Chapter 5 The Forest of Death
Naruto, Sasuke, and I were racing through the trees, hoping to find someone with the opposite scroll. We had had some close encounters already, with people kidnapping Naruto and then cloning themselves to look like him. They almost had us fooled, but Sasuke saw right through them.
With a few bumps and bruises, we headed farther into the forest. One thing was for certain, we couldn’t get split up. We needed to stay in each other’s sights at all times. So, we created a password, that way we would always know if it was the other. It was something simple, but I knew Naruto would never remember it all- it was too long for him to retain.
A blast of wind, from a different battle- I knew, threw us off our feet. I smacked against a tree and took the blunt of the force for Sasuke. Getting to my feet, I saw Naruto running towards us. “Password?” I asked before he could get too close.
Naruto recited it perfectly. Word for word. Sasuke threw a kunai at him, and Naruto dodged it too swiftly for it to really be him. Sasuke had caught on too. “Who are you, really? It was better than the last one, but we saw right through you!” Sasuke told him.
In a puff of smoke, the imitator’s original form appeared. It was a long, black haired woman.
Flashes of my past spun through my head.
A man, though a snake came to mind when she saw him, smiling over her evilly as she tried to learn a complicated Jutsu.
……..*…….
Being locked up inside cage, the snake-like man watching from the outside.
………*………
Being electrocuted from a collar around my neck when I didn’t do the Jutsu correctly the first time.
………*………
A silver haired man at his side, sneering down at me as I wept at their feet.
………*………
Fighting the snake man.
Then I received flashes of pain, though no images went with them. Searing pain, torture whips, burning, pricks of pain.
Grabbing my head, I fell to my knees. Why now? Why when we were getting ambushed? Why was I turning out to be a liability, not an asset? Why? Who was this woman? Why did she trigger memories that I didn’t even know existed?
Sasuke didn’t dare take his eyes off of the woman to help me; I would have yelled at him if he did. Though a migraine pounded like a boxer’s fists inside my head, I stood next to Sasuke and stared down our opponent. There was something about her. She reached into her robes, taking out a scroll, the scroll we needed. She held it up and put it to her mouth, and swallowed it.
I frowned. What kind of person could swallow a scroll? What kind of person would even do such a thing? She licked her lips hungrily, muttering something; I was too preoccupied by her recent job to comprehend what she had said. Looking into her eyes, I saw she was starting a Jutsu, I glanced away, though I heard Sasuke gasp.
Glancing back at him out of the corner of my eye, I saw he was on his knees, breathing heavily. He threw up in front of himself. I frowned. What kind of Jutsu had she used that would bring down Sasuke to his knees? Sasuke seemed paralyzed; he just stared off into space, as if he was having a battle within himself.
I charged forward, prepared to defend my teammate. Throwing a kunai, I disappeared as she dodged it and appeared behind her, sending the chakra to the palm of my hand, ready to end it by hitting the pressure points in her arms and chest. But, she turned and with her insanely long tongue, stroked my cheek while grabbing my wrists with her hands. Kicking her in the stomach, I put some distance between us.
Making some rapid hand signs, I started to evoke a complicated Jutsu, but she thrust shuriken at me, forcing me to do something with my hands. I reached out, caught all of them between my fingers and chucked them back at her. But, she disappeared, reappearing behind me silently. Chakra at my palm, I swung out, but she kicked me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. Picking me up, she threw me against a tree as if I was a rag doll. It was almost as if she knew my moves, but how?
She grabbed a kunai and stabbed me in the shoulder, pinning me to the tree on each side. Groaning from the pain, I tried to think of a plan, but I was no Shikamaru. I needed to be quick… Forming more hand signs, I disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke, who was still breathing hard, and grabbed him. We needed to find Naruto, regroup.
I didn’t make it far; the pain in my shoulders had me setting Sasuke down about half a mile away. He was coming out of the Jutsu, though he looked a little shaken up. It seemed distance was the key.
“What did you see, Sasuke?” I asked. I needed to know what we were dealing with if it was going to be a fair fight. After all, she seemed to know all of mine.
“My death,” he stammered. “She’s death. She’s what’s going to kill all of us.” He shook his head, to clear it. “But, I’m going to put up one heck of a fight.”
I smiled. There was the Sasuke I knew. “I was starting to get a little worried the ninja had done some serious damage,” I teased.
He smirked. Now I was for sure he was back to normal.
“We need to find Naruto. We need the whole team to take her down. She isn’t what she seems,” I said, listening for anything that would give away any opponent’s position.
“What happened with you back there? Had she done that death Jutsu to you then?” Sasuke asked, interrupting my train of thought.
I struggled with what to say. I didn’t want him thinking I was some poor weakling that needed protection. “Ya, something like that.”
Glancing over Sasuke’s shoulder, I saw a giant snake ready to strike. Pushing Sasuke over the branch, I stopped the snake’s attack with my hands. It was stronger than I, so it pushed me into three trees, snapping them in half, before we landed on the ground. It’s mouth crept closer to my head, but I pushed back. My arms were shaking from the tension.
Sasuke started running to help, but the ninja showed up, blocking his path. The two of them sparred off. I was on my own. If only I knew where Naruto was. If only we had found him.
I guessed that the fangs were poisonous, so I couldn’t get nicked by them; I needed to be careful. My arms were growing tired. I was going to let go. Suddenly, the weight was lifted. The snake was sent sprawling. Jumping to my feet, I found Naruto- the real one- standing about a foot away from me, smiling.
“The number one ninja is here!” he cried as he stepped to my side and we annihilated the snake together. Now it was just the matter of the snake man to deal with. I saw Sasuke was putting up a good fight, but he was growing tired.
The ninja’s neck elongated just like a snake and sped towards Sasuke. Rushing to Sasuke’s aid, I stepped into his place and took the bite for him.
