Sasuke got back to his feet, keeping the same cold look on his face. Nawaki gripped his sword tighter, but neither of them moved.
Then suddenly Sasuke was in front of him, his sword swinging down towards Nawaki's right shoulder. Nawaki dodged backwards, but the blade managed to clip him. He cursed. Sasuke's speed was something he wasn't quite used to yet.
While Sasuke's sword was pointed towards the ground, Nawaki charged, aiming his fist at Sasuke's face. With a cry of rage, he jumped into the air, swinging his arm back before slamming it forward. Sasuke pushed Nawaki's fist aside as if it was nothing, before kicking Nawaki hard in the ribs, sending him tumbling backwards again.
Sasuke stared at Nawaki's crumpled body. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a shuriken. Before he could throw it, Nawaki's body disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a log behind.
Sasuke spun around in a circle, but Nawaki was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. Nawaki walked out from behind a pillar, staring at Sasuke with dark eyes. Sasuke was slightly shaken by the starling resemblance to Itachi, but made sure not to show it. Nawaki wasn't Itachi, he wasn't anyone. There was no reason for Sasuke not to kill him.
Nawaki swung his sword, and a thin line of fire shot towards Sasuke. He quickly covered his sword in lightning chakra, and used it to part the fire. Although Nawaki's fire style was surprisingly strong, his lightning style was far more advanced.
One thing that was worrying Sasuke slightly was Nawaki's chakra. Sasuke wasn't a sensor, and he had never really paid attention to Nawaki's chakra signature before, but at the start of the fight it had felt normal enough. However, after Nawaki had used the Rinnegan, his chakra had gotten more intense, and a strange mixture of killing intent and dark chakra was emanating from him. He seemed colder than before.
Sasuke couldn't afford to let that distract him. He charged at Nawaki, his sword humming from the lightning chakra. Nawaki dodged his first two strikes, but the third one managed to slash his shoulder. Sasuke knew that the lightning had a numbing effect, but he doubted that cut had been deep enough.
He jumped high into the air. Gripping his sword with two hands and aiming straight for Nawaki's head, he let gravity add to his speed. Nawaki's eyes widened, and he began making hand-seals.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
For a second Sasuke thought he would make it, but the wall shot up and hit him in the stomach, sending him skidding back.
Sasuke quickly cast three genjutsu, but it only took Nawaki a few seconds to break through them. Sasuke felt Nawaki cast six genjutsu , but he broke through five of them. The sixth one, he entered, wondering what Nawaki had come up with.
A whirlwind of shuriken was around him, moving so quickly that his sharingan could barely keep up. He wondered if Nawaki would let him move in the genjutsu, and tried to move his arm. He remained motionless, but the shuriken started cutting him.
He couldn't let that happen. With ease, Sasuke gained control over a portion of the genjutsu, allowing himself to move his arms. He conjured his own shuriken, and shot each one of Nawaki's out of the sky. He could feel Nawaki's shock. Did the child really think that a genjutsu like this could hold him? The only reason he had entered was so he could gain control, and hopefully trap Nawaki in his own genjutsu. It would be the simplest way to capture the boy without killing him.
His eyes found Nawaki, standing a few metres away from him. Of course, he probably was standing somewhere completely different outside the genjutsu, but that didn't matter to Sasuke right now. Nawaki's genjutsu was a strong one to break out of, but quite easy to manipulate once you were in it.
Snakes shot out of the ground, wrapping around Nawaki's legs. They made their way up his body, tightening as they went. Nawaki gazed at him emotionlessly. Right in front of Sasuke's eyes, Nawaki transformed into a flock of black birds, making Sasuke's blood run cold.
Crows. Itachi's crows. Sasuke forced himself to calm down. He looked closer at the birds, and realised that they weren't crows after all. The feathers were sleeker, they were bigger and their wings were pointed. They were ravens. Not Itachi's crows.
He felt something stab him in the lower back, and was unsurprised to find that it was Nawaki's sword. It was a simple matter to dissolve into snakes and solidify a few metres away, but Sasuke was starting to realise that Nawaki was more skilled with genjutsu then he had anticipated. Perhaps this wasn't the easiest option after all.
The next trick he tried was difficult. While keeping his mind mostly in the genjutsu, Sasuke's real hand reached down and grabbed some kunai. He let Nawaki gain a little more control in the genjutsu so that he could look around the real world and see where Nawaki was actually standing. Once he had found him, he flung the kunai. Back in the genjutsu, Nawaki had managed to stab him through the heart, and getting control back was a little harder than before. But Sasuke managed it, and once again his body turned into snakes. He risked a glance at the real world, wondering why nothing was happening. Hadn't Nawaki been hit yet?
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. In the real world, Nawaki had deflected all the kunai with one of his own. How was that possible? It took a huge level of skill to fight a genjutsu battle as well as a real battle. As he got back to the genjutsu, he realised how Nawaki had done it. The genjutsu was slowly breaking. Still, it was impressive that he had noticed the kunai at all.
Nawaki broke the genjutsu completely and leapt back, flinging a few shuriken at Sasuke. Although straight out of a genjutsu, Sasuke managed to react in time, dodging the shuriken and flinging a kunai of his own. He could see Nawaki's frustration grow.
"Enough of this." the boy growled "I'm going all out."
Sasuke's only reaction was to raise an eyebrow.
Nawaki's left arm opened up, and turned into a chakra canon. He fired three quick blasts at Sasuke. While Sasuke dodged them, he heard Nawaki slam his hand down on the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Sasuke looked up just in time to see a giant rhinoceros charge at him. He noticed Nawaki's look of gleeful triumph. He couldn't dodge it in time. With a sigh, Sasuke let his eyes change.
The rhino charged headfirst into the ribcage of Sasuke's Susanoo. Sasuke let the Susanoo grow one hand, and used it to fling the rhino up into the air. Nawaki didn't seem to care. He slammed his hands on the ground again, and this time he summoned two dogs. Sasuke knew what kind of dogs they were. They would keep multiplying every time he killed them. Instead, he let the dogs eyes meet his, and cast a genjutsu on them. The dogs stopped their charge and stared around in confusion.
This was the only opening that Sasuke needed. His Susanoo grew another hand, this time it carried a sword. He quickly shaped another sword in his first hand, made out of Amaterasu flames. He stabbed each of the dogs in their underbelly, sending them flying into the sky after the rhino.
He looked up, and frowned. Where had Nawaki gone? Sasuke felt something slam into the Susanoo's ribs from behind, and stumbled slightly.
"Rasengan!" Nawaki yelled
Sasuke frowned. That had hurt. He couldn't let Nawaki do that again. He created a third Susanoo hand that grabbed the Rasengan and flung both it and Nawaki down the street. Sasuke let the third hand disappear, as he was more comfortable fighting with two. Nawaki crashed into a building, but Sasuke doubted that he was too badly hurt.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, three Nawakis charged out of the debris, each of them carrying a Rasengan. Sasuke's left hand sword morphed into a bow, and the right hand flames turned into Amaterasu arrows. He shot two out, hitting the left and right Nawaki. Both of them disappeared in a puff of smoke, but now the middle one was too close for Sasuke to hit him. With a curse, Sasuke leapt out of the Susanoo, lightning crackling around his left hand.
"Rasengan!"
"Chidori!"
The two jutsu met, but neither gave in. Sasuke could see Nawaki gritting his teeth. He pushed more chakra into the Chidori, and was rewarded when Nawaki gave a small groan. Suddenly, he noticed Nawaki's left hand changing. A chakra cannon pointed straight at his chest.
Nawaki fired.
!
Tenten ducked, letting the blast go over her head. It crashed into the wall of a-hopefully deserted-house. She whipped her head around, glaring at Neji's grinning face. The Asura Path was not a good opponent for her, considering the fact that its main power was the strength of its weapons. It also had complete accuracy thanks to the Sharingan.
She quickly ran up the wall and onto the roof. Behind her, she could hear some sort of humming. Turning around, she realised that Neji was flying. Jets of fire were shooting out of his feet, propelling him into the air. He now had four hands, and each one was open, with small missiles aimed at her.
He started firing, creating fist-sized holes in the roof. Tenten dodged them all, trying to think of a strategy. She reached behind her and grabbed a staff from her back. Neji seemed to grin harder at that, probably wondering what she could do with a staff. Tenten grinned back. Once upon a time, Neji had dubbed her battle smile "The bloodthirsty grin that would even freeze Madara in his tracks." This had caused Lee to wonder if freezing Edo Tensei was a viable way to defeat them, which had caused Tenten to roll her eyes and get back to fighting Neji, which was what she should be doing now.
Neji fired another few missiles. As they made their way towards Tenten, she started to twirl her staff rapidly. Soon, she had a mini-twister in front of her. The missiles shot towards it, and Tenten used the air to repel them.
She snuck up behind Neji, ready to stab a kunai into his back. However, just as she was about to do that, he turned around and blocked the kunai with a knife of his own. Bizarrely, it was sticking out of his elbow.
Still grinning, Neji's hand started to grow. It swelled up, until it was around three times the size of Tenten. His other hand started to do the same. Neji swung his fist backwards, and Tenten heard a metallic clang when it crashed into the wall. If that thing hit her, she would die.
Neji swung his fist again, aiming straight at Tenten. As it came closer, she calculated that she wouldn't have time to move out of range. Her only option was to block it. She pulled out a scroll. Neji's fist came at her with all the force of a wrecking ball. It swung down and-
-and bounced off the giant mace whirling around Tenten's head. Neji's eyes widened, while Tenten merely grinned wider, swinging the ten-ton mace around and around. She gave it one final swing before letting it go. It flew straight at Neji and hit him in the chest. Although his hands had grown huge, the rest of his body had stayed the same. The giant spiked ball caught him and sent him flying off the building. He crashed into the house opposite the roof, with the mace landing on top of him, effectively crushing him.
Tenten's triumph was short lived. Neji's hands, now back to their original size, hadn't been trapped under the mace. Each of them shot at her like a missile. They clamped down on her wrists and kept going, pulling her backwards. She cursed and struggled but they kept a tight grip. She slammed into the wall of a tall building, with Neji's hands keeping her pinned there.
In front of her, the giant mace started to shake. The building Neji was under on started to crack, and soon Tenten saw why. Neji was exploding parts of his body to escape. The mace held steady, but the building wasn't as strong. The explosions caused it to collapse, and then Neji was free.
He jumped over to where Tenten was pinned, aiming the chakra cannon at her head. This time, she couldn't dodge. With a small sigh, she stared straight into Obito's eyes. At least they weren't-
The Sharingan began to morph, until she was looking straight into Neji's Byakugan. He stared at her so gently, a look only she, Lee and probably Hinata had ever seen. She snarled in response. At this point, she wanted to live far more than she should, simply so she could kill Obito.
The chakra cannon fired. Tenten closed her eyes.
She felt something jerk her free from the wall, and suddenly she was being pressed against someone's chest. She opened her eyes, but all she could see was… green?
"Lee!" she gasped
"Tenten!" came the reply from above her. "You are alright! I was worried that Obito had hurt you. I must say, his style of fighting is most certainly not youthful."
"Yeah." she muttered "Un-youthful. That's exactly what I would have called it."
She felt herself being put down, and suddenly she could see again. She was a few blocks away from where she had been fighting Neji. Also, she and Lee weren't alone. She tensed up, but relaxed once she realised who it was.
"You're Yoshino." she said, staring at the child "Temari and Shikamaru's kid, right?"
The little girl nodded. She couldn't be more than eight. Tenten wondered why the hell she wasn't in the safety area with the other Academy Students.
"Lee?" she asked.
He grinned.
"Since I was already in charge of Gaara's children, Temari asked me to mind Yoshino while she fought. As always, I rose to the challenge! I shall protect young Yoshino with my life!"
"And so you bring her with you to fight S-Rank criminals. Figures." Tenten searched the roof again. "So where are the little monsters anyway?"
"My cousins are fighting this weird transvestite kid!" Yoshino explained "He can summon animals and has an ice kekkei genkai. But Naruko will beat him!"
"That's nice." Tenten muttered absently, still searching the area with her eyes. Where was Neji?
Her question was answered when he appeared on the roof next to theirs. Tenten scrambled to her feet, tugging out the first weapon she could find, which was a katana.
"Get ready." she warned "He's coming back for Round Two."
!
Time seemed to slow down for Sasuke. The chakra bomb was coming towards him, but he couldn't defend himself. His eyes told him that Kamui would be too slow. Amaterasu wouldn't stop it. However his Susanoo…
Quickly, he got rid of the Susanoo behind him, and formed a new, complete version, around him. He was just in time. The chakra Nawaki had shot burst on contact, leaving Sasuke completely unharmed.
Nawaki stumbled backwards in shock, and Sasuke struck. He let the Susanoo vanish again, grabbing his sword. He kicked Nawaki's legs out from under him, and Nawaki fell to the ground. Sasuke's sword crackled with lightning chakra. He slashed each of Nawaki's arms, and each of his legs. Nawaki tried to stand, but collapsed. Before he could get back up again, Sasuke placed the tip of his sword just under Nawaki's chin.
Nawaki's eyes met his, and Sasuke was struck by the familiarity in those eyes. They were as cold as his own, glaring up at him with the same arrogance that a young Sasuke had once had. Even though he was about to die, his son was determined to die with pride.
Sasuke's blade wavered. All it would take would be one little push, and Nawaki would be dead. He was going to kill his son- no, not his son- Sakura's son. Sasuke couldn't decide if that made him feel better or worse.
"This is incredible." Sasuke said, mostly to himself. "I have killed more people that anyone I know. I once killed a five-year old child, simply because his parents were planning to use him as a weapon. And yet, here you are, completely immobilised, and I still can't make my blade move forward. It's ridiculous."
Nawaki stared coldly up at him. Sasuke didn't even know why he was telling him this, but he kept going.
"I don't even know you. Not really. You look like Itachi and you have my eyes, but I've only had one conversation with you in your whole life. I shouldn't feel this way about you. I should be able to kill you without batting an eyelid and yet… I can't. I can't kill you."
Sasuke looked down at his sword, and then he tossed it away in disgust. He would simply bring Nawaki to the station and then-
Something cold slid into his stomach, and his whole body exploded with pain. Sasuke felt blood welling in his mouth, and quickly spat it out before he choked on it. He stared down in disbelief at the blood-his blood- trickling along the sword. How had he not cut deeply enough into Nawaki's left arm?
"That's a shame." Nawaki said, holding the hilt of the sword firmly "Because I'm afraid I don't feel the same way about killing you."