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 VII
"If we don't end war, war will end us." ~ H. G. Wells
Sakura had lost track of time. Every hour, minute and second felt like an eternity. Her cell seemed to be shrinking as her soul ate her away. The horror of working for Kabuto, who planned on using his project against her friends, had nearly dehumanized her. She'd worked on Chiyo and Sasori already, waiting for them to open their eyes and remember her. It didn't happen, to her misfortune. Chiyo-baasama remained cold as a stone as Sakura smoothed out the cracks in her skin. She wanted them, the resurrected bodies, to fight against Kabuto, to kill him before his ambitions went any further. She wanted all of the Edo Tensei –especially Uchiha Itachi, for some reason— to rebel against Akatsuki and kill Madara, Kabuto, Zetsu and Sasuke.
Sakura did not want anything to do with him anymore. She'd lost all hope in her former teammate. He was gone; he slipped away from her. It wasn't like her love was enough to keep him around, she thought. After all, loving Uchiha Sasuke did not protect her from Zetsu's torturous manners.
Yes, she'd been tortured already. It was a fact that she wanted to forget along with Sasuke, but it always came back to her mind whenever she began to think about anything. It was better to remain blank, to meditate, but it was difficult to meditate when her whole body pained because of Zetsu's entertainments.
She and C had been a little reluctant in helping Kabuto for the past few days. They would slow down the recovering of the Edo Tensei bodies, or refuse to eat the disgusting food they were given as a sign of rebellion. That had infuriated him, and Akatsuki did just as they said: they tortured them for information. However, it was not the type of torture that Sakura expected. She was ready for Madara's genjutsu –her inner self would be a great help as a counter, she imagined. But what she wasn't expecting was for her torturer to be Zetsu, and his tactics were completely different.
"Little kunoichi, welcome to my favourite game." That was White Zetsu's voice.
Sakura had experienced pain in her life in many ways; she felt it when Sasuke left the village, when the Hokage almost killed her in order to teach her how to attack the enemy, when Naruto had been severely injured with the Kyūbi's chakra. She also knew how much it hurt to have every rib broken, struggling for her last breath. However, she always had something (and sometimes someone) to help her recover: her chakra. But Zetsu had deprived her from her chakra supplies. Her perfectly controlled, pure and strong chakra.
"You better stay there and make this as fun as possible, understood?" continued Black Zetsu.
He had two clones tie her up with the same leather strands that she woke up with. This time, they were hanging from the wall, hence leaving her whole body vulnerable. She felt so helpless, standing there with no chakra, like the damsel in distress that she promised herself she was not going to be during the war. Zetsu showed one of his macabre smiles at her, while his two sides were talking back and forth about what they could do to her.
"We should just cut her skull open and take out her brain," Black Zetsu proposed.
"That's not so fun. And there would be blood everywhere," White Zetsu disagreed. Sakura wanted to shut her ears. Just the thought of that pest touching her made her cringe.
"Then are you thinking what I am thinking?" White Zetsu asked, and his other half chuckled, exactly knowing what he meant.
Silence dominated the room for an infinite amount of time. Sakura was not sure of what was yet to come, but it would be worse than the last time.
"Let's bring Kabuto's signature poison."
Sakura couldn't see any of Zetsu's movements. The room they were in was barely lit, and her eyes were fixated on the rocky ground. Nonetheless, she caught the sound of a glinting bottle, the burning feeling of a cold, plant-like forcing her chin up. Her jaw was tightened, gritting her teeth. She was not going to let that liquid run down her system without putting up a fight.
Stay away from me...
The Akatsuki member groaned in displeasure at her actions and forced her lips to separate.
No...
Don't touch me.
Don't breathe near me.
Don't smell me.
The girl had never felt so much pain inside before. After the cold glass bottle had touched her mouth, Sakura felt an acid running down her throat. It was burning her insides, making her want to scream in suffering. But she didn't. She only let the liquid run down her system and it caused an incinerating sensation in her stomach. A metallic taste filled the inside of her mouth. Sakura's insides were bleeding. Her whole body was bleeding from the inside, all due to that poison that Zetsu had given her.
"So what is your Hokage's plan with the war?" that was his first question. Zetsu liked to start with simple questions in the fashion of keeping things as enjoyable as possible.
I am not going to tell you.
I will die before you get anything out of my mouth.
I hate you!
With all her might, Sakura spat blood at Zetsu's face. His smile flickered into an angry scowl for one second before coming back. He grabbed her by her neck and came close to her ear, nearly suffocating her, "Don't you like it when someone touches your neck? I'm pretty sure that Uchiha Sasuke would love to strangle it for a second time."
That was when Sakura couldn't take it anymore.
She screamed.
Fire!
It hurt her insides, but she screamed at the mention of his name. All she wanted was for them to die and leave Naruto alone. It was an immature thought, as if she could protect her friend from the big bullies. But this wasn't the Academy anymore. In the Academy, they taught students how to make shadow clones, how to use weapons, how to think critically in a difficult situation. Whatever came with the real life of a shinobi was after, when one was sent out in mission and promoted to higher ranks.
No, nothing had prepared her to feel this pain. It was not only the physical pain from Kabuto's poison and Zetsu's tortures, it was also the emotional pain of being forced to help the enemy, of being so close to Sasuke, not seeing him but knowing that he was only falling into more darkness. Sakura knew he wouldn't want to see her either. Not unless he wanted to kill her, of course. She was still an annoying brat to him, obviously. She would be an easy kill, one that would bring Naruto to Madara's hideout and culminate the end of the Shinobi World War. In the end, team 7 would finish killing one another, and Kakashi-sensei would disappear into oblivion for his failure as a teacher.
Kakashi-sensei...
After Sakura was thrown back into her cell, she shivered, feeling freezing cold. She wondered how her sensei was doing. Kakashi-sensei was so important to her, even though he never paid that much attention to her training. He always put the boys first. Sakura knew that she had the least potential, but she still loved her teacher. He did his best. No one was perfect, she told her inner self.
A soft gasp escaped her lips, trying to suppress the tears that were threatening to leave her eyes. She wouldn't cry. There was nothing to cry about. She was never going to see her teachers, her family, her friends, Naruto again.
"I had a good life..." she told herself, trying to remain calm.
And she did as she recalled her life: she learned the different types of love, she was recognized by the Hokage, and she met meaningful people. Sakura regretted nothing –no, wait, she did regret something. She regretted not having enough courage to kill Sasuke. It was all her fault; she should have stabbed him without hesitation.
But...
Sakura knew she wasn't able to kill her old teammate because she still loved him. It was a stupid reason; she'd gone after Sasuke just to rid him from all his pain. She thought she could end his suffering with death. Killing someone you loved and who was suffering was in the highest of honour for a shinobi, but she couldn't. She just couldn't think of a world without Sasuke, because said world meant that half of her was dead. Why in the world did she still love him? After all his attempts at taking her life, she still crawled back to him like a fool.
It was contradicting; she loved the same person she feared. But the sixteen year old Sasuke was not the same as her teammate from three years ago. He'd been filled with so much hatred, something that she would never understand –something she never wished to understand. She was so scared of giving away information if they were to use him as a tool.
The cell's entrance opened again, and Zetsu shoved C in it. She noticed how he had his arms injured. They were not as bad as her injuries, but nonetheless Zetsu had his fun with the boy. Sakura crawled until she reached his side, while he was groaning in pain, holding on to his stomach. He'd been given the poison as well, she thought. It wasn't lethal, Sakura concluded, but it made her wish she died in that moment. Unlike a snake's poison, Kabuto's special liquid gave the victim a sensation of dying without actually dying. That was much worse.
Seeing C hurting made her feel guilty. He didn't deserve this treatment. Yes, he was close to the most powerful Kage of the Five Great Countries, who was also the highest decision maker in the Shinobi Alliance, but C didn't have anything to do with Madara, Kabuto nor Sasuke. He was an innocent soul brought into this misery. It wasn't fair.
"It's okay, I'm here," she said in attempts to console her companion.
Sakura pushed his back into one of the corners of their cell, and then positioned herself in between his arms so that she could act as a heater for his stomach. She noticed that protecting it from cold conditions lessened the poison's pains.
Poor C... He probably had a nice girlfriend back in Kumogakure who would never see him again. Instead, he was comforted by Sakura while he comforted her. It was strange, like they needed to hold on to each other to keep sane because everything else had been taken away from them.
What kept them going wasn't love –not even a crush—, but a bond of surviving together. They were each other's last friends in this life. Sakura hid her face in his neck, smelling a combination of sweat, dirt and blood. It wasn't pleasant, but she smelled the same. They haven't eaten nor taken a bath in so long that the smell no longer mattered. Her hair had turned into a filthy pile of mud and grease on her head. However, her hitai-ate was still there, untouched. C's condition was similar to hers, with his hitai-ate also untouched. It was like they were holding on to... nothing. Just a forehead protector with a symbol.
It was like holding on to their identities. They were still shinobi who were faithful to the Alliance. They were not going to disregard the last proof of their allegiance because their lives were about to end.
"I'm... I'm alright," C murmured in her ear, but she knew he was lying. No one could be 'alright' after being tortured by Zetsu.
"I don't believe you," she could only squeeze her body closer to his in an attempt to keeping him warm. With her face hidden, Sakura did not need to worry about showing how scared she was at the moment.
"...Okay. I didn't say anything."
"Neither did I."
"Good."
Sakura felt like responding with a sound similar to the one Sasuke made when he agreed with something, but the will to keep talking had already left her senses.
Both shinobi closed their eyes, letting the darkness finally take in their tired forms.
"Come here, kunoichi"
A White Zetsu clone was standing in the entrance of Sakura's and C's cell. He seemed to take notice on how the two shinobi were positioned: now, C had an arm around Sakura's shoulders while she was hiding her face on his neck. His sadistic smile grew larger as he snatched Sakura from C's grip.
Sakura looked back at her cellmate with fear, finally making eye contact. He seemed lost, like he was looking past her. What were they going to do to her? Try to extract more information? It had probably been a day already, Sakura thought. Her eyes hadn't opened until Zetsu's clone had decided to make an appearance in their cell.
The clone dragged her out of her cell and into the hallway. She didn't want to get tortured again. Please, no, stop it!Zetsu's grip was burning in her arm just as her throat felt the incinerating sensation of Kabuto's poison. Were they going to use it again? She hadn't figured out a way if countering it yet. She needed to find one soon, before C's internal system was permanently damaged with it.
Sakura would have take her fierce side and demand where she was being taken, but her stomach felt so deprived that words could barely make it to her lips. She hadn't eaten in days as a way to boycott Kabuto, but it only brought her more pain and torture.
"It's sad how we won't get to play games today, little kunoichi" said Zetsu.
Was she going to get a worse punishment? Why say punishment? She wasn't doing anything wrong. She was fulfilling her duty as a Konoha shinobi and a member of the Shinobi Alliance. Tsunade-shishou would be proud of her perseverance. Sakura hasn't given any information concerning her side's activities. Although her mind was starting to question several things, diverting her from different trains of thought, she still remained faithful to her higher duties.
"W-where are you taking me...?" it hurt to speak but she had to bear the pain.
"To meet someone who's wanted to see you for a while," Zetsu let out a creepy chuckle before turning into another hallway.
Sakura did not remember this side of Madara's hideout. It looked like the rest, but she hadn't been here before. Who had wanted to see her for a while? Fear crept up at the back of her neck when she thought of the possibilities; number one being that Sasuke had requested to see her. She could not avoid him for much longer.
It was one if the things she feared the most about being in this place: seeing, interacting, being in the same room as Sasuke.
Two of Zetsu's clones grabbed her arms, further confirming her fears. Zetsu thought she was going to run away from him. She would have, but the lack of chakra was taking its toll. She felt her arms shiver under his touch. The thought of what he did to her before still lingered in her mind. She wondered if she was ever going to get over those torture sessions, both hers and C's; hearing her innocent friend suffer was like a double kill for her.
Zetsu and his clones kept leading her among the different hallways, bringing her to another side of Madara's maze. They were entertaining themselves with her weakened state.
One of his clones squeezed her arm, "Heh, almost no flesh in here. You better get some food in those bones or Kabuto will be pissed off because his assistant doesn't have enough chakra."
His assistant? Assistant! She was a prisoner, for goodness sake! How in the world would she ever be willing to help the Alliance's enemy? If only she had enough energy to talk!
Her feet stumbled on a small rock and she almost lost balance. Her legs were giving in to her while any trace of energy was disappearing. If it wasn't because the two Zetsu were holding n to her arms, she would have fallen and never stood up. It didn't sound like a bad idea; rotting away in the ground was better than encountering Uchiha Sasuke. Nevertheless, the clones noticed her clumsy composure and decided to have a tighter grip on her. They were starting to hurt her arms more than before, and her vision was becoming blurry.
The four of them finally stopped in front of another door. This one did not look like Kabuto's lab: it was made of dark wood, and it was slightly larger. One of Zetsu's clones opened it and they were all led inside. There were candles hanging from the rock walls, surrounding a circled room where there was a round couch in the middle. Sakura could only make out the two shadows waiting for them in there, both with dark hair, and looking at the fire that was in the middle of the room. She knew who they were before they turned around.
Madara did it first; his masked face took notice of her before she could clear her visibility.
His eyes... they were so frightening. He had the Sharingan on one side and the Rinnegan on another. The destruction he could cause with just two eyes was beyond her imagination. The worst was that he was looking right at her, and she could not make out what his expression was. His whole face was hidden underneath that mask. There were only three holes in it, two for each eye and one in the upper part, as if it was an empty slot for a third vision. She noticed how tall he was in comparison to Sasuke, but after all, her old teammate was only sixteen years old; he had a lot of room to grow. Sasuke was still tall, though. He and Naruto towered over her. After all, that was what men did when they reached adulthood.
The younger Uchiha was still facing the fire, and Sakura imagined that he wanted to avoid her as well.
"Zetsu, bring her food," Madara ordered. He took notice of Sakura's famished look and lack of chakra. What in the world would they use as torture? Poisoned food? She was not going to fall into that trap.
A white arm appeared by her side holding an apple. Strange, how they had apples in this cave. She nearly believed that none of them actually ate because she hadn't encountered a table or a kitchen. She quickly recalled that time when she tried feeding Sasuke apple slices back when they were in the same team. And how he literally smacked them away from her hand. That ungrateful bastard.
"Eat it before I force it down your throat, kunoichi," Zetsu threatened her, "Well, I wouldn't mind using that tactic for our next session, heh."
Sakura's blood was boiling. Everything was just too overwhelming; the torture, the Edo Tensei, Sasuke. She could not take it any longer, and her body was starting to run on adrenaline, "Over-my-dead-body," she said, and then she took Zetsu's apple and threw it at one of the candles. Its fire ceased to exist as the candle fell on the ground. She was acting before thinking, but whatever. She'd had enough.
Zap!
Madara was fast. He was standing in front of her in the split of a second, looking –glaring— directly at her eyes. Deep down, Sakura just felt intimidated, but she was not going to let it show in front of Uchiha Madara. The sadistic bastard could torture her all he wanted, but if he did, then Kabuto would be one medic short and therefore delay his plans. It would be quite unfortunate for Akatsuki to kill an asset like her.
"You have changed, Haruno," Madara was trying to keep eye contact with her, but she avoided looking at his face. Her breath was getting heavy and her hands were in fists. Zetsu's clones were not letting go of her, even though she wouldn't have a chance against someone as powerful as Madara. Nonetheless, she would not willingly look at him, "Stop playing games," he grabbed her chin with one of his hands, forcing her to direct her face towards his. Whenever she'd been this close to another person, she could analyze every trait of their facial features, examine their scent. With Madara, it was different; his face was not exposed and he smelled like nothing. It was as if he wasn't human.
"Look at me," he whispered, but Sakura closed her eyes. Everything was better when it was dark. In response, Madara shook her head harshly and she accidentally opened her eyes, where he took the opportunity to finally lock them with his.
And Sakura saw red. She saw red and black and blood. What was he doing? She was transferred to another reality, one where everything was red.
She was standing alone, in front of the Konoha entrance. The mighty doors were covered in slashes of fresh, crimson liquid. Her feet moved alone; they took her to the main street in her village. There, she saw them all piled up, dead. Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, Sai, Yamato, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Neji, everyone... and at the top, Naruto's limp body was held by a wooden cross. There was a large gash from his left shoulder and across his torso. His bangs covered his facial expression from Sakura.
She unconsciously started climbing up the pile of her dead friends. She felt so lost, so numb. But she only wanted to reach Naruto and to see his face. He was dead, and she was going to join him soon. She just needed to look at his face and then face death.
"Hang on, Naruto, I will be there with you!" that was her voice, but it didn't sound like her words.
Sakura was so confused. Why were they all dead? Who would do this to her? Her heart began to ache. It hurt so much, like Kabuto's poison.
She didn't stop climbing until she reached her best friend. Then, she lifted up his face and found something else. It was the face of a fox, looking right back at her. She was so startled at seeing the Kyūbi's face that she lost her balance. Next thing she knew, she was falling into an endless abyss. When she looked down, it was pitch black. But when she looked up, she saw the Kyūbi's eyes with the Sharingan on them. Its pupils were spinning uncontrollably. She wanted to scream, but her voice was gone. It had left her when she touched Naruto.
"Enough."
That voice sounded familiar...
"Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't talk to your elders with that tone."
Sasuke-kun...?
"Hn."
Sakura opened her eyes and found that she was lying on the ground. She couldn't cure the panging on her head before someone grabbed her fiercely by the arm and forced her to stand up. Her eyes were seeing white blotches, as if she had just woken up. After blinking several times, she was finally able to make out where she was standing. She was back at the same place before Madara had induced an illusion on her, Zetsu was holding her up, and Kabuto had joined the circle. She could recognize his snake-like grin under the hood, and wondered if C had been left without supervision.
"Sasuke, lie down on the bed. Zetsu, bring her," that was Madara.
"Kukuku, Sasuke-kun wasn't happy with the way you treated my assistant," Kabuto commented in a hissing tone.
When Zetsu pulled her towards the centre of the room, Sakura realized that her stomach did not feel as empty. In fact, the aftertaste of an apple lingered in her mouth. She had been trapped in an illusion in order to force food down her throat. She swallowed, thinking that the food they gave her was poisonous, but it did no harm.
"We need your abilities, so we couldn't give you your favourite drink," Zetsu said, then he shoved her towards Madara and Kabuto, "I'll leave her to you. Have fun, but she's feisty."
And with that, he sank into the ground, disappearing. Sakura kept her eyes glued to the ground, not wanting to face the Uchihas and Kabuto. The memory of Madara's illusion was still fresh, and she knew that they were going to be in her nightmares. She felt that someone had taken her hand. It was Kabuto, as she could see the scales on his hand. He tugged her towards Madara and Sasuke, the latter lying down on a bed facing up. Slowly, she brought her eyes to meet Sasuke's form. He was wearing the same dark top and bottom from the last time she saw him. His eyes were still bandaged, much to her relief.
"Sakura-san," the alluded felt shivers under her skin as Kabuto ran his thumb through her hand, "as you know, our dear Sasuke-kun has recently implanted his brother's eyes. This will make him stronger than before, but the healing period is taking longer than expected. Due to our busy schedule, you will check up on Sasuke-kun's eyes today," a disturbing chuckle followed his words.
That bastard. He was well familiar with her relationship with Sasuke and chose her on purpose. Involuntarily, Sakura started shaking her head, rejecting her captor's orders. The idea of touching Sasuke frightened her; she was going to aid in his recovery, which in turn meant she would help him in killing Naruto. She was unwillingly betraying her best friend.
Kabuto let go of her hand once she was near Sasuke, with Madara standing on his other side.
"You may go now, I will supervise her performance," Madara crossed his arms while Kabuto exited through the door.
His eyes were still implanted on her, but she didn't dare to look at him. Her arms were trembling like when she first started working on Kabuto's resurrected subjects. Madara was aware that after feeding her, she had enough chakra to do a simple check up on her old teammate.
Sasuke, on the other hand, acted indifferent. It was like they had never had a connection in the past. That hurt her. Even in the current situation, he still ignored her. He still considered himself to be superior to any individual he encountered, especially if that individual was Sakura.
"Begin. You know the consequences if you decide to do something foolish."
Which were going back to that damned illusion, Sakura concluded. She did not want to relive it, not now, not ever. However, she was not going to give in to Madara's commands so soon either, which was why she stood there unmoving. If Madara wanted her medical skills, he may as well copy them.
"Kunoichi, I have no time for your games here."
Madara disappeared in a spiralling motion and reappeared right behind her. He grabbed her hands and forced them over Sasuke's head, "Take off his bandages," he ordered.
Having Uchiha Madara touch her sent a wave of disturbance over her body. She felt assaulted and filthier than before, like his touch brought a bad disease to her. She slowly started to unwrap the bandage around Sasuke's head, trying to remain as calm as possible. Her hands were betraying her, though. They were trembling exaggeratedly, making every action seem clumsy.
Once she was done with the bandage, she found that Sasuke's eyes were still closed. His expression was serious, while the muscles on his neck were tense. She thought that he was fighting the urge of killing her on the spot. His defined jaw was stiff, showing that he wasn't satisfied with Kabuto's arrangements either.
Madara's face came parallel to hers, "Begin," he repeated with a harsher tone.
Swallowing down her nerves, Sakura placed her hands on each side of Sasuke's face. He remained still while green chakra came out of her hands and into his eyelids. There were still some scars from the implant; each eye had a long gash that travelled from his eyebrows to his upper cheekbones, similar to Kakashi's. Sasuke didn't flinch when the scars started disappearing, unlike any of her past patients. He didn't seem to be affected by her presence or her touch, which angered her.
If it wasn't because Madara was present, she would have made him blind. She knew exactly what membrane to hit in order to rid Sasuke of his sight. Although she had only tried on fish before, it was easy to cut the veins that connected the eye with the brain. She would make him blind and prevent him from killing Naruto and Konoha. She would finally stop his pain and feel a cathartic sense of accomplishment because she stopped Konoha's greatest threat.
It was so easy... she could just poke at his left optic nerve to ease her anger. It would make Sasuke think that he was going blind. It would make him pay attention to her.
And that was exactly what happened. She graced his optic nerve with a bit of her chakra as a threat. He instantly opened his eyes and snatched her hands away from them. Sakura was not completely sure of what she was thinking at that moment; she'd just angered the same person who almost killed her a few months ago, in front of the main enemy of the Shinobi Alliance. Not to mention that both Madara and Sasuke possessed a developed kekkei genkai that could instantly transfer her into another dimension. Her anger had been building up within her for so long that she let it take over her for a moment.
Obviously, she hadn't thought of the consequences.
Sasuke had activated his Sharingan. His top half sat straight up, while his hands held on to her wrists with a strong grip. Sakura could not stop her eyes from looking right into the three tomoes of his Sharingan. It wasn't fully recovered, but her healing had allowed Sasuke to activate it with no side effects. She felt a sharp object gracing her neck. Madara was behind her, holding a kunai near her clavicle, ready to end her life. The anger in Sasuke's face was inexplicable, he was breathing like a bull, threatening her with a deadly glare.
"What do you think you are doing?" That was the first time he directed his words at her. There was no point in hiding her fear at his loud, enraged tone.
Sakura heard Madara summon Zetsu, who once again appeared from the ground. He let out a chuckle, observing the disadvantaged position she in which she was, "I warned you. She doesn't play games easily."
Madara pulled her out of Sasuke's grip and into Zetsu's. For the whole time, she kept quiet, knowing that her words would make her death ten times more painful. Zetsu summoned two of his clones, who led her out of the room while the real one was walking behind them. He closed the door behind them and the party made its way around the passages. Sakura felt numb, still trying to process what had just happened. She'd irritated Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Madara, which was something that very few shinobi would do.
She thought of Naruto, who would have fought with all his power against the two. He was brave, while she was still as emotional as always. Sometimes she wondered why she decided on joining the Academy back in Konoha. She couldn't even carry out advanced missions without feeling something about them. It was rather ridiculous, she thought, her emotions. She should have asked Sai how to suppress them.
Zetsu threw her back inside her cell. C was waiting for her, with his arms waiting for her to take her place. She immediately went into them, wanting the comfort of another person who was going through the same. Only that C's friends did not want to kill him. And that he did not love them like she loved Uchiha Sasuke.
And here is Sakura's side of the story. This whole chapter was dedicated to her point of view because the last two had been all about Naruto and Hinata. It was time that we got some SasuSaku interaction. They will not jump right into lovey-dovey, in case you haven't noticed. The summary says how there is character development, and how that takes a lot of time.
I really wish that you all could leave more reviews. I love answering them! And it makes me write faster ;) Who do you think that we will see next chapter? They're getting pretty long, in my opinion. I don't mind though, the average is around 5000 words per chapter, and the later ones are even longer. I've never written so much in English before.
Also, if you have any favourite quotes that want to see in this fic, send them in a review!
Oh and be sure to check out my other story, it's called "The Period Chronicles" and it's a romance/humor. Nothing like this one. It's a completely different writing style too, in my opinion. I know that girls will relate to it.
Anyway, until next time!
MSM
PS: tell me if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes.