Getting Out

Sasuke still had no answer. He still didn't know why his brother did what he did. But even if he heard the reason from Itachi, would he be able to forgive him? The massacre of his clan, of their parents… Sasuke could never forget them. It would always haunt him. And even today, five years after the massacre, hearing his brother's name was enough to fill him with a combination of rage and terror.

He vowed to become stronger. He would fight to protect the little he cherished. Sasuke slowly took a deep breath. They had been prisoners for three days. Gato had talked about asking for a ransom. The demand had probably reached Konoha. Zabuza wanted to inform Itachi. Sasuke was certain his big brother also heard the news. 

What would he think of him? Getting captured on his first real mission… Sasuke had to do something. He had spent time walking around his cell while observing it with his newly acquired Sharingan. He was looking for possible weaknesses to exploit. It was time to get out of here. It was time to escape. They couldn't afford to wait. Sasuke was afraid Itachi might come for him to finish the job… He knew he wasn't strong enough to defeat his brother. 

He wondered if Konoha would make it in time. Jun was on a mission, but Izumi, Kazuma, Karin, Neji... and their friends were there. But they were so far away. Konoha seemed to exist in another world, a world that went beyond the stinky basement, the bars of his cell, the hunger that consumed his energy, the pain that radiated into his body where the guards had managed to land a few blows during their last visit.

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Sakura was one of the best students in her class. But she soon realized that her perfect grades didn't help her much in the real world. Kiba was better at taijutsu than her. Sasuke was better at everything than her. She felt useless. She was always the one hanging back while the two boys were on the frontline.

Kiba was exasperating with his manners and exuberance. And even though he sometimes had flashes of geniuses, he remained a real nuisance. Sasuke was perfect in her eyes. But he was so distant sometimes, so dismissive. And of course, it only reinforced the cool air around him, Sakura liked the Uchiha more. But sometimes she couldn't help but feel hurt. She tried her best to have him notice and pay attention to her. Being on the same team as him was far from being as romantic as in her dreams.

Nothing about her current situation was romantic. Sakura felt that the little girl who dreamed of adventure and love had stayed in Konoha, that it was another person. She felt like she had left Konoha for months, not a few days. It had been almost a week since they left Konoha, and they'd been in captivity for a few days. Since Akamaru's death, Kiba hadn't said a word.

Sakura had briefly hoped that Haku would help them. But he had abandoned them. Then she thought Sasuke would find a way to save them… But even he was helpless. There was nobody. No one was going to save her. And Kiba ?! Who was going to save Kiba? He no longer spoke. Sometimes Sakura had to listen to hear his breathing. She was terrified that one morning she would wake up and he'd be dead. This mission... This mission was a nightmare.

After four days of anguish, terror, rage, helplessness, and shattered illusions, Sakura had no place for other emotions. Sakura felt empty and hardened at the same time. There was something in her, deep beneath layers and layers of naivety, something hard and solid and frightening. And it was coming to the surface… very slowly, and she felt it.

There was something. Sakura wasn't dead yet, not broken yet. She felt like she was suspended between two worlds. As if the harsh reality had flayed everything that was supposed to be sweet and naive in her, leaving only a skeleton, and she hadn't yet found how to bring it to life.

That day, Haku didn't come to feed them. She heard voices above her. Sakura didn't tense up. She no longer had the strength, but her attention turned to the noise, with the animal instinct of the prey that felt the predator approaching. The basement door opened, and the voices became clearer. It was Gato and Zabuza. They went down the stairs, followed by four guards.

"You messed up, Gato!" Zabuza scolded fiercely. "If Konoha finds out…"

"What?" Gato answered with contempt. "With what Kusa will pay me, I would have enough to live like a king for ten lifetimes."

"Shinobi aren't businessmen, Gato!" Zabuza warned. "They don't buy, they take. Deliver the kid to Kusa, and you lose all your bargaining chip."

"You are simply disappointed that it wasn't your buyer who won the bid," Gato replied with a naughty air. "Itachi Uchiha should have come forward faster."

Zabuza stared at Gato in silence for a moment before rebuking.

"You're making a mistake. You'll regret it."

He walked up the stairs with a heavy step. Gato merely looked up at the sky, then snapped his fingers. Immediately, his guards went to open Sasuke's cell. Sakura couldn't see what was happening, but she heard the moment when Sasuke threw himself at them. Sakura frantically tried to open her cell's grid to help him, but she knew it was hopeless. There were blows, grunts, and screams. In the end, Sasuke was alone, tied up, wounded, and facing multiple opponents.

The guards dragged Sasuke out of his cell. Sakura clung to the bars, feverish. No, no, they couldn't separate them, they had to stay together

"Where are you taking him?" She screamed in a hoarse voice. "What are you going to do with him?!"

Gato laughed. Sakura hated him. She despised the man. She tightened her grip on the bars of her cell, convulsively. When she would get out of here…

"Kusa won the auction," Gato informed her with a taunting tone. "It seems a Uchiha is a rare breed these days. But don't worry, girl. My contacts started to probe the market in Kumo and Iwa for you and the other brat."

His henchmen laughed. Sakura ignored the hint of fear that his words instilled in her. Iwa and Kumo hated Konoha, she knew that the fate they had in store for her would be terrible. But it was a problem for later… for a distant future where her world would go beyond that basement, beyond her hunger… Right now, they were taking Sasuke. 

The guards took the Uchiha with them, carrying him like a bag of rice. Sakura screamed, protested, and begged, but no one paid attention to her. The basement door closed behind them. The hard thing deep inside Sakura creaked.

She let go of the bar. She stepped back, sat against the wall, and waited without saying anything. She felt that until now she had only floated on the surface of a tumultuous ocean of fear and helplessness. She had been tossed about by the waves, submerged, suffocated, struggling in vain. She had let go, and everything was clearer now. 

Sakura didn't have a plan or strategy. Her mind was always clouded with hunger and fear. But all this curtain of superficial thoughts had finally been pulled away. Suddenly she could see clearly what was important. All other things were insignificant. 

What did she want? To release Kiba, find Sasuke, and flee. Run away from here, find Kakashi-sensei, and return to Konoha. Killing Gato if the opportunity presented itself... But to accomplish her goal, she had to get rid of the chains.

What did she have at her disposal? Not much. Sakura had always been weak, both physically and in terms of chakra reserves. Her best quality rested on her excellent control of chakra. When it came to chakra control, she was even better than Sasuke. How could she achieve what she wanted with that?

It was simple now that she thought about it.

Later that day, a guard came to bring them food. As usual, he started taunting Kiba. As usual, he paid no attention to the girl with pink hair, weakened, harmless. Then Sakura, still chained, waved the familiar hand seals of the Transformation Jutsu. It was one of the three Jutsus they had to master to become Genin.

With her hands chained like that, malaxing chakra was almost impossible. But not for her. She performed the technique. The guard had his back to her. He was focused on Kiba. Behind him, Sakura transformed into a perfect copy of Akamaru.

Silence fell in the basement. The guard turned to her cell and began to stammer with incomprehension when he saw the puppy instead of a pink-haired kunoichi. He scratched his head. He would have been more cautious if the dog had been in Sasuke or Kiba's cell. He may have called for reinforcement.

He took out the keys and opened the door of the cell with a slow gesture. His gaze never left the puppy that was looking at him fearfully. Sakura waited until he was close enough. Then she canceled the jutsu and threw herself at the surprised guard.

They rolled on the ground, clinging to each other, beating each other and roaring with rage. The guard had a short staff, but Sakura had nails. She lacerated his face like a wild animal. Their struggle brought them to Kiba's cell. The guard managed to get up halfway and pushed Sakura away, but she clung to him. She scratched and tore everything within her reach. His face, his hands, his neck. The man was covered in blood, half blinded. 

They rolled and stumbled again, and suddenly Sakura bumped into the grid of Kiba's cell. She didn't realize they had backed away that far. The guard tried to push her away with kicks while swearing. But Sakura wouldn't let go. She clung to him like her life depended on it, which it did. It was her only chance, she had to succeed.

"Kiba!" she screamed desperately. "Kiba, help me! Kiba!"

No word or movement had come from Kiba's cell since the death of Akamaru.

But Sakura called for help anyway. Two thin chained arms suddenly flew between the bars, and grabbed the guard's neck, pulling him against the bars to strangle him. The man struggled vehemently, his face turning red. Kiba was strong but he was only a twelve-year-old boy. It was a matter of time before the guard freed himself. Sakura looked around, searching for something… anything. Her gaze fell on the staff that the guard had dropped.

Without thinking, Sakura took it and swung. The first blow shook the whole body of the guard. Then she struck and struck and struck again, hysterically, until there was blood everywhere until the guard's face no longer looked like a face. It was only then she realized the man had stopped moving for a while now. She stepped back dazed, and lowered her weapon. Silence returned to the basement.

Sakura's whole body was shaking. Her hands, arms, even her clothes, everything was covered with blood and something else she couldn't identify. Slowly, Kiba released his grip on the guard's neck, letting the corpse slide along the cell to crash to the ground. Sakura was relieved in front of the massacre. He was dead. She killed him.

"Sakura?" Kiba called in a soft voice.

He stared at her with wide eyes, behind the bars of his cell. His face was covered with blood, too.

"He must have the keys," she muttered while searching the body.

She made an effort not to at his head, or what was left of it. 

She found the keys. Sakura got rid of her chains with shaky hands. She also freed Kiba. 

"Now what?" Kiba asked.

His voice was strangely flat. It looked like someone else's voice. Sakura realized that she hadn't heard his voice since Akamaru's death. But at least Kiba was alive.

"Now what?" she repeated in a hoarse voice. "We're going to get Sasuke. But we're going to kill Gato, first."

Kiba emitted a low rumble, and a little life returned to his eyes.

"Yeah. Let's go kill Gato and find Sasuke."

Sakura had a lot of romantic ideas about her life on a team with Sasuke. But these ideas no longer existed. There was only a harsh reality. She, Kiba, the blood on her hands, and the enemies they must defeat.