After sprinting through the forest, the three of them came to a stop in the top of a tree.
"How are we gonna get a scroll?" Naruto asked, looking from Sasuke to Sakura. They shared a look.
"Lay traps," Sakura said quietly. "Remember that time with Kakashi-sensei, when he had a bunch of your clones tricking and ambushing us?"
Naruto's face split into a wide, mischievous smirk. "Can do!"
He made to take off, but Sasuke grabbed his jacket and hauled him back. "We aren't done you moron," he hissed. "We should be hiding our chakra and probably using clones."
Sakura nodded. "In case those guys from sand are nearby or if there are sensors around."
"Neji," Sasuke said with a determined look.
Naruto looked confused. "Why Neji? Isn't that Hinata's cousin? The weird looking one with long hair and an attitude worse than the bastards' here?"
Sasuke huffed and shoved Naruto off the branch. Naruto yelped as he fell, caught hold of the tree with chakra, and then jumped up again. He glared at Sasuke, who just smirked back.
"Neji and Hinata have eyes that can see chakra," Sakura explained. "And other people here might have the same kind of jutsu."
Sasuke looked as if he was going to say something, then scowled and shook his head.
"We should stick together," he muttered.
Naruto stared at him as if he'd started growing horns out of his head. "Why?"
Sasuke just glared at him, and Sakura giggled. "We can all make clones and have them split up, to cover more ground. Probably four each for Sasuke and me. Naruto, you can do as many as you want, just don't overdo it," she said. "They should transform into the three of us and follow other teams to see where they are and if they have a scroll we need. Then we go after them if our clones need backup."
"Until then?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura thought for a bit. "Find a defensible place to camp near the center of the forest or by the tower, food, water, and save our strength for the fights," she said.
The three of them made the hand signs for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and clones burst into existence. They transformed and jumped into the forest around them in teams of three.
Then, Team 7 muted their chakra and disappeared.
Later that day when they were preparing dinner, Naruto straightened and blinked. "Team Guy has the scroll we need," he said.
Sasuke looked interested, but Sakura had no desire to go near them. "Let's wait and see if there are any other teams with what we need by tonight," she said hesitantly. "We can fight better at night than most people besides Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata."
"Fine," Naruto grumbled. "I gotta pee though, I'll be right back." He jumped up and left before either Sakura or Sasuke could stop him and made some sort of code between them.
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered under his breath. He put his hand over the few pieces of raw meat they'd gotten from a small deer and flames jumped from his hands to the meat, cooking it instantly.
"Don't burn it," Sakura grinned at him. He glared at her, and she laughed.
After they'd eaten for a while, they heard Naruto coming back. "I'm back!" Naruto called, marching towards them as he wiped his hands on his pants. Something crashed in the distance, and he jumped to look in that direction.
Immediately, Sakura's hand inched toward the kunai holster strapped to her thigh, but her eyes weren't on the forest, they were on Naruto. There was something wrong with his chakra.
With a few quick hand signs, she got Sasuke's attention. His eyes flicked from black to Sharingan and then back so fast Sakura almost missed it. He nodded.
"That was weird," 'Naruto' said, twisting back to them. He saw the meat in Sasuke hands and snatched at it greedily. "Thanks, asshole!" he said brightly. Sasuke studied him for a few seconds. A moment later, both Sakura and Sasuke threw shuriken at him and jumped backward.
"Oi, what the hell was that for?!" Naruto shouted after dodging the attack.
"Who are you?" Sasuke said. Naruto glared at him, then abruptly his face changed, and he started laughing in a much deeper voice than Naruto had. His form shifted, then disappeared as one the of the other genin in the exam appeared where the fake Naruto had stood.
"What gave it away?" he laughed, walking towards Sasuke.
"You had your holster on the wrong side," Sasuke replied, without looking at Sakura. The ninja laughed again.
"Well, there's always something," he said, then smirked. "Don't worry, you'll never have to think about Naruto again."
A thick, suffocating killing intent blanketed the area, and both Sakura and Sasuke froze. Kakashi-sensei had drilled this exact situation multiple times.
The cold laughter echoed through the forest. "Not so confident now, Sasuke? That's a shame. After your brother, I think I expected… Well. More."
Sasuke was shaking in the corner of Sakura's vision. His eyes were still black, not giving the Sharingan away, but fury was written across his face.
"We have to get out of here," she choked out to her teammate. Jōnin or above, she signed to him. But Sasuke wasn't watching her.
"You've fought him?" he asked.
"Oh yes," he laughed again. "Such a shame, though." He pulled out a scroll. "It's the earth one, you need, right? And I need a heaven scroll."
Neither Sakura nor Sasuke responded, but the shinobi smirked anyway. "For added incentive," he said, and then wrapped a too-long tongue around the scroll, opened his jaw wider than any normal human, and swallowed it scroll. Sakura could see it move down the throat in snake-like motions.
"I doubt you can win, but perhaps you can prove you deserve it, Sasuke," he chuckled. "Prove to me someday you could be stronger than Itachi."
Sasuke took a step towards the shinobi, inching slowly into an attack stance.
"Sasuke," Sakura said quietly. When it came to Itachi, she had no idea how Sasuke would react. "We need to find Naruto."
Sasuke glanced at her, and her breath caught. His face was blank of all emotion. For a moment it looked as if he didn't hear what she'd said. But then he nodded sharply, and they both jumped into the trees by where Naruto had first left.
"You okay?" Sakura said, after glancing at him. Sasuke's Sharingan was spinning madly. He just stared straight ahead, not answering.
Then the shinobi caught up with them.
"You," he said, looking at Sakura with a twinge of frustration. "Are in the way."
Sakura saw kunai fly at her faster than even Kakashi or Shin had thrown them and suddenly she was a few feet from where she'd been before, reeling from where Sasuke had pulled her. He stood in front of her, facing the shinobi. But she could feel fear-soaked chakra rolling off him in waves.
Then a kunai flew through his heart.
It clattered to the ground next to Sakura, and Sasuke fell to the ground. Another kunai embedded itself in his skull and tore the hitai-ate in half.
Sakura choked as the snake-like person nudged Sasuke's body with his foot, rolling it over so she could see his blank, sightless eyes, and the blood that ran down his head and across his face.
The attacker looked up at her and smiled.
But the chakra was wrong.
"Kai!" she whispered fiercely. The area around her shimmered, and the attacker appeared, looking at her with intent fascination from beyond where Sasuke was now crouched defensively.
"You are more than I thought you'd be," he said thoughtfully.
"Uzumaki Naruto, reporting for battle!" A familiar voice shouted from above them. Sakura managed a grin.
Naruto was here.
Naruto stared down at the weird looking girl-man thing standing in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "I thought you'd been eaten by now," it said, looking back up at him.
"No stupid snake is going to eat me!" Naruto scoffed, jumping down in between his teammates. Sasuke was acting weird, but Sakura seemed fine.
"Above jonin," she warned from behind him. Naruto just clenched his fists tighter.
"Difficult to split up," it observed. "Interesting. But I only came here to fight Sasuke."
Naruto's blood boiled. "I'm just as good as that bastard!" he shouted back, making the seal for the shadow clones. He felt his chakra drain, but he didn't care. He was done with everyone thinking Sasuke was better than him!
He and the clones jumped to attack the thing, but it dodged every single one of his punches and kicks. Naruto growled.
He felt too hot, too fast, and too angry to do anything but attack.
"A jinchuriki, how interesting. You aren't good enough for me though, yet," the thing laughed. "Perhaps in a few years, when you grow into your parentage. So have another playmate." The thing made another giant snake appear, slithering through the forest towards them and opening its mouth to show huge fangs bigger than Naruto himself.
The snake hissed and lunged at him. Naruto pulled back for a punch that was gonna be epic when he heard Sasuke's shout.
"Naruto, stop!" Sasuke shouted.
Naruto jumped as the snake snapped its fangs shut around where he had been only a second ago. Sasuke was breathing hard; he could see everything – too much detail, too fast, Sakura still on the ground, seeing that Naruto wasn't going to make the punch, the snake man, Itachi with a sword dripping blood. He shook his head to get rid of the memory.
"He's fought Itachi, he's too strong for us," Sasuke said when Naruto had landed beside him. "We need to run."
Naruto looked at him with eyes that seemed too red – jinchūriki – suddenly Sasuke felt another twinge of fear at his teammate – and then Naruto's fist was far too close to his face.
Sasuke's jaw exploded in pain as he stumbled back. "What the hell-"
"Who are you?" Naruto spat. "Cause the Sasuke I know isn't a coward."
Sasuke's eyes shifted past Naruto to see Sakura stand up, facing away from them and toward the giant snake still coiling itself in the clearing. With a twist of her wrist, the giant sword was in her hand and she swung it to crash into the snake's jaw as it snapped at her. The snake hissed and reared back again for another strike.
Their attacker was still staring at him hungrily.
"Look at me!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke tore his eyes away from Sakura and the shinobi to look at Naruto. Why was it so hard to hear him?
"Fight! We need you to fight, Sasuke!"
"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted.
Naruto whirled around. The giant snake was just feet away and then, impossibly, and dark red chakra flickered over him. He jumped into the air and headbutted the snake. Sakura swung her sword again, and its neck was abruptly severed from the rest of its body.
Blood splattered over all three of them as the snake crashed to the ground, making Sasuke want to gag.
Sakura's sword was covered in blood, dripping. Sasuke kept seeing Itachi, and the tear streaks on his face that he'd thought was just wishful thinking all those years ago.
Naruto turned to him with a smirk. "Are you okay, you big chicken?" he mocked.
"That's too bad," the shinobi commented as he walked toward the three again. "I liked that one, he was particularly bloodthirsty."
Then he smiled at Sasuke.
Too fast, but slow enough for Sasuke to see in perfect detail, it slammed its hand into Naruto's stomach. Naruto screamed and collapsed.
Sakura shouted something Sasuke couldn't hear over the anger that had suddenly appeared in him, but he saw the other ninja press a hand against her neck and cheek, and then she screamed too.
Sasuke pulled out three kunai and threw it towards the attacker. He dodged, and Sakura fell to the ground as he grabbed another wire anchored to a kunai. Sasuke didn't have time to look at her but jumped toward the thing with a roar and kicked. He twisted wire between his fingers as he spun around in imitation of Lee and threw the kunai behind the other shinobi. His fingers flickered with chakra and fire raced down the wire, wrapping around his target.
Then he moved behind the thing and, using his Sharingan to predict its movements, he blasted a giant fireball towards where it ran.
The flames engulfed it, but he caught sight of movement still in the fire.
"Well Sasuke," it laughed in a hoarse, broken voice. "Your eyes were worth it."
The fire dissipated but Sasuke could feel the heat from the jutsu. He stared in morbid fascination as the charred black and white skin seemed to melt off the shinobi's face, falling to the ground like shed skin. There was a face underneath it that looked too much like a snake's to be real, and it was smirking at him.
Then its neck extending from its body and flew towards him.
Pain shot through his neck as he felt the fangs sink into his skin and muscle. He fell to the ground and threw up, shaking and holding his neck.
It was burning him from the inside out.
"My name is Orochimaru," he heard. "Come find me Sasuke, and I can make you strong. We have a common goal, after all."
He heard something slither away and threw up again.
"I still owe your brother a fight."
Sasuke couldn't think past the pain, couldn't do anything but feel the slimy chakra moving from his neck to his body. He clamped down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming.
Then he heard a groan that cut through the pain, and he looked up to see Sakura moving nearby. He reached for a kunai and then dug it into his arm, focusing on that instead of the poison ripping through his neck and body.
He crawled towards Sakura, and his eyes widened as she saw her face.
The side of her face where the ninja had grabbed her was pure white. There was swollen, angry red flesh surrounding the handprint. Her eyes were still shut, but her face twisted in pain and she was breathing in short gasps. Eventually, she opened her eyes to look up at him.
"Y-you okay?" Sasuke managed to say. Sakura gingerly touched her face and grimaced.
"I can handle it," she said, then looked at him more closely. He took his hand off his neck, and Sakura gasped. "What happened?!"
"It bit me," Sasuke said through clenched teeth. He let himself sink to the ground now that he knew Sakura was okay.
"There's a seal," she said slowly, looking back at his face with wide eyes. The white part of the handprint on her face sagged. It looked like it was melting. Sasuke vaguely wondered if he was hallucinating.
"He wants me to find him," he said. "Orochimaru. Says – says he wants to make me strong. Says he owes Itachi a fight too."
Sakura put her hand on his neck, but he reached for it and pulled it off. He didn't want Sakura anywhere around that thing.
"I need to get Naruto," she whispered. He squeezed her hand and let go.
She disappeared, and there was nothing but pain again.
Sakura ignored the numbness of her face and the burning flesh around it, looking for Naruto. He was lying on the ground, unconscious, and his chakra flickered between the Kyūbi's and his own faster than she could follow. She swallowed and then picked him up, trying to ignore the angry chakra that had destroyed her last seal.
Once she had him and her sword, she brought them both back to where Sasuke was lying.
She set up traps and other defenses around them and then turned back to Sasuke. He was still shaking, and his eyes were squeezed shut. She reached for his hand and flinched when he gripped onto it tightly.
Sakura shifted to sit against a tree and adjusted their hands, so it wasn't quite so painful, but Sasuke never once let go.