Impossible to Forgive

Chapter 32: Five

I took a few shaky steps as the large chakra loss made itself known. How on earth had I been careless enough to hold onto a person who could siphon off chakra? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Now I probably had even less time that I could use the Eight Inner Gates. I really needed to hurry because once the Second Gate closed again, I definitely would not be able to move again for quite a while. I had to finish this now.

This time, Sasainako charged me first.

"Wood Style: Great Forest Technique!"

The ragged black branches shot towards me, and I nimbly dodged them despite my bad hip. You've got to love how the First Gate removes all of the restrictions that your mind puts on you movements. It literally will let you tear yourself apart.

I slipped past the attack and brought a karate chop down towards the top of her head: the most classic fake-out. She fell for it. Sasainako's hands flew up over her head to guard it before she even had time to process the swift attack. As soon as her hands were out of the way, I kicked her as hard as I could in the chest.

She flew backwards and aged about thirty years. I knew that her voice sounded much older than one that would come out of the thirtyish-year-old body that she had. Also, she was married twenty-nine years ago so the fact that she wasn't actually thirty did not come as a shock to anyone.

Her blood red hair turned rusty and dull like a scab, and her face grew slight wrinkles at the eyes and around the mouth. Despite the rapid aging to what I would guess was about sixty, she still had the stance of a powerful ninja. Her body was lithe and fit, and her dull eyes had not changed at all.

She glared at me with hate, "It's been a long time since I fought someone powerful enough to break my transformation jutsu with a single blow." Her eyes held pure hate. I guess that she's pretty touchy about her appearance.

With reckless fury she charged, batting me to the side. I slammed against a wall, hitting with my right hip first. My vision turned red temporarily, but I didn't let myself pass out. Next, Sasainako turned to Kakashi. He was barely holding on in his severely weakened state. She was driving him back, and at this rate he stood no chance. She landed a punch on his chest and lowered what would be a deciding blow towards him before he could recover.

Time seemed to slow down. I wanted to save him. No, I needed to save him. Every fiber of my being prepared for the attack, and with a scream, I busted open the Gate of Life, the Gate of Pain, and the Gate of Limit. With five of the eight now broken, I moved faster than I've ever moved before and punched Sasainako away from Kakashi.

She flipped back and landed catlike on her feet, but I was already there in front of her. I unleashed all of my pain, both the results of my injuries and of her torture, onto to her. The strikes came faster than even I could follow. At this point it was all mindless muscle memory.

I finished with a powerful punch to her gut. The shock traveled throughout her entire body and a huge clot of blood flew out of her mouth. Lunging forward, I punched her in the chest, and I could feel the ribs give out under the strike.

She crumbled to the floor in defeat. I was no doctor, but I knew that she would only survive her wounds if she received medical attention immeadiately.