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Inner Demons - Part 4

Now knowing that his sword was not going to stop them Sasuke decided to turn up the heat on the ice warriors. He was surprised that none of them had moved any closer to attack him, after the last one had regrown it's arm he'd cut off, and he narrowly avoided it's counter attack, it as well as the other ice warriors stood motionless. Not that Sasuke minded, it just gave him more time to prepare. Building up a large amount of chakra in his chest Sasuke ran through a number of hand signs.

"Fire Style! Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke fired three large fireballs, one after another in Kisame's direction, watching with satisfaction as the fireballs did what he had hoped and began to melt the ice warriors as soon as they made contact.

Kisame scowled and swiped the tips of his swords across the water in front of him and was protected from Sasuke's attack as a large wall of water sprung up as a shield, the water easily dousing Sasuke's attack, but it had been enough, Sasuke sprinted forwards, his path now unhindered by what little remained of the melted carcasses of the ice warriors who had been struck by his attack.

"Don't be so sure of yourself!" Kisame smirked as almost immediately all the melted ice warriors began to reform, the water taking shape before hardening into ice once again just as it had when they appeared just minutes before.

"Shit!" Sasuke cursed, narrowly avoiding an icy sword that one of the reformed warriors swung at him.

His path to Kisame now blocked once again, Sasuke was forced to avoid attack after attack from the ice warriors that now surrounded him. Their attacks were slow and easy to avoid but their numbers were beginning to prove a problem for Sasuke, each time he avoided one attack he was running straight into another. Eventually he was unable to dodge completely and felt the icy cold tip of a sword slice into his side, his sharingan had allowed him to move so the blow only caused a shallow wound. He didn't have time for reprieve as another ice warrior swung at him from behind, Sasuke spun round to face his attacker bringing his sword round in an arc which sliced through the waist of the warrior stopping it's attack.

Within moments the ice warrior began to reform, but that wasn't Sasuke's biggest concern, three ice warriors were upon him the moment he had felled their comrade. He dodged two of the attacks but the third stabbed him in the thigh, forcing a cry of agony from Sasuke, Sasuke sliced cleanly through the blade that had pierced him and he retreated, the blade of ice still protruding from his leg. He didn't know which hurt more, the sharp blade of ice that was embedded in his flesh or the stinging cold that emanated from it. Breathless Sasuke somehow managed to leap clear and create some distance between himself and the attacking statues of ice; a quick glance behind him revealed dozens more standing a few yards away, but none of them moved to attack.

'This is impossible!' Sasuke thought to himself, trying to catch his breath. 'There's too many and they immediately reform the moment I destroy them!'

"You can see how futile your struggle is now, can't you?" Kisame's voice echoed throughout the area, the man no where to be seen. "Just lay down you're sword and surrender, it'll be easier that way, no-one has ever escaped this place."

"Yeah... well you can shove your offer!" Sasuke yelled back. "This fights not over until I plunge my sword into your chest!"

"Have it your way then." Kisame's tone was cold and ruthless and it came from behind Sasuke. Sasuke spun round to face the direction the voice came from, a flash of silver was the first thing Sasuke saw before a sharp pain rushed throughout his body from his chest. Looking down Sasuke saw the mirrored blade and looked up to look Kisame in the eye. "Now... die!" Kisame snarled, twisting his sword before slicing upwards, tearing a large gash from Sasuke's chest and out through his shoulder. Sasuke felt his entire body go numb and fell to his knees, his eyes locked with Kisame's. "You put up a good fight, but you never had a chance against me!"

************

"I can't tell what direction he's in!" Kiba growled as he sniffed at the air trying to track down Karabe. "You know the routine Akamaru!" Akamaru barked in confirmation.

Kiba and Akamaru leapt through the tree tops, their noses tingling with Karabe's scent, but they were unable to spot the leather clad ninja. A trio of shuriken flew past Kiba's head and struck the tree in front of him. Now alerted to Karabe's position Kiba planted his feet firmly on the tree branch he had leapt to, the branch straining at the force of the impact from Kiba's sudden stop, Kiba narrowly avoiding another trio of shuriken as he back flipped over them. Akamaru took off in another direction staying in the tree tops to attempt to catch Karabe while he was busy targeting Kiba, who had landed on the forest floor. This was their usual routine to take down ranged opponents who were pursuing them.

Karabe was relentless in his assault on Kiba, sending dozens of projectiles hurtling towards the brunette. The moment Kiba had landed on the forest floor he was forced to duck and then immediately roll to the side to avoid yet another barrage of shuriken. Kiba spotted Karabe on a tree branch above him but was unable to act as Karabe had already thrown yet another barrage of shuriken at him. Kiba was forced to dodge barrage after barrage, back flipping, leaping, rolling and running out of the way of each attack. The speed and accuracy of the attacks were increasing, he narrowly avoided another barrage by ducking behind a tree.

"I thought you wanted to fight... not dance!" Karabe cackled. "Have to hand it to you though brat, you're pretty good at running away!"

"Fuck you!" Kiba yelled. There was a long silence, Kiba poked his head round the tree to see if Karabe was still there. 'Maybe Akamaru got him.' He thought, the thought was immediately dismissed as three shuriken flew past his head, one of the cutting his cheek as is passed. Kiba clutched his cheek and cursed loudly. He didn't have time to think of his next move as six kunai with paper bombs landed on the ground on either side of him.

"SHIT!" Kiba grunted as he took off in a run, the paper bombs detonating a few moments later. The explosion knocked Kiba off his feet but he was otherwise unharmed. Kiba quickly got to his feet and scanned the area for any sign of Karabe, who had disappeared from sight. 'Come on Akamaru, what's taking you so long?'

"Fucking mutt!" Karabe yelled as Akamaru caught him by surprise. Karabe narrowly avoided Akamaru's fangs as the wolf-hound attempted to sink his teeth into Karabe's arm.

Karabe leapt from the trees to the ground below followed quickly by Akamaru. Karabe launched several shuriken at the white canine, but Akamaru easily dodged them and lunged at him forcing Karabe to leap backwards. Unfortunately for Karabe he leapt in the direction of Kiba who had pulled a kunai and only mere feet away from him. The leather clad ninja spotted Kiba at the last moment and swerved out of the way of Kiba's kunai. Karabe attempted to create some distance between them but Akamaru had already gotten behind him, the wolf-hound sunk his fangs into his lower right leg and held him firmly stopping Karabe from escaping.

"I've got you now!" Kiba yelled in triumph, lunging for Karabe and bringing his kunai to bear in an over-head strike. Karabe grimaced and blocked the kunai by bringing his left arm up to protect his neck, which Kiba had been aiming for, Kiba's kunai sinking deep into Karabe's arm with a thunk.

The moment his kunai struck Kiba knew something was wrong, he had definitely struck Karabe, but the solidness of what he had struck was not that of flesh or bone and he couldn't even smell any blood. The three of them stood motionless for a moment as Kiba's surprise was enough for Karabe to recover. A kunai slid from the sleeve of Karabe's leather coat into his right hand, he lashed out at Akamaru, forcing the wolf-hound to release the hold on his leg, now that Karabe had regained his footing he lashed out at Kiba. Kiba leapt backwards out of range of Karabe's attack, his kunai sliced along the length of Karabe's leather coat. Karabe glared at Kiba and then looked at his torn sleeve, the torn fabric hanging loose and fluttering in the breeze.

"Fucking brat!" Karabe growled. "I liked this coat!"

"What the fuck is up with that arm!?" Kiba demanded, still confused why he wasn't smelling any blood from the wound that Karabe should have suffered. Even if he wasn't bleeding from his arm Kiba still couldn't under stand why there was no blood from where Akamaru had bitten him.

"Guess there's no point hiding it any more." In a swift motion Karabe threw his coat to the wind revealing his wooden left arm. Kiba couldn't believe his eyes, Karabe's entire left arm, all the way up to his shoulder was made of wood! Through Karabe's black sleeveless vest, Kiba could see that there was a large metal plate covering his upper right chest and covered his left shoulder where the wooden arm locked into place. Karabe's right arm was completely normal, but it was covered in numerous black tattoos, the one's around his wrist Kiba recognised as seals.

"What the fuck?!"

"Heh, I lost my entire left arm and lower right leg in a mission when I was a genin." Karabe explained with a smirk, obviously amused by Kiba's look of disbelief. Karabe's left arm raised flexed by itself like a real arm.

"Puppet Master Jutsu?"

"That's right kid." Karabe praised. "Only Kisame and Zaraki know about... my condition. You're the first in a long time to find out about this." Karabe raised his wooden arm in emphasis. "But it doesn't matter, soon enough you'll be dead!"

"I ain't losing to a cripple!" Kiba snarled. His comment obviously hitting a nerve as Karabe's face screwed up into a scowl.

"Well this, 'cripple' is going to wipe the floor with you!" In the blink of an eye Karabe summoned three more shuriken out of thin air, summoning them from the seals on his wrist, snatching them out of the air between his fingers and hurled them at Kiba. Kiba deflected them with his kunai as Akamaru launched himself at Karabe once again. Karabe leapt into the air, he raised his wooden arm and out shot a blade attached to a rope from the under side of the arm, the blade struck a tree and Karabe used it to swing himself away from Akamaru. Karabe retracted the wire and landed atop a large moss covered boulder and turned to face Kiba and Akamaru.

Kiba had to admit that he was impressed, for a guy who was missing an arm and a leg, Karabe was fast. In a flash he had created distance between them, distance was not a good thing in this fight. Kiba had finally worked out where he was getting all those shuriken from, the seals around his wrist allowed him to store and summon a ridiculous number of weapons within them, just like Ten-ten and her scrolls. Kiba couldn't help but think of Kankuro, Garra's brother, he used wooden puppets as weapons. His puppets contained numerous hidden weapons, Kiba could only wonder what surprises Karabe had in that arm of his. Kiba didn't intend on finding out either.