving Itachi a quick look asking for support "actually I want to ask you to delay this mission for a little while".

It was obvious that Pein didn't see this coming from her and he couldn't find a reason why he should do such thing for her. He needed to get his hands on Konoha the soonest possible unless there was a valid reason.

"If we carry on with our mission of destroying the leaf, Sakura never gets to clean her name so we're asking you to give us some time to investigate" Itachi explained. He may be the smartest person ever but showing support for Sakura in front of Pein wasn't his best move. Itachi has in fact gone over the fact that he is a missing ninja ever since Sakura believed in him. Seeing how hiding the truth turned his brother, Itachi decided that he has no more secrets to conceal.

"I see you're helping Sakura, Itachi" Pein said.

"I am, isn't she our teammate?" Itachi responded "besides this will be helpful since in that case she'd be sent back to Konoha once she's cleared of all charges, the mission you gave her will be done perfectly since she won't be a suspect anymore"

"And how is she going to do that? For me clearing her name seems clearly impossible" 

"We'll work on that part don't you worry" Sakura said confidently "We just need some more time"

The conversation ran unexpectedly smooth, Sakura thought convincing Pein would really be the only thing Itachi can't do but she was wrong. Pein didn't actually mind letting them do what they had to do.

Itachi preceded