DISCLAIMER: This story is solely written for fanservicing. All known characters and plot lines belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the publishers of the Naruto series. I am merely a fan who wishes to write her alternate story to the Naruto manga. The title "In The Name of Life" is taken from Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack of the film 'Spirited Away', by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. This fanfic is not intended for lucrative purposes.

In The Name of Life

Chapter IV

"No I am not where I belong. So shine a light and guide me back home." City and Colour

All she could feel were fingers wrapped around her neck, choking her, taking her life away from her fingers. Physically, they were not there, but her mind could not stop playing the same memory over and over again, and her skin could still feel his hand trying to suffocate her air passage.

Sakura had never thought that she would face these conditions. Sure, the Shinobi War brought her many surprises, but this was a twist that she was not expecting.

Why would Kabuto recruit her and C in the first place? Was it genuinely for the reasons he and Madara had explained just a few moments ago, before Zetsu had taken her and C to their cell? Or did he have something else in mind? They were under the watch of one of the strongest shinobi in history, so trying to escape was not an easy task.

And Sasuke... Sasuke was in the same place as her, and she couldn't help but fear for her life, for C's. She could not look her old teammate in the eye and pretend that the past three years had not affected her because they had. Especially their last encounter.

He had turned into a merciless person who lived fueled by anger and hatred. She wished she knew the full reason behind his hatred. She only knew his future plan, but not the intention. Sasuke had accomplished his goal of killing Itachi, so why did he need to eliminate Konoha altogether? Sakura was aware of the dark side of her village. Being the Hokage's apprentice had taught her more than just medical jutsus. She had a general knowledge of the political affairs of her village, and of the dark secrets that could bring Konoha down.

She was afraid that Madara –or worse, Sasuke– had infiltrated into her mind and tried to extract her knowledge. After all, Uchihas were not sympathetic with their enemies. Yes, she was Sasuke's enemy, or more accurately, he was her enemy. He probably still regarded her as a useless kunoichi, but Sakura –in the right place and time— could prove him wrong, easily. She was half glad she had not found herself in this situation alone, but at the same time, she would never have wished for someone else to experience what she was bound to experience.

Sakura knew she was going to be tortured to the point of death if she did not cooperate. Madara and Kabuto would not hold back; they would get what they wanted from her and C and then toss them aside. She was ready to die if it meant saving her village and the Shinobi Alliance. That was what shinobi signed up for; to protect their highest loyalty. Maybe she could try and sneak C out of this hideout before Madara, Kabuto, or Sasuke got to kill him. At least one of them would come out with valuable information for the Shinobi Alliance, and knowing her past history with her captors, Sakura knew she was bound to stay inside this cave until her last breath. It was rather sad how she did not get to say goodbye to her best friends before she was abducted.

But that was war; people died and vanished without saying goodbye all the time. She just happened to be a victim of that destiny.

"Naruto, forgive me," she whispered silently, crossing her arms over her chest as an instinctive mechanism of protection.

It was not going to help her anyway. She and C were inside a small cell that had no windows. It was as if someone had carved a hole in the cave, as there was no distinction between floor and walls. The bottom and the sides were uneven, so neither Sakura nor C could find an appropriate spot for sleeping. She had resorted to hiding in the end that was farthest from the entrance, a worn out door that could only be opened with Kabuto, Madara, or Zetsu's chakra.

They had not received food yet, which was something that Sakura had predicted would happen. If they did not kill them for trying to escape, then they were most likely going to die from starvation. She shivered slightly thinking of that idea; her last deeds before dying would be to help the enemy. She brought shame to her village, and especially to her teachers. Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shishou would be extremely disappointed to know that their student could not fight back. After all they'd taught her...

A small cough coming from C took her away from her thoughts. She could not make out his form, as their cell was too dark and her eyes had yet to adapt. However, following the sound of his voice, Sakura could tell that he was on the other side of the cell.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I met him in the Five Kage Summit," he said.

Sakura's eyes opened in surprise at this statement. She did not know C was present when the Five Kage Summit had happened. That meant that he had seen Naruto as well, when he decided to defend Sasuke in front of the Raikage. Well, now everything made sense in her head. C was the Raikage's escort, one of his closest shinobi. She would have smacked her forehead if they'd been in another place.

"My Kage is missing an arm because of him. I was knocked unconscious by one of his genjutsu; he specializes in that," he continued. No, Sakura thought, Sasuke was good at everything. "Heh, you Konoha ninja like to exaggerate everything. This kid got rid of my Kage's arm –you seem to be an exception, though. However, there's Uzumaki Naruto, and he tends to make everything ten times bigger than what it needs to be."

Sakura had to stifle a giggle to stop it escaping her lips when she remembered where she was. She started thinking that C was trying to make conversation in order to forget that they were locked in a cell, with four international criminals ready to disintegrate them. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could say in regards to Naruto and Sasuke; she knew so much about them, but at the same time so little. Her former teammates had a bond that Sasuke was too blind to see, and that Naruto was too worried about protecting. That thought hit her with a pang of guilt; it was her fault that Naruto wanted to bring Sasuke back. She made him promise that, and she would do anything to take back those words.

"Of course, I am aware that you know more about Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke than I do, Sakura-san. You were in the same gennin team."

C's declaration deepened the pain in her chest as she brought her arms in closer. She wanted to bury her face between her knees and disappear from this world. Guilt took over every cell of her body as she slowly responded to her cell mate.

"Yes. We... we were a good team." And they were, but fortune was never on their side.

They both fell silent after Sakura spoke. There was nothing else to say, both shinobi were too busy minding their thoughts. Without realizing, Sakura slowly started closing her eyes, wishing to open them and find herself in her room back in Konoha. Far from the war, from the memories, and from the torture that was about to come.

She woke up again at the sound of the cell's entrance opening. Sakura looked up from her knees, which were drawn into her chest, while her arms protected her. She took up such a small place in the cell that she became almost unnoticeable. C, however, decided to crawl towards her. It seemed like he had also fallen asleep without noticing. Their arms touched, and Sakura did not feel alone anymore –at least not physically. Knowing that there was another living human with her in this took away the sensation of dying unaccompanied.

They both stiffened when the door opened wide, and the light from outside, albeit still dim, blinded them briefly. The cave was poorly lit, but the cell was almost entirely black. The sudden introduction of light to their eyes would be hard to adjust to, but Sakura did not feel bothered by it. There was no point in worrying about commodities when her days were numbered.

"Ah, you got a little cozy in there," it was Zetsu. His voice sounded teasing, yet still sadistic.

They all sounded like sadists, Sakura thought, referring to the last members of Akatsuki. They were ready to kill at any second.

Sasuke included.

"Stand up, you two, Kabuto needs you well known medical abilities in the lab."

He summoned two of his White clones, who forcefully detached C from Sakura's side while she curled herself up, further trying to shrink her body. It was unsuccessful, as one of Zetsu's clones grabbed her by the arm and forced her to stand up. They exited the cell and followed the real Zetsu, turning left on one passage in order to turn right in another. It seemed like this cave was in fact a maze that was poorly built and poorly lit. Sakura remembered the hideout where she saw Sasuke for the first time in two and a half years. This place had the same aura; maybe it was one of Orochimaru's former bases.

After walking for a while, Sakura and C were stopped in front of an iron door. It had a small, rectangular window that allowed outsiders to look in, but it was covered up with a black curtain. She had to contain her shivers until Zetsu's clone let go of her arm. She was more frightened than ever before, and her body was responding accordingly. Her mouth was kept in a straight, thin line in order to avoid it trembling. She wanted to look at C as a reassurance, but felt that if she took her eyes away from the door, something horrible was going to happen.

Zetsu stood behind them and released a low chuckle. Sakura thought he was having fun looking at the two young and horrified shinobi. The iron door opened from the inside, and Kabuto's hooded head peeked out of his lab. At least that was what Sakura guessed. There would not be another reason for him to maintain his workplace in such an isolated and highly protected area. She could feel a shield made of Kabuto's chakra protecting the surroundings of the iron door, and Sakura knew that they were entering dangerous territory.

Kabuto formed a sly smile on his snake-like face, while his eyes squinted under the rim of his glasses. He further opened the door as it creaked with every move it made. Sakura felt Zetsu push her towards the door, and before he could touch her again, she took Kabuto's invite and entered his lab. C came right behind her, just as cautious as she was.

Sakura was expecting another room that resembled the rest of the cave; dark, with rock walls, cold, and uninviting. Instead, she found a well lit, long and rectangular chamber with white walls and all the equipment needed for a medical procedure. It surprised her to see such organization, but her eyes could not stop looking at the shelves full of human remains inside jars. She wondered if Orochimaru's remains were in any of those jars, but dismissed the thought at the realization of how macabre that seemed. Kabuto was truly a pioneer in the natural sciences, but the branch he focused on was not meant to help other individuals. He only wanted to experiment, to see how far one could go with the human body. And, as a medic, Sakura felt disgusted at knowing that there was such a branch in shinobi medicine.

The next thing that caught her attention were the several rows of beds set up on opposite sides of the room. Every bed carried a body, which was covered with a white bed sheet from head to toe. It seemed like Kabuto was performing multiple autopsies on all of these bodies, but since Sakura knew of his intentions, she could only guess that the pawns of his project were found on these beds. Now, she did not know what to expect.

This situation could not get any more surreal. A pang of fear overwhelmed her senses as Sakura realized that she was standing in front of multiple strong –dormant but still resurrected— shinobi who were at the command of her enemy. The worst part was yet to come.

With a snap of his fingers, Kabuto was able to lift off the white bed sheets from the bodies used for his Edo Tensei jutsu. When she saw all of the familiar faces, Sakura wanted to scream.

There was Chiyo and Sasori; Zabuza and Haku; Asuma-sensei and Neji's father. There were rows and rows of historically famous, strong shinobi who proved to be masters of their discipline when they were alive. Sakura knew that these ninja, who fought so bravely to protect what they loved, were now brought back from the dead to eliminate their allies and friends. The purpose of Kabuto's Edo Tensei was getting darker and darker as Sakura analyzed every familiar face she found. They all had cracks in their skin, as if it was worn out. Also, their eyes were closed, showing that they had not been woken up.

Yet.

There were most members of Akatsuki, all lined up alongside one another, but Sakura's eyes landed on one member in particular:

Uchiha Itachi.

And she wondered if she had enough courage to grab a kunai and slit it across her throat right at that moment.

"Let's begin with the basics, shall we?" Kabuto spoke in a hissing tone, "You shall use the Mystical Palm Technique to repair the your patients' skin cells."

Like a snake, he slithered towards her and C since they were still standing near the entrance. Without taking course of her actions, Sakura started to take steps towards Kabuto as well, trying to hide her fear. She felt C walking a bit behind her, but they were both still at a fair distance from the other shinobi. Kabuto slowly licked his lips while analyzing them, like he was evaluating their abilities through his eyes. Several moments passed before he decided to speak again.

"Sakura-san, you will start working on Kinkaku from Kumogakure, and C will work on his twin. You must feel proud, C, knowing that your medical abilities are put to use on the body of one of your village's best shinobi," Kabuto's comment seemed to cause a small tremble in C's right arm, as if he was about to choke the snake-looking shinobi.

However, before any of them could plan an attack of Kabuto, the alluded decided to walk towards the back of his lab. That was when Sakura noticed another white door that blended in with the walls. There must be something strong hidden in there, she thought, something strong and terrifying. She did not want to imagine what it was, as the sight of all of these strong deceased shinobi already terrified her. What hid behind the white door was left to her imagination. Kabuto would most likely reveal his secret once he left for the battlefield along with the rest of the reincarnated bodies.

"One wrong move, and you will be the first to experience my new confession potion," threatened Kabuto, touching the white door's handle.

C and Sakura stood there for a few moments, neither of them wanting to start. The sound of something merging from the walls startled both of them, and they looked at how White Zetsu's face appeared repeatedly distributed among the four white walls of the lab. They would be constantly watched, and it was unnerving. Zetsu's disturbing chuckle took over the silence of Kabuto's laboratory.

Sakura was out of options.

"Get to work, now!"

They both walked at the same time, directed to where their respective patients rested. C indicated who Kinkaku was before moving on to the other twin, who was located at the opposite wall. However, neither Sakura nor C knew what to do with the bodies until Kabuto's voice was heard through the rock walls.

"You shall strengthen their skin tissues, layer by layer. You see, they are still in a rather delicate state, and they need their skin to be strong to avoid being blown into pieces if an explosion happens. Due to your abilities, the Mystical Palm Technique is definitely suitable for this project. It should not be difficult to perform on them," explained Kabuto, "Oh, yes. I almost forgot. Whoever finishes first gets a bigger meal portion."

The snake-like shinobi opened the white door with a hissing chuckle, as if he was teasing his two prisoners. Sakura was further disgusted at the idea of this being a competition for a larger plate. She did not want their food. She wanted nothing from them. This was a living nightmare.

"Do not stand there. Get to work!"

After Zetsu's clones' second command, they had to start working on the bodies. She looked down at her patient, who was an identical version of C's Ginkaku. She looked around at the other familiar faces, guilt taking over her chest. She was about to prepare the worst for her friends and allies. Neji was going to be devastated at seeing his father; Ino's team wouldn't stand the sight of a resurrected Asuma-sense –and she didn't even want to think about Kurenai-sensei's reaction.

Sakura's hands glowed in green as she regretfully began treating every skin cell of Kinkaku's lifeless body. She felt filthy, betraying the Allied Forces. Tsunade-shishou would have wanted her to end her life right there and then, but Sakura was sure that Zetsu's clones would interrupt her intentions before she could stop her heart beat. C glanced over at her with the same expression; it seemed that he also wanted to end his life right at that moment.

That was how the preparation of Akatsuki's strongest weapons started.

After working on the bodies for who knows how long, Kabuto re-entered his main laboratory in order to supervise the progress of his pawns. Sakura and C did not say anything and stood there, motionless, as if they were also part of the group of deceased shinobi. Only that Sakura would never live up to their prowess. She was weak; weak and helpless.

Kabuto walked around the two beds where the twins lay, observing the progress the pair had done on repairing their skin cells. He nodded in approval, giving Sakura a slanted grin that resembled a snake's intentions before attacking its prey.

"Excellent," he said, "You may continue tomorrow. Same time, same place. Do not cause any disturbances."

"Or you will get to play with us," one of Zetsu's multiple faces on the wall added, taunting them.

With his final words, Kabuto exited his main laboratory and returned to his private room in the back. Sakura followed every step he took, not entirely sure if he could feel her eyes piercing through his back. The snake Kabuto had as a tail decided to challenge her in a staring contest, trying to intimidate her. Nonetheless, Sakura's gaze did not leave the snake-like shinobi's stance until he disappeared behind the white door. Then, Sakura's eyes turned to C's rigid form. He noticed her stare and move to her side, softly placing a hand on her arm as a sign of support.

She would always need a man to save her, but Naruto was not there with her. He was far, far away from her. He could be in worse danger than her, since he was the main target of this war. However, she couldn't help thinking that her own safety was more important than Naruto's at the moment. She was imprisoned by Akatsuki, working on their master weapons, without escape. At least her best friend was under the Aliance's protection, and he could fight very well on his own. Sakura, however, could not compare her abilities with the international criminals'.

The real Zetsu fetched them from the laboratory and took them back to their cell with the help of his clones. She could feel his black and white gaze on her back, trying to intimidate her figure much like Kabuto's snake tail had attempted. Nothing was said during the journey, but a part of Sakura knew that the clones also were giving her and C taunting looks, trying to provoke them. When they entered their cell, there were two plates with rotten food, one fuller than the other. Sakura insisted that C should take the bigger plate, knowing that she intentionally worked at a slower pace. She could not blame C for working more efficiently than her, his chakra control was probably going berserk with the current situation. Fortunately, Sakura still had an upper hand with her chakra flow.

If they wanted to use her techniques without her will, then she was going to do everything possible to diminish her chakra flow. Even if that meant spending days without eating. She was ready to die anyway, even if she could not kill herself.

She wondered how long she was going to last before breaking apart. One thing was for sure, though, Sakura was not going to lose her sanity in front of Sasuke and show her weakness for the umpteenth time.

Nevertheless, C's physical closeness to her gave her a light of hope. Neither of them spoke when they were working in the lab, and the few sentences exchanged in the cell were just to fill in the silence. But what Sakura appreciated the most was how C sat beside her, closing the physical gap between their arms. He slowly motioned to lie down on the rocky ground, inviting her to lie beside him and find comfort in having another sane human accompanying her in this nightmare.

"Here," he said, before inviting her with an open arm that wrapped around her shoulders.

"Thank you," she whispered weakly, matching herself to his position.

It wasn't a romantic situation, at all. Her mind was elsewhere, far away from the horrors that lay ahead. She was glad that C had taken initiative in maintaining his presence, much like Naruto always tried to cheer her up despite living in his personal nightmare.

It showed her that she was not alone in that cell. That this macabre mission was not a task that she had to bear without someone else's moral support. It made her forget that her friends could die at any minute in the battlefield. She was taken to the land of her imagination, where anything could be possible. She had been right; C was the only person she could trust in Madara's hideout. Sasuke was out of the question. He had been out of the question for a long time in her thoughts, but her heart still betrayed her.

Sakura imagined being back in her room, back in a newly built Konoha. Far away from the war, from death and resurrection, from her attempts to avoid Sasuke at all times.

Hello lovely people!

I felt that the song lyrics matched with what Sakura was feeling. I've been searching and searching for quotes that go with every chapter, and so far I've found a few I really like. Do you think that it's a good idea to start every chapter with a quote?

So this chapter is all through Sakura's point of view, but the next one will show the story through another pair of eyes. I'm not going to say whose, you have to guess ;) It may be one or two or THREE people, lol.

By the way, I wasn't so specific with the process of working on the resurrected bodies because that will come later, when a very important scene happens. When you read it, you will understand why.

What I've been liking a lot is the interaction I get with most of you. We exchange words back and forth and establish a relationship. I get so excited when I see that readers have been responding to my inboxes! *blushes*

Anyway, I figured that since this chapter is not as long as the others, I may as well publish it earlier. Once again, thanks to Unique-girl YAYZ who acts as a beta.

If you find any mistakes, please let me know in the review! I will gladly go over the story and fix it :)

Take good care of yourselves, and see you next time.

Sincerely,

MSM

Ps: What are your opinions with the current manga chapters? Yay or nay?