He goes flying back - 

And Sugira's curse seal surges.

He's now faster than he is even with Expeditious Retreat. He can now focus past the screaming in his head - 

(Everything's so perfectly clear, crystal like rage and fear, his target outlined in his mind's eye, the world slowed - )

(What the fuck is his body doing stop - )

He teleports behind the leader.

Unless the leader has incredibly fast reaction times, Sugira's sword is going through him, limed with lightning.

He makes a sound like gurk, and coughs up a dribble of blood.

"Heh. Is this... what you wanted... Orochimaru-sama..."

What the fuck.

He backs off, somewhat horrified, pulling his sword with him - 

He's not quite dropped his guard, but - 

The seal wavers, and he can't force it back, fear and rage and disgust wavering in him - 

(If it's safe he can maybe concentrate but he doesn't know if his team is safe - )

Chihiro is finished with her opponent. She goes to check on Naruto.

He's struggling to his feet - 

And very intensely worried for Sasuke.

"Sasuke - shit, you alright?"

He doesn't think the Sound genin are a threat anymore.

Belatedly: "I'm fine, just... Bruised."

He's pretty sure that feeling isn't internal bleeding... And he heals fast anyways. (Though who knows if that got fucked up alongside his seal.)

He makes a high-pitched noise - 

But fights down the seal, until it recedes again, leaving him gasping.

"What... was that?"

"I lost control. The seal feeds on strong negative emotions. Apparently."

He's maybe shaking a bit.

Okay a lot.

"We need - to keep going."

"...Yes."

And, after cleaning his blade quickly, off.

He's not as able to pay attention as he had been. He's dizzy, exhausted, and his head flashes with blinding pain every time he jars himself too much. But he's also covered in at least two different sprays of blood, so, maybe people will think twice before fucking with their team.

For whatever reason, they're not bothered again before they make it to the tower, which is strung up with wires and cables like a monitoring station.

And then to find an entrance...

He starts mentally working on how to withdraw only the scrolls from his ethereal pocket.

There's a door at the base, a quarter of the way around from where they came upon it. It's not locked.

Inside then.

...He might not be able to pull just them without his head splitting in half...

He squints at the writing on the wall inside, makes his vision focus, and grumbles, "You think now for the scrolls?"

"That seems likely. The words reference both heaven and earth."

His spell pulls both scrolls and his spellbook out. He winces, then puts his spellbook in his pack. It's not the most secure, but he doesn't have the mental space to re-memorize that spell.

"Do we open them now then?"

"We were told not to before we got to the tower. We have now reached the tower."

He nods, hands her the Heaven scroll, and opens the Earth one.

She opens hers. Seeing the seal inside, she drops it quickly.

"Summoning," she says. "Drop it."

He tosses it away - and it ends up falling over the other scroll.

In a puff of smoke, one of their teachers from the Academy, Iruka, appears. He smiles when he sees them.

"Ah, you guys! Congratulations!"

"Iruka-sensei!!! I'm really glad to see you - how do we report getting attacked by a missing-nin who definitely wasn't supposed to be in the forest - also uh medics and a seal master, can we request those - "

"Whoa, slow down Naruto. Missing-nin? What are you talking about?"