The wall of flames surging from my mouth got snuffed out by the tidal wave coming forth, even the heat of my combined technique not enough to burn the water that held so much chakra of my opponent, which prevented the liquid from dissociating into oxygen and hydrogen.
The wall of water overcame my technique and slammed against my body, hard.
...
I got swept off my feet before I truly managed to think of a counter, my back briefly scraped a couple of times against the ground before being picked up by a current over which I had no control whatsoever. I slammed through a tree, the impact forcing the air out of my lungs, and making me inhale a mouthful of water.
Chakra surged in my throat, quickly mimicking the behaviour of an alveolus in reverse, and effectively acting as a gill, extracting air from the water.
I split my attention and managed to wrench control of the current that way dragging me around away from Kisame, which was barreling towards me with a kunai extended and an enraged expression on his shark-face.
The water propelled me upwards in the nick of time, and I quickly found myself on the top of the hemisphere of water that Kisame had created.
I felt precisely the humming of the water beneath my feet, sidestepping the high-pressure jet that would have biforked me otherwise, and I simply skated out of the way of the two sharks that rose from the bottom of the hemisphere, not unlike a couple of Great Whites intent on tearing me apart.
Kunai enshrouded in Fuuton (I had to learn how to do that in order to tear through the Mokuton constructs of Hashirama) took care of the summons, and when it appeared clear that I wasn't going to fail for a sneak attack, Kisame emerged from the water less than ten meters from me.
"You know, I've looked for a worthy Suiton user since Orochimaru had me fight the Edo Tensei of Tobirama." I grinned wildly, mindful of the charade that I had to put forth in order to give Itachi something to work with in order to 'get me into the fold'.
Kisame's visage turned into an outraged one: "Where is Samehada!?"
My mizu-bunshin managed to move swiftly out of Kisame's technique (he had been spared the worst of it since he was behind the shark-man when I had targeted him with the Shiroi honō) and offered me the sealed blue scroll that I had prepared a month before, when I had actually formed my plans to deal with the Akatsuki.
Without looking, I performed a series of half seals and pressed the scroll over the tattoo on my forearm, where it disappeared with a puff of smoke.
"I want a good fight, Kisame-san," I tilted my head, "and I dislike swordsmen. Orochimaru managed to run only because of his fucked up blade."
I scrunched my nose when Kisame snarled in outrage: "You're lucky that Itachi is keeping me busy, otherwise I could match your chakra output." Let the Akatsuki know that I can be slotted easily into Kisame's spot once he's dead.
"Kisame," Itachi spoke from where he had quietly landed, "with my eyes busy and you without Samehada, we're at disadvantage, and my chakra is running thin."
The snarl turned into a growl as I smiled cheekily: "You've lost your sword, if you stay you'll lose something else."
"It doesn't end here." the blue man threatened, and in a swirl of leaves, Itachi dragged them away, leaving me alone over a terrifying amount of water, which unraveled once its creator was out of range.
Well, I need to go to Kiri now. I thought as my hands clapped into the Horse seal, a good three-quarters of my chakra getting dumped into the amount of water beneath my feet.
As I fell from my height, the water slid south as a tidal wave, carrying me south faster than I could run, and keeping me above the trees while the vast majority of the forest beneath got drowned. I hope this showdown is enough to make me look desiderable. Should I fish out my Konoha hitai-ate and slash it? I don't even remember where it is.
...
( Konoha-Kumo Front, 7th November )
Sasuke was methodical, if nothing else. His eyes granted him much more than that, that was for sure, but even so, he didn't see the need to exert himself too much.
There was always the possibility that a random jonin would free himself long enough to attack a lowly chunin such as himself, and he'd need all of his tricks to get out of it alive.
He knew that much, it had happened several times already. Sasuke battalion was made of fifty chunins and ten jonins, and that was without considering the auxiliaries that got on and off the rooster, along with the med-nins, which were shuffled quietly along the border.
Sasuke's head tilted back with a negligent gesture, letting the shuriken whizz past him just while his right hand let out three of the ninja-stars, steel wire tied them to his fingers as he changed their direction mid-air with daint twitches of his fingers.
The first shuriken spun cleanly across the fingers of the one that had gunned for the Last Uchiha, distracting him long enough for a familiar dark-haired chunin to stab his femoral artery, while the second and the third intercepted a couple of kunai respectively.
Covering the blind spot of a blonde kunoichi that was busy tearing through her opponents with a single-minded combination of fierce taijutsu and subtle genjutsu that apparently fucked with her opponents' depth perception.
Sasuke had long since discarded his clan's symbol, knowing that it only made him a target, and was dressing the standard chunin uniform. Comprehensive of the flak jacket that, for the first time since the actual beginning of the conflict, saved his life.
A straight jab hit him in his left scapula, exactly at the height and angulation necessary for the kunai tip to Pierce its way to the Uchiha's heart.
Sasuke spun with the blow, unwilling to admit even to himself that his lapse in attention could as well have killed him, and turned with his kunai held high and his eyes spinning red.
He swung wildly his right arm in a backward swing, the kunai in his hand leaving his fingers halfway through his movement so that it killed a Kumo-chunin that had already written the Uchiha off, and his fingers kept as a blade attempted to chop the throat of his opponent.
The admittedly sloppy blow was denied with a negligent parry, which was followed by a kick that stopped cold Sasuke's spin. The foot that had landed on his right hip whipped immediately back, only to land with double the force on the Uchiha's face.
Or it would have, if not for the prodigious capabilities of Sasuke's eyes.
The Konoha chunin ducked even as he stumbled, rolling out of the way of another attack and bringing his hands together in a quick sequence of handseals.
Warmth blossomed in the pit of Sasuke's stomach as the Fire Natured chakra climbed up, spewing out in four small fireballs that detonated on impact.
Sasuke's opponent was clearly a veteran chunin, and thusly retreated instead of risking coming in closer.
The two looked at each other for an instant, both breathing heavily.
The skirmish was almost over, there were stragglers in both areas of the battlefield, which were being ganged up upon by the superior forces leaving the individuals to fend for themselves just a bit longer: Shinobi techniques didn't pres themselves well to the samurai-like view of war.
Soon enough, the survivors would band together, and since by then most of the respective chakra would have been spent, the battlefield would go to those with the numeric advantage, while the smaller force retreated through the territory that had been previously trapped foreseeing the possibility of a retreat.
None would risk following the path an enemy laid out for them, even less with little to no chakra to spare.
During Sasuke's first fight, his breath had come in ragged and uneven because of the fear and the thrill, while his eyes had been wide with expectations and wild reactions.
Now, the Sharingan spun slowly, assessing his opponent without fears, seeping chakra in the man's coils with barely any telltale sign.
A sudden sharp stab of pain broke Sasuke's delicate control, bringing him to his knees in the middle of the battle. He turned back his head, finding the man that he had been facing a second before smirking down at him: "What's up with kids these days? They become chunin and think themselves hot shit."
The genjutsu unravelled, revealing that the man he had believed under his thrall was far trickier than what it appeared. In the Kumo-nin's hand rested a katana embedded in Sasuke's leg, pinning him on the ground.
"But you're the Uchiha, so I guess that I'll be rich thanks to you." he grinned wildly, "In a few years, that genjutsu of yours could even become dangerous."
As the man opened his mouth to taunt him some more, shadows crept over his limbs, pinning him in place long enough for a tanto to bury itself in his neck.
"And that," Ino spoke, "is why you don't play with the prey on the field." she smirked, looking down at the one who had been her first and only crush.
After the battle, and after a stern med-nin had healed most of the damage in the Uchiha's leg, the couple of dozen genins that had been deployed to follow Sasuke's battalion's tracks reached the area where the fight had exploded.
immediately dedicating themselves to kill the Kumo-nin still alive but unable to run, to signal the Konoha-nin that had survived to the medic-nins, and to steal everything valuable from the bodies.
...
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