Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its plot/characters.

"Well…" Shikamaru struggled to find the right words to say to the infuriated Godaime. Shikamaru was slightly taken aback by his sudden loss for words. He shut his eyes while massaging his temples. While taking a deep breath, Shikamaru opened his eyes slightly, barely slits, then opened his mouth to speak. "Well… it involves… you-know-who…"

Tsunade's caramel orbs darted from Shikamaru to Sakura and then to Karin. Her features were still hard, the diamond on her forehead being swallowed by the trench that had appeared on her brow. Juugo and Suigetsu stood in-between Sakura and Karin, in hopes to prevent another fight breaking out between the two kunoichi. Sakura's eyes were still narrow, emerald blobs teeming with ire. Juugo placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and squeezed it, trying to comfort her, only causing Sakura to become tense.

When the silence had began to freeze over, Tsunade spoke, her features becoming soft and warm and calm. "Sakura, I understand your pain. The pain of a broken heart. So I understand your purpose to cause Karin pain, but what I won't excuse is-" Tsunade stopped abruptly, grimacing. Rage flooded her eyes again as she saw a certain old toad, researching for his the last book in his long running series. "Jiraiya!"

"Pervy-sage, you're back from your mission!" A huge grin spread across Naruto's, for some reason, already perky face. Everyone watched in awe as Tsunade scolded Jiraiya then rearranged his insides with one mighty kick.

Everyone went pale. Naruto elbowed Neji and Shikamaru, and murmured "Hey, don't you think we should scram…?" Shikamaru thought about this for a moment, while Naruto stroked his imaginary beard.

Just as Tsunade turned around to look at the group, Suigetsu screamed. "Oh my gosh we're all gonna die!" Everyone ran off in different directions, either in their teams or alone, while cackling at the thought of one of them being annihilated by the now malicious princess.

"You!" Sasuke sneered. He almost smiled at how his prey had most purposely come to where its hunter was, mocking him.

"Sasuke, have you ever noticed that whenever this side of the country is night, the other side is day? In other words, right now it's day time in Konoha." A deep, bewitching voice rang in Sasuke's ears. Sasuke flinched. The voice was alarmingly close.

"And why would I care?" Sasuke snapped, losing composure.

"Tut, tut Sasuke. Is that how you treat me, after all that I've done?" the voice was closer than before. The origin of the voice had hopped from the rooftop it had made itself known on, then walked in front of the moon, casting a ghostly silhouette. A tall, masculine figure began walking towards Sasuke.

Pulling out his katana, Sasuke took a step back, staring daggers at the man. "Don't you dare come any were near me, you hear."

A sinister laugh emerged from the shady figure, long, spiky hair falling down to his thighs. He threw his head back, looking at the infinite sapphire sky, white specks showering the above. Looking back at Sasuke, the man activated a very unique mangekyo eye as well as a rinnegan.

"What do you want…? Madara." Sasuke seethed.

Madara began laughing again. This irritated Sasuke even more. Madara took a small step towards Sasuke, grinning, his eyes filled with an emotion that contained unimaginable hate, greed… betrayal… Sasuke couldn't help himself. He looked into those bottomless pits and immediately felt lost, regardless of how familiar he was with those eyes.

Sasuke remembered how every morning he used to look into the bathroom mirror with those eyes, always those same epitomes of everything wrong in this world.

"We're the same in every single way, you do know that Sasuke?" Madara finally spoke, snapping Sasuke out of his trance. Sasuke snorted.

"Me, the same as you!? I would rather die." Sasuke coal black eyes flooded with emotion. His stomach began to boil. He placed a hand on his katana, getting into a fighting position. "But what I want even more… is to paint all the walls with the wasted blood pumping through your veins!" Sasuke pushed himself towards Madara and aimed his katana at his chest.

Smirking, Madara grabbed Sasuke's arm and writhed the katana out of his hand. He then punched Sasuke in the gut and grabbed a fist full of hair, using it to pull his head up so Sasuke would look Madara in the eye.

"Such a shame… inheriting the hatred of the Uchiha but not using it… imagine the power! If you catch the nine tails jinchuriki and help extract it, you will be able to destroy Konoha and finally get revenge for what that village did to your big brother. Besides, as you know, my eye of the moon plan won't work without the nine tails chakra. This arrangement will benefit the both of us. So what do you say?" Madara spoke, trying his best to sugar coat his words.

Sasuke's face went blank. Then, mustering up as much spittle as he could, Sasuke spat on Madara's face. Sasuke sniggered. Madara frowned. "I'll take that as a no." Grabbing his neck, Madara hauled Sasuke into an alley way and him slammed into a wall. Sasuke tried to pull Madara's hand away from his throat in desperation, struggling to breath.

"I'm afraid Sasuke that you have no choice but to help me! If you don't, your precious Sakura will no longer be yours to claim…" Madara said heartlessly. Sasuke looked at him, face riddled with confusion. "After you failed to destroy Konoha, you constantly muttered her name in your sleep. It was rather annoying, so I looked into this… Sakura. Quite the young woman! Despite not having any large reserves of chakra, she has still managed to become a brilliant medic ninja. Worthy of helping rebuild the Uchiha clan…"

Sasuke was blank for a moment, then he looked at Madara, disgusted. "You sick son of a… DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" Sasuke screamed at Madara's face.

"Then help me." Sasuke knew that Madara was blackmailing him, but regardless, he let his head hang in agreement.

"Phew! I think we lost her!" Sakura gasped. After running for almost an hour, her and Naruto had finally managed to lose Tsunade.

"About time too! I was scared I was going to evaporate from lack of water!" Instead of Naruto's girlish voice, a laid back voice came from behind Sakura, causing her to squeal. "Hey! Keep it down, that Tsunade women could find us!" Suigetsu took a swig of his water then leaned against the cool brick wall behind him.

Sakura looked at him amused. "Well sorry. It's just that I thought you were Naruto. I mean, your auras are similar." Suigetsu looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"You think I'm like that knucklehead!?" Suigetsu grinned cheekily, trying to wind Sakura up. And it was working because she tried to punch him, but obviously failed when Suigetsu turned to water.

"I hate it when you do that!" Sakura pouted, looking at her fist that was trapped in Suigetsu's lower stomach. "Err, do you think you can let go of me?" A faint blush was visible on Sakura's face.

Suigetsu snickered. "Fine, I'll show you mercy this time!"

Pulling her fist out of Suigetsu's stomach, she asked, "And what's that meant to mean?"

"Well…" Suigetsu placed one hand on his chin and leaned towards Sakura. He struggled to find the right words to say. "Well, if… and I mean if, we were to go out some time, I wouldn't umm, know how I could… you know, keep my hands off you… and I'm just saying! It's not like I'm asking you out! I'm not saying your ugly! But-"Sakura slapped him playfully.

"Then what are you trying to say?" she raised an eyebrow.

Rubbing the back of his head, he replied "Well… whoever goes out with you is a very, err, lucky guy… you know?" Suigetsu's pale face suddenly became pink, though Sakura wasn't paying attention to his face; she was looking up at the sky smiling. "Hey, what's wrong?"

After a moment went by, Sakura slapped him again. "You're sweet you know that!" She then kissed him on the cheek then got up to go looking for Naruto and Sai.

Watching her disappear, Suigetsu muttered, "Man, that's one girl I'd defiantly melt for…"