"You know, Teal, I'm starting to catch up to ya, right?"

The Lightning-element user's concentration was shattered. He was standing in the Konoha forest, taking a walk to clear his troubled mind. Of course, his good old partner, being the boisterous guy he was, announced his entrance with his voice instead of his jutsu.

When he ignored the voice, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Glancing back, he noticed the al-too-familiar Fire-element Copycat, codenamed "Scarbucks Coffee". He had no idea where the code name came from, but it was a bit of a mouthful, so most called him "Scar".

"What of it?" asked Teal.

"He's just trying to flaunt his perceived superiority." A second voice – this one female – came out from behind Scar. Teal recognized her as Yukitsuki Asaka, the pink-haired ANBU member who acted as Scar's and his overseer. Her trademark side-ponytail rustled in the wind as she approached him.

"It's only perceived because you haven't seen me in action yet!" shot back Scar. "Plus, Teal here has been slacking off with his training, so I technically have an advantage!"

"He still has more raw skill than you do," countered Asaka.

"Are you sure? Only one way to find out!" Scar slammed his palms together and summoned his three Copycat clones (Danzo Shimura, Fu Yamanaka, and the Sannin Jiraiya in Sage Mode) along with an identical, hazy copy of himself. "Teal! I challenge you to a Copycat duel!"

For the majority of their time as Copycats, Scar had been behind Teal in strength. However, Teal admittedly HAD been slacking off in this past week, so...

"I'd like to see how you've grown," he replied. "So I'll gladly accept your challenge."

With a swift hand motion of his own, he conjured up his clones in their practiced formation. Fifth Kazekage Gaara entered a protective stance, blocking Sakon, Ukon, and Killer Bee from harm with a sand barricade.

"Took you long enough," muttered the Sakon clone harshly. "It was getting rather boring doing nothing at all."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." Teal ignored him. "Let's just go." He turned to Scar, and the two locked eyes.

"Alright. Make your first move."

"You're gonna regret that!" Scar snapped his fingers, and he and his clones charged. Immediately, he leapt in the air and made some quick hand signs.

"Fire Style: Bomb Blast Dance!"

A cone of scorching flame exited his mouth and swirled around Teal's group. But Gaara's sand was faster; a wall of swirling dust shoved the flames aside, and they dissipated harmlessly. Gaara then counterattacked, hurling a shower of his signature weapon at Fu Yamanaka. His slash tore through the Yamanaka's puppet, but dealt no damage to its owner.

"I see you're playing serious," said Teal. Taking a deep breath, he re-organized his thoughts with zen-like calm. Almost immediately, an aura of chakra began to swirl around him and feed into his allies, empowering them further.

Scar chuckled. "Calm Mind, huh? It's just like you to use a move like that. It makes you look aloof and lonely, after all." With his free hand, he gestured to his teammates. Fu Yamanaka unsheathed a tanto and unleashed a methodical slash towards Gaara, but it bounced harmlessly off of his sand. Behind him, Danzo released a burst of wind from his own blade, throwing Teal backwards and onto the dirt. The Lightning-element user hit the ground in a roll and stood up effortlessly, and his copy of Killer Bee leapt to defend him. Bee intercepted Danzo and riddled him with his unique Seven Swords Style, creating cuts and gashes all over the ambitious elder's body.

Teal turned to Sakon and Ukon, who were still raring to go.

"Bee. Amp it up."

"You said it, Chief. Wheee!"

Killer Bee raised a rad symbol into the air; almost immediately, the nearby Sakon grew faster. He launched a wild punch at Fu; before long, his fist transformed into a blur as he slammed into his opponent. Fu was barraged with three jabs faster than the eye could see.

"Sakon. Ukon. Now!"

The head looming out of Sakon's neck glanced up and smirked.

"We thought you'd never ask."

Sage Jiraiya lunged towards the exposed Sakon with a Rasengan in hand. Immediately, the brothers separated and touched the ground with their hands, forming a summoning circle.

"Summoning Jutsu: Rash0mo

n!"

The enormous door leapt out of the ground, knocking Sage Jiraiya high into the air. Scar's Haze Clone, too, was in its path; it dissipated instantly.

On the other side of the battlefield, Scar stared up at the monstrosity that the creepy twins had just summoned. His eye caught the shadow right above it, too; Sakon had leapt over the door and was charging straight at him!

"Oh no you don't!" Making another gesture, Scar ordered his allies to attack. Fu Yamanaka was the first to react. He brought both hands down and pointed them in a triangle shape straight towards Sakon's head.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Sakon suddenly stopped in midair as Fu's mind invaded his. Ukon, too, was completely immobilized by the invasion. He turned around and faced his former master, watching as the Ras*n slid back into the earth.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Teal was as stoic as ever.

"I'm actually surprised," remarked Asaka. "That was clever of you to possess him, especially since Sakon's amped up by Bee's empowerment."

"Why, thanks. I'm flattered." Scar winked at her.

"Don't get distracted, Scar." Gaara's voice. The Fifth Kazekage manipulated his Sand in midair; it wrapped around Sakon and Ukon until the brothers were immobilized. Fueled by Teal's chakra reserves, he reinforced his cache with another huge dump of sand.

Sand began to swirl around Scar's team until they were buried by an enormous pyramid. Gaara brought his hand down, and the impressive-looking structure imploded on itself, crushing him and his squadron inside.

But, miraculously, as the dust cleared, Scar and his team were still standing.

"Izanagi's an overpowered tool, you know," he said. "That Danzo's super useful."

"Nice."

Teal's voice had suddenly appeared right behind him.

"But not good enough."

Scar was suddenly aware of a blade piercing through Danzo's shoulder.

"Iaido: Instantaneous Flash!"

It happened in an instant. Teal's blade was now impaled in the shoulder of Scar's copycat Danzo, and it had pierced through him and embedded itself in a nearby tree. Not waiting a moment, Teal issued another order; now freed from Fu's control, Sakon was dropped to the ground.

The brothers charged at the immobile Danzo and acted as one. The Hokage that never was was hit by a flurry of punches and kicks with shocking force. The duo's last * sent him boring straight through the tree.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Blue orbs of flame leapt from Scar's hands straight towards Teal. The Lightning-element user narrowly dodged, and the flames hit the grass and lit the nearby trees on fire. Killer Bee lunged forwards to counterattack, but was intercepted by a Rasengan from Sage Jiraiya. Not letting his opponent catch a breath, Sage Jiraiya released a barrage of needle-like hairs from his "mane" towards the airborne Killer Bee. Scar leapt into the action, activating a seal in his left hand and promptly hitting Bee with it. The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was sent ricocheting backwards, where a portion of the branches leapt out and pinned him to the ground.

A battered but alive Danzo stepped out of the woods as Sage Jiraiya released another Rasengan onto the fallen Bee.

"Still tough now? That Bee of yours won't be able to handle much more damage." Scar smirked.

"You just think you're ahead," shot back Teal.

•••

From afar, Asaka watched the scuffle with a mixture of curiosity and worry. The grass was ablaze. Half of Konoha Forest had been decimated by Gaara's Sand Pyramid, and the remainder of it was being cut through by the two Copycats' intense struggle. She winced as Danzo effortlessly sliced through a tree in an attempt to get back at Sakon and Ukon.

"If this keeps up, Konoha Forest will be history in no time."

She had no idea how she was going to explain this to the Hokage. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to pull on Scar's emotions and provoke him into starting a duel after all...

This short was originally inspired when I started wondering how battles in-game translated to real-life Naruto. I was originally going to have a duel between my groupmate/buddy Scarbucks Coffee, and then translate it into story form, but he wasn't available at the time and I had a bunch of ideas, so... that explains the slight changes from gameplay mechanics.