Chapter 32: Dangers in the Forest Part 2 1/2

Heh, finally. Four straight chapters of countering anonymous trolls and flamers, and now I can finally get to an author note where I DON'T have to deal with them. Though knowing my luck, I just jinxed myself and someone will be anonymously reviewing my fanfic to flame me for some idiotic thing that makes them feel like a big important person.

Also, a quick note. In previous chapters, I've referred to the seal used on the Hyuuga Branch Family as the Cursed Seal, and the seal Orochimaru placed on Anko as the Curse Seal. To alleviate confusion, I'll be now referring to the Hyuuga Seal by another of its more well known names, the Caged Bird Seal. So sorry about that. x.x

Still, good to be back and working on another chapter of Shinobi's Creed. So let's get to it. Last time ended on a cliffhanger, so we'll need to sort that out, won't we? On with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Ubisoft respectively. This is a nonprofit fan made work of fiction. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 32

Dangers in the Forest

Part 2

Team Eight, along with Karin, quickly looked up; only to jump back to avoid the rain of kunai and shuriken that hit where they had been standing. Naruto quickly drew his ninjato, as Hinata had her naginata in its sword form, and Ino had drawn a kunai. Karin had been placed behind them, as they faced their attackers, the three older Kumo genin who were all cockily smirking down at them from the branch they had launched their attack from.

The leader of the group just grinned as he stood on the branch, obviously feeling quite secure in their victory already. "Listen, don't waste all of our time, alright? Just drop your weapons and surrender, and we promise we won't rough you all up too much. You don't have any chance of defeating us."

Naruto just scoffed at that. "You really think we're dumb enough to just give up without a fight? We wouldn't have gotten this far if we were," he said.

"Besides, you really think we'll just submit to whatever it is you are planning to do to us? I knew most Kumo shinobi were as stupid as they were arrogant, but I didn't expect you to prove me right," Hinata added, causing the Kumo shinobi to glare a bit.

"Oohhh, I was just going to tie you up and present you to Raikage-sama, but now, I think we'll have some fun first," said one of the others, cracking his knuckles.

Karin bit her lip, feeling a bit out of place in this fight, as her combat skills were not that great. She was primarily a sensor and healer, due to some unique abilities she had and was still in the process of developing. Her two teammates were the real 'fighters' of the group. She wasn't sure how much help she'd be here.

Naruto however seemed to be taking that into account as he quietly spoke. "We'll split them up and deal with them. Karin, I know this is asking a bit much of you, but if you can help, we'd really appreciate it. I want you to help Ino out against the doofus on our left. Hinata, you'll take the right one. I've got the leader," he said quietly.

The Kumo shinobi, hearing him whisper but not hearing what exactly he was saying, decided they'd waited long enough. They jumped down towards them, throwing more shuriken, which the trio of Konoha genin blocked. "Now!" Naruto shouted, as they all leapt apart, creating distance between themselves.

Predictably, the Kumo shinobi did the same, being drawn to whichever of their quarry was closest to them. Naruto grinned a bit at that, holding his ninjato at the ready at his opponent rushed him with a pair of drawn kunai.

The two clashed, sword meeting blades as Naruto attacked first, his opponent barely blocking it. Naruto pulled his blade back, parrying a stab from one kunai and bringing the sword around to block the other that was slashing at his head, spinning around his opponent and kicking him in the back, the Kumo shinobi rolled forward, spinning and hurling one kunai at Naruto, only to find the blond shinobi wasn't there. Frowning, he held his other kunai at the ready, as he slowly opened his senses to try and find Naruto, who had seemingly disappeared.

Hinata, Byakugan activated, gripped her weapon tightly, keeping it in sword form because the trees made it difficult to use it in naginata form, as her opponent came after her. She noted he was wearing a pair of armored gauntlets that covered the backs of his arms, hands, and even his knuckles, indicating he was likely a taijutsu expert. She was proven right as he moved in quickly to try and crowd her, preventing her from effectively using her sword. She quickly launched a flurry of slashes, allowing the momentum of each slash to help her bring the blade around for another strike. Her opponent dodged or blocked each slash with his armored gauntlets, but her continual assault prevented him from launching a counter attack, keeping him on the defensive. Hinata slashed downwards at him, spinning and stepping back while thrusting at him. He was surprised though when her sword's grip extended, the weapon shooting towards him rapidly. He barely dodged to one side, the curved blade ripping through part of the shirt he wore, before Hinata yanked it back, the naginata returning to sword form as she readied herself for the next bout, while the Kumo shinobi suddenly became more wary.

Ino and Karin had jumped back, the former holding a kunai in a defensive position, quickly using it to block a shuriken the Kumo shinobi she was facing threw at her. Several more cut through the air towards her, making her rapidly dodge and block them, while Karin scrambled to grab her own shuriken and throw them towards their opponent. The Kumo, a lithe fellow with a scar under one eye, just laughed as he easily blocked them. "Pathetic, girly!" He shouted.

Ino snarled to herself as she got her own shuriken. "Try this on for size, asshole," she said, as she launched her own flurry. The scarred Kumo shinobi barely dodged these, as Ino took this time to pull Karin into cover.

"Okay, I need to know what your skills are, and fast," Ino said quietly, watching the Kumo shinobi to make sure he didn't see them.

"I-I'm mostly a sensor nin and medic," Karin said. "I can sense people's chakra, tell you where they are. As for my medical abilities…well," she said, gently clutching her arm, not wanting to reveal the few bite marks there. Her chakra was unique, in that if a person bit her while she was channeling chakra, her chakra would enter them and heal their body rapidly. The downside was it left scars in the form of the bite marks, so she wasn't a fan of using it.

"Okay then…can you keep track of where this guy is? I don't want him to surprise us," Ino asked her, as Karin nodded.

"Yeah, I'll try," the female Uzumaki said, as she closed her red eyes, concentrating before nodding. "I've got him," she whispered, pointing in the Kumo shinobi's general direction.

Ino nodded with a grin, as she pulled out a couple of smoke bombs. One of them appeared normal, while the second one had a green shell casing instead. "Hope this does what Anko-sensei said it does," she said, as she turned, throwing the normal smoke bomb first.

The Kumo shinobi saw the smoke bomb arching towards him, and jumped to one side, smirking as he saw it explode. "Hah, you'll have to do better than that!" he shouted, only to blink as something flashed past him. He heard a dull 'whumph' behind him of another bomb going off, before he found himself enveloped in a second some cloud. Landing, he quickly dove for the ground, as kunai and shuriken ripped through the air above him, passing through where he had been standing. He quickly substituted himself with a log as another pair of shuriken struck said log.

From her hiding spot, Ino grinned. "Keep it up," she told Karin, who was tracking the scarred Kumo shinobi. Karin nodded, before silently pointing and whispering where she sensed the Kumo shinobi, with Ino throwing a couple more shuriken.

Hinata meanwhile found the fight starting to turn against her. While she had plenty of practice with her weapon, it was becoming apparent that her opponent was somewhat more experienced than her, and now that he was getting used to her fighting style, he was moving in closer. Hinata continued to dodge his attacks, using her sword to occasionally block him before going on the offensive, and trying to drive him back.

The Kumo shinobi was smirking, feeling like he was getting the upper hand on her. He kept trying to maneuver her back towards a tree, so he could rush in, negating her sword and disable her before she could switch to taijutsu. He felt a sense of triumph as he continued to maneuver her towards a tree, and soon saw her back hit the tree. With a triumphant yell, he lunged forward with a strong right jab.

Had he been paying more attention though, he would have seen the ghost of a smirk on Hinata's face. Her Byakugan had allowed her to see the tree, and guess at her opponent's intention, allowing her to pull him into her trap of her own. Now she dropped her sword, her right hand shooting up and deflecting his arm before grabbing his wrist, pulling on it and pulling him off balance as she twisted to her left, her left hand shooting up and jabbing at his face, the hidden blade shooting out from under her arm.

The Kumo shinobi could only let out a yelp of surprise and saw a brief flash of light before his life was ended. Hinata slowly drew the hidden blade out of his face while letting go of his arm, watching him slump over dead, before she bowed her head. "Rest in peace," she said, bringing her right hand up to her chest in salute, before using her Byakugan to find her teammates, and rushed off to help them, grabbing and sheathing her sword.

Naruto quietly crouched on a tree branch, watching the Kumo shinobi who was currently standing in the open with kunai drawn and ready to fight. Naruto however had other plans, as he looked up at another shadowy figure, and nodded. That figure nodded back, before deploying his hidden blade and dropping down at the Kumo shinobi silently.

Sensing the approaching figure the Kumo shinobi whirled and threw one of his kunai, watching it rip into the chest of the descending, blond-haired figure. That 'Naruto' exploded into smoke, while a crossbow bolt shot out of a nearby bush. Barely dodging the bolt, the Kumo shinobi found himself engaging another Naruto in hand to hand combat, barely ducking under the boy's ninjato and managing to knick him with his kunai, causing that Naruto to explode into smoke as well. Whirling, he kicked a third Naruto in the side of the head, dispelling him, before jumping back as the ground beneath him exploded upwards, a clone emerging and stabbing upwards with a hidden blade. The Kumo shinobi dispatched him with his other kunai, before running through several hand seals. "Raiton: Sutatikkukēji no Jutsu!" (1)

Bursts of lightning shot out around the man, covering an area in crisscrossing bolts of electricity, which quickly shocked and destroyed multiple shadow clones that had apparently been hiding in wait to strike. The Kumo shinobi found himself surrounded by smoke, but smirked, believing he had either shocked his opponent or foiled his plans. Drawing out a kunai, he prepared to move out of the cloud of dispersing smoke, only for it to part above him as a black clad figure, having used the smoke to hide his approach, dropped down, driving him to the ground and driving the blade protruding from under their arm into his neck. He gurgled, eyes wide with panic, blood seeping from his neck and mouth, as Naruto looked down at him, watching the life leave his eyes. He slowly reached up and closed them when the man breathed his last, before retracting the blade from his throat. "Rest in peace," he whispered, before turning to leave.

Ino and Karin were moving from cover to cover, Karin using her sensory ability to track the their scarred opponent, and Ino attacking with her ranged weapons, keeping the man moving as well. Ino let out a smile, as she noticed his movements were slowing a bit, indicating that her plan was working.

The scarred Kumo shinobi noticed this too, as he found it harder to dodge the girl's attacks. Was she getting better? No, he seemed to be moving slower, and he felt an ache in his chest. But why? She hadn't hit him with anything. And that's when it struck him. The cloud of smoke he had passed through. Poison. She had used a poison smoke bomb.

Cursing, he quickly tried to find cover, and reach into one of his pouches, to find a general purpose antidote that was given to most Kumo shinobi in the field. It wouldn't entirely cure whatever poison was in him, but it'd be enough to blunt it, and allow him to escape. He had barely taken the antidote however, when the former Hyuuga heiress appeared before him, a bow in her hands, arrow already drawn. She fired it, the arrow piercing his arm and sticking into the tree, making him scream in pain. A scream that was intensified as a second, third, and fourth arrow followed, pinning his other arm and his legs as well.

Hinata secured her bow as Ino, Karin, and Naruto joined her, looking at the now pinned and wounded Kumo shinobi. Karin blinked and flinched at the sight of the arrows piercing the man's limbs like that, while Ino was stoned face, being more used to such sights after the mission in Nami, but still not adapted to it. Hinata and Naruto, both more used to it, took over as Hinata stepped forward, hidden blade extended. She held it under the man's chin, tickling his throat with the blade. "So…one attempt wasn't enough for Kumo, and now you're after me again, huh?" She asked him.

The man, panting slightly from his injuries, just glared at her. "Fuck you bitch," he growled, only to get slapped upside the head by Hinata.

"Language language, there are females present," she said. "Now I can't help but find it odd that Kumo, after several years of refusing to participate in Chuunin Exams inside of Konoha, finally decides to send two teams to the Chuunin Exams I happen to be taking part in. Don't you find that odd Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Very odd indeed. Almost coincidentally, wouldn't you say?" He responded.

"Very coincidental," Hinata agreed, looking at him. "So I want you to tell me what exactly Kumo is planning regarding me," she said.

The Kumo shinobi laughed. "Or what, you'll kill me? Won't get any answers out of me then," he sneered.

Hinata just smiled at him, a mirthless one that didn't reach her eyes. "Oh, I'm not going to kill you. I'll just merely make you wish you weren't born. Maybe I'll start with something that all men seem to hold precious," she said, as her other hidden blade extended, tickling around the man's crotch.

The Kumo shinobi suddenly grew a lot less confident, only for Hinata to snort. "You seriously thought I'd sit here dirtying my hands torturing you? Did you forget who my team member is?" She asked, backing up and looking to Ino. "Want to do a little mind dive?" She asked.

Ino nodded. "My pleasure," she said, performing the handsigns for her clan's jutsu. "Shintenshin no jutsu!"

Her body slumped over, only to be caught by Naruto, while the Kumo shinobi stiffened, his eyes going blank for a second. Naruto, setting Ino down, looked at Hinata. "I have to ask…would you have…?" He asked, trailing off.

Hinata shook her head. "No…I was bluffing. Anko-sensei suggested I learn how to intimidate opponents to weaken their resistance, making it easier for Ino to infiltrate their minds. I might be able to better handle killing people, but I don't think I could ever torture anyone," she said quietly, watching the Kumo shinobi's body.

Karin chose this moment to come over. Without any enemies coming after them, she decided she needed to clarify something. "Excuse me…but are you…are you really an Uzumaki?" Karin asked.

Naruto looked at her, and nodded. "Yeah. Naruto Uzumaki, son of Kushina Uzumaki," he said. "My mother came to Konoha when she was a young child, and was a shinobi here."

"I see…I never thought I'd see another Uzumaki again," Karin said quietly. "My mother was an Uzumaki, and we were allowed to join Kusagakure no Sato. However, the village found out about a…special talent my mother had, and forced her to keep using it for the village, in order to allow us to stay. Unfortunately, they pushed her too hard, and she died from overusing the ability. When they found out I had the same…talent…they turned to me, and forced me to use that talent for Kusa," Karin said quietly, gently gripping her arm as she talked. "I always thought we were the last Uzumaki, but…well I guess that's not true anymore."

"To be fair, this is as big a shock to me as well," Naruto said. "Heck, I didn't even know we had a clan until the Academy, because I grew up an orphan. And I definitely didn't know there were other Uzumaki out there," he added. "But if you've got this special talent…why is Kusa putting you into the Chuunin Exams? Wouldn't they want to keep you in the village to protect it?"

"They wanted me to be a shinobi so I could defend myself. They've kept me mostly on local missions in or around the village, learning how to defend myself and strengthening my chakra. But you can bet though that they'll probably lock me up in the village soon enough," Karin said, looking down. "I didn't even want to come to this stupid exam, and now my team is dead…stupid jerks," she muttered.

Naruto blinked at that, frowning. "You sound like you don't have any love for your village."

"I don't. They don't see me as a shinobi or a citizen; they see me as a tool they can use. An asset to be used till I'm drained, and then cast aside. Just like my mom! I HATE THEM!" She shouted, before looking away, a few tears welling up in her eyes. "S-Sorry…," she said quietly.

Hinata touched her shoulder. "Hey, it's understandable. You've been through a lot here, what with your team being killed and you almost dying, and then the Kumo shinobi? I'd be pretty emotional right now too," she said, as Karin nodded a bit weakly to her.

At that moment, Ino shuddered, her eyes opening, as the Kumo shinobi let out a gasp. Before he could move though, three clones of Naruto appeared. Two pinned him down, while the third roughly began to remove the arrows and bandage his wounds up. Ino glared at the Kumo shinobi as she got to her feet.

Naruto saw that glare as she came over to their group. "I take it you didn't like what you found?" He asked.

"He's not a genin. He's a chuunin. All three of them were chuunin, posing as genin. They were ordered here by the Raikage to gather information for some operation or mission. I can't tell you much more than that, because he didn't know much more. I do know this particular asshole had some sick plans for me, Hinata, and Karin though," she growled out. She reached down and grabbed something from his pocket. "He also happened to be the one with their scroll," she added, holding an Earth scroll.

Hinata glared at the Kumo shinobi, who shrank back a bit, while Naruto frowned slightly. "Wait…you're sure they were chuunin?" He asked, a bit surprised considering they had been able to beat them without too much trouble.

Ino nodded at that. "Yeah, they were chuunin, but not by much. From what I learned in his mind, Kumo has a habit of having rookie chuunin squads pose as genin teams to infiltrate Chuunin Exams to spy on the villages they're infiltrating. Most of the chuunin they select for those missions were genin not that long ago, including our friend here."

"Smart…for an asshole village apparently intent on stealing everyone else's bloodline," Naruto said.

"At least now we know what to do with him," Hinata said with a bit of a smirk. "I'm sure Ibiki-san will have fun getting to know our friend here better."

The Kumo shinobi, hearing the name Ibiki, trembled madly. "Y-you can't do that! The laws of the Chuunin Exam-!" He started, only to be interrupted.

"Were ignored by you and your kage when he had chuunin infiltrate an exam meant for genin," Naruto said. "You don't get to hide behind the laws after you've broken them. I'll have my clones take him out of the Forest, along with the bodies of his two friends. In the meantime, we need to hurry and try to get to Team Seven. Karin-san, do you want to come with us, or would you like to go with my clones?" He asked.

Karin looked to where the two clones pinning the Kumo shinobi hoisted him up, while the third went off to collect the bodies, then to Naruto, Hinata, and Ino. "I-I'd like to stay with you all, please. I'll do my best to help you out, if I can."

"Alright, let's get going then," Naruto said, as the quartet quickly moved, while the clones took their prisoner and quickly left as well. (1)

Elsewhere, Team Ten was quickly making its way towards the tower. They were making sure to avoid other teams, not wanting to risk an injury or defeat since they already had their two scrolls.

As they made their way through the trees however, Shino stopped, causing the other two to do so as well. "What is it Shino?" Shikamaru asked.

Shino turned his head to look off to the left. "My insects have detected a large amount of residual chakra, as well as blood. Off in that direction. The chakra is…highly unusual," he said quietly.

Shikamaru frowned at that. "So what? You want to investigate?" He asked, finding the whole situation troublesome.

"It would behoove us to possibly study a potential adversary's handiwork…or to verify that our friends are not dead," Shino said quietly.

Unable to argue the point, Shikamaru just let out a sigh as they changed course, heading in the direction Shino led them. They soon arrived at a clearing, only to stop in horror at what they found.

Before them were the pulverized remains of what were once shinobi, but could definitely not be considered that anymore. The three bodies before them appeared to have been crushed, the bodies bent and horribly mangled with broken bone jutting through skin, and juices from organs seeping from every orifice.

Chouji immediately turned, throwing up, while Shikamaru began breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating. Even Shino's breathing was quickened, while his insects slowly moved to the corpses, drawing upon the residual chakra. As his insects did so, Shino managed, just barely, to start assessing the situation. He noted how there appeared to be sand on the ground in a few places, and he slowly moved to one small pile, studying it. "This…is not dirt…it is sand from the desert. I think…this was the handiwork of the Suna team," he said.

Shikamaru did his best to calm down, as he looked at the corpses. The only one whose face was still recognizable had a mangled look of sheer terror and agony on his face. "I…don't think this was the result of a fight," he said, as he looked at the mangled face. "This…this guy's face…he was absolutely terrified…like he knew what was coming…I'd say this almost was an execution," he whispered.

Shino looked up from the sand, as one of his insects returned. "The residual chakra left from behind is incredibly potent. Far beyond that of normal chakra. Whatever did this…it was most definitely not a normal jutsu."

Chouji slowly stumbled over, washing his mouth out with water and quickly spitting it out. "G-Great…c-can we go, please?" He whispered, voice shaking.

Shikamaru nodded as he turned to Chouji. "Yeah, he's right. Let's get going…and pray that whatever did this doesn't come after us," he said.

The trio quickly left the horror scene behind, all three of them shaken by what they had seen, and starting to truly understand the depths of darkness of the world they were a part of now.

Team Seven meanwhile was resting at the moment in the hollow beneath a rather large tree, big enough for all three members to rest in somewhat comfortably. Though at the moment, none of them were doing so. Kiba was wincing softly as Sakura slowly changed the bandage around his leg wound, while behind them Sasuke was laid out, shivering and twitching while sweating heavily, the seal where Orochimaru bit him looking inflamed. It had been several hours since their fight against Orochimaru, and Sasuke had been unresponsive the entire time.

Sakura finished tying the new bandage on, having used her limited medical supplies and knowledge to do what she could. "How does that feel?" She asked as she finished.

Kiba winced as he shifted his leg. "Better…but not by much," he muttered softly, trying to get comfortable. "How's he doing?"

"I don't know," she said quietly, looking back at him. "He's…he's got a horrible fever, and seems to be in some type of coma. I don't know what to do except try to get his fever down. And that seal…that seal looks bad on his neck. Who knows what it's doing to him?"

"That bastard said it was going to give Sasuke power, right? Well so I'm guessing that's what it's doing, somehow trying to give him its power. Just wish we could stop it," Kiba said.

Sakura nodded absent-mindedly as she looked at Sasuke, her mind drifting to the fight. The fight where she was again useless, and unable to do anything but try to get them to run. Sure, what could she have done against Orochimaru? But ultimately…wasn't he just another in a long line of fights where she hadn't contributed as much? Both Kiba and Sasuke, they could fight. They were fighters. What was she capable of?

She pushed those thoughts away for now, as she moved to change the rag on Sasuke's head, putting a fresh one on.

Kiba had his own thoughts at the moment, which he decided to make vocal. "I can't believe…Naruto did that, you know? Pushed me out of the way, and let that snake eat him…," he said quietly. "Do you think that was him? Or a shadow clone?"

Sakura glanced up from where she was taking care of Sasuke. "I don't know Kiba…I hope it was a shadow clone," she said softly.

Kiba just nodded, while growling softly to himself, due to being confused. It didn't make sense. Why did Naruto save him? He hated him, constantly antagonizing and belittling him, and yet Naruto or a shadow clone of him pushed Kiba out of the way, sacrificing himself. It just didn't make any sense.

Part of him felt angry that the one he looked down upon saved his life like that. But another part felt guilty for those thoughts, as Naruto had done nothing to Kiba the entire time they had known each other except defend Hinata that first taijutsu spar. And yet Kiba, seeing Naruto as an unworthy challenge to his power and standing as a shinobi and an Inuzuka, had attacked Naruto, holding a grudge.

The young Inuzuka just slammed a fist on the ground in frustration. Why couldn't this be simple? It should be simple! And yet it wasn't. And it aggravated him that it wasn't.

At that moment Akamaru perked his head up, growling softly, evidently sensing something outside. Kiba looked towards the opening, opening his ears and sniffing with his nose. "…we're not alone. There are some unknown people out there. Probably a foreign team," he whispered quietly to Sakura.

She looked towards him somewhat fearfully. "We're in no shape to fight," she said quietly, as Kiba nodded.

"I guess we'll need to give them our scroll, won't we?" Sakura asked, as she patted her supply pouch, where their Heaven scroll rested.

Kiba nodded quietly. "Yeah…I guess so," he said, as Sakura slowly moved outside, one hand ready to grab a kunai at a moment's notice.

Outside were three genin, each wearing identical camo pattern pants of gray and black, as well as a scarf of similar pattern and color, and the same headband, one with a musical note. The leader, standing forward, wore a purple top with long sleeves that covered his hands, as well as a strange furry cape like mass on his back, and bandages that covered all but his left eye and ear. Behind and to his right was another boy, with spiky black hair, who wore a yellow tunic like top and black forearm bands. The third member, a kunoichi, stood to the leader's right, and she had long black hair that nearly reached almost to her feet, tied near the bottom with a purple ribbon. She also wore a sleeveless light dull green top.

The one in front looked at Sakura, studying her. "…where is Sasuke Uchiha?" He demanded.

Sakura frowned, feeling even tenser now. "What do you want with him?" She asked, her hand resting on her kunai holster, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

"That's none of your business," the leader said, only for the other male to smirk.

"C'mon Dosu, it's not some big secret. We're here to kill him, girlie," he sneered, as Dosu closed his eye.

Sakura's eyes widened as she heard that. They wanted to kill Sasuke. She doubted it happened to be coincidence that these three genin would want to kill Sasuke after Orochimaru did whatever he did to Sasuke. Most likely, they were connected to the rogue sannin.

In a flash, she drew her kunai, moving into a ready stance, even as her rational mind tried to understand what she was going to do. But another part knew that no matter what her doubts or thoughts on her abilities were, she had to protect her teammate. She gripped her kunai, her green eyes glaring slightly as she stood ready. "You work for that snake Orochimaru, don't you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice brave. "You know what he did to Sasuke-kun."

The three to shinobi all tensed when they heard her mention the name Orochimaru. Dosu's eye narrowed as he heard that. 'Orochimaru-sama did something to our target? Why would he order us to kill him if he already interacted with them? Why didn't he do it then? Something doesn't add up here,' he thought.

Zaku just growled. "It doesn't matter Pinkie! Give us the Uchiha!" He shouted, raising his hands a bit.

Sakura glared at them, trying to keep a brave face. She knew fighting was inevitable, and despite her fear and doubt, she had to stand strong. She gripped her kunai, waiting for them. "I won't betray my teammate," she said resolutely.

Zaku grinned, and started to move forward, only for Dosu to stop him. "Wait," he said, as he moved forward, stopping and sweeping aside some dirt to reveal an explosive tag. "Clever. Not quite good enough though," he said, looking up at Sakura as he ripped the note in half before she could detonate it. Her look of defeat emboldened them, as now Dosu and Zaku advanced with the girl behind them, only for said girl to pause, her eyes narrowed. When Sakura's look of defeat changed to a smirk, her eyes widened.