Don't shoot me yet.

Read the chapter. Then shoot.

Coming across Suigetsu had been nothing more than an accident, which later proved a blessing for Sakura. The water-user's snarky humour and his ability to find something to laugh about regardless the situation had been a great stress-diffuser when the doubts about her plans regarding Sasuke and Itachi had been the strongest. Due to that, Suigetsu was made aware of what made his 'favourite little pinkette' so depressed at times quite quickly. He understood that this wasn't a matter she could address with Sasuke, and thus had sworn to never speak of it if the Uchiha was near. He'd tried his best to provide Sakura with advice, even though he had never met Itachi, and could only try to guess how hard it was for the rosette from her descriptions of her bonds with both men.

It was in that small, dark room or even dungeon, bare of anything which suggested it was ever used, save for the great water tank in which Suigetsu was locked in, where Sakura had come to the best ways of overcoming her ever-growing loyalty tests.

But now, as she ran top-speed to get to the lab as fast as she could, the pinkette had to forcefully banish the anxiety and worry which washed over her every time she thought of the Uchiha brothers.

Now wasn't the time to worry about her personal problems.
Now wasn't the time to play the Good Samaritan.

Now was the time to kill Orochimaru.

So she was going to be a bit selfish, whether people liked it or not.

"So, let me get this straight: we're going to free the rest of the freaks- I mean, prisoners-" he corrected himself at Sakura's scorching glare, "get our butts to Sasuke as fast as we can, then help him kick the Snake-bastard's scaly ass?"

Sakura stifled a sigh at the shark-nin's pathetically simplistic description. Sometimes she adored him for the easy, no-complications solutions, but on other times, his simplicity just pissed her off. She had just spent a good five minutes explaining the importance of precise timing and speed to their job, only for him to sum it up in one measly sentence. It was agitating.

"Yes, Suigetsu-kun." She hissed through gritted teeth, "That's exactly what we're going to do."

"Then you could've said so at the start!"

All professionalism gone, Sakura allowed herself to deck the obnoxious ninja in the face. Hard.

When they finally got to the room where Sakura sensed Sasuke was, she told the shark-nin to wait outside. The following battle was to be between the Orochimaru, her and Sasuke only.

The pinkette didn't doubt Suigetsu's obvious skill with a blade, didn't doubt the fact that he would've been a formidable opponent if she ever ended up fighting against him, but he just didn't know Sasuke as well as she did.

Plus she liked the obnoxious water-nin too much to have him die because he was too slow to dodge Sasuke's attack if it backfired.

Back to the matter at hand… It's time to play!

And as she strolled into the room with her chin held high and adrenaline pulsing through her veins, she swore that she would never let her precious people be taken away from her side.

And definitely not by a bastard like Orochimaru or Tobi… or even my father.

Orochimaru's genjutsu had been one of the most terrifying things Sakura had ever experienced.

That moment of insecurity when her and Sasuke were both trapped in the goo-like body transfer jutsu with no visible way out – that was when Sakura had to shamefully admit that she'd stopped believing that Sasuke's plan would succeed.

But when he turned to her, and she saw in his eyes the same cocky glint she always saw, and realised that he knew she doubted him; her fears melted away. And when he spoke those five words which were filled to the brim with confidence, her smirk replicated his.

"Show him what you've got."

Sakura nodded and turned to face the snake sannin.

"There's something I've never told you before." She closed her eyes, and as she reopened them, the grey rings of Rinnegan had replaced her previously emerald orbs. "I was never as helpless as you thought. SHINRAI TENSEI!"

The whole illusion was blasted away with the power of her Almighty Push, and Sasuke had made sure that once the snake sannin fell, he would never stand again.

Once they walked out, Sakura couldn't help but still feel insecure. Something just wasn't right. She found out what that was the moment they stepped out to the corridor.

Suigetsu stood in the middle of the hallway, his stance tense and his sword grasped tightly in his hands. His purple eyes were narrowed in a glare – at Kabuto.

Sakura paled. She was no fool. She knew that Kabuto was crazy about power – maybe even more so than the snake sannin. The rosette also didn't doubt his medical abilities or the kind of man he was.

Kabuto was scum. And having more than a fair share of experiences with less than honourable men, Sakura had no doubts about what his next move will be. But she couldn't let it happen.

She noticed that Sasuke was saying something to the medic-nin but she didn't register his words. All she knew was that she had to stop the bastard.

And stop him she did.

Just when they turned around to walk away, and she felt Kabuto move closer to the room they'd just exited, she spun around and shot three chakra-armed kunai into his back. Then, without giving him a chance to retaliate, she pulled out her sword from its sheath, and in one, swift movement sliced his head off.

"That's for the mark on my hand, you bastard. I'm not the same person I was at the Chunin Exams, but you, of course, were too stupid to realise that, weren't you?" she whispered to the corpse.

In her peripheral vision she saw Suigetsu grimace at the head that lolled on the floor, but she paid it no heed. Still, with Sasuke's burning gaze boring a metaphorical black hole into her back, and as the seriousness of what she just did caught up with her, Sakura felt the need to explain herself.

"He would've collected everything he could from the snake-bastard and injected it into himself. One creepy paedophilic sannin on the run is enough… Right, Sasuke?" she finished, her voice growing weaker as she drew to an end.

The raven just stared at her while Suigetsu was doing his best to keep his jaw off the ground.

Suddenly, Sasuke wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. "Tell me, why I can't ever stay angry with you?" he murmured into the pinkette's hair.

"Because deep down, you know I'm right." Sakura replied.

"Let's just get out of here." Sasuke said after a beat of silence. "Sakura, you know your job."

The rosette smirked in response. "Time to blow shit up."

In a few minutes the entire base was levelled with the ground. "Che. Orochimaru doesn't stand a chance against a few explosive tags."

As they stood amongst the ruins of what had been their home for more than three years, Sakura was doing her best to keep her tears at bay. She knew that the time would come when she'd have to say goodbye to Sasuke, but it came too quickly, and she wasn't ready.

But there was nothing Sakura could do about that, so she kept smiling, pretending to be okay, although they both knew she wasn't.

Suigetsu kept glancing between Sakura and Sasuke, a clueless expression on his handsome face. "Why do both of you look like you're about to cry? We beat the snake-bastard, didn't we? Be happy, damnit!"

Sakura just smiled as she stepped forward and hugged the white-haired male, her short hair barely brushing his chin. "Goodbye, Sui-kun. Take care." She muttered into his chest.

The shark-nin stiffened. "G-Goodbye?" he croaked out. "What the hell are you on about?!"

Seeing that Sakura was in no state to explain anything, Sasuke took the matters into his own hands. "Sakura is not coming with us." When he saw the water-nin was about to protest, he quickly continued. "When Sakura and I first met, we each had our own destinies which we had to pursue. We worked together in order to bring us closer to fulfilling them. Now that the time has come, it's time to go our separate ways… And make our dreams a reality." Sasuke's voice broke at the end. Second time in less than three hours, he pulled Sakura into his side and buried his face in her choppy hair. "This isn't goodbye forever. Remember that."

"I will." Sakura whispered, and, climbing onto her tiptoes, kissed Sasuke on the tip of his nose.

A second later, she was gone.

They stood in silence, staring into the forest for what felt like an eternity, before Suigetsu broke the silence.

"Are you seriously going to let her disappear, just like that?" he questioned incredulously.

Without taking his eyes away from the trees, Sasuke replied. "Someone once told me: if you love something, let it free. If it comes back, it was meant to be." He stood still for a moment longer, before he turned to Suigetsu, his trademark smirk back on. "Let's go. We've given Itachi enough head start."

It's been two hours since they killed Orochimaru, one hour and fifty-fife minutes since she beheaded Kabuto, one hour forty-eight minutes since she kissed Sasuke, and one hour and a half since she ran away, leaving them behind.

And not even a second went by without her worrying if she made the right choice.

I did. I must've. I killed Orochimaru and Kabuto. I freed Suigetsu. I'm on my way to find Pein and fulfil my own destiny like I promised the Sage all those years ago. And… I kept my promise to Sasuke – I didn't follow him. Although… I think I shouldn't have kept it.

Then why are you still running?

Sakura almost jumped out of her skin, losing her grip on the branch and tumbling down. Only years of practice and excellent chakra control saved her from colliding head-first with the hard forest floor. Letting her feet drop to the grass, she tried regaining her balance; when that proved unsuccessful, the rosette slid down to a sitting position, back propped up against a tree.

What the hell?!

Have you forgotten me already?

It's kind of hard to forget a voice in your head!

You've always been an exception.

You-! Get out of my head so I can kill you!

I'd rather not.

You crazy, ancient, insane bastard.

From a normal person's point of view, you're the insane one. You're arguing with a voice in your head.

Sakura didn't have a reply for that. She was suddenly reminded of what she was thinking before the Sage made his painfully annoying presence known.

Have I made the right choice?

I can't tell you that. However, I think you already know.

I wish I knew. All I know is that continuing forward gets me closer to Pein. But it takes me away from the two most important people in my life; one which, if I continue going, will undoubtedly die… And then there's that promise I made to Sasuke…

You've never cared about promises before. And Sakura, I've waited a long time for someone to take out Nagato. I can wait a few days more.

You mean…?

Go back.

…I will.

As she stood up, she gazed at the sky, a smile gracing her features.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I've always been bad at following orders."

And, with a renewed determination, she ran back where she came from, hell-bent on keeping both of the Uchihas alive. After all, she had always loved them.

Okay. Now you can shoot.

I can't even begin to explain how guilty I feel for not updating for four months.

FOUR MONTHS!

Holidays, illness, writer's block – everything piled onto itself, creating one, big monster called 'I CAN'T' – trust me, I wanted to update , but I physically COULDN'T.

I was away from my house for most of the holidays, and when I was in, I was obsessing over the awesomeness of K-pop and too busy drooling over SHINee videos to even attempt to cure my writer's block.

Yes, I know, I've been a bad author.

Also, I would like to explain something else;

For those who thought Orochimaru was taken down too easily-

In Shippuden, when Sasuke fought him, he seemed to have control over the genjutsu from the very beginning. So, while Sasuke and his Sharingan took care of the, for lack of better word, 'technicalities' of the genjutsu, Sakura took care of its 'physical' state. And if Pein's Almighty Push had enough power to completely flatten Konoha, I decided that Sakura wouldn't have a problem with blowing away a bit of goo. Hence, Orochimaru's short, yet embarrassing defeat.

Also, Kabuto.

Those of you who'd been with this story from the very beginning would've probably guessed, since I had made it public knowledge, that I absolutely fuckinghateloathedespise the four-eyed piece- of- shit-that- should- go- die- in- a-hole- because- that's- the- only- thing –he-can-do fucktard Kabuto.

Ehem. Excuse that.

From the beginning, I had made Sakura to be smart. Staying in Akatsuki, she had had dealings with criminals, traitors, liars and people who could sweet-talk to you in one second, and have a kunai shoved into your stomach in the next. Which, in turn, gave her the ability to analyse Kabuto's personality. Being a medic-nin, she was also aware of his skills, and therefore knew what he was capable of. I think it's easy to draw the conclusion she did, if you have the right mind and a bit of common sense.

Which she did.

Ergo, bye-bye creepy snake-wannabe.

And if you think the way she killed him was brutal, well, tough toenail darlings, but it was the only fool-proof method of making sure that when he's dead, he'll stay dead.

That's it for now, but I promise the next chappie will come out in a week, maybe two.

And you know what that chapter will be?

The Uchiha Brothers Final Face-Off!

~Arigato & Bye Bye!

-Invincible Shadow