A/N: Firstly, I'm so sorry for how long it took me to get this out to you all. Things are busy, but I'm trying my best to get as much writing in as possible. In case some of you haven't checked out my author's page, I am going to be/have been on hiatus for quite some time now. This is mostly because things are getting far too hectic in my life that finding time to write has become very scarce to me. Not to worry, I will still be working on Storm and will most likely continue to post chapters, but they will be few and most likely far in between. We'll see though, I've been struck with inspiration as of late and it's been near impossible to separate me from my laptop during any free time I've managed to get. Fingers crossed!

As always, thanks for all the wonderful and great reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter so much.

xx LCF

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me.

Edit 6/20/2017

Hey everyone! Don't mind me, I've just cleaned up and tweaked a few things around.

Storm

Chapter 6: Half-Truths

They had walked into a ghost town.

The village was nothing but ruins. Each structure had either been burned down or completely in shambles. The small farming village had been turned into nothing more than a pile of ashes and stone. Carts and stalls were overturned, making the rotting food that littered the ground bring in swarms of flies and vermin.

Sakura frowned as she stepped away from Taka and walked further down the street as her eyes searched for any casualties. She felt her stomach drop when she spotted the first corpse and nearly cringed as more and more began to appear. Once she caught sight of the first, the rest were instantly recognizable.

She knelt beside the first body, pushing back the grief that bubbled up in her chest to examine the remains properly.

"They did this… those white monstrosities." she muttered as she stood over a half-mutilated woman. "They ravaged this entire village and left it bare. These people weren't even ninjas, they were civilians and they didn't stand a chance against those monsters!"

"This is what happens in war, Kitten. There are always casualties." Suigetsu muttered with a disgruntled look on his face. He cleared the path of dead bodies but remained relatively nonplussed.

"Does this not bother you at all?" She snapped as she walked back over to the rest of Taka. Fury burned in her eyes as she stared Suigetsu down. She did not miss the stares she garnered from the remaining three-quarters of the group.

"Kitten, I'm ex-Mist. There's hardly anything that phases me anymore." He muttered, pushing past her and walking further into town.

Sakura cast his back an unbelieving may have been a former Mist-nin, but to think that he was so desensitized to all the havoc that surrounded him— to think that all of them were as nonplussed as they appeared to be— caused a tiny amount of her faith in humanity to die.

Green eyes turned to the rest of them, scrutinizing in their intensity. Karin had a petulant look on her face, nose upturned as she slowly started to make her way forward. Ruby eyes caught green and the sneer intensified.

"You really are pathetic if you can't cope with the fact that things like this are bound to happen." she said waspishly before walking away. Despite her words she made sure to keep herself in the very center of the cleared path, intent on not coming in direct contact with the corpses that Suigetsu had haphazardly cleared away.

Glove hand clenched angrily, but Sakura said nothing. She didn't even spare a glance at Sasuke as he passed; her eyes were fixated on the massacre before her. A large hand suddenly settled on her shoulder and Sakura turned to see Juugo looking at her grimly.

"They did not deserve this, Sakura-san."

"No, they didn't." She agreed before stalking off angrily, a plan already formulating in her head.

Someone had to lay these people to rest.

Unsurprisingly, aside from Juugo, no one was willing to participate in Sakura's act of kindness. Karin had immediately dismissed the notion with a petulant glare and a sneer. Suigetsu had only given them a tight grin before turning away and walking into the woods. And Sasuke had merely shot them a bland expression before stating that they would set up camp in the town's outskirts.

Several hours later, that was how Sakura found herself transporting linen-wrapped bodies to the large harvested fields just east of the village. It was sad to see that their crops were doing so well and that these people who could have had a prosperous year were reduced to nothing more than unrecognizable cadavers. It helped put things further into perspective for her. If Madara had managed to do this even while there was still a chance that they could overtake him, what would happen should he actually win the war?

Sakura tried her best not to think about that.

"Sakura-san, this should be the last one." Juugo said, bringing over a small shrouded figure and setting it down gently.

"Thank you, Juugo. It means a lot." She muttered, her eyes taking in just how many bodies they had compiled. There were so many. Too many.

The sun dipped low in the sky now and Sakura knew that they had to move quickly to reduce the chances of being discovered. The bodies were a little over two weeks old, but neither wanted to gamble with the chance of dealing with a stray Zetsu or a scout.

"These Zetsu, what are they exactly?" she asked once they were fully prepared for the fire.

"I'm not entirely sure," Juugo said. "I know that they are clones from an original member of Akatsuki, Zetsu, the thing—person—that was encased in a plant. He's split between black and white, but also has the ability to split himself apart and get out of the plant. He travels very quickly and seems to lurk everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

Sakura frowned slightly. "It seems like you have had several encounters with him; both with the original and the clones."

"Both have given us much trouble, even before the war." Was Juugo's only reply before he stood up. "It's beginning to get dark. We should hurry if we don't want to be seen."

Sakura nodded in agreement. She walked over to the large boulder they had moved there and set down the incense that she had picked up in one of the small convenience stores where they had found the shrouds. Once the incense began burning, Sakura began running through the seals of a basic fire jutsu. As she brought her hand to her mouth, she released the flames and watched them easily catch on the linen. It wasn't long before the corpses were alight.

She bowed her head and gave these men, women, and children a moment of silence and paid her respects.

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

As she opened her eyes, she saw Juugo with his head bowed as well, giving his condolences.

There was a slight movement in the forest behind him that caught her attention, and her hand instinctively hovered over her kunai holster. She braced herself for the intruder, when Suigetsu suddenly walked out followed shortly by Karin and Sasuke. The three made no move to get closer than the shadows of the forest, but remained nonetheless.

No one said anything. They all just stood and watched the fire burn.

They were packed and ready to move on the following morning, only pausing long enough to make a quick run into the village to gather supplies that could be salvaged from the debris.

Sakura walked down the trodden path alongside Suigetsu, who kept himself busy by whistling a jaunty tune with his arms folded behind his head. She watched him from the corner of her eye, trying to figure out how this man with his devil-may-care attitude morphed into someone who paid respects to the dead. Perhaps it was all a façade on his part.

"You know Kitten, if you keep looking at me as often as you have been I'll have to assume the worst. And by worst I mean the best, if you catch my drift."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's nothing. I'm just trying to wrap my head around what happened last night."

"What did happen last night?" he asked wryly, a suggestive leer plain on his face.

Sakura shot him a bland look. "I'm talking about the fire."

"Ah yes, you and Juugo's stunt. You always have to be the good guy, don't you?" Suigetsu asked.

"I suppose I do," Sakura confirmed. "But you still haven't answered my question."

The white-haired man let out a small sigh. "Look Kitten, just because we're not good guys doesn't mean we're that bad. Assholes? Sure. Inconsiderate? Definitely. But I'd like to think that we haven't stopped so low as to spit on innocent people's corpses."

"What?" he inquired once he caught sight of Sakura's slight smirk.

"You know, I don't think your as much of a heartless killer as you try to make yourself seem."

The former Mist-nin scoffed at her statement. "Trust me Kitten, if you'd have met me three years ago, one of use would surely be dead by now. I wasn't as nice to pretty girls then as I am today."

Sakura still had her doubts but decided to drop the subject. As they walked further into the village, Suigetsu shot a cheeky grin over his shoulder.

"After some time, Juugo tend to rub off on you. Even if it's just a little."

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled at him but said nothing. Together, they along with the rest of Taka made their way throughout the village, gathering what supplies would be of use to them in the coming weeks. It was the last thing they needed to do before taking their leave as they already gathered as much of the harvest as they could carry. The food they'd picked would serve them well in the upcoming days of travel and would help ease the burden if only a little.

Sakura walked about and found an infirmary easily. She made her way around the tiny clinic with caution, her eyes examining everything in stock and looking for anything she could use. There were soothing balms which would do well when healing with chakra wasn't absolutely necessary, along with some pain medication, bandages, and antiseptics. It wasn't the standard grade of what she was used to, but it was the best she was able to get her hands on in the longest time. Once she was sure that there was nothing else that could be of use to her in the foreseeable future, Sakura resecured her medical pouch and made her way back to the others.

As walked to the meeting point there was a flare of unfamiliar chakra that caught her attention. She wasn't the only one who had noticed because in the next second, both Sasuke and Suigetsu blew past her and after the source of the flare.

"What's going on?" she asked Karin as she and Juugo caught up to her. Sakura had been several meters ahead of Taka.

The redhead frowned. "We were being watched, I suppose that your little stunt from last night was what drew them here."

"Is it one of those Zetsu?" Sakura inquired.

"No," she replied hotly. "For one they don't tend to go off on their own. They usually keep in clusters like the one that attacked us back in the cave. Also they're not afraid to engage in combat. They have no feeling of fear or remorse, they only know to kill."

"So that only leaves two viable options. Either a rogue—"

"—or a scout." Sakura finished before she bolted after them.

By the time Sakura, Juugo, and Karin caught up with Sasuke and Suigetsu, they were already too late. Both men stood before a collapsed figure that bore the white mask of ANBU. Sakura made her way closer to them, instantly recognizing the symbols as that of Root division.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Bloody coward killed himself is what happened." Suigetsu huffed.

"Not surprising given that he's Root. He probably had classified information that would endanger either the Allied Forces or Danzou. The way they're trained, they'd rather die before having such information extracted from them." Sakura said before reaching forward and removing the mask.

Not Sai, she thought as she gave a tiny prayer of thanks when an unknown face greeted her.

Sakura then pried his mouth open and ignored Suigetsu and Karin's disgusted cries when thick, black goop dribbled out.

"Definitely poison," she murmured before shoving her fingers into his mouth to feel around. A grim expression filled her features when she realised his tongue was missing. He most likely bit off his own tongue before ingesting a suicide capsule.

Sakura looked up to see Sasuke watching her intently. "I want to examine the remains."

"What the hell for? If Danzou was thorough enough to train them to kill themselves in order to withhold information, what's to say that he wasn't as thorough about their secrets?" Karin pointed out.

"We aren't trying to divulge the secrets of their jutsu. What we're trying to do is see what nature has to offer. I can run an autopsy on him and try to figure out what his living situation was. If I can do that, then there's a chance that we'll be one step closer to finding Danzou's whereabouts." Sakura explained.

"Do it," Sasuke ordered as his eyes bored into her own. "Karin will assist you in whatever needs to be done."

"What?" Karin shrieked. "You cannot be serious! It's bad enough to have her come along. Now I have to work with her?"

"You'll do as you're told or I'll leave you behind. The choice is yours."

His harsh words effectively silenced Karin, and for a brief moment Sakura felt bad for the kunoichi. It was glaringly obvious that this woman would do what she could to remain by Sasuke's side and it was far too easy for Sakura to empathize. Her younger self would have done everything she could, too.

"So please… Stay with me.. Or take me with you if you can't stay here…"

Sakura was pulled from her memory when she felt the other woman's eyes on her. Karin's red eyes were narrowed to slits as she looked at hir with utter disdain. Sakura brushed her off before she turned her attention to the other two males of Taka. She didn't want to look at Sasuke.

"Juugo, Suigetsu, see if you can find somewhere to do the autopsy, the village won't be suited for it. If Root came across us because of the fire, then chances are that others might have caught onto our trail too. Karin, go with them and set up a boundary so we can work properly and without threat."

The kunoichi looked just about ready to burst in anger when she caught sight of Sasuke's dangerous gaze. A hand flew up to her chest before she swiftly turned on her heel and stomped after Juugo and Suigetsu.

When the three disappeared into the forest, Sakura belatedly realized that she was now alone with Sasuke with nothing more than the body of a dead man between them. She chose to ignore him as best she could, opting to focus her chakra to begin a preservation jutsu she'd managed to perfect during her exile. Her hands flew through the seals before her left hand immediately became encased in a deep emerald glow. Once she was satisfied with the saturation of chakra in her hand, Sakura then placed it upon the Root member's forehead, using her right hand to focus the flow of her chakra. She begrudgingly allowed her eyes to slip closed, hyper aware of Sasuke's presence.

She still did not trust him. In fact, ever since their argument in the forest following Juugo's outburst, she figured they had backtracked on whatever progress that had been made. Not that it was something she could help. She wasn't someone he could order about at his whim. Taka was a different story. He was the head of their team, and as much as they all seemed to clash on the outside, each of the members were as devoted to him as the next, though in varying degrees. But Sakura was not part of Taka. He had offered her a chance to return to her home— there was a mutual benefit from a seemingly similar goal. As far as she was concerned, that made her a partner, not a teammate or subordinate.

You know that's a lie, the inner workings of her mind whispered. Sakura ignored it completely.

She executed the rest of the jutsu with little difficulty despite her errant mind. Once Sakura cut off her chakra, she stood, ignoring the eyes that followed her every movement.

"His body has been stabilized; now all we need is for the others to find a decent spot to begin."

"You have completely ceased the decomposition of his body."

Surprised, Sakura turned to find Sasuke observing the cadaver. His red eyes watched what remained of her chakra as it halted the decomposition of cells down to a molecular level. She inwardly berated herself for forgetting the fact that he could easily see through her jutsu— that he was able to follow her chakra and study it, learning all that he needed.

Damn those eyes of his, she thought fiercely. At least he doesn't have on third of the chakra precision it would take to carry out a jutsu so delicate and temperamental.

Still, it did little to assuage her unease. Sakura had always been a firm believer that with knowledge came power, and she feared that she had just added more ammunition to the arsenal of Sasuke's already frightening capabilities. Because it didn't matter if he didn't have the control to successfully pull off her preservation technique, it didn't mean that he hadn't paid attention to the ebb and flow of her chakra as it navigated throughout the man's body. If the Root had been alive, there would have been a multitude of ways for her to take him down and kill him on the spot with her jutsu and Sakura was sure that Sasuke could see the possibilities just as clearly as she could.

"It's something I managed to assimilate during the past few years of running." She finally said. "Just because I was forced to leave my duty and apprenticeship didn't mean that I could stop learning what I could, when I could. Most of everything I've learned since then has been through trial and error."

"It's far more advanced than the one Orochimaru had created." Sasuke said, his red eyes still following the pattern of her chakra as it maneuvered throughout the corpse's tissue and chakra network.

That caught her attention.

"You watched Orochimaru perform autopsies?" Sakura asked before she could stop herself.

Red eyes flickered over in her direction before returning his clinical gaze on the corpse at his feet. "He supposed that it was a good method to show me the inner workings of the human body. I was often present during his or Kabuto's autopsies. They would often try to have me give audience to their experimentations, but their sadistic curiosity was a waste of my time."

Sakura frowned. Why was he telling her this? Sasuke had never been one to speak first, much less as much as he had. He often said only what needed to be said before regressing to mere grunts if he even deigned to respond to your inquiry at all. She watched him aptly as he continued to assess the body, her gaze now assessing him as she searched for any kind of foul play to be had. Not that she found anything. Sasuke had always been frustratingly good at covering himself up with the best shroud of indifference.

She was prepared to grill him on what he'd seen when she felt the remaining three-fourths of Taka approaching.

"They're here," she announced as she stood to meet the others.

"Aa."

It wasn't much long after their return that the group of five (or six, depending on how you saw it) made their way towards the stone grotto that was hidden in the large foothills just on the border of Fire. How Suigetsu had managed to find it, Sakura would never know, but it was there where Sakura found herself prepping the body and giving instructions to a less-than-pleased Karin. The pair of kunoichi sat near the entrance of the grotto, allowing the natural light give them have ample illumination in which to work in. Once all three were ready, Sakura turned her eyes to the men of Taka.

"You either need to get out or stay out of our way. Sasuke, I'd advise you to follow our movements with your Sharingan in case you can see any hidden chakra traps we might trigger. I highly doubt the seal on his tongue was the only thing Danzou planted on him."

Sakura was quietly surprised when he merely nodded. Her surprise was visibly reflected on Suigetsu's face as he openly gaped at the Uchiha.

"Seriously, how did you do that?" he gawked. "I don't think I've ever seen him get ordered around without some kind of rebuttal."

"Suigetsu, just shut up." Sakura hissed. She didn't need Sasuke to get irritated since he would most likely either opt to kill the former Mist-nin or not assist her with his eyes. "Get ready Karin, we're starting."

"Humph," the kunoichi frowned as she took her place on the other side of the corpse.

Taking a breath, Sakura gathered chakra to her right hand and watched as the blue glow around it tapered off at the edges. She glanced at Karin and was glad to see that the other kunoichi was able to follow along with her instructions accordingly. She truly did have superb control given that this was her first attempt at the scalpels, though it seemed that hers weren't quite as refined as Sakura had hoped they would be. No matter.

"Alright, now make the incision at his shoulder and take it in about three inches deep. Good. Now take the incision diagonally until you reach the center of the sternum. Watch as I do." Sakura instructed; her movements steady as she showed her the matter in which to make the first incision.

Karin mimicked her movements slowly, only stopped once by Sakura when her hand came down with wrist at an angle. "Keep your hand completely vertical otherwise the cuts will be too shallow. If you had more precise control you'd be able to further extend the scalpel to dig deep enough, but since you don't this is the most effective way."

The redhead said nothing as she glared at Sakura before fixing her position to get a better incision. The differences was like night and day, and Sakura was pleased to know that she was able to move along the body with greater ease.

"Good," Sakura praised once Karin's incision met with hers at the very center of the breast bone. "I'll take this incision down to the pubic bone. Make sure you have the snebon ready by the time I'm finished."

Her chakra flared to life once more as she made the next cut, pink brows furrowed in concentration. She carefully dragged down her hand, making sure not to get in too deep and accidentally sever any internal organs that might be necessary to her search. Once she got to the base of his pelvic bone, she ceased her chakra flow and looked up to Karin in anticipation. The other kunoichi handed her a senbon grudgingly, her face twisted in a grimace as she watched Sakura pull back the flesh.

"That's disgusting," she breathed, keeping her red eyes diverted as she continued handing Sakura more senbon.

"Don't worry, I'm done. You're free to take your leave if you like." Sakura absentmindedly said, not noticing Karin's petulant look before she glimpsed at the open cadaver. The bespectacled girl blanched slightly before she promptly turned on her heel and walked out of the grotto, uncharacteristically silent as Suigetsu's snickers resounded in the small cave.

Sakura ignored them all as she set to work. With a single breath, she delved her hands into the depth of his insides and started to feel around.

Karin crept through the underbrush silently, making her way southwest of the grotto where Sakura had begun performing her autopsy of the fallen Root. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought. How that pink-haired hussy had the stomach for it, she didn't know, but it'd certainly done her no favors. She had been Orochimaru's subordinate! She'd even tried a dab hand at his experimentations! To think that she'd been so disgruntled by the sight of a man with his internal cavity exposed that she had to leave before she threatened to vomit was just ridiculous. So why did the sight of some dead guy's innards bother her so much?

To make matters worse, it seemed that it only added more to the comparative figures Sasuke wasn't even aware he was creating. Karin had taken notice of the way he watched the pinkette; they way they all watched her. A growl escaped her at the thought. All of this was exceedingly frustrating for her. For the past three years she'd been the only woman Sasuke had needed in his life. Of course he'd never taken to her advances, much less encouraged them, but there had been a silver lining in the fact that he had not yet told her to cease like he did during those rare moments where other females were present and trying to put a move on him. But now there was another kunoichi with whom she had to share his attentions with and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Sasuke was getting more invested in his tool than he usually did.

The thought was enough for her to sneer at the unperturbed foliage that surrounded her.

It shouldn't be much farther now, she thought as she made her way to the exact spot where the chakra signature she'd noticed suddenly blinked out. It had first caught her attention when she was away from the grotto and out of shouting distance from the others. It was a tiny blip, so miniscule that no one else noticed. Figuring that she could do some investigating while the other were occupied, Karin had set off, silently heading to where the chakra had disappeared from existence. Once she got to the location, she saw that there were no signs of life. The small clearing had no signs of anything.

"I'd been so sure, too." she muttered after a few moments of trying to relocate the chakra signature in vain. An impatient huff escaped her as she whirled around and proceeded to make her way back to the others.

"Sure of what?" came a voice, and suddenly she felt him.

Ice shot through her veins with dread as she watched his masked hear creep out of her stomach before he came to stand before her.

"Madara," She whispered, her entire frame shaking.

"Now, now kunoichi. You should have known better than to come investigate all by yourself." The masked man admonished.

"I—"

He held up a gloved hand. "There's no need for explanations. But please, tell me. How is dear Sasuke doing? And the rest of your teammates? I'm aware that you have added one more to your ranks recently— that pink-haired medic."

Karin said nothing, her fear rendering her mute in his presence.

"Now that won't do," Madara chastised. He circled her slowly, like a hunter stalking its prey. She wasn't surprised when he suddenly took a fistful of her hair and reared her head back against him. A strangled cry erupted from her throat when his hold one her hair tightened, making her scalp burn.

"Now, you'd better tell me what dear Sasuke is planning as we'll be spending quite some time together in the foreseeable future." Madara said before he turned his attention from her and looked towards one of the trees instead.

"Zetsu," he called out. "Find Sasuke's team. Make sure to play her part well." There was a moment's pause before a white figure suddenly split itself from the trunk and transformed before her eyes. A perfect rendition of herself looked back at her. Everything was identical, right down to the chakra signature.

"Yes, Madara." It said in her voice before it took off into the forest, making its way back in the direction Karin had come.

Once the fake Karin was completely out of sight, Madara activated one of his space-time jutsu. The air before them warped until a wormhole was fully formed before them. He hauled Karin into the portal as he made his way through. "Come kunoichi, you and I have much to discuss."

There was a shift in the air and then they were gone.

Sakura leaned back against the rock wall with an exhausted sigh. She'd been up to her elbows in blood, extracting and examining every single inch of the man she could get her hands on. It had been a tedious job, but she was glad to have done it. The amount of information she had gathered was astounding and the moment she caught her breath she would be more than glad to share the fruits of her labor.

The pink-haired girl winced slightly as the salve she spread on her hand stung. She'd been right in having Sasuke watch out for any traps that may have been implanted within the man. The moment she'd struck through the soft tissue of his stomach, the acid within immediately bubbled and caught part of her left hand. She'd been able to do away with it and heal her chemical burns, but there was a slight raw tinge that wouldn't fully go away for a few more hours. After that there had been no other incidents and she was able to recover some information quickly despite the state her hand was in.

Now that she'd healed her hand, Sakura waited patiently for Sasuke and Suigetsu to return from disposing the body. Juugo had been charged with retrieving Karin. Soon they would congregate to discuss what Sakura had found. Surprisingly, Suigetsu and Sasuke were the first to return.

"Where are Juugo and Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"They're not here yet. Funny though, I thought Juugo would return sooner since he left before you two did. I'm pretty sure Karin didn't wander off too far." Sakura replied as she stood. She took brisk strides over to the entrance of the grotto, green eyes searching for familiar chakra signatures. She found none.

"Where could she have gone off to?" she murmured.

Suddenly, a deafening roar filled the air followed by Karin flying out of the treeline. Her airborne figure crashed into a nearby tree. Juugo was hot on her trail, his body half-morphed as he came down upon her still form.

"Juugo!" Sakura yelled, her feet pushing her forward as she tried to get between the frenzied man and the unconscious redhead at his feet.

Sasuke was faster.

He appeared before Juugo, successfully stopping the man in his tracks. He said nothing as he bore his Sharingan into his gaze, returning the larger man back to his normal state before he collapsed onto the ground with his breathing coming in and out at irregular intervals. What Sasuke did next, Sakura was not prepared for.

Sasuke unsheathed his chokutō, its blade glinting in the light of day before he brought it down with inhuman speed and deadly precision. He slit her throat effortlessly, his blade sheathed once more by the tie she started bleeding. Sakura made her way towards them, her eyes staring at Sasuke in disbelief. She was prepared to question his motive for needlessly killing his sensor when the redhead in question made her bite her tongue.

Karin's red hair receded into her head, turning forest green in the process. Her eyes had gone from red to a faded gold, and her skin and all other features melted into a white expanse of nothing.

"A Zetsu? I could have sworn that it was her chakra." Sakura muttered as she knelt before the dead creature.

"They're notorious for being able to mimic every detail about the person they're impersonating, right down to their chakra signature and patterns." Juugo said after he'd caught his breath.

"Then how do we know if someone's an impostor or not?" Sakura asked.

"They usually slip up. I knew it wasn't the real Karin because one of the birds saw when it took her place."

Suigetsu frowned. "Yeah that'd have alarm bells ringing in no time."

"Ok, all of this aside. Where's the real Karin?" Sakura pressed.

"We're going to have to look for the pain in the ass." Suigetsu muttered. "If she's not dead, then she's most likely been taken captive."

Sakura frowned at his explanation. "Captive? I thought that these Zetsu were part of your lot."

"What are you not telling me?" Sakura demanded, watching the way Juugo and Suigetsu shot each other uneasy glances. "Would anyone care to explain to men why we're hiding from both the Allied Forces and Akatsuki?"

"We're avoiding them because there's no other choice." Sasuke said, making her whirl around to face him. "We're being followed just as the Allied Forces are.

"Why?" Sakura pressed.

"Taka defected from Akatsuki nearly two weeks ago."

Two weeks ago. That had to be around the same time when Juugo and Suigetsu had come across her wounded in the forest. Where they'd taken her to the cave and Juugo kept her alive. Where the rest of Taka had been waiting for Sasuke.

"Why?" Sakura asked once more as her heart began to hammer in her chest.

Sasuke watched her intently, his dark eyes impenetrable. "Because I'm going to kill Uchiha Madara."