The heat beat down on the roads as the sun raised high in the sky. The forest surrounding the trails only trapped the heat, making it that much hotter.

"Alright, let's take a break! Everyone drink plenty of water!" A tall man with spiky gravity defying silver hair and black eyes called out from the front of a large convoy. He dressed in traditional ninja clothing with a black mask covering most of his face, his forehead protector was lowered over his left eye and the symbol for the Leaf Village stood proudly on his forehead.

The horses stopped moving, letting out whining noises as the many carts stopped behind one another. A brown haired man smiled at the grey haired man. "Thank you so much for this, Hatake-san. We never would have made it through the passage without you and your team."

The man known as Kakashi Hatake gave a smile to the man, visible only by the crinkle of his mask. "It's no problem. It is a shinobi's duty."

A young girl eavesdropped on the conversation, not too far from the front of the convoy, she handed canteens of water to the people. An old woman looked at her, her aging face lifting in a smile as she drank. She handed the canteen back to the girl who smiled kindly.

"Thank you, child. You are truly a saving grace." The woman smiled gratefully. The girl blushed before telling her "It's no problem at all. Please, keep hydrated."

The girl ignored the heat and continued onwards down the line. Her long pink hair was pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head and she had her forehead protector worn as a headband instead of on her forehead. She brushed away the sweat gathering on her forehead and sighed in the heat. Her green eyes kept alert despite the heat and she made sure to pass the canteen to everyone she could.

She went back to the top of the convoy as soon as everyone had water. She smiled at her sensei, who kept a close eye on everyone in the convoy. She grinned at her sensei, speaking once she was near enough.

"Everyone has had water, Kakashi-sensei." She smiled and his mask crinkled into a smile. "Good job, Sakura."

Loud shouting came from a further down cart and both Sakura and Kakashi turned to see the disruption. A young boy glared, his arms crossed at older boy with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit which made him stand out quite a bit.

"You can't do that, you giant pumpkin!"

Sakura sighed as she saw her teammate get into a fight with a younger boy. He yelled in frustration.

"I can so; I'm a shinobi, your just a little kid!"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Naruto!"

Naruto turned to his sensei, who gave him a deadpanned look. Naruto pouted and the little boy stuck out his tongue. Naruto gritted his teeth and moved on, getting the message from Kakashi.

Kakashi suddenly raised his head in alert and Sakura looked at him confused. He pulled out a kunai, facing the woods with a serious look.

"Sakura, tell the convoy to go as fast as they can to tea country, it isn't too far from here."

Sakura looked in surprise. "Kakashi-sensei?" He didn't turn to her, keeping his eyes focused on the woods. "Now, Sakura."

Sakura frowned before rushing to the convoy owner, just as she reached the man who was sitting in the seat, the horse snorted and whined. It backed away but the cart prevented it from moving backward any farther.

It made a loud whine before lifting its front feet off the ground and kicking in the air.

"What the-? What is it, girl?" The convoy owner looked in shock as the horse landed its feet before taking off in a run.

The cart took off fast and the horses behind the first cart began to follow just as fast.

Sakura looked in shock as the convoy's horses just ran as fast as they could.

She heard rustling and looked at where Kakashi was staring at the woods, his body tensed for a fight.

A figure covered in a black cloak wandered into the field. It stumbled a bit but landed in front of Kakashi, who tensed up.

Naruto and her other teammate, a boy with black spiky hair and onyx eyes named Sasuke came racing up, both had kunai, prepared for a fight.

"Stay back!" Naruto and Sasuke skidded to a hault in shock. "He is way past your skill level. You don't stand a chance."

Sasuke glared at the figure, gritting his teeth.

In a flash the figure disappeared and Kakashi deflected all the kunai that had been thrown at him. The figure reappeared behind Kakashi, who blocked his attack and jumped backwards, regaining his Barings.

The figure suddenly held out its hand towards Kakashi, a long iron sword appearing in his hand.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Kakashi demanded but the figure did not give a movement. Suddenly it moved, running forward. Kakashi dodged the slash only for the figure to slash the other way just as fast.

Kakashi gritted his teeth before the figure suddenly stopped. Kakashi frowned in confusion.

Sakura screamed as she saw a large shadow manifest behind kakashi and strike him in the back of the head. Kakashi fell to the ground and didn't move.

Fear came across Sakura as she realized that the shadow and this figure had taken down her sensei so easily.

The figure looked at her, his hood turning to face her. She flinched back in fear before shadow clones of Naruto jumped onto the figure.

The clones gritted their teeth before a slash from the sword caused all of the clones to disappear into smoke. The figure turned to Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke ran sideways while Naruto kept his attention with kunai. Sasuke, eyes now lit into the sharingan ran through hand signs very fast before unleashing a giant flame of fire from his mouth. The figure seemingly disappeared, avoiding the fire.

It appeared behind Naruto where Naruto narrowly managed to dodge the sword. Sakura felt her heart racing, she grabbed kunai from her pouch but the figure looked at her once and she suddenly felt everything in her freeze.

She could barely breathe as she felt frozen, watching helplessly as her teammates fought the figure. The figure appeared in front of Naruto who tried to move but was too late as he threw Naruto, who landed on a tree, coughing blood from the hard hit. Sakura couldn't even speak as she watched it.

Sasuke glared at Sakura. "Are you going to help? What are you doing, Sakura!" She tried to open her mouth to scream, her hands shook from the pointless effort she had trying to move it. Realizing she couldn't move, he gritted his teeth.

Small gasping sounds came from her throat but that was all she could do as she watched the figure head towards Sasuke. Sasuke threw kunai towards him before trying to run sideways. The figure appeared in his pathway and before Sasuke could move, he grabbed sasuke's head and pushed his head onto the ground, his body following with a loud thud.

Sakura tried to scream, to cry, do anything but her body did not respond.

The figure pushed his foot onto Sasuke's head driving it down into the dirt, he groaned at the pressure. The figure made a seal with his free hand and chains rose from the ground, strapping around Sasuke and pulling him into the dirt farther.

He struggled, gritting his teeth in pain, he pushed against the dirt but the chains let out a gold color and Sasuke screamed in pain.

Sakura wanted to scream but she couldn't get anything to move. She pushed chakra through her hand to move but could do nothing. She saw Naruto struggling to lift himself against the tree and he made a sign for a shadow clone.

His eyes widened as nothing happened. He made the sign again but again but nothing happened. The figure turned to him and Naruto growled.

"What did you do to me?" Naruto screamed, bringing a kunai to defend himself.

The figure did not answer, it didn't even move as if it heard it. He made the same sign and chains burst from the tree, swinging around Naruto, he tried to move the chains only reached forward, wrapping against his arms and legs and pulling him against the tree with loud thud.

He grunted in pain but glared at the figure in defiance. The figure paid no attention and looked at Sakura. His eyes narrowed underneath the hood and suddenly Sakura could move. Her arms released from their frozen state and she brought the kunai close to her defensively.

She breathed heavily as her eyes switched from Sasuke form on the ground to Naruto being held on the tree. Fear filled her as the figure walked towards her, his menacing red eyes glowing from under the hood.

She stepped back in fear but clutched the kunai to her chest. She glared at him determinedly. She would not run. She would not falter.

As soon as he was close enough, she slashed out with the kunai but his gloved hand wrapped around her wrist and clenched. She yelled in pain and the kunai dropped to the ground. She stared in fear at the menacing figure in front of her.

"Sakura!" She could hear both Naruto and Sasuke's screams as she was forced to stare at the figures face. She could feel the freezing fear fill her as he reached his free hand towards her forehead.

She struggled against his hand but it only grew tighter and she gritted her teeth in pain.

The hand grew closer. No, this can't be it, she can't die like this.

Tears filled her eyes as she realized there was no escaping. She was going to die.

The hand reached forward and grabbed her forehead, covering her eyes with darkness.

He muttered a word. The only word she had heard him say and then there was nothing but pain.

She screamed as the pain filled her head and body and made it feel as if she was being torn apart. She struggled against his hands to make it stop.

A flame began to fill her body, mixing the pain and heat together and forming a horrible pain.

She screamed louder as she could feel a burst in her lower stomach. She struggled, screaming as loud as she could.

"MAKE IT STOP! NO! PLEASE!" She could barely make out the words of her screams before it all ended.

She could feel the dull ache of pain as her body fell to the ground. She could barely feel the trickle of blood coming from her mouth as she lay motionless.

Her eyes slowly closed as the last thing she saw was the shock and horror on Sasuke's face.

"SAKURA!"

Her eyes closed and there was nothing but black.


"My future dream is to the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody!"

"Hey, Sakura! You want to get ramen with me?"

"I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain somebody."

"You're so annoying, Sakura."

"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scrum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

"Try a little harder, Sakura! I know you can do it!"

"I never give up! I never go back on my word, that is my way of the ninja!"

"There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms, Sakura. Who knows? You might turn out to be a flower more beautiful than a Cosmos."

"You don't need to hide behind your bangs, Sakura. Here, I have an idea!"

"There, you look so pretty, Sakura!"

Sakura jolted awake and looked around frantically. She lifted her hands to her face and could see she was still alive. But as she looked around, she realized she had no idea where she was.

There was nothing but black, empty space for as long as she could see. She felt like she was floating in an endless sea, but there was no cold, no heat, she could feel nothing, not even the pain that she could still clearly remember.

"Hello?" She called out but it seemed to echo within the space.

A small light appeared in the darkness, small and fading against the darkness that surrounded them. Sakura blinked as she light grew stronger.

"It's time to awaken, Sakura. There is much you need to be aware of."

The light burst into a shine that forced Sakura to cringe and close her eyes from the sudden brightness.

She kept them closed and could see brightness even from her closed eyelids. She felt a small breeze come across her face, caressing her hair and Sakura's eyes fluttered open.

She winced as they adjusted to the light before she looked around. She stood in a white room, barefoot but there was nothing underneath but smooth floors. She took a step forward and gasped at what she was now wearing.

She wore a bright red kimono with silver flower designs going upwards. Her hair was let down and flowed smoothly to her mid back.

She smiled at the beautiful kimono but looked around, wondering with caution where she was.

"Sakura."

She jumped at the shock of hearing her name before spinning around to face the one who called it. She gasped at the beautiful woman in front of her.

The woman's hair was a beautiful white and fell in ringlets to her waist, flowing around her like a halo. The woman's eyes were an orange that reminded Sakura of a sunset, the woman smiled and Sakura felt her breath taken away.

The woman wore a beautiful black traditional kimono with gold and red patterns rising up with cranes embroidered beautifully on the fabric. On the woman's head resided a small gold crown resting as a headpiece. In the middle of the headpiece resided a bright red ruby.

The woman smiled, walking gracefully towards Sakura, who felt the need to bow with just her presence.

"Who -who are you?" Sakura stuttered out, mesmerized by the beauty of the woman.

The woman smiled, finally stopping in front of Sakura. The woman was only about a foot and half taller but Sakura felt much shorter in comparison.

"Sakura," The woman let a serene smile grace her face as Sakura jumped at her name.

"How -how do you know my name!" Sakura felt annoyance when the woman didn't answer but continued smiling at her.

"All in due time, Sakura;" The woman's face shed her smile and directed a kind look at Sakura. "As to where you are," The woman's smile grew larger and Sakura felt a bad feeling come to her stomach.

"This is Purgatory."