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Katsumi inhaled and exhaled slowly as she stretched her head around to adjust to her new power that she now holds, then teleported into the black hole to meet up with the leader.

Meanwhile, Lee turned back around and narrowed his eyes at the hysterical laughter that the white Zetsu was making.

"Hahahahahaha!!! Well, it seems that she has finally done it! Bravo, young lady! Master Tobi will be super proud of you," he said, grinning his teeth sharply in satisfaction.

Lee stepped his foot forward and questioned with his fist held towards him. "Just what the hell do you mean by that??!"

"My, you still don't know? Even after witnessing that massive power that was forming towards Katsumi? Hmm. You are totally brainless," the white Zetsu sighed out and continued on with an evil smirk. "You see… Our dearest companion has taken an advance move to a new life."

"Grr…! Get to the point!" Lee demanded.

The white Zetsu made a tongue popping noise and said amusingly. "Let's just say that your precious friend, Sakura Haruno…" He paused for a moment and continued on to conclude his sentence. "...Is somewhere in paradise."

Lee's horrified expression grew larger as his blood started to run cold. He stood there, not being able to move an inch after the enemy had spoken about it. He shook his head and denied by arguing. "That is a big lie!!"

"Is it? Don't be so naive, kiddo," the white Zetsu guessed and replied further with a wide grin.

"Go and see for yourself."

Then, he started to laugh uncontrollably and withdraw from the battlefield, leaving the green leaf ninja in his own traumatic state that he was in.

"No… It can't be…" Lee was trembling in worry as he began to run and go back to ask for his friends' help. "This is bad… I need to inform them quickly."

He picked up a fast pace and avoided the pebbles that were lying down on the ground.

Back inside the hidden cloud village tower, Inoichi was concentrating on the progress of the fight that was occurring in each battlefield. Then, he gasped slightly when he saw what happened in the circular bottom pit.

"What is going on? Who's the person lying on the ground…?" His mouth went agape in horror for a moment.

However, he cleared his throat and tapped the telecommunication signal, saying. "Excuse me… I would like to inform you that the power coming from the natural source is none other than the Akatsuki and I'm very sad to announce…"

He stopped as he identified the lifeless figure, gulping nervously.

Everyone in their teams paused from their fighting when they looked straight at the front and was carefully listening to him.

Inoichi continued to finish his sentence with a timid sigh. "Sakura Haruno… is possibly demised…"

The leaf squad's eyes widened in bewilderment and trauma, including Tsunade, Kankuro, Temari, who already met up with each other.

"What?!" The purple-faced ninja questioned, perplexed.

"No way…" The four ponytail-haired kunoichi shook her head in disbelief to herself."I find this hard to believe," the fifth Hokage pointed out in thought.

"We have to go," Kankuro noted.

"Where?" Temari asked concernedly.

"To the leaf squad. Come on, let's hurry," Kankuro said as they both went off and notified quickly. "Sorry, lady Tsunade. Sakura is our friend and-"

"I know. It's very important. Don't worry about me. The rest of the Kages will be here. Now, off you two go," the fifth Hokage smiled softly and gave them a side nod.

The two sand siblings nodded at her respectfully and hopped out of the sight.

Somewhere in the forest, the blonde-haired ninja was glaring angrily at Tobi and the rest of the jinchurikis, standing behind him.

"That is full of shit. What would they do to her?!!" The blonde-haired ninja yelled out as he clenched his fists.

"Naruto… He wasn't entirely sure if she is-" Killerbee said with reassurance.

"She's not!! So why would he announce it and say 'possibly?' He has no proof!!" Naruto growled.

Kakashi, on the other hand, looked at him and spoke out quietly. "We will find out. Right now, I just need you to be still."

"He's right. The more we panic, the more we will not be able to withstand them," Guy agreed while crossing his arms.

Naruto stared at Tobi and the jinchurikis as he was gritting his teeth in irritation, but decided to hold back his anger. Instead, he tilted his head down to reckon.

"Hope you are safe. I will look for you after I beat up these bastards," the blonde-haired ninja prayed as his jaw tightened.

Later on after the forfeit with the white Zetsu, the green leaf ninja arrived back in the same destination as he hopped down from the rocky hill. He began to walk towards the leaf squad, whom they turned their heads around in shock where Tenten ran up towards him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Lee! You came!" She exclaimed when her eyes were scanning every part if he was injured. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"You're here. That's good!" Neji said surprisingly.

"We're all glad you're safe," Hinata said happily.

"Wait... Where's Sakura?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Yeah. Didn't you go after her and went with her to go and chase Katsumi?" Choji asked blankly.

Lee was staring off into space vacantly while his whole body went numb, much to the others' suspicion.

"Dude! Why can't you answer?!" Kiba asked, furrowing his eyebrows in puzzlement.

The green leaf ninja swallowed a hard lump in his throat and closed his eyes to lower his heart rate. Before he was about to speak, the others heard a delicate swishing sound of the sand descending where the red-haired Kazekage had stepped down from it.

"Gaara… You're here!" Ino said shockingly.

"Pfft. No shit, he cares..." Kiba mumbled and looked away repulsively.

Tenten shook her head and ignored his remark.

He was glancing at them and asked faintly with his eyes fully narrow. "Where is she?"

"Who?" Kiba repeated, pretending to be clueless until he received a smack on his head by Ino. He cursed in a hiss, saying. "Fuck! That hurts."

"We… Um. We don't know. That's why we've been asking Lee. He was the last person to be with her," Tenten answered gently.

The red-haired Kazekage went over and turned his shoulder around to look at him directly in the eyes, questioning. "Where is she…?"

Lee looked down to hide his emotions and didn't bother to answer.

"Where is she?!" Gaara raised his voice demandingly, startling the others. His eyes were gazing coldly at him and firmly asked once again. This time, he was furious. "WHERE IS SAKURA?!!!"

Lee shut his eyes close and whimpered when the red-haired Kazekage's grip was hurting the side of his shoulder. He answered with a whisper, saying. "I don't know… I saw her, but…"

"But what?!!" Gaara repeated strongly, looking at him back and forth.

Lee sighed and explained as he was starting to quiver slightly. "I found her and the white Zetsu appeared in front of us to fight, so I decided to let Sakura go and proceed to our plan. After that, I didn't know what was happening from afar where there was this enormous light…"

Gaara stared at him indifferently, letting go of his grip on his shoulder. He stepped back and turned around to walk away from him while the others were watching.

Lee was breathing heavily and didn't bother to continue further because he was carrying guilt inside.

The red-haired Kazekage was looking at the distance, then peeked over his shoulder with a warning. "You better be right about what you've told me. Because if not, I will not hold myself back. If anything happens to her, I will do something that may be unforgivable and you wish that I haven't..."

With that being said, he stepped into his sand and hovered up in the air before he traveled away, leaving the leaf squad into confusion.

Tenten looked at Lee and interrogated him in annoyance. "How could you let her run off?"

"I… I thought that it was the right decision," Lee pointed out with his voice sounding hoarsely.

"You thought wrong," Neji said straightforwardly with his arms crossed.

"We will just have to wait from the Intel squad," Sai stated, whereas the rest of them nodded in agreement.

From that moment on, the red-haired Kazekage was rapidly moving up his pace and destroying the boulders off on the side with his sand. He was beginning to panic inside, but remained calm. Although, his patience was starting to get lower.

"Sakura… I'm coming," he thought hopefully.

However, he didn't care for reality right now. He just wants to ensure that his friend is safe, but is she…?


TO BE CONTINUED...