Chapter 20 Troublesome brawl
Lee and Araiki kept up their quick exchange of blows between the spear and the katana, not showing any signs of either falling in their defence. During the next exchange, Lee swept downwards with his spear, forcing Araiki to block with his katana diagonally, that is until Araiki's eyes widened behind his mask when he saw the chakra being built up in the spears edge.
Araiki barely moved back in time as the shockwave from the spear made a deep cut right into the cement, digging down at least several inches. Araiki's eyes narrowed on his katana, that wasn't so lucky to evade the sharp chakra cut entirely, and was cleanly cut inches from the hilt. Araiki charged straight towards Lee when he spotted a hole in his defence, with his right palm held back in preparation. Had Lee not spared endless amounts of times with Neji, he would not have seen the incoming attack, but since he had, he quickly rolled to the right just in time to miss the Hakke Kusho shockwave blasting at where he was originally standing. Lee countered with a side sweep from his spear, chakra building up, when it clashed with a chakra field being emitted from none other than the Hakkesho Kaiten jutsu.
Lee however wasn't completely fazed from the connection and slid several feet back, eyes focused on the ANBU that was spinning rapidly behind the field.
Once the ANBU had stopped Lee spoke his finding, "First the Kusho, now the Kaiten. I see now, without a doubt, you are a very skilled Hyuuga member." Lee concluded.
Araiki scoffed, "That information will not help you, you will not interfere with our mission." Araiki said arrogantly.
Lee retracted his spear and clipped it to his belt and began unlocking his wrist weights, "I see. Then you leave me no choice, I promised myself I would only ever go all out when my friends were in danger, and since your mission is to kill Naruto-kun, I will be forced to stop you with all my power."
Araiki scoffed again in disgust, "You still will defend the Jinkuriki? Do you not understand what that thing is?!"
Lee smirked as he, gently placed the wrist weights at his side, then began unlocking his leg weights, "While I do not fully understand what this secret of Naruto-kun's is, I will respect his privacy. What I do know is Naruto-kun is a person I see as a rival, a comrade, but most importantly a friend. Prepare yourself!"
Araiki was not amused at all by Lee's little speech, and spat out with his voice full of venom and detest. "Then you are a fool, and you will die along with the jinkuriki!"
Araiki then charged again at Lee who had just placed his legs weights on the ground. Lee quickly took notice that Araiki was in the traditional Gentle Fist or Juuken stance. Araiki was soon put to a stop to his charge when Lee vanished as a blur, and had to step back to avoid the kick aimed at his chin by Lee from a prone position below him. Lee recovered from his miss and was at Araiki again with a near endless chain of punches and kicks, quickly adjusting when Araiki attempted to aim for one of his Tenketsu. Lee then added his Nun-chucks into his attack, bashing into Araiki who was still being forced to block. Araiki grunted in annoyance.
'This kids speed has increased exponentially, but it seems that all he can do is taijutsu...he will not beat me with that alone.' Araiki charged up a second Kaiten as Lee prepared for another hit with his nun-chucks. Lee smoothly jumped out range and counted backwards in his head.
'Five....Four.....Three....Two...One...'
"IKIMASHOU!" He shouted as he shot like a bullet straight at Araiki, who was wide eyed behind his mask.
'He knows the limit of Kaiten's continuous flow of chakra?! Impossible!' but Lee phased right through the moment the solid wall of the Kaiten dispersed, allowing him to swing his nun-chucks straight that Araiki's hooded head. "Konoha Senpuu!" He shouted as the Nun-chucks collided with the mask, causing it to crack, and then sent Araiki sliding several meters back gripping his mask, his hood flying off revealing that Araiki had no hair, but there was heavy scarring all over his head.
Lee could see the small traces of blood trickle through the cracks, as Araiki's hand shook over his mask in fury.
"You bastard!" Hissed Araiki, as he tossed his broken mask aside, revealing his activated Byakugan, and severely bleeding nose. Lee noticed that there was no seal present on Araiki's forehead which implied that he wasn't a branch member like Neji. Lee was about to make a comment, but couldn't when Araiki charged at Lee again in a blind rage. Lee tried countering but his eyes narrowed in concentration when he noticed he wasn't able to land a successful hit.
'I see, so he hasn't been using the byakugan until now...' Lee eyes widened and he cried in pain when Araiki successfully landed a hit with his juuken in Lee's chest.
Araiki then took a step back and dropped into a stance which made Lee's eyes nearly bulge out in shock at what was coming next, the familiar stance of preparing 64 palm strike, or Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!.
"Two palms..." Araiki barked and dashed towards Lee.
Lee gasped in surprise when Araiki paused a mere inch away from connecting with Lee's body.
"Your troublesome eyes didn't seem to see my shadow now did it?" Said the familiar voice that belonged to Shikamaru behind Lee.
"Shikamaru-kun!" Lee said thankfulness clear in his voice, Shikamaru shrugged in his kneeled position.
Araiki gritted his teeth, "For forcing me to ask her for help, I will see to it you meet the shinigami in hell!"
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed in question, 'Her?...OH CRAP!' Shikamaru and Lee hit the cement hard, just in time to avoid being knocked out from a giant tentacle that swept over the bridge from the left side, before retreating into the water. Shikamaru inwardly took note of what looked like blood from the creature that had splattered on the bridge, When Shikamaru turned his gaze, he groaned when he saw the Hyuuga was free again.
Seeing that Araiki was waiting for them to make the first move, albeit impatiently, Shikamaru chose to evaluate the situation. "You alright Lee?" Shikamaru asked, glancing at Lee who was now next to him. Lee was breathing heavily but responded "He hit one of my tenketsu, but I am ok." Lee said. Shikamaru cringed at the implications. 'Seems like he took it near the lung, breathing must be hurting him like hell at the moment, he probably wouldn't be able to handle getting hit in a critical spot again without collapsing either.'
Lee decided to update Shikamaru with his findings, "It appears he is an offensive type Shikamaru-kun, he is very hasty and lets his pride and anger get the better of him. Unfortunately he also has a very strong offensive punch to go with that attitude to back him up."
Shikamaru snicked, "Treating this like a game of shogi are we?"
'Although that does seem the case, since I was able to capture him even though he has a kekkai genkai that's meant to make it impossible to get him by surprise.'
"How is Sakura-san?" Lee asked turning his head back as if he was looking at something.
"Sakura is helping Naruto down below, since we took care of the other guy."
Shikamaru said, as he thought out their plan, "...But Shikamaru-kun...it seems she is currently fighting that same guy with the brown hair now."
"WHAT?!" Shikamaru half shouted as he span his head around and his eyes widened at the sight. Sakura and what appeared to be a slug were engaged in a battle against the same ANBU that Shikamaru thought Sakura killed earlier. His eyes caught glimpse of some smoke rising from the cement, almost as if something was burning a hole into the bridge.
Shikamaru didn't waste any more time, and glimpsed back at Araiki, to make sure he didn't take advantage of his mistake, "Shikamaru-kun, go back and help Sakura-san, I will handle this."
Shikamaru shook his head, "From what I saw Sakura is in a much better situation right now that you are with this guy, and judging by the commotion downstairs I would say Naruto is handling the situation fine."
Lee nodded, "What do we do?" He enquired, as he fixed his gaze on Araiki, who was quickly losing his patience from their dawdling.
"Should I use the celestial gates?"
Shikamaru shook his head, "As powerful as that is, the fact that it inflicts so much damage on yourself, and that it won't save you from another successful hit from his juuken means it's too much of a double edged sword." Shikamaru quickly weighed the pros and cons of what he was about to suggest, and figured the collateral damage would be minimal since they were in the middle of a very long bridge...and if he played his cards right the only one getting any damage inflicted would be the Hyuuga in front of them.
"I will tell you what we are going to do." Lee snapped his attention to Shikamaru, as Shikamaru reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out...a chocolate wrapping?
"We are going to execute what I have come to call the D-fist strategy, a strategy so powerful that it is forbidden to use in public areas due to its high chance of innocents getting caught in its crossfire." Shikamaru explained, keeping a surprisingly very serious expression on his face. Lee's eyes widened at Shikamaru's explanation as the shadow user handed Lee the chocolate.
"This is a...special soldier pill Sakura made for such an emergency, just take it and I will explain the rest of the plan later." Lee nodded and unwrapped the strange chocolate when Shikamaru told the true story to himself in his mind.
'I actually got it from 'that' restaurant, as I figured that there was a very rare chance that we would need that highly destructive power...as extremely troublesome as it can be though.'
Araiki couldn't stand waiting anymore and dashed towards the pair, his eyes narrowed in question though on the strange chocolate that Lee had swallowed. He stopped several meters form them though when Lee suddenly seemed to twitch oddly. The byakugan wasn't showing him any fluctuations in the chakra network, so he was puzzled when Lee began to sway and his cheeks flushed.
'It's almost like he's...'
Araiki was dumbfounded internally though when Lee started bursting out in a strange laughter shouting out incoherent words, "HAWWWW! That was some strange soldier pill, Shika-kun *hic* I feel strangely as light as a feather...ITS LIKE IM AT THE SPRING TIME OF MY YOUTH!"
Shikamaru then executed the next phase of his strategy, which was minimizing collateral damage, "Hey Lee, that guy over there is looking at you funny." Shikamaru pointed at Araiki who furrowed his eyebrows trying to work out what was going on.
Lee span around loosely and attempted to glare at Araiki and started uncontrollably chuckling, "Like you're any better to look at *hic* what kind of demon spawn has eyes made of milk *hic* and has issues shaving their head."
That pushed Araiki out of his confused state and into pure rage as he came straight at Lee. Lee's movements were very unpredictable though unlike earlier where it was solid and well practiced, these movements were just so loose and almost childish. This strange behaviour however, was resulting in Araiki not being able to land a single hit with his Juuken.
"Why are you trying to poke me? *hic* I'm not that kind of guy you perverted paedophile *hic*" Araiki let out of grunt of annoyance, as he charged up another Kusho and launched it at Lee, who surprisingly didn't dodge and was sent airborne and landed several meters away. Araiki then jumped back in time to avoid Shikamaru's shadow and his eyes widened when he saw the build up of Chakra within the Shadow.
"Kage Nui no jutsu!" Shikamaru shouted as his shadow suddenly broke apart into several tendrils and enwrapped around Araiki's arms and legs, essentially binding him on the spot. Shikamaru reached into his pouch and threw an exploding kunai. Araiki was too quick though and broke free with a Kaiten, causing the kunai to explode when it impacted with the chakra wall.
Shikamaru turned and narrowed his eyes when he discovered Lee who was not far from him, and was lying on the floor looking as if he was knocked out cold. Shikamaru's eyes widened when he came up with another idea, and then he ran past Lee and stood a few meters behind his unconscious form. By this time Araiki had stopped the rotation and charged towards Shikamaru, who had now taken his usual kneeling position as if he was about to use another Shadow technique.
Araiki took a quick glance at the unconscious form of Lee and snorted.
'What a backstabber, he is using his knocked out team mate as a human shield.' Araiki thought as he jumped over Lee's motionless body, and quickly closed in on the still kneeling shadow user. Shikamaru had a face of deep concentration, and his gritted teeth showed his anxiety, he wasn't going to make it in time. Araiki inwardly smirked as he readied himself for Hakke Rokujuyon Sho, until his eyes widened when his byakugan caught the once motionless Lee standing up near impossibly fast and swinging his nun-chucks wildly in the air like a chimpanzee.
"YOU FELL FOR IT!" Lee shouted.
Araiki tried to roll to the side, but Shikamaru caught him again with his Kage Nui.
Shikamaru had no idea how many hits the Hyuuga standing in front of him was taking, but by the constant cries of pain, and the sounds of bones breaking did not sound healthy at all, as Lee essentially turned the pined Hyuuga into a living drum set. Araiki barely made it in time with building up the chakra throughout his body, as a shockwave of chakra shot out in all directions, knocking Lee and Shikamaru several meters away from him, freeing him from Shikamaru's entanglement.
Shikamaru blinked in confusion as he recovered 'what was that? That was like a Kaiten but he didn't need to rotate?' Araiki hit the floor hard, he was kneeling with his left arm as a support. The other arm was indeed broken, and the blood he was coughing out of his mouth hinted internal bleeding. Thomas shunshined next to Araiki his eyes filled with an emotion that one could argue was frustration.
Shikamaru's eyes widened when he noticed Thomas was missing part of his right arm, and it seemed as if some sort of sticky liquid was slowly chewing up his arm.
"I warned you not to underestimate him, we will have to pull back for now. Wani should be able to take care of your wounds caused by your recklessness." Thomas then scooped up the taller Araiki with his one good arm with ease and shunshined away, leaving only the blood from his teammate as any evidence of existence.
Shikamaru found the sudden silence as almost frightening, the pair and the strange summon disappeared so suddenly just like when they first arrived, only the sound of the ocean and the wind could be heard. Shikamaru heard the laboured breathing of Sakura coming from behind him.
"Are you hurt Shikamaru?" she asked through a pant. Shikamaru turned and had to suppress himself from going agape. Sakura's cloths were partly torn, with a large gash going across her side, but all her wounds were healed. Sakura did look quite worn out though. Shikamaru shook his head at her question.
"I'm fine, you might need to take a look at Lee though, the opponent was a Hyuuga and struck him in the lung earlier."
Sakura gasped in surprise but nodded. Shikamaru continued, now with a sweat drop forming, "Also...please tell me you know some jutsu that removes intoxication."
Sakura gave him a questioning gaze, but answered his question, "Umm, I don't...why?"
Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome....you see-"
"HAWWWW! Saku-san this soldier pill is incredible!" Lee practically bounced towards Sakura, but Shikamaru saved her by catching him in his kage mane. Sakura was in partial shock and watched the slithering miniature Gai try and break free from his bindings.
"W-W-What the hell?!"
"*hic* are you a natural pink Saku-san *hic*?" Sakura's right eye twitched as she recognised the symptoms clear as day from all her time with Tsunade.
"W-why the hell is Lee-san drunk?!"
"...It's a long story." Shaking her head clear of her bafflement, she looked around not seeing the other member of their group.
"Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked her voice full of concern.
Shikamaru didn't even get a chance to reply as Sakura jumped off the bridge edge and landed in the water and called his name out.
"Naruto!?" She gasped in shock when she saw the chaos that happened down here. There was ink, blood, Kunai's, and even dismembered limbs that belonged to the summon floating on the water surface.
Sakura tried again but louder this time. "Naruto!!?"
"Hey Sakura-chan." Came an exhausted yet familiar voice from her side.
She spun around and gasped when she saw Naruto. Naruto had cuts all over the place, and was bleeding profusely from his left arm, at first glimpse it looked like it was dislocated as well. She was at his side in an instant.
"What the hell happened baka!? Why didn't you send one of your kage bunshin's to ask one of us to come help you?! Do you not care about your life?!"
Naruto chuckled and gave a grin, "I-I never really thought of that." Sakura sighed while muttering 'baka' as she looked closer at his arm, fortunately it wasn't dislocated but there was evidence to show that something did try to pull Naruto's arm off.
Sakura cursed yet again at her friends recklessness, "You should have got help!"
"Sorry Sakura-chan."
Sakura shook her head, here he was bleeding all over the place exhausted, and all she was doing was standing there and scolding him.
"No, I'm sorry, let's get you out of here." She went to Naruto's good side and placed his arm on her other shoulder, and wrapped her arm around his back. Sakura then lead him to one of the support pillars and then using chakra walked them both up it.
On their slow adventure up the pillar, Naruto laboured breaths were getting heavier, making the kunoichi swear under her breath.
"Are you alright, Sakura-chan? And is Shikamaru and fuzzy brow's ok too?"
"Ah, I'm ok, Shikamaru is fine, Lee-san is acting very strange though, but he seems ok too." Naruto nodded, letting out a relieved but pained sigh. Sakura then recalled what happened earlier and winced.
"Are you ok, Naruto?"
"Y-Yeah...what is going to happen now Sakura-chan?" He asked worryingly.
"I do not know, but don't worry, I'm here ok?" She gave him a soft smile as they were reaching the top.
Naruto chuckled, "Shikamaru is probably going to want an explanation now."
Sakura giggled, "No. That would be far too troublesome for him right now."
'So looks like after you finally figured out you were tricked into coming here you ran for it...Orochimaru you coward.' Jiraiya mused as he stood proudly on top of the rubble of the collapsed cavern.
Jiraiya had no idea how long the battle went on for inside the cavern, but the moment Orochimaru started using giant snake summons, causing the entire cave to collapse, he was welcomed with fresh air and the beginning of sun set. Jiraiya then countered by summoning Gamabunta, which resulted minutes later in Orochimaru disappearing when Jiraiya and Gamabunta did their combo jutsu, Gamayu Endan, barbequing the monstrous snakes alive.
Jiraiya turned and met the towering gaze of Gamabunta, "Well Jiraiya, it seems Orochimaru got away yet again." Gamabunta spoke, emitting small tremor around the area.
"Yeah, but forget about him, I'm more concerned with what is going on. This was meant to be an Akatsuki base, and by the looks of it Orochimaru was lead to believe the Totsuka sword was here..."
Gamabunta breathed in his pipe and blew out a cloud size worth of smoke, "Looks to me both of you were fooled Jiraiya."
Jiraiya glared at his summon, "I don't need that fact to be highlighted."
'I have a bad feeling about this...'
Jiraiya looked up at Gamabunta, "I need you to take me to Wave country, with your size it shouldn't take more than a day."
Gamabunta let out another puff of cloud size smoke and narrowed his eyes on the sannin, "Jiraiya, do I look like a saddle horse to you?!" Gamabunta spoke in sarcasm.
Jiraiya gave his grand pose, "To the legendary Jiraiya, summoner of the toads you are my horse as I am the ki-" He didn't get to finish his self proclaimed fame as Gamabunta made a loud 'poof' out of existence.
Jiraiya smirked, "Heh, you're not getting out of this one that easy." He bit his thumb and began running through the seals for summoning again.
''Bunta is going to hate me, but I have a feeling Naruto needs my help, I don't have time to waste.'