Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. I DO own Kaisuke and Youshi Garukin.

Chapter Seven - Konoha Meltdown

"GARUKIN!"

All heads snapped in my direction as I charged through the east gate and into Konoha. Naruto staggered in behind me. He was exhausted but still unwilling to give up. I admired him for that. Not that I was in the mood for praising him right now. I'd tell him later.

Right now, I only had one thing on my mind.

Vengeance.

I grabbed a Jounin as he passed by. "Where is Garukin?!" I demanded.

"Well, well, well!" came the all too familiar voice. It was Kakashi. "I was wondering when you'd get back!"

I only just managed to hold back my homicidal rage. Kakashi was not my target.

"Where is he?" I demanded again. "Where is that ba…"

Kakashi gripped my shoulders and turned me toward the Hokage Tower. "He's been summoned there every day since he did it. The Lady Hokage wants to know why but he wont answer."

I nodded to Kakashi and leapt up on to a nearby rooftop, racing toward the tower at full speed.

***

Suddenly, I was on the ground. I didn't understand what had happened at first. That is, until I felt the ground trembling beneath me.

It was an earthquake.

"GARUKIN YOUSHI!"

NO! My mind screamed out. It wasn't an earthquake. It was a shockwave. And that voice! It had been almost nine years since I had last heard that voice.

Sasuke was here! Sasuke was in Konoha! Sasuke was after Youshi!

"GARUKIN YOUSHI!" came his booming voice again.

Suddenly, I realised what this meant. There was only one way Sasuke could have known his name. Kaisuke had found him!

I shot to my feet and raced in the direction of Sasuke's booming rage. I had to reach him before he reached Youshi!

I found Sasuke in the main square. He was surrounded by Konoha Jounin and ANBU. Normally, that would have been more than enough to scare off even the bravest of attackers.

With anyone else it would have worked, but this was Sasuke and he was beyond furious!

Scanning from my spot on the rooftop, I could see the curse mark had spread all over his body. It was a terrifying sight to see. The Jounin and ANBU shifted around nervously. They knew what the curse mark meant and what a bearer of it was capable of. Sasuke had been extraordinarily powerful before he got it. With it, he was downright unstoppable.

I leapt from the rooftop and landed between the Konoha defenders and Sasuke. I slowly straightened up and locked eyes with Sasuke.

"Hello Sasuke! It's been a long time!"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at my arrival. It only lasted a fraction of a second but it was more than long enough for me to catch it. I had mastered catching his looks as a child.

His eyes narrowed again and his fierce glare returned. He took a single step toward me, causing the Konoha defenders to flinch. "Stand down." I ordered them.

"What?!" one of my ANBU team asked. "You can't be se…"

"I SAID STAND DOWN!"

All of the ANBU nodded, knowing not to argue with me. They leapt on the rooftops and quickly vanished from the scene.

"You too!" I snapped at the Jounin who had stood their ground. They looked at me as though I had suddenly grown an extra head. My heated glare soon had them obeying my orders.

As soon as they were all gone, I slowly and carefully made my way over to Sasuke. Sasuke was standing motionless in the centre of the main square. He was breathing heavily and still covered with the curse mark. Only his eyes moved, following every minute move I made.

Hatred and rage flowed from every cell in his body. A demon worthy fury burned in his blood red eyes. Sharingan. My inner self screamed, still nervous of it even after all these years.

"Sasuke?" I said cautiously, as I carefully stepped closer to him. "I know why you're here, but you need to…"

"You know nothing!" he hissed at me.

"Sasuke?" I was getting slightly confused now. What could he mean by that? "I know Kaisuke found…"

"He's safe. My men are watching over him." his voice was level but his tone was vicious.

"How could you?!"

"Excuse me?!" I snapped. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?!"

"I was wondering that myself!" he snapped back. "The Sakura I remember would never leave a child defenceless like that!"

My temper was back with avengence. "Who the fu…"

Sasuke cut me off again. "The Sakura I remember would have listened! She would have stopped it! She would have made him stop!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" I snapped.

"I read your letter, Sakura! I listened to Kaisuke! I've helped him through his nightmares for the last three weeks!" Sasuke yelled as he stepped closer toward me.

Every cell in my body screamed for me to back away from him, that he was beyond dangerous. I ignored my own instincts and forced my feet to stand their ground. Showing weakness or fear now, could very easily get me killed.

Sasuke took yet another step closer as he continued his furious rant.

"He's eight Sakura! He's only a child and you left him with that monster! Your stupidity made him lose everything! You have no idea what that's like! You haven't got the first fucking clue how much that hurts! You abandoned him Sakura! He needed you but you were too busy playing ninja!"

"How dare you!" I screamed back. I prepared for the battle that I just knew was coming. Especially if he kept screaming at me like that. Just who the hell did he think he was?

The next words out of Sasuke's furious mouth, chilled me to the core.

"You think it only happened once?!" snapped Sasuke. "One attempted beating when he was five?"

He must have seen my shocked expression as I tried to grasp the meaning of his words. His eyes flashed, just for a second, with heartbreaking sadness.

"Every time you went away… Every single time you went on one of your oh so fucking precious missions… Anytime you left for more than a few days! That son of a bitch used him as a fucking punch bag! Kaisuke told me! He told me everything!"

Sasuke paused for only one breath before his onslaught continued.

"You're not just an ANBU captain, Sakura! You're his mother! You were suppose to protect him! Kaisuke should have been your primary mission! The only mission that mattered but you abandoned him! To that monster!"

Sasuke took another step closer. He was standing right in front of me now. Only inches kept us apart.

"Three years, Sakura! Three fucking years!"

My rage vanished. Replaced instantly with heartbreak and sorrow. My mind flashed back to every time I had come home from a mission. How deliriously happy Kaisuke would be the second he saw me… the strange look on Youshi's face as Kaisuke would whisper how much he had missed me in my ear… Youshi always insisting on putting Kaisuke to bed the first night I was back… how quiet Kaisuke would be the following morning… Kaisuke's heartbreaking pleas for me to turn down my next mission…

How could I have been so blind?!

I fell to my knees, tears streaming freely down my face. "Kaisuke!" I wailed.

"Crying is not going to help him now." stated Sasuke, his voice suddenly softening.

I looked up at him through my river of tears. His black eyes were boring into mine. Wait a minute… black? I blinked back my tears and there, before me, was Sasuke. His pale skin was clear of the curse mark and his Sharingan was gone. Sasuke knelt down in front of me, quickly glanced at the evening sky, and spoke softly to me for the first time in almost nine years.

"I didn't come here for that monster. I came here for you, Sakura. Kaisuke told me everything. Including the threat against you if he told anybody. He stayed silent and took those beatings to protect you!"

Sasuke sighed and shook his head slowly.

"But you should have noticed! You should have seen it anyway."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. Was that a tear in his eye?

"But none of that really matters now. You didn't see it, you didn't hear him, you didn't make it stop! But somehow, Kaisuke still believes that you're going to make everything better. His faith in you is absolute, just like his love. Do NOT let him down this time!"

Sasuke rose to his feet, glanced at the sky again and began to walk away. I have no idea how I managed it, but I was suddenly back on my feet and racing after him.

"You're leaving?!" I asked, shocked at how calmly Sasuke was reacting to this. When he wouldn't stop or respond, I grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and look at me. "Why are you leaving?"

"I promised Kaisuke that I would be back before dark." he stated calmly seconds before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

I fell to my knees again and allowed my tears to flow. Three years?! My son had been beaten for three years! By the man who claimed to all who saw that he loved the boy more than life itself.

My tears began to dry as my mind flashed back to that night three years ago. The night that, I now knew, had changed everything for my son. "I wasn't strong enough." I sobbed. "I'm still not." I voiced my fears.

A voice whispering in my mind pulled me out of my memories.

"You're stronger than you think, Sakura. You've just never use it yet."

I had no idea how, but by the time my vision cleared, I was already dashing across the remaining rooftops between me and the Hokage Tower. My determination and maternal rage growing with each step and Sasuke's words echoing in my ear.

"Do NOT let him down this time."

"I won't!" I announced to myself. "I promise!"

With that, I leapt from the finally rooftop and burst through the doors at the bottom of Hokage Tower.

As I took the stairs, two and sometimes three at a time, a single thought gripped my mind.

'This ends NOW!'

To be continued…