Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Version 2: My Life as Haruno Sakura ❯ He's a Cold-Hearted Snake ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]










A scream caused Naruto and Sasuke to flinch. They looked back at their teammate. She, too, was looking back. The two boys noticed that she was shaking. "Would you stop screaming already? You've been doing it for the past six minutes," Sasuke muttered. "It was just another bug. It's not going to come and get you." The green-eyed rounded on him with a pissed off look.

"Thanks for the reassurance, bird brain, but that wasn't me this time!" Mayu turned her head back towards where the scream came from. She sharply turned around again. "And for the record... that thing was huge!" Naruto suddenly laughed.

"Yeah, that's what she said!"

Two pairs of eyes glared at the laughing blond. He was completely ignorant of their fierce looks. Naruto abruptly stopped laughing. Mayu stepped to him with a concerned look on her face. "What is it, Naruto?"

"... Got to pee," he answered, and then proceeded to turn around and fiddle with his pants.

Before Naruto could unzip, Mayu kicked him in the back, causing him to fall over. "Don't piss in front of me!" She pointed in a random direction. "Go do your business somewhere else!" Naruto stood up with a pout, and then walked away. Mayu crossed her arms. That kid had not an ounce of decency in him, did he? Mayu heard Sasuke chuckle. "Nani?!"

"Your face is red." Mayu stammered out an embarrassed 'F you!'

Moments later, Naruto's moaning reached their ears, signaling that he was done. Did he really have to do that after he was finished? No. Mayu made a disgusted face as he stumbled through a bush. "I peed a lot!" Naruto fixed his pants with a satisfied sigh. "That felt good!" He walked over to the two with a goofy smile.

"Naruto, couldn't you have-" Green eyes scanned over her teammate. A small frown emerged on her face. She stood beside Sasuke as she finished. "Gone before we entered the forest?!"

The Uchiha suddenly punched the blond ninja. Blood shot out of his mouth as he was sent back. Naruto's back hit a tree as a strangled gasp came from his mouth. He looked at Sasuke in surprise as he rubbed his chin. "What did you do that for...?"

Mayu hit him over the head before he could retort. "What the hell are you doing?!" Sasuke looked towards her in rage. Her punches hurt and there's the fact that he bit his tongue as well. "Stop treating Naruto as if you hate him! I know you got a rivalry thing going on, but that’s no excuse!”

“But he’s-”

“No buts…! Jeez! You’re acting like a five-year-old!” Mayu walked over to the sitting Naruto and knelt beside him. She wrapped a comforting arm around Naruto’s shoulder. “Its okay now, Naruto-kun! I’m here.”

Sasuke’s eye twitched. For unknown reasons, his anger spiked seeing Mayu like that. It pissed him off for some reason. He didn’t like it at all. And anyway, she had interrupted before he could reveal that that Naruto was a fake. But if he said something now, the imposter would surely use Mayu’s position to his or her advantage. He bared his teeth in irritation.

“I’m okay, Sakura-chan…” Naruto mumbled.

“Let me fix you up a bit,” Mayu replied, fishing in her pouch. “I have something that’ll take the sting away.

“That’s great…” Blue eyes were trained on Sasuke. “He probably has the scroll. He looks the strongest out of all of them.” His eyes moved to the girl. She was still busying looking through her pouch to notice. “I’ll take her hostage.”

Before the ninja could make a move, however, he found a kunai at his neck. Sasuke’s eyes expanded in surprise. “She knew this whole time…?” He slowly walked towards the two ninja who were still on the ground. Blue eyes looked down at the kunai, and then to the smiling female, who held the weapon, dangerously close to his throat.

“S-Sakura-chan…?! What are-” The tip of the kunai pressed against his skin. He stopped talking immediately. Sasuke moved at a quicker pace. He came to a stop in front of the pair.

“Start talking! What did you do with Naruto?!”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ya know, dude, my hand trembles when I’m angry,” Mayu commented. Naruto’s eyes grew wide. The girl had purposely shaken her hand, which held the kunai. “Tell us where Naruto is and maybe I’ll calm down.”

“B-But I am Naruto!”

“Then where is the scar that was on your cheek?” Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.

The imposter’s face paled at his question. “And besides that, your shuriken holster is on the wrong side,” he continued. “Our teammate is right-handed.” The imposter frowned.

“So you figured it out, huh?” With a popping noise, smoke covered the poser’s body. A sudden yelp was heard and a kick to the stomach sent Sasuke flying back.

The Uchiha sat up, clutching his abdomen. His dark eyes were trained on the evaporating smoke. After it fully vanished, he saw that a strange Rain ninja, who was wearing an even stranger outfit, equipped with some type of breathing device, had his arm wrapped around Mayu’s neck. His other hand held a kunai at her stomach. The Rain ninja laughed at how the tables had quickly turned. These Leaf ninja really were rookies! He almost felt bad for doing this… almost.

“You bastard…! Let her go!” Sasuke finally stood up straight. This was not good. The enemy already had two hostages. This nameless ninja had taken both his teammates while he could do nothing. Not being in control sucked big time.

“Oh, I’ll let her go,” the name ninja chuckled. “As soon as you hand over your scroll!” Sasuke bared his teeth. Of course he wanted the scroll. His eyes shifted over to Mayu. She looked abnormally calm for someone in her situation. Unless of course… Sasuke’s eyes widen.

His hands quickly ran through hand signs. “Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!” Sasuke blew several balls of fire from his mouth. They all shot towards the enemy. He cried out in shock as he jumped away. The little twerp had actually put his teammate’s life on the line? His feet landed on a tree branch. Sasuke looked up at him with a smirk on his face.

“You would attack your own teammate?!” The enemy pointed the kunai at him. “If I had known you hated her, I wouldn’t have taken her. Oh well, I guess I’ll do away with her right now!” He plunged the kunai deep in Mayu’s flesh.

“SASUKE…!” Naruto’s shout echoed through the forest. It wasn’t long before the loud mouth ninja was standing next to the Uchiha.

“How did you escape?!” His shout of disbelief caused Naruto to grin. He stuck up his middle finger at the Rain ninja.

“Don’t underestimate me or my team!” Naruto exclaimed. The foreign ninja looked incredulous, and then his gaze shifted to the girl, only to realize that he was holding a small tree trunk in his arm the entire time.

“NO!”

“You’ve…” The sudden voice caused the ninja to gasp, and then turn. “… been logged!” Mayu shouted, punching the surprised ninja. His body twisted as he fell from the tree branch. Sasuke swiftly jumped up, holding a kunai. Not missing a beat, he pierced the enemy’s skin, moving the kunai deeper and deeper.

“Try to stab my teammate, will you?” Sasuke mocked as the ninja gaped at him. Blood spattered on the Uchiha’s face, but he didn’t seem to care at the moment. The second his deadly weapon made contact with the Rain ninja, a feeling of satisfaction came over him. Revenge was sweet… He could only imagine how killing his brother would make him feel. It gave him chills just thinking about it.

The Rain shinobi, oblivious to Sasuke’s dark thoughts, grunted in pain. He pushed him away, and then fled, thinking about how unlucky he was to have come alone. Blood gushed out of his open chest wound as he ran away. Sasuke’s feet finally touched the forest floor. He panted lightly. His adrenalin was still rushing through his veins from that small encounter. Mayu jumped from her position on the tree branch. She now stood beside Naruto, joining him in looking at their teammate as if he’d gone crazy.

“That was exciting, ne, Sasuke?” Mayu broke the silence. Sasuke straightened up and turned to his team. He nodded slowly. His heart rate was decreasing by the second. He released a slow breath, and then opened his eyes again. The Sharingan had reverted back to dark eyes. He hadn’t even realized that he’d triggered them.

“I didn’t get to do a thing!” Naruto pouted while poking his two index fingers together. He looked very sad by this fact. Once again, Sasuke had saved the day while he was too busy tied up behind a giant tree. Mayu have a reassuring pat on the back and told him that there was always a next time. Naruto cheered up a little bit, promising himself that he would help out in the future.

“Hey, we need to get out of here before that guy shows up again with his team,” Sasuke stated. He jumped away, leaving Naruto and Mayu to follow after him. The two nodded, and then moved after him. Once the three reached a good enough place, they stopped. “If you two didn’t realize, that was a bad situation for us.” Sasuke sat down on the ground. Naruto and Mayu followed suite.

“You’re telling me!” Mayu scoffed as she dug around in her pouch again. She pulled out some type of wipe and handed it to Sasuke. “I thought we had that guy.” She sighed heavily as Sasuke began wiping his face. He tried to give it back to her, but Mayu gave him a look that said ‘You must be losing it!’ Sasuke rolled his eyes and tossed the dirty wipe over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he continued. “I didn’t realize that it wasn’t Naruto until a moment after he came closer to us.” Sasuke pressed his elbow against his raised knee. “If the three of us gets separated, don’t trust anyone, even if they look one of us. There’s a possibility that an enemy will transform into us for a chance to get the scroll or worse.” Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

“Wait, how we know if we’re talking to our real teammates?” he asked, confused.

“Let’s decide on a password right now,” Sasuke answered.

“Password…?” Naruto blinked. Sasuke nodded as he continued speaking.

“If a different password is given, assume that that person is the enemy no matter what.” He narrowed his eyes a bit. “It’s either the password or nothing, got it?”

Naruto and Mayu nodded their heads. They had to admit, it was a pretty good plan. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully.” He paused for a moment. “First you will ask for the ninja song ‘Ninki.’ The answer should be ‘It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. The time when the enemy is tired, and has his guard down.’ That’s it.”

Naruto visibly sweated. There was no way he was going to remember such a long password. Password…? That was a friggin’ passphrase! Naruto frowned and looked to his female teammate for help. She was currently staring at Sasuke. Her mouth opened and four words came out.

“Fuck that, no way!”

Sasuke nearly fell over in shock. She was honestly protesting?! Sasuke sat back up and glared at her. Mayu turned her head away; a look of defiance crossed her features. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean, I’m not saying that long password. I refuse to say it!” Mayu huffed lightly, and then turned back to her glaring teammate. She crossed her arms to further enhance her displeasure with Sasuke’s password. The boy slowly breathed out, trying to control the anger that had bubbled up inside him.

“Why?” he asked in a calm voice.

“It’s obvious why!” Mayu stood up. “That password is too darn long! You know how much oxygen I’m going to loose by saying that?! I should–I should smack you for suggesting that!”

“This matter…!” Sasuke clenched his fist. “This matter is not up for debate!”

“You’re the one that said ‘Let’s decide’ and I’m deciding to veto that right out the window!” Mayu turned to her blond teammate, who was unusually quiet during this argument. “What do you think, Naruto, new password or Sasuke’s long, crazy maze-like password?”

“I think I’m going to go with Sakura-chan on this one.” He nodded his head and smiled. Mayu grinned at Sasuke, feeling triumphant.

The Uchiha sighed heavily and frowned. “The idiots are revolting,” he thought. “Fine! You come up with something better, if you can!” He gave a pointed look at Mayu. That look was ignored because the girl was too happy over her apparent win against Sasuke to notice. She dropped to her knees with a smile on her face.

“Okay, my password is this…” she began. “It’s quick and easy, so you won’t forget it. ‘Thug ninja for life.’” She patted her chest with her fist twice and held up her rock fist. The ‘hand sign’ was simple enough. The pinky and index fingers were straight up while the ring, middle, and thumb were kept curled up in the palm. Sasuke remembered that Mayu had showed him and Naruto on one of their earlier missions. “See? Easy.”

“I am not saying that.” Sasuke shook his head. “It’s ridiculous. I’m not saying it.” His answer was quick and to the point. He didn’t care that Mayu’s smile had dropped. Uchiha Sasuke had an image to uphold and his image would be shattered if he did something like that. No way was he going to be caught doing that!

Mayu huffed again, and then turned her undivided attention to Naruto, who was smiling. Apparently, he liked the new password a lot. Mayu’s smile returned as she turned back to Sasuke. “Well, that settles that.” Sasuke grumbled under his breath. He was saying something about how he was not going to do it. “If we get separated and you say that long password that you came up with, I’m going to attack you, bird brain. Real you or not.” Sasuke only grumbled some more.

“Alright, now that that’s over, what do we do now?” Naruto asked, standing. Sasuke and Mayu stood as well.

“Well, I’m keeping the scroll,” he announced.

“Wait! Why do you get to-” Naruto’s question was suddenly interrupted.

Something, out of nowhere, had struck him in the face. Whatever it was, it was sharp and caused the blond shinobi to bleed. His head turned towards the direction he thought the cutting thing came from. “What was that?” His question went unanswered as he, as well as his teammates, stared in the same direction.

It was relatively quiet for a moment. Sasuke took a step forward in confusion. Suddenly, a giant gust of wind came forth. It was stronger than any other normal wind. That led Sasuke to believe that they had another enemy on their hands, a stronger more efficient enemy. He quickly jumped out of the way of the wind’s past. He briefly heard Mayu complaining that a bug flew in her eye, but that was quickly silenced by a loud noise. After the forest stopped shaking and the wind stopped howling, Sasuke noticed, from his hiding spot, that his teammates weren’t around. Hopefully, the two were also in hiding.

Sasuke also noticed the huge furrow in the ground. It seemed to stretch for miles. It was slightly impressive, but Sasuke was sure that he could do the same with one of his jutsu. The sound of a twig snapping caught his ears. He quickly pushed himself from the bush he was hiding under. A startled gasp made him quickly turn. He saw Mayu, nearly a foot away from him. She was holding up her kunai in defense; she also had a couple of shuriken between her fingers.

“You scared the crap outta me!” Mayu gave a relieved sigh as she moved closer to him. Sasuke back up and held up his own kunai.

“Don’t come any closer!” His sudden shout caused the girl to stop. She frowned lightly. “Say the password first!”

“What about you?! Why don’t you say it first?” Sasuke almost lowered his weapon. He knew that condescending defiant tone anywhere. She would be the one that made him say the password first. But then again, it could be a really good disguise.

“Okay, we’ll say it together. How does that sound?” Mayu seemed to mull it over in her head, and then nod.

“Thug ninja for life,” they both said, and then patted their chest twice with their fists, which quickly turned into rock fists.

Mayu sighed as she lowered her weapons. She didn’t remove the shuriken from her hands though. “I am so glad you said the right password, bird brain.” She grinned as Sasuke also lowered his weapon.

“Yeah, whatever…”

Itai…!” A groan filled their ears, causing the two to turn. They saw Naruto running towards them. “Hey, everyone, how are you?” Sasuke and Mayu held up their kunai. Naruto stopped in his tracks.

“Before you come any closer, tell us the password,” Sasuke ordered.

“Oh, yeah! Gomen, gomen!” Naruto grinned. “Thug ninja for life.” He didn’t move. Sasuke and Mayu waited a moment, and yet the blond did not move an inch. The two threw their weapons. The girl also threw her shuriken.

Naruto just barely moved in time. The weapons whizzed pass him just as he fell to the ground. “What are you doing?!” he exclaimed in surprise. He sat up looking confused.

“You’re not Naruto!” Mayu pointed an excusing finger.

“This time we have someone good enough to dodge my attack,” Sasuke pointed out.

“What are you guys talking about? I said the password correctly!” Naruto complained. “Why are you attacking me?”

“You said the password correctly all right,” Mayu began, frowning.

“But you didn’t do the action that followed,” Sasuke finished. Blue eyes grew slightly wide at the information. “And besides that fact, the movement you used to dodge that is different from the normal Naruto. Show your real self, faker!”

The imposter grinned. A tongue darted out of his mouth and licked his lips. These actions of his caused a shiver to run up Mayu’s spine. Her eyes expanded as her mouth dropped open. “I see.” With a small boom type noise, the faker was hidden by a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke vanished, it stood in Naruto’s place.

Sasuke noticed that it was the same it that winked at him before they entered the forest. Mayu recognized this person right away. She stood a step back as that… monster conversed with Sasuke about the password. Sweat slid down her face as she continued to stare at the enemy. Its tongue appeared again. That tongue… that creepy tongue that gave her nightmares, she’d know it anywhere. “Oro-teme…” she thought, taking another step back.

Her teammate noticed her movement, but kept his eyes on the enemy. He wondered why Mayu was moving away. Was she that scared of this guy? No matter… Sasuke would take this person on. She didn’t have to get involved if she was this scared.

The person suddenly pulled out a scroll. It was the Earth scroll. It was the scroll that they needed in order to complete this exam! Mayu bit her lip as the person chuckled. “You want our Earth scroll, right?” The tone that it used was almost mocking. “Since you three have the Heaven scroll.” It chuckled again, and then wrapped its long tongue around the scroll and forced it into its mouth.

Mayu and Sasuke gapped as they watched the scroll go down its throat. “Now that’s an esophagus…!” The Uchiha grimaced as it licked its lips again. The Grass ninja didn’t seem to mind the disgusted looks it was getting from the two twelve-year-olds.

“Let’s begin…” It licked its lips and bowed its head. “The battle over our scrolls…” The two ninja gasped.

“We don’t want it!” Mayu exclaimed, but was ignored.

“By putting our lives on the line!”

When Mayu looked into its reptile-like eyes, she could really see her death. Blood… There was so much blood being sprayed everywhere. On the ground, on the tree branches, blood was everywhere. Cuts and bruises were scattered on her body. Her throat was slit, her wrists were cut, and several holes were all over her chest area, blood gushed out of all of them. The vision of her untimely death ended with a kunai being driven deep in her skull.

For a moment, she, as well as Sasuke, was almost completely immobile. Their bodies trembled. Their faces were frozen in a state of fear. Finally, their muscles gave out and they dropped to the ground. Sasuke panted heavily. That feeling of dread and horror washed over him. He hunched over and puked. Never before had he experienced something so… intense. His dark eyes shifted over to Mayu. She was still shaking. Her eyes remained open and scared. “She’s in a state of shock!” Sweat ran down his face as his eyes looked towards the Grass shinobi. “It was… just intent to kill, but the damage it did to my body… I can barely move! Who is this person?”

“This isn’t good… I need to run!”
Mayu watched as the person smirked. “I didn’t think it would be this bad. My legs, they won’t move! I’m going to die… Orochimaru… is going to kill me! We’re going to die…” She could not stop her body from shaking. No matter what she did, she couldn’t move an inch. Mayu stared, it was really the only thing she could do, as the enemy moved towards her and Sasuke. It took out two kunai, one for each of them. “I really am going to die! No… Move, you stupid body! Move…!”

The Grass ninja threw both kunai. They were coming towards the two genin. Mayu did the only thing she could do. She closed her eyes and prayed that Sasuke would snap out of it. She remembered that it was Sasuke that saved both himself and Sakura and the original, right, so it should happen. On account of being paralyzed, Mayu didn’t feel someone’s touch. Nor did she feel herself being lifted.

She opened her eyes and breathed deeply, only to turn and puke over the side of the branch she was sitting on. When she was finished, she put a hand over her throat. Her pupils were dilated as she panted heavily. That was the worst feeling that she’d ever had. Seeing and feeling were definitely two different things! She swallowed hard as green eyes turned to Sasuke. He seemed to be in worse shape than she was.

His thigh was bloody, soaking his white shorts red. He looked so frightened and vulnerable. His body still trembled. He had obviously been scared. He looked as if he was more scared than Mayu. His eyes were trained elsewhere as if searching for something. She remembered… Sasuke replaced his fear with pain and that’s why he was bleeding now. “Sasuke…” Her voice shook. Surprised, she covered her mouth with her hand.

“What’s the matter with me?” She screamed at herself. “I was acting so–so useless! I should have done something, anything! I relied on Sasuke to get me out of that situation. He did and I’m grateful to him, but… I hate it! I acted like her! I was Sakura in that moment!” Mayu looked down at the bark of the tree. Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt embarrassed and angry. “I couldn’t do anything at all!” She clenched her eyes shut. “I can’t allow myself to do nothing again! I won’t allow it! There’s no way I’m ever going to rely on Sasuke or Naruto again! And I won’t run away!”

A shadow suddenly loomed over the two. Mayu looked towards her right. If someone were to look inside her, they’d see that apart of her died. And it was all because of what she saw. There was a giant brown snake head right in front her. It was hissing menacingly. Forget not running away! “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! GIANT SNAKE, RUN!!!” Mayu quickly jumped backwards away from the snake. Her conscious just shook its head.

You won’t run away, huh?

Mayu stifled her conscious and focused on Sasuke, who was in mid air. Luckily, he had heard her scream and jumped out of the way right before the snake could take a bite. The girl landed on a branch and watched the snake slither up another branch. “It’s going after Sasuke!” Green eyes looked towards her teammate to see that he had thrown shuriken at the snake head. He had screamed as he did it. “He still must be shaken up.”

The snake fell. Its head hit a branch. It was so heavily that it nearly cracked the branch. Blood slid down from its open wounds which Sasuke had caused. If there was one thing Mayu hated more than bugs, it was definitely snakes. She gaped at the corpse of the snake, surprised that it was still moving. A humanoid head pushed through the skin of the snake. “Oro-teme was in there the entire time?!”

The green-eyed kunoichi trembled. It was moving its tongue again. It was so slimy and disturbing to watch. She almost looked away. The Grass ninja suddenly launched forward, going towards Sasuke as if it were a snake. Its body had actually stretched that far. Sasuke shouted as it came closer.

“Oh no!” Mayu quickly dug around in her pouch for something, anything that could help her teammate. “He’s not moving!” Suddenly, several shuriken and kunai had embedded into the bark right in front of the Grass shinobi’s path, causing it to halt. Mayu looked towards where the weapons had come from. She was almost surprised to see Naruto standing there, with his arms crossed, looking like he was some type of hero. From his posture, she was sure that her blond teammate was about say something instead of help. But she was still happy to see him, anyway.

Oi, Sasuke, Sakura-chan…” he began. “Thug ninja for life!” He finished, patting his chest with his fist and holding up his rock fist. A relieved smile crossed Mayu’s face. Seeing, at least, one of her teammates looking fearless gave her a boost of confidence.

“Naruto…! You’re so cool!” She showed her appreciation by complimenting the blond. He smirked, feeling victorious even though he had yet to fight.

“Naruto, you must be here to show off and helping us, but don’t get involved!” Sasuke’s shout caused the blond ninja to look at his teammate in confusion. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that he heard Sasuke’s voice tremble a bit. But this was Sasuke! He doesn’t tremble. “Run away! This person is way above our level!”

“It looks like you’ve escaped that giant snake, Naruto-kun…” The Grass ninja finally spoke up. He stared lazily up at Naruto, slightly annoyed that he was stopped. The blond shinobi stared down at the person. His body was tied around a tree branch; it looked similar to a snake’s body. Naruto slowly came to the conclusion that it was this person that controlled the snake that ate him.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Looks like you were picking on the weak, eh?” He pointed a finger down at the Grass ninja. “Now that I, Uzumaki Naruto, am here, I’m going to beat you to a pulp!”

Green eyes looked towards Sasuke. Mayu frowned again. It looked as if her teammate was still scared. He was looking back and forth between the Grass ninja and Naruto. Mayu figured that he must’ve been thinking of a plan. She noticed that he shut off his Sharingan. This only caused her worry to bubble up. “What’s he doing?”

“Matte…!” Sasuke got the Grass ninja’s attention.

Eh…?” Mayu noticed that he had lost all forms of a defense. His shoulders were sagged and his head was down. Sasuke’s hand disappeared into his pouch. When he pulled it out, he was holding the Heaven Scroll.

“I’ll give you the Heaven Scroll.” The Uchiha announced.

“Nani…?!” Mayu’s eyes were wide. There was no way that Sasuke was that scared… right? To purposely give away the only chance they had to becoming chuunin was utterly prosperous!

“Please,” Sasuke continued. “Take this and leave us in peace.” He paid no attention to the shouts of protest from his two teammates, and only told them to shut up.

“I see, you’re smart.” The Grass ninja finally made a move to get up from the branch. “The only hope that the prey have from the predator… is to hand over something else to eat to save itself.” Sasuke and the Grass ninja stared at each other for a moment before Sasuke finally tossed the scroll towards the enemy. The person reached out to catch the scroll.

Naruto watched in disbelief as the scroll moved through mid air. Without hesitating, he leaped from his spot and caught the scroll before it reached the Grass ninja. Naruto propelled himself from one tree branch towards the one Sasuke was standing on. The Uchiha rounded on him in a frightened rage. “Stupid…! Don’t butt in!” His shout fell on deaf ears as Naruto turned. “Don’t you realize the situation we’re in?!”

No holds bar, Naruto punched Sasuke in the face, sending the Uchiha towards another branch. He quickly composed himself, so that he could land straight. Wiping the blood from his chin, Sasuke demanded to know why he was hit. Instead of answering right away, Naruto continued to pant. He finally opened his mouth to speak. “Tell me what our password is!” Naruto growled. Sasuke only looked confused. “There’s no way that you know our password because you’re not Sasuke! You’re a fake, aren’t you?!”

“Baka…! I am the real one!” Sasuke glared at his teammate. As if they was a reason that Naruto could doubt he was the real one.

“You liar!” Naruto exclaimed, bowing his head. “The coward I see in front of me is no Uchiha Sasuke! I would never call someone as pathetic as you my rival!” The blond ninja finally looked up, glaring at Sasuke. “I don’t know how strong this… weird person is, but there’s no guarantee that we’ll be free to go even if we hand over our scroll!” Naruto continued, ignoring everyone else around. His words were directed at Sasuke only. “You’re the one who is scared, the one who doesn’t understand the situation!”

The Grass ninja chuckled lightly as he finally stood. “Naruto-kun…” he began, causing the two boys to look towards him (they finally figured out that it was a man, although in the back of their minds, they still weren’t sure). “You’re right.” He moved his tongue in a circular motion. Sasuke’s eyes widen. “I just have to…” He lifted his sleeve to reveal some type of marking on his arm. “Kill you all to take the scroll!” He bit his thumb and wiped the blood on the marking.

Naruto glared, not liking the feeling he got from seeing this. He ran towards the Grass ninja, kunai in hand. “Stop! Run, Naruto!” Sasuke shouted, but he was ignored. The blond ninja had lost faith in his comrade. He moved closer to the Grass ninja.

Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu…” he calmly stated as he formed the correct hand signs. A giant smoke cloud appeared, causing Naruto to halt in his attack.

Mayu winced as a forceful wind picked up. She hoped that it wasn’t the giant purple snake. She really didn’t want to see that! Naruto was blown back by the wind, which actually saved him from being crushed by the giant brown snake that was summoned. He landed on a branch. He panted heavily as he stared up at the hissing, giant snake. The Grass ninja, who was standing on top of the snake, chuckled. “How cute. What cute prey I have this time.”

It was about that time when Mayu started to think. She slowly backed away from the fight. It was clear to her that she would be no help in this type of situation. But that didn’t mean she was going to just give up. Once she was out of sight, she quickly made her way towards the ground. Since everyone else was high in the tree branches, they didn’t notice her touch the ground. In fact, they probably didn’t see her because they were up so high.

She looked up. Luckily, she could still see… if she strained her eyes a bit. Mayu could also hear Naruto. He was growling and screaming. She could also hear the sound of decaying branches breaking. She realized that he must’ve gone berserk by now. “Okay, if I remember it right… Naruto should fall right around that area after Oro-teme seals his red chakra.” Her eyes focused on a certain spot. She walked over to it and looked up. No longer could she see her teammates, but she did see the snake’s head hovering over a tree branch.

“Meaning, Naruto stopped it from getting to Sasuke,” Mayu thought. Suddenly, she heard Naruto yelling again. His yells consisted of ‘snake bastard!’ and ‘Let me go!’ Then a hiss of pain reached her ears. As soon as it started, it stopped. Mayu narrowed her eyes and waited a few moments. “He should fall… right about…”

CRASH

Mayu managed to repress a shout of pain she tried to crawl from underneath her blond teammate. Once she accomplished that, she rubbed her head. “Itai…! Got the timing wrong!” she thought, holding back tears. She had even bit her tongue. Now it hurt like hell! Mayu shook her head and placed two fingers against Naruto’s neck. Good thing his heart hadn’t stopped. The blond was just unconscious.

Her hands moved over to Naruto’s pouch. She reached inside and pulled out several items, taking into account that the scroll was no longer in there. She placed the items besides Naruto’s unconscious body and pulled out several items of her own. She looked up again. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, SASUKE?!” Sasuke had heard the shout, but didn’t look away from the Grass ninja’s eyes. “HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO DEFEAT THAT MAN IF YOU CAN’T EVEN DEFEAT A SNAKE! YOU’RE WORTHLESS, USELESS, AND A COWARD!” Mayu paused, briefly thinking that what she was about to say was going too far. But he needed to snap out of it. “WHY DON’T YOU JUST RUNAWAY AND CLING TO YOUR PATHETIC LIFE?!”

Sasuke heart beat quickened. Her words… they cut deeper than anything. They were so similar to what… he had told him before he left. Sasuke closed his eyes and bowed his head. He was suddenly angered. Mayu had shouted at him. Her voice sounded near hysterics. He knew that she didn’t know any better, but it still pissed him off. “No!” He looked up. His eyes had turned red again. “I won’t let it end here… for any of us!”

He glared at the Grass ninja, and for a moment the enemy saw his own death. He shook off the feeling and smirked. “That was some killer intent he has…” His body suddenly started to shake. He looked down in surprise. No, it wasn’t his body. It was the snake underneath him.

The snake’s body shook, almost causing the Grass ninja to feel as if the ground was shaking. The giant snake suddenly popped out of sight, causing the Grass ninja to fall and land on a tree branch. He stared at the young Uchiha in slight surprise. “He actually managed to… send it away just with killer intent alone. Something tells me that he’s never killed before, and yet he used it…” He smirked as he narrowed his eyes. “This will be quite interesting. More interesting than I thought.”

Mayu watched all this happen from a far. She didn’t feel the intent to kill at all. She just thought that it was the same as the original plot. She thought the Grass ninja had made the snake disappear, not Sasuke. Mayu looked down at her unconscious teammate for a moment. It wasn’t long before Sasuke let out a battle cry. She shook head and began picking up the notes and the weapons. She didn’t understand why her teammates felt the need to do that. “Better get started.”

She jumped up.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had his hands full, fighting the Grass ninja. So far, with the help of the Sharingan, he could see and invade the enemy’s moves. The enemy hadn’t hit him yet. Sasuke paused to thank his ancestors for his kekkei genkai as his red eyes stared at the enemy. Suddenly, the Grass ninja sent a giant gust of wind towards him. Quickly moving out of the way of the blast, Sasuke launched himself at the enemy. Taken by surprise, the enemy could only gasp as Sasuke wrapped himself around his body.

Making his body lurch backwards, Sasuke made the both of them to fall over the branch. Now the enemy was falling, head first. He screamed, realizing what the fall could mean. Before he could react, however, his skull crashed into the trunk of the tree, causing the bark to shatter because of the force of impact. The enemy’s hands trembled before going completely limp. Sasuke waited a few more seconds before jumping away from the body.

The man’s legs also went limp as Sasuke stared. He started to lower his guard until the body transformed into a mound of mud. “Shit…!” He quickly jumped back. If he hadn’t his body would be impaled by multiple kunai that rained from an unknown location. Because of his jump back, he realized that there was no longer something holding him up. Thinking quickly, he pulled on the wire that was in his hands. The wire snagged onto a nub of a tree branch. His body swung through the trees “George, George! George of the Jun–great, I’m starting to sound just like her…” Sasuke thought as he landed.

He looked back to see if the enemy had followed him. He turned back around, only to see the enemy running towards him with his fist poised to attack. His eyes widen as the fist came about half an inch close to his face. He swiftly leaned backwards onto his hands and watched as the fist passed his face. It seemed to happen at the pace of a turtle. And then it sped up as Sasuke brought his leg up and kicked the enemy in the chin, causing him to go up.

Mayu watched from afar with a shocked, angry look. “That’s my move!!” she thought, clenching her fist. “He’s gonna pay for that!” She took a step forward out of her hiding place. It was almost time to put her plan in motion.

Sasuke stood up straight just as the enemy came back down. The Grass ninja slammed his fist against Sasuke’s head, causing the boy to hunch over. He didn’t have time to groan in pain because the enemy used his foot to kick Sasuke away. This time he had time to groan as he fell. He didn’t move again. The Grass ninja dropped his stance, and then slowly walked forward. “What a disappointment…” He stared down at the unmoving boy. “Your ancestors weep. The Uchiha clan should thank me for killing you.”

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. He was being mocked. A smirk appeared on his face. Well, he’ll show him. The enemy was caught got off guard by the small explosions that happened right behind him. The gasp of surprise didn’t go unnoticed by Sasuke. He hopped up from his position and away from the branch. He threw multiple shuriken passed the disoriented ninja. Once the boy landed, he maneuvered his hands so that the shuriken would change course. The wire, which was attached to the shuriken, tied the enemy to a tree branch.

The Grass ninja tried to get out of it, but he was tied down with no way of escaping. Sasuke wasted no time in forming hand signs. “Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!” Using the wires as guides, flames shot towards the tied up enemy. The attack had a direct hit! The fire was so hot, that he burnt a hole through the tree and had the enemy screaming in agony.

The screams stopped and the fire slowly died down. Sasuke panted as he gazed at his enemy. He seemed to be dead. His pants turned into him breathing hard. That attack took a lot out of him. But it was over… It was finally over! He had won.

He felt so relieved that he didn’t realize that the enemy was still alive until after he spoke. Sasuke looked up in surprise and slight annoyance. Would this person just die already?! “Such mastery of the Sharingan at a young age. You’re a true Uchiha after all…” Sasuke realized that the enemy’s voice had changed. He also noticed that the enemy wasn’t really from the Grass village. His headband was one from the Sound village.

“Who the hell are you?!” Sasuke shouted. To put it lightly, he was tired of fighting this guy. “What do you want from me?!” The man only chuckled and tossed a Heaven scroll up.

“My name is Orochimaru… As to what I’m after,” he chuckled again. “That will be revealed the next time we meet, Sasuke-kun.” The scroll began to burn. “And that won’t happen until you pass this exam with the best score of all.” Sasuke’s eyes widen. “But before that, you’ll have to defeat the ninja that serve me.” The one named Orochimaru created a hand sign, and then his neck grew longer and shot at Sasuke.

The Uchiha could barely see him coming, even with the Sharingan. That’s when time seemed to slow down. Sasuke felt a presence behind him, but didn’t turn away from the oncoming snake user. He felt a sudden weight on his back and arms wrap around his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimpse of pink. “Mayu…!” Next came the sound of flesh being pierced. A grunt of pain followed closely after.

Orochimaru released his prey, only to realize that he had bitten the wrong one. He looked up to see that he had bitten the girl instead. She had a pained look on her face as she somehow managed to glare. “You little bi-” Before he could finish, however, one of the girl’s arms unwrapped from Sasuke’s neck and jammed a kunai up Orochimaru’s chin. The snake user visibly choked on the weapon and stared in shock as the girl howled in pain. That’s when Sasuke noticed the explosive note attached to the kunai.

His dark eyes grew wide in shock before jumping away. He heard a sizzling type of noise and looked behind him. What he saw made him pale considerably. Mayu had somehow attached shuriken to her sides–there were four of them, two on each side–and attached to those shuriken were explosive notes, all of them were burning up! He quickly pulled them from her body and threw them at the long neck of Orochimaru.

BOOM

BOOM
! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The blasts sent Sasuke hurdling towards the ground. He hurriedly composed himself so that he could land properly. Once he landed, he looked up to see smoke and flames. He needed to get out of here. He looked around and saw something orange. “Naruto…!” Ignoring Mayu’s screaming for a moment, he rushed over to his fallen comrade. He checked, and thankfully, the blond still had a pulse.

He set Mayu on the ground next to Naruto’s body. She was still screaming. Sasuke shook his head, and then knocked her out, successfully quieting her. He swallowed hard and thought about the situation he was now faced with. “I have to get them out of here.” He managed to put both of his teammates on his shoulders, and then run. He had to find cover, so he could treat them… somehow.
*****************************

Sasuke gently set his teammates down. The ground was cool and he hoped that it would somewhat cool their bodies. Both of them had high fevers. That’s one of the reasons he picked a spot near a river to stop. The three were currently inside a cave. Sasuke had been lucky to find it. It took some time, but he’d found a perfect place. It was now dark. Outside, the moon lit up the area.

Sasuke stared at his teammates’ bodies for a moment longer before standing. There was a river not too far from here. He had to get some of that water. He turned and began walking towards the mouth of the cave. After a quick glance at his team, he took off into the night.

Finding the river was relatively quick. Sasuke looked around before kneeling near the edge. He dipped one of the bottles into the river, waiting for it to fill. Mayu had put a lot of useful things inside her pouch. The bottles were small and empty, but they were handy nonetheless. Sasuke lifted the bottle from the water’s current. He then proceeded to do the same with the other two bottles.

After he was finished with the task and putting the caps back on, he stood and began to walk in the direction of the cave. His dark eyes were trained on the ground as he walked at a slow pace. He started to think about all the things that had happened in just one day. He swallowed hard as he thought about Mayu. He couldn’t help but notice the strange dark mark that was on her arm. Whatever it was, he knew that it was originally meant for him, and Mayu must’ve figured that as well. She had taken the bite for him, which was unacceptable. He was seriously going to maim her when she woke up. If she woke up that is…

Sasuke’s eyelids lowered.

Not only that, but there was also Naruto. His sudden burst of strength was surprising to say the least. Not to mention his eyes. They had changed. Even as the blond ninja was mocking him, he’d noticed the red in Naruto’s eyes. They weren’t blue. It was strange. Everything was too strange.

Sasuke looked up and saw that he was almost to the cave. He was about to pick up his pace, but he stopped, noticing that something was entering the cave. His dark eyes widen. “Shit…” he murmured. Slowly and quietly, he moved closer to tell what had entered the cave. “A tiger?! No way…!” That’s when he realized that it wasn’t just one tiger, it was four tigers. “The universe is officially laughing at me.”

He had to do something! He couldn’t just let a family of tigers have at his teammates. Maybe he could direct their attention. Sasuke picked up a large rock and threw it. The sound caused the four tigers to emerge from the cave. “There’s no blood on their faces. They’re safe for the moment.” Sasuke watched as the tigers left. When he deemed it safe enough, he quickly moved and entered the cave. He found his comrades the same as he’d left them.

He just had to pick the cave that was home to tigers, didn’t he?!

A groan reached his ears, causing him to move forward. Mayu was the one who made the sound. “Hold on, I have to move you guys before I-” A growl interrupted him, causing the Uchiha to flinch. He slowly turned to see that the family had returned. Their snarls made Sasuke’s heart beat against his chest. What could he do with no way out?

One of the tigers stepped closer, growling. It was much bigger than the other three. Sasuke frowned. He would have to kill them. The big yellow eyes actually seemed to glare at the intruder. Sasuke realized that he was the intruder. The tiger suddenly stopped snarling and sniffed the air.

“What is it doing?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The tiger moved closer again. Sweat glided down Sasuke’s face as he watched. The tiger’s face was about a few inches away from Sasuke’s. The Uchiha had a kunai out and ready. Suddenly, the animal licked the side of Sasuke’s face. He grimaced as the scratchy tongue licked him again, this time, his neck was the victim.

Stunned into a stupor, Sasuke didn’t do anything as the other three came over and began licking at his skin as well. He finally shook his head and pushed a tiger’s tongue away, which was licking a little too close to his personal area. He turned to his teammates to see that two of the tigers were licking at Mayu and Naruto’s skin. “What the hell…?” Sasuke forced himself towards them gently pushed away the tiger that was licking at Mayu.

He picked up a bottle and poured water into his cupped hand and splashed it on Mayu’s face. He did the same to Naruto. Quickly, he took out two wipes and soaked them in water. He placed the two wipes on his teammates’ foreheads after removing their headbands. He sighed heavily after finishing these tasks. “How did it end up like this so quickly?”

One of the tigers curled up behind Mayu. It nudged her, and then yawned. It lay down near her head. Sasuke watched in confusion. He didn’t understand why these wild beasts were acting like docile kittens. It didn’t make sense, and yet he didn’t dare to question it. He was grateful to have this treatment.

Sasuke leaned back, expecting the wall of the cave. Instead, his back was met with something soft and furry. Craning his neck back, he saw that a tiger had gone behind him as well. He relaxed and muttered an ‘Arigatou’ under his breath. His eyelids lowered. Having tigers around wasn’t such a bad idea. They would probably growl if anyone were to come near, so he could rest as well. After all that happened today, he sure did need it.
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Next time: Bleed It Out!

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