Gaara remembered being warned as a child.

"You are a weapon. You are a tool. You exist only for this purpose."

Shukaku remembered being warned, hours after his creation.

"There is darkness in humanity, and we may never be free of it."

Gaara remembered the promise they made.

"If you ever lose yourself to the monster, ever turn upon this village, we shall take our power back and you will die."

Shukaku remembered the promise they made.

"We must guide them down the path of peace."

Gaara remembered the pain of betrayal.

"You were never loved."

Shukaku remembered the pain of betrayal.

"Your power is vast. We shall take it for the sake of our village."

Black sand whirled around him in a powerful vortex, and Gaara felt his body being ripped in two. Somewhere in the forefront of his mind, Gaara knew he was in agony, but he had been pulled back into the mindspace shared by him and Shukaku, and everything was falling apart.

It was as if a wind tunnel was pulling somewhere in the distance, pulling away at the sand, pulling at the chains that held Shukaku down, pulling at Shukaku himself. And yet, Gaara was unmoving, feeling as though the opposite were true and he was being pushed away, torn away.

Looks like this is it, brat.

Shukaku spoke, looking oddly calm even with the chaos around him. Next to him, a chain snapped, flying away into the whirling void.

You had a good run. And out of all of your pathetic race...I think I disliked you the least.

Shukaku was being taken from him!

Gaara ran forward, pushing against the force that so desperately wanted to keep him away. He reached out, wrapping his arms around the link of one of the remaining chains before it could snap and fly away. He held on with all of his strength, even though his arms threatened to pull out of their sockets, even with the maelstrom that seemed too powerful for one person to fight alone.

There's no stopping it. Shukaku told him. Even if the others stop them, the seal is broken. I'm coming out. Don't worry, if I'm not shoved into a kettle, I'll try not to step on your precious Sakura.

"No!" Gaara protested. "No, I can't go! Not yet!"

I told you, brat-

"Stay with me!"

Even yelling, Gaara's voice was barely audible above the whirl of the wind, but he knew Shukaku heard. He had to. "You have to stay, please! Give them time! They'll find a way!"

I'll give you kudos for wanting to stay alive, brat, but there comes a time where you need to accept the truth. Sometimes when something breaks, there's no fixing it.

"You know that's not true."

Gaara looked up into the eyes of the Bijuu. In this, Gaara no longer had any doubt.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me I wasn't broken. Look at me and tell me I wasn't healed!"

Gaara remembered love.

"I don't care what happened in the past...you're my friend now, got it?"

Shukaku remembered…

"I name you Shukaku, and you shall be the protector of men."

The tanuki shifted his weight, pushing with all his might away from the opening in the seal, back towards where Gaara was so desperately fighting for his life.

Alright, brat...we give them time.

Sai heard Sakura scream, and for the first time he truly understood what others meant when they claimed their heart hurt for another.

Tera was the Root interrogator. He'd crafted his senbon using techniques from weapon-smithing clans, ensuring that the wiring and the needles would both be able to conduct his chakra at maximum efficiency. It required very little chakra to activate them. Sai had witnessed, once when he was on guard duty, a prisoner undergo Tera's tortures for over six hours. They had gotten all the information they needed about five hours in; Tera just hadn't wanted to stop.

If anyone nearby heard the screaming, they would likely be smart and keep their distance. There was no way to call for help. There was no one that would come.

And Tera would be more than happy to keep going until Sakura was unable.

And here he was, arms wrenched behind him, a kunai dug into his shoulder to keep him from moving too much. (The woman holding him was all too happy to dig in the blade and remind him to keep still.) Even counting the man that Sakura had downed, there were still four shinobi between him and Sakura. Counting the three currently working with scrolls, seven between him and Gaara. Sai wasn't an idiot, he couldn't beat those odds.

He'd told them, he'd told them time and time again how this would end and they'd never listened.

Tera was saying something to him, something about a lesson he should have learned. Sakura wasn't screaming anymore with Tera distracted, but it was only a matter of time. Sai saw her hand twitch, saw her legs shift. Even after all that, even after feeling the bite of two bolts, Sakura was…

Still trying to move.

As long as we move…

Tera noticed the movement and turned to watch, laughing as he watched Sakura tremble.

"There's no point in trying to get up, traitor. I'll just knock you on your ass again. Might as well just stay down and behave yourself."

Tera readied his hand sign, and once again Sai and Sakura's eyes met.

As long as we can still draw breath...

But those weren't the eyes of someone who had given up.

Even with no hope in sight, even with no chance of getting out of here unscathed...Sakura wasn't giving up.

We stay alive.

Sai found energy he didn't know he had, he found chakra surging through his veins, and all at once he leapt upwards, slamming the top of his head against the chin of the shinobi on his right. There was no more pain in his shoulder from the blade; either it had fallen out or straight up didn't hurt anymore. He twisted his right arm, yanking it roughly from the grasp of his captor just in time to land a blow on the left shinobi. Something about the movement didn't seem right, but his mind didn't register pain, only movement, only staying alive.

They had taken his blades, but Root shinobi were taught to adapt, and as the right shinobi recovered from Sai's headbutt, he turned just in time to be on the receiving end of the wooden butt of Sai's paintbrush. Always aim for the fleshy bits, his brother had told him, and Sai took that to heart as he thrust true, into the eye, past the eye.

One down.

They'd disarmed him of his ink, shattering his main vial onto the ground so that there was no hope of him using it. Sai had stored spares within scrolls, of course, but there wasn't time to grab a scroll as his remaining captor and the other two unoccupied shinobi all came for him at once.

His ink was chakra infused; that was how his drawings came to life so quickly. No need to waste time expending chakra if you had spent it in the past, and of course that left more for you to use in the moment if needed. But there was something else that Sai could use that was naturally infused with his chakra. His hand flew up to grasp at his injured shoulder, and in the heat of the moment Sai realized that now was going to be the time that he would finally answer his long pondered question of whether or not blood could make his art come to life. He had no time to find a blank canvas, so instead his fingers ran across his arm, and he felt the burn of his chakra as two red birds sprang out. They attacked the nearest assailant as vicious as his intent.

Question answered. Two down.

The remaining two were still bearing down upon him, but Sai ignored them both as he raced forwards towards Tera. All he needed to do was distract him. All he needed to do was give Sakura time.

He let himself slam into Tera's side before grabbing on and holding on. He felt the impact of hitting the ground and heard Tera curse.

Sai held Tera down until the other two shinobi drove blades into his back. He felt his arms weaken, and he could hear the sound of his pulse throbbing in his ears.

But he could still move.

But he could still breathe.

But he was still alive.

"I'll admit, it's going to be a shame to lose someone like you." He heard Tera say as he pushed Sai away. "Using your own blood for your seals was a bold move. Danzo will miss that ability."

Sai fell onto his side. He was starting to feel pain now, a deep pain in his back from the blades that adrenaline and will just couldn't ignore any longer. Still, he managed to spit at Tera's feet.

"I'm not Danzo's anymore."

"No." Tera agreed. "Now you will just be dead."

Sai looked up and saw Tera turning to face Sakura again, readying his third and final senbon.

"But first you will watch her die."

Pain.

A heartbeat. A glimpse of trees and sun. Sai, in the distance, their eyes meeting.

Pain.

Gaara, his body stuck in paralyzed agony as the seal on his chest was ripped apart.

Pain.

And then she was surrounded by black sands, grasping onto a dark chain, willing him to stay, we've got to stay alive.

Pain.

But the pain was different now, and she was trying to move, as long as we move, as long as we breathe, we stay alive.

And the pain was like a heartbeat now, a pulse that echoed and throbbed through her body until the feeling was so intense that she felt nothing at all, nothing but emptiness and black space around her.

She was biting down on the arm of the Sound shinobi, ignoring the fist pounding against her head because all that mattered was keeping her team safe, all that mattered was that nobody touched Sasuke or Naruto again.

But no...the pulse wasn't a heartbeat, wasn't the steady one-two rhythm that she had been taught in basic first aid. This pulse was more like steady thunder, rippling through her body and through the earth beneath her and through the trees and grass and stones and everything.

And she was walking, walking through tall grass as the sun beat down upon her head, and she was angry. She stomped her way through the brush towards the man in the distance, an older fellow who wore a headband with a symbol that looked vaguely familiar, but she could not quite place her finger on where she had seen it before.

"What's the meaning of this, old man?" She demanded, and the man (Genkei) stood up tall to meet her. He had been gathering herbs by the look of things, his wicker basket full of flowers and stalks. "Why the fuck won't you let me become a chuunin?"

"Language, boy." Genkei lectured. "I don't know where you got that mouth, but it won't help your cause. You are not yet ready. And even if you were...there may not be a point to establishing rank in this village for much longer."

"What does that even mean?"

"Oh Hidan…"

That wasn't her name, Sakura thought to herself, and she heard the pulsing of the world around her again, felt it in her bones, beneath her skin, but she couldn't tear herself away from the vision.

"You are not yet ready, boy."

Another man was lecturing her now, and instead of grass Sakura saw a deep cavern, lit only by candlelight, and the man in front of her was old, so old she could scarcely believe the man was still capable of standing. "You do not yet understand the meaning of the connection you have been given."

"What is there to understand? I'm immortal." She grinned a wide, cocky grin. "Your god thought I was so cool that he just had to give me a power-up."

"It is not just immortality you have been given. You have been given a powerful gift, and you must understand its significance before you may learn more of our rituals."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, I'll listen to your lecture."

"You won't just listen. You will experience."

Suddenly Sakura felt a sharp pain in her wrist, and the scene had changed and she was sitting in front of the old man in a different room. He had drawn the blade of the kunai along her wrist, and as he did so his own wrist cut open.

"Ow!" She cursed. "Son of a bitch!"

"Hurts, does it not?"

"Of course it fucking hurts! Why the hell would I ever hurt myself just to hurt somebody else? This is stupid as shit!"

"And it is necessary. How can you hope to understand the levity of your actions if you do not fully experience the consequences it brings? How can you hope to comprehend the weight of taking a life if you do not understand what it is like to lose your own? All creatures feel pain, and we of this path understand pain more deeply than any other on this continent. We do not strike unless we are willing to strike ourselves. We do not fight unless we are prepared to shoulder the weight of that commitment. But when we have steeled ourselves truly...we become the masters of death. That is the way of the Hageshisai."

"Masters of death, huh?" She looked down at her arm, and saw that the wound was still bleeding, though she could move her hand as though nothing had happened.

"Yes. And through this understanding you will find joy in the connection. The pain you share is a sign that you have reached that true bliss of comprehension, that which your enemy experiences. Those who cause pain without understanding the power they wield...Jashin always collects his debts, and that pain will be thrust upon them tenfold, in this life or the next."

"...well that just sounds fucking awesome."

"Your enthusiasm will serve you well. As his chosen, you shall be a revenant upon the world. Where there is pain, you shall bring justice. Where there is ignorance, you shall bring understanding."

Justice…

...justice…

…...always collects his debts…

Air hit her lungs, and the pulsing of the world became pain once again. Sakura's body had locked up under the influence of the lightning, her nerves misfiring and seizing up until she had been left a curled ball in the dirt. She tried desperately to move, but nothing would respond.

She flared her chakra, and she felt it ripple beneath her skin, and as it made its way to her fingers she saw her hand twitch.

Something was happening, she realized. The man was no longer sending out pain lightning. She didn't know how long the moment would last. Sakura continued to force chakra through her body, down into her fingers and toes, forcing the energy to pulse in that same, steady rhythm that had been beating into her mind as she'd seen through someone else's eyes. She focused on matching that rhythm, and as she did she felt the pulsing around her start up again. For a second, a minute, an hour, she could not tell, Sakura held perfectly still and let her chakra flow through her.

Let all the chakra flow through her.

Something within her snapped, and Sakura could move again.

She heard a whistle sound in the air, and in response she shot up to her feet. She turned to face her opponent and saw the last of his senbon flying through the air at her, and it was so slow it was laughable. But the man was confident in his abilities; he had already begun to raise his free hand up to make a hand sign, and lightning chakra was beginning to spark at the end of the three wires connecting him to his needles. Sakura allowed herself to simply pluck the needle out of the air with one hand; with the other, she removed the two that were still in her shoulders. Time still felt achingly slow, she could see the chakra begin to make its way down the wires.

Those who cause pain without understanding the power it wields…

Sakura let her arms move in one fluid motion, throwing the senbon back towards Tera. All three hit true, landing directly in his chest.

Time sped up again, and the lightning continued to travel through the wires to its natural conclusion.

...Jashin always collects his debts.

And this time it was her opponent who screamed.

Sakura fell to her knees, and the weight of her body suddenly seemed to double, and all she could feel was that pulsing again, only this time the rhythm was off, her chakra wasn't beating in time with the world again. Her body felt like it was moving through mud, slowing down, crackling and freezing into place, like she was turning into stone somehow.

She let herself stop, focused on the rhythm again, this time pushing the chakra out of her, away. She felt her lungs expand with air again, and with a sudden snap, the pulsing stopped, and the world moved at its normal pace once again.

Sakura saw Sai on the ground in front of her, two long swords stuck into his back. She saw Gaara in the distance, still surrounded by enemies. She saw Emi trying in vain to pull one of the three sealers away, only to be knocked back by a fist.

And in front of her were still two more enemies, who were now overcoming the shock of their leader being defeated and were drawing their swords from Sai's back.

Sakura felt a drop of rain.

Then there was a hurricane in front of her, a maelstrom of wind and water slamming against her foes and sending them spiraling back into the depths of the forest. Three shinobi landed in view, each wearing a headband with four vertical lines. Amegakure, Sakura realized, and they had come to help.

"Oof. Bad timing." One of them commented.

"They're still alive." Another replied. "God will forgive us."

"This one's barely breathing." The first nudged at Sai with his shoe, and Sakura stood up then, not willing to let anyone treat her teammate like that. She staggered forward, drawing her kunai from its hilt, until the third shinobi stepped forward and placed her hand over Sakura's own.

"Lay down your weapon. Amaha knows healing."

The girl looked Sakura up and down, raising an eyebrow as she noted Sakura's shoulders. "I'm surprised you're still standing. I was wondering what our Angel saw in you."

"Angel?" Sakura's thoughts reeled. "You're talking about...Lady Konan?"

"Well, looks like your brain isn't too fried either. Good. We still have a fight to get through." The girl reached out and knocked her knuckles against Sakura's forehead. "You can still fight, yeah?"

"Yes." Sakura nodded. "Yes, I have to."

"Right. Leave pretty boy over there to Amaha. Samidare, come on, we need to stop whatever the hell those three are doing with the scrolls."

"Yeah, that looks pretty nasty." The sole boy of the group came to stand with them, wielding a fan in each hand. Sakura was reminded of Temari's weapon, but these were much smaller. "We can't just blow them away, Urin?"

"Not without hitting the boy in the middle."

"Come on, he'd live."

"We need to stop them from completing the jutsu on those scrolls." Sakura insisted. "If we don't, my teammate will die. He's a…" She swallowed. It was probably public knowledge at this point, so she didn't feel bad mentioning it now. "He's a Jinchuuriki."

"Ah, shit." Samidare cursed. "Can't wait to deal with a fucking Bijuu once the seal breaks. What the hell were these guys thinking?"

"I think they were planning on sealing it in the kettle." Urin answered.

"...does the Bijuu come out if someone accidentally kicks the kettle over? That also seems pretty stupid. Lady Konan was right, these heathens have been breathing in too much dry air."

"I can fix it."

Sakura's heart skipped with a beat of relief as she heard Sai's voice. The girl Amaha was still kneeling behind him, green chakra flowing from her palm as she worked on the wounds on Sai's back. "I can fix it." Sai said again. "It's a seal...I know seals."

"It's a Jinchuuriki seal, Sai." Sakura countered gently. "I don't think it's supposed to be common knowledge, how those work."

"Shukaku was always saying it was sloppy to begin with. I'll make a better one."

"Sai-"

"I make a better one, or he dies, Sakura. Either way, I need the chance."

It was a long shot. Such a long shot that Sakura couldn't help but think, deep down, that she knew there was no chance of it working. But Sai was right. They fixed it, or they lost Gaara.

They just needed a chance.

She looked towards the Ame shinobi. "You're with us?"

"It is God's will." Urin replied.

"And I'd rather not be squashed under a chakra being's ass tonight." Samidare added.

It was good enough for her. Sakura readied her kunai and let her chakra flow once more.

The pulsing was gone, but as they charged into the frey, Sakura did not notice.

What had been nine versus three became five versus five. The two shinobi that had been swept away by the Ame maelstrom recovered quickly enough, and with Sakura and himself as wounded and exhausted as they were, Sai realized that it was down to the Ame team to keep them alive. His wounds had been healed, for the most part, but there was still deep damage that Amaha had not been able to reach, and even a basic attack drudged up pain. It became more difficult still once the three shinobi on Gaara had been pulled into the skirmish, and now that they were no longer focused on siphoning Shukaku into their kettle, all ten shinobi had to deal with the sudden outward burst of Bijuu energy coming from the breach in Gaara's seal.

But...it wasn't completely broken yet. It was like Shukaku was holding on somehow, fighting against the seal's breach, and Sai wondered briefly if the old tanuki had gone and gotten so attached to his host that he was working to save Gaara's life. It was inevitable unless the seal was fixed, but Shukaku was buying them time, and they needed all the time they could get.

All he needed was an opening, and as the skirmish continued Sai managed to slip past the enemy and skid to a halt in front of Gaara. The energy was almost overwhelming, and Sai could feel the chakra starting to whip and burn at his skin the closer he got.

He pulled out a scroll and summoned his spare ink and brush, and now he was focused with one of the most difficult questions he'd ever had to answer: how do you seal a Jinchuuriki?

He could see kanji around the breached seal, and certain patterns of lines that were attempting to focus Shukaku's energy to fuse with Gaara's, but the pattern was shoddy. Instead of integrating the energy seamlessly, the energy was being forced into places that didn't make sense. Too much chakra to the upper head coils, too many slipshod restraining kanji, and...and now Sai understood, this wasn't just one seal, this was one seal with additions, as if Suna had been trying to edit their own work over the years instead of trying to start a new seal from scratch. Gaara's seal didn't function properly because it might as well have been several seals all fighting with each other for dominance.

So the real question was, what should the seal have been to begin with?

Harmony, Sai answered all at once. A harmony between Jinchuuriki and Bijuu, their energies working together as one.

And then Sai knew what the seal had to be.

He had learned early on in his experimentation that a picture said more than a thousand kanji could ever hope to express. The problem with larger seals like Gaara's was that they became too complex, tried to say too much without thinking about the grander implications of what was being said. A seal for a Jinchuuriki needed to be simple, but overarching. Something that could mean everything, all at once, or in parts.

"Gaara?" Sai called out, hoping against hope that he could hear him over the rush of the Bijuu's energy breaking out. "If you or Shukaku can hear me, I need you to focus on working together as one!"

He saw Gaara's head turn towards him slightly, and though there didn't appear to be any sort of recognition in his eyes, the turn had to mean something.

It was now or never.

Sai began to paint a symbol onto his hand. A circle, divided into two equal parts, one dark and one light. Yin and Yang chakra were considered to be chakra's most basic forms, spiritual and physical energy incarnate. All jutsu used either yin or yang chakra in some way or another, and it was theorized that the Sage of Six Paths himself could harness a perfect combination of both, a balanced harmony that led to the creation of jutsu itself.

Whether or not one believed in the sage, the symbol of Yin and Yang chakra in harmony was well known within all shinobi countries, and really it was the intent that mattered most.

Sai channeled chakra into his hand, and thrust it forward towards Gaara's stomach, over the seal that was now truly beginning to shatter. He felt his chakra begin to violently pull itself from his body, far more than he had ever intended to use, but he did not try to stop it, couldn't stop it even if he'd wanted to.

Stay alive...Sai thought to himself.

We have to stay alive.

Gaara remembered love.

Shukaku remembered love.

And now, instead of a vortex pulling them apart, the air swirled and churned and began to crash them together. The last thing that Gaara saw before the black sands faded from view was Shukaku, who looked equal parts confused and relieved.

Then Gaara opened his eyes and felt chakra.

He'd felt this chakra before, in times when he'd allowed Shukaku's malice to leak through and manifest in the sand that always surrounded him, but this time there was no malice, there was no hatred or bloodlust, but instead a strange sort of elation.

That kid is the ballsiest son of a bitch I've ever met in my life.

Shukaku's voice didn't bleed into his thoughts, but instead seemed like his own thoughts had simply taken on a mind of their own. Not forced, but allowed in.

I don't think he realizes the implications of what he's done, but…

Gaara looked downwards, at first looking towards Sai, whose skin was cut and bleeding from the force of the chakra that had been expelled out from the seal. He looked haggard and weary, but there was undoubtedly a smile on the boy's face.

And then Gaara noticed his own body, his own hands, his own skin that was glowing with an energy that shone with a pleasant hazel hue.

Well, I'm not going to complain about the new living conditions.

In the back of his mind's eye, Gaara saw Shukaku, freed of his chains, resting casually upon a dune. The sand's grains were now black and white, and for the first time since Gaara had started conversing with the beast, Shukaku looked…

Pleased.

The clang of metal jolted Gaara from his thoughts, and he saw Sakura fighting beyond them, alongside three shinobi that he did not recognize. But there were five he did recognize, the enemy, and now that Shukaku wasn't forcibly being ripped from him, that meant it was his turn to fight. He had to protect Sakura, to keep her safe.

Shukaku...the voice I heard…

Hmm?

He named you the protector of men.

...yeah. Maybe it's time for me to start living up to his expectations again.

Who was he?

Another time, brat. Right now…

Gaara felt chakra stir up within him, and as he spoke he felt a deep rumble in his chest that spurred him into action.

"Let's kick some ass."