"Do not be afraid to change the prince's name in your story."
- Atticus
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Sakura ran as fast as she could to where Naruto's distress call came from.
I can't be too late...I hope he's okay...
Suddenly, Sakura's right ear went freezing cold, as if it just got teleported to Antarctica. Sasuke's distress call. What could possibly be so bad that both of them had called for help?
Bursting into the clearing where the distress call had lead Sakura, she paused when she was some weird type of snake-human attack both Naruto and Sasuke. Even though it looked disgusting, the snake-human was a good fighter.
"CHA!" Sakura yelled from above, landing a good punch infused with chakra on the snake-human, sending the thing flying.
It sighed. "Of course. The third member."
"Thank Kami you came," Naruto said with a bright smile despite panting like he had just run a marathon.
Sakura smiled faintly. "Thanks to those distress seals you created."
"I thought they didn't work." Sasuke groaned, and Sakura was instantly onto healing the broken ribs he harboured. His abdomen was littered with just and it was turning a shade of violet, and well as the weird poking out edges of his ribs.
Sakura forced down the bile that was threatening to spill from her mouth. "What happened?"
"Who's that?" Sasuke said, pointing weakly to the snake-human who was battling it out with Naruto.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, and then it hit her. "Orochimaru."
The Sannin snapped his neck to look at the pink girl, eyes boring into the genin's. "Smart one, you have there, Uchiha."
"Don't touch her!" Sasuke growled, eyes flashing red.
Sakura panicked and whacked Sasuke's head. "Stop it! Turn that wretched Kekki Genkai off! You'll kill yourself!"
"Old man!" Naruto bellowed. "Over here!"
"We need to get away," Sakura whispered. "He's a fucking Legendary Sannin, even Kakashi-sensei would have trouble getting rid of him."
[Hear that, Kit? You need to go.]
[But if I get your help, I can beat him!]
[As if. You need to learn how to control my chakra first, and then learn something called Sage Mode, and you don't have the time! Your teammates will die.]
[UGH!]
Naruto dodged Orochimaru's long tongue - how disgusting is that? - before summoning some chakra from Kurama to carry his teammates. Sakura was still healing Sasuke's ribs, and Naruto deliberately didn't look at the Uchiha's stomach.
Orochimaru could've chase Team 7 since the Jinchuriki was tiring, but he was only there to mark Sasuke and while he was at it, he had tested Kakashi Hatake's students. It seems like they're much beyond the genin title, probably an advanced chunin.
He smiled freakishly to himself.
Sasuke will be mine. I'll make sure of that.
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"What's...this?" Sakura gently brushed a finger over three dots on Sasuke's neck.
Naruto winced as Sakura worked on his broken arm. "That Orochimaru dude bit Sasuke, and that's what happened. It just changed into that."
"Weird." Sakura murmured. "We need to tell Kakashi-sensei."
"Sure," Naruto said, "and guess what this is?"
The blond boy revealed a scroll with the character that read 'EARTH'. Sakura squealed, reaching for it, before inspecting in one hand while healing Naruto with the other.
"Yes!" Sakura cheered, before finishing healing Naruto. "We'll head over there tomorrow morning-"
"We go now." Sasuke cut in, wincing as he sat up.
Naruto freaked out. "But we're both injured and Sakura's like chakra deprived and-"
"The longer this thing-" Sasuke gestures to his neck. "-stays here, I'm a danger to you guys."
Sakura and Naruto exchange a glance. Naruto asked, "Are you sure you're not chakra drained?"
"No." Sakura smiled and showed her teammates some of her extra medical ninjutsu that she could still do. "See?"
"Don't waste it," Sasuke grunted as he shakily stood up.
"Where's the tower?" Naruto asked.
Sakura stood up and beamed brightly. "I was put somewhere around the tower for the survival training, so I know where it is. Follow me!"
"Any shortcuts?" Sasuke asked, glaring at his feet as they took off into the trees.
Sakura turned around, concerned. "Are you okay?"
Sasuke offered the pink girl a soft smile. "I'll be fine."
"Stop flirting," Naruto said, "and stay alert."
"Flirting my ass," Sakura grumbled but remained quiet. Suddenly, her ear went hot and she whirled around to see Naruto doing hand signs to tell them that they were surrounded.
Sasuke groaned. "Seriously?"
"Shut up, baka!" Sakura hissed.
"No point," Naruto sighed, shooting glances around the trio. "They're like spying on us. Terrible stealth skills though."
Without a warning, Naruto threw a kunai and nailed an Otogakure ninja's hair. It was a guy, who looked stunned for a second before his face turned into a scowl.
"Baka." Sasuke spat. "Can't even hide properly."
Because Team 7 was battered from their fight with Orochimaru, they turned around and kept running away, knowing that a fight would only delay them getting to the tower as fast as possible.
"They're not relenting," Naruto sighed, "Sasuke. Let's do it."
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" Sasuke yelled, hands flying through the seals.
Naruto grinned like a fox. "Boufuu Kyouzuu no Jutsu (Gale Surge)!"
A huge fireball lit up the forest, and all throughout the training grounds, everyone could feel the impact the fireball had once it hit the ground.
"Man," Naruto whistled, "we've gotten better."
"Much." Sakura agreed, eyeing the huge patch of burnt trees as they ran away.
Sasuke grunted. "More people behind us."
"Three o'clock, actually." Naruto corrected. "Oh, and there's a familiar chakra behind them. I forgot...who was the one using shadows again?"
Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes. "Shikamaru, baka."
"Riiiiiight," Naruto smiled sheepishly, "I totally knew that."
"Konoha-nin is wretched!" A foreign ninja exclaimed, hiding behind Sasuke.
Team 7 froze, as Team 10 and another team from a different country burst from the trees, engaged in intense.
"Yeah," Sasuke mused, "I disagree."
The ninja hiding behind the Uchiha whined, "What? How can you?! Oh! They're part of Rookie 9, wanna help us?"
"Too bad." The Uchiha sneered. "I'm part of Rookie 9."
"Huh-"
Swinging around with a roundhouse kick, Sasuke hit the ninja in the face, sending him flying. His teammates turned around and glared at Sasuke, forgetting their opponents and charging for the Uchiha.
"Amegakure," Sakura whispers. "Rain ninja."
"Maaaaa," Naruto shrugged while dodging a kunai, "they can't be that bad."
Within five minutes with help from Team 10, the Ame-nin were tied up against trees and knocked out cold.
"I take that back," Naruto announces. "They can be that bad."
"Thanks," Choji says with a thumbs up, but his stomach ruined the moment. "Damn it, I'm so hungry!"
"You should hunt then," Sasuke replied while inspecting the three Amegakure ninjas.
Shikamaru yawns and Ino smacks his head before turning to Sasuke while batting her eyelashes. "Where are you guys off to?"
"Tower." Naruto spilled.
Shikamaru was alert almost instantly, and it was surprising at how fast he turned to look at Team 7. "Tower?"
"Let's go," Sakura said slowly, before dragging the boys after her.
"After them." Ino shrieked. "They have two scrolls!"
"NARUTO YOU BAKA!" Sakura screamed but didn't move to slow down as they were getting closer to the tower.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, Sakura."
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Author's Note
There we go, *clapping my hands together*, end of chapter fifteen! Alright, time to move on...
Please vote and comment!
~ Magica2007