DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas (particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S).

THE FOREST OF DEATH

"I never thought love was worth fighting for but then I look into your eyes I'm ready for war..."

~HIKARI P.O.V~

"Back in a sec, gotta pee!" Naruto announced loudly and disappeared out of sight.

When he returned he wasn't acting like himself. 'Naruto' was acting stupider than usual and that was extremely suspicious. My eyes immediately narrowed.

"Hey Naruto?"

The 'Naruto' imposter turned around and fixed me with a puzzled look.

"What…um-?" He fumbled around looking for the right name to say.

I smirked, causing 'Naruto' to realise he was well and truly busted. Sasuke and Sakura narrowed their eyes as well when they finally realised 'Naruto' didn't know my name.

"Hikari-chan? Is that the name you looking for?" I asked mockingly.

The guy fake grinned and started to sweat. Immediately, Sasuke pounced on him and threatened him with a kunai.

"Who are you? What have you done with the dobe?" he demanded.

This time the Naruto impostor fixed Sasuke with a cocky grin and kicked him off, engaging him in a kunai fight. During the fight, he morphs back to his true form. It was a Sound Ninja who demands for our scroll.

"Oi! Somebody untie me!" a familiar, desperate sounding voice came from some nearby bushes.

Sakura and I look at each other in confusion and then follow the voice and part the foliage to find a very roughed up Naruto tied against a tree looking pissed.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" I asked concerned as I rushed forward and cut the bindings holding Naruto to the tree. He got to his feet and readjusted his orange and blue jacket and his forehead protector.

"No, somebody jumped me and tied me to that tree. Didn't see him coming." He complained and brushed himself off before we suddenly heard Sasuke grunting and spitting out a curse.

We rushed back out towards the fight and moved to help Sasuke with this guy. Naruto angrily charged at the impostor who dodges but doesn't see Sasuke suddenly attack, his Sharingan on display and wounded the impostor who escapes with his 'tail' between his legs. Sasuke spits and takes in a deep breath just as Naruto checks that the guy was really gone.

"Great. Now the strategy is to play dirty?" Sakura bitched.

Sasuke ignored her and carded his hand through his thick blue-black hair pulling out the odd twig and leaf. My eyes widened when his blue shirt rode up revealing the unblemished alabaster white skin of his abdomen and blushed in embarrassment. I looked away realising I had just checked out the stoic Uchiha and his body. It was then that I realised Sakura was also blushing badly too but she was also glaring at me.

Okay, the gloves are off! I can't even check him out!?

"Are you okay, Hikari-chan? You've gone all red." Naruto observed and I flushed a deeper red.

Sasuke looked over at me curiously and I avoided his eyes feeling my face burning so much you could fry an egg on my face - but I could swear that he was smirking.

"Are you sick?" Damn Naruto was persistant!

I glowered at him.

"I'm fine, Naruto. Can you just drop it please?" I snapped feeling mortified.

I instantly felt guilty when I saw Naruto's hurt face - I guess he can't help being adorably clueless. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled Naruto into a hug, feeling my heart skip a beat when I caught Sasuke glaring at Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm okay really. It's just the adrenaline pumping." I explained partly lying through my teeth. Naruto brightened up a little bit and tightened the hug.

"It's okay."

"Can we stop with the touchy-feely crap and get on with the exam?" snapped Sakura who was still a bad red colour and had her arms crossed over her chest. I pulled away from Naruto and moved away waiting to regroup.

"Okay, I think we should have a password, just so nothing like this happens again if we get separated. Agreed?" Sasuke suggested with a slightly clipped tone in his voice.

"Yeah." the three of us agreed.

When we finally decided on a password, we repeated it back to each other so it was stuck in our heads. Naruto asked for it about a million times. When we were about ready to lynch him, he was suddenly hit by random attack.

"Scatter!" yelled Sasuke.

Sakura, Naruto and I immediately hid from view. Another attack hits us and causes an explosion - it revealed a group of ninjas who were travelling through. Sasuke dives under a bush, followed swiftly by Sakura and I. Naruto appears and hides under the bush next to Sasuke.

"What's the password!" he demands us.

All three of us give the correct password and Sasuke immediately attacks Naruto. No explanations were needed because it was obvious that that was NOT Naruto. He couldn't remember that long password if his life depended on it - which given the present circumstances he'd be dead several times over - and he had to get us to tell it to him continuously.

The second impostor morphs again and Sasuke snarls in annoyance and loudly declares the password for all the eavesdropping groups surrounding us.

"Ow. Son-of-a-bitch…" groans Naruto.

I turned feeling relieved that Naruto hadn't been blown too faraway and felt my eyes widen in horror as we both realised at the exact same time what was lying right beside him.

Naruto immediately lost colour.

"Oh SHIT!" He hollered just before an extremely large snake rises up and swallows Naruto whole.

"NARUTO!" I screamed rushing forward towards the snake to free him but was blind-sided by another ninja.

This guy was tall, thin - almost sickly, with long black hair and skin paler than Sasuke's that it was almost grey. He had a Mist Village's Forehead Protector on and I immediately got some sinister vibes from him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He asked with mock-curiosity on his thin face.

I struggled in his grip but he tightened his hands making me cry out in pain.

"Let go of me!" I demanded through grit teeth.

He smirked, then spied something that Naruto had dropped before he had been swallowed by that snake. The ninja had a long-tongue which immediately snatches our group's scroll and swallows it whole.

"This is how it's going to go down. It's a fight to the death - winner gets the scroll." he dictated the rules and I struggled again to free myself.

"HEY! LET GO OF HER!" shouts Sasuke who was busy fighting off his own group of ninjas.

The freaky, pale skinned ninja who was holding me captive looked over at Sasuke and smirked evilly. A cold shiver shot down my spine, this guy was bad news and I had a feeling he was after Sasuke.

"Sasuke, stay there. Don't worry about me!" I urged him to stay away.

Sasuke's eyes flashed angrily at my suggestion.

"Don't you dare, Hikari!" He snaps back at me and elbows his way through to get to me.

My name grabs the creep's interest.

"Hikari, huh?" My eyes widened.

Oh shit…

I head butted him and he grunted in pain and lets go of me. I landed hard on my butt with a grunt and immediately retreated towards Sasuke who seemed relieved. Sakura came up to where Sasuke was standing and fixed the pale, creepy ninja with a calculating glance. The ninja didn't seem fazed though and quickly made handsigns which created a genjutsu.

Immediately, the three of us were floored as we saw horrifying images. Spitting out a curse, Sasuke fought to get to his feet glaring at the ninja. Eventually, Sasuke manages to pull a kunai free and stabbed himself in the leg to free himself from the genjutsu. He then reached out and grabbed Sakura and me and used his Sharingan to get us the hell out of there.

A sickening popping sound told us that Naruto had managed to free himself from the large snake before he could get digested.

He was completely covered in slime.

"Ew." I whispered, pulling a face.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened fearfully. "LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!"

We frowned at him before hearing something slivering behind us. My blood froze in my veins and I was afraid to look back. It was another snake and I noticed with morbid fascination how scared poor Sasuke looked the moment the snake turned up. We must be still stuck in the genjutsu.

Sakura and I crawled over towards Sasuke both with the same intention of comforting him, just as the ninja started slowly making his way over towards Sasuke.

"Oh no you don't!" shouts Naruto who starts throwing kunai at the ninja to stall him.

Sasuke comes to his senses and starts helping Naruto fend off both the creepy ninja and the snake by throwing shuriken. The snake hisses in agony when one of Sasuke's shuriken finds its mark and it kills the snake. The snake's body thumps to the ground.

"Oh thank God, it's over." whispers Sakura who looks like she was about to cry from fear.

For once, I didn't blame her for wanting to cry, I felt like it too. Then something extremely frightening happened. Before our very eyes, the dead snake raised its head slightly and a large lump started working its way up the snake's oesophagus. I felt the bile rising in my throat as something pale and with black hair came out of the snake's mouth looking like a furball covered in slime just like Naruto had and thudded to the ground, fully clothed.

The Earth scroll was also regurgitated too.

"Oh my Kami!" I muttered and both Sakura and I started backing away from the man. Sasuke backed off too but kept his eye on him, not trusting him and raising a kunai in defence.

The man steps daintily from the dead snake's mouth and stares at it with genuine dismay.

"Oh dear, this is unfortunate." He hissed in an unpleasant voice that was as smooth as silk.

The man was like the long-tongued ninja except that he was dressed in a white tunic with black kung-fu pants and black ankle-high shinobi sandals, and he had a thick dark purple rope tied around his waist in a big bow. His eyes were golden and the same as a snake's.

We all knew exactly who this man was because of our studies - and he was extremely dangerous.

"Orochimaru." drawled Sasuke with disgust.

The man eyed Sasuke like he was a treat he was about to consume and his forked tongue darted out and licked his lips. I shuddered forcing away the bile.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you…Hikari Aino." He said with his sickly sweet voice.

I jerked my head up and stared at Orochimaru in horror. But he wasn't looking at me. He was still looking at Sasuke. Orochimaru's golden eyes flicker momentarily towards the scroll in Sasuke's hand and smirks at him.

"Now, the scroll if you please, Sasuke-kun" he oozes stretching out his hand.

Sasuke hesitates for a split second before moving to place the scroll in the rogue ninja's hand much to our dismay.

"NO!" shouts Naruto and he grabs the scroll before Sasuke could place it into Orochimaru's hand. He then decks Sasuke across the face.

"Naruto! What the hell is your problem!?" snarls Sakura looking at Naruto for his betrayal.

I made no comment - I fully understood what Sasuke was doing, but I also understood where Naruto was coming from as well. Naruto ignored Sakura in favour of glaring at Sasuke who looked back at Naruto murderously for smacking him in the face.

"You're a coward and an idiot." Naruto states.

I saw Sasuke's eyes flash in fury from Naruto's words. However, he made no attempt to defend himself.

"Don't you understand, teme, that if you give Orochimaru that scroll he won't waste time in killing us!?" Naruto explained sounding frustrated.

Orochimaru laughs evilly.

"Very clever, boy. You are correct. I will kill you all." He agreed and then summons a snake which attacks Naruto by belting him across the face and sending him flying into a nearby tree trunk.

Naruto spits up blood.

I cursed and moved to fight Orochimaru - just sitting there doing nothing was really stupid. He pauses for a second waiting to see what I was going to do and sweeps an appreciative glance over my body. I shuddered feeling violated and gasped when the snake goes to swallow Naruto again. However this time Naruto dodges the snake just before he gets swallowed up and his eyes suddenly changed from his normal cerulean blue to a sinister blood red with slitted pupils.

I gasped as Naruto suddenly got down on all fours like an animal. His teeth sharpened into incisors and a red smoky haze wafted all around him.

"Naruto…?"

The creature who inhabited Naruto's body ignored me completely focusing on the snake who attacked him. Orochimaru who looked at him with interest as Naruto attacks and slams the snake against a nearby tree a few times.

"Interesting…" mutters Orochimaru as Naruto moves to strike again.

However Orochimaru deflects Naruto by hitting him with a fire technique. He goes down hard.

"So this is the infamous Nine-Tailed Beast? How very interesting." comments Orochimaru causing Sasuke, Sakura and I to stare at Naruto in horror and awe. But before we could learn more, Orochimaru orders the snake to attack Sasuke.

Sasuke immediately moves to retaliate but Naruto steps in and intervenes having recovered from his previous attack.

"What's the matter, you're not scared are you?" Naruto taunts Sasuke cruelly.

I winced. The moment we stopped fighting Orochimaru, Naruto had better start running for what's left of his life, because Sasuke's gonna end it for him. But apparently Naruto doesn't care as he continues to tease Sasuke.

"Scaredy-cat!" He mimicks Sasuke like the last mission we had back in Wave Country.

Orochimaru, apparently tired of Naruto's childish name calling suddenly extends his tongue like the snake he is and grabs Naruto around his waist pinning his arms to his sides.

"Hey!? Lemme go!" Naruto thrashes violently as Orochimaru walks over to him and smirks cruelly. He starts fashioning hand-signs and seals away his chakra completely.

"There that should hold you for the moment." says Orochimaru before carelessly tossing Naruto aside like a rag doll.

"Shit! Naruto, get up!" I urged my blonde-haired best friend.

Orochimaru has Sakura, Sasuke and I trapped in a genjutsu, unable to move and seeing our inevitable deaths. Sasuke is completely petrified which is not like him. I saw him glancing over to the scroll and I shake my head furiously.

"No Sasuke, don't do it!" I begged him.

He ignores me, fully intent on giving Orochimaru what he wants. He chucks the scroll through the air towards Orochimaru's outstretched hands. The rogue ninja almost gets it before Naruto appears from out of nowhere and seizes it. I let out the breath I didn't realise I had held in.

"Sasuke! What the hell are you doing?" Naruto screams at him angrily.

But Sasuke is just as angry - but at Naruto. He glares at him.

"Just give him the scroll, Naruto!" Sasuke screams back at him.

"NO!" Naruto replies sternly. "You cannot be Sasuke. He isn't a coward!"

Orochimaru summons yet another snake and sends it straight towards Sakura, Sasuke and I. Sakura starts to panic and I curse again and try to pull both of us away from the advancing reptile. Naruto arrives in the nick of time and slaughters the snake before it could kill us.

Orochimaru frowns at Naruto as though realising something.

I cheer on Naruto as he attacks Orochimaru, despite being crippled by that stupid seal the rogue ninja had placed on him. Both of them are evenly matched.

"Dammit!" I cursed.

Then my eyes widened in horror as Orochimaru manages to grab Naruto with his freakishly long snake tongue and holds Naruto upside down.

"Hey! Put me down!" demands Naruto once again.

Orochimaru ignores him in favour of pulling down Naruto's shirt which causes him to shudder in disgust. It reveals that Naruto has a very complex looking seal around his navel. The Snake Lord's eyes widened in shock.

"Ahh. So your seal has surfaced." he said.

Naruto kicks out at Orochimaru who lazily dodges as he fashions more hand signs and slams his open palm on Naruto's seal which knocks him unconscious.

"NO NARUTO!" I scream as Naruto is unceremoniously tossed aside again and starts falling out of the tree towards his death. I sprint over to grab him before he could fall but missed him completely.

"Oh SHIT!" I swore but cheered in relief when Sakura's kunai shot out and pinned Naruto to the tree trunk safely.

I sighed in relief.

"Nice one, Sakura." I thanked her.

She nodded absently, focused on Sasuke as she glared at him angrily.

"Sasuke why didn't you help him!?" she screamed at him.

I was surprised that she even cared. Sasuke barely acknowledged Sakura focusing mostly on Orochimaru who started circling him like the predator eyeing his prey hungrily.

My blood ran cold. Sasuke was DEFINITELY Orochimaru's target.

However, the snake lord's eyes flicked over at me occasionally as well. I frowned in confusion. Was I also Orochimaru's target as well? Without warning, or before I could stop him - Orochimaru seized Sasuke by coming up behind him and grabbing him without warning.

Sasuke struggled violently trying to buck Orochimaru off.

"Don't try, Sasuke-kun you cannot escape me." Orochimaru drawled sardonically before lowering his head and sinking his fangs into Sasuke's neck in an almost loving way.

Sasuke screamed in agony.

"SASUKE! NO!" I screamed and charged at Orochimaru intent on slitting his throat.

However, the penetration of Orochimaru's fangs in Sasuke's neck only lasted a few seconds before he withdrew and Sasuke fell to his knees clutching for dear life to his shoulder and clawing at the bark of the tree shaking feverishly. I rushed to Sasuke's side but before I could reach him Orochimaru cut me off and grabbed me from behind holding me in an iron grip.

I froze, thinking he was going to do the same thing he had just done to Sasuke only moments before.

"HIKARI!" screamed Sakura in horror as she ran forward to help.

Orochimaru leant forward so that his mouth was level with my ear. I could feel his breath on my neck and the smell of his rancid breath almost made me throw up. I whimpered pathetically as he licked the shell of my ear.

"Now…what to do with you?" He pondered the possibilities.

"Should I finish what I should've done years ago, or should I wait for a more appropriate time?" He whispered huskily into my ear.

I felt my heartbeat thud faster from fright.

"W-what do you mean?" I stammered fearfully, forgetting all the training I had learnt since I started my life as a Kunoichi.

I could sense Sakura approaching quickly - apparently so could Orochimaru as he immediately formed another genjutsu and aimed it at Sakura who immediately screamed and fell to her knees in shock. I looked over at Sasuke - he had stopped shaking and was now lying in a heap on the branch, still clutching his shoulder.

I panicked.

Was he still alive or were we all doomed?

"What do I mean?" He mocked me stroking my cheek tenderly with a long, thin finger - but at the same time tightening the grip he had on me. I choked on the limited breath I had.

"What I mean is how do I go about eliminating the last of the Aino clan? There are just so many possibilities." He explained to me as though we were chatting over a nice cup of green tea.

My face twisted in shock which Orochimaru definitely noticed.

"Your father was always a thorn in my side. It just seemed fitting to eliminate him and his family once and for all so they wouldn't interfere with my plans." He said in a light-hearted tone.

My face twisted in anger.

"YOU killed my father and my grandfather?" I exclaimed incredulously.

He nodded.

"Hmmm… and your mother too. Such a shame really. She was a very attractive woman - until she started begging for her life. Would've finished you off too if you hadn't have been on that mission." He confirmed, which only fuelled my need for revenge.

"All well. Won't be make that mistake again. But because I'm such a merciful lord-"

I almost scoffed but held my tongue as he pulled me away from his body, but still held me close enough so he could look me in the eyes.

"-I won't kill you just yet. I'll let you have some time to say goodbye to the world and the people you love." He bargained.

Gee, how generous… I thought as I looked at Sasuke and Naruto helplessly.

Since my mother had died, they - apart from my beloved grandmother - were the ones that loved most in the world. Orochimaru smirked once again before pulling me dangerously close to him and whispered into my ear.

"Be seeing you."

Then he kissed me hard, causing Sakura to scream in horror and the bile to rise in my throat.

Then he threw me away from himself and I hit the ground hard, landing not too faraway from where Sasuke was lying in a heap. I didn't dare move and I waited for his mocking laughter to fade away before I sat up slowly and spat trying to get the taste of his slimy tongue out of my mouth.

"Hikari! Are you okay?" Sakura asked me worriedly and touched my shoulder.

I flinched aggressively and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as I pulled away from her. She jerked back and stared at me in fear as I glared at her.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" I spat.

Sakura made no reply but her eyes looked over towards Sasuke. I looked over at where Naruto was still dangling by Sakura's kunai, still unconscious and I sighed.

"Go get Naruto. We've gotta get out of here before more trouble shows up." I instructed taking charge.

Sakura moved towards Naruto without question and I turned towards Sasuke staring at him tenderly. I reached over and gently rolled him over onto his back. He was still alive, but only just and he was sweating badly - clearly Orochimaru's fangs had been filled with some sort of paralysing venom. I glanced around for a safe place to camp out for the night and so Naruto and Sasuke could recover from their injuries.

I finally spotted a large tree with a hollowed out trunk that was suitable for camping in and waited for Sakura to come back with Naruto.

"I've got Naruto. Now what do we do?" asked Sakura, grunting underneath Naruto's weight as my hyperactive best friend was currently piggybacking his crush.

I bent down and heaved Sasuke's dead weight onto my back and turned back towards Sakura who looked a little resentful that I was carrying her crush on my back.

I ignored her.

"C'mon. Follow me." I ordered and moved quickly towards the hollowed out tree.