Kakashi only needed one look at the villagers to know they were dead. He had felt for the pulse of a young man as he passed, and his suspicions were confirmed when he couldn't find it. There was no spark of life or understanding to them, no intelligence or awareness in their eyes. They were like puppets without strings. Kakashi watched them gather around the massive rock, people from all different lives, though none seemed very old. He caught a glimpse of a Konoha forehead protector amongst the civilian clothes. So our allies had been victims after all, he thought. He supposed that made sense. Ninjas lived in a world filled with things to fear, and if Sakura was right about how the demon cat hunted, the shinobi would have been prime targets.

Suddenly, the rock lit up like it had caught fire. Blue light filled the clearing, casting ghoulish shadows on the trees. The villagers were engulfed in the flames coming from the rock, which quickly formed a feline head and two wicked tails. Night had finally fallen, and the Nibi was free to hunt once more. Kakashi cursed his foolishness. He had been so preoccupied with keeping the Crane Lord's forces at bay that he had ignored the threat the chakra cat might pose by night. Instead, he had camped right beside the cursed creature! Now they were caught unawares with no way of fighting such a powerful entity.

The cat growled, finally sensing the intruders' presence. Sakura felt as though she were trapped in the same nightmare, forced to face that terrible cat over and over again. For Naruto and Sai, this was their first encounter with the creature. They seemed both entranced and horrified by its glowing blue tails and rows of sharp fangs.

"It's like the legends," Sai said breathlessly, "about ghostly cats who control the dead like puppets and haunt the living with fearful images."

It didn't surprise Sakura that Sai knew about such terrible old legends. No doubt he had read several books on the subject.

"The Nibi is most-likely where such ghost stories originated from," Kakashi explained, avoiding looking into the cat's demonic eyes.

The Nibi growled once more, a low, commanding sound, and the villagers turned from it to gaze sightlessly at the ninja. Apparently their presence was not to go unchallenged. They moved forward, faster and more purposeful than before, each citizen's eyes filled with the eerie blue glow of the cloak's chakra. Their intent was clear.

"Kakashi," Sakura whispered earnestly, "They're the villagers we came to protect. We can't just-"

"They're already dead, Sakura," The jounin interrupted, drawing out his hidden weapons, "They aren't the same people they were before. In their current state they'd kill their best friend and not even realise it. All we can do for them now is give them proper rest."

Sakura and the others nodded miserably, palming their own blades. They would have to fight civilians and allies as though they were any other enemy.

The battle seemed without end. Sai wheeled above the fray on an inky eagle, swooping down on the villagers with the emotional detachment that came from being a former Root agent. Naruto, on the other hand, hated every second of it. There was no satisfaction fighting and killing these people. They were not bloody barbarians, though they suddenly fought like them. They were women and children and humble farmers, filled with the rage and hate of tainted chakra. A boy that looked to be about Naruto's age swung a tree branch with unlikely strength, breaking it over Naruto's back. He fell forward with a groan, scrambling to the side just before a young woman with a pregnant belly could spear him with another makeshift weapon. Nearby shadow clones came to the original's aid, pulling him to his feet and dispatching his attackers with matching expressions of distaste. It didn't feel right to slash a pregnant woman's throat, even though she didn't bleed in quite the same way as a living person would have. It was like fighting a well-preserved corpse which, Naruto supposed, was exactly what they were doing. But despite this fact, he couldn't help but feel savage and demonic himself. The nine-tails fox rumbled with pleasure at each heart-breaking blow. Naruto withdrew the majority of his clones, suddenly hating the sensation of killing several people at once. It was becoming too much to bear, and yet the villagers kept coming, unafraid.

Kakashi was similarly disheartened by the unusual battle. He found it difficult, but not impossible to fight small children and formerly-innocent women. He had seen and done much in his years as a ninja, though this seemed like a personal low point. The Konoha chunin he was currently facing was called Sakamoto, though he had forgotten his first name. He was a lot younger than Kakashi, but they had gone on the odd mission together and shared drinks at the bar what seemed like a million years ago. It felt like a betrayal to fight him. But the Sakamoto he knew had brown eyes, not blue, and he knew in his heart that this was little more than his hijacked and tortured body.

But then Sakamoto spoke and Kakashi's resolve slipped. "Why you tryin' ta kill me, Hatake-san?" the corpse asked, using the same too-formal name that the chunin always called him by. The punch that Kakashi had been aiming at his heart went wide, hitting empty air and pulling the rest of Kakashi with its momentum. He flew past the man, feeling sharp pain across his jawbone even before he hit the ground. He rolled forward into a crouched, defensive position on his knees as his once-friend advanced. The tanto the man held was stained with Kakashi's blood, which he raised to his lips and licked from the blade. Faintly revolted, Kakashi felt warmth soaking into his mask at a rapid rate and wondered for one panicked moment if Sakamoto had nicked his carotid artery. Before he could raise a hand to defend himself from another blow, however, the chunin turned and disappeared. Bewildered at his sudden retreat, Kakashi tried to search for him through the chaotic backdrop of battle, but was soon interrupted by three more foes, drawn by the sight of his blood.

Sakura was in trouble. Not only was she exhausted from last night's events, but last night seemed to be finding new and cruel ways of haunting her. The girl from the bar attacked with violent unpredictability, a stark contrast to the eerily-disciplined moves of the young children she had fought off before. If she had thought that was bad, this was like a chakra-scalpel of irony straight to the heart. Here was the girl she had tried so hard to protect and save, the girl she had then gotten killed for her efforts. Now that same girl was trying to kill her, and she had no choice but to defend in turn.

She's already dead, she thought to herself, I saw her die. It's because of me that she's here at all. But I can't help that now. I have to kill her for good or she'll kill me. The bar-girl's inarticulate screams of rage were met with gritted teeth and silent resolve. Sakura would help the girl one last time, in the only way she could. She understood now why the girl had been taken in the first place. Her short life must have been filled with fear. She had walked the streets before her lover had found her. He had beaten her, then been beaten himself before her eyes. She must have smelled irresistible to the Nibi. The woman's chaotic kicks and punches suddenly gave Sakura an opening, and she forced herself to take it. Driving her kunai deep into the girl's exposed stomach, she fought the urge to retch. The flurry of limbs halted as the demon cat's control over the corpse ebbed away. The slim blonde collapsed forward onto Sakura, who let go of one of her precious few blades to get away. She stood there for a moment, catching her breath and assessing her own injuries, as the broken girl lay unmoving for ever more.

"Sakura!" A voice called from behind her, and she whirled around. Someone lay crumpled on the ground, in much the same way as the girl was. But this was no random villager. It was Kakashi.

His flak vest was ripped almost in half, and was stained dark brown with blood. Kakashi's arms struggled to prop him up, but he collapsed back to the ground with a cry of pain that turned Sakura's insides to ice.

"Sakura," he called again, "help me, quick."

The sight of her captain's blood made her feet move without her consent, but at the last moment she halted, hesitating. Something Sai had said before troubled her. He mentioned legends about demon cats tormenting the living with horrible images, and though Sakura knew such legends were probably highly-exaggerated, she couldn't help but feel wary.

"How did you get hurt?" She asked. It took a lot to hurt the great Copy-nin so badly.

"That big guy from the bar, the one you attacked," he managed between shallow breaths. Sakura felt a stab of guilt, knowing the only reason the beefy man was around to hurt Kakashi was because of her. "Please, Sakura," he whispered, his whole body shuddering with pain, "I'm going to die without you."

That was all Sakura needed for her medic instincts to kick in. She crouched down beside him, hand glowing green with the chakra she had been carefully conserving. She wouldn't let her friend die before she had used it all.

Suddenly Kakashi's gloved hand clamped down on her glowing one, pulling her down as he pulled himself up. She was reminded of the day they had trained together, tripping each other over. But then it had been for fun. Now, she knew she had been tricked.

Kakashi's blade flashed as it sliced the top of her forehead. Quicker than lightning he was on his feet and she was kneeling in the dirt, blinded by her own blood. It felt as though her entire head had been set on fire. She could hear herself screaming in pain, but could see nothing but red. She scrubbed the blood from her eyes, helped by the tears of pain streaming from them. She had to get her vision back, if only for a few seconds to get away.

The blood flow cleared a new path away from her eyes and she could see Kakashi once more. Either he was under a genjutsu or she was, but she wondered why the pain of her wound wouldn't dispel it if it were hers. But then he raised his forehead protector and her opinion changed. Beneath, where his sharingan should be, was nothing but an empty socket, hollow and black. Kakashi laughed at her horrified expression, wiping a chunk of bloody pink hair from his kunai. She got slowly to her feet, fearing any sudden movements would make the monstrous Kakashi look-alike attack again.

"I always knew you would be the first to die," Kakashi said, in the calm voice Sakura had come to associate with his jokes and playful teasing. But she wasn't laughing now. Kakashi had never said something so hurtful to her before, yet it felt like something she thought he might think. "It's because you're too weak," he explained, circling her like a shark. Sakura pivoted to keep him in her sight. "You were always the weakest. Of course, you know that already. Everyone does."

"Why are you saying these things?" Sakura whispered, gripping her kunai defensively at her side.

"Aren't they true, Sakura? Do you think I'm lying to you?" the teacherly amusement in his voice was almost too much for her to bear. She knew Kakashi would never say such things, but she also knew she was the weakest, the one that needed the most help. She had felt like that since the day they had met.

"None of us wanted you on our team, you know," Kakashi continued, "We all used to hope that you'd just get yourself killed on some mission, so we wouldn't have to keep slowing down for you. You're pathetic," he hissed in her ear as he passed. "That's why Sasuke left. You drove him away."

"No," Sakura said finally, her voice trembling. "No, he left to avenge his clan."

"But you could have stopped him from leaving," Kakashi continued, empty socket boring holes into the girl. "If you had been strong enough, he might have stayed. But he thought you were annoying. He was glad to be free of you. I wish I could have gone with him; but I had to keep babysitting you instead."

Sakura's head wound started bleeding again. Sticky red liquid trickled back into her stinging eyes, too fast for her to stem the flow.

"I hate you, Haruno Sakura," Kakashi's voice came from somewhere to her right. She struck out blindly, but didn't make contact with anything.

"I wish you were dead. You are nothing but a burden to me," this time it was to her left. It felt horrible to hear those things, said in Kakashi's voice. She pressed her hands to her ears but his cruel laughter got through. "Scared of the truth, are we? Tsk tsk, Sakura."

"Shut up!" she screamed, spinning around to where she had heard his voice last. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"You're going to die, Sakura," Kakashi shouted over the top of her screams. "Right- now!"

It was as though someone had pushed a button in her head. Blind and deaf, she could only feel rather than see herself plunge her kunai forward into the reddish darkness of her vision. She could only feel rather than hear the dull thud and that told her she had made contact with something. She only felt vicious satisfaction at having finally destroyed the cruel phantom.

Wiping her eyes with her gloved hands, she looked down upon her victim. But the image of Kakashi had changed. There was no slashed-open chest and the empty eye-socket was once more filled with the swirling red sharingan. His eyes were open with surprise and her own kunai was pinned deep in his neck.

"Sa- Saku-" Precious lifeblood splattered the dirt around him, glistening by the blue light of the demon cat.

"Kakashi?" Sakura choked, hoping against hope that she was still imagining things. That it was blood and not the sharingan that blazed red on the jounin's face.

"Came to- help," he spluttered, eyes losing focus. With one last shudder, he lay still.

Sakura continued to stare down at him, ignoring the blood on her face and the battle that still raged on around her. None if it mattered. Kakashi was dead; and she had killed him.

Something or someone collided with her and knocked her to the ground. The stinging returned to her head, but it did not bring her mind clarity. She swiped it impatiently with her chakra, stopping the pain completely. But without it, the other, smaller injuries began to ache, calling for her attention. She didn't have time to deal with such an unimportant feeling as pain, so she healed those too. In fact, she never wanted to feel pain again, so she let her chakra spread down from her hand, up her arm, across her torso, and all over her body. She had never done it before, and part of her knew that it was because she didn't have enough to sustain it for long; but it was nice to feel numb, so she stayed that way.

She was a glowing green ninja, walking across the battlefield without pain or purpose. Villagers struck at her with their feeble weapons, but nothing could hurt her for long. She looked down at herself, admiring her cloak of green chakra. It was just like Naruto's red fox cloak, or the Nibi's blue one.

Thinking about the Nibi reminded her where she was, and why the world had just ended before her eyes. It was the demon cat's fault. It tricked her into killing her captain. It played on her fears of rejection and weakness, and Kakashi paid the price for them. She headed for the rock where the Nibi still crouched. She knew it was free to leave the rock if it wished, even travel as far from it as the nearby village. But it chose to stay with the rock, and now Sakura understood that it was protecting it.

The cat seemed to sense her intent, and within a heartbeat several foes came to stop her. She knocked them out of the way with a single chakra-fuelled blow. The overuse of her already depleted chakra would probably kill her, but for now she didn't care. She reached the head of the Nibi, gazing into its mismatched eyes. The cat's jaws opened wide, ready to blast the little green creature from its midst. But Sakura had been waiting for it to do that, and stepped right over its jaws and down its throat.

The searing blue chakra should have stripped the flesh from her bones, but as quickly as its chakra washed over Sakura's skin, her own chakra healed the burns. It wasn't enough to keep her completely untouched, but it would keep her alive long enough to do what she needed to. She was inside the Nibi's mouth, its jaws clamped firmly around her, trapping her in. It was doing its best to destroy the threat that Sakura had become, but she could see the surface of the rock beyond the azure haze around her. There was the slightest of faults in the grain; a weak point. She raised her fist, knowing her timing had to be perfect. The demon cat struggled all around her, alternatingly trying to jolt and crush her. Taking a deep breath, she drew her chakra back from the rest of her body and focused it into her raised fist.

"I'll kill you," she muttered, before smashing into the rock with all her strength.

It took Kakashi five seconds to feel that something was wrong. It took him four seconds to escape the school-age children that had surrounded him and pinpoint the disturbance in chakra-signature. It took three seconds to realise that the glowing green person that the demon cat had swallowed was actually Sakura, and two seconds to start running.

Unfortunately, it only took one second for the world to explode and his vision to go black.

A/N: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. WE'RE ALMOST DONE, I PROMISE. WASN'T SURE IF I SHOULD GIVE THIS A HIGHER RATING FOR ZOMBIE GORE, BUT I SUPPOSE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY WATCH AND READ NARUTO ARE OK WITH VIOLENCE ANYWAY. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

PS: I SEEM TO BE ENDING LOTS OF CHAPTERS WITH A "BANG" LATELY…