They had just arrived at the large tree that was supposed to be their meeting place when Sasuke felt Orochimaru's chakra move closer. "Fuck!" he growled and looked over at Sakura. She was looking at him with a worried look and he knew that meant that Orochimaru had entered into her chakra barrier. "Damn it!" he growled taking off towards Orochimaru's chakra signature. He didn't bother to wonder if Sakura had followed him. He knew she would eventually.

When he found Orochimaru the man seemed to be pleasantly surprised. "Well if it isn't Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year. I must say you are more advanced than I thought to have sensed me coming."

"You know absolutely nothing about me Orochimaru," answered Sasuke which made Orochimaru take a step back in surprise, but then his face twisted into an evil smile.

"So you've heard of me have you?" said Orochimaru, "Then you know that I am one of the three legendary Sanin, and I am the most powerful out of them."

"You were one of the legendary Sanin," answered Sasuke, "and you've always been the weakest of the three of you. That was only proved when you began to seek power."

Orochimaru growled, "Power makes me stronger. It could make you stronger too," Orochimaru got back his evil smirk, "You want that to be able to kill your brother don't you?"

"No," answered Sasuke. At that moment Sakura landed beside him.

"Oh, but you are weak. You have to rely on your teammates to help," said Orochimaru.

"I could beat you any day," said Sasuke, "and me relying on my teammates doesn't make me weak. It makes me smart. Unlike you."

"You can't beat me just like that Sasuke," said Orochimaru, "No, you have to become much stronger if you want to beat me."

"Sasuke could kick your ass without a second thought," said Sakura smugly.

"Shut up," hissed Orochimaru, "I wasn't talking to you."

"To bad," said Sakura, "because I was talking to you."

Orochimaru hissed and a killer intent washed over the two of them. Both of them froze where they stood. Orochimaru frowned, "Pity, I thought you, Sasuke, would be more of a challenge." He threw three kunai at Sasuke, but was surprised when Sasuke just smirked and easily dodged the attack.

"Did you really think I was frightened by such a weak aura of killer intent?" asked Sasuke.

"Really," said Sakura shaking her head with a smile, "once you've felt the killer intent released by demons no other's could scare you."

"Demon?" asked Orochimaru, "Oh you must mean that weak little Jinchuriki. Why isn't he here? Was he too frightened to join you guys."

"Naruto isn't afraid of anything," growled Sakura, "and he isn't weak."

"Then why isn't he here?" asked Orochimaru.

"In case you've forgotten," answered Sasuke, "Our teammates were captured and we have to go save them."

"Ah," said Orochimaru, "It seems you haven't realized that the teammates that were captured were the weakest links of each group."

"Well that makes sense," said Sakura, "but then shouldn't I be the one who was captured?"

"The only way for them to know who is the weakest link of the group is for our sensei's to tell them," answered Sasuke, "and it's totally obvious that he thinks Naruto is the weakest."

"That's true," Sakura nodded.

Orochimaru hissed with anger at being ignored for even the slightest moment. "Summoning jutsu!" A large snake appeared from out of nowhere and immediately began to attack them.

Both Sakura and Sasuke easily dodged the creature by jumping from tree to tree until Sasuke finally got a clear enough shot to throw 6 ninja stars straight into the creatures mouth killing it immediately. It's neck began to crack and Orochimaru emerged from it with an angry smirk crawling across his face.

"What?" asked Sasuke, "No stupid predator prey crap?"

Orochimaru just hissed and, in a way only possible for a snake, slithered up the tree towards Sasuke who didn't move. The only thing that stopped his a attack was when weapons hit the branch right in front of him. When he looked to where the attack had come from Sakura was heading straight for him with a kunai in her hand. "Summoning-" he was cut off when a shot of pain hit his side and he looked over just in time to catch another kunai that Sasuke had thrown. He yanked the first one out of its side and threw both the weapons at Sakura who was now just in front of him, but she disappeared and the weapons hit the tree behind her with a loud thunk. He cried out when he felt pain rip through his back as a kunai dug in between his shoulder blades. Orochimaru threw his arm back to hit his attacker and made contact with nothing. He hissed and tried to summon again only to have Sasuke appear right in front of him and kick his chin making him fall back and land harshly on another tree branch.

Sasuke and Sakura were hiding when they felt Naruto's fear and worry wash over them. "Where are you guys?"

"We're fine," answered Sasuke, "You don't have to come after us. We'll be back soon."

"Orochimaru summoned a snake to attack the rest of us," was Naruto's answer which made Sasuke curse silently to himself, "Please tell me where you are. I don't want you to get hurt."

"If you don't stop talking to us we'll get hurt because we lost focus," answered Sakura in her motherly. This surprised Sasuke because Sakura had been against this idea and she hated to be mean to Naruto even if it was for his own good. Her scolds were always filled with kind words and they never blamed Naruto for anything unless it was absolutely necessary. Apparently she felt it was absolutely necessary now.

Both waited for a moment, but Naruto did not say anything to them. Both sighed in relief and turned to attack Orochimaru only to find that their little talk with Naruto had given Orochimaru enough time to summon a snake. Both of them had already jumped to attack Orochimaru so neither of them were able to change their course before the snake got to them. It whipped it's head to the side catching Sakura in the side throwing her against a tree. Sasuke was sure he heard a sickening crack when she made contact with the tree, and his suspicions were confirmed when she looked at him with pain filled eyes that told him she could not continue. That one moment that he looked at Sakura took his focus off of the snake and when he looked back he didn't have enough time to block when it used its head to land roughly on top of him. He fell to the branch below him and lost his breathe from the fall. Before he was able to catch his breath he felt two fangs sink into the side of his neck and he cried out as the pain rushed through his whole body. He heard Sakura's scream and just before he lost consciousnesses he felt Orochimaru rip his bloodied fangs out of his skin and heard him scream in pain.

Naruto was so angry when he arrived. He hadn't gotten there in time and now both Sakura and Sasuke were badly hurt. He didn't hesitate in plunging his kunai straight into Orochimaru's long neck, but he growled when he realized that he had missed anything important in his neck. He normally wouldn't have missed if it hadn't been for the fact that, by making his neck longer, everything in his neck had to move to accommodate the new growth. Naruto threw himself forward in blind anger as his killing intent washed over the whole area. Orochimaru cringed in fear as he came closer to the man. He knew his eyes were slits right now, but he didn't care. He would kill anyone who hurt his friends, his sister, and the man he loved.

Naruto plunged his kunai into Orochimaru's chest where his heart should be only to find that Orochimaru had never even been there. It had only been one of his servants acting on his behalf, but none of them could have noticed that because they didn't know what Orochimaru's chakra felt like at the moment.

Naruto growled in anger at the body, but he left it there in favor of helping Sakura and Sasuke out of there. First he went to Sasuke's unconscious form and carefully put him onto his back and then he went to Sakura who told him that she had broken a rib or two and that she couldn't walk because of it. Naruto nodded and lifted her up so she could wrap her arms around his neck and her legs hung down as though she were sitting in his arm. It looked like he was holding her bridal style with only one arm. He slowly made his way down to the ground making sure not to make any sudden jerking movements to mess up Sakura's ribs. When they were safely on the ground Sakura pulled back one of her arms to begin healing herself. Naruto smiled at this as he began to walk back to the big tree. Sakura happened to be one of the few, no, Sakura was the only person who could heal broken bones because Sakura had been the one to create that jutsu.

The two rookie teams that remained at the large tree began to interrogate each other as soon as Naruto had left.

"H-how d-did you g-guys escape?" asked Hinata with her shy voice.

"Oh it was amazing Hinata, I-" Kiba began, but he was cut off by Ino saying, "Naruto got us out of there."

"He just got lucky," grumbled Kiba.

"Three times?" asked Ino.

"Hey," said Kiba, "I beat up those guys for you."

"I seem to recall Naruto being the one who knocked them out," answered Ino.

"After I made them tired," growled Kiba.

"I think you were the one getting tired Kiba," answered Ino and then, before the argument could get further she turned to Shikamaru and asked, "What about you guys?"

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru, "We had just got here when Sasuke freaked out and left. Then Sakura followed him telling us to wait here. Then right after that the snake came."

"Yea," said Chouji as he munched on a handful of chips that came from the bag in his hand, "It came right as I was sitting down to eat a snack."

Ino sighed, "My gosh Chouji. Is that all you ever think about?"

Suddenly Kiba jumped up and growled, "Who goes there?"

"What are you talking about Kiba?" asked Ino.

"I smell blood," answered Kiba.

"That would be us," came a voice from where Kiba was looking, "Though most of it isn't ours."

Everyone had their weapons out and they waited for whoever the newcomer was to come out of the bushes. They all sighed in relief when Naruto made his way through, but then their eyes widened when they saw that he was carrying the other two people of his team. He slowly made his way to the big tree and placed Sakura and Sasuke inside of the cave created by its long roots. "Ino, Hinata," said Naruto which made everyone, who had previously been unable to move because of shock, look over at him, "We need water. Shikamaru, Chouji, we need herbs. Kiba, Shino, we need firewood. Don't go too far and don't leave your partner."

Everyone of them jumped to do the task that they were ordered without second thought and within seconds. "How are you feeling Sakura?" asked Naruto worriedly.

"I'm fine," said Sakura as she continued to heal herself, "I'm almost done." That was the one downside of healing broken bones. It took a long time and if it was rushed for any reason the bone would heal improperly which was potentially dangerous if it healed in a way that made it so the person still couldn't move. "Why did you ask them to get that stuff?" she asked, "We have it all already in our supplies."

"It's better not to use those unless we absolutely need them so that we don't run out before we're done," answered Naruto, "and I needed them gone."

"Why?" asked Sakura. Naruto's only answer was to lean over Sasuke's unconscious body to bite his neck, but he was pulled back by Sakura's strong grip. "You can't do that Naruto. We're in the middle of nowhere. Something could happen. We can't have you in pain for a week like last time."

"The seal is weaker this time," Naruto answered.

"So are you," said Sakura.

Naruto leaned forward and kissed her cheek before wrapping his arms around her shoulders so that he could hug her without irritating her side. "Sakura," he said, "I have to do this. It's my fault you guys got hurt," he paused to shake his head when Sakura tried to protest, "I shouldn't have distracted you guys. You probably would've won if I hadn't. You were right. Besides I don't want Sasuke to be in pain like the last time either. I promise I'll be fine. Just let me do this, please."

Sakura pulled away from him to look at his pleading eyes before reluctantly nodding. Naruto smiled and released her so that he could go back to Sasuke. He took a deep breath before leaning down and sinking his own fangs into Sasuke's skin. As the pain began to spread for his body he grabbed for something, anything that he could clench onto so he wouldn't bite Sasuke any harder. He felt Sakura's strong hand slip into his own and he could feel the chakra that she let slip into it so that he wouldn't hurt her too much. He immediately clenched his fist around hers in a way that would break anyone else's hand.

Sakura watched as the seal spread over Naruto's face to make its way to his own neck and she had to hold back a sob. She didn't know how much it hurt, but she knew that if Naruto was showing that he was in pain that it had to hurt a lot. This was exactly how it happened the last time Naruto had removed the seal, and she still couldn't stand to watch it again, but she knew that just by offering her hand for Naruto to hold onto she was being a great help to him.

When the seal had completely made its way from Sasuke's neck to Naruto's he let his teeth lose their grip on Sasuke's neck only for them to find refuge in his hand to muffle his loud cry of pain.

haha. this one was faster than the last one. i hope you like it