Stand by Me

10

Slash

Stab

Slash

Scream

It was never ending!

The blood splattering against his clothes, Itachi's cruel laughter, his parent's bloodcurdling cries of pain.

What the hell was taking Sakura so long?

If she could pierce his original genjutsu and break into his own mind; then surely she could get them both out of this as well.

46 hours to go.

"HINATA!"

Rushing towards the fallen girl, Naruto felt pure panic well up in his chest.

Be okay, be okay, be okay, be okay!

She had to be okay. He had gotten there in time to save her.

She was going to be fine.

Scooping her up in his arms, he rested the back of his hand against her pale forehead, brushing her purple bangs away; to check her temperature.

She was burning up.

And suddenly nothing else mattered. Not the injured shinobi, not Sasuke, not Madara.

Hinata could be dying. He had to find a medic. He had to find Sakura.

With determination set firmly on his face, Naruto held her tighter and took to the trees, Kyuubi mode already activated.

Sai had finally finished off the Zetsu's.

So now, with permission from his squad leader, some Jonin from Kiri, he took to the trees; determined to find his blond haired friend and offer him assistance.

He had heard Naruto had been temporarily placed on the third division which was controlled by Kakashi.

He was sure that Naruto wouldn't be there.

He would already be on Sasuke's trail.

So the ROOT ninja whipped out his paintbrush and sent some of his ink birds to scout the area.

He would find Naruto and mend his broken team.

"I need you to help me." Sakura told her 'Inner' bluntly.

The blurry copy of her shot her a sympathetic look.

"I'll help you." 'Inner' agreed. "But you're not going to like it."

At this point though, Sakura wasn't really sure if she cared whether or not she liked it. She was holding an eight year old Uchiha Sasuke in her arms. An eight year old Uchiha Sasuke who had a sixteen year old Sasuke's consciousness. And he was being tortured by Itachi.

She already didn't like it.

"Just tell me what I've got to do and I'll do it."

'Inner' sighed heavily.

"I can't break out of this. The best I could do was penetrate that bastards original Tsukuyomi. There is another way out but as I said; you're really not going to like it."

Sakura's eyes hardened. From all the experience she had had with her 'Inner', she had always been extremely loud and volatile. Now, however… she had an almost pitying expression in her eyes.

"Just tell me and I'll deal with it."

Taking a deep breath, 'Inner' nodded.

"To break out of Tsukuyomi; you have to kill the person who cast it."

Her next words drove knifes into Sakura's heart.

"You have to kill him, Sakura."

A/N- Yo. So… that's the last update until after Christmas. I know I was going to post this yesterday; but the new chapter of Fairy Tail preoccupied me. It was seriously awesome. And depressing. Watch out for a JellalxErza one-shot soon, I couldn't resist. So I hope you all have a great Christmas and why don't you give me a present by REVIEWING! I'll even check your stories out and R&R them if they catch my interest. Equivalent exchange works well at Christmas. =D Review.