A/N: Back for another chapter. Just wanted to thank those who reviewed and whatnot. Anyway, enjoy.
Prey For A Wolf
Chapter 3-Hinata vs Sasuke
Hinata Hyuuga. Her reputation had preceded her. Outside the walls of Konoha, she was known simply as the White Wolf, because of the porcelain Anbu mask she wore, however, this mask was different from others. It had no markings, save for the drawn mouth, hence the name "White wolf." She was respected or feared among many villages as the youngest female ever to join the ranks of the Anbu in her village and the second youngest to achieve Anbu captain status. A skilled shinobi in her own right, she prided herself on both her versatility with missions and her natural poise in almost any situation.
Assassination, through various means, tracking, surveillance, hunting rogue nin, and even interrogation. She had done it all solely in the name of Konoha, and if she was being honest with herself, she loved the adrenaline that cascaded through her veins when she took on a mission. Her old self would have thought that to be vulgar, but It made her forget her pain for just a while. Made her feel less..numb.
Of course when the adrenaline went away, her pain came back with the vengence of an Uchiha. The Anbu served as a constant reminder of those she had lost. It had all begun with Kiba, and despite her grief, she could not change that, but after today, she would sure as hell make sure it ended with Neji.
She had originally intended to engage Sasuke with the strategy she and Shikamaru had come up with beforehand, but she could not contain the rage within her, and she was pretty sure Shikamaru would only intervene if it was absolutely necessary, seeing as how she had ruined the plan. Shikamaru supposed he couldn't blame her though. She was already holding in her anger, but the Uchiha's casual stoic demeanor only served to further grate her nerves until she exploded.
She had also never intended to kill the redhead, since she had planned on interrogating her along with the Uchiha in hopes of finding out the whereabouts of Orochimaru, because he most likely had some hand in the death of her cousin, especially if the Uchiha was involved, but again, her anger got the better of her and she ended up lacerating the girls neck.
'I suppose it can't be helped,' she thought as she leaned back, narrowly avoiding the tip of Sasuke's sword, 'the whore was awfully loud anyway.'
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
She dismissed her thoughts, instead focusing on the battle,particularly the colossal fireball headed straight for her. She got out of harms way by jumping up multiple trees before forming hand signs. "Lee! Shino! Take cover! Katon: Kasumi Endu no Jutsu!" she said blowing a cloud of grayish gas down at Sasuke, who's eyes widened. 'Gas? It probably-!'
His thoughts were cut off as the explosion blasted through the entire field. Every shred of grass was horrendously burned as were the surrounding trees. She waited for the smoke to clear, half-expecting Sasuke to be burned to a crisp and/or unconscious at the very least, but saw nothing but burnt grass. "I guess hoping for that was probably pushing my luck," she muttered quietly to herself while looking around for Sasuke.
"That was pretty good, Hyuuga. I didn't expect you to use my own fire against me."
Pinpointing his voice, she discovered he was hanging off a branch directly across her. She immediately noticed strange wings of some sort on his body, and strange black markings, but both disappeared as quick as they appeared. She surmised he had probably flown to safety.
'He's even better than i thought.'
The instant she had lunged at him, in addition to activating her kekkei genkai,she immediately concluded three things. One, that she was faster than him, by an almost decent amount, though he was no slowpoke and what he lacked in speed she equally lacked in strength compared to him.
Two, his Taijutsu was average compared to hers. While he was good and could easily stay on par with Lee, the Hyuuga specialized in close-ranged combat, so if he was arrogant enough to attack her head on, he would either tire and be beaten or be completely overwhelmed, assuming Lee and Shino provided competent support.
The final conclusion she made was that she needed to remove the sword from his grasp. With it, he was almost able to match her in close-ranged combat. Almost.
His feet hit the ground with a thud and he raised his blade. "Whenever you're ready, princess."
She was visibly irked by the nickname, much to his amusement, and leaped into the air intent on beating him to a bloody pulp.
"Got you," he said, raising his left hand with a smirk. " Chidori Eisō."
A long stream of lightening pierced through the air, aimed at her heart, which she narrowly avoided.
Activating his Sharingan, he expanded the jutsu. "You won't get away."
The one stream of lightening suddenly branched off, becoming five, all surrounding Hinata.
"Shit," she swore. Seeing no other choice she quickly gathered chakra to her hands. "Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō," she whispered, moving her hands with such high precision, that sharp chakra blades formed around her body, preventing Sasuke's attack from touching her. She landed smoothly on the ground without a scratch. "Was that it?" she asked with a blank expression, "If so, you'll never beat me. Or Itachi for that matter."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to be irked as his expression turned icy and his sharingan eyes spun furiously. "You'll regret saying that."
Instead of replying, she opted to rush at him with such alacrity the earth beneath her feet was left in ruins. Of course with the Sharingan, Sasuke could easily see Hinata's movements and dodged with little difficulty, punched her twice in her abdominal, lifting her off the ground, and sent her flying with a kick to her chest.
Slamming back first into a tree, she growled and spit out some of the blood she coughed up. 'I should have figured. Sharingan. A frontal attack won't work. Unless..'
Her thoughts were cut of as he threw shuriken in her direction, forcing her to dodge. She turned around and quickly formed her hand signs. "Kirigakure no Jutsu."
A thick mist began to surround the field, blinding Sasuke. 'I can't pinpoint her chakra because of the I'm already losing to much chakra maintaining the Sharingan. It's useless now.'
As he deactivated it, Hinata promptly proceeded to close the distance she had made, seeing it as her chance to strike. Without giving him ample time to react, she thrust her open palm towards his face, internally smirking once it connected. The Uchiha staggered back, mildly stupefied as to how she managed to hit him, before narrowing his eyes and charging her, and to her excitement, with a much more serious look on his face.
He slashed at her and despite her best efforts, cut her multiple times in various area's. She winced as she skidded back. If she counted right, he had cut her eight times, particularly on her thigh and forearm, which she could feel intense pain with each movement. She didn't have time to heal it or even react because Sasuke had appeared in front of her.
She cried out as he delivered a kick to her midsection. She saw it coming at the last second and braced for the impact, but the force of the blow had knocked her back. He took advantage of her slight disorientation and charged again, though she was ready for it. She quickly swung directly in front of her, hitting nothing but air. With an angry yell, she spun around, fingertips laced with chakra, and struck. This time she connected.
He felt a numb sensation around his right forearm, and cursed himself for moving and attacking exactly as she wanted. She was Hyuuga after all, and their kekkei genkai was able to see nearly three hundred and sixty degrees around them. Now he would pay for that mistake.
"You're in range. It's over! Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"
'No!' he thought, as she proceeded to close off seventeen of his chakra points before he was able to get away with a substitution. Barely.
Hinata looked over her shoulder. "Shino! Do it!"
"Right," he said, and called his insects. "Go."
He was numb all over and was trying to get some distance when he suddenly stop moving. Looking down and saw that he was covered up to his knees in insects. They seemed to be pulsing as well.
"What the hell-Agh!" he cried out as he was sent flying by Lee..back in the direction of Hinata. He caught his balance too late and she elbowed him in his abdomen. He felt ripples of pain surge through his body as he coughed up blood. With the minimal and rapidly decreasing strength he had left, he activated the curse mark and made to back up again, but again she wouldn't let him get away.
"You can't escape, Uchiha." She quickly appeared in front of him, grabbed his kimono and jerked him forward. She then took out a kunai, her last, and using the blunt side, she slammed it against his wrist, breaking it. He bellowed in pain. She relished every moment of it. "If it was up to me, I would have stabbed you through the wrist and let you bleed out, but Lord Hokage ordered me not to kill you, so I'll settle for keeping you barely alive." With that she sent him flying with one final kick, leaving him floored and struggling mightily to get up. It was over.
Sasuke had seen a lot in his eighteen years. He had fought and beaten enemies that could easily match him and even kill him given a second chance to. He had killed countless, so many in fact, that he could not even begin to recall the number. He had taken beatings from the snake over and over until he perfected everything. He trained relentlessly until he could execute every and any move flawlessly, without a thought. But never in his life had he faced such overwhelming opposition. He had never been..almost afraid of someone.
He was breathing hard, and he was also pretty sure he had cracked a few ribs, so each labored breath felt as if he was being kicked in the stomach. Further self evaluation concluded that he had also injured the ligaments in his right shoulder and of course, his right wrist, which was conventionally the hand he used his sword with. The Kusanagi lay dispensed on the less than viridescent grass out of his reach. His clothes lay in tatters, one side of his kimono missing. He would never forget this humiliation.
He was outmatched, and he knew it, but the prideful part of him refused to acknowledge the thought that he had been bested. To him, it just simply wasn't possible. Hinata Hyuuga was a force to be reckoned with. She had also managed to gain his attention, but seeing as he was probably going to die or be captured, it didn't really matter.
He supposed they would drag him back to Konoha where he would spend the rest of his days in a cell. He hoped he died first. If he went back there, he would never be able to avenge his clan, and even worse, he'd spend the rest of his life in that cell thinking about it.
Even now, he could feel himself drifting in and out of consciousness, so he was sure he was only hearing things when a strained voice grunted. Lifting his head, he realized Karin's body was only a few feet away. That couldn't have been her? Right? She should have bled out in about fifteen minutes, and he had to have been fighting for at least an hour. So he dragged himself to her, and tried to ignore the puddle of blood he was going through. He heard extremely feint breathing, and to his astonishment, she was still alive.
"H-How are you still...?"
Instead of answering, she pointed to the small dirt spot next to her. Barely raising his head, he perceived a simple word written in the dirt: Bite.
She opted to heal her wounds with basic medical ninjutsu, before grabbing Sasuke. He couldn't stand and he would be passing out in about..three minutes give or take.
"Hinata."
Glancing back, she acknowledged a yawning Shikamaru with a nod.
"I didn't interfere because four on one is overkill. And the clouds looked so nice."
She smiled despite herself. "Lazy bum."
He lazily blinked at her. "I did you a favor. We most likely would have taken him down quicker if I joined in."
Her smile wilted a fraction. She remembered telling him about Neji's death the night before.
~Flashback~
"So you gonna tell me what's wrong?"
She glaced up from the fish Lee had managed to catch by a nearby river. "What do you mean?"
He sighed. "Your posture is tense, you keep blinking, and you have yet to take a third bite of your fish."
She smiled sadly. "Ever the observer."
"I'm lazy. Not stupid."
So despite the warnings from Tsunade, she informed him of neji's death, largely because she knew she could trust him.
~End Flashback~
A quiet hum of confusion from Shikamaru roused Hinata from her thoughts. "Shikamaru? What is it?"
Instead of answering, he pointed towards Sasuke's direction, cause all three heads to turn. On one knee, looking as if he hadn't just gotten beat down, was Sasuke Uchiha. Her brows furrowed in confusion. He was on one knee. How was that even possible?
"He's... healed," Shino observed, "My insects detecting normal chakra levels. Its like he never fought."
"I do not understand! How can this be?" Lee inquired, "Did not Hinata-chan close off his chakra points?"
He was right. There was no possible way he should have been able to move. Shino had to have mistaken. Seeing as she was as dubious as ever, she had to see for herself. Activating her Byakugan, she peered into Sasuke's chakra system, and to her incertitude, his chakra circulation was completely normal. She had closed off seventeen! There was no way. "How the hell.."
Said Uchiha turned his head, red eyes looking directly behind her, before vanishing. "Where did he go?!" Shikamaru exclaimed.
Instead of answering, she looked behind her, with a glare, to find Sasuke picking up his Kusanagi blade. "How are you healed, Uchiha?"
With a passive expression, he was silent for a moment before speaking. "Hinata Hyuuga. A very worthy adversary, however, you should double check your kills next time. She healed me with the little chakra she had left before she died," he said, pointing to Karin's now dead body. "But that's irrelavent. Next time, I'll make sure we can settle this alone."
Before Hinata or any of the others could really process any of that, he, along with Karin's body, was gone.
"Chase after him!" Shikamaru blurted out, but Hinata grabbed her shoulder, halting him.
"What are we waiting for Hinata?" Lee called out, ready to take off.
Shinobi sighed. "Hinata is the fastest among us, and also the only person here able to catch him. The problem is..she's both fatigued and the injury she's obtained on her thigh will slow her down considerably. In her current state, she cannot catch Sasuke. In other words.." he trailed off.
She closed her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "We failed the mission."
A/N: Ok done. Personally I didn't like this chapter too much. I should have probably incorporated Shinobi and Lee in a bit more. But I'd rather you guy's opinions! What do you think? Criticism is welcome! And in case any one didn't know the jutsu's used here are some translatJutsu
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball
Katon: Kasumi Endu no Jutsu: Fire Release: Mist Covering
Chidori Eisō: Chidori Sharp Spear
Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō: Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms Guard
Kirigakure no Jutsu: Hiding in the Mist
Hakke Rokujūyon Shō: Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms
See you next chapter!