!oturaN nwo t'nod I :remialcsiD
The Pairings are not the main point of the story, but in this chapter I hint at some NejiTen and LeeTen, though it won't really go anywhere in this fic as far as I'm aware.
Chapter 12
Byakugan's Bane: Meteor Lotus is Born!
Medal Count so Far:
Sand Team: 9
Team 8: 9
Team 6: 3
Team 9: 3
Team 10: 3
"Nothing personal, Kotetsu… but we just need these medals." said Lee to the unconscious Chuunin as he held his medal in his "Nice Guy" pose.
"I thought I was done for when he summoned that huge mace…" Tenten sighed, "If it weren't for you, Neji, I'd be…"
"Then don't get careless next time." he said, walking away.
Tenten seemed to deflate visibly as she and Lee followed Neji off into the trees.
"I won't let you two down next time." Tenten said.
"Let us down? You didn't let us down." Lee replied.
"It seems like it."
"Well then, you didn't let me down."
Lee gave his best "Nice Guy" pose as he could while traveling.
"The Sand Team." said Neji, falling back to talk with them.
"What?" Tenten asked.
"I see the Sand Team heading towards the Tower. We could catch them unawares. Do we do it?"
"I would be willing, but…" Lee looked at Tenten.
Tenten seemed silent. She was struggling between letting her team down and good reason. She knew she would be useless, as the only one who she could possibly harm with her projectile attacks would be Kankurou.
Lee was still looking at her.
"Actually I do not think I want to." Lee said, with less gusto than ever.
Neji raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you said you were willing."
"Uhh, I just remembered about that sand guy Gaara and I don't want to anymore."
Is this Lee? He never turns down a challenge. Neji thought.
"All right. We keep going." he said.
Once Neji was ahead again, Tenten looked at Lee as if to say thanks for the save.
He gave her a thumbs up in response.
A half hour later, Neji spoke up again.
"There's a Rock-nin traveling towards us a few miles ahead and to the east."
"Just one? Shouldn't we wait until they're together so we can get all three medals?" Tenten asked.
Neji shook his head.
"This guy has three medals himself."
That means his team is strong, if they have all 9 of their medals… Lee thought.
"So we ambush him before his teammates can come." Tenten said.
Neji nodded.
"Let's go!"
They headed to their right.
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The Rock-nin looked to be about six and a half feet tall, with bulging muscles. He seemed as solid as a rock. Just as he landed in the clearing, a green blur shot out from the bushes.
"Leaf Hurricane!"
Several kicks pummeled the ninja, who seemed about as fazed as a bear would by a bunny rabbit. Lee jumped back, somersaulting in the air, and landing, retreating back to the bushes.
"His skin!" he yelled, "It's… It's like I can't hurt him!"
The Rock-nin laughed.
"That's right! You can't hurt me!"
"Grr… Tenten!"
A rain of kunai flew out of the bushes, striking the Rock-nin with no effect.
"I see… his skin… must be some Kekkai Genkai of the Rock village, it's literally made of rock. He's practically impervious to normal Taijutsu." Neji said.
"What?" Lee asked, "But we're a Taijutsu team. How are we going to stop him?"
"My Gentle Fist should still work." Neji said.
"Quit… hiding!" The Rock-nin yelled, pointing his fists at Tenten's hiding spot, and then at Neji and Lee's.
To Team 9's amazement… his fists of rock fired off his arms, propelling at them. They barely managed to get out of the way in time. Then the fists went right back to his arms.
"Dangit… we have to beat him before his teammates come!" Tenten yelled.
The Rock-nin laughed.
"Teammates? TEAMMATES? How do you think I got my three medals, huh? I KILLED MY TEAMMATES FOR THEM!" The Rock-nin yelled.
Team 9 looked at each other, shocked. He was now even more dangerous then they had thought at first.
Tenten threw another volley of kunai, this time with explosive tags attached to them. Even with the explosions, the Rock-nin seemed to go unscathed.
"Eight Trigrams…" came a voice.
Out of the smoke exploded Neji, striking the Rock-nin everywhere in a flurry of motion with his Gentle Fist attacks, jumping up where he was too short to reach the Rock-nin's chakra points on his own.
"Two Palm! Four Palm! Eight Palm!"
"Neji really is a genius…" Tenten said, sighing.
"Sixteen Palm! Thirty-Two Palm! Sixty-Four Palm!"
"And this is the person I have committed myself to beat?" Lee asked himself.
"One-hundred-and-twenty-eight Palm!" Neji finished, giving a spin to the final blow, sending the Rock-nin spinning a few feet away and landing on the ground.
"You did it!" Tenten exclaimed.
A rock fist plowing past Neji and into Tenten contradicted her words. Tenten was hurled backwards, smashed against a tree, slumping unconscious to the ground.
"What?" Neji's eyes narrowed, his Byakugan at full power.
The Rock-nin laughed.
"Gentle Fist! Hah! I don't use chakra, you fool!" he spat.
"But… you still should have internal damage beyond repair? How!"
The Rock-nin pounded his chest proudly. A short thump was heard, but no reverberation, nothing that would suggest his chest was hollow.
"It's not just my skin that is rock! Even my internal organs are rock! Your pitiful Taijutsu attacks can't kill me! Now die!"
The Rock-nin covered the distance between him and Neji in two strides, punching with a powerful rock-solid fist. Neji had no time to dodge, fast as he was. His only hope was…
"Rotation!" Neji shouted as he began spinning, his chakra spinning around him in a whirlwind. Yet still the giant's punch was going through the chakra, Neji's absolute defense.
"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee leapt up, kicking the Rock-nin in the face a few times. He grunted in annoyance and swatted at Lee with an open hand, sending Lee flying backwards, while still pushing through Neji's defense.
"He swats me away like a fly!" Lee thought.
The Rock-nin's hand penetrated Neji's defense, punching in the ground. Neji flew backwards, rolling a bit, then coming to a stop. He tried to stand but couldn't. The Rock-nin walked forward to finish the job.
"I guess I have no choice…" Lee mused, "First Gate, Release!"
"N-no…" Neji exclaimed, "Don't release all five again! Tsunade said the surgery won't work twice!
Lee's voice, now oddly distorted, replied.
"I'll… only need three to take this guy out!"
The Rock-nin noticed what Lee was doing, starting to walk towards him confidently, each stride leaving an impression in the soft earth of the forest floor.
"Second Gate, Release!"
"Run…" Neji said.
"Yes, run. You can't beat me with your weak punches and kicks!
"THIRD GATE! RELEASE!"
The Rock-nin punched at Lee with a fist, but Lee had vanished. A circle blur of green appeared around the Rock-nin, spinning faster and faster.
"What's this?" he asked, trying to punch Lee, but to no avail.
Several weak blows hit the Rock-nin from seemingly all sides at once. He grunted, amused, swinging his arm the other way that Lee was running. Instead, Lee's feet met his arm and used it to jump off of him, springing to a nearby tree branch, where he turned and faced the Rock-nin with blazing eyes.
"This is your last sight!" Lee yelled.
"Oh, really? What can you do to hurt me?
"Give up now, or you will not be alive for long!"
"You seem too soft to kill somebody!" the Rock-nin scoffed.
"We'll see about that! You hurt Neji! YOU HURT TENTEN! METEOR LOTUS!"
Lee launched off the tree with blinding speed, spinning around with his fist extended. All that could be seen was a green missile covering the span of the clearing in half a second, ramming into the Rock-nin with enough force to send him flying backwards into a tree… the force broke through the tree, and the next, and the next, snapping through the trees as still Lee propelled them both onward.
A crack appeared in the Rock-nin's chest where Lee's fist was.
"Im-impossible!" he gasped.
Ahead of them, a particularly strong-looking tree appeared, its trunk fifty feet wide, too thick to break through. The two collided with the trunk violently, the impact from both sides causing the cracks in the Rock-nin to spread, all the way across his chest, spreading over him like spider-webs.
The Rock-nin screamed as his middle split into many pieces.
Lee collapsed to the ground, exhausted, his vision fading. Opening three gates wasn't like when he opened five… he would be fine after a rest, assuming enemy ninja didn't kill him while he was unconscious…
With that, Lee's world faded to black.
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An overall short chapter, but I like it nonetheless. You will be seeing Meteor Lotus again. It's kind of a last-resort move like Reverse Lotus except one that he can do without tearing all his muscles… anyway, that's the end of this chapter.
Medal Count So Far:
Sand Team: 9
Team 8: 9
Team 9: 9
Team 6: 3
Team 10: 3
Next time: I want to help them, I really do- who could stand by and watch two girls get beat up? But Raigar, being the arrogant idiot he is, wants to wait until those Rain-nins beat them and then take out the weakened team… but I won't stand by! I won't!
Next Time: Confrontation: The Swordman's Son!