Chapter 35

A/N: I'm finally getting this written at a decent pace. Now to sustain it until the end. Enjoy everyone!

Sasuke was more than a little anxious waiting for the tranquilizer to wear off. Sakura was missing, most likely kidnapped, and he was just waiting around. But even if he wanted to he wouldn't have gotten very far, he still felt uncoordinated and slow from the sedative.

When he was finally able to move normally, Naruto called Tsunade to let her know what was going on. She agreed to send them a team to help and it was no surprise to him to learn that all of their friends had volunteered. Sasuke still felt a little out of place after coming back, but seeing all 10 of their closest friends made him feel much more confident. If they worked as a unit they would be victorious. Itachi had already picked up the trail and was following it. All they had to do was catch up to him. Tsunade also worked on getting together reinforcements just in case they bit off more than they could chew. This team would take longer to coordinate and would head out after they did.

The travel towards Itachi's location was practically silent. No one really knew what to say. Everyone knew how important this mission was. They couldn't afford any mistakes. There were some snippets of discussion about what to do when they pinpointed Sakura's location, but there wasn't the normal chitchat. Even Naruto kept mostly to himself. A few of them sent Sasuke sad worried looks, but they knew nothing they could say would be able to calm his nerves.

It took them a whole day to reach the cave Itachi had found. Sasuke was surprised to also smell the scent of vampires coming from the cave entrance. There was a wolf working with the vampires. That was unheard of. The two species were natural enemies. Sasuke shared a glance with his brother and he knew that Itachi was aware of the absurdity that was going on.

Itachi took a few minutes to catch them up with what he had noticed. While he was waiting for them he kept watch of the cave entrance but no one had gone in or out since he had gotten there. That lead them to assume that either; this wasn't the main base or that there were multiple entryways. They had no idea how big this location was or how many people were inside of it. It was a very dangerous situation for them.

"Shouldn't we come up with some sort of plan?" Ino asked. It was what made the most sense as they had no idea what they were getting into.

"We don't have time to wait," Sasuke argued. If they waited to organize any more people and formulate a real plan the enemy could escape. The longer they waited and did nothing it only increased the chance that something could happen to Sakura.

"I've called the rest of the Akatsuki and they agreed to help us. They are on their way right now." Itachi knew that Sasuke would be impatient. No offense to the hunters, but Itachi wasn't so sure that they would be able to break into an enemy stronghold successfully. He was used to working with his gang and was just more confident in their abilities.

Shikamaru sighed, he had a feeling that it would just be their group of friends that rushed blindly into danger. He slipped off his backpack and reached into it to pull out coms devices. They were simple earpieces that would allow them to keep in contact with one another even underground. "We're going to need these. We can cover more ground if we split up." He passed an earpiece to each member of their party.

"If you come across the enemy do not engage," Neji spoke up, "Keep out of sight as much as you can. If something goes wrong, call it over coms right away. We don't want to take any chances of anyone else getting hurt." Everyone nodded.

This was it. With a deep sigh, Sasuke started out ahead with Naruto and Itachi right behind him. The cave was dark for the first 5 minutes but the smooth worn ground and surface made it obvious that this path was used a lot. When the cave began to bend and slope down slightly. After turning the corner, they could see a light up ahead. Small lights were strung up along the ceiling on both sides of the cave. The lights gave off a dim orange glow. Occasionally, one of the bulbs would flicker making the place eerier.

While it was obvious that this cave was used for something there was no place to hide if they came across an enemy. They were starting to feel trapped. If anything occurred now they would have no choice but to fight. They didn't know if they were relieved or more worried to see a split in the cavern. Both paths looked the same and there was no way to tell which one was the correct choice.

Sasuke had tried to pick up Sakura's scent but it was useless. Her scent was being smothered by the other people who had used this tunnel. Not to mention the cave itself had a musty overpowering smell. They had no choice but to split up. Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi, Sai, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru chose the left path while Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Lee, Tenten, and Neji went down the right.

"Remember, we just need to find Sakura and get out. If you come across an enemy don't take them on alone. Call us right away." Shikamaru tapped his earpiece for emphasis.

As the got father along the tunnel it began to widen, the walls and ceiling getting farther and farther away from them. When they finally came across a steel door Sasuke felt his heartbeat quicken. They approached it quickly and tried to open the door. It was no surprise to him that it was locked. Without a word, Naruto shouldered his friend aside and pulled out what looked like two small needles. After a few twists and tweaks, the lock clicked and the door opened.

Sasuke was shocked. He had no idea that Naruto knew how to pick locks. Naruto grinned widely at him. Actually, Sasuke wasn't too surprised after all. Naruto got into so much mischief when they were younger it shouldn't be a surprise that he picked up a few skills like that. Whatever he had used it for before Sasuke didn't care, it was very useful right now.

But his initial excitement was lost when the door opened to an empty room. There were a few sealed boxes but the majority of the room was wasted space. With a disappointed grunt, Sasuke shut the door and continued down the hall. They found a few more doors but they were all the same.

"Hold on," Itachi said. It was faint but they could hear footsteps coming down the hall. The hall was empty, there was no place to hide. Their only option was to hide in the nearest storage room. Luckily for them, these weren't completely filled and there was enough space for everyone.

Naruto pressed his ear against the door. He refrained from complaining how cold the steel was against his skin and listened for any footsteps or voices. The metal was so thick he could hardly hear anything. They waited a few extra moments before they left the room just to make sure that there weren't any more people following the first few.

"That was close," Choji sighed. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before they were caught. Their luck was only going to last so long. They checked in with the other group and they managed to stay out of sight, but they haven't found Sakura either.

"We don't have any other ideas besides just searching. We just have to keep going," Naruto urged. With no other options, they entered the hall again. This time they walked as fast as they could without making too much noise.

"Are you guys there!"

Tenten's voice crackled over the coms device. "What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked. Tenten's voice was loud and panicked.

"We've been discovered! You have to find Sakura now. We are currently engaging the enemy but we don't know how long we can keep them distracted before they alert everyone," Tenten said quickly. They could hear the sounds of battle in the background.

Immediately everyone broke into a sprint. They had lost their chance of moving around without being seen. Now they had to complete their mission as quickly as possible. The hallway seemed to go on and on with no end in sight. Then finally, Sasuke caught a whiff of Sakura's scent.

They came to another door. It looked the same as all the others, but Sakura's scent was coming from this door. This was the one. Naruto moved forward to pick the lock. But this one was stubborn and didn't open as quickly as the one previously.

"Hey!" They jumped from the sudden shout. A trio of vampires had emerged from another door to find them trying to break in. "Sound the alarm!" One of them shouted. Two of the vampires charged at them while the third turned around and sprinted down the hall.

Everyone pulled out the standard hunter knife ready to engage the vampires that were closing in on them. But Itachi was one step ahead of them. He transformed in a flash and leaped over them to chase after the escaping vampire. He didn't get far before Itachi caught up to him.

"Hurry up!" Sasuke yelled and brought Naruto's attention back on the lock. The hall was beginning to fill with the sounds of battle. Metal clashing with metal and angry snarls. With a final click the door opened. Sasuke shoved the door open, startling the group of vampires that were inside. This room wasn't like the others they had come across. It looked like a makeshift lab. Tables lined with papers and vials filled with mysterious liquid. There were more vampires in here, some were lounging in chairs while others appeared to be working at the tables.

Sasuke quickly attacked the first one closest to him ending his life quickly with a knife to the gut. Naruto was quick to follow him and threw himself at another vampire. These guys were wearing lab coats and went down rather quickly. They tried to slash at them with their claws but the moves were clumsy and inaccurate. They were obviously not used to fighting.

"What were these guys doing?" Naruto asked as he peered at the mess of a lab table. He didn't understand a thing just by glancing at their notes.

"We don't have time for this," Sasuke grumbled. Sakura was his top priority, he didn't care what these guys were working on. Sakura's scent was strongest in this room. She had to be somewhere close. In the corner of the room, there was a door that was partially hidden by a bookshelf filled with heavy texts and binders. Sasuke immediately went over and kicked the door down. This next room was much smaller than all the others they had searched so far. The walls and the floor were stark white and the fluorescent light made it nearly blinding. Sasuke couldn't stop the relieved sigh that escaped his lips at the familiar sight of Sakura's unique pink hair. But panic began to set in when she didn't stir. He had broken down the door and made a lot of noise but she didn't even look up.

Sakura lay curled in a corner of the room and didn't even acknowledge him. Sasuke approached cautiously and kneeled down next to her. He could smell blood. With a racing heart, he gently touched her shoulder. She startled and curled upon herself even more and let out a pained groan. Part of Sasuke was relieved that she was alive, but they weren't safe just yet.

"It's me. You're safe now," Sasuke said softly. He pulled her against him and picked her up carefully. Her head was tucked under his chin with his arms supporting her back and under her knees. Even moving as slowly and carefully as he could she still whimpered at every small movement.

When Sasuke finally saw the source of the blood and paled. The entire length of her arm, from her shoulder down to her elbow was shredded. Her whole side that had been pressed against the wall was covered in blood. The flesh of her arm had been completely mangled. Deep gouges had been torn out, some practically to the bone. Most of the blood had coagulated and stopped, but there were a few tiny trickles of blood that continued to drip. Now that he looked closer at her the signs of severe blood loss was obvious. Her skin was extremely pale and cold but even then, there were beads of perspiration dotting her forehead. Her breath was shallow and coming in short quick bursts, she wasn't looking well.

When Sasuke stood up and began to leave Sakura's eyes fluttered open. Her eyes were dull and unfocused. She opened her mouth to say something but Sasuke interrupted her. "Don't waste your energy. We're getting you out of here now." Sakura whimpered but he couldn't make out what she was trying to tell him.

The fighting from the hall was getting louder. More vampires must have shown up. Naruto gasped when he laid eyes on Sakura's battered form. He moved forward but stopped mid step. He wasn't a medic, he had no idea how he could help.

"Let's get her out of here," Naruto said. Sasuke nodded and moved into the hallway where a full-blown battle had broken out. They ran down the hall away from the battle yelling for their friends to retreat as they went. Choji removed a smoke bomb from his pocket at threw it at the advancing vampires. The smoke was thick and the smell was foul buying them enough time to put some distance behind them.

Sasuke heard Shikamaru call a retreat over coms but his main focus was on Sakura. Her eyes were clamped tight and she was biting her lip. Each step must have been agony but they couldn't slow down. Itachi ran up beside him and they shared a worried look. Sakura didn't look good.

Their escape seemed much faster than when they first arrived. Before long they managed to meet up with the rest of the rescue party. Everyone had questions about Sakura's current stare, but no one said anything. They could ask as many questions as they wanted when they were in the clear and Sakura was receiving proper medical attention.

Right before they reached the exit it was blocked by more vampires. And with them was a familiar face. Kabuto, Orochimaru's assistant stood before the vampires. "Leaving already? But you only just got here," Kabuto smiled at them.

This was all the proof they needed that Orochimaru was indeed working alongside the vampires. Sasuke glared angrily at Kabuto. He would forever resent Orochimaru and his assistant for how they used him. It seemed that Kabuto could feel his anger towards him. And it only made him laugh.

"Nothing to say after we haven't seen each other in so long?" Kabuto smirked at Sasuke's angered expression. "Still a man of a few words I see."

"Why am I not surprised you're working with these things. You betrayed your own kind by allying yourself with creatures like them," Naruto shouted. While Sasuke held back his angry retorts, Naruto was much more eager fight. A few of the vampires hissed at his insult.

"Quite the hypocrite you are. Are you not a demon working alongside humans?" Kabuto's retort made Naruto recoil slightly.

"You shut up! You don't know what you're talking about," Kiba argued. None of them cared about the demon possessing Naruto, but they knew it was a sore spot for their friend as that was the reason he was alienated when they were kids.

"You're quite mistaken. In fact, I'm quite jealous." They were stunned by Kabuto's response. "To be blessed by such power, but lowly humans like us must find power elsewhere. Look at us! We were nothing before but now we are on the verge of conquering the organization that has ruled this land for years!" A few of the vampires cheered. Most of them were the same. They started off as struggling humans but now they had been reborn.

"Sacrificing your humanity for strength will get you nowhere. It's a path that will only lead to destruction," Neji spoke up.

"We'll see about that," Kabuto grinned at them. His canines began to sharpen and elongate. At first, they had thought that Kabuto had just become a vampire like the others, but they were mistaken. Before their eyes, his body seemed to stretch and expand. He hunched over as his body quickly grew in size and was covered by thick grey fur. Now it was clear to them just who had taken Sakura.

Itachi dashed forward and launched himself at the newly transformed Kabuto. Side by side it was obvious that Kabuto was a much bigger wolf. He was probably genetically altered to be stronger and faster than a natural born wolf. After years of studying Sasuke when he was a kid who knows what they could have discovered.

Even if he was smaller, Itachi was the more experienced fighter. He weaved around Kabuto's bites and scored a few hits of his own. The two of them tumbled across the hall nearly knocking into them. With everyone else distracted by the fight, they pulled out their weapons and charged at the vampires. Caught off guard, some of the vampires sustained pretty bad injuries, but they recovered quickly and were able to counter-attack.

Sasuke held Sakura close to his chest and watched as everyone began fighting. He wanted nothing else than to join in but then who would look after Sakura? He was stuck on the sidelines making sure that no more harm came to her. Sakura whimpered in his arms. The faster they could get out the sooner she could get some medical treatment.

The fight was an even deadlock with neither side pulling ahead. Then the ground began to shake and dust and small bits of the ceiling began to rain down upon them. Sasuke could hear faint explosions going off in the distance. Someone was bombing the outside.

Thrown off by the sudden disturbance they managed to eliminate a few of the vampires and were able to break past them. Sasuke had to call out to Itachi to make sure that his brother also made it out safely.

Hearing that they were retreating Itachi needed to disengage from Kabuto. Fighting with Kabuto was actually harder than he had anticipated. Kabuto seemed comfortable in this form, which was unheard of for someone who wasn't naturally born a wolf. His moves were precise and calculated. His larger size made it difficult for Itachi to go head to head with him without putting himself in a situation where he could be caught off guard and seriously wounded.

As impressed as Itachi was, he didn't have time to find out more about their new foe's skill. He ducked to the side as Kabuto lunged forward, enormous jaws closing close to his ear. Itachi bit down on the area just behind Kabuto's leg. He twisted his head violently, tearing the muscle. Kabuto screeched and his leg crumpled beneath his own weight. His damaged leg will keep him immobile and unable to chase them down for a while. Itachi let go and ran after the others who were escaping. In a few bounds he had managed to catch up to the team, everyone was a bit battered but more or less alright.

"Don't stop until we reach the exit," Naruto shouted. No one was going to argue with that logic. They picked up speed as the way out got closer. The vampires were also close on their tail. They were naturally faster and were starting to close the gap between them.

They couldn't be more relieved when the hallway opened up to show the outside. But their relief was short-lived when they were forced to stop just outside the mouth of the cave. They were surrounded. Vampires began emerging from the forest. They were outnumbered and cornered.

Without any direction, they closed around Sasuke, who was still holding Sakura. They formed a circle around the two. Some faced the new threat while the rest turned back around to stand between them and the group that had been chasing them. They probably wouldn't make it out alive, but they were not going down without a fight.

But before the enemy could strike the ground suddenly came alive around them. The vampires shrieked as their legs were slowly encased in sand. Some of them managed to pull free while the weaker ones could only struggle as the sand continued to creep up their bodies.

Gunshots rang out through the night and the remaining vampires crumbled, dead as they hit the ground.

They had gone from being doomed to suddenly safe. They were surrounded by the corpses of vampires still too stunned to move. What just happened?

"I'm glad that we got here in time." A familiar group of friends slowly came out of hiding. Temari stood with one hand on her hip and the other on the butt of her gun that rested on her opposite shoulder. The fact that they were safe finally sunk in. Sighs of relief spread through the group. Temari smirked at them and her two brothers came up from behind her.

"Garaa!" Naruto shouted excitedly and ran over to his friend. He was the person behind the moving ground that consumed most of their adversary. They were lucky to have their reinforcements arrive when they did.

"What's that?" Kankuro asked. He pointed behind them to the cave entrance. There was a handful of white squishy looking spiders crawling around the top of the cave entrance.

Itachi growled and nudged Hinata, who was closest to the cave. His nudge was more like a shove and she stumbled into Shino who had to react quickly to catch her before she fell. Shortly after the white spiders began to explode! The bombs caused the wall to collapse, burying the cave entrance.

"WHOOO! That was beautiful!" Deidara was sitting in the branches of a tree clapping in excitement. "My explosions are the best!"

No one could see what was so 'beautiful' about explosions.

Everyone was on guard again at the sudden appearance of Deidara and his bombs. "Who are you?" Kankuro asked pointing his rifle at him.

"I'm Deidara! The best artist that has ever lived!" He didn't seem to care that he had weapons pointed at him. His exaggerated introduction ended in an unnecessary hair flip.

"You call those lumpy white blobs art?" Until then Sasori had gone unnoticed sitting in the branches of an adjacent tree. Now everyone was on guard with the sudden appearance of two new people.

"They're sculptures, you uncouth savage! It's much more intricate and beautiful than your creepy wood people," Deidara scoffed at Sasori's impression of art.

"They're puppets." Sasori's voice was calm but it was laced with annoyance.

Everyone's initial fear was ebbing away as they listen to the two newcomers bicker like children. The rumbling from earlier must have been caused by Deidara's bombs. Whether he was attacking the enemy or trying to break in they didn't know. Or knowing him, he was just blowing things up for fun.

"He kind of looks like Ino," Kiba mumbled under his breath. Chouji snickered, it was almost comical at how similar the two of them appeared. But Ino didn't think that it was funny and stomped on Kiba's foot more harshly than he deserved.

"Are they always like that?" Naruto asked Itachi. Itachi let out a deep sigh and nodded. As silly and childish as the two of them could be, they were still extremely dangerous. But that was hard to believe sometimes.

The rush to the hospital was a blur in Sasuke's memory. Once they were safe and everyone accounted for they rushed Sakura to the hospital. Itachi had stayed with Deidara and Sasori to await the arrival of the rest of his gang. He told Sasuke to call him as soon as he had any news.

There were a few other injuries but nothing life threatening. When some of them branched off to get their wounds bandaged, Sasuke stuck with Sakura and chased away any of the nurses who tried to pull him on the side to make sure he was alright.

He would have knocked out the doctor who told him he had to wait outside while they worked on Sakura if Tsunade hadn't shown up and commanded he tell her what happened. After a quick retelling of what they had found Tsunade forced herself into the room and demanded that she examine her niece herself. While Sasuke knew that Tsunade was one of the best doctors around and would make sure Sakura was getting the best treatment he possibly could, but he was still worried by her reaction. What was so important that Tsunade had to kick the previous doctor out?

Sasuke sat on the ground next to the door waiting impatiently for Tsunade to come out to tell him what's happening or for them to finally allow him in. Eventually, Naruto came to join him.

"Everyone else is okay. Most of them went home. They wanted to stay of course but all of us clogging up the hall would probably make granny blow a fuse," Naruto chuckled at his own joke. But Sasuke didn't even blink. "Everything is going to be okay."

Sasuke really wanted to believe him, but the longer he had to wait the bleaker the future looked. Naruto gave up and sat quietly next to his friend. Until finally the door opened. The two of them were instantly on their feet. A few nurses came out and Tsunade held the door open and waved Sasuke in. But she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder as he tried to follow. "Wait a little longer," she said. As much as Naruto wanted to insist, he agreed to wait patiently.

Sakura was lying peacefully on a hospital bed, or as peaceful as she could be with multiple tubes connected to her. Her complexion had improved but her skin was still a bit more on the pale side.

"Why isn't her arm covered?" Sasuke asked. Sakura's badly injured arm was exposed instead of bandaged.

"I wanted to show you this first," Tsunade replied. Sakura's arm had been cleaned up but it still looked very gory.

Sasuke wasn't squeamish but looking at Sakura's tattered arm was making his stomach turn. He was aware that the damage was bad but he didn't know why Tsunade felt like she had to show him this.

Tsunade gently picked up Sakura's arm and turned it slightly. "See this?" Sasuke's silence was her answer. "If you look closely at the edges of the skin you can see that it's grey." Sasuke hadn't noticed it at first but now that it was pointed out to him the greying skin along the wound was obvious. "In normal cuts like this if anything the skin around it would be red and inflamed. But hers is grey."

"What are you getting at? Just tell me!" Sasuke didn't understand what Tsunade was trying to hint at him. He just wanted to know exactly what was wrong with Sakura.

Tsunade bowed her head. "Even if Kabuto is a synthetic werewolf apparently he's real enough. Sakura is infected."