I'm sorry it took so long for this to be up. I wish I had some excuse like, I was involved with theFBI as we raced against the clock to solve a crime that spans back nearly a hundred years, but alas, I was just lazy. Then I had a run in with my arch-nemisis, writers block. Then I was lazy again. So...yeah. As an apology, here is my chapter, plus I revised the last one. I was reviewing my notes, and I realized that Kisame wasn't supposed to be the March Hare. Oops, my bad, so if you're following along update to update, then you should go back and re-read chapter 8. If not, you would have never known that I went back had I not told you. Let that weigh on your conscience for not clicking on my story sooner! Mwahahaha! Who knows what I have changed forever and not told you about! Ahem, anyways, enjoy.

I shudder to think what would happen to Naruto if I or any other fan got ahold of the rights to Naruto.

The hatter spoke while she was staring at him, startling her. "We usually drink tea and celebrate."

Sakura, intrigued, asked, "Celebrate what?"

"We celebrate finding the answer to riddles."

"How?"

"By giving me a piercing."

"…Well, this has been fun, but I'd best be off."

The two insane people waved her off as she walked away, confounded and with a slight headache.

Once again, Sakura found herself walking down a path from a place she'd rather not be to some undisclosed location. As she walked she hit herself over the head many times, for the people were wearing the red cloud cloaks, and she had broken her promise to herself to ask about them. Don't worry about it, Inner said after a particularly painful bump. The red cloaks seem very common in this world, so it is obvious that we will see another of them. Yes, but I want to know now! Who are you Violet Bouregarde? What does chewing gum have anything to do with the current situation? I thought she was the one who always complained to her parents and was spoiled. No, that's Veruca Salt. Violet is the one who chewed that gum all the time and stored it behind her ear. Blah blah blah, whatever. The point is, stop whining, you're giving me a headache. We share the same head, the headache's from the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Stop contradicting me. I am not! I am simply proving a point! There you go again! Again what? Contradicting me! When? Just now! I don't recall contradicting you. Stop bull-shitting me, you just did! Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too. (At this point in the argument, the author grew tired of writing of the childishness of Sakura and Inner Sakura, so please enjoy this debate on the meaning of life by two Harvard graduates.)

"I say, Barnaby, I completely gainsay your conjecture that man was devised for the sole basis of capitalizing space peregrinate. It is simply at variance with my postulation that man is destine to harrow into the loam."

"I am sorry, William, but I cannot cohere to the presupposition that the bald gumbo of this celestial body is the true domicile of man. We are ordained to reconnoiter out into the uttermost reaches of infinity and bring to light things we on no account conceived of, just as our forbearers dreamed of this bijou globe."

"Ah, but Barnaby, you just controverted yourself. We have yet to discharge the undertaking of surveying our complete spheroid like our forefathers coveted. While we are cognizant of the veneer, we have yet to truly fathom what is sited just below the finish."

"I do declare, you may be on to something William."

(Thank you, the author has regained her sanity.)

After a long argument, Sakura and Inner Sakura decided that their energy was better spent on finding their way out of the situation at hand. (A/N: Well, maybe the author wishes to be a bit more mature. Ha! Not likely. C'mon, stop acting childish, just for this one time. Never!)

"You know," Sakura said, interrupting her argument with Inner, "I've been here for a while now, and you know what I've never noticed before?"

A big honking castle? Inner said. "A big honking castle smack dab in the middle of the horizon." Well, why don't we head there? It's the obvious choice. "I don't know. It could be dangerous." What the hell? Aren't you a freaking Jounin? You invented dangerous. "Oh…right."

With that, she plunged into the woods on the side of the path she was on and marched off towards the castle. When she reached the wall, she climbed…err…walked up the side like she had learned all those years ago with Kakashi, the dobe, and the teme. She paused at the top to watch the bizarre sight the confronted her. She was looking at the castle garden, as evidenced by the many bushes and flowers spread across the sprawling arena. This was not the odd part, in fact. Many figures shaped like playing cards rushed about between several rosebushes with bucket of paint, slathering red on all the white blooms. As she listened, she could hear them speak to each other, saying "We're painting the roses red, and many a tear we shed."

At thus, one card (she was too far away to see which) said, "because we know..."

"They'll cease to grow..." another added.

"In fact they'll soon be dead," finished a third. At this, they all sighed dramatically, but then shrugged and continued with what they were doing.

Sakura hopped down and went over to one of the cards, the Three of Hearts and tapped him on the shoulders, which was hard, since he towered over her. He jumped and whirled around and looked around for her, but since he was so tall, or she was so short take your pick, he didn't see her until she cleared her throat. Of course, since all of the cards were chanting "painting the roses red" over and over at the top of their lungs, it took a few coughs to get his attention.

"Pardon me, but Mr. Three, why must you paint them red?" At this, all of the cards spun around to stare at her with shock and confusion on their faces. After a few moments they all said "Ohhhh!" at once, like they had just figured out what she was asking.

The Three of Hearts bent down and said, "Well, the fact is miss, we planted the white roses by mistake. And…" he trailed off, looking embarrassed. His skin and hair were a pale blue, with his hair just a few shades darker that his skin, and as he blushed, he turned a pale purple, and he grinned a small grin, exposing rather sharp looking teeth that looked like they would better suit a shark. All the other cards, seeing his embarrassment, chimed in. "The queen, she likes them red. If she saw white instead…"

"She'd raise a fuss…" said the Four of Clubs.

"And each of us…" chimed in the Ace of Fish

"Would quickly lose his head." They shuddered together.

"Goodness!" Sakura said in shock. They nodded sadly at her shock.

"Since this is a thought we dread, we're painting the roses red." They all explained.

"Oh well, then at least let me help you," she said, grabbing a bucket of paint with a small smile. Oh come on, said Inner, bemoaning Sakura's choice. It's really not necessary to do that. But look how happy they are, she argued. Indeed, the deck of cards looked heartened by her volunteering to help them. Inner grumbled a bit more, but said nothing else. Sakura smiled at them, and began their chant of "Painting the roses red, we're painting the roses red" and they slowly joined her until they were nearly done. "Don't tell the queen what you have seen or say that's what we said," they asked her. "But, we're just painting the roses red."

"Yes, just painting the roses red."

"Not pink," shouted the Nine of Swords.

"Not green," said the Three of Hearts.

"Not aquamarine," Finished Sakura, adding an extra flourish to her brush stroke.

"We're painting the roses red!" With that, the final rose was finished, and they all began to gather the empty paint cans for discrete disposal. Suddenly, trumpets began to blow a fanfare, and all of the cards gasped, and threw the paint cans wildly to the side, into some bushes. Confused, Sakura looked around, until the Three of Hearts pulled her into a row with all the other cards. He leaned down and explained to her the Queen of Hearts was approaching, and that if she was near, it was a rule that all stand at attention. At her close quarters, Sakura saw that the Three was not of Hearts, like she had originally assumed, but of Clouds. The same red clouds that adorned the cloaks that everybody seemed to wear. She was about to ask him what it meant, but he clamped his hand over her mouth and jerked his head towards the entrance to the garden. And there stood the Queen of Hearts.

Oooooooohhhhh a cliffie, I'm evil today. And I'm leaving on a trip to a place with no internet, and not even a computer to write on, so you''l just have to wait for another few weeks or so. *insert evil cackle here*

Review, and maybe I'll start the new chapter on paper and upload the second I get back. Or not...

I'm getting near the end of this fanfic, and I want to know, would like to ending to be split up into one long chapter that might take awhile to write and edit, or two smaller chapters that would come quicker, but be less satisfying? Tell me in a review. And if you don't care one way or another, review anyways with your thoughts and feelings, or flames, or random words like coconut or spicy food or tongue. Basically, just review please.