Sorry! School is taking up more time than I expected. Thanks for your patience!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Chapter 9

Kakashi abruptly woke and sat straight up in the bed in a cold sweat. He ran his fingers through his tousled silver hair as his mind replayed the nightmare he just witnessed. Moving to the edge of the bed, he placed his head in his hands as his head throbbed with pain. The urge to flee from the monastery and pursue Kabuto was overwhelming. At the end of the dream, he saw where the lair was located, so he felt that he knew exactly where they were hiding. The vision had felt so real, the images were so vivid. Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom.

Rising out of the bed, he began to pace trying to determine if the vision was real or just his imagination again. In the past few weeks, his nightmare was gaining strength and the impulse to seek out the Sound lair was irresistible. He now knew that the tunnels in his dreams were part of the Sound hideout, at least what was revealed within the dream. As the vividness increased, the more he felt that he needed to verify what he saw in his unconsciousness was real. Kakashi had no doubt in his mind that if he was still in Kohona, that he would have left to validate the location.

He had many conversations with Masao about the urges that he was feeling and how to quell the voices in his head so he could find some peace. Only during his unconscious state, the voices compelling him to act could get through.

Finally calming himself, he decided to have Pakkun check to see if Sakura was ok. Cutting his finger, he summoned the small pug.

"Yo," Pakkun appeared in a cloud of smoke yawning, "What did you need at this time of the night, boss?"

"Please check in on Sakura for me," he bade his ninken.

The dog nodded and disappeared. Kakashi hoped that his fears were unfounded and that he was worrying about nothing. While he waited, he sat down and used the meditation technique that Masao had taught him to calm down.

Thirty minutes had gone by when Pakkun re-appeared in Kakashi's room.

"Back," the dog said nervously.

"And?" Kakashi questioned.

"Well, I went to the apartment and didn't find Sakura or Shiba. The other dogs said that she had got in late because of dinner with Sasuke and Naruto, but they had been out for a while. We all scouted the area where we usually train and found Shiba unconscious. Sorry boss, no sign of Sakura anywhere."

"What?" Kakashi roared, "What do you mean she is gone? No scent?"

The small dog cowered knowing that his master was upset. "Her scent disappears, but there is another scent that leaves the area. I sent three of the pack to follow it while Bull went to get help for Shiba. We couldn't rouse him at all."

Kakashi started pulling out his clothes and started to dress. "Good. Update me as soon as you know something about Sakura and keep me updated about Shiba."

The pug nodded again and disappeared. As Kakashi dressed, a feeling of dread washed over him. He hoped that his nightmare didn't come true. All he could do now was wait for his ninken to find the place that Sakura was taken, even though deep down he already knew where she was.

The buzzing in Sakura's brain was getting louder. All she could see is the darkness that had swallowed her. Slowly the darkness turned to a gray, then a rosy glow, but the buzzing never changed. She was confused about where she was and couldn't get her bearings. Gradually, her memory started coming back to the Sound Ninja that she had struck down and the blinding flash. As she opened her eyes, she found herself in a room that she had never seen before with terra cotta colored walls. The walls and ceiling looked like stone. The temperature was cool in the room but the blanket that she wore kept her comfortable.

Confusion ran through her mind as she mentally struggled to remember where she was. As the fog lifted from her memory, she realized that she was in a Sound stronghold. Her hands went to her head as the buzzing in her brain increased.

'What the hell is going on? Why won't this pain go away?' she said to herself. It felt like all of her chakra had been drained. Looking down, she saw bands on her wrists and ankles. As she looked closer, she realized that they were chakra suppressors. 'Great, just great,' she swore angrily in her mind. How was she supposed to get out of here with no chakra?

"Ahhh…I see you are finally awake," a familiar male voice said from the darkness of the room. As the figure walked closer to her, she recognized that it was Kabuto. A feeling of terror washed over her.

"I see you noticed my little restraints," he chuckled. "I couldn't take the chance of you using your inhuman strength or any of your other tricks. You should be proud. You are the first person I had to use all 4 bands on," he said as he checked her restraints.

"So why haven't you killed me yet?" Sakura angrily questioned.

"I have plans for you," Kabuto sneered, "Right now you are bait, but since you have put a kink in my plans for my toxin, I have something really special planned for you."

Sakura looked up in horror at the silver haired man as he finished his task. Who was she bait for? The pain in her head made it hard for her to think straight. She hoped that Shiba wasn't hurt and the ninken were on their way to help her. The one thing she prayed was that Kakashi was not coming to the lair.

"Yes, this working out better that I had hoped for," he gloated, "I will catch both of them with you as the bait, and then I can start my next experiment, with your help of course."

Kabuto moved to the back of the room and laughed menacingly sending shivers down Sakura's spine. The man was imbalanced and she didn't want to provoke him into doing something out of anger.

"Sasuke will pay for killing our master. I will see to it that he suffers for ruining all the plans that we set. It hasn't been easy trying to put the pieces back together, you know," Kabuto spat, "You foiled my plan on building my army with your antidote. No matter. When Kakashi arrives, I will finish my scheme and use him to generate the serum needed to start my new army. And you, Ms. Haruno, will help me ensure the future."

Kabuto moved aside the hair that was covering the one side of his face to reveal the grafted part of Orochimaru. Sakura sucked in her breath in horror. The snake sannin had taken over almost half of Kabuto's body. Kabuto cackled with pleasure at the apparent terror the young woman in front of him.

"Yes, Sakura, you will help birth the next generation, and assure that I and my master will never die." Kabuto was next to her reaching out to cradle her face roughly with his hand. "And if you are a good girl, maybe we can do this the old fashion way so both of us can enjoy it."

Sakura pulled away violently with the horrifying thought of the monster in front of her touching her in an intimate way. She snarled as she moved away from him. "It will be a cold day in hell before I let you do that to me!"

"No matter, there are other ways to achieve what I have planned for you. You will pay for thwarting my poison and my plans! Mark my words," he sputtered with venom as he strode from the room.

Sakura was numb as she stared at the walls. She had to find a way out of here before Sasuke or Kakashi came for her. As she thought about her predicament, the buzzing increased in her brain. This was going to be difficult to devise a plan with the interference of the chakra inhibitors. Sakura slowed her breathing and tried to relax to stop the pain. Her breathing calmed and her heart rate slowed causing the buzzing in her head to decrease. She was able to think clearer now. Her mind raced through all her training to find a way to break the chakra inhibitors. The quicker she could do this, the more prepared she would be when her team mates arrived to the hideout.

Kakashi was pacing, impatient in waiting for Pakkun to return. His mind raced over what his next move should be, trying to suppress the irresistible urge to just race to the Sound lair. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the knocking at the door.

Masao had seen the light on in Kakashi's room as he was walking and was curious why his friend was up so late at night. He could feel the nervous energy in the air as he walked up to the closed door. He knocked a few times with no response.

"Kakashi, are you awake?"

Hearing his friend's voice broke him out of his thoughts. Kakashi finally went to the door to open it.

"Masao, what are you doing here at this hour?" he questioned.

"I was just about to ask you the same," Masao chuckled. Seeing the troubled look on Kakashi's face caused some concern with the abbot. "What's wrong Kakashi?"

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi informed him on what had happened in his dream and what Pakkun had reported to him. He also told Masao about the incredible urge to flee to the Sound hideout. Masao listened intently to the story his longtime friend was telling him and was amazed at the detail of the nightmare that Kakashi had experienced. As Kakashi finished his tale, Pakkun appeared in the room.

"Yo," the small pug greeted the two men.

"Any news?" Kakashi asked anxiously.

"We found the lair where Sakura is being held. Heavily fortified. We couldn't get all the way in, but we can tell that Sakura's chakra is low and unstable." The pug looked up pitifully at his master waiting for Kakashi to blow up.

Masao could feel Kakashi tense after the small dog gave his report to him. Placing his hand on his shoulder to calm him, Masao beckoned the silver haired ninja to sit so they could plan their next move.

Sakura slowly looked around the room looking for anything that would give her an advantage or to help her release the chakra suppression bands. As she looked around, she noticed that the doorway had a security jutsu to make sure that she didn't leave and no one came into the room without her captors knowing. There were no windows, but there were 2 air vents in the ceiling. It was hard to judge how large they were since the ceiling was vaulted.

Standing, she walked slowly around the room taking in her surroundings and trying to look casual in case she was being watched. The furniture was bulky, so it would be hard to move any of them without alarming someone with the noise, especially since she was without her chakra. Kabuto probably picked this room for that very reason. He had also made sure that there were no small sharp objects for her to use as weapons or tools to escape her bonds. Sakura swore silently to herself on Kabuto's thoroughness.

Across the room was a door that was slightly ajar. Inside was a small bathroom and shower. She entered and closed the door for some privacy. As she scanned the room, she could find nothing that would help her plight. Using the facilities, she relieved herself to make things look normal as she searched with her eyes to find something of use.

Washing her hands Sakura played in her head the training that Tsunade had done with her for just this situation. Tsunade had been lecturing her about chakra restraints and what to do if she found herself bound.

(Flashback)

"Now, due to your chakra control," the Hokage had told her, "it shouldn't be a big deal for you to overload the restraints. But if you run across an enemy that is overzealous and places more than one set on you, you still have a way out it by using the technique I'm going to show you."

Placing her hands on Sakura's wrists, the Hokage pushed in her chakra. Sakura noticed that is was a bluish purple color, a chakra color she hadn't seen before. When Tsunade was done, she showed her apprentice her wrists. On the underside of each wrist, by her thumbs, was a small sakura flower, one for each wrist. They looked like a tattoo.

"Hmmm….," the Hokage beamed as she studied her handiwork, "Getting better with age!"

Sakura looked up her mentor confused about why she had placed the marks on her wrists.

"The marks will only be visible when you do not have any chakra stored. Once you store chakra, the flowers will disappear. Each petal will be able to hold a certain amount of chakra in it to be used at a later time. I would suggest keeping all of them charged just in case you need it. If you play your cards right, you could be more powerful than Naruto, but only for a short period of time. Only release the stored chakra when you absolutely need it, Sakura. Use it in emergencies only," Tsunade told her.

Tsunade showed her the technique to store her chakra and how to release it when she needed it. It took Sakura a couple of weeks to fully charge each one of them up. Sakura was amazed on how the marks disappeared as she stored her chakra. Once Sakura felt comfortable with the technique, Tsunade showed her apprentice how to overpower a chakra restraint by forcing her stored chakra through the band. Tsunade actually bound her to make sure that Sakura could successfully disable the restraints.

(End of Flashback)

Sakura remembered how tired she was after she had completed her task with her blond mentor. She was concerned about how these chakra restraints worked since Kabuto had designed them and how it would make her feel after she attempted to overpower them. The timing would be crucial to ensure her safety in order to give her enough time to escape. Luckily, Sakura had thought about putting another storage mark on her hip just in case she needed a little more chakra. It wasn't as big as the ones that Tsunade had made, but it should be enough to help her recuperate if she needed to use both of the others all the way. She hoped that she wouldn't have to use all her stored chakra, but with the current situation she was in, there was no choice. There was no way that she would let Kabuto hurt her, let alone Sasuke and Kakashi. Once she broke the bonds, she would need to move quickly before Kabuto realized what she had done. She wouldn't be able to fool the demented man if he came back into the room for very long. She would need to bide her time and wait for an opportune time to act. The one advantage she had right now was that Kabuto always had underestimated her abilities. For once she was glad that someone thought of her as weak and not a force to be reckoned with.

While Masao and Kakashi talked over the situation, one of the monks opened the door to announce that some shinobi from Konoha had arrived. The two men were surprised when Naruto, Sasuke, and Team Hebi walked into the room. Kakashi could see in Naruto and Sasuke's eyes that they knew about the situation with Sakura.

"Ah, I see you know already, Kakashi," Sasuke said in a flat tone.

Kakashi just nodded as Naruto handed him the scroll that was delivered to the Hokage. Opening it, he read the ransom note demanding that Sasuke deliver a large amount of money and some supplies. In return, Sakura would be released unharmed. Kakashi handed the scroll to Masao to read over.

"So, Kabuto is back in charge," Sasuke questioned Kakashi.

"Seems he survived our last attack, contrary to what was reported," Kakashi grimly stated.

"Hn," the Uchiha heir growled causing his old team to tense.

"I guess we can all agree this is a trap," Naruto verbalized, "The question is how we proceed without injuring Sakura in the process."

The men all looked at each other waiting for someone to come up with a plan. It was clear to all of them why Kabuto wanted Sasuke, but Kakashi wasn't sure what plans Kabuto had for him. Masao was right to make him aware of the peril he would be in if he just forced his way into the lair in a blind rage. While his mind raced, Masao interrupted his train of thought.

"What does Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke all mean to this Kabuto and how does having all of you further his cause?" Masao pondered.

The group was lost in thought for a few minutes when the light went on in Kakashi's brain on what Kabuto's plans were.

"I know what he wants and why," Kakashi blurted out.

As he told the group his revelation, Sasuke came up with a strategy. Knowing the lair that Kabuto took Sakura to like the back of his hand was an advantage to the group. Discussing the strategy, the group all agreed to the plan that they had devised. Grabbing their gear, the group headed out to execute it in deadly silence.