Authors notes: Hello everyone. I've returned with another installment of this story of mine.

This one's been floating around in my hard drive since after the publishing. It was around the same time that my interest in the anime waned. I had actually considered abandoning the story if not for two things. One: I've never been one to give in the middle of something; and two: I played NarutoShippuudenAccel 2. After seeing how saucy Hinata's ending pose after her ougis inspired me to continue.

I do have a few things I need to point out about the chapter. First, there are fight scenes in this story and I've never been good at writing fight scenes, so please bear with me. Second, my emotional status has always been an important factor in the quality in of my work. As of now I'm in my last year of college and I do not feel very good. I would like to warn you that this chapter may lack the qualities the previous ones had. Should you find this chapter to be of low quality, please put your thoughts into the review so I could revise thisin the future

Now, without further ado…

//\\

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction using elements note belonging to the author. These elements belong to their respective owner/s. Any similarities with people, place, events, and/or stories by other authors, either leaving or dead, are purely coincidental.

//\\

Sakura realized she felt cold. She could feel the blanket wrapped around her body, but that did little to drive away the chill she was feeling. Something was missing. The warmth she fell asleep to was gone. She turned over seeking the warmth, but her hand only fell upon the cold cell bed.

Opening her eyes, the girl soon realized she was alone. The boy she was sharing her cell with was gone. Fearing the worse, she quickly stood up and went the cell doors. Upon reaching the iron bars however, she found the doors were open. Hesitant, she peered outside onto the corridors.

The first thing she saw was an ANBU slumped against the wall not to far away. She race to him and checked if he was still alive. Breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing he was only knocked out, the medic nin looked and saw more unconscious ninja. As she followed the trail, it led her to the wide open prison gates

Seeing this, a horrible feeling entered her heart.

"Oh Sasuke, what have you done?"

//\\

"THEY WHAT…?"

The furious cry of Tsunade echoed through the entire Hokage tower. The night had passed and the news of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's escape has just reached the Fire Shadow's ears. To say she was enraged was an understatement.

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY ESCAPE?"

"W…we don't know, Master Hokage." came the scared reply of the chunnin unfortunate enough to be picked to be the bearer of bad news. "It looked like Uchiha Sasuke had broken the lock of his cell then proceeded to systematically knock out all of the ninjas guarding the prison. We have yet to figure out what part Haruno Sakura played in the escape."

Tsunade's face was twisting in anger.

"I want hunter nin squads sent out now! I want their heads…"

"You better not finish that sentence, Tsunade."

From a window stepped in Jiraiya, the toad Sannin and Tsunade's teammate.

"This does not concern you, Jiraiya. Stay out of my way."

He only gave her a glance and turned to the other people in the room.

"Please leave us. The Hokage and I need to discuss a few matters."

With all the amount of killer intent in the room, the other ninja's were more that happy to obey. Once everybody else had the old man turned to the genjutsu encased old woman.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING UNDERMINING MY AUTHORITY, JIRAIYA!?"

"I wasn't undermining your authority, Tsunade. I was only preventing you from making a mistake."

"Mistake? What mistake are you talking about?"

"The mistake of sending two innocent children to their deaths."

Tsunade was enraged when Jiraiya entered the room. Now she was furious.

"Innocent? INNOCENT! How dare you call that bastard and his whore innocent?" Tsunade slammed her fist on the table out of frustration. The said piece of furniture shattered into toothpicks.

"Sasuke and Sakura committed no crime, Tsunade. Well, maybe not Sasuke, he did betray the Leaf. But still, even though it was his Chidori that went through Naruto, it was not his desire to kill him. As for Sakura, her only crime was falling in love with Sasuke, and I seriously doubt there is a law against falling in love."

Tsunade's fury grew by every second, fuel not only by Jiraiya's words, but by the way he said it. He spoke in a wry tone, as if saying he understood the situation more, that he was superior to her.

"Has all that lechery rotted your brain? That son of a bitch murdered Naruto, and that slut still clung to him. They both had a hand in killing Naruto, both physically and emotionally. I'll make them pay for what they did to him. I'll make them suffer. I'll make them go through all that they put Naruto go through. I will have my revenge…"

As soon as the last word escaped her lips, Tsunade felt Jiraiya's hand hit her face. She looked at him with anger burning in he eyes. He looked at her with the same eyes he's been looking at her with.

"Do you realize what you're saying? You're already turning into Sasuke."

The last sentence reverberated within the Hokage's head. Her body suddenly went cold.

'I'm becoming like that bastard? No! Jiraiya is wrong. I'm not like him. All I want is justice for Naruto…'

She looked up and saw Jiraiya looking down at her. She remembered that looked. She had seen that look on her sensei's face thousands of times. It was the look the Sandaime had whenever he was disappointed. The only difference was she would see that look aimed at Jiraiya. This time, it was aimed at her.

"Stop looking at me like that." She said with a threatening tone. Her teammate still looked at her.

"Stop looking at me like that! I'm not like him."

"Are you? You seemed dead set on killing him you didn't seem to matter who got pulled along for the ride, Sakura for example."

"Th…that's different…"

"Is it? Sasuke was willing to betray the leaf and kill Naruto to get his revenge. You were willing to send anyone who sympathized with him to the gallows along with him. That doesn't seem so different to me."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, JIRAIYA! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M FEELING…"

Tsunade fell to her knees. For the first time in so long she felt old, even older than how she really was. She was shaking all over and tears were falling freely from her eyes. In the back of her mind, she knew he was right. She desired revenge, and was willing to do everything to get it.

"…Dan…Nawaki…I could do anything when they died. I couldn't even avenge their deaths. Now Naruto…I don't want to feel helpless again, Jiraiya. I don't want to stand by helplessly again as someone I love lies six feet under. I don't want to…"

She fell silent when Jiraiya wrapped his arms around her. Tsunade began to cry on his shoulder. She felt tired, so tired.

"I feel the same way, but this course of action will only bring you more sadness."

He slowly lifted her face to his.

"Tsunade, there is something you need to know about the fight…"

//\\

Trees blurred in front and to his sides. He was moving so fast he wasn't even thinking to move his limbs. It all came automatically. He didn't have time to think about how his leg was going to land into a branch.

He knew his target was close; his instincts told him. Unfortunately, his senses said otherwise. There was no charka signature, no presence felt, no tell tale sign of what he was looking for. He had been traveling all night and for half a day. He would have at least encountered his entourage by now.

He had just leapt from a branch when he felt a presence. It didn't felt like an Oto ninja's, but it could be masked. He quickly descended to the ground and turned around.

"I KNOW YOU'RE THERE" he shouted to the trees. "COME OUT!!!"

There was rustling in the leaves above, then somebody dropped from the branches. Standing in front of him was Sakura. This alarmed Sasuke. Thinking it was a ninja wearing a genjutsu, he activated his bloodline. The sharingan revealed otherwise. There was no genjutsu, it was the real Sakura.

"Sakura?" he expression was first that of surprise then of anger. "What are you doing here, Sakura?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, Sasuke." Sakura's reply was cold as ice.

"This is none of you concern" he said angrily, "Go back to Konoha."

"Not until you tell me what you are planning to do."

"You don't need to know Sakura; this is something I have to do alone. Go back to the village. At least there you'll be safe for a few more hours."

Knowing he was wasting time with the girl, he just tuned around and began to walk away. With his back turn, he didn't see Sakura grit her teeth and clench her fist. Sasuke had only taken a few steps when a strong 'tug' on his shoulder caused him to tip back, turn around, and slam his cheek on into an oncoming, charka-enhanced fist. The strike sent him flying into and straight through a tree.

Did I mention it was a very big tree?

Dazed from the sudden strike, the boy could only give an uncharacteristic yelp when he was pulled by the feet from the tree trunk and slammed onto the ground. Again he lifted up by his feet and slammed on the ground at the opposite side of the girl. She then threw him into the air, grabbed him by the shirt in mid flight and threw him on the ground with enough force to make a small crater. Sakura was quick to straddle him on his chest and began to pound his face.

"I…am…so…sick…and…tired…of…that…damned…attitude." The young woman said between each punch. Gripping him by the shirt collar, she lifted his torso a bit before slamming him back down in frustration.

She crouched down so his face was inches from hers and returned to shouting again. "Damn it, Sasuke. Hasn't the time you spent with Naruto and me taught you anything? Why won't you for once stop being an avenger? Why won't just quit your damned quest revenge. Why won't you for once act like you have a heart?"

Silence fell between the two. Sasuke was still for a few seconds, his eyes shadowed.

"My heart?" he spoke suddenly. "You want to know why I act so cold, distant and HEARTLESS. I'LL TELL YOU! The last time I had ever been warm to someone, every last member of my family was killed by him. The last person I ever got close to died by my hand. The only woman I allowed myself to fall in love with is now going to be executed with me."

Sakura was shocked by the last statement

"If the only way for me to keep the people I care for, if the only way for me to keep you, is to be heartless, then so be it. I will destroy my heart."

Again silence fell upon the two. To Sasuke, Sakura's eyes were shadowed, hidden from his view by her bangs and lowered head. Tears flowed down her cheeks, falling from her face to his.

"You loved me?" she said suddenly, her eyes still shadowed, "Since when?"

He was taken aback by question. Only now did he realize that he had unintentionally confessed his feelings to her.

"I…don't know." Sasuke answered with a cracking voice,"I just saw you coming towards the bridge one morning all those years back and realized I loved you. I chose never to do anything about it because at the time I thought it would only be a distraction for me…"

There was a throb in his chest. A tear fell from his eye.

"…and, deep inside, I was afraid that if I did pursue that love, I might only loose you like I did my family."

Sasuke had poured his heart out to Sakura, something that he never dreamt he would be capable of doing. She slowly got off him, allowing him to sit up. The girl knelt in front of him, her body visibly shaking. The boy was expecting her explode on him again.

"Then why?"

A question. He wasn't expecting that.

"Why did you leave me in that cell? Why didn't you take me with you? If you cared so much for me, why did you abandon me to die?" Sakura was confused. She wanted so desperately to believe that all he said was true, that all her dreams and fantasies were finally becoming real, that Uchiha Sasuke really did love her. Unfortunately, his recent actions spoke otherwise. He might as well be doing this as a diversion to give him an opening so he could kill her and continue his escape.

"I…I can't tell you that."

She knew it!

"Then to hell with you."

Pushing down the hope she had, Sakura summoned all her strength and slammed her fist into Sasuke. The boy had been expecting the strike, but not at the speeds it came in. He knew Sakura wouldn't let him go just because he confessed his long, hidden love for her. She may be a girl, but she was also a kunoichi. She was smarter than that. Sasuke hoped he could put her down without having to use the Sharingan, but she was forcing him to use it. This would give him an unfair advantage over her, but if he didn't hurt and stop her today, she would be dead tomorrow.

Sasuke twisted his body so his feet skidded along the ground, stopping him before he hit any other trees. Crouching low and covering his face, he looked up to her with his Sharingan flaring. Just in time, as Sakura was once again running towards him. With his doujutsu activated, he could clearly see her coming towards him like she was in slow-motion. Once she came in range, he moved to block her attack and counter with his own.

But no attack came. Sakura was about to launch it when something large and red came between her and Sasuke and slammed her into a tree. Sasuke screamed her name when she disappeared from his vision and turned to where the red streak was heading. He saw Sakura held against a tree by a large spiky beast.

"That was close, wasn't it Sasuke?"

From the shadow came a grey haired, bi-spectacled young man clad in violet. A forehead protector with a note carved on it adorned the top of his head. He approached Sasuke casually.

"Kabuto, what are you doing here?" the last Uchiha asked.

"Why, I'm here to get you back of course" he answered then looked to where Sakura was being pinned to a tree. "It seemed I was just in time too. She seemed quite intent on finishing you off. Quite a surprise actually, I wasn't expecting Sakura to be so willing to take you on, much less try to kill you."

He turned away and shrugged, "Oh, well. Come along now Sasuke, Orochimaru is waiting. My companion will take care of her."

As he said this, the beast began to strangle Sakura. She gasped for breath as she struggled to break free. This only made the beast tighten its hold around her neck. Sasuke saw this and turned to Kabuto.

"Kabuto! Tell your minion to let her go!"

The Sound nin looked at him. "This is quite out of character for you, Sasuke. You seem genuinely concerned for her. Come now Sasuke, we have very little time for these games of yours. I have to take you back before our great leader gets angry."

Kabuto turned around. Sakura let out a throaty cry. Again Sasuke shouted, "I'm serious Kabuto! Tell your minion to let Sakura go."

He turned around with looked of annoyance mixed with arrogance. "And what are you going to do Sasuke? Are you actually planning to take her along? You and I both know Orochimaru would not allow it. She would be dead within a minute of coming in front of him. Better she quickly die now than later from being experimented on."

The beast tightened its grip on the girl's neck, making her cry out again. In desperation, Sasuke pulled out a kunai.

"And what are you going to do?" Kabuto asked, "My companion has the Cursed Seal, as you clearly must have noticed. Mere weapons such as that would have no affect on him."

"Who said anything about using it on him?" At that Sasuke twirled the weapon until the point was at neck. "One more time Kabuto, let her go. If Sakura dies, I die with her."

"Please stop playing around." the bespectacled nin said. It was becoming apparent he was losing his cool. "I highly doubt you'd let yourself die before getting your revenge."

"Are you sure, Kabuto? I've accepted long ago the possibility of me failing in my revenge, so it won't really be much of a deal to me if I die now. Orochimaru, unfortunately, is very sore about not getting what he wants. I highly doubt he's accepted the possibility of failing in acquiring my body."

Sasuke pushed the kunai loser to his neck until it drew blood. With a grin, he mocked Kabuto. "Well, Kabuto? Are you that confident you could live through Orochimaru throwing a fit about losing his chance at getting his goal?"

Kabuto clenched his fists. For all he knew the boy was just bluffing. Still, it would be far more than disastrous for him if he did kill himself. It was quite a predicament he was in, and he can't help but smile. It was very devious of the young genin to put him in such a position. He learned well from Orochimaru.

Deciding to choose the lesser evil, the Oto nin signaled for his minion to release the girl. Giving him one last glare, Sasuke went straight to Sakura and took her into his arms. She was coughing and gasping.

"Breathe, Sakura. Breathe."

A few more gasps and Sakura's breathing returned to normal. He couldn't help but feel relieved. This relief, however, was short lived. The shadow of Kabuto and his minion befell them.

"Ah, how sweet. So sweet in fact it's sickening." Kabuto said with a sneer on his face. "What happens to her from here on out will be your fault, Sasuke. Don't say I didn't warn you about what Orochimaru would do to her."

He then looked at the pink haired girl. "You were a fool to have followed him, Haruno Sakura. He left you in your cell to save you from what happened just a while ago. You might have even lived to a ripe old age had you not been so impulsive. Now you will suffer a most gruesome fate in the hands of the destroyer of Konoha."

The Sound nin started to walk away. With one hand the minion pulled Sasuke, who still had Sakura in his arms, up to his feet and 'lightly' pushed him into following.

"Don't worry, Sakura." Sasuke whispered quietly. "I'll find a way to get you back to Konoha."

These were the last words she heard before oblivion consumed her.

//\\

Teams Gai, 10, and what was left of team 8 were in the Hokage's office. Tsunade stood before the eight ninja's assembled before her. They were all young, not even pass their teen years, and they were the best of their generation. She had chosen them also because of their experience and connections with their objectives.

"As you may have already heard, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura have escaped from prison. I'm assigning the eight of you the mission of finding them and bringing the both of them back here. Hyuuga Neji, you will be in command of the team, seeing as Nara Shikamaru is no longer with us."

Ino felt her heart ache a bit at the name of her former teammate, but she pushed it aside.

"Master Hokage, are we to eliminate the fugitives should they resist?" Neji asked.

"No." came the quick reply, "You are to subdue them should they resist but they must be returned alive."

The obvious surprise at her answer was expected by Tsunade so she continued.

"I'm sure that all of you are surprised that I want them back alive, seeing as my recent actions spoke otherwise. Most of you would have wanted a shot at Sasuke, because of his transgressions against your circle of friends. So now I will tell you my reason for this decision.

I have recently been given evidence that may exonerate Sasuke of the crime of Naruto's murder. Before any of you react I want you to know that even I have doubts about this, no matter how reliable the source may be. Still, if there is a possibility of it being true, as Hokage it is my duty to prevent my ninjas from being punished for something they did not do. At the same time, there are resources within Konoha that would allow us to verify this new evidence, but Uchiha Sasuke needs to be alive in order for that to happen.

You are some of the best we have; at the same time you have experience both with this kind of mission and with the targets. This would increase the chances of your mission's success. Still, due to the nature of the mission, I'm allowing you to turn down this mission if you feel you don't want to do it."

Silence fell within the room. Tsunade looked at the ninja assembled before her. Their faces showed steely determination and focus. They all seemed to have made up their minds

//\\

The world was a groggy blur when Sakura came to. As her vision focused she saw orange light filtering through the canopy of trees. The color of the light and trees whizzing by told her that it was already sunset and that she was already several miles from Konoha. She pulled her head up, realizing it was hanging the wrong way.

"You're awake, that's good."

She looked up and met Sasuke's onyx eyes.

"You were out for almost an hour. It's good to see you're okay, Sakura."

Sasuke's face was full of relief and a hint of joy at her return to consciousness. A smile even graced his normally frowning lips. Sakura however was not the least bit glad to see this. She looked to the front and saw Kabuto's almost blurred back. She turned her head and saw the red monster bringing up the rear

"Where are you taking me?" she asked Sasuke, not bothering to luck up to him.

Sasuke's smiled disappeared. "I'm taking you to where Orochimaru is."

Her eyes narrowed at his responce. "So you are taking me to your master to be judged."

"No, Sakura!" Sasuke almost yelled, "Why can't you understand that I had no choice. If I left you back there they would have killed you. I don't want to see you die."

Sakura only kept silent. Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. "Damn it, Sakura. I'm not trying to hurt you. Why won't you believe that I'm trying to save your life?"

She finally looked up at him. "You're taking me to someone who wants destroy Konoha and everyone in it and almost succeeded; the very same one who killed our former leader and an undisclosed number of leaf ninjas and civilians. You're the prodigy. You figure it out."

Sasuke wanted to say something back, but found that he couldn't. She was right. By all accounts what he was doing looked like he was bringing the pink haired girl to her executioner, like a lamb to the slaughter. He knew there was nothing he could say right now that would justify what he was doing. He was a fool to think he could convince her that what he was doing was for her own good.

A few more minutes of silence and the group came to a large clearing. All over the clearing and on the trees were thousands of Sound ninjas. They all stood on tree branches, and each branch was occupied until the top. As they looked around the two prisoners felt like they were looking up from a deep, dark pit; a pit that had demons all over its walls.

Even Sasuke was stunned. He knew Orochimaru would come after him, but he didn't expect him to come with a veritable army. It was then that a thought entered the two young leaf shinobi's mind, and the realization made their blood turn cold.

This wasn't a retrieval team, it was an invasion force.

The brute behind them pushed Sasuke and Sakura forward and forced them to kneel before a man seated in the middle of the clearing.

"Ah, Sasuke. You've finally arrived." Orochimaru said from his gilded chair. "And look who we have here. Haruno Sakura, how good of you to join us. Tell me, how is my old hag of a former teammate."

"Royally pissed when she finds out you're here." The leaf nin said, making sure to add some spittle with every word.

Orochimaru's grin grew wider. "She could be angry all she wants. In a matter of hours her rage wouldn't matter anymore."

He made a gesture to no one in particular. A ninja materialized beside him, carrying a long object covered in cloth. He took it and tossed it in front of Sasuke.

"I'm disappointed, Sasuke. I went through a lot of trouble making this for you and you just left it behind."

Sasuke took the bundle, untied the string and took off the covering. In his hands was sword. It had no guard, making the handle look flush to the scabbard. It was as long as a katana, but without the characteristic curve.

"That Kusanagi is a work of art." The snake Sannin continued. "It shouldn't be left just lying around gathering dust."

Sasuke's gaze left the sword and went to his master. "Thanks, I'll remember that."

As soon as the last words lipped out of his mouth, Sasuke drew the sword. Even before anyone could react to the sound of metal being drawn, the last Uchiha had disappeared from the spot he was kneeling. The sound of metal hitting metal sent the eyes of onlookers to where Orochimaru's throne was. There they saw the Otokage and the last Uchiha crossing Kusanagi swords.

Sasuke pushed his blade with all his might, trying to break the defense and cut the flesh of his master. Orochimaru's only held a grin, which widened every second. Slowly the boy's sword came ever closer to the older man's neck. The blades shook as the two struggled. Finally, the shaking stopped.

Sasuke suddenly found himself stumbling forward as Orochimaru vanished before him. With nothing holding it back, the boy's sword buried itself into the chair in its path. The prodigy then heard the sound of something cutting through air. He moved his head just in time to see the thin blade of Orochimaru's Kusanagi pass inches in front of his eyes. The boy jumped back with all his might, managing to dislodge his sword in the process. Seeing his former student fall back, the otokage threw his arm forward. Thousand of snakes burst from within his sleeve, slithering amongst themselves and towards Sasuke. The last Uchiha swung his sword at serpents, cutting off the heads of some, but they were too numerous and he soon found himself covered with them.

Sakura's breath caught in her throat upon seeing Sasuke being overwhelmed by the snakes. She made a mad dash to where he was but was stopped when light erupted from within the serpent coils. Pieces of fried snake flew everywhere courtesy of Sasuke's Chidori Current. As soon as he hit the ground the prodigy began pumping chakra through his legs and sped towards the snake Sannin. Orochimaru looked on as his former pupil charged towards him with sword at hand. He lifted his hands and opened his mouth inhumanly wide. With a big lurch forward, snakes ones again appeared, this time erupting from both hands and from his mouth. As they sailed through the air the reptiles opened their mouths, bringing forth long gleaming blades.

A tidal wave of serpents came roaring towards Sasuke. The last Uchiha carried on undeterred. Sending his chakra to his left hand, lightning began to crackle between his fingers. The arcs began to enlarge and take shape. Putting more control into his chakra, he made his lightning chakra sword larger and longer, shaping it into a long blade many times his size. With a cry the lightning chakra sword went downward, effectively parting the wave of snakes and swords down the middle. With this obstacle gone, Sasuke sped headlong for his target. Lightning from his Chidori arced around him, truning him into a lightning bolt heading inexorably to hit his mark.

And hit his mark he did. Bursting through the snakes he ran his hand through Orochimaru's stomach, the Chidori bursting from the other side of the body. Residual lightning from the jutsu sliced through the snake Sannin's sides, completely severing his torso from his legs. Not content with slicing his opponent into two, Sasuke brought his sword down in a wide arc, slicing down the middle of the first, two pieces. Finally, with a swift turn of his body, he swung his blade above his head, decapitating the two torso pieces simultaneously. The quartered body fell on the ground in a bloody heap.

Silence fell upon the clearing. Sasuke looked at the bloody slabs of meat at his feet and felt a sense of accomplishment mixed with disbelief. It would appear that he had been victorious. It felt strange to him. He was not expecting such an easy win.

Sasuke quickly brought himself out of his thoughts. He removed his shirt and ripped the front. He put the ripped garment on the ground and carefully placed the two halves of Orochimaru's head on it. He tied the end together tightly; making sure nothing would fall off. With the package tied and ready, he went to where Sakura was. Sakura stood unmoved since Sasuke escaped the snake coils. She was amazed at the level of skill the young Uchiha had demonstrated. She could not believe he had defeated one of the Legendary Sannin in single combat. And though she had been cold to him before, she was truly worried about him during the fight. And now that it was over, she was relived and happy he had won.

Sasuke went to Sakura and offered a hand to the girl. She took the hand and let herself to be pulled up. A smile was dancing on the Uchiha's lips. He looked happy and relived, as if a great had been removed from his shoulders. Finally, Sakura was able to find her voice.

"You've…won."

"Yes I have." He said, slowly lifting his hand to caress her cheek. He then continued, in an almost breaking voice, "Now, we could go home."

The two then heard clapping. The turned and saw Kabuto clapping his head and looking at them with a strange look.

"Very good, Sasuke. You've fought well. I personally never thought you've risen to this level of power, being able to meet a Sannin on level ground. Unfortunately, you can't go just yet…"

At this point Sasuke began to feel the package he was holding move. He looked down just in time to see several snakes bursting out from the cloth sack. The serpents latched their jaws on to him and Sakura. Almost immediately, the two teens felt their bodies go numb and their feet give way. The serpent's paralyzing venom quickly worked its way through their bloodstreams. Their bodies felt like it was on fire and were wracked with spasms. Their breathing became haggard and labored. With blurry eyes, Sasuke saw the earth beside Kabuto swell and grow. It began to form features, slowly turning into something he didn't want to see again. His eyes grew wide, making them hurt.

"…and this battle isn't over." Orochimaru said with a sadistic smile on his face.