Oh man. SATs are over. All that's left for me to worry about it AP Calculus this Wednesday. I'm so nervous! All I'm wishing for is just to pass. I don't want to take Calculus in college. BLEH! HAHA. Well let's just get on with the story shall we? Haha.
Last Time on Gomenasai…
Sakura opened her eyes to see herself in a hospital. The whiteness hurt her eyes for a bit. She could hear voices outside the room talking about her.
"She's not well" the deep voice said. "Not only did she break both her legs, her left arm, fractured her color bone, her skull, and lost a lot of blood, her mind seems to be messed up"
"I know Uncle, but what can we do?" Sakura's eyes widened. That was Sasuke's voice.
"Just leave everything to me. I know how to help her" The voice said.
"Thanks Uncle."
"Don't worry, just back to school and inform everyone. I'll talk to her" Sakura watched as the door to her room opened as the doctor walked in. Sakura's eyes widened with fear as she began to cry.
'No' Sakura shouted in her head. 'NO'
There in front of her was Mandara Uchiha smiling at her.
XxXxXxX
"Yes, Sakura-chan, shake in fear. The ninja world is not real" Mandara said as Kisame, Zetsu, and Nagato continued to concentrate their charka though they heard the sound of bones breaking.
XxXxXxX
Naruto passed through the forest as fast as he could. He soon stopped to see Shikamaru's group with Kakashi's and Itachi's bodies lying on the snow. The others soon caught up to him.
"Shikamaru!" Lee called out as he helped Shikamaru up.
"Damn, that hurt like hell" Shikamaru said.
Gai slowly walked up to Kakashi's body. "Kakashi…" Gai whispered as he put Kakashi's body on his back. "Don't worry, I'll get my revenge and help save your student"
"Itachi is dead?" Neji said surprised.
"Yeah…" Sasuke said as he carried his brother's body. Everyone could hear the sound of regret in his voice as he said that. Tenten helped Ino up as Naruto did the same for Chouji.
"You guys okay?" Tenten asked.
"We're fine" Ino said.
"ARF!" A bark was heard as Kiba's group came up to them.
"Neji-niisan!" Hinata said. Everyone looked to see Sai on Akamaru's back.
"Ino, Sai needs attention now!" Kiba said. "He got burnt real badly"
Ino nodded as she laid Sai down and began to heal him. The burns were slowly disappearing.
"Thank you Yamanaka" Sai said weakly as he sat up with the girls supporting his back.
"Who did this to you?" Naruto asked.
"I fought the blond member. The one that looks like Ino" Sai said. Ino growled at him. Sai soon looked at everyone and noticed the bodies.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Sai whispered.
"He died protecting Sakura-chan" Naruto said. Sai's eyes widened.
"Where's Sakura?" Sai asked.
"They took her…" Sasuke said pissed.
"Sakura is in Akatsuki's hands?" Shikamaru said as his eyes widened. "How could you guys let that happen?"
"Another member came out of nowhere and then disappeared" Sasuke explained.
"The one with the mask!" Hinata said. "W-We saw him when he came to get the Akatsuki member we were fighting.
"I found them!" Karin's voice was heard. "They have Sakura"
"We know" Gai said. "Naruto found out where they are hiding"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Suigetsu asked. Shikamaru raised a hand.
"We don't know what they're planning" Shikamaru said.
"Mandara Uchiha is alive" Sasuke said. "He's the real leader of Akatsuki. The one Naruto fought was just a puppet"
"What are we going to do?" Tenten asked.
"Leave it to me" Naruto said. "They're after me" Shikamaru soon grabbed on to his collar.
"That's why we can't let you go" Shikamaru said.
"I will not let anymore else die" Naruto said. "Take the three bodies somewhere safely (Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Itachi)"
"At least have more people come with you" Gai said. "Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Ino, Karin, Lee, Shino, and Tenten will go with you. The rest of you will come with me to help carry the bodies back"
"Okay" Naruto said. "Let's go"
XxXxXxX
"Your part of the ritual is done now" Mandara said. "You guys need to retrieve the bodies of Deidara and Itachi. We'll give it to Zetsu so Konoha won't have any information about us"
"Yes Mandara-sama" Nagato said. Zetsu and Kisame nodded as they were about to leave. A large attack destroyed part of the first Hokage's face.
"RASEGAN!" The mountain began to shake as rocks fell inside. Mandara had to stop his jutsu as he moved Sakura to safety. Smoke filled the area as Mandara took this as a chance to get out.
"Damn it. You guys handle them" Mandara said as he teleported Sakura and himself inside the third Hokage's head.
"Where is she?" Naruto growled once the smoke subsided. All Naruto could see were Kisame, Nagato, and Zetsu standing there. Mandara and Sakura were nowhere to be seen.
"Like we'd tell you" Kisame said as he took his sword out.
"Don't fuck with me right now!" Naruto shouted as he walked up to Nagato. "Where is Mandara and Sakura-chan?"
"It's too late" Nagato said. "You can't save your friend now"
"Naruto, Sasuke, we can handle them! Go and rescue Sakura!" Shikamaru ordered.
"But-"Naruto began to say.
"Sakura needs you two now!" Ino said.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded as they began to run out.
XxXxXxX
"Hello Sakura-chan! That was some act you did. I still can't believe you tried to jump off the roof of your school building." Mandara said.
"G-get away from me" Sakura cried. "This isn't real"
"The ninja world isn't real" Mandara said. "You made up that world on your own. When you ended in a coma, you made that world up. Everything that happened in your ninja world was just a dream. You're back home in the real world now. You must be really confused. That's why I'm here to help you"
"No! NO! You're lying! You tried to kill my friends! You're after Naruto!" Sakura screamed. She couldn't move. Her legs were in a cast as well as her arm.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't save your parents. You must have been angry at me and made me a bad guy in your world."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sakura shouted. Mandara sighed.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone to think about things." Mandara left the room as Sakura began to cry.
"Sakura" A voice called out to her. Sakura looked up to see part of the hospital room was ripping. She was surprised to see a person that looked like her except that she had darker pink hair and green eyes. Her outfit was also black and white.
"You…" Sakura began to say.
"I was finally able to get through" Inner Sakura said. "We finally get to meet face to face. I'm the voice that has always been talking to you. Don't believe anything in this place. You're right, this isn't real! I think you're the only one who can see me, so it's all good"
For a few hours, Inner Sakura stayed with her as the hospital door opened.
"Sakura-chan!" A loud voice shouted.
"Shut up, we're in a hospital dobe"
"N-Naruto and Sasuke-kun" Sakura said.
"Everyone is so worried about you" Naruto said. Sakura turned to see that Inner Sakura was still there. Her theory was right. She was the only one who could see her.
"Sasuke's uncle is going to help you. If you don't get help soon, they might put you in an asylum" Naruto said.
Sakura's eyes widened. "A-Asylum? But I'm not crazy"
"You believed we're all ninja, and you almost killed yourself because of it" Sasuke snapped at her.
"Please don't yell at my patient" Mandara said as he entered the room. "Can you two please leave?"
"Yes uncle" Sasuke said as he pulled Naruto out of the room.
"And you" Mandara said looking at Inner Sakura. Inner Sakura and Sakura were shocked.
"Y-You can see me?" Inner Sakura asked. "But the others can't"
"That's because they're just illusions. I control everything Sakura sees, hears, and feels. So right now, she can't hear a word we're saying."
"How dare you invade her mind?" Inner Sakura shouted.
"How dare you invade my illusion" Mandara shouted. "This time, I'll make sure you're not able to get back in. Sakura will tell me what I want to know." With a flick of the hand, Inner Sakura felt herself being thrown out of the illusion. She landed on her back as she found herself staring at a large door. Darkness surrounded her as the only thing she could see was the large white door. Sakura tried to open it, but hit a barrier.
"Damn him!" Inner Sakura said as she tried to break the barrier.
Back in the Illusion, Mandara tried to concentrate on his jutsu.
"Who would have known she had something like this in her head. Is this why she was able to escape Itachi's genjutsu so easily?" Mandara asked himself.
"Sakura-chan, I don't want to hurt you. To make it easy on yourself…" Mandara took out a notepad and pencil. "Write what was on the scrolls you destroyed"
Sakura glared at him. "I refuse"
"Sakura-chan. This is for your own good. It will take the pain away. You won't have to worry about it anymore"
"Go to hell!" Sakura shouted at him.
Mandara walked up to Sakura as he placed his hand on her forehead.
Sakura's eyes widened as she found herself in tied in a chair.
"W-Where am I?" Sakura asked.
"You're in the asylum. You don't remember but it's been a month since you've been in the hospital. You've made a great recovery." Mandara said.
"Recovery?" Sakura questioned.
"You fell down from your school's roof. You went a little crazy after that. Your friends are here to see you" Mandara opened the door as she saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino enter the room.
"Ino-chan! Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura cried.
"I'm so glad to see you forehead-girl" Ino said as she hugged her.
"I am too" Sakura said.
"My uncle said you're making a good recovery. You might be able to leave the place one you tell him what was in those scrolls you said you found in your dream. We can use those as a way to help you" Sasuke said as he cupped her face. "I really want to hang out soon. Our group misses you"
"S-Sasuke-kun" Sakura cried.
"Look what you did, Teme! You made Sakura-chan cry" Naruto said as he pushed Sasuke out of the way.
"N-Naruto-kun" Sakura said as she embraced him.
"It's alright now Sakura-chan. I'm here now. I really want to help you, so you have to tell Doctor Uchiha what were on the scrolls you found in your dream" Naruto explained.
"Dream?" Sakura whispered.
"You know the dream where we're all ninjas. We'll help erase that dream world out of your mind" Naruto said with a smile.
"I-I can't" Sakura said. Ino and Sasuke seemed to have disappeared with Mandara as the only people in the room were her and Naruto.
"Can you at least tell me who or what is involved in the scrolls?" Naruto asked.
"It's about you Naruto. And about Sasuke-kun. There's some scrolls about the Kyuubi and an Uchiha member" Sakura said. Naruto let out an evil smile.
"Interesting" Naruto said.
"N-Naruto! I want to get out of here! The doctor scares me. I don't want to be here anymore" Sakura cried.
"You don't have to be!" Naruto said as he went on one knee and cupped her face. "You just need to write down what you remember from the dream world then you can stay here forever"
"B-But, this world isn't real…" Sakura said. Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Of course it is" Naruto said. Mandara soon came back into the room.
"Visiting time is over. Please leave my patient" Mandara said as Naruto left the room.
XxXxXxX
"She has a very strong will. She's not that easy to break. But I got her to the point where she's confused now" Mandara said to himself as he began to make hand seals. As he did he heard a sound of birds chirping. A ball of charka appeared above Sakura as it created a sort of barrier around her. Slowly Sakura and the barrier began to levitate up in the air just before a loud explosion was heard.
"CHIDORI" Sasuke shouted as lighting like charka still formed around his hand. Naruto and Sasuke saw Mandara standing in the middle of the room with his back to them. They couldn't sense Sakura anywhere.
"Where's Sakura-chan?!" Naruto shouted.
"She really is a tough person to crack, despite her appearance" Mandara said as the two watched his orange mask fall to the ground.
"Mandara…" Sasuke growled as his relative turned around to face them for the first time. He's face was very young, in fact it looked familiar. Sasuke and Naruto could have sworn they saw his face somewhere.
"This isn't my real body. This is the body of your teacher's long dead teammate, Obito Uchiha. My real body wasn't going to last long. Then I ended up finding the body of this little boy. He still had some life in him so I used him as a host. I guess you can call me a parasite?" Mandara said as he grinned evilly.
"Bastard!" Naruto shouted. "Where's Sakura-chan?"
"Right above us" Mandara said. Naruto and Sasuke looked up to see Sakura's body hovering up in the air.
"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted.
"Sasuke-kun, you're so nice giving me the last puzzle to my plan." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"I gave you nothing! You bastard! You killed my family!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto had to hold him back.
"I had everything I needed to take over all 5 countries. All I need back is my pet to help me do that" Mandara said.
"Pet?" Naruto questioned, narrowing his eyes.
"The Kyuubi…" Sasuke muttered.
"I was the one who let the Kyuubi out to Konoha that night. But that Hokage had to get in my way and stop me. He sealed the Kyuubi in a newborn baby that night…his own son."
Naruto's eyes widened. "M-My father?"
"Shut up!" Sasuke shouted.
"You…" Naruto said. Mandara watched as three tails appeared around Naruto,
"N-Naruto…" Sasuke said as he backed away a bit.
"You destroyed so many people's lives. You destroyed mine and Sasuke's. Now you're trying to destroy Sakura-chan's. I can't forgive you!" Naruto shouted. He soon charged at Mandara with so much speed. Mandara was caught off guard as he was thrown to the other side of the wall.
"Is that all the three-tail level can do?" Mandara asked as he got up. "Don't underestimate me"
Naruto watched as he and Sasuke were unable to move. Their surroundings darkened.
"You're in my world now" Mandara said as he disappeared in the darkness. All Naruto could see was purplish black fog all around him. His three-tails stage was gone.
"What is this" Naruto said as he tried to push away the fog. Looking around he saw someone a couple feet away from him. Taking out a kunai, he started to head towards the person he thought to be Mandara. The person began to head towards him as well. Naruto and the shadow jumped at the same time as their weapons clashed together. Naruto's eyes widened to see Sasuke looking at him surprised as well.
"Sasuke" Naruto said as he lowered down his guard. Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke soon pushed him to the ground.
"What the hell Sasuke?" Naruto shouted. He watched as Sasuke caught a kunai in his hand. Looking deeper into the fog, there was one more person with them.
"The fog is getting in the way" Sasuke said.
Naruto nodded as he created a clone and formed Rasegan. The fog soon disappeared as they finally got a closer look to see who was in front of them.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whispered. Sakura was wearing a black halter dress. It stuck out like a tutu at the end of her dress. Her eyes were dead-like. It was like her soul was gone.
Sasuke took out his sword as he aimed as Sakura. Naruto looked at Sasuke shocked.
"Sasuke, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked.
"That's not the real Sakura" Sasuke said.
"Huh?" Naruto noticed that Sasuke had activated his Sharingan.
Sakura had stuck her hand out to the side parallel to her body. Slowly a scythe appeared in her hands. Naruto had fallen to his butt as Sakura appeared in front of Sasuke in a blink of an eye as their sword and scythe met. Naruto could see Sasuke slowly being pushed back by the force of Sakura's attack.
"Sasuke!" Naruto said.
"Damn it!" Sasuke muttered as he tried to push Sakura back. With the right amount of charka, he was finally able to as he tried to slice Sakura in the stomach. Sakura quickly dodged it with a few back flips as she landed gracefully on her toes.
"She's good. I thought she'd be weak if Mandara was using Sakura's real strength and skills." Sasuke admitted.
"That isn't nice to say about your fellow leaf ninja" A voice said. Naruto and Sasuke watched to see Mandara walking up behind Sakura.
"Let Sakura go" Naruto said.
"Stop the genjutsu and fight us for real" Sasuke demanded.
"Who said anything about this being a genjutsu?" Mandara asked as he tilted his head to the side. "This is the real Sakura-chan. I'm just controlling her like a puppet" To prove his point, Mandara moved his hands as Sakura began to move along with his.
This pissed Naruto off more, his first tail began to come out.
"Sakura-chan has powers that no one ever imagined. With my help, I could make her the strongest ninja of all 5 countries. She never opened her powers yet and I bet she never knew all the great things she could do. She may be able to destroy all 5 countries if she wanted to. I want her" Mandara said.
"Don't touch her" Sasuke shouted.
"Like this?" Mandara asked as he brought Sakura's body closer to his as he licked her jaw line. Sasuke could feel his blood boiling. His eyes widened. He couldn't transform into his cursed seal anymore. Itachi had defeated Orochimaru which meant that his cursed seal was gone.
Sasuke felt Naruto head towards Mandara with so much charka. Naruto was going to fight Mandara to the death. Sasuke's eyes soon flickered over to Sakura. That meant that he was going to fight her.
"Come at me with all you got Sakura" Sasuke said with a smirk as Sakura brought her scythe in front of her and held it tightly. She soon jumped towards him as her scythe hit the ground.
"You missed" Sasuke said. Sakura didn't say anything as the ground began to crack. Sasuke jumped in the air as a large crater appeared. Before he knew it, Sakura appeared in front of him as she kicked him down to the ground. Sasuke rolled around in the ground as he coughed out blood.
"I shouldn't underestimate her. If I do, she can actually kill me" Sasuke said as he wiped the blood away from his mouth. Looking around he could see one of Naruto's tails throwing Mandara around. It seemed like an endless battle between the two. Sasuke sighed.
"What are we going to do?" Sasuke asked himself.
XxXxXxX
Minutes passed as Gai and the others continued with their battles. They were able to take down Nagato and Zetsu, but having Tenten, Neji, Shino and Lee injured. Ino and Karin had rushed to help heal them. Ino looked up to see Shikamaru barely dodge Kisame's attack.
"S-Shikamaru…" Ino whispered as she was healing Lee.
"He'll be fine. He was able to take down an immortal person right?" Karin said as she finished healing Shino. Tenten and Neji were already taken care of.
"Yeah" Ino said as she nodded. "I wonder how Naruto and Sasuke are doing."
Karin was about to answer but stopped when Kisame was thrown to the side of her. She slowly turned around to see Shikamaru's shadow jitsu bind him as Gai finished him off with his 6th gate.
"Shikamaru! You two did it!" Ino said as she flung herself to Shikamaru.
"Karin, you stay here and watch over the others, Ino and I will go to Naruto and Sasuke" Shikamaru said. Karin fixed her glasses as she nodded.
"Let's go" Ino said as she and Shikamaru began to leave the first Hokage's head and headed to the third's.
When they got there, Ino was shocked to see Sakura's body levitating up in the air.
"Sakura!" Ino called. She got no response. Shikamaru looked over ahead to a large dark sphere. He could sense Naruto and Sasuke inside it and they were fighting Mandara. The only thing that bugged him was that he could also sense Sakura's charka in there as well but she was up there.
"Ino, go and bring Sakura down" Shikamaru ordered. Ino already ran up the wall and grabbed her best friend and laid her gently on the ground.
"Sakura, can you hear me? It's Ino" Ino said as she gently shook Sakura.
"How is she?" Shikamaru asked still analyzing the sphere.
"She's not responding. It's like she is in a trance or coma" Ino said.
"Having Neji or Hinata here would be a good help. Maybe they could see what's happening inside." Shikamaru said. As if on cue, Hinata and Yamato arrived.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ino asked. Hinata noticed Sakura on the floor as she ran to them.
"Naruto entered his fifth tail stage" Yamato said as he showed the number 4 on his hand.
"Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to check what's happening inside the sphere?" Shikamaru asked. Hinata nodded as she activated her Byakugan and went closer to the sphere.
After a few seconds, a gasp was heard from her. Shikamaru watched as Hinata took a few steps back then looked at Sakura surprised, back to the sphere, then back at Sakura.
"I-I don't understand" Hinata muttered.
"What did you see?" Yamato asked.
"I saw Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun. Naruto-kun is fighting Mandara but there's this wild charka surrounding Naruto-kun." Hinata said.
"The nine-tails…" Yamato said. "Then I see Sasuke fighting someone."
"Who else could have been in the sphere?" Ino asked.
"I see Sakura-chan fighting Sasuke-kun…" Hinata said. Shikamaru closed his eyes. So he did sense Sakura's chakra in the sphere. Ino's eyes widened as she looked at the sphere then her best friend that was in her arms.
"H-How is that possible?" Ino asked.
"I don't know" Hinata said.
"The only way to break the sphere if for the others to defeat Mandara" Yamato said.
"How many tails can Naruto control?" Shikamaru asked.
Everyone watched as Yamato looked at his palm. On his hand the number 6 showed.
"Seven"
XxXxXxX
Sasuke kept on dodging all of Sakura's attacks. "Sakura, snap out of it. I don't want to fight you!"
Sakura said nothing as she continued to try to slice Sasuke with her scythe. Sasuke finally took his sword and removed the scythe from Sakura's hands. It slid a couple feet away from them. Sakura just stared at it as she began to move for it but Sasuke moved quickly as he tackled her to the ground. Her hands were on her back as Sasuke sat on her.
"Stop it Sakura!" Sasuke said. He noticed that Sakura was paying attention to Naruto who was fighting Mandara. "Naruto is fighting hard to protect you. You're not weak! You have to break out of this genjutsu or whatever he put you under. You're not weak"
Sakura soon vanished into smoke.
"Damn, you destroyed it" Mandara said as he had dodged Naruto's punch. "Seemed realistic didn't she? That is just a little preview of what I can do to Sakura-chan. She has the power to save 1,000 lives with just a touch of her finger or she can do the opposite and kill them. She just never opened up her powers. Let me have her. She's just a burden to you all, right?"
"I won't let you" Naruto growled. Sasuke could feel enormous energy flowing in Naruto. "I won't let you have her!" Naruto grabbed Mandara by the head with one of his tails as another grabbed him by the feet. Mandara soon felt Naruto's chest against his back.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Use your sword to end it"
"What!?" Sasuke said surprised.
"I can hold him for a while. This will end it. Once you do, get Sakura-chan and get out of here as I finish this" Naruto said.
"Don't be a fool" Mandara growled. "You're going to sacrifice yourself for just this girl?"
"She's not just a girl!" Naruto shouted at him. "I LOVE HER"
Sasuke's eyes widened before it went back to normal. "Of course…" Sasuke said as he took out his sword. He aimed it at Mandara and Naruto. Sasuke soon charged at him with lighting speed at the sword pierced both Naruto and Mandara.
"Take Sakura-chan, please…" Naruto said as he coughed out blood. The sphere disappeared as they noticed the others in the room.
"D-Damn you…" Mandara said.
"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata cried out as she and Ino rushed over to him. Sasuke stopped them and carried them out of the area.
"Shikamaru, get Sakura-chan and leave" Sasuke said.
"What? What about Naruto?"
"JUST DO IT!" Sasuke said. Yamato and Sasuke had already left with the girls.
Shikamaru could feel the whole place began to crumble do to the chakra Naruto was giving off. He slowly backed away as he watched Mandara and Naruto face each other off in what seemed to be a final battle.
"Damn it. Naruto, you better make it out alive" Shikamaru shouted. He saw Naruto nod his head.
"Protect Sakura-chan" Naruto said.
"Got it" Shikamaru turned around as he lifted Sakura in his arms as they left the room before the rocks caved in leaving Naruto and Mandara trapped in the room.
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Oh man! The NarutoMandara face off is coming up soon! They finally saved Sakura from the Mandara's evil clutches. Don't know how the battle is going to end, but let's hope it turns out good. Thank you for reading my story so far. Please review everyone!
-Kumiko