Glassy Sky (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Snakes and Breaks

Yosuga sat on a tree branch in front of Sasuke with a dull look on her face and her head hanging as Sasuke pulled a kunai out of his leg. He had wounded himself at the last minute to get his body to function properly, before grabbing Yosuga and fleeing. Yosuga had grabbed onto Sakura at the last minute, who sat behind Yosuga, still in a state of shock. She clenched her jaw and her fists. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move. She was weak. Looking up at Sasuke's leg, she wordlessly brought her hand over his wound and her hand started to glow. Sasuke stared at her, his eyes flickering between her hand and her face.

"You know medical ninjutsu?" He sounded shaken up, and tired. Yosuga shrugged.

"Barely." She had read up a bit on it and figured it shouldn't be that hard if she knew the basics. She was wrong.

"What is that supposed to-" His aggravated words were cut off by a huge snake appearing next to them and striking at them. The three separated, jumping away in different directions. As Yosuga landed on a branch and Sakura on another one behind her, she heard Sasuke yell. "Don't come near me!" He panicked, throwing kunai at the snake and killing it. Shivers ran up and down Yosuga's spine as the snake's skin slowly split apart, revealing the woman from before.

"Don't lower your guard, not even for a moment. A prey must always stay tense and try to flee desperately in the presence of a predator." The woman spoke, coming out of the snake. Her body stretched, twisting around the tree, heading for Sasuke. Though, before she could reach him, shuriken embedded themselves in the tree in front of the woman, halting her actions. Yosuga looked to where they came from, spotting a certain orange jumpsuit wearing ninja. A smile crept onto her face as she sighed in relief, glad that he was okay.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I forgot the password." Naruto stood on a branch, grinning.

"Don't worry about that, Naruto!" Yosuga shouted to him. "Just focus on staying alive!"

"Naruto, I know you tried to be cool and intended to rescue us, but don't put your nose in this! Escape!" Sasuke yelled at him. "This thing... She's on a far different level!"

"Seems like you brought that giant snake down brilliantly, Naruto." The woman observed. Yosuga's hand inched toward her weapons pouch. The woman's back was to her, so maybe she could land a hit on her. Maybe she could finish this.

"Hey hey hey! Evidently you've been bullying the weakling! Now that I, Naruto Uzumaki, is here, I'm going to wipe the floor with you!" Naruto grinned. Yosuga pulled a kunai out of her pouch, a lifted it in the air to throw.

"Wait." Yosuga halted her actions at Sasuke's voice. She watched in disbelief as he pulled the scroll out of his pocket. "If it's the scroll you want, I'll give it to you. I'm asking you. Just take this and go."

"Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing!? Why are you giving our scroll to the enemy?" Naruto shouted.

"You, shut up!" Sasuke shouted back at him.

"No, Sasuke don't!" The only thing Yosuga could think of is the punishment she would get if her father found out they forfeited and she didn't become a Chunnin. If she died here, at least she would die fighting and her father might be able to take some pride in that.

"I see... you're sensible. The only thing the prey can hope for from the predator is presenting other food and pray you would be spared, isn't it?" The woman smirked. Sasuke tossed it at her. Yosuga's eyes widened. Though, before the woman could catch it, Naruto grabbed it out of the air, landing on the branch next to Sasuke.

"Naruto, don't interfere with this! Don't you understand the situation?" Sasuke yelled, receiving a punch to the face from Naruto. He fell back, landing on the next branch. "What are you doing all of a sudden!?"

"I don't know the password, so theres no way for me to make sure. But you, you're an impostor, are't you, Sasuke? This, this stupid coward is absolutely not the Sasuke I know! I don't know how strong she is, but how can you be sure that she'll just let us go if we hand over the scroll, huh? You're the one who choked and doesn't understand this situation!" Naruto shouted. The woman laughed at his words.

"Naruto, you're completely correct. The scroll." She rolled up her sleeve, showing a summoning tattoo. "I could just kill you and seize it." She bit her thumb, making it bleed, and swiped it down her tattooed arm. A huge snake appeared in a puff of smoke, and Naruto ran at it, though he was quickly blown back. He was panting heavily as he landed on a branch. "Cute. You're such a cute prey." The woman smiled, and the snake used its tail to strike at Naruto again. The branch under him snapped, and he soared through the air, smashing into multiple branches. When he fell back down, the snake opened it's mouth, ready to eat him.

"Naruto!" Yosuga yelled to him, jumping onto a closer branch. She was going to step in, but at the last minute Naruto opened his eyes and kicked the snake back. After widely punching the snake, Naruto was thrown back, smashing into another branch and this time staying there. Yosuga jumped again, trying to get to Naruto, but was held back by Sasuke when she reached his branch. She glared at him.

"Yosuga, don't interfere!" Sasuke glared back at her. Yosuga narrowed her eyes.

"Or what?" She sneered, snatching her arm away. "Do you plan to simply watch as Naruto gets hurt?" She jumped away, but immediately regretted it as something slimy wrapped around her torso and trapped one of her arms against her body. The snake's tongue.

"Don't think I forgot about you, darling." The woman smirked as the snake's hold on Yosuga tightened. Yosuga's breath quickened as her air supply became even more restricted.

"L-let go!" She uselessly kicked her legs and tried to pry the tongue off with her free arm, but that only resulted in being squeezed tighter. She was starting to get light-headed from the lack of air and her struggling and moving around so much was not helping. She looked around, wondering what the heck Sasuke was doing only to find him paralysed in his spot, staring up at her as she suffocated right in front of him. Yosuga's face contorted into a scowl from her irritation and pain. So he was just going to watch as his teammates were killed? She used her free arm to try to reach towards her weapons pouch, but was only met with the tightening of the snake's hold.

"It's natural for prey to struggle, thinking they can free themselves even when they know that their death is immanent." The woman's words rang in Yosuga's ears as black spots danced in her vision.  Yosuga continued to struggle until she heard a sickening crack in her chest. Though, she not only heard it. After a moment, she felt it too. Yosuga's mouth opened in a silent scream, her eyes wide, not fully registering what happened. Panic settled in her stomach. When she tried to breathe in, small pops resounded from her chest, and agony shook her entire torso. It was then that she screamed in a pitch unknown to her vocal cords as blood pooled in her mouth. It spilt from her lips, and she continued to scream, but that only made it hurt more.

So much more.