"The hell?!" Naruto exclaimed as he landed next to Itachi. He was about to save Sasuke's life when Itachi appeared out of no where.
"I-Itachi?" Sasuke asked, eyes wide.
"Get him out of here, Naruto-san" Itachi ordered, still blocking the executioner's sword with his own.
Naruto nodded and broke the chakra ropes. Choji, Lee and Kiba were freeing Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo while Kakashi, Anko, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Ino, Tenten and Shikamaru were holding off the other ninjas. Kisame, Deidara, Sasori and Hidan were also fighting since they were with Itachi.
"Everyone, let's go!" Naruto yelled when he threw Sasuke's arm over his shoulder to support him.
The newly allied groups ran, clearing a path through the crowd of ninja by slaughtering them. Once outside the village, they headed South East. No one spoke. Ino was leading them since the others were either helping someone or securing the area. When someone jumped out in front of them, Ino scowled.
"Get out of my fucking way!" Ino roared as she whipped out a kunai and slashed his throat without another thought, shocking Naruto and Sasuke.
"Ino, what's wrong?" Naruto.
"You know what's wrong. We've wasted enough time going to save Sasuke" Ino said.
"You're the one that called the last shot" Kiba said as he caught up with them.
"Now is not the-" Ino stopped when she saw a group of people up ahead. Not just anyone…
The rest of the Akatsuki.
"Well, what do we have here?" Pein wondered.
"You…" Naruto growled out.
"We don't have time for this!" Kiba growled.
Kakashi and the others caught up.
"That was fun, yeah?" Deidara said.
"Jashin will enjoy all his sacrifices tonight" Hidan said, nodding.
"I advise we keep moving so as to avoid anymore unnecessary fighting" Itachi said.
"Can you travel without help?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke pulled away and swayed on his feet.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karin cried out.
She pulled away from Kiba and ran to Sasuke. She offered him her arm and Sasuke sunk his teeth into her flesh. Karin cried out in pleasure and they all watched as Sasuke's wounds started healing. Soon, he was all good and pulled away from Karin who was panting.
"That was the most-"
"-disturbing thing I've ever seen" Ino finished for Kankuro.
Karin glared at her.
"Now that Sasuke's better, Naruto, lead the way" Temari said.
Naruto nodded and they took off. Akatsuki had no other choice but to follow.
A week later…
Yesterday, they entered the forest of death, they were now headed to the middle.
"Why are we in the Forest of Death?" Kiba asked.
"Why are we here?" Suigetsu asked.
"Because the second person to our salvation is here. They can save us" Gaara murmured.
Just then Itachi and Pein stopped moving.
"What is it?" Konan asked.
"We're in a Genjutsu" Pein said.
"A powerful one" Itachi stated. "My Sharingan barely picked up on it" He placed his hands together and released the Genjutsu.
As it disappeared, they noticed someone in front of them wearing a cloak like Hinata and the others.
"So I see it is time" He spoke.
"Shino-kun?" Hinata asked.
The person raised their head and pulled the hood off to reveal Shino. He still wore glasses but his mouth was revealed to them.
"It's good to see you again Hinata" Shino said. "You too Kiba"
"What are you doing here Shino?" Kiba asked.
"I'm here to escort you. Not only are there dangerous animals within this forest but many traps set by myself and the others. One wrong move and you could have been eaten by flesh eating bee's" Shino said.
Some paled. Shino shrugged.
"Let's go" He said before he turned and led them to the tower.
They all entered and found Neji, Sai and Kurenai.
"Neji!" Tenten and Lee yelled.
They tackled him.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba and Hinata exclaimed as they ran to hug her.
"Sai, it's good to see you again" Yamato said.
"Yamato-senpai" Sai acknowledged, smiling.
"So whose this saviour you guys have been talking about?" Suigetsu asked.
"Well one is Naruto, can you guess the other?" Neji asked.
Some of their eyes widened.
"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, unbelieving.
"Correct" Kurenai nodded.
"Well, where is she?" Kankuro asked.
Neji, Sai, Kurenai and Shino moved to make a semi circle around the two large hands at the front of the arena. They placed their hands in the same hand sign and the ground started shaking as the hands moved apart. Between them, rising out of the ground, was a cross. Chained to it, was Sakura.
She was naked and drenched in water. Her head was bowed and her hair blocked her face, running down her body, covering her breasts and womanhood. It was now down to her shins.
"Kai!" The four of them cried out and Sakura slowly started to stir.
Neji drew a few shuriken and threw them at her restraints. As she fell, she flipped and landed crouched before collapsing.
"Sakura!" Ino cried out as she ran to her.
Hinata followed after, removing her cloak and placing it on her. Sakura moaned.
"Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"So…hungry…" Sakura murmured.
Ino pulled out some food but Sakura hit it away.
"N-No…I-I need…" Sai knelt down in front of Sakura.
He pulled down his collar.
"Go ahead Ugly. Tsunade-sama spoke to us about your hunger when you were woken. When I start running low, Neji-san will step in" He said.
Sakura stared at his throat which he bore to her without fear or hesitation. Sakura's eyes glowed blue before her canines lengthened. She hesitated before giving in when Sai pushed his neck closer. Sakura opened her mouth and sunk her fangs into Sai's neck, who closed his eyes and sighed. Sakura's arms wound around Sai and she pulled him closer, wrapping her legs around his waist as well.
More…
Sakura dug her teeth in further. Sai clenched his teeth in pain.
Must have more!
Sakura's eyes shot open, her eyes changing back to crystalline green and contracted. She pushed Sai away from her and wrapped her arms around herself, shaking uncontrollably and crawling away from Hinata and the others.
"Sakura-" Ino moved towards Sakura.
"Stay back!" Sakura yelled, her eyes flickering between green and blue. "I-I…It's not safe yet!" Sakura hissed.
She sat leaning against one of the large stone hands. Her hands were tangled in her hair as she gripped her head painfully.
"Quick. Give her the food" Kurenai said.
Shino's bugs entered with a large box filled with fruits, meat and fish. It was placed in front of her. Sakura pulled it closer shakily before she started devouring the food within it. Everyone watched her eat in a mixture of disgust, awe and curiosity. It was finished within a few minutes before Neji stepped forward.
Sakura's eyes watched him warily, no longer glowing but were a shining azure. She was no longer completely starved as she was and was much more approachable then before.
"Sakura, you still need blood. Take mine now" Neji said.
Sakura raised a hand to her mouth nervously.
"Neji…" she started but Neji shook his head.
"No, we were warned of this and agreed nonetheless. You won't lose control since you are no longer starved when you first started feeding" Neji soothed.
"Please…I don't want to hurt you…" Sakura pleaded.
Neji gave her a kind smile.
"Don't worry about me. We have plenty of people here to stop you if it comes to that but…" He paused. "But I trust you"
Sakura's eyes widened. He moved forward and bared his neck to her. Sakura slowly held onto him as she sunk her teeth gently into his neck, piercing his artery. Blood flooded her mouth and Sakura took the time to enjoy the thick, rich, life substance as it flowed effortlessly down her throat.
How easy it would be to not stop and kill him.
Sakura released his neck from her jaws but did not release him. Instead, she licked his wounds and closed the bite marks. After a minute of licking his neck, she let him go. Neji dazedly stood, Tenten supporting him. Sakura slowly stood. Kurenai came forward with clothing. Sakura nodded thankfully. She walked to the bathroom and changed before coming back out. She wore a pink kimono with purple trimmings and shimmering purple cherry blossoms going up her right side from the left and stopping just below her hips. The kimono was floor length and had long sleeves that his her hands. She saw everyone had their headbands off so she removed hers. She held it in her hand which started glowing blue but not from chakra. It was a blue flame. The cloth of the headband instantly disintegrated and the metal was left in her hand, only liquefied. Sakura closed her eyes and clenched her fist, moving her fingers only slightly. It looked like she was grinding a stone in her hand. When the blue flame disappeared, she opened her hand and looked down at the small Konoha symbol she made. It was attacked to a thin, delicate metal chain. Sakura smiled and put it on. The Konoha symbol flashed in the light against her collar bone. It was high enough that the kimono did nothing to block it.
Sakura turned back to everyone else and took in their appearance before nodding to herself.
"From your appearance and everyone here, I am assuming something happened during my absence" Sakura said.
Naruto nodded. "Sakura-chan, Orochimaru has taken over. He's destroyed Konoha, Suna and Ame. Even the Akatsuki had to split up" Naruto said.
Sakura looked over at the Akatsuki's that joined them.
"So the time has come," Sakura said sadly but smiled at Sasuke. "At least Tsunade-sama was right about Sasuke-kun," she added.
"What about Sasuke?" Ino asked. "Tsunade didn't mention anything about Sasuke."
"Just think. You saw what I did and you know what Naruto has. How do you think Sasuke is involved?" Sakura asked.
"Monsters?" Deidara asked.
Everyone glared at him.
"Naruto-kun isn't a monster and neither is Sakura-chan," Hinata objected.
"Can't say the same about Sasuke though," Kiba spoke out loud.
Naruto barked out in laughter and Sakura giggled.
"So what's the plan?" Ino asked.
Sakura smiled ruefully.
"Fight beast with beasts."