Hatake Naruto

49

The first thing Anko was aware of was pain, and this wasn't the usual kind she woke up with a sharp gasp as pain seemed to flair all over her chest. She blinked as there was nothing but darkness but soon shapes took hold. As her eyes adjusted she noticed she was in a cave, she could feel the stone against her back as she was sitting against it. Her legs were numb from being in the same position so she tried to work them but hissed feeling the pain in her chest when she tried to move her body. She tested herself out and she knew she had a few broken ribs and one of her arms was tied to her upper chest with a modified sling. She rolled a shoulder and grunted, it felt like a fractured or broken collar bone, so she wasn't going to move under her own power anytime soon.

She looked around the cave; there was a small light and heat from a small stone circle with embers in it. It gave enough heat without making too much smoke which was a good thing in such a tight area. She saw Naruto and Sasuke was laid out and next to her was Kakashi. She looked down in concern and spoke his name but there was no reaction. She bit her lip as she was worried, he looked a little pale and there was no telling what kind of internal injuries both of them had. She used her free hand to check herself and noticed a bandage wrapped around her torso. She could make out slight first aid on Kakashi as well.

Light footsteps caught her attention and she saw a tired looking Sakura walking in.

"Oh thank god you woke up," Sakura said seeing Anko was awake. "I was so worried."

"How long?" Anko hadn't realized just how dry her throat was and was thankful when Sakura noticed this and gave her some water.

"A full day at least," Sakura said sitting down. "I had to carefully drag you all here, get the supplies and also set up a perimeter."

Anko raised an eyebrow at that, she did all that by herself? It was impressive for a genin of her size to carry two adults. Although as the feeling was getting back she noticed some scrapes on her legs and guess the girl had dragged her part of the way.

"Anko-sensei?" Sakura said softly. "Was that really Orochimaru?"

Anko sighed and nodded, "Yeah it was, I just wish we could have done more to the bastard. Still have no idea what he's really here for."

"Well he said it was testing Sasuke-kun," Sakura told her about how their fight had gone and the things the man had said to them. "I also noticed something on him when I was checking out his injuries. He's got this strange mark on his neck."

Anko jolted at that making her cry out in pain, that had been a stupid move. "Tell me, does it look like a mark I have on the same area?"

Sakura went to look and she was surprised to see a mark similar to what Sasuke had. "Yes it looks almost the same, what is it?"

"A curse mark," Anko said bitterly. "It's something he made up, I don't know why he put it on me but it royally screws with me at times. Hell during that battle it went off and I couldn't move because of the pain, I know there has to be more to it but honestly I don't care. I just wish I could get rid of the damn thing."

Sakura looked worried over at Sasuke and Anko could see the girl's mind was filled with worry and possible reasons why her team mate was targeted. Anko close her eyes feeling light headed, she wanted to stay awake but at this rate she felt like she could pass out again.

"How are the others?" Anko asked trying to get her mind going.

"Naruto hasn't woken up for some reason, I don't know what happened to him but he doesn't have that mark on him."

Anko nodded, it was a good thing that mark would most likely react negatively to the demon locked inside of him.

"But Anko-sensei…something happened to Naruto," she said to him. "He gave off this…killing intent. I never felt anything like it before, it was just so evil but Naruto is like the nicest guy I know. Plus his eyes, they changed."