I'm Fine.
Naru whimpered in pain as she struggled to sit up, her chest heaving for air, tremors racked through her body increasing the pain she was already in, most of it located in her lower region and legs. She wiped her face of tears, snot, and blood.
"Wh..wh.." She struggled and failed to get out, she looked to the surrounding area of the dark forest, she was alone, and she was terrified. She wanted nothing more than to cry, to curl up in a ball and cry and cry until her tears dried up into nothing until she dried up into nothing. Maybe if she closed her eyes tight enough she would find this was all a nightmare, that Kaka-sensei would knock on her window with a D-rank mission and then ramen for lunch which of course he would try to skip out on the bill.
"I'd clean up if I were you, best not to let yourself be seen like this." She whimpered in fear again, turning slowly to the nightmare behind her, the intimidating man behind her who hurt her in a way she never thought possible.
He walked forward, she let out a raspy scream kicking back in the dirt not moving far, he grabbed her bare ankle stopping her and crouched above her and grabbed her orange pants that lay next to her, and laid them across her lap, and stared at her face, his golden eyes holding delightment in the fear that was evident on her.
"I look forward to the results little one, be a good little girl and let it play out, I ensure it will take effect, but as a fair warning don't do anything to my vessel." He grinned a sharp-toothed smile before producing a heaven scroll from his pouch laying it on the top of her pants before vanishing.
Her jaw quivered before she let out a louder cry heaving for air before she began hitting her head unable to stop seeing the scene over and over play out, her stomach churned as she looked down at her body, the bruises on her legs, the tattered remains of her underwear lay by her ankles, her jacket unzipped and her undershirt pushed up. He was right, she couldn't let anyone see her like this, what would they say? What would they do to her? She whimpered as she pulled her jacket off fixing her undershirt and touched her stomach which ached at the touch. Why did this happen to her?
She stood up before quickly falling back to the earth, she bit out a curse wiggled her orange pants up her legs, and willed her legs to work and ignore the pain. Wrapping the jacket around her waist and tied it tight and turned towards the tree whose roots were arched high where her teammates lay unconscious. They put up a fight, a weak one compared to that thing, but they tried. Slow-drying blood stained their heads from the quick sneak attack that stopped their fighting and it left her alone to fend them off.
She gently grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, shaking him repeatedly until he came awake with a gasp, his kunai ready and poised to strike, his Sharingan eyes shining in anger and maybe a tinge of fear.
"It's okay, they- he left." She comforted him, he looked at her closely, it made her squirm, did he know? Had he seen the vile act that took place just now? No, it wasn't possible.
"How did he-? I mean did you-?" He stuttered questions.
"Yeah, ya know me, number one unpredictable ninja." She laughed scratching at the back of her neck. "Let's wake Sakura up and get the hell out of here huh?"
"We need the scroll. Oh no, did he take our scroll?!" He questioned in a panic scrambling towards the packs.
Naru gave a small whistle holding the scroll in front of her making sure they remained out of sight from any peering eyes in the forest around.
"Nice one!" He chuckled, Naru nodded, a large grin plastered on her face before she began to wake her other teammate who came awake with her own cry of fear before they briefly explained the situation to her. "If we leave now and travel slow we should make it by sunrise, or we can rest, Naru if you-"
"I'm fine!" She blurted out and struggled to her feet giving a small stumble before straightening again.
"You battled that freak longer than us, shouldn't you-"
"I said I'm fine Sakura, let's get to the tower and get out of this hellhole okay?" She partially pleaded with her teammates.
Quickly the trio headed through the forest under the cover of night, Naru trailed in the back desperately trying to ignore the flashbacks and the pain in her body, she let out a quiet whimper before she turned halfway and promptly threw up before collapsing to her knees letting out a small cry.
"Are you okay?" Sakura questioned, she sniffled, nodding quickly trying to stand and failing miserably.
"I guess… I guess I'm hurt from the fight, I just can't stand up." She whispered. "Just give me a minute and I'll get up." She chuckled, gripping the grass tight and pulling it from the ground, a tremor traveled her spine, and she quickly became aware of the missing clothing that was hidden in her pocket, his voice hissed in her ear making her cry out in fear and start crying covering her face quickly.
"Naru, what's going on?" Sasuke questioned.
"I'm … sca- I'm fine, gotta stop being lazy!" She sniffled, wiping the tears away, and struggled to stand up before Sasuke draped her arm over his shoulders propping her up and Sakura followed on her other side.
"It's a team test, so we'll finish this stretch together." Sakura smiled, Naru nodded her head and walked with them to the tower.
"The tower is right there, but it's going to be a sprint to the doors, no doubt traps are going to be set and people are watching," Sasuke whispered.
"Maybe if we create a distraction we can get there, if you can't run Naru maybe you go first and we'll distract -"
"No, let's just run for it. I'll be fine." She insisted, "But let's use a smokescreen just in case." She rummaged in her pouch revealing a handful of smoke bombs and throwing them in the clearing watching thick smoke fill the area before they rushed forward into it.
Naru whimpered quietly in pain falling to the ground as a sharp throbbing ricocheted through her hips and back. "Dammit." She whispered, pushing up before two hands grabbed and hauled her up. "Thank y-Ahh" She yelped as she looked up to see the second face of her nightmares, a grin on his face as he adjusted the large spectacles on his face. "N… n… No." She whimpered pushing at his hands on her once again, his grip intensified as he ushered her forward through the smoke.
"Orochimaru-sama assigned me to make sure his vessel arrives unharmed, the amount of traps you three would have fallen for is outstanding." He whispered in her ear, it made her want to throw up again.
"Naru!" Sakura called out through the smoke, Kabuto gave a harsh shove to her shoulders making her stumble until she hit the building between Sasuke and Sakura in a complete daze of fear.
"Let's go," Sasuke said, pulling her up as clangs of metal sounded in the smoke and screams of pain.
"What's going on?" Sakura questioned as Sasuke pulled Naru inside before pushing the doors shut once they were inside.
"We made it." He huffed sliding down the wall with a huff.
"Should we open the scrolls? Anko said to wait until we were here." Sakura mumbled looking around the large room in the limited lighting.
"Yeah." Sasuke huffed standing up and looking at Naru who sat still staring at the doors, a small tremor ever so slightly visible.
Both opened the scrolls before smoke began to hiss and the papers swelled, Sasuke threw his scroll followed by Sakura as smoke exploded in the room and some lights came on revealing a familiar chunin standing there with a proud grin on his face.
"Been a while kids." He commented.
"Iruka-sensei, why are you appearing from a scroll?" Sakura questioned, Naru turned at the mention of his name.
"I'm here to deliver the message of this test, I was eager to give the message to you all."
"How'd you know we'd make it?" Sasuke questioned.
"Well, Kakashi-san had faith in you, and I do too. Now let's talk about this test and then we'll get you a bed to rest in."
As Iruka passed the message about the aspect of heaven and earth lessons, he beckoned for them to follow, noticing Naru's limited movements.
"Are you okay?" He questioned, she smiled at him with a nod limping slightly.
"Sore."
"I can carry you." He offered nearly touching her hip, she yelped jumping away from him before looking down.
"Sorry, I'm hurting a lot sensei, but I'm fine, I can make it!" She chuckled awkwardly, she pushed past hobbling along as Iruka led them through the halls into a room with three beds and an adjacent door.
"Bathroom there, supplies are located downstairs by the cafeteria along with some snacks before breakfast at 6. Kakashi should come to visit soon. If you need anything, let us know." He said before departing with a smile.
"I'm going to get some supplies and snacks," Sakura said standing, Sasuke nodded his head, Naru headed to the bathroom walked in without a word shut the door locked it, and stood in front of the sink mirror. She stared at her reflection, the subtle bruise on her head, mud in her hair, and staining her clothes.
Slowly stripped her clothes and turned the shower on first, letting the warm water wash the dirt off her body and out of her hair until it ran clear before running the bath. She sat slowly in silence staring at the ivory walls, the faucet dripped water every ten seconds, and she could hear her teammates muffled talking on the other side of the door. Sliding down until she slid under the water closed her eyes and dug her nails into her palms.
"Sasuke! Sakura!" Naru yelped as she caught the movement of the sneak attack that knocked both of her teammates unconscious.
Before she could react he was in front of her and slammed his fist into her stomach causing her to collapse to the ground heaving for air.
"Do the honor of stopping her fight Kabuto, it'll be much easier." He hissed as the young boy who was nice not a day ago looked at her with malice and sick pleasure. With glowing chakra he grabbed her shoulders and neck causing her to lose tension in her body, she was just a puppet to their plans, her jaw quivering at the thought of dying. As a ninja, it was expected, but she had never expected it to be this soon.
"Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, one of the last public Uzumaki's, daughter of the Yondaime and house to quite a bit of special and rare chakra, you're more of a prize than even the Sharingan." The man hissed crouching in front of her. "But, I do still need that dojutsu, and if legend serves combining powerful bloodlines and chakra natures a near-perfect vessel can be created." He lowered his voice, his hand landed on her hip, and yanked her forward, she let out a strangled cry, the realization of what was actually happening, she prayed for Kami himself to strike her down then and there.
"Orochimaru-sama, let's make this quick, the fight was sure to bring onlookers," Kabuto warned as he watched his master unravel his plans, the young girl was terrified, and rightly so.
"Right here will be the start of your future and mine." He whispered to the girl raising her shirt revealing her stomach and touching her skin right where her womb would be.
"N...no..NOOO!" She screamed in fear, her eyes darting back and forth as she began to hyperventilate between them.
"Naru?" Sasuke's muffled voice sounded pulling from the past to the present, her lungs burning for air as she came to and shot up with a quiet gasp heaving for air. "Naru?" He questioned with a knock.
"Y..yeah." She struggled out, trying to not sound like she hadn't been near-drowning in the bathtub.
"Kakashi's here, he wants to check on all of us, you've been in there for a while." He said with hesitation in his voice.
"Coming." She managed to stand draining the tub and drying off, pausing again at her reflection and whimpering. "You're okay Naru, you're okay. It's a slim chance, you're fine!" She whispered, opting to not put her orange jacket back on, she balled the ripped underwear up tight and wrapped it in toilet paper intent on destroying it the second she could but for now, she stashed it in her jacket, she paused at the small bottles of soap and quickly rubbed it on her skin knowing all too well the skills of her sensei, one being his highly trained sense of smell, the last thing she needed was for him to confront her, she couldn't face him. What would he say? What would he do? It was impossible to know, he had been there for her a few times when she came to him, but that was for knowledge, for training. It wasn't a 'hey I just went through assault and I need big-time help' kind of thing.
She emerged from the bathroom to find Kakashi perched on the empty bed that would be hers and her teammates on the other beds eating food, she sat down on the bench by the window pulling her legs up to her chest, and sighed quietly.
"Naru?" Kakashi questioned, she looked at him and tried to smile but feared if it was more of a grimace.
"Hi sensei, looks like we did it huh?" She chuckled, not missing the scrunch on his eyebrow as he looked at her closely. She wasn't herself, he knew something, he was going to say something. "Neh any ramen here? I need some ramen after all this dattebayo!" She chirped, throwing her toothy grin towards him, and watched as he relaxed.
"I heard you had a tough fight." He commented and she struggled to not react the wrong way.
"Nah! I mean, yeah he was tough, but I got him to leave! I'm fine!"
"I'm proud of how fast you finished."
"It wouldn't have happened if Naru didn't manage to steal the scroll from that guy," Sasuke commented, Kakashi nodded his head looking at her again as she picked at her nails.
"Well, now you get to rest and relax, there are still three more days left now, so get some rest and we'll regroup later." He said.
"Goodnight sensei." Sakura yawned, falling back to her bed after moving the food, Sasuke followed with a sigh.
Kakashi stood up looking once again at Naru who stared out the window. "Naru, if you need to talk to me or if something happened-" Kakashi started in a low tone.
"Neh, why do you say that sensei? I'm fine!" She hunched as he looked at her closer than before. "I'm just tired. Never thought a test could be this stinkin' hard!" She laughed standing up quickly and wincing in pain before jumping on her bed bouncing and burying herself in the blankets hearing his chuckle before he slid the blinds shut and walked out of the room.
'I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm so not fine!' She whimpered in her head, closing her eyes tight and holding in the tears she so desperately wanted to let explode from her throat knowing very well she was the farthest away from fine she had ever been in her 13 years.