A/N: DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
Chapter 7: Highway to Hell
Sakura looked at her watch. Her boys would be waking up to find her letter right about now. Her mother would be livid, but she refused to sit in that building, knowing that the love of her life was sitting in a sanitarium in a village known for cruelty. Her unit synchronized their watches and they started jumping out, one by one. Once they were on the ground, they moved quickly. They were lucky that Sakura had known about the eclipse. They were able to jump under the cover of semi-darkness. She crouched low, pulling on the masks of her troops. They looked at her, each and every one. Naruto's blue eyes were serious for the first time all day. Shikamaru's dark olive eyes narrowed as he picked things up. Neji paid close attention as Sakura went over the plan silently one more time. Kiba and Sai were the lookouts.
With a nod, Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Neji rushed over the short span of desert between them and the sanitarium. They pressed against it and waited for Sai and Kiba to follow them. They managed to take the front entrance guards without much noise. However, once they were in the sanitarium, all hell broke loose. Sakura went through the guards, viciously cutting them all down. Anyone that tried to keep her away from the room they'd determined Gaara to be in was cut down quickly.
She made it to the door and carefully listened. Inside, she heard two jailers talking rapidly and then there'd be a grunt. Sakura heard the distinct sound of a battery and she saw red. They were torturing him. Without even thinking of what she was doing, Sakura stuck plastic explosives to the door and stepped away. She blew the door and rushed inside, her desert eagle and her pack knife drawn. When she stepped inside, it was to see the door had taken care of the guards. Her heart stopped when she noticed the dirty red hair of their captive. He was covered in old scars and new wounds. His eyes were barely open and he had something shoved in his mouth…it looked like a stick.
Sakura rushed to him, checking his vitals and untying him. He looked up at her with glassy eyes and when she pulled the stick out, a single, dazed word came from his mouth. "Sakura…" It was the last thing he said before he passed out. Sakura had called her unit together in that room and told them to get Gaara out of there. Shikamaru was worried as he saw that look in her eyes. The one that said someone was going to pay. However, he didn't question her orders, he just did what he was told.