Fallen

Chapter 36: Boom.

Sakura's POV

"Damn," Sasuke-kun said. "Then what should we do?"

"Well…," I said carefully, making several different scenarios in my head as I spoke. "The only way I see it is that we'll have to somehow make them to let us out somehow or…." I shuddered at the thought.

"Kill them all," Sasuke-kun finished for me. "But that's going to be difficult, if not impossible."

I nodded.

"How would we make them let us out?" Naruto asked.

I shook my head. "That would also be fairly difficult. They're all so strong…and if we took one as hostage, there's no guarantee the others or even the hostage will care. I don't think they'd commit suicide, because that would kill me and Naruto, who they need. But, still…."

I tried to keep positive, but under these hopeless circumstances, it wasn't easy.

All faces were serious, thinking about what I'd said.

"You guys," I said to the ANBU squads. "Do you think we'll be able to take them with our current abilities combined?"

They were silent for a while, glancing at each other. My heart sunk before they spoke.

"Probably…not," said an ANBU member.

Then…we'll just have to use strategy.

"What do you know about the Akatsuki members and their abilities?" I asked.

After a while, maybe an hour or so, we'd reached the exit. Or where we would be able to exit if the damn Akatsuki members would let us out!

The painkillers' effects had worn off, and I was standing again, although tired. I couldn't help but notice the feeling that there were lots of eyes on me (more like, lots of eyes on my oh-so-visible chakra points), but I told myself to ignore them; now wasn't the time to be self conscious.

"Leaving so soon?" a deep voice breathed into my ear. "Even though you know you can't…."

Itachi.

I heard shuffling behind me, as the ANBU squads, Sasuke-kun, and Naruto all shuffled around. I couldn't see them though, because I was scared that if I turned my head, Itachi would do his Mangekyou Sharingan shmoogle whatever on me.

"Bastard…," I heard Sasuke-kun say.

I felt Itachi shift a bit. "My foolish little brother…," he acknowledged. "Aren't you friendly?"

I bit my lip. The drugs were still working their 'magic' on me (god, they took forever!).

But right now, I so wanted to whack Itachi in the face.

Even so, I restrained myself. It would be a problem if I provoked him while I was virtually powerless.

I heard Naruto make some Shadow Clones. One of them was standing in front of me.

"Sakura-chan!" he said, grinning. "Don't make that face! We're going to get out of here."

I must've looked worried (which I sure as hell was). I smiled at him. "Thanks, Naruto," I said.

"Ah! Sakura-chan, watch out!"

I whipped around and saw three shuriken whizzing towards me. I grabbed them and flung them at Itachi, who dodged like it was nothing. (and to him, it probably was.)

Heh. Well at least I could still play 'catch'.

Wait…catch? That's it!

I reached for my bag, only to find it wasn't there.

Shit, I thought. Of course. The Akatsuki must've taken it.

"You guys!" I said to the Shadow Clones (about twelve of them) closest to me. "Give me your ninja equipment!"

"Why? Sakura-chan, what's up?" one asked, confused.

I sighed in exasperation. "Just give it."

They each handed it over, and I rummaged through one to check out the merchandise.

I smirked. Perfect.

"I'll need your help," I told them.

Sasuke's POV

I was busy helping Naruto with Itachi (the gap in our strength was REALLY pissing me off), but I still somehow managed to notice Sakura and one of Naruto's clones doing something with his tools.

What are they up to?

One of the ANBU members used a fire jutsu, bringing my attention back to the fight.

Then…

"Itachi!" I heard Sakura shout. "Catch!"

And three shiny…balls were up in the air, right above the fight.

The balls (which I now recognized as a cluster of weapons), and Itachi was showered in kunai and shuriken. He blocked them lazily with a kunai of his own, without getting hit by a single one.

Idiots, I thought. It'll take a lot more than that to beat him.

Another two balls went up in the air, and again they scattered. Itachi didn't bother to block them this time, but instead moved a safe distance away from them, and continued to fight us.

One ball flew towards him, and more weapons rained down.

What are they thinking?

Then, another six headed his way, and separated again.

He began to move out of the way, but these one was different. They were scattering in all directions (one nearly missed my head), and each and every one of the kunai/shuriken exploded. Went boom. Kaplooey.

Naruto's POV

The Shadow Clones that had been working with Sakura-chan had all disappeared with the last attack, and I understood.

"I need your help," she said.

"With what?" a clone asked.

She looked determined. "I can't use chakra, but you guys can, so I need you to use it for me."

"Why?"

Sakura-chan pointed to the pile of packs on the ground in front of her. "See these?" she asked.

"Yeah…." That was kind of obvious.

"Well, each of those has the same amount of ninja equipment, since they're all copies from the same one," she went on. "And so, we're going to use the supplies in each pack. I'll need you guys to use your chakra to stick them all together, in the shape of a sphere. Six of them will be made up of only kunai and shuriken. We'll use those first. For the last six, we'll attach at least one exploding tag to every single one. There'll be extras, so use them to put another tag on something. Got it?"

All of the clones nodded and got to work.

Sakura-chan smirked. "Let's go."

I stared at the place that Itachi had been, where the dust was beginning to settle down.

Itachi was still standing, but he had a huge gash on his head and more on his legs, arms, and body.

Sakura-chan's plan had succeeded in wounding him.

I felt a surge of pride at her brains. Was this what it felt like to be a dad? No, it had to be something else. But I just couldn't put my finger on it….

Sakura's POV

Itachi was hurt, but he didn't look at all ready to give up. And what if that was a clone, like one of Naruto's, or an illusion? There was no way to tell. If it was a clone, though, I bet that he'd have gone *poof* or would be going *poof* soon.

Still, there wasn't any, so I guess it's safe to think he isn't a fake?
Itachi didn't have any expression on his face, despite the fact he'd just been attacked with explosives.

His head turned slowly in my direction (I'll admit I was creeped out) and then…he smirked.

The creeped out-ness was replaced with irritation. Was he making fun of me or something?!
And then, I heard birds.

Birds? In a cave? And it sounds like there's so many….

A strong gust of wind made me turn to see Sasuke-kun, with his left hand surrounded by blue lightning, and Naruto, with a spiral of air in his palm.

I felt my face getting hot.

Somehow…they looked kind of…cool.

They both began running at Itachi from different directions: Sasuke-kun on the left and Naruto on the right.

And then, they'd reached him.

Itachi didn't move out of the way.

They both stopped, right before they hit him.

"Let us out," Sasuke-kun growled.

Itachi smirked. "Are you going to kill me, foolish little brother?" he asked.

"Let us out," he repeated.

"All of us," Naruto added.

"What if I follow you once you're out? What if I attack you? What will you do?" he asked.

"You already know the answer to that," Naruto answered.

"Hn," was Itachi's reply. "Alright. Leave."

Naruto motioned for me and the ANBU to go. The ANBU carefully made their way towards the exit, but I didn't budge.

What would happen to us once we'd gotten outside? Would we be followed? Attacked? Itachi could easily get reinforcements, and one Akatsuki had been difficult enough.

"Go," Sasuke-kun ordered, without looking away from his older brother.

My eyebrows furrowed. I still didn't move.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, smiling gently at me. "We'll be alright. Go ahead with the others. Don't worry; we'll definitely catch up."

I hesitated, and then began to walk. It's amazing how much concentration it took to do that simple thing.

Right, left, right, left, I ordered my feet.

I stopped right before the exit. "Hey, you two!" I yelled in a harsh voice. "I have a lot of questions for you, so you better not die. Got it?"

"Hn," I heard Sasuke-kun reply.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Naruto shouted. I could hear a grin in his voice.

And so, I walked through.

A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating as much! . But I'll keep on going, so don't worry!^^ Anyways, please review~!^^