"Don't give him the ointment, Hinata." Sasuke commanded his teammate, who was holding up some of her ointment for Naruto, as the blond had received a scratch on his face earlier.

"B-but, I have the Byakugan. I can easily tell the difference between Naruto-kun and a henge. Plus, if I don't treat t-the wound, it could get infected." Hinata argued as she placed the ointment in Naruto's hand, insisting that he take it.

"What if we get separated? I don't have the Byakugan. Naruto's cut is an easy way to tell the difference. Most of the people there didn't see the proctor actually scratch him." The Uchiha reasoned with his female teammate, who sighed out of defeat. There was no way she was going to win this argument.

And the more she thought about it, the more Sasuke was right.

While Naruto placed the ointment in his weapons pouch, Hinata formed hand signs to activate her Byakugan. She jerked her head immediately, pushing Naruto out of the way as a kunai whizzed by where he was originally standing. Naruto fell onto the ground with wide eyes when he noticed the thrown object. Had his lavender-eyed teammate not pushed him out of the way, there would be a kunai stuck in the side of his throat right now.

The group immediately turned to where the weapon came from to see a woman wearing a straw hat standing on the branch of a tree. Said woman was draped in yellow and black with a Kusagakure (Grass Village) headband on her forehead.

The kunoichi jumped off the branch and landed a couple of feet away from the members of Team 7, all of whom got ready in a fighting stance.

"Hinata, are her teammates around?" Sasuke questioned, not keeping his eyes off of the enemy.

"No. Just her." Hinata answered, before noticing the woman in front of them pulling out a black scroll.

"You want the Earth Scroll, don't you? Because… after all, you do have the Heaven Scroll." She brought her scroll up to her mouth, opening it wide and forcing the scroll inside, wrapping her tongue around it as she forced it in.

She covered her face, before revealing her widened eyes, staring right at the three.

Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke all froze up on the spot. Immediately, they saw images of a gruesome fate awaiting them if they were to fight this mysterious person. They were all marked with slashes on their bodies by kunai, their blood splattered all over the ground… mixing together.

Hinata's eyes practically lost all light as she began to hyperventilate. Eventually, both her and Sasuke found themselves crouching over, puking out a ton of saliva.

We can't do this… The bluenette kept telling herself inwardly as she felt her body tremble with fear. This killing intent… our doom…

She tried her best not to shed tears of fear, so she wouldn't give her enemy the satisfaction of seeing her in such a state. However, she failed miserably, as fears about their deaths reappeared in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to shove them out.

Move… Move… Come on move! Even if it's just a little… Sasuke trembled as he felt his fingers drape over a kunai in his pouch. When he felt it, he gripped it tightly, as if he was trying to ease his fears with the weapon in hand.

He brought a knee up and began rising to his feet, dropping down into a stance with his kunai in front.

Naruto saw these actions at the corner of his eye. And for some reason, he felt his fears slightly dwindling away.

He had almost forgotten that Sasuke and Hinata were here. He couldn't let them down. He couldn't fall here! After all, how could he become the Hokage of the village, if he couldn't even protect two of his precious comrades?

The trembling he was experiencing began to steady, before stopping completely. He rose to his feet without hesitation, forming a hand sign with his fingers.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The opponent gained an interested look as she saw ten replications of Naruto appear. Nine of them charged at the enemy. On the other hand, the original Naruto and the last replication stayed behind, grabbing Sasuke and Hinata, breaking them out of their stupor and carrying them away as fast as he could, leaving the woman with the Kage Bunshins.

Later

Naruto panted heavily as he and his clone put down his teammates, who had spooked looks on their faces. Sasuke however, seemed to be slowly recovering.

Their female teammate however, looked even worse than before. The kunoichi's cheeks puffed up as she retched out a thick glob of vomit that spilled over her jacket and pants.

Naruto crouched down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder out of comfort. Hinata flinched. She looked like she would faint, not out of embarrassment, but out of fear. Other than the startled reaction she gave from the blond's contact, all she was giving out was a blank stare into space.

However, what did knock her out of her transparent state, was what Sasuke did next.

The Uchiha thrusted the kunai in his hand into his leg, breaking into the skin as he clenched his teeth, letting out a hissing noise as he endured the pain.

"S-Sasuke/S-Sasuke-kun!" Both Naruto and Hinata exclaimed out of surprise in unison.

Sasuke removed the kunai from his leg, a hole in his skin where the weapon once was. Blood spewed out like lava from a volcano.

Without a second thought, the blue-eyed ninja had reached into his pocket and took out the ointment that Hinata had gave him earlier. He looked away as he held it out to the wounded boy.

"Here."

The shy girl let out a small gasp of surprise while Sasuke stared blankly at the container. The raven-haired Genin was at a loss for words. However, there was definitely no time to dwell on his teammate's surprising action. He nodded his head and took the ointment, beginning to apply to his leg wound.

"Hinata! What are you doing?! Use your Byakugan! That person could be following us as we speak!" The bleeding ninja yelled at the girl, who yelped out of surprise. She was so spooked that she hadn't realized that her Byakugan was deactivated.

"Hey, Hinata! Don't push yourself. If you need to take a break, then take a break." The Uzumaki told the girl, while the other boy made a sound of annoyance.

"We don't have time! Hinata! Do it now!"

"Byakugan!" She ushered as veins bulged around the eyes of the indigo-haired kunoichi. A gasp of horror escaped her lips, "She's coming on a snake!"

Her teammates widened their eyes as the three of them immediately leaped to their own branch on a single tree.

As soon as their feet hit their respective branch, a big snake came bursting through the forest, immediately setting its sights on Sasuke.

The targeted ninja momentarily froze up on the spot before jumping away from the tree. In a flash, he was chucking multiple shuriken at the giant reptile rigorously, "Get away from me!"

The shuriken impaled the snake in multiple places, with blood gushing out of the wounds. The serpent tumbled over onto its side, the life in its eyes being washed away in a second.

A worried expression found itself on Sasuke's face. He panicked mentally, trying to think of a solution to get out of this fight. After all, he knew one thing, he and the others stood no chance against this person at all.

If they were to continue fighting, they would surely end up dying. And that was one thing he definitely wanted to avoid.

This is all I can do…

"Wait!" Sasuke called out to the woman, who turned her head, looking at him with an interested look. It didn't make much to notice a flash of longing and desire stream over the snake user's face. He chose to ignore this, as his proposal would get her off their backs.

Naruto and Hinata both froze on the spot when they saw Sasuke reach into his pouch and pull out their Heaven Scroll.

The black-eyed Genin held out the hand with the scroll, as if to tempt his enemy.

"If you desire the scroll, then I'll give it you. In exchange for the scroll, you leave us alone… Please." If hearing a pleading tone from Sasuke Uchiha wasn't shocking enough to the other two Genin, it was the fact that their raven-haired teammate wasn't setting up a bait. He was being completely serious.

He was willingly giving up, and that set Naruto off the wrong way.

"Stop, Sasuke! Why the hell are you giving our scroll to the enemy?!" The angry blond demanded an answer from the Uchiha. Something was definitely wrong here. The real Sasuke would never back down from a fight, no matter how impossible the odds seemed.

"Shut up, you idiot!" The other male glared at his annoying teammate, giving him a look that said, 'Don't screw this up'.

"I see. You're very sensible, Sasuke-kun." The pupil-less kunoichi felt a chill run down her spine when she heard the gleeful tone in the woman's voice, especially when she added the honorific to Sasuke's name. "When face to face with the predator, the only thing the prey can hope for is presenting other food, praying that you would be spared, am I right?"

"Sasuke-kun…" Hinata realized why Sasuke was doing this. He wanted to protect not only himself, but her and Naruto as well. He was doing this for them.

The boy said nothing in response to her words. The only thing that came from him as he threw the scroll over to where the Kusa ninja was, "Just take it!"

Suddenly, in a speed that seemed as fast as the Yellow Flash, a yellow blur passed in between Sasuke and the yellow and black clothed enemy. Naruto had snatched the scroll, and he looked absolutely livid.

He landed on the branch, holding up a fist as he turned to his black-eyed teammate.

"Bastard! What the hell are you doing?!"

What happened next occurred in slow motion for Hinata. Her blond teammate's punch whizzed through the air, making direct contact with Sasuke's mug. The Uchiha didn't even know what was going on until he felt his feet leave the branch. He immediately recovered, using his Chakra to propel himself into the air, landing on the branch in front of Naruto.

"You… What the hell has gotten into you?!"

Naruto looked down at his feet, taking deep breaths, trying to compose himself. He failed to do so due to Sasuke's actions which the Uzumaki viewed as idiotic.

"You… You're just an imposter, aren't you?!" The blue-eyed Genin jabbed finger towards his male counterpart on the team, leaving a look of shock on both Hinata and Sasuke's face, followed by an angry one on the latter.

"You fucking idiot! I'm the real Sasuke!"

"Liar!" Naruto rasped, glaring daggers at the supposed imposter with more rage than ever before, "… You, the coward that's standing before me now… willingly wanting to give up the scroll… That definitely isn't the Sasuke I know! Even if you do give her the scroll, how do you know she will leave us alone then, huh?!"

The woman in the same branch as Naruto chuckled, calling out the Uzumaki's name, who spared her a disgusted glance.

The Kusa Shinobi widened her eyes, a sadistic look on her face as she licked her lips, "You are correct. If I wanted to, I could easily kill you and retrieve the scroll…"

She put her hand on her left sleeve, sliding it up to reveal black markings on her arm. Using her right hand, she bit on her thumb, drawing blood and plastering it over the bit finger. She drew a line with the bloodied digit over the symbols on her left arm. She formed multiple hand signs before reciting the name of a technique.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" Great gusts of wind found themselves rushing through the forest, causing a rumbling sound as the breeze smacked across the leaves. Naruto blinked twice, and when he looked to where the woman was, he saw the body of a giant snake with the older kunoichi perched on top of the head.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out of concern as she witnessed the creature throw its head at Naruto, who managed to leap away just in time.

The serpent swung its tail at Naruto with great speed, the poor Uzumaki never saw it coming, and he was blown upwards into a branch. He felt his back hit against the wood hard, spitting out blood when he made collision.

Sasuke and Hinata merely looked on as they saw their teammate falling. They both had the instinct to go out and try to save him. But something was holding them back. They were hesitating. It felt like they couldn't move.

"How disappointing." The black-haired kunoichi muttered under her breath before raising her voice so the snake could hear, "Have at it, my pet."

The giant reptile recoiled, as if it was excited that it could once again get a good meal. A human body, that is. An alive one at that.

The snake shot its body up, making its way to Naruto so he could be devoured in one chomp.

What happened next no one expected.

The targeted ninja sped up his descent as he drew out his foot, practically stomping on the snake's face, causing it to flinch. This earned a surprised reaction from the female opponent.

"EAT THIS!" Naruto bellowed, his voice echoing in the distance. The Uzumaki finally shot his eyes open, revealing red slit eyes instead of the normal pure blue ones.

The Kusa ninja looked at the now strength-enhanced Uzumaki, a look of interest drawn on her face as she saw the blond cock his fist back for a punch.

This kid… Could he be…

Naruto let out a loud cry, throwing a barrage of punches at the summoned snake as if he was venting out his anger on the creature.

Naruto-kun… His strength has increased drastically… Hinata noted as she analyzed her crush's Chakra, seeing that, like in Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves), Naruto's Chakra was red instead of blue. There it is again… What's happening with Naruto-kun?

"Naruto… is that really the same him?" Sasuke asked himself as he remembered when he had supposedly died in Nami no Kuni. Naruto had somehow managed to fight Haku on his own and according to Hinata he even managed to land a nasty shot on the boy's face. He didn't believe it at first, as the knucklehead was physically weaker than the Uchiha prodigy, and even the latter knew he couldn't do that to Haku.

Just like how it was with this snake.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke found himself blurting out as he saw his comrade crash through a branch after being enveloped in a fireball launched from the woman on the creature.

"Sasuke-kun! You're mine!" The woman announced for the world to hear. The raven-haired ninja once again found himself glued to his spot, unable to move. He could only watch as the giant serpent came rushing towards him. Sasuke shut his eyes, ready to accept his end when suddenly...

"HAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"

CRASH!

The sound of a body smashing against the head of a snake could be heard throughout the Forest of Death.

Sasuke found himself still impacted in his spot, something he cursed himself for. However, what surprised him was that he wasn't either unconscious, dead, or flying in the air to the first two outcomes.

As he opened his eyes, he saw a sight he never expected to see.

Naruto was right in front of him, head down, breathing heavily, holding two kunais. One was in each of his hands, engraved into the face of the snake that was frozen in front of him. Blood stains began to spread around its face, the source being where the blond had drove the kunai knives into.

"Yo…" He droned, finding the whole situation ironic, as he had been in the same position Sasuke was in right now not so long ago, "Are you hurt… Scaredy Cat?"

Naruto looked up, staring at the prodigy straight in the face, causing black eyes to meet red eyes.

Naruto… Sasuke immediately recognized what his teammate had said. He spoke the same words to him on their first C-ranked mission...

"Yo… Are you hurt… Scaredy Cat?"

Sasuke would have laughed at the irony of the situation, had it not been in the midst of a downhill battle with a single Shinobi who's leagues above them.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, "This lame coward I'm looking at right now… It's definitely not the you that I know!" he would have said more, but he gasped when he felt a tongue wrap around his arms. He felt his feet leave the ground as he was hanging in the air, flailing around, trying to shake out of the tongue's tight grip.

To Sasuke and Hinata's surprise, it wasn't the snake's tongue.

"Damn it! Let me go!"

The long-tongued Shinobi brought Naruto closer, turning his body around so his stomach was facing her.

Who would have thought that the Kyubi brat had lived on? The woman put a hand on her right wrist, It seems that whenever he loses control of his emotions, the Chakra of the Kyubi leaks out and takes control. You have grown into an interesting boy…

She stretched out the fingers of her right hand. Five purple flames appeared, one on each of the snake user's fingertips. She extended her long tongue even more, reaching down to Naruto's shirt and pulling it up, revealing the black seal painted on the boy's bare stomach.

No! Hinata snapped out of her stupor, realizing that something bad was going to happen, I need to do something now!

Hinata began moving too late…

Gogyo Fuuin (Five-Pronged Seal)! The woman mentally chanted as she thrusted her hand onto Naruto's abdomen, causing the boy to let out a loud yell of pain, his mouth stretching widely while a second layer to his seal was added.

Naruto's pupils shook as they changed from red back to the normal blue hue. The woman reached into his pouch and removed the Heaven Scroll, taking possession of it and placing it inside her own. Afterwards, she flung Naruto away. Fortunately, the now unconscious Uzumaki landed on the branch of a tree.

The snake user never got to close her pouch as she heard Hinata let out a battle cry. The approaching Hyuga came falling down with her right hand leading, preparing to nick her opponent with a Juken (Gentle Fist) strike. This attempt failed however, and the woman merely sidestepped the blow, only sparing the female Hyuga a momentary glance.

Hinata retracted her hand, and in immediate succession, drew another blow with her left hand this time. This blow was going for the Kusa kunoichi's face.

Said kunoichi parried the blow before grasping Hinata's wrist with her hand. She heaved, pulling the shy girl closer to her. She placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder, twisting her body around so she had her back turned.

Hinata let out a yelp as she found her left hand restrained and behind her back. She also felt the hand of her enemy holding her right wrist. And feeling how cold it was sent shivers down her spine.

"Hinata! Damn it!" Sasuke cursed under his breath, preparing to make his move. However, he froze up again when he saw the woman restraining Hinata give him a look that had the words 'You're the main course' spilled all over it.

Damn it… What am I doing?! Why am I so scared…

Hinata whimpered like a dog, tears coming to her eyes as she felt something wet make contact with her cheek. The former heiress heard a licking sound coming from the long-tongued woman. Hinata tried her best not to make a reaction, but she failed, and it was showing.

The Kusa Shinobi, like with all of her other victims, took joy in seeing the girl's reaction.

It was then when she remembered something peculiar about the girl…

She has the eyes of a Hyuga. And she looks oddly familiar… Could she be…

"Hiashi-san's daughter, huh?"

Hinata froze. How did this Shinobi from a foreign village know that she was the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga? And even then, she bore a closer resemblance to her mother. One would look at Hinata and Hiashi and not even know they were related. Hanabi took more after their father in appearance than her older sister did.

"Your mother was too good for Hiashi-San, frankly. I don't see the two getting along. Perhaps that is what happened…"

"Wh-What are you t-talking about? M-My mother's dead."

"You are right. What would I know?" The Shinobi retracted her previous statement, yet it was still engrained in the young girl's mind. Her thoughts were interrupted by receiving another lick on the cheek, leaving the area moist.

No… I am being a burden… Just like with what happened in Nami no Kuni with Zabuza! I must do something! More veins sprouted around Hinata's eyes as she closed them and began to focus on channelling her Chakra to her backside.

Come on Hinata, you've been trying to master this technique by yourself ever since you graduated!

She shot open her eyes, this was the first time she had to use the technique in actual battle, but she had to try something.

"Juukenho: Ichigekishin (Gentle Fist Art: Body Blow)!"

The Hyuga user could practically feel the Chakra rush out of her body, colliding with the yellow and black-clothed Shinobi. Hinata was surprised to hear a cry of shock come from her opponent followed by the feeling of the woman letting go of the girl's hands.

Sasuke mouthed the words 'What the hell' as he saw the woman stepping away from Hinata, hissing out of pain. However, it looked more like a look of irritation than genuine agony.

Hinata quickly turned around, lunging for the snake user's pouch, seeing it slightly open with the stolen scroll sticking out. As the snake-like Shinobi was recovering from Hinata's technique, the Hyuga reached out and grabbed the scroll before quickly retreating.

The lone woman finally had recovered, and she was slightly furious. Furious that she had let her guard down, and furious that she had let a mere Genin do that to her in the first place.

However, she couldn't help but laugh at the same time.

"It seems you're not as weak as I took you for, little Hyuga." The woman drooled, hearing her voice, the pupil-less kunoichi chucked the scroll as hard as she could.

The clattering of the scroll against the wood as it fell into the depths of the Forest of Death could be heard. It was no problem, if they made it out of the battle alive, then Hinata could easily search for the scroll with her Byakugan. It was all happening so fast, she had no time to think things through. However, she couldn't deny that she was a little bit proud of her actions.

Her silent celebrations were cut short by a kunai whizzing by. Hinata slowed slightly as she felt the tip of the kunai graze her cheek, spilling blood.

The female member of Team 7 felt the chilling presence of the enemy behind her. She had no time to react as she was grabbed by the hood of her jacket. She flailed around, trying to hit the woman to escape, but to no avail.

Hinata tried once again to use the Body Blow technique, but she failed at that also. She had exhausted her Chakra from the looks of it, and that was her first time using it in battle as well. The fact that she managed to use the move under such a tight situation was nothing more than luck.

While all of this was going on, Sasuke was staring aimlessly at the sky, fear practically showing all over his body. He had this feeling… It felt very familiar and unsettling to him. And soon, he found himself replaying the words he had heard on the night that had changed his life forever.

"Foolish little brother… If you want to kill me… hate me! Detest me! And continue to live in a long and insightful manner…"

No…

"Run… Run… and cling to your pitiful life."

No!

"Then… one day, when you have the same eyes as I do… come before me!"

"NO!" Sasuke glared at the enemy, a new fire burning in his eyes. His black eyes turned into the two tomoe Sharingan as he jumped off his branch towards Hinata and her attacker.

He threw a kunai towards the snake-like woman. She was about to use Hinata as a dummy to take the attack, but the girl had chosen at that moment to take out her own kunai and cut the hood of her jacket right off, escaping from her grasp.

So, the Kusa Shinobi had no choice but to shuffle to her left. Sasuke landed where she was before moving and immediately taking a backwards hop to Hinata.

As expected of the Uchiha Clan… His blood has begun to stir. I shall take my time to study his full power.

The young prodigy took out another kunai and held the blade in his mouth, clenching his teeth hard so the kunai wouldn't fall out.

"Sasuke-kun…" Hinata murmured out of surprise.

"Stand back! Let me take care of this!" The Uchiha responded, shrugging off the rest of her statement, knowing that she would want to help.

"But-"

"Go get Naruto and make sure he's safe. Haha…" Sasuke couldn't help but grin with the kunai in his mouth, "It seems the idiot was right. I was acting like a coward. I have to live through this, so I can kill my older brother. How can I beat him, if I cannot even put my life on the line in a place like this!"

And with that, the raven-haired boy rushed into battle alone.

Later

"AUGH! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Came Sasuke's scream as he gripped the area where he was bitten. Blood ran down the side of his neck as he felt a searing pain trying to tear away at him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata jumped to her screaming teammate, crouching down next to him out of concern. She turned to the person who had bit him, "W-what did you do to him?"

"Something you won't have to worry about." The man, Orochimaru, responded, "But now, my dear Sasuke-kun will soon come after me in pursuit of power. Power that he could only dream of. Power that can help him fulfill his dream."

The young kunoichi simply cowered, not making a move. It turns out, that the woman they were facing the entire time was actually the male snake user of the Sannin in disguise. She had read about the Legendary Sannin in her time at the Academy. This was Orochimaru, a former Konoha Shinobi who had defected from the village long ago.

Yet here he was.

Hinata was sure that she was going to die in a second. However, to her surprise, the Sannin member had left. She activated her Byakugan to see that the rogue ninja was still moving away.

That didn't help with anything though. That was because Hinata at that moment remembered something.

Naruto was unconscious, and Sasuke had just passed out in her arms.

She was alone…

Alright! Alright! I've got some explaining to do!

Now, for those who may have gotten inpatient (if there were none then you guys are awesome), but keep in mind some things keep us preoccupied and we can't control those things, whether it would be education, suddenly important events, blah blah blah blah blah you know the you know the drill.

Don't worry, despite the potential gaps between updates it doesn't mean I'm abandoning the fic. No matter how long, I will not discontinue the fic out of nowhere. If O were to discontinue the fic, I would probably post a chapter saying such a thing and stating my reasons why. This also goes for in the circumstances that I would put this fic on a hiatus. Of course, when I do one of these two things, I will put either 'On Hiatus' or ''Discontinued' in the summary for this fic.

Now of course, should something happen, like for example, the potential of me dying ornsonethor as drastic as that, then that means I won't out up an update. So, I will say this, if at any point I haven't updated the fic in over a year without notifying you guys of a Hiatus or Discontinuation, then it would be safe to assume that I am dead, as dark as it may sound. But, we're all human, death is a possibility.

Anyways with that little rant out of the way I will close this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Fun Fact: The first part of Orochimaru's name 'Orochi' means 'Great Snake', hence the title of the chapter.

Take care, goodbye!