XXXV: No Turning Back
Sasuke
"I don't care if you believe it or not, Askia," Tadashi said, suddenly grinning from ear to ear. "Because right now I'm ecstatic. Right now I get to kill you with every justification. It's going to be so much fun."
Upon hearing those words, Sasuke activated his Sharingan with a blink. As the Right Hand of Master began to cackle, the Uchiha studied him, watching as a powerful mass of lighting chakra amassed around Tadashi.
"Damn it," Sasuke cursed to himself. "Askia!" he yelled out.
The Left Hand turned, looking bewildered. Without waiting for a reply Sasuke grabbed him, pulling Askia backwards towards the filing cabinets. With another blink he brought forth his Mangekyo Sharingan, summoning the rib cage of his Susanoo, enveloping himself, Askia, and the hopefully important documents behind them.
A pulse of lighting emanated from Tadashi, smiling manically on the teleportation device. The energy of the jutsu disintegrated nearly everything in its path, even managing to crack Sasuke's ultimate defense.
Sasuke looked around the room, studying the damage.
"Impressive," Sasuke admitted. "Few are able to leave a mark of any kind on the Susanoo. But it takes a true Kage-level shinobi to break it in even its most basic form. Give up now, you ought to know who you're dealing with."
Tadashi frowned. "I know exactly who I'm dealing with. But you know nothing. Otherwise you'd realize that you're just charred meat!" The Left Hand gathered another, more intense surge of Chakra.
Sasuke reacted quickly, adding on the next layer of the Susanoo's torso. The massive pulse of lightning that Tadashi directed at it did no damage but it was so forceful that it pushed the Susanoo, and everyone and everything housed in it, crashing through the wall.
"Damn it," Sasuke cursed again.
This was met with another, even more powerful burst of electricity that sent the Susanoo tumbling. It crashed through several walls before falling out of the tower. The giant chakra construct glanced off another building before crashing in a market square. The screams of civilians filled the air as people fled from the Uchiha. A few Rain shinobi appeared at the edges of the market, slowly advancing towards the source of the disruption.
Sasuke looked around at the other shinobi as he recovered from the fall. Without a word he drew his sword from his sheath. The Rain ninja stopped in their tracks.
"Hold," Askia yelled out. "Don't get involved!"
"Lord Hand?" one of the surrounding ninja questioned. "What's going on?"
"Listen to him boys," Tadashi said, appearing on top of a nearby building. "This is just between your betters."
"That's enough Tadashi!" Askia yelled. "If you're going to fight us, do it somewhere where innocents, our own village, won't be caught be in the crossfire!"
Tadashi sneered at Askia, pointing his fingers at a nearby building.
"Shit!" Sasuke yelled. With a moment's thought he conjured the right of arm of Susanoo. Tadashi let a bolt of lighting which impacted harmlessly into Susanoo's outstretched palm.
"Argh!" Tadashi screamed. "You damnable fools, why do you have to be so goddamn good all the time? This world is meant for the strong. You remember that, don't you, Sasuke? The strong do what they can, while the weak suffer as they must."
Sasuke snorted in disagreement.
A thunderous boom filled the air as lightning bristled in the rain clouds above.
"Oh," Tadashi squealed, sounding like an excited child. "This is a lucky break for me. It seems the universe is on my side after all. It clamors to give me the means to kill you." The Rain Shinobi held his hand up to the sky as lightening began to gather in the air around him.
Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "We need to move," he said to Askia.
"Can't your Susanoo protect against that?" the Left Hand inquired.
"Not in its current state," Sasuke answered. "If I advance it any further I'll start flattening the village."
"Fine then," Askia replied. "I'll take care of myself, just get the files someplace safe."
Sasuke nodded. Askia then disappeared into the earth. Invisible to the naked eye, but still visible as a blob of chakra to the Sharingan, Sasuke watched the Rain shinobi rapidly disappear from the scene.
Placing a hand on the file cabinets, Sasuke activated his Rinnegan. With a quick scan he spotted an empty room in a nearby building. Releasing Susanoo, Sasuke focused his vision on an old bookshelf that became the victim of Tadashi's jutsu.
Watching through his Rinnegan, Sasuke saw the laughing form of Tadashi, still standing on his rooftop. Below was a crater, still crackling with the electric power of his jutsu. The form of Askia appeared from the ground in a nearby alleyway before climbing up to confront Tadashi, holding a kunai to his throat as he approached from behind.
Tadashi responded by firing a bolt of lightning at another building, which began burning and teetering on its supports, threatening to collapse into the square. Through the walls muffled screams could be heard.
Askia abandoned his enemy, dropping his weapon and leaping down from the roof. As he landed he activated an earth jutsu, creating a pillar of stone that propped up the collapsing building. After a moment's hesitation the other Rain shinobi began to take people out of the burning building. Askia remained rooted, pumping out chakra in an attempt to strengthen his jutsu and prevent collapse.
Sasuke looked back up at Tadashi, now laughing once again. Sasuke sheathed his sword and focused on Askia's dropped Kunai. With a moment's thought he was face to face with Tadashi. The Rain shinobi leaped back, startled, but didn't make it far before Sasuke's hand gripped his neck. The Uchiha threw his enemy up into the air to land on the ground below.
Sasuke leapt up, shadowing Tadashi's form as he plummeted. "You showed me one of yours, I'll show you one of mine," he said as he struck his opponent on his side. The Rain shinobi easily blocked and Sasuke smiled at the feeling of technique not often used.
Using his opponent as leverage Sasuke turned, striking with another kick from the opposite side. Another twist and he brought his fist down on Tadashi's neck, forcing him towards the ground with greater speed. With a final motion Sasuke's foot came down on his enemy's midsection as they landed on the ground. "The Lion's Barrage," Sasuke calmly explained as he stood up over the prone Tadashi.
"Sasuke!" Askia yelled, momentarily distracted.
"Just focus on what you're doing," the Uchiha responded. "I'll take care of this."
Askia's gaze flitted down to Tadashi, a mixture of anger and pity, but he averted his eyes and refocused on his jutsu.
"Now," Sasuke began, drawing his sword and holding it to Tadashi's throat, "that was an impressive technique. What do you call it?"
"Tadashi's Fury," the Rain shinobi answered, grinning.
"That's very nice," Sasuke replied. "Except it isn't. Calling down natural lightning and directing it at your opponent? That jutsu is called the Kirin. I know because I invented it. Still, I must give you credit. I know hard it is to develop that technique from scratch."
Tadashi sneered at Sasuke, breathing heavily as he eyed him hatefully. "Don't you dare talk down to me. I'm the new world order, here to wipe the old away."
"I'm not talking down to you," Sasuke said calmly. "You are a talented shinobi, I'll give you that, a pity that turned out to be such a bastard. In all my years I can probably count the number of ninja I've come across who are your equal in lightning ninjutsu on one hand. Though I just happen to be on that list."
Sasuke's sword became enveloped with lightning energy, the familiar sound of chirping birds coming from it. "I don't know how you developed your version of the Kirin, but this technique and the Kirin had the same basis. A little jutsu I learned from one of the other people on that list," Sasuke held the electrified blade closer to Tadashi's neck. "Maybe you've met him before, Kakashi Hatake?"
Tadashi looked down at the crackling and chirping blade with trepidation. But then he began to laugh.
"You're not going to kill me, are you?" he asked mockingly. "That's not how old fools like you operate."
"Naruto wouldn't kill you," Sasuke replied. "Many others like him wouldn't, but I'm not like him. People like me, we kill people like you so that people like Naruto don't have to get their hands dirty." He then pressed his blade into Tadashi's throat, the electrified edge easily cutting through his flesh and decapitating him.
Sasuke stood, dissipating the Chidori, sheathing his sword, and deactivating his Kekkei Genkai. He studied the face of Tadashi, frozen in death, stuck between a sneer and terrified realization. "Hmph," Sasuke grunted.
With a gasp Askia relinquished his jutsu, the earthen pillar and the building it had been supporting collapsing without his chakra. Out of the corner of his eye Sasuke watched the last of the survivors, a young girl, being carried to her mother by one of the Rain shinobi. He took a deep breath.
"Is it over?" Askia asked, standing slowly.
"Yeah," Sasuke answered.
"Hm," Askia responded, seemingly at a lost. He walked over next to Sasuke, joining him in gazing at Tadashi's severed head. "So that's it," he said.
"Yep," Sasuke replied.
"After all his bluster…" the Left Hand began. "I don't know. I guess I expected more from him."
"It's important we all recognize out limits, no matter how talented we might be."
"Yeah," Askia said with a slight chuckle.
"My Lord Hand," a Rain shinobi interrupted. "What…what happened? What should we do?" As he asked the expression on his face slowly morphed from relief to confusion, all the while looking pleadingly at Askia for answers.
Askia took a deep breath, surveying the surrounding area. "Defend the village and clean up this mess, but don't take any further action." After a moment he added, saying, "whatever you do, don't break from those orders unless you hear them directly from me."
"Even if they come from the Master?"
The Left Hand hesitated for a moment. "Yes," he finally said. "As you can see, something has gone wrong. We can't be certain that someone is impersonating him."
Sasuke watched the Rain shinobi's reaction, registering cautious acceptance.
"I understand," he said. "but, how did this happen?"
"I'd like to know that too," Askia replied. "Once I figure that out I'll come back and tell everyone. Now go, inform the rest of the village."
The Rain shinobi nodded and left.
"Well done," Sasuke stated.
"Yeah," Askia responded. "Are the files safe?"
"Yes," the Uchiha answered. "We should take them back to the hideout. It'll be easier with more eyes."
"Right," Askia said, sighing deeply.
"Ah, Sasuke, you're back," Yamato said as the Uchiha entered the cave.
Sasuke glanced at the ANBU commander before looking back at Askia as he ducked into the cave entrance.
"Yeah, I am," Sasuke said, pulling a scroll from his belt and throwing it to the ground. It unfurled to show a seal and with a tap of his foot Sasuke applied his chakra to it, undoing the jutsu and depositing the filing cabinets full of potential evidence on the cave floor.
"We found these in the Master's headquarters," Askia said, joining the rest of the group.
"Are these all of his records?" Yamato asked, standing and regarding it with curiosity. Sai appeared from deeper in the cave and watched silently.
"So far as we can tell," Askia answered.
"Was it difficult to get them?" Yamato queried.
"We'll tell you about it," Sasuke stated. "But for now we need to get everyone looking through all of these."
"Right," Yamato said, walking further into the cave. "I'll rouse the rest, we need to get started on this as soon as possible."
Sasuke nodded in response, then turned to Askia. "Are you alright?"
"I guess," the Rain shinobi replied. "No. At this point, there's no turning back."