Wow. Okay, I know this chapter is short - ducks to avoid flying objects - but, uh...give me a minute; I'll think of an excuse eventually... ^^' Sorry, sorry!

My friend Shadowstep of MoonClan has this kick-ass AWESOME story that you all need to go read, especially if you like the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. It's called Up Above The World So High. This girl, Charykit (ahem, *cough*Sakura*cough*) lives in a world of human/cat hybrids, and is part of the Blazing Fire Clan. But one day, the Clan gets destroyed by the Raging Water Clan, and she's sent 300 years into the future - to a world where only humans (ninja) live. She sees the reincarnations of some of her friends there, too! It's really cool, guys! You've gotta read it! :D

Please read and review!

They were Team 7 — the greatest genin team to ever come from Konoha, and maybe even the entire world. They were the second Sennin, all three trained by one of the original Sennin. They would be legends some day if they weren't already.

And they were kicking some major ass. With their excellent teamwork and incredible jutsu, they were wiping the floor with Madara. It was almost too easy.

Right?

Wrong.

No, the old geezer was tearing them a new one.

Naruto grit his teeth as a hard kick from Madara sent him flying. Damn, this guy was good. He was taking all three of them at once and throwing them back, demanding something more challenging. None of them had managed to land a single blow on him. He was a god.

Sakura flipped over Madara's head and drew her leg up for another axe kick, which he dodged smoothly. Her heel slammed into the ground and the area around her ruptured, an earthquake tearing through the clearing. (She felt a little bad about messing up the village, but that took a backseat to her desire to kill Madara.)

The man's hand shot out with god-like speed and grabbed Sakura by her hair, stirring up painful memories of the Forest of Death. He whipped around like a tornado and threw her as if she weighed less than a pebble. She flew through the air helplessly, rocketing into Sasuke with painful force and knocking him over. They both crashed to the ground and skidded a few feet, while Naruto leapt at Madara again with another Rasengan. He was knocked aside — again — and the Uchiha snatched a hold of his jacket.

"No!" Sakura yelled, scrambling to her feet.

Sasuke jumped to stand as well and they both hurtled toward the pair, double-teaming them. Sakura tackled Naruto to separate him from Madara, while Sasuke thrust his kusanagi at said psychopath. He phased right through him for the thousandth time and twisted in mid-air with surprising grace, touching down with one foot before kicking off again and taking another swing at his elder.

Madara formed a fireball in less than a second and launched it at point-blank range, forcing the trio to retreat a good thirty or so feet. Without so much as looking at each other, they knew what to do. They may have been separated for who knows how long, but their teamwork hadn't suffered any at all.

A clone appeared at Naruto's side, helping him form a Rasengan in his right palm. A Chidori crackled to life in Sasuke's right hand. Bright green chakra blazed around Sakura's right fist, its potency peeling at her black glove. All at once, they ran at Madara from different directions, trapping him within a deadly triangle. Together, they screamed battle cries.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

"Chaa!"

An enormous explosion erupted as their jutsu connected with their target, throwing them easily a hundred feet back. They sailed through the air and slammed into buildings, knocking down a few on accident. A huge cloud of dust settled over the clearing, and the fighting suddenly stopped as everyone turned to watch wide-eyed. The trio slowly picked themselves out from under large slabs of concrete, wincing at their broken ribs and other bones.

Slowly — painfully slowly — Madara pushed himself off the ground and climbed to his feet. His cloak was torn in a few places and his mask had a large crack, splitting it at an odd angle. Blood dripped slightly down his left arm, and he was obviously furious. He hadn't been able to completely avoid the attacks, but he had dodged any fatal injuries.

Naruto laughed lowly, grimacing at how raspy his voice sounded. "Gotcha, bastard," he called. "That's just the beginning, 'cause we're gonna kick your ass!"

"Hn." Sasuke and Sakura both smirked.

"Got that right," the only female member of the team agreed. "You'll be sorry that messed with us."

Ryuzaki watched from the sidelines, amazed at the battle techniques and maneuvers. It was incredible; these people were human weapons. They didn't need guns or nuclear weapons like his world to kill each other. They were doing just fine with their bare hands and steel blades.

He stuck away from the fight and didn't move, doing as Sakura had told him. He was a genius, after all; he knew he'd be killed if he got anywhere near the battling shinobi. It was all surreal to him, standing here and watching this fight as if it were on an HD television. Very cool. (Besides the whole 'people dying around him' thing. That part wasn't cool.)

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura charged Madara again, only to be thrown back by another powerful fire-style ninjutsu.

"Damn it," Sakura swore, gritting her teeth and pressing a glowing green hand to her side. She healed the gash on the side of her abdomen, courtesy of the jagged piece of concrete she landed on. If this goes on much longer, she thought grimly, we'll lose. We've gotta wrap this up — quick.

Madara smirked in her direction, hearing her curse. "Tiring out already, kunoichi?" he taunted. "My, my; I had no idea Konoha shinobi were so weak nowadays."

Sakura glared at him, and Naruto immediately leapt to her defense.

"Shut up!" he yelled. "Sakura-chan's not weak!"

"Stop delaying and fight!" Sakura snapped at the eldest Uchiha. "Or are you tiring out already? My, my; I had no idea hundred-year-old psychotic freaks were so weak nowadays."

He glowered darkly at her behind his mask, his own words thrown back in is face. "Impudent little girl," he growled. He was suddenly in front of her, holding her up in the air by her throat. "Do not talk big if you cannot back it up."

Sakura grabbed at his wrist, flooding chakra into her hands to detach him from her. Madara glared as she attempted to break his hold, tightening his grip. She coughed, struggling to breathe.

"Let her go!" Naruto screamed, running toward them.

But it was too late. Sakura glared up at Madara, meeting his Sharingan behind the mask.

She was suddenly pulled into a black and blood-stained world that echoed with agonized screams. She was suspended in mid-air, unable to move a muscle, while thousands of weapons tore through her with painful force. It went on for hours, never ending, until familiar faces began to appear: Naruto, Sasuke, Tsunade, Kakashi, Hinata, Kiba, Ryuzaki…

She watched as her friends were all brutally murdered in front of her. She listened to the screams of agony and dark chuckles. She felt the blood splatter her from every direction. She smelled the stench of death and decaying. It was horrible.

No! her mind screamed. No! Make it stop!

It dragged on for what seemed like days. In the realm of the Mangekyo, it probably was several days.

That thought was like a slap in the face. In the realm of the Mangekyo. It wasn't real. It was all just an illusion, like a powerful genjutsu. Relief coursed through her like a wildfire. She could deal with genjutsu.

This is Madara's mind. her Inner whispered, looking extremely on-edge. She trembled with the need to rip something apart. He controls everything that happens here.

Sakura could suddenly see Madara before her, standing in front of the continuing murder of her friends. His mask wasn't on in his mind, and she could see his face. His eyes were suspicious.

"Who are you talking to?" he demanded.

And then, Sakura saw her chance. Inner Sakura, who shared her mind, smirked widely in anticipation.

You may control everything here… She laughed forebodingly, raising Madara's hackles. But what about in my mind?

.

In the real world, what seemed like days to Sakura lasted for a fraction of a heartbeat. Naruto had just taken his first step after screaming "Let her go" when Madara suddenly dropped Sakura as if she were on fire.

She fell like a brick and collapsed on the ground, gasping for air in shock. Madara flinched back and his hands shot to his eyes, a startled cry ripping from his throat.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted in worry, racing toward his life-long sister.

Madara whipped back to the girl before him, growling furiously. His mask had fallen off, and blood leaked from the corners of his deadly eyes.

"You," he hissed dangerously, lunging for Sakura. "I'll kill you!"

Sakura grit her teeth as he snatched her up by her hair again and slammed a fist into her stomach. She choked out a little blood before careening toward the side of another building. She crashed into it with jarring force, instantly breaking a couple more ribs and her ankle.

"NO!" Naruto screamed, leaping on Madara from behind.

He stumbled forward with the weight of the blond on his back, teeth bared like an animal as he glared deathly over his shoulder at him. He grabbed the boy by his elbow and yanked him off, slamming him into the ground and bringing down his foot to deliver a crushing blow. Sasuke suddenly cannoned into the eldest Uchiha like a battering ram, using his shoulder to throw the man away. He skidded to stand beside Naruto — who was scrambling to his feet — and stared Madara down with narrowed eyes.

He isn't thinking rationally. he thought, lips pressed in a hard line. Whatever Sakura did — his eyes flickered over to the unmoving girl before returning to Madara — really set him off. He's using anger instead of his head. We've got him.

"Sakura-chan…!" he heard Naruto whisper.

Sasuke glanced back at Sakura again, watching as she struggled to pick herself up. She wobbled unsteadily on her hands and knees, then collapsed again with a grunt. She rolled over and sent healing chakra to her hands, attempting to fix the damage.

"Stay down," Sasuke called to her bluntly. "You can't fight any more."

Sakura threw him an angry look, forcing her legs to quit their bitching and support her weight. Sasuke scoffed at her stubbornness, but Naruto gave a sigh of relief. Sakura popped out a soldier pill and crunched it furiously, glaring at Madara as she continued to heal herself.

Madara unleashed a slew of fire-style ninjutsu with weapons hidden in the flames, at least a dozen one right after another. The three leapt in every direction, avoiding the attacks frantically.

Kisame and Kakuzu had stopped fighting and were watching the four of them battle it out with unreadable expressions. Pein and Konan stood back, allowing Team 7 to take out their fury on Madara, intending to step in if things got out of hand.

Sakura saw an opening and slipped in between the roaring flames of two fire jutsu, kicking off the ground for a burst of speed. Madara, anger blinding him, didn't see it coming until it was too late. She appeared in front of him, fist reared back and a scowl on her face.

"Mother" — she snapped her fist forward and decked him in the face hard enough to break a cheek bone — "Fucker!"

Madara was thrown back at least twenty feet, skidding and tumbling across the ground before he leapt up again, sliding the last few inches on his feet. But just as he lifted his head, Sasuke was bringing down his Chidori-charged kusanagi on him. He flew back a good fifty feet, blood coloring his gritted teeth a pale pink as Naruto suddenly forced a large Rasengan through his back in mid-air. He was flung in the opposite direction and crash landed into the rubble of an already-destroyed building.

Snarling under his breath, he flash-stepped back into the fight with the tip of a katana he grabbed off the ground in less than a second inches from Sasuke's chest. He thrust it forward and the blade bit unforgivingly into black-clad flesh, blood spurting from the wound. It went clean out the other side and a loud gasp flew from Sakura's throat.

But it didn't slice through Sasuke. It went through the arm that flew out to block him.

Itachi's arm.

Swearing darkly, Madara leapt back and Itachi removed the katana from his arm, not so much as grimacing. Sasuke stared in shock as his brother attacked the Uchiha elder in a blur.

It was the second time he'd saved him. But why? Why would Itachi save him? Unless…

"He doesn't hate you, you know," she murmured. "He still loves you."

Was it possible? Was his brother…not evil?

Team 7 watched in shock as Itachi used Madara's own katana to slice a long, deep cut across his chest. The elder flashed away furiously and rained weapons down on the other Uchiha, matching his fireball with one of his own. Sakura looked at Naruto until he glanced back at her. When he did, she jerked her head to the side, and he caught her meaning.

"Teme!" Naruto called, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts. His eyes flickered to the blond, who just smiled. "Go fight with your brother," he murmured. "Kill that old geezer — give 'em a good punch for me."

Sasuke stared at him for a minute, fighting an internal battle. Finally, after a long moment, he gave a curt nod and darted off.

Madara parried Itachi's katana with a kunai, both sets of Sharingan eyes glaring viciously.

"You should really let Sasuke fight his own battles," he taunted. "He doesn't need you to protect him, and he obviously doesn't want you to."

Itachi's eyes narrowed further, but he said nothing, whipping his katana to the side to try and make Madara drop his weapon. They both jumped back a couple of feet, hands darting for kunai with exploding tags. They threw them at each other and the two weapons collided in mid-air, exploding on impact. As the dust cleared, Madara flashed toward Itachi, only to leap back as Sasuke slashed out with his kusanagi.

Itachi glanced briefly at his younger brother, lips twitching slightly, while Madara glared at both of them.

"Sakura!"

The rosette's head shot up at the sound of her name, and she found Tsunade staring straight at her.

"Tend to the wounded!" she called.

Sakura nodded and immediately set to work, dashing over to an unmoving Konoha shinobi. Naruto glanced at the Akatsuki Leader before joining Sakura, acting as he guard against any potential enemy ninja. Ryuzaki felt himself exhale slowly, not realizing he had been holding his breath. A small smile — the kind that would have earned him a creeped-out look from Misa — crept across his lips.

They might just win this, yet.