Three
(Don't own Naruto or Boruto, just my characters. Enjoy)
Zeko couldn't find any words as he looked towards the massive shadowy figure beyond the bars. The boy could feel the amount of raw power emanating from it and, by instinct, was terrified. "You gonna stand there all day or what?" It's voice boomed as what looked like it's head tilted to the side in curiosity.
Even as the being spoke to him he was unable to form a full sentence. "T-There's- I don't- Y-You-"
"I hope Yokano didn't raise a retard."
At that Zeko managed to find some bearing for himself to speak, the disrespect towards his mother not being something he'd take. "What'd you say fool?"
"Guess you ain't as dumb as you look, whatever." A massive arm made itself visible as the being moved closer to the bars of its cage. "So this is... Zeko right?" The figure eyed Zeko as much as he was looking over it from what he could make out in the darkness of the labyrinth like building they were in. "Don't look like much yet but you're still a brat so maybe I'm wrong."
"Who're you calling a brat? Wait... I have a question, where are we?" The boy decided to ask what really was on his mind from the start but the taunting of the large figure set him off track.
Of course the question made the being break into a bout of cackling laughter, the water that covered Zeko's feet rippling from the movement ahead of him. Eventually the being stopped its laughter and came even closer to the bars. "This is your own mind brat. I'm more surprised that it took me so long to reach you."
Zeko looked around the fairly bland area, frowning all the while. "This is really boring... Is this my imagination?" Another bout of cackling from the figure.
"Maybe you're as good as Yokano-chan said you'd be brat..." The figure finally stood directly behind the bars and was completely visible to the amazed Zeko, it's body was littered with black markings that only added onto its unique appearance. The child's mind stuck on the fact that who or whatever this was used such an honorific with his mom's name.
"How do you know my mom a-and who are you?! Tell me now!" He almost yelled the at the caged being.
As soon as he let those words leave his mouth he felt a weight press onto him as if an entire building was on his shoulders, he looked at the figure and saw the killing intent radiating away from it. Zeko's body tensed and he held a breath at the tension in the air. "Don't push your luck brat... Don't act like you, a human, can tell me what to do." The weighted feeling remained on Zeko until the tension in the air finally lifted and the boy was able to exhale. "At least you opened your mind sooner than she did. Good luck sleeping." With that the being slammed its giant hand-like claw against the bars, the vibrations shook the entire space around them.
As the snow haired child tried his best to keep steady he found himself being pushed away into the darkness of what looked like a hallway. "You didn't tell me who you are!" He said as he flew backwards and the only response he got was a smile from the giant demon, mostly in its eyes since its maw was stuck in a solid neutral expression.
"Tell Yokano-chan I said hi, brat." Was the last thing that Zeko heard as he found himself back in his room lying on the floor. He scurried up and looked around to see that some of his miscellaneous objects that he collected were knocked off his dresser. As he went up to the dresser he saw himself in the mirror and what immediately caught his eye was... his eyes. His irises were no longer circles as dark as his pupils but were now yellow four point stars.
"Zeko-chan! Get your things so we can go practice!" His attention snapped to his mother standing at his room door that was now open with his mother in her usual black top and white shorts with her mesh bodysuit being visible wherever her skin was showing. As quick as she came through the door she'd left and when Zeko looked back to the mirror he saw his normal black eyes.
The trip to the outskirts of the village was very forgettable, nothing of importance occurring. For an hour Yokano had her son practice his sand manipulation by forming domes that she would have him use his great breakthrough against, each one lasting slightly longer than the one before. Zeko was first to notice that there were others coming towards them, the same pull that he felt towards kunai and shuriken directed him to see a woman approaching with her young daughter beside her. "Kaa-chan who's that?"
Yokano turned to see who was approaching and her face broke into a wide smile before she, to the surprise of both children present, turned into sand and appeared right in front of the woman and gave her a hug. "I ain't seen you in forever Yu-chan!" Zeko deadpanned as he saw his fully grown mother acting like she was his age to the other woman who looked more annoyed at the sudden embrace.
"You're embarrassing yourself Yoka-chan, I'm glad nobody else is out right now." The woman looked around and her gaze landed on the white haired child who was curiously looking at the blue haired girl who stood beside her mother. "Is this yours?"
Yokano didn't need to turn her head to know her best friend was talking about her son so she decided to pay back the rudeness. "He is. Much better than your little gem." The two separated and glared at each other, the children could see sparks coming from their eyes as the women continued their glaring match. "Zeko-chan..." Yokano said melodically to her son who was distracted by the long white robe that the blue haired woman was clad in but he turned his attention back to his mother once he heard his name.
"Touka-chan." Yuno said sternly. The two mothers quickly brought a shoulder around their respective kids.
Zeko quickly found his mother pressing her cheek against his own. "Zeko-chan do you think you're ready to fight anyone right now maybe my best friend's daughter?"
"Kaa-chan..." The boy's face resembled that of someone who had to explain that water is, without a doubt, wet. "It's petty to make your son fight for you." His mother quickly looked nervous when he finished his sentence, his tone both serious and disappointed.
Yuno coughed and brought attention back to herself, Touka's crimson eyes were locked onto Zeko. "So when can they have their match? I'm fine with whatever you choose Yoka-chan."
"They're too green to fight right now so uh... After their winter exam!" Yokano managed. Yuno nodded and took her daughter's hand.
"Train him well then, Touka is going to be a genin next year at her rate."
Yokano smirked at her friend's declaration and gave one last taunt. "Wouldn't expect anything else from your little gem!" The pair went off to a different area to train. "Zeko! We've gotta train you harder!" The boy only smiled at the statement and proceeded to remove the abdomen length cloak he favored. "First we need your father here too." Zeko barely cared that his mom took her phone out of her pocket and instead focused on the fact that he'd be training with both of his parents instead of swapping out, of course when his father was there only a few moments after being called he'd brought a scroll with him.
"Here you go Zeko, since your mother had to challenge her best friend-" Akira eyed his wife who sheepishly smiled while Zeko looked over the scroll. "I'm going to help her train with you for today." The boy visibly deflated knowing it was a one time deal of having both his parents train him but he was still excited about a new jutsu.
His excitement changed to confusion as he evaluated the scroll further and saw that it contained a B-rank fire style jutsu. "Uh Tou-chan... I thought I was gonna get-"
Akira held up a hand before taking a knee. "Believe me Zeko you'll need to know a fire jutsu to have a chance against Touka-chan. I'm surprised you don't remember her." The child raised an eyebrow at the statement and waited for his father to elaborate but his mother cut in first.
"You used to have play dates with her. You two were so cute bathing together!" Zeko blushed in embarrassment while his father shook his head.
"That is something you wouldn't remember since you were still a baby. More importantly Yuna-san has a kekkei genkai like you. She has the crystal release however, half of her affinity is earth and the other half is water. You need to know some fire jutsu to beat her daughter since I'm pretty sure she has crystal release as well... or she's a water user." Zeko nodded and looked at the scroll again.
'Great dragon flame.' Zeko mentally read the scroll again before setting it down and going through the seals for great dragon flame jutsu. The familiar feeling of molding chakra in his upper chest hit Zeko, the boy spent around half an hour getting a good feel for how his chakra should shift before giving his first attempt... only to end up a coughing and hacking mess with smoke coming from his mouth. "Not-" Another cough. "What I wanted-" More smoke from his mouth. "To happen." Akira gave him a bottle of water that he swiftly took and started to gulp down.
"Never is fun doing that the first time. Couldn't tell you since it'd ruin the experience." Akira grinned while his son did his best to send a scowl his way. Zeko recovered from his scorched mouth and looked at the scroll again before face palming. The boy realized that he was molding the chakra too high up in his chest as opposed to at his abdomen, his lungs were being burnt before he could exhale properly.
Once again Zeko used the hand seals for dragon flame and began to mold his chakra lower in his body than before. The boy felt his chakra rush upwards as he inhaled, the heat moving from his stomach to his chest but not burning… yet. 'Katon: Goryūka no jutsu.' A flame the size of a head came from Zeko's mouth and its shape changed to resemble the head of a dragon. The flame collided with a wall of sand that formed ahead of it and bleached the spot where it struck. Before Zeko could try to use the jutsu again he found his reflexes screaming at him to move which he did, he turned and saw that Akira's hand was embedded in the spot that he'd been.
"Session starts now."
As soon as Zeko touched the ground again he found sand moving towards his ankles, he weaved his seals and sent a blast of water at the ground. The sand that was coming for him was greatly slowed down as the water soaked into it but Zeko's attention went to his father's oncoming leg that he quickly latched onto. Zeko managed to get onto his father's back but he looked around in a panic once he turned into a puff of smoke. 'Just a clone!' He turned and threw a kunai that wasn't in his hand before at his quickly approaching father before weaving hand seals. "Doton: Doryuheki." Zeko put his back to the wall before weaving more seals while looking at his mother. "Futon: Daitoppa!" A squall hit his mother dead on to the boy's surprise but his mood changed when she turned to sand.
The mud wall cracked as Zeko ducked beneath the lightning coated hand that pierced it. The boy knew he'd sleep well tonight no matter what the caged beast had threatened.
On one hand Zeko was lucky that he was right but on the other he was unfortunate that he was right. After that training session the boy felt like his body was on fire, his very bones ached from training with both his parents... Yet he loved the feeling of pain and knowing that he worked hard with his role models. The area they were sparring in was riddled with bleached sand, wet sand, and fragments of sandstone. Akira had nicks from kunai on his forearms where Zeko managed a few strikes and some light bruises at his neck when his son managed a leg chokehold. Yokano had a few bruises and a small burn where Zeko managed to sneak a few jutsu in, however she had no cuts or scrapes since he couldn't get past her sand. Last but in no way least in terms of showing signs of training was Zeko, bruised, scraped, and sore all over. In all the family was smiling as they got back home from their excursion, all having posed for a picture on Yokano's phone before having dinner.
Sleep came quickly to Zeko that night even as the constant laughing of the caged beast rang through his dreams, he remained asleep through all of the internal noise.
The next two months were filled with a very similar and yet very different routine for Zeko. He found that out of seven nights a week he'd only be able to sleep more than six hours for two, the rest he was stuck with two hour naps. His usual excitement was much more rare but not completely absent, mostly being seen by his parents when he trained, and he would now fall asleep in class without warning. One moment he could be wide awake listening to Rozu-sensei and the next he was blacked out. He told her that his ability to sleep at night was ruined, the grimace that crossed her face for a moment made him consider telling his parents but she told him that so long as he doesn't slack off on his work it was fine.
Finally his winter exam came and he sat ready with the rest of his class. He looked at his paper and saw the ten questions on it. 'Five great hidden villages? Sunagakure, Konohagakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure.' He wrote and went to the next question which had him match the title of Kage to the villages. 'Ninja ranks?' Zeko had to ponder for a bit before answering, this question being a bit harder. 'Genin, Chunin, Tokubetsu-Jonin, Jonin, Kage.'
The next question asked what were the main fighting styles and it was too easy for the boy to know what Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu were. The next couple questions were breezed through until the boy hit a harder one to answer. 'What tailed beast was Suna known for harboring?' Zeko read the question repeatedly and only managed to find himself asking his own. 'What the hell is a tailed beast?' He moved on to answer the ninth question knowing that puppet corps was the answer. The last question only needed the three kekkei genkai their village was known best for and was simple so now Zeko circled back to the question that had him stumped.
'What is a tailed beast?!' He didn't know the answer at all, of course he'd pass the exam without writing anything but it wasn't perfect as he wanted it to be. He felt everything slow down as he looked around the room to find anyone on that question and luckily the same girl who tried to have him as an underling was just getting to it. Zeko watched her hand carefully and mimicked her movements to copy her answer, as soon as he finished copying he stood up and brought his paper down to Rozu who allowed him to go to the recreation area outside.
Zeko sat alone as he thought about what he wrote down and hoped that the girl knew what she was talking about. "Shukaku better have been the right answer."
Less than an hour later the exams were graded and Zeko had a perfect score that he was bringing home, school being dismissed for their winter break. The temperature in Suna had lowered some due to the season but a desert is still a desert. As soon as Zeko got home his mother swept him up and looked at the paper happily but it was a short celebration as they quickly left for the outskirts of their village.
Yuno and Touka met them outside of Suna. Yuno was clad in the same white robe while Touka wore a brown shirt under a dark brown tunic, she had shorts that stopped above her knees and bandages wrapped around her legs that covered any and all skin. "Ah you're here, I hope you're ready to lose the bet."
"Kaa-chan…" Zeko looked at his mother. "Gambling over your son winning a fight is dirty." She nervously waved it off and stammered a response.
"N-Not like that Zeko-chan. I-It's over who has to pay for lunch after." Touka walked away from her mother and put up the seal of confrontation. Zeko unsnapped the front of his cloak from his neck and tossed it to the ground. He couldn't shake the feeling that this would be a memorable match between a friend he didn't remember well. He stood across from Touka and made the seal of confrontation, red eyes meeting black and azure hair contrasting against white. Both adults nodded, now it was up to the kids when to start.
They rushed at each other and threw connecting punches that landed them just behind each other, both turned to land an elbow strike. Neither made damaging contact as they caught each other's strike but neither gave up as they did their best and continued their flurry of attacks, both trying to breach the other's defense. Zeko throwing solid heavy hits, while Touka caught them and tried to pay back with swift jabs. A hard hit from Zeko made the girl jump back with Zeko in pursuit.
Touka and Zeko were still trying to find or make a hole in the other's fighting style, Zeko's brutish grapple-style was only being brushed off by Touka's carefully executed strikes. She managed to land a hit to his chest and followed by kicking herself off the ground which let her land two aerial kicks to his chest that pushed him backwards, but Zeko pushed through and grabbed the girl's heel and slammed her into the ground. In her daze Touka saw the oncoming sandal clad heel and rolled away to see a newly made crack in the sandstone she'd moved from. She held a hand out and to Zeko's surprise made a blue kunai out of crystals before charging back at him and slashing at his torso.
She missed her attack but pressed on while Zeko dodged and used his hard hitting fighting style to match the kunai in deadliness to keep the blade at bay. He threw in the occasional foot sweep and nearly managed to trip Touka as she attacked him. She threw her kunai into the air right before she put her arms up to block his savage strikes.
Zeko slugged hard against the girl's arms, each hit landing but being turned to where most damage was superficial. Touka managed to strike the boy in his side then grabbed the kunai as it fell and sliced the boy's cheek, this earned her a monstrous left hook that sent her rolling across the ground. Zeko pulled out a pair of iron kunai and cracked his wrist before giving chase. Touka recovered and formed another kunai as Zeko approached.
Touka clashed her crystal kunai with Zeko's iron ones with the clanging resounding through the area, they clashed until Zeko slipped an arm against Touka's and somehow snaked his body along hers until his leg wrapped around her chest. He pinned her to the ground and stood over her right before stabbing but his kunai was kicked from his grip and he had to block the blue kunai coming for his neck. Zeko threw his empty hand out but Touka caught it and deadlocked the two. A smile went across both of their faces, the first smile that they'd seen the other have in a long time. They kicked each other in the chest and made their hand seals as they flew backwards.
Zeko was first to finish his jutsu. 'Katon: Goryūka no jutsu!' This time the flame was as large as he was and came out as a dragon head.
Touka smirked and crouched. 'Suiton: Mizurappa.' A powerful wave of water left her mouth and collided with the flame, a heavy steam was brought to the area. Zeko rushed into the cover while Touka heard his footsteps all the way. A sound to her left made her fling one of her kunai towards it but the only thing there was one of Zeko's kunai wrapped in cloth. She turned and was greeted by Zeko's shin slamming her into the ground.
Zeko looked down and drove his kunai downwards but the ground beneath him cracked and another Touka burst out and grabbed him from behind. 'This... is a clone, you're in front of me!' He drove his elbow behind him and slammed his kunai down beside Touka's neck right as she turned to sand.
"They always fall for the sand…" He felt something grab his waist and pull him over into a perfect suplex. Zeko laid on the ground in pain and started to get up until he felt something cold against his neck. Touka stood over Zeko and as he saw the crystal kunai in her hand he knew the match was hers.
Yuno had a wide grin on her face as she turned to Yokano. "Good thing I know this, expensive, restaurant that just opened." She taunted her best friend who had her head down as a dark aura surrounded her. Yokano was proud of her son of course, had it been almost anyone else she was sure Zeko would have won but she knew better than to dwell on what ifs.
Touka extended a hand to Zeko who stood up on his own. "Hmph. You win, congratulations." He somehow didn't have an angered tone, the boy wasn't a sore loser after all. Of course he was upset that he didn't win but he decided he just needed to train harder in taijutsu… or learn how to make sand clones. 'Ass kicked by a girl.' Zeko frowned at his mental roomate's comment
Touka looked at him as he thought to himself and let the world around him slip out of mind. She waved a hand in front of his face but he was somehow not able to notice. She looked to the adults who were still bickering. "Does this mean you won't keep your promise?"
That snapped Zeko out of his stupor and brought his attention to Touka. He didn't remember making any promise, he barely remembered interacting with the girl. "What promise?"
She pouted at the question before answering. "You said you'd be the strongest ninja in the village, and that you'd be the strongest Kazekage we ever had." Zeko did his best to remember making this promise but he could only shake his head in trying to remember having made it.
"Sorry but I don't remember promising you that." Touka's expression changed from hopeful to outright sad. "But!" She looked at the boy once again. "I'll definitely make sure that it comes true, I'll be the best Suna has to offer and nobody is gonna get in my way!" He radiated his happiness even as Yuno and Yokano looked to see him make the declaration.
"That's my boy!" Yokano cheered for her son and his goal, his joy reaching her as she turned and grinned maliciously at her best friend before enveloping Yuno in a hug.
'Maybe I shouldn't have rubbed it in.'
Touka's ruby eyes couldn't leave Zeko as he reattached his cloak to his black shirt. She might've won the battle today but with how motivated Zeko was to be the strongest in Suna… She more than likely wouldn't keep ahead of him for long, the fact that it was a promise made for her sake caused a blush to cross her face for a second before her neutral expression came back.
'I wonder what kaa-chan has to buy for lunch…'
Author's notes: Some decent little fight scenes here hopefully the one for the next chapter is a bit bigger. Tell what you liked or didn't if you want. See ya next time.
