AN: HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT. Ugh, finally did it. I just want to preface this chapter with saying that I absolutely CAN NOT write fight scenes. So, uh, yeah. Anyways, thank you to everyone who had stuck with the story this far. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because school is starting soon and it's a full time job in and of itself. I know exactly where I'm going with it though, so you can be rest assured in that. Without further ado, enjoy!

EDIT: Beta'd as of 8/27

The forest was still. Too still. The sound of forest animals scurrying around the underbrush was suspiciously absent. It was as if the forest was holding its breath. Up in the trees; Naruto was sitting with his back to a tree meditating, jacket wrapped around his waist. They were planning on using his chains for this, and he didn't feel like buying a new jacket again.

Meanwhile, Sakura was squatting on the same branch just a few meters away, nervously tugging at her gloves. Her green eyes were scouring the forest around them, looking for any sign of movement. She hated being caught unawares, and as such was on high alert. Next to her, Sasuke was standing at attention, fingers drumming against the handle of his new sword.

Everyone was anxious. And rightly so.

"Anything?" Sasuke asked, eyes still scanning the woods.

Naruto, who was tapping into Kurama's chakra as much as he could, could sense the malicious intent rushing towards them a few hundred yards to their 5 o'clock.

"Two minutes," he reported. Sasuke nodded and pulled his sword out. Sakura followed suit, straightening up from her crouch and looking around.

They waited for a minute. And another. Untill-

"Now," Naruto hissed.

All three exerted chakra to their feet as a giant wall of wind slammed into them. Dirt and twigs flew into their vision, threatening to blind them as their hair and clothing whipped about. The bark beneath Naruto's feet threatened to break off, but he grabbed a kunai and plunged it into the branch, holding in to that for stability.

As suddenly as the wind had started, it stopped.

Naruto dropped to his knees. "That was close," he huffed, yanking his kunai out.

"Yeah," Sakura breathed, wiping the grime off herself.

Before anyone else got a chance to say anything, an achingly familiar voice chuckled. It echoed in the air around them, making it impossible to locate.

"Kukukuku." Laughter.

The three members of team 7 spun around so they were all back to back, weapons drawn and ready to use. Sasuke's eyes spun into their sharingan while Naruto and Sakura dropped into readying stances.

"It seems my prey is stronger than I anticipated," the voice gushed, bloodlust dripping of every word. "This will make for a more interesting fight than I imagined."

"Show yourself you coward," Naruto shouted, playing the part of a clueless genin. More chuckled followed his declaration.

A powerful wave of killing intent swept through the forest. Naruto didn't have to fake the sweat that started to bead on his brow. His limbs were shaking only slightly as the pressure increased. He hadn't experienced killing intent that intense in years, but he was desensitized enough to it that it didn't restrict his movements. Not that Orochimaru could know that.

Next to him, Sakura and Sasuke were putting up the same farce, Sasuke with wide eyes and trembling arms, Sakura clenching her kunai like a lifeline. Good, it looked convincing.

"My, my, my," the voice echoed again. "Three little flies caught in my trap. What to do, what to do?"

Shooting them both a glance, Sasuke motioned with his chin behind them, where they'd laid all the traps. The other two two gave minute nods, showing they understood.

"Should I decapitate them?" Orochimaru went on, voice coming closer and closer. "Paralyze them? Hm, so many options."

"Run!" Sasuke shouted. Immediately the three were off, racing into the forest. Orochimaru shot after them, jumping out of the trees above them. Somewhere else, Naruto's clones started collecting nature chakra, ready to use at a moments notice.

"Three and nine!" Sakura cried, dropping below them. Sasuke reached into his bag and threw a kunai to their right, Naruto following suit to the left. They hit their targets, stabbing into exploding seals on the trunks of some trees, causing a huge smoke bomb to go off.

Behind them they heard an amused chuckle.

"Parlor tricks? How pathetic."

But when the smoke cleared, Orochimaru found himself alone.

"Hmmmm, where could they be?" He purred, tongue flicking across his lips. His stolen face scrunched up in thought, eyes flicking back and forth through the canopy for any sign of them.

Then he smiled and turned pointedly towards a shrub that seemed to stand out from the rest. "Found you."

"Wasn't hiding."

Orochimaru turned around to look at whoever spoke behind him only to find a foot in his face. He blocked it with his arm and quickly jumped away, landing further down the branch.

Sasuke straightened up from his failed attack, drawing his chokutō threateningly.

"Adorable," Orochimaru purred. "A stick."

Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously, red spinning into mangekyo black. He pushed lightning chakra into the blade, making it crackled with blue light. If Orochimaru got touched by that, he'd he paralyzed. "Is it adorable now?" He asked with a smirk. The sannin's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Behind the two, Sakura and Naruto were hiding in some foliage, watching the proceedings below, waiting for their cue.

Naruto was sitting perfectly still, gathering as much nature chakra as he could to go into sage mode, while Sakura focused intently on Sasuke. She was watching for the signal that would alert her to go down and join Sasuke in the brawl. Her fists tightened by her side as she watched the two trade blows below, metal hitting metal as Sasuke fought the snake summoner, sword against kunai.

"Any moment," she hissed, eyes narrowing. There!

Sakura saw the flash of lightning that left Sasuke's other hand and shot forward off the branch, hands already flying through seals.

"Earth style, rock fist!" She shouted, slamming her fist into Orochimaru's side. The rock covered limb crashed into the man's ribs sickening cracks following. Sasuke's sword rushed in after, sliding between the trapezius muscle and the clavicle.

Only for the man to dissolve into mud.

"Fuck," Sakura hissed, spinning around. "Where'd he go?"

"Watch your back!" Sasuke shouted instead, throwing her to the side. Sakura skid along the branch, looking up to see Sasuke deflect a snake summons, cleaving its head right off.

"Show yourself you dick," he growled.

"That's not very polite," their adversary's voice sounded from above them. Sakura had only a moments notice to jump out of the way before the ground that had been below her was impaled by a large snake. The creator hissed in anger, turning its beady yellow eyes to look at her. Looking up, she saw it was actually Orochimaru's arm that he'd only transformed, and grimaced when he pulled it back into his sleeve. Disgusting.

"Where'd the third go, I wonder," the man mused.

"Away from you," Sakura bluffed. "We're not letting you get our scroll!" The comment just made Orochimaru smirk in amusement, seeming to find the idea of them assuming he was after their earth scroll hilarious. Even if it was just a farce.

"Sakura," Sasuke hissed under his breath. "Nisemono (liar) formation." Sakura nodded swiftly before jumping off out of sight, leaving Sasuke alone with the sannin. He stepped back into a defensive stance, bringing his sword up to eye level. He knew Orochimaru was after his eyes, aiming to give him the curse mark. That wasn't going to happen this time around if he could help it.

Orochimaru smirked before jumping down from the branch, eyes wide with bloodlust. Sasuke jumped out of the way, sword flashing as he parried an attack. Good, he had his attention. Now it was up to Sakura.

After trading blows for a good minute, Sakura jumped out of the shadows and hit Orochimaru hard with a punch to the back, sending him flying forward into Sasuke's own attack. A growl of frustration escaped the sannin as he just barely averted it, substituting himself for a log at the last second. But the two pressed on, relentless.

This should be enough time for Naruto...

"Naruto now!" Sakura cried, sweeping her legs under Orochimaru's. From above, an orange and yellow blur shot out of the foliage, iris' yellow with orange around the lids. Naruto had entered sage mode.

"Take this, ya dick!' He cried, swiping a fist down. Orochimaru easily dodged-

Only to go careening backward anyway.

"Ha, nature chakra, bitch!" Naruto cried as the sannin went crashing into a tree. Just like when he'd fought Pein, Naruto had pushed some of the chakra out and had managed to hit the sannin hard in the face despite not actually making contact. Even from where he stood, Naruto could see the bruise already starting to form on the man's cheek.

"That's some jutsu you have there," the sannin drawled, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth. "I wonder," he continued. "However did a genin like you learn it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Naruto shot back, fists balled up at his sides. The grin Orochimaru's mouth stretched into was anything but comforting.

"Oh, I think I would." Then he vanished in a shunshin.

"Naruto, to your right!" Sakura shouted. Without thinking, Naruto ducked and rolled towards the branch bellow him, just missing the kunai that would have clipped his ear off. Orochimaru growled in frustration before shooting off after him, feet slamming against the bark as he raced down the tree. His hands were already flashing through another set of seals when Sakura intervened.

"Not on my watch," she cried, launching herself towards him. Sailing forwards, she wound back her fist, and aguementing her chakra just right, sent it careening into the unsuspecting sannin. He only had a moments notice when he looked up before she slammed into him.

BOOM!

Bark exploded everywhere. Spears of wood shot out in all directions, slicing through the air with deadly force. Behind him, Naruto watched as the tree he'd just been on exploded into shards of wood as a crater ten meters long destroyed the center. Cracks shot up and down the trunk, splintering the wood apart until it just collapsed from the stress. In the epicenter, he spotted a roughed up orochimaru shooting away from the destruction, face already starting to peel off.

Good, he thought bitterly. They were already making progress.

"One good punch isn't enough to take me down," Orochimaru sneered, shooting past them into the forest.

"We have to stop him!" Sasuke cried, jumping after him. Naruto followed suit, leaping from one branch to another. In his hands, rigged kunai flashing before he threw them towards his target. They shot into the branches just in front of the man before going off in a violent explosion. The sannin was forced to find a different route.

"Naruto, stop him!" It was Sasuke who'd yelled. Without wasting any time, Naruto landed on a branch and focused. Suddenly; chains were shooting from his chest, speeding towards the snake sannin with deadly accuracy.

"What?" they heard the man gasp. In a second he was tangled in the kekkei genkai, links wrapped tightly around him. He dropped towards the ground, feet no longer carrying him forward.

"Summoning jutsu!" They heard, and instantly the forest was filled with thick smoke. Naruto felt something in the cloud yank at his chains, and it as all he could do to stop himself from being thrown off the branch.

"Erk!" He pulled the chains back in, some links coming back cracked or broken. What had Orochimaru summoned that was strong enough to break chakra chains?

"Shit," Sasuke muttered next to him.

The smoke cleared, revealing a towering silhouette inside it. It reached high up into the canopy, head crushing the top few branches. Beneath it, trees crashed to the ground, foliage breaking apart and flattening under its girth. Only the tailed beasts could match that size, and that destructive power.

"It's Manda," Sasuke answered.


"I thought you said you killed this guy before," Naruto panted, hiding behind a tree. Once Orochimaru had summoned Manda, they had pulled all the stops, which had resulted in a chaotic, draining battle. The forest was littered with burn marks and destroyed foliage. Naruto had used his chains six times now, which was his limit in a battle, and Orochimaru didn't seem one bit closer to being stopped. Naruto's eyes were vivid yellow with orange around them, signaling he was in sage mode. Across from him was Sasuke, doing the same. Except the Uchiha had his mangekyo activated. Blood was streaked down the side of his face from when he'd overused his kekkei genkai, signaling he was reaching his limit. He hadn't pulled out Susano, but it was perhaps only a matter of time before he did. Even so, it was the last of last resorts. He didn't want to go blind, after all. It was bad enough he'd had to use the mangekyo at all.

"Yeah, when he was already dying!" Sasuke shot back, ducking under another blast of fire.

"Well we gotta take him down somehow, y'know," Naruto exclaimed. "Got any ideas for that?"

The glare Sasuke shot him was enough to shut him up. "Dumbass, we're already at full power. You think of something."

Another explosion went off behind them.

"Alright, alright," Naruto cried, duking around the tree to see if Sakura had survived that one. He sighed in relief when he saw she was the source. She had been going to to toe with Orochimaru for the past few minutes, and even though she was amazing, she still had her limits. They had to figure out something fast.

"Alright, I think I got it," he finally said. "I'll try to use Kurama's cloak with a rasengan. That should take him down."

"It didn't even take me down when we fought last time," Sasuke pointed out sharply, referring to their battle at the valley of the end. "How's it supposed to work against him?"

"Just go with me on this ok!" He screamed back.

"Fine!"

Thank you, Naruto sighed internally. Then, Hey, Kurama, wanna have some fun?

Do you even have to ask? The bijuu purred back. As soon as he'd finished, corrosive red chakra started to bubble up from under Naruto's skin, boiling like lava. His whisker marks thickened and his iris' grew red, pupils turning into black slits. His fingernails lengthened into claws and he could feel sharp canines drop into his mouth. The fox's energy flowed through him like a coursing river, pounding at the edges, demanding to be unleashed. He had to be careful though, one false step and he'd fall in too deep.

"Alright," he smirked, turning to Sasuke with a feral grin. "Let's do this."

The Uchiha grinned back before jumping up into the trees. Naruto followed with an excited grin.

Above them, Sakura jumped out of the way of a powerful blast of wind chakra, only barely escaping the cone of destruction. She had already used a fair amount of her chakra, and was carefully rationing out what was left, which meant she couldn't afford to waste any on fancy jutsu. A small part of her cursed her younger body for not having better reserves.

"I must admit I'm impressed," Orochimaru said as he ducked under one of her kicks. "Not even a full fledged chunin can stand up to me."

I'm better than just a chunin, Sakura thought furiously, dodging a fire jutsu. She went to get in another punch, but was knocked off by a low kick that swept her legs from under her. He hit the branch hard with her stomach, hands scraping against the bark as she tried to catch herself.

"But," Orochimaru sighed. "You're still no chunin." Sakura looked up and glared at him, spitting blood out of her mouth from where she'd bit her tongue.

"Hm," the sannin scoffed. "Pathetic."

"HEY ASSHOLE!" Someone screamed. In the blink of an eye, an orange blur slammed into Orochimaru, throwing him off the branch and away from her. Sakura squealed and crawled over to the edge of the branch, looking down to see where her teammate had landed. A few yards below her, she spotted a fully cloaked Naruto squatting near the snake sannin, orange chakra bubbling around him protectively. "Keep your hands off her ya bastard!" Naruto cried, jumping forward to swipe at the man.

Orochimaru reflexively blocked it, only to get burned by the corrosive chakra. He was thrown back again by a fist made of Kurama's chakra shooting out at him, sending him tumbling off the tree.

He landed on a trunk below, feet sticking to the side. His clothes were burned where he'd been punched, and a long gash ran down his arm from where he'd tried to block Naruto's attack, blood seeping into the clothing. And he looked genuinely breathless. They were winning!

"Ah, so you're the jinchuuriki of the nine tails," he purred, scooting himself up into a sideways standing position, eyes fixing the boy with a hungry gaze. Naruto felt Kurama's tail lash angrily behind him. "Interesting."

He didn't want to know what Orochimaru was thinking just then, only knowing that he didn't want to be one of his damn experiments. Forming a hand sign, he summoned a shadow clone and held out his hand. The shadow clone set to work.

"Now there's a jutsu I haven't seen in quite some time," Orochimaru mused, watching the proceedings in front of him. Blue chakra starting swirling faster and faster in Naruto's palm, glowing bright through the red chakra cloak. "I wonder, wherever did you pick it up?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Naruto growled, dispelling his clone. As soon as he did, he shot off the branch, kyuubi chakra speeding him up and shooting him towards his target. He held up his hand, ready to slam it into the sannin.

"RASEN-"

"Five pronged seal!"

A hand slammed into Naruto's stomach. And it burned.

"ACK!"

Fire raced across his abdomen, burning into his gut. Suddenly, all of Kurama's chakra was sucked out of him, cloak fading away until nothing was left. Orochimaru followed up the action with a swift, forceful kick to the chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree.

He held out his hand behind him to break his fall. But-

CRACK.

He screamed in agony.

Sliding down the tree, he hit the ground, hard. The breath was immediately knocked out of him, making him choke on air. His arm was on fire, pulsing so bad he was sure it had its own heartbeat. Without his coat on, he could see from where his face was smushed against the grass the angle his arm was at. It wasn't good.

"Naruto!"

Suddenly, Sakura was crouched in front of him, rolling him onto his side.

"Ah, ah, ah," he hissed, arm flaring with pain. Sakura frowned, looked down. Then-

"Shit," she hissed, catching sight of the bent elbow. "Let me see it."

"No, no, we gotta get back up there," Naruto protested, already trying to push himself up off the ground. Without speaking, Sakura just shoved him back down, already inspecting the arm. Her hands glowed green for a few seconds, hovering over the injury as a frown of concentration slid over her face.

After a moment, she dropped her hands. "It's a stage two supracondylar fracture," she reported.

"A what now?" He asked. She rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"You broke your elbow."

He dropped his head to ground, frustrated. Well, worse things have happened. He was about to say as much when he tried to move it and a lance of pain shot up his arm, making him bite down on his cheek to keep from screaming. But then again…

"You can't move your arm," Sakura told him. "And I'd heal it but-" She was cut off by an explosion a few hundred meters away. "That."

Naruto grimaced, scooting up into a sitting position. "But I'm right handed!" He protested. "I gotta do something, y'know!"

"Not with a broken arm you're not-"

She was cut off by another explosion right above them, this one raining bark and fire down on them. Sakura cut off to cover them both, arms wrapped protectively around hers and Naruto's heads. Once the debris had passed, she pulled away.

"Argh, Sasuke needs help," she growled, looking up to see the Uchiha going toe to toe with Orochimaru. She turned back to Naruto, green eyes hard as ice. "Stay here," she hissed. "And don't move your arm." She gave him one last glare as a warning before jumping up to go help their teammate.

Like hell, he thought, scrambling back onto his feet. His arm was throbbing with pain. Even worse when he moved it, and on top of Sakura practically yelling at him to keep it still… it really limited him on options. He couldn't form hand seals without both hands, having no yet mastered one handed hand signs. And to make matters worse, he was right handed, which meant all his weapons training had been with his right. Argh! Why hadn't he listened more when Kakashi-sensei made them practice ambidextrously?

"I'm the goddamn savior of Konoha," he ground out through his teeth, grabbing his jacket from around his waist the create a makeshift sling. "If I can't find a way, I'll never live it down."

Once him arm was stable, he grabbed a kunai from his pouch and jumped up onto the tree, racing upwards. Above him, Sakura and Sasuke were duking it out with Orochimaru in an intense taijutsu showdown. Sakura was evading nearly all the attacks thrown at her, occasionally landing one of her own on the man when there was an opening. Sasuke was holding his own with his chōkuto, deflecting blows left and right.

"Dragon flame caterwaul!" The Uchiha cried. Large dragon shaped fireballs followed the exclamation, diving towards Orochimaru. The blistering jutsu scorched the tree tops, almost sending Naruto tumbling back to the ground from the intensity of it.

"Ah, so the Uchiha has some tricks up his sleeve, does he," Orochimaru chuckled, jumping up out of the way. Sasuke snarled, jumping after him, Sakura hot on his heels.

Naruto stopped on a branch below, panting. How was he already out of breath?

It's because of the seal, you moron, Kurama's voice suddenly shouted.

"Seal?" He asked aloud, eyes following the battle above.

Yes, brat, the fox growled back. That stupid snake put an odd numbered seal on top of my even numbered seal. It destabilized your chakra network and cut me off from you. He sounded pissed off. Then, It's honestly a miracle you're not unconscious.

"So what am I supposed to do?" He shouted back, hand gripping his kunai even harder in frustration.

How am I supposed to know? I'm not a stupid shinobi!

"Yeah but you're part of me!"

If anyone from the outside had looked upon the scene, they might have been put off by a twelve year old seemingly getting angry and yelling at nobody. As it was, there was no one paying attention to him. Luckily.

Look, Kurama finally said. I can't give you any more of my chakra because of this damn seal, and because of the imbalance sage mode is out of the question. But you're still a stubborn Uzumaki. I'm sure you'll figure something out.

Before Naruto could argue further, he felt the fox retract from his mind, leaving him effectively alone.

"Psh, thanks," he muttered bitterly.

But he was still left with one problem. How the fuck was he supposed to take this bastard down?

"Sakura," he called up, landing on a branch next to her. She ducked under a volley of kunai before spinning to face him. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were ripped, but other than that she looked alright.

"Naruto! I told you to stay down!" She cried.

"Your fault for thinking I would," he pointed out. Then, "Listen, we need a distraction," he told her. "We can't disable him head on."

"What do you suggest?" she asked, panting.

"Look, just distract him and tell Sasuke to follow my lead," he said. "Alright?"

Sakura scowled and pursed her lips, but didn't retort. "Fine," she finally said. "Just don't take too long."

Naruto smirked. "I won't."


Making the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu was rather hard with only one usable hand, but he managed to do it anyway with only some contorting involved. He was standing on a branch high above the fight taking place below. Sakura was going toe to toe with Orochimaru, dodging his massive jutsu and snake combo attack. She was amazing. But it wasn't enough.

"Hey, asshole!" He shouted down, interrupting them. Breaking off from his fight with Sakura, Orochimaru looked up to see the Uzumaki and his clone standing next to each other, hands held out towards each other for some reason. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki," he exclaimed. "And I'm not going to lose to scum like you!"

Below him, the snake sannin scoffed. "You can barely stand up to me," he sideled. "What more can you do?"

Naruto's smirk widened devilishly. "This," he grinned. He held up his hand just as his clone popped, and held in it was a swirling vortex of concentrated chakra. The rasengan.

"Sakura, now!" He shouted, jumping forward off the branch. Immediately Sakura slammed her hand into the ground, activating the seals she had placed before hand. Ropes shot up from the branch, wrapping around the sannin with impossible speed, trapping him in place.

"TAKE THIS YA DAMN SNAKE BASTARD!" He cried, speeding towards the man, face illuminated by his jutsu.

He wound back his arm, rasengan whirring violently, then-

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE

-Sasuke's chidori went straight through Orochimaru's shoulder.

And Naruto's rasengan into his other.

Blood splattered across Naruto's face, splashing into his eyes and mouth. In front of him Orochimaru was being skewered from behind and pinned from the front. In his shoulder, Sasuke's hand still crackled with lightning, making the flesh around the wound smoke and char. Naruto had planned it to be like this. Hoping the Uchiha would catch on to his plan, he had figured the best way to debilitate Orochimaru would be to get him from the back while he was focused on his front. Luckily, Sasuke had picked up on it and had snuck in from behind. In front of Naruto, blood dropped slowly down the sannin's chest, splashing onto the branch below.

And then he laughed.

"Kukuku- cough- kuku. How… amusing," he laughed wetly , eyes fixed on Naruto's. An uneasy feeling settled over the jinchuuriki. "Three genin managed to beat me," he huffed. "Isn't that a surprise."

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted from behind the man. Naruto didn't even have the time to process the cry before Orochimaru started to slide off his pupils hand and further into Naruto's. Startled, the rasengan fizzled out, leaving Naruto with a bare palm now pressed against a bloodied shoulder.

"Unless," the snake went on, tongue flashing across his lips. "You're not normal genin." He leaned forward more, mouth opening to show sharp teeth and-

"Naruto watch out!" Sakura suddenly cried. He didn't even get a chance to move before someone barreled into him, throwing him off the branch and into the trees below. The two hit another branch hard, wind knocked out of both of their lungs.

"Oof," he cried. "What was that-"

The clang if steel above him answered his question before he even finished it. There was a sword clenched in Orochimaru's jaw, one that hadn't been there before. One that could only have come from his mouth… which had been facing Naruto. Sakura had saved him from being stabbed!

"Thanks," he coughed.

"Don't mention it," she wheezed back. "I think," she continued, eyes flicking to his seriously. "It's time,"

Naruto gaped. "Seriously?"

"If we keep going like this he could very well beat us," she reasoned. "It's either now or never."

"We can still wear him down," he argued. "I'm not done yet, and neither is that bastard!" He gesture sharply with his chin towards the man in question, who was fighting Sasuke in a battle of kenjutsu.

"Your arm is shot, he sealed off Kurama, and I'm not gonna let Sasuke use his mangekō anymore! We need help."

Naruto's face twisted into a scowl. He didn't want to agree with her, but she was right. He'd used his chains six times already, and they were no match for Orochimaru. As much as he was loath to admit it.

"Alright, fine," he spat out, looking away. "Let's do it."

Sakura smiled. "Good."


Orochimaru stood on the tree branch looking over the forest. The Uchiha he'd just been fighting had scampered off somewhere, withdrawing from the fight without a word. It was like he'd been signaled away, but genin didn't know signals yet. Not unless Konoha decided to step up their teaching, which he highly doubted.

His shoulders ached something fierce as he shifted around to get a better look. How foolish he had been. He had been preparing himself for the jinchuuriki's attack, building up chakra to soften the blow. He hadn't even heard the other coming from behind him. These three weren't average genin, he could say that much. Not with the jinchuuriki using sage mode, or the Uchiha using mangekyō. Even the girl surprised him, strength reminding him painfully of Tsunade. What was with these kids?

"Hmmmm, where'd the little kiddies go," he purred, looking around. There were no genin as far as he could see, either having fled or hidden themselves extremely well. Instead of getting an answer though, Sakura stepped out in front of him.

"You want the scroll?" She panted,demeaned hard as stone. Orochimaru locked eyes with her, his own narrowing. "Here," she finished. Digging into her pouch, she held up their earth scroll. Her limbs shook as she did so, legs quivering from the strain of holding her up. She was panting from exhaustion, looking to all the world ready to drop.

"Tsk, you think I'm still after that silly thing?" He mocked. A chuckle escaped him at the thought. "What I'm after is far more precious than that."

He would have thought the vague, harrowing answer would have frightened her. But Instead of getting the response he was expecting, the young girl just smirked.

"I know," she said. Then, twisting on her feet, she flung the scroll through the air into the forest. It fluttered open, paper trailing after it like a ribbon until-

POOF!

Orochimaru only stared. "What?"

Out of the scroll popped a proctor, not so gracefully falling towards the ground after being summoned in mid air. It was Kotetsu, the gate guard.

He landed nimbly on a branch bellow him, looking around in confusion before looking up. His eyes landed on the very battered Sakura, who was no longer putting on a show of fatigue. Sakura, noticing that he saw her, immediately ran down the tree.

"He's not a genin!" She shouted in a shrill voice, gesturing wildly to the sannin. Kotetsu finally turned around, and spotting their attacker, froze. His eyes went wide and his face pale. Clearly he recognized their adversary. Good.

"Please, we need help!" Sakura finished, landing beside him.

"Got it," Kotetsu nodded, shaking himself out of his revery. "Get behind me!" The genin did as he was told. Naruto hopped down onto the branch from where he'd been hiding, arm still stuck in his makeshift sling. Sasuke followed suit, sword out and ready to use. They weren't taking any chances.

In front of them, Orochimaru was watching them with an intrigued eye, arms dangling uselessly at his side, kusanagi still clutched in his mouth.

"Alright," the chunin said. "On my signal, run the opposite direction. I'll cover you."

Sasuke scoffed. "You're only a chunin, he'll kill you," he argued.

"Better me than you!" The proctor shot back, effectively shutting him up. "Now just do as I say."

The team of genin scowled, but ultimately nodded.

Kotetsu eyed them for a moment before ushering them off, pulling out a scroll of his own and summoning a giant mace. Immediately after he pulled out a paper seal from his weapons pouch and, pushing chakra into it, chucked it into the air.

The seal exploded upward and suddenly the forest was illuminated with fireworks. A signal then.

"Signaling for help won't do you any good," Orochimaru chuckled, watching the chunin with mild fascination, like how a cat would watch a mouse caught in its paws.

"You'll be the one who needs help, you snake," Kotetsu shot back before turning around the pushing off the branch, headed after the genin he'd sent off. Orochimaru just smirked before jumping after him. This was getting fun!

Below him on the forest floor, the team of four was moving quickly through the underbrush, dirt and leaves getting kicked up in their wake.

"Why are we running?" Naruto demanded from in front of the proctor, jumping around a fallen log. "We gotta take him down!"

"That man is a sannin, there's no way I'll let you do that," the chunin shot back.

"Not like we have a choice," Sasuke huffed. "He's gaining on us."

Kotetsu glanced over his shoulder before letting out a loud curse. Indeed he was. Orochimaru couldn't be over a hundred yards behind them. How he was gaining with injuries like those he didn't know. Perhaps he didn't want to either. "Whatever I do, just stay behind me!" he cried anyway. The three genin nodded.

Skidding to halt in the ground, the chunin whipped around and, flashing through a few hand signs, shot a large blast of fire shooting out of his hands at the sannin. Naruto quickly stepped in and helped by pushing some wind chakra into it, turning it into a blistering firestorm. The flames raged forward, rushing through the undergrowth with an unworldly hunger. After a moment, they couldn't even see Orochimaru.

It took several moments, but eventually the flames died down, settling into a smoldering crackle.

"Did, did that do it?" Kotetsu breathed, uncovering his eyes after doing so to hide the light.

"I think-" Sakura stopped dead. Her eyes were fixed on a peace of dirt a few hundred yards away. Slowly, it rose up from the ground, stacking itself into a humanoid figure. The features returned one by one until they were staring straight at Orochimaru himself. Very alive, and very unburnt.

His hair unplastered itself from his face and fell over his eyes. The skin across his face was peeling worse than before though, resembling a melted wax figurine. A murderous look bled into his eyes, which were no longer filled with the playful mirth of the hunt from before.

"That," the sannin hisses, whipping the rest of his peeling face off. "Was a mistake." His killing intent spiked, and he rushed forward, ready to kill.

Then Naruto screamed.

AN: Go check out my AO3 version for this chapters art!

Hey, you remember that cup of readers tears? *Sluuuuurp*

A stage two supracondular fracture (what Naruto received) is when the humorous just above the olecranon (elbow joint) fractures. A stage one would be a small hairline fracture. Stage two is when the crack goes all the way through instead of just partially. Stage three is when the humerus is completely separated from the olecronan (elbow) and in some cases can even rupture the skin. If you want you can google X-rays like I did but if your sensitive to that kind of stuff, maybe not. And I chose a supracondylar fracture because it was a clean enough break that it wouldn't have any serious long term side effects but still restricted arm movement.

Also, all medical lingo used in this chapter is 100% accurate. I got my mom who's a doctor to actually help me with researching everything and determining the best way to break a bone on a prepubescent boy. And I know the terminology because I took human anatomy senior year. Anyways, until next time. And thanks for reading!