Tsunade sat in front of the council, she stared at the mayor then moved to stare back at Jiraiya. She sighed and glared at the documents on her table. Jiraiya placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly at her.

" I'm sorry Tsunade if we have known earlier that they were targeting Sakura I would have pulled her back earlier. " Minato spoke with guilt and regret in his voice. Tsunade looked up at him and smiled.

" It was my fault, I sent her, I could've sent anyone but instead I begged her to go. " Jiraiya shook his head at her.

" It's not anyone's fault. It's Orochimaru's. If we knew earlier about his plan, we would have saved Sakura but we can still save her. " Jiraiya then handed the mayor a paper.

" I'm sorry if it was too sudden Minato, but I sent Itachi and Shisui last night, to assist Kakashi, we need other alternatives because the more we play safe for too long the more he could abduct anyone he finds interesting. " Minato nodded at him then looked around the room. He whispered to his assistant who nodded and went out and locked it.

" Since Itachi and Shisui are not here, I need your assistance in this Jiraiya-sensei. " Jiraiya moved to sit beside Minato. Tsunade moved closer to him.

" Danzo, he- he's in league with Orochimaru right now, I don't know why, but I need you two, to assist Gaara. " Tsunade pulled away and sighed.

" The son of the Mayor of Suna? " Minato nodded at Tsunade and showed them a few photos of the documents that he and Itachi shared.

" Just before the virus started spreading and before the kidnapping cases, we found out Danzo had been traveling often to Sound. I mean anyone could go to Sound, right? There's nothing wrong with going to Sound, until, we caught something in the CCTV just on the border of the city, Danzo meeting up with Orochimaru, he was handing him some big cash. Then a week later the kidnapping started and another week later the virus started spreading. " Minato looked up at the two whose eyebrows were scrunched while looking at the document with pictures of Danzo and Orochimaru.

" That's not even the reason why Danzo is in league with Orochimaru, it seems that Danzo had been contacting someone in the black market, you'll also find Danzo not leaving his home for a couple of weeks now, he may have reasoned out to us that he fears the virus will kill him because of his old age but since then we haven't seen him, yes he would casually call us but he wouldn't meet with us. That's why we need Gaara in this, Gaara would be temporarily staying in Konoha, run some errands for his father, making it perfect reason since his father and Danzo are close friends, Gaara badly wanted his father off the seat because of his corruption, he had always been against it, and I trust Gaara. I trust him not to betray us. " Minato sighed and placed a hand on Tsunade's shoulder. He looked at her, the non-aging woman looked so tired and old right now, he understood her grief because of the pinkette's case. Tsunade looked up at Minato then at Jiraiya.

" This may be risky, but if you allow us Tsunade, we need to pull out, since other cities are willing to lend a hand in Sound. We need to prepare and focus and just save the others while we can. We know this pandemic isn't ending yet, let's save our people and just focus on creating a cure, Jiraiya and I have thought about it and even Itachi and Shisui agreed with us. We need to pull out 2 weeks from now, we still have enough time to search for Sakura. " Tsunade pulled away and clenched her hands.

" What if we don't find Sakura in two weeks? " Jiraiya looked at Minato who bowed his head, avoiding the gaze of the blond.

" We still need to pull out the troupes, as much as we need Sakura, we also need them, their lives are at stake the longer they stay in there. " Tsunade moved away from the two men and moved to stand by the window and stare at the city. She let out a big sigh and thoroughly thought about it if it's the only way to save everyone else and hopefully Sakura. She looked at Minato and nodded.

Jiraiya smiled at her, " Don't worry we'll try our best to find her. " Tsunade nodded and left the room. Jiraiya ran a hand on his face and leaned back.

" Is this the right thing to do Jiraiya-sensei? " Jiraiya glanced at Minato then looked up at the ceiling.

" We have no choice Minato. We have no choice. " Minato sighed and looked at the window, staring at the peaceful city.

Sakura stared at the dead body before her, Kabuto smirked at her and handed her some gloves. Sakura wanted to turn around and just avoid this room, from what she could tell, she had been captured for 5 days already and all they did for the last two days was stay at the laboratory, checking up on some vials, and Sakura tried to study it further if Kabuto wasn't watching her all the time. So far from the information she gained, Kabuto was creating a lab-virus, and all they knew is that'll give you a common flu, but made all wounds untreatable, causing some to die in hemorrhage.

An hour ago, she was just assisting in moving the vials in a freezer and now Kabuto is bringing her to a dead body that died because of the virus he injected on the person. Sakura had to look away at the body, its skin was even paler than Sai, its eyes were hollow and black, the person's all skin and bones. She closed her eyes and prayed for the gods for her mistake in agreeing to assist the enemy.

" Sakura-san, please come with me. " Sakura looked at Kabuto who smiled at her. Sakura pointed at the body then waved the gloves. Kabuto shook his head and waved to follow him. Sakura looked one last time at the body then followed Kabuto.

When they entered another room, she was shocked to find huge vessels, the room was all white, and the ceiling was filled with tubes. She found strange unfinished hollow robots in different sizes. She looked away and moved to look at the vessels, everything was empty. She stared at the white-haired man who was pressing buttons in the electrical box. She found the area empty like it was cleaned to be abandoned. She followed Kabuto when the white-haired man called out to her, who approached a huge vessel in the middle of the room. She looked up at the vessel and moved closer when she felt someone cover her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. She could smell the strong scent of the chloroform, she felt her body sway, and her eyes close. She glared at Kabuto one last time when he caught her falling body before she fell unconscious.

Kabuto stared at the pinkette in his arms and smirked evilly. He lifted his hand and motioned for the people to come out from their hiding spots. A few men helped him bring Sakura inside the big vessel and helped him put the tubes in her body while he slowly injected her with a light green liquid on her neck. They went out of the vessel and locked it. They watched as the vessel was filled with clear liquid with the pinkette's body floating in the middle with tubes attached to her body and restraints on her limbs.

He smirked even widely when Orochimaru came inside the room and patting his shoulder. " Great Job Kabuto. " Kabuto held his head up proudly and the people in the room applauded him. They stared as the light in the vessel blinked, signaling them that the girl is fully conscious.

Sasuke stared at the map on the table, 5 days have passed when Sakura was kidnapped and they only got 9 days left, before going back to Konoha, much to his dismay, Sakura's shishou agreed to it. He looked up when Itachi called him, he raised a brow at him. Itachi sighed and looked at Naruto, who nodded at Itachi.

" If Team Taka can't retrieve Sakura-san tomorrow night, my team will retrieve her while KOR7 is busy searching for the other underground laboratories in which my team will assist, Sasuke, your team along with Naruto are going to destroy all the underground laboratories you found, while the other teams will stay in the base and would do their normal missions aside from our jounin-rank soldiers who also have special tasks like us, the earlier we retrieve her the earlier we find Orochimaru the earlier we fix this problem and focus on the pandemic. " Itachi stood up from his seat and pointed at the screen showing areas in the GPS map they were going to infiltrate, while the jounins are going to investigate and interrogate those they had captured. Sasuke glared at the screen and nodded whenever he would agree with Itachi.

Sasuke glanced at Shisui who was yawning in the meeting, he rolled his eyes when he said, his "team", which means the duo, Itachi and Shisui. The Akatsuki though his original team, will be doing other tasks, while Itachi and Shisui will be doing a special task. despite their argument a few days ago, Itachi had already informed him of Itachi and Shisui's secret task, which is to trail after Danzo and investigate. Sasuke had to snort at the thought of the old man Danzo, he always had hated that city official, he was greedy and was always suspicious.

Sasuke felt someone beside him, he glanced at Kakashi who looked tired and dirty from his mission. Kakashi smiled at him and went back to listening to Itachi. He looked around and found Obito and Rin sitting beside Naruto, also looking tired and dirty. Itachi greeted KOR7 and recapped a short explanation for KOR7's mission. the team nodded while Rin jotted down what Itachi said.

Itachi looked around the room, " so any suggestions, that could make this mission even better? Or found any loophole? " everybody shook their head, Itachi nodded and stared at Sasuke, " Sasuke?" the two brothers stared at each other as if talking telepathically. The room fell into a deep silence, filled with a dominating aura, from both brothers. Finally, Sasuke nodded and pushed the paper to Itachi. Itachi bent down to pick up the paper and glanced at the Sasuke.

" Well, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, and Chouji, my brother suggested to pull you out from your current mission and assist him and Naruto, so the 3 surrenderees will be left at the base, for Tenten and the remaining to watch over since they are not a threat. " Itachi glanced at the people mentioned waiting for them to agree. Shikamaru let out a heavy sigh and glanced at the Young Uchiha. Neji crossed his arms and leaned back, Shino stayed quiet while Kiba and Chouji grinned widely.

" It was a drag but fine. " Shikamaru spoke and nodded at Itachi, who in turn acknowledges his decision. Neji then pushed a portfolio to Itachi.

" We had already laid out our plan. Some changes in our mission since we'll be a team. We already marked the areas that will be prioritized for the raid. Also, the backup that we need since this is riskier than what you had laid out. " Itachi glanced at the team and then at the Jounins. Kakashi nodded, followed by the approval of Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma. Itachi glanced at Shisui sent him a thumbs up, he glanced at his Uncle Obito who nodded followed by a soft yes from Rin.

" Okay, since you had already laid out the plan, then Sasuke? Care to explain it to us, since you obviously formed this group. " Sasuke rolled his eyes and moved to stand beside his brother. Naruto glanced at the two brothers. Everybody was amazed at how alike the two are. The room was filled with a heavy atmosphere immitted by the Uchiha brothers filled with smart predictive analytics and expertise. The room fell into a deep silence as the brothers helped each other out by giving opinions and facts making the plan dynamic and indestructible.

When both brothers looked at everyone, " Hn? " both brothers spoke in unison without care. Everybody had to sweatdrop and nod at the same time. They were totally alike.

Sasuke glanced around and moved forward stealthily. He rolled to move behind a tree trunk, he laid there for a while then moved to roll on his stomach, he took out his rifle and peeked through the scope. He then spotted two CCTVs near the entrance and another in the far-left corner. He smirked and shot all the CCTVs perfectly. He then strapped back his sniper rifle to his back and walked casually to the entrance, he opened the door and looked around. He signaled his team to move forward.

He glanced and saw the team walk in a straight line headed by Neji, followed by Shikamaru then by Naruto. He glanced and saw Shino climbed up a tree while Kiba and his dog, went around to scout the area followed by Chouji. Sasuke nodded at Neji, who opened the door slowly. Sasuke sent a signal and the group then dispersed. Shikamaru scouted the first few doors, while Neji scouted the weaponry room. Naruto walked behind him as they both moved away from the entrance.

Naruto called to Sasuke and nodded his head to the huge door. Sasuke nodded and followed Naruto inside. Once inside they saw dead bodies. Sasuke looked around immediately guessed it was the Laboratory.

Naruto, careful don't step on any puddle. Sasuke spoke through their earpiece.

Of course, teme, stop worrying about me. Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked around, he crouched down and picked up a vial with his gloved hand. He slipped it inside his back pocket, he looked around for one last time before leaving until his eyes spotted a straight cut on the wall. He approached it and softly knocked on the wall, he moved his hand a few feet away from where he knocked and gave another soft knock, this time the sounded different.

He signaled to Naruto who stood beside him. He glanced at him and both nodded in unison. Sasuke held up 3 fingers when he dropped the last finger, he and Naruto kicked the wall breaking it, showing an empty hallway. Naruto lifted his pen-like flashlight and move it from left to right. The place was dark and the walls were made out of stone. Sasuke squinted his eyes and walked forward.

The place looked like a pathway to hell, He thought and that thought gave him all the reason to walk further. When he was sure he was meters away from Naruto he was about to turn around when he heard a growl. He pulled out his own flashlight when he turned it on, he was greeted by a beast, no it was a person but its eyes were yellow and half of his body was white while the other half was black, but his body was unbelievably flawless. The only problem was that his body wrapped with green-like-vines that are moving disgustingly. Sasuke unsheathed his sword and sliced the beast in two.

He glanced at Naruto who was jogging to him. When the blond stood beside him and glanced at the dead beast gushing green blood, he made a disgusting sound and turned around. Sasuke making sure no one was going to attack him again when he found the hallway clear, crouched and sliced a small skin of the beast both white and black then cut a stem from the green-like-vines and he was surprised that it feels like flesh, and it has bones inside. Sasuke had to cover his nose with his arm at the smell. He then placed the parts inside a plastic and handed it to Naruto.

" Take it dobe, we need to give it to Sakura's Shishou to be studied. " Naruto's eyes widened and pushed the plastic back to Sasuke, Sasuke glared at the blond and placed it in his hands.

" Take it, I don't have any space in my bag. " Naruto bit his lip and held the pack away from him.

" It stinks. " Sasuke rolled his eyes and trekked away from the blond until he reached a dead end. He looked around and sighed deeply then punching the wall. He looked rested his forehead on the wall when his eyes stopped on small stands of hair. Even in the dark, he could still notice the pink strands. He crouched down and picked up the 3 strands of hair but it was enough. He looked up and placed his palm to the walls, feeling any crack but so far, he couldn't feel anything. His eyes widened and ran back to the dead beast, he inspected the face and luckily, it's not the same as Sakura's heart-shaped face.

I need you Naruto, Sasuke. I'm at the east wing, I'm here with Neji. You need to see this. Naruto looked up at Sasuke and nodded. They both jogged out of the hallway.

Shikamaru stared at all the cells in the room, he saw unconscious people locked up in each cell, and some were calling out to them. Neji lifted a bundle of keys to Shikamaru's face.

" Found it. " Neji gripped the keys and looked at the people, some were young, some were old, but most were teenagers. Neji approached an old woman, maybe around her 60's who was calling out to him.

" P-please help my grandson, just take him and save him. " The old woman pointed to the kid on the opposite cell, the kid was around 10 years old that was unconscious and was bleeding.

" P-please help him. " Neji smiled and nodded and approached the cell where the kid resides. Minutes passed by Sasuke and Naruto entered the room. Naruto's eyes widened at the view, he stomped around the placed and checked on everyone.

" I-I'm going to get that bastard. " He turned around and was about to leave when Shikamaru stopped him. Shikamaru gripped his arm and pulled him back.

" What you need to do is call Kakashi for back-up we need to save them first before you kick Orochimaru's ass. " Shikamaru then let's go of the blond and helped Neji unlock all the cells. Naruto sighed and looked at Sasuke who sent him a reassuring nod. Sasuke approached Neji when the brown-haired man called out to him.

" Stay back," Sasuke said to the teenager. The teenager moved away from the jail door. Sasuke pulled out his gun and shot the door, breaking its lock. Sasuke touched his earpiece and looked around to find Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji, huddling up the survivors.

" Sasuke "

" Nii-san, send the troupe, there are survivors in the EW`145 of the building "

" Ah, Kakashi and the other are already heading in there, have someone scout the area before we send in the plane. "

" Ah. " Sasuke tapped the earpiece and signaled to Shikamaru.

" Tell Kiba, Shino, and Chouji, the plane is coming. Let them secure the area first before we take these survivors outside. " Shikamaru nodded and contacted the three. Sasuke approached a fragile teenage girl. He crouched down in front of the girl and showed her a picture of the pinkette through his watch.

" Have you seen this woman? " the girl shook her head, Sasuke was about to stand up when a younger girl around 10 years old gripped his shirt. He looked down to see a blond girl with teary hazel eyes holding on to his shirt. Sasuke sighed and pulled the girl softly by her arm. The girl sniffed and wiped her tear-stained face with her arms. When Sasuke knew it was safe to ask he showed the girl a holographic picture of Sakura from his watch, he was about to open his mouth to ask when the girl immediately answered him.

" I-i saw her, s-she saved me, when a creepy white-haired man brought me and my daddy in this dark hallway, she was following around the white-haired man. I was about to get killed when she took the hit, she was stabbed, they immediately took me back here when she spoke to the white-haired man, but my daddy never came back, nor did she. " Sasuke sighed and nodded.

" Do you know where they went? " the girl shook her head and fidgeted her fingers.

" No, after she got stabbed, she requested to send me back to my room, then when she brought me back in here, she gave me some crackers and then she was taken away by some soldiers. " Sasuke nodded and patted the girl's head.

" I'm hungry and cold and I miss my daddy " Sasuke stared at the kid and squeezed her arm softly. Naruto moved to stand beside Sasuke and patted the girl on her head.

" I'm sure your daddy is somewhere safe. I'm also sure he is proud of you because you are so brave. " The girl smiled and nodded. She went back beside the teenage girl and hugged her. Sasuke stood up and approached Shikamaru.

" Sasuke, they're waiting outside. " Sasuke nodded and walked ahead of them. When he reached the entrance, he looked at the flat plane. It was made for missions like this, it doesn't make any sounds and it was made for rescuing. Kakashi and his men arrived went down from the plane and nodded at Sasuke. Itachi signaled the trouped who immediately went inside the building.

" So, did you find Sakura? " Itachi approached him and stared at him. Sasuke sighed and looked up at the sky, there were no stars tonight and glanced at Kakashi and Itachi.

" No, someone saw her, but the last thing they saw was she was being stabbed on the arm and was dragged away. Apparently, they left the building just 10 hours earlier than us. Orochimaru is one step ahead of us Nii-san. " Itachi sighed and turned around and boarded the plane. Kakashi patted Sasuke's shoulder.

" We'll find her. If we're this close, then tomorrow we'll be even closer. " Sasuke nodded then helped the survivors move to the plane. When the plane left Sasuke looked at his team. He looked up them back at them He could see the disappointment in their eyes and he couldn't deny, they were so close to saving Sakura.

" We scout the area for one last time and destroy it. " Everybody nodded and infiltrated the building again.

Sakura's body ached and felt cold. So, she slowly opened her eyes. She looked down and saw tubes in different sizes attached to her body. She touched her face and found a weird-looking oxygen mask on her mouth and nose. She looked around and remembered she was tricked by that Kabuto. She looked down and wanted to cover her body. She was naked making everything even worst.

When she heard the door slam open, she looked up and saw Orochimaru walk in, smiling at her.

" Ah, Sakura-san you're finally awake. My my my, you had a good rest for the whole day. Sorry for Kabuto's harsh treatment, he was merely following my orders. " Sakura tried to speak but found her voice gone. Her eyes widened and glared at Orochimaru who was chuckling at her reaction.

" ah yes, about your voice, it's only temporary. It's the effects of the liquid Kabuto injected into. " Sakura glared at him, wanting to kill him if only she could. Orochimaru waved at her and left the room. Sakura sighed and looked around. She bit her lip and could feel her emotions bursting through her chest after 6 days of being abducted.

Sasuke where are you? She thought and just cried. Her tears blending with the water inside the vessel.