Winter had cleared most of the stalks of dead vegetation infesting the path up to Itachi and Shisui's clearing. The budding trees concealed little from view, even in the rising darkness. Not that Yurei was hiding. Not this time. Sasuke felt something stir in him at the sight of his ghost sitting casually on the rock near the center of the clearing, one leg gathered up to his chest, the other one dangling over the edge, arms resting lazily on them.
"Long time," Sasuke greeted him. He couldn't mask the cockiness in his smirk. "Kakashi scared you away, did he?"
Whether happy to see him or simply in a good mood, Yurei humored him. "Some encounters are inevitable," he said, "but not was not the right time. Have you come for a rematch?"
Sasuke's lips split into a grin which morphed into a sneer as he attempted to control his facial expression. He was entirely transparent and it went against his nature, training and better sense so much it scared him. His nerves were alight with impatience, brimming with excitement. This giddiness might cost him. He was too eager, easily overconfident.
Still, Sasuke cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this," he said.
Yurei rose in one fluid movement, sinuous, insidious. Sasuke's sharingan trailed along the lithe body, all sinew and muscle wrapped in black. He licked his lips. Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus.
In a split second, they vanished.
Parry for parry, they clashed in a blur of dead leaves and branches and the bubbling sound of the Naka river faded out, lost in the background. Sasuke could finally see. And now he had the speed to match it. He could keep up. It became no longer sufficient in his mind to catch Yurei, he wanted to subdue him.
Every contact between them sent a shudder through the fibers of his being and Sasuke lost himself in it, trusting his reflexes, letting his body do the work to eliminate the thought-action delay, gaining precious split seconds.
It enabled him to grab a hold of Yurei's arm within minutes of their spar and he twisted it behind his back to push him up against a tree, momentary reveling in the myriad sensations coursing through him when he pressed his body against Yurei's. Already overheated and panting, he pinned him to secure his capture.
A raspy chuckle stroked the walls of Yurei's throat as he blurred out of sight, leaving Sasuke not only empty-handed, but thoroughly bewildered.
Not genjutsu, he determined. Impossible. He couldn't detect a single trace of foreign chakra in his system, attempting to perturb his senses. Not like that last time.
That was Sasuke's one coherent line of thought before he was forced to whirl around in order to block a kick, however, and he threw himself back into the spar. Yurei matched him blow for blow, seemingly having discerned his intent. He was making him work for it. Sasuke's mind went into overdrive, no longer in stand-by, reckless abandon momentarily forgotten.
If not genjutsu, then what? Shadow clone? It hadn't dispersed like any shadow clone he'd ever seen.
Time was flying, too. Running at this speed had been one thing and fighting was quite another. For all his training, he wouldn't be able to sustain it, keep up for long, not yet. So, Sasuke did the one thing he could think of in the spur of the moment.
He forced a burst of chakra into his legs.
Time slowed down. Sasuke flickered not three feet to the side as Yurei lunged for him, grabbing at his shadow in the place he had been. Sasuke saw his opening. Muscles flexed, another burst of chakra. Head spinning, he rammed into Yurei and they tumbled on the hard ground. Sasuke used the last of his strength to roll them over in order to straddle his partner.
A cold, wickedly sharp edge pressed against the clean-shaven underside of Yurei's jaw, right under the edge of the mask, snug against his pulsing carotid. The world held still for a moment which hanged between them, indefinitely suspended. Then another chuckle reverberated in Yurei's chest as he slowly raised his unsecured hands. Mistake. A shinobi's hands were still deadly even with a kunai pressed against their throat.
"I yield," Yurei said, however, voice tinged with amusement and something deeper. Darker. It sent the lick of a shiver along Sasuke's spine, fanned some unacknowledged flames in his groin. "Well done, Sasuke."
And it dawned on Sasuke that his winning this had not been the actual test. Yurei's objective had been to teach him something – that technique which had baffled him earlier and which Sasuke had inadvertently replicated and turned against him. Imperfect, but solid foundation.
He released the breath he had been holding. The kunai pulled back, leaving behind a thread-thin line of welling blood. Sasuke stood up, extending a hand, which Yurei took.
"Follow me," Yurei told a still speechless Sasuke after they had dusted themselves off.
Sasuke complied without a second thought.