eyes like the night sky
I was sitting in a tree and, well, waiting. There was a surprising amount of that involved in this mission, I honestly imagined that we would be called on far more often than we actually have been. I also thought we would be called at least once, but as it turns out, when you set up a situation where you can monitor every player on the board, especially with a method that is, as far as I know, unheard of, it eliminates a lot of the frantic running between teams to keep up, and you end up entering a more 'mission control' like role. I ended up mostly staring at the map we had carved in the bark, waiting for some pattern to show itself in the movements of enemy markers, as Sai went out to be nearby whenever an enemy marker started closing in with a Konoha team. Sai was currently out, checking on a marker that had been still for a little longer than usual, most of the time the reason for those still points were either a dead team, or a team recuperating from a fight, but it was still important to check.
So, I simply sat in our tree, noting down movements and positions, staring at the routes everyone was taking and looking for any and all patterns that could indicate a massive fuinjutsu formation. While taking occasional minor breaks to use my fuinjutsu powered mobile forge to create various tools and items. It was boring, to be honest. That is, right up until the numbers on a marker that had been relatively calm and ordinary started to rapidly fall, coming closer and closer to matching the coordinates of team seven.
"Well, that's... alarming" I said, before shooting into the sky in the direction of team seven, my heart beating against my inscribed ribs as I raced towards my friends and whatever was trying to attack them.
The scene taking place on the branches bellow was indeed alarming to say the least, as Naruto held back the massive snake from smashing into Sakura and Sasuke as they stood there, bracing for impact. But that wasn't the alarming part, no the alarming part was the woman in the yellow robe standing on the snake's head with a thick purple rope tied around her waist. As she looked down on the three struggling children in front of her, there was amusement in her eyes, a strange amusement fueled not by humor, but instead the cruel curiosity of someone performing a painful experiment which result they already knew. The sick glee of unnecessary suffering.
"my, my… what an impressive feat of strength, Naruto-kun. I am almost tempted to take you as well, but that would simply be wrong. I could not bear the thought of stepping on my former companions toes, especially when I am already taking one of their brothers. That would be cruel, do you not agree, Sasuke-kun?" the woman asked. Wait, I think I remember something, wasn't there something weird about her?
"well, in my personal opinion that mostly depends on a couple of factors, such as, how integral to these companions of yours is Naruto? And how what is the relationship between the brothers? Now forgive me for assuming that Sasuke is the aforementioned brother but based on their past I think you could get away with taking both" I said, breaking the woman's stare down of team seven.
"what is this curious creature? A little genin has learned to fly? Perhaps a new kekkei genkai? How… delicious. And why would you think I should take both?" she said, a tongue far too long to be human slithering out of her mouth and licking her lips, finally reminding me of who she was. Oh well, it's not like I was ever going to live too long, I am a shinobi after all, besides, getting killed by Orochimaru the snake Sanin isn't the worst way to go, there's a real story to tell there.
"I said could, not should, for two reasons, firstly, I really have no basis for what I'm saying, and secondly, i would warn even you that being alone in the same room as those two is the most painful thing I can imagine, and I've done self-surgery" I said, hoping that by ignoring team seven, he would ignore them as well.
"YOU WHAT?" Naruto yelled, dashing any hope I had of them running away.
"Naruto, do you have to nag me every, single, time, I do the tiniest self-surgery, and would you just please run away while I distract her" I had to play along, I needed him to still play his game for as long as possible.
"NO! I don't run! I never will! It's against my ninja way! And when did you learn to fly anyways!" Naruto yelled, and I held back my surprise when I saw the red color his eyes had taken, and the slit pupil.
"the idiot's an idiot, but we aren't leaving you to fight, were not letting you take the fall for us again" Sasuke said.
"they're both right, we're going to beat her together and then I will kick you, yes, kick, until you tell us where you've been" Sakura said, smirking slightly even with her pale face and the fear in her eyes.
"I appreciate the sentiments, but I think you're missing something important here. I can fly. The whole point of avian evolution is to run away in a direction no one can follow. I get that predator birds figured out flight eventually, but I'm sure that the first couple of prey birds had it great, and I'm the first to figure out flight, so I get to be the first pigeon, flying around and dumping on everyone" I said.
"interesting, you said, 'figure out flight' so it is not a natural ability, and you performed self-surgery, something you have never done before, and Naruto-kun was surprised when he saw you" - his smile slowly widened to an inhuman level - "my oh my, that is some impressive seals you have on your gloves, even on that whip in your left hand… you wouldn't have happened to discover a way for fuinjutsu to grant flight, would you? Because that would be a very useful tool indeed, a succulent piece of knowledge I could just see myself ripping open a soft outer shell to get" he said, his tongue slithering out once more to lick his lips.
"succulent enough for you to let them leave?" I asked, and staring into Orochimaru's eyes as he pretended to weigh his options.
"no, now why don't we three play a little game together, of course, we can't have five people in a three people game, that would just be less fun for us, don't you agree?" he asked.
Then, before either Sasuke or I had time to move, he dashed towards Sakura as the Snake moved it's head back and opened it's maw. he squeezed her neck as she clawed at his arm, her choaked grunts of desperation cutting off abruptly as he backhanded the side of her head, and as her body went limp, he threw her directly towards the snake's maw. The only one within range to catch her before she was swallowed was Naruto, but as he caught her out of the air, he exposed his stomach. This gave Orochimaru the perfect chance to pounce with his fingers outstretched, a character lit with the glow of purple fire on each, and as he made contact a sizzling sound was heard as Naruto screamed in pain, pain far greater than the slight sizzle would imply, as if some part of him that had always been there was torn away. Just before Naruto drifted into unconsciousness, I locked eyes with him and saw that they were back to their normal blue hue, even if they were far more pained than usual, even in unconsciousness.
"now, isn't it much better now? Not having to worry ourselves about those of lesser talent, well, I still have to think of you two little creatures, but you can finally stop them from holding you back, you can give up feigning concern for these lesser shinobi" Orochimaru said, looking at them in repulsion as he held the two.
"let them go. You want us, not them" Sasuke growled, even as his hands shook at the effortless nature with which he defeated both his teammates.
"I suppouse you are right, I really see no reason to keep them around either" Orochimaru said, before he let them slide off his hand, down towards the ground hundreds of feet below.
I flew towards them as fast as I could, I needed to catch them, they could die, I needed to keep them safe, because even worse than them dying, everyone else would somehow be hurt as well, because them dying would mean I failed to follow my orders. But Orochimaru would never let me save them. He know's how hidden village shinobi think, he knows that we care for each other, and expects that I, as the one who can fly, would go after them. I locked eyes with Sasuke for a moment as I reached the only reasonable conclusion. I would be the distraction.
I dropped my whips as I flew over Sasuke on my way towards their dropping bodies, feigning mindless desperation, which was easy since I was very desperate, just not mindlessly so. as I flew as fast as I could, I carefully watched Orochimaru, waiting for him to strike, and as I got closer and closer to my friends, his smile grew wider and wider in anticipation, making me realize that he wanted to stop me just before I saved them. And as I thought, just before I reached them his tounge flew out of his mouth, reaching towards my neck. I spun through the air wildly as I dodged his tongue, forcing him to turn to follow me as I made him turn his back to Sasuke. Of course, he caught me moments later as his wet tongue wrapped around my neck, pulling me towards him even as I flew in the opposite direction. When I was within arms reach, he calmly stretched his arm out to grab around my sternum, his fingers sliding in between my ribs as he held me, but even through the pain I noticed over Orochimaru's shoulder as Sasuke caught Naruto and Sakura, something he could only do with the whips I had 'dropped' to grab the others.
"no isn't this simply perfect, before even five seconds have passed I've already gotten one of you. This foolish will of fire nonsense will always be Konoha's greatest weakness, your insesent need to save each other always makes you so very predictable. But not to worry, my good little friend, you will soon understand this just as I do" - Orochimaru said, thankfully, he talked for long enough that Sasuke could hide the others - "but enough of that for now, why don't you sit quietly while I grab our dear Sasuke-kun" then he lashed out in a blur, throwing me with the speed of a meteor back-first into a gnarled tree trunk causing my head to rock back into. After that I fell face-first onto the branch below, stars dancing on my closed eyelids as my muffled mind tried to figure out what to do.
"get up" a voice hissed quitly next to my ear.
I turned my head to the voice, forcing open my eyes and finding myself staring into two black ones.
"Sasuke? How? I would have thought she was after you by now?" I mumbled in confusion.
"I'm not Sasuke, you idiot, I'm Hoshi" She hissed.
"yeah, I see it now, Sasuke's eyes have a sparkle in them that yours just don't" - I said as I slowly staggered to my feet - "oh, and could you leave? You're still not supposed to be here"
"are you serious? You're still going on about this when you're in a life-or-death battle with someone far out of our league?" she asked.
"…you gotta do what you gotta do?" I said.
She scowled.
"so I'm going to go help Sasuke, now if some random idiot decided to try assassinating the freakshow we're fighting right at this moment, someone who, for example, was kicked out of her mission just when she entered the forest, leaving her open to independently do whatever she wants, that wouldn't break any orders, right?" I paused, waiting for some freak lightning bolt to strike down one of my friends.
"oh, hi Hoshi, my dear friend, here is a reunion gift, they're special senbon, you would probably be useful for killing, say, a creature without bones, which I feel like the freakshow is based on her elongating her body and coiling around a branch. But, you know, use them for whatever. Now you wouldn't happen to know where Sasuke went?" I said
"why the hell are you talking like that, there's no one here to tell on you, and what the hell did you mean 'Sasuke's eyes have a sparkle in them that yours just don't'" she asked while gesturing in the direction they went.
"the universe is here to tell on me, and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but that twinkle is just something you either have or don't have, and he has it in spades" I said as I flew in the direction of Sasuke.
"no, I mean what is this supposed twinkle" she asked.
"I honestly don't know, but have you looked into his eyes? It's like stargazing for god's sake. But we don't have time for this, Sasuke is either losing horrifically right now, or getting toyed with" I said, speeding up towards the sounds of battle.