You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
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"The river is to the right of here," Sasuke said, spreading the map out and tracing it with his finger. "We should try and avoid getting too close to it. Everyone is going to go there, both for a landmark and for water."
"Not just every one," I murmured. "Animals need water too."
"Right. We should stay clear of it for now. We need to look for something with cover, something we can put our backs too. And preferably something that isn't already inhabited." His lips twisted grimly.
Yeah, I didn't want to fight a bear for a cave either.
"We should -" I froze, cutting off what I was saying, my head up and scanning like a startled deer.
"What? Do you see something?" Sasuke asked, uneasily.
A splinter of flying wood caught Naruto across the cheek. He touched his cheek, startled. "Huh? What was that?" He looked in the direction it came from. There was nothing there.
But there was a huge surge of incoming chakra.
"Move!" I screamed, leaping to the side.
We scattered.
Gale force winds ripped through the trees where we had just been standing. They were fairly tightly controlled, like a cone of wind blasting from a single point.
Jutsu, my mind categorised. Wind Release, A-rank or above. The amount of destruction it caused meant it could be ranked no less.
This is it. This is how it starts.
When the wind and the dust and the debris cleared, a woman's voice spoke up.
"Alright, you two fan out into the woods and keep your eyes open. I'll handle this alone."
Blocking our escape routes. But whoever they were, whatever rank they were, they would be less dangerous than what was waiting for us here.
I swallowed.
We had to regroup.
Sasuke was on the other side of the newly created trench. Naruto was much further away. He must have been caught in the blast as we jumped. I hoped he wasn't hurt. But Naruto could take care of himself. Right now, it was us I was worried about.
I scampered up a tree trunk, twisting around it yet trying to keep an eye on the woman standing unconcerned in the clearing. It was the Grass-nin. The one that I had thought could be Orochimaru.
She must be.
No true Genin could harness that level of destruction.
I moved, circling round, up over the bare destroyed ground, to meet up with Sasuke.
"Sasuke?" I asked, landing lightly behind him.
"What was that?" he breathed, eyes wide.
"Danger," I said, sombrely, barely keeping the tremors out of my voice. "We need to move."
He stared at me, then nodded. "We need to find Naruto. I think he got caught in it."
"Hey, what's up, are you guys okay?" A familiar voice called as an orange suited body ran up to us, panting. That chakra… that hidden, muted chakra…
"Wait," I said, holding up my hand. "ID check." I could sense chakra and my team mates knew it. So the fact that I was even asking sent warning bells ringing through Sasuke's mind. "Those who abandon the rules are…" I gestured at Sasuke.
He caught on in a flash. "Trash but those who abandon…"
'Naruto' looked at us cluelessly. "Huh? What are you guys talking about? We didn't agree to any passwords or anything."
Sasuke's kunai sailed towards him, just as my shadow lashed across the ground underneath it.
'Naruto' dodged nimbly, in a way the real Naruto couldn't have.
"Come out, whoever you are," Sasuke ordered. "Party's over."
'Naruto's face curled into a smirk that didn't sit right. It looked wrong. Naruto's face was made for grinning not sly, smug smirks. "Aren't we the clever one." The Transformation Jutsu dispelled violently with a huge cloud of chakra smoke. It was that same Grass-nin, who, I was now sure, was also Orochimaru. "This promises to be very entertaining."
"You've made a mistake, attacking us," Sasuke said coolly.
"Oh, I don't think so, Sasuke Uchiha." The name was drawn out, each syllable pronounced separately. "I've heard so much about you that I just had to see it for myself."
"Now you've seen me," Sasuke said impassively. "You can be on your way."
Orochimaru chuckled. It wasn't loud but the sound carried in a way that wasn't natural at all. "So tense. Don't you want to get your hands on our Earth Scroll? It would go so nicely with your Heaven Scroll." The darkly covered scroll dangled from his fingers before a long tongue snaked out and he swallowed it.
"We don't require an Earth Scroll," Sasuke said flatly. "So you can just be on your way."
After the massive wind jutsu, I think he knew this was a fight we didn't want to be getting into.
"Ah, you have been busy. Already gaining yourself an Earth Scroll. That is impressive. Well, it doesn't matter. When this is over, one of us will have the scrolls, and the other will be dead."
There is no way to describe how that Killing Intent felt. Zabuza had been bad, but we had had Kakashi-sensei with us. And we had trusted him to keep us safe. This was… this was so far beyond that. It was knowing you were outclassed beyond your wildest dreams. It was facing an opponent who regarded you as little more than a bug. It was killing intent you would commit suicide to escape.
It was so thick and potent in the air it felt physical. It was like cement blocks around my feet. Like weights tied to my neck. It choked in my throat like rotting meat every time I tried to breathe. It burned my skin, rough and angry chakra that hated so badly.
It was painful. It was ugly. My heart thudded an erratic beat. I could see my death second by second, painted on the underside of my eyelids, etched into my brain as it approached and I. could. not. escape.
But, a tiny, cynical portion of my brain whispered, it's not as bad as Kyuubi.
Sasuke retched. He was shaking, shivering just as badly as I. Maybe worse, maybe better, I couldn't tell, my attention was too focused forward. Tunnel vision.
Orochimaru laughed, mockingly. "You're paralysed with fear. Prey in the gaze of a predator. How amusing."
Sasuke staggered to his feet, clutching a kunai shakily in his hand.
"Very good," Orochimaru said approvingly, voice aggravatingly calm. How could he project such bloodlust and still act so indifferent? "Now what happens?"
The Killing Intent doubled.
The air pulsed, like we were inside a beating heart.
I was drowning… I couldn't breathe…
"Don't worry, I'll make it quick. But I don't have to tell you that, do I?" There were footsteps. The sound of kunai scraping against the side of a holster. "You've seen it with your own eyes."
It was impossible… there was nothing I could do…
We were going to die.
… might seem suicidal…
…focus on the goal…
The goal. To survive.
The barest of dreams, of ambitions. Survive.
I needed to act. Somehow… anyhow. Right now, anything would be better than nothing.
I glanced at Sasuke. Sometimes I forgot, because my body was young but my mind was older.
Sasuke was a twelve year old boy.
However mature he was, however traumatised, however much a child soldier… underneath it all he was a twelve year old boy.
And he was frightened out of his mind.
"I expected you to be more of a challenge. How disappointing."
No.
Then. Again.
No. This is not the way things are going to be.
That thought gave me strength. Twisted, desperate strength. I was a cornered animal. Frightened and feral. And defending my team mate.
I snarled.
I pumped myself up on chakra, gaining courage from the familiar rush of energy, and flew forward, full speed, full strength.
Not the smartest course of action. Not the best course of action. But it was something and determination helped squash the fear down deep where it belonged.
I threw a pair of kunai, deflecting those that had been aimed at us, and lunged forward underneath them, sweeping around in a roundhouse kick. He bent, bent, out of the way and swatted me, casually, like a fly to the side. It wasn't even a proper strike, just a careless backhand wave that caught me square in the ribs.
My chakra spiked, absorbing the force of the blow, but breaking my enhancement. I flipped, as gracefully as I could through the air and landed, panting. The pain, sharp and brief, had cleared my head.
Attacking like this would do nothing.
"Sasuke! Move!" I barked putting as much force into my voice as I could.
No 'it's going to be alright'. No 'please, please, move'. No 'you have to'. Because it wasn't going to be alright. Because we didn't have time to plead and beg and come to terms with it.
There was only time to move. And he would only respond to an order.
I hurled shuriken and kunai, trying to distract Orochimaru, to provide respite for the one crucial second that it would take Sasuke to move. He flowed around my attacks, like they didn't matter, like I didn't even exist.
And still he walked forward. Inexorable.
I saw, out the corner of my eye as Sasuke stabbed his kunai into his leg, breaking the fear with pain. I caught his eye, and as one we flickered away.
"An interesting move," Orochimaru commented. "Run, little mouse. Run all you want… there is no escape."
"We need to get out of here," Sasuke panted, as we crouched in the bend of a tree branch.
I nodded reverently, cold sweat covering all my skin. "We run - Sasuke! Look out!" I shoved him in one direction, leaping in the other as a snake - a giant freaking snake! - crashed a head the size of a car through the place we had been standing.
"Unbelievable. I didn't even notice. I'm losing it," he muttered, eyes wide as he landed awkwardly, swinging around a thin tree limb.
It wound around the branches, limber and at ease for such a large creature. It lunged for Sasuke again, mouth open wide, fangs gleaming. I cursed myself for being out of position - for being unable to help.
"No! Stay away!" His voice was rich with panic, even as he threw shuriken; some of them must have hit for it reeled backwards collapsing and bleeding on a branch.
And then it's skin began to ripple and crack. Horrifyingly, sickeningly, a pale body began to climb from the corpse.
"I sense your fear and desperation. It's only natural. The prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator!" He chuckled and lunged forward, body coiling and stretching like he was a snake himself.
Sasuke screamed.
And a hail of kunai impacted on the wood.
"Looks like I came just in time."
Naruto!
Our chances weren't really any better now, but I still felt lighter.
"What took you so long?" I shouted up at him. "You better not have some lame excuse about getting lost on the road of life!"
"I got eaten by a giant snake!" He shouted back. "And let me tell you, the inside smells worse than the outside!"
That was another lesson I'd learnt from Sensei - banter helps calm you down, keep you focused. Or something. Maybe it was just gallows humour.
Orochimaru was just reclining on the branch, for all the world at ease. "So, Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend. Well done."
"Okay, okay, I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that. So you just better slither back into your hole before I make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto shouted back.
Could he not feel the Killing Intent in the air? I wondered hazily. Or did he just not care either way?
"Clones!" I shouted suddenly. "As many as you can!"
"On it!" Chorused back to me a dozen, a hundred, maybe even a thousand times over, more shimmering into existence wherever there was space.
I grabbed the one nearest me. "Transform into Sasuke and me. Then use Replacement to get us out of here. We're running." My voice was terse and concise.
It nodded and dispelled. The reaction was immediate. I felt the tugging pull of a Replacement Jutsu even as orange faded to blue and green in front of me.
There was a Sasuke and Naruto in front of me. I assumed they were the real ones. "Quickly!" I hissed, darting forwards.
"What's going on?" Naruto hissed back. "Why are we running?"
"You don't know what you're up against," Sasuke shot back, fear making his voice hoarse. "If we stay here, we'll die…"
"There's no way that person is a Genin," I finished.
Almost immediately, as if to punctuate my words, a tornado ripped through the air. This was ten times as violent as the first one he had thrown at us, shooting straight up into the air. The tree creaked and groaned, wobbling violently as it was uprooted.
"Shit," Naruto hissed. "My clones are all dispelled."
Sasuke trembled. "We have to… we have to…"
"We'll fight, if we have to fight!" Naruto barked. "Stop cowering like a frightened rabbit! This isn't you, Sasuke!" He looked like he wanted to shake him.
"We could give her the scroll," Sasuke muttered, wildly.
"I don't think he wants the scrolls, Sasuke," I said, shakily.
"Very true," a smooth voice said. "A sensible offering though. Sometimes, the helpless prey, if they are to save their own skins, must distract the predator with something even more precious." He slid around the tree, already ahead of us. "But it doesn't matter. As far as the scroll goes, I could simply kill you and take it."
He sounded like he liked that idea best, biting his thumb and smearing blood over the strange tattoos wrapped around his wrist. "Summoning Jutsu."
A huge snake, as big as the one before, if not bigger, burst into existence.
"What a tasty little meal you'll make for him. Careful, he likes to play with his food." He chuckled again, as the snake lunged forward.
Again, we scattered, helplessly caught in his game. We had no choice but to play.
I twisted, bouncing horizontally off a tree trunk, back towards the snake. I slammed an explosive tag onto it's side, adhering it with chakra and rolled off the branch, letting gravity take me down out of the explosion zone.
That was my biggest, most dangerous, tag.
I felt the heat licking my back, heard the muffled 'whump' as it went up and rolled to my feet, to see the smoke clearing.
It wasn't damaged at all.
Sick fear pooled in my stomach.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto called out, leaping down onto the snake, a dozen of him, all at once.
Orochimaru lashed out, a single kick that took him skywards, slamming through several branches before stopping.
Naruto growled.
Oh, god, not now, I pleaded, feeling the Kyuubi's chakra rising. Torn between two fears I was stretched and going to break…
It wasn't much, not even as much as he'd used on the bridge, and I could still taste it on the back of my tongue, acid burning and always reminding me-
Not now. Notnownotnownot…
Small and helpless and ohgodI'mgoingtodie…
"I see." I heard, as though from a great distance. I blinked, muzzily, trying to bring the world back into focus. "When your anger is roused, some of the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra is released. What an interesting childhood you must have had."
His fingertips lit up with burning purple chakra and he slammed it into Naruto's stomach. Right overtop of the seal. Not good.
Naruto's chakra went haywire, the lingering taint of Kyuubi vanishing, and he collapsed. His body draped over the branch, limp and lifeless. Was he-?
Still alive, at least. He still had chakra. But for how long?
"Who are you?" I demanded shakily. I knew, oh I knew, but he had to say it. "What do you want?"
He half turned, as though I wasn't worthy of his full attention. "My name is Orochimaru. But as for what I want…" his lips curved into a cruel smirk and his attention refocused on Sasuke. "That is for later." He chuckled.
Sasuke was still staring at him in abject terror.
"Now then, lets see how well you do, Sasuke."
Casually, like it took no effort at all, he blew across his fingers. Fire gusted out, racing towards Sasuke. It was four, five, maybe ten times as big as any Sasuke had ever created.
Shit. Fire Jutsu. No seals.
And Sasuke wasn't moving.
I took a page out of Naruto's book and used the Replacement Jutsu on Sasuke. It took a huge chunk of chakra, more than I expected, and I stumbled on landing, barely having time to leap high into the air. I could feel the heat of the fireball beneath me, as I twisted to throw kunai at it's creator.
"Lightning Release: Striking Bolt!" The Jutsu tore from me, lighting up the air between us. It was the strongest attack Jutsu I had ever created.
And he deflected it aside with his naked hand.
"You… are beginning to become annoying," he spoke, for once looking at me and not Sasuke. "You're coming at me with the intent to kill. I can feel it in your chakra, little girl. That focus… is surprising. But you have a long way to go before you can land a hit on me."
And then, between one blink and the next he was gone.
Something slammed into the back of my neck, sending me toppling forward. I had enough time to come to the panicked, horrified realisation, Shit, the ground is too far awa-