𝕥𝕨𝕠 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕 ➱ ｎａｒｕｔｏ ｕｚｕｍａｋｉ

𝟏𝟖: 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧: 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭

❝ --we need a password ❞

THE closing of michiru's book gathered their attention. sakura and naruto both startled while sasuke glared daggers at her. his eyes were hard-rimmed and fixed, so much so that it was as if he was no longer able to move his eyeballs, like they'd rusted into place.

"where have you been?"

"that's not of importance right now-- what is, is that we establish that password."

the raven haired boy let out a 'hm' before he picked up on his previous spiel-- only this time the entire squad was in one place.

"okay, listen closely because i only want to say this once-- the question will be when does a ninja strike. and the response is: a ninja waits until the time is right. when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of night-- that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

he looked around the circle as to silently confirm if everyone understood the newly stated verification.

sakura nodded,

naruto stared in confusion,

and michiru remained nonchalant.

the group remained in a moment of silence before it was interrupted by naruto.

"you got one a little.. shorter?"

sasuke sighed, "no, naruto.. that's it."

sakura rolled her eyes as she ridiculed the blonde for not being able to memorize the passage. meanwhile, michiru was deep in thought about the next five days and completing the task of delivering the scrolls to the tower.

there's someone nearby.

"alright then, i'll take the scroll."

naruto stood up, slightly confused at sasuke's request, "wait a minute sasuke, i--"

a needle of some sort emerged from the barrage of forestry, flying centimeters from the uzumaki's face. a familiar rumbling began causing michiru to assume a guarded position in a nearby tree. before she could call out to the others, a giant gust of wind threw them back-- the dust clearing to reveal a team.

serpent tongue and her squad

"alright, you two fan out into the woods and keep your eyes open-- i'll handle this.. alone."

the helpers disappeared in an instant, leaving the long tongued woman to tend to sakura and sasuke. michiru had long masked her chakra-- staying hidden as she observed the opponent. she seemed to be using some sort of genjutsu-- seeing as both ninja had been paralyzed without the nameless moving an inch.

her hat tipped further down as she came closer to the pair, two kunai in hand. she continued to get closer-- until she stopped and sent them flying at the young genin.

michiru knew what had to be done-- what she had to do. her eyes remained shut but she focused on the woman's presence.

come on, focus.. focus!

within a series of movements, the girl launched a kunai at the woman; the metal knocking one knife out of the air, the other met flesh, soft and pudgy, and made a squish as the tip of the blade sank deep enough to make michiru exclaim briefly. the shiny metal had disappeared inside her and the black handle was pushing against her broken skin.

the uzumaki held onto her teammates as she jumped from tree to tree-- distancing themselves from any threat.

"that wound's deep.. will you be alright?--"

sasuke was quick to shield anymore words from coming out of sakura's mouth. while the pair seemed to stand guard, michiru attempted some medical jutsu on herself but stopped at the sound of sakura's whimpers.

in that moment of distraction a snake rises from the undergrowth before them. in that head the size of a hand like thin fangs, ready to inject a fatal amount of venom deep into their muscles. its fast moving attack gave the three no time to think as they split.

the snake's gaze is fixed on sasuke, a dark tongue flitting into the air every few seconds, tasting the fear, the cologne, the sweat.

it coiled itself around a tree as he came closer to the boy-- a sudden flash of genjutsu getting to him once again.

"no! get away!"

he launched a barrage of daggers at the slithering beast-- its over sized body collapsing on the tree.

it seemed as everything had claimed down, to which was false. sasuke's eyes grew in fear at the sight of the lady from before emerging from the snake's lifeless corpse.

"i sense your fear and desperation. the prey must never let down its guard-- not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator."