Her Experience

by Tiny.Dncer

Sakura has been taking care of her sick civilian mother alone since she was 8. But now a full fledged ninja placed on team 7, she must learn how to stop holding herself back and let her team in, although, that proves challenging when her teammates are the wild and childish Naruto Uzumaki and her cold closed off long time crush, Sasuke Uchiha. (Better explanation inside.)

27. Puppet Show

A/N: I really wanted to post in time for Sakura's birthday, but oh well. So it goes. I feel like I've gotten enough comments about this that it's worth saying again, this story isn't supposed to be causing any drastic changes to canon events. This is just my response to Kishimoto "not knowing how to write women." I know he's never gonna read this, but this is my "see, you can tell the exact same story you want to tell without weakening, cheapening, or sidelining your female characters. You can still tell your story, and have your females be active in the plot, three-dimensional, and as complex as your males." Alright so I do think there's enough small internal details to be worth reading but it does track very similarly to the canon battle, so if you want to skim or skip it, I get it. Read the end of the battle at least because that's where the biggest change is.

"inner (subconscious) Sakura..."

"Sakura's thoughts..."

Memory...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sakura stared at Sasori's hunched form, wide eyed, as he glared at her and Chiyo.

"Just what is he? Is that really him or just a puppet? But if it's a puppet, where's Sasori? Where are the chakra strings? I can't see any…But if that's actually Sasori…he doesn't look quite…human…Damn creepy is more accurate…And just looking at him, it's clear there's a huge difference in battle experience between me and him…his amount of kills…" Her heart seemed to beat harder with her growing apprehension, as sweat beaded at her face. Aside from that, she looked relatively unaffected. Calm, even. But looks could be deceiving, especially when Sakura was involved. She'd put on the calm front so as not to keep Kakashi with her. Naruto was the Akatsuki's target so he was the one that needed their sensei's back up. She thought if he saw her freaking out, he wouldn't leave…so she acted, and damn well too. It couldn't be farther from the truth. She was balancing on a fraying tight rope over a tumultuous pool of upper emotions that would overtake her the second the rope snapped. Enraged over Gaara's death, anxious over Naruto chasing that Aaktsuki member, worried that if she wasn't already too late to save Gaara she would be by the time she got passed this guy, and terrified of the akatsuki member she was facing…terrified she wasn't strong enough to handle him, plus the constant awareness of her lack of chakra and stamina. You'd never know it from looking at her, but Sakura was walking the boarder of a panic attack.

"Sakura, stay behind me." Chiyo ordered gravely, withdrawing a string of kunai from her sleeve and launching them at Sasori. There was a whirl of movement, and Sasori was on all fours, like a tiger ready to pounce on its pray, his cloak in tatters around him. The wooden scorpion tale protruded from the mouth of a giant, demon-like Noh mask on his back. One of his arms wasn't an arm at all, but there was some sort of device with several wood protrusions incasing it.

"If you're going to defy me, I guess I have no choice. Are you so eager to join my collection, along with that little girl?" Sasori rasped. The pink haired girl already looked so doll-like, he may as well make it official. And it would be interesting to have his grandmother at his disposal as well.

"Collection? Really don't love the sound of that…"

Chiyo heard the tiny sound of discomfort Sakura made, but misinterpreted it. "What you see there is not Sasori's real body…"

"I know…I mean, I figured, but…I don't see any strings. Where is his real body? Puppet masters are supposed to be pulling the strings from behind, right?"

"His real body is inside that one."

"Oh that's uncomfortably smart…damnit! That's like something Shikamaru might think of…so I'm not just outclassed in experience and strength…he's frustratingly smart too! Just my luck…"

"Puppet Masters have trouble with close range combat. Controlling our puppets leaves us open to attacks. The puppet there has basically discounted that problem. It's both a shield and a weapon. It's Sasori's specialty, Hiruko."

"You seem to know a lot about it, Lady Chiyo." Sakura observed as a mild attempt to self comfort.

"I know a lot about it." Chiyo agreed.

"But do you know how I make my collection?" Sasori asked. It was only fair to give the girl a warning, since it was the process she was about to undergo. "First I pull out the organs, then I extract the blood and wash the body inside and out, so it's nice and clean. Once I've prepared the body so it won't decay, I fill it with hidden weapons and then it becomes a complete addition to my puppet collection."

"That's…" Sakura, for all her skill at hiding her feelings, couldn't mask her complete horror. She went pale, her eyes wide and shaking. It went against all regard for life that had been drilled into her over the course of caring for her mother and her medical training. Her stomach flipped nauseatingly, and she thought she might throw up.

"Just as the Old Hag said, this form you see, Hiruko, is part of my collection. And once I add you and Granny, I'll have exactly 300. This is my art!"

Sakura didn't know how she didn't vomit. Her breath came out raggedly. Never in her wildest nightmare could she have dreamed up this demon. "298…he's murdered 298 people and desecrated their bodies…turned them into…he's wearing a dead person right now…I…That's…I can't beat someone like this, but…SHANNARO someone's gotta stop him and by some string of shit luck, I'm here damnit, so I guess it's me!"

It was a bit disorienting, the way her inner voice had worked itself into her conscious one…it almost gave her whiplash sometimes…but if it wasn't for that inner voice, that she no longer worked so hard to repress, she may not have had the jolt of determination to ground her from crossing into her reaction.

Sasori watched the doll-girl's face with some interest. She'd started out so calm and put together, but he'd seen the naked horror that painted her eyes wider, changed their hue to more of a watery grey-green, and stained her porcelain skin paler. But so very quickly, and with no clearly definable trigger, her features changed again: her eyes becoming the blazing hostile green of a copper-sulfate fire, pink flushing her skin again, her delicate brow furrowing with determination. He'd never seen anyone where emotions like this girl…certainly not his grandmother or himself.

"Art, huh?" Chiyo questioned resignedly. To think her adorable grandson had turned into such a monster. And really, his pieces used to be so masterful…

"Lady Chiyo…" Sakura murmured, looking toward the old woman—because it was easier looking at her than that abomination of a puppet.

"This must be brutal for her emotionally, seeing what her grandson's become…I wonder if Sasuke-kun may have felt the same when looking at Itachi, since they were so close once…I hope that's never something I experience, seeing someone I love so twisted, dark, and bloodthirsty…" She felt a sliver of unease cut through her, thinking about how Sasuke was currently being trained by a psycho who wanted to take over his body…if they were too late to save him, her fear might be realized. Sakura drove the tow of her sandal into the ground, hard. She had to focus on surviving right now, and thinking about Sasuke being taken over by Orochimaru was not aiding in her immediate goal.

"He was once a master craftsman, and he built many excellent puppets. But he devoted most of his energy into turning people into puppets and collecting them. He calls that art…and that puppet, Hiruko, used to be a shinobi from another village. He was turned into what you see there. Sasori's favorite human puppet."

"…Human puppet?" God she even hated the sound of it, yet Sakura forced herself to look back at Sasori's puppet armor. No matter how much she hated it, that abomination was her enemy, and she couldn't cower from it. She had to face it head on.

"That's what I'll turn you into, very soon. You'll become one of my works of art." Sasori informed her calmly. Definitely a work of art. Maybe his finest yet, at least aesthetically, with her vibrant pink hair, jade green eyes, and doll-like features. But would she still look so beautiful without all of her boiling emotions displayed immaculately on her face?

Sakura gulped. The idea of him desecrating her body and turning her into a tricked out doll made her skin crawl. But that was only if he could kill her, and sure she as hell wasn't about to go down easily.

Sakura watched his tail rise and stretch. He wasn't attacking yet, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because for every minute he didn't attack, she had a minute more to live and figure something out. Bad because she was having a very hard time figuring anything out about his fighting style or technique, without his making some sort of move.

"Alright, so what I do know, given that he's a puppet master, and since his partner uses explosives of some sort based on their earlier conversation, Sasori's the one that uses poison. So odds are all of his puppets weapons are coated in the poison used against Kankurou. That, and with this puppet in particular, he seems to favor attacking with the tail…Kankurou's wound was a similar size and shape to that tail point, he attacked his partner earlier with it, and he used it to block Lady Chiyo's kunai, so that's going to be what he defaults to using for any attacks that come in close enough range."

"Hiruko is a puppet with great attack and defense. Be that as it may, we first need to get Sasori out of Hiruko, if we want to do anything. The most terrifying thing about the puppets are the unpredictable traps and mechanisms that can launch attacks from anywhere." Chiyo explained.

Sakura smiled. That was the first piece of good news. "But you know a lot about the inner workings of that puppet. So we have an advantage."

"Mm-hm. That's why I thought I could handle him by myself at first. But…it doesn't seem like it."

"So much for good news…"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked sharply.

"The shape's a little different from the Hiruko puppet I used to know. First off, he didn't have a mask-like shell on his back before. That must have strengthened his defenses. And that device on his left arm is new to me too. In which case, he likely redesigned his most important traps as well."

Sakura stared at the grotesque puppet for a second before taking a deep breath. "So you can't handle it on your own and we don't have an advantage. But we can't move forward until Sasori's out of Hiruko. So what can I do?"

Chiyo looked over at the girl in surprise. She was expecting a lot more fear and a lot less logic…this whole time, Sakura seemed remarkably calm given the situation. Clearly, the girl had some top notch medical skill, and the monster strength her master was famous for, but that wouldn't be enough to get her through this alone. So what else was she hiding? What skill had she not yet revealed, that made her so calm in the face of a monstrous opponent?

"I don't have the destructive power needed to destroy Hiruko. But you do. Tsunade-hime taught it to you personally…"

"So I need to get close him and destroy Hiruko…" Sakura said firmly, eyeing the puppet's tail.

"However you must dodge all of his attacks, especially the ones from his hidden devices. And you must do it perfectly, without even getting the smallest scratch."

"Because of the poison, right?" Sakura sighed.

"Indeed…as you know, even the slightest scratch can be fatal. You must predict all of the hidden mechanisms and react immediately."

"Right…" Sakura murmured, thinking of her evasion training with Tsunade.

Who will heal the team if the medical ninja dies?

"If I could see him, I think I'd be able to pull that off…but with Sasori in Hiruko, I'm not confident…" She had fast reflexes, and trusted her evasive skill, but much of that depended on reading an opponents attack pattern. That was harder to do with hidden mechanisms in a machine, when she couldn't see the operator. Maybe if she had the Sharingan…but she didn't. She was just clanless, civilian-raised Sakura, with a family curse that rendered it a miracle if she made it to 20.

Chiyo wasn't sure what to make of Sakura's claim, because it seemed unlikely to her that someone so young could pull that off…at least the girl acknowledged her current lack of confidence under the circumstances. So she wasn't cocky.

"Of course not…For that, you'd need a lot of battle experience."

"Then…what are we gonna do…?"

"What do I look like to you? Just a useless bag of bones?" The old woman questioned, releasing the bun of her half up hairdo. "Leave that part to me. His battle experience pales in comparison to mine. Besides, the first move has already been made. Sakura, listen to me. Together we're going to defeat him." Chiyo gestured for Sakura to come closer, blocking her mouth from Sasori's view with her sleeve when Sakura leaned in.

"We're going to attack together, but I'm going to attach my chakra threads to you, and puppet you out of the way of his attacks. I can anticipate the hidden mechanisms enough to maneuver you close to him. You'll just have to allow me to manipulate your movements and deliver the final blow."

"Lady Chiyo, rather than you running in with me, just let me take all the fire."

"That would be too much to maneuver you through, even for me, something would slip through the cracks."

"Not necessarily. My reflexes are fast, and I'm flexible…There's a technique I utilize, that involves pinning different weapons along my body, so that when I move, they can aid in blocking. If you take care of maneuvering me through, I'll make sure nothing slips through the cracks. But there's no reason to risk both of us on this. Even if it is lightening the amount of fire on me, it'd be splitting your focus, so I'd say it'd end us up in the same place more or less while putting you at greater risk."

Chiyo pursed her lips. That was a lot of trust to put on one little girl…but that one little girl was trained by her greatest nemesis and surpassed the skill of all of Suna's medical staff.

"Will you be able to give yourself over to me enough while still handling your own movements…if you start fighting me too hard, this will end in swift failure."

"I can manage it. Body awareness and control is my most natural skill."

Sakura had yet to display confidence she hadn't earned, and it was maybe that fact alone that made Chiyo agree.

"Alright…Let's do this!" Sakura said stepping forward, she tossed a handful of shuriken straight up into the air, and jumped up into the center of the weapons, spinning gracefully to catch them on several limbs. Twelve kunai attached themselves to her legs: kunai jutting blade out from the front, back, and outward sides of her thighs and calves. Two on the outward side of her arms—one at her biceps and one at her forearm, and eight surrounding her waist like a particularly painful belt. It was time to put TenTen's suggestion of incorporating weapons into her Dancer's barrage to good use, plus it didn't really expend chakra to do…attaching weapons to her wasn't all that different from chakra weights in that sense.

"Interesting…I don't know what you hope to accomplish with those pretty little decorations, but I'm glad you're finally ready to die. I do hate to be kept waiting." Sasori growled, one hand reaching up the grab the cloth that covered the bottom half of Hiruko's face.

"Relax. We'll kill you quickly." Chiyo said calmly. Sakura took that as her cue and sprinted forward.

"Hm." Sasori pulled down the cloth, revealing Hiruko's mouth and shot a spray of needles from it.

Sakura tipped forward into the onslaught into a graceful one handed cartwheel, her hips and legs twisting and helicoptering out and around, dodging most of the needles and blocking a few with the Kunai on her limbs. She twirled, flipped and leapt through the onslaught, giving her weight over whenever she felt the tug of Chiyo's chakra strings guiding her, and otherwise giving in to her own reflexes and dancer's instincts. There was an almost constant clang of metal and the kunai on her limbs and waist swiped and deflected needle after needle.

Despite the danger and pressure of the situation, Sakura felt a strange sense of ease overtaking her. Movement and dance always quieted her mind when it was at its most frenetic, and now was no different. With every swing, pivot, twist, and flip, she felt her anxieties receding behind the freedom of the movement, and the clarity of her currant goal.

"Maybe I have a problem, but this is kind of…fun…"

The last of the needles clinked to the ground as Sakura righted herself. She stared Sasori down, her head cocking to the side, a kunai laden arm raised in front of herself defensively.

Sasori paused for a moment regarding the pink haired fairy girl. So she was somehow ready for that one, huh? Well, she wouldn't be able to dodge this next one. The contraption on his left arm shifted, before rocketing toward her.

Both Sakura and Chiyo caught the shift, though Sakura had no clue what that might mean, while Chiyo had more of an idea. He was going to throw a round of less predictable projectiles. And sure enough the device went rocketing forward. Sakura skidded to the side and up, closer towards Sasori, trying to put some distance between the device and herself. The several protruding cylinders shot out form the device in all directions, before breaking apart and each releasing its own spread of needles, even forcing Chiyo to move to avoid them.

"Ah, so this one's more randomized and harder to dodge…" Sakura was glad for Chiyo's assistance and was relying on it much more heavily this time. The first attack she'd actually been able to manage pretty well…Chiyo helped a lot, but less then both of them had expected. This time though, Sakura gave herself over to the tugs of chakra thread much more frequently. Even still, Sakura couldn't fight the smile from forming on her face, because this was fun! She never really understood when Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be enjoying fights, laughing, smiling, or smirking during them, even if they were losing, or it was really dangerous. But now…now she felt like she got it. It was so exhilarating, to be moving like that, with so much at stake…to feel the swell of confidence and pride, knowing that you were within centimeters of death, and got away without so much as a scratch. She had to fight back the insane urge to laugh. "There's so much at stake here, I really shouldn't be having fun…it's so weird. I've never let myself enjoy a battle before, but there's a good chance this one may be my last. Odds are that I'm gonna die here…so is it a crime to enjoy what I can of it while I've got the chance?"

Sasori couldn't believe his eyes. They completely dodged his attack just now…but how? He understood his Granny being able to—she had more battle experience than he did, and was a puppet master herself. Of course she might be able to predict his puppets mechanisms and dodge his attacks, but the little girl? How could she…? And what was more, she was smiling…? Joy practically made everything about her glow, from the polished jade of her eyes, to her creamy skin, to the tips of her silky pink hair. But only seconds before, he could have sworn she was angry and terrified. He was numb to his core, his emotions long ago petrified. He could have sworn his fossil of a grandmother was more or less the same…had either of them ever worn emotions like this girl? Had either of them ever seemed that…alive?

Sakura held for a second, watching to see if he made any further moves, but when none seemed to initiate, she charged him again. Playtime was over, she needed to destroy that puppet so they could kill Sasori and put an end to his abominable art, or die trying.

Sasori watched Sakura run at him, while his grandmother remained standing at a distance. The smile had slipped from the girl's face, replaced by a look that wasn't quite anger, or lifeless severity…it could only be described as determination. What was going on? Was the kid mocking him, just running at him like this without any sort of backup?

Sakura's eyes followed Hiruko's tail as she drew closer. It launched at her, as she expected it might, and was fully prepared to give her weight over to Chiyo or jump back, but she felt no tugs or tightening of the chakra threads. "Does Lady Chiyo want me to keep moving? Alright…here goes nothing…"

Sakura continued forward to meet the tail, altering her footing so she could easily jump to the side if need be, when the tail suddenly halted centimeters from her forehead.

She didn't let any confusion cause her to miss her opening. Without breaking stride, Sakura pivoted around the tail point and took a running leap, thrusting her fist straight into the Noh mask shell, and shattering the puppet.

There was a swish of a cloak as a figure leapt away from the wreckage. Sakura narrowed her eyes, following the cloaked figure's every move down to the smallest twitch.

"Is that the real body?"

"Of course…That's my grandmother for you…no wonder, even that little girl would be able to avoid my traps." Of course, that was the only way she would have been able to maneuver through his needles so easily. And that was why Granny Chiyo just stood there, unless directly endangered herself. "You saw all of my attacks and used your threads from the puppet master jutsu to control the little girl. You even cleverly put threads on Hiruko's tail." He hadn't noticed until the tail's movements had been stopped though. "Wasn't it when you attacked with the kunai at the beginning? The chakra threads attached to the kunai transferred over when they hit it."

If he wasn't trying to kill them, Chiyo may have been proud. Damn kid always was a smart one. "Very good. Even though I was suppressing the chakra as much as possible so it was invisible, you still worked all that out."

The cloaked figure rose, his hand grabbing onto the cloth covering him. "But of course. After all, who was it who taught me to play with puppets? It was none other than you."

"Yes, well. We're done playing for today." Chiyo said severely, dropping into a battle stance.

Sasori pulled off his hood, revealing the face of an attractive, red haired…boy…

"Wait…hold up! That's Sasori?! He's hot—which I'm ignoring promptly cause he's an insane murderer…but this can't be Sasori…Lady Chiyo said that he left around twenty years ago but he looks…he looks my age, maybe a year older at most! That's not possible, he can't be this young! Even with really good genetics…he still…"

"Lady Chiyo, is this…really Sasori?" Sakura glanced behind her to see Chiyo staring wide eyed and slack jawed, completely dumbfounded.

"Well she definitely recognizes him, so that's a yes…"

Chiyo had no clue what was going on. It wasn't possible! He looked exactly the same as the day he'd left! He hadn't aged at all!

"Aww, so moved by the sight of my face that you can't even speak?" Sasori taunted. "I'll show you what I brought along. Killing him for my collection gave me quite a hard time, that's why I like him best." At least in terms of power, although he already knew when it came to aesthetics that little girl was going to be his favorite. Sasori withdrew and opened a scroll revealing the Kanji number, 3.

There was a loud puff of smoke, and Chiyo's eyes grew impossibly wider. The smoke cleared to reveal a puppet that looked…familiar. It only took a second for Sakura's mind to place where she'd seen that face, and she felt her blood turn icy in her veins.

"Isn't that…the Third Kazekage?" Sakura murmured. She'd seen his picture in a world history book before, that's where she recognized him. He'd was hailed as the strongest Kazekage, but had mysteriously vanished and no body was ever found.

"And this was why…because his body was taken and turned into…Sasori said that he's the one who killed him…that means…I'm so screwed…"

"Sandaime Kazekage-sama…" Chiyo gasped. It had been her grandson who was responsible for the thirds disappearance?!

"Sasori…you…?!"

"Mmm, for a retired old woman near death, you're still quite good, so I'd rather not take any chances. That's why I'll be using him to finish you off."

"Even retired and near death, I'll still take action! I've got too many regrets to die just yet! My grandson…you've not only fallen to the level of a murderer, you've also betrayed your village and gone after the Kazekage three times!"

"Three times?" Sakura asked, by her count, this made two…when was the third?

"It was Orochimaru who killed the Fourth Kazekage, Gaara's father, but it was this one who guided him. And this time with Gaara…and even Lord Third…"

"Hey now, I don't know about the Fourth. It was my subordinate who guided him. Indeed…I was originally partnered with Orochimaru, so we did many things together, but not that…"

Sakura stiffened, her head dropped so her hair shadowed her eyes. "You were his partner?" Her voice had a growl to it that neither Sasori nor Chiyo had yet to hear. "You must know a lot about him…"

Sasori studied the little girl with interest. This was a different sort of anger from what she displayed before, but it did fascinating things to her features, giving them an almost feral beauty. Why would she know about someone like Orochimaru? "I know a bit."

Her fists clenched tightly. "Then you better tell me what you know."

"Or else what?" Sasori chuckled.

"I'll beat it out of you!" Sakura shouted leaping at him, much to the surprise of Chiyo and Sasori.

He nearly snorted in amusement, sending his puppet to meet her, several blades and knives popping out the Third's arms, ready to slice her up. Charging in with no plan or back up? How dumb was this beautiful girl?

"Dumbass! Sakura, you stupid dumbass! What the hell were you thinking?! Your temper gets the better of you so you just decide charging him head on is the best answer?! I CAN'T HELP SASUKE-KUN, NARUTO, OR GAARA-KUN IF I'M DEAD, SHANNARO!"

Sakura quickly put her arms up defensively in front of herself, using the kunai on her arms to block and hold the blades at bay. Her arms shook with the force of holding the blades off. Her eyes bounced around, trying to find a way out of the mess she'd just thrown herself into. Luckily, there was Chiyo. She yanked on the chakra threads, pulling Sakura back and out of the blades reach.

"Let's do it, granny." Sasori muttered, his fingers twitching. The Third's left arm opened out in sections, revealing some sort of summoning formula. Sasori's fingers formed a seal, and the summoning jutsu released, causing an army of wooden arms to shoot out, directly at Sakura.

"So fast! Alright flexibility, don't fail me now!"

The arms spread slightly, creating some openings, at the beck of Sasori's fingers. Sakura's eyes widened as she immediately worked to line herself up with the gaps, and was immensely grateful for Chiyo's strings, as they pulled and maneuvered her further into line with the openings. The hands slammed down on her with a crash, causing dust to fly into the air, but she was safely posed between them, in a way that was almost embarrassingly risqué, had the situation been any different.

Chiyo let out a small breath of relief. Thank god that girl was spatially smart and as flexible as she'd claimed. From the distance Chiyo was at, she'd only been able to maneuver her into an approximation of safe zones, but it was really Sakura who had managed the exact positioning—and she'd even done it in a way that was graceful and pretty…honestly, Chiyo was already impressed with how quick Sakura was on the uptake. The girl definitely needed her to be pulling the strings, but not nearly as much as Chiyo would have thought.

Sasori clicked his tongue. He wasn't getting anywhere with his grandma controlling the girl's movements, and he couldn't wait to turn her into such a pretty puppet. He hated to be kept waiting…he'd have to speed this up.

Sakura unravelled herself from around the hands, and gave into the pull of Chiyo's threads, allowing them to yank her out of the mass of puppet arms.

Sasori bent one finger, triggering his puppet to spray a cloud of purple gas at her. Sakura took in a sharp inhale of air right before the fog surrounded her.

"Thank gods I managed not to breathe any in…Damn this is thick! I can't see anythi—" Her train of thought was cut off by the sound of metal cutting through the air. Trusting her ears more than her eyes, she positioned herself to use the kunai on her arms and legs to block the incoming knives.

"Oh no! Poison! Hold on Sakura!" Chiyo tugged hard to pull her out of the poison cloud that had enveloped her, but she couldn't. "What…?"

"Ropes with Kunai at the end. The only option is to evade, blocking gets you all tied up. You should have paid more attention Granny."

"Damn…! Hold on Sakura! That poison should dissipate soon! Just hold on!" Chiyo shouted desperately.

Sakura glared down at the ropes in annoyance. "Well this is just perfect! Alright Sakura, calm down. The more hyper you are the more your body will crave air…I've still got kunai on my arms and legs, so maybe I can wriggle enough to cut the ropes…"

She tried compacting and twisting herself, but it was to no avail, So she tried compacting herself and then cutting off the chakra that held the weapons against her, hoping that maybe when they fell, they'd cut the ropes. That failed as well, and the weapons clanked loudly down onto the cave floor.

Sasori smirked. "Doesn't seem like she's doing too well…"

"Sakura! Are you alright dear?! Just hold on a little longer! Can you hear me, Sakura?! Hold on a bit longer! The poison's already starting to dissipate!"

Chiyo was right, the poison was beginning to thin. Sakura could make out the form of the Third Kazekage puppet. Just a little bit longer and it'd be safe for her to breathe…

"I have more than one store of poison, you know." Sasori said, as the puppet sprayed another round of poison gas, thickening the cloud again.

"Is this really it? Is this how I'm gonna go? But…I can't…I promised Naruto we'd save Gaara-kun, and Sasuke-kun together! I promised I wouldn't be useless this time!"

I was originally partnered with Orochimaru, so we did many things together, but not that…

"I can't just uselessly die here! I need to at least get some useful intel on Orochimaru from this!"

Who will heal the team if the medical ninja dies?

Don't die while I'm gone, Sakura. Please.

"No, I can't let it end here. I am NOT going to die here! Not like this! Shannaro!" Sakura thought determinedly, reaching into her weapons pouch.

"No! Sakura, hold on child!" Chiyo shouted starting to run towards the toxic cloud to cut Sakura out of the ropes herself, but she only managed two steps when a loud explosion came from the center of the cloud, dirt and smoke mixing with the purple swirl of poison.

"What?!" Sasori hissed, as the cave shook around them.

The purple fog dissipated, as Sakura's bruised and burned body went flying towards Chiyo, the ropes holding her captive burning off her. Chiyo caught her, the force of impact sending the old woman skidding back a bit, and age preventing her from holding on to the surprisingly muscular young girl. Sakura rolled from her grasp onto the ground, coughing, her muscles twitching as she struggled to push herself onto all fours.

A loud ringing filled her head and ears, her vision shifted in and out of focus, and her muscles ached all over…all of which was to be expected. She had just taken an explosion point blank…honestly it was amazing she hadn't killed herself with that stunt.

Chiyo knelt next to her, patting her on the back gently to help with the coughing, staring at Sakura…this girl used the shock wave from a paper bomb to blow away the remaining gas, endangering herself to escape from an enemy trap…how reckless!

Sakura blinked at the ground, her heart pounding hard. She nearly just died…and the next time, it probably wouldn't be a near miss, he'd probably succeed in killing her. And then he'd desecrate her body and turn her into a doll for him to play with…and he'd just keep doing that to everyone he ever came across. The thought overwhelmed her with a horrible mix of terror, fury, and revulsion, threatening to send her careening over the edge into a reaction.

Instead, she opened her mouth.

"You…" Sakura panted, glaring at Sasori from the side, before turning her head to face him fully. "I'm going to stop you! No matter what you do to me…just try it! Blow my limbs off! Poison me into paralysis! I'll still stop you, I swear it!" Sakura growled, pushing herself shakily to her feet, and taking up a dancer's stance. "No matter what you do! I'm going to stop you, and I'm going to make you tell me everything you know about Orochimaru—I'll force it out of you if I have to!"

Sasori eyed her for a second…fascinating that she could stand so quickly after taking that explosion. Setting off a paper bomb in the smoke, even with herself still in it…not a bad move, he had to admit. He didn't know what she hoped to accomplish with a stance like that though, other than looking even more enticingly doll like. Unaffected by her speech, Sasori waved his hand, and a volley of kunai shot out at her. Sakura shifted her position so she was squarely in front of Chiyo, her own kunai in hand, ready to swipe away any that came towards her, but her muscles groaned at the sudden movement and her ears still rang from the shock of the explosion…she was off balance and hadn't taken the few minutes she needed for her body to stabilize.

"Shit…this was another dumb move! What am I doing?!…coping with my emotions…I'm furious, and more than that, I'm terrified…by doing something, standing and facing him, I'm keeping myself from sinking in to them and having a reaction…but everything I'm doing is just one bad choice after another, damnit! I need to get a grip on myself! Shannaro!"

Before she could do anything, two figures stood in front of her, knocking all the kunai to the ground.

"When a woman is talking, a man should listen quietly." Chiyo admonished. Sakura turned to look back at the old woman, who was holding an open scroll in each hand and had chakra threads attached to the two figures in front of them. She'd called out two of her puppets.

"Ah…them…" Sasori muttered tonelessly.

"So you do remember them. The first puppets you ever constructed. Your father and mother."

"What do you plan on doing with those things? They're puppets I created. I know all of their tricks. This is stupid." Sasori dismissed.

Chiyo's head dropped. He used to treasure these puppets…now they meant nothing to him…how could he have fallen so far? Chiyo sighed and moved her fingers. The puppets' palms touched together and when they pulled away, wires spread between them, continuing to connect them. The puppets rushed at the Third Kazekage, spiraling around the pillar of puppet arms that had attempted to grab Sakura, and cutting them to pieces. The mother and father puppets then engaged in direct combat with the Kazekage puppet, but Sakura no longer paid attention. Instead her eyes were trained on Sasori.

"Shishou said to always be watching my opponent…if I can just get a sense of his fighting style, I can stop making reckless dumb decisions and start fighting in a way that gives me a shot at surviving…He's a puppet master so his fingers always move before he attacks, but that's obvious though…what I really need is to pick up on the pattern of the finger movements…"

The puppets' combat stilled, many of the weapons they'd been using against each other chipped and broken.

"This is taking too long…should I get serious then?" Sasori asked silkily, his hands forming a seal. The Kazekage puppet opened its mouth, and a shifting black mass, somewhat reminiscent of Gaara's sand, came pouring from its mouth.

"That's right…the Kazekage mantle is passed through a specific clan, to the ones who inherit the ability to control particles of earth…this must have been what the Third Kazekage could control. But…it's just a puppet! It shouldn't be able to use jutsu! So how…?"

"So it even has Lord Third's jutsu…" Chiyo sighed resignedly. It was worse than she feared.

"It's been a while, eh? Since this is the jutsu that made people see the Third as the strongest Kazekage of them all. So I'm really going to kill you now."

"Is that…sand?" Sakura asked, her eyes never leaving the shifting black particles.

"It's the most feared weapon in Suna. The iron sand. Lord Third created it himself. It can be changed into any form and weapons to suit the situation."

"Like Gaara-kun."

"It's different." Chiyo said, shaking her head. "The Third Kazekage was born with an ability to change chakra into a magnetic force."

"Oh…oh that's frightening! It'd be bad enough if it was just like Gaara-kun's sand but now it's also magnetic?"

"But how is that possible?! It's just a puppet, right? Why would an inanimate puppet have chakra?!" Sakura finally voiced, hating the feeling of missing something everyone else seemed to know.

"This is the advantage of "human puppets." They're created originally from a living body, thus it's made to contain the chakra and jutsu of its previous life. No one but Sasori can create "Human puppets"…no one but him has ever wanted or thought to try. But in that way, he can use jutsu from when the puppet was alive."

"Oh he really can't make me into a puppet, or he might discover the Hundred Healings! Mine isn't complete yet so he wouldn't be able to use it, but if he makes the connection to Tsunade-sama, he might go after her! And clearly he's strong enough to take down a Kage…Shit! Alright! It's official, Sakura—you are so not allowed to die here! Not unless you take him out with you!"

"That's not all…that's why it's my favorite from my collection." Sasori said, with a sadistic smirk.

"Sakura, you must leave now! I will handle it from here alone." Chiyo ordered.

"Wait—What?!" Sakura cried, turning to the older woman.

"This is worse than I feared. It's beyond your capabilities! Now that it's come out, you can't do anything!"

"Wait no! But that's wrong! If that iron sand is magnetic, than Lady Chiyo's the one who's stuck! Puppets are made with wood and steel, as are the weapons they're tricked out with, a magnetic force will render them useless!"

But before Sakura could make that argument, Sasori attacked. "Too slow!" He sent a barrage of iron sand bullets at the two of them. Lady Chiyo quickly made the mother puppet grab Sakura out of the way, while having the father puppet guard herself with its built in chakra shield.

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "So you've made some changes since the last time I played with them."

Lady Chiyo watched as the father puppet struggled to close its arm panels, before its movement ceased all together…just as she had feared.

Sakura watched as well, wincing as the puppet shook in its attempt to function. Her thoughts had been confirmed. There was no way Chiyo could take this on by herself. Not with puppets.

"So now it's all on me…"

Sasori chuckled. "That jutsu is unblock-able. You know that, but you were more concerned with getting the little girl away, eh? I've worked the iron sand through all of that puppet's body. As long as I have the Third's magnetic force, it's useless. Well, now I'll aim for both of you at the same time, and so I'm sure I've killed you, I make it into a truly lethal shape."

Sakura watched as the black particles formed into painful looking spikes.

"Lady Chiyo! Protect yourself! I'll be fine!" Sakura shouted…she could evade this, and even if she couldn't, it wouldn't stop her from fighting the way it did the puppets…and she had a fail safe up her sleeve that she hadn't revealed yet, and prayed she wouldn't have to.

"With one puppet, there's no way you can both be blocked! What now, hag?!" It was a win-win for him either way. If Chiyo protected the girl and let herself die, then all he would have left to deal with was one, inexperienced, doll-like, little girl who he could make short work of. If she protected herself, then the girl was as good as dead and Chiyo would be weaponless, since none of her puppets could withstand the iron sand.

With the bend of his wrist, the spikes hailed down on both of them. Sakura was about to dodge, when to her horror, the mother puppet jumped in front of her again and protected her with its own chakra shield.

"Lady Chiyo!" Sakura whipped around, running towards the woman before the dust could even clear, but she stopped short. Because Chiyo had her own chakra shield up, her right arm resembling her puppets.

"Your own arm…you've rigged your own body…" Sasori murmured, before chuckling again. "We puppet masters really do think along the same lines…"

Sakura glanced over at him, her eyes narrowing. "What does he mean by that…? Unless…hold up, is that why he looks so young?! He didn't…"

But Sakura was distracted by Chiyo's attempt to close her puppet arm…it was the same result as with the puppets…nothing. The arm was useless now. The old woman squeezed and popped it out of place, the arm plunking to the ground.

"The iron sand has made its way through, so it's finished. Plus your puppets are useless. What now?"

Chiyo couldn't help remembering the small boy who manipulated the mother and father puppets he built into hugging him, in an attempt to feel his parents embrace once more…it had been when he was first learning the jutsu, and couldn't control it well, and the two puppets had fallen to the floor, him standing in the middle with the saddest expression. Now, he wore a cold sadistic smirk in instead.

"A puppeteer without a puppet is just a regular person, eh?" He chuckled, more iron sand spilling from the Third puppet's mouth. The iron sand formed into two massive floating structures, one like a pyramid, the other a large rectangular slab.

Sakura stared at the large floating structure, chewing at her lower lip. She remembered from Lee and Sasuke's fights that Gaara's sand could harden…the iron sand would probably be even harder than that, given the metal properties it contained…plus she wouldn't have put it past him to have somehow imbibed it with poison.

"Even for someone like me, the situation seems hopeless…Sakura, you must get away." Chiyo pleaded.

Her fist was shaking…she was scared, her emotions were running incredibly high—she'd been centimeters from a reaction since seeing Gaara's corpse…and reckless acts fueled by those emotions had been the only thing keeping them from pushing her over the edge. But she couldn't afford to continue doing that, or she would undoubtedly get herself killed. She couldn't let herself die for a multitude of reasons, starting with the danger it put Tsunade in if Sasori were to dissect her and discover the seal, continuing with her promise to Naruto to bring Sasuke back together, and ending at the plea from Sasuke that she wasn't even sure if she'd imagined her not. Running was the only way to ensure survival. And yet…

I haven't trained you just to back down when something seems beyond your means.

…And yet every single part of her rebuffed that idea with a fiery passion. Giving up was contemptuous. She wouldn't be the person who abandoned a comrade. She couldn't be. She didn't know how to. At no point had she written off her mother, no matter what it put her through. She hadn't written off Sasuke either, and had no plans to ever do so. She wasn't about to start buying into the concept of lost causes now.

She squeezed her fist with her other hand to stop it from shaking.

"I trust Shishou and what she taught me. I trust her and mom who believe in me and think I can handle this…so that means I trust myself. I can do this. Sasori's out in the open now. I can see him, which means I can start picking up on his patterns…I've already started anyway. I'm fast, agile, and clever. I hate losing and hate anyone who hurts my friends. Plus, he's underestimating me…Chiyo-sama too. And just like mom said, I can use that against him. I can do this. I just have to calm down, trust my instincts and think rationally…cause if I have a reaction—it has to kill him, or we're all dead. I won't be able to continue fighting afterwards…"

Sakura straightened, taking a deep breath, before firmly stepping in front of Chiyo.

"Sakura! What are you—"

"I can fight him." She declared firmly.

"What? What are you…?"

"I won't be rendered useless by some iron sand. My body's flesh and blood. He can't stop me."

Chiyo blinked in surprise. "I only have one arm now. I won't be able to support you as I did before."

"That's fine! You won't need to. I may not have amazing weapons in me like a puppet, but…the unbending spirit of my master has been drilled into me!" She declared, her fists tightening as she dropped into a ready stance.

Chiyo stared at the girl's back for a second before shaking her head, chuckling slightly. How could she have forgotten? This was the girl who'd come in and saved Kankurou within an hour, when all of Suna's medical staff, including herself, had been stumped for three whole days. She was undoubtedly Tsunade-hime's pupil…it radiated off her in more ways than one. "Of course, how silly of me. Of course you've inherited Tsunade-hime's strong will. You're right. But his ability is magnetic force, so steel and iron weapons will be ineffective."

A brazen smile flashed across Sakura's face. "That's lucky. I don't need weapons. Like my teacher, I'll fight with my bare hands!" She said, confidently punching her fist into her open palm.

"This again? Useless." Sasori drawled.

Sakura sprinted forward, her eyes glued to his fingers, watching as his right ring finger dipped and curled. The point of the iron sand pyramid sharpened and plunged toward her. Chiyo took a step forward to pull Sakura away, but in a move neither she nor Sasori saw coming, Sakura sped up and leapt onto the elongated pyramid, running along it a few steps before leaping off toward the Kazekage puppet, her foot poised to drop kick it, while her eyes never left Sasori. The cave shook with the force of the pyramid impaling itself in the ground, but it didn't stop Sakura from catching how Sasori's fingers bent than straightened. The iron sand slab floated above her and started to drop straight down. In mid air she had no way to dodge on her own, but before Chiyo could yank her away, Sakura started taking her own measures.

"Fine, then!" She shouted, watching the block drop on her, before tucking her body into a flip, and shooting the kick she'd been charging with chakra straight up into the slab.

The slab of iron sand rocketed straight up away from her on impact, breaking into the roof of the cave. Sakura landed gracefully, and continued to charge towards the Kazekage puppet and Sasori, who's right ring finger dipped and curled again, before straitening and swirling around.

Sakura glanced behind her as the elongated pyramid pulled itself from the ground and reformed so its deadly point was aimed at her back as it went shooting toward her. Sakura dropped into a handstand, helicoptering her legs out so the pyramid shot over her, before swinging one of her legs up, delivering a kick to the structure that changed its trajectory towards Sasori.

The puppet master was forced to leap up onto the wall of the cave to his left to dodge, as the iron sand pyramid impaled itself into a different wall, shattering more of the cave's structure. This girl…would make more than just an aesthetically appealing puppet, as he'd originally thought.

Sakura was breathing hard, staring at the structural damage she'd wrought on the cave.

"I'm not done yet! That's only the beginning!" She called fiercely.

Sasori's eyes narrowed, as he dropped from the cave wall. She was smiling again, but it wasn't the joyful one she'd worn before. It was more triumphant—the way that fiery look in her eyes played out on other parts of her face. Was this girl really a shinobi? She had the strength, but the shinobi training he'd gone through, the one he'd seen play out in all those he went up against…they were all puppets already. Dead inside, slaves to the strings of the hidden village they belonged to. Emotionless and cold. But not this girl…her emotions weren't simplistic and upfront the way the blond jinchuriki was—one track minded, impulsive and angry. They filtered through her quickly, layered in a complex chemical mix that she allowed only parts of to show. He could tell exactly what she was feeling, yet also had no clue at all. And regardless, he didn't understand it in the slightest.

She watched as the fingers of his right hand curled and flexed, before his ring and pointer finger dipped in unison and his ring finger twirled again.

"Whenever it's something with his ring finger, the pyramid moves…" Sure enough, the pyramid unstuck itself from the wall and become more equilateral, before it started spinning like a top. Sasori's ring, middle, and pointer fingers curled upwards before shooting out straight.

"Here it comes…"

Sakura leapt gracefully to the left, watching Sasori's hand close into a fist, before lifting his right pointer and middle fingers, curling them slightly, his hand rising to the side of his face.

Sakura did three back hand springs away as the slab crashed into the ground where she'd been standing moments before. She did a roundoff in towards the slab, landing in a lunge and thrusting her fist into the monolith, sending it careening into the spinning top, changing its flight path straight into the wall. More of the cave collapsed, stone falling all around Sasori. He sent the slab at her again, but she leapt nimbly out of the way, twisting herself mid handspring and launching herself onto the slab using it as a spring board to get herself higher then the spinning top Sasori sent at her, so she could slam her fist into it from above, sending it drilling into the ground.

Sasori growled in frustration. She continued flawlessly dodging the iron sand structures, sending them careening into the ground, ceiling, and walls, until the cave really couldn't be called a cave any longer—more like a crater really. Sakura's hands found her knees, her breathing heavy.

"This is bad. I'm not making any progress. He's just toying with me and I'm wasting too much chakra. I've only got about 30% of my usable chakra left, and that'll be gone in no time if I keep going like this! I need to think of someway to get close enough to destroy that damn puppet…"

"That's some pretty impressive strength for such a little girl." Sasori praised genuinely, though it sounded more like a sneer. She certainly would make a strong puppet.

Chiyo couldn't help gawking at Sakura in wonder. This girl…she'd picked up on Sasori's attack pattern so quickly…she didn't even need help from Chiyo at this point. She'd only pulled Sakura out of the way twice this time around, and that was because of falling debris, not Sasori's attacks. When Sakura had made the claim in the beginning that she'd be able to predict and evade Sasori's attacks if she saw him, Chiyo had thought she'd been cocky and overestimating her skills. But if anything, the girl had undersold herself…Chiyo never thought she'd be this good. Tsunade sure had one hell of a talented student.

Sasori eyed the girl in annoyance. She wasn't even blinking those pretty doll eyes of hers, watching him like a hawk…at this rate this would never end. He had no choice but to use some chakra and finish her off with a technique that there was no escape from.

Sasori's fingers twitched, his stance shifting entirely. The iron sand structures came together, as a spike of chakra was suddenly released from the Kazekage puppet. The iron sand began to reform, spiking out in huge, deadly sharp branches and offshoots, like the roots of a tree.

Sakura's eyes widened in horror. "Its range is enormous!" Dodging this one…didn't seem possible. She felt the tug of chakra threads against her and let Chiyo pull her back a little but she knew there was no point. She wouldn't be escaping this one. "He's probably integrated the iron sand with his poison…I'm gonna need to time the carefully…"

"Iron Sand: world order!" Sasori rasped, giving a wave of his chakra threads. The branches of iron sand crashed to the earth around Sakura, causing a huge wave of dirt to fly into the air.

Sakura did her best to dodge the piercing branches but the web was so tightly woven that she knew she only had seconds before she took a hit. Her hand reached into her pack, as she watched four jagged points racing toward her, positioned in a way that cut off any escape route. At the last second, right before her arms got sliced by the sand, she pulled out a syringe of amber liquid and stabbed it into her leg. The clock started now.

The jagged webs of sand had caused yet another rearrangement of the terrain, throwing up rocks and boulders, and shaking the earth. Chiyo herself had gotten her left arm pinned under one. But she gave no thought to the pain, or what that meant for her ability to battle further. Her eyes searched desperately for the young pink haired girl, with the fiery spirit that had endeared her to the old woman.

"Sakura!" She shouted, when she couldn't catch sight of her. But some shifting rocks caught her attention as pink came into her field of vision. "Sakura, dear! Are you alright?!"

Blood dripped from cuts on Sakura's arms and cheek…her left hand pressed over a cut on her right arm, just above her elbow—by far the deepest one. She was panting from exertion.

Chiyo watched as Sakura swayed unsteadily in leu of an answer. Her eyes widened. Sakura had been cut or stabbed by the iron sand! But her unsteadiness, the behavior…

"It was poisoned?!"

Sasori chuckled. "Well, I did say there was more to it…"

"So you soaked the iron sand in poison!" She shouldn't have been surprised. Of course Sasori would come up with something so sadistic and deadly…

Sakura fell to her knees with a loud thud, and then fell face forward with a second thud.

"175…174…"

Sasori let out another flat chuckle. "The poison is very efficient. The body instantly becomes numb and immobile. Left alone, she'd have three days, but I think I'll just finish her off now."

With a sharp swipe of his hand, the Kazekage went racing towards Sakura's prone form.

"173…"

Chiyo struggled to come to the girls rescue, but the rocks were pinning her to the ground. They were crushing her only arm left and without being able to pull Sakura out of the way via chakra threads, she wouldn't be able to get to her before the puppet did, rocks or not. Sakura was finished and there was nothing she could do to stop it!

"172…"

The puppet pulled back its bladed, scythed arm, looking like a particularly grotesque grim reaper, as it came within striking range of Sakura.

"171…"

The puppet exploded in shards of wood around Sakura, who was on her knees with her fist outstretched.

Sasori's eyes briefly widened in shock before narrowing in confusion. Chiyo openly gaped at Sakura, who gracefully turned and headed towards her, the lattice work of iron sand crumbling into innocent earth particles around her.

Sasori studied the girl, his brow furrowed as he tried to piece together what just happened. She shouldn't have been able to move anymore. Was the old bag still controlling her? But she couldn't be…not with her arm crushed like that. She certainly wouldn't have been able to generate such complicated movements. Not in her condition. That little girl was somehow moving of her own free will. But how was that possible? He knew his poison had affected her.

She settled next to Chiyo, throwing the stone crushing the old woman's arm away from her with one hand.

"That's no good…she won't be able to use puppets or any other sort of ninjutsu like this…I'm short on chakra and time, but leaving Lady Chiyo without a way to fight isn't an option."

Sakura pulled off the leather glove on her right hand with her teeth, before silently hovering her hand over Chiyo's arm. A soft green glow encompassed it as she began the process of stitching the woman's crushed bones and severed nerves back together.

"S-Sakura…you…but how…?"

"I took the antidote." She answered calmly, her eyes focused on the injury she was healing.

"An antidote? But when did you get that?" Chiyo asked, still unrecovered from her shock.

"When I made the antidote for Kankurou back in Suna. It was tight, there was barely enough for three doses of antidote. Kankurou took one. I knew we were fighting an enemy who used poison, so I stored the other two in hypodermic form."

"I see…so that's how…" Chiyo murmured. To think she'd thought that far ahead without any prompting or hint from someone with more experience…smart wasn't a big enough word to describe her.

"I used one of the two doses. While it's in effect, any of the poison I'm exposed to will be broken into harmless proteins. The problem is that it's short acting, only potent for three minutes…we have about two minutes and forty seconds left."

"I see…" That wasn't good news.

"I couldn't let Sasori know I had this antidote. I figured he'd drop his guard if he thought it was the final move, so I took it at the last possible second and played along, letting him think I was poisoned."

That was a brilliant tactical move…kunoichi were prone to being underestimated by their male counterparts, and Sakura had used that to its fullest. Clever may not have been a big enough word either…

"There's only one dose left. You hold on to it. I'll give it to you as soon as I finish healing your arm." Sakura told the woman firmly, sounding fully confident and in control now that she was back in medical mode.

Sasori continued to stare at the pink anomaly, trying to process how the image he was seeing was even possible. There was no way the poison could have been neutralized. He had left that kid who was playing with his old puppets to suffer the effects of the poison four days ago…they couldn't have gotten to him and analyzed the components from that poison, could they? No that couldn't be. Even if they had been able to isolate the individual components, they wouldn't have been able to create an antidote so easily. The antidote was prohibitively difficult to mix, even he had to cross reference the mix ratio table, and he was the one who invented it. If there was even the slightest mistake…Was it granny? No. It couldn't have been. He had more advanced medical ability than her—than anyone in Suna. He'd created a poison that even she wouldn't be able to counteract. His eyes narrowed in on the girl's hand, glowing green with medical chakra. So she was a medical ninja, huh? Impressive, since medical ninja were usually useless when it came to taijutsu and combat in general…based on what Itachi said, and her hitai-ate, she was from Konoha. The currant Konoha Hokage was Senju Tsunade, a world renown medical ninja, also famous for monstrous physical strength…this girl must have learned them both from her…

Sasori's eyes widened, his face portraying genuine shock for the first time since the battle began. It was her. That girl made the antidote. His eyes narrowed sharply his look of shock quickly resolving into annoyance. His best, most complicated poison had been bested by a little girl.

Sakura watched as Lady Chiyo's hand opened and closed into a tight fist. "My arm's fine now Sakura." The old woman said gently, watching the young girl carefully. Her hand quickly slammed to the ground her arms shaking as she supported herself, panting, sweat dripping down her face.

"It's not ideal, but I can leave most of my cuts for now…but the one on my arm is pretty deep. I don't have the chakra to heal it fully or anything. I'm just gonna have to stop the bleeding and refocus the rest of my chakra to attack." Sakura brought her hand to her arm, encasing it in medical chakra for only five seconds before cutting it off and taking a shaky breath.

"That's all I can afford to do for now, at least i staunched the major bleeding…"

Her strength, evasion, and healing wounds…that had definitely used up a lot of chakra. She should already be at her limit, but still…Chiyo watched Sakura push herself off the ground and reassume that dance like stance of hers, pulling her glove back on.

"There's no time to waste. Can you move now, Lady Chiyo?" Sakura asked, reaching into her pouch and handing over the syringe of antidote.

Chiyo took it, staring down at the vile for a second before slipping it into her sleeve, her mind made up. If she got hit, she wouldn't take this antidote until Sasori was dead…if there was a chance Sakura could end up being poisoned again, than she would wait to take it, because if they both got poisoned, she would give it to the girl in a heart beat. A strong, smart, compassionate, beautiful girl like her deserved to live a long, full, life.

Chiyo rose to her feet. "Let's go, Sakura."

"Right."

Sasori sighed. Fine, he'd acknowledge it. The doll-like girl was a force to be reckoned with. She'd destroyed his two favorite puppets, Hiruko and the Third Kazekage, and created the antidote to counteract his most complex poison. At this point using other human puppets would be a waste. He slowly unbuttoned his Akatsuki cloak, sliding it off to reveal his bare torso.

"I haven't been forced to solve a problem this way since joining the Akatsuki."

To Chiyo's surprise, Sakura didn't seemed the least bit shocked by the sight before them. Sasori's torso was that of a puppets. A long coil of thick cable with a razor sharp tip filled where his abdominal muscles would have been. Two propeller blades stuck out from his back where his floating ribs would have been. His head and arms looked like they were attached to the torso the way a puppets were, through noticeable joints. On the left side of his chest was a slight protrusion with the kanji for scorpion painted on it.

"Damn…he really did make himself into a human puppet…" Sakura muttered staring at him with a sinking feeling…how many more poisonous weapon enhancements had he given himself?

"You…knew?" Chiyo asked. She had her own suspicions, but she didn't think Sakura had them as well.

"When he made the comment about puppet masters all thinking the same, in regards to your arm…I thought it might account for why he hadn't aged. Still, doing such a full transformation…" Based on what he'd described of the process earlier, it was absolutely horrifying to think he'd done that to himself. Alive. Awake.

"He must have really hated being human to go that far…137…136…"

The cord in Sasori's stomach area dripped with poison, as did the propeller blades. The expression he wore made Sakura's blood run cold. He'd been so frighteningly calm, smug, and composed, the entire battle. But now both his expression and tone of voice were bordering on manic insanity.

She knew they were short on time, but Sakura couldn't begin to make herself attack first…not if Sasori's entire body ran the risk of being tricked out with hidden deadly weapons. Running in recklessly was the last thing she wanted to do this time around, because it needed to end this time, or there wouldn't be another chance.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to finish me off?" Sasori asked, when neither Chiyo nor Sakura made any moves to attack him. "Fine then, I'll go first." A kind of piping, reminiscent to those that Zaku from the Oto trio had, protruded from Sasori's palms, and shot searing hot flames at the two women, forcing them to separate and seek cover behind some boulders. The intensity was brutal, and there was no way to get close while they were active.

"115…114…113…Shannaro! How am I supposed to punch his stupid puppet face in if I can't get close!"

The flames stopped, but that didn't mean there was an opening…quite the opposite. Sasori sent a jet of high pressure water from each of his palms. The water came out with such force that it sliced Sakura's boulder in half and continued to cut through rock and stone debris. Sakura leapt away, avoiding the powerful stream and taking refuge behind another boulder, peaking out to her left to keep her eyes on Sasori.

"90…89…88…There's no time! I need an opening!"

Sasori's water jets finally stopped after another whole minute. But keeping them at a distance was taking too long. What he should really do was incapacitate the girl and kill the old bag first. The thick cord in Sasori's stomach area shot out, curling to the right around the boulder Sakura was hiding behind and slicing through her right side on its journey to imbed itself into the ground.

Sakura bit back her exclamation of pain, holding her side, while Sasori flew at Chiyo, ready to decapitate her with his spinning propeller blades.

"28…27…26…Well that fucking sucked but I got my opening! 23…22…21…" With a small gasp of pain, Sakura let go of her side and began to pull the cord as hard as she could, in an attempt to reel in Sasori.

He felt the slight pull against him and glanced over, smirking. That was useless. The cord was too long for her to do anything to save his doomed grandmother.

Chiyo was cornered between boulders, there was no where for her to evade, and Sasori was drawing nearer. So this was really how she'd go out…brutally decapitated by her own grandson.

"10…9…8…" Sakura gave a powerful tug on the cord.

Centimeters from his grandmother, Sasori stopped short. Both he and Chiyo glanced at Sakura with wide eyes…she'd actually pulled to the end of his chord.

"SHANNARO!" With an almighty tug, Sakura swung the line holding Sasori away from Chiyo and pulled him in towards her, until he collided with her chakra charged punch and shattered.

"Just within the antidotes time limit…"

She was breathing heavily, her chakra nearly at its limit. "Thank gods this is over…I don't have any energy left."

"Sakura…you…" Chiyo was speechless, unable to believe Sakura had really pulled it off, and in the nick of time too.

"We…We did it Lady Chiyo!" Sakura gasped. She'd taken out an Akatsuki member…That was one less of them after Naruto. And it gave her hope that she stood a chance against other members as well.

Chiyo had to disagree, in her opinion, there wasn't a "we" in this. Sakura had been the one to defeat Hiruko, admittedly with her help, but taking out the third Kazekage puppet was something Sakura had done on her own. She'd barely helped the girl at all even with chakra threads there as support, Sakura really hadn't needed them. And smashing Sasori's puppet body had been her and her alone. There were no chakra threads at play there.

Sakura managed three shaky steps towards Chiyo before she froze. There was a sound like wood rattling coming from behind her, and the old woman's eyes had gone wide with shock and fear.

"…shit."

Sure enough, Sasori's raspy voice came from behind her. "Don't you think you're celebrating too soon?"

"But how…? If he's a human puppet, then why wasn't he destroyed the same way the third Kazekage was? What's the difference? They're both puppets…but Sasori doesn't have anyone pulling the strings…he's sentient…oh. That's why."

"If you're a living human puppet…you have to have some piece of you that ties you to yourself and allows you to wield chakra…So long as that remains intact, no matter how banged up your body gets, you don't die. Is that it?" Sakura asked over her shoulder, her eyes still trained on him, even while her back was turned. This battle wasn't over yet, and that meant she needed more chakra. She tapped into her determination and desperation to fight, to end this, feeling her smaller reserve begin to replenish faster.

"Hmm…" That little girl truly was impressively clever. Turning her into a mindless puppet almost felt like a waste. Maybe if he made her into a puppet like himself…left something human of her to allow her to keep her consciousness…Even now, the expressions playing on her face were so different from what he would have expected. There wasn't dread, fear, shock, or anger. Instead he saw a fierce determination, and rapid calculation. She'd gone from being so recklessly angry to so calm and calculating within such a short period, and neither one felt like a front of some sort. She was so alive with her emotions, it almost made him wonder if there was something worthwhile in them he'd lost, in becoming a puppet.

Chiyo was almost as surprised by Sakura's assessment as Sasori. She herself had had a sneaking suspicion, when Sasori had first revealed his puppet body, that there was a key piece—a piece that needed to be destroyed for Sasori to be stopped. But she was a puppet master who raised Sasori and was intimately familiar with his craft of human puppets. Sakura on the other hand, first learned about them today, and had no in-depth knowledge of the puppet master jutsu. Yet she'd figured it out so quickly…that girl was an incredible ally and comrade. And a deceptively frightening enemy. But she had already reached her limit. With the Third Kazekage destroyed, the Iron sand lost its effectiveness, so Chiyo's puppet arm was usable again. Sakura could relax, she'd handle it from here on out.

Chiyo sent a chakra thread to her abandoned puppet arm, pulling it towards herself and reattaching it.

"It is a bit early to celebrate, but I'll remedy that now." Chiyo said, reaching into her satchel and withdrawing an intricately bound scroll. "I forbade even myself use of this jutsu. I'd never thought I'd use it again, but against you, it appears I have no choice." She unfurled the scroll, ten ghostly figures rising out of it, until they solidified into ten incredibly well crafted puppets clad in white robes.

"Impressive Grandma…it's said the skill of a puppet master is measured by the number of puppets they can wield." Sasori murmured.

Sakura's eyes flicked from one interesting and unique puppet to the next. "So many…ten at once?!"

"Granny Chiyo's secret technique: Finger by Finger. I've heard tell of it's greatness. It's a skill rumored to have taken down an entire fortress. White secret technique: Chikamatsu's ten puppets. The ten masterpieces of Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the creator of the puppet master jutsu. It's an impressive amount, but…" Sasori smirked, withdrawing his own scroll from behind his back, and unfurling it above him. He opened up a small compartment on the right side of his chest, revealing what looked a little like a furnace of chakra, chakra threads springing forth from it and connecting to the ever growing red cloud of puppets above them.

"So many!"

"I used these to take down an entire nation! Red secret technique: Performance of a hundred puppets." It was embarrassing really…how long did it take to kill one little girl and a hag? He'd even been forced to result to his last trick…how would he explain this?

Sakura darted back in front of Chiyo, standing among the woman's puppets, while using the smallest amount of chakra to stop the bleeding in her side.

"Sakura, dear. That antidote of yours has already warn off. Stay back and let me handle this."

Sakura looked at Chiyo for a second over her shoulder, before a soft, reassuring, beautiful, smile made its way to her face, startling the old woman, and sending Sasori's mind racing.

She faced forward fully again, her smile melting into a look of fierce determination. "It's not in me to give up."

Sasori cocked his head to the side, studying her. What made her so brave, that she thought she could face down 100 of his puppets without having granny Chiyo guide her?

"Why keep fighting? You've turned down every chance of survival Granny's offered you." Sasori questioned.

"I told you already. I'm going to make you tell me everything you know about Orochimaru, no matter what it takes. Besides, if I take you out, that's one less akatsuki member after my teammate! And don't think I've forgotten or forgiven what you've done to Gaara-kun! I've got more reasons to stay and make sure you're finished than I do to run."

She didn't sound confident nor cocky, just…determined. He couldn't ever recall feeling as determined as this little girl seemed to be. And why was it that she cared so deeply about not just one, but two separate jinchurikis, one of which was from an entirely different village?

Chiyo smirked. The Legendary Sucker, Tsunade, really had hit the apprentice jackpot when she took Sakura under her wing. "Of course, you've inherited Tsunade-hime's strong will."

"Her's, and mom's…"

"This will be the final act. Are you prepared?" Chiyo warned.

Sakura nodded gravely. It was time to end this.

"They're coming!" Chiyo warned as a swarm of Sasori's puppets bared down on them.

Sakura readied herself, her eyes skidding over the throng. "I can't watch Sasori this time around to read his attacks…but I may not need to. I've already picked up on his style and pattern, at this point my instincts and reflexes should be enough…I can't afford to waste too much chakra though. I need to make sure all of my attacks are taking out several at once."

It had been a long time since she her last shogi game or needing to think tactically, but Shikamaru's words rung in her head none the less.

Anything in the environment that you can weaponize. Those become your pieces. The board becomes your environment for you to utilize, like promotion zones…

"Right now, the number one thing in my environment are puppets…" Her eyes narrowed on Sasori's distant form, going in and out of view from the number of puppets surrounding it. "I doubt he can see and track what every single one of them does…so maybe my best move is to get them to do the work for me."

Chiyo's puppets moved around her, attacking in pairs, trios, or alone, wreaking havoc among Sasori's puppets, but Sakura couldn't afford to pay too close attention. She had her own puppets to contend with.

She danced her way through the throng of puppets, spinning out of the way of swords and knives, cartwheeling out of reach of whips, and leaping away from maces. Her eyes were always on the move, calculating her positioning relative to the nearest puppets around her.

A chain launched towards her, but Sakura reached behind herself and grabbed the puppet about to attack her back, pivoting so it was in front of her, the chain wrapping around it instead, squeezing the puppet until it snapped in half. There was no time to celebrate, another puppet was coming at her from above. Sakura quickly rolled out of the way, and slid under the forked sword and saber, of two other puppets. The three all got their weapons tangled in their attempt to pierce her. Sakura flipped onto their intersecting blades, balancing precariously on the edge. The puppets seemed to stare at her for a second before each tried to attack with its own hidden mechanism. Sakura flipped off the edge, each puppet hitting another with their attacks meant for her.

Sakura continued to dance and weave among the puppets, getting them to take each other out all the while leading a flock of them toward a narrow tunnel between two boulders. She watched as the puppets bottlenecked, getting stuck in their attempts to reach her.

"Alright! Shannaro!" She punched the ground, shaking and dislodging a huge stalactite above them, which fell, smashing the squad of puppets.

Sakura leapt back out from behind the wreckage and back into the fray…her eyes taking stock of the situation. It was no good. They'd definitely thinned out Sasori's puppets, but there were still so many of them, and Sasori was focusing more intently on the ones that remained.

Chiyo watched Sakura dance around the puppets, coming a hair's breadth away from poison coated weapons, but dancing away each time. It was a dangerous game she was playing without any sort of safety net. They only had one antidote left, and if either of them got injured, they'd be in real trouble. Unfortunately, Chiyo was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't catch how one of Sasori's puppets got too close. By the time she realized, it was too late, its meat-cleaver blade slicing across her arm.

"Oh no!" She maneuvered one of her own puppets to take out her assailant before it could do any worse, but the damage was done. The poison was in her system and they only had one antidote. They had to finish this now before Sasori had another chance to poison Sakura.

"Lady Chiyo!" Sakura shouted, seeing the blood running from the older woman's arm.

"Stay focused now, Child!"

"Take the antidote!" Sakura ordered, barely leaping out of the way of a poisoned ax.

"Sakura, go straight for Sasori! I'll keep his puppets at bay." Chiyo panted, already beginning to feel the poison burning through her. For a brief second, Sakura stared her down, biting at her lip. She looked like she was on the verge of arguing. But then the second passed and she was facing Sasori again, her posture resolute.

"Ok!"

"Use this!" One of the puppets opened its mouth, releasing an orb. Sakura reached for it curiously, but was quickly forced to jump when eight different puppets stabbed their swords down at her. She used her left arm to push against the flat of one of the blades, swinging herself forward while snatching the orb from her ally puppet. And then she was off and running, dancing and weaving her way through the mass of puppets towards Sasori.

She spared a brief glance at the orb in her hand trying to assess what it was and how to use it. Inside was what looked to be a small white puppet lion's head, with the kanji character for "Closed" on it.

"This must be some sort of sealing jutsu…given the form it's in, I think it's supposed to be used from a distance."

Sakura spun out of the way of a puppet's sword, giving her a narrow sightline of Sasori in the process.

"Here goes nothing."

Sakura planted her foot and hurled the sealing orb with as much strength as she could, even putting some chakra behind it to make sure it reached. The orb went rocketing through the air growing and stretching into a large white puppet lion head. Sasori's eyes widened as the sealing jutsu barreled towards him, seemingly from out of nowhere. He had to act fast, or this would really be over…

The lion head slammed into him, pinning his puppet body to the cave wall, the wood of his chest cavity cracked. The countless remaining puppets fell to the ground, completely harmless now that there was no one to pull the strings. Sakura stood among the grave of puppets, all of which were reaching towards her, one even had its hand nearly wrapped around her ankle. But it didn't matter. They'd never reach her now. She was safe. Her breathing was heavy, her chakra running low, her limbs felt rubbery…but they'd done it. It was over.

Sakura looked up at Sasori's puppet body and froze. There was a hole in his chest. A hole where previously there'd been something, with his name branded on it.

If you're a living human puppet…you have to have some piece of you that ties you to yourself and allows you to wield chakra…So long as that remains intact, no matter how banged up your body gets, you don't die.

"If that piece is missing, the piece that lets him wield chakra, than…this isn't over yet!"

Chiyo wasn't close enough to tell that much. "You can't move…it's over Sasori…that sealing jutsu completely suppresses all chakra. You can't even use chakra thread…" She fell to her knees with a grunt of pain, shaking, as the poison burned through her veins.

Sakura heard the sound of drawing metal coming from behind her and whirled around to see Sasori, the white cylinder bearing his name stuck in the center of his chest. Swords protruded from his back and arms, from the earlier battle—a back up body he'd made himself and snuck in with the rest of his army. He rose up right behind his grandmother's turned back, and he was clearly about to run her through. Chiyo was in no position to dodge or counter.

Sakura's heart pounded. She was about to watch her comrade in arms get murdered directly in front of her. This woman she'd been relying on to guide her through the battle, was about to die while she did nothing but watched…she wouldn't reach her in time, she was too far away…unless…Sakura dove headlong into her desperation and fear, feeling her heart accelerate as a result. Her chakra exploded around her in a shockwave that shook cracked the already shattered earth. She darted forward, pushing chakra out through her legs, making her speed dizzyingly fast towards Sasori and Chiyo.

Neither of them were quite sure what happened. One second Sasori had been about to stab his grandmother with a poisoned sword while she slowly turned her head to face him, the next, Sakura was in between them, sword impaled through her gut, her blood splattering on Chiyo's shocked face, the earth around her cracking with the force of her chakra.

She did her best to bite back her screams, as her chakra tore through her…the sword in her stomach wasn't helping either, nor was the poison. All in all, this had to be the most pain she'd ever been in. But Sakura had practiced enough with her reactions to know how to at least keep her mind present.

"S-Stay focused…breathe…calm down…can't risk using my sedative—I don't know how it will react with the poison…find something to ground yourself…"

Sakura raised a shaking hand to her mouth and bit down on her glove, pulling it off, before raising her hand to her hair and running her fingers through it, every move sending waves of fire through her body.

Sasori stared at Sakura in abject shock. Why would she use her body as a shield for some old woman who wasn't even from the same village? Why would she risk her own vibrant life? And what was all this chakra? Where had it come from? It was clearly causing her pain, if he didn't kill her, it very likely might.

"Breathe…Sakura you have to breathe…calm down and get rid of your chakra…" Sakura took shaky breaths as she began trying to push her chakra out of herself. The entire (former) cave shook violently, the boulders, rocks, and earth that made up the entire cave floor shattered into dust, as she stomped a foot, pouring chakra from it. The walls around them crumbled, one side completely opening up to the river, the rest widening the crater outwards. The wood of Sasori's arm began cracking, with the force of her exploding energy.

"S-Sakura…" Chiyo gasped, before letting out a grunt of pain as the poison made her blood boil.

"L-Lady Chi-Chiyo…take the…antidote…" Sakura gasped out, suppressing her own scream into a strangled grunt of pain. Her leg now bleeding profusely from the excessive build up and forceful release of chakra.

"Oh? Worried about others even with an injury like this, in the state you're in?" Sasori chuckled. "What a girl." He slid the sword into her a bit deeper, earning another strangled gasp of pain. Sakura brought the hand not stroking her hair to wrap around the blade tightly, to prevent him from moving it any further. Every move she made exacerbated the pain running through her. It was so intense, she nearly blacked out, but she couldn't let that happen, or she'd surely die, if not from the reaction, than from Sasori…

She glared up at Sasori, shaking with pain, her skin glowing with chakra, breathing unevenly. Her head was boiling, her skin felt feverish and her body felt like it was being shredded. "Breathe…your hair is soft…You need to start treating the wounds, Sakura…but I can't control my chakra enough for that right now…But you have to, it's not that different from a chakra transfer—it's easier actually, chakra transfers you have to match to someone else's rhythm no matter what that might be, but you know the rhythm for medical ninjutsu, intuitively at this point, it was drilled into you. You can maintain the seal through a reaction, that's even harder than medical ninjutsu. Besides it uses up chakra, which you need to do right now….But I can't use my hands…You don't need them this time. It's your body. You don't need your hands to direct your own energy around your own body. You can do this, Sakura…start healing yourself."

Everything hurt. Her head was exploding, but with a shaky breath, she pooled her chakra into the wound around her sword, and then through gritted teeth, began to slowly release it. A green glow appeared around the sword. Healing had never been so painful.

Sasori stared at her wide eyed…she…she was stopping the bleeding and healing the wound even with he poison sword still in her, while her chakra was bizarrely running rampant, no less. She was such a skillful one. Beautiful, powerful, skilled, compassionate to an almost idiotic extent…and so alive…making her into a puppet would be a waste…had it always been a waste? Turning people into puppets?

Sakura let out a painful cry, feeling her chakra start to fluctuate. Sasori smirked, tilting his head. "It seems the poison is starting to take effect…"

"Shit! My chakra was already hard enough to control without the poison added to the equation!"

Chiyo grasped the antidote tightly and stabbed it into Sakura's thigh, making Sakura and Sasori glance down at her.

"Urgh…why would you…no! You were s-supposed…to take it, Lady Chiyo!" Sakura gasped, her eyes watering in pain.

Chiyo didn't respond, falling to the ground.

"L-Lady Chiyo! Just…hold on!"

"If I can get enough control, I have enough chakra to nullify the poison directly…I just need to calm down and get out of this first!" She passed her fingers through her hair a few more times.

Sasori tried to take advantage of Sakura's distraction to slide the sword deeper into her. He didn't understand these two…why would they be so willing to kill themselves for each other? Sakura, at least, made sense in that that's what she'd revealed of her character already. But his grandmother was never like this before. The sword didn't get very far, his movements halting before he even managed to move the blade a centimeter.

Sakura's hand had tightened around the sword, the blade cutting deep into her palm through her gloves. "Oh no you don't!" Sakura growled, glaring at him. The wood on Sasori's shoulder began to crack as she poured out more chakra, the green glow of her healing chakra appearing around her abdomen again, as well as around the hand grasping the sword and her chakra-torn leg.

Sasori stared at her in wonder. Skilled may have been putting it lightly…most medics couldn't heal two separate locations at once without use of their hands to guide the chakra, let alone three. And how was she this strong? In a battle of wills, he doubted he'd beat her.

Lady Chiyo was on all fours beside her, shaking.

"Lady Chiyo…hold on! I'll be right there…just hold on…" The poison was supposed to take three days to kill, but that was on a healthy, young body. On someone older…it would probably kill much quicker. She didn't have a lot of time, she had to figure something out, fast. But how could she, when her nerve endings were being flayed by her own chakra, a fatal injury which would be impossible to heal in her best condition, and an antidote duking it out with an incredibly strong poison, using her body as the battle ground…

There was a clicking sound as Sasori detached his elbow joint from the arm holding the sword in Sakura. He leapt back, a short sword in place of where his arm used to be, and lunged for Chiyo once more. "I'll end this now!"

But before the sword could reach her, a gloved hand closed around the blade halting his movements, while a small, ungloved hand pushed against his chest, over his heart. The wood around his chest cracked, as a huge geyser of chakra pressed forcefully into his only weak spot.

"You…Let your guard down…This…is what makes…you different…from your puppets…right? Makes you sentient…and able t-to control chakra…" Sakura gasped out through pained breaths, her whole body shaking. "It was…missing…from the body…we sealed earlier…I've just…inundated it with…so much chakra…you won't…be able to use yours…before that organ fails…maybe seven minutes at most…"

"Heh…" She was right. He couldn't move at all. Her green eyes were locked with his pale brown, and he could see all that vibrant lively fire in them. But it was fading. She may have been the end of him, but she'd brought herself down as well…what a shame. If he only had seven minutes at most left, he would have preferred the last thing he saw to be the art that was her vivacious green eyes.

"S-Sakura…" Chiyo wheezed, unable to believe the girl had just ended things so swiftly in the state she was in. How had she even made the connection that Sasori needed a piece of his original human body to manipulate chakra? Chiyo had figured it out, but she was a puppet master, Sakura wasn't. How could she have known?

Sakura collapsed to her knees, her ungloved hand trailing down Sasori's torso, cracking the wood there in her descent, before falling to the ground on her side. Her vision was fading and she was hyper aware that she was about to die.

Don't die while I'm gone, Sakura. Please.

"I'm sorry…Sasuke-kun…"

---

She saw and felt nothing. There was only a darkness around her. She hoped this wasn't all death was, because her mom was supposed to be there. They could be together again. But there was nothing at all around her.

"This better not be all there fucking is…"

And then she was in the forest of death, kneeling on a tree, the bark cracked around her, a scared Sasuke clutching tightly to her hand.

"Oh…so does your life really flash before your eyes? I guess not in order though…"

"It better not be."

Her eyes snapped to Sasuke, widening in surprise. He never said those words during her first reaction in the forest of death. So maybe this wasn't a memory? Then what? A dream? But that would take more than the residual brain power left when someone dies…

"I told you not to die while I was gone." Sasuke said, his hand tightening around hers, his tone angry. "Who'll take care of the dead-last if you're not there? You've got a team, and patients who rely on you. You can't leave them."

"It's not like I want to, but I don't think I have much say in the matter…"

"Damnit Sakura! You always choose to fight everything, so why are you giving in so easily now?!" Sasuke's eyes softened, the hand not wrapped tightly around hers cupped the side of her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheek. "You can't die while I'm gone, Sakura. Please. If you're…What reason do I have to return to Konoha? What reason do I have to survive Itachi? What would be the point of continuing to live once I've killed him? Sakura…you can't die. Please. I…I need you to be alive…"

Sakura's breath caught in her throat…but that wasn't right…that would mean she was breathing…

She heard very distant, echo-y voices, but they were becoming less distant by the second. She was sure it was Chiyo and Sasori she was hearing.

---

"Passed out and dying, but still healing herself, it would have been a waste, making her into a puppet." Sasori observed approvingly.

"I wouldn't have expected to hear that from you…but then, I wouldn't have expected you to let your guard drop either. You wanted her to stop you." Chiyo muttered, struggling to Sakura's side. The poison was making it difficult, but she still managed to coat her hand in healing chakra, and press it over Sakura's wound, adding to the fading green glow of Sakura's chakra, while she slowly began to pull out the sword.

"It's pointless…Knowing you were also versed in medical ninjutsu, I aimed for a vital spot. Even for someone as skilled as her, it's a difficult spot to heal." It really was a shame. He shouldn't have landed such a fatal blow…but then again, he'd been intending to kill his grandmother, not her. She really shouldn't have gotten in the way. What a foolish thing to do.

"Hm…I have already stopped emergency medical treatment, besides, she's done most of that on her own…what I am doing now is not medical ninjutsu." Chiyo explained, staring at the blue glow around her hands. "I'm giving my own life energy. A life-transfer ninjutsu."

Sasori's eyes widened. A jutsu like that existed? But why would anyone ever want to use it? What was the point of trading your life for another? Of course it would be a waste for Sakura to die, but even so…

"In the beginning it was for you. I alone spent many years working out this jutsu for you." Sakura's eyes cracked open. "With this jutsu I can even give life to a puppet, in exchange for using up the user's life…"

Sasori's eyes widened, finding the remains of his old mother and father puppets, not far to either of his sides.

"But…that dream had been rendered impossible long ago…"

"…Pathetic. When did you start going senile, grandma?"

Sakura's hand reached out, grabbing Chiyo's wrist, making the old woman stop the jutsu. Everything ached, her head pounded, but she was alive. She shakingly, wincingly, pushed herself into an upright position.

"Sakura, dear, are you alright?" Chiyo panted, her eyesight blurry.

"I'm…f-fine…" Sakura grunted in pain. Almost dying had stopped the reaction. Her chakra was still activated, but the production had slowed and was continuing to do so, the most manageable stage of the attack.

"Hm? That's odd. Doesn't the user die from that life transfer ninjutsu?"

Sakura glared up at him from the corner of her eyes, the lively fire burning bright in them again.

"It's because…I wasn't fully dead, jackass! She brought back…a dying person…not a dead one. Her full life…didn't need to be traded for that." Sakura hissed.

"Well…that's a pity." Sasori muttered.

His head was suddenly snapped to the side from impact, the wood on the right side of his face cracking from his cheek outward, where Sakura had punched him. She stood in front of him, eyes ablaze, breathing hard.

Sasori chuckled. "What a useless thing to do. This body feels no pain. The only thing you're hurting by punching me is your own fist." It seemed he'd get his dying wish after all. The last thing he'd see would be those beautiful green eyes…He straightened, facing Sakura head on. He didn't want his last view of her to be skewed or obscured. "Even connected by blood ties as we are, I won't feel a thing if grandma here dies. My heart is just like this body. Of all the hundreds and thousands I've killed, she's just another one of them." But maybe his heart wasn't totally wooden…after all, he was glad Sakura was still alive. He didn't want to kill her. He didn't even want to make her into a puppet anymore.

Sakura's fist tightened. "What do you think a human life is?! What do you think blood ties are?!" She shouted, infuriated at the mere thought of someone not feeling a damn thing at the death of a loved one. When her mother died, even if her emotions had been confused and unsettling, she still felt it…so much so it was debilitating. When Sasuke would kill Itachi, he'd feel something. The death would mean something, even if it was complex and messy, it should always mean something when a life was snuffed out!

"Hey…are those the words of a shinobi?" She was too emotional, too pure, too alive, to be a shinobi. He hoped she never became one.

"Why…Why can't you think of it any other way?!" Sakura demanded. The hint of sadness, remorse, and pity in her tone made Sasori cock his head and study her. Was she sad for him? Was she empathizing with him? He didn't think that would be possible, after nearly killing her. Only a fool would empathize with someone who caused them so much pain. But it was that over-emotional foolishness that got him to drop his guard around her…

"Enough, Sakura dear…it was the terrible customs and teachings of Suna that made him this way." Chiyo murmured tiredly.

"That's what makes it worse…knowing you weren't born like this…that you absorbed all the wrong things and came to the conclusion that being a feelingless puppet was better then being alive…" Sasori didn't understand how her tone could be simultaneously razor sharp, and infinitely soft, but she somehow managed to pull it off. Just like the rest of her, a beautiful mess of contradictions.

"On the contrary, I can't die. An undecaying body…a puppet can be rebuilt over and over again, unfettered by a mortal lifespan. I am an incomplete puppet with the "core" of my real body…not human, not a puppet."

"And not alive." Sakura said, shaking her head gently, her glare fierce yet watery. "That's not living and you realized that…or you wouldn't have let me end it for you…"

"Such a clever girl…making you into a puppet would have ruined you…"

Sakura stared at him hard for a long second before speaking again. "For the sake of humanity, I hope in your next life you don't relearn what you did in this one." Sakura turned away from the dying puppet, ignoring the waves of pain it sent through her body. She needed to pass out, but before that, she had to heal Chiyo as best she could and catch up with Naruto fast.

"Sakura."

Sakura turned back to the puppet in surprise, wincing at the aches pulsing through her and the pounding in her head. It was the first time Sasori had used her name.

"I won't be able to move for much longer. Before that, I'll do something pointless for you…a reward for defeating me…" Of course, he was really only doing this for the selfish reason of wanting to keep her there until he died, so her eyes would be the last thing he saw. But she impressed him enough, so a reward wasn't out of line. "You wanted to know more about Orochimaru, didn't you? Go to the Tenchi bridge in Kusagakure, at noon, ten days from now."

"Tenchi bridge…?"

"I have a spy in Orochimaru's subordinates…I am supposed to meet…with him…there…" Sasori's light brown eyes grew glassy and faraway. He fell forward to the ground, a meter away from the puppet bodies of his parents.

"…It's really over this time…" Sakura dropped to her knees next to Chiyo. "We did it, Lady Chiyo."

"No, child. You were the one who brought this about…This win is yours."

"…He left an opening…he let me kill him…" It was her first time killing someone. As a medic, she felt like it should bother her more than it did. But Sasori, by his own admission wasn't even fully human. This was somewhere between complete self defense, defense of another, and a mercy killing. Sakura couldn't bring herself to regret her actions. Her body shook with painful aftershocks from her attack, and near fatal injury, and the steady pounding in her head was growing.

Chiyo let out a pained gasp. Sakura's hands were hovering over her arm, glowing green, a millisecond later. "Hold on, Lady Chiyo, it'll take some time, but I have enough chakra to counteract the poison directly."

Chiyo grabbed Sakura's wrist, stopping the jutsu, as Sakura had done to her only minutes earlier. "H-Hey! What are you doing?! We don't have time to waste! The poison's been—"

"There's something more important I have to take care of. Sakura, dear…I'm sorry to ask this of you…you aren't doing well either…but I need you to take me to Gaara-sama."

Sakura paused, eyeing the old woman wearily. "You weren't intending to survive this…were you?"

"Please honor my wishes Sakura."

"I'm…I'm not supposed to stop treatment until my patient is healed…"

"Please child."

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face in her hands. She was too tired and in pain to be forced to make a decision like this. She didn't know the ins and outs of Chiyo's life-transfer jutsu. There might be a window to use it. If she healed Chiyo first, it may take too long and they might miss the window. If they were too late, it may not work. Chiyo might die for nothing. Or maybe it would work…but then she was letting one patient die, without even attempting to do her duty as a medic and heal them. She would even be asking Chiyo to die, in a way…

It's me or him. I already know what choice you'd make regardless, but in this case, it's been made for you. We were assigned this mission to go save him. That means his life is more important than mine because he's mission priority.

If killing some rando saved your mom, you'd do it, right?

"Damnit Shikamaru! Why'd you have to be so heartlessly accurate back then?! But…just like with Shikamaru, Lady Chiyo isn't some rando…but Gaara-kun…not only is he my friend, he's mission priority. And he deserves the chance to live! He just turned his life around, he deserves the chance to enjoy it! But…Damnit! What the hell am I supposed to do?!"

"L…Lady Chiyo…Is this…Is this your dying wish?" Sakura asked quietly, her throat tight.

"…Yes, dear."

"And…If…If I didn't honor your wishes, that would be disrespecting your will and…right to choose…"

Chiyo remained silent. She knew what she was asking for would be hard on Sakura…a girl who wanted to heal everyone, who valued life and her comrades dearly, enough to be willing to throw herself on a poison sword to save them. What she was asking would probably haunt Sakura more than Sasori would.

"…hop on…" Her voice was quiet and strained, and she kept her head bowed so Chiyo couldn't see her face, as she climbed onto the young girl's back. Chiyo had the distinct feeling there were tears there.

Sakura said nothing, as she ran down the river in search of Naruto, Kakashi, and Gaara. Pain radiated through her, and she let herself feel all of it, in self punishment for the choice she made…but she made it none the less. She'd keep her promise to Naruto. They were going to save Gaara.

---

Author's note: So the major changes to this are mostly that Sakura is quicker on the uptake and less reliant on Chiyo. Also her fighting style has been altered from canon to match the dancer aspect I've given her. Also Sasori's more creepily into her and wanting to make her a puppet, at least at first. In the canon battle something changes in Sasori enough to get him to willingly drop his guard for Chiyo to kill him. Reading it, watching it, and re-reading it, I'm still not clear on what it was that brought about that change, so in this I've doubled down on that and made it very clear that it's Sakura who makes him second guess himself and his desire to be a puppet. I think something about how emotional and determined she is would get to him and wish it had been that way for him. I also wanted to double down on this running idea that older generations of shinobi were trained to be or feel that they have to be ruthless, cold, and emotionless killers. Zabuza was the same way. I sort of wanted to give Sasori more of a background where he didn't experience emotional intimacy from Chiyo of any of the other adults around him, and that even if there was care, it wasn't perceived as tender or warm, becauase again, I think the older shinobi generations were told to be ruthless, cold and emotionless. Or at the very least, I think that's how they're raised specifically in Suna. I also had Sakura be the one to deal the finishing blow. I feel like so many people use the fact that Chiyo helped her and that Chiyo was the one to kill Sasori to discredit her accomplishments in the fight, which has never sat well with me. So Sakura gets the finishing blow this time. And the way I've written it, there's no reason she shouldn't because she's aware of Sasori's weak spot. So, her chakra reaction...I feel like it tracks with the way that I've written her, that so long as she's doing something, she can keep her panic at bay. It was like that when the sound ninjas attacked in the Forest of Death-she stopped panicking once she began fighting in earnest-and it was like that when Sasuke left the village. Reporting it to Tsunade, analyzing the situation, meditation exercises, and being granted permission to go with Kakashi to look for Sasuke and Naruto all helped her reign in her emotions which otherwise would have caused a reaction. So taking actions, even if they're dumb and reckless, do help keep her emotions in check. And I think once she's in the zone analyzing and battling, just like with when she's in the zone as a medic, she's so focused on the task at hand that her emotions fall by the wayside. And it's the feeling of helplessness that she can't reach Chiyo in time and is going to watch her comrade die in front of her, that sparks her reaction at that moment. But by this point, Sakura's body is well equipped to move chakra around at high speeds, and has the feel of medical ninjutsu and her seal maintenance ingrained in her, like second nature. It's her first time trying to do medical ninjutsu during an attack because most of her attacks at this point have been in genjutsus, not real world situations, so there hasn't been a need for it. But she's the kind to figure things out on the spot, especially if it's something that her body can do reflexively. So she can use medical ninjutsu during a reaction...with a mind blowing amount of concentration. Between releasing a lot of chakra from her leg, healing three separate wounds at once, and releasing her chakra into Sasori, she got rid of enough to not die from that reaction...although she still almost died because of everything else. I don't think Sakura would have had a hard time with the moral fallout of killing Sasori because of how much of an insane mass murderer he was, but I do think knowingly letting Chiyo trade her life for Gaara's would really eat at her. She's already struggled with the concept of having to choose between two people already back during the Suna invasion with Shikamaru or Sasuke. That one turned out alright in the end, but this time around she knows choosing between Chiyo or Gaara definitively means one ends up dead. And I think that decision is one she'd really emotionally struggle with. Sakura's near-death dream is again, her sort of unconsciously connecting to Sasuke's feelings. At this point in time, though he's never vocalized it or maybe even realized it himself, that's how Sasuke feels. He's not aware that Sakura's dying, he wasn't really there talking to her, but at this point in time, no matter what he's admitting to himself or burying, deep down, Sasuke wants to survive his battle with Itachi and go back to Sakura. And if Sakura's dead, to him, there's no point surviving Itachi. He'd rather both of them end up dead if that's the case.

Anyway thank you for all the comments, favorites and follows! They really do mean a lot to me! And thank you for reading this far!