A/N: Thank you all for your reviews!
The big fight with Orochimaru to save the day is coming up pretty soon. But can Sakura, Kakashi and the gang save the Hokage in time or will she...oh! I mean he die? Hehehehe.
Read and Review, please!
Naruto-Heart of Honor: Fourteen
The Shinobi and the women finally reached the balcony together, and carefully began to run through the halls, sneaking around and trying to find where the wicked ninja had taken the Hokage. Sakura stayed beside Kakashi as they rushed through the halls, looking into room after rooms. They weren't sure where Orochimaru had the Hokage but they knew that they needed to find them soon or it would be the end of the great leader of the Fire Country. The Shinobi stayed around the women, though they weren't sure what Sakura had planned to do with them. Even Ino and the other girls were wondering. But they figured that they would find out soon enough.
Finally, they reached the floor where they had seen Orochimaru on the balcony. Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed. The Sound Ninja were watching the doors of the Hokage's quarters. Itachi Uchiha was not one of them though. Nor was the one called Kabuto. They were probably with Orochimaru and the Hokage in the next room. The Shinobi frowned as they carefully looked around the corner at the guards before quickly going back the way they came, to come up with a plan.
"All right. Here's the plan." Kakashi said as he looked his men and the women over. "We'll rush them and over take them quickly and silently. Sakura, you stay with the women..."
Ino snorted as she placed her hand onto her waist and tilted her head. "Do you honestly think that you guys can take those guys quickly and silently? Without a warning called to Orochimaru? I don't think so!" The blonde said in a diva sort of way. She received a look from Kakashi but Sakura shook her head as she held up her hand to the silver-white haired Shinobi. "As much as I hate to agree with Ino-pig, Kakashi, but she does have a point. You guys rush out there and try to over take them, there will be a mistake made. They can shout a warning to Orochimaru and what then? He'll kill the Hokage before we can even reach him." She told him.
Shikamaru nodded in agreement, as he let the plan roll over in his mind. He had to admit it, but Sakura was right. "She's got a point. One sight of us, there'll be a shout. Besides, those guys are stronger than we thought. They did survive the landslide after all." He said dryly.
"Then what do you think we should do then? We have to get to the Hokage right now." Naruto said with a frown, his voice raising a little but winced when Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. But at that very second, she was hit with an idea. She smiled wickedly before she looked around at her female friends. "I think I have an idea. Looks like you girls just became useful after all." She said before glancing at Naruto, smirking even more evilly. "And so did you, Naruto."
This brought only a puzzled look from the blonde, and everyone else. They didn't like the look in Sakura's eyes but it must have been something good. So they asked what she had planned. A few moments later, they were all smiling evilly.
The Four Sound Ninja guarding the doors were on edge. They were just waiting for some kind of attack to come from the Shinobi. They were sure that they were not going to give up in saving their Hokage. They were all actually hoping that they would show up so that they would have something to do besides just waiting for their leader to kill the old man and conquer the Fire Country as his own. This was something they were all waiting for. They couldn't wait until they would be able to rule in this land. It would no longer be the Fire Country but the Sound. They would rule the entire Country with fear if they had to. But they had won this war. They were sure of it.
"Heh, heh, heh!" came the sound of giggling, making all four of them jerk around with their hands on their kunai.
"Who's there?!" One demanded as he prepared the throw his kunai. This was what they had been waiting for. They had been just waiting for the Leaf Shinobi to show up. It was time for action. It was time for...
All four Sound Shinobi froze when the intruders came around the corner, their eyes growing wide when they saw who it was. Seven very beautiful young women with their kimonos somewhat falling off their shoulders. Ino in the lead, flaunting her gorgeous long blonde hair and batting her blue eyes at the men. Tenten, Temari, Anko, and Kiba's older sister, Inuzuka Hana were following Ino's lead very well. Behind them, was a meek looking Hinata, who was trying to follow her lead but she looked somewhat terrified. However, there was a lovely blonde with long ponytails running down to the floor with bright blue eyes batting flirtatiously at the men. The only thing about her was the three whisker markings on her cheeks and how she was wearing a very skimpy outfit that definitely showed a lot of skin, making the Sound Ninja's eyes grow very wide.
"What the...?! Where did they come from?!" One of the Sound asked as he pulled his kunai.
But the largest one of the group reached over and caught his wrist as he was eyeing the blonde with whiskers with a grin. He seemed be enjoying this. "They're just a bunch of women."
"Very beautiful women." Said another grinning as he looked the flirting women over.
The women held up their hands as if to show that they were unarmed, but they kept moving forward, waving their hips side to the side. To their greatest pleasure, the men's eyes were following them. This was definitely a good sign that the plan was working. Ino just tilted her head in a innocent way as she looked the men over. "Oh, we were so afraid." She said in a sweet voice, and a little pouty. Hana nodded as she looked directly at the one called Kimimaro, with a lazy smile. "With all of the noise outside, we were afraid that evil ninja had come to take us away. I'm so glad that we found four very strong men to protect us."
The other girls all nodded as they moved closer to the Four sound and began to surround them, touching their arms as if testing their muscles. They smiled sweetly at the four men, who all just looked them over with silly smiles on their faces.
Ino had her arms on the largest one, Jirobo, smiling flirtatiously up at him. "Will you please protect us from the bad ninja?"
Temari nodded as she batted her eyes at the Sound ninja with four arms. She linked her arms with at least one of them, rubbing them up and down. "Yes, please protect us from the evil ninja, and we will give you whatever you want." She told him in such a seductive sort of way. The four-armed Sound Ninja grinned as he looked at his companions, which mostly only three were enjoying their selves. The Sound Ninja, Kimimaro, however, looked rather suspicious as he looked at the women around him and his comrades. "I don't like this. We should tie these women up and deal with them later."
"Oh, shut up, Kimi. Don't ruin this moment. We hardly get to mess with women anyway. There's not many at Orochimaru's lair." Kidomaru, the four-armed ninja growled at him. "Let us have a little fun while we're here."
The other ninja nodded as they let the flirty women around them test their muscles or bat their eyes at them. Anko and Hana moved closer to Kimimaro, both on each side and running their hands up his arms, while he looked at them suspiciously. "Oh, come on. Relax a little. We're only women. It's not like we're harmful." Anko said with a smile. Kimimaro just continued to stare at her suspiciously but he looked mildly relaxed.
"Don't worry, chicks. We'll protect you." Said Jirobo as he grinned down at Ino.
Though deep inside, each one of the girls felt a spark of annoyance and anger flare up inside them. They hated being called chicks. That was a word that should have been banned. But on the outside, they just smiled.
Sakon grinned as he wrapped his arm around Hinata's waist, getting a very cool look from the blonde with whiskers. "I think I like this one. She seems shy but even the shy ones are fun. What do you think, Ukon?" But then to the women's surprise, a face in the back of his head lift up, wrapping the other arm around the whiskered blonde's waist, who looked like she just wanted to pull away and punch the guy but Ino shot her a look as if daring her too. So she just pressed herself against him, smiling. "I think I like this one, brother Sakon. The blondes are the ones who know how to have all the fun."
"Oh you have no idea." The whiskered blonde said grinning slyly before she grabbed that one by the head and slammed her head right into his.
That was the que for action.
The Shinobi who had been creeping around the Four Sound, who had been completely distracted by the seven lovely ladies, though the blonde one with whiskers exploded with smoke before Naruto leapt out of the smoke and grabbed the arm that was resting around Hinata's waist. "Keep your hands off of my future wife, punk!" He snapped before throwing the double headed Sound Ninja into the wall, where Kiba quickly intercepted him with Akamaru. The Shinobi started to leap forward to attack the Four Sound, but before any one of them could even get close, the women jumped to action. Anko and Hana both grabbed Kimimaro's arms and threw him hard against the wall, following before slamming their palms into the sides of his face. Temari and Tenten both smirked as they grabbed the two arms of Kidomaru, holding tight, while he was looking rather alarmed.
"You touched my butt!" Temari hissed. "No one but my future husband can do that!" Then the blonde practically became a blur of gold as she spun around behind him while pulling out a fan out from within her belt and slamming it against his head. Tenten, on the other hand, reached into the folds of her sleeves, yanking out four kunai and throwing them at the startled four-armed Ninja. The blades sliced into his sleeves and threw him against the wall while Temari took the chance to start slapping him across the face with the fan.
Ino, unlike the others, smirked as she continued to clung onto Jirobo's arm. She waited till he got a good look around at the happenings before he jerked his head down to her, raising a fist to hit her. The lovely blonde only smiled innocently at him before she kicked the ground hard, flipping up into the air and landing on his large shoulders. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit girls?" She asked sweetly before she balled up a fist and slammed it hard into his face, making him stagger back a little. Ino then took the chance to jump off of his shoulders, landing on her feet. "Of course, my daddy wouldn't like you either. You're too fat! Fatter than that guy over there and even he's better looking than you!" She said motioning to Choji, who, like some of the other Shinobi was staring at the women with shock. "In fact, he's not bad looking at all. A little big, yeah. But even some of the big guys are great." She had a strange smile at that thought, making Sakura sweat drop while the others were trying to figure out what the blonde meant. However, because of the minor distraction, Ino looked over at Choji and gave him an impatient look. "Well?! Are you going to come help me or not?!"
Choji blinked out of his stupor before grinning and lunging forward and began to attack the large one with Shikamaru's help. This also made the other Shinobi stop staring and rush forward to help the women.
Kakashi, however, paused to look at Sakura, who was only shaking her head. "Uh..." He couldn't really find a way to ask his question. Sakura blinked once before looking at him with a smirk. "You do realize that all of them are daughters of Shinobi, like me, right? Do you really think our fathers would have just let us live our lives without teaching us a little about Shinobi techniques? Like they really want us to go out into the world without being able to defend ourselves." she told him. Kakashi stared at her for a minute before his face softened. He was definitely amused by that look. So he nodded. But then remembering why they were there snapped back to him. His eye widened and he threw a hand out towards the pink haired girl. "Go, Sakura! Break down the door quickly!" he yelled as he rushed towards the startled Four Sound.
Sakura nodded firmly as she dashed towards the large doors, her legs pumping hard as she began to draw Chakra towards her fist. She knew she needed to act quickly before Orochimaru caught onto what was going on. She almost made it to the door too if it hadn't been for the Sound Ninja, Kimimaro acting just as quick. He had escaped from getting kicked by Rock Lee and Gai, before throwing out his hand hard towards the pink haired girl. To the Leaf Shinobi and the women's shock, a small needle of bone shot right out of his hand, leaving a trail of blood trailing behind, heading directly towards Sakura. Everyone almost froze when they saw it strike her in the neck, throwing her to the side.
But they all froze again when there was an explosion of smoke as something had hit the ground. But it wasn't who they had expected.
In the Hokage's office, unaware of the fight going on outside the office, Orochimaru was standing before the Hokage, grinning in triumph as he looked his former sensai over. He knew he would win once this old fool surrendered to him and he was dead. It was only a matter of time. But for now, he wanted to have a little fun with this man. The Hokage was still standing rather tall and bold looking, giving the pale tyrant a cool look. He paused for a moment to look at Kabuto, who was standing next to him and holding his arm tightly so that he couldn't go anywhere. Then his eyes flickered over to Uchiha Itachi, who had his arms just folded over his chest as he leaned against the wall. However, there was a mild smirk on his face as he looked the Hokage over. It looked as if he knew something. That look, the Hokage decided, he didn't like. But then he turned his aged eyes back onto Orochimaru, who moved forward a step.
"How does it feel," The snake-like man paused as he began pacing before the old man. "How does it feel to know that you are about to die, old master? That your Shinobi have failed to protect you and this pathetic village? That I will become the ruler of this land?"
The Hokage lift his head, looking rather noble as he narrowed his eyes at Orochimaru, then shook it. "You have not won, Orochimaru. Nor will you. My Shinobi will defeat you, even if you kill me. You will fall, just like you and your army did off that cliff." He told him. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, un-amused at the answer. But then he paused as he let the words settle in his mind. "How did you know that I…..bah! It was probably that fool, Hatake or that moron, Minato who told you that my army fell. And by what?!" He whirled around and went to the balcony looking at the crowds below. "A pathetic pink haired woman." He smirked coldly as he lowered his eyes, searching for the pink head he hoped to find. "Hmph. When I get my hands on that girl, she will be sorry that she was ever born………" He froze.
His eyes laid on a certain person in the ground, a certain someone standing in between Namikaze-Uzumaki Minato and Morino Ibiki. That someone was looking calmly up at the balcony, back at him.
It was the real Hokage.
"How does it feel, Orochimaru," came that voice of Sakura, as her Transformation Jutsu fell. "How does it feel to know that you just lost the fight? Because of me?"
Orochimaru's eyes grew wider before he whirled around and turned an icy glare onto the pink haired woman before him, standing next to a flabbergasted Kabuto. His eyes caught sight of Itachi now grinning, as he looked the girl over. "You!" he exclaimed as he looked between Sakura and Itachi. "You…..! And you! You knew this wasn't the Hokage, Itachi?! And you didn't tell me?!"
"I am a tricky one, after all, Orochimaru. That's why I scare you. Besides, you should have figured it out for yourself. You're the Great Orochimaru, after all." Itachi said with dark amusement.
Orochimaru glared at Itachi for a long moment. He was definitely not happy about this at all. No, he was actually furious. Once again, he had been thwarted. "I will deal with you later, Itachi." He then looked at the smirking pink haired girl, giving her a very dangerous look. "You have once again messed up my plans, girl! How did you do it? How did you switch places with the Hokage?"
Sakura just smiled deviously as she shifted her weight and placed her and onto her slender waist. "It was so easy. All I had to do was go talk to the Hokage, himself."
Flashback
Sakura ran away from the Noodle Stand where she had left the other Shinobi. She was so furious with Kakashi! Why did he have to be so impossible?! But she had a plan, no less. Now only to see if it worked. She quickly ducked into an alley and created a Clone of herself. She gave it orders to try and convince the people of Konohagakure that they were in danger while she went to warn the Hokage. With a nod to each other, Sakura and her clone rushed off in different directions.
It hadn't been easy on trying to sneak into the Hokage's building. There were ANBU all over the place, guarding the halls. She had almost gotten caught several times. But with luck on her side, she hadn't. But then she finally found where the Hokage was staying. The doors were well guarded though. There were two ANBU protecting the doors, so she knew that she couldn't just waltz up to the doors as herself. With a frown, she tried a transformation of Minato. She did pretty well to making herself look like him. Once she had transformed, she walked towards the doors.
It worked for a few seconds.
The ANBU bowed to her, thinking that she was Minato. They even started to step aside to let her pass, that is until the real Minato stepped up right behind her and placed his hand onto her shoulder. They were furious that this girl had tricked them and even started to pull Kunai to punish her.
However, Minato held up a hand and shook his head. Then he smiled at Sakura, who smiled back.
Moments later, they both walked into the Hokage's office, while he was still speaking to Ibiki about the ceremony. They both stopped and looked at Sakura with surprise. It only surprised Sakura more when Ibiki just smiled at her in a wry way but nonetheless, he actually looked happy to see her.
"Who might you be, young lady?" The Hokage asked in a kind tone.
So Sakura told him. She told him her name, who her father was and what she had done. Then she quickly told him that Orochimaru was alive. Some of the other guards didn't look convinced. Ibiki didn't even look convinced. He was frowning with a doubtful look on his face but the Hokage slowly nodded, looking like he believed her. And he told her that he did.
"Orochimaru is too powerful to be killed by falling off a cliff, my young Shinobi. I believe this girl. Now the only thing we must do is prepare for a fight. We must evacuate the Village immediately." The Hokage said gravely. Sakura then shook her head. "Actually, your honorable Hokage, if I may. I have a plan that can fool Orochimaru very well. It's really risky but I think it might work." She said. The Hokage frowned but then nodded for her to go on. "Hokage-sama, I will go out there as you while you can go as someone else. That way, Orochimaru will think I'm you and will attack me while you are safe. Once he does that, I can finish the deed of what I started."
"Sakura," Minato spoke sternly. He obviously didn't like this plan. "No, I can't let you do that. You could be killed."
Sakura shook her head as she gave him a smile. "Please let me do this, Minato-sempai. I want to do it. I want to save the Hokage from that monster. If I die, I die with honor. At least I would have done something worth while. Besides, there's a chance that I won't. If I can get Orochimaru to attack me right where the others are, we can all take him out together. That way, the Hokage will be safe." She told him. Minato still didn't look happy with the plan. He just kept shaking his head as he refused to let her do this to herself. "Sakura, I promised your father that I would keep you alive. What will I tell him if you die?" He asked, moodily. The pink haired girl just paused for a moment before she smiled and shook her head. "Tell him that his Cherry tree didn't let the wind blow her over." She smiled even more when Minato blinked in surprise. "He'll know what that means." She then turned to the Hokage, waiting for what he had to say.
There was a pause before the Hokage's face softened. He seemed to understand rather well. So with a nod, he looked to Minato and Ibiki. "We shall give this plan a try. However, if the time does come where I am safe and Sakura-chan is in grave danger, Minato, you will intervene. You and Kakashi."
Minato slowly nodded as he looked at the pink haired girl, who looked away. "Speaking of Kakashi, what about him, Sakura? What will you do if..." He was asking.
Sakura sighed as she shook her head and met the golden haired Shinobi's eyes. She obviously didn't want to talk about the silver-white haired ninja right now. It hurt right then. "Kakashi made up his mind about me a while ago, Minato-sempai. I am a liar and a deceiver in his eyes. I don't care what happens to me, just as long as he'll be okay." She told him before she turned away from a forlorn Minato. He obviously didn't believe that for a second.
Moments later, she was disguised as the Hokage with Minato, Ibiki and the Hokage disguised as his own grandson, at her sides as they made their way out for the celebration. She met with Kakashi and her fellow Shinobi, pretending to be the Hokage. She even told the silver-white haired Shinobi what she believed in her heart. And while telling him that his father would be proud, she had the sudden urge to throw her arms around him and hug him. Letting him know that he as not alone. She wanted to tell him something else but it wasn't appropriate.
And then Hell broke loose when Orochimaru decided to attack.
End Flashback
Sakura finished telling Orochimaru exactly how she had done it, how she had saved the Hokage. She felt the pleasure of seeing how angry the pale tyrant was. She smirked coolly seeing how his pale face was slowly turning red from rage. She knew that he knew he had failed. His plans were ruined. He had lost the war.
"Why are you smiling, baka-onna?" asked Kabuto as he roughly grabbed her arm, tightening his grip that it really hurt. Sakura yelped in pain as she found herself thrown down to her knees before Orochimaru. "You are about to die."
Orochimaru slowly nodded as he lift his hand to his mouth and began to pull out his long sword from within his body. He had had enough of this girl. She had ruined everything. At least he would have the last satisfaction of seeing her blood spilt on the wood floor beneath his feet. "Beg for mercy, pinky." The tyrant hissed before raising his sword to slash her head off.
And then he swung.
However, moments before it happened, all of the Shinobi had defeated the Four Sound, with the help of the women. They had been very surprised on how willful these women were. They had the spirits of Shinobi, even if they weren't. Anko was sure a wild woman as she helped Gai and Rock Lee fight Kimimaro and together, they nearly tore all the bones from his body until he was in nothing but pieces. Tenten and Temari helped Shikamaru and Neji defeat the four armed Sound, Kidomaru and together, he was down for the count, for good. Choji and Ino had worked together in taking out the Chakra eating jumbo, Jirobo. By the end of it, Choji had used up most of his chakra and surprisingly to Ino, he was not that big. Once he was out of Chakra, he actually had a very nice build. His body structure was actually very nice to look at, Ino decided. The others were defeated.
But Kakashi and Naruto was staring at the wooden log that had replaced Sakura. They realized it after a minute of staring. Sakura had not been Sakura. She had never been there. She had used a substitution technique, as well as the clone. But where was she then? Was she safe? For some reason, they knew that she was in trouble.
"Kakashi!" Sasuke yelled from looking out one of the windows.
Kakashi jerked around before rushing over to the black haired Shinobi. He looked out into the crowd, hoping to see Sakura with Minato but to his greater pleasure and horror, she wasn't. But the Hokage was. He felt as if his insides just turned to ice as he immediately knew what was going on. It just hit him. He had a feeling he knew exactly where Sakura was.
"Hey! It's the Hokage! But if he's down there, then who's...?!" Naruto was asking before he jerked around when Kakashi bolted towards the door. "Huh?!"
Even Sasuke was rushing after him, for he caught on too. His eyes wide with shock and anxiety as he hurried. "Damn it! Why did she have to go do that?! Is she trying to get herself killed?!" He exclaimed. Naruto and Sai were quickly following after, both frowning, as did the others. They weren't sure what was wrong, but it wasn't good. "What?! What is it?! What's wrong?!" Naruto asked frantically before stopping with the others as Kakashi was now trying to pull the heavy doors open.
"The Hokage is safe!" Sasuke yelled as he went to help.
This brought cheers from the other Shinobi as they looked around at one another. The concept hadn't really hit them just yet of what was truly wrong. However, Shikamaru, Neji and Shino seemed to catch on with Kakashi, Sasuke and Sai. Especially with Neji now looking through the walls. His face fell and paled to nearly pure white when he saw what was really behind these doors. "NO! Sakura's up there with Orochimaru!" He yelled, shutting the others up very quickly. "She must have switched places with the Hokage, taking his place so that Orochimaru would take her instead!"
"No! You mean...!" Choji yelped as he ran with Ino beside him.
Kakashi gritted his teeth as he began pulling at the heavy doors. He knew that if he didn't hurry it up, Sakura was going to be doomed. He knew that she needed help now! Sasuke, on the other hand, nodded to the others. "Sakura's going to die if we don't get up there right now! Orochimaru is going to kill her!"
"MOVE!" shouted Kiba as he charged at the doors with Akamaru.
Everyone whirled around to see Kiba and Akamaru glowing bright red with a berserker rage in their eyes. It was obvious that they had just used one of their more insane techniques. But still, they knew that if they didn't get out of the way now, they were going to get hurt. So everyone jumped to the side as both, boy and dog crashed against the doors. It somewhat worked. The doors now had violent cracks in them now, but it still wasn't enough.
Choji figured it was his turn.
Puffing up as large as he could, he threw his hands together into a sign with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Arrghh!!" He yelled before blowing really big and then went spinning right into the doors, creating a huge explosion. Splinters of wood went flying everywhere, making several of his comrades flinch but nonetheless, the doors were destroyed. Immediately, Kakashi was running through with the others quickly following after. They all bolted up the stairs, heading up to the Hokage's office, where they burst into the large quarters, and froze. Everyone was surprised to see what had just happened.
Standing in between Orochimaru and Sakura, Itachi was slumped over a little as Orochimaru's sword had penetrated the center of his hand. There was a lot of blood running down his forearm now but he didn't pay any attention to them at all. His eyes, his Sharingan eyes glared right at the stunned snake-man. Sakura was still on her knees, with Kabuto still holding onto her arm tightly. But both of them were looking at Itachi with such surprise.
"...what...Itachi! What is the meaning of this?!" Orochimaru yelled with outrage.
Itachi gritted his teeth before he roughly shoved Orochimaru away from him, pulling his hand free from the sword. He ignored the wound in his hand as he stepped back, panting in pain and still glaring at Orochimaru. "You have caused this girl enough pain, Orochimaru. And I serve you no longer. Only a coward harms a woman." He said coldly. Orochimaru glared at him icily before lowering the bloody sword. "You killed your mother, didn't you?"
"Like I said. Only a coward harms a woman. Therefore, I am a coward. However," Itachi smirked as he turned his eyes over to the side as soon as the Shinobi joined them. "My deeds here are done. And you will die." He said before he made quick hand signs and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Orochimaru blinked in surprise before jerking his head around to see the group of Shinobi as they glared darkly at him. They even started forward as if to charge him. But acting quickly, the snake lashed out his long tongue, grabbing Sakura around the neck and yanking her towards him. Sakura yelped in alarm and gasped for air as the long slimy tongue tightened around her throat. She tried to fight to get away from him, but Orochimaru wrapped his arm around her waist. He held up the sword towards her face, making her and her friends freeze.
"Sakura!" Several of the Shinobi yelp but they didn't move anymore.
Kakashi's face darkened as he glared at Orochimaru, straightening his body but still not moving another step. He didn't like the looks of Sakura being trapped by this monster. But if he moved another step, it was more than likely that Orochimaru was going to slice her throat with his sword. With only a hard look on his face, he pushed up his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan eye. "Give up, Orochimaru. You kill Sakura, we kill you. It's that plain and simple."
"I'm sure, Hatake." Orochimaru said coolly. "But I am so sure that you would rather have this flower alive more than dead. So therefore, you will back off now. Or I will kill her."
Kakashi frowned but knew that if he didn't, Sakura would get hurt. He didn't want to see that. He felt helpless not being able to help her in this mess. He could see that she was starting to turn red from the lack of air. So he took a step back, as did everyone else.
"And if you continue to do that, Nara, I will make sure to slit her throat before your shadow technique reaches me." Orochimaru warned.
All eyes flickered over to the now cursing Shikamaru as he had been trying to send one of his shadow techniques over to save Sakura but had no choice but to call it back. There didn't seem to be a thing that they could do to help her. Kakashi just kept his eye sternly on Orochimaru, though it flickered over to Sakura, who was still gasping for air. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll help you soon." He promised out loud. Sakura looked right into his eye but nodded as she tried to smile. Orochimaru, on the other hand, just laughed as he moved his face closer to Sakura's neck, baring his snake like fangs. He smirked when the Shinobi tensed to see that he was about to bite into her neck. And they all knew that he was in deed like a snake. He carried poison in his fangs. "No." Kakashi muttered as he almost took a step forward.
That was then Sakura slammed her kunai into Orochimaru's side.
"Arrggh!" Orochimaru yelled as he immediately released her, throwing her forward. He stumbled back a little, grabbing at the kunai, but freezing as it started to sizzle. His eyes jerked downward to see that there were two explosive tags wrapped around the handle and the blade. That wasn't good. "Kabuto! Kill her!" He yelled before there was an explosion, sending Sakura flying a little and crashing right into Kakashi, who wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling. He nearly went down to one knee from the impact though. Orochimaru's henchman, Kabuto, however, was going to obey. He rushed forward, his eyes flashing dangerously as he held up a glowing blue hand, which Sakura recognized as a Chakra blade. It was some type of medical technique that could also be used as a weapon. And it was pointing directly at her.
Suddenly, there were two black blurs right between Sakura and Kakashi and Kabuto. Both Sasuke and Sai were glaring darkly at the gray haired youth as they immediately snapped into a fighting position. Sai also had out his paint book and a brush, already painting something down. "Stay away from her." He said emotionlessly before he and Sasuke jumped forward to begin their fight with him. They attacked as one, and within seconds, they had him down on the ground.
The fight with Orochimaru, on the other hand, was not over just yet. For when the smoke cleared up, everyone was horrified to see a giant white snake with Orochimaru's face slithering right out of his body. Sakura cowered back in horror against Kakashi, who tightened his hold on her as he looked just as horrified. The others were already moving back with wide eyes.
"Oh my...!" Gai yelped as he slapped a hand onto Lee's shoulder, who also cowered.
Kakashi frowned as he kept his arm around Sakura, who was looking up at the white snake as he rose out of the human skin he wore before. She was terrified out of her wits to see such a sight but she was going to try and manage. "Is that..."
"Yes." came Anko's reply as she moved forward, her eyes narrowing. "That is Orochimaru. The real Orochimaru."
The Shinobi looked at her in surprise. None of them had actually realized that she knew Orochimaru. Even Hana, who was closer to Anko more than the others. They all just stared at her with surprise as she looked up at Orochimaru's new white scaly form. "Anko, how..." started Tenten.
Anko shook her head as she narrowed her eyes at the villain. "Long ago, before he was banished from the Fire Country, Orochimaru took me into his home off the streets when I had no where else to go. He adopted me. Think of him as my father. But, he abandoned me when he tried to commit all of those crimes. He left me to be alone, and then it was Ibiki who took care of me, like a father." Her eyes hardened. "Be careful. He's more dangerous this way." She turned around and started towards the doors. "I would think it better if we, the women, left this part to the men." She told them before leaving. Everyone just stared before Kakashi nodded to the women, his arm dropping from Sakura's sides. "Yes. Leave this to us. You ladies just get to safety." He told them before he and the men started forward. All but Sakura left the room. The Shinobi looked at her in surprise but she shook her head. "I'm Shinobi too, remember? Woman or not. We are a team, comrades. I won't let you have all the fun." She said giving Kakashi a pointed look. Everyone just smiled, though Kakashi just stared dryly. He wanted her to go too but she refused. "I mean it, Kakashi. I'm not leaving."
There was a pause before Kakashi's face changed, making him look like he was definitely smiling. He gave a nod before everyone turned sharply to face the giant white snake. "All right, men and lady! This is it! We end this now! Orochimaru threatened the lives of our people, killed our fellow Shinobi, tried to kill our Hokage and threatened one of our best Shinobi," The Elite said glancing at Sakura, who kept her stare forward. "Let's show him what happens when he messes with us!"
"Hai!" shouted all of the Shinobi in the room.
Immediately they all charged at the giant white snake, who hissed angrily and tried to attack back. All of the Shinobi began moving to avoid getting bit by the evil snake and to their luck, they managed it. All at once, they began to attack Orochimaru's long scaly body with Taijutsu. Sakura slammed her fists into the snake's body, along with everyone else. Orochimaru hissed angrily and began to thrash around. His long tail nearly knocked into the Shinobi and crashed through the walls of the Hokage Palace, causing the walls to collapse. There were screams outside as debris fell but none of the Shinobi paid attention to them. They needed to focus on their enemy for now. Continuing on rushing forward, everyone attacked the giant snake as viciously as they could. Sakura was calling chakra to her hands to help and punching hard. The snake hissed in pain a few times before jerking around and lashing at her with his fangs. Sakura gasped as the fangs came too close to biting into her as she tried to jump forward. But before the fangs could bite into her, Naruto leapt into the air and came down hard on Orochimaru's head, slamming it down to the ground with his fist then he flipped off its head, grinning at Sakura.
Angrily, Orochimaru really began to thrash around violently, crashing against the walls until the roof started to collapse. All of the Shinobi had to start jumping out of the way to avoid wood and stone landing on their heads.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME WITH SIMPLE TAIJUTSU?! WRONG?! I AM OROCHIMARU, THE IMMORTAL! I WILL NOT DIE!" Orochimaru hissed as he thrashed his long body, knocking everyone back away from him.
Every one of the Shinobi jumped back away from Orochimaru, looking at him with determination and strength in their eyes. They were not going to show any fear for this evil villain. All of them were practically standing all around Orochimaru, glaring at him.
"Do you know what makes a good Shinobi, Orochimaru?" Sakura asked, standing directly in front of the giant white snake with Kakashi beside her. The snake's black eyes looked at her, hatefully but before he could reply, the pink haired girl shook her head as she lift her chin higher. "Discipline and Determination! But there is one very important thing that really makes a true Shinobi!" she hollered as she threw back her fist, and as she did, so did the others.
"A true Shinobi never gives up!" All of them yelled before calling as much Chakra as they could. Each with one of their greatest techniques, the Shinobi rushed forward, one at a time.
"Dynamic Entry!" Gai shouted as he and Rock Lee raced forward, one on each side of Orochimaru. They both sent a flying kick at the giant snake and hitting his long body hard, causing huge dents near the tail.
"Eight Trigram Palms-Heavenly Spin." Neji said calmly before he began to spin rather rapidly in circles and attack Orochimaru. Beside him, Shino rose his arms and threw them forward, as millions of bugs began to crawl out of his sleeves and shot forward, not attacking the giant snake, eating away at the Chakra he possessed. Choji puffed into a large ball, much like he had done to the door moments before and began to spin like a ball and slamming into the hard scales of Orochimaru's body. On the other side, Shikamaru was in a crouch with his hands locked into a hand sign while the very shadows in what was left of the room was coming to life and wrapping around the white body of Orochimaru, squeezing hard. Both Kiba and Akamaru were slashing at the villain, looking rather feral together before leaping forward with a shout, "Piercing Fang!" And together they began to spin like a sidewards drill and began slashing the white body.
Sai was the only one standing back while he was rapidly painting on the floor and activating the pictures to life, pictures of large vicious animals which were now attacking with the Shinobi before bursting into ink as more of Sai's paintings were coming to life and attacking.
"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as a large ball of blue electricity formed into his hand and he charged forward, shoving it hard towards Orochimaru, which began to slice through his scales, causing Orochimaru to really start hissing in pain. Right behind him, Naruto was rushing forward with two of his clones while all of them were holding a large blue ball of spinning energy. "Wind Release! Spiraling Sphere!" All three of them shouted as they rushed forward and threw the ball right into Orochimaru's body. The intense spinning air and energy began to severely damage the snake, cutting into his body. Sakura was just pounding the crap out of Orochmaru's white body with her fists, using the technique that Gai had taught her. Loud cracks were coming from within in Orochimaru's, proving that she was breaking something in there.
Then everyone leapt back, all panting with the lack of energy of using some of their most intense attacks. They all were almost slumped over as they just stared wide eyed at the still alive villain. "Kuso! You have got to be kidding me! He's still alive! After all of that, he's still moving!" Gai cursed as he and Lee leaned against one another.
Suddenly there was a loud crack, making all eyes jerk around to see that Kakashi was in a crouch with a large blue ball of electricity in his hand and a ring swirling around him as he glared up at the snake. By the looks of it, he was about to use a very dangerous technique, and a powerful one at that. "Lightning Blade!" was all he said before he ran forward in a bright blue blur. Everyone watched as he leaped into the air and threw his glowing hand forward. Orochimaru had turned his head just in time to see him coming, his black eyes growing wide. But it was too late to avoid the attack. All the giant white snake was hiss at Kakashi, recieving the blunt of the attack right through the mouth. Kakashi, however, seemed to become a knife of destruction, slicing right through Orochimaru's head.
There was a loud explosion, causing everyone to cover their heads before they were thrown back away from Orochimaru, who actually did explode. And whatever was left of the Hokage's quarters were blown away. Body parts of the giant snake was incinerated by Kakashi's attack though, leaving only the mangled body of the giant snake falling to the ground with a splat. Kakashi, however, landed on the ground in a crouch before standing up and not looking back at all. Once everything settled, all of the Shinobi who had been knocked off their feet stood up and looked at the remains of Orochimaru's snake form.
Lord Orochimaru was finally dead. And for good this time.