I am very sorry for being this late, but I had too much work to do, I went on vacation and when I came back I had more work to do. Actually I do have to study a lot for some tests but I needed so much to revise and write more chapters to relieve stress. Please forgive me and don't forget to review, hope you like the chapter.

Unexpected Assistance

Neji looked around with his byakugan and found a place which made him shudder. It was a labyrinth with several doors, beyond them the Hyuga saw crystal pillars that contained people. "That man is sick." The leader stated after noticing obvious modifications in the bodies. "Looks like Kabuto is experimenting on Shinobi again…"

"We must get all the information we can and inform the Hokage." Chouji walked towards the hideout but Tenten stopped him. "Calm down… There might be resurrected guys, Zetsus and even Kabuto himself. Don't be reckless." The weapons' specialist warned.

"You may even have to fight the Akatsuki." A stern voice alerted the whole team. "Itachi…" Sakura's eyes widened with excitement. "You can talk to Sasuke and make him return to Konoha… only you can make him come to his senses. Naruto told me…" The pink haired girl almost cried. "Shut up Sakura." Tenten yelled summoning several kunai knives. The older Uchiha did not change his expression, he seemed not to care.

Sakura felt dizzy and noticed her environment became a whirlpool. "Do you love my foolish little brother?" Itachi asked calmly after engaging the medical ninja in a genjutsu. "I.. i do" The medical ninja hesitated to answer. "Even after he tried to kill you? Even after you tried to kill him?" The Akatsuki member noticed her doubts. "I… I just…" Haruno's green eyes began to produce tears. "Now I sound like Hinata" She thought. "I already took care of my last words for Sasuke." The ANBU level Uchiha said. "I suppose you can die in peace now." Itachi ended his jutsu.

"Damn!" Neji saw strings rising from the ground. "Scatter around… other enemy is below us." He warned as his teammates jumped away. Kakuzo appeared and grabbed Tenten and Chouji by the neck. "It's just like before… he could have killed Ino and I. This time he is going to eliminate me for sure." Akimichi lost all hope. Neji looked in horror at the sight of his friends being strangled, the byakugan user tried to rescue them but Itachi blocked his way with a fireball jutsu. "I am your enemy." The red eyed male whispered.

"Tenten will be fine." Sakura brushed away her weak demeanor and adopted her usual battle attitude. "I know…" Neji kept his cool and prepared his byakugan for the difficult battle he was expecting.

Itachi was pleased to fight those two, he knew the power of Neji's blood line limit and the super human strength of the kunoichi, they were perfect for his plan. "It's a good thing Kabuto is not controlling the Akatsuki members, I just need to make it look like an accident." The Uchiha thought as he grabbed Sakura by the arm and threw her to the hideout to start a persecution with Neji following them closely.

WWW

"I remember you, fat brat, but it's the first time I see this crying baby." The Waterfall ninja tightened his grip around Tenten's neck. "Little girls should stay home." He laughed. The brunette was enraged, she hated to be underestimated so she placed an exploding tag on her captor's arm and detonated it. Chouji got inspired and expanded all his body to destroy Kakuzu's remaining arm. "No one calls me fat". Akimichi shouted.

"Cover me!" The kunoichi jumped back while summoning a crossbow, Chouji used his giant hands to throw the resurrected aside. The brown eyed girl aimed carefully at the enemy's heart and shot, as expected her arrow hit the target. "I have 4 hearts left." He burst in laughter before releasing five black monsters with masks, one died immediately.

"This is bad, each creature has a different chakra nature transformation and now he has five." Chouji explained. "We can take them down by destroying the masks, though." He added to give hope to his partner who simply smiled. "You have fought him before so tell me what to do." Tenten said as Akimichi blushed at the vote of confidence.

The overweighed ninja gathered all his courage to fight the wind and water masked monsters, he punched the first enemy to get its attention and the second limited itself to attack but the immense body of the shinobi received no damage from water based jutsu. The wind mask's power was meant to slice the konoha ninja nevertheless it was counterproductive, for Chouji shielded himself with the water mask. "Two out of five." Tenten cheered her friend.

WWW

Sakura threw her fists at Itachi but missed and destroyed a cylinder behind the Akatsuki member, who immediately attacked the Byakugan user with a fireball jutsu. Neji's priority was to reach his partner and fight the enemy together, so he evaded the technique provoking more experiment containers to shatter. Once the two were reunited Itachi used his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Amaterasu" Black flames spread all over the hall. "Move, there is a huge room to the North East." Neji yelled as he used Rotation to clean the flames and Sakura nodded but the Uchiha grabbed the Hyuga's hair to smash him against more experiments. "Neji" The pink haired kunoichi gasped but suddenly the sharingan user kicked her stomach so she landed in the North West room. "Itachi, i know you can't control your body because of Kabuto's jutsu but at least talk to me… tell me something, anything to help Sasuke." The green eyed girl pleaded. "I already took care of that." His smooth, yet menacing voice echoed in the laboratory-like room. "I have something else in mind for you and the Hyuga."

Neji moved silently behind the Uchiha and hit his tenketsu, making him fall. It was their chance to escape, yet he refused to move. "What are you waiting for? Lady Tsunade's orders were to flee at the sight of the Akatsuki." The kunoichi prompted her partner. "I saw Yamato and Anko." Neji whispered and Sakura's eyes brightened but most of her hope vanished when Itachi's body disappeared behind a curtain of smoke. "A shadow clone? That man's copy was beating the crap out of us… How do we expect to at least escape alive when we encounter the original one." The medic ninja punched the wall. "Sakura, put yourself together… I have you in a great concept, don't disappoint me. I'll go look for the jonin while you distract your brother-in-law." The Hyuga teased but Sakura seemed oblivious to the joke. "I guess you moved on." He smiled, yet the girl remained silent, as if she were analyzing her own feelings. "Stay alert, I'm counting on you." Neji said as he left. "I still love Sasuke" The kunoichi said to herself, not very convinced.

WWW

"Not so fast… " Kakuzo charged at the brunette kunoichi with several tentacles made of strings. Tenten evaded every blow but one that made her crash with a tree behind her. "Twin Raising Dragons" The girl managed to summon most of her arsenal to stab her aggressor but the enemy dodged easily thanks to almost a century of experience in battle so the kunoichi pulled the strings to manipulate all the sharp objects to strike Kakuzo as she pleased. "You can't kill me, I'm already dead." He yelled as his body regenerated from Tenten's attacks.

"I know I can't kill you… I'm just buying time." Tenten smirked moving her wrist to make all her weapons spin and destroy everything around her, it was the perfect shield and it had a great damage power. The brunette directed her attack to the Wind monster's body and once it was cut apart Chouji stumped in the mask, thus eliminating other enemy. "Three out of five!" She yelled.

The fire mask attacked Tenten, thus melting her weapons. "No!" Chouji rushed to save his comrade from the liquid metal and succeeded, immediately he tried to bring down the last two masks. Tenten lost her favorite weapon but summoned a chained sickle to get a hold of Kakuzu's regenerated arm; however, the Akatsuki member did not lose time and used his tentacles to capture the weapons specialist. "Damn, Now what? I have his arm with my chain, he has mine with his hair, I could cut his threads with the sickle but my arm would be in danger… it's decided." The girl narrowed her eyes and balanced her weapon in an attempt to severe Kakuzu's hold. Chouji noticed Tenten's situation and put his foot between them, allowing the kunoichi to get free in a safer way, then she summoned once again the crossbow to strike the fire mask. "Four out of five!" The girl smirked but her partner started to suspect of how easy was the battle. "Normally, we wouldn't stand a chance against him…" The overweighed ninja stated. "But we are are winning." The brunette pointed out. "Exactly… it's too easy. He'll change to long range form when the last monster is death and we will be screwed, our best bet is to shield ourselves until Neji gives you the order to take us out." Akimichi found the courage to command his partner and felt good about it. "Fine" The kunoichi summoned a huge kunai grenade and used an exploding tag to detonate it, as expected the Earth monster's mask died. "Five out of five, now hide!" Chouji returned to his original size and ran towards Tenten, who summoned a protective dome to avoid Kakuzu's tentacles from above and below.

WWW

Sakura noticed Itachi appear at the end of the hallway so she punched the floor to make him lose his balance, and then she made a hole in the ceiling to bring it down. "If physical attacks don't work on him I'll have to bury him." The kunoichi's eyes widened when she analyzed Neji's jutsu and the way Itachi used a Shadow clone as a decoy. "Chakra Scalpel will do… I bet Ino would never figure that out." The pink haired girl giggled as her hands obtained a blue glow. Itachi appeared behind his enemy and tried to deliver a blow but failed due to the girl's dodging skills, using the opening of the failed attack Sakura touched Itachi's shoulder thus severing his muscles. "That jutsu? Leave it to Tsunade's apprentice to learn one of Kabuto's finest techniques… but I can't allow her to disable me just yet." Itachi used Amaterasu on the surroundings and backed off.

Neji ran through the labyrinth as fast as he could, which was just a little slower than Lee, to find the jonin. The design of the underground facility was complicated but it was nothing that a byakugan user couldn't decipher, the Hyuga reached the only cell in the complex and saw Yamato pail with circles under his eyes, he was not even the shadow of the shinobi he used to be, the sole image made Neji want to kill Kabuto. In the other corner of the prison was Anko, who did not look better than her fellowman. "That sick serpent…" the genius gritted his teeth. "Yamato sensei, Anko sensei, it's time to go back to the Leaf." His words barely made sense into the two jonin, mostly because all the drugs used on them to obtain information. Neji carried both ninja in his sides and rushed for Sakura, hoping she was doing well.

Haruno managed to keep Itachi in one laboratory, plus accidentally destroying everything around them. Neji made his way through the devastated place and urged Sakura to carry her sensei and Anko. "Take them out, I'll take care of Itachi while I instruct you how to find the exit." The white eyed male yelled. "Understood." The girl started to move. "Right, right, left… Never mind, just make an exit." Neji ordered when Itachi used Susanoo. The kunoichi put all her strength in the legs to kick the walls as Neji protected her with Rotation and Air palm. "Tenten, prepare to retreat." The captain commanded his teammate by radio. "Right." The brunette responded.

Tenten opened her giant scrolls and put a hand on Chouji's back making him disappear. "What? Kabuto won't be pleased when he notices his hostages are gone" The waterfall ninja laughed as his brown eyed opponent clashed with Sakura to vanish her and the two jonin. Kakuzu noticed her moving towards Neji so he sent his tentacles in an attempt to stab her, the brunette hugged the Hyuga to escape behind a smoke curtain which was reached by the enemy's attack. "Blood" Itachi noticed. "Looks like I won." The waterfall ninja laughed but his body stopped responding. "Looks like the Byakugan user release chakra needles to target your Tenketsu in the last minute, now your body is useless." The Uchiha shook his head and then glanced at the destroyed facility. "I doubt Kabuto will be able to use his precious experiments for the war or obtain more information and power from his prisoners." He smirked.

Several miles away from the battlefield Tenten and Neji appeared, but something was wrong for the girl coughed blood and her body was severely wounded. Neji looked in horror before prompting Sakura to cure the other kunoichi. "No, don't die on me please. I'm begging you, be strong." He yelled, Sakura never thought she would see the Hyuga genius in such state. "I can't do anything for her, she'll bleed to death in matter of minutes and I can't heal the wounds one by one." The medic ninja pondered for a minute, which seemed like an eternity for the desperate Byakugan user. "Neji, you can release chakra from every tenketsu in your body, right? So hug Tenten to stop all the bleeding at once while Sakura closes the wounds." Chouji suggested. "Brilliant." both ninja said at unison and cooperated to save the weapons' specialist.

When the nightmare was over Neji did not let go of his teammate, he remained there hugging her as if her soul might escape her body at any second. "I want answers" Sakura demanded with a wink. "What is going on here?" Neji blushed and then sighed. "This is not of your business." The pink haired ninja was speechless but then smiled softly. "Prepare to leave once the jonin wake up." He announced and Sakura nodded before leaving the couple to attend Yamato and Anko.

"How did you know what to do?" The green eyed girl asked Akimichi feeling a little stupid as she used mystical palm on the ANBU. "Well, I spent too much time watching Ino study for Lady Hokage's assignments." The boy, who was crushing food pills for the former Orochimaru's student, turned deep red. "Poor Chouji, he still has a crush on Ino but she only has eyes for Sai." Sakura thought. "I wonder if that is how Naruto feels." She smiled sadly at her teammate and started to question her feelings towards Sasuke.