A/N: Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy I finally get to write this part! You don't know how long I've been wanting to write it… hooray! Yippee! And other noises of happiness, glee, and unrestrained enthusiasm!
(Is it just me, or does that totally sound like something Gai would say?)
Thanks to everyone for all the reviews–they are truly motivating and I love hearing what you think of the chapters, I really really do. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing, is it a deal?
Disclaimer, blah blah, now on with the show… hee hee hee finally!
.
This was a new torture technique Ibiki had invented. It had to be.
Twenty minutes just couldn't be this long.
Kakashi had retrieved Suyo's smashed braid and tucked it back into his kunai pouch, a little piece of him wanting to chase that ANBU down and beat the hell out of him for stomping on it. Most of him, though, was trying to convince himself that Sasuke had just been having an off day when he and Naruto had captured him.
But he knew better. Sasuke had always been an arrogant little asshole, but not without reason. He'd been damn good even as a new genin. By the time Kakashi had finished training him just before the chuunin exams and his defection, he would've bet anything he owned that the Uchiha would make rank easily–he was better than damn good, he was closing in on amazing. After three years of training with Orochimaru, Sasuke was now a formidable force to be reckoned with. Shinobi of his level just didn't have off days.
Every second dragged and he was forcefully reminded of the endless genjutsu torture Itachi had inflicted on him. Finally, finally, the stone slab grated into motion and slid aside to allow Tsunade, Morino Ibiki, and Yamanaka Inoichi to exit. Kakashi stashed his book with relief that he was finally going to get to share his information with people who could act on it. Before that could happen, though, the rest of the room cleared. Two more ANBU squads followed the three interrogators out, six masked warriors surrounding the other two who were supporting the limp and battered Uchiha Sasuke.
No, Kakashi realized, that wasn't right. Not battered. There wasn't so much as a scratch on him. Morino Ibiki's torture techniques were far too refined for him to need such crude tactics as physical pain. But the impression of someone who'd just had the hell beaten out of him remained nonetheless, and Kakashi couldn't honestly say he had much sympathy as the ANBU dragged Sasuke back to whatever dark and isolated cell he was currently calling home.
Tsunade's eyebrows rose to see them waiting for her in the hall, and she didn't look happy to see Kakashi. "I know you're not accustomed to taking leave, Kakashi, but there are dictionaries lying around where you can look up the meaning of the word," she said, crossing her arms and drumming her fingers on her elbow. That posture was never a good sign "And five hours isn't quite the same as seventy-two. Should I put you in the hospital to make sure you rest?"
"No, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, barely managing to keep the impatience from his tone. Did she honestly think he hadn't noticed that he was bone-tired? "There's a problem. This–" he waved down the hall where Sasuke and his ANBU guards had vanished, "–was too easy."
She frowned. "Naruto said the same thing," she grudgingly admitted. "But while I understand your concern, I'm not convinced that it even matters. He's in custody and that's the goal, isn't it? Now I'm very busy between this mess and tightening security for the Kazekage's visit, so if you don't mind–"
Kakashi stepped forward, determined to correct her. "He let us catch him. Aren't you even the slightest bit curious why?" He spoke more forcefully this time, determined to make his point. He looked past her and met Ibiki's eye. "Where's the sword?"
Ibiki held his gaze for a moment, then went back into the interrogation room. He returned with Sasuke's sheathed Kusanagi sword and handed it to Kakashi.
Who immediately slung the sheath off and thrust the blade at Ibiki in one smooth arc that would cut him in half if it connected.
The scarred tokubetsu jounin pulled a kunai, the movement as fast and unconscious as the blink of an eye. Tsunade shouted, "What the hell are you doing? That sword can't be bloc–"
The ringing of metal on metal echoed down the hallway as Ibiki easily parried Kakashi's attack. "Can't be blocked," Tsunade finished, but now her voice was lower, her quick anger banished just as swiftly and her eyes widening with realization. "It's a fake."
"He gave it up too easily," Kakashi said as he dropped the useless sword on the ground. Much as he hated to disparage his own skills, he knew he hadn't truly surprised Sasuke with those chakra-wire enhanced shuriken–not when he'd taken the sword, and not when he'd trapped him. Sasuke had seen that maneuver before and he just didn't make those kinds of mistakes. "He fought beside me for years. He knows many of my attacks. I didn't outsmart him and take this from him. He gave us a little fight to make it believable and let us take him."
"What's he after?" Ibiki asked, stashing his kunai and apparently completely unphased by Kakashi's attack with the supposedly unblockable sword. "We couldn't get a damn thing out of him."
Kakashi's voice was grim when he answered. "The woman Naruto rescued from their prison camp two years ago. Kimura Suyo." He met Tsunade's gaze and knew she was remembering the same thing he was–the experiments, the torture, the strange things that had been done to the Junyato villagers. "She's the only survivor from it. They want her back–Sasuke mentioned her just before we attacked him. He tried to convince me that he learned about her from me, but I don't buy it. He's got too much information. There has to be a spy in the village."
"Dispatch an ANBU squad to Kimura's home," Tsunade snapped to Shizune. "Have them bring her in for protective custody. Now!"
Shizune sprinted down the hall, but Kakashi was already shaking his head. "Let Naruto bring her in. He's already there and can get her moving faster," he said, feeling sick at the thought of how terrified she'd be by the arrival of four masked assassins showing up at her door. "She'll come more easily if someone she trusts asks rather than four ANBU coming to take her by force. If the Sound are planning an attack, speed is crucial–"
As if to prove him right, suddenly an explosion rocked the building, throwing them against the wall. Kakashi hit on his injured shoulder and couldn't hold back a groan. An instant later, another explosion threw them the other way, making him ram into Tsunade's chest–a softer landing to be sure, but one more likely to get him pummeled. "Go!" Ibiki yelled to the four-man ANBU squad by the door, and ran after them toward the place Sasuke had been taken as Kakashi quickly caught his balance and removed himself from his Hokage's impressive breasts. Fuck the ANBU squad–he was going to get Suyo himself!
"Oh no you don't. Not you," Tsunade snarled when Kakashi started to follow Shizune. He would've ignored Tsunade's order if she hadn't managed to snag a firm grip on his hair. "Get your ass over here and stand still. You're in no shape to fight yet."
What the hell–another explosion shattered glass in hallways above them, and this time he was certain it had come from outside T&I's building. Surely she wasn't going to try to keep him out of this! But before he could voice his protest, Tsunade slapped one green-glowing hand over his wound and he winced at the sizzle of muscle and tendon knitting beneath her hand. "I need you in fighting shape and you're not," she said baldly as she frowned in concentration over the injury. "The Kazekage is arriving today and I can't have Sasuke tearing Konoha apart when he gets here. This will help your shoulder, but it won't be at one hundred percent so be careful you don't rip it back open. And for God's sake eat a food pill or something–did you not sleep at all? You don't have any chakra left!"
"I slept," he snapped, refusing to regret the hour he'd spent in bed not sleeping. "I have chakra."
He still dug out a food pill, though. This was one battle he had no intention of losing.
The Hokage snorted, clearly not believing him, but he was losing patience. The burn of healing was abating and that meant it was almost finished. "We don't have time for this," he said as more bangs and now screams were heard. Everything in him demanded that he get to Suyo to protect her, and this delay was almost more than he could take. At least Naruto and Bull were with her, and Pakkun should have been able to get Sai and Sakura to the apartment too, but it wasn't good enough. Kakashi needed to be there. "It's enough, it's fine. We don't have time for this!"
She growled but finally let the green glow fade and pulled off his sling. "Fine. Don't blame me if you open it back up. Now go kick Sasuke's punk ass for real this time, will you?"
He nodded as he put his previously injured arm back through the arm hole of his flack vest and zipped it, then shoved his hitai-ate up to bare his Sharingan. He swung his arm around once to test his range of motion, found it nearly back to what he was used to, and smiled grimly. "My pleasure," he said, and then he sprinted toward the center of the chaos.
All the times he'd struggled for the right words to tell Suyo what he felt, hated that he couldn't chase her demons away… that helplessness was gone. Now she needed exactly what he could do better than almost anyone else. He felt the Hound straining against the bonds he'd placed on the bloodthirsty persona at the back of his mind, and loosened its chain. Time to make good on all those promises he'd given her and lay her enemies' heads at her feet.
He could hardly wait.
Kakashi barely registered the explosions wrecking Konoha's west gate as he leapt over the rooftops toward Suyo's apartment building. He was too busy taking mental inventory of what he had in his flack vest, trying to plan how he'd defend her in the apartment, how he'd keep her safe in the open, where he'd take her and how they'd get there, how to deploy his team if they'd arrived, where he'd position Naruto if the teen was the only one with her.
He would get only one shot at this, and if his genius brain was worth anything, he would make damn sure he got it right.
Planning, however, didn't mean he was distracted, so when the Phoenix Fireball shot his way, it was nothing to adjust his leap to avoid it. Cursing the delay, Kakashi landed on the next roof and stared down at Uchiha Sasuke in the street below him without any surprise at all. "You missed," he said mildly even though every nerve was chaffing at the delay. Don't use the Sharingan yet, he thought, making sure not to directly meet Sasuke's red eyes. Wait… conserve chakra and wait for the opportune moment. "I thought I taught you better."
"Oh, you did, sensei." Sasuke loaded the title with a wealth of sarcasm. "That's why I missed. I thought perhaps you'd like to chat a while, rest that arm a bit before we get down to business. How's Naruto doing?"
Kakashi tamped down the surge of anger at the casual way Sasuke said that name. He'd had more practice in controlling his temper than the Uchiha. No way in hell would he be baited into any more mistakes by this little punk. "Oh, the same. Still more friend than you deserve and willing to do anything to save you from being used. How is being Orochimaru's bitch suiting you?"
Sasuke snorted in derision. "That snake was never using me. I used him. And now that I'm done with him, I disposed of him. Did you really expect otherwise?"
Hmm, well, now that was an interesting piece of information. Kakashi idly fired off a Water Prison jutsu, just for old times' sake, as he dodged a new spate of Phoenix Flowers. The Uchiha evaded the globe of water and he'd expected nothing less. They were just sparring now. The serious fight hadn't yet begun. "And did you get the power you were looking for?" Kakashi asked as though they weren't dancing on the edge of a fight to the death. "Was it worth the price you paid for it?"
Sasuke's red eyes hardened, ageing his still-young face into something horrible. Someone that young shouldn't have so much hate, but Kakashi supposed he could understand. He hadn't been that different at Sasuke's age–only he'd used his hate to protect Konoha, not destroy it. "Was it worth it? Yes, when I kill Itachi," Sasuke answered with deceptive calm. "Did I get enough power? Come down here and find out."
He wanted to. Oh, Kakashi wanted to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off his former student's face so bad he could taste it. But he had something more important to do. "Maybe we can play another time," he said with an eye-crinkling smile. Then he capped the insult with a deliberate choice of words guaranteed to make Sasuke's blood boil. "I'm not interested in you right now."
The dark teen blocked his path with a pair of exploding tags that demolished the roof beneath Kakashi's feet and made him jump back, exactly the opposite direction from the one he wanted. The fury on his face let Kakashi know that quoting Itachi's condescending dismissal had definitely hit home. "Well, I'll see if I can make it this good enough to interest even the great Sharingan no Kakashi," Sasuke snarled, sneering the name as though it were an insult.
Damn it, he really did not want to get caught up in a prolonged battle with Sasuke right now–he wanted to get to Suyo and make sure she was safe! Kakashi thought about Body-Flickering away, but almost instantly decided against it. He'd taught Sasuke how to trace that jutsu himself. The last thing he wanted was to lead the rogue Uchiha straight to Suyo. There was nothing for it–he couldn't distract and he couldn't evade, so he'd have to fight. He sighed with mock-boredom and silently prayed that his team and ninken could hold out until the ANBU squad arrived to take custody of Suyo. "Fine, if you insist. Shall we begin? I don't have much time to waste on you."
Sasuke didn't need a second invitation. With a loud shout, he performed an all-too-familiar series of chakra seals and charged. "Chidori!"
Damn it! Kakashi had no choice but to open his Sharingan now, which was clearly just what Sasuke was hoping for. The jutsu was such a quick attack that Kakashi would need to use the Sharingan to dodge it, and Sasuke was counting on that. He knew that Kakashi's chakra had been greatly depleted in that ambush. The little bastard was trying to make him use up what little chakra he had left.
Well, he might have to use the Sharingan when he didn't want to, but Kakashi would do it on his own terms. He waited until the last possible moment to open his eye and leap out of Sasuke's path, then closed it again as soon as he was out of immediate danger. Despite the strength gained from that food pill, every second he didn't have to burn chakra was worth the risk. "Missed again," he said mildly as he touched down lightly atop a power pole. Sasuke's temper had never been as much of a weakness as Naruto's had been, but Kakashi still tried to infuriate him. "Come on, I haven't got all day. If you're going to hit me, get on with it. I really am busy."
Sasuke's red eyes blazed with fury. "So smug, Kakashi with his stolen Sharingan and his stolen jutsus," he hissed in reply, one hand still blazing with blue chakra lightning. "It's pitiful that you haven't come up with more on your own, but it takes less skill to copy, doesn't it?"
"Spoken like a true novice in the art of Sharingan," Kakashi shot back, needling again and knowing this one would hit its mark–compared to Kakashi, a shinobi who wasn't even an Uchiha, Sasuke's skill with his own bloodline limit didn't even come close. He read Sasuke's seals as he prepared to shoot a Grand Fireball at his former sensei, but Kakashi's hands were a blur as he sped through a series of seals and finished well before Sasuke. "Children really shouldn't play with fire. Water Style, Water Encampment Wall!"
He exhaled sharply, blowing a huge stream of water that encircled Sasuke and neatly extinguished the emerging Giant Fireball before it could do any damage. Accomplishing this jutsu without an immediately available water source was nearly impossible, but Sasuke was about to learn what numerous shinobi before him had discovered to their peril–Kakashi had never been merely a cheap imitator of jutsus. His hands were already flying through another pattern of seals, loosing his next jutsu nearly simultaneously. "Earth Style, Suicide Technique!" The ground beneath Sasuke vanished like air, only to reform almost instantly beneath him–the Uchiha was now sunk to the knees in ground as unyielding as concrete.
But Kakashi wasn't quite done yet. The third jutsu's seals were completed as soon as the final word of the Earth style jutsu left his lips, and he shouted it without pausing for breath. "Lightning Style, Lightning Hound!"
A flickering, electric version of Bull leapt from his hand and dove into the watery prison surrounding the trapped Uchiha. Instantly the entire area was electrified. Kakashi leapt into the air to ensure that the water trail from himself to the Water Encampment Wall didn't inadvertently cause him to be electrocuted, too.
When the steam cleared, Sasuke stood in the middle of a great mud puddle surrounded by the rubble of the buildings Kakashi's jutsus had destroyed. His clothes were a bit scorched but he wasn't incapacitated, nor were his legs trapped in the ground any longer. "Three chakra styles and three techniques in less than five seconds," the Uchiha murmured, his nearly-black eyes narrowed. "I'm almost impressed."
"You mean four," Kakashi informed him an instant before his latest original jutsu, a vicious Fire Style Flame Boomerang, slammed into the back of Sasuke's head and engulfed him in white-hot flames. "I hope you don't mind me improving on another of your family trademark techniques."
Unfortunately, he feared that Sasuke missed that last comment–he was too busy trying to beat out the flames while dodging the fistful of kunai and shuriken Kakashi flung his way to really listen properly. Kakashi didn't have time to follow up, though. Another explosion blasted through the village at the same moment that Mara Shikamaru and his father, Shikaku, arrived on the scene, followed closely by Akimichi Choji.
Relief swamped him at the sight of them and he gratefully took the opportunity to get out of this unwanted fight. "Take him!" he shouted at them, and as the rumble of the Akimichi signature Enlargement Jutsu echoed through the chaos, he sped out of the destruction he'd created without looking back.
