CHAPTER 14: CLASH OF PERSONALITIES
"Why is it that I always have to wait so damn long to get in a match?" Naruto sighed, slumping over the banister, looking out to the two genin making their way to the arena.
"Because you want it so badly." Ill chuckled.
"Huh?"
"You ever heard the idiom, 'a watched pot never boils'? It means the more you wait, the longer it will seem to take. Just watch, Naruto. Your turn will come." Ill grinned, turning his head back out to the arena.
Rock Lee and Tsunada Ryusuke made their way out onto the field, standing about 20 meters from each other. Each grinned, and gave a slight nod. Hisashi again made his way in and got between the two.
"This fight…" Sasuke said softly. "This fight will be good…"
"It better be." Neji chuckled. "The last one was a tad one sided."
Naruto scowled at Neji, but soon turned around to watch the fight. Hisashi looked at Lee and Ryu and smiled. Waving his arm abruptly he shouted, "HAJIME!" jumping out of the way, allowing the genin to go at it.
Ryu chuckled, pulling the katana out of the scabbard and into his hands, getting into traditional stance, the sword raised above his head, pointed directly at his opponent. And smiled. "Tempus est. Tempus exitio, tempus creo. Sic cursus militium. Iam, inceptum" Rushing his opponent, and taking him by surprise, Ryu made an upward slash, just missing Lee as he jumped high into the air, and out of danger. Looking down, Lee realized that this would be a battle worth fighting.
"Exactly what did Ryusuke say, Kamaasu-Dono?" Tsunade asked her colleague.
"Well, to be honest, I have no idea. But he seems unusually, well, alert." He said, looking back down at a confused Lee.
"I have no idea what you said, or in what dialect, but I don't care." Lee asserted, landing his jump with a large thud. "Lets just fight!"
"Fine with me." Ryu ran and made a huge leap over Lee making a hit to his foe's back. As Lee was getting pushed forward he made a large foot sweep, bowling over Ryu. Jumping up, he put his fist together and slammed then down at colossal speeds. As he was about to make contact, Ryu grabbed his katana shoving the hilt into Lee's and throwing him over into the nearby wall. As Lee got up, he gently touched his jaw, and wiggled it about a bit, mildly cursing under his breath.
"Geez…I think you may have gotten close to breaking my jaw…" Lee mumbled through the twisted pain that was his mouth. "That was sneaky."
"Well, stealth sort of IS in the ninja job description." Ryu chuckled looking at Lee gently poke his own jaw and then grimace in pain. "Well, back to work." Ryu sprinted to Lee making what seemed to be a simple bear kata. However, Ryu turned his sword around, scooping Lee high into the air with the hilt of his katana. As he watched Lee soar upwards, he screamed, "DRAGON BLADE NO JUTSU!" Sending dozens of shuriken from all sides at the Azure beast, Lee could do nothing but hope for the best. As Rock Lee began to plummet back to the ground, Ryu went to make a final stab, but Lee had something ready. Doing several front flips to gain momentum, and screamed "FLOATING LEAF ASSAULT!" Spinning himself wildly as he descended in a spiral, he kicked and punched Ryu straight back to the ground with a large crash.
"Well, well, well." Ryu said, putting his hands on his knees taking a great breath as he stood back up. "You're hella better than I thought."
"Same here." Lee said with a smile. "However, I will win."
"You may think that, but you think wrong." Ryu whipped back.
"You don't understand Ryu. I just don't want to be strong. I have to prove I can become strong. I have dreams, unlike you. "
Ryu relaxed with a slight smile. "Don't have dreams?" He questioned, remembering memories still fresh and brning in his mind. Shaking his head, Ryu's face became cross and twisted. "WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW OF DREAMS!?" His fists shook as a tear fell from his cheek. "I never wanted to become this. I just wanted to relax…and live with my Grandfather."
"The why didn't you?" Lee asked in surprise.
"BECAUSE HE WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!" Ryu said, again running and catching Lee off guard with a slash, this time cutting Lee's left arm. Lee returned the favor screaming "Leaf Spinning Wind!" Sending a giant kick giving Ryu the ride of his life, right into the arena wall. "Lee," Ryu began, wiping the trickle of blood from his face. "I will beat you. BECAUSE ONLY THE STRONG CAN MAKE THEIR DREAM DREAMS COME TRUE! I may seem lazy, but that's who I am…but when it comes to my dreams…I WILL SACRIFICE MY LIFE TO MAKE THEM COME TRUE!" Ryu stood, shaking, more and more tears falling from his cheeks. "I will win. Even If I have to kill you to do it." Ryu stood in silence, his eyes closed, waiting for an attack.
"So…you think you are the only one with dreams? The only one with a cause worth fighting? Let me tell you something, Ryusuke of the Shadow. I cannot use jutsus. Of any kind. And I will prove to the entire world that hard work can get you anywhere. That's why I said I have to prove I can become strong. And I will prove that, even if I have to kill you to do it." Lee yelled as he jumped up and towards Ryu, giving a punch, however he was blocked by Ryu's sword.
"It'll take more than speed to beat me, Lee." Ryu smirked as he pushed Lee away.
"Grr…" Lee grimaced, making another charge at Ryu. Again, blocked.
"I told you. You can't beat me with speed, I'm damn fast." Ryu laughed.
"Heh. Well then I'll get more speed." Lee looked over to Gai sensei, who was in the stands, giving a thumbs up. "Well. I guess its time to fight." Lee stretched down, pulling up his pant legs, revealing large, VERY large, weights. Taking them off, Lee performed a few jumps, laughing, and got back into battle stance. "Go." Lee rushed to Ryusuke, got behind him, and kicked him before Ryu had time to react. As Ryu was flying through the air, Lee again appeared shouting, "LEAF VIOLENT WIND!" Giving a spinning punch and outstretched kick, sending Ryu soaring upwards. Shouting, "Leaf Shadow Dance!" Lee appeared right below Ryu, smiling. "Its time you realize there's more to this world than just you." Unraveling the bandages, lying round his arms, he wrapped the around his opponent and began to spiral downward. "Its time to say goodnight. OMOTE RENGE! (INITIAL LOTUS!)
Ryu laughed as he muttered, "Okay. Good night." Using all of his strength, Ryu used to sword to cut through the bandages, getting himself free. He then grabbed the bandages and violently swung Lee down to the ground, creating a large crater, and serious injuries. Climbing out of the hole, Lee looked on at Ryu in shock.
"How…how the hell did you do that?" Lee stammered.
"I believe in myself." Ryu said, spitting on the ground. "Now its time to end this," He muttered as Lee stood up, and miraculously healed himself. "What… how did you heal yourself? WHAT THE HELL!?"
"NO!" Gai shouted. "We've been through this once, DON"T OPEN THE GATES!"
Ignoring his master, Lee began to open the gates, stopping at the heal gate, getting ready for another round.
"What the hell did you just do!?" Ryu bellowed in shock, backing away from Lee.
"I believed in myself…" Taking a flying kick towards Ryu, he kicked him in the stomach, and lifted his knee straight into his forehead. With a roundhouse kick, Lee sent Ryu straight back into the ground. "What on Earth is your problem Ryu?" Lee asked in bewilderment. "I did nothing, yet you already consider me your enemy? WHY!?"
"Anyone that try's to get in the way of my dreams, IS MY ENEMY!" Shooting up into the air, he looked down at his opponent with a fiery gleam in his eye. "Did I ever mention that my home town isn't actually the Kagekagure village? IT'S THE VILLAGE OF FIRE! HELLFIRE NO JUTSU!"
Emitting large balls of chakra from his fingertips, with his experience, he transformed them into great balls of fire, and threw them with deadly aim at his opponent. Lee jumped, rolled, and dodged, left and right, trying to avoid the fiery globes. "How the hell can he do this?" Lee thought to himself as he leapt over another fireball. " I thought this could only be used b- THAT'S IT!" Lee smiled, rolling under a sphere of flame as he forced all his chakra top his feet, and made a giant leap up into the sky after the chakra-caused "floating" Ryu. Taking him by surprise, he slammed him into the ground, filling the air with dust. As it cleared, a second crater could be seen in the arena with a badly bruised Ryu on one side, and Lee, nearly exhausted of chakra on the other. "Tsunake Kyosuke." Lee said, staring deeply into Ryu's eyes.
"What…?" Ryu said, taking a step back in confusion.
"Your grandfather. He was Tsunake Kyosuke. A famous jutsu creator from the village of fire. He disappeared several months ago…"
"Yeah. Guess you know my dream now, eh?"
"Yeah…" Lee whispered. "You know, you don't have to do this alone… We can help you. We are allies."
"No thanks. I lost him on my own, I'll get him back on my own…" Ryu said, tightening his fists seeing his memories flash through his eyes.
"What….?" Lee replied, misunderstanding Ryusuke.
"It doesn't matter." Raising his hand high in the air, Ryusuke called Hisashi over, announcing his surrender.
"You're surrendering?" Lee said abashed.
"…Yeah. But Lee?"
"Yeah Ryu?"
"…Thanks." Ryu walked off the arena to his friends leaving a very confused Lee.
As the 2 combatants walked back to their respective seats, high above the battlefield, on top of it in fact, awaited 3 gentlemen, who had been watching every move of the battles thus far. Most of them were chuckling.
" Well, well, well…" Sonari chuckled. "It seems the past CAN come back and haunt you…"
"It doesn't matter.." Memnoch smirked. "It just adds to my list."
"List?" Jamshu questioned. "What list?"
"Heh." Replied Memnoch. "Don't worry about it young Jamshu. Lets just say that our time for revealing is near…and oh will it be glorious…"
"Yes how long must we wait for your glorious entrance anyway, Master?" Sonari said, watching the scoreboard randomly and wildly selecting a new pair of ninja.
"When the time proves most beneficial to us of course." Memnoch said simply. Putting his hand on his head and making a large sigh, Memnoch added, "Unless Domen screws it up of course…"
"Nah." Sonari replied. "Domen can handle himself among these pipsqueaks. He's far stronger than those Genin down there."
"That's the real problem Sonari…" Memnoch said, looking again at the battlefield. "HE might try to have a bit too much fun…" As he watched the scoreboard begin to come to a decision he made a slight chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Jamshu asked moving closer to the other two.
"I just remembered what the Tsunada boy said: 'Tempus est. Tempus exitio, tempus creo. Sic cursus militium. Iam ,inceptum.' Its an ancient dialect but its meaning still remains the same. "It is time. The time for creation, the time for destruction. Such is the way of the Ninja. It is now the time to begin."