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 XIV

"Home is where the heart's tears can dry at their own pace." ~Vernon Baker

"Let's go, nee-chan."

Hanabi pulled her hand, but Hinata's mind was in another place.

The Alliance's headquarters, the road ahead, the faces left behind. Hinata had to hide the sadness in her face as she thought about her destiny in this war. She would not fight to protect Naruto, but rather return to Konoha's refugee camp along with her father and sister. Neji wouldn't join them, she was not sure why, but did not want to ask. She was afraid of directing a word to her father.

"Let's go," Hanabi repeated. Hinata finally felt the warmth of her youngest sister's hand against her own, and her senses returned to reality. Hanabi carried a large sack across her back, which contained all of the possession she had taken to the Alliance's headquarters. Hinata's own sack rested on her two shoulders, though it was much emptier. She ensured to leave behind most of her additional supplies of medicine to Kiba, Shino, and Neji. If she could not join them in the front lines anymore, it was the least she could do for them.

Hinata took a step forward, and then another. Her eyes wanted to look back to the large fortress, the building constructed on the rocky slides of the Lightning Country. She wanted to think that, somewhere, in one of those rooms facing towards her way, Naruto stood, looking right at her.

Her heart twisted. To be torn between family and duty, that was something her father was struggling with at that moment. To protect a higher calling, the Will of Fire, or to protect the most precious people.

Hinata glanced at the back of her father's head, imagining what was going through it, yet at the same time wishing to never be put in the same situation. How she wished that Naruto was beside her.

Sasuke noticed that the cave seemed emptier.

As he made his way through the various passageways, he realized that Zetsu's clones did not appear as often. In fact, the overall feel of Madara's headquarters had significantly declined in size during the last few days. It could only mean one thing: They were about to strike with the Edo Tensei.

The thought unnerved him; he hadn't spoken to Sakura in a while, which meant that he hadn't gotten any further information on his deceased brother's state. The last time he tried to enter Sakura's memories was unsuccessful; the girl was heavily guarded by a group of White Zetsu's clones and Kabuto was near her cell as well.

It was rather insane, to think that Uchiha Itachi had been resurrected. Desperation was taking over Sasuke's senses knowing that he could not get near his beloved brother. He wanted to know the truth –he needed to know the truth.

Niisan...

Sasuke never wandered around unguarded. Despite the fact that Madara had personally implanted him Itachi's eyes, the younger Uchiha knew that he was still untrustworthy. His ancestor and Kabuto were busy with the last preparations of their main attack, which was meant to prolong the Shinobi War for another week, or until Madara got the Hachibi and Kyuubi in his hands. That was when Sasuke would come in; it was his deal with the Uchiha elder. He would bring Naruto to Madara, and then kill off his former teammate.

He didn't really care what happened after. Sasuke was no pawn, no matter how much Madara thought he was. The boy was part of Madara's plan, but he was not going to fully affiliate himself with the other last member of his clan.

Sasuke belonged to nobody. His goals were to crush Naruto and destroy Konoha. He would unleash all of his pain and anger on those who lived at the cost of his clan. Every source of his hatred was going to burn down to the ground, and the screams of Konoha's villagers were going continue in dead world. Sasuke was going to achieve this without making a deal with anyone because his death was sure to follow. After destroying Naruto and his beloved village, nothing else in the world would matter. He was not a tool for someone to play around with.

Sakura, on the other hand, she was a tool. She was a passageway between Sasuke and his brother, regardless of the dreams he'd been getting. They were all along the same lines; Itachi killing off everyone he once held dear, including Team 7, and then showing earlier chapters of his life. It was like his deceased brother was trying to implant a thought in Sasuke's head, but it made no sense. That was why Sasuke needed to assist his former teammate, regardless of how useless and annoying she was. Sakura was the only one with the ability of asking Itachi about the meaning behind Sasuke's dreams.

However, she hadn't been cooperating. Despite knowing that she'd spoken with Itachi twice, Sasuke had realized that getting information out of Sakura was not an easy task. It made him restless; he was one step closer into finding out the truth but she was hindering his plans. Always in the way, always annoying. Knowing how unstable Sakura had gotten, Sasuke had decided to avoid using genjutsu in order to extract information from her. Her vulnerability might affect her memory, and distort Itachi's real words due to the mental strain that came with being under an illusion.

But time was running out. Itachi and the rest of the resurrected bodies were about to set off, and he needed to gather something before he went off to kill Naruto. He wanted to die knowing the truth about everything; about his clan, his brother, himself.

This was why it became necessary to use his last resort in order to speak with Sakura.

Sasuke reached the passageway that led to the cells it the Mountain's Graveyards. In this side of the cave, he could sense more of Zetsu's clones keeping the two prisoners under heavy watch. It was useless, Sasuke thought, knowing that Sakura could not touch her chakra, and that the other Kumo nin was too weak to fight against an opponent. Zetsu's faces began to appear in the rock walls with the usual disturbing smirk. A dozen pair of eyes watched him walk by the passageway until he reached Sakura's cell. They looked as if they were holding in a secret anecdote, and it was slightly annoying Sasuke.

"You come say bye to our favourite toy?" said one of the clones' faces.

Sasuke's eyes slanted towards it, sending a message without opening his mouth.

"She was fun to play with. Always feisty," another face continued, "I will dearly miss her screams when she drank Kabuto's special poison."

"Yeah, the one that burns your insides but doesn't kill you. She was the perfect guinea pig for that one, heh."

"It fucked her up. That's what she deserves for not cooperating, that bitch," commented another one.

The boy hadn't realized that his hands were in a tight grip, suppressing his anger at Zetsu's tantalizing comments. The clones continued talking, noticing how it was affecting Sasuke's temper. They found it amusing.

Bastards.

Sasuke continued walking with a threatening stance. He was not going to let the useless Akatsuki member get to him because of what he'd done to Sakura. She didn't matter anymore, Sasuke told himself, and she was just a tool. His tool.

His old teammate.

She was nothing more than that.

"Oh, but I did like to feed her with Kabuto's leftovers. His diet was now mostly rats, so giving them to the little kunoichi was rather an act of cannibalism. We were feeding rats to a rat."

Take me with you! Sasuke suddenly remembered his former teammate's pleas.

She was his a tool. Just a tool.

An old teammate.

Someone who was...

"She was filth."

Sasuke couldn't suppress it any longer. He only saw blood in his eyes; blood and hatred. Hatred for Zetsu's unnecessarily macabre methods. He closed his eyes in order to calm down his anger, but once he opened one of them again, blood was streaming out of them.

"Amaterasu!"

Black flames covered the rock walls. Screams and shrieks of Zetsu's clones melted away with the trickling of the eternal fire. They deserve it for provoking him. For torturing Sakura and fucking up with her. For harming Sakura, the only useful individual in this damned cave. His eye remained open for a long while; he wanted the clones to suffer under his gaze. They were paying for their comments, those mongrels of Madara's army. They were just that; pawns for his conquering of a world that would know peace.

Che. His ancestor knew nothing. There was no such thing as peace in this world; peace meant war, it was inevitable. If the world wanted peace, pain was needed in order to achieve it. And once one side of the world had peace, the other would demand it. Hence, it was better to kill it all off and live in a lifeless world. Or even better, to kill oneself after ridding this world of all contamination. To find purification in death.

To purify his clan.

And to put a stop to Zetsu from hurting Sakura any further.

He finally closed his eye. The flames diminished and left behind a trail of smoke that was barely visible in the dark passageway. Nonetheless, Sasuke could smell burned flesh, feeling satisfied with his outburst of anger. He had to open his other eye in order to see where his footsteps were taking him. Sakura's cell was near, and it was no longer protected with the layers of chakra. One could easily open the entrance from inside and outside.

It was another sign that Kabuto and Madara were too busy preparing their strongest attacks.

Sasuke moved the doorknob, opening the door. He found the two occupants of the cell cornered together, with their arms interlinked. What a stupid sight, he thought. Another wave of anger came over him, but it felt different. It wasn't asking him to activate Amaterasu and burn down the prisoners' bodies, but rather to snatch Sakura away from the Kumo nin and take her to a separate room. To take her away from his arms, because she was his tool. He quickly dismissed his impromptu plan, knowing that there would be no reason for doing so.

Sakura was looking at him intently, but still frightened. It was like fear was never going to leave her features. Her head was cradled in the Kumo nin's shoulder, while his arms covered her form in a protective manner. He also looked frightened, but ready to fend off any opponent. How useless.

"What happened out there?" the Kumo nin demanded.

Sakura's eyes were still locked with Sasuke's. He waited a few moments before answering, trying to dismiss the shinobi's authoritative tone. "The clones will no longer bother you," he finally said, more to Sakura than to the Kumo nin.

The Uchiha closed his eye, and tried to consciously connect with his brother much like he'd had in his dreams. Sasuke focused most of his chakra in his eyes, not finding a connection. It frustrated him. It was unfair. Sakura could speak with Itachi, Itachi could communicate with him through nightmares, but Sasuke –the one who needed the connection the most—did not hold the ability of getting his brother's attention.

"They're ready to set off. They were all back to sleep, and he's going to wake them up when they enter the battlefield."

Sasuke opened his eyes and directed them to Sakura. She was looking back at him. Without mentioning any names, he understood the message thoroughly. There was no time; he had to act now.

Giving her a final nod, Sasuke sped out of the cells' wings and towards Kabuto's lab. He knew that access was strictly forbidden to those who were not involved in the Edo Tensei. It was off limits from Madara as well, proving that Kabuto was taking full responsibility of whatever happened on the other side of the door. Sasuke had stopped thinking about hope, but at this moment, he still expected to have a slim chance of catching his brother before he was sent off to kill the Alliance's shinobi.

Turning from passageway to passageway, Sasuke found himself in front of Kabuto's laboratory in less than five seconds. He recalled the last time he stood there, when he'd escorted Sakura, trying to get information from her. His blood began to boil again, remembering how Zetsu had interrupted his attempts. He also remembered Sakura's deeply embedded fear of the Akatsuki member. Sasuke groaned. Everything was going against his plans.

Now he was acting on his instincts. Thinking about his brother took Sasuke to another dimension; it felt like he lost control of all of his senses. Adrenaline ran through his veins, clogging his ears, numbing his fingers. With his Sharingan activated, Sasuke was ready to confront his deceased brother. He knew it was irrational; that Itachi was most likely going to ignore him. Nonetheless, Sasuke still had to take his chances. He needed to take them.

Once the boy realized that the entrance wasn't protected with chakra either, he opened the door with a powerful kick, trying to relieve some of the overwhelming desperation he stored within. This was the first time he'd ever stepped in Kabuto's personal laboratory. When he'd gotten Itachi's eyes implanted, it had been in one of Madara's multiple experiment rooms; the Uchiha ancestor was also keen on leading projects in the human body. However, the laboratory he was looking at was different from Madara's.

The white walls blinded him at first; his sight had adjusted to Madara's signature gloomy environment. After getting used to it, he explored the elongated, empty room. When he'd come with Sakura, he'd been able to sneak in a look at several beds organized against the walls, and various jars filled with human organs. However, the floor and walls were fully exposed. Everything was clean and disinfected, like a normal hospital room. It unnerved him further, knowing that he'd been late.

That was until he saw the other door at the end of the room. It was almost hidden, blending in with the white walls. Sasuke focused his chakra on it, finding that it was also unprotected. He made his way to it, this time using the doorknob in order to open it. This was most likely Kabuto's personal office, as he noticed the endless rows of shelves with human organs that had formerly been in the main laboratory. The office resembled the rest of the cave; it was dark and uninviting.

Sasuke didn't feel intimidated by the intrusion. He didn't feel intimidated when he first met the Kyuubi inside Naruto; he wasn't going to start feeling now. However, Kabuto's room stored an air of mystery that could cause uncomforting senses in a person. During his years with Orochimaru, Sasuke had become aware of his and Kabuto's tendency of exploring new jutsus, of knowing every detail about everything. The many cells in Oto that held prisoners for experiments were evidence of their pursuit of an all knowing mind. Nonetheless, Sasuke only wanted to attain power.

He walked around the office, taking notice in the many human organs inside the jars. None of them looked appealing, but the several shelves continued down a long and narrow hallway. Sasuke decided to follow this trail, trying to sense Itachi through his Sharingan. His efforts were once again in vain. Orochimaru's assistant was an astute shinobi, knowing when to mark his departure. What he lacked in skill, he made up with his intelligence, much like Sakura.

Sasuke had to quickly erase that thought of his mind. He could not compare Sakura with someone like Kabuto, albeit both shinobi having medical abilities and an acute mind. She was weak and dependent, just a tool. Kabuto, on the other hand, was a sadist who tried copying his deceased master. A pitiful copy.

Something flickered on the ground of the hallway. The poorly lit floor could barely make out the glinting metal, dimly lighting it, barely catching Sasuke's attention. Once it did, the boy directed his gaze at the glinting object. It looked uncomfortably familiar. He made his way to it, and picked it up from the ground.

The object was a hitai-ate with Konoha's symbol scratched in the middle. He knew this forehead protector all too well; it was Itachi's. It had dried blood stains and sweat, showing how worn out it had been.

This sign confirmed that his brother was no longer in the Mountain's Graveyard. He was somewhere in the Five Great Countries, about to be released for catastrophic events.

Sasuke's breath pounded off his chest. Kabuto was already on the move. Feeling that every effort was slipping away from his fingers, Sasuke dismissed every thought from his mind. He placed Itachi's worn out hitai-ate inside his robe, near his chest, and exited from Kabuto's lab like a lightning bolt. He'd already been late in getting there, now he had to act even faster than before.

He made his way back to Sakura's cell, ignoring the lingering smell of burned flesh that came from Zetsu's clones. He stormed inside her cell, panting from all the adrenaline running through his veins. The Kumo nin was still protecting her, and it only added to Sasuke's annoyance. He was unnecessary in the conversation he was about to hold with Sakura. He needed to leave.

"Get out," he ordered the Kumo nin.

The older man tightly wrapped his arms around Sakura, defying him, "Why?"

"You are free to go. Leave. Now," Sasuke's patience was on the verge of reaching its limits.

He remembered the Kumo nin; he'd been the Raikage's escort during the Five Kage. A useless escort, as a matter of fact. He'd been knocked unconscious with Sauske's genjutsu, being one of the first to fall in that battle. His initial dislike for the man had gradually grown whenever he saw him with Sakura. The girl was using him as a protection shield, much like she'd always needed when she was younger. Some things were never going to change.

The Kumo nin abruptly stood from his place, positioning himself in from of Sakura, protecting her, "I am not leaving without—"

"C, it's all right," Sakura said.

Sasuke watched the ridiculous scene playing in front of him. The girl tucked at the Kumo nin's shirt, insisting that he should leave them alone. The man, in return, lingered his eyes on her with the fear of separating. Time was running out, he didn't need to waste any watching them interact. The Kumo nin redirected his eyes at the young Uchiha, and hesitantly made his way towards the cell's entrance. Sasuke knew that he was not going to stray far from Sakura, but the man didn't need to know what they were going to talk about.

And so, after the Kumo nin exited his cell, Sasuke quickly closed the door and locked it from inside. He turned to look at Sakura, who was now standing against the rock wall in need of support. The girl looked truly unprotected, unshielded amidst the darkness. He stood there while silent filled the space. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his direction, wordlessly asking for a reason of his intrusion.

He needed to find the right words.

"My eyes are healed," he finally said.

"So?" she asked curtly.

The feeling of her chakra tantalizing his eyes returned for the split of a second. That time when she almost took away his sight. Sasuke slanted his eyes at her. Sakura was physically incapable of fighting anyone, but she still held her words high.

How ridiculous.

"Itachi is gone," he continued, growing restless.

Sakura chuckled at his words shaking her head, "So what? You're going to run after him now? Pathetic."

With inhumane speed, the alluded neared the girl. He stood inches away from her face, defiantly locking her eyes with his Sharingan. Sasuke was going to force Itachi's words out of her, no matter how many jutsus he had to use. After all, he had the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Nothing could stop him now.

"You will tell me what he said," Sasuke menacingly ordered, activating his Sharingan.

Sakura, on the other hand, kept chuckling and shaking her head in negation. The tips of her hair brushed against his cheeks. With her weakened arm, she unsuccessfully pushed him away from her, showing that she was not willing to cooperate. This action angered Sasuke; he wasn't going to play her stupid little games. Regardless of how infuriating Zetsu's clones had made him for inflicting pain in Sakura, he still couldn't stand her stupid manners.

"He's dead, Sasuke. Dead."

That sentence sounded fairly familiar to him. She had said that before, in one of his dreams.

Sasuke gripped the arm she'd used to push him again threateningly. Sakura's features showed shock for a split of a second, before settling on her now usual expression of fear, "Your brother will not speak. You know how the jutsu works. Once Kabuto awakens him, he will no longer be the brother you once knew and loved," she said.

That was enough for him to know that one of the things Sakura and Itachi talked about had been his past. She also knew the truth, he concluded. This further angered Sasuke; Itachi had told Sakura the story of their clan's massacre, and she probably knew more details about it than Sasuke did. It was unfair. She had nothing, nothing to do with the Uchiha but she knew more than him.

"He needs to answer me."

"Dammit, Sasuke! He will not answer you!" she finally yelled. Sasuke was finally breaking her down with words, and getting to the core, ""His resurrection is for the purpose of killing my comrades and your old friends. Itachi is about to inflict more pain than—"

"I told you to never say his name again," he hissed in return, tightening his grip on her arm.

It felt like déjà vu.

She was biting the insides of her cheeks, probably holding back words that she would later regret.

"If you think that he told me something that you don't know, then you're wrong," Sakura finally said, after moments of silence.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, not truly understanding what his tool –yes, tool—had just said. The whole purpose of keeping Sakura alive was to use her as a connection to Itachi, to find an explanation to his nightmares and their secret messages. She was supposed to serve as a messenger, as someone who could facilitate the much anticipated conversation with his deceased brother.

"Itachi," she emphasized his name, "personally told me that you should be the only one who hears the whole story from him. I know much less than you do about his true intentions."

However, she'd turned out to be useless. Just like always. Sasuke gritted his teeth, realizing that he'd wasted his time speaking with Sakura. She was no longer necessary, so he could kill her. After all, she was just an annoying kunoichi from Konoha who'd only bothered him when they were younger. She meant nothing to him.

Nothing.

But he could not bring himself to unsheathe his katana and slice her throat open, despite her weakened state. Sakura's intense glare did not leave his Sharingan eyes; she was still defying his persona. This outgrown, tortured Sakura finally knew what pain was. She had finally learned what a true shinobi felt through Zetsu's torture methods. It bothered him, to know that the annoying girl was no longer the same as before. It annoyed him for an unknown reason. She was willing to defy him regardless of her state. She was not going to shrink into oblivion anymore.

Haruno Sakura had now experienced a level of pain and insanity that was close to his and Naruto's.

Sasuke once again recalled the part of his nightmare where Itachi killed the two other members of Team 7, letting their blood pool over the ground. He wondered what his brother was trying to imply, but his mind was not in the right time to think over the possibilities. He reminded himself that he needed to act fast, and that talking to Sakura had delayed him.

"Sasuke," she interrupted his thoughts. They were still standing close to one another, with their eyes locked. Her expression had slightly softened, as if she'd been reminded of a nostalgic memory, "Take this."

Sakura directed her hands to her head, and untied her forehead protector. The symbol for 'Shinobi' was worn out, much like Itachi's hitai-ate, but the colour of the fabric was still the same. It was a vivid red, almost untouched and unstained.

She gestured it to him. "Take it," she repeated. He raised his hand and took her forehead protector, not fully understanding the meaning of her gesture. Nonetheless, he stored it beside Itachi's inside his robe. A part of him tried link her token with his dreams, but found no real connection. He needed more time to think about it, and time was running out of his hands.

Instead, his mind flickered back to his original plan: to crush Naruto and Konoha. It didn't matter if Sakura suffered because of his deeds. It was unlikely that she was going to survive to see the end of the Shinobi War, but Sasuke had resolved that she was not going to die at his hands. That was going to be his last merciful act before he died. He was going to spare the life of the kunoichi. He had yet to know why. Perhaps it was her current weakened state; it didn't fit well with his image of taking Sakura's life. He imagined that she was not going to go down without a fight. In such a weakened state, it would be too easy to kill her and send her memory into oblivion.

Or perhaps it was because he wanted someone to mourn his death.

But he didn't need to focus on that now. Since Itachi was gone from the Mountain's Graveyard and Sasuke's eyes were fully healed, so he was finally ready to start the real purification of the Uchiha clan.

"My eyes are healed," he said again, walking towards the entrance of her cell. Sasuke unlocked the door and opened it before continuing his words, predicting Sakura's reaction, "I'm set off to kill Naruto. Do not get in the way."

And with that, he exited the cell to Sakura's loud scream.

"NO!"

Even though he closed the door behind him, her voice yelling out his name made it out of her cell. She was banging on the door, demanding him to open it again, calling him names, loudly sobbing.

"SASUKE, OPEN THIS DOOR NOW. DON'T DO THIS!"

He did not turn back, and kept walking away from the passage.

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOUR BROT—"

He didn't even check to see if the Kumo nin was around, fully focusing on the beginning of the end. He was not going to lose. Even if Sakura had been spared of dying at his hands, he was still going to crush Naruto's skull with all his hatred. The idiot offered to shoulder Sasuke's pain, and Sasuke was going to ensure that Naruto did so, and that he suffered every second of it.

UH OHHHHH THINGS ARE GETTING BAD!

I am so sorry for the super late update. School is taking over my life. Hello Third year! Not to mention that everything's been pretty effed up recently.

What did you think of the chapter? do you think the story is too slow? I am really curious as to what you folks are thinking, like really curious.

Anyway, take care everyone!

Sincerely,

MSM