Hey, I have knocked another chapter up. This story makes me happy, and I don't know why. Anyway I have no life. I update sooo frequently you guys are probobly like man this girl has nothing better to do. You are oh so right if you are thinking that XD. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

Naruto's POV

Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, I'm going to find you both, Dattebeyo! I kept repeating that thought over and over again in my brain. I had gotten used to Teme not being around. But Sakura-chan being gone was different. It was all so different without her. Kiba kept catching her scent but it kept disappearing. I still remember when I heard Sasuke-teme had killed Orochimaru. I had hoped he was coming back, with Sakura. He wasn't but at least Sakura-chan was ok. There were sightings of him with a pink haired girl. Which had to be Sakura-chan. No one else had hair like hers. We were so close. I was side by side with Kakashi-sensei. Kiba was ahead with Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru and Ino. We were determined as ever. I promised Grandma I would bring Sakura back. Her apprentice was gone, she was feeling the same pain I felt when Sasuke felt.

"Ino, you go ahead with Pakkun to search for Sasuke and Sakura's scent. Search the near by town as well" I heard Kakashi-sensei order.

"Hai!" I saw Ino and Pakkuns figure's take off in the opposite direction.

Ino if we don't find them I hope you do….

"Stop!" I heard Kiba's voice yell out to us.

The rest of the group landed on the bare floor and saw a figure up ahead watching us.

Standing in the middle of the bare Forrest was… Kabuto? Only Kabuto part of him looked like Orochimaru. What the hell is going on? Things can't get any weirder. This is way to much!

"Kabuto….." Kakashi-sensei trailed off. E got in our fighting stances preparing for whatever might happen. Kabuto began laughing like a maniac.

"What the hell!" I yelled.

"Surprised? In the next few hours I'll be completely covered with Orochimaru's genes. I've become a masterpiece. Thank you by the way Naruto, you never gave up on your dream. That has inspired me to never give up on mine. Now look at me" Kabuto began laughing once again.

I looked over at Hinata who was focusing on him with her Baykugan. She gasped and shrunk back a little.

"It's already taken over seventy precent of his body!" Hinata yelled to us.

" I don't have time for this! I have to find Sakura-chan and Teme!" I began getting angry. Yamato placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Naruto, you need to calm down" He said sternly. I bit my tongue and tried my best. I felt the anger beginning to leave my body.

"Sakura-san and Sasuke-kun took off after Sasuke defeated Orochimaru. The experiment went well Sakura is under Sasuke's constant command. She was forced to go with him. She wanted to go home. I can hear the mutters in her sleep now.

"Naruto-kun! Why didn't you help me! Why aren't you helping me" Kabuto imitated a sad voice. I clenched my fist. Sakura-chan! Do you really think I abandoned you?

"Sakura-chan knows I wouldn't abandon her! So stop lying!" I yelled getting angrier once more.

"My, my you let the anger control you. That's your weakness. Isn't that why Sakura has that ugly scar?" Kabuto taunted him.

It was an accident, I never meant to do that to Sakura-Chan! She had to believe that. R-right, Sakura-chan I'm sorry!

Ino's POV

"Pakkun how close are we?" I asked impatiently. I was going to get forehead back! That forehead thinks I'm going to let her spend all that time with Sasuke! Think again. I missed her, we wasted a lot of time being rivals. Now the thought of never seeing her again made me uneasy. I was nothing without Sakura. She was in a way a role model for me. It was my goal to become as strong as her. We used to be even when it came to strength. She surpassed me though. I wouldn't stand a chance against her.

Pakkun sniffed the air. " I picked up Sasuke and Sakura's scent. A small wiff, they are in the village"Pakkun sated.

I nodded my head determined. We made our way to the village. Hordes of people were walking and running.

"Ino, the scent is close. Do you see Sakura and Sasuke?" Pakkun asked.

I glanced frantically in every direction. Sasuke! Sakura! Where are you! I walked past a girl with bright red hair and glasses. Our hair touched, I thought nothing of it.

"The scent is going farther away" Pakkun spoke up once again.

"What! That's impossible! I didn't even see them!" I was frustrated.

"We might have passed someone that was near them earlier. Perhaps a teammate of theirs? They must have been around them for some time to have their scent clinging to them" Pakkun continued sniffing the air.

Suddenly a loud explosion sounded. People screamed and gasped. The explosion was up ahead.

Kiba, Hinata, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei! Was that explosion them? I didn't care I took off in that direction.

Sakura's POV

I can't believe I am inside a giant snakes belly. Sasuke was holding me close as if in a warm embrace. I felt little pain, it was more like exhaustion. Sasuke-kun got some serious hits. I would know after all. I felt them.

"Sakura, you alright?" He asked worriedly.

I knodded. Which was hard considering my head was buried in his chest.

Eventually we were being spit slowly out of the snakes mouth. Manda was the snakes name. It looked like it was dying.

"Tch, Uciha Sasuke" the snake said.

I bit my lip. This snake used to be Orochimaru's summon. So it had to have been evil in some way. But I couldn't help but feel bad as the snake's eyes rolled back. Leaving this world forever. Sasuke didn't seem very bothered.

I feel to the ground exhausted. I landed on my knees panting hard. I started coughing as well. The explosion had dirt flowing through the air so it was hard to breathe.

Deidara had committed suicide. That weirs guy with the mask took off though. Sasuke just wanted information from him of Uciha, Itachi. Sasuke seemed calm during the fight until Deidara tried to kill me. He was holding some sort of grudge because I had killed Sasori and now he was stuck " with a new annoying partner".

Sasuke lifted me up and held me bridal style. We were jumping through the woods after that.

" We are going to catch up with the rest of the team. After that, we have to find Itachi" Sasuke told me.

I nodded, and closed my eyes. Trying, hoping sleep would overtake me. I needed to rest. I was worn out and I wasn't even the one that was fighting.

Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin were all waiting. Karin was pacing, Suigetsu was taking a nap against a tree, and Juugo was paying attention to a bird.

Karin gritted her teeth when she saw Sasuke was carrying me. He placed me gently down.

"Let me heal you" I stated evenly. His pain was my pain so I was healing him whether he liked it or not.

Sasuke grunted in agreement and allowed me to heal him. I placed my glowing green hands on his cuts . After a few minutes every wound was healed.

"We are going after Itachi, now" Sasuke stated after I was finished. I rolled my eyes.

"You just finished fighting Deidara" I said sternly.

Sasuke glanced at me. " Don't worry Sakura, it will be fine" He assured me in an emotionless voice. I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms.

"Come on Pinky don't be like that!" Suigetsu started laughing.

I ignored him. I wasn't in the mood for this.

"Konoha ninja's are coming!" Karin suddenly yelled out.

Naruto! I thought.

"Don't even think about it" Sasuke grabbed me by my wrist and pinched my kneck.

Damnit! No…. I didn't put up anymore of a fight. I greeted the darkness with open arms.

Naruto's POV

"The scent disappears here" Kiba said frustrated." Sasuke and Sakura's scents are close together, that sensor Sasuke has probably told the group we were coming. Sakura tried making a run for it or something. I'm guessing Sasuke knocked her out. The rain washed away the proper way they went. They could be anywhere by now" Akamaru whined.

"Damnit!" I punched a near by tree.

We were so close. Teme why didn't you just let her go? At least let me have someone back!

A flash of blonde appeared. Ino was in front of us panting.

"Ino, any news?" Yamato asked.

"Pakkun caught a whiff of Sasuke and Sakura's scent in the town. They weren't there though. I must have walked by one of his teammates that had Sasuke and Sakura's scent clinging to them. I showed up near the explosion and their scent led me here" Ino finished out of breathe.

"Well we had a run in with Kabuto who was absorbing Orochimaru, the explosion caught our attention as well. As soon as we turned our backs Kabuto was gone" Kakashi-sensei explained to Ino.

" We need to hurry and find them!" Ino was growing impatient Naruto could tell.

Kiba spoke " We should wait until the rain clears up. Then we can follow the scent instead of making some wild goose chase. The rain scattered the scent and is pointing in every other direction. We have to wait until it stops" Kiba said annoyed.

"That could take forever!" I yelled.

"Naruto calm down, this rain will be over eventually. For now we need to camp out somewhere. This mission isn't over yet" Kakashi-sensei yelled over to me.

I gritted my teeth. I failed again….

I stared up at the stars. Sadness taking me over. Suigetsu and Karin were asleep. Sasuke went on a walk. Juugo was sitting close to me near the fire.

"Sakura-san you really are being held here against you will?" Juugo asked.

I smiled at him. " Call me Sakura-chan, it sounds better. And yeah, pretty much" I sighed after replying and went back to gazing at the stars.

"I'm sorry" Juugo said quietly.

"It's no big deal" I replied shrugging. It was a big deal, I was so close to Naruto. I missed him, and everyone else a lot. Poor Tsunade, I'm sure she is upset. I couldn't help but frown. The pale moonlight hit my face.

"Well….Sakura-chan. I think I'm going to go to bed" Juugo slowly stood up.

I smiled, a real smile. " Ok, goodnight Juugo" I gave him a little wave before he disspeared in the tent.

I sighed and waited for Sasuke to return.

I leaned my head against the log and shivered slighly from the cold night air.

My eyes opened a few minutes later from someone calling my name.

"Sasuke-kun?" I asked.

Sasuke knodded. " You have been sleeping out here for an hour. It's cold you need to go in the tent.

An hour? It felt like a few minutes. Before I could stand up Sasuke picked me up and carried me inside the tent. I breathed in his scent. As pissed as I was about earlier I knew I couldn't stay mad for long.

He placed me on the soft sleeping bag and put the brown blanket over me. I let sleep take me over.

"Goodnight Sasuke-kun" I whispered before I slipped away into sleep.

I groaned and rolled out of the warm blanket. I walked out of the tent to see everyone preparing to leave. It took a short time to gather everything up. The rain was long gone. Mud was the only evidence it had ever rained.

Karin led the way towards Itachi's chakra. Eventually we came up to a dark cave.

"You guys stay behind, Sakura come with me" Sasuke led me into the cave. I took one last glance at the fuming Karin, snickering Suigetsu, and smiling Juugo.

The cave was dark and damp. A figure in the usual Akatsuki cloak was standing with a crow resting on his arm.

I held my breathe. Uciha, Itachi? The man that had murdered the Uciha clan. The reason Sasuke-kun was like this. I couldn't help but hate him as well.

"So good to see you little brother…." his menacing voice echoed the caves.

In a matter of seconds a strange type of chidori shot out from Sasuke entering Itachi's body. He lifted him in the air. Blood came out of Itachi's mouth. Running like a fountain. Sasuke let the body fall to the floor.

There is no way it's over already. I tried to sense if we were in a genjutsu. The chakra patterns were normal though. The body erupted into a swarming pair of crows. One of them came straight at me and scratched me. I cried out. It raked my arm drawing blood. Something was on the crows talon. I felt something enter my bloodstream. I grabbed my arm and bit my tongue, Holding in the screams of pain. Sasuke was by me in a matter of seconds.

"If you really wish to fight me little brother, meet me near the-" Itachi's words were lost in my ears. I knew Sasuke heard though. I was focusing on sending chakra to my arm. Trying to heal whatever was in my wound.

"It is a special kind of poison, you have to defeat me in order to diminish it. If you don't……she dies" Itachi's voice finished.

I didn't hold in the painful screams any longer. I let them all out falling to the ground.

I could hear Sasuke pounding the floor.

Sakura, I sm going to defeat him. Don't worry, he will regret causing this pain to you. Sasuke sounded furious. I stopped screaming and held my jaw together letting hot tears stream down my face.

Suigetsu came running in with Juugo and Karin not far behind.

"What's going on ! Is Sakura-san alright, Sasuke-sama?" I heard Juugo's voice filled with panic.

"I told you to wait out there" Sasuke said angrily.

"We heard Sakura screaming we came in to help" Karin protested. I was surprised. I figured she would want me to die.

"Like you care" I could hear the annoyance in Suigetsu's voice.

"I do care, we are a team whether I like it or not. So shut up!" I heard the smacking of a hand meet flesh.

I tuned out the rest. Breathing as hard as I could.

"Let's go" I finally said. Sasuke tried to help me up but I got up on my own. My arm hung limp on my side. Sasuke, be careful.. I thought. Now Sasuke had even more reasons to kill Itachi. I was like a ticking time bomb now. One word flashed through my brain and I blocked it out in the next second.

Burden… After all these years am I still just a burden! All the training I endured. I am not that way anymore. Damnit!

Naruto's POV

The rain stopped the next morning. I woke everyone up ready to go after Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan. Kiba was leading us towards the scent. I was ecstatic, we were close I could feel it. I went to swing to the next tree until another interruption happened.

"Howdy!" A masked figure was inches from my face.

I screamed and fell to the floor. I landed next to Kakashi-sensei. Ino, Kiba, Hinata, and Yamato landed gracefully beside us as well.

"Hey what's the big idea! I don't have time for this I need to find Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan!" I yelled at man. He was in an Akatsuki cloak, black with red clouds. He had a swirly mask on hiding his face.

There was an opening in the eye area. A flash of red caught my attention. Sharingan? I thought Itachi, and Sasuke were the only survivors left.

"Hi! I'm Tobi, and yes, yes Itachi and Sasuke are fighting now. Sakura? Ah the pink haired girl with Sasuke! Yes, yes she id doing well" the man called Tobi said.

This guy is pretty different for an Akatsuki member. He was to bright, happy, and annoying.

"They are fighting!" I yelled out.

"Aren't you listening kid? I just said that" Tobi said laughing.

"That's it! Your pissing me off!" I jumped up and went to land a ounch on him. Tobi disappeared? What the hell, that's impossible. The rest of the team went to attack Tobi who appeared behind me. He kept disspearing though. I was worn out after a few minutes of out.

Why didn't I figure this out sooner? He is distracting us!

"Kakashi-sensei! Forget him we need to get Sakura-chan!" I yelled. And Teme. I finished in my mind.

" Ah, you are much to late anyway! The battle is over. Uciha, Sasuke has won!" Tobi declared giddily.

W-what? He finally got his revenge. Will he come back to the village.

"I'll be taking him and the girl now. Thanks for the fun time. Bye-Bye now!" Tobi yelled as he dissapeared.

Take Sasuke-Teme and Sakura-chan! Hell no.

"We have to get to them first!" I yelled and toom off not waiting for a reply. I keep getting so close and keep failing. Not this time! This time I have to make it! Dattebeyo!

Sakura's POV

I felt waves of pain crashing over me. The sadness Sasuke felt,a nd the pain from his injuries. Sasuke cried, he actually cried. I was crying now to. His pain was my pain. Sasuke felt horrible, I hated it. I hate feeling this pain. His brother all along was protecting him. He killed the Uciha clan under the elders's of Konoha's orders.

I started shaking from the pain. I wiped at my eyes and looked up at Sasuke who was still crying. The rest of Team Hebi was in the sidelines just watching.

A masked man appeared in front of me and looked down at me.

"So you're the Sakura, I heard so much about from the kyuubi" the masked man said.

I held a sob in my throat. Naruto? Naruto was here. No! did he take Naruto!

"If you so much as layed a hand on Naruto I'll kill you myself!" I said screaming as loud as I could.

The man laughed. "Don't worry I havn't……yet" the man finished with a snicker. I looked down at the mud letting the rain soak me.

The man left me and walked ovet o Sasuke. He and Sasuke walked to a rock and began talking. I felt the pain slowly start to leave my body. It was still there though. The curse Itachi put on me vanished the second he died. He did it to make Sasuke fight even harder. To ensure Sasuke would kill him. He got his wish. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I smiled through my tears it was Suigetsu. They were criminals, they murdered people in cold blood. But they kind of grow on you at the same time.

Suigetsu helped me up and led me over to Juugo and Karin. I could have imagined it but I thought Karin gave me a small reassuring smile. The rain could have messed up my eyes, but if she did it vanished in an instant. Juugo smiled as well. I looked down and hugged my knees.

Sasuke-kun……..you ok? I knew it was a dumb question. But I needed to hear his voice.

Fine. Come on we are leaving we are going to the Akatsuki base. I gasped out loud. Akatsuki? Why?

I heard footsteps and saw the masked man and Sasuke directly behind me. Sasuke held out his hand and I took it. The masked man seemed to be faced in my direction. His sharingan eye eyedme curiously.

Wait sharingan? Sasuke I thought you and Itachi were the only survivors? I frowned and turned away.

Madara Uciha, he is another. Sasuke's voice seemed uneasy.

I raised an eyebrow.

"From this moment we leave Hebi behind, from now on we are Taka. With one goal. To crush Konoha." Sasuke finally said with hate in his voice.

I tensed and tuned towards Sasuke. " You arrogant! Selfish Dick!" I slapped him right across the face. Drawing blood from his lip.

I could feel Juugo, karin, and Suigetsu tense behind me. Madara remained unmoving but was still looking at me.

"Sakura-" Sasuke started.

"Shut up!" I yelled. I was shaking I was so angry. " You want to crush Konoha and now your siding with the Akatsuki who want to kill Naruto!" I yelled in his face. Angry tears threatened to spill over. I held them back with all my might.

"Death is a side effect we have no control over" Madara interrupted.

I clenched my fist. I growled and stared at the ground. " Let me go home!" I finally said.

"No" Sasuke replied coldly.

"Sakura I command you to forget about home, to not ever think of it again. To not ever ask me again to go home!" Sasuke yelled evenly cold.

I gasped and started shaking.

"That's harsh…" I heard Suigetsu whisper.

"To harsh" Juugo said coldly.

I tried to think of home but I couldn't. I couldn't even think of the name. I have never felt so blank before in my entire life.

" I don't want to follow you" I cried. Tears were streaming over my face.

Sasuke met my eyes " You weren't afraid to follow me to Orochimaru" Sasuke stated in his normal voice.

"That was a long time ago…." I whispered after a sob.

I will not update another chapter until I have a total of TWENTY REVIEWS .So yeah Sasuke was a little cold in the end. Well really cold….. But that's just because a lot happened to him. His brother is dead and he finds out he was actually the good guy. Sakura is all he has left and she wants to leave him. But next chapter of course they are going to kiss and make up. Well maybe not literally kiss XD I haven't decided yet! Review if you want the next chapter : )