Sakura pulled and pulled to get the thing that was keeping her in one place off. It felt like it was pulling out her chakra the more she used it. She lost track of time and began to get anxious and worried. She listened very closely. Once or twice she heard a ‘Rasengan!’ and an angry scream. Something in Sakura knew that this whole thing was a failure and knew that Naruto might…

“Ha..ha. That was easy.” A voice came from the opening of the cave.

Sakura didn’t turn to see who it was, the opening was in the distance so she couldn’t recognize it either. She closed her eyes and prayed hard that it was the yellow-haired boy who she’d come to love. Come on…

“Where are Itachi and the others?” Fear washed her body.

No, no, no, no, no.

“Konan get the statue ready.”

Sakura opened her eyes slightly and saw something orange on the ground. She shut her eyes automatically. Tears fell out, even thought she was trying so hard not to cry.

“Naruto…NARUTO!” she suddenly yelled, bolting upright

“OI! Shut up over there, oh and what did we tell you,” Pain walked over towards Naruto’s body, “foolproof.” He grinned.

A big statue with many eyes appeared out of the caves wall. Pain, Tobi, and Konan were standing on pillars waiting for the others. Naruto lay on the ground in the middle of the pillar circle.

“Where the hell are they?”

Zetsu appeared on his pillar.

“So?” Tobi said.

Zetsu sighed. “They’re dead.”

Sakura looked up.

“What?” Tobi said after a long silence.

“Uchiha Sasuke killed them along with 3 other ninjas.”

“DAMNIT! How are we suppose to distract the Kyuubi with only four people?” Pain said.

“S-Sas-uke…killed…Itachi?” Sakura whispered.

“Patient Pain, we will still do it. But use more of your powers.”

“But how? It took so long to get the 8 tailed. This is the nine tailed fox!” Konan yelled.

“I know…but you guys have me, and after all I was the one who controlled the kyuubi in the first place.” Tobi said.

“Huh?” Sakura said. But they ignored her.

“Then let’s begin.”

“NO!” Sakura yelled.

Too late, Naruto started to rise in the air in a purple bubble. “STOP PLEASE!”

“Pain, silence the girl, and starting forming the seal.” Tobi said.

“Okay.” Pain answered back.

Sakura’s voice disappeared as her mouth kept on moving. She was pulling so hard on the ropes that her wrists started to bleed. Hours passed and from the looks of it, they have distracted 3 tailes of the Kyuubi. Naruto looked like an orange dot from where Sakura was sitting.

“Keep going…” Tobi whispered.

“This would be a lot faster if Itachi was here…”

“mmm.”

Sakura sobbed, she was hopeless…useless. Nothing in her power could help Naruto. This was all her fault.

4 tails remaining.

“This is getting hard.” Someone said.

“Yeah…”

NOOO! WHY? WHY DOES NARUTO HAVE TO BE SO…PRIDEFUL? She screamed in her head. Not even sure if prideful was a word.

“Easy there, Konan.”

“This is tiring.” The women said.

Sakura raised her head a bit of an inch after she heard some sort of roar.

“CONTROL IT!” Pain yelled.

“I TOLD YOU IT WAS NO USE!” Konan yelled.

“We have to let go, or else the barrier will be broken!” Tobi said.

“Then the Kyuubi will be free!”

“EITHER WAY IT’S POINTLESS, WE HAVE NO STRENGTH!”

Sakura felt a joint of excitement at these words…so there was hope.

“I cant…do it!” Zetsu yelled.

The orange-red foam was taking an odd shape, even someone inexperienced like Sakura could tell something was out of place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------