better left unsaid

Chapter 10: The Red Eyes of the Devil

Asuma had his trench knives out and his eyes peeled for anything. He had managed to easily dispose of Zabuza's mist, but the man was still renowned for his stealth skills. It wouldn't have been a stretch at all for someone like Zabuza to be able to get the drop on him in a wooded area like the forest they were fighting in. It wasn't even a clearing, they were fighting among the trees, 'Okay. As long as he can't get the drop on me then I have the advantage. He can't create his mist and we aren't near any water for him to use any of the Suiton ninjutsu Kakashi told me about.'

Zabuza already knew where Asuma was, he was clearly just waiting for an opening to strike. Running around the area to look for him would do no good so the only thing he could do was try to pinpoint his location from where he was standing, otherwise he'd just be giving Zabuza a license to stalk him down and kill him, mist or not.

"So why didn't you heed Naruto's warning?" Asuma said, actually sounding rather cross at how this whole thing actually worked out, "Gato's still not going to pay you even if you finish Tazuna off."

Zabuza's laughter echoed evenly all around him, causing the laid-back jounin to let out a curse at not being able to use voice to find him, "I'm not going to believe the words of some bleeding heart brat just because you found my base and tried having a heartfelt conversation." He said, "And when I kill you and Kakashi and then the bridge-builder I should still have more than enough energy to deal with things even if Gato's as foolish as you said."

Asuma let out a chuckle, "I know I don't have any cool nicknames like Kakashi has to help people recognize me, but I didn't win my ranking in a raffle or something you know." After saying that he jumped aggressively to the side to avoid a slash that took down an entire tree with one swing. Asuma turned to face the tree that had just been felled and could have represented his headless body had he not been faster, 'And I'm going to have to prove it for the first time in a while…'

Zabuza's voice rang out again, "I'm sure you didn't. But Konoha ninja like you just aren't made of stuff that tough… the same thing I told Kakashi. When I was the age of your brats I had already taken more than my fair share of lives. "

"Good for you." Asuma said dryly, not seeing what that had to do with him at the moment, "Do you want me to tell you how cool you are or how scared I am? Oh I know, you probably want a cigarette right? Sorry, I don't share with people that try to kill me."

"Funny man." Zabuza growled out, "Well I'll clear-cut this entire forest if I have to before I slice right through you. You'll be dead before the sun is fully up."

Asuma sighed and held up his trench knives in a defensive taijutsu stance, "I'd love for you to stop talking about it and go ahead and try it if you're actually going to do it."

"With pleasure." Zabuza said before a shadow dropped to the ground from behind and rushed at Asuma. A diagonal slash from a massive sword nearly sliced through Asuma as it cut into the ground, but Asuma was able to get himself to the side of the move and cut into the figure's hip with one of his trench knives. As he heard the splash of water hitting the ground it was too much for it to be blood from a wound and he kept himself ready and composed for the next attack.

The next attack was Zabuza's sword flying through the woods swiftly, aimed right at Asuma. Seeing this almost made Asuma's jaw drop were it not for the fact that if he had stopped to gawk at it, it would have been the last thing he would have ever seen. Jumping into the air to avoid the blade, Asuma missed Zabuza darting from the dark points of the forest that had still not been touched by the low light of the sun.

Before he could touch the ground and regain footing, Asuma was knocked aside harshly from a kick by Zabuza that shot his body into a tree with a dull crack… hopefully the crack of the tree trunk and not one of his vertebrae, 'Man my taijutsu is getting sloppy. I either need to take a more hands-on approach in helping Naruto develop his or I need to find Gai when we get back, that was pathetic.'