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Until next chapter would be action and stuff and then, from Chapter 6, it'll be fluffy for a while.
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Sasuke stepped forward in front of the whole team with clear authority. He held up his hands, signalling us to back away.
Sakura pulled away, not tearing her gaze away from the Ishinin. His bright pink clothes were almost bright as Naruto's old orange clothes which made him feel even more as a threat. Anyone who survives wearing those bright clothes were either a completely newbie or a complete veteran.
Judging by his predatory smile and the graceful movement, Sakura knew that he was a veteran.
The tense silence was broken by the shrugging of the Ishinin. "Uchiha Sasuke, the cripple. Nice to meet you."
Sakura resisted the urge to smile wide. Obviously, the Ishinin was trying to taunt Sasuke had no idea that Sasuke didn't care what people called him. It was as if the Ishinin was underestimating Sasuke because of his lack of one arm. How naive.
"You are trespassing on Konoha's territory," Sasuke said, pulling out his sword with an efficient glide. "Identify yourself."
The pink clothed nin casually sat upon one of the boulders that used to be a floor and crossed his legs while smiling brightly. "It doesn't fucking matter does it?" He let out softly.
Sasuke didn't react. "This is the last time I'll ask. Identify yourself."
"Why are your friends all standing back? Is Uchiha Sasuke so powerful that his friends will be a burden to him? Oh, wait! He doesn't have any friends because he betrayed his village. You guys must be his parole. The pinkie must be Haruno Sakura, the one with doggie, an Inuzuka and hmm, a random chunin?" The hysterical laugh echoed through the forest as the Ishinin nearly doubled over in laughter.
One of her favourite things in the world was when opponents underestimated her and her team. She didn't feel offended at all- it was actually the opposite. She felt glad that the fight will be easier as the person will be caught off guard. Calling Tenzo some random chunin was probably one of the funniest things she had heard from an enemy for a long time.
It was peculiar that the Ishinin knew Sasuke but not Tenzo's very unique wood release. That meant that he didn't actually do his research well- probably because he didn't care about Konoha enough, suggesting that he harboured no hatred towards Konoha.
Sakura mused that was weird because the killing intent and power that the ninja omitted didn't reflect his immature words. His words sounded like one of a Genin, fuelled by irrational emotion and false ideals of the world.
Sakura watched as Sasuke squared his sword, a clearly aggressive and offensive stance. Sharingan blazed with the fierce red.
The Ishinin chuckled. "Alright, alright. We can do that." He said, then calmly stood up from his spot.
"Crystal Release: The Gods' Crossings Technique" The Ishinin softly spoke out.
As the ninja's hands hit the ground, a long stream of pink sharp crystals shot out with speed.
Crystal Type. How annoying. Crystal type was rare and people who were proficient at it was even rarer. But there was a big upside in their case.
Lightning affinity was particularly strong against Crystal since Crystal type is based on Earth affinity. And of course, there Uchiha Sasuke loved his Lightning Jutsus.
The Uchiha jumped forward, by passing all the crystals that were forming underneath him, and rammed straight into the Ishinin.
The Ishinin flew back, smashing through trees and Sakura narrowed her eyes as she saw Sasuke still pushing back the Ishinin who were tearing through the trees.
That wasn't Sasuke's style. Sasuke followed the Uchiha style which based on creating an opening to spam his ninjutsu. He would never follow his opponents through just using brute strength. That was more of Sakura's field.
Something was wrong.
"We need to go," Sakura said, facing Kiba and Tenzo
Without questioning why they nodded.
Sakura darted towards the fighting pair, avoiding the bits of debris that were flying in deadly sharp splinters.
"Crystal: Giant Hexagonal Shuriken!" She heard the ninja yell. In the midst of the dust cloud, a hexagonal white shuriken appeared with sharp edges and Sakura ducked out of the way.
"Cat," Sakura said falling next to Sasuke, maintaining the codename enough though it was useless at this point.
Sasuke nodded in acknowledge. "He can make a thin layer of crystal bind you with him if you touch him," He said.
"Than Bird should go," Yamato commented.
Sakura nodded. Since the Crystal style can't crystallise raw chakra, her taijutsu style which included surrounding her hands with controlled raw chakra was incredibly useful. Plus, rushing a crystal user was never a good idea because one faltering combo could give them space to do a large range Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Wall Eighth Formation type of Jutsu which enclosed the whole area with the hard to break crystals.
Dashing forward, Sakura flung several kunai with little paper tags. As the nin easily deflected them with a thin crystal, the paper tag split into pieces and drifted around.
"Cat!" Sakura shouted, hinting the start of the combo. As expected hints of purple flames started to envelop her, so she brought her hands up in a seal.
With an impish grin, she shouted. "Sakura Fubuki No Jutsu!"
The paper pieces exploded in wild red and yellow flames while the Sasuke's purple half-formed skeleton Susanoo wrapped around her as a shield.
Sakura loved this combo as it was efficient with Sasuke. This was a suicidal offensive Jutsu, one that tolerated hurt the opponent in the cost of hurting themselves. Normally, it required her to put up an Earth Release shield to shy away from the explosion that cost the precious few seconds. However, when Sasuke put up the shield, she could always be moving. It was glorious.
Running through the billowing smoke, she drove hard and fast into the Ishinin.
Her chakra pumped fists squarely landed on the ninja's chest and Sakura followed through, making sure to drive him through the floor and the ground shuddered, paving a crater. Just by the sensation of the hit, she could tell that she had hit the crystal reinforced part of his chest and she needed more force to take him out.
"Wolf" She shouted, requesting for Kiba.
She slammed her feet on his neck and winced as it didn't even budge. His skin was like a diamond, which was one of the few things she had difficulty smashing into.
Kiba-Wolf- and Akamaru stood ready. "Tail Chasing Fang Fang Rotating Fang!"
In the split second, Kiba created a single shadow clone and transformed into a three-headed, gigantic hound using Human Beast Mixture Transformation - Three-headed Wolf. Then the beast curled into a ball and rolled at a ferocious speed, rolling against the Ishinin.
The white rotating ball against the ninja made a horrible sound of something grinding, and Sakura assumed that the Ishinin was trying to regenerate the crystal while simultaneously Kiba is burning through them.
"Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison Technique!" Tenzo shouted, and instantly, a block of sturdy wooden block started to form against the struggling figure, trapping them.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Wheel," Ishinin said. His voice was so calm with no urgency that it caught Sakura off guard.
She glanced at Sasuke to confirm her feelings and he looked baffled as well.
From the rapidly closing wooden prison, the Ishinin emerged with a spinning snow white wheel placed around him. He stood atop of the wooden structure and dodged just in time as Kiba's punch went past him. Then Kiba stood next to Sakura, preparing for another attack.
Sakura narrowed her eyes in distaste as the ninja casually stood with an air of grace and elegance. His pink attire was slightly sullied but not enough to dampen the bright pink. It seemed like their barrage of attacks didn't really affect him. His smile certainty was as arrogant as smug as before.
"Astounding how slow and boring this fight has been. How about we ramp it up?" He suggested, a voice full of innocence and wonder.
She felt Sasuke stiffen. "Genjutsu doesn't work on him," He informed.
Interesting.
There were only handful of people whom Genjutsu didn't work. For example, Genjutsu doesn't work against Shino or any Aburame clan members since their bugs weren't sophisticated enough to be able to be fooled by a Genjutsu. By saying Genjutsu didn't work on the Ishinin, that was pretty much saying that he had a Kekkai Genkai.
Since the Lightning release, which made it that he had two Kekkai Genkai.
That lucky bastard.
"Sounds like a good idea." Kiba's voice rang out.
From the half-formed wooden structure that the Ishinin was standing on, Kiba suddenly leaped out with a flurry of kunai.
Sakura let out a small chuckle and looked to her right to see to see the Kiba who was standing next to her transforming back to Akamaru.
Clever. He managed to henge Akamaru and himself at the last second and switch spots with each other.
The Ishinin jumped in surprise and backed away to avoid the kunai.
Tenzo leaped up to support. "Wood Release: Underground Roots Technique," He said. The tree roots from the surrounding trees bent to his will and its tendrils reached up to catch the Ishinin in the air.
Sakura and Sasuke were already moving to in as the Ishinin just fluidly spun and cut the roots off with his shuriken.
She felt the steady hum of Sasuke's chakra next to her and she felt good. She knew that Sasuke would always have her back.
They engaged the ninja and fell into the familiar pattern. Sakura used her monster strength and taijutsu to create an opening for Sasuke who used his proficiency at ninjutsu to neutralise the enemy.
Sasuke leaped and kicked sparred ninja mid-air, and forced him to come downwards. Even though the Ishinin blocked her attacks, her strength forced him to come down the earth way faster than he anticipated, making him brace for the impact.
As he hit the ground, the floor crumbled beneath his feet and Sasuke was there, his hands outstretched.
The sound of crackling electricity filled the air and the blue chakra orb glowed brightly in his hands.
"Chidori" He shouted.
Sasuke hammered his ninjutsu inside Ishinin's chest, and Sakura duly noted that it was toned down probably so they could take him alive. After all, there was no point of having this slow and careful battle if Sasuke was just going to finish him off.
"Sucker!" Ishinin yelled on top of his voice, even while getting impaled.
Few seconds later, the ninja exploded into bits of crystal.
Silence filled the air as Sasuke slowly got up, now covered in thin layer of pink crystal.
"Crystal Clones," Tenzo said.
Sakura let out a groan.
Kiba dropped to the floor. "Fuck."
Looking around at the area which was littered with craters on the floor had a half wooden structure, and few dozens of smashed trees she let out a big sigh.
"If his Shadow Clones are that strong, what kind of monster is he?"
Tenzo sat down next to Kiba. "This explains his cocky attitude. This nin is obviously strong, and the fact that he was a clone means that it didn't matter what we did to him.
Sakura nodded. "I felt that weird attitude too. Although we should be glad we didn't fight for execution because he would've seen all our techniques. Like, Taichou didn't use any of his Amaterasu stuff. Hell, he didn't even participate much since his techniques suck at incapacitating. At least, the Ishinin didn't gather too much intel."
Kiba moaned. "I used Tail Chasing Fang Fang Rotating Fang, though. How annoying." He grumbled.
"We know that the person has a Crystal Release and a Genjutsu-resisting Kekkai Genkai so when we go back, we can identify this person." Sasuke himself ran fingers through his lock in clear frustration.
Basically, they've just expanded energy on useless task and helped the opponent to gather more information about them.
"Fifteen-minute break and we're handing back to Konoha. We can't forgo the possibility that more bases might be there governed by his clones and this is an ANBU unit job. We don't have enough manpower." He said.
"Mm. Is anyone hurt?" Sakura asked.
Kiba wordlessly held up his arm which had a deep gash.
"From when the guy did that spinning wheel thing. That was razor sharp, man. Akamaru got a little hurt too." He said.
Sakura dutifully hovered her hands over, applying the green medical chakra. The bleeding wound started to mend itself and soon enough, it was gone.
"Come here, Akamaru." She cooed, and pet his head delight as the dog approached her.
Akamaru, bless him, flopped on his belly to show the mangled mess of fur that was tinted red.
"It's going to be okay. I'll heal it right up." Sakura whispered. One hand scratched his neck for comfort and one hand hovered to heal the shallow cut. Even though, a shallow cut on an animal who was going to run around in the forest meant likely chance of infection and Sakura wasn't willing to take a chance.
Akamaru wiggled underneath her hand as if it tickled but stayed still enough to be healed.
"You're free to go!" She said when the gash had closed.
The dog sprung up and barked in excitement while running circles around her. Sakura laughed at his behaviour and gave another pat.
"Thanks for the cover back there," Sakura said, lightly bumping her legs against Sasuke's.
Sasuke smirked. "Of course." He merely replied.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Don't be too humble Sasuke," She replied sarcastically.
The Uchiha stretched. "Wouldn't dream of it," He said. Then with slight hesitance, asked a question. "How much chakra do you have left?"
Sakura raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. She had known Sasuke long enough to understand why he was asking the question.
With a sigh, she crossed her arms. "Where?"
Sasuke held his head up high stubbornly. "Answer the question."
"I have enough. Enough to heal you and run to Konoha." Sakura answered easily.
Sakura tried not to laugh at Sasuke's surprised face when she summed up what he was thinking.
"Not too severe. When the crystal clone burst, I blocked most of it, but a chunk hit me." He replied with somewhat sheepishness- well as much sheepishness he could put in with the usual arrogance.
"Where?" She insisted.
Grunting, Sasuke pulled his white coloured steel armour plate off. Sakura saw the glistening in the black fabric, indicating blood.
"Off." she commanded.
As much as she tried to be professional, she couldn't deny a slight fluttering feeling when Sasuke pulled his shirt off.
She took a calming breath, telling herself that she was a nurse; a professional.
Sasuke's well-toned body is just the norm. Sasuke doesn't look hot at all. I just need to heal him. Stop staring at him. She told herself firmly.
Her green glowing hands hovered over his stomach, and she could feel the muscle twitch underneath her fingers. She briefly wondered how it would feel to trace over the curves of the muscle, and how it would feel to be skin-to-skin contact against it.
It was with almost a bitter thought that Sasuke affected her this much. Sakura had seen many male phalli in surgeries, many more pantless hot ninja males, and even more shirtless well-toned body. It came with the job description of a med-nin. But none of them caused any stirring in her. Not like how Sasuke did.
She tried not to look up and meet Sasuke's gaze but stared hard at where the pink half translucent crystal had pierced the Uchiha.
It was with utter relief that she declared that he was fully healed.
She gave a hopefully strong and casual smile at Sasuke, and the man inclined his head in a gesture of thanks.
Eager to snap out of her thoughts which were steering itself into the very wrong, unrealistic territory, she hastily turned to Tenzo. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Tenzo shook his head. "No. Thanks for the concern." He said.
She looked away from Sasuke when he put the gear back on- she valued her heart.
"We should get going," Sasuke said.
Nodding, they fell into the familiar formation once again.
And with Sasuke's hand signal, they headed towards the village.
YeAAH
I'm planning to make the next chapter in Sasuke's POV. Yay/nay?
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