AN: New chapter.

Sasuke used another shield of ice to stop one of the trio of crystal-like dragons coming towards him. He didn't bother setting up one to block the other two, was already moving out of the way of the attack. He had only thrown up the shield because he wasn't finished at the tree yet.

"Go ahead and run you brat! You can run as much as you want but I'll kill you soon enough!"

'His attacks are predictable.' Sasuke didn't need to see Chakra to take a guess at how Ryugan's Garian Sword must work. His observations, coupled with the information they already had on it, let him understand why the attacks were so predictable. 'The three dragons are there for a reason.'

He had been dealing with the attack pattern long enough to notice things.

The middle dragon was the shortest, attacked in as close to a straight line as possible. It also possessed the most force on impact.

The two side dragons weren't guided by Chakra, they were guided by the middle dragon. They curved where it remained straight.

The Garian Sword was closer to a 'Pincer Sword' than anything else. It aimed to cage an enemy with an attack from all sides, leave them vulnerable to either one of the dragons or the user.

'An ingenious weapon.' With Sakura as his teammate, Sasuke had some skill at detecting odd attack patterns, how strange weapons worked. He was impressed with this one. 'Too bad it's in the hands of a moron.'

"You can't hide from me! You don't stand a chance against my power!"

Ryugan was…less than clever with it. He doubted he actually knew how the sword worked. He seemed set to swing it at him until he managed a hit, didn't take note of the very clear pattern the weapon had, that Sasuke had picked up. Or any of the weapon's traits in truth.

With his obvious attacks, the most he had managed was tear up Sasuke's blue and white coat. And even that was only becaus he had thrown it at him at the start of their fight. The sleeveless blue shirt he wore underneath was spotless so far from the battle, not even a thread out of place.

"You should surrender before this gets messy." Sasuke landed on another tree, laid a Chakra covered hand on the trunk. Once again, like with all the others, he injected his Chakra into the tree. It pooled at the bottom, the forest floor gradually growing colder and colder.

Once he had figured out the pattern, the trap he was laying was easy.

He leaped to the next tree just as the trio of dragons would've reached him, injected his Chakra into it just like he had with the last one. He was keeping to a wide circle, moving just within range of the Garian Sword but not close enough to be in danger of the dragons actually hitting him.

There was another trick to the sword that Ryugan clearly didn't know: Distance impacted speed. The further away, the slower the sword moved. It was the absolute fastest within around three meters of Ryugan. At the distance Sasuke was keeping, a max radius of nearly ten, it moved too slow to catch him.

It was still fast but he had plenty of time to track the weapon at this range, move out of the way of the attacks every time. Knowing not only the weapon's pattern but the trick to its speed made it almost child's play to dodge.

Ryugan didn't seem to notice.

He didn't seem to notice a lot of things.

'I hope Sakura can hold out on her own until I'm done here. With the way things are going, I'll get rid of him in a few more minutes.' He would try to take him alive but the death of an enemy Shinobi was expected in battle.

Even if they were just foolish children.

'If it comes down to him or Sakura, Sakura comes first.' He injected another portion of his Chakra into the latest tree he had landed on. 'I'm almost done here but…I may have to cut it short.' For not the first time, he wished he had the infamous Dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan.

Just to be able to maybe see Sakura and Naruto's Chakra, make sure the two of them were alright.

The distance between the battlefields was too great for him to hear or see anything, left him blind to the status of his teammates.

'I just have to trust them. I know both of them are strong. They can handle themselves.' Sasuke had to reassure himself as he dodged out of the way of the trio of dragons again, glanced around the forest as the branch beneath him was destroyed. His plan needed a ring containing his Chakra and the trees were the best way to inject it into the ground without being noticed. 'I need around five, six more.'

It would drag this fight out more than he would like.

'…Is it worth it?' He didn't even need to ask himself what the answer would be.

He landed on another tree before dropping to the ground, drove a Chakra rich hand into the ground.

"Spear Forest."

Massive spears of ice ripped through the ground in a rough circle, converged on where Ryugan stood wide-eyed in the center. The Garian Sword was still extended, needed to be recalled before he could launch a counterattack. Sasuke moved faster than Ryugan, grabbed hold of one of the serpentine dragons by the head before it could retract.

His Chakra was his to command, invaded the sword. If he wanted to freeze the physical weapon, he could've. But he had a better plan, one that would take it out the fight for good.

"Zero Freeze."

The Chakra that flowed through the blade was suddenly inert, suddenly made wielding it impractical. Ice swiftly raced down the body, worked quickly to cover the entirety of the transformed weapon.

"W-What did you do?" Ryugan was faster than Sasuke thought, managed to successfully evade a majority of his sudden spears of ice. He was struck irregularly by razor-sharp ice but he had escaped in fatal blows. His attack on the Garian Sword had been effective if nothing else, the stolen weapon discarded on the iced-over ground. A moment later and it was fully encased in ice.

"I took your weapon from you." Sasuke brought a hand emitting frost up, allowed a tanto identical to Shisui's own take form. "Now, either surrender or die."

Ryugan did nothing but stare at the Uchiha, anger and disbelief giving way to shock and horror.

"What are you?"

"I'm your opponent and I'm giving you a chance to stop this. Now make your choice."

Ryugan chose to run from the battle. Through the holes left from his incomplete circle.

With a curse, Sasuke followed after him.

'I should've stuck to the plan.'

AN: Next one will probably be Sakura's fight.

Review/PM if you want.

Peace.