Disclaimer: Own nothing.
By the way, kudos to anyone who can find the DBZ quote in here. It should be easy. It's obvious.
The explosion echoed through the forest, a billowing pillar of black smoke blanketing the skies for a second before being blown away. Sakura, having caught up with her team again, looked back, apprehensive.
"Worried about him?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah," she answered. Her sensei was silent for a second.
"Nothing I can tell you will put your mind at ease," he said, "but I can tell you to have faith. Gohan's tough, tougher than most. He'll make it through."
"I hope so."
Jiroubou hit the ground hard, wheezing and gasping. He glared up at Gohan, who glared right back with hard black eyes, his hair waving in the breeze. "Ready to give up?" Gohan asked. "I don't have time to mess with you. I need to catch up to my team."
"Trash," Jiroubou snarled. "This has only begun!" He surged at Gohan, moving as fast as he could. "Rakanken! Tokken!" He lowered his shoulder. Gohan felt a surge in Jiroubou's ki and leaped up, planted his feet on Jiroubou's upper shoulder, and bounded into the air. The force he used to push of unblanaced the charging teenager and he stumbled.
Gohan appeared in front of him, body low, leg out.
Jiroubou hit the floor again as his legs were taken out from underneath him. Jiroubou kicked back up to his feet. "Bastard," he snarled. "Rakanken! Gangeki!" He punched hard. His side-of-ham fists would've taken any other person off guard, but Gohan had faced worse, stronger, and faster. He was long out of the way by the time Jiroubou's fist reached him.
Jiroubou gagged as he was elbowed once then again in the stomach, his breath blasting from his lungs, before his head exploded with pain when Gohan's heel met Jiroubou's temple. He crashed to the ground again.
"Seriously," Gohan sighed. "This is a waste of both our time. Just get out of my way and we can end this and go our separate ways."
"Never," Jiroubou wheezed, standing up, clutching at his thoroughly bruised midsection. "I'll never surrender. I'd rather die than fail Orochimaru-sama!"
Gohan fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Orochimaru's dead," Gohan replied, "I know. I'm the one who killed him."
Jiroubou smirked. "So you think, trash, so you think." He lurched back to his feet, fighting the waves of nausea he was being assailed with. "But Orochimaru-sama cannot die that easily. You'll see. He's alive. I know he is. And when he finally returns to us, we will hand him Uchiha Sasuke and he will crush you all!"
"I guess I just have to take your word for it," Gohan replied. He settled into a stance. "Sorry, but I'm going to end this now. I can't afford to be delayed any longer."
"End our fight?" Jiroubou asked with a smirk. "Excellent idea. I agree." His skin was abruptly covered in black markings, spreading from somewhere under his tunic. Maybe the back of his left shoulder, if Gohan had to guess. The markings were small triangles, linking together in thin spidery chains that wound over his flesh like worms.
"A Curse Seal!" Gohan breathed, recognizing the effect from the seal that he himself used to bear, one that, thankfully, was gone now. It was a relief to know that he didn't have to constantly worry about it contaminating him and warping his mind, like it had done to Sasuke.
"Yes. A gift to me, given to all of us by our Master, Orochimaru-sama," Jiroubou replied. "A sign of his trust and a reward for our dedication to his cause."
Gohan didn't look too impressed. "You've gotten stronger," he admitted, "but I can tell. You've got a long way to go to get to my level. I'd say you've got brute strength but not much else."
"And how would scum like you know that?" Jiroubou asked. He launched himself at Gohan. The saiyan was surprised by just how much of a speed boost Jiroubou got, but it still wasn't enough to catch him, not even in his base form anyway. Of course, if what Gohan had sensed earlier was true, then Jiroubou was the weakest of the Sound Four. The other three might prove to be a much greater challenge.
He caught Jiroubou's fist on an open palm. The shock wave ruptured the ground and send a strong breeze whisking out from the point of impact, but otherwise didn't do any harm. The more arrogant part of Gohan was pleased to see the look of shock on Jiroubou's face.
"I don't usually say things like this, since it has a habit of biting me in the ass," Gohan said, "but give it up. You can't win." The young warrior tightened his grip on Jiroubou's fist then launched himself into the air, legs scything into the back of Jiroubou's skull and driving him to the ground. Again. "Look, I think any more would make me look like a bully," Gohan told the prostrate shinobi with a sigh. "So why don't we just call it already? No one has to get hurt."
"You keep offering peace," Jiroubou ground out as he struggled upright again. "Yet you refuse to learn that I will not accept your charity." He spun around and hurled a sizable rock at Gohan's face. The saiyan blasted it out of the sky with a fist.
"Fine. Then I'll just leave," Gohan replied, turning and walking away. He didn't notice the black marks on Jiroubou's skin begin to thicken until they covered him from head to toe. He didn't notice how the black marks faded, leaving behind red skin. Nor did he notice how Jiroubou ceased to look like a human and instead resembled an ogre or a troll.
"Have you not been taught?" Jiroubou asked as he flexed his new, monstrous hands. "Never turn your back on an enemy! Rakanken! Tokken!" He shot forward, many times faster than he had been to that point. Gohan, distracted by thoughts of catching up to his friends, didn't react quite fast enough. He cried out as he was rammed by what felt like a block of steel. The ground erupted in a huge cloud when he smashed to earth.
Gohan staggered out of the cloud coughing, both from inhaling the dust and dirt and from being caught off guard like he was. "Soshitsu!" A knee caught him in the gut. Gohan doubled over by reflex. "Assho!" A sharp blow to the back of the head drove his forehead into the hard rock. The impact was enough to make the young Super Saiyan see stars, his thoughts suddenly disjointed and woozy.
"You may have been able to defeat the first level of the seal," Jiroubou said, standing over the other teen, "but the second will be much harder." Gohan grunted as he rolled over. He inhaled sharply when he saw the monstrosity looming above him, many of the finer details blurred out by the light of the early morning sun.
Jiroubou lifted one massive foot and drove it down into Gohan's stomach. Gohan gagged and swallowed back the wave of bile that rose in his throat, the acid stinging as it went back down. Jiroubou's mouth contorted into a cruel sneer as he pressed down harder, grinding his heel into Gohan's sternum. The ground underneath the downed saiyan crumbled and buckled as he was pushed down harder still.
"Damn," Gohan swore, recovering enough to grab Jiroubou's ankle, fighting past the pain and shortness of breath to get enough presence of mind to throw the other boy off of him.
"Gangeki!"
WHAM!
Jiroubou's fist smashed full into Gohan's face, dazing him from the shock of the impact. The Sound Four member proceeded to grab his victim by the throat and headbutted him. Gohan's mind spun, disoriented again, as his skull took the full force of the blow. He hung limp in Jiroubou's grip, trying to gather his wits enough to strike back.
Jiroubou threw him away like he was a ragdoll. He smiled when Gohan didn't move. "So all you were was talk," the shinobi sighed. "How unbecoming. I was expecting more of a challenge out of you." He smashed his hands into the ground and heaved. He pulled a massive ball of rock free of the earth and held it easily over his head. The ball was easily three or more times the size of Jiroubou himself. "Doton! Doryou Dango!"
The ball smashed down on top of the lifeless Gohan, making the earth shake like a drum. "Why don't we just call it already?" Jiroubou asked with a smirk. "You can't win." He turned and made to leap for the trees. He would drop his transformation later, when he was closer to the other members of the Sound Four.
"HWAAAAAAAAAA!"
KABOOM!
The explosion threw Jiroubou to the ground, but he rolled back to his feet and spun around. Where there had once been a giant ball of rock and dirt, now there was a tremendous cloud, presumably all that was left of Jiroubou's jutsu. Jiroubou's black and tawny amber eyes narrowed as he saw a gold blob in the smoke, but was unable to make out what it was.
"Well, that's what I get for getting cocky," Gohan said, walking out of the smoke. Jiroubou started making hand seals as something flew out at him, a golden streak in the morning light.
Meanwhile, the Sound Four were still running as fast as they could from the Konoha-nin in pursuit of them. "Dammit, those bastards are persistent," Tayuya snarled as she shifted Sasuke's barrel from one shoulder to the other in a (futile) attempt to make the load easier to bear. "Can't we just kill them already and move on with our lives? It would make things so much easier."
"We have to get Sasuke to Orochimaru-sama," Sakon replied sharply. "If we can't even do that, then we've failed him and we don't deserve to live."
"Not that we'll live to regret it," Kidoumaru added helpfully.
"But I think we'll be even more dead if we lead them straight to one of our bases," Tayuya pointed out. "If we don't want Orochimaru pissed off at us, then we need to do something about the trash following us!"
"She does have a point, Sakon," Kidoumaru agreed.
"Right. So which one of you two wants to face off with Sharingan Kakashi, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, the girl who has taken down a squad of our men before, and their friend, who I'm fairly sure is one of Orochimaru-sama's old experiments with the First's DNA?" The silence was deafening until Tayuya threw Sakon the barrel, which he caught roughly.
"I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I'll take the trash out. It should be fast and I'll meet you back at base."
"Right," Sakon agreed.
"Keh," Kidoumaru snorted. "That's what Jiroubou said and look where he ended up. Getting stalled by some punk, no doubt."
"I'm also a lot stronger than that tub of lard," Tayuya snapped back as she slowed down and stood on a tree branch. She waited for not more than five minutes and heard the whisper of rubber on tree bark. She smiled grimly and brought out her flute, raising it to her lips. "Now, time to dance with the devil."
Pakkun's ears perked up.
"I hear a flute," he reported.
"A flute?" Sakura asked. "Who'd be playing music at a time like this?"
"It's probably the girl," Kakashi muttered. "She's the one with the three giant ogres."
"She's been sent to stall us," Yamato added. "We'll have to break through her."
"Can't," Kakashi answered, "not if those ogre things are as tough as I think they are."
"So what do we going to do?" Naruto asked.
"We'll have to play by their rules," Kakashi told him. "We'll have to leave one of ours behind so we don't get slowed down and let them get away."
"So who do we leave behind?" Sakura asked.
"I'll do it," Yamato said immediately.
"No," Kakashi cut him off before he could say anymore. "Your Kekkei Genkai is our trump card right now. And besides, you know why we need you here right now." Kakashi shot a glance back at Naruto and Yamato understood. "I'll do it."
"No," Yamato replied instantly. "You're the leader. You need to stay with the team until you either have to fight their leader or something else comes up that needs your skills. Until then, you can't leave."
"And we can't take them as a team," Sakura added. "Because the enemy will get too far ahead."
"Yeah," Kakashi said. "It's a Catch 22. Damned if we do, damned if we don't."
"I'll stay behind," Sakura said finally.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto protested.
"No," Kakashi said. "I'll stay. Yamato will take over the mission."
"But what if there're stronger enemies ahead?" Sakura asked calmly, despite the fluttering in her stomach. "You're strong, Kakahsi-sensei, and so is Yamato-san. You have to face their powerhouses. If it's just one girl, I can handle myself. I did against Temari remember?"
"And you almost died," Kakashi pointed out.
"That was a while ago," Sakura said sullenly. "I've gotten better since then. You didn't think I was sitting on my butt while Gohan-kun and Naruto were out risking their lives, did you? I've improved. I can handle her! Please, Kakashi-sensei! If I can't do anything else for the team, at least let me do this!"
"Getting the team separated, hotheaded people who don't know what's good for them and won't listen to orders," Kakashi murmured bitterly. "Just like that mission."
"You say something, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Huh? No…" He sighed. "Fine. If you think you can handle it, then I believe you, Sakura. Good luck. Get out in front. We're going to run right into them and blow through. You stay behind and stall them."
A minute later and they were coming up on Tayuya and the flute music was loud enough to hear without Pakkun's sensitive ears. Sakura surged forward, outdistancting the onrushing team and lashed out. Tayuya hurled her away without too much effort, or tried to, but Sakura clung on and clenched in close.
"Go!" She shouted.
The remaining three blew right through and moved on.
"What?" Tayuya shouted, distracted for just a second. It was enough and Sakura drove her fist into the other girl's chin. The force of the blow was enough to lift Tayuya right off her feet and fling her wildly across open space.
"Come back alive, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted. Sakura raised a hand in farewell.
"You little, bitch," Tayuya snarled, "you're going to regret fighting me!"
"Nice to meet you too," Sakura shot back, removing her hirai-ate and tying it to its rightful place on her forehead. 'Watch me, Gohan-kun. I'll show you how much I've learned!'
She threw herself at Tayuya, who swung her flute in answer.
Gohan and Jiroubou bounced apart, glaring daggers at each other. "Impressive, perhaps you aren't trash after all," Jiroubou said, eyeing the Super Saiyan standing before him.
Gohan didn't answer, instead sizing up the enemy before him. Jiroubou was changed almost beyond recognition. He had red skin and warts covered his body. His hair was much longer, no longer a spotty Mohawk but a long mane that stretched right down his back. His eyes were the most changed, even including his new, more athletic, bulk. They were a creepy yellow-amber color and the whites of his eyes had darkened to black. He was also many times faster than he had been. 'I don't want to ascend if I can help it,' Gohan thought. 'I might need it for later. I have to finish him as I am!'
Jiroubou lunged, a huge trashcan sized fist coming at him. "Gangeki!"
Gohan set his feet and prepared to accept the blow. The impact rattled his teeth but he caught it and held on. Jiroubou looked surprised but surged forward. Gohan could feel the ground parting under his heels as he was driven back. He grunted, leaned forward to get his weight on the balls of his feet, and dug in again. He ground to a halt, stopping Jiroubou's tectonic might.
"Oh? So you continue to resist me?"
"I can…do…a…lot more…than…THAT!" Gohan grunted as he spun, got Jiroubou up on his back then hurled him into the air. A gold aura blazed into being and Gohan rocketed up from the ground like a missile. He bashed Jiroubou and sent him spinning crazily. The saiyan reversed direction and repeated the process, belting the Sound-nin several times in the span of several seconds.
Jiroubou was no slouch though and he managed to get himself stabilized and drop for the ground. A yell above him made the Sound Four member look up and his black-yellow eyes widened in horror as he spotted Gohan dropping right for him. The big teen crossed his arms above his head. He took the full force of Gohan's axe kick and was blasted into the woods below. The impact shattered trees and buckled rock. Gohan landed lightly as Jiroubou charged from the haze, shoulder down. "Rakanken! Tokken!"
The ground underneath Gohan was trembling but the flinty-eyed Super Saiyan dropped then jumped, spinning in mid-air, getting his body out of the way and smashing his heel into Jiroubou's face. The attack blasted Jiroubou right off his feet. Gohan followed up, driving a fist right into the boy's stomach. Again the ground shattered and trembled.
The second Gohan's feet touched ground, he was seized from behind when Jiroubou lunged from the earth behind him. Gohan grunted in surprise as he was grabbed in a bearhug then lifted right off his feet and smashed headfirst into the dirt. "Houshou!"
The attack smashed right into Gohan's chest. He yelped as his ribs and chest suddenly caught fire with intense pain. Gohan coughed and gagged as the air was driven out of his lungs. Jiroubou reared up for another hit. When he came down, Gohan caught him on his feet and hurled the larger boy through the air. Jiroubou landed on all fours as Gohan kicked back up to his feet. They eyed each other warily again then charged simultaneously.
Sakura ducked under a swipe from the yellow ogre, its thorn-like weapons gouging the bark of the tree behind her. The ogre followed suit, plowing into the heavy bark, rattling the tree.
"Wha! Whoa!"
Sakura nearly tumbled off her perch. Only a lucky swipe with a chakra-infused hand saved her from plummeting to the ground below. She sighed, relieved and pulled herself back onto her branch. She supposed she could've done the whole acrobatic flip thing, but that would waste her chakra and she had a feeling she would need it all for this battle.
The ogre with the club descended on her, club held high. It smashed through the branch. Sakura's stomach rose into her throat as she and the wood she was still stuck to plummeted earthward.
Tayuya watched the descent, her eyes scornful as her fingers danced on her flute, sending her Doki, if you were to call them by their proper name, after the falling Konoha-nin. The alluring and haunting melody filled the tree boughs, a prelude to Sakura's demise. Of course, Sakura didn't see it that way.
"I guess I'll have to get a little acrobatic," she muttered. She clambered back onto the branch, leg muscles bunching up, much more powerful now than they had been only two or three scant months ago, infused them with chakra, then pushed off. She shot up like a bullet, blasting right through the tightening triangle the Doki were making, caught a branch well above the Sound girl's head, then spun herself onto it.
"Not bad," Tayuya admitted, drawing a fast breath. She set her flute to playing again and the Doki shot up from the ground, where they'd crashed like a runaway train, running up three separate trees. They too launched up for Sakura, who suddenly found herself surrounded. She could see Tayuya's sneer practically screaming 'get out of this one, bitch'.
So she did.
Sakura hurled a smoke bomb at her feet. The ensuing explosion and outpouring of thick white smoke was enough to startle Tayuya for a split second. In that split second, her Doki wavered, giving Sakura just the time she needed to tackle the Doki completely covered in bandages, its head totally inverted from what it was supposed to be. They tumbled towards the ground. Sakura slapped the thing's chin, where it's forehead should've been, using her arm to aid her leap for Tayuya. Tayuya just barely caught the flash of a kunai in the other kunoichi's hand before Sakura was on her, stabbing, slashing, and kicking, trying to land any blow she could.
Steel rang on steel as Tayuya fended off the rush attack with her flute. Tayuya's back bumped into rough bark, her eyes widening for just a second as she realized she was trapped, then she ducked, right as Sakura's fist, complete with kunai, filled the space her head had just been. The wood under the girl's feet shook and trembled slightly, but enough to be noticeable, like how a bass drum could shake the ground. Tayuya took Sakura's legs out from under her with a deft slash of the flute, got to her feet as Sakura hit, then drove down with the flute. Tayuya was confident that she had enough strength to drive it right through the pink-haired bitch and pin her to the tree.
Sakura never gave her a chance.
Even as Tayuya got to her feet, Sakura's heel was slashing up for Tayuya's chin. She didn't have any power behind it, but that wasn't the point. What was the point, however, was that Tayuya jumped back a half step by reflex then launched for a new branch. Even before she landed, she was playing. The Doki lurched into motion, moaning dully through their stitched-shut mouths.
Sakura dodged two out of three. The bandaged Doki with the inverted head shoulder-checked her as she cleared the other two. Sakura took off like she'd been kicked by a world-class football player.
She cried out when she hit unforgiving bark and hardwood. She collapsed, coughing violently, trying frantically to refill emptied lungs. She staggered upright only through sheer will, holding her side with one hand, putting up a feeble guard with the other. 'Not enough,' she though dimly. 'Just taijutsu won't work.' She smiled. 'But I know those things don't move unless she says so. The thing is I have to find out how she makes them move.'
The Doki came for her, backed by the haunting melody of a flute.
"They're still coming," Kidoumaru said to Sakon.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Sakon replied dryly. "I guess Tayuya and Jiroubou couldn't stop them."
"I don't think that's it," Kidoumaru answered, looking thoughtful. "I think they split up, leaving on man from the squad to deal with each man we've left behind."
"Hmm, if they did htat, then there's a chance we may get out of this after all. That means there's only three of them after us now. Who they are, I don't know, and I don't care. It just means that we can take them out one at a time."
"Either that or they're just desperate to get that guy back," Kidoumaru remarked, nodding to Sasuke's barrel.
"No argument from me." He glanced at the six-armed boy next to him. "Can you take them? Stall another one?"
"Keh," Kidoumaru answered with a smirk. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He hit a branch, his leg muscles compressing, then launched himself back a few trees. He grinned and opened one of his many hands. His sweat, no not sweat but the same golden substance that he'd used on Sakon, welled to the surface and formed a long recurve bow.
An arrowhead appeared in his mouth and he drew it out, the shaft and feathers following just as quickly. He fit the arrow to the bow, raised it to its firing position and drew the string to his cheek. He held that pose for a second or two then his fingers released, the arrow shooting from the bow and streaking off into the mottled shadow and sunlit canopy of the forest.
Pakkun's nose twitched. "They're leaving another one behind," the dog reported.
"Again? Well, who's staying this time?" Kakashi asked.
"I am!" Naruto said instantly.
"No," Yamato answered. "Kakashi-sempai, I know we need my Kekkei Genkai but we may need Naruto-kun's power more. I trust him to go further without help."
Kakashi frowned beneath his mask. Leaving Naruto and Yamato separated might be risky, especially if the Kyuubi were to come out and play and Naruto couldn't handle it. Kakashi would have no other recourse than to incapacitate the boy, maybe even fatally, if the fox got out of control. Still, Yamato had a point. Despite all its risks, the Kyuubi's chakra was powerful. As long as Kakashi was nearby to step in, there shouldn't be too much of a risk. And besides, if both Kakashi and Yamato left Naruto, then there was nothing to stop him if he did go crazy. Beyond that, there was the issue of Naruto's death.
If Naruto died, not only would the Godaime, Jiraiya, Minato-sensei, Kushina, Iruka, the Sandaime and all the others that Naruto was close to blame him, Naruto's sensei, team leader, and de-facto guardian, for the death but Konoha would also lose its Bijuu, putting the village on unequal terms with the other nations that did have them, and therefore making Konohagakure and by proxy the Fire Country as a whole, look weak.
If Naruto got killed, it could potentially be enough of a catalyst to start a war with Konoha and cause the death of hundreds of thousands. No, Naruto had to live at all costs, if not for being Kakashi's precious student then for being the unwitting guardian, the deterrent that kept the five nations in precarious balance.
"Alright," Kakashi said finally. "You take down this one Yama…" There was a flash of gold in the morning sun. "LOOK OUT!"
Yamato and Kakashi evaded gracefully, the masked jounin grabbing a protesting Naruto by the scruff of his jacket and dragging him along. The arrow from Kidoumaru cracked passed, blowing though the trunk of one tree and embedding deeply in the one behind it.
"Long range attack!" Yamato called. "Be careful!"
"We need a diversion!" Kakashi called back.
"I've got it covered!" Naruto said with a grin, making a cross-shaped seal with his fingers. "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
"Che," Kidoumaru muttered. "Missed 'em." He spat out another arrow and nocked it. "Time for round two." The boughs were filled with footsteps. A lot of footsteps. It sounded like an army was coming at him, not merely three shinobi. "What's going on? Did they call for reinforcements or something?"
A low roar reached his ears, a roar that quickly rose in pitch and power until it sounded like half of Konoha was coming right at him. Kidoumaru let fly. The arrow streaked into the trees. He heard a cry of pain, then shouts of rage.
"Oryaaaaa!"
Thousands of bodies filled the Sound-nin's vision. Thousands of ninja, all of them wearing the distinctive mark of Konoha. "What is that!" Kidoumaru shouted, staring up at them in horror as they all leaped up, blotting out the sun with their numbers. "What's going on here?"
A streak shot at him. Before he could process what had happened, Yamato had kicked him hard and sent him flying away. "What happened?" Yamato asked as the river of clones vanished, leaving only the ANBU and Sound-nin behind. Kakashi and Naruto had moved on when the first wave had crashed against the six-armed boy. "You fell for our trick, that's what happened."
"Bastard! Were all those yours?"
Yamato outright laughed. "I wish." His face and demeanor grew serious. " I hope you're ready to die, boy, because I won't go easy on you, even if you are a kid." Yamato made a series of hand seals. "Mokuton!"
Jiroubou hit the ground hard. He bounced then lay still before quivering and struggling upright. He tried to slow his heart and racing breath but found he was unable to. Gohan, on the other hand, didn't look anywhere near as tired as Jiroubou was. "Trash!" He sprinted forward again. "Gangeki!"
Gohan ducked the blow and swept his enemy's feet out from underneath him. Jiroubou felt his stomach swoon as he was suddenly airborne. Gohan's fist spiked the ogre-like boy into the ground hard enough to make the trees shake. Jiroubou gagged, coughed, and spat blood. Rage awakened within him and he swiped at Gohan with a wordless scream. Gohan bounced backward long before the attack reached him.
Jiroubou struggled upright, wiping his mouth on one large arm.
Gohan watched the Sound Four member with appraising eyes before dropping his stance. "That's enough," Gohan said, his hair fading to black, along with his eyes, the overbearing pressure that had been choking Jiroubou for the last few minutes vanishing. "There's no point in continuing now."
"What?" Jiroubou snarled.
"You can't go on," Gohan replied. "You're power's dropping with every blow. You're not even a challenge to me anymore. It would be pointless to keep going. I've heard that your Cursed Seals corrode your body and mind, but I didn't think it took this much of a toll." Gohan turned and started walking away.
"Hey! Where are you going, you bastard!" Jiroubou shouted angrily. "We're not done here!"
"Yes we are," Gohan replied without stopping. "I have no desire to keep at this. I hate fighting and I hate being a bully. To continue like this would make me keep doing both and I'm sick of it as it is. And besides, the way my luck goes, I'll need the rest of my strength for what's coming. See you around, though I hope for your sake we never meet again."
Jiroubou physically trembled. His teeth ground together so hard he thought he felt one crack, lances of pain blasting up through his jaw. This brat…this brat thought he could just walk away from this fight? This wasn't a fight to Jiroubou, this was a mission that he'd undertaken at the behest of his master to retrieve something very important to him. It was expected that they come back alive with the objective or not at all. To be pitied like this, to be fought like this, then told he simply wasn't a challenge anymore…it was infuriating. If Jiroubou came crawling back to his master like this, if he came back having failed his objective, to kill this Son Gohan, and said that he'd been simply brushed aside like a piece of trash…NO!
"Don't take me so lightly, trash," he ground out, biting every word off angrily. "Don't look down on me. We're not done here. Did you here me! WE'RE NOT DONE!"
Gohan stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Yes," he said simply, "yes we are."
Something broke within Jiroubou, something crucial. Jiroubou screamed as loud as he could. "We're not done until one of us is dead!" He screamed, running at Gohan as fast as he could. "I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, Son Gohan! I'll do whatever it takes! I'll never let you have a moment's rest!"
Gohan sighed as he watched Jiroubou run at him. He crouched, preparing to take to the skies. "Do what you want," he said, muscles bunching.
"I'll kill you! Then I'll kill all your friends!" Jiroubou reached Gohan and reared up, hands raised high to kill the boy in front of him. "All of them! The silver-haired one, the blond, and the girl! All of them!"
Gohan spun around, transforming in a blaze of blinding light. "Never threaten my friends," he snarled, gathering ki in his cupped hands. "NEVER! KAMEHAMEHAAAAAA!"
Jiroubou screamed as the blast enveloped him and simply washed him away in a blaze of blue-white light. The blast rocked the area, a brilliant dome of ki rising into the sky, humming up the scale as it did.
Gohan stood up and looked around, dispassionate. The forest around him had been leveled. There was a small scorch mark in the center of the perfectly circular clearing, the trees that had been nearest the blast simply gone, stumps and all, the ones further out blasted right over, leaning against their comrades, as if they'd fainted and been caught by their compatriot trees. "Never threaten my friends," he repeated, dropping his transformation. "I guess you are Orochimaru's student. He made the same mistake you did."
Gohan's aura flared again, blue this time, and blasted into the sky.
Surprised? Yeah, me too. Well not really. Actually, you may be surprised. In order to finish of Dilemma, I'm thinking of just blitzing my way through the remaining chapters, uploading them as I finish them, because I think we're all eager to move onto to return. So for now at least, that's my plan. If it changes, you'll find out in the next AN. Sorry if Gohan seemed a little OC here, like he did to me. Of course, Jiroubou being so much weaker than Gohan is...well, it was kind of inevitable. Don't forget, Jiroubou's the weakest of the Sound Four and Gohan, the way he is now, is as strong as Orochimaru, or at least when Gohan's an SS2 he is. That means it would take someone like, say, Kidoumaru to match him. Oh and before I forget, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. To those of you who aren't from America...well, Happy Thanksgiving anyway, or at least have a good week.
So until next time (which may not be that long),
~WingedFreedom622
Glossary
Rakanken (Arhat Fist): Jiroubou's taijutsu style. I think I listed off most of his techniques at some point in the chapter. I would've added a few new ones, but my Japanese isn't that good. I think I could carry on a very basic conversation but that's it.
Doton: Doryou Dango (Earth Style: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling): Pretty much a giant rock ball that Jiroubou throws at someone. Can't really see Gohan having much trouble turning it into a whole bunch of smaller Doryou Dangos.