Burning Courage: Hinata Shines! - 4

His Sharingan allowed him to see the trajectory of the senbon before they even left Haku's hand. Sasuke eluded every needle effortlessly; the water-nin's every move was clear before he even made it.

He purposefully stayed within close range, making it difficult for Haku to be accurate with his senbon, and used taijutsu to off-balance him. Sasuke landed vicious blows, taking advantage of Haku's lack of physical skill. They were at the bottom of the statue near the river's edge.

One particularly brutal roundhouse kick had sent Haku tumbling over the side of the waterfall. Sasuke paused near the water, staring down at the mist over the side of the cliff, and could discern a cry over the fall's roar, "Suiton: Water Dragon Blast!"

Sasuke hurriedly countered, "Katon: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"

The opposing elements collided mid-way, canceling one another and creating a violent explosion that interrupted the water crashing down the valley wall. Haku plummeted down to the river below and Sasuke leapt after him, intent on finishing him.

He hit the water and stayed on top of it with chakra, destroying the incoming water clones that Haku had created. Sasuke could distinguish the real Haku among his doppelgangers, and lunged for him with a kunai, slashing at his belly.

Haku dove beneath the water to avoid the attack, and resurfaced with one of his newest jutsu, "Rising Water Dragons!" Two streams rose up and coiled around each other in a helix, and Sasuke quickly recognized the move from the Chunin Exams when he had seen Tenten use it against Sakura.

The memory made his blood boil.

He melted the icicles that were raining down with a fireball, not stopping until Haku had run out of water to freeze and landed back on the water's surface.

Haku's eyes were pleading, "Sasuke, please! This cannot go on! You must reconsider coming back to Konoha. I don't want to fight you."

"If you don't want to fight then you shouldn't have come." Sasuke snarled, impatient with his opponent, and activated his cursed seal. His speed had more than tripled and several taijutsu combinations hit Haku in rapid succession with him powerless to counter.

Haku resisted valiantly, but had weakened after taking so many blows. He had barely so much as scratched Sasuke and he was already exhausted from the violent struggle. After thrashing about on top of the water for a few minutes Sasuke had gotten a tight grip on Haku's arm, and spun, building momentum, before throwing him towards the shore.

The water-nin slammed into the side of a rock face, and tumbled down to the stone shore below. Haku fought for air, his chest tight, and he was sure he had at least two broken ribs. The bruises and blood barely registered in his mind, he was so fixated on deterring Sasuke, no matter how hopeless things appeared, 'He may kill me at this rate, but I will not give in! I can't let him slip into the darkness!'

He had rolled to his knees when he felt two senbon sink into his shoulder. Without even so much as wincing he extracted them, turning to Sasuke who was balanced on top of a log out on the water. The needles Haku had thrown earlier had all missed the Uchiha prodigy and it appeared he had salvaged some of them.

"With these eyes, my aim is a hundred times more accurate than yours," Sasuke boasted, casting the last of the needles and hitting Haku in his forearms and leg, "Give it up already."

"Even so, that doesn't mean you know where to throw them!" Haku cried, refusing to let all of his hard training be spat upon. He made a hand sign and sprung out to the water again where multiple ice mirrors were beginning to form.

Haku entered a mirror, knowing he'd be completely safe from any attack, and performed water jutsu that rushed up from the lake's surface and forced Sasuke back to the shore.

His ice mirrors had lined up to face the land, where the Uchiha had taken cover behind a boulder. He tried countering with fire jutsu, but it was useless to try and melt the ice mirrors when they were infused with so much elemental chakra. Ruthless water jutsu continued to pound against the shore, forcing Sasuke to stay hidden in order to avoid being hit.

He couldn't get near Haku without being subjected to the strength of his Kekkei Genkai, and it was then Sasuke wondered why he'd been foolish enough to let Haku fight in his own element, 'And even if I did get close enough, I wouldn't be able to touch him while he hides in those mirrors…'

Ice shards began to rain down and it was then Sasuke understood he didn't have long before Haku flooded the rest of the valley in order to drive him out into the open. 'I'll have to use my new power then, because there's no way he will!'

He tapped into the power of the level two seal Sakon had spoken of and let himself drown in it. The massive release of chakra caused him to change form, lengthening his hair into a mass of gray spikes. His skin and eyes darkened and two great wings bearing the likeness of hands emerged from his back.

The shape of his body had changed to facilitate the addition of chakra.

Water was no longer an obstacle and Sasuke raced out from his place on the shore, spreading his wings and letting the sheer speed he had built up carry him out over the still river.

From his mirror, Haku could barely comprehend the change he saw in Sasuke, but he was aware it would put him at a power disadvantage. He used another water jutsu, taking careful aim as the Uchiha neared.

Sasuke barrel-rolled in the air to avoid it and the dragon-like current kept moving toward the shore. Haku willed the current to turn about, but it did not move fast enough to catch up, and Sasuke raked through the mirror Haku had been in with the Chidori, smashing it into thousands of pieces.

The current of water that had been redirected followed Sasuke's wake, and crashed into the remainder of Haku's ice mirrors, splashing against them.

Haku tumbled out onto the water's surface and was again powerless against his opponent. Sasuke reached him, moving through the air with ease, and tossed the water-nin around like a rag doll, not allowing him any time to create more ice mirrors.

He knocked Haku down into the river with a powerful punch, and left a gaping hole in the water where Haku had hit. Bubbles rose up and filled the gap in the water's surface and Haku did not come back up again after that.

"Weak." Sasuke sighed in boredom, perching on a ledge hanging over the water, "Surely you aren't through yet? I knew someone so soft and gentle could never become truly strong…"

Beneath the river's surface Haku made no effort to move. He was spent and in agony. The pain was crippling and the only place he could avoid worse injury was right where he was. Even through the suffering he was still burdened with the task of rescuing Sasuke, 'He's so willing to hurt me, a fellow Leaf ninja, and yet there still must be some part of him free of the shadows…'

He honestly didn't know where to look to find any good in Sasuke, but the village wanted him back. He couldn't give in while there was still breath in his lungs.

'I can't give up, not when there's still some good locked inside of him,' Haku decided, staring down into the darkness of the water below, 'Naruto-kun would never forgive me if I gave up the fight…'

But he had nothing left. Chakra dwindling and no senbon, he was about as useless as a dull blade. All that remained was the power of his cursed seal, and he had promised Jiraiya that he'd never use it again.

'Just this once, Jiraiya-sensei, and then never again,' Haku swore, 'Desperation overrides moral obligation, in this instance.'

The cursed seal burned when he tapped into its power, but he forced himself to accept it, and pushed his way to the level two power that he needed. Transforming was strange and he felt himself twisting around in the water, changing, gaining features that were both painful and wondrous.

His pale skin had become darker and his hair had grown into a long, white mane, straight and billowing. Sharp fangs pricked against his lip, claws hardened from his nails, and a cat-like tail formed at the base of his spine, bluish and split in two at the end like a nekomata.

When he opened his dark eyes they were hued the color of arctic snowcaps.

Haku's lungs no longer burned for air. Oxygen began to diffuse through his skin from the water around him. He felt like a fish and he felt like a cat, but more than anything he felt predatory and restless to fight.

He rose to the surface gracefully, not disturbing a single drop of water when he had emerged again into the realm of air. His lungs became practical again, and he stared calmly up at Sasuke who had waited on a rock outcrop on the shore.

He had nearly forgotten his objective because the power was so stunning. When he did recall it, however, he addressed it, "Sasuke…this is your last chance to come willingly. Return to Konoha now and this senseless fighting can stop."

Sasuke rose into the air again, disinterested in what Haku had offered, "I think I'd rather fly away…" He circled above Haku's head, tauntingly, his reflection shone in the water clear as glass.

Haku's tail thrashed with anger and impatience. He was through with Sasuke's games. The fight was about to become serious.

Sasuke hadn't expected Haku to be able to make such an unprecedented leap, but when he did, Haku snagged Sasuke's wings in his claws, ripping angry red lines down the mutated flesh and dragged him out of the air.

A hawk in a panther's claws.

With newfound strength Haku hurled Sasuke back down to the water, which he met with a tremendous splash, and the Uchiha floundered with his large wings to find his footing on the river's surface.

Haku landed as well and narrowed his eyes at his adversary. "If you don't want to fight then you shouldn't have come!" He hissed furiously, and at his command the entire river, waterfall and all, froze into a great plain of ice.