It wasn't easy for Orochimaru to make good on his promise. Tsunade, and Jiraiya especially, were bigger than the apprentices, and therefore found it harder to squeeze through the few gaps that would let them through. Certainly neither of them could crawl under the wires as Shizune and Kazuko had. But at last, after nearly an hour of instructions, several backtracks, and more than a few hissed insults, Jiraiya and Tsunade stood before them. The whole team had made it through the most convoluted section of the webbing. As they moved on, still making their way slowly, Jiraiya ribbed Orochimaru, "I don't think I've heard you talk that much since . . . well, no, I've never heard you talk that much."
Gradually, they began to leave the acres-wide booby trap behind. Orochimaru was always stopping a member of the team to say things like, "Tsunade. A strand in front of you, at knee height." Or, "Kazuko. Jump forward, right leg first." Because Anko was right behind her teacher all the time, she didn't have to worry about things like that.
But she was instantly wary when she spied a dark shape in the trees from the corner of her eye. It was an unmistakable silhouette, otherwise in shadow. Orochimaru had seen it just before she had, and he stopped to squint at the outline of the far-off intruder. Anko pulled forth a kunai from each of her thigh sheaths. "I'll get him," she promised her teammates.
But with a shake of his head, Orochimaru said, "Be still, Anko." Determined to prove herself in his eyes, Anko jumped into the air.
"I can do it, Sensei!" she declared, releasing both knives at once, dead on target.
"No! Don't!" Orochimaru's shrill bark ran the risk of setting off one of the bombs—that was enough for Anko to realize that something wasn't right. When he pulled out a kunai knife of his own and hurled it after hers, she became frightened. His knife caught up to her knife, and when their trajectories crossed, one of her kunai was deflected. It spiraled to the ground along with Orochimaru's.
But her second kunai was still flying. It hit the silhouette right in the head. Anko grinned despite herself. She knew she would hit it.
And the stillness of the clearing was suddenly shattered by a boom as the silhouette went up in flames. The leaves around it instantly ignited, and Anko watched as the fire moved from bomb to bomb, a chain reaction that blew up everything in its path, coming straight toward them. She was tackled from behind by her sensei and began falling face first. His weight landing on top of her would surely flatten her. Before impact with the ground could occur, Anko closed her eyes to brace herself.
But there was no collision. Anko opened her eyes on complete darkness. Trying to breathe and finding that his hand prevented her from doing so, she concluded that he must have taken her below ground. She could still hear crashing explosions and the roar of flames overhead. "Shizune!" Tsunade's voice cried from far off.
"Gather, team!" she heard Jiraiya bellow. Paralyzing fear shot through Anko; if she had been able, she would have been panting for air. It was due to her mistake that the forest above was being blown up. If anyone died because of her. . .
As the seconds ticked by, she grew more desperate for air and began writhing against her sensei. He held onto her until the detonations above them faded, then shoved her aboveground. Anko gasped for air but instantly started coughing. Smoke was heavy in the air, and the trees all around were still on fire. Orochimaru emerged behind her and brushed past her. Seeing where he was headed, Anko again stopped breathing.
A charred and smoking Jiraiya lay prostrate on the blackened grass. It looked as though his long ponytail had been burned away. The clothing along the back side of his body was ruined, falling to ash. Anko didn't want to imagine what the condition was of the skin underneath.
"Jiraiya!" Tsunade's voice was distraught, unlike Anko had ever heard it. The medic shinobi rushed to kneel next to her fallen comrade. Shizune did the same.
"Tsunade, Shizune, you survived," observed Orochimaru.
"Look, Sensei! It's Master Jiraiya's team!" squealed Shizune in excitement. Jiraiya's limp body tilted upward as it was pushed up from underneath. Minato, Ryoji, and lastly Kazuko squirmed out from what looked like a white haystack that had been pinned under Jiraiya's stomach.
"He used the Needle Jizo," Tsunade murmured. Her eyes were unusually soft. "He saved his hair and his team, all in one."
"Jiraiya-sensei?" Kazuko cried when she saw that her teacher wasn't waking up. "Sensei! Are you all right?" She reached out to shake him, but Tsunade slapped her hand away.
"Don't touch him!" she warned the apprentice.
"Master, can you help Jiraiya-sensei?" asked Minato anxiously.
"Of course I can help him!" Tsunade snapped back. Orochimaru moved to pick up Jiraiya and shoulder his limp weight. With Jiraiya on his back, Orochimaru bent over so that the unconscious Toad Sage wouldn't fall off.
"We have to get beyond the fires," he said. "The wires don't matter anymore; so we can move quickly."
"Good," muttered Tsunade. "If we're caught here. . ." She scowled and didn't finish the thought. Lifting first her own apprentice, then Orochimaru's, she placed one of them on each of her shoulders. "Hang on, girls," she told them. "Minato, Kazuko, Ryoji—follow my lead." The team took off, with Orochimaru leading the way.