Hey guys!

This one took a while to upload cause this chapter involves a fight scene that I have been anticipating! lol.

Plus my computer was being stupid and skipped to a different page in the middle of me writing so I lost part of what I was writing lol. But luckily, I remembered how I wrote it and finished it! Yeeupp.

Hope you enjoy cause I know I did, writing this.

(Note.. The Prince is a tall slender man, whom has fair skin, brown hair and eyes and is a bit of a coward at heart. His facial structure tends to make him appear attractive.)


Divide and conquer was on the older Uchiha's mind. Getting team seven separated was what the plan was and it was working, oh so well. The pinkette and the Prince were out all alone together in the enormous forest, while Naruto and Sasuke were strayed behind, still at where they were first encountered by the criminals.

Starting to feel tired and weak, the Prince's face scrunched in slight pain every time his feet pushed off the tree branches. "Are you alright Prince?" She asked with a hint of worry in her voice. "Ah, I'm quite alright. Please don't worry about me." Not believing him for one second, she just flashed a worried look his way before turning her attention back in front of her. After what seemed like hours but in reality only 30 minutes had passed, they ended up in an somewhat open area that was mostly surrounded by stones, rocks and gravel. Standing not too far from what looked like an abandoned cave that was at least a few hundred feet high from the ground, she stopped for a second and felt the atmosphere for any signs of intruding charka traces from anyone else. Noting it safe here (for now) she observed the cave above them. While she looked away the Prince began giving into his act of being a tough guy and collapsed at her feet. "Argh...my legs..Tsk...they're so sore." She knelt down beside him and helped him to his feet, and made sure he was leaning against her as a support. "We need to find shelter...with your condition it seems we can't go any further." His tall figure of six-foot two towered her small figure of five-foot four, he looked down at her apologetically and automatically took responsibility for making them stop.

She took his arm and placed it around her shoulders, her arm already wrapped around his torso, and disappeared within seconds. Already up on the ledge of the cave, she brought them in a little deeper into the abandoned space and away from the cold winds that blew with slight force.

After searching the cave for wood and misc. debris, she gathered just enough to make a fire for them to keep warm, seeing him shiver was unacceptable. Even though she was uncomfortably cold as well, she put out a strong aura as to not look weak. She sat next to him and stuck her small hands out towards the fire just close enough to warm her freezing hands.

"I'm so sorry...What was your name, milady?" He looked at her with curiosity and sense of interest. "Oh I'm Haruno, Sakura." He smiled as he put two and two together. "Beautiful. A name to match your appearance." As if she's never heard that before. "I'm sorry?"

"Your hair is as light as a sakura blossom, your skin reminds me of those beautiful creamy colored lily's that float in my palace's ponds, the sakura blossoms sometimes fall from the trees and land in the pond and onto the lily's. It's actually quite a magnificent scene... and your eyes are as radiant and bright as the emeralds of the precious jewels in our royal collection." Seeing her cheeks turning a light pink, he stopped his descriptive compliments and only smiled. "Sorry...it's just...I think you're quite a beauty...also thanks for saving me Sakura chan." She nodded as she accepted his thanks. "Do your legs still hurt your highness?" He nodded as he winced at the pain when attempting to move his legs. "Please stretch your legs out in the front of you." He followed her command, not sure what she was up to. Her hands glowed a soft green as she began placing them inches away from his legs. She healed his aches and twisted muscles. "Wow..you're a medic too?"

While her eyes were busy focusing on his legs, he couldn't help but stare at her. 'She's the fairest girl I've ever seen...' he thought. She noticed him staring after a while and stared back into his brown eyes. "Are you hurting still?" She asked, trying to rid the awkward feeling she felt in her stomach. "No, I'm alright Sakura chan. Thank you very much for everything, you are my savior. I must repay you." Her eyes slightly widened as her hands lost their green glow and raised up in front of her . "Oh no please, I don't need any rewards your highness. It's my job to ensure your safety, I was only only doing what needed to be done." He nodded, taking note of her selfless act and loyalty to her mission.

Then there was silence between them.

Suddenly loud sounds of wings flapping developed as a large group of bats emerged from the darkness of the cave. As the bats moved quickly through the top of the cave and out into the free world, the Prince moved in one swift maneuver. She was lying on her back, with the Prince towering over her his hands were placed beside her head and his knees on either sides of her hips. Her surprised green orbs met his brown ones as they stared at each other for a good ten seconds before one of them spoke. "I sorry Sakura chan...did I startle you?" She only shook her head, still frozen under his gaze. "Sakura chan..." His voice softened as did his eyes, his gaze changed as if he'd been hypnotized by her. He began lowering himself down slowly towards her, closer and closer until he was only inches away from her face. Not knowing how to act as she didn't want to reject the prince in a harsh manner, she covered her mouth with her hand before he closed in for a sweet kiss. His eyes opened once he realized he was kissing the back of her hand and not her soft plump lips that seemed extremely irresistible to him.

Though the Prince wasn't usually an 'act on impulse' type of man, he couldn't help it in this situation. Being saved by a strong woman whom contained immense power, and was beautiful on top of it all, how could he resist? He is still a man after all. He rose up and away from her and sat back, feeling embarrassed at his sudden urge to kiss her. She also slowly sat up and looked at him as she tried to process what just happened.

'The Prince of the Land Of Fire...was actually going to kiss me?'

'Hell yeah he was! See I told you how fine we are. He couldn't resist muwaha!'

'Shit, not you again.'

Immediately bowing down til his forehead touched the cold ground, he began apologizing. "Sakura chan, I'm sorry for jumping you like that! It was ungentlemanly, please forgive me!" She took his shoulders in her hands and made him sit back up and looked at him with a reassuring expression. "It's alright, your highness."

He shook his head with a stern look in his eyes. "I acted on impulse...and for that I am deeply sorry. Please don't look at me as a perv." Stunned at his rather straightforward words, she just nodded as a response.


Slashing the necks of multiple enemy targets, the blazing Uchiha was eliminating his targets like it was nothing. Astonished, Naruto blinked at how fast his partner was and became motivated once again as he started slashing, punching and blasting the criminals away. It seemed as if they went through an army of these crooks, but as the enemy numbers began to cease they gained reassurance and finally finished the last man standing.

"Looks like team 7 is once again on top!" Naruto exclaimed as he raised a victorious fist towards the sky, which was sheltered with tree limbs and leaves. Reaching down and taking a unused handkerchief from one of the dead bandits, Sasuke took it in hand and wiped the filthy blood that was on his precious blade with the white material, then dropped it on top of the lifeless body. "Dobe." He said looking towards his friend. "Teme." The elated blond replied as he looked back at him.

"Alright, let's look for Sakura and the Prince. They've got to be close."

"Actually, by the way those men dragged the Prince like a rag doll away from here they probably made some distance. I can't believe there were that many hiding out in this forest." the raven haired man said while retracting his newly clean sword back into it's holster. Naruto only nodded. "Lead the way then, Sasuke." They jumped out of sight and started their travels through the trees once again.

Looking for them and navigating was actually easier said than done, this forest of huge and on top of that compasses didn't work in this environment for an mysteriously unknown cause. They relied strictly on the map they were given by Tsunade.

20 minutes went by and they still had no sense of her chakra. Naruto grunted as he silently thought of where she could've gone. Suddenly interrupted by a pair of hands, he was pushed to the side and out of the way of a hidden tree paper bomb that was stuck to the tree's body. Anyone that was simply passing by without a keen shinobi eye would've easily missed it and died instantly, but since this wasn't the case Sasuke immediately spotted the small paper bomb and dodged it efficiently. Prepared for a string of those evil little bombs, the Sharingan holder pushed his friend out of the way just in time and began dodging the upcoming string.

Both men dodged,flipped and twisted out of the grasp of the deadly flames and pressures of the explosions. After a good 3 minutes of this, the trend of bombs stopped. "Shit...whoever resides in this creepy forest hates visitors." breathed Naruto.

"I would imagine, dobe."

Giving Sasuke a glare, they continued on their pursuit for Sakura and the Prince.


Adjusting his black cloak that was designed with misc. red clouds, the man spoke in a bored manner. "Damn my man, when will we go on with our attack? Hn."

The red haired man that was dressed in the same cloak replied in a slightly annoyed tone."In due time, be patient."

"Says someone whom absolutely hates waiting. Hn."

"Believe me, I would much rather have my fingers wrapped around that pink wench's neck than walk around this filthy forest."

"Eager are we? Hn."

"More than you think."

"How about I warm her up for you just so I can get a taste of what she's capable of, Hn?" He began to smirk.

"You sound like a perverted old man...I suppose you could, but not for long. I've been dying to get my hands on her."

The two Akatsuki members walked casually around the forest, knowing the oblivious Kohana shinobi would try to find each other and eventually run into the awaiting predators. Weather they be reunited or not, the duo were ready for them all.

After traveling for nearly thirty minutes without speaking, the Prince finally broke the awkward silence. "I truly hope you forgave me Sakura chan...I didn't mean to act lewd with you back there at the cave. I gave into some sort of feeling I was having at the moment." She nodded and flashed a small polite smile at him. "Don't worry about it."

Now traveling for a little over an hour, they approached an open area that looked as if it were made for serious battling. Not sensing any intruding chakra, she continued to lead them on. Almost half way through the spacious area, she stuck out a firm arm in front of the Prince to halt him, a finger met with her lips as she signaled the Prince to not say a word. She scanned the area and immediately noticed something was off. Suddenly, a few white clay-like obstructions dropped from the sky and began crawling towards them at a fast pace. She looked closer and saw that they were little clay spiders with red eyes that seemed like ticking timers, she grabbed the Prince and jumped back and out of the way, avoiding the evil little devices. Noticing they were not only fast,but rather smart. The spiders were set on a mission to explode on her and the Prince, all thanks to their master who commanded them.

She looked up and saw a hovering bird, and on it was none other than the Akatsuki member Deidara whom was grinning at her maliciously. She threw out several Kunai knives and destroyed the spiders that were near her before disappearing into the trees behind them and placed the Prince a safe distance away with three guard clones, she wasn't going to risk having the Prince harmed due to this S ranked criminal and his unfair ways of fighting.

Emerging from the darkness of the forest, she threw knives and destroyed the remaining little crawling bombs and then awaited him as he lowered his bird to greet her. "Being an escort are we Sakura?" He analyzed his enemy as she stood her ground beneath him. "And as a Jounin I see...tch nice vest. Hn."

'He remembers my name?' She thought as she intensified her glare towards him.

"I know you're probably thinking how I remembered your name right? Well how could I not? You are the bitch that nearly destroyed my best friend. Hn."

'He must be talking about Sasori... of course, they are in a team.'

"You're not getting anywhere near the Prince, you hear me asshole?" Her voice full of venom.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about that, I'm not after that so called pathetic Prince of yours. I'm here for you and your friends, I'm sure they'll join you, soon after your six feet under. But now that you mention that useless Prince, he'd be a nice addition to my resume."

'He's sick... is he talking about his twisted little 'however many high-ranked people I've killed so far' list?'

"Since you brought your 'best friend' up, where is the bastard?" She hissed.

"Ah, I see you're eager to see him as well." He smirked at her as her eyes pierced through his soul.

'Hn. I see why my man has second thoughts about this girl...she's scary but kinda hot...'

"He reached in his bag of clay to create another explosive but was interrupted by a sudden shaking force that formed from the ground. He looked down and saw her punch the ground, and continued to watch as the ground cracked and flew up, creating large hills and craters in the earth. It looked as if mother nature caused this herself. Surprised at her incredible inhumane strength, he winced. 'Damn it, that freak was right. She's not going down without a fight.' At this moment, he goes back and remembers what Itachi had said to them before their departure.

Flash Back...

Walking down the halls of their temporary hide out, Sasori and Deidara made their way towards the exit to start their mission, that is until a large fish like man stepped out in front of them. "Itachi wants to see you two before you leave. It's important." Within a few moments the trio reached a large room that only had a few furniture pieces in it. Standing in the middle of the room was Itachi, whom awaited for them patiently. "What is it Itachi?" asked the red haired puppet master. "Well, I just wanted to give a warning about your enemies before you two leave for your mission." Deidara scoffed at this. "We're S ranked criminals for a reason, we can handle these kids." Itachi's onyx eyes glaced over at the confident blond and spoke. "Those 'kids' have grown more since the last time you encountered them. Do not underestimate them."

"We won't. Deidara shall take on Uzumaki and Uchiha...and the girl is mine." breathed Sasori.

Itachi noted their overflowing confidence. "Mark my , Naruto and my little brother are sure to put up a hell of a fight...as for the girl, she is the Hokage's disciple so I'm sure she won't play around either." Deidara and Sasori nodded their heads as they took in his words.

End if Flash Back....

Jumping through the trees at lightning speeds Naruto and Sasuke hurried through the Forest of Death in pursuit of their dear friend/team mate and the Prince, skillfully keeping an eye out for trouble as they went along. Suddenly, they heard a loud ear booming noise.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

This stopped them in their tracks as both landed on a tree limb and listened closely for the noise again. "Sounds like someone started a battle without us." Naruto said as he listened in. "Must be Sakura chan and the Prince...and more bandits." The raven haired man slightly shook his head as he activated his sharingan. "No, not bandits...someone with more power. Those men and their group only know of swordsmanship when in battle."

BOOM BOOM BOOM

"Oi, let's go and assist Sakura chan then, teme." Earning a "Hn." from Sasuke, they jumped from the branches they were perched on and made their way towards the continuing booming sound. A few moments later, they arrived at the battle scene between Sakura and Deidara. Upon arrival both analyzed the settings and were about to jump to Sakura's aide but halted as they watched something miraculous and unexpected unfold before them.

Throwing several more Kunai knives at the deadly devices that kept being thrown her way, she flipped and jumped to the side and back away from the aftermath explosions expertly. When Deidara reached in his bag to grab more clay, she took this split second chance and grabbed a huge boulder and lunged it towards him and the large explosive bird he was riding while letting out a rough grunt. "Shannaro!" The boulder flew at a ridiculously high speed towards the unsuspecting man, he looked at the large object that was coming towards him just in time and evacuated the bird, tucking and rolling onto the ground. The impact that the rock had on the bird made a huge explosion in the air as they collided. Not giving him a chance to dig in his pouch, she appeared before him and slammed her fist onto his cheek using mostly all of her body weight to back her strength up even more, his head turned with the force of her punch as he flew back a couple hundred feet and slammed into the body of a tree, which split in half and fell over, nearly crushing him beneath.

Watching all of this happen Naruto was shocked at how Sakura handled the Akatsuki bastard so well. His mouth hung open as his blue eyes followed her every move. Though he was extremely silent, Sasuke was also just as shocked as his friend. Seeing this new Haruno, Sakura surprised him beyond belief. The Sakura he was seeing right now, in front of him was one whom had changed completely, this Sakura faced the enemy head on without wasting time or waiting for someone to help and save her. This sparked an interest and curiosity in him towards her.

"Well let's go teme, we haven't got all day." the blond grunted. Sasuke only nodded as he and his friend joined in on the fight.

"Hey bastard, looks like we meet again! I see you've grown you're 'Ino' hair a bit longer. Tryna to out-do her or something?" Sakura looked behind her and saw her long awaited team mates standing with her once again. "Sasuke kun...Naruto..." Deidara glared towards the voice, but realized the one he's been waiting for was now here. "Ah, you finally made it to our little party Uzumaki...I see Uchiha is here as well, your presence is far overdue. Your brother and I were just talking about you and how you'd be putting in your best effort into this little fight of ours, I hope you won't disappoint him. Hn." Angered by the mentioning of his older brother, Sasuke's red eyes narrowed at the snickering man.

"Let's get this over with." hissed the Sharingan user.

With his devious grin still plastered on his face, he slightly pouted. "Well, isn't this unfair. Only one of me against all three of you. Let's make it fair, ne?" At this moment, Sasori appeared and joined his partner on the battle field. His honey colored eyes were glued on his prey, Sakura.

Breaking the tension, Naruto jumped into action against Deidara. The clashing of weapons begn to ring through the air as the all out battle began between all five skillful participants.

After a good twenty minutes, a small chance showed itself to Deidara, so he took it. Within the small time period that he had, he attached a large spider onto Naruto's back. The weary fox-like man began struggling to get it off and throw it away from him. Sasuke, still throwing logical jutsu's towards Sasori at the time saw this and began making his way over to Naruto but was stopped when the puppet he was battling against got in his way and routed him away from his struggling friend. Sakura however, took her chances and turned her back towards Sasori and rushed over to Naruto's aide. Her eyes flickered towards Deidara whom was raising his hands to complete the explosion jutsu; before he could, she threw four kunai knives at him that eventually turned into clones as they got closer towards yet impressed at her technique, he blocked and dodged the clones attacks. As this was happening, Sakura ripped the stubborn spider off his back and tossed it in the air which was destroyed by a shuriken that was throw by Naruto.

Stabbing through all four clones, they disappeared in a puff of smoke and were soon replaced by a raging Naruto. Grinning at how ferocious the Jinchuuriki was being, he gave it his best and began counterattacking.

Not forgetting his main interest and enemy, Sasori darted his eyes towards Sakura and glared. Moving his puppet to block Sasuke's jutsu, he heard a crackle of wood and debris explode in front of him. Surprised, he turned his attention towards his enemy whom had sliced and cut off several body parts of the puppet that he was controlling, and disabling it from using it's deadly attacks. The puppet master twitched his fingers and pulled the puppet back away from the awaiting Uchiha and glared at him but with a smirk. "They always said Uchiha's were the best fighters around here, it seems you are proving them right." Showing no interest in what the Akatsuki member had to say, Sasuke kept his red eyes on the awaiting man as he dashed towards him with lightning now enveloping his blade.

He twitched his fingers in a fast manner and moved his puppet towards Sasuke but was surprised to see that the puppet was no longer the Uchiha's target, it was the controller himself whom he was after. Not being able to pull any tricks from his sleeve he had the puppet send out two flying swords towards his way, one was aimed for Sasuke while the other was aimed for Sasori to take. With this diversion working, Sasuke quickly turned his head and blocked the flying sword and turned his attention back to the man, whom was now holding a sword to defend himself. The clashes of metal rang through the air for the nth time as they were engaged in sword to sword combat. Not being able to use a free hand to control his puppet whom stood idly, he frowned as he blocked the strong blows Uchiha had been throwing at him all this time.

'Damn it all, I wasn't interested in fighting this Uchiha brat...I want the little girl. Stupid fool, he said he was only to have her for a warm up, yet he is still catching her attention. Tsk...I hate waiting.'

Naruto and Sakura teamed up against Deidara as he began getting a kick out of the two shinobi. He grinned at them while getting up from the crater he had made with his body and wiped his forearm across his mouth.

'That woman is far more stronger than I thought...'

"Ah you kohana shinobi are so confident in your moves I see...but you are no match for my art!" He pointed a accusing finger at the two as he stuck a hand in his pouch and created two large explosives that looked like misc. monsters, along with smaller spiders. Dodging the explosives Sakura and Naruto efficiently destroyed the smaller spiders.

Though he knew Sakura no longer needed to be watched out for as much, he still did anyways out of habit. Her battle antics and techniques impressed him, she had improved since the last time they fought together. "Naruto, watch out!" a female voice yelled towards him, breaking his thoughts. He looked in front of him at the approaching monster bomb and jumped a distance away from the beast. "Be careful with those Sakura chan, I'm sure that bastard loaded those big ugly beasts with more than enough explosives." She nodded as they jumped and split up into different directions.

She landed softly on her feet and watched as Naruto tried to find a way around the beast to get to the annoying Akatuski member whom controlled it.

Suddenly hearing fast light footsteps, she looked back towards the sound. He lunged his chidori sword towards her back as he approached her. "Move Sakura!" a frustrated velvet-like voice yelled. Her once determined expression changed into a shocked one as she saw those familiar red sharingan eyes right in front of her. She gasped and dodged his attack. He wasted no time in pulling his sword back and once again lunging it towards her once more, of course she dodged it by a hair as so she thought, until she felt warm trickles of liquid seep from her forearm. She grabbed her bleeding arm and looked at him.

"What are you doing Sasuke?!" She said as she dodged another attack. "The puppet over there is controlling me." he grunted as he held his sword firmly in hand whilst walking towards her. She backed away from him, not wanting to fight him.

'Damn it...not this again...I hate fighting him...it brings back horrible memories.'

Disrupting her thoughts, he dashed towards her and used his sword as leverage as he jumped up and stuck his foot out to kick her. She grabbed his foot and swung him back and away from her.

This was the beginning of their lightning speed battle.

'Finally...after so long I get to test out and see the beauty of that wretched girl and her art of fighting. So intense, yet different.' Sasori thought as his eyes were glued on the pinkette. Using her own team mate and friend to destroy her, and to see her distressed face as she fought Sasuke was the ultimate high.

Not holding back, yet being cautious she fought with Sasuke while keeping in mind that she needed to disable those chakra strings to free him. He lunged his sword towards the middle of her face, with such speed that she almost couldn't dodge but with quick precision she let her body fall backwards towards the ground and watched the electrical sword pierce through the air where her face would've been. His red eyes looked down at her as his arms raised the sword to stab down at her torso, she rolled out of the way of his sharp blade as he brought it down into the ground and kicked her strong legs out at him sending a remarkable distance away.

'She's gotten better than I thought. Keep it up Sakura, you can do this.' the raven haired man thought as he recovered in mid air and landed on his feet.

She rose to her feet and dusted herself off a bit before glaring at Sasori. Her jagged glare pierced through him, which brought more excitement to him. Her glares were nothing to be brushed off, yet he was enjoying them as if she was sending him a love note. It made him want to destroy her and add her into his beloved collection.

She suddenly disappeared and appeared in font of the puppet master with a confident smirk upon her lips. She crashed her first into his face and sent him flying back. Thinking this punch would distract him enough to release his grip on Sasuke, she landed back down on the ground and watched him hit hard against the ground. She then looked around for her team mate who was nowhere to be found.

"Shit...where's Sasuke kun?" Her emerald eyes frantically looked around the area for him but was unsuccessful. Suddenly she felt a surge of pain in her back as a foot planted into her spine and sent her flying forward a little distance. She looked back through the flying dirt and dust and saw those red eyes she was just looking for a few moments ago. "S-sasuke...kun." She managed to say through her teeth. "Get up Sakura, you're not done yet. He's still got me." She shook her current emotions off and rose to her feet quickly and faced him with a new ambition in her eyes. As he gazed into her sparkling orbs, he noticed this and took a mental note of how she was more than ready to do whatever it takes to free him of the malevolent puppet manipulator and master.

"Sakura..." he spoke softly. This tone of voice surprised her but she made no effort to show it. The puppet master himself was now back on his feet from the hard hit he took a few moments ago, he smirked with a hunger for more action. "Tsk, Tsk, tsk...seems like the little girl and Uchiha have some kind of special connection that I don't know about? Don't tarnish our relationship little blossom." They both turned their gaze towards Sasori as he spoke. "Well...it's about time to cut your chit chat short."

He twitched his skillful fingers and began manipulating Sasuke once again, he made the raven haired Uchiha cut his sword through the air towards her, she moved quickly and jumped back with him in a hot pursuit after her. The clinking of his sword against her kunai knives caused sparks to fly in the air. She decided to make some distance between them and jump back into the trees away from the sight of the puppet master. Without seeing his target how could he have Sasuke attack her? She jumped into the trees and perched onto a thick branch and watched Sasori closely as she properly disinfected and bandaged her forearm that was cut by Sasuke earlier.

She sucked her breath in as she heard a crack of a single twig from below, her eyes looked around to see what could've made the noise but with nothing in sight she remained once again looked up to see Sasori in the same place he had been and ruled him out as the one who made the noise; continuing to look between her arm and the red haired freak, she froze and locked eyes with him. He was smirking in a way that made her skin crawl.

'Shit...he spotted me.' She thought as she jumped away from the current branch and onto another one, in attempt to get out of his sight. The feeling of being watched however did not go away, looking around her she saw no one, but when her eyes instinctively darted up she saw none other than the one she had been fighting with all this time. Sasuke grunted as he jumped up into the air and pulled his sword back to his side as he held it with both hands , in a ready and awaiting stabbing-like position to pierce through her and ultimately eliminate her. He collided with her as he pinned her to the tree trunk.

It was so silent...

Not a word had been spoken, no movement had been made...in the air was pure dead silence.

Both breathed heavy in attempt to catch their breaths, his one leg was placed in-between hers, his lean muscular body was against hers as he was still in a position as if he really did stab her. His hands were still placed on the sword's handle as he struggled against the strings that held him captive. Without wasting another second, she took this opportunity to cut the chakra strings with her chakra concentrated kunai knive and freed him. Breathing shakily, she realized how close to death she was when he stabbed his sword through the tree trunk, her back was still against the trunk as she looked down at where he had stabbed instead.

'Only a few centimeters away... he was strong enough to resist Sasori and precise the angle of the sword.'

He rose from his semi crouch like position and let up on his grip on his sword as he brought his face up to hers with only a few inches to separate them. His red eyes seemed as if they stared into her very soul, this was how focused he was on her. One hand planted itself against trunk of the tree next to her head while the other raised up to her forehead with two fingers out and tapped her affectionately. "Good work..." he breathed. Her eyes widened at this and an unintentional blush creeped onto her already rosey cheeks. "Sasuke kun..." Feeling his warm breath on her face as he spoke and understanding his words and ways of showing his affection brought hidden feelings up to surface in her, feelings that she had locked away in a dark 'treasure' chest with a huge lock that had no key.

"Let's go." He said calmly as he straighten his figure back up, now towering her small frame with his height of six feet. She mentally shook her thoughts away as she nodded with a determined expression.

Awaiting their expected return, Sasori smirked as he kept a watchful eye on the darkness of the forest. His eyes focused on a new subject as the pinkette walked out from the trees and bushes. Fire and determination clouded her eyes as she kept them on him. As soon as his eyes laid on her, he attached her strings, disabling her from making any sudden moves. "What happened to my human puppet, little girl?" She glared at him as she continued to silently provoke him. "Not talking I see, what's the matter, Sasori's got your tongue? It's not like you to not spit fire at me." With shaky hands, she managed to make a hand signal, this caused the ground under her feet to dip in with force as she planted herself into the earth. He twitched his fingers to make her move but she was now truly immobile.

"Coming up with new tricks huh?...what are you planning little girl? I could slice your throat with such ease now." He slightly smirked as he saw her defiantly glare at him.

"Prepare to die motherfucker." she growled. Astounded at her choice of words, his eyebrows rose.

Inner Sakura somehow managed to push her thoughts out verbally.

'Shannaro! Finally, I get to speak my honest mind!'

While gathering his thoughts back, a cold wind lashed around from behind him as he felt a new sudden unexpected presence. He slightly looked back with narrowed eyes and saw angry sharingan eyes staring right back at him. Then he felt pressure through his abdomen, when he looked down he saw that Sasuke's sword had impaled him from behind. When he looked back up he saw Sakura disappear in a cloud of smoke. 'A clone.' He thought as his chakra strings retracted . Breaking him from his thoughts, a fist headed straight for his face caught his attention. Within this small time frame he managed to release a few needles from his palms towards her. Only two successfully grazing across her skin, she ignored the pain and smashed her powerful fist into his puppet face. With crackling sounds of wood breaking apart, they had successfully tore Sasori in half. The bottom half of his puppet body had stayed in place as Sasuke's sword held him there, while the force of Sakura's punch, blew his upper half away.

This impact created a huge crashing sound that caught the attention of Deidara and Naruto, whom were still fighting. The Akatsuki member looked over and saw his partner's puppet parts scattered all over the place. "Oi, quit making a mess out of my man, Hn." He looked closely at his 'lifeless' friend and saw a silver kunai knive stuck into his core.

'Damn it...that's not good. Hn.' Deidara thought as he suddenly stuck his hand into his pouch. Team seven readied themselves for his attack but was surprised as their enemy didn't launch clay at them. Instead he focused his clay arts towards his friend and partner as an orb like ball engulfed Sasori's weakened body and turned into a bird that then flew up into the sky making it's escape from the preying shinobi. He threw a few more bombs at them before taking his leave as well. "We'll be seeing you three punks soon. Count on it. Hn."

As he flew through the air, he began thinking to himself. 'Hn. That little bitch knew where his core was. Tch...for now we'll retreat but this doesn't mean that this is the end.'

Naruto tried his best to catch the man before he left but failed to do so, all they could do now was watch them escape. "Damn...those bastards got away." Naruto hissed as he glared where the fleeing Akatsuki just were. He looked back at Sakura and Sasuke as he took his mind off his enemies for a moment. "You guys...did great! I got to see a little bit of how you two fought together and smashed that puppet sucker to pieces." He beamed as he became excited and proud that they fought as team seven and made the Akatsuki flee from battle. She slightly smiled at her enthusiastic friend and nodded. Sasuke spoke this time. "Where's the Prince?" Sakura turned her attention to him and replied. "He's coming this way."

Curious, both men awaited for the Prince of Fire to emerge from the forest. Just as expected, he walked out with the three clones of Sakura whom had protected him in case of intruders. Once he approached them, the clones disappeared."I am so glad to see you guys again! I was praying the whole time for your safety." He looked at the two men before him and smiled. "Hello, I assume you are Uzumaki, Naruto?" He looked at Naruto first. "Uh, yeah?" the blond replied. The Prince turned his gaze to Sasuke next. "Ah, and you're the famous Uchiha, Sasuke." He only gave the prince a nonchalant look. "Yes."

After their greetings had ended, Naruto spoke up. "Well, now that we have the Prince let's hit the pavement."

The other four agreed and began their journey back towards the Land Of Fire.


OMG, this chapter is done yay. Hahaha

Whatchu think boo? :P

Yup, that fight sequence was what I was excited to write. Sasuke vs. Sakura.

He finally sees that she had grown up and that she knows how to control herself and take charge. You go girl! Whoop.

(Sasori's not dead of course) his core is just injured with one of Sakura's million kunai knives she has stashed lol.

I don't want to eliminate Sasori kun from existing in this story lol.

******Thanks for taking your precious time to read and view my story. *******

Next chapter is soon to come.