Chapter 10: Regenerative enemy! Kabuto´s power!

Kabuto and Sasuke stood a distance away from each other. They stared into each other's eyes,
barely blinking. One blink that took too long could very well be your last. They both knew this.
Kabuto gave a low chuckle, and then he smirked.

"Just a thought... Where did you pick up that move? I'm positive that neither Maito Gai nor Rock Lee taught you Initial Lotus. Or Lotus at all. And I'm also sure of that you have never seen anyone perform it, so you
can´t have copied it. So how come you know it?" Kabuto asked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but decided to answer.

"You're pretty well informed Kabuto. But I trust that you don't know what happened during that month of training during the Chuunin Exam. Did you for example know that I trained with Copy Ninja Kakashi? No? Well too bad." Sasuke stated.

Kabuto smiled at this.

"Heh, heh, heh! Now I see… So it was Kakashi, Maito Gai´s rival, who taught you that move… Interesting.
Heh, if I´d known…. Then I would have payed attention to that too. It really is too bad!"
Kabuto exclaimed with a chuckle at the end.

Sasuke nodded at his statement.

"Yes. Gai has fought with Kakashi many times, and I doubt that he didn't use at least Initial Lotus against him.
Gai later told Kakashi how Lotus worked as a kind of spur of the moment. Add Kakashi´s Sharingan to that and you get a complete understand about how Lotus works. Since I had already copied Lee´s Taijutsu moves earlier, all Kakashi had to do was to tell me how it worked. I managed to do it on my own a while after that.
And there you have it." Sasuke explained.

Kabuto snickered at this and nodded. He then put his hands on his horns and pulled.
Sasuke´s right eye twitched as a sickening splurch was heard.
Kabuto lowered his arms. His horns were in his hands.
Blood ran down his temples from the two holes in his head.
Sasuke couldn´t help but shiver mentally at the sight. Then he saw something that made him frown deeply.
The two holes in Kabuto´s head were healing themselves.
Sasuke was sure of this, because he could see them closing up.
Kabuto spun the horns around in his hands so that the sharp pointy ends were directed towards the ground.
He bent his knees and with a savage cry, launched himself at his enemy with a god-like burst of speed.
Sasuke immediately drew two kunai and brought them up before him just in time to deflect Kabuto´s
razor-sharp weapons!
Sasuke grunted and pressed his kunai´s against the Sound ninja´s discarded horns.
Kabuto pressed back and managed to push Sasuke backwards.
Sasuke broke the stand-still by vaulting away from him.
Kabuto dashed over to him immediately, though.
An all out clash now began.
Sasuke and Kabuto slashed at each other but neither got in any hits.
Whatever slash Kabuto made, Sasuke countered. And vice-versa.
Sasuke blocked two slashes from different directions. He then somersaulted backwards while
bringing his foot upwards in the process. The kick hit it´s mark and Kabuto staggered back slightly.
(Now! Now´s my chance!) Sasuke thought as his enemy staggered.
He dropped his weapons and brought his hands together. The kunai dug lightly into the ground just as the
raven haired boy finished his set of hand seals.
Sasuke took a deep breath as an inferno of fire erupted around him! It was time for him to use one of his
clan´s old but powerful moves.

"Fire Element - Great Dragon Fire Technique!" Sasuke yelled.

A massive wave of fire left Sasuke and formed itself into a giant dragonhead! It smashed itself straight into
Kabuto and exploded upon impact! The black haired ninja was sent flying backwards straight into a tree.
Only that, he never got there.
Sasuke blurred out and reappeared behind the airborne Sound ninja. He stuck his left arm towards the ground
and grabbed a hold of his wrist with his right hand. He spread his fingers and sent a massive amount of Chakra
into his hand. A clear blue-white ball appeared in his hand. It crackled with electricity.
Sasuke grinned savagely and brought his left arm back while holding onto his left shoulder with the other hand.
Kabuto´s eyes snapped open and he immediately sensed the large amount of Chakra behind him.
Unfortunately for him, he never got the chance to react.
Sasuke let out a loud roar!

"CHIDORI!" Sasuke screamed and slammed his palm into Kabuto´s back.

The Chakra collected in his palm exploded in a flash of light! Bolts of lightning crashed into the ground around them! Kabuto let out a loud yell of pain! Sasuke growled dangerously, then he pulled his right hand back.
He smashed his right fist into Kabuto´s back and sent him flying once again! Sasuke watched as the Sound ninja skidded a distance across the ground before coming to a full stop. When he slammed into the trunk of a tree, that this.
Sasuke´s Sharingan eyes managed to take in how much damage his attack had done,
while Kabuto was still skidding across the ground.
While he hadn´t managed to impale him on his arm, he had been successful in making a nice big wound.
Sasuke´s hand stopped glowing and the lightning emanating from it disappeared.
The young Uchiha was slightly out of breath due to expending such a large amount of Chakra in one move.
Using the Sharingan together with the Chidori was enough to zap a big chunk of his Chakra. Despite him
having the new Seal activated.
Sasuke was amazed at himself. He had just used Chidori for the second time that day and he
felt like he still had a good amount of Chakra left.
His thought´s came to an abrupt halt, as a sudden movement caught his eye. Sasuke gasped as he looked at his
fallen enemy. Only that, he wasn´t fallen anymore.
Kabuto was standing up on his own now. He had his back to Sasuke and appeared to be panting.
Sasuke´s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he looked at the wound on the Sound ninja´s back.
(What the hell? I KNOW I hit him full-force with the Chidori, and I KNOW that I made a pretty big wound!
But the wound´s been reduced to mere scratches in seconds! What the hell is this...inhuman regeneration?) Sasuke thought.
The wound had indeed been reduced to small scratches.
The Sound ninja humphed and turned around, facing his enemy.

"Incredible, isn´t it? This is my regeneration ability." Kabuto stated with a smirk.

Sasuke frowned at this.

"Regeneration ability? I must say that I´m surprised. I didn´t know that the Cursed Seal could give
a person such an ability." Sasuke said.

Kabuto chuckled.

"I´m afraid that you have it all wrong, Sasuke-kun. I have always had this regeneration ability.
Heh, it´s rather unbelievable isn´t it? To have the ability to activate one´s cells and create new ones!
And let me tell you that... Whenever I have the Level 2 Cursed Seal activated, my regeneration ability´s
efficiency is multiplied by ten! So whenever I´m injured while in Level 2, my wounds heals themselves
in a matter of seconds! And not only is the healing sped up, but the necessary Chakra amount that is used
is minimized! So you see, you´d have to try VERY hard to keep me injured while in Level 2!
Heh, heh, heh! I would have trouble with injuring myself even!
So! What are you going to do? Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto explained, with a taunt to end it with.

Sasuke growled and resumed his fighting stance.

"Three things! First, I´m gonna rip you to shreds for what you did to Sakura.
Second, I will whoop your sorry ass time and time again until you´re not recognisable!
And thirdly... I am going to kill you. Just to show Orochimaru what happens when you try to use
a member of the Uchiha Clan as your private plaything!" Sasuke stated.

"Hmm, I see... Sakura-san, is it?" Kabuto mumbled, mostly to himself.

Sasuke´s right eye twitched. He didn´t like the tone in his voice one bit.
Kabuto chuckled. It grew into a laugh. His laugh grew into a louder laugh! Kabuto then blurred away.
He reappeared on the same spot in a second, though. However, he wasn´t alone this time.
Sasuke gasped in shock and his eyes turned back to black.
He immediately whipped out his last kunai and growled.
He couldn´t believe how ignorant he had been to not have realised which specific tree Kabuto slammed into.
(I bet the bastard LET me attack him so that he could get close to Naruto and Sakura!
That way, he could nab one of them and use them as a shield against me if things got out of hand for him!
Goddammnit! I am SO going to kill him if he hurts her!) Sasuke thought.

"Let go of her... Or you´ll be VERY sorry!" Sasuke stated with a look that said,
'Yes, IAM going to kill you! And there is NOTHING you can do about it!'

Kabuto simply chuckled. He was holding one of his horns close to a pale throat. The sharp edge were mere
inches away from the kunoichi´s throat.
Sakura shook with fear and disorientation. One second she had been tending to Naruto, and the next, she
was being held with one arm behind her back and having something very sharp close to her throat.
Standing a distance ahead of her, was Sasuke.
Sakura could see that quite well. The pink haired kunoichi knew that she had to keep calm,
despite the situation she was in. Sakura tried to calm herself by repeatingtwo mantras in
her mind. One went, Sasuke will never let him hurt me-Sasuke will never let him hurt me.
And the other went, Naruto will never EVER let him hurt me-Naruto will never EVER
let him hurt me
.
It worked to an extent. But it wasn´t enough to silence the voice in the back of her head that
told her the sheer opposite of her self-assuring mantras.
Kabuto gave an evil laugh before looking at Sasuke.

"My, my! Aren´t we a little fiesty today? What´s the matter? Afraid that I might do something bad?
Afraid that I might even hurt her? My, that is so unlike you, Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto said.

Sasuke growled and bent his knees. He was not going to let him hurt Sakura. No way in HELL!
Kabuto then drew a small line across the young woman´s throat. The girl shuddered and
a drop of blood made it´s way down her throat.
Sasuke saw this and his eyes turned the very same colour with four black dots decorating them.
He bent his knees further and was just going to leap in for the kill, when a streak of orange flew past
his vision.

"Did you like that? Well then, let´s see how you like th- Arrggh!"

Kabuto was interrupted rather roughly by a full force shoulder tackle! He dropped the horn and flew
straight into a tree right beside the one he first slammed into. Sakura fell to her knees as soon as the
tension broke. She was shaking slightly but she willed herself to calm down. She instead looked up
at the person who saved her. Sakura inhaled sharply.
Kabuto shook his head rapidly before staring murderously at the person responsible for tackling him.
His murderous glare crumbled instantly, though. The crimson red eyes that met his own gaze completely
murdered his attempts at glaring.

"Don´t...EVER...touch...Sakura...chan... IS. THAT. CLEAR?"

Sasuke humphed. Then he smiled.

"Right on time, klutz." Sasuke said.

Naruto turned to him and simply nodded, which surprised the raven haired boy greatly.
His eyes were blue again. They flashed dangerously red, however, when he looked over at Kabuto.
The blonde boy opened his mouth to say something, but a pink and red bundle tackled him to the ground.

"NARUTO! You´re alright!" Sakura shouted in happiness.

Naruto smiled and hugged her back. He put his mouth at her ear.

"Let´s do this later, alright? I´ve got something to do before we break the news to Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Sakura agreed. She allowed Naruto to get back up onto his feet. Naruto set his jaw straight and his
eyes changed to red. Sakura saw this but decided not to ask about it. There were more pressing matters
at hand now.
Sasuke suddenly appeared beside them. The tattooed boy looked at Naruto in slight question.
Naruto wasn´t one of the brightest when it came to taking hints, but this one he understood fully.

"I woke up a couple of minutes ago and Sakura-chan hurridly explained everything to me, right before
that bastard nabbed her! I am SO going to kick his sorry behind!" Naruto stated.

Sasuke grinned and shook his head. Some people just never changed.
Then, Kabuto appeared before them. Whatever bruise he might have gotten from Naruto´s surprise
attack had been instantaneously healed. Kabuto snarled at the three youngsters.

"So you wanna play rough, do you? Alright then! As you wish! I won´t hold back anymore!"
Kabuto growled.

Naruto put his hands together and red Chakra immediately erupted around him! His hands gained claws,
his feet gained claws, and his mouth gained fangs. His whole body sunk low to the ground and
his posture became distinctly fox-like.
Sakura gaped in shock at his transformation! She had never seen anything like that in her whole life!
Naruto growled and went down on all fours. He stepped up beside Sasuke.

"Let´s try and fight together for once, Sasuke! Let´s try our hand at reviving our teamwork long-gone!"
Naruto suggested, his voice rougher than usual.

Sasuke nodded and entered his battle pose.

"Agreed, Naruto! There won´t be a problem in cutting the bastard in two! What will become
problematic...is who takes what half of him as a trophy?" Sasuke said with a smile.

Kabuto humphed and raised his two horns, which he had somehow managed to get his hands on again,
and entered a battle stance.
Naruto and Sasukesent him equally powered savage grins. This fight was going to be good. Really good.