"Shikamaru! Temari?" Naruto shouted at the sight of his two friends.
Temari was lying on the ground, severely wounded. Her weapon—the huge fan—was lying far from her. She seemed unable to move. She can't speak very much. She was only groaning from pain. And Shikamaru, who was kneeling with one knee, looked like very much pain also. But one can see that he was struggling to stand up.
"Shikamaru!!" Naruto shouted while running towards his wounded friend. "Can you still move?" asked Naruto, stooping to look at Shikamaru.
"Y—Yeah…" he replied weakly.
Meanwhile Sakura and Sasuke rushed to Temari. The medic-nin girl examined how much injuries Temari had. She had broken many of her bones. Though Sakura tried to heal some of the wounds, it's not enough. She needs to be taken to the hospital immediately.
"Temari-san… What should I do?" Sakura concernedly said.
"Sakura, just stay here, okay?" said Sasuke.
"?" she looked at him, "Wait, Sasuke-kun, what are you planning to do?"
"I'll end this now."
"Wait! Sasuke-kun!" she called but he was already gone.
Sasuke went to Naruto. He just looked into his eyes and Naruto seemed to understand what Sasuke was saying. Naruto nodded at him. Stepping away from Shikamaru, Naruto stood up in his fighting position, followed by Sasuke. They glared at Orochimaru, who was giving them an evil smile.
"Bastard! How dare you do this to my friends!" angrily shouted Naruto.
Sasuke was just silent.
"Oh, my. I'm scared…" said Orochimaru sarcastically. "And you, Uchiha, what are you doing beside that boy?" he asked Sasuke.
No response. Sasuke just looked down.
"So what? You snake!" yelled Naruto.
"Heh, I'm not talking to you, fox. I'm talking to my subordinate." He turned to Sasuke, "Answer me, Uchiha! Why are you with that boy?!"
At first, he hesitated to answer, but in the end, he told Orochimaru what he really feels.
"I'm not at your side any more. Beginning today, I'm no longer you're subordinate," said Sasuke.
"What? What are you talking about? You're running away? You don't want to avenge your clan anymore?"
"I can do that myself."
"Tch, that's what you want now, eh? And you're going to help you're so-called "friends"?"
"I'll do what I want to. You can't stop me!" shouted Sasuke, while activating his Sharingan.
"Sasuke…" said Naruto. "Now… Let's go!"
((Note: I'm not good at writing fight scenes, so please bear with me… Thanks!))
The two charged against Orochimaru. They held five kunais each. They consistently threw the kunais at him. But of course, that snake was not just anyone that can be beaten with only that.
Naruto made hundreds of shadow clones. They all attacked Orochimaru at the same time. But he received nothing, even a scratch. Then Sasuke used his fireball technique and directed it at Orochimaru. The fire only caught a bit of his sleeves, but other than that, nothing happened.
After evading Sasuke and Naruto's attacks, it's now time for Orochimaru's turn.
He threw some bomb seals at the two but they dodged it. And because of that, the place was covered with smoke. The two held their guards up, fearing that Orochimaru might attack them. They were right, Orochimaru suddenly showed behind Naruto and tried to stab him with a kunai. Naruto didn't felt his presence completely, that's why he received a wound at his left arm.
"Naruto!" shouted Sasuke. Seeing Naruto's arm bleed, he alarmed, "Naruto, you're hurt."
"It's nothing. Don't mind me," answered Naruto while holding his left arm. "This is just a little cut."
"Okay, but you better be more alert. He's still somewhere in this smoke," advised Sasuke.
Naruto nodded as a reply.
The two attentively observed their surroundings. The smoke was still thick. And Orochimaru used some kind of technique to make him unnoticeable.
"Behind you!!" shouted Naruto to Sasuke. But it was too late, Orochimaru already took hold of Sasuke from behind; he threatened him that he'll slash Sasuke's throat if he struggle to let go.
"Damn it," whispered Sasuke to himself.
"Now, what are you gonna do, Uchiha?" mocked Orochimaru.
"Tch," he sulked.
"Sasuke!" yelled Naruto.
Naruto's attention was at Sasuke. He let his guard down—the worst thing that he should do at this situation.
Orochimaru suddenly attacked him overhead.
"Naruto! Look out!" shouted Sasuke as he struggle to let go from the other Orochimaru that was strangling him.
But it was useless. Naruto wasn't able to dodge Orochimaru's attack. He was too occupied at observing Sasuke's situation that he wasn't able to defend himself. The snaked stabbed him once again, but this time, at his chest. And with a poisoned kunai.
"NARUTO!!" yelled Sasuke. When he saw Naruto fell to the ground, he tried his best to free from Orochimaru's hold of him. He used his elbow to hit Orochimaru at his stomach. Then Orochimaru burst.
"What?!" Sasuke was surprised, "It was just a shadow clone? It means, the real one was the one that stabbed Naruto."
After the shadow clone disappeared, the smoke finally receded, and the place cleared.
"Naruto! Naruto!" he shouted at Naruto who was lying on the ground. "Naruto, please wake up!"
"Sa…Sasuke…" Naruto muttered as he slowly opened his eyes. "I feel that my whole body's going numb."
"It's because of the poison," he paused, "And…" Sasuke looked at Naruto's chest. There was the kunai, piercing his chest.
Naruto looked at the kunai. "Ugh… This kunai is annoying…" Then Naruto held the kunai and tried to pull it.
"Don't!" interfered Sakura. "Don't pull it," she said to Naruto.
"But—"
"You'll just worsen the bleeding and the spreading of the poison."
"I don't care. I need to defeat Orochimaru now." And with that, he instantly removed the kunai from his chest.
"Naruto!"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he smiled. Then he stood up and motioned to Sasuke to continue their fight with Orochimaru.
"Naruto! Please stop! I need to heal you first!"
"Don't worry," said Naruto.
"We'll end this immediately," continued Sasuke.
Sakura exhaled, "Okay, but could you please allow me to close your wound temporarily?"
"Okay then…"
After that, the two stood up in their fighting stance once more.
"Heh, you two ready?" smirked Orochimaru.
"This'll be the end," said Naruto and Sasuke.
They were the ones to charge first. While running towards Orochimaru, Naruto formed his rasengan, and Sasuke, his chidori. They planned to attack him simultaneously.
But before they could hit Orochimaru, they heard something that stopped them.
"AAAHHHH!!" Sakura shouted from a distance.
The two instantly turned around when they heard her. Everything seemed to be in slow motion when they saw her. Sakura seemed to fall slowly to the ground. And the atmosphere around her was sparkling with droplets of blood that seem to float in midair. And she was looking at them before she finally fell to the ground.
"SAKURAAA!!!" shouted Sasuke and Naruto.