Chapter 139: Naturalistic Savagery! Pt 13

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke's POV (Nothern Mountains of Irminsul - Terra)

Much of Sasuke's early life had been spent studying and training. The collapse of his clan had surely negatively impacted his childhood, yet Sasuke had never truly paid it mind. It had been clear to him even as a young child that his life was not his own to live. Yet to his frustration it had been wasted. He had been told tales of Itachi and Shisui even as mere boys taken on more experience and danger than Sasuke had in his whole life. Training relentlessly but with no true way to measure his growth. Until the Chunin Exams where Sasuke had seen where he was. It was something Sasuke had hated even as a young child. How could he redeem the Uchiha without facing the highest of challenges available? The Exams had been his forte, and Neji had proven to be a worthy opponent, one Sasuke knew he would have to be wary of in the future should he face him again. Fuu had somehow been an even more significant challenge that Sasuke had to admit… he had been lucky to beat.

In merely a short while, Sasuke had gone from never being truly challenged to feeling inferior. The Hyuga had often been the rivals of the Uchiha, surpassing them during their fall. To nearly lose to one had been shameful enough; to be outmatched by a foolish girl had been more than Sasuke thought he could bear. Fuu had been stronger than him, nearly able to match his speed, able to almost kill him in a few simple blows; if she had been as cunning as she was powerful, she would've surely defeated him. Even worse, his victory had been somewhat hollow; Fuu had gotten up from his most decisive blow seemingly undamaged. Falling after but only due to her using the remainder of her chakra to tank it. Had that been a real battle, Fuu would have slain the exhausted Sasuke. It had been humbling; Sasuke had much further to go. The Uchiha prodigy was determined never to be so thoroughly stopped again. And yet…

Somehow, mere weasels were testing him…

Sasuke slashed broadly with Besmirched Flambe, cremating two weasels who dived wildly from his right from the inside; with a casual flick of his wrist, a kunai was raised to block the deadly jaws of another weasel; all the while, Sasuke jumped above a fourth weasel to gain some space from his attackers. They were not nearly fast enough to catch him, but quick enough to only give Sasuke a second or two to react. Their fangs were knives more than teeth; the nasty creatures were able to slash and bite with them with shocking freedom, and they proved as lethal and sharp as Muri had warned. Now above the surging snow full of predators, Sasuke glanced at his kunai to see most of it missing. Distinctive teeth marks littered the stub of a kunai. With their numbers being so overwhelming, Sasuke could only do so much as to constantly evade and eke out a counterattack. Especially with his unwanted baggage. Said baggage seemed keen on using him as refuge instead of helping… which only added to his problems. With the tiny creature on him, Sasuke could not risk using Ash Step without losing him. Making this fight much more difficult than he liked. This air time would give the Uchiha much needed reprieve.

"You had transformed into that larger form; I had thought you intended to aid me in combating them," Sasuke spoke; the adrenaline kept him from snapping at the raccoon, though by its nervous chuckle, it still detected his frustration. "I saw you helping Naruto before!"

"Unfortunately, I do not want to be violently consumed by those savage weasels," Muri answered. "I could possibly hit them and even take several out. But I would not be able to dodge the litany of attacks you did. They would've torn me limb from limb. Besides it is your fault, your powerful chakra presence seemed to draw nearly the full might of the primary hunting pack of the snow weasel clan."

"I had figured such a thing out," Sasuke answered. "You were part of Naruto's strategy to beat Gaara; surely you have some sort of combat prowess."

"More of a support role, with Naruto's shared element nature of me, we can achieve a lot with wind nature techniques. However, I merely help control it; all the power comes from him. My physicality would be overwhelmed, and my other techniques are too slow to be truly effective here. Any more activity from me would turn me to a pure burden."

"You already are." Sasuke sniped back. "Can you at least unleash a decently large gust of wind nature chakra?"

"Of course!" Muri sounded off in reply. It's fur sticking up as it seemed offended. It seemed the silly creature was more intelligent than it let on, as it did as he asked instantly, seeming to understand his plan.

Sasuke smirked coldly as he flowed through hand signs for an all too familiar jutsu. "Enemies of the Uchiha shall burn! Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke roared as he shot off a massive orb of flames. The orb flew toward the crowd of weasels seeming to miss most, yet just before it hit the ground it was flooded by the wind chakra blown for Muri's mouth. The wind chakra flowed into the orb and expanded it largely before it burst. The orb exploded into a falling rain of explosive flames. The power of the explosions sent the fiery rain to the ground in a mere instant. Snow instantly evaporated from the heat alone. The massive amount of superheated water it caused caused steam to shoot up into the sky and the dying cries of several weasels could be heard. As the flames burnt out it left only the remains and newly charred circled area free of snow. Among the debris were the badly burnt bodies of at least ten snow weasels. Sasuke and Muri landed, each warily scanning the area around them. It was clear their attack hadn't killed them all, merely forced them to regroup.

Neither was surprised when even more snow weasels burst from the edges of the now bare, burnt ground below. They cried in range as they once again prepared to mob the two.