In His Own Right:
Chapter Four:
His breath was heavy, his crimson red eyes swore daggers into that of his elder cousin, both were tired and weary from their battle. Shisui stood a small smile on his features, Sasuke couldn't exactly pinpoint the what the smile meant, albeit he assumed to be of little importance.
"You seem to be fairing much better than your blond, teammate.", the spiked haired Uchiha spoke. "Let's finish this, shall we.", he raised her hands up to gesturing for them to get back to business.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"If you would do the honor.",
The younger Uchiha needed not one more word, within seconds, he was on the offensive. Sending a quick hurling Shisui's way, the Anbu operative barely was able to block his attack, which was followed by a heavy yet swift punch aimed for his face. Shisui side-stepped being able to avoid the attack, withdrawing a kunai from his pouch he slashed at the jounin. Sasuke dodged the deadly attack, before revealing a kunai of his own striking towards the elder Uchiha. The two kunai collided creating a golden spark.
He made a move to sweep Shisui off his feet with his legs, Shisui saw this and hurled into the air, his hands performing a quick set of signals. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized his intentions.
He jumped a few meters away, as a ball of fire plummeted towards the Earth. He slid sideways on the grass, his hand giving him balance against the grass and dirt.
"Behind you.", a humorous voice whispered in his ear.
Said whisperer had used the body flicker technique.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he turned around with only seconds to block a devastating kick that sent him flying. He skidded across the grass before recovering and bringing himself to his feet. He stood preparing to charge forward and show what he was truly made of, he concentrated chakra towards his hand as electricity began to engulf his palm. However suddenly, he found a sharp piercing object again his neck.
Damn it!
"I think it's over, Sasuke.", His Chidori slowly vanished, Shisui's figure behind that of Sasuke's kunai pressed comfortably towards his neck.
There was no possible way he could escape, Sasuke was actually out of luck. Fuck, there was literally nothing he could do, 'less he wished to lose his life.
"I...I give.", Sasuke declared through his teeth.
"Pretty impressive, Sasuke-kun. Though more protection towards your mid-section would probably make you more effective.",
Izumi looked at the blond, he wasn't moving much, or was he attempting to do anything, he simply just stood ridged. Was he as good as she had first believed? Was it simply a false preconception and nothing more or was he still the knucklehead ninja that she'd perceived from childhood 'til now. The one person if anyone had the true will of fire.
Suddenly his crystal blue eyes shot open, a grin earning its way on his handsome features. A flame burning like a wildfire.
Without warning the Genjutsu had been disrupted, Izumi found her Sharingan eyes widening in shock and disbelief.
"You expect more, huh? Let's give these hands a try and see how much you actually expected.", The blond roared, as he threw a kuani her way. Her eyes narrowed. Was he underestimating her? Did he think a measly attack like that would be effective? Her hands jolted out with great speed, intercepting the kunai in her palms before it came into contact with the Uchiha heir.
"Not the smartest of mov-", an object as hard as a rock came into contact with her face, Izumi soon realized this to be Naruto's fist. Shock shot through the Anbu captain. It―...that was impossible. She dragged across the floor before finding balance and recovering to her feet.
"It's one of my Dad's techniques, the flying thunder God.", Came the blond's reply.
She wiped her face, a slither of blood removed from her features. This changed the playing field significantly. She hadn't expected that and if she had she would have combated him with the same strategy she used against Shisui to begin with.
He was behind her with little to no warning, she swiped the kunai that was aimed towards her neck away, making sure to keep it a short distance away. Noting that the kunai were the secret to his Jutsu.
He charged slashing forward, she dodged grabbing his arm and shoving him backward with a fist to his midsection. He grunted in pains as he swung a long leg her ways, she blocked the blow being extremely heavy and pushing her back a few feet.
She jumped forward, a kick aiming for his head, the blond sidestepped before grabbing her leg and throwing the Uchiha female, who responded with a barrage of shuriken his way. He rolled grabbing the kunai that was plunged into the grass and deflected all of the deadly sharp fragments of metal with the weapon. The cling of metals colliding ringing out through the field.
He went for her again throwing his kunai, she dodged it and allowed it to land behind her. He teleported to the weapon and from there he sent a barrage of fists and kicks, the two exchanged attacks for a short while, before they broke off as Izumi kicked Naruto backward, she withdrew a kunai and lunged forward.
Naruto laying on the ground rolled out of the way, to her surprise he grabbed her by her arm and brought her down to the floor. She tried to push her weapon towards his throat a feat which would've been a clear sign that she was victorious. However, that's not the case.
With his superior strength, he grabbed the girl's wrists forcefully pushing them down as he laid neatly on the girl. Her back against the grass as he lay frontwards upon the girl. She couldn't believe it, it had been that easy?
She jerked forward in an attempt to escape but found that the very kunai in her hand was now poking her cheek. She gazed up at the sun-kissed haired shinobi.
He was gazing down at her with a stern expression.
They stayed in that position for a long term of time, Izumi waiting patiently for him to remove himself, which... unfortunately, wouldn't happen without her intervention.
She cleared her throat.
"Naruto...", she began.
"What?"
"...you may remove yourself from me now, you've won."
His eyes widen in shock as he flustered red in embarrassment, realizing the position that they were in. Izumi simply raised an eyebrow, he quickly removed himself from her smaller figure.
Both now stood.
"Say what..?"
"You won."
His blue eyes gleamed with something she couldn't pinpoint.
"I won?" he spoke awe-filled.
"Yes, that is what I said.", she dusted her Anbu uniform off.
"But, you're Izumi Uchiha. You never lose..", she laughed internally, she wished that were true.
"I've lost to Kakashi-san a large sum of times, in my earlier my earlier years. I usually tie with Shisui, albeit.", she sighed. "You're an exceptional shinobi Naruto.", she spoke wholeheartedly wishing not to say anything else. But the blonde would have nothing less...
"Friends?", his hand went out towards the Anbu captain, she stared at it, her crimson Sharingan eyes still activated.
"Come one, it's the least you can do. At least I'm not annoying you with questions from the day before.", he had a point there. She didn't like being annoyed with questions. Her hand extended outward grasping his, and shaking firmly.
"Don't think I'll ease your workload, a punishment is still a punishment.", a small smile plastered its way onto the Uchiha's. It went unnoticed by Naruto, but it was in fact present.
"You're kidding me, goddamnit you gotta be!", Shisui inquired, he couldn't believe it, hell he refused. They stood outside the main Uchiha house, thirty minutes after the training with Sasuke and Naruto.
"Do I look like someone to joke, Shisui?"
She had a good point, Izumi rarely joked if ever. Actually, he's never heard her crack or laugh at a joke ever.
"God, these kids, sooner or later they'll make us look like a flock of fluffy bunnies with their skills.",
She nodded in agreement.
It was a quiet and passive day. Beautiful in every sense of the word. The raven-haired female lay in her room, quietly looking into the blue spring sky. Her charcoal eyes blank.
It was her day off evidently. Shisui had been sent off on an emergency Anbu mission which required his specific skill. Which explained why they were not training today.
Which reminded her. Both Sasuke and Naruto had made significant progress. Both of which were definitely gaining a new sense of responsibility, and She had successfully helped Naruto develop a new form of his Rasengan. She felt content with her work actually.
Naruto had not disappointed her, he had actually defeated her which was a great accomplishment for any shinobi of this era.
But back to her day of.. It was her day off and she had absolutely nothing to do. She never really did anything actually... She didn't have a personal life nor did she have many friends... She did have admirers, but they weren't friends or anyone interesting. She sighed lightly thinking about her ultimate mission, the one given to her on the behalf of Danzo.
He couldn't believe he was doing this. He was crazy! He shook his head, almost walking away and leaving right then and there. He didn't wish to come all the way here just to be turned down, it just wasn't something he'd see as pleasant. However, he didn't see her replying to him with a yes, it was her day off after all.
His blue eyes blinked as he sighed deciding to finally do it. His hand came up as he knocked lightly on the door to the Uchiha head house.
He knocked for a couple minutes before stopping and becoming vigilant. He waited and after a few minutes. Was anyone home? Sasuke even... Maybe? To explain to him at least that she wasn't home or anything. Or maybe she was ignoring him... He was seconds away from leaving when the door finally opened. His day suddenly brightened up.
Beautiful jet black eyes that equally complimented her long charcoal hair. She wore a blue shirt that wore the Uchiha crescent on it. Her eyebrows rose, staring into the blue of Naruto's
They stood there starring at each other for a long instant.
"May I help you, Naruto?", inquired Izumi.
Why was he here again? What had he wanted to do again? Shit...
"I... I know it's your day off and I don't mean to bother you on it Izumi, but I was wondering if you could help me perfect my new Rasengan.", he explained to the girl. That was part of the reason, actually, he just wanted to be around her. Over the time that he'd spent with the Anbu captain, her brother/his best-friend and Shisui, Naruto had to admit that he'd developed something a bit more than infatuation. He needed to be around her, he wanted to know more about her personal life and possibly get to know her. He was curious about every aspect of the girl. Especially about the incident a month ago. He couldn't tell the girl five years his senior, by all means no.
It was well known that Izumi was beautiful, possibly the most beautiful girl in all of the village. That fact alone meant a lot and if the rumors were true then she wasn't really interested in those of the opposite sex...possibly asexual if you would.
His mind was brought from his thoughts as she answered quicker than he expected. "It's fine... Actually, I'm not doing anything better and would find it enjoyable to help you with your Jutsu.", she spoke, her voice sounding like a smooth rhythm to the Uzimaki's ears.
He smiled as excitement ran through his body. "All right!", he cried slamming a fist into his palm. It was probably louder than he intended, which would explain the stares he received from inside the Uchiha District.
Izumi remained stoic as she walked outside, already fully dressed for training, and signaled for him to lead the way. Naruto with a cheap grin and a scratch of his head did so accordingly.
Naruto sent his attack into the ground, a large explosion erupted in the training field following said attack. The Jounin teleported away, avoiding the effects of his own attack, he landed parallel his kunai, via the thunder God technique.
This was his fourth time showing off his rasenshuriken, following Izumi's orders to repeat his attack. She watched a safe distance away, her arms wrapped neatly under her chest as she looked on with her usual unreadable expression. He was inhaling and exhaling heavily, as sweat ran like rapid rivers down his face and head, her current posture, and figure didn't help his situation either.
Izumi called the Uzumaki over with a hand gesture. He approached her slowly still feeling a bit overworked from the performance of his most powerful ninjutsu.
"Rasenshuriken was it?", she asked when he was a good hearing distance away.
"Yeah.", he nodded, his mouth moving to the side in a gesture of confusion.
"It's definitely a powerful attack however, it seems rather risky. You having to teleport all the time.", It was definitely a risky technique, one that required him to use another to get its full capability.
"Yeah, it is.", Naruto answered.
"Why not throw it?",
"What?",
"Throw it.",
"Throw it, I can't just throw the rasenshiruken..", her eyebrows went up in question, they read 'You're an idiot' as he realized how absolutely stupid he sounded. Could he throw it? It was called the rasenshiruken.
HOLY SHIT
He glanced between his hand then to Izumi and back to his hand. God damn it he was an idiot! And she a genius. Why hadn't he thought of that? It was so obvious! He jumped backwards, noticing that her eyes were still glued to him.
"Ah, yeah... ", he scratched his head as he prepared his attack, he concentrated wind charka to his hand, as he prepared to form another one of his attacks. His extremely high chakra levels allowing him to form another one. The giant blue mass of wind in the shape of a shuriken hovered over his palm. Okay, throw it. His eyes landed upon the forest before him feet away.
He watched as he threw the attack into the abundance of trees, the rasenshuriken exploded devastating the trees.
It was a definite success.
"It's much more effective, especially if you're accurate. If you utilize it this way, not only is it that much more devastating but, you won't waste your chakra teleporting away.", she spoke, somehow getting behind Naruto without him sensing her.
He laughed, his blue eyes gazed upon her features. Her beauty was memorizing.
"I would have gotten it eventually, I mean, I did make it in the shape of a shuriken.", he spoke with a small grin.
She simply shook her head at the Jounin. She was such a quiet person, Naruto guessed where Sasuke inherited his personality from. He really wanted to ask her about herself and just learn more about her. But how would he initiate in such a conversation?
"Would you like to spar?", he asked without really thinking, wanting some sort of response from her.
She stood there for a moment, probably thinking about the proposal.
"You're not tired?"
"You kidding me? That was just a warm-up!", That was a total lie he was actually pretty tired, but he had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon. And this was possibly the only way to get to know her better. To think that he would feel this way about Sasuke's sister.
"Fine.", she spoke bluntly.
He smiled his signature goofy smile. Yes!
"Would you like a to attack first Naruto?",
"Mh, yes. Actually, I would!", he yelled as he attacked with great speed sending his first attack; a punch, in her direction. She dodged the punch, grabbing the Jounin by his arm and tossing him over her shoulder. He landed neatly a small distance away.
He was already tired... It was definitely going to be harder than he thought.
He lay on the ground, his arm forcefully pushed into his upper back and her hand forcefully holding his head down. Izumi had won the spar.. There first spar actually.. The fight earlier wasn't a spar.
Though she didn't feel as successful considering that the whole entire time he had been sluggish and much less enthusiastic. So she held back, just a little so the spar could last longer. In the end, she still won.
"Ah, alright. You win!", he declared. She released the Uzumaki.
She stood, bringing her hand down for him to grab, so she could lift him to his feet. He refused, as he turned onto his remained on the ground.
"I guess they call you the best for a reason..",
She shook her head. "No, don't be modest. You were tired, it wasn't exactly a fair spar.",
It became quiet, the sky no longer held the presence of the sun, but instead that of a full moon and the stars beyond.
He still laid there almost memorized with the sky. And so she did something he probably would never have expected her to do, she sat down next to him.
He almost jumped as the realization hit him, his eyes tracing her figure she noted.
She said nothing, those of both genders usually did that to her. She guessed she must've looked odd to other people. She wasn't the most sociable so she really didn't know what was acceptable via appearance, nor did she care.
So there she sat, with the Uzumaki staring into the dark sky tracing their eyes upon the infinite stars and the beautiful full moon. They laid for hours, both in respective silence. It was weird she never exactly spent her days off with someone other than Shisui, and they never exactly did things like this. Except for sparring and training but that was different.
Her eyes glanced from the sky to the man beside her. His sun-kissed hair was darker due to the lack of light, but she could still see his face perfectly. Her eyes traced his lips and finally found its way to his jawline. His jawline was structured in such a way, it resembled that of a Nordic God.
It was weird actually, she had never explored or rather investigated his face before... And that day Izumi realized that she really liked Naruto's jawline.
*Oh hey there, long time no see. I've almost forgotten about this story, and I'm terribly sorry about that. XD, please don't be too angry at me.
I hope you guys enjoyed this story, it's pretty decent in my opinion and sets the tone for the next few chapters. Give me feedback in a review below! :D