𝘉𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘚 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

thirty one

+

Sasuke had the upper hand against Gaara, but I didn't expect anything less. He may have a 'sand spirit' (whatever the hell that even meant) but Sasuke was strong in his own right. The Uchiha wouldn't go down without a fight, if he was to go down at at all. But the way Sasuke was fighting... the way he was moving... it didn't seem to be his own.

In fact, it looked smoother.

He was more agile than the forest of death, and his attacks had more precision than before. Sure, the last time I saw him fight, it was in a life or death situation while facing a fucking wackjob, and he wasn't totally in the right state of mind. But there was no way this style of taijutsu was his own. I had seen him fight before, and this sure as hell wasn't it.

The style of the way one fought was learned from the moment you trained to be a ninja. It was suited for your strengths, and you stuck to it, while refining things here and there.

What Sasuke was doing now, was not the way he fought then. So how the hell had he learned to move like that in a month?

I caught a whiff of a conversation that I couldn't help but listen to. 

"I had him copy Lee-kun's taijutsu techniques with the usage of the Sharingan. He'd seen enough of it to envision the movements, and then refined his speed to the amount Lee preformed with." Explained Kakashi, to the man who I still had no idea if it was Lee's dad or sensei. I probably would never know. "If it weren't for Lee-kun, Sasuke probably wouldn't have had a chance."

Sasuke tousled with Gaara, sliding left, right, up, down—practically anywhere he could to avoid getting hit by the sand. He landed a good punch on the red head, cracking what looked to be his fucking skin, which only made me a kajillion times more confused.

But the tousle between the two really didn't last long. Especially since Gaara encased himself in a ball of sand like a fucking coward. Sasuke attempted smacking it around to shatter it, but the shelter didn't head.

I expected Sasuke to hit the ball again for good measure, but what I did not expect, was for him to flick away from Gaara like an acrobat, and run up the stadium wall.

"Why is he running away?" I asked aloud, hoping someone would be gracious enough to answer me.

"He isn't." Replied Kakashi, not turning to look at me. He nodded his head at the Uchiha who began to make hand signs. "Watch."

I was too confused to fan girl at the fact Hatake freaking Kakashi was talking to me, so I didn't say anything more, doing as he said. From so far away, I was having trouble seeing what signs he was weaving, but I swore I caught sight of the snake seal. Or at least, something that looked like the snake seal.