#::Hidden Spirits: Village Hunting & Side Effect::#
A Naruto Fan-fiction -- Sequel from 'Hidden Spirits'
By: Climax

Disclaimer for ALL chapters: Do not and never own Naruto. Except this story plot, idea, and my own characters I create on this story.

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Scroll 5: Trapped
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The 'thing' that caused Sakura screamed was no normal thing. Or should Naruto and the others say 'things'. There were giant plants that were surrounding their coming entrance. One of them got Sakura in their branches or roots. Roots were wounding around her body and neck, strangling her movements and breath. Amazing she managed to warn them by screaming.

Not only big, those plants have flowers that looks like a giant mosquito that was ready to bite and suck any kind of liquid. Naruto had a bad but accurate feeling that the said liquid was their blood. Only by seeing it made his stomach twist and untwist.

"What the heck are those… plants?" he stammered.

Shijirou was the one who answered him. "How should I know? It's my first time see this kind of plants."

One thing for sure, they had to do something before the plants do something to them.

It looked like that Rhaera was the first one recovered from his shock. Or maybe he even didn't shock mentioning the fact that he couldn't see anything but black. The green haired archer quickly shot his arrows.

But his attempt brought no success. The plants easily caught those arrows and broke it into pieces as if they were a mere died branch. Hadn't lost idea yet, Rhaera tried with kunais. But his target wasn't the plants but the roots that tied Sakura. He threw the sharpest ones he had but the roots are too hard and strong. The kunais weren't even scratched it.

Naruto, realized that he had to do something, was thinking hard how to get Sakura out of the plants grasp without his self being caught. Really, thinking wasn't his department. Suddenly he got an idea.

He took some explosives papers and stuck it into some of his kunai. He threw them to the plants and those kunais managed to burn some of those roots.

"Yeah!" he yelled but his happiness didn't last long. The burned branches immediately grew again into multiple branches.

"What the—?" Naruto was fooled by a plant. In the other hand, Sakura went into her aggressive self again and yelled angrily to the blonde.

"YOU IDIOTIC DUMBASS!! YOU MADE THEM EVEN MORE INCREASED!!"

But it didn't last long. The plants grasp were growing too hard for Sakura to take. She went unconscious and slumped into the plants.

"Oh no! Sakura-chan!!" Knew that he mustn't waste any time longer, he mindlessly threw himself to the plants. If the weapons didn't do anything, then let's rely for body physic. He didn't care if his self would be captured by the plants. In his mind, he focused on getting his teammate out of the plants' grasp.

But it wasn't success he received. A good slam on his stomach by one of the very thick branch prevented him from getting closer. Naruto flew across the cave and stopped only when his back slammed to the cave's wall. Pain shot trough his back and it hurt like a shit but he still able to stand up. He could feel the Kyubi's chakra was working, lessened his ache and bruise. He mentally thanked to himself that he has a shinobi strong physical. An average person would have his or her ribs broken.

Meanwhile Naruto was trying to stand up, Rhaera was thinking hard of how to get rid of those annoying plants as he dodged the attacks.

What am I going to do? My arrows and kunais aren't working so is burning them! Come on! Think! Rhaera cursed mentally.

"Hey, you overgrown green buddy! Come here and try to catch this old man if you dare!!" suddenly Shijirou's voice caught all the attention. How Naruto and Rhaera wanted to sweat-dropped to the old man's brat-like behavior if the time and situation allowed.

Weirdly, the plants seemed to take that challenge. Shijirou wasted no time to run.

"What that old geezer is planning to do?" asked Naruto as he walked to his other teammate.

Rhaera was confused too. But not long he realized where Shijirou was going to.

"Wait a minute. That part… oh no."

"What?" asked Naruto.

"He is going to burry those plants using the cave's fragile part!!"

Naruto thought for a moment. What is he worrying? Doesn't it good plan? Wait. THOSE PLANTS HAVE SAKURA!! That means— "Sakura is going to buried too!!"

"Glad your said-to-be-dull-brain worked," said Rhaera sarcastically.

"Please, none of those allusions for now…" sighed Naruto tiredly.

"Right. But how do we stop that simple-brained old man? People like him aren't going listen to we youngsters…" said Rhaera as he watched Shijirou stopped once in a while to let the plants followed him.

Naruto spun a kunai with his index finger and caught it back. "What's the need of speaking when we can force?" asked Naruto. Then he ran towards Shijirou.

Rhaera shrugged then caught up with Naruto.

Shijirou was nearly reached his destination when a kunai suddenly dropped in front of him and blocked his way. He automatically stopped. Just a second after that…

"YOU ROTTEN OLD GEEZER!! ARE YOU GOING TO KILL SAKURA??" shouted Naruto as he ran pass Shijirou and snatched the old man out of the way.

"HOW SHOULD I CARE??! And what do you think you are doing, brat??! I was trying to get rid those extraordinary big plants. It was going smoothly but not until you interrupted me!! And I'm not rotten yet! So, LET GO OFF ME!!" scolded Shijirou as he struggled from Naruto's grip. The shout was echoing painfully at Naruto's ear. Because they were far enough from the plants, Naruto gladly dropped him.

Shijirou landed on the hard ground with a loud thud. "Ouch! Can't you be gentler?? I'm sixty four for god's sake!!" exclaimed Shijirou angrily.

Naruto, with an annoyed expression, stared at the old shinobi. "I just do what you told to me. You told me to let go so I let you go. Because of that you already cursed painfully. Really, you call your self a shinobi?" asked Naruto mockingly.

"Spare me, brat. I'm not as strong as my self back then. You'll realize it when you reached this age…" Shijirou said angrily as he rubbed his swollen knees.

Before Naruto could respond, something crashed beside them. It was Rhaera. Then he realized, they were still in a battle.

"Shit! I forgot about Rhaera. This is all your fault old man!" cursed Naruto.

"Don't blame me! Blame you and your forgetful self!!"

"Instead of quarrelling each other, why don't you two help me to get Sakura off of that plant so we can freely attack it and burry it if we like?" asked a near mental snapping Rhaera. His voice was as plain as ever, but Naruto and Shijirou could feel red aura resonating from his body. They had to admit, he was a little… scary.

"Yes, sir." Naruto and Shijirou replied together.

But from now on, it seemed it became more difficult. The plants became more and more aggressive each time they attacked them. After some minutes trying, Naruto and the others had many bruises and wounds but the plants seemed as fresh and energetic as ever.

"What the heck are these plants?? We tried to cut, burn, punch, kick, I even tried to bite and eat it! BUT those attempts have done nothing!! What should we do??" yelled a frustrated Naruto as he dodged a thrust from one of thick branches. It hit a giant stalagmite and destroyed the hard rock into pieces. If he didn't success at dodged it he was a memory now.

The others didn't reply because their own hands were full. Naruto glanced at Sakura. The girl seemed to be having a hard time for breathing in her unconscious state. But he was too concentrated to Sakura so he didn't notice another branch was flying to him. When he realized, it was too late to dodge. He could only cover his body by crossing his hands in front of his face. The branch hit his hands hard. So hard until Naruto felt it was going to break. He flew across and landed—thankfully—on the soft bed of Blue Glow plants. But he couldn't relief yet. Because of the hit, some of the Blue Glow plants released their poisonous pollens.

Naruto quickly held his breath and jumped off as far as possible from the pollens. He landed perfectly on the hard ground. But suddenly he felt a stabbing pain on his left leg. It was so painful so he could not stand much longer. He fell on his knees and not soon, had his body lay on the ground while his hands held his left leg. The pain grew more intense in each second. It was as if his leg was being cut by a hot sword slowly.

"Shit. It looks like—ouch—I inhaled a bit of them…" he gasped in pain.

At the other hand, Shijirou wasn't giving up attacking. He kept hitting the plants, didn't care what method he used or was it going to give a damage on those annoyingly annoying plants. He was going to throw another shuriken when he noticed Naruto wasn't on his legs and one of the plants was going to smash him with its biggest branch.

Shijirou didn't have enough time to think what kind of jutsu he was going to use so he let his hands choose it for him. He did several hand seals and concentrated his chakra. After several seconds he inhaled deeply and blew it.

"WIND ELEMENT; FREEZING BREATH!!"

If Sasuke's Goukakyuu no jutsu (Grand Fireball technique) breaths fire, in this case Shijirou's jutsu breaths cold, freezing wind that was enough to freeze the plants. The cold air quickly spread through, freezing all parts of the plants and a bit of the cave's parts. The branch that was going to hit Naruto stopped just a few centimeters from him. The pain on Naruto's left leg was too painful so he didn't notice anything. All he cared right now was how he was going to get rid of the pain. But he failed and went unconscious.

"Brat! Get up and bring your pitiful ass from your place! My chakra is too weak and the jutsu won't last long!" yelled Shijirou. But seeing Naruto wasn't responding him, he sighed in frustration. "Man, out of all time, you are poisoned by the Blue Glow's pollens?? You there!!" he pointed to Rhaera.

"Yes?" the archer was a bit startled but quickly regained his plain composure.

"You help that idiot! You are the nearest to him! And I'm going to save the girl!" commanded Shijirou. Rhaera had no choice but complied and added a check in his list of the reason why he hated old men. He went towards Naruto and tried to aid him. Meanwhile Shijirou used his chakra to make his kunai became very sharp and began to cut the roots that tied Sakura.

Just as Shijirou finished his job, the plants suddenly were shaking. It seemed they were trying to back into action again.

"Let's get out of here!!" exclaimed Shijirou. Rhaera complied. Both of them were having an unconscious load on their hands so they slowed down a bit. When the last trace of ice was off from the plants, Shijirou reached one of the cave's tunnels. He was the first because he was the nearest.

The plants went wild again but this time they attacks randomly. Some of their 'hands' hit the cave's wall and built a tremor in the cave. The shake was so great that made it was hard to just stand up. Rhaera and Shijirou didn't have to wait long to see falling rocks—sorry—big rocks.

The tunnel that Shijirou and Sakura were in had less falling rocks so he considered that it was a bit safe to wait for Rhaera and Naruto.

"Run faster, you turtle! Unless you are willing to burry your teammate and yourself with those annoying plants!"

"I am TRYING to be fast, old man!" Rhaera didn't bother to low his voice. The cave was collapsing already so was that going to make a difference?

But Rhaera was a bit too late. When he nearly reached the tunnel, the ceiling on that part collapsed. The collision closed the tunnel, separating Naruto and Rhaera from Sakura and Shijirou. Rhaera stopped just before he made Naruto and him self buried by the rocks.

Shit! But there must be another way… cursed Rhaera as he searched for another way out. He quickly discovered another tunnel and went into it. He quickly ran across the Blue Glow plants. He didn't care if there were poisonous pollens there. He could hold his breath. It was the shortest way anyway.

All right! Just a little more!!

Suddenly Rhaera felt the ground under him gave away. When he realized, he was falling to the deep darkness and it was too late to do anything.

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Uchiha Sasuke opened his sharp eyes. He rubbed his eyes to erase the last trace of sleepiness and then got up. Uchiha Sasuke was no longer 'pretty'. He turned into a gorgeous fifteen year old teen. His hair style was as same as ever but his front bangs were now longer so they could reach his shoulder. His forehead protector was no longer displaying Konoha's leaf shaped symbol. Now it was the Oto's symbol. His blue shirt was replaced by sleeveless, high-neck shirt. His white shorts were a pair of grey pants now. His lower parts of his legs (from knees to ankles) were wrapped by white as cloud bandages (just imagine Kakashi's and other chuunin or jounin lower body attire). Speaking of bandages, there were no longer attached to his arms. They were replaced by two pairs of brown fingerless glove. The only thing that would never change was the shoes. As blue as ever, only the size was bigger than three years ago.

He looked around. He was in a training field in the village known as Oto. Kunais were everywhere; the remnant of his or another's training. Speaking of training, how could he fall asleep? He was sure he didn't overexert him self back then when he was training. Or maybe Kabuto was using him as a guinea pig for the newly invented sleep powder. He shook his head. Nah, that medic ninja wouldn't dare. After that incident, where Kabuto—on purpose or not—accidentally split a bit of one of his deadly poison to Sasuke's food and warned him just after he inserted and swallowed the first spoon of the soup. That made Orochimaru so mad and punished Kabuto by commanding him to clean the toilets and trashes for one month. It sounded easy but actually it didn't. The reason was: not only his, Orochimaru, and Sasuke's he had to clean; it was including he guests' (prisoners) toilets. It was a very good (and rare) chance for the prisoners to have their revenge. They kept giving him so much trouble. For example: they purposely didn't flush the toilet after they used it after that, they called Kabuto to clean it for them (imagine how disgusting was that); another example: they didn't recycle their trashes and threw another trash on the floor when Kabuto was cleaning the first wave. Kabuto could do nothing of that because Orochimaru seemed to have a temporary agreement with those prisoners to not hold back for telling that their toilets and rooms were not clean enough. And if that happens, Orochimaru would order Kabuto to clean it again. That's why Kabuto these days had a look that promising that he would personally and officially persuade Orochimaru to be ten times crueler on the prisoners once the punishment was over. But it seemed that the prisoners care less. They maybe think that if it wasn't now, then when they would get another chance? Maybe they wanted to have the last amusement before the storm. Sasuke prepared his heart to pity them when the month was over. But… again, why and how did he fall asleep?

Deciding that it wasn't matter (at least not anymore for now), Sasuke got up. He wanted to have a shower badly. His body smelled awful. Suddenly, he felt stinging pain on his left leg. He immediately fell on his knees. He scanned his left leg. He didn't remember he got a wound on that part or seen any trace of blood. Okay, he officially worried now. He tried to get up. His leg was starting to hurt like a hell. He decided to bear with it for now and quickly walked towards the place where he could find that nearly useless medical ninja Kabuto.

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Started on: December 27th, 2004
Ended on: December 31st, 2004

HEY! Sorry for the late update! I have a vacation in Bali or Dewata Island for five days and my mother proudly told me to not bring my beloved laptop. That's why I wasn't able to write, let alone update, back then.

So what do you think about this chapter? This is my first time writing fighting scene so maybe it isn't good enough.

And I realized I made a time mistake in Scroll 4. In that chapter, Shijirou said: 'It is because not until one hour ago my sensei ordered us including my team and yours to come back' and blah-blah-de-blah. The underlined ones should be twenty hours. Sorry.

(……)

Hey, don't stare at me! I'm a good writer with a good talent and a good future! Well, if you don't want to admit it at least bears with the fact that I'm updating my chapters every week, right?? I mean, almost…

That's all about my useless ramblings. And the last…

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR THOSE WHO CELEBRATES!!!
(I wonder who didn't… )

With lots of love and thanks, (especially for the one who review this story faithfully—from prologue chapter to now—Dragon Man 180)

:: (Climax) ::

PS: should I remind you forever? REVIEW please!!