Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 38

"Teme's gone!"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, in disbelief.

"Somebody noticed him leaving but didn't think much of it. But then people noticed that he wasn't home this morning." Naruto explained. "He's gone to Orochimaru, that's what Baa-chan believes."

Sakura remembered that sly, little snake. That bastard who gave Sasuke the curse mark and his devious disciple, Kabuto Yakushi, whom Sakura had clashed with before in Tanzaku Town. So, all along, they had been planning to seduce Sasuke with their power. Maybe that's why Orochimaru had called the Curse Mark a "gift."

"We're forming a team." Shikamaru told her just as Hinata ran into the room, Kiba right behind her - having informed her of the situation. "We are going to bring Sasuke and Godaime-sama told us to bring you."

"Ino and I are going too." Hinata said, a look of determination on her face.

"We already have six people..." Kiba told her, scratching the back of his head. "Eight seems like too much."

"We are genin - and one chunin - going into a mission involving a S-Ranked criminal." Sakura replied. "We need all the help we can get. We could travel in teams of four, that will make it work." She turned to Shikamaru, who was obviously the leader of the team.

He nodded. "Okay, meet at the gates in ten minutes. We need to leave quickly." He walked to the door with everyone other than Sakura but he paused for a second. "Neji and Chouji are also coming along." He announced and then everyone left the pinkette's room, allowing her to get ready.

Sakura sprung into action, collecting anything she would need for the mission. She grabbed kunai, shuriken and food pills. She grabbed her gloves and put them on right away. She worked on auto-pilot as she got ready but she paused once she was about to leave the house.

Sasuke-kun... He really left. I could have talked to him yesterday...

"Sakura-chan, this is not your fault at all." Kokuo told her host. "Sasuke has been lured by the power Orochimaru has offered him. You need to find him and convince him to stay in Konoha."

"Okay... I..." Sakura felt reluctant to leave the house. "It just doesn't feel real... He really decided to... abandon us... for power." She didn't believe it, but she thought of what power could accomplish for him and Itachi Uchiha entered her mind. "Is he that hell-bent on revenge?"

Kokuo had no response to that. Revenge was a pure motivator for some people and Sasuke was one of them. It was his main goal to kill Itachi, and he would join the side of someone who had plotted to destroy Konoha just to fufill it.

"Kaa-san, Otou-san. I'm leaving!" Sakura screamed, running out as her parents bid her farewell.

Once Sakura made it to the Konoha gate, only Shikamaru was waiting. The others had not yet appeared.

"I've been thinking about the order we should travel in." Sakura told him.

"I have too." He replied. At that, Sakura fell silent. She didn't want to go against his ideas because he was the one in charge. She already felt bad for suggesting the four-man teams idea. "If we are splitting up into groups of four, Hinata and Neji should be on different teams." Shikamaru continued.

"Of course." Sakura replied. "But, also, put Ino and Kiba in different groups. Kiba's sense of smell makes him an excellent tracker and Ino has been trained in sensory skills. They should be at the front of the groups with the Hyugas at the back due to their kekkei genkai."

"Naruto and Chouji have copious amounts of chakra. Naturally, they will also be in different groups."

"That leaves me and you." Sakura replied. "We should be in different groups to fill in the blanks for the others."

"Our role is as strategists, Sakura." Shikamaru told her, frowning slightly. "Second in the order to make tactiful moves after being alerted by Ino or Kiba. Behind us, Naruto and Chouji with a Hyuga right behind them."

"So," Sakura began. "Group one in order: Kiba, myself, Chouji and Neji. Group two in order: Ino, you, Naruto and Hinata. The reason Naruto and I are on different teams is because we can telepathically communicate with each other. Furthermore, Ino can be used to relay messages to all of us."

"Sounds good. Nice work." Shikamaru praised her.

"You too." She smiled and returned it.

Once the other six members of the group made it to the gate, Shikamaru relayed the orders to them, while crediting Sakura for the work she did.

She felt silly taking pride in it.

The two groups travelled at the same time but just in different areas. Ino opened up communication with the other group sometimes just in case anyone had to say something. Whenever Kiba smelt something strange up ahead, he would tell Sakura, who would then tell Naruto and the Kyubi's host would alert the people in his group. They worked like this until an interferance arose.

There's four people up ahead. Kiba alerted the Sasuke Recovery Team once Ino opened the connetion again. The blonde kunoichi furrowed her eyebrows at something she sensed.

They have Sasuke-san! Neji told them, his Byakugan activated. He's inside the barrel.

They seem to be resting. Hinata added.

We surround them before we attack. Sakura planned. We have the element of surprise.

I can restrict them with my Shadow Possession Jutsu. Shikamaru cut in. Chouji, I need you to recover the barrel.

The team planned their approach to this lucky situation. Sakura prepared to use a genjutsu to delay them right after Shikamaru would capture them with his Shadow Possession Jutsu.

Okay... Now!

Naruto's clones jumped at the Sound Four, all ready to attack. The enemies appeared to be startled but attacked with much power nonetheless. Chouji ran for the barrel that was sitting near where the largest member of the group was fighting.

"Hinata!" Neji yelled and the girl nodded as the two jumped into the fight. With a strike from each of them, the multiple-armed man was pushed into the middle of the clearing.

"Shannaro!" Sakura screamed as she aimed her fist at the only female of the group. However, unexpectedly, her fist was caught and she felt a hard blow hit her in the face and she was sent to the ground.

"Nobody hurts our woman!" A bunch of Naruto clones shouted and they charged at the Sound ninja who hit the pinkette. The constant barrage of shadow clones was able to over-power Tayuya and she retreated back to Kidomaru.

Chouji and Jirobo had a slow fist to fist fight going on. But, the genin was growing increasingly worried about his task and threw anxious looks over to the barrel containing Sasuke Uchiha. Fortunately, Kiba came to his rescue along with Akamaru. "Fang Over Fang!" The Inuzuka yelled, pushing Jirobo into Tayuya.

Sakon continued fighting off the many Naruto clones that charged at him. In the midst of the battle, he noticed where the Konoha ninja were leading them. So, he joined the rest of the Sound Four in the middle, but made it look like the Shadow Clones pushed him there.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu... Is a success." Shikamaru captured them with his shadow, restricting their movement and slightly startled by how easy this seemed. They had to have some sort of plan...

"You trash ninja are all fools." The large one told the Sasuke Retrieval Team.

"Sasuke wants to join Orochimaru-sama of his own free will." The one with the green lipstick continued.

Sakura began to prepare her genjutsu. It was a difficult one to do since she needed them to fall asleep for a long time - long enough for them to be taken back to Konoha as prisoners.

A familiar, strange feeling irked Ino. She had felt it just as Kiba announced the prescence of the rogue ninja in front of them. It was another chakra signature... And it was right behind Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, watch out!" Ino screamed at her teammate but it was too late. Ukon attacked the chunin, kicking him to the rest of the Konoha Team. The Shadow Possession Jutsu faltered and Jirobo sprung into action. The earth rose, forming a dome around the team and trapping them within. Chouji cursed himself for not grabbing the barrel containing Sasuke in time. The cherry blossom also cursed, having missed her opportunity.

"Shannaro!" Sakura yelled, punching the side of the dome. It broke, but not completely. She was about to hit it again, but the dome healed itself. "What in the world?"

Hinata and Neji used their Byakugan to see what was going on.

"The big one..." The Team Eight kunoichi began. "He's pouring chakra into the dome, strengthening it and allowing it to reconstruct." Hinata looked around the outside of the dome with her Byakugan. "The other three, they've fled with Sasuke."

"How are we supposed to get out?" Ino asked fearfully. She wondered if there was no way out at all, and the horror that they may die here entered her thoughts.

"Where is he pouring chakra from?" Shikamaru asked Neji who pointed in the direction Jirobo was. The Chunin turned into to the opposite direction. "Here." He said as he pointed at the wall. "It's the weakest area."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru-san's correct." Neji replied, staring at the wall their leader was talking about. "The chakra here is weaker."

"So..." Ino urged them to continue, not understanding what they were getting at.

"It means that the reconstruction will take longer and be weaker." Sakura revealed. "We weaken it and destroy it before it heals. I'll destroy it." She began to infuse chakra into her fist, ready to obliterate the wall.

"Wait, Sakura-chan!" Chouji stopped her. "You're a medical ninja, you need to preserve your chakra. I'll take care of this."

Sakura stepped back with a frown. What he said was completely reasonable and absolutely correct but it made her feel weak. She brushed off the feeling though, Chouji had a point.

The Akimichi easily destroyed the barrier with his Human Boulder Technique and the Sasuke Retrieval Team ran out before the dome could reconstruct. The entire barrier crumbled as Jirobo stalked towards them, a thunderous expression on his face.

"He won't let us pass without a fight." Kiba said.

"You guys go on ahead." Chouji announced, shocking the group. "I'll fight this guy."

"We can't split up!" Naruto exclaimed.

Jirobo watched the team's exchange with a bored expression on his face.

"This guy's stalling us, we can't let Sasuke-san get away." The chubby boy reasoned.

"I'll stay too." Ino said before she could stop herself.

"We need your telepathy, Ino." Shikamaru told her.

Sakura looked at her friend with curious eyes. She seemed desperate to protect her teammate so the pinkette vouched for her. "We can travel as a six together, I think that's safe." She said. "Ino and Chouji can take this guy out and join us later."

Shikamaru frowned but slowly nodded. "You guys..." He turned to his friends. "You better not die."

It was a rare moment for Sakura to see but she smiled. Their teams were like their families.

So she and Naruto had to bring Sasuke back. No matter what.