Chapter 49 Sakura's courage

The first thing Anko was aware of was pain, and this wasn't the usual kind she woke up with a sharp gasp as pain seemed to flair all over her chest. She blinked as there was nothing but darkness but soon shapes took hold. As her eyes adjusted she noticed she was in a cave, she could feel the stone against her back as she was sitting against it. Her legs were numb from being in the same position so she tried to work them but hissed feeling the pain in her chest when she tried to move her body. She tested herself out and she knew she had a few broken ribs and one of her arms was tied to her upper chest with a modified sling. She rolled a shoulder and grunted, it felt like a fractured or broken collar bone, so she wasn't going to move under her own power anytime soon.

She looked around the cave; there was a small light and heat from a small stone circle with embers in it. It gave enough heat without making too much smoke which was a good thing in such a tight area. She saw Naruto and Sasuke was laid out and next to her was Kakashi. She looked down in concern and spoke his name but there was no reaction. She bit her lip as she was worried, he looked a little pale and there was no telling what kind of internal injuries both of them had. She used her free hand to check herself and noticed a bandage wrapped around her torso. She could make out slight first aid on Kakashi as well.

Light footsteps caught her attention and she saw a tired looking Sakura walking in.

"Oh thank god you woke up," Sakura said seeing Anko was awake. "I was so worried."

"How long?" Anko hadn't realized just how dry her throat was and was thankful when Sakura noticed this and gave her some water.

"A full day at least," Sakura said sitting down. "I had to carefully drag you all here, get the supplies and also set up a perimeter."

Anko raised an eyebrow at that, she did all that by herself? It was impressive for a genin of her size to carry two adults. Although as the feeling was getting back she noticed some scrapes on her legs and guess the girl had dragged her part of the way.

"Anko-sensei?" Sakura said softly. "Was that really Orochimaru?"

Anko sighed and nodded, "Yeah it was, I just wish we could have done more to the bastard. Still have no idea what he's really here for."

"Well he said it was testing Sasuke-kun," Sakura told her about how their fight had gone and the things the man had said to them. "I also noticed something on him when I was checking out his injuries. He's got this strange mark on his neck."

Anko jolted at that making her cry out in pain, that had been a stupid move. "Tell me, does it look like a mark I have on the same area?"

Sakura went to look and she was surprised to see a mark similar to what Sasuke had. "Yes it looks almost the same, what is it?"

"A curse mark," Anko said bitterly. "It's something he made up, I don't know why he put it on me but it royally screws with me at times. Hell during that battle it went off and I couldn't move because of the pain, I know there has to be more to it but honestly I don't care. I just wish I could get rid of the damn thing."

Sakura looked worried over at Sasuke and Anko could see the girl's mind was filled with worry and possible reasons why her team mate was targeted. Anko close her eyes feeling light headed, she wanted to stay awake but at this rate she felt like she could pass out again.

"How are the others?" Anko asked trying to get her mind going.

"Naruto hasn't woken up for some reason, I don't know what happened to him but he doesn't have that mark on him."

Anko nodded, it was a good thing that mark would most likely react negatively to the demon locked inside of him.

"But Anko-sensei…something happened to Naruto," she said to him. "He gave off this…killing intent. I never felt anything like it before, it was just so evil but Naruto is like the nicest guy I know. Plus his eyes, they changed."

Anko winced and now it wasn't because of the pain, she knew how smart the girl was and if anyone could piece things together she might. "Look I can't tell you what happened, it's a secret that only he can tell you but I suggest that you drop it for now."

"But Anko-sensei!"

"No buts!" Anko said harshly to the girl. "This is important Sakura, look there are just certain things that a ninja has to learn and one of them is that you always won't be told everything. Hell that should be a general rule actually but Naruto is, well let's just say special. It's a S-class secret and leave it at that as even I can't tell you."

Sakura didn't say anything but she felt a little hurt, she had known Naruto since childhood but he was holding a secret from them. Sure everyone had their secrets but this seemed something important, so why would he not tell his team mates and closest friends? Were they not as close as she thought?

Anko sighed and wished Kakahsi was up, she could use his help with this. "How is Kakashi?"

"Stable, at least I think so," Sakura only had basic medical abilities but at the moment she wished she knew more. Everyone was hurt and she felt helpless not being able to do more for them. Hell they could be dying and she wouldn't know it until it was too late. It was this moment she realized just how useful medical knowledge could be. If she knew more she would know what to do other than just the basics.

Anko gently ran her hand through his silver hair, she ached seeing him like this. She knew that as a ninja either of them could be hurt or killed but it hadn't really registered until now. A part of her was cursing that she let herself get this close to someone. That she should have broken things off before they had gotten so serious or had never started things off. She wouldn't feel all this pain at seeing like this, and the pain thoughts of him dying on her were horrible. It felt a deep, dark aching in her chest and felt her eyes welling up with tears.

She didn't cry dammit, she never cried. But here she was starting to lose it in front of a genin. She hated showing any type of weakness.

But then another part of her couldn't stop her feelings for Kakashi, he saw past the surface and saw what was under it with her. She felt a connection with him and she felt less lonely in life ever since she got mixed up with him and Naruto. Before she had been so alone, sure she had a few friends but with them she felt like she had the closest thing to family she had. She looked over at Naruto and she even felt feelings for the boy. She liked him, he was just fun to be around and life just seemed better. The same with Kakashi, and ever since they started to date she had never felt so happy before.

But there was a double edge to forming bonds and she was feeling those now.

"Anko-sensei, will help be coming?" Sakura asked her.

Anko thought about it, "Should be. Myself and Kakashi haven't reported in so they'll be combing the woods for us. But it's a big place and they'll be looking for Orochimaru meaning they'll be taking things carefully."

There was a moment of silence before Sakura brought up something else that she had the time to think about. She had heard enough from the fight to learn a few things and she had to ask. "Anko-sensei...was it true? That he used to be your teacher?"

Anko sighed resting her head against the cold rock wall. "Yes, it was a long time ago. Back when I was around your age I think, he was my sensei. Back then no one thought he was really a monster, hell he was up for Hokage until the Fourth was picked over him. I remember him being very pissed at that, I think that's when things really started to go wrong. He was acting strange and then one day he told me we were leaving for a special training trip."

"I don't remember much else. Hell it took me years just to get this much of my memories back. He put that curse seal on me and most of my memories of him are just gone. I was wondering around a beach when Konoha ANBU found me."

Sakura didn't say anything else, she never knew plus she could see the pain and anger in the older woman when she was talking about it. She could tell that Anko had been hurt by the experience more than she might let on. So she said nothing, there really wasn't anything she could say.

Suddenly a loud crash was heard.

"Someone's tripped one of my traps," Sakura said silently.

"Made traps huh?" Anko always did like that, she was wondering if the girl picked up anything from Naruto. If she had any brains she would have, that kid was a genius with traps. Another loud sound was heard as well as a breaking sound.

"Alright that's enough!" A voice came out and Sakura recognized it was one of the Sound genin. "We know you're in there, now come out and bring out the Uchiha or we'll just start a fire and burn you out."

"Looks like they mean business," Anko winced as she tried to get up but failed again. "If they'll listen to me I can get involved and tell them to leave your team alone."

"Really?" Sakura said hopefully then noticed the serious look on Anko's face. "What's the price?"

"You're team will have to be disqualified. We can't show favouritism, if we do then that team must be taken out of the exam with no appeal no matter the circumstances. It's one of the ground rules that all the villages agreed to when the chunin exams were first created. It was to ensure fair play and that no village gave their own genins an unfair advantage."

Sakura thought about it, sure the best thing was to let them be taken out of the exam but the truth was she and her team mates wanted this. She wanted to prove to everyone and to herself that she was strong. She remembered being picked on as a child and how others came to help her she remembered how Naruto and Sasuke were always so much stronger, how she felt like she was holding them back at times.

She didn't want to be the one to cause them to come all this way only to fail. She didn't want to fail either. Despite it all she needed to prove at least to herself how strong she was that she wouldn't be bullied anymore and she could stand on her own two feet. Besides she got a feeling that even if Anko told them to leave they wouldn't. Something just told her that they were coming for them no matter what.

"I can't let you do that," Sakura said as she stood up. "If I don't come back then do what you can to save them."

Anko looked at her and gave a small laugh, "Look at you, so young and yet want to grow up so fast and be a real ninja..."

"I am a ninja," Sakura said facing the opening. "I think the first time I killed was when I took my first steps. I can't let them down and I need to face things like this, I can't just quit and leave when things get tough no matter how it seems."

Anko grinned, "Well you picked up some interesting things."

"I had good teachers," Sakura gave her a small smile before going outside.

Sakura came out to see that several of her traps had been sprung, she had spent a long time preparing the area but so far the Sound team was still standing. It was a shame she had hoped for at least one of them down.

"Where's the Uchiha?" Kin the female on the team demanded.

"Why do you want him for?" Sakura asked trying to stall for a little time as she tried to take stock of things. There were three of them, and she noticed which traps had and hadn't been tripped.

"We're here to see if he really is worthy," Dosu the one wrapped up in bandages said.

Sakura's eyes widened a bit at that. 'Are they working with Orochimaru? It can't be coincidence that he said something about testing Sasuke-kun and now they show up. But they're from the Sound village and he was disguised as a Grass female ninja. Is he disguised from someone from their village giving orders or does he work for that new village?'

There were just too many unanswered questions, why did Orochimaru gave him that curse mark, why did he risk so much into coming back to the village, was there a link between him and the Sound or was he just using this team?

"Are you three working for Orochimaru?" she asked hoping to answer a few things.

The others shared a look and then looked at the girl. "Looks like we can't let her live no matter what if she asked that." Kin said as she came at Sakura.

Sakura's eyes widened as she prepared for a fight, it looked like the others weren't going to step in. Well that worked out well for her, she doubted she could take on all three anyway. The girl with the long brown hair came at Sakura and threw several kunai. Sakura did a simple replacement and a log took her place. Kin searched around as several versions of Sakura appeared.

"Clones? Please don't you know anything more than just simple academy crap?" Kin looked to find the real one as the clones wouldn't make a sound as they hit the ground. But none of them were hitting the ground.

"Kin what the hell are you doing she's right there!" Dosu yelled out.

Kin turned wondering what he was talking about when a metallic piece of metal hit her face. Because her head had been turned it had been a glancing shot but it still hurt as Kin jumped back. She had been hit by nothing or at least she thought it was nothing.

"Kai!" Kin yelled out as she cancelled the genjutsu that the girl had used. Apparently the whole deal had been a basic illusion she must have done it when she had did the replacement but now she could see the other girl.

Kin was pissed that she fell for that trick, so now she was going to use a trick of her own as she pulled out her special senbons needles with bells attacked to them.

'If this girl likes genjutsu then she'll love this technique although unlike most you can't cancel out of this.'

Kin threw several senbons with small bells attacked at Sakura's direction but never actually hitting her. For a moment Sakura was wondering if the Sound girl had missed, then she heard the ringing of the bells and suddenly the world was twisting. She was fighting to just keep her balance now as Kin came at her and slammed a punch into her face. She felt the blow being followed up by a kick and more blows, but she had so much vertigo she didn't know she hit the ground until she felt it slam into her body.

The world was still twisting as Sakura tried to desperately think of what was going on. Things were okay until the bells were ringing.

"How pathetic," Kin sneered at Sakura. "Did you honestly think you could be a ninja, I mean bright search pink hair? You look too much like a girly girl to be in this."

Sakura wasn't really listening as her mind was trying to think what was going on. The sound of the bells had to be the key as this started with them. Knowing genjutsu she knew she had been in one, and the sound of the bells had to be the trigger. The only problem was that she would have to destroy the bells to use a release because the bells constantly rang they kept placing her in it. Unless she could block out the sound, a plan started to form as she just hoped she could reach inside her pouch.

"You know from an ugly girl like you I can see why you wouldn't care about looks," Sakura said to get the other girl angry and it worked. She felt a kick to her stomach as Kin gripped her by her by her short hair up.

"What did you say to me Pinky?" Kin angrily gripped her hair even harder.

Sakura winced but didn't give up. She reached into her pouch and slipped a smoke bomb out. Kin saw the explosion and felt the girl jerk away as the Sound genin jumped clear. She looked to see she had strands of the other girl's hair in her hand and threw them aside.

"That won't help you," Kin said through the smoke screen. She waited until the smoke cleared and the girl was on her hands and knees. Kin had no idea what foolish idea the other girl had, it wasn't like she could have gotten far with her bells messing with her inner ear with their sound. But at any rate it was time to end this. She drew out a kunai getting ready to kill the search pink haired genin.

It was a total surprise when Sakura suddenly struck out with her tonfas when Kin was too close to dodge. The first blow hit the girl's wrist holding the kunai, Kin cried out in shock and pain as her wrist was smashed by the metal weapon as she dropped her own weapon. Sakura didn't stop though, she used her momentum to twist and with her other weapon hit the knee of the other girl, dislocating it with a sickening sound. Kin dropped to the forest floor in pain as she was unable to stand.

"How!? How are you getting through my bells!?" Kin cried out seeing Sakura standing with out any problems. Sakura drew out several shurikens and threw them at the bells then turned to Kin and pulled out an ear plug that had been in one of her ears.

"Sorry I didn't hear that."

Kin's eyes widened, now she knew why the girl had used a smoke bomb, it was to cover the fact she put in ear plugs. With her ears sealed her bells effect would have been practically nothing now. She felt herself a fool for falling for this, if Lord Orochimaru had seen this he would have been so disappointed in her. Her two team mates came up to her and she felt shame in being defeated by this search pink haired girl.

'I guess I'm lucky that Naruto talks in his sleep,' Sakura thought to herself. Every member of Team 7 had their own ear plugs after the first mission night time mission with Naruto. 'But now I have the other two, I know the one in the bandages has something with that arm thing of his but I'm not sure exactly what it does. The other guy with the wind tunnel arms I need to be careful with.'

"Well looks like this girl is tougher then she looked," Dosu said.

"Like that's tough," Zaku said flexing his hands. "But let's see how she handles both of us."

-Near By-

Not far away Team 8 had been making their way through the woods. So far they had been lucky, they managed to get both scrolls as well as picked up an extra just in case. That had been Shino's idea in case they were beaten and they could trade the spare and still have both of them. They also were lucky to have escaped from the Suna team without being caught. They had never seen someone die like that before and it had shaken them a little. They were over it now, but they all agreed that if they even got an idea that the Suna team was close by they would bolt and keep as far away as possible.

They had been traveling in random patterns in the woods so no one could guess which direction they were heading. They were taking a small break at the moment.

"Oh man I'm hungry, I'll be happy when we get out of this place and get some real food." Kiba muttered to himself. So far they had to hunt down their food and although they knew the basic survival training and what to and not to eat, that didn't make eating things like snakes, or some bird they got taste any better.

"Hinata can you scout ahead for us?" Shino asked her.

Hinata nodded her head and activated her eyes, the world turned black and white as she scanned the area. She could notice several animals but so far no people, then she came across what looked like a large battle had taken place. She focused on that area in case whoever did it was still there. She saw several figures fighting she wasn't familiar with but she knew the other figure. It was Sakura and she was fighting against three people. That didn't make sense, where were her team mates, she quickly scanned around and found a small cave. There was Kakashi but his chakra was nearly gone, there was also Anko and there laying on the ground was Sasuke and Naruto. Both weren't moving and she suddenly knew that something was very wrong.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Shino asked seeing the look on her face. She quickly explained what she saw to them.

"We have to go help them!" She said filled with worry.

"Well it's not like we can leave them like that, even if we are in this they're still our friends." Kiba said to Shino. The bug user thought about it, logically they shouldn't try as it would ruin their chances for advancement, but the non-logical part of him told him that, that was wrong. He remembered how Naruto came to him as a child, the first boy to actually talk to him and made friends with.

"Lead the way," Shino said as they quickly made their way to the area.

They quickly made their way to the combat area, by the time they arrived Sakura was having a hard time just standing. She had been forced to fight against the two opponents but it was hard to keep herself from getting killed. Sakura had a few injuries and she was tired but she was still fighting. She wouldn't give up because so much was riding on her and she didn't want to let her friends and team mates down, but she was nearing her limit.

Dosu the mummy looking boy jumped at her with a fist dawn back seeing an opening in Sakura's defence. But before he connected a kick to his ribs sent him flying off in another direction. Given that half his face was covered in bandages the attack had come at his blind side. He looked to see a boy with a dog where he had been. Soon Hinata and Shino joined Kiba to face off against the Sound team.

"Guys," Sakura said relieved to see them all.

"Wow you look like crap Sakura," Kiba grinned as the search pink haired girl scowled at him. "Why don't you take a rest, looks like you deserve it."

"Looks like we got us some Leaf ninja backup," Zaku said as he extended his hands as the wind tunnels in his arms sent a gush of wind out. Team 8 hadn't expected such an attack as they were blown back by it. Dosu took this to run closer and when his team mate stopped his attack he used the device on his arm, it was a huge sonic weapon that could do a few things. One of them was the mess with the inner ear even blowing it if he used it right enough. He thrust his fist forward and sent his chakra into the device.

Although his blow was nowhere near any of them, Team 8 felt the attack, more so with Kiba and Akamaru from their sensitive hearing. With them unable to keep their balance he capitalized on it and with three swift attacks hit each member of the team.

Shino felt that sonic attack with even his bugs, he remembered how they felt when this boy had attacked that other one with the cards before the first exam. Now that he was closer he saw that his attacks were sonic based. Against something like that they didn't have much of a defence. But his mind came up with a plan as the boy seemed to need to see where to aim his sonic attacks.

"Blindside, now!" Shino said the codeword for something that their team came up with. As one each of them threw out a smoke bomb. The entire area was covered in smoke now, usually both parties would be blind but this was where Team 8 was unique. Kurenai had come up with this idea seeing their strengths. Shino couldn't move but his bugs would be able to move through the smoke somewhat as their senses were more powerful. Kiba and Akamaru could smell through the smoke and Hinata with her eyes would be able to see through it.

Dosu was blinded and was looking around as he couldn't find the other team. Then he felt a palm slam into his chest, then he was hit again, and again, and again. He was being hit an impossible amount of times as one more hit caused him to fall onto his back.

"Zaku!" Dosu yelled out and the wind started up again as it cleared the smoke. Dosu could see that on her knees trying to stand in the wind was the little girl of that new team. She looked up and he saw the eyes and the veins showing, the telltale sign of a Hyuga. Dosu had heard of that clan and as he tried to move he could feel that his body was struggling to move.

Hinata had used her family fighting style to seal off several of his charka paths she hadn't gotten them all but she had sealed enough to make it hard for him to move properly. It would give them time to at least avoid his sonic attacks from now on but now they had to deal with the other one.

Kiba and Akamaru tried to jump at him but the wind was too strong and actually blew them away in mid air. Shino tried his insects but the wind was forcing them back making him trying to concentrate on a new battle plan. He couldn't use his bugs on mass because they were too easily seen, he sensed a few had managed to sneak by and were trying to attack the boy. It wasn't much but maybe he could slowly build on their numbers.

Before he got that far that other boy with the sonic weapon on his arm came at him again only more slowly so Shino was able to avoid it. However with the boy with the wind it was going to be difficult in getting around him, plus the girl seemed to be using a tree to get back up. They needed to take that one boy out but so far he couldn't see a way around him yet.

Turns out he didn't have to he felt it before he saw it. There was this dark chakra building up in the area that was disturbing for his bugs and suddenly the one Sound genin cried out in pain. From behind Sasuke Uchiha had woken up. He had seen Sakura injured and the others fighting the Sound team so it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on. Also something was strange when he woke up, he felt powerful, more powerful than ever before. His veins felt like they were red hot.

Currently he had gripped the wrists of the boy with some kind of wind power in his hands and pulled the arm painfully back as he placed a foot on the spine of the person. He grinned down at the boy who managed to turn his head around enough to see him.

"Now then, what's this with you attacking my team mate over there?" Sasuke said in a dark tone.

Next up Chapter 50: Out of the Fire...