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It was almost morning by the time I reached the land of wind. I pulled my mask to try and cover as much as my face as I could.

'They don't call this the land of wind for nothing' I thought. I continued to fight against the wind until well into the morning, when I was graced with the sight of a rather large cave of some sorts, and I, luckily, was able to escape the horrid winds within it. My body craved both food and rest, but before doing either, I made sure to set up a few traps that would let me know if anyone were to enter. Looking around, I spotted a rather large bolder off to the left corner near the side of the cavern. I placed my bag there where I was sure no one was to see it, and allowed myself to indulge in one of the apples that I had brought along, and afterwards allowed my eyes to slip shut for a brief nap.

Tsunade was shocked, angry, sad, but most of all worried. What was going to happen to Sakura? She couldn't go easy on her just because she was her student, that would cause an outrage from the elders, and she didn't want them on her ass any more than they already were, but she couldn't kill her! The elders had demanded for her to do it, for 'the sake of the village' but this wasn't just anyone, this was her student! Over the months they had spent together, Tsunade had come to see Sakura as a daughter, and she cared about her. So she shed more than a few tears after sending the bird out. She just had to pray that the teams she had sent out to do it would be able to convince her to come back, otherwise… She couldn't think about it, even, without risking letting loose the waterfall of tears that threatened to come forward from her eyes.

"Shizune!" She needed her sake…

While Tsunade wrestled with her conflicting emotions, Orochimaru expressed only one emotion: Fear. If she came here, told Sasuke about what she had seen, he wouldn't have any more reason to stay here, and his plans would be ruined! That couldn't happen, so Orochimaru planned to deal with it himself. He left deep in the night, with only Kabuto as company. Too bad that they were too preoccupied to realize they were being watched by a pair of crimson red eyes…

It was just breaking dawn when Shikamaru arrived at the gate to the village. Slowly but surely, his team began to assemble. Eventually Neji, Lee, Ino, and Kakashi had all assembled, and they began in the direction Sakura had reportedly gone. He knew that none of the others, even Kakashi, knew exactly what their mission was, only that a leaf shinobi had gone rouge and they were to retrieve them, and he only knew the missions objective, without any kind of details given. There was more to this, but exactly what that was he wouldn't know until they found Sakura and he got a chance to question her. But for now he had to focus on finding her, interrogation could wait.

Immediately I knew I was dreaming. There was no place on earth that looked like this. Just… white, everywhere! No people, no plants, no anything! As far as the eye could see there was just whiteness. Indeed, it was a strange place, but once again, this was a dream. Suddenly my chest began to burn, and I could only think of one reason why. The Amulet. I ripped it out from under my shirt. Its translucent appearance now glowed with a bright white light, and radiated an intense heat. The light grew brighter until I had to look away and cover my eyes with my hand. Suddenly the light receded and the heat died down. I looked back and in front of me was probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her skin was the color of ivory, flawless and unscarred. Her eyes, a deep green, looked at me kindly. Her hair was long, tied up in a bun with a tail that flowed down to her waist. She wore a red kimono decorated with pink flowers and sakura trees. Her ogi was the same green as her eyes, and held the kimono together loosely. She wore black ninja sandals that went up to her knees and fishnet leggings. She smiled at me.

"Hello, Sakura." She said kindly. I couldn't say anything, just blubber like a fish caught in a fisherman's net. I fell down too my knees and sat there, amazed at the breathtaking beauty and grace of the unearthly woman. She laughed with a voice like honey and bent down to be at my level. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, as if speaking to a small child. I shook my head in response. She reached out and pushed back a stray hair, stroking my face with her soft fingers. "Of course you don't, you were so young when they took you, you couldn't possibly remember." Sadness came over her face and suddenly she looked all the more human. Finally I regained the ability to speak and asked the first thing that came to my mind.

"You-You're beautiful!" Unable to call the words back to me, my face turned a bright shade of red from embarrassment. Tears came to the woman's eyes from laughing so hard, and the weight of her body on her feet caused her to tip backwards, back onto her rear-end. She gripped her stomach with one hand and waved at the other dismissively.

"S-sorry" She said as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes "where we're from, there are many women who are much more beautiful than me, and its been a while since I've been to the mainland, so I'm not used to hearing that." She smiled at me. This statement confused me greatly.

"From where we're from?" I questioned.

"Yes, I mean, you are my daughter, after all"

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