Sakura grimly held her ground, kunai upraised, and prepared to fight her darndest. She wouldn't be taken prisoner by Hidden Rock. Or worse, that insufferable bastard Tekka. She'd seen his eyes, she knew that look. And she'd heard tales of what happened to capture kunoichi. Not a chance this side of Hell. She'd slit her own wrists first before she became his toy.
Fortunately, such was not to be her fate.
"Dynamic Entry!"
A sandaled foot slammed into the lead Rock ninja's face, sending him flying through the air. As one, the others stopped and stepped back, uncertain of this new foe who'd entered their midst. A follow up attack from their new opponent slammed into their guts and sent them backwards a bit more, giving breathing space for Sakura. Lord Tekka's expression was one of sheer disbelief. And then one of outright anger.
Standing before Sakura, hand upraised, was Rock Lee.
"Who the hell are you, brat?!" roared one of the surprised Rock ninja, a big brute armed with a heavy, spiked club.
"Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee," replied the green-clad boy evenly. He glanced over his shoulder at Sakura. "Are you alright?"
"I... I think so," she said, standing, testing her leg. It still hurt, but she was able to stand... barely. She didn't trust her full weight to her right leg just yet, however. "How did you know to come back?"
He smiled, even as he turned back to his opponents. "I have told you before, Sakura-san. Whenever you are in danger, I will appear. I will protect you with my life."
He did not add that he'd run full-tilt towards the west gate and, with his superior speed, found that it had already been destroyed. Surmising correctly that the enemy had already broken into the town, he guessed they would move to take out those in the infirmary and thus eliminate as many people as quickly as they could. So he'd run as fast as he could right back, and only barely arrived in the nick of time, or so it seemed.
His eyes locked onto the enemy leader, and his eyebrows narrowed in anger. "Lord Tekka... what is the meaning of this?"
Tekka smirked. "War, of course... Hidden Rock's been wanting revenge on Hidden Leaf for years now, ever since their last conflict over a decade ago. But as you're no doubt well aware, Hidden Leaf and Hidden Rock are both unable to carry out another war. Both sides are still recovering from the last one. So we've had to be, shall we say... inventive."
"So you are the one. You slipped this plague into Takaki."
"I did indeed... and no one was any the wiser. And within just a few minutes, everyone in that building is going to be dead, whether by the plague or my men, and the only obstacle left is you. One useless little taijutsu specialist. Oh yes... didn't I mention? Sakura told me -everything-."
Rock Lee frowned but remained calm, though it burned him inside to hear his beloved Sakura spoken of so poorly... used so poorly. The Springtime of Youth demanded revenge. But he had a mission to consider as well. Fortunately, the fact that he was not only protecting someone he cared for, but many people, enabled him to fulfill one of the promises he'd made to Gai-sensei.
With slow, deliberate motions, he reached down into his legwarmers and unlatched his weights, lifting them up.
"Weights?" asked Tekka, a little surprised. Sakura hadn't mentioned those. "Do you honestly expect such a cheap trick to help y-..."
Lee dropped the weights, and they hit like a pair of tiny boulders, leaving a noticeable dent in the ground. The Rock ninja took an instinctive step back, and this time Tekka joined them, uncertain what to make of his foe. Sakura had described Lee as nothing special. Brave, competent, but with no special or noteworthy skills. Had she misjudged him?
Or had he simply not asked the right questions?
Lee held up his hand, beckoning on his opponents.
Deciding not to waste anymore time, Tekka shot out his hand, finger pointed at the boy with the bowl haircut. "Kill 'im!"
Spiked Club, or so Rock Lee had decided to label the heavy Rock ninja, charged forward, swinging his weapon. Lee countered, moving forward with a speed that bordering on blurring.
"Konoha Shoufuu!"
Rock Lee's leg snapped up with the force of a battering ram, slamming into Spiked Club's wrist and cracking it with the force behind it, forcing him to drop his weapon in mid-swing. It went crashing to the ground. Rock Lee wasted no time in springing forward, giving a vicious one-two punch to Spiked Club's unprotected stomach and chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
Six kunai came flying at Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, but he was amply prepared from his training, and caught one as it came at him, using it to deftly block the others, then returned the kunai to it's owner, who barely dodged aside before it cost him an eye. Two Rock ninja came charging in, trying to overwhelm the thin, wiry boy with sheer numbers and brute strength. Rock Lee leapt up and decided to give himself some more space.
"Konoha Senpuu!"
One hard sweeping kick knocked them both back, and Lee dropped to his feet. Before he'd even fully landed he was off like a shot, moving in amongst his enemies, his fists and feet a blur of motion as he showed them exactly what three years of determined taijutsu training could do to a man. Punches, kicks, uppercuts and jabs, roundhouse and reverse, even a headbutt which sent one Rock ninja to the ground with a bloody mess where his nose had previously been.
And Rock Lee never broke a sweat.
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Meanwhile, inside the makeshift infirmary, the two Rock ninja had begun their search. Their boss had informed them of one of the patients inside who might still be kicking, found in a little side room. A blonde boy, a Genin named Uzumaki. They figured they'd deal with him first. Most of the others would be dead soon enough anyway, they were just handling clean-up.
Finally, they found his cot, though not without some difficult, as they all looked virtually the same, everyone was covered up in bedsheets. Naruto's had his distinct blonde spikes rested on a pillow, but the rest of him was shrouded by linens. The Rock ninja lifted up his wakizashi sword and then brought it down with a decisive stroke, impaling the little boy upon it.
"Good, we're done here," said his partner. "Let's..."
Poof.
"What?"
A puff of smoke, and the cot was empty. "What the...?"
"Just kill them all, we haven't got time for this..." said the second Rock ninja.
However, as both of them watched in outright horror, each and every patient in the infirmary grabbed up their bedsheets and hurled them aside, then stood with eerie synchronization with each other, as if they shared a single mind.
Each one had the same blonde spikes as Naruto. Each one of them -was- Naruto.
And each one had crimson eyes and bared fangs, and wicked whiskers on their cheeks. Their body was free of lesions or, indeed, any sign of the plague. Their skin was universally smooth and unmarked. A crimson aura surrounded their bodies. Their hair waved in an unseen breeze as each and every Naruto advanced on the two Rock ninja, cutting off their exits and leaving them helpless.
No one outside could hear them when they started to scream. The walls were too thick.
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Unaware the villagers and Naruto were safe, Rock Lee stood atop a small pile of vanquished foes, arm still upraised, his entire body calm and focused on a single objective. The defeat of his remaining opponent.
Tekka.
"You're not bad... for a bushy-eyebrowed idiot," stated Tekka with a smirk. "But tell me... can you defeat a real ninja?" Rock Lee angrily bit back a retort. Gai-sensei had told him many times before that childish insults was a very cheap and ineffective means of fighting.
Sakura, however, had no such inhibitions.
"If we see one we'll let you know!" she shouted. Lee smirked. Trust his beloved Sakura to come up with a witty reply.
Tekka growled and charged forward, kunai filling his hands. Lee countered, moving in close as the two exchanged blows. Gone was any sense of Tekka's false clumsiness or hesitation, now he was all speed and agility. In fact, he quickly proved a match for Lee. What he lacked in raw speed he made up for in capable planning and maneuverability. He was also a master of the feint attack. Tekka's hurled both kunai, forcing Lee to tilt his body to dodge them, catching his fall with his hand and then pushing back up to his feet. As he did, Tekka's hands were already flowing into seals.
"Bunshin no Jutsu," he cried, and in moments, Rock Lee found himself surrounded by four Tekka's, each ready to fight him. However, if Tekka was hoping to throw Lee off by having him outnumbered, he was sorely mistaken. Training to battle Naruto's hard shadow Bunshin made him accustomed to being outnumbered.
Thus, when the attacks came, Lee twisted, blocked, dodged, and returned just as good as he got. His fist slipped through three of the replications, and they vanished as insubstantial as smoke, leaving only the original behind. By process of elimination...
... Lee's fist shot out, catching Tekka full in the stomach...
... but he too vanished and faded like a morning fog.
"What?"
The sudden crunching of rocks altered Lee to a new threat, and he leapt upwards and out of the way seconds before the ground around his former standing spot lifted up and crushed together where he'd been standing like the maw of some great animal. Had he been half a second slower, he would've been crushed instantly. As it was, he landed gracefully out of harm's way as Tekka started to emerge from under the rocks, parting the soil as if it was water.
"Dochuu Eigyo," he stated quietly.
"A trick I should've expected from Hidden Rock," replied Lee. Now he understood. Tekka had created -four- replications, not three, and he'd slipped under the ground sometime while Lee had been fighting with them. Then he'd tried an earth attack, and nearly broken Lee in two.
Sakura watched with concern, unable to get involved. She couldn't keep up with the other two combatants, even if her leg was fully healed. She had to keep her eyes open and wait for an opportunity to help Lee.
Be careful Lee, she thought.
Truly, his opponent was dangerous. And Lee needed to end this fight quickly. But he couldn't resort to Ura Renge. The Fifth Hokage had forbidden it, saying he wasn't fully recovered yet. The strain on his body might tear him apart. And while Lee (and even Gai) had scoffed at the notion, she had threatened to send him back to the Academy if he even tried it.
So it wasn't an option.
Fortunately, he had others.
Lee charged forward and leapt upwards, foot upraised, preparing to smash across Tekka's face, hoping to end the fight quickly. However, to his vast disappointment, the Hidden Rock chuunin was amply prepared, and slammed his hands down on the ground.
"Doro Gaeshi!"
A great wall of rock rose up to counter Lee's strike, though to his credit, he shattered right through it. It dulled his blow, however, so that Tekka had enough time to dodge out of the way and counter with a quick one-two strike to Lee's gut that sent him rolling out of the way.
"That all you got, Leafling?" he asked mockingly, dusting off his hands.
Lee frowned, insulted, and charged forward again. But this time, Tekka had been counting on that, so he'd reached into his pack and hurled three kunai with one hand. Lee caught the first two, dodging aside the third, not even slowing his forward movement. However, this momentary lapse in his focus on his enemy was all Tekka needed for his -other- hand to slip into his holster pouch and draw out a small glass vial, filled with a sickly reddish fluid. Now that Lee was closer, and given his brief distraction, Tekka hurled the vial at him.
It shattered on impact, as it was designed to do, and instantly Lee was awash in a filthy crimson vial. He staggered, collapsing backwards onto the ground as it almost instantly took effect.
"Aaaagh!"
Tekka just laughed. "Imbecile boy... do you really think I'd be so easy to defeat? That's a concentrated form of the Crimson Plague I've just splashed you with... you'll be dead within ten minutes... at most. Heh... now nothing can save your little girlfriend, eh, Leafie?" he asked, holding up his pinkie to mock Rock Lee, who lay on the ground, writhing in agony. Red lesions were already starting to break out all over his skin.
"You los-..."
Tap. Tap.
Someone was tapping on his shoulder. Tekka blinked in surprise, turning around...
... just in time to see a small but powerful fist coming right towards his face.
"You... BASTARD!"
Sakura's fist struck with the force of a meteor, shattering Tekka's nose and cracking his jaw, rendering his face nothing less than a bloody mess. Her follow through sent him flying through the air like he'd been hurled from a catapult, and he went soaring off into the distance.
He'd land about a mile away from Takaki, on the edge of the Earth Country/Fire Country border, barely alive, missing half of his teeth.
"SHANNARO!"
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Author's Notes:
I've sooo wanted Sakura to make a similar move on Sasuke for ages now. forms seals Character substitution no jutsu!