(A\N: Alright, I just want all of you to know that you have NO idea how painful this chapter was to write. Not just because it's fight scenes and they take me a painstakingly long time to write, but…well…if you've all been reading the Manga I'm sure you know.

WTFH? Ugh, seriously, all my respect for Sasuke is gone now. But I am going to try and redeem him in my fanfics and SOMEHOW continue to make Karin a likeable character without letting out my rage on her. –breaths in deeply- it's a difficult task, but I think I can do it. Let's just hope my muse lasts through the rest of this and that Kishi stops pulling his plot out of his ass and starts coming up with something believable.

But first…question and answer time with Lady Hanaka! XD I'll try and do this for all the question you guys have for me in the chapters from now on, so if you have a question about this chapter and ask it, look for the answer in chapter 25. :)

Q: So what was up with Yasu? I feel like she died too quickly for someone as powerful as you made her out to be.

A: Well I guess I was trying to play down her importance a little. While she is indeed important to the plot she is not the most powerful opponent that Sasuke is going to have to fight in the future. Her purpose, actually, is to point out the flaws and weaknesses of relying on a kekkei genkai, especially a doujutsu. This is something that will come back to haunt Sasuke later on, as well all know he loves to rely on his Sharingan.

Yasu died quickly because she is (for all intents and purposes) the epitome of the powerful kekkei genkai. I wanted to show that a kekkei genkai does not make a powerful shinobi on its own and that shinobi who rely on their kekkei genkai are actually more prone to weakness and disaster than others who train as hard as they can because they don't have a kekkei genkai. That was Yasu's purpose, in abbreviated form, lol.

So here's the next chapter! The big Sakura v Shinju battle that everyone has been waiting for! Enjoy.)

Chapter 24

Death is a Diary

There's a fine line between love and hate.
And I don't mind.
Just let me say that
I like that
I like that

Desperate, I will crawl
Waiting for so long
No love, there is no love.
Die for anyone
What have I become?

excerpts from Diary of Jane by Breaking Benjamin

"Dammit." Sakura hissed out softly as she leapt onto the arena wall herself. She could see the battles below her. Everyone else was doing fine. Gaara and Tsunade could now use their techniques to their fullest, and Sakura could only feel slight pity towards the Raikage and the Mizukage. They were not only outmatched, but with the help of the Tsuchikage they were also outnumbered. And reinforcements from the village were coming into the arena as they spoke.

"Haruno, what is your position?" Anko's voice crackled over the com-link, full of static.

"I'm off to retrieve Team Lotus' target." Sakura murmured, before she jumped off of the arena wall and landed on the ground, her chakra-encased sandals making imprints in the dirt as she landed.

She saw a flicker of sun against steel, reflecting off of Shinju's sword. Her eyes narrowed before she followed her into the forest.

Tracking Shinju was harder than Sakura thought it would be. Her chakra signature was wavering in an out in an attempt to throw Sakura off, and it was actually rather effective.

Sakura merely landed on a tree branch before pushing herself off of it quickly, flipping through the air and dodging a senbon that whistled through the trees at her.

I really wish I had Karin's chakra sensing abilities right now! Sakura growled out as she threw a shuriken in the same direction the senbon came from, knowing that she wouldn't hit Shinju. In fact, she heard a soft gasp and then the chakra signature disappeared—water clone.

Damn. Sakura felt a chakra spike and jumped, hearing the branch she'd been standing on splinter into small shards. She grabbed an overhanging branch with her hand, flipping herself upwards until her feet connected with the bark. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down, seeing one of Shinju's water clones standing calmly beside the shattered branch.

She smiled calmly at Sakura, her sword in hand. The large blade glistened in the light coming through the leaves, and a glare filled Sakura's sight, momentarily blinding her. She cursed, as the real Shinju came up behind her. Sakura ducked low, her nose almost grazing the bark of the tree branch. She heard the sound of Shinju's blade whistling past her head, and reached down hurriedly into her pouch as she rolled herself over onto her back. Her fingers met metal and she pulled the weapon out just in time to block Shinju's blade.

She cursed her inattentiveness. She'd grabbed a shuriken from her pack, and one of the spikes was slowly digging into her palm as she held Shinju's blade at bay, mere inches from her face. The tree branch they were standing on began to creak, and Sakura hissed from beneath clenched teeth as the blood from her hand dribbled down her arm, a few droplets splattering onto her cheek.

Shinju stood above her calmly, her face a stoic mask. There was no hatred in her gaze, only acceptance of the situation at hand. While neither woman necessarily wanted to kill one another, they knew that this was inevitable.

The first time they had met they'd known one of them would die.

Sakura was going to try her hardest to make sure that she was the one that lived.

The branch continued to creak under the pressure of Shinju's blade. The point of the shuriken continued to bury itself deeper into her hand, but she merely slammed her shoulder backwards and the branch snapped.

She heard Shinju let out an exclamation of surprise as she stumbled and fell with Sakura. Sakura flipped in the air, landing on the ground and leaping to the side to dodge the branch and Shinju as they crashed onto the forest floor.

She ripped the shuriken from her hand, healing it instantly and pulling out a small scroll from her pack just as the dust cleared and Shinju walked calmly from the pile of debris made by the fall.

"You should have killed me when I was stuck in your genjutsu." Shinju spoke, as the air between them seemed to become thick and stuffy.

Sakura said nothing.

"It was an interesting illusion, to be sure." Shinju continued. "I expected something with more malice from you, based on your personality."

Sakura unraveled the scroll, wiping the blood from her earlier wound onto it, summoning chakra into her fingertips. "You of all people should know not to judge by appearance."

"True." Shinju nodded. "When I first heard of you from my Kage, I had thought you would be an emotional and temperamental kunoichi, like your shishou. But you proved me wrong then, as well." She began her own set of hand signs, even as Sakura activated her scroll and smoke filled the area.

When the smoke cleared Sakura stood in a familiar crouched position, holding a large windmill shuriken behind her, jade eyes narrowed in Shinju's direction.

Shinju continued her hand signs, even as Sakura began running towards her, gripping the weapon tightly.

And then the unexpected happened, and Sakura faltered, eyes wide as she watched chakra and water seep out of the trees and begin forming a large shape behind Shinju.

Sakura skidded to a halt, jumping backwards to put more distance between herself and the mist-nin. "…what the…?" She managed to bite out, still staring.

Shinju smiled softly, before the water behind her began to writhe until it formed the shape of a twisting dragon—and lunged. Sakura flipped backwards, landing on one hand and twisting herself around, before launching the shuriken at the water dragon.

"We both know that will not work." Shinju spoke calmly, as both of them watched the shuriken slice through the water and embed itself in a tree a few feet away.

Sakura smirked, before bringing a hand up to her mouth as she did several hand signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu." She breathed in deeply, before the flames erupted from her mouth, shooting towards the water dragon as it lunged for her once more.

"That jutsu is a low level fire technique." Shinju murmured. "You cannot hope that it will evaporate all that water."

Sakura merely gave a cold smile—before the water dragon burst into flames. Shinju's eyes widened as the white-hot flames ran down the course of the dragon's body. She let out a small cry as she tried to jerk her hand back—she'd had to keep it in the water to maintain the jutsu.

At the last second, as the entire area seemed to become an intense furnace of boiling, fire-covered water, Shinju landed on a tree branch out of range of the technique.

She looked down at her hand, the skin burnt to a charcoal black. It was cracked and bleeding horribly, and the pain traveled up her arm, making her wince.

Sakura stood in the middle of the clearing, gaze cool. A few puddles of water—that hadn't immediately evaporated from the heat—lay around the area, fires burning along their surface.

"How…?" Shinju managed to bite out, a pained hiss between clenched teeth.

Sakura merely straightened from her still crouched position, pulling a kunai from her pack, while her other hand glowed bright blue. "My specialty is fire jutsu, and they often take a lot of chakra. In order to keep as much of my chakra intact as possible, I've been looking for ways to enhance my fire techniques, so that I can use lower level ones and give them the same intensity as an A or S-ranked fire jutsu."

Shinju ignored the pain in her hand as she pulled out her sword, leveling it at Sakura.

"That windmill shuriken was coated in oil."

Shinju's eyes widened for a second, before narrowing. "I see. Clever."

Sakura smirked. "So they tell me." Then she disappeared.

"TAKE THAT BASTARD!" Anko roared, connecting her roundhouse kick with the stomach of a mist-nin. He let out a gargled choke before flying into the side of a building. Anko merely appeared beside him, slamming a kunai into his throat before wrenching it out, jumping onto the roof to dodge an oncoming water missile technique from another mist-nin.

She grinned, adrenaline pounding in her veins before she did her own set of hand signs. "Hidden shadow snake hands!" She threw her arm forward, three snakes erupted from the sleeve of her tan trench coat. One of them grabbed the mist-nin on the neck, sinking its fangs into his jugular as he let out a harsh cry as the other two bit into his chest.

Anko pulled backwards, sending him careening into a food cart a good five yards away. He twitched a few times, before falling still, blood seeping out from beneath the wreckage of the cart. Several large wooden splinters from the cart's frame had impaled the man on impact, one going through his heart.

"So, how many have you got so far?" Anko asked, turning to look at the man who had just appeared on the rooftop beside her.

"Hm." He murmured, the sound issued from between his pursed lips as he surveyed the area. To anyone not familiar with Konoha it would seem like pure chaos and destruction. Konoha-nin were fighting off mist-nin and cloud-nin at every turn, and the streets seemed to be full of blood, whether it lay in pools on the ground or was splattered against the walls.

But there were no civilians around—like during the first Chuunin Exam attack, all of them were hidden away in safe spots. Ibiki himself was in charge of overseeing that plan, and he couldn't help but inwardly give a proud smile. Konoha shinobi were always prepared…and they would protect their village with their lives.

"How do you think everything is going at the stadium?" Anko finally asked.

"From what I can tell, they're having as much luck as we are. It won't be long until the Mizukage and Raikage retreat." Ibiki answered back gruffly.

"Haruno had just better not die. She still owes me money from our last poker night." Anko muttered, before leaping off onto another roof and disappearing from sight.

Ibiki shook his head with a sigh. He knew better than to believe that Anko just wanted her money from the pink-haired kunoichi. They two of them had become very good friends, both having been betrayed by someone they loved and cared about. It had been no surprise that the two had latched onto each other so quickly after Sasuke's departure.

And Ibiki was still trying to decide whether that was a good thing or not.

One interrogation kunoichi with sadistic tendencies was enough.

"Ibiki-san." A voice crackled over his com-link. Ibiki pressed down on the communicator, "Yes?"

"This is the captain of team Nightshade." The speaker continued. Ah, so it was Hyuuga Yuudai. "We've encountered the enemy at the entrances of Konoha's underground tunnels, as was expected. All enemy nin have been eliminated at this point in time."

"Good. Continue to report in twenty minute increments."

"Hai." And the line went dead for a second, before crackling to life once again.

"So how's it going, Ibiki?"

"Ah, Jiraiya-san." Ibiki murmured. "We've been pushing the enemy back. How are things at the front gate?" He looked over in the direction, seeing on the hulking shape of a large toad. He suspected that Jiraiya was somewhere on the monstrous summon's head.

"Just perfect." Jiraiya said dryly. "Have I mentioned how much I hate mist-nin before?"

Ibiki merely snorted. "Several times, Jiraiya-san."

"Well let me say it again. I'd rather face a million Stone-nin than one squad of these persistent bastards. They never seem to run out of chakra."

"They're like cockroaches, sir."

Tsunade let out a loud battle cry, her fist slamming into the Raikage's stomach. He disappeared in a puff of smoke but Tsunade twisted around, kneeing the Raikage as he came up behind her. He doubled over her leg before turning into a log.

Her golden eyes narrowed dangerously. They'd been playing this stupid game for a while now and she was getting fucking tired of it. How many times was he going to replace himself with a clone?

"Coward." She muttered under her breath, before scanning the area for the real Raikage.

A wall of sand appeared around her a second later and she flinched, as the entire thing melted to glass. She stared, wide-eyed, seeing the Raikage standing in front of her—behind the wall of glass, of course—and his hand was outstretched towards her. A look of surprise, which was quickly turning to one of fury, was plastered on his face as well.

Gaara appeared beside Tsunade a second later. "I hope my sand didn't inconvenience you."

Tsunade grinned. "No Kazekage-sama, it didn't. Thanks. And don't worry, I know just what to do with this." She motioned to the glass wall separating them from their enemies. "How is your fight with the Mizukage?"

"He is continuously weighing my sand down with water. It's taking more chakra than normal to manipulate it."

Tsunade nodded. "Very well. I have a plan, Kazekage-sama…let's see if it works."

Sasuke slammed the end of his sword through another cloud-nin's chest, ripping it out just as quickly and turning to slice off the arm of another oncoming enemy. His face was emotionless and stoic again. His Sharingan was still activated, but it seemed dulled a bit.

"Teme!" Naruto called out as he ran up to where the blonde and several others were fighting off a group of enemy nin. Apparently some of the daimyos hadn't been evacuated yet and it was Naruto's duty to make sure they got to a safe-spot.

"Hn." Sasuke greeted him, as Suigetsu ran up behind him, shouldering his own sword. Sasuke was about to say something else when he saw a flash of pink at the top of the wall before it disappeared.

Sakura.

He jumped passed Naruto, running up the length of the wall easily and balancing on the top for a second, even as he heard Naruto's yells for an explanation.

"Dammit teme!" Naruto yelled after him, taking a step forward. But he stopped himself from running after the Uchiha, no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't abandon his post. The people in the arena needed him.

He wasn't the same little boy that was going to run after Sasuke again. The teme would have to watch his own back—and he had better save Sakura-chan too!

"I could shoot him down before he got too far." Came an aloof reply to his right. The stone-nin archer who had saved him earlier was standing a few feet away, an arrow notched loosely upon her bow.

"Er, no thanks." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "I kind of want him to live."

"I could shoot him in the foot or pin him to the ground."

"Thanks but no thanks."

She raised one eyebrow in question, before complying, whirling around and shooting at another enemy nin. "Suit yourself, child of Konoha's Yellow demon."

What is she talking about? But he merely turned to Suigetsu, who was watching Sasuke's retreating form as well. "HEY! You go after him now, that's an order!"

Suigetsu bristled. "What the hell? You're not the boss of me."

"I outrank you dumbass. I'm special Jonin, got it?" Naruto snapped back.

"I'm not even really a Konoha shinobi yet!"

"Consider yourself promoted!" Naruto yelled out exasperatedly. "Just GO!" And then he turned around to deal a Rasengan to another mist-nin's stomach.

Suigetsu looked like he was going to protest, but merely growled out a curse against the blonde before running after the Uchiha.

"Watch teme's back!"

Sugietsu smirked to himself as he heard Naruto's last order. Sasuke really does have a lot of friends. Weird friends, but they're good ones.

He's just so stupid he doesn't realize it yet.

Sakura leapt onto another tree branch, just as the tree she'd been standing on erupted into splinters. She charged chakra into her feet, leaping off of the other tree, twisting in the air and looking back just as another water dragon swallowed the next tree in its path.

She reached into her pack, grabbing a kunai. She hurriedly threw it behind her, and watched as it embedded itself in the rock cliff that was slowly getting closer and closer. She leapt from the last tree—still hearing the horrific crashing sound as more water dragons chased after her—and grabbed a hold of the kunai handle, before launching herself upwards, feet connecting with the edge of the cliff side. It was easier than walking up the cliff with her chakra, because she needed to reserve as much of that as possible.

It was already clear that Shinju had enormous chakra reserves—most Mist-nin did—and Sakura was sorely outmatched in that respect. Besides that, Shinju seemed to have the ability to take the chakra and water out of the trees around them. Which gave her an almost bottomless supply for her water jutsu.

Fuck.

One of the dragons slammed into the base of the cliff, making Sakura stumble a bit as the entire thing shook violently. Blood continued to drip down her leg and she could only let out a muffled curse. Anything more than that would make the two broken ribs she now sported stab into her lungs, which was hurting like a bitch right now.

At least she'd wounded Shinju as well.

But the wound in her thigh throbbed as she lost her footing a bit as blood loss continued to overwhelm her. She grabbed two blood replenishing pills and bit down, letting the metallic, disgusting taste fill her mouth before she felt her body begun to rejuvenate itself.

Shinju had pinned Sakura to the ground earlier by stabbing Sakura with her sword through her thigh. She'd almost gotten her, if Sakura hadn't slammed her other leg into Shinju's stomach and then flipped backwards, pulling herself off of the sword just as one of Shinju's water dragons had come hurtling towards her. The sword had remained embedded in the ground, and Sakura's leg felt like it had gone through a meat grinder.

But she'd shattered Shinju's pelvic bone—or at least fractured it. It was why Shinju was currently NOT using her sword and was relying on water dragons. It was easier than running after Sakura with her weapon, which would have been EXTREMELY painful.

She'd also managed to slice off Shinju's bun, and her hair now hung to her cheekbones in a wild array of sheared off ends and random long strands. The calm woman that Sakura had known had been replaced with a deadly and angry kunoichi that would do anything in her power to kill Sakura at the moment.

The trees in front of the cliff side erupted, and there stood Shinju, eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared up at Sakura. She grabbed her sword and flung it at the cliff, where it stuck into the rock right beside Sakura's kunai.

Sakura could only stare, mouth open in surprise as Shinju jumped into the air and landed on the sword in a crouch before she leapt up to where Sakura stood. And that was when things got interesting. The two began a hand-to-hand battle, both dodging the other's fists—because of Sakura's on-hit KO attack and Shinju's nasty habit of hiding poisoned senbon in her sleeve (Sakura had already had to extract a bit of the poison for further study as well as inject herself with one of her antidotes) —and stirring up dust with their movements.

How Shinju could even stand with her injuries was beyond Sakura, but then again, the fact that Sakura was able to dodge Shinju's swift hits was a miracle in itself. Her entire chest felt like it was on fire, and each shallow breath she took pressed her right lung against her broken ribs, which poked the organ relentlessly. And she didn't even want to get started on her leg. She'd used a little chakra to heal it enough that it wouldn't kill her, but she didn't have much chakra left so she'd only been able to heal the wound up a little.

Shinju slammed her fist forward—and it connected with Sakura's broken ribs. She heard them crack and she let out a choked gasp before she landed on the ground, rolling till she was only a few feet away from the cliff's edge.

She lay on her side, gasping for breath, rustling the few strands of hair that had fallen onto her face. Every time she breathed in pain shot through her system, and her mouth filled with dust. She coughed once, before the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth.

The broken ribs had punctured her lung.

She merely watched Shinju walk over to her slowly through half-lidded eyes, still gasping for air.

"I will not lose this battle, Haruno." Shinju spoke, though it looked like she was having a hard time doing so through her pain. "I have my kage to protect and I will not allow you to get in the way of my mission."

"Your kage doesn't care for you."

"I am a shinobi of The Village Hidden in the Mist." Shinju murmured. "It is my duty to protect my kage above all else. You can understand that, I am sure. It is a shinobi's job, their mission to give their life for their leader and village. We are merely tools, Haruno."

Sakura said nothing, because she knew it was true. Shinju stood in front of her, her feet a few inches from Sakura's nose.

"I really don't wish to do this, Haruno but…it has been my job to eliminate you from the beginning." And then she pulled out a kunai.

Perhaps I am a tool…but I haven't lost my usefulness yet! Sakura growled, before grabbing a kunai from her own pack and slamming it down into the middle of Shinju's foot. The older woman let out a harsh cry as Sakura somehow managed to get to her feet, hunched over in a battle crouch, reaching for the last kunai in her pack.

Shinju bent down and wrenched the kunai from her foot with a pained hiss before looking up at Sakura, eyes narrowed. "I had not thought I would have to use this, Haruno-san…but it seems you have forced me to take desperate measures. There was a reason I was saving all of my own chakra…and this is it!"

And then she began a rapid succession of hand signs that Sakura's eyes couldn't follow. She felt two chakra signatures coming up quickly, but she didn't turn to look at them. Instead, she stared as the entire area seemed to shake, the ground shaking and crumbling beneath her feet.

Sakura leapt backwards, launching herself into the air as the entire cliff fell down, leaving only Shinju—who was standing on a large, churning body of water that bubbled and frothed beneath her feet.

"Grand Water Jutsu: Great World Serpent!"

And the water shot upwards, past Sakura, almost blocking out the sun as it gave an unearthly roar, twisting into the shape of a large snake. It glinted, reflecting off of the sun—before it launched itself down faster than Sakura had thought possible.

She couldn't dodge in time, even as she began falling back to the ground from when she'd launched herself into the air to dodge the crumbling cliff.

The serpent opened its mouth and Sakura saw a torrent of slicing water, like…a whirlwind of blades in place of fangs. If the thing were to swallow her…she would be torn apart in seconds.

She formulated a plan in seconds, one that she herself thought would make Shikamaru proud.

She grabbed a kunai with an exploding tag, flinging it into a tree ten feet away. She'd only have one shot at this, and if it failed, she was as good as dead.

She activated the tag and the area beside her exploded, the shockwave launching her backwards—just as the serpant came down. She let out a scream as it slammed into her shoulder, sending her crashing into the ground. But at least it had gotten her shoulder and not her whole body. But she'd kind of been hoping to dodge the whole thing, and she wasn't feeling lucky at all at the moment.

The force of the impact caused a crater, and Sakura felt blood bubble up to her lips. Her entire body screamed in pain. Her left arm was broken, she knew that much, and no doubt there were several other small fractures throughout her body.

At least her spine hadn't snapped.

Or had it? No, she wasn't paralyzed. She felt too much damn pain for that.

She wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not.

Sakura let out a small whimper. Her entire shoulder felt like it was one fire. Actually, it felt like someone had rubbed the area raw with sandpaper, shredding the skin. As she spared the wound a glance she noticed that wasn't far from the truth. She could see straight down to the bone, which was painting red from all the blood that was seeping out. And the bone itself looked like it had been eaten away at, small parts of it splintering and stabbing into the bleeding skin around it.

A flash of light reflected off of the large serpent heading towards her. She could see it clearly, even though her vision was fading due to blood loss.

The serpent rushed down towards her.

Sasuke didn't stop, even as he felt Suigetsu's presence coming up behind him. His vision was filled with only one thing, and that was the pink-haired figure fighting atop a cliff side with a mist-nin. He knew immediately that the Mist-nin was no normal one. She was powerful, and she wielded her sword with pure skill and focus.

And then he saw the woman's fist connect with Sakura's chest. She coughed, flying backwards and rolling in the dust.

What was that feeling in him? What was the reason for the sudden skip of his heartbeat as he watched Sakura fall? She shouldn't fall. She was strong now, wasn't she? Not as strong as he was, of course, but she was capable. He would give her that much. She was worthy of his attention and that alone meant that no Mist-nin should be any competition for her.

He didn't understand the grim satisfaction that filled him when Sakura slammed a kunai into the woman's foot and got to her feet—she was bleeding everywhere, he could see that. But her face was cool and determined. She wouldn't back down. He remembered that look in her eyes. He had seen it at his last Chuunin Exams…when she'd knelt next to him and told him it would be ok, because she and Naruto were there to help him.

Yes, Sakura would win this yet. Or that's what he thought…until the entire cliff erupted into a small lake. Sakura had leapt off to get away from the falling rocks, and she seemed to hang in the air, weightless, before the water shot up into the sky and formed a serpent larger than he had ever seen.

It had to have been a mile long, at the very least.

"Holy fuck." He heard Suigetsu whisper from behind him.

And it shot downwards. There was no way Sakura would be able to dodge. She had no momentum to push herself out of the serpent's path from where she was falling through the air.

Sakura.

She threw a kunai, and an explosion rocked the small clearing and he watched as she was flung to the right by the momentum. Yes, he thought. She would make it. She was out of harm's way. She would—

And the serpent slammed into her shoulder, and all he could see was the serpent's water turning crimson in the place it made contact with the pink-haired kunoichi. And all he heard was her high-pitched scream.

"Sakura!" It wasn't loud, not really. He didn't even think Sugietsu heard it.

"Oh god…" Suigetsu groaned out behind him.

They saw Sakura slam into the ground. She wasn't moving, but she was breathing in raggedly. She was alive.

Why was he relieved?

And then…the serpent lunged again, and Sasuke knew he couldn't make it to her. And he knew she wasn't going to move.

He couldn't understand the sharp stab of panic that shot through his body. But he froze, and his blood ran cold as he saw her—saw her lying there bleeding when he knew he couldn't get there in time. Like when she was pinned against the tree with Gaara's sand and he had been motionless, paralyzed by his pain and unable to do anything to protect her. Naruto had saved her.

There was no Naruto this time.

It reminded him of all those times he had watched everyone he cared about being ripped away from him. He'd always been too weak. Always…and once again, he could do nothing but watch.

He admitted silently, that perhaps he cared more for his old teammates than he pretended. He had always seen attachments as a weakness—and this was why dammit, because they were always taken from you and then you were left horribly empty—but that didn't mean he didn't have them.

There was no way to escape Team 7. They were a family, and no matter how much you hate, you love them unconditionally too. And while he didn't want to admit it, he did, deep down, love them…just a little…in the I-want-to-fucking-kill-you kind of way, because they made him weak and he wanted to be strong and powerful so badly.

The word erupted from his lips, a harsh cry. "SAKURA!"

Tsunade jumped, launching herself over the glass wall and running at the Raikage, her hand blazing with chakra. At the same time, Gaara's sand rushed towards the Mizukage, who was using the water from the arena to create a multitude of water dragon missiles.

The water dragons washed over the sand, soaking it and sending it falling pitifully down to the ground.

Tsunade growled, before punching the Raikage straight in the chest—and stopped, her knuckles barely brushing the collar of his kage robes. She let out a choked gasp as blood bubbled to her lips. The Raikage smirked, his kodachi dripping with Tsunade's blood from where it erupted out her back, right below her heart.

"Too easy." The Raikage drawled—before there was a large puff of smoke and his kodachi was stuck through nothing more than a log. "Replacement?" He hissed out—before a wave of sand slammed into him.

"What the—?" The Mizukage began, seeing a large wall of sand throw the Raikage into the concrete wall of the kage booth. He didn't get to think on it, however, as the Kazekage in front of him disappeared into sand and the Hokage was standing in front of him, fist raised.

Pain erupted throughout his body as he went flying across the arena. He slammed into the wall on the other side, a crater forming from the impact before he slumped down to the ground behind some of the stadium chairs.

He spit up a mouthful of blood and saliva, before wiping it away with the edge of his robes. He could see Tsunade standing at the edge of the kage booth, glaring down at him, one hand on her hip, the other clenched into a fist.

So…the two kages had switched opponents on them…how wonderful. He had no doubt the Raikage was having a hard time with the Kazekage—that is, if he had gotten out of his sand coffin at all.

I can still win…the Mizukage thought furiously, as the water around him shifted and began to form shapes as he began a set of hand signs. And that was when pain sliced thought his body, pinning him to the wall at both shoulders, as well as one through each thigh.

He let out a ragged growl as the water fell back into the arena, useless…and he saw Tsunade smirking, twirling a piece of glass in her hands. His eyes narrowed. So…the Hokage had used the glass as a weapon. Because of his water jutsu, even if the glass had gone through them they would see invisible, since it would only blend in with the water.

Damn…

There was nothing that he could do, and he saw that the Raikage was bleeding heavily from one of his arm, which had been completely crushed by the Kazekage's sand coffin.

"Retreat." The Mizukage gasped out. "Re…treat…"

"SAKURA!"

The sound of Sasuke's harsh cry stirred her to wakefulness. Sasuke? Why was he screaming? The bastard didn't care about her at all so why…why did he sound panicked? What was wrong anyway? She didn't feel much now except pleasantly warm and cold—at the same time, what a strange feeling…

Besides, the bastard should know better than to try and gain her trust through pretending to care. He was manipulative but so was she and she would be damned before she allowed him to get under her skin like that. Or had he already and she was just denying as much?

She really didn't know, because the pain was coming back to her full force as she saw the large dragon's maw widening as it continued downward, waiting to swallow her.

Sasuke…

She couldn't…she couldn't die now. She rolled herself to the side, crying out at the sharp pain as she lunged to the right, getting to her feet—just as the serpent hit the ground where she had just been. The spray of water drenched her as the serpent's mouth drilled into the ground, forcing up bits of earth and turning its head into a muddied mess.

She leapt up, forcing chakra to her feet and water-walking up the side of the twisting serpent. She had to do this quickly. There was no time to think, no time to wonder why she had the sudden urge to kick Sasuke's ass very hard when she saw him again for being such a dick.

Wait…what had he done again? Damn blood loss…

Shinju's eyes were wide in surprise as Sakura let out a loud battle cry—a half roar-half cry of pain—blood splattering through the water and the air as it flowed from her shoulder wound. Her arm was held back, her fist glowing brightly with chakra.

And she slammed it into Shinju's stomach. Shinju gave a small gasp before blood erupted from her mouth, splattering across Sakura's hair and face as the older woman was thrown off of the water serpent and into the forest. Dust and debris erupted into the air as Sakura watched it make a clean trail a mile or so into the forest, with broken trees littering the way.

The chakra disappeared from the water and it disintegrated, sending Sakura falling down with it. She managed to land on her feet in the newly-made mud, and she stumbled, but kept herself from falling to her knees.

She felt two chakra signatures coming up—one was Sasuke and the other was Suigetsu. But she couldn't wait for them. She merely pressed a hand to her bleeding shoulder and headed off in the direction she'd punched Shinju.

Suigetsu would never forget the look on Sasuke's face as long as he lived. He had seen a lot of things during his life, had experienced a lot. But nothing could have prepared him for THAT when the serpent had lunged for Sakura as she lay bleeding on the ground.

His eyes were what had caught Suigetsu the most, because Sasuke was an emotionless person and his face rarely showed much. But they have been blazing crimson as usually—but with so much desperation and panic—and other things that Suigetsu didn't know if he was imagining it or not.

He hadn't known that Sasuke actually had a heart. That he had the ability to care at all. He had always seen him as a self-centered, arrogant, emotionless asshole. Over time he'd grown to respect him, but he'd never completely gotten rid of that view he held of him.

And now…now that view was shattered. Because someone like that wouldn't have had THAT look on his face.

And Suigetsu knew…that Sasuke didn't even know it was there, even as he screamed Sakura's name.

And he realized something that he doubted neither Sakura or Sasuke did. Something that they'd both deny fervently if he said anything.

Sasuke cared.

A lot.

And not just for anyone. He knew that Sasuke still saw the blonde Kyuubi as his brother (he really wasn't as hard to read as he thought) and he knew that he still looked up to the Copy Cat ninja as his sensei.

But Sakura…was different.

And Suigetsu wasn't quite sure how to describe it.

So he merely rushed after Sasuke, who was running through the forest, following the trail of broken trees and the pink-haired form of the only kunoichi that Suigetsu had ever truly thought that Sasuke might\maybe\already\completely love.

Sakura stumbled towards Shinju's form, trying her hardest to stay upright. She knew it was sheer willpower alone that was keeping her from collapsing. She merely landed on her knees by Shinju's gasping form, a kunai held shakily in her hand.

"You…beat…me…"

Sakura panted heavily, blood trickling down her chin. She wiped it away hastily, before wincing as pain erupted in her arm.

"My…sword…is…yours now…"

"I don't care. I just…" Sakura coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "I just got a message from my team leader. The Mizukage and Raikage are retreating. You have lost. Your team, your students…they're all dead." And Sakura wasn't quite sure why she was talking at all, only that she wanted to keep herself talking so she wouldn't fall unconscious.

Shinju smiled softly, blood bubbling to her lips. "Yasu and Juro…they were not my students…Keiichi was my only true student I…I…" She coughed, and tears filled her eyes, running down her cheeks. "He was my nephew. The last of my clan. Your sensei…Hatake…he killed the only other member of our clan…Momochi's apprentice…"

Sakura's eyes widened. Haku really had been related to Shinju then?

"But that is not…what I wanted to tell you…" Shinju coughed again. "Yasu and Juro…their sensei…after…Kyuubi…" Shinju's hand reached out and grabbed Sakura's green Konoha vest, staining it red where her fingers clutched the coarse fabric.

"What are you saying, Shinju-san?" Sakura asked calmly, even as she felt her vision blurry and her head swam with dizziness. She needed to see a medic, and soon.

"…wants…Kyuubi…shark…three moons…"

And then she was silent, and her hand that had desperately clutched Sakura's vest fell limp to the ground.

(A\N: Hey guys! I hope you liked it. The reason for the title is that, when faced with death, people often begin to realize things about themselves, including their feelings. Like a diary... :D The next chapter will have more Sasuke and Sakura thoughts, as well as Sasuke meeting up with Sakura. I think Sasuke's reaction was pretty well founded. He used to value Sakura and Naruto as his teammates—and we all know he had a crush on Sakura when they were younger XD—and he was always afraid that they'd get hurt, since everyone he's ever cared for has died. And plus…after that last manga chapter I HAD to add in SasuSaku love. I think I might die if I don't. T-T But don't worry. Just because SUIGETSU realizes that Sasuke MAY love Sakura...Sakura and Sasuke are going to continue to deny and avoid one another...and probably insult one another along the way as well. XD

Anyway, this is kind of where the SasuSaku part of the story is finally going to start developing. Sakura is afraid of what she wants, Sasuke isn't sure what he wants, and they're both trying their hardest to keep cold and aloof and distant from everyone else…but we all know how Naruto changes people…I have no doubt he can make Sasuke good again, especially with Sakura's help. :D Naruto can save them both!

Btw…Shinju's justu is based off of the Midgard serpent Midgard Serpent (Norse myth) serpent that is so big it circles the globe. It killed Thor.

Anyway…see ya guys next time…I'm not sure when the update will be.

Sincerely, Lady Hanaka)