Salvation
Chapter 22: Realization
Sasuke jerked Sakura's body against the wall. He wanted so bad to beat the person up so they would tell him the truth, but he had no idea if this was actually Sakura's body. For all he knew, she could be trapped inside her own mind as this person possessed her.
"Where. Is. Sakura," he said, punctuating each word.
The woman let out a laugh. "Took you long enough to figure out," the woman said. "How sad will Sakura be when she finds out that her teammates couldn't even spot a fake!"
Sasuke felt his anger surge and he drew his weapon. He held the sword up to the woman's throat. "You will tell me."
The woman didn't move or even flinch. "I guess this disguise is worthless now," the woman said before releasing her disguise.
Sasuke watched as the woman's hair grew longer and took on deep shade of red. Her body took on more curves and she pulled out a pair of black-rimmed glasses from her pocket and put them on.
"Who are you?"
"Name's Karin. It's good to be back in my own body again. That stupid pink slut's body is so unflattering!" Karin said and Sasuke felt his anger boil.
"Don't you call her that," Sasuke said and Karin smirked. "Why are you here? What's the purpose of this?" Sasuke asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Karin taunted and Sasuke placed the blade further against her skin, drawing blood.
"I will kill you. Do you wish to test me to find out?" Sasuke asked.
"I will never tell you anything! Go ahead, kill me!" Karin shouted and Sasuke had had enough.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then when he re-opened them his Sharingan was spinning in his eyes. He caught Karin's eye and sent them both into another world.
Sasuke planted them in the middle of a barren room. Blood seemed to run from the walls and Karin was tied securely to the far wall.
Sasuke stood, staring at her.
"What? How could you do this? You don't have the Mangekyou yet!" Karin shouted, her eyes filled with fear.
"I may not have that, but my Sharingan has some special abilities on its own. While it may not be as powerful as the Mangekyou and I cannot manipulate time here, I still can do whatever I want to you and you will feel every ounce of the pain," Sasuke explained. He tightened one of the chakra strings and Karin let out a scream.
"Now, tell me," Sasuke said and Karin still didn't move so he tightened another one. He continued this for a few minutes. Karin kept screaming and tears began to run down her cheeks.
"Stop! Stop!" she finally screamed and Sasuke let go of his hold on the strings and Karin's arms went limp. They fell to her sides. Sasuke could tell she had given up.
"I was sent here," Karin said and Sasuke's eyebrow narrowed.
"By who?" he questioned.
"Pein," Karin answered.
"Pein? The man who has been doing all those experiments?" Sasuke felt his breath hitch. That means Sakura might be in his grasp.
"Yes, he needed me to pretend to be Sakura so he could lure you and your team to another location. He wanted to capture all three of you," Karin said.
"Why?"
"I don't know why!" Karin said and Sasuke tightened another string. Karin shrieked.
"I don't know! I swear! He doesn't tell us stuff like that!" Karin shouted and Sasuke let go of the tension. He knew she was telling the truth.
"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
"She's with Pein," Karin said.
"Why would he want her?" Sasuke asked and Karin looked up at him.
"Why would he not want her? She has the best chakra control of any ninja around, she's brilliant, and she's one of the top medic-nins in the whole world. He used to say she was the perfect package, one he couldn't wait to open," Karin said and Sasuke's fist clenched. He didn't want to think about the things that might be done to her.
Sasuke was about to question where she was hiding, but he felt a strong pull and he was thrown from the alternate world and into the real one. He cursed as he shook his head. This was another one of his drawbacks to not having the Mangekyou. If anyone interfered or shook his body he would be taken away.
He looked up to see Naruto and Kakashi standing beside him. He still had his grip on Karin, who looked completely exhausted.
"Who is this and where's Sakura?" Naruto questioned.
"This is Karin. She's impersonating Sakura," Sasuke said and Naruto eye's widened.
"What?" Naruto said and Sasuke told him everything that Karin had said.
Suddenly there was a loud bang, and part of the building they were leaning against began to crash down. Sasuke jumped back as pieces of the roof crashed down.
He watched as Gin came around the corner. "Come on Karin! We have to go now!"
Karin jumped away and the two of them took off. Sasuke was about to give chase when he felt someone grab his arm. He looked over to see Kakashi standing beside him.
"We have to let them go," Kakashi said and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei! We have to find Sakura!" Naruto protested.
"Exactly. And they are going to lead us right to her," Kakashi explained and Sasuke understood. They needed to follow them so they could find Sakura.
The thought of her made Sasuke angry. How could he not have seen this coming earlier? He should have protected her. She had done so much for him and yet he couldn't even keep her out of harms way. He had to get her back, to show her that he wouldn't leave her side again.
&&&&&&
Sakura finished washing up and threw the rags into the corner. She still felt dirty and grimy, but at least she could wash off some of the dried blood. Her body ached even more than the day before, but she could tell most of the wounds had closed up and her bones were beginning to set into place.
She couldn't get Yuna's words out of her mind. She kept thinking about how Yuna said that she now belonged to them. What did that mean? What was she going to be used for?
Sakura had no idea what she was going to do or how things were going to go from here on in. She needed to think, use her intelligence, her greatest asset so she could find a way out.
Sakura attempted to stand. Her body protested in every way, but she forced herself to move. She needed to at least keep her body moving. She made a few laps around the cell, her body crying the whole time.
Finally she got tired and flopped back down on the ground. Perspiration beaded on her forehead and she was completely out breath. It not only made light of the fact of how out of health she was, but also how weak she was. Anyone could come in and do anything to her and she would have basically no control over the situation. That thought gave Sakura chills, but she forced it from her mind.
Sakura heard someone coming her way. She hoped it would be Yuna. She wanted to talk to her more. She was on the outside, she knew how to get in and out of this place. She had to probe Yuna's mind for any way of escaping.
As the door slid open, Sakura watched as the figure's back was illuminated in light, hiding its face. The door closed and Sakura tried to get a better look at who just came in. "Who's there?" Sakura asked, no longer able to hold back.
"Why Sakura-san, I'm surprised you could not tell it was me," Kabuto said and Sakura's fist clenched.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked and Kabuto just smirked.
He turned and stood against the far wall, just staring at her. Sakura could feel her anxiety growing.
"I just came to admire my work," Kabuto said and Sakura growled.
"Your work? Don't you mean your psychotic ways?" Sakura said.
Kabuto shifted, pushing his glasses up, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I say we did a very good job. You can barely move. We learned quite a lot about you."
Sakura didn't say anything, just turned her eyes away. She couldn't stand looking at the man.
"You know, if you would have asked me three years ago if I would want to capture you, I would have laughed. You were so pathetic then. In the Forest of Death, you didn't serve a purpose. You were so weak, I could barely stand to look at you," Kabuto said and Sakura looked down. Her old weaknesses were creeping up on her again. She felt ashamed. "But, my how you've grown. It's quite amazing actually. And probably the best chakra control of anyone I have ever met. Which is why I need you."
Sakura looked back at Kabuto, confused.
"You know how I tricked Konoha into thinking that clone was me? It was quite simple really. I was able to clone my own chakra and insert it into another. Using this, I was able to basically clone myself. Granted, I had to kill a pathetic servant, but it was worth it. After inserting my chakra and reconstructing the person too look exactly like me, they were completely fooled," Kabuto said and Sakura just looked at him.
"But, how...and me? I don't...," Sakura began confused and stunned.
"I saw your battle that day, with Sasuke. I saw what the two of you had done and I had an idea about what was going to happen to you, so my plan immediately started from there. I took my readied clone and implanted him with the information about the vial to regain chakra, but the vial didn't just give you back your chakra," Kabuto explained and Sakura remembered what Tsunade had told her about there being consequences. "I added a drug that starts to affect your mental ability."
"So, the visions I had, you created those?" Sakura asked and Kabuto smirked.
"I wish I could say I did, but that wasn't me. The drug just helped to lessen your ability to control your mind and allowed you to be more susceptible to the visions. The visions, weren't visions at all. They were real. I bet you thought you were going crazy. Konan is quite the illusionist. She is able to do wondrous things."
"Why couldn't you just take me from the village? You could have when I was completely vulnerable without any chakra. Why go through all the trouble of making sure I had chakra and the visions to get me to break down?" Sakura questioned.
"We couldn't risk infiltrating Konoha. We needed to get you out in the open, I never thought you would actually come out to retrieve the vial yourself. Another thing I have learned: to never underestimate you. I knew that you would be too stubborn to tell anyone about your visions. I figured that you would ultimately take a solo mission to get away, but I was ecstatic to learn that you decided to retreat to a bath house for some alone time. It was the perfect way to push you just past the edge and take you. Quite the perfect plan if I do say so myself. Karin was able to assume your identity. It would have been harder for her to try and play you perfectly, since most of your teammates would be able to pick up slight changes, but being able to say you needed a change, they wouldn't question you acting a little off."
"So, you're using me so you can copy my chakra and hopefully gain my chakra control?" Sakura questioned and Kabuto smirked. He got up from the wall and began to walk closer to her. Sakura curled her legs up instinctively.
"Close, but don't you see Sakura-san? I've almost perfected the way to clone an entire human being. I can clone not only your chakra control, but also your abilities, strengths, etc. Then I can make a hundred different versions of you. They don't even have to look like you, but they will be able to do what you do. See, I just clone everything about you into a worthless servant, making them the perfect soldier. With Pein's ability to brainwash humans and my ability to clone, we are unstoppable. We will have the ultimate army and take over the world!"
Sakura just stared in awe. She could not believe this was what they were doing. And the thing that scared her the most was the fact that it could actually work.
"How can you do this?" Sakura questioned and Kabuto just smirked.
"Because I can," Kabuto said, heading to the door.
"What happened to Orochimaru?" Sakura questioned and Kabuto looked at her.
"Why, I absorbed him," Kabuto simply said and Sakura looked confused. "I do believe two chakras are better than one, and he was the perfect pawn in my plan. He so easily assumed he was in charge when I was pulling his strings most of the time. He was greedy, wanted too much power at one time, and that ultimately led to his downfall. But don't worry, he is inside me. I can feel him, screaming to get out."
Sakura looked shocked and Kabuto just gave a small chuckle.
"You should rest now, Sakura-san. You need to heal a bit more. In about two more days I think we'll begin another round of experiments," Kabuto began. "Oh, and just so you know, your teammates seemed to have caught on to our little trick."
Sakura looked up, feeling her eyes widen in hope and a smile tug at her face.
"Yes, and they're heading here, just like we expected. Konoha ninjas are so predictable. They always have to try and save one of their own." He didn't wait for a reply, he just turned and left the room, the door slamming in his wake.
Sakura felt her face fall at the information. So, they had realized it wasn't her all along, but now they were headed right into a trap. Sakura didn't know what to say, or how to react to the situation. She just had to have hope and believe that Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke could hold their own and find a way to get her out without getting killed in the process.
Sakura pondered what he had told her and even the fact that he did tell her. He wanted to gloat, was the first thing that crossed her mind. It was just like Kabuto to point out how smart he was. But wait, if Kabuto could clone my chakra, why is he experimenting on me? He must not be able to do it with anyone but his own chakra right now. That's why he's experimenting. He's trying to make sure that he can read the chakra perfect, or else it wouldn't work. And of course, with a sick lunatic like him, he'd rather cause harm to find out rather than do it humanely. And Pein? Why hasn't he brainwashed me yet? Kabuto only mentioned that he was able to brainwash servants. If he could do it on ninjas, he would have done it already. This has to mean he couldn't quite master that yet.
Sakura felt a little hope at that fact. They had two weaknesses, and she had figured them out. She just didn't know how they would work in her advantage. That was something she was going to have to figure out and she had two days to do it.
&&&&&&&
"Don't get too close. We can't let them know we're following," Kakashi said. Naruto and Sasuke nodded their heads as they traveled behind Karin and Gin.
Sasuke felt so angry at everything. Angry at Karin for assuming Sakura's identity, angry at Sakura for getting kidnapped, angry at Kakashi and Naruto for not realizing that someone else was impersonating Sakura, but he was mostly angry at himself for not seeing it coming. He knew, long before, that something was not right with Sakura. He had seen countless times where she had jumped at the slightest movement and had terrible bags under her eyes. He saw the bruises and even the way she seemed to have nightmares while she was awake. He had seen it all and yet, he did nothing. He had suggested she take a week off. He didn't consciously send her away, but now that he thought about it, he was pushing her away. He was always like that. When he didn't know how to handle a situation or people, he always pushed it away, deciding it would just go away on its own.
But this was Sakura, she wasn't just some damn sound ninja that was bothering him or when he had to deal with a particularly hard mission. She meant so much more than that, meant more to him. He clenched his teeth.
"Don't worry, we'll get her back," a voice said and Sasuke turned to see Naruto running beside him. He didn't look at Sasuke, his face turned straight ahead, his lips in a fine line. He looked so serious, so Non-Naruto, if he could say.
Sasuke felt a little better about the situation, because he had learned when Naruto said something, he meant it to the core and it usually turned out that way. He just hoped Naruto's luck wasn't going to end now.
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