Chapter 14: The possibility of evil part 1
"Gai, Did you get a strange e-mail?"
Gai lifted his head out from under the hood of the car for a moment, just long enough for him to ask Lee to hand him a wrench and then go back under. "What do you mean Kakashi?"
"Something talking about the possibility of evil on 100th street."
Gai moved swiftly, he knew his way around a car and he'd done things like this so much he was able to make changes as fast as humanly possible. Right now he was loosening a clamp connected to the battery. "Lee, hand me that box over there..." he took the large, square box like device that was fitted with a few gauges on it and set it on top of the battery, holes were fixed on the bottom for the screws on the top of the battery to fit inside. "No, I haven't seen anything like that. Why?"
"I just got it, unmarked and all, it's suspicious...I'm going to check it out just to be sure." It did raise questions, who would send Kakashi of all people an unmarked E-mail? And how did said person get his address, it didn't make sense.
"I'll be right behind you." Gai said, closing the cell phone directly after and then returning the phone safely to his pocket."
"What was that about Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, the one from the future, Gai still got confused at times.
"Kakashi wants to investigate something." Gai told him, closing the hood tightly and then wiping away any oil on his hands. "Probably nothing serous...Oh don't you have to head that way?"
Lee nodded, "Yeah." He had some business to take care of, since he was aiming to become one of the Leaf's Special forces like Gai their were plenty of prerequisites that had dead lines, even with Konoha in it's current state. Unless every member of the board of directors came up dead, everything had to be done on time.
"I'll take you." Gai tossed the towel he was using aside, making sure his hands were thoroughly cleaned before even attempting to touch his car again.
"I've never seen that part of the city." Lee, the one from the past, said, sitting against a nearby wall holding a map in front of him, excited at the prospect of seeing new locations. Even if it was most likely over halfway destroyed, he could see how repairs were done in this time period. "Can I come too?"
"Sure." Gai took another look at his new car, it was green this time, and it more closely resembled his old race car...
Lee knelt by the car and looked closely "Gai...Isn't this...your old car? I mean the one you use to race with?"
"Wow, your really observant Lee. This is the exact same car, I just restored it since I was sadly out of options and had no choice but to bring this one out of retirement." Gai dropped his head and sighed, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through the trouble of buying a new car and then putting in the extra money to get it up to at least his minimum standards of speed and performance. Why not get the car that set those standards and tweak it to it's maximum potential? Those that extra tweaking would take a while and a lot of funds, Gai was going to make sure nothing happened to this one. This was his most prized possession.
The past Lee looked back towards Shikamaru, who was sleeping peacefully beside him. They were in a storage garage on the other side of town, in fact it was the lower level of the one they'd escaped the storm in. Lee gave him a small nudge, "Wanna come?"
Shikamaru had a general idea of what was happening when he saw Lee's counterpart getting in Gai's car, though still sleepy he was coherent. "Uh..." He wasn't so sure he wanted to get into another car after what happened the last time...too many things happening that he wasn't in control of, nauseating things. "You are?"
"Uh-huh." Lee nodded, "I think I've gotten use to the speed."
Shikamaru had almost forgotten how essentially fast Lee was, "...I guess I don't much have a choice anyway."
! - ! - !
It almost hurt to look at this again, it was amazing to think it could stay in one piece after what it's been through. Iruka folded his arms and let out a deep breath he hadn't released he'd been holding, he'd put years into this plane and now...
The blue jet had more holes in it then he cared to admit, even parts of the frames had large gaps where explosions had taken place. Even the cockpit was charred, it didn't look like this was worth saving, the only place that was still in one piece was the numbers 4477 on the side by the left wing. "I'd better get to work then...now where do I start?" Iruka had plenty of tools at his disposal, being an a very empty army base, one that had been bombed in the Sound attack but still relatively safe down in the lower levels. He liked the fact that he wouldn't be interrupted.
Iruka pulled down a few chains from the ceiling, "This won't be so bad...I'll make it even better then before." he said to himself, going through the process of wrapping and hooking them around each wing as best as he could with out bending. His injuries weren't making this easy. Next he climbed on top of the nose of the plane and hooked one around it too, then finally he hiked across the cockpit to reach the tail of the plane and did the same there with the remaining fourth chain. "I should remove these seats first...might make frame work easier..." He said to himself as he looked back in to the cockpit.
With that thought he jumped out on to the wing of the plane, holding his agitated side as he climbed down to the ground with one hand for support. "Whaa!" He jumped backwards, startled by the sudden appearance of one Uchiha Sasuke standing before him. "Sasuke? Do you always walk so quietly?" He said with a small sigh of relief, "You shouldn't scare me like that.. I guess I'm still a little on edge." Stress was not in short supply now a days.
"Iruka..." Sasuke looked at him reluctantly though still didn't turn away as he spoke, it was odd being so nervous when he spoke to the man, one of few people he knew well. "Can I talk to you?"
Iruka reached for a drill that was laying on a cart that sat nearby, "Really?" He asked, slowly making his way back on to the wing with a visible strain, every movement that wasn't strait forward hurt. "Well...go ahead then?"
"You still want to talk to me?" Sasuke placed his hands into his pocket and looked down toward the ground "Even after what I did? Why?"
"I don't know." Iruka never even realized that he'd been avoiding looking at Sasuke the whole time, it was more of a self-conscious action that Sasuke had been keenly aware of. And every second it made it self known by how Iruka seemed to be more focused on working the when he arrived. "So what's on your mind?"
"How can you talk to me like I haven't done anything? Aren't you mad at me?" Sasuke wished Iruka would have gave him a look, yelled, even take a different tone, anything! The way he was acting now was killing him. "And...why didn't you fight me?"
Iruka reached down and grabbed on to the bottom of the pilot seat, starting to unbolt each restraint holding it down. "I don't know...I guess I couldn't, I couldn't bring my self to do it."
Ow...Sasuke was really feeling it now, he still didn't see how he could bring himself to hurt Iruka so badly. Even after he clearly cared for him enough not to hurt him despite what he'd done. After he almost killed Naruto, and what he did to Konohamaru, how was it even possible? "Iruka...I'm sorry."
"Don't say that." Iruka's tone changed into something unexpectedly serous.
"What do you mean?"
Iruka sat down the drill and turned toward Sasuke, looking him directly in the eye this time "Don't say that unless you are truly sorry about it, not just because your feeling guilty about what you did." Iruka stopped and shook his head, "Sorry..."
That answered Sasuke's question, Iruka was mad at him, very mad. He never heard him talk like that, even when he was mad in the past, but he even apologized for it though Sasuke didn't deserve that much. Iruka really was a nice guy. But it did raise a question, was Sasuke really sorry or was he just really guilty and needed to apologize to make himself feel better. "No...I really am sorry."
"Why?" Iruka still kept a even tone.
"Because...I hurt you."
"Why? Sounds like guilt to me."
"...It's not."
Iruka sighed again, sitting on the edge of the wing above Sasuke, "Prove it to me." It could easily seen that he didn't want to be this hard on Sasuke, but he had too, how else was he going to see if he was truthful or not. He knew what Sasuke was capable of, and despite how much he loved him he wasn't stupid.
Sasuke looked away "I...I don't know how."
"Just tell me why you did it."
"Because I..." Sasuke stopped and thought about it "I don't know why."
"Yes you do, Just tell me."
"I...I...did it because...I remembered Itachi and what he did." It all seemed to come easily now that Sasuke thought about it hard enough, but he already knew, he had been avoiding it completely to the point where he nearly fooled himself. "And I hate him for it, I realized how weak I really am and I hated my self for it! What was I doing all of this time? I should have been stronger then that, But I couldn't even lay a finger on him! I kept thinking why was I so weak? I spent all of my time here, with all of you like I was in a dream, a stupid dream! I hated what I became, how weak I was! That's why I did it."
"Then...are you really sorry?"
"...Yes." Sasuke said, holding his hand under his chin while he thought. "II am."
Iruka looked over him considerately, "Well...what do you want to talk about." He stood up, leaning over the cockpit again and returned to removing the seat.
Sasuke didn't even have to think about it. "Naruto."
"Hmm...Figured as much"
"Your still going to help me? Even after everything I said to you...what I did to you?"
"Yes Sasuke."
"Iruka..."
! - ! - !
"You guys actually came back to Konoha?" Konohamaru looked up at Itachi in disbelief, back at their usual hide out when they were in the city. "Why?"
"The Antidote was here." Itachi said simply.
Antidote? poison...heal...Kisame! "Where's Kisame? Is he alright!" Konohamaru immediately became worried, as if he could handle any more. "Is he"
"Calm down, he's fine." Itachi softly patted him on the head and walked past him "Bedroom."
Konohamaru immediately darted up the stairway as soon as Itachi told him, moving through the familiar hallways and in to the bedroom. "Kisame!" He found the man laying asleep in the bed the covers pulled up to his chest in nothing but his boxers.
And apparently Konohamaru's rather loud entrance was enough to wake him. "Oww...damnit! What the fuck is all that noise. Can't a guy die in peace?" He mumbled, shifting around slightly and rubbing his head so hard that it had to be painful in itself.
"Kisame! Your dieing!" Konohamaru immediately ran up to his bedside, leaning over him tentively with eyes widened.
Kisame opened one eye half-lidedly, forcing himself to wake up a little bit more when he realized it was Konohamaru when had woke him. "Kid?" Kisame shifted one arm back and sat up as best he could, "What are you doing here?"
"Y-your really going to die?"
Kisame looked closely at the boy through blurry vision, he squinted until there was some focus, his body was still being effected by the poison. That when he saw how close Konohamaru was to crying 'Whoa? What is with him?' "No, I'm not really dieing...I feel like it though."
Konohamaru nearly cried in relief as he dived on to the bed and hugged Kisame's waist tightly, getting a small grown of pain in response. "I thought you were going to die too..."
Kisame looked down at him in confusion, conflicting with himself to push him off in annoyment or to let him stay in pity. "Come on, you can't take anything I say seriously, I'm a criminal, remember?" He rubbed Konohamaru's back, deciding to let him stay this time since it hurt to make sudden movements such as pushing...or at least that's what he told himself.
Konohamaru reached behind him, in the waist band of his pants and retrieved Kisame's silver magnum that he'd been holding on too for a few days now "Thanks... how did you know that I wasn't going to the roof?"
Kisame smirked "I know you well enough, I figured you'd go back for your friends. Wasn't the smartest move but I'll give it to you, you didn't die. I should kick your ass for all the trouble you caused me." He looked over the familiar weapon, checking the chamber. Most of the bullets were still there. "So?"
"So what?"
"So what happened? What's with you?" Kisame asked.
"That bastard Sasuke." Konohamaru growled, "He betrayed us, for Orochimaru."
Kisame slowly laid back, letting out a deep breath of tensed pain, his whole body aced though he'd been given the antidote in time. It'd be another day until it took full effect to counteract the poison so until then he'd be constantly hurting. "Itachi's brother, that guy you like?"
"How did you know about that."
Kisame laughed loudly "You practically yelled it out in back when heard about what Itachi did to him."
"God I hate him now...but I still like him..."
"Want me to kick his ass for you."
"No! Don't hurt him."
So Konohamaru still liked Sasuke, but that really wasn't what Kisame wanted to know. "What happened before then, I'm talking about before we came and saved your ass."
"..." Konohamaru looked away, but he hugged Kisame tighter.
"Come on, tell me."
"...Nothing."
"Nothing? You were covered in blood, what happened? What are you afraid of telling me for? Cause' if it's Orochimaru..."
"I'm not afraid!" Konohamaru shouted, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "I just...I'm not scared!"
"Then why aren't you telling me?"
"I don't have to tell you everything! It was nothing!" Konohamaru yelled, his eyes filling with tears and falling down his cheek.
'He's...crying?' now Kisame was really confused, Konohamaru never cried in front of him. Kisame wasn't much in dealing with this type of thing, he didn't have a clue what to do next. That's why he was either going to be really happy or hate himself for what ever he decide to say next. "So are you trying to protect Sasuke? Did Orochimaru say something to you, is that it? "
"No." Konohamaru growled, it was amazing to see how much animosity he held toward Orochimaru "I hate that Bastard...What he"
"Kid... let go." Kisame said, reaching down and prying Konohamaru's hands out of his back and loosening his arms a bit. "Why wont you tell me? You never had a problem before."
"I don't want to talk about it." Konohamaru removed himself from Kisame and pushed himself off the bed, walking out of the room in an almost sulking manner. He silently passed Itachi as he left...
"Ok that's it." Kisame sat up again, looking directly at Itachi, "Orochimaru is going to die in the most painful way I can think of. What the hell did he do?"
Itachi folded his arms and looked up in thought "..." he didn't know. "Konohamaru doesn't want to remember what happened, he had a bad habit of blocking things out..."
"Can't fix him he we don't know what's wrong, how are we going to get it out of him?"
"I'll do it."
! - ! - !
Just being here he could tell that something was off, first, all of the heavy construction equipment wasn't manned. A large crane sat in the center of the blocked off street, being used to repair the large tower in front of it, though he couldn't tell what the building had been anymore. Most of the smaller faculties on the street had relatively minor damages, this had been the campus of the Smith and Cline research facility. It dealt mainly in developing cures for diseases through medication, but it also developed medical equipment technology.
So a lot of money was being poured into getting this place functioning again, too many freezers and refrigerators with years worth of work and medical breakthroughs. It was practically being worked on 24/7, so that's why it was odd not to see anyone here in the middle of the day. "Hmm..." Kakashi walked cautiously down the privately owned street used exclusively by the company, first off walking to the large crane that sat dormant, upon closer examination he could see trace amounts of blood across the yellow surface.
He immediately retrieved his radio from his waist, "Look's like that E-mail was right, something defiantly happened here...Where are you now?" Kakashi asked, he wasn't given a response but instead he heard the roar of a car engine approaching... Just as he expected, a green automotive turned sharply around the corner, sliding sideways from the momentum and stopping right against the curve.
Gai emerged, with Shikamaru and minus one dropped off Lee. "What's the trouble?"
Boom! A soft explosion came from nearby, it could be heard clearly through an alley between the large 10 story tower under construction and a much smaller building next to it. A small amount of smoke poured out and Kabuto emerged, running right past them and being followed closely by someone even more unexpected.
'It's him!' Kakashi's mind raced after seeing the unknown person who seemed to have the same reaction, "Gai! Go after Kabuto!"
"Right." Gai shot off in the opposite direction, Shikamaru and Lee following closely behind as Kabuto, a little bit farther ahead, rammed his way through the front door of an apposing facility. 6 stories with the name '5th Hokage memorial research center'.
"Gai, what's going on?" Lee asked, catching up and moving along side of the man.
"We're about to find out." Gai reached into a holster hidden under his shirt and drew his handgun "You two see if you can cut him off."
Lee and Shikamaru nodded, taking a step back before leaping upward and smashing through a second floor window.
Kakashi shook his head, forcing himself to refocus. "Zabuza? What are you doing here?"
"Kabuto." Zabuza in his usual even tone, right before the smaller building behind him collapsed in a blaze of flames from the previous explosion.
Kakashi sighed "Let me guess, a bomb."
"On your first try too." Zabuza reached into his back pocket and pulled out a remote. "I don't have time to deal with you right now, I can't fail this time." And right after he spoke a small and faint beep could be heard, causing Kakashi to looked around frantically. He was sure he'd heard one beep in every direction.
Zabuza immediately ran after Kabuto while Kakashi looked around. 'No, the other sounds must have been distractions!' Kakashi had realized 3 of the beeps sounded the same while one of them had an extra sound incorporated, the sound of something arming. And what was behind him? "The crane!" Kakashi immediately dove under it, knowing the most effective palace to blow up the machine was by the fuel tank.
'Damn, he found it that quickly.' Zabuza retorted to himself as he headed into another alleyway on the side of the building Kabuto had entered. 'I'll have to lose him again.' Zabuza reached into a side pack on his waist that held a pound of C4 and a special detonator made with silicon, planting the deceive on the outside of the door before he entered it and shut it behind him. And much quicker then he'd expected, Kakashi tossed away another square block of C4 out from under the crane and emerged with a defused detonator in his hand.
"Why the hell is he here?" Kakashi moved quickly as he followed Zabuza's trail, finding his path blocked by another explosive device on the doorway. 'This is just too simp' As soon as Kakashi touched the detonator to disarm it the C4 was set of, sending Kakashi flying backwards in to a brick wall followed by a rush of flames and debris... 'Some type of touch sensitive...? I've never seen anything like this.'
Kakashi 1, Zabuza 1
! - ! - !
"Your problem Sasuke is that you've been trying to apologize with out actually saying your sorry." Iruka said, after removing the last seat he'd used the levy connected by the chains to lift his plane off the ground, he didn't even know where to start. "And you have to accept the fact that there is a good chance he's never going to listen too you."
"..." Sasuke silently stood up from the spot on the floor where he'd been sitting.
"I can't really say anything else, it's up to him not me."
Sasuke let his hands rest in his pocket and started on is way out. "Thank you." He was sure to call back gratefully, he'd never been so grateful to him in his life. Iruka seemed to be the only person who took the time to listen to anything he had to say, Sasuke could only think now as he headed for the stairway. The only other way out of this place that wasn't blocked by wreckage
He passed Asuma on his way up. "Iruka."
Iruka looked up from his work and glanced back "Asuma?"
Asuma took a quick over look of the place as he approached the other man, cigarette in his mouth as usual. "Wow, are you sure about working on this...You might as well scrap it."
Iruka shook his head "I couldn't do that, it's too important to me to just throw away."
Asuma took another look up at the aircraft, it seemed like a waste of time trying to save something this far gone. He guess he understood a little bit, but this was just imposable "Are you sure about this, I don't think you can save it."
"Sure it will take some work but..." Iruka started a large power saw, obviously going to take the blunt approach to removing the steel covering over the frame since it was useless in it's condition. "But when I'm finished it will be better then before." He said optimistically, pressing the spinning blade against the side of the ship with obvious trouble, the resistance of holding the tool in place forced him to make...undesirable movements. Painful movements.
Asuma smiled, Iruka must have really liked this machine to go through this much trouble by himself. "Let me help you with that." Asuma reached one hand over Iruka's shoulder and another under his lifted arm to take hold of the power saw.
Iruka blushed and let it fall into Asuma's grip, taking a step back to get out of the way only to run into Asuma's chest. Making him blush harder. "Sorry... "
Asuma was about to respond when his radio screeched to life, relaying Kakashi's transmission to Gai, and also picking up a stray word before the transmission was ended...Kabuto. "Ka-Kabuto!" Iruka abruptly moved under Asuma's arm, despite the sharp pain that followed "He's here! In Konoha!" Iruka growled.
Asuma nearly dropped the saw in confusion, though he did end up dropping the cigarette "Kabuto? What is it Iruka?"
"Why is he here..." Iruka didn't seem to hear Asuma, "He's not going to get away this time!"
"Hey Iruka! Wait!"
! - ! - !
Kabuto rushed into the large room, slamming the door shut behind him as he entered the Laboratory. It was nearly too dark to see, and anything worth keeping on was running on battery power. There was a clear path between the tables and machinery lining the walls, he just followed the hum of equipment running in the back of the room, he knew the incubator was back there.
The window suddenly smashed apart as two bodies flew through it, Shikamaru and Lee landed gracefully and slid to a stop in front of Kabuto. "I'm not exactly sure what your doing." Shikamaru slowly started to side step to the left so that he was farther obstructing Kabuto's path. "But your not going any farther."
"I don't have time for this." Kabuto rushed toward them, fully intending to move the two out of the way by any means necessary, but he stopped when a small beep started to resonate from a small device on his waist. His eyes widened considerably, "It can't be..." He picked up a small black device just larger then his palm, then he pointed it towards Lee...then towards Shikamaru, resulting in a series of louder and more frequent beeps. "Your...one of the sources."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow "What are you talking about!"
"Shikamaru! Move!" Before any of them could figure out what was going on, Gai came diving out of nowhere and in to Shikamaru. Ramming him aside with his shoulder and knocking him out of the way just in time for a needle to miss the boy and embed it self directly into Gai's chest.
'Kabuto managed to throw that at Shikamaru...and I didn't even notice it' Lee thought as he ran towards his sensei just as the man hit the ground. Either Kabuto was really good or he needed more training in his ninja skills. "Gai-sensei!"
Kabuto took advantage of the confusion, driving a sharp elbow into Shikamaru, the only one still in his way, and forcing his way through to the incubator he'd been trying to get to in the first pace.
"Damnit! What was that?" Gai reached upward and held on to Lee's shoulder to pick himself up, warping his other hand around the needle in his chest and tossing it aside "Right next to the heart...it's taking effect quickly." Gai's voice became weaker, his eyes became half lidded and he panted heavily, almost falling from dizziness. His vision was getting dark, he felt like he was about to pass out "What did you do to me!"
Kabuto emerged with a vile of green liquid, giving a swift kick to Shikamaru before he could get up. Shikamaru sent punch to Kabuto's leg making the man stumble forward and fall on to Gai, who seemed to be out of it at the moment. "Gai..." Kabuto whispered something quickly into his ear and then used him to get back on his feet and moved past him.
Why didn't Gai go after him?
Lee didn't have time to think about it, he bolted after Kabuto, only to have two arms wrap around his neck and yank him back. He was being choked... "G-Gai-sensei? What are you doing?" He got no response, it was like Gai was asleep, not himself, as if he didn't even realize what was going on. Lee sent a swift elbow in to Gai's stomach and pulled away, only to have a strong punch knock him in to the wall. "What did you do to him!"
Kabuto smirked, tucking away the vile safely away. "It's a manipulative additive, make's a person's mind susceptive to outside commands."
"Shadow Mimic No Jutsu!" Shikamaru clasped his hands together in a quick hand seal, causing his shadow to spring outward towards Kabuto, who had moved during the process to a spot surrounded by sunlight, caused by the boys sudden entrance. Shikamaru had to stop, the room was so dark he'd hit Lee, and the last thing Lee needed to do was stop moving right now. And the fact that he'd just been elbowed in the face by Gai.
Lee tried his best to avoid Gai's attacks on him, but the man was so quick and strong enough to break through when he tried to block. Gai crouched slightly, driving another punch in to Lee's stomach. Lee caught Gai's hand, but while he was doing that Gai grabbed him by the neck with his other hand and lifted him off the ground. "Change him back! Now!" Lee shouted, taking a kick to the stomach and flying back. Gai immediately climbed on top of him and pinned him down, going for the neck again before Lee caught his hands 'No, I can't hurt him, he's not himself.' "Reverse what ever you did to him!" Lee couldn't hold on like this, Gai was too strong.
"Don't worry, I instructed him not to kill you Shikamaru." Kabuto quickly moved toward the door, he had other things to take care off. "I'm be back for you later."
Shikamaru was torn between going after Kabuto and forcing him to tell them how to stop the effect that held Gai, or helping Lee who was doing his best to hold Gai off with out hurting him. But it was clear even to Lee that they'd have to fight the man... "Damn you..." Shikamaru growled.
! - ! - !
"Zabuza!" Kakashi kicked open the door, running up the stairwell toward the second with out missing a step. Zabuza looked back.
'Damn he's fast...' Zabuza jumped backwards, rotating in mid air so that he was facing Kakashi and kicking him in the face.
Kakashi stumbled back, then moved forward and drove his elbow in to Zabuza's chest "Why are you here?" Kakashi reached forward and grabbed Zabuza by his shoulder, driving his forehead into Zabuza's. "And why do you keep blowing things up?"
Zabuza wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck and drew back, lifting the man off his feet and slamming him down on the stairs. "The Sound are still planning something, and my bombs took out all of Kabuto's men. So I'm not just blowing things up."
Kakashi drove his foot upward and kicked Zabuza, hard enough to make the man tumble downward about 10 steps to the landing. Zabuza quickly oriented himself, rolling over and on to his feet again. "Let me guess, the Mist still doesn't know what your doing?" Kakashi jumped down to meet him, but had a powerful uppercut sent into his chin before he even landed.
"That doesn't matter." Zabuza snorted, Kakashi flipped backwards to recover from the previous hit at the last second. Then he jumped from a few steps above, over Zabuza, kicking off the wall behind him and then driving his foot in to the back of the man's head. Zabuza tumbled forward in to the steps again, hit his head on one of them.
"Isn't that the same thing you said last time." Kakashi was about to go on the attack again, but he looked as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh yeah." Kakashi reached into his back pocket and retrieved another one of Zabuza's remotes and tossing it to him "Thanks for the help."
Zabuza looked down at it carefully "I thought you didn't want to destroy Orochimaru's towers."
"I never said that." Kakashi clarified "You were going to blow up my friends in the crossfire, some people are just too impatient."
"People like you are too weak to ever get something useful done."
"Are you calling me weak?" Kakashi gave a fake pout "I'm hurt, I guess the ass kicking I was giving meant nothing to you."
"Your an odd one Hatake Kakashi."
"You are too...Uh think you can tell me your last name this time?"
Zabuza smirked behind the mask, Kakashi was doing just as he did before on the towers, it was amusing. Kakashi was the first person to amuse him since he could ever remember, and he was a formidable appoint. "Heh, Momochi."
"Alright Momochi Zabuza, I like that name...So are you going to let me see what's behind that mask now?" Kakashi leaned over him, his face a few inches from Zabuza's, look at him with a child like curiosity.
Zabuza looked up at him in confusion for a moment...then turned away and pushed Kakashi back. "Foolish." He still couldn't figure out why he found Kakashi funny, this kind of thing from some one else wouldn't have gotten the same reaction. Zabuza found himself again having to stifle laughed and settle for a hidden smirk behind the mask.
"Come on, I want to know what your hiding."
"Why don't you show me first."
Kakashi laughed "What? It's only the second date."
Zabuza held up the remote up, pressing a few buttons and linking it to another bomb "You want to know, beat me and I might tell you."
"Deal." Kakashi punched him in the mouth. "Oh wait, aren't we forgetting something?"
There was a loud thump from behind the second floor door, Kakashi and Zabuza looked at each other "Kabuto!"
! - ! - !
Kabuto looked down at his watch, he'd lost too much time dealing with them. He was off schedule but it was worth it, not only did he get what he was looking for but he found one of the two sources of Chakra needed.
"Wait Iruka, calm down, are we even in the right place?"
Kabuto froze, that name, he was here? Of Course he was here, he was right behind him. Iruka had been practically lead here with the explosions and all. Kabuto shook his head and turned around, find himself coming face to face with the other man, Asuma catching up.
"What the!" Asuma had caught a glimpse of the room Kabuto had just come from, he couldn't help but see the fight transpiring. "Gai! What are you doing!"
Iruka looked back just long enough to see what was happening.
"Iruka, very persistent, I'll give you that much." Kabuto said with a smirk. Iruka glared at him intensely.
"What are you doing here?"
"Taking care of some business, seems your going to get in my way again so there no use wasting time now is there?" Kabuto punched Iruka in the stomach, forcing the man to hunch over and clinch his side.
Iruka wrapped his arms around Kabuto's waist and rammed the man into the wall. "I won't let you"
Kabuto drove his elbow down into the back of Iruka's head, sending a swift kick to his stomach "I admire your perseverance, no matter now foolish it may be." Kabuto causal drew another needle, driving it down into Iruka's back.
Iruka fell on to his stomach and rolled over, just barely avoiding the needle as he grabbed Kabuto's hand and tried to pry the instrument away. "What are you trying to do to me!" Iruka growled, pulling himself to his feet and pulling Kabuto's head down into his rising shoulder.
Kabuto placed his hand on Iruka's shoulder and pushed him back down, then push Iruka's head down into his knee, making the man fall back into the opposite hallway wall. "The second test of a drug I used on your teammate back there. It gives me the ability to manipulate their thoughts and actions, some one should have used it on you a long time ago."
"Your...Controlling Gai?" Now it started to make sense, that's why Gai was attacking Lee. "Tell me out to stop it! Now!" Iruka rushed at him blindly again, throwing and landing a punch to Kabuto's chest, Kabuto grabbed him by his arm and pulled the other man into his fist before throwing him into the wall again. Iruka pushed off with his hands, driving his elbow into the back of Kabuto's head and making him stumble forward. "Where's the Antidote!"
Kabuto found an unexpected weight knocking him to the ground, Iruka jumped on him, wrapping his arms around Kabuto's neck and holding him down as best he could. "Tell me!"
Kabuto pushed himself to his feet, despite Iruka weight, reaching back, pulling the man over his shoulder and slamming him painfully to the ground. Iruka let out a startled cry of pain, more so from injures that were already their when he started the fight, he clinched his side as he cringed. "Did you actually think you could win against me? Or did you forget the last 2 times."
"My records pretty clean, how about I give it a try."
Kabuto felt three impacts, one on the back of his head, and two on his chest from strong blows. Asuma had come from behind while Kakashi and Zabuza had hit him from the front, making Kabuto fall painfully to the ground. As soon as Kabuto was down Asuma ran past him to Iruka, Kakashi looked back to make sure he could handle it, then went back to dealing with Kabuto. "Kakashi 1, Kabuto 0, How am I doing so far?"
Kabuto grunted and picked himself up, retrieving two more needles containing the manipulative drug. Before he could get close to throwing them, he felt Zabuza's forearm slamming in to his neck and knocking him to the ground again. Kakashi stomped down on Kabuto's chest and held him down "Zabuza 1, Kabuto 0, Your not doing so good anymore huh?"
With Asuma's help, Iruka stood to his feet again, "Get the Antidote, for Gai."
Kakashi started searching Kabuto while Zabuza held him down "Why, what's wrong with " Kakashi was cut off by the wall just ahead of them bursting in a spray of drywall, wood, concrete and flames. Lee's and Gai's bodies smashing through in the rush of fire and landing hard on the other side.
"Shadow Mimic no Jutsu!" Shikamaru appeared at the base of the hole, shadow stretching outward and connecting with Gai's. "Lee, are you ok?"
Lee wiped a small about of blood from his forehead and shook an open fire from his left arm, Guns and Battery packs don't mix. "Yeah...Is Gai" Lee looked up at the man, still struggling against the Jutsu that bound him.
Kakashi found a syringe, "I think this is it, cause if it's not..." Kakashi left Kabuto with the thought as he walked over to the frozen Gai and injected the fluid into his arm. He nearly jumped when Kabuto ran past him, some how escaping from Zabuza.
"I'll see you another time, Iruka. I don't worry I haven't forgotten about you Shikamaru." Kabuto dived head first out of the window, and he could have been perused if Gai hadn't passed out on the spot.
"Iruka, are you alright?" Asuma asked, leaning the man against the wall.
"He...got away again, and what he did to Gai..." Iruka let his head fall back, he had an idea of what Kabuto was capable now. And the idea frightened him, he knew Kabuto's actions would keep getting worse and worse, but honestly Iruka was still most angry for happened before today.
"Calm down." Asuma said reassuringly, he'd never seen Iruka so...mad, what did Kabuto do to make him this way.
"Humph, I'll see you later Kakashi." Zabuza silently walked in the opposite direction "Next time it won't be a draw."
"No more mistakes." Kakashi called out, watching the man head out the same window Kabuto had left, there was no use following. If this was anything like on Orochimaru's Tower he'd disappeared by now. 'If I'm going to be seeing him again...I better find my bomb detector.'
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