Chapter 10 is now a go! Enjoy!

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She couldn't believe this was happening. He was here and he was alive, this whole time he wasn't dead. This simple fact both enraged and overjoyed Sakura. She was overjoyed because after they found out that Itachi wasn't the reason for Sasuke's family's murder, it was too late for Sasuke to reconcile with him. It was for that same reason that she was enraged by this as well. Itachi didn't die and it meant that Sasuke had grieved for no reason. He went through all that pain and heart break for no reason! He spent months dealing with self hatred and almost had psychotic break downs on multiple occasions. All those times when she had to talk him off the ledge of insanity should have never happened. She remembered the time after it first happened and Sasuke went on a rampage. He took out 20 people that night and when he returned, Sasuke just wasn't the same. It was like he was empty inside and everything had lost all meaning to him.

It was the most heart breaking experience of her life.

And now she's finding out that he never had to feel that way to begin with?! It was just another knot in the noose she'd use to hang them with. She'd make them pay for hurting him. She'd make them pay for hurting all of them.

Never again will they put Sasuke through that hell. Never again will she just stand by and do nothing and allow others to suffer.

Orochimaru must have read the emotion in her eyes because he smiled.

"How is Sasuke doing these days? I'm sure he was happy to have found you, all safe and sound."

Sakura stayed quiet, unwilling to give him any information as she stood with her back to Itachi's bed. What was she going to do? She only had two things of the mixture she made and she had a feeling that Madara Uchiha was going to take most of it. So the question still stood. What the hell was her next move going to be? Slowly Sakura moved her hand to the waistband of her jeans, feeling for the makeshift knife made out of wire hangers. It was her only option, the only way she could take both him and his creepy assistant down.

There was no one else there to help her and for a moment, Sakura regretted not having Sasuke or Naruto by her side helping her.

But only for a moment cause the next thought was of how they could get seriously injured here or what Sasuke's face would look like when he saw his brother alive. She'd rather it not be like this when the two meet again. Then there was also her personal vendetta and she wanted kabuto all to herself. Sasuke and Naruto would have butted in on her action.

Sakura noticed that Orochimaru had started to regard her with suspicion and that wasn't good. She didn't have a solid plan yet and needed some more time.

"Why did you keep Itachi alive?"

The question spilled from her mouth without much thought. As much as she needed to stall, Sakura was also extremely curious and wanted an explanation.

Besides, Sasuke was going to want to know why his brother was alive and not dead as a door nail. SO seeing as how she wasn't planning to let any of them live, it was best to get the story for him.

It was Kabuto who answered, seeming a little too ready to offer up the information.

"We figured Sasuke would become a nuisance, so we simply took measures to contain him when the opportunity eventually presented itself. You were next on the list, but of course you ran." The tone of his voice betrayed what he thought of her.

Coward.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the silver haired man in contempt. She did what she had to do to protect her family. At the time that meant running away, since that was the only thing she could do.

"The choices I made were to protect my family. Believe what you want about me, but I don't regret it."

Kabuto's eyes glimmered with malice at her proclamation.

"And how did that work out with your parents?" His tone was mocking and Sakura could tell that he wanted her to explode. He wanted her to get so angry that her emotions clouded her judgment.

If only he knew that her cold fury only sharpened her mind.

"But if you have Itachi, why go after me? Everyone knows that Sasuke will go to any length for his brother, so why add another?" Sakura figured this was a good way to stall them while she inched closer and ignored the silver haired man. His turn would come soon.

Hopefully they'd be too busy answering her to notice her movements.

"Oh that was the Uchiha's idea."

"Madara." Sakura inched a bit closer, her fingers curling around the coat hanger knife.

"Yes. Him. Anyway he seemed convinced that having just Itachi wouldn't be enough to keep the boy under control. So we watched you and it was obvious that our next target would have to be either Naruto Uzumaki or you. You two were the ones Sasuke kept closest to him and, as such, were the most logical choice." Orochimaru seemed to not notice that the woman's position had changed as he continued his tale.

"It was proving to be quite the difficult choice, that is until we discovered your romantic connection to the boy. That made picking you painfully obvious. If we controlled both you and Itachi Uchiha, why Sasuke would do anything we asked to keep you alive. So all we need is for you to be a good little hostage-"

The snake like man was interrupted by the ground shaking as what sounded like an explosion sounded in the distance. She stumbled a bit from the shock wave and couldn't help but wonder what the hell caused it. The pink haired woman seen her shock mirrored on both Orochimaru and Kabuto's faces. Sakura took advantage of both men's confused state and lunged at them, her knife at the ready. She decided that Orochimaru should be her first target, he seemed like the most dangerous of the two.

That and she wanted to take her sweet time with Kabuto.

Unfortunately, Kabuto noticed her plan and intercepted her before she could get to his boss. With a side kick, the silver haired man forced Sakura to backflip away from her target.

She scowled in severe irritation. Her chance of doing this as quickly as possible was slowly disappearing along with her chances of surviving.

"Was this what you were planning all along?" Orochimaru asked with an arrogant smirk.

Sakura said nothing as she contemplated what to do next. Kabuto was proving to be annoying and she figured that in order to get to the Snake leader she'd have to kill him first. She may not be able to take her time with him, but she was damn sure going to make his death as slow and painful as possible.

"So what if it was?" She snarled back.

"Well I'm impressed. I never expected you to act like this, quite honestly I was thinking you'd be curled up in a ball waiting for Sasuke to save you."

Sakura cringed. Indeed that's what she would have done in the past, but what they didn't understand was that the girl she used to be no longer existed.

They had made sure of that.

The moment they targeted her was the moment Sakura decided to kill her old self and create a new one that could handle anything the world threw at her. Yes, she lost her resolve for a bit, but after her parents it returned with a vengeance. She couldn't continue through life relying on Sasuke and Naruto to protect her. Sakura lunged at Kabuto landing a swift kick to the man's right side, sending him sliding back a few feet. He recovered faster than she expected and sent her flying with a well aimed upper cut to the jaw. Just from the short exchange, Sakura knew that taking him down was going to be extremely difficult. If she wasted too much energy on Kabuto, then she'd be screwed when she faced Orochimaru. She needed to find a way to kill them both without exerting much energy. A plan slowly formed in her mind as Sakura tightened her grip on the makeshift knife. Kabuto took this as nervous hesitation on her part and started running at her, confident smirk in place. Sakura lined up the shot and launched her knife in to the air. Kabuto dodged with a mocking laugh.

"Did you really think that I would be killed by that?"

Sakura smirked.

"It was never meant for you."

Kabuto's eyes widened as his head whipped around to see the knife lodged deeply into Orochimaru's chest, blood running from his mouth to his chin.

"He really should have paid more attention to his surroundings instead of our fight."

The silver haired man turned to finish off the woman when she was suddenly in front of him, forcing a strange liquid down his throat.

"This is for every heinous thing you have done to me and my family. This is for my parents who didn't deserve to die, especially like that."

Sakura watched as he convulsed and tried to scream, but couldn't. She started into his eyes as he struggled to live but felt a sick sense of satisfaction as the light slowly left his eyes. As she stared at the dead body in front of her, Sakura had a sick sense of revelation. He was dead, sure, but what did that change? Her parents were still dead and nothing was going to bring them back. A darker part of her whispered to her about the satisfaction she felt as his life slipped away. The sense of power the welled up inside of her as it happened. She felt invincible in that moment.

Sakura shook her head and closed her eyes. Now was not the time to analyze how she felt, so she'd saved that little adventure for after.

Besides, right now emotions and morals have no place in her life. She had to lock them up tight in the back of her mind.

Her eyes opened and they were cold, calculating, and shrewd.

Part one was done. Now the only one left on her list was the older Uchiha. Sakura gave one last look to Itachi's prone body in the bed.

"Don't worry, Itachi. After I finish Madara, I'll come back for you and we can go home together. I know Sasuke will be so happy to see you again."

She ran out of the room, unaware of the man's eyes fluttering open.

Itachi Uchiha may have been in a coma, but he was aware of his surrounding. He heard the fight and everything that was said even though his eyes refused to open. The raven haired man slowly sat up finding it difficult after nearly three years of being unable to move, but he had to get up. Sakura had definitely turned into a very skilled fighter, but the woman had no idea what she was up against. Madara won't think twice about killing her.

Itachi needed to help her.

The only question was how? If he couldn't get out of this damn bed, he'd be useless to her.

His dark eyes narrowed in effort.

If there was one thing Itachi wasn't good at, it was knowing when to give up.

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