Disclaimer!: I do NOT own Naruto or it's characters! I do NOT own it's plot either! This is just a fan fiction!
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Naruko's POV
The strange Grass shinobi emerged from the snake, covered in slime. She stared up at us with wide, empty eyes and a large smile.
"I sense your fear and desparation... It's only natural... The prey must never let down its walls, not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator..." Her eyes sharpened and she licked her lips, laughing.
She suddenly stretched out, like, literally, her torso stretched like that as a snake and she wound herself quickly up a tree, approaching us in undeniable speed. Suddenly she stopped, just as someone threw some shuriken at the space above her.
"Looks like I came just in time!" A farmiliar voice shouted, making me smile. Naruto. "Oh, and by the way... What was that password again?"
The Grass shinobi glared up at my brother, hissing.
"Naruto! Get out of here! What were you thinking? You don't know what you're up against! Hurry! Go now, while you still can!" Sasuke shouted at him.
"So, Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend? Well done." The snake woman said mockingly.
"Okay, okay! I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that! So yo better slither back into the hole you came from, snake-lady, or I just might make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the estranged woman.
Sasuke growled, mulling things over in his head. "You can have it," he finally spoke. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the scroll.
My eyes widened. Sasuke...
"The scroll, right? That's what you want?" He said, tossing the thing around between his two hands. "Alright then! Take it and leave us in peace!"
All of our eyes widened, and our enemy smirked. Naruto was the most shocked, "Sasuke, are you serious?! Are you crazy or what? You're gonna just hand the scroll over to the enemy? No way, what's wrong with you?!"
"Shut up and stay out of it!" Sasuke barked, glaring at the blonde boy.
"Very wise, very sensible... Sometimes, the prey, to save their own skins, sacrifice something precious in order to survive..." The enemy mockingly praised.
"Take it." Sasuke snapped, throwing the scroll towards the enticed creature.
However, before it could reach enemy hands, Naruto leapt down and snatched the scroll out of the air. He landed on Sasuke's branch, glaring at him.
"Stop being the hero Naruto! Just stay out of this and leave it to me!" Sasuke snarled, but Naruto clenched his fist and raised it, bringing it down onto Sasuke's face.
I was shocked, to say in the least. Sasuke was actually making a smart decision; why couldn't Naruto see that?
"Stupid fool! You don't know what you're doing!" Sasuke shouted.
"I may not know the password, but I know who I am! Do you know who you are?"
"What are you talking about? I am who I say I am!" Sasuke barked.
"Liar! Surrendering? Giving up the scroll? Since when did the Sasuke I know do that? I know what you've done! You've choked, that's what!" Naruto snarled.
The enemy laughed, licking her lips once again. She pulled up her sleeve, revealing an odd looking tattoo. "As far as the scroll goes, I could simply kill you and take it!"
She bit her thumb and ran the blood across the tattoo, smirking. Just then, Naruto pulled out a kunai and ran at her, "Let's see you try!"
"Don't, Naruto!" Sasuke and I shouted at the same time.
I could faintly hear the shinobi mutter, "Summoning Jutsu," and my thoughts were confirmed as she performed the correct hand motions.
A large gust of wind errupted around her and spread towards all of us, pushing us back. The woman was now standing on another one of her snakes. The snake raised its head and brought it down on Naruto, whom was still airborn.
Naruto was thrown into a branch, the wood splintering and breaking around him. He fell, appearing unconcious as his body plummeted through the air.
"Enough playing, finish him off." The woman laughed.
"Naruto!" Sakura and I shouted, worried.
I was panicking; I had no idea what to do. I had never really been in a situation like this, it was nerve wracking.
I saw Naruto open his eyes, and I smiled. But something was off... His eyes, they were red.
My eyes widened as I felt a sudden tug in my stomach, as if something were trying to pull itself out of me. (A/N: The Kyuumi is reacting to the Kyuubi's chakra :O)
I fell to my knees and threw up as the strength of the push got stronger. It felt like my stomach were on fire. I looked up, seeing Naruto bring his fist down multiple times upon the snake's head. I winced as my stomach tugged harder.
Then the grass shinobi doused Naruto with a fireball. Naruto fell again, landing on a branch below. But this time, he didn't get up.
The grass shinobi turned to me, and her eyes widened in recognition. A smirk played on their lips. "Ah, the Namikaze princess... So you're still alive... I've heard of your power, darling. You could be... Useful." The shinobi hissed.
Then she turned to Sasuke. Her snake lunged towards him, but Naruto got up and stopped it with just a kunai. JUST a kunai. I was impressed, but I knew this wasn't his power... He had another source... I felt another strong tug in my stomach, and I yelped.
Sakura looked at me. "Naruko! Are you ok?!" She yelled.
I nodded. "I'll be fine," I answered.
The Grass ninja's tongue wrapped around Naruto, lifting him up. What the actual fuck?
Panic filled my being. "LET GO OF HIM!" I shouted.
The Grass kunoichi ignored me, lifting up Naruto's shirt.
She shouted, "Five Pronged Seal!" And shoved her fingers into Naruto's stomach, causing him to fall to the ground, unconcious. Before he hit the ground, Sakura finally decided to be useful, and saved him by pinning him to a tree with her kunai knife.
The force in my stomach frantically tugged around, trying to get out. Then it just... Stopped. I coughed and stood up, glaring at the kunoichi as she took the scroll from Naruto. Sasuke simply stared at her, doing nothing.
"Sasuke! Whats wrong with you!" Sakura yelled. She started to yell at him. I ignored her, watching Sasuke's every move.
He opened his eyes, finally activating his Sharingan. He was ready to fight; and fighting is exactly what he did. (A/N: I'm not going into detail, people. Watch the show!)
Finally, Sasuke managed to tie her down to the tree trunk with his wire. He sucked in some air, paused, then blew a fireball at her. I smirked. That's more like it.
When the fire dispered she was still there, but there was a hole in the tree behind her.
Sakura and I flanked Sasuke's sides as the kunoichi unexpectdedly broke the wires and stepped towards us. She started talking, but her voice changed into a dark, hissing male voice.
Her, rather, its skin was peeling off, and its headband changed to that of Sound village headband.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I barked angrily.
"My name is Orochimaru. As for what I want, that will wait." He held up the Heaven scroll, and burnt it to nothing in his sickly pale hand. His neck suddenly stretched out like that of a snakes and shot towards Sasuke.
I hissed, jumping in front of Sasuke before Orochimaru could reach him.
Because of my defence, Orochimaru attacked me instead, biting into the flesh on my neck.
I winced as Orochimaru retracted from me, smirking. A mark was beginning to appear on my bloodied neck as I held onto it. I let out an ear-piercing scream as an indescribable pain coursed through my body. I fell to my knees, continuing to scream.
"Naruko!" Sasuke and Sakura yelled, their eyes wide and terrified for my well-being.
I clutched the mark, feeling the pain in every living cell throughout my body. It spread like a wildfire, and each time my heart pumped, the pain got worse.
"Heh heh heh.... The Namikaze Princess wanted to protect the Uchiha? You should have waited for your turn, darling. I would've given you your gift too, right after Sasuke's. You must have been rather eager," Orochimaru spoke condescendingly.
I was too weak and in too much pain to answer.
I couldn't stop him this time as he shot forward and bit Sasuke,causing him to fall to his knees and scram in pain as well. He was in the same condition as me. Sakura growled and turned towards Orochimaru.
"You! What have you done to them?!" She yelled, getting rather angry.
"Consider it a parting gift.... Very soon, they will seek my power." Then, just like that, he sank into the ground and dissapeared. I let out another ear piercing shriek, Sasuke following in suit.
At the same time we curled onto our sides, writhing in pain, on the verge of unconciousness.
"Sasuke! Naruko!" Sakura yelled, clearly worried. I let out another agonizing scream, before finally passing out.
Anko's POV
I was on my knees, in front of Orochimaru. He was telling me what he was doing here, and frankly I didn't like it.
I winced, holding my curse mark.
"Oh, it's the mark, isnt it?" I could hear the smirk in his voice, making me growl.
"I gave the same mark to a young girl and boy not to long ago. They're both very promising..." He kneeled down to where I was.
"You haven't changed! They'll die before they serve you!" I growled at him.
"Its a 1/10 chance they live... But they could, just like you did" He grinned at me, "Oh, but they have even more potential then you had. Now I must say goodbye, dearest Anko," he sunk into the wood of the tree and disappeared, leaving me there.
Sakura's POV
I was hiding under some tree roots, protecting my 3 passed out teammates. To be honest, I was terrified. I was scared for Sasuke and Naruko. Naruto would be fine, but I wasn't sure about the other two.
What had that bastard Orochimaru done to them?! They're trembling and sweating uncontrollably, and both have horrid fevers... Often times they're even screaming in their sleep. All I can do is give them wet towels and watch, and try to protect them.
Now it's my turn! To protect my teammates! To show my worth!
Naruko's POV
(A/N: Yeah, I'm skipping most of the Sound-Sakura fight, get over it xD Watch the show, people!)
I woke up, only to hear the sound of snapping bones. My eyes widened and I looked up, seeing Sasuke standing above a Sound ninja, holding his now broken arm. I stared at his skin, gaping. It was covered in black markings... What is he doing?! Where is everyone?
I tried getting up, but failed. I then saw Sakura kneeling on the ground, half of her hair chopped off.
What the hell is going on?! I thought frantically.
Then I also noticed Lee on the ground, unconcious and bruised up. Sakura ran forwards and hugged Sasuke, and I could feel the jealousy burning in my chest. Well, thats new...
I shook it away, watching Sasuke fall on his ass right next to Sakura. I could see one of the Sound ninja speaking to them, Dosu, I believe his name was, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.
Then Dosu dissapeared, along with his team.
I winced, standing up slowly. I yelped as a searing pain shot throughout my body, and my hand immediately clamped onto my shoulder. I shut my eyes and held back whatever was trying to get out. Unlike Sasuke.
Sasuke just let it take control. But me? Hell no! I do not want that to happen; not now, not ever.
I noticed Shikamaru and Choji argueing about who was going to wake Naruto up first. Choji apparently lost, because he quickly hit Naruto over the head. He sat up, screaming incoherent words.
He then started shouting things about the imposter Grass ninja from earlier, rather, OrochimaruI.
We all stared at him. I burst out laughing. "Naruto, do you really not remember what happened? Oh wait, sorry. You passed out!" This only cause me to laugh more. Everyone all looked at me, suprised.
"You're awake, Naruko! Are you okay?!" Sakura asked frantically.
I nodded slowly, still grasping onto the curse mark, wincing every once and a while. Sakura and Sasuke took notice of this, looking upset. I sighed, walking over to where everyone else was standing.
TenTen appeared in front of Ino and took the unconcious Lee by the shoulders, shaking him and yelling at him.
And with that, he finally woke up. He looked around, confused as to what was going on.
Sakura approached Lee and thanked him with a hug, causing him to grin in joy.
I smiled, walking up to him as well. "I may not know what happened, but thanks anyways Lee!" I smiled genuinly. He wiped away his happy tears and said 'you're welcome'.
Ino started to fix Sakura's mangled, choppy and short hair. I smiled, observing the scene before me. Most of the rookies were together, helping each other out. I stood next to Naruto, my arm slung around his shoulder. We grinned at each other, momentarily forgetting about the problems we were facing.
Timeskip
Naruto and Sakura were being idiots and decided to open the scroll we had earlier found; Sasuke and I weren't around to stop them and so when we got back, we found out Kabuto had stopped them.
"BAKA'S!" I yelled at the pair, punching them on the top of their heads. They whined, rubbing the bumps that were now forming. Kabuto began to explain the purpose of the scrolls to us, but Sasuke and I didn't trust the guy and we refused him when he offered to help us. However, with Naruto and Sakura's persuasions, we were forced into allowing him to accompany us to the tower.
(A/N: I'm not going to be using detail until the main parts. Watch the show if you want the details!) Over the trip, a Rain ninja attacked us, and Naruto and Sasuke defeated him. For once I felt like Sakura. Completely useless. When I actually tried to help, my curse mark acted up and I had to hold myself back.
Finally, after the long trip, we arrived at the tower. Sakura and Naruto thanked Kabuto, but Sasuke and I stayed quiet, still not trusting him.
"C'mon guys! Lets go!" I grinned. We walked through the doors of the tower and went into our room, noticing a large scroll hanging on the wall.
Sakura read it out loud. "If qualities of Heaven are your desire, aquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the pareless path will become ritcious(sp?) forever. Something is the secret way that guides us from this place today," she finished.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"It's like theres a word missing here!" Sakura said. I rolled my eyes. "No shit," I chuckled.
Sasuke smirked, glancing at me from the side.
"I think we're supposed to open the scrolls now!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide and excited.
We pulled out the scrolls, opening them. I narrowed my eyes as a farmiliar smoke billowed out of the printed symbol on the parchment.
"Wait! Throw them away from you!" I yelled. It was a summoning jutsu! Just as we threw the scrolls away from us and onto the ground, Iruka appeared!
"Long time no see, guys!" He smiled at us.
He started explaining about the messanger job and the next exam. Sakura, of course, just HAD to ask about the giant scroll. He explained that too, but I was zoning out. I really didnt need this information, anyways.
Anko's POV
I was at the Hokage's Tower, informing Sarutobi about the situation at hand, and about what I saw and heard in the Forest.
"I think I know who he's after..." I growled.
"He's after Sasuke, right?" The Hokage asked.
I nodded, but shook my head at the same time. "He's after that Naruko Uzumaki girl too. He told me about her and Sauske..."
The Hokage looked alarmed, but said nothing on the matter. "Go to the arena and begin the preliminaries, and keep an eye on those two..."