one_long_mission | [OPEN] A Genius Without a Purpose

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[OPEN] A Genius Without a Purpose

The Hyuuga genius was good at many things. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, insight and analyzation -- he could do it all and then some.

Adapting to changes in battle situations or simulations was one thing. Adapting to the fact that he was trapped in this nowhere village without a single member of his clan, his team, or anything even remotely close to what he was used to? Something else entirely. Suffice to say Neji wasn't taking it as well as he could have been.

Presently, he was sitting in the middle of a nearby park fuming to himself, trying to discern just what to do from here. Arms crossed over his chest, he didn't even bother to attempt meditation, just glowered at his surroundings at large.

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For an instant, it seemed like the shuriken bit into his skin and left him lifeless, staring at Neji. But, an instant was all it lasted for; in a burst of smoke, it showed that there was a log in place of Sasuke. He was in the trees behind Neji as he moved away from him, throwing some Kunai to him as he moved. He didn't think he was aiming at a blind spot, but if he can keep the Hyuuga's attention on the projectiles, he can possibly come up with a way to get around Neji's supposedly perfect defenses.

Edited 2012-11-18 21:51 (UTC)

He knew something as basic as that wouldn't be enough to take down Uchiha. With his Byakugan, he can spot the incoming kunai without bothering to look straight at them; as they approach, again, he spins into the Kaiten, letting them deflect as he charges forward again, snatching his kunai and adding his own from his holster, crossing both arms and hurling them forward again.

"I thought you didn't have to run, Uchiha." It's a taunt, lips curved into a wide smirk. If he thought a few kunai were enough to get through his defense, he'd be sorely mistaken.

"Who said I'm running?"

That time, he threw Kunai, giving the appearance that he was rattled. But, once they hit their targets, he was wearing a smirk.

He hadn't been aiming for Neji at all, but at the ground near his feet with the intent of trapping him. The reason? Each one of those kunai had an activated paper bomb reaching closer to explosion at their ends.

He only starts to charge in faster when the other looks rattled, realizing with his eyes too late that it was a false expression. Instead, his gaze drops to the kunai; he's trained with Tenten too long not to know the range of those, and lets out a hiss of annoyance, immediately propelling himself backward out of range and covering his face, both hands in a guarding X position as they detonate.

Shaking a few burning embers from his arms, he only smirks. "You just know that to engage in close combat with me is your ruin."

Sasuke seemed just a little bit too smug then, already having several shuriken in his fingers again as he spoke, "Is there a problem with knowing my opponent?"

The corners of his eyes narrow as his teeth bare in a snarl. He doesn't bother to hurl shuriken this time, leaping up into the trees and dashing forward, more than ready to dodge no matter what the other threw.

Against Sharingan, he doesn't expect it to hold for long, but he weaves a quick hand sign as he runs, summoning a clone on the branch beside Sasuke to launch a false Juuken strike to the Uchiha brat.

The instant he saw the clone, he dodged directly into it and hit nothing. Foolish; only Kage Bunshins were capable of fooling his eyes. Still, he was a little surprised at just how agile Neji was turning out to be. He dropped to the ground then, throwing more trap kunai up towards the branches Neji was on and darting back towards the training field. Yes, trees were blowing up, but if it knocked out Neji (or forced him to admit defeat) then it would be worth it.

The clone was meant to distract him from Neji's approach, nothing more. He might not have Lee's speed or Tenten's finesse, but they didn't call him the genius of the Hyuuga Clan for nothing. Using the trees for cover, he continues his approach, determined to get the other within his range. It's a slow process, but finally, he's close enough that as a kunai whistles past, he ignores it, dropping into a lower stance before springing forward with a yell, dozens of times faster than before as he aims for each tenketsu, intending to seal off all sixty-four necessary to halt the flow of Chakra. The Uchiha brat might be fast, but now that he was within his range, there'd be no escape.

He wasn't fast enough to get away, and he paid the price for it; he felt his chakra become more and more limited before it felt like he couldn't access it at all, and the small finger-tip sized bruises across his visible skin - along with his sharingan having been deactivated - was proof of it. Damn...!

Still, it meant he didn't have to worry about that anymore. Without relenting he darted forward, sweeping his leg to try and knock Neji off of his feet. He still had his weapons and his taijutsu. He could still win this.

The brat was faster than he remembered, but he fought like Lee. Neji's lips curve into a smirk as he all but plays with the other, letting his feet leave the ground at the last second, he takes the momentum from the kick and springs back onto his hands, darting forward again and using small, circular motions to keep deflecting Sasuke's blows until he finally spots an opening. About time. Lip curling a little sadistically, he abruptly shifts to the offensive, one of those lightly slapping blows to deflect his arms abruptly turning to a grab as his other hand slams in; even if the other managed to dodge back, the Chakra still should do some damage.

His eyes widened with the blow and he drew in a silent gasp at the painful impact, wrenching his arm free the instant after it happened and stumbling back. He remained on his feet, body shaking before he hunched forward and coughed. It was only when he opened his eyes that he saw blood - his blood - had spattered against the ground. Neji was trying to kill him.

He tried to shake it off, pulling out more weaponry to try and deflect as he retreated. What could he do? Taijutsu was out. Weapons would just get deflected. He didn't have his jutsu or the reaction time that came with his Sharingan anymore.

The curse mark throbbed again as he unconsciously tried to call on it, and he made a pained noise as his hand reflexively grabbed onto where the mark was. No...! He couldn't let it activate. He... He could win without it...

Edited 2012-11-19 00:58 (UTC)

He didn't have to kill him. Just put him out of commission enough to prove that if the Uchiha thought the dropout might have a chance of beating him, that Neji would show him the fate that awaited someone who tried to break out of their cage like that. Hospitalize him, sure. That was fine, too.

"A genius will always beat a failure," he grits out though pants for breath, though his breath catches when he spots the motion to his shoulder. He'd seen it a few times before, during the preliminary matches, when he'd fought the Sound-nin in the Forest of Death, but this was...

"I've sealed your Chakra points," he remarks, voice steady in spite of the way the focus of his eyes stayed on the other's shoulder. "You can't win."

Throb. He bit back another noise as he felt that painful, poisonous chakra begin to spread and leak in place of his normal chakra. Throb. It was almost throbbing with his heart beat, causing him to sweat profusely as he coughed again, more blood spattering up before he straightened, finally releasing his shoulder as the mark began to further spread from his neck.

"I won't lose..."

Even with those words, he wasn't sure of what he could do. He was at a disadvantage, and he had the curse mark to deal with too. But, even if it was hard, he would triumph. He wouldn't ever give in to his weakness!

Like an angel of wrath ascending from Hell as that chakra continued to pour off of him, he charged forward as quickly as he could, kunai in hand to try and strike at Neji once more.

Edited 2012-11-19 01:39 (UTC)

Those marks--! It was impossible that Sasuke could be accessing Chakra, but it wasn't his Chakra! A vile, sickly purple Chakra was filtering into his network, and--

That's about all Neji has time to notice before the other doesn't charge, but seems to flicker and appear right in front of him. That purple Chakra is burning bright in his eyes as Neji lets out a yell of something he rarely felt -- terror -- and fell back, feeling the kunai biting harshly through the arm he raised to block even as he reflexively aimed another open-palmed strike to the other's largest vital points, open palm impacting hard against the other's chest as they plummet to the ground.

Edited 2012-11-19 01:49 (UTC)

The spikes and flares of chakra were something that she remembered well, but the marks... she remembered that Sasuke hadn't looked like that in a very long time. He still felt like the Sasuke she once knew. No matter how this could be worked out, she knew the deal, there were multiples of people, she'd seen them around, and Sai had proven that not everyone came from the same when.

Hell, the two boys in in front of her came from a different when.

It was with this thought in mind that she broke into the battle, too late to stop the hit, but she knocked Sasuke's Kunai up and away even as her other hand lashed out to backhand Neji to the ground. That should get the Hyuuga out of it so she could subdue Sasuke, who she promptly moved to grapple into submission. He needed medical attention, it was -very- obvious, and she was finally stronger than him.

At this age anyway.

He slammed against the ground hard, another pained cry rattled from him before he wrenched and coughed, breathing ragged as even more blood came out. His heart was beating erratically from the damage to it, along with some to his lungs. It felt like he was drowning.

He wasn't even opening his anymore, breathing as best as he could as he felt his consciousness border on fading. The pain of the mark and his body was getting to him, but he still had to fight. If he didn't, he would die. If he didn't, he couldn't face Itachi...

He squirmed, wrenching with every spasm that went through him even as he stubbornly tried to supress the mark, freezing its spread where it was but not managing to do much more.

"Damn it Sasuke-kun, calm down! I can't fix it if you don't let me actually apply the chakra." Her words were almost a growl as she got a knee on him, quickly calling up the chakra as she freed a hand to press against his chest.

"... Sa... Sakura...?" He managed, and when her voice was followed by warmth and his pain starting to ebb away (if only slightly), he managed to relax himself and sigh out a breath. The mark didn't immediately recede, but it had started to grow smaller as he could focus more of his energy on trying to keep it down.

"... He's not fighting anymore...?" Sasuke's voice was hoarse before he coughed again, feeling dizzy, sick, and overall was still hurting. The warm moisture around his mouth told him that he was still coughing up blood, which was driving him to believe that he might have actually been dying. It felt similar to the Land of Waves, when Haku had impaled him with all those Senbon. It felt like he was about to die then, too. But... Neji had actually been trying to kill him. That was the difference.

Edited 2012-11-19 02:23 (UTC)

She cast a glance over to Neji, who lay crumpled where he'd landed. "I might've hit Neji a little harder than strictly required."

Shaking her head, she looked back to Sasuke, carefully healing the worst damage first as she shifted her weight off him. Now that he wasn't fighting was better if she wasn't on top of him.

He tried to say something again, but he shot up a little and hacked again, trying to clear his throat of the blood that just kept piling up. He felt like he was on the edge of losing himself in the black around him -- even with his eyes closed, he could sense it there. He tried to breathe calmly and focus on the warmth that was coming from Sakura's palms. He had to say something...

"I-Ino... She said..." He coughed again, unable to finish what he wanted to say. Why was he remembering that now? He didn't know, but... He didn't want to let it sit.

"Ino-pig has a big mouth." She didn't bother to give it more of a response than that, tugging him to roll onto his side and thumping him once on the back to get him coughing before she resumed the healing. "Get the blood out."

When he was finally done, he opened his eyes blearily up to her, almost soft and... Remorseful?

"She said... I defected," He murmured, reaching up to rest his hand over hers weakly before he closed his eyes again, "..."

He wouldn't have another chance. He had to get it out. Almost too weakly, the next words came out of his mouth, "So... Sorry."

She froze for a beat before letting out a quavery laugh, shaking her head. "Damn, that's not as satisfying to hear as I once thought it would be. Just... It got a lot worse than that. A -lot- worse. I just... don't become that person, okay? For me? I know back then it didn't matter so much, but maybe, here...?"

It was a long, painful process to claw his way back to full consciousness, his hands grasping the ground to try to push himself to his hands and knees. What... what was that? He can hear voices past a distant ringing in his ears, was that... the Uchiha and his little teammate fangirl?

And what was that about...?

"Defection?" His voice is a harsh, dry sound as he manages to turn his attention completely to them, forcing his Byakugan to activate through the pounding pain in his head. Concussion...?

Crap, he was awake. He groaned and tried to get up, shaking as he propped himself on his elbows. His body was protesting to being moved, even with some of the healing that had been done, and he heaved a little with the sudden movement. It felt like he was about to puke... But damn it, if Neji was up, he had to... Had to... He'd think more on Sakura's words later, but he had to fight...

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