Contamination
Something was wrong, very seriously wrong. Sakura knew it down to her bones, but she couldn’t stop now. The other teams were scattered across the Forest of Death, Sasuke and Naruto were trying to stay to her flanks- bad idea! The klaxon alarms in her mind told her- but there were too many pursuers, and she was slowing them down. Time, to shove my pride, the kunoichi though grimly, aware that her physical weakness, though largely improved, was still a huge issue, because she wasn’t fast enough!
When they could finally stop, Sakura opened her mouth to say that if one of them could carry her, that would probably be faster, when a snake leapt out from the bush, latching onto to Sasuke. Sasuke ripped it off, snarling through a larger than necessary Katon jutsu to kill it. Naruto and Sakura tacitly agreed to hurry, Sasuke easily falling in with the plan.
Reaching the tower meant they were greeted by Orochimaru, who eyed the seal that had bloomed from the snake bit and whisked Sasuke away, Iruka had fetched Naruto, while Sakura had huddled in a messy heap on Amaya’s lap as the elder kunoichi tried to soothe her. Kakashi and Katsuro were waiting with Aisha, Tenzou, and Inosha.
Sakura absolutely hated how weak she appeared, huddled in Amaya-senseis’ lap as she cried. But she could see their team breaking, their bonds screaming as they were cut.
But she underestimated Sasuke, underestimated Naruto. While she slept off her crying jag, the boys were learning about Guya Wang- an odd shinobi who had been Orochimaru’s first apprentice, and the creator of Aisha. Tenzou was angry because Guya wanted Aisha back, though his impassive face belied it. Katsuro clenched his fathers’ pant leg, while Akashina remained close to Gaara.
Sasuke approached hesitantly, unsure. Then Sakura whimpered his name as she slept, and he had to act. Brushing back her hair, he murmured “Shhh, Sakuya, you’ll be fine.”
She came awake immediately. “Sasuke? Where’s Naruto?”
He calmed her quickly by hauling her in close and whispering “He’s with Iruka, he wanted Ramen and the Hokage said he could.” Closing his eyes, Sasuke rocked his body, forward and backward, the rhythm calming his Iron partner.
Naruto came in then, and if he felt just a pang of envy, instead of full jealousy, well, no one would hold it against him, even when Sasuke gestured for him to join them. So he did.
Later, Sakura demanded “What happened? Amaya-sensei didn’t want me to upset you, so she kept me away from what happened.” Sasuke pursed his lips for a moment, shared a glance with Naruto, and grimaced before he said with measured calm
“Lord Orochimaru’s first and third apprentices went rogue, they tried, unsuccessfully, to apply a seal of some sort to me.” Naruto piped in
“Kakashi-sensei and lord Orochimaru took care of it, though.” Sasuke nodded and finished
“Neji used his Byakugan to check they got all the bad chakra from the seal.” Sakura, calmed and not ready to riled, nodded and rose, murmuring
“We need to eat, I’ll be back with the food soon.” With all the grace she could muster, the girl exited, though her teammates knew she was still upset.