"Now…"The recovery team races forward. This was a mission that they HAD to complete. At first the enemy is prepared for the attack. But once the Konoha ninja splits up, it becomes obvious the surprise of Orochimaru and Sakura. So quick it was happening. As Anko throws a Demon Wind Shuriken towards Orochimaru, a sudden yell of, "Father!" and a burst of lightning strikes the shuriken and immediately destroys it. Anko stops dead in her tracks and throws an agitated look in the direction of Sakura. Weren't Kakashi and the others supposed to be taking care of her? Anko growls out in immediate anger. They needed to hurry the hell up! Choji, Hinata, and herself wouldn't be able to do their part if they still had Sakura to worry about! Choji rushes past her and takes on the form of the Spiked Human Bullet Tank, his long hair protruding from the giant ball as sharp spikes. Choji makes a powerful advancement towards Orochimaru, who didn't have time to escape. Sakura gasps in surprise and narrows her eyes in concentration. The kunoichi attempts to release her chidori-like jutsu as a manner of defense for her father, but is immediately taken back to suddenly find Neji landing in front of her, his palm extended out towards her. A violent force pushes Sakura back, preventing her from offering Orochimaru assistance. Neji smiles softly. The Eight Trigrams Empty Palm was always so successful for him to use.

Meanwhile, Kyo was receiving too much chaos to even try to help his master. He hisses and lunges forward, mouth wide open for Naruto. But Naruto dodges, leaving an opening for Tenten to pull out all the stops. First, she uses senbon on the snake. The needles are too tiny for him to see or dodge. Kyo writhes in pain. He lunges for Tenten. But then…he can't move. Or at least, if the snake does, a slicing begins to occur. Somehow, Tenten had placed and used Metal wires on Kyo. And now, the more he struggled, the deeper the wires sliced in his flesh. Kyo rears his head and lets out a loud hiss of anguish. Sakura's eyes divert to see her pet in the condition of defeat. She is afraid that they will kill him. "KYO!" Sakura regains her footing and leaps for the nearest tree. With the tips of her fingers and feet, Sakura scales the tree quickly, more like an animal than a snake. But before she can position herself properly to cut the wires, something grabs her foot. She finds Kakashi with a tight grip on her foot. Before she can move, the Jonin flings her out of the tree and the teenaged ninja plummets to the ground. Her back strikes the earth with great force that her eyes open wide and her lips part, blood escaping from them.

Orochimaru pivots, his expression betraying desperate fear for his daughter. Would Sasuke not come back? Orochimaru's legs vanish from beneath him, turning into a tail as he slithers for Sakura. "Sakura!" An explosion escapes from the ground before him. Orochimaru's head turns to find Anko facing him, her index finger raised and moving back in forth. "Tsk tsk, Orochimaru," she says coyly. "It's rude to just walk away in the middle of a conversation."

"I didn't know we were talking, my dear Anko," Orochimaru replies. His body faces his once apprentice now; sure that Sakura would be ok. After all, he wouldn't be able to help Sakura as long as Anko was in the way.

Anko raises her arms, snakes beginning to slither out of her hands and arms. "Sure we were…about your death!" Without warning, Orochimaru rushes Anko with frightening speed.

***Shizune shivers openly. A voice emits from the chair, "Calm down Shizune. You're making me nervous."

Shizune frowns. "You should be, my lady," she mutters. "You know as well as I do that they won't bring her back."

"Yes. I know that quite well."

"Then WHY?" Shizune demands. "Why would you risk all of their lives?"

"Because," Lady Tsunade answers, staring out the window, "I know that Sakura won't kill them. She won't come back now. But this confrontation will spark something in her memory. The truth will come. This was the first step. Once this part is complete, patience will be next…" Lady Tsunade sighs, feeling the darkness on the horizon. "Sakura will come back….I know she will."

***Tenten then reaches into her weapons pack and tosses a small spherical object towards Kyo. Once it detonates in front of the massive snake the sleeping gas begins to take effect. The Leaf Shinobi had come to the realization that killing Kyo wasn't such a great idea. Killing the snake would definitely arouse Sakura's anger…they could barely handle her now, the last thing desirable was for her strength to double from anger. If the creature could sleep it would stop struggling, and if it stopped struggling, the wires (or the ninja) wouldn't kill it. Kyo sways back and forth; the drugs were taking affect now in his system. Sure enough, he falls to the ground and moves no more. Naruto shrugs at Tenten as she smiles in triumphant. A sleeping, homicidal, overprotective creature wasn't nearly as good as a DEAD homicidal, overprotective creature.

As the battle rages on between Orochimaru and Anko, Choji and Hinata, the fight was almost over for Sakura. As the kunoichi stands her body immediately freezes. "What-?" she questions, attempting to move her body. "I…cant…MOVE!"

"Got that right." Shikamaru, kneeled down on one knee, smiles in that lazy fashion of his. However, despite trying to appear victorious, Sakura notices the sweat on his brow as he struggles to keep her contained under his shadow technique. "Kakashi-sensei was right," he thinks to himself. "Holding her down is much more problematic than I originally thought…I can't hold her…what a drag."

Sakura smiles darkly, her brows descended in a psychotic death glare. "You can't keep me can you? I'm too powerful, even for your shadow technique." Her arms twinge slightly and the white lightning dances once again across her hands and fingers.

Ino runs to the side of Shikamaru and exclaims, "Oh no you don't snake girl! Shikamaru may not be able to hold you by his self," Ino makes a hand sign, "but he's got me…" Sakura's body stiffens as Ino has complete control. Sakura grits her teeth as Ino smirks, "…and now I've got YOU!"

Sakura tries to break free, but cannot. A sudden fear overwhelms her. Never in her memory has she been controlled or prevented. Never have the odds been turned against her. So this was what it felt like to be defeated…to die. Weak. Ugh! How could this happen to her? Kakashi stands before her and says, "Sakura. You have to believe us. You aren't who you think."

"Not who I think? You're crazy, Kakashi Hatake."

"If I'm really crazy," Kakashi asks, leaning in to her, "Then how else would you know my full name? No one here has said it."

Sakura breathes in surprised. How did she know his name? Father never mentioned it. Orochimaru calls out, "Don't listen to them child! They are trying to toy with you!"

Sakura's eyes return to Kakashi's. "Release me…" she growls. "Release me, and I'll make your deaths a quick one."

Ino yells out, "Nope! Wrong answer!" Ino forces Sakura's lightning covered hand up to her own chest. The electricity flows through her body with great intensity. "EEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura screams out in pain. Once Ino finally quits, Sakura's body would collapse, but it can't.

Orochimaru flees from Anko towards Sakura. He had to get her out of here. They would either kill her or bring back her memories. And quite frankly he would rather her die than face her wrath at the lies. But before he can reach Sakura a hand suddenly appears in his own. Orochimaru lets out a hiss of shock to find Anko performing a one handed seal into his hands. She had attempted this before years ago on him, but he had escaped by using a clone. Now, she had him. Anko looks deep into his eyes. "You've caused me and everyone else all kinds of hell. I think it's time I ended this for good."

Orochimaru yells, "Are you crazy! This is suicide! You'll die too. And killing me will do nothing but release Sakura's fury on Konoha!"

"Too bad," Anko sasses, the snakes appearing and wrapping themselves against herself and Orochimaru. There would be no venomous biting in this performance. No. It would be something to ensure that Orochimaru didn't escape alive. Kakashi yells out, "Anko stop! That jutsu is forbidden!"

Anko, however, ignores him. The snakes give one final squeeze. Orochimaru looks fearfully into the direction of his daughter. "Sakura-?" he begins. Anko adds finally with a grin, "It's over. Good-bye master." There is a great explosion. Sakura's eyes widen in terror and she screams out. Sasuke, who had been away, looks into the direction of the sound and grits his teeth. "Shit!" He takes off.

As the recovery team appears to be dealing with the shock, Sakura's body trembles. A quiet groan escapes from her lips. But then, it gets louder and louder, rising in pitch and insanity. Ino and Shikamaru try to hold her, but they cannot. A fire burns inside of her. Sakura's hair raises, her gritted teeth grow fangs, and her green eyes become slits. Her ears become pointed. A cursed seal appears on her neck and a dark green chakra envelops her. "You killed him…."she murmurs. "Father…" Her slitted eyes rise to them. "FATHER!" A force strikes the team back, the trees burst and explode. Sakura strikes the ground with her fist, destroying the ground and opening a wide space of earth. A white light explodes out into the area. The Akatsuki look back. Kisame whistles, "Someone pissed off my girl Sakura…that strength…it's like that of a Jinchuriki!"

Before the strength can take full effect, there is a groan of pain. Sakura's slitted eyes turn to find her father lying on the ground, just inches from death. Immediately, all else is forgotten. Sakura, still in her anger possessed form rushes towards Orochimaru, or what remained of him (his legs and an arm were gone) and cradles him in her arms. "Hold on master…father. It will be fine." Her eyes then rise to the ninja, wounded from the force of the power within her. She could just flick her finger at their heads, and kill them right then and there…but that would be moments wasted. And the longer she delayed, the closer Orochimaru came to death. Instead, she points an accusing finger at them and threatens in a deep hiss, "YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Without another word, or another look, Sakura creates a ball of lightning in her hands and slams it to the ground. Once the light and the smoke is gone, so is Sakura, Orochimaru, and Kyo.

The ninja look at one another. Choji gathers up Anko's body and they look at one another. They head off into the trees for the direction of Konoha. Death was inching closer. But what kind of death was it? Physical? Or could it be the death of the one that they loved the most…Sakura. Her memories would die; but will it be the memories of her life with her father?...or the memories of her life in Konoha, as a Leaf Shinobi?

To Be Continued…