A/N: A fight that should have been, I'm not going to say more than that.
Rain was steadily falling as Sakura waited for Sasuke and she lost track of how much time passed, there was an ominous feeling in the air.
Sakura sighed deeply. "Headquarters says Saskue's not far from the village outskirts now."
Sure enough, Sasuke Uchiha's darkened silhouette came into view just beyond the forest outskirts. By the time Sakura was within speaking distance both of them were several feet apart…
Sasuke was amused, "I wasn't expecting anyone to be stupid enough to get in my way, but I'm not surprised it's you, Sakura. You still cling to the past, desperately hoping I will abandon my quest for vengeance but save your emotional pleas for someone who cares." It was so easy to mock her.
"Yeah you're right, but I don't care what pathetic excuses you tell yourself just to justify your actions. You are a coward a disgrace to your village, and what's sad is that you can't even see how far you've fallen." She said, her face was unreadable but the disdain in her voice was clear.
Sasuke laughed uncontrollably until he ran out of breath. "I was going to say that about you, I won't break a sweat killing you, Sakura."
"You aren't as powerful as you think." She said bluntly.
"I'm more powerful than you, Sakura." He said with a scoff.
"We'll see about that." She said defiantly.
They rushed at each other meeting in hand-to-hand combat, Sasuke's Taijutsu was superior, which was to be expected with his Sharingan. Every punch and kick matched hers perfectly, she knew she had to make this a long-range fight and pick her spots to use brute strength carefully…
Sakura looked extremely confident as she jumped back several feet and weaved hand signs. "Earth Release, Mud Skyscraper!"
The ground directly underSasuke's feet shot upward like a bullet, knocking him into the air, his eyes betrayed his disinterested demeanor—Sakura knew he probably thought she was going to create distance between them and punch the ground from extremely high up, but she had other ideas. Sasuke righted himself in time to perch atop the branch of a tree nearby.
His eyes narrowed. "Your hand signs are much faster." He said weaving his own.
"Fire release fireball jutsu!" They shouted at the same time.
The ensuing collision of fire created a wall of flame between them, it set fire to much of the surrounding forest but it was snuffed out quickly by the downpour of rain, leaving scorched earth behind.
"You couldn't use fire release, the last time you tried to get in my way, you couldn't do much of anything." He said insultingly.
"There's so much about chakra that you've never understood, ninja can mold it into anything they want, every ninjutsu was created by someone. I heard you failed pretty badly at capturing the eight tails so you must've seen a tailed beast bomb the Rasengan was inspired by them." Sakura said bluntly.
"I admit I underestimated him, but you on the other hand, you're nothing more than an annoyance like always, a pest." He was bored now.
"A pest huh? Funny thing about pests, they don't go away easily, you should know, it took Itachi to save you from being Orochimaru's meat suit."
"Don't speak my brother's name! You are protecting the very village that made his life hell!" He shouted harshly. Sasuke drew his sword and Sakura dodged every slash. "You can't dodge me forever!" He smirked.
"I know! Water release Heavenly Tsunami." She shouted hastily.
The rain falling harshly around Sasuke formed a wall of water, she was attempting to drown him in one fell swoop.
"Amaterasu!" The black flame burned a hole in the deluge and Sasuke escaped, though he was more annoyed now. "You can't stop me or my eyes!"
"You are still making assumptions, even with everything you know about Itachi, how pathetic," Sakura said coldly.
"What do you know!" Sasuke demanded.
"That doesn't matter, I'm here to protect the village even if I have to kill you!" Sakura said with blunt resolve, making several hand signs. "Wood release root infestation!"
For once Sasuke couldn't hide his surprise, though he kept it to himself. "Wood release? That's impossible!"
Roots chased Sasuke aggressively, he knew he couldn't use Amaterasu, it would be useless, especially since the amount of roots chasing him grew as fast as he ran.
Sakura was feeling impatient. "Dammit, his Sharingan means I won't get the upper hand like this and I'm just wasting chakra, but I guess chasing him further away from the village is a good thing. Still, I've got to deal with his Sharingan…"
"It stopped?" Sasuke thought quickly. "She must be toying with me."
Sasuke was laughing again, and Sakura heard how detached it was, how narcissistic, just his laugh alone told her how overconfident he was nowadays. He did not even care that he was giving away his position and she was going to make him pay for it...
"I can do this." She muttered calmly.
Sakura caught up to Sasuke deeper inside the outskirts of the forest surrounding the leaf village.
"You are so weak you underwent mutation using the cells of the first Hokage, Orochimaru was like that and I killed him, you will be easy to kill."
Sakura laughed. "Apparently you can only kill people who are holding back, your brother had a chakra sickness and Orochimaru couldn't perform jutsu and couldn't sustain his own body!" She looked at him fiercely. "I might not be as strong as them or people with tailed beasts, but I'm stronger than you!"
Yet again Sasuke was overcome by an almost insane laugh. "Sakura, you really are delusional." He said furiously.
Sasuke went after Sakura with a series of sword slashes, which she dodged, punching back after his fourth one. "You crossed that line quite a while ago, I won't let you anywhere near the village!" She made her left hand into stone hitting Sasuke in the chest, he buckled, in his earlier arrogance he had deactivated his Sharingan.
"Amaterasu!" He targeted her arm encased in stone and it fell away leaving her skin unscathed. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"
"I stopped caring what you think around the time I watched you impale that girl with the glasses in the chest with blank eyes." She said evenly.
"Karin, was a means to an end. Now the question is how long before you die fighting me." He said quite hatefully.
"That's what I have been wondering about you, come on Sasuke, let me show you what true resolve is!" There was a fearlessness in Sakura's eyes now, Sasuke's face held the slightest flicker of fear.
They began physical combat for a second time, he was faster attacking, but she had watched his fighting style carefully during their time as squad seven that she could anticipate and evade him fairly easily, this went on for several minutes, until Sasuke was struck from behind.
"A wood clone!" His too late realization didn't slow down time, luckily he was still able to avoid follow up blows, one of which would have struck his face if hadn't been able to jump out of the way in time.
Sakura could tell immediately that Sasuke hadn't expected to have to try, served him right. Even he didn't have eyes in the back of head, still he hadn't slowed him down as much as she hoped and he was already rushing to attack her again. His sword was an issue she needed to remove from the equation.
"I see, you keep fighting me head on while that wood clone stays in the shadows waiting for the chance to strike me from behind, but I won't fall for that again." He said bluntly.
Sakura made her arms wood and stretched them to grab his sword from a distance, throwing it away, it no doubt landed somewhere on the ground in the pitch black night.
She sounded determined. "Don't underestimate me Sasuke."
"You still think that you can win, let me show you the true power of the Uchiha, the Susanoo!" He said bluntly.
Sakura had heard about the Susanoo in the reports about the aftermath of Sasuke's attack on the Five Kage Summit and even seen it from distance when he fought and killed Donzo because it was so large—seeing it up close now was astonishing. Sakura was forced to think ahead however because it was already readying an arrow.
Sakura was hastily weaving her longest string of hand signs yet, "Wood Release Wood Locking Wall!"
A massive layered dome formed around Sakura just as the arrow was fired, shielding her from any harm, and simply destroying the section pierced by Sasuke's Susanoo arrow.
"How long will you survive against my Sussano compared to Donzo." He wondered with amusement.
Sakura decided that it was time to activate her strength of 100 seal.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Sasuke." She said seriously.
Sasuke watched as a Sakura's skin became covered in black markings that spread out from the center of her forehead and along the rest of her body.
"A curse mark!" He said, unable to hide his curiosity.
"No, although I'm sure it has some relation to that ridiculous thing Orochimaru created, but that's not the point. No matter what, you're going to remember that I pushed you to your limit, and as for those arrows from your Susanoo let's see if you can hit me with an arrow before I crack that thing in half with my fist!"
As Sakura expected Sasuke took that as a challenge and began firing arrows rapidly, it was close every time, but he always missed, each one leaving an explosion in its wake as the ground shook violently.
"Donzo had to rely on stolen Sharingan to deal with my Sussano, and yet, she's dodging these arrows no matter how much I'm tracking her movement!" He was angry for the first time.
Then, before he knew it she had jumped so the Sussano was the only thing separating them, time seemed to naturally freeze as Sakura stared unflinchingly back at Sasuke, hitting the center of the Susassno with enough force to punch a hole in the monstrosity and topple it over. Sasuke was uninjured from the force of the punch thanks to just how strong the Susassno truly was as a barrier.
He mocked her now. "All you've done is break a barrier. I'm still standing, so at best we're right back where we started."
Sakara ignored Sasuke's attempt to discourage her, openly defiant now. "I can already tell, you used a lot of chakra, more than you expected, and you still failed to kill me."
"You only live now because Naruto and Kakashi saved your worthless life!" He said harshly while activating his Sharingan again.
"True, but I've changed," She sighed, readying herself for hand to hand combat once again. "I don't care whether you die. If nothing else I can put my friend to rest and honor his memory." Sakura's face hardened, her eyes burning with the Leaf Village's will of fire which Lord Third always championed.
"I will bury the past, starting with you." He said bluntly.
Sakura wasn't stupid, she knew that getting the upper hand in a clash of Taijutsu when Sasuke was using his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan would be difficult and a real test of how her increase in power stacked up against his.
She was very calm, not that she knew why. "I don't plan on dying, but if you do kill me, you're going to have to earn it, I'm going to make sure of that!"
Time moved in slow motion to begin the third round of hand-to-hand combat, their dominant fists met with equal power and then they were exchanging blows at a rapid pace.
Sakura's ability to think while engaged in combat had gotten much better, though she moved quickly through her thoughts. "Dammit he's so fast, I need to infuse chakra natures into my Taijutsu, try and gain the upper hand…not water, or fire too difficult to maintain for long—Earth should give me the best chance."
In order to create space Sakura dodged Sasuke's attempts to punch her face, using the brief separation to turn chakra around her hands into raw Earth. The next time their fists connected, Sasuke recoiled, though he tried to keep his face even, it was obvious that he had hurt himself—much to Sakura's satisfaction.
"Ugh, chakra that is infused with the power of Earth… You found a way to enhance your Tajutsu." He muttered begrudgingly.
I thought you would catch on earlier when you used Amaterasu to burn my arm, but you were too full of yourself to notice!" She mocked quickly.
"No, how could I not realize that wasn't a ninjutsu, especially when she didn't use any hand sings!" He thought bitterly.
As they continued fighting Sakura could tell Sasuke was trying to mimic this by infusing lightning into his Taijutsu.
"You can try all you want," She punished him for his lapse in concentration by landing a punch to his right side. "You could never mimic my chakra infusion technique on the spot even with your Sharingan!" She punched him again, this time in his right knee and he buckled, struggling to stand fully upright.
"But my Chidori— " He was unable to mask the pain he felt.
She answered coolly. "You never had the patience for chakra control, your Chidori is powerful, but this is different and I'm in no mood to explain it to you when you couldn't even control your chakra long enough climb a tree with it." She said impatiently.
"You haven't won, you will never win…" He managed to avoid Sakura's next punch and pierce the center of her arm with a Chidori Stream, "I don't need a sword to cut your arm off Sakura." He said smugly, "It seems I missed severing your arm, but oh well, you can't fight me with only one—I wonder how much it'll hurt when I burn the useless one off." She swallowed, clearly in pain. "Actually, stay here while I go find my sword, not that you can go anywhere…" He was enjoying her suffering now.
"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going, you arrogant bastard!" She said defiantly, standing tall even with her right arm nearly limp at her side. "I thought I warned you not to underestimate me!" Even with the pain she was in Sakura focused on regenerating the damage to her arm.
Such a defiant tone made Sasuke stop walking away and turn back around, "Hmph!" He was amused, until he realized what was happening, Sakura was rapidly healing her injured arm. "Regeneration. He said, clearly it slipped his mind.
"You shouldn't give a medical ninja who can use mitotic regeneration time to recover…" She said calmly as her breathing returned to normal.
"You should be more exhausted." He said flatly.
"The Hashirama cell mutation increased my stamina and my chakra, not that this is the reason I decided to do it in the first place, but it is a nice bonus!" She looked newly defiant.
Sakura abruptly forced Sasuke into hand to hand combat again. She knew immediately that Sasuke was still in pain from the earlier injury she inflicted, his reactions and evasiveness were slower now. After holding his own for an extended time, Sasuke misread and took a punch that sent him flying hard into a distance tree.
"My Sharingan, the Susanoo she's making a mockery of the Uchiha clans most powerful abilities. Ugh, what the hell is Sakura doing, I thought she would have come after me where I landed already." Sasuke swore angrily. "I didn't think I would have to use Kirin again, preparing it is one thing, but if I use it here, it will create way too much fire to escape I have to be careful!"
Sakura suspected that Sasuke was angrily licking his wounds, quite sure he landed somewhere inside the outer forest but she thought it a bigger priority to find his sword which had probably landed in the direction of the village.
She was frustrated. "Ugh, I really shouldn't have thrown it away after grabbing it with Wood Release, come on its gotta be close, I know that I threw it in the opposite direction I punched Sasuke and if I don't find it soon Sasuke will realize I'm looking for it…" Luckily Sakura found the sword stuck in the ground close to where the forest was scorched not long after their confrontation began. "Phew I found it, now what's Sasuke planning, I know he wouldn't run unless he was critically injured. Sad to say I haven't put him in peril yet, not even close." Sakura soon noticed flames light up the night sky in the opposite direction of where she stood. "Phoenix Flower Jutsu? That's not anywhere near the village… What are you up to Sasuke?"
He was gloating aloud. "I will make sure I kill her with Kirin!" He said furiously. "And with Naruto busy playing hero in Madara's war, nobody will be able to stop me from destroying the Hidden Leaf!" He was disturbingly gleeful about his plans. "Come Sakura follow the storm in the sky so I can use the ultimate lightning to strike you down!" He shouted harshly into the night.
Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that what she saw in the sky was a trap, but if she didn't re-engage Sasuke he would make his way to the Leaf Village and destroy it just as Pain had months earlier. The possibility was something that she couldn't allow, not given all the time it spent rebuilding, it would be one disaster too many.
"Lightning Release is Sasuke's specialty, I bet he has something stronger than Chidori—that storm doesn't seem natural…" Sakura held Sasuke's sword aloft. "If he's setting a trap I'll set one too." She said hastily.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was increasingly frustrated. "Still no sign of Sakura…What is she planning?" He swore. "I'm still injured and if she doesn't show herself soon the storm I've prepared to strike with Kirin will completely dissipate." A faint noise eventually drew Sasuke's attention. "That sounds like…me?"
"It's not much of a genjutsu but hopefully he's rattled by seeing himself as a child because that's the way Naruto and I mostly remember him." Sakura quietly said under her breath.
"It won't work on me!" Sasuke shouted.
"You look like such a loser!" The younger Sasuke said.
"You're not real, just a poor excuse for a genjutsu I can release in an instant." Sure enough he did and the younger Sasuke vanished.
"You can't escape!" Sakura said bluntly, unseen, but at a distance.
"Yet you would rather hide and play tricks than come out and face me, what kind of ninja does that make you, answer me Sakura!" He demanded harshly.
"Well, I would prefer not to die fighting you so I'm just being smart, you are extremely powerful, but don't think for one second that I'm afraid!" She warned, revealing herself.
"No matter how smart you are you can't dodge Kirin, and a clone won't fool me into wasting it." He said triumphantly. "Amaterasu!" He burned the wood clone causing it to disappear. "Now for the real you."
"Hi!" She said calmly behind him, he dodged her punch and raised his right hand.
At the same time, another wood clone had rushed with his sword, taking the massive blast of lightning. The clone disappeared and the real Sakura launched a full punch but he jumped aside even as the ground sank into a crater…
"You found my sword and used it to redirect the path of my lightning!" He said bitterly standing up straight with fresh rage on his face.
"For a lightning specialist you seem to have forgotten that not even you can control the path natural lightning follows if something taller is in its path to conduct it." Sakura smirked.
"You knew what I was doing? How could you plan for a jutsu that you've never seen!" He yelled angrily.
Sakura was blunt but some emotion entered her voice for the first time. "All those years I wasn't able to fight with Naruto, Kakashi and you, that I was useless… I hated that, but I've realized recently that I was doing something important. Watching all of you fight, every battle, every tactic, and you, Sasuke, more than any of them are predictable."
"Then you shouldn't have put this sword in my path again," He picked up his sword and looked darkly at her. "Now I'll use it to cut you down!"
"You know, Sasuke. I was in the middle of fighting a war for reality so how about I leave a clone for you to fight that way you can take out all your anger and I can get back to what's more important." She said impatiently.
"Always annoying, the only way this ends is with you dead at my feet!" He yelled.
She sighed. "It's like talking to a wall, let's finish this!"
Sakura reactivated her strength of 100 jutsu and began a fourth fist fight with Sasuke, she continued to notice that he was definitely injured, but it didn't seem to matter. The Sharingan was such a pain to deal with, her only satisfaction was the increasing frustration on Sasuke's face, he would never admit it aloud but he had underestimated her strength and resolve completely.
"No matter how often I think my attacks land she just dodges them…Have I really become so predictable that she can anticipate me so well during battle?" He thought angrily.
Sakura thought quickly but calmly. "Dammit, his range with a sword makes it much harder to keep dodging his attacks. I know retrieving his sword for him technically saved me from being fried to a crisp, but I'm not sure it was a good idea to make close combat easier for someone with the Sharingan—no I can only deal with situations in the moment…second guessing is pointless."
Sasuke finally had enough of close combat. "Let's see how well you deal with this, Summoning jutsu!" The giant serpent Aoda appeared…
"A giant snake, of course, you have a giant snake…" She sighed. "Fine…I have no choice—summoning jutsu!" Lady Katsuyu queen of the slugs appeared, quite large this time, about the size of a small skyscraper.
"Sorry to drag you into this, Lady Katsuyu." Sakura said apologetically.
Her greeting was quite calm. "Do not worry Sakura I am quite familiar with snakes, after all there was a point in time when Lady Tsunade and Orchimaru were on the same side. One look tells me that this boy is his disciple."
Sakura explained carefully so that she wasn't overheard. "Yeah, Sasuke Uchiha, he has a lot of chakra."
"I understand, do be careful Sakura, even with your recently mastered regeneration, the poison of snakes from Reyuchi cave can be lethal enough to render such abilities useless." She warned seriously.
"Got it!" She nodded. "Let's go!"
Aoda was already attacking them at Sasuke's order, luckily Katsuyu was much faster than she appeared, allowing Sakura to focus on dealing with the newest threat Sasuke threw at her.
"Earth Release Cataclysmic Fissure!" Sakura said after weaving her longest string of hand signs.
The ground around Sasuke and his serpent Aoda split apart violently. "Lord Sasuke, don't worry, it will take more than this to stop me." Adoa hissed calmly.
"There is no way it was that easy?" Sakura said nervously.
"Chakra shouldn't be an issue as long as I stay in physical contact with you." She caught on immediately.
"That won't matter if they hide…" Sakura was on edge now.
Sure enough, Aoda burrowed to the surface striking and sending Sakura flying hard into the air, luckily Katsuyu divided and reformed allowing Sakura to land without being hurt.
"Ugh, I can't believe I didn't see that coming." She was clearly in pain."
"Sakura did his fangs strike you!" Katsuyu asked worrisomely.
"Just a good headbutt," Sakura said dryly. "Thank you Lady Katsuyu." She got to her feet quite winded but knowing that things could have been much worse.
The slug queen was quite serious. "If you have a powerful jutsu, you will need to use it, he isn't as formidable as the king of serpents who was once in service to Orochimaru, but all the serpents from Ryūchi Cave are extremely durable."
Adoa borrowed and resurfaced several times in a row but always missed, sometimes just barely, making Sasuke frustrated yet again.
The quiet snake tempered his master by offering what information he knew about the Slug Queen. "Lord Sasuke, we must be patient. The White Snake Sage always said that the slug queen was far more powerful than she seems." He continued, hissing begrudgingly. "She doesn't align herself with the weak. I'm certain that this woman is in fact the personal disciple of the one most humans refer to as the Fifth Hokage, who Lord Manda was familiar with from a lifetime of service to Lord Orochimaru once allied with them and a man who spent time training with the toads
"Well, that explains a lot," Sasuke said coolly.
Katsuyu was harsh. "Say the word Sakura, and I will make sure that Sasuke's face is unrecognizable."
Sakura couldn't help but grin. "I have a plan but," She was anxious for the first time, not because she couldn't continue fighting Sasuke, but because she knew bigger threats that were probably being fought right now. "I don't even know if I will be able to perform this jutsu!"
"Then I will be your shield when necessary so you don't have to hold back." Katsuyu assured having calmed down.
"I suspect that they are waiting for us to make the next move." Adoa hissed warningly.
"Then there is no reason to keep them waiting any longer," Sasuke said with his usual look of nonchalant superiority. "Your power still pales in comparison to mine, Sakura."
Sakura looked more defiant than ever. "Well, you're right, Saskue, my power pales in comparison to a lot of people, that's why I was trying to conserve as much chakra as possible for fighting against Madara, but luckily, I'm more than a match for you—Wood Release Deep Forest Bloom!"
The ground again split apart violently but this time gaps were rapidly filled with roots that grew a seemingly limitless number of trees, this stretched on endlessly. Sasuke quickly realized that this jutsu was spreading much faster than he would have been able to burn it, even with Amaterasu, it was spreading so fast that Adoa couldn't avoid getting impeded by the massive forest as it sprang into life all around, several large flowers budding as the ground finally stilled again.
"You shouldn't have stopped channeling chakra into this jutsu, I can burn it away like nothing, because that's exactly what it is, nothing!" Sasuke told her snidely.
Adoa seemed to know better. "I smell something in the air, I must flee Lord Sasuke, I apologize!"
Sasuke realized that he was more exhausted than he should have been, "It can't be!"
"It looks to me like you're losing consciousness." Sakura was blunt.
"My chakra should be— "
Sakura shrugged, shaking her head, there was pity in her voice. "The pollen of these blooming flowers, as Lady Tsunade explained to me, will make enemies unconscious. I'm sure you're already feeling it by now."
"I…hate…the…hidden leaf." The pollen overtook him and he fell unconscious.
"That was quite impressive Sakura, but you look like fatigue has caught up with you, please I will heal you before I go." Katsuyu said gently.
She sighed. "Thank you Lady Katsuyu, those last few jutsu used up a lot of my chakra, but I knew prolonged close combat would have been a mistake."
"Yes, I'm sure you would have been fighting in circles, which Lady Tsunade always said is a bigger waste of time than anything else." She said anxiously.
"You can still spray him with acid if you want." Sakura encouraged.
"That's tempting but healing you is what truly matters." Katsuyu insisted.
"Yeah, you're right…something tells me we will need emo boy here to win the war." She glanced at Sasuke's unconscious form. "There's one more jutsu I need to perform."
"Another jutsu?"
Sakura nodded, subdued. "Yes, it's a sealing jutsu that extracts the excess negative spiritual energy and seals it deep within the mind behind a kind of mental wall… It won't make Sasuke who he was before but it should calm all the negative emotions that are clouding his thoughts and actions. It'll force him to look at himself, something he refuses to do."
"I've never heard of such a jutsu?"
Sakura explained vaguely. "Let's just say the Usumaki clan had a lot of unique sealing jutsu and since two were the wife of previous Hokage, they learned a lot and stored it away in that office."
Naruto appeared anxiously at Sakura's side. "We were worried when Sasuke's chakra signature disappeared that he escaped or you had to kill him so headquarters sent me to make sure things were…" He trailed off.
"Don't worry I didn't kill him, not that I wasn't tempted, but I'm going to seal his problems away, because nobody has time to deal with them. I just hope he doesn't scratch the wall."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked blankly.
"I'll explain later, now…" She weaved six different hand signs before resting them carefully on his forehead.
Soon Sasuke's chakra was suddenly visible and Sakura understood for the first time how unstable his spiritual energy had become. "So much to extract."
"What are you— "
"Don't break my concentration, I need a strong metaphysical wall or this won't matter." Naruto watched as Sasuke's chakra split apart and returned to his body.
She sighed. "His mind should be less murderous now, I don't know for how long but we can deal with him after reality is safe." She smiled rhetorically, placing her right hand against Naruto's face.
"That jutsu you did, what was it?" He asked.
"It was in your father's notes about sealing jutsu. Probably one of the several that Kushina taught him after he became Hokage. There wasn't a name for it but I'll worry about that when we're not fighting for reality, speaking of," She sighed in relief that Naruto looked unscathed, if a little tired. "How's the war going?"
"Well, we've managed to seal quite a lot of people ya know, several old Akatskui members, but I haven't seen Nagato or Itachi yet and that worries me."
"Yeah me too, Itachi being around could undo the sealing jutsu I just placed on Sasuke's yin spiritual energy." She looked down at the still unconscious form of their former teammate.
"Do I even want to ask what happened? Headquarters felt chakra drop quite a bit more than once and I was worried but I knew that you could handle it." He smiled affectionately.
"She's become quite a powerful ninja." Katsuyu interrupted.
"You didn't have to stick around, Lady Katsuyu!" Sakura seemed embarrassed.
"You weren't going to brag so I did it for you." Katsuyu said proudly. "Summon me if you need me in the future, Sakura." She said gently, then the slug queen vanished on the spot.
Sakura took Naruto's right hand and wove his fingers together. "Keep going, it sounds like I missed quite a bit."
Well, we had to deal with a couple former Kage—including Gara's father." Naruto explained, trying hard to remember. "Oh, and I met the current eight tails Jinchiriki he raps pretty much all the time and his tailed beast is a giant Octopus and they work together perfectly!" Naruto was very enthusiastic about this particular development.
"Oh," She chuckled for the first time in what felt like hours. "I'm sure it was odd fighting alongside the eight tails when you just met."
Naruto shrugged. "I didn't really have time to think about it. They were a huge help against a lot of the reanimated ninja."
"Where's Madara?" She asked.
He sighed, scratching his head. "Yeah about that, the war is getting a lot more complicated, ya know…"
Sakura was trying to keep herself from worrying. "Let's drop Sasuke off at the leaf prison before you explain that."
"Will it be okay to leave Sasuke in a jail cell in the leaf village?" Naruto asked.
"That's where the others helping him have been for quite a while, but if it helps Sai is keeping an eye on them, this rain makes his Super Beast Scroll drawings completely unusable." Naruto explained quickly. "Don't worry, headquarters will know immediately if anything goes wrong with the prisoners." He added calmly when she didn't look fully convinced.
"Alright, so what's going on with Madara because I have definitely had a strange feeling about this war and something tells me that he isn't who he says he is."
"You're half right about that, our problems have doubled, the man behind the mask isn't Madara, the real Madara is reanimated, old man Tsuchikage was adamant about it and I just watched him kill dozens and dozens of our forces like a death dance." He said bluntly.
"I had a nagging feeling Sasuke was the least of our problems, let's go, Naruto." They left on the spot and Sakura somehow knew the war was going to get much tougher the longer it was waged.
A/N: Yeah, I know I haven't named the jutsu Sakura used on Sasuke but I'm not as wordy as Minato and nothing I wrote sounded good when I said it to myself.
Sorry if you're expecting to hear from Killer B but I know if I try to write that dialogue it will be awful so I'll probably just make sure that you know he's in the war when I think it's necessary…
I really enjoyed that Sasuke fight, hopefully you did too, they can't win the war without emo boy so he'll be back in the story before too long.