Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I never will.
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A large sum of men hurried through the entirety of the Houshin hotel looking for any traces of the boy and the old man. They searched every room possible and frightened the temporary residents.
"They're not here anywhere, Soujiro," one of them man reported. Soujiro shifted uneasily as he pondered their exact whereabouts.
'The mayor couldn't have lied to me. It's not possible…' he thought. His hypnotic genjutsu was full proof and he was fairly confident in his ability. But the possibility of him being wrong caused his heart to pace and his mouth to clatter, making it impossible for him to hold on to his cigarette with his lips. Soujiro faced the large frame of glass that stretched across the wall and noticed his appearance. He immediately calmed himself down and threw down his smoke.
"They're in hiding obviously. Search harder," he ordered.
Just then he heard the windows smash and had barely dodged the barrage of kunais and shurikens thrown from outside the building. He watched his comrades fall like flies at the projectile weapons and grinned, finally being able to pin point his targets. He performed the tiger seal and stood up abruptly to deliver his stream of fire outside the broken window. Once the smoke cleared away, he was unable to find any trace of his enemies.
"What the hell…" he whispered. He looked behind him on the opposite side and noticed that few of the kunais that were nailed to the wall were strung with piano wires in the end. Then he came to a realization that his enemies have used a large quantity of weapons to mask one kunai per person to hold on to once they have successfully performed their sneak attack. He looked down the building and saw two bodies climbing up the walls by the piano wires.
"The boy and the geezer," he muttered. He gathered his hands and collected a large sum of chakra which quickly transformed into a mass of concentrated flame. Then he threw it down like a bowling ball and torched the two helpless bodies. As soon as they were caught by his fire, they transformed into two planks and fell back into the empty street.
"Shit!" he yelled, unable to bear the frustration.
"Where the hell are they?"
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Chapter 5: Confrontation
Kakashi, Rock Lee and the old man dusted their clothes as they glanced around their premise.
"That was a great tactic, Kakashi-san!" Rock Lee exclaimed. The Jounin did not allow himself to be swept up by the compliment and began to plan their next attack.
"We're two floors underneath him and the rest have gone upstairs to gaze at the injured bodies like mindless fools. It'll be a bit easier than I thought," the white haired ninja commented. He adjusted his head band and made sure it covered his left eye as he slowly advanced to the next flight of stairs. The two followed his lead and started to climb up after him.
"So what are we going to do next?" the boy questioned his superior. Kakashi hummed and took out a scroll from within his vest pocket. He cut open his left thumb and smeared his blood across the passage written on the scroll and gathered his hands together to garner a large amount of chakra.
"We're going to hunt them down."
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The rest of the Blood hounds gathered on the 5th floor and watched their comrades writhing in pain, sprawled across the entire hall. Soujiro leaned against the wall dejectedly as he had never been outsmarted by others in his life.
"I will kill them," he shuddered as he spoke. Then all of a sudden, there came a group of loud growling noises from both ends of the hall way. The fire enthusiast slowly turned his head and watched the shadows grow bigger and bigger as it advanced on them. He saw the clear shape of blood hounds painted across the wall in black. He shivered at the irony and steadied himself for another battle. His comrades all but slowly back away from the corners and gathered at the center of the hall, stumbling as they did so.
"W-what do we do now?" one of them asked. The hounds slowly showed up one by one, their snarling faces causing the Blood hounds to curl in fear. Soujiro prepared his attack and sent out a giant wave of flame to one side of the hall. He sensed the hounds from the opposite side running towards them and performed a flame barrier jutsu to protect himself and his group. The rest of the Bloodhounds gained some confidence from Soujiro's skills and took out their favored weapon to battle along side him. However, the hounds were too quick and smart and began to scale the walls in spiral. They leaped at the humans and tore into their respective flesh. The chunnin watched his friends being carved into chunks of disfigured meat and gulped. He spread his fire even further, his mind set on keeping them away from him other than trying to battle them. To his misfortune, the hounds were able to penetrate through his defense and attack him. Soujiro knocked the dogs away with his taijutsu and continued to pummel them away from him. After a certain amount of time, the dogs began to tire out and disappear into puff of smoke.
He took this chance to gather his breath. Once he regained his composure, he realized that he was the only one standing. The rest of his group were either unconscious or had been turned into a work of snuff. He nearly vomited at the sight.
"Okay…I had enough of this already. Get out here right now, you damn bastards!" he cried.
"As you wish."
Kakashi appeared from the corner and stood against the wall as he whistled in admiration.
"My dogs were especially vicious today it seems," he stated, glancing at the number of bodies on the floor. Soujiro's eyes twitched involuntarily.
"Well, this is unexpected," the Bloodhound thought out loud.
"Who knew the infamous Copy Ninja would make an appearance in our town?"
Kakashi smiled at the remark.
"Your town?" the white haired Jounin repeated. He pocketed his hands and began to walk towards the chunnin. The young ninja gazed at the advancing adversary and tried to hold his own against him.
"You haven't contributed a single thing to this lovely town and you call it your own?" Kakashi inquired once he was only a feet away from him.
"A low life like you have no place in society. Get lost, before I kill you," the Copy ninja threatened, his eyes glazed with animosity. Soujiro shuddered in disgust at his lack of power, then became confused when his enemy's demeanor changed in split second.
"Normally, that's what I'd say, but alas, I am not your opponent today," added Kakashi, his eyes arced in what appeared to be his happy face.
He stepped away from Soujiro and Rock Lee busted through the ventilation on top of him. As soon as Lee landed on the floor, he swept underneath his prey with a lightning fast kick. The fire ninja was caught by his surprise attack and fell to floor along with his comrades. The azure beast took this chance to fly on top of him and land on his stomach with his elbow. The Bloodhound gasped and spat blood. He drew away from the boy and nurtured his abdominal pain.
"You!" he shouted, recognizing him as the boy who defeated his friends earlier. Rock Lee smiled as he side stepped and flicked his nose with his thumb in an all-so-familiar fashion.
"You're the one who hurt my friends!" accused the fire ninja.
"And you killed the mayor…" Lee countered, his eyes blazing with hatred. Soujiro gritted his teeth and performed a hand seal. Once he was done, his body multiplied into dozen copies of himself.
"So you've come for revenge as well…" the chunnin whispered. Rock Lee chuckled at his insinuation.
"No, I've come to extinguish the fire that's been burning for far too long…"
All the copies of the fire ninja crinkled their nose in disgust and dashed across the hall directly towards the boy in green outfit. The genin jumped upward, planted his feet on the ceiling and began to dash across towards the opposite side. As he did so, he threw his remaining supply of kunais at the copies and watched them turn into black smokes on impact. Then Rock Lee jumped back down towards one of the copies and jabbed him on his face. The boy back stepped and felt the stinging pain of fire on his fist.
"Damn, what the hell is this?" Lee wondered out loud.
Kakashi supplied him with an answer as he continued to watch the match.
"Elemental copy technique. In this case, fire. You'll feel the pain even when you destroy the copies."
Lee avoided their attacks and performed a spinning leaf kick. He succeeded in destroying the copies, but it left him with a burning sensation on his feet.
"Is there any other way to defeat them!?" he asked. Kakashi stared at the ceiling and hummed.
"There's no other way! This is where you'll die now!" the Bloodhound copies all shouted in unison as they continued their attack.
"Actually…You set up a perfect trap for yourself…" the jounin replied, continuing to stare at the ceiling. Lee didn't understand and looked at the ceiling as well. Immediately, he felt a tiny sprinkle of water on his face. Then it began to pour inside the hallway and the fire copies began to transform into steam.
"You see…Your fire play up to now has set up the smoke detectors, which automatically triggers the water sprinklers. Someone's gotta complain about the reliability of these gadgets, concerning the time it takes for it to respond though…" Kakashi pitied.
Lee took this chance to appear behind the real Soujiro and locked him in a sleeper hold. He held onto his left hand and spun him around to face him head on. Then he snuck under the chunnin's left arm and held him in his hands to prepare his final attack.
"Here it comes, the Rock Suplex!" he yelled, twisting his body backwards to pin his opponent on his head. Lee's finale turned out to be quite effective as Soujiro found his consciousness slowly slipping away from him.
"D…Damn you…" he muttered, before closing his eyes. Lee let go of him and watched him flop on the floor. He examined his own damage and found parts of his bodies to be charred. The jounin crouched near the injured body of Soujiro and painted a small symbol on his forehead with an ink brush. He then performed a complicated set of seals and pressed his palm against his head and watched the symbols linger and engrave itself permanently on him.
"What did you do, Kakashi-san?" the boy asked.
"I made it hard for him to channel his chakra. He won't be needing them in prison after all."
Lee nodded and stood back on his feet. He turned around to walk back and meet the old man who was waiting for them on the bottom level when he heard Kakashi cough. Lee turned around and caught a glimpse of the jounin giving him the thumbs up.
"Good job, Lee. I'll be sure to report your progress to Gai," he said.
Lee forgot about his injuries at that moment. He could not help but crack a genuine smile.
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Old man Shinichi stood up to greet Rock Lee when he saw him limp towards him.
"You look like shit," he said upon examination. Lee pouted his lips and tightened the bandage around his fists. Kakashi walked behind him and glanced at the Old man.
"It was a difficult battle, give him some break," the white haired man pointed.
"I don't doubt it. But he took too much damage and we still got one more to go."
Shinichi whisked his beard and gestured for them to move on.
"If you're done kid, we need to move fast."
Kakashi supported the boy and they both walked out of the building. They were greeted by the crowd who were previously abused by the Bloodhounds.
"You guys are great! You guys managed to defeat them all so swiftly!"
"Amazing! Thank you guys for helping us out!"
"You guys are truly the angels sent from the heavens!"
The trio brushed past the mob of people and continued to walk down the street, leaving the city folks cheering for them from behind. Lee smiled shyly, still lingering on the encouraging words of the people.
"That's your reward for saving the city. Cherish them, though they might not seem much," the senior ninja commented quietly. Rock Lee thought about this.
"No, they're enough for me to keep going on," Lee replied. Both Shinichi and Kakashi smiled to themselves at his response. Looking ahead, the trio saw a short kid in heavy robes slowly walking towards them.
"Another fan?" Shinichi asked sarcastically.
"I'll handle this…" the jounin whispered as he took charge of them.
"This is good. He saved us the trouble of going all the way to him," Shinichi commented.
"Wait! I can go on!" cried Lee. Kakashi sighed and turned around.
"You're in no condition to battle another chunnin," he reminded him. Lee gulped and stepped back, fully understanding his words. The renown copy ninja of Konoha advanced towards the new enemy. The last of the Bloodhounds stood quietly with anticipation and annoyance.
"Step aside," the boy ordered. Kakashi stood still, looking down at the shortest member of the Bloodhounds.
"You must be some kid to be allowed into a group like the Bloodhounds."
"I have no business with you," the boy said looking ahead at Rock Lee.
"Sorry, but I'm not a person you can brush off so easily."
The boy shot a cold look at the man before him. Kakashi merely smiled.
"If you want the kid so badly, then go through me first."
They stared at one another and the tiny Bloodhound watched the jounin's demeanor change into that of a cold one.
"After all…I did kill a pal of yours…" he stated. The boy in heavy robes shot a questioning glance at him.
"Soujiro…Was it?" Kakashi inquired, toying with the boy's psyche. It proved to be effective as he watched the boy's emotions flourish.
"You piece of…shit!" the boy yelled, holding out his right arm. From within his sleeves, Kakashi watched a geyser like water erupt and flow towards him. He ducked underneath the massive water and threw a smoke bomb near the boy. It exploded by his feet and smoke began to rise, covering his peripheral vision. The jounin took that chance to perform the shadow replication technique. He allowed his copies to go into offensive, but watched them all get washed away into nothing by a gigantic cyclone.
"How is it that he's able to perform water related techniques when he's no where near the required supply?" Kakashi pondered. Just then, he found himself being pounded head on by a gigantic embodiment of a fist made of pure liquid. The white haired ninja withstood the attack and held up the gigantic artificial fist. He grunted as he shoved away the attack and leaped to a safe spot. The boy showed no mercy as he used both of his hands to create the gigantic water fists and continued to pound the after images of the lightning fast Kakashi.
"Die already fucker!" the boy screamed. The copy ninja rolled away from the boy's last attack and climbed up the medical department. He launched himself from mid way and fell on top of the boy. He gripped both of his arms and threw him down like a dirty piece of rug. The water ninja recovered immediately and created a gigantic wave to sweep away his enemy. Both Rock Lee and the old man fled away from the battle ground as the wave covered the entire street. Kakashi stood his ground and took off the headband off his left eye.
The boy watched the entire street get engulfed by his technique and cried out in triumph.
"You were no match for me, you fucking piece of shit. I'm surprised you were able to defeat my friend in your level," he said to no one in particular. Just then he felt his ankles being pulled from underneath.
"What the…?"
He saw a pair of hands gripping his ankles and felt himself being pulled within the ground. When he was neck deep inside dirt, Kakashi erupted from the ground and knelt near the helpless head.
"Ready to give up?"
"Don't get cocky already," the boy warned him.
"There are still some stuff I can do even when I'm neck deep in shit."
The water ninja opened his mouth and washed away his enemy with the force of a hydro pump. The jounin flew straight into the fish market and crash landed into the stacked crates. Fortunately for him, he was able to break his fall thanks to a couple hundred carcasses of fish.
"I didn't anticipate that, not even with my sharingan" Kakashi muttered painfully, watching his enemy rise back to ground level.
"I guess I'll test it out today then," he added, rising back for another round.
They dashed towards one another and clashed at mid point with their kunais. The white haired ninja pushed him away and kicked up dust to blind the squirt. The boy covered his eyes with his sleeves and Kakashi took that chance to tore his clothes with his kunai. He watched packages of water fall to the dirt and the boy frantically trying to cover them.
"So that's where you get your healthy supply of water…What's more impressive, you're able to increase the amount with just your chakra," the jounin stated, quite amused by his opponent's ability. The water enthusiast glared at the white haired ninja. He performed a quick hand seal and created a gigantic ball of water and imprisoned himself within them. Once he was inside, he was able to create a pair of limbs on the outer shell of his water sphere.
"My ultimate offense AND defense combined together. How do you like that, you dimwit ninja!" the water ninja cried. Kakashi whistled in amusement as he crossed his arms.
"Quite impressive," he replied with a thumbs up. It angered the boy even further and he pursued his rampage. He began to pummel the buildings and the ground with his artificial limbs, trying to break every bone in the copy ninja's body. Kakashi cart wheeled around the large water sphere and avoided his attacks with ease.
"That's pretty much it for the extent of your offense. Now it's time to test your defense," he shouted loud enough for the boy to hear him. Kakashi continued to dodge the water limbs as he stretched out his body, feelings his muscles being cramped up a bit. Once he was done, he gathered large sum of chakra into both his palms. Lee and Shinichi watched the battle unfold from behind the medical building.
"What's he doing?" the old man asked.
"That's…the Chidori, but something's different about it. I watched Sasuke use it once, but the strength is on a completely different level and it's not just because he's a jounin either."
Rock Lee continued to examine Kakashi as his fists began to glow.
"This is what I call the Dual Chidori!" he yelled as both of his fists sparked into life. The water ninja watched in awe as two large amount of static chakra became visible in both of his palms. Kakashi held them behind him as he ran towards the water sphere. The boy panicked and began to back paddle on his technique to avoid the strange attack that he's never seen before.
"Get…Get the hell away from me the boy yelled. The Copy ninja leaped into the air and struck both of his hands into the water. Since the depth of the sphere was much larger than he assumed, he was unable to penetrate it deep enough. Believing that the worst has finally passed, the boy mustered his courage and began to laugh at his enemy.
"That was some useless technique you got there! It can't even pierce through my defen-"
Just then, he watched the spark of Kakashi's attack spread around the sphere and approach the core where he stood.
"Sorry, kid. But my technique is quite similar to a massive electric jolt. And if you know your science, water conducts electricity."
The jounin watched the boy fry from within the confines of his own technique and brought back his fist outside the ball. He landed back on his feet and watched the gigantic mass of water disappear on its own. The boy remained on the floor, knocked out by the man's artificial voltage.
Without turning around, the jounin addressed Rock Lee.
"Lee, take this as another lesson. You maybe gifted with taijutsu, but you must work harder than anyone else to keep up with them. Otherwise, you'll fall behind a great deal."
Lee gulped, not being able to clear his head of the image of Hatake Kakashi and his Dual Chidori technique.
To be continued…
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Author's Notes: The previous two chapters were a set up for the healthy heaping of action I was about to present for this chapter. Well, another chapter has gone, but I'm not finished yet. I've got tons of things planned for Rock Lee so be sure to keep an eye on this fan fiction.