Sakura draws her limbs into a defensive stance as she faces the sannin along with her teammates.
"I won't let any of you leave until I have accomplished my goal," Orochimaru says to them.
"And I won't let you near my team!" Sakura snarls at him right before she stomps down on the ground with a chakra-laden foot.
At once, the earth shakes and shatters while the trees are uprooted. This time, however, Orochimaru is ready for her and attacks her swiftly before Sakura can strike again.
Sakura watches as the Sannin uses his snake summons to diverge on her and she shunshins away to avoid the attack before the snakes can wrap around her.
Somewere close by she can hear Sasuke shouting a katon while Naruto yells his signature move. The kage bunshin.
In no time, the area erupts with fire and shadow clones as Sakura's team mates attack the sannin simultaneously.
She observes as Orochimaru flashes back from her teammate's attacks. Then, he weaves out as Sakura launches a barrage of taijutsu punches and kicks at him.
The earth rolls and splits once more from where her feet and fists land as she continues her assault on the sannin. However, Orochimaru is just as slippery as a snake that he is able to evade her quickly before she can pulverize his bones.
Sakura can feel her chakra output diminishing. Unfortunately, she can't go all out because she doesn't have the Strength of a Hundred Seal yet. She will have to conserve her chakra and be smart about her next moves.
She can't afford to be reckless or her team is going to suffer for it.
A second later, Orochimaru summons a large snake to attack her this time and Sakura is ready for it.
Sakura frowns in concentration as the snake slithers towards her with murderous intent.
She runs towards the snake head on and throws a kunai with an explosive tag just as the snake opens its mouth. The kunai goes down the snake's gullet while Sakura jumps swiftly to safety.
BOOM! Is the sound as the snake explodes in a mess of guts and brain matter while a drizzle of blood rains down on her. Sakura wrinkles her nose in disgust.
Afterward, she glances back at her teammates and immediately sees Sasuke in a tight bind. She grits her teeth while she flashes forward with such speed that she can feel her muscles tearing just to intercept Orochimaru who has elongated his neck to attack Sasuke.
She draws her arm up and punches Orochimaru in the face with all her might. However, there is an explosion of smoke which is followed by a log appearing where Orochimaru used to be.
When she realizes that Orochimaru has used a substitution technique at the last minute, Sakura instantly looks around for the sannin.
Suddenly, a lance of pain erupts from her back and she gasps in surprise. She immediately turns around just in time for Orochimaru to attack her with a blade aiming for her throat. The sannin slashes forward but Sakura uses her enhanced speed to leap back and avoid him just barely in time.
She sends a bit of healing chakra on her back where the sannin stabbed her. She continues to leap from branch to branch to get some distance from her opponent.
She is running out of time. Her chakra reserve is getting low and she can feel her leg muscles screaming in pain at the constant abuse. She cycles a numbing chakra on her legs to keep the pain to a minimum and to keep her legs from shaking due to the strain. She knows that her current physical condition is not ideal for this kind of situation. So when this is all over, Sakura is determined to eliminate all her weaknesses by training hard and becoming strong again.
But first she has to survive the Forest of Death.
"You are quite fast, aren't you?" Orochimaru observes as he leaps towards her again with his katana.
Sakura simply glowers at the sannin, which she instantly knows is a clone and tries to avoid his attacks while she glances towards her other team mates.
"But not enough to protect your teammates," the clone says to her just as Sakura sees Naruto get lambasted by another Orochimaru clone with an earth jutsu from the corner of her eyes. She watches as the kyuubi jinchuuriki slams straight into a tree where a gargantuan snake is lurking nearby.
"Watch out Naruto!" Sakura shouts as the snake snaps forward.
Naruto must have heard her because he suddenly produces a dozen shadow clones in a nick of time to tackle the snapping snake.
With her distracted, she nearly gets skewered in the heart as Orochimaru's clone uses her momentary distraction to pounce on her. She weaves out of the way and lands in a tree branch where she can glare at the clone.
I need to get to Sasuke before Orochimaru places the curse mark on him, she thinks in worry as she faces Orochimaru's clone.
I've got no time to fight his clone, she inwardly states as she leaps from branch to branch towards the direction where she has last seen Sasuke.
As expected, the clone follows after her and Sakura uses her speed to get ahead of the clone until she can see the back of Sasuke's head.
Just as she nears Sasuke, Orochimaru's clone tries to attack her again but Sakura is already prepared for it and easily dispatches the clone with a kick to the solar plexus when it over-reaches its attack. It explodes into a cloud of smoke a moment afterwards.
Thereafter, she reaches Sasuke and her eyes widen when she spots Sasuke's ragged form. The boy is kneeling on one knee and clutching his side where she can see blood seeping his shirt. Across from the Uchiha, she notes the real Orochimaru grinning menacingly at Sasuke.
"Come now Sasuke. Don't you want to become powerful to defeat your brother? Because my curse mark can definitely give you such power," Orochimaru is saying as Sakura lands next to Sasuke.
"Don't listen to him Sasuke," Sakura tells him as she places a hand on her teammate's shoulder.
"Sakura," the Uchiha acknowledges her without turning in her direction.
"Sasuke, listen to me." Sakura murmurs as she grips her teammate's shoulder. "We can't fight him at our current condition. He is far too strong for us three. The only way we can survive this is to escape and report this incident to the higher ups."
Sasuke doesn't respond to her statement and Sakura worries that the Uchiha won't see reason. However, she is somewhat surprised to see Sasuke tilt his head slightly and says to her, "Get Naruto then."
"I will but you also need to come with us. We are not leaving you behind Sasuke," Sakura tells him softly.
"I'm not going to be left behind," Sasuke grits out. "I'm just going to buy us some time to escape from him."
"I can't let you do that Sasuke," Sakura replies.
"Planning to escape again, are we?" Orochimaru says to them. "Well, let me ruin that plan for you."
After saying that, Orochimaru starts attacking them full force and Sakura uses her speed to leap in front of Sasuke and shield him from the brunt of Orochimaru's attack. She instantly cries out in pain as a wind jutsu lashes across her chest and face. That is also when Sakura starts to feel the ultimate result of the build up behind her eyes and in her forehead.
She squints in confusion when her vision starts to change.
Suddenly, she can see from behind her back and in time to deflect the kunai aim at her spine. She turns and pushes Sasuke away just as Orochimaru appears in front of her.
She watches as the snake sannin's eyes widen in shock as he stares straight into her eyes.
"Is that...the rinnegan and byakugan?" Orochimaru says in surprise as he looks at her and Sakura frowns in puzzlement. However, she doesn't let Orochimaru's words distract her and she punches out with a chakra-laden fist.
And to her surprise, her aim is true and her punch lands on Orochimaru's face. Really hard.
Then, she watches as the snake sannin flies back and smashes from tree to tree with a resounding boom. With Orochimaru out of sight, Sakura suddenly grabs hold of Sasuke and goes after Naruto with the intent to escape again.