Warings: This chapter is a little bit more violent than previous ones.

Sasuke drove a kunai into a man's stomach and pinned him to the ground with it. Lifting from his crouch, Sasuke swiped the back of his hand over his upper lip. Despite the snow that had come to fall, he had worked up a sweat in continuously beating back the relentlessly charging nin. The once flat earth was now reduced to a battlefield of upturned rock, muddied snow and scorch marks – a sight that his brown cloak was beginning to mirror. His red eye spun faster.

Sasuke sidestepped the woman coming up from under his feet in a Doton technique, and cut a clean line across her throat just as she surfaced. He watched apathetically as the nin fell flat on her chest with a gurgling breath, her blood further colouring the torn terrain.

Yellow danced across his vision in multiples. Naruto had spread his clones throughout the uneven field most immediately and was engaging in aggressive combat with their foe. It was their plan for Naruto to clear a path for Sasuke, but as it was, their enemy appeared more abundant and immovable than they anticipated. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto as he knocked out a man with the heel of his kunai. The Dobe was going easy on them; aiming to disarm rather than terminate. They didn't have time for that kind of mercy.

Hearing a battle cry from his left, Sasuke spared the attacking missing-nin a glance and caught him in a paralysing genjutsu. He twisted the man's neck cutting off his scream, as yet another body was added to the mosaic of corpses gathering around him.

Sasuke glared ahead at his target – the one man absent from the fray – Hansai.

Every time he moved an inch, more of the 'summoned ninja' would block his path and deter him from his goal. It was infuriating. And they were ceaseless in numbers. Sasuke could've sworn he killed some of them multiple times by now. Disgust waged against fury within him. He wasn't certain if Naruto had figured it out yet, but part of him was hoping he wouldn't. He could not afford an out of control teammate on top of everything else.

Sasuke tilted his head to avoid the hissing of flying shuriken and ground his molars as he swiftly brought his katana up to slice through the hidden razor-sharp wire which threatened to dismantle him. His eyes thinned to slits as he regarded their mystery 'Summoner' standing outside the realm of battle, swaying and laughing to himself.

Sasuke couldn't risk flash stepping amongst all the chaos and jutsus flying through the air. And even his Rinnegan was ineffective in warping their positions, and getting him closer. Something was throwing him off. He just couldn't figure out what. It was like the man was shrouded in a haze. If he could just manage a moment to focus properly on him –

Sasuke ducked under a sweeping battle axe and flattened himself against his opponents' broad back as the man fell through his swing. Sasuke imbedded his katana deep into the man's side before he could even straighten from his bowed angle. With a heave, he swung the impaled man around to take the hit of a Fuuton jutsu aimed right for them. There was a crunch of bone and the squelch of blood as the jutsu landed, but by that point, Sasuke already had the wind-user on fire with Amaterasu, along with a portion of the surrounding nin.

His eyes burned with his heavy use, but he ignored it, along with the echoing screams of agony.

Sasuke had barely managed another step before he felt the air around him hiss and singe. Without hesitation, he substituted himself with a nearby body just as a series of explosions went off around his former position. A spray of gore licked at his face, and Sasuke grunted with the aftershock of the dense explosion; his ears ringing slightly from his lack of proper distance.

Sasuke distantly noted a number of Naruto's clones disappearing in the same attack and scanned the area for the perpetrator. Even with his Sharingan it was difficult to find a specific attacker; the expanse was wrung with smaller battles between clones and ninja alike.

And despite the blood he was shedding, Sasuke wasn't getting any closer.

"Fuck."

Kakashi reluctantly tore his gaze from Sakura as he felt the rumbling from what could only be described as an explosion.

Naruto's clone, who had been standing silently beside him for the last hour or two twitched towards the sound, concern heavy on his fox-like features. "That was a new one." He intoned quietly.

"How are our boys faring?" Kakashi fought to keep the worry from seeping into his tone. He was absolutely useless where he was now. He couldn't help Sakura, and he couldn't help Sasuke or Naruto and whatever they were facing. He was quite literally waiting for something to go wrong and then try to fix the broken pieces. It was driving him near insane.

The shadow clone closed his eyes and scrunched his face slightly. "I'm not sure. That last attack hit very close to my real body, and we lost a good number of our clones. If I get another hit like that or let it distract me, I might disappear." He reported.

Kakashi felt himself nod along, consciously aware of his rapidly increasing heartbeat.

"How do you think she's going?" the shadow clone asked faintly, looking back at Sakura with longing.

Kakashi matched his stare and hid a frown. Sakura had broken out in a sweat about 45 minutes ago, and her laboured breathing had yet to even back out. Every now and then she let out a noise that had him jerking to pull her away from the damn thing and stop this whole ordeal.

But it was the intense glowing of the seal which had him worried most of all.

The seal was beginning to glow brighter with each passing moment; presumably from the chakra it was eating away from Sakura. Meanwhile, Sakura was growing paler and more distressed. Now more than ever, Kakashi was starting to think that this time they had truly bitten off more than they could chew, and it wasn't going to be some tangible foe that brought them down. No. It was going to be the devastation of losing a comrade to their own failure.

Kakashi didn't think he could come back from something like that again. Not if he lost Sakura.

The thought drove the air from his lungs in its sincere clarity. An emotion so certain and great, he would've rejoiced to know he could still feel such a thing, if it didn't terrify him so much. Fear clawed up his throat with such determination, Kakashi had to physically grunt to divert himself from that dark spiralling path.

There was another rumble, this time greater than the one before, and Kakashi bent his knees to brace as the earth around him shook and rattled with the explosion. He shot a quick look at Naruto's clone who gasped.

"Uh – "

Whatever he was going to say was lost to oblivion as the clone vanished, leaving the Rokudaime alone with nothing but worry and faith to give him solace in his haplessness.

"You two better have each other's back. You hear me." He softly threatened the room, craning his head back to stare achingly at the midnight ceiling.

Naruto coughed harshly into the ground, sending a cloud of dirt into his face and lungs. His head was throbbing and part of his right side was stinging with fire. There was an alarm clock blaring right in his ears, and Naruto squinted through the pain and confusion.

Black and brown smudges slowly cleared into blobs, which eventually gave way to bodies, until finally a battlefield was in focus. Naruto groaned deeply. Bits and pieces were coming back to him now. And all of it sucked!

"That hurt." He whined rolling unto his back with huff, feeling the pain sharpen then disperse across his body in ripples. Kurama was going to give him an earful over this one.

Blue eyes blinked roughly at the cloudy sky. Then blinked again when suddenly a raging ball of fire was flying over the top of him. The heat felt uncomfortably close and Naruto winced.

His head lolled to the left slightly and there was a pair of legs in his vision. He wasn't sure how long they'd been standing there, but as the ringing in his ears began to ebb away, Naruto heard him speak.

"Get up, Dobe." Sasuke commanded, sending another Katon blast in rotation around his prone position.

"I'm working on it, Teme." Naruto groaned in reply, shifting his weight to slowly sit up.

Naruto cringed as his head swam with multiple memories of himself getting wiped out by the very same explosion that knocked him on his ass. He had barely even sensed the incoming attack, and couldn't react in time. Neither had a lot of the 'summoned nin'… That attack had not discriminated between friend and foe in its war path.

Tan, calloused hands fisted the coarse dirt and ice beneath him. He lost all his clones in that explosion, if not from the blast itself than from him getting knocked out. A flash of Kakashi and Sakura entered his mind and Naruto grit his teeth.

"M'sorry Sasuke." Naruto apologised quietly as he slowly rose to his feet.

Sasuke spared him a brief glance over his shoulder from where he was defensively set, hand ready at his mouth for another fireball. "Don't. We have to focus to make sure that doesn't happen again."

It was as good as a consoling as Naruto would get, and he appreciated it all the same. With a harsh cough and a wince, Naruto scanned his surroundings. The 'summoned ninja' had gathered to enclose them on all sides, hedging them in. Yet they were still and silent. Like they were waiting for something. Naruto's frown etched deeper into the dirtied skin of his face.

Something had been wrong with each and every one of the ninjas since the start of the fight. It wasn't like the ambush where the nin had actively taunted and toyed with them. No, these 'summoned' men and women did not speak in the slightest. They just attacked, almost mindlessly. And worse than that, they weren't fighting to kill but to maim and neutralise. Naruto had caught onto that fact very early on, and tried to reciprocate the notion, but there was only so much he could do when they all attacked at once, and just kept coming back no matter how many times he knocked them down.

Naruto spat out a mouthful of blood and dirt, wiping his mouth with the corner of his sleeve. His cloak was in tatters, parts of it still disintegrating and burnt from the fire of that explosion. A glance at Sasuke had him confirming that he was in a similar state.

Warily regarding the motionless ninja before them, Naruto slowly drew a hand up and ripped his cloak from his shoulders, letting it float harmlessly to the abused earth underfoot. There was a flutter of movement behind him and then Sasuke's cloak joined his in a dark heap.

A squeal of delight tore through the frozen battleground and two pairs of eyes zoned in on the man who was responsible for all of this.

"Are you having fun with my friends? They've been having so much fun with you!" Hansai called melodiously across the arena of carnage.

"Just who the hell are you?" Naruto shot back with a snarl. Whoever this man was, he was manipulating these people to their deaths!

"Silly Demon Fox-sama, have you already forgotten? I am Hansai."

"Sasuke, what's this guy's deal?" Naruto said under his breath. "Do you know how he's been controlling them?"

Gravel and ice crunched as Sasuke shifted closer to his line of sight. "I don't know yet. I haven't been able to get a clear read on him, even with my Rinnegan. He's… distorted somehow."

"Well he clearly doesn't want us getting too close to him. So, we'll just have to change that."

His voice held an edge of violence to it, and Naruto forced himself to breathe before he let Kurama take the situation out of his hands in frustration. They had become a lot more competent in teamwork over the last few years, but even so, there were certain times when even Naruto got lost in Kurama's will. He had to be careful.

Naruto tilted his head towards Sasuke when he remained silent.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?"

"What is he waiting for?"

Blue eyes studied the raggedly dressed man. This far away it was hard to discern much of anything from his crooked gait and frozen smile, but he did appear to be anticipating something.

"Have you decided?" Hansai's voice cut clear over his thoughts.

Naruto clenched his jaw. "What?" he demanded.

"Which one of you will be my best friend?" Hansai responded simply with a sweet smile.

Bewildered, Naruto took a step back. This guy must get off on sounding insane! "You've got a terrible way of making friends, buddy! So I'm afraid we'll have to decline."

"That's a pity. Cause I only let my best friend in on my secret."

"And what is that?" Sasuke's steely tone sliced through the conversation.

There was a disturbingly coy giggle as Hansai answered. "What exactly is behind that Seal."

Naruto flinched at the wave of killing intent that spiked and flooded from Sasuke. "You will tell me."

Hansai cocked his head to the side at an awkward axis. "Does that mean you're accepting the position as my best friend?"

"It means you don't have a choice." Sasuke drew his katana out to the side in a flick of his wrist, sending drops of blood flying from the stained blade.

For the first time since meeting him, Hansai took a step forward, and for a single second the air was clear with his chakra presence; something vast and…rotten. "Then, it appears that in that regard, we are mutually out of options."

With that, Hansai raised a hand and the band of 'summoned nin' attacked.

Naruto brought his hands together in a blur of movement just as Sasuke spun his eye at the approaching targets and set a string of them alight with black fire. An onslaught of clones popped into existence right as Sasuke took a knee and clutched his head.

Naruto was by his side in an instant. "Sasuke, what's wrong? Hey!"

His stomach dropped as he saw the rapid rise and fall of Sasuke's shoulders and the absent tremor in his hand.

"'M' fine." The Uchiha clipped through a harsh pant. "Just a headache."

Naruto withheld his scepticism and silently hoisted an arm around Sasuke's torso to bring him upright again, momentarily safe in the sea of clones which fought off their relentless enemy.

"We can't keep doing this forever, and by the looks of it, that's just what that freak is counting on." Naruto pointed out, keeping keen eyes open for any stray projectiles or jutsu.

"We need to bring the fight to him." Sasuke agreed through clenched teeth.

Golden brows drew together in worry. "Alright then. Together."

He felt more than saw Sasuke's protesting look.

"I'm not about to underestimate that clown and let you face him alone. So no matter how much your pride takes a hit, or how much you threaten me with a lightning bolt; if we face him, we face him together. Got it, Teme?"

Sasuke found his feet and lightly nudged Naruto away from him. "Fine. I assume you have a plan then?"

Naruto shrugged, rolling his shoulders back and staring down his target. "I'll create a distraction big enough to deal with the 'summoned nin', and you get us close enough to actually start landing some hits on the damn 'summoner'."

"Okay." Sasuke considered. "I can't guarantee how far we'll get, but on my mark, grab hold of me and don't let go."

"If we time this right, we'll be wiping that smirk off that bastard's face before he even knows what hit him."

"Hn. Let's make this quick."

Sparing Sasuke a grin, Naruto bit his thumb and pressed his palm to the ground. The black concentric markings had barely appeared before the entire area was smothered in thick smoke.

Sasuke wasted no time and immediately clamping an arm across Naruto's shoulders, he warped them both as close as he could possibly discern through the splintered terrain. Their exit was messy, with the distortion of chakra around Hansai making it difficult to find a safe outlet point. But he managed to lock on to a piece of earth and warped. They tumbled into ready positions two meters behind the mysterious summoner right as the smoke cleared to reveal Gamakichi, standing tall against the rabble.

The air was still and clear for second as they all absorbed the turn of events. In the next breath, Sasuke's blade was drawn across Hansai's neck and Naruto had a rasengan formed in his palm.

With a slow twist of his head, a wild silver eye turned to acknowledge them in glee.

"That was fun." Hansai laughed quietly, his neck drawing blood from the bob of his throat against the knife-edge. "What took you so long to come and say hi?"

"Naruto!?" A croaky voice bellowed from across the plane.

Naruto shot a worried glance over at Gamakichi, who was standing domineeringly over the stilled shinobi. Most of his clones had disappeared in his arrival, but surely one or two of them would be around to pass on his scheming to old Gamakichi. Naruto simply couldn't afford to worry about that right now. He needed all of his attention on the foe before them.

"Tell me what it is that you're hiding behind that seal?" Sasuke ordered, keeping the man caged behind his katana.

"So impatient, Uchiha-sama." The hunched man sighed. "Why do you want to open it if you don't know what it is?"

Hansai tipped his head back, his sandy-hair brushing the edge of Sasuke's jaw. He lolled his head completely onto Sasuke's chest and giggled. Despite his disgust, Sasuke remained still and responded by cutting the blade deeper into the delicate skin of Hansai's neck.

"Do you like to play with dangerous things too, Uchiha-sama?" Hansai continued unperturbed. "I think that we would make the best of friends."

"I don't have friends." Sasuke found himself repeating once more. The declaration was slow and pointed, and it drew a hum from his temporary captive.

"Not even Naruto-sama?" Hansai proposed curiously, rubbing the back of his head against Sasuke's chest. "Or that silver one?" Sasuke had to adjust the pressure against Hansai's neck, lest the man slit his own throat. "Not even the pretty woman?"

Sasuke sucked in a breath, and heard Naruto do the same.

"If they aren't precious to you can I have them?" Hansai grinned up at Sasuke.

Sasuke had to stop himself from ending the man right there. He needed him. He needed to interrogate him and make sure the madness ended with his life. "You'll be dead before you can even try." He threatened instead.

Hansai laughed softly and peered up at him through dirty locks. "Sounds like a fun game. Shall we start playing then?"

"Or I could kill you where you stand." Sasuke let his eyes spin wildly at him but was stopped short by Hansai's next words.

"But then you'll never know how to save her." Hansai's smile was gone and with it, Sasuke's will to think critically. "She's the one touching the Seal right now, isn't she? We both know that any who touch the Seal dies. Don't you want to know how to save her life?"

"Sakura doesn't need saving." The words leapt fiercely from his mouth before he could stop them.

Hansai shrugged, the movement jostling them both. "If you really believe that, then kill me now. But if she is important to you, then you'll play with me, and I'll tell you how to keep her alive."

Sasuke was halted with indecision. This man was acting almost completely opposite to the unhinged way he had presented himself to them earlier. Whereas before he was manic and playful, now he was still and calm. He didn't trust a word that fell from his mouth. But he couldn't risk Sakura's life on the chance this man was telling the truth. Ignoring the burning ache of his eyes, he let his Sharingan whirl at his victim, using his sword to keep the man's neck back and up.

However, Hansai had already closed his eyes, an indulgent humming escaping his chewed lips, "Tick tock, Uchiha. The Seal isn't as patient as me."

Lost in a moment of frustration he wrenched Hansai away from him and turned to face him head on, katana pointed between them. "What do you want from me?"

Hansai slowly opened his eyes, but kept them diverted, showing intelligence where he had seemed devoid. "A friend. Someone to play with."

Sasuke's hand shook from the strength of which he griped his blade.

"What exactly do you want to play?" Naruto's rough voice sounded for the first since arriving there. He wasn't as outwardly agitated as Sasuke, but he wasn't calm either.

Hansai didn't spare Naruto a glance, just stayed locked in a stand-off against the lone Uchiha. A toothy smile split his face as he resolutely answered. "Hide and seek."

With that the man disappeared, leaving his 'summoned ninja' to fall gracelessly to the ground in unmoving heaps.

Both men swore at the empty spot and desperately sought for a sign of a trail.

"Naruto!"

"On it." He replied, immediately activated his sage-mode.

Sasuke glared back at the fallen bodies of ninja surrounding the impatiently grumbling Toad summons and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Got him, he's heading east. We're about three clicks behind him."

Sasuke was gone before the words finished leaving his mouth.

Naruto swallowed a curse and despairingly glanced behind him in indecision. With an aggravated huff, he dismissed Gamakichi and felt the last of his clones disappear. Then he was on Sasuke's tail, following him into what was undoubtedly the worst trap they've ever fallen for.

Kakashi-sensei was now the only line of defence Sakura-chan had left. Naruto just hoped they wouldn't need it. More than that, he hoped Hansai was lying and that they hadn't all just sentenced Sakura to her death.

Something was happening outside – she had felt the rumble but couldn't afford to spend even fraction of a second thinking about it.

Sakura mentally checked her chakra capacity. Her Byakugou was almost entirely burnt through; years' worth of stored chakra gone in – well, Sakura had no idea how long she had been fighting this damn Seal. She was almost empty, sitting with only a sixth of her Byakugou, and then it would be just her ordinary reserves left to go.

The Seal was draining her quickly and she had no doubt that the Seal's own chakra was speeding the process along. Sakura could already feel the corrosion of her channels and network. The raw chakra was rough on her, threading down her control at a fundamental level, making it harder and harder to form and hold her own chakra. It was attempting to disable her before it killed her. Targeting her very ability to produce and mould chakra.

Sakura swallowed down yet another hysterical thought that its effects might be permanent. Well. That was if she lived through it.

Shut up! Don't think like that.

She didn't have room for thoughts like that. Everything else had to take a backseat to her rapid analysis and problem solving. She just needed to remember something she could use to against the Seal.

A random footnote in some long-ago studied homework project – anything to negate the Seal's terminal affects. Every academy science lesson, every lecture, every casual conversation with Shizune about abstract medical phenomena, every textbook she'd ever devoured, every scroll Shishou had slipped her in her curiosity – Sakura attempted to recall them all with ravenous clarity. Something, anything to keep her from becoming the Seal's next victim.

She had not come this far to only get this far!

Sakura didn't realise her lip had found its way into her mouth until she spat out a mouthful of blood. The taste of copper on her tongue grounded her in ways most would never understand. But weakness and pain had always made her strive for strength and fortitude. And this was going to be no different.

She was going to live to hear Shishou tell her she never had any doubts. She was going to make it to Shizune's wedding. She was going to spoil Ino on the biggest Hot Spring Extravaganza. She was going to show Naruto that he didn't have to keep worrying about her. She was going to tease Kakashi every day for the rest of his life. She was going to ask Sasuke –

Sakura let out a surprised gasp of pain as her control wavered and slipped for but a moment.

A buzz of pleasure hit her squarely, sending vibrations of tingles along her entire body. A strangled groan escaped her bloodied lips as the sensations flared then receded with her fight to hold on to what she had left. She took a rattled breath.

Shit. That was almost the last of my Byakugou.

Sakura quickly began redirecting what she had of her ordinary reserves into storage for her seal. She didn't want to know what the Seal would do if it got a direct line to her chakra core, but she wouldn't allow it.

However.

She was running out of time. She needed clarity. She needed to focus. She needed a plan. She needed some dango and a damn shower!

Sakura panted, vaguely aware of the sweat dripping from her temples; hot on her face against the cold damp air.

Wait.

Sakura stopped breathing, an abstract thought popping clumsily into her head. No. It was a stupid idea. She had no clue if it would even work, let alone if it was possible.

But… it was a solid theory, and it was currently all she had.

Okay, okay. Think clearly about this, Haruno.

This Seal fed off a person's chakra; sucked it out and ate it up, using it to bolster itself – its food source.

But a person's chakra was always in some way refined; melded with their essence to create its own unique blend of chakra; its own taste. Every person's chakra was different, holding a piece of their identity, a part of them, attuned to their very being. It's why there existed chakra sensors who could tell what you were feeling through their chakra. But that was only applicable to chakra that is still linked to a person – still attached to its core.

Meaning that this Seal doesn't just take a person's chakra, but instead their whole core.

Wherever the masses of chakra go once it interacts with the Seal, Sakura couldn't guess. However, for whatever reason, the Seal holds unto the cores it absorbs. Not their chakra's but their essence!

And you didn't have to be a sensor to feel this Seal.

You didn't have to be a medic to realise that the Seal had absorbed so many different chakra cores it was becoming chaotic and raw and unbalanced. It's imperfectly blended and tainted to the point where it physically corrodes that which it touches – an unfortunate side effect for her, but a side effect nonetheless. It's symptomatic! It's why it feels alive, because it is! A live, breeding pit of incompatible chakras cores.

The aspect of pleasure that the Seal sends out is likely by design – some cruel intention to lure lowered defences against its ultimate attack. But the pain… That must be a by-product of its success. The action of forcibly ripping the essence from many a shinobi's core created a traumatised imprint of fear and pain within the Seal itself; something that unfortunately magnifies her own terror and agony as it courses through her in a literal sensory overload.

It's also why the foreign chakra had so gleefully latched on to her own. The lost cores were acting on memory and instinct, attempting to rush back out through the gate she opened up with her own chakra. But the only place it escapes is back into her system, where it all gets forced back to its source.

A complicated closed circuit of food poisoning, so to speak!

The Seal has likely built up its own immunity to an extent, but where the Seal's chakra is many, it is unstable. What it has in quantity, it lacks in control, in antibodies – the same lack of control that has fed this Seal for countless years now.

The parasite made a feast off lesser shinobi and has been infected ever since.

And how does one treat an infection, but by turning up the heat.

It was a ridiculous theory. Potentially even fatally wrong. But she had to try or she knew with little doubt that she wasn't going to live to see the Spring.

Sakura gave herself a single moment's hesitation before setting her jaw and widening her stance.

She would have one shot at this. At something she didn't think she could do. But there was no room for failure. She would need all the chakra she had for this, and she would have to briefly draw it back into her core, before expelling it up through her Byakugou.

And it was going to hurt like hell.

Gritting her teeth, Sakura slowly extracted the thin layer of chakra numbing her pain receptors and drew it back down into her core. The effect was immediate – painpainpleasurepainpain – but her Shishou hit harder.

Sakura had a fleeting thought of irony that fire had never been her affinity, before she focused all her chakra into a boiling point. She imagined fanning the flame that was her core – just like Iruka-sensei used to say. She pictured the heat of Sasuke-kun's Katon, powerful and raw and vast – tinged with pride and the Will of Fire.

She elevated her primary temperature, and moulded her chakra to that of a blazing furnace, molten and bubbling. The heat was almost enough to distract from the pain, but really it was all the same in the end.

Her chakra pulsed. Violent and burning and fierce.

For a single moment, the Seal's own pull was disrupted, and that was all the chance Sakura needed to torrent the entirety of her molten chakra out through her corroded coils, stripping the foreign chakra with it as it tore straight back through the Seal.

A scream tore from her throat, echoed by the screams of chakra being burned alive within her system. Sakura couldn't hear above the sound of blood rushing in her ears, but she thought she might've heard someone call her name.

Something wet trailed from her nose.

Just a little further.

She couldn't stop. Wouldn't. She was finally gaining the upper-hand and she was going to smoke out every last one of those unfortunate chakra cores. She was going to strip the Seal of its very defence and turn its demand against itself.

Her chakra network was burning so hot it felt cold, her arms were shaking and somewhere along the way her forehead starting searing, but she refused to acknowledge any of it. She was burning the Seal from the inside out. She could practically see it in her mind's eye. Her once green chakra now a blazing red as it shredded through the Seal, flushing and burning out the bacteria and cleansing the infection. Working on a micro-scale rather than be overwhelmed by the macro. The Seal would not have the strength to fight back because for too long it relied on quantity than quality.

Well. It wanted control. It was going to get it.

With a roar, Sakura pushed.

Sakura physically felt the moment the Seal wavered and then clicked.

She grinned through a mouthful of blood.

"Cha Motherfu – "

A bright golden light blinded and overtook all her senses. And then all Sakura knew was cooling darkness.

Sasuke turned sharply on his heel as something painfully bright erupted from the corner of his eye.

A massive beam of golden light scored the sky, eclipsing part of the setting sun and parting the clouds with ferocity as it strove towards the moon; so bright it appeared to darken the world around it. Then, it evaporated.

It was deafeningly still for a moment. Then a shockwave of what felt like pure chakra hit them with a loud hiss, riding the cold wind and shaking the very earth.

Sasuke bent to cling to the tree he had stopped upon, seeing Naruto do the same across from him. They had been making ground on Hansai when the light explosion went off, and Sasuke knew with sinking certainty that it was directly to do with Sakura and that seal.

They needed to get back there, now!

"Naruto – "

Sasuke's voice cut off with the arrival of another presence.

"Oh no, seems like the game is over then, Uchiha-sama." Hansai said sadly from his place suspended above them. "And you lost."

"What did that light mean?" Naruto shouted up at him, panic clear in his tone.

"You didn't win the game, so I can't tell you." His returning smile was twisted in amusement.

Bark exploded underfoot as Sasuke pushed up to advance on the mocking bastard. But he was halted to an abrupt stop when he saw the position of the ninja's fingers, spread and poised as they were out at his sides.

Suddenly, sharp gleams of light were visible from every angle, completely shrouding both Sasuke and Naruto in a thick web of chakra strings.

Sasuke's mind stalled in realisation.

"Don't worry, I can give you an explosion of your very own to match." Hansai cackled hysterically.

Sasuke experienced one second of pure panic, and then he moved.

The world around him slowed to a crawl as he acted on the only impulse that would get them out of there alive.

Calculating the path of least resistance to Naruto, Sasuke flickered in front of him, grabbed a fistful of his shirt and then sent them both careening to separate dimension, an immense explosion licking his back and searing his skin.

They landed in a harsh heap with a splash, and Sasuke had half the mind to register the tell-tale feel of blood trailing from his eyes before he passed out, leaving them alone and stranded in a nameless dimension.

Sai doesn't gasp when the bright golden light strikes the sky. He doesn't react at all.

He stares at it on the back of his ink creature and knows that they're already too late. He tells himself that the burning in his eyes is from the harshness of light and nothing more.

Sai closes his dark eyes to the source of his discomfort but still feels the air when it suddenly ripples.

He quickly begins to descend his hawk, weaving between the dense cropping of trees they were hovering above.

Both Sai and Yamato leap from the creature when the vast shockwave dissipates it with a hiss and a pop; ink splattering against bark and skin alike.

They land nimbly in the under branches of the trees and look up to see the sky regulate itself back the to the pinks and purples it once was; the beam of light now gone from sight.

"How far?" Sai asks. It's the only thing that matters to him now.

Yamato keeps his head angled to the sky and Sai catalogues the way his frown deepens before smoothing free of all emotion; wiped away as easily as an imperfection from wet clay.

The low pink light catches the metal of his head-plate when Yamato turns to face him grimly.

"Far."

The revelation isn't new, he deducted as much not a moment ago. And yet, Sai finds his fingers curling and his stomach rolling. He seeks the anger he once harboured for his team in their initial departure, but all he finds is profound concern.

The wind is cold when it whips against his skin.

Sai doesn't feel it.

There is an open letter resting in the Godaime's hand when Shikamaru walks in. The sun has almost completed its decline over the snowy village, and Tsunade's gaze is firmly fixed upon the image.

Shikamaru closes the door behind him with a click and crosses the room to soundlessly join her reverie. The ink on her lax fingers is enough for him to know both the letter's sender and its contents. He locks away the sigh that builds within him.

"Let's make a bet, Nara." Honey eyes never leave the village view.

Shikamaru hums, just to give her something to hold on to.

"You bet on Team Seven. You bet that my apprentice kicks that seal's ass and comes home singing. You bet that that team has each other's backs."

Her voice is gravelly and harsh, and Shikamaru doesn't have to look behind him to confirm his theory – he won't find empty bottles on her desk, nor will he find splintered wood.

Tsunade denied herself of both.

"Hai Hokage-sama." He agrees quietly, evenly. "You have yourself a bet."

Shikamaru doesn't gamble, but he also doesn't reject a person's peace of mind either.

He blinks and suddenly the once darkening sky is aflame with a golden beam, visible from a great distance. It lingers in the sky for a long moment, proclaiming its space there. He doesn't breathe as the beam thins and sharpens until it evaporates completely from sight, leaving a prolonged shockwave to rattle the glass panes of their ivory tower.

He knows in his bones that Tsunade will take whatever just occurred as a personal slight against her, just as he knows that Team Seven is at the heart of that light explosion. There is a long moment of stillness where Shikamaru wishes the woman at his side could react the way she so craves to in that moment – like a mother concerned for her child.

But she's the Hokage, and there are questions to be answered. Answers she can't give, questions that will kill her to consider; and the expectation to forge ahead regardless.

The stillness is broken by ANBU and frantic shinobi flooding the office. Shikamaru loses sight of the Godaime as she rears back into focus and tight control; his own mind a mess of odds and probabilities.

This is why he doesn't gamble. For to know the odds is to know your futility.

Somewhere, a man gasps awake with a strangled wheeze.

He claws himself upright in shaky movements, his once idle hands stinging with fresh use. The atrophied muscles of his body spasm against his bones; a perversely welcome sensation against decades of immobility.

He stops. He breathes.

He feels the silk under his skin. He smells the stale incense from the corner of his room. He tastes the dust in the dry air, and the lingering tang of ash on his tongue.

With each reintroduction of sense, a grateful smile pulls at his cracked lips. Tears spill from his pearlescent eyes as the fog of blindness begins to clear from his sight.

The man lifts a shaking hand to his face, probing the smooth and firm skin he finds there. A trembling laugh escapes him.

"Sister." He croaks to the empty room, tilting his head to the ceiling. "It has been too long."

With a flick of movement, Atsuhiko flings the crimson silk covers from his body and swings his legs over his death-bed. The ornate navy tiles are cool under his feet.

He takes another appreciative lungful of air and tests the strength of his legs. Not long now.

His eyes find the lonely mirror adjacent to his bed.

His silvery-blue hair has grown wild and long. His once withered body is slowly rebuilding itself back into his muscular frame.

His pale eyes catch more closely on his ivory skin.

There is a dull golden glow illuminating from him – a long awaited sign of his returning strength and the regaining of some of his Godly control.

And something else.

Atsuhiko touches a gentle palm over his glowing arm and shudders.

"I feel you, Woman."

A/N: Yew. This was a biggie. I was kinda dreading this part cause I was like 'I have no idea how to do this!' and then it literally came to me in a tidal wave one night and I was like 'okay Picasso, I like it!'

There are some very small Easter Eggs of symbolism the last few povs especially. So if that's your sort of thing, have a look and see if you can pick them out.

Anyway, if you thought this story was going to end with the seal, do I have news for you!

As always, let me know what you think, if you called any of the big revelations and whatnot, and if you have any theories on what's going to happen to our struggling heroes! :)