key:

"talking"

'jutsu"

thinking

"flashback"

nonhuman

Orochimaru

Naruto groaned as a dull ache pulsed through his skull caused by his sudden crash landing. Disoriented, he looked around frantically for his friends or possible a clue to where he was exactly, but the annoying similarity of all the trees made his growl. He was about to move to stand up when a large shadow overlapped his figure darkly, and the eery presence of something very dangerous made his blood run cold. He turned around slowly, hoping the feeling was wrong, but when his eyes were met with deadly stare of an enormous snake he could help but shout the obvious, "It's- It's Huge!"

What the hell is up with this forest!? He couldn't help but wonder how a snake could grow so large, but the thoughts were quickly cut off when the snake's tail shot out and wrapped around his body, immobilizing him. He could just hear Sasuke's voice mocking him in his mind "Wow, dope. Even a snake is a better shinobi than you."

Naruto struggled until he noticed the reptile unhinge it's jaw, ready to swallow the blonde whole, "Uwaaaaaaaah!"

The snaked grinned with triumph as he swallowed the young genin greedily, Naruto squirming in protest down the constrictor's esophagus screaming things like "Damn you!" and "Let me out!"


Meanwhile, a battle ensued elsewhere. Sakura with her surprising skill appeared to have Orchimaru on the ropes, but the Sanin was just getting warmed up.

"Hmm, you're no ordinary prey." Orochimaru purred, clearly pleased that the female member of Team 7 wasn't just another pretty faced liked he had thought her out to be. But he didn't have time to play with the pink haired child, he had a mission to complete. With a snake-like dodge the Sanin maneuvered back to the wide-eyed Uchiha.

"Sasuke! Move!" Sakura shouted at the boy who was just sitting there. Why is he just sitting there!?

Orochimaru smirked when Sakura moved at ninja speed to grab her teammate and move him out of the way of the Sanin's attack, Predictable.


Eventually, after sitting for a long moment in a giant serpent's digestive track, a light bulb flickered on in Naruto head and a wide grin spread across his face at his own brilliance. 'Shadow Clone Jutsu!' Like planned, the sudden increase in Narutos caused the snake to burst and the original Naruto stepped out of the bloody heap victoriously, an inspiring heroic comment already set on the tip of his tongue. "I can't be turned into shit in a place like this! I am the shinobi who will become Hokage!"

"Time to find Sakura-chan and Sasuke!" He shouted to no one in particular and ran off.


Away from the snake Sanin, Sakura shook the fear struck boy, "Sasuke! You have to wake up! We have to mov-"

Being too distracted by the even move distracted boy, the kunoichi failed to notice a giant serpent sneaking towards them till the snake's tail lashed out, slamming the pink haired ninja into a nearby tree. Thankfully, the sharp cry of pain that escaped her throat finally brought to Uchiha back to his senses and he was able to move away just before the snake was able to strike him down with it's pointed spear-like teeth. The familiar killing intent of the snake made Sasuke panic and he screamed "Uwaaa! Get away!" as he threw shurikens at the beast, killing it.

Sasuke was about to move to aid his female teammate when the familiar eery voice brought his attention back to the dead snake.

"Don't relax for even a moment. Prey should always be ready to run away…" The dark figured of disguised Orochimaru emerged from the reptile corpse like a demon spawning from hell, "… in the presence of a predator."

With that, the enemy pounced zipping around the trees towards the Uchiha. That was, till a couple of kunai shot out, embedding themselves in the tree bark just a few inches away from the now even more snake-like Orochimaru's face, cutting off the monster's path to Sasuke.

"I'm sorry sasuke!" The booming warm voice brought everyone attention to Naruto who was standing above them on a high tree branch, looking like a hero come to save the day. "I forgot the codeword!"

Sakura could help but smile up at the boy, Sasuke, on the other hand,wasn't the least bit happy at the boy's arrival.

"Naruto, I know you're trying to look cool coming here to save us, but forget it! Run away! This guy is on a whole 'nother level!" Sasuke shouted, hoping the boy would see reason and just run away. His warning bringing Sakura attention and concern back to the snake Sanin.

He's right. What do we do? How can we defeat a Sanin? Sakura desperately wished she was stronger, much stronger so she could protect everyone, but even in the future she was no match for Orochimaru. She had to think of something to get them out of there, and fast.

"I'll give you the scroll!" Sasuke surprised nearly everyone with his words, and pulled out the heaven scroll from his weapons pouch. "Take it and leave!"

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Naruto bellowed in protest, making Sakura roll her eyes.

"Sasuke, what the hell are you talking about! Giving the Scroll to the enemy!?", He wanted to punch the Uchiha boy in the face for even suggesting such a thing but he quickly shut up when the Orochimaru spoke up.

"Very clever. Trying to escape a predator by offering it a different meal." The Sanin pursed his lips into a snake-like smile.

"Take it!" Sasuke shouted and tossed to scroll over to the enemy, only to have it intercepted by none other than Naruto Uzimaki. The Uchiha was instantly outraged by the blonde's stupidity, "Naruto! What the hell are you doing!? Don't you understand the situation!?"

Sasuke was certainly caught off when met with Naruto's reply, a swift punch to the face.

"Wha-" Sasuke started but was cut off.

"I forgot the codeword so I can't test it, but… You're not Sasuke, are you?" Naruto stared at his teammate with a burning rage.

"I am Sasuke, you moron!" The raven haired boy shouted back.

"Liar… There's no way such a stupid coward like you is the Sasuke I know!" Naruto spat at the fear-driven boy. "I don't know how strong this guy is but… What guarantee is there that he'll let us go if we give him the scroll?"

That certainly got the Uchiha's attention, and Sakura could clearly see the wisdom and leadership Naruto would have as a future Hokage to Konoha.

"Hehehehe… Naruto is correct." Orochimaru grinned wildly over to the members of Team seven, who could only stare back at the man with fear. The snake Sanin quickly pushed up his left sleeve and using his own blood undid the seal that was placed there. "I'll just kill all of you and take the scroll."

'Summoning Jutsu' A snake, probably ten times larger than the other giant snakes they had just encountered appeared under it's master. It's tail immediately lashing out and striking Naruto into the ground, then launching the beat up blonde into the air before positioning it's self to eat the genin. Naruto was too stunned to even move, till burning red chakra bursted out of him giving him demon-like eyes and strength to beat down the serpent with a single punch. Orochimaru however wasn't caught off guard for long and he used a fire jutsu to disarm the raging boy.

Then the Sanin turned the incredible snake on Sasuke who just stood there, but the attack was stopped by Naruto and the amazing power of the nine-tailed fox that raged inside of him.

"Hey… you alright… scaredy cat?" Naruto mocked.

Enough. No more screwing around. Sakura disappeared and reappeared in front of Orochimaru striking with a sharp charkra-powered side-kick to the head. The blowing catching the Sanin off guard and launching him clear off the snake. Orochimaru however still managed to land gracefully like a cat, but his mask was beginning to crumple, peeling away to reveal his true face.

Orochimaru let a dazed hand move to touch the cracked bone under his cheek, She uses the same technique as… The Sanin grinned and let a horrifying, high pitched laugh echo from his throat, "Well, isn't this team just full of surprises?"

The Sanin disappeared, and reappeared behind the pink hair girl, but she was ready for him and she sent a chakra-strenghtened back kick flying up towards his face. He dodged and she expected him to disappear and strike again, but he caught her foot from the side. The chakra flowing throughout the limb seared him palm, but that's what he was expecting. "Just like Tsunade." Orochimaru mused, as Sakura's eyes widened in horror.

He was testing me. She grimaced and flipped so she could at least strike him with the other leg, but he was gone just as a roaring Naruto tried to come to her aid only to end up smashing into the girl he was trying to rescue. Both genin collided unceremoniously into the side of a nearby tree branch and were about to tumble down into a seemingly endless pit below, but a long snake like tongue wrapped around Naruto throat before he could fall.

"Sakura!" Naruto struggled and called to the kunoichi figure as her body disappeared into the darkness below, Sasuke quickly followed down after her.

With a flick of his wrist Orochimaru lifted up Naruto top shirt to reveal the black marking that circled Naruto navel, and before Naruto could moved to tear off the Sanin head with his beast-like power and aggression the Sanin was able to complete the 'Five Part Seal' putting the energetic boy out of commission. He smirked and released the unconscious boy's body so it fell down the ditch after his friends.

Sakura was about to hit the ground hard when Sasuke caught her out of thin air, clearly out of breath from making his way down the hole to her.

"Are you alright?" The raven haired boy asked with concerned eyes.

Sakura could only get out a small nod before she spotted Naruto's body distending down toward them. She ran over and caught him before the he made fatal contact with the earth. She looked the boy over and sighed with relief when she noticed the rise and fall of his chest, Still breathing. She lifted up the boy's shirt slightly to see Orochimaru's handiwork. She internally kicked herself for being so useless.

It was only a few seconds before Orochimaru found them once again and Sasuke automatically placed himself protectively between his teammates and the enemy, Naruto words still echoing in his mind. I am not a coward, he answered the voice in his head and his sharingan activated on instinct. The sight of Sasuke swirling red irises made Orochimaru shiver in delight.

Sakura let her hand brush through Naruto hair before she stood up and placed herself in front of Sasuke, "If you want him you're going to have to go through me!" She glared at the Sanin who tilted his head curiously, smile still pastured on his face.

"Sakura, what-" Sasuke started speak and was about to reach out to the girl when Orochimaru answered.

"Alright." His neck shot out towards them, fangs ready and Sakura knew what was coming. She knocked Sasuke out of the way of Orochimaru's bite, but she hadn't expected him to bite her instead. Her wrist burned and she stared at the spot in horror as a snake-like band she didn't recognize reached across her skin like some sort of tattooed bracelet.

"What-What did you do?" Sakura stared at the Sanin, feeling like electricity was shooting through her veins.

"Don't worry, little one. It's just a little something to remember me by." Orochimaru grinned before bestowing another gracious gift onto the girl, a kick to the gut.

"Don't touch her!" Sasuke commanded with a growl and sent a windmill shrunken flying towards the Sanin's head. Orochimaru dodged it with ease but was pleasant surprised when Sasuke was able to read his movements and turn the blade back at him using a wire he had tied to the weapon.

"Nice try." Orochimaru smirked as he caught the shrunken in his mouth, but he fell right into Sasukes trap.

'Dragon Fire Jutsu' Sasuke completed the simple hand seals and shot flames along the wire to the enemy, engulfing the Sanin's head in burning fire, but it wasn't enough. Orochimaru just grinned at the boy from underneath his now-shinged disguise.

"Just as a thought, I want you." Orochimaru purred in delight.

No. Sakura thought, helplessly immobilized but the black band on her wrist that burn in agony.

With that, Orochimaru attacked. Biting into the Uchiha's neck he placed his mark, and Sakura could only watch as Orochimaru succeeded once again despite all her efforts. She watched as her teammate cried out in agony from the pain of his forming seal and pass out, and she watched as the enemy made his way back to her.

"Still conscious?" Orochimaru smirked down at the girl, before grabbing a handful of her pink hair and pulling up so she was forced to meet his gaze. She was weak and ordinary in nearly every way, but he sensed that she would become a very powerful woman in the future, much like one of his own past teammate. "I look forward to see you again in the future, Sakura."

With that, he was gone and everything went black.