The Forest
Luck was a strange and fickle thing, and it had been the most fickle for those of Team Seven – whom, Sakura decided, she was still undoubtedly a part of, if the accursed luck was anything to go off of. Or maybe she had simply been the source of unluckiness for Team Seven. The sound of the gong still rang in her ears, ever a reminder of how very quickly she had found herself in yet another precarious situation, throat dry as she came to the abrupt realisation that there was a reason no one else had ventured near the crevice which she had thought was a good point of navigation.
The incredibly venomous serpent lunged at her again, and Sakura swore, a yelp escaping her as a second one of that breed whose name she hadn’t memorised dropped from the treeline, narrowly missing her as she leapt to another tree trunk.
Her plan for showing off and proving her own strength in those lands had gone down the drain in minutes, and she was left fumbling about, well and truly aware of how out of depth she was in those unknown lands. She was a stranger in an even stranger land, and never had the message been drilled in as much as it was being in that instant. Her teeth gritted together, the ironclad reminder that the Quest she was on could be deadly to some. “Especially those as weak as you,” a voice reminiscent of Senju Kaida’s rang out in the depths of her brain.
The leather of the gloves she wore creaked, and Sakura’s eyes blazed. “In your dreams,” she spat, fury making her turn to the nest of snakes she had well and truly intruded upon. “I’m not weak,” she muttered, hating the memories which crept to the surface of her thoughts. She could still remember the times when she had been stuck behind them. She was probably still stuck behind them, if she was completely honest, what with the stupid, bullshit powerups which had been handed to her teammates on a plate.
Where was her ridiculous powerup?
Another snake hissed and lunged for her, fangs tearing into foliage and mulch as Sakura changed positions as she was forced to near constantly. Snakes were supposed to be Sasuke’s—Sakura shook her head. She didn’t want to think about him. Not then, possibly not ever. Her heart throbbed, the phantom pain of his hand never really having left her.
A strand of pink hair fell in front of her face, matted with sweat and dirt, and Sakura could only narrow her eyes on the opponents – on the enemies – all around her. Coal black eyes stared at her, forked tongues tasting the air around them, making them look hungry. She didn’t need three guesses to work out who their intended prey was.
Maybe before, when she’d been an itty bitty genin, she’d been prey. Sakura wasn’t an itty bitty genin right there and then. A breath escaped her in a low, long sigh, and she lifted her fists, ready to fight or die where she stood.
Certainly, she didn’t have any ridiculous powers which had suddenly emerged from the woodwork. She had shed blood, sweat, and tears to get the modicum of power which she had. Her eyes narrowed, lips twisting as she weighed the odds set out before her. It was a bad habit of hers. A creepy habit some had called it when sent off on missions with her.
The twisted grin of hers brought out by a hard fight was back. A bark of laughter escaped her, and she met those coal black stares. “Come,” she ordered, voice sounding more steady than she felt, hands and feet at the ready. “I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands.”
As if they had understood her words, they moved in all at once; a mass of writhing bodies which lunged for her. Each tiny wound each fang could cause promised to be deadly, bereft as she was of supplies to make an antivenom. Adrenaline raced beneath her skin, her smile only becoming that much more twisted and warped as her fist moved, slamming into the thick body which was the same girth as her head.
Scaled skin punctured like wet paper, warmth dripping over her gloved knuckles even as she drew her fist back, launching up of her feet, bringing one down in the next second in a devastating axe kick which rent the ground beneath her feet in an almighty, localised earthquake. Stunned, the snakes took a few moments to gather their bearings, and Sakura didn’t waste those precious seconds. Fingers and fists ripped into them, fangs knocked out by a well timed kick across their open maws. Sharp eyes counted the number of bodies, breath catching in her throat as she counted the number of snakes lying on the ground, bloodied and dead.
There were two missing from their original number.
Her heart thudded in her chest, ears straining to catch any sounds of scales sliding against grass, overturned dirt, or bark. They liked the trees – the bothersome reptiles. Rustling in the bushes gave her a split second of warning, and Sakura leapt back, substituting herself with a well placed log, eyes narrowing at the sight of fangs ripping into wood. Teeth glinted in the light, her smile becoming downright poisonous as she leapt towards the exposed snake, grabbing it by its writhing tail and swinging it bodily into the nearest, thickest tree trunk with a meaty thump. She didn’t relent, slamming it against the tree trunk again and again until it fell limp, the dark brown bark stained with a reddish liquid.
One left.
Sakura looked around herself, heart still thumping in her chest like a little jackrabbit. Her fingers twitched, ready for her to find the last threat to her safety. Eyes darted over the ruined ground, taking in the many nooks and crannies the snake had to hide in and strike from. Though given the utter destruction she had caused and how she had dealt with the rest of its brethren, perhaps it had fled?
She lifted herself from the slight crouched stance she had fallen into, shivers rippling down her spine as she scanned her surroundings and wondered if that was over – and what she ought to do next.
Sensing the movement before she saw it, she sidestepped, hissing at the pain which blossomed from her leg, eyes just catching the movement as the final snake dropped down from the damned treetops, tearing something loose from her waist as it went down. She moved her leg then, lifting her foot only to slam it down atop the scaled body with enough force to wake the dead. Blood and gore smattered across her face from the force of her blow, and Sakura backed off then, eyes and healing hands darting to the line of red welling up on her thigh.
A muttered curse escaped her, brain silently analysing the wound for a matter of seconds before realising it wasn’t a deadly wound. The fang had skimmed her leg, cutting through the first few layers of skin yet not all of them. She was already dealing with the surface wound, disinfecting it and healing it with her chakra in the blink of an eye and sagging back against the nearest tree in relief. A hand went to her heart, the heavy thud of her heart making her fingers shake as they fisted in the fabric of the simple shirt she wore.
That fight could have gone a lot worse. She probably could’ve avoided it entirely if she had stayed away from the crevice or otherwise done more research about her new environment. There were flaws and large gaps in her knowledge of that world. Which, the more logical half of her brain pointed out, were only to be expected, what with how she’d grown up in an entirely different world.
“That was close,” she muttered, if only to prevent herself from doing something stupid – like screaming or shouting in victory. She had tempted fate enough times that day already, and her cursed luck evidently had it out for her. Sakura didn’t trust that it was done for the day, even as she reclaimed her shaky breath and pushed herself off the trunk she was leaning heavily against. “That was too close…”
It wasn’t wild dragons, wyverns, or manticores she needed to worry about. Rather, it was all things poisonous or venomous which had to be the main concern from then on in. Sakura closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples and cursing. Undoubtedly she would be encountering more things venomous and poisonous before the Quest was out.
All she had to do was deal with it as she had that.
Though the close call with her leg reminded her that she wasn’t even close to being as invincible as she had thought she was. She had no antivenoms on her. If that snake had fully sunk its too-large fangs fulling into her leg rather than scraping her skin then—Sakura didn’t even want to think about it. Dying was a strange and foreign prospect to her, no matter her career. She had made most of her living by healing, and she had her Yin Seal which could heal a lot, yes, but it wasn’t a cure-all, and Sakura was viciously reminded of that fact as she stared at the snake corpses.
Silver caught her eye, and Sakura blinked as she caught sight of the obnoxiously silver bag Senju Kaida had all but foisted off on her without her consent. A memory tugged at her. “You need to collect things on your Quest,” Kaida had explained to her many times. “Like interesting plants, or perhaps parts of an animal you defeat…”
Sakura tilted her head, eyeing up the array of snake bodies around her and the tiny silver bag. Curious, she lifted one of the large snake fangs which she had knocked out of one snake’s mouth, wandering over to the bag. She crouched down, pulling the drawstring pouch open, peering sceptically between the size of the fang and the miniscule bag. Shrugging, she pushed the fang in, blinking at the odd way it was sucked in. The bag didn’t change shape, and curious, Sakura peered into the bag, frowning at the odd black emptiness which met her gaze.
She cast her eyes over the other snake bodies, hairs on the back of her neck rising as she finally took in the sight of the blood she had left smattered around the area and on her. It would attract predators, she realised dimly, and quickly, she shoved one of the gigantic snake bodies towards the open bag, blinking in dumb shock at the way it was swiftly sucked inside. Sort of like a body scroll, Sakura mused, even as she got to work placing the rest of the snake bodies away as her bounty. They were her prey now, and hopefully they’d be of use in the Quest thing.
Whatever use dead animal parts had in such a thing.
A loud roar had her head snapping up, thoughts turning away from dead animal parts just in time for her to grab her silvery bag, clip it back to her waist, and sprint out of the way as fire rained down from the heavens above.
Powerful claws tore through the treetops, hungry, yellow, reptilian eyes locking with her own as she looked over her shoulder and shrieked a curse. She knew what that creature was, shockingly enough, and considering that she had mostly memorised the most dangerous creatures of that world, it said something.
Bronze scales covered the large house-sized creature which bore down on her, a forked tongue scenting the air, eyes locked on her bloodied fists with an intensity which made something inside her shiver. Powerful hindlegs had crushed the thickest trees like they were nothing but twigs, and large wings were folded up against it’s body, attached to its frontmost claws which curled and dug into the mulch, ever indicative of an imminent attack.
A wyvern.
It could have been worse – it could have been a wild dragon, some part of her brain told her. Sakura promptly told that part of her to shut up and sprinted as fast as she could, skidding to a stop only moments later with yet another curse.
Before her loomed a chasm far too wide to leap over, even with chakra-enhanced strength, its bottom deep and unfathomable as she risked a glance over the edge. Sakura swore, cursing her rotten luck as she turned to face the humongous beast which prowled out of the treeline like a cat stalking its prey.
Sakura’s eyes narrowed, fury building up in her along with a frission of fear. It knew she was cornered, and she could only bitterly curse the utter train wreck which was her unfortunate life. Her hands curled into fists and rose to defend herself, eyes darting left and right, seeking a way of escape as the wyvern came closer and closer. It was taking its time, she realised, some spiteful part of her lending her strength as she abruptly decided to throw caution to the wind. Chakra pulsed in her feet, her strides long and eating up the distance between her and the gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth.
Her fist pulled back, even as she leapt up avoiding the claw which slammed into the ground where she had been only moments before. She rolled across the ground, yelping as fire streamed from the wyvern’s mouth, blackening the ground, singing her hairs as she narrowly avoiding the blazing onslaught of flames. She wasn’t quick enough to dodge the powerful tail which slammed into her full force, sending her flying backwards, winded and struggling to breathe.
Feet struggled to find purchase—
Oh. Sakura blinked, staring up at the sky, pink hair whipping above her, even as the sun’s light grew further away. There was no purchase beneath her feet. She was already falling into the chasm she had once thought would be nothing but a boon to her navigational wise.
At least she wasn’t about to be eaten by a wyvern, part of her mused, even as air whipped past her and she fell into the darkness below.