It was time. The sun had fully retreated beyond the horizon and the moon was on the rise. Fireflies flickered about the Uchiha's backyard. The restrictions for the match had been set. Everyone on the porch was settled down with eyes trained on the three in the yard.
Kage Naruto stood in between Father and Son.
His right hand raised high in the air. The two Uchiha were completely focused on each other. Taking note of distributed weight and possible attack points to exploit. They both were ready. The air grew more tense as time passed second by second. Just when Sasuke thought he was going to die from anticipation, even as an adult he wasn't all that patient, Naruto swiped his hand down and retreated to stand atop a rock in the koi pond.
"Begin!"
At his husbands call Sasuke sprang forwards. His Father was already coming at him with his sharingan blazing. Fugaku's right fist raised to strike, but Sasuke had no intention of meeting his fathers blow. He ducked low, bending his leg, he spun on the ball of his right foot lightning fast. Sasuke's left leg swiftly raised and his heel whipped into his father's jaw.
There was no satisfying crack. His jaw remained in one piece. Naruto asked him to hold back so Sasuke refrained from using his true strength. But Fugaku went down. Without mercy. If he wasn't so tight lipped he would have gotten grass in his teeth as his face bashed into the rocky earth.
Sasuke smirked, coming out of his spin. His feet flat against the dewy ground, dust puffing up under him. He set himself in a deep fighting stance. Bent arms raised in front of himself prepared to attack or defend. "Sure you don't want those handicaps?"
Fugaku pushed himself up to his knees and wiped the grass that had gathered against his mouth with the back of his hand. He said nothing. He merely narrowed his eyes and scowled.
Sassy dropped his tomato filled chopsticks. Three seconds. His eyes trembled. Three seconds. That was all it took to send his father to the ground. One kick. It had such force. It was just...
"...Amazing." Little Naruto marveled, completely in awe, voicing tiny Sasuke's thoughts.
The small Uchiha looked to his friend. Little Naruto was as mystified as he was, maybe even more so. He had a look in his eyes. One that the small Uchiha couldn't place. He'd seen it somewhere, on one of the girls at school... Ino maybe? No, Sakura, definitely. Was it admiration? Or something different...? He wasn't sure. He didn't know. Either way the tap dancing fire breathing dragon was doing some kind of jig in his gut again. Little Sasuke's cheeks warmed as they dusted a light pink. He quickly picked his chopsticks up again and shoved more tomato in his mouth in an effort to distract himself from little Naruto's expression. He refocused his attention to the spar on the lawn.
Kage Naruto sweat dropped. "Sasuke..." He spoke to his husband. "That wasn't nice, you know,...let the man have some of his pride."
"No." Sasuke denied, starting forwards. His father never showed pride for him. He didn't deserve to have it if he kept it all hidden. He went to punt his father in the head, but the man was quick to roll out of the way. He caught Sasuke's leg, trapping his ankle between his arm and torso. He sent a fireball up along Sasuke's thigh only a mere inch from his pant leg. Intent for his son to flail backwards from the flame and have him fall on his ass in the pond behind them.
Sasuke was without fear. He felt the heat from the flame but didn't back away. His sharingan shifted to Mangekyou. He countered with Amaterasu. Stared straight into the oncoming flame and the man beyond the blaze. The black flames burst into being and ate away at Fugaku's fire. Fugaku released Sasuke's leg and splashed straight into the koi pond in his hurry to get out of the flames path.
Mikoto was on her feet, hands over her mouth in fear. She didn't call out so as not to scare the children, but that had been Amaterasu, fired at point blank range. What was Sasuke thinking? He'd gone too far. Those flames never burnt out. She looked to Kage Naruto. Surely it was already time to step in, but no. The seventh Hokage stayed perfectly calm and still upon the rock. He made no moves to intervene. He didn't look the least bit concerned.
"Are you insane!?" Fugaku demanded, voice raised, splashing around the koi pond water as he stood up. "You could have burned me alive!"
"You're the one who almost set my pants on fire." Sasuke replied, standing tall in the face of his fathers anger. "Don't get pissy because I had a perfectly good counter and you're the one that ended up in the water."
"Perfect? Regular flames can be put out." Fugaku grit his teeth. "That move was too reckless for a close range attack. The Amaterasu burns until it's target is extinguished. That's anything but perfect."
"Untrue." Sasuke denied. "I can extinguish them perfectly. I've done it before."
"That's impossible." Fugaku denied.
"Hm." Sasuke tilted his head to the side. He looked at his younger self on the porch. The child was uneasy with the sudden pause in the spar. He was probably wondering if he messed up the whole spar with that last move. Sasuke wasn't sure if he lost his chance either. But still...
"That word...impossible. It's so ugly. Too ugly to be spoken so surely. I used to believe you when you spoke it. You were the head of the clan. Even more so you were my father. Surely you knew more than me about what could and could not be done when it came to the jutsu of our clan. Then you walked me to the edge of a dock and failed to effectively teach me how to spew fire. You showed me some hand signs like that's all there was to it. But there's more to a jutsu than weaving some signs and gathering chakra. I was too young to really get that. I thought it was my fault you gave up on me."
Sasuke walked over to the tree in the backyard. He reached up into the thicket of leaves and snapped off a branch.
"Jutsu are complex manifestations of physical and spiritual energies. The only limit to their ability is in the user that performs it and that said..." Sasuke held the branch out and set it ablaze with Amaterasu flames. He let the branch burn for all to see. "...when it comes to my ability..."
Sasuke put out the black flames with ease.
"...you have always been wrong."
He dropped the branch to the ground.
Fugaku's eyes followed it to its resting place.
"If you wish to continue this spar of ours we can keep going by all means. I'll add Amaterasu to my restrictions. If you've had enough, that's fine too. Up to you. I'm gonna take a minute. Give you time to decide and calm down. It's a nice night for a stroll. When my husband and I get back you can let me know if you want to go another round."
Sasuke took Naruto's hand and they headed towards the nearest wall.
"Oh, and if he's gone when we get back." Sasuke paused to point at little Naruto. "Father or not, I will kill you no questions asked."
Sasuke and Naruto disappeared as they leapt over the wall together.
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
And that's where this chapter ends! I hope you enjoyed it. There will be a part 2 of this spar don't worry. This was just the beginning. No questions this time since I asked so many last chapter 😅, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Love you all, Tiff out! Peace!
