Naruto : Monsters

"But Kakashi, in exchange for the advice you've just given me, I'll give you one back in return. For the next minute or so, I suggest you don't take your eyes off of me even for a second or you'll end up regretting it."

When Kakashi just flipped a page and kept reading, I couldn't help but smirk. That's right you smug bastard, keep on ignoring. That'll just make things so much more satisfying when I finally got one over you

...

Dropping to one knee, I held my left-hand face down on the ground before me, my right hand gripping my left wrist. As I began gathering chakra into my hand, I started explaining, "The tunnel vision was a real pain to get used to but nothing my Byakugan couldn't handle. 

And the brightness of the attack really hurt my eyes, luckily my forehead protector came in really handy to block out the light. 

And with my imperfect Lightning Release I could boost my reaction time enough to compensate for the speed," next I began moulding the chakra, changing both its form and nature, "It's still not quite perfect but it should be more than enough to wipe that smug look off your face."

The once peaceful clearing was filled with the screeching of a thousand birds.

Kakashi's head shot up from his book, his eye-widening as genuine surprise filled his features. "That's-!"

Flashes of blue and white light danced off my face as I smirked at him, "What? Did you honestly think that after all of these years you spent spying on me and Naruto, that I wouldn't try spying on you in turn? Or did you think that only you were allowed to steal other people's techniques, eh, Copy Ninja Kakashi?"

The earth gave way as the sphere of concentrated electricity came to life in my hand, it's chirping proving worthy of its namesake. Kakashi could not take his eyes off it, staring in disbelief, and that was when I knew that for the first time since the fight had started, Kakashi had finally lowered his guard.

Now!

Pouring chakra to my legs, I burst forward, shooting towards the still stunned Kakashi with every last drop of speed I could draw on, the Chidori cleaving a trench beside me. I covered the space dividing us in an instant, moving so fast that I would have been nothing but a blur to most people, to most ninja, and swung the Chidori towards the right side of his chest.

Yet once again I was proven to be the lesser of the two of us. By whatever standards you measured me by, I was fast. Faster than most Genin, even most Chuunin. There were even Jonin out there whose speed I was confident I could match. Yet for all my speed – Kakashi was simply faster.

With my Lightning Release reactivated, I could see every detail happen in the clarity of slow motion. Kakashi, even through his surprise, reacted flawlessly. 

He pulled his right shoulder back, pivoting on his left foot so that my Chidori just missed him, allowing him to dodge with the minimum amount of movement necessary. And yet even as he avoided the lethal attack, Kakashi never once took his eyes off the Chidori.

Perfect.

Now came the hard part. Carefully, so that I don't end up frying my own nerves, I began channelling lightning chakra into my right arm. The change was as instantaneous as it was remarkable - where once my arm moved as slow as everything else when I viewed the world in my imperfect Lightning Release, it now responded to my commands immediately.

My right hand shot forward towards Kakashi's belt, so much faster than before that they could not be compared. And for the first time in battle, I caught a glimpse of what it felt like to master the Lightning Armour.

Yet the technique was not perfect for a reason. Even as my hand moved towards its target, I felt my shoulder strain from bearing the pressure of its limb moving far faster than it was ever intended to. Then I felt something pop as my shoulder dislocated and pain flared in my head. But I was ready for it and didn't allow the pain to stop me, didn't allow my hand to waver as I fought through the pain.

Kakashi must have noticed something wrong because he turned away from the Chidori and glanced down towards my right hand, his eye-widening in alarm as he realized where it was headed. His own hand shot towards his belt as well, moving even faster than mine was, but I already had a substantial head start on him.

Then, it was over.

We split apart, my momentum carrying forward and past Kakashi while my Sensei remained where he stood. I stumbled for a couple of steps, bleeding my momentum off before I leapt and landed softly a good distance away, bending my knees into a slight crouch to absorb the impact. For a long while I stayed there, my back towards him even while he had his back towards my own.

The leaves rustled in their branches overhead in the now silent clearing.

"Not bad, I honestly didn't see that one coming," Kakashi admitted before turning to me and held up the bell. He jiggled it once as he flashed me a smile, "But you still missed."

"I didn't miss." Reaching across my chest, I gripped my right shoulder and pulled. Pain flared up in my skull like a bonfire as I felt the joint shift before popping back into place with a sickening 'pop' but I ignored it. Dealing with pain was one of the very first lessons we were taught as shinobi and everyone who ever walked out of the Academy knew how to ignore it.

Rising from my crouch, I turned to face Kakashi. Flashing him my most mischievous smile, I held up the item I had succeeded in stealing off him, "I'm not stupid enough to think I could steal the bell off of you that easily, so I aimed for the next best thing."

There was a brief instant of bewilderment before Kakashi's eye widened in genuine horror.

"I mean sure it's no bell, but I think it would do just as nicely." I waved the Icha Icha book mockingly at him before stowing it away into my side-pouch. I made sure to give him one last cheerful wave goodbye before turning away, "Well, I think I had my fill for now. See ya later Sensei."

Then I flickered away.

As soon as I was out of the clearing I leapt up onto a tree branch and began hopping from tree to tree as fast as my legs could take me. Glancing to my side, I yelled out to one of the Naruto's clones that I knew was hiding there. "Naruto, get your ass out here!"

No sooner had the words left my lips that I found myself with a blond companion by my side.

"So did you get it?" She asked as she leapt from a branch beside me, excitement clear in her voice.

"Yes, I did. Tell Shikamaru that I got him the bait he wanted, hurry!"

"Ok, Ok," She held up her hands, "sheesh, calm down Hikaru. Why are you panicking?"

A wave of Killing Intent slammed into us like a wave, so thick it felt like we were drowning in it. The day briefly went dark as the sky above us was filled with fluttering wings, every bird that called the forest home erupting from the trees as they fled to the skies in a cacophony of noise.

The world then flashed with the colour of blue lightning before a maddened howl, more beast than man, echoed through the woods.

"RAIKIRI!"

I gave Naruto a panicked glance, "That's why," before jabbing her in the arm, popping the clone so that the original could get the message.

Then I made a mistake.

I should have followed Shikamaru's instructions and ran. It would have been the smart thing to do. Instead I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and made the mistake of glancing back at Kakashi with my Byakugan.

I regretted it immediately.

Had you ever seen a pissed off Elite Jounin, one angry enough that he genuinely wanted to kill you? Not for a mission or duty but because he honest-to-god wanted nothing more than to wrap his hands around your neck and squeeze until it snaps. I did, and I'm not ashamed to say it scared the living crap out of me.

His single eye shone with pure loathing as he came after me, his mouth twisted into a hate-filled snarl as foam dotted the edge of his lips. He didn't even bother tree hopping and just ran straight to me, cutting down anything that got in his way, leaving a path of destruction behind him.

Oh Shit! I stopped looking at the madman and began hightailing out of there as fast as I could. Legs, Run Faster! RUN BITCH RUN!

I couldn't tell you how much time passed until I broke out of the forest and leapt down into the large empty clearing that was my destination, all I could say that I had never moved faster in either of my lives.

Even as I landed on the grass I didn't dare stop moving, immediately leaping ahead in full sprint towards the centre of the clearing, barely slowing down to make sure I didn't step on anything I shouldn't. Spotting the patch of land I was supposed to stop at and hold my ground, I forced even more speed into my aching legs as dashed towards it.

Once I reached it I barely had time to stop and turn around when the trees I had just vacated blew up with a flash of lightning.

"GIVE ME BACK MY ICHA ICHA!"

The demon from hell burst out from the woods screeching like a madman. His eye immediately locked onto my form and he charged, the Raikiri thrust before him like a spear.

But the moment he took one step towards me-

*Boom*

-ground beneath his feet blew up in a small explosion.

Once more Kakashi demonstrated why he was a first-class ninja. Even enraged as he was, screaming like a demented bat, there was no drop in reaction time. His foot had barely brushed the group when he flipped direction and leapt back, escaping the worst of the blast. In the end, the only signs of damage he sustained was the slight scorch marks on the base of his pants.

"I wouldn't take another step forward if I were you," I spread my feet a bit wider, lowering my centre of gravity and took one of the more defensive stances of the Gentle Fist, "This clearing is filled with-"

Kakashi didn't even wait for me to finish explaining.

...

If you like the story so far, please throw some power stones.

======================

If you want to support me, Or just read ahead of the public release, you can check my patreon :

 p atreon.com/sybife

 |● sybife