The one who called himself Dosu rose from his submissive posture slowly taking his fighting stance, his other two comrades from sound mimicking his movements.
"You were foolish to only come as three…" Sasuke hissed, distain sewn deep into his voice as he readied himself to take on the self proclaimed leader of the group. His muscles tensed under him, he flexed his body before pushing off the ground in a rapid manner, rushing his opponent. Splinters of fine wood reigned from the sky as the entangled bodies slammed into a nearby tree, their flesh becoming riddled with minuscule specks of splintery wood. With his foe pinned at his mercy Sasuke grabbed the sound nin's forearm and spun him mercilessly, flinging him into the open air space where Sasuke quickly joined him with a firm round house kick to his cheekbone, sending the seemingly unworthy opponenent crashing to the earth below him.
Dosu's comrades stood by and watched, unmoved by the event but hesitant to engage with the other Leaf for they were not willing to risk their own necks for what they viewed as a mindless mission to retrieve the Uchiha. Dosu rose slowly from the dust that had collected around him, coughing and spackling the ground with crimson droplets from his inner wounds before he raised his head to view his approaching target.
"Like I said…" Sasuke smirked, landing with grace on the parts of grass that were still intact "You were foolish to come with only three…" With his words he grabbed Dosu by his collar, tugging at his wraps, Sasuke's Sharingan shining violently at the one who challenged him. "Now who sent you?!" He demanded to know, shaking the other nin violently. But despite the young Uchiha's demanding and violent efforts he received no answer from Dosu, instead the Sound Nin merely laughed, mocking the raven haired boy whose eyes were violent with rage. Sasuke, enraged by the ninja's behavior raised his fist to silent the idiot's laughter, only to have his foe rip a few strands of cloth from his bandaged face and with his index and ring finger, whistle sharply into the fading distance causing Sasuke's closed fist to stop inches from his foes face. Almost instantly the scent of the air shifted and changed with the smells of sweat and stale blood filling their nostrils. Sasuke glowered and pulled the bandaged nin close to his face.
"What did you do?!" He questioned harshly, catching a hint of a smirk curl up into Dosu's uncovered mouth.
"Whoever said…we came with just three?"
With Dosu's words spoken, Sasuke released the hold he had on the other nin causing the sound Ninja to plop the ground while Sasuke inched backward, his eyes scanning the tree tops and shadows for the invisible creature that lurked somewhere in those woods.
"Sakura…" Sasuke spoke solemnly to the blushed haired girl. "Get out of here, go bring reinforcements Naruto and I can-" His eyes met the sharp, stern glare of Sakura's normally humble face and as he locked eyes with her, he could feel his words failing him while she glowered at him through her brow.
"The hell with you, Sasuke" she growled, catching the hint of surprise in his eyes "I'm not going anywhere, I'm NOT a little girl anymore and I'm not WEAK!" She protested, clenching her fists out of aggravation. She had never flat out protested anything Sasuke had ever said and the feeling was refreshing to her and admirable to Sasuke. But the moment was stifled when a crack of a branch wavered their attention. All three of their bodies became riddled with tension as they waited to see what would leap from the unknown. With a snap that rumbled like thunder and a hiss that sounded like steam from a kettle, their true opponent was made visible as it lurched from the trees. There before them rose the largest snake any of them had ever encountered in their lives and in an act of surprise they each took a staggering step backward, trying to analyze the situation.
"This isn't good…" Naruto stammered, his nerves rattled by the presence of this unexpected reptile. But Sakura surprised both young men as she gripped her kunai knife and let out a mighty yell, she rushed the beast with so much determination it could have almost of been deemed insanity.
"SAKURA!" Both men yelled, watching in amazement they saw her leap magnificently into the air cutting through all obstacles and running her kunai down the jugular of the scaly menace. The beast releasing a hellish cry, spewing purple from its scales and coating the once lush green grass that rested beneath their feet. But this beast did not falter from its wounds, much to everyone's surprise, it recovered and unfortunately for Sakura, rather quickly.
She landed with grace against the lush forest floor and almost instantly the beast rushed her from behind and had it not been for her comrades warning cries she would surely have been finished. In what seemed almost effortless she spun quickly with speed and agility on her heels with barely enough time to prep or even counter attack. With the beast speeding towards her she turned to greet its opened mouth, its pearly fangs bared and thirsty for blood but Sakura wouldn't let it have its fill. She braced herself for the force she was going to endure and when scales met flesh, Sakura used all the strength she felt she could conjure up as she gripped the reptile's top jaw with one hand and the bottom jaw with the other.
It quickly became a struggle of power as Sakura's muscles screamed and her feet dug trenches as the snake began to overpower her being. She grimaced and tried to regain her footing with no avail as she continued to slowly be pushed backwards.
If only I could overpower this thing enough to break it jaw!! She thought to herself as she continued to struggle.
"Fire Style!" A familiar voice beckoned from overhead as a reign of flames fell from the blue sky and pummeled their scaly opponent. "Keep holding him, Sakura!" Sasuke beckoned to his female team-mate who was trying desperately to regain her forceful stance.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled with fury as he proceeded to clone himself a thousand times over, pummeling their scaly foe with swift blows and jabbing kicks in an attempt to distract the snake from its current target. But the snake's attention never wavered as it's yellow eyes began to stare deep into Sakura.
I know what you are…
The phrase hissed through her mind and roared like thunder into the depths of unlived memories causing her head to scream and her thoughts to rattle. Her concentration broken she was finally the prey the reptile had hoped for and with a forceful shove the creature was certain he would overwhelm the beautiful nin. But much to its surprise it instead met the concrete stance of a proud and determined Haruno.
"I don't know what you are…or where you came from…" She heaved, her eyes glowing as she glared through her brow, her hands violently clamped around the creatures jaw "but I'm not going to let you win!" With her powerful words her fingers dug deep into the rough scales and with an invigorating yell she twisted her arms and motioned her body causing the snake to slam onto its side, its jaw cracking as it split in two different directions, splinters of bone shooting out from his rough outer layer. The beast was dead.
With a shortness of breath, Sakura retracted her fingers that were knuckle deep in scaly flesh and were now covered in purple fluid that matched various other parts of her body. She heaved and desired nothing more than to catch her breath as she rested one of her now sticky hands on her knees and wrapped the other around her cramping sides before she fell to her knees from exhaustion.
"Sakura!" Naruto rang out as he rushed to her side "Sakura, are you okay?" He received no reply as the pink haired nin desperately tried to regain her senses, her body screaming and her mind roaring while her eyes refused to focus on anything but inside of her lids.
What'd that thing do to me?! She cried on the inside, gripping her head and staining her hair with globs of violet before she rushed to her feet in an act to escape the images that raged inside of her.
"Sakura!" Naruto called to her as he attempted to rush after her, only to catch the hand of his raven haired comrade.
"Let her go, Naruto." He said solemnly.
"What are you talking about?!" Naruto barked "She could be hurt! I've never seen anything like that in my life!" He roared as he motioned toward the dead reptile that Sakura had literally defeated with her bare hands. But as he stared into the Uchiha's eyes, he knew there would be no arguing with him, if Sakura was injured, it wasn't unlike herself to heal her own wounds if others were not in need of her services. All they could do is return to Konoha to report the incident and hope she returned safely. The sound Ninja that had been evasive before the snake had vanished in the wake of the battle with the reptile and though he'd never let Naruto know it, Sasuke would venture to look for her without his company.