Konohagakure No sato :
Forest OF Death :
Midnight 3 AM :
The cave was a jagged, narrow split in the earth, hidden beneath a curtain of ancient, gnarled roots that draped over the entrance like the ribs of a long-dead giant.
Inside, the air was cold and smelled of damp moss and the metallic tang of blood. Outside, the forest hummed with a predatory malice, but inside, the only sound was the ragged, wet hitch of Sasuke's breathing.
(.....*sniff*...Come On ....come on ...!!!*sniff*sniff* )
Sakura's hands shook as she dipped a scrap of cloth into a bowl of water. She wrung it out, her knuckles white, and pressed it against Sasuke's forehead. He flinched, a low, guttural groan escaping his throat as his body burned with an unnatural heat.
"*Sniff*.. Please, Sasuke-kun... just hold on," she whispered, her voice a fragile thread in the dark , holding back her tears and worries and snots.
Seeing No difference in Sasuke's condition , Sakura reached into the storage scroll Naruto had prepared for them, pulling out fever-reducing medicine. She crushed the tablets into a fine powder, mixed it with water, and carefully tilted it into Sasuke's mouth.
( Should I use mouth to mouth ?? It's emergency after all )
Despite having intrusive thoughts , Sakura fed Sasuke water from the watter bottle , As she watched him swallow, her mind involuntarily drifted back to the horror of thirty minutes ago.
( ...WHY IS this happening ?? *sniff*)
The night had started in a suffocating silence. After Naruto disappeared into the trees around 10:00 PM to rescue the others, Sakura had curled up in the corner of the cave. She had closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep, but her mind was wide awake, replaying the earlier conversation between Naruto and Sasuke.
She hadn't dared to join in, feeling like an outsider to their growing intensity. When Naruto left, she and Sasuke hadn't exchanged a single word—the air between them was too heavy, too jagged with unspoken tension. Sakura kept pretending to sleep .
For Hours , She had been waiting for sleep that wouldn't come just like Sasuke , But instead of sleep , what came was a nightmare just 30 minutes ago
Sakura still couldn't fathom how it had happened. The cave's entrance was sealed , the team even putted many traps around and Naruto had left a Shadow Clone standing watch just outside the cave entrance.
Yet, the man with the pale skin and golden, slit pupils had slipped through them like a ghost. He had came near so silently that not even a buzz was heard , bypassing the traps and Naruto's clone as if they were nothing more than scenery.
One moment, there was silence. The next—
"AAARRGGGHHH!"
Sasuke's scream had shattered the night. Sakura bolted upright, her heart hammering against her ribs. In the dim light, she saw a sight that defied nature: a neck, elongated and coiling like a serpent, extending from a dark corner of the cave. The man's fangs were buried deep in Sasuke's shoulder.
"Get away from him....!" Sakura screamed, her instincts taking over. She snatched shuriken from her pouch and hurled them with all her strength.
But before the steel could even reach him or even leave her hand , the air in the cave turned viscous. A wave of pure, concentrated Killing Intent slammed into her like a physical blow. Sakura's muscles locked; her breath hitched in her throat as her vision swam with images of her own death. She stood frozen, a sheep staring into the eyes of a slaughterer, her hand still raised in a useless gesture of defiance.
The man retracted his neck with a sickening, slithering sound. He stood tall, his presence filling the small cave with a cold, oily malice.
"My name is Orochimaru," he hissed, his voice sounding like scales over stone. "And I have given you a gift, Uchiha Sasuke."
Sakura had been frozen, her lungs refusing to take in air and Sasuke's eyes were wide open but he was kneeling on the ground in pain.
"The gift will give you power..... and if you want more......, enough Power to kill your brother....... then you shall seek me."
Sakura could only watch, paralyzed and weeping, as the man spoke of power and the thirst for revenge against a brother. He looked at them with a terrifying casualness before sinking into the ground, vanishing as if he had never been there at all.
"Sasuke-kun!" The moment the killing intent vanished, Sakura collapsed to her knees and crawled to him. Sasuke was already slipping away, his body writhing in a pain she couldn't understand.
"Hold on.. please..*sniff* "
Sasuke had lost consciousness shortly after, leaving her alone in the dark.
Now, sitting in the silence of 3:00 AM, Sakura felt the crushing weight of her own powerlessness. She knew the cave might be compromised,
(I have to move him,) she thought frantically. (This place is compromised. He knows we're here.)
but where could they go? Moving Sasuke in this state, through a forest full of monsters and whatever that man was, seemed impossible. Sakura felt powerless and In the end a single hope was ignited
( No that creepy man is gone , IF he eanted to kill us , then we would be dead already.......maybe this cave is still safe ) she thought, clutching her knees to her chest.
( And Naruto said he'd be back before sunrise,......He promised .....he gave his word )
In her state of total shock and exhaustion, her mind completely skipped over the Reinforcement Seal dagger Naruto had given her that morning. The stress had buried the memory of the weapon. Her world had shrunk down to the flickering light of the cave and the heat of Sasuke's fever.
Sakura pulled her knees to her chest, She sat by the entrance, her hand resting protectively on Sasuke's shoulder. She watched the entrance, her eyes wide and bloodshot, praying for the first hint of gold on the horizon.
(Just until sunrise,) she told herself, a mantra against the dark.
( I need to protect Sasuke-kun........Just hold on until Naruto gets back
-------------------------------------
Forest Of Death :
The Central TOwer :
The Sand Trio moved with a practiced, leisure toward the center of the Forest of Death. They walked up to the Grand Tower—the final objective of the second phase—and tossed their scrolls onto the desk of the waiting Chunin proctor.
"Alright," the proctor said, checking the seals. "Congratulations. You've officially passed the second test."
Kankuro let out a sharp smirk, crossing his arms over his chest. His voice was thick with the kind of pride that comes from a total lack of struggle. "Hah. Honestly? It was a bit too easy."
He wasn't the only one feeling himself. Temari had that same sharp, superior glint in her eyes, and even Gaara's silence carried a heavy weight of dominance. They had torn through a foreign village's "deadliest" exam without breaking a sweat.
The first proctor didn't look up from his paperwork, but the second one caught the Suna Genins' arrogance. As a Konoha shinobi, he wasn't about to let his village's reputation get stepped on without a little pushback. He leaned back, a sarcastic grin spreading across his face.
"That's the spirit! And hey, with that time, you're officially the second Genin team to pass."
The smirk dropped from Kankuro's face instantly. "...What?"
"Second?" Temari interjected, her brow furrowing. "Are you serious? We made it here in under two hours."
The proctor checked his watch with a satisfied hum. "Hoho, quite right. You clocked in at 97 minutes. A fantastic time, really. It's just that the first team set a record at 85 minutes. You were just a little bit late ."
Hearing this , The Sand Trio had and expression of indiffrence , Inside, the trio was reeling. They knew the dangers of this forest better than most, and Temari and Kankuro were well aware that without Gaara's presence, they wouldn't have moved half as fast. The idea that someone—especially from the "soft" Hidden Leaf—was thirteen minutes faster was jarring.
"So, who's first?" Kankuro demanded.
Temari and Gaara were already running through the possibilities.
(Was it that Uzumaki ? Or maybe the Sneaky Aburame ?)
The proctor didn't keep them in suspense. "Team 10, from Konoha. You'll find them inside. Just remember: no fighting without permission, or you're disqualified. We've got Jonin stationed all over this tower, so don't get hasty "
The Grand Hall
The trio ignored the warnings and pushed through the massive doors. They were met with the Grand Hall—a majestic, cavernous space where the preliminary matches would eventually take place. The sheer scale of the architecture was enough to make even the Sand Siblings pause.
"Whoa..."
"Damn. This place is huge."
As they regained their composure and headed toward the check-in desk, Gaara suddenly stopped. His pale, browless eyes drifted upward toward a terrace overlooking the hall. Temari and Kankuro followed his gaze, expecting to see a group of hardened elites.
Instead, they saw three Genins who looked like they were on picnic
One boy—Shikamaru—was leaning lazily against the railing, looking like he might fall asleep at any second. Another—Choji—was aggressively working his way through a bag of potato chips. The girl—Ino—was pacing with an annoyed expression on her face.
"Ugh, what is taking Naruto so long?" Ino groaned. "Even the Suna people are already here!"
"Relax, Ino," Shikamaru drawled, not even bothering to look up. "It hasn't even been two hours. Let's just enjoy the peace while we can."
"And the food," Choji added between loud crunches. "Don't forget the food."
Gaara's eye twitched. He turned away without a word, his sand swirling restlessly in his gourd as he moved toward the proctor. Temari and Kankuro followed, keeping their voices low as they passed.
"That's not the blonde or the insect freak," Kankuro hissed. "Since when does Konoha have so many monsters?"
"Maybe they just got lucky," Temari whispered back, though she didn't sound like she believed it. "Let's just get to our room."
They moved on, the casual atmosphere of Team 10 sticking in their throats like a layer of desert dust.
Forest Of Death :
Outside The cave : ( Daybreak )
The first weak rays of morning light began to filter through the canopy, turning the oppressive shadows of the forest into a hazy, grey mist. Outside the hidden cave, the silence of the night was replaced by the low, sharp whispers of three figures.
"Dosu!" Zaku hissed, checking his gauntlets.
"I know," Dosu replied, his voice muffled by his bandages but carrying a cold authority. "It's daybreak. According to Orochimaru-sama's orders, it's time to move."
Yorui leaned against a nearby trunk, glancing toward the cave entrance hidden behind the massive roots. "What about the rest of their team?"
"Our target is Uchiha Sasuke," Dosu said flatly. "As for the others..... if they get in the way/........"
Zaku let out a dark, jagged laugh, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, we just kill them. Simple."
"Yorui, Zaku," Dosu interrupted, his single visible eye narrowing. "Have you detected all the traps?"
"Of course," Zaku smirked. "Should we neutralize them first?"
"Yeah. Let's do that before we go knocking."
"All right, let's go, Yorui."
"Hm."
Inside the Cave
While the Sound Genin were prepping their assault, Sakura was having a hard time just keeping her head up. Her hand was pressed to Sasuke's forehead, her brow furrowed in deep worry.
"His breathing is finally calming down," she murmured to herself, "but the fever is still way too high."
Checking on Sasuke was the only thing keeping her awake. Her own condition was a mess. She hadn't sustained any physical wounds yet, but her eyes were bloodshot .
Pulling an all-nighter while on a strict "diet" and dealing with the mental trauma of Orochimaru's killing intent had drained her. She was a low-chakra Kunoichi running on pure fumes and sheer stubbornness.
( .....Just a little bit more ........I need to protect Sasuke-kun )
Her eyelids felt like they were made of lead, dipping shut for seconds at a time before she forced them open again. She had pulled a perfect "no-sleep" lookout all night, and the fatigue was starting to make the shadows dance.
*BOOM!*
Suddenly The entrance of the cave blew Open .
Amidst the swirling smoke and rising dust, the Sound Trio moved toward the breach. But before they could clear the threshold, a massive volley of kunai and shuriken whistled through the debris, launched in a tight formation from the back of the cave.
"Huh?!"
"Wha—"
"Dam—!"
The Sound Genin scrambled to disperse, but the timing was uncomfortably precise. The distance was too short for a clean getaway.
Except for Dosu, who managed to twist away, both Yorui and Zaku took the brunt of the trap. A couple of shuriken buried themselves in their torsos, and Zaku winced as one bit deep into his arm.
They were tough, though. Their mesh armor absorbed the worst of the momentum, and even though blood was drawn, none of them flinched. They brushed the weapons off like annoying insects. Zaku gritted his teeth, pulling a shuriken out of his shoulder with a grunt.
"Tch, bastards," he spat.
"Hm, hehe," Yorui, The Kunoichi chuckled darkly, looking at the shallow punctures. "These shuriken don't even have enough strength behind them to pierce deep. Is that the best they've got?"
"Shut up and be careful," Dosu snapped, his eyes fixed on the settling dust.
As the smoke cleared, a pink blur stepped forward from the darkness. Sakura stood there, her legs trembling slightly from exhaustion, but her kunai was raised high and her gaze was locked onto them.
"Just one?" Zaku asked, sounding disappointed.
"A girl?" Yorui added with a mocking tilt of her head.
"Oyy , Pink Bitch" Zaku called out, stepping forward with a bored expression. "Get lost. Our target is Uchiha Sasuke. Move, and maybe we'll let you live."
Sakura bit her lip as she threw a shuriken , not towards the Sound Genin but on the side , The Sound GEnin Tensed but as they saw the the shuriken going on the other side , they got confused , but that canfusion didn't last long as they soon felt shadow above them .
" Huh?? "
" what "
" Did we miss something before ? "
Gazing upward , they saw a tree trunk falling on top of them , Despite seeing the tree falling on them , The sound trio didn't flich , Dosu jumped and placed his hands on the trunk in the air and
*brrrrr*
" Bamm "
Soon a strange vibration happened in Dosu's gauntlets as the tree trunk blew open .
Seeing this Sakura's eyes widened , but the sound Genin didn't give her time to think further as they moved and encircled her fast .
" hehe , can't even throw a good shuriken ,Someone like you clearly has no talent ... Just DIE...!! "
Just as Sakura gritted her teeth in despair , another voice shouted
" LEAF HURRICANE "
-----------------------------------------
Author's notes :
Hmm , from now on instead of lengthy chapters ,i am gonna upload chapter between 2000-3000 words .
In this way , I can upload daily and you guys will also get more cliff hangers , instead of full fights in single chapter
Hm hm
As a rookie author with his first writing , I made a mistake to not provide you Cliff hangers , I shall learn and improvise from now on .
Hmmm , Hmmmmm
Another question , Should Sakura ....like not become useless in the next chapter ??/
----------------------------------------