A Painful Life

Yumi's POV

I somehow felt really glad Lee has taken me off his mind to move in on Sakura and Kimura, hehe. At least we got a scroll, all we need now is another so we can pass this joint and move on. Naruto is still asleep... ugh, when's he gonna wake up? What about Sasuke... he certainly had something when he woke up and turned all brutal and ruthless. The curse mark sure did a trick, the vision came to me when he broke Zaku's arm. Unfortunately that was before me and Kimura arrived... they didn't give up after what Sasuke did. So we decided to finish up with our finale. I mean it could have been our finale but it was only Kimura's. That sound wave sure is powerful.

After Lee's team was gone, suddenly we heard a scream.

"The grass ninja! EVERYBODY HIDE!!!" We all looked and saw Naruto has finally woken up. Choji poked him with a stick.

"So, the sleeping beauty is back in reality", Kimura said.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around and noticed Sakura's hair.

"Sakura! What happened to your hair?" He asked.

"Yeah, what happened to long, pinky locks?" I said.

"Nothing, it's just that it gets in the way during fights... I like it better long but I decided to cut it like a new look", she said.

"You're not telling the truth, are you?" I whispered.

"So, what happened? Hey, what's Ino and her team doing here? And Kimura?" He said.

I sighed. "You've been sleeping for a long time..."

Ino and her team left. I thanked Kimura for giving me the scroll.

"Wow, you gave us a scroll?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, you guys can go on your own for your other scroll you need to find, I need to go back to my team. They must be really worried", said Kimura.

"Oh okay. See you soon Kimura!" I said.

"Good luck guys!" She jumped on the tree logs away. I looked at Naruto and Sasuke.

"Guys, I'm keeping the scroll this time", I said.

"Sasuke, should we tell her about the password?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, if she will be able to memorize it", said Sasuke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I glared at him.

"I mean if you're not as dumb as you look, then yeah Sakura can tell you about the password", he said.

I growled at him then remembered Shii. I decided to hit the spot.

"Oh BTW, we saw Shii today", I said.

"What?" Sasuke suddenly stood up. "Where is she? How did you find her?"

"I can't tell you, it's a test and there's no time for romance, bub", I said.

I could tell Sakura was glaring at me for saying that. I decided we could all rest until tomorrow. But before we went to bed, I decided to talk Sasuke alone.

"Sasuke, I know about your curse mark and how it affected you back there. Listen, if anybody knows Orochimaru well, it's me. So, we could just have a truce, work this together and stop fighting. I have that curse mark as well but I'm learning to control it", I said.

"Yours looks different than mine", he said.

"I know, it has something to do with me. But you, me and Kimura will need all the help we can get to control it. Sasuke, Orochimaru wants us... He wants us to work for him. I've been his student a long time ago and I know what he wants. We need to work this through. So all I'm asking is for you to control the curse mark, don't let it win over you", I said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kimura's POV

As I jumped between tree logs to find Kiba and the others, I noticed them by the bushes. As I went to see them, Akamaru started barking.

"Where've you been? We thought you were gone", said Kiba.

"Sorry guys, I was helping Yumi", I said. "What's wrong with Akamaru".

"He's been shaking like this after he saw what happened", said Hinata.

"What did happen?" I asked.

They told me about that sand team and how creepy their fighting style is. After they told me, Shino told us that we needed to go find a scroll because they lost it when they were spying on that sand team.

"Look no further guys, I got the scroll we need", I said.

"Whoa, where'd you get it?" Asked Kiba.

"That's when you leave your team to find what you need", I said.

We have both scrolls so all we need is to go the tower but it's still three days until this round is over. We could just rest for the night so Akamaru can calm down. I wonder how Yumi will survive...

To be continued