Consistency is overwhelmingly important. No matter how big or small it is, some things should just always stay the same. Yet they never do.
My first kill has changed everything. 3 days of no nightmares, things that I've had every day of my life. It's oddly haunting to not have a nightmare after years of having them on a nightly basis.
My whetstone drags along the new sword, the handle gilded in a material that feels silky and overly smooth to the touch. I'll need Sasuke's help in changing it so I don't end up losing my grip on a regular basis. The rustle of branches had my head snapping up, someone running and drawing in breath with a desperate need for it.
"Sakura?" My voice feels small, and I can hear a bit of shouting inside the house. I can't help but feel myself drawn towards the running figure in the trees though. Setting the gilded sword down I keep a grip on the blade at my hip. Whilst Wave has nothing on the forests of Konoha this thicket of trees is far from small. From what I can tell forest covers about half the island, tall trees of evergreens and oaks. Their sturdy trunks bouncing sounds off of themselves like an echo chamber.
Yet a scent doesn't lie. I follow the trail of wild flowers and medical cream until I step into some water. The sound of someone giving a grunt of pain, splashing water on themselves.
"So who are you?" They start a bit, jerking backwards and causing the water to splash and ripple lapping against my boots.
"I-what?" I cock my head a bit, my fingers rapping against the handle of my sword. This could very well be a random civilian that wandered into a trap while trying to find food. It could also be an enemy.
"Who are you, why are you running around the woods here." The water calms a bit, both of us standing still as the wind moves past us.
"My name is Haku, I was looking for medicinal herbs for my father." I nod a bit, wishing not for the first time I could see a person's expression. It's always so much easier to tell when a person is lying like that. Of course, there is always an easy tell for something as simple as I'm trying to find. Their heartbeat is faint, like that of a small cat's. Or rather in this case like a shinobi's.
"You're quick, and quiet. A bit well trained for someone looking for herbs." their breath seems to catch in their throat, just as I catch the senbon aiming for mine. Small needle like throwing tools, hardly wider than a pencil at their fattest point, and these were cold as ice. The water kicks up a small torrent, trying to shove me back but I just dig my heels into the silt under the water and weather it. It's not powerful enough to properly shove me back, and the cuts I'm getting from the water pressure are healing over as fast as they're made. I begin the slow trudge forward, choosing instead to move through the water stream rather than around. Taking advantage of the fact that they're vision of me has to be obscured.
"F̴̦̎̊̉a̴̰̲̻͌͝s̵̤̳͐t̴̹̎̀͝è̷͈͝ř̸̰̼̼͌͗ ̴̡̳̑̏b̴̤͐̅ō̸̩ÿ̶̩͉́̈́"
Time seems to distort itself, snapping like a rubber band before it reforms as a circle once more. The water is behind us, the waves I made crashing back together as it had parted from my speed. Haku, if that is their name, gripped by the neck and pinned up against the tree. Blood weeps from somewhere onto my hand as they kick and claw at me, taking advantage of my short stature to raking their nails across my arms and chest. My head is carefully angled just out of reach the entire time. I can feel the sped up heart beat, like a thrum through their chest to my own as our adrenaline seems to peak at the same moment. They begin to go limp in my grip, the fight beginning to fade from their form as the scrapes and scratches heal.
They hit the ground with a thud, giving great gasping breaths. As though they had been years without air instead of mere seconds. I crouch down, standing just on my toes as our heads become level with one another. I can feel their eyes on me, accusingly and confused.
"Why-, why let me go? You had me." I nod a bit, a hand rubbing idly at my chest where the black t-shirt is now split open and speckled with blood.
"I don't know." my voice is naught but a whisper, but I know why. I can hear the snarl in the very back of my mind, almost drowned out by my own thoughts and heartbeat. My nightmares will return, I can feel this in my very bones. It's oddly reassuring to know something without knowing how I know it.
"You must kill me" saying I jerk back to reality would be wrong. There was no sudden movement, no realization, no even a nod. Instead I chewed on their words the same way an animal chews on the fat and gristle of the meat of a kill. I let their simple statement mull around not only in my mind but my body as a whole, letting it flow through me like a river through the forest.
"Why?" I can feel their confusion, like a dog that doesn't understand why it's been scolded for getting its master's chicken. Sounds seem to tumble out of the-... His. Sounds seem to tumble out of his mouth. As though he's looking desperately for an answer that doesn't seem to exist. It feels as though the two of us stay there for hours, days even. A boy prone on the ground, injured and bleeding where my nails punctured the skin on his neck. A not quite boy, feel more like an animal sometimes, crouching over him with a hand not quite having chosen a weapon.
"I have failed!" the words were screamed, with a suddeness and pitch that sent birds around us scattering, salt seems to carry itself across the wind as he cries. Closed fists aiming not for me but the dirt instead as anger has no outlet. I don't do what feels natural, I don't draw my blade and remove his head as he cries. I don't drive a kunai into the back of his skull. Instead, I find myself taking his sobbing form and drawing it against my own letting him work it out.
"You did not fail, not yet at least." We stay that way for a few minutes, the forest a nervous quiet as even the birds and squirrels seem to sense that privacy is wanted. I stand up, almost draggin him with me as I go. It was rather uncommon for me to be the same height as someone. Sakura and Sasuke were both taller than me, my simple 4'11 frame stocky and muscular. Sakura had almost half a foot on me, and Sasuke was like a ghost so I can only assume he's taller. Yet Haku himself was only a little bit above me, his heaving breath catching my face rather than my forehead.
"Why, you should have killed me" I nod a bit, bracing them against my chest. I should've braced them against the tree but I didn't. Instead allowing my heart beat to be a steady thrum, a baritone of momentum that echoes all around us.
"We're enemies, of that I can be certain." I can feel him shift, looking at me in confusion from his place on my chest. "But I can feel a connection with you. Corny I know." he shakes his head, the movement mostly lost on me as he wipes eyes getting up.
"I… I have to go. Goodbye…. Friend." I nod, not moving for a moment as their scent trails off, acting out the part of a scared and hurt civilian running through the woods. I debate what I'm going to tell my team, my family. Sakura will be furious when she realizes I left without saying anything. Sasuke will be annoyed that I pissed off Sakura. Taicho will flay me. My thoughts abandon me as my katana is drawn, a side step and diagonal slash cutting into the figure who had tried to slip up behind me. They give a rattling cough that sounds almost mechanic in nature, the sound of tv static perverting every sound that comes from their mouth.
"You fuckin brat, you let the other one go. Now I'll-ah! Hey, wait no!" I didn't bother letting him continue his monologue, drawing upon the primal fury that I can feel having settled in bones. Like a weariness that wishes it wasn't a weight. I can feel chakra burn its way through its paths, steam seeming to hiss off my body as though I'm some demented form of an elemental. My blade becoming so hot the metal doesn't sing but rather beginning to scream and vibrate. Bloody lines covering the man's body like weeping ribbons as I carve and rip into him.
Not even really noticing as I abandon the half melted blade and use my teeth to rip out his throat.
I'm not sure how long I stood there, over the third corpse I'd made. My face and chest bloody with my fury abated for the time being. I don't really notice as it starts to rain, the trees providing ample enough canopy to keep me dry for the most part. My unseeing eyes still locked onto the corpse as though the secrets of the universe will offer themselves up to me from what I can only assume is a macabre sight. Someone lands next to me, yet I can't find malice within myself. This person doesn't wish me harm, and I know that heart beat. As faint as it is, the scent of coffee and oil permeate the surroundings yet don't properly penetrate the iron of blood.
"Naruto" I merely nod a bit, the movements feeling wooden as though I'm a marionette on a rusty string. "What happened, are you alright?" I nod again. My fingers twitching, my nails feel odd. As though they're tipped in claws rather than rounded edges. I expected to be disgusted the first time I tasted blood that wasn't my own. Sasuke takes my hand, gently guiding me over to the pond that I had stood in. A wet cloth begins to rub at my face, cleaning the drying gore off of my skin. The natural whisker marks on my face functioning as grooves that the blood seems to stay stuck inside of regardless of how hard he tries. As my skin begins to turn pink from his efforts, a marginal bit of steam coming up from the raw skin, a hand settles onto my shoulder. Weariness seems to have set into my very soul making me incapable of reacting with more than a small head turn.
"The two of you are quite far from headquarters, let's get back." I don't feel whoever picks me up, yet I soon find myself tucked into Sakura's hold. Her hand brushing through my hair as whispered words are spoken to me as though I was a child.
"I was so worried about you" I try to work my way out of her grip, but I can't tell whether it feels like steel or if it's just my body feeling like lead. My bones feel hollow and my head filled with cotton. Yet I don't focus on any of that. I don't focus on the way my body presses against Sakura's, nor the way my new nails accidently cut her arm. I don't focus on the way my eyes seem incapable of letting a single tear escape.
All I focus on is the burning sensation in my very soul as I begin to scream. Ripping myself out of her grip as I try to claw at my chest, uncaring as my skin parts as easily as water beneath my fingers. I can't feel it, I can't feel anything but this white hot fire that sits inside of me, feeling just out of reach. I don't seem to recall much after that, eventually finding myself on my side in the bedroom. My hands have been bound behind me, the rope thick and looped carefully so I can't use my new claws to cut them. I can hear a rhythmic slamming sound, like someone pounding their head against a wall. The door to the bedroom cracks open with hardly more than a whisper to the wind, but it's enough for me to turn my head. Steps pad across the floor and a hand gently runs through my hair before cupping my cheek in a hand.
"Naruto, what the fuck was that?" I shrug a bit, feeling uncomfortable as I'm forced to tilt my head up as I can feel her eyes on mine. First I worried her, then I panicked her. I haven't told her, we've never really talked about it. Yet I want to be her blade. Like the samurai that I learned from, I wish to dedicate myself to her service. I'm certain that some would assume romance there as well, but I feel like a broken puppet. As though my strings have been cut and mended more times than I can within the past 3 days.
"I don't know." My voice is rough, as though I'd decided to chew gravel as a hobby. "It won't happen again, Taicho" She pauses, her grip faltering a bit.
"N-naruto, you do…" her voice trails off, mounting horror audible to empty room. I squirm my way out of her grip. I smile up at her, the kind I did as a kid, big and bright as my teeth feel as though they shine like I'm in some dumb manga.
"Yes, I know it's your Sakura. But you're my Taicho, and you always will be. Your orders will always come first. I just… need to organize… everything." There's silence for a few minutes before she draws me into a tight hug. My head crammed into the crook of her shoulder and neck.
"Fine, if that's what you need" her words are punctuated with a sob, and I feel horrible for putting her on the spot like that. Yet it makes me feel whole. Knowing that I'm her blade, knowing that she knows her words go above even the old mans. I'm fucked up. They'll probably make me talk to a shrink. Fuck.
"Thank you, can I be untied?" she scoffs a bit, gently rapping against the back of my head.
"Not in the slightest." I roll my eyes at that, trying to work my way out of her hug before I suddenly realize I've found myself flush on my back with her straddling my stomach. "You tried to claw your own chest out." I can feel the blush working it's way up my neck and onto my face.
"It was all I could feel" she rocks back and forth a bit, giving a dissatisfied hum.
"Breakfast is ready, C'mon" she pulls me up by the shoulder. Helping me move up through the door frame. The thudding is a bit louder now that we're in the hall, she slams a fist onto the wall. "Shut the fuck up in there!" the thudding stops and a muffled crying takes over the sound.
"Do I want to know?" she gives an exasperated sigh, and I lean against the wall a bit as we head down the stairs.
"It's the shinobi who broke into the house, the partner of the dude you um.. Ripped apart in the woods." I can feel something inside of me feel as though it's tied itself in knots as my muscles flex.
"They broke into the house" she takes a step towards me, laying another hand on my shoulder.
"We were fine, me and Sasuke handled him just fine and Taicho plans on interrogating him." I'm tempted to shake the hand off, but I don' . I'm corralled into a chair, feeling as though I'm being stared at by everyone in the kitchen. Sasuke's gruff voice is the first of the two of them.
"You look better now." I can't quite tell if I give a scoff or a laugh. Sakura takes the chance of my open mouth to place a spoon of food in it. Some kind of rice and meat that I gladly accept. Chewing on the food I debate on the best way to respond.
"I am better now. Everything just kind of hit at once." A hand ruffles my hair as I chew another mouthful. An odd static electricity seeming to come from his contact. I could only assume it was our sensei.
"Glad to hear you're doing better. Think you're alright to be untied?" I nod, not needing to say anything more as I can feel the ropes loosen almost instantly. My muscles grumble in their own way at having been held at such an awkward angle for the better part of the night. My fingers roaming across my own hands I feel the claws that my nails have turned into. I don't know what tells me this, but I get the impression that fishnet armor would be worthless to them.
"Is this more from my clan?" Sensei sucks on his teeth a bit, the only sound being the intake of breath and hiss. I can feel Sakura's gaze slide from me as she hands me the chopsticks to instead sink into him. Sasuke's chair creaks as he shifts his weight onto the table.
"Yes sensei, is this more of his Bloodline unlocking?" he ghosts around me, his feet hardly making a sound even on the linoleum of the kitchen. He pours something before a cup of coffee is set down beside me.
"I think that is a question that is best left… revisited after we are safely back in the village proper." That means the answer is messy, and I shouldn't worry about it. The laughter that I hear on occasion brushes against the very edge of my hearing. Ever present, but not always audible.
"You're dodging the question." Her tone is accusatory, likely pointing with a kunai.
"Artfully." I sip the drink, it's coffee with no cream or sugar and tastes disgusting. I drain it.
"What's our next move, Taicho?" I roll my shoulders a bit, nodding along to Sasuke's question as I glanced over to where I thought Sensei was. I can hear Sakura sigh, seeming to drop the subject for now.
"Next up I'm going to be taking our friend upstairs through a bit of T and I which none of you will be present for. Sasuke, can you try to dip into the village without being seen and check on the bridge." His chair is rattling empty, the door closing moments after the order is given. "Sakura, you'll be combing over the northern most forests. I need to know if we have any local fauna I can take advantage of. Even poison ivy would be of use." she's up and trudging her way out the door with poorly concealed annoyance. She was likely hoping we'd be together so she could try and keep an eye on me.
"And me sensei?" I can feel his singular eye on me, as though he's deliberating between scolding me or just putting me back to sleep.
"How are you feeling?" I stand, my muscles flexing as I do a simple stress test on them.
"Back up to almost full, and wanting to be busy." he scratches his face, the rustling of fabric against stubble bouncing around the kitchen.
"You comfortable enough going back into the woods? My dogs picked up another scent but I didn't want to bother chasing it down through the rain." I nod a, moving upstairs and grabbing my stuff. My armored jacket a comforting weight across my shoulders, and the gilded katana having to do. My boots ricochet down the stairs and I'm out the front door as I can hear sensei's voice drifting down the stairs.
"You're going to tell me what I want to know, or you're going to find out why I have a potato peeler in my hands." I decide to banish the thought before I decide to create a worse mental image than could be done
The trees seem to swallow me, the forest holding me as a mother would a child. Calm and quiet, not even a bird song to disturb the tranquility. It sets me on edge. My boots find their purchase with ease, dancing between sticks littering the ground and stepping on grass or clovers. I find myself back at the pond, the scent of blood still overpowering the natural smells. I give the corpse a kick, feeling a bone snap inside his ribcage as he goes rolling across the ground and splashes into the water. I stand there in silence, listening to water settle and the wind rustle leaves.
"You shouldn't have let me go." Three pinpricks place themselves onto the side of my neck. Cold enough to tell me they aren't normal metal, a corner of my mouth twitching up in a grin. I ignore the cold, hardly wavering tone, as I spin about. The senbons cut into my neck, one nicking my jugular but it's steaming over before I lose any significant amount. The snap kick to his stomach sends him sprawling and I can hear the slam of him hitting the tree. I move over, crouching down in front of him, my wrists perched on my legs leaving my hands free.
"That wasn't too bright." I can feel the heat of his glare, a small growl escaping his throat. Something in me can't help but feel drawn by that, as though a string is connected from my chest to his.
"Why?" I cock my head to the side, not sure what exactly he's asking. "Why do you keep taking pity on me?" I shrug my shoulders, tilting my head back as I stare sightlessly to the sky.
"Like I said, I feel some kind of connection to you… My name's Naruto, Haku right?" A small huff, the cracking of branches as he shifts to a better position. The heat of a glare isn't on me anymore.
"Such a connection you can't even be bothered to look at me?" I chuckle a bit, not minding as it's echoed by the laugh in my mind, and gently tap the side of my forehead as I tilt my head back down.
"Can't see a thing friend." There's no sound for a moment, before a spluttering can be heard. Two hands, as cold as though they were chiseled blocks of ice, take my head and begin to twist and turn it.
"Your pupils are dilating properly, focusing on different things, no glassy or odd textures. Though the slit pupils are strange." I shrug a bit, gently nudging his hands off my face.
"Had an accident when I was young, blade right across both eyes." I don't need to see to know the face he's making. A recoil in horror, and then a softening of pity. "The doctors gave me transplants, and my body regenerates at a rapid rate. Haven't been able to see a thing since then though. Doctors say I never will." A hand lays itself on my chest, not pushing me at all but instead just seeming to want to touch me. To convey some form of emotion that I can't possibly seek to understand without more context.
"I'm sorry. It seems we both have poor pasts." I chuckle a bit, moving from a crouching to a sitting position. As the two of us take shelter underneath the tree's canopy, a light rain having started to sprinkle down on our heads. I learn of Haku's bloodline limit, named Hyōton, of his mothers terror at it being found out, and his father leading an angry mob into his own home. How he had to watch as they crucified his mother to the kitchen wall alive before they slit her throat. Then they turned to him of course.
A singular circle of jagged ice and dead, scared, people make the end of this tragic tale. By the end of the tale he's practically in my lap, sobbing the words more-so than saying them as I rocked up back and forth. I'll likely be going through this process after we're back in the village, If we make it back to the village. Eventually he'll calm down, wiping at his eyes and collecting himself with all the speed of a drunken sloth. I can feel a weight though, an all encompassing though that seems to blanket all others.
"I think this will be the last time I can let you go Haku." his breath catches, and I can feel a few more drops of water land on my leg. I choose to think of it as rain, letting him keep some dignity. His arms go around my neck, pulling me close and into a hug. His words are hardly a whisper in the wind even as he speaks next to my ear.
"Thank you, but please. Don't make a habit of comforting your enemies." I can feel hesitation, his center of gravity shifting back and forth before suddenly his lips are on mine. I feel myself locking up and falling backwards onto the wet grass. My thoughts are fuzzy and warm, even as I begin to return the kiss. We're both clumsy, our teeth bashing together more than once as we both explore something new for the first time. He breaks it off slowly, sadly even as he puts a hand on my chest to feel my heartbeat. My voice feels thick in my throat as I lift my head to speak.
"Goodbye Haku, perhaps in another life." he laughs a bit, the sound forced as he sniffles.
"Goodbye Naruto, and yes. Most definitely in another life." he's up, disappearing into the trees. My skin buzzes as though electricity dances across my skin. My face flushed and my heart pounding a thousand beats a second. I pull my legs up, tucking them against my chest and wrap my arms around them. I can't really wrap my head around what just happened. I've never had someone approach me like that, with any intents or wishes as far as I knew. Next time we meet, I can't help but shake the feeling it will end with a dead body and a broken heart.
I get up slowly, my feet not quite as sure now of their homes as they come crunching down on twigs and branches. The rest of my patrol through the forest is void of problems and people. The animals having returned to their forest lives with Haku's departure. Now the four of us sit in the kitchen once more. Tazuna pacing about in the kitchen as we listen to Sasuke's report.
"It seems that there's a lot of fog just sitting around the bridge, I didn't try to approach very close. There are also several rather crude looking individuals wearing padded leathers and having some better than makeshift weapons. Including a few with crossbows." I have my feet up on the table, rocking my chair back and forth on its back legs. Sakura's leg is jittering, her heel knocking against the ground in a steady tempo that belies her nerves about this situation. We're all coming to the realization. Help isn't coming from the village in time, or at all, and if we want this mission to be successful we need to stop whatever they're doing on that bridge today.
"Right" Sensei's voice is rough, the table creaking as he puts his weight on it likely trying to gather his thoughts. "Sakura, what plants did we find?" glass clinks together as a bag is set down.
"Not much, a poisonous mushroom, a few things of old mans beard that I grabbed, and a branch worth of poison oak." I can hear the soft groan that informs us he was hoping for better.
"Right, ok. Take a mortar and pestle, grind up the poison oak and apply the resulting paste to as many kunai as you can. Do NOT get any on your skin. Toss the mushroom, and store the old mans beard." I can hear her pull out the necessary tools, beginning to grind them up. Liking throwing on some plastic gloves before doing so.
"So like.. What's our plan here?" there's a silence in the air at my question, before Sasuke coughs a bit.
"Naruto is correct, we should try and hammer this out beforehand. Shall we take a similar approach as before? You going after Zabuza and we focus on his accomplice?" My rocking doesn't pause, even as his words roll around in my head cursed by a sense of dread. We both knew that we'd be opposite sides of this battle. I need to come to terms with that.
"Yes, I'll be making a shadow clone to look like Tazuna whilst he stays here and secures himself and his family in the root cellar. Sakura, I want the boys to focus on the accomplice. I want you to sit with the shadow clone and protect it, and use the coated kunai to try and catch Zabuza in the back." My chair thumps solidly into the ground as we all stand, doing our last minute prep. I can hear Sasuke's whispered prayer, taking mere minutes for his meditation. I'm not sure who he prays to, but I know it's not Kami. Sakura finishes up with the poison oak leaves, stealing a bandolier to keep them separate from the rest of her pouch. Sensei seems to be just standing there as silent as the dead. I strip the gold off of the gilded handle, tucking the shavings away and making sure the grip isn't too smooth as to glide out of my hand.
We find ourselves trekking up the village path, the fake Tazuna wearing real clothes and reeking of sake to help the disguise seem real. The villagers themselves seem to have fled, fear filled eyes burning holes in our backs as we pass the dilapidated houses and broken windows of store fronts. A hand rests on Sakura's shoulder to help guide me along the road as we'd only been along it once before and it's littered with bottles and trash. Sasuke and Sensei move off ahead of us, the sounds of a few men shouting and bones breaking can be heard. My blade is drawn before I even fully realize it as I cut across the chest of a man who broke around past them as he lunges for Sakura. I wouldn't have minded him a second though as he goes crashing along the ground, but I won't have someone take us from behind. The tip of my blade goes through one side of his forehead until it hits dirt on the other, with him going limp beneath it.
Sakura performs a roundhouse kick to another opponent, my blade twirling and lunging forward as he stumbles back thus running him through like a stuck pig. I twist it hard, bringing him down to his knees as he tries to buck like a horse trying to drive off its rider. Sakura strikes him in the temple with the ring of a kunai, and I pull my blade free letting him bleed to death. That makes 5. Sasuke has to fall back, getting a resupply of a stash of 20 kunai from my pockets before he resurges forward with a graceful silence that would make a prowling cat jealous.
"What's the fog look like?" I cut a bolt out of the air before it could reach the fake Tazuna, cowering on the ground to make as small a target as possible. Two men grunt at once, Sakura having had to jump in the air and do a split kick to their faces. I take the bigger of the two to get her some breathing room, feinting to the left before using a clawed hand to dig into his arm and throw him on the ground before pulling the blade across his neck.
"Thick as hell, and covering the whole bridge!" the man fighting her crashes to the ground still breathing, but that's ok. Her count doesn't need to start just yet, 6. Soon the sounds of the fight ahead of us stutter to a stop. Sasuke ghosting back to us even as he squeezes water out of a cloth, no Sakura is wretching a bit. Likely wringing blood out of his shirt.
"7" my unsaid question receives its grim answer, and I can't help but return it with a grin. We've become real shinobi, taking lives without hesitation. Of course we'll definitely be in a nightmare of a therapy situation afterwards, me more so than others. My mind is drifting, not even realizing as I'm dragging Sakura back by the shirt collar, my sword cutting through the air the only sound being the shattering of glass.
"Surrender now, and I-ah!" Haku's voice sounds out from the fog, Sasuke responding with a kunai that seems to have caught him. Sakura's boots pound against stone as she works her way onto the bridge, dragging the fake Tazuna with her, as Zabuza's voice can be heard echoing out of the fog. Sensei's voice responding back before a third, higher pitched than either before it, chimes in as well. None of that is our concern at the moment though. With practiced ease Sasuke ghosts up against my side as I use my katana to catch the bottom corner of my jacket and lift it up to cover both of us as Senbon begin to pound into the armored cloth with the force of a tidal wave. After half a second of that Sasuke has to shove to the side so I can dodge Haku's charge, a large gouge left behind in the dirt right where I was standing.
"He has some kind of Ice gauntlet on a hand." I bark a response, I'm not sure what I say exactly but it doesn't really matter. I'm moving in hard and fast, not bothering to do a shoulder check but instead going for a horizontal slash across the chest region. My blade skims across the surface of the ice gauntlet as he uses his palm to deflect it, using his non-frozen hand to stick the side of my neck with senbon. I ignore them and take the opportunity to head butt him, breaking his nose in the process. Haku is flailing backwards, the non-frozen arm pinwheeling a bit even as the frozen one tries to get a good purchase around one of my ribs, the pointed blades that make up its fingers ripping through my flesh as easily as butter.
He jerks to the left, Sasuke having lowered his center mass and tackling him off me so I have a moment to recover. I force chakra through my system, circulating it even faster as that's seemed to help in the past. I'm up and moving in less than 5 seconds, Sasuke nearly losing a tooth in that time. I don't have the time to get up fully off the ground; instead using a clawed hand and my feet, as well as a more than healthy burst of chakra, to propel me across the dirt like some kind of cursed penguin. My sword held almost straight up in the air like how a shark's fin pokes out of the water. I feel the moment it hits skin, the resistance and then the give. The blood flowing down it. I hear the gasp of pain, as Haku tries to suck in both his gut and scream to keep the will to fight.
He tries to back up, using his Hyōton to make some kind of ice mirror but Sasuke is able to interject himself between Haku and the mirror before he can finish the technique. A fireball sends the ice user scrambling, trying to back off and just form another mirror. He wasn't expecting me to be up and moving so quickly, my katana taking off one of his arms at the elbow. This time he isn't able to keep in the scream of pain. Blood spraying everywhere as he does a backflip over me, kicking me in the head as he does so and sending me sprawling into the dirt.
Sasuke moves around and roundhouse kicks him, sending him into the fog where both of us pursue him. Sasuke is flagging at this point, his breathing ragged and likely clutching at a stitch in his side. We've been using our chakra at full output for over a minute now, and I'm even feeling the stress of it. My chakra may be bottomless but my chakra veins can only handle using so much in a short amount of time. Reinforcing all of my limbs, sending out chakra blasts and hooks to get better grips.
Sword on kunai on sword on some kind of metallic thrumming sound. A headache was forming on me at some point, Haku meeting us suddenly with a renewed vigor.