So I finally got a Beta....about time I know haha. anyways I'm going to be replacing all these chapters with the edited ones. It's still the same story so don't worry for all those who have already read. My grammar is just fixed. Thank you Tler!!! ^.^ and thanks Lilly for the idea of this story. do not own naruto

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She woke up feeling the cold air against her wet cheeks. Where was she? She sat up on a cement bench near the road at the exit out of Konoha. Then it all flooded back. “Sasuke,” Sakura whispered, the tears sliding down her face again. He had left! He had left her all alone in Konoha! She had professed her love to him. She had cried and screamed his name but he still left. He still called her weak and annoying. She collapsed on the pebbled road feeling the rocks scraped her knees. Tears continued to stream over her face. The sun had not come out yet. Maybe, just maybe, she could catch up to him. Tears continued to fall onto the ground. Why couldn’t Sasuke love her the way she loved him? Why was revenge his only path? She promised him she would make him happy if he chose her, but he still chose the path of vengeance.

She stood up, her vision still blurry with tears, and ran. She ran in the direction of Sasuke. She ran to wherever Orochimaru was located. She ran past the gates of Konoha and kept running into the forest. She didn’t know what she was doing. All she knew was she was going to be with Sasuke and prove to him she was strong. She could be by his side. She would even get Orochimaru to train her too. Her foot caught a root of a tree and she fell in the dirt. Her face still wet with tears and mud, she stood up and started running again. She would run until her last breath.

Sasuke I will catch up to you.

She would. She had admitted her love for him. She would find away. Her vision, completely blurred by tears, caused her to trip over another log and fall, tumbling down a hill. Her back hit a rock hard, then a jutting tree branch, and then another rock. She landed finally in a flatten area of dirt. She coughed up blood onto the dirty ground. She attempted to stand only to collapse again, feeling a sharp pain in her leg. She lay painfully in the dirt as she saw a man with short dark hair standing over her.

“Sasuke,” she whispered again as the man knelt down to check her vitals. As his hand reached closer, her sight began to fade until she blacked out.

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Sakura woke covered with blankets. Attempting to sit up, she felt some bandages awkwardly wrapped around her arms and legs. She remembered the fall and…Sasuke. She took a deep breath, this time controlling her tears. She needed to figure out what had happened. Looking around, she saw she was in a small tent lying in a cot. A man immediately entered the tent and looked in, “I thought I felt your chakra move in here.”

So he was a ninja. Possibly a nice one since he had bandaged her up, but she didn’t want to take a chance. Her jade eyes glared at him. “Who are you?”

The man smirked, “I think I should be asking you that since you’re the one who fell into my camp at an ungodly hour of the night.” He walked closer to her. Part of his dark hair covered his right eye but his other was a calm shade of brown. He reminded her a lot of Sasuke but then everything reminded her of Sasuke right now.

“My name is Haruno Sakura and I’m leaving,” she stated, pushing the blankets off of her and beginning to stand only to fall back down to the cot because of the pain in her legs.

“I’m not much of a medic but you took a rough fall so I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere far for a while,” the mysterious man said.

“I have to leave,” she said, her eyes getting watery. She had to find Sasuke.

“I apologize, Sakura, but I think you need a week of resting.”

“No,” she stated, standing up again, attempting to ignore the pain. She managed to walk to the tent opening only to yelp in pain, collapsing. The man caught her and brought her back to the bed.

“Where do you want to go anyways? Back to Konoha?” the man asked.

“How do you know I’m from Konoha?” Sakura glared at him.

The man just smirked then tapped her headband, “It says right there.”

“Oh,” she said, stupidly. She just wanted to leave this man and find her Sasuke.

“So where are you trying to go?” he asked again.

“I’m going to find Orochimaru,” she stated hoping the ninja would then leave her alone.

The man frowned. “Why would a Leaf ninja want to go see that snake,” he hissed.

“He’ll make me stronger. He’ll train me,” she said, which was partially true. She would prove to Sasuke she wasn’t a weak little girl. She could be strong enough for him and train under the same master.

The man frowned deepened. “So you’ll go to the snake who doesn’t even know true strength but only steals it from others using medical tools.”

Sakura was surprised. This ninja she was with must be powerful if he knew so much about Orochimaru. She didn’t even know that much about Orochimaru. “You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?” she asked, giving him an incredulous look.

The man paused for a moment as if he lost his name. “How about you just call me Tobi.”

“Tobi?” That didn’t sound like a ninja name.

“Yes, just Tobi.” Tobi stated.

She nodded, still doubtful of the ninja. “Well thank you, Tobi, for bandaging me up, but I do need to leave,” she said, sternly.

“I could train you and teach you more than the snake ever could.”

“I’ve never even heard of you, Tobi. I don’t even know how good a ninja you are,” she said.

“Trust me, you will become strong, but now you need to rest,” he said, pushing her back in the bed and pulling the blankets on top of her. She protested but eventually gave in, feeling how tired she was. Tobi stood up and left the tent.

Zetsu was sitting on a log away from the fire, “Why have you not killed her, Madara-san?”

Madara walked over to the plant, one of the few people in the Akatsuki who knew who he was, and sat down. He then sighed, “I know this is wrong but something is attracting to me to this young girl.”

“Then have your way with it, and then kill it,” Zetsu spat.

“She’s too young,” he stated flatly as he heard the female ninja start to snore lightly from the tent.

“I’ve never seen you let a Leaf ninja live,” Zetsu commented.

“Shut up Zetsu!” he ordered, “I’m already disgusted with myself.” Madara didn’t know what was wrong with him. But the drive in that girl was so strong. The way she tried to leave when she had no chance of getting anywhere. She had such potential. Even when she landed in his camp completely muddy and bloody, her beautiful pink hair distracted him from the fact there was a leaf intruder. He was going to kill her when he walked over to her side but bandaged her up instead. Out of some sort of pride, he didn’t use his medical jutsu to heal her completely. If he did that then he knew there was a problem. He then told himself he would get rid of the thing once she woke up but he couldn’t. Not when she was so much weaker than him. And she wanted to go to Orochimaru. What was the ninja thinking? He was curious but disturbed. He knew that Sasuke had recently gone to Orochimaru, which pissed him off, but he also knew that Sasuke would come back to him in the end because of his brother. But he had never been so flustered with one female. Zetsu was right; he would have to kill her eventually. He couldn’t let some girl have such an effect on him.

“Zetsu,” he said.

Zetsu looked up at him, “Yes?”

“Tell Nagato I won’t be meeting him in a week. And tell Itachi of his brother’s whereabouts.”

“When do you wish to meet up with Nagato?” Zetsu asked.

“I’ll show up when I show up. I do not set my timeline around Nagato. I’m the leader, not him,” Madara said, a little frustrated with Zetsu but more with himself. “Go now, Zetsu!” he ordered.

Zetsu nodded and merged into the ground, fleeing to the Rain. Madara sat back down and sighed. He was actually going to train this girl.

---

It had been a month with the strange ninja named Tobi. It took a week for her to heal completely but he had been tricking her into training since the first day. Saying things like he would show her where Orochimaru was hiding if she was able to get out of the blankets. The blankets had been wrapped around her with a chakra seals. It had been strangely tiring even though she hardly moved. He said this was a way for her to heal but still train her chakra use. She escaped her blankets 14 hours later and he told her of a base Orochimaru used to use. She felt tricked but she had to admit she felt stronger. She didn’t know how Tobi had managed it but he trained her for a month. He taught her mostly about the use of a sword and chakra control. He had even given her a beautiful samurai sword with a cherry blossom embellished on the blade. She forced herself to train hard and become strong to prove to Sasuke she wasn’t weak and that she wasn’t annoying.

“Sakura, I’m leaving tonight,” Tobi said. His black hair blew to the side, showing Sakura the patch he wore over his eye. She had learned fast that even though he only had one eye he was not a weak opponent.

“What? Why? I’m still not strong enough!” she yelled.

“There are things I must do and you must go back to your old life,” he said, ignoring her reaction.

“But I’m alone at my village and no one there can make me strong like you can,” she cried out.

“Sakura, you have a family and I’m sure you have friends. You must go back,” he said.

Sakura did have a family but her mother thought Sakura was insane and her friends constantly teased her. And Sasuke wasn’t there. She felt so alone there. “I’ll go to Orochimaru then.”

“No, you will not.” Tobi stood up angrily and walked over to Sakura, his fist tightened. Sakura thought he might actually hit her. “I will drag you to Konoha myself if I have to,” he stated, his brown eye glaring at her.

Her head dropped. She wasn’t going to push him any farther. She knew he was strong and his threats were never empty. If she did go to Orochimaru it would be after Tobi left. “Fine,” she sighed.

“If I find out you’re there, Sakura, I promise I will kill you.” He grabbed her chin forcing her to look into his eye.

Sakura gulped. She had never been so frightened of Tobi so she nodded.

“Good,” he said, letting go of her, “You must also make a promise to me Sakura.”

“Anything,” she responded.

“Do not tell anyone about me,” he stated.

She didn’t understand why but agreed. He smiled and then vanished into the air. Sakura stood in their campsite alone. All alone again. A single tear left her eye as the second man in her life had left her.