It's been a long time since I updated so enjoy! I'm terribly sorry for the annoying mistakes and i still hope you'll like the chapter.

WARNING! Violence!

PS "Naruto" belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

PPS Thiis is the first time I have no idea of a song suitable for the chapter T_T if you have any ideas, let me know ^^

With every breath her chest hurt as few of the broken ribs pierced through the periphery of her lungs – not enough to cause her death but more than enough to torture her. The emerald irises were barely visible from the semi-closed lids and the tumefaction of her eyes from the punches the Akatsuki member dealt her. Her facial bones were in desperate condition, most of them were cracked and her nose and jaw were severely broken. She hadn't slept in thirty or forty hours. Every time that Zetsu had left her alone and she tried to take some rest, the monstrous bastard would come back and resume his sick games as if he observed her and waited for her to drop her guard so he could exploit her weakened body even more.

Sakura's head was hanging down lifelessly, not having the strength to keep it up. The steel chains, with which her wrists and ankles were tied to the chair, had torn her skin. Her defocused gaze lingered on her right forearm. Zetsu had smashed it with a hammer-like tool few hours ago, along with the fingers of her other hand, in a moment of rage after she recklessly jeered again at the death of the original Zetsu. The radius bone was partially sticking out of her flesh and she could sense that her ulna was cracked as well. The kunoichi couldn't decide which part of her body hurt the most. A while ago she had stopped crying and yelling. What was the point? Nobody would hear her and the pain had stuck itself in her brain so deeply that Sakura doubted that she'd ever be able to feel normal person again.

Her strength was fading. The medic remembered the only other time when she had been tortured. Sakura allowed her eyelids to fully cover her eyes and let her mind to sink into the darkness that spread around her. That time it was Kakashi who played the villain. The strain his genjutsu put on her brain had forced her into a shock but she realized that it was nothing compared to the desperation she felt right now.

How had this all happened? She had abandoned her life long time ago and she should have died then. Now her spirit would be peacefully resting on the other side if such thing even existed. What went wrong? The answer was simple – Sasuke. She was supposed to kill him and relieve the burden on Naruto's shoulder that she had put there long time ago? Even if she couldn't defeat the Uchiha, she should have died trying. Why? What changed? Her resolve was strong, or she had thought so. But Sakura knew. Everything changed that night in the Uchiha mansion. She should have left him to die like the enemy he was, but instead she looked at him and saw a former team mate, saw her long lost friend and her first love, even thought – unrequited. That's why any sentimentality was lethal for a shinobi. She shouldn't have let those feelings dictate her actions. Everything happening now is her fault only. She was weak and emotional. Characteristics that weren't of any use to a shinobi.

The girl knew that probably Sasuke was looking for her now. Probably he was worried and frustrated but…it wasn't his job to help her. For the first time in so many years Sakura could actually think clearly about him – without love affection, without nostalgia. What was he to her? A person of her past who she recently met after so many years. It was the same as meeting your long-forgotten crush who rejected you for some beef-witted reason. They were practically strangers. They knew nothing about each other. The only thing connecting them now was the fact that Sakura owed him as much as he owed her. They were both trying to make up for each other for God knows what reason. This should stop. They weren't friends and no matter how much Naruto wanted him to come back to Konoha, it won't happen.

It was true that he changed but he was still the same in his core – suppressing the burning hatred toward Konoha. The village had crushed his brother's life, murdered his family, there was nothing she or Naruto could do to help him with that. Hell, even she didn't know how to respond to the truth of what happened then.

Suddenly, Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts when the creaking of the door echoed in the room. Her heart clenched and skipped a few beats before increasing its bumping dramatically. She realized that should she open her eyes, they'd meet Zetsu's face. The girl forced them to stay closed. Maybe if he thought she had passed out, he'd leave her alone. Then his voice filled the silence.

"Sakura, Sakura. Could it be that you're thinking that if you fake losing consciousness I'd leave you. Such a naïve girl!", his mocking voice sent shivers down Sakura's body, "Well, it's true that it won't be nearly as satisfying to play with you while you're passed out as to torture you and hear your groans but…I can always resort to more extravagant ways to pleasure myself. Right?", his hand caressed her swollen cheek.

The kunoichi remained still without giving any hint that she was awake. She felt his fingers lingering over her skin, drawing figures. They travelled downwards and tickled her neck with fake tenderness. Sakura suppressed the itch and tried to turn off her brain. Tsunade had talked to her about that. When the shinobi were captured by the enemy and were tortured, the most experienced once were able to separate their mind from their bodies. The pain was still there but for the interrogator was just meaningless to continue. The captured shinobi were just like empty shells. The kunoichi was supposed to train under Morino Ibikki after she graduated to jonin but the hospital duties swept her and she couldn't find the time for that.

Sakura sensed Zetsu's hand touching her shoulders and moving on to her chest. She should remain still, quiet, untroubled... The pinkette suppressed the urge to vomit and cry when she felt the hand of the Akatsuki cupping her breast. "Sakura-chaan, do you like it so much that you're still pretending to be asleep?", she heard his giggling voice and her stomach shrieked. He was testing her. She knew that he couldn't have possibly figured out that she was awake. Her act was good. It wasn't the first time, she was doing it. Being able to fake sleep was almost necessary for a shinobi. "I won't back down this easily…", Sakura thought and tried to ignore the fact that Zetsu was slowly unzipping her top.

"My, my. Then I might as well try and have my way with you…"

"You're bluffing…", the girl assured herself.

"I'm not bluffing, my dear. I had tried once already or did you forget? Then that boy saved your ass…", Zetsu grinned viciously.

"He can't possibly know what I'm thinking, it's a coincidence. He's just smart.", the kunoichi tried to chase away the crazy thoughts that flooded into her head.

With one swift motion of his vines, the monstrous shinobi broke the chains, tying her up. He grabbed her messy hair and pulled her forward. The kunoichi fell heavily on the stone floor, scraping her face at the rocks. The pain pierced through her like a needle and she barely kept her composure. Her legs were cramped from all the sitting and the broken ribs stabbed her lungs deeper. With her face on the floor Sakura could afford biting her lip in attempt to suppress a groan.

"Damn, girl. You're good. Still pretending even after all this? I gotta give you some credit for that.", Zetsu laughed and kneeled next to her. His hand roughly slapped her bottom as he giggled. The Akatsuki member gripped the belt of Sakura's shorts and pulled it down, taking the trousers off. "M-m-m-m. Now I know why Sasuke stopped me. He was just being selfish.", the Akatsuki member grinned and his yellowish eyes glistened as he studied the lower half of her body.

A fear raised in Sakura's heart. What if he wasn't bluffing? She'd just stay put and let herself to be raped? "No. I need to do something…", her thoughts cut off when Zetsu wrapped his vines around her ankles and spread her legs apart. The kunoichi snapped her eyes open, realizing that it was probably already too late for her to resist. She felt his hand between her legs and the girl's heart clenched. No. Strength. She needed strength. Zetsu placed his finger above her opening and bowed down his head to hers, " Should I press further or do you want me to remove your panties first?"

His voice triggered something in Sakura's head and the girl managed to summon a tiny bit of chakra in her legs. She curved her spine inwards and kicked Zetsu in the nape of his head with the heel of her boot. But the position she was in didn't allow her access to her strength and the blow only caused him to curse and he shoved her head into the stone floor.

Sakura screamed from the pain and her eyes rolled back. The girl felt the blackness surrounding her and she allowed herself to lose consciousness. At least she won't remember whatever that sick bastard planned do with her.

Sai panted heavily as his animated beast disappeared in a splatter of ink. The raven-haired shinobi looked around – many of the shinobi were lying on the ground, trying to catch their breaths and even more of them were already dead. Being outnumbered and chakra depleted wasn't exactly helping. A new wave of clones stormed at the shinobi lines. Sai took a deep breath, gathering strength, and unfolded the scroll, gripping tightly his painting brush. "Here they come…"

A sudden rumpus, coming from the rear lines of the enemy caught his attention. Someone was pushing through their back ranks. The boy frowned and quickly sketched a bird which came instantly to life. Soaring into the sky his eyes observed the events on the battlefield. Something from the forest behind the clones was killing them off. A multiple pairs of tentacles appeared for a second before hiding under the cover of the trees again.

Sai felt Naruto's chakra closing in and the boy looked down to see his team-mate grinning, "Oi, Naruto! What's happening?"

The Jinchuuriki laughed despite his obvious exhaustion, "It's B! I can sense his chakra!" the blonde boy made a handseal and soon the field was thronged with kage bunshin.

The black-haired shinobi sighed tiredly and prepared his brush, "Let's help him out!"

"I'm telling you… You're not supposed to…", a knock on the door interrupted her sentence and the Hokage sighed, collecting her thoughts, "Come in."

"I'll be in the next room.", Jiraya said with a faint smile before excusing himself.

Kakashi entered quietly into the room and studied Tsunade's face calmly, "I need a moment..."

"You should be out there on the battlefield protecting your subordinates. You shouldn't be slacking around. This is war, Hatake, in case you've forgotten.", the blond woman interrupted him.

"I'm fully aware of that, Hokage-sama, and I'll be back on the battlefield as soon as I finish my talk with you.", Kakashi cleared his throat, knowing that this would cause even more headaches to his boss, "It's about Sakura. She's been taken hostage."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed for a second but then the blank expression was once again on her face, chasing away any real emotion, "And that concerns me how?"

The Copy nin frowned. Something definitely was off. When he saw Sakura she was behaving strangely as well, "Well, Sakura is a Konoha shinobi and…"

"Was…"

"Excuse me?", Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her remark.

"Was a leaf shinobi."

"But…"

"If you have the time to worry about some rogue kunoichi, you should have gone outside helping your comrades. Right now instead of giving 200% of your skill in battle you're wasting your strength over someone who is not even a citizen of Konoha anymore. That's selfish and wrong… Now, off to the battlefield. It's an order, not that it matters to you... since you're following your fancy and do whatever pops first in your mind…as always.", Tsunade turned her back around, indicating that the conversation was over.

"She was your apprentice…", Kakashi hissed through his clenched teeth.

"Yes. And that's exactly why I, myself, have been selfish until now. But times have changed. The whole village is in danger and my job is to protect it. I cannot throw away anyone's lives just to save one. It's a hard battle and even with our full force I don't think we stand a chance, let alone if I waste any more people to save someone who abandoned us."

The Copy nin clenched his fist but said nothing. He knew the Hokage was right but still, sometimes it was worth sacrificing more to save less because that less was worth even more. In that train of thought…Sakura had chosen to save Sasuke instead of supporting her village. Did it mean that she cherished the Uchiha more than she held dear Naruto? Well, that was Sakura. He never for once thought that one day he'd understand her completely. He nodded in respect and walked out of the door, leaving the Hokage facing the window quietly.

A second later the sound of an opening door echoed in the silent room.

"I think that was a bit harsh and inconsiderate.", Jiraya smiled vaguely.

"I prefer logical…", Tsunade murmured, still spacing out of the window.

"You don't mean a word you said…"

"No. I do. I genuinely think we're going to lose this war…"

"That's why I told you I will go out there and help those kids." Jiraya placed hand on her shoulder gently.

"And I told you: that's out of the question.", Tsunade glared with anger and irritation.

B turned around and pressed his back to Naruto's, fighting off the newly increased number of clones, "I'm sorry, bro! It was the only option. Bakayarō! Konoyarō!"

"Ha-ha. No problem, dattebayo! We're in Alliance after all.", Naruto ordered two of his clones to send a bunch of clones with Rasengan, "…but still, it's not like we didn't have our hands full till now."

B grinned and slit the throat of the clones nearest to him and sent a lighting jutsu after a few more who were attempting to attack a group of exhausted and terrified chuunin, "Bro will join us once they take care of the left clones. Did you inform the Hokage?"

"Nah, but I'm sure baa-chan already knows.", Naruto grinned, "By the way what happened with the concert?"

"Could you save the small talk for later?", Sai interrupted, appearing from the frontlines, and turned his back, joining their formation, "B-san, send your shinobi to the medical unit for the vaccine, otherwise they'll be dead before sun-fall. The medics said they were ready to treat them." The Hachibi Jinchuuriki nodded and took off to the side where a part of his comrades were fighting.

"Naruto-kun, where's Kakashi-san? His division is falling behind.", Sai shouted trying to outscream the noise around them.

"No idea. I can't find Sasuke either… Sakura's missing too, dattebayo.", Naruto summoned another wave of kage bunshin before turning his head slightly around, "You think something happened?"

"I don't know.", Sai animated another couple of ink tigers and panted as they tore apart a group of clones. He was at his limit. "How are you holding up?"

"I just try not to think about it.", the Kyuubi host grinned and stormed in the battle with Rasengan in both of his hands.

A Zetsu clone sneaked behind the rushing shinobi and aimed his prickles at Naruto's back. Sai popped out his eyes and yelled but the noise muted his scream. The former Root agent made a couple of handseals and disappeared in a poof of smoke only to emerge behind his team-mate. Naruto felt his presence and turned his head around. Drops of blood splattered on his cheek as he saw Sai being pierced by multiple prickles.

"SAI!", Naruto screamed and threw a kunai at the clone that injured his friend. The weapon stabbed the enemy in the forehead, sinking deeply to the handle as if the skull was made from butter. The Jinchuuriki grabbed the raven-haired shinobi just as he was about to plunge into the ground. Distracted by the attack and the sudden wave of fatigue Naruto missed the warning shout of some unknown to him shinobi. It was already too late when the blonde boy felt the turbulence in the air around him. His blue orbs raised and widened as he saw the incoming attack from a group of enemies.

The leaf shinobi tightened the grip around Sai and bend down to protect his team-mate. It was already too late for something else. Knitting his brows, he waited to the pain but it never came. Slowly his lid uncovered his sapphire eyes and the only thing he saw was sand.

"Naruto... I guess I'm just in time.", a familiar voice sent soothing feeling through the boy's clenched heart.

The Jinchuuriki raised his head and grinned relieved as he recognised the one who saved him, "Gaara!"

Kakashi found his division almost pushed out to the border of the village. Tsunade had been right. He shouldn't neglect his duty for Sakura. It pained him when the next thought passed through his head. He can't sacrifice the lives of the living when he wasn't positive that Sakura was still among them. There were children on the battlefield. He knew that eleven or twelve year old wasn't a kid anymore judging by the shinobi standards but humanely speaking, they were nothing more than a scared children pushed to their death. They were Konoha's future and he had to protect them at every cost. Kakashi knew that Sasuke was looking for Sakura as well. Unlike him, the Uchiha didn't have a duty to fulfil.

A sudden burst of chakra sent chills down his spine. Strangely familiar and terrifying, the energy wave made him turn around his head. His eye caught the air twist before the enemy appeared. The Copy nin uncovered his sharingan and prepared his tanto. His sharingan followed the chakra movement and the dots slightly trembled, as if responding to the one of the enemy.

Naruto felt the chakra signature shortly before he noticed the shinobi that had appeared on the battlefield. His long black hair, much similar to Sasuke's, flew around his face from the wind his jutsu caused. The Jinchuuriki frowned. As if the clones weren't enough. The blonde turned around to locate Gaara. His friend made his way back to Naruto and nodded towards the newly appeared enemy, "Is that Madara?"

"Yeah. We should watch our backs.", the Kyuubi host murmured with eyes nailed at the enemy in front of them.

"Let's show him the fruits of our training, Naruto-bro. Bakayarō! Konoyarō!", B yelled, running back to the frontlines.

Naruto grinned viciously and allowed his consciousness to submerge to his inner world. The nine-tailed fox stood there obviously impatient with bare fangs.

"Naruto, let me fight him…", the voice echoed in the empty space followed by a hungry growl.

"Kurama. There are too many shinobi out here who might get hurt in the crossfire. I need you to lend me only tiny bit of your power."

"You can't beat him with just some of my power. He's strong. I'm not sure even if we together with B and the Hachibi could overpower him.", Kurama frowned and stood up impatiently lowering his nuzzle to Naruto's face.

"I'll take my chances.", Naruto said adamantly.

Kurama sent him an angry glare but then he slowly laid back down, "Fine. But you're making a mistake."

"If you're right then I guess I'll have you saving my ass again, dattebayo.", Naruto grinned and raised his fist in front of him.

The fox let out a sigh and bared his teeth grinning, "As always.", Kurama bumped his huge paw against Naruto's fist.

"Thank you, friend.", the Jinchuuriki grinned and let his mind return to the present events.

"You done?", B shouted over Gaara's head who was now standing between them.

"Aa.", Naruto grinned and let Kurama's strength flow through, wrapping him in a yellowish chakra cloak.

"Let's get this done.", Gaara said and let out the sand from his gourd.

The Copy nin narrowed his mismatched gaze and channelled chakra into his hand, letting the chirping sound of Chidori to fill the space around him. A little while ago when he used Kamui to nullify the jutsu the masked man threw at him, he felt another presence in the dimension he was sending the attack. If he was right, for some reason the enemy's sharingan and his own were connecting to the same dimension. It was worth a try. Kakashi rushed forward expanding the Chidori around his hand aiming for the man's heart. Just when the attack should have collided with the body, his arm passed right through the Akatsuki member.

"Now.", the Copy nin dispelled the attack and quickly made the handseals for a katon jutsu. Sending it flying forward in the empty space, Kakashi activated the mangekyo and swallowed his own technique. In a matter of seconds the masked shinobi rematerialized near the Copy nin. His mask and chest were badly burnt. The orange plastic was now as black as coal. A dull crack reached Kakashi's ears, then another one and another. The mask shattered and fell from the face of the shinobi.

The Copy nin held his breath as he studied the face of the enemy. His pupil was widened to such extend that was overlapping almost completely his dark iris. Couldn't be… he had died in front of him. Why was he standing there alive? Kakashi gulped shocked, frozen in his steps. It must be him. If the point was to disturb his emotional balance the image of his dead team-mate wouldn't have changed through the years. Similar to what he had done to Sakura and Naruto back in the years. But now Obito looked older even though his right half of the face was badly disfigured. His image had been haunting him for years without stopping so there was no way in hell Kakashi wouldn't recognise those features.

"Obito…", the name slipped through the Copy nin's lips but the rest of the words died inside his throat.

"Surprised, Kakashi?", the man grinned, curving the left corner of his mouth, "I thought you wouldn't remember me." The silver-haired shinobi opened his mouth to say something but his voice betrayed him and Kakashi sealed his lips again. "I see you're doing well. Especially with that left eye of yours.", Obito continued with a cruel smile.

"I…"

"Shut your lying mouth.", the Akatsuki member growled, letting the smirk fade away from his features, "Such poor excuse for a man should have no right to speak."

Kakashi frowned feeling the pain in his chest rising, "How…? I saw you being buried under those rocks. Even if there was a small chance for you to survive that…Rin wouldn't let me leave you behind… She would…"

"Don't you dare say her name…", Obito's voice was low and trembling, interrupting the Copy nin's words. The man took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "No, it doesn't matter anymore. Say whatever you want. Soon you'll join your father anyway..."

"Obito, why are you doing this…?", Kakashi frowned, trying to suppress his boiling emotions. "If you want to take revenge, fine. Take it all on me, not on all these people. We were students of the forth Hokage! You were Konoha shinobi…"

"So was Rin!", the enemy yelled with widely opened eyes, "That didn't stop you from killing her!"

"Rin…", the name passed through Kakashi's mind forcing the suppressed memories to resurface again. The feeling of her hot blood pouring on his hand, the last few beats of her heart when he pierced it with his jutsu, everything came back and crushed him with its full force. The pale lips, curved in a slight smile and that understanding look on her face. He always hated it. She had forgiven him everything even before he had done it. He took her life and despite the shock in her eyes, she said: "It's OK. I understand. No need to apologize or to feel guilty. You haven't betrayed me."

"You don't know the truth…", the Copy nin made another step forward with terrified expression, reaching his hand at his former team-mate, trying to peace him down, "She…"

"DON'T YOU DARE say another lie about her death!", the other man screamed, trembling with anger, "I was THERE. I SAW you killing her without a second thought, despite your promise to keep her safe.", the Akatsuki member popped his eyes and raised a finger channelling chakra, "She trusted you and she loved you…and you betrayed her. You betrayed ME!" As Obito began casting a jutsu, Madara suddenly teleported next to him and put a hand over his shoulder.

"We're going back.", the older Uchiha said adamantly, "You'll finish this according to our plan. Not like this." Then he made a couple of handseals and disappeared in a poof of smoke along with Obito.

Kakashi released his breath and felt his knees becoming weak. The man slumped to the ground panting and supported himself on hands. With fingers buried in the soil, the Copy nin let the tears drop from his eyes, leaving small wet circles on the dirt below him.

"Hatake-senpai!", yells were heard across the battlefield as a couple of horrified shinobi rushed to the kneeling man.

Naruto felt his insides burning. Were the others alive? The Jinchuuriki managed to force himself to get up and look around. The battlefield was nearly unrecognisable. Deep craters and pieces of rocks were sticking around prevented him from finding his friends. The smell of burnt human flesh was suffocating the blonde and he raised a hand to cover up his nose. Not that it would help him with the stench. Dozens of corpses were lying around him, the Kyuubi host fruitlessly searched for somebody alive. All of them were dead. A couple of young chuunin had tried to hide behind some trees but the temperature of the katon jutsu had been high enough to practically eradicate the trees and the group hadn't survived. Naruto felt sick when he noticed a shinobi couple lying scorched on the ground, the man had tried to protect the kunoichi but they had both died.

He couldn't tell if there were friends among the victims. And for once he was glad it was that way. His head felt dizzy and the boy sat on the ground, trying to catch his breath. A small flicker of familiar chakra caught Naruto's attention. His head turned around and he noticed Gaara dissolving the shell his sand had created in order to protect him from the fire. The Kazekage coughed badly and spit on the ground.

The Jinchuuriki quickly stood up and went to him. He noticed that Gaara had managed to grab Sai and pull him inside the sand as well. "Are you hurt, Gaara?", Naruto reached out and helped his friend to stand up.

"That's my line.", the reddish – haired shinobi frowned, "That Madara…the jutsu was quite troublesome one."

Naruto examined himself and noticed the multiple burnt areas on his body and then smiled tiredly, "I'll be fine in an hour or so. Kurama's helping me with the injuries.", the blonde looked worriedly at Sai, "Is he alive?"

"Barely, but if…", his words were interrupted as a small slug spawned next to the lying raven-haired boy.

"Tsunade-sama has dispatched us to help with the badly injured.", Katsuyu said with her high-pitched voice and climbed on top of Sai's body, glowing green.

"Naruto-bro! You ok?", B shouted across the battlefield.

The Jinchuuriki turned around and smiled relaxed as he saw the Hachibi host in the same condition as himself, "Aa!"

"The clones are retreating. I think it's safe to call it a night.", Gaara said observing the enemy backing down.

"Yeah, I think so too.", Naruto nodded, "Gaara, I think you should talk with Tsunade-baachan. She'll prepare a safe place for your shinobi."

The Kazekage sighed, "That was my intention.", he patted Naruto on the shoulder and gave a silent nod at B before excusing himself.

The Kyuubi host sat down next to Sai silently with dark expression on his face. It might have been just his imagination but during the battle he could feel somebody sucking out his chakra. Wasn't Madara intention to gather the chakra of all of the Bijuus? If he was right, then did they steal part of B's chakra as well? If they did, it could turn up pretty ugly.

"I felt it too, Naruto. It's not just you.", Kurama whispered inside him.

Naruto sank into his consciousness and sat in front of the fox with worried expression, "Let's assume they got part of mine and B's chakras, they had captured the other bijuus so they have their chakras as well. Can you figure out what are they planning?"

The nine-tailed beast growled and laid down in front of his host, "Do you know that originally the tailed beasts were one whole creature? It was the Sage of Six paths that divided the so called ten-tailed bijuu into nine different beasts. If they are gathering the chakra of the bijuus I can only assume that they are trying to revive the Ten-tails."

"No way… Can they really do it?", Naruto widened his eyes.

"They posses the sharingan and the rinnegan, I believe that it is possible.", Kurama replied with dark expression.

"We should let A-bro and Baa-chan know!", the blonde exclaimed and cursed silently before refocusing his mind on the lying injured boy next to him.

TBC