First thing I've written in nearly 3 months! Sorry guys. I've been busy with work, and on top of that, I've had zero inspiration lately. Thankfully the latest chapter got me back into my groove. I promise to try having chapter 3 of 'Auctioned Off' up soon!

I don't own Naruto.

Team 7 stood in shock. This couldn't be happening. After everything they'd been through, after successfully defeating Kaguya, they had to face yet another obstacle?

"I'm going to put the five kage out of their misery."

Sakura couldn't help but flinch at Sasuke's words. She almost couldn't believe her ears.

"I'm going to execute them, and bring about a revolution."

They'd been so close. She had really thought that Sasuke was back on their side, that he'd had a change of heart.

So close.

"Burn it all down…."

Yet so far.

The pinkette glanced at her two other teammates. Kakashi had a look of utter disappointment on his face. Naruto on the other hand, didn't seem surprised. It was as if he had sensed the raven's true intentions the whole time.

"Sasuke… what did you say? You can't be serious," Kakashi said.

"You heard me. It's because of this horribly damaged system that my clan is gone. I'm going to change it, mark my words. I'll begin with slaughtering the kage," Sasuke said coldly.

"This isn't what Itachi would have wanted!" Naruto exclaimed, hoping against hope that the situation wouldn't escalate any further.

"Don't you dare speak of what my brother would want!" the raven snapped.

Sakura stood there in silence, trying to comprehend how Sasuke could possibly think this would solve anything. Why would he want to kill the kage? How could he want to kill her teacher? There were so many things that he'd done since he had defeated his brother that she simply didn't understand. Sasuke had gotten revenge for his clan, so wasn't that enough? She knew that she wasn't being told something. She'd had a feeling for quite some time that Naruto and Kakashi knew something she didn't. She was tired of staying silent. She needed answers.

"Sasuke-kun, please calm down! Why are you so upset with the village? Why do you want to murder Tsunade-sama!? The village has done nothing to deserve this!"

The raven's head immediately snapped in her direction, and she very nearly gulped at the look on his face. He had a look of such hatred, and to have that directed at her… It hurt.

He always seemed to hurt her.

Sasuke took slow strides toward her, and she stood her ground. She would not be intimidated. She would not back down. Kakashi quickly stepped forward in alarm, worried for her safety.

"Sasuke, don't you dare hurt her," the jonin said in warning.

"Don't worry about me, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, never taking her eyes off of the raven.

The Uchiha stopped right in front of her and leaned down, his face inches from hers. The pinkette pursed her lips and stared him straight in the eye. His attempt at intimidating her wouldn't work.

"You know nothing," he said. "The village isn't so innocent. I know you're out of the loop, so allow me to enlighten you. My brother was no monster. The village that you love so much, that you believe can do no wrong… the higher ups ordered my brother to dispose of our clan that night," he finished, staring at her coldly.

Sakura gasped softly, eyes wide in shock. She didn't want to believe his words. "You're… saying it was a mission?" she asked softly.

Sasuke smirked bitterly. "It was. The village elders… those senile, corrupt bastards ordered Itachi to massacre our clan. They were perfectly okay with making a thirteen year old kill his own people. Do you see why I hate them so? Do you see why I want to make them pay?" he asked icily.

The pinkette simply stood there in silence, letting the information sink in. She wanted to believe it was a lie. She finally broke eye contact with the raven to look at her two other teammates. Kakashi wore a guilty expression, and Naruto couldn't even look her in the eye. Neither of them were denying it, and she knew that Sasuke was telling the truth. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Sasuke-kun… I'm truly sorry that the elders made Itachi do that. I can't even begin to imagine the pain he must have felt. I know that finding out the truth after your brother was already gone must have hurt you immensely. But… taking it out on the village and the kage isn't right. They had nothing to do with it," Sakura reasoned.

Naruto took this opportunity to chime in. "Sakura-chan is right, teme. Nobody is saying that what happened was right. It was terrible and I promise we can change the village together! Nobody else has to die!"

"If the shinobi villages continue to be run by those good for nothing sacks of shit, nothing will change!" Sasuke roared. "The only way for justice to be served is for them to die. Only then can I bring about change!"

It truly hurt Sakura to see her teammate, the man she was in love with, falling deeper into the darkness. She wished there was something she could do, but she felt useless. Sasuke was his own worst enemy and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The thought made her want to cry.

"Sasuke-kun, no! I know that you're hurt and upset, but this isn't the answer! Please let us help you!" she exclaimed, beginning to feel desperate. This couldn't happen. He couldn't fall back into the darkness.

Sasuke turned to face the pinkette, glaring at her coldly. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to listen to her. He wished it could be as simple as she tried to make it sound, but there was no way her or anyone else could understand. The fact that she dared to try and tell him what to think and feel infuriated him. Against his better judgment, he lashed out.

"Shut the hell up! You know nothing, so stay out of it!" he yelled.

The pinkette gasped and immediately fell silent, not knowing what to do or say. It seemed like no matter what anyone did, it wouldn't matter to Sasuke. He was just too damn stubborn to listen to anyone.

Naruto growled, not appreciating the way the raven spoke to their female teammate. "Sasuke-teme, what the fuck is your problem!? There's no need to disrespect Sakura-chan like that! She's just trying to help you, damn it!" He bellowed.

Sasuke knew he was probably being irrational, but he was too far gone to care at this point. He wanted to change things, and executing the kage was the only way he knew how. No one could understand his pain, and he was out for blood.

"I don't need anyone's help! I'm tired of you and your self righteous bullshit!" Sasuke spat, beginning to move towards the blond.

"Sasuke, stand down right now!" Kakashi ordered.

His demand fell on deaf ears.

Sasuke grabbed a kunai and took long strides toward Naruto, hell bent on finishing what they'd started years ago. One of them was going to die here. In the back of his mind, his conscience nagged at him to stand down and settle things calmly. However, he was too hurt and angry to listen to anyone at this point. Not even his own inner voice could stop him now.

It didn't take long for the Uchiha to reach Naruto, and the blond braced himself. If this had to turn into an all out brawl, then so be it.

The bloodshed never came.

"Sasuke-kun, please stop!"

In a flash, Sakura was behind Sasuke. The raven immediately stopped in his tracks as he felt a warm body against his back and small arms wrap around him. His mind quickly flashed back to years ago, to a time he'd tried to forget. Oh, how infuriated he'd been upon waking up in the Forest of Death and seeing Sakura so bloodied and beaten. He had been so hell bent on making those pathetic sound ninja pay. That is, until Sakura had brought him back down to earth. The current situation was so similar, so familiar, and Sasuke didn't like it one bit.

"Let go of me, Sakura."

"No," she said simply, holding him tighter.

In the back of his mind, Sasuke knew he could easily escape her grasp if he really wanted to. He refused to acknowledge that maybe he didn't want to. He refused to admit to himself that maybe, deep in his subconscious, he'd wanted her to stop him.

"This isn't going to change anything. I no longer care about you or the rest of our team. You're all nothing to me now," he said coldly.

Naruto and Kakashi stood by in silence, watching the events unfold in front of them. Kakashi suddenly felt cautiously optimistic about the situation.

'Instead of shoving her away, he's standing and talking with her. If anyone can snap him out of this, she can,' he thought.

Sasuke felt the pinkette shake her head. "We both know that's not true," she began, "If you didn't care about us, you wouldn't have saved us multiple times throughout the course of this war," she finished.

"The only reason I assisted any of you was because I needed Naruto to help seal Kaguya. It was for my benefit alone," he responded without missing a beat.

"If that's true, then why did you catch me when I nearly collapsed from exhaustion?"

The raven didn't answer. She'd called his bluff. When he'd rushed to catch her, he didn't even think about it. It'd been on instinct. It was just like the time he'd shielded Naruto from Haku and very nearly died. Pure instinct.

He was protective of her.

He was protective of all of them, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, not liking where this was going. He knew that she had him cornered. Damn her. What the hell had she done to him? Wasn't he just about to do something a couple of minutes ago? What had he been so upset about?

The pinkette still had herself pressed against his back, still locking him into her embrace. "I'm always going to be here to pull you back into the light… I know you feel it too, Sasuke-kun," she said confidently.

The raven remained silent, but he knew she was right. He felt himself calming down, just like he had in the Forest of Death. He was coming back down to earth, and he realized that he had no desire to harm them anymore. He slowly brought a hand up to cover her own, and he felt her gasp softly.

Sasuke finally looked up at his two other teammates, wearing a remorseful expression. "I'm truly sorry," he apologized.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, nodding in acknowledgement. "Apology accepted."

Naruto grinned and gave the raven a thumbs up, grateful that he didn't have to fight his best friend. "Don't sweat it, teme. Good thing we have Sakura-chan to get you off your man period!" he exclaimed.

Sasuke glared daggers at the blond, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle, finally letting go of Sasuke. The raven shook his head and sighed. "In all seriousness… I don't want to do this anymore. I haven't for a long time. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired," he said.

Kakashi walked up to the Uchiha and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to, Sasuke. We'll get this all figured out together. You're making the right choice. I'm proud of you," he said.

"We all care about you more than you'll ever know, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said softly.

The raven turned to the pinkette at her words, and felt a wave of remorse wash over him. He'd hurt all of them, but especially Sakura. It amazed him how she could possibly still care about him after everything he'd done. It wasn't like she knew the truth about Itachi until a few moments prior. She must have thought he was truly crazy. They needed to have a long talk.

"I know, Sakura. I appreciate it. And… I'm sorry," he apologized.

The pinkette smiled up at him. She was ecstatic to finally have him back, for real this time. "I know, Sasuke-kun. I accept your apology," she replied.

"We'll talk later," he said, before turning to Naruto.

Naruto's grin only grew wider. "You ready to stop the infinite tsukuyomi?"

Sasuke smirked at the blond and nodded. "I am. Let's do this," he said.

As the two boys got ready to end the infinite tsukuyomi, Sakura and Kakashi looked on. Sakura was so proud of her boys.

Everything was going to be okay.

I hope you enjoyed! If you did enjoy, please feel free to leave a review and save this to your favorites!