Sasuke gaped open-mouthed at the gigantic monster before him.
"Kakashi-sensei, what happened to them?" Sakura asked suddenly, breaking the spell of shock binding them all. Sakura gestured towards the people seated in the stands, horror-stricken. All of the civilians had collapsed in their seats, bodies motionless as puppets with the strings cut. Sasuke saw sparks of life among the shinobi in attendance and noted with relief that his family was already conscious and moving, as were the Hyuuga clan members.
"It's a Sleep-Inducing genjutsu" Kakashi explained hurriedly, already advancing towards the edge of the stand and lifting his headband to reveal his Sharingan. "I shielded you three from it, but obviously most of the others weren't so lucky."
Tilting its head back, the creature laughed manically, his rows of jagged teeth clearly in view. Puffing his cheeks into large lumps, the creature pursed his lips and blew.
A giant, horizontal cyclone exploded into the arena. The cyclone sped towards the edge of the stadium and slammed into the stands, demolishing an entire section of seating. Team 7 looked on in horror at the carnage. That section of the stadium had been completely flattened, the wood and metal that it had once been comprised of broken into a thousand pieces of debris littering the inside of the stadium and the grounds outside it. The bodies of the people who had been sitting in that section were lying stiff and motionless on the ground where their seats had once been.
Every single person who had been seated in that section was dead. Some were overtly deceased, their bodies torn in half, blood drenching their clothes and soaking the ground and litter around them, limbs crushed or, on occasion, missing entirely, with only bloody nubs of flesh marking their absence, chests crushed beneath the debris, compressed by the enormous weight, eyes painfully vacant.
Others, mainly those who had attempted to jump out of the way, were cleanly dead, with merely a small incision or cut on the back of the head to mark their deaths.
It was sickening.
The creature laughed, pleased with the destruction. "Look how far the mighty have fallen. Literately," he added with a sneer, "although I guarantee that your village's figurative fall will be as great as their literal one!"
Kakashi grabbed the railing on the edge of the stands. "Wake the Shinobi by dispelling the genjutsu, and evacuate the dignitaries and do the same for them. Hurry!" He ordered.
"But Kakashi-sensei, you're going to need our help to beat that thing!" Naruto argued, leaning over the seats and unconscious spectators in front of him.
"Go now, Naruto!" Kakashi's voice left little room for debate. "Now!"
"You wake the ninja Naruto," Sasuke ordered sternly as he darted through the stands "Sakura, come with me."
Grumbling, Naruto formed the hand sign for his signature jutsu generating thirty facsimiles of himself. The clones rushed about the stands, finding and waking unconscious shinobi as Sasuke and Sakura slipped through the crowd.
Obviously the Daimyos and their families came first. Konoha could not afford to have their deaths on its record. The Daimyo Sasuke saw first, the Bean Jam Daimyo, was truly pathetic; an extremely obese man, draped in expensive red robes. His white hair plastered to his massive pink face and a stream of drool steadily flowed from his thin chapped lips.
'Disgusting.' Sasuke knelt beside the man and looped his arms around the older man's massive girth, Grunting, he pulled the older man to his plump feet. Charging an ordinate amount of chakra into his feet, Sasuke dragged the older man out of the stadium.
The moment Sasuke's feet hit the hard packed soil of the ground outside the stadium he released the Daimyo, letting the corpulent man hit the ground with a resounding "thud". Sasuke wove his fingers together, forming the horse seal. He pressed two fingers of his right hand to the Daimyo's head, forcing him awake.
"Ow! What are you doing?" The Daimyo protested angrily, rubbing his head. "What happened? What's going on?"
Sasuke ignored the opulent man's protests and rushed back into the stadium through the hole, stepping over and around the lifeless bodies. Flies were beginning to gather around the corpses, and Sasuke wished he could take the time to move them, to give them a proper burial, or to at least shoo the insects away. They didn't deserve this. One little girl, still holding her brother's hand, looked up at him, her eyes frozen in death.
He didn't stop. He couldn't, as much as he wanted to. And he really, really wanted to.
He dashed up the aisles of the still standing sections. His next dignitary was a respectable old man with a thinning gray beard who was thankfully far lighter than his last target. His rescue was far less dramatic; upon awakening, he merely blinked and nodded his head.
Sasuke returned from his second trip as Sakura returned from hers. They worked side by side, with no superfluous words between them. Sasuke took the heavier men and women, leaving Sakura with the easier job.
They did not slow until they reached "the sisters", as the two girls had been dubbed. They were half-sisters, technically; a teenage beauty and her young, vociferous toddler sister. They were the nieces of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire and highly honored guests who had been cannily separated from the riff-raff.
Currently, they looked anything but dignified. The elder was slumped on the floor, head bleeding from a cut she had received as she passed out. The child was curled into a ball on the seat, face frozen, deep brown hair that had once been painstakingly arranged in two elaborate buns now covering half of her face. They were pitiful.
Sakura gently lifted the toddler into her arms. Cradling her maternalistically, she carefully navigated the narrow seats. Sasuke followed her, cautiously picking up the elder niece and carrying her down the seats. Despite the blood caking her face and staining her white dress, she was quite beautiful. Long, brilliant red hair, flawless complexion, practically perfect figure; she was a picture of feminine vulnerability.
While carrying a gorgeous, unconscious woman may have been arousing for some, Sasuke had absolutely no interest in the girl in his arms. There's nothing attractive about helplessness. In fact, there's nothing less appealing.
Nevertheless, Sasuke was gentler with the young girl, who was no more than sixteen, than he had been with the others. Her fragility was clearly not pretense.
He placed her on the ground and woke her quickly. She sat up and called for her sister, who came running to join her.
A breathless Sakura rejoined him at the hole. "Is that everyone?" Sakura asked.
"Everyone whose death could cause the destruction for the village or open war," Sasuke replied sarcastically. He cursorily observed the battle. The crowd of ninja around the monster consisted mainly of Hyuugas and Uchihas, although he spotted Asuma's genin and their corresponding fathers.
"Sasuke-teme!" Sakura and Naruto looked up in unison. Naruto was standing at the railing of a row of seats above them, amid a crowd of clones and some groggy shinobi. Naruto formed the horse seal and woke the last man. "You two done dragging those puffed up bastards out?"
"We're clear!" Sakura yelled up to him.
"Let's go!" Naruto answered. Grinning confidently, he released several dozen more clones, and with an impulsive battle cry jumped down into the arena.
Sakrua stepped forward timorously, eyes glued to the giant monster. She can't fight. She knows it, too. Sasuke grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her back.
"Wait," he ordered.
She stared at him, her infamous brow furrowed. "What?"
"Your taijutsu won't work on him, and your genjutsu will be worthless." Sakura winced and drew back slightly, but Sasuke knew she was intelligent enough to see the truth. He had caught glimpses of the fight, and taijutsu and genjutsu masters far more skilled than Sakura had failed. "Get the rest of the civilians out, and keep your head down."
"But I should help-"
"You haven't seen your mother yet." It wasn't a question. Sasuke had noticed the frantic look in her eyes after the creature had destroyed the section of the stands. Sakura shook her head no. "Find her. Help her."
"But I have to help them fight it!" Sakura declared desperately.
"You can't," Sasuke answered angrily. Dammit, I'm not going to let you get your fool head crushed because you feel some masochistic need to play the hero! "Save the civilians. Or do they not matter to you?"
She inhaled sharply, face ashen. "You know," she whispered, voice shaking with suppressed anger, "you know they do."
"Help them." Sasuke turned away, not waiting for an affirmative. She would follow his orders. She always did.
This time Sakura grabbed his arm. "Take my chakra."
Sasuke gawked at his teammate as though she had grown another head. What the hell did you just say? "What?"
Sakura repeated herself slowly. "Take my chakra. You need it after the fight with Neji, and I'll be okay – it doesn't take much chakra to wake them up." Sensing an impending argument, she hastily added, "I won't leave until you do!"
You pampered, idiotic, self-righteous, foolish, annoying brat! Sasuke fumed. "No," he answered.
Sakura held his stern gaze, bright green eyes lit with determination, lips clenched together tightly. "I won't go. Do it, Sasuke-kun. I want you to."
Sasuke growled. He needed to get to the fight, and she was not moving. "Don't be stupid."
"It makes perfect sense," she retorted stubbornly, pout firmly ensconced on her lips. "You need it, and I don't need it so much-"
"I'm not stealing your chakra!" He was becoming seriously frustrated and insulted. "I don't need it!" The truth was, he was a tad low on chakra. He could use a boost, but he wasn't about to take it from his own teammate. The Hyuuga bastard, yes, her? No. And, naturally, he would never admit that his chakra reserves had dwindled.
"But you could use it," she amended. "It would help. You have to stop it, and I want to help you. Please, Sasuke-kun."
"I'll be fine," he said angrily, looking away from her. Some would have called her concern touching. He considered it an annoying nuisance.
"Yeah, you will be, but I don't want to risk it!" Sakura ran in front of him. "Please!"
Fine, he acquiesced. "It's going to be painful," he warned her.
"I know." And she did. She had experienced it in the preliminaries, a fact Sasuke wished he could forget.
The monster threw a shinobi their way. He slammed into the edge of the stadium and moaned loudly. "You'd better hurry," Sakura said.
"Fine." Sasuke formed the hand seals hastily, watching his teammate carefully in case she decided to back down. Sakura was clearly scared; her pupils were dilated, she was fidgeting, and she was glancing about nervously. At the same time, however, she would not give in. Sasuke respected that, as irresponsible as it was.
"Are you sure?" He asked on final time.
"Do it," Sakura ordered through gritted teeth, eyes clenched prematurely in anticipation of the pain.
Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hands tightly and began to siphon her chakra. She squeezed her eyes even tighter and bit her lip until it bleed, sending one delicate drop of blood trickling down her chin. I'm sorry. Sasuke knew no gentler way to accomplish what she wanted done.
The process took less than a minute, but to Sasuke it felt far longer. He released her early, taking less chakra than she had ordered.
"There. Now get-"
"I know," she cut him off softly. "Go."
Sasuke ran back into the arena.
The attack on the creature was disorganized, to say the least. The Hyuugas and Uchihas were fighting with a semblance of order, but the creature's wild and hugely destructive attacks made it difficult to organize a proper fighting force.
Sasuke dove into the middle of the action and activated his sharingan. Without hesitation he attacked, using his Fireball jutsu on the monster's impressively sized shin. The creature barely blinked, choosing to ignore the pesky genin in favor of deflecting an overzealous Hyuuga.
It's got to have a weakness! Sasuke thought as he darted around the creature. Everything has some weak spot!
The creature slammed its fist into a group of three ninja, crushing two of them beneath its fist. The shockwaves from the hit reverberated throughout the arena, misbalancing all those within.
Itachi appeared above the rabble, as calm and collected as always, lips pursed. Two clones were beside him, standing at attention. The trio jumped into the air and separated, forming a mutilated triangle. In unison they fired off three Flame Dragons. The nine fire dragons converged around the creature's head, burning its face. It howled in pain as the flames crept across its head, deforming its features and attacking its eyes. It staggered, momentarily blinded by the fire.
A chunin with shaggy black hair jumped theatrically into the air and smote the monster on the head with a mace with a clam-like head. The creature roared and lunged wildly for the ninja, who gleefully ducked and ran, giving center stage to a pair of Hyuugas who were charging at the still-blind monster.
The crowd of shinobi was gaining some semblance of order with those careful attacks, and more and more ninja were beginning to land hits. Less powerful ninja served as distractions and bait, charging foolhardily at the monster and barely evading his clutches, while more powerful ones used the monster's distractions to their advantage.
Just as another wave of ninja was primed to attack the monster suddenly whipped his tail around and slammed it at the group. He thrashed at the ninja around him, knocking his fists into and around them and furiously pelting them with violent sand attack. It was an uncoordinated attack that worked horrifically well.
Sand was now everywhere; Sasuke could taste it in his mouth, feel its gritty texture in his eyes and ears, and he didn't even want to think about where it could have traveled on his body.
The monster laughed. "Is that all you puny ninja can do? Leaf is even more worthless than I imagined."
A green blur jumped up, separating from the crowd of shinobi attacking the monster. "Laugh all you want, Shukaku!" Gai yelled enthusiastically, "but the power of youth will triumph in the end!"
I suppose one should give him points for enthusiasm, Sasuke thought, even though he is possibly the most ridiculous ninja Konoha has ever produced. Gai managed a few grazing blows before the Shukaku knocked him away.
"Sasuke! Cover!" Shisui yelled to him. Sasuke didn't need to be told twice.
Distracting an enormous monster hell-bent on destroying an entire village (and strong enough to accomplish said goal) was challenging, which was why Sasuke decided he had to be inventively idiotic.
The Shukaku's back was turned to him, so he had a few precious moments to work in peace. He withdrew his cables and wrapped each end around a kunai. He flung them at the monster, and to his surprise they lodged into the back of the monster's shoulders. Pulling back on the other end of the cables, he prepared himself for the jump. He released the cables' tautness and jumped at the same time, launching himself at the monster. He jammed the other kunai enhanced end of the cable into the monster's back.
Now the Shukaku could feel him. Good.
Sasuke pressed his hands together and created a Fireball jutsu, hitting the monster square in the back of the head.
"You little bastard!" The Shukaku yelled. Sasuke slid down his back, narrowly avoiding the monster's fists.
He had the Shukaku's full attention. Sasuke darted back and forth around the monster, keeping its exclusive attention and, by proxy, nearly getting caught. The "almost getting caught" wasn't a game; he was only a half a second ahead of the monster, and he knew if he stumbled he would probably die a very inglorious death.
Hurry up, Shisui! How freaking long does it take you?
The creature's fist barely grazed him but still managed to knock him against the edge of the stadium. The air rushed out of his chest, and he fell to the ground for a moment, stunned.
A hand caught his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. "You okay?" Etsuko asked over the roar of the battle.
Sasuke hadn't quite regained his breath, so he nodded in reply, momentarily forgetting his distaste for the woman in front of him. The bombs Shisui had planted exploded, momentarily smarting the monster but not crippling him. Damn. All that work for nothing.
"Good." She sent a quick, errant glance towards the ongoing battle. "Listen, one of the Hyuuga bastards figured out the thing's weak spot." Etsuko pressed the middle of her forehead with her index finger. "Right here. That's where the kid is, and that's where we have to hit it."
As much as Sasuke hated to admit it, the Hyuugas really were a help in this fight. "How will we reach it?" Sasuke asked, still wheezing slightly.
"Eh, the bigwigs are still figuring that one out, although the more important question is how hard we're gonna have to hit it to stop it." Etsuko shoved him away and jumped backwards just in time to avoid the Shukaku's fist. "Try not to die in the meantime!"
A bandanna clad chunin was rushing at the Shukaku now. He spread his hands and sprayed the monster with some strange gel-like substance. It dispersed on the Shukaku's hands, multiplying as it moved, encasing the appendages in its thick substance, pinning the hands down and rendering them useless.
Furious, the Shukaku whipped its tail around towards the line of attacking shinobi, firing darts of sand. Sasuke flattened himself against the wall of the stadium to avoid being hit. Around him shinobi yelled and scrambled to avoid the darts. The sand darts buried themselves into their targets. Those who were hit fell silently, mouths and bodies frozen stiff, and lay motionless on the dirt. The closest ninja was not even a meter away from Sasuke, and he did not have to approach them to know they were dead.
The chaos of the fight was starting to reach a fever pitch. The monster was uncomfortably close to Sasuke, so the genin launched off three Phoenix Flower Jutsus in quick succession. It gave him enough time to withdraw and bury himself in the mass of shinobi.
I don't have much time. I have to find them. He searched wildly, looking for confirmation.
Shisui was near Itachi, and both were thankfully unharmed. Sasuke hadn't the time to locate all of his family, but from what he could see they were all fine.
Naruto was near the front lines, as loud and rambunctious as ever. He spotted Sasuke and yelled something inaudible. Sasuke wove in between shinobi, dashing towards his friend.
"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked over the din of the battle unfolding around them.
It was a question Sasuke had been asking. "I don't know."
Naruto stopped moving. He looked directly at Sasuke, daring him to lie. "Do you think he got hit?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Damn bastard's too stubborn for that." He wasn't worried about his sensei. He's fine. He pushed the nagging doubt back. He's always fine. Isn't he? He's-
He caught sight of his sensei. He's- why is he standing behind Akimichi's father?
Kakashi was directly behind the elder Akimichi, who was forming hands signs at a rapid rate.
"Whatdya think he's doing?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke didn't have to answer his friend's question. Before Sasuke could open his mouth in reply Akimichi Choza started to grow taller. His body increased exponentially, growing until it was the size of the Shukaku. Kakashi latched onto his back, scrambling up the jonin's shirt until he reached his hair.
Fantastic. Now our sensei's a pervert and a louse. Sasuke watched as Choza and the Shukaku tussled, the Shukaku furiously pounding Choza and the Akimichi ninja steadily fighting back. Now rather than later, Hatake!
Choza bowed his head towards the Shukaku as they fought, and Kakashi chose that moment to make his dramatic appearance.
He leapt from Choza's hair with his raikiri ready. Yelling something that sounded curiously similar to a battle cry, he thrust the raikiri into the Shukaku's forehead.
The Shukaku screamed. The sound it made was almost indescribable: there was rage, and a hell of a lot of it; there was pain, and a hell of a lot of it; but most of all, and overriding all there rest, was a sense of despair and fear. The scream was one last shout, one last cry before the end.
The creature dissolved, the once giant monster disintegrating into a pile of sand. Gaara, the Sand nin, was lying in the middle of the stand, very still. There was an enormous hole in his chest, compliments of Kakashi's raikiri.
"Is it dead?" Naruto questioned, peering at the sand uneasily, as if he were afraid the monster would return at any moment. "Is…Gaara dead?"
"It would appear so," Kakashi responded, dropped to his knees beside the silent genin. He pressed two of his fingers to the boy's neck. "Although his vital signs indicate that he is still alive, although barely. He'll need immediate medical attention if he is to survive."
Barely is an understatement. He's going to need some serious help to live. Sasuke couldn't help but think of the fiasco in the Land of Waves. Lots of people do cheat death, I suppose, but I doubt he'll be so lucky.
There was a flicker of movement, and four ANBU agents appeared in front of Kakashi, wedging their way between him and Gaara rudely.
The tallest of the four spoke first. His light yellow-brown robe and hood marked him as an ANBU captain, and therefore the leader of the group. "We'll take it from here," he said in an indistinct monotone. "Those of you still capable of fighting should leave; the village is under attack by Suna and Otto nin." He waved a hand towards his three colleagues. "They will lead you there."
The three other ANBU agents immediately turned and left. The scattered shinobi quickly fell in line behind them. Squelching a small bit of resentment (the ANBU agents hadn't even bothered to help in the fight, and now they were acting like they were the damn gods over everyone else), Sasuke started to follow. He cast one last backward glance at the ANBU captain, who had gathered Gaara in his arms.
The ANBU captain's mask suddenly became transparent, and Sasuke could clearly see a face underneath it. Kabuto? What the hell? The apparition disappeared instantly, and the mask was as thick and white as ever.
The ANBU captain did not look at Sasuke. He whirled around and leaped out through the whole in the stadium. Before he realized what he was doing, Sasuke followed.
That can't be Kabuto! Sasuke thought. Kabuto was a genin, and a fairly worthless genin at that. He failed the chunin exams seven times! Anyone worth anything could pass it after that many tries!
Unless he didn't want to pass. The ANBU captain increased speed, darting around trees and over stumps. Sasuke ran after him, suppressing his chakra signature. Why wouldn't he want to pass? And how the hell could he get an ANBU uniform? The other men wouldn't follow him if he wasn't really an ANBU agent, would they?
The ANBU agent stopped abruptly. Sasuke paused, hiding behind a tree. The ANBU let Gaara's legs hit the ground, freeing his left hand. What's he doing now? The agent wound his other arm even tighter around Gaara, stretching until it could reach his other hand.
Alright, so he's going to do some jutsu. Sasuke activated his sharingan, eyes glued to the man in front of him. Perfect.
The hand signs came, fast and furious. Sasuke didn't recognize the jutsu, although one of the sequences of hand signs seemed familiar. It's probably related to one of our jutsu, he thought. He watched intently as the man spun his jutsu, slowly down as he approached the end.
He disappeared.
Sasuke jolted straight, forgetting that he was technically in hiding. Where'd he go? He whipped his head back and forth, searching fruitlessly for the man. Is this an invisibility jutsu? Perhaps the agent had discovered his presence, and intended to kill him-
No. It's something else. He wouldn't go to all that trouble. That jutsu, whatever it was, sucked a lot of his chakra.
He had two choices: he could capitulate and return and help the others, or he could attempt to copy the jutsu in hopes of finding the ANBU agent.
There really was no question in his mind. He cracked his knuckles and formed the first hand sign. Here we go.
The signs flew as rapidly and smoothly as they had on the captain's hands. He cleared his mind, focusing on only the task before him. He increased his flow of chakra steadily, preparing for the climax of the jutsu.
He was approached the end; there were only three signs left. He clasped his hands together for the final sign and discharged a huge amount of chakra. Sasuke saw a fading energy trail ahead of him and instinctively forced his chakra to attack to it. Please, please work!
The scenery around Sasuke blurred, like he was sprinting, except he hadn't budged an inch. He was connected to the path of energy that the ANBU had left behind.
What is this? Sasuke was completely lost. He had no idea what was going on, but he was not about to stop the jutsu mid-stream.
Finally, the scenery stopped running, and the whole world came to a crashing halt as the world ended. Disoriented, Sasuke fell clumsily face first. The world and the ground were flipped upside down, and everything seemed to be spinning around him. He clutched the ground and willed the world to stop moving. It refused to listen.
His stomach turned, and the nausea returned. Stay calm!
He forced himself to focus. One step at a time. He breathed slowly, separating each gasp into an inhale and an exhale. I have to get up. Gingerly he pushed his body off the ground, fighting the urge to vomit. It'll be better once I get up.
He steadied himself, leaning against a tree to keep from falling again. The world stopped spinning, and he reached out to sense where the ANBU had gone.
There! He's nearby! Sasuke sprinted, heading straight for the ANBU. Just up ahead!
Sasuke burst through the trees recklessly and landed in a small clearing. His eyes grew large.
Kabuto was standing into the middle of the field, yellow hood pulled back and ANBU mask conspicuously absent. Gaara was still in his arms.
Across from Kabuto stood another man. He was hunched over; the top of his head came only to Kabuto's chest. His body looked practically round underneath the cape. He wore a half mask covering his nose and lips and a large, full length black coat with red clouds embroidered on the outside. The high collar of the coat covered him to his chin, so the only visible portion of his dusky face was his dark brown eyes. A long, metallic tail with a spike at the end protruded from underneath the cloak, and it waved intimidatingly behind him.
"Well, well," the man said. "It seems we have an intruder." He sounded more bemused than upset by Sasuke's appearance.
"Just a silly Leaf genin who's gotten in over his head, Sasori-sama," Kabuto returned congenially, passing Gaara to the man, who threw the genin over his shoulder. "Please, allow me to deal with this pest, and you can be on your way."
"Very well," Sasori replied, shifting Gaara. "After all, it would be rude to be late to our organization's first meeting in over five years." Organization? What organization? "Make sure our esteemed colleague isn't too late."
Esteemed colleague? Sasuke glanced from Kabuto to Sasori. Who are they talking about? What the hell is going on?
"Of course," Kabuto answered respectfully, smiling softly. The sun hit his glasses, making his eyes disappear behind the glare. Sasori turned away and disappeared.
"You know," Kabuto said in an almost friendly tone of voice. "It really is a shame you had to be so inquisitive, Sasuke-kun. You had a bright future."
"But truly," he started to pace, stepping first to the right and then the left, eyes glued to Sasuke, "what did you think you were doing? Only a genin, and after a month of training you think you're ready to stick your nose into ANBU level business."
Kabuto chuckled darkly. "Of course, you Uchihas always were arrogant."
Sasuke tensed, sliding into a fighting stance. Kabuto was going to try to kill him, and currently the need to survive was greater than the need to protect his clan's pride.
Kabuto sighed. "We could do this the easy way, Sasuke. One incision, a painless end; all in all, not that-"
Sasuke charged. Perhaps it was foolhardy, but there was nothing to be gained by listening to Kabuto monologue. Nothing at all.
He withdrew three kunai armed with exploding tags and tossed them at Kabuto, who easily deflected the projectiles with a flick of his wrist. Sasuke made the Tiger seal and blew a huge ball of fire Kabuto's way.
His enemy disappeared the second before the flame hit him. Sasuke landed solidly on the ground, already searching for his opponent.
He didn't have to search long. Before he could take a single step, Kabuto reappeared directly behind him and slammed a chakra charged fist into his back. Sasuke fell forward, stunned by the intensity of the hit.
I've got to get out of the way! Frantically he rolled to the right, barely avoiding another brutal hit from Kabuto. He leapt backwards, landing beside a rotten oak tree. He mustered enough chakra for a Fireball Jutsu, which Kabuto effortlessly avoided.
Wordlessly Kabuto pressed his hands together. Sasuke's sharingan saw long, thin spikes of chakra extend from his fingers. Kabuto swiped forward, nearly slicing into Sasuke's stomach. The genin dove backwards to avoid the blades. He wasn't entirely sure what the blades would do if they hit him, but he knew it wouldn't be pleasant.
It was a game of cat and mouse. Kabuto played with him, evading Sasuke's jutsus and his badly planned and ill-conceived strikes, content to wait for Sasuke to fail. Kabuto was wearing him down, and enjoying himself immensely in the process. Sasuke was faster, if only slightly, but he was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He knew he couldn't keep his pace up much longer.
Sasuke decided to take a chance. He had nothing to lose.
Kabuto was finally taking the offensive. He raced forward, hands poised to sink his scalpels into Sasuke. At the very last minute, Sasuke executed a substitution jutsu, replacing his body with a hunk of rotten wood. He reappeared behind Kabuto, hands already forming the hand seals for his Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
The flames erupted forcefully, hurtling their way at Kabuto. Surprised, the nin ducked and rolled to the side to avoid the jutsu. Sasuke moved as Kabuto did, running straight at his opponent.
"Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed, directing all of his power towards Kabuto. He made the fire stronger and brighter than he ever had, focusing all his extra chakra into the jutsu. This strike had to stop Kabuto. It had to.
Kabuto lurched to the side, and for once his cool equanimity slipped. The jutsu slammed into him, sending his body spinning to the edge of the clearing, clothes aflame.
"That was a good trick, Sasuke." Sasuke felt his stomach drop. "I can see why Orochimaru-sama has taken such interest in you."
I should have realized it wasn't him! Sasuke whirled around. Kabuto was standing just a few meters from him, smiling condescendingly. His clothes were visibly scorched but his body still conspicuously free of burns.
Rage overwhelmed him. He was tired and frustrated and, although he would never admit it, scared. For the first time since he had faced Orochimaru, he was starting to worry that he could not defeat his foe.
That rage and fear made him sloppy. He recklessly attacked, swinging at Kabuto with no rhyme or reason, merely emotion.
He paid for it.
Kabuto cut into Sasuke's shoulder with his chakra scalpel. Sasuke jumped away, clutching his right arm with his left.
His right arm was completely numb from his shoulder down. Completely numb. He couldn't feel it, and he couldn't move it. It was deadweight, hanging uselessly from his body.
Not. Good.
Kabuto ran forward, arm raised for another strike. Sasuke barely avoided the hit, throwing his body to the side to escape. He dragged his body away, staggering wildly in an attempt to avoid the scalpels.
Think! With his arm numb, he couldn't create any jutsu. He still had his weapons, but his supply was growing low, and he had a feeling he would need more than a few kunai or shuriken to take down Kabuto.
Sasuke tried anyway. Withdrawing a fistful of shuriken, he sent the weapons hurtling towards his foe. Kabuto knocked them away with a kunai, shaking his head at Sasuke's foolishness. Without pausing Kabuto attacked again, face placid, scalpels predominately in view.
Sasuke waited, allowing Kabuto to approach unhindered. He needed him close, closer than was even safe, really, to pull off what he was planning. A negative voice in the back of his head insisted that it wasn't going to work, but Sasuke was too desperate to even think of listening to it.
Closer, closer, closer…now!
Sasuke leapt backwards and flung a handful of kunai armed with exploding tags at Kabuto. The tags exploded, creating a glorious flume of smoke that eliminated his view of Kabuto. Sasuke hung back, too unsure to check to see if Kabuto was conscious and too wary to try and make his escape. He might still be awake.
Sasuke never saw Kabuto emerge from the smoke. He never saw the clouds part or heard the light footsteps or felt the now ever so familiar chakra signature rise and charge at him.
But he certainly felt it as Kabuto sliced into his chest with a chakra scalpel.
It didn't kill him, as Sasuke had feared it might, and he thanked a higher power he did not believe in for that.
It did, however, make his chest implode with pain. It was a searing, burning, stabbing pain, and while it originated in his chest it was so intense that Sasuke could feel it in every part of his body. He felt like throwing up and passing out and screaming all at the same time.
He had time to do nothing. Kabuto did not wait for him to recover before moving again, scalpels raised on one hand and knuckles bared on the other, his face as mockingly confident as it had ever been.
One of Kabuto's punches caught Sasuke in the face. Blood spurted from his nose, gushing down his face readily, filling his mouth with the steely taste of blood. He spat it out, but the taste and smell lingered, reminding him of his imminent fate.
I'm too low on chakra. That teleportation jutsu took the majority of my reserves, and even if I had the use of my arm, I couldn't pull off another chidori. Kabuto smiled at him cockily, as though he could read Sasuke's mind. He's going to kill me.
Sasuke had never been one to fantasize about his death. As any shinobi child, he had always considered death as a causality of war to be the most honorable way to die, but he had never thought about how exactly he would fall.
If he had, though, it most certainly would not have been the way he was about to die, as a mere genin facing a foe that he never should have been fighting in the first place.
Sasuke had no escape as Kabuto cornered him, forcing him against a line of trees. Kabuto sliced into him again, this time carving into his upper thigh with the precision of a surgeon. His left leg was now useless, and Sasuke crumpled to the ground.
He looked up at Kabuto with hatred in his eyes. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing him defeated. He kept his angry snarl on his mouth and his antagonistic gleam in his eyes. He was about to fall, and he knew it, but he wouldn't let Kabuto see it. He was too stubborn and too prideful to fall that far.
Kabuto raised a hand armed with chakra scalpels. "As I said earlier, Sasuke-kun," he said lightly, "it's just too sad."
A huge wall of flame slammed into Kabuto, knocking him away from Sasuke and throwing him across the clearing.
Sasuke pushed himself up, ignoring the pain that was coursing through his body, and gaped at the new entrant in the battle.
Shisui stood not four meters from him, hands still clutched in the tiger seal. Shisui looked wild. His pitch black hair was characteristically wild, falling in waves around his face and headband. His pale skin was lightly flushed, the result of strain and adrenaline. His black outfit and jonin vest were scuffed and slightly torn, and his sharingan was fully activated. He relaxed his body and slid his hands into his pockets, resorting to his nonchalant façade.
"You've looked better, Sasuke," Shisui said playfully.
"So have you," Sasuke retorted, trying to sound unaffected.
Kabuto rose and straightened his disarrayed clothing. "Well," Kabuto said calmly. "I must admit, I did not anticipate your arrival."
Shisui grinned thinly. "No one ever does. You've really stooped low, picking on genin now. Where's the fun in that?"
He's pissed. Despite his blasé attitude, he was actually upset. Sasuke felt calm, despite the fact that he was lying on the ground, effectively paralyzed. Shisui's presence was remarkably and inexplicably calming.
Kabuto did not look away from Shisui. "Nice try, Shisui, but your parlor tricks won't work on me."
"Eh, it was worth a shot," Shisui replied, shrugging his shoulders. He flickered behind Kabuto and pounded the ninja with the blunt side of a kunai. "Guess we'll just do this the fun way."
Shisui was the fastest ninja in Konoha. He flickered around Kabuto, moving faster than a normal eye could follow. For his part, Kabuto attempted to block Shisui's strikes and anticipate his movements, but he was too slow and too unaccustomed to fighting such a speedy opponent.
Shisui disappeared, and Kabuto turned sideways in a foolhardy attempt to catch the ninja. Shisui reappeared directly in front of Kabuto and slammed his fist into the gray haired nin's head.
Kabuto collapsed unceremoniously on the ground, unconscious.
Took you long enough.
Shisui examined Kabuto quickly. "Yes, he is in Sleepy Bye Land," he announced. He looked at Sasuke. "Can you walk?"
Sasuke stretched his legs and found to his supreme relief that he had regained feeling in his left leg. His right arm was still limp, but he could hobble now. "Yeah," he answered, pulling himself up.
"We'll go slow. He's not waking up anytime soon." Shisui grimaced. "And that means I'm going to have to carry him back. Wonderful."
In spite of the lingering pain, Sasuke smirked. Serves you right.
"Don't smirk at me, you little ingrate, or I'll make you carry him."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. You'd end up carrying us both, idiot. He didn't answer verbally, however; he just started the long trek home.
"Besides," Shisui added as he stepped in line beside his cousin. "If I were you, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to get home. You'll have to face another round of ANBU questioning."
Sasuke couldn't hold back a groan, and Shisui laughed.
I hate you, Sasuke thought only half-jokingly as the pain in his chest flared again.
"Love you too, cuz."
A/N: So, yes, this is a little bit shorter, but I think it's still a pretty good length. Yay for 300 reviews, btw! Thank you guys so much! This chapter was the MOST fun to write, even though it was the hardest and most research intensive of all the chapters. I'll admit: I haven't watched Shippuden (except for a few clips of certain episodes on youtube), so my knowledge was limited. Oh, and I DO think Sasuke could have beaten Kabuto, but he was at a disadvantage (he'd been fighting all day, he had just tried a new jutsu for the first time, he knew nothing about Kabuto's powers, etc., etc.)
Hope you liked the chapter! Well, you know the drill :) Let me know what you think!