Rematch

Natsuki's adrenaline rush faded and, with it gone, all the pain she should've felt came crashing down on her, causing her to pass out. Before she could hit the ground though, Itachi caught her then laid her back on the bed while Ayame ran to fetch the doctor.

'It seems Dairuko's overprotective ways paid off for once.' Itachi thought to himself when the doctor walked into the room and ushered him out the door, along with Ayame 'Though it seems like she didn't need me at all in the end.'

"Well that was exciting." Ayame stated.

"You sound like you enjoyed it." Itachi replied.

"I won't go so far as to say that."

"You should've joined the academy."

"Oh no no no... NO! I'm perfectly happy living a boring life with a not-so-boring best friend." Ayame said while Itachi gave a chuckle as they walked down the hall.

"You seem a lot more comfortable around me these last few days, Ayame-san."

"Well that's in large part thanks to you not staring at me so intensely and me not being scared of your stare in the first place." Ayame said triumphantly then silence followed. "Itachi-kun?" she asked. There was still silence and when she turned around she was greeted by Itachi's cold stare causing her to jump back in fear.

"Aha, not scared."

"W-well I wasn't."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm serious."

Itachi just kept quiet as Ayame pleaded her case.

Dairuko ran through the village towards where the sounds were coming from but, just outside the village gate, Dairuko saw the man responsible for his sister's state.

"Ren." Dairuko spat then charged towards Ren who performed some hand seals that Dairuko didn't recognise, but that didn't stop him as he continued charging forward.

Once in range Dairuko landed a powerful high kick on Ren's cheek, followed by a knee that cracked the ground when his foot left it and connected with Ren's stomach. While Ren was reeling Dairuko hit him with a rising elbow then a straight punch to face but after all those hits Ren didn't even look phased.

"That all you got?" Ren said then struck Dairuko with straight punch in the stomach knocking him back into the village leaving a lot of holes in the ground as a result of Dairuko's body being the equivalent to a skipping stone.

Dairuko was quick to stand but soon dropped to his knees and coughed out blood then Ren showed up some distance behind Dairuko. "Did that hurt? It looked like it hurt... I'll give you time to catch your breathe while I explain this jutsu. It's a very special jutsu that allows me to absorb blunt force and add it to my own strikes... basically your taijutsu and wood style are useless... there's nothing you can throw at me that I can't absorb."

"Bad day for a hangover." Dairuko said as he filled his fists with chakra. Ren laughed and they both ran towards each other. Dairuko shoulder tackled Ren to the ground and continued to rain chakra filled fists down on Ren who simply spat out some blood and kicked Dairuko off into the air.

After Dairuko landed he realised that there are too many people around him so he ran out the village to an open field to his surprise he found Jiraiya, Naruto, Tsunade and a lady who he assumed was Shizune because Tsunade had mentioned her during their drunken discussion.

"Dairuko?" Jiraiya said and before Dairuko could reply a Rashomon wall blocked his view followed by three more, successfully trapping Dairuko.

"Sorry, Dairuko but your fight is with me so don't concern yourself with that." Ren said as he stood on top of one of the walls.

"Then I'll just have to kick your ass first." Dairuko said before leaping toward Ren who did the same and kicked Dairuko into a wall and went to finish him off but Dairuko wasn't completely disoriented, and attempted a wild right hook however, Ren saw this and pinned Dairuko's arm to the wall with his hand and pinned his forearm on Dairuko's throat to hold him in place while lifting him off the ground.

"All this strength, all that talk and-" Ren started but Dairuko interrupted him with a knee to the stomach followed by an onslaught of punches however, they did nothing as Ren released his forearm then slammed Dairuko into the wall again. "Wow, that was it, your last ditch effort to break free were a bunch of weak punches? No wonder Natsuki is dying - 'cause even with her broken, mangled body which should be in your head as you fight the man who put her that way, spurring you on..." Ren continued then pulled out a kunai and stabbed Dairuko in the chest causing him to scream in pain "...you are still weak."

Dairuko began pushing away Ren's arms until they were at a good distance then he released a thunderous headbutt that hit Ren and broke the latter's nose followed by Dairuko throwing Ren into the wall he was pinned up against. Dairuko left the kunai in his chest because he knew if he pulled it out, he would bleed out before he could defeat Ren.

"Where did all that fight come from, Dairuko?" Ren asked unsurprised.

"It's what you wanted right... a good fight that's why you never stab my heart and end it."

"Perhaps you're not as stupid as I've been lead to believe."

Ren and Dairuko ran toward each other, Dairuko landed a right hook then Ren tried a straight punch which Dairuko grabbed, twisted then kicked Ren in the chest, Dairuko tried for a haymaker that Ren blocked and trapped in between his bicep and forearm then countered with a heavy body blow and punch knocking Dairuko to the ground. Dairuko got up and tried a wild right hook that Ren ducked under but got hit with Dairuko's left hook and he landed a serious body blows that knocked Ren in the air for a mili-second. Dairuko went for a straight that Ren grabbed and twisted but Dairuko broke free and Ren went for jumping roundhouse kick that Dairuko ducked under and countered with a dropkick. Ren rolled back to his feet then threw an explosive kunai knife at Dairuko who hit it away but caused a lot of smoke which Ren used as cover to leap into the air and perform a dive kick knocking Dairuko through the Rashomon, not giving Dairuko a chance to recover Ren came at him with an uppercut followed by a downward punch knocking Dairuko on the ground where Ren proceeded to stomp on Dairuko's face.

'Seems my absorbing jutsu has run out.' Ren thought when he noticed an unconscious Naruto "The Kyuubi." Ren did some hand seals and blew a fireball at Naruto but Dairuko got up and tackled Ren before creating a wooden wall that blocked Ren's fireball jutsu.

"Dairuko-san!" Shizune called out and Dairuko turned to face her but was too late as Ren landed a powerful kick breaking Dairuko's left arm then did an axe-kick on Dairuko's back.

Ren was about to finish off Dairuko when Shizune threw three senbon into his arm, seeing Dairuko wasn't going to pose a threat anymore Ren charged toward her with killing intent while dodging her senbon attacks. At this point Dairuko slammed his index finger into the ground causing a fissure to appear and catch Ren's foot. Dairuko used the opportunity to grab one of his own special concoctions out his pouch and drink it, revitalising him.

'One minute.' Dairuko thought to himself as he ran and tackled Ren, snapping the latter's ankle and Dairuko began choking the life out of Ren. "You can absorb blunt force, eh? Let's see you absorb this!" Dairuko pulled out the kunai in his chest and impaled Ren in the same way Ren impaled him earlier. Ren's eyes began rolling to the back of his head when Tsunade called out.

"STOP!"

Dairuko turned to Tsunade who looked as if she wanted to cry. "Dairuko, please."

"Why?" Dairuko asked just barely releasing the pressure around Ren's neck.

"He's my son." her words hit Dairuko in the chest because he'd heard about her story how she lost her little brother and lover and, to kill her only son while she watched -criminal or not- Dairuko wasn't a monster. He released Ren and kicked him hard toward Orochimaru and Kabuto who soon retreated with Ren.

Dairuko sat down against a rock and used what healing skills he had to heal his stab wound before he bled out when Shizune came over and began healing him.

"Let me help you... I'm not Tsunade-sama but I can heal this wound." Shizune said.

"Thanks... Shizune right?" Dairuko said.

"Yes that is my name."

"I have a question."

"Nanda?"

"How did you know my name?"

"Well uhm... Jiraiya said your name when you arrived."

"Ah I see." Dairuko said then yelped in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing... don't worry, my little painkiller ran out causing my arm to return to being broken."

"I wanted to ask about that... it was quite a sight to see a man with a broken arm strangling someone with both hands."

"Well honestly it took me years to perfect it... well sort of perfect, it's still deadly to a standard ninja but basically for a limited time it puts me back to full physical prowess."

"But how did your arm work again?"

"That is quite interesting I learnt that little trick from my sister Natsuki, once, during a mission she broke one of her legs and, refusing to be a burden, she focused her chakra to move her bone back into place. From there she used her chakra as glue to keep her bone from breaking again."

"That is incredible."

"It is, I personally can't perform it to such an extent. I can only use my chakra as a substitute bone for a limited time; so I really try to avoid breaking my bones on the job."

All five of them left to fetch their stuff and head to Konoha.

Itachi returned to the hospital to find Natsuki awake in bed with her casts off but still hooked up to the machines.

"Hey, 'Tachi." Natsuki said with a smile.

"Natsuki. How are you feeling?" Itachi asked as he took a seat by her bedside.

"Oh apart from waking up to an assassination attempt and finding out that if I disconnect these machines I'll drown in my own blood within an hour, I'm just dandy."

"I see the news hasn't made you lose your sarcasm at all."

"What can I say? It's part of my charm... oh damn I sound like Dairuko."

"Well in this case you are right; your sarcasm is quite charming."

"Oh, Itachi you're the nicest guy in the world... always treating me like a lady."

"You're high, aren't you?"

"Pretty much yeah... why? You got a problem with it? Huh?" Natsuki said " Stupid Itachi always treating me like a child." she added under her voice.

'Could be worse. It could be Dairuko who's high or worse than that, sick.'

"HEY NATSUKI-CHAN!" Ayame greeted loudly.

"AYAME-CHAN!" Natsuki replied just as loud.

"I'll leave you two to catch up." Itachi said not wanting to actually be dragged into their conversation about 'he-don't-want-to-know' or deal with high-Natsuki's mood swings.