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Kakashi flipped over Kimimaro's head, showering the Oto-nin with kunai and shuriken. All to no avail as they just bounced of Kimimaro's gray and bone hide. "Dammit," the jounin swore under his breath. "Ever since he transformed into that second level, it's been taking everything I've got to stay ahead of him!"
He landed, ducked the tail that Kimimaro had sprouted, swept the other fighter's feet out from under him and started folding the seals for the Chidori. He was interrupted when Kimimaro fired more finger bones. "I swear to you, I'm going to break every finger you have when I get my hands on you!" Kakashi shouted in frustration. It was the umpteenth time the bones had denied Kakashi a blow.
Kimimaro bounced back a few hops, putting distance between them. He stared at Kakashi as Kakashi glared back. The wind whispered through the glade, now much worse for the wear after the battles between Kakashi and Sasuke, Kakashi and Kimimaro, and Gohan's intervention in the second. 'Okay, Hatake, what now? He's fast, really fast, can make bones that can pierce steel, and he's a very skilled taijutsu to boot. Tough nut to crack.' The only thing going for him was the fact that Kimimaro was breathing just as hard as Kakashi himself was.
Suddenly Kimimaro staggered, coughing violently into one hand. When he recovered, Kakashi's keen eyes didn't miss the blood on Kimimaro's hand. So he was sick or wounded from some other battle? Kakashi was leaning towards the former. Kimimaro had no visible wounds that Kakashi was aware of. Maybe Kakashi could turn this into a battle of attrition. Sure, Kakashi was fatigued, but he wasn't coughing blood.
'Better not give him a chance to pull out anything new, though,' Kakashi thought, 'that would be bad.'
Kimimaro bent over, the skin at the base of his neck rippling madly before a bone protruded through the skin.
'Ah damn, too late.'
Kakashi watched, dumbfounded, as Kimimaro ripped his spine, his freaking spine, right out of his back, the vertebrae sharp like tip of a stiletto knife. "That…can't be good for you," Kakashi remarked deadpan.
"Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru," Kimimaro replied. He dashed forward, sword raised high. Kakashi sprinted forward as well, waiting until the right second, then dropping into a slide, breezing right between Kimimaro's legs. He resisted the urge to punch up into the boy's groin. He was sure to have that protected by bone. Instead he hooked Kimimaro's knees and took them out from under him. Kimimaro smashed down as Kakashi vaulted up into the air.
He folded a series of hand seals.
"Raiton! Raijuu Hashiri no Jutsu!"
A snarling beast of lighting leaped from Kakashi's hands, barreling right towards Kimimaro, who was on his feet again. He slashed the beast in half, but the beast became a single being again behind him and came at him again. Kimimaro somersaulted over the creature, flicking his sword.
It shot out like a whip, coming straight at Kakashi, who was forced to abandon the Raiton in order to dodge. 'What the hell?' Kakashi wondered as he dodged a second swipe of the chain-spine-sword thing. "There should be a limit to how freaky a Kekkei Genkai can be."
"You are skilled, Hatake Kakashi," Kimimaro said as his spine-sword retracted. "I must commend you. No one has lasted this long in single combat with me before. However, my time grows short." As if to emphasize his point, he gagged and spat blood on the ground. "I must end this quickly." The spine in his hand began to grow until it had covered his arm and was still expanding. Soon Kimimaro didn't have an arm, but a massive swirling spike of bone that stood nearly as tall as Kimimaro himself. "Tessenka no Mai: Hana."
Kakashi was startled by the size of the weapon and the manner in which it had appeared, but it didn't slow his response. He held one hand out to the side, not molding any seals. Kimimaro charged in, wondering why Kakashi wasn't molding the seals to make his next jutsu. Kimimaro expected it to be the infamous Lightning Cutter, the Raikiri, which he'd already seen today. Kimimaro was confident his new weapon could outlast the jutsu long enough to impale Sharingan Kakashi.
"Die, Hatake Kakashi!" Kimimaro shouted.
"Not today!" Kakashi answered. "RASENGAN!"
Kakashi slammed the Fourth's ultimate jutsu into the tip of the bone spike. The impact was horrendous, shattering the ground under their feet. Wind peeled everywhere in great sheets, ripping gouges into the verdant grasses all around them.
A bone sword like the one that the Oto-nin had first used appeared in Kimimaro's free hand. "Die!" He reiterated.
"Oh shit!" Kakashi snarled, realizing that he couldn't bring out a second Rasengan to counter. He sucked with his other hand. There was no one he could hold one together, even for more than a second or two. Kakashi could only watch as the second blade came down on him.
It cut the jounin right in half, killing him instantly.
"No!" Yamato shouted, watching Kakashi die. He'd just arrived at the battle, stashing Sakura and Naruto safely underground in a wooden cocoon. It would keep them safe until they'd beaten this new arrival. Only he'd been a second too slow. Yamato was about to attack and finish the bastard who'd killed Kakashi when Kakashi suddenly turned into blue and white light that let loose a hellacious cackle.
Kimimaro's world was suddenly a haze of pain as the electricity coursed over his entire body, immobilizing him. He was helpless.
Which was what Kakashi was after.
The chirping of one thousand birds filled the clearing.
"Chidori!"
The ground beneath and behind the immobilized Oto-nin burst apart, revealing Kakashi, who'd switched with a Kawarimi right after he'd noticed the skin on Kimimaro's right arm rippling to make the old bone sword.
"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama," Kimimaro whispered.
Kakashi's arm and hand burst through Kimimaro's chest, obliterating his heart and a good portion of both lungs, not to mention frying his nervous system with the residual electricity.
Kimimaro was dead almost the second Kakashi's hand reached the halfway point through his body.
Kakashi wrenched his arm free of the corpse, the wound sucking hideously, and sank to his knees, breathing hard, completely winded and almost entirely drained of chakra. He reached up and tugged his hirai-ate back down into position.
"Kakashi-sempai!"
He looked up at the call and spotted Yamato coming over, Sakura tied to his back and carrying Naruto in his arms, having retrieved them from their cocoons. "Yamato," Kakashi panted, trying to stand but found that his legs wouldn't move.
"Are you alright?"
"I'll live," Kakashi answered, forcing himself upright. He swooned, nearly toppling, but stayed up. "Just give me a minute to catch my breath."
"I'm surprised he gave you such a tough time," Yamato said.
"I got out of the hospital two days ago," Kakashi answered, "cut me a little slack."
"You're out of shape, sempai," Yamato teased.
"Oh go jump in a campfire," Kakashi retorted, pulling out a rag he kept in his pouch for polishing kunai and shuriken. He ran it down his arm, trying to mop up as much of Kimimaro's blood as he could before it started attracting flies. "How're Naruto and Sakura?"
"Sakura's pretty beat up and she's got a hand that's pretty banged up, but you should see her opponent. Naruto's a bit larger concern. He…Kakashi, he used four tails."
Kakashi suddenly found himself devoid of fatigue. "What?"
Yamato retold the ending of Naruto's battle with Sakon, how the four-tails had ruthlessly crushed Sakon. "I also found a scorched skeleton," Yamato finished, "I think there were two opponents."
"I'm sure there was one," Kakashi murmured, until he thought about it, about the strange lump on the boy's neck, about how his leg had healed so damn fast, and a few other oddities he'd noticed in the pursuit. "A Kekkei Genkai, maybe, one that lets the two merge their bodies together."
"We'll never know for sure," Yamato replied.
"We will eventually," Kakashi corrected. "Once the ANBU get their hands on those bodies, we're going to know what they had for breakfast six months ago."
Yamato shrugged. "What now?"
"I sent Gohan to fight Sasuke," Kakashi replied. "He's the freshest of us all and he's also probably the strongest. Sasuke will have a tough time with him."
"Do you think Sasuke will stand a chance of winning?" Yamato asked as Kakashi popped a soldier pill.
"Maybe," Kakashi replied. "It depends on what the Cursed Seal does to him and how well he can use his Sharingan. The worst thing you can do is get into a taijutsu battle with a Sharingan user and that's Gohan's forte. It'll be exciting, if nothing else."
"Perhaps we should shake a leg then?" Yamato asked.
Kakashi clenched one fist, feeling the effects of the soldier pill wash over him. "Yeah, let's get going. Here, I'll take Naruto." The jounin slung the boy over his back then he and Yamato headed for the Valley of the End and the fateful battle that was happening there.
"Bring it on!" Sasuke called to Gohan.
Gohan sighed, exhaling a slow breath. "Alright," he replied. "Here I come Sasuke!" Gohan flew right at the raven-haired genin, fist cocked back for a strike that would probably take Sasuke's head from his shoulders if it hit. Sasuke was moving out of the way the second the Sharingan showed him where the hit would land. He felt the wind rippling off Gohan's fist as it flashed by his face.
He ignored the crumbling of rock behind him as the shockwave ripped off the other boy's fist, instead driving the palm of his hand into Gohan's chin, rocking the Saiyan's head back, dazing him for a second. Sasuke grabbed Gohan's gi then pulled him into a vicious knee strike that almost blasted the air from Gohan's lungs.
'How is he hitting this hard?' Gohan wondered as a spinning backhand took him in the temple, throwing him away from Sasuke. Gohan righted himself in the air, floating, tantalizing, out of Sasuke's reach. The young Avenger started molding hand seals.
"Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!"
The fireballs raced for Gohan like bullets. The Saiyan's eyes narrowed in concentration, then he shot forward, vanishing only to reappear somewhere else. He dove right into the hail of fireballs without a second's thought. Not one touched him as he darted here, there, and everywhere, even seeming to sprout copies of himself a few times.
Sasuke kept up the barrage as he reached into a pouch, pulled out a handful of shuriken and added them to the mix, hurling them intermittently. Gohan kept up his vanish and reappear routing until the storm began to abate.
Then he went on the attack.
Gohan burst out of the firestorm, racing right for Sasuke. He threw another punch, Sasuke looping right under this one, but his Sharingan showed him the second punch too late.
Sasuke's world rocked, spinning wildly as he flew up into the sky.
Gohan appeared above him, fists clasped and cocked.
WHAM!
Sasuke went speeding earthward, the river that bisected the valley erupting as his body hit it. He burst from the water moments later, wet, bruised, and clearly pissed off. Gohan vanished, moving too fast for the naked eye, but Sasuke's Sharingan could see him the entire time.
Gohan hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks, plowing him right into the side of the canyon.
Seeing and reacting were two very different things after all.
Sasuke burst from the dust and debris, sprinting straight at Gohan. They dissolved into a dizzying series of blows, everything a blur, trading punches at full speed from about three feet away. Gohan stayed with it because of his finely tuned reflexes and Sasuke stayed in because of the Sharingan and his own fine reflexes. They traded punches for almost a minute, an eternity in a battle such as that, before Gohan managed to sneak a fast jab into Sasuke's chin, stunning him. Gohan grabbed Sasuke by the shirt, much as Sasuke had done to him earlier, but instead of a knee to the stomach, Gohan headbutted him instead.
Stars exploded in Sasuke's vision as Gohan's forehead met Sasuke's face, nearly breaking the Uchiha's nose. A sweep of the legs put Sasuke's stomach in his throat before Gohan's fist spiked him into the ground. Sasuke cried out, feeling the hard, unforgiving rock breaking beneath him like it was sugar candy.
Gohan held Sasuke by the wrist, keeping control, giving the Saiyan the option of breaking Sasuke's arm in a number of unpleasant ways should it really come to that. "Give it up, Sasuke," he said, "you can't win. Anymore would be pointless."
Sasuke bared bloody teeth at the other boy standing over him, the Sharingan shining with determination and anger. "Never," he said. "I'll never surrender, not to Konoha, not to Itachi, not to Orochimaru and…sure…as…hell…not…YOU!" He slammed his heel into the ground. A knife popped out of the toe of his sandals with a small 'snick', Sasuke lashing out with the weapon almost the second it appeared, trying to stab Gohan in the kidneys with it.
Gohan, keeping his hold on Sasuke's arm, leaped, flipped, landed then pulled hard. Sasuke left the ground as if jerked by a chain. "Dammit Sasuke!" Gohan shouted, hurling the Uchiha across the valley. He shot forward, hitting the other boy three times in the scant seconds it took Sasuke to fly the breadth of the valley.
The Uchiha's bones rattled under his skin as he hit the wall, thankfully robbed of enough of his momentum by Gohan's follow up attacks that he didn't hit at full force. That would've hurt. Gohan didn't give him a chance to recover, pulling him out of the depression he'd made, slamming him down and shoving a ball of glowing ki into Sasuke's face.
"Give it up already!"
Sasuke responded by throwing a fistful of sandy rock into Gohan's face. The other boy yelled, more in surprise than pain, stumbling back, wiping frantically at his eyes, trying to get his vision back. When Gohan's vision finally returned, it was just in time to see Sasuke put the finishing touches on a seal sequence.
"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The fireball roared out Sasuke's mouth, consuming Gohan. The other boy vanished into a wall of flames. Sasuke chocked the flow, smiling. "And that's it."
"What's it?"
Sasuke whirled. Gohan was standing behind him, totally unscathed except for the large hole burned into the side of one pants leg, the edges of the hole ringed with blackened, scorched fibers.
"Too slow," Gohan snarled before he vanished. Sasuke didn't even have time to react before Gohan's fist smashed into his face again. Sasuke rolled with the punch, softening the blow, but white stars still exploded in his vision as he spun head over heels through the air, bouncing twice over the water before managing to slide to a stop. Gohan grabbed him by the ankle, hauling him into the sky. His hip screamed in pain as Gohan stopped but whipped Sasuke's leg around.
The world howled up at the young Uchiha, who could only cross his arms protectively and try to angle his body towards the water.
It worked.
White spray erupted as Sasuke's body smashed into the river. Rain pattered down on the rocky shores. Gohan landed on those craggy banks, his gi turning dark orange with the water, the rain clinging to his unruly mop of hair. Sasuke burst from the water, coughing and hacking. He struggled to shore, dragging himself out, bedraggled and soaked to the bone.
Gohan leaped across the river, landing beside Sasuke. He didn't look angry. He looked sorrowful. Gohan's face was stone cast but his eyes shown with pity and sorrow. He hated doing this. Sasuke wasn't an enemy. He was tough to get along with, sure, stubborn, certainly, but never an enemy.
"Enough already," Gohan said softly.
"I'll never surrender to you!" Sasuke gagged out, spinning and thrusting with a knife. Gohan sidestepped, catching Sasuke's wrist, twisted it painfully, the knife clattering from Sasuke's limp grip, then hammered Sasuke in the face, releasing his hold on the Avenger's wrist.
Sasuke smashed through a rock, bounced twice over the pebbled riverbank, before slamming heavily into another boulder further away. He pulled himself free, wiping a bloody chin, his once-flawless skin scratched and bruised.
"Sasuke, please," Gohan said again, almost pleading. "Enough already. Do we really have to do this? What do you gain from all of it? What's the good of all this?"
"The power I need to defeat Itachi," Sasuke replied, staggering, stumbling but still very much ready to fight again, should Gohan come at him again. "The power I need to defeat you," he went on, glaring bloody daggers at his opponent, "and the ability to restore my clan!"
"Running from the village won't help you with any of that," Gohan replied.
Sasuke's eyes felt like they were burning. "Shut up, what would you know?" Sasuke asked. "You've got enough power to level cities, crush all of the five Great Nations like they're bugs. How would you know what's it like to have nothing?"
"You idiot!" Gohan shouted, losing his temper for just a second, a blast of ki-forced wind ripping across the valley. Sasuke thought he saw Gohan's eyes flash an angry jade for just a split second but it was so fast, he was sure he'd imagined it. "Do you think I was just born with this power? Do you think I'm just naturally skilled? Sasuke, I would love to have even half of the natural talent you do! But I don't! Everything I've gotten, I've gotten through blood, sweat, and tears! I've had help with everything! All the time, my friends are there, pushing me to new heights! I would never have gotten anywhere without them and everything I loved would be dead several times over!"
"I'm not soft like you," Sasuke said, finally allowing some of the pride that he'd held onto for so long to drop and letting Gohan see the inner turmoil in those blood-red eyes. That gave Gohan at least some hope. Maybe there was hope for Sasuke yet. "And I've gone too far along this path to turn back now." Then the turmoil was gone and with it, Gohan's hopes for a quick finish. "So I'm not turning away. I'll follow my own path and no one, not you, not Itachi, not Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, or even the damned Hokage herself, will be able to stop me!"
And with that, a determination that Sasuke had never known before washed over him, taking his fatigue and aches with it. Yes, he was beaten and battered, yes he was on the defensive, but he'd been in worse situations before and he wasn't going to back down now! The burning in his eyes intensified and all of a sudden, the world seemed to be moving slower, easier to see, somehow. Sasuke couldn't describe it. It was like trying to describe color to a man who had been blind his entire life.
Gohan shook his head. "Alright, Sasuke," he said finally. "I guess I'll have to drag you back to Konoha."
Neither noticed the tomoe in Sasuke's eyes shift and a third one bloom in the new space.
Gohan vanished.
Sasuke was surprised to see just how slowly Gohan was moving. He could see every motion, but the odd thing was there were two Gohans. There was a ghostly copy that was already thrusting forward with one fist and a second, more solid one that was just now starting to follow the first's movements. Sasuke had just a split second to realize what was happening before throwing himself to one side.
Gohan blasted past, the attack missing by a wide margin. Sasuke relished the shocked look on Gohan's face before countering with an attack of his own. Gohan vanished before Sasuke's attack even got close, but Sasuke wasted no time in rolling into an evasion of his own as Gohan dropped in from above, his heel shattering the hard rock of the riverbank.
Gohan frowned, wondering what was going on. It was like Sasuke was one step ahead of him, though he was still too slow to land a blow on Gohan but was now reacting just fast enough to evade Gohan's own attacks. It was a stalemate and one that Gohan had to figure out how to break.
They leaped apart, Sasuke landing on the river's surface, Gohan standing on a boulder that was at the foot of the waterfall that was framed by the statues of the Shodai and Uchiha Madara. The water that thundered down from above felt good, but Gohan couldn't dwell on it. He had a job to do, an opponent to defeat, and he couldn't let anything distract him from that.
"Transform," Sasuke said.
Gohan nearly slipped off his rock at the sudden command. "What?"
"You heard me," Sasuke replied. "Transform now. I want to fight you at your best."
"Why?"
"Because if I'm going to defeat Itachi, I need to be sure I can win against the best."
"You don't know what you're asking, Sasuke. Being confident is one thing, being ignorant and arrogant is another." Gohan eyed his opponent seriously, taking in the other boy, his slender frame, scored and nicked from all the times he'd gone barreling over the rocks, and the Sharingan, with its three comma marks…wait a second…three? Gohan blinked, but didn't give away more than that. 'I thought Sasuke only had two in each eye. Last I checked, three marks meant a mastered Sharingan, like what Kakashi has. Did Sasuke master it during our fight?'
"I know exactly what I'm asking," Sasuke retorted. "I saw you during the Chuunin Exams when you fought Lee. I know what you're capable of." He smirked. "I'm not going to underestimate you."
'You already have,' Gohan thought, but let it go at that. If Sasuke really wanted it that badly then he would have to learn the hard way. "Alright, Sasuke, if you want to fight a Super Saiyan, then I'm not going to deny you." He glared at Sasuke, his eyes bleeding from black to jade green. "Just remember, you asked for it!"
He sank into a low stance, his characteristic yell building in his throat, the river beneath him beginning to bubble and roil as if it was boiling. To Sasuke's surprise, the waterfall began to slow down as Gohan's power climbed until it bunched up just above him but continued to pound over the falls until it spilled over Gohan in a massive wave, like a cup holding too much water.
"HRAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Gohan's voice echoed off the canyon, a brilliant blast of golden light spilling into the sky, visible for miles as the rays of energy grew brighter and brighter and brighter, obscuring everything. Finally there was a great noise like an explosion and the waterfall blew straight skyward, a massive torrent of white water that moved in complete defiance of gravity.
Sasuke shielded his eyes from the flying water and the blinding light.
"Okay, Sasuke," Gohan's voice said. "Let's go again."
Yamato and Kakashi hurtled through the trees that were increasingly becoming grassland. The border was rapidly approaching and time was running out. They took to the trees again, neither saying a word, knowing that they had to reach the Valley before the fight was over, either to witness Sasuke's departure or, more likely in both shinobi's opinion, scrape up both boys and cart them back for medical treatment.
Kids these days, Yamato thought morosely but with humor.
Light blasted out from in front of them. There was a second's delay before the shockwave hit them, still stunningly powerful even at this distance, Gohan's yells for power just barely audible in the torrent of energy and force. As they got closer, drops of water plunked down around them. Both looked up, startled, at the heavy leaden skies. Rain was likely because the rainy season in the Fire Country had begun to arrive. Kakashi hoped it wouldn't. In addition to all of the usual tactical problems that came from rain, a shinobi could vanish just as effectively as he could in the mist.
Rain sloughed down all around them, soaking them briefly before it was done and they pressed on. "Rain?" Yamato asked, his tone telling Kakashi that the ANBU had thought about much the same problems that the jounin had.
"No," Kakashi replied as he thought about it. "Gold light, massive shockwaves, screams on the wind, there's nothing else it could be. Gohan's transformed. Why, I have no idea, but it means he's bringing out the big guns. That was water from the river." As if to back Kakashi up, Yamato saw a few gasping fish laying on the ground, salmon that were common in the region.
"Then I think we should hurry it up."
"Yeah."
Sakura stirred and woke up. "Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, dazed. They stopped so Sakura could run on her own and free up Yamato but that was all and they were moving ahead explaining the situation as they went.
Sasuke's heart pounded in his chest, his breath catching in his throat, adrenalin pumping through him. Gohan stood across from him, still on that rock, the waterfall thundering as before, as if it had never been blown skyward by the power of ki alone. Sasuke's hand clenched and unclenched, more from nerves than from anything else. He had a second's doubt about his demand for Gohan to go all out but as Sasuke thought about it, he realized that he wanted this. To fight against an opponent that stacked the odds heavily against Sasuke. To test his new abilities in the heat of battle. It was what all martial artists wanted, from samurai to shinobi, since the beginning of time.
Hard jade eyes glared at Sasuke from under Gohan's usual mop of hair, except his hair was now a vivid gold. The gold flame that haloed Gohan's body vanished, the silence in the Valley eerie after its determined and constant chirping. "Well?" Gohan asked. "Is this what you wanted?"
Sasuke's mouth was dry but he nodded, an anticipating grin coming over his face the longer he watched. "Let's see what you've got!" he replied.
"Fine."
Gohan vanished. Sasuke's vision filled with four knuckles. He twisted into a dodge, trying to lean out of the way. He wasn't quite fast enough, Gohan's thumbnail splitting his cheek open, but Sasuke retaliated with a knife, his kunai diving for an opening that he'd found in Gohan's guard thanks to the Sharingan. Gohan's feet dug in, spraying rocks everywhere as he tried to arrest his momentum. He hopped backwards, bouncing once off his hands and back to his feet. Blood dribbled down his cheek from a gash that mirrored Sasuke's own.
"Blood for blood," Sasuke said, wiping his own cheek clean.
Gohan said nothing for a moment as he swiped his thumb across his cut, cleaning the blood off. "Awfully excited for a little paper cut, aren't you?" He replied, setting his stance again. Sasuke rushed ahead, kunai leading as a second appeared in his free hand. Gohan backpedaled, ahead of the kunai, arms and hands weaving in defensive gestures, knocking the knives out even wider. Gohan feinted high, trying to set Sasuke back on his heels, but the Uchiha didn't fall for it, his Sharingan showing him the truth of the diversion. So Gohan's next attack wasn't a feint. Sasuke crossed his hands, palms open in a block.
Gohan's fist nearly broke both of Sasuke's hands just from the impact. Sasuke looked down, startled to see the ground speeding by just beneath his sandal toes. He touched down, skidding back, on his heels but still very much in balance. Gohan was already coming, having flown off for the speeding body of the other teen. Gohan dropped an axe kick on Sasuke's kick, which was blocked by an upraised forearm. Sasuke nearly cried out as he felt one of the bones in his forearm crack, nearly breaking under the force. If he hadn't angled it to deflect the blow, it would have for certain.
WHAM!
Sasuke's ears rang, white-hot pain exploding between his ears as Gohan slashed with his other foot, catching Sasuke in the back of the head, driving him forward, stumbling madly as he tried to stay upright. All Gohan had to do to knock him down was seize the Uchiha by scruff of his neck and pull, tripping Sasuke with one foot in a textbook martial arts sweep. Sasuke managed to get enough of his wits around him to add momentum to his fall, slamming his palms into the ground, arm screaming in protest so much that Sasuke grunted but forged ahead, wrapping his thighs around Gohan's neck and using his falling weight to tug the Saiyan along for the ride.
Both boys smashed to the deck, Gohan on his head, neck bending at a weird angle that sent hot pokers of fire through his neck and back, Sasuke on the top of his back, rattling the Uchiha's teeth in his skull.
In a blur of motion they were both on their feet but Gohan was faster, ever the faster one, hammering Sasuke again and again, driving Sasuke to his knees, unable to even slow the barrage. Sasuke fell forward, completely spent, but Gohan's fist caught his shirt and held him up on his knees, Sasuke's head lolling around, Sharingan no longer clear and sharp but dull and muddied with Sasuke's own dazed confusion. Briefly, Sasuke couldn't tell where he was or even who he was fighting, but when he saw Gohan glaring down at him, seemingly from miles away, gold hair and vivid jade eyes, as cold as green ice, the most outstanding features in Sasuke's memory.
"For the final time, Sasuke," Gohan declared. "I win."
Finally done! I know it's way late, but I recently got a full-time job and it's been killing any urge I've had to write stories. But that's my problem and not you guys, so thank you for being so patient. And now we've come to the final battle. All that's left is Gohan vs. Sasuke and that's it and on to Return. Look forward to it!
Glossary
Tessenka no Mai: Hana (Dance of the Clemantis: Hana): Kimimaro's spine sword swells up until it covers his entire forearm. It's massive enough that it almost went through Gaara's Shukaku idol defense thing.
Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru (Dance of the Clemantis: Vine): Kimimaro rips his spine out of his body and uses it as a sword. The vertabrae are sharpened to cut something. Also can extend and contract. Think of it as a Naruto-verse version of Bleach's Renji Abarai's Zabimaru.
Raiton: Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu (Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Running Technique): This jutsu creates a beast of chakra that is made of lighting, like the name suggests. The beast remains conncected to the user, allowing him to control it for multiple attacks.
Raibunshin no Jutsu (Lightning Clone Technique): Used by Kakashi but not named. Kage Bunshin but with Lightning Style techniques. When this one gets 'popped' instead of dispelling into smoke like a normal Kage Bunshin, it electrocutes and paralyzes the enemy.
Chidori/Raikiri: If you don't know what these jutsu are by this point, then you're not a Naruto fan. ^_^