My goodness! I need to start finishing this story! Thanks to those who RR the last chapter, I'll try to make this chapter longer. BTW I don't own Naruto… but I should…

Chapter 2: Master of the Murdering Snakes

The journey back to Konoha didn't take very long but it was exhausting on Sakura who held onto Kakashi for dear life. She was drained physically and emotionally from the trauma she sustained at the hands of her former teammate and ex-heartthrob Uchida Sasuke. Sakura still couldn't believe that she was the only one left alive from the large team she went with but mostly she was shocked at what Sasuke had become, a cold blooded murderer.

They entered the outskirts of town and Kakashi began to head for the medical facilities but stopped when Sakura let out a yelp. "Don't take me there… take me to Tsunade sama. Please."

Kakashi held a concerned look in his visible eye but he knew that what chakra Sakura had left was going toward healing her wounds. He noticed as they progressed to Konoha that the gashes on her arms and legs had stopped bleeding and were beginning to close and turn pink as the skin regenerated itself, medical nins amazed Kakashi at times and Sakura was one of the best. "Alright, but you will rest right after meeting her."

The scene in Hokage Tsunade's office was of utter chaos when Kakashi came in with a beaten and bruised Sakura in his arms. All sorts of medical equipment were brought in and Tsunade was yelling at Kakashi for not taking her to the medical facilities first. Kakashi took the scolding in his usual manner but then gave a serious look to the Hokage. " Uchida Sasuke has returned."

Tsunade went silent and stared hard at the masked jounin. " Where and when was he spotted?"

"He was sighted by Sakura's border patrol team… they were attacked, Sakura is the only survivor." Kakashi looked to the pink haired beauty lying still on Tsunade's plush couch. She was looking up at the ceiling with tears pouring out of her eyes, at this sight Kakashi's heart fell into his stomach he hadn't seen her so upset for many years, in fact she was only this upset when Sasuke left Konoha.

"Tsu… Tsunade sama, I'm ready to give you a report." Sakura let the words slide out of her mouth slowly with little effort she didn't know how long she would remain conscious.

Tsunade sat down in a chair next to the couch and grasped Sakura's hand. Tsunade let her chakra flow into Sakura to give her strength. "Tell me all that happened."

Sakura took a long deep breath and held back more tears she could feel coming. "Everything was going normally, the border looked good we had no trouble until tonight." She cast her gaze to the lights in the ceiling. "Sasuke began his attack when we reached a clearing near the river bend. All I heard at first was screaming…" She thought back to the men who were behind them, their screams as they were attacked, " then I saw what it was, a snake, the gigantic snake Manda was tearing though the ranks and leaving the dead behind. I did what I could. We scattered the ranks and took to the trees I faced the snake and crippled it by punching the ground, it lost traction in the chasm I created and was trapped for a short time. I was approaching the beast to kill it when a flash of darkness sped by me and killed two of my comrades, when I turned to look I stared right into a pair of sharingan." Sakura shivered. "Sasuke was laughing like a madman and had me trapped in his sharingan." She stopped and took another breath. "He murdered each of them in front of my eyes while I couldn't move!" She clenched her fists into a tight ball and gritted her teeth. "I couldn't do anything!"

"Its okay, Sakura. You can't blame yourself for what Sasuke has done." Tsunade put her hand over Sakura's eyes. "Sleep now, you'll feel better in the morning." Tsunade sent a wave of chakra into Sakura that put her to sleep. Tsunade gently brushed Sakura's hair away from her face and sighed. "What do we do now…" She let the question hang in the air, not really expecting and answer.

Shikamaru came bursting through the door, he had just woken up and was a mess and didn't really want to get up at this troublesome time of night but he knew if he didn't come Tsunade would ring him a new one. "Hokage sama, your orders?"

Tsunade stood. "Send the special Anbu units to search the area for Uchida Sasuke, tell them to use extreme caution, we don't know what were up against. I can only imagine what Orochimaru could have done to him."

Shikamaru stood frozen in shock of hearing the news of Sasuke's return. It took him a minute to regain his composure. "Yes, Hokage sama."

"Also have the gates sealed no one is to leave the village unless given special permission by myself and double the watchmen around the outer walls, I don't want him getting in without at least being seen. That is all." She watched as Shikamaru left with great haste.

"Kakashi, take Sakura home. She will get more rest there, and it seems that she has her wounds well under control." Tsunade smiled at this she was proud of how much her student had grown.

Well, It is longer than the last chapter and I hope you all found it entertaining, I have more time now to work on this so I hope to get another chapter out by the end of the week. Please RR. The next chapter will get into the romance part of the story but I also promise lots of blood and gore and maybe even a lemon! BTW: KakaSaku