The Turning Point

Land of Snow Part 4

"I'm going to see if I can get Naruto out. Koyuki seems okay over there" Sakura called to him as Sasuke set off running towards Doto tearing up the ice on the ground.

Sakura ran towards the edge of the water where Naruto had been thrown in and panicked when she realised how deep it actually was. I can't even see the bottom and with all his clothes on who knows how fast he's sinking, Sakura thought worriedly and half considered jumping into the water. Peering closer into the murky depths the pink haired teen's thoughts brightened a little when she noticed a glowing orange light. Naruto's chakra had fully broken through the barrier of the chakra absorption device.

"CHIDORI!" Sasuke yelled pushing the purple chakra stone closer towards Doto's armour seal and adding his right hand bearing the Chidori for extra force.

The seal began to fracture under the pressure and Sasuke pushed harder knowing it was almost fully broken. Sakura quickly realised that because both his hands were occupied Sasuke was rendered defenceless as all of his energy was directed into chakra balancing the Chidori and getting it close enough to break the armours seal. Doto had obviously come to a similar conclusion himself as he extended his arm backwards and hit Sasuke across the face throwing him backwards.

Before he could hit the ice glacier behind her Sakura caught Sasuke and tried to steady herself for a non-critical landing. Rolling into the glacier seemed like a much better option than smashing straight into it and aside from a few cuts and bruises both came out unscathed. Sakura groaned a little and opened her eyes to see Doto striding towards Koyuki angrily cursing her father and the Kazahana clan for deceiving him.

Sakura moved fluidly towards the usurper and the princess stepping in front of Koyuki and grabbing Doto's wrist in a painfully tight grip to prevent him from striking her.

"Problem?" Sakura asked smirking at Doto who glared at her viciously.

"Out of my way brat" Doto demanded and attempted to strike Sakura with his other hand but Sakura reefed his wrist backwards pulling his whole body over to one side. Reaching for her senbon needle laced with poison Sakura had a clear shot for a main artery which would transfer the deadly poison around his body in minutes.

Unexpectedly Doto managed a powerful leg sweep knocking Sakura off her feet and onto the ground, the senbon needle falling into the icy water. Before she could reach for any other combatant against the tyrannical man, Doto had pinned her down with a forceful throat grab and began constricting Sakura's airway.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Koyuki cried hysterically but Doto chuckled manically.

Shakily Sakura moved her hand on top of Doto's wrist and attempted to wrestle his hand from her throat but her body decided to put all her energy into trying to gain gulps of oxygen and Sakura's hand went limp as she began gasping for air.

Suddenly the ground began rumbling loudly and the water began to turn a bright orange colour. "What is it now?" Doto asked relinquishing his grip on Sakura's throat as he turned his head to investigate.

Seizing her chance Sakura pushed Doto off her completely and scrambled away from him. Before he could even register what had happened Sakura had gathered the chakra into her right fist and decided to pay Doto back for the prominent bruises she now had around her throat.

"Back off!" Sakura said angrily and drove her fist into the side of his face.

Naruto burst out of the water surrounded by hundreds of shadow clones intent on finishing Doto off himself. Sakura quickly motioned for Koyuki to follow her back to where Sasuke was. Having recovered from Sakura's attack Doto had created his dragon jutsu again except this time there were two. The dragons swept over the Rainbow Glacier taking out large chunks of ice from the ground and then began destroying Naruto's shadow clones by morphing into a large twister and ripping the clones out of the sky.