Naruto came in with a left right, fist elbow combination. Yami Naruto was able to block the combo, but did not even see the knee that came in due to his focus on the other attacks. The Dark blond gasped as he felt his intestines crumple under the hit, causing him to fold over the knee like a cheap lawn chair. Less than a second later Naruto spun around on his heel and smashed a foot directly in his dark counterparts face, listening in satisfaction as bone and cartilage broke under his assault.
The force of the kick sent Yami Naruto flying, landing on the ground several feet back skidding along the ground for several more feet before stopping.
Panting heavily Naruto walked over to where the figure of his dark half lie. He looked at the face of himself as the cursed seal receded and smirked.
"Looks like you lost."
His dark half scowled, "Do not think this means I am beaten! I will come back, when the time is right I will return and," A cruel smile graced his lips, "I will destroy Konoha and everything you hold dear."
Naruto watched as Yami Naruto disintegrated, leaving nothing behind, "You can come back as many times as you want." Naruto replied to his other self's parting words, even though he was no longer there to hear them, "I'll beat your ass each and every time."
With the battle over the odd energy that had been empowering him left, causing him to fall to the floor, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
Sakura continued trying to keep an active vigil over her two teammates, however there was a look of exhaustion clearly written on her face. She had been awake for close to eighteen hours, forgoing even short naps since she did not know if or when an enemy would attack. Her head began to nod as she felt herself getting tired.
It snapped back up when she heard the sound of a twig snapping, and turned to see a squirrel running towards her. She gave a sigh of relief when she realized it was not an enemy, however her eyes widened and she threw a kunai towards it. Luckily for the squirrel it hit the ground right in front of it, causing the creature to squeak and run off.
She let out a deep breath as she watched it scurry away and turned back to watch her teammates. Soon enough her head began to nod and her eyes began to close. That was when she heard a chuckle coming from in front of her.
Looking up it was to see the three Oto genin who Naruto had stopped from attacking Kabuto. All of them had a cocky looking smirk on their faces, well, the two whose faces could be seen, she could not tell if the one with his head wrapped in bandages did or not.
"Looks like you've been up all night," came the smug voice from Dosu.
"Now if you don't mind, why don't you wake up the Uchiha. We're here to fight him." Zaku gave the girl a bloodthirsty leer.
"What did Orochimaru do to Sasuke-kun and Naruto!" asked Sakura, causing the trio to widen their eyes in recognition of the name. "You guys work for him don't you! Tell me what that mark he put on them is!"
The group of Oto ninja paused as they absorbed the new information given. The cursed mark was something only the failed experiments or the elite members of Orochimaru's forces had. Something seemed off about their orders now. Why give the Uchiha a curse mark, only to have him assassinated a short while later. And this girl was saying the blond had one as well, which was even more out of character for their leader.
"I wonder what that man is up to…" Dosu wondered out loud; however he pushed aside such thoughts for now.
"Hmph, since you now possess this information I'm afraid we can't let you live. Or the other two for that matter," Zaku prepared to charge the girl.
"Wait Zaku!" Dosu ordered, getting his teammate to stop. The man walked forwards until he stopped at the spot where Sakura threw the kunai. Kneeling down on the grass he ran his hand over the area. "This soil looks like it's been disturbed and the grass isn't growing here. It looks like you tried to set a trap for us, poorly I might add."
Sakura paled, causing the three Oto ninja to smirk before they leapt over the ground. Before they reached the apex of their jump Sakura smirked, using the kunai in her hand to cut a strand of ninja wire attached to the kunai embedded in the ground next to her.
As the second wire was cut, a large log came flying towards the three Oto genin. While the three were slightly surprised by the second trap, they got over it quickly. Dosu placed the hand with the odd metal gauntlet on the log and channeled some chakra into it. The results shocked Sakura as the log was split in two, leaving the trio's progress to her unimpeded.
Her eyes widened as the three descended towards them. As her mind registered that she was going to die a loud shout of "Konoha Senpuu!" distracted her from the defeatist thought, and a green blur appeared in front of the three Oto genin, knocking each of them away with a kick.
As the green blur stopped moving, Sakura managed to recognize the familiar figure.
Lee! She thought, confused but thankful for his help.
"Who the hell are you!" Zaku shouted as he stood up and rubbed his sore cheek.
"I am Konoha's beautiful green beast, Rock Lee," Proclaimed the bowl cut, spandex wearing Genin.
"Lee, what are you doing here?" asked a bewildered Sakura.
The boy looked back at her and grin, "I will always appear whenever you are in danger, Sakura-san." He reached over towards his shoulder and gently grabbed the squirrel sitting on it, before setting the woodland creature on the ground, "It's all thank to you, little guy."
Sakura gave the boy a smile, "Thank you, Lee."
Lee gave her a thumbs up before turning to the Oto genin, "I said it once before, I'll protect you 'til the day I die."
Sakura just smiled as she pulled out a kunai and prepared in case Lee needed help.
Dosu eyed the green clad Genin wearily. He knew better then to judge the boy because of his terrible fashion sense, that speed he had shown proved he was good.
No matter how good he is, he's no match for the three of us, Dosu thought as he began to advance towards Lee.
Darting forward Dosu uncovered the odd gauntlet he was wearing, rearing his fist back to strike at the Genin. Much to his shock said boy waited until he was halfway there before slamming his hands into the ground and pulling out a large chunk of rock and dirt. Dosu's arm hit the rocks, causing it to explode.
"While I have not seen you fight, I remember you bringing that strange gauntlet to bear against Kabuto-san," Lee stated calmly. "Because I don't know what it does, logic dictates that I shouldn't let you hit me with it."
Dosu narrowed his one good eye as he landed on the ground before rushing back towards the Konoha Genin. Lee waited for his opponent to calm calmly, and when Dosu was in range struck out with a right, left combination. The right fist was blocked but the left happened to fast for Dosu to see it until it was too late. Dosu stumbled back and was then kicked in the ribs and went flying back a ways. Grunting he got back up and was forced to jump out of the way when Lee sent a punch at him that was strong enough to make a crater when it hit the ground.
Lee stood back up and faced Dosu who came back at him. Dosu swung at Lee with the arm that did not have the gauntlet attached to it. Lee blocked the arm, grabbed onto his as he threw his opponent into a tree, leaving a small impression.
Dosu narrowed his visible eye as he pushed himself out of the impression he was in before charging at Lee again. Realizing that straightforward tactics wouldn't work, he decided a little deception was in order.
Coming in Dosu made a feint with a high punch, when Lee moved to block him; he switched attacks and came in with a kick that caught lee unawares.
By the time Lee had recovered Dosu was nowhere to be seen. A kick to the back of his head sent Lee stumbling forward before he felt a hand grip his leg and toss him into the air, then slam him into the ground.
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