Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
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A Tale of Tails
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Chapter Seven
'Alright, Sakura. Time to get to work.' The pinkette told herself as she finished making sure Sasuke's condition was still stable, having already placed a number of precautionary traps around the area, her ungloved hands and face smeared with a little bit of dirt. After Orochimaru bit Sasuke and put some weird mark on his shoulder, Sakura, after an admittedly embarrassing fit of hysterical crying and panic, managed to move both of her teammates to another location. Currently holed up amongst the thick exposed roots of a tree, she had addressed Sasuke's condition first due to its severity; high fever, abnormally high heart rate, and obvious signs of being in pain, if the unconscious groans were anything to go by. Naruto, on the other hand, was comatose; it was almost as if he were simply sleeping. No fever, no issues with his heart rate or breathing, nothing. Just...unconscious.
Rummaging through her equipment pouches, she retrieved the small assortment of medicinal herbs she kept on her at all times. If they pulled through and managed to survive the Exams, she would have to make sure she thanked Haku for the lessons. It just might be the one thing that saves their lives at the moment. Pulling out her pestle and mortar, Sakura took small pieces of different herbs and placed them in the mortar before starting to grind them down as fine as she could with the pestle; just like Haku had taught her. One herb had been for Sasuke's fever and another to help ease his pain. She couldn't do much about his heart rate, however, apart from a very mild sedative. She had to be careful, though. If she messed up the dosage for each one, they could have deadly side effects; the last thing she ever wanted to do was accidentally kill one of her teammates...
Retrieving a small water bottle she kept on her at all times, she poured it into the little pot she had unsealed earlier before setting it on the small fire burning nearby. Once she was done grinding the herbs down, the water had finished heating up just enough; hot, but nowhere close to boiling. Pouring it back into the bottle, she added in the powdered herbs and closed the lid, shaking the bottle to better mix it up. Shifting her position so that Sasuke's head was resting in her lap, she opened the bottle and slowly poured a little bit into Sasuke's mouth. Fortunately, he swallowed reflexively.
'Thank goodness. Haku-san hasn't taught me how to force feed someone herbal medicine yet for emergency situations.' Sakura thought with a sigh of relief, only to return to the task at hand. She had maybe an hour of sunlight left before the first night of the second test would begin. With both of her teammates out of commission, she'll have to stay awake and keep watch all night and into the day until one of them woke up. After making sure Sasuke drank at least half of the hastily made medicinal tea, she set it aside before readying another water bottle. Only this time, it was something for herself. She would need something to help keep her awake later on. Thankfully, Haku had given her a small supply of already ground up and blended herbs for just such an occassion. 'I definitely have to thank her now, but first, I have to make sure we survive long enough to do it.'
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Taking another sip of her 'energizing' herbal tea, Sakura immediately grimaced at the foul taste just like every other time she'd taken a sip each hour. A couple seconds later, however, she had to take a deep breath as a slight shiver ran up her spine; Haku had said the herbs used were rather strong and that one small bottle should last her a good twelve hours or so. She'd waited until she started getting too tired to keep her eyes open before she started drinking it, which she guessed to have been around three or four in the morning. Even as the sun started coming up, Sakura didn't feel the slightest bit exhausted, but she'd have to make sure she either made the tea last or one of the boys woke up before she ran out; she'll be left drained after the herbs' energizing effects wear off.
Hearing a noise off to the side, however, she reflexively threw a senbon at the source, startling the squirrel she'd heard. Heaving a sigh, she looked at the bottle; it definitely made her a little jumpy, but that's exactly what she needed at the moment. Checking Sasuke's fever, she smiled faintly upon noticing that it'd gone down slightly. Not by much, but it was enough to show that he was starting to get better. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything to gauge Naruto with. She would just have to wait until he woke up. Taking a moment to use the remnants of her third and final water bottle, Sakura poured some water on the rag she'd had on Sasuke's head before placing it back on the Uchiha's forehead.
"Heh...Up all night?" Someone asked mockingly from behind her, making Sakura's head snap in their direction, only to see a trio of genin that wore a hitai-ate with a musical note engraved on it. She faintly remembered Kabuto saying something about Otogakure having only one team in the Exams. The girl looked unassuming, for the most part, while her two male comrades were a little more menacing, the bandaged and hunched over one with what looked like shag carpeting on his back being the most intimidating in appearance. "Regardless, wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him."
"You're with that freaky bastard, Orochimaru, aren't you?" Sakura questioned, her tone turning surprisingly cold as she stood up, stepping out to the edge of the haven of tree roots as she readied a handful on senbon with one hand and a kunai with the other in a reverse-grip. Eyes narrowing as she scowled, Sakura tilted her head slightly; this time, it the Oto genins' turn to hesitate, mildly intimidated by the seemingly weak looking girl's dark change in personality. "I know he's the one pulling the strings. What did he do to Sasuke-kun? What is that weird mark on his neck? Answer me quickly before you really make me mad."
"Hmm...Just what was he thinking?" Dosu muttered to himself, his own head tilting slightly. The other male simply grinned viciously.
"Hearing that, we're just going to have to kill you, now won't we? You know too much." Zaku remarked threateningly before cracking his knuckles. "I've got this one. I'll kill her first and then I'm killing that Sasuke kid."
"Wait, Zaku." Dosu spoke up as he took a step forward before crouching down. "You're not very good...A recently overturned stone, differently colored dirt. Grass doesn't grow here...A booby trap is useless unless it goes unnoticed."
"..." Sakura stayed silent as she continued to stare at them coldly.
"Kill her." Dosu ordered. Immediately, all three jumped towards over, clearing the trap they'd discovered. Smirking faintly, Sakura cut the wire to a second trap with her kunai that had been run along the root beside her. Instantly, a massive log that was easily twenty feet in diameter came swinging down from above, all three caught in its path. Extending his gauntleted right hand, Dosu didn't flinch nor did his teammates as the log exploded from some unseen force, only for their eyes to widen when they saw Sakura's senbon already in flight to intercept them.
"Senbon Kage Bunshin." The pinkette uttered just as coldly as before, forming a half-seal with her empty hand, causing the three metal senbon to turn into thirty. Raising their arms defensively to shield their most vital spots, all three Oto genin were pelted with the metal throwing needles, but it did little to hinder them. Sakura knew that, having used them as a distraction. Throwing her kunai, she performed two more handseals. "Kunai Kage Bunshin...Katsu."
'Exploding tags?!' Dosu thought to himself as he saw the dozen kunai flying towards them, the exploding tags wrapped around their handles catching fire before detonating as they reached the still air-borne Oto genin. While only scratched up and a little charred, the three Oto-nin were still knocked back by the explosion, sending them flying straight into another trap she'd set earlier. Feeling wires snap as they flew into them, the three Oto-nin weren't prepared for the hailstorm of kunai launched at them from all angles while they were still heading straight for the ground.
"Zankuuha!" Zaku roared as he held his hands out to either side of him, aiming his hands just right so as not to hit his teammates. Instantly, explosive gusts of wind burst forth from his palms to blow away a large majority of the kunai flying towards them, giving them the ability to land on their feet with only Kin taking a single kunai to her left thigh. "Tch...Cheeky bitch."
"Good. You're not dead." Sakura remarked while cracking her gloved knuckles, a slight twitch forming under her left eye. Ever since Wave Country, she'd been working on something of her own with a bit of help from Haku. Although still of a sound mind and relatively sane, Sakura had always had a slight split personality since she was kid, her 'Inner-Self', in a manner of speaking. While on its own, it was slightly crazed and not all that capable of forethought, Sakura had been trying different ways of...blending her two halves together.
Even Haku had admitted that once she had figured out how to do it last month, Sakura became a terrifying strategist due to her high intelligence and resourcefulness. Combined with her recently increasing physical might, she was nothing short of a monster in a fight. A young and so-far inexperienced monster, but a monster nonetheless...
She liked to call it Shinri Kuro.
"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Drawing a kunai with one hand, Sakura threw it at the trap they'd found earlier, something she had actually done on purpose, while the three Oto genin tried rushing her again. As it hit the ground moments before the three enemies came within a few meters of it, she promptly yanked on the nearly invisible thread attached to it, triggering the trap. Immediately, the ground opened up beneath them, revealing the spike-infested pitfall trap she'd set up yesterday. Unfortunately, Zaku and Dosu avoided it easily enough while Kin lost her footing at the last possible second, resulting in her clinging to the far edge of the trap, only to scream in pain from a sharped wooden spike going through her right foot.
"Tch! Fucking tricky little bitch!" Zaku snarled as he rushed forward, preparing his Zankuuha again. Flicking another kunai to her side, Sakura cut another wire, causing two more massive logs to come in from either side of the attacking ninja. Eyes going wide, Zaku threw his hands out to the sides again to either destroy or at least stop the logs with his attack, he unintentionally left himself wide open. Capitalizing on it, Sakura pumped chakra into her legs to swiftly close the gap, hunkered down slightly with her right fist cocked back. As his strange attacks blasted at the logs, they locked eyes for a split second. Her gaze was cold and calculating, his wide-eyed and panicked.
"SHANARO!" The pinkette roared before her fist made contact with the dark haired Oto genin's chest, the power packed into her punch being enough to solidly crack his sternum and a couple ribs as he was launched backwards, the logs still closing in on them. Jumping up at the last second to avoid them, Sakura watched as Dosu did the same, still charging her. This time, she was the one caught off guard as he lunged for her, unable to properly defend herself at the moment.
"Konoha Senpu!" Came the yell of a third party before a familiar blur of green intercepted the strange Oto genin, launching him back with a punishing spin kick to his midsection. Landing in front of Sakura atop the logs after they collided together, Lee glanced back at her while in his taijutsu stance, flashing her a grin. "I'm glad to see that you're unharmed, Sakura-san. Looks like I made it just in time."
"Shut up and focus, Lee." Sakura growled out, her uncharacteristically cold tone catching him off guard. "The fight isn't over yet."
"Who the hell are you?" Dosu snarled as he stood back up, Zaku shakily standing as well as he held his pain-stricken chest with one hand, a thoroughly pissed off look on his face. Further behind them, Kin had finally dragged herself out of the pit, but she was no longer in any real fighting condition due to her rather seriously injured foot and wounded leg.
"The beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" The spandex-clad taijutsu specialist introduced with a stoic expression as he looked back towards the bandaged one-eyed teen. After a moment, Lee's gaze hardened just a touch more as he knew the pair were still very capable of fighting. "I'll take over from here, Sakura-san."
"Don't even start with the chivalry bullshit." Sakura growled at him coldly. She had used up all of her trap-making resources on the ones she had showcased so far and had none left to rely on, leaving her with no other choice than to fight now. She wasn't the weak little girl she used to be. "I've got questions and they've got answers for me."
"Tch...Troublesome bunch of cockroaches, aren't you?" Dosu snarled as he started pulling his right sleeve back again, his lone eye narrowed angrily.
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As the chaos of the fight died off and everyone started running damage control, Naruto let out a quiet animalistic growl as he started waking up, grimacing as he slowly opened his eyes, only for them to snap open and for him to bolt upright. Unintentionally scaring the hell out of Shikamaru and Chouji, who had been debating on how to wake him up just moments prior.
"What...What happened?" Naruto wrasped, his throat a little dry as he held his pounding head. Looking around at the sheer destruction of the area, though, Naruto was absolutely shocked; he'd slept through all of that? Without warning, he was suddenly tackled back to the ground by Sakura. One of the side effects to her Shinri Kuro pseudo-technique was being excessively emotional after canceling it out in contrast to her relatively emotionless state while using it...
"Oh, thank goodness! You're okay!" She cried out happily, hugging the fox-teen. Growling slightly from the sudden and abrasive embrace, Naruto used his one free hand to try pushing her off, the other pinned to his side because of her, but she refused to let go. "I was worried that you wouldn't wake up!"
"Get. Off!" He snarled, but not out of hate. He just didn't like people touching him without his permission. Finally letting him go, Sakura looked like she had remembered something before darting off to the haven of roots where her teammates had been resting earlier; Naruto had been moved during the fight to avoid being harmed by one of Zaku's attacks, something the fox-teen was oblivious to. Looking at the two members of Team 10, he nodded his head in her direction. "The hell is up with her and what the fuck happened? You guys are a mess and this place looks like a warzone."
"That's...kind of a long story." Shikamaru responded a little hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head. As Sakura started heading back towards him, Naruto idly noticed how her pony-tail was gone, leaving most of her hair no longer than about chin-length, something he quirked an eye brow at. He wasn't able to voice his confusion about it, however, as a small half-empty bottle of water was all but shoved into his hands.
"Here. I'm sorry. I'd been so busy taking care of Sasuke last night that I forgot to take care of you, too." Sakura explained, apologizing as she bowed to him. Eyeing her strangely, Naruto mumble a quiet 'thanks' under his breath before taking a drink of water. Just what in the world did he miss while he was unconscious?"
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"You guys had quite an eventful morning, huh?" Naruto mumbled offhandedly, but despite how casual the remark sounded, Sasuke and Sakura could tell he was thinking about something from the serious look on his face. After everyone else had left, his teammates had filled him in on what had happened while he had been unconscious, though Sakura had done most of the story telling since she had been awake the whole time. "And you said those Oto nutjobs left us their Earth Scroll before you guys chased them off?"
"Mhm." Sakura responded before frowning slightly. "Except...we don't have our Heaven scroll anymore."
"...That'll be a bit of a problem..." Naruto muttered quietly, staring off into the distance in thought as he scratched under his chin slightly. Closing his eyes with a slightly huffy sigh, Naruto smoothed out the fur on his neck before tugging his scarf up over his nose and standing up. "Guess that leaves me no choice; you guys stay put. I'm going hunting."
"What? Are you crazy?! You just-" Sakura was cut off by Naruto's blank, apathetic stare.
"As of right now, I'm the only one that's in top condition, for the most part. You're at your limit, Sakura, and despite the strange power boost Sasuke had earlier, his still in rough condition." Naruto explained, his tone leaving no room for arguement. "Besides, you need to sleep soon. Sasuke can watch over you for a little bit while I'm out. Whether I'm successful or not, I'll be back in three hours. No sooner, no later. Got it?"
"Naruto...Don't take any unnecessary risks." Sasuke cautioned with his hands clasped contemplatively in front of his face, his eyes just a little colder than they usually were, but it wasn't anything directly relating towards Naruto. "We still don't know what Orochimaru did to you yesterday."
"...What are you? My mother now?" Naruto grumbled irritably, only to get Sasuke's cold stare on him. Sighing heavily, he turned to leave, waving over his shoulder dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, mom."
Without another word, he lept up to the nearest low-hanging branch before heading deeper into the woods, tugging his scarf back down in search of a scent trail while his ears perked up, listening for any sign of another genin team in the area. Despite his bravado, Naruto knew something wasn't right. He felt just a little bit weaker than normal and his chakra control seemed off, like he'd suddenly lost all of his progress with it. He felt like he did back when they'd first graduated from the Academy. Even his usual speed was suffering from whatever it was the snake bastard had done to him yesterday.
'Just gonna have to play it smart from here on out until I can get this figured out.' He mused with a slight grimace. 'Back to square one, it is, then.'
That was when he caught wind of a somewhat familiar scent. One that belonged to someone he'd fought recently. Smirking slightly, Naruto paused for a moment to get the direction the scent went in before following after it. It didn't take him too long to track them down, maybe an hour at most. Staying high above them where they couldn't notice him, Naruto stare down at the three Ame genin, his eyes immediately locking on to the one with both eyes, his two teammates having only their left eye visible for one and the other having both eyes covered. He owed 'Two Eyes' for his namecalling yesterday. However, he patiently waited to see if he could get a glimpse of their scroll.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait long, watching as it was passed to another team member; a Heaven scroll, just what he needed. He waited until one of them, No Eyes, stepped away to take a leak before making his move, changing locations swiftly and silently. Reaching them just as they finished, out of sight of the others, Naruto rushed in quickly before trapping them in a tight headlock, cutting off his airflow and stopping him from trying to call out to his friends. Once he was knocked out, he used a bit of wire to tire them up before dragging them into the bushes. He then waited patiently as they started getting nervous when their teammate didn't come back; good. The more nervous they were, the better it was for him.
Picking up a small pebble, he tossed it into the forest just beyond their resting spot, the two getting jumpy as they readied kunai for a fight. He didn't care what any of them said to one another; none of it was important. He was too busy hunting them. Once again changing location while creating a Kage Bunshin to take up another spot, Naruto waited until the two had put a little bit more distance between each other before signaling his clone, who threw down a handful of smoke bombs around them. Sprinting in, Naruto tracked them via sound before sneaking up on the nearest one, knocking him out almost immediately by kicking him in the head from behind. By the time his body hit the ground, Naruto had already darted off, circling the smoke cloud from the dense brush around them while the last one, Two Eyes, started getting nervous after hearing something fall and getting no response from his second teammate.
"Unlucky...Very, very unlucky..." He whispered to himself as the smoke cleared, revealing his knocked out teammate, Mubi, lying on the ground a few meters away from him. That was when a senbon suddenly stabbed into the back of his leg, making him cry out in pain. Yanking it out, he Oboro looked at it to see a purplish substance coating the metal shard; poison of some kind. "Super unlucky."
"That you are." Naruto spoke up as he stepped out of hiding, shocking Two Eyes with his appearance. "Remember me? The 'fox freak'? I figured I'd pay you guys a little visit, seeing as I'm in need of your scroll at the moment."
"You dumb bastard. You had a better chance picking me off from the shadows like the others." Oboro growled out a little haughtily before trying to perform handseals, but...his hands were numb, his fingers fumbling around as he struggled to move them. "A...paralytic poison?"
"Quite right. I've got a personal rule about killing and I don't feel like breaking it just because someone called me names." Naruto answered casually as he watched Oboro slowly drop to his knees, his eyes wide with fear even as he fell to the ground on his side. Giving the poison a few more seconds to take effect, Naruto signaled for his clone to join him, his doppelganger landing near Two Eyes before rummaging through his pockets for the scroll. Finding it and tossing it to Naruto, the clone dispelled itself while Naruto caught the item. Making sure his scarf was still pulled up over his nose, Naruto eye smiled at the Ame genin before waving to him, darting back into the canopy without another word.
From there, he went straight back to his team with the scroll stashed in his equipment pouch. They had what they needed now. That meant they could head straight for the tower once Sakura finished resting. They were one step closer to finishing the second test, even after all of the hardships they'd been forced to deal with. It didn't take him too long to get back to his teammates, finding Sakura already asleep with Sasuke sitting a few feet away from her with his back to one of the tree roots. As he approached, Sasuke looked up at him before catching the Heaven scroll tossed to him.
"You actually pulled it off. Good." The Uchiha mumbled as Naruto walked over, leaning back against a separate exposed root that stood taller than himself. Now that most of their problems were solved, Sasuke sighed quietly, finally able to relax a little bit. Glancing back over at his vulpine teammate and rival, he eyed Naruto's twin tails; none of them had talked about them yet. Sakura might be asleep and he'd probably have to relay any information about it to her later, but he was curious...and suspicious. "Hey, Naruto...Back when you tried to save us from Orochimaru, you...grew a second tail just before he knocked you out. Why?"
"Second...tail? Wha-" Naruto questioned before shoving off the root and looking behind himself; just as Sasuke aid, he now had two tails. Almost immediately, he lost his cool, gripping the twin appendages as he glared at the heatedly. "What?! Son of a bitch! God damn it! Fucking shit! Just what I needed! Another reason for people to hate me in this fucking village!"
'Judging by his reaction, I don't think he knows either...' Sasuke mused flatly, continuing to watch Naruto with a blank expression as the fox-teen raged about the new addition...
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Shinri Kuro- Psycho Black
A/N: Just a quick heads up for everyone; I haven't had anyone ask about it, but I just wanted everyone to know that if I skip over certain portions during a scene like with the Oto-nin fight after Lee showed up, it's because the turnout is relatively the same as in the manga/anime...That and I'm honestly too lazy to type all of that shit out. I'm sorry if it's any sort of inconvience for you guys.
