Chapter 19 – Fight Part 1

Shortly after he received the report, Sango began to think. He wondered who his stalker may be, the clone was unable to see its features since it was covered with a long cloak, its hood raised. That person’s clothes seemed to shout ‘suspicious’, not very smart to be clothed in such a way when tailing someone, it was hard to not attract gazes since it wasn’t the right weather to wear a cloak.

Thinking fast, a plan formed in his mind. Since he was followed, he may as well meet the person face to face, to reach that goal he just had to walk to a more secluded place. Just when Sango walked in front of a side alley, he turned and walked inside. Losing sight of Sango, the person following him increased its walking speed and followed him in the alley where he regained vision of Sango.

Sango walked for a long while, leading his stalker to the outskirts of Konohagakure, he walked until he found a secluded place, then he stopped.

“How may I help you? Mr. Stalker?” While showing his back to his stalker, Sango began to talk, his main goal now was to discover who was behind this, a good place to start was conversations.

“Why did you come to such secluded place if you knew I was following you?” A rather plain voice came from the woman, it was hard to pinpoint any characteristics from which Sango could have begun to draw her personality, it was a type of voice one would forget immediately after hearing it, but it still sounded vaguely feminine.

“I thought you were shy and won’t show yourself if there were strangers around.” Replied Sango as if speaking to a friend.

Sango turned around to face the woman, her face still hidden behind the hood.

“Kukuku, you are right, I’m rather shy.” As she answered, they fell in silence, each trying to figure out the other.

“So, how can I help you?” Sango broke the silence.

“How about you come with me.” Her answer didn’t surprise Sango, he had already begun to think of many reasons the woman would have for tailing him, kidnaping and assassination were just a few of them.

“To where?” Still smiling, Sango began to question the woman, he doubted any information would be given but he should at least try.

“It’s a nice place, I promise you will have fun there.” Her answer wasn’t really an answer, with no surprise she didn’t leak any information.

Putting on the face of a troubled kid, Sango said “I’m sorry, mommy said not to follow strangers.”

“Kuku, it can’t be helped then.” The woman laughed softly, the air changed instantly as her words spread in the surroundings, it became cold and sharp.

Without the need for further signals, the change in the air clearly indicated that the fight was on.

Sango was long prepared for that as he doubted he could gain information without using more painful means. He just had to catch her, that was one of the reasons he chose such a desolate place to fight her, the ideal situation would be to knock her out before she could use any suicide methods if she had any, then he would easily and slowly question her. No amount of training could make someone immune to torture, a talented torturer could make even the dead talk, and Sango was very talented in the art of torture. The best kind of torture was a combination of mental and physical torture, Sango passed entire days destroying mind and body until his subject no longer had a sense of self, it was only able to answer questions, failing to even control its own bodily functions. Cruel as he may seem, Sango didn’t like it, talented he may be in the subject, he still didn’t like it, but not liking it and not using it were two entirely different matters, he wasn’t above using such means when necessary.

A shiver passed through the woman’s body, the atmosphere changed as the light seemed to dim, the critters no longer made a sound and the air seemed to gain weight. The entire area gave the same feeling a child would have when alone in a graveyard at night, with no other people in sight.

“Incredible.” Murmured the woman under her breath, such a young child gave of such a terrifying aura.

In Sango’s left arm appeared his beloved knife, the M48 Hawk Harpoon. Since he received it, he kept it hidden inside his sleeve, night and day, he spent much time thinking of a way to properly use the knife in combination with chakra, this was a good opportunity to test it since he didn’t have to hold back, he could feel his enemy wasn’t easy to deal with.

The woman eyed the knife, she had never saw such a strange shaped knife, its characteristics seems to focus on piercing and sticking to the target, it was hard to say if it could be useful in combat.

Sango made the first move, he took a running pose, placing his left foot in front and the right foot just a foot behind his original spot. The woman, seeing his move, took a defensive pose expecting Sango to rush at her, yet he didn’t advance. Sango placed a kunai on the ground and stepped on it with his right foot, hiding it before the woman caught up with him, now he just kicked the kunai straight at her, it flew making a whistling sound. She jumped to the side only to find herself facing the strange knife just a short distance away. Sango threw his knife while kicking, using minimum movement of his hand so as not give out his action. Yet, the woman wasn’t an easy opponent, moving her body in an unnatural way, she avoided even that attack. The knife hit the ground behind her, only then did she see the thin string attacked to the knife, connecting it to Sango. That was one of the techniques he was working on, far from completed, but still usable. Using the theory of using chakra to walk on water and trees, he made the knife into an anchor, the chakra spreading like roots from its point inside the earth, then he used the string to shoot himself towards the woman.

After many months of training, his body’s strength increased at an unnatural speed. His chakra and physical abilities all increased to new heights, as it could be seen when Sango used the strength in his left hand to pull himself towards the woman with incredible speed.

The move caught her by surprise, not expecting such move. Not having time to dodge this time, the only course of action was for her to meet him with an attack of her own. She threw several kunai towards the flying Sango thinking that since he was airborne it would be difficult to dodge mid-air, but Sango would prove her wrong. Thanks to his immense chakra, he could make the string that was infused with his chakra, behave like a living tentacle, using the knife stuck in the ground as leverage, Sango just pushed himself off-course slightly, successfully dodging the incoming kunai.

The many uses of his technique began to show themselves, having avoided the kunai, now Sango was in attack range so he used the chakra in the string to briefly harden the string enough that he could use it as leverage to kick at the woman. She wasn’t able to dodge this time so her only choice was to cross her arms inn front of her neck to block the kick.