By Narutard45
Her emerald eyes darted over the slumped figures on the other side of the campfire. Naruto's orange-clad form as well as Kakashi's slumped over a log near the tents, while Sasuke's head hung low as he leaned against a tree trunk. She should have known from the start. She should have been more aware of her surroundings… and now everyone could be in danger.
Or already in one.
Sakura felt the hairs on her arms prickle and stand on end. It was as if this moment had been taken straight out of her worst nightmares. She couldn't run, nor move. The thoughts formulating in her mind melted into a puddle of useless gibberish. But one thought stood out from the rest, and the words just slipped out.
" What do you want from Sasuke?"
Sakura looked over the imitations of her teammates from the corner of her eyes. The rogue nin caught her glances and chuckled lightly.
" They're astoundingly accurate hm? Kabuto has really mastered that jutsu of his…"
Sakura's eyes widened from recollection. How could she have forgotten? She was sure that she's read this type of jutsu before, during one of her late-night study sessions. "Dead Soul Jutsu" a person can temporarily reanimate a corpse, creating the illusion of a living person. This is achieved by causing the heart to beat once more, allowing the user to control the corpse. The reanimated corpse can serve as either a short-time ally or an effective decoy, she recited inwardly.
Her eye's narrowed dangerously with Orochimaru's. Dealing with the S-class sannin was dangerous. Sakura could only estimate the chances of surviving against someone like him… one wrong move could end it all.
But her concern still stood out stronger than her calculations.
Sakura steadied her voice and spoke once more, " What have you done with Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke?"
The kunai's tip was lowered toward her throat.
" I too was wondering the same thing Sakura-chan… now tell me… where exactly have you hidden Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura's brows furrowed for a moment, realizing that she too had no idea where her teammates disappeared to, and then an idea hit her. Stall. Just because Orochimaru thought that she knew where they had gone when she didn't doesn't mean she can't tell him the opposite.That was the most rational answer the kunoichi could come up at the moment. Fighting was definitely not a choice, and spouting lies was also out of the question. The sannin was as sharp as a needle, and lying could make everything worse. The only alternative was to simply tell the truth, and drag it for as long as it took.
" Why don't you tell me? You arrived here before I-" Sakura froze in between her thoughts. The colliding of metal with metal rung in her ear as her eyes instinctively pointed toward the noise. No. Naruto, Kakashi-sensei… Sasuke!
" I suppose I won't be needing your help after all Sakura-chan but…" Orochimaru whispered eerily as he drew his arm back, the kunai still wedged in his palm. " …I think you may have another purpose after all…"
If it was possible, Sasuke's eyes seemed to have glowed a darker crimson. No, it wasn't the pool of sound nin blood surrounding his vision. The sharingan itself was the red hue filling the Uchiha's eyesight, but the overwhelming glare he directed seemed to intensify the sharingan as he watched with utter rage at the sight before him.
Sakura stood on her knees, her head dropped low while her limp blue and black arms tried to support her body's exhausted state. It was as if, she had been a practice punch bag for that fucking…
" You bastard!!" Naruto screamed, as he lunged forward to Orochimaru with is palms balled into a fist. Red chakra fueling his feet allowed Naruto to move like a blurr.
"ku…ku…ku… I didn't come here for you Naruto-kun…" Orochimaru hissed as he reappeared behind the fox boy and pressured a vein behind his back. Naruto slumped forward, falling head first to the ground as he skidded to a halt behind the rouge sannin. He fell inert to Orochimaru's attack. Try as he might, his body ignored his mind's order to rise. He could only watch helplessly from the corner of his eye as the sannin mercilessly pulled his teammates hair back, drawing a short cry from her lips.
" Ungg… Sakura-chan…!"
Sasuke's feet jerked forward, but his mind willed him to stay put. They needed a plan, a strategy to get them out of this hell hole. Sasuke himself had no problem dealing with his former mentor on a one-on-one battle, but if he attacked… it could mean Sakura's life, and it was only he and Kakashi remaining. The odds were against them.
" Sasuke-kun… you seemed to have forgotten our little pact hm?"
Sasuke discreetly glanced at the jounin on his left. Kakashi too seemed to automatically move to Sakura's call, but stayed planted to his spot. The jounin glanced back and nodded slightly to signal the beginning of their silent plan. This was it.
Ba …chi….chi…
…chi…chi…chi…
…chi…chi…
Blue electric sparks started to gather at the base of Kakashi's palm, as his chakra grew into big molds of charge.
Ready…
" That trick again? You're pathetic Kakashi…" Orochimaru grinned sadistically as his snake-like tounge licked his pale lips.
Go!
Kakashi ran forward, aiming his fingers straight for the sannin's chest while Sasuke disappeared into a blur of smoke. The jounin ran forward while drawing his arm back as he prepared to make contact with Orochimaru. There was a probable chance that this may not work, highly probable,but when faced with decisions such as these, Kakashi knew he had no choice. Going up against a legendary sannin was never on his-things-to-do -before-I-die list, but what the heck. He was only a mere inch away from Orochimaru when Kakashi's sharingan eye noticed a faint glow of chakra behind him.
Time seemed to stand still for the jounin as his mind processed the information his brain receieved. He couldn't stop the chidori when it has been released, that itself is certain, and the speed he was going did not permit him to dodge out of danger. So the only course of action was to try and sway his direction with only such a short distance.
Not a second too soon, the jounin moved himself to the left to avoid Kabuto's attack. His chidori dissipated into a nearby tree, grinding a massive hole in the middle of the trunk.
Not even batting an eye, Orochimaru walked toward Kabuto, stopping when they were shoulder to shoulder. With a smirk the sannin spoke," Finish him quickly, that jounin is becoming a hindrance to my affairs…"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses with a finger and faced Kakashi. The two shinobi stared at each other with intensity, as if calculating the others strength and weakness.
" Don't worry Kakashi… this'll be quick," The sound nin whispered as he reached for his kunai holster. The jounin smirked behind his mask, he too reaching for his weapon.
" …I know, it will be." he muttered, and as soon as he spoke, the two equally formidable shinobi vanished, leaving the clashing of metal with metal resounding their fight.
Orochimaru snickered as his cold yellow eyes scanned the woods around them. It seemed that the sannin was enjoying this little hide-and-seek game he was playing with his former student as a small grin was plastered on his face.
" Sasuke-kun… don't make this any harder than it has to be…." Orochimaru stopped and turned toward Sakura's limp form beside the tree.
" Or maybe… Sakura-chan can convince you to come out…"
Suddenly, the earth split beneath Orochimaru's feet and dragged his captive foot in the soil. The earth swallowed him further until only the sannin's head remained atop the ground. Sasuke appeared subtly behind Orochimaru's seemingly decapitated head, his blood-red eye's glaring daggers when a wooden block replaced his former mentors body.
Damn… substitution jutsu.
Suddenly, a searing pain enveloped Sasuke's right arm, twisting his face in agony.
" You still owe me something Sasuke-kun…" Orochimaru breathed behind the Uchiha, twisting the kunai through his arm. The Uchiha took a small intake of breath and spun half way before reapearing behind the sannin and delivering a swift punch to his stomach, only to have it stopped with his palm.
" Fuck off… I owe you nothing…!" he hissed as Sasuke twisted his knee free and aimed a punch straight for his face only to have Orochimaru do the same thing with his previous attack.
The sound nin jumped a few feet away and scowled " You're time in Konoha has made you soft, this isn't like you Sasuke-kun…"
With a blink of an eye Sasuke was behind Orochimaru, one hand holding a kunai to his throat and the other pointing to his stomach. " Die," the sannin grinned cheekily at Sasuke's threat.
What the…?
" Sasuke watch out!" Sakura yelped in warning. The decoy of Orochimaru vanished into a puff of smoke, leaving Sasuke bewildered.
Fuck! Where….
Sasuke turned around quick enough to see a faint purple glow of light surrounding Orochimaru's joined palms, the sannin himself muttering cryptic words Sasuke could not understand.
" If you won't come back yourself…I'll just have to change your mind!"
Orochimaru released the mysterious jutsu, the purple light aimed straight at Sasuke's temple. The Uchiha possesed an incredible inhuman speed that made it difficult for anyone to catch up to him… but his speed was no longer of help with such a close range target.
Sasuke braced himself for the impact when he saw a pink blur out of the corner of his eyes.
Lub-dub….lub-dub
Sakura, using all the strength she could muster, ran straight in the middle of her teammate and the jutsu sheltering Sasuke from the attack; and seconds before , her big green eye's focused on him, pleading an unkown wish to be answered.
" Sasuke-kun…."
The news settled in for all the memebers of team7 leaving them stunned and utterly shocked. Sasuke's balled up fist shook inside is pockets from the sudden rush of nostalgia. Fuck, he was just so damn careless, and now she's paying the price.
The hokage sighed, she too having a hard time dealing with the current situation. " We're not sure of the extent of the damage… but it's certain that it has something to do with her mind."
After explaining their teammates current state, Tsunade ushered the rest of team 7 outside of Sakura's room.
" As soon as she wakes up, we'll be able to tell the capacity of the damage done to her mind, but for now, I advise you all to get some rest and treated for your injuries. There's no use of staying, when you could be getting better," she announced.
" Tsunade-baachan, would…would it be okay if I stay with her?" Naruto asked solemnly, glancing at Sakura's room with guilt. The hokage blinked and sighed. She knew even before this incident that Naruto and Sakura were close and they only had each other to turn to during Sasuke's absence left 3 years ago.
Naruto was the glue who picked up Sakura's broken pieces and even in times of trouble, they were more inseperable. Like brother and sister.
" Alright Naruto, just don't worry too much, I'm sure Sakura will be…just fine." She assured the foxboy with a pat on the back.
Kakashi nodded towards Naruto as he entered Sakura's room.
" Do you want to stay with her too Sasuke?" the jounin asked his former pupil. Kakashi's one eye blinked as he followed his former pupil's gaze toward Sakura's room with a look of disturbance, but it quickly melted into a cold hard stare.
" …No thanks" Sasuke muttered as he turned on his heel and started walking to the exit when…
" Don't forget Sasuke, your ass is back on tight probation as soon as Sakura wakes up," Tsunade reminded him with a slight grin. Don't think there are no perks from being a hokage.
" Hn…" Sasuke muttered as he resumed his silent walk toward his compound, mentally tired from the past hours activities, though the Uchiha knew he was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.
The tight probation was just half of it.
A/N: Yay! chapter three is done despite the current error happening on my spell check. (That was such a set back for me). Anyhow, I was trying to portray Sasuke's uncaring character during this chapter, and Naruto's opposite friendl one toward Sakura. (You know, to show how caring Naruto is, as this will be a helpful part throughout the story.) I really wanted to get the flashback done so that's good, but during the next few chapters there might be some flashbacks, so be warned for those of you who don't like looking in the past. I laso hope that I did a fairly good job on the fight scenes because this is my first time writing them, so please be nice and give me pointers!
Anyways, Sakura just might wake up during the next chapter and you guys will see the reaction of team 7…if I get a lot of nice reviews from everyone!( If I don't…I'll just cry in a little corner and torture you guys by posponing chapter 4!) So read and tell me what you think!
Ps: Lol I'm eevil…hehe