Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in this story. Except for the ones I might create every now and then.
More Than Just Comrades
Chapter 25
Sasuke charged forward and landed a hard knee blow to the Grass ninja he was fighting before the poor bastard even knew what hit em, sending him skidding across the dirt before hitting a tree. Sakura, meanwhile, had already charged off with her opponent and they were fighting on the other side of the clearing, leaving the other Grass ninja to the Uchiha. It had been 10 minutes since they had started and Sasuke already had the upper hand. So far, the Grass ninja hadn't gotten a single hit on Sasuke yet and he was getting frustrated, having never faced an opponent who was faster than him. Sasuke's Sharingan didn't help his situation either. Because of the Uchiha's accursed kekkei genkai, Sasuke was able to read the Grass ninja's movements, allowing him to take the proper action to avoid his attacks. Hell, Sasuke didn't even have to use his sword for this guy. This fact, along with everything else, pissed the Grass ninja off to no end.
With a frustrated growl, the Grass ninja charged forward with his rose whip and lashed out repeatedly with it's fluid motion. However, Sasuke easily dodged every swing and sent an electric current underground towards his opponent with the Chidori, stunning him momentarily when it struck him. Wasting no time, Sasuke teleported forward and hit the Grass ninja under the chin with the butt of his sword, lifting the Grass ninja in the air just enough so that his feet came a few inches off the ground. Sasuke then followed by landing a smooth combo of kicks that launched the Grass ninja up into the air. As the Grass ninja came back down, Sasuke timed his next move perfectly and landed a hard punch to his opponent's stomach, sending him shooting backwards and slamming into a tree, making an impression.
"If this is the best that you can do, then I suggest you give up now. Hmph, and you call yourself a ninja, get real." Sasuke said coolly as he glared emotionlessly at his pathetic excuse for an opponent.
As he picked himself up slowly, the Grass ninja caught Sasuke's words and glared up at the Uchiha with all the hatred he had. It almost struck fear in Sasuke's heart, "almost" being the key word.
"You snot nosed pick!! How dare you insult my skills?!! You're nothing but rookie whose too sure of himself, a bastard who was blessed with good genes!!" the Grass ninja screamed out in fury. There was no way he was going to be insulted by a kid with a swelled head.
"Hn" Sasuke replied, unfazed by the Grass ninja's words. It didn't hurt when people said it before, and it didn't hurt now. Sasuke's apathetic attitude only succeeded pissing the Grass ninja off even more. If he were to get even angrier, he'd probably bust a brain vessel.
"Alright fine, you stuck up little shit!! I'm through playing around!" the Grass ninja bellowed. "I'll show you the true strength of my kekkei genkai!! By the time this is over, you'll be begging for a quick death! Not even your Sharingan will be able to save you!!"
The Grass ninja then made the "Ram" hand seal, and concentrated his chakra. Sasuke, intrigued by what the Grass ninja was doing, watched on. The tree under which the Grass ninja stood began to shake and tremble as though it were coming to life. As Sasuke stared up at it, he noticed that the tree was moving and rustling because the vines in it were moving, slithering through it's branches like snakes. After a few minutes, a compressed green ball, the size of Sasuke's fist and made completely out of vines, dropped from the tree and landed directly at the Grass ninja's feet. The Grass ninja picked it up, put it in his mouth, chewed it.....and swallowed it, an act that caught Sasuke off guard, but he did not show it on the outside.
Suddenly, the white part of the Grass ninja's eyes turned red while the pupils and iris of both of his eyes turned light green. Next, his skin turned a sickening green color and thick vine tentacles poked up through his skin and wiggled here and there like long worms. The Grass ninja then removed his shirt, showing that the vine tentacles were all over his body, moving on their own, and thorns protruded along the underside of his arms, his elbows, and a long thorn was on either of his shoulder blades, in the shape of scythe blades just like the ones along the underside of his arms. His nails became black claws and lastly, and most shocking, was the thick vine tail that protruded from his tail bone, covered in serrated thorns. The Grass ninja had transformed into a monster right before Sasuke's eyes.
"How do you like me now Uchiha?" the Grass ninja said, his voice being th only thing that remained the same.
Sasuke didn't reply, instead he charged forward with his break neck speed, appearing to teleport as he jumped into the air toward the Grass ninja with Chidori charged in his hand. However, this time the Grass ninja saw the attack and moved out of the way in the nick of time, just as Sasuke reached him and slammed his Chidori charged hand in the spot where the Grass ninja was previously, causing the ground around him to shatter apart and thus creating a sizable crater. Thinking that the Grass ninja had gotten lucky, Sasuke channeled the Chidori into his hand again and lunged at his opponent with his blazing speed. The Grass ninja dodged again and Sasuke ended up shattering apart the tree that was behind his opponent.
'Something's different this time. How is it that he's able to see my movements? A minute ago, his eyes couldn't even keep up with my sidestep. Yet he's now able to read my moves so clearly all of a sudden.' Sasuke thought as he turned to face his opponent-turned-monster.
"You're wondering how I'm able to see you moves all of a sudden, aren't you? Well you see, it's these new eyes of mine." the Grass ninja said, motioning to his strange-colored eyes. "They allow me to track the chakra of my opponent even if they are moving at near the speed of light. So you're fast moving attacks aren't going to catch me off guard anymore, Uchiha brat."
The Grass ninja then lengthened his black claws and charged forward with his new speed, equal to Sasuke's, and began slashing at the Uchiha furiously. Sasuke used his sharp reflexes to dodge each slash, although barely, and he knew that he had create some distance quickly. If he slipped up even once, it'd be his last mistake. Concentrating his chakra as he dodged, Sasuke felt the familiar tingle throughout his body and allowed the lightening chakra to come forth.
"Chidori Stream!" Sasuke called out as his entire body erupted with the Chidori. The Grass was thrown back by the strong current of electricity, but quickly caught himself before he could hit the ground. The Grass ninja had no time to react, however, when Sasuke charged forward, the Chidori Stream still active, and roundhouse kicked him across the chest, sending him flying into a tree with his body momentarily stunned from the electricity.
Not wanting to give his opponent any time to recover, Sasuke went through a number of familiar hand seals and blew a large fireball from his mouth that barreled toward the tree his opponent had been kicked into, and within seconds, the tree went up in flames. Sasuke didn't let his guard down, as he had a feeling his target was till alive. Sure enough, the Grass ninja emerged up from the ground a few feet away from where Sasuke stood. The electricity around Sasuke began to die down until it had dissipated completely.
"That was good, but not good enough. You're gonna have to try harder than that if you want to kill me!!" the Grass ninja said, raising his voice.
Again, Sasuke did not respond with a comeback. Instead, he made the "Ram" hand seal and began to concentrate his chakra. However, not wanting his opponent to complete whatever jutsu he was going to do, the Grass ninja raised his arm and a series of vine tentacles shot forward and wrapped themselves around Sasuke. With a hard yank, Sasuke's feet left the ground as he sailed through the air from being pulled against his will towards his opponent. Thinking quickly, Sasuke began to channel lightning chakra throughout his body, but before he could activate the Chidori Stream, the Grass ninja's deadly tail shot forward and gored Sasuke through the stomach as the raven got closer. Pain erupted throughout Sasuke's body and he began to cough up blood.
"I told you not underestimate me Uchiha. Now you die" the Grass ninja said as he turned his tail towards him so that Sasuke was facing him. He then lengthened his claws as he prepared to rip Sasuke's heart out. Before he could land the final killing blow, Sasuke began to radiate with electricity and dematerialize. Suddenly, Sasuke exploded in a flash of electricity like a lightning bolt striking the ground, giving the Grass ninja a nasty shock and creating a small crater in the ground. The real Sasuke emerged from the ground a few feet away from the blast site, unharmed.
A few minutes later, the Grass ninja rose up from the crater with scratches and burn marks all over his body, exposing the vines that were underneath his skin. When he saw the real Sasuke standing there smirking at him, his anger returned with a vengeance.
"Just what the hell are smirking at, you brat?! And what the hell just happened anyway?!! I was sure I had you in my grasp!" the Grass ninja yelled out in anger.
"That wasn't me you thought you had. That was a lightning doppleganger" Sasuke said calmly.
"A what?!" the Grass ninja shot back angrily.
"It was a shadow clone infused with my lightning chakra. Whenever it is struck, it reverts back to its natural lightning state, giving a nasty shock to whatever it is touching. The shock can even be fatal, depending on how much chakra the user puts into it. I thought I had put in enough chakra to kill you, but I guess you can take more damage than I thought." Sasuke explained coolly.
Sasuke's calm and smug attitude just continued to piss the Grass ninja off more and more. Simply hearing Sasuke's voice pissed him off to no end. Sasuke's voice seemed to mock him with each word, making a mockery of him. Here he was, one of the strongest shinobi of his village, and he was being shown up by a mere child. If he did manage to walk away from this fight, word would get out that he had lost to rookie and he'd never be able to live it down. This just intensified his anger even more. He was NOT about to be outdone by this overly calm amateur. This was no longer about advancing to Chunin. No, this was now about respect. He would defeat this brat and walk away with his pride, and he'd be damned if he let this kid continue to make fun of and disrespect him. By now, the Grass ninja had become so enraged, that he was literally seeing red as he glared at Sasuke. Any word that could describe his hatred toward Sasuke and any other Uchiha at that point would've been an understatement.
"Don't mess with me!! I'm better than you! My ability is flawless.....it's a jutsu that is unbeatable! Don't you get it, you stinking Uchiha?!! I'm better than you!! Therefore I CANNOT lose!" the Grass ninja roared with all of his rage, his saliva flying with each word. Sasuke, however, stood unfazed by his opponent's outburst and continued to glare emotionlessly at him.
"There's no way I'm gonna lose to such a.....lose to such a....." the Grass ninja let his voice trail off as he bit his lower lip in frustration. In fact, he bit his lip so hard that it bleed and a thin trail of blood slid down to his chin. However, the Grass ninja was too pissed off to even notice. As he glared at Sasuke, the Grass ninja thought of one move that was sure to do the trick and bring this punk to his knees. Without giving it further thought, the Grass ninja quickly went through a set of hand seals that the Sharingan read, but could not recognize.
"Ninja Art of Plant Manipulation: One Thousand Cherry Blossoms of Brutal Shadows" the Grass ninja said in an eerily calm voice. Suddenly, hundreds of roses began to sprout up from the ground all over the place. However, these roses were different from normal roses as they had cherry blossom petals instead of the petals that roses usually had. The roses continued to sprout up until they were all around Sasuke and the Grass ninja. As Sasuke observed these strange looking roses, they began to pop in clusters, dispersing their cherry blossom petals into the air around the two adversaries.
Seeing that Sasuke was now distracted by the petals, the Grass ninja made the "Dragon" hand seal and the petals suddenly came to life. They flew to and fro through the air eerily, and strangely, they shined in the sunlight as though they were made of metal. They then settled behind the Grass ninja and hovered in mid air behind him. One of them flew forward and zipped past Sasuke's cheek.....and actually made a cut!! A small, thin cut formed on Sasuke's cheek and it began to bleed small drops of blood. As though smelling blood in the water, the other petals abruptly surged forward. Realizing that these were not normal petals, Sasuke moved to the side at the last minute and the cherry blossom petals flew past him harmlessly. Thinking the petals had missed, Sasuke let his guard down and was about to charge at the Grass ninja when he heard what sounded like hundreds of blades clanging together. Looking back, Sasuke's eyes widened to see that the cherry blossom petals had circled around and were now coming at him again.
Sasuke did a number of amazing backflips in order to stay ahead of the petal blades, but he eventually had to use some of his chakra speed since the petals blades began to pick up speed. Sasuke ran and jumped throughout the battlefield, dodging the petal blades left and right and barely managing to stay ahead. As though that wasn't difficult enough, the pink mass of blades divided up into a number of small clusters and came at Sasuke from different angles as he ran along. Now Sasuke had to move twice as fast in order to stay alive. Whenever he dodged one cluster of blades, another one would already be on him. Along the way, Sasuke did falter a few times and he now had fresh cuts all over his body and his clothes were torn a little bit also. Sasuke knew that he couldn't keep this rate up for long, so if he didn't think of way to get out of this, he'd be a goner.
Sasuke pulled out his sword, charged it with lightning chakra, and full speed at a blade cluster that was heading for him. He managed to slice right through it, but was surprised when the cluster formed back together again and came at him. Sasuke cut the blade clusters away as they came at him, but they would reform and then come at him again full speed. Sasuke had to keep moving as he cut the clusters to pieces as they came at him. If he stayed in the same spot, they would surround him and close in. If that happened, he'd be cut to pieces. A few of the clusters became thin wisps and surrounded him, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. If he ran into them, he'd be minced meat. Just as Sasuke feared, the wisps of petal blades closed in on him for the kill. Sasuke channeled lightning chakra throughout his body and activated the Chidori Stream before the petal blades could get to him, only managing to push them back to a safe distance away from him. His body still radiating with electricity, Sasuke glared at the cherry blossom blades that surrounded him. Some in the shape of large clusters, while others in the shape of thin wisps. They surrounded Sasuke like a thick fog. Suddenly, Sasuke heard laughter and recognized it as the Grass ninja.
"There's no point in fighting Uchiha. These petal blades are harder than any steel, thanks to my chakra. Once they harden up, each petal becomes a blade that is capable of slicing even through bone at unimaginable speeds. Just one of them could cut straight through your body and rupture one of your vital organs and you'd barely notice. Thousands of them, like the ones that surround you now, could your body to pieces until there would be nothing left, not even your clothes left behind. They can even take on different shapes for all kinds of situations. And the best part is, their indestructible. They can survive anything you throw at them and keep on coming back until their target is dead. Dace it Uchiha, you've met you match." the Grass ninja explained in triumph. "I must admit, your only the second who has ever forced me to go this far, but this is where it ends!! This is the ultimate strength of my kekkei genkai!!
True to the user's words, the clusters of pink cherry blossom blades began to form mash against one another until they formed a different recognizable shape, namely that of an animal. Half of the clusters had merged themselves together to form wolves and the other half had merged together to form large snakes.
"Attack!!" the Grass ninja commanded. The petal blade animals followed their master's command and charged forward at their prey. Sasuke's sword surged and radiated with lightning chakra until it became more concentrated around the blade, forming the Lightning Blade. Sasuke cut the blade creatures down as they came at him, but they would reform and attacks again and again. Sasuke stayed one step ahead and continued to hack away at them. Sometime during the battle, Sasuke slid his shirt and from his upper body and let it hand around his wait so that he could move a little faster. It helped a little but not by much. Sasuke moved back as the petal blade snakes lunged at him, striking the ground where he was only a few seconds ago. They lunged again, but Sasuke manged to cut them away. However, he was grazed by a few wisps of blades that made deep cuts into his skin. As the petal blade wolves lunged at him, Sasuke did a number of backflips and landed on a tree branch to buy him some time to calculate what he was going to do next.
'This isn't getting me anywhere. I can slash at these things until I turn black and blue, but they'll still just keep coming at me. And each mistake I make has the potential to be my last. As if all that wasn't frustrating enough, these things can't be completely destroyed either. So what the hell am I supposed to do now?' Sasuke thought. And then he saw his answer. As he glanced at the Grass ninja, Sasuke saw that he still had that "Dragon" hand seal in place. Sasuke hypothesized that if the Grass ninja breaks the hand seal, the jutsu would be canceled. The hard part was getting to him since he was guarded by all of the petal blade animals. Either way, if he was going to survive, he had to do it.
Sasuke took a deep breath, charged his sword with fire chakra this time, the blade turning bright reddish orange, and then charged forward towards his target. Sasuke hacked and slashed his way through the petal blade creatures as he ran forward, never stopping for even a second. He received a few more deep cuts here and there, but he still kept fighting as he moved forward. Finally, with a burst of speed, Sasuke reached the Grass ninja, reared his scorching blade back, and swung with the intent to cut off his opponent's head. However, Sasuke's blade was stopped a few inches from his face by one of the small petal blade clusters that surrounded him. Sasuke tried again and again to attack, but the petal blade clusters acted as automated shields and stopped each attack.
"Give it up! There's no way you can break through this ultimate defense." the Grass ninja taunted. He then formed the petal blade cluster's into a tentacle that slapped Sasuke across the chest. The cut wasn't that big or deep, but the force from the blow sent Sasuke back a few feet across the ground. The Grass ninja then dispersed the petal blade animals, formed the blades into one huge cluster, and then that one huge cluster split half. One half of the cluster of blades formed into a giant rectangle and the half formed into a pyramid. Sasuke stared at these two shapes confusedly as he picked himself up. The millions of petal blades that formed the two shapes were densely packed, making them impossible to destroy. The huge pyramid then slowly rose into the sky and a number of long needles protruded from the bottom towards Sasuke, but stopped midway. The thick needles then suddenly spread out into spikes that branched off irregularly. (Basically, this is the move that Sasori used against Sakura right before the Third Kazekage puppet was destroyed. If you don't know what I'm talking about, send me a review and I'll clearify. This technique is sort of hard to describe, so it's okay if you can't quite follow.)
The branching spikes then shot towards Sasuke at alarming speeds. The fact that the spikes branched out irregularly made the attack difficult to evade and Sasuke was nearly impaled as he moved every which-way in order to stay at least one step ahead. Luckily, Sasuke's wits paid off and he managed to survive the attack with only a few minor scratches on his arms, chest, legs, and back. Unfortunately, Sasuke found himself trapped in the spikes that surrounded him like a forest. Suddenly, the spikes the n dispersed back into millions of tiny blade petals that then flew back up into the pyramid. As Sasuke looked around, he only one question came to mind. 'Where did the rectangle formation go?'
The Uchiha got his answer when the gigantic pyramid moved out of the way to reveal the huge rectangular formation falling from sky right above Sasuke's head at alarming speed! It was already halfway to the ground as it barreled through the clouds, picking up more and more speed as it fell straight down. Sasuke fought through the pain and ran until he almost out of range of the falling projectile, but the rectangular formation was only a few feet above him now, and in a few seconds, Sasuke would be crushed. Fortunately, Sasuke managed to leap the last few inches out of the way as the rectangular projectile crashed into the ground like a ton of iron, creating a huge crater and sending the Uchiha a few feet away due to the shockwave. But it wasn't over yet. The enormous rectangle then rose back up into the sky and merged with the pyramid, the triangular object now on top of the rectangle. The long, thick needles protruded from the bottom of the rectangle this time and branched out irregularly into spikes like last time. The irregular branched out pike then fell to the ground and Sasuke was once again forced to use his sharp wits to avoid being impale. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief after managing to dodge the attack a second time, but quickly sucked that sigh back in when he looked up and saw that the rectangle was now falling again. This time, however, Sasuke had nowhere to go. The branched out spikes formed a dense forest that Sasuke could not move through. Even if he could, he'd never be able to maneuver through the grooves in time to escape the rectangular formation. He was trapped and all he could do was watch jis end come crashing down on his head.
Within what seemed like only a few seconds, the rectangular anvil crashed down on the Earth again, crushing Sasuke under it's tremendous weight. Seeing this, the Grass ninja began to laugh maniacally. He then released the "Dragon" hand seal and the jutsu dispersed back into millions of harmless flower petals that were blown away by the wind.
"I did it! I've won!!" the Grass ninja called out triumphantly as he threw his arms into the air in victory. He knew that jutsu would work, considering it was his second strongest attack. He'd only used it once before and now it had helped out of yet another jam. And here that Uchiha was, thinking he was so unbeatable. Well he thought wrong!! Once word got out that he had defeated an Uchiha, he'd be respected far and wide, he just knew it. However, the Grass ninja's victory celebration was cut short when Sasuke shot up from the ground right at the Grass ninja's feet and landed a solid uppercut to the bastard's jaw, knocking him back and onto the ground. (Now think about a double replay of Sasuke doing that. It adds more effect)
The Grass ninja spit out the blood that had accumulated in his mouth from the punch and looked up at Sasuke in disbelief.
"B-B-B-But how?! I know you got crushed by my attack!! I saw it happen!" the Grass ninja exclaimed, disbelief written all over his face. There's no way someone could survive that jutsu. He had designed it himself to be inescapable!
"No, what you saw was genjutsu. From your vision, you saw me getting crushed. In actuality, I used the Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu to tunnel underground, and avoid the attack. After that, I waited for you to cancel the jutsu before emerging from the ground again from right under you. I also had to mask my chakra so you wouldn't know I was there." Sasuke explained calmly, his face showing no emotion. He was covered in scratches and dirt, but other than that, he was fine. He now towered over the Grass ninja, his sword in hand.
"But....when did you cast the genjutsu?" the Grass ninja asked, not understanding how he had been caught.
"It was when I reached you and tried to attack. While you explained how impenetrable your defense was, we made eye contact for a minute. That was all the time I needed. Just goes to show that you talk too much." Sasuke explained.
"By the way, I guess this also means that your jutsu isn't as escape proof as you think" Sasuke taunted, just to add insult to injury.
That did it. Something within the Grass ninja snapped at that moment, and not only did his rage return, it returned times 2. He became so enraged at that moment that his vision turned an even darker shade of red and his breathing increased dramatically, putting him on the verge of having an anxiety attack. His jutsu was perfect and nobody insulted it, NOBODY.
"You....YOU PIECE OF SHIT, HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?!!" the Grass ninja hollered in rage. "You've got some nerve, you know that? How dare you insult my jutsu and then brag about it?! Besides, you barely managed to get away as it is, and you insult me. I'll tear you apart! Then we'll see who laughs last!"
The Grass ninja them n pushed himself away from Sasuke and did a number of backflips in order to create more distance between him and his adversary, but fell back down again from exhaustion. He then reached into the weapons pouch on his hips and ate the small food pill that he pulled out. Feeling the energy surging through his body, the Grass ninja quickly went through a number of different, and unfamiliar, hand seals.
'The effects of this food pill will only last for 3 minutes, so this will have to be last attack. I have to put everything I've got into this one and really make it count. Heh, never thought a Genin would push me to use this jutsu' the Grass ninja thought to himself as he concentrated his chakra and let his power and hatred flow from in waves. He then noticed that Sasuke was just standing there watching him, which confused the hell out of the Grass ninja.
"Hey, shouldn't you be panicking a little? I know you can feel my power from where you are!" the Grass ninja yelled out. But Sasuke just continued to stare at him, with the Sharingan still activated and his face expressionless. Seeing that Sasuke wasn't going to answer him, the Grass ninja actually began to chuckle softly, which seemed kind of weird.
"THAT'S WHAT PISSES ME OFF THE MOST ABOUT YOU UHICHAS!!" the Grass ninja suddenly hollered out in blind rage. "You're always trying to act cool, even in the face of danger! Well I'm about to fix that, with my ultimate jutsu! Consider this an honor, as you will be the first to ever see this new forbidden technique!
The Grass rose to his feet and went through the same hand seals he did to induce his transformation. The vines within the Grass shinobi's body slithered out from under his skin and began to merge into a ball a few inches in front of his chest. The ball grew large at first, but was then decompressed by the Grass ninja's chakra into the size of a golf ball. After making a couple of hand seals, the compressed ball of vines began to glow black with dark chakra. It then floated up to the Grass ninja's mouth, who then pulled it into his mouth with his tongue, chewed it, and then swallowed it.
"Now, bare witness to perfection!" the Grass ninja said as he inhaled and then began to throw up a dark green liquid as he exhaled. The green liquid began to collect in a pool right in between the two adversaries, and now Sasuke was beginning to feel uneasy. His emotionless mask broke and Sasuke now had a look of confusion, but only momentarily.
After the Grass ninja went through a number of different hand seals, the green liquid began to bubble as though it were being heated by something and then it began to rise up from the ground. The strange substance began to froth and bulge as it took the shape of something, and for a minute, Sasuke thought he'd heard it growl. The liquid expanded as it rose higher and higher until it towered over Sasuke like a giant wall made of some kind of green liquid. Suddenly, the liquid formed together until it resembled a thick string of spaghetti.
The top part of the liquid string began to bulge until it formed what appeared to be a head of some kind. The rest of the liquid formed into strange shapes that Sasuke could not identify. Finally, the liquid solidified. The thick string of liquid spaghetti became a thick stem, the bulged part at the front became a large purple head with a mouth, but no eyes, and the forms that Sasuke could not identify were actually leaves. In front of Sasuke now towered a huge man-eating plant. It opened it's mouth as it hissed, revealing row upon row of serrated, razor-sharp teeth. (Well, there goes the possibility of it being harmless). The only thing other thing unusual, besides its huge size, was the fact that thing still didn't have any eyes.
Now that his monster had been created, the Grass ninja made the "Ram" hand seal and he sunk underground, only to reemerge from on top of the mutant plant's head, at least, his upper body did. The rest of the Grass ninja's body was still inside of the plant's head. With twisted glee, the Grass shinobi glared down at Sasuke.
"Behold, Ninja Art of Plant Manipulation: Vegetation of Death and Destruction!!" the Grass ninja exclaimed, throwing his hands up in assured victory. "Now you will know the true meaning pain and suffering!"
The crazed Grass ninja then went through a series of hand seals, and number of smaller versions of the giant man-eating plant began to emerge from the ground. They had the bodies of snakes, but the head of the monster plant. They lunged at Sasuke, who cut them down as they came within striking distance. Sasuke hacked and hacked away, but the number of plants kept coming. It seemed that with each plant Sasuke destroyed, two more would take it's place.
"Cut all you want, but they'll keep coming no matter how many you destroy. They come from the mother plant herself. Do you see now? You cannot defeat this jutsu! This is the ultimate technique! Gaze upon it, beg for life, cower in fear, in despair, SCREAM!!" the Grass ninja proclaimed as he laughed like a maniac.
Sasuke continued to cut down the plants as they came at him, but there were simply to many of them. In order to stop them for good and cancel the jutsu, Sasuke would have to kill the Grass ninja himself since he was the "root". However, that was easier said than done. Luckily, Sasuke had a jutsu that would do the trick. It would destroy the plants and the Grass shinobi with one swing of his sword. Before he could swing his sword, Sasuke got a really bad feeling in his gut. For some reason, Sasuke just happened to look in Sakura's direction and was horrified to see a 7ft. tall monster about to knock Sakura's head off of her shoulders. Without another thought Sasuke used his maximum chakra enhance speed and teleported to Sakura's location and whisked the girl to safety just as her opponent swung one of his massive vine covered arms. Sasuke sat Sakura up against a nearby tree so that she could catch her breath.
"You......you little BITCH!!!! I ALMOST DIED!!" the Grass ninja said as he raised his thorn covered hand, preparing to knock Sakura's head off her shoulders.
Sakura's eyes widened. She no energy to defend herself. No energy to block or even move out of the way. She didn't have enough energy to reach for another food pill or anything else for that matter. All she could do was stand there and wait for the blow to be struck. Hopefully, it would come quick and she wouldn't have to suffer. That was the only thought that ran through Sakura's mind.
Suddenly, almost in the blink of an eye, Sakura found herself in Sasuke's arms as he set up against a tree. Now the girl was really baffled, she sure she was just at the mercy of her opponent and he was about to literally knock her head off her shoulders. Now, a second later, she was sitting up against tree.
"Sasuke?.....but I thought...." Sakura was unable to finish her sentence as she was still a little confused.
"You're safe for right now Sakura. I managed to save you right before that bastard could swing. Are you alright?" Sasuke explained as he helped Sakura control her breathing.
"Yeah...I think so. Thank you." Sakura said, grateful that she hadn't gone off on her own to fight her opponent. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here right now. She then glanced behind Sasuke and her eyes widened in terror. "Hey, Sasuke, we can't relax just yet. Look behind you."
Sasuke looked behind him as Sakura instructed and was inwardly horrified to see both Grass ninjas in their transformed states coming at them.
"Don't think you can stall our fight by saving you friend. This is far from being over!" Sasuke's opponent said as he charged with his teammate.
"Yeah, in fact, you just put her in danger. Now me and my brother can destroy both of you at once!" Sakura's opponent yelled he launched a series of thick vine tentacles at them while his brother sent his vicious plants.
Reacting calmly, Sasuke stood in front of Sakura and charged his sword with concentrated lightning chakra, forming the Lightning Blade. It seemed like it was too much power, but he would need it for what he was about to do.
"Lightning Style: Death Wave" Sasuke said as he gracefully swung as hard as he could, sending out a massive wave of lightning. The Grass shinobi saw the attack coming at them, but had nowhere to go, nor could they stop in time to dodge or even deflect. The lighting wave swept over them and vaporized them into nothing more than microscopic dust particles that were carried away by the wind. The Lightning blast exploded as it hit its targets, obliterating them and the some of the surrounding forest. All that was left after that attack settled away was a large gaping crater that was still slightly smoldering.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as Sasuke re-sheathed his sword. Now that those two had been taken care of, they only had one more to deal with. Sasuke turned to glare at Shiore with his Sharingan eyes, but the woman simply smiled deviously as she began to clap.
"Bravo, bravo, dear rookies. I honestly didn't think you manage to defeat my teammates at their maximum power, let alone at the same time. I must admit, you rookies are far different from the others. Just full of surprises, aren't you" Shiore said as she finished clapping.
"Your compliments aren't necessary, give us your scroll and we'll let you peacefully. At least you'll be able to walk away with you life since you won't be able to go on without you teammates anyway." Sasuke said with attitude at the woman.
This woman was far different from her teammates. He could feel her killing intent even from he and Sakura were and he automatically knew that she was strongest in the group. Hopefully, she would give up her scroll and go. If not, then Sasuke would simply go full power. He had some food pills in his pouch that would give him extra energy, which he would undoubtedly need if this woman decided to attack instead of surrender. He had a feeling it would be the latter.
'What's with this woman? Her teammates just got slaughtered and she doesn't even care. In fact, she did nothing to help them and now she's even congratulating us for beating them. If she isn't the definition of heartless, then I don't know what is. And her killing intent is nearly overwhelming.' Sakura thought from her position on the ground. She didn't like this woman, not at all. In fact, she creeped Sakura out even more than the forest itself did. And it was just her bad luck that Sakura had to fight her, of all people. Hell, she'd rather fight Ino right now than go against this freak. If the other two were already that strong, then she couldn't even imagine how strong this woman must be.
"Sorry dear boy, but I'm afraid I won't be backing down that easily. You see, I'm more than happy to show off my skills. And I have a feeling I'll be more of a challenge than my other comrades." Shiore said as she licked her lips with her snake-like tongue. Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a dangerous tone. "I'll tell you what: if you can beat me, then you can have my scroll. But if you lose, then I get you souls. Do we have a deal?
Sasuke pondered Shiore's words for moment.
"It's a deal." Sasuke said calmly. This, of course, terrified the hell out of Sakura because she didn't want to fight the evil woman. However, Sasuke had just saved her so she felt that she owed it to him to be there. After all, she wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for him. So, with reluctance, she swallowed her fear and slowly rose to her feet, an action that did not go unnoticed by Sasuke.
"Sakura you sit this one out. Let me take care of her" Sasuke ordered.
"But Sasuke, she's really strong and you might need some help. Besides, I owe you one for saving me." Sakura protested.
"Don't worry about me and you don't owe me anything. I can handle it. Besides, you're too exhausted and you have practically no chakra left. Sit down and rest. I'll take it from here. Afterwards, we can try and locate Naruto." Sasuke argued. He wasn't about to let Sakura rush into danger. If he did and something happened to her, Naruto would never forgive him. Otherwise, Sasuke would let Sakura go right ahead.
Sakura was about to protest further, but she decided not to since she wouldn't win anyway. With a sigh of defeat, Sakura sat down, and after making the "Ram" hand seal, she began to replenish her lost chakra. However, Sakura secretly decided that if things began to get to hairy, then she would eat one of her remaining food pills and step in, regardless of the danger.
After Sakura had sat back down and gathered her much needed strength back, Sasuke turned his attention back to Shiore. Seeing that she now had both shinobi in the palm of her hand, Shiore smile turned even more sinister and her eyes now held a wild look in them. Suddenly, by looking into her eyes, Sasuke and Sakura began to see visions of their deaths once again. This time, however, Sakura did not have enough chakra to break the illusion, so both Squad 7 members were forced to watch their gruesome ends. Suddenly, two kunai embedded themselves in their foreheads, both Sasuke and Sakura snapped back to reality, too terrified to move. They'd had enough chakra to resist the genjutsu's effects. Now they were fatigued and the effect had even more power now than it did before.
'Damn it, I forgot that she could do that. It must some kind of ocular genjutsu caused by her killing intent alone. It's almost as bad as Naruto's was. Not only that, I can't move by body. Perfect, it's a paralysis jutsu too' Sasuke thought, as he tried to move his body, but found that his body had gone numb, both from fear and the the effects of the genjutsu. Sasuke then glanced at Sakura and saw that the poor girl was shaking, her eyes wide, and on the verge of having a mental breakdown. She was just as shaken up as Sasuke was, which didn't help at all.
Seeing that her prey were now a couple of sitting ducks. Shiore reached into her weapons pouch and threw two kunai that sailed through the air toward the two Leaf shinobi, just as it happened in the genjutsu vision.
Sasuke knew that he had to do something. Otherwise, it was game over for both him and Sakura. Fighting the effects of the genjutsu, Sasuke used all of his inner strength to move his hand to his weapons pouch. As Sasuke reached, everything seemed to move in slow motion as Sasuke fought against time.
'Move damn it, move!! I've gotta hurry!" Sasuke thought as he pulled out a kunai. Holding it in the air, Sasuke used all the strength he had and stabbed the kunai into his calf muscle as hard as he could. Pain seared through his entire leg, which helped to wake up and overcome the genjutsu's effects. Without wasting another moment, Sasuke grabbed Sakura and bounded off into the forest through the tress to recuperate just as the kunai reached the previous location and embedded them selves into a tree trunk instead of human flesh and tissue.
Shiore smiled up at Squad 7 as she watched bound off to another location. She couldn't help it, she filled with too much anticipation. Finally, a good challenge. Now that she had shaken them up, they were sure to give it their all and give her a real challenge, especially Sasuke. He interested the female Grass shinobi the most with his calm exterior and amazing power.
'The hunt is on. I'll give them a head start and then go after them.' Shiore thought as she let out a dark chuckle. "You had better not disappoint me, Sasuke-kun."
Alright, that concludes this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it. It took hours to write, but I think I did a good job. However, that's for you guys to decide. Review and tell me what you guys think. Next up, Sasuke and Sakura fight Shiore. How will that turn out, stay tuned and find out in the next chapter. Until then, stay gold people. And don't worry, Naruto will catch up with everyone when it's time.