Chapter 19 – Exhausting Akatsuki

The clone of herself had purposely destroyed herself in the most painless way possible; a cut from a too sharp branch and all the memories appeared into her mind. Upon reviewing these visions she learnt that in the end, Tsunade permitted her to go assist Itachi. Hence the whole clone set up was pointless and she should've had faith and waited. That aside she leapt from another building until she winced midway and almost crashed to the ground; and here comes another clone's memories.

It was the one she sent to support her search for Itachi. In the midst of an up – close encounter of Akatsuki leader it got itself killed and it experiences appeared into her mind along with the pain of being scraped across her torso. Albeit the pain she found the whereabouts of Itachi and Tobi. Leisurely she made her way there; no point in wasting chakra before the main event.

Right in the centre of the explosion should've been the first place she checked. Although her conclusion of heading to an unknown secluded area would've made sense as well. When she arrived the makeshift arena, it was starting to get heated. Literally she thought, "Damn Uchihas and their affinity for fire."

"You should be punished for giving me a heart attack," the familiar, silky voice of Itachi Uchiha murmured into her ear.

Before she even got a hand in the battle, he appears out of the blue. "I hope this is genuinely you, Sakura."

"Unless I've suddenly been possessed by an unknown deity this is the one and only," she joked.

"Let us get the show on the road then," he smirked, grabbing her hand.

The battlefield was displayed before them, the excruciating inhumane deaths performed by the Akatsuki ninjas were merciless. They were concerned these acts would intimidate they soldiers, although she had the upmost faith in all the ninjas. They forces were fighting for not only the country but the entire world, the Akatsuki have carried out their negative agenda for far too long and although some of them did display admirable interests, it is unfortunate it could not be said the same for the rest of the Akatsuki.

"They are about there now, although they mightn't be in top condition from the travels but they are as ready as they'll ever be," Gaara confirmed with Tsunade.

"Excellent, how are things going over near Sound and Rain?" Tsunade asked.

"The Kages have already engaged the Sound ninja, although this was a surprise attack the Sound are faring pretty well against the Water and Lightning. As for the Rain country, neither the Tsuchikage nor members of Earth have reported," one of the Allied chunin reported.

"That's to be expected, isn't the Rain Village Akatsuki headquarters?" Tsunade wondered aloud, "If everything goes according to plan, both villages should submit to the Allied forces."

"Mmm," Gaara hummed, "We should head down to the battlefield soon."

"Not yet though. Who knows what other surprises the Akatsuki have."

She wished at the end of all this she could ask why they had done what they did. But this war held no prisoners; all members of the Akatsuki were to be killed on site. It was justifiable these ninja had gone rogue, their abilities to escape authorities were boundless.

The echoing thud of an oversized corpse resounded throughout the battlefield. If there were time to stop and stare; everyone would. The Allied forces could sense the slight morale drop in the Akatsuki troops, one of their trump cards; slaughtered.

"Tch, brats," Orochimaru thought, "Striking Snake Technique"

Several snakes flew through the air towards Sasuke and Naruto, which the easily dodged. Unfortunately the snakes continued their path and attacked surrounding ninjas. The turned around and engaged Orochimaru, taking turns lest the risk accidentally injuring each other. This continued for a long time, and it was clear Orochimaru was almost out of gas.

A passing ninja saw an opening and since this was all fair game, he threw a kunai to an unsuspecting Sasuke. "Heh, no you don't," Ino sneered.

She deflected the kunai with one of her own and followed it with a kick to the head, knocking the ninja out. Continuing on her way she vaguely heard Sasuke shout his gratitude, and scolding Naruto for not covering him.

"I'm not your mum, cover your own back!" Naruto retorted.

"Does it look like I can, idiot!" Sasuke answered back.

"Why you-"

"How are you two on a team!?" Ino interrupted from the distance.

Sakura grunted as she landed none too gracefully. "You should've expected him to be difficult," Itachi stated from a tree branch.

"Yes I know, but still," she murmured wiping her hands on her pants.

"If it's a consolation he's much worse than us," he noticed offering her a hand.

She accepted it and stood up, ready for the next barrage of overpowered jutus. She was thankful for her compatibility for genjutsus, or this would be so much more difficult. The amount of random heads popping up from her body would've traumatised a regular ninja by now. Although Tobi did slip some good moves in she was quickly brought back to reality by Itachi. That's not to say she didn't insinuate some of her own, most of them physical wounds rather than mental. They were small cuts; harmless, but an abundance of those, life threatening.

They've gotten through many of Tobi's summons, which they finished easily enough. She looked at Itachi, he had his Sharingan activated to the fullest extent. She frowned slightly, the damage he was causing might be irreparable but she knew they needed it to win. "Well I hope you're not going to stand there all day, I'm barely done here," Tobi taunted.

"But that's not true is it?" Sakura countered, "I wonder how much longer you'll last."