It was if they had a falling out but Sakura knew better the tension between Neji and TenTen was because they had been getting no where with the case. They weren't able to obtain Sakura's medical files because they had been labelled for the eyes of the Hokage only which meant this struggle would last awhile. Knowing the Hokage was stopping justice from being served made Sakura's inch long hair sweat even more. As dangerous as this situation is Sakura was incredibly excited.

Sakura peered upwards at the ceiling to see the splattering of rain drops smash against the sky light window. Seeing this made everything seem so trivial which made Sakura ignore everything around her including the scene behind her which consisted of TenTen trying to attack Neji with a hair pin because he wasn't paying attention to her attempts at flirting. After a few minutes Sakura snapped out of her reverie and turned around to see Neji using one of the clipboard's as a shield while he tried to wrestle the makeshift weapon out of TenTen's hand.

Sakura cocked her left eye brow then proceeded to break up the fight "Can't you two go a minute with out fighting?" They looked at Sakura like she was a mad woman then stared at each other and shrugged "But fighting makes this whole endeavour much more fun" TenTen's wry smile said it all. Neji moved his head to the side then started to smile "Yes it does help keep the tension"

They both started to laugh as if they we're embellishing in their own private little joke but Sakura just went back to her bed to stare up at the ceiling. It was mind numbing just waiting for her punishment yet having the slightest bit of hope that it will all go away because Neji and TenTen could uncover some miraculous evidence that exonerates her from the accidental death of Naruto made Sakura happy if even for a moment. Sakura felt guilt at that moment for not even thinking of Naruto through out all this, Naruto may have been sick but if he had gotten help he probably would have been normal again. It was very unfortunate what happened to him but in the end it's what happened so she just had to deal with it.

"This Naruto fiasco is totally messed up and something is not right about it" TenTen's voice cut the silence like a knife. Sakura immediately snapped out of her train of thought and turned to look at them "Naruto's body did give out surprisingly easy but I'm guessing that's not what you meant" Neji's face was suddenly stricken with a pained look "The Hokage has been acting suspicious since a couple of months before Naruto was sent on that mission with us, the mission which made him crazy was also the first real sign the Hokage had changed" Sakura jumped down from her spot on the bed "You never mentioned this before" TenTen got up from her spot on the ground then walked over to Sakura "Well Neji and I wanted to mull it over in case we we're just being paranoid but we both can't ignore the crazy orders she gave Which at the time we thought we're just for the good of the village" Sakura strangely felt reassured at what TenTen said "You're right sometimes we are given orders which are unusual but helpful, so I guess I can't blame you for not wanting to mention this purely speculative evidence" Sakura rubbed her face while thinking this trial had all the intrigue of a political thriller. TenTen just clasped her hands together then started talking to Neji about how they we're going to present the case at trial. Sakura just went on thinking about poor dead Naruto. How would she ever make up for his death? It was then that Sakura looked up at the roof and saw the most peculiar thing, a flash of orange passed by the window again and again. It finally stopped but the vision was blurry for Sakura. Once the vision cleared Sakura could clearly make out Naruto's body standing on the sky light, he waved his hand upwards as if beckoning her to go with him "What the hell" Neji and TenTen stopped what they were doing to look up just as Sakura was "What is it Sakura are the birds scratching at the glass again?" TenTen's comment made Sakura look at her with a quizzical façade "I swear I saw Naruto up their" The two Brunette's looked at each other with concern then went back to their work.

…Switch…

The sadistic bounty hunter played mind games with Sasuke as he laid on the ground like a helpless animal waiting for the slaughter. Sasuke looked into her eyes but all he saw was the shadow of a person not a human being, it made him think of what he did and how people saw him. The bounty hunter dangled a pocket knife above Sasuke threatening to stab him at any moment, Sasuke did the only thing he could in that situation he just laid still on the floor waiting for the right moment to strike. It took all of his patience to stay there on the floor waiting for the perfect time to strike but if he was to survive he had to wait.

"You're a very unlucky man" The tingling in her voice gave away how sadistic she really was. Sasuke had played this sort of torture game before so he knew exactly how to respond "Why because I'm your prisoner?" A smirk spread across his pained face. The bounty hunter stopped sharpening her knife to reply to his come back "No because the person I'm handing you to has a very personal grudge against you and he's going to pay three times the bounty those idiotic ninja in they're cutesy villages would"

Just to drive her point along home she threw a knife just a few millimetres away from Sasuke's head. The bounty hunter had definitely established that she meant business. It was definitely a warning but trying to break through her poker face was a challenge Sasuke was going to demolish. A knock was heard at the door at which point the bounty hunter shoved him back into the closet.

…Switch…

It was almost midnight meaning Neji had long since gone home and Sakura was looking through the papers while TenTen went out to get some more files from the archives. Sakura knew that TenTen meant what she said but probably wouldn't realize how tired she was until she started walking back to the prison so she probably wasn't coming back tonight. All of it just seemed to blur together in Sakura's mind. Sakura saw a few things from cases like this that might help the slightest bit in her case; she even wrote a few things down so she would remember to discuss them with Neji tomorrow. If Sakura had the mental energy tomorrow she would convince TenTen to guilt trip Neji into bringing something edible. The small morsels of prison food Sakura had been given was hard to choke down which made Sakura all the more weaker, she thought it was cruel seeing as she would most likely be sentenced to death even if they did find some evidence that exonerated her.

Steps echoed through the hallways but Sakura thought it was just another guard change over since TenTen would probably be stuck at the village archives all night that's if she hadn't gone home to bed. A female scream suddenly pierced the halls of the prison ward, Sakura rushed to the door to look out the small window. Sakura could vaguely make out TenTen's red ballet flat, Sakura took a few steps back from the door and started pacing around the room. Things had truly gotten out of control.

What could possibly be jeopardised by letting Sakura win this trial which would determine her future? If TenTen was captured it was plausible that Neji would some how be incapacitated too. A loud bang was heard from the hall way and the sound of fast paced footsteps echoed through the entire complex, Sakura got extremely scared as the alarms sounded. Sakura then decided to barricade the door with her metal bed. Sakura dragged the slab across the room then turned it on its side so it was caught in the door handle. Sakura crouched down on the floor right next to the door so she could see who ever was raiding the place from the window on the door. Sakura was unable to look at any faces but she could've sworn one of the men was wearing Orochimaru's symbol on his grey uniform.

Sakura stood still as someone kept poking a Katana through the door continuously until there was barely any door left. Sakura was shaking while the mysterious assailant closed in on her; there was no escape so Sakura broke off one of the legs of the metal bed. Sakura hastily rushed over to the other side of the cell then used the jagged metal bar to help pull out the bricks in the wall. One by one the bricks came out and again Sakura saw an undefined orange shape but it only took a second for it to sharpen "Come on Sakura escape while they're still breaking down the door" The sound of Naruto's voice made Sakura realize she had definitely lost it but at least this illusion was saving her life. So Sakura crawled through the passageway that she made, taking one step at a time as she pulled out the bricks. Sakura came out on the other side and saw the mental illusion of Naruto running across an unmarred path which she was sure lead out of the village and into the forest of death. Sakura ran along the path not realizing until she had travelled on it for a while that it was littered with thorny bushes which scratched her at every angle.

…Switch…

Sasuke had been locked in a closet while the female bounty hunter discussed semantics with his buyer, Sasuke tried to listen to what they said but he had been pumped up with enough drugs to take down an elephant. Sasuke had been seeing everything in green for what seemed like days but was probably only hours. The dripping water from the tap in the other room rung through Sasuke's ears like a school bell on repeat, it only seemed to get louder even though Sasuke knew its sound was a constant. The dizzying effect of what ever drugs the female bounty hunter had injected into his arm.

A few minutes later the bounty hunter came into the room then slugged Sasuke right in the jaw which made Sasuke even dizzier but just before he passed out Sasuke saw the face of one he would never forget "Miss me Sasuke?" The teasing voice echoed through Sasuke's head as his body drifted into a cold dreamless sleep. Sasuke would never forget the cold gleam of those calculating eyes for the rest of his short life.

…Switch…

Sakura reached the outer edge of the forest of death but she had taken a few bruises on her way there, she would have to disappear into the thicket of trees fast if she wanted to avoid capture. Not only was the terrain rough but there was deadly insects and bugs every where not to mention the traps they set up for the physical part of promotion exams. The Naruto illusion chose this time to reappear at which point he waved at Sakura teasingly and ran off, Sakura followed him knowing her mind was mapping out a way to disappear in this forest.

As Sakura ran across the ever expanding forest path following the Naruto illusion she tripped over an upturned thick tree trunk and fell down a small slope then landed into a small body of water. Sakura's body was covered in mud from head to toe but still she kept on walking trying to find some sign that Kabuto was still there. There were lots of markers across the forest but all the ones Sakura spotted so far we're left by ninja's who got separated from their groups in the promotion exams. The Naruto illusion didn't appear which had Sakura worried. Sakura's mind had made him up to guide her out of this sticky situation and Sakura knew him not being there was her minds way of saying "You're screwed" Sakura just sighed and started wandering west.

Everything just blurred together as Sakura was getting tired; Sakura dragged her body along the forest path. Eventually her body gave out on her when she collapsed on the ground; her body slowly fell to the ground then started to tumble until she landed in the main stream which surrounded the whole forest. The sudden rush of cold water didn't wake her up instead she just let her body succumb to being drowned in the large pool of water. Yet foot steps could be heard near by as unknown figure picked up her body then kept on walking along the path. Sakura could tell by the shaping of the shoulder that the body was definitely male, she was too tired to fight back or even to decide if the mysterious man was helping or not. The sound of twigs being crushed underfoot was the only thing that Sakura could hear clearly enough "I should have dragged you out of the lab when I had the chance instead of leaving you there to reap the punishment those people had planned out for you" Kabuto's calm voice soothed Sakura as she mustered up all the strength she had to speak "Where are we going?" Kabuto stayed quiet for a minute as two tracker hawks flew above them, as soon as they passed Kabuto knew it was safe to speak again "Gen-Chu Province. It's a village hidden between a mountain range blanketed by snow and a thick labyrinth like forest" As the tracker hawks did another fly by of the forest Kabuto thought it best to speed up instead of hide from the birds sight but was unsure as to if that was the best course of action. The sound of ninjas shouting orders in the distance confirmed that his first idea was the correct one.

…To be continued...

Author's comment:

Okay as I promised I have re-written the ending and added some stuff to the overall story which leaves it to be continued for sure. At the time when I was writing this chapter originally I felt exhausted and instead of just taking a break from writing altogether which I ended up doing any way I just ended the story. I had planned to write at least three more chapters but as I said I was just exhausted from constantly writing FanFiction for a fandom which I had lost interest in because of the disappointment of Shippuden, I haven't actually read or watched Shippuden but I've heard bits and pieces about the plot and I got to say I am disappointed. Any way I just hope my fans like the rewrite and it may seem shorter but I just combined the text paragraphs together so they wouldn't seem so small and out of place with the other paragraphs.