Chapter Five-

Sasuke looked around the dark forest warily, keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspicious. He was glad that he brought extra food and water, because surviving in this forest for five days would be hard. They walked silently along, all careful not to gain unwanted attention. Before they had entered this 'Forest of Death' he had told both of his teammates to be extra careful. Not that Sasumi would make any noise anyway. They were in the forest only ten minutes when a huge gust of wind blew them apart.

"Shit," he yelled, "Stick together!"

But as soon as the words left his mouth he found himself alone in a clearing, the wind having died down.

"Dammit," he thought, "Ten minutes and we're already separated!"

He heard a rustling noise behind him and spun around, kunai in hand. He relaxed however when he realized it was Sasumi.

"Are you okay?" he said, noticing a bruise forming on her cheek.

"Fine," she said, hurriedly, "Listen, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun is hurt!"

It took all the willpower Sasuke had to not laugh. Sasuke-kun? He let his kunai fly and she dodged and then exploded in a puff of smoke. A man of about twenty took her place. He wore a strange metal device over his face and goggles.

"You," he hissed, "How did you know I wasn't the girl?"

Sasuke sneered, "How stupid do you think I am?"

He threw another kunai at the man and then some shuriken. The man dodged most of his weapons, but after the skirmish, two shuriken were lodged in his throat. He made to get away and Sasuke was just about to stop him, when he heard his name being called.

"Oi, Sasuke! Whatcha doing, bastard?"

He turned around to see Naruto running towards him. Then he remembered the man, but by the time he turned back around again he was gone.

"Dammit, you moron! You distracted me and now he's gone!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind," growled Sasuke in annoyance, "Where's Sasumi?"

It then occurred to Sasuke that 'Naruto' could also be someone else in disguise, but he decided, after seeing that annoying facial expression that could only belong to Naruto, it was probably him.

"Uh…I dunno. She has to be around here somewhere, right?"

"I'm right here." They turned around to see the slightly ruffled redhead walking toward them.

"Oi, Sasumi, you okay?"

The moron was practically yelling, which resulted in Sasuke whacking him on the head.

"You bastard, what the hell was that for?"

"Shut up!" He hissed, "Do you want them find us?"

He looked at Sasumi suspiciously, wondering if it was another bushin. She probably noticed his look, because she then said, "My name is Yamaki Sasumi. I fainted from starvation about three months ago and was out for almost a month. Do you want me to go through every mission we've been through, Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke looked away, "No, that's fine."

He rubbed his neck awkwardly. Naruto looked confused.

"What's going on?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes inwardly, "Look moron, just a minute before you got here I was attacked by a bushin in Sasumi's form and I couldn't tell if she was the real Sasumi or another bushin."

"Oh," there was a pause. "Wait, then why didn't you ask me anything?"

Sasuke smirked, "Well, I was going to, but then I realized that there's probably no one stupid enough here to pretend to be you."

"Huh? What's that suppos- you bastard!"

Sasuke clamped his hand over the blonde's mouth.

"You idiot. Will you shut up for a second!"

Suddenly, beside him Sasumi went rigid, but reverted back to her usual stance so fast that Sasuke wasn't sure if he saw correctly. Before he could ask her about it, he sensed a strange presence. He looked around, but couldn't see anything.

"What is that?" Whispered Naruto.

"I don't know?" He whispered back.

"Hmm…look what we have here."

Sasuke swiveled around in search of the voice and laid eyes on a tall woman wearing what looked like a bow around her waist. The second they made eye contact Sasuke knew they were in deep trouble. He eyed her apprehensively and moved his hand slowly toward his shuriken pouch.

"What are you going to do with that, Uchiha Sasuke?"

His mouth fell open as she disappeared and reappeared less than a second later beside him. Panicking, he flung three shuriken at her, which she easily dodged.

"Shit, shit, shit! This is not good! She's way stronger than us!"

He heard Naruto yell and watched in shock as his orange-clad teammate was thrown against a tree. Sasumi seemed to have escaped unscathed and suddenly five shuriken came out of nowhere and the woman barely dodged them. Sasumi stood in a tree, just above where Naruto was pulling himself to his feet. His eyes widened as the woman summoned a gigantic snake, which hissed a bent down toward Naruto. He quickly threw a kunai at it, but it bounced harmlessly off its scales.

"Sasumi," he yelled, trying unsuccessfully to keep the panic out of his voice, "Get Naruto out of the way!!"

There was a crash as the snake lunged at his teammate.

"NARU-" he was cut off as the woman threw a medium sized shuriken at him. He dodged and as the dust cleared he looked for signs of Naruto. Finding none, he panicked.

"Did the snake eat him? What the hell is going on?"

"Hey, bastard, where are you looking?"

He turned around at the voice and saw Naruto standing behind the woman, kunai in hand.

"How?" he turned to look at where he previously was, "Must have been a bushin."

The woman didn't look the least perturbed at his survival. Instead, she looked amused.

"Hmm…not bad, brat."

Naruto turned his attention to her, growling slightly.

"Well, it seems this is going nowhere."

Sasuke did not like that look in her eyes.

"Let's up the stakes, shall we?"

She pulled out her scroll, with the kanji for earth inscribed on its front.

"How about…we put our lives on the line."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as the woman swallowed the scroll whole. Naruto rushed toward her.

"You bitch! What the hell are you doing!!"

"Naruto, don't-"

The woman dodged him easily, landing a kick on the back of his head as he went. Naruto yelled in pain and flew to the ground next to Sasuke. Sasumi, who Sasuke hadn't noticed was beside him, pulled the groaning blond to his feet.

"Ch," said the woman, "How weak."

Suddenly a kunai flew at Sasuke. He couldn't dodge and a kunai was lodged in his forehead, shuriken came out of nowhere and his entire body was …

Sasuke blinked. What happened. He fell to his knees and faintly heard Naruto fall as well. He wretched and shakily wiped his mouth.

"What the HELL was that!!! Genjutsu?!"

He turned his uncooperative body towards Naruto and saw that he was shaking as well. Tears were in his eyes as he struggled to control himself. He looked past toward Sasumi. She hadn't moved at all and was looking impassively down at both of them. He fell back on his hands.

"No, not a genjutsu. That was pure killing intent. What the hell is she!!?"

The woman seemed slightly perturbed at the fact that Sasumi hadn't moved at all since her display of…whatever that was. He activated his Sharingan and glared at the woman, still struggling to move. The woman seemed to gain her composure and threw several kunai at the three of them. He forced himself to stand.

"Sasumi!" he yelled.

She understood and grabbed Naruto. Seconds later they were high in a tree's branches. Sasuke was still shaking.

"Dammit! At this rate we're all going to die!"

"W-What the hell!" stammered Naruto, "Wha-" Sasuke clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Shut up," he hissed, "Listen, if we don't give up the scroll, she's going to kill us!"

Naruto steadied himself and grabbed his hand from his mouth, "Are you insane?" he whispered.

"Do you want to die?" Sasuke countered, "This is the only way we can survive."

The only way I can kill him.

"You coward!" Naruto hissed, grabbing the collar of Sasuke's shirt, "I can't believe you, you bastard!"

"Stop it."

They both turned around to see Sasumi looking seriously at them.

"Did you hear?" whispered Naruto angrily, still holding on to his shirt, "This bastard wants to give up our scroll!"

That was it. He grabbed the collar of Naruto's jacket, "Listen, you moron-"

"Uchiha-san, giving away the scroll is pointless."

He stopped and turned around to stare at her, "What?"

"She doesn't want the scroll," she said emotionlessly, "She wants to kill us."

Naruto stared at her, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Sasuke shifted beside him, "What do you mean, she doesn't want the scroll?"

"By swallowing her scroll, it's obvious that she doesn't care about passing the Exam. If she doesn't want our scroll, then it's logical that she wants to kill us."

Naruto stared at her. It was, after all, the most he'd heard her talk, since… well, ever.

"That kind of makes sense…I guess," he thought.

"Why would she want to kill us?" asked Sasuke.

Sasumi didn't say anything.

"Shit," said Sasuke, "Now we don't have anything to barter with."

Naruto turned toward him angrily, "Look bastard, we were never going to give him the scroll anyway!"

"You moron! Don't you understand, she's way out of our league! We can't do anything against her."

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at him, but Sasumi interrupted him.

"Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san, above you."

Naruto looked up to see a gigantic snake similar to the one that had ate his bushin.

"Shit!" he yelled and dodged out of the way. He landed on the ground and looked around frantically for his teammates. Sasumi had moved to another tree. Good, she was safe. Sasuke was dodging the snake that seemed intent on eating him. Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes went wide. He froze as the snake's tail whacked him into a tree, several feet from Naruto.

"Sasuke!" He yelled, scrambling over to him.

Sasumi leapt down to land beside the black-haired boy. Sasuke groaned and attempted to stand.

"You stupid bastard!" yelled Naruto, half in anger, half in relief that he wasn't hurt enough that he couldn't stand, "Why the hell didn't you dodge that!"

"Shut up," snarled his teammate.

Naruto looked over at the snake whose skin had split apart to reveal the strange woman.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" his jaw dropped, what was she!?

"This is getting quite boring. Let's finish, shall we?"

Sasuke froze beside him. His eyes wide in…fear? No, that was impossible. Uchiha Sasuke, afraid? Naruto had seen him angry, annoyed, bored, tense, and even sad. But never afraid. He glared at the snake-woman. If Sasuke was going to be a coward, he wasn't going to stop him. But he sure as hell wouldn't stand back and watch him get killed. His mouth twisted into a smirk. He drew his kunai and launched himself toward the woman.

"Don't underestimate us, bitch!"

She pulled up her sleeve and he saw a strange looking tattoo. She did something with her other hand that he couldn't see.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she called out.

Naruto gaped as wind swirled around her.

"What!"

Suddenly she was standing on a snake that was twice the size of the previous one. He didn't stop running, though.

"Naruto, stop it! Run away!" Sasuke yelled at him, but he paid him no heed. He was going to beat this woman no matter what Sasuke said. He wasn't afraid and Sasuke had better watch him as he did it. Suddenly the snakes tail lashed out and hit directly in the chest. He was pushed straight through a tree branch, huge chunks of wood lodging themselves in his back. Naruto yelled out in pain and he coughed out blood and he flew to the ground.

And then everything went red. It was like the time he thought Haku had killed Sasuke. Everything suddenly seemed simple and he only knew one thing.

Kill

He was going to kill her and the snake. He launched himself toward her.

Kill

He was going to make her bleed. The blood would be all over his hands. He punched her snake into the ground. He was going to kill her.

Kill

He didn't notice Sasuke yelling his name, or that Sasumi's eye were wider than he'd ever seen them. He didn't notice the woman's look of shock and then recognition. He didn't even notice that his nails had suddenly grown longer, his pupils were mere slits and that his eyes were bright red. All he knew was that he wanted to kill the woman before him and nothing was going to get in his way.

KILL

Suddenly, the woman blew something at him that made him cough and he couldn't see. He was slammed into a tree. When he looked up, he saw the snake was speeding toward Sasuke who was struggling to get up. He threw himself between Sasuke and the snake.

"Heh, are you hurt?" he said, repeating the words Sasuke had said to him months ago, "Scaredy cat?"

Just the shocked look on Sasuke's face was worth the pain of coughing out those words. He only had a moment to savor it though, because suddenly, the woman's abnormally long tongue looped around his upper body and pulled him up so that he was face-to-face with her.

"You bitch!" he yelled, struggling, "Let me go!"

"So, the Kyuubi brat has been alive after all this time," she said smirking.

He froze in shock and she pulled him closer. Suddenly, Naruto felt a horrible sense of foreboding. But he couldn't move.

"You-"

"Hmm…and look the seal shows when you use it's power. How interesting." She pulled up his shirt and suddenly Naruto saw that her right hand had started to glow, "However, I am not interested in you. How about you…go to sleep!!"

Her hand connected with his stomach and he screamed with pain. He struggled to get away, but her grip was too strong. And then it was too much, and everything went black.

Sasumi watched in shock as the blond went limp. Sasuke was still frozen, his eyes the size of dinner plates. Orochimaru tossed Naruto aside contemptuously. She threw a kunai, effectively pining the back of Naruto's jacket to a tree branch, stopping his fall. Orochimaru's gaze fell on her and she felt the confusion in his eyes. She kept her face impassive, as usual, blocking out her panic.

If she did something now, they would be saved, but her cover would be broken. If she did nothing, Orochimaru would mark Sasuke with this 'curse seal' and would be under his control if traitor wished him to be. Which he did. Either way it was a lose-lose situation.

If she could somehow get Sasuke to fight the Sannin for real then maybe she could walk away with her secret intact as well as her teammates. She knew that Orochimaru would never allow Sasuke to beat him, however, from his memories, it seemed like he liked to play around with his opponents. Which could be called careless. If Sasuke were to injure him as much as he could, then she could step in last second and claim that the snake-man was injured and distracted and it was just plain luck. Her plan involved a lot of 'ifs,' but it was her only hope.

She looked at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. She inwardly felt contempt for his cowardliness as she noticed he was shaking slightly. She knew he had reason to be afraid, after all they were faced with one of the greatest ninja that had ever come out of Konoha, but that didn't stop her from scorning his fear. She disliked people who cried, complained, and were scared all the time. Maybe it was because she couldn't do all those things.

"Uchiha-san," she said softly, "What are you doing?"

He closed his eyes and then opened them again a determined light in his eyes. He drew several kunai and a shuriken from his bag and threw himself at the Sannin. They clashed a few times until finally Sasuke sent a fire jet straight into Orochimaru's face, which effectively burned it off.

"You truly are worthy of the Uchiha name," he said, his voice lower betraying the fact that he was male, "I knew it, my eyes are never wrong."

He was going to make his move now. She leapt onto the branch were the black-haired boy now stood. Suddenly she felt Orochimaru's killing intent once again and Sasuke froze beside her.

"Out of two of you, it seems you have more potential than that Itachi."

He put his hand over his head band and changed the symbol to a musical note.

"What are you!" Sasuke shouted, slightly hysterical.

"My name is Orochimaru," he said, in his left hand their 'heaven' scroll, which he incinerated, "I am the leader of the Village of the Sound, don't forget it now."

He looked content, which made Sasumi slightly confused. Wasn't he going to try and curse her teammate? Had he changed his mind?

She didn't see the hand seal until too late. Suddenly, his neck had elongated and his head was speeding toward Sasuke. She didn't even think. She wasn't aware that she had begun to move. All she knew was that something very bad would happen if her only conscious teammate was cursed.

When she came to her senses she was in-between Orochimaru and Sasuke, the Sannin's teeth sunk deep in her good arm. She barely registered the head retracting and the look on complete shock and Sasuke's face. She plunged her bad arm into her bag and landed three shuriken into the stunned Sannin's chest before he could move away. She hadn't even felt the pains that shot up her bad arm. She wielded another shuriken, but then realized that Orochimaru was gone.

And only then did she feel the pain. Every nerve in her body, starting from the bite mark on her good arm and spreading quickly, felt like it was on fire. She lodged her teeth deep in her lip to stop herself from crying out. She knew she was shaking, but could do nothing to stop it. She fell to her knees, faintly hearing Sasuke's panicked voice. Her gloved hands found the hard wood of the branch and the soft moss that grew on top of it. She dug her fingers deep into the wood, still shaking like mad. It hurt so much and it took every ounce of self-control that she possessed not to scream. A normal person would have screamed. No normal person would be able to stand up to the pain like she did. However, Sasumi was not a normal person, she had felt pain worse that this before and she refused to give in to the horrible sensations that were constantly plagued her body. She wasn't even sure why she didn't want to scream, she just knew she couldn't. She focused on that one thing as the pains became worse and her brain began to strain under the pressure. She didn't feel Sasuke's hand on her shoulder or hear him calling her name. All she knew was the pain and how familiar it was. It seemed to go on forever, until finally, it was too much for her mind to handle and she passed out, her forehead coming in contact with the branch as she slumped over.

A/N: Before I get flamers, I just wanted to say that, yes, I have been having everything happen to Sasumi. That will change, I PROMISE. Believe me, by the time I'm done with the rest of the characters…you'll hate me more…crap. Anyway please review!! Or I'll…do something!!