Chapter 30: Electrocution

Naruto and Sasuke lay head to head on the barren dirt ground like two spokes of the wheel of fate, which at the moment was about to turn in their direction. Their entire collection of weaponry, even some that couldn't even be considered weapons, lay scattered around them like fallen leaves. Lacerations covered both the ground and the two boys as they lay sprawled on the ground, wheezing and dirty.

Naruto chuckled slightly.

"Ready?"

"I don't have much of a choice." Sasuke muttered. "The fight is tomorrow. I'm ready whether I like it or not." He looked into a misgiving sun, slowly fading behind dark trees.

In less than twelve hours, the entire ordeal would be over. Sasuke has no intention of letting Kouji win, and then he'd hand over the letter and they'd be on their way to wherever they had to go next… Zosho or something… Sasuke had even forgotten the reason he was fighting Kouji in the first place. The only thing he knew was he needed to defeat him. Straight and simple.

"Sakura really went out of her way." Sasuke muttered mundanely. "Arranging something like this. She was so angry before."

"The fight will be one on one," Sakura had announced, "to ensure this, Naruto and I will stay with Kouji's right hand people: Madoka and Mitsurugi. We will watch them, they will watch us."

"How do we know more of Kouji's men won't be around to ambush Sasuke while we're gone?" Naruto sneered, in total distrust.

"I don't get the feeling he'd do that." Sasuke confessed. He could admit that Kouji was a decent person, but it didn't squelch his desire to kick his ass. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Well, we won't be far away, just in case." Sakura reasoned. "This secures that the entire battle will be completely confidential. You can use fire skills and the Sharingan."

But that alone wouldn't make the fight a piece of cake, Sasuke knew. He looked up, exhausted, into the deluded blue sky.

"That stupid Kouji guy!" Naruto cursed. "He spent the whole afternoon having tea with Sakura-chan! I swear if he even lay a finger on her, I'll…" Naruto let the threat hang in the air like a suicide.

Sasuke sighed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure nothing serious happened. Sakura's not so weak either."

Naruto chuckled. He knew that first hand.

"I will say one thing though…" In the approaching darkness, Sasuke could almost feel Naruto smile.

"If you don't beat him, I'll kick your ass."

The next day approached Sasuke like death. It crept up toward him slowly, showing itself periodically throughout the night and just when he thought the morning would never come a still ray broke through the surface of the horizon like a diver.

The morning was typical. Aside from Sakura dropping a salt shaker and Naruto throwing Sasuke constant pointers like a coach before a big game, it was just a normal, extremely tense, breakfast. Around noon, they left their residence and met Kouji and his small crew at the arranged spot. After three or four minutes of exchanging heated glares, the pack split. Sakura and Naruto walked off with Madoka and Mitsurugi, leaving Sasuke and Kouji in the designated clearing.

They glared at each other. Fiery minutes passed. Kouji's shirt billowed in the summer breeze. The bandage around his chest still clung to his skin, but he stood as though it no longer hurt him in anyway.

Maybe some of Naruto had rubbed off during their training, but Sasuke felt excited and energetic.

"This won't be a repeat of our last battle." Sasuke sneered.

"I hope not." Kouji cracked his knuckles, "If I have another lame battle like that I think I'll die of boredom."

As a stray leaf blew threw the air, the two boys charged at each other, fists raised.

Naruto snarled at Mitsurugi. Mitsurugi snarled at Naruto. In the back of the karaoke bar, hunched over a small coffee table, the two boys glared at each other. Mitsurugi was a big kid, about a foot taller than the scrawny Naruto, and, in Sakura's opinion, was a little scruffy-looking, like he came from a town comprised of three people. He was a little bit tan and wore his black Raibara robes with the mark of some clan Sakura didn't know, though there was a large katana strapped to his back, not appearing to be carrying any other weaponry. Ironically, the same went for Naruto; his shinny, gold-hilted katana was the only instrument he was carrying (unless you counted the fork he was squeezing in his right hand), but only because he'd donated the others to Sasuke's worthy cause.

Sakura sighed as she and Madoka watched the two boys.

"They could at least help us," Sakura muttered as she pushed a mop around the bar's floor and trying to make casual conversation with her partner, "It's not like we're getting to stay here for free."

The bar was closed. No one was there besides the four. It was a waiting room of sorts, the kind you had to clean yourself.

Madoka acknowledged that Sakura had talked to her, but didn't reply. In fact, the girl seemed to acknowledge very little. She kept looking at Mitsurugi suspiciously and seemed almost too busy with her chores.

"GRAH!" Naruto leapt up, his chair falling over behind him. Sitting and glaring had never been his strong point anyway. Mitsurugi did the same, grasping the hilt of his sword.

"You stupid! I'll kick your ass." Naruto roared.

"Bring it, you frikken shorty!" Mitsurugi hollered back. In a split second, Madoka had cleared the room and had her hand tightly grasping Mitsurugi's ponytail. He yelped in pain.

Sakura grabbed Naruto from behind; he flailed to no avail in her grasp.

"Leggo, Sakura-chan! This bastar-"

"Idiot!" She whispered. "Don't start unnecessary trouble." She looked across the table at Madoka, and glared.

She was further away, yet she reached the table before me. This girl is good.

Mitsurugi made his own pleading attempts with Madoka, through she seemed unperturbed by his cries of pain.

"Madoka-chan-!"

"Fool!" She hissed, yanking his hair. "Kouji-sama explicitly told us not to fight."

Mitsurugi pouted, despite the pain in his head.

"You're no fun." He grumbled, glaring down at her.

"Fun has nothing to do with it." She replied coldly. "Let Kouji-sama do the fighting."

She roughly let go of his ponytail and walked away. Sakura stared at her for a minute, before realizing she was killing Naruto, and let him go. The boy collapses, semi-conscious, onto the table.

"Yeah, this battle won't take very long." Mitsurugi pulled his chair back up and sat down again. "Not with Kouji fighting seriously."

"Don't be so sure." Sakura stared down the bridge of her nose at him. "Aoi is fighting seriously too you know. He's not so weak either."

"We'll just see how weak he is." Madoka chuckled as she picked up her mop again. Misturugi snickered along with her then glared up at Sakura.

"Y'know, they don't call him 'Lightning Kouji' because he's quick on his feet."

Kouji caught Sasuke's fist. Sasuke caught Kouji's. They stoop in a barren deadlock, before leaping away from each other and resuming attack position.

"Heh, I'm not taking any chances this time." Kouji whispered. He clamped his hands together and swiftly began to make seals, at least ten of them in rapid succession.

Damn it, Sasuke muttered to himself, He started before I could activate the Sharingan Doing that now would be wasteful and pointless. Whatever he's doing is complicated though, I have to stop him.

Sasuke began to make his own seals.

"Bunshin no jutsu." He muttered and a flimsy duplicate appeared beside him. The best defense I have at this point.

Kouji's sealing stopped. Sasuke could feel the chakra permeate the air. He braced himself. He looked behind himself. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

But he didn't have time to contemplate it.

Kouji withdrew a kunai in each hand and charged at him. Sasuke pulled out one as well and instructed his double to do so as well. Kouji chose wrong, slashing through the bunshin first with the kunai in his right hand; but blocked easily with the kunai in his other hand as the real Sasuke attacked him. Kouji whipped his right hand around, stabbing at Sasuke's exposed stomach. Sasuke cupped his hand, snatching Kouji's wrist as the kunai hovered centimeters from his shirt.

A bead of sweat rolled down the curve of Kouji's face. He peered up; Sasuke's face remained hidden behind his bangs.

Has he gotten faster…?

Kouji, arms pinned by Sasuke's defense, fired a head-butt as his opponent's chin. They were too close together; it had to hit. But just as Kouji braced for the blow, his hair only met the wind. Sasuke ducked backward, slamming his knee into Kouji's stomach.

Kouji coughed as Sasuke crushed his gut, but took the opportunity to flip the kunai in his right hand and stab Sasuke in the wrist with it, making Sasuke let go of his captive arm.

Kouji stumbled backward, hugging his middle. Glaring at Sasuke suspiciously and coughing like a flu patient. The black haired boy looked up from his wrist (the blade had missed the main artery but the wound still hurt and bled profusely) and into the horrified eyes of his attacker.

Kouji spat a glob of blood out of the corner of his mouth. A dark red splattered against a tree and matched the color of Sasuke's eyes now glaring into his own.

"I get it now…" Kouji wheezed.

"I'm not taking any chances either." Sasuke muttered. He clamped his hands together, making seals.

"Goukakyu no jutsu!"

Sasuke spat a fireball in Kouji's direction. The huge plume of fire engulfed the clearing, scorching the surrounding trees and leaves.

The sky began to grow darker.

Kouji leapt up above the fire and, ignoring the scorching pain and his skinned burned, threw both kunai at Sasuke. He dodged them easily, but stopped fire breathing to do so.

Kouji hopped back to the ground and charged blindly at Sasuke.

Dumb move, especially when I have these eyes… Sasuke snickered to himself. He caught Kouji's fist as if it were a butterfly. Kouji pulled another kunai from behind him and stabbed at Sasuke's stomach again.

Heh, same old moves…

Sasuke caught Kouji by the wrist, same as before, wincing against the bleeding pain in his own hand. Kouji grinned. Sasuke stared at him in question. Kouji dropped the kunai in his hand, swiftly pulled out a sutra from inside his long sleeve and plastered against the mesh on Sasuke's stomach.

What the hell? Sasuke foolishly let go of Kouji's fist to instinctively try and scrape the seal away. Kouji's free hand slipped downward, scooped up the fallen kunai and sliced upward. Sasuke barely moved in time, the kunai dug deep across his side, though not deep enough to kill, as was Kouji's intent. Sasuke reacted quickly, as Kouji's attack pulled the boy forward, Sasuke struck with his free hand, planting his fist into Kouji's cheek. The two boys stumbled away from each other, clutching their throbbing wounds.

Sasuke wheezed as he squeezed his middle. His mind wanted to worry about the blood pouring from his open wound, but there was a greater danger. Sasuke swiftly pulled out a kunai and began to cut away at his mesh shirt, around the mysterious sutra there. He'd never seen one like it before, was it an explosive? He wasn't about to wait to find out. He cursed as he tried to pull in off him, but the unbearable adhesive had forged a union against his skin too.

"It won't come off like that." Kouji muttered as he wiped blood away from the edges of his mouth. He began to make several seals.

Sasuke set his heated red glare on Kouji.

Then I'll just have to make sure he doesn't use it! Sasuke hissed. He watched Kouji's jutsu intently as he raced toward his foe. His bloodline pulsed. He struck at Kouji, who abandoned his seals to block.

Crap, Kouji muttered, I only got halfway done. But this should be enough to use that technique.

"Seidenki Gyuujiru no Jutsu!"

The two kunai he'd thrown earlier came slashing at Sasuke's back, he dodged downward but they still managed to slice his shoulders. They caught Kouji too, one slicing his bicep, another, his cheek.

"Heh," Sasuke chuckled, as his sharingan eyes played back a recording of it to his mind. "I finally understand this jutsu." He smiled as he aimed another punch at Kouji, who caught it, sending more vibes down Sasuke's arm.

"It's electricity. Static."

"You're pretty sharp." Kouji smiled. The sky above them grew darker still with clouds. They swirled around above them like the apocalypse. Sasuke smirked as he kneed Kouji in the stomach again. Kouji slid backwards across the dirt ground, hunched over like an amateur snowboarder.

"Heh, a lot of people say that," Sasuke smirked, ignoring his own injuries.

Kouji coughed more blood on to the ground. And straighten up, still smiling. Sasuke realized his mistake instantly. He had kicked Kouji at a distance where he could finish the jutsu he started before. And he did.

"Ok, Sharp-san, taste what a true ninja of Lightning Country can do." The seals flurried across his hands. Visual, solid lightning, cracked over his hands. It sprayed out, tendrils grasping at all angles, too bright too look at yet too beautiful to not look at.

"Lightning Style!" Kouji shouted, making one last seal. "Raikou Hicchuu no Jutsu!"

The lightning amassed at his hands struck out, faster than even Sasuke's Sharingans could detect. The blade of light struck the sutra on Sasuke stomach.

Pain ripped through him. Sharp daggers of the searing pain pieced every nerve in his body. Sasuke screamed as though his entire soul was forcing itself out of his lungs to escape the pain.

Slowly the torture faded. Time and space dripped back into Sasuke consciousness. He found himself on the ground; how long he'd been laying there he didn't know. He wanted to keep laying there, never get up, just die. It would be so easy, all he'd have to do would be just close his eyes… and…

… and nothing's going to stop me from becoming the greatest Hokage! No matter how long it takes, I'll do it! And I'll give it my all until the end and never stop fighting! So don't hold back anymore, Idiot!...

The words leapt into Sasuke's mind and sparked a fire under the butt of Sasuke's will.

That's right, he coughed, beginning to pull himself up, I can't give up! It's too soon. I can't lose to either of these idiots. He stumbled to his feet and looked Kouji straight in the eye.

"Wow, you're still alive?" Kouji sneered. "I thought for sure you kicked it."

"Heh," Sasuke scoffed. "I'll never give up, especially to an idiot like you."

"Big words." Kouji put his hands together. "Let's see how long those words will last, shall we?"

Shit, Sasuke put a hand over his face as he thought. In my current condition there's no way I could take another one of those.

Sasuke put his hands together. It was a long shot but it was worth a try.

"Raikou Hicchuu no Jutsu!" Kouji cried.

"Seidenki Gyuujiru no Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed.

Wha..! Kouji blinked in astonishment.

The line of lighting snaked itself toward the seal on Sasuke's stomach, moving as fast as light. But halfway, it struck something else, a stray kunai Sasuke had summoned there.

Kouji blinked again as the kunai took the entire blow of the attack. Sasuke streaked across the ground, wasting no time, dashed up to Kouji. He half-cart wheeled and slammed his foot into Kouji's chin. Kouji flew backward a couple of feet, arched backward, blood flying from his gaping mouth, skidded across the ground and hit a tree with a sickening crack.

Sasuke wheezed and stumbled to the side, grasping his freely bleeding side, and glared at his victim. Kouji twitched, wincing. It didn't look like he could move anymore. Leaves floated down around them. The sky had become nearly black with ominous clouds. A think drizzle of blood cascaded down Kouji's head.

"This is my victory." Sasuke wheezed.

Kouji coughed up blood and raised his trembling hands.

"Don't be so… sure… you bastard." He sputtered, making a single seal.

Sasuke stared at him as though he was crazy.

"You-"

"Lightning Style." Kouji whispered. "Shuurai… no jutsu…"

A large crack erupted from the sky above. Sasuke looked up at the dark clouds and realized the technique to his horror. The seals Kouji made at the beginning of the battle… this was it…. There aren't dark clouds like this in the summer…

Small feelers of thunder and lightning crawled their way over the clouds. Sasuke sighed.

"Thank you…. Kakashi-sensei…" He muttered.

A bolt of lightning blasted the ground from the sky. The boom cracked the ground. The light turned everything into a silhouette. Like a nuclear explosion, the clearing was ripped apart. Kouji didn't even try to shield his eyes. He relaxed against a tree, torn between extreme pain and the satisfaction of victory. But out of the blaze, one word cracked his ambition.

"RAIKIRI!"

The lightning bolt twisted and writhed. Sasuke thrust his arm into it, Chidori singing in his ears. He could feel his arm cracking, the bone giving way, but he held his ground.

I will never give up! Not to you, not to anyone!

The entire clearing exploded. Kouji tried to brace himself from the rocks and dirt that flew in every direction. Huge plumes of smoke billowed out of the area, the brisk summer wind carrying it away. The dark clouds in the sky began to grow holes, clear, fresh light pouring through the tears in its cottony fabric. The smoke became a haze, and in the sullen mist, Kouji could see a figure coming into focus.

Sasuke knelt, clutching his arm, in the middle of the clearing. All else had been stripped of its very existence. An enormous burn mark spread outward around him like a flower or a firework. Kouji gawked and couldn't help but smile.

"This is my loss." He called spitefully. "You win. What is it that would want from me?"

Sasuke looked up in a daze. The words seemed unreal, like he'd read them or something. Suddenly he looked up into the sky. A small beam of light hit his forehead and gradually got bigger.

A kunai, with some manner of paper attached struck near Kouji's head. Kouji craned his neck to see his own name scrawled in very girly handwriting.

"It's yours." Sasuke muttered, not taking his eyes off the sky. "I'm just here to deliver it."

Kouji blinked, as looked into the surfacing blue as well.

The sun was still high in the sky, like a beacon of a new day.

Author's Notes: w00t! It's OVER! I hope it was well worth the wait! I know it wasn't as good as past battle scenes, but you know these crazy things are never easy. :) Once again, I would like to thank everyone for they're continuing support! I love you all. :) And I'm rather curious to know how you came across this story. I know it's endorsed by the NaruSaku community but, as you can tell, it's hardly a NaruSaku fic. Word of mouth? randomness? O.o anyway, thank you once again! and I'm sorry if Sasuke's character isn't up to par.. sorry, sorry. :X!

Next Chapter: Akari's letter! and what's all this about a festival?