The blood was roaring in my ears as she struggled underneath me. Her red hair was splayed around her like a bloody halo. I gritted my teeth and leaned over her, silently enjoying the way her eyes filled to the brim with fear. She was the one that now followed Sasuke around like a love sick puppy, it sickened me to think that I was once just as blind as her.
The last time I had seen her had been during the battle against Danzo. Sasuke had shot a surge of chakra straight through her chest. He carelessly had nicked the main artery running through her neck, had it not been for my healing abilities she would have been dead. While his main target had been Danzo, he would not have batted an eye if she had died as a result. He did not care about her, but still she scrambled to his side weak from blood loss. Deep down it was sometimes hard to think that he cared about anything or anyone other than revenge anymore. I tightened the grip I had around her neck when I heard the bushes behind me rustle loudly. I was thankful I had been a few steps ahead of the enemy and had been able to alert my comrades to the danger before they were taken by surprise. I was amazed at how quickly they got to their feet and seemed to immediately react. One thing I did not expect was the sensory ninja to target me right away, sensory ninjas would usually hang back and try to avoid battle at all costs.
Unfortunately for me I failed to dodge the kunai blade she had thrown towards me in time, it managed to sink right into my right thigh as I came down to rest on a thin branch. A grunt escaped from my lips as my weight came down on the leg that now had a silver blade deep in the muscle. It was impossible for me to retain my balance as I went crashing down to the ground. I suppose I should have been thankful that the weakest of the three targeted me. I did not move as I heard her sprint through the branches around me. I did not know much about her, but I knew she was cocky. If I played this situation right, then I could use that to my advantage.
"Sasuke would never like someone as weak as you," I heard the whistle of another blade cut through the air. If my plan was going to work then I could not move, I bit my lip as another kunai sunk into my shoulder. This time the blade was buried to the hilt, the blood that fell from my shoulder was warm. My teeth cut into my upper lip to avoid screaming out in pain, her footsteps were deafening to my ears. I had landed facing away from her so she could not see my face contort into pain. I closed my eyes slowly and focused on my chakra, pushing the force through my body, down my arm, and into my fist.
"That must've been one nasty fall, it's such a shame you can't move," I could tell from the tone in her voice that she was smiling. She was so happy being a puppet, it was pathetic. The wind roared past her approaching form making the blades burn in response. My heart felt as though it was pounding against my chest, as I waited for her to get close enough. A smile found its way on my face as I felt her foot land squarely on my back, finally. I jumped up and threw her foot off of me, and connected my fist with her jaw. The force sent her flying back, but I was not going to give her time to regroup. I followed closely behind and pinned her to the ground, my hand was tight against her throat. She was not physically strong enough to throw me off and we both knew it.
"Sakura, are you alright?" Sai's monotone voice was a welcome surprise in the madness that had ensued following the ambush. I nodded, leaped up, and slammed Karin's body into a nearby tree effectively limiting the small threat she could still impose.
"Let's make sure she isn't going to be leaving here anytime soon," Sai summoned a legion of black snakes that tied around her thin form. I stood back as they wiggled across her midsection, effectively binding her now unconscious form to the tree.
"Where is everyone else?" I called over my shoulder as Sai and I headed back through the trees in the direction we had come. I could hear the sounds of battle, but they were distant and it was hard to tell just what exactly we were going to stumble into.
"Kakashi and Yamato are handling Sasuke's two comrades, Kakashi wanted me to find you and set out to find Naruto. We are going to need to tighten his seal and quickly," Sai's voice jolted me back to the present. A feeling of dread filled my bones as I thought about leaving the two jounin level ninjas alone.
"What if they need our help, Sai?" he shook his head and pushed me in the direction I had last seen Naruto and Sasuke disappear off to. I knew it was shinobi tradition to fulfill the goal of the mission at all cost, but that does not mean that I liked it.
"We cannot lose sight of our mission. We are to tighten Naruto's seal and capture Sasuke at any cost. Captain Yamato has the cells from the first hokage, and Kakashi has the sharingan, they are not helpless ninja," I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped short when we came back to the cliff that Naruto and Sasuke has occupied moments before. The entire area had been obliterated, the ground itself had been scorched by something extremely powerful. This was not good. We had to find the two of them and fast.
"Sai we need eyes in the sky," he made a flurry of arm movements and in a flash a large bird appeared before us. The iconic white and black ink of Sai's artwork beckoned us forth with its large wings. We climbed on its back and took off following the path of burnt earth. The view of the woods was breathtakingly beautiful, and I silently wished things were as peaceful as they looked from above. It didn't take us long to spot the two ninja battling their hearts out just twenty miles from where they had started. Sasuke had activated his susano, but my breath caught when I saw Naruto. He was a mass of red chakra, fox like in form, with four tails that emerged from his back. Things were far worse than I had realized, I had never imagined that Naruto would lose control of himself so completely.
"We are going to need to be careful, Sakura. This is a very volatile situation, our only advantage is going to be surprise. Naruto is going to need to be subdued, before we can safely handle Sasuke. Naruto has nearly lost his rational mind he is thinking only about destruction right now. Do you still have that vial that Kakashi gave you?" my blood ran cold, I could never have imagined things would have escalated to this level. I reached into my bag for the green vial, but the contents of which were not going to be strong enough to have an effect on the half turned jinchuriki.
"It is not going to work, Sai. We need another plan, this is not going to be enough to knock Naruto out," he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and narrowed those hollow looking eyes.
"Tsunade made it herself with chakra from the first hokage, but you did something stupid didn't you? Your emotions have endangered us all, Sakura. That was our best shot at completing this mission and now you have sabotaged us," I did not get a chance to respond to Sai because Naruto had already sensed our presence. The tail closest to us came down on the bird Sai had created. We are able to dodge the blow in time, but we were in a free fall. Thinking quickly I bit my thumb and performed a summoning jutsu. Thankfully Sai and I landed on Katsuyu's soft body.
"Oh my Sakura, are you alright?" her soft voice seemed so out of place in the battlefield. Sai was nowhere in sight, most likely trying to come up with his own plan for the problem at hand. He must have left as soon as I summoned her.
"Yes, I am fine. We have work to do, Katsuyu. I need you to send word to Kakashi and Captain Yamato about our location and the situation at hand," two small slugs broke off of her main form and disappeared into the woods, "we need to knock Naruto out to be able to tighten his seal. I am trusting that you have something we can use if only to temporarily blind Naruto, I need to get close," the giant slug made her way over to the battlefield, I focused on my chakra pushing it towards the soles of my feet and my fists.
"Yes, but I will only be able to use it once," I nodded in understanding as I looked between the two ninjas that were a tangle of red and purple limbs. Arrows flew through through the air, but Naruto's tails were able to catch them easily. I knew the only way to get Naruto to lower his guard would be to see me in a position of extreme danger, I took a deep inhale. I shakily let out my breath as I turned towards Sasuke.
"Now Katsuyu," I shouted as I launched myself off her clear form to meet sasuke's susanoo. I concentrated as much chakra as I was able to, and drove it straight into the ribcage of the skeletal like form. I raised my eyes to meet Sasuke who had a look of disbelief and hurt etched into his cold features. I smiled as my fist seemingly cracked the impenetrable force field, but the goal was not to do damage. I knew that I did not possess enough chakra to take either of these two on quite yet. I heard Naruto scream in surprise as Katsuyu's slime worked to temporary blind the jinchuriki. I prepared my body as Sasuke's susanoo managed to grab me around my mid section. I released a blood curdling scream as the bony hand tightened around my body, the sick snapping of bone filled my every sense.
"Let her go," I heard Naruto yell then Sasuke was engulfed in an aura of red. I could only watch in horror as Naruto's fist broke through Sasuke's susanoo like butter and collided with the Uchiha so hard it sent Sasuke barreling towards the earth. I could feel the blood pooling in my mouth as Naruto's calloused hands lowered me to the ground. The cloak that had surrounded him was gone, as the tears began to slide down his cheeks.
"Sakura, you will be alright he won't be able to hurt you anymore," I could only stare as Sai's lithe form appeared behind Naruto. I did not give a word of warning as Sai drove a purple vial straight into the Jinchuriki's neck. Naruto did not make a sound as he dropped to the ground. I felt a sigh of relief, we had done it.
"You are reckless, I don't understand it," I smiled at Sai who had begun tending to my wounds. I had lost too much chakra to be able to heal myself, or even detect what was damaged in my body for that matter.
"I couldn't sit by and watch them hurt each other, they mean everything to me," I could feel the fuzziness of unconsciousness begin to take over my vision as the pain subsided. The only words I remember is Kakashi's voice saying something about Sasuke's condition, but I didn't have the strength to stay awake anymore. I could only hope they were both safe.