Renewal

~31~

I was woken from my sleep suddenly by the sounds of explosions. Sai, who had been sleeping next to me was up and ready to go in like a second. I followed soon after Sai, jumping out of bed and grabbing my katana. Haku, who had been on the night watch had already pulled out a few senbon and held them between his knuckles.

"What's going on?" I asked frantically, still half asleep.

"One of your traps has been set off." Haku replied, just as one of Sai's mice scurried into our camp.

The mouse scurried onto Sai's hand and started squeaking.

"It's a team of Amegakure ninja, although I don't know what scroll they have." Sai said, looking down at his little mouse made of ink.

"What should we do?" Haku asked.

"Ask them what scroll they have and attack if they refuse?" I suggested. "Actually, we'll probably end up attacking them anyway."

"Alright." Haku agreed, Sai also nodding.

Three male ninja from Amegakure walked out of the bushes, all of them brushing resedue from the explosion off their shoulders, before facing us.

"Hand over your scroll and no one gets hurt." Their leader said, pulling out a kunai.

"How about you tell us what scroll you have instead?" I replied, glaring at the leader.

"Like we'd tell you!" The one on the left said.

"It won't matter once we take your scroll!" The one on the right agreed.

"Should we attack?" Sai asked, readying his tanto.

"I think so." I agreed, pointing my katana at them.

The Amegakure ninja were getting annoyed and decided to attack, each one of them going after a different one of us.

"Super beast scroll!" I looked over to see Sai hopping onto a giant lion, swinging his tanto around trying to use the blunt end to knock his opponent out.

"Water style: water needles!" Haku shouted, using water from the nearby river to make needles.

I however, hadn't used any jutsu on my opponent yet, I was holding out just fine using my sword. The Ame ninja I faced was barely blocking my slices and I eventually hit him in the head with the hilt, knocking him out. I looked over to Sai and Haku, both their opponents were out cold, but the one Haku fought looked like a hedgehog. 

"Check their pockets for a scroll." I said, starting to look through the boy I knocked out pockets.

Haku and Sai did the same until Sai said that he found their scroll, and lucky for us it was an earth scroll.

"So when should we start heading for the tower?" I asked, not expecting us to get a scroll this easy.

"We should go tonight, when it gets dark." Haku said. "Most teams will be resting at night."

"Good idea." I replied, nodding my head.

"Sounds like a plan." Sai said, smiling his overly fake smile.

"Now then, how about breakfast?" Haku asked. "Since ours was interupted."

The rest of the morning went by peacefully, Sai and I caught a couple fish and Haku helped to prepare them. We ate breakfast and spent the rest of the morning sparring with each other to pass time. I was about to spar with Haku, but a sudden burst of angry chakra made us both stop.

"Naruto." We both said in sync.

Without another word we took off towards the chakra, Sai following after us, puzzled. It didn't take us long to get there, and I froze. Orochimaru was there, his yellow eyes stared down at Sasuke in a creepy sort of way. Naruto hung by his ankle in Orochimaru's grasp, red chakra surrounding him. Orochimaru's fingertips lit up purple before he pressed them against the seal on Naruto's stomach. Naruto went limp and was tossed to the side. I went to go catch him, but Sakura threw a kunai and pinned him to a tree by his clothing.

"Sakura! Sasuke!" I yelled. "What the fuck is going on?!"

"Ah, Yuuto." Orochimaru sighed. "I'm so glad you could make it. I have a gift for you as well."

"Leave them along you fucking bastard!" I roared, pure hatred in my voice.

Orochimaru only chuckled and grinned.

"I couldn't care less about them, I'm only here for you and Sasuke!" He hissed.

Haku stepped in front of me, and pulled out his senbon.

"You will not touch him." Haku said protectively.

Orochimaru's grin only widened.

"What can you do?" He chuckled. "I wonder."

While Orochimaru was busy with us, Sasuke tried to attack him from behind, his sharingan blazing to  life. Orochimaru's neck suddenly extended and bent backwards to reach Sasuke. I jumped forward to try and stop him, but I was too late. Orochimaru's fangs sunk into Sasuke's neck, and when he pulled away a black mark with three commas was all that was left behind.

"I have something special for you Yuuto!" Orochimaru exclaimed, jumping towards me.

I jumped back and Haku threw his senbon at Orochimaru. Orochimaru dodged the senbon easily and laughed at Haku's attempt to attack him.

"Show me what you can do child!" Orochimaru shouted.

Haku raised a single hand, and I knew what he was going to do. I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards me.

"Whatecer you do," I whispered in his ear, holding him to my chest. "Do not use your kekkei genkai."

I released Haku and pushed him behind me, readying myself for a fight. I jumped into the air and did handsigns as quickly as I could.

"Fire style: dragon flame jutsu!" I exclaimed.

A dragon made of fire hurdled towards Orochimaru, it's heat so intense it was searing the trees. 

"Summoning jutsu!" Orochimaru yelled, making a giant snake suddenly appear.

The dragon hit and killed the snake, but Orochimaru was unharmed and my chakra was running low. I panted heavily, cursing under my breath. I glanced at Sasuke, flinching as I saw him writhing in pain with Sakura at his side. Haku and Sai stood beside me, both with worried looks on their faces. Orochimaru didn't give us a moments rest however, as he pulled a sword out of his throat and charged at me. My reaction time wasn't quick enough, but luckily Sai jumped in and blocked with his tanto. Orochimaru pulled something from his pocket and held it in his hand. I think it's a vile of something with a needle on the end.

Sai and Orochimaru fought for a while using their swords, but Orochimaru eventually got tired of that and summoned some snakes to keep Sai busy. Haku jumped in to fight using his senbon, and didn't use his ice release like I had asked. Orochimaru had gone to stab Haku, but I weakly shoved him out of the way, narrowly dodging the sword.

Orochimaru pulled out the needle, and before I knew what was happening, he stabbed me in the neck with it, sending waves of indescribable pain through my body.

"Yuuto!" Haku cried out in concern.

I crumpled to the ground as pain coursed through my body, my entire body feeling like it was burning. My skin burned all over and my insides felt like they were being stretched. My wings and tail burned, felling like they were stretching. I screamed in agony as the burning on my skin intensified.

"Make it stop!" I screamed.

The last thing I remember is pain, and then I passed out.