The Real Me

37

Sasuke charged at the snake lady and threw a flurry of attacks at her. She dodged them all gracefully, a smile playing on her lips.

Sasuke managed to land a solid kick on her and she flew back into a tree. Without wasting a second Sasuke threw several shurikens at which planted themselves around her. She smirked.
Sasuke, then threw a few more kunai that landed around and behind her. She tried walking forward but just then Sasuke pulled at something and the snake lady was tightly wrapped up in those invisible ninja threads that Sasuke had already attached to the shurikens. He pulled tighter and tighter and it began cutting into her.

"Really, I must say I'm impressed." She drawled, thinking this was his last trick. But to her surprise, Sasuke had one final thing in store for her.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!" He shouted as the fire spread out in a second covering the snake lady in flames.

"Woah," Naruto breathed, amazed at the sight of such fierce flames. He noticed how the snake lady was also burning, skin peeling and melting, but all she did was smile.

"What the hell." Naruto whispered to himself. He felt a very strong urge to go ask her how it felt to be roasted, he wanted to feel it himself but of course he wasn't dumb enough to actually try that.
The fact that this Snake Lady wasn't even flinching deeply unsettled him. Who the heck was she? She surely wasn't a Hidden Grass nin.

Sasuke huffed and glared at the woman, his eyes shining with victory. But it was momentary.
The snake lady started laughing and as the skin peeled off her face, another face, more fairer and snake-like eyes, started showing.

This wasn't a normal ninjutsu.

"Sasuke..." Naruto started in a warning tone, but Sasuke being the desperate Uchiha that he was, rushed out screaming.
The snake lady literally peeled as she stretched towards Sasuke. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the skin tear apart as if it was just a disguise. He reached out but he was too late.

Just as Sasuke was about to hit her with an attack, the snake lady's head suddenly elongated (like a goddamn snake) and reached out and wrapped around Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha stopped and struggled, shocked at the fact that his Sharingan hadn't been able to see through this.

"SASUKE!" Sakura screamed from somewhere above, and was blatantly ignored by the snake lady.
"Hey!" Naruto charged at her, his Katana drawn at full speed. She merely thrust out her hand and a bunch of snakes wrapped around Naruto and he just barely kept himself alive by slashing at the snakes.
Sometime during this, the snake lady bit Sasuke. His screams rang out in the seemingly empty forest.
Somewhere a team cocked their heads towards the sound, pitying whoever its owner was.

"Now...my job is done. You're still weak. But I can help you. You will come to me. You know that. I'm the only way can get stronger. I can give you power..." She whispered into Sasuke's ear and slithered back. Calling off the snakes, she just merged with the trees and vanished.

The boys huffed and gasped.

"Orochimaru..." Naruto whispered, not loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

Sakura jumped out from some tree and ran to Sasuke. "Are you alright?" She asked, concerned as Sasuke writhed on the ground. He held his neck and groaned. Naruto could see a small black pattern on his neck where Orochimaru had bit him but he made no comment as he wasn't sure whether he should tell them who he really was.

Naruto made no comment as Sakura fawned over Sasuke. He just stared at the burning remnants of the tree which now smelled like a mix of burning wood and skin.
"Naruto help me! He's not in the condition to walk!" Sakura looked at him with pleading eyes. She was actually concerned, nd called him by him name rather than idiot or something.

He took a step forward and fell. He hadn't realised how much damage he had exactly taken. He tried getting up but his arms failed him. A searing pain ran through his skull. It ran from his nose to eyes to the back of his ear and somehow around the skull. It was incredibly uncomfortable as well as painful. He just couldn't do it.

Why aren't you healing me Kurama?

First, coz you can't always rely on me.
Second, it would be incredibly suspicious.

Naruto didn't even have the energy to argue with him and the only solution that came to him was sleep. And he fainted. He missed Sakura's shocked screams and the efforts she took to get them into some kind of hideout. The boys were heavy but Sakura wasn't exactly physically weak. She managed to somehow drag both her teammates into the hollow of a tree where she looked after them as they lay unmoving.
She shed several tears during this time only to realise how ultra pathetic that was.

Her teammates were in this condition because they had decided to take on a tough opponent.
What had she done in the meantime? Nothing.
This revelation only made her cry more and that's how she passed a whole day in the tree hollow.

The next day, in the afternoon, when she was fanning her teammates, there was movement outside.

Sakura whipped around and tried her best at hiding the boys. She gathered some bushes and played them at the opening and looked through a small gap.

It was those sound ninjas. She had seen them before they entered the Forest of Death. They looked pretty intimidating and Sakura could only hope that they didn't notice her team. 
Unfortunately, it seemed they had specifically come for them.

"Where are they? I'm sure you said this was the place?" A man whose face wash covered in bandage raised his eyebrows at the kunoichi with them.

"Hmph. They are here. Stop doubting me Dosu." She sat down and placed her hand on the ground. A vibration went through the ground, and she grinned and then looked up straight into Sakura's eyes.

"I told you." She smirked.
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A/N:

Hey wassup my dudes. Gonna keep this short since no one probably reads it.
For the first time I actually had an idea as to what I was gonna write. This must be a sign that we're getting closer to the...well, the Akatsuki part Ig...
I feel like I'm really stretching this... Anyways.

(Gotta keep it short.)

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Yours Truly,
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