Naruto and Sai were in for quite a shock when they reached the Hokage tower only to see Kakashi already there and talking to Tsunade.

"You're actually on time," Naruto declared!

"Some things are worth being on time for," Kakashi told him.

"Well now that you are all here I will give you your mission," Tsunade cut in. "You are to go and retrieve Sakura. We do not have any new information on Orochimaru's location. After your last encounter with him I am sure that he changed location, but given that was our last lead you need to return and hope that they left some clues as to where they were going."

"You can count on us," Naruto proclaimed. "We won't fail Sakura."

"I hope not," Tsunade whispered. "This mission could be even more dangerous than we originally thought. Kakashi and I are almost certain that since I refused to heal Orochimaru's arms he has taken Sakura to do it for him. If she has then he must be stopped. Therefore once you have located the base I want you to hold back and call for reinforcements."

"You can't expect us to hold off when Sakura could be in trouble," Naruto argued. "Not to mention there is no way Sakura would ever heal Orochimaru."

"Unfortunately Orochimaru has ways of making people do things that they normally wouldn't," Tsunade hung her head before fixing a hard glare on the team before her. "If I can not trust you to follow my orders than I can send a different team out."

"We will do as instructed," Sai interjected.

"Great," Kakashi gave an eye crinkle. "Meet me at the gate in half an hour. Someone is meeting us there who may be able to help make our search a lot shorter. Just in case you had better pack for an extended mission."

With a quick nod they were on their way to prepare for what all three considered the most important mission that they had ever been given.


Sakura woke to a light tap on her door before it opened to reveal Sasuke carrying a tray of food.

"I was sent to bring you this," he told her as he set it on the table.

"So you are the maid now," Sakura mocked? "Well you shouldn't have bothered. There is no way that I am going to eat any of the food that they send me. Who knows what could be in it."

"You require nourishment," Sasuke said; though he knew her assumption about the food to be correct. With an insane medic like Kabuto around you could be assured that there were some sort of drugs lacing everything that was provided you.

"I'll just have one of these thanks," she replied as she dug through her bag and withdrew an energy bar. Sasuke observed her for a moment before he decided to speak.

"They will be coming for you this afternoon to get your answer," he said. "The punishment if you again refuse will be severe. You should just do what they want so that you can leave this place."

"There is no way that I will help them. I already told them that they should just kill me and get it over with," she retorted. In the blink of an eye Sasuke was right in front of her face.

"You will wish for death before they are done with you, and I assure you that I won't help you," he hissed before leaving her room. Sakura fished around for her bottle of water; her mouth going dry at Sasuke's ominous words.


For once all of the members were at the gate at the exact time they were supposed to leave. Sai and Naruto both looked expectantly at Kakashi stood there leaning against the gate and reading his Icha Icha book.

"Are we going to go," Naruto's tirade was interrupted by a poof that instantly had all of their attention.

"I can't go to her boss," the small pug looked up at Kakashi.

"What do you mean you can't go to her? You're her summons too right," Naruto asked?

"Of course she's my mistress," Pakkun huffed, "but wherever that bastard has taken her has some sort of a natural block. We would have a much better chance of finding her if you guys took us to the scene of the last battle so we can track her scent."

"Well you heard him," Kakashi said as he snapped his book shut and stashed it into his pack. "Shall we?" With that they were off hoping that they would reach Sakura before their team lost another teammate to the snake sannin.


Sakura had several hours to lay there by herself before another knock sounded at her door. She wasn't surprised to see Kabuto stick his head in the door.

"Orochimaru will see you now," he told her as he waited for her to get up.

"Fine," she mumbled as she stood and began to follow him. She wasn't shocked at all to see Sasuke sitting by Orochimaru's side again. He really was like a dog following at his master's heel; it was pathetic.

"I was hoping that you have reconsidered my generous offer," Orochimaru hissed. Like hell she had.

"Of course," she answered instead. "But I have a condition."

"What would that be," Orochimaru chuckled?

"If I heal your arms you are not to attack Konoha ever again," Sakura proclaimed.

"As you wish," was his empty promise. "Kabuto if you would be so kind as to remove my healers cuffs."

Kabuto nodded and walked towards her. As far as she could tell none of them showed any doubt in what she had said; none except for Sasuke who had narrowed his eyes but made no further move. She supposed that Orochimaru must be used to having people bow to his wishes. Well she was about to show him.

She waited patiently until Kabuto had the last cuff off of her. Finally she could access her chakra. Her chakra reserves had become quite impressive over the years, and just because she had been unable to use it didn't mean that her body had stopped producing it. She felt magnificent she had never had this much raw power coursing through her veins, and Orochimaru was about to pay.

The moment that Kabuto started to back away from her she landed one of her monster punches on his stomach sending him flying straight through the wall. She wasted no time lunging towards Orochimaru once she had the medic out of the way. She landed a punch directly to his throat that would have killed anyone else. He flew through the back wall and she turned to face Sasuke. She was shocked to see that he hadn't even moved. Was he not going to fight her? She didn't have much time to think about it as she heard a movement behind her. She wheeled around to see Kabuto emerge through the hole that he had made.

"Sakura-chan we are underground," he smiled. "Perhaps compromising the stability of the walls is not the best thing to do. You could bring the whole complex down on top of us."

"I could only hope," she said as she rushed towards him again. She was stopped by Orochimaru's voice and a strange, but vaguely familiar flair of chakra.

"You may be willing to end your own life to bring us down, but I wonder if you will be so careless with his," he asked as he gestured to Sasuke. "If you make one more move I will kill him."

Normally Sakura wouldn't have worried; Orochimaru had his own uses for Sasuke surely he wouldn't harm him. But something was nagging at her; it was that chakra. It was Sasuke's no doubt, but the way he was glaring at Orochimaru told her that his anger was not directed at her. That chakra was weak though. Well maybe not weak, but defiantly no where near as strong as she knew Sasuke to have become. If Orochimaru attacked him right now he would not be able to defend himself. She shouldn't care. He was a traitor and she despised him, but she just couldn't gamble with his life.

"Fine," she conceded as she put her hands down, "but I am still not going to heal you."

"Time for step two; I was truly hoping that it wouldn't come down to this," he shook his head. "Kabuto give her one of your injections."

Sakura almost decided to fight again, but she had a feeling that if she did Sasuke would be the one to pay. Instead she stood still as stone as Kabuto pulled a syringe from his pocket.

"I really am sorry about this Sakura-chan. I told you that you should comply," he whispered as he plunged the needle into her arm.

At first she felt nothing but the slight sting of the needle, but it was only a matter of seconds before she felt like she had acid racing through her veins. It literally felt as though her body was on fire inside, but she was not going to allow herself to cry out. She refused to give Orochimaru the satisfaction. It was a few more seconds before her muscles started to painfully contract making her loose her footing and go down to her knees, but still she refused the scream that was tearing at the back of her throat. Once it was clear that she wasn't going to get up Kabuto stepped forward and placed the cuffs back around her wrists.

"Sasuke take her back to her room. We will try again tomorrow," Orochimaru said with a sadistic grin on his face.

Sasuke walked carefully down the hall trying his best not to unduly rattle the girl in his arms. Since they had left Orochimaru she had yet to make a sound though her eyes would sometimes widen with pain. When they reached her room he laid her down on her bed and pulled a blanket over her. She was unresponsive but he knew that she would be for at least the next six hours. Sasuke was going to be sure to be back because when she did come to he had a lot to say to her. To put it mildly he was furious.