Satomi P.O.V.
"Naruto, watch out!" Sakura calls, as the Kusa kunoichi's tongue wraps around his torso, lifting him up in the air.
"Hang on, Naruto! I'm coming!" I assure, using chakra to power my jump into the air. I pull out a kunai and latch my hand on her tongue, slicing my kunai down. However, it has no effect, leaving me dangling uselessly from her tongue.
She sighs, extending her arm and grabbing my neck, pulling me to her face. I cough and scratch at her wrist, trying to get her to let me go so I could breathe again. She squeezes harder, causing me to choke, my strength diminishing.
"Satomi! Sasuke, do something! That's your sister!" Sakura demands, trying to get Sasuke's attention. He merely stares at me, too paralyzed with fear to move.
Reaching into my weapons pouch, she pulls out the heaven scroll, watching as my face morphs into one of disbelief.
"Your heaven scroll pairs nicely with my earth scroll... however, I have no need for it," she states, burning the scroll right in front of me. Once it is gone, she throws me down, but with no strength left all I can do is gasp for air and wait until I hit something.
Surely enough, I slam into a branch, causing blood to come out of my mouth. I lay there and gasp for air. Had she let go any later, I would have died.
As soon as she lets me go, the Kusa girl brings Naruto closer to her, lifting up his jacket to reveal his seal for the Nine-Tailed Fox. Naruto struggles to get away, but it was too late. She had lit her fingers up with some kind of jutsu and shoved them in his seal, no doubt disrupting something important.
Naruto's power slowly drained away, and when she was done with him, she merely throws him away like he's nothing. Sakura, thankfully, throws a kunai that catches Naruto's jacket before he can hit the ground.
Slowly sitting up, I manage to get to my feet while Sasuke keeps the Kusa ninja busy. Using the new chakra technique Kakashi-sensei taught us, I walk over to Naruto's tree and bring him over to Sakura, making sure not to waste my chakra on body flickering when we were still battling.
"Watch over him... I have to help Sasuke," I instruct Sakura, jumping over to Sasuke's battle. The Kusa girl had just knocked him down, and he was just laying there, however, I could see the small bombs near the bottom of her robe.
As I land on the branch, the bombs explode, so I make my move. Charging forward, I throw a handful of shuriken forward, to which she dodges, as I expected. Body flickering to the place she dodged, I spray a barrage of kicks and punches, pushing her back farther against the tree branch.
She scoffs and sweeps her leg out, tripping me up. I fall on my back and she pulls back for a punch. As she throws it, I move my head last minute and activate my sharingan, grabbing onto her arm.
Casting my best genjutsu on her, I have only a few seconds to back away while Sasuke throws shuriken with wires attached to them, pulling her back against the trunk.
"Let's do this together, Sasuke," I suggest, performing swift hand signs.
"Right."
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" we shout, creating two large fireballs that incinerate the Kusa kunoichi. Panting, Sasuke and I look at our work proudly. We beat her.
"Sasuke! Satomi! You did it, you beat her!" Sakura cheers, running up to the two of us. I smile exhaustedly, looking up into the sky.
"Yeah. We di-"
The sound of wires snapping catches our attention as the Kusa girl walks away as if she weren't at all affected by the attacks she was just hit by. Not only that... but her face was melting off, revealing another, paler face under that, with sickly snake eyes.
"You two... your eyes are very keen, perhaps even better than Itachi's," she muses, moving her headband to reveal an Oto symbol. I gasp and reactivate my sharingan, preparing for another battle.
"Just who the hell are you?! What do you want?" Sasuke demands, gritting his teeth. The girl chuckles, her voice growing deeper like a man's.
"My name is Orochimaru. As for what I want... that will have to wait until the next time we meet," he hisses, performing a jutsu. His neck extends, fangs bared as he aims for Sasuke.
"Sasuke, move!" I shriek, pushing him out of the way. His attack catches my neck as I take his place, a sharp pain coursing throughout all of my body. I put my hand to my neck, struggling not to cry out in pain as the torture intensifies.
"What did you do to my sister?!" Sasuke demands, coming to my side as I fall to my knees, panting intensely.
"That was meant for you... oh well, I have another one to spare," Orochimaru sneers, performing the jutsu once again.
"N-No... d-don't touch h-him..." I plead pathetically, crawling pitifully to my brother as if to stop him. Sasuke doesn't move in time, and Orochimaru collides with Sasuke's neck, a weird mark appearing on his neck as he cries out in pain.
"Strange... the curse I gave the girl is stronger than the one I gave to the boy, but she's not crying out. How interesting," Orochimaru muses, leaving the four of us in the trees, beaten and bloody.
I gasp in pain, rolling to my back and clutching my bruised neck with tears in my eyes. Beside me, Sasuke was rolling around in pain, screaming out in agony.
"S-Sakura... w-we have to get them to a s-safe place..." I manage to say, struggling to my feet shakily. Sakura bursts into tears, backing up in terror.
"S-Satomi! What happened to you and Sasuke?! You're badly injured!" Sakura sobs. Pushing through the pain, I kneel next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know what this is... but it's b-bad. I don't know why Sasuke's having a harder time than me... but we need to get somewhere safe, and you can't carry all three of us," I say, struggling not to cry out.
"How do you do it, Satomi?" Sakura whispers out, cradling Sasuke, who had passed out, to her.
"What?"
"You're so strong... you're badly injured, your brother and best friend are out of commission, but you still are able to take charge and get done what needs to get down. How?" Sakura sobs. I bite my lip, punching the tree to keep from whimpering in pain.
"I've taken care of S-Sasuke for years now. You know... our entire clan was slaughtered by our own brother. B-But... Sasuke couldn't handle it as well as I could. I've been taking care of him my whole life... this is no different," I explain, standing back up.
"Sorry to ask this of you... b-but could you please go grab Naruto over there? I don't have the strength to waste to climb the tree using chakra," I ask. Sakura nods without hesitation, going to grab Naruto from the tree.
Stumbling over to my brother, I shakily cradle him in my arms, reluctant to put him on my back in case he touches my mark. I don't want it to hurt. Moments later, Sakura appears with Naruto on her own back.
"Let's go."
::
"Over here, Satomi!" Sakura calls, having found a safe place to take cover for the night. Panting, I stumble over to the tree with an empty stump, gently placing Sasuke down on the ground while Sakura places down Naruto.
"Perfect. Now we ca-" I say, stopping mid-sentence as a wave of pain courses through my body.
"S-Satomi?" Sakura questions, placing a hand on my arm. I look up to her, my eyes wide.
"Sakura... I-I can't... hold... on..." I mutter, crumpling to the ground in exhaustion.
"Satomi!"
::
Third Person's P.O.V.
"Satomi!" Sakura shouts, moving to catch her raven-haired teammate before she collapsed, but to no avail. Satomi falls to the ground with a hard 'thud', knocked out cold.
Sakura stares at her three fallen teammates, tears billowing in her eyes. They were the ones that always protected her... now it was her time to protect them. Wiping the tears from her eyes, the young girl set to making traps to ensure their safety.
Before Sakura and Satomi had found their hiding place, Satomi had asked Sakura to wake her up if enemies came so that she could help fight, because she was sure she would pass out as soon as they were safe... but she also didn't want Sakura fighting alone. Three versus one odds were never in that person's favor... well, unless you're Orochimaru.
After setting the traps, Sakura grabs a few bandages and makes them into cloths, pouring water on them and placing them on each of her teammate's heads. She sighs in relief and leans against the trunk, watching them carefully as to make sure nothing went wrong with them.
However... it had been a long day with lots of battling and emotions running high. Staying awake was a struggle, after such intense battles. Unbeknownst to her... Sakura fell asleep, leaving the team vulnerable. They could only hope that nobody attacked.
::
Satomi P.O.V.
"Satomi, please wake up! There is a team here, I'm going to need your help!" Sakura says, nudging me awake as an Oto team approaches us. I sit up immediately, wincing at the intense pain in my body, however, it was something I could deal with.
It was something I would have to deal with.
"So you stayed awake all night, eh, pinkie? Please, wake up Sasuke-kun too, we would like to fight him," the leader of the team states, walking up close to our hideout. Sakura and I take out kunai, brandishing them as we crawl out of the hole.
Standing up on two feet, I struggle not to fall over from not only pain but exhaustion. Sure, I slept all night, but my body was still not physically capable of continuing on in this condition.
"It seems the both of you have survived the curse mark so far," the girl muses, flipping a kunai in her hand. My eyes narrow at her, however, I make no move to attack. I just didn't have the energy to waste.
"Your scroll... what scroll do you have?" I whisper, my bruised throat sore from screaming and the battle with Orochimaru. The leader tilts his head, a sick smile visible underneath his bandages.
"Heaven."
"We're gonna need your scroll," I say more confidently this time, standing up straight despite the pain. The trio in front of us chuckles at my determination, dark glints in each of their eyes.
"Oh? Zaku... Kin... I think it's time to kill them all," the leader says, gesturing for Zaku and Kin to get ready for battle.
"Is that so, Dosu? You know I don't like holding back," Zaku chuckles, cracking his knuckles. I gulp, but hold my kunai straight, glaring at each of them. Would we survive...? I wasn't too sure.
We had to try though.
::