Chapter 2

Haruno Clan

For the second time today Naruto and Sasuke stood in the Hokage's office. They kept their eyes on the drunken woman; waiting for her to reply. Slowly the blonde Hokage's eyes scanned over the two shinobi. A small scowl crossed her lips and she rested her chin on her folded hands.

"So you spoke with a Haruno elder," Tsunade stated coldly.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, while crossing his arms.

Tsunade sighed. "You have the Haruno clan's hide-out so go. Your mission starts immediately. Make sure you bring Sakura back safely." Tsunade watched as the two shinobi gave a nod and quickly leave the room. Her gaze turned on her unusually quiet apprentice. "Shizune, what's wrong?" The Hokage narrowed her eyes slightly.

The black haired woman looked to Tsunade with sorrow. "I'm worried about Sakura. Do you think Naruto and Sasuke will be able to save her?"

The Hokage closed her eyes for a second. "They have no choice." Tsunade grabbed her shot glass and drank the rest of her sake. Her brows frowned when she looked to her empty glass of sake. "Shizune…" Tsunade drawled out. "I need more sake…" her hand waved aimlessly with the empty bottle swaying in her grasp.

"You really shouldn't drink so much…" Shizune trailed off while grabbing the empty bottle her sensei swayed around without care. Her brows pulled together and she softly sighed. "I'll be back with a fresh bottle, Lady Tsunade." Shizune quickly left the room.

Tsunade turned toward the window behind her and stared to the gray sky with sorrow. The Princess of Blossoms… Sakura what have you gotten yourself into…

At the gates Sasuke was stuck waiting for Naruto to show up. He thought Naruto would have beaten him here but obviously he didn't. Sasuke looked to the sky with boredom. The dobe should have been the first to the gates, shouldn't he? The idiot was determined when things came down to protecting his friends, so what's stalling him? Sasuke glanced over toward the streets of Konoha. He looked down each street, but no blonde was seen. Irritated as Sasuke is, he waited.

After a couple of minutes the blonde finally come springing from a close by roof top; He landed in front of Sasuke with a sorrowful expression. His head turned toward the pathway leading out of the village. "We don't have all day, let's go," Naruto commanded as if he were talking to the same traitor who left the village years ago.

Sasuke raised an eye brow, preparing to ask what the blonde's issue was but he didn't get a chance. Naruto darted into the trees and began to speed into the forest. Sasuke swiftly dashed into the trees and caught up with Naruto. His eyes narrowed at Naruto's head then went back to the scenery in front of him. Most of the way toward the grass village Sasuke spent wondering what the hell Naruto's problem was. At first Sasuke thought it had to do with him doing something wrong, then he thought Naruto was angry about the current situation they both were in; and finally when Naruto's aggressive tone of voice reached Sasuke's ears he realized exactly what Naruto was upset about.

His attitude had to do with Sakura's lack of information. Because Instead of her writing down the situation in code she chose to not tell and let herself suffer; in fact she left the issue for some old lady to tell them both about. Sasuke's face tensed. He didn't like what Sakura was planning either.

Hours passed until the sky became dark and black storm clouds swirled overhead. Both Naruto and Sasuke stopped and slowed there running to a walk. Judging by their location they're close to the village the Haruno elder talked about. The air shifted to a more compressed atmosphere the second they passed through the thicker trees.

Sasuke scanned the area and found a small light coming several feet ahead of their position. His eyes narrowed and he directed Naruto to the light. Again they both began to dash through the trees. Almost as soon as they started running they came to a halt. Their eyes widened in fright.

"W-what the hell is this," Naruto managed to whisper. His throat began to burn with the newly found bloodlust in the air.

Sasuke too felt the overwhelming bloodlust. He tried to speak, only then he found his effort to fail. The atmosphere was too thick and now he knew why. He and Naruto stared down at the dark and smoggy village dwelling in the middle of a huge crater. Lights pierced through the smog, clear enough to notice for miles. The only thing that let Sasuke and Naruto know this is the village they were searching for is the large cherry blossom trees blooming in each direction of the village's borders.

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He crouched down and scanned his eyes over the smog hovering over the village. He knew that if he or Naruto were to get to close they would die from the fumes. This was an unpredicted twist. His gaze became a glare. Someone down there has to have a gas mask, unless it's a genjutsu. The thought of going back to Konoha crossed his mind and was quickly dismissed. No way in hell was he falling back or abandoning Sakura!

"What are we going to do?"

Sasuke's eye brows pulled together. He needed to think very carefully about this situation. He looked to the sky. Luckily for him and Naruto it looked like it would rain soon. Sasuke grunted and leaned against a tree trunk with a slight smirk. The smog would surly wash away with the rain, And If they were truly lucky then they both could make it into the village before the smog rose again. However, if the smog did rise again, Sasuke and Naruto would both need to find gas masks.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Naruto stared down at the Uchiha angrily.

"Shut up and wait."

At this Naruto's expression grew furious. "What do you mean, what the hell are we waiting for?" He stopped when Sasuke glared at him.

After minutes of them waiting, thunder trolled and the patter of rain grew loud to their ears. Naruto tilted his head up so he could look to the sky. He smiled in wonder. Sasuke stood next to him and took a running stance. He looked over to Naruto and gave him a slight nod. "Stay behind me and you might actually live…"

"What was that, Teme?" Naruto held up his fist and glared to the Uchiha. He was fully prepared to give the sound shinobi leader a beating but he wasn't prepared for Sasuke to run full speed toward the edge of the cliff only a mile away from their current position. Cursing under his breath he dashed after the Uchiha. This idiot is going to get us killed! Naruto kept his concentration on the Uchiha's back; watching the fan design flutter on his black short-sleeve shirt. Suddenly Sasuke jumped right off the cliff's edge and headed for the ground hundreds of feet below. Naruto slammed to a shocking halt and watched the Uchiha's figure disappear into the purplish smog below. "Sasuke!" his voice echoed on and on until something else interrupted it.

"Hurry up, idiot!"

Naruto's expression flattened and he swiftly jumped off the edge of the cliff. It took him seconds to land on ground earning him a powerful plummet into the solid rocked floor. He groaned in pain but didn't let the agony stop him from standing. He caught a glimpse of Sasuke and took off after him yet again. He took note of the ground starting to boil due to the toxic smog washing out of the air. Surprisingly to Naruto the toxin wasn't affecting him or Sasuke.

Large stone gates to the village became clear to Sasuke as he continued to advance through the acid rain. He felt no pain or affects from the toxin and that's what made him suspicious. Why the hell wasn't the smog affecting them? He glanced toward Naruto and saw that he looked perfectly fine as well. When a clashing of metal sounded from in front of him his head whipped back around and he slammed to a halt. Three kunai punctured the ground right in front of his feet.

Naruto's body slammed against Sasuke's from the abrupt halt of movement the Uchiha had caused. Sasuke glared to the blonde before yanking him out of the way of three more kunai. As Sasuke studied the area six cloaked men surrounded the two shinobi. A kunai pressed to Sasuke's throat and he quickly flashed his eyes to the man. Shringan penetrated jade.

Everything from that moment happened so quick no one had a clue what had actually happened. It started with Sasuke staring at the man and it ended with the man using a water style jutsu to knock Sasuke to the ground. Four men clasped Sasuke's weak arms in tight holds. They dragged him toward the gates without a second of hesitation. Naruto screeched after Sasuke's retreating form until he too was knocked down and captured in an iron grip lock. The men holding Naruto dragged him toward the gates with force.

Sasuke felt his energy draining quite quickly. It made him feel stupid; getting caught in such a pathetic jutsu. At the sound of loud shuffling and gravel crushing he looked up. The large stone gates where slowly opening. The men holding Sasuke's arms pulled him through the barrier then slammed him onto the ground so he had to sit on his knees. Sudden bloodlust began to swirl around Sasuke's senses and make him want to choke. He became aware of black steel toed boots coming into his line of view. The shoes stopped inches from his face but not completely. The left boot kicked up and crushed against Sasuke's face. Sasuke let out a harsh grunt and looked to the man's face with blazing shringan.

"Leave him alone!" a female's voice demanded. Immediately the boot removed from Sasuke's face. Slowly Sasuke lifted his chin and looked toward the female's voice. All his senses returned the second his eyes captured on her face. He gaped at her torn yet clean appearance. Her pink hair was down past her shoulders, her jade eyes were on him with fright hiding deep inside their gleam, and lastly a large bruise marked the spot just below her left eye.

"Sakura…" even to him his voice sounded fragile and struggled. He felt pathetic. He also felt the need to wrap up that pink haired woman into his arms and protect her from all harm. Unfortunately, how could he when he could hardly stand? How could he do anything when he had hurt her so many times? He stared into her eyes until she quickly looked away from him.

"Him and his friend are my slaves, so send them to the castle I want to crush them, myself," Sakura muttered, lashing venom into her words. Swiftly her body turned away from Sasuke and she stared to walk in the direction of a large temple. The pink and red kimono she wore flowed along with her graceful walk.

"Welcome to the Haruno clan," the same guard, who kicked Sasuke in the face, said smugly. His foot smashed into Sasuke's face, again, except this time the guy knocked Sasuke out.

The last thing Sasuke saw was Sakura's retreating figure. With a last attempt he whispered her name. Darkness engulfed Sasuke's body; that's when it all went cold.