Clash in the Snow Country: Legacy Version
Chapter 26 – Sakura's Determination
Black Fang Castle
Five minutes prior
Once the fighting had ended in the Great Hall, the Snow personnel (from both sides of the conflict) agreed that it was in the movie's crew best interests to get the hell out of there until both sides could reach some sort of settlement.
Or until one side was wiped out.
The Yuki nin escorted the group to the remains of the palace doors that Sasuke and Sakura had blown up. Kaijo, Ken, Hidero, Michy and the rest made their way out into the courtyard, with all of them running to their vehicles that weren't destroyed from all the fighting - about half of the original number. The two surviving Loyalist shinobi, flanked by Kiganai and Danmari, raced across the blazing battlefield of hell to open the gates so the movie producers could drive out to safety from this place.
As the people piled into the cars and took off, a shockwave shook the entire area, making everyone, including one certain assistant director and three actors, look up to see six individuals duking it out in mid air. It wasn't difficult to determine that it was the three Leaf Ninja or whom they were fighting.
Feeling a mixture of guilt and obligation, the four of them wanted to be able to witness their three young friends. As four of them went flying to the outskirts, and the final pair remained on the castle rooftop, the question of 'how' quickly became apparent.
And that's when Kaijo saw the blimp across the courtyard. While they had no idea how to work the thing, the three small hot air balloons were a far more feasible option.
With a quick degree of understanding that came from many years of working together, they headed over to the balloons, a few of their fellows bringing up the rear. Ken, Hidero and Michy would take a small team of three and man a balloon, Michy would track down Sakura, Hidero would cover Naruto and Ken would find Sasuke.
As Kaijo prepared to see them off, he handed each group a large camera.
Purely to help look for the shinobi, of course! Really!
Forest
8:51 pm
Haruno Sakura looked at the large iron man that served as her opponent, for lack of a better term. Though the more she thought about it, the more fitting the description of "iron man" fit this Fuyukuma Mizore. That new armor he had on him was bulky and solid-looking. She couldn't see a single crack, so it seemed this was something he didn't use too often, assuming it wasn't freshly made. She was no blacksmith, so she had no idea if someone could make something like this in the short time since their first encounter at the iceberg. She also couldn't help taking in that new metal arm he was sporting. It looked like something more fitting of a giant rather than a man and she could only marvel at how much all this weighed, let alone what it could do.
But if her calculations were correct, all this was useful to help her win.
"Well, Youjo! Come at me!" Mizore beckoned her with his normal hand. "I'll give you the first move!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Sakura dashed forward at Mizore as fast as she was able. She was pleased to see the slight shock in his eyes at the speed. Her fist hit the armor dead on. Acting quickly, she sweep-kicked, aiming at his knee joint, but this time he was ready, raising his leg up and blocking. Taking the initiative, she spun around the raised leg and lightly rammed her shoulder into him, knocking him off balance.
This time, Mizore reacted by punching at her with his metal arm. Spinning on her heel, she avoided and managed to get another hit on his side, the metal ringing through the area. Mizore changed his punch into an elbow, but she was gone before it hit, already striking at his back. A rear kick came from Mizore, forcing Sakura to cross her arms to block the blow. The kick sent her flying backwards, though she recovered with ease.
As I thought. That armor is as solid as it looks. No visible weak spots around it. The joints are vulnerable and he's on the lookout for them, Sakura thought to herself, allowing a smirk.
Mizore's metal arm crushed the ice where she had just been standing. He then attempted to swipe kick her, causing her to retreat more. Again, Mizore didn't stop. He did a quick knife edge kick at her, followed up by a fierce left hook. During all of this, Sakura was barely able to back away, let alone block or counterattack.
As shown in their previous encounter, Sakura was capable of dodging Mizore's attacks; barely, but still able nonetheless. And with all that new tech, he was weighed down even more so, making him all the slower.
"MY TURN, YOUJO!" Mizore yelled. His gauntlet launched towards her, as before. The thing flew at three times the speed as last time and had Sakura not known about it, it would have caught her right in the face. As it was, she barely manage to get out of its way.
That's when Mizore's hand came to a tree, grabbing on to it. Pulling himself to the gauntlet rather than the other way around, Mizore went flying towards the tree and the girl in front of him, his right arm out and ready to smash against the young kunoichi. She slipped due to sheer surprise, the action saving her as she just missed the flying human juggernaut as she fell on her back.
"What's wrong, Youjo?" Mizore taunted as he repositioned himself, planting his feet against the tree trunk. Thrusting as hard as he could, he launched himself into the air, right over the fallen girl. "THOUGH I'D BE SLOW?"
He pointed his metal arm behind him and fired it once more. It hit the nearest tree branch, propelling him down with considerable force. "Gurandosuramu!"
Sakura had just enough time to shriek in terror before Mizore came crashing down, snow and even the dirt underneath flying up all around him. When he picked himself up, all that was underneath him was a large amount of splinters that had once been a log.
The real Leaf genin was hiding behind a tree and kicking herself. Of course Mizore would be well aware of the fact that heavy armor would make him slower! So naturally, he'd have a way around it, using the terrain to propel himself! She also knew that in that situation, either Naruto or Sasuke would have taken advantage of that move and added an exploding tag to the Kawarimi and blown a chunk out of that armor.
What could she do? She had very few long range attacks that would dent that armor. And he had more power than her, so getting close would favor him more than it would her. She checked her pouch, checking what explosives she had left. Three regular tags, and two of her Fubukis. A wide area explosion like before would do nothing, she needed to condense what she had left, focus it to break that armor.
"Miss me, youjo?" The big metal hand burst through the tree. The tree tumbled over, revealing the Snow Ninja. His normal hand soon followed, aiming for the girl's throat. Sakura's hands came up, blocking as the two struggled for superiority. Mizore dropped his full weight on her, forcing the girl to her knees as he brought up his left arm, poised to strike.
At the last second, Sakura let go and rolled across the ground. Mizore was hot on her tail, rearing his metal hand of death once more for a strike. Relying on the momentum, she somersaulted backwards to gain her footing, Faiatamas appearing in her hands. She hurled them like a mad woman, the small fireballs hitting Mizore all over his armor, an all-knowing snicker coming from the helmet as he nudged his head to the side, the latest fireball soaring past harmlessly.
Sakura ran towards him, yelling as she assaulted him once again. Once his metal hand came in for the counterattack, two kunai appeared in her hands as if by magic as she slammed them against the contraption. They snapped like old twigs.
"Didn't you learn last time, baka!" the man roared happily, drawing out the word. "Your normal attacks do NOTHING!"
He swung at her again and Sakura dropped to all fours. Picking up two more kunai, she lunged at Mizore's knees. The man calmly jumped into the air, avoiding the strikes as he kicked the girl. As he expected, what went flying through the air was not the pink-haired bitch but another log. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of his prey. "You're getting too predictable, youjo!"
Sakura was once more running more towards her opponent, this time forming a different set of seals. Jumping into the roll on the ground, earth flew to her fists and once she was back on her feet, her Rock Gloves were on and ready.
The kunoichi dodged underneath Mizore's coming fist quite easily this time around as she slammed her rock-covered fists all over Mizore's front side. Noticeably slower, the Yuki-nin attempted to backhand her with his normal arm, but Sakura was ready. She caught his arm simply enough, then moved in to snap it at the elbow joint…
And that's when his mechanical hand jetted forward at her, a tanto-sized blade popping out right towards her face!
Surprise shocked her entire being, allowing her to move Mizore's right arm to block it. The big man screamed out in pain as his own blade pierced his upper arm, allowing Sakura to get away, but not before touching the left side of her head, her hand coming back bloody. A shallow cut on her left temple.
It made her sick just how close it came to not being shallow…
"Not bad, Youjo. That's more like it," Mizore said. There was anger in his voice still, but also a hint of glee as he yanked his blade out of his arm. "You used the actions of making your Rock Gloves to mask the hand seals for that little genjutsu. However, don't think you're the only one that took our last battle to heart. I've done my homework."
He tapped his helmet. "This does far more than protect my head from you, vile wretch. It protects me from your little genjutsus. It emits a small chakra signature; the second you try an illusion, it reacts by sending a small amount of chakra into my system and snaps me out of it."
Sakura wanted to scream at the injustice of this all! Just how many precautions did this guy take?
"Now, Youjo," the man pointed his metal arm right at her. Placing his other hand on it, there was a small 'Pop!' as it shifted out of place. Mizore rotated his arm a quarter turn before putting it back in place. "Let me show you what else my new toy can do!"
The hole opened up in his palm, but instead of the tanto appearing, there was a rattling sound and tiny triangular kunai shot out. Sakura crossed her arms but the shots still struck her left glove. The rock glove broke apart on impact and the rest of the shots buried themselves in her lower left arm.
Her scream filled the woods, as she clutched her injured arm. Each projectile felt like boiling oil poured on her arm. Mizore laughed in glee, clearly enjoying the sight. "Let's go for a leg this time!"
Another round of shots fired out towards the girl, only to hit another log this time. Mizore looked around to see her in the trees. "You're not getting away!" he roared, jumping after her as he fired again, the mini kunai ripping through the air, embedding themselves into trees or blasting through the branches, snow being flung everywhere into the air.
Sakura had already jumped to the next tree when the first round came after her, pulling the mini-kunai out of her arm. She kept jumping in a random direction as she made her way through the trees, desperate to get away from this man. Her heart was beating furiously against her chest, as though it was ready to bail ship. Calm down! Calm DOWN! It's not over yet! I… I…
The girl's brain was slowly locking up, fear quelling inside her. It was like fighting one of those ancient demons of legend, where if you cut off one head, two more appeared. She couldn't stop herself from being afraid, creeping into the very core of her being and threatening to sabotage from the inside out. It was so distracting she nearly ran into the next tree, her cloak getting caught by the branches.
"GOT YOU NOW, YOUJO!" The arm portion rotated once more as he took aim. Chakra began building up rapidly as he fired an intense beam of energy right at the girl.
Sakura would later swear her heart really did jump all the way to her throat, reason, logic and physicals all damned as she saw that beam come towards her face. And just how much of a good motivator fear can really be as she tore off her cloak and made a mad dash away, seconds before the area exploded. Cloak, tree. All of it.
"Well, watch," the Jounin said with a resigned sigh. Bringing up his hands from his pockets, he formed the hitsuji seal. A faint glow of blue drew the genins' attentions to his feet.
Then wobbling over to the nearest tree, Kakashi put his foot upon the trunk and continued to wobble up the tree. Completely defying gravity. The trio of genin stared in awe at their sensei as he came to rest hanging underneath a tree limb almost thirty feet in the air.
"You understand now?" he asked, slightly amused. "Gather your chakra into the bottom of your feet and climb up a tree. This is something that you can do once you can use chakra well."
"Wait a minute," Sakura called out forcefully. "How is learning to climb a tree going to make us stronger?"
Thus Kakashi launched into a tried-and-true lecture of how the art of tree climbing increased chakra reserves and how a person who learned to summon chakra into their feet could theoretically perform any known jutsu in the world. The explanation had Naruto quivering in anticipation to get started.
With a mere flick of his wrist, the jounin sent a trio of kunai down at the genin underneath him. He watched their first attempts at tree climbing amusedly. Sakura, with her perfect control, was able to climb more than sixty feet up her tree. Sasuke only got about fifteen feet up before his control slipped and he accidentally pumped too much out. It resulted in him being flung off the tree, after he threw a slash across the trunk.
Naruto only got one foot on the trunk before he was blasted clear across the tiny clearing and slammed into another tree. The tree he'd attempted to climb let out a loud crunching groan as the weakened base could no longer support its weight, sending it toppling over. The tree he slammed into had a clear imprint in its bark of the blond's body.
Hm, the jounin thought. I guess that water-walking may have increased his chakra reserves a little too much.
"Jeez, Naruto!" Sakura reprimanded. "Can't you do anything without destroying something!"
"WHOA!" he yelled as he saw how high she got. "That's awesome, Sakura-chan!"
"Well, there you have it," Kakashi said easily. "A clear gauge on how well each of you controls your own chakra compared to each other. Too much and you get repelled from the tree, far too much and you destroy the tree, and the right amount."
Sakura hung on to that memory like a lifeline as her feet landed on the next branch. TOO MUCH REPELS YOU FROM THE TREE, SO LET'S DO TOO MUCH…!
Chakra surging into her legs and feet, she propelled off the branch in a new burst of speed, further allowing her to avoid the aftershocks of the blast the iron man just fired, much to the man's dismay as he gave chase, wondering how she increased her speed. It seemed even the trees were breaking underneath her!
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY, YOUJO!" Not willing to be outdone, he took another aim with his arm. Before he could fire again, Sakura landed against a tree and backflipped towards Mizore. As she shifted in the air, she began hurling kunai towards him. Due to her position in the air, her aim was off as most sailed past the Snow Ninja harmless, and the few that did hit him bounced off harmlessly.
Mizore's head looked over as his prey was above him and began fleeing once. Turning around to fire once again he leapt into the air to give chase as he saw her close a fist.
Wires.
There were wires attached to the kunai she threw.
Jerking on them, Mizore was certain she channeled chakra into her hand as she flung herself like a missile directly at him, her feet slamming against his armored chest. While it didn't hurt him, it did send him flying to the ground, kicking up snow and even dirt around him as he hit. He was slightly stunned as he moved to get back up, anger rising to the boiling point.
In the air, Sakura made the tora sign with her right hand. Mizore had just enough time to look down before the exploding tags went off underneath.
HOW? WHAT? WHEN? He jerked as he recalled one of her maneuvers.
He swung at her again and Sakura dropped to all fours. Picking up two more kunai, she lunged at Mizore's knees.
It must have been then, Mizore realized unhappily as the explosions blew him upward into the air. As he struggled to regain his composure, he noticed a third exploding tag at the heart of his chest.
That's when a small bursting sound filled his ears as small white tags cluttered the air once more. As quick as a lightning strike, he realized what had happened: She had planted these during all frantic maneuvers, lured him back to her previous set up, all for a big bang!
Sakura looked right at him as she dropped through the air. "A widespread explosion did nothing." A Faiamata appeared in her hand as she threw her hair back. "SO LET'S TRY A FAR MORE CONDENSED BLAST AT POINT BLANK RANGE!"
Hurling her newest fireball, it struck the first of the tiny paper bombs, exploding the area in the latest series of explosions. Unlike her first one, which encompassed a far wider area, this one was much smaller and more compact as Mizore went flying to the ground once more. He hit with so much force, he actually bounced back up. He slid among the snow as he hit land for the third time in quick succession, his stomach doing somersaults from all the explosions and aerial acrobatics. His helmet went flying off his head, dropping next to him.
"I'M NOT LOSING!"
Mizore looked up just in time to see Sakura running towards him at top speed, her arms reared back for a strike, covered in those rock gloves again. "NOT. THIS. TIME!"
Utilizing every bit of strength she could muster, Sakura slammed her rock-covered fists into the damaged chest armor of her foe so hard the gloves shattered on impact. The centermost portion of Mizore's armor broke apart, leaving a small hole about half a meter in diameter. Several broken pieces cut into his flesh, while the rest went flying in several directions, even towards Sakura herself, though she did not even acknowledge the tiny bits of metal recoiling off her torso and face.
Blood went flying from Mizore's mouth as he found himself flying backwards and slamming into a tree, causing him to cough up more blood. Sakura braced herself against her knees, catching her breath as she surveyed her damage, wishing she had noticed Mizore's absent helmet earlier and striking his face instead of his chest. Just another mark against her in terms of battle experience.
With his helmet off, Mizore's enraged face could clearly be seen. His teeth were clenched tightly and his entire face flushed a slight autumn red. "THAT'S IT, YOUJO!" Holding up his right hand, he began a string of one handed seals.
Sakura was taken back by the action, her mind screaming 'WHAT?'
"Surprised, bitch?" Mizore taunted. "Surprised that I do know some ninjutsu? LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT IT CAN DO!" He slammed his hand on the ground. "Ninpou: Yuki Buriza-do!"
Snow began swarming all around him just as it's name indicated. It quickly expanded in all directions, soon engulfing Sakura. The coldness stung her like a hive of angry bees as she brought her arms to cover her face. Her eyes had shut themselves reflexively and it took a great deal of effort for her to open them to try and spot her foe. Calculating where he had been when he initiated his jutsu, she could barely make out his figure. His roaring laugh in the snow was what really gave him away.
Acting quickly, she formed the seals for the Kawarimi, allowing her to escape the snow storm as a log took her place, with little time to spare as she saw Mizore clash into her…
A log and makeshift ice sculpture with the kanji 'DUMMY!' emerged from the chakra-produced snow storm.
Sakura's insides turned to ice as she looked around to see Mizore was in fact behind her, his hand clasping around her right ankle.
"Not this time, bitch!" Mizore yelled, full of glee as the two dropped back down to the ground, Mizore slamming the pink-haired girl down hard.
There was no small amount of pain in the cry that emerged from Sakura's mouth. The Snow Shinobi lightly tossed her into the air, his entire hand covering her face as he grabbed her person once again.
In the following seconds, Mizore smashed Sakura headfirst against the nearest tree.
No audible sound came from Sakura this time. In its place, Sakura's arms slumped to her side, dangling free. All signs of resistance from the girl faded away as she hung in the iron man's grasp. An all-knowing smile appeared on Mizore's face as he licked his lips.
"Once again, Youjo. You lose."
No sound came from the girl, making the smile on Mizore's face all the brighter as he looked around for an appropriate plan for what was coming next. Spying a small pond not too far, he walked over to it, dragging the girl along like a rag doll. Coming up to it, he tossed the girl on top of a large rock at the edge of the body. Sakura landed on it, her head hanging over the edge as Mizore's blade popped out. He eyed her exposed neck, practically seeing a dotted line for him to cut.
The fall had shaken Sakura enough to jolt her back to herself. Pain still swarmed her from every inch of her body, and her head was pounding like someone was repeatedly hitting it with a hammer. She just lay there in that daze, her green eyes looking at the water below as Mizore came into view. Oh… goody… I get to watch my own beheading…
As Mizore raised his arm in preparation, Sakura just found herself looking at her reflection. And at a complete loss at to what she was saying.
What was there to say about her? That she was Haruno Sakura, kunoichi of Team 7 of Konohagakure. All that was was a title, it didn't say anything about her as a shinobi or even an individual. What had she done during all her time as a ninja? Flashes came to her in the forms of her futile attack on Haku in the Wave Country, grabbing the scroll from Kabuto, her fight in the Preliminaries, crafting her genjutsu…
The more she thought on these, the more it seemed to her that all she had done was follow in Naruto and Sasuke's footsteps, backing them up in their plans and actions. Say what you will about Naruto and Sasuke's goals, even if you thought Naruto's dream of Hokage was idealistic and idiotic or Sasuke's ambition of avenging his clan was foolhardy at the cost of what he already had… at least they had dreams, goals and ambitions. She didn't even have her own nindo!
What was her dream? Even back when Team 7 first gathered, all she had done was glance at Sasuke, giggling all the time then saying she hated Naruto. Even if you agreed that helping one of your teammates was worthwhile, that couldn't be all she was about. Didn't she have any pride in herself? Something that associated with her foremost?
Okay, she had taken CLS classes, but that was part-time. Not a full-fledged medic-nin. Why didn't she want to fully commit to the medical field? Did she want to fight? She hadn't done a good job at that now, had she? What did she want out of life, dammit!
The word 'life' rang through her head like an alarm clock, jerking back to the fact that if she didn't do something right now her life was going to last about three seconds!
She wasn't sure she could describe what she did next. She still felt all the pain raging through her aching body. It didn't diminish, but it was almost like she was channeling all that anguish into energy. To use rather than hinder. All she knew was that she had to do something RIGHT NOW!
"Hold still!" Mizore snapped as the girl began struggling with all her might. He slammed his right foot down in the middle of the girl's back. "I want a nice clean cut!"
In the reflection of the water, Sakura saw the blade descend towards the back of her neck as she began feeling around for something, ANYTHING, for a weapon! Something to get her out of this!
When Mizore's blade was half way to it's target, Sakura's hand found something underneath the rock on which she lay. A small pebble. Using the reflection as a guide, she whipped her arm around and threw it right at Mizore.
"AHHHH!" Mizore's blade struck right beside her, missing her by centimeters as his leg lifted off her back. Rolling away, Sakura turned to see the damage she had done.
"AGAIN WITH THE FACE! WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND HITTING ME IN THE FUCKING FACE!"
Both of Mizore's hands were covering his right eye, which was now just a bloody hole thanks to her one small pebble.
"I'M GONNA KILL YO – " Mizore's rage was abruptly cut off by a sharp uppercut to his jaw. Mizore's head jerked backwards as he crashed down to the ground. Keeping his right eye shut, he used his sole remaining eye to see the girl standing straight up.
It wasn't normal. And that wasn't an expression, it was the honest truth. The girl was standing straight up, huffing and puffing like a dragon. The veins in her about to burst from the intensity, her jaw was clenching hard and her eyes were blazing with an extreme desire to hurt. Even the girl's skin seemed to redden, like her very blood was boiling. Sure, all he could see now was red because of his eye injury, but he knew what he saw! One eye or not!
Could anyone be that angry?
Sakura ran towards him, rearing another punch. Pulling back his normal arm, he punched out to meet her own. Moments before they collided, Sakura's arm shifted downward, bypassing his attack straight towards his chest.
The impact was incredible. The girl's fist slammed directly into his armored chest, and Mizore still felt like he had been hit with a wrecking ball! Blood flew from his mouth as he went bumping along the ground. When he finally stopped, he struggled to get up only to meet the bitch's fist smashing into his face proper, crushing his face and breaking his nose all over again!
Mizore went flying back a full twenty meters before he came to a crashing stop. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED? was the only thing running through Mizore's mind.
He looked up just in time to see Sakura coming at him again. Shifting his weight to get a better angle, he rotated his mechanical arm again and a series of razor sharp wires flew out, wrapping around the girl with precise precision, cutting into her limbs as they were snapped tight.
For about 0.7 seconds before the kunoichi snapped them apart.
His foe grabbed the remains of the wires and yanked on them hard, propelling him forward, screaming bloody murder. Her fists rained down on his armor all over, Mizore violently jerking with each hit. By the time he managed to get in a counterattack, Sakura had backflipped away, leaving Mizore dumbfounded as his armor was now just a battered heap of waste.
Mizore had never hurt more than he did right now, and he wanted nothing more to just lay down and sleep for a month. Where is she getting such colossal strength? Is she using exact chakra control to make herself physically stronger? I thought only their Hokage could do that!
WHO ARE YOU, BLOODY CHERRY BLOSSOM? Mizore wanted to scream, since he lacked the ability to voice the question. ARE YOU A MEMBER OF A BLOODLINE CLAN, THE HOKAGE'S APPRENTICE, THE KEEPER OF SOME LONG LOST NINJA ART! CHILD OF THE BIJU? Forcing his mouth to work, he shouted. "ANWR MI, YOUJO!"
Predictably, no answer came from this pink monster as she charged him once again. Panic flooding into him, he held up his arm and fired off another round of mini kunai. Sakura began batting them all away effortlessly, not even slowing in her pace to reach him.
Panic was replaced with pandemonium as he swung his arm into the tree next to him. A good meter thick and thirty meters tall. His arm crashed through the wood easily enough as the tree toppled down to the girl as he used his other arm to hurl his own set of kunai. This monster couldn't avoid both at once!
The tree fell right on Sakura as her arms hugged it, the kunai embedding themselves harmlessly in the word.
Mizore's single eye nearly popped out as his jaw hit the dirt. SHE CAUGHT IT?
Muscles ripping themselves all over her arms, the girl began to pick up the tree. Mizore was so shocked by this, he didn't even think about moving as the girl used it like a giant bat on him. The Snow Ninja hit the nearest tree from the strike, indenting it with his impression.
From all the strikes and impact, his vision was very blurry and he could barely stand up straight, but in his mind's eye, sharp as ever, he could visualize the incoming pink missile, aiming for his heart. "SAKURA!" With that, he launched his metal hand at her.
Sakura met the fist with her arm as flesh met metal, the metal shattering completely from the girl's punch. Clasping the metal cord with both hands, the girl gave a yell as she pulled, this time bringing the broken and weakened Mizore to her. As he came within arm's reach, Sakura's left fist slammed once more into his armor, pieces of metal flying everywhere as she struck home.
And she didn't stop. Punch after punch, blow after blow, she kept plowing them on the man. Over and over. Pieces of armor flew out in all directions as Mizore was systematically plowed backwards through the snow-covered ground until he hit the same tree as before.
Even then, Sakura did not let up on her barrage. Screaming in absolute fury, she continued her assault, the number of her punches shooting up into the triple digits, wanting to crush every centimeter of Mizore she could reach. The man was just flailing with every blow as the force of the assault drove him deeper into the tree, the impression becoming a hole as bits of bark flew off with the metal fragments. The entire tree was shaking from the assault until a large crack appeared in the back end.
Sakura let out one more devastating cry as that single crack became many, running through the entire tree until it burst apart completely with Sakura's final punch that slammed into Mizore's head. The tree toppled over to the side as the man flew through it, landing on the ground on his back, his face buried in the snow.
The leaf genin stood there, finally stopping as she attempted to regain her breath, her anger finally starting to diminish. As the tree hit the ground with a thundering crash, she felt herself calm again. The adrenaline and angry leaving her system. Even the bonecrushing pain she felt was lessening, though her right hand was throbbing like mad.
All of this was just an afterthought in her mind, as Mizore's still form was the only thing registering in her mind.
She won.
She won against an opponent that had creamed her last time. It had come close at points, but she came out victorious! Let him stew over that with his face in the snow, as she turned around, throwing up a fist in victory. This would be a new beginning for her! Toward her own ninja way…
She trailed off as she glanced back towards her fallen foe, something in the back of her mind clicking into place. Surveying Mizore's fallen form again, how could one be on their back and face down at the same time?
Anxiety raising, she rushed over and confirmed her suspicions. Mizore's head had been twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
There was no need to check for a pulse, the sight was enough. The man was dead. By her hand.
Sakura's heartbeat became erratic as she absorbed this information. It wasn't so much the fact she had killed Mizore that was bothering her… it was the fact she had completely lost control and killed without realizing it that was sickening. That she had given into her anger so much it drastically changed her into something she was not…
She dropped to her knees, as she looked at her hands. The color was fading from her face as she looked at these two hands that caused so much destruction. All without realizing it.
The possibilities on what could happen if she lost control of her anger again frightened her.
Another part of the forest
8:51 pm. Again.
Sasuke could still feel the heat from the explosion, hurling him through the air from the castle. Before he knew it, he was over the forest again. His eyes shifted from red to normal black as he fought to regain a sense of balance and orientation as he beckoned the Curse Seal to awaken, its power coursing through his veins once more.
"NOT GOING TO HELP YOU!"
Sasuke only had time to jerk his head backwards as Fubuki appeared behind him, her arms grabbing hold of him from behind.
"I believe this is your move, right?" Fubuki snickered as she flipped backwards, hurling both herself and the Uchiha headfirst towards the ground below. She began spinning around in a whirling daze before releasing her grip on the brat, spending him streaking down like a missile towards the ground. "Sora Bakudan Rendan!"
Fubuki couldn't resist as she cupped a hand over her mouth as the Uchiha disappeared into the forest brush. "Have a nice fall!"
"Just in time to spring back." Fubuki snapped her around to see a shadowy bat figure behind her, huge leathery wings complete with a set of blazing red eyes, two electrifying hands ready for battle.
"Big mistake, you shouldn't have let me go!" Sasuke shouted as he attacked, his twin lightning encased hands seeking towards her exposed back.
That's when a flutter of… something… began swarming all over the Uchiha like a hive of angry bees. Thanks to his enhanced eyes, he was able to get a quick glimpse of whatever those things were and parried them though several still found their marks and forced him to back off.
After Fubuki had launched him to the ground, Sasuke had quickly entered into the second state of the seal. Just as the wings emerged from his back, he reactivated his Sharingan and snagged the first branch he could, swinging on it to shoot himself back into the air with the momentum gained from Fubuki's move. The two hung in the air studying one another as the moonlight shined down on them.
"So you've finally brought it out," Fubuki said, observing the dark grey of his skin texture and dark blue hair the boy now sported. She thought the dark star-shaped mark across the bridge of his nose was especially enticing. The webbed-clawed-shaped wings moving every so slightly, yet still keeping him aloft, as the cloak fluttered to the ground.
"It's been a work in progress," Sasuke replied. The Snow Kuniochi looked almost the same as before, from the armor to her physical features, save for one new feature exposed to the moonlight. It looked like a wheel on her back, similar to the helm you would see on a ship, with eight kunai sticking out of it around the circumference. Had those been that swarming bee thing?
"Very nice. A battle in the air." Fubuki stated, opening up her own wings to their full extent. "Let's see how your Sharingan faces against my Supaida-Oujou Kuruma."
(Author's Note) That's a wrap for Sakura's battle! One down, two to go before Doto himself! And next up is Sasuke. Though if I had my way, I would have ended the chapter at Mizore's "You Lose" line ^_^
If forced to confess, this was an additional reason why I didn't have Sakura kill anyone during the Big Melee earlier; I wanted Mizore to be her first kill due to the nature of the death. Nice set up for my own plans regarding Sakura in Chuuten to follow. Yes, that's still on the To Do List.
As we can see, I did not go the movie route in defeating the Yuki-sannin here. Aside from Nadare's, I found them rather anticlimactic. I've invested a lot in these characters and their story, so I wanted to give them a full run. I've had visions of how I'd do these fights from the beginning, so I can only hope you enjoyed them as much as I do.
And I have to say 'WOW' in regards to the overwhelming majority on Makino's fate. Didn't expect it to be that one sided. I imagine it's because you all want to know what's the deal with the guy. Alrighty, we'll keep the guy around. I will say that Makino will not be making a complete recovery due to all his injuries, but at least he's alive. Thanks to all that voted!
Fuiuchi Oujou Te-Surprise Attack Death Hand/Mizore's new arm complemented with new features. Nearly three times the size as his original one and twice the weight. Has four different modes. The first is firing out the mini-kunai (100 total), each about the size of a quarter. The second is producing a small tanto blade. The third is firing out razor sharp wiring instead of the cables to both ensnare and cut into the opponent. And the fourth is a high-intensity chakra beam, capable of large amounts of destruction. Due to Mizore's own reserves, he is only able to use once or twice. In addition to all these, he is still capable of launching the hand portion.
Gurandosuramu-Grand Slam/A taijutsu maneuver where Mizore positions himself over his opponent and body slams them. With his new armor, anything caught underneath is pulverized. (Mid C-Class Taijutsu)
Ninpou: Yuki Buriza-do-Ninja Art: Snow Blizzard/Kicks up snow, dirt and other natural debris into the air, with the user as the centerpoint where the blizzard is the least effective. The more chakra one puts into the technique, the larger the radius is and the faster the blizzard becomes. (High C-Class Ninjutsu)
Sora Bakudan Rendan-Sky Bomb Rendan/A modified version of Sasuke's Shishi Rendan Fubuki created from Snow's intelligence reports. Fubuki will grab ahold of her opponent in Lotus fashion, and divebomb headfirst towards the ground. Mixed with spinning to completely disorient the opponent as she releases them to plummet to their deaths below. Timing is critical in releasing the opponent so they can't do anything, but not so much that Fubuki herself can't get away safely as careless action can result in her death. (Low B-Class Taijutsu)
Supaida-Oujou Kuruma-Spider Death Wheel
I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Also, any jutsu that Tellemicus created that are used in this story belongs to him. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!
