Hello, and welcome to the next chapter!
Morregen; We'll have to wait and see~ Yeah, the curse marks pretty cool as a power up. He could do something like that for Anko yeah. Curse fire sounds pretty awesome. Orochimaru and Ryouta will have a clash. Yeah, we'll get their reactions for when it is discovered about it. Glad you enjoyed it and no worries at all~
TheChamp123; Hehe, yeah~ He might have a little interaction with Zetsu~ Obito does seem quite interested in him so it could be possible. Here's the update, and yeah, you too, thank you!
danielhaywoodsnow; We'll see if Ryouta and the others can get there in time. Glad you liked the moment between Karin and Ryouta, more will come. I could see Karin doing that.
Skull Flame; Tobi and Zetsu just wish to not disturb the Chunin Exams, at least yet anyway. Zosui's alive for a reason is all I can say. Lets hope he can~
ShadowUzumaki55; He did yeah, Zosui got quite the surprise. It's a cool application of the Sharingan. Lets hope Ryouta and the others can yeah. Mikoto is quite skilled yeah. Tobi's back, what his true intentions are we'll see.
MDM11; Yeah, maybe they could do. They'll be having a fight quite soon~ Karin will unlock her chains before she did in canon. They'd be cool additions to the harem. Shino is pretty strong yeah.
lord web of life of destiny; It is quite important yeah, some stuff for the future is going to be shown here.
Silver crow; Thanks! Ryouta will do his best. Karin did yeah. Lets see what happens. I'm sure that he'd be quite shocked if Orochimaru was that. Timeline wise it does make sense. It seems Orochimaru didn't know about that yeah. Maybe he did. Yeah, I thought a scene like that between Anko and Naruko would make more sense since they do know one another. Yeah, they'll be seeing one another soon enough. Team Six are doing their best yeah. Team Seven also are getting on as much as they can do. Hiruzen will become more on alert. Obito's not there to cause major issues at least not yet. Karin's head was muddled due to seeing someone who has been haunting her for a long time, but after seeing him get defeated, her fear of her is now turning into strength for her. Mikoto did yeah. Ryouta did yeah, he showed some cool skills. Depending how much he uses his eyes, he'd lose at least a little vision. Black Zetsu could have been yeah. Yeah, maybe Konan will come then. Ryouta's going to be doing some stuff during the invasion of Orochimaru's, I can't spoil what just yet. Izumi's there because she wants to help Itachi, and Tobi's forcing her to be there, part of Ryouta's journey is to discover more about that and other things. If he was, yeah he'd get horns like that. He could do that with Kabuto, Tsunade is pretty awesome. Tsunade doing that would be pretty cool. He could tell Tsunade that after she becomes Hokage. Depending on who he uses his eyes against maybe yeah. Mikoto could do. Some more people might be promoted here in this story.
GuoYaohui; I guess Satsuki since they've known one another the longest.
Joe; Thanks! Yeah, possibly~
Mrgamerandwatcher; Maybe he will, we'll see soon.
Andrew123456; I've got a good time for when Cloud might come into play, spoilers.
War Sage; Thanks! Yeah, they've come back. Glad you liked the Mikoto scenes. Ryouta did yeah. Orochimaru is quite the tricky opponent. Maybe it was them. Yeah, Karin will be able to breathe a bit easier now thanks to Zosui being taken down. Yeah, their reports would be quite interesting. Orochimaru could have known her. Thanks for the suggestions!
Guest 1; Ryouta could learn that move since he has the Sharingan. The names of his Mangekyou powers will be shown quite soon. They'd be cool choices, thanks for the suggestions!
Brainstorm Sorcerer; Ooh yeah, it surely is. They're going to have to pull out all the tricks they have. Karin does yeah, showing Zosui as someone she shouldn't have to worry. Yeah, he could do, he is still alive for a reason hehe~ Orochimaru is smart, and most likely could suspect him to have it. I could see Ryouta saying that to Neji. Tobi's back. Ooh yeah, thanks to Anko, it kind of is their second home now. Orochimaru might have a feeling of who it is watching him. He might be aware at least of the interest that some people have in Ryouta. I couldn't say about if Tobi would allow it or not. Anko would be going through quite a number of emotions. Naruko was yeah. Kakashi could do yeah. I could see Karin sensing that. Orochimaru might have to if Ryouta's going to use his Mangekyou against him. Yeah, Ryouta does, he has a hidden power, but he has to use it carefully and sparingly since he currently doesn't have the Eternal Mangekyou. We'll see what is watching Ryouta this chapter. It might be surprising.
Drake-san; I haven't decided yet, I've got it narrowed down to about three of them so probably a vote on the story if I did it.
Guest 2; That looks pretty cool for Akira. That's quite the backstory, I like it. Having a bond with those characters would make sense yeah. Powers look good, I like the eye powers. And the peerage is pretty cool too. Yeah, he would be pretty strong. Yeah, she might have only had a chance to get him away. He'd have a few thoughts about Heaven and other things like that. Maybe he could have it activated from birth. Thanks for the suggestions!
Guest 3; Yup, we're in the forest of death now. We'll see how Team Six do their stuff through the forest, as well as some others. We'll see what Zetsu's thinking about soon enough. Eventually we'll see how the Akatsuki view certain people like Ryouta, Haku and others. Zosui did yeah, and he was left alive for a reason, is all I can say right now. It could have been Orochimaru's plan yeah. I could see her being rather annoyed by such a thing yeah~ Yeah, he could do fights without his eyes in certain circumstances. Those being reanimated would bring quite a few emotional moments. Those would be cool choices for the harem. A story like that would be pretty fun to do, could tie it back to this one as well, and yeah, we don't know everything at this point but still would be fun to do. It isn't a bother at all, don't worry about it~
guest 22; Yeah, I've got interactions planned for them all.
Chicken BOI; Yeah, quite a sad ending.
Hinata fan; The chapter after this one, why will be shown. I haven't decided about that yet so anything's possible. Yeah, maybe he could do.
Well, with those reviews out of the way, it's time to start the chapter!
The snakes attack!
Shooting through the forest as fast as they could, Team Anko headed for the location of Satsuki and the others, hoping that they'd make it in time.
However, like before, Ryouta felt as if they were being followed.
He didn't like this feeling.
He didn't want to believe that it was something even Karin couldn't sense.
But, his instincts told him that he right now was being followed.
"Karin-chan, are you sure we aren't being followed right now?"
"If we are then it would have to be something that could even conceal it's chakra or something like that."
Ryouta nodded, while Haku looked back, trying to see if there was anything there.
"If there was, I'm sure that they'd launch an attack sooner or later."
Ryouta believed Haku was right.
But, it also made him question why they weren't being attacked.
If they were being watched that was.
As they moved, Ryouta saw something moving from the right, so he stopped.
"There's something over there. I saw it with my Sharingan eyes."
Karin and Haku also stopped.
Karin put her hands together, and allowed her chakra sensing to go forward.
As she did however, something suddenly burst forward.
Something large.
Having striking slit eyes, and a huge long body of a male snake, made up of blood red scales and has black rings running down intervals on his body. With a pronounced forehead, and a jewel like scale underneath his jaw, he looked rather menacing.
The snake let out a deafening sound as it came in close with its tail, striking fast, and hard, swinging its tail for the trio, with Ryouta grabbing Karin as he, and Haku shot away from the tree they were on, only for the snakes long body to crush the tree that they were stood on, along with several others with ease.
Ryouta and Haku came together, dropping Karin down and saw the snake turn its head around towards them.
"That snake...is it the one that's been watching us? Is it Orochimaru's?"
"If it is, why didn't I sense it? Is it that good it can hide itself so well?"
Karin asked Ryouta who hummed while Haku saw the snake come closer and closer.
"We can discuss what happened with it later, right now we need to come up with a way to defeat this snake as I doubt it is going to let us through."
Seeing how it was staring at them, as if it had found its prey…
They knew that a fight was about to happen.
Naruko, Satsuki and Sakura were discussing what they were going to do next, what their plan of attack was, and for Sakura, trying to teach Naruko the password, although it seemed that she wasn't able to get it, no matter how hard Sakura tried, though Sakura didn't blame Naruko for it, Satsuki's password was intentionally made difficult.
However, while they were together, Shiore who had been watching them, showed a gleaming smile before he placed his hands together, summoning chakra all around him as so, he aimed his hands forward.
"Time to have some fun."
Shiore says with a dirty grin, before unleashing a powerful gust of wind.
The winds strength was as such that the trees around began to be torn up from the winds.
"What the hell…?"
Satsuki was the first to notice it, then Sakura did who gasped.
"T-That wind!"
"Move now!"
Satsuki yelled as she tried to grab her two teammates.
But, the strength and speed of the wind blasted through the area they were in, catching all three of them up in said winds, along with several trees that were around them, ripping them out of the ground and tossed them around as if they weren't a problem.
Satsuki and the others were blasted away, going in different directions.
Satsuki, as she was blown away, threw some of her wires attached to shuriken towards a tree that wasn't in the range of the winds, wrapping around it, and then she dragged herself towards said tree.
Watching the winds and the trees blasting around, Satsuki couldn't see anything through it.
She didn't know where her teammates had gone.
She hopped onto a set of trees that had been ripped out of the ground, and scaled them quickly.
Getting higher and higher up into the trees, she made it to the top, and saw the devastation that the winds had caused.
"That wasn't a Genin level attack, it wasn't even Chunin. But who the hell was it…?"
Satsuki didn't know, and she wasn't sure she wished to know, so she jumped down and made her way towards the ground.
On her way down the large tree, she saw that Sakura was making her way across some trees, so she jumped down and looked towards Sakura.
"Say it."
Satsuki ordered, not wanting for someone to get the drop on her.
Sakura paused for a moment, but then nodded.
Sakura recites what Satsuki had told her to do, word for word, Satsuki briefly looked at her, before believing that this was Sakura before her.
"...Alright, so it is you."
"Yeah, that was some attack. I felt as if that couldn't have been a normal Genin."
"I agree. No luck on Naruko?"
Sakura shakes her head, so Satsuki went to move when Naruko reappeared from the right hand side.
"My, that wind was really strong, wasn't it?"
Naruko said with a happy go lucky attitude.
Satsuki though held up her kunai, and aimed it for Naruko.
"Say the password."
"Eh...sure!"
Naruko then repeated the password, word for word.
But that only made Satsuki feel very suspicious, taking out her kunai and tossed it for Naruko.
Naruko jumped to the side in an elegant manner while Sakura turns towards Satsuki.
"Satsuki-san, what are you..."
"Do you really think that Naruko would remember a long password like that?" Sakura shook her head, as Satsuki glared towards the enemy before them. "Besides, I knew that someone was watching us, so I intentionally made a long password. So reveal yourself, now."
Naruko began to laugh, before her form did change into that of Shiore.
Standing tall, Shiore licked his lips in a dangerous manner.
"My, you are quick to understand Satsuki-chan. Are you that quick in a fight?"
Both Satsuki and Sakura could feel there was something more to this guy than what met the eye, they didn't know however, how truly menacing this guy was going to be.
Meanwhile, Naruko was in a good distance away landing upside down at the base of a tree.
Groaning, she shifts around and looks at the devastation that the winds had done.
"Damn it...that was some wind…Sakura-chan, Satsuki..."
She murmured, worried about her friends.
However, as she did, she heard a hissing coming from the right hand side, so she turned to see that there was a giant snake that was coming for her, the head of the snake, so she jumped away as it smashed into the tree, breaking it in half.
Grimacing, Naruko went to escape when the snakes tail came shooting for her, she took out several shurikens and tossed them at the snakes tail, but said tail seemingly moved in an erratic manner, and avoided all of the shurikens.
"T-This ones smart!"
She cried out as she jumped up.
But the snakes head came shooting for her, so she created a shadow clone, and threw herself away from the snakes head, only for said snakes tail to come up like a whip and slam her back down into the earth.
Grimacing from the attack, she felt some kind of liquid dripped onto her face, so she looked up to see the snake coming down.
She couldn't evade it in time, and the snake ended up swallowing her whole.
Crying out, Naruko began going deeper and deeper into the snake.
"N-No...w-what the hell am I supposed to do…?"
Naruko murmured, pushing as much as she could against the snakes inner body.
She could see that the liquid was some kind of acid, as it was eating through whatever it was touching.
Fear began to overcome her, and she thought about the others, how they'd be going along right now.
She didn't want to die in the belly of a snake…
That's when it came to her.
She couldn't die just yet, she was going to become Hokage.
So she, despite being constricted by the stomach of the snake, placed her hands together.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The snakes body from inside began to expand more and more as more clones appeared. It expanded to the point that it couldn't hold on and it burst open thanks to Naruko's power, who came flying out of the snake, landing on a tree branch nearby.
She panted, looking down at the deceased snake, before exhaling slowly.
"I have to get to the others..."
Naruko looked around, before she shot off through the trees.
Back with Ryouta and the others, the large red snake came moving towards them, and showed its fangs. Dripping out of its mouth, was a substance that they didn't want to deal with since it looked like venom.
"Ryou-kun..."
Karin murmured with worry.
The snakes eyes were penetrating.
Almost as if they were terrifying to her.
Haku wasn't faring much better under the gaze of the snake, she didn't want to have to deal with it.
Ryouta also felt something similar.
But when seeing the snake coming in, Ryouta activated the Body Flicker, withdrawing his sword, and shot through the air.
The snake responded by whipping its tail around and clashing with Ryouta's blade. Matching almost the speed Ryouta moved, even Haku was surprised to see that and when she saw them clash, the force of the snakes attack sent Ryouta flying, smashing through a tree behind them.
"Ryou-kun!"
Haku cried out, but then saw that Ryouta spat out bile as he spun around, landing on the forest floor.
"Haku-chan, behind you!"
Ryouta warned, as he rushed forward.
Haku turned around to see the snakes tail following with its swing and headed for them.
Being only a few seconds way, neither Haku nor Karin could dodge the attack, Haku weaved through some hand signs, and then placed her hands forward.
"Ice Release, Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
Creating a large dome of ice around the pair, the snake hissed as the tail smashed against the ice barrier. Despite Haku creating it to be strong and sturdy, the snakes tail shattered the ice easily, and continued going for them.
Thanks to her quick actions it did give Haku the chance to retreat together with Karin.
But the snake didn't allow them to escape so easily, and coiled around the area they were in. Dragging the trees around, the snakes body went to capture the pair, when Ryouta took out a shuriken, and launched it forward.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
One shuriken became many in the air, and all shot for the snake.
But the snakes tough scales managed to block the barrage of shurikens. Ryouta was even surprised to see not one damaged the snake in any significant way, and then saw said snake turn towards him, glaring menacingly.
The snakes tail, having been wrapped around a tree, flung said tree at Ryouta.
He grimaced, and went to move, when Haku leapt forward, after weaving through some hand signs.
"Ice Release, Frozen Capturing Field!"
Using her Ice Release, Haku created ice from the ground, and caught the tree just as Ryouta was going to be hit by it, suspending it in the air with half of the tree frozen, the other hand being left mostly alone.
The snake looked at the ice girl, along with Karin.
But Ryouta used this chance to rush to the tree, and yelled "Haku-chan! Drop the tree!" so Haku released the ice, and Ryouta weaved through some hand signs, before breathing a mass of fire onto said tree.
Readying himself by jumping forward, he slammed his fist against the tree, as Haku came along with Karin, and did the same thing, their combined strength forced the flaming tree from the ground, and caused it to shoot like a jet for the snake.
"Yeah! Have that!"
Karin yelled out, happy that this should do damage as Ryouta sent off a clone to explode and deliver even more damage.
But, when the snake opened his mouth, and some kind of liquid came out, they weren't expecting what was to happen next.
Hitting the clone, Ryouta and the others were stunned to see that the liquid had turned the clone into stone, which fell down to the ground and shattered, exploding at the same time harmlessly from the snake.
The snake then swung its tail around, and broke through the tree, scattering the flaming tree right back towards the trio, who avoided it quickly.
"...It petrified the clone with its venom...what kind of snake is this?"
Karin murmured, her eyes widening in pure shock to see what had happened.
"Ryou-kun...this snake definitely isn't normal..."
Haku murmured, Ryouta mentally agreed.
"Yeah...this snake is powerful. We'll have to step it up a notch."
Ryouta expressed as the snakes eyes went towards all three of them.
Whatever the snake was, they knew one hit by its venom, they'd be turned to stone...
Meanwhile, Shiore looked between Satsuki and Sakura, before offering a dangerous smirk.
Taking out the scroll, he presented it to Sakura and Satsuki, the former looked worried, while the latter gripped her hands together, trying to think of ways to get out of this. She could tell that Shiore was no ordinary person.
"Do you want this scroll?" Shiore began, before extending his mouth beyond normal human levels. "Sorry, but if you wish for the scroll..." Shiore placed the scroll inside of his mouth, swallowing it to the disgust of the girls. "...Then you're going to have to defeat me in combat!"
Releasing a pressure of chakra from his being, the snake like gaze of Shiore penetrated the Psyche of both Satsuki and Sakura, who began imagining their deaths. Shiore's killing intent was enough to cause them to be paralysed.
Shiore chortled at the sight before him, seeing Sakura and Satsuki both fall to their knees. Sakura was shaking, Satsuki was breathing in and out, trying to regain composure.
"My, I thought the legendary Uchiha girl would be better than this." Satsuki's eyes went towards Shiore who licked his lips dangerous. "...Maybe I should have gone after the other Uchiha."
Satsuki's eyes widened when she heard that.
Looking back towards Shiore, she could see that Shiore was enjoying this immensely.
"Yes, maybe I will do after all. You're not fun at all, I heard that he managed to take down Yashiro Uchiha as a child, and you...can't even stand my killing intent?"
Trying to bait her as much as he could, Shiore pulled closer and closer.
He then took out some kunai's, and aimed them for the girls.
"I guess this will have to do."
Shiore casually tossed the kunai towards Satsuki and Sakura, who were paused with fear.
Satsuki though, fought hard.
She fought as hard as she could.
She didn't want to lose to someone through fear alone.
She had dealt with fear before, all she had to do was remember Itachi and what happened the night she nearly lost everything.
"Ryou...you also faced down...danger when we were kids...Yashiro came after you...you also fought the Seven Ninja Swordsmen...this bastard might have some killing intent...but, I wont give up now...I can't..."
Thinking about how Ryouta had dealt with things in the past, she didn't want to be stopped now.
That caused Satsuki's body to begin moving, surprising Shiore, and watched as Satsuki grabbed Sakura's body, and pulled her out of the way, while also tossing several shurikens towards Shiore who laughed and merely dodged out of the way, but then saw that Satsuki shot up through the large tree.
"Maybe she will be more interesting than I thought she'd be..."
Shiore laughed as he went to chase after Satsuki and Sakura.
Back with Ryouta and the others, the snake slithered towards them, so Ryouta decided to go forward.
Ryouta dashed by them, and shot up into the high.
Moving higher and higher, he came close to the snakes face, as he weaved through some hand signs.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Ryouta poured his chakra into creating a massive fireball, and shot it towards the snake.
Said snake pulled away as the flames neared him, and then twirled its body around, moving fast enough to create a strong wind that blasted against the flames. Though wind usually fuelled the fire, the way the snake moved was causing the flaming sphere to be shot upwards.
Ryouta was surprised to see that as he landed on the ground.
Though some flames managed to get through, it wasn't enough to burn the snake and only caused light marks to appear on the scales of the snake.
Haku and Karin rejoined him, seeing the snakes behaviour.
"He's intelligent, Ryou-kun."
Haku noted, Karin nodding in agreement.
"This has to be a summoned snake, so Orochimaru did this maybe?"
Ryouta didn't have any of the answers, and did wish to know more about the snake.
"If Orochimaru didn't summon this snake, then I'm not sure who would. Anko-sensei has a connection with snakes...but, she wouldn't send a snake like this after us. Even if this was a test, I can't see her doing that."
"Neither can I."
Haku spoke up, as Karin saw the snake coming for them again.
Haku didn't show any hesitation in her movements, and then weaved through some hand signs.
"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"
Haku creates many needles of water around her, before directing them towards the incoming snake.
Said snake coiled around itself, blocking off the needles that failed to penetrate its thick and strong scales, so Haku used the water that scattered from the attacks, and did a one handed signs, before flicking her hand forward.
"Certain Kill Ice Spears!"
Causing the water to freeze, they turned into sharp spears around the snake, and stabbed into the snake.
The scales of the snake did feel the attack, but it didn't break through, so Ryouta flew through some hand signs, before shooting up into the air, twirling around, and then aimed his mouth downwards, with the snake still coiled, Ryouta thought that this would be perfect.
"Fire Release, Flame Whirlwind!"
Shooting down a twisting flame towards the snake, Ryouta's flames hit the snake head on, and spread all around the snake, beginning to cook said snake.
Increasing the temperature of the flames as much as possible, Ryouta thought that this would be good…
But the snake shot up from the ground, and shot for Ryouta in the air, seemingly not caring about the bath of flames that Ryouta gave it. The Uchiha could see the snake was being burned, but the snake didn't care, and came at Ryouta with its venom shooting out of his mouth.
Ryouta's eyes widened, but then Haku used some water to shoot into the air, then froze it with ice, creating platforms for Ryouta in the air.
"Thanks Haku-chan!"
Haku was relieved that her plan worked.
She saw Ryouta dodging out of the way of the snakes venom while high into the air.
Then when the snake smashed through all of the ice, Ryouta shot high, and then attached wire to the snakes body, pulling him back towards the snake, and went to pierce the snake with his blade, when the snakes tail came up, and swung for Ryouta.
Having no choice, Ryouta jumped away before he could be hit.
Karin, seeing their attacks not working, had to question what they could even do about this snake now.
"What are we going to do? It doesn't seem to have a sense of danger, it doesn't seem to be bothered by our attacks Haku-chan. Whatever we throw at it..."
"There's one thing we can try." Haku began, as she saw Ryouta looking towards her. "I think Ryou-kun has the same idea. We need to pin it down, and then unleash our Jutsu's against it while it is trapped."
Karin looked towards Ryouta, then saw the snake coming for them.
Wasting no movements, the snakes head came down towards them, so they all jumped away, with Haku cupped her hands together once finishing weaving through some hand signs, as Ryouta appeared before her, turning around and facing the snake, his knees pressed against his chest, Haku knowing what he was doing.
"Wind Release, Gale Palm!"
From her hands, a strong gust of wind came out.
However, rather than try to attack the snake, she propelled the winds behind Ryouta, allowing him to move at terrifying speeds through the air, adding onto the winds with the Body Flicker, the movement speed of the boy was so fast the snake didn't even see Ryouta coming in.
The snake however didn't let up, and went to open its mouth to spit out its venom everywhere to petrify Ryouta even if he couldn't see him, when Karin landed on the ground, and weaved through some hand signs, remembering the teachings Anko had given her, and while only recently learned how to perform such a Jutsu, Karin wasn't going to sit back and wait for her comrades to be in danger, she was going to act now, even if it was just a limited Jutsu.
"Earth Release, Flying Thrown Stones!"
Slamming her hands down, she caused stones to come shooting out, and bombarded the eyes of the snake.
While only mildly irritating for the snake, it gave Ryouta enough time to coat his sword in fire, and slashed towards the snake several times, slashing left and right on the same spot to break through the snakes defence.
Using the flames, the snakes scales, while tough, began to be burned from the incredible power, and the speed Haku gave Ryouta.
"You little shit!"
The snake suddenly spoke, surprising Ryouta and the others as it turned its head down towards Ryouta.
"It talked!"
Karin let out in surprise.
"It...must be a summon after all..."
Haku guessed, Ryouta on the other hand was worried about what the snake was going to do to them.
Allowing venom to drop out of his mouth, down towards the young man, Ryouta who began running down could see the speed, and knew that he could be brought up in it.
So he weaved through some hand signs, and then aimed his mouth upwards once kneading chakra inside of himself.
"Water Release, Water Formation Pillar!"
Forming water around him, in a large torrent that curled around him, it blocked off the snakes venom.
Ryouta, smiling as he thought "Thanks Mei-san for the Jutsu." and then weaved through some more hands signs.
"Water Release, Water Dragon Jutsu!"
With the remaining water from Ryouta's first water Jutsu, he poured chakra through it, and caused it to form a Dragon made out of water. Haku was reminded of Zabuza when Ryouta did that with the water.
The water shot forward, and went for the snake.
The snake moved its body to try and crush the water from reaching him, only for Ryouta to control it, and caused it to coil around the snakes body, wrapping around until it reached the snakes head, Ryouta turned to Haku.
"Haku-chan! Do it!"
Haku nodded, and thrust her hands forward, releasing her Ice Release, and ran it up the Water Dragon of Ryouta's, causing it to freeze immensely, with the water constricting the snake, it wrapped up nicely, binding it.
Ryouta and Haku panted slightly, smiling to one another…
But then saw something devastating.
The snakes body was smashing through the ice, Ryouta and the others pulled back as the snake turned towards the three of them.
"You humans...are all the same." The snake began in a dark tone. "You're no different to Orochimaru, aren't you?!"
Ryouta, Haku and Karin felt the cold tone of the snake being directed at them with killing intent.
Being compared to Orochimaru, they were all shocked.
Gaining some distance, Satsuki and Sakura stand on a large tree branch, with many trees surrounding them. Trying to stay as quiet as they could, they pushed their backs against a tree, and waited for what was going to come next.
Sakura however noticed out of the corner of her eye, there was a snake coming for them, so she alerted Satsuki by pushing her shoulder.
Satsuki turned to see the snake, so the pair jumped away from said snake, with Shiore shooting off from the top of it, and his tongue went for Satsuki.
Satsuki used her Sharingan to avoid Shiore's tongue, but then saw that Shiore came in with a strong fist to her upper body, slamming her hard against the tree behind her, she spat out bile as she fell down.
"Satsuki-san!"
Sakura called out, Satsuki grit her teeth, and grabbed a nearby branch as she fell, twirling around it, and landed back on her feet.
She looked down towards Shiore who smacked his lips together.
Shiore then turned on Satsuki, and came at her at a rapid rate.
Satsuki placed her hands together, and weaved through some hand signs.
"Fire Release, Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Breathing out of her mouth, several balls of fire controlled by Satsuki came out.
Shiore's lower body turned into that of a snake, and with the increased flexibility, he dodged all of the fireballs, which hit the tree, breaking the wood as it went along.
"Hehehe, your Jutsu can't reach me if it is that..."
While Shiore was speaking, Satsuki had another plan which she was putting into action, while Shiore was distracted by the fire, Satsuki weaved through some more hand signs, and then turned her mouth downwards.
"Fire Release, Flame Whirlwind!"
Having learned this Jutsu from Ryouta himself, Satsuki's flame came out like a tornado, and dragged the tree up in its fire, setting them on fire, and launched them like projectiles towards Shiore who smirked at the sight.
"So, this Uchiha girl is smart. Using the terrain around her, and taking advantage of my distracted state. This girl could be used for the Curse Mark, maybe she is as talented as her big brother is. Lets see what happens with this..."
While thinking about it, Shiore cups his hands together, and from his hands, a gale force wind shoots out, deflecting all of the projectiles that were sent his way, but the flaming whirlwind came towards him, despite the winds.
Shiore laughed, and went to put in more pressure, when Sakura took out a paper bomb attached to a kunai, she launched it for the fire, and then jumped back as did Satsuki, the flames exploded upon being in contact, the shockwave was something that surprised Shiore, dispelling the winds that he had, and sent him flying down to the ground.
As he was, Satsuki appeared above him, and wrapped her legs around him, along with her arms, bound him and forced him more down.
"Have this!"
"What!?"
Shiore yelled out, Satsuki made sure that she had a tight hold on the opponent.
"You can go to hell you bastard!"
Satsuki's body pressed Shiore down, smashing him through a tree branch that was thicker than two people stood side by side, Satsuki jumped off, as Shiore's body stuck out of the tree branch, Sakura jumped close.
"You did it Satsuki-san!"
Satsuki went to say something…
When she saw that Shiore's body turned into a muddy substance.
Shock came over them, both wondering when he did it.
"He replaced himself...but when did he do it?"
Sakura asked.
But Satsuki thought about it, and believed Shiore did it when the explosions went off.
However, they didn't get a chance to think as they saw snakes shooting around the tree from below.
"Sakura!"
Sakura saw the snakes, and jumped away, only for the snakes to hit her body and sent her flying backwards.
Satsuki grit her teeth, turning to the sides, and took out several kunai's, swinging them relentlessly forward, cleaving through the snakes, only for Shiore's form to appear behind her, and slam his foot into her back.
Sakura, recovering from her attack, saw Satsuki's body bounce against the wood, and then slam into a trunk of a tree, causing leaves to begin falling off due to the sheer force that Shiore used against her.
Satsuki panted, turning around to see Shiore waving towards her in a sickly sweet way.
"Satsuki-chan, are you finished already? Have you given up?"
Satsuki tightened her eyes on the opponent before her, but…
She wasn't sure what she could do.
His movements were fast.
He could swiftly retreat and attack at the same time.
His actions were something Satsuki wasn't sure what to deal with.
Shiore began to chuckle.
"So, you look to have given up...did you get scared perhaps?"
"I am not scared of you."
Satsuki snapped, but Shiore dug at her even more.
"Being afraid is fine, I'm sure when your brother killed your clan, it was terrifying, wasn't it?"
Satsuki's eyes widened.
Bringing up Itachi to Satsuki was a taboo, she never wished to hear about him.
Her hands tightened until her knuckles turned white.
"Don't you dare...talk about him..."
However, the moment that Shiore went for Satsuki, several shurikens and kunai's come shooting for Shiore, who easily blocked them by taking out a kunai himself.
"Naruko!"
Sakura yelled in relief.
Naruko looked down towards Shiore, and pointed at him angrily.
"Hey you! You're the one that caused the snake to attack me, aren't you?!"
Shiore smirks at Naruko.
"Naruko-chan, it seems that you've arrived faster than expected. You are a tricky one."
"Damn straight! If you don't want to be beaten right now, then go away!"
Shiore laughed at what she said.
Satsuki on the other hand didn't know what to do.
She thought about fighting.
Giving up.
Protecting her teammates.
Thoughts of what could happen ran through her mind, and she wasn't sure what she was going to settle on.
However, Shiore decided for her when he turned his hand towards Satsuki.
"Satsuki-chan, are you going to fight me? Or, are you going to be a coward?"
Satsuki's Sharingan eyes flared at Shiore, but she also had to think practically.
"What do you want?"
"Kukuku, does it matter what I want?"
"You're speaking more than you should be aware of, if you're a simple Kusa Ninja. And you're stronger than a Genin, even a Chunin."
Naruko gripped her hand.
"Satsuki! We have to fight this guy before he gets the upper hand!"
"Don't be reckless, we can't just-"
Satsuki was concerned for Naruko, but she brushed off the young woman, and turned to Shiore, who looked on with a tilted neck. Naruko didn't even give Shiore time, and shot for the young man with her fist sailing forward.
Satsuki thought she was insane to do something like this, especially after seeing Shiore's skills first hand...
Meanwhile, the snake looked down on the three young Ninja.
Ryouta, Haku, and Karin all were shocked of being accused of being like Orochimaru.
"Excuse me, but why are you attacking us? And why did you compare us to Orochimaru? Aren't you his summoned snake?"
"I attack any human related to that bastard Orochimaru. And don't make me gag, I've got nothing to do with Orochimaru."
Ryouta and the others looked at one another.
"We're not with Orochimaru either."
Haku explained, but the snake wouldn't stand for it.
"You're lying. You are with Orochimaru. I observed you, outside during the waiting for the exam to start, you stood together with him Uchiha boy."
Ryouta furrowed his eyebrows.
"I stood...with him?"
Confusion spread on his face.
Ryouta ran through the people that he did stand next to.
"Don't pretend you didn't do that. I saw you talking together, he placed his hand on your shoulder in a friendly way, and I've seen you interacting with him a few more times. You're in league with him, aren't you?"
"I'm not pretending anything and I am not in league with him. The people I interacted with..." Ryouta exhaled, realizing now what was going on. "That guy...Shiore...so, that Kusa Ninja was Orochimaru, makes sense since he was working with Zosui..."
"So is it the entire Kusa Ninja's…?"
Haku asked, Ryouta shrugged.
"Maybe..."
The snake became impatient, and slammed its tail onto the ground.
Causing it to shake around, it was difficult standing steady, as rocks came flying out of the ground.
"Don't take me for a fool!"
Ryouta watched as giant rocks came down towards each of the three.
Karin and Haku went to react, when the snake spat out its venom towards them all.
Ryouta could see how dangerous it was.
They couldn't escape both of them, so Ryouta called out to Haku.
"Haku-chan, a barrier!"
Haku didn't get what Ryouta was thinking, but did it anyway, and formed a barrier.
The barrier of ice stopped the venom from getting close, but the large stones came smashing through and towards each of them, so Ryouta weaved through hand signs, and shot out a dense fire that broke through the stones.
The snake however used this chance to send its tail towards Haku.
Haku's face dropped, and tried to move left, but saw the snake shoot venom in that direction so she couldn't escape that way.
With the snake tail coming close, Ryouta activated the Body Flicker, and got between them.
Knowing that there was little choice, Ryouta's eyes turned into the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he formed a ribcage of Susanoo before them both, blocking off the strong snakes tail, which caused the ground below them to dent.
Haku looked on, seeing the beautiful silver, while Karin's eyes were focused on the snake, Haku became shocked, wondering what it was she was seeing.
Ryouta, activating the Susanoo, felt the pain from using such a thing, he released the Susanoo, feeling the pain in every cell of his body with it being evident on his face, while the snake...was surprised.
Seeing Ryouta stepping in front of Haku, and being in pain...just didn't make sense.
He didn't get, what Ryouta gained from doing that.
He was suffering, and while he might have protected Haku, it didn't do anything for Ryouta personally.
He couldn't ever see Orochimaru or anyone in league with him doing that.
So, the snake directly asked Ryouta a question.
"...Tell me, why did you converse with Orochimaru?"
"I didn't..." Ryouta panted as he stood up, Haku and Karin coming together. "...I didn't know it was Orochimaru, if I had known I wouldn't have talked to him. I take it by your hate for him...he didn't summon you to this forest?"
"That disgusting creature known as Orochimaru, together with that bastard Manda who believes he's the strongest, pisses me off. I made a deal so that I can hang out here from time to time, I wasn't summoned by that creature."
"A deal...with Anko-sensei?"
Karin asked, since this forest and Anko were known to be connected, the snake snorted.
"She knows I come here, we don't get in one another's way."
"...So, I take it that Anko-sensei isn't in a contract with you, yet you hate Orochimaru...are you in a contract with anyone?"
Ryouta questioned, knowing that if he could settle this without wasting more chakra, since he knew he'd have to fight Orochimaru if Satsuki was in danger and wasn't able to beat him back, then that's what he was going to do.
"No. I wont be in a contract with any damn human. The only human that I ever cared about and respected is now dead so I wouldn't enter into a contract with any other human as I've seen how they truly are. Only that one human...was truly kind, and never had any ulterior motive, all other humans I've witnessed are out for themselves."
When he spoke about the only human, Ryouta felt a sadness coming from the large red snake.
Whoever it was, it was clear to Ryouta that this snake missed that human.
"I don't know what humans you've dealt with, but I can say that Orochimaru wouldn't be allowed in here under any circumstances, Anko-sensei wouldn't have allowed it either so I can say with confidence she doesn't know, neither does Konoha." Ryouta explained to the snake. "Did...Orochimaru do something to you?"
The snakes eyes changed, and got right in Ryouta's face.
Ryouta didn't back down though and kept a strong gaze on the form before him.
"You know nothing!"
"If one knows nothing, how can they understand anything? That guy is after people we care about, and we have to try and stop him. If you're against him, then why do we have to be enemies? We have to go and stop him before he kills, or whatever it is he wants with our friends."
The snake paused.
What Ryouta said was rather plausible.
The snake looked over the young boys appearance, then towards Haku and Karin.
"You're not with Orochimaru?"
Ryouta shook his head.
"No, we aren't. I didn't know it was him when he was stood beside me. He also sent someone to try and kill us as well, so we have an interest in stopping him. If you hate him, why don't you work with us?"
"Me?! Work with a human like you?! You must be joking! I'd only ever work with one human and since that ones gone..."
Ryouta and the others winced.
It seemed that this snake wouldn't be convinced so easily.
Even then, Ryouta continued on.
"Alright, don't work with us, but follow us. We'll show you that we're not working with Orochimaru."
Karin looked towards Ryouta, seeing that his words were genuine.
It seemed that he wished to try and build some kind of connection with the snake.
Even if they didn't become friends, so the snake didn't attack, he was willing to show the snake, and trust that it wouldn't turn its back on them.
She hoped that it would succeed.
"You must be confident. Saying that to me, when I could turn around and devour you. Are you sure you want me to follow you?"
"Yes, I don't want to fight you, none of us do. We all have an interest in Orochimaru being stopped. If you can see that we aren't enemies, then we don't have to be, right? Even if you don't help us."
The snake hissed at all of them.
Thinking about it, he wondered what Ryouta's angle was.
If he was trying to win the snake over.
If he was trying to make him attack Orochimaru.
But, from what the snake could tell, it seemed that Ryouta didn't want to use the snake.
Work together…
The snake shook its head, before looking at Ryouta with piercing eyes.
"I'll follow you, and see what you do, if you do something I don't like, I will turn you to stone and shatter you."
Haku and Karin grimaced.
Ryouta knew this was the best outcome they had.
If Ryouta wasted too much chakra here, then he knew he'd not be able to help Satsuki.
If he used Mangekyou, Ryouta contemplated if that would be enough to win.
But, that would also cost a good deal of chakra to use and if it didn't beat the snake for whatever reason, it would leave Satsuki and the others in a world of trouble.
So, he had to take a chance like this.
"I understand, then we need to hurry. Truce?"
"For now little human."
Ryouta looked to the others.
Haku and Karin felt uneasy by the snake staring at them.
But they trusted Ryouta, and if he was okay with it, then they would be also.
Knowing they didn't have a long time left.
Back with Satsuki and the others, they watched as Naruko's fist was grabbed by Shiore, and she received a gut punch, before Shiore tossed Naruko up into the air, and then delivered a hard kick to the right hand side of her body.
"Naruko!"
Sakura yelled and jumped into the fray.
Sakura got up close towards Shiore, and came at him with a flurry of fists, which Shiore dodged, before he reeled his fist back, and slammed it against Sakura who crossed her arms, and blocked the strike, but the pressure of the attack and strength behind it sent her flying backwards, slamming into a tree nearby.
"Aah!"
"Sakura..."
Sakura spat out bile, Satsuki tightened her hand, and saw Naruko coming back up with a few clones.
"You leave Sakura-chan alone!"
Shooting them off like rockets, they all came for Shiore who snickered, and moved the snakes tail he was riding on in the way, blocking off their advancements, but was surprised to see that Naruko had used this chance to attack from behind.
Coming in with a kunai, Naruko's weapon went to pierce Shiore, who twisted his body unnaturally, almost like a snake, and went around Naruko's form, binding her.
"N-Not again!"
"Hehehe, what's wrong Naruko-chan. Scared?"
Satsuki watched as Sakura got up, and despite panting, she charged forward once more, and jumped high, before coming down. Her arm brandished with chakra, she came at Shiore hard and fast, attempting to deliver a devastating blow.
Shiore managed to dodge her fist, but saw the fist hit the snake below, causing the snake to let out a hiss of pain, and saw that Sakura's fist drew blood from the snake, something that Shiore didn't like so he whipped his foot out at her, hitting her hard enough to draw blood out of her mouth, and sent her flying down towards a tree branch.
Hitting hard enough to splinter the woods, Sakura let out a groan of pain, while Satsuki's eyes raged.
Seeing both of her teammates being beaten like this, she wouldn't take it.
"...You little...don't attack my teammates..."
Her Sharingan eyes went towards Shiore, not accepting this as a reality, got into a stance, before she shot off like a bullet for Shiore, who looked on and was surprised to see Satsuki before him, with her foot already going for his face.
Bending his neck to avoid, Satsuki released a kunai as she sailed over him, dropping it down towards his throat to slash it, while Naruko took this chance to bite down onto Shiore's flesh, and ripped at said flesh to be released.
Shiore scowled at the sight, releasing Naruko, as he dodged Satsuki's kunai from close range.
Satsuki then turned towards Naruko who was looking back strongly.
"Hmph, I guess that we should fight together, shall we?"
"We did it in wave...we can do it here!"
Shiore was surprised, but also happy to see that Satsuki was coming into the battle as well.
Now, Shiore was very interested.
Meanwhile, Ryouta and the others headed for Satsuki's area as fast as they could once having finished their business with the giant snake, which was now following them, albeit with it using some kind of camouflage technique to blend in with the surroundings, Ryouta and the others presumed that's how the snake stayed out of view beforehand.
Moving through the tree, getting closer and closer, Ryouta kept thinking and then turned to Karin.
"Karin-chan, you can suppress chakra, can't you? Even your own to hide from others?"
"Yes, that's right. Why?"
Ryouta thought about it some more for a few seconds.
He knew they'd have to gain every advantage that they could.
Now that they had fought off the giant snake, and wasted some chakra in dealing with it.
"Can you suppress chakra of others also?"
Karin thought about it for a few moments, before nodding.
"If I tried, I should be able to suppress my, and one other's chakra, why?"
Ryouta nodded, thankful that she could do that.
"Because I need you to do that with me. Getting in as close as we can, every second is going to count against a Sannin. Even if it is just a second, we might be able to get the drop on him, and save the others from this bastard."
"We'll need more plans and tricks. Ryou-kun, from my days with Zabuza-sama, there were a few traps we used to employ to trap our enemies, or to stun them long enough for us to get the drop on them. I'm not sure how effective it will be against a Sannin like this Orochimaru guy..."
"But, it could still help distract this bastard. Haku-chan, I'll leave that to you."
Haku nodded, and began formulating some traps within her mind.
The snake however shot its neck around and stared at the trio.
"What is she doing? Making traps?"
Ryouta didn't mind telling the snake, since it was very clear he wouldn't spill to Orochimaru, Ryouta could feel how angry he was when it came to Orochimaru.
"Yeah, that's right. Orochimaru might be an opponent we can't take, so we have to try and trap him if we can."
Ryouta replied to the giant snake who let out a small hiss at the thought of Orochimaru and his presence in general.
"Hmph, that little piece of shit is slippery..." The snake murmured, drawing an intrigued look from Ryouta. "...he's tricky, sure you can trap him?"
"I don't know, but we wont know if we don't try."
The snake pulled back, mildly intrigued for what they had planned.
"Hmph, then don't hold back because he wont, little bastard gives snakes a bad name."
"...Say, what's your name?"
The snake looked towards Ryouta curiously.
"You're under the impression I have one?"
"I don't know. If not, have you thought of a name?"
"Why would I tell you if I have a name?"
"You don't have to tell me. I just thought it would be better to call you by a name if you have one than calling you "Giant Snake!" or something, you know?"
The snake thought about it for a few moments before laughing.
"You can call me Master little human."
"Hehe, you've got a sense of humour, Master-san~"
The snake pulled back, mildly surprised by what he was hearing.
Something about Ryouta...the snake kept wondering about.
But he pushed those thoughts down for the moment and stayed silent.
Karin though who was sensing ahead, felt hits to peoples chakras, worry coming over her face.
"The fights already begun...no, I'd say from here, the battles coming to an end. I can feel the chakras of Satsuki and the others dropping."
Karin informed, Ryouta grit his teeth.
"We don't have long then, lets keep going! Haku-chan, you start the preparations, Karin-chan you're with me! Lets make sure we can do this together, it will take all of us to drive this bastard off, alright?!"
""You got it!""
Team Anko came together, preparing for their next move, hoping that they would be able to get to Team Kakashi before it was too late.
Back with Satsuki and the others, Satsuki and Naruko wasted no time in charging for Shiore, coming in from the left and right, with Satsuki's eyes helping her evade the punch that Shiore set off, while Naruko came in with a number of strikes.
Shiore blocked the strikes, and goes to deliver one, when Satsuki with her hands pushed down Shiore's legs, twisted her body so her feet would embed into Shiore's face, surprising him as Naruko created a few clones, grabbing Shiore's body and with a good deal of strength added by Satsuki's kick, launched Shiore backwards.
Satsuki used his chance to weaved through some hand signs.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Unleashing such a powerful sphere of fire, the size of it was bigger than Sakura had seen from Satsuki before, with it being the size of a three story house, and all of the destructive power going towards Shiore.
Shiore's form twisted around and saw the flames coming in, so he weaved through some hand signs, and blew out a very strong blast of wind, clashing with Satsuki's flames, and blasted them upwards, surprising Satsuki.
"Not bad at all, maybe there's hope for you yet."
Shiore then turned his lower body into that of a snakes tail, and shot through the trees.
Going faster and faster, Naruko and Sakura couldn't see him.
But with her Sharingan, Satsuki could.
"You wont get away from me!"
Satsuki jumped left, with her kunai stabbing directly that way.
Shiore's form paused mere inches from Satsuki's kunai piercing him, and saw Naruko used this chance to jump him, creating several clones to try and restrain Shiore, only for Shiore to whip his lower tail like form towards the incoming Naruko, hitting all of the clones and sent the real one flying backwards.
Satsuki grit her teeth, and saw a fist coming for her from Shiore, so she dodged it, only for Shiore to come up with another fist that hit her jaw, and sent her flying backwards, flipping as she did.
Landing on the ground, Satsuki saw that Shiore was already there, so she pulled away and breathed out more fire, but so did Shiore who combatted Satsuki's flames with his own.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Naruko got the chance to jump Shiore, so she did it as fast as she could.
Shiore launched his neck out, stretching it further than normal, and wrapped it around Naruko.
"L-Let go of me!"
While Naruko was being bound, Satsuki came down with a kunai to take out Shiore's neck, but his head turned around unnaturally, and his tongue shot out, wrapping around Satsuki's leg, and swung her around, releasing her towards a tree.
Satsuki bounced back, placing her hands together, as Naruko was being constricted more and more.
"Get off her!"
Fortunately, Sakura came in and grabbed Shiore's neck, and pulled it hard enough for Naruko to slide underneath, Shiore's annoyed eyes went towards Sakura, and weaved through some hand signs, before winds gathered around his hands.
"You're getting in the way, so be gone!"
Sakura's eyes widened as she saw the destructive winds coming in for her, she pulled away only to see that Satsuki had come back down, and delivered a hard kick to the top of Shiore's head, the wood below him shattering through, Satsuki pushed more power into it and diverted the winds away from Sakura.
"Yeah! Satsuki lets do this!"
Naruko cheered as she rushed forward, and tightened her fist to deliver a punch, but Shiore's snake came out from the left, and its mouth widened, ready to devour Naruko once more, while Satsuki felt a sharp blow to her stomach, forcing her to cough out bile.
Naruko's eyes turned angry at the sight, and from her body, the chakra of the Nine Tails began to come out. Shiore also saw her eyes turning red.
"Don't...attack my teammates!"
The Nine Tails chakra was beginning to form more and more, responding to the danger she was in and the danger her friends were in at the same time.
As her fist was coated with the Nine Tails chakra, she slammed it towards the giant snake.
The snakes body was brought flying backwards, with Shiore jumping off of the snake in time, seeing that Satsuki was coming in with a barrage of fire balls, recovering from the punch to the stomach.
While not as big as the Great Fireball Jutsu, the flaming spheres were all homed in on Shiore, so he placed his hands out, and summoned snakes to form a barrier around him.
"I don't think so!"
Naruko yelled, and delivered a number of punches to the snakes protective dome, her strength increase was enough to break through the snakes wall, allowing Satsuki's flaming spheres to hit him directly on.
"Ugh..."
Shiore growled as he pulled back, seeing that his clothes had been singed.
Naruko turned her eyes towards Shiore, and then charged for him.
"The Nine Tails, that could be a problem in the future. Best to make sure it can't interrupt my fight."
Shiore thought as Naruko came in.
Rather than try to dodge, Shiore weaved through a hand sign, and breathed out a strong gust of wind which stunned Naruko's body, and blew her body backwards, as Shiore thrust his hand forward, and released a snake from his sleeve.
Wrapping around Naruko's form, Shiore dragged Naruko's form to him.
Suspending her in the air, Satsuki got worried, so she rushed for Shiore.
Coming in from the right, she got behind Shiore, but Shiore swung his foot backwards, nailing Satsuki in the face.
"Not yet Uchiha-chan."
However, while being blown away by the kick, a paper bomb was placed on the back of his leg, as she was sent flying.
Sakura gasped, and rushed Shiore also, but like Satsuki, with a swift kick to her upper body, she went flying backwards.
"Satsuki! Sakura-chan!"
Naruko cried out, her chakra began to increase higher and higher.
The power Naruko was releasing, ignited annoyance within Shiore, who used his tongue to lift up her shirt enough for her stomach to be exposed. From there, a seal was shown, with Shiore laughing at the sight.
"You little brat, using that kind of power against me...I wont allow it, so lets seal it."
Shiore's fingers light up with a purple like flame, before he slams all five fingers into her stomach.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Naruko cried out, Sakura's shock came over her as she saw Naruko's eyes close, falling unconscious and then was tossed aside.
"Naruko!"
Sakura rushed towards her, catching Naruko, while Satsuki land on a nearby tree.
"One down, two to go. Which shall I be fighting first?"
Satsuki looks towards Sakura, then towards Shiore.
"Your fight is right here!"
Satsuki, using her Sharingan, ran for him.
Shiore thought this was amusing, so he weaved through hand signs, and shot off bullets of air for Satsuki.
Dodging them with her eyes active, she got in close, twirled around and sent a kick for Shiore's face.
Shiore laughed, and went to dodge out of the way, when Satsuki activated the paper bomb she left on his leg beforehand, causing him to widen his eyes as he stumbled forward ever so slightly, Satsuki's foot slamming hard against Shiore's face.
Sending him smashing into a tree, his body released a pained sound as Satsuki took out some shurikens and wires, tossing them around Shiore's form, with the shurikens hitting one another so they'd fully wrap around Shiore, tying him to a tree by his legs, arms, and even his face.
Satsuki landed on a tree, and looked angrily towards Shiore.
"This is for trying to kill us." Satsuki weaved through some hand signs, and then steps forward as wires in her mouth direct towards Shiore. "Fire Release, Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Releasing a thin but strong burst of flames, the flames go right for Shiore's body, hitting him dead on and began causing him to burn as a result. Shiore screamed out from the flames, the intense flames was enough to melt off Shiore's face, along with causing a large hole to be punched through the tree behind him.
As the flames died down, Satsuki could see his burns, but saw...that Shiore was laughing.
The wires around Shiore dropped off, and his face was revealing something else beneath it.
Seeing Satsuki's attempts didn't work along with the others, and seeing the face underneath the burnt off skin from Shiore and revealed the face of Orochimaru underneath, the man's hand went towards Satsuki, who grit her teeth in anger.
"Who are you? What are you?"
Satsuki demanded, only for Orochimaru to laugh.
"It seems that you are pretty good after all. Your skills and your Sharingan have matured a good bit. Worthy enough of my Curse Mark."
"Curse Mark…?"
Satsuki didn't know what that meant, and watched as Orochimaru's neck elongated, and shot for her.
Widening her eyes, she didn't have time to move out of the way, and was certain that she'd be bitten.
As Orochimaru's head about to make it to Satsuki's neck, he suddenly saw someone flash between them.
Orochimaru saw Ryouta's form, surprised as he didn't sense him coming in at all, but turned his neck, releasing a snake out of his mouth to grab Ryouta.
However, the snake merely went through Ryouta as if he wasn't there to begin with.
"Genjutsu?"
Orochimaru assumed because Ryouta was an Uchiha, he was under Genjutsu, so he clasped his hands together, and released it...
But it didn't go.
He realized he wasn't under Genjutsu, it was something else entirely.
"After image...tricky kid."
Orochimaru looked around, seeing another Ryouta going for his main body, so he extended his arm, and shot off a snake towards him.
However, wrapping around the body of Ryouta, he suddenly exploded.
"Ugh!"
Because of the explosion, the snake was destroyed and caused Orochimaru to be stunned as the real Ryouta came down from a tree, spinning around rapidly with his sword out, going for Orochimaru's neck to cut him down.
Widening his eyes at the speed, Orochimaru pulled his neck left as Ryouta appeared, his sword managing to cut into Orochimaru's flesh and draw some blood.
Orochimaru pulled back as Ryouta breathed out a destructive flaming whirlwind for him and force him away a good distance.
Ryouta then got before Satsuki in a defensive position.
"Ryou...you came..."
Satsuki looked surprised to see Ryouta there, but she was definitely happy at the same time.
"Sorry I'm late Satsuki-chan...got held up."
"No...it's fine..."
Sakura was relieved to see that Satsuki was safe, and Ryouta was there to help them out at the same time.
"Ryou-kun..."
Sakura began, Ryouta looked towards her, and saw the state she was in, he wasn't happy that she looked injured, and he saw Naruko's condition as well.
"What did he do to Naruko-chan...? Sakura-chan also looks pretty beat up as does Satsuki-chan...damn Orochimaru..."
Ryouta thought as Orochimaru avoided Ryouta's attack, running a hand through his long hair.
"My, quite the specimen aren't you Uchiha-kun?"
Ryouta turned his eyes back to Orochimaru, he saw the snake like man was avoiding eye contact, so Ryouta began thinking of the best way to take him down.
"Orochimaru, I wont let you do as you please!"
Orochimaru's eyes widened in pure shock.
Feeling the anger and power from Ryouta's statement...he was pleasantly surprised, and happy at the same time.
Placing a hand on his bleeding neck, Orochimaru began to laugh.
"Very fast, I'm quite impressed." Orochimaru began with a sickening tone that sent shivers through most around. "Your brother, Shisui Uchiha, was renowned for his speed, so it isn't a surprise his little brother is able to replicate that level of speed with an after image." Orochimaru tosses a glance towards the left and right, but couldn't see anyone. "You hid yourself very well, didn't you? I didn't even feel your presence at all."
"That's my problem, not yours Orochimaru."
Orochimaru was taken aback for a brief moment that Ryouta knew who he was, and wasn't showing any fear at being in the presence of Orochimaru, he hadn't seen anyone being able to do that for a long time.
Though thanks to encounters with Yashiro Uchiha and Tobi, along with what happened at the night of the Uchiha Incident, Ryouta while wasn't sure how he was going to handle this enemy, he knew that fear wouldn't be a good idea right now, and was fighting it down the best that he could do.
"You don't seem surprised, and more in fact, you know who I am. I take it that Zosui lost your battle? Though, I didn't expect him to last anyway heheh..." Orochimaru casually laughed while twitching his neck. "Cutting my neck and even having me bleed, now this is what I wished to see from you boy, as I just saw Satsuki-chan's talents."
"You targeted the wrong people, Orochimaru. We'll stop you."
"We? Who are these we, you're talking about?"
Ryouta glanced back at Satsuki who was clutching the tree bark she was on.
"Satsuki-chan, I need you with me right now. You can fight, can't you?"
"Ryou...this guy, he's too much...we came at him, and he didn't seem phased by it at all...all of us attacked, and he...he shrugged us off..."
Ryouta could see that she truly was rattled.
Whatever Orochimaru had done to her beforehand, it seems that she was having trouble moving.
Ryouta didn't want her to have to be worried, or afraid.
Though he could get why she would be with an opponent as unsettling as Orochimaru was at that moment.
"Yeah, this guy isn't a joke, he might be tough...but, he isn't unbeatable. Work with me Satsuki-chan, lets show this bastard the power of the Uchiha."
Satsuki looked on, in awe and was feeling inspired at the same time.
She didn't know what to think about the fight that was ahead.
What Ryouta was thinking.
But, she knew that he was doing his best, and that he was going to keep going.
She had to stand up together with him, she would have to do her best.
Shaking out her doubts and worries, she did pull herself to her feet, and prepared herself once more.
Orochimaru looked baffled, seeing Satsuki, after seemingly unable to move before, is now standing up again and is ready to fight.
"So, the Uchiha are going to fight against me? One plus one only makes two, you'll need two hundred to fight against me!"
Responding to that, Satsuki took out some kunai, Ryouta taking out his sword.
Orochimaru was intrigued, and looked on curiously.
From a distance, both the snake and Tobi watched on from differently locations.
The snake looked intrigued to see what was going to happen.
Hating humans was a thing he did, due to his past, so seeing humans fight, one that he immensely disliked, and another he wasn't sure about yet, he had to admit that he was very curious.
Tobi on the other hand, his hand on a tree, smirked under his mask.
"Come on Ryouta, show me your strength, and force Orochimaru away. Even kill him, I don't care. Show me the power that you've got within you..."
Tobi didn't release a laugh, but he did feel as if he wished to do just that.
Tobi couldn't wait for what was going to happen next.
Zetsu who was beside him, looked on.
The white half didn't comment on anything, but the black half of Zetsu looked at Ryouta, and only he saw a woman in white wrapping her arms around the boy in an ethereal like state. Fingers pressed against his chin, her eyes intensely focused on the young boy, her long white hair wrapping around him as if attempting to connect the two of them together.
Barely noticeable, a small smirk came to Black Zetsu's face.
End chapter!
So this chapter had Team Seven fighting off Orochimaru coming together, and doing their best, while Team Six got a little side tracked with a certain red snake that was under the impression that Ryouta and the others were in league with Orochimaru, and after fighting him off for a little while, the snake paused and decided to see for himself if they were with Orochimaru or not after hearing what Ryouta and the others had to say, maybe they'll be able to change his mind. More about the snake, why it is in the forest in the first place, and who this human he keeps mentioning is will be revealed down the line.
Then at the end, Ryouta came in and helped protect Satsuki and the others the best he could. With Tobi, both Zetsu's, and even the red snake watching the fight going ahead as well, the next chapter will have Ryouta and others fighting against Orochimaru!
Well until next time thanks for reading!
Ryouta; Satsuki, Sakura, Naruko, Hinata, Gaara (fem), Ino, Haku (fem), Kurotsuchi, Karin, Konan, Mei, Anko, Samui, Hanabi,