The Turning Point

The Final Chapter

Sakura raced through the crowd eyes solely fixated on the crop of light red hair pushing roughly past villagers who crowded the busy docks. She could hear the calls of her teammates and Idate behind her who were trying their best to keep up with her.

I can see her she's finally here after all these months I can't let her get away, Sakura thought as she pumped more chakra into her legs in a bid for greater speed.

"Sakura-chan slow down! We're supposed to be on the boat back to the village!" Naruto bellowed loudly from behind dragging Idate with him.

But the call fell on deaf ears as Sakura raced on ahead zoning in on the red haired woman who seemed to be slowing down almost hesitantly. Eventually the woman stopped running and stood completely still as if waiting for something to occur. Sakura immediately came to a standstill a few meters away from her mother.

"Mum?" Sakura asked causing her mother to turn around and gasp audibly when she laid eyes on her daughter.

"S-Sakura? What are you doing here you have to go quickly before they-"

Her warning came too late as Keiko Haruno was immediately surrounded by a group of masked ninja, at first glance Sakura thought these ninja belonged to the ANBU team Lady Tsunade had sent out after her parents. These ninja were dressed in cloaks of black with red clouds covering the material.

Keiko tried her best to fight back the group of ninja that had surrounded her but Sakura could see her mother struggling and rushed forward to help. Sasuke, Naruto and Idate arrived just in time to see the group of ninja completely overpower Sakura and disappear in a flurry of leaves with the woman who Sakura had been chasing.

"No Mum please!" Sakura called out reaching toward the empty space where her mother had been feeling tears well behind her eyes.

"Sakura she's gone" Sasuke said quietly putting a hand on her shoulder.

"That was your mother? Who were those other ninja?" Idate asked Naruto who shrugged.

"Itachi wore that same cloak Sasuke, why is he going after my mother?" Sakura asked frantically, tugging on her hair.

"Hey we don't know that for certain Sakura don't jump to conclusions" Sasuke said trying to reassure his teammate.

"Don't jump to conclusions!? A group of ninja dressed in the same clothes as your brother kidnap my mother in the middle of the street and you tell me don't jump to conclusions? Seems like the answer is pretty clear to me" Sakura cried clutching at her body as if she was trying to hold herself together.

"Sakura the boat we need to get back to the dock before it leaves without us!" Naruto exclaimed glancing frantically behind his shoulder.

"I'll run back and tell them to wait for you, who knows maybe I'll even get to see my big brother!" Idate said, speeding off back to the boat.

"Sakura listen to me we need to get on the boat and back to the village, the best way to help your mother is to tell Lady Tsunade what happened and we'll figure out what to do from there. We can't just stand around here, they're not coming back with her" Sasuke said trying his best to reason with his teammate.

Sakura's shoulders sagged in defeat and she nodded not knowing what else to do, Sasuke took her arm carefully and led her back towards the boat with Naruto leading the way. Sakura didn't try to resist her body felt heavy as the weight of the situation played on her mind.

"You watch Sakura-chan we'll find your Mum in no time! Granny Tsunade will have to put us on the search team too and we can all go together with Kakashi-sensei it'll be great we're going to show those jerks what for!" Naruto babbled excitedly in front of her trying his best to find the positive side.