Sorry it's short.

The sun danced on the group's skin as they walked through the refreshing forest. The clouds showed many sunny days were to be expected, and many breakthroughs to occur.

Sakura quietly hyped herself up for the retrieval mission they were sent on.

'It's easy,'

She thought to herself in her head.

'Just drop off the scroll securely then come back.'

But even so, the pinkette more than knew that many fights were to unleash during their trip. It was right up her alley, and this was her opportunity to show her teammates that she didn't need protecting. She glanced over at them all, resting her eyes delightfully on each one. Naruto had his hands behind his head, quietly walking very quickly. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, coincidentally walking much faster than Naruto.

[I]Ah, just another competition,

Sakura thought quietly to herself. She glanced over at her current sensei, who was, for once, not indulging in one of his perch romance novels, but keeping his eyes alert on their surroundings. He probably figured out this was a higher ranked mission than told it was, too.

At this sight, which was extremely rare, the Haruno began fiddling through her backpack quietly, and after a minute or so, emerged with a vial of what looked like water. She quickly popped the cap off and began rationally smothering her weapons in the substance, and asked to do the same with her teams'.

This caused the competition to screech to a halt so all attention was on the colorless, odorless substance being dripped on the tips of their metal toys. "Sakura-chan? What's that stuff you're putting on MY stuff?" asked Naruto innocently. Sakura spared him a grin and began to explain. "It's just a homemade poison. I got the basics from something Godaime let me borrow."

She reached to take Kakashi's pack, but he assured her that his weapons were pre-laced. So Sakura just shrugged and handed back Naruto and Sasuke's appropriate belongings. "This will be a very special mission, and I can't have anyone dying." She said to no one in particular, and strapped her weapons pouch back onto her.

At that moment, Sakura felt herself sinking down, and jerked back to see she'd stepped in a puddle of mud. The rest of her team had just avoided it and continued waking, but Sakura felt she needed to stop and think.

[I]It hasn't rained for days, so how does this just appear out of nowhere unless...

Sakura sprinted up to her teammates and turned them all around to see the mud pile. "What about it?" inquired Sasuke.

"It hasn't rained for days! How can that mud be there without rain?! And there aren't any other water sources nearby!" She saw out of the corner of her eye Kakashi reaching for a kunai. "Good job, Sakura. Now everyone, stand back." was all he said before four figures emerged from the mud and everyone was in a heated battle. Sakura was quickly separated from her group.

(A/N: Not very good with battle dialogue.)

the pinkette was attacked by a very tall, muscular man, but she knew she could hold her ground. The man took a quick sweep to her feet, as if trying to end her quickly, but Sakura jumped into the air to avoid him, and quickly sent a bit of her chakra into the man's neck. She attempted faking him out with her water chakra but it wouldn't come.

'Crap,'

Sakura said to herself as she avoided a blow to the side. Her hand twitches minutely, looking for a liquid to use.

'I'm going to need to get near a body of water.'

Sakura ducked as a few needles came flying to her head, and took the opportunity to teleport into a tree, masking her chakra. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man unsheathed his sword, looking for her. It was huge and extremely sharp. Then she looked over to see Sasuke battling a lean woman, very quick on her feet. It looked as if her teammate was trying to reach Sakura.

The pinkette just inwardly scoffed and pushed fire chakra to her hands and jumped out into the open. The man grinned evilly and swung the sword toward her torso. Sakura grabbed onto it, satisfied she surprised him, and climbed on, then she leaped to slit his throat. He grabbed her arm before she could react, and squeezed it, breaking a few bones. The girl immediately sent healing chakra to numb the pain and let out a bloodcurdling scream to distract him a little while longer.

Her hand gripped onto the sword, inserting her chakra when he didn't notice. Sasuke called out her name, but she assured herself she would join him soon. He pulled her into the air with his arm, and raised his hand to her throat, but Sakura took that moment to use her chakra and break the sword in half. He let go of her and immediately Sakura threw the broken off edge at her opponent, leaving a nice-sized cut on his throat. Sadly, it was not enough to take him out. At that moment he growled and began chasing after her.

Sakura departed into the trees at full speed, pumping chakra through her legs, knowing he would soon follow, and activated her Kekkei Genkai. The white circles spun rapidly as she sped to the nearest lake she sensed. She swiftly jumped over Sasuke's battle, which didn't go unnoticed, and listened to the painful ringing in her ears.

It had gotten worse over the weeks, and Sakura forced herself to ignore it. She saw the lake in the distance and jumped down from the trees, a few strands of hair being cut off her as she rapidly dodged the blunt weapon that barreled toward her.

Sakura hid in a bush and began the hand signs for the new Jutsu Aka-sensei was teaching her. Even though it was a work in progress she was still able to create a temporary version of it. She felt her head swinging in and out, her vision blackening and clearing.

'What's happening?!'

Sakura stifled a scream as she felt her throat constrict and her body go numb. She fell onto her knees and felt tears spring from her eyes as she barely covered a bloodcurdling scream of anguish from the throbbing behind her eyes.

She felt her chakra change. It felt like it was being invaded. She looked down at her shaking hand to see many different marks on her body. She felt something manifest on her forehead, and the change in chakra flowing through her system reminded her of the Forest of Death. Orochimaru. She recognized these symptoms.

Through blurry eyes and a trembling lip she looked at her arms and legs, to find half of her body completely covered in spiky marks. Before she collapsed to see the protection of leaves, she uttered one more thing.

"The Curse Mark."

Sakura sent out her chakra in a wave, alerting her teammates of her presence. She hurriedly sent medical chakra up to her forehead, avoiding certain areas that were out of her league. She could hear her enemies taunts and paranoia was settling in. Her eyes traveled back and forth, ready for her enemy to pop out at any moment.

She already knew that the Curse Mark could be a problem, and one without willpower could easily succumb to the evil. That was why she was so worried about Sasuke, even though she knew she couldn't do anything about what she knew was coming soon. The throbbing soon stopped and she checked her reserves; less than half. She could feel enemy chakra signatures approaching; time to test this out.

There were so many unknown mechanisms that she can't afford to worry about; will his be safe enough cover? Will her Kekkei Genkai help her? Will the poles reach her opponent's? Better yet, how are her teammates doing? Did they steal the Scroll? Are they alive?

Will she die?

She inwardly shook her head and started the chain of handsigns. Any problems she will face, she will face them when they come, as she finished the last sign, and felt the rest of her chakra spread out, she tried to the best of her ability to reach the chakra signatures that were sure to end her life. She closed her eyes, and let blackness overtake her.

END OF PART 10

Hey! This ones short. Let me tell you now, I don't write these chapters from scratch. I bring them from my account on Naruto Amino, where I originally started the story. Anyway, I will be having an upload dump now, so you can enjoy that.