Shooting Straight

Chapter 17

Naruto, dazed and confused, shook his head in a poor attempt to get his wits about him again as he found himself sitting upside-down in the dirt, shoved against a large tree, surrounded by the shallow crater presumably made by his landing after being blasted away from his teammates. He glanced around in bewilderment, ignoring the cries of pain resonating throughout his body. 

A miserable groan passed his lips as he indignantly mumbled to himself about how he'd wished he'd chosen to stay in bed that morning. Thus far, the day was faring to not be one of his best.

As the young Uzumaki focused on pulling himself back together and returning to his teammates, he managed to overlook the towering reptile poised in his blind spot, coiled and tense as it prepared to strike. 

The snake breathed a low hiss that left Naruto's hairs standing on end. He froze for a second before forcing his limbs to bend to his will, ignoring the sharp protest of his torn muscles as he turned to look over his shoulder- cerulean eyes locking onto those of the giant beast. 

Another deep hiss was enough to quicken the pace of Naruto's already racing heart as sudden realization set in at what he was facing. He took a chasmic breath, filling his lungs even as it felt like they were going to seize. He could only curse at how wildly unfortunate his day had been already, and how much he did not want to face this predator alone.

Naruto forcefully swallowed the lump of fear in his throat as his brain worked a mile a minute to come up with any semblance of a plan that could realistically get him out of his circumstance alive, preferably in one piece. Still, nothing came to him, even as the snake lunged for him.

He felt the reptile's body coil around his own, tightening more and more until the blonde began to see stars cloud his vision. He let out his breath, resigning himself to the fate of being eaten alive as the beast's beady black eyes locked onto him, its tongue flicking out to accompany the sound of another threatening hiss. 

Before he could react, the snake's jaw opened, encapsulating him and pulling him into the deep dark belly of the beast. 

~~~

The enemy ninja looked over the three genin standing before her, appraising them as she reached into her jacket to produce a gleaming Earth scroll; precisely the one that Sakura was dying to get her hands on. Arrow pulled the string of his bow tighter, prepared to let his namesake fly at any sudden movement from the opponent. 

"I'm sure you want our scroll, yes?" The woman teased, rolling the item in her hand tauntingly. "Because I'll bet you have the heaven scroll." 

She hummed, grinning as she watched Sakura and Sasuke squirm under her gaze. Her long, snake-like tongue peaked out from the confines of her mouth, lovingly wrapping around the length of the scroll in her hand. She watched Sakura recoil, face painted with an expression of repulsion. 

The woman, however, didn't stop as her tongue pulled the object deep into her throat until it was gone from view, completely consumed. Once she'd finished, she licked her lips and winked at the genin. Sasuke glared in disdain. 

"Well now, once this is over, one of us will have both scrolls and the other will be dead." 

"Arrow-" Sasuke commanded in a firm, unwavering tone. 

He responded quickly, releasing the arrow from his bow. It made a straight, clean flight towards the woman's head at a speed that would have made it nearly impossible to successfully evade. Still, she managed to do just that as she nimbly dodged the attack- eyes narrowing, her gaze caught the sight of both Arrow's teammates, sucking them into a terrifying genjutsu.