Orochimaru laughed softly at Naruto's indecision. He pulled out a kunai and held it to Sakura's throat. She had been struggling before, but now she held still, the cold metal pressing against her neck. Naruto saw this and growled in anger and frustration. Orochimaru called out to Naruto, "If you keep stalling I'll kill her here."

He pressed the kunai against Sakura's throat and drew a small drop of bood. She gasped as she felt the slight prick and Naruto shouted, "Don't you dare hurt her!"

Orochimaru laughed again and said, "Then do as I say. Fight Gaara and the winner will get Kakashi. Then I'll release the girl and you or the other will be mine."

Naruto scanned the area around the training field, hoping to see reinforcements or something. Surely Tsunade had some kind of plan...

Orochimaru was starting to lose his patience. "Listen very carefully boy. Even if someone comes to rescue you, what will it matter? I'm the only one who can break the jutsu over you and I'm not about to do that. If someone so much as shows up here and you haven't started fighting, I'll kill her! What's your choice? Fight or let her die!"

Naruto knew he had no choice. If he didn't start fighting, Orochimaru was going to kill Sakura. If anyone tried to help him Orochimaru would kill Sakura. The only way to save Sakura was to fight Gaara. Once one of them won, Sakura would be safe. If he, Naruto, won, could he continue fighting off Orochimaru's control? He would probably be able to do it better than Gaara could at this moment. Plus, if he did win, and help was on the way, then he only had to hold out long enough for the help to come. He turned to Gaara and said, "I'm sorry Gaara. But I'm going to have to break my promise. We have to fight now, or Sakura will..."

"I understand Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara said. "Then our fight is moved from then, to now. Let's make it a fight worth remembering."

Naruto nodded and said, "I won't hold back no matter what!"

And with that, Naruto ran towards Gaara who started building a sand defense against him. Orochimaru smiled and said, "Soon, my plan will come to its final stage."

Sakura slumped in Orochimaru's grip watching Gaara and Naruto fight. "This isn't right." She thought. "This isn't how it should be!"

But she was powerless in the terrible ninja's grip. She could only watch.

As the fight raged, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune were just arriving. They quickly took stock of the situation from Naruto and Gaara fighting, to Orochimaru holding Sakura captive. Shizune turned to the other two and said, "What should we do?"

Tsunade frowned and said, "It looks like Orochimaru's holding Sakura captive. Interfering without thinking could get her killed."

"Well we can't just sit here and watch!" Jiraiya said. "We have to do something!"

Tsunade smacked Jiraiya and said, "Use your head for once! We just have to wait until Orochimaru releases Sakura. He's obviously using her as a bargaining chip to make Naruto and Gaara fight."

"And what if he doesn't release her?" Jiraiya said grimly.

"Then we move in and attack." Tsunade said, equally grimly.