(A/N) Hello! Enjoy the new story you get tomorrow!
Akiko let the flare soar up into the sky, exploding in a brilliant red flash of light. Nintaimi's flare went up a moment later, ensuring any and all nearby ANBU would be running top speed to get there, as would the disguised jounin.
"He's going after Team 7," Akiko hissed. "Nintaimi, stay here and send the reinforcements after me, I'll make sure Team 7 gets away."
Nintaimi nodded, retreating to a more defensible position to wait. Akiko launched herself after the retreating back of the snake sannin.
Sasuke was tackled out of the tree, Orochimaru leaning over him creepily. Akiko glared, and pulled out a giant shuriken, launching herself at the snake sannin to get him off the Uchiha. "GET AWAY FROM KAKASHI'S STUDENTS!" She shouted, impaling a log. She flicked her wrist, and the log flew into the underbrush.
She checked Sasuke's neck quickly, picking him up by the back of his shirt. Finding nothing, she set him down on the floor again. "Run, I'll hold him off for now. You have two scrolls, right?"
A nod from Sakura, then the three fled, Akiko following at a distance, searching for the snake sannin.
He lunged for her next, only to be tackled out of the air by Kakashi, who immediately set a kunai against the sannin's throat. The sannin melted into mud, showing he'd been a clone.
"Kakashi, stay out of sight of your students, you know that, right?" Akiko reminded him.
Kakashi waved a hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, I remember."
An ANBU stopped in front of them. "The kids split up into shadow clones, we can't figure out which ones are the right ones."
Kakashi frowned. "They aren't the ones heading right for the tower, they will have taken a slightly roundabout way. And if we can't figure it out, Orochimaru won't either. We have some time, and that's good. Try and have at least one person watching all of the teams."
It was a testament to Kakashi's years in ANBU that no one questioned his orders, the ANBU squad leaping off in different directions.
"I'll tell the Hokage," Kakashi told Akiko. "Find my students."
Akiko nodded, turning and leaping in the opposite direction of Kakashi. She'd follow one of the paths, and hope it led to the right group.
She followed hers for a while, until they came into contact with another team, and about two minutes into the fighting, got dispersed.
She and the ANBU watching the group exchanged glances, then split, heading for other teams. The poor enemy team was left very confused, as their opponents burst into smoke, leaving nothing behind.
The next three teams brought up nothing as well, each bursting into smoke when they encountered a team, or tripped, or something.
"I see you have been unsuccessful finding the right team," Akiko taunted, coming across a very irritated looking Orochimaru.
"So have you," The sannin pointed out, straightening and clearing the irritation from his face and body.
"I'm sure there's an ANBU team that's on the right one. After all, there are ANBU all over this forest, on every team."
Orochimaru smiled creepily, disappearing in a shunshin. "I'd better get moving then, hmm?"
Akiko growled and chased after him with a shunshin of her own.
She was too late. Orochimaru saluted her lazily as he disappeared, ANBU chasing after him instantly. She raced to the tower, crashing in the doors just in time to catch Sasuke as he passed out. Iruka looked extremely worried as she hefted him up in her arms. "What happened?"
Akiko shook her head. "Mark them as passed, then help me get them to the medical ward. Three days and this section ends. We have to get them in fighting shape at least."
"In the case of prelims," Iruka agreed solemnly, gently cradling Sakura in his arms and running a basic medical jutsu.
Akiko gently shifted Sasuke so she could get Naruto as well, recognizing Iruka's grave face. "Internal damage?"
"Worse than that, spinal damage. She may not be able to walk again at all, let alone in the prelims," Iruka looked almost ready to cry.
Akiko would've patted his shoulder if she had an arm free to do it. "Let's get them into the infirmary, and call the doctors. They can check the damage, and we'll see how it affects her shinobi career."
Iruka nodded, hurrying off towards the area set up for the injured. They had three days, they would make the best of it.
Akiko hurried after him, making a note to ask Kakashi to seal the mark, and maybe ask Jiraiya when he came into town. The two would probably be able to get it off, or at least seal it, especially with Naruto's help.
The doctor said it was a spinal fracture, but could be healed fairly easily. But she should take it easy for a month or two so as not to stress the new bone.
Akiko sighed in relief, and went to find Iruka, who couldn't be there, as he'd been summoned elsewhere.
"Iruka, there you are," Akiko said, smiling. "The doctor finished. It's a spinal fracture, but she should be fine."
Iruka looked incredibly relieved. She knew he was attached to all of his students, but it seemed the explosive trio held a special place in his heart. "That's wonderful. Thank you for telling me the news.
Akiko nodded. "It was no problem."
(A/N) And end. Yeah, this kinda solved the cliffie on TTDS, but no one reads this anyway, so who's gonna know?
