Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 41

"Sakura-chan... Sakura-chan, wake up." Said girl groaned, rolling over on the ground. "Sakura!" She jolted up at the last call of her name and took in her surroundings. She was in Kokuo's Blank Space, staring at her cage. Kokuo was hiding within the darkness but spoke to her from within. "Do you remember what happened?"

It all came crashing back to her. Naruto and Sasuke fighting, them using their signature techniques with her own interferance and that thing - that fake version of herself - came out of her and attacked them.

Inner Sakura was her name. Something the pinkette had been calling her thoughout her academy days but then she just disappeared out of nowhere. However, now she was out. She was her own being and was God-knows where now doing God-knows what.

"That thing..." Sakura muttered, standing on her two feet. She then looked at her Bijuu's cage with her eyebrows narrowed. "You never told me. You knew, right?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan. I knew about Inner." Kokuo admitted.

"Start from the beginning."

"I know what she is. She was a personality quirk you had developed in your early years and she was a part of you. But when I was sealed within you, she got a taste of my power... And she became obsessed." The Gobi paused.

"Continue." The pinkette was curt.

The dolphin-horse sighed. "She told me we could use my chakra to conquer the world. Inner was this power-hungry being in your mind and I knew that one day she would corrupt you. So, I decided to take measures into my own hands and I banished her to the unconscious part of your mind and imprisoned her in there, much like how I am sealed here."

"But that didn't work?" She questioned, despite the obvious answer.

"Inner wanted to escape, she has her own plans - although I'm not sure what they are." Sakura assumed Inner was just a power-hungry tyrant. "But she found a way to restrict me from giving you chakra so that it would hurt. And then she offered you her own and you..."

"And I accepted, giving her a way out." Sakura finished, understanding what had happened in the Final Valley. "Fuck!" She cursed, angry at herself, angry at Inner and even angry at Kokuo. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I thought I was protecting you." The beast said. "If I could keep her imprisoned, she wouldn't be a problem."

"But you failed! Now there's another me out there who wants to conquer the world!" Sakura clenched her fist as she seethed with frustration.

"We can find a way to stop her... But-"

"What now?!"

"She kind of stole half of my chakra..."

"She stole your chakra?" Sakura asked. "She stole your chakra." She repeated, but as a statement this time, now remembering Inner using purple chakra during their fight.

"And she corrupted it."

"What?"

"It's evil."

"She has an evil you as well?" Sakura was in disbelief. Her copy was even stronger than they had realised. There was no way they could beat her. "If you had told me, I could have found a way to stop her. I could have figured something out."

"I'm sorry-" Kokuo started but Sakura interrupted her.

"I don't want to hear it!" She snapped. "I'm leaving." She was about to leave but she stopped, recalling something. "The Grey Sakura in my nightmares... You knew who it was but you never told me?" The beast didn't reply. "After the nights I spent wide awake with anxiety about them, you didn't tell me? Well, it's nice to know what I can expect from you." And with that, she faded out of the Blank Space.

Sakura woke up in a hospital bed. She fumbled about, trying to sit up. "Sakura-san, wait-" A nurse tried to grab her arm.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled, throwing herself off the bed to avoid the woman. She noted how her ass hung out of her gown and felt slight embarrassment at what the nurse would have seen.

"I'll take it from here." Kakashi said to the nurse, who nodded and left the room. "Sakura."

"Kakashi-sensei!" She cried, hugging the silver-haired man. He awkwardly hugged her back.

"You did well on this mission to bring Sasuke back." He tried to praise her. "Everyone is fine but-"

"Something happened." She said seriously, sitting on the bed after adjusting her hospital gown and not hearing the 'but' in what her sensei had said. Kakashi, taking note of her tone, sat on a chair. "What were we like when you found us?" She asked.

"You three had knocked each other out-" He started.

"No." The cherry blossom interrupted him. "We didn't knock each other out, something else did."

"Explain, Sakura." Kakashi said, confused and cautious.

She went into an explanation of what happened in the Final Valley. She told him everything and he listened without changing his expression at all. "Kakashi-sensei?" The girl asked, as he had not spoken for a while, after she had finished her report.

"We have to tell Godaime-sama of this new development." He announced. "But you should get some rest first. I'll tell your parents that you are up."

"Hatake-san." Somebody knocked on the door and then opened it. It was the nurse from before. "Naruto Uzumaki has also woken up." She informed him.

"Thank you." He said and she left. He turned to his genin on the bed. "Do you want to visit him?"

"Yeah..." It died in her throat as she thought about the last time Naruto saw her. The last time he saw her, she was grey and knocked him out. No, that wasn't me! She berated herself and stood up from the bed, following her sensei out.

When they arrived at Naruto's room, she asked Kakashi if she could have a moment alone with her teammate and he agreed. She was nervous, what would he think? Or say? How was he feeling about everything?

Tentatively, she knocked on the door. "Come in!" She heard his usual cheery voice.

That's good. He's normal. Sakura grabbed the doorknob slowly, as if it were some sort of foreign object. Twisting it, she opened the door and saw Naruto looking straight at her.

It felt like she was in a parallel universe, waiting for her teammate's reaction. She saw his vacant expression turn to surprise and then shift into something unknown. She took it in the wrong way, believing he hated or worse, feared, her. So she turned on her foor and ran out as soon as she could. "Sakura!" Kakashi yelled as he watched her retreating back.

Sakura ran out of the hospital, ignoring everybody's cries for her to return. She avoided other people, hopping from roof to roof until she made it to her own house. The pinkette looked at her house as a whole. She decided that she loved it and would never leave again.

She rapped against the door and it swung open with such force. "Who the hell-" Mebuki screeched but abruptly stopped once she realised it was her own daughter. "Sakura, what are you doing here?" She asked, confused.

"We were just about to leave for the hospital." Kizashi said, appearing from the other room.

Sakura launched herself at her mother and father, sobbing as she did so. Confused, they wrapped their arms around their daughter and shared concerned looks.

Of course, Sakura couldn't stay at home for very long. She had to return to the hospital and finish recuperating. Her arm and shoulder were bandaged up due to her collision with Naruto and Sasuke, and the injury she received from Kimimaro.

She did ask about all the other members of the Sasuke Retrieval Team. Ino was fine but Chouji had almost died. His teammate rushed home to get him help. Kiba had gotten help from Kankuro and Shikamaru received some aid from Temari. Lee had almost lost to Kimimaro but Gaara appeared at the last moment, saving him. Neji was fine but Hinata was the tragedy. She was in a coma and there was no telling when she would wake up.

The pinkette had visited her, cursing once she saw her fragile form. She also cursed Sasuke - none of this would have happened if he hadn't left the village.

Currently, she was sitting on her bed, boredly flipping through a magasine. Her mother was intently reading another one by her bedside. Her parents still didn't know why she had cried in their arms previously and she refused to tell them. She didn't want to tell them, she didn't want to tell anybody.

"Hatake-san." Mebuki greeted Kakashi as he entered the room.

"Could I talk to Sakura for a moment?" He asked. The mother nodded understandably and left the room. "I have some news about Sasuke."

That was right. She hadn't really thought about what would happen to Sasuke once they brought him back to the Hidden Leaf. While leaving the village was no crime, crossing the border was - which Sasuke did not do. However, he was going to join the side of a S-Rank rogue ninja who had attacked the village before and killed many ninja from Konoha. Her teammate would be punished for leaving to go to Orchimaru.

"He had been held in a holding cell until the council decided something. Once he woke up, they told him that he would stay for two years in Konoha's Security Prison."

"Two years?!" Sakura spluttered. She didn't expect him to receive that harsh a punishment.

"They believe two years is enough time for him to figure out that his decisions were bad." Kakashi explained to her, but his voice sounded mocking, as if he found the whole situation stupid. "He is not allowed visitors as of yet."

"How did he take the news?" The cherry blossom asked.

"He just grunted but it was an annoyed grunt." The jonin answered.

"So he said 'Hn,' instead of 'Hn,' right?"

"Precisely."

"Could I ask you to do me a big favour?" Sakura questioned, moving on from the subject of Sasuke - she couldn't be bothered to deal with him. "I don't want to tell anybody about what happened in the Final Valley. Can you do it for me?"

"Do you mean to your parents?" The jonin asked.

"And Naruto-kun, and Sasuke-kun. I'm sure they've had a lot of questions." Sakura said.

"Naruto won't stop asking for you and Sasuke demanded answers." The pinkette sighed. She wasn't looking forward to seeing them right now. "I'll tell them for you."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

Usually, Sakura didn't like staying at the hospital. She was always eager to leave, either wanting to train or be with her friends. However, now she just wanted to hide in her assigned room, away from everyone and everything.

Ino had visited her. The two friends hugged and then cried. Kakashi had already told the blonde about what happened at the Final Valley and the pinkette was glad she didn't bring it up. Despite feeling happy at their reunion, it felt off since Hinata wasn't there. They hoped she would wake up soon.

Lee visited her after. She hugged and squeezed him tight before planting a huge kiss on his cheek. She was so relieved to see him alive, she was terrified something would happen to him. He was fine but had some cuts around his body that were stitched up. He needed to be careful, and he was forbidden to train for a while - he complied since Gai commanded him to rest.

Shikamaru joined Chouji and Kiba to see her. They explained to her how they won their battles - with help - and told her how Naruto was doing, hiding their confusion as to why the Team Seven teammates hadn't seen each other as of yet.

The big surprise visit was from the Sand Siblings. Awkwardly enough, Kankuro had gotten her flowers and wished her a speedy recovery - she stuttered embarrassingly at them and thanked him. His face turned red and he waved her off, as if it was no big deal. Temari poked Sakura on the forehead, calling her weak for passing out. The cherry blossom knew she was joking around and she welcomed the insult, adding in her own teasing about Temari helping out Shikamaru.

When Gaara spoke to her, his siblings left the room. An ominous feeling entered the air and Sakura held her breath as she waited for him to speak. "Naruto told me about what happened at the Final Valley." He finally said. She closed her eyes, thinking of ways to pound her teammate into the ground. "I hope you are not upset with him. He only wanted to know if it had to do with your Bijuu."

"It doesn't, the two of you don't have to worry." She replied, hoping this would be the end of the conversation. Gaara seemed to sense this and bid his goodbye before leaving.

About an hour later, Sakura was reading her book and the door knocked. "Come in." She said absent-mindedly, assuming it would be her parents or Kakashi.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto walked into the room, bandages around his body and wearing the same hospital gown as her. She snapped her head at him but then looked away quickly. She didn't want to see that look in his eyes - the one from before.

Sakura coughed. "Naruto-kun, you look well." She cringed at how formal she sounded. This was all wrong.

"How do you know? You won't look at me." He replied, sitting down on the chair. "You even cut off our connection." Sakura felt guilty about that so she turned her head and saw that he was smiling at her.

"You look well." She repeated, flashing a smile of her own.

"Kakashi-sensei told me about what that thing was." He started and the pinkette pinched the bridge of her nose. "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to."

"I don't." She said.

"I'll never do anything to make you uncomfortable, Sakura-chan." He rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly. "That sounded lame but... I mean it, believe it!"

For the first time since coming back, Sakura laughed. It wasn't a big laugh, more like a snicker. Naruto's eyes lit up as she did so and he hoped everything was fine now. He didn't like what happened before, how she ran out like she was scared for her life. He didn't mean to scare her but, when he saw her, he remembered the thing that attacked them and took them down so easily.

"You know about Sasuke-kun, right?" Sakura asked after a few beats, her expression serious now. "About his sentence."

"It's unfair." Naruto replied. "Teme came back!"

"No, he didn't." The kunoichi said. "He got knocked out and dragged back. It's very different."

"Are you saying that he deserves it?" The blonde questioned, hoping she would say no.

"Look at how many people got hurt because he wanted to go to that scumbag Orochimaru! Our friends could have died, Chouji-san almost died and Hinata is in a coma, for God's sake!" Sakura clenched her fists, irritated with the sacrifices made just to bring back Sasuke, who didn't even want to be in Konoha.

Naruto didn't talk for a while and his teammate was afraid that she had upset him. Slowly, he stood from his chair and walked to the window, looking out to the village.

"Everything's different now, isn't it?" He asked gloomily.

Sakura didn't reply.

"It is time." A gruff voice said.

Within the cave, hundreds of men stood, listening to their leader. They were all wearing brown jackets with red under-shirts. Everybody began to cheer after the leader spoke.

"We've waited long enough!" Somebody among the crowd yelled.

"We can't wait any longer!" Another person shouted.

"Silence!" The leader yelled. Everybody stopped talking at once. "It is time to use the Jinchuriki of the Gobi."