Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one
Chapter 6: - Counterattack!
I stared down at the snake woman, making sure I could track her movements. The tension and fear in the air was thick, I had to wonder what this person had done to them to cause this level of fear in my teammates.
"Ok so anyway what is the password again?" Naruto asked. I sighed wondering if the blonde could not see that we had a problematic situation.
"Forget it, I know it's you. You made it," Sakura called up to us. I re-averted my attention to the snake woman, my hand twitched slightly waiting for someone to make a move.
"Naruto, Ami, get out of here! What are you thinking? You don't know what you're up against! Hurry go now while you still can!" Sasuke yelled at us. Neither of us moved an inch, but Naruto didn't look happy about it.
"So Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend. Well done," The woman congratulated Naruto. I glared at the woman, as she smirked at the two of us, Naruto had a thoughtful look on his face.
'So she sent the snake to swallow Naruto, and more than likely that wind to separate our team. What does she want with us?' I wondered in my mind.
"Ok, ok so I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that. So you just better slither on back into your hole, you snake lady before I make a pair of shoes out of you," Naruto called down to the ninja. She wasn't phased by the threat as she remained in her coiled position.
"You can have it," Sasuke called out. I looked at the boy completely confused by what he meant. The snake looked pleased as if she had just caught her favourite prey, whilst Sakura looked panicked. Sasuke reached behind himself and pulled out our Heaven scroll and then held it up to her.
"The scroll, right, that's what you want. Alright then, take it and leave us in peace," Sasuke called out to the ninja. I was shocked, wondering what the hell had happened to the Sasuke I knew, the one that I met on my first day here, the one who was always calm and confident.
"Sasuke are you crazy for what? Were just going to hand the scroll over to the enemy. No way! What's wrong with you?" Naruto protested. I had to agree with the boy something was wrong with this.
"Shut up and stay out of it!" Sasuke retaliated. Anger rose in his voice as he glared at the two of us
"Very wise, very sensible. Sometimes the helpless prey – If they are to save their own skins – realise that their only hope is to distract the predator with something even more precious," The woman stated. I scowled at the ninja, feeling the desire to rip her head off rising inside of me, Sasuke made the motion to throw the scroll but Naruto jumped down and grabbed the scroll in mid-air, he landed on a tree and pushed off of it landing in between the two ninjas.
"Stop being the hero Naruto. Stay out of this and leave it to m-," Sasuke began to yelled, until Naruto landed punch in his face causing the raven to fly back but he managed to correct himself and land on another branch. I jumped down and landed next to Naruto, as we both stared at Sasuke. "Ah stupid fool, you don't know what you're doing," Sasuke insulted Naruto. The blonde's body was shaking as he drew in deep breaths.
"I may not know the password, but I know who I am. You're the one I'm not so sure about. How do we know you're who you say you are?" Naruto questioned.
"What do you mean? It's him don't be so stupid," Sakura protested. I scowled at the pinkette thinking that she of all people would know what we were talking about.
"What sort of nonsense is this? It's me you loser," Sasuke also protested. I averted my gaze back to the Uchiha as I stared at him.
"Liar, liar. You may look like him, you may even sound just like him. But there's no way you're the Sasuke I know. I don't care how tough of a fight you've been through, surrendering, giving up the scroll when did Sasuke become a coward. You keep saying I don't understand what's going on but I do, you've choked that's what it is," Naruto yelled at Sasuke.
"Sadly I'd have to agree with Naruto, you're not Sasuke. I may have only been a part of this team for a short time but the Sasuke I trained against would never give up," I argued. The other two were stunned into silence
"Sad but true," the woman said as she unwound herself and stood up. She pushed her sleeve up to reveal a tattoo on her left arm, it had pincer like shapes near the wrist with a line looping around her arm above it. "It doesn't matter as far as the scroll goes I could simply kill you and take it," The woman added. She then bit her lip and drew a line of blood on the marking, my eyes widened in fright upon seeing the marking and the action.
"Let's see you try!" Naruto yelled at her. He charged at her kunai drawn.
"Naruto come back!" I cried out to him.
"Don't! Naruto no!" Sasuke echoed my cry.
"Summoning Jutsu," Snake lady said, and performed the hand sighs for the jutsu. A massive wind began to blow, just like before, as another gigantic snake appeared. The snake went forward and attempted to crush Naruto, but be managed to dodge out of the way.
"What a tasty little meal you'll make for him. Careful he likes to play with his food," Snake lady warned. Then the snake attempted to crunch Naruto again, I darted over and pulled the blonde out of the way, the branch we stood on broke and we both fell down and landed hard on the branch, I managed to stay awake but Naruto was knocked out.
'Shit, what do I do?' I cursed in my mind, then Naruto started to fall down. I steadied myself and launched down after him. However before I reached him Naruto righted himself and slammed his foot into the snake.
"Yeah! Eat this!" Naruto yelled out as he attacked. His punch actually forced the monstrous creature a little bit, suddenly I sensed something was different, it was like a shift in the air as if something had changed.
Naruto then began to slam his fists into the snake again and it actually forced the snake to go down. I stared shocked by the immense strength that Naruto was displaying, I knew he had great power but this was unbelievable. The snake tossed him back but Naruto just went back in for more, however the snake's master blew something that looked like fire at Naruto which blinded him a little and forced him to fall down.
"Now then let's see how well you do Sasuke," Snake lady called out. I charged over and landed in front of him, I thrust my left hand down and shaped it like a cup and I steadied my wrist with my right hand. I began to mould my chakra together when the snake lunged for us.
However instead of been swallowed, Naruto had stopped the snake from eating us. I relax a little and moved so that Sasuke could see around me, I stared at Naruto who was breathing heavily his arms spread out, a kunai in each hand, blocking the snake's mouth from moving.
"Hey kid you're not hurt are you? You scaredy cat," Naruto taunted as he looked up. I saw that his normal bright blue eyes were now a blood red shade, his pupils were slits and his lips were lined black. "Standing there frozen like a frightened rabbit and letting a girl protect you, no way you're not the Sasuke I know," Naruto insulted. Suddenly the snake lady's tongue wrapped around him and pulled him up.
"Leave him alone!" I cried out and jumped up a kunai in my hand. However snake lady threw the same stuff at me as she did at Naruto and it blinded my eyes. I fell to the ground as I furiously rubbed my eyes to clear them up.
"Sasuke, hurry, do something," I heard Sakura called out. I could only assume something bad was happening. I cleared my eyes and looked up in time to see Naruto being tossed back into a tree, I threw my kunai at the boy when he began to fall and it pinned his jacket to the tree, it was accompanied by a kunai from Sakura.
"Sasuke what's wrong with you?" Sakura question the boy. However he was stock still not even moving. I gritted my teeth and finally snapped, my hand lashed out and seized Sasuke shirt dragging him so that we were nose to nose.
"Snap ot of it you coward, Naruto just saved your life and you're still going to give up. He's right, you're not the Sasuke we know," I hissed at the boy. Unlike most people when I got angrier, I only got quieter. "You don't deserve to be called Uchiha," I spat and dropped the boy. He snapped his head up and froze, I could only guess that my little happy façade had dropped and my eyes were now cold and lifeless.
Sasuke lowered his head again and his body began to shake, however something seemed to stir in him as he raised his head again and the Sharingan shone bright and proud in his eyes.
I smirked and turned to face the snake and its' master, eager to slaughter both of them… I really didn't like snakes. The tension in the air began to thicken as we stared down at our opponent and she stared back, a look of glee in her wicked eyes, a smile appeared on her lips and then the snake disappeared in a puff of smoke and the real battle began.
Sasuke pulled out a kunai and placed it in his mouth and he began to rush forward, a look of determination on his face. I withdrew some shuriken and I began rush up the other side of the ninja. She sent out wind blast but we avoided it and launched our weapons at the same time.
Snake lady managed to dodge the kunai but one of my shuriken imbedded itself into her arm, she winched but didn't fall as she ripped out the object. We then rushed over and Sasuke lashed out with kicks from the air and flipped over to her other side, I placed my hand on the ground and swung out my leg, she was able to dodge but Sasuke launched a kick which forced her off balance sending her spinning across the branch.
Snake lady rose back up and she began to engage the two of us in Taijutsu, we blocked each others strikes. She eventually jumped up and landed behind us, I glanced back only to see her move faster than I could see, I stood with my back to Sasuke so as to protect him.
I felt him grab my wrist and he pulled us out of the way and then launched a fire attack at her. The roaring orange flames dissipated after a short time but the bark below us began to break, I quickly charged lighting into my fist and I struck the ground causing the attacker to dodge off course, we then jumped back as she came up out of the branch.
Snake lady launched another wind attack at us and we dodged out of the way, Sasuke went up and dove down towards her. He seized a hold of her and began to pull her down to another branch, they landed with a forceful impact, which broke the bark, but Sasuke remained unharmed… the same couldn't be said for Snake lady.
I jumped over to where he was and we looked at our opponent, however the body began to shake before it eventually turned to mud.
"Substitution!" Sasuke cried out. Then weapons began to fly at us, we dodge out of the way. I managed to land on another branch whilst Sasuke used wires to swing around to another side, I used the tree to rush over to the other side only to find Sasuke on the floor with our opponent opposite him.
"What a disappointment you turned out to be? Your ancestors weep, the Uchiha clan should thank me for killing you. Silly little worm," Snake lady taunted. I jumped over and I slammed my leg into her face, forcing her to stumble back. She glared at me, but before anything could happened a small explosion occurred and she was forced down, Sasuke then flipped up to his feet and we both jumped back.
Sasuke then launched shuriken which had wires attached to them at Snake lady, the weapons wrapped around her as Sasuke manipulated them. We hand landed on a branch away form the woman, I had put some distance between me and Sasuke waiting to see the next attack.
"Incredible! A Sharingan windmill triple attack," Snake lady cried out, obviously recognising the technique being used. Sasuke continued to tie the woman up and he then pulled on the wires and he managed to trap the woman against a tree trunk.
Sasuke held the wires in his mouth and he performed hand signs, then a large blazing fire engulfed his form and it coursed down the wires and blazing through the tree that the woman was trapped against.
"Incredible. Sasuke's stronger than I thought," I whispered in awe as I watched the flames burn away at the trapped ninja. Her screams could be heard above the raging fires.
The fire burned out and the tree was blackened, the woman hung limp in the strings. I glanced at Sasuke and I saw that he was weak, footsteps echoed behind me and I knew that Sakura was coming towards us.
"Sasuke you did it," Sakura congratulated as we both headed over to him. I placed a hand on his shoulder and I smiled at him.
"I was wrong, you are worthy of the Uchiha name," I told the boy. He smirked, not responding Sakura attempted to comfort him but something caught my attention. A creaking sound echoed and I snapped my head up looking at the attacker as she freed herself and walked forward.
Suddenly all of our bodies froze up and we were forced to the ground, I glanced down and began to force myself to reach down to my weapons pouch, even though it was a slow process.
"No impossible," Sasuke rejected. He was resisting the pull as he managed to remain standing, I was crouched whilst Sakura was on her knees.
"Such mastery of the Sharingan at so young an age. You're a true Uchiha after all," Snake lady spoke, but as she talked her voice began to change turning into a male voice. I froze upon hearing the tone, I turned my head in their direction and saw that the woman's face had peeled away to reveal another face beneath it.
"Yes you'll do nicely. You are defiantly his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's," The snake continued. I glared at the being before us as I continued to try and reach for my weapons.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Sasuke questioned the being. He chuckled and tossed our Heaven scroll into the air and held it out towards us.
"My name is Orochimaru but as to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again. Which won't happen until after you finish this test with the best score of all," The being said, as he began to burn the scroll away.
"The scroll!" Sakura cried out in panic. I gritted my teeth and I managed to clasp the weapon.
"First you'll have to defeat the Hidden Sound ninja who serve me," Orochimaru instructed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you're finished then why don't you just beat it, if we never meet again it'll be too soon," Sakura called out to the being.
"Oh he and I will meet again," Orochimaru promised. He formed a hand seal and then his neck stretched forward. I began to push myself to move faster, as I began to raise to my legs, Orochimaru drove his fangs into Sasuke's neck, when he withdrew a seal that looked like three tomoe appeared above the bite mark, Sasuke then began to groan in pain and he gripped his neck tightly.
"Sasuke! You! What have you done to Sasuke?" Sakura cried out to the monster. I finally managed to throw a weapon at him, however he caught it between his fingers, a smirk on his lips.
"I just gave him a little gift, very soon Sasuke will seek me out and desire my power. In the mean time I enjoyed the demonstration of the powers you already posses," Orochimaru said as he sunk into the ground. He then turned to face me and we locked gazes for a moment before he disappeared.
Sasuke screamed in pain and he eventually collapsed to his knees and he then fell unconscious. Sakura began to panic but I seized her shoulders and shook her lightly.
"Sakura keep it together. They're both unconscious and we don't know for how long, we have to protect them during this vulnerable state," I told the pinkette. She nodded, I stood up and rushed over to the tree Naruto hung from, I took a hold of the boy's jacket and then I pulled out the kunai. I jumped back over to Sakura and told her to follow me.
She carried Sasuke as I held Naruto, we eventually found a clearing with a tree that held an natural alcove. We sent the boys down and I removed their forehead protector and felt their temperatures.
"Sakura their warm," I told the girl. She came over and felt it herself and nodded, she then grabbed the four water canisters we had.
"I'll go grab some water," Sakura said. I looked up and nodded at the girl, she began to walk away when I grabbed her arm stopping her.
"Don't wander off too far. I need you to help me protect them," I told the girl. Her lips were set in a thin line and she nodded, I let her go and she set off again, canisters gripped tightly in her hands,
Once Sakura had vanished form my eyesight, I turned back to the two unconscious boys, I climbed over Sasuke and knelt by Naruto. I unzipped his jacket and pulled up his shirt, a faint seal was still visible on his stomach, it had eight seals, separated into pairs of four, formed into a circle surrounding a whirlpool like marking, around the seal were five little ember shaped seals.
I held my hand over the seal and I sent a small spark towards the seal, it bounced of and turned a bright red shade before it disappeared. I looked down in shock at the blonde.
'So that's why I understand you, I've meant someone like you before. You're a Jinchūriki.' I realised in my mind.