Author's notes; IIM BACCKK. haha. time for another chapter in this epic adventure. I'm not sure how many chapters there's going to be? I guess just as many as needed ) SOO. read on fanfiction lovers. )
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Flashback.
"So what do we do now Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked as he leaned against the wall, one leg up and his arms crossed.
Tsunade let out a sigh as she looked out the window over Konoha. "I don't know Jiraiya, I really don't." She said unfolding her arms as she closed her eyes.
Jiraiya looked at her for a moment then down at the ground. He walked over to her as he stood behind her a few feet. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" he asked as he just stared at her.
Tsunade nodded as she opened her eyes and looked out the window. "She's like a daughter to me, if anything happend to her.." Tsunade trailed off as she let out another sigh.
"You always send her on missions with risk of death and lots of danger, why is now any different?" Jiraiya asked taking a step closer.
"When I send her on those missions at least I know where she is, and she has people to protect her, but now, I don't know where she is and what's happening." Tsunade explained.
"Tsunade, she'll come back." Jiraiya said unsure of himself.
Tsunade felt like she wanted to cry. She hadn't cried since Dan and her brother died. This, was a similar situation. Someone she loved, someone she cared about was in trouble and she couldn't do anything to help. She felt useless. She lifted her head as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Jiraiya had placed his hand on her shoulder as he moved closer standing directly behind her. Their bodies millimeters away from each other.
He leaned in closer.
Tsunade could feel her heart beating quick as she felt her body so close to his. As he leaned in she just stood there motionless and unsure of what to say or do.
Jiraiya stopped and turned as he heard the door open. He took his hand off of her shoulder as he watched the figure walk in.
"Eyy Ero-sannin!" a familiar voice called as Naruto walked through the door with Hinata close behind him.
"Naruto, what a pleasent surprise." Jiraiya said as he walked over and returned to his poistion against the wall.
"Tsunade-sama." Naruto said stopping in front of her desk.
Tsunade just stood there, "Yes Naruto." she said cooly.
"I want to request to go on a search and rescue mission...," he paused. "to find Sakura-chan." Naruto said looking at the womans back.
"No." Tsunade answered without turning around.
Naruto stood surprised. "What? No! How can you say no! This is Sakura we're talking about. We can't just leave her! We have to save her! We have to.." Naruto could feel his eyes watering but he refused to cry. "Why won't you let me! This is Sakura we're talking about! Why!"
"Because I don't want to lose anyone else!" Tsunade yelled as she turned to face Naruto.
Naruto stood surprised as did Hinata and Jiraiya.
"Lose." Naruto said as he his head hung low. "You talk like she's already gone. She's not, she's alive, I can feel it, and I will save her." Naruto said determined as he turned to leave.
Jiraiya and Hinata stood surprised that Naruto actually defied what Tsunade said.
"Naruto wait," Tsunade said as she watched him walk away.
Naruto stopped.
"You can't do this alone." She said as she crossed her arms.
A smile spread across Naruto's face as he turned and ran giving Tsunade a hug. "Thank you so much Tsunade-sama!" Naruto yelled with glee.
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"Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hatake Kakashi, Hyuga Neji, Hyuga Hinata, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Rock Lee, and Tenten. I have you called you all for a very important mission. You will retrieve Haruno Sakura. I warn you that you will encounter a lot of dangerous enemies. Be careful out there. Sakura means a lot to all of us in different ways. I want her back, safe and alive. Is that clear?" Tsunade explained.
"Hai Hokage-sama!" They all replied in unisen.
"There isn't much mission detail I can give you because, well I don't know what to say. This isn't a planned mission and we don't know where she is. It's up to you to find her. Do whatever needs to be done to bring her back."
"Hai!" they once again replied. They all turned to leave.
"And one more thing," she said as they stopped and turned. "Naruto, you are the leader of this mission." Tsunade said with a smile and a wink.
A wide grin spread across Naruto's face as he nodded and they left.
Tsunade turned and walked to the window as she saw them all appear at the gate of Konoha. They checked their items as they left. "Be safe." she said holding her hands to her chest.
"An eleven man team. She must be very important to the Hokage." Tenten stated as they all ran through the forest.
"She very important to us all." Naruto said with a determined look on his face. "Wait for me Sakura, I will save you." Naruto said in a quiet voice as he looked down to his hand where he was holding a jade necklace, one that belonged to Sakura. He clutched it tightly as he looked up and continued on.
End Flashback.
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Sakura slowly opened her eyes as she looked around. She was chained to a wall. Her hands and feet bound tightly, everytime she moved it would cause her pain and she would bleed a little bit. Her vision was a bit blurry, she blinked a few times as her vision returned to normal. She looked around as her eyes widened in surprise.
Ino,Naruto,Kakashi,Shino,Shikamaru,Neji,Hinata,Choji,Kiba,Akamaru,Lee and Tenten were all chained to a wall in front of her.
"No.." she said as she looked at them all, wounded and bleeding.
She turned her head as she heard voices. In the middle of her and the others stood two very familar faces.
"You will not harm her again." one of the voices said.
"Harm her? You baka I'm trying to save her. " the other voice replied.
"She doesn't need your help. All she's done is love you and you can't even give her that." the other voice called back aggrivated.
"And what, you will. You don't know the first thing about love." the second voice replied mockingly.
"I will kill you...Uchiha." the first voice said in a cold tone.
"You know, we never did get to finish our first fight...Gaara." Sasuke replied with a smirk.
Sand poured out of Gaara's gourd as it began to swirrl around his ankles.
Sasuke unsheathed his katana.
"This ends now!" they both yelled as Gaara's sand headed straight towards Sasuke, and Sasuke charged at Gaara.
Flashback.
"Okay." Kakashi said as he stood and waved to Pakkun.
"Pakkun said he's caught her scent. There is a fortress of some sort over that hill there deep within the woods." Kakashi said pointing to the hill.
Naruto nodded. "Okay, we'll proceed with caution." He started forward as the others followed.
"Kiba, can you lock onto the scent?" Naruto asked without turning around.
Kiba nodded. "We have her scent, it's as Kakashi said. She's being held beyond that hill."
"Good. You will lead us to her then. Everyone else, stay sharp." Naruto said as the climbed the hill and laid eyes upon the fortress.
They all stood atop the hill. Naruto took a few steps forward and turned to face them. "I want to take this moment and say thank you. Thank you to all of you who came to help get Sakura back. This means a lot to me. Beyond those doors lay dangers that could mean death. If you do not want to proceed, feel free to turn around and leave. I will understand." Naruto said seriously.
All ten shinobi looked at each other and nodded. They took a step forward.
"As troublesome as this may be, we're with you until the end Naruto." Shikamaru said holding a fist to his chest.
"We are not cowards, we shall use our powers of youth to the full advantage and bring the lovely cherry blossom back!" Lee shouted thrusting his fist into the air.
"You can count on us!" Ino said with a wink.
Naruto nodded his head. "Let's go." he said as he turned and headed down the hill.
They all stopped at the main doors. They slowly opened as Naruto took a step back.
"They're expecting us." Neji said cooly.
Naruto nodded. "I know, but they've underestimated us." he said as he took a step through the doors and the others followed.
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They stood on the hill watching as they all entered the fortress.
"We're not the only ones following them. " the leader of the three nin pointed out as he saw shadows down below.
The other two nodded. They soon dissapeared.
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They all walked down the long and dark hallway.
They stopped as they reached a large boulder. "What's this?" Rock Lee said stepping forward and examing the boulder.
"It's blocking our way." Ino said as she could see light poking through a small creves between the boulder and the wall.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru said rolling his eyes.
"We have to move it somehow." Kiba said crossing his arms.
"If only Sakura were here, her strength would be very useful." Hinata stated quietly.
"It's okay, we've got the next best thing. " Shikamaru said with a smirk as he pushed Choji forward.
Naruto smirked. "Do your thing Choji." he said as he moved out of the way.
"Choji, are you sure?" Shikamaru asked concernd as he stepped in front of Choji.
Choji nodded. "Don't worry, it's just one pill." he said with a smile.
Shikamaru nodded as he stepped out of the way.
Choji took out a little plastic case with three circlular items inside. A green, yellow and red one. He opened the first compartment as he took out the green item. "First pill." he said as he put it in his mouth. Suddenly he became more muscular and much thinner. He walked up to the boulder as he placed his hands on it. He let out some noise as he picked it up and held it to the side. "Hurry!" he yelled holding the boulder.
"C'mon!" Naruto yelled as he ran through, followed by everyone except Shikamaru and Choji.
"Choji! What about you." Shikamaru asked.
"Shikamaru, just..go." he said straining.
"But..." Shikamaru protested.
"Go!" Choji yelled.
Shikamaru nodded, Choji had changed a lot and he knew that he could take care of himself. Shikamaru ran through the opening as he stopped to turn when Choji put the boulder back, being stuck on the other side. Shikamaru sighed as he ran to catch up to them.
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Choji let out a sigh as he then grabbed his chest. He was feeling the after effects of the pill that he took. He leaned against a wall. The stone he leaned on pushed inward as the floor beneathe him opened up. He let out a yell as he fell through.
It closed behind him.
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They continued on down the hallway only lit by the torches on the stone wall. They stopped as they saw an elite sound nin approach an iron gate. He placed his hand on a scanner as the gate opened and he entered, the gate closing behind him.
"How are we going to get through that." Kiba sighed.
They dove into the shadows as the heard footsteps. It was another elite sound nin.
"I have an idea." Ino said stepping forward.
Naruto nodded as he understood what she was going to do.
"But what about you, what happens to your body." Lee said worried.
"You're just going to have to leave me behind." Ino said with a shrug.
"We can't do that.." Hinata said concerned.
"Trust me." Ino
said with a reassuring smile as she stood in position and placed her
hands together in a certain way.
"Mind transfer jutsu!"
She yelled as her soul was placed into that of the elite sound nin's.
Shikamaru caught Ino's body as it fell.
While Ino was inside of the sound nin's body she placed the hand on the sensor as the gates opened. "Hurry, there isn't much time!" Ino yelled while in the sound nin's body.
Shikamaru hesitatntly placed Ino's body on the ground as they all ran through.
The gate closed behind them as Ino waved.
They dissapeared down the hall.
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The sound nin then collapsed as Ino returned to her body.
Ino slowly opened her eyes as she tried to stand but was too weak.
She heard footsteps as her eyes grew wide when two figures stood over her.
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They continued down the hallway.
Kakashi made his way up beside Naruto as he said loud enough for only Naruto to hear.
"We're being followed."
Naruto looked over at Kakashi. "What do we do?" he asked turning to look ahead of him again.
Kakashi sighed, "Leave it alone for now." he said as he looked forward.
Naruto nodded.
They stopped as they entererd a large room. There were two large stone demon-like statues on either side of the room.
"Creepy." Tenten said as they slowly walked through the room to the other side where the hallway continued.
They stopped as they heard noises. It was the sound of chains banging together. They looked up as two area's of the ceiling opened up and two elite sound nin were lowered in. Their hands were shackled together as they hung struggling.
Each of the ninja's were lowered in front of a statue. They began screaming in pain as blue substance began to pour out from their eyes, nostrels and mouth as it was transferred into the statues.
They stopped screaming and hung limp as the blue substance was fully transferred into the statues.
The statue's eyes began glowing red as they each took a step forward.
One blocked the way to the hall. And the other blocked the way they came.
One of the statues held a very large stone axe, while the other held a sword.
"Amazing, the chakra and very soul of those two ninja were transferred into those statues bringing them to life." Lee stated more fascinated then afraid.
"The work of Orochimaru, no doubt." Shino spoke cooly.
"What do we do now! We're trapped." Hinata said worridly as she clung to Naruto's arm.
They all turned their heads as the statue blocking the hallway moved to the side.
"What the-" Kiba said as they all looked down at the ground and saw a black trail leading from the statue to Shikamaru.
"I'll hold them off, you guys go." he said straining to keep the statue away from the entrance.
Naruto nodded as he began towards the entrance.
The other statue let out a roar as it charged towards them.
It suddenly came crashing to the ground as they all turned to see what happend.
Shino was standing there with his arms outstretched. His bugs had formed a trip rope and caused the beast to fall to the ground.
Shino looked over his shoulder at Shikamaru. "You can't do this alone." he said in his monotone voice.
"You guys go ahead. We'll be fine." Shikamaru said as they nodded and ran off dissapearing down the hallway.
Shikamaru broke his hold as the statue blocked the entrance again and the other statue stood.
Both statue's closed in on them.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru said with a sigh.
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"We're getting closer!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru let out a loud bark.
Akamaru had grown very large and his bark almost made the walls shake.
Naruto sped up at hearing this. His hand clenched into a fist. He was more eager than ever.
"Stop!" Neji yelled as they all skidded to a hault and looked at Neji questiongly.
"What Neji! What is it?" Naruto asked looking around, but he didn't sense anything out of the ordinary.
"Hinata, look. " Neji said walking forward.
Hinata nodded. "I see it." she replied.
"What!" Naruto said impatiently.
"Chakra strings." Neji said pointing to what appeared as empty space.
"Chakra strings?" Tenten asked confused.
"Yes, they are composed of chakra to obtain chakra." Neji said.
The others looked confused.
"In other words, if you touch it, it drains you of all your chakra in an instant and you die." Hinata explained more fully.
"This isn't good." Kakashi said with a sigh.
"Hmm..maybe we can pass this. There might be faults in the strings that I can break." Neji said taking another cautious step forward.
"Byakugan!" he yelled as veins protruded around his eyes as he could see the strings better and in more detail.
He spotted the faults as he turned and looked at Hinata.
"There's too many for me to cut on my own." he said in his monotone voice.
Hinata nodded as she walked up and stood beside him a few feet.
"Byakugan!" She yelled as veins protruded around her eyes as well and she too spotted the faults.
"This will use up a lot of our chakra, but we're the only one's that can do it. On my mark." Neji said looking at Hinata then back in front of him.
Hinata nodded as she got ready.
"Now!" he yelled as he began making hand signs. Hinata did the same. Suddenly their hands began moving extremly fast it was just a blur. They moved in unisen. It looked like they were striking plain air.
Several minutes passed when finally they stopped. They both collapsed to the ground.
Naruto ran forward catching Hinata, as Tenten ran forward and caught Neji falling to the ground with him.
"Hinata. Hinata wake up." Naruto said shaking Hinata. "C'mon Hinata.." he said shaking her more violently.
"Neji-kun..Neji-kun can you hear me.." Tenten said lightly slapping the side of his face.
"They're fine. They're just drained of their chakra. Now c'mon, we have to keep moving." Kakashi said turning to leave.
"But.." Tenten protested.
"What about them?" Naruto asked looking up.
"We have to leave them, they'll be fine." Kakashi said looking at them with a reassuring smile.
Naruto sighed as he and Tenten stood.
"C'mon Kiba, lead the way." Naruto said.
Kiba nodded as him and Akamaru ran forward, Naruto,Kakashi,Tenten and Lee following.
Once out of sight, three figures approached the unconcious siblings as they let out a snicker.
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They ran and stopped as the stone hallway broke off into two seperate directions.
"Now what.." Tenten asked looking at both the right and left path.
"Kiba?" Naruto asked looking at Kiba and Akamaru.
They both sniffed the air.
"She's this way!" Kiba yelled as he ran down the left path. They all followed.
After about twenty minutes of running they stopped.
They had arrived at another iron gate. Above the gate were several buttons, if you will.
To the sides of the small room were three doors.
"For that gate to open, all those switches must be hit at the same time directly in the centre. If we are off or miss by even a millimeter this gate will be double sealed and we will have no chances of getting through." Kakashi said examing the situation.
"And those doors, what are they for?" Naruto asked looking at all six doors.
Kakashi shrugged. "That, I don't know." he said looking at them as well.
"If it's a direct hit you need, leave it to me. " Tenten said with a smile as she stood back and got into position.
Just then, the doors opened as sound nin poured out from them.
"Oh no." Kiba said as they surrounded them.
"We have to protect Tenten!" Kakashi yelled.
"But once the gate's opened, they'll follow us!" Naruto yelled back.
"I'll keep them busy." Lee said standing tall.
"Lee.." Naruto said looking at him.
"Don't worry, me and Tenten make a good team." he said with the nice guy pose.
"Tenten, are you ready?" Kakashi asked.
Tenten nodded as she pulled out a scroll. She threw it into the air as it spiralled upwards. She jumped up in the middle of it as she placed her hands on certain symbols and different weapons appeared. She threw them all at the buttons as they were all hit in the direct centre at the same time.
The gate began to open as Lee blocked the sound nin.
"Go!" he yelled while he was fighting.
Kiba,Akamaru,Kakahi and Naruto nodded as they all ran through the gate and it closed behind them.
"Be safe, Lee." Naruto said looking back at the gate as the continued on.
They stopped as they reached a large wooden door.
"Her scent is strong, she's on the other side of that door." Kiba said as Akamaru barked.
"Let's waste no time, c'mon!" Naruto yelled as they ran to the door.
They suddenly skidded to a stop.
"We never imagined you would get this far." A figure said as it stood in front of the door blocking their path.
"You underestimated us." Naruto said clutching his hand into a fist.
"Ah, so it would seem." The figure said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "However, this is as far as you go." he said with a smirk.
"I don't think so..Kabuto." Kakashi said as he glared at him.
Kabuto let out a wicked laugh. "Come now Kakashi, you don't really think you're going to stop me."
Kakashi lifted his hand as he pulled up his forehead protector. "Naruto, you and Kiba go and save Sakura." Kakashi said as he glared at Kabuto.
"But Kakashi-sensai what about you." Naruto asked worridly.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine just go." Kakashi said
"Kakashi-sensai, we can stay and help you defeat Kabuto together." Naruto suggested.
"There just isn't enough time, now go Naruto!" Kakashi commanded as he threw kunai at Kabuto who moved out of the way dodging them.
Kiba and Akamaru ran towards the door. "Naruto, c'mon!" he yelled.
Naruto reluctantly followed.
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The entered the room as they stopped and looked around. It was dark and cold. There was an echo of water dropping.
"Over there!" Kiba yelled as Naruto turned his attention to where Kiba was pointing.
"Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he ran forward. He looked up at her, she was chained to a wall.
"N-naruto." she said weakly.
"Sakura! It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here. Just hang on." Naruto said as he reached upwards to free her.
Akamaru began to growl as he sensed other presences. Kiba noticed it as well.
He opened his mouth to yell to Naruto as he felt a pain at the back of his neck and he collapsed.
Akamaru felt pain all over his body as he had been hit with multiple tranquilizers.
Naruto didn't notice as he continued to try and free Sakura.
He finally free'd her as she fell forward and he caught her.
Sakura began to laugh wickedly as Naruto looked at her confused.
"Sakura-chan are you al-" he stopped upon feeling a sudden pain in his abdomen.He looked down to see Sakura holding a poisoned kunai stabbed into his abdomen."S-sakura-chan.." Naruto said as he stumbled backwards, the poison taking effect.
"Oh dearest Naruto." Sakura said as she began changing form.
Naruto eyes widend. "Orochimaru."
Orochimaru began to laugh. "Why yes, it is I." he said licking his lips. "It looks like you have fallen for my little trap."
"Where..where is Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he stumbled backwards.
Orochimaru began laughing again. "Don't worry, the little cherry blossom is safe...for now." he said with a smirk as the wall behind him began to rotate and on it was Sakura, chained up.
"Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he collapsed to his knee's.
The wall behind Naruto began to rotate as he slowly turned and looked. His eyes widened when he saw all his comrades chained up.
He watched as a few sound nin chained up Kiba and Akamaru.
"No.." Naruto said weakly as he leaned forwards on his hands for support.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, you will be joining them shortly. It's only a matter of seconds before the poison takes effect."
"Sakura-chan.." Naruto's vision became blurry as he looked up at Sakura once last time before collapsing to the ground.
Orochimaru let out another wicked laugh as the sound nin picked up Naruto and chained him to the wall as well.
"Kabuto, it's time to put part two in motion. Now that all of Konoha's finest ninja are trapped and await their watery graves, prepare the troops. The days of Konoha..are over." Orochimaru said with a smirk as he and Kabuto dissapeared.
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The door swung open as the dark figure looked around examining the room. He took a few steps in as he noticed the Konoha shinobi chained to the wall. He shook his head as he turned and focused on the pink haired kunoichi chained to the opposite wall across the room. He slowly made his way over to her as he stood in front of her.
He examined her. She was bleeding and bruised. Her head hung low as he pink locks fell in front of her face.He let out a sigh as he placed his hand on her cheek and lifted her head a bit.
I knew this would happen.
I never should've let her go.
I never should've said what I did.
I could've stopped all this..
All she ever did was love me..
And I..
I just ignored her feelings..
Ignored my feelings...
He thought to himself as he pulled his hand back and Sakura's head fell forward once more. He let out another sigh as he lifted his hands to free her when he was suddenly stopped by a barrier of sand.
He turned his head to the side and saw the source of this barrier.
End Flasback.
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Author's notes: Welp, there ya have it folks. Another chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one. I'm going to start on the next one ASAP. An epic battle, Sasuke VS Gaara. who will win the fight? More importantly, who will win Sakura's heart..DUN DUN DUN DUNNNN ! BWHA. review.