AN: In this chapter, we find out what happened the night Sakura left! Enjoy! Unfortunately, it also features Attack of the O.C.s. Don't worry, they're minor roles. Also, this chappy is HUGE and maybe boring, so...sit back, sip some blood-I mean water- and enjoy. Or run screaming for your life; you can do that too.

"The best way to handle this is to split up," Sakura told Sasuke. "Your lightning-style is good against Deidara's Earth. My strength and knowledge of poison can take out Sasori."

"But if Sasori catches you with another poison weapon, you're finished," Sasuke countered. They paused the debate as they dodged another round of kunai.

"He won't catch me," Sakura said, sounding more confident than she was. "Besides… if he catches me at all, I'm finished regardless of whether you're here or not. That was my last antidote. Any other issues?"

"I can't walk," Sasuke pointed out, wincing as he attempted to lift his injured leg.

Sakura knew the Akatsuki wouldn't let her get only closer to Sasuke—whenever she moved to heal him, they tried to blow him up—so she used a technique she'd seen Kabuto use on a patient who wouldn't let anyone near him. Remote healing. It drained a lot more chakra, but it was worth it—she didn't necessarily need physical contact to heal minor to slightly serious injuries. Contact was always an asset but in this case not an option.

"That's about all the chakra I can spare," Sakura said.

Sasuke nodded—and he immediately activated the curse seal. Sakura looked at him sharply as he sprouted wings and his skin grayed.

With the wings, he flew up to Deidara's clay bird. They grappled, and the bird flew out of control, taking them a kilometer away after a while, and continued getting farther.

Sakura readied herself. She'd memorized the patterns of attack Sasori's puppets used while fighting all of those some time ago. So as she charged, she knew the right moments to leap aside from a kunai. Compared to the hundreds of puppets, where she had to look every direction at once, this was almost a piece of cake. The only issue was that huge tail. She remembered Kabuto being speared through the chest with that. She'd barely been able to save him. She would not survive anything of those proportions.

She dodged the kunai, and grabbed the tail that attempted to spear her. She grabbed it, summoning up her inhuman strength, and used it to swing the puppet around a little then smash it into the ground. There was a crack. She followed it up with a punch and kick, and the shell shattered. She blindly grabbed the cloaked form and searched for a throat as the dust cleared. There was a metallic sound, however, and Sakura sensed a kunai had been pulled. She leaped back, not wanting to risk getting hit by that.

When the debris cleared, the shell was lying in shards around cloaked figure. It was pretty short, but of course standing up unlike the hunched puppet it had inhabited.

"Not bad, girl," the person said in a voice totally different from that of the gruff, hoarse puppet's voice. "You analyzed the attacks of my hundred puppets, knowing I had programmed them to attack as I would. Thus, I will have to change my entire method of attack. I wonder where you picked up brains. Certainly not with Orochimaru."

The voice was silky. The voice was sexy. The voice was…young.

"You don't sound as old as you should be, according to my research," Sakura mused aloud.

"That's right." The voice was smiling. Sasori turned around, and let down his hood. Sakura gasped. Smooth, ruffled red hair. Long eyelashes, narrow eyes, thin nose. Mouth a smirk.

"You're not Sasori of the Red Sand," she declared.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because you haven't aged a day since the nukenin picture in the Bingo Books."

Sasori smirked again. Sakura admitted it: it was a sexy smirk. She shook her head and tried to appear fierce. "How the hell did you do it? Not even Orochimaru was able to perfect an immortality jutsu!"

"That's for me to know and you to guess at," the about fifteen-year old man replied. But he wasn't twenty. He was at least thirty-five. It was insane… he left the Sand twenty years ago!

"You have knowledge of the human body," Sakura said. "Kabuto told me everything. You brainwashed him. That's a pretty experienced jutsu. Unfortunately, it turns out Kabuto was Orochimaru's man all along. You also were aiming for Kabuto's heart, but hit his sternum because he moved. You can fashion excellent poisons—I know this because it almost killed me and Sasuke. You can make puppets that can wield any weapon whatsoever… like senbon. You have a puppet that can aim senbon impeccably." It dawned on her. "I've been reading Orochimaru's scrolls… human puppets. You turned real, living humans into puppets. That's why they have such a wide range of skills. But none of them used jutsu…"

"No," Sasori agreed. "Those didn't."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and threw an experimental kunai. And opened her mouth to ask more. Then she heard a horrible clackclackclack from behind her.

Her eyes widened as she spun on her heels. The head—the head of the puppet she'd smashed—it was alive, hovering, and opening its mouth. Shit! Was the only thought Sakura could get out before those stupid poison spikes started flying at her. She tried to deflect them with kunai, but there were just too many, coming much too quickly.

It was point-black range.

Then she felt control wrested away from her, and she couldn't be more thankful as somehow her body dodged every single one, kunai coming up at just the right seconds to deflect a runaway. The spikes just kept on coming, but not a single one hit her. After they stopped, Sasori called, "Spry, aren't you?"

Trying to cover up her astonishment, Sakura smirked. "I've got more up my sleeve than you know. Although your little decapitated-attack was a little disorienting, I must admit."

Sasori mirrored the smirk. "In that case, girl, let's see you face… this puppet."

With a poof, there was a puppet hovering in the air, curled around Sasori. It had graying hair and amber, almost red eyes. "What is that?" Sakura asked suspiciously, taking a step back.

"You don't recognize him? I'm so disappointed," the puppet master mused. "To make a long story brief: this is your death."

Naruto wasn't quite sure why he was in the Hokage's office with Kakashi, Gai, TenTen, and Neji, and why Granny Tsunade was looking so apprehensive, but he figured something was about to change and he wasn't going to like it.

"Don't worry, it's not a mission," Tsunade said immediately. TenTen let out a breath she had been holding. Neji wasn't quite ready to fight on a mission yet—he was still bumping into objects that were less than three feet wide that didn't have chakra signatures. Naruto scowled.

Tsunade took a drink of sake. Nobody commented.

"Alright," she said. "This is about teams. Both of your teams have suffered…losses. So you are both short at least one man. Well, it's not traditional for teams of two and three to go on missions—ninja always travel in groups of four. So I was thinking maybe we could attempt to rebuild the teams.

"I've thought out a few possibilities. One: Naruto joins Team Gai to be the fourth person. His powerful ninjutsu and vast amounts of chakra coupled with TenTen's skill with weaponry and Neji's taijutsu will be a powerful combination. In this case, Kakashi would either take on a new team or go back to the ANBU." Tsunade took another drag of sake, then spoke again, allowing no argument.

"Two: Danzo of Root has offered to give us three people. Two could go with Kakashi and Naruto. One would stick with Team Gai. This way, we would once again have two teams."

"Three…we forget the teams. Neji, who is a jounin, can take on a team of his own if he wishes or join ANBU. TenTen as chuunin is qualified to teach at the academy. Naruto could take tests to finally make chuunin—since he is the only one in his year who is still a genin. If he makes chuunin, he can be an assistant to me or teach in the academy or be a village guard. Kakashi and Gai could join the ANBU or take on new teams. In other words, everybody would go their own way."

Tsunade took another draught and leaned back, signifying she was done speaking. "So. Thoughts? I need a decision today."

There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone eyed everyone else—or in Neji's case, as he appeared stoic because he couldn't exactly make eye contact through the bandages.

"I don't mind working with Neji and TenTen and Bushy-brow sensei," Naruto started, unaware of his disrespect to Gai, "but Kakashi-sensei's been teaching me a lot of things. And we fight well together. So it'd be better if I were on a team with him."

Another silence as everybody considered that Naruto had just had a rational thought.

"Surprisingly, Naruto has reason," Neji said. "Naruto has undergone an entirely different training from ours, and his own training will make it difficult for him to adapt to our team. A Root Member, if I may go by rumors I've heard, is almost a clean slate. They will adapt much more easily to our style."

"And the senseis?" Tsunade asked. "What do you think?"

"Neji makes an excellent point!" Gai agreed enthusiastically. "While Naruto's youthfulness would be an excellent addition, his lotus will take some time to blossom, and—"

"—and I don't really find the idea of going back to ANBU…agreeable," Kakashi said.

"Alright," Tsunade said, heaving a sigh much heavier than it should have been. "I've already chosen the Root members. They're about your age, but they've been trained differently. You'll find them…interesting, but hopefully to your liking. Come in!"

The door opened, and sure enough there were three people in the doorway. One was a pale boy with black hair and similar eyes, a sword hanging on his back. He had his eyes squinted up and tips of his lip raised in a sort of demented smile. Next to him was a girl with long, silver hair that reached past her shoulder blades. Her eyes were icy teal. Strapped across her back were a total of four swords, their hilts all different. Takeshi had a hood over his head, but a tuft of red hair stuck out. His eyes were the same shade of red. He didn't have any visible weapons. All in all, none of them looked particularly inviting.

"Meet Sai, Kohaku, and Takeshi," Tsunade said. "Sai and Kohaku will be with Team Kakashi. Takeshi, you are with Team Gai. That's all I have to say. Go get acquainted in the method of your choice." She took a final drag of sake until Shizune stepped into the room with some papers and yanked the bottle out of her master's hands.

There were footsteps behind Sakura again. She whirled, pulling a shuriken. From behind a rock stepped—an old lady?

However, Sasori seemed to recognize her. In fact, he chuckled. "So that's how the girl avoided the attack. Granny Chiyo. Who would've thought we'd meet here of all places?"

"I heard you attacked the kazekage, Sasori. Judging by that puppet, he's not the only one." Her eyes narrowed. "I snuck away to face you. I'm the only one who ever had a chance of killing you." She turned to Sakura. "You're the traitor, aren't you? Still, you healed Gaara. So it would seem to me you have no ill will towards the Sand or Leaf. So go away and let me handle this fight."

"Heh." Sakura laughed. "This guy is my opponent. I don't give up so easily. Besides, I need him to lead me to Akatsuki's lair anyway."

"You won't be able to beat him without help," Chiyo warned.

Sakura considered. "You must be Elder Chiyo of the Sand, right?

"That's me," Chiyo confirmed.

Sakura smacked her fist into her palm. "Right then. It's an alliance, Elder Chiyo. I am Haruno Sakura—I have been trained by the legendary copy-ninja and two sannin: the most powerful medical kunoichi in the world, Tsunade, and the almost immortal Orochimaru. Give me advice on how to beat this guy."

Deidara was really going all-out—from planting mines in the ground so Sasuke had to fly to avoid them to resisting the sharingan to turning into a huge freaking clay giant. Sasuke was just about out of chakra, and finally his sharingan and curse seal faded away. He had just finished running from the tiny, tiny molecular-size bombs that were spread by the explosion of a nearby cactus. It had taken almost everything he had to force his way through Deidara's resistance to genjutsu and be able to escape that attack. Now his limbs were refusing to work: Sasuke hid under an overhang and collapsed. He attempted to cover himself in sand and conceal his chakra, but it was useless. The Akatsuki member found him and stood over him in victory, his hand noticeably chewing on some clay to make a final attack.

"AND NOW, I'll—" Deidara stopped suddenly as though listening to something. "What? Oh, come on! I was just about to kill…yeah, yeah, I get the point. Four-tails is more important than my happiness. Hmph. Are you sure I can't—okay, okay! No, I don't know where Sasori is!"

Sasuke looked up barely, only to see Deidara walking away.

"I'm not done with you!" Sasuke snarled. "Where is Itachi?"

Deidara looked down at him disdainfully. "You're not even worth killing. I'm off." He turned—

Only to get punched right in the face by Sakura, who had a lifeless puppet slung over one shoulder and an old hag on the other.

Deidara fell to the ground, out cold.

"I killed Sasori," Sakura said casually.

"How did you manage that?" Sasuke asked warily.

"Oh, it definitely wasn't easy. But he was already technically dead. It's…a long story. Either way, this body here is my ticket to, ah, infiltrate Akatsuki. So I can take the ring for myself."

"And the woman?"

Sakura looked away. Bit her lip. "I died. She brought me back. She died."

"She exchanged your life for her own? That might be a technique to learn," Sasuke mused as he tried to push himself up off the ground.

"No, it's not," Sakura snapped even as she lay the woman down. "It was stupid. I didn't even know her. All I did was impress her with my fighting, explain myself a little bit—and the old hag decides to lay her life down for me! I can't believe it. I—I don't want to learn that jutsu. I would never, ever use it for anyone."

"You're going to explain now," Sasuke said, stumbling to his feet and crossing his arms. "Why do you feel a need to leave Orochimaru? He's going to be pissed at me."

Sakura was panting, and tired.

That gave him an idea.

Sasuke's mind was suddenly pressing into hers, sharingan whirling fully. Sakura knew that the moment she resisted her brain would be turned to mush—it was all she could do to flee back, and Sasuke pushed into her mind.

"I'm not that easy to defeat," Sasuke said, breathing hard but standing there on the water that made up her mind. "You knocked me out a while ago, Sakura. Why? Actually, I'll just steal it from your mind so you can't lie to me."

Sasuke was unfamiliar with exploring a mind, as this was the first time he'd been provided with the opportunity to do so, but he assumed that he had to sink into the layers of mud. He stopped concentrating chakra in his feet and started going down—and yep, there were the memories. Sakura was resisting, but Sasuke effortlessly threw up a wall to entrap her. This sharingan really was something…

He burned with rage when he saw Orochimaru's caresses; the snake was standing behind Sakura, licking her ear, and she only stood stiffly… then he moved down to her neck and bit harshly into the curse seal. She screamed in pain. The current Sakura beat at the wall he'd used to block her in, furiously. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! GET AWAY!"

The next memory was her panting on the ground as Orochimaru stood above her. "Why are you here, Haruno?" This was that first day she'd arrived, surely—she was wearing a red outfit rather than Sound attire. Orochimaru kicked her again, and Sasuke noticed the setting was the snake's office.

"I want power. I already told you," Sakura snarled, keeping on a brave face even as Orochimaru kicked her again, bruising her side.

"Why? You're a weakling and will never be anything but a weakling! You can't save Sasuke-kun!" Orochimaru goaded her.

Sakura pulled herself up and swung a fist, punching Orochimaru straight in the jaw.

"Give me a test to prove my worth. I can heal and fight. I have an affinity for genjutsu. I have excellent chakra control. Train me, you bastard," Sakura hissed, pulling off her Leaf forehead protector and slashing it with a kunai.

Orochimaru smirked. "You have spirit. Perhaps that could be arranged."

The scene switched again:

Sakura was in her house, writing a letter in smooth red ink onto a plain scroll. The desk was below a window through which it was obviously nighttime. A single tear crawled down her cheek as she wrote it. She finished it off with her signature. She rolled up the scroll and left it on her desk, then grabbed a pack from her bed. Sakura's room was a rich red, but surprisingly bare. There was a small dresser with some drawers from clothes along with a mirror. On top of the dresser was the Team Seven picture.

Sakura walked over to the picture. She picked it up. Stared at it. In a flurry of movement, she grabbed a kunai from her holster, which was lying on the bed, and slashed a large X over the whole photo. It went right through her face but left the others reasonably untouched. The she set it face-down. "That's not who I am," she murmured to herself, then repeated it. "That—that's not who I am."

She grabbed her holster and a small backpack from her bed, which was neatly made. She walked out the door to the living room, where her civilian parents were. Her father, who had smooth white hair with a spike in the bangs, was munching on some chips from a bowl while reading a scroll. Her mother, whose wavy pink hair reached her waist, was sitting at a table painting a picture of a tree. Sakura silently went to the doorway and put on her shoes, keeping her eyes on her parents. She wanted to savor the moment.

Her father glanced at her. "Where are you going, Sakura?"

"I'm training with Tsunade-sama," Sakura lied effortlessly. "It's important to be able to fight in the dark as well. I'm training my night-vision."

Her mother turned around from her work. "Sweetie, are you alright? You've just seemed so upset today."

Sakura smiled brightly. "I'm fine! Just a bit tired from the mission in Tanzaku Gai."

Her parents seemed to accept that. "Be careful," her mother said and turned back to her art.

Sakura opened the doorway and suddenly choked out, "I—I love you. Bye." Then she was shutting the door and running, running in the cool night breeze to the road that would take her out of the village.

She was there, at that bench. She stopped at it and hung her head. "I was too weak," she murmured.

"What you're doing isn't right, you know," said a voice from in the trees.

Sakura whirled, kunai immediately in hand. "Show yourself!"

Nara Shikamaru stepped out with his hands held up.

"What are you doing out here?" Sakura asked in the coldest voice she could manage.

"I could ask you the same," Shikamaru retorted. He saw Sakura wasn't buying it. "Well, yeah. It was only a matter of time before you decided to pursue Sasuke on your own. You resented us for going on the retrieval mission without you. And Naruto talked to me today, said you came back one night with blood all over your hands and in pretty bad shape. Obviously something traumatic happened that convinced you that either Konoha is scum, you need more power, or both. So now you're going to leave and you're going to Orochimaru. Is that right?"

Sakura barely suppressed a smile. "For someone so lazy, you're pretty smart. Are you going to try to stop me?"

Shikamaru studied her. "My affection for my friends who will be affected by the loss of you is telling me yes. My common sense is telling me no. If you land a single hit on me, I'm gone. I don't want to injure you, but you wouldn't mind hurting me to achieve your goal. The only jutsu I have that I could use on you without hurting you is my shadow bind, which you already are familiar with. You know it wears off. I'm not particularly fast, so I can't get behind you and knock you out." Shikamaru stretched. "It's too troublesome to work out a strategy. I mean, I set up a trap and everything but…"

"A trap?" Sakura asked curiously.

Shikamaru grinned lightly. "Yep." He pulled an almost invisible wire and the ground underneath Sakura crumbled, and she fell into a pit.

Sakura almost laughed. "I get it. All that talk was just to distract me and keep me from going… so you could make this pit." Shikamaru walked over to the top of the pit. He nodded down at her.

"So you'll hear me out. Sakura, it's not going to help Sasuke at all if you go there to train with Orochimaru. You can't convince him to come back just yet, since he's set on a goal. Just like you. And you have other means of gaining power. I'm telling you this because, like you said, I'm smart and maybe you'll trust my judgment and I won't have to deal with Ino bitching and crying for weeks. It'll be worse than Sasuke, and that's saying something."

Sakura gave a "hn" and raised her fist. Shikamaru leaped away in fear. Using chakra, Sakura walked up the sides of the pit. She turned her back to Shikamaru. "I'm leaving, Shikamaru. Maybe we'll meet again when Konoha sends a squad after me. Do me a favor and wait for my parents to read the scroll in my room." With that, Sakura walked away.

Nobody bothered to stop her.

Sasuke felt someone grab the scruff of his neck and pull him bodily out of the mud, and the mud hardened into ground.

"Get out of my mind," Sakura demanded. She was there suddenly, on the plain where Sasuke was standing—in her old red and black medic outfit, which Sasuke had never seen. "You have no right to be here!" she stepped toward him.

"Don't bother," Sasuke said menacingly. He was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing he did. However, he could see it wasn't going to be easy. Sakura raised a fist, and punched him square in the jaw. He flew back. "How—" she wasn't even supposed to be able to speak to him at this point!

"You idiot, Uchiha," she growled, punching him again. "Had you paid attention to me when we were younger, you would know that I've had my best friend walking in my mind for my entire life! I know how to deal with you! And wasn't it you who said I had an aptitude for genjutsu? Go to hell!" Sasuke fell, reached for his sword—it was gone. Sakura kicked him in the side, and he felt the pain. "You arrogant bastard. You traitor, you moron, you… how dare you violate my privacy like that! How dare you leave, how dare you go to the snake-bastard without me! Prick! You made Sakura leave, you made her destroy herself just so that she could—" It was the most emotion Sasuke had seen from her for a long time, and the use of third person was more than weirding him out. He received another kick to the ribs.

"I think that's enough, Inner," Sakura's disembodied voice said smoothly from all around.

"I was just getting started! I've wanted to do this for SO long!"

"We can't damage him mentally too much. Orochimaru would get pissed, as this is his next vessel."

"Argh! I don't give a shit about Orochimaru! We haven't gotten to really punch anyone for so long! Like Naruto! And—"

"Shut up, Inner, and release the Uchiha."

"Fine," the "inner" Sakura groused, and gave Sasuke one last kick so hard he went flying into the sky and out of Sakura's mind. She called after him, "If you bother Sakura again I'll make sure personally you'll lack the parts needed to revive your clan!"

He landed in his own body with a thump, doubled over in pain, dropping to the ground.

Sakura picked him up, muttering, "Moron. You got Inner pissed. You don't do that when she has free reign in my brain. Idiot." Then she reached over and closed his eyes. "Sorry, Sasuke. I'm leaving. But I'm sure we'll meet again. I'm going to go to Akatsuki and take the ring Orochimaru wants, just to screw with him. Maybe it has some power I can use. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do, but it's sure as hell not go back to the snake-bastard. I don't trust him to help me achieve my goal…you shouldn't either."

She set him down on a rock that was reasonably flat. "I guess it's a bit cruel of me to leave you in this condition. But it's not like you don't deserve it."

Sasuke was just fading out of consciousness when he felt her lean down, her hair brushing against his face and her breath on his ear. What she said made him freeze, his breath catch.

"Sasuke…thank you."

Thump.

Everything went black.

Sasuke woke up. He staggered to his feet, ready to fight, but in every direction there was only sand. He collapsed into the ground, the sand scratching his back and the heat fogging his mind. He was going to die out here. He could barely move, after all.

"Pff, Uchiha. I always knew he was a pussy," said a voice. Suddenly Tayuya's red hair came into view as she leaned over him, along with that girl from the chuunin exams, Kin.

"What do you want?" Sasuke got out.

"We're taking you back to the Sound. The pink bitch get herself killed?"

"Yes," he lied.

"Right then. Let's go. One, two, three—goddamnit he's heavy! Let's get you back. Boy, you screwed up. Do you at least have the rings?"

"One of them."

"Failure," Tayuya snorted. Sasuke wanted to retort, but he passed out much quicker.

Sakura was burnt, tired, and in no condition to be lugging around three bodies: a puppet, an old lady, and Deidara. Hell, she was still in her camisole and her shoulders were a nice lobster-red, her fair skin peeling and gone forever. Sakura gritted her teeth and adjusted her grip. Sasori was on one shoulder, light since he was wood, which allowed her to carry the old lady on the same shoulder. On the other she carried Deidara, whom she had stripped of his cloak in an attempt to make him lighter. She tried to keep him knocked out—she'd have a load of trouble to deal with if he woke up.

She remembered Sasori's last few words: "Since you're so desperate to find the Akatsuki, I'll do you a favor and tell you. You've impressed me. See that mountain in the distance? That's it. They'll be away from the actual base, sealing the bijuu, but the 'house' won't be far. In all likelihood, you'll get yourself killed."

She realized she wasn't making nearly as much progress as she should be. Reluctantly, she dropped Chiyo. Dead weight that wouldn't help her. Showing up at Akatsuki with a dead member and an unconscious one would help as a distraction, but a Sand elder? Not very impressive.

As much respect as she had for the lady who saved her life, Sakura figured she had to become ruthless if she ever wanted to get strong. She had to abandon…what had Sasuke called it? Konoha's pointless sense of honor? Yes.

So she strode on, moving faster without the extra eighty pounds on her back, walking toward the mountain that could very well mean her death. But she'd had plenty of life-death experiences in the past few hours. The idea wasn't nearly as daunting as it should've been.

AN: First off, please take the poll on my profile about what Sakura's elemental affinity should be. I have one in mind but I want to hear your opinions! Feel free to leave a review/PM explaining your outlook.

Second off, I seriously hate this chapter. I'n not entirely sure why; I just do. So I'm sorry if it's a piece of crap but I couldn't bear to read it over one more time.

Third off…it was difficult for me to write Sasori's death again. Actually, I originally wrote Sakura beating him on her own since she's gained abilities AND he's lost the hundred puppets, but just no. So I made it off-screen. I didn't want to write over the whole fight again, but you can expect a flashback very, very soon giving the basics of what happened. Still, I think it can be assumed that essentially the same thing happened but because Sakura did not have an antidote, she died shortly after killing Sasori and Chiyo saved her, seeing her potential as a medical ninja and knowing she had accomplished most of what she could do in life.

Also, Sakura saying 'thank you' has been in my head FOREVER. It's her sort of revenge for what Sasuke did to her, ne?

Reviews make me very, very happy :) And willing to update faster.