Kakashi dipped back once again from Sakon, the snarling twin's spittle screeching by his face and splattering on his vest.
Ukon knew he should be dead. These brats! I could have sworn he was down! I might still have a chance- the twin spun, knowing even as he did the future vessel was a moment away from burning a hole through his heart.
"Do it now Sasuke!" Shikamaru began a spin of his own, hand clasping back to the symbol of the rat, trying to line the shadow technique onto the threat, wait,wha-
Sasuke, halfway into the killing blow, hesitated. He remembered (Oh God I remember) his hand splashing through her skull like it was made only of warm wax, the smell of burned hair. The boy hesitated, and then the maniac was on him.
Tayuya would have cursed if it hadn't meant taking her lips from the flute. There's no way he could be interpreting the notes! No one's ever- but the evidence was damning. Hatake was clearly reading the jutsu; sidestepping attacks and moves from the monsters without even looking. Doesn't matter, her spite-filled mind reasoned, between me and Sakon, will wear him down in the next minute or two… Tayuya increased the tempo of the tune.
Ukon managed to seize the hesitant Uchihia's wrist, then, he was a part of him. Startled as Sasuke was the surprise was more jarring simply due to the utter lack of sensation the merger had provoked. It had been so seamless the chakra feeding the chidori hadn't even been disrupted and the electrical blade still chirped and burned in his left hand. "Ah shit!" Shikamaru breathed jumping back.
Kakashi spun this time to his left, tossing the last of his kunai in a handful at the monstrosity bearing down on him, its spirit leach bursting from between black lips like some parasitic tongue. He didn't have time to observe the exploding tag he'd wrapped around one's handle blow half its hideous face away; Sakon's claws were almost on his throat. The dance of death continued.
Sasuke's surprise was slowly turning into acute fear. There's another head on my shoulder- was all his stunned mind would repeat. He stared into its yellow feline eyes and saw only the smug confidence of a victor. "Caught you finally." The statement, more than the thing's necrotic breath made the boy want to wretch.
Shikimaru, similarly stunned, had figured out just how badly things had gone wrong. He's a part of Sasuke- meaning I can't attack without hurting him, he's got a hostage now .Need a new plan. Why'd you hesitate? The music and sounds of battle in the background weren't making it any easier to focus.
Ukon looked away from the vessel's anxious face at the chunin who was hesitating now. "Don't even think about that shadow of yours- it won't work on me now anyway." Here the body snatcher's right arm materialized from Sasuke side, reaching as if to stroke Sasuke's cheek. The boy swung the still burning chidori at it in disgust and fear- only to have the motion arrested by the sudden appearance of the twin's left claw, latching onto Sasuke's wrist from straight out his (their) chest.
"Hmph, you'd only end up hurting yourself anyway," the twin chuckled. His eyes hadn't even left Shikamaru. The chunin began to sweat. "See," the interloper continued as Sasuke struggled to get his chidori free from the iron grip that held it, "right now, I'm merging my cells with this worm's here, in another minute will be sharing almost all our bodily functions, right down to the cellular level." His fierce grin lacking mirth, made up for it in teeth.
"You coward, your hiding behind a hostage," Shikamaru really didn't think his taunt would lead to Ukon dropping his guard, mainly he was praying that the thing would just keep talking, he could only hope that it would drop some clue that he could exploit.
Ukon shifted a little inside Sasuke, provoking a grimace of discomfort from the violated. "You really are some kind of honor bound dumbass, you know that? A shinobi takes any advantage he can get a hold of- heh, I normally use this for assassinations anyway!"
Here Sasuke's trembling legs, much to his surprise began to turn him without his consent- He's got control of some of my motor functions! The terror almost threatened to blank Sasuke's mind and he found himself concentrating on seemingly the one thing he could still control- the chidori that was still feeding off his chakra.
The twin continued to smirk back at Nara. Shikamaru had taken a step forward on instinct which had brought the right hand up to grasp Sasuke's chin. The Uchiha jerked, but couldn't get away.
Don't stop, don't stop focusing on it or it's over, the terrified voice railed in the teen's mind. He began to feel it burn his palm, started to feel the flesh char, just as it had in the hotel when- Concentrate! Control it! The Uchiha focused.
"Now then, here's where it gets interesting," Ukon growled. "How badly do you want to keep this useless shit alive?" Shikamaru felt himself jolt. He knows where I'm going with this, Ukon snickered.
Sasuke had was only catching snatches of the conversation. The terror was starting to overwhelm and for a moment in his mind's eye he saw his eyes, red and pinwheel twisted. He started to smell his flesh burn. Don'tloseit. Breathe, what did Kakashi teach you? Focus you loser!
"You don't even have to off yourself. Just drive it in through your leg. I just don't want to be followed-"
Shikamaru and the monster that had become a part of him were still blathering away. Slowly, the electrical current ceased to singe his skin, that's right, run it through every point in the chakra network, not over it, control it,breathe, run it around every cell, that way it can't hurt yo-
And that's when the idea struck him. Sasuke wasn't even sure if it was feasible, but he didn't see the harm in trying it. Keep focusing. In the wood's the flutist's tune reached a fever pitch, as did the explosions and sound of struggle.
Ukon couldn't believe his luck, I'm actually glad you got me up for this Sakon, after the show I'll slit this fool's throat, then I'll walk this meat sack back to you and Tayuya, will truss him up, and then be home by the end of the day. Ukon's mind was too far gone to notice the vessel had stopped trembling.
"I don't suppose your chakra nature is lightening based is it?"
"Wha-" Ukon looked away from his intended victim into the eyes of his hostage and prize. They were coal black and filled with- Confidence?
Sasuke reversed his chakra flow, channeling the electrical current up his arm and into his body.
Kakashi knew he had only moments left. He couldn't line the sharingan up correctly on the curse sealed freak to get the genjutsu off, not if he wanted to keep following the chakra flow in the air directing the summons. The musician was dangerously careful a well, always moving one of her flesh golem's in front of herself every time he lined up with her.
Worse yet, the copy-nin had learned just how resilent these monstrosities were; he had sliced off one's arm with a raikari, blown one's face apart with tags, crushed another's legs with an earth jutsu, and still they simply refused to go down or de-summon. Kakashi had no doubts now about just what kind of shinobi the Snake Sannin had created, can't let these things get away, can't let them get any of the platoon. Can't let them hurt- this time he was too slow, the kunai sliced into his arm and his blood was running free.
His kick threw the snarling murderer away from him, and he added his final shurikens for good measure, several grazing the berserker and drawing blood- Not near enough. That was when all three of the doki attacked from different angles. Up it is- Kakashi pushed off the ground, just avoiding the dogpile of giant cadavers- and Sakon, also having gone airborne, knocked him from the sky with a wind jutsu.
Kakashi crashed in, barely able to spread the impact into the meat of his thigh and side, kicking his legs up and over his shoulders, somersaulting the momentum into a crouch- the summons would be on him in a split second, he could read the music with his eye as well as the musician with her ears. This time he would not be fast enough. Still going to try though- Kakashi Hatake sprang up on his bruised legs as the shadow of the ogres once more came down, I'm too slow.
To say the technique was far from complete would have been accurate. Having thought of it only seconds before, Sasuke was surprised what he was attempting was actually even occurring. The principal was perfectly sound of course, widening the shape of the chidori and forcing the electrical nature to manifest down the microscopic chakra network that ran throughout the body and through his cellular structure.
Their cellular structure, to be precise. But whereas Sasuke's system was capable of controlling the backflow and keep the current from burning through his body and blood-vessels, the intruder's half-merged cells would have no way to avoid or disperse the chakra's electrical manifestation. All of this was dependent of course on Sasuke being able to precisely channel the current through his network over points where he'd never even attempted to manifest nature manipulated chakra, all the while simultaneously guiding the shape. If he failed to widen or narrow its shape as it traversed his system, the chakra current could likely "jump the tracks" of the chakra network, he would lose control and the jutsu would run roughshod over him as well.
Sasuke's control was less than perfect. In an instant he felt the current burn through his arm, smelled the sizzle of his hair, saw the current arc off his skin and up his shoulder. Sasuke gave a shout of pain as the chakra wobbled and quirked over and throughout his body. It arced off his shoulders, fingertips, and through his feet. It lasted a third of a second, then the electrocution ceased and the genin collapsed to his knees. It had the desired effect however.
With a screech Ukon flung himself from the hostage turned tormentor, his reformed body, charred and burned black, rolling on the ground as if on fire. While Sasuke had been able to reduce the internal electrical storm to a severe shock, Ukon had possessed no method to lessen the potency of the attack and had suffered at the cellular level.
"You bastard! I'll-" Shikamaru was literally on top of him then, springing astride the prone sound-nin while his shadow pounced like a serpent on prey, coiling up and around Ukon's throat to immobilize and throttle the life from him.
"You!" Ukon managed to choke as he resisted the shadow binding. Shikamaru looked into the twisted and blistered face of the fourteen year old and saw the twin for what he was; disoriented, burned, but still an incredibly dangerous psychopath that would kill them as soon as it got its wits together again. Got to use the time he gave me before he realizes. Shikamaru squeezed tighter.
There was nothing clean in the killing. Nothing smooth or practiced like how the copy-nin had eliminated the six armed sound-freak. The monster gurgled and thrashed, half-cursed, and struggled to break free. He nearly did. Fighting for his life, and still in the thralls of the curse seal, Ukon possessed a strength few shinobi would have been able to manage unimpaired and fully rested. He was however, hurt, drained from the use of his most potent jutsu, and disoriented; the electricity from the attack had disrupted synapses and he couldn't get all his muscles working simultaneously. Shikamaru felt the thing nearly break free twice, but the distance between their shadows was nil, and Shikamaru was desperate as well.
Squeeze,squeeze squeeze squeeze. Shikamaru repeated the mantra over and over in his head as he closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look into the bulging ones' of his opponent. Repeated it until he could only think that it applied to his eyelids and not to his clenched hands and what he was doing to the person on the ground. The thirteen year old only opened them again when the thrashing stopped and his opponent was still. The monster had vanished, just a pale boy with a swollen tongue protruding from painted lips. The eyes still held traces of something though and Shikamaru fell backwards in his attempt to look away.
Am I really breathing this hard? The thought was odd and out of place for the boy with the genius IQ, but then, so was the body on the forest floor. Shikamaru jerked his head away to look over at where he had last seen his classmate. Sasuke hadn't moved, four meters away and still on his knees, shoulders rising and falling at regular intervals, and Shikamaru realized he could hear him breathing as well.
"Hey, you okay?" Shikamaru managed, clearing his throat and trying to swallow at the same time.
Sasuke's head snapped up, and it occurred to Shikamaru that his comrade wasn't wearing his forehead protector.
"What happened to the music?" Sasuke replied as if no question had been asked of him.
Shikamaru caught his breath. For the first time in minutes, he realized the forest had gone deathly silent.
Oh no.