TH: I keep wanting to explain the title of this story, because it does have meanings, one of which I'm not sure others will know. But I keep worrying that it'd be pretty much an admission of what I'm doing with this fic, and I don't want to do that until I've admitted to it in the actual story. Next chapter, I think. Right now Sakura's still confused.

Please read and review!

Going Sideways

Chapter Two

Theme: Weak

Sakura's eyes fluttered open as her mind slowly started filtering through the mess of information her senses were feeding her. The sun had finished setting in the time she was unconscious, and the moon had gilded silver the edges of the destruction surrounding her. She could hear animal roars and human screams in the air. She blinked dazedly, and pushed herself up to her hands and knees. She coughed, turned her head, and spat blood.

:Ugh,: she grimaced and carefully lifted her spinning head. It took two tries to get her eyes to focus, and when they did, she wondered if maybe there was something wrong with her vision. Because that definitely couldn't be the Kyuubi, raging around in the forest just outside Konoha's walls. And there was no way a giant toad with a sword was facing the Fox down. And it was impossible that there were so many, many motionless ninja in Konoha uniforms scattered on the broken ground. Except it was. And there were.

:Madara freed the Kyuubi,: she thought blankly, numb with horror. :And now Naruto and Gamabunta are fighting him. Oh, hell.:

She staggered to her feet, dismayed at how weak her knees were. It felt like she was about to fold up and collapse. Groping in a pouch at her waist, she grabbed a soldier pill and stuffed it into her mouth. Almost at once, fresh energy filled her. She pressed a hand to her head, and took care of the headache. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, but she ignored it in favor of moving toward Gamabunta. She started at a walk, to test her legs, and when they proved steady, she stepped up her pace until the wind whistled in her ears.

Naruto would have to try to seal the Kyuubi again. It was the only option he had, other than just letting the Bijuu obliterate Konoha. Bijuu could not be killed, not in any definitive way. It had to be sealing.

When Sakura had first been learning Fuuinjutsu, Naruto had learned with her. He ended up not having the patience for much of anything beyond simple seals and gave it up after a while, leaving Sakura to 'deal with the complicated stuff,' but one of the projects they had been working on together had been building their understanding of how the Shiki Fuujin on Naruto's belly worked. Because of the personal interest he had in the matter, this was the one advanced seal Naruto had set out to learn. And with his typical, bull-headed determination, he had learned everything there was to know about the seal that kept the Kyuubi inside him from hurting his precious people.

The fact that he knew that seal backwards and forwards had never concerned Sakura before. But now…

She had a sinking feeling that Naruto would use the Shiki Fuujin to reseal the Kyuubi no Youko, giving up his life to do so. Naruto would die, and some new infant would be cursed to the same existence as the blond had had. A childhood of pain and lovelessness. A life of constantly trying to win some regard other than fear and hate.

No. Sakura wouldn't allow it. She would find another way. Failure was not an option!

She charged forward, pulling out brush and inkpot once again, poised to draw whatever seals she needed. She ran straight for the massive toad, as the amphibian grappled briefly with the Fox, keeping the raging demon back from the Village. Something teased at the back of her mind, like a child tugging at the clothes of a parent, demanding attention. But Sakura couldn't afford to be distracted. Several of the swiftest shunshin she had ever executed later, she was at the feet of Gamabunta. A chakra-powered leap took her to his back, and she scrambled toward the tall, blond figure standing proudly upright at the toad's head, his cloak flaring dramatically in the wind of the Kyuubi's latest screaming breath. She could see the seal array was already inked around his feet, the circle of lines and symbols that would twist and cycle the energy of the seal into the form of its purpose.

:NOT. On my watch,: she snarled in her head, and prepped her brush for some quick editing.

The theory, the idea, was forming so rapidly in her mind that she could scarcely shake off her surprise enough to believe it. 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' it is said. That is an overwhelming understatement. Sakura had never been, and likely never would be again, as brilliant, as ingenious, as quick-witted, as she was in that moment.

Sakura swooped in, twisting in a movement that should have been impossible, kicking Naruto's hands out of their seal and rubbing out a section of the array with a gloved hand. A film of chakra on the limb made sure the ink was wiped thoroughly away, instead of just smearing. Sakura was vaguely aware of a protesting shout behind her—something about it set up a red flag in her mind—but she devoted all of her energy and attention into slashing her brush across the skin of Gamabunta's head, completing the (slightly modified) seal array. There was a startled oath from Naruto as she finished and stood. With the speed of desperation, she slammed her hands together into the first seal, screaming to Naruto as she did so: "NOW! ACTIVATE IT NOW!"

There was the barest pause…

And abruptly, in that fraction of a second, Sakura realized what had been nagging at her this entire time…

If the Kyuubi was extracted from Naruto, he would be dead…

If he was dead, he wouldn't be able to attempt a Shiki Fuujin…

Naruto's cloak is supposed to be red, not white…

That's not Naruto's voice…

…and then Sakura could feel the seal activate. She had just enough time to half-turn her head, to glimpse the face of the man standing on Gamabunta's head behind her. She had just enough time to think :That's not Naruto…: before, once again, she was caught up in a blaze of light and energy, and dropped into blank darkness.