Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 25: The Real Sasuke Awakens

Just then, at least a handful of shurikens flew at the man's head. He heard the whistling noises of them flying at high velocity through the air and pulled back just as the shurikens planted themselves mere inches from his face.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, I forgot the codeword!" Naruto shouted.

We all looked to see him standing on a branch opposite the clearing. He was covered from head to toe in blood, soaking into his outfit as well.

"Naruto! What happened to you?!" I asked worried that he might be suffering from a major injury.

"I'm fine, just ran into a minor difficulty," he said degradingly as he motioned towards the dead snake.

"Another one?! Is it coming here?!" I asked, panicked.

He shook his head proudly, "Got rid of it," he smiled.

"Good job, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Yeah, okay guys, happy for your reunion but, if you haven't noticed, Sasuke is in kind of a tight spot right now, might wanna save him first," Liz said, averting her eyes.

"Naruto, I know you think you're all cool, coming in to save us and everything, but this guy is no joke, he's the real deal. Run!" he shouted, swinging his arm at him.

The man stopped advancing on Sasuke but his body was still wrapped tightly around a branch, a distorting image.

He giggled, "Looks like you were able to defeat the giant snake, Naruto-kun," he said, licking his lips.

I inspected the predicament silently, How do we get this guy off our tails?

Sasuke glanced at me and stood up, "I will give you the scroll but please, take it and leave us!" he offered.

"What?!" Liz cried, confused.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sasuke?! Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?" Naruto shouted, outraged.

Sasuke ignored Naruto and looked at the man's face, studying his expression, "Hm, I see, very smart, in order to escape the predator, you must give the predator a different meal," the man observed, looking at all of our scared faces.

"Take it!" Sasuke said, throwing the scroll towards the man.

"No! Sasuke!" I shouted too late.

Naruto leaped forward and grabbed it from the air, landing on Sasuke's branch.

"You idiot! What are you doing? Can you not understand that our lives are in danger here?!" Sasuke screamed.

Naruto spun around and punched Sasuke, not hard but enough to knock him backwards. Sasuke fell but managed to catch himself on the next branch over.

"What was that all of a sudden?" Sasuke complained, baring his teeth.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

"Since I forgot the codeword, I can't test you but you aren't the real Sasuke, are you?" he accused.

"What?! You moron! I'm the real Sasuke!" Sasuke testified.

"Liar," Naruto spat at him, "There's no way that such a stupid coward like you could be the Sasuke I know!"

Naruto continued, his voice trembling from rage, "I don't know how strong this guys is but how would you know if he'll really let us go if you give him the scroll?! You're the one who freaked out to much to study the situation properly!" Naruto reasoned.

The man had watched all of this, "Heh, Naruto-kun, you are correct," he confirmed, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, "Since I can just kill you and take the scroll," he growled and bit his finger until it bled.