Jumping back with her readied sword, Sakura can't help but notice that there's only three goons charging at them to start. She decides not to use any special tricks on this one, there's a whole boss fight and she needs to save lightning blades and bloody swings for him. It's strange that the boss fight started in this room, it kind of put a hole in her sails to be wrong about the entire reason for where she stands, but it's probably a balancer for their first clear. She'll need to expect more on the second run through, and if this is Gato, she wonders who'll be here then.
She trusts in her team to handle the other two while she darts into action. Kakashi taught her to be quick and decisive with the blade, it's no use stalling if you can take out the enemy in one swoop. That doesn't mean she never trains defensive combat, the time will come where she's overwhelmed, but it hasn't been incredibly relevant yet and she's hopeful it won't start here. She summons a little water onto the edge of her blade, slashing it towards his sword knowingly. An opportunity to use her techniques like this doesn't come frequently. The live fire nature of this dungeon has helped her grow in leaps and bounds she's sure, and she's not about to waste the chance to get in a little extra training.
Just like she thought, he doesn't take the water into account at all, finding himself surprised when instead of hardening her strike or pulling some kind of crazy jutsu, it harmlessly splashes off of their clash and hits him in the face. It's not a long moment of surprise, but it's enough for her to pivot to the right, leave their clash, and behead the man. She barely has time to take a breath, before another is approaching her, and she definitely doesn't have the chakra to do that forever. "Oh that's not good."
A third is out before the second even gets to her. "Taking them on one by one isn't an option." She declares, holding her sword heavily with both hands and glaring at the boss. "We need Ah Oh Ee."
"Ah Oh what?" Sasuke asks.
"Crowd control." She explains, dodging a slash and downing another weakling, just for two to take his place. Sparks fly as she moves and cuts, like the elements are guiding her movements and the elements are very pissed off. "I need you to try and bunch them up and take them out at once while I go after the boss."
"Or we could just outlast them." Sasuke says, as she hears the thud of one of his opponents hitting the ground. "They're not strong."
"He could have an infinite amount." Sakura says. "If we were in the real world I'd agree with you, but here in a dungeon they really could be endless, we can't take our understanding of physics for granted and assume they apply where they demonstrably do not."
"I guess they are fake." Sasuke grumbles, spearing another man with a threaded ninja wire and a swung shuriken. He's swinging it around in circles, having it flow like a river of blade and slit throats as easily as she slashes. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I." Sakura doesn't wait for him to say he'll do it, she takes one passing glance to ensure Naruto's holding his own before she's darting past the next group and closing distance on the boss.
She doesn't look behind her, she trusts in her team to be able to handle the horde. Instead she focuses all the stops on him. Her blade wreaths itself in lightning, weak or not, it should be enough for a man who doesn't look like much of a fighter. He stands still and watches her, eerily, uncaringly, like she's insignificant and small. It's unsettling, but nowhere near as unsettling as when nothing happened at the start of this room. Her nerves have already been fought back, so she's not about to falter here. "Die!" She lunges at him, swinging her sword with all her might in an attempt to decapitate and electrify him.
Clang.
She finds herself stopped still mid jump, hands shaking, electricity waning. His cane stands between them, and she didn't even see it move.
[Gato: Chunin level Elite, Bandit Lord]
"Oh shit." It's all she can say before he steps in towards her, pushing her off balance, and swings his cane just right for her block to send her skidding backwards across the glowing stones. Her hands throb from the vibrations of blocking a strike meant for someone several times stronger than her, and she stands steady, relenting on her own limiters and sending her life force into the sword.
It glows at first, before it shimmers to life in acceptance of her offering. It tints a mere moment later, reflecting the evil nature of their bargain. She's never really tested how far she can take it, or just how much of a force multiplier every drop of blood actually is in a quantifiable manner, but it makes her stronger and that's all that matters in a fight like this.
The ground beneath her scrapes against her footwear as she slides her footing into a proper defensive stance. Taking him out fast isn't going to work, she has to be tactical, and trust in her team to handle matters until she's succeeded.
She started this mission not trusting in them to take care of themselves, and she got hurt for that assumption. She'll learn from her mistakes, she has to. No one will suffer because she stagnated, not her teammates, not Kakashi, not her parents, not even Haku. She will grow, and she will tower above her foes if it's the last thing she does.
"That won't work, little girl," Her foe laughs at her with a toothy grin that would fit well in a horror game about surreal experiences. "You think a man like me deals with mercenaries without having insurance for if they turn on me? A man doesn't live very long with that kind of attitude."
He's not attacking, just using the opportunity to send more men towards her team. It's odd, he's not even trying to send them to her, like he doesn't care. It's irritating, but mostly it's telling. She's not strong enough to do this alone, or at least he doesn't think she is.
"I don't have time to listen to your prattling." She exits her defensive stance, knowing it was a wasted movement if he's not going to move, and launches herself back at him. The force of her steps alone crack the ground below her, and she brings her sword around for an overhead swing. "Block this!" With a mighty crash, the bloodied blade sends an haunting amount of malice into the air. Her eyes glow a bright red, and her hands grow stiff like iron, stopping her attack from bending or breaking despite putting her all into it.
There's just one issue. Gato swings his cane up to block her, and then doesn't move. Wind blows around her, a shockwave heating up the air around them as if an explosion has gone off. He doesn't move. She jumps back, channeling her chakra to her feet to help her next charge, and with everything she has she tries again, launching herself back into the fray to bisect the man.
He swings his cane to meet her with a bored expression, flame erupts from the force of their clash, but he doesn't move. Again, and again, he meets her all and finds her wanting, pushing her back with simple blocks that make her bones feel weary and her muscles tear.
He continues to gesture with his free hand, absent mindedly calling her a fool with his actions alone, and summoning more and more minions. "This is bullshit." She grunts, jumping away and readying herself.
There's no way Gato is this strong, this is a dungeon gimmick meant to be handled with teamwork. He's not repelling her with power, that'd cause his hands to wave or his body to strain, he's repelling her conceptually. It's the same concept as her Genin Strength, he's above her and she cannot harm him alone.
He's a minion boss focused on teamwork, the gimmick is obvious to an elite like her, it's also difficult. "I need help!" She shouts, digging her heels into her pride and ripping away for salvation. She's never liked teammates, she's always tried to solo, even in missions in real life she's done her part and let the others do theirs.
Their plans have revolved around everyone doing what they do best, working together only in theme. "I can't do this alone!"
It hurts, it stings her eyes and she feels her heartbeat race, but she has no choice.
It's fail, or be a team, and she really hopes no one teases her about being a damsel in distress when this is over.
She barely has time to get over herself before she feels a familiar hand on her shoulder. "What do you need?"
This really isn't who she expected, strong hands and supportive grip aside, Naruto should have come to her aid not Sasuke. Sasuke's got the AOE, and- a simple look back explains it.
There's not just a few clones, there's not even dozens, there are hundreds of her brother there in the mix beating on bandits and knocking them to the floor. She's not looking at a bar brawl, she's looking at a one man war made trivial in a way she can only call impossible. "He's truly inspiring." She gasps, catching her breath while Gato ignores them. He sends more men, again and again, she gets the feeling he would happily do that forever if given the chance. Attacking isn't on his agenda, and she's okay with that. It gives her time to recover.
"More like impossible," Sasuke grunts, "you ready?"
"Yeah." She sprints into action once again, this time without adding blood to the sword. If it's conceptual, the amount of power she throws into it isn't important, and a quick look at her life shows she wasted half of it during that last attack. She can't afford to just waste life force like that, even if her HP is significantly higher than when she came to Wave.
Despite her pragmatism, a twinge inside her looks to Sasuke for just a second, tempted to signal the sacrificial technique they'd practiced despite his complaints. It worked on the demon twins, and it is teamwork, but guilt reminds her exactly why she shouldn't. Sasuke let her into his feelings at that dinner table, and she can't trample on that. Not in the same fight she begged for his help.
Besides, she shouldn't be jumping into his flames casually, that should be saved for real emergencies. Instead, she clashes blade against cane, and finds the result is exactly the same. All the additional power in the world didn't help her before, and it wouldn't now. She made the right decision, and finds herself quite proud of her deduction as she clashes against him over and over. It's fast paced, and astounding he can keep up, but that's the nature of a dungeon. Like an enemy that's invincible during certain phases, or attack patterns, it makes sense and she wishes she'd figured it out sooner.
Sasuke sends a kick from behind him, and she's surprised when it lands on the man and actually tips him forward a bit. That doesn't stop Gato from spinning around and smacking Sasuke out of the way, before parrying her strike at his back by sending his cane under his arm. Another spin has her flabbergasted, before with an additional strike against her she's sent back.
He's not being taken down, but he's stopped summoning, and that's enough to give Naruto time. That's all they need to do now, buy him time and maybe take him out if they find the opportunity.
Sasuke dives back in, and finds himself hit in the stomach by a kick, while the man flimsily strikes her sword and sends her back several steps all over again. He's sloppier, slower, but they're taking damage and that's not fair. This is a businessman! They're ninjas, Sasuke's trained harder than anyone she's ever known and he doesn't even look like he walks to his destinations!
"Grrr, eat this!" She distances herself from him again, hilting her sword in its scabbard and pulling out a forgotten relic from ten minutes ago. Shiny crossbow gripped in one hand, she slots in a blazing ruby tipped bolt, takes aim, and waits just a moment for Sasuke to make his starting hand seals before she fires.
It's clear the man isn't sure what to do, so in his moment of confusion he does the best thing he can, he uses a swing to knock the bolt out of the air. A smirk finds its way onto her face as the ruby shatters, and in game-like fashion, a jutsu emerges. Not a weak one, not even a strong one, a medium size and proud of it explosion of fire that overtakes the man the instant it lands. "Call me goldilocks because that was just right!"
"That was bad!" She hears Naruto shout from behind her, and she has just enough time to puff up her cheeks indignantly, before she hears it.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke's shout feels like it should shake the room, and the lack of earthquake to accompany it tires her nerves. Instead of firming her footing, she watches as a giant fireball launches itself towards Gato. She's rarely gotten a chance to see the Uchiha rite of passage, he's never used it on her during training, and watching the devastation it brings on impact alone, she's grateful he cares about her enough to hold back.
For if the engulfing madness that captures the dungeon boss, charrs his flesh and makes her gem tip look like a match stick is to be understood, she would have died a lot earlier than meeting and being attacked by Zabuza.
"I guess we got him." Sakura sighs in relief, palming her knees and looking at her crossbow. That was simple, it just required teamwork and an uncharacteristic amount of violent intention from Sasuke. "See? Not even the one burning people to death." She blinks her eyes, wipes her face, and takes a deeper breath than she's taken in days. Even when training until oblivion, she didn't feel this exhausted. The tiredness that comes from victory engulfs her rapidly, adrenaline fading and a dopey smile overtaking her face. That is, until she looks up, just in time to see the smoke clear. "Well that's just not fair, or realistic." She grumbles pitifully.
Instead of the ash she expected, she sees a burly figure with ripped muscles. The business man is twice the size he used to be, and while his skin is bright red and suit is completely destroyed, that only shows off the raw power of his muscles. He looks like she imagines Maito Guy's student looks, underneath the spandex. The crazy man has caught her eye a few times in her training so far, and he's left about as much impact as this is about to.
The burly man poses dramatically, and despite her newly renewed fear, she can't help but notice it's not all bad. None of those poses are drawing in new minions, which means they seem to have passed the minion phase.
This idea is confirmed when she hears her teammate's feet hit the ground beside her. "Need help?" Naruto asks.
"Yeah, I get the feeling this is about to suck." She says.
Gato poses at them like an old man in an anime and places a hand on his bulging biceps. His grin splits his face from ear to ear, and she can't help but feel a little spiteful that her very first dungeon has this kind of crap. "Here I thought I was in an adventure but it turns out I'm in an overblown drama."
The man doesn't pay her anymore mind, in fact, he bolts away from them at top speed. It's enough to make her blink, "huh?" before she spots his fist about to embed itself in Sasuke's face. Her raven haired teammate is stricken squarely, throwing him back before Gato is back on the offensive and is forcing him from side to side like a chew toy in an enthusiastic dog's mouth. "Grr-" Sasuke barely manages to grunt in between attacks, being pushed back well beyond his limits in a very short timeframe. She can't use her crossbow for fear of hitting Sasuke, but at that speed of combat she's not sure she can get involved either.
She stills herself, takes a deep breath, and tries to send the lightning chakra she's been practicing through her limbs. Being faster is a requirement, even if it wears her out faster than she'd like. What's the point of being in tip top shape if Sasuke's hurt?
What's the point of even being a team if she's not willing to burden herself to help those she cares about? She sees Sasuke take another hit, harming her concentration but not shattering it. She just needs to focus, she just needs to give it her all.
She wills herself to be better, to pull off the jutsu to its fullest without spasming or hurting herself. She only has so much life to give, and this has to work for her to be able to contribute. She can't hastily waste even a drop of chakra or HP, and yet she still has to rush enough to get in the way and protect Sasuke before the worst happens.
She watches him with desperation, screaming inside her head to finish it so she can move her cute tush and knock that jerky shipping magnate into oblivion.
All her internal screaming does nothing at all to make watching Sasuke take a hit to the stomach any easier. She watches him ragdoll backwards, she watches him flip in mid air and slam into the stone ground below hard enough for it to shatter like glass. Glowing shards stick into his teammate from all angles. "Figured out what the glowing floor does." She hears Sasuke grunt like his life isn't in danger. He bleeds like any other, he loses HP like any other, just because they can't see his statistics doesn't mean she's not mentally calculating where he must be at after an attack like that.
Gato steps towards Sasuke, and Sakura sees nothing but red.
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