With the three Oto-nin lying unconscious on the ground behind them, and Team Ten already moving away from where Sakura's future-self returned to her twelve-year-old body, the latter's heart was racing as she landed on the first branch. Her back was to the Oto-nin with Naruto to her left and Sasuke on another branch to her right. Sakura pushed the thought of Sasuke to one side just as they were about to leap off to another branch.

Suddenly Sakura gasped. She felt a sudden pain, followed by weakness permeating through her entire body. She arched her back, her arms flailing outwards while feeling her body leaning backwards. Just as her world started to spin wildly, Sakura saw Naruto and Sasuke turning towards her.

"Sakura-chan?"

Naruto's voice seemed so far away as Sakura felt her eyes getting heavier while the strength in her body seemed to pour out and away into nothingness. She felt so weak that she couldn't even think straight as she lost her footing and began falling down towards the hard ground several feet beneath the branch.

'I feel as if I'm floating,' Sakura thought upon a strange sensation throughout her body of her spirit being pulled up and away from her physical-self. It felt as if time slowed down significantly enough for her mind to yell at her body to move, she heard herself scream in her head for Naruto and Sasuke to help her. But even the mental yelling petered out the closer she fell to the ground.

"Sakura."

She heard Sasuke's voice as she fell, unable to move her limbs or even mold chakra to soften the ground beneath her through a jutsu. Her body was parallel to the ground as she wondered to herself, 'why? Why can't I feel my body? Is it because of the sudden influx of chakra? Is that…?'

Sakura could see the blurred sight of the branch she was standing on earlier; it looked so far away as it continued to move further and further away at such a slow speed. She summoned any strength she thought available and tried to raise her arm and reach out for the distant branch, but she couldn't move any part of her body. She tried to open her lips and yell out, but she couldn't even move her lips.

And just as her eyes closed shut and darkness took her over, Sakura though she saw a shadow to her left. She felt the direction her body was falling suddenly change before there was a thud. She thought her body shook slightly before she heard soft whispers – and then she didn't feel anything at all.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself back at the Valley of the End and on her knees with both Naruto and Kakashi lying dead in front of her. Her arms were hanging limply by her sides as she lifted her head and set her sights, through tear stained red puffy eyes, at a sneering Sasuke who had already activated his Chidori and his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Oi."

It was Sasuke's voice, but his lips were not moving. His lips were fixed on a sneer as he glared down at her.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura was speechless as she glanced down at Naruto's pale face staring up into the dark sky above. His lips weren't moving either; but she was certain it was Naruto's voice she heard. Sakura looked back up at the sneering Sasuke and wondered why she was back here; she remembered having been in the past… she was in the Haunted Forest during the second stage of the Chuunin Exams. It was supposed to be a past where she could change the fate of her two teammates.

'Was being in the past just a dream? An effect of Sasuke-kun's mangekyo?' Sakura thought while staring into the eyes of the Uchiha traitor, 'even after killing Naruto and Kakashi, you're still Sasuke-kun to me.' Determined not to feel useless, she fought a feeling in her gut to beg for her life. Sakura pressed her lips together while wondering if the Sasuke in front of her was a dream; she remembered feeling exhausted before falling from the branch after all, 'am I unconscious in the real world and this… this nightmare is the dream?'

It was just then that Sakura caught the stench of death in the air, she could feel the breeze that carried it brush her cheek. She shook her head; the girl still wasn't certain what was real and what was not. Hearing a growl, Sakura looked up to see Sasuke pull his hand back, his red Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan eyes boring into her own jade orbs.

"Sakura."

There it was again. Sakura snapped her head to the left at the sound of a distant voice. She then looked back at Sasuke and tilted her head in confusion upon hearing Sasuke's voice shouting… but the lips of the Sasuke in front of her were not moving, 'why are you shouting, Sasuke-kun? Why aren't your lips moving?' She now felt light-headed using the suffix 'kun', as if it felt so wrong. However, she knew it was now a habit, it was just like Naruto's verbal tick of 'ttebayo'.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes widened before she looked down at Naruto's dead body once again. She was sure that it was his voice she had just heard. It was so far away, but it was definitely from his lips.

'This has to be the dream!' she yelled out mentally as she stared at Naruto's body.

"Good-bye, Sakura." Sakura snapped her head up just as the future, older, Sasuke rushed forward and pushed his Chidori enveloped hand towards her body.

Breathing hard as she stared at the Chidori coming towards here, only one word formed in her mind. If this was real and not a dream, then she wasn't going out like a coward… she would fight as hard as Kakashi and Naruto. And if she died, then she died… at least she would die with her sensei and the boy who loved her… at least she would die like a Shinobi.

As the Chidori neared, Sakura mentally yelled out, 'No!' while her arm snapped upwards.

Naruto and Sasuke, a few minutes earlier.

It was Sasuke who grabbed Sakura's unconscious body mid-air before landing on the grass below with a worried Naruto landing next to him. The two of them saw that she was taking deep breaths while her eyes were closed shut and her head moving to and fro. It would be a moment later that she was placed onto the hard-grassy ground with her legs straightened out in front of her and her back leaned against the trunk of a tree.

As she breathed through her mouth, Sasuke and Naruto stared down towards her, the both of them sharing the same thoughts as the other.

'What's going on?'

Sasuke stood with his arms by his side staring at Sakura he called out her name; there was definitely a part of him that was growing to care for this strange team of his. He stared at the pink haired girl with his lips pressed together, while Naruto strode towards Sakura and then went down on one knee to her left. He watched Naruto then reached out and gently shake her left shoulder.

"Sakura-chan?"

"She's still breathing," Sasuke said as he started walking towards Sakura while Naruto leaned sideways and stared at the bodies behind Sasuke.

He nodded his head towards them before saying, "think they did something to her?" Naruto then turned to Sakura with a worried look, "Shikamaru and his team would have said something… that she was injured or…"

"She said the Oto-nin cut her forehead," Sasuke said as he stopped to her right side and crouched down. He then reached out with his right hand as he spoke, "she said the cut was bandaged, that's why she changed the position of her headband…" Sasuke's fingers were about to brush against the metal plate with the Konoha symbol when suddenly Sakura snapped opened her eyes.

Sasuke locked his eyes with Sakura's orbs while Naruto yelled out in joy; but Sasuke noticed something off. In her eyes, there was something off. There was fear, and then that fear turned to anger as they locked eyes while she swung her left arm upwards before her fingers snapped around Sasuke's right wrist.

She was panting while Naruto called out, "Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura?" Sasuke said as the grip tightened. He saw her facial features twitch in anger as she growled out in a low, enraged voice.

"You killed them all," At hearing that, Sasuke and Naruto froze. Then, all of a sudden, Sakura had a look of confusion on her face as she looked around, her eyes passing right over Naruto as if he wasn't there, before she looked back towards Sasuke, "no, this.. this is a dream… a dream…" Then Sasuke yelped as Sakura gritted her teeth, her face etched with an expression of pain while she tightened her grip, "you still killed them all."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto reached for and grabbed the hand wrapped around Sasuke's wrist like a vice before yelling once again, "Sakura-chan!" In the meantime, Sasuke hissed in pain as the fingers around his wrist tightened with a strength he would have never associated with Sakura. Sasuke was trying to pull his hand away while, along with Naruto, calling out for Sakura to let go.

Sakura

Unknown to both Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura wasn't seeing the younger version of the Uchiha who betrayed the village. Her mind was exhausted, and it was showing her the older Sasuke plunging his Chidori enveloped arm towards her. Sakura brought her arm and grabbed his wrist with her hand. She was panting hard from the pain coursing through her body through her hand thanks to the electrical charge of the Chidori. Sakura then hissed out, "you killed them." Suddenly, everything melted around the two of them while Sakura glanced around before finding herself in the great hall where the bodies of the dead toads lay around her, the floor covered in green and blue blood, "no, I was sent back… I was sent back… this is a dream… a dream…"

"You have always been the weak one, Sakura," the older Sasuke sneered as he pushed his hand forwards.

Sakura screamed in pain in her exhaustion fueled vision– as did Sakura in real life as she tightened her grip around Sasuke's wrist. In her mind, Sasuke was pushing his hand forward while Sakura tightened her grip. In reality though, in addition to the look of pain on Sasuke's face, there was a look of concern from Naruto.

"Sakura-chan! Where have you been training?" Naruto then groaned as he tried to pry apart her fingers from Sasuke's wrist while the latter reached out with his other hand through the pain and grabbed her fingers as well. The two of them started prying her fingers off one at a time while she glared at Sasuke who screamed in pain again.

"This is no dream, Sakura," the older Sasuke said in her exhausted mind before pulling his hand away from her grip; at the same time, Naruto and Sasuke managed to pry apart her fingers. Once his hand was loose, Sasuke pulled away and stepped back with Naruto. He was rubbing his wrist while Naruto stared at Sakura in concern before glancing at Sasuke who was staring at Sakura through narrowed eyes. They saw Sakura lower her hand, her eyes glaring at Sasuke.

"You killed Kakashi and Naruto, you want to kill the Kage's," Sakura said as the older Sasuke smirked while the real Naruto and Sasuke opened their eyes wide in shock before looking at each other and then back at Sakura, "this is a dream… I went back… I went back and I will change things. The past will change, and so will the future."

"What?" Sasuke and Naruto said after Sakura mentioned that she was in the past. The two of them looked at each other with confusion etched on their faces before turning back to Sakura who had closed her eyes.

"I will break your mind until it is shattered," the older Sasuke said as he activated his Chidori once more, "I will make your body one of my paths, and then… then you will help me rule this world. You, Kakashi, Naruto, Tsunade and the other Kages… all of you."

"Sa… Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered as he took a step forward, and into her direct line of sight; standing in front of Sasuke who was still rubbing his wrist while trying to keep the Curse Mark from activating, "Sakura-chan, I don't know what those ninja did, but the cut on your forehead could be… you know… poison."

He then looked back over his shoulder to Sasuke who nodded his head. The younger Uchiha then said, "Sakura, we need to…"

"No!" Sakura, in her dream state, brought her arms, one of which was badly burned, over her face as the older Sasuke dashed forward while swinging his Chidori arm in front of him and aimed towards her chest.

Sakura

There was a flash just before the Chidori covered hand touched her arms. And suddenly, Sakura found herself back on the forest floor, light filtering down through the canopy of the trees while a warm breeze brushed by her. The feeling of the warmth from the sunlight, as well as the warm breeze, had Sakura snap open her eyes before bringing her arms down. A gasp of relief escaped her lips upon finding both younger Naruto and Sasuke staring at her. The two boys gaped at her just as she, once again, felt her strength leaving her body.

'Must have been the adrenaline,' Sakura thought as she leaned her head back against the tree trunk behind her and tried to calm down her rapidly beating heart.

"Sakura-chan?"

"What did you mean, Sakura?" Sasuke jumped in while walking around Naruto, a bruise already developing around his wrist, as he glared at Sakura, "what did you mean when you said I killed Naruto, Kakashi, and the Kage's. What did you mean by changing the future by changing the past?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Sasuke. She didn't know if her expression showed her confusion, but she was confused. 'How could they know? It was just a dream, and.. and…' Sakura closed her eyes as she tried to come up with an explanation, but in her weakened state, her mind was processing information slowly.

"Maybe you were poisoned, 'ttebayo?"

'Thank you, Naruto,' Sakura though opening her eyes again, 'poison… I already mentioned the cut on my forehead. I could say it was possibly poison that made me hallucinate.'

"I was cut on the forehead, it could have been something in the kunai those unconscious nin were carrying," Sakura replied slowly.

"I know that look you gave me, Sakura," Sasuke said with his hands in his pockets now, "it's the same look I have when I look in the mirror every day when I think about that man I want to kill. It's a look of rage… pure rage."

"I was delirious," Sakura said with Naruto looking between them for a few times before scratching his cheeks and saying that he was confused.

"You said I killed Naruto… I…"

"Phhhffff," Naruto shrugged his shoulders before glaring at Sasuke, "you could try, bastard."

"Loser, shut up," Sasuke growled at Naruto while still glaring at Sakura.

"The two of you shut up," Sakura hissed out angrily. She missed the looks of surprise on both Sasuke and Naruto; they were surprised that her ire was being targeted at both of them instead of just Naruto. She was losing her strength, and so she needed to say what she needed to say in a real short amount of time. She breathed in deep before saying, "I read up on poisons that could cause someone to become extremely exhausted since it blocks off the target's chakra." She then took a deep breath while fighting her heavy eyelids before saying, "there is no cure."

"You can't die, Sakura-chan!" panicked Naruto as he rushed to Sakura, slid down to his knees, and then grabbed her shoulders. He then shook her while exclaiming, "no! you can't die!"

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled out, along with Sakura who immediately closed her eyes, and tried to keep down the contents in her stomach. She then took several deep breaths to keep herself awake. Opening her heavy eyelids, she struggled to speak even as Naruto stopped shaking her body, "Naruto, make as many Shadow Clones as you can…" she was breathing hard now. Her arms lay limply by her side as she shifted her eyes towards Naruto and continued, "spread out your clones to find… find more scrolls and… and…" she gulped before continuing, "meet us at the river… south bank…"

"Sakura," Sasuke said, "you…"

"These kind of poisons… are… are made to… make… unconscious…" she whispered as her vision started to cloud while she saw everything around her spinning around, "should wake… few… hours…" Sakura's eyes were nearly closed as she struggled to speak; she hoped that she would awaken in a few hours, "let… run… course…" she took a deep breath before struggling to speak the next few words, "do not… open scroll…. must… go… tower… Sasuke… Naru…"

Sakura's body leaned to the left and then want limp.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and then back at Sakura once again. The blonde scratched his head while Sasuke remained standing with his hands in his pockets. Sasuke frowned as he stared at the current expression of peace on Sakura's face and mentally compared it to the expression of anger directed at him earlier. It was an expression he was not familiar with from Sakura… an expression he knew in his heart that Sakura would never have for him since she declared her 'love' for him.

'So why have that expression of hate and anger?' Sasuke thought while Naruto stood up from Sakura's side and prepared to make the familiar seal of the Kage Bunshin.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto exclaimed before there were numerous puffs of smoke that soon dissipated to reveal forty clones of himself. Sasuke turned towards the clones and then back to Naruto who was frowning with confusion etched on his face.

"That's still a lot of Kage Bunshin, what's wrong with your face?"

"I was going for more," Naruto responded with a tone of surprise as his clones looked around at each other before saying that they would be going on their way. However, before they left, Sasuke spoke up.

"One of your clones should remain behind." Everyone, including the original Naruto, looked over at Sasuke with a look of confusion on their face. Sasuke then sighed before explaining, "one of them should carry Sakura." Sasuke could see that the original Naruto was about to speak and so, instead of having to listen to the whining from the original blonde about how he would be able to carry Sakura, Sasuke continued, "there are still dangers here and we have four more days to travel to the tower. You and I have to also defend Sakura who happens to be unconscious." He then turned to Sakura, "one of your clones would be able to keep her away in case we come up against an enemy." He then turned to Naruto once again, "you get it?"

Naruto didn't answer Sasuke. Instead he looked at one of his clones and nodded his head. That clone walked forward while the others then dispersed to search for any dropped scrolls while Sasuke turned back towards Sakura, "hn."

"What?" Naruto asked as his clone picked up Sakura in his arms.

"Something is a bit off with her," Sasuke said as he walked towards the unconscious Sakura and reached for her headband. He recalled how she suddenly woke up and grabbed his wrist earlier, but this time there was no movement from Sakura while Naruto was saying that they shouldn't disturb her. Sasuke shook his head as the clone twisted away from Sasuke, his hand slipping out of reach of the headband, "if there is a cut, then we need to make sure its been dressed properly."

"Sakura-chan would have told us if there was something wrong," Naruto, the original one, said before he and his clone leapt up towards a nearby branch. His voice trailed off as he leapt to another branch alongside his clone, "come on, you ass. We need to head for the river and get more scrolls on the way."

Frowning Sasuke leapt up and continued behind Naruto and the clone who was carrying Sakura. His eyes were locked in the clone while thinking, 'how did she know about this river? None of us knew about it, and we were not given a map. Just a general direction of where to head for… hell, Naruto and I had to climb above the tree canopy to check out the direction.'

Taking another chakra enhanced leap from another branch, Sasuke thought, 'so how does Sakura know about a river? We were never given a map.'

Team Gai.

Tenten was holding up Lee as the two of them jumped from one branch to another alongside Neji. It would be a few minutes after leaving Team Seven that the three of them landed at a relatively quiet area of the forest before Tenten leaned Lee's unconscious body against a thick trunked tree.

"He's got mostly bruises and abrasions," Tenet said as she examined Lee's body while Neji searched for any internal injuries with his Byakugan.

After deactivating his Kekkei Genkai, Neji looked away and towards the direction they had left while a frown formed on his lips.

"Neji?" Tenten said as she looked up from Lee. She was about to ask him if Lee had any major internal injuries, but the frown on his face changed her question to "what's wrong?"

"That girl with the pink hair," Neji said as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his Byakugan active just as Naruto's clone, the one carrying Sakura, and the rest of Team Seven leapt onwards towards the tower. He deactivated his Byakugan before turning towards the smirking Tenten with her hands on her waist.

"You're interested in her?"

"No," Neji deadpanned as he recalled the two of them searching for the missing Lee.

The Hyuuga found Lee lying unconscious on the forest floor near the small cave with his Byakugan as they were making their way towards Sakura's location. He had seen Team Ten ready to move, he had seen the beating that Sakura was receiving from the Oto-nin, he had seen that Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious. Then just before he was about to deactivate his Byakugan, Neji had seen a sudden surge in Sakura's chakra. He was surprised, but outwardly cool, at what his eyes were showing him as the two of them continued on their way to Lee's location. To Neji, it was as if chakra was being funneled through Sakura's body, her network suddenly hit with a surge of blue before part of it was diverted into a pool of blue energy in her abdomen that kept growing and growing while more chakra was being directed towards, and then sealed, in her forehead.

It was something he hadn't ever seen before; a chakra network forcefully maturing before his very eyes. He then saw Sakura stand up before she released the seal. He was awed at the sudden release of chakra reinvigorating her body while it was being healed from so many critical injuries. He saw the collected chakra starting to slowly decrease the more her body was being healed.

And then there was the strength of the chakra behind that punch that had Dosu flying backwards, crashing into a tree trunk before collapsing unconscious. It was something he knew that not even an experienced genin would be able to accomplish – and Sakura was supposed to be a rookie.

"Neji."

He turned towards Tenten.

"You look concerned about something, what's going on? Is it about that girl? What did you see?"

Honestly, Neji had no explanation for what he had seen. The girl hadn't taken any drugs to increase her chakra by that large of an amount; to be more specific, he hadn't seen her take anything – legal or otherwise. It was as if the boost to her chakra had come from out of nowhere.

Taking a deep breath, he told Tenten what he had seen. And with every word, Tenten was getting more and more surprised.

"Wait, that sound we heard was her punching one of those ninja's into a tree?" she asked with widened eyes, "and then she knocked out the others with the help of the other rookie team?"

"That's what I saw," Neji spoke with an ever-present frown on his face.

"And no drugs?"

"None. That surge of chakra came out of nowhere," he continued.

Tenten rubbed her chin while saying, "they're supposed to be rookies. I mean, I think I've seen her around the academy a year before we graduated. She was fixated on that Uchiha boy, like most of the other girls in their year… and in our year too." Tenten rubbed her chin before continuing, "but she's nothing special… or else Gai Sensei would have been really excited about her skills."

"I still think we need to keep an eye on her," Neji said, "the Uchiha too, I don't know much about the blonde brat."

Tenten could only nod her head before turning towards their groaning teammate.

"OOOOH," Lee mumbled moving his head from one side to another before slowly opening his eyes.

"Look who's finally awake," Tenten chuckled before walking towards Lee as the two of them hoped to leave for the tower once their injured teammate had recuperated enough.

TBC