MOTION
CHAPTER 14
The worry for Hinata was still there. Oh, it was still there all right, but then so was the excitement. Sasuke felt as if he could split atoms with his eyes. The pump of adrenaline was insane. He had never felt anything like this—amazing! He grinned. Anger had never felt so right. His eyes rolled toward the stars, keen and vibrant. 'Are you watching, father?'
A kunai went flying at his head. With his new vision he could see the path it traveled, a speckle of darkness in a sea of red. He dodged it with a flick of his head. "Testing me?" he chuckled. The prospect burned his belly. "Hopefully you have something better?" The shinobi cricked his neck. Sasuke clacked his tongue to his teeth. "Don't waste my time. I have somewhere to be."
Each bound forward, clashing with their kunai. The shinobi was quick, lashing out like a viper. Sasuke met his blows easily. The sound of clanging iron vibrated through the air, relentless, ear-splitting. Sasuke monitored his opponent, something he had never really done before. With the Sharingan it was easy. The enemy, it seemed, was fighting more to study than to overcome. He was careful with his blows, ever mindful of his blade: until Sasuke knocked it aside and he had to resort to fist combat. The schematics of every strike was laid out in full before Sasuke. The battle waYs too easy, so easy that he found himself fighting more for entertainment than anything. This made him stop.
"Not tired yet?" Sasuke asked irritably. "If there's nothing else, please die." His intention had been to fire-jutsu the shinobi's ass to scraps, but the shinobi was quicker with his hand-signs. Sasuke was able to read them while forming his own fire jutsu:
'Tiger, Ox, Monkey . . .' A familiar combination, one that had been engraved into his memory from one of his missions with Kakashi. Which mission was it? He followed the hand signs carefully with his Sharingan. 'Monkey . . . Rabbit . . .' He knew the last one. Bird. Water element, Vortex!
Perspiration formed from the air to create a much weaker vortex than the one Sasuke was familiar with. Surprisingly it was an even match against his fire jutsu. The attacks clashed in the space between the two of them, roaring in the night. Shingles ripped off the apartment and the chimneys cracked. The collision was an imbalance, a force that nearly sent them both sliding off opposite edges.
Unfortunately the shinobi's vortex was stronger. Sasuke did end up losing footing and went sailing off the edge. He prepared to fling himself from the wall with a push of his feet, but ended up colliding with something in midair. The impact took him off guard, sending him plummeting toward one of the roofs below. The landing was much softer than he'd anticipated. And louder.
"AGH, WHAT THE HECK!" Naruto realized what happened in the same moment Sasuke did, and pushed him clear off with both hands. Sasuke landed a backflip across the roof, incredulous, and most definitely annoyed—oh yes, that too. "Fantastic," he muttered. "Another idiot."
"Screw you, Sasuke Bas—Sasuke!" Naruto jumped up with his feet spread apart, jabbing a finger at his teammate. "That is you!" he cried.
"What the hell are you doing here, Naruto? The academy is that way." He jabbed a thump over his shoulder, hopefully in the same direction he'd left Sakura.
"Watch where you're pointing, Uchiha." Neji appeared on the edge of the roof, glaring at Sasuke's thumb as if he might bite it off. Sasuke stepped back a bit, narrowing his eyes. 'Those eyes,' Sasuke thought with a tightening of his chest. 'Hinata.' Even through the Sharingan those eyes shone like white suns. One kekkei genkai acknowledging the other, no doubt. "Hyuga," Sasuke greeted.
"Do you need assistance?" Neji asked, looking up at the apartment complex. Sasuke followed. How much time had he wasted here? How many minutes? Naruto looked up as well, eyes going wide.
"You were in trouble too, huh? We thought a student was being attacked—"
"And looks like we barged in on something." Neji scoffed. "I saw that attack. It was a water jutsu." Sasuke didn't look at him, but he nodded.
"He used the perspiration in the air," Sasuke said, not realizing he was grinning. Neji wasn't.
"Your kekkie genkei has awakened." Sasuke looked at him, nodding. Naruto scratched his head.
"Kekkei-wha?"
"My blood trait, you idiot. Like Neji's Byakugan."
"Why isn't he attacking us?" Neji asked, staring up at the shinobi. "He's had more than enough time."
"I dunno," Naruto said. "Can't you use your Kekkei-whatever to find out?"
"I see chakra veins, not read minds," Neji replied coolly. The "idiot" he neglected to say was present in his tone. All three of them gave a cry when the shinobi suddenly vanished from the roof. Sasuke immediately jumped up after him, the others following at his back.
They scanned the roof quickly, Sasuke with his Sharingan and Neji with his Byakugan. "Dammit!" Sasuke yelled. "Where the hell did he go?"
"Did he run away or sumthin?" Naruto asked. Without the aid of a kekkei genkei he had to lash his head about, half blinded in the darkness.
"No," Sasuke said, tensing. Bits of grain floated in the air, catching the light from the moon like tiny glass shards. His hands turned to fists. 'No . . .' He cursed himself.
"Do you feel that?" Neji asked. The veins around his eyes thickened. Naruto had no idea what they were talking about. Even without his Sharingan there's no way Sasuke could've missed it. Fury rekindled inside of him, spiraling like a tornado. The grains multiplied, sweeping in from nowhere, seemingly lured by a gravitational pull.
Sand.
Lots of it, swirling, spinning, skimming their cheeks like tiny blades. They winced and covered their eyes. A single column of sand formed a mini tornado . When the tornado dispersed, Gaara was standing before them. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Neji curled his lip. "It's been a while." His voice was every bit as rough as the sand he commanded.
"Not long enough, monster," Sasuke growled, sweeping the grains from his shoulder. He met Gaara's stare with more hatred than ever before, and when he spoke his voice cut like knives. "Gaara of the Sand."
Tenten fell to a sit, crouched over with her hand to her neck. "Jeez, I thought you were gonna kill them for a second, Lee!" He had made quick work of the shinobi, too. Their unconscious bodies were piled sloppily in a mess of splintered crates.
"How is your wound?" Lee asked her, serious in his concern. He approached her on bended knee, one hand falling to her shoulder.
"Nothing fatal," she remarked with light sarcasm. He extracted a roll of gauze from his jumpsuit, taking the extra effort to wrap her cuts and bruises himself. His movements were quick and careful, and to some extent, caring. Tenten watched him work with awe, and even found the reserves to brush: well, until he turned to a very battered Choji and said, "What about you? Are you injured?"
"Let's just get to the academy," he sighed heavily, slouched against a crate of his own.
"Ditto," Tenten said. Lee put the gauze back and clapped a fist to his chest.
"All right!" He jumped up. "Off to Guy Sensei! I have not been able to find him, and I am worried. He could need my assistance!"
"Won't he be at the academy?" Choji asked.
"Guy Sensei would never sit still at a time like this! As long as Iruka-sensei and the others are there to protect the children, Guy-sensei will fight, and so will I." Tenten shook her head with a sigh.
"Lee," she said, exasperated. Her head was beginning to ache. "Just get to the school. That's what we're supposed to do, so we should do it. We're not jonins—we're not even chuuins! Do I have to drag you there?" Her voice was taut with impatience now.
"I'm sorry, Tenten." He didn't really sounds like he meant it. "But I cannot go with you. Please escort the children to safety. Farewell Choji Akimichi! Keep them safe! I am counting on you!" Tenten tried to grab his sash, but he was gone quickly, fled over the rooftops.
"Does he never run out of energy?" she shouted. The children cheering after him made her headache ten times worse. Choji looked pale.
"Are we . . . gonna go after him?"
"Hell no! If he wants to get himself into trouble, let him! All I know is I'm damn sure not doing another fifty laps around the village on my hands for ANYONE. Let's go, Akimichi! Before we run into Guy-sensei ourselves!" Choji was utterly relieved. He flounced to his feet like a giant water balloon, beating on his chest.
"Right then! Off to safe—the academy!" Tenten put her head in her hands, and when she looked up she saw that the children were doing the exact same thing.
*AN*
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