"Dammit, Tsunade-sama!" Sakura seethed from her place in the storage closet. "She orders all the nurses in this place to look for me, and not ONE of them bothers to check in HERE!" She sighed. "I miss ONE DAY at the Ninja Academy, and it just HAPPENS to be Escape Jutsu day!" She looked around quickly for something to help her. She was a ninja! There was no way a few pieces of cloth were going to stop her!

She had to admit, Sasuke was smart, though. He had tied the cloth-rope around her upper arms, rather than her wrists, where she could have easily used her chakra from her hands to cut them. And some kind of cord was around her ankles. For the past few hours, she had been trying to stand up without using her hands, and her ankles tied together. It wasn't working.

She growled as another nurse rushed by the door. "How did these dumb bitches get through medical training?"

After a moment, she frowned. "...and I wonder what happened to Naruto. I know Sasuke was going after him...but I heard the nurses say it was Tsunade's orders to look for me. That means Tsunade must have been in Naruto's room and saw that I was missing. So most likely, she arrived either at the same time I disappeared or a tiny bit afterwards. Which means she may have caught Sasuke before he could hurt Naruto. Or as he was hurting Naruto. Or right after he hurt Naruto!"

She let out another growl and tried to scoot closer to the door. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before..." Finally she managed to reach it, placing her feet against it. She waited until she heard footsteps, and then kicked the door as hard as she could, intending to get someone's attention.

Oh, she got it alright. When her feet went right through the door and into the hallway, the nurse leading Shikamaru, Ino, and Rock Lee to a room nearly fainted.

"Sakura?" came Ino's voice. "What on Earth are you doing in there?"

"Well, Sasuke tied me in here about THREE HOURS AGO! And all the nurses were too dumb to look in here!"

The nurse recovered from shock enough to glare at her.

"Here," Ino said, shoving her feet back through the door, and then opening it. "I'll untie you."

Sakura looked at her anxiously as Ino undid her ankles and arms. "What about Sasuke? And Naruto? Last I heard, Sasuke was heading towards Naruto's room and there was nobody to stop him!"

Ino gave her a small smile, helping her up. They walked out of the closet and over to Rock Lee and Shikamaru, and Sakura gasped. "What happened to Neji and Tenten? Are they okay?"

"I healed them as best as I could, but we brought them here afterwards. Listen, I'll tell you everything once we get to their room."

"It's right this way," the nurse interrupted, leading them down the hall towards Naruto's room. Sakura intended on peeking in when they passed by, but the door was closed and she couldn't see anything.

They reached a room with two beds, and Tenten and Neji were each placed on one. As the nurse began to tend to their wounds, with Rock Lee watching intently, Shikamaru and Ino turned to Sakura.

"Okay, here's what happened," Ino started. "After Sasuke tied you up, I'm guessing, he went to Naruto's room, planning on killing him. Originally Tsunade had placed two ANBU to guard him, but she knew that wouldn't be enough. By the time he got to you, they were both already unconscious. So anyway, she decided to station all of us as backup! Me, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Karin, and the three of them." She pointed to the three ninja behind her. "Thirteen of us. Plus Tsunade came herself, but she didn't go with us afterwards...anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is what happened: We all came out and Sasuke nearly shit himself, but managed to escape through the ceiling, which explains that huge gaping hole you managed not to notice as we walked by Naruto's room. We all chased him to the training grounds, except for Tsunade. When we got there, Karin had disappeared. We still don't know exactly where she went, but nobody really cares, so..."

"Here, maybe I should take over," Shikamaru interrupted. "Here's what happened, but with less detail. Sasuke used eleven shadow clones, so that made twelve of him and twelve of us. We each took one and chased it, and Tenten ended up fighting the real one. Neji came to help eventually, but I guess he got hurt too. Meanwhile, once Ino and I showed up with the others, other than Neji and Tenten of course, and the one I was fighting turned out to be a shadow clone, we all knew Tenten was fighting the real one. So Gaara and Rock Lee went to help. Lee brought Neji and Tenten back and told us Gaara was fighting Sasuke. Eventually, Gaara came back, but Sasuke wasn't with him."

Shikamaru took a deep breath. "...and then he said that he killed Sasuke."

Sakura stared at them. "Really? Sasuke's dead?"

They nodded. "According to Gaara, he is. He said he used Desert Funeral on him. I doubt anyone could survive that," Shikamaru told her.

Sakura looked at the ground and nodded. "Yeah. I suppose no one could." She looked up at them. "Are...are you guys sad?"

Ino blinked at her. "Why...are you?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes when I think of Sasuke I picture that monster he became. But other times, I think of that twelve-year-old that was on a team with us just a few years ago. What happened to him?"

"Orochimaru happened. I don't think he was ever the same after he decided to go to Orochimaru. Even if it was for revenge. Orochimaru changed him. I'm sure you've heard this before, but Sasuke wasn't the same person he was three years ago," Ino said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura stared at Ino's serious face. "I think that's the most intelligent think you've ever said."

Ino frowned. "Ha, ha. Anyway, we need to make sure Neji and Tenten are alright."

They looked at Lee expectantly. "What?" he asked.

"Well, you've been paying attention the entire time. Are they going to be okay?"

"The nurse thinks so. But Lady Hokage will have to come check on them later today to make sure. However, the flames of youth are sure to burn brightly in my youthful comrades soon enough! They will live!" Rock Lee gave them two thumbs up.

"Okaaay..." Sakura started. "I think I'm going to go see Naruto...wait, you did say he's alright, right?"

"Sasuke didn't touch him," Ino replied. Sakura grinned and ran out of the room.

.

"Lady Hokage!" Hinata cried, bursting into the room with six other ninja behind her.

Tsunade, who had been doing paperwork at her desk, stood up quickly. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come with you guys. I should have. I don't know what I was thinking! If any of you got hurt..."

"We're all okay. Neji and Tenten are in the hospital though," Kiba told her.

Tsunade nodded. "I'll be sure to check on them later then as long as it's not too serious."

"Tenten took a kunai to the thigh, and Neji got one in the gut," Kankuro put in.

"Alright." Tsunade gave them another nod. She looked at Gaara. "Did you all capture Sasuke?"

Gaara shook his head. "I had to kill him."

Tsunade took a deep breath. "Okay. I won't question your judgement as the Kazekage. I'm sure you had no other choice. Thank you for alerting me, I'll be heading down to the hospital in a little while."

They all nodded, and one by one they left the room.

.

Sakura flung the door open to Naruto's room, not caring about the loud bang it made. Naruto was still asleep, but other than that he looked fine.

She sat down on the chair next to him, stroking his cheek silently. Sakura studied his face.

His cheeks were slightly pink, his lips were parted and he was breathing through his mouth, and of course his eyes were closed.

Sakura couldn't help grinning. He was actually going to be alright. Sasuke was gone, and he couldn't do anything to hurt them.

How could things get any better?

Sakura's unspoken question was answered when Naruto's hand twitched, and his eyes slowly fluttered open.