Naruto's Kit

Chapter 32

Naruto and his clones kept fighting against Sasuke, hoping to keep him busy long enough for him to enter sage mode. Sasuke was sure to have several tricks up his sleeve, and for the blonde this was the best of his own. He couldn't afford to pull any punches here today, but at the same time, he felt he needed to keep his unpredictable side strong too. It might be his only chance to walk away alive.

Sasuke meanwhile wasn't going to take this fight as seriously as when he killed Itachi. Sure, Naruto was tougher now than he was back when they clashed at the Valley of the End the first time. The fact that he survived a chidori thru the chest is proof enough. But the Uchiha's biased view of those around him convinced him that this was going to be a more irritating battle than a challenging one. Surely he wouldn't even need Susanoo or anything like that here.

Many clones ambushed Sasuke and tried to punch him, but his Intercepting Fist made them all disappear effortlessly. They kept coming at him and getting beaten, and soon the air was thick with the smoke from the destroyed clones, weakening Sasuke's vision. While the sharingan was a powerful doujutsu, it was still an eye and thus needed light to do its job the right way. So with his vision obscured, he started to get a disadvantage here.

Sasuke tried a small wind jutsu he had copied to clear the smoke, and when it was gone he saw even more Naruto's heading for him. But this time, each one of them had a rasengan in their hands, giving a total of twelve. Sasuke tried to quickly think of a good way to block them all without wasting his trump cards. He flashed thru some hand signs and cried out "Fire Style: Phoenix Trail Jutsu" before exhaling a long line of fire as he spun briefly. The flame formed a ring around him as he turned in place which should stop the clones from getting close to him.

However, he didn't move quick enough and two clones, holding two rasengans each made it thru to him. They rammed their chakra spheres at the traitor hoping to render him immobile if nothing else. Sasuke reflexively called out Susanoo to block them. It partially worked, for the summoned ribcage took two of the hits but cracked from it. The other two however made contact with Sasuke's flesh and tore into him. The damage was minimal due to a surge of chakra surrounding Sasuke protectively as a side effect of Susanoo, but damage was indeed done. His clothes were torn and some of his skin was shredded off. Nothing fatal though, but inconvenient nonetheless.

Sasuke used a large fireball jutsu to get rid of the rest of the clones while the rest of Susanoo slowly formed around him. It was going slower than normal, probably due to the blow Naruto had made when it was still forming, thus disrupting the jutsu. Sasuke looked around like a predator trying to find the orange-loving ninja, but couldn't. At least until said ninja came bursting thru the ground with an uppercut to the jaw. Sasuke blocked with his left arm and felt it was a serious blow. He pulled out his katana and cut him on the left side of his abs, only for this Naruto to disappear too.

"Damn his clones are irritating. Afraid to fight me yourself dobe?"

"Someone who abandons his comrades has no right to criticize what they do later." Naruto's voice could be heard responding.

"Still preaching like Kakashi loser?" Sasuke tried to locate him but he saw nothing. 'He doesn't have some kind of invisibility jutsu does he?'

"Kakashi-sensei treated you better than Sakura-chan or I. Didn't anything he taught you mean anything to you?" Now it sounded like Naruto was a little bothered or offended.

"The chidori did, even if it didn't do everything I wanted it to." Sasuke lightly smiled at that, but his eyes stayed cool and calculating. 'Keep on talking loudmouth, and give away your position.'