Chapter 8
Sasuke slammed his fist against a castle tower wall. "What do you mean!" He yelled in frustration, as boy in front of him cowered in fear. "Where have the four of them gone?"
Guiche stammered, "Y-you were just with them! Why don't you know!"
The Uchiha growled again, extremely annoyed by how the blonde boy was avoiding all of his questions. He came back to find that his doppelganger, in the absence of the original, had went to go capture a dangerous thief.
Why would the clone even think of doing something like that! It only had one responsibility, and that was to take his place in the competition!
Sasuke sighed, "Just tell me." He was about ready to throttle the coward in front of him, but that wouldn't solve anything. The boy in front of the young Uchiha calmed down slightly.
The blonde boy responded, "They headed out that way." He pointed a finger out to a direction, and before he knew it, the Uchiha in front of him literally vanished into thin air. The only thing remaining of Sasuke was a couple dust clouds. "Hey!" Guiche yelled in indignation, to nobody in particular. The boy then huffed, before storming away.
What was up with that familiar?
Sasuke sprinted through the forests, not even bothering to look around him. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to go get his idiotic clone out of trouble. The Uchiha boy leaped onto a branch, pushing off it to launch himself forward.
He scowled as he started to speed up even more.
Why couldn't he create normal clones?
Clone sighed in discomfort. They had been riding for about two hour now, and still nothing had shown up. In the meantime, the group talked about the abilities of the thief. They asked him some questions, but with Clone's distrust of the guide, he didn't reveal any information.
After that, they talked about something like fallen nobles, and how they were peasants that could still use magic.
It turned out that their guide was a fallen noble, making Clone even more suspicious of her than he already was. What an idiot, to reveal information like that.
He would never be caught doing anything of the sort.
"Sasuke," Louise's quiet voice stated, breaking the Uchiha Clone out of his thoughts. Clone looked towards the pink haired girl, who had remained oddly silent. She then spoke up, "I'm...sorry for hurting you."
The other two girls were busy in a conversation, so they likely didn't hear what the pink haired girl said.
Clone scoffed. It really wasn't the girl's fault for making him pass out. It was because of that woman who had shamed him! "It's nothing," Clone replied easily, watching with slight curiosity as the guilty look on Louise's face failed to disappear.
It looked like she wanted to say more, but Kirche turned to stare at her, which made Louise stop what she was about to say. Kirche seemed to smirk with amusement, before sitting next to Clone, rubbing her shoulder against his.
Clone looked around uncomfortably, ignoring Kirche's whispers. Louise looked, an extremely angry look on her face, but Clone ignored her too. Instead, he looked at the small house that had just popped up into view.
So that was their destination, huh.
It didn't really look like that; it was a small cottage that was almost broken down. The windows seemed broken, and the whole place was dirty and grimy. The shack looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Would anything even be in there? A thin layer of dust covered the rotten door to the place, causing Cloen to raise his eye in suspicion.
The others turned to see what Clone was looking at, and the carriage slowly came to a halt. They also seemed to notice the state of the house, causing Louise to gag in disgust.
Pitiful girl, probably had never seen dust before.
"Let's go in!" Kirche yelled, jumping off the carriage before walking into the house. Clone followed her warily. And finally, the blue haired girl went inside the house as well. But Clone stopped suddenly, letting the blue haired girl go in first in order to look at Louise.
The pink haired girl looked angry at the fact that she was going to stay and keep watch, but she didn't argue much. But Clone wasn't looking at her, he was looking at the guide woman, who was slowly inching away from the carriage.
"Stay right there," Clone demanded, before walking over to the surprised guide. "I don't trust you, so stay where I can watch you." Louise gasped at that, and looked like she was going to hit the Clone, but her fist slowly lowered, probably remembering what happened the day before.
"What have I ever done to you?" The guide asked, as a smirk started to form slightly on her lips. Being a ninja, Clone easily recognized the smirk, before his eyes widened. He snapped his head back, looking at the house...when a golem fist went through the roof.
Two screams emanated from the shack, and Clone cursed, looking back to the guide...only to see that she had already disappeared. "Hold on!" Clone yelled, before rushing into the house. Why couldn't people ever stay out of trouble?
He kneeled next to the two girls, who didn't seem to be injured. Clone looked at the golem through the hole that had been made, before yelling, "Get out of here now!" Almost right after that, the roof was ripped off the building.
The two girls immediately brought out their wands, in the blue haired girl's case, a staff. And they started to send powerful waves of fire and wind towards the golem. But that only seemed to delay it, as the monster quickly shook off their attacks.
But that was when Clone noticed something strange. The thief was not on the golem! So it seemed that the thief could control the golem from a distance. But that only solidified Clone's resolve that the guide woman was the thief.
He should have killed her right when they first met.
Clone always knew something was fishy about her!
Unfortunately, Clone could not dwell on those thoughts, as he heard Louise's voice shriek. The Uchiha Clone took a glance at the two girls beside him, before he burst out of the house to see the golem slowly turn to the pink haired girl, who was desperately waving her wand around.
"Run, Louise!" Clone shouted, hoping she could hear him.
But the pink haired girl only continued to wave her wand around. "No way! I am a noble!" The girl said, before screaming, Explosion!" Clone growled in irritation. She was trying to destroy the golem herself. But there was no way she could do that! There was a small explosion, but it caused little to no harm to the golem.
"Run!" Clone yelled, before starting to sprint to the girl.
"No!" The girl reiterated, before trying another spell. "I am a noble, and not Louise the Zero!" The golem's fist moved up, before moving down to complete its arc. It seemed that the thief wasn't taking any chances, going for killing blows now.
The Uchiha Clone barely was able to make it in time, pushing Louise out of the way...at the cost of his short life.
Louise watched in horror as her familiar was crushed by the golem's fist. The boy had managed to push her away, definitely saving her life, but he was unable to save his own. "No!" Louise screamed as the golem lifted its fist, revealing nothing.
"No!" The pink haired girl yelled hysterically, falling to the ground, sobbing to herself.
"Grab her!" Kirche's voice yelled, as a blue dragon swooped down, picking up distraught, crying girl. "We have to run, Tabitha!" The red haired mage yelled, looking at the spot where the familiar had been killed.
It had died protecting its master...but it came much too soon.
She had barely gotten a chance to know the boy!
"Tabitha!" Kirche yelled in worry, as the dragon they were riding on was assaulted by pieces of rock and stone. The red haired mage took one look at Louise, and knew she would be useless because of her emotional state.
The blue haired girl nodded once, before trying to use her magic to deflect incoming projectiles. But the earth magic she was facing was just too intense, and her dragon came crashing down to the ground.
Tabitha checked over her familiar in worry, but didn't seem to find any major wounds. The dragon would be able to fly again, but if it did, it would probably be brought down to the ground again.
And that would lead to nothing good. After all, her dragon did not have unlimited stamina.
Louise next to her stood up, seemingly under control of her feelings again. But then she looked up at the golem, tears streaming down her face. "I am a noble! Nobles are not people who can use magic, but they are people who have honor, and never turn their back to the enemy!"
"Explosion!" The pink haired girl yelled, but because of how upset she was, the spell failed.
"What are you doing, Louise! We have to run!" Kirche screamed, trying to grab the younger girl's arm. But the pink haired girl would not be moved, trying relentlessly to cast a spell.
The golem reared its fist back, preparing to destroy the girls just like how it destroyed the other one, but a whirring sound made it stop in confusion.
A giant...metal thing came out of the nearby forests, spinning rapidly. It was the source of the whirring noise! The projectile thing collided with the golem's body, before it bounced off, spiraling down in a random direction.
And then, a figure landed in front of the girls, who were now standing defensively in front of the downed dragon. The girls, with the exception of Tabitha, turned to look at the boy. The Uchiha spoke irritably, "So what if you're a noble." He then stared at Louise with a dirty look, causing her to stop crying. "You're nothing when you're dead."
"Sasuke!" Louise yelled joyously, not sure how her familiar had returned to life.
As for the Uchiha...he was thankful that his clone was at least smart enough to have left the Demon Wind Shuriken in a place where he could find it easily.
Once the clone had dispelled, the original instantly knew where the fight was happening, so he was raced towards the battle.
But he had more than just one shuriken. The Uchiha had managed to obtain more weaponry from the teacher who had been kind enough to replicate them.
Sasuke smirked, looking at the golem with a challenging look in his eyes. Maybe it would give him the fight he desired!
Flashback
"It seems that we have met again, Mister Familiar," Mr. Colbert stated, as he watched the Uchiha jump over one of the castle walls. He looked like he was in quite a hurry.
"I can't talk now," Sasuke grunted, before starting his jump.
"Ah, I see, with Fouquet and all," Mr. Colbert said, shaking his head in wisdom. The man then pulled out a brown pouch. "Take this before you go,"
He then tossed the pouch towards Sasuke, with the Uchiha catching it with ease.
As he felt the bag, his breath hitched, before he looked inside. There were shuriken and kunai inside the pouch! The man had already replicated this many weapons!
At Sasuke's shocked look, Mr. Colbert sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "When I saw your demonstration yesterday, I was amazed by how the decorative items were used. So I worked most of the night to try and make more of them for you."
"I hope I'll be able to see another performance in the future," Mr. Colbert finished, as Sasuke began attaching the pouch to his purple belt.
"Thanks," Sasuke stated briskly, before leaping off the castle wall, heading into the forests.
Mr. Colbert smiled, before frowning. "Why does he always have to do that?"
So now, the Uchiha was completely prepared for battle. The golem growled angrily, as its prey was not actually dead. It reared its fist back again.
Sasuke turned his head slightly. "All of you, run."
Kirche screamed in worry, "There's no way you can beat that thing! And if we run it'll just knock us down again!" But a hand on her shoulder stopped the girl from continuing.
Tabitha had stopped the red haired mage, trusting the familiar's words.
The two girls grabbed a still shocked Louise, before hoisting her up onto the dragon, before taking off. The golem looked at the flying trio, before sending a large rock towards them.
But to its surprise, the rock was stopped by a small projectile almost four times smaller.
Sasuke didn't know exactly why he was helping them, but for some reason, he didn't want to see them hurt. Not when he could prevent it, that is.
It was probably because he wanted to finish the business that his dumb clone had started.
"Your fight is with me," Sasuke stated, his voice dark and demanding. With that, the young Uchiha charged towards the golem, easily able to outrun its attacks.
Sasuke flipped to the side, avoiding a punch, before running up the leg of the golem, using chakra to help himself stick to the golem. As the Uchiha continued to run, he dodged pellets of rock that were being propelled towards him.
Three hand signs were made, and a loud sound of chirping birds was heard, as Sasuke's left hand erupted in lightning. Sasuke made it to the waist area of the golem, before he leaped forward, thrusting his hand out.
"Chidori!" He yelled, as his lightning coated hand ripped straight through the golem. Sasuke landed on the ground, the electricity in his hand fading, as the golem collapsed beneath him.
He thought it would be over right then, but his senses told him the golem wasn't down yet. And sure enough, the golem got up. Half of its body was missing, but it quickly regenerated itself.
Sasuke growled in annoyance. That was the second time he had used chdori today, and he didn't know if he had another shot left in him.
The Uchiha drew his sword, smirking. If that was the case, he would just have to cut right through the golem. He burst forward in a impressive display of speed, cutting the golem's legs, neatly avoiding any of its attacks.
But unfortunately, his attacks did not seem to do much damage, as the golem regenerated its body every time Sasuke made a cut. Its healing ability was so fast that Sasuke was barely making a visible scratch on it.
Sasuke grunted in anger. This battle was going downhill quickly. The golem seemed to have no fatigue from the battle, while Sasuke would eventually run out of chakra from all the attacks he was using.
The Uchiha noticed some a distortion in the air, and he turned to see the dragon still flying over the battle field. Sasuke scowled. He thought he had told those girls to run! Why could nobody follow his directions?!
"Partner, ahead of you!" Derf yelled, as Sasuke looked forward to see a fist quickly invading his view. The Uchiha leaped over the impending fist, cutting the hand in half.
But the golem soon replaced that hand with another one.
Sasuke closed his eyes in annoyance before sheathing his sword. "What are you doing, Partner!" Derf yelled out, thinking his partner was crazy for putting away his only weapon.
However, Derflinger was not the only weapon the Uchiha had on him. He opened up the pouch on his belt, pulling out shuriken. Sasuke sighed, calming himself, before leaping into the air.
The blue dragon flew next to him while he was in midair. "We have to get out of here!" Louise yelled, having gotten over the shock of her familiar coming back to life. "None of your attacks are working!" Sasuke growled in irritation, as his power was once again underestimated.
A sharp glare from the Uchiha cut the pink haired girl off.
"Get back," Sasuke demanded of the blue haired girl, who nodded once, before guiding the dragon away from the advancing golem. The Uchiha flipped multiple times in midair, throwing all the shuriken he had on him.
To the other girls, it looked like he had missed every single shot.
None of his weapons had hit the golem!
"He missed!" Louise screamed, tears forming in her eyes again. She didn't want her familiar to die a second time because she couldn't do anything to help him! "We have to go back for him!"
"Wait," Tabitha replied, looking at the projectiles in interest.
Sasuke smirked as the golem ignored the weapons, before pulling back on the ninja wire, moving the shuriken in a loop around the golem. The Uchiha attached all the strings to kunais, before throwing them to random trees in the surrounding forests.
He landed on the ground, looking at his work with satisfaction. The golem was completely incapacitated, the ninja wire keeping it from moving at all, no matter how hard it struggled.
The kunai he had thrown were deeply embedded in trees, so the earth monster was unable to escape its trap. And there was Sasuke, biting down on a ninja wire. He had more than enough chakra for his next attack. If he couldn't kill it with his chidori, he would have to use fire style jutsu to take it down.
He then made four hand signs, focusing his chakra to his lungs. "Fire Style! Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A huge streak of flames then rushed from Sasuke, as it channeled itself straight through the wire to the golem.
A loud sizzling sound was created, as a burning smell filled the air. The fire was so strong that the air became charged with energy! Light filled the small clearing, shining brightly as the fire dragon assaulted the golem. Sasuke continued his attack for about a minute, steadily using up his chakra supply. But it appeared that he would need to amplify his attack even further.
So he pushed more chakra into his mouth, increasing the power of his flames. The ground became charred from stray bits of fire and sparks. Soon, he would be approaching the point where his wires would break down. He had to end it quickly.
The monster roared in pain as the rock it was made from was literally melting from the attack. As the jutsu subsided, Sasuke kneeled on one knee, before looking at the golem, which had fallen over.
Sasuke smirked.
He had won. The Uchiha jumped down to look at the fallen golem in an attempt to see if the battle was really over. Sasuke kicked the golem, satisfied with the lack of reaction.
"Sasuke!" A shrill voiced yelled, before he felt Louise take him into a hug. Her whole face was wet with tears, and she was speaking into his shirt.
The Uchiha awkwardly tried to remove the sobbing girl, but she wouldn't let go of him.
"That was a really powerful attack," A voice remarked, as Kirche and Tabitha walked over to the Uchiha. Sasuke simply shrugged. He had used up a lot of chakra in that attack, and if he were to get into another fight, he would probably lose.
"Strong," Tabitha stated shortly.
Sasuke looked at the blue haired girl for a bit, before looking at what was in her arms. There was some kind of case, and by the grip the girl had on the case, it must have been very important.
"What's in the case?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice. He hadn't seen many things that needed guarding in the world so far.
"Staff of Destruction," was the reply.
The Uchiha raised his eye in surprise. A staff of destruction? By the outline of the box, it seemed much too big to be a weapon that normal mages used. But he couldn't detect a lie. However...Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blue haired girl. Out of all of them. she was the most dangerous.
"You recaptured it!" A voice yelled, as the green-haired guide came out of a random bush. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as the guide scratched the back of her head. "I ran because I saw the fight."
The Uchiha looked at the guide with mistrust. His clone had clearly remembered her abandoning everybody. Which meant one thing. Sasuke pushed Louise aside, before drawing his sword to take out the woman.
"Hahahaha!" Another voice laughed, and the Uchiha turned to the side to see...the masked figure. She was standing on top of the ashes of her fallen golem. "You may have recaptured the staff, but you'll never get me!"
Sasuke looked at the two women with suspicion, as Kirche asked, "Miss Longueville? What do we do now? You're the teacher in charge after all!"
The Uchiha shifted his gaze between the two. They were both green-haired, but something just didn't feel right. He looked to his side, as Louise looked at him with a worried gaze.
Miss Longueville responded, "We'll have to see what Fouquet does, before making our move."
At that statement, the thief in question responded arrogantly, "Like you could even make a move! After I'm through with you, the staff will be mine, and you will all be dead!"
Sasuke decided right then.
The Fouquet they were talking to sounded nothing like the thief his clone had witnessed. But the person who did sound like Fouquet was...Sasuke glanced at the teacher, Miss Longueville before activating his Sharingan.
And all was clear to him.
"Step away from the teacher," Sasuke demanded strongly, as the girls blinked in confusion before complying. The Uchiha noticed a subtle change in the guide's expression.
"What is this about, Familiar!" Miss Longueville yelled.
Sasuke ignored her, turning around and throwing a kunai at Fouquet. The woman avoided it narrowly with a jump. But while everyone was focused on Fouquet, the Uchiha turned around, leaping forward in a burst of speed.
He then landed a solid punch straight in the woman's stomach, making her fall to the ground.
Sasuke heard gasps from the others, as they ran up behind him. 'What was that for, Sasuke?" Kirche asked, looking at the gasping form of her teacher.
"What are you doing, Familiar!" Louise yelled, as she kneeled down in worry. It seemed that she had returned to her old attitude.
The Uchiha kicked the down form of the woman. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" He ignored the confused glances that were thrown at him. "Your illusion was much too weak. I saw through it easily."
"H-h-how did you kn-know?" Trembled Miss Longueville, as she tried to catch her breath.
"It was obvious to me right from the start. You really ought to learn how to control your facial expressions next time."
"C-curse you," Miss Longueville rasped out, before Sasuke knocked her out with a chop to the side of the head, picking her up on his shoulder, before throwing her onto the blue dragon.
He prepared to leave, but it appeared the others wanted an explanation.
"Tell us what happened, Familiar!" Louise yelled, followed by a similar statement from the red haired mage. But the Uchiha ignored them in favor of getting on the dragon.
However, it appeared that the blue haired girl had caught on. "Earth Magic Illusion."
Kirche questioned in surprise, "You mean all that was an illusion?" She looked around. "Now that you mention it, Fouquet doesn't appear to be around the area anymore."
Louise thought about it for a couple moments, before it finally clicked. "Miss Longueville was the real Fouquet! And the other one was a fake that was an illusion!"
Tabitha nodded at that.
It seemed that the other girls still had more questions, but they were cut off my an impatient Uchiha."Let's go," Sasuke stated simply, before closing his eyes to focus his chakra.
He had almost used up all of his chakra, with the two chidoris and the dragon flame jutsu. He did push a lot of it into that last attack, though. But he definitely needed to start trying to increase his chakra stores.
Sasuke opened his eyes just as the dragon took off, heading back to the academy. It was actually quite spacious, considering there were four people and one prisoner.
A tap on the shoulder brought the Uchiha's attention to Louise, who was flushing with embarrassment. "I'm not really sure what happened before with that golem...but I do know that you saved me."
"Yeah, what of it."
Louise looked down again, before gaining some confidence. "I want to say that I'm grateful that you risked your life for mine!" Sasuke scoffed, looking away. It wasn't his life, it was his clone's. He would never do something like that. "And I also want to apologize again...for putting you in so much danger." Louise finished.
"Whatever." Sasuke replied coolly, closing his eyes.
The pink haired girl said nothing more, seeming to pause as she thought in silence.
"With the capture of Fouquet, that puts an end to these matters," the apparent headmaster of the academy stated. He then continued with relief, "You have regained the honor and dignity of the school, and I thank you all deeply."
Sasuke was leaning against a wall of the room, watching the conversation with slight interest. Louse, Kirche, and Tabitha were all present in the meeting, and the kind man from before was there as well.
"You are all guests of honor for tonight's banquet." The headmaster stated, getting reactions of happiness from the mages in front of him. "The palace thinks very highly of your conduct in this incident, and I am certain that some reward from the palace will come to the three of you."
Sasuke smirked in amusement at the old man's words. It was better that way, since he still didn't want to attract attention to himself.
"You said the three of us, does that mean Sasuke won't get any type of reward?" Louise asked, taking nervous glances at her familiar.
The old man responded with some regret, "Unfortunately, since he is not a nobleman, you are correct."
Sasuke's thoughts wandered. Since the old man was the headmaster of the academy, he must know a lot about the history of the school. And he did need to learn more about how to get back to his world.
Maybe he could try and get some information out of the man.
"Old man," Sasuke stated, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "I want to ask you something after this." The headmaster nodded, not taking any offense from Sasuke's words.
The three girls shuffled out of the room after the meeting, but Sasuke noticed that Louise had stopped at the door to stare at the Uchiha for a couple moments, before she exited as well.
Sasuke walked calmly towards the headmaster.
"Have you ever heard of a place called the Elemental Nations?"
Not sure about the Earth Magic Illusion thing. I think I heard it once while watching Zero no Tsukaima, but not exactly sure. Either way, I put it in there to try and make Tabitha and Kirche gain some respect for the Uchiha, for his observing skills, not his power. Will come in handy later.
Anyways, thanks for reading the chapter.
