Oh god I feel like I've been neglecting you guys. xDD I haven't uploaded a chapter in so long. ; ^ ;
Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I wish I had an excuse as to why I didn't start on the next chapter sooner, like I was studying for exams, doing a project, … but I was just playing video games. Resonance of fate to be exact.

Good game, good game.
ANYHOO

Enjoy chapter..uh, I don't even know. But, ENJOY. ;D

"Bleh! What's that smell?" Karin demanded, her voice muffled by her hand.

Sakura smiled. "The border woman."

I stared at the innocent looking girl with the pink hair, and inside to the burnt woman.

"Wha…" I spluttered. Juugo was also trying to make sense of the situation.

Karin puffed up her chest. "Hmph! No big deal!"

I noticed I'd never seen Sakura fight before, so I never really thought about how strong she was.

"How?" I asked curiously, stepping past Sakura and looking at the border woman.

"I punched her," Sakura answered, as if it were obvious.

I recalled the battle cry from earlier.

I whipped around to look at her. "Just a punch?" I asked dubiously.

"Well, the punch pretty much did the job, cracking her skull and causing eternal bleeding. The barrier that sizzled her just finished her off quicker. "

Sasuke diminished his Chidori, shaking his hand a few times. "What'd she want?"

"She wanted information from me, because she didn't think she could trust the information you gave her,"

Sasuke looked over at her dead body, and smirked. "Guess she wasn't as stupid as she looked."

**
Every time my feet sunk into the sand as I walked, I grimaced a bit more each time.

When were we going to get out of this damned desert.

"So, so, that border woman was a fake, right?" Suigetsu asked in between sips of his water.

Sasuke turned back to look at him momentarily, before looking ahead again. "Yeah,"

"What happened to the real one?" Karin added in, pushing up her glasses. I liked her better when she was like this—more serious, and an actual person, instead of just a head over heels fan girl in the background.

"She was most likely killed and disposed of, and then the fake border woman waited 'till Konoha ninja like Sakura came by." Sasuke murmured, and I frowned a little. I didn't like the way he said 'like Sakura'.

You're a Konoha shinobi, too.

"SAKURA?" Suigetsu screamed in my ear. I cringed, a gasp escaping my lips, and whipped my head over to Suigetsu.

"WHAT?" I screamed back, equally as loud, my fists clenched.

Suigetsu was momentarily stunned by my shout, but then raised an eyebrow. "I called your name three times, so I wanted your attention. Sasuke asked you something,"

He asked me three times? I frowned.

"I'll ask again," Sasuke started, sounding irked. "Did that fake border woman mention anything about a hideout two hours from here?"

I pursed my lips, recalling our conversation. "Yeah, she did mention something about it…why?"

Sasuke shook his head, waving me off. "Just wanted to know if she was telling the truth. I was reading her with my sharingan, so I was almost positive she wasn't, but now I know for sure."

"So we're heading over there?"

"Yeah,"

"For the scrolls?"

"Yeah,"

"But she said It was a two hour trip,"

"Yeah,"

I frowned at his responses to my questions.

Two hours? I didn't want to be in this desert two more minutes.

I looked down, and considered dramatically falling, and 'twisting my ankle', forcing someone to carry me. But even I knew that was low. Plus, I wasn't like that.

I looked up again, my spirit being replenished.

"So, what do these scrolls look like?" I asked, wondering what was so special about them.

"They're wrapped with a gold rope, and although other scrolls may be as well, the style that these are wrapped in, you'll know right away."

I smiled to myself, trying to imagine what these scrolls looked like. Being Tsunade's apprentice, I've seen my fair share of…interesting scrolls. Whether they were forbidden, or just weird medical techniques. I didn't think a weirder scroll than a few I've seen even existed.

I found the trip to the desert wasn't so bad, so long as you just took the time to think.

fifteen minutes went by like five when I was in my head. I looked up.

The only thing that was distracting me was the wind.

It started off small at first, but soon started whooshing past us. I could see my pink strands of hair being wildly blown in front of my green eyes.

I presumed it was a sandstorm, until the wind started dying down again.

Then, I gasped. Karin did, as well. Suigetsu and Juugo, however, were clueless.

This chakra. Familiar, and dangerous. I didn't want it to be familiar, but I've felt it before. Even in this hot desert, it chilled me to the core.

The air right in front of our face became distorted and blurred, and an orange mask suddenly popped out of the small void he had created.

Sasuke stepped back a bit to get distance, and looked up at the mysterious masked man, and, as blunt as possible, murmured "What do you want?"

I heard chuckling from behind the mask, which made me grimace.

"Even in the heat, you're freezing cold, Sasuke."

No one appreciated the pun.

"I know where you guys are headed. Get in," He ordered, signaling with his thumb to come into that void…thing with him. Suigetsu didn't question it, and went right in.

Juugo was a little confused, but nonetheless, followed behind Suigetsu.

Karin looked over at Sasuke for approval. It seemed she too was wary of the masked man, and for good reason. Something about him made me feel gross. I frowned.

Sasuke nodded and waved Karin off, and with just that, Karin bounced over to the void.

How did this Tobi…or, Madara, even know where we were? I guess someone with strong chakra like Sasuke wasn't too hard to find in a deserted desert like this…

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice broke me out of my thoughts.

My green eyes drifted up slowly, and I saw everyone staring at me in anticipation, waiting for me to step into the … void.

I planted my feet firmly on the ground. No way in hell was I going in there.

It's funny, really. A few minutes ago I was considering faking an injury so that I wouldn't have to walk, and now that I'm being offered a lift, I'm being stubborn.

"I'll walk." I said simply, and started walking nonchalantly past Sasuke.

He stood there for a few seconds, but then without even turning around, he grabbed my arm, pulling me back.

"It'll take you too long to get there. And there's no guarantee you'd even make it to us. I can't afford to lose the only medic ninja."

I grimaced, mocking him in my head. 'you're all necessary,'

Before I could respond, Sasuke picked me up, and threw me into the void. I was so shocked I didn't even protest.

I flinched as I thumped into something, and turned slowly to see that I had bumped into – and been caught – by Madara.

I scurried out of his reach quickly, and crawled over to the others.

Sasuke and Madara exchanged looks, glances, glares, whatever you want to call it, before Sasuke finally entered the weird rip in the air.

As soon as Madara made a few hand signs, we were quickly teleported away. As soon as I blinked, we were all already on the ground a few miles away from a hideout in the distance.

I felt a little sick, but I repressed it. What just happened reminded me of Harry potter. The whole teleporting thing, that is.

"Well, you kids are on your own now," Madara explained, and once again, disappeared into thin air.

Sasuke made a noise of annoyance, and turned, looking at the hideout in the distance.

"I'm only saying this once, so listen. We're all splitting up, and meeting back here in fifteen minutes. When we meet here, we'll exchange any information that we've found. Or better yet, if you've found the scroll, bring it back. If one of you doesn't make it here in the allotted time, it'll be safe to assume somebody has engaged you in combat. If that does happen, you'll be on your own. The rest of us will resume looking for the scroll. We'll only help you if we've already obtained the scroll. So if you don't think you'll do well in combat, try not to be found."

After Sasuke explained all that, Karin smirked, and I assumed she was thinking about how she wouldn't be found because she was so skilled with hiding her chakra. I inwardly scoffed.

But my mouth still hung open hearing Sasuke's rules. It was so different from the teams in Konoha. Never leave a friend behind. Here, it was all on you. It might as well be a solo mission.

I frowned. Fuck that.

If I see someone in trouble, I'll sure as hell help them.

Except maybe Karin, I joked.

Once we were at the entrance, Sasuke silently raised his hand.

He flicked his wrist, and all of us split up in an instant.

My green eyes scanned the area.

There were no lightbulbs. The whole place was naturally lit by the light outside, and there weren't many windows. You could still see, but I would have preferred it was brighter.

Everything was wood. Log walls, hardwood floors. I cringed whenever my feet triggered the awful squeal of the wooden floor.

Instead of diving right into where some of the scrolls were, I decided to do what I did best.

Research.

I headed to a room which was presumably a filing room, and silently shut the door behind me. It was a small room, with a desk and a few cabinets. No windows, just a door. It was a little creepy.

My fingers began drumming through the files immediately, looking through all of the inventory stocks. I looked for the scrolls, reading the descriptions and looking at their pictures.

I stopped mid search when I saw a scroll that particularly stood out. It was green with a Japanese symbol, a pretty normal scroll. Except for the gold weaving.

I looked at the picture for a while, my eyes trailing over the intricate and complicated knots of the golden rope. Every time I analyzed it I discovered a new knot, or a new weave. Out of all the scrolls I've seen, I've never seen one like this.

Shishou had said that depending on how severely the scroll is sealed, is how powerful it is. And considering how bound this one was, it must be very rare and powerful.

Excited now, my eyes anxiously devoured the paper, reading the description of what the scroll was used for.

There was nothing.

Where the description should be, was just some more white, disappointing paper.

"Blank," I spat out sourly, and read on. Maybe it would say where the scroll was located.

There was another piece of paper stapled to the one I was currently reading, and I unfolded it, delighted to see a map.

"You are here," The map said, pointing to a small cube like room on the paper. There was a destination with a star, and I smiled victoriously. The scroll was there.

I was about to leave, but decided to keep snooping. There was a lot of information in here, and I didn't want to put it to waste.

Flipping through files a mile a minute, I saw a picture of a woman fly by, and quickly stopped, retracing the past few files and going back. I stopped, and looked at the file.

A picture of the blue haired border woman I killed just an hour ago was on this document. She was a fake though. I scanned the paper again.

But if she was a fake, why did it say here that she was in fact, employed as the border woman?

But… We thought the real one was killed and she was just an evil woman who wanted information on Konoha. But she was just the real border woman who went bad on her own?

That didn't make sense though. In order to be a border woman, that takes a tremendous amount of responsibility and trust. They wouldn't hire you if they even had the smallest bit of doubt. They also put you through interrogation tests.

I rubbed my temples. Whatever. Think about this later.

Grabbing the map tightly in my hand, I shoved it in my back pouch, ready to go meet up at the meeting place. I was feeling pretty good about my discovery. To think I was worried about going back empty handed.

I went to go turn the doorknob to leave the small room, and as soon as I did, I heard a click. It was locked?

Switching to alert mode instantly, I heard another click, and my eyes darted around the room. I heard a hissing noise, and I knew exactly what that was.

Gathering chakra in my foot, I kicked the door open. Enough to open it and break the lock, but not actually take the door off its hinges. The room I was just in was rapidly filling with purple smoke, and I quickly slammed the door.

Poison smoke.

I choked as I remembered being trapped in it when fighting Sasori.

Who was there?

I quickly moved to the side as a poison laced kunai shot by my head, just grazing my cheek. As soon as it hit my skin, I could feel the metallic, fizzing sting of it. A poison you can feel on contact? This had to be at least 5x more potent than Sasori's.

Leaving no time to waste, I raised my hand quickly to my cheek, cleansing the wound. Since it was just a scratch, it was easy to heal. But if I got pierced with such a poison…

I swallowed. I didn't have any antidotes with me, either. Did such a powerful poison even have an antidote?

"Ah…what fast reflexes," a soft voice purred, and I looked up. A woman with light brown hair, styled in a pixie cut sat way up, her head almost touching the ceiling. Like the fake border woman, she also reminded me of a cat.

I ignored her compliment, not letting my green eyes off her for a second. Her grey eyes watched mine as well.

"Such an intense glare…Stop it! You'll make me blush." She insisted. The first part of her sentence sounded playful and shy, but the last sentence sounded deadly.

"Ah…so it's the girl who defeated the border woman. Pretty impressive, I must admit," She complimented me once more, and as soon as what she just said registered, I went stiff. How did she know that? Information did not get out that fast.

What was going on?

"So she was the real border woman?" I asked, demanding an explanation.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction, and her lips twitched. But, she said nothing.

She brought her polished hands up in the air in front of her, and I noticed the chakra strings attached to her fingers. With a twitch of her fingers, a puppet flew out from behind her, and she smiled.

I was smiling, too.

I watched her hands, and imagined Sasori's as well. I had experience dealing with a puppet user, and I was also delighted to see her hand movements were very similar to Sasori's.

My smile vanished. Even with all that said, I can't get cocky. I had Elder Chiyo back then, and antidotes at my disposal. Plus, Chiyo already knew Sasori's fighting style. And the last thing, Sasori's poison wasn't so deadly.

I smiled nervously, a bead of sweat forming on my forehead as I remembered Sasuke's words.

"If one of you doesn't make it here in the allotted time, it'll be safe to assume somebody has engaged you in combat. If that does happen, you'll be on your own."

I let out a smooth breath and slipped on my gloved, balling my hands in and out of fists multiple times.

Guess I'm on my own.