Summary: During their mission at the bridge of Heaven and Earth, Sakura is struck by one of Naruto's demon chakra tails. The Kyuubi's chakra poisons her own and causes her incredible pain and the only way to save Sakura's life is to seal her. After she is sealed, Sakura must come up with a whole new jutsu style. During Sakura's struggle the threat of war is handing over Konoha's head and Sakura soon finds herself in the middle of it with her best friend, Naruto.

Sakura watched sadly as Naruto slowly walked with his head hung low through the forest towards their home in Konoha. Their mission had been to meet with Sasori's spy on the bridge of Heaven and Earth, but the mission had turned into a rescue attempt when the spy turned out to be Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man. Seeing Kabuto and Orochimaru had meant that their old teammate, Sasuke Uchiha had been close by. Sakura shuddered as she remembered the cold look her old crush had given her, and the way he had ruthlessly attacked both herself and Naruto, the ones who cared about him the most.

Overall the mission had been a failure, not only did they fail to learn anything, but they failed to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, again. Sakura glanced sideways at Naruto, who was still keeping his head low, and felt her heart sink even deeper. This mission had shown Naruto just how strong Sasuke was and that Naruto still had a long way to go.

No one said anything as they passed through the gates to Konoha. Captain Yamato looked at Naruto and cleared his throat quietly.

"We'll head straight to Lady Hokage's office to report on our mission," he said curtly.

"To report our failure," Naruto said bitterly. "We were too weak to do anything."

"Don't, Naruto," Sakura whispered. Naruto glanced at her and saw the tears in her eyes and didn't say anything.

Their newest member, Sai, raised his hand to get Yamato's attention. "If it is alright," he said formally. "I would like to head straight to Danzo to report and to ask to be released from ROOT."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Sakura asked. "You don't have to give up your position in ROOT for us."

"It's not for you," Sai said bluntly. "I don't want to be part of ROOT anymore; I want to experience life instead of simply taking them away."

Sakura nodded and wished him luck while he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yamato nodded and they all took off to Tsunade's office. The Fifth was sitting behind her desks going over past mission reports when they entered to report.

"Well," Tsunade said after looking over her team and noting every tear and cut on their bodies. "I'm guessing by your depressed expressions that the mission didn't go well."

"I'm afraid we failed my lady," Sakura said as she looked at the floor. "The spy turned out to be Kabuto and we ended up fighting both him and Orochimaru himself. We survived against Orochimaru because," Sakura trailed off and glanced anxiously at Naruto.

"I used the Kyuubi's chakra and lost control," Naruto said bitterly. He started to dig his nails into his palms and gritted his teeth.

"And saved our lives," Sakura put in.

Naruto turned on Sakura. "I almost killed you!" he shouted. "And even though I didn't, you're still hurt! I know your arm is still causing you pain!" he cried when she opened her mouth to deny her injury.

Tsunade looked at Sakura and raised an eyebrow. Sakura turned her green eyes to Tsunade and silently pleaded with them for her mentor to leave her questions until they were alone.

Sakura silently observed Naruto while Yamato gave the rest of their report. Naruto was still shaking and his eyes were quickly switching from blue to red slits. I hate this, she thought sadly. Now he'll be tearing himself up and there won't be anything I can do to help.

By the time Yamato had finished with their report Sakura's arm was starting to hurt again. She had kept the pain at bay so far, but her chakra was almost out and the pain was returning.

"Well this is unfortunate," Tsunade mumbled. Looking up she added, "I want you and Naruto to go to the hospital to get checked out, Yamato. Sakura, you stay here so we can talk."

Naruto caught Sakura's eye again and gazed there for a moment before he turned and followed Yamato out the window. Sakura looked after them before she turned to face her mentor.

"I can sense it," Tsunade said while she looked sternly at her young apprentice. "The demon fox's chakra is mixing in with yours. If we don't stop it now, it'll kill you."

"I can feel it," Sakura whispered. "I managed to stop it for the majority of our mission, but with my chakra so low, the pain is returning."

Tsunade stood up and walked over to Sakura and took the injured arm into her gentle hands. Tsunade focused her chakra into her hands and gently placed it on the wound. Using her chakra as a guide, Tsunade examined the wound to see the extent of the damage.

"Your chakra in your arm is almost completely mixed with the Kyuubi's," she said with concern. "If we let this go on, the Kyuubi chakra will make its way to your heart and then it will kill you."

"So how do we stop it from spreading?"

Tsunade removed her hand and went over to a shelf filled with scrolls and started looking through them. "You did a good job keeping it at bay, but you won't be able to stop this by sheer force of will, either the Kyuubi's chakra will slip past and kill you or you will use up all your chakra and effectively kill yourself."

Sakura walked over to the wall and sat down in one of the chairs with her hand gently holding onto her injury. "So what are our options?"

"I'm afraid we only have one," Tsunade said as she pulled out a dusty looking scroll and opened it up in the middle of the floor.

There was a thick layer of dust on the scroll, but it didn't cover the symbols that were cracked with age. Sakura looked at them with dread and then looked up to see her own frightened gaze reflected on her mentor's face.

"I have to be sealed?"

"I'm afraid it's the only way," Tsunade said. "I'll seal this room so no one can enter and no one can hear what happens. I need you to sit on the scroll and tear off the sleeve."

Sakura knelt in the center of the scroll and cut off her left sleeve while Tsunade locked the doors and windows and sealed them shut. Once Tsunade was satisfied that no one no sound could enter or leave, she stood behind her student.

"Are you ready for this? You don't want something to bite down on?"

"You sealed the room, and you and I both know that I would just end up biting anything you give me in half."

Tsunade chuckled and pulled out a kunai from Sakura's pouch. "Brace yourself," she warned her.

If the seals hadn't been in place, everyone in Konoha would've heard Sakura's piercing scream that cut through the Fifth Hokage's gut sharper than any blade.

A/N- I hope you all liked it. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update.