AN: Okay, there are no words for how sorry I am for not updating for 30 days. Please, please forgive me. But writer's block is not exactly easy to kill -faints- Anyway, this chapter's longish by my standards and it contains the explanation you've all been waiting for... so, without further ado, here's the next chapter: Evoke!

Over the next few days, Sasuke became less and less vocal, to the point where he and Sakura didn't talk at all. Meals were when the person currently in front dropped down to the ground and tossed the other a roll. They'd eat in silence, quickly, then start again.

They stopped briefly in Tanzaku Gai. Sakura tried to delay them. She wanted to see if Neji and TenTen really would be there—but it looked like they'd given up. Sakura wasn't sure how she felt. She wasn't sure why she'd tipped off Neji and TenTen at all. Either way, Sasuke's despicable genjutsu had probably scared them off. Oh well. Perhaps Sakura had just wanted a break in the monotony of just leaping from tree…to tree…to tree… running across a clearing… and then leaping again. She really wanted to learn space-time jutsu.

As they walked through the streets, it was apparent that her and Sasuke's transformation jutsu were effective. They knew their faces would be recognized across the Fire Country, so they changed their appearances. Since Tanzaku Gai had no ninja, there was nobody to see through the obvious illusion. They were just two civilians walking along, one man with straight brown hair and brown eyes and a woman just as generic. Their faces were entirely average. The idea was to draw absolutely no attention to them. Sasuke was against stopping in Tanzaku Gai in the first place, but Sakura reminded him that though he was accustomed to going hungry, she was not, and she needed food in order to complete the mission effectively. So that's how they ended up in the market, using what little ryo they had to pay for a few fruits and cheap rolls. Sasuke was wearing a scowl as she cheerfully thanked the vender and started to eat, her stomach praising her.

"Where did the food we brought go anyway?" Sasuke inquired darkly. If he kept being so… so… Sasuke-like, it would give them away.

"Lost it," Sakura mumbled through her roll, entirely covering up the fact that she'd left it for the Konoha nin she'd hoped would pursue them.

"Some ninja," he muttered.

Sakura just laughed and tossed him a tomato. Of course he caught it, glowered at it, then grudgingly ate it. Sakura knew he was having a hard time controlling an expression of utter delight—he'd always loved tomatoes. Just imagining Sasuke with a grin on his face, munching away at the red fruit (A/N it is a fruit right?), made her giggle out loud—most unlike the dark person she was in Orochimaru's lair. It was much more difficult to act evil when there was a lovely sun shining down, people chatting around her, and a delicious apple in her hand. Her causes were still intact, but what she'd thought to be hatred had evaporated. She'd tried to be like Sasuke, tried to be dark and emotionless, but now she realized that she couldn't be a copy of him forever. She would find her own ways to cope with what she knew she had to do. She bitterly reminded herself of that night—and it had been in this very village too…

She was on a mission with Yamato, Naruto, and Sai. They were in Tanzaku Gai, just passing through. Sakura had been out for a stroll during the night, unable to sleep. She had jogged a few laps around the village when she sensed a dark chakra coming from an alley. Wait, chakra? Only ninja had chakra, and Tanzaku Gai had no ninja. And this chakra wasn't from any of her teammates—it was unfamiliar and almost sinister. Sakura was barefoot, having left her sandals back at the inn. She masked her own chakra, and inched toward the alley.

"D—don't hurt her! I've moved on, I have a husband now! She's his, not yours, and you have no right!"

"You know you can't resist me. I'm the only one for you. And if you don't shut your trap, I'll kill that brat."

A shriek.

Sakura jumped into battle mode, and moved into the alley. A man with sandy blond hair was holding a kunai to the throat of a little girl with brown hair, and her mother, with the same hair, was in the corner, bleeding. The man was wearing a Wind forehead protector—with a slash through it. A rogue-nin. Sakura's eyes widened, but she forced herself to stay in the shadows, to not be seen.

"You sick freak! I hate you!"

The man pressed the kunai closer to his hostage's throat. "Shut up!"

Instinct took control of Sakura, and she leaped out of the shadows, grabbing the man in a headlock and squeezing. "Don't make another move, you disgusting excuse for a ninja. Release the girl."

The man grinned—and tightened his grip and sliced the neck of the child. A fatal blow. "NO!" Sakura and the woman screamed at once. Sakura raised a fist and punched the man into the wall. He was out cold. Stones crumbled over his head. The woman was sobbing. Sakura knelt by the girl, tears threatening to spill from her own eyes as she flooded her hands with chakra. She pumped everything she could into saving the girl, but it was no use; she'd lost too much blood, the artery was severed, and she had no pulse. Sakura cried as she continued healing with everything she had. If she'd been stronger… she could have stopped him. If she'd mentally been stronger, she would have incapacitated him before he could hurt the girl…

Sakura had never thought herself capable of killing. Injuring was all good, but to take someone's life… she had never thought she'd be able to handle it. Naruto had never killed anyone either—why should she? But now, she felt a rage she'd never known before. That man had killed an innocent girl—right in front of her—with no gain for himself. She lifted her bloodied hands, knowing it was useless. She stalked over to the man, who was barely waking up. "You," she hissed. "You bastard. You abandoned your village to pursue somebody who has no interest in you. You murdered an innocent child."

The man let out a toothy grin.

Sakura rammed her fist into his nose, forcing it back into his brain. Death was immediate. It was far less painful than he deserved.

She turned to the woman, expecting gratitude or sobs. But she seemed just as furious as Sakura. "It's your fault," she said in a broken voice. "If you hadn't… if you'd let him have his way with me, she'd still be alive!"

It was more painful than any physical blow.

She was still so weak. She still couldn't save lives—and she had just been responsible for ending two.

"I hate you," the woman said again.

Sakura snapped.

If ending lives was all she could do, so be it.

There was another piercing scream.

When she stumbled back into the inn, Naruto was waiting for her. The moment she entered, he yelled, "Sakura-chan! Are you alright? Who hurt you? I'll pummel him!"

Sakura realized her hands were still covered in blood. "I'm fine," she said, and collapsed in her bed.

"Ne? Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!"

"I said I'm fine, Naruto," she repeated, closing her eyes. She just wanted to sleep. "I'm a med-nin, I would know…"

The solution, as she saw it, was simple. She needed more power.

When they got back to the leaf, she gave her report to the hokage, omitting her venture. The next day, Haruno Sakura disappeared without a trace, but for a note that said she was going away.

She'd ended three lives that night. She'd known she was prepared to end more.

She was already a step ahead of Naruto.

It was useless to pretend to herself that she didn't care about Konoha. She did. But right now, if she ever wanted to defend it, she'd have to become stronger, and it was true that a month or so training with Orochimaru had helped her progress more than any other period in her life. It killed her to act like she didn't care about her friends, but it was the only way they would accept her turning to what they called the "dark side".

She glanced up from her thoughts, realizing that since she'd finished her roll, she was gnawing away at her fingers. Sasuke was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, half of his tomato still in his hand. Sakura let out a nervous giggle. "Right then… I guess we should go now."

With a wordless agreement, they leaped from the spot in a flash. Anybody who'd been looking their way probably thought they had imagined the couple. There wasn't anything interesting about them anyway.

Sakura and Sasuke landed in the trees, south of Tanzaku Gai. Sakura breathed in the fresh scent as they both lifted their hands and, with a "Kai!" released their illusions.

Sakura watched as Sasuke's familiar scowl took place. But there was more than just anger. Sakura could tell now—he was repressing something too. The way he'd broken briefly at the Valley of the End, the way he'd been so conflicted over her curse seal—Sasuke wasn't pure evil either.

Still, Sakura knew he was not the same boy he once was when he dropped the tomato onto the ground.

"I need to relieve myself," Sakura said. "Go on without me; I'll find you."

Sasuke shrugged and obliged, running off southwest.

Sakura picked up the tomato. Tossed it up into the air, caught it. The juices from where Sasuke had bitten at it flowed out onto her hand. She'd once entertained thoughts of saving Sasuke, like Naruto, but now she could see… Sasuke didn't need saving. He was perfectly in control of his situation. Who knew—maybe he could actually kill Orochimaru. Maybe that was his plan. Still, Sasuke confused her. She knew his brother had slaughtered the clan, but something was off. Why would his brother do that? Did Sasuke ever even question the motives? The Uchiha clan didn't have a history of mental illness, and while some of them had the capability to kill off the clan, nobody saw fit to go through with it. So why did Uchiha Itachi, who, according to Kakashi, was peace-loving… murder his family and the ones he loved? And the most important question of all: why did he leave Sasuke alive?

Sakura squeezed, and what remained of the tomato exploded in her fist, running out and dripping to the ground. Well, she had a date with Akatsuki. Maybe she'd find out a bit more.

Till then, she knew she had to maintain a grudging alliance with Sasuke. She had to act cold and not… annoying, as he would put it. Well, she'd have to see if she could survive another few days of utter monotony.

The night before they would leave Fire Country, when Sakura was coming back to camp from a bath in a nearby lake, TenTen found her.

Sakura had whispered to her that they were going southwest, but how could she have found them? Especially since… "What happened to Neji?" Sakura asked, as TenTen lazily circled her as though she were prey. Still, Sakura knew she had the upper hand—TenTen was tired, beaten, and dirty while she was rejuvenated from her bathing.

"He gave up," TenTen replied warily.

"Pretty smart of him."

"Why did you tell me where you were going?"

"Because I wanted to give you a fighting chance—the Leaf's Will of Fire wouldn't let you give up so easily, and you'd just get yourself killed otherwise."

"Why do you care?"

"Just because I'm not your friend anymore doesn't mean I want you dead."

"Your murdering Lee says otherwise!" Sakura could tell TenTen was trying to buy time, to regain her breath. Hn, let her. "Why, Sakura? Why did you leave? If you can give me a satisfactory answer… I'll leave you alone."

"Pfft. As if. You won't leave without achieving your goal unless you are forced to. As for Lee…I'm…sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen." Sakura's tone was earnest, but TenTen was appalled at how lightly Sakura was taking the matter. Didn't she feel guilty at all?

"You're avoiding the question. Was it because of Sasuke?"

"I left because I was tired of the village being so weak. I achieved a lot more under Orochimaru-sama"—she bit out the suffix reluctantly—"than in all my life in the leaf."

"Our ninja don't have to be powerhouses because we work as teams!" TenTen argued. "Teamwork is what makes us strong, and our companionship! Bonds, as I hear that Sai kid put it!"

"Ah, yes. How's Sai doing? Does he still call me ugly?"

"He's just fine," TenTen spat out. "You're avoiding the question again."

"I gave you my answer," Sakura shrugged.

"It doesn't make sense. There's more to it. Sasuke is involved, isn't he?"

Sasuke was getting worried. Sakura was usually a quick bather, and it wasn't like her to take this long. They had already delayed too much. Grumbling about burdens, he stalked toward the lake, when he heard Sakura angrily saying,

"Sasuke has nothing to do with it. Hell, he pretty much hates me for interrupting his life."

"I knew it!" another voice crowed. "You still have feelings for him! Psht, fickle, aren't you? I guess that little moment with Naruto before you left—ahahahah! You think you can save the bastard!"

There was a schlik—a kunai was being drawn. "Sasuke is a damn good ninja. He doesn't need saving. And there was nothing between Naruto and me either. Now, your ploy to regain your bearings has succeeded, because I let it—so are you ready, TenTen?"

"You still haven't given me a satisfactory answer, Sakura. But I can see you never will. I can take you!"

"Yes, but can you take both of us?" Sasuke asked, stepping out of the shadows.

Sakura was pissed that Sasuke was getting involved in her fight. He noticed, and nodded. "We can't afford to stop. We're already behind schedule. Convince her to stop or let me kill her quickly."

Sakura looked at TenTen. She sighed. In a flash, she was throwing a smoke bomb, running toward TenTen, and drawing back her fist. She landed a punch straight to the temple. TenTen was out cold.

"Can you restrain her with something?"

Sasuke clapped his hands together reluctantly, and vines clamped down on TenTen.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Sasuke immediately leaped off, annoyed at having wasted so much time. Sakura pulled a summoning scroll from her backpack, and summoned one of Konoha's messenger birds. She wrote a message on one of the large leaves native to this part of the Fire Country with her nails, detailing TenTen's location. She didn't bother leaving a signature. She rolled it up, strapped it to the bird's leg, and sent it off. Then she hurried after Sasuke.

Ino landed another punch to Shikamaru. Both of them were somewhat lacking in Taijutsu, so it only made sense that they would train together. It was a wonder she'd managed to get his lazy ass up enough to make him spar with her. He'd been surprised—Ino was the type of girl to worry more about her hair than her ninja skills—but agreed after a bit of prodding.

At first, Shikamaru had assumed Ino needed something to beat up, pissed about losing to Sakura. But then he realized that she was genuinely keeping an eye on the fight, on his body language, and covering areas she'd left open before. Whenever he'd land a blow, Ino would make sure nothing could be landed there again. She was actually training, actually learning. Shikamaru realized that Ino was prettyl in battle—way more attractive than she was with makeup applied and hair let down. Without that fake smile, her hair pinned up, brows furrowed in concentration, Ino was the first girl Shikamaru had seen to be beautiful in his whole life.

He winced and fell when her fist connected with his jaw. There could be no doubt about it; their taijutsu was, at this point, practically equal. After all, Shikamaru was a Chuunin for intellect, strategy, and his bloodline limit—not physical strength. Then he stopped, sensing a chakra coming toward them—slowly.

"Wait," he said seriously. "We're not alone." Ino stopped, and realized she felt it too. They both turned toward the presence.

Emerging from the woods was Neji Hyuuga, in a state they had never seen before: limping, haggard, bleeding everywhere, and hair cut to half its length.

"The bastards," he gasped. "There's someone…following… TenTen and…Sakura and Sasuke…" then he toppled forward and fell flat on his face, an arrow in his back.

Ino rushed over. The arrow had been in there for a long time. He probably hadn't even noticed it—she knew all about the byakugan and its blind spot. But judging by the purpling skin around it, it was poisoned. Who the hell had done this to one of the village's best?!

"This took longer than I expected," Sasuke said the night before they would enter Suna as they laid down their sleeping bags. "By now, Suna has probably heard of your desertion. Tomorrow, we'll go back to the disguises we used in Tanzaku Gai, but with Sand robes. You'll be… Taira, and I'll be Heiiji. Our goal is to locate the kazekage and perform surveillance. You'll be on the lookout for Akatsuki, and I'll attempt to infiltrate the kazekage's office. Orochimaru told us the descriptions and probably locations of these rings we are to locate. Then we'll deal with the issue of the Hachibi."

"How are we going to get an audience with the kazekage?"

"We don't need an audience," Sasuke said emotionlessly. "We'll force our way in. Is your transformation genjutsu up to par to take on the form of a guard once we take two out?"

"Of course it is!" Sakura snorted. "I was a master of academy jutsu, you know. Not that you ever paid any attention to me."

"…"

"But then, I suppose I wasn't worth notice to the high and mighty Sasuke Uchiha, was I?"

"…"

"Okay, sorry. I guess you must have been too busy training to kill you brother. Who, by the way, we might get to meet in the near future. Do you really think you're ready for this? I could go after Akatsuki on my own if"—

"—you talk too much."

Miffed, Sakura tossed a handful of sand at him so as to make his sleeping bag rough and annoying to sleep in. Then she closed her eyes and slept.

AN: FIRST. I don't know whether I'm going to go with ShikaIno or ShikaTema. I haven't had a preference for a while. So, readers, which should I go with? It won't be a major aspect in the story, but I'd just like to know for reference.

So now, there's a second person pursuing TenTen and the Sound duo, somebody who can beat Neji up. Sakura and Sasuke are still grudgingly allies. Sakura is realizing she doesn't have enough hate. And we learn one of the reasons why Sakura went to Orochimaru! Key phrase one of. This is not going to be simple guys XD Hope you're ready for it!

I have a good idea of where this is all going, but I've already taken suggestions from reviewers so you guys ARE affecting the tide of the story! And I love you guys for giving me the motivation to break out of writer's block!

Next chapter should be up -much- sooner. Hopefully. Don't lose hope in me yet!