Melody of Time -Naruto-

Chapter 54 - Mission Accomplished?

Chapter shout out!! MiyukiAyame, HyuugaMisuki, P_Singh, RAYEDEER, krysral_uchiha, fell_dark_wolf11, HanakoRistow, KamikazeKaitouIchigo, JordanNovillaChavez, and KarlUngi.

                I do not own Naruto. Bad people who think I do. Bad! I love you all, but bad!! (But I seriously doubt if there was anyone out there that thought I did own Naruto.... -_-')

                *Not edited by AkiraMori-Sensei yet*

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Chapter 54 -

Mission Accomplished?

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                "It's nearly dusk... It seems like they've got their hands full," Sakkon said as Tayuya and him raced through the trees. I had long given up trying to fight against my body running after them, moving in sync. After I had tried a few more times, only to find out that even passed out I would still move, I decided to fall back and save my strength for when it was needed.

                'Strength? What strength? I can feel myself withering away right now... It's shameful.'

                "That doesn't matter, what matters is Orochimaru-sama. We've only one third of the plan, and it's taken us almost a full day now."

                Sakkon nodded his head (really it's heads) as he ran, agreeing with her, "Yeah, this is not looking good. Even if all goes well, we're not even sure we can make it."

                "That sounds like a fabulous plan to me. If we don't make it that would mean that Sasuke would die, which would mean that the snake bastard wouldn't get his hands on him," I said to myself. I almost hoped that would happen, but I know that it would still be a loss no matter what. If Sasuke dies, or lives and joins Orochimaru, the chances of me living are slim to none, and then the rescue mission would fail. I felt my eye flutter as I tried to keep them open, but it seemed to be like fighting a one uphill battle after another. The exhaustion was pushing me to the brink, and because now that the pain that was keeping me awake was replaced with molasses, my body was begging to shut down. It wasn't like I wouldn't stop running if I rested for a little bit.

                A small laugh bubbled its way into my mind when I thought about that, 'rest... Come to think about it, just around three months ago the idea of 'rest' would have terrified me, even more so a few weeks ago, but now I almost crave it all the time when I am not doing something. I wonder, with Suteki possibly gone, will old nightmares came back and visit me?' My mind flashed to the one I had when I had re-entered the academy, about my old teammates dying at my own hand, but now I feared that my new ones and new family would replace them, or even worse, join them. I tried to shake my head to rid my tired mind of the fog that was threatening to pull me in, but I could feel myself losing to it, my eyes slowly shutting again.

With my last bit of strength I looked to the setting sun, wanting to take a good long look of it increase it would be the last time I would see it, at least as a proud free shinobi of the hidden Leaf, before I gave in and let my tired eyes finally close, trying to think of a lone cherry tree.

                'Well, no matter. No nightmare could be any worse than right now...'

-----Nala's POV-------

                'They're close!!!' I called could as I sniffed the air, realizing that the stench that we were following was much stronger now than before.