Naruto the Swift Blade
Last time, Naruto Uzumaki was worried about how useless he had been during the battle against Haku and how his teammate Sasuke Uchiha could've died. Then he met his Sensei Kakashi Hatake who noticed that Naruto was troubled over something. Once he found out what troubled him, Kakashi promised to train him in order to get stronger. He then discovered that Naruto's chakra nature is wind, what's going to happen next?
Chapter 2- Training match
Naruto and Sasuke was sitting on the back of a large carriage while keeping guard while Sakura was sitting next to the merchant they were supposed to guard while he was driving the carriage.
Naruto looked around with a serious expression, "Kakashi Sensei is watching from afar right?" He asked Sasuke while trying to see anyone or sense any presence around him.
Sasuke nodded his head, "That's right, he said it wasn't sure if the bandits that threatened Mr Tanaki will actually ambush him, however if he does, he wants to see how we're able to deal with it, and come up with a new training session for us based on it". Sasuke answered as he also tried to notice any presence.
Sasuke then looked at Naruto with a suspicious expression on his face, "Also, what have you been up to these past six weeks?"
Naruto looked at him with a confused expression on his face when he heard that, "What do you mean Sasuke? I haven't really done anything".
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Don't play dumb Naruto, well… dumber than you really are I mean". Naruto narrowed his eyes in anger at Sasuke's cruel remark before Sasuke continued, "During these past six weeks, you have improved your skills greatly, also…" He looked at the handle of the chokuto sword sticking out over Naruto's right shoulder, "Where did you get that Chokuto?"
Naruto looked at the handle that was sticking out over his shoulder before he looked at Sasuke again, "Where I got it doesn't really matter, right?" Naruto stared in to Sasuke's eyes as he said that. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked away.
Naruto continued to try and sense presences around them, he thought back to the training sessions he had had with Kakashi, he and his clones had managed to cut the leaves in half after about a week.
After that, Asuma had informed them that the shortened Chokuto had been completed, and after that Kakashi had trained him in using the chokuto in battle. Naruto had noticed that Kakashi seemed to be really familiar in using a sword.
While Naruto had never even gotten close to getting in a hit on Kakashi, he had been told by a happy Kakashi that he got a bit better during each training sessions.
Naruto got a smile on his face as he continued thinking about the training sessions, Kakashi had taught him a few new jutsus, including one that he especially liked. He couldn't wait to try it in battle for real.
Naruto then widened his eyes as he sensed something. He looked at Sasuke and saw the serious expression on his face, which meant that he had also sensed the same thing.
Naruto and Sasuke both jumped off of the carriage and ran next to it and ran up to the driver's seat and looked at Sakura, "Sakura! We've got company!" Naruto cried out to Sakura who got a worried expression on her face while she pulled out a kunai.
The moment after she had pulled out her kunai, ten bandits jumped out of the few trees in front of them and then ten more appeared behind them as well.
Naruto turned around and then he and Sasuke stood back to back while watching the bandits who pulled out their swords and daggers. Naruto grabbed his chokuto and pulled it out and held it in front of himself.
One of the bandits lifted his dagger and said with a confident tone in his voice, "Kids, don't do anything foolish, even if you're ninjas, we're outnumber you, 20 to 3, just leave, we'll just take the merchant's goods and leave".
Sasuke got a confident smirk on his face before he slightly turned his head towards Naruto, "He's right Naruto, they do outnumber us, so what do you say about that we even out the odds a little?"
Naruto got a smirk on his face as he understood Sasuke's message and changed his grip on his chokuto so he could cross his index and middle fingers, "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed and then ten clones of Naruto appeared around the original holding chokutos as well.
The bandits got shocked when they saw the multiple clones of Naruto, which made them unprepared when all ten clones and Naruto and Sasuke jumped towards the bandits.
The bandit that had spoken recovered from his shock and managed to block the real Naruto's chokuto with his own sword. After clashing with the swords for a few seconds, the bandit said with confident voice once again, "Is that all you got boy?"
Naruto didn't answer and just looked around himself, five of his clones fought the bandits on his side while the other five fought next to Sasuke.
Naruto then heard a poof next to him which meant him which meant that one of his clones had been taken down, from the knowledge he gained from it, it had taken down one of the bandits before getting stabbed in the side by a dagger using bandit.
The bandit in front of him chuckled, "You kids should've run when you had the chance boy, now we'll have to kill all three of you".
Naruto however got a smirk on his face, "I don't think so". The bandit narrowed his eyes and pushed back Naruto's sword and lifted his sword in order to cut his head in half.
Naruto narrowed his eyes while, he focused and concentrated on his sword, forming a thin layer of chakra around his chokuto. Both of them swung their swords and the bandit's eyes widened in shock when his sword got cut in half.
The bandit looked at his sword shocked for a second before he looked at Naruto who had a smirk on his face before he jumped up in the air and delivered a hard kick to the bandit's face, knocking him out cold.
Naruto looked around and saw that the clones on his side had taken down four more bandits. He looked at Sasuke and saw how they had also taken down five bandits. He was relieved that the bandits had been too shocked to react quickly which was what had hoped would happen, if he had been wrong, then he would've created more clones.
Naruto then took and placed his chokuto on his back again and began making hand signs as he started dodging a bandit who tried to slash and stab him with his dagger, "Tora, mi, hitsuji". Naruto mumbled as he made the tiger, snake and ram hand signs, "Wind Style, Divine Down Current!"
A vortex of wind appeared in front of that sucked up the bandit that tried to stab him with his dagger, which then moved towards the remaining four bandits on his side which caused his clones to jump backwards and the other four bandits got sucked up in to the vortex.
Naruto and his clones shielded their faces, after a few seconds so did the vortex disappear and the five bandits fell to the ground completely dizzy.
The remaining bandits had stopped fighting Sasuke and Naruto's other clones and stared at Naruto shocked. Sasuke used their in shock to his advantage and he and the clones took them all down.
Naruto then crossed his index and middle fingers with a smirk on his face and released his Shadow Clone jutsu and the remaining nine clones disappeared.
Naruto then walked towards Sasuke with a smile but then he got a shocked expression on his face when he saw Sasuke glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
Sakura jumped down from the driver seat and looked at Naruto with a shocked expression, "Naruto, did you just use a Wind Style jutsu?" She just couldn't believe that Naruto, who had been the clown on their class, could use Wind Style.
Naruto nodded his head with a smile, "That's right, I have been training really hard since our battle against Zabusa and Haku, and I learned that my chakra nature is wind".
Sakura just continued to stare at Naruto shocked while Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly more, they then heard a voice from behind Sasuke and Sakura, "Really good work you guys".
All three of them turned around and saw Kakashi who was currently tying up the ten bandits behind them, once he was done so jumped he over his students and began to tie up the remaining ten bandits.
When Kakashi had finished tying up the bandits so turned he towards his students, "Alright, the village that we were supposed to escort Mr Tanaki is not far. Let's get there and inform the guards there about the bandits".
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura nodded their heads and they continued their way towards the next village while leaving the bandits but not before tying all of them to the trees next to the road.
A FEW HOURS LATER,
Kakashi and his students were walking on the road in order to get back to the Hidden Leaf Village. They had successfully escorted Mr Tanaki to the village he was supposed to travel to.
Naruto was walking right next to Kakashi and talked with him, asking him what kind of training he was planning for them in order to improve their skills.
Sakura looked at Sasuke with pink cheeks with a bright smile on her face, "Hey Sasuke, do you want to go on a date with me after we get back to the village?"
However Sasuke didn't answer and just looked down at the ground with a serious expression on his face. He then suddenly stopped walking and stared at Naruto's back.
Sakura stopped walking as well and looked at Naruto as well before she looked at Sasuke again with a confused expression, "Sasuke? What's wrong?"
Kakashi and Naruto had heard Sakura's question and stopped walking and turned around and looked at Sasuke who continued to look at Naruto. Naruto got a confused expression on his face, "What? Why are you looking at me like that Sasuke?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes a little more, "Naruto, Kakashi Sensei has been training you, hasn't he?" Naruto's eyes widened in shock and Sakura looked at Naruto and Kakashi with a shocked expression on her face.
Kakashi closed his eye and nodded his head, "That's correct Sasuke, Naruto was a bit concerned about his performance in your battle against Haku and asked me for help. I then took and tested what chakra nature Naruto had in order to find out which jutsus would mostly fit him".
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked at the meadow field for a second before looked at Kakashi, "Kakashi Sensei, can I have a practice match with Naruto right now before we return to the village?"
Naruto and Sakura got a shocked expression on their faces. Naruto looked at Kakashi and saw that Kakashi had a thoughtful look on his masked face. He then looked down at Naruto, "Well Naruto, it would be a good opportunity to test how much you've really improved, however it is your decision in the end if you want to".
Naruto looked at Sasuke with a smirk on his face, "Sure, why not? I have wanted to have a practice match with Sasuke for a while, however he always tells me to get lost since he doesn't have time since he needed to train".
Kakashi nodded his head before all four of them walked out in to the meadow. Naruto and Sasuke stood across from each other fifty feet from each other.
Sakura looked at Kakashi with a concerned expression on his face, "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean even if Naruto has gotten a bit stronger, he still won't be able to beat Sasuke and he might get hurt". She was really confident that Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against Sasuke and was a little concerned that Sasuke might go a little too far and hurt Naruto.
Kakashi looked down at her with a serious look in his eye, "Sakura, because of how obsessed you are with Sasuke, you barely pay attention to all the effort Naruto puts in to the things he does, something I've noticed since I became your sensei. Because of that, you don't know about the potential Naruto has, trust me, while Sasuke might win, it won't be easy for him". Kakashi said with a serious tone before he looked at his two students while Sakura did the same while she had a disbelieving expression on her face.
Naruto took out four shuriken and threw them at Sasuke. Sasuke just got a smirk on his face and grabbed four of his own shurikens and threw them in order to knock Naruto's shurikens out of the air.
Naruto quickly began to make hand signs, "Ushi, inu, tatsu, ne, inu, I, mi, tora". Naruto mumbled as he made the ox, dog, dragon, rat, dog, boar, snake and tiger signs, "Ninja art, Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto's four shurikens then became twenty shurikens. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock when he saw all of the shurikens, four of them got knocked out of the air, however the remaining sixteen continued towards him.
Sasuke quickly dodged the shurikens before they could hit him, "You've learned the Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu as well?" Sasuke couldn't believe it since it was a A-rank jutsu.
However he then got shocked when he saw that Naruto had just reached him and swung a kunai at him. Sasuke quickly jumped backwards while he pulled out a kunai of his own.
Sasuke and Naruto jumped towards each other and their kunais clashed with each other, the two boys tried to overpower the other one for a few seconds before they jumped away.
Sasuke ran towards Naruto while he threw his kunai at him. Naruto gritted his teeth and blocked the kunai, however he couldn't react in time to block the punch he got to his stomach.
Naruto was sent flying to the ground, however while he fell he crossed his index and middle fingers and three clones appeared. The clones ran towards Sasuke while Naruto got up on a knee and began making hand signs, "Mi, hitsuji, I, uma, tori". Naruto mumbled as he made the snake, ram, boar, horse and bird hand signs before he clapped his hands together and winds started gathering around his hands.
Sasuke dodged the clones and destroyed them with a few well placed kicks. However he didn't notice that Naruto had rushed towards him before he was right in front of him.
Naruto pulled both of his arms backwards, "Wind Style, Gale Palm!" He pushed both of his arms forward and unleashed a strong gust of wind that hit Sasuke and sent him flying backwards. Sasuke rolled the ground a few feet before he managed to get back on his feet.
Sasuke looked at Naruto and saw how he threw three more shurikens. He narrowed his eyes and jumped up in the air to dodge them. He then looked at where Naruto had been standing, however he saw to his shock that he was gone.
He then heard Naruto's voice behind him, "What are you looking at Sasuke?" Sasuke looked behind him and saw Naruto behind him, not only that, but the position of Naruto's body was the exact like his, his right knee forward and his left elbow pulled back a little.
Naruto looked at him with a smirk before he threw a punch at Sasuke. Sasuke quickly turned around and blocked the punch before both of them landed on the ground and jumped away from each other.
Sakura looked at them shocked, she had believed that the match would've ended by now, "How is Naruto keeping up with Sasuke this well? Also what was that last move that Naruto used?"
Kakashi looked at her, "That last move he used is called Dancing Leaf Shadow. It's a technique that allows you to appear behind an airborne enemy like you're their shadow. While normally harmless on its own, it's usually used as the stepping stone for a few devastating taijutsu techniques, which is why they usually use Dancing Leaf Shadow after kicking the opponent in to the air which leaves them open for an attack for a short while".
Sakura looked at Kakashi shocked before she turned back to the battle and saw both of her teammates had started gasping since they were starting to get tired.
Naruto crossed his index and middle fingers, "Shadow Clone Jutsu". Five clones of Naruto appeared. Naruto and his clones ran towards Sasuke.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and began making hand signs, "Ne, tora, inu, ushi, u, tora". Sasuke mumbled as he made the rat, tiger, dog, ox, rabbit and tiger hand signs.
"Fire Style, Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He then inhaled and unleashed a volley of small fire ball that flew towards Naruto and his clones. The fire balls hit the clones and destroyed them while Naruto jumped back and forth and to the sides while he did his best to avoid them.
Naruto landed on the ground after avoiding the last fire ball and looked up and saw that Sasuke was once again making hand signs and saw him end with the tiger seal.
Sasuke inhaled deeply while he placed the thumb and index finger on his right hand together so they formed a small ring in front of his mouth, "Fire Style, Fire Ball jutsu!" Sasuke then unleashed a massive fire ball from his mouth towards Naruto.
Naruto gritted his teeth and jumped to the right t avoid it. Once he landed on the ground, he saw how Sasuke ran towards him.
Naruto waited until the last second and dodged Sasuke's left hook, however he then received an uppercut from Sasuke's right fist which sent him flying to the ground.
Naruto groaned and slowly sat up, only to gasp in shock when he saw Sasuke holding an kunai aimed at his throat. He looked up and saw to his shock that Sasuke's eyes had turned red with a circle outside of the pupils with two tomoe symbols on the rings.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, Of course, he must've used his Sharingan in order to predict how I would dodge his punch which is why he was prepared with that uppercut, Naruto thought to himself feeling a little frustrated.
Kakashi walked over to them, "Alright, this practice match is now over". He looked at Sasuke who had a bitter expression on his face while he deactivated his Sharingan and removed the kunai from Naruto's throat.
Naruto slowly got up and then after a few seconds held out his right hand while he held out his index and middle finger. Sasuke looked at him shocked for a second and saw how a smile appeared on Naruto's face.
Sasuke sighed before a smirk appeared on his face before he held out his on index and middle finger and linked them with Naruto. Sakura looked at both of them shocked, she had never seen them do the Seal of Reconciliation before after one of their practice matches.
Kakashi nodded his head satisfied before he turned around, "Good, now that that's finished, let's continue on our way back home". His students looked at him and nodded their heads.
Naruto then walked next to Kakashi and looked at him, "What is your opinion of my practice match against Sasuke Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto wanted to hear what Kakashi's opinion about the match to see what he could improve.
Kakashi looked down at him for a second with a wide eye before he looked up, "Hmm, both you and Sasuke got in some good hits on each other before Sasuke activated his Sharingan in order to end the match, so I would say that he's only a bit better and stronger than you now without his Sharingan".
Naruto looked down with a serious expression on his face, "Yeah, he gained the upper hand as soon as he activated his Kekkei Genkai, I'll need to learn how to fight against things like that".
Kakashi looked at him and chuckled a little, "It's good that you're really serious about your training, however what you're talking about takes a long time of training, don't be impatient, you have come really far in a short time". Kakashi had a proud tone in his voice when he said that.
Naruto looked at Kakashi with a happy smile on his face, "Thanks Kakashi Sensei". Naruto looked in front of him with a smile on his face, For now, I'm gonna focus on surpassing Sasuke while he's not using his Sharingan, then I'll be thinking about how to deal with his Sharingan. Naruto thought to himself while wanting to get back to the village so he could get back to training and master more of the Wind Style jutsus he had been shown, Kakashi had promised him that once he had mastered them, he might teach him a few Water Style jutsus as well teach him about combined jutsus.
So, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura managed to protect the merchant whose name was Tanaki, Sasuke who had noticed how much Naruto had improved since their battle against Haku and Zabusa wanted a practice match. Both of them managed to get in a few good hits on each other before Sasuke used his Sharingan to finally end the match, what's going to happen next? Continue reading to find out and please review.