Foundations

Chapter 11

Menma took off at a sprint around the village, seeing Kakashi's cats helping out with things as he organized and coordinated the villagers. He was doing his best to manage while keeping an eye on the town square; the more things heated up there, the more anxious Menma became. He did another sweep of the buildings, making sure there were no villagers left.

A sudden, overwhelming sense of negativity washed over him, coming directly from the square. It was a mix of pain, coming from one of them, and worry coming from another; he was confident the worry was coming from Sakura, while the pain... Sasuke? Unable to ignore it, Menma turned and raced toward the square, angered at the sight he saw.

Sasuke was trapped in what appeared to be a contraption made of... mirrors? They were black but reflected whatever was in them. Kakashi was locked toe-to-toe with the man with the large cleaver sword, his left Sharingan glowing red as they circled one another. Though it looked like there was no fight going on between them, it was tenser than that; they were contemplating their next moves, something that made it clear the level of skill Kakashi held and was up against.

Well, that left one option. Kakashi would be fine; Sasuke'd managed to get himself in a stupid situation again from Menma's perspective, and he was going to have to play saviour. Drawing in a deep breath as black chakra surrounded him, the Uzumaki charged forward, his speed impeccable as he crashed through one of the mirrors headfirst, hardly caring about the damage it would do to him. He pitched into a roll and sprung back up to his feet in front of Sasuke, a kunai drawn.

Sakura watched the scene from afar, worry creeping in her gut as she was doing her best to watch their opponent's technique while subsequently monitoring Sasuke's status inside it. As Menma crashed through, she didn't even have time to warn him; of course, he'd been impulsive as usual, going in without regard to what the situation was. Now she had both boys to monitor and help from outside, and she hadn't had enough time yet to figure out Haku's technique.

"The hell are you doing?!" Sasuke demanded as he stared incredulously at Menma, wincing as he tried to move. He was struggling to remove a few of the needles to gain some mobility back; it was painful to try and take them out. Who it was they were up against knew precisely where to hit for the least amount of damage and the most pain.

"Looking out for your stupid ass, it seems," Menma replied tartly. Why was Sasuke such an ungrateful bastard? Sheesh, was this what he got for being nice? "Because you're really good at getting yourself in the absolute fu--"

"Oh, because I needed your help," Sasuke argued back, pulling out two of the needles and standing up. "If you'd used your brain instead of your ego, you'd have figured out that coming in here means you're now stuck!" Sasuke couldn't understand how Menma hadn't figured that one out; Sakura standing outside should have been enough confirmation for that. "But no, look at me, I'm Menma Uzumaki, thinking with my ego instead of my head!"

"Oh, well, soooooorry, Mr. Uchiha Prince. Would you prefer I rough your face up for the ladies next time?" Menma's tone was mocking as he sneered at the Uchiha. God, he was so obnoxious! You help a guy out, and suddenly you're the stupid one, it seemed. Was there any pleasing the Uchiha Prince? Apparently not!

"Shut up, you troglodyte! This isn't the time!" Sasuke wasn't going to stand for this right now, turning to stand back-to-back with Menma. They could cover each other better that way. If Menma was stupid enough to get stuck in here, that wasn't Sasuke's problem. Menma could learn from his own stupidity. At least his presence would be somewhat helpful. "Besides, ladies like battle scars, especially when you're not the world's biggest douchebag."

"Oh, look at you with your big-brain insults," Menma mocked back, snarling. "Shut up and actually cover me, unless you want to whine about your boo-boo injuries instead. Hey, maybe if you're lucky, Sakura can patch you up while you swoon over how cute she is." Menma knocked a few of the needles away, chuckling at his cleverness. It was clear Sasuke had some kind of crush on Sakura from how he seemed to fawn over her.