Prologue

The shape of a small man ran through a dark, cracked and sandy corridor, sweating profusely as his egawa laden feet clanked against the marble floor to the beat of his thrumming heart.

The vial which was inside the scroll he had clipped to his belt, containing the three pills, could never leave the compound. It was his mission to protect the vial, until his last breath. Everything had turned to dust. He cursed and ran through a short corridor, leading to a larger hall. He kept to the shadows, and listened.

Chiyo-sama had warned him to attend the program. He hadn't listened. Her legacy had made it possible to create what was inside the vial with his knowledge. It would be an evolutionary step in the shinobi world, changing everything. She just hadn't understood. And she had actually believed him when he'd said the fire had destroyed everything.

So he was well aware of the importance he carried. Almost too aware.

He had grown anxious in the past weeks. The program had created an incredible thing, but it was a dangerous responsibility - that was the reason for the fire which had destroyed unimportant documents in a ruse to cover what they had done. And then, he had started to notice things in the facility, shadows lurking, a sound too out of place, a researcher with a different shade in her eyes. Something had been wrong, but he hadn't listened to that small voice in the back of his mind. None had.

Someone had watched them create it. He was sure of it now.

Since his anxiety had proven to be correct, coming to fruition as his comrades fell limp to a gas thirty minutes ago to an invisible threat. He himself, however, had been the apprentice of Chiyo-sama and had an resistance to the paralyzing gas. Grabbing the vial, he had secured it into a scroll with a complex code and ran towards the secret passage that went directly to The Suna capitol through a maze of sandy tunnels he was one of few who knew the way.

Organizing his jumbled stressed thoughts, he saw that he had to get to the Kazekage, bring him the vial, protect it. Get to the secret passage. The strange presence should never get it.

Blinking, he thought for a second to destroy it, but then shame and guilt overcame him. It was too important, even if it was dangerous. He couldn't destroy twenty seven years of work just like that.

Tap, tap, tap, tap

Someone, almost languidly, walked towards him.

Curses.

He needed to confuse his intentions to the stranger on where he was going. The man made a sharp turn and went into a hidden doorway, through an old creaking metal staircase and found himself back at the laboratory.

He blinked.

Carnage. He found the bodies of his fellow researchers, doctors and libertarians scattered in pieces, hanging in lumps on hooks from the roof. The fleshy dripping pieces of hands, breasts and innards hung on small meat hooks. Darkness. It was like stars blinking like red angry eyes, watching.

It was humiliation in its most sacred carnal form.

His world exploded and he saw, he saw, his right eye hang in veins from his skull, and blood was everywhere, but he had to protect the vial.

"Don't-" he begged. Prayed. But his god was evil, or he chose to ignore his pleadings, as blood splattered from his stomach in a beautiful cascade of the wine of his body.

The vial!

Was his last thought as he heard a laughter, the sound rolling like waves of blood in the air, and someone stepped on his chest and he felt the weight of the vial disappear, as well as the world.

Chapter 1

Gato is Really a Pain in the Ass

How could I have been so stupid?

Sakura trembled as Gato's knife pressed at her throat. How could she have been so careless?

"Stay away! Or I'll slit this girl's throat!" Gato yelled and Sakura saw Kakashi-sensei still at the bridge. Gato pulled her hair painfully and bared her throat even more to the sharp edge of the knife. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks and it took all her willpower not to sob unsightly as she gasped. Gato was a tiny man, as short as she was, but he was stronger than he looked. His grip of her hair, the knife at her throat, and she couldn't do anything.

Naruto and Sasuke still fought Haku in that ice cage so they didn't see, didn't know, and Kakashi and Zabuza looked at Gato with something akin to scorn. But Sakura also felt that gaze slowly transcend to her. As if their eyes were saying she was just as stupid as Gato.

"Ka-kakashi-sensei-", she choked.

Shit, she cursed. Shit. But Kakashi-sensei would save her, right? He'd get Gato easily. A kunai in the old man's shoulder would-

"Stay back!" Gato yelled again as he fitfully backed away from the center of the bridge and yanked Sakura's hair. She yelped. He had probably realised he wouldn't survive if he stayed in the bloodshed. So he'd taken the weakest shinobi as a shield.

Sakura saw Kakashi nod, as if saying he'd come get her later. He better! Sakura's eyes filled with more tears. Her bloodied teacher refocused on an amused Zabuza and they disappeared in the mist, all colour lost with the exception of the reluctant red.

Gato breathed roughly down her neck, probably pleased Kakashi and Zabuza didn't care about him anymore. He probably thought they had listened to him. Had they? Had Kakashi-sensei?

Could she take him? Sakura's blurry eyes wandered to Gato's ankle. If she kicked back and down at his feet and at the same time pushed away the knife, maybe she could run?

The hired swords behind Gato roared and ran past him, hollering and cheering. Sakura felt Gato's old wrinkly hands grab her arm and he turned around and started running. She had to run too, or the knife would stay in her throat. So she did.

Then an enormous man appeared beside Gato and he looked down at her. His dark eyes locked on hers, daring her to free herself. He had a large broad sword strapped to his back, and instinct told her she wouldn't get away from him.

"Takashi. Bind the girl and bring her to the Hanamachi entertainment district. Mostly unharmed. She's my current life insurance. Get moving!" Gato swore and padded his knife against Sakura's shoulder. The man called Takashi nodded and fished up a long thick rope from his pouch.

"I'm out of this crazy place. Let them all kill each other." Gato hissed as he looked over his shoulder at the chaos on the bridge. Where Naruto and Sasuke were fighting for their lives inside a cage made of ice and mirrors. Where Kakashi fought to protect them, against a monster in the mist.

And what was she doing?

Sakura refused. Anger clouded her mind and she didn't care about the man with the broad sword. As Gato let his knife fall slightly, Sakura quickly made the hand signs for a D-ranked Kawarimi replacement jutsu, as Kakashi had done when the Demon Brothers attacked.

Tora, ushi, inu, mi- ninpo: Kawarimi no jutsu!

She felt herself float through something not quite called the world, space and time meddled with each other, and then she felt the world right itself as she opened her eyes and looked around. She had switched with a kunai she had thrown before, and she was now closer to the bridge. She saw Gato gape at the kunai in the ground, seconds ago where she had been standing.

The man with the broadsword caught on and saw her almost immediately. She had no time to triumph in the feeling of perfectly executing the D-rank jutsu, so she pulled out several kunai and ran along the bridge's edge towards the man who had requested their mission. The hollering hired swords had reached Zabuza and Kakashi, joining in the fight fearlessly and stupidly, eager to see the blood of shinobi. Sakura swirled past a man, tried to balance on the bannister, and ran alongside it.

She had to get to Tazuna. Protect him. Fight.

"Get her!" She could hear Gato yell at Takashi.

"Escaping, are you?" A voice whispered in her ear as she ran on the bridge. A kunai in her hand, Sakura threw it to the voice. Laughing, a woman with honey blond hair cartwheeled away, and drew a large battle club from a scroll. Her sparkling green eyes shone of mischief and ran after the pinkette. Suddenly, Sakura's legs gave out as blinding pain raked through her spine. Falling and tumbling down, she found the kunoichi standing triumphantly in front of Sakura, swinging her club in circles. The man called Takashi had just caught up and nodded to the blond kunoichi. Her legs were on fire. She couldn't move without the lightning of pain striking her legs and she cried out.

"Good job, Yume." Takashi gruffed.

"What do we need her for?" Yume drawled and swung her giant battered club in circles. Sakura gasped as she tried to move again, her quivering hands forcing herself away, crawling with her legs lagging behind. "I'd rather take one of the big guys. I like the one with a sword."

"She is a hostage for Gato-sama. Hatake and Momochi are to preferably kill each other. We are, as you know, needed at Gato-sama's side." Takashi said as he took hold of the crawling and protesting girl, bound Sakura's hands and ankles, and slung her struggling body over his shoulder. "We go to the Hanamachi district directly."

"Sure, honey bear." Yume grinned and glanced longingly to the chaos at the bridge. The hired swords attacked both Zabuza and Kakashi, making it even more difficult for the two parts to battle. Blood was spilt. Screams escaped cut throats. There was just bodies, faces, moving, falling. Who was important? Who fell? Who screamed?

Sakura saw stars blink in her vision and she felt her legs crumble. Takashi ran with her bound and slung over his shoulder, and she couldn't do anything. The last thing she could see was Gato ordering for a high speed transport, barely giving her a look. He had known his bodyguards would catch her.

She lost and woke from consciousness from time to time. First she found herself on a boat, gagged but not blindfolded. She could smell the salty air, hear the seagulls sing and feel the rocking ship crash into waves. Then she passed out as the ship lulled her to sleep. When she woke again, she noticed that her legs had stopped bleeding, and someone had bandaged them. They had swollen to an unnatural size, and Sakura wondered if something had been broken.

Time went by in damp darkness. She was thirsty and hungry, and she really really needed to pee. But none was there with her, so she tried to sleep instead in the basement of the ship. A worried sleep was better than awake agony.

She woke again at the rattling of wheels, the steady thumps of hooves, and she found herself in a dark space. The wood creaked and she figured it was a carriage dragged by horses.

The man called Takashi saw her wake and gave her food and water, removing the gag. She noticed she had been starving and wolfed down the dry fish and dry clumpy rice.

"Where are you taking me?" She tried to ask, her voice hoarse and scratchy. Her legs felt like they were encased in stone - heavy and aching when she moved them. Fractured? "Please let me go-"

"Don't talk." He said solemnly, and left it at that. Silence consumed them and Sakura sighed. His sternly set mouth promised no such thing as an exchange of words between them. After a while, the carriage stopped for a break, and the woman called Yume jumped inside, gave Takashi a kiss on his forehead and then she turned to Sakura.

"It seems your buddies died on the bridge, girlie. Just got the message. None is going to come looking for you, honey. Poor little thing!" Yume said and smiled, sickly sweet. "But we'll find a use for you, don't worry."

Sakura blinked.

"You're lying." Sakura said and quivered. She knew they were alive. Because her teammates were strong. Kakashi-sensei was incredibly strong. She had faith.

"You're lying", she said again and felt tears form in her eyes. They were strong, weren't they?

Had she left them to die?

"Gato-sama's conglomerate Kanpani is large, so we will definitely find a position for you. Didn't go great as a ninja for you anyway, did it?" Yume smirked. Sakura tried to not sob.

"You'll work for food and bedding. Obey, and you won't get in trouble. And… Don't try to escape." Takashi said sternly.

"If you try to escape, I won't just give your legs a fracture. Club-chan will break them. And clipped birds never get far." Yume chuckled happily. "I kind of want to break you though. So fragile. Like my first disciple. So easy to just shatter. Ah, I changed my mind. Pretty please try to escape."

"Yume." Takashi said as a warning.

"Yes, darling. I know. But look at her, do you really think she has the guts to run from us?" She sing-songed and batted an eyelash at Sakura.

"Just don't encourage anything." He sighed.

And in the end, when they arrived at the Hanamachi entertainment building somewhere off the inlands, Sakura thought that Gato was a bigger pain in the ass than she had at first thought.

And that she truly was a useless kunoichi of Konoha.