Chapter 11: Evacuation

"Are we there yet?" Kankuro asked he walked along side his siblings through the village. The Sand ninjas had dispersed and acted like regular travelers while keeping an eye out for their Kazekage.

"Yes, Kankuro! For the last time, we have made it to the Sound village!" Temari hissed as she hit the puppet master upside the head.

"Ow! Not nice!" Kankuro snapped. "And I was talking about the inn!"

"Kankuro, be quiet or I will make you be quiet." Gaara warned as he turned to Temari. "Next time, harder."

Temari smirked as she cracked her knuckles threateningly towards the elder brother. "Of course, Otouto." Kankuro took a step back as the evil grin spread across Temari's face.

"This way." Gaara began walking in the direction of the inn as a loud 'damn it Temari!' rang out throughout the village.


"Punch."

Blocked.

"Aim."

Ducked.

"Kick."

Defensive.

"Behind."

Clang as metal hit metal.

"One…Two…"

Two steps taken backwards.

"Disappeared."

A breeze passed by as the figure went missing.

"Above!"

Roll to the side and a flip up to her feet.

"Lunged….block…"

Another clang.

"Kick to stomach…no!"

Sakura's body flew backwards into the tree only three yards away as Sasuke followed through with his kick. She let out a grunt before jumping back to her feet and getting into a defensive position. Sasuke smirked and then lunged forward. He swung his arm out to punch Sakura, but at the last moment brought his foot around and kicked her in the side, sending the pink hair kunoichi flying once more.

Sakura let out a whimper as her back collided with yet another tree. She was low on chakra and her body was beaten badly.

'Damn Orochimaru and his arms.' She hissed mentally as she thought about the earlier healing. All went well, but Orochimaru had her go just a little longer then an hour, draining her chakra a little more then she would have liked.

"Give up?" Sasuke smirked as he stood in front of her and crossed his arms over his chest.

Sakura smiled lightly to herself when she noticed that he was breathing almost as hard as she.

"You know, if you didn't set the rule that I wasn't allowed to use my strength, then I would have you right now." Sakura gasped out as she let her head fall back and closed her eyes. "Damn Orochimaru. Last time we sparred I had more chakra."

"Hn." Sasuke kneeled down beside the girl and pushed a few stray strands of pink hair out of her eyes. "I didn't want to have to re-level the field again like last time."

"Not nice." Sakura faintly noticed that her back was killing her from the position she laid in, but was to tired to really give a crap. "So, how was I this time?"

Sasuke frowned slightly before picking her up bridal style and heading towards their room. Sakura, again, was too tired to care. She just rested her head against his chest. "Your reflexes were just as bad. I find it funny you talked to your self when I attacked. However, the spar in general was much more appealing then the last."

"That's nice." Sakura yawned as she faintly covered her mouth.

After a few moments of walking Sasuke opened the door and promptly deposited Sakura on the bed. She replied with a stifled yawn and a murmured 'hey' before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Sasuke smirked at this and then leaned over her. He kissed her forehead tenderly and then left the room.


"So we all know our groups?"

A round of 'yes' answered Kakashi as he looked at the nine Shinobi in front of him.

"Okay. Gaara, make sure your ninja are scouting. They are not to engage with the enemy." Kakashi reminded the Kazekage.

"Right." Gaara moved so he was beside Naruto.

They had broken into four groups this time around. Gaara, Naruto, and Hinata were one group. Neji, Tenten, and Ino would be another, Temari was with Shikamaru and Kankuro. Kakashi had decided that he would be around, scouting with the other Sand ninja and doing his own investigation.

"Alright. We meet up again in three hours. If for some reason you can't make it back, call on the radios." Kakashi reminded them.

Another round of 'okay' answered him once again.

"Good. Go."

The ninja all jumped away in their respective directions.


"Ah, Sasuke-kun, I was wondering when you were going to come to me." Orochimaru hissed as he took in Sasuke's sweaty body. (A/N: -slaps Missysillivan's hand- bad author! Bad!) "Have you been training?"

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest as he stared lazily at the sannin.

"Well…I need you to go into town and pick up some medicine for our dearest Kabuto-kun. (A/N: Haha, I origionally put deadest instead of dearest, haha, anyway, back to the story.) You see, he isn't healing very well, he got an infection, and his stupid assistants need it to heal him." There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that Orochimaru was displeased with Kabuto's condition. "The regular pharmacist is awaiting your arrival."

"Hn." Sasuke turned and left the room and headed for the exit. It would only take a few minutes to get to the town. He should be gone no longer then an hour.

Once he was outside, Sasuke took off running for the town. Like he predicted, it only took a few minutes to get there. However, luck wasn't on his side today. The moment he felt the familiar chakra, Sasuke hid his own and quickly passed through the allies to get to the pharmacy.

"Hello, Sasuke-sama. Here is the medicine." The aged woman handed Sasuke the bag and then spoke quietly in his ear, once checking to see if anybody was listening. "There are strange people here asking about the location of Orochimaru-sama's hide out and about you and the pink-haired medic. There are only a few who have told them anything. I have the list of the traitors."

"Hn. I will tell Orochimaru and have the traitors taken care of. Thank you." Sasuke spoke just as softly, before leaving the pharmacy, undetected.

He had always liked the old woman. She reminded him of his aunt before she was killed by Itachi. The woman was funny and very kind, but knew how to bite. Not to mention she was loyal, especially to Sasuke, whom she told repeatedly that he reminded her of her grandson, who passed away.

Now as Sasuke reached the gates leading out of the town, the familiar voice was very clear, and rather loud. He froze behind a building and looked around the corner, only to have his nightmare come true.

"Damn these people! They won't tell us anything!" Naruto hissed as he paced in front of Gaara and Hinata.

"That's not true, Naruto-kun. We did find out that Sakura-chan was in fact with Sasuke and that Orochimaru's lair was north of here." Hinata disagreed.

"I have to agree with Naruto on this one. These people don't like giving us a lot of information. Its mostly the same thing, just rephrased." Gaara sighed.

"Exactly!" Naruto stopped his pacing and looked around suspiciously.

Sasuke tensed as he watched Naruto. 'Damn does he know I'm here?'

"I'm hungry. I want some ramen. You think they have a ramen stand here?" Naruto asked in a mere whisper.

Hinata and Gaara both sweat dropped at this.

'Dobe. You'll never change.' Sasuke sighed mentally.

When he saw Naruto walk away with Gaara and Hinata, he dashed for the gate. When he was within the forest, he stopped and turned to watch the retreating backs of the three Shinobi, only to be surprised when he saw Hinata look straight at him and smile before laughing at something Naruto said.

"What the hell?" Sasuke whispered to himself.

He then high tailed it back to Orochimaru.

When he nearly blew the door to Orochimaru's throne room up, Orochimaru immediately knew something was wrong.

"What?" Orochimaru snapped as he stood up abruptly.

"Konoha ninja are in the town questioning where your hideout is and about information pertaining to what's going on here. There are traitors who have been feeding them information. The pharmacist has the names." Sasuke said as he tightening his grip on the bottle of medicine.

"I will have one of the ninja's sound the alarm. I want you to travel with Kabuto, his medics, and Sakura-chan and head for the hideout on the western border, nearest the water. I'll make sure the traitors are dealt with." Orochimaru commanded. "Go!"

"Hn." Sasuke immediately went to where Kabuto was being held and commanded the medics to prepare him to be moved to the other lair in ten minutes and gave them the medicine to administer to Kabuto. He then went back to his room, where Sakura was still asleep. "Sakura, get up." Sasuke was quickly gathering all of his things and the small amount of items that Sakura had.

"What's going on?" Sakura yawned.

"We are evacuating." Sasuke replied as he tossed her a pack. "Come on."

"But, why?" Sakura asked confused as she followed Sasuke into the hallway where ninjas were running back and forth, preparing everything to be moved.

"Because this lair has been found out." Sasuke replied as he took her hand and led her into the kitchen where they packed a few water bottles and some food that would be needed as they traveled. "It will take nearly a full day to get to the other base. We are traveling with Kabuto and his medics so they will slow us down."

"How did this place get found?" Sakura asked, still very confused, as Sasuke led her outside where Kabuto was being help up by two of the medics.

"Where are the other two?" Sasuke commanded.

"Right here." The two came out to the group, both pulling on their backpacks.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was unbelievably confused now. She looked around and saw many Sound ninjas taking off for the forest, all in separate directions.

"Can you run?" Sasuke asked as he turned to look at the pink haired kunoichi.

"I don't think so. I haven't recovered enough chakra." Sakura replied weakly.

"Hn." Sasuke effortlessly lift Sakura onto his back, ignoring her startled squeak, and then turned to the medics. "Follow me. We have to take the most indirect route because of Kabuto." Sasuke then jumped into the trees with the four medics behind him.

"Sasuke-kun, what's going on?" Sakura asked quietly into his back.

"The dobe is in town with others. They are searching for you." Sasuke replied quietly.

"What? Naruto?" Sakura tensed against Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, please, this could be our chance to go back to Konoha."

"Sakura, we've been through this. I'm not returning until Itachi is dead." Sasuke hissed. "I promised you that once Orochimaru is killed I would bring you back, so please don't make this any harder then it is."

Sakura easily heard the conflict in Sasuke's voice. He wanted to send her home now, but couldn't. She was necessary to kill Orochimaru. Well, she at least made the whole thing easier, Sasuke could just as well kill the sannin alone, but Sasuke wasn't sure he would make it out uninjured.

"Gomen." Sakura whispered.

Sasuke let out a sigh. "Just go to sleep. I'll wake you when we stop to rest."

"Alright." Sakura closed her eyes and let darkness take her once more.


Edited On: 6/15/12

I don't usually do this, but I am this time. I would like the dedicate this chapter to Sevvy101 who has left me such wonderful reviews. She's always giving me input, telling me what she liked with each chapter, and very helpful, not to mention a lot of fun to talk to! So, here's to you Sevvy101!

Missy.