Author's Note: Thanks for being so patient guys :) I can't believe its been about a month since my last update, I blame school. Finally here's chapter six!

"KAI!"

The world began to blur, the trees and the ground swirling together like newly mixed watercolors melting and dancing around each other. The wind increased, almost as if to speed up the process of the original returning setting of the forest. The mangled form that was Naruto's body evaporated into wisps. Sasuke watched Sakura's body swiftly melt into nothing, the pink of her hair lingering slightly in the air before it was eradicated from his sight. The sound of clashing metal rang dully in the air, then flowed to a crescendo of clangs and swipes. Finally the green seeped back into the grass and the leaves of the trees, the forest had pieced itself naturally back together, the genjutsu fully released.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke's head shot up, a voice breaking Sasuke's attention away from his surroundings and to the blonde shinobi engaged in battle with a blood thirsty Sakura who had tried to swipe her kunai across Naruto's head, which he thankfully dodged.

The tension and paralysis in Sasuke's mind was swept away.

Naruto was alive, not broken and lifeless. He-

"Sasuke! Snap out of it!" Naruto yelled.

And he needed help.

Sasuke blinked and his black irises flowed into red.

Naruto caught Sakura's fist just as it was about to crush his face, and he enclosed it in his hand tightly. He used his other hand to firmly grasp a handful of her pink hair, holding her in place to ensure that her movements were paused. Sakura gritted her teeth, and brought her other arm back to make contact with Naruto's body, only to be stopped by Sasuke. He clamped his hand down around her wrist and grabbed the back of Sakura's neck.

Team Seven was in a triangle, each member a point in their stance of three. Sasuke was the tip, standing his ground between Naruto and Sakura. Their arms were all tangled together, the two boys keeping their hold on their pink haired teammate. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, who had not taken his eyes off of Sakura. She was giving Naruto an intense death stare, one that made Sasuke uncomfortable to see on her usually cheerful face.

"Let…me…go." she said ominously, her eyes darkening further into their green pools.

Naruto smirked. "Heh. Not until you're back to normal." he said seriously, adding a hint of playfulness to his voice.

Sasuke watched as Sakura tried to pry her wrist away from Naruto's grip, only to have made no progress, much to her dismay.

Suddenly, Sasuke felt a build-up of chakra begin to accumulate in Sakura's fist, growing at a rapid pace, flowing below Naruto's grip. He watched with his sharingan as a strange stream of chakra travelled down her arm. Sasuke's eyes followed the stream to the source, her forehead.

"Her forehead. We need to release the jutsu by pouring chakra into her forehead. That's the source." Naruto's words echoed in Sasuke's mind.

The chakra flow intensified, the orb of accumulating chakra inside her forehead spinning rapidly, spreading out her chakra to a wider area above her eyebrows and slightly near her tear-ducts. Sasuke's eyes widened. If she releases that chakra, Naruto would become the horrid illusion that Sasuke had seen in the genjutsu. He knew Sakura's punches were powerful, he had taken one to the stomach moments earlier. But there was something different about this particular chakra than before. This chakra was different, it had a destructive sinister essence, even more so than before. Her anger seemed to augment to the power of her chakra, making it grow darker and stronger-

Sasuke shook his head slightly. How long will it take for you to realize that she's different? Stop repeating the same facts in your head and get with it already! He thought to himself frustratedly.

He felt her chakra flow down her arm, reaching the section of her chakra network that rested below his hand clutching at her wrist. She was trying to break free once more, and finish the two of them off for good. Without hesitation, Sasuke's grip on Sakura's wrist drastically tightened, her skin molding into the creases of his palm. Heat bloomed throughout Sasuke's fist, the increase in pressure becoming adamant in his senses from the drastic squeeze he was extorting. To Sasuke's relief, Sakura's chakra flow ceased, halting in its tracks. Sasuke smirked, having been pleased at his success. His eyes rose to the girl before him, who's struggles had ceased. Sakura's eyes looked hollow, her pupils drowning in dark green. Her fist slackened, and her expression sunk to a dim one, her mouth curving downward. Her wrist shook under Sasuke's hand, and his stomach dropped; worrying that he may have hurt Sakura, regardless if she was herself or not.

However his theory was rapidly proved to be false when her head spun in his direction, and stopped once their eyes met.

She looked at him with contempt, a disapproving expression that Sasuke could only guess as her mimicry of his own face; for he'd given her the same look more times than he could count. He remembered how her cheeriness would fade, the flush in her cheeks vanishing behind the cream of her skin. Her eyes would dull, and she'd put her hands together in front of her body as if to pray, defeated. He hadn't worried about her, or anyone for that matter. All that mattered was that he had to accomplish his goals, and having distractions would just add on extra, unnecessary weight that would hold him back. Sakura was rarely ever in his thoughts back then, though she made sure of it to be noticed by him, even when he didn't acknowledge her in the least bit.

But just like Sakura, Sasuke wouldn't give up. He would force this jutsu away from her, no doubt.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, never leaving his, sprouting a plan into Sasuke's head. If she wasn't willing to cooperate, then he'd make her; a taste of her own revolting medicine.

Summoning up his chakra, he closed his eyes and thought of the first thing that came to his mind. The grassy field and sparkling blue lake of the training grounds was vivid, the sun warming the atmosphere and the violent blues of the sky and the water. Etching the image perfectly behind his eyelids, he brought his chakra to its fruition. He opened his eyes, sending the illusion into those evergreen eyes, a genjutsu courtesy of the sharingan.

For a moment nothing happened, everyone was unmoving in their triangle. Naruto watched Sakura with great circumspect, waiting for any confirmation that Sasuke's visual jutsu was effective. Sasuke's grip never slackened, however. His eyes were still fixated on Sakura's who were still looking into his. For what seemed like an eternity, everyone stood still. Then Sasuke sighed.

"Did it…did it work?" Naruto asked carefully, lightly untangling his fingers from Sakura's hair.

Sasuke said nothing.

Slowly, he released his hold from the back of her neck, his fingers trailing slightly over her skin. He brought his hand to his front, gathering up his chakra to relinquish Sakura from the malicious clutches of her mind-

A small whoosh sounded out, and there was a hand clamped around Sasuke's wrist. Malevolent evergreen eyes glared into his red ones, sending deep, dark vibrations down to his very core.

Sakura smirked at him, giving Sasuke a triumphant glare, increasing her hold on his wrist.

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief, the whites of his eyes over powering the red of the sharingan. His mouth opened slightly, only to let out a small gasp of extreme disbelief that escaped past his lips.

It..didn't work! His genjutsu had been ineffective. She clearly was unaffected, her face gave it away completely. Sasuke gritted his teeth and snapped his eyes closed, this time wishing to put a complete shadow of darkness over her senses, putting her into a major disadvantage that would ensure his and Naruto's success. His eyes flew open once more, sending the vision of darkness into Sakura's mind. Sasuke felt a small stream of wetness drip from his right eye, traveling down his cheek and cascading under his chin. He didn't have to see the color of the liquid to know that it was blood from the extreme extortion of his eyes. And apparently, it was completely wasted, for Sakura had just laughed tauntingly in his face, and without warning applied an extreme amount of pressure to his wrist. A small cracking sound was heard, and Sasuke grunted in pain. His wrist had felt as if it was on fire, the sensations spreading up his arm and radiating around his hand, the heat blazing forward without signs of ceasing.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she asked him sweetly, though there were no signs of sweetness or innocence about her.

Desperately he tried again, shooting the vision of darkness again and again at her, without any signs of success. Fury began to bubble up inside of him, angrily glaring into Sakura's eyes as if to somehow will her eyes to return to their brightness and for her mind to become cleared of any maliciousness that stole her away from him. His efforts continued to be proved useless, his eyes burning with protest for him to stop. His body was betraying him, handicapping his abilities to rescue Sakura who was still immersed in her darkness.

Darkness, a trap that Sasuke was extremely familiar with, it had taken control of his entire being and he became immersed himself. He left his home, his safety, the people he had allowed himself to call friends. He left Sakura…

Yet she and Naruto had never given up in their attempts to bring him home, to pull him out of the dark. Sasuke would do the same for Sakura, he would not stop until he saw the light rush into her eyes once more.

Sakura moved, dashing to her left, breaking free of both of Naruto's and Sasuke's holds for good. She began to gather her chakra when she felt a presence dash behind her. She spun, and arched her back at the last minute to avoid Sasuke's two fingers blazing with chakra aiming for her forehead. She dodged the attack at the last second, his arm slightly grazing the tip of her nose. Throwing her legs up, she managed to make contact with Sasuke's stomach, sending him up into the air, only for him to effortlessly flip and land safely on the ground spreading dust around his feet. However they weren't done. She spun on her heel and grabbed Naruto's wrist and stopped his blazing fingers only inches from her forehead. She knocked them out of the way swiftly, only to have his other hand come at her. This time she angled her body slightly to the left and flipped, successfully allowing her position to be changed to her advantage, though terms were quickly changed when she saw Sasuke aim to grab her arm, and he would have succeeded if she hadn't applied chakra to her feet and used her newly gained speed to escape. She landed a few feet away from Naruto and Sasuke.

Her body was beginning to tire out from dodging each attempt they made at her, though her chakra would ease her weariness. She allowed it to flow throughout her body, fueling her to her very core. She would need every ounce of chakra to finish them off. She looked into Sasuke's eyes and gritted her teeth. With that damned sharingan, it wouldn't be an easy task to finish him off. He'd predict her every move, every step, every hand sign. But of course that wouldn't stop her.

Her chakra sent a rush of energy and vibrance throughout her body, fueling every muscle and limb. It was time she ended this, just like He wanted her to. She would make their blood spill until the ground was stained red-

NO!

Sakura gasped. A voice was screaming at her with such hate and fury, a voice that made her tremble and shake. It only took a second to realize that the voice was her very own, prying at her brain. Suddenly a fierce pain shot through her entire head, burning her judgement into oblivion.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Sakura cried out, dropping to the ground, writhing in agony. She was holding her head, her fingers digging into her hair. Sasuke's body froze and his eyes widened. What in the hell was happening to her?! It had been only a second ago that she was standing firmly and ready to counterattack, he had seen the tremendous chakra buildup that took place. However something was causing her extreme pain, enough to stop her chakra flow and completely render herself incoherent in this given situation. Naruto stood frozen like Sasuke was, his blue eyes widened in confusion as his were.

It wasn't that Sasuke physically couldn't move, if he wanted to he could have commanded his legs to move forward and for his arms to wrap around Sakura's shaking form. However mentally he was a complete wreck. The visions that had previously ran through his head burst forward. He saw Sakura bruised and beat up when she was the only one conscious during the chunin exams; catching her after she was nearly crushed by Gaara's sand; a kusanagi running through her stomach. And now he stood helplessly before her as she writhed in pain.

"DON'T LEAVE ME!" she had cried to him on deaf ears.

Sasuke ran towards Sakura, unable to remain still any longer.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, following him.

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Sakura's head shot up.

Sasuke's heart dropped and he swiftly skidded to a stop, sending dirt and dust scattering around his feet. Naruto stopped right beside him and inhaled sharply.

Sakura's eyes were widened with fear and pain, flashing different hues of green every second. The colors flickered and blended into each other rapidly, each hue fighting for its dominance in her eyes. Shades of spring and evergreen shuffled endlessly. The inter-changing irises danced back and forth between him and Naruto, desperately trying to keep her eyes on one of them for more than one second. Finally her eyes landed on Naruto.

"Na-ruto…" she choked out.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said quietly, his voice evidently terrified for her.

She shakily turned her head to her right.

Sasuke's sanity shattered.

"Sa-su-kee.."

He didn't waste any time by dropping to his knees and pressing his fingers to her forehead.

Finally I got this chapter posted! I put the blame completely on school, but now that my exams are over (for now) I'll have more time to write chapters! Let me know what you guys think, and thanks again for being patient! xx