'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!'

Sakura glanced frantically between the shackles binding her to a stone altar and the figures standing in a circle around her chanting words she could not understand and rhythmically tapping their staves on the hard ground. She didn't know who they were or what they wanted. She couldn't even decipher whether they were men or women through their heavy grey robes. Even their faces were covered by a piece of white fabric.

Gritting her teeth, she began rotating her hands in their restraints, ignoring the flare of pain that erupted in her already damaged and bleeding wrists. 'I need to get out of here! And fast!'

She hissed in pain when the figure that appeared to be leading the group dug the tip of a dagger in the skin of the inner part of her arm under the joint. It was a rather dangerous spot and one wrong move would be enough to cause profuse bleeding and eventually death. However, it appeared that this person knew what they were doing. She wouldn't die but it would certainly cause her pain. A gasp left her lips when they started dragging the dagger across her skin. Blood began to pour from the small but deeps scars darkening the grey stone she was shackled to. They resembled an octagram, she vaguely noted, but in her frantic state she couldn't be sure.

'I need to get out of here! I just hope that Ino and Tenten managed to get to safety.' She didn't even want to think of the possibility that any kind of harm had come to her friends, especially since she wasn't there to help them. She rotated her hands harder in their restraints but the rational part of her brain told her that it would do her no good. Whatever these shackles were made of was eating away at her chakra-she could feel it slipping away from her like water through her fingers-or maybe it was the figures' doing. Whatever the case, all roads led to one thing; she had to get out before she ran out. She tried to summon whatever chakra she had left in her body in hopes of breaking the chains holding her in place. A horrified expression overtook her features when she realized that she couldn't. Damn it, she couldn't! Something was preventing her from accessing her chakra.

Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt herself grow dizzy. The blood loss was staring to get to her and she was but a few steps away from chakra depletion. Suddenly, the chanting of the mysterious figures standing around her began to grow louder and it was with horror that she realized that as their voices began echoing around them, the rate at which they were absorbing her chakra increased drastically.

'H-How?' Damn it Tsunade! She knew they shouldn't have trusted that strange man when he appeared in Tsunade's office a couple of weeks ago requesting three of her kunoichi to carry out a mission. The checked mask and the cloth covering his face should have set them off, not to mention how adamant he was about not letting any males participate in the mission.

'N-No! I need to stay awake!' And yet her eyelids felt heavy and no matter how much she tried she couldn't help but feel her consciousness slowly slipping away. Through half-lidded eyes she saw the figures inch closer to the altar with their staves raised. Their chanting grew louder as they approached. They kept repeating the same phrase over and over again and she strained her ears to make it out.

"Al-Thamen!"

"Al-Thamen!"

"Al-Thamen!"

"Al-Thamen!"

'Al-Thamen? What is that supposed to mean? Who are these people? What do they want?'

She noticed with alarm that they were bringing their staves even closer to the point that their oddly-shaped ends were almost touching right above her body. The moment they came in contact Sakura wished they had killed her and be done with it. Excruciating pain that she never knew existed exploded in her stomach and surged through her veins like liquid fire. She arched her back and screamed as the pain spread from her toes to her fingertips.

It was something else though that made her tremble in fear. A dark energy was gathering around her. It was a presence so malevolent and dark that it almost drowned her. There were no words to describe it. Even Sasuke's curse mark paled in comparison to the pure evilness of this gathering darkness. It felt like…a void. An endless void and darkness that no light could pierce through. It was so overwhelming that for a moment she forgot about the pain. She forgot about the figures around her and the shackles trapping her to the altar. All she concentrate on was getting away from that venomous energy.

But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get away. The dark energy began to build up around the ends of their staves and as their chanting increased so did the pain in Sakura's body. At some point it became so much that even keeping her eyes open became painful.

The dark energy continued to grow and expand swallowing everything around her. One by one the figures started to disappear and so did the walls and the altar on which she was laying. All she could see was dark and despair filled her being. Soon the darkness started to engulf her and suddenly she was drowning. Drowning and chocking and going crazy. She tried to breath but she realized there was no air, only evil.

The scars the leader had carved into her skin began to throb and burn painfully.

'So much pain…I can't take it….I can't take it anymore….'

With a last blood-curdling scream, Sakura let go. She simply let go. Of everything. Of the pain, of the darkness, of her grip on reality. She simply let go.

And suddenly she was falling. Falling in an abyss of burning stars and swirling colors. Was this supposed to be her end? Strange…She had always thought that she would die in battle like all those great shinobi before her. They would put her name on the memorial stone and her family would remember her as a great kunoichi who died with fire in her heart and the wind at her back. It was such a shame that it wouldn't be coming true…..

There was an explosion of color and light and at last, the last remnants of her consciousness slipped away….

XxxOxOxOxxX

'Damn…..My head is pounding. Did I get crushed by a boulder or something?'

Slowly sitting up, Sakura winced as intense pain shot through her back. Hell, it hurt everywhere and as luck would have it, she had no chakra left to heal herself. She looked around through half-lidded eyes, trying to understand where she was or how she got there in the first place.

It was dark outside and apparently she was sprawled in an alley, her back half leaning on a wall with the moon and a soft red glow that she guessed was a fire coming through the entrance of the alley as her only light. She looked at herself. Her clothes were tattered and bloodied and there was a number of bruises littering her skin. 'Shit...What the hell did I do?' Her limbs hurt like hell but there were no broken bones from what she could tell. Her eyes fell on the octagram carved in the skin of her arm and suddenly memories of what transpired a few hours ago-or was it a day? Maybe a week?-flooded her mind.

'Now I remember….What the hell did those bastards do?'

She looked around and with what little energy she had pushed herself off the wall. With shaky legs, she walked to the opening of the alley and stared at the completely unfamiliar surroundings. She couldn't recall ever being in this place or even hearing about it. She couldn't tell whether she was in a village or a town. The streets were dirty and the people coming and going were dressed in rags. Their faces were hollow and pale and their eyes were scared. There was a certain uneasiness in their stride and more often than not they looked around as if expecting someone to attack them. 'What happened to these people?' There was also something really strange going on with their chakra…With a groan she limped out of the alley and carefully approached an old man that was leaning against the wall of a building 15 feet away from her. He seemed worn and dangerously thin for his age and his beard was dirty and unkempt.

"Excuse me? Sir? Ojisan?"

The man raised his tired gaze and regarded her with confusion and a touch of fear.

'Fear?' "Could you please tell me where I am?"

"Are you new here lass?" His voice sounded raw and she guessed that he hadn't had water for a while but he looked at her kindly and even with a bit of sympathy.

"Sort of…." she answered and tried to smile at the old man.

"Well then lass, welcome to Balbadd."

TBC

Hell yeah! Here is the prologue to my upcoming Naruto/Magi crossover! I intended to finish my other stories before starting this one but I just couldn't help it! I mean, I could hear it calling me to write! Anyway, I hope this prologue has at least piqued your interest. It's going to take me a while to update (but not too long!) since I have to update two other stories but I promise I'll try to do so as soon as possible. The pairing hasn't been decided yet so you can still vote your preferred one. The poll's on my profile so please spare a couple of minutes to vote. I hope you enjoyed this! READ AND REVIEW!

Lots of love!