12/19/2011
Never Again
Chapter 2: Always there for you
Author note: Hey guys!
Sorry to my uncle for this taking so long, its finals week so im like flipping out! Anyway this chapter is HUGE! So I hope u like it and PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
" A dragon?" She said, letting the corners of her mouth tilt up to reveal teeth that looked so sharp one might cut themselves just by looking at them. Sakura was a true eastern style dragon, possessing a white, slender snake like body, four legs that resembled an eagles, horns, a long, pink mane that ran from her forehead down the length of her back ending in a large, fan like tail, and long whiskers that adorned her muzzle.
"Sakura! How long have you known? Does Kakashi know? What about Naruto?" Captain Yamato said, the urgency in his voice frightened sakura slightly, giving her reason to think that if anyone else knew things might turn out badly.
"I just discovered this when I blacked out, and no one else but you-I think." She replied hesitantly, talking to him by means of mental telepathy. Much to Sakura's relief she saw her temporary captain give a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat and blood off of his brow with the back of his hand. "Why? Is this bad?" She asked nervously, staring into the eyes of the ANBU ninja with her own green ones.
"No, never mind." He said casually, waving it off as they both turned their attention back to Naruto- or rather the nine-tails that was possessing him. Sakura let a threatening growl escape her lips, narrowing her eyes with disgust at the beast.
"Captain yamato, can you try to seal the nine tails away again?" Sakura asked, determination and courage set on her wolf-like face. Just looking at the bubbly chakra that called itself the nine-tails made her hair stand on end, and her lips curl back revealing even more knife like teeth.
"I can perform the seal again but I wont be able to get close enough to do it on my own. I'm going to need you to create a diversion to distract him. Do you think you can do that?" He said, eyes never wavering from the beast incase it decided to attack again. Sakura reared back, slightly offended by her captains lack of faith in her ability. She let her Chakra flare, snarling aggressively at him in an act of power.
"Yes, I think I can manage to come up with something." Her words came out dense with sarcasm.
"I need you to keep him distracted long enough for me to sneak up on him so I can use the Chakra seal on him. But Sakura, this will be a lot harder than it seems." He said, mouth drawn in a tight line as he ran the possible scenarios through his head. "You see while in his nine-tails form Naruto will be able to differentiate clones or copies, and any normal moves you might know would be to slow for him. Do you know any Ninjutsu attacks that could keep him busy?" Sakura then closed her eyes, and searched her memory for any possible moves. What she found shocked her, and caused her to gasp and turn to Captain Yamato so quickly she accidently knocked him off of his feet with her tail.
"I think I've got just the thing. Are you ready?" She was answered by a determined nod from her captain, re-assuring her that he was ready to do his part. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy in any way to even get close to the nine-tails now that Naruto had grown out the fourth tail. This was a tricky situation, because she knew that attacking him outright would only fuel his anger allowing the nine tails more control over his body. She had to somehow find a way to keep his attention on her without attacking him and causing further damage to Naruto's body.
"Are you ready to do this Sakura? You need to be careful though, you are our teams only medical-nin and the whole mission is in danger if you're hurt." He said, looking hard at the dragon to his right hoping she wasn't going to let her emotions take control this time. Suddenly she let out an ear-splitting roar that mimicked the power of a sonic roar Juutsu, disturbing the air with ease.
"Always Ready!" Sakura said, growling still as she stared at her teammate with a lust for success. Captain Yamato observed for a moment how the dragon's chakra- although only slightly less powerful than the nine-tails seemed to be causing the atmosphere to change as the air suddenly became cold and wet, like the air would feel after a snow. He looked around and noticed how all the trees seemed to sway toward her Chakra presence, and how each time she shifted her weight the ground shook.
"Alright then, go!" He yelled, motioning for Sakura to do whatever it was she had planned. Sakura grinned, and gathered her newfound massive amounts of Chakra up.
"Shadow less flight." She whispered, allowing her connection with captain Yamato to stay open so he could understand her next moves. Sakura roared as she felt her strong legs launch her into action, sending her cutting through the air at the speed of light toward the nine tails.
"What?" Captain Yamato thought to himself, barely registering the Ninjutsu attack that the seemingly limited Kunoichi had used. "A swift-release move, but how? I've never seen anyone with the ability to use that nature release, but then again I've never seen anyone who doubles as a dragon." He thought to himself smugly, marveling at how deceptive the pinkette could be. He smiled faintly to himself for a moment, amazed at the true nature of the cherry blossom. "Boy is Kakashi going to be in for a surprise when we get back."
"Lord Orochimaru, do you feel that?" Kabuto said, facing the direction of an unnaturally strong and sudden radiation of Chakra. Both Sai and Orochimaru were facing the Chakra radiation as well, trying to identify its source.
"Yes." He said flatly, flicking his snake like tongue out in displeasure. He didn't have time to deal with another ninja, let alone one this strong.
"You don't suppose-" Kabuto started, but Lord orichimaru already knew what he was going to say and finished his train of thought for Kabuto.
"No, it's not the Nine-Tails. This Chakra signature, its familiar yet impossible at the same time." Orochimaru said, an evil grin was slowly making its way across his face followed by the trademark tongue flicking out for a moment. Sai watched intently from behind, clueless as to what could be so strong that the all the trees slightly arched toward the source.
"What do you mean sir?" Kabuto asked, truly as clueless as Sai was when it came to the powerful Chakra. For some reason he couldn't identify the signature of it, only that it seemed to be very similar to that of the pink-haired Kionochi's.
"Come, I seemed to have some unfinished business to attend too. I believe there is someone I neglected to attend to sixteen years ago that has found us. Someone that really should be disposed of." Orichimaru said, an irritated and vile look plastered to his pale face. Kabuto studied his master carefully, and noticed that it seemed Orochimaru seemed to feel somewhat threatened by the being in question. Kabuto frowned, partly out of annoyance that they had to travel back to the Nine-Tails but mainly because he had never seen Orichimaru feel threatened by anything before, and it caused a certain uneasiness to fall upon him.
"Yes sir." Kabuto and Sai replied, their voices flatly came together in unison as they talked. At that Lord orichimaru took off toward the Nine-tailed beast once again, with Kabuto at his side and a slightly tensed Sai in tow not far behind.
"What could possibly be strong enough to make lord Orichimaru go back toward team seven in order to destroy it?" Sai thought to himself, careful to make sure he guarded his mind from infiltration by the two other ninja.
"Damn! I was to late!" Captain Yamato cursed mentally; watching as yet another one of his four pillar prison techniques was narrowly avoided by the nine-tails beast. "At this rate, we'll never be able to immobilize Naruto long enough for me to seal the demon away. Sakura is doing the best she can to distract him without attacking, but it seems that it is the only way to keep him still." He said to himself, sighing lightly at his failure to stop Naruto without having sakura attack him outright. He reached up to his temple, contacting sakura for further assistance. "Sakura, do you read me?"
"Yes captain, loud and clear. What's the problem?" Sakura replied telepathically while simultaneously dodging the various sonic roar attacks sent out by the nine tails.
"This isn't working, my four pillar prison technique is too slow to trap him. I'm afraid we are going to have to use force to restrain him for long enough to use my chakra seal." He answered back, watching sakura as she narrowly avoided yet another fox fire stream attack from the nine tails.
"What's the catch?" she retorted sarcastically before settling into a tree to catch her breath for a moment while the nine-tails recharged as well. Sakura watched the nine-tails relentlessly from her hidden perch, observing his every movement with her finely tuned dragon eyes that could pick up even the slightest twitch of the eye or breath. She knew that trapping her teammate would be even more of a challenge than the past hour and a half of dodging super-sonic roars and streams of fire had been, a task she was not particularly looking forward to. Sakura searched her memory for any possible Ninjutsu that could be used to immobilize her friend without hurting him, and be able to hold him long enough for her captain to seal the nine-tails beast.
"Do you know any Juutsu that can restrain the opponent while causing minimal damage only if necessary? It also must be strong enough to hold him for at least 60 seconds, that should be long enough for me to seal the Chakra inside of him." Captain Yamato said, crouching behind some boulders to avoid being seen by the nine-tails and attacked. He also thought of every move he knew how to do and every move he had ever seen performed but to his disappointment found none that were the perfect combination.
"Sakura, we don't have a lot of time before that nine-tails starts to grow the fifth tail out. And if that happens I don't know if we will be able to stop him without fighting." The ANBU captain added, watching the Nine-tails as it stormed about in a fit of rage waiting for Sakura to emerge from her tree. He secretly admired her ability to conceal her chakra and blend in with her surroundings despite her pink hair, making it virtually impossible for the nine-tails to locate her.
Meanwhile Sakura was about ready to give up on the search for the perfect restraining move and just downright attack Naruto head on when she stumbled across an interesting Ninjutsu move. "Alright Captain yamato, I think I found something that will work. Just give me a moment to concentrate my Chakra on where he is standing." She replied, envisioning the very place where the nine tails was storming about around a quarter mile away, and focusing her chakra underneath the area.
"Okay Sakura, just tell me when you are ready to go. Remember, if this is successful then I will be able to seal the nine-tails demon back inside Naruto and we will be able to go back to Konoha for further assistance. So put all of your energy into this." He instructed, focusing on Naruto's position and preparing himself for the necessary hand signals needed to seal the demon inside Naruto again.
Sakura finished locating her target and contacted her captain, "Okay, I'm ready captain. This should be able to hold him long enough for you to do your thing." She said quickly, and began to recite the necessary steps for the Ninjutsu attack.
"Crystal Release: Crystal needles Ninjutsu." She commanded mentally, focusing most of her remaining Chakra on the spot where her possessed teammate was. "Alright, here goes nothing." She whispered to herself, pleading that it proved to be successful. Sakura then forced her Chakra down into her foot, allowing it to flow freely from her claws into the ground and onward to its target. A moment later a cluster of massive pink and white crystals shot up from the ground around the nine-tails demon with amazing speed and pinpoint accuracy, trapping him in a jail of tangled crystal shards that wove amongst each other making it virtually impossible to escape from their cold clutches.
Captain yamato watched as yet another crystal attack seemingly emerged out of nowhere, trapping the Nine-tails successfully. "Alright, sakura managed to immobilize him, now comes my part." The captain remarked, slightly relieved that her trapping Ninjutsu was effective-for now.
"Hokage style elder Juutsu: Tenth edict on enlightment!" Captain Yamato directed while performing a flurry of hand signals and racing toward the trapped body of the nine tails. He pressed his palm which now sported the seal "sit" onto the chest of the nine-tails, and then jumped back away from it, a blue line of control still drawing the nine tails chakra back into the necklace of the first Hokage. The red chakra of the nine-tails began to recede, revealing several wounded skin on the struggling Naruto. And after several moments of agonizing pain from the receding Chakra, Naruto fell to the ground completely burnt and wounded from the Nine-tails harmful Chakra.
(You all know how its done, just watch the episode again and it from when he places his palm on Naruto until the time when its sealed completely.)
"Hmm, interesting. It seems my former experiment has the ability to suppress the Nine-tails Chakra." Hissed lord Orochimaru who was standing a safe distance away, watching with a slightly irritated expression as he watched the ANBU leader successfully seal away the Nine-tails Chakra.
"Lord Orichimaru, was that the source of chakra you were talking about earlier?" Kabuto asked, peeling his eyes away from the two ninja to glance at his master.
"No, that chakra signature seems to have all but disappeared from existence. Whatever made it must've run away." Orochimaru remarked with displeasure, contemplating on how he could have possibly let the unknown chakra emitter escape with their life.
"Well, at least it will be must easier to capture the jinchuriki now that he is unconscious." Kabuto commented, earning a small, evil grin from his master as approval of his idea.
"True Kabuto, True. Let's not be rude and keep them waiting shall we?" Orochimaru remarked sarcastically before proceeding to enter the clearing across from where Captain Yamato was crouched over Naruto attempting to evaluate his wounds and wondering where the hell sakura was. Kabuto and Sai quickly followed suit, acting as their reptilian leaders posse.
"Damn it! Sakura! Sakura where are you?" Captain yamato said into his transmitter, attempting to contact his medical Nin to return and meet up with him. "Something must be wrong with the connection- Huh?" He quickly got to his feet, and looked ahead to see Lord orichimaru, Kabuto and Sai emerging from the forest about twenty yards away form him, and their intentions were more than clear enough for him. He growled and cursed inwardly, reminding himself to lecture sakura later on the importance of "communication."
"Well, Well if it isn't one of my pathetic little lab experiments hmm?" Lord orichimaru teased, his glare unwavering from the ANBU captain.
"What do you want Orochimaru?" Captain Yamato barked, glaring back at the missing-nin's and traitorous student defiantly, daring any one of them to take him on.
Lord orichimaru chuckled evilly, "Ah but isn't it obvious? I've come to retrieve my prize." he said, practically spitting the words in Yamato's face while he advanced a few steps forward before a huge block of wood erupted from the ground in front of him, nearly clipping off his nose. He hissed angrily and peered around the wood barrier to see Captain Yamato glaring at his with an expressionless mask plastered to his face, refusing to give any hints as to his next move.
"That was a warning Orochimaru, if you knew what was best for you, then you would run back to your hiding place and stay there." Yamato said flatly, giving no hints to his current emotion or possible actions. Orochimaru just rolled his eyes, his slightly disturbing grin unwavering as licked his lips.
"Oh well if that's how you feel then fine. Kabuto, pick up my prize and we'll be on our way then." He said with a highly irritating tone, nodding at Kabuto to go and get the boy from Yamato.
"Gladly lord Orochimaru." Kabuto said, the ends of his mouth curving slightly upward into a malicious smile. He gladly stepped forward wielding two chakra infused scalpels, more than willing to use them to get to Naruto whom he always had a unnatural interest in due to the nine tails. "Hmm, a shame. That little pink-haired medic wont be here to see you die probably ran off crying." He teased, having a little fun with his opponent before he took them out.
Meanwhile Sakura was finally able to pick her way back to her team after getting ambushed by a couple of rogue ninja who were easily dispatched with a intimidating glance, and went running for their lives despite the fact Sakura hadn't laid a claw on them.
"I hope that Captain Yamato's doing alright, I seemed to have lost contact with him a while back though." She sighed, slowly maneuvering amongst the jungles impossible obstacle course of vines, logs, swamps, dense trees, and humid weather. Suddenly sakura felt a shiver go up her spine signaling danger as she nears the edge of the forest. She stops and lifts her head to the wind, sniffing for any familiar chakra signatures.
"Orochimaru." She whispered with fear, thinking he probably came back to steal Naruto as soon as she and captain Yamato had sealed him back. Suddenly sakura felt a rush of anger and hatred flow through her at the thought of her captain and teammates in trouble. Her blood ran hot and pumped faster throughout every part of her tensed body, and the adrenalin kicked in inducing a fight or flight reaction- only dragons never flee.
"You will not hurt my friends!" She roared in malevolence, allowing herself to be enveloped completely in a fiery inferno that burned from the chakra stores within her body. She could hear the foliage around her begin to burn and smolder with the intense heat, and set off toward the clearing in a hostile charge to save her team.
"Hmm, a shame that little pink haired medic wont be here to see you die. She probably ran off crying again." Kabuto sneered, and then threw his two chakra-enhanced scalpels at Yamato, each with amazing speed and precision accuracy that would never miss unless intercepted.
"What the-" He cried out, jumping to the side managing to narrowly miss being scorched by a sudden fiery figure that had just burst from the woods leaving a charred path in their wake.
"Those who play with fire get their fingers burned. And I'd say its time for you, your cowardly master, and that asshole of a traitor standing behind you to receive the punishment." Growled a dangerous and feminine voice. Yamato looked up, and gasped in astonishment as he saw that within the burning ball of flames was Sakura. She stared fiercely at her opponents, her lips curling up revealing teeth sharper than anything else and occasionally snapping to show the power of her jaws and how she could easily snap their bodies in two with one bone-crunching bite.
"Ahh, so my assumptions were correct. I did fail to wipe out one of you miserable beasts fifteen years ago, and now the last remaining member of the lost dragon clan has sought out vengeance? How pathetic!" Orochimaru hissed, toying with Sakura's emotions because he knew it might be the only way to win the battle against the last Dragon. Sakura was seething with rage and anger, her eyes were burning slightly but she ignored it because her fury consumed her.
" Your useless babble isn't worth my time Snake!" She roared and allowed the fiery inferno that surrounded her to flare up, the flames licking the air crying out for their next victim. Orochimaru felt a sudden ephinany and grinned a devious smile at his brilliant idea causing Kabuto to glance questioningly at his master.
"Ah so you don't know, but I'm sure you will remember seeing as how you're kind is cursed with eternal memories. So, let me help you remember dragon. You are no member of the Haruno clan; you are a traitor amongst them. No- your loyalty lies with the pathetic Ryuu clan that so foolishly chose death over the glorious path of revenge. And now here you are, the sole remaining survivor of the Ryuu clan." Orochimaru smirked with pleasure at how effective his words were. Sakura suddenly felt a buzzing at the back of her mind and suddenly saw white out.
(Sakura's Vision)
Flames were shooting everywhere; the smell of burning bodies and buildings was thick in the air. She could hear bloodcurdling screams and the malicious crackle of burning wood but more than anything the wheezing breath of the women who was running with her.
"It's okay sakura, mommy is here, mommy's got you. I promise I wont ever let anything happen to you." The women said as she cradled sakura closer to her bosom, tears fell and soaked into the warm fleece of the baby's blanket. The woman has soft pearly lavender eyes that signified a Byakugan holder, and an olive complexion, but her hair is an unnatural bubblegum pink.
"Ma-ma" she babbles, worried at the sight of the women's tears.
"Haruko! Haruko!" yells a man as he rushes up beside the young women, his face is bloodied and obviously battle worn. The women breaks down into more tears and turns her head into the crook of the mans neck, sobbing into his ruined tunic. " Haruko thank goodness your safe, but we have to go! Orochimaru will be here soon if we don't leave now, and I think he knows of Sakura." He added, the sound of worry riddled his masculine voice the man had a strong yet kind look to him, his hair was blond and messy, cut short around his shoulders. And his eyes shone the richest color of hunter green as they flickered to a deep crimson with three black tomeyoes- the sharingan.
"Raiden, what are we going to do with her?" the women questioned, hesitantly looking around for something and gasping sharply. Both her and the man took a defensive stance and snarled at a new figure, he was a tall man with long black hair and purple markings around the eyes, the eyes that looked like that of a serpents.
"Here, let me take the little brat off of your hands-hmm?" Hissed the man with a tone so cold it caused the little bundle to shiver. The women only clutched sakura tighter, allowing the young girl to feel the massive energy of the Byakugan.
"What makes you want this girl so badly snake?" growled the man, stepping up evenly with the woman. His Sharingan was spinning madly in both eyes, emitting a deadly killing intent toward the snake like man who cackled loudly.
"You know what I want with the child you overgrown lizard! It will be of value to me when it grows and will be the ultimate weapon!" he said, his whole chakra was slippery and evil as it radiated out toward the couple protecting the child.
"If you want my child Orochimaru, you will have to go through me!" roared the man who suddenly sprang forward and shape-shifted into a serpent-like dragon. It was a magnificent creature that charged through the air toward the snake-man, it scales gleamed with a metallic gold and his mane flowed a midnight black, while his eyes burned with the red blood of the sharingan.
"If you wish to die like all the others of your clan then, so be it." Mumbled the man as he transformed into a purple and white chalky snake that shot into the air, tangling with the dragon midd-battle. Sakura looked on at the two and could tell that the golden dragon was already weak and laden with injuries from previous fights while the snake seemed to be fresh and uninjured in any way, the odds were not in favor with the dragon of legends that day.
She could suddenly feel a magic surround her creating a sort of bubble effect and she watched as the young woman cried and smiled at the same time. "You will be destined for greatness one day Sakura, I promise you that. And remember that no matter what you must remember your comrades and your family, and be true to yourself." The young woman whispered, Sakura suddenly felt the cold water of a stream on her back, soaking through her blankets. She watched as the woman charged into battle, changing into a silver dragon with a white mane and pale, lavender eyes that looked like innocence themselves.
"Ma-ma? Da-da?" Sakura wailed softly as she slowly floated down the river that was dyed crimson with the blood of both sound and dragon alike. She watched as these two dragons fought together perfectly in harmony, but both were weakened with old wounds and new ones.
"And now I can end you disgusting creatures once and for all!" the man named Orochimaru spat, and then did a flurry of hand signals grinning evilly at the staggering beasts of the sky with vengeance.
"Sword of Kusanagi: Long sword of the Sky!" he called extending his hand to reveal a long sword that glistened with the blood of its previous prizes, he lowered it and advanced upon the two dragons who had been forced to change back to human form and were sitting weakly on their knees rendered helpless by the venom that coursed through their veins.
"And now you die!" he hissed, and Sakura found to her horror that she could not tear her eyes away from the alabaster man. The infant girl who's hair proudly bore a pastel shade of pink and peeked out from underneath her soaking blankets, could only watch as the snake-man raised his sword and as her parents glanced at her with sorry expressions in their eyes. She could only watch as her parents used the last of their strength to intertwine their fingers weakly and watch the glint of silver metal. She could only watch as Orochimaru's face flickered with delight as he brought his sharpened sword down upon the necks of the two people. And She could only watch as the bodies of her parents fell limply to the ground with blood spraying and showing in every direction, as her parents – the only things she had time to learn to love – were murdered right in front of her eyes. Sakura was innocent to this world and had learned only a few things in her time there, love, compassion, loyalty, bravery, strength, power, wits was forced to learn the harshest lesson of life at the age of an infant- the lesson of malice, mercilessness, cruelty, abuse, hatred, evil, bloodshed and murder.
(Vision ends)
Sakura felt her body burn and bring her back to the present motion, and change to the stinging pain of reality and memories received. She could only stand there, fire burning brightly and eyes cast of into oblivion as she attempted to register what had just happened, what she had just seen. Her mind only continued to play one thought over and over in her head-
"He murdered your parents! He murdered your Clan! He murdered your kind!" Sakura felt her emotions swell and overflow, filling her body with a relentless rage that fueled the hungry fires of her chakra and served to make the Inferno that surrounded her flare up and burn with pure hatred.
"You Murderer! You murdered my Parents!" Sakura roared, the power of her sound caused the leaves to be nothing but dust and ash in a matter of moments. Orochimaru grinned even wider; everything was going exactly as planned.
"And now, you'll pay for what you've done." She added darkly, the pure killing intent of her voice sent chills up Sai's spine. Sai- the emotionless, heartless root member felt the first emotion he had in years- and it was fear of the pink haired Kunoichi turned deadly dragon. Sakura could feel both of her eyes begin to burn slightly, but she ignored it and cast it aside allowing her rage to take control.
"He he Yes. I murdered your family, your clan, and every last one of the pitiful lizards that call themselves dragons. I relished the sight and smell of their blood, and I must admit that it was the most pleasurable massacre I have ever taken part of." Baited Orochimaru, staring maliciously back into the equally bloodthirsty eyes of the dragon. Sakura thought only one thing at that moment- revenge! But before she could become a murderer all her own the uneven and painful sound of hoarse breathing reached her ears, washing a sense of remembrance and duty over her that mingled with her anger and turned it into a pure fighting spirit that burned as bright as the flames that enveloped her body.
'Naruto, my teammate." She thought, instantly her good memories took precedence over the painful ones Orochimaru inflicted upon her.
' I will not allow my teammates to die.' She smiled inwardly at her sensei's words, at Naruto's devotion to his goal, and at Yamato's persistence to help a team of misfit's retrieve their lost friend. ' Hmm, Sasuke.' Suddenly she realized what Orochimaru was trying to do, 'he is trying to blind me, blind me of my true intentions.' She stated, mind widening in realization of her purpose of this fight, why she was fighting.' I'm not fighting for revenge; I'm fighting for my friends- my team. And for them I must wind.' Sakura returned her attention to her wounded teammate, and remembered her promise to protect him. So she silently summoned her healing abilities and allowed her tail to slither backwards touching Naruto's wounded body and releasing a powerful, green cooling Chakra. She just stood there, eyes locked in a viscous stare with Orochimaru's snake like orbs, while she finished the healing of her best friend.
"Alright Orochimaru, let's settle this once and for all!" Sakura growled and let her instinct take over, readying herself with a one-on one battle with Orochimaru himself.
"Kabuto, you retrieve the nine-tails. Do not interfere with my battle, I want to be the one doused in the blood of the last dragons so if you value your life my apprentice you would think wise to stay out of my way." Orochimaru hissed, seeing Kabuto off to capture Naruto before grinning evilly at the incoming dragon that swam through the air at considerable speeds.
"Humph, formation of ten thousand snakes!" he commanded, effortlessly summoning a massive army of sword-tongued snakes that rose up in a wave of scaly pain against sakura.
"Oh shit!" The dragon cursed, realizing there was no time to apply a defense or speed Juutsu and could only stand and watch the hoard of snakes crashing down on her.
"Pathetic creature, that wasn't even a battle worthy of the lowest genin." Orochimaru taunted, licking his lips with his snake like tongue un-satisfied with the battle.
"Never!" erupted a fierce roar from underneath the pile of snakes. Orochimaru stopped dead and watched as his snake pile was engulfed in a mushroom-cloud of blood-red fire, hurtling each of his snakes lifeless, burning bodies around like a rag doll. Revealing a very pissed off dragon in its wake, and Sakura was indeed very angry.
"Good, I was hoping you at least might've been stronger than an academy level ninja. Maybe I was right." Orochimaru said, mocking the Kunoichi skills and life's training. And that just about did it for sakura; it put the stab-covered dragon whose off-white coat was already stained with the juices of battle over the edge of self-control.
"I'll show you what strong is you slimy little son of a bitch!" she bellowed, her emerald eyes glistening with bloodlust and revenge. 'Wind release: Great breakthrough!" she commanded, combing the Ninjutsu with her already fiery cloaking to create a stream of deadly, twisting, un-avoidable flames that shot straight towards Orochimaru and scorched his left arm, leaving him a bit surprised that the seemingly powerless girl could actually land a hit on him.
"Oh so you want to play that game now do you dragon? All right let's play!" challenged the snake king; daring sakura to take the first move and sakura took the bait.
"I'll kill you!" she roared, feeding the flames of her fire with her emotions as she charged swiftly toward her opponent quite confident in her abilities now that she landed an attack on him. She kept her stinging eyes locked onto Orochimaru's own intimidating ones, intending to mentally paralyze him with the pure killing intent that shone through her own green orbs.
"Temporary paralysis technique." Orochimaru muttered, glaring harder at the oncoming sky serpent with malice as he watched her body freeze in place, paralyzed and rendered unable to move.
"Crap!" sakura shouted inwardly, suddenly feeling washed with fear and weakness as she watched the alabaster-skinned S-ranked ninja strut up to her without any hesitation at all. She growled at him menacingly, threatening him to stay away but he only chuckled darkly.
"Hmm, a little better but still nothing worth my time." Spat Orochimaru as he began to do a flurry of un-recognizable hand signals- well, unrecognizable to all but Sakura who used her enhanced vision to identify her opponent's attack and internally freak out for a moment.
"Sword of Kusangni: Long sword of the sky!" Orochimaru hissed, staring intently at his prey as a silver streak of metal erupted from his mouth, impaling the young dragons helpless body. Sakura whimpered in pain, attempting in vain to move but finding it impossible. Orochimaru only grinned more at his struggling prey and he twisted his sword around in her side relishing the sound of crunching bone, rupturing organs, and the sloshy sound of gut soup as it steadily poured onto the ground.
"SAKURA! NO!" yelled Yamato in a small moment of horror as he watched sakura's struggling form lay silent in a pool of blood.
"Weak." Kabuto sneered, pressing harder with his kunai against Yamato's wooden cage that he had locked himself and Naruto into for protection.
"Oh Sai, would you go get your nine-tails friend and then we can be on our way." Commanded Orochimaru, retracting his sword back into his mouth eagerly awaiting the taste of the blood that soaked the tip of his sword. But strangely he found that the blood was just water, no metallic tang, no red drops dribbling off of his lips.
"Not this time you mindless serpent." Sakura growled, undetectable from her perch amidst the heavy storm clouds. She silently prayed for a moment thanking the gods that her substitution Juutsu was perfect and the only difference between her and the substitute was blood.
"Chidori!" She commanded, stealing the powerful lighting from the clouds around her Sakura surrounded her already inferno clad body with and electrical charge as well, creating an almost in-destructible barrier between her and future attacks.
"And now, lord of the snakes, stealer of my dear friend and murderer of my loved ones, you will die." She stated coldly, suddenly craving the sight of Orochimaru's dying body bleeding on the ground. Almost instantly upon that thought her eyes burned even hotter now for some unknown reason and blurred her vision, distracting her mind from bloodlust.
"Substitution Juutsu.." Orochimaru hissed, suddenly aware that his prey was indeed still alive- but where?
"Missing something?" growled sakura, allowing Orochimaru to feel the intimidating burn of her inferno cloak as she towered menacingly behind him. Before Orochimaru could even turn around to ensure it was her Sakura unleashed her Chidori, allowing the deadly network of blue electricity to scatter through the air.
Orochimaru felt his body flying through the air, watching as various parts of that damn dragons chidori network caught him shocking his body even more. He heard a loud crack as his body made contact with a tree, splitting the ancient oak in two like a chopstick.
"No more breaks you bitch, you've overstayed your welcome." He cursed, wiping the blood that now dribbled down the side of his mouth. His snake like orbs hardened and glowered even more at the dragon with heightens malice. "I think it's time for you to really see what the master of the sound is capable of you little brat, many hidden shadow snake hands! Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" he screeched, instantly transforming into a snake body that was all too familiar with Sakura as his more powerful form. She quickly analyzed her situation, and it was not a good one but sakura had to stay optimistic.
'Try to be more like Naruto!' she told herself, forcing into the recesses of her mind to discover some advantage and found the tactic to be a success.
"Double suicide decapitation technique." She ordered in her mind, and then felt the rush of chakra to her front as her muscles twitched back into action propelling her into a dive under the ground. But before she was completely submerged Sakura felt the fangs of two of Orochimaru's poisonous snakes close around her tail, and she yelped out in pain before continuing her dig with the snakes still locked onto her, injecting more deadly poison.
"Now where did that bitch g-" Orochimaru was cut off when a white and pink blur erupted form the soil beneath him, paralyzing him with her chidori current and scorching his helpless body. But sakura was not done yet, and with a chakra-enhanced crunch, she locked her jaws down on the snake-kings abdomen severing his body in two.
"That's for killing my parents you slithering devil." Sakura spat weakly from the low levels of chakra, blood loss, and poisoning. She felt the dizziness swirl inside her head, and she could feel her body swaying dangerously on her shaking legs but sakura did not resist and instead gracefully laid down as best she could as not to alarm her captain. But she knew that the blood spattered everywhere, that pooled in some places and ran little streams down her mouth was her blood and it wouldn't be long before she drifted off into sleep.
"He he! Foolish brat! Did you really think you could defeat me that easily? Me? And now you will pay for it with your life and the life of your team!" hissed a cold voice that made sakura involuntarily shudder. She managed to gather enough strength to see a truly heart-stopping sight- Orochimaru was not suffering the same fate she was but was being stitched back together by tiny black snakes.
"N-No! imp-p-pos-sible!" Sakura stuttered, unable to talk without violently shuddering and gasping for breath. Orochimaru smiled with his trademark "it time for you to die" smile plastered on his face in the form of a disturbing grin. Suddenly he was next to her, something glinted in the sunlight that he was holding.
"When you are as powerful as I am, nothing is impossible!" he hissed menacingly, thrusting his sword into the dragon again, but this time substitution was not an option. Orochimaru watched with pleasure as blood sprayed onto his tunic, watching as his sword plunged all the way through the soft spot behind sakura's forelimb. Relishing the sickening sound of crunching bone as he broke her ribs, crushing them into oblivion and puncturing her lung. He slowly drew the sword back out, enjoying her growls of pain and suffering as he licked the blood drenched blade.
"SAKURA! " Captain yamato cried, broken at the sight of the poor Kionochi's suffering. Sakura couldn't hear him though over the pounding of her heart that was slowly fading, she could hear Orochimaru's footsteps leaving her.
"Ah, now your friend will be of great use to me, I thank you for allowing me to borrow him." Orochimaru chuckled coldly, allowing his main snake to slither over the unconscious Naruto's body threatening to bite with deadly poison.
"grr, Naruto." Grunted captain yamato who was still somehow locked into battle with the snakes assistant, and totally helpless as he watched the young ninjas life fade and the others threatened.
"Say your goodbyes dragon, because this will be the last time you see that filthy fox." Spat Orochimaru, grinning when the dragon lay still- apparently dead. Sakura managed to pry one eyelid open, just enough to see the S-ranked ninja and his slippery snake touching her friend- HER FRIEND!
'I will never again allow my teammates to fight my battles for me, to take my pain for me, to take my death for me. From now on I will become stronger and protect my team and all those who are close to me!"
'you will be destined for greatness one day sakura, I promise you that. and remember no matter what don't forget your comrades, your family and be true to yourself.'
'I will not allow my teammates to die.'
Sakura felt something new pulse through her with every beat of her heart, no longer would she feel helpless. She would pull it together like Naruto always had and stay optimistic, she would be as strong as Sasuke ways, and she would be as smart as Kakashi sensei is and strive to become the protector of her family.
'today I make you proud mom and dad.' Sakura thought happily, and allowed the new sensation to completely take over. It filled her with a golden light of hope, and a silver flicker of strength washing the pain away and replacing it with something new- courage. Sakura felt her spirits lift as she accepted the one thing that made a dragon a dragon- courage. It fed her spirits causing them to rise and along with it her strength. Sakura had something to believe in, something to strive for and driver for and finally achieve and today was not the day she would give up that dream.
"Today, I fight for my family." Sakura whispered, barely audible but enough to prove her life. She felt no pain anymore-only drive, she felt no anger anymore- only determination, and she felt no sadness anymore- only the want to protect the ones she cared about. Sakura flashed her eyes open, revealing a mark of true power and the path she chose to take.
"today I become a protector."
"Hmm, well finish Kabuto we don't have much time. We need to take the nine tails back to the base so I can extract it from the useless host." Orochimaru said, dimly aware that something seemed off. He whipped his head around to where the dead heiress was but found only a pool crimson liquid there.
"wha-what?" The blonde murmured, slightly moving his head and popping open his sore eyes. He slowly scanned his surroundings, lastly looking to his right side and would've jumped had it not been for the minor pang of pain that zinged through him. He stared with wonder at the supposedly mythical beast that stood in front of him, it had to be a dragon! The creature's coat was of pure ivory but was stained a deep red from the severity and number of wounds that plagued the poor creatures body. Naruto let his eyes slowly drift to the dragons mane, at first he though it was red but after closer inspection he realized it was pink just like sakura's hair! And on the dragons shoulders it bore the ninja symbol of Konoha, lightly pink against its ivory background.
"Naruto, stay down and stay quiet." A voice came to him in his head, it sounded suspiciously like sakura's voice to him. Naruto had absolutely no clue what was going on and attempted to move but immediately upon stirring the dragon emitted a deep, painful growl and Naruto looked it straight in the eyes.
'oh my gosh!' he thought, somewhat excited from what he saw in the beasts eyes, he could only describe them as a pale purple with black circles inside coordinating in a complicated pattern. Naruto's attention shifted again when he saw a man with black hair spin around to face the dragon in a dead stare- it was Orochimaru! He watched as the dragon roared again, but this time a large flow of blood sprayed from the creatures mouth and then continued to flow steadily down its chin as the beast snarled.
"Never again will you lay a finger on my friends." Sakura whispered so coldly that her words shattered Orochimaru's expressionless mask, revealing just a flicker of fear that danced across his face when their eyes met.
"No.. i-it cant be. The Rinnegan!" Orochimaru said, anxiety and hatred present in his voice as he suddenly found himself caught in the stare of the rinnegan eyes. Sakura smirked slightly allowed a growl to form deep in her throat causing blood to splatter all over Orochimaru's face.
"Yes I possess the rinnegan eyes, although the way I see it will make no difference what I have after I am done with you." She snarled with pleasure, activating her rinnegan and bringing forth the most powerful Juutsu she could find.
"sakura." Mumbled yamato just loudly enough for Naruto to hear him, all eyes were on the dragon and the snake as the final moments of the battle closed revealing the victories.
"What! You mean that's Sakura?" yelled Naruto quite loudly causing Kabuto and yamato to become distracted but it failed to break the concentration of Sakura as she felt all the remaining chakra she had left focus in the front of her mouth slowly forming a ball of pure chakra power that could destroy anything depending on its ratio. She felt the last of the chakra bleed out into the swirling ball of light and dark, pain and forgiveness, good and bad.
"Let's end this." She snarled calmly, furrowing her brow and activating her rinnegan to its full potential. Her eyes began to bleed with the sudden request of un-imaginable power, and her wounds somehow found the blood to release again, causing the ground to become dyed red and begin pooling the liquid.
Yamato widened his eyes in realization of what Sakura was about to do, and it couldve been counted as suicidal. "Sakura! Stop! He's not worth it!" He yelled in vain, practically pleading with her to stop before she killed herself.
"I'm sorry boys, but this is how it's going to be. If I kill Orochimaru then maybe I can count on you Naruto to keep your promise as I will die on mine. Please bring Sasuke back for me, tell him where there is darkness he can always find the light to guide him through it, because in this world one cannot exist without the other." Sakura said softly to the ANBU captain and nine-tails host that were just staring at her with somewhat horrific expressions on their faces. Sakura glanced backwards, forcing the corners of her mouth to curl up a little as she winked to the blond boy behind her. She felt the full potential of the chakra reach its limit and she smiled one last time, striking fear into the heart of her enemy for just a moment.
"Yin and Yang, Release." She commanded firing the concentrated power of her spirit and strength at Orochimaru, he could do nothing but stand there and get hit with the full force of her Yin-Yang release technique. Upon contact with its destination the technique exploded into two chakra infused clouds that swirled and together creating a symbol of balance. The clouds hung and hovered there for a moment before fusing together again, and re-connecting with it's limp target forcing them back through the forest and smashing into several trees.
The sickening crack of breaking bones could be heard faintly in the distance, causing Kabuto to forfeit his match and run off following the trail of carnage and cussing all the while about how he always got stuck with these things.
Sakura felt the Rinnegan de-activate and her head became very fuzzy, her vision began to blur as she let out one last roar, shaking the entire valley down to its very core.
"Sakura!" both Naruto and Yamato yelled out as they watched their wounded team mate sway heavily and crash to the ground, splashing in a pool of her own blood. A small light enveloped Sakura's body for a moment and then faded back out, revealing a young girl with pink hair and a battle worn body.
Naruto practically fainted as reality hit him, 'THAT'S SAKURA? THAT'S SAKURA! O SHIT! THAT IS SAKURA!' his mind repeated over and over again until Naruto finally understood the severity of this. His stomach dropped and his heart cracked when he realized that the little river of blood that was stemming from its parent lake belonged to his teammate, it belonged to sakura!
"Sakura! Sakura!" he yelled frantically, racing to her side panicking all the way. When he reached his cherry blossom he felt a pang of fear shoot through him, Sakura was covered in blood and wounds, quarter inch lacerations littered her body along with occasional half inch ones with the worst being a four inch long cut that went all the way through her body just under her armpit and narrowly missing the heart.
"S-Sa-Sakura?" He questioned quietly, looking over the unnaturally still body of his friend. Suddenly Naruto felt a rush of emotions crash through him, pain, anger, regret, revenge, sorrow, sadness, horror, and regret.
" Sakura! Sakura answer me! Please Sakura!" He said again, realizing his voice was cracked he reached up and felt water slowly rolling down his cheeks. He turned to his friend, and quickly scooped her limp body up bridal style wincing at the warm rush of blood as it flowed freely over his hands. He looked in horror as he saw how pale she was, and how cold her body felt.
"She's not dead yet Naruto." A voice said from behind the blond haired boy, he quickly spun around to see Captain Yamato looking sadly upon the painful form of the pink-haired medic who didn't even have enough strength left to heal her. The brown haired ANBU captain reached out lightly to take a pulse, and was shocked when he managed to find the lightest little thump every so often. He then looked up to the stricken face of Naruto, who was crying softly over his friend.
"How did I let this happen! Who did this to her? I swear when I find out who caused Sakura this I'll-" Captain Yamato held up a hand to the traumatized shinobi face.
"Naruto, right now if you want to save Sakura's life we are going to have to get her back to Tsunade right now! It's amazing she's still alive and I don't know how much longer she can hold on, she is very weak." Yamato said coldly, trying his hardest not to show the sadness in his voice.
"No! don't say it! She is going to be fine all right! She has to be fine!" Naruto wailed, beside himself with rage toward his own body for not protecting her.
Before Captain Yamato could say anything in protest of Naruto he had disappeared, a blond streak in the trees. Naruto was pushing all of his chakra to his feet, pushing himself faster and faster while looking down at the limp, seemingly lifeless form in his arms that couldn't even be felt breathing. He felt the anger well up in his chest and allowed the nine-tails chakra to flow, causing his eyes to turn red.
"d-don't." whispered a weak voice so quietly Naruto was amazed he could hear it. He looked down shocked at the cherry blossom in his arms that had somehow come back to life. She began to cough violently causing blood to rush to her mouth, dribbling out the corners of her weak smile as she attempted to make her teammate feel better.
"Sakura don't." Naruto said, panicking at the blood that spilled from sakura as she tried to smile for him. "Don't move, just hang in there ok? Don't fall asleep!" he said, the confidence in his voice wavering as his eyes resumed their normal blue color.
"I- do-o- nt-t thi-n-nk I-" Sakura felt the darkness closing in as she tried in vain to complete the sentence, fighting it would be useless so she just allowed it to consume her and take away her pains.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Naruto cried, shaking the once again limp body of sakura somewhat violently.
"Naruto she isn't dead, just focus on getting her to tsunade as fast as you can!" Captain Yamato said, looking equally worried as he looked down at the paling Kionochi's face wondering what Kakashi would do to him when he found out.
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