Ch323. Sasuke vs Kidomaru 1

Sasuke heard Kakashi's order and grimaced as the wound on his shoulder tingled with nervosity. He wanted him to fight the archer who almost killed him!?

'Well... okay, then.' Sasuke thought, trying to muster eagerness for a battle but somewhat failing when images of his head popping like a balloon due to a well-aimed golden arrow emerged in his mind.

Sasuke ran towards the railing, grabbed it, and somersaulted over it, letting his body into a free fall as he pumped it full of chakra. When he finally hit the water surface, a large splash was sent all around while Sasuke's body was at most slightly rattled as opposed to being turned into a broken mess as would happen if he didn't enhance his body. Crouching down, Sasuke sprang forward like a rocket, running straight in the direction of the archer while his Sharingan was in full blaze, hoping to notice any arrow flying at him soon enough that he will be able to dodge.

Yet, even after five seconds of running on the water, no arrow was shot at him and he was almost upon his opponent. Seeing that Naruto's clones that were previously morphed into inanimate objects and strewn around the surroundings were distracting the archer long enough for Sasuke to close in was relieving for the Uchiha. It wasn't as if Naruto was allowed to spread around his traps so, with Naruto's current strength, these clones should be easily dispatched by any competent Jonin in under three seconds. The fact the archer did not have them dealt with already which allowed Sasuke to approach unhindered lessened Sasuke's nerves a lot when he started thinking that maybe his opponent is not all that skilled fighter.

Kidomaru finally popped the last orange nuisance and with the corner of his eye noticed the Uchiha brat closing in. 'Great...' He inwardly groaned, 'Just my luck to get Uchiha as an opponent.'

"Oi, Uchiha! Sto-" Kidomaru was about to try to stop this clash but Sasuke wasn't listening and dashed at him, throwing a punch Kidomaru promptly caught with his lowermost left hand.

"Oi! Time ou-"

Before Kidomaru could take a proper hold on Sasuke's fist, Sasuke jumped into the air and twisted his body, snapping a high kick aimed at Kidomaru's throat. Needless to say, Kidomaru blocked it with the forearm of his middle right arm, scowling in annoyance.

"Uchiha! Listen to me dammi-"

Sasuke used the momentum of his foot clashing with Kidomaru's forearm to spin mid-air on said forearm, making Kidomaru wince which almost prevented him from blocking the follow-up kick aimed at his head. He only barely managed to intercept it with the palm of his uppermost left hand, pushing forward, intending to unbalance Sasuke.

Sasuke however used that to his advantage and pushed against, more like kicked, really, Kidomaru's palm with his foot, launching himself away from the six-armed man. As he was flying through the air, he again twisted his body, intending to land on his feet rather than his head... but he also used this twist to sneak-throw a kunai at Kidomaru's chest.

Kidomaru's eyes widened for a moment. This was actually a pretty good combo and most chunin would fall for it! Not everybody was awesome and had six arms, after all!

The kunai hit Kidomaru's chest... only to shock Sasuke who just landed on the ground a few feet away when the sharp pointy steel uselessly bounced away from Kidomaru with a metallic clang.

"Armor, huh?" Sasuke frowned. Ninjas seldom wore armor as it got in the way too much so he didn't suspect his opponent to wear one either. "Next time I shall aim at the throat."

"Oi, oi, oi, Uchiha brat! It's rude to throw kicks and punches at people when they are talking to you! Nobody taught you manners, huuuuh?" Kidomaru shouted with a tick mark pulsing on his forehead, his lowermost arms crossing on his chest. "Honestly... what do they teach Konoha's brats these days." He disgruntledly muttered.

He couldn't hurt the Uchiha, dammit!

He was already in deep shit because the damn red-eyed bastard had suicidal tendencies! His arrow almost took the brat's head clean off when he swapped places with Tazuna. Try to explain to Orochimaru that the target of his latest obsession was almost killed by you because he jumped into the way of your attack. That shit ain't fun!

Kidomaru already inwardly wept when he imagined the punishment he would certainly be awarded when they came back from the mission. Not only that but now the Uchiha decided to engage him? Was the brat trying to kill him with a borrowed knife!?

'Shit. I can't even rough the brat up! Lord Orochimaru would be most displeased if the Uchiha didn't attend the Chunin Exams. For fucks sake! Why me? Tayuya that bitch! She always got the most luck. I can already imagine her laughing at my misfortune!' Kidomaru inwardly cursed. 'May she choke on Sakon's dick!'

"Look," Kidomaru tiredly sighed, irritably scratching the back of his head with his uppermost right hand, "I don't really want to fight you. Can we call this a day?"

Sasuke blinked at the six-armed man, giving him an Uchiha trademark look reserved for idiots before scoffing, "I won't let you interfere with the other fights."

"Aaaand that's what I was afraid of." Kidomaru mumbled, his eyebrow twitching.

If it was up to Kidomaru, they would just kidnap the Uchiha right here and now. The opportunity was ripe and there was no horde of Konoha ninja just waiting to save their precious boy-wonder. Every Konoha ninja in range was preoccupied. It would have been so easy too. But no! He had no idea why Lord Orochimaru was so hellbent on getting the Uchiha during the Chunin Exams. The singular event when the defenses of Konoha will be dialed up to their maximum setting and the Konoha's ninja force will be fully alert.

"Look, kid. My Lord would be very displeased if I hurt the last Uchiha. Could we... I don't know? Maybe just stand here and pretend to have an argument?" Kidomaru lamely proposed, instantly regretting it when his ears heard how it sounded.

Sasuke lifted his eyebrow at that, "So you are holding back because of this so-called Lord of yours?" He asked, condescendingly smirking.

Kidomaru's eye twitched as he decided he really didn't like this brat. "Yes." He simply said, not trusting to stop himself from adding some special Tayuya-approved words to that statement just to spite the Konoha brat.

"And I assume if you hurt me there would be consequences for you. That's why you stay on the defense." Sasuke's smirk widened the more Kidomaru's expression turned ugly.

"Yes." Kidomaru barely croaked out, hoping, for all that is holy in Orochiland, that the bastard is not intending to do what he suspected would happen next. This brat might one day be his superior if Orochimaru got his way. Kidomaru really didn't want to...

Alas... Sasuke sprang forward, dashing at Kidomaru whose expression twisted in an ugly scowl as he mentally cursed eight Uchiha generations back for raising arrogant pieces of...

Sasuke suddenly dropped low to the ground and aimed a sweeping kick at Kidomaru's ankle since his upper body was protected six times over. Kidomaru jumped, avoiding the sweeping kick, his instincts urging him to return it with a skull-crushing kick to Sasuke's head. He only barely resisted actually throwing one.

Sasuke pushed against the ground with his hands, propelling himself slightly up and to the side in order to evade any possible retaliation while his free leg snapped towards Kidomaru's knee while he was mid-air. Sasuke's kick hit its mark but the Uchiha didn't rejoice. Instead, he was forced to wince as if his foot impacted something extremely hard.

Knowing his combo was forced to a sudden stop by this, Sasuke jerkily spun mid-air yet again, just enough that his hands would reach the ground before he flipped himself back, creating a small distance between himself and Kidomaru.

'This will require a lot more cunning and explosives, won't it?' Sasuke bitterly lamented.