AN: New chapter.
"Hurricane Palm!"
"Y-You can't beat me!"
With a terrible howl, the tornado of one was overwhelmed by a focused blast of wind from another.
And with the clash decided, the battle was over.
"T-This doesn't make any sense! You beat me? You shouldn't be this strong!" Kujaku was left gasping for air against a tree after Naruto's latest attack, her failed attempt to block it with the joined Weaklessness Soaring Shortswords. She struggled to even glare at her opponent, the one who had proven Ninja Tools couldn't measure up to his own strength.
With his opponent defeated, Naruto felt safe enough to drop into a crouch, rest his back against the tree across from her.
"You should've focused on getting yourself stronger than relying on some special swords you found." Naruto shook his head at the pained glare the mortally wounded Kunoichi shot at him for his words. "Weapons shouldn't be a crutch you use to get stronger. You've got to do that yourself."
"Y-You arrogant bastard!" Kujaku's surge of anger wasn't enough to get her to rise, couldn't manage anything with the damage Naruto's blow had done to her. "W-What do you know about strength? You're the Jinchuriki! You never had to work for power!"
"I did. I never had anything handed to me. I worked hard for every bit of strength I have today. Through blood, sweat, and tears, I never stopped trying to break my limits." Naruto's eyes darkened at the reminder of the Nine-Tails, of how it had ruined his life until Guy-sensei had stepped in. "The power of the Nine-Tails isn't something I need to win my fights. I'm the Orange Beast of the Hidden Leaf."
"F-Fool…" Kujaku's eyes drifted closed. "To deny your own power…" She used the last of her strength to scoff at the blonde who had defeated her. "What…a childish mindset…"
Naruto could only shake his head as his opponent succumbed to her injuries.
"I guess you died like you lived." Naruto rose to his full height as he pushed off from the tree.
He grabbed the bent swords and sealed them away.
With his victory, unknown to him, two of the Four Celestial Symbols Men had been defeated by Team 7.
And now only two remained.
"Get back here!" Sasuke was losing his patience with his chase of the fleeing Shinobi. He may not be smart or observant but the Shinobi was fast.
"I-I'm not dying here!" Ryugan screamed as he tried to prove his proclamation true, threw himself from tree to tree. "I'm not! I'm not!"
"Then just surrender!" Sasuke did his best not to lose his temper, focused on chasing the fleeing Shinobi down. "So you'll go to jail, that's better than being dead!"
"I won't go to jail either!"
"You are just impossible!"
All Sasuke could do was keep closing the distance between the two of them, keep Ryugan in his sight no matter how often he tried to lose him in the woods.
'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.' Sasuke could only silently admonish himself as he chased after his fleeing target. 'Why didn't I finish the plan? Why did I make such a stupid mistake?' He pushed himself to go faster, to catch up sooner. 'What if Sakura really needed help with Suiko? What if Naruto couldn't take on Kujaku? I made such a stupid mistake! Like always! They could need help and I'm wasting my time chasing this idiot down!'
He forced himself not to let his anger, his disappointment at himself, make him sloppy.
He threw another shuriken of ice towards Ryugan, managed to catch the fleeing Shinobi on the back of his shoulder. He cried out in pain but didn't stop running, his speed only increasing after his injury. Sasuke wished he had managed to strike him in the leg but he had made another mistake and not aimed low enough.
'This is getting me nowhere.' All Sasuke could do was keep chasing the rogue Shinobi from Takumi Village. He threw another shuriken but this one was dodged by sheer luck, the tree he struck instantly icing over.
He had intended to trap Ryugan in a shell of ice but he had misjudged his path.
"J-Just give up! I-I don't even have the sword anymore! Take it! I don't care!" Ryugan's terror was almost palpable, the arrogant Shinobi utterly gone as he noticed the ice growing on the tree behind him. "Just leave me alone!"
Sasuke filled his hands with a fresh set of shuriken, used a not insubstantial amount of Chakra for his latest creations. He didn't directly target Ryugan, figured it would be pointless with just how flighty the Shinobi was turning out to be. He threw them in a widening arc ahead of him.
Ryugan's foot struck a rapidly frozen branch and it snapped off the tree it was attached to. The Shinobi barely had a chance to scream before he was suddenly dropping out the air, hit the ice-covered forest floor. He still tried to scramble back to his feet and only succeeded in slipping right back to the ground.
"My Chakra…My Chakra won't let me stick to the ground? What's going on?" All Ryugan could do was uselessly slip and slide on the frozen ground as Sasuke finally arrived.
He merely slapped his hand down on the Shinobi's back.
"AH! That's cold!" Shackles of ice wrapped around the fleeing Shinobi's arms and legs and contorted him into place for Sasuke to slip his arms through the chains and, quite literally, treat the Missing-nin like an oversized backpack. With the ice shaped around him, there was no chance of escape.
"Too bad." Sasuke headed off towards where this all started. He needed to seal the Garian Sword anyway. Once that was done…he would figure something out.
With his victory at last secured, the third member of the Four Celestial Symbols Men had been defeated.
And the battles of Takumi Village's Ninja Tools had only one chapter remaining.
"Chapter Three." Sai's white and black blade was covered in crimson for only a moment before he held nothing, a crimson shower falling to the ground at his feet.
"Y-You Hidden Leaf…H-How dare you spit on Takumi Village's glory!" Hoki's rage was futile, the man unable to remain standing. "I-I was going to…I was so close…" He futilely reached out to the Shinobi standing above him. "You…What gives you the right?"
Sai snapped the book in his hand shut.
A dead man hit the ground.
"The dead should learn to be quiet."
AN: And this concludes Team Sai's latest mission.
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Peace.