143 -=Lost=-

'Shit!' Sasuke could only curse as he got covered by the ice, feeling the drip from Blizzard

"Annoying..." She commented, not taking him seriously

Being frozen stiff, any normal person would have his bodily functions fail almost instantly, But Sasuke was a brooder... I mean, Uchiha, and his fire affinity was not just for show!

As he did with the little freeze on his arm earlier, he used his chakra to melt it, albeit this time it was slower as the amount of ice made it way harder, and he needed to also keep some chakra in his organs so they wouldn't freeze as well

""SASUKE!!"" The concerned voices of both Naruto and Luna entered his ice-filled ear somehow, yet he couldn't escape quickly from the ice prison he was in

Luna breathed in and out to calm herself as she now was a bit scared of their enemies, not that this wasn't normal, so it's the life of a ninja, but it always unnerved her

'It seems like my illusions won't work... then I can only... KILL THEM ALL!' She thought as her personality switched

albeit her kekkei genkai would probably work, since it would place reality itself on an illusion and make what she did in her illusion true, she was not very used to that, and so her kekkei genkai would take some time to set up an illusion that would affect her enemies

not to mention they were so fast that she was certain they could escape if they noticed, so she didn't waste chakra trying it since she knew it wouldn't work

Her worried face immediately changed to a maniacal grin as she put her own reality into an illusion since it was easier for her to do so instead of making a 'domain' of illusions

Her hands became sharp claws and she was about to attack when one of the two 'Toukas' charged at her

*Sling* *Clang*

Touka's hand was covered in lightning because of her [Discharge] skill, and her actual claws became sharp killing machines, but Luna parried it and started a counter-attack, actually gaining an advantage over Touka because of her Chakra Enhanced Strength jutsu, that she still didn't perfect, but she could use in key moments

The other Touka on the other hand looked at Blizzard as if asking if she wanted help, but receiving a shake of her head, she just joined her clone against Luna, making the situation enter a stalemate

-=-

While the situation of team 7 was a stalemate, the situation of team 9 was a bit different

After having his attack blocked by Guy, Lee was actually a bit nervous

The man he always respected and saw as a father, yet didn't help him when he needed most... his thoughts about him were... confused

"Oh? It's been some time Guy sensei" Lee said, trying to sound as confident as possible

"...Lee..." Guy, on the other hand, didn't have the same problem as Lee, it was something way worst for him

When he left the village for a mission, suddenly Lee disappeared, making him worried about it

then his other student also started to act weird, then he reencounters Lee but as an enemy

What should he do in this kind of situation?

Lee was obviously fighting Neji, and was apparently doing so out of his own will... so... does he fight Lee? or does he try to talk with him and 'bring him back to his senses'?

He doesn't know why Lee left Konoha, as he isn't a reader who has an omniscient point of view (Yes I'm talking about the annoying people who think the characters know anything they know), he can't know that Lee left because of a misunderstanding and that he should only talk about it with him

Before Guy could decide, however, Neji who felt angry that he needed to be saved, attacked again

"..." Lee looked at this in disappointment, Is THIS what he always wanted to surpass? this pathetic ninja who can't even see when he should or shouldn't fight someone?

Lee prepared for a counterattack, but he felt lost at the same time... he had two dreams... to prove hard work could win against natural talent and to someday beat Neji, who he considered a genius

you can tell that his first one is clearly a disappointing failure, and even though he succeeded in his second one... he didn't feel happy at all about it... he felt empty

As Lee was at a loss, however, he didn't stop paying attention to his enemy, because even if he is stronger than Neji, it would be stupid to lose focus and be defeated somehow

Neji struck his arm at Lee's body, aiming at some tenketsu, yet all Lee had to do was redirect the hit with the back of his hand, while Neji would normally use this to spin and hit the enemy from another point, Lee was faster and with a kick, Neji was sent flying again

This time, however, Lee decided to knock Neji out before probably having to fight Guy, who he knew he would never be able to beat

*Bam*

Yet again his attack was blocked, he looked at Guy with a hard to read expression

Guy's expression hardened, as much as he wants to talk peacefully with Lee, he heard the sound of battle from team 7's direction, so he couldn't waste time

fight first, ask questions later

Lee saw Guy enter a combat-ready stance and misunderstood his logic, having a really bad taste in his mouth

'He isn't even going to try to talk with me, huh?'

And like this, their fight started

"Neji, go back and help the others" Guy spoke as he advanced against Lee, he knew that Kakashi and his team are all strong, but he had an uneasy feeling about this situation

"What? No! I can still fight!" Neji retorted, and just in the time it took for him to say that Lee and Guy exchanged at least 20 attacks

Guy did a sweeping kick with his leg, making Lee somersault to dodge, using this little time he got to tell Neji again

"I can deal with this, RETURN" He screamed the last part because of the sound that Lee's kick being blocked made, this made Guy be pushed back by at least a meter, digging the ground with his feet

Neji felt so angry, he clenched his teeth so hard that you could hear his teeth grate, his fist was clenched to the point his knuckles turned white

In the end, seeing he could barely see SOME of their moves, he decided to listen and leave, but not before glaring at Lee a bit longer

'How could this shithead leave the village and get so strong so quickly?' he thought, his mind drifting to Rimuru for a second, yet he couldn't be sure if it was him or not

As soon as Neji began to run away, Lee and Guy had their Nth trade of blows. and each took their distance from each other

both stared at each other, various bruises all around their bodies, with neither in advantage

Lee glanced at Neji

leaving and decided to stop him, it was not out of despite or hate, no, nothing like that

the reason was that he told Blizzard he would deal with Neji by himself, and he didn't want to let Neji leave and have even more people dislike him

At this point... he was a bit paranoid that people would leave him if he did something wrong, the root of this problem traces back to his misunderstanding with Guy

Lee advanced against Guy again, with a straight punch from the left, he knew exactly how Guy would deal with this kind of attack

Guy saw the sloppy attack, Lee did this so many times before when he was starting gis training, it was really a rookie favorite, to attack straight like this

But, while he was in this nostalgic moment, he didn't remember to check his surroundings, so when he kicked Lee away from the right

*BAM*

It was exactly what Lee wanted, using the momentum of this kick to rush toward Neji he readied his fist for a punch

'Oh no!' Guy immediately knew he messed up, he was just about as fast as Lee, so he couldn't dream to catch up with him

there is only one way to do it...

Neji looked back, only to see a fist approaching him in what seemed like the longest seconds of his life

*BAAM*

A powerful punch, but yet again it was blocked

he could tell, Guy opened the gate of opening... removing his mental limits, so he caught up to Lee easily

Lee looked at his former sensei in a daze, his previous words echoing through his mind

' "You can only use this technique when protecting something important to you" ' Those words... Lee followed them to this very day, as a sign of respect to his former master

he left Konoha, left team 9, left his sensei who he thought didn't care about him after he failed... yet he never broke this rule, and swore to never break it, as a sign of true respect to what this man did to him before

in his daze, he didn't see Guy performing a kick toward him, which led to him being hit away

*Bam*

Lee went flying, he wasn't even hurt that much, he just... didn't want to fight anymore

'Guy sensei... cares about Neji, or else he wouldn't open the gates... he cares about the others, or else he wouldn't try to have Neji help them... then why?

Why did he not care... when it was me?' Lee was thinking as his body dragged across the floor where he fell, this made Guy look confused

He knew that this was not even close to what would take to knock Lee out, and Lee would not be stupid enough to try and pretend like this, his wide-open eyes proved he wasn't trying something like this

He wanted to talk with him, he wanted so much, but he could hear battle sounds getting even louder in the background, and he couldn't decide what to do

Lee slowly got up, he looked at Guy who was still blocking his path to Neji... and he stared at them for a second

He smiled bitterly, and just... turned around and left

Lee could open the gates, and probably even win if he opened all the ones he could in one go, taking Guy by surprise, but... he didn't have anything to defend in this fight... his ninja way, was broken, and his dreams... were all delusions... he felt so... lost

another person feeling lost was Guy, who stared at Lee's retreating back in confusion

Lee's expressions didn't escape him, he could guess a bit about what his previous student was thinking... which made him feel lost

It's painfully obvious he isn't following orders, or he would continue the attack on Neji, it is obvious he also was not fighting seriously, because Guy could feel his punches being held back at the last second, be ut consciously or subconsciously...

so it only left him confused as to why Lee was even doing that, even more so of his own free will...

He took a deep breath, and decided to ask Lee, he knew the situation on the other side was currently unknown, but he had faith in Kakashi, so he stepped ahead

""SASUKE!""

Two screams entered his ear, making him turn his head around subconsciously, frowning

but when he turned his head back... there was no sign of Lee

'...Damn it...' He cursed, but even if he wanted to search for Lee, that would need to wait

He turned in the direction of team 7 and ran towards the scream