Disclaimer: I don't own, dammit. And I'm really peeved at FFdotnet because they eliminated the hyphens and other symbols for scene breaks. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Also, I don't own God of War, but damn how I want to beat up the second game! DX
-X-
Chapter 11: Battling
-X-
No rest was allowed in the frantic pursuit of Sakura's captor.
"Give her back, you bastard!" Naruto had shouted into the wilderness.
But no one answered his challenge.
Forgoing all stealthy maneuvers, the allied shinobi ran desperately behind Pakkun and Kakashi's pack of nin-dogs, who had picked up Sakura's trace right the way.
Neji's Byakugan searched frantically, finding nothing to help them in their quest.
"This is what happened at Suna borders," Gaara had said, clenching his hands in utter anger. "Temari disappeared during her watch. Kankurou didn't find anything but her hitai-ate."
Naruto growled, reddish eyes glowing with rage.
And so, they kept running.
-X-
Sakura's head hit the wall with a shattering impact, as the orange-haired ninja flung her body into it. Slipping down to the floor, she gritted her teeth and looked up to the male that was currently trying to subdue her.
"Juugo," a deep voice called. The tall man swiveled his head to the voice, and Sakura watched how his dark marks slowly retreated into the back of his neck. "It's enough."
Another ninja, a male with pale skin, silver hair and a broadsword attached to his back, went to help the slumped guy in front of the pink-haired medic. "Damn, it's the fifth time this week," he observed offhandedly. "Do you think we can leave him alone, Sasuke?"
A tall, dark-haired man entered the torch-lit cell, crimson eyes staring directly into emerald ones.
"Sakura," he greeted coldly. She bristled under her chakra laden ropes that tied her wrists in a painful form behind her back, glaring at her kidnapper.
"You stupid asshole," she hissed furiously. "I should have known it was you."
Sasuke appeared unfazed by her insults. "Is that how you greet the love of your life, Sakura?"
A derisive snort behind the Uchiha was heard. "Sasuke-kun," a red-haired woman with glasses appeared, all but purring his name. "Why do you want this bitch? You don't need anyone but me, that's what you said."
"Shut up, Karin," Sasuke said softly, his Sharingan spinning lazily as he kept staring at Sakura's eyes. "This doesn't concern any of you. Get out."
Feeling the dark aura that reeled off the Sound Leader's body, all three ninjas slipped out of the prison cell, the pale man closing the door behind him.
"Tell me, Sakura," he continued, changing his tone from cold to taunting. An all-too-familiar smirk made its way to his lips, making Sakura's heart twist with frustration and sadness. "Are you here to bring me back to Konoha? This is certainly getting old."
She didn't answer, busy as she was countering the chakra that was strengthening her binds.
"You seem distracted, annoying," Sasuke whispered, looking down at her sudden stillness at the poignant remark. "You can't break the ropes. I'm the one that tied you up."
Sakura swore inwardly, while Inner Sakura threw a tantrum of epic proportions. "What do you want with me, Sasuke?" she snarled aggressively.
He smirked. "What, you don't love me anymore, Sakura?" he sneered, letting out a dark chuckle that didn't sound natural in his voice. "Tell me, little girl... did you find yourself another lover? Naruto, perhaps? Or maybe Rock Lee?"
"Fuck you, Sasuke," she hissed, trying to twist her wrists anxiously to no avail. Sasuke had bound them with their inner sides touching and her hands reaching towards her arms, making impossible to her to form seals.
He laughed again, a raspy chuckle that sent a chill down her spine.
"Don't worry, little girl," he replied, grabbing her shirt and hauling her up to smash her into the wall again. "You will have the opportunity to fuck me as much as you want. But first..." he trailed off as his blood-red eyes changed in front of hers. "You will see something nice..."
Sakura screamed in pain, as Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan made her relive all her painful failures.
-X-
It took Yamato's special Mokuton jutsu to appease an enraged Naruto. A certain silver-eyed ANBU watched as Naruto started yelling insults at the forest, roaring at the trees that surrounded the river and demanding the return of the pink-haired medic, but nothing had happened.
Neji was livid.
That was painfully obvious to his cousin, who detailed the way he launched himself into the pursuit. He seemed desperate, past the point of hot-blooded anger, like the blond Hokage-to-be had a penchant to show.
It was most like a cold fury, the very one her father had displayed on his features when he informed her about the events that had occasioned Neji's separation from the family in their younger days.
Hiashi Hyuuga confided in his two daughters how a Lightning ninja had abducted Hinata and the downward spiral that resulted of that dreaded episode. Both Hyuuga kunoichi understood then how torn Neji had been when he found out about his father's demise.
Now, looking at a certainly predatory relative of hers with his Byakugan active and head on searching for some sort of clue that lead them to the Uchiha's compound, a light turned on in her head, making slow down her pace a little. Kakashi noticed immediately, for he was running next to her.
"Is something the matter?" he asked. Hinata blinked and shook her head, bouncing back into her position within a few leaps.
Kami-sama, Neji-niisan... was her only thought, besides worrying herself sick for her friend's safety.
-X-
Oblivious to everything but his target, Neji was boiling inside.
No one heard or saw anything because they thought –he thought– the cave was secluded enough. This slip on security procedures made him want to throttle something, but now everything was done and he only had one option:
Run like a bat from hell, as his pink-haired lover had graciously put it.
It was clear to him now why he had awoken so suddenly. Her seal leaked part of the surprise she felt when being ambushed, but the lack of warmth –her presence always loomed in his subconscious like a little flare– alerted his outer senses.
The void left was, to put it simply, unnerving and unbearable.
He swore under his breath. Why did Sasuke want her? Suddenly a myriad of answers drowned his common sense: because she loved him once, because he desired her to bear his Uchiha psychotic spawns, because he just wanted to use her and dispose of her when he got bored...
The silver-eyed shinobi shook his head minutely, keeping his stoic façade in check. Sakura does not need me in a berserk state, he reprimanded himself harshly, recalling Kakashi's words to Naruto. Collected but certainly not appeased, the blond ninja let out a string of colorful words that even made Sai blink in surprise.
"I'm not going to let that bastard touch my sister, and that's a fucking promise."
Now Neji had to agree wholeheartedly with Naruto's statement.
They ran side by side, almost leaving the others in the dust if they hadn't been such seasoned shinobi.
"Neji," Naruto's harsh voice filtered through his angry hazed mind. "Sasuke's mine. I want you to get Sakura and Temari out with Gaara. If you encounter any enemy, go wild."
"Hai, Taichou," he answered sarcastically, only to hear the blond's feral laugh.
They gathered again when they reached a clearing filled with high, flexible leaves that reached Hinata's shoulder.
"Hyuuga," Gaara took command. "This is the main ground for Sound's underground base--"
"By Kami," Hinata interrupted him with her gasp, pointing at a certain direction. "Neji-niisan! Over there, five hundred meters!"
"I'm going to kill that fucking Uchiha," the silver-eyed ANBU Captain snarled when he took in the gorish scene that was expecting them a little distance away.
He knew that all the black splatters were blood. Corpses littered the ground as five figures stood in a circle, with other two forms in the middle.
Drawing on all his mental sanity to remain calm, he started his report. "Two people are surrounded by five others, their chakra is being hampered by something, and I can't detail what it is. They're certainly bounded – one of them is struggling with their bindings--"
"Kami! That's Sakura!" the Hyuuga female exclaimed uncharacteristically loud for her standards. "Someone is choking her!"
Naruto broke off at a breakneck speed, Neji and Gaara in tow. Puffed silver eyes narrowed dangerously.
Harm her and you're dead, bastard, he mentally growled as he drew his short ninjatô, sending a wave of masked chakra hoping that it reached Sakura.
-X-
"You are going to remain quiet, bitch, or I'll have you handed back to Suigetsu," Sasuke ordered as he tightened his grasp on the Sand's kunoichi's neck. Throwing her back to the hard ground, he glanced at his back as two canaries flew to the orange-haired ninja.
"They're coming," he reported softly. "Three and five."
"One of them has a ridiculously amount of chakra, Sasuke-kun," Karin interjected, pushing her glasses up her nose. "The other ones' patterns are controlled but I can feel their anger – it seems you pissed someone off," she completed with a smirk on her face.
Sasuke paid no heed, picking up Sakura's unconscious body and holding it close to his. "Let the others know that they are not to do anything without my express permission."
"But Sasuke-kun," the redhead started to argue, only to receive a Sharingan glare directly.
"Do as I say, Karin," he whispered harshly.
Temari scooted back, trying to discern what had happened to the pink-haired medic. She was tied just as she was, and a trickle of blood trailed from her mouth. She had heard the choked scream hours before and wondered what had happened, but she didn't imagine that one of the Konoha's top medics would be subdued, and never at the hands of her supposed love.
She had no choice but watch when Naruto, Neji and her little brother the Kazekage broke out of the high pasture. Her eyes widened when she say the blond's red eyes and her brother's jade orbs, glinting with fury.
"Release her, Uchiha," the red-haired male all but growled. Sasuke smirked and grunted, amused.
"I certainly never thought that you would come personally to rescue your sister, Shukaku vessel," the raven-haired sneered. "I underestimated you. I inferred that since the removal of your bijuu you would be more... well-behaved."
"You heard him, asshole," Naruto hissed between gritted teeth. "Let her go."
"Actually, I hardly doubt you're talking about the Sand bitch, Naruto," Sasuke taunted, dipping his head and licking the blood that flowed out of Sakura's lips. "Or, is it really that woman you have come to save?"
"Release them, Sasuke," Kakashi's voice rose, hard and demanding. "What have you done to Sakura?"
The Uchiha blinked, his eyes shifting with hidden amusement. "What do you think, Kakashi?"
They stared in muted horror as Sasuke's eyes showed their final appearance: the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Neji's fist clenched the hilt of his short sword, anger bubbling just below his skin.
But they were in for another surprise, as Sakura's eyes shot open and raised her knee, socking the Uchiha and sending him back from her.
"Now, Temari!"
That was the only warning the blonde had before the emerald-eyed kunoichi's foot stomped on the ground, shattering it beyond recognition.
That brief moment was all that Neji needed to flicker to her side, as she slumped to the ground and Gaara's sand swirled to envelop his sister, bringing her back to his side.
"Trap – this is a trap," the pink-haired medic struggled to breathe, lifting her bloodshot eyes to Neji's. "Surrounded, tons of them!"
A blade swung forward and Neji barely had the time to raise his own to stop it.
"And the Hyuuga servant comes to the rescue!" Sasuke mocked behind his katana, to address the woman behind him. "I don't know how did you break the Tsukiyomi, little girl, but that feat makes me want you more," he smirked and snapped his fingers.
A plethora of Sound nins fell onto the Allies platoon, dividing them in a matter of seconds.
But the Hokage-to-be had another idea, for he charged directly at the purple-white clad shinobi, a Rasengan in both hands.
"You stupid bastard!" he yelled, but Sasuke back-flipped away from them, leading the blond to their own battle.
"Go, Neji," Sakura choked as she spat more blood on the cracked ground and he slashed her ropes with a swing of his ninjatô. "Go! We can't be here for long!" he appeared to try to argue, but she shook her bowed head. "I'll be fine! Go!"
"I'll find you then," he looked at her intensely for an instant, before running to assist his cousin.
-X-
Sakura's mind floated.
For a brief moment, she went from terrified to content, as she found herself walking next to a raven-haired boy. He was looking at her with that little smirk that made her insides wobbly, eliciting a blush from the pink-haired girl.
"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, as he leaned on her, his intentions clear as his lips neared hers.
A hand shoved her to the ground, as a disdainful Uchiha looked down on her.
"Why are you so fucking annoying?" he asked, before turning her back and walking away.
The scene changed to an all-too-familiar path, flanked by stone benches.
Sasuke's whisper of gratefulness did not ring in the night as she felt a sharp pain inside her chest. Looking down, she was shocked to see a bloody katana blade protruding from between her breasts, from where her heart should be located.
Sakura screamed in anguish and desolation, as the katana pierced her again, and again.
"Why? Why are you doing this, Sasuke-kun?" she pleaded to a black-clad young man.
"You are a hindrance," he answered in a hard whisper. "You are just a burden."
The katana pierced her again, throwing her senses into a vortex of red, black and pain.
When she opened her eyes, Sasuke's form changed from the teenager she knew into the man that had encountered her in the prison cell.
But oddly, his orbs were black, as she remembered them.
"You have to break out, Sakura," he said, staring at her with a mix of pain and regret. "I'll help you, but you need to get out of here."
Confused and angry, she asked. "What? You are the one that is causing all this! Are you happy now? You killed your brother and now you killed me!"
"There's no time to explain with words," he merely responded, closing his eyes and opening them again, revealing crimson pin-wheels. "I'm sorry... for what you're about to see."
A bunch of images flooded her senses: his fight with Naruto at the Valley of the End; his encounter with Team Kakashi in the destroyed Sound base; his battle against Itachi, which drained him enough for Orochimaru's soul to break its imprisonment inside the Sharingan.
"This is more than a doujutsu, a rich Kekkei Genkai," a deep, raspy voice whispered next to her mind. "Are you aware that you are defenseless now, Sasuke-kun? I fulfilled my side of the bargain, although you treated me so unkindly... I certainly taught you well. But you'll never best me while your will is so weak!"
Sakura could only watch as Orochimaru's soul entered Sasuke's body. His screams subsided just after a few moments, while his eyes changed from pitch black to a brilliant gold, then to a glowing bloody red.
The Snake Sannin's mad laughter in Sasuke's voice filled the space, as she found herself back in the prison cell. Sasuke was there again, in front of her, a frown on his handsome features.
"He took over," he explained simply, "and I've been living inside the recess of the Sharingan for far too long. I'm tired of this, Sakura. I'm tired of seeing him do things that I would never do."
"Why did you allow it?" she whispered feverishly, stumbling forward and noting absently that she wasn't tied up. "Why did you let him, Sasuke? We could have defeated him. We could help you, and yet you chose to leave us behind. You hurt us so much..."
"I guess it was fate," he replied softly. "I was far too caught up inside my revenge that I just didn't see it coming. I think this is my karma."
"Is there any way to drive him out of your body?" she asked anxiously. He shook his head.
"No," he said. "That is why it must be you, Sakura. You and Naruto. I'll help from here, but I can't do much."
"What? What do you want us to do?" she questioned, already knowing the answer, dreading it.
"I want you guys to kill me."
-X-
Temari avoided yet another lunge from the enemy ninja that was aiming for her skin with a kunai. She was tired but her chakra reserves were okay enough, but the absence of her fan made her too vulnerable for her tastes.
"Shit!" she cursed as another opponent tried to tackle her to the ground.
"Temari," her brother called to her a few meters away. She lifted her gaze to him as he pressed his hands onto the sand that was spilled everywhere.
A gust formed at her feet, raising a large object from the sand. She smiled when she saw what the object was.
"Thank you, Gaara," she nodded, opening her fan and blowing her enemies away as he leapt towards a tall member of Team Hebi, who was wrapped in a hooded cloak.
-X-
Kakashi avoided the glowing hands that tried to touch him.
"I should have known that the Copy Ninja was among the children," a soft but sarcastic voice floated from the hood of the cloaked figure.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Kakashi replied cynically. "It has been a while, Kabuto."
"Certainly," the other agreed, drawing back the hood of his cloak. His twisted face with mismatched eyes –one dark, the other gold– grinned wickedly at Kakashi, who looked openly taken aback by the complete abnormality of Kabuto's appearance.
Lifting his hitai-ate, he went for the kill, praying that his former pink-haired student was okay. He didn't need to worry about Naruto, he reflected as he ducked yet another chakra scalpel. This was his test.
-X-
"I can't kill you!" Sakura shouted, frustrated. "How can you say something like that?! We spent half of our life trying to save you!"
"And I spent my whole life trying to drive you away," he shot back calmly. "You have to understand, Sakura. I drove you and Naruto away because I didn't want you to be tainted by my actions. I tried to be like you, but I just couldn't. I was far into my hate, into my revenge. It felt right, being selfish enough to leave you behind to fulfill my goals."
Sakura lowered her eyes. "Yeah... you're right. You were selfish," she snapped angrily to Sasuke, making him stiffen in surprise. "You were a selfish bastard that didn't even realize how much we cared about you! Naruto loved you like a brother! And I thought... I thought that in the end I was to be with you..."
"Sakura..." he murmured, but she shook her head, eyes full of tears.
"It doesn't matter anymore," she whispered heatedly, wiping her eyes roughly. "I moved on. Naruto moved on. But we never, ever gave up on you, Sasuke. Not even when we fought you years ago. We never abandoned you, even if you abandoned yourself."
The raven-haired ninja took a step forward. "I... I apologize, Sakura. I can't say I never cared about the both of you... but it's too late. I can't get out of my own Sharingan and that snake bastard owns my body now."
She turned her back on him. "I loved you, you stupid prick."
"I know," he whispered dejectedly, closing on her trembling form and placing is hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry. Please, Sakura. Kill me, and kill him too. He doesn't deserve any mercy. Destroy my body and release me from this nightmare."
Sakura shook below his cold fingers. "Please don't ask me that, Sasuke..."
"I have to," he went on with a soft tone. "He wants Naruto now, Sakura. And I can't allow him to take over my friend... my brother. My body is decaying; the only way for him to see is through the Sharingan... I was almost blind when I fought Itachi." The raven-haired man turned her to force her gently to face him. "Sakura. You two are the only ones that can do this... the only ones that care for me enough."
Taking a deep breath, she stared into his rich coal eyes.
"... Okay, Sasuke."
He let out a little, true smile.
-X-
Kakashi's body crashed unto the ground.
Neji bounced forward, intent on having an opening between Kabuto's chakra scalpels in order to close a major tenketsu point. He didn't make it; however the gray-haired medic retreated from his position, avoiding his Kaiten Spin.
"Kakashi-san!" he called. "Are you okay?"
"...Aa," the Copy Nin's voice sounded strained. Using his Byakugan, he noted that the muscles on the right leg and left arm were severed, evidencing their opponent's handiwork. "Where's Sakura?"
"She's battling on her own," the silver-eyed ANBU said with a feral smile that only his adversary saw. "Don't worry about her, she will be victorious."
"Well, well... the Hyuuga prodigy comes to the rescue," Kabuto said maliciously, sweeping a glance at the crumpled area. Sasuke was still holding his own against Naruto, all the while laughing at him. Suigetsu had effectively nullified Yamato's Mokuton techniques with his Suiton tricks, but Sai had bounced forward to get a chance at him. And Sakura was avoiding Karin's chakra claws, although her attire sported several gashes. "I wonder how much you gain by taking us down. I take there are some interests playing up here."
"Look at yourself," Neji sneered contemptuously. "Not only have you become less than a human, but a monster."
"A monster, you say?" Kabuto laughed out loud. "This is just a bonus I gained by my loyalty to Orochimaru-sama. Nothing more," a purple energy started to pour from his hand, turning his chakra scalpels dark, "nothing less!"
Cursing under his breath, the Hyuuga ANBU recognized the energy as the poison that paralyzed his body on that past mission and braced himself to face it.
-X-
"You have to go now."
"I know... but I don't know how to get out of here," Sakura said, finally allowing herself to take a look around the prison cell. The walls melted under her gaze, showing a well-known scenery: the Ninja Academy. They were standing near the swing under the tree that grew next to the building.
"The Sharingan consumes a lot of energy," Sasuke explained with a shrug. "Even if Orochimaru is watching, he does not fully comprehend the complexity of this doujutsu. He merely throws the Tsukiyomi at his opponent and that's all. But there's more to this, Sakura," he pointed at the tree. "This tree is familiar to anyone from Konoha, but that," he lifted his arm to the Hokage Monument, "is even more acknowledged."
"Shishou's face should be there!" Sakura exclaimed, surprised. "Even the Fourth's face isn't there!"
"This world is made with Orochimaru's memories, which aren't that many anyway," Sasuke nodded in agreement. "He takes in the little details, but he always missed the big picture. We can use that as our advantage," he explained, seeing Sakura's face drawn in concentration, "by turning something of his against him."
Sakura gasped, suddenly understanding what Sasuke was implying. To the Uchiha's surprise, her emerald eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I think we're in for a wild ride," she growled, shooting down the street. Slipping on a smirk, Sasuke followed her.
Once of twice in his life he had thought that she was insane, but now Sasuke was absolutely sure of it.
Next to Sakura was another Sakura, dressed in the same attire but her eyes were different, wilder and feral.
"I figured you were around," one of them said. The other nodded, grinning madly. "Do you think we can take it down?"
"We can't," the wild-looking Sakura said with a husky whisper. "But you can. Remember what you told Neji and what he told you."
The gentle pink-haired medic smiled fondly, as the other Sakura faded away with a fervent wave and a bizarre grin.
"What..." the raven-haired man started, but the female shook her head.
"Come on, Sasuke," she urged him. "That was my inner personality, the one I created when I was just a shy, little girl... until now, she had always been the wild card, but now she became an important part of me," she finished as they reached the main plaza, the Hokage Monument just looming above their heads. "She made me remember something Neji had said about me," Sakura continued, as she started to flex her fingers, clenching her fists repeatedly. "He said I was capable of taking down the Hokage Monument if I wanted."
Sasuke stared at her, showing his confusion. Her smile grew into a vicious grin.
"That's what I want now," she completed, her fist balled and poised. "It shouldn't be hard... but if that doesn't work, I have another trick on my back."
"Are you sure?" he asked, dumbfounded. "How can you take a mountain down, Sakura? That's impossible, even for me."
"You studied under the wrong Sannin, Sasuke," she snorted at her own sarcasm. "Regarding strength and power... my shishou is the best!"
Her shout reverberated on the deserted plaza, as she started to run towards the towering massive form, fist raised for the incoming impact.
The roar of the crumbling stone snapped her mind out of the genjutsu, finding herself held by Sasuke's arms as he taunted her enraged friends.
Sakura's knee flew up on its own accord.
-X-
Gaara back-flipped from the upcoming fist, which threatened to break his face.
"What are you expecting, pip-squeak?!" the orange-haired, tall ninja yelled, a psychotic grin on his features. "Fight back! How long are you going to remain avoiding me? And you call yourself the Kazekage?!"
"No," the redhead male answered, raising his hands, his palms upwards. "I call myself Gaara, not the Kazekage. Sabaku Kyuu."
The sand swirled below Juugo's feet, trapping him in a coffin.
"Bastard! I'll kill you! Let me go and I'll kill you!"
"Your life has been a misery because of that fucked up snake," Gaara said offhandedly, as if he was holding the noticeably bigger man without effort with his sand, but the sweat that rolled off his temples said otherwise. "Kimimaro understood how stupid he had been until it was too late."
Wrong move, he reflected later as he saw how the black marks on Juugo's face melted into his skin, darkening it and shifting his shape into a winged horror.
"You were the one that killed him! I'll fucking kill you! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"
-X-
Naruto let out a growl deep in his throat as the katana blade swiped over his head. Sasuke's smile never faltered as he kept bouncing back the myriad of Kage Bunshins the blond had sent to distract him, while he prepared another battle tactic.
When regarding Sasuke, Naruto was an expert in strategy. He knew all the taints to make his raven-haired friend snap like a ninja wire. But some of the arguments were useless now, seeing as Itachi was dead and Orochimaru too. Kabuto was fighting Kakashi – which was okay, because Naruto trusted the Copy Ninja to bring that bastard down.
What he didn't expect was that Sasuke's mocking grin unnerved him. It never did before.
"What's the matter, Kyuubi vessel?" the Uchiha's usually smooth and cold voice came out raspy and full of spite. "Can't hold your stance? Are you worried for your little friends? How stupid of you to fight me while being so distracted!"
Naruto flipped backwards, pulling out the third tail. "You know what, Sasuke? I'm sick and tired of your stupid remarks!" he yelled while he threw two kunai with explosive tags at the raven-haired man. The ensuing explosion covered part of the area.
"How pitiful can a pathetic excuse for a ninja be?" the Uchiha sneered, sliding his fingers along the length of his katana. "Are you down there, Naruto-kun?"
Without warning, an electric flare was driven down the metallic blade as the tip was plunged down on a seeming rotten log. Naruto cried out in surprise, releasing the jutsu as the shock felt by another of his Bunshins was transferred into his own body.
"Stupid Sharingan," he cursed as he made another set of clones. "I can't keep up with him with this level – and if I pull another one I'll lose it."
-X-
Hinata did her best with her Hakke Sho as she repelled every enemy from the position where Neji was aiding the pink-haired medic. But soon enough they parted ways, she rushed to intervene on Sasuke's and Naruto's fight and Neji flew to his cousin's aid.
"How are you holding up?" he asked as he ran his sword on one of his opponents. Hinata nodded, a secretive smile playing on her lips as she ducked a stray kunai and shot a line of her chakra at the inopportune shinobi.
"Is she alright?" she questioned as she delivered a kick on another nameless body.
"She's fine, her chakra patterns returned to normal, and her seal seems to be holding up."
"So you knew about her mark, Neji-niisan," she replied conversationally as both Hyuuga leapt into the air to avoid a barrage of shurikens. "It's something else, isn't it?"
The ANBU Captain seemed surprised, but after a Kaiten Spin that effectively nullified their opponents, he could address his cousin properly. "How on earth did you know that?"
Hinata merely pointed at her eyes, a little blush on her face. "It was rather hard to make out the strange gathering of energy she had, but at the mission briefing I could compare her chakra assembly with Tsunade-sama's. They're pretty much the same."
"The blessing of the Byakugan," Neji observed with a proud smirk. "Tell me what else do you see, my esteemed cousin."
"I see a pretty Hyuuga boy with emerald eyes," she teased briefly, making him snort. "She got intercepted by the redheaded girl."
"I'm not worried about her, Hinata. She's a kyousha."
-X-
A sharp pain went through Sakura's body as she met the hard ground. Turning swiftly on her back, she launched herself to one side as the red-haired woman tried to slash her with long, pointed chakra claws.
"You just had to go and try to spoil Sasuke-kun's fun, didn't you?" the glasses-wearing kunoichi remarked sarcastically. "I'm impressed though, you broke out of the genjutsu. You must be quite adept at making them."
"Believe me, I live through them," the female medic snapped, releasing a trickle of chakra from her seal and smashing the back of her fist to the ground, raising a curtain of dirt and dust that shot towards the surprised Hebi female, who barely avoided it.
Standing on her hands and flipping backwards, Sakura's boot-clad feet touched the ground again. Hiding a hand behind her back, she showed a gloved fist defiantly to the other female.
"I don't want to hurt you. Let me pass."
"And getting you nearer to Sasuke-kun? Feh, as if!"
"You can have him with a fucking pretty red bow on his neck if you want!" the pink-haired medic snarled, ducking the flying kunai that other enemy nins threw at her again. It almost broke her concentration, but she stopped at the dragon seal before relaxing her hidden fingers relaxed in reflex.
"Thank you for the present but I already have him!" the other yelled as she dug her claws into the moved soil. A big, red skinned snake shot up from the ground between Sakura's feet, digging its fangs onto her thigh.
She hissed with pain, starting the emergency procedure against poisoning on her own system. Repelling the snake with a chakra-enhanced kick, she stretched her leg, showing the four-pointed mark that started to fade, without even getting the usual bruise made by the poison injection.
"Fuck Sasuke if that's what you want, you dimwitted fangirl!" Sakura ran for it, avoiding the red snakes with relative ease as she showed the frozen dragon half hand-seal as she went.
Karin's red eyes went wide as the fingers of Sakura's both hands encountered each other, completing the dragon seal and shifting into the boar seal.
"There is nothing you can place in my way to stop me! Bringer of Darkness no Jutsu!"
The redhead's senses started to dull, as a roundhouse kick sent her flying directly into the raven-haired Uchiha that was posing his katana blade against Naruto's neck.
How convenient, Inner Sakura cheered.
-XXX-
Hi there! I'm not dead and soon you will she the finale for this epic battle. Kudos for Gaara's sand, which apparently has the properties of the magic bag of Felix the Cat. xD
And as always, much love to Celtic Oak for her awesome beta work! Love ya, sistar!