Reviewers;

Czar Joseph: No, never to the Uchiha. But perhaps a differnt person in mind? After all, there are always more than two sides to a sphere of war, is there not?

St3rfire: Thank you star. I am glad to keep you in this epitome of suspence, and I'm sure that people hate me for it, but I can't help it. Also, FYI, you'll hate this ending.

Guest: Well, at least you aren't having to wait two weeks, just a few days really.

DuhBomb: Where have you been? It felt so awkward putting out the next chapter without your synopsis, or rhymes. Still though, I liked the last one you made, but the spacing between Kakashi and Naruto didn't help at all, although I still figured it out anyways.

Mangaka Shuzen: As I would hope it would be.

AN: Hey everybody! So these current chapters are one of the best sections I believe for my stories, with a lot of suspense, action and romance all swept together. I hope that you are all ready to be filled with agony on these future chapters as each chapter will be moving back and forth in the timeline and as days and months pass and blend together. I have finished the story so I know where it is ending at chapter 50, but until that happens, be prepared to have your mind reliving the images that I bring forth into your head.

Now then...Timberwolfe Studios proudly presents...

Fire & Ice

Arc 3-Trust

Chapter 36: To Seal and Be Made Stronger

Sakura moved to stand up, her eyes tearing up with water in her eyes, her eyes jittering across her face, searching all over Naruto's facial features, trying to look through her own despair to see the man that had grown up before her and turned into the kind smile that he showed to her right now. Sakura cocked her head slowly to the side as Naruto turned her to face him. Why was he smiling at her? Granted that it was just a tiny smile, but it was still a smile that was directed at her. Sakura's face was stuck in a frown at the questions surging through her raging head.

"N-Naruto…why are you here?" Sakura asked before Naruto leaned forward and locked his lips briefly with her, and Sakura kissed back for a second, their lips making a sloppy wet sound as they parted. Sakura breathed rapidly at the sudden loss of breath while Naruto cupped her face.

"I'm here to take you home, Sakura. You're here with me now."

Sakura gasped quietly at the insinuation that her place was at his side. Sakura moved her feet towards Naruto when she began to feel it. The burning sensation all over her wrists moved higher to her elbows, and Sakura began to spasm uncontrollably. Her eyes widened as her head spun side to side, as Naruto gripped her upper arms to steady her. But Sakura could barely feel his grip on her as her arms burned with such intensity from the inside out. Sakura could feel her magic trying to fight against this mysterious invader, but it just swarmed across her arms and down into her chest when it pounded against her heart and organs until it began to seep lower.

The burning sensation caused Sakura's legs to jerk wildly and her face began to sweat, as Sakura choked on the magic inside her throat as the burning sensation swept over her and froze her magic in place and it no longer moved through her bloodstream. Sakura shivered and took a shuddering breath as all her strength that had been with her since birth left her, and she slumped into Naruto's arms, as Kakashi and his men began to help save what men they could from the frozen wounds.

"N-Naruto…." Sakura spoke with her eyes closed, her tears turning to that of sadness, and the rivers began to run down her face, before Naruto hugged her closer. "Naruto…what did you do to me?" Sakura cried aloud and shivered for the first time in her life because of the cold.

"I did this to save you Sakura."

"…You've just signed my death…"

"No…I won't leave your side. This is part of the deal I made for you." Naruto spoke into Sakura's neck as she cuddled into his neck.

"Naruto…I-I-I'm c-c-cold…" Sakura shivered and Naruto felt her body warm up close to his for the first time in her life. Naruto held her closer as she cried into his shoulder and rubbed her exposed back. Naruto looked at Sakura's clothes and shook his head. She was always the princess who wanted to show so much skin in winter, but now she couldn't. Naruto moved to his pouch and grabbed the thin white fur jacket he had grabbed for her, the on that she had in her bedroom, and one that matched his in nature.

"Here, Sakura. Let me help you." Naruto spoke as Sakura stepped closer and Naruto draped the jacket over her shoulders before moving towards her hands behind her. The chain unlocked and Sakura looked up to Naruto and watched him as he brought her hands into each of the sleeves before the chain reattached to her wrists and she smiled gratefully at Naruto. He was the only one who could unlock her from this prison, wasn't he?

Sakura stepped closer, and smiling through her tears. She had wanted to be free of everyone, and she had wanted to be held under Naruto, and now he was her handler, to tell her what to do and how to do it, and Sakura was glad to be under his thumb, even if now, she felt sick…so so sick...

Sakura gulped in huge breaths of air, but it did not help one bit. "N-Naruto…" Sakura wheezed, "I think I'm going to be sick." Naruto nodded and dropped her down to the ground, and just in time too as Sakura emptied her stomach contents onto the pile of ice before her. Naruto held her hair behind her as she heaved over and over for thirty minutes, before breathing once more.

Naruto helped Sakura back up and Sakura cringed. She had thrown up on her throne. That was disgusting. Sakura cringed and Naruto swore to himself, though Sakura heard it.

"I'm sorry Sakura. You were so in tune with your magic that the magic deprivation is messing with your body. I'm so sorry, Sakura."

"I guess I deserved it a bit."

"You don't Sakura, and I know how much this hurts you-"

"Naruto, I understand why," Sakura sniffled. "I'm a menace to society." Sakura sniffled again. "But I swear that I was doing the right thing."

"I know, Saku-Chan. I know." Naruto's arms tightened and Sakura and he walked down the steps where the fighting had taken place. Naruto looked around them to the men still frozen and that not much had been done that could free them. "Sakura. Do you think you can help?"

"W-What do you mean? I can't feel anything around me."

"I made it so that you can undo your magic.

"O-oh…" Sakura blushed, her body so cold that she nestled further into his chest to warm up her nose. She finally understood why Kakashi always wore his face mask. Was the world always this cold?

"Please? For me? These men don't hate you."

"Enough Naruto. You had me at for you." Sakura smiled and move her right hand in a slow circular motion. The frozen soldiers slowly began to steam as the ice melted and the sound of men choking at fresh air was heard before the ice shattered and soaking wet soldiers fell to the ground, kissing it and smiling with thankful eyes towards Sakura.

Sakura felt Naruto's hand protectively at the small of her hip and looked down to realize how close they were as their hips touched and blushed warmly. Maybe they could be together now, but Sakura's mind shook that thought away. This wouldn't last, not with the information she had. Naruto pulled her forward, and she walked forward with him until a man with silver hair turned to face her and Sakura stopped walking, and gulped.

"Sakura."

"I-I'm sorry, Kakashi-Sensei. I know you mean well."

"You were a great enemy," Kakashi smiled and Sakura blushed as Kakashi stretched out his arms. "I'm so proud of you, my old apprentice. You used what I taught you wisely."

"I still couldn't land a hit on you." Sakura puffed her cheeks, and Kakashi smiled. The two hundred men, all alive but injured, moved to surround her and Sakura's casual attitude turned regretful. "I'm sorry." Sakura spoke louder as her voice projected around the room, but the men smiled at her, and Sakura's brow creased. When she was mocking them, she felt so superior, but now that her magic was gone, so was her attitude, and she was back to her scared and apologetic faze, mixed in with her affections for Naruto.

"Sakura, we knew you would fight back against us. It was these men that saw you die the first time in pure selflessness. We are taking you back, this time as a prisoner of war. If you could kindly follow Naruto's orders."

"H-hai!" Sakura squeaked and the men began to walk out, and Naruto's hand trailed to her ass before he squeezed it and Sakura looked to him in a perverted smile. "I suppose that now I'm your sex slave, huh?"

"No, just my Royal beauty who I will pleasure as soon as we are once again alone." Naruto drawled and Sakura shivered. She couldn't wait to be in the tent with Naruto tonight.

Hours later, the caravan of troops had begun to cross the frozen canyon plains once again, with the captive Queen moving in the center of the troops themselves. The Queen's troops would no doubt attack them here in this frozen wasteland where the visibility was terrible and one could only see a few feet ahead of them.

Kakashi quickly made his way to Sakura and Naruto's side and looked forward as he smiled for them. "You two should be more cautious when you move on to producing another heir."

Sakura gasped and moved to bop Kakashi on the head, but her body could barely stand and so she settled for sticking her tongue out at the knight next to her. "Maybe that's because Rin and you had your first child conceived in the castle kitchens."

Kakashi smiled. "Yes, but imagine conceiving a child surrounded by soldiers and you as a prisoner….Sakura, I need to know about the threat you spoke of."

"Y-you should." Sakura sighed and began her tale of a year ago. "You see, a little bit after Naruto left, my powers began to…to…wane a bit…out of my control I want to venture and guess? And then I felt it…the heat from the east."

"Heat?"

"Yes…you see…"

(A Year prior)

The wind blew at an absolutely perfectly temperature for witches and normal humans alike. It was wonderful all over the world, once of those days where no volcanoes erupted and no tsunamis wrecked the port cities so that everyone could relax and be at peace for the day. It was like this at every border crossing and defensive walls, including that of Port Haruno.

Leaning on the great walls of Port Haruno's eastern border, young children giggled as they ran and hopped around the ramparts, moving through the tunnels and outcroppings set inside the cliffs that had been added onto and created to improve life at the walls. From the front, the wall had not changed too much. A few towers had been added and another wall, this one taller than the first had been created beyond the first wall, and this secondary wall was where things had changed. The secondary wall formed a sort of small village between the walls, with small rotundas and half circular buildings built into the second wall and inside the middle was a nice walkway and road down the center that went all the way to the frontal wall.

And up above on the frontal wall, the Queen looked down at the families spending their day walking down on the canyon floor, and smiled at the sight. She loved the sight of families smiling and as two parents swung a little boy between them, her heart warmed tremendously. And yet as Sakura moved to continue walking, her thoughts moved to the many things on her mind.

It had been a few days since Naruto had left her, and to be honest, Sakura had thought long and hard about it, and she was ashamed at herself and at her actions. When she thought about her whole plan now that Naruto had listed all of the downsides to it, she just didn't have the heart in the project anymore. She wanted her new people to have the whole world to explore and be in, but after talking with a scared Layla, to whom she had somehow ignored to notice, she had learned just how much her people were content with the way things were.

Had she really done all of this selfishly while thinking that what she did was for everyone's benefit? I mean, all the other cities just had to…surrender their lives…to her so that they could survive her changing of the world. Sakura groaned and held her head at the stupidity of that. She was too greedy when she wanted everything for herself.

"Sakura-Sama?" Blake spoke, and Sakura looked to Layla's husband who smiled at her and that made all the difference. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine Blake. I just…keeping realizing how selfish I was being these last few years. I was being such a brat, and I feel like I still am."

"Sakura," Layla spoke and Sakura looked to her other side, at her two bodyguards who she heeded advice from even though they were all the same age. "Forgive me for saying this, but when you died before, didn't you say that you wished to be the most selfish person you could be?"

Sakura laughed mirthlessly at that thought. "I did, but then I guess that I realized that I don't want to completely selfish. I mean, I want some things, but I…I just want to be whoever I want to be. I like tradition, but I like to make my own decisions on things."

"Well, Sakura-Sama," Blake smiled. "I think that you should do what your heart tells you."

"Oh Blake," Layla smiled and Sakura grinned as her creation leaned up close to her husband who gripped her hips and leaned down. "Blake, that's what you told me when we first kissed." Quickly, they connected their lips and kissed passionately for a few seconds as Sakura watched, happy for her coupled friends.

The two parted and Blake rubbed Layla's cheeks. "I love you."

"I love you too, Blake." Layla smiled back, and Sakura felt her heart ache.

It was decided then in Sakura's mind. She would go back to Port Haruno, create a few ships made of her powers, and head to the Nara Woods, and run straight into Naruto's arms, and say how sorry she was, and that she would place everything back to the way it was, and would do everything that she had to do to repay everyone she had wronged. So Sakura smiled at her friends, because like them right now, she would repair what was wrong, and everything would be okay.

Suddenly, a huge earthquake rocketed the land, sending cracks through ice, rock and snow. And as the wall began to shake, soldiers both above and below the wall shifted their footing as the ground and wall both became unstable. The ice below Sakura's feet began to crack, and Sakura moved new ice down through her legs to repair the wall as fast as she could.

But it wasn't enough as large blocks pushed out and blew up out of the wall, as if another earthquake shuddered against the wall itself, and Sakura heard screams all around her as the wall began to cave in on itself, sending mist and dust up into the air and Sakura's feet slipped on the surface that she never slipped on before.

Sakura swayed on the ice, and she jumped off the crumbling wall, the ice exploding all around her and she didn't know what was going on as wind swept into her face, blocking her view of everything in sight. As the minute passed, Sakura had reached the ground and could see nothing, but she heard so much moaning and groaning all around her.

And then the wind died down and Sakura looked in horror as twin columns of black smoke filled the air before and where the wall used to be. Now, it was just a huge pile of ice stacked randomly in places, while some blocks of ice near the edges stood erect, but the center was disheveled and completely blown apart all around her.

Sakura heard a little girl crying and twisted her head to widen her eyes at the sight of a little girl with an arm missing underneath a pillar of ice laid next to her. A soldier stared at her, and continued to do so, even when Sakura looked to him and Sakura's throat constricted as blood left his mouth and still he stayed still, looking out at nothing around him.

"Blake?!" Layla's voice yelled, and Sakura jumped up and ran in the direction of the scream, jumping over bodies and layers of ice as she rushed towards the sounds of crying and sobbing. Sakura reached the sounds but her view was obstructed by huge sheets of ice blocks from the broken wall.

"Layla?!"Sakura called out before her.

"Sakura-Sama! Help!" Layla yelled back and Sakura realized that Layla was below the blocks of ice and so, Sakura punched into the ground below her and the ground broke open as if a fissure seeping through the ice and ground parted to shine sunlight down into the ten foot hole. Sakura looked down before she jumped inside, and in what light reached into the hole, there Layla was, blood falling down her arm, and she was staring at the ground staring to her side where a man laid, and she shook him wildly as his head jerked back and forth, as if a lifeless doll in the girl's hands.

Sakura breathed in deep at the sight of sharp ice shards embedded in Blake's back as she walked forward, his eyes closed as he smiled at his wife. Sakura pushed her hand into Layla's shoulder and rubbed it as Layla looked up at Sakura, tears in her eyes as she sniffled up at her Queen. "My Lady, please heal Blake. He's not speaking to me."

"L-Layla,"Sakura hiccupped and shook her head. ""I can't heal death."

"H-He's not dead…he just passed out. He said he'd be with me forever."

"And he will be Layla." Sakura spoke as she slowly pulled Layla up and her friend pulled at Blake's unmoving hand, but it was her injured arm and so her grip was little as Sakura helped Layla slowly move backwards towards a small staircase that Sakura began to make as she walked.

As they reached the top of the hole, Layla began to bawl completely and Sakura hushed her as she hugged her tightly. "Come here. It'll be okay, Layla."

"W-what about Miki and Suki? They don't have a father anymore?!"

"It'll be okay."

"H-he held me when we fell. H-He let me live by taking the fall…Sakura…I miss him so much!"

"There, there." Sakura teared. She had seen this time and time again as her creations lost their loved ones and friends, but Layla was so close as well as Blake. Sakura closed her eyes to pray for him, however she didn't know where her creations go when they die. Then again, she didn't even know where she would go when she died.

"Sakura-Sama!" Voices yelled and Sakura looked up in anger at the sight of black clothed soldiers rushing towards the broken wall. Sakura stood up and walked forward, leaving Layla on the ground, staring at her husband below.

"Layla, take the soldiers and get to the wall."

"H-H-Hai…" Layla croaked and stammered to get up and run, but Sakura stared at the enemy in anger. So then, Sasuke had a new weapon to kill her soldiers. Well, she would make new creations, these ones stronger than before. And so Sakura flashed through fast hand seals, and suddenly the ice of the wall broke apart and new soldiers appeared, these ones bulkier, heavier, and with magical weapons in their hands.

Sakura's hand and arms glowed an ice blue and began to freeze as the warriors fought the enemy and her eyes glowed blue, as she froze more and more. No more of her warriors would die today, and soon, ice shot out of not just her hands, but that of her warriors, and the enemy began to be decimated, as the battle for the walls began to commence even fiercer than before.

(Present Time)

Sakura looked around them at the sullen and pity looks she got from Kakashi and Naruto, and then Naruto embraced her quickly and without warning, Sakura was crying like she never had before, and the thing was…she didn't understand why. It confused her to no end and yet she was crying for everything that she had lost bt without the knowledge of why she was doing so now.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura." Naruto cooed as he rubbed Sakura's shaking shoulders, as she tried over and over to hug him, only to grow more and more aggravated and groaned at the inability with the chains binding her arms together. Naruto smiled though and brought her arms up and around his neck, and as Sakura smiled at his help, Naruto kissed Sakura deeply on the lips, making her moan into him, a sound he wanted to hear for now over a year.

They slowly parted and Sakura hung off of Naruto's neck, her eyes pausing in their waterworks, as Naruto held her by her hips. "I should have stayed by your side."

"But then you might have died then, Naruto. I'm just glad you're here now."

"But Sakura," Kakashi interrupted, "you mean to say that your 'creations', not mercenaries, now have your powers?"

"My ice to be precise," Sakura mellowed and looked to Kakashi. "I did it so that I could give them their weapons without end, and to make them stronger, but there is a main reason why I did that."

"What is it?"

"Well, you see-" Sakura began before the snow and earth around the formation exploded, and black smoke surged into the air, swirling outward, as black fire blazed around the area, and the world went black.

AN: Now we get into Sasuke's side of things. Next time on F & I, Sasuke's Past!