Sorry for the delay, I was having trouble uploading chapters to this site.
Chapter 12
Standing in the bright sun, retracking his hand from the enemies' chest, Kakashi looked around. Lucy had just incinerated her opponent and Ino was busy healing Lee. This group, that being Lucy, Ino, Lee, Neji, a Naruto shadow clone, and himself, had been send to this position by Ryoga. Although he really had no authority here, people simply listened when he started to bark orders at them. The real Naruto was with Yamato, Sai and Ryoga, somewhere up Konoha's mainstreet.
Lucy spanked herself on the right side of her behind when one of the enemy ninja didn't seem to dare to come closer after Lucy had made a pile of ashes from her last opponent and she was openly taunting the man to try and attack. It was Neji showing up behind him and delivering a blow to his heart that caused him to fall to the ground with a dull thud. It was the first time Kakashi had seen the young kunoichi, with a sugary sweet voice, fight and he had to say he was impressed. She was every bit the dangerous konoichi that Kazuya had made her out to be.
Ino wiped the sweat from her brow. Her chakra reserves were slowly but surely diminishing and she hoped that the onslaught of enemy ninja would soon stop. But she feared that the few waves of enemies was just the beginning.
Lucy pulled on Kakashi's sleeve, much like a small child would do to attract attention. "We need to set up for the next wave," she said, pointing at the radio in her right ear. "There's more coming."
Kakashi nodded. Part of him wished he had Naruto's stamina. He had already activated his sharingan and it was slowly but steadily using chakra. Putting his headband back over his special eye, Kakashi took a swig from his canteen. They had to pick this day of all days to attack. It was hot, the sun burning down heavily on the ninja. "What do you have in mind?" Kakashi asked, after drinking through his mask.
Lucy smiled. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve… Just leave it to me."
Kakashi watched as Lucy performed several jutsu. One he recognized as being a trap. The last he had never seen before.
Lucy finished with the seals for the last jutsu, speaking very clearly. "Ninja art fire style, art of inferno."
Each member of the group was now being circled by four small balls of fire. Grabbing for her radio, Lucy made contact with Ryoga. "How much time do we have left?"
"They'll be on you any second now," Ryoga replied. "You guys still okay?"
"We're okay. You?"
"Don't worry about me… Ah Shit!"
Looking over at the village, a loud growl made the ground shake. "Naruto," Kakashi gasped, watching huge chakra in the form of a fox loom over the village. This was all going horribly wrong. Just as Kakashi wanted to dart back towards the village, chains of chakra restrained the fox, forcing the beast back into Naruto. Kakashi let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. It dawned upon him that Kazuya had picked Ryoga for a reason. At first he had thought he had asked the redhead to come so he'd be a comfort to Sakura, but this couldn't have been further from the truth. He must've known that Ryoga had the ability to surpress the nine tails. That had been the main reason for selecting Ryoga. His connection to Sakura had just been a bonus.
"Ryoga?" Lucy asked over the radio.
"I got it," Ryoga answered. "Everything's under control."
Lucy turned the mic off and looked over towards the woods. They were currently sitting just outside Konoha's west gate. They were here to prevent the enemy flanking Konoha's main force. So far they had managed to keep the enemy from even getting close.
"Get ready," Kakashi said, uncovering his sharingan again.
This time the enemy mainly consisted of white zetsu and a few regular ninja. As they drew closer, a sea of flames erupted from the ground, followed by a pack of wolves attacking the group. Kakashi raised a kunai as an enemy came at him from above with a short sword. Before the sword even connected with Kakashi's kunai, the fireballs charged at the enemy, exploding as they were near their target.
Kakashi's eyes shifted to his front as the enemy had easily dodged the fireballs, coming straight for Kakashi, who also pulled a vanishing act as the blade made contact. Coming from behind, Kakashi plunged the kunai into his opponents' ribs, causing him to stagger forward, only to be pulled into the ground by the real Kakashi. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing. Obviously they were systematically testing Konoha's fighting force for weaknesses.
Neji took out several white zetsu using his Kaiten technique. He looked over at his teammates and noticed that the zetsu were swarming the Naruto clone. Signaling Lee, Neji ran over to help the clone. Although it wasn't the real Naruto, not defending it meant giving away that this wasn't Naruto.
"Step aside," Kakashi said to Lucy, as he finished the required hand signs for his lightning blade. In a flash, Kakashi went from ninja to ninja. Lucy went over to help Neji instead, and with his and Lee's help made quick work of the zetsu.
It was Neji who dealt the last blow before running to Kakashi's side. "Kakashi-sensei," his deep voice laced with concern.
Kakashi looked up to find the Hyuuga genius looking almost… Scared? "What is it?"
"Sasuke," Neji said softly. "He's coming this way."
"He must think we have the real Naruto."
Lucy shook her head. "Last I heard, he was looking for Sakura," she said. "He must think that she won't leave his side… And obviously if she had to choose… She'd choose to stick with you and Naruto."
Kakashi remembered how strong Sasuke had been at the bridge. Looking over to the where the Naruto clone was, he knew that he had to get rid of it before he saw Sasuke. Having Naruto see his old friend would only complicate things. After all, Naruto was the only one who still believed that the last Uchiha could be saved. Casually, Kakashi went to the clone. He gave it a kick, to make it disappear. Naruto would question this later but, Sasuke had to be taken care of now, while he had a team he could take him down with. "Is he alone?" Kakashi asked Neji.
Neji nodded, but he also dreaded what Kakashi was thinking. Looking over at the older jounin he realized that it was as he feared. Kakashi intended to fight Sasuke with the team currently present.
"Ino," Kakashi said. "Take Lee and join the main force. Lucy, Neji and I will take care of things here."
"Kakashi-sensei," Ino said softly. "Sasuke…"
"I will fight too," Lee said, puching his fist in the air.
"Do as I say." Kakashi ordered. "The three of us can take Sasuke."
Lee looked at Kakashi, then Neji and last at Lucy. His eyes laced with concern as he looked at his comrades. He didn't want to go, but he also knew that a team too big would only cause problems. Holding out his fist towards Neji he spoke. "Just kick him for me."
Neji showed a slight grin, before going back to his usually stoic appearance. "I will."
Lee turned and headed for the gate. Deep down this was gnawing at him. He was abandoning his team. This was wrong. But he knew Kakashi and Neji were both geniusses. If anyone could defeat Sasuke, it was them.
Ino hesitated, but wordlessly followed Lee back into the village. There was nothing she could do. But still… She wanted Sasuke back as much as Sakura had wanted him back at some point. Part of her had held on to the Sasuke he had once been. The Sasuke she had wanted as her boyfriend. But he was a rogue ninja, a traitor. He was the man who had caused Sakura immense pain. How was it possible that she still cared about him?
Waiting until they were out earshot, Kakashi turned to the two remaining ninja. "This ends today," he said. He turned fully to Lucy, who threw off her jounin vest. "I know you don't have to follow my orders but…"
"Whatever you need," Lucy said, unable to keep the fire from her voice. "That asshole killed Akira. I haven't forgotten. If I can kill him… I will."
Although he never would've guessed it, Lucy seemed pretty pissed off too. Having lost a teammate, a friend, had clearly left her feeling angry. And now she had chance to set things straight. She hadn't been there, in his final moments. She never got to say thank you for being my friend. Or thank you for your trust. And never would she have the chance to tell him that she'd never forget everything he'd done for her. Akira, the shy boy on Kazuya's team. But also the kindest on Kazuya's team. She missed him every day. She remembered his shy smile, the way he would blush when receiving a big hug from either Lucy or Sakura. He was the one guy she had entrusted with the one thing she hadn't dared to ask any other guy. She had been so comfortable, and so afraid, that she asked him to help her. She had known what the jounin exams could ask of the participants, so she had asked his help and he had helped her. And he had been so sweet that night. Thank you for being my first.
Sasuke arrived, looking from Kakashi to Neji to Lucy. "Where is she?" he asked Kakashi.
"She's not in the village," Lucy spat at Sasuke.
"What do you need Sakura for?" Kakashi asked calmly.
"You don't know?" Sasuke asked. "She's a Haruno…"
Kakashi knew exactly what that meant. He had heard that four generations ago, the Hyuuga clan had also used the Haruno clan to strengthen their Byakugan. At some point, most Hyuuga went blind. But after they had mixed in the blood of the Haruno clan, this problem was fixed. He obviously meant to use Sakura as some kind of baby factory.
"If she's not here…" Sasuke said with a shrug, turning to walk away.
"Don't you walk away," Lucy said, immediately followed by a fireball jutsu, which Sasuke dodged. "Coward!"
Sasuke laughed in a twisted way. "And you must be the other one from Sakura's Waterfall team," he mused out loud. "Should I kill you too? Just to prove a point?"
"Go ahead and try," Lucy said, gearing up to fight Sasuke. "By the end of the day you'll be half the man you were."
Kakashi wanted to tell Lucy not to piss off Sasuke, that it would be a bad idea. However he had already calculated that if the three of them were to take on Sasuke, they had a pretty good chance of defeating him.
Lucy couldn't have stopped herself even if she wanted to. The rage building inside of her as she stood face to face with Akira's killer. She wanted nothing more than to sqeeze the life from him. To make him scream in agony as she ended his worthless life. But this was wrong. Like herself, Sasuke was a shinobi, and Kazuya's words rang loudly in her ears. A shinobi is a weapon, learning to be a shinobi is learning how to kill. It was the truth, Lucy knew it. Akira had gotten in Sasuke's way, and so to complete his objective, he had killed Akira.
Before anyone had a chance to react, Lucy engaged Sasuke. Anger, sadness, confusion, all battled inside her for dominance. How could this man, who had once meant so much to Sakura, cause so much grief? Ashitaka, Akira and Kenji. The images of Ashitaka and Akira flashed through Lucy's mind as she threw a kunai at Sasuke, followed by a fireball. She'd end this right now.
Kakashi's eyes widened at the sudden viciousness of Lucy's attacks as she charged at Sasuke, making him retreat. But like so many before her, she was no where near as strong as Sasuke. After a short combo of Lucy's attacks, Sasuke used his susanoo.
"Now you die," Sasuke said, gearing up to launch an attack Kakashi knew all too well.
With lightning fast reflexes, Kakashi appeared in front of Lucy, using his mangekyo to blow away the attack. "Lucy," he said calmly. "I understand how you feel. But this is no time to act rashly. Let's work together."
"Kakashi," Lucy said, feeling some of her anger fade. "Alright."
Kakashi made the hand signs for his chidori, Lucy made hand signs for a big firestyle jutsu. "After you," Kakashi said.
"Fire style, Dragon breath jutsu."
A big dragon shaped flame formed from the fire Lucy had just conjured. It traced the outher side of the susanoo before circling it, grabbing hold and then enveloping it completely in flames.
With their combined attack, Kakashi and Lucy pushed Sasuke back, creating an opening for Neji to use his clan's special taijutsu.
Sasuke calmly watched the flames of Lucy's jutsu surround him. His deep red eyes scanning is surroundings. He knew what Kakashi was planning. With his chakra blocked, he'd be defenseless. The plan was to have Neji hit him with the Hyuuga's fighting style. He'd have to make quick work of him.
Looking up, Sasuke aimed another Susanoo arrow at Lucy, knowing Kakashi would save her, and render himself unable to continue the fight. And then he would take care of Neji, leaving only the girl.
A twisted smile formed as Kakashi did as he had predicted. He turned around to meet Neji, barely dodging his attacks.
'If I can land only one hit'.
Playing dirty, Sasuke kicked up sand, making Neji close his eyes. Sasuke drew his sword, wanting to stab Neji, only to have Lucy interfere with a kunai. She could feel her hands tremble. He was even stronger than she had thought. She used her left hand to turn her mic back on. "Help me," she whispered.
"Calling for help won't do you any good," Sasuke said. "There's not a soul in this village as strong as I am."
"Maybe," Neji said. "But we don't have to fight alone. We have friends to help us. We have something to fight for."
"Then you die next," Sasuke answered softly. "Just to give the girl one less thing to fight for. I want to see her cry. This time… I won't miss."
Another purple arrow flew towards the two ninja. It grazed Lucy's cheek and hit Neji high in the chest. He sputtered something incoherent before falling to his knees. The next arrow was aimed at Lucy. Lucy swallowed hard, her eyes wide and her body put into a crouching position.
The purple arrow was shot at Lucy, and before she had time to react, a flash of pink appeared and what looked like a wall of water appeared between the hands of that flash of pink. "Water style, water mirror jutsu."
The purple arrow disappeared into the water, before reappearing and being shot back at Sasuke.
Sasuke lost his hold the susanoo and looked at Sakura as if he'd seen a ghost. Somehow she had managed to defeat his susanoo. He smiled at her as she got up. "There you are," he said. "Now where have you been hiding?"
"Lucy," Sakura said, not answering Sasuke's question. "Take Neji to a medic… Quickly, there's still time."
"But Sakura…"
"He's my friend… Lucy please just do as I say."
"Sakura," Sasuke said, drawing Sakura's attention to him.
"Get out of here," Sakura said to Lucy before facing Sasuke completely. "Haven't you ruined enough lives yet?"
"You will never understand," Sasuke said calmly. "How about I make you a deal… You come with me, and no more of your friends will die."
"I'd rather die than go anywhere with you."
Sitting a little away from the battle, Kakashi struggled to keep his normal eye open. He felt so weak and tired and he knew for sure he was hallucinating. Standing there, looking well rested and ready to fight was Sakura. Hallucination or not, he didn't want her to get hurt. There was no way she could take on Sasuke by herself. "Run," Kakashi whispered, barely audible.
No one heard the words that Kakashi had uttered. Sakura clenched and unclenched her fists. Fear filled her as she stared at Sasuke. She was no match for him and she knew it. If anything, he seemed even stronger than he was last time. There was no choice left but to fight him and hope that help would reach them soon. Desperation, fear and anger battled for dominance as Sakura prepared to fight Sasuke. She could feel herself tremble, even as she tried to remain calm.
'Am I afraid of Sasuke Uchiha, and the promise of death that he represents?'
Lucy hoisted Neji unto her shoulders and gave Sakura a concerned look. "Don't worry about me," Sakura said softly, hoping her lie sounded convincing. "He's almost here."
Lucy instantly knew who Sakura was talking about. She had asked him for help earlier. "Stay safe," Lucy said before fleeing with an unconcious Neji.
Sasuke was fast, much faster than Sakura, as he tried to grab her. She only barely managed to stay out of his grip. A few quick hand signs made Sakura blow out a puff of steam, surprising Sasuke, and making him retreat a little in response. Sakura was quick in the follow up, landing a chakra loaded punch to his jaw and sending him flying and she was right there next to him, to slam him into the ground a few times before retreating.
Sasuke laughed as he got up. His hand camy up to his jaw, which was already turning various shades of purple. Sure her attack had hurt, but he was impressed. Now that she wasn't tired, she was actually pretty strong. But he didn't want to cause her harm. That was the future of his clan standing there. He'd just have to poke her with the chidori. Just enough to make her lose consciousness.
There was no escaping it as Sasuke raced towards Sakura. She made a few handsigns, but they weren't needed. In front her, grabbing Sasuke's hand and landing a kick to his stomach was Ryoga. Punches were exchanged before Ryoga released Sasuke.
"Sorry I'm late," he said sheepishly. "Some dumbass called Kazuya showed up and needed saving first."
Sakura stared wide eyed at Ryoga first, before she chuckled. He looked so calm, so confident and she was happy that he had come for her. Of course she couldn't let Sasuke know she had been shaking in fear just seconds earlier. "He does have that whole damsel in distress thing going for him."
"That he does," Ryoga said. "He'll join us shortly."
"So he's slow too?"
"You know how he gets," Ryoga said, finally looking over his shoulder at Sakura. "You wait here while I kill that smug-looking kid over there."
Ryoga made a few steps towards Sasuke, who was still recovering from Ryoga's kick to the stomach. Sakura grabbed that back of Ryoga's shirt, leaning her forehead in between his shoulderblades. "Ryoga."
Ryoga stopped for a minute, and thought about what to say. But there really was no other way to say this. Even if hearing this hurt her. "I'm not Kenji," he said after a moment of silence. "Let me kill him, and give you a little peace."
"I know and..." Sakura whispered. Of course she knew that. Ryoga was famous. He was known as the strongest shinobi that Waterfall had to offer. A true genius. And a product of a forbidden love. Now, standing in front of Sasuke was a man that Sakura truly believed was way stronger than the last Uchiha. But still… "I'm sorry."
"I know… It's okay."
Ryoga pulled free from Sakura's grip. "Heal Kakashi," he ordered. "I may need his help."
Sasuke laughed as he saw the tall shinobi walk towards him with no fear. "Another redhead wanting to die."
"Are you going to stand there and talk all day?" Ryoga asked. "You're already boring me."
Sasuke's smiled faded from his face, when he saw no fear in his oponents eyes. He was so relaxed that it was unerving. Didn't this redhead know who he was dealing with? He'd show him why he was a force to reckon with. Like the previous redhead who had come to Sakura's defense, he would kill this one too.
Ryoga and Sasuke clashed, giving Sakura the opening she needed to heal Kakashi. She was at his side within seconds, her fingers glowing green, as she pressed her thumb to his sharingan. Kakashi instantly felt relief. "Sakura," he said softly.
"Don't talk," Sakura cut him off. "I'm attempting to shut down your response to pain and using so much chakra at once. I need you in top form if we're going to fight Sasuke."
"Save your energy," Kazuya's deep voice sounded from the bushes. "I left the knucklehead with his friends, but even he isn't so dense as not to know something's up."
Sakura looked up. She had felt his approach before Ryoga clashed with Sasuke. Having an extra hand to bring Sasuke down was more than welcome. But Naruto didn't want to kill Sasuke. He wanted to save Sasuke. Like Kazuya, Sakura believed that Sasuke was beyond saving. They would have to make quick work of him, if they wanted to kill him. "But Ryoga said..."
"I'll go and help him," Kazuya interrupted, whilst moving past her and shrugging off his vest. He gave her one final look, before making a beeline for the trees and shouting back at her. "Stay here!"
Kazuya immediately followed the sounds of fighting, disappearing deeper into the forest. The way to the battlefield was easily found. Huge craters and unrooted trees littered the once beautiful forest. A loud poof told Kazuya that someone had preformed a summoning jutsu. Looking up, above the roof of leaves, a huge head of a purple snake appeared.
Ryoga sensed Kazuya's arrival and retreated only a little, so Kazuya could use a jutsu to distract the Uchiha. First things first. He had to get rid of that huge snake. That beast would only get in their way.
Clouds gathered unnaturally fast in the sky and soon anger burst of thunder aimed for Sasuke were breaking the silence. Whilst Ryoga kept the snake busy, Kazuya taunted Sasuke into attacking him. His attempts only made the Uchiha smile. "I've been hoping for another chance to kill you," he said. "Last time you got lucky."
Kazuya shook his head and smiled. "No boy," he said. "You got lucky. Now that I'm not tired I will show you what a real shinobi can do."
A real shinobi. The words rang through Sasuke's mind, only adding to fuel his rage. These two were so arrogant. He'd show them the true strength of the Uchiha clan, and no one would ever doubt that he was a true shinobi. The susanoo that he had been forced to drop because of Sakura, was now back in full force. His power fueled by his anger.
Kazuya seemed unfased by the purple knight looking thing that surrounded Sasuke. He had done his homework. This thing ate chakra like an Uzumaki ate Ramen. All he had to do was wait it out.
Sakura had just finished getting Kakashi ready for battle, and she was gearing up to join Kazuya and Ryoga, when Kakashi grabbed her by the wrist. His dark one eyed gaze boring into her bright green eyes. There were so many things he wanted to say, but as she looked at him with confusion he couldn't manage to voice his thoughts. Instead of saying what he had wanted to say to her for weeks he opted to stick to the matter at hand. "Stay here," he said softly. Kakashi got to his feet and he noticed Sakura's anger bubble to the surface.
"No," she answered curtly, yanking her wrist free.
"Kazuya said…"
"I don't care," Sakura interrupted. "I'm not sitting here waiting for those two to get themselves killed."
"Isn't Kazuya the shinobi in charge?" Kakashi asked. He was desperately trying to keep her from facing Sasuke. If she was even a little like the Sakura he knew, than she would fight him. Or at least try to fight him. "He ordered you to stay here."
"And I'm choosing to disobey his order." Sakura sighed with annoyance. Why was it so hard for some people to accept that she could make her own decisions and that she was strong enough to help out. She was no longer that weak that she always needed protecting. She gave Kakashi one last look, and she took off, towards the battle that Kakashi feared could be her last.
That look in her eyes, Kakashi had seen it many times before. She was determinded to end this. As strong as she may have become, he couldn't just let her go. Of all his students she was the smart one. The one he didn't have to worry about to do something uncharacteriscally stupid. But even that was a lie. In her attempt to take out Sasuke, she had made several bad calls.
A loud cry pierced through the forest. The giant snake that had been so persistently trying to eat Ryoga, was staked with a pike that had risen from the ground. Bringing his wrist to his forehead, Ryoga wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Assessing his own body, he noticed that the snake had nicked him a few times. Not wanting to wait and see if he was poisoned, Ryoga bit his own wrist, healing himself to perfect health. Now he had an Uchiha to kill.
Kazuya stood face to face with Sasuke and his Susanoo. This thing was much faster than he had anticipated and steering clear of it's attacks was no easy feat. Sometimes he wished he didn't have such a big mouth.
The arrows shot by Sasuke also gave a little explosion on impact, making it more difficult to dodge than just regular arrows. Kazuya eyes darted to the side. In the corner of his eyes, Kazuya saw a flash of pink. Naturally Sakura had disobeyed his order. Admittedly, he was a little glad. The Susanno was stronger than he had anticipated and he may just need a little help. If only it wasn't her.
Sakura joined up with Kazuya in time to deflect the pruple arrow back at Sasuke. A glance over her shoulder told her that Kazuya had seen her coming, and he didn't seem angry. He nodded his head away from the village. "Let's give Sasuke a demonstration of how fast we can run."
Kazuya grabbed Sakura's wrist and dragged her along as they ran, making a big circle and Sakura instantly understood that Kazuya was leading her towards Ryoga. It made sense to regroup. As a team they were stronger than alone.
Sasuke stared at the two when they ran away. He was tempted to yell at the them, calling them back and telling them to fight him head on. But he knew better. He had done some homework of his own. Kazuya was a strategist. Knowing this, he knew that when this man chose to run, it was not without a reason. Fighting both him, Sakura and the redhead could proof difficult. Yet, he was here with a goal. "I'll show them the strenght of the Uchiha clan," Sasuke muttered to himself, and he followed the two shinobi.
Kakashi had finally found the strenght to stand up. The pain and frailty he had felt after his first bout with Sasuke was gone. He felt amazing, like he could take on the world and he wondered what Sakura had done. Feeling like this, he knew he could help bring Sasuke down. He quickly followed their footsteps and silently prayed that he wasn't too late.
Sasuke arrived where Kazuya and Sakura had joined up with Ryoga. His eyes narrowed when he saw his summoned snake dead on a large stake made from stone. Looking over Ryoga he noticed that he had no injuries, he seemed copletely unfased by fighting. Taking him down would be no easy accomplishment. He'd have to take them out one at a ime, starting with Kazuya.
Without warning Sasuke attacked Kazuya. Punches and kicks were exchanged, forcing Kazuya on the defensive side of the battle. Sasuke's chidori stream struck Kazuya in his right shoulder, rendering him unable to properly defend himself. Sakura punched the ground, breaking up the battle and drawing Sasuke's attention. He was upon her quicker than she could react and his chidori hit her, as she had held up her arms to shield herself from the attack. She was quick to retaliate, throwing a chakra loaded punch to his ribs and connecting, sending him flying backwards. With a press of her glowing green right hand, she easily healed the damage Sasuke had caused.
Sasuke landed near his dead snake, wheezing as every breath he took hurt. Looking to the side, Kakashi had joined the fight. Lightning blade ready, Kakashi charged at Sasuke, intending to kill him. Grabbing Kakashi's fist, and attacking him with a kunai, that Kakashi blocked. They stood there, a battle of raw strength, as Kakashi tried to hit Sasuke with his lightning blade, and Sasuke tried to stab Kakashi with a kunai.
Coming up behind Kakashi, Ryoga ran towards the two. He jumped, putting a foot in between Kakashi's shoulder blades, to boost his jump over the fighting shinobi. Drawing his chakra blade in mid-air, Ryoga landed, cutting Sasuke on his back.
Sasuke released Kakashi's wrist and made a quick escape, barely dodging Kakashi's lightning blade. Panic was starting to fill him as he looked at the ninja he'd been fighting. He had underestimated them, and it wasn't looking good for him.
Ryoga threw his sword at Sakura, which she easily caught. "Finish him off!"
Sasuke thought it was strange that he'd throw his sword at her, since she hadn't touched her own sword since the battle had begun. Deciding he wouldn't wait for her attack, Sasuke made a beeling towards her. He'd take her out and then make a quick getaway.
Sakura took some of Sasuke's blood from the blade and wrote a symbol on the back of her hand. A short series of hand signs followed, and Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks as the jutsu took hold him. Loud screams filled the forest as Sasuke fell to the ground writhing in pain. "Haruno clan secret jutsu," Sakura said, her voice trembling slightly as wave of emotions passed through her. "Boiling blood jutsu."
Sakura closed her eyes, and tried to drown out the sound of Sasuke's screams. He deserved this. Right? Then why did it feel so wrong to do this to him? Why was she trembling? Visions of the friend he had once been flashed through her mind, quickly followed by images of Kenji. The way his lifeless form had lain on the cold examination table, devoid of warmth. How she had caressed his hair, trying to commit the feel of him into her memory. A few stray tears escaped from underneath her lashes.
Suddenly the forest went quiet again. Sakura opened her eyes, to see that Sasuke had vanished and had been replaced by a man wearing an orange mask. He was applauding, looking aroud at the four shinobi who had defeated Sasuke. They would've killed him, if he hadn't stepped in. "Impressive," he said, his sharingan eye resting on Sakura.
"Oh look," Ryoga said. "Is it Halloween already?…. Let's make him an actual corpse to decorate Konoha's main gate with."
"I'm not here to fight," the masked man replied. "I merely came to collect Sasuke and see why he's so taken with her."
"Well you've seen her," Ryoga hissed. "She's pretty, what's not to like? Now piss off."
The masked man laughed, again looking around before stopping to look at Ryoga. "So you're the one they call the weatherman…"
"I've been called that," Ryoga said calmly. "Want to find out why?"
Another laugh came from behind the mask. "Maybe next time." And with that he vanished, leaving the four shinobi to breathe a little easier.
The gravity of what had just occured dawned on Sakura. She had stood here face to face with Sasuke and they had almost succeeded in bringing him down. And through some sick twist of fate, he'd gotten away again. Sakura let out a scream in frustration, unable to keep the raw emotion inside her. With her eyes closed, she sank to the ground, bending her head and hiding her face.
Kakashi looked over at Sakura and he knew what she felt. How many times had it been that they had come so close, yet still managed to fail in capturing Sasuke? He wanted to something, anything, but nothing came to mind. His feet moved of their volition, bringing him closer to her. They only stopped moving when he was in front her, his left hand gently touching her shoulder.
The moment she felt a familiar presence in front her, and the gentle touch on her shoulder, she looked up. His one dark eye meeting her bright green eyes. And in that moment, wihtout any words having been spoken, she knew. Everything would be okay.