Night 57: The Coliseum

[el_aguila]

Touching the sandy grounds of the coliseum was a catalyst, and the progression of day did not mean the end of the process. By fortune or otherwise, this group's efforts were not allowed to halt simply due to the rising sun. Therefore, when nighttime was pronounced, those who had undergone the beginnings of an incomplete trial were pulled from their

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[sasuke_of_sound]

Inexplicably, there was again the sense of time lost after arriving in -- wherever it was they had arrived after opening those doors. Sasuke blinked awake as abruptly as he had the last time, the faint taste of dust in his mouth and the weight of his own clothes enough to confirm that he hadn't somehow ended up in his own room in the morning yet again. Aguilar's voice provided the last piece of necessary evidence, Sasuke jerking to a fight-ready stance and hands automatically falling into position to defend.

As there had been last night, he could sense the chakra flowing through his body, strong and reassuringly familiar right down to the knot of Orochimaru's curse bite staining his left shoulder. The sheath of the Kusanagi -- and he knew it without needing to draw it, from the balance and fit of it against his body as familiar as that of his limbs -- imprinted briefly between his belt and his back, and for the first time since coming to the Institute Sasuke could feel a full flood of strengthSharingan settled into his vision,

[sasuke_of_sound]

The barrier didn't so much as tremor -- Chidori's sparks blazed and then faded away within a metre of Aguilar's face, the chakra burning placidly where the man sat not even twitching in response. Nothing, except an infuriatingly calm shrug and words directed at him that were filled with the absolute certainty of victory.

Because there was no doubt about it: the victory here was Aguilar's, the Institute's, and nothing to do with the people fighting in the ring or those in the stands. The image of the General flickered into intent with that deliberate indication of the spectators, Aidou's fury distantly recording into memory, Brook's questions ignored. Sakura's silence the most troubling of all.

But Sasuke was not an Uchiha in name only, and the Sharingan required no more than sight to work its power. If Sai would just -- sit down in a corner and be quiet for a moment, maybe

[tsunagari]

Sai watched as the birds were dispersed with fire. That wasn't good enough. He needed Sasuke to come at them with his blade, and he needed it to be an action done mostly without thought. For that, he would need to send out more of the images, have them spread about, have him get used to attacking them. The more thinly they were spread, the less effective his fire attack would be when compared to a simple physical blow.

He would have to keep tabs on his movements, watch what he attacked first and when, and take notice of when the actions started to become second nature.

The distress of those in the stands was noticeable even from his higher position. He needed to end this quickly before they took too much more damage. He should be the one to take the fall here, not them. If Sasuke would just allow him to do it this whole matter could be ended so much more quickly.

The ninja drew several more birds on the parchment, sending them flying out in a larger fan this time. Then, without pause, he drew several more.

[sasuke_of_sound]

He could sense the Sharingan spinning dizzily and could see (see) the stadium in the crisp reds and greys of his birthright, and yet he couldn't see the sense in what Sai was doing -- he could see the reason, but the logic behind running and fighting in order to die had been beyond him from the very beginning. And maybe that was his own cowardice, the sin engraved in his past in moon and the blood of his kin, but in this dusty arena with this --

This asshole watching, Sasuke simply could not understand. Aidou was shouting in the stands, Brook shouting back and Sakura's voice angry and determined. They were bleeding, Sasuke knew that much, and abruptly he considered Aidou, his very literal bloodlust and the present of all of it around him

[tsunagari]

There. That was exactly what he needed. Sasuke could sense his chakra, could sense his movements, but even someone as could at sensory techniques as Sasuke could only take in so much at one time. There had to be a moment, even the smallest fragment of a second, where he was focused too much on one motion for him to be able to take in all of Sai's

[sasuke_of_sound]

It happened in a flash -- a ninja second, the splice of time they were taught from childhood to seize -- Sasuke saw the flicker of changing chakra before he felt it, heard the swipe of blade against flesh before he could stop his own body. A month with no training and muscles were already weakened from lack of use. And Sai, playing dirty by fighting to die rather than to live and the tactics within that strategy something akin to an alien planet of battle instead of something that should have been as familiar as breath itself.

Instead of what Sasuke knew, of what he had lived by and what everyone who had srrounded him had lived by. Except Sai.

-- except Itachi.

And for what, exactly? To what ends and what purpose could death be the best choice (and why; and why), especially here (especially for Sasuke)? Those who had watched them scramble for their entertainment, Danzo, Landel, this new Aguilar, Konoha, remained unharmed. Unhurt, powerful

[tsunagari]

Finally, the blade hit true. Sai had never been stabbed fatally before, clearly, but he knew he'd been certain to hit the right mark. The two of them fell back to the ground as the world, already dimming around the ninja, began to fade out entirely. Sasuke was yelling something at him, which didn't surprise him in the slightest. All he could do was smile back at the other ninja, sure it would only infuriate him further but not actually caring