A/N: Just to let everyone know, this chapter gets pretty violent at the end, so if you don’t want to read it, just skip the last part.

Salvation

Chapter 10: Choices

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“I think we should stop here for the night.  We’re almost there, and we need to be well rested for what we might have to face,” Sasuke said, gliding down to the ground from the trees.

Naruto landed right beside him.  “Why do we have to wait?  I think we should go in now,” Naruto complained.

Sasuke didn’t look at him as he began building a fire.  “We’ve been traveling for two days non-stop.  We can’t afford to go in there tired.   You know as well as I do how important this mission is.”

“Yeah, I guess for once I agree with you,” Naruto said before he began setting out his small blanket to sleep on.

Sasuke finished placing the logs on the fire and quickly used his most famous jutsu to light the flames.

“I’m going to go and find us some water,” Naruto said.

Sasuke gave a nod that he had heard him and Naruto took off into the woods.

As the fire burned, Sasuke stared at the flames, seemingly hypnotized.  This feels so strange; to be here, with Naruto, on a mission for Konoha.  I really never thought I would do this again.  In a way, I hate in, but in another, I’m somewhat happy…no, not happy, but comfortable.  Yeah, comfortable’s a better word.

Sasuke added a few more branches into the fire, shifting around some of the fallen ash.  He didn’t really know what to do.  He was tempted to run away.  He could be off before Naruto came back, and he knew Naruto wouldn’t try and find him.  He would go to get the vial, because Sakura was much more important.  But, she is more important.

Is she important?  Was she important?  At one time, they were comrades; he would give her that, but now?  What were they?  Acquaintances?  Friends? Enemies?  No, he knew they weren’t enemies or Sakura would never have sacrificed what she did for him.

He heard a rustle that startled him from his thoughts.  Turning around, he saw Naruto walk up with filled canteens.

“Here teme,” Naruto said, passing one of the canteens to Sasuke.  Sasuke took a sip, and placed it on the ground.

“So, how does it feel to be back?”  Naruto asked, and Sasuke didn’t really know what to say.

“Strange, I guess,” Sasuke answered.

“Yeah, well it took your dumbass long enough to realize that you needed to come back,” Naruto said to him.

“It wasn’t like I had a choice,” Sasuke muttered, and Naruto shot him a glance.

“Yes, you did.  You could have left me and Sakura-chan there and took off.  But you didn’t,” Naruto said.

Sasuke didn’t really know what to say.  He had a lot of things he wanted to ask, but he didn’t know where to begin.  And as much as he hated talking, he felt somewhat comfortable talking to Sakura and Naruto.  They were the only two people that were ever there for him, well maybe Kakashi, but mostly Sakura and Naruto.  They never gave up on him, no matter what.

“Why?”  Sasuke asked Naruto, and Naruto turned to him.

“What?”  Naruto said.

“Why did you and Sakura do what you did?”  Sasuke asked, still staring into the fire.

Naruto sighed.  “I couldn’t think of anything else.  I finally realized that I couldn’t force you to come back.  You have every right to try and track Itachi for what he did.  I get that now.  At first I didn’t.  I didn’t understand why you would want to leave us for revenge.  But, now I do.  We were going at it all wrong.  Instead of trying to get you back, we should have been trying to make you take us with you to get Itachi and all of those other Akatsuki-temes,” Naruto said.

“I wouldn’t have taken you with me,” Sasuke said.

Naruto laughed a little.  “Yes, you would have.  You told me once it was too late to for you, and yet, here you are, sitting with me, on a mission for Konoha.  I can be very persuasive when I want to be,” Naruto explained.

“I’ll admit it.  You do have a knack for making people ‘see the light’,” Sasuke commented, and a smirk formed on his face.  He thought of Gaara and Neji, and even himself.  Naruto really did know how to turn around someone’s viewpoint.

“But, it wasn’t just me.  It was Sakura-chan too.  Without her, I don’t think I would have been able to come this far,” Naruto said.

Sasuke looked over and he saw that Naruto’s eyes had taken on a distant look.  He knew Naruto was worrying about Sakura.

“You two seem to have gotten stronger.  Everyone back at the village seems to have gotten stronger,” Sasuke commented.

“Yeah, but so have you,” Naruto told him and Sasuke looked up at Naruto a bit surprised.  “It took both me and Sakura to take you down Sasuke, and we didn’t even actually do that.”

“Sakura told me how you took down one of the Akatsuki members,” Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded his head.  “Again, that wasn’t just me.  It was a lot of us that helped.  But that fight was nothing compared to what Sakura-chan and Chiyo-baa-sama had to go through,” Naruto told him.

Sasuke stared, confused.  What was Naruto talking about?  Naruto must have noticed the confused look on Sasuke’s face because he said, “Did she not tell you?”

Sasuke shook his head and Naruto smiled.  “That’s just like her to leave out her own accomplishments.  Well, besides being one of Konoha’s top medic-nins, the Hokage’s apprentice, she also helped take down Sasori,” Naruto explained.

“Sasori, the puppet master?”  Sasuke asked.  He had heard of Sasori and of his death, but he never knew that Sakura was the one who took him down.

“Yeah, it was a fierce battle from what she told us.  Sakura-chan has this scar on her stomach from where Sasori stabbed her.  She almost died,” Naruto explained.

Sasuke didn’t know why, but his jaw clenched to think of an Akatsuki member almost killing Sakura.  He turned back to the fire and attacked the burning flames with a stick.

“She doesn’t talk about it much.  Mostly because Chiyo-baa-sama gave her life to save Gaara’s,” Naruto said.

Sasuke didn’t look up as Naruto continued to explain everything that had happened leading up to the battle.  How Akatsuki had taken Gaara, how he and Kakashi went after Deidara, and how Sakura stayed with the Chiyo to fight Sasori.

“They won’t take you, Naruto,” Sasuke said, not really caring that he was expressing some emotions.  Sasuke felt Naruto look at him.  “We won’t let them get the nine-tails, and we won’t let them get you.”

Sasuke felt Naruto stare at him for a bit, and then Naruto began to laugh.  “They won’t get me.  I’ve gotta become Hokage, so I’ll at least live until then.”

Sasuke didn’t say anything at the moment.  He felt the need to cover himself up, saying that his concern was not for Naruto, but to stop Akatsuki, but he couldn’t do it.  For all Naruto had done for him, he felt he at least owed him a moment of concern, even if it was small. 

Getting up, he threw a few more branches into the fire. “Get some sleep.  I’ll take first watch,” Sasuke said, before jumping on a high tree limb. 

Naruto didn’t complain.  He laid down and fell right asleep, his snores filling the night air.

Sasuke watched through the forest thinking of all that Naruto had told him.  He had missed quite a lot while away.  He didn’t really know what to make of it all.  Could I have gotten stronger if I would have stayed in Konoha?  That thought plagued him.  To think that he had made the wrong decision; that everything he had been through these past three years was for nothing.  It was something that he didn’t want to think about. 

Trying to shift his thoughts, he turned to a subject that had been on his mind a lot lately:  Sakura.  The name seemed to haunt him and he didn’t know why.  She had brought down an Akatsuki member.  That was more than he could say.  She was stronger, much stronger than he would have ever guessed.

He sat against the tree and stared up at the sky, thinking about what he wanted to ask Sakura when he saw her again.  He was especially curious about this scar she had.  He wanted to see for his own eyes the mark that had almost killed her.

A few bushes began to shift in the distance, and Sasuke stood up.  Looking around, he kept his senses alert.  He could sense someone’s chakra.  It was familiar, but he could not pinpoint exactly whose it was.

Leaping down, he heard the rustling some more.  He kicked Naruto in his side to wake him.  “Get up, dobe.  Someone’s coming,” Sasuke whispered and Naruto shot up, kunai in hand.

The two stood, side by side, awaiting what was coming from the bushes.  They were both in attack mode, ready for anything that might happen.

Suddenly, a heap rolled out of bushes, landing ungracefully beside the fire.   Sasuke stared at the form in front of him.  Before he could react, Naruto shouted, “Hinata?!” and ran for the girl.

Naruto got down on his knees beside her and helped her sit up.  There were cuts on her face and she was out of breath.

“Hinata?  What happened?  What are you doing here?”  Naruto asked still holding Hinata up.  She took in a few breaths before looking up.

Sasuke reached over and grabbed a water bottle, handing it to her.  Hinata accepted it and drank the water.  “Thank you, Sasuke-kun,” Hinata said, before turning to Naruto.

Sasuke saw red begin to form on her face as she stared at Naruto.  He didn’t say anything, but he eagerly wanted to urge her on.

“N-Naruto-kun!”  Hinata said, trying to hide her blush.  She looked down at her hands. 

“Hinata, please tell us what’s going on,” Naruto urged and Sasuke silently thanked him.

“We were coming here. We were trying to catch up to you.  You two were running at such a high speed, it was hard to keep up.  We were both so exhausted, but we knew we were getting close, so we didn’t want to stop.  Out of nowhere, three sound-nin attacked us.  We were caught off guard, and there wasn’t anything I could really do because I was so exhausted,” Hinata said in such a high speed, Sasuke had to go over all the details in his head.

“Wait, you said we.  Who else was with you?” Sasuke asked, staring down at Hinata. 

She looked up and met his eyes. “Sakura,” Hinata said and Sasuke’s eyes widened.

“Sakura-chan?  What were you two doing here?  Why were you trying to find us?”  Naruto asked, his eyes showing his concern.

“I saw Sakura-chan about to take off after you two when you left the village.  I tried to get her to stop, but she was so determined.  She told me what your mission was about and how she didn’t have any chakra left.  I couldn’t let her go alone, so we both left to follow you two,” Hinata explained.  She was rubbing her hands together and Sasuke could tell she was close to tears.

“What happened to Sakura?  Where is she?”  Sasuke probed. 

Hinata looked up and tears began spilling out of her eyes.  “I don’t know!  We got separated,” Hinata began.  “They threw an exploding tag at us.  I was able to get us away from it, but not far enough and we were both thrown in different directions.  I kept calling her name, but I couldn’t find her anywhere and she never answered me.  I couldn’t do anything.  I was so weak.  The only thing I could think of was getting to you two.  I could see you two ahead, so I ran as fast as I could.”

Sasuke clenched his fists.  “Great.  And now she’s out there, alone, and completely vulnerable to everyone.  Goddamit!”

“I’m sorry,” Hinata muttered and Naruto rubbed her back.

“Don’t be, the teme is just worried about Sakura.  He isn’t mad at you,” Naruto said, turning around and giving Sasuke a glare.

He knew it wasn’t Hinata’s fault, but he wanted to yell at someone, to punch someone.  How can you be so stupid, Sakura?

“Where did the sound-nin go?”  Sasuke asked.

“They took off in different directions.  I didn’t feel them chasing me,”  Hinata said.

“You stay here with Hinata.  I’m going to go and look for Sakura,” Sasuke said.  He didn’t wait for a reply before jumping into the trees and taking off.

He was about to activate his sharingan, before he realized it was already activated.  He ran as fast as he could, jumping from tree to tree, hoping to get some sort of clue as to where Sakura was.  He couldn’t feel for her chakra because she didn’t have any more.  This is going to be tough, but I have to hurry.

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Sakura didn’t move from under the tree root.  She sat as still as she could possibly be.  She watched the feet of a sound-nin circle her for the third time.

She didn’t think they knew she was there, but she really had no idea. 

When the explosion happened and she was thrown from Hinata, she rolled down quite a steep hill.  Her body was riddled with bruises and cuts, but to her advantage, no broken bones.  She would surely be caught if she had sustained a broken bone, especially since she didn’t have the chakra to fix it.  But, no chakra at least means they can’t sense me.

After she had stopped at the bottom, she jumped up and ran.  She hid under the first thick root she could find.

Alright Sakura, you don’t have any chakra, but you do still have your mind.  Think, how are you going to get out of this one?

She continued to watch as the sound-nin paced no more than ten feet from where she was hiding.

She took in slow breaths, trying to slow the pace of her heart.  Sure, she had been in plenty battles, but none of them as a regular civilian.  It was the worst feeling.  She couldn’t really defend herself or her comrades.

She watched as the sound-nin seemed to leave the area.  She waited for a little while.  She knew she had to find a better place to hide.  It was only a matter of time before they found her.

She slowly edged her way out of the small hole.  As soon as she was out, she got as close to the tree as she could. 

Looking around, she didn’t see anyone.  She closed her eyes, using her hearing to listen for any footsteps.  She could hear a few about fifty feet from her.  She had to move away from them.

Slowly, she crept out and began moving away from the footsteps.  She looked back a few times, and she didn’t see anyone following her, so she continued on. 

She walked as quickly and as quietly as she could.  She began to feel some of the fear ebb away.  You did it Sakura, you got away.

A smile was growing on her face until a voice stopped her.  “Thought you got away from us, didn’t you?” 

Sakura turned around, only to see nothing.  She turned back around and ran straight into a sound-nin.

Sakura didn’t waste any time.  She turned and ran as fast as she could in the other direction.

She twisted around trees, but it was no use.  The ninja was just too fast.  He jumped on her from behind and the two fell to the ground.

He gripped both of her wrists in his and Sakura struggled with him.  She screamed as loud as she could.

“Scream all you want, bitch, but no one’s going to hear you,” the man sneered.  Sakura looked up to the man that was holding her.  He had short, brown hair that fell in front of his face.  He looked rather normal, and if it wasn’t in this situation, Sakura would have thought the man was fairly attractive.  He gripped her wrists tightly and she spit in his face.

“You little,” he began and Sakura took the moment to reach up and bite his hand with all of her might.  She broke the skin and blood trickled out and into her mouth.  She wanted to gag, but she had to hang on.

Suddenly, she began to remember the chunin exams and how she had done the same exact thing to another sound-nin.

But that time, she had chakra, here she didn’t.  It didn’t take long for the man to pry her off.  He backhanded her hard across the face.

Sakura spat out the blood and tried not to move her aching jaw too much.  I have to keep screaming, keep struggling.  Someone is bound to hear me.  Hinata’s out there.  And maybe Naruto and Sasuke will hear me too.

So Sakura began to scream as loud as she could.  “Get off me!  Someone help me,” she screamed, over and over.

The sound-nin had had enough.  He punched her hard in the face and Sakura saw stars.  “You’re pathetic,”  the man said before pulling her up.

Sakura was a bit dizzy from the hit, so she couldn’t really stand all that well.  The man threw her up against a nearby tree.  Her back hit hard and she let out a whimper from the pain.

“From your forehead protector I gather you’re a Konoha ninja, and yet, I can’t sense any chakra on you.  What are you?  Playing pretend?”  the man said, leering in her face.

Sakura had the urge to lean up and bite him again, but she didn’t want to risk making him madder.  She continued to struggle away from him, but he had a firm hold on her.

“Kin!  Get over here,” the man yelled.   Sakura watched as another man appeared in front of her.  This one was taller and thinner.   He had dark, black hair that reached his shoulders.  His face held an evil aura and Sakura knew he was even worse then the one who had caught her.

“What the hell are you doing, Saizo?”  Kin said.  He looked over at Sakura, then at Saizo.

“Look what I’ve caught us.  I think she likes to pretend to be a ninja, but she’s so weak.  I think we should show her why she shouldn’t trespass in Sound,” Saizo said and Kin smiled.

“Pink hair, I like it,” Kin began, looking over at Sakura.  She turned away from his face.  “Very, unusual and I love unusual.”

Sakura didn’t know what to do.  She felt her heart racing and she knew she was in a horrible position.  “Help!  Get away from me!  Let me go,” she yelled and Kin grabbed her by her hair, yanking her head back.

“Looks like you got a feisty one,” Kin said before he pulled out some cloth from his bag.  Sakura was about to scream again when Kin placed the cloth through her mouth.  He tied it tightly to the back of Sakura’s head.  She continued to yell, but it came out as muffled screams. 

Kin then took some rope, tying Sakura’s hands behind her back. He tied her feet together, making sure they were tight.  The ropes dug into Sakura’s skin, and she could already feel them getting raw.  Saizo roughly shoved her to the ground.

He kicked her hard in the stomach and Sakura tried to gag, but the cloth constricted it.  She felt her ribs burning with pain.

Kin was next.  He leaned down and pulled her into a sitting position.  He ran his finger across her face, before pulling away.  “We shouldn’t waste such a beauty by just beating her up,” Kin explained and Sakura blanched.

She knew exactly what they were talking about.  Tears began running down her face and she couldn’t stop it.  She was in a horrible situation with no one to help her and she had no way to help herself.

Saizo smirked.  “I see what you’re saying Kin.  Let’s cut her up a bit and then we can each have a go.  I like mine to be bloody,” Saizo explained.

Sakura searched her surroundings, hoping something would come to mind.  She had to get out of this and fast.

Reaching behind her, she searched for anything she could use to help get free of the binds, but there was nothing.

She watched as Saizo reached for her this time.  He grabbed her hair and ran his tongue down the side of her cheek.  Sakura turned away from him.  She was disgusted.

Kin pulled out a kunai from his pack and made his way over to Sakura.  She turned and tried to move away, but he just pushed her to her back and got on top of her.

“You’re going to love this,” Kin said as he traced the knife along Sakura’s arm, making a shallow cut.  Sakura screamed through her gag as the pain engulfed her.  She continued to struggle, but it was futile. 

“My turn,” she heard Saizo say and Kin backed up.  Saizo then made a small cut along her stomach.  Sakura screamed again.

They took turns, both of them giving Sakura shallow cuts.  Her screams were getting weaker as time passed.  It felt like forever and Sakura could feel the blood caked on her body.

She couldn’t move; the pain was too great.  She continued to cry.  She felt so weak…so helpless.

“Alright, I think that’s good enough for now.  I’m ready to take her.  You think she’s a virgin?”  Saizo said, looking over at Kin.

Kin had a feral look and he licked some of the blood from the knife.  “Yeah, she’s definitely a virgin,” he said.

“Great, let’s do this,” Saizo said as he made his way over to Sakura, suddenly he was thrown back.

“I think I’ll go first,” Kin said, looking down at Sakura. 

“What the hell?”  Saizo said and Kin turned to him, threatening him with the knife.  Saizo didn’t say anything after that.

Sakura stared as Kin approached her.  She turned her head, searching for anyone, anything to help her.  This couldn’t be it.  She had to get away, she had to.

She felt herself being grabbed and slammed against the ground.  Kin climbed on top of her.  Her shirt was shredded from all the cuts she had received, so Kin just gave it a tug and it pulled apart.

Sakura felt so vulnerable.  She wanted to cover up, but she had no way of doing so.  Kin looked at her and his eyes were filled with lust and hate.  Sakura couldn’t stare at him.  She turned her head away.

She felt him fumbling with her pants and she twisted and turned as much as she could.  “It’s useless, you’re not going anywhere,” Kin explained to her.  Sakura knew he was right, but she couldn’t give up.  She had to fight as long as she actually could.

He grabbed her head and slammed it hard to the ground.  Sakura felt herself go dizzy again.  Her movements stopped as she tried to get her bearings.  The hit wasn’t hard enough to knock her out, but hard enough to make her lose her focus.

She felt his hands moving down her legs and she wanted to throw up.  This is it.  There’s nothing I can do.

Just as she felt like giving up, there was a loud explosion behind them.  Kin and Saizo turned to see what was going on.  Sakura lifted her head up to see what was going on, but her eyes wouldn’t focus.  Everything was blurry.  She could recognize smoke, but nothing else.

Slowly, her eyes adjusted a bit more and she saw a figure standing on a tree branch a little above them.  She couldn’t tell who it was though.

“Who the hell are you?” she heard Saizo say.

Kin didn’t move off of her, but his attention was drawn to the intruder.

“Get the fuck off of her,” the voice said and Sakura instantly knew who it was.

Her eyes widened at the person.  It only took a moment more for her eyesight to go back to normal.  She looked up at the person

The figure stood with his arms by his sides, his eyes filled with rage.  Sakura couldn’t stop staring at him as tears of happiness ran down her face.

Thank you so much.  Thank you for coming…

………..

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Hmm, so who could it be?  Let me give you a hint, I’m full of clichés…