The wind blows kindly on her bubblegum hair, her two teammates standing directly behind make her feel like she's being escorted by an elite party and she's the hero approaching the end of a journey. To say she's been anxious about what lies in front of them would be accurate, but not the whole story. Nervous energy flows through her, setting her nerves alight and casting doubts on her accomplishments, but the anticipation inside of her is molten and sparking deep.
They've been in Wave for a little over a month, and in that time she's come a long way.
[Dungeon: Gato Tower Final Arrangement, Level 22
Party Level: Level 22
There will be no escaping]
The new claim is ominous, but she knows she has to do this. "We managed to get high enough level." She says, looking back at her team with joy in her eyes and a bright smile on her lips. "I'm not the only one who's gotten stronger, this time."
"Nope." Sasuke agrees, a smirk assuring her he's never been more ready.
"I would kick earlier me's butt." Naruto proclaims without a second thought. "We're so ready."
His confidence is infectious, he's their rogue, their bard, their crowd control, and in some ways he's their tank. Sometimes Sakura wonders why she's even here, but then the answer reveals itself in the little moments of vulnerability he shows.
She's here because he needs her to be. The first time they cleared this dungeon, Naruto revealed to them that his chakra is truly endless, but chakra is just one resource they need to persevere. "That's good because we need you to help clear the chafe so we're at full strength for the boss."
"You know it!" His fist pump is accentuated by the summoning of about thirty blonds that quickly rush into the dungeon before them.
"Let's do it." Sakura reaches out towards the illusion that is the entrance, and steps forward.
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The scent of copper hits them before they take the first steps, the eerie red mist blocks their vision and the sound of bats scraping along instead of spiders catches them by surprise.
The layout appears to have changed too, which means they have at least two clones ahead of them at all times and their weapons are never not drawn as they go deeper. Her crossbow is hooked into a leather pouch tied around her shoulder, and her hands hold her sword in front of her like it's a sole lifeline. Traveling one step at a time only makes the nerves all the more frantic, and even the Naruto honor guard doesn't help her as they go deeper into their potential grave. She might come back if she dies, will they?
Ching
An arrow falls to the floor after an automatic deflection, not even having to see the attack is bullshit, but not as bullshit as the horde that falls on the enemies as soon as they reveal themselves. An orange tide surges, greater and more ferocious than the spiders they've led into the first area's traps time and time again. That it was bats this time didn't matter, Naruto just hucked cloned shuriken into the horde and it was dealt with like it never existed to begin with.
She doesn't even get to see the beasts they slay, the howls and roars from the thick mist chill her blood about as much as the curdling cries the monsters make as they're put down. They've avoided this kind of methodology the last few times through here, the combat experience was too valuable to lose out on, but this is no longer a training mission. It's a challenge they have to overcome, and there is no escape. The final key lies beyond a large door somewhere through this mist, and that key will open a safe thats contents will supposedly save Wave country.
She's not so sure, if her power wanted her to save this country it could have handed her the answer, there's no reason to go through all this nonsense. It sets her on edge, and not being able to see more than a few feet in front of her isn't helping with that.
"Hey." A hand lands on her shoulder, and she turns to see the original Naruto standing behind her with a big confident grin. "It's okay."
"I'm fine." She lies through her teeth as easily as breathing, sighing as a little pressure falls off her chest at his support, only for a loud screech in the mist to make her jump and bring it all back.
"You're shaking." He points out, and it's all she can do to look down and see her sword seeming to shiver in her grasp.
"Yeah." She admits. "Thank you, Naruto, I'll be fine."
"No." He doesn't normally put his foot down with her, but Sasuke's grimace behind him tells her all she needs to know. "We should stop."
They all need a moment, she's just an excuse, she can be their excuse. "Let's take a break." She agrees.
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The mist only gets stronger as they approach the boss door, and she's not so happy to open the double door with Naruto and see exactly what lies beyond for them to face.
Barely visible above them, he hangs like a bat from the ceiling and glares down at them with gleaming red-orange eyes that match with the mist horrifically well. Sharp teeth glint, and a pale complexion unlike any she's ever seen stands out like a beacon of moonlight above the aura of doom surrounding them.
[Vampire Gato; Chunin Solo Elite]
At least it didn't say Jonin, they should be able to handle one elite chunin, right?
"Hey guys, that's uh…" Naruto begins.
"Not a brute corpse." She finishes for him. Every run since the first has been easy because Gato's been a mindless brute who attacked them immediately and was easily dispatched with overwhelming force. He wouldn't dodge, he'd walk towards them, then crawl towards them after they chopped off his legs. They'd burn him, crush his skull, eviscerate him, and shred him with techniques they wanted to test. They turned him into ribbons, and never felt even a little bad about it, afterall he was a mindless zombie.
This wouldn't be like that. This'd be like the first time but so much worse, because, well, as the man drops to the floor and his billowing red cloak disappears into the mist, they can't help but notice the lack of something that's been here every other attempt.
Minions.
"He's starting in stage two." Sakura says. "Naruto's not on crowd control this time."
"Then what am I doing?" Naruto asks, as Sasuke's eyes blur into red life and Sakura's mimic him with a trickle of power overtaking her from her hand on her sword.
His eyes do something, hers just hold back the fear bubbling up from her core and telling her that she's not enough, she'll never be enough, and this creature's here to prove it to her. "You're working interception. We're going to use substitution to replace ourselves with your clones until either we mess up and die, or he does."
"I don't like that plan." Naruto says.
"Neither do I." With a flicker of potent energy behind and soon to be in front of her eyes, Sakura runs into the mist, ignoring the cloud of smoke Naruto summons behind her in favor of trying to see a beast before it sees them.
"I can see a little with my sharingan active." Sasuke announces to her, they'd avoided testing it so far to save his stamina and she's now very glad they did because that might be a saving grace they so desperately need.
"I'm still blind." She calls back in jest, the attempt does nothing to loosen the knots growing in her stomach. "I'll follow your lead." She darts towards where she heard his voice, accounting for momentum a little bit and meeting up with him quickly. For the first time in a while she wishes she had something other than Tsunami's clothes. They've cleared this dungeon - except the boss - five times now, where's the good armor drops? She'd take anything better than heavy armor and crude.
When Sasuke swings to the side, she follows up with her own slash, finding her sword goes through nothing. "Illusions." Sasuke growls, making her scowl with him. What good is vision if he can still pull stuff like that.
"I thought the sharingan can see through illusions?" She asks, feeling something behind her and slashing automatically, tearing apart something that explodes into a dark mist that floods the red around them with an even harder to see through mirage.
"I haven't exactly gotten a lot of practice with that." He points out, "these are the first illusions I've seen since it awakened." She feels like an idiot for that, she has clones, why didn't she think to test that at any point?
Naruto's clones aren't really illusions, so they wouldn't work, she just took their clan power for granted and assumed it was omnipotent. By the little of Sasuke's shame she can see, he did too.
"Sakura!" She hears Sasuke shout, and she makes the hand sign she needs just as something flashes from out of sight and goes for her throat. A clone takes her place, and she whimpers internally at the quick scream and poof of smoke.
"Sorry, Naruto," she mutters a quiet apology under her breath for abusing Naruto in that way. He remembers that death, and it hurts her to hurt him. Without him she'd be dead though, and that'd hurt him so much more.
If she knew that it was either that or bringing Haku, she would have brought Haku, but they're here now, and surviving to apologize to him is more important. She has a moment to feel bad about how quickly she'd made that their defacto plan and wonder if there was something better they could have planned out in advance if she'd cared enough to do so, before something shiny flashes out at her, and she doesn't react automatically, telling her that it's too fast for her trait. She blocks with all she has, holding sturdy as it sends her sliding back across the floor. Sparks fly as some kind of long metal pole slides along her sword. She uses all her strength to pivot and send it to the side, and it arches past, slamming into the floor beside her and making it explode into glittering shards.
"Wait." Her eyes catch a glimmer of something amazing in a shard that flies into the air. It takes her all of a second to realize that she can see the wall behind it. Through the split second of glimmery magic, she's more sure of it than anything. The floor shards can be used to see through the madness. It's like there's no mist at all, and it puts a huge grin on her face.
"Sasuke, pass me your goggles! Naruto, cover me!" It's probably not what he wanted to hear in the middle of a fight so intense she can hear kunai clanging and explosions rocking the room from all around, but her skill lets her catch both a shard and his goggles at the same time. "This is gonna suck," Is all she says before she places it into the goggles, and straps them on.
She doesn't get even a full second before fragments begin to cut into her face, scraping off just from putting them on.
That's okay though, even if she loses her eyes, she'll get them back tomorrow. What's important right now, is that she can see. She uses a hand sign to replace with another Naruto just as the thing comes flying back at her. This time she can see it's a spear flying through the air on its own, steel and shiny in its own way and impossibly sharp.
She can see the bastard with silver hair and glowing red eyes. She can see his fierce fangs and the way he dashes around the room slaughtering Naruto clones and batting Sasuke around. She can even see the Naruto she just replaced with perish, and she can see her own morbidly guilty face reflected in the spear as it comes back for her. She's stood still for too long, and the monster launches itself at her like she's a sitting duck.
She puts her sword away, knowing that her role in this fight has changed tremendously quite suddenly, and begins hand signs. His claws take the place of where her face just was, a sidestep narrowly avoiding a beheading that's accompanied by the steel spear flying from the mist and trying to stab right through her stomach.
It has a mind of its own, and that means dodging it at the same time as a super speedy bastard requires her to call upon the lightning jutsu Kakashi taught her and canceling her hand seals.
She's gotten the lightning to the point where she doesn't have misfires nearly as often, and that's good enough for her since it's either that or abuse Naruto more for her own incompetence.
Bending over backwards to dodge a kick in her direction serves for more fragments from the shard to glide into her eyes and only the willpower of a ninja and her own lack of survival instincts stop her from breaking down crying on the spot.
Naruto clones get in the way a second later, allowing her to make some distance, but only enough to make a few hand signs before the spear flies toward her face again.
Her final hand seal is made, and she's ready. "Mud Shot!" She shouts, before spitting out one of her newest creations directly at the spear.
She wasn't joking when she said she was going to create pokemon moves, and choosing to shoot a heavy muddy load at it instead of dodging is a risk she's willing to take. The blade gets covered instantly, and while it still smacks against her, the fact that she's not dead tells her she did a good job. The spear hits her in the face with kinetic force only, meaning the mud has already hardened over the blade and made it largely inert, but not completely as she finds out when reality catches up with her.
She's sent backwards to the soundtrack of her nose shattering into a million parts, and her vision blacking out. She has just enough control to start a flip instead of smashing down, but that only serves to make things worse as the pain causes her to lose control of the lightning coursing through her and her spasmodic body shrieking in despair ragdolls mid-air. She slams into the floor face first, shattering so much of it that each roll along the ground fills her with so many shards she begins to feel like a pincushion. Her vision is blocked by red mist again, too much fragmentation of her shard has rendered it useless, and she has an answer for that.
She pulls the goggles off, shaking them off to the side to remove most of the broken tool, before reaching down with her free hand and tearing a shard right out of her chest. "That's big enough," she grunts approvingly, before slotting it right into the goggles. Her left eye is dull, and a single blink reveals it's not giving her vision at all. A hand landing over it reveals something is sticking out of it, and that's information enough for her.
She leaves it in for now, she learned last time that removing the sword didn't stop the bleeding, and she can't be out of the fight that soon.
She puts the goggles back on, pushing her hands into the shrapnel of the floor to push herself upright. Shambling for a second to accommodate the new injuries and figure out her footing, she can't help but feel like she's in an out of body experience. Muted, without focus, she takes a moment she doesn't have to center herself, only to fail and find she's still here without most of her senses.
With a deep breath and a sign, her lone eye locks onto the struggling form of the spear on the floor. It's having a hard time lifting itself under the vampire's powers alone, but it's slowly chipping mud off and that means she can't leave it alone. Each step towards it is another conquest to make against her rebelling body. Even when she makes it to the spear and slams her foot into it to keep it down, she finds her hands fighting her on making the needed hand seals. "Guh… Mud shot." She grumbles, spewing a powerful torrent from her lips that'd surely taste terrible if she could still taste anything at all.
Watching it harden out of one hazy eye makes her smile through the pain. It slumps completely, rendered useless and unable to move any longer, and she considers that winning a good portion of the fight. Gato surely has more tricks up his sleeve, but they don't matter, he's not a Jonin, so that had to have been a good portion of his power.
She can see Naruto fighting with a horde that keeps the man back while Sasuke catches his breath. She's in a lot of pain, a lot, a truly ridiculous amount of agony wafts through her in a way that'd make her regret this entire journey if it was happening to anyone else.
To her, all she knows is that she can use substitution like this if she's hurt even a little bit more. She shakes her head a little, feeling as the shard cuts deeper-
-And she's no longer near the spear, taking the place of a Naruto clone with all the grit and strength she can manage. "Grr-" her hand lands on her sword, drawing it and flashing it out to knock Gato's sharp claws aside in the same movement. "Fuck, you!" Before he can react to the change, she's slashed down with everything she has. A potent rage overtakes her hands as the life force her weapon needs to power seeps from them forcefully. Evidence of her success pours out from him, covering her sword in the power it needs for a second swing, and the onslaught begins just as his severed arm hits the floor with a wet thump.
She doesn't feel, she attacks. She bleeds into one movement after another, using crimson life as a source of destruction just like the being in front of her. Of all her battles, she's yet to use someone else's life to fuel the sword in anything but an accident. Something in her didn't let her do that intentionally, for some reason it felt like a line she couldn't cross.
Using a vampire's blood feels too poetic to deny the sword's craving, and she gives in. He tries to jump away and Naruto clones grab his legs, and shoulders, they hold him still while she slashes him again and again and again. With each attack she severs them and splits him, only he regenerates, and new Narutos have to grab hold of him all over again.
If replacing with Naruto clones to take hits for her felt like a betrayal of her promise to never hurt him again, cutting him in half over and over again breaks her heart a hundred times over.
That the boy willingly lets her do it just to hold their opponent still for a few seconds would make her weep if her eyes were not already leaking bloody tears. It stings so much it feels like the despair will never end.
She's not sure when it's over, she's pretty sure no one else does too.
All she knows is that her sword is so bright and so potent, that one final slash at the no longer resisting figure sends a shrieking blast across the floor that carves a tunnel all the way to the wall, and its force sweeps the mist aside like it was never there.
"Got him." She groans, falling to her knees and dropping her sword. "Is the mist gone? I can't see."
"Sakura, you're bleeding." Naruto says.
"Yep," She agrees, "That was a given."
"No, I mean you're covered in blood." Naruto says, a potent fear in his voice that she can barely pay attention to.
"That happens when you turn someone into porridge." She says.
"No I mean, the goggles-" She feels someone's hand land on them, and pull them away, and the sound of a waterfall hits her ears. She still can't see, and before she has a grip on herself, she's fallen to the floor for a rest that'll fix everything. She just has to hold on for six hours, she can do that, right?
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"Can't she do anything without crippling herself?" Sasuke grunts, it's his broody voice filled with dread and exasperation in equal parts that let her know she's alive.
"I still can't see." She says as someone's hand lands on her shoulder, shaking her awake.
"It's only been a few hours," Naruto answers her immediately. "You're still blind."
"Ah." She knows she should care, but she doesn't. Instead, she pushes herself up, stretching and not liking how her shoulder feels at this exact moment. They went ahead and removed the shards from her body, she can feel that, she can also feel the wrapping someone did to help hold in her insides so that they, well, remained insides.
"You tore it with how hard you were swinging." Naruto explains, presumably at her grimace, she's not sure though as she can't see.
"Ah." She nods, regretting it immediately from the flash of pain her eyes remind her of. "Did we open the safe yet?" She asks.
"Yes." That's Sasuke.
"What was in it?" She asks.
"Nothing." Sasuke says.
"We assumed it was something your power took immediately, and ever since we opened it monsters have been spawning and trying to break in." Naruto continues from where Sasuke thought it was adequate to stop talking. "I've been holding them off but I'm starting to get tired, they're really strong and keep killing a few clones a piece."
"You said it's been hours?" She asks, "how in the actual- Naruto that goes beyond ridiculous stamina, there's something wrong with you."
"I know," Naruto says, and she can tell from his tone that she hurt him.
"I didn't mean it like that…"
"I know." That doesn't matter, she broke her promise again, she just hit him again.
She'll find out how and why later. What's that, fifty times in one day? A hundred?
A thousand? She'll need to atone for this, and next time she'll make sure they have a better plan. By the time they realized they needed one, it was already too late and the boss had activated. It was do or die, and she'll tell herself that as long as she needs to.
"We need to go." Sasuke is always curt and to the point, she's happy for the moment of normalcy.
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