—he's barely back on the ground again and the wavy whip of a shadow is already trying to ensnare him. Usually this wouldn't be such a problem. He can just overpower the technique itself, but—
He dodges a whirlwind of a roundhouse, and barely avoids the chakra infused punch that follows.
—a split second might be a second too long.
In battle, a factor to victory lies in the ability to outmaneuver your enemies.
Lee is fast. He's also doing a good job in avoiding eye contact, fighting by watching his feet, something that came quite unexpected. But the taijustsu expert is not as fast as he remembers, which means as of now, he is faster. What Lee is doing, however, is working in tandem with Sakura, whose punches always seem to come after a kick that functioned both as an attack as well as a feint. And his instincts tell him that blocking is not an option.
He quickly back-dashes, creating a distance that Sakura won't be able to cover as fast as Lee, who won't be able to notice due to his high speed motion.
The shadow is twisting on itself to catch the end of his heel, at the same time Lee does a wide arc heel drop. It's a mistake. It would be a leg lost.
Instead of avoiding the strike, he closes in right beneath, and ready to slash upwards. Except his instincts kick in, and he pivots to the right as a mass of pressurized air sails by just next to him. A quick glance behind and he catches Neji slipping into a stance that is not meant for close-quarter encounters, and performs another palm-strike into what should be thin air, but instead propels the very atmosphere into cannon strikes.
He flips through the air, avoiding the snaking shadow as well as both the roundhouse and long-distance palm strike and throws half a dozen shurikens in one motion.
Neji doesn't even bat a byakugan as he stands his ground and pushes the air again, for the projectiles aimed at his vitals are suddenly picked off midair.
He expects this, for Tenten has been circling behind Neji in constant motion, darting in and out of sight. The true attack would be the blade of lightning chakra that is aiming for the eyes.
The blade extends and extends, until it's just about to sink in, and stops. Just centimeters away.
Neji ducks under and fires another shot, at the same time three dozen shurikens and kunais arc in towards him, pulled by strings?
He looks down to see the tendril of shadow serving as a nodule for anchoring, and realizes that, he has been pushed into the center of a ring.
Shikamaru. And what he said. Figures the landscape offers no advantages for an ambush.
This was the intention all along. In the open field, on the edge of a forest, flanked on all sides and poked until his range of attack is calculated.
"Tch." He parries Lee's right hook and performs an elbow jab that forces distance between them.
In battle, many a times, the numbers influence the outcome.
Immediately, he nicks his thumb with the tip of his blade and slams it upon the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A poof and a quickly dispersed white fog later, two cobras the size of buildings is already sweeping the ground like a serpentine maelstrom, forcing Team Gai to move and snapping numerous trees in the process.
From atop the back of one of the summons, he traces Lee, who lands just a quick shunshin's distance away, and charges lightning into his blade.
But suddenly he feels the summon go through a full body flinch, and soon performs a shunshin away instead of towards, to avoid a giant snake bite.
It's barely an instant, but through his sharingan he catches a glimpse of Ino's slumped form over Chouji's shoulder and has his suspicions confirmed.
The other summon hesitates, uncertain about the situation that has taken place. The consequence of that moment's hesitation is Sakura's fist, which collides with the force of a meteorite, literally burying half the snake's giant form into the ground.
The shockwave of the impact shook the entire air, momentarily dispersing even the rain in a dome of force.
Sasuke blinks as Sakura climbs off the twitching tail of the summon, tugging on her glove just as the puff of white cloud erupts from behind her.
He finds himself staring at her smirk. "You…"
"I just need one, Sasuke-kun," she says, and lunges forward, just at the same time the possessed summon whips its tail like a stave.
Her speed leaves much to be desired, so he's not quite certain why he is only barely able to dodge.
It is a gross overestimation, he realizes.
She will only need a touch.
Why?
Why is that everything is never as it seems? Why is that everything that he believes, everything that he remembers, shatters and changes right before him? When did he lose and gain nothing?
She's closing in again, a determined strength in her eyes.
Why…why are they so… … why is she so…
He sidesteps her.
In what feels like minutes, he studies the opening in her guard, and leaps away.
With a quick hand-sign, he dismisses the possessed summon, a puff of white smoke taking its place.
The smoke is large and wide, almost as if a quick fading fog in a tempered weather, and he is momentarily blinded. So instead of seeing, he hears the almost thundering buzzing that surrounds him, and charges chidori through his entire body, zapping several kikaichu off and avoiding being encased.
He needs to move. This is fast becoming annoying. This is supposed to be barely a warm up. For what's to come. Even before they started fighting, he could see it. They were all tired and drained, physically. It shouldn't matter that they are probably popped up on soldier pills. It shouldn't matter Shikamaru is probably formulating strategies by the hundreds. It shouldn't matter that somehow their spirits are strong and determined. It shouldn't matter that apparently Sakura can punch earthquakes. He's fought stronger, faster, more skilled and more in numbers. The Uchiha is strong. He is strong. Itachi is strong. While they are of Konoha. A weak, dark place that belonged buried under flames. And yet—
"We are strong, Uchiha, because we have something to protect."
He faces Neji, a chidori already in his left hand. He has a direct line to the pair of byakugan, but knows a genjutsu won't work here.
Neji calmly shifts his stance. "We are shinobi of the leaf. And because of that, we always have something to protect. Just as you once had as well."
Sasuke's eyes narrow.
He quickly notes Shino to the left, Tenten to the right, Lee landing behind, and Team Ten and the Replacement just at the edge of his sight. Then where are…?
"Nothing has changed. Since three years ago," Neji continues, when Sasuke doesn't reply, "you've been in a dark place all this time. You fear the darkness, so you hide within it."
Sasuke glares.
"I was in a dark place once too," Neji said, face impassive. "It was uncomfortable, and it hurt. So I wanted others to hurt as well. To feel the same pain I felt. To feel justified at my actions while blaming everyone else for the darkness forced upon my entire being. I hid in the darkness, and I couldn't see out of it."
Sasuke glares harder. "Don't presume to know me. You know nothing."
Neji stares calmly back. "I know enough. I see enough. Your darkness is not dissimilar to the one that enshrouded me. It blinds you. And I see now that the one who saved me, will have to be the one who shows you the sun. But for now…"
Below. He flips to the side, just as a massive swirl of fur and fangs drills out of the ground, and thrusts his hand into the side…and be intercepted by a barrier of kikaichu.
Neji takes that instant to close in. "You are within the range of my divination."
Sasuke curses and locks onto the Hyuuga, ready to incinerate the opponents in black flames if need be.
Only for the said opponent to slip out of his stance and leap back, while Kiba and Akamaru drill away at the same time.
His confusion lasts only for a second.
His hands drop to his side, forced down by an unseen force. His eyes follow the trail. From his feet, to the hole from which Kiba and Akamaru struck out from, then to the several dozen holes that pelted the entire field, before finally ending at the caster.
Shikamaru smirks, hands at his side. "Kagemaru no jutsu. Success."
He shouldn't have looked. It cost him a few seconds, which by then allowed Tenten to be airborne.
By the time he takes notice, Tenten has already unrolled twenty scrolls, all of which trail behind her like war flags. She pulls on them and unseals.
Then she starts spinning.
He's not entirely certain how she's doing it, but there are kunai, shuriken, senbon, knives, naginata, tantou, spears, flails, sabres, tsurugi, and more. All of which may or may not carry explosive tags.
He can't see the sky.
Still, it'll only take a moment. If he can move…
Sasuke looks at Shikamaru, and knows from his expression, that the Nara has no intention of releasing the technique, and has resigned to becoming a pincushion alongside.
This is annoying.
In battle, if one cannot outrun or outnumber their enemies, then overpower them.
Like a rising fortress from the netherworlds, his Susano emerges within the waterfall of weaponry and tactile explosions. With an unheard roar, Susano bears its flames.
With this, it is over—
A ripple reverberates throughout Susano's armored form, from front to back, from the top to the very the ground on which he stands.
He stares, at the fist that is only separated by Susano's armored ribcage.
He stares, at the pair of green eyes that used to always be full of tears.
The pair of eyes, that hasn't looked away since the very beginning.
He watches, unmoving, as Lee whisks her away at incredible speeds.
He watches as they, all of them, one by one, stand before him again.
Not surrounding him, but standing before him, looking at him straight in the eyes.
There is a tug. Somewhere within that he can't quite identity. It hurts a little, but…
"Don't blink, Sasuke-kun," Sakura chirps, smirking.
Almost as if coordinated, they all dash in.
He readies Susano.
It continues to rain.