Let It Begin

11. Sakura vs Sasori Part 2

Sasori fired his flamethrowers at Sakura. Just quickly enough, she pulled a rock from the ground to block the attack. The fire danced around the edges of the rock and splayed out in all directions, trapping the fighters in a circle of flame.

Sakura dropped the rock and looked around her quickly. All hiding places and escape routes were completely obliterated now. Sasori noticed the fire as well and switched tactics to use his Water Stream Shooters. He aimed at Sakura again, but instead of using another rock to block the attack, she dodged at the last second. The high-powered burst of water extinguished the fire just behind where Sakura had been standing. She ran through the opening, jumped to the nearest unburned tree limb, and sprinted through the trees.

Sasori gritted his teeth, then used his Water Jutsu to put out another batch of flames before following Sakura.

He did not put out all of the fire, so it continued to spread through the forest, making it difficult for Sakura to hide. Now she had two enemies to worry about: Sasori and the fire. She needed to finish the battle right away or she wouldn't be able to make it out of the area before the fire surrounded her again.

The smoke wafted through the trees, becoming thicker and thicker with each passing second. Sakura paused for a moment to cough the smoke out of her lungs before taking a ragged breath and continued on. If she didn't hurry, death would be her only option and she didn't like any of her three options.

Sasori managed to catch up to her as she took her breath and flung his poison-coiled rope from his puppet body at her. She managed to avoid a fatal injury, but the poison-covered weapon managed to slice across her side before it thudded into the tree branch next to her.

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed as she pressed a hand against her side to stem the torrential blood flow. She quickly grabbed her last antidote before the poison paralyzed her and stabbed her arm with the needle. The liquid slowly spread through her bloodstream just as she felt her muscles tense up.

Before Sasori could do anything else, Sakura quickly grabbed the coiled rope and yanked it towards herself, pulling him along with it. Using her monstrous strength, she was able to shatter Sasori's puppet body, sending his core of living flesh out of the body.

Believing to have won the battle, Sakura receded her curse mark. She quickly began searching for the coiled rope, intending to use the rest of the poison to make another antidote. The smoke was starting to get too thick for Sakura to breath and she started to cough. She needed to get out of there soon or risk having lung damage.

Sakura found Sasori's coiled rope and was about to pick it up, but stopped when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. She turned around to attack but froze the moment she felt something slam into her torso.

"Your mistake for letting your guard down." Sasori spoke.

"Nngh!" moaned Sakura. She was unable to heal her wounds as the sword in embedded in her stomach was laced with poison, shutting her system down.

"Same goes for you." Sakura replied, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. She grasped the sword tightly, preventing Sasori from pushing the blade further.

Sasori frowned, "What do you-Gah!"

As the groan left his lips, Sasori's head fell forward, and saw another blade, this one sticking out of his own chest. He coughed and drops of blood spattered his chin.

"I see...You used yourself as bait...-so your clone-... could take the opportunity-...to attack me from behind..." Sasori said as he realized what she had done. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the clone as she stepped back, pulling the katana with her. She disappeared with an audible poof.