Here's the next Chapter. Hope y'all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Ch. 8: Orochimaru's death
Sakura knew she was in trouble. It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough to handle Kabuto but the bastard had called in back up. Now she was fighting him and some more of the sound nins. Sasuke was too busy fighting Orochimaru to help her so she didn't even bother asking him. One of the sound nin was about to get in a lucky shot that would seriously wound her when he was suddenly cut in half. Sakura smiled when she saw Suigetsu.
"You're late," she told him.
"Fashionably late is a good thing."
"Not if I die waiting on you."
He pretended to think about it for a moment then said, "That would be a down side wouldn't it."
"Just a little one," she agreed.
Both of them were grinning as they continued to fight. Things were a lot easier now that the odds were a little more even. It didn't take long for them to get rid of Kabuto's minions. That left Kabuto. He was looking at the two of them with a smug look on his face.
"Why are you looking so smug? You're out numbered and out matched," Sakura said.
"Out numbered yes. Out matched...well that has yet to be seen," he replied.
"Careful Sakura. He didn't get to be Orochimaru's right hand by being weak. He's not exactly what you would call normal," Suigetsu cautioned.
"Right."
The two of them carefully circled Kabuto. The medic for his part didn't take his eyes off of Suigetsu. He believed that the swordsman was the bigger threat. It didn't take long for the two of them to notice this. Suigetsu had long since figured out that Sakura had been trained as a ninja and that it was a mistake to underestimate her. The silver haired man grinned at Kabuto's mistake. It would cost him his life.
Sakura wasn't sure what to do. It seemed that Kabuto blocked everything they threw at him. Not only that but if they managed to hit him it healed almost instantly. How were they suppose to beat someone with instant healing abilities? The only thing she could come up with was to kill him instantly but that was easier said than done. She didn't have that kind of skill and he was watching Suigetsu too closely for the swordsman to do anything. 'What are we going to do?' she thought.
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Karin was dodging the fighting mostly because she didn't know what was going on. All she knew was the Otogakure was under attack. Until she knew who her enemy was she wasn't going to get involved. She did notice Jugo fighting but she didn't go near him. He was currently in his bloodthirsty mode and she had no desire to get near him when he was like that.
At first she had worried about Sasuke but the more time that had past the more she worried about someone else. It confused her to no end. Why was she worried about him instead of Sasuke. The person she was worried about was arrogant and self centered. Not to mention his favorite past time was annoying her. He seemed to love getting under he skin for reasons that were beyond her.
"You better be ok you idiot. If you aren't I'll kill you my self," she whispered.
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"Sakura, are you alright?" Suigetsu asked her.
"I'm fine."
That was a lie. She was sore and tired. Kabuto had hit her hard that time. He was really starting to get on her nerves. The glare she gave him was full of venom. He showed no outward reaction but she liked to think that he was hiding his fear. She stood back up and debated on the best method of attack. He was strong but he wasn't invincible. There had to be something. Suddenly she smiled and turned to Suigetsu.
"Attack him fast and hard. Whatever you do don't let up on the attack. Keep his attention on you."
He nodded and did as she said. Sakura pulled out the kunai Sasuke had given her when she first arrived. The waiting was going to be the death of her. She had always hated to wait and now the whole plan depended on her patience. She watched for her opportunity. There it was. She attacked fast and embedded the kunai into his chest hitting his heart. Kabuto stood there for a moment in shock.
"You made a mistake. You forgot to pay attention to your opponent again. Didn't I tell you that could get you killed," she whispered to him right before he died.
She stepped back and promptly fell on her butt. She was exhausted. Suigetsu came over and knelt beside her.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Just tired," she panted.
He smiled and stood back up. She needed to catch her breath so he would guard her until she had. They both turned their attention to the fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru. They wanted to help but they knew they would just be in the way. They were too tired to be of any help to him. So they stayed out of the way.
Sakura was worried. She didn't think she could stand it if anything happened to Sasuke. Actually scratch that. She knew she couldn't stand it if anything happened to him. So she watched at prayed for his safety. Her green eyes followed every move and missed nothing. As far as she could tell they were evenly matched at the moment but then something changed. She didn't know what it was but she saw Orochimaru's smirk and then Sasuke's eyes widened. There was blood.
"Sasuke-kun!" she shouted in agony.
Suigetsu grabbed her when she tried to run to him. She fought hard while she yelled for Sasuke. Tears streamed from her eyes but she didn't notice. All she saw was the blood coming from the wound in Sasuke's stomach. He was hurt and he needed medical attention. She knew if he didn't get it soon he could bleed to death but Suigetsu wouldn't let her go.
"Sakura, stop fighting. He needs to finish the fight."
"How can he finish the fight if he's dead? Now let me go," she cried
He just kept holding her back. Sasuke just stood back up and continued fighting. It seem to last forever to Sakura. Couldn't Orochimaru just die already.
Sasuke had heard Sakura cry out his name. He also knew that she was afraid he wouldn't make it. He couldn't blame her because he was worried about that himself. The Uchiha was very grateful that Suigetsu kept her from getting in the middle of the battle. She would have gotten hurt. He would rather die than let Sakura get hurt.
Sasuke saw his opening and he took it. The sword he was fighting with went straight through Orochimaru's stomach. Sasuke thought it was ironic considering the snake had stabbed him in the stomach with a kunai. Orochimaru tried to speak but he just coughed up blood. He reached for Sasuke but his hand never made it to the Uchiha before falling limp. The monster was dead. Sasuke stumbled backwards and slid down the wall.
Suigetsu released Sakura. She ran to Sasuke's side and pulled his shirt off so she could get to his injury. There was so much blood. Tears still fell down her face as she used the shirt she had ripped off Sasuke to clean up the blood then examined the wound some more. Another moment she placed her hands on it and they began to glow a green color.
Sasuke watched her concentrate on his injury and wondered when she had learned to do that. After a moment he felt the pain go away and looked down. It was gone. All that was left to prove he had been injured was a thin white line. Sasuke stood up and checked himself over. Sakura not only healed the stab wound, she had gotten rid of all his bruises and scratches. Sasuke turned to face the girl standing next to him.
She gave him a small smile, "I'm glad you're ok, Sasuke-kun. I was worried."
Sasuke just nodded and turned to walk away. He motioned for the other two to fallow him. They ran to where Jugo was fighting. Sakura looked in horror at what her friend had become. This couldn't be the same Jugo that she traveled with. He couldn't be the man she laughed with during the mission in Konoha. He was Jugo's evil twin or something but he couldn't be Jugo.
"Sasuke-kun what's happened to him?" she asked.
"His split personality."
"It's so different."
Sasuke just nodded and ordered them to stay there. He headed over to Jugo. The man turned to face him and something happened. Sakura looked over at Suigetsu in question.
"Sasuke is the only one that can change Jugo back into the one we all know. I don't understand exactly how it works. Best I can tell Sasuke's sharingan eye intimidates evil Jugo into letting the good Jugo back into control," he replied to the unspoken question.
Sakura looked back over to the two. Jugo was on his knees gasping for air. She took a tentative step forward. Sasuke looked back at them and motioned them forward. She ran. When she reached her friend's side she checked him over for injuries and sighed with relief. He was fine.
Karin chose this moment to make and appearance, "What's going on?"
"Orochimaru's dead," Suigetsu replied.
The silver haired man felt a hand on his arm. He looked over and saw Sakura. She was checking him for injuries. She pulled her hand back when she healed all his bruises. He nodded to her in thanks and turned back to Karin. He blinked. She was giving him a strange look.
"What?"
"Orochimaru's dead?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Sasuke killed him because Orochimaru tried to take over his body."
She turned to look at Sasuke, "You killed him?"
"Yes. Did you expect me to let him kill me?" he replied sarcastically.
"No."
Sakura wondered if she was the only one that noticed that Karin wasn't upset about Orochimaru's death. The red head had been giving Suigestu a weird look before she had found out about the snakes death. The medical nin wondered what Karin was thinking.
"Are you...alright, Karin?" Sakura asked tentatively.
"I'm fine," she snapped.
Sakura didn't say anything else. She knew something was bothering the girl but there was nothing she could do about it. So she turned back to Sasuke to ask what they were going to do now. Suddenly she couldn't move anymore. Her vision was going black and she could feel herself falling. Someone was calling her name but she couldn't answer.
Sasuke saw her begin to fall. He didn't know he had called her name before running to her. All he knew was that he had to catch her and he did. His eyes scanned her for any injuries that could have caused this but he didn't see any. Besides, she was a medical nin. If she was injured wouldn't she say something about it.
"Suigetsu, did she get injured during the fight?" he snapped.
"No. I don't know what could be wrong with her."
Jugo moved to stand next to Sasuke. He couldn't figure it out either. She was paler than normal and she breathed like she had just run a mile. Yet she had been just fine a moment ago. He glance up at Sasuke and saw the fear in his eyes. So the Uchiha was afraid of something after all. 'Wake up, Sakura. He still needs you,' Jugo thought to himself as he looked back at her.
Karin watched this from the side. Her ability to see changes in someone's chakra allowed her see see that Sakura had used way too much. She looked at each of the other's reactions and wondered if maybe she should tell them. Her crimson gaze fell on Sasuke. She had obsessed over him for so long that she had lost it when she realized that he had feelings for this girl. She glanced at Jugo. The big guy didn't have many friends and this girl had become one of them. Then her gaze landed on him. Suigetsu was just as worried as Jugo and for the same reason. Karin began to wonder if maybe she was wrong to hate the girl so much. Karin knew that she was tough and bossy. She also would admit to being cold hearted towards everyone but these three men had become her family. Though she would die before admitting that out loud. She didn't want them to be unhappy and if that meant saving this girl then oh well.
"Her chakra level is too low," the crimson eyed girl said at last.
All three boys looked over at her. She stepped forward and placed her hands on Sakura. The good thing about being able to see chakra is that it made it extremely easy to manipulate it. Karin pushed some of her own chakra into Sakura to bring her chakra level back up. Which of course was her first step towards changing her attitude towards the girl. When she had finished Karin stumbled backwards. Suigetsu caught her. (A/N: I don't if this can really be done but it sounded good at the time and I needed a catalyst for Karin's switch from bad guy to good guy. This was a good one...at least i hope it was.)
"She should be fine now. Both of us are going to be asleep for a while though. Oh before I forget there's high levels of chakra heading our way. One of them is the fox jinchuriki."
"Go to sleep, Karin. You've done enough," Suigetsu ordered.
For once Karin didn't argue with him. She fell asleep almost as soon as he said it. Suigetsu looked up at Sasuke. Both men nodded and picked up their respective girls bridal style. The three conscious members of team snake left what had once been the Sound Village as fast as they could.
---With the Konoha Ninja---
There had been a huge explosion in the Land of Rice Fields. They asked for help from Tsunade to check it out because the area was suspected to be the location of Otogakure, the Village Hidden in Sound. Because they had personal interest in finding this village the Hokage had agreed. A team made up of Rookie Nine and Team Guy were sent to investigate and to capture and sound nins that they found. They arrived several hours after the explosion and looked around.
"Well, it looks like this was the site for Otogakure but someone has really done some damage to it," Ino stated.
"It would seem so," Kakashi agreed.
"Over here," Shikamaru called. He was standing in the middle of one of the buildings. Once everyone had walked over to him he said, "It looks like this is where the explosion took place."
"That doesn't look like a bomb went off. What is it?" Kiba asked.
"It's a crater created by Sakura's punches," Naruto stated.
"So she was fighting someone," Tenten said.
Naruto was just about to reply when they heard a girl scream. Everyone reconized Ino's voice. No one had ever seen Shikamaru move so fast. He shot of like a bat out of hell towards the direction of the scream. When he was a few yards away from the spot someone crashed into him. Ino buried her face in his chest. He could feel her trembling.
"You shouldn't have wondered off you troublesome girl," he said softly.
"I know but I thought I saw something. I did."
"What?"
She pulled back. By this point everyone had caught up with them. She motioned for them to follow her but she didn't let go of Shikamaru's hand. She led them to an area of the building that had only two walls still standing. On one was was a large spot of blood that was still slightly wet. In the middle of what had once been a room was the body of Orochimaru. They could see why it would startle Ino. The scene wasn't exactly a clean one.
"If Orochimaru died in the center of the room...then how did the blood get on the wall?" Naruto asked.
Akamaru walked over to the wall and sniffed. He turned and barked at Kiba.
"Are you sure?" Kiba asked the large white dog.
More barking.
"Akamaru says that it's not Orochimaru's blood. The blood on the wall belongs too...it's Sasuke's," Kiba said to everyone else.
"Is he dead?" Naruto asked in concern
"No. Neither me or Akamaru smell death...just blood. We do smell healing chakra though. Someone performed medical ninjutsu here."
Naruto relaxed, "Sakura must have healed him."
"That's what we think to."
Tenten looked at Neji, "So what happened here?"
"It looks like Sasuke and Orochimaru had a fight and Orochimaru lost."
"But why?"
"Because Orochimaru was going to take over Sasuke's body so that he could use the Sharingan eye," Kakashi answered.
"Do you think Sasuke planned to kill Orochimaru the whole time?" Rock Lee asked.
"Yes," Naruto said. "He hated it when anyone tried to use him. He would have resented Orochimaru because he did use him."
"Naruto's right," Kakashi agreed. "I don't think Sasuke had any intention of leaving Orochimaru alive when he left here."
"What do we do now?" Ino asked.
"Let's see if anyone's still alive. If they are we'll bring them in for questioning," Guy stated.
"And after that we go report to Tsunade," Kakashi added.
Everyone agreed and then got to work. When that was done everyone returned to Konoha. They had only found two survivors and they were able to tell them what had happened except for what had happened in Orochimaru's room. They were left guessing about that event.
Tsunade looked at the teams standing in front of her, "Well I think it's safe to say that Sasuke will be going after Itachi now. So I want you to leave the day after tomorrow. Your mission will be to find the Akatsuki."
"What for?" Naruto asked impatiently. "We need to go find Sasuke and Sakura. Not the Akatsuki."
"Because, Naruto, if you find Itachi then you'll eventually find Sasuke and Sakura."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense."
"Naruto one of these days I'm going to kill you myself," Tsunade said rubbing her temples.
"You wouldn't do that Ganny Tsunade."
"Yes I would and I definitely will if you call me that one more time," she growled at him.
The teams when to get some sleep. Tomorrow they would pack and plan their mission. For now though they needed to rest.
There it is. I don't know that this one is as good as my other chapters but it doesn't suck either. Just so you know this does not mean that Sakura and Karin will be the best of friends...it just means that Karin is beginning to reevaluate her thoughts and feelings on everything.
Please review (Gives puppy dog face)
