I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever...Enjoy!

Naruko-ナルコ-

Chapter 18

Nightmare's Return

"Alright! Lets do this!" Naruto exclaimed while throwing fake punches in the air.

"Right," Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah!" Sakura shouted, getting pumped up.

"Come on Naruko cheer up! Quit acting weird!" Naruto stated as he slapped his arm against his siblings back. "We're going to wipe out the competition and win this, you got me?!"

"Got it," Naruko smiled. "But hey, before this test starts I have something to tell you guys."

"Huh?" Naruto wondered "Whats up?"

"Come closer," Naruko whispered, not wanting the guard in front of the gate to hear. As the group huddles together Naruko continues. "If we ever come into contact with that grass ninja from earlier, I want you guys to run."

"What?!"

"Sh-!" Naruko exclaimed, pulling her brother's collar down. "Look I know running away from a battle isn't your style but for once trust me on this Naruto..."

"Do you uh...know that girl?" Naruko's eyes glanced up at her comrade, it was the first time she had said anything to her in days.

"You mean him?...Yeah I-" Suddenly, the sound of screeching and metal being moved overpowered Naruko's voice. The gates before them had opened and before she could finish, the proctor spoke loudly, announcing that the second test had officially begun.

"Well alright! Here we go guys!" Naruto shouted, feeling as pumped as he ever did.

He's not going to listen to me...Naruko mentally sighed. I should have figured. Taking their time, the team walks into the depths of the forest, mindful that every step they took was more quiet then the next.

"What was that?" Sakura thought out loud. Five minuet hadn't even passed and the screams of other ninja echoed through the forest. "...I do not like this place."

"Oh come on, there is nothing to be scared of. This is going to be a piece of cake-" Naruto then paused, headed towards the nearest bush, and started to unzip his pants "Excuse me for a second-"

"Oh no you don't!" Sakura exclaimed while punching him on the head "Not in front of us go behind a tree or something!"

"He doesn't do this at home does he?" Sakura asked, after Naruto disappeared from their sights.

"Well..." Naruko recalled of when she first had moved back and how relaxed Naruto was with everything. Even if they were twins, she has scolded him on occasions that there is a line to everything. "He used to just go with the door open."

"What?! Ugh, that is disgusting!"

"And you know whats worse," Naruko began. Waving the kunoichi to her she then whispers in her ear. After the message is sent, Sakura cringes.

"Ew! You can't be serious!"

"Its not just him, apparently all guys don't do it either."

"Do what?" Sasuke asked. What the heck are those two talking about?

"Phew that was alot!" Naruto laughed as he walked out of the bushes "I practically wrote my whole name!"

Wait a second...Naruko looked at Sasuke and noticed he had picked up on it too.

"You are such a pig!" Sakura shouted "You really are disgusting-Sasuke what are you doing?!"

"Yeah what was that about?" Naruto asked, rubbing his cheek from the sudden impact.

"Don't you think you're going overboard?" Sasuke ignored Sakura's comment and charged at Naruto again. Only this time, Naruto was able to dodge it.

"You guys better watch out, I think he's gone crazy." Naruto warned the girls.

"He's not crazy," Naruko replied.

"Naruko, not you too! Stop them!" Sakura pleaded as the guys attempted to strike at each other again.

"Talk! What did you do with the real Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Immediately the Naruto that stood in front of them denied and insisted on being the real one.

"You really think you can trick us?" Everything about the ninja seemed off to Naruko. From the way he held his kunai knife, to the way he moved. "I know my brother better than anyone and the way you've been fighting isn't like him at all. Also, Naruto is right-handed."

"And where is the cut on your cheek from earlier?" Sasuke added on. After that, the fake Naruto went silent and then canceled his transformation jutsu.

"So yeah you got me. It doesn't matter because I'm going to take your scroll." Out through the clouds that came from the cancellation of the transformation jutsu came a shinobi from the village hidden in the rain. "So which one of you has it?"

"Leave it to me, I'll take care of this guy." Sasuke smirked.

"Right," Naruko nodded "We'll look for Naruto."

Luckily, the two didn't have to go far. The ninja who had attempted to ambush them had forgotten to tape Naruto's mouth, a big mistake on his part. "Help! Over here!"

"You are such a pain," Sakura complained as she used a kunai knife to cut the rope off of him.

"Are you okay brother?" Naruko asked.

"Yeah, but where is Sasuke?"

"Right here..." he said, out of breathe. De-activating his sharingan he takes a seat and joins the rest of the team.

"Are there any other ninja?" Sakura wondered. If he was here, the possibility of his comrades being near was more than likely high.

"No, it was just him...Turns out it was just a water clone."

"Thank goodness," Naruko sighed in relief.

"We're safe for now, but we need to be on our guard, esecpially you Naruto." Sasuke stated.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted in offense.

"We can't trust appearances alone." The Uchiha continued "We need to come up with a way to prove to each other we are who we say we are...we need a password."

"What kind of password?" Naruko asked.

"Something known only to the four of us. And don't trust anyone who doesn't know it, no matter what. Now listen closely, because I only want to say this once." Lowering the volume of his voice Sasuke whispers the password over to his comrades. Though it was a long one, it definitely wasn't something that anyone from outside of the group would be able to answer...except for maybe Naruto. The look on his face alone said that he already forgot the password.

"You got one a little shorter?" He asked in disbelief.

"No Naruto. That is it." Sasuke told him.

"Oh come on, I memorized it easy." Sakura announced.

"It is a bit long," Naruko admitted. "But hey, as long as it works."

"Yeah I guess...I was just expecting a password not a pass-speech!" Naruto complained. Naruko nodded, agreeing with her twin.

"Anyways, Naruko hand me the scroll. I'll take care of it."

"Sasuke are you sure about-" Before she could finish she felt a sting on her left cheek.

"You felt that too?!" Naruto asked his twin. Looking into the darkness of the forest, the group could only wonder what hid in the shadows of it. Then, Naruko heard it.

"Somethings coming!" As soon as she spoke, a strong gust of wind blew straight towards them. Causing some of the smaller trees to collapse. Before they could get caught up in the current, they split up and hid. Once the wind had passed, Naruko deemed it safe to re-group and searched for her team members.

"There you guys are," Naruko stated after finding them behind a large bush.

"Stop right there! Answer the question: When does a ninja strike?" Sakura immediately asked. After answering the question correct, Naruko's attention turned towards Sasuke who still had his guard up, then towards the Naruto who sat on the ground with a peculiar expression on his face.

Thats not Naruto... Naruko immediately knew.

"Aren't we the clever one?" The fake Naruto smirked as he licked the wounds off of his face. Canceling his transformation jutsu, the grass ninja from earlier steps out and reveals his face. "Tell me, if your teammate was so dimwitted why would you come up with a password he couldn't remember?"

"It wasn't meant for Naruto so much as for anybody who might have been listening in eavesdropping. It was meant as a trap and you stumbled right into it." Sasuke stated.

"He knew the password?" Naruko whispered, even though she always knew the answer to it.

"Yeah, he said it word-to-word perfect. Something Naruto would never do." Sasuke replied.

"Hehehe...I'm impressed...you certainly haven't dropped your guard have you..." The grass ninja stated.

"Naruko..."Sakura whispered, noticing her comrade take a step in front of her and Sasuke. She re-called what Naruko had warned them about earlier and felt her stomach drop. If she wasn't mistaken, this was the one Naruko said to run from.

"Sasuke, take Sakura and get out of here right now." Naruko murmured, glaring at the foreign grass ninja.

"You'd just love to get your hands on this Earth Scroll wouldn't you, it would go nicely with your Heaven scroll..." The grass ninja continued as he wrapped his tongue around the scroll he held. Pushing it down his throat, he swallows it whole with little to no hesitation. "When this is over, one of us will have both scrolls..."

"Sasuke!" Naruko shouted in a serious tone.

"...and the other will be dead." As the grass ninja touched his sclera, Sasuke and Sakura immediately fell onto their knees, as if they were frozen in fear.

Looking into her eyes, I saw the moment of my own death...is this an illusion? His thirst for blood is so intense...As Sasuke struggled to get back up on his feet he slipped and fell.

"Sasuke," Naruko repeated a third time. "Please, take Sakura and get going! Go find Naruto."

"Don't you see? They're paralyzed with fear." chuckled the grass ninja.

Damn...theres not much I can do right now considering the fact that if I take my eyes off of of him for just one second we could get killed... Naruko bit her bottom lip in frustration.

"I'll distract him. As soon as you guys are able to move get going."

Thats him...thats who she warned us about earlier...Now I can see why...but how does she know him? Sasuke wondered, unable to speak.

"And don't even think about fighting this guy," Naruko continued. "You have no idea what we're up against, this man-"

"Shouldn't you be thanking me?" asked the grass ninja as his kunai knife clashed suddenly with Naruko's. "After all, if it wasn't for me you'd still be in the hand's of that wretched organization."

Backing away, the grass ninja smirks in amusement "Well you've certainly gotten faster. Lets see what that perverted old man taught you."

Shadow clone jutsu! Creating five separate clones, all but one of Naruko's clones charge straight at the grass ninja.

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" shouts one clone.

"Fire style: Inferno Waltz!" yells another one. Gaining up all at once the grass ninja manages to swiftly dodge every attack, all while killing every clone.

"Did you really think charging at me like that would-" Suddenly the feeling of something slicing his cheek caught him by surprise.

"Now! Hold him down!" Naruko shouted.

"When did you have time to create more clones?"

"When I originally created the first set I had one step back and create more. Having you believe that all of them were gone would create the perfect opportunity to pin you down." spoke the real Naruko.

"Hurry! We got him!" one of her clones exclaimed as she held his hands back. While one pins his legs down and another covers his mouth shut, the real Naruko holds the palm of her hand up and concentrates as chakra begins to swirl up and create a sphere-like shape.

"You want to see what Jiraiya-sensei taught me? Well you got it...Rasen-!" Before Naruko could land a hit, the grass ninja thrusts his tongue through the palm's of Naruko's clone's hands like a sword and attempts to stab the real Naruko.

"I'm not surprised he taught you that jutsu." On instinct, Naruko turned her head back. An action she immediately regretted. As she turned she found herself turning, the grass ninja immediately takes advantage and lands a kick onto her abdomen. Sending her straight into a tree.

Naruko! Sasuke exclaimed mentally. I can't just stand here, I have to get up! I have to get Sakura out of here...but I can't leave Naruko alone like this. Fighting against his own body Sasuke slowly makes his way into his pocket to pull out a kunai knife. Come on! Hurry!

"I ought to kill you for what happened that day."

Damn! Before Naruko even realized, the grass ninja stood right in front of her, cupping her chin.

"If you had pulled your end of the bargain I would've had the sharingan now!" Slipping his tongue around Naruko's neck he begins to walk over to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Its a shame your brother isn't here to watch me kill you. But I suppose your friends will suffice," laughed the grass ninja.

He's still there...Naruko watched as Sasuke struggled to move. After stabbing his thigh with a kunai, he was finally able to regain some movement.

"Run-!" Naruko cried as tears started to form around her eyes. Summoning ju-

"I don't think so," the grass ninja's grip on Naruko's neck tightened and before she could finish making the hand signs he slammed her against the rock hard floor.

"Ah-!" Quickly grabbing another kunai knife from her pocket, Naruko slices the grass ninja's tongue off, causing it to disintegrate and turn into snakes. The moment she could, she gasped for air and back far away from him and towards her team.

"Come on!" Naruko exclaims as she throws Sakura behind her back. "Let's go!" Grabbing Sasuke's hand, Naruko leads the team away. Finding a small clearing on one of the trees Naruko puts Sakura down and collapses as she attempts to catch her breathe.

"Are you okay?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"No but never mind that. You guys need to get out of here!" Naruko exclaimed as pain radiated throughout her entire body. "This guy's on a whole another level he's-" Before Naruko could finish, a giant snake appeared behind the three of them and attempted to swallow them whole.

"Look out!" Sakura screams.

"Eat this!" Naruko yells throwing a paper bomb attached to a kunai knife into the snake's mouth. After swallowing the paper bomb, the snake fell as its stomach busted open.

Dammit!...He's not giving us anytime to escape... As the snake's guts and organs start to leak out, a familiar face starts to make his way out of the digestive juices.

"I can sense you're fear and desperation...its only natural..." the grass ninja whispers. "When you're about to die!" Within the blink of an eye, he swirls up the bark of the tree like a snake and then immediately charges at his target.

What?! He's going after Sasuke now?! Naruko was surprised. After hearing Sasuke scream in terror her body started to move on its own and ran to his aid.

"Ah-!"

"Naruko! Sasuke!" Sakura screeched. Silence then fell as blood dripped down Naruko's stomach.

"...A-are you okay?" Naruko managed to say, all while not trying to scream in pain. I should've known he'd pull a cheap trick like that... Holding Orochimaru's razor-sharp tongue with both of her hands she attempts to try and pull it out of her stomach. "H-hey..." Naruko turned her head to see her comrade's eyes quivering. When he didn't say anything her eyes turned back down to the blood coming out of her stomach. It would only be a matter of time till she passed out from the blood loss. Think fast Naruko, as soon as this blade comes out your going to lose a lot of blood...

"I see Jiraiya also taught you how to be stupid," the grass ninja laughed as he started to pull his tongue away "Eh-?!"

"Rasengan!" Naruko shouted, using her dominant hand she pulled the grass ninja's tongue towards her, causing his tongue to be shoved further into her abdomen and slammed the giant ball of chakra in her other hand right onto his face.

"You damn brat!" he cried, as the impact of her jutsu sent him flying.

"That'll halt him for a minuet..." Naruko murmured as she fell to her knees while holding herself.

"Naruko..." Before she could tumble off the tree, Sasuke caught Naruko and held her. His eyes widened at the sight of blood covering her.

"I'll be okay..." she began using her chakra to close her wound up. "I can stop the bleeding...but thats about it. Jiraiya-sensei didn't really teach me any medical jutsus...Anyways, lets get out of here while hes still down-" On instinct, Naruko slapped her hand near her collarbone where the curse mark was. As burning pain radiated from the sight, her body began to tense up.

"Sasuke please..." Naruko winced in pain as she watched him stare down at her. "Please! Run, hide, fight, do something!" After raising her voice Naruko started to cough, which put more pain and pressure on her stomach "Or else...we're all going to die..."

You're hurt...you're hurt...Before she passed out, all she could hear was the sound of a voice that didn't belong to her.

"You're hurt..." Opening her eyes open Naruko snapped her head back, trying to figure out where she was.

"I-its you again..." Naruko whispered "...Joro." As the dense purple fog evaporated, Joro appeared sitting on a bench.

"Come," Joro softly spoke, while patting the vacant seat next to her. "Let me heal you..."

For a moment, Naruko felt tempted. She could feel the continuous pain from her abdomen, but she kept her feet flat on the ground and refused "No. I don't trust you."

"You never will with an attitude like that..." she lightly chuckled.

Naruko gasped and turned seeing the spirit suddenly appear behind her. It was then she was able to get a better look. While she had the figure of a women, she could see spider arms sticking out from the back of her dark purple kimono.

"Give me a chance...and I'll show you what I can do..."

"Why are you so insisted on helping me?" Naruko questioned the demon, while examining her physical features. What kind of demon is she?

"Is that not obvious? We share the same body you and I. If you die I die...You don't want to leave your brother and friends again do you?" It was then Naruko had remembered that Orochimaru was still out there. If she was here, where was her team? Was everyone okay? What happened to them? To Naruko's knowledge, Sasuke and Sakura were scared to death and Naruto was missing.

"Not to worry little one...they are okay."

"I have to get back, they need me!" Naruko panicked.

"Shh...patience...as I said before your hurt. It'll be quite some time before you wake up. All of that blood loss has left your body in a weakened state."

"..." Naruko pondered. She could feel her heart become heavy as memories of her past came flooding into her mind...The pain, the constant wondering if her loved one's were okay or not...Orochimaru, and Jiraiya's constant heeding of the curse mark.

Under no circumstances are you to rely on the curse mark.

"But if you'd like, I can heal you and I can help you."

"I..." Naruko fought her urges. She wanted so badly to accept the help, just so she could get out of there and back to her teammates. "Can't. I wont."

"Interesting...If that is what you wish then so be it..." Joro spoke as she vanished like dust. "Keep in mind, that I will always be with you. Therefore, my assistance will always be available..."

Come on Naruko...Naruko pleaded with herself. Wake up! Wake up!

Digging her fingers into her hair she tries to concentrate all while repeating the same two words. Wake up, wake up, wake up!

Wake up! Forcing her eyelids open Naruko awoke to a dark, shaded area, covered by branches and leaves looking almost like a small bunker.

"Naruko!" Sakura gasped. "How are you feeling?"

"...Tired," she admitted. "But I'll be okay..." Glancing down she sees Naruto and Sasuke out cold, resting on the floor. "...What happened? Where's the grass ninja?"

Sakura sighed, no wanting to recall what she would describe as a nightmare rather then memories "Its a long story..."

Naruko-ナルコ-

Chapter 19

Rekindled Friendship