I apologize for the delay, but here you go. Chapter 2!
The Grudge of an Elite
Guy merely laughed and grinned with his flaming passion gleaming in his eyes, a gleam that could be seen from miles away had the fog not been present. "I see… well then, it's about time we end this. Our battle record stands at 50 win and 49 losses; I will NOT allow you to have the same number of wins as me!" He spoke proudly and confidently.
Kakashi just sighed and covered his face. Only one such as Guy wouldn't see the obvious annoyance in Kakashi's only visible eye. "Guy… you egotistical fool, counting each win and each loss." Kakashi replied as he prepared for Guy to come at him. "Okay, why not? I'm ready."
With that, Guy quickly came charging at Kakashi with a speed greater then what Lee had shown during his Chunin Exam preliminary match against Gaara. His left fist came for Kakashi's head, while his right leg was already coming up to prepare for Kakashi to duck the punch. Kakashi simply used a Replacement Jutsu to evade Guy's attack, and appeared behind Guy with a Kunai at Guy's throat.
Guy simply laughed without a care in the world and without a bead of sweat anywhere on his body. "It's completely clear why you are my rival, but I WILL win our 100th battle!" he yelled as his quickly spun around to perform a Roundhouse Kick at Kakashi.
Sakura began to freak out after she dodged the Kunai and heard TenTen's voice. "What's going on here? Why are you attacking us?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Neji spoke up as he looked at her with just a serious look that was almost without emotion. "We're on opposite sides of the battle for this village. As much as we don't want to attack you…"
"We have some scores to settle!" Rock Lee finished for Neji. "And we are not going to let anyone interfere!" he continued as he grabbed the collar of Sasuke's shirt and dragged him out a ways away from the other Genin, but far enough away from Kakashi and Guy to avoid them completely. As he came to a stop, Lee threw Sasuke out in front of him. "I am disappointed in you, Uchiha. You should have seen me coming with that Sharingan of yours. But, then again, even the Sharingan is not as powerful as the Byakugan."
Sasuke quickly rose to his feet, seeing the same gleam in Lee's eye that Kakashi saw in Guy's, but a stance that was much different. "I have been dreaming of the chance to fight you since I saw your battle with Gaara." Lee continued. "But will you give me the same challenge as you gave him, or have you gotten weaker since then?"
Only a grin arose on Sasuke's face as he looked at Lee. "I guess there's only one way to find out." He spoke with confidence as he began charging chakra into his left palm as he usually did for his Chidori, but instead he began swinging it around as if he were holding a ninja weapon. Both he and Lee moved around at great speeds, both attacking and dodging. Not a single attack managed to get through, but Lee quickly backed away when the chakra on Sasuke's palm got too close and made a rip in Lee's jumpsuit.
Lee jumped backwards and stopped as his outfit was ripped, standing in his usual position while staring at his opponent. Sasuke stopped as well to catch his breath. He held his left shoulder and dispelled the chakra in his hand while working to catch each breath. "Impressive, Uchiha." Lee spoke in a superior tone. "You can even turn the 'Lightning Blade' into a 'Lightning Dagger'. But the amount of chakra required to maintain it is exhausting, not to mention the energy it takes to constantly run at high-speed. You are not used to it, while I have been training like this for years. This is a match you cannot win!"
Sasuke looked up as beads of sweat ran down his face. "No, that just means I have to end this fast!" He shouted as he began performing multiple hand signs, then once again charged chakra to his left palm again. But this time, the chakra formed a layer on top of Sasuke's palm. Sasuke then begins charging at Lee as if he were using the "Chidori".
Lee looked on in surprise as Sasuke came at him, and was unable to get away completely. As he began to run to get away, Sasuke then stretched out his left hand and slammed it into Lee's right arm. Upon impact, Lee's entire right arm is engulfed in flames, which quickly died out. Sweat then began falling from both faces as Sasuke began holding his left shoulder again as Lee held his right. "I… got you...!" Barely escaped Sasuke's lips while trying to catch his breath again, which almost synchronized with Lee's heavy breathing.
"What was that?" Lee muttered as he looked up. His eyes were filled with the excitement of fighting a good fight, combined with a hint of fear that Sasuke has being getting more powerful himself. Sasuke's eyes hinted nothing more then intensity. When they looked together, it almost seemed like an eternity had passed by, thinking back to their fight just before the Chunin Exam, and how much they've grown since then.
After another eternity seemed to pass, they both finally regained their composure, and Sasuke answered the question. "I crafted that from the 'Lightning Blade' Kakashi taught me.... I call it the 'Flaming Palm Jutsu'! Anyone or anything hit with this jutsu bursts into flames. The flames last for only a second, but that's long enough for it to deal the damage I need it to." He spoke with that same hint of intensity in his voice. Lee, too, expressed what was found in his eyes through his voice, via laughing with joy.
"Get up, fool!" Neji spoke as he kicked Naruto in the side with extreme force to send him over the side of the bridge. "It's about time I made you pay for humiliating me at the Chunin Exams."
Naruto floated up to the water's surface, coughing and gagging to catch his breath as he climbed on top of the water using the technique his trainers taught him. "What does.... that..." Naruto started, still coughing to get the water out of his wind pipe. "have to do with... what you're doing here...?"
"I'm merely performing what I was hired for, and that is to assist in taking over this village. But there's nothing wrong with settling a score while I'm at it." Neji calmly defended. Naruto jumped back up onto the bridge, no longer coughing, and stared into Neji's lavender eyes.
"That's no excuse for what you're doing! It's a band of thieves for crying out loud, attacking a village that has no means of defense except for hiring Shinobi! What's the point?" Naruto yelled.
"You just don't get it, do you, Naruto?" Neji asked. "We're ninja! Basically, we're hounds for hire. If someone asks our village for a mission and has the funds to pay for it, we take it, no matter what the situation calls for. This is the way of the Shinobi, if you don't understand that, I'll just knock you out so you won't worry about it until the deed is done."
"Heh heh, just you try it!" Naruto shouted with confidence. "In case you forgot, I laid you out flat on your back last time we fought!"
"Just shut up, you moron. That was just a fluke and you know it!" Neji shouted back, already losing his cool.
"Whatever, all I know is that you let your guard down like a Shinobi should never do, and I taught you that the hard way!"
"You insolent little…" With that, Neji couldn't hold himself back any longer. He pulled a single Kunai from his holster and charged towards Naruto. Naruto pulls out one of his own and jumps over Neji, using the Kunai to hold off Neji's while he gets over him. But Neji adds a little extra force behind the Kunai to knock Naruto's arm out of the way. Then he used his free arm to poke that arm with a pair of fingers, stopping a chakra point. Before he landed, Neji grabbed Naruto's leg and slammed him down hard on the bridge.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she heard the impact. She looked behind her and saw Naruto stuck in a large crater in the bridge formed with his body, with pieces of wood scattered around him and in the water below. But then both Sakura and Naruto let out a yelp as a Shuriken came flying at him, getting stuck in the bridge just below Naruto's left elbow.
"Sakura... your cheek." was all he said. Sakura raised her hand to her right cheek to wipe her blood from a cut left by the flying Shuriken.
"What a cheap shot!" Sakura yelled at TenTen as she turned her back to her opponent.
"Hey, you heard what Naruto was saying, a Shinobi should never let down her guard. I was just teaching you the hard way." TenTen replied as she jumped into the air with Kunai loaded in her right hand and Shuriken in her left. She spun in midair, releasing all her Kunai and Shuriken in pairs with each rotation, a total of 8 weapons.
She was obviously testing Sakura's abilities, the Kunais flew straight at her but the Shuriken curved in the air and flew faster. Sakura was able to pull out a Kunai of her own to deflect them. But when she counted, she noticed she missed a Shuriken. "Naruto!" She shouted in fear as she looked back to see the missing star flying towards Naruto's head. But before she could do anything about it, Neji had extended his hand to catch it.
"What are you doing Neji?" TenTen asked as she dropped to the ground. "We should get him now while his guard is down."
"No, TenTen, this is my battle and mine alone. Stay out of it." Neji responded. TenTen seemed speechless, giving him a clueless look that she usually only gave Lee.
Naruto finally got out of the crater and stood back on his feet, holding the Shuriken TenTen had thrown, the one with Sakura's blood lightly splashed on it. "Geez, I didn't know you cared." he smirked.
"Quiet, you!" Neji snapped back at Naruto, throwing TenTen's other Shuriken at him. "You're in no position to make wisecracks!"
Naruto just laughed as he grabbed the Shuriken with ease, then quickly retaliated by throwing both back at Neji. "You actually think that can help you? You don't have any skill throwing those, you can't even get it close to me." Neji laughed as the stars curved around him without even getting within ten feet of him. But then, Naruto slamed his fist into the bridge. Neji looked puzzled, but noticed what was wrong! "What the! There were wires attached to those Shuriken!" Neji exclaimed. As the wires force his arms to his sides, a Naruto clone pops out from under him, similar to the way Naruto beat him at the Chunin Exams.
In a minor panic, Neji used his "8 Trigrams Palms Rotation" in an attempt to keep the clone away from him. As the chakra flowed from Neji's body, the wires were lifted off and recoiled, and the clone was knocked back towards Naruto himself. Naruto, too dumb to get out of the way, got knocked down by his clone.
"You're not going to fool me twice. I not going to let you disgrace me again!" Neji shouted.
The clone disappeared from on top of Naruto. "Disgrace? What do you mean?" He asked as he rose to his feet yet again.
"You turned me into a laughingstock that day. I went from being an 'Elite' to being the 'Failure of Failures'. Last year's 'No. 1 Rookie' couldn't even beat this year's 'No. 1 Loser' in the event everyone came to see!" Neji spoke with intensity, a tone he usually never showed.
Kakashi used his Kunai to fend of Guy's Roundhouse Kick, then threw it towards Guy as he was regaining his footing. Guy laughed and performed backflips, catching the Kunai with his foot on the first flip and kicked it high in the air, far too high to return before the battle's end. After a few more flips, Guy then began charging at Kakashi, and just before impact, Guy lifted his feet above the air, bending one underneath him and pointing the other towards Kakashi.
"Dynamic Entry!" Was the ridiculous attack call he declared.
Kakashi sidestepped to the right and grabbed Guy's leg with his right hand, then pressed his left arm up across Guy's chest and slammed him down into the bridge. "So, how many villages have you conquered, together with that gang of thugs?" Kakashi asked, who held yet another Kunai knife in his left hand, holding it to Guy's throat once more.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Guy replied. "We just barely accepted this mission."
Kakashi's one visible eye took on a shocked look. "Impossible! Those thugs have been using Shinobi all this time to capture villages!"
"Well it wasn't us. I'm telling you the truth, we only left the village a couple days ago and have been planning our attack with the gang since then. But even then, we never saw any other ninja with them." Guy confirmed.
"But there must be other ninja that have been working with that gang all this time. But why would they ask for more now?"
"You make me wanna cry." Naruto began taunting Neji once again. "Who cares? It doesn't matter what happened at the Chunin Exams. You got beat for once, so what? The only thing that matters right now is that you're trying to attack this village of hardworking, innocent people. They never did anything wrong to deserve this!"
"You still don't get it, I'm merely doing the job I was hired for." Neji said, seemingly calm again.
"And I can't let you get away with i- ahhh!" Naruto yelled before he could finish. A claw had appeared through the bridge, grabbed Naruto's leg, and pulled him down through the bridge. A loud splash could be heard as Naruto hit the water yet again.
Awww... the fights were just getting good, too! Oh well, hope you enjoyed it! Please review, chapters release sooner if I get many of reviews!