Chapter Three

Naruto accompanied by his friends ran through the leaf village. They stumbled upon damage done to their home, friends and neighbors laid on the ground both injured and deceased. Naruto crimped down on his jaw; hot fresh anger leaked into his veins the more he moved through the village the more of an urge he felt to smash his fist into the person responsible.

"Of course." Naruto muttered annoyance fluttered itself inside his skull once he saw the large echoes of destruction with mixed voices was originating from the leaf villages arena.

The leaf shinobi leaped over the arena's dusty brick wall; their feet graze the roof as they jumped down onto the ground floor of the arena. Naruto's feet hit the dried dirt, instantly looking around assessing the issue.

"Granny!" Naruto called seeing her blonde hair, he quickly reached her side feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. The arena was once again divided into two halves, one side was the leaf shinobi and the other were the reapers. "Kakashi." Naruto smiled seeing the masked man was beside the leaf village hokage.

"Naruto." Kakashi nodded, it had been weeks since Naruto had spoken to Kakashi, tears almost pressed themselves against Naruto's large crystal blue eyes seeing his sensei.

"Not this guy!" Raiden cursed coming up beside Naruto with Carver on his right. Naruto breathed seeing his former teammates, he felt stronger with his friends by his side. They gave him the strength to face forward and stare at the new threat glaring at his village.

"When is this guy going to get a hobby?" Carver wondered glaring at the new leader of the reapers. Sakura Haruno killed Malachite, giving his brother Jadeite the rains to the assassins group Sakura had spent years trying to bring down. Naruto couldn't stop the painful thought from entering his mind during a time like this, but he really wished Sakura was here right now.

"Leaf Village." Jadeite sneered standing in front of his dozens of masked followers, Naruto's eyes scanned over the black wooden box the was behind Jadeite but his mind didn't give it much thought as Tsunade moved toward, causing Naruto to tense.

"What are you doing here!?" Tsunade stepped forward, glaring at the man who stood on the stage from last night, the same stage Tsunade used to praise Sakura's life.

"I made a promise-" Jadeite grinned, "-to bring this village to its knees."

"That's never going to happen!" Naruto spat out; his head still rang from the heavy drinking from the previous night.

"I made a vow to my fallen brother, to bring down the village he despised most."

"Why?" Tsunade questioned, she couldn't understand what the leaf village had done to be a target of the reapers.

"It's simple." Jadeite called,

"Then why don't you get on with it and tell us!" Guy called,

"Commander Sakura Haruno." As Jadeite spoke her name, Naruto's heart stung at the power that still lingered inside her title.

"What does she-" Tsunade went to speak but Jadeite cut her off.

"This was her favorite village." Jadeite explained, "So naturally it must come down."

"We will never let you!" Tsunade spat earning cheers from her shinobi standing behind her.

"It took your elder brother everything the Reaper's had in its arsenal to just graze this village." Carver smiled, "How do expect to even scratch us now?" Naruto turned feeling a hand on his shoulder, Minato stood behind his son staring at Jadeite.

"That-" A sly smile smeared its way over Jadeite's thin lips. "-is also very simple."

"Oh yeah?" Carver rolled his eyes. "How so? You got a hulk hiding inside your pocket we don't know about?" Carver's joke earned a couple snickers and laughs.

"Something like that." Jadeite smiled, "It took some time to find it, and even longer to tame it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tsunade shook her head not caring, she just wanted these people out of her village! Jadeite turned his head, giving two quick nods before three masked reapers moved and began to pull the face of the wooden box off.

"What the hell is in that?" Iruka breathed.

"Where is mom?" Naruto turned to Minato.

"She helped get the citizens to the tunnels. She is there as a guard."

"Good." Naruto breathed; his mother was modularly safe, he just wished Hinata was with her.

"I can't think of a sweeter ending to this village-" Jadeite pulled Naruto and Minato's attention back to him. The front of the box was missing, it was pitch black inside despite it being morning with a bright sun to offer much light to see.

Iruka's mouth dropped open as angry flames spilled from the box, engulfing the reapers who had opened it. They cried in pain as they desperately stop, dropped and rolled on the ground floor of the arena.

Naruto's heart was beating rapidly as he pulled a kunai from his pouched, what kind of creature was going to crawl out of that thing?!

Tsunade growled, recalling the white and black creatures that stormed through the leaf village. Sakura, Carver and Raiden defended them from those things, what has Jadeite created this time!?

Silence filled the arena as everyone watched movement be known inside the box, Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat. Tsunade tilted her head seeing two black shoes slowly walking into the light.

"What-?" Carver felt just as confused, he turned to Raiden not understanding. They were expecting a blood hungry beast to burnt from the box, jumping into the crowd ready to devour everyone.

"No..." Tsunade breathed, her eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

"W-What?" Naruto stepped forward, about to run into the crowd of reapers but Minato stopped him by holding his son's arm.

Carver and Raiden's stomach tightly twisted as their throats dried up.

"She-" Kakashi moved a step forward as her long pink hair reflected the sun light.

"S-Sakura!?" Hinata gasped seeing Sakura Haruno emerge from the box, she stood inside her lit flames as the nearby reapers quickly moved to get away from her.

"What-?" Carver shook his head staring at Sakura, he blinked a few times trying to wake up from this nightmare.

"You said she died!" Raiden turned to Tsunade who remained stunned. Jadeite enjoyed the shocked expressions on the leaf shinobi's faces.

"She did." Tsunade breathed, she herself was the one who searched for a pulse on Sakura but found none!

"You said her body was destroyed." Minato spoke behind Tsunade still trying to restrain his son who wanted nothing more than to run up to Sakura and hug her.

"Look-!" Guy called out pointing towards Sakura, "-her eyes!" Kakashi and Tsunade flipped back around.

Sakura's famous Christmas wreath eyes glowed but they weren't how the leaf shinobi remembered them. Sakura's eyes weren't their lovely diamonds that reflected the purity of the rainbow. As she stood by Jadeite's side her eyes glowed shades of dirty red.

"She died with the poison in her system." Carver realized. "That's why Jadeite came back, not to try and bring us down but for her body!"

"You catch on quickly." Jadeite commented, turning to gaze at Sakura as he felt the orb inside his jacket. The glass orb was what controlled Sakura by linking it to Jadeite giving him the power to use Sakura Haruno as a human nuclear bomb.

"Kakashi-" Tsunade gasped out, tears in her eyes. Her hand reached out touching Kakashi's arm stabilizing herself on her feet.

"I know." Kakashi breathed never removing his exposed eye from her, his heart was rabid inside his chest.

"We have to free her!" Hinata turned to Naruto, her hand grasping the necklace around her neck, with ready to go tears in her eyes.

"I can't think of a sweeter ending to this village-" Jadeite repeated his former statement. "-than to have the very person who died to save it, be the one responsible for its destruction!"

"Sakura would never hurt anyone!" Naruto yelled out with a determined wave of his hand.

"Naruto." Carver stated, "That isn't Sakura." Naruto turned with a distilled expression fallen on his face.

"Of course, it is!" Naruto shouted,

"Not right now it isn't." Raiden agreed, "That is Jadeite's weapon."

"Sakura is not a weapon!"

"She was trained to be an unstoppable a war machine." Carver felt the tempting urge to slap the stupid out of Naruto. "She is a weapon when she is underneath some whack jobs control!"

"Then we need to free her!" Naruto said turning back to look at Sakura, her body was stiff like a board. Her face was expressionless and her red glowing eyes sent unstilted shivers through Naruto and the leaf shinobi.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Kiba questioned taking a step away as he gazed at Sakura's face, he heard stories of the Reaper and he had no desire to meet the monster that lived inside those tall tales.

"There has to be an orb, like with Kakashi and Hinata." Tsunade realized, "We find it, destroying that should free Sakura."

"If we do that-" Carver studied Sakura, "-what will wake up?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto shook his head, "Sakura-"

"Kakashi and everyone else woke up with large pieces missing from their memory, if we free Sakura we don't know what will wake up. Naruto, you got a peek of what Sakura was like before-"

"This is Sakura we are talking about!" Naruto said, "I don't give a damn what wakes, we will deal with that when we get to that bridge but for right now, that is Sakura, she is not only our friend but our family too and she would do everything in her power to free us from being a mindless puppet!"

"He's got a point." Raiden directed to Carver.

"I hate when he does." Carver muttered.

"Everyone does." Raiden agreed.

"I feel like I am being verbally assaulted." Naruto said looking at his friends.

"Never!" Raiden smiled with a fast wave of his hand.

"Hey!" Tsunade broke Carver, Raiden and Naruto's conversation making them turn back to the fact their village was under attack. Tsunade waved her hand signaling Jadeite who was closing the space he had between himself and Sakura. "Don't-"

Jadeite breathed scanning Sakura's blank face with his hungry eyes, Jadeite carved into his desires lifting his hand to touch her face. Kakashi's stomach pulpit into his lower abdomen at the light thought of Jadeite being so openly able to touch her.

Naruto's lips parted, his mind raced to think of something to say to get Jadeite away from Sakura but before anyone could move, Jadeite's hand was electrocuted. Jadeite flinched towards the pain quickly taking a step back.

"Why can't he touch her?" Raiden whispered to Carver.

"I have no fucking idea." Carver answered, "Malachite never tried to touch Hinata or anyone that returned so I don't know if this is normal."

"He tried to touch her." Neji entered the conversation, "Clearly he wouldn't if he knew the outcome would be getting electrocuted."

"Very good point." Carver said,

"So why can't he touch her?" Raiden wondered what everyone was thinking.

"Guess we will have to just free her and ask her for ourselves." Naruto smirked.

"Oh yeah-" Raiden mocked, "-you make it sound so easy!"

"I have been waiting for this day for two long years-" Jadeite said, but never removed his eyes from Sakura's blank face. "-after three towns, two villages and a city I knew she was ready."

"What the hell-?" Shikamaru wondered what Jadeite was talking about.

"Reaper!" Jadeite smiled as he spoke, her eyes drifted off to Jadeite's direction signaling she was truly under his possession. Naruto's breath got caught inside his throat seeing her eyes move, it made her standing there feel more real. After two painful years, there she stood before him, it hadn't occurred to Naruto just yet that she stood on the opposite side. "Bring the village you loved so dearly down to its knees!"

"What!?" Tsunade breathed as if she hadn't been expecting Jadeite to use Sakura at all, Tsunade didn't get a moment to register what had happened before Sakura vanished from sight.

"Fuck!" Carver cursed searching for pink hair inside the arena.

----

Carver huffed air in and out of his lungs, feeling sweat coat his body. Raiden stood beside him as they scanned the crowd of people, they felt like tiny fish alone inside a pond with a hungry shark.

Sakura was faster than Carver recalled, she was swifter than Raiden remembered and no one could land a hit on her, they had to be careful to not hurt her in ways Tsunade couldn't heal. The only thing the leaf shinobi could do was play defense with their hands tied.

Movement on Carver's right side caused him to snap his attention to the ground at the dead corpse nearby.

"Uh..." Raiden called out. "...we got a problem." Carver didn't remove his eyes from the dead reaper.

"Yeah, I got one too."

"No, I uh, I think mine is worse."

"I can promise you it's not." Carver turned his head, his heart shook seeing the dead corpses the littered the ground near Raiden were beginning to get up and move. "Or not." Carver sighed turning back to look at his right. The corpse he had been watching was also beginning to spark back to life.

"What-"

"Alright-!" Carver called seeing Sakura was standing beside Jadeite, watching the leaf shinobi. "-truth time!" Carver said with a quick clap of his hands.

"Wh-What!?" Tsunade turned,

"What the hell do you mean 'truth time' Carver!?" Naruto shouted yards away feeling a sickly feeling spread throughout his body as he watched a shinobi, he knew he had killed start to pull itself to its feet.

"What is going on?" Kakashi questioned Carver and Raiden knowing they had the answers.

"The real reason Sakura got her name." Raiden answered.

"The-What-Why do I care about that right now!?" Tsunade snapped as her blood boiled.

"Because she was dubbed 'The Reaper' not because she personally went after the Reapers."

"What?" Kiba breathed, "Then why the hell is she called that!?"

"Because of this-" Carver pointed to the dead bodies as they rose to their feet, their eyes glowed with a ghostly green.

"Sakura is the cause of this!?" Guy gasped.

"This is why the Waterfall Village was so strong, this is why they could never be brought down." Raiden said,

"If one soldier was killed in battle, it got back up-" Carver added. "-and kept on going."

"This is one of her forbidden seals?" Iruka wondered,

"Yeah." Carver breathed.

"Damn." Asuma breathed, "How do we kill them for good?"

"As far as I know, headshot." Raiden said. "Sakura can't use the bodies anymore after the head had been destroyed."

"Please tell me that isn't why she loves zombie shows so much." Naruto muttered.

"On the bright side-" Carver sighed,

"How can there be a bright side to this!?"

"-this seal takes up almost all of her chakra, she won't be able to keep this seal active for long." Carver finished.

"What happens when it breaks?" Tsunade breathed,

"Sakura always passed out; she would be out for two maybe even three days." Raiden said.

"Well that's good." Kakashi stepped in, "We just need to hold out long enough for her to burn through her chakra."

"Yeah-" Carver nodded. "-I have a plan."

"You have a plan?" Raiden gasped.

"Don't sound so shocked, I am a very smart man!" Carver snapped, "The shinobi that are still standing need to keep take those things down. Raiden, Tsunade, Naruto and I go after Jadeite and-"

"What about Sakura, there is no way she will let-"

"-and Kakashi will keep Sakura at bay." Carver finished.

"That is your plan?" Kurenai scoffed.

"K-Kakashi can't-" Guy sputtered, he feared for his favorite rival's safety.

"He can." Carver stated, "He is probably the only one who is a match for Sakura."

"I wouldn't say the only one." Kurenai rolled her eyes.

"I would." Carver stated. "Kakashi are you-"

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded turning to look at Sakura's eyes, red didn't look good on her.

"I don't know if you can remember or not-" Carver said to Kakashi, "-but your sharingan won't work against her, her eyes act kind of like a mirror."

"It may give you like a split second, if that." Raiden added.

"But a split second is all you might need to survive against her." Carver commented.

Naruto, Carver and Raiden went after Jadeite at the same time Kakashi went for Sakura. The leaf shinobi turned to the remaining masked reapers and the real-life walking dead, Choji huffed; today was proving to be a very long day.

"Let's go!" Guy yelled charging into the mixed crowd of the living and the dead.

"Yes!" Lee dashed in after his sensei.

Kakashi ducked a punch from Sakura, he grabbed her arm pulling him closer.

"Sakura." He breathed; a sharp pain echoed through his head, but he ignored it. "Can you hear me?"

Sakura's lips parted, Kakashi's eyes widened as he paused desperately waiting to hear her sweet voice, but no words escaped her instead she whipped her free arm holding a silver kunai forward. Kakashi jumped back, her blade was able to graze his jacket.

"Sakura it's ok-" Kakashi went on speaking, trying to reach through to her as he kept dodging her attacks keeping her attention placed solely on him. The two clashed kunai's, the ringing of metal against metal rang inside Kakashi's ears,"-I'm right here, it's going to all be ok."

"What-?" Jadeite gasped jumping back, Carver, Raiden and Tsunade were quickly cornering him."-Reaper!" Jadeite called through a growl.

Kakashi heard Jadeite call out for Sakura, he pushed away her left arm and swung his own arm ready to clash blades, ready to stop her from punching her kunai into his throat.

To Kakashi's surprise, Sakura froze at the call of her name Kakashi's eyes went wide as he watched his kunai effortlessly slice through her skin.

"S-Sakura!" Kakashi gasped seeing the blood soak her shirt, she didn't respond to his shocked concern. Sakura turned on her heel in Jadeite's direction. "No!" Kakashi tried to grab her but she was already too far from his reach.

Sakura weaved her way through the crowd, reaching Jadeite Naruto's eyes widened seeing her. Sakura pulled her elbow upward, slamming it into Carver's face. He stumbled backwards; his eyes instantly watered. Sakura didn't miss a beat, she spun on her left foot kicking Raiden away, taking his sword from his hand as he flew backwards.

Naruto didn't have time to question where Kakashi was or if he was even alive. Naruto positioned himself to stand in front of Tsunade, he quickly turned wrapping his arms around her making himself into a human shield. Naruto's eyes watered as he braced himself, his ears captured a light gasp from behind him.

"Wh-What?" Jadeite's voice wheezed, "I-I don't un-understand..." Naruto and Tsunade glanced at each other before slowly turning around. Tsunade gulped, her amber eyes round with a mixture of confusion and shock.

"Sakura?" Naruto whispered; his heart pounding so fast. Sakura stood in front of him, Raiden's sword she stole was pressed in middle of Jadeite's chest, blood leaked from the wound soaking his shirt.

"You really thought-" Naruto's jaw dropped hearing her voice, "-your little jutsu would hold me?"

"Sakura!?" Tsunade breathed moving closer, Sakura's eyes still glowed a blood red. "What-"

"We-We killed you." Jadeite gasped out; blood dripped down his chin. "You-"

"I decide when I'm done." Sakura's voice snapped, Tsunade shook her head. She didn't know what had happened but the hokage reached out towards Jadeite, Sakura's hand flung out tightly gripping Tsunade's wrist.

"You're not strong enough to keep resisting." Jadeite laughed, causing himself to cough on the blood filling his lungs.

"She doesn't need to be." Tsunade responded after a moment of watching Sakura who remained frozen. Tsunade searched Jadeite's jacket with her free hand quickly searching out the orb she knew would free Sakura.

Kakashi ran past Naruto, who remained still his brain unable to register what was happening. Kakashi looked at Sakura's hand that tightly gripped Tsunade's wrist. One wrong move and the mask shinobi knew Sakura would shatter Tsunade's arm.

He lightly wrapped his hand around Sakura's small wrist. Carver jogged over, his blood dripping down his broken nose but he quickly pulled a kunai and slammed it on the side Jadeite's head. Carver wasn't taking any chances at this twisted fucker getting away again. Tsunade glanced at Kakashi, a new issue arose between the small group of gathered shinobi.

As Tsunade crushed the glowing orb inside her hand, everyone turned to Sakura. The red slowly faded from her eyes, leaving the familiar Christmas wreath eyes the leaf shinobi grew to love. Kakashi breathed, Sakura's grip on Tsunade loosened and her emerald green eyes was revealed.

Kakashi stared into them, searching for the Sakura he knew but before he could find anything her eyes closed and she went limp. Kakashi grapped her, bringing her into his frame. Kakashi glanced over at Carver and Tsunade who looked deathly terrified.

Everyone looked down at Sakura who was tucked inside Kakashi's warm embrace. The leaf shinobi were still trying to wrap their minds around the concept that Sakura Haruno was alive, and she was within an arm's reach.

But they didn't have time to celebrate their friends return they all were too busy staring at her, wondering what was going to wake up, Sakura or the Reaper?

"Well we are at that bridge." Raiden muttered looking up, "What do we do now?"