Sakura folded a towel and dipped it in a bowl of water she collected. She took the other towel off of Sasuke and replaced it with the new wet towel. Kairen had gone to search for more water and left Sakura to watch over them. Sakura sat there getting drowsy and her head got heavy.
No! Don't sleep! Sakura struggled. I have to..protect them... Sakura went into a deep sleep.
Sometime later, Naruto loudly yawned that it woke up Sakura.
"Naruto!" Sakura happily cried.
Sasuke woke up as well and looked over at Sakura.
"Did you nurse us?" Sasuke wondered.
"Kairen helped, too! She'll be glad to see you guys awake when she gets back!" Sakura answered.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan. I feel a lot better now! I'll thank Kairen when she gets back!" Naruto yelled happily.
"I'm so glad..." Sakura had small tears of joy.
Suddenly, the bush rustled and Orochimaru, with half his face burned, appeared.
"One who is prey needs to always strain his mind and run around in front of a predator!" he said.
Orochimaru stretched his neck coming toward them. Then his face turned into that of a snake. Sakura warned Sasuke and Naruto, but her voice did not come out. I can't talk! Sakura was slowly pulled away from them and could only sit and watch. The snake went straight at Sasuke and was ready to bite Sasuke into bits. Sakura tried to yell for help, but her voice once again, never came out.
"Sakura!" Kairen shook Sakura awake.
Sakura gasped and confusingly looked at Kairen. She looked behind her to find Sasuke and Naruto still unconscious.
"It was just a dream, Sakura. You practically screamed for all three of our names," Kairen explained. "You slept pretty long, too. It's already dawn."
Then there was a rustle in the bush behind them. Sakura eyes widened fearing that her nightmare was true. Kairen and Sakura took out their kunais. Sakura slowly turned around only to find the noise to be a squirrel.
"A squirrel...? Geez! Don't scare me like that," Sakura looked at ir with bored eyes.
Kairen's eyes widened and threw a kunai at the squirrel. She only meant to drive it away, not to kill it. It indeed got frightened and ran off to the bushes.
"That was close..." Sakura was relieved.
From the trees where the people were watching them, the one with spiky blue hair asked, "Did she figure out that there was an exploding tag on the squirrel?
"No, that's not it," the mummy boy answered.
"Yeah? Then why? Explain."
"We will probably find out if we get closer. So let's get going, soon."
With Lee
Lee jumped through the trees hoping to find a team. As he landed on the branch, it caused the leaves to fall off. He looked at the leaves and fire burned in his eyes.
"Yosh! If I can catch all twenty leaves before it touches the ground, Sakura-san will fall in love with me! Even if I miss one, this will be the end as a one-sided love forever," Lee told himself.
He jumped from the branch and caught nineteen leaves before his back landed on a branch really hard. He spotted the last leaf and shot forward at it. But before he reached it, he found a squirrel about to burn up. He shot at it and there was a loud explosion. From the smoke, there laid Lee holding the squirrel and the explosive tag.
Somewhere else
Neji walked forward and glared.
"Stop hiding and come out," he ordered.
Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru got scared.
"But we hid as fast as we could...!" Ino whispered angrily.
"Geez, a troublesome guy found us," Shikamaru explained.
"Plan Number One- Hiding failed! Now that this happened, we have to execute Plan Number Two."
"What? Really...?" Chouji complained.
"What? Do you have a problem with that? It'll work for sure!" Ino reassured.
"Oh my!" The three ran out and acted excited. "How lucky of us to meet last year's number one rookie, Hyuuga Neji-sama here..." Ino praised.
"Can I have your autograph?" Shikamaru tried to sound excited.
But then the three stopped in their tracks when they realized Neji had no shirt on! Ino blushed like crazy and was practically drooling. Shikamaru and Chouji just blinked at the awkward sight.
"Oh.. It's just you guys," Neji ignored their stares.
No! Snap out of it, Ino! You'll be drooling over my sexiness! Ino untied her hair and let it flow in the wind.
"I've always wanted to see you once..." Ino said in a seducing voice.
"Begone," Neji turned around and walked away.
Ino was pissed! "Nande?! Why didn't my charm work on him!? Now I'm pissed off, damn it!"
"You're pointing your fist towards me... Does that mean you want to fight?" Neji asked without turning around.
"N-no! Nothing!" Ino had a sweat drop.
"Then begone. Even if I take a scroll from cowards like you, I'll just become the laughingstock of the village."
But Ino didn't keep her mouth shut. "Laughingstock!? Well I'm not the one with no shirt on! Did an animal eat it or something?!"
"Ino.. Shut up..!" Shikamaru mumbled.
"What did you say?" Neji turned around and glared.
"Nothing! We'll be going now!" Ino said in a rush. The three of them jumped in the bushes and ran.
"Hmph. They're like cockroaches," Neji glared.
Ino laughed hysterically as she ordered her team to go find "weak people." Shikamaru thought they were the weakest of all.
Back to the four
Sakura was drowsy every time. She tried to keep her eyes open, but no luck.
"You should just sleep, Sakura. I'll watch over them," Kairen suggested.
"Iie. I must...protect my teammates..." Sakura insisted.
"Not sleeping and taking the watch for the entire time," a voice suddenly said. "But there's no need to do so."
Kairen and Sakura looked up to find three people.
"Can you wake Sasuke-kun? We want to fight him," the mummy one stated bluntly.
"Oh yeah. Sasuke can definitely fight with that huge fever of his. Hmm! Very interesting and ironic. Isn't it?" Kairen asked sarcastically.
"What's your purpose!?" Sakura stood up bravely. "We know about Orochimaru! What's that weird bruise on Sasuke-kun's neck?"
The three gasped at the mention of Orochimaru's name. One of them smirked.
"Now that we've heard that, we can't just ignore it. I'll kill both of these girls, too. I'll even kill the Sasuke guy," the boy with blue, spiky hair said in a cocky voice.
"Matte, Zaku," the mummy boy suddenly said.
"Nani..?"
"How unoriginal. The color of the dirt indicates that it has just been dug up. This grass doesn't grow here. There's no meaning to a trap if it isn't made well," he explained.
"What are you, the trap police?! We know you're observant but don't rub it in asshole!" Kairen pointed angrily.
"How dare you!? You don't know whom you're speaking to!" Zaku pointed back at her. "Let's kill them now!"
The three jumped in the air, and Kairen smirked. She nodded to Sakura. Sakura pulled out her kunai and cut a string. A log suddenly appeared heading straight for the three.
"There was a trap above us, too?! Crap...Not!"
Mummy-boy held his palms out, and the log shattered.
"To be blunt, you have no talent at all."
"We'll see," Kairen smirked at them again.
Kunais suddenly appeared behind the three ninjas. They had no time to dodge, so they had to catch some. But then they heard something sizzle.
"...An explosive tag!" Zaku cried.
But it was too late. The tag exploded making the three fly back.
"What now, suckers!?"
But the three of them turned into a log and shattered on the ground.
"Shit!"
The three ninjas appeared in front of Kairen and Sakura.
"You need to work harder!"
"Konoha Whirlwind!" a voice cried out.
A green blur kicked all three of them out of the way.
"Then the three of you also need to work harder," Lee stated with a squirrel on his shoulder.
"Who are you!?"
"Konoha's beautiful blue beast... Rock Lee!"
...Beautiful...? (cough cough) Kairen thought.
After a period of silence, Sakura finally spoke up.
"Why are you here?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"When you are in danger, I will appear at anytime. Just kidding. It was thanks to you. Now go," Lee said to the squirrel.
Now he's talking to a squirrel... maybe that's why he thought I was cute; because he's crazy in the heeeaaddd. Kairen let out a goofy smile that no one noticed. But if they did, they'd give her a funny look.
"But right now, I am your enemy, too."
"I told you before. That I will protect you to the death," Lee said in a cool voice.
Sakura had a small flashback of him asking her out. "Oh, Arigatou."
I did it! I did it perfectly, Gai-sensei! Lee cried and cheered on the inside.
Kairen came up to Sakura and whispered. "Maybe you should go out with Lee. Sasuke barely pays attention to you."
"There's no time for that, Kairen!" Sakura glared at Kairen's grin.
"We have no other choice. Zaku, I'll give Sasuke-kun to you. I'll kill these three," the bandaged boy threw the Earth scroll to Zaku.
"Why is it that everyone thinks we're weak just because we're girls! I'll show you that I can kick your butt and-"
"Iie, Kairen-san. I will fight. You need your rest," Lee interrupted.
"Uh..but.." Kairen tried to argue.
"No. I cannot let two pretty girls fight in a condition like this."
...He still thinks I'm pretty? Hahahahahahaha!!!!
No response from her! Lee cried sadly.
"Looks like I can have some fun," the boy wrapped up run toward Lee to attack.
Lee reached into the ground and pulled out the root of a tree. "Your attack has some trick to it, right? I saw it before."
It slightly fazed the guy in the air. Sakura's eyes were shaking. He's... strong...
"Not bad..." Kairen complimented.
I'm still at a disadvantage here. But... I will defeat them one at a time with everything I have! Lee looked determined.
Somewhere else
A sound of someone munching on something was heard. There sat Chouji in a tree eating chips.
"We can't find any weak looking people at all!" Ino complained.
"Actually, only Naruto's team is probably weaker than us," Shikamaru explained.
"Baka! Do you know what you're saying?! Naruto and Sakura are weak, but they have super genius, Sasuke-kun!" Ino blabbered.
"Huh. I don't know about that. Geniuses can become quite fragile in real combat." Shikamaru stopped when he saw Ino glaring at him. "Fine, fine. I'm sorry that I upset you." but he didn't sound like he meant it. Geez, what a troublesome girl. She always glares at me whenever I speak badly of Sasuke.
Ino continued blabbering about Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that. Chouji interrupted them saying how Sasuke's on the ground while Sakura is fighting. Shikamaru and Ino jumped on the tree branch and Ino gasped at the sight.
Another place
"He's late. That Lee.." Tenten sighed. "Something's wrong. He's always on time. Maybe he encountered an enemy.Did he..?!"
"That's not possible. Anyways, let's go look for Lee," Neji answered.
"Yeah..and that girl for your shirt..." Tenten slightly blushed as she looked again.
Neji ignored it and they both jumped away. Neji had a small flashback.
Flashback
"I did it! I finally did it!" Lee cheered as a log was cut in half.
Neji and Tenten were out of breath and dirty from whatever they were doing. Neji glared at Lee and continued panting heavily.
"Only Lee was able to master this move in the end," Gai thought proudly.
Lee continued to cheer and did a funny dance continuously in a circle. Gai kept calling Lee's name but he payed no attention. Gai finally punched Lee in the face.
"Listen to your teacher's burning message!" Gai scolded.
Lee began to cry and answered, "What is it? Please say it in cool words!"
Tenten and Neji made a face at Lee and Gai's weirdness.
"This move, the Lotus," Gai continued. "will be treated as a forbidden technique."
Everyone was shocked. "What's the meaning of that?" Lee ran up to his teacher.
"This technique is a last resort move that places a heavy burden on you muscle cells," Gai explained. "Normally, people only use 20 percent of the power that the muscles possess. If you try to extract a 100 percent of its power, your muscles will break down. That is why your brain limits your powers. However, this move forcefully removes that limiter from your brain using Chakra and enables you to produce enough power to execute high-speed continuous hand-to-hand combat moves. In other words, it's a dangerous technique that enables you to use powers that challenge the human body's limit. That's why you can only use this move under this condition."
"What is that condition?" Lee questioned.
"Listen carefully. The condition is..."
End of Flashback
"The condition is..." Neji repeated and sped off.
Back to Lee
Gai-sensei, I will now use the move without reservation. Because now is the time to... "...protect an important person!"
The guy ran at Lee, and Sakura gasped in fear. Kairen let Lee's words sink in. That made her remember her words. "Do you know why we help each other!? Because that's what make us stronger than you can ever imagine!" "That is why...he is strong," Kairen looked at Lee.
Lee disappeared for a second, leaving the enemy confused. Suddenly, Lee was under the enemy, and kicked him upward. "I'm not done yet!" Lee claimed. The bandages that Lee unwrapped wrapped around the boy. Lee sent him head first into the ground.
"That's not good. He can't break the fall like that," Zaku mumbled to himself.
"Take this!! Secondary Lotus!" Lee started to spin causing the boy to spin as well. But before Lee touched the ground, Zaku punched his hands underground making it rumble.
"Oh boy... Looks like I made it in time," Zaku smirked.
He had made a burrow underground so his teammate wouldn't get smashed into the ground.
"That is a terrifying move. I was dropped onto this sponge ground, but it still hurt like hell. Now it's my turn."
This isn't good... My body is still weak from that move...
Lee managed to dodge the boy's punch, but somehow, his vision and hearing was affected.
"Lee-san!" Sakura cried.
Kairen narrowed her eyes at the boy's move. Didn't he do the same thing to that weird guy in glasses? If he's from the Sound... that means he affected their hearings. I better be careful when it's my turn to fight.
"Your move is indeed fast. But our moves are the speed of sound, and exceed yours. I will teach you that there is a wall that you can't get past just by hard work."
Lee was already kneeling on the ground, exhausted. The enemy had the upper hand now.