The Kusa Genin pulled an Earth Scroll from her back pouch. Sakura and Sasuke tensed, eyeing it, "ah, you'd love to get your hands on our Earth Scroll, wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your Heaven Scroll" the woman said. She wrapped her tongue around it and swallowed the object whole. Both Konoha Genin gasped in disgust at the sight. The Kusagakure Genin covered her left eye with her hand, "well, when this is all over, one of us will have both scrolls," she lowered her hand, glaring at them with one yellow slitted eye, and exuding enough Killing Intent to freeze the two in place with terror. "And the other will be dead" suddenly Sasuke felt like he had been stabbed to death. He could even faintly feel the pain. He gasped for breath, body unable to move. He knew that this was Killing Intent, but.
It was so much more potent than Zabuza's, he felt like at any moment his body would just stop working on it's own, like his lungs would stop contracting, his heart would stop beating. And he almost wanted it to. Anything to escape this horrifying feeling, the feeling that he was about to be torn to pieces by a vicious creature and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He couldn't move, couldn't fight back. The Killing Intent was so strong that he was just about ready to take his sword and slit his own throat, just to make it stop. He suddenly heard Sakura collapse to the ground, and it was like he was a puppet with his strings cut. Sasuke felt the strength leave his legs and he collapsed to the ground, vomiting up the contents of his stomach. 'W-what the hell?! What was that? No normal Genin could give off that much KI. It's impossible. Even back during the first exam, none of those Genin even came close to that, and that was all of them together.
Who is she?! What is she?!' he thought. "S-Sakura?" he asked, voice wavering, as he turned towards his teammate, 'we have to get out of here, right now, or we'll die!' Sasuke thought, panicking. However, when he managed to move his head, he found the pink-haired girl trembling harshly, tears streaming down her face and seemingly in shock. 'No good, it's even worse for her' the young Uchiha thought. 'Anija, where are you?' he wondered desperately.
ŃĚĤ
The giant snake traveled through the forest, the blond boy currently in it's stomach. "Oh god damn it all! To hell with this shit!" Naruto cried, forcing his hands up into a hand sign, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she exclaimed, destroying the snake from the sheer amount of clones that were created. He panted as bits of snake rained down around him. Naruto gagged and shuddered, "that was by far the most disgusting thing I've ever been through- now to find my teammates. I swear if anyone's hurt my Otouto!" the blond walked over to where his Gunbai had been thrown and picked the weapon up, "I'll kill them!" he promised, eyes darkening.
ŃĚĤ
Sasuke sat on the ground, his body refusing to cooperate with him. 'I've never been this terrified before in my life, not when I thought Itachi went insane, not when that tiger attacked me, not when faced with Zabuza. My body won't move!' he thought, desperately trying to get his body to do anything. The Kusa Ninja chuckled, "you're paralyzed with fear" she commented. 'No! I won't give up! Not now, not after everything!' Slowly, with lots of effort, the Uchiha managed to reach down and grab his sword, 'come on! You can do this, just go slowly, bit by bit' Sasuke forced himself onto his feet, body still trembling. His sword arm shook so much that he was afraid he'd drop his blade again. But he was still upright, holding his sword out in front of himself in a backwards grip. "Very good. Now what happens?" the Kusa Kunoichi asked, with something like amusement colouring her voice.
Sasuke was hit with another wave of terror. She was right. How could he possibly fight this person? She'd paralysed them with simple Killing Intent, he was still unable to make his body move forwards, and Sakura was still in terrified shock. This Ninja was so far out of their league and she knew it. She was playing with them. If she wanted to, she could kill them both in heartbeat. Suddenly his Elder Brothers words echoed in his mind: 'yes, that's right and that rule still stands. If anything happens which takes Sakura and I out, you'll need that power of yours to protect yourself and most likely us as well. But you're only to use them if that happens, not before, understand?' Whatever this person was, she was no Genin. If there was ever a time to use his eyes, it was now. He could use them to protect both himself and Sakura. But they used up almost all his Chakra, without Naruto here, he didn't know if he could use them without sever repercussions.
The Kusagakure Kunoichi walked towards them, taking out two kunai from her pouch, "don't worry I'll make it quick. But I don't have to tell you that do I? you've seen it with your own eyes" she said. She then threw the two kunai with death-dealing precision towards the two Konoha Genin. Sasuke watched the weapons coming towards them, Sharingan following their movements in slow motion. 'No! I won't allow myself to let Sakura die here! I will protect my friend!' suddenly his eyes changed, going from a red background with three tomoe circling the pupil to a black background with a red six-pointed star in each eye. A purple ethereal ribcage formed around him, with a skeletal arm reaching out and placed itself in front of Sakura. The kunai bounced off both, clattering on the floor in front of each Genin. Focusing, Sasuke made his Susanoo's hand grab the pink-haired girl, then he leapt away with her. The Grass Kunoichi stared at where the two had been, eyes alight with excitement, "that technique-" she soon grinned sadistically again, her long tongue coming out to lick her lips.
ŃĚĤ
Sasuke and Sakura landed behind a large tree. The young Uchiha panted as his Susanoo faded, along with his Mangekyo Sharingan. Damn that took a lot out of him. He was only twelve years old after all, despite being a full blooded Uchiha, he didn't have as much Chakra as a fully grown Shinobi. He hoped that he still had enough to continue to fight. Wait! Reaching into his back pouch, Sasuke removed a small container of round pills. Chakra Replenishment Pills. Taking one out he popped it into his mouth, chewed and swallowed the item. Instantly he felt his Chakra jump back up to full. Thank god he had remembered to bring these with him! Suddenly his eyes started burning, and he quickly deactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Sasuke clenched his mouth shut, he wouldn't scream. He couldn't risk alerting that, whatever she was to their presence. "Sasuke, are you alrigh-" Sakura began to ask, but the boy placed his hand over her mouth, staring around the side of the tree in terror, praying that the woman hadn't heard. Suddenly Sakura heard a loud hissing noise and looked towards the source- right next to them. Her eyes widened in terror at the sight on the snake preparing to strike. Hastily grabbing Sasuke's hand, she yanked it away, "look out!" Sakura cried. Sasuke quickly activated his regular Sharingan again, turning around quickly to see the snake. Both Genin leapt away as the animals jaws clamped onto the tree where they'd just been sitting, tearing a large chunk out of it. "I can't believe this, I didn't even notice! I'm losing it!" Sasuke cried. Sakura landed on another tree branch, watching the giant snake coil it's way around the trunk towards her teammate. Sasuke's heart was racing a mile a minute as the reptile made its way closer.
When it stared at him, he suddenly saw an image of that woman's face, the terrifying feeling of death enveloping his mind. He was defiantly going crazy and he knew it, but the absolute terror he felt of that person overwhelmed him, causing him to scream out: "aaahh! No! stay away!" as he drew several Shuriken and threw them at the animal. The snake hissed in pain as the weapons collided, before falling onto another tree, dead. Sasuke panted, praying that it was over, but it seemed he had no such luck. The skin of the snake cracked and tore away, leaving the woman to emerge from the husk of her dead 'pet' or whatever it was. "I sense your fear and desperation. It's only natural. Prey must never let down it's guard in the presence of it's predator!" the Kusa Shinobi remarked, torso suddenly stretching to insane lengths and began to coil her way up the tree, just like the snake before her.
Sasuke screamed in absolute horror at the monster coming towards him. It was like something from one of his nightmares as a child. When he would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and sobbing. Itachi had always known when these night terrors plagued him, and would come to his bedroom to comfort and protect him from his fears. With Itachi's lean but undoubtedly strong arms wrapped around him and his soft whispered assurances that he was here and that Sasuke would always be safe as long as he was by his younger brothers side, the younger boy had felt safe to cry all his fears away with his precious Nii-San gently rubbing comforting circles into his back until he would fall asleep again. However, this wasn't like those times. Itachi wasn't here to chase away all that scared and threatened him, nor was his Anija here to protect him from danger. He was all alone. Alone and utterly petrified of this monster that seemed to have come straight from his nightmares.
He was going to die. He was really going to die and there was nothing he could do. Scared out of his mind and unable to find a way to run from the monster, Sasuke fell back on old habits. He called for his Elder Brother, "Anija please save me!" he cried, wrapping his arms protectively around his face and closing his eyes. Suddenly multiple kunai and shuriken impacted the tree the Sasuke stood on, right in front of the advancing monster. Sakura gasped, turning to the source of the thrown weapons in unconscious synchronicity with Sasuke. Both shivered as they laid eyes on the person. It was Naruto alright, holding his Gunbai in his hand and glaring with barely restrained hatred at the monster woman, "you, how dare you," he hissed with so much raw fury that everyone could feel it in the air, "how dare you threaten my Otouto in such a way! I'll kill you for this!" he proclaimed, glaring at his new opponent.
To Be Continued
