Battle 2: Gai vs. Zabuza, Rock Lee vs. Haku
Haku did not understand why the thick browed boy wanted to fight him so desperately. He did not know why one moment he was feeling unbearable pain from the chakra filled strike in his chest, and the next thing he knew he was standing besides Zabuza in front of the two leaf shinobi. Nor did he care. All Haku knew was that the two shinobi opposed Zabuza, and that he needed him to fight. With that in mind, Haku spun himself into a small tornado and headed for the thick browed boy.
As he neared his opponent, he quickly took out one of his needles, preparing to attack. Much to his surprise, the thick browed boy was no longer there. "Impossible." Haku whispered to himself. "His speed is above that of the boy with the Sharingan?" He looked around for where his opponent might be.
"Over here!" Rock Lee shouted as he suddenly appeared in the air to Haku's left. "Konoha Senpuu (leaf spinning wind)!" In a green flash, he gave the masked boy a roundhouse kick, which was barely blocked. Reaching the water, Rock Lee continued his attack as he spun himself into another roundhouse kick, managing to make contact to Haku's chest. The blow was so intense that it pushed Haku at least ten meters away.
Shocked that he had been overpower in terms of strength and speed, Haku took out six of his needles, three in each hand, and threw them at his opponent with great accuracy. However, the speedy shinobi easily dodged them and quickly closed the distance between the two, ready to throw additional rock splitting kicks. Haku prepared to defend against the next round of attacks as he raised his arm. Again, his opponent surprised him as another kick landed successfully on Haku's chest, pushing him back as it did before.
"This boy, his attacks are both furious and plentiful." Haku noted. "Close range battle will be difficult." He quickly took out more of his needles and aimed for Rock Lee's legs. As soon as he released a round of needles, he quickly threw another, keeping his opponent at a safe distance.
"That won't be enough." Rock Lee exclaimed as he leapt into the air, disappearing from Haku's sight once again.
Immediately, Haku performed a few hand seals with his left hand as he raised his right arm in preparation to counter. As he expected, his opponent appeared to his right side and threw another one of his kicks. Haku quickly grabbed his opponent's leg before it reached him and threw him into the air. Finishing his hand seal, he stomped on the water that he stood on. "Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou (flying water needles)." The water around him turned into sharp needles of ice and flew upward at its target.
"I can't dodge all the needles. Not in mid-air." Rock Lee thought to himself as the icy needles approached him. "Sorry Gai-sensei, but I'll have to do this without your permission, or I might not survive this attack!" He quickly bent his legs upward in midair and started to remove the weights attached to them.
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"Kirigakure no Jutsu (hidden mist technique)." Zabuza's body faded into the thick mist that he created above the lake. Furthermore, the mist blinded his foe from insight of any oncoming attacks.
Gai was not troubled at all though. He expected no less from a missing-nin of the Hidden Mist. He kept his pose and readied himself for Zabuza's attacks. Sensing a strong wind behind him, Gai quickly turned around and evaded the decapitating slash headed for him. Having a clear vision of his opponent now, he plowed a fierce mountain shattering punch straight into the missing-nin's stomach. However, as the fist connected to its target, the body of Zabuza instantly turned into water. "Mizu Bunshin (water clone)…" Gai whispered to himself as he prepared for more attacks.
Before he knew it though, three more water clones surrounded him, all of them charging in for a united attack. Pressing off of the water that was his ground, Gai leapt into the air with great vertigo force. "Konoha Gouriki Senpuu (great leaf spinning wind)!" He shouted as his leg struck out and instantly rammed into the three clones, reducing them into water again.
"That bought me enough time." Zabuza whispered to himself as his hands ended in the bird hand seal. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (water element: water dragon blast technique)!" The water below him took form of a large dragon and dove straight into the thick browed jounin with crushing power.
With a huge shining grin, Gai leapt into the air again, right over the water dragon, and landed on its head. Once he landed, the jounin started running along the watery body of the attack, straight towards his opponent.
"Preposterous!" Zabuza exclaimed as he witnessed the green clad ninja's stunt. "Not even normal jounin can run on the body of Suiryuudan no Jutsu. This guy, he's something special." Suddenly, the konoha jounin was upon him, and before Zabuza could prepare a defense, a fist stronger than the finest metals smash into his face. The shocked missing-nin skipped several meters across the water.
"Feel the power of explosive youth!" Gai shouted as he twirled his body around and posed.
Zabuza staggered back to his feet as he refocused on the chakra balance so he could stand on the water. His eyes were still wide open due to the immense shock. "He… he hits harder than Kakashi..."
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"The needles… they must have hit him." Haku observed as his attack ended. However, a green flash appeared in front of him, rushing with a fierce kick. Haku barely dodged the attack as he jumped backwards. "How?"
"I couldn't dodge the needles, so I had to kick them away." Rock Lee explained with a smirk as he dropped the two weights he was holding into the water. As the weights hit the water, it created a fountain sized splash, surprising the masked ninja.
"I can't underestimate his speed again. I must match it with my own jutsu." Haku prepared his hand seal as he summoned the water from below to turn into his dreaded cage of ice. "Hijustus: Makyou Hyoushou (demonic ice mirrors)."
"I won't let you finish your jutsu!" Rock Lee exclaimed as he rushed the masked ninja, but as closed in, just inches away from his opponent, the masked ninja disappeared, and a mirror of ice took his place. "What?" Suddenly, the image of Haku appeared all around him, dozens of mirrors reflected the ninja's body. And from those mirrors, a storm of needles instantly shot out at Rock Lee. With the best of his ability, the thick browed boy dodged as many of the needles as he could with blinding speed, knocking away those he could not dodge. But try as he might, he could not avoid every attack, as some needles found their place stuck deep into the boy's arms and legs.
"I must… I can't lose. Hachimon-Tonkou: Kai-mon (eight celestial inner body gates: initial gate)." Rock Lee whispered to himself as his eyes widened. "Kai!" A instantaneous overflow of chakra circulated his body as he opened the first of the eight limits in his body. Haku noticed this and replied with a plethora of needles flying straight at the boy. Without breaking a sweat, Rock Lee caught every single one and threw them back at the mirrors.
"Incredible." Haku said as he repelled the reflected attack. "Even in this form, my needles cannot touch you. Time to take this up one more level. Let's see how you deal with this." As the words left his mouth, Haku jumped out of the mirror and slashed at Rock Lee, cutting his side and drawing blood. Before the blood hit the ground, Haku was already on the opposite side of cage of ice mirrors, jumping out for another attack. When the blood had finally reached the ground, Haku had already slashed the thick browed ninja twenty three times in twenty three different places.
Rock Lee blinked. The needles he knew he could handle, as his eyes could follow them with ease. But what had just happened? His opponent had just finished saying something about taking the fight to another level, and suddenly, he found cuts all over his body. "What… was that?" Rock Lee stammered as he looked at his blood dripping hands. "Even with my first gate opened… I couldn't catch his movements at all!"
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"This fight is not over." Zabuza stated as he brought the mist up again to cover his location. His hands flashed another set of hand seals as water swirled beneath his feet. "Suiton: Bakusui no Jutsu (water element: water explosion technique)!" The swirling water quickly formed a ring in front of him and unleashed a great wave at the konoha jounin. "Let's see you ride this attack."
Gai quickly noticed the clashing wave behind him. Knowing that a wave of this magnitude would be impossible to run on, he simply smiled and closed his eyes. Bringing his arms into his body, he roared loudly as he opened the first of the celestial gates. "Hachimon-Tonkou: Kai-mon, kai!" As the clashing wave approached just a few feet away from the konoha jounin, he concentrated all his chakra to his feet, and from the eyes of Zabuza, he disappeared.
"How?" Zabuza said in confusion. "Where did he go?"
As if to answer his question, Gai appeared right behind him. "If I can't ride the waves, I'll just go around them."
"Due to this watery terrain, the waves of my attack are dozens of meters wide, and he circled around them in mere fractions of a second!" Zabuza thought to himself as his chin was met with an upward kick from his opponent.
As Zabuza's body flew up into the air, Gai jumped up and followed it. As he reached the missing-nin's body, he grabbed his arms and held the body in a locked position while flipping it upside down. As Gai set his position into its rightful place, he started spinning at an incredible speed and dove straight into the water. "Take this." He said to Zabuza as they met the water with intense force. "Omote Renge (initial lotus)!"
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Haku continued his attacks as he jumped through mirror after mirror. Seeing that his opponent was making no efforts to defend against his barrage, he stopped in one mirror and paused his offensive. "I've been drawing your blood for awhile now. Please stop this foolishness and concede. I do not wish to injure you further."
But Rock Lee wasn't even listening. He brought his arms in front of his face and prepared for the next phase of battle. "I did not want to do this, but… Kyu-mon (heal gate), kai!"
"You will not step down?" Haku asked. "Then I have no choice. This is it for you." He took out three needles between his fingers and began to transfer from one mirror to another, passing Rock Lee on the way and delivering the final attack. However, as his arm neared the thick browed ninja, it was caught by him in an instantaneous movement.
Rock Lee grinned, his face and body reenergized and much more powerful than before. "The lotus of konoha blossoms twice. I saw every movement that you made there." Putting his hand on Haku's neck and choking it, he slammed the masked ninja against one of the ice mirrors. The force of his slam was so great that even the resilient ice mirror began to crack. "You wanted to take this fight to another level?" Rock Lee shouted. "Then take this. Sei-mon (life gate), kai!"
As Rock Lee released the third gate in his body, his forehead veins became visible and so much chakra flowed throughout his body that his skin changed to a dark red color. Endless amounts of chakra poured out of his body, creating an aura that was so strong it shattered the ice mirror that he held Haku against. With all his might, he launched a rising kick on Haku's chest, throwing his body into the air. As the body flew, Rock Lee proceeded to follow it in preparation for the Ura Renge (final lotus) attack.
"This overwhelming strength and speed, so similar to that of Naruto during that time." Haku thought to himself. "But things won't be the same this time. I will not fail against the same thing twice."
As Rock Lee headed towards Haku for his aerial attack, the masked ninja performed a quick hand seal. He quickly raised the water beneath him and created two additional ice mirrors, one behind him and one behind his opponent. He entered the ice mirror behind him, stopping the momentum that caused his flight, and instantly dove out of it into the mirror behind Rock Lee, dodging any attempts that the thick browed boy made to intercept. As Haku appeared in the ice mirror behind him, he threw three needles, at his opponent's backside. Rock Lee, who had no ground to push off and turn around, could do nothing against the attack from behind. The needles found their place in three vital areas of the thick browed boy's body, instantly rendering him unconscious.
"Lee!" Gai shouted as he managed to catch his precious student. "Are you alright, Lee?"
"The konoha jounin is alive?" Haku thought to himself in alarm as he rushed towards the area where Zabuza was fighting. "Which means, Zabuza-sama was defeated? No!"
However, Haku stopped as Gai appeared before him. "The missing-nin, he is still alive, just unconscious."
Haku smiled behind in mask in relief. "Thank you."
"There is no need." Gai replied. "You did not kill my cute Lee-kun either, so we are even." He took out the needles carefully, which had they entered any deeper into the vital areas, they would have certainly killed the boy.
"There is something wrong about all of this." Haku stated as he picked up the body of his most precious person. "You feel it too, don't you? Something is amiss, as if somebody is manipulating us all, making us fight."
"Yes." Gai agreed. "We should definitely travel together, and find who or what is behind this."
Haku paused. "You would travel with me, despite knowing the crimes that I have committed?"
"Youth and mistakes go together!" Gai shouted with a sparkling grin. "We youths must take each experience as a learning opportunity to better ourselves with. Now let us make haste, into the sunset we shall go and defeat the villain behind this scheme!"
Haku smiled at the excessive enthusiasm of the jounin. "Yes, let's go."
Winner: Gai, Haku
"You would dare show your face before me?" Sarutobi, the third hokage, said to the figure in front of him. "After the great sin of what you have committed?"
"Hokage-sama. It is not in my interest to fight you." The cloaked figure said. "And it would be in your best health if you stood down."
"What you did is unforgivable." The old protector of Konoha said as he prepared for battle. "You must receive the ultimate punishment for the sake of those who have died by your hands, Uchiha Itachi."
The murderer of his clan stared at the old man and activated his infamous bloodline, the sharingan. "If it cannot be avoided then," Itachi said. "Let us fight, and you shall see that my abilities surpass yours by far.
Next Chapter: Sarutobi vs. Itachi
So sorry for the very very very very late update. Almost been a year since I've taken up on fanfiction again. College gives me so little time to write, so I'm very sorry about that. Anyways, the next fight is between the third hokage and Akatsuki's sharingan member! Place your votes on who you think should win! I'll try to make sure that this story won't take another few months to update.
