Naruto doesn't belong to me only original characters. Please visit my website about my hiatus after the last December updates on Christmas. My website is: www. freewebs .com / animemangafanatic (Don't forget to take out the spaces). Thanks to my beta Fionfee for betaing. Now go enjoy.

He had decided to give her three days to decide on her final decision, only three days. She had not told anyone of the proposal laid before her by the shadow man. However, due to the circumstances, Sakura had requested that Temari finally be alerted to the situation and brought back. Kankuro had saw to her request being filled. Sakura imagined that Temari would arrive just as the time had reached its end. Gaara's life was in her hands. Usually, she would think that wasn't a bad place for it, but circumstances change and the outcome for either of her choices was not pleasing.

Tossing off the sheets, Sakura got out of the futon and walked to the bathroom. This situation really put her in a rough place. Walking into the bathroom, Sakura filled one of the water basins. Turning around as she bit her lip, wiping off the blood, Sakura wrote several kanji in a shape on the floor. Lifting the filled basin, she carefully put it in the middle of the formed seal. Flipping out a scalpel, Sakura slashed her palm, and let the blood drip into the water. The water slowly began to bleed red and kept becoming darker. Watching the water swirl, Sakura strained to see an image in the water. However, it suddenly turned black and then it exploded. Water soaked her and washed the now ruined seal down the drain in the floor. Sakura sighed.

"Guess I won't get an easy way out of this one huh?"

Sakura began to clean up, making sure there were no traces of the ritual she just performed. Her aunt had taught it to her, as did her birth mother. It wasn't often that she had to perform it, but when she did she usually got the same result; the black image of uncertainty. Basically the message was, not even fate knew the course she would take. Usually, most people's fortunes did not turn out that way often. She was just exceptional, that's all.

A knock came at the door and Sakura tensed. Sensing that it was Kakashi, she went to answer it. Upon opening the door, Kakashi looked at her weird. She realized that she was still drenched from earlier. Waving off his curious gaze, Sakura prompted him to tell her why he was there.

"Kankuro-san would like you to perform the check up on Gaara-kun."

"I'll be there later."

After seeing him nod and turn to leave, Sakura slid the door shut. Walking back into the bathroom, she turned on the water to fill the tub. Taking off her sleep kimono, Sakura slipped into the hot waters and let the water wash away the stress for now.

Keeping her hands on Gaara's chest, Sakura concentrated on his body. Her timeline was still correct. Gaara still had five days. Finishing her examination, Sakura looked into the worried expressions of Kankuro proposal, would those faces of pity then be turned to her? However, if she didn't accept, surely, they would hate her.

"He's fine for now."

There was an obvious sigh of relief in the room from all the Sand occupants. Sakura smiled softly at their loyalty to Gaara. Was her loyalty just as strong to Konoha? Then again, Sakura's loyalty belonged to Oblivion, the homeland of her birth and childhood. However, Konoha was her second home, and beloved to her father and...

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

"Wait! How do we find Gaara's soul?"

"Don't worry about that. I have it covered."

Sakura walked out leaving them all quite puzzled. Sasuke had a strange feeling though, as did Naruto, but he just pushed it off as indigestion. Naruto just figured it was the stress of Gaara's situation getting to him and not the twenty extra large bowls that he had eaten.

Hearing the door click shut, Sakura's expression was grave. It was like everything was telling her to go, but other things were telling her to stay. Moving along the sandy streets, Sakura made her way to the records hall. People were still avoiding her, but the children looked more interested in her than scared. Ayaki came right at her.

"Hi Sensei!"

"Hello Ayaki-chan. Are you out running errands?"

"Yup! Mommy needs me to go get some groceries."

Sakura smiled at the happy girl. Ayaki handed her the list and Sakura sweat dropped.

"Does your Okaa-san expect you to get all this yourself?"

Ayaki smiled even wider.

"I told her I was going to get help."

"Help?"

Ayaki just kept smiling at her, and it didn't take long for Sakura to catch on. Holding out her hand, Ayaki safely tucked her's into Sakura's.

"Let's get going before your Okaa-san worries."

"So, why were we told to wait here, yeah?"

"How the hell should I know, you idiotic moron?"

"Aw, yeah. That's horrible of you Sa-chan, yeah."

"That's it!"

Before Deidara could react or realize it, one of Sasori's doll was choking him. Sasori went back to trying to fix the doll that Sakura had broken. Becoming frustrated, he tossed it to the side. Even if he was a genius when it came to dolls, Sakura had done unfixable damage. He would have to wait until they returned back to the compound to get the necessary part to put it back together.

"Damn genius..."

"Did you say something, yeah?"

Deidara was currently fighting off the doll's hands from his neck again.

"Well, I figured it would be you two."

Both Akatsuki members turned to the shadow man. He held out the yellow bottle.

"I need you two to do a little thing for me."

"Guess we have no choice, yeah."

"Not unless we have a death wish with Leader-san."

"That would be gruesome, yeah."

"Painfully so."

"So what's this little task you want us to do, yeah?"

He shook the yellow bottle.

"I have a little deal going with a very beautiful young girl."

Sasori caught the tossed bottle.

"If she comes to this place in three days, give her that. In return, she'll follow you two home."

He smirked, waved goodbye, and disappeared in the shadows again.

"Who do you think the girl is, yeah?"

Sasori sighed.

"I hate waiting."

Waving goodbye to Ayaki and her parents, Sakrua causally walked to the hall of records. You had to love that family. Ayaki was just like her mother, sweet and lovable. When she had shown up with all the groceries, Ayaki's mother apologized profusely. Then, Sakura was forced to stay for dinner. The father then came home, and he too apologized profusely. Sakura couldn't help but laugh. After all, the family as so similar.

Finally making it to the hall of records, Sakura set out to the back of the building. Seeing the restricted sign, she flipped out the appropriate key. As she turned the key in its hole, several locks tumbled open. Turning the knob, Sakura opened the metal cage door, and walked inside. It slammed shut behind her, as the locks tumbled back.

"Now then..."

Sakrua set out to finding everything that she needed. Within minutes, the large table in the middle of all the bookshelves was covered and piled high. When the lines began to blur, Sakura pulled out her reading glasses. it wasn't the fact that she didn't know how to heal her eyes, it was just that she didn't take the time to heal her eyes. Carefully climbing down the ladder, Sakura was flipping through a book, so she didn't notice that three men had joined her. Two officials had accompanied Sasuke there.

"Hey."

Looking up, Sakura found Sasuke smirking at her. For some reason, his smirking ticked her off. It was as if someone else had already worn her patience on that type of habit. Tossing the book on top of the already high pile, Sakura removed her glasses.

"What can I do for you Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked at the officials. Nodding in understanding, they left the two alone. Pulling out one of the chairs, Sasuke sat down in it and looked at her.

"Your mind seems off. Are you feeling alright?"

Sakura just gave him that mysterious smile and went around to the other side of the table. Tying her hair back into a ponytail and slipping her glasses back on, Sakura began to open various books. Once something worth mentioning came up, she would write down on the yellow pad. Sasuke, getting angry at being ignored, came around to see what she was doing. Seeing what was written, he raised an eyebrow.

"Need any help?"

"You'll get in the way, sorry."

Sasuke nodded before turning to leave the room. Sakura continued to work.

"Sakura-chan? Where are you?"

A pile of books fell over and a tired Sakura crawled out from beneath them. Naruto, Kankuro, Sasuke, and Kakashi looked down at her worried. Her hair was tossled and bags were under her eyes. The glasses couldn't even hide them. As she moved some more, even more books fell onto her. It caused her to become stuck. Seeing her struggle, Kakashi took her by her forearms and pulled her out. Having pulled her out quickly, all the books fell everywhere. Turning around and looking at the mess, Sakura groaned when she realized that she left something of importance in the mess.

"Crap!"

Everyone looked at her strangely. Sighing unhappily, Sakura began to pick up the books and put them back in their proper place on the bookshelves. This was going to take some time. Stopping, she turned to them.

"Did you guys need something?"

"No, not really."

Kakashi patted her head.

"We just came to check up on you."

"Ah."

Naruto waved his hands wildly to get her attention.

"Let's go get some food Sakura-chan!"

"No thanks Naruto. I have to finish this up before anything else."

Naruto sighed unhappily this time.

"Fine..."

Grumbling, Naruto walked out of the restricted area, followed by Kakashi and Kankuro. Sasuke looked at her a little longer before leaving too. Sighing, Sakura turned to her huge mess.

"Double crap!"

-.-

It was evening again by the time that Sakura was finished. All the books had been put back in their chronological order. She had also successfully found the paperwork that she had been working on. One pile was for medical purposes, and the other pile was for information on the Akatsuki members. They were only made for the case of her leaving. Looking out the window, she knew that by the end of tomorrow, she was going to have to answer to that insufferable man. Just thinking about his smug look had her breaking the pencil in her hand. Pushing back fron the table, tucking the documents safely in her bag, Sakura made her way out of the hall of records.

Making her way back to the hotel, Sakura remembered some of the useful information she had learned for herself. Unbeknownst to everyone, Sakura was working around the clock on the present of a puzzle Uchiha Itachi had left her with in the form of a powerful seal, created by Uchiha Madara. Slowly, she was deciphering a lot of it, but basically it all came down to power. She knew very well how much would be required to actually overpower it, but it just wasn't an option right now. Using that much chakra to break the seal would be strenuous on her body, so it became a very unappealing option. After all, Sakura wasn't one to do things overboard like Naruto anymore. Reserving was all she ever did in the last few years, because not many people actually proved to be a challenge against her. It's not like she was complaining about it, it was just the fact that she would like a valuable battle every once in a while.

"Sakura-san!"

Turning around, Kankuro made his way to her. Sakura stopped and waited for him to catch up. After catching his breath, Kankuro delivered his urgent message.

"I thought I should be the one to tell you. Temari has finally returned to the village."

Nodding in understanding, Kankuro and Sakura made their way to the Kazekage tower. If Kankuro had sent someone else to relay the message, it probably wouldn't have been delivered properly. The officials in Sand were also being very wary of her. They were the eyes that Konoha put on her here. Also, if the esteemed council in Konoha didn't think that she didn't know about their little game they were playing, they would be wrong. She knew from the start what they were thinking when they handed down the fake death sentence to her. It all came down to one thing in the end to them; fight or flight. However, with the man's proposal on the table, it would make everything more misunderstood and wrong. Thinking of him made Sakura think of a million torturous ways to rid the world of him... painfully. Entering the Kazekage's office, Temari and Shikamaru turned to greet Sakura. Seeing Shikamaru with Temari, she should have known that he would be accompanying her.

"Sakura-san!"

Temari, out of character, wrapped Sakura in a hug. Shikamaru just smirked at her, which also went for his "hi" to her.

"Temari-san?"

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done. They tell me you think you have a way to save Gaara as well. I'm sorry for being so forward. The relief I feel was just so overwhelming."

The doubt in Sakura's mind clenched at her. If she didn't accept that proposal, the smile that Temari wore currently would be gone. It would be all because of her. Sakura mustered up the best smile that she could give at the moment.

"Like I keep telling everyone, just leave it to me."

It was the final day and it had gone by with Sakura making as much medicine as possible. The end result ended up being, Sakura had spent the whole day making a year supply of every type of medicine she could with all the amazing herbs that Sand had to offer in the greenhouse. There was happy gratitude from the officials who were there helping her. Sakura had smiled through and happily taught them as well. At least now they could handle doing the basic medicines themselves and not have to wait until Sakura arrived to make some. After all, if they always waited and ran out during an attack, medicine could be the crucial thing to saving lives. They just needed a little help and she was just the one to give it. Wiping her forehead, Sakura took off her gloves and left the greenhouse. Night was beginning to set in. Heading to the hotel, Sakura stopped in the middle of the street. Her eyes had become veiled over. Soon her mind was pulled to a dark realm.

"What now? Three days isn't up and you bugging me isn't going to make me decide anything faster."

The man coward away from Sakura.

"I was just seeing what your mind was set on right now."

"Currently nothing but the strong desire to beat the living shit out of you."

He gulped nervously before chuckling loudly and shakily.

"You wouldn't do that."

"Want to bet?"

Before he could say anything, fire shot out and he was forced to pull back. Currently at his real location in the woods near Oblivion, the man suddenly stood and began brushing off fire, or at least what he thought he was burning. Sighing, he realized Sakura's skills were really beyond anyone's comprehension. Meanwhile, Sakura snapped out of her own daze in Sand.

"Stupid... idiotic... man... kill him when I see him..."

Sakura walked into the hotel room. When this day ended, her three days would be and she would need to make a tough decision. She wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

She was already awake when Kakashi, Sasuke, and Neji began to stir. Looking out the window at the rising sun, Sakura hadn't slept at all that night. Today was finally here, and her three days were now up. Knowing where she needed to go, it was there that she would have to give an answer. However, she was currently delaying her trip there. There in the twilight of morning, Sakura had found a little bit of peace before the new storm rolled in. Hearing Kakashi crouch beside her, he placed a gentle hand on her head. He had noticed that she was always struggling with something so deep inside of her, it went down to her soul.

"Why are you up so early Sakura?"

"You're mistaken Kakashi-san. One does not wake when one never slept."

"May I ask you then what kept you company all night?"

Sakura turned away from the sun rays and to her once teacher.

"Just some dark thoughts, that's all. They'll come to their end soon enough"

Kakashi's expression became one of sadness.

"I'm sorry. I always feel like there's nothing I can do for you anymore."

"That's not your fault. You could only protect me for so long before the real world got its hands on me. Then it became up to me to protect myself."

"I know. My only wish is that this didn't happen to you."

Sakura gave him a serious look.

"You say that because I was once your student. No decent teacher would wish such a fate on their students, especially not one who finally passed a team."

Kakashi looked off to the side in shame.

"However..."

Sakura finally turned back to the half-risen sun.

"I would never wish this fate on anyone else, so I'm glad that I was the only one who had to carry this burden."

Kakashi sadly smiled.

"What a kind heart you have Sakura-chan."

"Only you would think so Kakashi 'sensei'."

Walking out of the bathroom in clean clothes, Sakura sat in the middle of the room. The others had left a while ago to help out with the work until Sakura got Gaara's soul. However, the thing was, was she going to? At the moment though, she was going to do one thing before deciding on it. Closing her eyes, she breathed in and out, then opened them.

"Hello again Beautiful."

One again, Sakura stood before the metal door. Pulling on her battle gloves, a smirk came to her face.

"Sorry Madara-san, but playing this game with you is over. Look's like I'm going to have to do that unpleasant option."

Closing her eyes, Sakura began to gather chakra. Once again, her chakra began to mix with the hot, red chakra. Her back began to burn as did the seal on her shoulder. Elsewhere, Itachi screamed in pain as he crumpled to the ground. Kisame and Tsuki were both worried as Tobi was confused. The other members didn't know what to think of what was going on. After all, the great Uchiha Itachi was currently screaming in pain, not that it didn't please Fujiwaru. Just arriving was the shadow man with two women. He looked at Pein and they both knew what was going on.

"So that's what you decided, huh?"

"Did you say something my lord?"

He turned to the younger woman companion.

"She's not going to come. Also, we should start using Deidara-san's and Sasori-san's replacements."

She chuckled.

"You shoud know better than to try and manipulate Saku-chan."

He sighed.

"Yeah..."

"Isn't there anything you could do to ease Ita-kun's pain?"

"I'm afraid only Saku-chan can fix this."

"What is she doing?"

"Most likely, drawing more power and the sudden amount must be hurting Itachi-kun."

Sure enough, Sakura was quickly rising her chakra level. Flames burst out everywhere and Suzaku appeared from the flames, angry. Reopening her eyes, they flashed red. Fiery symbols appeared on the four directions on the door. Balling her first, the fire gathered around it. Then, she punched the door hard. Electricity flared up against her fire. Her second fist came to the door as well and the seal instantly crumbled.

"Oh!"

The man looked at Tobi.

"Looks like Madara-san should watch his step around that one."

He knew then Sakura had successfully broken the seal and overpowered Uchiha Madara.

"Sakura-sama..."

""Thank you Suzaku-sama. If you were not here to stand beside me, I would not have been able to cross the barriers safely. However, the rest of this journey I must go alone."

Suzaku nodded his head and disappeared with the flames. Sakura took a deep breath.

"Okay, whatever lies beyond this better answer my questions or I'll personally beat them out of everyone."

Sakura opened the door and walked in.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she looked at a very worried Naruto.

"You're crying."

Sure enough, crystalline tears were streaming down her face. Her expression was one of pure shock. Shaking it off, Sakura stood as Naruto did too. As she wiped the tears off, Naruto smiled.

"What's up Naruto-kun?"

"Just coming to check on you. Also..."

"Hm?"

"I kind of wondered about... Gaara?"

Sakrua smiled.

"Don't worry about it."

Naruto's smiled broadened, then he ran out the door.

"I have to go tell everyone!"

Shaking her head, Sakura turned and put a package in each of Sasuke's and Kakashi's bags. Then quickly performing the correct hand seals, Sakura disappeared. When she reappeared, her sudden appearance shocked Deidara and Sasori.

"Sakura-chan, yeah? I'm guessing he was talking about you, yeah?"

"Give it to me now!"

Deidara handed her the yellow bottle. Sensing Gaara's soul, she sadly looked at it. Grabbing both of them, they all disappeared. Then, they reappeared in the room with Gaara's body. Everybody was out of their seats and reaching for their weapons. Sakura held up her hand.

"Stop!"

A shockwave burst through the room and everything came to a halt. It shocked the men.

"Sakura-chan, yeah. What did you do, yeah?"

"What does it look like she did, you idiot?"

"Stop time, yeah...?"

"What I don't get is how she was able to pull it off."

"That is quite puzzling, yeah."

Sakura just rolled her eyes. Ignoring them both, she walked closer to Gaara's body. Pulling out the cork, in the the hole at the top, Sakura watched as his soul floated out and into his body. It glowed with light. Pumping chakra into her hands, Sakura placed them on the top of his chest. Pushing down hard rapidly, she got his heart to beat. Slowly as his heart began to pick up, her hold on time began to slip. Once the others realized what was going on, none of them moved. They just waited to see if Gaara would wake. Picking up her hands, Sakura performed a rapid session of seals, not even Kakashi's or Sasuke's sharingan could keep up. All the sudden, Sakura suddenly looked up at them with a heart wrenching smile.

"Goodbye."

With that said, Sakura slammed down her hands, and another shockwave burst through the room with brilliant, blinding light. More shockwaves occurred and when the last one, the most powerful one came, Sakura was shot back. She collided with the wall, coughing up blood on impact. When the light finally faded, Sakura and the Akatsuki were gone. Naruto went to the door.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Gaara!"

Turning around, Gaara was slowly trying to lift himself up.

"Gaara!"

"Na... ruto...?"

Naruto was instantly by him, helping him up. Gaara soon was propped up and he looked at all the happy and disbelieving faces. Soon there was a shout of praise and it quickly spread throughout the Hidden Village of Sand that their Kazekage was alive and well again. The now awake Gaara felt great love and pride for his fellow villagers. However, there was also a sadness to his friends from the Leaf. Turning to Naruto, Gaara got out his question softly.

"What's wrong with everyone?"

Naruto's expression became pained. Even though he was dense, he knew very well what Sakura had done.

"Sakura-chan..."

"Sakura-san...? Oh, was she the one who got me back? I should thank her."

"That's the problem there Gaara."

"Huh?"

All the sudden Temari hit Naruto in the back of the head.

"He still is Kazekage. Watch your step peasant. Gaara, are you sure you're okay?"

Gaara just nodded at his sister and turned back to Naruto, who was rubbing his head from the pain.

"Naruto?"

The fox boy gave the sand one his attention.

"As to Sakura-san..."

"Ah right! As I was saying..."

He glared at Temari, who returned just as strong at him. Then he just became melancholy.

"Gaara, you kind of need to understand something. I think Sakura-chan made some sort of deal with Akatsuki to get back your soul."

"Where is she now?"

"She left with them."

"Ready to go, yeah?"

Sakura looked away from the Hidden Village of Sand and pulled up the hood on her cloak. Then she walked away and led the way back to Oblivion.