Clash in the Snow Country: Legacy Version
Chapter 27 – Battle in the Air
Skies above the forest
8:53 pm.
The Uchiha Avenger of Konoha hung in the air facing the Seihyouki Kijo of the San Eihei. One barely a teenager utilizing a curse to improve his power and allow him flight, the other a woman in service to a tyrant allowing technology to fight her battles.
"Taking me on up in the air," Fubuki spoke aloud, a grin materializing on her face. "You sure know how to take a girl out."
"I've broken my fair share of hearts," Sasuke agreed.
While he chatted, his eyes were searching. Looking for this Supaida-Oujou Kuruma. The name suggested several possibilities, but Sasuke lacked any means of narrowing down and confirming those possibilities. He needed to see it again, catch a direct look at whatever the hell this new piece of hardware was.
Best way to learn is the direct approach, the scarred-eyed boy thought to himself. Taking the initiative, Sasuke's hands flew through a familiar string of seals as he launched a Goukakyuu.
"You move fast; I like that! Hyouton: Aisu Kometto no Jutsu!" Freezing winds emerged from Fubuki's mouth, forming a large ice ball.
The two attacks hit each other with explosive results. Before the aftermath dissipated, Sasuke was already speeding forward through the attacks. He knew the Gokukayuu wouldn't have done anything to Fubuki thanks to her armor, and even if she hadn't countered, he just wanted an opening to get up close and personal.
Seizing his chance, he struck at Fubuki with a sharp right hook. The Snow Kunoichi, while startled, was still quick enough to meet his punch with her own. The impacts reared down their arms as a flurry of punches followed suit, each time the fists clashing in an attempt to break the other's guard. With the next strike, Fubuki propelled herself backwards, flipping in the air and delivering a kick to Sasuke's chin, to which Sasuke merely leaned back, allowing it sail by harmlessly.
Completing the roll in midair, Fubuki lunged forward with new valor in her attacks. The Uchiha started countering once again when a sharp snap kick came at his side, followed up by another nearly instantaneously right on the boy's face.
The shock that one of Fubuki's kicks managed to land on him despite his Sharingan was replaced by realization. Up in the air, they didn't have ground to stand on, so the legs were far more free to attack with and not worry about small things like standing or balance. Fubuki confirmed this by launching a new barrage of blows comprising of both arms and legs at her foe in a relentless onslaught. More than ready for it this time, Sasuke began copying her style, matching her blow for blow again.
And that's when it happened. Distracting the boy with a taijutsu match and getting him to focus his attention on it, the attack came again. They came from behind Fubuki, kunai blades flying through the air as they slashed at the raven-haired avenger.
Then there was a puff of smoke as a log appeared.
"It seems your reaction speed is…" Fubuki turned her head to see the Uchiha behind her.
There were three small nicks on him now. One on the right thigh, one on the left shoulder and one on the right temple.
"… is less than what I thought," Fubuki finished, quite enjoying the moment. "You were a fraction too slow with your Kawarimi."
"If you're so proud of three small cuts, then you're going to love the sight of real blood," Sasuke promised her. It didn't matter to him because he got what he was looking for.
In the air around Fubuki were eight kunai. There was a wire attached to their hilts that ran to a contraption. "This my Supaida-Oujou Kuruma. By sending my chakra into the wires, I can move them like snakes. Swift. Accurate. And deadly." To further prove the point, all eight of the kunai began moving around, striking back and forth as they struck imaginary opponents in the air. Sasuke had to marvel at the precision and control as none of the wires were tangling themselves up in this little demonstration.
The Uchiha heir felt this technology was aptly named. He could practically envision a large, overbearing and hungry spider with eight hissing snakes for legs. Nine mouths ready to sink their fangs into his flesh.
"Don't disappoint me!" Fubuki cried out as she launched her attack in earnest. The eight wire-guided kunai came speeding towards Sasuke as he flapped his wings and shot upward. The kunai followed him like sharks after a wounded fish. Sasuke danced around in the air as best as he was able, constantly twisting, turning, and somersaulting to avoid the flying knives. Two were focused entirely on his hands, forcing him to block and preventing him from utilizing any hand seals.
Fubuki, however, had no such limitation as she formed a jutsu to add into the melee. An ice eagle blasted towards the Konoha genin, but he folded his wings down, allowing gravity to take him back down to earth, missing both the jutsu and the kunai.
Sasuke landed on a treetop just as Fubuki fired off those homing storm swallows at him. He wasn't worried since he was faster with his feet than with his wings. Once he got a fair enough distance away, he turned around and breathed out a Goukakyuu, melting the ice birds as he did last time.
That's when all eight of the kunai burst through the fire and ice jutsu, dispersing them into thin air as Fubuki shot out towards him, a predatory grin on her face. Sasuke landed back on top of a tree just in time to send a kick into her face…
… only for her to burst into that ice sculpture again. Complete with several exploding tags. The kanji read 'BAKA!' this time around.
"KUSO!" Sasuke shouted as he shifted his leg around and lunged away from it just as it exploded. He hit the treetops rather hard, bouncing from each one like a stone being skipped across a pond as Fubuki positioned herself above him. The spider kunai shot down before the Uchiha could recover as it pierced his chest and stomach areas. Only for him to shimmer out of existence.
"A Bunshin?" Fubuki exclaimed in disbelief. You're joking! He actually managed to create a clone while rolling along like a pussy!
This brat is good. That took some serious skill and timing to be able to dodge like he did. If he did it too soon, I would have noticed and adjusted. If he did it too late, I would have been able to land a direct blow, rather than the glancing blow I managed. He even managed to sneak in a back-knuckle as I flew by. Fubuki allowed her grin to bloom into a full-blown smile. Oh yes… this brat is definitely good.
At the memory, Fubuki couldn't help but keep the small smirk off her face. Ah, right, the Uchiha was both fast and capable enough. No matter. She would crush him this time.
The Yuki-nin looked down into the forest as she cupped her mouth with her hand. "So, darling, are you still alive down there?"
A loud moan came in response. Then the area of the treetops glowed bright orange as a large fire dragon emerged from the forest ceiling as it came directly at the Snow Kuniochi. Recalling how explosive this jutsu was from their brawl at the iceberg, she wasn't sure how well her armor would protect her from it as she hastily dodged to the side, allowing it to speed past her.
"Better than you're about to be, honey!" Eyes opening wide, Fubuki looked around to see that the dragon had turned around and was coming right back as realization hit her. That's NOT the Karyuu Kyuuzou!
She was too late to counter this jutsu as it came at her. Fortunately for her, this dragon didn't have anywhere near the power of its counterpart from earlier as the anti-chakra shieldeasily took it out. But that didn't account for the boy himself as he launched himself out from the trees, a kunai out in each of his hands as he struck.
There was a clash of metal as Sasuke, his wings spread out now, floated near her. On the back of her armor, one of Sasuke's kunai was embedded into the power seal located in the center, the seal shattering into pieces in the next instant. Sasuke's second kunai strike, intended for the woman's neck, had instead gashed across her left cheek almost to the ear itself, blood dripping down in considerable amounts.
But the most visible reaction was the kunoichi's face. It gave the look of a balloon being deflated; her skin was a tone lighter, a consistent sign of rapid chakra depletion. She was breathing heavily and her eyes looked swollen.
"I see the repercussions of your little armor are kicking in," Sasuke gloated, recalling the conversation that he had forced out of that first Yuki-nin team. In his right hand, he tossed Fubuki's weapons holster. "Thanks for the new toys."
The three genin thought back to their fight at the iceberg with Nadare, Fubuki and Mizore. Both Sakura and Naruto could remember Mizore well enough and that his power seal was located in the middle of his chest area, while Sasuke noticed that Fubuki had hers on the middle of her wings in the back. None of them were sure where Nadare's was, though, since Kakashi had done most of the fighting with him. Sasuke then asked "What happens if the power seal is destroyed? Does the Chakra Armor simply stop working?"
Kiganai actually chuckled softly at that. "Of course not. It does much more than that. Remember, the chakra enhancement part works by continuously bouncing chakra between the pack and themselves, which means that the two are tightly close together. So much that they're dependent on each other. Get the picture yet?"
Naruto's face dawned in comprehension, while a satisfied grin appeared on Sasuke's face and Sakura's eyebrows raised in realization. So as powerful as this Chakra Armor was, it did have a weakness, and a big one at that! The two being that dependent on each other meant that if one of them was suddenly lost, the ninja was going to feel like he suddenly lost a huge amount of chakra all at once! Such a sharp drop without warning would cause a severe shock to them! If it was bad enough, it might even outright kill them! This was huge!
"Seems the loss of the seal didn't outright kill you, but that's alright." The teen flexed his wings of his Curse Seal. "It gives me more of an opportunity to test these."
Fubuki was BEYOND pissed at the moment. "STOP ACTING SO SMUG, YOU FILTHY LITTLE BED WETTER!"
Sasuke flinched against his will as the kunai came flying at him again, lashing out all over him. HOW THE HELL DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT THAT?
Putting Fubuki's pouch on his leg, he flapped his wings backwards. It was a slow push as he tried to beat them faster to get out of the kunai's range, so he gradually picked up speed, while simultaneously blocking the kunai with his hands and feet.
As he had been flapping his wings to stay uplift, Sasuke found he was able to start moving again when Fubuki's barrage came at him. What he quickly discovered was that by moving straight sideways from being stationary, his wings were not facing downward, thus he had no force to get him to move upwards or counter his weight. So after a few seconds of blocking those spider kunai, he had begun falling back down towards the ground.
Those kunai came after him, but he was falling farther than they could reach. Just as Fubuki started chasing after the Uchiha personally, he rolled himself in midair so that his stomach was now facing the ground and with a swift beat of his wings, took off soaring, his face inches from the tree top line. Sasuke quickly realized that the momentum from the fall was working to his advantage as he rapidly regained airspeed, just as Fubuki was in hot pursuit, screaming bloody murder. "Come back here, bed wetter!"
Grinding his teeth in aggravation, he spun around in midair to face her. "And what does that make you, backwater country bimbo?"
He fired off another round of fireballs at her now that her chakra shield was gone. Fubuki easily dodged to the side, avoiding them. "This bimbo is still a whole lot better than you, brat!" She launched her spider kunai at him once again. "You broke the number one shinobi taboo!"
New kunai flashing in his hands, Sasuke began defending himself. "YOU ABANDONED YOUR VILLAGE!" Fubuki yelled, sending down another ice comet at him.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black if I ever heard it!" the Uchiha retorted, dodging the ice blast. He flew upwards, avoiding four of those kunai and throwing a Faiatama to momentarily drive the rest back. "YOU went and performed a coup d'etat on your rightful ruler!"
With the kunai temporarily behind him, he dashed forward towards the snow kunoichi. She was skirting around in the air so fast he wasn't able to maintain eye contact for his Sharingan to genjutsu her mind into mush, but he could still predict her movements as he attempted to shove the blades into her chest. That's when her armor gave a burst of chakra, allowing her to flip in midair and slam her feet into the Uchiha's chest, hurling him backwards and away from her.
"Sousetsu was an IDIOT!" Fubuki roared as she sent the kunai right back on him, forcing the Uchiha back on the defensive. "All he ever did was scheme his days and the country's money away, creating useless trinkets and gadgets that just wasted valuable time and resources and had NOTHING to show for it!"
She launched another ice eagle at him before rushing at the Uchiha at furious speeds, striking him right on the chest just as four of her kunai stabbed him all over. She wasn't the least bit surprised when the 'boy' burst into a log as she glanced him out of the corner of her eye, sending the reserved spider kunai right at him. "And I helped bring it to an END! Moreover, I STAYED in my country, helping to rebuild, serving the new government and the village, making Snow stronger than it ever was under Doto-sama's BAKA of a brother!" By this time, the other four kunai had swarmed in, joining the melee.
"What's YOUR excuse! You betrayed everyone you ever knew, both friend and acquaintance for your own personal quest of power!" Sasuke backflipped in the air, dodging five kunai at once, then kicking another one around, but two managed to score a hit on his upper right arm, slashing it. Shallow wounds, unfortunately, but proof Fubuki's taunts were working.
"You can't even claim it was for a higher calling for your village!" Four of her kunai regrouped and struck together, rolling about like a drill as they came straight at the Uchiha's face. Unable to dodge, he formed a Faiatama in each hand and merged them, using it as a makeshift fire shield against the kunai. At the last second, Fubuki broke off her joint attack. Instead of striking the fire jutsu, they scattered and went around it to hit the Uchiha from multiple sides.
"I DID it to gain CONTROL, not power!" Sasuke yelled, not sure why he felt he needed to defend his actions against this witch, but some way or another, she had more information on him than he wanted. "So this curse I have wouldn't consume me! Sometimes you have to deceive your friends in order to trick your enemies!"
With that, he launched the combined fireball at her. As backtracking was her only option, she flew backwards, which unfortunately put the Uchiha out of range from her spidery kunai. "At last, we agree on SOMETHING!" Fubuki shouted. She whirled about, avoiding the boy's latest strike, then used her wired kunai to block a shower of shuriken that came at her. "But where as I did it for a higher calling, YOU did it for personal gain! There's no way you can wiggle yourself out of it, Uchiha!"
A swarm of ice swallows appeared again as they swarmed towards the Uchiha. The Konoha genin turned to the side and bolted just as the birds followed, with Fubuki bringing up the lead. "Face it Uchiha Sasuke, your family is weeping in their graves because their last hope followed in their murderer's footsteps and not redeeming them!"
Sasuke gave an irritated yell as he formed an overpowered Faiatama in his hand. He could feel the heat radiating far more than was safe as it began burning his palm. The birds slammed right into it, melting before he lobbed it at her. "Shut your mouth!" he demanded. The instant Fubuki dodged his latest attack, Sasuke flew straight towards the nearest of the spider kunai and severed the wire with a slash of his own kunai. The weapon detached, falling to the ground like a fallen bird as he turned in midair, hurling a standard Faiatama that destroyed a second one, just as Fubuki flew across the moonlight to her back, illuminating her.
That's when she divebombed right at the Uchiha, that Frost Storm punch ready to go once again. Recalling last time, he formed his Ryouyou Denkou Kunai. Using gravity, speed and even chakra to propel herself, she came swooping down like a ballistic missile. Anyone else would have been skewered completely, but anyone else wouldn't have had the Sharingan on and analyzing. Right as that swirling sharp ice fist was about to connect, Sasuke swung his arms about in a sword-catching maneuver, stopping her punch in mid-action and trapping the move between his lightning encased hands as they both fell downward through the forest.
"You DON'T get it, do you, Uchiha!" Fubuki yelled as they continued on falling down, going too fast with too many obstacles in the form of branches to effectively use her wired kunai and dragging all the way. "I know all your secrets! Just like that act you pull! You aren't cold, rude and distant because you're indifferent to others' opinions about you!"
They slammed into a tree, Fubuki holding him fast and her voice becoming bittersweet as she whispered into his ear. "It's because you're afraid to show just how much your family meant to you. That you don't want to get close to anyone so you can avoid that pain. That deep down, you're still that scared eight year old boy, crying in a corner for MOMMY and DADDY to come for you!"
"SHUT. UP!" Sasuke roared as a second Fubuki landed on a treetop across from them.
"Looks like you fell for it, Sasuke. When I passed by the moonlight, I created a decoy clone and hid behind its blind spot of the moonlight to grapple you down so I could strike." Fubuki's six remaining wired kunai flew right beside her as she jumped towards Sasuke. "Now you're trapped and can't get away while I make you into swiss – "
That's when Fubuki lurched in midair, tumbling and swirling before coming to a dead stop. "What the hell?" she demanded, finding herself unable to move before realizing what happened: She had flown into a wire trap, ensnaring her in place, just like a fly caught in a spider's web.
"Strangely enough, I did notice your Ice Clone," Sasuke gloated as he began pushing the clone off him. "I fell on purpose! To lure you into MY trap, not the other way around!" He had first disappeared below the first bunshin and set up this trap while his Homing Fire Dragon kept her busy, just waiting for the chance to spring it.
Fubuki groaned as Sasuke hammered in the last nail to the coffin. "I do believe it's the first time a spider was trapped in its own web, wouldn't you agree?"
"Almost…" the woman conceded bitterly. "If not for one thing."
"And what might that be?"
A smile appeared. "That's not an Ice Clone!"
That's when the Fubuki bunshin turned a deep blue, revealing her to be composed entirely of ice as it began snaking down onto his body. His hands were first, followed by his feet, which the ice froze directly to the tree behind him, locking him in place. "It's a Freezer Clone! Designed to get in close with an opponent, and encase them in ice! Your stupid little plan only worked to MY advantage!"
Sasuke cursed mentally in his mind as the ice continued creeping over his limbs. He then began focusing Katon elements into his hands and feet. He wasn't used to doing both at once before and found himself exerting his Sharingan to guide the control elements. At the same time, Fubuki was struggling to get out of the wire trap he had sprung on her. Each of her six remaining kunai were tangled extensively into the wires, and as a result, the hardest time she was having was getting those out of the mess.
"Face it, Uchiha, you're just a small little kid who tries to act tough by lashing out at everyone around you," Fubuki taunted.
Sasuke didn't bother to reply to that as the ice started to melt. Perhaps it was because he had a chance to stop and recollect himself (or even the ice cooling him down in the most literal of ways), he was surprised to see he wasn't as angry as he thought he would be over what the Ice Maker Witch was stating. Her knowing about these issues made him more angry than the actual issues themselves.
Everything about Itachi still burned furiously within his veins, but as opposed to the raging forest fire it had been, it was now more like a shimmering campfire. It was still there, it still pissed him off, but the degree of it had significantly decreased. Hell, a few days ago he would have continued to lash out, forcibly break his way out of his predicament and gone ballistic. Maybe the time he had spent in the Snow Country wasn't for naught despite all the crap that he had been through during this mission.
Perhaps most significantly when he had talked to Sakura about it during their time together in the makeshift shelter.
"So what if I am?" Sasuke replied, the ice seconds from melting apart while Fubuki got her spidery kunai free and began severing the wires about her. His remark caught the woman off guard as she was no doubt expecting another denial. "What's that make you, Miss Armor?"
"I'm a WARRIOR!" Fubuki declared right as both of them broke free of their respective snares.
"Warrior?" Sasuke barked out a laugh as he channeled chakra to his feet and dashed to the side, moving to take out another of those kunai but missed at the last second. "With that lousy armor? PLEASE! You're supposed to be a Jonin and you can't take out one little genin!"
He landed against another tree trunk before dashing upward, disappearing into the snow-covered branches as the kunai followed, prodding in for him. "Come on out and we'll see who wins this fight!" Fubuki yelled.
"Come on out? I'm a NINJA! I'm supposed to stay hidden and perform sneak attacks! Guess you really are just a warrior since you don't know the basics of a shinobi!"
"Shut your mouth!" She hurled an ice bomb at the tree. The exploding shower of ice fragments blew apart the frozen greenery of the tree and exposed the bare branches, but the Uchiha wasn't there.
"A real shinobi, Leaf, Snow or otherwise, would have adapted by now." Fubuki spun around in midair and stabbed once more with her kunai into the tree. "Yet you still try the same old things."
"Don't try and play psychoanalysis with me, boy!" Fubuki formed another ice bomb and hurled it. "My Hyouton has been dominating this fight!"
"Oh, I don't need a degree to figure you out." This tree exploded outward, revealing nothing. "See, I've been wondering about your Hyouton. Funny thing about that; it seems you know my little secrets, so you're clearly aware my elements are just Fire and Lightning."
"What is your POINT?" The Ice Maker Witch was just about at her wits end. Verbal dialogue she could handle, but not HIDING like a little coward.
"Ice is formed from Water and Wind. Suiton and Fuuton. So… why aren't you using them?"
Fubuki fired off another round of Ice bombs, decimating all the nearby trees as she flew throughout the forest. "Ice and just those kunai gets real old, REAL fast! LAME! You have the elements that are the PERFECT counters to mine! Use some Suiton to douse my flames, utilize wind to disrupt my lightning, SOMETHING!"
A chuckle echoed across the forest. "Or are you actually telling me you went the lazy way and only use existing ice for your attacks and don't know any other elements?"
"I'm NOT hearing this!"
"Get a clue! You're no ninja! You let technology fight your battles, you don't bother applying yourself to learn any of the art! You just go the quick and easy route. You don't get the meaning of 'shinobi!'"
"COME OUT!" Fubuki roared.
The chuckle began outright laughter. "So you fight by flying around and trying to psychobabble yourself to victory. What, did you drop out of psychiatry school and suck up to Doto to be a ninja?"
Fubuki had had ENOUGH. She had precious little chakra to spare with the loss of her power seal but she didn't care. She ran through the chain seals and brought her hands forward, forming a large ice orb in between her hands, with swirling winds locked inside.
"You must really be good in bed."
"You don't know squat!" Fubuki yelled, holding the large ice orb over head and throwing it with all her might. It hit the nearest tree and exploded in a shower of ice, unleashing a fierce maelstrom. It tore through the trees in rapid succession, tearing them apart like toothpicks. It cleared out every tree within half a kilometer, toppling them over. The Uchiha, not expecting such an attack, was blown through the air, completely disorienting him.
Fubuki was breathing hard. Her eyes were red and her skin even more discolored from the chakra demand the technique had required. A blinking red warning light started flashing on her armor. "Override!" she hissed, smashing the light as she took off flying after her prey, unleashing all six of her spidery kunai at him. There was no thought or reason to her attacks now as she just kept on slashing out at the Uchiha boy.
The first one slashed across Sasuke's back, snapping him back to his current predicament. Folding his wings to his side, he dropped down just in time to land on the treetops, jumping from tree to tree to gain distance. Seeing the castle ahead, he figured a change of battlefields would be ideal. As he leapt away from the next barrage and sliced through one of the kunai, he saw the blimp rising into the air. And it seems she has the same idea, herding me to the castle. "What's wrong, no more comebacks?"
Anger flooded into her as Fubuki raced after the Konoha genin as he took to the air, flapping hard towards the castle. Just where she wanted. She could feel her body screaming out for rest, but she plowed on forward anyway. The five kunai left continued to strike at the Uchiha, once again spinning around with two regular kunai in his hands to block. They crossed the field in quick succession. Sasuke took off running on the castle walls, before pressing his legs against it and then jumping right at her kunai, slashing through two more of them. Sasuke then saw the leftover wires wrap around his arms and leg. The wires bit into his flesh as they held him in place. Fubuki came in with a screaming rage, slamming him into the castle wall.
The force of the attack made cracks shoot out like spiderwebs as the Uchiha gasped in pain before Fubuki grabbed the Uchiha's head to slam it into the wall as her three remaining kunai moved in for killing blows.
All she got was a hurt hand as her kunai just slammed harmlessly against the stone wall, the wires having nothing in their grasp. Behind her, the real Sasuke appeared, casually pointing to his Sharingan eyes. "Got you."
It was like a volcano erupted in the Snow Kunoichi. Far too pissed to form words, she used the wall as a brace and began chasing after the genin. Sasuke took to running along the walls again to make full use of his speed once again as he started heading to the castle. Seeing the cliff face behind him, he jumped out into it, folding out his wings. Alright, now what is your trump…
That's when an unexpected wind flow came from the abrupt change of elevation over the cliff face. In a snapback like effect, Sasuke found himself losing complete control as he was swept downward in the current. Oh… that's what.
Those that lived in the Black Fang Castle, especially the crew of the air blimp, knew how the airflow worked around cliff faces. The heat from the sun during the day made the air flow up the cliff face, and during the night when the sun was gone, the winds flowed downward toward the ground. Flying directly into it without this knowledge would cause the flyer to experience severe wind shear that would completely disorient them.
Fubuki, having known about this spot, had deliberately waited just outside the area of effects for just a second before charging in once she was sure Sasuke had fallen for it. "YOU ARE MINE!"
As before, kunai and wire both lashed out towards the Uchiha, aiming directly for the kill this time. They struck all over the Uchiha with the demeanor of a serial killer... for about five seconds, before he burst into a collection of rocks.
"YOU'RE KIDDING! HE MANAGED TO USE A REPLACEMENT IN THAT SITUATION!" Fubuki screamed out at the injustice of it all.
"Damn right I did!" Fubuki jerked. That voice was coming from BEHIND her! Turning around, she looked up directly at the moon, to see Sasuke freefalling from it directly towards her, the Chidori alive in his hands. "It's called reading your opponent's moves!"
Fear gripped her more tightly than the anger had. Even with the change of wind flow from the cliff face, Sasuke had more than enough altitude and speed to compensate with it. And with the sheer rock face behind her, she had no where to run! In desperation, she sent out her remaining three kunai to strike incoming Uchiha missile.
Sasuke slashed out at the nearest one, and instead of severing it, grabbed both the kunai and the wire. Electricity zapped down the wire directly towards Fubuki, shocking her immensely and eliminating any possibility of her dodging the Uchiha's next blow.
But in that single, final moment, she didn't scream. She merely looked up at her would-be attacker. What she saw could only be described as 'beautiful'. The lightning crackling in his hand seemed like a radiant light rather than an instrument of destruction. The bat-like wings shone brightly like lightning, giving them a radiant aura of life about them. And while she was sure it was just a hallucination caused by the lightning coursing through her, she could swear she saw flames encompassing him.
A real fire hawk… Fubuki told herself, surprisingly calm at the moment. That protects with the divine power of lightning…
In the next moment, Sasuke's Chidori slammed into the center of Fubuki's chest. It pierced her completely; flesh, bone and armor. The Yuki-nin shouted in agony, her face twisted and distorted from the attack as they went crashing into the cliff face, leaving a crater three meters deep.
Sasuke whipped his hand out, ready to use the Chidori to deflect some last desperate counter strike, but it didn't come. The kunai just lay at her side. "… no need for that…" Fubuki said, blood flowing from her mouth with each word. "… I… know when I'm beat… you win…"
The young man raised an eyebrow as he jumped backwards, looking at her. "Admitting defeat? Admirable, I suppose."
"… perhaps you were right… perhaps I did get caught up in… just winning… and not as a… shinobi…" Fubuki went on, her eyes slowly starting to close for the last time. "… perhaps… we all did…"
"Seems that you really aren't as bad as we were led to believe," Sasuke offered gently. He felt no pity or regret, but he was capable of being kind. When he felt like it.
The woman barked up one last laugh. "… make… no mistake… Uchiha Sasuke… we're bad… we're just… not the… lowest of… the low… there are… far worse characters… out there…" She managed to nudge her head upward, looking him directly in the eyes one with one last effort.
"… I'll be watching… from the other side… you better not lose…"
With that, the last of Kakuyoku Fubuki's strength left her. Quiet as a leaf, she fell from the spot where she was slain and disappeared into the cliff abyss below.
8:51 pm. AGAIN.
Naruto looked down to see a huge ice fist coming straight at the six of them. Reacting before he could even contemplate his actions, he went and pulled out a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it.
"I think not."
Rouga Nadare appeared next to him, tossing down several bombs of his own as he grabbed the blond boy by the collar. Their explosions met as Nadare expertly rode the blast towards the castle rooftops, taking the blond boy with him.
As the Yuki Ninja landed, he tossed Naruto along the rooftops. The genin rolled along the sharp, cold stone of Doto's castle before he hit a ledge, bringing him to a dead stop. He looked up just in time to see Nadare already on top of him, a large fist ready.
Naruto reached out with his hand and caught the fist. Not enough to stop the man's attack, but enough to divert it just enough to miss him and redirect into the ledge behind him. Naruto came in with a kick for the man's chest, but Nadare used his arm to block it, then with the same arm, shifted his arm upward into a back-knuckle against Naruto's face. Leaping backwards, he used his longer limbs to kick again at Naruto's head, the boy ducking just in time, but saw the stone shake from the force of the man's kick.
Dropping on all fours, much like an Inuzuka attack, Naruto charged forward, swiping at the man's knees. The man jumped up, rearing his leg down for a heel drop on the boy's head, but he dashed off to the left. The boy's blind side.
Perfect, Nadare thought just as his foot touched down on the stone. Immediately he leapt to the same side, following the boy as closely as his shadow as he came down with a right chop towards the kid's left shut eye.
The boy's left hand whipped out and blocked it, a small grin on his face as he twisted around with an elbow to the man, while Nadare – not at all fazed – came down with his free arm for an uppercut to Naruto's stomach, a small wave of chakra zapping him.
They clashed at the same time, both sliding back from each other to opposite ends of the roof. Naruto had been hit on his blind side far too often to not start to work out how to deal with it. Chakra burst to life around Naruto. "Did you really think I'd wouldn't… have… HUH!"
He looked around himself, seeing his chakra bursting free into the night, no longer held back. "WHAT?"
Nadare held up his hand which he had attacked with, revealing the Chakra Restraint Device in his hand before tossing it over the side."Now you have nothing holding you back."
"…I… uh… huh?" Naruto just stuttered dumbfounded.
"Too many times have I been denied my chance to prove my worth," Nadare said, looking directly at him. "The Copy-nin is lost to me, and you almost were as well. Now that you are free, I'm not missing this chance again. I will face you with all you have, Kyuubi Naruto. And once I defeat you, I will finally be recognized among the elite of the elite in the Shinobi World."
Nadare then pointed directly at Naruto. "So I'm calling you out, Uzumaki Naruto! I hereby challenge you to a fight! Holding nothing back! Kyuubi and all!"
A few seconds of silence passed. Even the fighting below seemed to come to a halt. Slowly, a trademark grin appeared on Naruto's face.
"Let's see if you can deal with Konohagakure's Number 1 Most Surprising Shinobi first!"
(Author's Note) Two down, one to go! And now we get to Naruto's fight! It was difficult finding time to write all this since I kept getting wrapped up in volunteering efforts, helping out at my local church and babysitting my nephew. Fun little tyke, but takes way too much energy!
So hoped you all enjoyed the second of the Yuki-Sannin fights as we'll be wrapping them up with Naruto, and then start with Doto's! Yeah, remember him? The guy that KO-ed Gamabunta? He's still coming!
Hyouton: Aisu Kometto no Jutsu-Ice Release: Ice Comet Technique/ Forms a large ice-like boulder and hurling it at considerable speeds. The bulk and mass are suited for direct attacks to smash through the target(s) with pure brute force. (Mid C-Class Ninjutsu)
Supaida-Oujou Kuruma-Spider Death Wheel/ Fubuki's latest piece of armor. It is eight kunai on wires embedded directly on her back, laid out in a formation much like a ship's helm. By flowing chakra into the wires, Fubuki can move them as freely as her own arms and legs. At optimum speed, each of these kunai can strike as fast as a snake with a reach of ten meters. The apparent flaw of this is how easily the wires can tangle each other up if Fubuki slips up just a little. However, she had been training herself for this in the past months during it's creation and tonight was it's first test drive. One of the biggest advantages to this is that Fubuki's own hands remain free for any additional technique she wishes to employ.
Hyouton: Iiguru Misairu no Jutsu-Ice Release: Eagle Missile/ Creates a small eagle out of ice that works as an extremely fast projectile. The beak portion of the eagle is incredibly sharp, resulting in the target of this jutsu being skewered as a result of both the speed and sharpness of this technique, leaving small, but precise and deadly injuries should it hit an opponent. The likelihood of this happening is high. (Low B-Class Ninjutsu) (Standard Yukigakure technique) Suggested by The Warrior Within
Referenced WAY back in the Big Melee of Chapter 17 and reposted for reference purposes.
Reitouki Bunshin-Freezer Clone/ A personal adaptation of the standard Aisu Bunshin (Ice Clone) developed by Fubuki, where the ice formed for the clone converts into motion to engulf and freeze the opponent it tackles, replacing the regeneration priorities of it's predecessor. Speed and rate of expansion is dependant on how much chakra is left in the clone. The longer the freezing process is allowed to go on, the harder it becomes for the victim to deal with it. Thus the beginnings of this process is when it is most vulnerable and it's recommended to engage or distract the victim to ensure the freezing process can continue unhindered. (Mid-B Class Ninjutsu) (Fubuki)
Hyouton: Aisu Kyuutai Tatsumaki-Ice Release: Ice Orb Tornado/ A far more advanced version of the Ice Bomb. In addition to the standard exploding ice fragments, Fuuton elements are stored inside to unleash a devastating wind storm that can stretch up to kilometers if one has ample chakra and skill, which Fubuki is lacking in both to utilize to its max potential. Requires significant knowledge of both Hyouton and Fuuton in order, the latter of which Fubuki only just knows enough to be able to use this jutsu. (Mid A-Class Ninjutsu) (Fubuki)
I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Also, any jutsu that Tellemicus created that are used in this story belong to him. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!
