Chapter 18
AN: Long time no see!
Felt the urge to write a bit so here we are, a short chapter but hopefully something to start getting back on track. To be honest social media has drained my attention span. Ever since I started being a regular on IG/Twitter/Imgur I just don't have the patience I had before all of that. Ah well maybe writing will help. Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 18:
His opponent had handicapped himself with those weights. It would have slowed down his movement speed, in particularly his already deadly kicks. The weights were only on his legs so it should mean his arms shouldn't be gaining any more speed. With that being the case Kurama felt he could win once more even being limited to just taijutsu.
Kurama was slightly off guard at the green blur streaking toward him. Lee went past him and attempted a back kick toward his back. Kurama rolled forward to avoid the blow and Lee pursued him with great alacrity. Kurama was already coming up into guard position and blocked the downward punch. Lee's green clad knee slammed up toward his midsection and Kurama barely got his forearm in the path of it.
The sheer velocity and force of the knee broke through his guard and cracked his forearm into his gut and lifted him briefly off of the ground. Kurama didn't let that stun or jar him like most opponents would have. He instantly brought his other arm down and trapped the leg against his body. Lee's powerful muscles worked overtime as he spun his leg around and with it Kurama.
The nine tailed fox grimaced and used his arms to pull in the same direction, he released his hold after two rotations and send his fellow genin spinning toward a tree. Lee oriented himself in midair and kicked off the tree in order to send himself flying back into the fight. Kurama's superior senses saw that his opponent was airborne and no longer able to change his trajectory. He stepped forward and then side stepped, neatly dodging the attack and responding with his quick strike punch to the rib. Lee gave a grunt of pain and rolled onto the ground springing up and charging once more at him.
A deadly dance than began as Kurama had to make much more economical motions to avoid Lee from getting around behind him. Lee's kicks were the truly dangerous part of his attack but his punches and knife hand strikes were by no means weak attacks. Lee was a taijutsu monster and Kurama knew he had his work cut out for him. He did manage to get in some hits but none of them were fight ending, he himself had bruises up and down his arms when he was forced to block kicks. He had also taken a few strikes to the torso in an attempt to repeat his earlier win but this time Rock Lee had expected it and hadn't fallen for the same trick.
In a shinobi battle, five minutes was an eternity. For more than five minutes they fought and Kurama was glad that his host body had so much stamina thanks to his presence. He wasn't getting winded, though neither was his opponent. Kurama altered styles on the fly and began using the Goken (Strong Fist) techniques Lee had already shown. This didn't help however as Lee managed to get to an even better rhythm.
'Hmm he must train with his sensei constantly, so he knows instinctively how to react to me mimicking some of the moves.'
Lee managed to complete a leg sweep that put Kurama on his back. He followed it up with a descending heel strike that he was only just able to slip away from. Flipping back to his feet Kurama retreated until his back was near a tree. Lee grinned at him. "You are like my teammate Neji!"
Kurama didn't care for comparisons and settled in to wait for Lee to attack. Lee didn't disappoint he blurred in, this time keeping low to the ground. Kurama backed up and slid adjacent to the tree, when the kick came it had to come from his right and he ducked it letting the taijutsu expert smash his foot into the tree. The trunk let out a groan but the momentum of the blow was stopped and Kurama exploded into motion.
Instead of letting it devolve into their now normal close in punch, block, counter or throw he shielded his face with one arm and dived into Lee. Lee hit him with a hard thrust to the stomach but that was all he had time for before Kurama tackled him to the ground. Lee' superior speed did him little good as one of the elements of the Hebi (Snake) style presented itself. Due to the ability to stretch their limbs to extraordinary lengths and bend their bodies practitioners of the style were quite good at grappling.
Kurama did not allow Lee to break away and soon had put him in a choke hold that quickly pressed down on the carotid artery, putting the fellow genin to sleep. Kurama stood up and dusted his clothes off. A few seconds later Lee looked around disoriented and shocked.
"I lost again!" He seemed at a loss.
Kurama looked toward Gai who had a contemplative look on his face. Anko punched Gai in the arm, "Told you he was good."
Gai grinned. "A most youthful display, from both of you! Anko has asked me to instruct you Naruto. I already have a team and my own prized pupil but she has told me of what happened to you and of your youthful reasons for training so hard. I have no problems training you in taijutsu if that is what you seek."
Anko interrupted. "He'll take the taijutsu but you know that isn't what I want you to teach him."
"That is kinjutsu and I only plan on passing it down to one student."
Anko sighed. "You both go on missions together. What happens if you both die? The advanced stages of your kinjutsu will be lost to our village forever. You should pass it on to one other person as well that way if the worst should happen the technique your father invented won't disappear."
Gai looked pensive. "Lee what say you?"
Lee looked at his sensei. "I am not afraid of competition. We will test our youth against each other. Give him your special technique as well."
Kurama could see the look of pride on Gai's face. Lee was willing to have someone else learn a secretive and apparently powerful kinjutsu. Many shinobi hoarded their knowledge and did not want others to know of it. Kurama was glad his taijutsu opponent wouldn't be an obstacle. If he had been it would be a test of patience as Kurama waited for the right moment to kill Lee so he could eventually get Gai to teach him it. That would involve risk and more importantly delay his learning of this kinjutsu they spoke about.
Gai looked at Kurama. "If I teach you this you must follow my rules on when to use it. Can you do that?"
Kurama considered several answers until settling on the one that he felt it would be best. "I will follow your instructions but if I have to use it to save someone I care about it, I will. Only if there is no other way."
Gai smiled at him. "Yosh, you will make a good student! Lee fight against Naruto one more time. This time you may use Seimon (Gate of Life)."
Lee grinned and Kurama sensed something happening within Lee's body. Power radiated outward and Kurama saw Lee's skin turn red. Kurama couldn't quite figure out what he was doing, it wasn't as if he was building chakra it was as if he was transforming his body into a superior version of it.
"Begin!" Gai called out.
Kurama's biju enhanced senses easily allowed the tracking Lee's body. Kurama instantly crossed his arms, even with that quick reaction he was almost too slow as Lee launched himself at faster speeds than before. Naruto took the blow on his forearms and was knocked clear off his feet. The force of the strike was going to leave more than just a bruise, that felt like a bone had been crack.
'Incredible'
Kurama sailed backward from the crushing blow and knew he couldn't casually block strikes from Lee's attacks. At the same time, he couldn't really dodge them either. Lee had paused a moment to make sure Naruto wasn't seriously injured and then sprang forward again.
This time Kurama waited until the final step Lee took to commit and dove to the left of the attack. Lee's momentum was such that he flew past without managing to land a blow. It lasted for less than a second as Lee founding his footing and bounded forward once more.
Kurama couldn't begin to match the speed and strength of the assault. Had he been free to use his poisons or his ninjutsu it would have been different but here and now with these rules he was outmatched. As Rock Lee came forward Kurama held the block position. Instead of accepting the blow he changed it at the last moment into his own punch at the charging genin.
It was a decent enough try but Lee simply sharply blocked it away without hesitation and then finished his primary blow which connected with Naruto's cheek and took him down hard.
"Well done!" Gai shouted out and Lee allowed himself to drop out of the Seimon (Gate of Life).
Anko laughed and walked over to where Naruto lay on the ground. She gave a light kick to his wounded forearm.
"I told you this would be better than your other plan. You should never doubt the brilliant and beautiful Anko Mitarashi!"
Kurama let out a groan but internally he was delighted. Lee's strength had more than doubled when he activated that strange jutsu. Lee had taken his already strong taijutsu to another level. With that speed and power, he could have matched a jōnin in hand to hand combat.
Kurama got to his feet, his arm in quite a bit of pain.
"That was a great spar Lee."
Lee smiled. "Yosh! What a youthful adversary! But are you hurt? I felt your arm give."
"It happens, especially when I get training with Anko."
Kurama cackled internally at Gai's hasty troubled look at Anko.
"The gaki heals fast, he'll be fine. You figure out your training schedule without me. My work is done. Try not to get yourself killed in the chūninexams."
***BREAK***
The exams were fast approaching. Kurama was initially disappointed to learn that he would not learn how to access the gates prior to the exam. Gai had explained early usage and learning of the jutsu were often accompanied with injury and massive fatigue. Kurama was confident Naruto's body with his enhanced recuperation abilities would be fine but Gai was insistent.
Instead the times they did train he learned more of the Goken (Strong Fist) style which catered to the sheer power the Gates could potentially provide. Asuma had given the team free reign to prepare themselves for exams how they saw fit and Kurama was fixated upon this training.
When he was not with the two headache inducing green clad shinobi, he worked on his chakra control and poison craft. It was an old struggle but one that he knew needed to be diligently worked on. He also checked in on Ino and Chōji. Both of his teammates were diligent in their training and working on clan jutsu. As long as they didn't hold him back, he was content.
The time passed by swiftly and soon the exam loomed near. Kurama was just returning from a training session with Gai when he sensed it.
'Shukaku…'
Now that was interesting. The weakest and most pathetic of all the tailed beasts was here in the village. Like Kurama had been, he would be bound within the host jinchuuriki. It was actually quite bold to send a jinchuuriki into another village. Not only were they the deadliest of military weapons it could cause quite the incident if something were to happen.
'No doubt you can sense me too if you are awake. I doubt your seal allows for communication, perhaps I'll kill your host just for the fun of it. Hmm more likely you'd appreciate getting the chance to be free when you reformed, maybe not. I will have my fun if the chance arises though.'
Kurama knew this would complicate things but he didn't find himself minding. He actually looked forward to the possibility of flexing his superiority over one of his brethren. Getting a chance to kill some shinobi in their latest C ranked mission had been wonderful but now he hungered for more. It had whetted his appetite and he longed to unleash the barely held back rage he felt for the village he lived in.
Yes, this little bit of fun would be just what he needed.
***BREAK***
"Such a drag, do we have to?"
Sasuke wanted to strangle Shikamaru. He needed more power and the laziest teammate in all of existence was standing in his way. The bastard wasn't as useless as Sakura in a fight but getting him to do anything was like pulling teeth.
"We are signing up. Kakashi-sensei told us we were ready."
Shikamaru just sighed and continued to stare up at the clouds.
Sakura stomped over and looked down on the lazy Nara.
"You better be there!" She threatened with all the menace she could muster.
"How troublesome, yeah sure I'll be there."
He was lazy but he wouldn't derail someone's shinobi career. His initial glee at having a sensei who was always late had turned a bit sour. He loved slacking off but left in the company of Sasuke and Sakura was, well, troublesome.
He had talked with his father about the future and the chance of Ino-Shika-Cho being revised in the future and there had been some good news on that front. Once shinobi made chūnin they didn't always stay with their genin teams. Word from Naruto's jōnin sensei was that Naruto aspired to be a hunter-nin, and they often worked solo or in pairs. He was going to actually try to get promoted as that would help his chances of reuniting the team that should have occurred had he not slacked off so much during the Academy.
Sasuke and Sakura looked as if they had expected him to make an argument but they both nodded and went off. Shikamaru knew from experience that typically meant Sasuke would go train while Sakura watched.
'These exams are going to be such a drag…'
AN: That's a wrap for now. Boruto is honestly not my cup of tea and I've drifted quite a bit from the fandom but this story was calling me back. Let me know if you've still kept this story on follow for 4 years!