Within Her Shell: Chapter 8
Sakura turned around quickly, eyeing the brown-eyed ninja.
"Neji-san." Sakura greeted him with a slight nod of the head, which he returned. Whenever she found herself in his presence, she would always try her best to be polite. Reason being that he himself was so well disciplined and polite it was hard not to reciprocate the behavior.
"Sakura-san, would you care to spar with me?" Neji asked her. Sakura observed his expressionless face for any signs of sarcasm. He had made it clear at their last meeting that he had no intention of sparring with her then she did. Why did he want to now?
"Sure," Sakura replied though her eyebrows were still slightly arched.
"Tenten's at the hospital." Feeling that that was a satisfactory answer, he nodded to her to take her position.
"And?"
"I would not like to waste a day untrained."
The Hyuuga prodigy bent low, his eyes fully activated and his arms positioned in the famous Hyuuga stance.
"Let us commence." He said softly but distinctly.
"Try not to underestimate me." Sakura warned.
"I'll try not to." The genius answered coolly, though she could detect a sense of amusement in his tone. Slightly surprised that the genius would even be amused, she was caught off guard when he lunged toward her in a blunt and précised manner.
Her training with Lee had paid off for she was able to dodge his finger a spilt second before it was too late. Doing a flip in the air, she landed back on the ground with her arms stretched out to defend herself. He was fast and calculative in his movements but Sakura would defend and dodge herself equally. She had trained hard after all.
It upset her that back in the forest with Sasuke, she had appeared weaker then she really was. All the training she had done before that journey had gone down the drain. Even when they had fought in the rain, she could feel him holding back, and if not because he had yet to accustom to his lost sight. Sakura had known a few days following their encounter that he had only lost his sight recently. Therefore, he was not as powerful as he could've been, and yet she still loss to him. When she had managed to injure him, she had not felt a sense of pride or happiness but a sense of defeat and pain. Back then she had not noticed, but weeks later she realized that he had not taken her seriously enough. Forcing these thoughts to the back of her mind, she focused back onto the brown haired genius in front of her.
She punched the ground in an earth-shaking movement while letting out a loud cry. This caused her sparring partner to lose his balance momentarily and jump up into the air in order to land on a smoother ground. Sakura disappeared and reappeared underneath his body and with a smooth strike, she disabled the veins in the muscles of his left hand. He let out a groan and landed roughly on the ground.
Combining a series of taijutsu, she was almost successful in landing a blow on his shoulder when he unpredictably caught her foot with the same hand she had previously disabled. His right hand then proceeded to hit her chakra opening and she immediately felt the numbness in her shin.
His left arm isn't supposed to be-"One." Neji counted with a smirk. He's temporarily lost his concentration, Sakura noted.
Using his small victory as an advantage, she twisted herself so that he was thrown backwards and that was when she punched him solidly in the abdomen.
She fell back down on the ground, struggled quickly stand up, but failed. Her right leg was numb and she could barely stand sturdily. However, when she looked back at the prodigy, she saw that he too was injured and the effect on his left arm was finally beginning to take its affect on him. A little late, Sakura thought begrudgingly.
Moving towards him with great effort, she managed to collapse next to him while panting heavily. Neji seemed worn out as well and she could make out from the corner of her eye that he was doing all he could to restrain from crying out in pain as he held his injured left hand.
"I broke the veins in your bicep. The deoxygenated blood can't flow back to your lungs anymore so that's why you're experiencing difficulty breathing." Sakura explained with a tired smile.
The Hyuuga turned to her slowly and gave her a look of approval.
"It was efficient, our sparring. Thank you." With that, he stood back up flawlessly and began walking out of the field.
"Maybe, we should join forces one day." He suggested and Sakura could feel her face heat up with pride.
"Maybe." She replied softly and he disappeared. Probably trying to act cool and unaffected. As if, he's probably heading towards the hospital to cure that left arm of his.
When she tried getting back up and saw that one of her legs was unable to support her, she cursed. Damn, I forgot to ask him to open my chakra gates again.
With a tired and slightly annoyed expression, she limped her way in the direction of the hospital.
He was drenched in blood, his body heaving heavily as it was hard to breathe with the number of gashes he had in his body. Sasuke's dark black bangs framed his pale face and his dark onyx eyes wide with alert. All was still pitch black to him, but his hearing had grown quite acute. Not enough, a small voice told him.
Forming a series of complicated seals, he plunged his fist into the ground with so much impact that the ground crumbled beneath him and then began rising upwards in fierce speed. The ground rose and condensed so that the entire area was filled with high and jagged walls of compact dirt. Mumbling the name of an ancient incantation Orochimaru had taught him, Sasuke bit his thumb and spread it quickly on one of the walls he had momentarily created.
The blood dried and then suddenly bursts of venomous snakes slid out of the top of the walls and towards his opponents. Quickly finishing his seals, he opened his mouth to let out leaping flames that meandered around the walls and surrounded the snakes.
His enemies gasped as they saw both of the jutsus combine and come into play before their eyes. Some tried to throw pathetic shurikens at the snakes but were rendered helpless when the snakes lept and bit their ankles. One bite and they're dead, Sasuke thought, his head turning so that his ear could focus on the source of their cries better.
Two down, three more to go. Sasuke thought as he heard two light thumps on the dirt ground.
Sasuke heard them try slashing desperately at the snakes and couldn't help but allow himself a small grin before coughing up blood.
If only he could play around with them some more and hear their bodies crumble pathetically in front of him in pools of blood. Again, he felt a jolt of pain on his chest and cursed as he realized that he was bleeding harshly.
Tsk, he must get to safety. His chakra was at its limit and he was severely wounded. Moving as swift as his body permitted him, he vanished into the forest of the Hidden Village of Leaf. Mid way during his fight with Sumi, he had realized that he was no match for the well-known medic and somehow he managed to escape narrowly. Not long after that event did he have to deal with his own sound nins chasing him. For days now, Orochimaru had sent several groups of sound-nins to recruit him and somehow, in the midst of it all, he found himself only 10 miles away from the gates of Konoha. He had no intention of entering Konoha, but his body would not allow him to travel for much longer, and he needed a place to quietly heal without being tracked down. Sasuke would have to find her.
With quivering hands, he formed another set of seals began to sink quickly into the muddy ground. As much as he hated Orochimaru, he did gain from being with that snake sannin. He had gain power, although at the cost of many other things. His body, for one, was to be Orochimaru's next capsule. Though that thought did not anger him as much as the lost of his treasured sharingan.
I will never forgive him, Sasuke thought bitterly as he felt the tip of his head being covered with ground. I will never forgive him, he made me like this and forced me to escape from a fight I know I could've won.
"Sakura, here is this week's chapter. Read it. Learn it. Memorize it. I will test you in 3 days." Tsunade said sharply.
It has only been a few hours since her spar with Neji. She had gone to the hospital to get a medic to heal her wounds but unfortunately they weren't able to open the chakra gates on her leg. When Sakura asked if any of them had seen the silent prodigy, they had shook their heads.
Just when she had stepped out of the hospital building, Shizune appeared and told Sakura that Tsunade wanted to see her.
Now standing in front of Tsunade's desk, Sakura looked at the large pile of research papers and sighed. Not that she mind learning the new materials Tsunade gave her, it was more the fact that this was all she has been doing ever since she came back from her small journey.
Even though Tsunade never questioned what happened, Sakura was forbidden from signing up for missions. Instead, Sakura was to work at the hospital or occasionally visit the school to teach the students the basic first aid techniques.
Her heart almost stopped beating when she read the first article's title. "The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan." Without looking up at the grinning Tsunade, she began flipping madly through the pages, her eyes skimming quickly. Finally, after she shuffled through the pages at least four times, she glanced back up at her teacher.
"This is..?" The pink haired kunoichi questioned with widened eyes.
"These were found in a hidden room at the remains of the Uchiha property-" Tsunade began but stopped when she saw that Sakura had grabbed all the papers and books and dashed towards the exit of the Hokage building.
In a blur of pink and black, Sakura rushed into her apartment with incredible speed. It was as if something inside her snapped. Now that she was presented with so much information on the sharingan, she was unable to resist herself from examining the rare bloodline.
Thanks for all the reviews, as always you guys are so supportive and kind! I'm so touched I'm going to respond to all of you :D and trust me, this is my first time to ever reply! Lol
Luvabl3Pna1: well, here is Sasuke and the old lady :D lol I left a cliffhanger and I guess I shouldn't cause people got confused. I decided to cut it off there and like I just said early, I probably should've just continued it.
poornmiserable: you're not rude at all, in fact thanks very much! It wasn't supposed to be like that, while I edited I accidentally took a section off and that's why its like that. I didn't even notice and would have probably never noticed it if you didn't point it out. Thanks a lot :D and btw it's fixed XP
latoya: lol thank you and for future reference, Ill try my best not to do cliffies too much. But this one, as you can see I couldn't help it. Heheh. Be patient! Lol
shadow of the black abyss: you have no idea how much your review made me happy. Yes, actually I HAVE seen Zatoichi but it never crossed my mind to use some of that in my story! And I haven't seen Kiss of the Dragon but I DID do my research on it after you mentioned and yes I've decided that I would have Sasuke use that technique. It seems freaking cool! Or maybe not Sasuke… XD who knows. But yes I would use that, thanks a lot!
cutiepie777: Thank you for supporting me!
band geeks are hot: hehe thanks! Don't worry, next time if I do end up adding lime (which I doubt, cause I suck! Hehe) I'll make sure that even if you don't read it you won't miss out on the plot. Plus, I'll warn in advance so you won't have to read them ;)
BaKa BuRu- thanks, I hope you enjoyed this chapter
katory: here's your update :D thanks for reviewing.
Mystic Moon Empress: there you go, happy? Haha thanks for reviewing.
lilxangelxsweetz: nope not Sasuke but good try! Hehe thanks for reviewing and being so supportive!
Last comments: yes I know this is filled with action but hey, a least I've got the plot really rolling now. Well I hope so..? And I hope I cleared up thescene between Sasuke and Sumi?hehe REVIEW PLEASE. You know I love them! And thank god this time I updatedbefore a month came rolling ;;;