~O~

He walked on the surface of water by applying adhesive chakra under his feet, and kept walking onwards. The tunnel became narrower and narrower, and he wondered if he'll ever reach it's end. He took a right turn once again, and kept walking.

A moment later, he could see huge bars appear in front of him and he sighed in relief. Finally, he made it to the end of sewer.

A soft growl rumbled around the sewer, creating ripples in the sewage water as a lone, crimson eye appeared in the dark expanse behind the bars.

"So, you're here huh?" the deep, ancient voice grumbled sarcastically, as it mocked him. "Congratulations."

"I finally found you," He replied dryly as he stared at the creature hiding behind the bars, "the nine tailed fox."

The creature grinned, revealing it's sharp teeth as it spoke, "You may have come here on your own, but you won't go back from here alive!" The nine tailed fox took a few steps forward, revealing it's mighty figure of a giant fox with gleaming, orange fur and menacing red eyes. What was even more surprising –and awe inspiring- were the nine tails that swished lazily. "This time I'll devour your soul and break this stupid seal, and finally gain my freedom!"

Naruto smirked as he crouched down in an attacking stance. He made hand signs for shadow clones and exclaimed with a grin, "Try me, dattebayo!"

~O~

Sasuke panted as he struggled under his grip, but to no avail.

"Release. me. now!" He hissed in anger as he glared at his opponent who gripped his throat even tighter, making him choke.

The enemy leaned forward as he whispered in Sasuke's ear, "Foolish little brother, you really think your life is worth anything to me?" he then threw Sasuke away as if he were a ragdoll, and walked away. He kicked a corpse lying next to him and said in a mocking tone, "I didn't even spare them, why would I spare you?"

Sasuke's eyes burned as they fell on the bodies of his precious teammates –Naruto….. Sakura… nononononoNONONONO-! –that lay dead in a pool of blood, among the corpses of many other Uchiha clansmen that diedby Itachi's hands. In this world of red and black, there were nothing but corpses of his loved ones lying in a pool of blood, every single one of them killed by Itachi's hands.

"Itachi," Sasuke snarled angrily as he panted, throwing away the last bit of rationality in his mind, "I'll kill you!"

(He never noticed a small, white snake, staring at him with creepy golden eyes.)

~O~

.

.

.

Sakura placed her glowing green hand over Sasuke's forehead, whose facial expressions finally showed relief. She wiped the cold sweat over his body with a damp cloth, and then turned her attention to Naruto as she checked his pulse. Sighing, she picked up the medicine container- only to find it empty.

"Damn it." Se hissed under her breath as she realized that the supplies were perishing at a much faster rate than she had imagined. Medicinal salves and pills have already been finished, there was only half a bottle of fresh, clean water remaining –and to say nothing of food. She has been swallowing those stupid food pills for the past fifteen hours. At this rate she will starve herself as well as her teammates before they even wake up.

With a poof of smoke, an exact replica of her body appeared next to her –with the exception of the glowing Mangekyo in their right eye, and the left part of their body shrouded in darkness.

"You think too much." The possessed shadow clone said softly as they sat next to her. "If you like, I'll stay here with them while you gather supplies."

"Stop wasting my chakra." Sakura scolded Obito who had possessed her shadow clone, "I'm already exhausted taking care of these idiots."

"Then sleep for a few hours," the possessed shadow clone said with a shrug, knowing that she's only irritated because she didn't get much rest ever since their scuffle with Orochimaru, "I'll keep watch over you guys."

Sakura shook her head. "No need." She then eyed him critically from the corner of her eyes and said dryly, "So, now you can create shadow clones without my help and even possess them perfectly. Congrats."

"Practice makes a ninja perfect, Outer." Smiling smugly, the possessed clone's eyes fell on Naruto's sweat covered face and wiped it with a cloth.

Sakura picked a water bottle and opened it's cap and took a few sips. She placed the now empty bottle next to her and sighed, "I can't procrastinate any longer. According to my estimate, they will wake up by tonight. Having some food, water and medicines will come in handy then."

The clone sighed exasperatedly, "I told you I'll keep an eye on them." When she didn't look convinced enough, the possessed clone continued on, "Besides, you've rigged the whole clearing around this cave with your seals and traps. Trust me, I'll hold the fort till you get back."

She squinted her eyes at him. "Promise?"

The shadow clone smiled, "Pinky promise."

"Let's take part in Chunin Exams, they said. We'll kick everyone's ass and become chunins, they said. And now, you two idiots are lying incapacitated while I am scurrying around a jungle like a moron, searching for supplies." Sakura grumbled under her breath as she pierced a chakra enhanced punch through a mutant rabbit's heart, and then sealed the dead carcass of the rabbit, and it's ten other kin that had the misfortune of dying under her hand –not her fault they decided to attack her out of nowhere- in a storage scroll. "I swear if they don't wake up by tonight, I'll personally wake them up with an A ranked lightening jutsu. An electric shock can restart even a still heart, to say nothing of two unconscious baffoons."

She paused as she placed the storage scroll back in her pouch –surprisingly, mutant rabbit's meat is quite nutritious and delicious, once grilled. Hopefully, it'll make a good meal for tonight- and sighed, "Well, now we have enough food to feed Naruto for three days." She hummed under her breath as she jumped up from tree to tree, and mumbled, "I've already got enough water to last us till the end of exams."

Her eyes wandered around as she skipped from tree to tree, and suddenly fell on a small shrub underneath a tree with small, purple flowers. "Oh, that looks useful!" She exclaimed as she crouched next to the shrub, and collected it's leaves as well as flowers as placed them in a storage scroll in which she was storing herbs.

Pulling out a kunai, she nonchalantly smashed it into a giant centipede just behind her –the bastard had the gall to sneak attack on her while she had been collecting herbs. These creatures seriously thought she'd be distracted enough to not pay attention to her surroundings?- and got up after placing the scroll in her pocket. She had been about to turn around when suddenly, her body stiffened on it's own.

"I'm an idiot." She hissed under her breath as she tried to move her limbs –but to no avail. The dark shadow under her feet elongated and stretched, leading towards a corner which suddenly distorted, and a twelve year old Nara boy became visible to her eyes.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu, Success." Shikamaru smirked as he tauntingly raised a brow at Sakura.

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, you got me." She muttered grudgingly. "Though I have a question- how come I didn't sense you at all?"

Shikamaru's smirk widened as he said, "Well, it's all thanks to Ino." He then paused and glanced at his side and said, unimpressed, "I thought you wanted bragging rights?"

Sakura stared at him as if he were a lunatic –which… is debatable, because after all, he is talking to thin air. But soon, her jaw hit the floor in disbelief and amazement as the air next to him distorted, and suddenly, Ino and Choji appeared in her field of vision.

"Damn right I do!" Ino scoffed.

"Wha-? How?"

Ino said smugly, "Mind distortion Jutsu, It makes the presence of anyone in it's range to overlook the presence of the user and whoever they are touching."

"We also hid our chakra signature –just in case." Choji said with a shrug.

"Let's get down to business." Shikamaru stated as he walked forward, and at the same time Sakura's body under the possession of the shadow unwillingly walked towards him. "Give us your scroll."

"What if it's not the one you want?" Sakura asked stubbornly, neither agreeing nor denying to the deal.

"Then we'll hold you captive and threaten your idiot teammates to get the Earth scroll for us and hand it to us." Shikamaru said lazily as he tilted his head. "What say?"

Sakura's eyes darkened. Damn Nara boy. Turns out, the rumors about the intelligence of Nara clan's people wasn't false.

Sakura hummed under her breath and said, "You're smart, Shikamaru. I'll give you that." She smiled and said, "I'd really like to fight you someday, one on one." Saying this, the Sakura confined by the shadows suddenly disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"What?!" the three of them were startled as they stared at the residual smoke left by the shadow clone.

"Damn it, she played us!" Ino snarled in frustration.

Choji looked around nervously and asked, "When do you think she replaced herself with a shadow clone?"

Shikamaru answered, "Most likely just before I trapped her with Shadow Possession Jutsu."

"You mean we've been talking to a clone this whole time?" Ino shrieked in disbelief.

Shikamaru winced as he rubbed his ear, "Are you trying to turn me deaf, you troublesome girl?!"

Before Ino could round up on him and lecture him on his rudeness, Sakura's voice rang around the clearing. "You guys almost got me, I'll give you that."

The three of them turned and stared up at sakura, who was standing high on a branch of a tall tree.

Shikamaru sighed, "Whatever gave us away?"

Sakura answered back, "The plan had been perfect, and I'd definitely have fallen in your trap on any normal day if-" She paused as her eyes skimmed over Ino, "Ino's chakra hadn't fluctuated during the casting of her jutsu." She eyed Ino and asked softly, "You haven't perfected your Jutsu, have you? It must've required perfect level of chakra control, which is where you went wrong."

Choji and Shikamaru glanced at Ino, who clenched her fist and glared murderously at Sakura. "I'll get back at you, I swear." She hissed at her.

"Please don't." Sakura sighed tiredly, the dark bags under her eyes made her look paler than she already was. "I don't have time to deal with you guys." She then pulled out something from the pocket of her –barely hanging- jacket and asked, "You needed an Earth Scroll, right?"

Shikamaru asked warily, "Yeah, why?"

Sakura threw something towards him, which he caught with practiced ease. To his surprise and disbelief, it turned out to be an Earth scroll. He snapped his head towards Sakura, who waved her hand dismissively and said, "Keep it. Take it as a token of my appreciation for almost trapping me with your ingenious plan and great teamwork." She then paused and added on as an afterthought, "and don't come after me anymore. It's not safe."

Saying this, she body flickered away, leaving behind three confused genin of Team Ten.

(Time- T minus 94 hours before the end of Second Phase)

Hinata wandered the halls of the Central tower in the Forest of death, looking for her friends. It has been twenty six hours since the Second Phase has started, and Team Eight had been the third team to pass the Exams. Actually, considering their timing of getting the scroll and arriving at the tower –three hours and thirty five minutes- hasn't been bad. In fact, they had been wondering if they were the first to complete the survival mission.

Of course, all their imagination and daydreams were crushed completely when they were told that two teams had already arrived before them, and they hadn't even taken a full hour to complete the survival task. Hearing about the record those two teams had set up made the members of Team Eight want to die in shame. Their Tracking team wasn't up to par with a team from Suna and Takigakure respectively. How humiliating.

The Team from Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall) were the first ones to arrive –taking only forty six minutes to complete the survival Mission. Suna's team –the one with the psycho red haired guy- took fifty two minutes. Against such mind breaking records, Hinata and her team's puny timing of three hours and thirty five minutes stood no chance.

"Hey Hinata! What'cha thinking about?!" a bubbly voice exclaimed next to Hinata, making her wince. Oh yes, as if that hadn't been humiliating enough, now she also has to babysit a fourteen year old, hyperactive, cheery girl with a penchant for trouble.

"N-Nothing, Fuu." Hinata said nervously as she poked her fingers. "I-I'm just w-worried about my friends."

"Really?" Fuu's eyes sparkled at the word 'Friends', making Hinata flinch. She just had to say it, didn't she? Damn it. "Come on, tell me about them, please?" Fuu unleashed her puppy dog eyed look at Hinata, making the girl's eyes soften.

"U-Um," Hinata mumbled, "t-there's Sakura –she has pink hair and is v-very pretty and kind. T-Then there's N-N-Naruto." Her cheeks turned pink as she spoke her crush's name, and she stuttered, "h-h-he is v-v-very hard w-working, and i-i-is always trying h-h-his best. H-H-he inspires me." she mumbled softly.

Glancing at Fuu's inquiring eyes, she continued on, "There is a-also S-Sasuke uchiha- w-who is Sakura and N-Naruto's teammate. Shikamaru is l-lazy and likes to c-cloud watch, I-Ino is v-very beautiful and is s-social p-person. C-Choji likes to e-eat." She then paused and mumbled, "You've already m-met Kiba and S-Shino."

Fuu's eyes brightened, "They sound like really interesting people! I hope they'll be my friends too!" She hesitated, and stared at Hinata nervously, "they will, right?"

Hinata nodded nervously, "O-Of course, they will! Y-You are a n-n-nice person, Fuu. I-I'm sure they'd l-love to be your friend."

Fuu gave her a beaming smile and hugged her. "You're awesome, Hinata! Thank you for being my friend!" Thank you for being my first friend ever…

(Somewhere in her mindscape, Chomei smiled. His little bug finally got her wish fulfilled.)

Sakura's eye twitched as she stared at her possessed shadow clone –that happens to be Obito- who leaned against the wall of the cave and dozing off without any care in the world. She clenched her fist and bonked the clone on it's head, making her(him?) scream in terror.

The clone blinked it's mismatched eyes and stared at her, "Oh, it's just you."

A vein popped over her head, "I left you to keep watch, not to nap carelessly." She hissed at him. "Do you not have any sense of responsibility?"

The clone chuckled and held their hand up in defense. "Now, now Sakura, such temper isn't good for your health."

She pulled out a kunai from her weapon's pouch and smiled a bit too sweetly, "You know I can't calm my temper down unless I've maimed or murdered someone, right?"

The clone gulped in terror and scooted away from her.

"And luckily, I even have a volunteer here." Sakura purred as she stepped closer to him slowly, and dramatically. She tilted her head and asked sweetly, "Any last words?"

The possessed clone squeaked out, "Sorry?"

"Too late!" Sakura snarled as she thrust her kunai into the other's heart, and a moment later the possessed shadow clone disappeared in a poof of smoke.

'You're heartless!' Obito screamed in her mind as he shivered in terror, 'who kills their own partner like that?!'

Sakura rolled her eyes and murmured, "You're not dead, are you? You just came back where you truly belong."

'You ruthless little brat.' Obito rumbled, 'No wonder you've got no boyfriend. Who'd want a heartless little girlfriend like you?'

Sakura's expression darkened, "What. did. you. say?!"

He squeaked, 'Nothing!'

(Some hours later….)

"You remember our mission, don't you?" The boy whispered as he eyes the pink haired girl in the cave tending to her teammates.

His fellow teammate scoffed as he adjusted the device on his arm, "Of course, we just have to kill the Uchiha boy right? Easy as a pie."

"That's not the only thing." The only girl in their team piped in, "Lord Orochimaru said we also have to get the girl's right eye. He said he'll use it as a spare in his experiments."

The other boy scoffed, "That is even easier than killing the Uchiha!" he mumbled in distaste. "What can a puny girl like her do?"

The boy with his face covered in bandages rolled his eyes, "Stop it, Kin, Zaku. Remember, we cannot fail this mission. The price of failure is our lives." He said sternly.

The two of them trembled in fear at the thought of what will happen to them if they fail this mission- with death being the best outcome, and facing Juugo being the worst.

"Yes, Dosu." The two of them mumbled in unison.

Sakura had been on the verge of dozing off, when suddenly, Obito's voice rang in her mind, 'Someone is keeping an eye on us.' He paused and then said, 'There's three of them.'

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, and a moment later she sat up, alert. "Are they strong?"

He paused and then answered with a shrug, 'Meh, you can handle them.'

Sakura shrugged, "In that case, I don't even need to go. My seals are more than enough for them." Saying this, she turned back towards her teammates as she rubbed some medicinal salves over their wounds. Sakura placed her hands over Sasuke's chest and continued healing his broken bones, when suddenly she was startled by the sound of explosion-

BOOM!

Followed by a loud SMASH!-

-and then the ground trembled, and softened like clay.

Sakura quickly grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's limp bodies and jumped out of the cave as the cave slowly sank into the ground as if it were stuck in the middle of a swamp. Her expression turned ugly as she saw how the softened ground disabled most of her traps and seals, and then her eyes fell on the three genins, who were smirking smugly.

Sakura placed Naruto and Sasuke's unconscious figures against a rock boulder, and then stood up and shot her foes a glare. The three of them looked quite older- must be in the middle of their teenage years- and they wore army print clothes, with the Hidden sound's symbol on their headband. The only girl in their team had tanned skin, dark eyes, and raven hair that fell down her back. There was a muscular, burly boy with a strange head protector and a weird device in his arms. Last but not the least was the guy whose face was covered in bandages –why is he dressed in a mummy-gone-wrong disguise?!-who stood with a hunched back.

Sakura's eye twitched as she asked in annoyance, 'I thought you said they aren't strong enough?'

Obito scratched his head, 'I said that because their chakra reserves aren't much.'

'Oh really? Then how come they almost sunk us into the ground along with our temporary hideout?!' Sakura hissed angrily, 'It'd take a B or A ranked Earth Jutsu to turn the ground into soft mud and sink everything in it's range.'

Obito was about to argue back, but was interrupted by the guy dressed as a Mummy.

"I have to say, your traps were impressive." The leader said in a mocking tone. "For a rookie, anyways."

Sakura gritted her teeth. 'Okay, now I'm mad.'

'Ditto.' Obito seethed in anger. No one insults Sakura's skills –that he took years refining- and gets away with it.

"What do you want?" Sakura bit out as she tried to suppress her anger.

The girl cocked her head to the side and answered, "Why, isn't it obvious? Your scroll, of course!"

Sakura snorted, "Spare me the lies. I'm not an idiot." She raised a brow and asked, "Orochimaru sent you, didn't he?"

The three of them were startled, "What?!"

"Your chakra," Sakura pointed out. "It's tainted. It's quite similar to Orochimaru's when he disguised himself as a Kusagakure genin." She added mentally 'and it also feels familiar to the tainted chakra I found in Sasuke.'

"She knows too much." The bandaged guy mumbled. "No wonder Lord Orochimaru wants her dead."

The burly guy smirked, "Then that means we don't need to hold back any longer now. Do we, Dosu?"

Dosu-the guy with his face bandaged like a Mummy- waved his hand in dismissal, "Do whatever you want Kin, Zaku."

Kin giggled. "With pleasure." Saying this, she pulled out her senbons that had bells attached at one end, and threw them at her.

Sakura dodged them with practiced ease as she body flickered towards Kin and aimed a punch, but to her surprise, her punch just passed through her. The image before her dissolved, and a moment later Sakura coughed up blood as Zaku smashed his palms towards her back, and through the two tubes in his palms a highly pressured wave of air smashed into Sakura –piercing and damaging her lungs.

Zaku smirked, "Goodbye, loser."

"Not so soon, you bastard." A voice whispered in his ear, and Zaku froze. A chakra enhanced punch smashed into his gut, sending him flying.

The genjutsu shattered as the surroundings around them changed, and soon reality fixed itself as Dosu stared in disbelief at Sakura, who now stood at the same place where Zaku stood a moment ago. Kin was lying on the ground some distance away from her, with bruises and broken bones; while Zaku who had been sent flying was found laid in the midst of a crater, coughing up blood.

Sakura tilted her head to the side and said nonchalantly as she spared Kin a glance, "Attaching bells at the end of senbons to cast an auditory genjutsu that messes up the opponent's five senses- not bad. That is quite in-genius, I'll give you that. But-" She then narrowed her eyes and said, "it isn't enough to deal with me."

Dosu stared up at the –seemingly weak- pink haired girl, whose glare sent a shiver of terror down his spine. What startled him even more were the three black tomoe spinning in her right, sharingan eye.

'So that's why Lord Orochimaru wants her right eye…' Dosu thought absently as he realized that this mission is going to be way more dangerous than he had expected it to be.

"You know," Sakura glanced at Zaku's groaning form lying in crater, and then glared Dosu, "Normally I'd spare you guys, but these past few days haven't exactly been sunshine and daisies. Hence, I'm fucking pissed." Her rosy lips twitched upwards in a venomous smile as she said, "and luckily, three idiots sent themselves on my doorway to be used as punching bags. Lucky~"

Saying this, Sakura clenched her fingers in a fist, and said in a monotone, "So, get ready for the ride of your life!"

Saying this, she punched the ground with a chakra enhanced fist, screaming-

"SHANNARO!"

.

.

.

'I think you went overboard.' Obito mumbled nervously as he noted the destruction Sakura razed in her fit of temper.

'I think so too.' -was Sakura's sheepish answer.

Sakura swung her legs lazily as she sat on a boulder –that she had uprooted from the ground herself and smashed on Zaku when he was being a cockroach and won't just stay down!- as she eyed the havoc she had wrecked on the Sound Team who had the gall to attack her team when they were down.

The ground was in tatters- there were huge craters and cracks scattered around the clearing. The trees were uprooted, and rocks laid haphazardly around the tattered ground. A corner of the clearing was still charred with flames from her fireball jutsu, and there was another part of the clearing that was drenched in water from her Water Jutsu. Kin flopped in the water –her dress torn, muddy and was barely hanging on her body- as she somehow crawled out from the water hole and glared murderously at Sakura. Dosu –whose lower body was buried in the ground- smashed his fist on the ground to loosen the soil, and stumbled out from the pit.

Sakura sighed. 'What a pity. These three Sound genin are like cockroaches-why won't they just stay down like normal people?' She grumbled. She used up her chakra reserves on releasing her pent up stress and anger on these bunch of idiots.

Dosu and Kin met up with each other and glared seethingly at her. "It seems we've underestimated you." Dosu said as he pulled off the fur coat over his body.

Sakura snorted as she muttered, "Understatement of the century."

Kin winced as she placed a hand over her neck, and snarled angrily, "I swear I'll kill you, you pathetic little devil!"

Sakura blinked and said in an innocent tone, "Wow, that's a new one."

'I know right! Normally, people only call you brat, or moron, or fool, or fashion disaster, or-'

Sakura's eye twitched. 'I get your point. Now, Shut. up.'

Dosu tilted his head to the side and said, "You'll regret making us serious, Leaf scum." Saying this, he placed a hand over the back of his neck, and hissed in pain a moment later. Sakura stared flabbergasted, as Kin too let out a pained groan. She stared at then curiously, wondering what exactly was going on. And why is their chakra twisting, and changing like that?

'Shit Sakura, below you!' Obito hollered in alarm, and Sakura jumped off not a moment too soon as the rock boulder she had been sitting on shattered into pieces-

BOOM!

-leaving a cloud of dust in it's wake. Her mismatched eyes –one red and one green- stared at the cloud of dust as it gradually settled down, leaving behind Zaku, with strange black markings all over his body. The same kind of markings that were now visible on Kin and Dosu's bodies.

"Curse mark- Level One! Activate!"

'It's as if they've been injected with steroids.' Sakura thought absently as she barely avoided Dosu's punches, and winced as the blast of sound waves from the device on his hand affected her hearing, as well as her sense of balance. 'They're faster, stronger, and ow-!' she winced as Zaku aimed a punch at her gut, making her almost spit out blood, '-their hits hurt like HELL!'

'It's the curse mark.' Obito answered back as he urged his chakra to heal her auditory nerves, 'They have become much stronger ever since it's activation.'

'I have a theory.' Suppressing the vertigo caused by Dosu's jutsu, Sakura dodged the senbons thrown by Kin, and punched the ground, making the Sound Team back off a bit. 'I think the curse mark is prompting the duplication and regeneration of cells at a much faster rate, making their metabolic activities also quicker, and hence leading to their momentary increase in power. In other terms, the Curse mark is just like a steroid.'

"My, my," Kin said as she appeared behind Sakura and pierced her senbon into Sakura's right shoulder, making her cry out in pain. "Tired already? And we haven't even started the real show yet!"

Sakura bit her lip as she kicked Kin –which she dodged easily, and she skidded back a few steps. She tried to move her right arm- but to no avail. Damn it, the woman numbed her arm and rendered it useless!

"Oh? I'm sorry, I'm not really into television shows." Sakura said nonchalantly as she sent some healing chakra towards her right arm, and winced as she found some traces of foreign substance in her bloodstream. Of course, Kin just had to soak her senbons in poison. Goddammit, she hated poisons!

Dosu smirked, "Don't worry, you'll really like this one."

Sakura eyed the three Sound genin as they surrounded her, and resisted the urge to smack her past self for infuriating them. If she hadn't gone overboard in her rage, things might not have gotten this bad.

….On second thought, that episode had made her release her much pent-up stress and frustration –so yeah, no. She doesn't regret it even a bit.

Sighing, she pulled out a chakra pill and swallowed it.

'Are you crazy?! Stop swallowing pills like they're candies!' Obito scolded her. 'You'll get chakra poisoning!'

'I don't have any choice. I can handle one of them quite easily, but against the three of them I don't think I'll win.' Sakura admitted as she tensed, and readied herself for the upcoming fight. 'You know my chakra reserves aren't like Naruto's or Sasuke's.'

'I can deal with them if you like.' Obito offered.

'If you leave my body now to fight, I'll collapse from poisoning.' Sakura thought wryly. 'Don't think I haven't noticed you using your coarse yin chakra to isolate the poison towards my right arm.'

'So, what do we do?' Obito asked quietly as Sakura clutched a kunai tighter between her fingers.

Sakura smirked as she said, "Now we fight."

Her right eye spun in the shuriken like pattern of Mangekyo, and she yelled, "Kamui!"

"Ino," Shikamaru asked nervously as he stared at the brutal battle ongoing some distance away from them. He stood with his teammates on a branch of a very tall tree, from where the battle between Sakura and the three genin from Sound Village was quite visible. "Are you sure you don't want to help her? I thought you two were childhood friends."

Ino eyed Sakura nervously as her body turned intangible and she passed right through Dosu's punch,(What kind of Jutsu does that?!) and punched him –which he caught easily. "We're not friends." Ino said firmly. However, she winced the next second when Sakura's piercing screams sent goosebumps raising over her arm as Dosu shattered her wrist in a swift motion. A seal appeared beneath her and activated a moment later, sending a ground shattering explosion throughout the clearing.

Sakura's intangible form passed through the fire and debris as she shrouded her broken wrist in healing chakra, mending it so that she can keep fighting. A second later, she dodged a barrage of senbons thrown towards her, however some still managed to pierce her body.

Zaku appeared behind her a moment later as he grabbed her limp right shoulder, and shot a pressurized bullet of air pressure through it, leaving a marble-sized hole in her shoulder. She cried out in pain, her throat no longer managed to let out even a scream.

Choji trembled as he muttered, "This is torture." He had already placed the bag of potato chips deeper in his pocket, as he no longer intent to eat anymore. Watching this brutal battle made him loose his appetite. He eyed Ino nervously, "We should help her, right? Even if you two aren't friends anymore, we're still classmates who graduated together." He then added on as an afterthought, "She even gave us the Earth Scroll."

"Shut up!" Ino yelled, "We got it fair and square!"

"We got it in charity, Ino." Shikamaru pointed out dryly.

"No we didn't!" Ino snarled angrily.

"Decide quickly, you troublesome girl," Shikamaru hissed as he glanced at Sakura, who stumbled as she got up and did half-hand signs with her left hand and shot out a majestic Water Dragon at her opponents –however, the Water Dragon collapsed a moment later before it could even hurt the enemies. "I think she's reaching her limit."

Sakura panted as she eyed the puddle left behind by the Water Dragon Jutsu that had collapsed before it could even hurt the Sound Genin. Turns out, using Jutsus you have copied with your sharingan without prior practice is a bad idea.

Kin stretched her limbs –making the curse marks on her skin gleam sinisterly- as she exclaimed, "My, it has been so long since I've exercised so vigorously!"

Sakura bristled at her comment. 'Exercise?! I'll show you exercise, you two faced, good-for-nothing, stupid girl!'

Dosu sighed exasperatedly, "It is such a shame we have to cut our play time short. Lord Orochimaru must be waiting for the good news." He then turned to Zaku and said, "You deal with the Uchiha." He then turned to Kin, and gestured towards Sakura, and said, "You know what to do."

"What are you-"

Sakura couldn't even complete her statement as the two of them moved. Zaku body flickered towards the lone corner where Naruto and Sasuke's unconscious bodies lay, while Kin appeared behind her, and grabbed her by her hair and pulled.

Sakura cried out in pain as she activated Kamui, and passed right through Kin-freeing her hair from the dark haired girl's grasp.

She then activated her body flicker, but somehow, she was still slower than Zaku. She tried, she really did, as she poured more chakra into her limbs- but she still couldn't match up to Zaku's speed. She vaguely sensed Kin coming after her from behind, but she didn't have time to deal with her, for her attention was on her teammates who didn't have any idea that danger approached them.

'Come on…' She hissed as she urged herself to go faster.

Faster…..

Much, much faster….

Reach them…

Protect them…..

Save them…..

Suddenly, something in her mind clicked as she finally got what Shisui had been trying to tell her when he was teaching her his Body Flicker (Shunshin) technique years ago.

.

.

.

"It isn't about a single shunshin," Shisui's grinning face appeared in her mind. "It's about a chain of shunshins."

.

.

.

'A chain of shunshins…..' The single thought gave birth to an idea, the idea led her to understand the technique she had been stumped on for years. She may have learned Body Flicker from Shisui, but she could never use it like he did. There was always something missing in her technique.

But now… now she found what she has been missing this entire time. She has been looking at it the wrong way.

Shunshin is not about a single step, it's about a sequence of steps that comes one after the other.

"Body flicker! Shisui Style!" Sakura exclaimed as she used shunshin after shunshin, leaving behind afterimages that made Kin mistook for the real Sakura as she threw poison coated senbons at them- only to find herself staring at empty air as the afterimages dissolved into nothing.

Her speed turned much, much faster as she appeared at her teammates side before Zaku could in a flurry of afterimages, leaving him baffled. She crouched down in an attacking stance- like a Mama bear protecting it's cubs- and snarled in anger. "Touch them, and die." She sneered in fury as her mismatched eyes glared at him.

"Goddammit, you're way too persistent!" Zaku snarled in anger as he held out his hands, and a huge wave of air pressure erupted from the tubes in his palm.

'Reinforcements have arrived.' Obito chuckled quietly, startling her.

Sakura blinked her eyes, confused, 'What reinforcements?'

The air pressure was about to reach her, when suddenly-

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!"

A Giant fist knocked into Zaku, sending him flying.

"What the-?" Kin was startled as a kunai slashed her arm, making her scream in pain.

"How do you like being pierced by a weapon, huh?" a blonde girl said haughtily as she toyed with a blood drenched kunai in her palms.

"Kin! Zaku!" Dosu exclaimed as he moved to rush towards them- but to his horror, his body was stuck to the ground to a shadow, that stretched towards a pre-teen boy with a pony tail, who yawned lazily.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu, Complete."

Sakura blinked as she mumbled softly, "Choji? Ino? Shikamaru?" She asked, bewildered, "What are you three doing here?"

"Yo, Sakura!" Shikamaru waved his hand lazily as he yawned, "Turns out, we don't do charity, after all."