Chapter Eleven

It was nearing dusk as the three began to set up their camp. Sakura began to light the fire, but had trouble doing so as she always had.

The other kunoichi who was with her silently offered to light the fire as Sakura backed away with embarrassment. The fire slowly began to flame up as the other shinobi returned from his break. He took a seat by the fire before everything had happened.

The shinobi who returned was but another one of Zetsu's clones. Sakura had seen this, but hadn't noticed in enough time. He took them both out before they could defend themselves. Sakura's world went dark.

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The world around her began to slowly come back to life. Her head pounded loudly in her ears. Voices mumbled back and forth that she couldn't quite make out. With all her senses regained once again, she realized she wasn't in the best situation. Her hands were chained together with a sort of sealing spell. The voices were now clear enough for her to listen in but keeping her green eyes shut in darkness to keep from anything going wrong.

"What will he think?" The voice was from a man with viciously up beat voice.

"I have an idea, but I do know this girl will be a weakness." The deep tone came from yet another man, which sent shivers up her spine causing her stomach to quench.

"We were sure lucky to be able to catch her."

"Yes we are. If we didn't have her, he would have left us high and dry. We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Of course. Now would you like to continue on with our plan? She is awake anyways." Sakura froze in place, not even taking a chance to breathe, her eyes still shut tight. Hearing the shift of cloths, her body tensed up even more.

"We're talking about you, with the pink hair." Letting out a much needed deep sigh, Sakura lifted up her head to open her cold green eyes. In front of where she sat were the two of the most wanted men, one of them who had started this entire war. Zetsu and Madara Uchiha. The white clone wore a wicked smile on his face. Madara hid behind his mask, now with two eye holes to show off his one sharingan, and the other a rinnegan.

"What is it you want from me." Sakura snarled viciously at the two.

"We need to use you as a sort of bait." Zetsu hissed back.

"Touch me and I'll kill you."

"Not that you can, those chains that bind together your hands aren't just for show you know. They are also restricting chakra from your arms. It's useless." Zetsu countered.

"I don't need my arms."

That's very nice of you to say that." Madara said with complete joy. The smile of his eyes could be seen clearly.

"Would you like me to bring him in now?"

"Yes, bring us Sasuke." Sakura's eyes widened with hurt, as she hoped that the name wouldn't even be muttered. Her heart beat in her chest as if someone else was pumping it.

Zetsu disappeared behind Madara to a hidden door that she hadn't noticed. Madara stepped in front of her to block any chance of someone seeing her. His dark eyes stared back at her as she returned the glare. The minutes slowly ticked by until Zetsu came back through the hidden door, with Sasuke trailing behind him.

"I don't care what else you have to say. It's pointless now, I've already made up my mind." The familiar voice rang clearly through Sakura's ears, his tone sounded as if it had never changed.

"Whatever you say Sasuke." The boy huffed his tick since he was young.

Happiness filled Sakura for a brief moment when Madara moved away to have her face the every changing boy. Their eyes locked for what seemed like forever.

The room that they were in was no longer valid until his face turned rigid with anger. Sasuke's eyes which were now dyed with the sharingan which shot darts at Madara who now stood behind the pinkette.

"What the hell is this!" He yelled as he took a few steps toward her.

"You already know what this is, you aren't called a genius for nothing Sasuke." The raven haired boy went quiet as he continued to glare at him. Madara sighed before he spoke again.

"If you don't agree to our original terms I will kill her right her before your eyes." His lips pursed as he tried not to even glance at those green eyes. Madara smirked under his mask as he saw Sasuke, the bull headed teenager full of vengeance and hate, struggling to keep his calm under one of his past team mate. "So what do you say?"

"Don't do it Sasuke." Sakura whispered from the sudden loss of strength of the increasing drain from the chakra seal around her wrists. Sasuke planted his feet where he stood, not even bothering to breathe.

"Well if you don't have an answer, I guess I'll just make you say yes anyway." Madara took Sakura's wrist with his one hand, stretching them out in an unnatural way. She twitched from the sudden tight pain. With his other free hand, he slammed them down with as much strength as possible. The crack of her bones made Sasuke yell out in pain for Sakura who only bit her lip.

Sakura looked back up to Sasuke who was already by her side with his sword at hand. He watched her green eyes close weakly, letting her face fall calm.

"I'll kill you." Sasuke hissed as he held his sword up to Madara's neck.

"Then do it." Madara replied with complete ease. Zetsu watched the events unfold as he melted away into the darkness with a devious grin.

"Let her go." "

"Then make the agreement. Continue with the original plans."

"Never."

"Then I'll break her neck."

"Not if I kill you first!" Sasuke yelled as he pushed the blade deeper.

"Before you push that any further, you should look more carefully at that seal placed on her neck." Sasuke looked down to Sakura's neck. One the side was a small black seal that was never there before. He did not recognize it, not being familiar with uncommon seals.

"Release it, now!"

"I will, once we continue with the original plans, but if you kill me I will set it off which will kill her in the most painful way possible." Sasuke looked back down to the girl who slept with a peaceful face, though her forehead cringed with pain. Slowly he re-sheathed his sword to take a step back. Madara stepped closer to Sakura.

"I'll be putting her somewhere, safe. Be ready for battle. Zetsu and Kabuto will pave the path for us to strike." In an instant Madara whisked himself and Sakura away with his time space jutsu. Sasuke stood in front of the chair where she just was. He clenches his fists with anger while grinding his teeth with pain.

"Damn you Madara!" He curses at the emptiness of the room he was stranded in.

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Search parties were organized to search for the missing pink haired kunoich, while battle began to range against the clones and risen corpses. Sasuke sat in the darkness until Madara made his move.

"I'm going out into the field. Get rid of any nuisances that get in the way." Madara left his little hideout, leaving Sasuke to his own. He could no longer sense Sakura's chakra, not even getting the chance to search the vicinity to find her.

Guilt filled him to know that she was alone and in pain. If he could just get to her everything would be okay. The raven haired boy sighed as he got up to search the area Madara had been staying. Quietly he began to search the halls. Door by door there were no signs of Sakura anywhere.

The last door he found was one with a plain bed and table, looking around every nook and cranny for some sort of secret passage. The old man had a knack for hidden spaces. There was one piece of furniture that stuck out from the rest. Against the far wall stood a tall strong wardrobe that was lighter than anything in the dark room.

Opening the door he found weapons of all sorts, and some ninja armour. He tapped lightly against the back of the wooden dresser, to find that it made a hollow sound. With a quick movement of his foot he knocked down the fake entrance. The room was dark with only one candle that flickered slowly. Stepping over the mess he had made, he moved towards the light in front of him.

The strong heavy weight that had been placed on his chest was released as he found a pink haired girl lying on a small hard bed. Her arms were bound in bandages with two separate chains on each wrist that emitted a faint blue glow. Sasuke had used these types of binds before so he already knew how to release them. Using his own chakra he unbounded them from her small wrists.

Now all he had to do was wait for her to open her eyes. He looked over the girl who lay on the rough bed. She wore the same face he last saw her with. The headband that was once on her head was now on her bedside. The same clothes that he met her in still covered her body. The same red vest and pink skirt, though the pink arm braces were now gone. He stood over her looking at her sleeping face for the minutes that passed until she woke back up. Sakura shared the warm look that Sasuke had given her. The silence between them was long but serene. The first to speak was the calm crisp voice of Sasuke.

"I'm sorry." Tears filled her green eyes as they spilled over the waterline of her eye. Sasuke reached his hand to the side of her face to quickly wipe them away. She smiled back at him with complete happiness before he assisted her to sit up against the rock wall.

"How are your arms?" Sasuke asked eyeing the bandages wrapped around both her limbs.

"It wasn't my arms he broke." He eyes her with a questioning look.

"What do you mean?"

"He broke my wrists. If he had broken my arms I could have at least managed a healing technique, but with my wrists I can't even lift them up. The pain is excruciating."

"Is there something, anything I can do."

"Yes but you probably won't like it."

"Why not, is it that bad?"

"I'm going to need you to tie my wrists as tight as you can. So they won't bend as much when I began to mend them."

"Aren't they good as now?"

"I can't move them without experiencing pain, with the chakra flow my arms will become immobile. The best idea I can come up with is to bind them as tight as possible to limit the pain." Sasuke looked away before he made the decision.

"I'll make it up to you later." Sakura smiled at the thought that he would make up the pain with a gift. "I'll get the bandages." Sasuke crossed the room to a small cabinet filled with medical supplies. Returning to Sakura she readied herself to bind her wrists. Quickly he unraveled the white gauze.

"Just lift my arms slightly, then tie them as tight as possible. One wrist will be good enough for now." Sasuke nodded as he lifted her wrist. He bound the gauze as tight as it would allow him, as Sakura grimaced with pain. Once he finished she huffed heavily, breathing out the pain.

"Could you help me, lift my hand to the other one." She breathed harshly. Sasuke nodded as he moved her hand to the other one, placing it down gently against her small wrist. The green chakra of the healing jutsu began to emit from her hand, only getting stronger by the second.

Five minutes passed, as did another ten. Finally she sighed a sigh of assured relief. Sakura lifted up her hand that was just healed with ease, stretching it every way it could go with small cracks to go with it. Sakura smiled with a pride, as did Sasuke.

"Has it completely healed?" Sakura nodded as she moved to her other wrist. They sat in silence, the sound of her healing jutsu hummed with a sort of melody. It calmed him enough to keep his gaze focused on her.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be here."

"What do you mean?"

"Won't Madara be angry and try to do something drastic?"

"No he's too busy fighting on the field." Sakura's head snapped to look at Sasuke as the green glow shined on both of them.

"Fight?"

"Yes, he's gone into battle. That's all that he can think of now, I'm just another insect he flicked away." Sakura looked down as she repaired her shattered wrist.

"Everyone has gone to battle him."

"Possibly yes."

"I'm going to fight once I'm done."

"You can't do that right now, it won't be good for you. Right now your state is weakened."

"I can do it. I'm not that weak little girl you once knew Sasuke! I'm stronger now and I can prove it!" She looked up to him with a determined glare. Sasuke sighed an annoyed sigh.

"I won't be going straight to the battle field. I have to stop Kabuto from reincarnating anymore corpses.

"Then I'll go to the field myself."

"Hn, whatever." Sakura smiled at seeing the great Uchiha was defeated. Though Sasuke already knew the strength the girl possessed. She would be fine on her own. The mood of the room was changed drastically as Sakura asked one last question before they would part ways.

"What made you change your mind, Sasuke-kun?" The boy turned around to face the darkness behind him. Sakura planted her feet on the floor to stand behind him.

"Who knows." He muttered before they both walked out of the hidden door to Madara's hideout. They both packed up extra things before they would split up. Sasuke already had an idea where Kabuto would be, he just had to point Sakura in the right direction. Just as they were going to leave Sakura gave him reassuring words.

"Whatever happens after, I'll always be here for you." The two darted away with smiles on their faces.