"One hundred ninety nine… two hundred…!" Naruto pulls himself up the iron bar that he's using to do his pull ups. His face is full of sweat, dripping down his cheeks, neck and soaking the sleeveless undershirt he often times wear underneath his t-shirt. His arm muscles are wobbling from the strain, but he refuses to give in to pain. He does several more sets, adding another ten pulls to his count, this does a lot of strain to his muscle even more. Though sweaty and strained, his face does not contort into anything that shows his tiredness and the overall soreness he's feeling in his arms. He keeps a straight face, while continuing to do his pull-ups, muttering each number of pulls he manages to do.
Obviously, he's doing his daily workout routine. Earlier, he's done several runs around his apartment block, twenty laps if he's not mistaken, two sets of pushups with one being a hundred and fifty times and the same with sit ups. Right now, he's only halfway through his workout routine. The cozy private penthouse that was gifted to him by the Hokage when he was younger is reek of his sweat and stench, given since he's currently sweating a lot. There's this piece of iron bar that's fixed to two walls in the large living room, he's manipulated it to be used for his pull ups, seeing as there's no particular use for it aside from just being there.
It might seem weird for a boy like him to own a somewhat luxury penthouse. But originally, this place isn't luxury at all. When the Hokage gives him the building, there were furniture, but most of them were broken or unmanaged to the point where they're close to breaking down. He repaired whatever he could such as sewing the fabric of the sofas, oiling the rusty cupboard hinges, nailing the table's legs to make it sturdier and many more. Don't get him started on how dusty it was. But now that that's no longer an issue, this place looks like it's been gone through several remodeling. There are better furnitures now, a television, plants, proper lightings and the large smoked windows are no longer having the opposite effect of disabling the one inside to see outside of the penthouse. The stairs are also fixed, since he didn't know how to do it properly, he had the Hokage hire several handymen to do the job.
The sky terrace is also cleaned up, but the pool is still empty though.
"Two hundred and ninety nine… three hundred!" he lets go of the grip to let his feet touch the floor. He breathes slowly, trying to steady it. He's build up quite the sweat… drenching his undershirt in it completely. Knowing the effect of wearing something wet for too long, he takes off his sweat-drenched undershirt, before throwing it into the dirty laundry bin. He should have probably squeezed the sweat out first in the bathroom but whatever.
He grabs a nearby dry towel to wipe his face and neck dry from sweat, doing so slowly as not to damage his skin. He rubs his arms, feeling them aching from the workout he's done. He frowns, is he really that out of shape or maybe… he's not just doing enough. He would continue his session for another hour, but unfortunately, he has an appointment with a certain someone. Hanging the towel on his neck, he proceeds to transition over to the master bedroom, where his private bathroom is at. He hits the shower, and after he's done, he changes to his usual attire that consists of a t-shirt with another fresh set of undershirt underneath it, a pair of khaki shorts, his ninja sandals and now an orange-blue jacket which he leaves unzipped. He grabs his glasses that he always place on the end table near his bed before wearing them.
He exits the penthouse, before proceeding down to the stairs, consuming several minutes of his time due to it being at the top floor. This apartment complex is huge, but the problem is, no one lives here anymore. He won't say that it's due to his presence here, but it's the closest conclusion he can come up with. So technically, he owns the entire damn building.
The streets of Konoha in a weekend's morning are usually quiet, but today is an exception, for whatever reasons that are unknown to him. The street area in front of his apartment complex is already bustling with minor activity. He can see shops preparing to open for their business, people getting to their workplaces, and youths his age getting ready to set out for an adventure. The warm summer breeze makes contact with his skin, letting it cool down. Konoha is divided into four sectors; North, South, East and West. The North, the place where he's at, is where most of the shopping stores and districts are at. And since the academy's located at the base of the Hokage Mountain, which is also located on the North, then it is also here in this region.
The South is where the Shinobi Clans' compounds are, seeing as they are located there, he assumes that they could act as the village's first line of defense against invaders. This area is also the second most ninja populated area, next to the West. Originally, he used to live in a smaller apartment in the South, but since he was kicked out, the Hokage gave him his current one located in the North. The Eastern region is mostly populated with factories and slums, making it the only place in Konoha where shady criminal activity takes place.
Konoha's military or shinobi personnel are not many, per say; that honor goes to Kumo and Iwa. He read it in a book once and will quote that Konoha prefers 'quality over quantity'.
Naruto has no need to bring his book, since he's only planning to make a short trip before making his way back home. His appointment is going to be between him and the Hokage in the Kage's office, that sets him off to the direction of the academy building.
"Please take a seat, Naruto-kun."
The wise Sarutobi Hiruzen smiles kindly as he offers the empty chair across of his desk for the young boy to sit on. Naturally, Naruto accepts, sitting down quietly without saying anything. Hiruzen is pleased to see the young blonde, he's always pleased. His surrogate grandson may not be the most talkative child out there, but he's good at listening and asking question, no doubt two proving factors as to why he's excelling in his academics.
One of Naruto's hidden qualities would be his ability to contain his emotion, in contrast to those who are around his age, he is way calmer and quieter; almost to a point of being an introverted boy.
"Would you like some sweets, Naruto?" He offers the bowl containing several small packaging of candies that he always has for refreshments to the boy.
Not surprisingly, the boy rejects the offer. "No thanks, Hokage-sama. I don't want to get toothaches anymore."
"Ah…" he remembers something, and the realization shows on his old face. "Was your last visit to the dentist that terrifying, Naruto?" Hiruzen asks, hidden amusement beginning to show.
"…" The boy frowns, eyes downcast for a brief moment. "Trauma is proof that I'm alive, Hokage-sama."
"True." Hiruzen agrees, finding his answer interesting. "Not to mention that you were five the last time you visited the dentist."
"Jii-chan…"
Hiruzen laughs like an old, but good natured man would do, wiping a small tear that has escaped the corner of his eye. "Alright, I'll stop. So, you must be wondering why I've called you here." It's not a question, but a statement given to him in order to show Naruto that the Hokage is getting into business. "Well, Naruto-kun, you don't have to worry about getting into trouble or anything like that. I called you here just so that I can ask you how you have been doing lately."
Naruto invisibly relaxes, but his shoulders still shrug upon hearing the reason. "I'm fine. There's no trouble or anything that's worth mentioning, Hokage-sama." His eyes flash. "But… I've ran out of books to read for the month." If he is sad, then this is as sad as he can be. Or at least the saddest he could show.
"Oh?" Hiruzen is honestly surprised. It's rare to see the boy walk around without reading a book, and even rarer to hear him tell him that he's run out of books to read. As someone who regularly visits the boy's penthouse, still wondering how on earth did he came up with the decision of giving a young boy a penthouse of his own, Hiruzen knows of the collection of books that Naruto owns. Saying that the boy is an avid reader would be an understatement; the boy loves reading as much as he loves ramen… maybe not so much, but it's as close as that.
"Won't the bookshops have any new books in their archives?" Hiruzen asks.
Naruto shakes his head. "No… not yet. New books are not due for another… two weeks and… I'm embarrassed to say that I can't possibly wait that long." The stoic blonde attempts his own version of an 'embarrassed' expression. Okay, it's still looking as flat as usual.
Hiruzen understands it now.
"So in other words…" the old man stretches out. "You are bored, Naruto-kun."
"…It's… yes, I am."
Hiruzen stares owlishly, eyes unblinking. There's really nothing much he could do about this, really. Giving Naruto his collection of books would not be appropriate since they are… ahem… intended for the adult audiences. The boy is smart, borderline genius, even, dare he says it. So there's really no point in helping him with things to improve on in terms of academics. He's also shown great efficiency in practical exercises… that narrows down Hiruzen's option even more. There's really no point in counting the number of choices he has, since it's too little for him to count.
The Third Hokage's eyes widen, realizing something.
Numbers… that's it.
"Wait for a moment, Naruto-kun. I think I'm going to give you a little gift." 'And hopefully with this, you will be able to forgive me for all the things I could've done but didn't do for you.'
The blonde whiskered Uzumaki tilts head. "But… it's not my birthday…" his glasses glints slightly from the angle his head is at.
"It isn't, but consider it a gift from this old man, Naruto-kun." He still senses the somewhat lingering air of doubt that floats around the blonde. "Trust me, it will surely do you good favor in your career as a shinobi." Saying that immediately garners the boy's full attention, just as he expects. "But, what I am about to give you is to remain a secret, when asked, you must not reveal that I deliberately gave it to you. Is it clear, Naruto-kun?"
"Yes."
"Good." The old man smiles, before opening the drawer compartment underneath his desk. He pulls something out, something large, cylindrical and made out of paper. When Naruto lays his eyes on the item, he immediately understands why the Hokage is insistent on making it a secret. It's a scroll that's only several inches shorter than him, paper colored and it still has the paper seal that prevents it from opening. Naruto's wide span of knowledge allows him to identify the seal as a normal but important paper seal that's used to prevent private documents from being 'contaminated'.
"This scroll contains four jutsu." The old Hokage starts speaking, his tone straightforward. "And I want you to learn the jutsu that are listed here and, hopefully, master them." Naruto is so distracted by the scroll that he fails to notice the somewhat grim-like expression on Hiruzen's face. "…if I do not know that you're capable of doing the jutsu that are listed here, I won't have the idea of letting you know about them in the first place. However, I have faith in you, Naruto-kun; that you will be capable of doing them just like any other jutsu out there."
'…just like any other jutsu out there' can be interpreted as the Hokage implicitly telling him that the four jutsu in the scroll are not common jutsu used by ninjas. Soon the boy begins to realize just how important that scroll is. It might just have a personal or private relation with the Kage himself.
"Take it, my boy, and use it well." As if surrendering his very own hat, Naruto cannot reject it. "And may you grow to be the best person that would make your people proud."
Naruto holds the scroll in his hands, barely feeling them at all due to the workout sessions he always does. He stares at the object for a few more seconds, giving it some serious staring, before diverting his gaze back to the Hokage, away from the scroll.
"I…will do my best, Hokage-sama!"
Hiruzen smiles, giving a satisfied nod.
Uchiha Sayuri closes the door behind her, the door which also happens to be her house's door. She lets out a contained sigh, feeling the warm summer breeze hitting her uncovered arms as it sends light shivers down her spine. The Last Uchiha of Konoha closes her eyes, steadily taking deep breaths as she seems to be preparing her mind for something.
Directly outside of her house is the street where her… brother murdered the rest of her clansmen at. Every time she stares at the street for too long, visions would start to invade her brain, messing with her composure, dragging her down to a state of post-traumatic stress. She hates the feeling, but she hates the fact that she could not do anything to prevent it even more.
When asked, people would say that her clan's massacre was the result of tragedy. It was pure tragic, as if the Gods themselves have had decided for her life to be miserable and full of suffering.
And that insulted her.
It was not, by any means, tragic. Tragedy happens without cause, without aim. The massacre… Itachi has an aim. He has one. And it's wicked, sick and downright evil to the very core. Her brother is not the same person she admires, not anymore. He's a monster. A monster that she will forever loathe and hate until the moment of her death… no… she will continue to spite him for as long as she lives, maybe that hate will transcend death itself.
The light shivering has grown into a full grown traumatic sign. She embraces herself, realizing that she has yet to take a step forward. This normally happens… explaining why her attendance is not perfect. As always, she cannot do anything. In fact, the more she tries to drive the vision away, the longer it plays out in her mind. Her foundation cannot take it, she falls to her knees. She gasps, as if the air around her has been turned into poison. Her hands clutch her head; she can feel the vision of her clansmen and parents getting murdered directly probing her mind. The nails of her fingers begin to dig in too deeply into her skin.
"…Uugh…! Heeek…! Huff…!" her voice is a jumbled mess of vowels. She tries to scream, but couldn't.
WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo?WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo?WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo?WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo?
?
Is this even real life anymore?...
'Ah… who cares… I'm scared… someone… anyone…'
"Sayuri?"
It disappears.
Sayuri's head snaps upward, eyes drawn to the speaker.
"Sayuri… what happened?" she can hear the concern in his, and it is reassuring. She sees him rush towards her, carrying something cylindrical on his back. "Are you hurt?"
His soft, quiet yet unarguably concerned voice sends calm shivers down her spin. She fails to realize that her tears have been pouring down all this time; she is just too shocked and traumatized to notice them.
"What happened?" his voice asks again, hands holding her shoulders as he tries to show concern through his voice instead of his expression. "Did you trip and fall?"
Instead of an answer, he gets Sayuri lunging at him at full speed, sending the both of them crashing to the ground. Given, due to the suddenness and surprise, he isn't expecting an embrace like this at all. All attempts to question the girl for her behavior is halted when he hears her crying into his chest, shoulders shaking and tears staining his shirt. Naruto is no stranger when it comes to Sayuri getting like this, so emotional and suddenly breaking down. He knows why she's like this… there's no doubt that it has something to do with her deceased family and the incident that happened in this very place years ago.
Sayuri rarely cries, but she does suffer from sudden breakdowns like this from time to time, especially in the mornings like this. Sometime, he would be aware of it and sometimes not. It's entirely depending on the circumstances of his presence around Sayuri, but he has dealt with this before. Softly and quietly, he rubs the crying girl's back through her long hair and blouse, all the while bringing his lips close to her ear, whispering soft hushes and words of reassurance into it. Steadily, her full blown wailing slowly recedes into hiccups and choked sobs. She is still wrapping her two arms strongly around her childhood friend's neck, seemingly showing or having the intention of letting go.
Slowly, Naruto helps her back up to her feet, ushering her out of the compound's ground. Once outside, he leads Sayuri to the Uchiha Clan's compound walls, letting her sit down on the dirt while leaning her back against it. He is there, of course, crouching in front of her with his hand rubbing her shoulders gently like what a normal person would do when comforting their friend. He watches stoically as Sayuri shivers and sniffles with red eyes – not her bloodline – due to crying. Frowning, Naruto finally speaks.
"You need to move out from here."
Yes… yes, that's right.
She is aware of the fact that Naruto owns an entire apartment building all to himself. She is the only person, outside of the Hokage obviously, to have found out about it from Naruto himself. Still, entering the luxurious penthouse makes her fancy clan house looks small when compared. This makes her slightly nervous, even though knowing that it's Naruto's place. Maybe it's because she doesn't visit this place as much as Naruto does to her place. Yeah… perhaps that's why.
She slowly slips out from her sandals, clutching the travel pack she has fitted with the majority of her clothes and other necessities. She marvels at the large windows that allows for viewing of the scenery outside, noticing that they are only see through from the inside. She also notices the large spiral staircase that leads upstairs to the sky terrace. She visited before, but still… this makes it feels like it's her first time visiting his place. Naruto walks past her, naturally as he is the owner of the house.
"What are you standing there for?" the blonde nudges with his head. "Come in. You'll be living here now."
Sayuri gulps, feeling her body shivering briefly. She brushes away all feelings of nervousness, trying to make her first step as natural as she could. She sets down her pack on one of the living room's couches. Naruto also sets his own haul down on the other couch.
"What's that?" Sayuri asks, she cannot help it. It's rare to see someone carry a scroll that big around, even if they're introverted readers like Naruto. She doubts that he even read scrolls in the first place.
Naruto pauses, as if thinking whether he should answer her or not. "It's a gift from Hokage-sama."
Sayuri looks surprised, if not confused. "A gift? Why would he want to give one to you? It's not like today's your birthday…" she knows when his birthday is, October 10.
"True." Naruto nods. "But he said that felt like giving me a gift, I assume that it has something to do with him being in the age he's in."
Sayuri slightly opens her mouth, letting it hang. "Did you just indirectly call the Hokage himself, old?" her voice contains disbelief and astonishment at the same time.
"He is old, Sayuri… I'm not sure what you're trying to say." Naruto, though he may not look confused, he sounds as if he is.
Sayuri giggles, finding the blonde's bluntness cute and funny at the same time. "So, what's inside?"
The glasses wearing blonde readjusts his eyewear, zipping off his jacket, throwing it to the couch next to him before sitting down. "Hokage-sama preferred it if I keep the contents of the scroll between me and himself…" he does his own version of a small frown. "I'm sorry Sayuri, but it's a secret."
The last Uchiha shakes her head, totting over to him, sitting down next to the boy. "It's fine." She, herself, frowns. "It's not like I'm upset or anything." She, mentally, curses. She blames her inability to be honest when speaking sometimes…
"Okay then."
Great, now she's a little bit irritated that he's brushing it off easily. Why must their relationship be so comfortable yet complicated at the same time? Oh yeah, it's because the both of them are not good at starting a serious one…
"I have cookies in a jar in the kitchen, if you want them you can have some." He takes a moment to look at her by taking his off from the scroll he's opened, eyes narrowing slightly. "But no more than half, I need them for snack time later."
Sayuri giggles again, shaking her head while extending her head to pat the blonde's head. "Yeah, yeah, I won't eat them all." She stands up, goes into the kitchen and retrieves the cookie jar that Naruto told her. "It's this one, right?"
"Yeah, it's chocolate chip flavored."
"Very sweet, then."
As Sayuri is enjoying her snack, Naruto is immersed in the content of the scrolls. As expected, the scroll begins with an introductory statement from the writer, stating that whoever has opened this scroll or read it must realize that the techniques listed here are to be used responsibly. The author deliberately tells the reader – him – that the techniques listed are not meant to be used to the point of abuse, and that any violation, damages, death or any other form of disaster caused by the techniques are liable only to the user that and the author or writer is not responsible in any way or form. It's a pretty long disclaimer, nearly three hundred words. But once it's starting to get into the main topic, things begin to turn from interesting to great immediately.
Four jutsu. One is called the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, another is Katon: Madan, Suiton: Tsunami and the last one Raiton: Raiden. Naruto has never heard or read these techniques from the academy's library before, even in the advanced jutsu section, he has never heard of them. So no wonder that the Hokage implied that these were not common ninja techniques used from time to time. There are descriptions describing the effects and how to use them and he quickly goes over them.
The Kage Bunshin seems simple as it has the shortest description out of all the rest, only three lines worth of words. It is similar to the regular clone technique, but it produces solid clones instead of the normal ones. It is listed as a B-rank technique, which surprises him, but that surprise is replaced with realization when he knows that it consumes a lot of chakra to just produce one clone. Well it won't be a problem for him, since he has a lot of chakra. Basically, in order to do it, the user will need to do a cross hand seal. This is interesting since the cross hand seal is rarely used for any jutsu, in fact, it might not be even used for any practical jutsu at all. The user must then channel their chakra, channeling as much as they can in order to produce more clones. This makes Naruto glad, in a way. His chakra control is not the best, as it took him weeks of practice just to make a single normal bunshin. But with the Kage Bunshin, it seems that he won't have to worry about channeling too much chakra.
Next is the Katon: Madan. A fire based jutsu, something that Sayuri will definitely fancy instead of him. He prefers less flashy techniques, as simple ones will do just fine instead of brilliant and extravagant jutsu that requires you to exert more chakra than needed to beat an enemy. Basically, this jutsu summons these 'wards' around the users, appearing on thin air. These 'wards' are then able to shoot solid flaming projectiles as fast as bullets. It's listed as an A-rank so no wonder it's so destructive. The main purpose of this jutsu is to harm and turn the tide of battle quickly, which means it's an offense-support type of technique which will consume a lot of chakra, and he's right, it's written here. Due to it being a fire element, damages will be guaranteed, if not then no money returned since he didn't pay anything in order to get this scroll. Still, it is an interesting technique and will no doubt be useful in his future career. Just have to make sure that Sayuri doesn't find out about this.
The Suiton: Tsunami is pretty self-explanatory. Just like normal elemental techniques, it conjures that particular element into the form of a highly devastating offensive attack that could pretty much wipe an entire area clear. Unlike Katon: Madan, this one has less collateral in it and it consumes less chakra too. However, it is still and A-rank, seeing as a lot of practice and mastery over the water element is needed in order to perform it. That won't be a problem for him. What will be a problem is determining whether or not this jutsu will be useful. While he's confident, he prefers fighting in a distance, giving his enemy the disadvantage by forcing them to reach him while he can be spamming a lot of ranged jutsu. This technique requires him to get closer to a group of enemy in order to reach the maximum level of damage that it can cause. Risky, but a quick and easy solution of creating an even bigger space between you and your enemy.
Lastly is the Raiton: Raiden. The scroll briefly mentions it as a lightning jutsu that allows the user to summon a sword of lighting. Literally. The user is then, depending on their mastery of the technique, capable of using their lightning sword like regular swords or even a glaive. This interests him more than the previous one as it discusses the possibility of conjuring lightning to be used as a practical weapon like a sword. It is an A-rank technique, so high chakra consumption is to be expected – though probably not as much as Katon: Madan – as well as mastery of the technique before he could utilize it to its full potential. And by the description he's reading, if he uses it correctly, he can use it as a ranged attack when in battle. Not to mention, lightning itself serves as a literal element of surprise which will be capable of shocking his targets. He swears, the puns were not intended.
He reads the scroll until the very last end, only to find that it's at least several hundred words worth of closing sentences, so he cuts that short.
"Hm… no name?" he whispers, finding it weird that after all of this, the author didn't bother to write his or her name. Nothing he can say about that. He quickly memorizes the hand seals that are required to perform the jutsu, doing so quickly. After he gets them all memorized, a process that only took no more than twenty minutes of repeated reading, he rolls the scroll again to seal it back.
He takes his eyes off the scroll, taking a glance at Sayuri. His hands drop the large scroll, letting it fall to the floor, rolling away to the other side of the room. If he's more expressive, he would have been sitting there with his mouth hanging wide open and his eyes wide. But since that's not really possible due to his stoic nature, only his eye glasses slides down his nose, close to falling.
Sayuri licks her finger tips, not letting whatever excess chocolate remain. She has cookie crumbs on her cheeks, near the corner of her mouth and on his couch. Sayuri realizes that the blonde is staring, prompting her to respond. "What?"
"…" Naruto opens his mouth to speak, but he is not able to say anything. Closing it shut again, he weakly points to the now empty cookie jar that Sayuri is holding.
"Oh. Oooooh." The girl stares into the empty jar before looking back up at him. "Sorry."
Naruto shakes his head, his flat look taking form. "No. I can't blame you. Cookies are too good to resist… I know it." He pushes his glasses back to place with his middle finger's knuckle. "Anyway, now that you're full, care to train with me for a bit upstairs on the sky terrace?"
Since the pool is empty, he's using it as a place where he could train his ninjutsu. But since ninjutsu is not his main forte, he's also manipulating it as his sparring arena with his bunshin. Now that he knows how to use the Kage Bunshin, he will try sparring with a real solid clone but since Sayuri is here, why not let her spar with him instead?
And no, he is not inviting her for a spar just because he's sour.
Four days later…
He stands on one side of the empty and wide swimming pool, dressed in his shorts and sleeveless undershirt, stretching his arms and legs while Sayuri is doing the same thing. She has a chokuto strapped to the cloth that she has tied around waist, using it to keep the sheath in place. She has her hair tied to a ponytail, obviously because they're about to spar. Naruto ditched his glasses, seeing as he may just damage it in the spar.
"Say, we haven't been doing this because I ate all of your cookies four days ago, right?" Asks a stretching Sayuri.
"No." Naruto replies smoothly, as if he's anticipating her question. "This is nothing personal, it's for practice."
The last Uchiha shrugs before quickly finishing her stretches.
Ever since the past few days of staying in Naruto's apartment, her life changes gradually in ways that may or may not get the public's opinion about them even more misunderstood. Since they're living in the same apartment, she spends more time with him together, even more than when she's still living in her old clan house. Them walking home together is normal, but to enter the same home together… now that's a thing to gossip around for the academy to brew. Rumors of them 'enveloping in their already romantic relationship' have been spreading like wildfire all around the academy, even the instructors are discussing about it, though they're not doing anything about it since it's really none of their business.
So, now, they're used to be talked about behind their backs by people. Sayuri learned that the spread was done by the nosy Yamanaka who really can't keep her mouth shut – that girl sometimes irks her more than a bed head on Monday mornings – and she spreads it to the rest of her circle to keep the fire burning and spreading. Honestly, this is all stupid, and if anyone thinks that she's offended, then they're dead wrong. She just doesn't care, and she knows that Naruto feels the same way. Still, she can appreciate it if people will not look at them as if they're a pair of diamond rings in the middle of the road. But, as usual, she isn't that good at hiding things, especially things concerning her from the blonde, so it's only natural for him to know that she's putting some thoughts into it. She's willing to bet her sword that the reason why he's doing this sparring with her is because he wants her to take her mind off from the rumors.
Sweet.
"You ready?" Naruto asks, brandishing a kunai.
"Hn." Sayuri replies, unsheathing her blade.
They both become blurs, known only to the wind. This is a spar between aces, the best in their class, the top rankers, the absolute pair. They are evenly matched, speed, agility, reflex and strength; though there are certain fields where they are most proficient. Their style is unique even to each other. Naruto is like a wolf; low, aggressive, but patient. He strikes first and counters first, defending himself only when he knows that he can't take the hit. His movement is swift, being able to whiz through Sayuri's attack pattern as if he's memorized them all, which is partially true. Sayuri, on the other hand, is like an eagle; she's opportunist and will strike when there's a chance. Every move she executes can be critical for her opponent if they're not quick enough to dodge her attacks. Her skill with a blade is not the best, but it is still good.
The pair is immersed in their own tango of attacks, blades clashing against each other and bodies twisting, spinning and moving. Their eyes never leaves each other's face when they're about to make their attacks, knowing that it will only give them the disadvantage of being caught by surprise. Naruto gracefully leaps back, finding his footing once he lands. He whips out the kunai from his grip, launching it to the girl. But Sayuri is not sloppy either. She anticipates the kunai, letting it soar to her, only for it to be deflected by the flat side of her blade. Her eyes are narrowed, fixed on to her target. She takes a stance, raising her chokuto above her head in a stabbing manner with both hands.
Naruto remains passive, not showing a single bit of emotion in his features. He has everything under control, from his breathing to his muscle and to the way he's using his chakra to keep up with Sayuri's ruthless slices. He summons another kunai, gripping it a in a reverse grip. He takes a stance, extending his gripped kunai in front of him, while his left arm is ready to intercept any attacks that the girl might deliver. His feet are spread apart, back hunched forward, shoulders slightly raised. His eyes are fixed at one spot only. And that's the tip of Sayuri's chokuto. He watches as the tip glints underneath the evening sun, as if teasing him to make the first move for the attack. But Naruto knows better than that.
Their silent stand-off is making the air around them thick, suspense and intensity lingering freely. Naruto's lips subtly thinned out, his normally bright blue eyes dulling in color.
!
He uses his free hand to grip Sayuri's fists, preventing her from lowering her sword, his kunai is already pointed at her neck, nipping it slightly causing a brief trickling sensation to prick her neck.
The pool's size is nearly two meters in length. So it's impossible for someone to close a distance like that in the blink of an eye.
…
…
"I win." Naruto declares what has been decided.
Sayuri is still wide eyed.
How? When?
Naruto pulls the kunai away from her neck, letting her hands go so that she could lower her sword. He takes a few steps back. "…I was not expecting you to be this surprised."
"You didn't?" her voice betrays her expression, for it being too small. "I… I didn't even know what happened back there. It's as if you disappeared and suddenly reappeared in front of me with a kunai pointed at my neck. For a moment, I thought I fainted."
Naruto re-holster his kunai back into its place.
"What happened, Naru?" Sayuri asks, completely clueless.
"Nothing." The blonde shrugs. "But it's interesting what a basic academy jutsu can do."
Sayuri's silence demands him to elaborate more.
"Remember when I throw that kunai at you?"
He sees her nod.
"There was another aim for that."
He picks up the fallen kunai that he is referring to. "See how it's chipped here, right at the edge?" he points at the spot.
Sayuri sees it. It's probably due to the contact it made with her blade.
"Standard issued kunais are made out of steel primarily, combined with several more chakra sensitive minerals that are surprisingly brittle. This reduces quality and increases cost at the same time, so the combining of steel with chakra sensitive minerals is no longer done by the department of arms and weapons. To remedy this, they decided to use a special kind of allow instead, that alloy is then cut into ingots to be hand forged to the kunai we know and use today. There's a reason why I throw that kunai at you, and it's not to hit you. it's to let something on you."
This got her even more confused.
Naruto walks over, reaching for her shoulder. "This is the one of the fragments from the kunai that got chipped off when it made contact with your sword." He shows her the miniscule fragment. "Something like this may not do much, nor might it look important at all when in a battle. But for me… this is already an advantage for me to win against you."
Sayuri looks at the kunai, then back at the fragment.
"The other fragment landed, if my calculations are correct, somewhere on your cheek. The sweat that has been accumulating provides enough stickiness for it to stick there without you noticing. I used Kawarimi to substitute myself with that piece, thus resulting you your defeat."
He twirls the chipped off kunai with his finger, giving her a head tilt.
"Any questions?"
Sayuri opens her mouth, but closes it back again.
"Good. I'm starving. Let's go to Ichiraku's."
…if eating Naruto's cookies is what it takes to get him to fight her like that, then she'll eat his ramen and see what'll happen.
On second thought… it might not be a good idea, he'll seriously get upset. But an upset Naruto is cute too.