Author's opening rant-
Whoooooo! I got a lot of really good suggestions for coupling, but be warned now- I think I'm gonna get a little crazy with them, trying to appease everyone for even a short while. And when I say Crazy, I MEAN crazy! I think I've cooked up an interesting plot by now, THANKS! And a big thanks to all my reviewers! Thanks so much for the confidence! And I promise to go easy on the Japanese now.
And now, one last thing before I begin- This fight was half choreographed by my good friend Hitsuji-chan! Yes, a fox and a sheep hang out, it happens. Because I was scared I was under-estimating Shino, I went to her for help. So if you don't like the outcome, blame her!
Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto, because if I did, Sasuke-kun would not be doing what he's doing currently in the manga!
Chapter 3- Brawl!"Shino...I'm going to shut your mouth...for a very long time."
A heated silence hung in the air as the two shinobi stared one another down. Sasuke's glare pierced the very wind, and for a moment it seemed that he had killed everyone else's ability to speak with just the power from those Uchiha eyes. The onlookers could do little more than gawk.
After a while, Shino allowed himself to react, an eyebrow aching curiously, "Ohh...? And just how do you intend to do that, Uchiha Sasuke?"
An audible growl came from the Uchiha heir in response.
"You enjoy being a bully, do you?" Shino's voice didn't waiver for an instant, "I won't allow you to scream at my teammates like that. So maybe...I'll be the one shutting your mouth for a while." It was easily the most anyone had ever heard Shino speak. He slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets, signaling that he was ready to fight.
"Try it!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes viciously on Shino.
But a serious mood such as this does not go long uninterrupted. Naruto scowled at the two combatants, "Hey! Hey hey hey!! Shino! Sasuke's gonna kick you ass, you hear me?! Cut it out already, big-shot!"
The much taller Inuzuka Kiba loomed over Naruto, "Sasuke started this whole thing! It's not Shino's fault!"
"He just thinks he's so cool, and that pisses me off!" Naruto barked back. The two short-tempered lunatics again engaged themselves in a shouting match, throwing in an occasional punch or two here and there. Hinata, being the good little girl that she was, tried her best to break up Naruto and Kiba with countless soft pleas.
'Humph...dobe.' Sasuke's eyes went to the side for the briefest of moments. But it proved a serious mistake. In the instant that he had turned his gaze from Shino, the bug shinobi launched his attack. The Uchiha's attention returned as he felt thousands of tiny creatures crawling up his legs: Shino's pet Chakra-sucking bugs. There was a quick grunt of surprise as Sasuke tried to step back. He quickly realized that shaking these little gnats was not as easy as he would have liked.
Shino calmly pushed the brim of his glasses up further on his nose, "I told them to attach themselves to you and drain your chakra as soon as you use any. So by all means, use your Chidori technique. But afterwards, you won't be able to move for a month."
Kiba, firmly placing a hand on Naruto's head to keep the blonde from screaming, smiled over at his teammate, "You see!? No one can beat Shino! Err...well, not Sasuke!" Naruto flailed under Kiba's grip, trying his best to slug the dog-trainer.
Shikamaru sighed to himself, "Tch. Not a very interesting fight to watch if it's over in one move."
No way Sasuke was going to give up that easily. He clenched his teeth, again seizing Shino with that deadly glare he had perfected. "No chakra, huh...?" Sasuke snarled. In an instant, the Uchiha had seemingly vanished from sight. Shino's other eyebrow shot up in shock, but he did not have long to think about what was happening; Sasuke's knee went full force into the bug ninja's gut. By using the speed and taijutsu he had copied from Rock Lee, Sasuke was able to fight very effectively without even tapping into his chakra, and it seemed that Shino's little gnats weren't able to hang on at that fast of a pace. Shino hit the ground hard, and a smug smirk spread clear across Sasuke's face, "Keh. That's just fine. I wouldn't even waste my Sharingan to squish an insignificant bug like you."
Sakura couldn't help but give a relieved little "Sasuke-kun..."
Aburame Shino coughed, winded but by no mans defeated. He was back on his feet in a flash, sending a quick high kick at the smug Uchiha's head. Sasuke only smirked wider, very easily leaning back to avoid being hit. But what Sasuke didn't see was the tiny black bug that leapt from the tip of Shino's toes onto Sasuke's head. Shino internally smiled, "Good. This should be over pretty quickly."
Sasuke countered Shino's failed kick by dashing rapidly to the side and bringing the back of his left fist into the side of the Aburame's head. For the second time, Shino went down.
"Damn it!" Kiba shoved the poor flailing Naruto nearly into the ground, wondering why Sasuke seemed to be winning so easily.
"...huhhh..." Shino was very slow to get back up after the last attack, though his shades were still securely over his eyes, "...not bad...at all, Uchiha Sasuke. But something is different about your style." Shino's gaze fell on Sasuke, pausing for a while as he worked out in his head why the Uchiha was acting stranger than usual. Clever as he was, Shino figured it out simply enough, "I see. If I recall, the last time you even attended the Leaf Festival was five years ago...with your parents."
If they had thought Sasuke was hard on Hinata for her comment, they were certainly in for a surprise. A look of loathing and blind rage crossed his face, arms physically shaking in anger. This was no longer a stupid little fight over a wounded ego. As fast as he could manage the hand signs, Sasuke had his Chidori charged, forgetting completely about the bugs.
"Sasuke! What are you doing!?" Naruto finally freed himself from Kiba's grip. He stared at his teammate in horror. He...wasn't really going to kill Shino...was he?!
The very same thought crossed Sakura's mind, "Sasuke-kun! That's enough! Stop!"
Their pleas fell on deaf ears, "DIE!" He charged at Shino full speed, the Chidori crackling and squeaking with the sound of a thousand birds.
Everyone felt their breath catch in their throats.
But there was no collision. Before Sasuke could even reach Shino, he felt his knees buckle and his legs give way. The Chidori dispersed almost immediately, and the Uchiha heir was now the one in the dirt. The shocked silence that followed was broken by Sasuke's voice, "Wha...what...in the hell...?!"
Shino let out a little sigh of relief, again pushing his glasses up on his nose, "One of my bugs just stopped you. When I kicked at you and missed, I sent him onto your head, and then ordered him to burrow under your skin and attack your nervous system. Your legs will be paralyzed for a little while." Cool as he was acting, even Shino had to admit that that was a close call.
Sakura and Naruto went green in the face. The thought of a bug latching onto and then digging under Sasuke's skin was making them feel nauseous. Shino's own teammate couldn't help but lift both arms and scratch frantically at his head, "Ugh! Remind me never to fight with him!"
The bug shinobi huffed, stuffing both hands back into his pockets and turning back towards the yard.
"..And just where...do you think you're going!?" Sasuke snarled up at his opponent. Shino had gotten the Uchiha too riled up for things to end so smoothly. Even without the use of his legs, Sasuke threw himself forward onto his stomach and preceded to crawl, "I'm...not finished with you yet!"
A few astonished gasps went up from the assembled ninja, but Shino just glared down at him, "Stop it. If I paralyze your arms, I might hit your lungs as well. And I'm not in the mood to kill you, Uchiha Sasuke." The raven-haired leaf ninja growled, inching even closer. But Shino outright ignored him, stepping away and back towards his own cell, "Let's finish up our mission."
"Yeah, yeah." Kiba pouted, dragging himself back into the yard with Akamaru on his heels. "Stupid Shino. Thinks he's so great...not that I'd pick a fight after hearing all of that. But still!"
As Shino reached her, Hinata spoke up again, "Shino-kun? Thank you...for standing up for me..." She very shyly poked her fingers together, staring down at her feet to avoid any sudden onset of blushing. The stoic Shino just nodded and followed after Kiba. Hinata was the last one inside, sending Naruto one last glance before shutting the gate.
As soon as Cell 8 was gone from sight, Sasuke's fist went slamming into the ground. How could he lose, and to Shino of all people?! The thought only added to his irritation. He hadn't even noticed that Sakura was kneeling next to him until she spoke up, "Sasuke-kun...? Can you stand? Here, let me help-"
"Don't touch me!" he snapped viciously at her. Sakura went silent, her hands folded in her lap as she watched Sasuke drag himself back into a sitting position. So that was it all this time; he was thinking about his parents. A soft sigh from the pink-haired kunoichi, there was nothing she could do to help him with that.
Just before Sakura could be lost to her thoughts, Naruto's obnoxious voice called both of their attention, "Hey, Sasuke! What's with you? You got beat so easily! You getting weak or something?"
"Uhh...I'd watch it if I were you." Shikamaru warned the blonde, figuring this was not the time to annoy the Uchiha.
Sasuke's voice came out as pure venom, "Urusai. You think I'm so weak, come over here and I'll show you!" He balled up a fist, fully prepared for another fight.
Naruto smirked, "You think so?! I could take you with both arms tied down right now!"
All of a sudden, Sasuke felt someone tug him up by the back of his shirt. Though his legs were still numb, he now almost seemed to be standing. Sasuke glanced behind him to see just who had lifted him up.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Their Sensei Kakashi shook his head in disappointment; giving the young Uchiha a few extra tugs up, "Do not throw your Chidori around like it's some kind of toy!"
"Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura quickly got to her feet, "What are you doing here?"
Kakashi smiled under his mask, still dangling Sasuke like a puppet, "Didn't think I'd figure it out, Mmm?" Sakura and Naruto visibly flinched, and even Sasuke turned his gaze guiltily sideways. To avoid having to rake the yard all over again as they had been instructed, they left three of Naruto's clones in the forms of each of them to finish it off. So while the actual Cell 7 walked happily away from the chore, the three transformed Shadow Clones went to work. Kakashi motioned with his free hand to the hyper active ninja, "Naruto, come over here."
The fox-boy did as he was told, and got a quick thwap to the head, "Owwwww! Sensei!"
"Remember this: The further you get from your Clones, the less control you have over them. I realized what was going on when all three of your clones started running around in circles and singing." Kakashi tried his best not to giggle over the memory of seeing what he thought was Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto doing circles while singing loudly and off-key.
"Oh yeah...I forgot about that." Naruto scratched at his head a few times as Sakura cursed at him mentally.
"As for you." Kakashi's eye went back to the Uchiha, "Do I have to re-train you?" Sasuke's bitter mood quickly returned. He scowled back at his teacher, which only added him a few more tugs up and down, "Don't look at me like that. Do you want to be in even more trouble?"
"Heh." A new voice interrupted, "Look at the cute little Leaf Ninjas being scolded. Not much has changed I see."
All of the assembled Konoha shinobi turned their eyes towards the source of the sound, and Shikamaru gave a terrified little gasp, "Wha-wha-wha...?!"
"Some greeting. Whatever happened to 'Hello'?" Temari of the sand smirked at the shadow-wielding ninja. On her left, her younger brother Gaara just huffed. On her right, Kankuro was smiling strangely to himself.
The three sand siblings had returned to Konohagakure.
Author's closing rant-
Ahh! The fight consumed a whole chapter! Sorry! I honestly didn't mean to, but...it got a little out of control! But the Sand ninjas showed up! Why? Because I like them! Plus, more opportunity for pairings.
Urusai means Loud, noisy, and annoying. That's really the only word I used this time. Until next update.