A/N Hey there sorry ive been so long since the last update but life as always interferes and this is recreation only. sometimes life takes precedent. But regardless heres the next installment of Will of Fire i hope you enjoy! :)
The dinner table was a rather somber affair as most evenings in Tazuna's home tended to be. On team Gai's end it was because most of them were worn out from the days training. On Tazuna's and his family's end it was because they had a lot of things to be somber about. Tazuna at least was trying to do something about the hopelessness his land was suffering. It was the seventh night after team Gai's run in with the monster of a man that was Han. The young men were quite this evening because they were too focused on eating, trying not so subtly to out eat each other. Gai's thoughts were solely focused on inward contemplation of their previous encounter. He was going to have to take on one Iwa's most powerful fighters. The jounin knew he was going to have to face the giant alone in their next skirmish. There were going to be more enemies next time, of that, he was certain. His body supplied itself the sustenance that was laid before him without needing his mind to tell it to. The machine was on, but there was nobody at the controls. Tazuna and his family were too sullen being slapped in the face with such a hard mountain to climb if the bridge was to be completed.
"You're all going to die!" Inari, Tazuna's son, declared angrily. The boy was always wearing the same ragged green T-shirt, beige shorts, and matching fisherman's hat that he always wore forward to shadow his eyes. In their short amount of time together the young lad had done nothing but pronounce declarations of doom trying to fight against Gato. The reason the Team figured was because his father figure had been executed in front of the entire town for trying to rebel against Gato and his corporation built on drugs human trafficking and gambling. The Team had learned all of this after Inari's initial outburst the first night they had arrived.
Sasuke was seriously fed up at this point. He growled as he slammed his bowl on the table. "This again?" he snorted with exasperation "Humph your cowardice has made me lose my appetite." Standing He started walking to the door. He turned slightly without breaking stride. "I'll be back later. I'm going to train." The door closed behind him before a reply could even attempt to be made. Sasuke was NOT going to go train, it had been a lie one he'd used every single night against his trusting comrade's. He'd been Tsunami's guard, aka glorified grocery bag holder, when she went shopping. In the time he'd spent here he'd spied several key locations that Gato's men were stationed and up to something. So what had Sasuke done, scouted out each locations during the previous week nights. His team believed his training lie each time, seriously he couldn't see how they could trust words so easily. Putting that much faith in anyone was just downright stupid, he knew from personal experience.
Putting those thoughts behind him he slipped through the shadow's and put his game face on, not that it showed outwardly of course. Oh no showing emotion beyond anger and stone cold frigidity was forbidden for the last bastion that was the Uchiha teen. His feet swiftly carried him to the ghostly street that was the town of wave during the evening hours. All was silent save for the one or two random thugs looking for any foolish citizens to beat down and give a hard time.
It was child's play for the young man to glide past them silently and escape their notice. 'Fools, if I had wanted to I could have killed them both in less time than it took to blink.' Sasuke thought as he continued onward. Lucky for those two they weren't in the area he was targeting, yet anyway. Within a few short minutes he'd found the building he was looking for. It wasn't any different on the outside; the inside however, hid a lavished second floor which was where Gato chose to spend his evenings.
Sasuke was on the roof top adjacent to his targets as he had been for few minutes just watching the place. Bursting into a full out sprint he leapt off the edge and dove for the window on the bottom floor, at the last second he rotated forward so his heel shattered the window and connected with the back of a thugs head. Thug's head proceeded to meet with the ground, and between the cold steel floor and the pressure of Sasuke leaping off of him his ocular blood vessels popped causing blood to spurt out of his eyes and his ears.
Now in the air Sasuke caught sight of a few guards rushing towards him, with a flick of his wrist they fell, kunai buried in each of their throats. More men came out of the shadows like wolves in the night; only Sasuke was no gazelle. As soon as his feet touched the floor he became a blur of motion and flashes of steel. In seconds the men that had come forward were cut down with wicked precision leaving Sasuke in the middle of the room with only slightly labored breathing. The kunai in his hand dripping blood, which in the darkness looked inky black, the sound of metal cutting the air alerted him to move as arrow after arrow rained down at Sasuke. It was all for naught though, as Sasuke was on a level the archers simply couldn't compete with, speeding forward and running up one of the walls he leapt off of it and threw five different kunai in a star like formation. Five soft' thumps' followed shortly thereafter. Five more thugs came forward, this time dressed in black samurai armor. They rushed Sasuke, the leading member swinging his katana in attempt to behead the ninja. The young man bent backwards low enough that the swing went over his head; Sasuke's kunai hand was quick to bury his current weapon deep in the man's throat, a weak point in the armor. His gurgle letting Sasuke know he was put down as he stepped forward and outward simultaneously dodging another attacker.
Sasuke now had his back, capitalizing on it and gutting the second samurai. Then, kunai still lodged in his enemy's backside, the young ninja twirled causing the dead man to take a blow from a very spiky mace that would surely have put him down. Too bad he was now open to Sasuke's retaliatory flying knee which had enough force to snap his opponents' neck backwards like a broken twig. The last samurai charged forward with a spear striking at Sasuke like cornered snake. His response was to chuckle as he effortlessly dodged his frantic strikes. "Is this the best Gato's got? Ha!" Sasuke challenged suddenly lunging forward, grabbing hold of the man's' spear with one hand and elbowing him in the throat with his other. The disorienting blow allowed Sasuke the control to shove the butt end of the staff into his gut causing him to double over just in time to crash into Sasuke's knee which caved the samurai's helmet in and effectively silenced his last attacker. "That was such a waste of my time." He said to himself. "I was hoping for a little bit of a challenge. Perhaps I should have taken them all on at once?"
Bam'! The back of Sasuke's head erupted in pain as the his head bounced off the floor only to receive another rattling kick this time to the chest. He tried to roll onto his feet but before he could a small foot pressed mightily into his back despite its demure size. "Request granted Uchiha." A feminine voice whispered in the young man's ear.
Without hesitation Sasuke's elbow snapped backwards and just as he'd thought she dodged by bending backwards, that was all to plan though, as his legs snapped forward closing around her neck like a pincer and using his leg muscles to throw her to the ground neck first with a heavy 'crack' causing his attacker to land on her back and this time she couldn't dodge Sasuke's elbow as it crashed into the center of her chest. A punch to his face in retaliation made him back off enough to give her the time to get back on her feet. "Well played Uchiha you won't get another lucky shot like that!" She hissed.
Now that he too was on his feet he could see she was young woman most likely in her twenties. Her brown hair was done up in two pony tails and she wore a non-descript brown traditional ninja garb. A head band with the symbol for Iwagakure the land hidden in the rocks was slung across her hips. She was about a foot taller than he was with most of it being legs. 'I'll have to watch out for those' Sasuke thought to himself. The two predators circling and watching each other like a pair of lions about to battle for dominance. "The name's Sasuke just so you know who it is that killed you." He sprang forward and faked a right kick then suddenly shot out with his left. Only for it to hit thin air, she was already in his face and, with extreme prejudice, dealt him a powerful double palm strike to his chest. He staggered backwards, receiving a fierce kick to his temple, the strength of it sending him careening to the floor for the second time in his career and to skid a few feet further. Sasuke had never been hit so hard in his life, not to such a full degree like that. He could always dodge duck dive or somehow avoid taking full damage from a blow.
His return to upright position took entirely too long and his vision was blurry, he groaned, finally standing up. His vision was blurred to, causing Sasuke to squint as he saw the rapidly approaching Iwa girl. The color brown started quickly filling his blurred field of vision, on instinct he shot forward going into a slide onto his knees, miraculously dodging a kick that would have broken at least a few of his ribs if not more. He leapt back up onto his feet, twisting to come up facing down his enemy.
She chuckled seeing the glassy look in his black eyes that signaled he was dazed. "My name is Chihara… so you know the name of your destruction." Chihara sprang into action closing the gap in less than a second. Sasuke began to back pedal as fast as his feet would carry him but the Iwa ninja was simply that much faster in his eyes. It was too hard for him to focus, so when Chihara's leg snapped forward his eyes couldn't pick it up quick enough and her heel crashed so splendidly flush into his face. Sasuke crumpled like a house of cards. "This battle shall be your last." She hissed viciously. Raising her leg intending to crush the last Uchiha's skull beneath her heel, "Enjoy oblivion!" she roared as her leg came down. Only for Sasuke to bring up a kunai that pierced her foot all the way through, her howling screech of agony was music to Sasuke's ears. He didn't have the luxury of staying put though, so he sprang up with a spin kick that knocked Chihara a few paces away.
He had to end this fast or he was going to die. This in mind he'd already begun an all too familiar hand seal sequence, after all it was his first jutsu. "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" A blazing fire ball that lit up the factory like a miniature sun issued from Sasuke's mouth and engulfed the girl completely.
"AAAAGHHHH!" Her haunted screech of agony pierced the otherwise still night. Exhausted, Sasuke watched as she burned, writhing in excruciating agony. A second later a kunai buried itself in her skull ending her tortured screams. He couldn't keep watching that. the mere thought of it sickened him; in a sudden and intense burst of pure revulsion, as well as the smell of burnt flesh hitting his nose, caused Sasuke to bend over and churn up the nights' dinner.
He had to shake it off though, she wouldn't be the last death at his hands; she wasn't even the first. Gulping back another wave of nausea he looked up, he still had something to finish. Finding the door that led upwards in the back corner, he tried to open it only to find it locked. Sasuke snorted and in a few short seconds had the lock picked, using only a senbon needle. Creeping up the stairs with the silence of leopard he found that Gato was also a drunk in the evening hours as he was fast asleep wearing nothing but his skivvies with females, most likely slaves, asleep and nude next him.
'What a fool. This is the man that holds a country in his grubby filth covered hands.' Sasuke thought bitterly. "The time has come for you to answer for your crimes. Gato." The Uchiha intoned ominously, his last kunai gripped firmly in his palm, his dark eyes glinting with anger and malice.
His words, light as they had been spoken, woke the servant girls upon seeing the battle worn Sasuke they were about to speak but his next words silenced any words that had even dare thinking of passing their lips. "You will leave silently or I will kill you in an instant." His voice held such an air of certainty to them that the women fled their feet padding along the floor with as much as haste as they could, which left Sasuke alone with his sleeping target. The wretch of man couldn't even detect the killing intent literally oozing out of Sasuke at the moment. Moon light flashed across his eyes with a steely glint.
The only sound at the moment was the slow 'drip' of blood from his kunai. How blood had survived the heat of his jutsu was a mystery to him but at the moment he was so numb emotionally he simply didn't care. He was in mission mode he didn't have time for things like emotions still there was lingering twist in his stomach that he simply couldn't shake. He gripped his Kunai a little harder. Sasuke took a deep breath he could do this; he raised his kunai prepared to plunge it into the man's heart when a thought stopped him. 'Killing him here will not solve the root of the problem. God damn it Gato you little wretch....' Sucking in a breath through clenched teeth Sasuke stomped on the small mans chest hard.
'ARGH!" Gato cried as spittle flew from his mouth and started wheezing as Sasuke's sanded foot was still putting an intense amount of pressure on his portly chest. His whole body started to shake when he realized that he was in mortal danger. So bad was his fear and so strong was Sasuke's killing intent that he wet himself, causing Sasuke to snarl in displeasure.
"Good evening Gato, Having a nice night yea? Well consider your dream turned into Nightmare. You shouldn't have sicced your pet Jinchuriki on us. You'll pay for that." Without another word Sasuke knocked the rich bastard out cold with one well aimed strike, coincidentally breaking his nose, Sasuke didn't mind one bit. Looking around the rooms he saw that the curtains of his four poster bed were lined with thick rope at the top from where they hung, in a short amount of time he had the rope stripped and used it to tie him up hog style with enough rope left over to heft him up. Yes he was heavy, but carrying Tazuna across the river had been much more difficult.
He held the portly man out a little bit further due to the stench of his little accident. 'You'll pay for what you've done Gato, I'll make sure of it'. If he were being completely honest with himself a part of him simply would not and could not kill another person that night, his emotions were far too unbalanced and he still had work to do. With his prey in hand Sasuke started what was sure to be an annoyingly long trek back to his team, and he couldn't wait to sleep. He was ready for the night to be over.
~elsewhere~
"We're here." Han announced in deep voice laced as always with anger simmering just beneath the surface. The two teammates behind him were nothing but mere annoyances to him but yet they were given tags to suppress his power if he tried to kill them. He hoped they died in the attack on the enemy.
His teammates shifted anxiously. "Well? What are you waiting for?" they demanded haughtily as if the idea that they would be the ones to initiate battle was laughable, no that was Han's duty, he was their meat shield while they picked off the weaker one A.K.A the children.
'Humph pathetic fools like them should be destroyed' Han thought killing children was beneath him, despite this his homeland had ordered he destroy entire towns before, one could see why Han could have reasons for being so angry. Han looked upwards, they were quite a distance below the house that belonged to the man his contractor wanted him to kill. It was guarded by a team of Ninja he'd fought before, they'd done alright and he was quite eager to fight them again. This time he could take his team and enjoy killing the elder ninja. Without warning Han shot up like cannon, being from the Iwagakure he naturally had a jutsu for manipulating his way underneath the earth. As did all good ninja of Iwa. In a matter of seconds he was mere feet from the foundation of the house. Tapping into his biju a chakra shroud of steam enshrouded him coming from the furnace across his back. Bursting through wood as easily as a shark would break water he burst into the house in what used to be the dining room. Chaos then erupted, Immediately he was besieged upon by a green blur blasting into him, but one strike right before impact sent the younger green clad ninja crashing through the dining room wall and out into the backyard where his team mates were emerging. He noticed them advancing toward the downed boy when a white blur from the roof descended from the sky a flash of steel letting him know the boy had thrown kunai causing his teammates to leap away.
The young man in white was quicker though, besieging one of them and swiftly downing him with a series of quick and brutal strikes to vital areas. When the other one tried to help the young ninja spun creating a barrier of pure chakra. this sent the man crashing away before he rolled back to his feet quickly. He started hand sealing but Han had to stop watching the fight as a bigger green blur then first that also happened to be glowing completely blue sent a high kick attempting to destroy his furnace. Han whipped around with lightning speed turned and lashed out with spinning back fist that was coated with a giant steam fist.
The green clad warrior somehow managed to avoid it mid air and lashed out with another kick that actually connect and packed enough power to send the chakra empowered Han crashing out the house but Gai wasn't done he followed and peppered him with lightning quick fists that were so fast his hands became enshrouded in flames. "MORNING PEACOCK!" the green warrior cried, then with a slight hop and twist he lashed out with a rotating kick "Leaf Hurricane!" it literally created a miniature hurricane that caught Han in its vortex spun him once and threw him careening though an uncountable number of trees.
When Gai was upon him again Han was ready to go on the offensive having new cracks and burns on his armor. Three tails of steam grew out of his shroud swishing angrily before brutally tossing Gai about in the worlds' worst game of hot potato. Gai had more resolve than that though and he summoned pure ki and burst it outwards in a sphere allowing him to drop to the surface and rush the armored giant once more, only this time he shouted something Han had only ever heard rumors about. "Gate of wonder: OPEN!" a giant blast of blue energy blasted of the martial artist.
"Good! Show me your might Konoha ninja! Show me why you dare claim the title of strongest!" Han replied, two more steaming tails taking form behind him. He rushed straight for his enemy. He couldn't deny he enjoyed a good straight up fight, so few could provide him a good slug match. This time when the two close ranged fighters clashed their blows and blocks caused resounding booms.
`Meanwhile~
"Fuck. This. Night." Sasuke spoke aloud to himself as he stood in the ruins of the house. He could hear a voice sobbing upstairs along with two others a male and a female and better yet he could recognize them. Taking a moment to inhale deeply he opened the door seeing Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari whip their heads around eyes full of fear, whether it be from him possibly being an attacker, worry about his teammates or even fear of him and how he appeared. They relaxed once they recognized but their expressions changed to one of worry.
"Where you been kid? We just got attacked!" Tazuna roared. He was angry, at so many things. He was angry at being helpless, he was angry at Gato for striking at his family, he was angry at the fact that someone he had paid good money for was gone when he was supposed to be guarding him.
Wordlessly Sasuke dumped the knocked out disgraced looking Gato, who looked liked he'd had better days. Dried blood had crusted under his broken nose, his normally greased back hair now completely disheveled and looking more like a bird's nest, what with sticks sticking out of it and all. Then there was the fact that his entire body was stained with scratches bruises and dirt. "Found this too. Thought it might help, at least it a little." He produced a picture from his pocket. It was the picture of Kaiza. Tazuna took it silently a tear falling across his cheek. "Your family and this city have suffered under this man's influence for long enough. It wasn't… right for me to be absent… I'm sorry, but I have to go my teams in danger." Without waiting for a response Sasuke bounded out the door heading towards the sounds of destruction and jutsu.
Tazuna stood there staring down at the picture. The man the entire city had admired and the true hero of the town of wave. That boy, was he crazy? Gato was always guarded, ALWAYS. The boy had looked like hell when he came in and he was going to go fight against that scary steam man. Tazuna steeled his resolve. "Inari I need you go out and gather everyone from the town and tell them to bring what they can find to arm themselves with." He slipped the picture in his pocket, if his home was going to be destroyed by this giant steam guy than he would go down fighting. He looked down at his daughter who was tending to Rock Lee, the miniature Gai. That one blow from the armored giant had done severe damage to the boy. His arm had been broken and probably several ribs, there were also probably other issues as well but that was the extent they were able to make out. He hadn't even hesitated in leaping to defend them despite the fact that he knew how powerful the guy was.
Then his eyes glanced at Gato and he snorted, oh how the mighty had fallen, the elderly man silently thanked the team of ninja's for doing so much for him even though he'd lied slightly to get a cheaper and by all rights they could have abandoned his town to the fate of this cruel mans whims. Instead that kid had probably faced an army of goons and who knows what else to get to Gato then instead of taking what would be a much earned rest he chose to go fight with his friends. Somewhere deep within Tazuna a deep fire of determination flooded through his veins. He kicked Gato awake, who choked and sputtered, before squirming extremely uncomfortably. "Hey there Gato long time no see." His voice was not kind.
~With Neji~
Neji despite getting the initial upper hand was now on the defensive, having to constantly stay on the move. This guy was annoying he was chucking giant boulders at him wherever he moved. The Iwa ninja laughed cruelly as he bent down and jabbed his hand into the earth then flinging his arm forward, and utilizing earth element chakra that he had become more than adept at using, chucked a boulder the size of small house towards the direction Neji was heading. The young ninja surprised him when his boulder phased through him. "Wha-?" Was all he had time to say before he heard Neji's voice behind him?
"It's over." Before the man had time to do anything he was demolished by rapid fire strikes from an angry Neji, he would never say it allowed but Lee was his friend and the fact that they had tried to attack him while downed filled him with rage. The man's body crumpled after Neji's retaliation. Taking a deep breath his eyes widened and he turned around. "Sasuke? Where the hell have you been?" Having the byakugan helped when people arrived behind you. 360 degree vision was simply unfair in some people's opinion but Neji never paid any attention to the minds of simpletons. A.K.A Naruto.
As Sasuke arrived he surveyed Neji's work with a smirk. "And you didn't even take a scratch. They must have been really weak, I was dealing with Gato and he had his own host of guards along with an Iwa Ninja that was a quite few grades higher than these fools. I saw what happened to the house and to Lee. Where's Gai sensei and Han?" Sasuke inquired looking around, he could see evidence of a battle that was clearly on a level his or Neji's battles could hope to achieve.
Neji was surprised to say the least. "You mean you took on Gato's headquarters all by yourself? That was foolish Sasuke, what if Han the Jinchuriki had been your opponent? You would not have survived. What if they had all been there? What's more you lied to us! That was certainly not training"
Sasuke kept his smirk, he really didn't care. "Look he wasn't there and it was training to me. I have to test my limits, I can't stop improving, and I have to grow stronger. If I don't I'll never be able defeat him. I don't expect you to understand but right now Gai is in a fight against a monster he needs our help." Despite his own personal feelings he knew that without Gai there would be no hope of survival and Jinchuriki were nightmare stories told to scare little children. In reality they were basically unstoppable killing machines, a real life nightmare, not just a story.
"Agreed, their battle took them eastward." Neji directed as they headed east. Not even a few steps and a giant shining blue light burst to life for brief instant, followed by an eruption of steam, and then a wave of crippling killing intent literally brought the teens to their knees.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and continued onward, he would not be scared. He was Uchiha and they were known to able to control biju. That was with the sharingan and he didn't have one but it didn't matter Sasuke would have to improvise. His secondary element was pretty effective against earth and water. Neji was next him both of them determined to do their part to fight their rather hopeless destiny.
"Sasuke, if it is our fight to die this battle, it has been an honor fighting beside you." His tone was reflective as if they were about to head into Armageddon.
"Neji… Shut up. We're not going to die. If we do though yea sure it's been an honor." Sasuke admitted grudgingly "If we live and you tell anyone I said that I will kill you"
"Likewise"
"Good"
With their emotions settled the boys rushed towards the missions' and perhaps their own final battle.
~ Gai's Pov~
The two men came together in a furry of blows with the sound of repeated cannon fire. Gai was landing more blows than his opponent but Han was able to regenerate at an extreme rate. Gai's body couldn't afford to take too many blows though; because if he did than he would most certainly be destroyed.
Han was a powerhouse no doubt about it. Every blow he had landed was easily to par with Gai in his current state. The beautiful green beast of Konoha was currently putting out all he had and he could only stall Han. Gai was able to read this battle out to its end and he foresaw his end at the hands of this man. "Heh you're the strongest person I've ever faced before. That is certain; I praise your springtime of youth!" The green clad Jounin complimented wearily. He had never before kept the gates open for this long before. To say that it was starting to drain him was drastically underselling it.
Han nodded; the chakra shrouded warrior was missing the entire top half of his armor, his armored legs had several large chunks of both the metal and the cloth underneath torn out. "You've proven to be quite the challenge. One of the toughest I've ever had to face in fact, it's a shame I have to end your life." His voice was touched by true remorse. He truly despised killing for his father. He would give anything to kill his own damn father. That goal would forever be out of his reach his father had assured to that.
Gai smiled "Don't think I'll make it easy on you. I haven't pulled out all my tricks!" the ninja bulleted towards his opponent. Han's head snapped backwards an instant later than another phantom blow sent him rocketing away but another fraction of a second later his body was sent sky ward, the force of the blows so strong that Han felt his bones break, crack and fracture. He would have screamed out in pain but the wind ripped any air that could possibly think of entering his lungs away from him the instant he opened his mouth.
Gai appeared above him then his fists ablaze "MORNING PEAKOCK!" more than hundreds; thousands of blows landed on Han's now unprotected chest save for his cloak of steam. Still those blows were excruciatingly painful. The green beast flipped through the air and lashed out with his heel a sonic boom erupted from the force of his kick. He rotated enough to where he was falling face towards the ground and He jutted a palm outward with his other hand intertwined with the other in a unique hand sign entirely to him. "DAYTIME TIGER!" extremely concentrated air pressure rushed from Gai in the shape of a roaring tigers head. As it traveled towards its opponent it focused itself into a single point. 'BOOOOOOOOM!' When it collided with Han the explosion it created shot Gai far and away from his opponent. As for Han his cloak was torn from his body, the force of that much concentrated air pressure buried him in a twenty foot deep impression of the man with quite a wide crater that was entirely the force of Gai's attack.
~Back with Sasuke and Neji a few clicks south~
Gai's fight with Han had taken the two monster class fighters far away from Tazuna's home which was an extremely good thing considering the destructiveness of fights that tended to happen around high ranking shinobi. The two teenagers were rapidly approaching battle field when a tremor ran through the ground with enough force to uproot a numerous amount of trees, both young and old. The younger ones were thrown entirely from the ground and the older ones were about halfway uprooted. The two lads looked at each other before heading towards the fight at an even faster pace. Whatever was happening they had to be there before Gai was overwhelmed.
It wasn't long after that, while traveling through the densely wooded area, Neji thrust his hand out and stopped Sasuke as they were about to hop to the next branch. Sasuke was going to ask what was up but he noticed that the normally pale boy was now blue and his knees were shaky. His lips were about to move but a third voice answered the unasked question. "So my teammates were weaker than a bunch of teenagers? Typical. Hopefully you will prove as challenging as the last one." The bushes rustled and Neji grasped Sasuke by the front of his blue shirt and proceeded to throw the man as far as he could. His next move was to spin rapidly on the branch as a sphere of chakra erupted around him swirling destructively, ripping apart the tree he was standing on "Hakkeshō Kaiten!" That didn't matter though for his activation of the Kaiten was to save himself from the hulking figure of man that appeared before him with a heavy kick that was barely repelled.
As Han landed on a tree not too far away with a smirk that couldn't be seen under his face mask which had somehow miraculously made it through his heavy battle. "You left yourself open boy." He was about to rush forward but Neji was wearing a smirk of his own.
"You forget I didn't come here alone." As the words left the Hyuuga's lips two kunai whizzed past him at terminal velocity.
Han laughed as he snatched them out of the air. "You just gave me tools to attack you with!" but the boys smirk only increased; it became apparent why not a moment later as a snarling form of a dragon composed of flames raced towards him on a string that he hadn't seen connected to the kunai he was currently holding, his next thought was to throw it away but before he could Han felt the sting of thousands of volts shooting through his body. 'Utilizing two elements at once!? Konoha truly does train their shinobi well.' The dragon roared opening its flaming maw before the flames engulfed Han.
'BOOOOM' for the second time in the span of thirty minutes the red giant had been victim too two explosions of two varieties. Yet as he slammed against a tree, his broken body bouncing off it and falling towards the ground, he still felt he had energy and he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The Iwa Jinchuriki hadn't had this good of a fight since the last great shinobi war.
The giant landed on his feet his burns already healing themselves. "Is this the best you've got!?" In answer to challenging call the Hyuuga teen appeared behind him too noisy to fool Han. Neji struck forward anyways despite the man turning and weaving out of his attacks. The ferocity of Neji's frontal attack caught the man by surprise, a few his blows getting through. One to his kidney, one to a lung and another to his right shoulder. Han stumbled backwards and lashed out with a left kick that connected with Neji's temple and sent the white clad teen spiraling through the air. He didn't have time for much else as Sasuke had descend from the trees with a howl of rage "NO!" The teen buried kunai in the man's shoulders, once more volts of electricity shot through the giants body, eliciting a growl out of the man but the Uchiha wasn't done and kneed Han not once but twice in the back of his head before rolling backwards down his enemies back shoving off of him when his heels connected with Hans back. This allowed Sasuke to gain distance and throw Han off balance; Sasuke twisted in the air rushing through the hand signs he knew best and could complete the fastest. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Han was just getting his footing back in time to turn into the giant fire as yet another explosion rocked the forest that day.
Sasuke landed a few yards away panting and out of breath. If he had any chakra left he would be extremely surprised. He definitely had not been thinking when he had retaliated against Han. That was both stupid and reckless but when the beast of a man had kicked Neji time seemed to have slowed down for Sasuke and he had literally seen red. It was happening again one man was taking away everything he knew. Rage welled up inside of him a second time this time with much more fire, the raven haired teens fist clenched as he snarled when a voice called out too him. "Truly boy that was quite the attack, I will honor you with a quick death." Killing intent the likes of which Sasuke had been suspect too only once before flooded over him and paralyzed him to his core. This man's intent was far darker and far stronger than Itachi's and no one Sasuke knew had ever matched him. Until now.
Han rushed forward out of the smoke Sasuke's jutsu had created, and for an instant it was Itachi rushing him instead and he was seven once more and nothing but a scared little boy. Than an immense fire rushed through his veins; Sasuke snarled as his father's voice echoed in his head. 'Are you an Uchiha or a sheep good for nothing but slaughter?' Fugaku, his very own father, had once asked the boy when he had caught him practicing his Gokakyu no jutsu when he was younger. At the time all he could manage was few flicks of fire, not even a true fireball. Rage over took the boy once more curing him of his paralysis as he spoke the words that activated the results of his latest torturous training methods, "Gate of life: Open" Sasuke's skin bled to red as blue strips of energy swirled around him in a vortex of concentrated power.
Han grinned as he rushed towards his opponent. "So the Uchiha can do it too! With those red eyes of yours and your power up you may provide a nice challenge!" The giant was thoroughly burned in just about every place you could think of. Many of his bones were broken and he knew those strikes the Hyuuga boy had landed on him were severely affecting his performance. How else could Sasuke dodge his onslaught assault, the boy leapt wove and danced around each attack as if it were nothing. Those bloody eyes were annoying; at least this one's weren't fully matured. Han had fought and killed many Uchiha in his time; while they were difficult to kill he had learned some things. For instance fully matured Sharingan's had three tomoe on the ring around the iris while this boy only had two.
Sasuke was in amazement; While his body was screaming at him for opening the gates with his body in such a battered shape, The teen had never felt more joy, he could literally see what Han was going to do before he did it, The giant was a blaze of chakra to his eyes but the man's shadow betrayed him to Sasuke's sharingan eyes. Showing the boy what Han was going to do before he actually did it, and did he forget to mention that everything was slowed down. Han's punches used to be invisible to him; now he could see and read them as clearly as if the man were a fresh recruit. "My turn." Sasuke's husked voice gritted angrily. The boy lashed out with the speed of lightning, he lashed out at various points on his enemies frame. Having torn through the Uchiha's Tai jutsu library after being demolished for months by his team mates Sasuke had come across a unique style of hand to hand combat unlike most.
Ironically enough the overarching style was called Tai chi, an ancient style that had been long practiced and been developed by the first Uchiha ancestors. The style emphasized on flowing, smooth, sweeping and jabbing motions all centered on attacking the opponent's vitals and pressure points. There were many separate forms of tai chi and the two he had chosen to focus on had been then Chen and yeng forms. Sasuke ducked around a sweeping right from Han before stepping out and behind him, striking out with all the tips of his fingers bundled together making his hands look like snake heads. He targeted the kidneys, the flesh of his stomach caving inward at the enhanced strength the third gate granted him. He wasn't done though as he flowed from that attack to a barrage of strikes that led a path from the kidneys up his side and down the length of the underside of Han's arm. Hitting each and every pressure point along the way, the boy jumped away at the last second avoiding being demolished by Han's retaliatory attack. The arm he had hit however was hanging limply at the monsters side. Sasuke smirked; his form worked on a Jinchuriki that was a sweet victory he wasn't going to forget anytime soon.
Han growled; "You think you've won child? I can see the state your body's in. How long do you think you can last? I still have gas in the tank I venture to guess your time's just about up. You have maybe one last attack left in you so let's make this interesting eh? Give me your best shot and I'll give you mine!" blue chakra erupted out of the man; his own chakra not that of his tailed beast Sasuke noted. His enemy wasn't far off Sasuke was running on empty when he had activate the third gate. He was pretty sure he was dead so the least he could do was take this man with him.
"Hn, wish granted." Sasuke slipped his hands into his pockets and pulled them out with plate backed gloves giving his hands a skeletal look. That wasn't the most dangerous part of it though as lightning started sparking of the metal. The two warriors roared as they charged each other, clashing together in an eruption of chakra. Sasuke pelted Han with strike after strike, each time hitting a vital soft part on his body, whether it be is kidney his armpit his larynx his liver in between his ribs and various points on his arms shoulders and neck. Han howled in agony but all of his chakra rushed along his still working right arm and planted it in Sasuke's gullet with all the force he could muster before dragging it upwards slamming into Sasuke's chin at the same time Sasuke blasted him with his last strike. Both fighters were sent sprawling away from each other with an echoing 'crack' that sounded out across the entire forest. Despite the strength under their command they landed only a few yards away from one another. Both of them had landed spread eagle.
"What makes you fight so hard young one?" Han wondered aloud, knowing full well the boy heard him despite his wheezing broken voice.
All energy drained from Sasuke even his sharingan had left him, he somehow mustered enough to respond. "I once lost everything I loved and knew at the hands of the person I admired most. I vowed never to let that happen again, and to never be weak enough to be helpless again." Every single muscle, bone, vein, and organ in his body felt as if it were on fire. He wondered if this is what it felt like to die. "Ha, it was my goal to revive my clan but that's not going to happen now." Sasuke smiled weakly as his eyes started to slowly close.
A rustle in the bushes to the left caused his eyes to snap open head turning towards the sound only to watch as the entire town of wave emerged from the bushes, a beaming Inari at the front of the small army and his family behind him, Tazuna dragging a thoroughly black and blue Gato behind him. "You saved us Uchiha-san!" Inari cried happily. "We came just as you requested! Don't worry about your friends! Lee's patched up and just needs rest, we also just picked up Neji but our town doc says with some hers and rest he'll survive!" A sullen look crossed his face. "We couldn't find your sensei though. I'm sorry."
Sasuke's weak smile grew a little bigger and stronger. "You did good kid, real kid. At least those two idiots-"he would have kept talking but he was interrupted as a voice that would forever be cauterized onto his memory spoke up.
"HO! THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST HAS RETURNED FOR THE FIGHT FIEND!" Gai appeared in whirlwind of leaves. Only too look around and see an exhausted Han, having somehow finally been immobilized for the moment. "Sasuke? How?" and then he saw the state of the boy's body. He knew that specific injury type. His body was constantly shaking from having been pushed far beyond what it was normally meant for. The man smiled and did his nice guy pose. "Your fires of youth burn greater than I realize. Truly I am proud to call you my pupil." Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
Sasuke could see Gai was about to hug him and swiftly cut him off. "Don't even THINK about hugging me you bushy eyed monster of a sensei! HEY STOP THAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN!" The reason for Sasuke's protesting was because Gai had come over and picked the teen up anyway.
"Sasuke be quiet that's an order. Your might tear your lungs screaming like that after opening the gates. You need rest and medical attention. A.S.A.P. When did you learn it." His voice was quite and deadly serious.
The boy groaned, why was he mad? "About a month and a half ago." That wasn't necessarily true, that was simply when he'd learned to unlock the gate of life. It'd been about five months since he'd unlocked the first gate. Four months after he'd been downright savage to his body after witnessing Gai and Lee use them. He knew the kinds of work outs the two would do and he pushed himself just as hard and was rewarded.
Gai smiled, he knew it was a lie, the severity of his injuries were caused by the third gate. So the boy was going to be forever secretive? Well at least he was learning some teamwork and coming along as an individual. As a shinobi he was the finest example one could ask for. He needed only time and experience to become truly great. "We'll talk about this later." He turned to his downed foe that had stayed silent through the new arrivals. "So what about you my honorable foe? We have your employer in custody and your team is dead. Were at an impasse; what will you do?" He queried.
Han laughed, actually laughed. So this is what constituted the will of fire eh? It wasn't as weak as everyone else made it out to be in his opinion. There was something to be said for friendship and camaraderie. Not that he would ever receive such in his homeland, but perhaps… yes he could do that. "I think I shall venture home and tell my father the employer refused to pay after the loss of my teammates. Leave me here and I shall leave as soon as I am able to move. I need to repair my armor." Besides he wouldn't mind pissing off his father, who couldn't just up and kill his only living son for failure like he did some of his other less tolerated shinobi. Not that it was due to any love on his fathers' part, it was necessity pure and simple. He'd made that perfectly clear to Han everyday of his life.
In the months that followed the construction of the bridge sped along at a rate that had never before been achieved due to the crumbling of Gato's empire, the criminal having been forced to sign over all of his wealth to the town of wave for repairs and reparations of the damage both to property and to spirit. The man had been publicly executed the same day as the opening of the bridge, the celebration of the town that night was one of such proportions that future generations of Wave folk would forever judge their parties by that nights. Han had left the very next day howling in the morning as he surged into the sea in the ethereal form of his tailed beast. Team Gai took a long time to recover from their wounds; save for Gai who always healed at a freaky fast rate. Sasuke took the longest to recover by far, having been bed ridden for one month and in a wheel chair for two more. He was fully recovered the night of the party though and they were set to head home the next night. For Sasuke though he wasn't sure he was the same person he was coming into this mission, and he wasn't entirely certain it was for the better either. This is what led him to sitting on the roof staring up at the moon.
"So you killed your first enemy, and it still haunts you." Neji's voice floated into his ear as the boy came and sat next to him. Neji didn't need to look to see the displeasure on Sasuke's face at the mention of the topic he chose. He could feel it coming off of him in waves. "Don't try to deny it to me either. I'm the most observant one on the team and every one of us has noticed you've woken screaming quite a number of nights these past few months. You've become more closed off and spiteful than usual. A stark contrast to the lessening of such behavior over the past year. We are your team Sasuke and I'm not going to say that it'll get better. I still remember my first kill and it still haunts me too. Just remember that you are not alone and the fact that you're so off emotionally means that you regret taking a life. Never lose that feeling." Neji's tone was as always, but somehow his words reached a little bit of Sasuke and the words resonated with him. He didn't understand why but a felt a little more calm despite not having to say anything. Maybe that was one of the reasons? He was unsure of a lot these days.
"Neji. Shut up." Was all Sasuke replied, with absolutely no malice to his voice, which was probably why Neji was wearing that god forsaken I'm better than thou smirk. Just looking at it made Sasuke's blood boil. He didn't feel like fighting right after getting better so he turned his attention back to the moon. "Tomorrow we head home. That seems like forever ago."
Neji nodded. "I'm going to get some sleep. You should too. We have a long day of travelling tomorrow."
~ One week later~
Sarutobi and company docked in the city of wave, their last stop on the Hokage's personally joy walk around the lands bordering Hi no kuni in his efforts to stretch his legs while he was able before he was stuck in that godforsaken chair again. They were shocked to discover a new bridge had just opened and it was all thanks to one of his teams. Naruto was positively fuming because of what the bridge's named just so happened to be.
"The great Sasuke bridge! REALLY?! As if he bloody needed a monument to his damn ego!" The blonde stomped his foot and glared at the sign as if it would burst into flames under his dithering glare.
"Oh shove off it Naruto, when will you get it that everyone is going to put Sasuke on a pedestal he's the last bastion of the Uchiha and as such will be given much recognition for even the smallest of deeds he does. So stop bitching about what the fates decreed eons ago." Shikamaru scathingly replied. He'd been forced to suffer close proximity to the blonde ball of energy for far too long and his nerves were begging to thin.
"Fuck you Shikamaru! I dare you to say that to my fist!" Naruto shot back.
"mmm I would but I think I'll just cut it off from six feet away with my spear."
"Alright children that's enough out of both of you" Hiruzen cut in before the words could escalate into a spar. Shikamaru was gaining a rather nasty verbal streak, but if that was the only side effect of wielding a spear that devoured the souls of the weak willed the Third Hokage could and would work with that. The team continued along their journey the teenagers bickering trying their hardest to push the adults to breaking point.