About halfway in the forest a sudden scream pierced through the air. Naruto, Yuri, Sakura and Sasuke stopped, wondering where it had come from.
"W-Was that a human scream?" Sakura asked nervously.
"Looks like the forest got someone...or another team got them." Yuri said then she turned to Sasuke, holding out the scroll.
"Here's the scroll. I'm going to scout out ahead." Yuri told them.
"Wait! We need to stick together!" Sakura shouted.
"It'll be faster to know where other teams are." Yuri told her. "Oh, and while we're out here. I think that we should have a code word."
"Code word?" Naruto asked.
"Well, there are other shinobi lurking around. They can pretend to be one of us. We need something to know if we're really who we say we are." Yuri explained.
"It needs to be something short and simple." Sakura spoke. Naruto hummed to himself, thinking, until Yuri spoke.
"Tokage."
"To-kage?" Naruto blinked confused.
"Sounds good enough." Sasuke replied.
"Okay, I'm heading out. I'll be back in five minutes. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone." Yuri smiled to them, and she left, hopping through the trees.
As Yuri was hopping through the trees another scream pierced the air, making her stop. Some more poor unfortunate souls fell victim to the forest. Suddenly, something lunged out at Yuri through the leaves. Yuri quickly moved and threw a kunai, stabbing a jumping leech through the bark. Then a few more rushed at her as the leeches fell from the treetops. Yuri quickly dodged and threw her weapons at the leeches, killing them. It was not good to stay in one place for so long. She needed to keep moving.
Then Yuri's eyes widen when she saw some familiar faces and quickly landed on a branch and hid in some leaves. Below her, it was Gaara, Temari and Kankuro and they were facing against three rain ninjas. Then she saw Shikamaru, Choji and Ino a little further away, hiding behind some bushes.
"Damn, Sand brat, challenging head on like this." one of the mist ninjas glared at Gaara.
"You'll die." The rain ninja, smirked, that Gaara had challenged to fight with.
"Enough talking. Let's do it, old man from the hidden rain." Gaara spoke.
"Gaara, maybe we should ask them what scroll they have first?" Kankuro suggested. "If we both have the same scroll then there's no need to fight."
"That doesn't matter." Gaara said. "This guy looked at me funny. So he must die."
The rain ninja quickly pulled out some umbrellas, spinning them. "Then hurry up and do it! Here I come!" He growled. He threw the umbrellas into the air and they floated above Gaara. The rain ninja smirked and performed a hand sign. "Die, brat!"
Senbon needles came raining down, straight at Gaara. The man laughed.
"There's no escape from this jutsu! All the needles are controlled by my chakra to strike their prey!" All at once, the needles crashed into Gaara. Yuri's eyes widen a little in concern. Then her eyes widen in shock at what she saw. Gaara was encased in a ball of sand as it protected him from the flying weapons. None had pierced him as it couldn't get through his sand defense.
"Is that it?" Gaara spoke, with his arms crossed. The three rain ninjas stared in disbelief and in shock.
"The sand is packed into the gourd with chakra, it protects his body and the surrounding area. A jutsu only allowed by Gaara. It moves against Gaara's will. It's his ultimate defense." Kankuro spoke.
"N-No way. None of the hit. That's impossible." He trembled a little in fear and fired some more needles at Gaara. Gaara used his sand and it moved, blocking the needles from reaching him.
"A rain of needles, huh?" A dark smirk appeared on Gaara's face. "Then I guess I'll make rain blood."
"You can not defeat Gaara." Kankuro told the three ninjas.
"S-shut up!" the shinobi shouted and he charged at Gaara. Gaara placed his hands together performing a hand sign.
"Sand Coffin!" He used his hand to make it wrap around the ninja, trapping him inside the sand. Then the sand started to lift up into the air.
"L-Let me go!" The shinobi screamed in fear.
"Shut up. I can cover your mouth and kill you, but that's too pitiful." Gaara spoke, coldly, and picked up one of the umbrellas lying on the ground. Then he raised his hand and clenched it. "Sand burial!"
The entire sand crushed the ninja, killing him. His blood splattered all over the area as it rain down. "There was no suffering. I killed him so quickly he didn't have time to feel it. The other two rain ninjas screamed as they backed away from Gaara. One of them pulled out their heaven scroll, setting on the ground.
"Here, take it. Please let us go." He pleaded. Gaara raised his hand again and the two ninjas were trapped in the sand as well.
"Bye bye." Temari smiled and waved. The two ninjas screamed as they were crushed to death by Gaara's sand.
Yuri covered her mouth as she watched in horror. This was definitely not the Gaara she met back then. She gulped then hopped down from the tree when Kankuro picked up the Heaven scroll.
"How could you do that?" She whispered, softly.
"Yuri!" Temari's eyes widen in horror, seeing her. While Kankuro was surprised to see her. Gaara didn't look at her and had his back turned to her. Yuri gritted her teeth, getting a little angrier and started to walk over. Temari grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"You need to go, now!" She whispered, urgently.
"How could you kill them like that?!" She demanded. "They were pleading for you to spare them!"
"Hey, it's their own fault for challenging Gaara." Kankuro smirked at her. Yuri shot him a glare.
"That doesn't make it right! Have you no heart at all!?" She shouted, furiously.
"Shut up." Gaara spoke before he turned to her, slowly. Yuri's eyes widen when she saw the blood lust in his eyes. Temari gave her a pleading look.
"Yuri, please leave." She told her, softly. Yuri turned to her before glancing over at Gaara one last time and she quickly left. She wiped her eyes from the tears that were trying to fall.
As Yuri was heading back to meet with her team, she stopped on a tree branch when she saw something. Her eyes widen in shock to see a large snake, sitting in the middle of the forest. "Wow, that's a big snake!"
"Hey! Let me out!" Yuri heard a familiar voice shouting from inside the snake. Yuri hopped down, landing on top of the creature. She pressed her ear against the snake's body, confused.
"Naruto? Is that you in there?"
"Yuri! Get me out!" she heard him shouted. The snake lunged at Yuri about to chomp down on her. Yuri quickly moved out of the way, landing in front of it. Then she charged when the snake lunged at her once more.
"Cough him up!" Yuri punched the giant snake hard, making it spit out Naruto. Naruto flopped to the ground, covered in slime and spit. He got up, wiping off his face, disgusted.
"Man, that's gross!" Naruto then glared at the snake and performed a hand sign. "Mine turn! Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" He summoned many clones and all of them charged at the snake, beating it, relentlessly. The snake fell to the ground with a thud, knocked out cold.
"Come on! We need to Sakura and Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.
"So, what happened?" Yuri asked him.
"I didn't get to see who it was. I had my back turned while was trying to use the bathroom." He told her as he led Yuri back.
"Did you find anyone?" Naruto asked her. Yuri frowned.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asked her when he saw that she was tense. In fact, he noticed that she had been a little angry.
"No. It's not important." She told him. Naruto stared at her in concern.
"What the heck happened back there?!" Naruto wondered to himself.
The two quickly headed back to where Sasuke and Sakura was. Naruto and Yuri landed on a branch and Naruto quickly threw some shurikens at someone as they darting fast towards Sasuke. They stopped in their tracks, turning towards Naruto and Yuri, glaring at them. Yuri saw the attacker to see that it was a Grass ninja, the long-haired man with the freaky tongue from earlier.
"The code word is Tokage!" Yuri smiled, reassuring Sasuke and Sakura they were them.
"Great work, Naruto!" Sakura shouted.
"Guys, be careful! This one's on a whole 'nother level!" Sasuke warned. The man laughed, creepily.
"Looks like you defeated the giant snake, Naruto-kun. And who's your little friend?"
Yuri shivered. She was getting weird vibes from this guy. There was something off about him. His appearance and mannerisms were like a snake. Naruto frowned, getting creeped out as well.
"So you like picking on the weak, do ya?!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke stood up, holding out the Heaven scroll to the man.
"I will give you the scroll. Please...just take and leave us." He said. Yuri's eyes widened.
"Sasuke! What the hell are you doing?!" She exclaimed. Naruto was shocked as well.
"Yeah! What are you talking about?! Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?!" He shouted. The Grass ninja smirked.
"Very smart. The only way for a prey to escape the predator is to give the predator a different meal."
"Just take it." Sasuke threw the scroll at the shinobi. Yuri's eyes widened and she quickly darted forward, grabbing it before it reached the Grass Ninja. Naruto landed down beside her.
"What are you doing?! Do you understand our situation!?" Sasuke shouted, angrily at them. Naruto turned around and punched Sasuke in the face.
"What was that for?!" Sasuke shouted.
"The real Sasuke wouldn't give up so easily." Yuri frowned at him.
"You moron! I am the real Sasuke!" Sasuke shouted, furiously.
"Liar." Naruto spoke. "THERE'S NO WAY A STUPID COWARD LIKE YOU IS THE SASUKE I KNOW!"
"You don't know what you're getting into!" Sasuke shouted.
"And you're just going to hand the scroll over to him? What makes you so sure he'll leave us alone?" Yuri spoke.
"Yuri-chan..." Yuri's eyes widened, hearing the man's voice and she turned towards him to see him have a creepy smirk on his face. "You are correct. I could just kill you and take the scroll."
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted and charged at the man.
"No! Run away, Naruto!" Sasuke cried out.
"Summoning jutsu!" The man quickly performed a hand sign and a giant snake poofed as it appeared. The man rode on top of it. The snake slammed Naruto against a tree.
"Naruto!" Yuri shouted. When Naruto began to fall, the snake slammed it's tail down, sending Naruto crashing to the ground. The Grass ninja laughed.
"Go ahead. You can eat him." He told the snake. Yuri gritted her teeth then performed the same hand sign the man did to summon the snake. But nothing happened. Her eyes widened. "What?!"
The man turned to her with a smirk. "You're wondering why it didn't work, right? You're not under its contract. Therefore, you can't perform the jutsu." He told her. Yuri, glared at him, wondering what he meant by contract.
"EAT SHIT!" Naruto roared as he kicked the snake back when it tried to eat him. Yuri's eyes widen when she saw that Naruto's eyes had changed. They were red now. It must be the tailed best inside of him! The man blew a cloud of smoke at Naruto, knocking him back. Then the man turned, making the snake charge at Yuri and Sasuke.
"What will you two do now?" He smirked.
"Sasuke! Yuri!" Sakura cried out. Sasuke stood frozen to his spot with his sharingan still activated. He was paralyzed in fear. Yuri glared at the Grass ninja and quickly performed another hand sign.
"Water Syle! WATER DRAGON JUTSU!" Two large dragons made of water with glowing yellow eyes appeared, charging at the man. The dragons tried to hold back the snake as it crashed against it. The man smirked, looking at Yuri.
"That's a highly advanced jutsu for such a young genin like you." He spoke. Yuri narrowed her eyes at him.
"And you're not an ordinary ninja yourself, are you?" She frowned. The man laughed.
"This is why, I must have you!" He shouted. The snake broke through the water dragons, heading towards Yuri and Sasuke. Yuri's eyes widen and she quickly turned to Sasuke, who was still frozen.
"Sasuke! Why have to move!" She shouted. Just as the snake was about to slam into them, Naruto quickly appeared in front of them, blocking the snake from reaching them.
"Are you alright, scaredy cat?" He smirked at Sasuke.