Part 1

Sakura was on the wagon again (still) and rolling through a town which she didn't recognize. This was definitely not Fire Country and absolutely no where near the river where she had encountered Sasuke and the Earth ambush. This was clearly not right.

She realized people were shouting. Around the wagon shinobi scrambled and she recognized the sealing corps members even though they were on their feet, eyes open and pointing at her.

Then and there Sakura decided. Waiting on an honorable Iwa to show up and humbly explain what was going on was like waiting for a phoenix to come flying over a unicorn's rainbow. She needed to get out. Now.

She took action on a voluminous, "shannaro!"

The roof of the steel and reinforced concrete cage exploded. Sakura adjusted her movements to allow for the ridiculously heavy manacles on her wrists, and leapt as high as she could. Below her shinobi scrambled and shouts went up. She tucked into a flip and slipped between a volley of kunai as she headed back toward the ground.

While in the air Sakura took a good look at the surroundings. Her fears were confirmed, she was definitely in an Earth Country village. There were ordinary townsfolk. Chickens squawked at the commotion and children stopped chasing each other to stare. Women in a nearby market screamed and a man fainted.

This was definitely somewhere she didn't belong.

As she flipped back toward the ground she aimed for a spot directly in front of the wagon.

Too late someone shouted "get away!" as she aimed her fist into the ground. But Sakura was careful. The shockwave only struck out in 20 feet in every direction. The nearby shops and the children watching with mouths hanging open remained relatively safe, while the earth under the wagon buckled and the Iwa shinobi were thrown off their feet.

The earth was still shifting when Sakura left for her next target. She wanted to get away and find the highest rooftop to get the lay of the town, but she had to admit that running around with the manacles was a very different story from just lifting her arms a little in the wagon. Fighting would be not only difficult but slow, too slow for her to take any chances. The manacles had to go.

Sakura grunted as she snapped the hefty clasp that connected the two manacles. The mind-numbing seal glowed white, but just as she suspected, with her mind and chakra prepared for it, it simply had no effect. "Damn, right." She muttered.

The sealing guards goggled at her even as she ran up to one of them and slung an arm around his throat. With her other hand she reached into her kimono and forced out the little boning knife Sasuke had given her and pointed it at the other Iwa who were beginning to get to their feet.

"Stop moving or I'll snap his neck. That seal of yours won't work on me any more." She stepped backwards, carefully conscious to move in a direction without ninja behind her. She had spied a possible exit from the street. A thin alley way narrowed the directions from which an attack might come. "I swear on the honor of Konoha that I will not harm this man as long as I can get out of this village safely."

The man in her arm struggled but complied when Sakura flexed her arm. She had to keep her arm taut to avoid letting her manacle crush his collarbone. They kept moving at a shamble, the ninja crowd slowly converging after.

A man made his way to the front of the crowd. It was Touru, the Iwa captain who had taken her prisoner. His face was red, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"You're agreement was to hold me at the river until Naru-Lord Hokage came with a copy of the treaty. Instead you've dragged me into Earth Country. As far as I'm concerned you violated our trust and I'm going home!" She held the knife toward Touru while continuing to drag the man backwards toward the alley.

"Like hell you are!" Touru screamed. He began weaving signs. To his men he cried, "Get on your feet and stop her! Earth style: Forgotten Pit!"

The ground under Sakura's feet rumbled and she had to let go of her hostage to jump free. In the split second before she jumped, she sliced the wraps that kept his hip holster on his leg. In another instant the man fell screaming into a deep, dark hole. But Sakura couldn't land comfortably. All around her pits were opening at the same time that walls sprang up.

At least she could knock down the walls relatively easily, but the Iwa quickly adjusted and twice she broke through only to scramble to avoid falling into a pit on the other side. She jumped, dodged and punched at the same time that she quickly went through the supplies of the hip holster.

She threw a few kunai to clear a path for herself and was glad she wasn't actually trying to hit anyone. The manacles made that kind of precision dexterity almost impossible. She found a sturdy-looking two-story building and began climbing up the side with chakra-charged hands and feet. It wasn't nearly as fast as she would have liked and it left her exposed for too long. Several shuriken came for her and she felt at least two bite down into her leg. She choked back several choice swear words as she hauled herself onto the roof.

There she still didn't have time to properly study the contents of the thigh holster. With a stolen kunai in hand, she fought off a sword user, and then a nunchaku-taijutsu fighter rushed her. Sakura harumphed loudly. He wasn't even close to Rock Lee's level and she easily dispatched him with a hard kick to the stomach.

Still, the manacles made her punches wild and she was burning more chakra that normal simply to keep moving. Her options were diminishing rapidly and more shinobi had jumped onto the roof.

Of course, there was always a solid punch to the building itself. With the manacles and a bit of a careful direction it wouldn't be particularly difficult to demolish... With a snarl, Sakura cast out that idea and cursed herself for even letting it manifest.

A combo team was hot on her trail, earth and wind users, from the look of them. She threw herself flat against the roof to dodge a volley of Jade Bullets, earth missiles honed to a terrible sharpness that nothing short of a mountain could withstand (and even then lore had it that mountains had been destroyed by sustained barrages).

From another angle came a kunoichi who spilled out a thick liquid from her mouth. It spread toward Sakura and the combo team were careful to avoid it. A second jutsu from the woman set the liquid on fire.

She could no longer move forward and if she jumped the Jade Bullets would likely perforate her. The kunoichi increased the power of her jutsu and the flames leapt toward Sakura. She frowned severely and ordered herself to jump.

With no warning a thick mud wall flung itself up from the roof to protect her. Four imposing dogs decorated one side.

Sakura cracked a smile as she whirled around expecting to see her old teacher somewhere. Instead she only heard cries from the townspeople below as other shinobi shouted in surprise. A great creaking and groaning then met her ears and she almost cried out as well when she recognized the chakra.

Huge trees burst through the town's skyline and, conveniently, a large branch stretched out toward her with a peculiarly shaped wooden dome tucked behind a thick patch of smaller leafy branches.

Sakura grinned and hopped onto the branch. She ran up into the dome even as she felt the branch continuing to grow under her feet. She came to a rest behind the hemisphere of thick wood. She was very glad to greet the man waiting there.

"Kakashi! I am so glad to see you!"

"It's nice to be seen." He crouched at the edge of the dome and kept an eye out for Iwa who might dare to chase Sakura, despite the smaller branches now presenting thick and treacherous obstacles.

"Right. Well, I don't really know where the hell I am, but I know it's not in the Land of Fire." Sakura could feel trembles in the wood that indicated the Iwa shinobi were having to fight the tree branches themselves.

Kakashi turned his bared Sharingan eye to the Iwa attempting to climb. "Yamato is buying us a little time so I can explain. What you need to know is: the Iwa decided to bring you here to Dosui Valley in the Land of Earth to try you for murder - which they already did. You're guilty, by the way." He spoke as he wove a genjutsu.

"Tsk. They just wanted a solid excuse to interrogate me." Sakura dumped out all the contents of the holster and sifted through them as she spoke. "Oh, Kakashi! Hisako Yamaguchi is one of the Iwa I remember seeing! She could guess a little of what I was thinking even when I didn't say anything. Ah, score!" Sakura picked up a ring with a few keys and grinned. "She's a tall redhead with an arm in a sling. She's probably here to interrogate me. She's got to be around here somewhere. If you see her, don't let her get too close."

"Ah, there's another dangerous one here too." Kakashi spoke over his shoulder as kept watch on the branches leading to their hiding place. "This is near the place where Kenta Kobayashi lives."

"Who?" Sakura tried key after key into the lock of one of the manacles and hoped both would be opened by the same key.

"A ghoul from the Third War. He's also in the Bingo book. He'll be older than these guys, so he's probably not going to be running around. He wears a long beard and never says a word. Kenta is extremely dangerous and Konoha has had him marked for death for decades. He was called the Mind Splitter. With just a touch he can destroy a person's entire mental stability in order to leave the intelligence open to harvesting. Shinobi who fought him and lost were rarely physically harmed, but their minds were irrevocably shattered."

"Not even with medical ninjutsu?" Sakura finally found one that worked on the manacles and slipped them off. She rubbed her wrists for a moment and then turned her attention to the shuriken still stuck to her legs like barbs through her pants.

"I can't say. The only ANBU I knew who made it home from trying to assassinate him ended up isolated by the Intelligence Division. She couldn't stop babbling, saying everything that came to mind including village secrets and personal, private information. The only time she didn't speak was when she was screaming or unconscious. Her torture ended when she grabbed someone's kunai and cut her own throat."

Sakura made a face. Then she sighed at the state of her pants. They were little more than rags now. "We have got to-" The branches shuddered fiercely and she nearly lost her footing. Sakura realized the branches had stopped growing. "Yamato!"

"Aa. Time to go." Kakashi lit a chidori and used it to slice his way out of the wood. He looked back at her a second before jumping out. "Try not to kill anyone this time."

"I've been doing that. Sasuke-" Sakura shut her eyes tightly, unsure if she wanted to laugh or cry. She shook her head. "Anyway, I know that."

"Hm." Kakashi disappeared without another word.

Sakura didn't even have to put a lot of strength to punch through, she just swung and let the weight of the manacles destroy the wood and she only had to use a little finesse to control the direction.

Led by the manacles, Sakura plummeted in a narrow arch toward the ground, a volley of kunai tracking in her wake. She twisted part of the way down and released the manacles while coating her feet and hands with chakra.

She slammed into the trunk of a large tree feet first and stuck like a gecko on a stone wall. Below her the manacles smashed into the ground with an awful force. Each one created a crater at least ten feet in diameter.

For the moment she was somewhat occluded by branches so she took a moment to survey the battleground.

Kakashi was on a rooftop fighting his way through three blade users. A little distance away in a wide street she could see Yamato facing the tall redhead and what looked like a squad of jonin. Even with her arm in a sling, Hisako presented a challenge for the former ANBU. Sakura cursed and jumped to the nearest rooftop.

The shouts from the Iwa shinobi doubled as several of them caught sight of her. A few Iwa leapt to the same roof, but a barrage of paper bombs kept them at bay. Sakura intended to make the most out of the holster she had taken. As she ran she used shuriken strung with wires to trip more pursuing ninja.

A fireball blasted the roof she was on and she threw herself to another roof and then another branch. She could feel heat hard on her back and she hoped her clothing held out through the fight.

At the third rooftop she had to dodge to avoid a kunai with an exploding tag and barely blocked a sword with her kunai in time. It was wielded by a certain irritating Iwa captain.

"You bitch!" Touru snarled.

Sakura frowned. She could tell that her strength and ability were greater than his, but he fought with sheer hatred driving him. Convincing someone like him to throw down his arms was almost impossible; he was beyond reason or clear thought.

But she didn't want to kill him. There just wasn't a reason to do so. She let him swing on her as she only defended herself and studied the situation.

A few buildings away Kakashi now faced an older man, broad chested and wearing a long, dark red coat, buttoned at the top. The top of his head was bald but a long gray beard spilled over his coat. They both stared at each other without moving. The bearded man held out a bare hand between as if reaching to touch Kakashi's face; however, he did not move at all from that position. Sakura observed that his other hand had a glove covering it.

The Sharingan's hypnosis, thought Sakura. There weren't many Iwa shinobi left over, but the few who were watching didn't dare strike Kakashi for fear of hitting the other man.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I wonder if that is Kenta Kobayashi."

Opposite her, Touru looked over to the roof. "Oh yes, it is! The Copy Ninja is going to be giving us every jutsu he ever stole!"

Sakura harumphed and smacked Touru's sword away. "Don't underestimate Kakashi-sensei!"

Touru growled and somersaulted away. A storm of senbon began to fall on Sakura and she had to twist and jerk out of the way. Still, it gave her the opening she needed to get to the ground where Yamato was fighting the jonin under Hisako's direction.

Yamato was sweating profusely as he fought four people at once. Every attack he tried was read and countered immediately.

Sakura landed behind one of the shinobi and easily swept his feet from under him, knocking him cold. "Yamato!" Sakura called. "You go after the woman in the back, I'll stop these idiots!"

"Right!"

The team of two effectively destroyed Hisako's strategy of undermining Yamato by discerning every tactic before he could use it. Sakura easily incapacitated the Iwa shinobi before they could do her bidding and Yamato trapped her in a wooden cocoon so she couldn't see her enemies.

Above them there was a cry, "Kai!"

"Shit!" Sakura shouted. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Yamato made a wood style sign and a platform rose from the ground to take them to the roof where Kakashi had been facing Kenta. There they found Touru skidding out of Kenta's way, having just released him from Kakashi's mental hold. Kenta dove for Kakashi while the other man all but threw himself out of the way.

"Oh crap!" Called Yamato. "Is that...? Sakura, don't let him touch you!"

"I know that! Help Kakashi!" She knew she was giving a lot of orders to a superior but couldn't hold back.

On the streets around the building a crowd of townspeople had gathered, amazed and horrified. Idiots! she thought, don't they know a shinobi fight is no place for civilians?

It further limited her options - if she threw anything and it missed the target then it could fall among the people below. "Shannaro!" She howled and charged Kenta, kunai at the ready.

She saw to one side the domed wall go up, protecting Kakashi from Kenta's reach. She concentrated so carefully on striking Kenta without opening herself to his attack that she missed the flash of steel on the other side. Touru's sword didn't bite very deeply but it mangled the wound that had barely begun to heal.

Sakura tumbled back as her side blazed with pain once again. Both Touru and Kenta advanced on her and she knew blood was spreading underneath her bandages. She had to act before the seal was destroyed.

She put a hand over her chest and prayed it would work. Then she sank her chakra into the seal hidden there.

There was a puff of smoke, a burst of electricity and Touru was pinned against the roof with a chidori-laden hand threatening his throat.

"Shit! No, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura had to scramble to throw her last pair of kunai at Kenta, preventing him from reaching Sasuke. "That's the dangerous one!"

Kenta growled in an eerie throaty hiss, gray eyes boring into hers. He held up two bare fingers and ran toward Sakura.

She tried to get back on her feet but the pain made her woozy. Her eyes grew wide as the ghoul who made Kakashi nervous came ever nearer.

A gust of air was all Sakura could detect of Sasuke's movement as he tackled Kenta. The momentum sent both of them tumbling from the flat part of the roof and onto the sloped tiles. Sasuke shouted, clearly unable to stop himself and the scream in his voice chilled Sakura to the core.

"SASUKE!"

[A/N: Note. This is the _perfect_ place for a chapter break. But you lot would complain if I actually stopped here. So I'll continue on to the next chapter right now. You're welcome.]

Part 2

Sakura screamed as she watched Sasuke and Kenta plunge off the tiled roof of the building they were just fighting on. Sakura pressed a hand to her bleeding side but otherwise ignored her wound as she jumped to her feet looking for a fast but relatively safe way down.

"Sakura!" Yamato shouted behind her. She saw huge wooden planks growing and curving as a bed shaped vaguely like a human hand brought Sasuke and Kenta back up to roof level. She half ran, half skidded down the tiles and jumped into the hand.

Kenta got up to his knees with a terrible look in his eye, just ready to administer hideous torture to Sakura should she come near. When he turned his head, his beard billowed out on a gust of wind. Sakura spied a nasty scar crisscrossing his throat.

But she had no time for scars. Rolling back and forth in the palm of the hand was Sasuke, mumbling and growling in pain, clutching his head and drooling.

"No!" Sakura screamed. "No! No! I will kill you!" She was sobbing and shouting, voice already growing raw.

Running footsteps on the planks sped by her as Kakashi took a forward position, chidori blazing. He leapt for Kenta and the other man wisely jumped from the wooden hand to the roof, well out of their reach.

She truly wanted to kill the man but an agonized shout from Sasuke caught her attention. He squirmed in pain and babbled about falling. She hopped down into the palm and took Sasuke's head in both of her hands. Tears flooded her eyes as she realized he wore the Konoha hitaiate now, and his shirt bore the Uchiha fans.

From the roof Kenta gave them a dark stare.

Kakashi voiced his own threat. "If you come near my teammates again, I'll kill you where you stand." His voice was cold and hard as granite.

Sakura shut out everything except Sasuke. She refused to accept nothing could be done, whatever the jutsu was, it had only been working for a few seconds. She worked rapidly to anesthetize almost all of his nervous system, leaving just enough operating so he wouldn't die. Sasuke finally stopped thrashing. His breathing was still labored and he mumbled constantly.

"Sakura..." Sasuke's eyes blinked rapidly but Sakura was sure whatever he saw, it was not the reality of the situation. "Sakura...get out of here. You'll die. They all die. Get away! You can't die. Please... auuuggh.. I can't... I can't do it, I can't watch you die. The shrine...Itachi, goddammit...how?"

He was so tortured by his visions Sakura wanted to pull him to her heart and weep. But if she wanted to help then she had to be tougher than that. "I'm right here, Sasuke-kun. Don't worry, you'll find us in a moment."

"Where is Father? Where is Mother? Itachi? What are you doing?" He choked and coughed. "It's dark. I can't find anyone! Who is there?" Tears leaked from his eyes. "Please. Someone. Anyone? Answer me! I went to the shrine, Itachi! I can see it now! AAuuuughhhh!"

Sakura blinked away her tears and ignored Sasuke's pleas to his dead brother. She pushed her chakra into his head, looking for damage. She found a neural environment overrun with stress and panic. She methodically traced back the source to too much adrenaline and orexin getting produced. She temporarily shut down the glands responsible and increased production of hormones that balanced them.

"You've done so much damage to the Iwa forces, the few who can still move don't dare face Kakashi and me." Yamato dropped into the hand beside Sakura. "He changed his clothes; he wasn't wearing this before." He pointed to Sasuke's thigh holster. He tugged it open and a scroll fell out. Yamato hitched and whispered, "What?"

Sakura looked up at the scroll Yamato held in his hands. On one end was the Earth Country seal and on the other was the Fire Country seal. For the first time in a while Sakura felt it was safe to hazard a smile. They did it.

Yamato pulled out a folded piece of paper and skimmed it with a growing smile.

He hopped up to where Kakashi was. "This is over now." He called out. He handed the scroll to Kakashi. "This is the final treaty."

Sakura looked down at Sasuke. His face was completely white. His blood pressure had fallen down to a level slightly below normal and he simply looked to be asleep. In a moment it would stabilize and he would be fine. She released the anesthetic that had been holding his nervous system in check and wiped her eyes. She had reversed the effects before they became permanent. She smiled and a lump the size of Choji's fist filled her throat. They really did it.

She pulled Sasuke's unconscious body to her and squeezed. "You did it, Sasuke-kun. I knew you would!" Tears streamed from her eyes even though they were shut tight and she rocked him back and forth. "God, I love you."

"Then... why... are you trying to kill me?" Sasuke shifted in her arms and coughed.

Sakura leaned away, stunned. Then, "EEEEK! You jerk!"

"Now I'm a jerk?" Sasuke leaned back wearily. "You're bleeding." Somehow his tone managed to be accusatory.

"Oh! Right! I needed to heal you first and..." Sakura's voice faded out as the pain took prominence in her mind once again. She pooled her chakra and began healing. Sakura gave a dry, hopeless chuckle. "Anyway, you surprised me, Sasuke-kun I was scared to death, you know."

"Hn." Sasuke's eyes drifted closed. His face was still pale, with dark gray rings under his eyes. "I don't feel right."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I had to shut off your adrenaline so your mind could calm down. Your energy will be low for another minute."

"Hn. You weren't calling me that before. When we were at the river."

"Hmph. You're reminding me that I was kinda mad at you."

"If you two are done flirting..?" Kakashi interrupted. "Hisako-san has reviewed the scroll Sasuke brought and certified the Tsuchikage's order to release Sakura. The treaty is final and it's time we were headed home."

Sakura looked up. Kenta was standing at one end of the closest roof, hands in his pockets and stealing glances at her and Sasuke. Hisako, looking rather worse for the wear, wood chips in her hair and an arm still in a sling, held open the scroll but stared openly at Sakura and Sasuke, mouth hanging slightly open. And on the other end of the roof, Touru-

the Iwa captain leapt down to the tiles, a kunai in hand.

"No fucking way!" He roared and darted toward her.

Sakura's jaw set. There always had to be some asshole to spoil her good times. She stood and signaled to Kakashi that she would handle him.

Touru raced up the planks leading to the wooden hand. Sakura waited for him at the top, a hand over her wounded side and contempt etching her face.

"NO PEACE FOR YOU, BITCH!" He roared and swung his arm back to slice at her.

At just the right moment she reached out and caught Touru's arm and dragged it forward, over extending it. She wrapped her legs with his and landed both of them on a thick wooden plank. She pressed him down with an arm over his chest.

Touru expelled a full breath on impact and the kunai fell out of his hand.

"That's Queen Bitch, to you." Sakura informed him.

Touru sucked in a breath and growled, though he couldn't get free. From the roof Hisako shouted, "That is enough, Touru!"

An Iwa shinobi appeared next to them and Sakura had prepared a few different attacks to kill him before she realized his hands were held out and open. "Captain," he called. "That's enough. It's over."

"Are you crazy, Kippei?!" Touru cried. "You know what she did!"

"Yes," he answered quietly. "I know." The man caught Sakura's eye and his look was very cool. "She killed our friends. But even if we could kill her, that wouldn't bring back Kishi and Toshi. So just stop, Captain. Just stop."

Slowly, very slowly, the fight drained from Touru until he was simply crying quietly. Softly, very softly, Sakura pulled herself off the Iwa captain.

Touru sat up and wiped his face. "Tch. What the hell can we do? You knock down stone like its nothing, you beat our best seals, even the most horrible jutsus are easy for you to turn around. I guess you can just kill any of us you feel like." The look on his face was downcast as he traced the grain in the branch. "I wish you had killed me instead."

Sakura stood silently watching Touru. A chilly voice in the back of her head snorted derisively at him. "What a crybaby," the voice said. "If that's his attitude, then he's right, we may as well put him out of his misery!" "Shut up." She told the voice. "We don't do that anymore."

Then Sakura got down on her hands and knees and pressed her forehead to the wood below her. She projected her voice so everyone could hear. She spoke the words she had been considering since she had lain in Sasuke's cottage trying to heal herself. "Touru-san, you have my deepest apologies for killing your comrades. I know nothing I can say will reduce the pain you feel, but I have had time to realize that it was not necessary to take their lives. Whether or not it was lawful, I will regret my actions until the day I die."

Sakura held her position. Her side throbbed like a fire was biting her but she refused to move. Around her it was silent.

Finally Touru sighed. "Whatever. Toshi would probably still be screaming his head off. But Kishi would love a chance to back up and let everyone get home again. And I was hoping when Toshi grew up he'd be more like his uncle. So. I guess we should just all go home."

A collective sigh of relief escaped practically everyone in the area. Sakura labored back to her feet and walked back to Sasuke.

"There are burn marks on my kimono and your side is cut open. I thought you'd take better care of my things." Sasuke was sitting up, watching Sakura.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, I'll get you a new kimono." To be sure Sakura was just glad nothing had fallen off and exposed anything...private. She sat beside him resumed healing the slice in her side.

"Hn. I thought you were a jonin specialist?"

"We all have bad days, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun."

"Until you remember you're mad at me."

"Do you want me to start remembering now?"

"Now, children," Kakashi muttered. "We should clean up and head out of here."

Sakura moved to get up but a hand fell on her arm.

Sasuke called out, "Kakashi, Naruto and I were on our way here, and Sai too, by air." He looked at Sakura. "Transporting me here probably made my summons disappear, but I think a fall like that wouldn't really slow down Naruto by very much."

Sakura chuckled. "Sorry, I had no idea. But you're right, Naruto bounces pretty good." She grinned up at Sasuke. He smiled back.

"They're probably less than an hour away."

Kakashi studied Sasuke quietly and then a small smile moved under his mask. He lowered his hitaiate to cover his Sharingan. "I'll deal with it. You do know he's going to be annoyed that you took care of things without him, right?"

"From what I see, Sakura and the wood user did most of the work."

"Hm. Do you think Naruto will care?"

A corner of Sasuke's mouth quirked even higher. "No."

Okay, okay I admit it, I like writing action sequences. But I've been trying to make this a story about holding back, one where characters who are VERY good at fighting have to solve their problems through other means. But hey, sometimes you gotta use brute force. What's a ninja to do?

Reviews are very encouraging! Thank you for taking the time to write them!