Chapter 12: Sound of Darkness
Sasuke immediately jumped to his feet and drew weapons. "Whoa, you're pretty jumpy," the man said. He carried a pair of wing-like knuckles on his side. Sasuke judged by his assortment of weapons and headband that he was from the village of wind.
"Who the heck are you," Sasuke asked a little shaken.
"I'm Quaten, the bat demon," he replied, "You're Sasuke aren't you?"
"I am," Sasuke answered, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I've heard much about you," Quaten said half laughing, "After all, Orochimaru has had his eye on you for a while."
"So, you're one of his pawns," Sasuke said very riled up now.
"No of course not," Quaten said, "That was ages ago. He was a fool not to join our cause. I just happen to be from the village of sound."
"Then why the heck are you wearing a wind hitai-ate headband," Sasuke asked surprised.
"Oh this, I was both born and trained in the village of sound," Quaten replied, "Orochimaru was my best friend growing up. The sound and leaf villages are very close to each other. Right before I graduated the Sound Ninja Academy, my family moved to Kumogakure, so I graduated as a wind ninja but was trained in both. He and I remain friends, and I'd hate to destroy his apprentice to be."
"If I attack you, you'll have no choice but to defend yourself," Sasuke said pulling out a kunai knife.
"Wow, you're just like him," Quaten said grabbing his knuckles, "Do you really think that you can take on a demon by yourself?" Sasuke charged at him with his knife. Quaten held him back with his knuckles. Sasuke jumped back high into the air and threw the kunai knife. "Bad idea," Quaten said as he waved his arms to make a gust of wind. The knife about faced and nearly hit Sasuke before it stuck deep into the wall behind him.
"That was close," Sasuke said. Then, he jumped up much higher in the air and threw several kunai knives as he rose.
"What are you, stupid," Quaten said knocking all of them towards Sasuke. Again, they all stuck into the wall (some were very high up near the ceiling).
"Try this," Sasuke yelled. He jumped up very high and threw a handful of shuriken at Quaten.
"You never learn," Quaten said as he waved his arms. The shuriken didn't even slow down. Two of the five hit Quaten in the left shoulder after he tried to dodge. "That would have killed me if I hadn't moved," he thought.
"How do you like my shuriken," Sasuke asked sarcastically.
"What were those," Quaten asked pulling them out of his bleeding flesh.
"Sakura made them," Sasuke responded, "They're completely wind resistant."
"Well then," Quaten said digging them out of his flesh and picking up the others, "Let's see how well you dodge them." He threw all five at Sasuke.
"Crap, even if I dodge at least one will hit," Sasuke thought, "But, I can't copy his wind spells because they won't work." An idea entered Sasuke's head. "Supersonic Zakahuna the blast that slices air," Sasuke shouted. Then he held his hands out before him as though he was going to block. Then a huge wave of vibrations shot out of his hands. "Wow, I didn't think I could do that," Sasuke thought, "My hands don't have those holes like Zaku's hands." The smoke cleared, and Quaten was standing there with all five shuriken stuck in him. It looked like the Zakahuna hit him pretty hard too.
"I know that move," Quaten said, "Zaku, one of Orochimaru's pawns, possessed that skill. However, I know something you don't. That move is effective because the user's chakra is combining within the arms. You were able to perform it almost as well as Zaku before he lost his arms, but you don't have those body parts. You had to combine your chakra above you palms instead of inside them. The result is that it takes about quadruple the usual amount to perform that attack as you did with the Sharingan. You did very well, but I've still got over half my demonic chakra left. You're almost out. But why did that wind attack knock back the shuriken when my wind arts didn't?"
"Because Zakahuna is a sound attack," Sasuke explained, "Your wind spells move air particles, but sound spells vibrate air partials like a wave." "Crud, I didn't notice it before but he's right," Sasuke thought, "Still, I have more chakra left than he thinks. I'll just save what I have and use physical attacks for now." Sasuke drew a pair of larger than average kunai knives. "Eat this," Sasuke yelled charging. Quaten grabbed his pair of knuckles from their sheathes. Sasuke took a high swing with his right, but it was blocked. Then, he aimed for Quaten's side with his left, but Quaten jabbed Sasuke's shoulder and rendered that arm useless. Sasuke immediately dropped the knife in his left hand as it hung limp.
"Eat this indeed," said Quaten, "I honestly don't see why Orochimaru wants you." Sasuke charged again, but with one arm this time. "The same trick failed last time," Quaten said, "Why would you try it again?" Quaten took a slash and easily decapitated Sasuke. "That's it," Quaten giggled, "That was lame." Then, two very sharp pains hit Quaten directly in the back. He turned to see that Sasuke was standing on Quaten's back with the two large kunai knives in his back (the second knife was in Sasuke's mouth).Quaten slung him off and saw that the formally dead body of Sasuke was a broken scroll. "Thank you for releasing my key feature," Quaten said. Huge, monstrous, bat wings sprung from the cuts Sasuke made. "Now we fight my way," Quaten laughed. He swooped down and hit Sasuke countless times. "You can't win now," Quaten said, "Give up and join Demon Circle."
"The curse," Sasuke thought, "Wait, I'll be controlled by him. Maybe I can just crack the seal a little. Naruto does that when he becomes the demon fox. Master Kakashi, I promised I wouldn't, but if I don't I'll die." Sasuke grabbed his left shoulder where the mark was and rubbed off a character of the seal. The curse spread over his body, and it healed his arm instantly. "I'm going to show you first hand why I'm a member of the Uchiha clan," Sasuke said.
"Oh, I'm so scared," Quaten said sarcastically.
"You ought to be," Sasuke said standing up, "Art of the familiar spirit!!!" As soon as he finished his statement, a huge snake (almost as big as Orochimaru's) came from the smoke. Quaten jumped back franticly dodging the serpent's fangs. Quaten grabbed his knuckles and stabbed the snake on one of its eyes. It bit Quaten's leg in retaliation. Quaten pulled out and pulled back.
"Art of the gale force typhoon," Quaten screamed. The snake was picked up by the wind and slung against the walls until it died. Ha ha ha, gotcha Sasuke," Quaten laughed looking around the room, "Uh Sasuke."
"Art of the Kahona asteroid," Sasuke's voice echoed from the ceiling. Sasuke came down from the ceiling in a ball of fire. He pushed Quaten to the ground smashing a crater into the floor. Quaten lay there with burn marks all over him.
"With my demon strength, I can still fight," Quaten said trying to get up, "Why is my body not responding?"
"Gotcha, my snake poisoned you," Sasuke said as the curse marks began to retreat across his flesh, "I should be thanking you. You got me to the ceiling. When all those kunai knives were blown towards me and hit the wall, it created a staircase for me to climb. You deeply underestimated me."
"Sasuk…" Quaten started to say but fell dead. The door flung open. Sasuke stepped on the platform, and he was taken back to the "hub" room. He saw that he was alone.