So Naruto doesn't belong to me only original characters. Sorry for the late update, but thanks to all who waited patiently. Many thanks to Kuri for betaing and AikouKurai for always offering. Please visit my website concerning my hiatus after the December updates. My website is: www. freewebs . com / animemangafanatic (Don't forget to take out the spaces)

Jumping from tree branch to tree branch, the group had not stopped at all. Finally, they reached the desert clearing. Sakura knew that if they kept this pace they be there in half a day. Hearing something tumble, Sakura looked back to see who it was. Upon seeing Naruto rolling around in the sand, she stopped and sweat dropped. Everyone caught on quickly and stopped. Naruto quickly sat up and spit out the sand.

"Ew!"

"Dobe, stop fooling around."

"Shut up Teme! Why is it always me? Would it be too much to ask for this to happen to you instead?"

"That's obvious Dobe."

"Teme!"

"Can we please get moving again?"

"Sensei, why do you always side with the Teme?"

"Now Naruto, you know I don't always side with Sasuke."

"Yes you do!"

"Hey! Can we please stop this nonsense and keep moving forward?"

"Shut up! You're one to talk, since you're all hung up on destiny and crap."

"Used to be."

"Huh?"

"I used to be that way."

As they continued to argue, Sakura grew even more impatient. Taking out one of her medicine bottles, she tossed it hard at Naruto's head. She figured it wouldn't do much damage to his head with the large ego he had, but then again, she could have tossed it at any of them and their egos would have protected them. Of course with the accurate and precise hit, it hit Naruto's head beautifully, and down he went. Everyone sweat dropped and turned to see a very angry Sakura. They were not about to piss her off even more. Tenten picked up the bottle and tossed it to her. Then they all picked up their pace and started towards Sand again.

"So..."

Deidara moved Gaara's head to the side with the front of his foot.

"What do we do with him, yeah?"

Sasori didn't answer. He was more focused on the sand.

"Sa-chan, yeah!"

Turning around quickly, Sasori knocked him straight into the gut.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"

Deidara coughed hard.

"Aw, yeah. Didn't I tell you I thought the name suited you nicely, yeah?"

Sasori came at him again and Deidara ran away from him.

"What has your interest so much anyways, yeah?"

"She's here."

"She, yeah?"

"Itachi's little girlfriend."

"Oh, that is good, yeah. Shall we go pay her a visit, yeah?"

Sasori just smirked.

Finally seeing the buildings of the village come into view, Sakura looked over her shoulder to Neji. He, too, was accustomed to working with Sakura in the field. Often, the Hokage would assign Shikamaru, Sakura, and himself to a three-man cell. Most of Sakura's missions were solo ones though. However, it did not affect her teamwork. Despite the fact that she spent a lot of field time alone, she was just as deadly and fair when with a team. Sakura was a dream shinobi that only comes once in a while. Sometimes though, they came together, like the legendary Sannin. Looking behind him, he hated to admit that they, her teammates, were probably going to be great too.

Neji nodded at her to show that he understood. Sakura nodded back. Stopping, and crouching down, Sakura prepared for the sprint. Everyone stopped and looked back at he weird. Did she sense an enemy? However, Neji just kept moving forward, already knowing what was going to happen. She took one quick leap forward, then before her other foot touched the ground she disappeared.

"What the...?"

Naruto pointed at the empty space where Sakura had been.

"Where did she go?"

Kakashi and Gai shared a worried look.

"Let's go! She's already in the village."

Not sure if they should believe him, they all concentrated on looking for Sakura's chakra signature up ahead. They all became even more worried. Sakura's chakra signature wasn't anywhere in the village.

"Neji, I thought you said she's in the village."

"Hurry up!"

Although they didn't believe him, they all sped up. Upon arrival, they could see villagers repairing the damage, but there was so much unhappiness in the air. The people of Sand had really come to love and admire Gaara as their Kazekage. Their village now felt a loss without his guidance. A young shinobi boy ran down the sandy streets.

"She's here! Konoha sent Sakura-sama."

Even though the rumors of her questionable betrayal had reached ears in Sand, there were still obvious sighs of relief. Rushing towards the Kazekage tower, everyone found the place in a rush. People were running everywhere trying to get things done. One of the people ran towards them and bowed. Turning, she led them to a back room whose doors were closed. Opening the doors, they saw Sakura standing over a held down Kankuro. she was currently cleaning out his wounds. Knowing everyone in the bingo book and those not listed, Sakura knew that this was the work of Sasori. Sighing in relief as she finished pulling out the rest of the poison, she took the vile of saved poison to go make an antidote. Another assistant gave her the analysis report. Sakura turned to the group.

"You're slow."

"What...? How...? No way!"

Sakura took the vile and report, and left with a couple of assistants. The Sand council came into the room. They looked around, and Kakashi knew that they were probably most likely looking for Sakura. Gai and Kakashi both approached the council and bowed. Sasuke slapped Naruto in the back of his head, finally knocking him out of his shocked expression.

After about an hour of polite talk, Sakura returned. Kankuro had been up for about fifteen minutes now. Nodding at one another, Sakura gave him the antidote for any remaining poison she didn't get.

"So was it Sasori-san?"

"Ah. I'm shamed to say my puppets were no matched compared to his."

"Don't beat yourself up. Sasori-san has been at this game far longer than you."

Kankuro cringed.

"That doesn't change the fact that allowed for them to take Gaara."

Sakura smacked his forehead. Kankuro looked at him in shock.

"Did you fight hard?"

"Huh?"

"Did you fight hard?"

"Yes."

"Did you do everything in your power that you could?"

"Yes, but unfortunately, it doesn't amount to much."

Sakura smacked him again.

"Please don't think that Kankuro-san. Leave the rest up to us."

Kankuro nodded. He felt a wave of relief overtake him. Seeing Naruto standing there, Kankuro knew without a doubt that his younger brother would be back soon. Naruto walked up beside Sakura and they both smiled at Kankuro. Bowing respectfully at them, Kankuro's heart went with them.

"Please return my brother!"

"Like Sakura-chan said, leave it to us!"

Sakura and everyone just watched him do that good guy pose.

"It just happened so fast. They came out of what seemed like nowhere. We didn't expect anything, but Gaara was acting weird for a bit. He said that someone was here and just disappeared. Then sure enough, we were in a death match with these guys. After awhile, Gaara and I decided to send Temari to Konoha to keep her safe. Unfortunately, no one stood a chance against these guys, and Gaara, the only person showing signs that he could handle the fight, was slowly loosing it. Suddenly, that guy using the bombs found a hold in Gaara's defenses and it quickly went down hill from there."

The bomb guy, Sakura knew as Deidara. Two Akatsuki members had been here and Sakura knew that with the minimum damage that they had received, they were very lucky. She didn't say anything though, because she didn't want to make the memories worse. Looking up at Naruto, she could see the determination to give these guys a new one burning fiercely in his eyes. Sakura smirked and thought that these guys were going to have a fight of their lives coming up.

Sakura sighed as she left the Kazekage tower. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she knew what was about to happen. Waiting patiently, Sakura felt the shift in the air and Naruto landed on the ground next to her. Taking out her gloves and slipping them on, she saw him tugging his headband tighter. They both smirked at each other as the others slowly came out of the door.

"They're still here."

"What are you talking about Naruto-kun?"

"Ready to mix this up Naruto?"

He smirked at his pink friend.

"Let's do this."

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto and Sakura were quickly off in the direction of the large chakra. Quickly, the others went after them finally feeling them too. It wasn't that they weren't just as strong as Naruto and Sakura, it just was that they weren't looking for it. Suddenly, Sakura stopped on one of the rooftops and whirled around. Her fists, carefully placed, blocked the blow from one of Sasori's dolls. She could see the poison dripped off of its blade. Seeing a white flash in the corner of her eyes, Sakura dropped and rolled off the building just as a small explosion went off. Landing carefully on the ground, she turned to come face to face with the two Akatsuki members she knew that was behind it all.

"Deidara-san and Sasori-san, it's a pleasure to finally meet the two of you."

"Finally, yeah?"

He smirked as he looked at his partner.

"She thinks this is the first time she's met us."

"Of course though, Itachi-san took her memories, yeah. Remember, yeah?"

Sasori just stared at him.

"Do you think you should of just told her that?"

Deidara just smiled.

"I think she pretty much has figured that part out, yeah. Aren't I right, Sakura-chan, yeah?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed. They were talking too familiar with her. The way they were talking to her just made any doubt about her living with them be crushed. There was plenty of time for them to get this familiar with her. However, just their behavior was making her eyebrow twitch. Seeing that they had Gaara's unmoving body with them, Sakura knew her purpose for this fight. Closing her eyes, she knew that there was only way for her to go about this in order to protect her shaking heart. She knew that right now she was in a very bad position because the jutsu on her shoulder was stripping away her emotional barriers. Upon reopening her eyes, Sakura looked at them, and they can tell that she really wasn't there anymore. Her eyes were dull.

"Oh shit..."

"You can say that again, yeah."

In a blink of an eye, Sakura was gone from their sight. Their eyes widened when they noticed that she was standing right behind them. A quick shot of air sent them flying forwards as her chakra level rose. Sensing Sakura's chakra growing, the others finally arrived at the destination and looked down from the roofs to see Sakura opposing two Akatsuki members alone. Sand shinobi had arrived and were quickly evacuating the civilians to a safer location. Picking up Gaara's body and tossing it to some Sand officials, she turned around to take on Sasori. Sasori's dolls quickly came at Sakura and her fist immediately broke it into pieces. Just as quickly, Sakura grabbed one of the pieces that would put it back together and she crushed it in her palm. Seeing Sakura break the connector, Sasori cut off the strings and detached himself from the doll. It had just now become useless.

"This is going to be a tough one, yeah. Itachi-san sure knows how to choose them, yeah."

Naruto was about to jump in when Neji grabbed his arm.

"Help us get the civilians to safety."

"Sakura-chan needs help!"

"Naruto-san, you'll be more in her way than help. Believe me. I've seen the new Sakura in action a lot more than you."

Biting down hard, Naruto reluctantly turned away from Sakura's battle. A paper bird came at her fast, but Sakura leaped back just as quickly. Her hand laid on the sand before it came up and hardened, making it a shield as the bird exploded. As dust and sand rose in a cloud around the three, several kunai and shurikens flew at the men. They barely dodged the weapons. Sasori didn't even sense her anymore, and the proof was in the fact that she was currently below him. Grabbing his arm and pulling him forward, Sakura kneed him hard in the abdomen. She knew he didn't feel it though, because there was a rumor he had made his own body into a doll and after seeing his appearance, it was most likely true. Pivoting around, she threw him into the concrete wall of the building. The wall dented under the pressure. Feeling a hand on her arm, Sakura grabbed the wrist and twisted it over, causing Deidara to grimace in pain.

"Sakura-chan, snap out of it, yeah!"

Her dull eyes began to shimmer with life again. Widening in surprise, she felt a sharp pain jolting through her chest. Looking up, her voice caught in her throat. Naruto was coming down with a powerful rasengan. Pushing Sakura back, Deidara and the now recovered Sasori jumped out of the way. Deciding not to dwell on it right now, Sakura performed hand seals and ran towards Sasori, who was preparing to attack Naruto. The difficult part about this one jutsu was that it still wasn't perfected and it had a time limit of a few seconds. If she didn't land the blow in that time, it would backfire and hurt her instead. Currently, it was double-edge sword. The light rolling over and over in her palm slowly moved into a tiny ball, indicating it was coming soon. All the sudden, Naruto pulled a quick stunt and he was behind Sasori. Sakura cursed and the ball exploded. Deidara and Sasori took that time to escape as Sakura was blown so hard, she went finally through walls until she came to a stop outside the village. Before she went completely out though, she felt like there were eyes on her, and she knew that the council was still keeping eyes on her. It didn't take her long to realize why either.

Tsunade crushed another empty sake bottle. She was pissed as hell at the council and their idiotic reason for telling Sakura that she would be executed upon re-entry to the village. Thinking back to the conversation just that afternoon, she crushed another bottle.

"What the hell were thinking telling her that? She might not return!"

"No, she'll definitely return."

"Then why?"

"Because if in the time she was with the Akatsuki, she became of value to them, they'll retrieve her."

"So you're testing them, not her?"

"Something like that Hokage-sama."

"If they don't get her?"

"Haruno Sakura will be excused of all charges."

Pulling out the oak chest from the closet, Itachi pulled out the key from it's hidden place. Opening the chest, Itachi began to put the things that Sakura left behind inside. Taking the drawings he made of her, Itachi put them in as well. Then going over to the bed, he pulled out the chest under there. Turning that key and opening the top, he looked down at their Chief ANBU katanas. Picking them up, he went and put them into the other chest. Closing both trunks and hearing them lock, he put them away. As Itachi sat on the edge of the bed, he knew he was letting her and the memories of her go.

"This is just the way it has to be Sakura."

Groaning awake, Sakura hated the after-effects of that jutsu. She really needed to take the time to perfect it. If only she could wield it properly, it would be a very useful assets to her arsenal. It wasn't that she really needed it, but Sakura was a perfectionist. Hearing arguing outside of her hospital room door, she knew that she was about to have visitors. Naruto was the first one through the door. Upon seeing her awake, his face became extremely apologetic.

"Sakura-chan! I'm really sorry. I should have listened to that destiny freak and not interfered."

Sakura just waved him off. As the she heard the arguing recommence, Sakura thought about Deidara and Sasori. They were familiar with her and the strangest thing was that... it seemed like they actually cared about her. Deidara also didn't seem pleased with the way that she crushed her heart to fight, because in the process it was like crushing her consciousness. Thinking about the one thing that could help her, she decided to go there now. Turning to Kakashi, Sakura glared until it got his attention. Knowing she wanted to be alone and probably get some sleep, Kakashi ushered them out. She sighed.

Breathing slowly in and out, Sakura began to concentrate. Closing her eyes, she used her mind's eye to concentrate on where she wanted to go. Reopening her eyes, Sakura now stood before the iron doors with the Uchiha's family signature memory blocking jutsu all over it. Her eyes roamed over it, and Sakura knew that this was going to be quite a puzzle. A lot of the seals were complex and large, and Sakura knew immediately who had invented the jutsu in the first place; Uchiha Madara, the founder of the Uchiha clan. Pulling on her gloves, Sakura smirked.

"So then, basically you're telling me that if I want to break this thing. I'm going to have to overpower Uchiha Midara."

Sakura couldn't stop her excitement from bursting through.

"Then let's do this thing."

Pushing a large amount of chakra into her fist, Sakura launched a fist right into the door. Her chakra flared against the jutsu. Electricity flew everywhere. Grunting in pain, Sakura's footing slipped and she was blown back. Flipping in midair and landing hard on her feet, Sakura groaned.

"This is going to be tricky after all."

"Oh!"

"What is it?"

"It seems someone is placing themselves against Uchiha Midara."

The shadow man looked at Tobi.

"How do you think the outcome will turn out to be?"

Tobi laughed.

"I don't think there's anyone other than the First Hokage who will overpower Uchiha Midara."

The shadow man smirked.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see huh? Well I'm off. I have some business to take care of in Sand."

After recovering just fine, Sakura was asked by some of the instructors to help with a small class. The children had immediately calmed down from all the anxiety in the air when they heard that she had arrived. Seeing as she couldn't disagree, she ended up here. Sitting against the wall, Sakura watched the Sand instructor teaching the young kunoichi how to fold origami paper into the desired shaped. Many of the mothers had turned up because they heard that Sakura was asked to help out teach. Currently though, the children could feel the discomfort towards her so they were staying away. Sighing, Sakura fingered one of the pieces of paper. Slowly, bending and folding the paper, Sakura finally made a paper crane. Hearing giggling, Sakura looked up. She recognized the girl as Ayako. Looking at her puzzled, Sakura wondered why this girl was not afraid of her. Surprised, she saw that she had also made the paper crane by just following Sakura's movements. By being so sucked into her own thoughts, she didn't notice Ayako come over and follow her lead.

"You know what Sakura-sensei?"

"What is it Ayako-chan?"

"I don't think you're a bad person at all."

Sakura smiled. Giggling some more, Ayako stood and went to go show her friends the paper crane. Once again, she was amazed how through a little child, she could find some peace. Soon, more girls surrounded her with Ayako. They all had brought over origami paper.

"Please teach us as well Sakura-sensei!"

Sakura burst out laughing and just happily went to teaching them.

The day went by fine after that, but once evening set in Sakura was sought after by some of the officials. Gaara's body had been checked by the regular medics, but they wanted Sakura to check it. Making her way into the Kazekage tower, Kankuro was there to greet her. His face was grim and Sakura knew why. They had told him that Gaara was dead. Kankuro had most likely decided to hold off on telling Temari on those details. Pulling on her gloves, she came into the room where Gaara's body was. Naruto looked grave across the room with the others, but she knew it hit harder with Naruto since they were so similar. Pushing chakra into her palms, she placed them on Gaara's surprisingly warm chest. Her eyes snapped open and there was only one reason his body could be warm after an extraction.

"He's still alive."

"What?"

Everyone looked at her skeptically.

"The only reason why Kazekage-sama's body could be warm after his soul taken out is the fact that his soul is still in this world. The affect of that keeps his body alive. However, it does have a time limit. Most likely it was extracted a day or two ago, Kazekage-sama has only a week to return to his body, but right now about five days."

"How do we find the soul?"

Sakura just looked at them before turning around.

"I'll be in the hall of records for a bit."

They all sweat dropped. Sakura was pretty sure on the method, but if she made one false move, she could ruin that one chance. So going to the hall of records would confirm her thoughts. Going outside, she knew that the records hall was separate from the Kazekage tower. Gaara was going to need to fix that, but most likely, he just sent people running to the records hall for him. Sighing, she figured she was going to have to talk to him about that one too. Sensing that familiar presence, Sakura turned the corner and looked into the shadows of an alley.

"Why are you here?"

The man stepped out of the shadows, smiling the whole time. It sort of reminded her of that insufferable Sai. This man was tall, and well-toned. He was in late thirties, but looked no older than in this twenties. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he looked striking like his brother, her father. An annoyed expression moved it's way onto her face and he knew that she wanted to give him at least one good knock in the face. Her short temper reminded him of a certain woman he was currently married to. However, getting down to business, he pulled out the yellow bottle that he had used to capture Gaara's soul. A flash of Gaara and an pain in her chest instantly told her what was in the bottle. Horror moved onto her face and then anger.

"How could you? You promised me that you would never use such a method ever again. Do you not remember what happened the last time you did this? Upsetting the natural balance is unforgivable and you know it."

"Now Sakura-chan, calm down. I inquired about my actions before I set out and dealt them. Your aunt assures me that nothing was broken."

Sakura did indeed calm down but she did not dare hide the anger that boiled inside of her.

"Then tell me the reason for prisoning Gaara-sama's soul."

He smirked.

"I lay before you a compromise. If you accept my conditions, then I will return Gaara-kun's soul to you to return to his not yet dead body. However, it only has a time limit of five days, but I will only give three days to decide. Hana Sakura if you return to your birth right, I will give you the soul of Kazekage Gaara."

With that, the man disappeared just like the shadows he stepped out of. Sakura leaned back onto the wall and sighed. Sliding down onto the cold ground, Sakura cradled her head in her hands and she shook. To take back her birth right would mean leaving and betraying Konoha and Sand. Looking up to the moon, Sakura thought of her mother.

"Tell me what to do..."