Naruto's day went downhill after the exam. First there had been Ibiki staring at Naruto with a glare that was likely to give him nightmares in the future. Then there had been Anko Mitarashi, the head proctor for the next exam, who apparently thought that knocking down one of the academy walls was a good way to make an entrance. Then there had been the forms that specifically stated that neither Anko nor the Hidden Leaf were responsible for any deaths to occur within the next task. Then he'd heard the name of the place they would be jumping around for the next five days while trying not to die. Then after entering the so aptly named forest of death they had almost been ripped to shreds by a murderous family of bears twice the size of any normal bear. Through all of that he hadn't complained, even when they had heard the screams of other teams in the distance. Getting swallowed whole by a giant snake though, that had been the last straw on the camel's back.
The forest of death, as the name suggested, was a training ground that had long been abandoned, allowing the natural chakra to fester and mutate the creatures living there until they had all become dangerous abominations that had a constant desire to kill without cause. Sakura explained all of this as they jumped from branch to branch, making Naruto occasionally miss his mark whenever she hammered another nail into his coffin. Even managing to avoid the snakes that looked like vines and the tigers that could climb trees, the team moved with a calm bravado of a finely oiled machine that was confident in their ability to survive. Then they heard the scream, prompting the three of them to look in the direction of the scream. Which was why his two teammates missed the point when the pit of darkness rose up to meet him before he could manage a scream of his own.
Now he was covered in slime and stomach juices, he was being crushed by the soft interior of the snake and he was struggling to breathe. He wanted to complain and would have complained if not for the concern that opening his mouth would prompt the digestive juices inadvertently drowning him.
He was calm, he was collected. He would have time to freak out later. His teammates had no doubt noticed his lack of presence and were definitely coming for him as he sat there but he couldn't just sit around and wait for them, especially as a few seconds could mean his death.
Being obsessed with sealing fortunately had its perks and he had steals stashed all over his body, although he hadn't imagined he would need to use them like this. He wriggled and struggled until he was able to reach his wrist then unwrapped a roll of explosive tags. Now getting out of the snake wasn't the problem, it was surviving the exit. With a sigh Naruto threw the roll as far forward as it would go, then held his breath and headed away, further down into the bowels of the beast.
(O_O)
Sakura stopped on a branch suddenly, her previously weary expression turning to a frown. Sasuke stopped beside her and Naruto found a place on a branch behind them. They had just heard some other team screaming and Sasuke could understand why she would be a little freaked out, but he didn't think that was the cause.
"There's something wrong," Sakura said, looking at their surroundings suspiciously. "Something just feels off."
"We're in a forest that is actively trying to kill us," Sasuke pointed out.
She nodded but her expression didn't change. "Do you still have the scroll?" she asked.
Sasuke nodded, pulling out the heaven scroll for her to see and stashing it away again. "Do you think it could be genjutsu?"
Sakura shrugged, forming a handseal and muttering a release. After a moment she shook her head. "I guess I'm just a little freaked out is all," she said.
Sasuke nodded his understanding, it must have been very hard for her to go this far without showing even the slightest sign of fear. Her composure was bound to break eventually.
Naruto, who had been looking on the interaction with a rising impatience, clapped his hand to his chest boldly and smiled. "Don't worry Sakura. Sasuke and I will protect you from anything that tries to harm you."
Sasuke did everything in his power to keep his expression from changing. One look at Sakura told him that she had done the same. Naruto would never claim that Sakura needed protection. Turning to face Naruto carefully he waited for his team leader's command. When she shouted it and threw her senbon Sasuke dashed forward, kunai outstretched, impaling Naruto as he tried to escape the senbon's trajectory.
Blood ran down Sasuke's arm. "How?" Naruto croaked. The henge around Naruto flickered and fell to reveal one of the ninja from the Hidden Grass with a gas mask. The surprise attacks from ninjas with gas masks was becoming a disturbing trend.
"Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the dying ninja's question.
The ninja coughed a laugh. "He's dead most likely. I don't really care either way."
Sasuke growled, pulling his kunai out of the ninja and watching him fall to the forest floor, where the ninja let out a thumping sound a few seconds later. Sasuke wiped the blood from his kunai off and turned to Sakura. "How are you Sakura?" he asked wearily, not putting the kunai away.
Sakura forced a smile and started playing with her hair nervously. "I'm worried for Naruto."
Sasuke watched her for a moment more before nodding to himself and putting away his kunai. He eyed his blood covered hand distastefully. He would need to find somewhere to wash it off later. Looking down at the body of the ninja he had just murdered he felt a small pang of regret for the killing. Naruto would have been upset if he had been there, but he wasn't there now and what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "We're not mentioning this to Naruto," Sasuke said.
Sakura seemed to agree. "That would be for the best. I don't know how we're going to find him, but I think if we can find team eight we might be able to form an alliance with them for their help in finding Naruto. KIba could either use Akamaru to sniff him out or Hinata might be able to spot him with her byakugan."
"What would we offer in return?"
"Our help in the exam. When we find Naruto he can give them a bunch of explosive tags as payment. Otherwise we could offer our own scroll in the worst case scenario," Sakura said.
Sasuke noticed that she didn't acknowledge that finding Naruto may have been more of an 'if' than 'when'. "We'll have to just keep moving and hope we bump into them," he said nodding.
As they both readied themselves to continue heading through the forest a figure emerged from the underbrush, looking disheveled and out of sorts. "Uh, hey guys," said Naruto. "I kinda got swallowed by a snake. I'm fine though. Did I miss anything important?"
Sasuke scrutinized Naruto. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
Naruto forced a smile as Sakura had done before and brushed through his hair with his fingers. "I'm good."
Sasuke looked to Sakura who lowered the senbon she had been raising inadvertently to throw at Naruto. Sasuke did the same a beat later.
"That's a relief," Sakura said.
Naruto nodded. "Let's get going. It'll be night soon and we don't wanna be caught with our pants down," he said cautiously, taking the lead.
As soon as his back was turned to Sasuke and Sakura, they attacked, Sakura throwing her senbon in a wide arc to block off any exit option and Sasuke's kunai headed straight for Naruto's back.
If there had been any doubt in Sasuke's mind as to whether he was actually attacking Naruto, it fled the moment Naruto managed to twist and bend his body in ways that suggested he lacked a spine. As the projectiles fell harmlessly to the floor, the Naruto lookalike turned to face them, dropping the henge to reveal one of the female ninja from the Hidden Grass that had been on the same team as gas mask.
"Very impressive," she commented, looking amused. "However did you see through my disguise?"
"Why would we tell you our secrets?" Sakura asked confusedly.
The Grass ninja shrugged. "I suppose you don't have to. It won't matter for much longer anyway."
Sasuke pulled out another kunai and raised it wearily. That had sounded like a threat. "Where is Naruto?" he asked. "What have you done with him?"
The Grass ninja smiled. "I fed him to a giant snake. He should be dead by now, and if not now then soon. I don't even know where the snake is anymore, there are so many of them here after all. You don't have to worry about him right now. What you should really be worried about is me."
Sakura looked to Sasuke uneasily. "Let's just beat her up then go look for Naruto. It shouldn't be too hard now that we know he was swallowed by a snake."
Sakura looked like she was about to nod an affirmative but was cut off by the exasperated laughter of the Grass ninja. "Beat me up?" she asked incredulously. "It's not going to be that easy. If you want to beat me you're going to have to kill me." She pulled out a scroll from her pack, chuckling all the while as she brandished it in front of her. "But you know what? I'll give you some incentive. This is the earth scroll and you have the heaven scroll, correct?" She didn't wait for a response as she had no doubt been listening in on their earlier conversations. Instead she shoved the scroll down her throat, swallowing it whole, then licked her lips afterwards as if just having eaten a tasty meal. "If you kill me you'll get the scroll. Whenever you're ready," she challenged.
Sasuke looked to Sakura for direction and was mildly surprised to see that her face was slack and her eyes wide. Taking a closer look he could see that her body was wracked by shivers as if she was standing in the middle of a snowstorm. What could have caused such a reaction?
Sasuke followed her line of vision, meeting the Grass ninja's eyes.
A blade pierced his chest. Another slashing across his stomach. Another two in his eyes.
He fell to his knees, clutching at the wounds only to find there was no blood and no blade. Genjutsu? He glanced over at Sakura who had fallen to her knees and was throwing up onto the branch that she was precariously balanced on. No. It wasn't genjutsu. It was something much more intimate, much more familiar. Something he hadn't felt since back then. It was a feeling that made him want to curl up into a ball and cry. It was Itachi standing over the dead bodies of his parents. Itachi slaughtering every member of the Uchiha clan. Itachi telling him to hate him. Itachi leaving. It was fear. Mind numbing, sensibility altering fear.
A growl from Sakura brought Sasuke out of his trance and he could see her rising steadily, fighting against whatever forces were trying to hold her down. ". . .Hokage," she growled, the rest of her sentence too unintelligible for Sasuke to make out.
How was Sakura able to face the terror when he couldn't? He was supposed to be stronger than her. How could he kill Itachi if he wasn't able to fight the fear. Even Naruto had been forced to overcome his fear to enter the exam. Sasuke was the weak link now.
With a snarl he swiped his kunai across his arm, the white-hot pain that spread from the wound giving the senseless adrenaline to think straight and lift himself to his feet. He regained his senses just in time to avoid a kunai thrown in his direction. Sakura also managed to dodge the one aimed at her and they both got themselves out of the way as quickly as possible, scrambling up a tree and concealing themselves where the terror finally faded.
Sakura seemed to be unsure of herself, her eyes darting around back and forth while her breathing quickened and Sasuke could admit he wasn't doing so well himself, even if he did keep his composure a little better. He had to take care of priorities first though. He tore off a bit of his shirt and wrapped it around his wrist where it would hopefully stem the bleeding until they could guarantee their safety.
"We need a plan," Sasuke managed throatily and Sakura nodded her agreement, biting back tears as she opened her mouth. She didn't get the chance to speak however as a giant snake chose that moment to attack from behind, forcing Sasuke to barrel into her, to avoid the wide jaws and send them careening down to the forest floor. Acting fast, he hooked a kunai through a loop of wire, pulling it taut and throwing it around a branch, holding onto the other end of the wire as they fell. This was going to hurt.
Sasuke cried out in pain as both his arms were pulled at violently. Sakura may have been light, but the wound on his arm wasn't helping matters and he could feel the cut widen at their sudden stop. When the pain became too much to bear he let go and they fell a short height, Sakura rolling upon contact with the ground and Sasuke doing something similar, if a little more clumsy.
Sakura looked up and let out a small scream before throwing a bunch of senbon in a mad panic. A giant snake narrowly missed Sasuke a moment later as it thudded to the ground next to him, thrashed for a moment and lay still.
Sakura moved over to the snake and started pulling out her senbon, wiping each one off before replacing it into her pack but she jumped back as soon as the snake's body started ripping open from the inside. Sasuke managed to prop himself to his feet and back away after a moment, holding his kunai ready even though it pained him to do so.
What appeared out of the snake wasn't what they had been expecting.
"Naruto?" Sakura exclaimed, eyeing the boy who was now drenched in snake guts. "Are you feeling alright?"
Naruto looked at the two of them oddly before scowling. "I'm really not doing this again," he said, then the henge dropped to once again reveal the Grass ninja, much to nobody's surprise. "You're such paranoid ninja already. Never letting your guard down. I'm impressed."
Sasuke ignored the compliment, sending another kunai the girl's way, using it as a distraction as he charged in with a kick aimed straight for her face. The girl yawned in response to his attack, catching the kunai out of the air and sending it back at him while he was still airborne, forcing him to dodge and halt his attack. He backed away again upon landing and eyed Sakura who looked like she was still having trouble coming up with a plan.
"We need to trap her," she muttered to Sasuke in what should have been too soft for the Grass ninja to hear.
The opposing ninja was however shaking her head disappointedly. "No no no. You're not going to be able to trap me. Not as you are right now. Bring out your sharingan and then you'll have a chance, but until then you two are a waste of time."
Sakura looked at Sasuke questioningly, and Sasuke looked away. "I don't have the sharingan," he admitted, feeling far too embarrassed for what the situation called for. "Look just take our scroll and go. It's not worth our lives," Sasuke said finally, throwing the heaven scroll to the Grass ninja. She ignored it however and let it thump to the floor a little ways beside her.
"You don't have the sharingan huh? That's a shame. I'll just have to do something to activate it then," the Grass ninja said, a malicious smile taking over her face which twisted a moment later as she pulled a sword out from her throat. Then in a movement that Sasuke couldn't track the ninja was gone. He was warned of her presence a moment later by a faint rustle behind them. He turned to look, bringing his kunai up but he felt like he was moving through quicksand and he was forced to helplessly watch Sakura being run through on the Grass ninja's sword.
She let out a small gasp of surprise then her eyes slid back and she collapsed, sliding off the sword and leaving a trail of blood.
She was on the floor bleeding out but she was impaled on the sword in the Grass ninja's hands. Sasuke moved to attack, his body moving slower than it had ever before and the Grass ninja also seemed to be moving slowly. He could see where she was going to be, where he should strike and when. He could see Sakura's impaled form being held up in the air. He pushed his kunai forward and the Grass ninja only barely removed herself from his attack before it became lethal. Still Sasuke was able to cut her. He could see Sakura's impaled form being held up, her eyes widening as the blade slid through her back and out of her stomach. He threw shuriken and kunai, he punched and he kicked, but each attack was rebuffed by the Grass ninja. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and she let out a gasp.
The Grass ninja formed a hand seal, raising a cloud of smoke, which, when it cleared, showed a massive snake easily the size of a normal training ground. It moved to attack Sasuke but suddenly diverted to the side as if distracted by something and disappeared, leaving both Sasuke and the Grass ninja with bewildered expressions. Sakura's eyes widened and she let out a small gasp as the cold metal pierced her stomach, spilling blood onto her pink dress.
Sasuke shook his head and faced the Grass ninja. Her movements had slowed considerably but he still wasn't able to keep up just yet. He needed to trap her. Prevent her from dodging. He threw kunai after kunai, shuriken after shuriken, jumping around the clearing until his pack was emptied then formed a hand seal. The Grass ninja hadn't noticed what was happening yet which was good. It meant he had a chance. He blew a fireball down the line of wire he had set up, making the Grass ninja dodge but the dodging was all for naught as she was caught on another wire that ignited a second later. Sasuke lowered his hands slowly, his breathing heavy as he watched the enemy burn. Sakura's eyes rolled into her skull and she slid off the sword, falling limply to the floor.
Remembering himself, Sasuke hurried over to Sakura. He stopped before reaching her, the feeling of terror from before suddenly returning. Having more experience with the sensation by now, he turned slowly to face the Grass ninja whose face had melted off partially to reveal another unfamiliar face underneath. She was watching him and clapping with an amused expression. "That was very impressive Sasuke. I can tell you'll be much better than your brother," she said, then took a step forward. His eyes were able to track her but he couldn't move. She was suddenly so much faster than she had been moving before and Sasuke had no doubt in that moment that she had been going easy on him. The Grass ninja, if she was even really a ninja from the Hidden Grass, leaned down to Sasuke and revealed fangs in her mouth just before she plunged them into Sasuke's neck. "I am Orochimaru of the Sannin. Seek me out if you want power and you shall have it. Until then," the Grass ninja finished, disappearing into the wind. Sasuke stood still for a moment then felt a burning pain emanating from his neck. He fell to his knees and tried to cry out as the darkness took him. He didn't get a chance.
(O_O)
Toasted snake wasn't a smell that Naruto wanted wafting into his nostrils ever again. After having crawled out of the smoking carcass of the giant snake all he'd wanted to do was take his clothes off and jump into a river. Unfortunately he needed to find his teammates first and the smell of snake innards would probably help avoid any further encounters. That had been his hope.
If there was one advantage to his heightened sense of smell it was that he could track his teammates and from what he could tell they weren't too far off. Heading in their direction he hoped that they hadn't been swallowed by a giant snake as well. After a few minutes of avoiding the friendly wildlife he finally heard the sounds of weapons clashing. He would be upon the combat in only a moment. It would be just through the underbrush ahead.
He had been about to burst through when he stopped in his tracks at the sight of the biggest, meanest looking snake he'd ever had the misfortune to see. It was probably as big as the academy or ten Ichiraku stands. In most cases Naruto struggled to recall shinobi protocol from the academy, but the protocol for massive creatures too big to fight was etched into his mind well. Run like hell. So he twisted in place and ran, the snake giving chase.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder and gulped. The snake looked more intelligent than the previous giant one. This one might actually try to impale him instead of swallowing him. There was only one way to remedy that, especially seeing as he wasn't getting away. Spinning on the spot again, Naruto faced the snake and leaped into its wide open mouth before it could get any ideas.
Flung once again into darkness Naruto wondered momentarily why he had done something so utterly stupid before drawing a kunai and plunging it into the soft inside of the snake, holding himself in place to prevent himself from falling down to the stomach. The advantage of having to face a bigger foe was that the inside held so much more space and Naruto wasn't being crushed to his utter relief. He wouldn't be able to blast through this snake using explosive tags unfortunately, it's skin was too thick for that. He did have a few ideas though and this was the perfect time to test them. Pulling off his bag he rummaged around until he found his ink brush and bottle. Balancing the bottle carefully he started drawing letters on the inside of the snake's throat while his other arm held him aloft via kunai. This shouldn't take long.
When he was as satisfied with his work as he could be in the dark, he stoppered up his ink bottle and closed up his pack, pulling out another kunai before doing so. Using the two kunai he climbed away from the seal he had just drawn then flared his chakra. There was a flash of light, the smell of burnt flesh and nothing more.
Naruto sagged. Apparently the explosion hadn't been big enough to make a hole in the snake's throat. He needed to rethink his plan. Should he try again or maybe try a different seal? He didn't have many seals that would work in such a scenario, none that he wanted to risk using within any amount of distance to his person. He still had a massive roll of explosive tags at the bottom of his pack so he could just use those to make a hole, but there was no guarantee that they would do anything.
He continued to contemplate a solution until he felt the snake lurch. His kunai were wrenched from the skin of the snake and he had to quickly insert them again to prevent himself from slipping down into the stomach. He didn't want to go near whatever a snake so big did to digest its food. The snake lurched again, this time throwing Naruto forward, closer to the mouth. What was happening out there? He could see light in between the snake's fangs. It lurched a final time and Naruto felt himself being propelled forward, rocketing straight past the fangs to bounce against the ground, then again, then again, then again.
Groaning he looked up at the massive snake and wondered what happened. His eyes widened imperceptibly and he used every last bit of remaining strength to throw himself out of the way of the flood that had once been the contents of the snake's stomach. The snake looked at him hatefully, hissed and puffed away in a cloud of smoke.
He was bruised and battered, he stank of snake guts and he still hadn't found his teammates. He would complain the ears off of someone right now if he could find someone that would listen. However knowing that no one was listening he hunched his shoulders and headed off in the direction of Sasuke and Sakura's smell.
Making it through the clearing he made out Sasuke and Sakura prone on the floor. Neither of them were moving and that wasn't the only thing worrying Naruto. Sakura had a hole in her body that had been leaking blood for who knew how long and more disturbing was the seal on Sasuke's neck which looked far too familiar to be a good thing yet far too unfamiliar to be a good thing.
First things first, he needed to do what he could do, worry about what he couldn't later. Rolling Sakura over he popped a blood replenisher in her mouth if only to delay her death until he could close the wound. He could give her stiches but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be quick enough.
He reached for the end of Sakura's dress, had a quick qualm about the morals of raising a girl's dress without permission, threw that thought out and exposed the wound.
He had seen Sasuke performing the jutsu hundreds of times, he could only hope that he would be able to get it right. Forming the hand signs he put his fingers together and instead of a puff that he would normally see from Sasuke, he blew softly against Sakura's wound.
Nothing happened.
He let out a frustrated groan. This wasn't the time for him to fail at ninjutsu, Sakura's life might depend on his ability to do this jutsu right now, he couldn't afford to fail. Wracking his brain for his lessons on all fire related jutsu he recalled a simple lesson that Sasuke had been trying to teach him all the while He kept saying it over and over again but Naruto had never taken him seriously, 'You have to think of your chakra as fire'. That was the most useless lesson he'd been given. Okay, maybe not the most useless. For now though he actually had to believe it.
Closing his eyes he thought of his chakra flowing through him, now cool and light. He imagined it warming up, warming him up, he imagined it lighting up from inside his body. Then he tried the jutsu again, blowing softly against Sakura's wound.
A flame licked against Sakura's skin melting the flesh and drying out the blood. It was enough to make Naruto rejoice and also enough to wake Sakura and send her into a screaming fit. He thought that he should've tied her down first as she thrashed against him, crying out in pain until the wound was fully cauterized. She then passed out immediately and Naruto rolled her over to do the same on her back where she didn't react. He popped another blood replenisher in her mouth then moved over to Sasuke, feeling his forehead. There wasn't much he could do about the fever but he could wet a cloth with the water from their packs and leave it on his forehead for whatever good that would do. He did so, then draped another cloth over Sakura's forehead after a second thought. While Sasuke hadn't endured extensive injurie there was one on his arm that needing patching up from what Naruto could smell. Unwrapping the cloth around his arm he dabbed at the wound, using some antiseptic from his pack then wrapped it in a cleaner cloth when it didn't look like he needed stitches. Leaning back, he eyed Sasuke's prone form wearily, then moved over to the side and threw up until he was too weak to hold himself up anymore. He rolled over before falling into his vomit, even though it wouldn't have made much of a difference to the smell but sleeping in his own throw up wasn't something he wanted to do at any point in his life.
Glancing to his side he spied something familiar and he reached out to it, pulling it closer until he could see it properly. It was their heaven scroll. How had it gotten over there? He shrugged and tucked it into his pack. He could ask his teammates about that when they woke up.
He needed to set up some traps. He couldn't move Sakura or Sasuke for fear of making their conditions worse. Pushing himself up with a groan he watched the final rays of sunlight fade until he was left in darkness.
He paced the clearing first, placing all manner of seals on every open space. He would collect them once Sasuke and Sakura were able to move but not before then. He would need them for any of the wild animals and odds were that he would encounter far more of them than he wanted to. Climbing one of the trees he saw that there was wire spread across the open space giving him an idea on other traps to set. Finally he covered his teammates' bodies with sand besides for their faces in the hopes that they would be less noticeable. Then, when he was sure there was nothing else he could do, he sat down and stayed alert in the hopes that one of his teammates would wake up before he passed out.
Throughout the night nothing came close to Naruto or his teammates. He wanted to think it was his luck taking a turn for the better but knew that it was most likely just the smell which was keeping the beasts away.
