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Sunday, January 20, 2013

One Day at a Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters and make no money from this.

Day Forty: Shatter

All of a sudden, Sakura's eyes went wide and her mouth gaped open enough to make a fish jealous.

Kakashi watched her with mild surprise, blinking several times to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Her hands clasped together loudly as she gasped out a word he didn't quite catch, but sounded like finally.

"We're getting out of here!" The chuunin exclaimed suddenly, a large grin forming on her full lips. "Today!"

"What?" The jonin let out, his eyes wide with surprise and watching her as if she was crazy.

"I realized that th-" Her sentence was cut short when the sound of the lock being opened reached her ears, her head snapping towards the source of the noise."Damn it! I'll tell you after this."

The couple didn't say a word more as the door opened slowly, revealing Koroku and his eight men behind him. The Copy Nin's heartbeat kicked up when his eyes landed on the long, thin sword that their captor carried loosely in one hand, clearly showing that this meeting wouldn't be peaceful.

"Restrain them." Koroku ordered. His subordinates quickly obeyed, splitting into two groups that headed to the captives. Kyo and another lanky man surrounded Sakura, gripping one of her arms each and keeping her firmly in place.

"Kakashi!" His comrade shouted suddenly when the six others approached him with various kinds of chains and ropes. A quick look into her eyes confirmed what he had first thought; whatever plan she had just created didn't involve him being restrained.

When the first metal chain wrapped around his wrist, his hand shot out grip it before roughly pulling the holder towards him. Making use of his incredible speed, the jonin pulled on the cold restraint until he had enough loose to twist around his enemy's neck, snapping it easily with a strong tug. His mind was in overdrive, in combat mode as he observed his surroundings for the fraction of a second, counting the five men that surrounded him, the two that held Sakura down and Koroku in the background, who still stood as if nothing was happening.

One down. Eight to go.

Using the same chain, he dashed behind two of his opponents, tying them both together with it. He heard them fall to the floor, incapacitated for the moment, before he moved on to the next target, twisting the chain around his fist before he punched him square in the forehead with all the strength his medium-sized arms hid so well. The loud crunching noise and blood coating his fingers were more than enough to let him know that the guy was dead before his body hit the floor.

Two. Seven more.

It was amazing what one could accomplish in five seconds, really. Kill two men, incapacitate two more, formulate a plan to murder another... All feats that Kakashi could add to his already numerous collection. None of these idiots had even registered what was going yet, the stricken look on their faces the only reaction they had the time to show before his leg swung until his heel connected with the nose of one of the tied men, killing him on impact. The silver-haired man aimed another punch to the other trapped guy, his fate a copy of the man he'd previously hit with the chain.

Four. Five more.

Kakashi barely had the time to sidestep and avoid the blade of Koroku's sword, resulting in a nick on his hip. Discarding his main's enemy's minion as unimportant threats, the Copy Nin aimed a low kick to Koroku's legs, but the large man easily evaded it. Before the Leaf nin could regain his footing, the missing nin's sword's hilt hit him from behind just below the base of his neck, sending him to the ground with a pained gasp.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Sakura struggling against the two men who had her well pinned to the ground. Unfortunately, her body was far too weak from the continuous abuse she had sustained in the past weeks and was unable to free herself. With a renewed resolve, Kakashi sprung to his feet and dodged a swipe of his enemy's sword. Koroku's men tried to wrap the remaining chain around him, but to no avail, their enemy was much too fast for such low-levels ninja to catch.

Sadly, their boss was easily jonin level and not so easy to deal with. The Leaf jonin cursed under his breath when his opponent summoned a shadow clone, as if one wasn't enough to deal with in the first place. The silver-haired man could only consider himself lucky that his opponent wasn't trying to kill him, or else he would have been long dead before game of cat and mouse between him and the two Koroku got serious.

Kakashi's sharp reflexes allowed him to evade the majority of the strikes, but it wasn't long after one landed that the others followed, taking advantage of any decrease of his speed. The shorter man grunted in pain when twin swords pierced through the muscles of his thigh, sliding in until they exited his flesh on the other side. Even if he could still stand, the jonin was well aware that the fight was over for him. As soon as the swords were removed, his legs would give out and he would barely be able to walk since the muscles needed for the action had pratically been severed. The bastard knew where to aim.

"Kakashi!" Sakura shrieked, fighting with all she had against the men restraining her. The worried cry made guilt seep into Kakashi, wishing he could do more. Taking a deep as the cold metal of the chain wrapped around him, pinning his arm to his sides, Kakashi shut his eyes while he felt the blades retreating from his legs. Just a little effort, he told himself...

Taking advantage of the last burst of strength the adrenaline rush would give him, he forcefully spun on himself, forcing the two men who gripped the chain to come closer to him. His forehead collided the first's nose, causing another sickening crunch that signaled his death. Before his legs finally gave out, the Copy Nin managed to kill the other with a powerful kick to the neck, breaking it with ease.

As he landed on the ground, his mouth fell open as the pain finally hit him full force, no longer quieted down by adrenaline. The proud nin repressed a howl as he realised just how bad the injuries to his thighs were, and how he had probably torn the muscles even further by pushing them too far to kill his two opponents.

Six. Only three left.

The Copy Nin almost wanted to laugh as he thought of it, of how he could still remain focused on these numbers when he couldn't even move and Koroku was approaching him.

"Kakashi... Did you really have to cause such a ruckus?" The brown-haired man sighe as he grabbed on his captive's hair, pulling without mercy on it to force him into a sitting position against the wall to his side.

"I love to make an impression, what can I say?" Kakashi ground out, forcing a smirk on his trembling lips, causing his enemy to laugh sordidly.

"Badass even now." The missing shook his head, grinning widely. "How about you tell be about those jutsus now?"

A glance in Sakura's direction told the jonin that the girl still had no intentions of giving up just yet.

"No."

"Okay then..." The underlying threat in his words made the hair on Kakashi's rise as his eyes followed the man who moved towards his teammate.

On the way, he picked up his sword as he dispelled his clone. Once he was barely two steps away from the pinkette, Koroku raised his sword, dragging the tip of it along Sakura's shirt without cutting it.

"Maybe your friend here can convince you."

Kakashi watched in horror as their captor drew his sword back before swinging it forward. The jonin felt his jaw quivering as he looked at the blade protuding from his friend's lower back, blood pooling on the ground where she kneeled.

"S-Sakura!" He called out, jumping to his feet only to fall back on his knees immedaitely, his legs useless at this point.

The girl grunted as the blade was removed from her body, only allowing more blood to spill. The missing-nin closed the distance between them to free her of the chakra cuffs locked around her wrists, much to both of the Konoha nins' surprise.

"Can't have you dying so quickly, now can I?" Koroku sneered as he nodded towards Kyo and his companion, who let her go right away.

"Will you speak now, Kakashi?" He asked impatiently, raising his arms to his sides to emphasize his point.

"No, he won't!" Sakura protested as her hands flew to her stomach, glowing green with her healing chakra.

Before she could say a word more, a twin wound was inflicted to the other side of abdomen, leaving her to gasp in pain. Her ex-sensei could only watch in frustration, unable to believe her determination. If they didn't turn the tables around, she would be dead before he could do a thing...

"This is the last warning, Kakashi." Koroku threatened, his voice low and menacing. Definitely not joking. "I've been avoiding vital points, but if you don't speak now, I'll pierce that wonderful heart of hers."

The silver-haired jonin was unable to speak, torn between doing as Sakura was silently ordering him through the comanding look in her eyes and doing was asked of him. However, when Koroku pulled his sword back and aimed a strike to her chest, his choice was quickly made.

"No!" He shouted, his whole body shaking as the tip of the sword stopped only inches away from her chest. "I'll tell you everything that you want to know."

"K-Kakashi!" The kunoichi cried out, anger apparent on her face even if her eyes were droop and unfocused from the loss of blood. "What the hell.. do you... think you're doing?!"

"I can't let you die." He replied solemnly, his heart clenching painfully as his teammate fell to the ground, no longer possessing the energy to even sit up anymore. As long as she could still heal herself, she would be fine, the jonin hoped.

"On just one condition though, Koroku." Kakashi said in a hurry, knowing that the quicker this was over, the faster he could bring his friend back to Konoha and to Tsunade. "We'll make a pact."

"What's that?" The other male asked as he kneeled in front of his prisonner, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"You let me perform a blood pact before I give you the information." He started, having to steady his breathing before he continued. "That way we both know we'll get what we want."

"How do I know you won't try to kill me with this neat jutsu of yours?" Koroku asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I need to make sure you won't harm Sakura or me any further... I can't waste any chakra if I want to be able to bring her back to Konoha safe and sound." The jonin explained, looking at his enemy straight in the eyes.

"Hm... I guess I can accept that condition." A sigh of relief escaped Kakashi's lips when his enemy voiced his agreement and removed his chakra-binding restraints.

Immediately, the jonin got to work, performing the numerous seals needed to make the blood pact. A large black circle quickly formed around the two men, surrounding them easily.

"This is pretty easy... State your name and your part of the deal before sealing it with blood. You'll promise not to cause any more harm to me or Sakura, directly or indirectly, and to let us go without any problem." Kakashi instructed quickly before taking a deep breath, waiting for his enemy to nod before he went on.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, will not attack you and reveal how to perform the forbidden jutsus." He stated, his voice dead serious, and proceeded to cut his hand with the blade that Koroku presented to him. He watched a few drops of the red liquid spill and land inside the circle before his eyes returned to his enemy, indicating that it was his turn.

"I, Musashi Koroku, will not cause harm to you or Haruno Sakura and allow you to escape once you have fulfilled your end of the deal." Koroku quickly imitated the jonin, watching the circle turn red before a burning sensation appeared on both of their necks, where a black seal appeared.

"It'll detonate if we go against our promises." Kakashi explained weakly, his breathing labored. His hands formed several more seals, until a scroll materialized out of thin air and landed in his waiting hands. "Everything that you want to know is in there."

After Koroku inspected the contents of the scroll, he seemed satisfied and got to his feet, exiting the room with his two last men.

"Kakashi..." He heard Sakura growl, startling him. "Why did you do that?"

The kunoichi crawled over to him, stopping at his side and moving to heal his legs right away. He shut his eyes tightly as pain shot through his legs as she mended the torn muscles with her chakra, which oddly felt almost like having them shredded.

"This is enough, Sakura..." He ground out, panting. "You need to keep your chakra to heal yourself."

"I'll be okay. If you can't carry me back home, then I'll die anyway." He doubted her words greatly, but felt too weak to argue. The blood she occasionally had to spit out only worried him all the more, even her wounds were still gaping open and weeping blood...

"Okay, that's good... Let's go." She ordered as she removed his hands from his thighs and returned them to her abdomen before got this kneeks, his back to her, so she could climb on his back.

"We're going home, Sakura." He tried to reassure, though he wasn't sure exactly who he was trying to comfort.


Chapter Forty-One: Click Here

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