Three scared squirrels and two terrified deer later, the sun rose. Sakura had been awake the whole night, kept up by Sasuke's erratic breathing and trembling, and the pain in her own face. Nearly all her clones had disappeared in the forest during the night, and the information overload also kept her awake. She knew the team from sound was heading towards them.
Minutes later, the three genin from Oto jumped down from the trees to stand in front of her and the traps she'd set the day before.
"Wake him up," the leader pointed to Sasuke. "We were instructed to kill him at dawn."
"Who is Orochimaru?" Sakura whispered instead of answering him. She slowly, carefully, let go of Sasuke's hand and flexed her own.
"None of your concern," the genin to his right sneered.
"Sasuke is my teammate, it is my concern," she replied quietly.
"Can we stop wasting time?" the girl said. "We've got our scroll, let's just kill them all and leave."
Sakura laughed, though she tried to stop herself. But the tiny amount of killing intent these genin were giving off was almost ridiculous compared to Kakashi-sensei, Uncle Shin, and Orochimaru.
Their confidence was the kind that still needed to prove themselves, and now she knew what Kakashi-sensei had meant by showing a weaker side.
The three of them suddenly looked disgusted. "What's wrong with your face?" the girl asked.
"Orochimaru grabbed me," Sakura said, still chuckling. She touched the numb part carefully, but the skin seemed to stick to her hand. When she pulled it away, a bloody patch of skin was crumpled in her fist. The three sound genin blanched.
"No one has ever survived that jutsu," their leader muttered, staring at her.
At that, Sakura laughed again, though she felt a little meaner. "Then perhaps it is my business who he is, isn't it?" She studied the three shinobi in front of her. "Leave, now. If you stay, I can't guarantee you will survive," she said as she steadied herself on a tree trunk. She stood up and reached for five kunai. "I'm tired."
The girl barked out a laugh. "You can't even stand up straight, how do you expect to fight us?"
Sakura threw a kunai in the ground in front of their leader, activating one of the explosive traps set around the area.
The resulting explosion sent the three shinobi skidding backward, and the next trap split the two boys apart.
"You're unobservant," Sakura said tiredly.
"And you're annoying," one of them spat. "Dosu, I'm gonna go for it."
"Sure Zaku," said the leader. "We can take our time anyways."
The genin named Zaku held up his arms and what felt like a blast of air hit Sakura. A wave of dizziness sent her crashing to her knees.
"Sound waves are pretty great, huh?" Zaku sneered as Sakura fought back nausea. She unsteadily activated another trap that kept them running, but Zaku hit her with a harder blast this time.
"Soon, the damage will be permanent," Zaku smirked at her. "Ugly face, deaf, hmmm, maybe I'll even cut off some of that hair, just to fit the picture."
She had to target his arms.
Sakura set off two more traps to give herself time to recover and focused medical chakra around her ears. As an afterthought, she also began to concentrate it around her cheek, jaw, and neck.
The numbness began to go away, and the wound started to burn like it had in the beginning. She let out a quiet hiss of pain.
Then Sakura felt a sharp, painful tug on her hair. The girl from Sound had yanked it back. Sakura stiffened
"Now what are you going to do?" she sneered. "You don't belong as a shinobi with this beautiful hair." She yanked on it again, and Sakura moved with her and let out a tiny, fake whimper.
Meanwhile, she was gauging how far away Dosu and Zaku were from Sasuke and Naruto. Luckily, the team looked like they'd forgotten about Sakura's teammates. "How much should I cut off, Zaku?" the girl laughed.
"All of it," he smirked. "It'll be a good trophy."
Sakura palmed a few shuriken and threw them towards the trees above the other sound ninja. It activated yet another trap, and as soon as she heard both the boys shout, she turned her attention to the girl behind her.
Sakura grabbed the base of her ponytail and the girl's arm, then yanked her forward with a chakra-enhanced roll. Sakura landed on her back, so her sword was right on top of the girl's chest and arms.
"How are – you – so – heavy?!" the girl shrieked between desperate gasps for air. "Dosu, Zaku, I can't – move!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sakura whispered under her breath. Three clones appeared in front of the two boys from sound, distracting them. Two more clones protected Sasuke and Naruto, who were both still out cold.
She slid her hand underneath her back – ignoring the girl's shrieks beneath her, and de-activated the seal on Kubikiribōchō. She also unclipped it from the harness and left it on the sound girl, who was quickly beginning to struggle to breathe.
Sakura pushed herself up off the ground and used a kunai to tear off a large strip of the bottom of the long sleeve shirt she'd been wearing, then tied it around the lower half of her face and upper neck to cover the area missing skin. It burned, but she ignored it.
Then, she substituted herself with one of the clones closest to Zaku. She reached out to an arm with one of hers but jumped away when he threw shuriken toward her. With another substitution, she was behind him, and another she was on top of him.
Instead of substituting herself again when Zaku threw shuriken at her, she let them bounce harmlessly against the armor beneath her shirt and grabbed one of his arms. She anchored herself to it with chakra and then broke his forearm with a snap. Zaku screamed and clawed at her face and arms with his good hand, but she twisted his broken arm and took her chance to break the other arm too. Then she knocked him out with a sharp punch to the jaw.
She transformed into Zaku, broken arms and all, and found Dosu fighting her clones to get to Sasuke.
"She broke my arms, but I incapacitated her," Sakura said in Zaku's voice.
Dosu sneered. "Not worth anything now, are you? You should've just let yourself die, then." He turned back to the clones who were disappearing as he hit them with massive blasts of sounds, one by one. Sakura stepped forward and neatly slid a kunai along the tendons of his arms and legs. Dosu yelled in pain and fell forward.
"Where is your scroll?" Sakura asked. Her voice sounded blank even to herself. Dosu growled at her. She bent down and rummaged through his jacket until she found their earth scroll, fighting dizziness and the nauseating pain on her face.
"S-Sakura?" she heard a voice call from the bushes. She turned to look, and Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji all appeared out of the forest.
"Ino," Sakura said. She felt nothing. She was so tired. "Do I need to fight you too?" she asked. Talking felt different while wearing a mask. Idly she wondered if Kakashi-sensei ever thought it was strange. Probably not.
Ino stared at her for a long time and then shook her head. "No. We already have an earth scroll," she said quietly.
Sakura nodded and then placed a genjutsu over Dosu. The girl, who was now unconscious from lack of air, Sakura tied up with chakra wire and left hanging on a branch.
"Sakura!" Lee's voice yelled, announcing his appearance long before he had launched himself into the scene. "I am here to protect you!" He skidded across the clearing and Sakura finally managed a short breath of laughter.
"Thank you, Lee, but I think the danger is over." She activated the seal on the giant sword and slid it back into place underneath her torn shirt.
Suddenly Sakura felt a surge of black, slimy chakra coming from where the two boys were lying.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, standing up. Red and black flames flickered over his skin from the seal and his red Sharingan eyes pierced through her. "Who did that to you?"
Sakura touched the scratches and bruises Zaku had given her after she broke his arm. "He was dealt with," she replied, eyeing Sasuke carefully.
"I feel so much power," Sasuke said, looking at his hands in dark satisfaction.
"It's Orochimaru's power, not yours," Sakura said, slowly walking towards him. She touched a hand to his seal, fighting the slimy feel of the chakra against hers. Sasuke flinched back and closed his eyes tightly. The flames spreading from the seal started to recede.
"Don't," he whispered, taking her hand off it like he had before.
"You saw mine," she told him quietly. His eyes opened to meet hers, and she was relieved to see them looking a little more normal. "You saw Naruto's."
"I feel like I could win," Sasuke frowned to himself. "If I went and fought him now."
"Orochimaru's just using you to get what he wants," Sakura said. She gripped his hand tighter. "Don't fall for it, Sasuke. I made that mistake."
Sasuke looked at her for a long time and then let out a breath. "Fine," he said. Sakura saw the flames from the seal on his neck completely disappear and relief washed over her.
"What was that about?" Shikamaru drawled. Sasuke glared at him, then turned around to kick Naruto in the shoulder.
The boy slowly came awake, then jumped to his feet when he saw everyone staring at him. "Eh? What's going on, Sakura? Where's the creepy snake thing, and why do you have a mask like Kakashi-sensei's?"
"He did something to your and Sasuke's chakra," Sakura replied absently. Now that both boys were awake, the relief coursing through her was making her very, very tired. "Don't use it until we get to the tower and get it looked at."
"Huh?" Naruto frowned in confusion.
Sasuke hit him in the back of the head. "No chakra, idiot," he snarled. He and Naruto glared at each other.
"You don't feel like you, Naruto, Sasuke," Sakura told them both, not really knowing what she was saying or why, just that it was true. She was too tired, and her face burned. She sank to the ground and leaned against a tree trunk. "Don't fight like that, please."
She saw her two boys stare at each other, then she closed her eyes and was asleep.