❈—13:: Sweat More Now, Bleed Less Later

"Naruto," I say, "no more clones."

The words come out brisker than intended, but we're all a little tense from the bloody lesson Kakashi just imparted.

Fortunately, while Naruto looks very unhappy, it's directed at our jōnin-sensei and the boy nods in agreement with my request.

"What's the plan, Sasuke?" Sakura asks, voice wavering just a tad. "If he comes at us like he did those clones, then…" she swallows.

"He's not going to kill us," I say, staring at her in disbelief.

Is she an idiot?

"It's one thing for him to kill a clone to make a point, but he's not going to kill us. At worst he'll leave us with some bruises and a few broken bones."

"I know that," Sakura says, "but like you said, he'll hurt us."

Her green eyes show her fear clearly, as well as the small amount of shame she feels for feeling said fear.

I scowl.

Why did she even become a ninja if she's so scared of getting hurt? And where's the girl who was willing to throw hands with Naruto yesterday morn…

Ah.

She needs a reason to fight. A reason to push past her fear.

Yesterday, it was my promise of having lunch with her; today… well, I guess today will have to be something different.

I sigh.

"Sakura, do you remember what I said about trust?"

Sakura's eyes widen, then she looks away, the shame in her eyes increasing.

I almost sigh again.

"Sakura," I call, and slowly, she looks back at me. "We are a team. Right?"

Sakura nods. Weakly.

I don't like that response.

"Are we a team?" I ask again. More force to my tone.

Sakura takes a breath to center herself, then she nods, more power to it.

"Yes," she replies. "We are."

"Good. Then we stand together. We fight. Together. And we look out for each other. Can I count on you? Both of you?"

I get a "hell, yeah" from Naruto, and a nod from Sakura, a familiar spark in her gaze.

"Good," I say, then turn to face our opponent who's been nice enough to wait for me to get my team in order.

"You guys flank him," I command. "Sakura, take his left; Naruto right. Nothing flashy for now, he might turn it against us.

"Go!"

We dash forward, my teammates spreading out to do as I commanded.

I activate my sharingan in preparation for the fight, and that's when Kakashi moves straight for me.

My eyes track him, of course they do; I have the sharingan, few things can move fast enough to escape my gaze.

While my eyes can keep up with the jōnin though, my body doesn't even come close.

Kakashi weaves around me, my body reacting oh-so slowly even as my mind screams at me to move.

It's almost like a dream.

Kakashi's fingers strike my temples and the biting cold of foreign chakra rushes into my skull, and against my will, the world speeds up again as my sharingan stutters out.

The shock of Kakashi's attack stuns me, and the jōnin grabs and flings me at Sakura.

"Sasuke," Sakura screams as she catches me, stumbling back a bit from the force.

"You bastard," Naruto yells, before flashing through a series of handsigns that my eyes miss in their unenhanced state.

I don't miss the scythe of condensed wind that the blonde sends flying at our opponent though.

Wind Release: Wind Scythe; a c-rank wind jutsu capable of slicing through trees.

Kakashi doesn't dodge, or even acknowledge the attack in any way, but a few feet from him, the jutsu breaks down, washing over the jōnin as a soft breeze instead of the deadly attack it had been.

Naruto's eyes bug out.

"What the hell?" the boy asks.

I try to activate my sharingan again, in the hopes that it will help me glean something that might help, but all I get is a flash of pain for my efforts.

"What did you do to me?" I growl in irritation.

Kakashi makes a poking motion with his right forefinger.

"Shut off some very important chakra points," the jōnin says. "I don't like fighting with my eyes closed, so no sharingan for you.

"Besides, you depend on it too much; use the chakra for something else."

My teeth grind.

"Kunai barrage," I call out, and to the credit of my teammates, they react in record time.

Back at my family's armoury, we'd all stocked up on kunai and shuriken, each of us carrying almost a thousand with the help of storage scrolls.

Now, we can't send all those weapons flying at Kakashi all at once, but it won't be for lack of trying.

Within seconds, the air is covered in weapons, all aimed at a single target.

The first projectiles that reach Kakashi freeze midair then begin to intercept the proceeding ones, knocking them out of the air like they have a will of their own.

That bastard. He's controlling them with chakra strings, he has to be.

With my sharingan out of commission and things moving as fast as they are, I miss Kakashi using the weapons under his control to redirect our attacks back at us.

At least I miss it until a kunai nearly takes my ear off; my quick dodge is the only thing that saves me.

Next to me, Sakura yelps as a shuriken leaves a bloody gash on her cheek.

"Sakura," Naruto screams, and in a rage, charges at Kakashi.

No, you idiot, I scream mentally. Focus. She's fine.

Naruto reaches Kakashi, and in a repeat of earlier this morning, the jōnin's response is a foot to the genin's face.

Naruto seems to have learnt his lesson though, because he dodges around our sensei's foot and tries to sink a kunai into his knee.

Kakashi blurs, and a moment later Naruto is sent flying from a brutal kick to the chest.

"Good," the jōnin says. "You can learn." Then his eyes move over to me. No, to Sakura.

He charges.

"Sakura," I call, the word coming out a command as I move to intercept.

She follows.

I flash through handsigns, spitting a fireball at Kakashi that, much like Naruto's wind scythe, simply breaks apart around him.

How does he do that?

We clash.

I give it my all; punching, stabbing, kicking, my body pushed to its limit and beyond.

It's not enough.

Every punch is stopped, every stab redirected, every kick intercepted, and whenever Sakura tries to help, the jōnin uses some sort of technique that lets his feet slide around on the solid earth to place himself with me between them.

I wouldn't quite say he's toying with us, since he seems to be taking things seriously enough, but he still hasn't thrown a single hit himse—oh.

The punch comes at my face so fast that, just like when he blocked my sharingan, I see it coming but know I can't possibly move fast enough to avoid it.

One inch from my nose though, his fist stops.

What?

"You're not the only one who knows how to use chakra strings," Sakura says.

"Apparently not," Kakashi agrees amicably.

With a mighty tug on the invisible string, Sakura sends Kakashi flying twenty feet into the air.

At the peak of his arc, she pulls him down, clearly intending to smash the jōnin into the ground, but Kakashi flips, rights himself, lands on the empty air, and pulls Sakura to him instead.

I'm not sure what she does, but halfway to him, Sakura somehow negates the force of Kakashi's pull, then, in control once more, she charges at the jōnin midair with a kunai in hand.

They engage for a few seconds, Sakura trying her hardest to stab Kakashi, and Kakashi refusing to be stabbed.

Finally, the jōnin kicks her, sending her to the ground where she tries to soften her landing with a graceless roll.

A wind scythe attempts to take Kakashi's head then, but the jōnin drops, flips slowly in midair, and perches on the ground with cat-like grace.

Naruto stumbles over to stand with Sakura and I. The boy is bruised, dirty, and in obvious pain.

"You bastard," he wheezes even as I place a hand on him, the Mystical Palm Technique active. "I think you broke my ribs."

"Well, you know what they say," Kakashi says, "sweat more now, bleed less later."

"I'm bleeding now," Sakura grouches, pointing at her bloody face where a shuriken had left its mark.

Kakashi giggles.

All three of us grind our teeth.

"Guys," I say, "let's kick his fucking ass."

My teammates concur.

Honestly, fuck the bell. I just want to land one punch on his stupid, smug face.