Chapter Eight:
A Serious Miscast
Whoever was directing this genjutsu had a serious lack of imagination, Sakura Haruno decided. The castle of the Wicked Witch was taken directly from the movie, even though the story had thus far been following the book. Even the line of marching green-faced Winkies was from the movie. Of course, that was where the similarities stopped. Only in this Fairy Tale Jutsu would one find Dorothy and company being willingly escorted to the Witch's lair by winged Kabutos. And no matter whether the jutsu was following the book or the movie, the Wicked Witch would meet her fate via a splash of water; of that Sakura was determined.
She glanced down at her silver shoes, the objects of the Witch's desire. With all of the crafty Kabutos around, she had been unable to inform her comrades of how this section of the story went. It probably won't matter, she thought to herself. After all, the task of defeating the witch is clearly mine.
The lead Kabuto paused while the gate of the castle opened up. The Winkies had stopped their incessant marching, bowing low to the silver-haired minion. He ignored the enslaved people of the western lands, turning slightly to eye his group of prisoners. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he gave them a smile. "Welcome to the home of the Wicked Witch of the West." He shifted his gaze to Sakura. "Please note that all of you have arrived safe and unharmed, as promised."
Jerk! What do you want, an award or something? the girl's inner warrior raged. Aloud, she said nothing. The older boy smirked for just an instant, and a chill ran down Sakura's spine. Furling the large silver wings, he gave a mock bow, indicating that the Leaf Village ninjas should enter first. Flanked by Sasuke on one side and Naruto on the other, with Shikamaru bringing up the rear, the solo girl steadily strode into the witch's inner keep.
The interior of the castle was as grey and drab as the outside. They were in a large, sparsely decorated room, with a staircase on the left hand side being the only other exit besides the doors they had just come in. It seemed filthy, as if the corruption of the occupant had infiltrated the very pores of the sandstone blocks. Sakura crinkled her nose as the smell of mildew and dust assaulted it. I suppose that if I was fatally allergic to water, I'd abstain from cleaning too.
Reminded of her purpose, teal-green eyes began scanning the room, searching for a source of water. Her mission was interrupted by the sharp sound of clapping hands and a very familiar voice.
"You have done well, my faithful pet."
"I live to serve, master," came Kabuto's smooth answer.
"Ino?" Poor Shikamaru's voice squeaked out the name as if he had just been kneed in the groin. Beside her, Sakura could feel Naruto flinch as her platinum-haired rival began to descend a flight of stairs. The energetic blond could face down giant snakes and stand up to deadly enemy jounin, but by his own admission, Ino scared him silly.
Sakura, however, breathed out a sigh of relief. It was definitely Ino. Unlike the rest of them, her familiar wardrobe had been replaced by flowing black robes. The only thing missing was the pointy hat. Her hair was the same ultra light blond that she had been born with; the short back kept pinned up in a bun while the few remaining longer front pieces framed her face. Sakura had to admit that she was often jealous of her friend. Ino was smart, confident; she had her own jutsu and to top it all off, she had been born good-looking too. Normally the pink-haired kunoichi felt just plain lacking in comparison. Today, however, she felt pity for her one-time best friend. Ino's skin was the color of split pea soup; her normally clear complexion was marred by warts.
Sakura dragged her eyes away from the spectacle, resuming the search for the bucket of water. Darn it, where could it be? If it came down to a fight, she was pretty sure they could take down Ino. Kabuto's skills as a warrior were more of a mystery. Master Kakashi had warned then all to report his presence if he was seen within the village but to stay away from the betrayer himself. Luckily, only one of the winged minions had entered the castle; the others were probably perched on the ramparts or something. So it was four verses two. The odds were most certainly in the Konoha ninjas' favor.
Still, Sakura felt uneasy. Test weren't supposed to be easy; the water was conspicuously absent and Ino… Ino seemed somehow different than normal. Granted, with her pea soup skin tone, warts and black clothes, Ino looked a lot different, but there was something else too… Her mannerisms seemed… off. In the book, the witch had only wanted the lion for labor and Dorothy's enchanted shoes. Ino, however, seemed to only have eyes for Sasuke. Sakura snorted to herself. Maybe her rival wasn't acting as strange as she had originally thought.
"I'm so glad you came to join us… Sasuke Uchiha," the witch spoke, her pale blue eyes almost glowing with an inner light.
Sakura could feel Shikamaru stiffen behind her. "That's not Ino," he whispered.
The smirk on the witch's face widened. "My. Aren't you a clever one." There was a loud slam as the large wooden doors were secured behind them, causing the whole group to jump. "Ah well, I don't suppose it matters anymore." One green hand reached up to the familiar face, nails digging into one side of it. There was an indescribable tearing sound; bits of shredded green-colored flesh floated through the air and fell to the floor. Beneath it was skin of an unnatural pallid color. As if tearing the flesh had rended the illusion, the hair and eyes changed too. Platinum blond locks became jet black, pale blue eyes gave way to green-gold, pupils slitted vertically.
"No… it can't be…" Sakura tried to take a step back, only to bump into Shikamaru.
The tall, ominous figure gave her a leer. "I told you he'd come to me out of his own free will… Isn't that right, Sasuke Uchiha?"
"No," Sasuke's steady voice rang out. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest, assuming an unaffected manner. "I only came because Sakura said that the so-called Great and Powerful Hokage wouldn't train me unless I defeated the Wicked Witch. If you are that witch, prepare for defeat!" He assumed a combat stance.
"S… Sasuke…" Sakura stammered. Orochimaru was way, way, way out of their league. He was a sannin, one of the three ninjas of legend. Her heart beat a rapid crescendo in her chest. If this jutsu was his doing, then they were dead, no doubt in her mind.
There was a familiar pulse of chakra; Sakura blinked as the scenery grew wavy around them. Partially turning her head, she could see Shikamaru's hands were clasped together with his first two fingers on each pointed upwards. "Look," he gasped, "he's not real." Whipping her head back around, Sakura could see that the sannin was shimmering along with the rest of the background. The sense of relief she felt almost knocked her to her knees. So he was a fake, just like his winged minion. Thank goodness!
Shikamaru ceased his outpouring of chakra and the imagery surrounding them instantly smoothed out. The illusive Orochimaru gave them all a tolerant smile before focusing all of his attention back on Sasuke, picking up the conversation as if nothing had happened at all. "If you wish to be stronger, I can train you." An abnormally long tongue emerged to lick the snake ninja's lips. Sakura shuddered. Illusion or not, the guy was giving her the creeps.
"Can you open the inner gates?"
She gave her sincere raven-haired companion a look of complete disbelief.
The phantasm laughed, an almost manic sound. There was no warmth in his reptile eyes as he gazed at his prize. "Of course. That, and so much more. I can train you, Sasuke Uchiha."
"Sasuke! You can't! This is our enemy. He's evil!"
He turned his cold, obsidian eyes towards her, and Sakura was reminded once again of the role he was playing. "I only have one enemy," he stated simply. "And I will do whatever it takes to defeat him." He took a step towards the waiting sannin, his forward progress stopped by Sakura grabbing his arm. He jerked it out of her reach. For a moment their eyes met; the look he gave her was one of utter distain. Then he wordlessly began moving again, away from her. For a split second, Sakura felt the crushing weight of defeat. But only for a moment. Her inner psyche sprang to life. She was not going to lose Sasuke. Not to Ino, not to an illusion, and certainly not to a stupid jutsu that had gotten way out of line.
"Shikamaru! Stop him!" she ordered, and Team Ten's shadow manipulator responded by instantly attaching his shadow to Sasuke, freezing him in his tracks. Sakura snapped a finger forward, addressing with boldness an enemy she would ordinarily hide from. "Now look here. You're playing the role of the witch. You are supposed to be after my shoes, not the tin woodsman!"
Unperturbed, the sannin allowed his reptile eyes to drift slowly down her body to eye the open-toed silver shoes on her feet. Then, just as deliberately, his eyes came back up to meet hers. "Sorry," he said in a voice that indicated exactly the opposite, "but they're not really my style." The elite ninja's gaze drifted back over to Sasuke. The tongue reemerged, once again licking the lips, as if the Uchiha was a tasty dessert to be devoured.
Sakura shuddered. This was just so wrong. "I… I will stop you."
"You know, you really shouldn't announce your intentions like that," Kabuto's voice whispered in her ear. "It's bad ninjutsu."
The kunoichi froze. When? How had Kabuto slipped between her and Shikamaru? Now she had her enemy's favorite minion at her back, while the black robed man himself continued his slow descent down the staircase. It was over.
"Sakura! It's a major pain, but I've got him and Sasuke both. If you're going to do something, now's the time."
She had no time to spare Shikamaru a grateful look, instead springing away from the shadow frozen Kabuto. "Naruto! Can you slow down the witch?"
"Can I? Oh, boy, anything for you Sakura! Shadow-clone Jutsu!"
The room filled with Naruto's signature jutsu - multiple solid-form shadow clones. Sakura couldn't stop a smile. The blond had been visibly frightened of Ino, but Orochimaru he would attack without a qualm. Too stupid to know when to be scared; Sakura had never been happier to see this side of her teammate's personality. But the moment was fleeting; she had her own job to do. There was no water in the room, and the only two exits were the locked doors behind her and the staircase occupied by the sannin. As the black-robed snake ninja swatted down Naruto's clones like flies, Sakura dismissed both options. Besides, however good her intentions, she couldn't run out while her companions fought for their lives. There had to be another way.
"Sakura! I can't hold them much longer!" Shikamaru warned. Behind Kabuto's glasses, his eyes had taken on a reddish hue.
Struck by a sudden bolt of inspiration, Sakura gathered her chakra. It wasn't enough to break the illusion world, but… What were those signs again? Oh yeah: rabbit, rat, dog… The air before her shimmered as trickles of sweat ran down her perfectly normal sized brow.
Several things happened at once. Sakura grabbed the newly formed illusion and began dashing towards the staircase as Kabuto broke free of Shikamaru's shadow. The silver-winged spy took his captor down before the boy could blink, and then whirled to face her. Skidding to a stop with a high-pitched shriek, the kunoichi was saved when a dozen newly formed Naruto-clones dog-piled on top of her would be assailant. She dodged to the side of the squirming pile of testosterone, her objective almost in reach. Then, he appeared in her way.
"Sakura, stop interfering. I know what I'm doing. I can't let you get in the way of my mission."
For once, her love of the boy could not overcome her exasperation. Unfortunately, there was no way for her to get past Sasuke, who really was the top-ranked ninja in their class. She was so close to her goal, and yet, she couldn't see a way to reach it.
"Ninja art: Hidden Finger Jutsu; Thousand Years of Death!"
Sasuke's eyes widened at the bold pronouncement; his hands barely had time to fly into signs…
The Uchiha flew into the air, a horrified look on his face. Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto gave Sakura a quick wink a second before Sasuke's body poofed into a flying piece of wood.
"Aw, man! A substitution?"
Sakura vaulted over the blond, bringing her own conjured weapon to bear. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see more poofs of dispelled chakra as Kabuto got the upper hand on the group of Naruto clones he was fighting. It was now or never! She pulled back and threw the contents of the bucket on the sannin and the few remaining Naruto clones, soaking Orochimaru from head to foot. Jet black hair was now slicked down, sticking to the sides of his too-pale face. Black robes clung to the lithe body; the surrounding battle froze as one of the great ninjas of legend wiped water off of his face with a hand. Sakura, who had been so convinced that this would work, was now frozen in terror. The vertically slitted eyes were focused directly on her; the expression on his face was one of vague amusement.
"Lord Orochimaru, what was in that bucket?" Although facing the sannin, Sakura could see that Kabuto had defeated all of Naruto's clones. He had the blond pinned to the ground and had somehow secured Shikamaru as well.
"It was water, Kabuto… ice water."
"Ice water?" The minion pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled. "Ah, I get it. You thought that attack would be more effective because snakes are cold-blooded."
Sakura couldn't respond. The water had taken so much chakra to conjure and it hadn't worked. Why hadn't it worked? The witch should be a puddle of goo by now.
"So now what?" the winged ninja asked.
"Well, water is water. I suppose I've had enough fun. Fly them to the Emerald City, Kabuto, once they are ready." With that, the illusory Orochimaru made hand signs that Sakura recognized as being earth-style ninjutsu, and then disappeared into the ground.
Mouth agape from shock, she turned to eye Kabuto, who shrugged as he removed his foot from where it was pressing Naruto's face into the ground. "Melting is a bit undignified for him. Let's just say that you've won… but only because circumstances are what they are; understand?"
Numbly, she nodded. Right. As if she would ever attempt to throw a bucket of ice water on Orochimaru in real life.
"You understand, Sakura? Good, because I'm completely confused."
"Man, what a pain that was. Remind me never to exert myself again."
"Naruto, you dunce! How dare you use Kakashi's stupid jutsu against me!"
The oldest shinobi shrugged, wings rising and falling with the gesture, and gave Sakura an almost pitying look. She sighed, relief dulling the anger she normally would have felt towards the squabbling boys. A cold nose pressed against her leg, making her jump. "Pakkun? Where the heck have you been hiding?" The small dog just wagged his tale.