Chapter 12: Forest of Death part II
"Looks like I came just in time." she said and shifted her foot and sighed.
"Naru!" Sakura cheered in relief, Sasuke panted and looked between the two in shock.
"Naru-chan, I see you were able to escape my snake..." the woman said with a chuckle, Naru glared at her. 'So the snake eating me was no accident...' she thought and jumped down to a branch closer to the others.
"I don't know who the hell you are, but you better back off or else!" Naru snarled.
'What!? Naru can't handle this woman, we won't win, what should I do!?' Sasuke thought panicking, he sighed and closed his eyes.
"You can have it!" he said, they looked at the Uchiha. "The scroll right?!" he said pulling it out, Naru grunted. "Here! Take it and leave us!" he said and threw it in the air, Naru bumped Mamoru, he flipped in air and grabbed it before the woman grabbed it and he shot back to Naru and she took it.
"Are you kidding me Sasuke!?" "Just stay out of it loser!" he snarled. "You don't get it!" he said, Naru launched at him and punched him in the jaw, he stumbled and fell holding his throbbing jaw.
"Naru!" Sakura snarled.
"Are you really Sasuke?" she asked, he looked at her shocked.
"What are you talking about loser?!" he snarled.
"The Sasuke I know wouldn't give up like this." she said, he looked at her shocked. "Now let's team up and take this woman down." she said punching her hand into her palm with a smirk.
"It doesn't matter anyways, as far as the scroll goes, I can just kill you and take it anyways." she said, Naru growled.
"Let's see you try it!" she said and flung kunai towards the woman's location. She dodged them and got up and pulled her sleeve up revealing black markings on her arm.
"What is that?" Sasuke asked.
"It's a summoning tattoo…" Mamoru said, the woman bit her finger and smeared her blood on the seal and a huge snake appeared, they looked at it in horror, Naru gulped they shot in different directions as it smashed down on the tree limb, Naru skidded in place and growled, Mamoru watched her eyes slowly bleed red, he nodded a little and brought his chakra up into his own body.
Both launched out, Naru followed Mamoru a little, the woman looked at them as they launched out and spun around, Naru landed on a tree and the woman looked at her strange, Mamoru roared and she spun around and just barely dodged Mamoru's extended claws thanks to his chakra, Mamoru growled as he missed and skidded on the tree and panted, the woman chuckled and looked towards Naru and shot a fireball out towards her.
"NARU!" Mamoru snarled, she pulled her fan out and swung it, the fire shot back and hit the woman and the snake making them both shake in pain and thrash, Naru cried out as the tail of the snake came and smacked into her, she fell from the branch and Mamoru followed and grabbed her shirt and hauled her up on the tree, she panted and coughed trying to regain her lost air.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Mamoru." she said and smiled at him.
"Can you see?" he asked.
"No... but just lightly tapping into his chakra my chakra waves and signals are lengthened…" she said and panted.
"What about you Sasuke?" the woman said, Naru looked up at the voice, Sasuke cried out in shock, Naru moved quickly following Sasuke's chakra, Mamoru stuttered and launched after her.
The snake shot forward towards Sasuke who was completely frozen in shock and fear, the snake got closer and Sasuke closed his eyes tight covering his face, he blinked as he felt someone drop down in front of him, he looked at Naru, she pulled her fan out and swung it with a yell, the snake shot back from the gust of air, it hit the tree and slunk a little, Naru panted shaking and dropped to her knees, Mamoru ran to her and licked her cheek. "Don't use anymore chakra..." he said, she panted and shook in pain.
"Are you okay?" she asked, Sasuke looked at her in shock.
"H...h...how di.. did you –?" he stuttered, she chuckled and got up slowly.
"Awesome Naru!" Sakura said, she smirked and put her fan away, she cried out in shock the woman's tongue shot out and wrapped around her and lifted her up and brought her closer.
"NARU!" Mamoru growled.
"Let me go you freak!" Naru said and chuckled, she chuckled as Naru kicked and struggled but couldn't do anything.
"You must have had an interesting life as the Kyuubi holder." she said, Naru stiffened. "You have excellent control of your jutsu's and wind nature..." she said and chuckled. "You're one of those rare gems, the kind usually I am interested in, but actually there is something much more interesting than you..." she said and the tip on her tongue lifted up Naru's shirt revealing the Kyuubi seal on her stomach, Naru growled and yelled, Mamoru roared and launched, the woman dodged and landed and harsh kick to his chest sending him flying through a couple tree branches, Naru cried out and struggled as the woman reached into her pouch and pulled out the heaven scroll stashing it in her belt.
The woman held her hand out and let chakra glow on each finger.
"NARU!" Sakura yelled.
"Five prong seal!" the woman yelled and hit Naru's seal with the glowing fingers, Naru screamed and cried out in pain, she gasped shaking as her eyes shifted from red to the blue and she slumped, succumbing to unconsciousness. The woman chuckled and flung Naru's limp body away.
"NARU!" Sakura cried out, Mamoru appeared next to her and grabbed Naru and continued to jump on the momentum of his chakra.
"Sasuke-kun! Why are you freezing!?" Sakura said through tears. "Why are you being a coward?!" she screamed, Sasuke closed his eyes and panted.
"Foolish little brother, you can't kill me, your hate's not strong enough, you're not strong enough, your life is too precious to you, so run, that's right, run away and live, live with the shame." a voice echoed in his mind, he growled. 'NO! He thought and opened his eyes, they were shining red with his sharingan.' He glared at the woman.
"Ah... The sharingan..." the woman said and chuckled. "Wonderful..." she said and licked her lips, Sakura smiled.
"That's more like It." she said.
'I think I'll play with him some more and learn his true strength and power.' the woman thought and chuckled and let the snake disappear. Sakura cried out from the smoke and wind, the woman stood on a branch and Sasuke stared at her.
'All I cared about was surviving to defeat my brother.' Sasuke thought and pulled out a kunai and gripped it in his teeth. "I have been a fool... I can see the truth now... Sakura, Naru, if I don't have the courage to face this demon, how can I ever hope to face him!" He said and ran forward, the woman shot a gust of air out towards him but Sasuke jumped in the air and threw kunai out towards her, she smirked and dodged them easily, Sasuke roared and kicked off a tree launching at her, he punched and kicked at her, but she blocked with her arms.
Both launched at one another punching and kicked, dodging the blows, Sasuke grunted and groaned in frustration at not being able to hit her once.
The woman launched above him and landed behind him, he turned but looked around quickly as she disappeared, moving at a high speed that he was just barely able to follow thanks to the sharingan. 'I can see you! I can dodge you!' He dodged her attack and shot a series of small fireballs towards her, which she stretched her body out like before, just like a snake.
He took in another breath and shot a large gust of fire out from his mouth and it surrounded the woman spinning around almost like a cyclone, she flinched slightly from the heat and movement, it cleared and she shot forward and almost sliced at Sasuke, he jumped in the just in time and stumbled backwards, he sighed and got ready.
'He's good. He anticipate my attacks and his aim is true.' the woman thought. "You can see my moves can't you?"
Mamoru panted and jumped back down next to Sakura making her yelp, he had Naru laying on his back, she was unconscious still.
"Is she okay?" "I don't know" he said somberly. "What's going on?" he questioned.
"Sasuke-kun is fighting that grass woman still." Sakura said with a smile that her crush was fighting hard.
'He won't win, this woman is different, her scent, it's strange...' Mamoru thought.
-*o*-
Anko launched through the trees quickly, the sun was slowly setting, she stopped at a branch. 'Sun's going down, I gotta find him soon, my odds are bad enough as it is, they'll only get worse in the dark...' she thought with a frown. 'But why now!? What the devil could he be after?! No matter, he's here, time to finish this.' She thought and launched forward again with more determination.
-*o*-
The woman spun around with a yell and shot another gust of wind towards Sasuke, he launched up and the wind smashed into a tree branch breaking it in half, Sasuke kicked off from a top branch, the woman gasped in shock as Sasuke grabbed her and spun her around, he wrapped his legs around her chest and both slammed into a lower branch, the woman's head taking the impact breaking the tree from the force, her hands twitched a little but fell limp, Sasuke let go and stumbled back and panted, he looked at the woman's head shake and a smile form on her face, then her body turned to pure mud, he cried out in anger. "A substitution!" he said and grunted as he was cut in the cheek by a series of kunai thrown, he jumped and fell backwards, he jerked wires out and used them to fling his body around a tree and land down, he looked around then cried out as she appeared in front of him and punched him in the nose, she used her shoulder to hit him back and punched him once more and kneed him in the stomach, Sasuke hit the tree and slumped.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried.
The woman walked up to him. "What a disappointment, your ancestors are weeping in shame, the Uchiha clan should thank me for killing you." she said and pulled out a kunai. "Now DIE!" she yelled, but cried out as an explosion, from small bombs attached to her shirt, caused her to fall forward, Sasuke jumped up and kicked off the tree, he threw a handful of kunai with wires attached, he landed on a branch and pulled the wires with his hands and teeth, the shuriken jerked back and circling back around.
'Incredible! A sharingan triple windmill attack!' She thought in shock watching, the wires sliced into the tree a little then circled her and slammed her back into the tree making her grunt, the wires continued to wrap around her pinning her there, Sasuke smirked and took in a breath and formed the seals : Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger:
'Katon: Ryuka no jutsu!' He yelled in his mind.
Fire shot out in a large ball and traveled along the wires straight to the woman and lit her on fire, her scream echoed, Sakura gasped in shock and happiness, Mamoru watched in shock. "He did it!" Sakura said.
'Whoa...' he thought.
The fire went out and the woman slumped down, Sasuke panted in pain and slumped, both Sakura and Mamoru launched down to him.
"Sasuke-kun! You did it! Are you okay? Don't worry it's all over." Sakura said and touched his arm as he panted in exhaustion.
The woman walked away breaking the wires and focused, both cried out and froze then Sakura dropped to her knees, Mamoru growled but couldn't move much either.
"No! Impossible!" Sasuke said standing but still shaking, Sakura looked.
"Such mastery of the sharingan at such a young age." the woman said but her voice changed to a man's voice. "You're a true Uchiha after all." he said and chuckled. "Yes, you'll do nicely.." he said and chuckled, the skin was torn up and peeling off the 'woman's' face revealing gray skin with purple and black marking over the eye.
Sasuke screamed in frustration when his body wouldn't respond to commands to move.
"You are defiantly his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener then Itachi's." he said, Sasuke looked at him in shock.
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He screamed.
The 'woman' pulled out their heaven scroll and held it out.
"My name is Orochimaru … and as for what I want, well that will have to wait until we meet again, which won't happen until you finish this test with the best score possible." he said and the scroll burst into green flames.
"The scroll!" Sakura cried out.
"First you'll have to defeat the hidden sound ninja that serve Me." he said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about! But if you're finished why don't you just beat it! If we don't ever meet again it'll be too soon!" Sakura said gritting her teeth.
"Oh, he and I will meet again, count on it." he said and chuckled and made a hand sign, his head shot up with his neck and shot out straight to Sasuke and bit down on his neck, Sasuke cried out in pain.
"Sasuke no!" Sakura cried out.
Orochimaru pulled away and pulled back to the body, a mark appeared on Sasuke's neck that looked like three sharingan Coma's in a circle.
He groaned gripping his neck and groaned though gritted teeth.
"Sasuke! You! What did you do to Sasuke!?" Sakura snarled in anger, Mamoru watched.
"I just gave him a parting gift is all." Orochimaru said, Sasuke fell to the ground. "Very soon Sasuke will seek me out for power, in the meantime, I enjoyed the demonstration of the power you have now." he said and began to sink into the tree and disappeared with a chuckle, Sasuke screamed in pain and fell forward gasping and crying in pain, Sakura pulled him into her lap, he screamed again.
"You're going to be okay! Sasuke!" she said as he fell unconscious in her lap, she looked at Mamoru and panted. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" she yelled holding the Uchiha tight crying and looked around the darkening forest.
Mamoru looked at the Uchiha then looked back at Naru and sighed quietly. "Let's go." he said.
"What?" Sakura said through her sniffles.
"We need to get out of here. That fight no doubt attracted some attention." he said.
"We don't have a scroll-" "YOU DO HAVE A LIFE!" he growled, she slunk. "People will start killing before they ask! So move!" he barked, she sniffled and pulled Sasuke up a little. "Put him on my back with Naru." he said, she gently set the Uchiha down next to Naru on Mamoru's back and they jumped from the trees carefully and walked to the river and found a tree that's roots had lifted up high creating the perfect cover for them, Sakura helped pull both unconscious teens from Mamoru's back, she ran to the river and got two washcloth's wet and brought them back setting one of Naru's head and the other on Sasuke's head.
"What do we do?" she asked. "It's only been a few hours, we need to worry about this later." Mamoru said. "Get some rest, I'll watch." he said, Sakura nodded and laid down using her pouch as a pillow and fell asleep, Mamoru laid down next to Naru and licked her cheek a little then sighed putting his head down but kept his guard up all around them.
Sakura woke up in the morning and sighed quietly as she looked at Sasuke who was shaking in pain with a small whimper now and then, chakra was rising up from the mark on his neck.
"Oh Sasuke-kun." she whispered, Mamoru opened his eyes and looked at her then at Naru, he licked her cheek again and sighed, Sakura yawned
"Some lookout, at least you're tired, it'll be easier on our part." she gasped and looked over to see the sound team standing there, she gulped.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Wake Sasuke up so we can fight him."
"Why do you really want?! I know that weird guy is calling the shots from the background! What's this weird mark on Sasuke's neck!?" she asked, they grunted in confusion.
'What in the world is he thinking?!' The boy with wraps all around his head thought.
"I can't keep still after talking to us like that! First I'm gonna beat you then make you watch as I kill Sasuke!" the other said.
"Wait Zaku." the other said as Zaku walked forward.
"Why Dosu!?" he asked.
"It's obvious, this is the color of dirt that's been recently dug up." he said. "If you're going to lay a trap, make sure it's a good one." he said. "Now, we kill her." he said and they launched in the air, Sakura smirked and sliced a rope, they gasped in shock as a large log flew from above. "A trap above too!" Dosu cursed, he held his hand out and Sakura gasped as the log shattered, they jumped down in front of her and she shook, Mamoru stood up and growled lowly, he flexed his muscles ready to pounce in an instant.
"LEAF HURRICANE!" Sakura looked in shock as a green blur hit at the three sound ninja's knocking them all back, and it landed in front of her.
"Lee-kun." she said.
"Sakura." he said with a smile.
"Why are you here?!" she said.
"I said I love you, and I will always appear when you are in any danger." he said.
"But right now I'm your enemy!" she said.
"No, never." he said with a smile. "Now, protect your teammates, I can handle them." Lee said with a smirk.
"Thank you." she said, he smiled on the inside he was cheering.
Dosu let out a small growl and launched forward, Lee punched into the ground and pulled up a large chunk of root and it took Dosu's hit.
"I have seen your tricks, so I know not to just dodge." he said and smirked.
-*o*-
"Lee sure is late, strange, he is usually first here... could he of run into an enemy too much?" Tenten, Lee's partner said.
"Well, it's unlikely, but let's go find him." Neji Hyuuga, Lee's other teammate said.
Tenten nodded and the two shot out and disappeared looking for their missing teammate.
-*o*-
Lee unwrapped the wraps on his arms and looked as Dosu charged again. "To protect the life of someone precious!" he said and focused, Dosu blinked.
He disappeared! He thought just before Lee's foot connected with his jaw sending him in the air, Lee appeared behind him and wrapped Dosu with his wraps and grabbed him spinning him over to he was head first and brought him down.
"No! Dosu, there's no way he can defend himself!" Zaku said and ran through some signs, Lee began to spin with Dosu.
"Take this! PRIMARY LOTUS!" he yelled and brought Dosu down to the ground, just as Zaku slammed his hands into the dirt, Lee and Dosu hit the ground, Sakura shielded her eyes with a cry, Lee jumped back and panted, Dosu laid in the ground his feet up, but dirt was pushed up all around him.
"Got him just in time." Zaku said with a smirk, Lee glared at the scene as Dosu got up shaking his head.
"WHAT!?" Lee said in shock.
"That is a terrifying jutsu..." Dosu said. "You nearly took me out even though I landed on this soft dirt…" Dosu said and turned, he pulled his sleeve up revealing a large metal covering with holes on his arm. "Now it's my turn."
'Oh no, my body hasn't recovered from the jutsu...' Lee thought panting hard.
Dosu launched out and swung his fist, Lee cried out as the wind hit him from the swing, he panted and wavered slightly, his visions was waving.
"Your jutsu is fast, but ours is faster because it travels at the speed of sound." Dosu said, Lee fell to his knees shaking, Sakura watched as they all smirked. "We're going to show you something called the wall." he said and they chuckled, Lee vomited and coughed.
"Lee!" Sakura yelled, Lee grabbed his ear.
"You may be able to dodge my moves, but you can't get away from it, thanks to my gadget." Dosu said with a smirk.
'What trick is this!?' Sakura thought.
"I don't need to hit you with my fists, I can hit you with the power of sound." he said. "What is sound?" "Vibrations." Sakura said.
"Give the little girl a prize." he said and chuckled. "The sound and vibrations travel through the outer ear and inside, it will make your eardrum shake and when it goes in farther, you can damage the inner ear membrane, you'll lose your balance, you won't be moving for a while." he said with a chuckle, Zaku rushed forward, Sakura pulled out a kunai and glared at him, Mamoru stepped up and roared, Zaku cried out as the chakra hit him and slammed into him sending backwards skidding through the dirt.
"Whoa.." Sakura whispered quietly.
-*o*-
"Did you hear that?" Chouji Akimichi asked his two teammates Shikamaru and Ino.
"Yeah, I know that roar..." Shikamaru said. 'What's going on?' He thought and peeked through the bushes, he grunted as he saw the scene, Sakura standing with a kunai, Lee on his knees shaking in pain and Mamoru standing in front of an unconscious Sasuke and Naru.
"Wonder what happened..." Chouji whispered.
Dosu launched quickly towards Sakura who screamed, but he was slammed into by Lee, he flipped and stopped himself.
"What?!" he growled.
Lee ran forward and tried to hit him but couldn't, Dosu swung again and Lee screamed in pain, Mamoru launched forward and swiped at him, the chakra on his claws slicing into Dosu's side, he spun and hit the ground holding his wound.
Sakura got ready to run but cried out in pain and shock as her pink locks were grabbed by Kin, she whimpered in pain.
"My, my, what nice flowing hair, you know, maybe if you spend more time training and less time shampooing, you'd be a better ninja." Kin said with a sneer.
Sakura cried and shook in pain as Kin jerked her hair harshly laughing.
'I'm so weak, all the time, being rescued...' Sakura thought as she tried to get free but it only resulted in her getting her hair jerked harder. 'No more!' She thought and brought the kunai in her hands up.
"What's that supposed to do?!" Kin said and laughed. "It won't work on me." "It's not for you." Sakura said with a smirk and brought it up and sliced through her pink locks, they all stared in shock as she spun around and kicked Kin's legs out from under her and launched up.
Zaku watched carefully and smirked, he shot out a gust of wind out and Sakura hit the ground harshly and gripped her arm that was throbbing in pain.
"I have to..." she whispered and panted.
Kin went after Sakura again continually hitting her in her wounded arm, Mamoru growled as he tried to defend Sasuke and Naru, he panted as his chakra began to diminish a little.
Sakura shook in fear as Kin brought her kunai up to finish her off.
Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji launched out stopping the blow.
"Ino..." "I'm not gonna let you show up and get Sasuke-kun's love!" she said with a smirk, she smiled and nodded.
Shikamaru caught Kin with his shadow possession jutsu and she struggled, Lee fell to the ground barely conscious.
"Doesn't matter!" Zaku said and launched towards Sasuke, Mamoru growled but dodged against Dosu's punches.
"GALE PALM!" Zaku cried out as he went flying through the air and slammed into a tree and slumped, they looked in shock, Mamoru smiled as he looked at Naru standing there shaking.
"Naru." Shikamaru said with a smile.