Violet clouds rolled over the sky and Naruto found he was alone. He looked around frantically but he was alone, and he couldn't move his legs. He looked down in frustration.

Damn it! "Sakura-chan?" He called, "Sai? Kakashi-sensei? Yamato-taichou? Shika- hey!" He looked frantically around before seeing someone in the distance. "Hey! Hey kid!" The small blond child was walking towards him, head down, his feet dragging in the dirt. As the child drew nearer, Naruto's eyes widened in horror. This kid-

"They tried to kill me..." The child sobbed. "I don't want to be hated, don't want to be alone anymore..." The child put a hand out to reach for Naruto. "I didn't want them to leave me... so I got angry when they turned away..." The child stopped sobbing but kept his head down. "But it's ok now right? Now they can't leave, they'll always be with me." The child looked up and Naruto fell to his knees. "The voice in my head told me this was how. Their hearts are with me forever." Blood dripped from the boy's mouth and splashed onto the floor.

Naruto saw a little girl running towards him from the distance. "Hey! Hey! Get help!" She called to the boy, who had his back to her. The girl's wide eyes were glassy with tears but she was keeping it together, searching for help. "Someone's attacked the villagers! Their... their hearts are missing!" Naruto put out his hand to keep the boy back from the pink haired child.

"Get away! It's not safe here! Go Sakura-chan!"

The world shifted almost imperceptibly and the girl before him was now a woman, Sakura as he knew her now. He smiled in relief, the illusion was dispelled. Something was off though, they were in the same place as the illusion was set. Sakura was looking at him with eyes filled with, not love, but hate and fear.

"Sa- Sakura-chan?" He reached out to her but she backed away quickly, tears hanging from her lashes.

"No... How could you?"

"What? Sakura-chan I don't understand..." She bit her lip and he tried to catch her shoulders but she darted out of his grasp like a leaf in the wind. "Sakura-chan!"

"Stay away from me!" The girl backed away, now calm as she resolved some sort of inner battle. "Monster."

Naruto blinked, stunned. "What...?" she turned and ran away from him. He felt tears slip down his cheeks.

Monster... Monster...

Monster... Monster...

He ignored the blood on his hands, ignored the redness of his vision, and ignored the bodies in his way. Sakura had called him a monster... The one person whose opinion really mattered to him, the one person he had counted on to always be there, the first woman he had ever loved, and the last.

Monster...

We'll show her who the monster... really is

Yes... Wait...NO!

Naruto put his hands to his head and screamed. No matter how much it hurt him, no matter how much he wanted to, he could not let it out... He could not let it free.

"Too late."

Naruto put his hands on his knees; standing up was difficult, he was gasping for breaths that would not come. How had he gotten like this? So quickly?

"Time for a little fun kid... Care to join me? Ride my back."

Naruto lifted his head to regard the creature before him, with its glossy auburn coat, long, pointed ears, and nine, wildly lashing fox tails.

Kyuubi...

"Naruto? Sai?" Sakura stood up carefully, testing the ground. Her feet could support her weight for now. "Kai!"

Nothing. Sakura crossed her arms and looked up; she seemed to be outside at night, she could see the stars... This illusion was going to be a toughie to escape from; there were no missing details, no cracks in the fabrication, and by the sounds of it, this Tobi had trapped them all in their own illusions, assuming all the illusions were this perfect, Tobi was a talented Genjutsu user.

Personal Hell... We're all experiencing our own personal hell...

Doesn't look too bad so far.

Her inner Bijuu had a point. She was in a walled garden of some sort, with a small lake, a bridge, manmade island and several sakura trees... This was the garden where they fought Akatsuki after that test that Tsunade gave them not too long ago. Sakura smiled shyly, putting a hand to her mouth and looking over at the island on the lake.

Less of a Nightmare... more like a dream...

The Sharingan guy's not too bright huh?

Looks that way.

Sakura's eyes were drawn to a young man sitting with his back to her, sitting against one of the sakura trees. Pink petals drifted across her vision and she began to walk over to her lover, coming to a halt just behind him. A soft breeze ruffled strands of blond hair and his orange outfit was scuffed and slightly battle worn.

"Naruto? It seem like we're both in the same illusion... any ideas on how to get out? Naruto?" She put a hand on his shoulder and moved round to look at his face. She looked at him with some concern, he seemed to be bleeding a little, from a cut on his head, and his eyes were slightly dazed and vacant.

"Sakura-chan... I'm so sorry... that I couldn't save him... or you..."

"What? Naruto?" Sakura's eyes widened in horror as Naruto shuddered once before his eyes froze and his head fell back. "Naruto?" She touched the wound on his head, it was deeper than she'd realised. "No... Naruto!"

"You really are pathetic Sakura." The cold voice cut her heart like a knife. She turned to see the raven haired boy standing behind her with his hands on his hips. She stood up with the mirage of calm on her face.

"Sasuke... so Tobi knows about our lives, interesting."

"Whatever do you mean Sakura?" Sasuke smirked, making Sakura want to hit him, but she held back. That would solve nothing.

"This." She gestured around the garden. "Is all an illusion; you, Naruto, the garden, this is all a complex genjutsu."

He tilted his head slightly. "What makes you so sure?" She raised an eyebrow at his question, he continued willingly. "Maybe you've just woken up from your genjutsu, here, where the battle has taken you." He walked over to Naruto's lifeless body and kicked it lightly, causing Sakura's fists to clench. "He... carried you here before dying you know. The others are still back there but it's hopeless. Tobi-Sama is too strong for Konoha ninja like you. Especially you. I was sent to fight you two but- well, it hardly seems worth it now that he's dead. I mean... you would never be considered a worthy opponent."

One punch... Just one that would wipe that arrogant smirk off of his face.

Calm down, I'll get you out of this don't worry. Genjutsu was meant to be your forte Girl.

Yeah but-

No buts! I will get you out! Then I will be free.

What?!

Thwack! Sakura landed a satisfyingly loud punch to the side of illusion-Sasuke's face, she felt bones and flesh give way to the pure fury behind that fist. "HA!" She choked out as his shattered face reconstructed itself.

"That!" She grinned, as the scene before her dissolved into darkness. "That was the most satisfying genjutsu I've ever been trapped in! Ha! Personal hell, I saw right through it."

Hell yeah!

Hell yeah! Oh wait... The others... I hope they're okay.

Sakura sat up and rubbed her head, around her lay the figures of her comrades, from a quick glance she could see that all were alive, but in psychological agony. She reached out a hand to Naruto, who lay next to her, but froze as a young male voice called out to her.

"So you got out! If you want to get them out though, you have to beat me to submission."

Sakura glared at the masked man behind her. "No problem... Tobi..." But she gasped as a sudden flash of white blinded her, and she screamed as something tore from her heart.