*Top-top*
To leave Naruto-foot tracks, Shikamaru jumped harder-stomped, mimicking heavier/taller. Half-km three shinobi + dog tracks; carved wood paw—hated most. Academy crafts flop; begged dad stool/knife sometimes. Dad yielded pre-fail/punish.
Had to try now. Soon enemy catch. Cleared real tracks, led right from Naruto/Sakura split.
Pursuers wall now, follow to doom. Distance—no friend tracks, or too late.
Didn't ease him...
Hiding tree crown, didn't want die—even now.
"Damn... Shinobi like dad for missions, good pay. Thirteen, damnit! First Hokage founded village, teams three genin adult jonin protect/train—most adulthood booze, joy, love, village-fight sense. Iruka-sensei said. Now awaiting death. Me, least hero-want. Die unlived so others task-live, damn... Irony. Wanted defense/customs—village shifts mostly, spend local-good pay, marry civilian not-beauty, die old bed pre-wife kids/grandkids watch best."
Clouds blue sky, shoved flee-thoughts. Man-word hold. Ordered die? Desert if alt-save-team no-death. No alt now. Volunteered bait knowing death.
***
Hearing the distant noise and thud of approaching footsteps, he rose into a crouch and prepared the "Shadow Possession" seal. A full hour had passed since noon, and the sun now shone slightly at his back. The shadow from a distant tree fell exactly in the direction from which the pursuers should appear.
"Everyone stop!" commanded one of them, most likely the leader. He was a bit shorter and broader in the shoulders, holding a kunai in each hand as if ready to use them at any second.
Without putting away the kunai from his hands, he jumped down from the tree branch and examined the tracks on the ground, carefully taking a few steps forward.
"Yeah, no traps here and just one path—looks like those Sand ninjas planned to hole up for an hour somewhere on the outskirts while that kid recovers his strength. And now they're chasing him, heading to help the Uchiha. Well, what's wrong with the tracks? Enough staring at them already?" shouted one at him from a tree branch behind.
"Shut up! The tracks end here."
"Well, of course. The forest gets thicker here, and the next kilometer they'll have to jump only through the trees. If you keep slowing us down like this, we won't catch them before evening!" said the one on the branch and demonstratively jumped down to the leader. "Well, tracks are tracks... From here, they'll go in long jumps. Maybe they want to throw us off, and it's working on you."
"Who gave you permission to jump down, idiot?! Shut up! Mare!"
"I..." jumped down the one the leader called.
"Sniff around here... I'm doubting it's that simple..."
"Strange..." Mare said after sniffing a bit. "Seems like there's only 1 scent here."
"What?!" the cocky shinobi exclaimed in surprise. "But the tracks..."
"I said shut up!" the leader shouted, raising his kunai. "Looks like we've been lured!"
With those words, he couldn't lower the hand holding the kunai from his comrade's face, and both felt their bodies no longer belonged to them.
The culprit was the shadow from the distant tree ahead, which extended its branch-like tendrils toward them. Slowly merging with their shadows, it extended further to each one present here.
"Sorry, but you won't go any further." A voice came from the same tree, and one of those they were pursuing jumped down from it. Still just a kid. Dressed in a slightly torn windbreaker and a mesh shirt underneath. Jumping from the tree, Shikamaru crouched, and with him sharply crouched everyone under the control of his technique.
Two were on tree branches, and from the sudden crouch, their balance shifted slightly, and they fell from the trees. Shikamaru also forced several poorly hidden ones, whom he had seen sitting on the branch, to reveal themselves by taking a few steps forward toward the leader.
"One, two, three... eight! Damn! There are eight of them! Mops said nine!" thought Shikamaru, and his expression changed from joyful that the enemy had fallen into his trap to disappointed at realizing one had slipped away.
"What the..." asked the one who had been mouthing off to the leader.
"Well, well..." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, and with him all of them scratched theirs, and the leader dropped one of his kunai from the motion. "If you're going to invade, you could've at least learned about the Shadow Possession technique."
"I know about it—you're from the Nara Clan? Tch... Got it." the leader replied. "We wasted caution only on that blond kid in the leather jacket. Against the generational genius, we didn't expect the squad to have another clan kid."
"So that's how you figured it?" Shikamaru smiled. "Well, next to Naruto, I do kinda fade, but that's good. By the way, where's your ninth? Doesn't want to try killing me while I'm holding you with the technique?"
"So you know, huh?" the leader smiled through his balaclava. "Hm-hm-hm-hm... No need. He's in observation position... Just wait till your technique drains all your chakra, then strike without exposing yourself."
"Got it... You know quite a bit, then..." Shikamaru made the leader raise his hand with the kunai to his throat. He himself only mimicked holding a kunai in his hand. Now the leader's hands and Shikamaru's began to tremble. Sensing the threat, the leader started resisting, and it reflected on Shikamaru, who had almost spent his chakra. "I'll take as many of you with me as I can." Raising his second hand to strengthen the strike, Shikamaru slightly wound up, mimicking a strike to his own throat, and at that moment another kunai flew into the leader's kunai, knocking the weapon from his hand with a precise hit.
"There's the ninth!" thought Shikamaru and, forming the possession seal, directed another shadow tendril to the right toward the tree from which the kunai had come.
"Shit!" Shikamaru exclaimed in Russian when he realized his shadow couldn't reach the ninth opponent. Chakra was gone, and all attempts to summon more were futile. His legs buckled, and breathing became harder. Sweat ran down his back and face, and the shadow returned to normal, freeing everyone under control.
"Well, kid... Looks like your chakra's run out. You did good... Led us away from your friends and stalled us here. Looks like we won't catch them now. But..." the leader said, pulling another kunai from the pouch on his back. "You won't get off with a simple death from me. Hey, Haro, wanna come down and hold this pup from behind while I carve a message on his chest?!" he asked the one who was apparently the ninth. "Haro?"
In response, a huge guy in standard Leaf gear dropped as if from the sky, landing between them and Shikamaru. On his shoulder, he carried one of the Sound shinobi whose head was twisted in an unnatural position, almost backward.
"Haro's not likely to answer you anymore..." Asuma said, taking a final drag and tossing the corpse at the Sound shinobi leader's feet, then exhaling smoke from his cigarette right into his face as he flicked it away.
"Shikamaru!" His voice snapped Shikamaru out of a light daze caused by realizing imminent and painful death. "You did excellent. Just watch from here..." Asuma pulled his two brass knuckles from his belt, bent slightly, and prepared for battle. The Sound shinobi responded in kind.
Contrary to expectations, Asuma started with a Body Flicker technique and a leap into the air. Kunai flew at him immediately, but he was no longer in front of the leader, and Shikamaru simply dropped and crouched, covering his head with his hands to dodge the deadly metal. Asuma's first strike was a heel drop to the cocky one's head; the second was a lethal blow to their leader. With a spin, Asuma slit his throat at tremendous speed. Each subsequent swing of his brass knuckles was accompanied by either a Body Flicker or a shadow clone substitution. Every Asuma strike took a life. Attempts to hit him even with throws failed, as Asuma skillfully used their bodies for cover and kicked the already dying ones at each other, hindering access to him in close combat.
One tried to rain kunai and shuriken on the Konoha jonin who was lightning-fast killing his comrades and had already taken out six, but Asuma mid-air formed wind nature seals and simply exhaled "Wind Stream" against the leaping one's gear, while landing a precise quick throw of a chakra-charged brass knuckle into his head—it stuck in his eye. The one who shook off his comrade's body got the second brass knuckle throw. The luckiest Sound shinobi ended up behind Asuma with a shadow clone substitution but met an elbow to the face before he could kunai to the neck. Grabbing his arm, Asuma threw him over his shoulder and snapped his neck with a kick.
Shikamaru missed only the first three kills by squeezing his eyes shut; the rest he saw... A gruesome sight—he'd never seen Asuma so ruthless. He'd seen his teacher in battle before, but this was the first time he'd killed right in front of him, and like that...
Covered in others' blood, Asuma breathed heavily... Even such a feat hadn't come easy to him. Raising his torso and looking around, Shikamaru found no Sound shinobi left. All were dead.
"Fuuuuh... I thought I'd die here. Thanks, Asuma-sensei." He exhaled the last breath and went to pull weapons from the enemies' bodies.
"Damn, looks like they're still tailing us, and he's close." Kankuro said.
"He?" Temari asked, leaping branch to branch in long jumps right behind him.
"Looks like they sent an Uchiha after us, and that's very, very bad. Stop." Kankuro said, pulling metal wire from his pouch with his teeth. He was also holding Gaara on his left side, supporting his torso and slinging his brother's right arm over his neck. "Hold Gaara." He said and passed his body to Temari. "Go ahead and give me all the explosive seals you have left. I'll linger here a bit and catch up. Hurry..." Temari hurriedly handed him part of the gear, realizing Kankuro wanted to quickly set a few traps and slow the pursuer's pace.
"Don't linger..." Temari said, slinging Gaara's arm over her neck and jumping forward.
"I know." Kankuro replied. "Alright... First off..."
Naruto, Sakura, and the pug had said goodbye to Shikamaru quite a while ago.
"Hope that guy pulls off his task..." Pakkun said.
"Don't doubt him. If Shikamaru said it, he'll do it. He has principles, even if he seems like an irresponsible slacker." I said.
"Naruto, you believe in Shikamaru that much? He didn't like this from the start, and a guy like him..."
"Sakura, plenty of bad things could be said about you too, but everyone has flaws. For all his minuses, Shikamaru definitely isn't a traitor."
"Stop!" the pug said. We stopped. "Looks like we're pulling away from the pursuers. That kid didn't let us down, but I smell something strange."
"Told you..." I replied.
"Strange smell?" Sakura asked, and Pakkun eyed her intently, making her uneasy.
"Sorry, Shikamaru, for doubting you..." Sakura thought.
"Exactly! Now that those pursuers aren't interfering, I can say for sure... Sakura, you used the same shampoo as me!"
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"Damn, you pick a time to discuss this! Let's push forward." I called, jumping farther.
"Chamomile scent, huh? Exactly-exactly..."
"So I smell like... a dog..." Sakura's expression shifted to one of utter despair.
"You coming or what!" I called again, and they finally jumped.
After a few jumps, explosion sounds pulled Sakura from her daze—they were quite close now. Maximum two kilometers, probably less.
"Everyone stop!" Pakkun said.
"Smell like a do... Huh?" Sakura snapped back. "What was that noise?!"
"Looks like an enemy ahead set traps, and Sasuke ran into them. His pace will inevitably slow, and we should be more careful too. Sasuke might've bypassed some, and we could hit them next."
"Hope he's okay..." Sakura said, clasping her hands and closing her eyes.
"Not so easy to kill him." I replied. "Alright... Lead on, Pakkun. We'll go at reduced pace—you're right."
Hearing explosion sounds behind, Temari stopped for a few seconds, and Kankuro appeared beside her via Body Flicker.
"Now..." he said, slightly out of breath. "We'll go slow and careful." Kankuro and Temari grinned at each other and continued the escape.
Speeding up a bit, they realized they were far enough from the Leaf village and needed to be careful not to leap out of the forest into some nearby village outpost. Overall, these areas weren't very familiar to them anymore.
"Think Baki'll survive?" Kankuro asked.
"Baki's a veteran of countless battles. Don't underestimate him. I'm more worried about Dad. I have a weird feeling when I think about him..." Temari replied.
"Who you really shouldn't underestimate. Don't forget, he's the Kazekage!"
"His opponent bears that title too!" Temari objected, leaping branch to branch behind her brother. "And I've heard that kind old grandpa isn't what he seems. During the war, legends already swirled about him as a great warrior. Three world wars behind him—he survived them all and shone as a hero and strongest fighter in each. To this village's people, he's like our Third Kazekage..."
"Tch..." Kankuro clicked his tongue. "Then our old man's really in trouble. Don't know how he plans to face that opponent, but hope he has a plan. Even the strongest warriors weaken with age. Just let's believe in our old man and Baki. They have to survive!" Temari nodded.
Suddenly, both sensed a threat behind. A fairly large fireball flew after them.
"Damn! Split!" Kankuro commanded, and he and Temari jumped in opposite directions, dodging the opponent's technique.
"What the hell?!" Kankuro asked when he rejoined his sister holding Gaara. Temari looked confused, not understanding what was happening. That the Uchiha had caught up was obvious, and the answer appeared on a farther branch before their eyes via Body Flicker. "You were supposed to slow your pace..." Kankuro said, looking at the slightly winded Sasuke.
"You'd love that, huh?! You couldn't set traps along the whole trail in time, so this is your last trick to slow me. Too obvious. You just told me to speed up."
"Kankuro! Take Gaara and run! I'll fight him!"
"Temari, but your chakra's still..."
"I have about half, and that's plenty! I'll stall him! Every second counts now."
"If you fight him, then..."
"I know! But it's the only way!" Temari shouted.
"Damn..." Grimacing, realizing this might be the last time he saw his sister alive, he still took Gaara. "Be careful..." he said finally and bolted forward.
"Well then... Come on, damn genius! Show me what you got!" Temari shouted and, without much fuss, attacked full force with her fan. Sasuke tried throwing his last shuriken at her, but they were blown away, and seeing the slashing wind leave furrows on trees and break branches as it closed in on him, already gusting his face, he had to hide behind the nearest trunk. "Is that all the great clan amounts to?!" Temari kept provoking and swung her fan again, infusing the wind with chakra.
"Her attacks are too wide—if I pop out, I can't dodge... Finish her with Chidori? No... Too costly. Then..." Sasuke pondered the situation.
He climbed higher and after her attack sharply jumped back and down. It worked, but he underestimated his opponent.
Dodging his fire shuriken, she fell into a trap of a fire circle, but he was forced to jump onto a branch too damaged to hold his weight.
The branch snapped, and he fell, while Temari, unable to attack with wind anymore, used four kunai that hit the falling target—and though she probably missed vital organs, it was just time to finish him.
Approaching the opponent's body, she saw it was just a log plastered with explosive seals.
"Shit!" she exclaimed already leaping away, but too late... The explosion was massive, the shockwave hurling her, and a kunai shard grazed her brow, nearly taking her eye.
It was her total defeat. For a few seconds, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she knew she couldn't continue the fight. The fan had flown too far, her ears rang constantly, her body was heavy, and her vision swam. Blinking a few times, she saw Sasuke above her on the branch, who looked at her, said something, and without finishing her off, jumped forward after Kankuro.
"Looks like Sasuke caught them and engaged, but two are still pulling away from him!" Pakkun said. "We're close..."
"Maybe speed up then—I see no traps!" I suggested.
"Too dangerous—don't forget, charging into a battle's thick is no better, and considering Sasuke's and his opponents' techniques, it might be worse than any traps."
"Damn... Fine, you're right." I had to agree. I'd relaxed too much because this was just a shadow clone. Thinking traps and such didn't matter to me, I'd completely forgotten I had to survive and summon my original with Summoning technique—otherwise, when my chakra ran out or I took a strong hit, it was over. Glad that since I hadn't dispersed yet, my original was doing okay...
I stood on this damn rooftop, and before me lay a sixteen-year-old Sand shinobi already choking on his own blood.
Damn it! What the hell was I doing here...
Time and again, when I relaxed and started getting used to being part of this world, life here slapped me hard, reminding me this wasn't mine and I'd never go full throttle. Realizing what I'd done, my hand shook and dropped the kunai. With that sound of it hitting the ground, enemies surrounded me. Three more Sand shinobi arrived. One armed with impact brass knuckles, one with two kunai, and one girl who seemed able to transfer her chakra to them, enhancing their physical strength.
At least, I couldn't explain otherwise why their chakra overflowed like mine when calling Kurama's chakra, but theirs was normal. Vaguely resembled Kakashi's chakra.
I looked at them with changed eyes, dampening their enthusiasm. Unzipping my coat, I took bottles from my belt secured with extra holders. They were clay here, like another item of my new gear. Small pots smaller than an ashtray, fitting in the palm, with very different fillings inside.
One hand held a "Molotov cocktail" bottle based on toad oil, the other a pot I immediately threw under the feet of the girl fueling her comrades with chakra.
Inside was a red liquid like blood. Toad oil formed its base too, reacting with local air and instantly evaporating, wafting bloody-red vapors to her face...
She panicked and leaped back to the next roof.
As I thought, she could only fuel them when nearby. The two guys attacked me, but I didn't hesitate to use Leaf Whirlwind technique and successfully dodged, lit the bottle with a lighter, and swung hard into one's back before leaping away so it wouldn't hit me. Bright flash and the opponent burns... Leaping, I kicked his body into his buddy and on the fly lit the second bottle.
When they're burning, I have about five-seven seconds to find a target and throw the bottle. The girl tried some technique, but this weapon's beauty is it works as well thrown as in close combat—seeing the fiery mix bottle flying at her, she retreated again and seemed to catch fire from our shinobi too. I lit the second bottle off the first and threw it at the two poor guys... Doubt you'll forgive me, but without adding fire, one would've attacked again, and I don't need that.
I downed one snake, but the other two weren't stopping—and that was very bad. Especially for those holding the front now. Thought to head there, but I had no means to fight that monster now. I had one last resort, but for the extreme case.
Where the hell was Jiraiya with his giant toad?! I decided to try breaking forward anyway. From above, I'd helped eliminate the rightmost snake. Needed the middle one too, and I had a plan, but running past the whole front about five hundred meters was a task. Naturally, a Sound shinobi opponent found me, trying shuriken attack as I roof-hopped. I parried shuriken with kunai, but that was his plan. Like Lee, he used shadow clone substitution and flew at my pace from behind, aiming not at my back but my throat.
"Die!" I heard, taking a painfully stinging hit to the left carotid area. But he didn't know who he swung at. He'd disable anyone else, but not me. For me, that hit felt three times weaker thanks to Kurama's chakra.
I grabbed his wrist and crushed it hard, breaking bones. Flipping him over my shoulder, I slammed his body hard into the ground. His damn kunai stuck in my neck, and from pain I leaped back, landing on one knee. Pulling the kunai, I choked on blood. Kurama directed all chakra to fastest regeneration, and before the stunned opponent's eyes, the lethal wound closed in seconds.
Spitting out all the blood, I flushed red from strain, cold sweat down my back... Damn it... I'd nearly died twice and survived only by blatant cheating.
"What the hell are you?!" the opponent shouted, trembling trying to stand.
Because Kurama overdid the chakra, some went into my opponent's kunai. I replied with a light throw, but chakra-overloaded, the kunai accelerated near supersonic and just punched through the poor guy's face.
Another death on my conscience, fuck... Not sure I can calm myself thinking it was war and I had to kill them or they'd kill me.
Clenching my fists and standing, I headed to the conditional "middle" snake anyway.
"Shadow Clone Technique." I made another clone and mid-flight dodging enemy kunai, threw my own at the beast to draw attention. My shuriken whizzed dangerously close to its eyes.
I flew at it like I'd lost all self-preservation. Looks like today'd be a record for wasting explosive seals—on the run, I shed my coat, left in just a t-shirt, and passed the clone the vest with explosive seals, which he threw on. I had to lag to not lose the coat, but the clone charged straight at the snake undiminished, and the provocation worked. The snake distracted to him and simply devoured him with wide-open maw. Two cocktails left, which I spent throwing fiery mix at opponents about to finish two Leaf shinobi. Opponents dodged of course, but it bought time to reach them, drag out first the badly wounded one, leap off the roof to deliver him to comrades, then shift to next roof and pull the second kamikaze who planned holding the snake with four prepped explosive seal kunai in hand. I threw my last shuriken to knock incoming enemy shuriken and hurled the last fiery bottle blindly but forcing opponent to halt attack from caution, dragging the fool off the roof. Had to tell him the snake'd die soon so he'd struggle less.
Delivering him to comrades, amid their stunned looks at the squad-saving guy in his and others' blood in unzipped leather coat, I turned to the approaching snake and said one word...
"Boom!" A massive explosion rang out, shredding its throat from inside, a flame jet bursting from its maw with a blood fountain pouring from nostrils too.
If the hide's too thick... Well... You get it.
The second snake fell at our feet with thunderous crash, raising dust cloud. Jumping onto a roof in this block, I looked toward the third snake, which had advanced farther. Wonder how much time passed and if my clone engaged Gaara yet?
But another question I wanted didn't get asked, as before my eyes the third snake got covered by a giant toad!
Finally... Took less than a year.
Time for me to bail while enemies regroup realizing they'd lost major advantage. Summon might work in ten minutes, and I'm in different form here. Can't let the Wanderer meet Jiraiya. Can't outrun that guy if he wants to catch me.
And I bailed, using Body Flicker and chaos cover.
The Wanderer fully completed his task... Even overcompleted. I spent almost all Kurama chakra available to me for the day. Only thanks to it I saved most of my reserves, but my body subtly hinted not to use more. Chakra pathways screamed from overload. Thoughts muddled, head heavier from overloads—no regeneration could compensate. Eventually paralysis'd hit, and I'd lie like Kakashi in Land of Waves for a week if lucky.
No roof-hopping—too visible... I ran, sometimes Body Flicker if spotted, sticking to alleys hiding in building shadows. Got to village center near old Uchiha district entrance, shed Wanderer guise, summoned packer toad leaving gear with it, and waited for shadow clone's summon. Since no memories came yet, he wasn't dispersed—hope he pulls it off.
We seriously slowed pace, but Pakkun assured we closed on Sasuke, and the life-understander wasn't rushing. Shaky arguments, but we really needed to conserve strength—I felt my chakra dwindling, and full sprint might make the clone ineffective against Gaara-level foe.
"Attention!" the pug said. "I smell Sasuke—he stopped but soon continued after the enemy, and now two other scents stayed there, with a fight about a kilometer ahead. Everyone stop!" We stopped. "Looks like we go around." the pug summed up. "We shouldn't interfere if we want to catch Sasuke."
"Agree." I said shortly. Sakura was about to speak but hearing me shut up and nodded too.
"Then..." Pakkun started. "Suggest looping left. Safer that way."
"Let's go..." I said. We sped up and went around.
Kankuro stopped, hearing footsteps behind.
"So you beat Temari already?" He turned to face Sasuke on the tree branch. "Hope you saved chakra for me." Kankuro grinned, staring into his eyes where Sharingan was already active.
"Kankuro!" Temari's voice rang from below as she jumped onto the branch to her brother.
"Eh? He didn't kill you?" Kankuro asked questioningly.
"No, though he could've. It'll be his last mistake! Take Gaara and go, I'll..."
Suddenly Kankuro leaped forward to next branch, leaving Gaara's limp body to Temari, and unslung his bandaged puppet from his shoulder.
"My turn." he said, eyeing the Uchiha.
"You can't handle him!" Temari shouted.
"Look at yourself—you can barely stand! If you can run fast, take Gaara. Any minute he might wake, and opponents won't have it easy. Go!" he yelled at his sister. He'd already buried her in his mind once; now he'd do anything, even die, for slightest hope she'd survive this slaughter.
Temari bit her lip, knowing Kankuro was right, took Gaara, and jumped forward.
Sasuke and Kankuro stayed and prepared for battle.
"You guys are persistent..." Sasuke said, closing his eyes.
"Bad... This guy might take rest of my chakra, and I can't chase that girl! Damn, should've finished her—I'd have completed the mission! Itachi was right—I'm weak till I can hate my opponent. No matter techniques learned, useless without resolve!" With those thoughts, Sasuke clicked his tongue as Kankuro yanked off the wrappings revealing his weapon.
"Wait, Sasuke..." a third voice addressed him. A curly guy in sunglasses and light tall coat stood on a nearby branch from Kankuro and Sasuke. "Your fight with Gaara isn't done, and mine with him hasn't started." Shino said, pointing at Kankuro.
"Shino?" Sasuke asked questioningly. "Won't ask how you found me, but sure you wanna fight him?"
"Absolutely." Shino replied shortly.
"Damn, reinforcements... What the hell? How many of you? Just like day one..." Kankuro said, realizing he couldn't stall Sasuke now.
"As I told you... You're too cocky outside your village." Sasuke replied to his phrase, nodded to Shino, and continued after Temari and Gaara.
"Well, ready? Since you want it, I'll show you my puppet show!" Kankuro shouted.
Temari couldn't keep previous pace especially with Gaara on her and his sand gourd weighing near another person. She felt strength leaving with each step.
"War rarely goes to plan..." She'd heard that from Baki and Dad many times but didn't think it'd be this bad. Suddenly, Gaara showed signs of life, stirring awake.
"T-Temari..." he rasped, opening eyes. "What's happening?!"
"You woke? We're escaping pursuit. Can you use chakra yet?"
"I... I sense him... It's Uchiha! Temari, stop and let me go!"
"But you're not ready!" she objected.
"I said let me go!" he shouted and shoved sister hard, landing on nearest branch. Temari barely grouped and avoided injury from fall, but Gaara didn't care—he turned toward where Sasuke soon appeared.
"How did he slip past Kankuro so quickly? Did someone help him? Though... Even if reinforcements show up here, it won't change anything anymore. Gaara's come to..."
Temari thought, watching the fight begin between the Uchiha and her little brother.
Gaara curled up in pain, clutching his head; his mouth was wide open, and it looked like new teeth were growing in—more like shark teeth... Saliva mixed with blood dripped from the branch, and more and more of that chakra that Sasuke had sensed poured from him after slicing open his sand defensive sphere.
Suddenly, his arm began to cover itself in dense sand, as if wrapped in rubber, and it started to resemble that very paw which had nearly torn Sasuke's arm off in the arena.
Sasuke launched his attack, drawing his remaining kunai and hurling them at the opponent while he was still dazed. However, the paw seemed to have a will of its own and shielded Gaara's body, beginning to suck in the kunai stuck in it. Instead of blood, sand flowed from the paw, and this couldn't help but terrify Sasuke.
"Yes, what the hell is he?! A monster? And how am I supposed to fight him?! I can't use the Fire Fist anymore; if I do, I'll definitely lose my fingers. Even now, I can barely move my middle and index... Damn, don't tell me he..." flashed through Sasuke's mind as the tips of the six kunai he'd "gifted" the opponent began to emerge from his paw, now pointing back at him.
"YYYY!" came from Gaara. "I'm returning them to you!" His voice barely resembled a human one anymore. The face peeking out from cover was swollen and already half alien. The whites of his eyes were black, and both eyes had turned amber with that strange pupil Sasuke had already seen.
He fired the kunai from his hand-paw like bullets...
Even though Sasuke leaped away, it didn't help... They glowed red-hot in the air from their speed and struck home immediately. Only thanks to the Sharingan did Sasuke avoid hits to vital spots and get away with mere glancing wounds, but even that hurt. Flying backward, he slammed painfully into a tree trunk and fell onto its branch, losing consciousness for a second—and only the fact that he could still hear and sense Gaara flying at him, ready to simply tear him apart with his paw, forced him to tense up and push through the pain. Sasuke managed an instant teleport and, evading the paw's strike, landed a kick to the opponent's back, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing into a thick tree trunk as well.
In response, Gaara just roared furiously at him, even more terrifying with his surging power.
Sasuke had never seen anything like this; it wasn't human anymore, and he was truly afraid of this thing. Now, with his thoughts as muddled as they had been with Orochimaru, he couldn't figure out how to beat it. Naruto wasn't nearby, and no one could help him.
As humiliating as it was to admit, he desperately needed help right now.
"Only one of us! Only one will prove he exists for a reason! AAAA!" Gaara flew at his opponent again, but Sasuke dodged to the side, and his paw snapped a whole tree in half.
It wasn't hard for Sasuke to imagine what would happen to his body, and he shuddered.
"Looks like I have no choice! I'll have to... clench my heart into a fist. It's him or me! I won't die here! Chidori!" Sasuke screamed in his head, summoning all his remaining chakra for the final strike. This time, the opponent didn't leap at him. This time, he just thrust his long paw forward, extending like rubber. But for Sasuke charging at full speed, it didn't matter anymore. His strike would be even stronger.
Clashing with the opponent, Sasuke's hand holding the crackling lightning orb that sparked in all directions sliced the paw lengthwise and hurtled toward his body.
"Die!" Sasuke yelled, seeing the opponent try to shield himself with an extra layer of sand.
Sasuke was sure he'd severed his right arm, and after that, he should bleed out. Even if help came, no one could continue fighting in that state.
Turning, he saw he'd only severed the sand paw, and Gaara had already regrown a scaly tail from the gourd mixed with sand, which had become part of his back in place of the paw.
All his power had been useless, and he'd only enraged this monster further. The tail was much faster and whipped like a lash, lengthening or thickening. The Sharingan couldn't predict these strikes anymore, and down on all fours, Gaara swung his tail in a wild frenzy, hitting Sasuke again and again, dealing massive damage.
Sasuke's battered body flew onto one of the branches. His shirt and pants were torn. His body was covered in multiple lacerations. He'd also taken several hits to the head from that tail, but the opponent wasn't striking full force to crack his skull—he was toying with him.
Damn monster.
Several of Sasuke's ribs were already broken or at least cracked. Blood poured abundantly from his mouth, dripping from his head and from his nose, smashed against a tree in another hit.
He could barely stand, but if he stopped resisting now, the next strike would probably be his last. That thought gave him the strength to resist and dodge some of the deadly attacks.
Meanwhile, Gaara regrew a paw, but on his left arm this time, and leaped at the prone Sasuke.
"GIVE ME... LET ME FEEL ALIVE!!!" he screamed. But instead of an answer, he got a sudden strike to the face at instant teleport speed...
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan