SASUKE POV:
Things were bad.
After running with Sakura, he had assumed that Orochimaru would chase after them, and all Sasuke would have to do is run.
What had actually happened? Orochimaru had vanished, and the fact that Sasuke had no clue where the snake Sannin was was much worse than if he was just being chased.
He had done his best at moving unpredictably, with Sakura sending out 2 earth clones of them as a decoy just in case.
However, it was all for nought.
Everytime Sasuke took a step, everytime he as much as turned, his mind would be a frenzy of questions.
'Where is he? What was that twig snap! Oh, that was my leg. Why has he not attacked yet? Has he put traps?? Am I walking into an ambush?'
He was so stuck in his own head he didn't notice a weak branch till he hopped on it, causing both him and the branch to fall.
Thankfully, Sakura caught him before any actual damage could take place.
"Calm down" she hissed at him "you're stuck in your own head, you need to calm down and re-assess the situation."
He nodded, but they both knew by how jittery he still was that Sasuke was as good as useless intellectually until Orochimaru revealed himself.
"ku ku ku"
That laugh.
Both the remaining members of team 7 turned to face the snake Sannin.
"Don't be afraid, Sasuke kun. I'm here to help you."
"What could you possibly help me with?"
"Power. You desire it, do you not? To kill Itachi?"
Itachi.
This guy knew Itachi, probably knew where the bastard was right now.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out in dismay
Sasuke blinked as he realized he was already right in front of Orochimaru, sword in hand.
He couldn't defeat Orochimaru. He knew this.
All he could do was..
"I'll buy time" he declared "Go get help Sakura! Genin like us can't beat this guy."
Sakura looked like she was going to protest but the trembling in her hand told Sasuke a different story.
"Go" he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile "I can't say I'll win, but I won't die"
"That would be inconvenient" Orochimaru said, suddenly beside Sakura.
With a roar, Sakura swung her spear at where he was, causing a huge blast to happen.
The tree the two had been on was completely destroyed.
The snake Sannin quirked an eyebrow.
"Seems like he's interested in both of us now" Sasuke muttered.
"How curious" Orochimaru chuckled "A way of chakra manipulation which brings out the inner chakra, and with elemental abilities as well if that tree is any indication."
"But" he muttered "the one I'm after is Sasuke."
With one hand seal, both Sakura and Sasuke were bound by mud, before the snake man did a unique hand seal and extended his neck.
Sasuke, unable to do anything but watch could only scream silently as the man bit him behind his neck.
"With that, my work is done" The man said, turning back.
SAKURA POV:
Sakura was having none of that.
She'd been useless earlier, so clearly there was some pent-up anger inside her.
Anger unleashed in the form of a huge earth drill she launched at Orochimaru, who was forced to dodge.
"What did you do to him" she said through gritted teeth "End it right now!"
"I've just fanned the flames that already existed" Orochimaru said as he licked his lips "Eventually, he will seek me out for power, and I will be more than happy to oblige"
"You say that like we'll just let him run to you"
"We?"
Orochimaru's question was answered when an arm made of orange chakra punched him so hard the sannin's face structure actually bent.
Uzumaki Naruto was here.
"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto asked Sakura as the two faced Orochimaru with Sasuke still writing in pain behind them.
"Orochimaru bit his neck and that happened." She said shortly.
There was no need for words. Both of them were pissed and both of them knew exactly what it was that they needed to do.
It was Naruto who made the first move, charging forward with 4 Shadow clones.
"Fuuton: Fūryoku jūden [Wind style: Wind charge]" all 5 of them yelled as their hands held a tiny wind charge, which they thrust at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, not one to play around with dangerous jutsu, dodged with inhuman flexibility and kicked 3 of the 4 clones so hard they poof-ed.
"You can make shadow clones at such an age?" he questioned.
"I can do a lot more than just that" declared Naruto as he made a few more hand seals while Sakura beside him did the same.
"COMBO JUTSU- Fūryoku sentan doriru ! [Wind Tipped drills]"
Earthen drills with the added slicing power of the wind chakra hit Orochimaru, one directly hitting his heart.
The snake Sannin was helpless as he was launched through 8 trees before finally stopping, impaled by the still spinning drills to a nearby rock.
But, this was Orochimaru. The man who was kicked out of the leaf for his experimentation to reach immortality.
And Sakura was very aware of this.
She was already at his still form, spear in hand, only to see that the man was melting into a puddle of mud.
'A mud clone!'
NARUTO POV:
Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that Orochimaru had substituted with a mud clone just before being hit by the attack.
He looked around frantically, hoping to see some trace, some sign of Orochimaru.
'BEHIND YOU !'
Naruto ducked at hearing Kurama's voice, and rolled over to see the spot where he had been peppered with kunai.
'I can't fight this guy like this. Kurama…'
'With how tired your body is after fighting that snake and those 3 sound ninjas, you can barely handle a tail Naruto.'
'That'll have to do' Naruto thought back to his partner 'We can't let him escape till he fixes whatever he did to Sasuke.'
Orochimaru made no move to stop Naruto as the blonde was covered in the typical red chakra assigned to all Jinchuriki using their Bijuu's chakra.
Immediately, Naruto felt rejuvenated, his limbs filled with strength and his fists covered in raging orange chakra.
"Biju-ton: Ikari no ken [Tailed beast style: Fists of fury]"
Naruto leaped at Orochimaru, but this time when the man dodged Naruto could keep up.
Punch after punch, Naruto didn't stop for even a second as he rained down blows on the slippery bastard.
After a particularly vicious uppercut, Orochimaru kicked Naruto's chest to create some distance before opening his mouth wide as hundreds of tiny snakes rushed to Naruto.
"Fuu ryou: Kaze no nami Danmaku!" [Wind ryou: wind wave barrage]
Naruto stayed in a crouch as the snakes in his immediate vicinity were sliced up by the continuously repeating attack.
Orochimaru chuckled "ku ku, this is interesting, but don't you think you've bitten off more than you can chew? If all it took to beat me was a Jinchuriki the other villages could have dealt with me no?"
Naruto glared at the man " You'll be regretting those words, hebi-teme."
Naruto grit his teeth as his jutsu continued. While it was a simple move to use, it took a lot out of him to make sure it didn't end.
Orochimaru knew this too, which is why he was chatting away so casually.
One thing the snake seemed to have forgotten though, was that team 7 had members.
The snake sannin's eyes widened as he felt his body be pierced by stone spikes, each spike the size of his head.
Even in a state where his left arm was almost cut off and his lungs were pierced, the man was able to laugh.
"How interesting, to use yourself as a decoy while your teammate sets up a jutsu such as this"
Sakura, stumbled onto the clearing, looking pale.
While Naruto was a Jinchuriki and Uzumaki, and Sasuke was from one of the greatest ninja clans, Sakura was just a civilian who trained like hell, which meant that her Chakra reserves were much much smaller than the other 2.
"Did that do it?" she half whispered as Naruto supported her with his left arm, while having a Fuuton: Kazakiri [Wind style: windslice] ready in his sword, aimed at Orochimaru as Kurama's chakra cloak faded.
"Didn't your sensei teach you?" Naruto heard the man say "to never assume your enemy is down unless you see the body?"
Both the genins could only watch in horror as the man's mouth enlarged and a brand new Orochimaru slithered out of the skewered one, good as new.
"No way" Sakura mumbled, and he could feel the despair from her words "Then what did we do all this for…"
"It was for nothing" Orochimaru said "all the efforts you both have put so far has been absolutely pointless."
Naruto refused. He refused to accept the statement this pedo snake bastard had said. He refused to lean a bit to support his left leg, which really hurt for some reason. He refused to show even a hint of stress. He refused to scratch that itch on the back of his head.
He refused to give up.
"Sakura" he muttered "I might have a way to finish it, but I need you to distract hebi-teme, alone."
Naruto hated pitting his friend against what felt like certain death, but she nodded fiercely
"If we're screwed, might as well go down swinging." She said clearly as she picked up her dropped spear and popped a chakra pill into her mouth "I don't know what you're gonna do, but be fast"
"And Naruto?" she said as she turned her head, prompting the blonde to look straight at her left eye "Don't do something stupid"
Then she was off to meet the Sannin in combat.
"Said the one fighting Orochimaru solo" he muttered, starting the preparation for what he hoped would solve everything.
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