Sakura and Sasuke kept on jumping from tree to tree. They were in pursuit of the sand siblings. Sasuke had Sakura's arm around his neck to help her match his speed. The medic was exhausted from keeping up the water barrier in the arena.
"Sorry..." said Sakura. "I'm only slowing us down...I should have managed my chakra better. Sorry for being so useless."
"Don't say that. Back in the arena you protected us. Besides nobody knew this was going to happen." said Sasuke as he continued jumping.
Suddenly they met with Kankuro. The puppet master was glaring at them from one of the trees.
"I told Temari to go on ahead with Gaara." muttered Kankuro. "Ok Uchiha, Haruno. It's time you two picked on someone your own size."
Sasuke looked at Kankuro before muttering to Sakura. "He's all alone we can take him together."
"We might not have to." whispered Sakura.
"What do you mean?"
Sakura smirked and nodded her head to the side. Just then, Shino emerged from the trees. "I'll take care of him." said Shino.
"How did you find us?" asked Sasuke.
"I planted a beetle on you two as you left the arena." said Shino. "A female beetle, that gives an unnoticeable scent. The males have a strong sense of smell and would follow her anywhere. The two of you are after Gaara. You better get moving. Leave this one to me."
Sasuke smirked. "Well alright then."
"Good luck Shino." said Sakura before they left.
"Why are you even here?" asked Kankuro.
"A man named Hayate Gekkō was murdered a few days ago by a sand ninja. He was a good friend of my father's and like an uncle to me. I came here for answers."
...
Temari kept on jumping with Gaara on her back. He was currently unconscious. If it wasn't for that stupid Hyūga woman, this wouldn't have happened. A woman caught Gaara murdering 2 jōnins during the last match. She attempted to fight him in order to defend the rest of the spectators. While she didn't survive the endeavor, she managed to block one of his chakra points in his forearm. Because of that one blocked tenketsu point, Gaara lost control.
He was beginning to wake up so Temari stopped on a branch. She was fussing over him, however he didn't like that so he punched her away. Just then, Sasuke and Sakura reached them. Sasuke let go of Sakura as they both prepared themselves incase they needed to fight.
"Look, I have no idea what scheme you Sand Village clowns got going on, but I'm gonna stop you." declared Sasuke. "Besides...I wanna see what you really are."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at Sasuke before looking back at Temari. The blonde was trying to calm Gaara down but it was fruitless. He was losing control.
"We're so alike Uchiha, I don't have friends as you have. But it's not that that makes you strong, it's your purpose. In that way were alike." said Gaara. "But mine is the strongest purpose. For only by destroying you can I prove that I exist! Only by killing you can I know what life is!" Suddenly Gaara started screaming as he clutched his head. He started screaming while he began transforming. His arm and part of his face looked like they were made of sand and his eye looked like the one of a demon.
He came at them at full speed, but Sakura and Sasuke managed to dodge at the last second. The found themselves on different trees, hiding from the beast. They both jumped in the air as Gaara destroyed multiple trees at once.
"Is he even human?" asked Sasuke.
"That looks like Shukaku, the One-Tail." said Sakura while she maneuvered herself in the air. She attached one chakra string to Sasuke and another to a tree farther away before bringing the both of them to safety. "I read in books about it but I never saw it in person before."
"The One-Tail? You mean like Naruto?" asked Sasuke.
"Yeah, but way, way worse sealed."
"Why are you hiding Uchiha?! Did I frighten you?!" asked Gaara. "Are you shocked by my true form? Come out come out, Sasuke Uchiha."
The 2 hid themselves behind a tree. They watched Gaara carefully as he destroyed trees randomly around them. Suddenly Sasuke jumped in the air and threw 3 kunai at him. Gaara's sand absorbed the weapons before firing them at Sasuke. They hit him dead on before he poofed and revealed a log. Suddenly Sakura appeared behind Gaara and used Water Release: Mouth Shot. A single senbon-shaped droplet of water spit out of her mouth and headed towards the Jinchūriki. It hit Gaara's arm and exploded, soaking a small portion of the sand. Gaara then swiped at her and tore her chest open before she poofed and revealed a log.
Gaara started yelling at Sasuke to come out again before destroying more trees. He started taunting him and Sakura feared that it might be getting to him. When Gaara mentioned harvesting his hatred, Sakura knew that he finally hit a nerve. Sasuke was a few trees away from her, so he was too far away for her to snap him out of it. Next thing she knows, he charges at Gaara with a Chidori.
"That idiot!" said Sakura. "Is he trying to get himself killed?!" She wouldn't let that happen, so she quickly prepared a chakra string that she tied around Gaara when he jumped towards Sasuke. She pulled on the string and changed Gaara's trajectory by a few degrees, this allowed Sasuke to cleanly cut the sand arm in half.
Gaara landed face first on a tree branch, he laid there for a few seconds before rising like the dead. He acknowledged Sasuke's strength before he grew a sand tail that he used to catapult himself at Sasuke. This time he didn't manage to dodge as Gaara was much faster. His back created a crater in the tree he landed on from the force of impact. Suddenly Sasuke got really mad as he rose from the crater. He charged in another Chidori and ran at Gaara at full speed.
"Sasuke! Don't be an idiot! It won't work!" yelled Sakura, but he ignored her. The Chidori got smaller and smaller, but by some miracle managed to hit Gaara before disappearing. Sasuke sat to the side and breathed heavily. He looked back and noticed that the sand arm dissolved. He swayed before he started swaying. Sakura was immediately at his side and put his arm around her neck.
"That was incredibly reckless of you!" said Sakura as she jumped away from Gaara.
"But it worked didn't it?" said Sasuke while smirking.
The medic huffed before stopping on a branch. "You got lucky this time. Don't do that again." She started rummaging through her bag before pulling out a pill. "Here, take this."
Sasuke looked at the pill surprised. "Soldier pills? Where did you get this?"
"I may, or may not...have stolen some from the hospital..." said Sakura while looking to the side.
Sasuke snorted in response before swallowing the pill. Suddenly Gaara rose again and charged at them after his arm grew back. Sakura wasted no time and put Sasuke on her back before running away.
"I'm tired of your meddling little girl!" yelled Gaara as he swiped at her. Suddenly he managed to grab her ankle in his sand. Sakura knew she was doomed so she used all of her strength to take Sasuke off her back and push him away. Sasuke looked at her surprised as he felt himself get thrown. He looked back and saw Gaara use his sand to bring Sakura to him.
"SAKURA!" yelled Sasuke as he saw his teammate get pulled into a coffin of sand.
The sand was surrounding her on all sides before it started crushing her. If she didn't do something quickly, she was gonna die. She started screaming in pain the sand closed in on her. Sasuke could barely stand, until the soldier pill to effect he could do nothing but watch his teammate suffer.
Suddenly an orange blur appeared and kicked Gaara away from Sakura. The sand Jinchūriki let go of the pinkette as he jumped away from Naruto. Sasuke mustered any strength he had left to jump and catch her before she fell. They both landed on a branch below and he helped her in a half sitting position before she started coughing. She coughed a small quantity of blood on his navy shorts. She slumped against Sasuke as she breathed heavily.
"Sorry, guess I ruined your shorts even more baboon-man." said Sakura with a smirk that looked more like a grimace.
"Hn. Its fine. Let's get you to safety." he scooped her up before she could say anything and jumped away. Sakura wanted to protest but she lost consciousness before she could say anything.