Viraten's Note: Yeah, it's been a long time since the last chapter…but I lost interest in Naruto for awhile, what with exams and then the manga getting boring, along with getting into One Piece. But yeah, this chapter has been made simply because reviewers want it…so here it is.
Sakura evaded the whip by a millisecond before it formed a new crater where she once stood. His movement with the arm was deceptive; it seemed a lazy fluid motion, but the whip travelled at deadly speeds on each attack.
"Stop running like a little girl!" The man mocked her in a hyena pitch. It was then that the dull voice of Kakashi became eerily clear.
"You let your guard down." He stated, with the crackling of chidori in the background. However, in the face of defeat, the man only shrugged and grinned.
"So did you." The whip was evadable at best in long distances, but at such close quarters, Kakashi found his limbs constricted by the weapon, no longer able to make the final thrust of his ultimate move. His constraints bound tighter.
"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura ran toward her sensei and his captor, but had quite a distance to go.
"You want him back so dearly! You can have him!" The man put one foot forward, then put the other foot ahead, twisting his upper body with all the strength he could muster, unravelling his whip and launching Kakashi in Sakura's direction. She had no time to dodge, but a lump of flesh failed to connect with her. She heard the something drill through the ground, making sickening crunching noises.
"Kakashi sensei!" She screamed incredulously, eyes searching. Somewhere in the newly formed rubble, she picked out a shot of grey hair, and rushed towards it.
"Oi…Sakura…" He weakly uttered before passing out seemingly.
In the other battle, things weren't nearly as exciting, despite the contestants. Instead, Anko and Naruto merely stood there watching their opponent, who conversely, was watching them intently. After a long while of a pointless staring competition, the shadowy man finally spoke.
"You are…the Kyuubi child?"
"Oi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! The next Hokage of Konoha!" He proclaimed in response.
"I've heard that you speak such jargon. Come with me."
"What? Why should I come with you?" Naruto exclaimed heatedly.
"Because it is…an order." The man's voice was as solemn and devoid of emotion as he was. That seemingly was enough for Naruto. He let out a battle cry and predictably went for a head on charge. The man sighed disgustedly before raising his hand to bat away the boy, but the fiery Kyuubi child didn't reach him. Instead, the woman with him held him back.
"Idiot, have those 3 years of training with the Toad Sannin taught you nothing?" She scolded. However, in her efforts to stop his haste, she had put herself at a grave disadvantage.
"That mark…on your neck…is from Orochimaru?" He inquired. She stood straight now, and smirked.
"So what if it is?"
"We have been informed of his betrayal. As such…certain training has become mandatory for members." He explained no more before he began performing hand seals for a jutsu. However, when Anko realized what he was about to do, it was too late. The searing pain returned to her body, accompanied by an inhumane throbbing in her neck. She fell to her knees, clutching her neck with one hand and arm around another, cursing maniacally. Naruto looked at her, panic evident on his face.
"The odds…are considerably in my favour, boy." He adjusted his hat to lower cover himself in more shadow on the front. "Will you not reconsider…my order?" In response, Naruto expression became feral and he continued his equally wild charge at him.
Meanwhile, Sakura punched out another giant chasm into the ground, where the red haired man once stood.
"Gyah Gyah Gyah!" He cackled. "You missed again! Try again!" It was obvious he was toying with her, having gotten rid of Kakashi all too easily. Sakura was not determined to fall as easy as her predecessor, nor as hard. However, the only thing she could really do is head on attacks. She tried cloning, but he used his whip to create a form of whirling defence around him, bouncing the clones off. Right now, she was fighting for the sake of fighting, hoping he would get too cocky, and let his guard down.
She charged at him again, but then sidestepped, and appeared behind him in mid air, ready to kick him away, he blocked with his whip, which now acted as a baton, and pushed her back. The solidified form of the whip was as deadly as its loose form, Sakura had learnt, as it was disturbingly hard and if she took a hit from that in a vital area, she knew she wouldn't survive. It was her training with Tsunade which made her able withstand that weapon on her limbs. There had to be some other way. She couldn't just wait for Kakashi to get up again.
"Is that it! Don't you know any other jutsus! Or is that the extent of Konoha Shinobis!" He mocked further. It's not that she didn't know any other jutsus; it's just that they probably didn't work against his weapon and she wanted to conserve Chakra.
"If that's all you got, then I guess there's no more fun to be had." His smirked viciously and slowly, but confidently began walking toward her. She took a defensive stance, weary of what he was to plan next.
No matter what Naruto tried, he couldn't quite get a hit on this guy. The man was fast and when he struck, it was a thousand times more effective than any normal hit. Thankfully, most of those who'd taken the brunt had been clones, but on the one occasion he got hit, he was sent flying into a tree, breaking several branches on his way. He paused to catch his breath as his last clones were diminished by him.
"Oh please…is that all you have to show?" The man sounded bored, irking Naruto.
"Don't underestimate me! I'm not done yet!" He made a few more clones. If they could only hold him down long enough so that Naruto can hit him with rasengan, then the battle would be won. However as the clones went for the attack, the man easily sidestepped and manipulated their trajectory, causing them to collide into one another. However, this time the man was not content to just stand there and take apart Naruto's assault. Instead, after the last clone had puffed away, he appeared beside Naruto, causing the latter to freeze momentarily.
"If that is all…it's over then." He raised his hand, the back facing Naruto from above, and a shadow descended.
Viraten's Note: Yeah I'm cruel like that. Make you wait 3 months for chapter, and it's not the end. Oh yeah, I can't add a ruler line, hence the stars.