They stared up at the loud ninja.
"Oh, and by the way," Naruto asked. "What was that password again?"
"Naruto, get out of here," Sauske waved his arm in a futile effort to shoo his teammate away. "You don't know what you're up against!"
"Sure I do!" Naruto replied. "A creepy snake lady who hurt my friends! You should slither back into your hole before I make a pair of shoes out of you!"
Sakura glanced back at Not Naruto and pressed her lips together. She slid her right foot across the ground and punched her left arm straight up into the air. A huge pillar of solid rock burst from the ground, following the motions that her fist had made.
Sauske leaped backwards and landed easily on the flat top of the rock as it shot him up and away from Not Naruto.
"You can have it," Sauske announced from almost as high up as Naruto. He pulled the heaven scroll from his weapon pouch and tossed it to Not Naruto.
Sakura could see the logic behind it. If Not Naruto was too strong to defeat, then simply give Not Naruto what they wanted. Then Not Naruto would leave them alone and alive. They would probably be able to pick up a different set of scrolls before the time limit.
It still hurt to see their chance at chuunin arcing towards a creepy tongue person.
Naruto intercepted. He grabbed the Heaven scroll out of the air and landed with a thump on another tree.
"What do you think you're doing?" Naruto yelled.
Aaand then he launched into a whole spiel of how the Sauske he knew would never give up so easily.
Sakura used his distraction and slid silently over to the back of Sauske's pillar. She dug her fingers into the back and was relieved to see they sank in as easily as stabbing putty. She began to climb.
She was almost at the top when Naruto sprang at Not Naruto, who had just.... activated a summoning jutsu!
Sakura pushed herself into the air and kicked the top of her pillar at Not Naruto. Sauske jolted, then let himself fall off the back of it.
Not Naruto was forced to glide creepily backwards. Sakura leaped off her shortened pillar and grabbed Naruto's arm.
"Come on, you stupid idiot!" She hissed, pulling him away. "We can't beat this person!"
Not Naruto's voice rang out from the crumbled wreckage and dust of the pillar. "Summoning jutsu!"
▪▪▪
Toph sighed, then gripped Kakashi tighter.
They were currently ninjaing over what smelled like a large forest. He held her in a piggyback. Every now and again his foot would touch down on a branch, sending a jolt right through her, and then they would be off again.
Toph yawned.
"We're almost there," Kakashi told her.
"That's what you said five minutes ago. And three before that," Toph tightened her grip on him. His arms were steady, but she still didn't like being so high up with no dirt to see with.
"I know, but this time I can see the building." Kakashi told her. "Maybe another minute or two and we'll be there."
To her left, Hayate coughed. "Why are we bringing her?"
Toph stuck her tongue out in his general direction, then imediantly regretted it as they passed through a bunch of gnatflies.
She hacked and spat and Kakashi laughed at her.
"Because, Hayate, Toph is not only a teacher to one of my cute minions, but all the other people I trust are going to be here as well. Who would I leave her with?"
"I resent that statement," Toph wiped her tongue on her sleeve one last time before continuing. "Also, what about Lady Dango?"
"Lady Dango?" Kakashi asked, then she felt his shoulders slump. "Anko got to you."
There was a doomed finality to his tone. She smirked. "Anko?"
"She's corrupted you," Kakashi sighed. "I suppose it was only a matter of time."
Hayate sighed. "She's busy too. Orochimaru's left his own unique traces-"
He cut himself off.
"Maa, Hayate. Toph is pretty good at keeping secrets. Although I'm pretty sure she doesn't know who Orochimaru is."
"I don't," Toph chirped. "But I get the feeling that he's not that great a guy."
"Oh, joy. You've figured out all our secrets," Kakashi said wryly. "Whatever shall we do?"
"Stop that," she poked his shoulder. "I know you're making a joke but if this dude is dangerous I probably should know why."
There was an awkward, tense silence, and then Hayate coughed again. "Well, we're here."
They landed and this time Toph heard their shoes crunching on solid ground. She wriggled until Kakashi let her down, then buried her toes into the earth, feeling the vibrations, the sense of rightness in the world-
Wait.
There was something terribly wrong.
Well, two things. The closest was a buzzing wrongness in the building behind her. It felt like living sand, only that was impossible.
The other was much more troubling.
Toph could feel what seemed like a huge Earthbending battle, only it was at the very edge of her range, impossibly large, and she and Sakura were the only Earthbenders in this-
Oma and Shu.
Sakura couldn't do the precision stuff yet.
But she was ridiculously good at the big stuff.
"Hey, Mr Kakashi," Toph stomped the ground trying to get a clearer image, but the only thing she picked up that she couldn't see before was a giant... "Does this Orochimaru guy have giant snakes?"
▪▪▪
Sauske was starting to believe that this woman was immortal or something. He had no idea where Sakura and Naruto were anymore. He had given his all to defeating her and now...
Her neck lengthened and her jaw unhinged and the whole monstrosity of her head shot towards him-
"GET YOUR CREEPY FACE AWAY FROM MY TEAMMATE!"
Sakura.
A boulder suddenly planted itself in her face, pushing her away long enough for a giant wall to erupt from the ground in front of him, Sakura riding it like a wave.
It was like Toph's bending but different. Sakura wasn't as efficient, but still-
Why was he thinking about that when she needed his help?!
Sauske let out a shout and leaped back into the fray.
▪▪▪
Sakura was in the mode. Yes, this was all terrible and she knew it would end in death one way or another and yet-
She was thrilled!
The earth molded to her will, huge jagged chunks breaking free of the roots that entangled it to destroy her enemy.
Sparring with Toph-sensei was so different. There, she wrestled for control of the earth with one far superior than herself. Toph-sensei would mould her own attacks against her, and she wouldn't be strong enough to stop her.
But Not Naruto?
They were no Earthbender.
Sakura pulled up with arms strengthened by chakra and heaved.
The whole forest floor went with her.
For a moment she reveled in the sheer power of the moment.
And then Not Naruto counter attacked.
"That is an incredible gift you have, child," Not Naruto remarked.
Sakura gritted her teeth, channeled chakra to her feet and stuck to the side of the wall while sending spires of rocks at them.
"Not a single handsign," Not Naruto declared from behind her. Sakura spun, but they were simply watching.
Observing.
"Do you have a name?" Sakura growled. "Or a gender? Something I can use?"
They snorted. "You may call me Orochimaru."
Her blood chilled. Even she knew that name.
Orochimaru of the Sannin. Nukenin. Somebody who she did not want to be interesting to, not if she wanted to live.
And she found herself wanting to do that very much.
Sakura turned and promptly dove off the misshapen wall. She fell for a few seconds, and then Sauske intercepted her midair.
"We need to get down to the ground!" She yelled in his ear. "Orochimaru! OROCHIMARU!"
She felt the second it hit him because he stiffened abruptly and shivered.
Then they were on the ground and it parted at her command. They fell, and the ground closed up over them, leaving them in stifling darkness.
She listened to his panting in the darkness, then froze as she heard what could only be Orochimaru trying to get at them.
Oh, no. Ninja could use Kawamari, the hide like a mole technique. He could be on them in seconds!
Sakura pushed the earth away and formed a tunnel, then she grabbed Sauske's hand and bolted for it. He made a protesting noise, but shut up after she closed up the entrance to the tunnel.
Her bare feet dug into the earth as she pushed and elongated their tunnel more and more until she was certain that even Orochimaru wouldn't be able to track them. She'd been collapsing the tunnel after them, so he wouldn't be able to follow them, and-
Sauske tightened his grip on her hand. In the pitch blackness, it was impossible to tell what sort of expression was on his face. If this had happened a few days ago, she'd have been over the moon about it, but now...
Hold up. Kami, she couldn't see, but she knew where everything was. In that sweaty, hot tunnel, she'd been able to find her way, and even now she couldn't feel anyone overhead.
She was doing what Toph-sensei did! She-
Oh. It was gone.
She turned more towards Sauske and froze. Kami. She'd totally forgotten their other teammate. She felt kind of bad now.
"Naruto," she whispered. "Is he still pinned to that tree?"
There was a short silence, then Sauske seemed to realize she couldn't see him nod or shake his head. "I think so."
Sakura felt something in her stomach harden. "He knows that. "We're screwed if he decides to set up an ambush with Naruto as bait."
"We should head to the surface," Sauske coughed, then released her hand. "We've been breathing this air for a while. It'll go bad soon, if it hasn't already."
Sakura felt her face flush in the darkness, but she kept her voice steady. "Okay. I'll go up first. If there's any sign of him, we'll have to pull back."
He let out an affirmative grunt.
Going up was harder than falling down. For one, Sakura had to make their exit tunnel while walking up the side of the wall. She had used up a lot of chakra already, and knew that she didn't have a lot left in her. For another, terror that Orochimaru would be waiting the second she poked her head out gripped her.
But her fear was kind of pointless. There was no one there when they emerged, covered in dirt, blood, and gripping weapons, faces pale.
"I think Naruto is somewhere in that direction," Sakura pointed to where there was a huge gap in the trees some distance away. "We should hurry if we want to arrive there before Orochimaru."
He nodded and they headed out.
▪▪▪
Anko gripped her kunai tighter. "Well, well, well. "If it isn't my old sensei."
Orochimaru glanced up at her from where he was perched on a bizarre wall. It looked... well, not like the result of any doton jutsu she'd ever seen before.
"Why are you here?" She snapped.
"Originally I came here hunting for a very special set of eyes," his own glinted at her. "Now, though...
"The little Uchiha's teammates seem to be just as- if not even more so- interesting as he is." Orochimaru grinned wickedly. Anko shivered. "I think I want the whole set."
"I don't think I'll lend them to you," a voice said from above. A familiar silver haired figure dropped down from a higher branch and landed besides her. "They're my cute little students, after all."
"Kakashi!" Anko felt her shoulders loosen in relief. She wouldn't have to take on her old sensei alone. "What are you doing here?"
"Toph said she spotted a disturbance over here," Kakshi pulled a kunai out of his pouch and spun it until it was point down. "Way to ruin her, by the way."
Toph. Toph. Where had she heard that name before?
Wait...
"Melon Lord sent you?" Anko asked disbelieving. "How'd she know where he was? Isn't she, you know, blind?"
Kakashi didn't answer. He sank into a crouch, pulling his headband up to reveal his sharringan. "Not now, Anko. We have bigger fish to fry."
"Ah, yes," Orochimaru straightened from his study of the pointy, hastily made wall. "I'm afraid I do as well."
"We're not letting you get those kids!" Anko hissed. She waited a second more, then launched her kunai right at her old teacher.
He moved aside with ease, but Kakashi had moved in, using her knife as a distraction. He exchanged a few blows, then Anko arrived to aide the copy nin.
Despite being outnumbered by an S-ranked and an A-ranked, Orochimaru was holding his ground. He was kept too busy to summon anything, though.
"This might be a bad time to tell you this," Kakashi remarked, blocking a creepy, slimy tongue. "But Toph also told Hayate what was going on, and Hayate is gathering all the jonin Senseis and guards who've arrived at the tower. They're likely on their way here even now."
Orochimaru hissed. "Another time, then."
He leaped off the wall and vanished from their sight in seconds. Anko went to chase after him, but Kakashi grabbed her arm. "We shouldn't follow him."
"I've been waiting for this chance," Anko protested. She pulled, but his grip was solid as a rock.
"You and I can't take him on alone, and the safety of the kids is all that matters right now."
Stupid insufferable man. Why did he have to go using logic on her like that?
"You're right." She still felt the desperate urge to go after the Snake Sannin, but if he had marked any kids...
No. If he had used the cursed seal he would have been weak enough for her to be able to take him down herself. Anko narrowed her eyes.
"He said he was after the Uchiha-" she started, but Kakashi cut her off.
"I know. I should have seen something like this coming." He grit his teeth. "Sauske is the second to last Uchiha, and he's awakened his sharringan. Of course Orochimaru would want him."
"He said he was after him at first."
Kakashi froze.
"Then he said something about the whole set. I think he wants the entire team, not just Sauske." She felt urgency bleed into her voice. "We have to stop him."
"Yes," Kakashi narrowed his eyes, the scarlet sharringan spinning wildly. "We do.
"I won't let him take my kids."