Sorry for the late update. So here's the next chapter! It's pretty long.
Before I forget, I want to thank Sakura4eva for helping me with this chapter. Thanks again. (How many times have I said it?) Remember how I told you I dreamed it, well my dream did come true. And it's AWSOME!
Oh and congratulations to all of those who guessed (I'm not telling you) right!
Also, I need a new summary for this story. I will most likely change it. Just a heads up.
Disclaimer: Not even in my dreams.
ENJOY!
Thoughts
Recap:
"What the is this supposed to be? Some sort of joke? What have I taught you?"
'I know that voice,' Sasuke thought from the outside of the room.
"Not only do you get tricked into doing some pointless mission, but you also bring him here." the man said, throwing a kunai directly at the door where Sasuke had been at. "It must be weakening. Going back to your old home wasn't a good idea. Right… Sasuke?" he smirked and turned sideways to where Sasuke was standing with his katana unsheathed, ready to strike.
End of Recap.
"You!" Sasuke said venomously yet his face showed no emotion whatsoever.
"Ah! Sasuke, I see you went back to the pathetic Leaf Village... So, how do you like my new puppet?"
"How did you survive? I thought I killed you." he hissed.
"Funny story, you see. Kabuto, in his dieing moments, gave me his body. It may not be the most powerful vessel, but he is skilled with medical ninjutsu which allowed me to heal myself and live."
"Not for long," Sasuke muttered under his breath and charged directly at him. The man who had separated him from his teammates, not that he minded because he had gained what he lusted for while under his teachings; power.
Raising the katana in one hand, ready to strike, he came at him with the want to kill to deliver a mortal injury to the man before him. Before he could do so, however, a figure appeared right beside him, stopping his actions by grabbing his wrist. "Sakura!" He was slightly surprised to see her stopping him. After all, she had just saved the life of the man whom he thought she hated for taking him away. Unfortunately, her monstrous strength was overpowering him. "Let me finish this once and for all." he demanded as he struggled to get free from her grasp.
"Don't you see Sasuke? She's my puppet now. She follows my orders. You can't tell me that you haven't already noticed." Orochimaru smiled sadistically.
"That curse mark on her neck?" Sasuke glared at him intensely.
"Hehehe! So you have. How do you like my new experimentation? This kind of curse mark can put anyone under my control. It's much better for the person holding it, does not rebel just like you did. It wipes most of the person's memories, but this girl has strong ties to others which didn't get fully erased, though a good portion of them did. Being with those she holds the strongest bonds with must have weakened it because she's different than when she left. She was much more cold and emotionless."
"Why her? You had other followers in Sound so why her?"
"True, there were others, but you freed most of them. Besides, this girl is probably the next best thing. She did surpass my old teammate Tsunade, after all. Then, when I found out she had ties with you, I wanted to make you suffer for the agony you caused me."
"This time I'll make sure to kill you." Sasuke shook Sakura's hand off of his wrist and headed toward Orochimaru. This time he'd get him for sure.
Just then, Sakura punched the ground with some of her energy, creating a small crater, throwing Sasuke off balance with the impact. "If you want to get to Lord Orochimaru, you'll have to go through me," Sakura stated in a monotone voice. Her cold, piercing eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.
"You're not serious, are you?" He turned to face her. "This is the enemy."
"Lord Orochimaru is not the enemy. You, on the other hand, are." she said, then disappeared in a puff of smoke to appear once again in front of Sasuke, punching him straight in the stomach. "Even though I hate you, I have to thank you because you made me that much stronger."
As Sasuke was punched away, he dropped his katana on the ground close to Sakura. He crashed into the wall opposite of him.
Sakura bent down, picking the accidentally discarded weapon up. The katana was clean with no sign of anyone's blood on it, although many ninja had most likely suffered their painful, untimely death because of it. Sakura threw the katana at Orochimaru. "Here's your weapon Uchiha stole from you, Lord Orochimaru." she told him with a blank stare. She then directed her attention back towards the Uchiha prodigy. "That katana was going to get in my way of killing you. Good luck without it. As for me, I have my weapon right here." She raised one hand and pointed to it with the other. "All I need are my hands and chakra." With that, Sakura ran toward him.
Sasuke gained his composure with a slight sigh. "I didn't want to his, but if that's how you want it; fine." Obviously he was serious, as he sped toward her. Both their fists collided together, making a large impact around them. Because of Sakura's inhuman strength, Sasuke was pushed back a few feet, while Sakura only a few mere inches.
Orochimaru stood back watching the interesting scene before his eyes. He had already decided the winner would become his new vessel. Even with bearing the curse mark, Sakura was slowly being fueled by his evil chakra. Suddenly, his attention was torn from the battle as two more chakras beside the two in front of him were felt. 'More company, I see.' Orochimaru thought. 'No one will ruin my plans.' Doing some hand signs, he summoned two, already dead ninja. After signaling them to destroy their intruders, to which they were off to do in a flash, he faced the fight once more.
Most of the building was shaking from the battle within. Nothing seemed safe inside anymore. All of the villagers had taken precautions to stay away, at least ten feet, from there. The building could collapse at any moment.
"K…Ka… Kakashi Sensei," Naruto stuttered while trying not to lose his balance in the unstable building. "Don't you think it would be a good idea if we got the heck out of here instead of being squashed when this place falls apart?"
"No. We need to find out what's going on. Someone must be fighting if the whole building is shaking like this." Kakashi then walked deeper into the dark halls.
"But… But…" Naruto tried to protest, yet finding no excuse to actually convince him to leave, he did the only thing he could possibly do: follow Kakashi.
Suddenly, Kakashi was thrown back from a strong blow nearby. Luckily, Naruto caught him before he could take any more damage.
Two, pale, stoic figures emerged from the darkness. "You shall go no further." they both said in unison.
"Z…z…zom… Zombies!" Naruto stuttered in fright. He turned toward the door, beginning to run for it. Kakashi stepped in his way to stop him, but Naruto just dashed pass him. Kakashi grabbed him by the collar with a sigh, successfully bringing the boy to a halt.
"Naruto, stay and fight. What kind of ninja will you be if you run away?" Kakashi lectured him trying to convince him to stay.
"That's easy Sensei! I'll be a living ninja not a dead one, because those guys look really strong and really scary." he retorted and struggled, trying to break free from his grasp.
"We shouldn't waste our time with that wimpy-looking kid, Rinji." one of the dead guys said.
Naruto froze. "What did you call me?!" He finally looked serious enough to fight, so Kakashi let him go.
"A wimpy-looking kid, right Senji…?" the other repeated with a yawn.
"O…okay. Now that I know, I'm out of here!" With that, the scared boy took off for the exit, but one of the guys, the one who had been called Rinji, blocked the exit.
"I think I'll just have some fun with you…" He smirked. Then, taking out a kunaii, Rinji (what a horrible name, I know) aimed it at Naruto. Naruto did a back flip and managed to move out of the way.
Kakashi and Senji (another horrible name) were both locked in a glaring contest and noticed when Naruto and Rinji began to fight. "Looks like it's me and you left." Senji said and charged toward Kakashi.
The silver haired jounin nodded, then pulled his headband up to reveal his sharingan. "Let's begin." he agreed.
'The power both posses is incredible. Both would make perfect vessels for me. Too bad I only get to choose one.'
Orochimaru stood back from the two fighting ninjas, smirking. At this point, both Sasuke and Sakura were willing to kill each other.
Sakura ran toward Sasuke with chakra loaded fists. Sasuke's speed allowed him to move out of the way, making Sakura hit the wall. Her fist got stuck in the hole she had created and Sasuke immediately did hand signs, taking advantage of the situation, and yelled, "Fire Style; fire ball jutsu!" An enormous ball of fire erupted from his mouth and was aimed for Sakura.
As she managed to get her fist out of the wall, she turned around and saw the fire coming directly toward her. Quickly, Sakura did some hand signs. When the smoke cleared, she was still standing, untouched by the fire and unmoved.
"I must say, to be able to create a chakra shield in such a short amount of time requires precise chakra control." Sasuke complimented, then added, "You've always been good at that." He took out some shuriken, throwing them at her with perfect aim. Sakura dodged them all, only to find chakra strings attached to them. As a result, she got tied up against the wall.
Sasuke saw this as an opening and went in the opposite direction to try to recover his katana from Orochimaru. This would probably be one of the only openings he could possibly have, so he needed to make the most of it.
On the other side of the room, Sakura struggled to get free. She tried to reach her kunai pouch and pulled one out and slashed through the ropes.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu." Sasuke said quickly. One copy of himself appeared beside him. The copy activated the sharingan, making Sakura think that was the real Sasuke. She tried to kick him, but he just jumped out of the way. This happened repeatedly; Sakura would try to punch or kick, but the clone would move out of the way to avoid being hit and disappear into smoke. It was all just a distraction, though, for the real Sasuke to carry out his plan.
Sasuke was planning on retrieving his katana and finishing off his teacher, once and for all. Orochimaru was too busy watching the fight to notice the Uchiha behind him. Powering up for chidori, Sasuke darted straight to him. Sakura saw this and got in front of Orochimaru, arms stretched out, protecting him. It was too late when Sasuke realized what Sakura was doing, and he couldn't stop. The chidori hit Sakura right in the stomach. She coughed up blood. Her arms clutched her stomach, and she fell on the ground. Eyes wide open with fear of death and pain.
"Sakura…" Sasuke leaned down to examined the seriousness of the damage he had caused her. Death was on it's way for the young kunoichi. "You were a fool…"
Suddenly, he was kicked on the head. The body in front of him poofed into a different person. It was another person dieing.
"You didn't think I was that stupid, did you? I saw right through your clone and how you tried to distract me. You'll have to do better," Sakura stated, icily. She turned toward Orochimaru. "That little trick really came in handy, after all."
Orochimaru could only smirk at this. The second round of the fight would soon commence. This round would decide everything.
'Easy… Slow… Careful…'
A ninja thought. He crept silently, unnoticed, as he jumped through the wide, open window behind Orochimaru. He walked carefully, so as not to make a sound. Sasuke and Sakura were too busy into their fight to notice this man and the ninja took a kunai and placing it on Orochimaru's neck. "This is the end for you, old buddy."
"Jiraiya?"
"You were too busy watching them fight, you didn't pay attention to anything else. That was your mistake." Jiraiya whispered, threatening to end his life.
"On the contrary, old friend, I've had my guard up all of this time." a sly voice came, only a few feet behind him. The figure Jiraiya was holding captive turned into small snakes that slithered away. Orochimaru stood leaving back against the wall, smirking. "Shall we put an end to this rivalry, old friend?" With those words said, snakes slithered from Orochimaru's sleeve and went straight for Jiraiya. Jiraiya quickly used his hair as a shield to cover himself before they could land a hit, thus starting a new battle.
'I need to end this soon. Lord Orochimaru may need my help against the Toad Sage.'
Sasuke and Sakura had been fighting for some time now. Bruises and cuts adorned both of their bodies; blood poured out of the many cuts they both had; and both were sweating and panting endlessly. There still did not seem to be a clear, definite winner to their battle. Both were tired and low of chakra, but their egos and motives would not allow them to just quit.
Sakura threw a kunai at Sasuke which he dodged. Sasuke tried to throw kunai at her, but she turned into a lamp. 'Replacement jutsu!' He looked around the room to find her.
"Any last words?" Sakura asked from behind him. She had what was left of her chakra all concentrated in her hand. Just one touch, and all of Sasuke's bones would shatter.
"Ninja style: Mud swamp jutsu! (Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else.)" Jiraiya yelled as he did the corresponding hand signs. Orochimaru became stuck in the mud.
"Ahh…" He tried struggling to get free but the more he struggled the more he sunk into the mud.
"It all ends here." Jiraiya warned. He formed the Rasengan in his hand and ran toward him.
"Multi Shadow clone jutsu!" Hundreds of Narutos appeared, filling up the whole room in which they were fighting in. "Let's get him!" one of the Naruto's yelled. They all charged toward Rinji in unison.
Just then, Jiraiya managed to land a direct hit on his once best friend. "NO!" Orochimaru screamed. His skin began shedding away, revealing the infamous, white snake. Jiraiya stood back staring in awe (and slight disgust) at what had become of his ex-teammate. The snake hissed in pain as its life began slipping away. It moved wildly, trying to do anything possible to survive, but there was nothing left to do. It thrashed around until it was out of energy and slowly calmed down to die.
"Good bye." Old memories of when they were friends flashed before Jiraiya's eyes. In the end, he didn't see Orochimaru as the monster he had became, he saw him as the young boy who was once his best friend.
Naruto was about to attack with his famous rasengan, when Rinji turned into dust. Since Orochimaru had summoned him and he was dead, both Rinji and Senji disappeared. Of course, the blonde wouldn't get that. "Wow! They must have really been afraid of me to leave like that!" Naruto cheered to Kakashi.
Kakashi walked slowly toward Naruto trying to examine the remains. "Naruto, let's go. We need to find out what's going on." Kakashi said. They both ran toward the room where everyone else was at. Soon, they would find the truth.
As Sakura was about to kill Sasuke, she suddenly dropped on her knees, clutching her head in obvious pain. The curse mark Orochimaru had implanted on her, was beginning to fade away in a painful process. Sakura shook her head violently trying to make the pain stop and go away. "Stop!" she screamed, trembling as sharp pains went through out her body. Finally, when the pain subsided, her body grew limp, her eyes dull, and she fainted from exhaustion.
"Sakura…"
WOOO! It's finished. Not the story just the chapter. There's still a long way from the end. Please Review! If you don't know what to say, answer the following questions. Did you actually think Sakura died when Sasuke used the chidori? Please review! or else...I will ... let ...umm... Orochimaru come back to life and hunt you down. Muahahahaha!
If you guessed correctly from last chapter, what made you think it was him? (Was it that obvious?)