Naruto let out a sigh after resting for a few seconds. The powerful wind attack had launched him flying through several of the thick roots that were abundant in the forest. He was finally stopped by a thick net of roots that resisted his impact.
He rolled and used his hands to quickly stand up. Rubbing his butt, as he had landed on it, he looked around to find his teammates. It turned out he had been thrown further away than the rest.
"Where'd they go?" He asked to himself.
Then, he noticed a shadow over him. He slowly raised his head, shaking a little. His eyes widened as he finally met with those of the giant snake that had been standing just over him.
The massive reptile smashed its tail against the floor, which Naruto barely dodged by jumping. However, the tail wrapped around his body while he was still in the air. He desperately tried to overpower the creature's grip, but was ultimately unable to.
Seeing that the boy was not able to put up much resistance, the giant snake threw him into his mouth. Naruto went down his throat, but never stopped yelling even from inside.
After two days, Sakura was already flying quite comfortably. She was very happy about it, but most of all, Gohan was very proud of his first student. He stood with a big smile on his face while watching the pinkette enjoy her new ability.
She finally touched down on the ground, and returned the smile to the half-blood. Apart from flying, Gohan noticed that her power had increased a little only because she tapped into her Ki. It was interesting to him because he started to understand what was going on a little better.
"Now we can go look for Mr. Piccolo together!" Said the pink-haired girl while putting her hands on her waist.
"He can take care of himself." Gohan laughed nervously. The only real threat to Piccolo currently there would be precisely the Saiyan.
"Ah… Well, we can continue training, then!"
"I was going to tell you about something else that could be useful to you." Explained Gohan. "We can sense the energy of others and measure their power based on that. I think you could make good use of that."
"Oh? Like sensor shinobi…" She nodded. "Let's get into it, then!"
With Naruto nowhere to be seen, Sasuke and Ami were left alone to face the tall woman. She was suspiciously confident and inexpressive. So much so, in fact, that she grabbed her team's Earth scroll and openly showed it to the enemy shinobi.
"I suppose you'd like to steal our Earth scroll, wouldn't you?" Her tongue began to come out, and did not stop until the tip reached her chest. "Since you've already got a heaven scroll."
Both members of team 7 stared carefully. However, their focus was broken by the obscene image of the woman wrapping the scroll with her tongue and forcing it into her mouth. She ended up swallowing it completely, and acted like nothing had happened.
Ami nearly gagged, while Sasuke was frozen in his place. His legs were shaking, and his eyes already felt tired after having used his sharingan for their previous encounter with an enemy team.
"Now, shall we see.." She lowered her head to hide her face behind her hitai-ate and her long hair. "Just who will be stealing scrolls from whom?"
Then, she revealed her face. She had stuck a finger directly into her eye socket and pulled her own eyelid so far down that it seemed she was going to remove her own eye.
"We'll fight to the death!" She yelled with a deep voice that sounded so supernaturally that it echoed for several seconds inside the ears of the genin.
Almost as soon as the echo stopped, they felt the pain of being stabbed over a hundred times in each limb. They saw so much blood that it seemed it was falling from the sky. The horrifying spectacle ended with a kunai being precisely nailed on the middle of each of their foreheads.
Sasuke fell on his knees directly, and threw up on the ground beneath him. Ami managed to remain standing, but her legs were visibly shivering.
"Genjutsu!" Recognized the Uchiha after vomiting.
He turned to look at Ami. Her eyes were nailed on the tall woman. Despite shaking like an angry chihuahua, her expression only showed killing intent and determination. Then, he also turned to the Kusa-nin.
Even if he knew it was an illusion, given the fact that they were still alive, he had his doubts. He felt physical pain, very clearly so. He saw her teammate be slaughtered right next to him, and at the same time, he felt a torture he had not felt since that fateful night, at the hands of his own brother.
Whoever she was, her genjutsu abilities were of the highest level.
"Still standing?" Exclaimed the woman, while a smirk formed on her face. "No genin should be able to resist such powerful genjutsu. What's your secret, young girl?"
Ami smirked and reached for one of her many pockets. From it, she did not take a shuriken, or a kunai. She took out a small piece of paper from where she summoned a tanto. Then, she bit the blade of her weapon to hold it while she made a complex mix of hand seals.
The woman quickly threw a pair of kunai at her. Ami was quick enough to grab her weapon with her left hand only half a second after her last hand seal, and skillfully blocked both kunai.
When both kunai had been deflected, her tanto became embedded with electric sparks. She had infused it with lightning chakra.
The woman's smirk widened into an unnatural smile, revealing her snake-like fangs. "You are more than you pretend to be, little girl! How exciting!"
Ami rushed at the Kusa-nin and tried to slash her left arm off. However, the woman simply stopped the weapon with her bare hand and took it from her. The purple-haired girl widened her eyes in shock.
A black seal quickly covered the tanto as soon as the Kusa-nin grabbed it. She had used fuinjutsu to absorb the lightning chakra infused into the weapon. Then, she discarded the blade like it was trash.
Ami was paralyzed at the sight of the approaching woman. She felt her neck being squeezed as she was raised to the woman's height. While choking the girl, the woman placed her other hand on the chin. Using just her index finger and her thumb, she forced the girl's mouth open.
Her eyes gained new light as her suspicions had been proven right. The girl's tongue exhibited the signature seal the advisor of the Hokage placed on his loyal men within the ANBU branch.
"Marked by Danzo, poor little soul."
Sasuke had dashed behind the woman's back, and attempted to stab her with a kunai. However, the woman disappeared in the blink of an eye. This forced him to reluctantly activate the renowned dojutsu of his clan, to desperately look around and try to locate the woman before she could land a fatal blow.
From one of the many branches above, a giant snake threw itself onto him. He jumped away, but the creature bounced from the fall and continued following him. In response, he grabbed as much shuriken as he could and threw them right into the open mouth of the animal.
They landed directly and managed to kill the snake. Its body fell lifeless on the ground, only to then explode into a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke quickly raised his head to look above him, just in time to see a myriad of shuriken raining down. He quickly made a single hand seal and substituted himself with a branch that was out of the danger.
His move had long been foreseen, and it was made evident as he felt a wet tongue licking his neck from behind. His eyes widened in total shock.
"Don't let your guard down…" She whispered, but then she raised her voice. "It makes the chase so much more rewarding for the predator!"
At that moment, something fell from the trees and the sound of its crash echoed throughout the small area in which they were fighting. Sasuke glanced just under the branch he was standing on, and was so shocked by what he saw that he had to vomit again.
What had fallen from the branches above had been Ami's body. She had been stabbed all throughout her body with multiple kunai, shuriken and blades. Yet, she was still alive, as her head was intact and her chest made the natural motion the human body does when breathing.
Sasuke then felt a freezing hand be placed around his neck, once the tongue moved away. He began to turn around, but his movement was interrupted by a barrage of kunai and shuriken that was thrown at them.
The woman moved her arm away very quickly, avoiding what would've been an incapacitating injury on it. Sasuke took the chance to jump to the ground, close to the severely injured girl. He moaned in pain as he felt that his legs were beginning to give in. The fall had proven to be too much for his previously injured limbs, and only that pain was enough to tell him he would not be able to keep up the pace of the fight.
Both the woman and the Uchiha turned to the direction from where the weapons had been thrown, revealing Naruto standing on one of the taller branches. He stood firmly, and his smirk showed nothing but confidence.
"I can't remember that stupid password!"
The gravely injured Ami smiled at the sight of the blonde boy before finally losing consciousness. Naruto quickly scanned the battlefield, and noticed that their new teammate had been brutally wounded.
"What the fuck?!" Yelled the boy from above, while the woman licked her lips.
"Naruto, this freak is way out of our league!" Sasuke yelled at the top of his lungs. His survival instincts were raising all the possible alarms, and his body had released so much adrenaline that it was on its limit.
The blonde boy only squinted. He heard what Sasuke said, but he could not just let the weirdo get away with almost killing one of his teammates.
"Congratulations on your stunning defeat of the giant snake, Naruto!" Complimented the woman as she melted into the wood of the branch on which she had been standing.
"Oi, snakey!" Naruto pointed straight at the weird woman. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!"
She giggled. There was no one even remotely near her own level in the entire Forest of Death.
Sasuke figured the situation was getting out of hand, and took the decision to de-escalate the situation. He deactivated his sharingan and grabbed his team's Heaven scroll.
"Just take our scroll and go." Said the desperate Uchiha.
By then, the woman was nowhere to be seen. For such, the black-haired genius frantically looked in every direction.
"Huh?! You're now playing some cowardly tricks to get the enemy off our backs or what?!" Yelled the furious Naruto.
"Kukukukuku…" The woman's soft laughter echoed through the battlefield. It was as if she was everywhere all at once. "You're obviously natural-born prey… Instinctively knowing that your only hope is the slim chance of the predator getting distracted with a tastier bait!"
The woman reemerged from the ground right in front of Sasuke. Her smile was wide and confident, just like the one she wore the moment the fight began. The boy hesitated for a split second, but then threw the scroll at her.
However, Naruto had already thrown himself down, and reached the floor just in time to grab the scroll before the Kusa-nin could.
Sasuke glanced at the orange flash that stole the scroll. He knew it was his teammate, but the utter shock on his face showed that he was in total disbelief.
"Idiot, stay out of this! You'll get us killed!"
After landing, he bounced and threw himself onto the Uchiha. The latter widened his eyes as he saw the blonde boy's fist only a few milimeters away from his face. Naruto landed a punch directly on his face, knocking him down.
Sasuke bounced onto a nearby branch and wiped the blood that was falling from his mouth after the strong hit.
"Have you lost your fucking mind?!" Asked the Uchiha.
"I don't know what happened or if you were replaced. But you're a damned coward, which Sasuke isn't!" He yelled back. "I've got no idea if we have to fear this guy, and even if we do, our only chance is to fight. We have no guarantees that he'll spare us if we just hand our scroll."
The woman giggled at the discussion the two teammates were having, but she could not deny the blonde boy's words were exciting.
"You're right, Naruto!" She said while her tongue went up to the height of her eyes, which were looking in opposite directions. "Why bargain when I can just kill you and take the scroll from your corpses!?"
She raised the sleeve from her right arm, revealing a seal that resembled a snake. She bit her thumb and rubbed it through the seal once it was bleeding. The straight trail of blood activated the seal, which began to form a spiral of smoke around the tall woman.
Naruto decided to charge against her, already tired of her being a weirdo and acting like she was in total control.
"Shut the fuck up!" He grabbed a kunai from his pocket and jumped onto the spiral.
"No, don't!" The Uchiha had been desperately trying to gain any form of control over the situation, but it just continued to escape his grasp. He grabbed his own face as he looked away, ready for the blonde's death.
From the spiral emerged a massive snake, just underneath the woman. She stood firm on its forehead, knowing her summoning would do the job just fine. As he was still in the air, the tail of the reptile sent Naruto flying upwards. The latter hit a branch, which caused internal bleeding. Then, he began to fall again.
For him, his fall was taking forever. He felt the adrenaline releasing through his veins, while a strange Chakra overflowed his own channels. An orange aura surrounded his body, and then it turned to a red color. By the time the boy had reached the head of the snake, his aura was bubbly and two tails had formed on it.
He smashed the snake's nose with a single punch, sinking it from the sheer power and almost instantly killing the creature. Naruto made sure to stare directly at the woman for the split second he was able to, revealing his burning red irises, which were like those of the Nine Tails.
"The seal's already weakened that much?" For the first time in the entire fight, the woman's smile diminished.
Then, Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind her. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and she was unable to block the powerful kick the boy gave her. She was thrown away, but managed to safely land on a branch.
Naruto pressed on and landed a powerful kick straight to her mouth. She was forced to spit out a tooth before grabbing the boy's arms and wrapping her tongue around his neck. While choking him, she quickly made a complex and long pattern of hand seals. She raised her right hand, revealing that the tip of its fingers had visible sparks of chakra. Then, she slammed it on the boy's abdomen, where the seal of the fox had been placed thirteen years prior. The sparks of chakra burned a new seal on top of the old one.
"I would rather not deal with you right now." Said the woman calmly as she took her tongue back and let the boy fall down.
His aura disappeared and he lost consciousness. With a single jutsu, the boy who all of a sudden achieved such power, had been defeated.
"It's your turn now, Sasuke." She said quite playfully.
The heir of the Uchiha was not so excited about the idea, and immediately tried to approach the now unconscious Naruto. However, the woman stood in his way.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan once again, figuring that their battle was just inevitable. He was visibly shaking.
"Go on, attack me." She insisted.
The avenger jumped back and tried to reach one of the many branches, but his left leg did not respond and he fell down. He tried to stand up but the woman was already on him.
He desperately tried to throw a barrage of shuriken, but she melted into the ground like water. Then, she emerged once again.
As soon as he locked glances with her, the images of his defeated, perhaps dead, comrades flashed through his mind constantly for a solid four minutes. He screamed and grabbed his head, unable to do anything.
The woman finally ended the illusion. She carefully stared down at the boy, who was gasping for air and lying defeated on the ground.
"Underwhelming." Was all she said before wrapping her tongue around the boy's neck. "I expected a lot more from the heir of the Uchiha clan. What happened to you?"
Sasuke tried to remove the tongue from his neck, but he was too tired and weak to successfully do so.
"Perhaps, if you pass this final test, you might still be of use to me."
She let the boy go, and he fell on his knees. His legs were greatly hurt, which meant he was not able to run away or attempt anything.
The woman stretched her neck just like she did her tongue, and moved around the boy's head. Once she saw the back of his neck, she opened her mouth and bit him there.
The bite itself was not especially painful, but what came later was worthy of being called hell. A small black mark formed in place of the bite mark, and the woman's neck returned to normal.
"Hopefully, we meet again soon, Sasuke."
The boy began to scream, harder and harder. The pain that was overcoming his body was inhumane, and the mark quickly adopted the form of three tomoe.
The woman melted into the ground as her mission had been completed there. However, something bothered her regardless. Someone had ruined the vessel. The heir of the Uchiha was not only limited by the obvious injuries in his legs, but his confidence had been crushed so much that he had been unable to properly react throughout the battle.
He would have one last chance, one last test. To survive the cursed mark.