Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 17: Battlefield Konoha

'But...'

'No buts!' the fox didn't let Naruto finish. 'If you choose to fight Gaara right now, you will be able to release him from that chain of misery he is restraint in. But if you chicken out, you will not only lose your chance to save him from darkness, but your beloved village, your friends, and even you might be killed when he goes completely mad and rampages around! What would you do if that happened, huh? Watch out!'

Naruto ducked, and Gaara's sand arm soared over his head, cutting a few strands of his spiky hair.

'You're right,' he answered after a few seconds of thinking. 'I cannot hesitate now; Gaara needs me, if I don't do anything it will turn everything we have done to trash. But before we start...'

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A clone appeared next to Naruto in a poof of smoke, and the real Naruto commanded. "Go back Sasuke up!"

After the clone had aye aye-ed and leapt away, Naruto turned back to Gaara, who was charging at him full speed again, and caught his extending arm aiming for his head in a grapple.

"Let's go Gaara! I'll bring you back from the darkness, again!"

Blue chakra exploded from Naruto's body, and Gaara cackled madly.

"Yes, yes!! That's it!! Show me your power, Uzumaki!!"

Sakura puked out a glob of blood. She collapsed on the ground next to Hinata's bed; her injuries had turned even worse after taking a blast of sound wave from the Sound shinobi in front of her.

Her body was screaming in excrucriating pain. All of her bones felt like being smashed, and her hospital clothes, together with parts of her skin, were ripped by the Decapitating Air Waves. Tears of anguish and fear were threatening to trickle out of her eyes.

Had those sadists called Sound shinobi not wanted to play with their prey before finishing it, Sakura would have been dead meat by now.

Yet, she still pushed herself up, standing on the way of her and Hinata's assailants.

"Ohoh~," the girl, Kin, sneered. "The pinky bitch still wants to play hero!"

She kicked the pinkette at her chest, and Sakura thought her body was going to explode in agony. The remaining of her ribs seemed to shatter under the force of the kick. She couldn't even scream it out anymore; the voice seemed to choke inside her throat and came out as a gurgle of saliva. She collapsed on the ground once more, and this time she couldn't force herself up anymore.

"Enough!" She heard the bandaged one snarling at his teammates. "We're here to complete the mission, not to fool around kicking Konoha bitches! Just kill her and finish it fast!"

Sakura's spine went colder with each word.

It's over, she told herself. You're going to die. Dying like a useless fangirl you are, without even being able to help your comrade...

...If you believe in yourself, there is nothing you can't do!

Naruto's words still echoed through her head. During her match with Neji, they were the source of confidence for her; they helped her overcome her fear, gave her the strength to stand up again after the Hyuuga prodigy had beaten her down to the ground...

But now...

I'm sorry... I cannot do it... This is the end for me...

Her sight was fading. Through the screen of blood leaking into her eyes, she could vaguely see the people who were standing over her body moving, but she couldn't care less; dying in anyway was fine, as long as the pain would just stop...