'Who's there!' I shout to the direction where I sense chakra.
No answer.
'What happened Y/N?' I look to Temari who is standing on another tree, 'Someone's here! Temari, you should stay here with Gaara. I'll go and check it out.'
'Alright, be careful!'
I nod in response and head off to find the unknown person.
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After some running, I came near to a river and see a man with a silver ponytail sitting on a cut tree trunk, facing me with his back. I jump down from a tree and slowly walk towards him. I seem to be able to recognise his back. At the moment he turns around to face me, I immediately realise who he is, 'You're the one who saved Naruto before the first Chūnin exam.'
The silver-haired snickers, 'Glad you remember me, L/N Y/N.'
'Oh...you know my name? Who are you?'
He slowly stands up and walks a metre close to me, 'Yakushi Kabuto from Otogakure.'
'Otogakure?'
I knit my eyebrows as he approaches me. His forehead protector can now be clearly seen.
Kabuto gives out a light chuckle and pushes his glasses up, 'Relax, I won't hurt you now. I only came here to bring you to Orochimaru-Sama.'
Lifting my eyebrows, I ask with confusion, 'Orochimaru?'
'Yes, Orochimaru-Sama is one of the strongest Shinobis you'll ever meet. He is going to give you a lot of powers. He can make you one of the most powerful Shinobis in the world.'
I suddenly recognise the name 'Orochimaru' and realise he's one of the legendary Sannin.
The air becomes silent for a few seconds.
'Why me?'
'Orochimaru-Sama sees you have some potential that the others don't.'
I slightly tilt my head, 'What do I have to do then?'
'Follow me to meet Orochimaru-Sama. But the thing is that you'll have to leave Suna.'
I feel that things aren't that simple and do not want to fall into this seemingly trap, 'Sorry, I can't leave my companions.'
Kabuto pushes his glasses up again. The glasses reflect sunlight to turn white, making me unable to catch his facial expressions. This feeling of unknown disturbs me a lot.
Kabuto lowers his voice, 'I see.' One corner of his mouth subtly lifts up.
Suddenly, a shuriken zooms pass my shoulder and hits the tree behind me. Within a second, Kabuto dashes towards me and stops beside my other shoulder. He swiftly pulls out a kunai and points it at my direction. Being vigilant through out the whole conversation, I am able to instantly dodge away from his attack.
'Nice dodge.' I hear Kabuto's voice coming from above my head. I lift up my head to see him crashing down towards me. I abruptly jump up to avoid from being hit.
Not wasting any time, I quickly make a hand sign, 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!' 10 shadow clones of myself burst out from a series of white smoke-like fog. 4 of my clones rush directly towards Kabuto, while 5 of them throw their shurikens and kunais at him.
Watching the clones disappear one by one as Kabuto defends himself, I carry out another hand sign, 'Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Style: Liquid Bullets)!' I deeply inhale to store potential energy. Some chakra inside of me is converted into water. With an intense blow from my mouth, blue water orbs start firing out in Kabuto's direction. However, he is agile enough to successfully avoid all the water projectiles.
Just then, a shuriken flies pass Kabuto's face, leaving a scratch on his cheek. My 1 shadow clone who was hiding emerges from a bush, directly dashes against Kabuto with her fist clenched.
As Kabuto's attention is caught by my clone, I inhale again to convert chakra into water, and exhale as fast as I can. Round-shaped water balls break out from my mouth and hit Kabuto's body, followed by my shadow clone punching Kabuto in his face. He is then sent flying through midair until he hits a tree on his back. He drops to the ground heavily with my shadow clone disappearing in the air.
I cautiously approach Kabuto to see if he is still alive or not. His body lies on the ground, unconscious.
All of a sudden, Kabuto's body vanishes as white mist and remains as a tree log.
'!!'
'Not bad.'
I widen my eyes as I hear Kabuto's sarcastic voice from only a few inches behind me.
'You're smarter than I thought,' Kabuto murmurs behind me, 'You were able to distract me. I now understand why Orochimaru-Sama sees potential in you.'
Determinedly, I say, 'I am not coming with you, and will not come with you.' Straightening my palm, I turn around to aim for Kabuto's neck. However, he reacts fast and punches me in my stomach. Dizziness fills my brain. In the second I'm back to consciousness, my back hits a tree. Pain starts erupting vigorously inside of me, forcing me to stick to the ground.
Kabuto stares at me with the edges of his mouth curling up, 'What's wrong Y/N? You mustn't be that weak. Is there something you're hiding or are you not wanting to activate your full power?' Chakra suddenly flows out of his hands. His voice suddenly softened in a creepy way, 'Now, show me your real strength.'
I struggle to stand up, 'What are you talking abou-?' There isn't time for me to finish my sentence, Kabuto hits my chest with his palm, harder than anyone else had punched me.
Ache starts spreading to every part of my body. My tongue feels liquid with an unpleasant taste, and it flows towards my lips, slowly dripping down to my chin. The surroundings in front of my eyes start to become blurry and rotates clockwise as I collapse.
Kabuto kneels down and looks at me, 'Whoops! Sorry I think I did it too heavily, but it's time for you to meet Orochimaru-Sama.' He reaches his arm out to carry me. 'Trust me, you'll be amazed by his incredible pow-...'
Just as Kabuto is about to grab me by my waist, he suddenly stops and appears to be stunned.
Kabuto's POV
'It's him.'
This chakra, I recognise him. How lucky is Y/N.
My hand obediently retreats from reaching out to Y/N. I stand up and turn around to welcome that unexpected guest. A familiar face, just as I expected.
I forcefully lift the corner of my mouth and push my glasses up, 'Long time no see, didn't expect to see you here.'
———————————————————————
Y/N's POV
After being strongly hit by Kabuto, my body can't support me anymore. I don't have any strength left to use the Healing Jutsu on myself.
At this moment, a fairly tall man stands at the distant, but my vision is obscured.
Wind gently fondles his hair and clothes.
Black hair, black cloack, hints of red,...
'Who is he...? He seems so...so familiar...'
My eyes land on his, noticing that he has been staring at me, expressionless.
My body feels heavier and heavier, and my consciousness slowly fades away.
My vision goes black.