The Legend of Konoha's Shooting Star

The Purpose is..!!

"Great job, Naruto!!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling unbelievably relieved to see him again.

'Yeah, great job...' April thought, grinning, too. She had no clue where he had been up until now, but she knew he wouldn't go down that easily. Without wasting a second, she used the momentary distraction to catch up, leap into the air, and throw another kunai, which forced the enemy to back up more as she flipped to land next to Sasuke and adopted the bai jong stance again, ready to back him up for the next attack.

"Naruto!!" Sasuke shouted up at him. "I know you think you're cool and here to save us... but forget it!! Run away!! This one is on a whole different level!!!"

The grass ninja glared at April, unable to decide which of the two interlopers was the bigger nuisance. He turned his attention back to Naruto and smirked. "Hehe... looks like you defeated that giant snake... Naruto-kun."

"!" Naruto and April both frowned at the remark.

'This guy sure looks like a snake...' Naruto thought, noticing the strange way his seemingly boneless body was wrapped around the branch. 'I see... so it was him behind it...'

'Does that mean he also sent one of those things after Naruto...? Why does he seem to be going out of his way to target the boys? Is it because they're the two strongest on the team, so he wants to eliminate them first...?' April wondered, furrowing her brow. 'Anyway, it's good that Naruto found us... I was desperate before, but it's dangerous for us to get too close to this guy. But now Naruto can use his shadow clones... we might be able to injure him or at least distract him long enough to buy time to escape and set a trap...'

'With him coming to save us... It's not like we are in a better situation,' Sasuke thought anxiously, furrowing his brow and gritting his teeth. 'What to do?'

"Hey!! Hey!! It looks like you were picking on the weak!!!" Naruto gloated, enjoying his moment in the spotlight.

"Yeah, you're real cool, Naruto!" April told him as a bead of sweat slid down the side of her face. "Now come closer and listen to what I have to say!!"

'This is bad... all four of us will be killed...' Sasuke thought, cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck. There was no way they could beat this guy. He had to do something. 'There is no other way...'

"!" April and Naruto furrowed their brows and frowned in surprise when he suddenly deactivated his Sharingan.

The grass ninja also furrowed his brow, wondering what he was planning.

"What are you..." April started to ask Sasuke, when he cut her off.

"We will give you the scroll..." Sasuke told the grass ninja, shocking his teammates. "Please... take it and leave us."

"!!" Naruto gasped indignantly, gaping at him in disbelief. 'Wha?!!' he thought incredulously. What the hell was Sasuke saying!?

"Huh?" Sakura said, stunned.

'What the hell is he saying...!?' April wondered, disturbed. Even if they gave him the scroll, there was no guarantee that he would let them go. That was the same mistake her parents made. They had thought those men broke into their home to rob them, when the truth was they intended to murder them from the start. 'For Sasuke to say something like that under these circumstances... Is this meant to be some kind of ruse? I hope he isn't panicking again... That snake attack really seemed to freak him out...'

The grass ninja smirked.

"Sasuke!!! What the hell are you talking about?!!!" Naruto shouted angrily at him. "Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?!!!" He was really glad that April was the one carrying it, or who knows what that jerk might have already done with it!