Fate's Allotter: Part 1

Chapter 8: Rescue

"Obito," Sakura whispered, "Can you use your Sharingan?"

The pair were hiding behind a rock formation at the edge of the bamboo forest, eyeing the cave where they could hear Rin's muffled screaming. The burly ninja they faced earlier was stationed outside the cave looking relatively bored as he played guard.

Sakura could only sense three chakra signatures besides Obito's and her own, but that didn't mean there weren't more shinobi out there. She wasn't a natural born sensor so she couldn't detect shinobi who had mastered the art of chakra suppression.

Which is why it was really convenient to have an Uchiha on hand that could verify that number.

"N-no," Obito replied, "I haven't developed it yet."

…Or it would have been. The pinket sighed.

As she struggled to come up with an appropriate strategy that wouldn't leave them in a potentially worse situation, the young Uchiha looked beyond petrified. Looking ready to cry, Obito very much looked the part of a green newbie genin who had just been thrown into his first real combat situation.

Sakura sincerely hoped that he wouldn't throw up on her. Based on her companion's face, it certainly wasn't a far off possibility.

Sakura rang her hands in agitation trying to come up with a plan. She might have stood a chance taking the Iwa nin on with her taijutsu and chakra-sensing capabilities, but the long sword on the ninja's back made her nervous.

If a long sword was his weapon of choice, it defiantly put them in a tight situation. Sakura was a close range fighter, and her weapons reflected that. Sure, she could deal with a sword or two as needed, but with this kind of opponent when she couldn't see the blade… how much did she trust her reflexes and instincts?

A Sharingan would have been the perfect tool for fighting a ninja with cloaking abilities, but Obito didn't look as though he were about to grow a pair just for convenience's sake.

Of course, a pair of Sharingan would be nice too.

They also had to be careful with their attacks because they didn't want the cave to collapse on Rin either—so no fireballs or chakra-laden punches. Another disadvantage.

But despite the obvious problems with their situation, neither Sakura nor Obito seemed intent on backing down. Rin's pained cries only fed their determination.

"Right," Sakura whispered, "We need to get him away from the cave. How good are you with traps?"

"Rin was the best, but I'll do it," he nodded with resolve.

Sakura inclined her head. "How much time?"

"Five minutes for a basic spring release, Six or seven if you want it cloaked in genjutsu," Obito whispered back.

"I'll give you as much time as I can," Sakura promised, "but work fast."

Performing a few quick hand seals, Sakura bathed the valley with the cave in a wave of her chakra.

Water-types were rare in the land of fire with only one or two appearing every few generations. It made finding a reliable teacher a challenge so much so that it was almost easier to garner techniques from elemental scrolls than try to convince a missing nin from Kirigakure to take on a pupil. As such, Sakura's elemental jutsus were vastly underdeveloped for most shinobi her age, but she had managed to master the most basic skills: Hiding in the Mist technique!

She rarely used this jutsu since it tended to be as detrimental to her teammates as it was to her opponents, but in a one-on-one battle when she faced an enemy who specialized in invisibility, this method was ideal. At this elementary stage, her mist technique was more chakra than water, which while not ideal in most situations, actually served to her advantage in this particular case. With her chakra saturating the air, the Iwa nin couldn't hide for long.

'There!'

Sakura lunged forward, slashing down diagonally with Itachi's borrowed kunai. Poof. 'A clone? Then where…'

Sakura dropped to the ground as a katana swung at her neck.

'Che, should've known he'd get around such a basic technique.'

Since she was already next to the ground, a sweeping kick seemed in order. She smirked as her boot struck home only to frown when this figure too popped out of existence.

Sakura crouched, carefully sweeping through the chakra signatures within her mist. Five, clones most likely. Perhaps he was hoping to wear her down with clones before sliding in to finish her off or maybe he was the type to use his clones as a distraction while he studied her skill set or set up a trap.

Not ideal, but it wasn't beyond her capabilities. As much as she hated going up against an unknown opponent, she comforted herself with the fact that her abilities were equally a mystery to him.

Even so when this was over, she was definitely investing in a wakizashi or a tanto at the very least. Shoot, even Kakashi's arm guards when come in handy now. While she had a slight edge in speed on the other nin, his sword automatically gave him a solid range to work with, and Sakura would have to be particularly cautious when she made a move to get under his guard.

Reaching into her pouch, she briefly considered an explosive tag before returning it to its place. No, it was still too risky with their given proximity to the cave. Instead, she took out three throwing stars. With a thought, two water clones appeared beside her also holding three ninja stars. The first Sakura would take the two on the left, one of which she was pretty sure was the original, and her clones would take care of the other three.

With a brush of chakra the three Sakura's separated. The pinket rushed though the smoke filled haze as her first target vanished with her throwing star in his gut. She felt two more disperse as her clones charged the burly katana wielder.

Appearing suddenly from the fog, the Iwa nin smirked as she saw her. The air vibrated as the sword slicing through the mist, but Sakura was already airborne. A chakra fueled leap propelled her above the katana's sweep, and as she flipped over the Iwa-nin's head, she had a moment of satisfaction at seeing her opponent's expression of shock before her charkra-filled fingers brushed against his scalp.

Pop!

Sakura swore. She had been played for the fool, fighting shadow clones while the real shinobi chased down her teammate. With a growl, she leaped back to where she had last seen Obito with her one surviving clone hot on her heals.

It was hard to miss the blood-splattered kunai on the ground, and the sight of it only caused her fury to grow.

'I swore to protect them!'

Where her feet landed, small craters appeared in the ground by the force of her stride as she zipped through the bamboo at a furious pace. She was a blur of movement, a flash of pink there and gone again.

More blood, enough now that she could easily follow the trail.

Up ahead, a body was slouched over—Kakashi—his hand pressed against a gaping wound on his face that was bleeding profusely. Meanwhile, Obito stood over him, goggles fogged so she couldn't see his eyes.

She was almost there, no more than a second away, when she saw the grass flatten behind Obito. She had no time to call out a warning before the air swished, as a weapon cut through it.

Blood drizzled on the ground next to Obito's feet, and Sakura quickly changed course, scrambling to put herself between the attacker and Kakashi before the next strike. Landing in a defensive crouch, she was finally at an angle to appreciate what had happened, and when she did, her mouth hung open.

It wasn't Obito's blood. The Uchiha's kunai had buried deeply into the Iwa nin's chest, sliding between ribs, slicing through muscle, and impaling the heart. Looking as stunned as Sakura, the burly man coughed once before slumping to the ground and nearly barreling into Kakashi.

By the looks of things, the trap had only been half formed by the time the Iwa-nin made his move, and by what Sakura could gather from the crying Obito and the relatively shell-shocked Kakashi was that the grey-haired boy had made his appearance then, blocking what would have been a fatal blow with his tanto. At some point in the ensuing scuffle, Obito had awoken his Sharingan and Kakashi had…

Kakashi had lost his eye.

"I'm not sure if I can heal it," Sakura admitted when she finally coaxed his hand away so she could examine the damage.

The eye was a complicated organ, more so than most people realized. It probably had more nerves dedicated to it—nerves for the muscles that allowed for precise movements, contracting the pupil, dilating the pupil, focusing the lens on near or distant targets, seeing light, seeing shapes and color, interpreting those shapes and color—than any other single organ. It wasn't something she could just slap a band-aid over and expect it to get better.

But still, she placed her hand over the wound and let her chakra flow into it. At the very least it would stop the bleeding.

When she was finished, she wrapped a bandage around his eye. "Best not to use it for now," she said gently as Obito hovered over her shoulder like a nervous hen, "I don't know if you'll be able to use it again, but for it to even have a chance, you have to give it time to heal."

Tying off the bandage, she patted his shoulder supportively. As the trio rose to their feet, their faces were set in determination. Time to rescue Rin!

After a brief discussion, it was decided that since Kakashi & Obito, despite their previous battle, still had nearly full chakra reserves, they would lead the charge into the cave. They didn't know what kind of state Rin would be in so it had been decided that Sakura who was down fifty percent, would wait in reserve.

Limited to strictly taijutsu, Sakura gave the boys a fifteen second head start before following them into the cave. By the looks of things, they hardly needed the back up. Stepping around the shinobi on the ground, she did a quick diagnostic scan on Rin as Kakashi untied her.

"They were using genjutsu on her by the looks of it. She'll be a bit out of it for a day or two but should be fine. Kai!" she said forming the correct seal to release Rin.

She seized up for a moment before coming back from whatever mind trap she had been in. "Kakashi, Obito…"

The two boys looked visibly relieved, and Rin smiled at them all sweetly. 'Thank you for coming back for me."

The pink-haired woman smiled as she helped Rin to her feet. "Easy does it."

"Here, I'll take her," Obito offered as he wrapped Rin's arm around his shoulder.

"Nice combination," said a voice at the entrance to the cave. The group froze as they watched with horror as the previously downed ninja got to his feet. "But now I have all the rats boxed in a nice corner."

Slamming his hands on the ground, the walls of the cave shuddered, and boulders rained from above as the cave began to collapse.

"Run!" Kakashi shouted. He grabbed Rin's other arm, together the two boy sprinted for the exit.

Half a step behind them, Sakura's pupils dilated as time suddenly came to a standstill.

She saw a boulder falling and Obito pushing Kakashi and Rin to safety. With half of his body was crushed and knowing he was going to die, he offered Kakashi his left eye. But he didn't die. Something saved him, something dark, and it twisted his heart into a poisonous thing—an obsession.

Obito was overtaken by an ancient curse. It was the curse of hatred for all Uchiha who awakened their Sharingan as punishment for abandoning their ancestor. He watched Rin die—a slow poison of the worst kind—and his heart, so black and broken… He hated the world, hated his home. He would destroy this existence, tear it down brick by brick. He would rebuild it again. No death. No wars. No shinobi.

No living. No love.

A selfless deed breeding a selfish man.

If she let him, he would destroy everything she loved, everything she cared for. If she let him… If SHE let him

Sakura was moving before she even realized what she was doing, shoving three bodies so hard that they went flying. Looking up, she saw how fate had changed; she pushed Obito out of his destiny and stepped right into it.

She stood where they had, and the boulder collapsed upon her. She tried to roll out of the way, but her arm and shoulder were caught, crushed by the weight. More boulders fell until she was all but covered, their immense weight pressing upon her.

Her life flickered in and out of darkness, but before her chest could collapse from the weight, she heard herself saying, "Take my eye. Maybe it will be better this time."

The mountain of rocks shook once Rin was done. Dying, it didn't hurt so much, not like she thought it would, but that didn't mean she didn't wish that somehow, she hadn't.

Oh Kami, she really was going to die.

It's funny that no matter how much pushing and kicking and screaming one did and no matter how long one evaded death's claws, the grim reaper still catches everyone in the end. She did the best she could. Maybe her methods weren't the best and even though she made a wrong turn or two, she fought for Konoha, her home, in the only way she knew how.

Just because your name doesn't go into the history books, your deeds don't become any less heroic. She was fine with living on the sidelines of history, and the testament to her life was not what she gained but what she gave.

She didn't want to die, not now, not like this, but she had made her choices and had sealed her fate the moment she shoved that boy out of the way. She did her best, but in the end she ran out of time and chances.

Who would tell her mother that her only daughter had never made it home? Would her father be forever leaving the light on for her, waiting for his daughter to reappear, to answer his letters, to give him something more than false hope? Would he die waiting for her? As the years passed and her absence became more obvious, what would her friends make of her disappearance? Would they look for her? Would anyone?

Naruto would. He would search for her until his legs collapsed and his last breath ran out of his lungs. He would never give up on her, but no matter what he did or tired, he would never find her. She would never go home.

It was a strange feeling, foreseeing one's own death, and for a moment, she couldn't breath, couldn't see past her own failure when she had been so close… Then something in her snapped.

'NO!' a voice insider her roared ' I will not lose! Not here! Not now!'

She was a shinobi of Konohagakure, the apprentice of the Godaime, a proud member of the legendary Team Seven! It would take more than a stupid rock to bring her down.

Grinding her teeth as the blow came, she twisted.

.

The pain was unbearable. As the boulder slid down her spine, it felt as though her skin was being torn off her back cell by cell. She couldn't scream, couldn't move or speak. She gasped as though she would never breathe again as her arms trembled at the exertion.

"Sakura!"

Blood, hot and thick, slid down her ribs, and she opened one eye to face the three horrified teens. "H-hey there."

"Sakura-san your leg…" Rin whimpered.

Sakura grunted as she took in the damage. Her toes wiggled, but otherwise, the rest of her leg felt numb as several large rocks pressed upon it. She had been unbelievably lucky that she hadn't lost it, but based on the unsuccessful attempts of the boys to move said rocks, it seemed like a lost cause.

Obito and Kakashi strained against a boulder that was easily twice their height, but the more they struggled, the more she wished they would just let it go. She had tried, she truly had. Watching them fight the inevitable was beyond painful.

"Stop…" she whispered, "It's alright…"

Rin was crying, quiet, shoulder shaking sobs while Obito stared at his hands helplessly. The commas in his red eyes spun as he took in every angle of the space, trying to find an opening, a loophole, any kind of leverage that could help pull her free. Ideas, half-crazy and half-suicidal flashed through his mind, each more desperate than the one before as he watched with a clarity he suddenly wished he didn't possess as a drop of blood rolled down Sakura's calf. Shoulders slumping, he looked to Kakashi for help.

But the team leader had already run through all the possible scenarios and, as though in rejection of his own conclusions, kept pushing against the unmoving rock with a ferocity that only came from impossible situations.

"Stop, Kakashi…" she murmured.

In her somewhat dazed state, Sakura watched his muscles strain from the effort and waited for him to accept the futility of her present situation. When he turned his head slightly, attempting a different angle, she noted the fluid that left messy streaks down his face. He was crying.

Seeming to cave inward, he slumped against the rock and let gravity carry him to the stone floor. His shoulders started shaking, his hand curling up in a fist.

"Damn it!" The grey-haired boy punched the ground. "If I had listened to you and Obito from the start, this never would have happened!"

"Kakashi…" Obito tried, but Kakashi just shrugged out of his reach, too lost in his self-hatred to be comforted.

"What kind of captain am I?!" the team leader ranted as he raked frustrated hands through his spiky hair. He pulled at the ends, almost relieved at the resulting pain because it felt deserved.

He was the leader, their captain, and he was responsible for their safety and the success of their mission. If something went wrong, he was the one who was supposed to be dealt the consequences; not his teammates.

The pink haired shinobi tilted her head so she could meet his eyes. He looked away. Her gaze swept over him in evaluation, taking in the bruises on his clenched fists, the moisture around his eyes that the tried to blink away, and the wavering of his chakra as he wrestled for control of his emotions.

She had thought she had lost him, her Kakashi, but there he was.

"A jounin," Sakura answered his rhetorical question, "You're a jounin captain."

Eyes widening his head snapped up at her words. If her arms had been free to touch him, she would have put a hand on his shoulder, but the proud grin would have to do instead.

"Hokage-sama said I could be your proctor, and I… I think you are ready." Sakura smiled. "Even if you were hesitant, you did return for your teammates, and I know you are going to protect them with your life. That's what… that's what being a ninja means... and you're going to be a great ninja."

Rin stood up wiping her tears away with her palm. "I can heal your back," she offered.

"Heh, don't waste chakra. You may need it." Sakura replied.

Rin looked ready to argue, but Sakura quickly cut her off. "You three should go. I don't know how much longer I can hold this… and I won't let my teammates die because of me."

She watched as Kakashi's expression gradually shifted to a carefully blank mask as he forced himself to rise to his feet, being strong for the sake of his team. There, that was her Kakashi, not the arrogant kid that had been borrowing his name. He would be a great ninja, and she only wished she could have told him how great.

Looking the pinket in the eye, Kakashi deliberately straightened his forehead protector. "I will protect them with my life!"

She couldn't thank this Kakashi for growing up to be her sensei, for helping her find her path as a shinobi. In her original world, she had never thanked him, not properly anyways, and she couldn't really thank this boy for proving that he was her Kakashi, or would be once he finally found himself under all that angsty teen.

Instead, she smiled, hoping that was enough.

.

After the trio left, time seemed to tickle by slowly. Being trapped in a cave, she couldn't use the sun to track the hours, and only assumed that the sun had set but so little light reached her anyways that she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It might have been hours or days or just a few minutes, she couldn't tell.

As she resolutely held back the wall of earth, she was distinctly aware of the constant drain of chakra such an endeavor required. Being who she was, she had also calculated out how much longer she had before she chewed through the rest of her reserves.

Even for someone who lived minute to minute, such a small amount was alarming, and she carefully shunted all her chakra in the most efficient manner possible. It helped a little, but for someone with an hourglass on the table, a few spared minutes hardly seemed like enough.

.

Sakura's breath escaped her lips in puffs of white smoke as she ran across the icy terrain. The cold air nipped at her exposed skin, but she didn't waste time fixing the hood of her cloak when it would just get blown back off anyways.

Her legs were a blur, her feet barely touching the ground. Normally she couldn't travel at this speed since her eyesight couldn't keep up with the changing scenery, but due to the seriousness of the situation, not being able to see for a few moments on a relatively flat terrain merited the risk.

Besides, the flash of orange on an otherwise white terrain was hard to miss.

"Naruto!" she shouted as she slowed her pace.

He turned shocked and bewildered. "Sakura?"

She slammed into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso. He was here! Her Naruto was safe! She wasn't too late!

He laughed somewhat uneasily. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?"

The pinket was stunned. He didn't know?!

Releasing him, she studied his face for any sign of deception, but her blond knucklehead just stared at her with a concerned expression. He didn't appear anxious or in any particular hurry, and he didn't have that tense look of someone on a manhunt. She almost sagged in relief.

He didn't know.

Straightening, she cleared her face. This called for a change in tactics since her role in this switched from one of possible intervention to delay. It wouldn't take Sasuke and his team long to escape into the mountains where they could disappear with the onset of the incoming blizzard.

She hugged him then, tightly and with a desperation that surprised him.

"Sakura-chan?"

She had come so close to losing her team. Permanently. It was a setup, it had to be, but she was not going to sit back and watch her boys rip each other to shreds. She would die before she let that happen.

"Did you really think I was going to let you leave before saying goodbye?" she finally managed to spit out, grasping for excuses.

Not picking up on her odd tone, he laughed lightly hugging her back. "I told you I was only going to be gone for a few days. Ten tops."

Pulling back, Naruto smiled at her as he adjusted his backpack. "Wish me luck!"

'No! He can't leave yet!'

What she did next was arguably one of the most stupid and reckless things she had ever done. Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, she yanked him down to her level. She caught a brief flash of surprised blue eyes before she kissed him fiercely.

No matter what he thought of her, she would do what she had to. Part of her felt like crying when he stiffened against her, failing to respond, but she lingered for a moment, perhaps selfishly, perhaps only to gather herself before she face him.

He didn't kiss her back.

She leaned back but didn't step away, and their faces remained impossibly close together. Their white puffs of breath mingled together as he stared at her intensely as though he had never seen anything quite like her.

"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered hoarsely.

"I wanted to," she replied, her hands still not releasing his shirt.

"Why did you do that?" his voice carried a strange note to it as though he both wanted—no, needed to know and yet desperately tried to avoid it.

It started to snow, and a single icy flake landed in her eyelash.

It was snowing.

She didn't have to delay him anymore. She could dodge the question and hide from the answer. The snow would hide Sasuke's tracks so she didn't have to cover for him anymore.

But Sakura didn't move. Clinging to Naruto's shirt, she held him there as his eyes burned through her. Snowflakes got caught in their hair and gave the whole scene an almost otherworldly feel.

"Because I…" she swallowed. How long had she been waiting for this moment? How long had she been struggling to tell him?

His expression was contorted, as though part of him was yearning for her answer, hungering for it like a starving man, but another part was struggling against it. He seemed to be begging her to back off, to bite her tongue, and to let him go.

But she didn't; she couldn't.

"Because I love you."

.

"Sakura Haruno, you are here on trial for assisting in the escape of a fugitive and going against the direct order of your commanding officer. How do you plead?"

"Oblivious to the circumstance of said escaping fugitive and unaware of any orders that would have forbidden me from seeing my teammate off."

"Watch your tone," Danzo warned. He looked pleased as a peacock and far too comfortable behind the Hokage's desk.

"With all due respect acting Hokage, you can check the hospital records to see that it was my day off active duty so I was permitted to go as I pleased and had no contact with my superior officer. Furthermore," she argued trying, and failing, to sound polite and respectful, "How could I have possibly known that it was a Sharingan-induced coma placed on the Godaime when you wouldn't let me inspect her or review her medical chart?"

Danzo's face purpled. "You would have disobeyed my orders anyway."

"Had I been aware of them? Yes, I certainly would have," Sakura conceded, "but the point remains that you cannot charge me of insubordination when I was unaware of the orders." Or the fact that she wasn't his subordinate, she added silently.

Sakura didn't really know what the point of this trial was since he couldn't legally hold her to these charges—especially when Kakashi mentioned that it may have slipped his mind to mention that Sakura was not to leave the base on her day off until he realized she had done just that. Danzo also couldn't expose how he knew Sakura was sneaking into the hospital against regulation without having to explain why one of the top medics wasn't allowed to check up on a high-priority patient.

Perhaps it was her reputation that we was after, wanting to drag her name through the mud. Such a thing might have mattered had Sakura wanted to take advantage of her family's connections and marry some high-ranking official or whatever, but if she had been even remotely interested in that kind of life, she would have never signed up for the academy.

.

She wasn't sure what she expected, maybe another one of those warning looks, maybe he would finally tell her the real reason for holding her at arm length all this time, but Naruto, being the unpredictable ninja that he was, surprised her yet again.

He leaned forward, crossing the small distance between them and kissed her. Finally, in the middle of a war, when her sensei was in a comma and Sasuke was an easy target to villanify, finally with the snow falling softly around them in the most frigid corner of the world, finally, he gave some hint that he wanted her too.

His hand slid around her waist while her arms wrapped around his neck. There wasn't a rush, but the kiss was fervent and hurried as though they were making up for lost time.

Abruptly, he broke off, shoving her away. It wasn't enough force to hurt her, but he wasn't exactly gentle either.

"I can't," he said.

Sakura felt like screaming in frustration. Stomping her foot in the icy ground, "You can't what?!" she demanded.

"This, us, it's not going to happen. We're never going to happen Sakura. I'm not—" he cut himself off suddenly as another set of feet crunched through the snow.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she mumbled, already knowing the reason behind his sudden appearance.

The silver haired jounin didn't waste any time with formalities. "As of today, Sasuke Uchiha is ranked as an S-ranked criminal wanted for desertion, betrayal, and attempted assassination of a kage."

"Assassination?" Naruto repeated incredulous shaking his head, "The teme wouldn't do that."

"Tsunade was found in a Sharingan-induced coma, and her central nervous system would have collapsed due to strain if we hadn't found her so quickly so unless you think I did it or Itachi somehow rose from the grave, I would say we have a problem."

"Sasuke wouldn't," Naruto protested but it even sounded weak coming from his ears.

"Until Tsunade awakens, we won't know for sure."

"Where is he?" Naruto asked.

"Nearby we suspect," the Kakashi answered, "I was part of the team on his trail, but when the snow started, we lost it near the mountain pass."

"The mountain pass?" the blond thought out loud, "That's funny because I was about to—"

The change was so sudden that her breath hitched in her throat as he swiveled on her, furious eyes glaring at her in accusation. "You knew."

She wanted to run, wanted to deny it, wanted to feign ignorance, but this was Naruto, her Naruto, and she never lied to him. Squaring her shoulder as though she were meeting her executioner, she raised her eyes to meet his.

"Hai, I knew."

.

After her trail, he met her outside the makeshift Hokage's office. Naruto didn't say much, but then, he didn't have to.

"I can't stand liars."

.

Standing outside of a hair salon, she contemplated getting a trim. She had some free time now, could easily go in and get her hair cut. Besides, the salon didn't look too busy so they should have no trouble fitting her in.

It had been sometime since her last appointment, and her pink tresses were starting to grow out. After she came home, her mother would grumble awhile about how short hair was improper for a lady of her standing, and her father would give her that sympathetic look from over his newspaper as if to say 'Is he still breaking your heart?'

Loitering on the sidewalk, Sakura tugged on her pink locks in a frustrated manner while she chewed on her lip, deep in thought. Maybe it was time for a change. She wasn't a little girl anymore, and it was time she started acting like it.

Later that evening, she caught her mother smiling smugly looking quite like the cat that had caught the canary.

"I thought you were getting your hair cut today."

Sakura shrugged, avidly avoiding her father's curious gaze. "I guess not."

.

The ground wasn't exactly the most interesting specimen to study, but counting pebbles seemed like a much better way to pass the time than waiting for her chakra reserves to dry up and her arms to collapse from the strain. Part of her wanted to let go, to let the rocks fall, to let the end be quick and merciful. After all, there were certainly worse ways to die.

'No.'

Sakura Haruno was nothing if not stubborn. She had too much to do, too much to live for. She had kids to take care of, precious people that she had to keep safe. She had to help this Konoha make it though the third shinobi war.

Then, she had to get back home to her Konoha, had to hug her father and bash Naruto's brain in. She had to beat Kakashi in shogi and finish her jounin sensei application so she could lead a team of her own. She had so much to do that there was no way she was dying here.

"My you are a stubborn one."

Her head shot up as a man with a swirled mask stood before her. Sakura was having a hard time concentrating on him as her vision blurred and wavered.

"I must say I am impressed," the masked man continued. "When I originally planted you in this universe, I foresaw you dying, yet here you are, clinging to life still."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Tobi."

He didn't seem surprised. "I wasn't sure if you would succeed now that the enforcer is elsewhere and one's will plays a much larger role in this world's fate, but I am pleased. Now I can make both world perfect."

"No," Sakura shuddered.

"Yes," Tobi contradicted, "It is already done, and when you die, the changes will be permanent."

She didn't whimper or beg as he stepped near her with a sharp kunai in his hand, and she didn't cry out when his blade began carving patterns on her arms. Instead, she bit her cheek and endured.

His hand jerked back in shock when he pushed up her sleeve and saw the kyuubi scar. "My, my," he said studying the mark, "What have we here?"

Releasing her sleeve, he watched it slide back down to cover the mark. "It seems as though you are a rarer find than I had first imagined."

He stepped back, as far as the limited space would allow and studied her thoughtfully. What Sakura didn't realize was that what the man was searching for was not her aura, chakra signature, or even her favorite flavor of ramen. No, he was studying her essence.

This man, this 'Tobi', had been to far more worlds and planes than this Sakura could imagine. Each world held slight variations and deviations and each held a different fabric of fate. He had searched countless worlds and only found a few hundred that were remotely like his original world. Of these, he had attempted to 'renovate' several dozen, yet thus far, all his projects had been failures.

Then he came across her world. The first world he had found in which both the Weaver and the Spinner had rejected the Allotter.

It had seemed like the perfect opportunity, yet now he was suspicious. Why was this Allotter rejected? She had the mark, yet her essence seemed somewhat strange. It matched the essence of this world he had arbitrarily thrown her in rather than the world she had emerged from.

Had her essence adapted to this new world, or had it been this way before? He struggled to remember. If it was the latter, than it brewed for trouble, a trap that had been set for him to intentionally fall into.

What were the gods doing now?

Sakura struggled to remain conscious feeling dizzy and lightheaded from all the blood loss. "You won't win in the end," she murmured as if to herself.

The masked man paused, feeling a shift in the air like a lock sliding into place. He hated these kinds of feelings; such things made him uneasy.

The pinket's head slumped as though she had fallen unconscious, but her lips still moved, her words barely audible. "You never win. You never get what you want."

The mask gave away nothing. "You assume too much."

He spun the kunai once around his finger before catching it. "I was going to cut you up slowly to see if he could feel it, but my patience wears thin."

Cold metal pressed against her neck. "Goodbye Haruno Sakura or whatever you are."

A flash of yellow and a hand shot out of the shadows and grabbed Tobi's wrist twisting it back. Sakura blinked as the world spun in and out of focus. She followed the hand up the arm to the shoulder than across to a familiar face.

Minato.

Those eyes, she would never forget those eyes. The green was gone, replaced by a darkness she had never seen before.

He didn't say anything, but then he didn't have to. As Tobi's hand spasmed in pain, Minato's head tilted slightly so that his bangs cast a dark shadow across his face. Even to Sakura's waning consciousness, he looked like a feral animal, a god of wrath, while his dangerous expression promised a painful retribution.

If the masked man was worried, he hid it well. His kunai had drawn a fine line across Sakura's skin when she inhaled, and all it would take is the smallest of movements and that kunai would be covered in a lot more blood.

But those fingers didn't so much as twitch. "How… interesting."

A/N: It will probably be at least two weeks before the next update (so much sadness), but hopefully things should settle down after that and updates can become more regular. I decided to extend the Part 1 Arc out one more chapter, and I'm curious about any predictions you guys might have about the upcoming showdown.

Anyways feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, and criticisms below, and enjoy your weekend!