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Chapter 18: Duel
Naruto was in a bad mood. It had been a week since Sasuke issued the challenge for a shinobi duel and he expected the Uchiha to back down.
But no! The idiot had to go to Iruka and make it official. Their sensei had the audacity to bring it up to the Hokage to see if it was allowed. What's worst? The old man had to AGREE to the challenge and even went so far as to allow the use of the stadium to do so. They were given a week before the fight would commence in front of everyone and word spread around the village that Uchiha Sasuke was going to have a shinobi duel with Uzumaki Naruto.
It was unprecedented in the history of the Elemental Nations that two academy students were going to participate in a shinobi duel, a duel that was supposed to be for shinobis alone and not wet-behind-the-ears academy students.
Naruto bet that quite a lot of people were laughing at the Leaf right now.
In truth, Naruto didn't have any problems fighting since it was good to let go once in a while; not really in full power but something along that line without displaying his more…destructive skills. However, he was annoyed because the fight was going to be a village-wide affair, and held in the stadium no less, so quite a lot of people were going to be there. He heard from some Chuunin that there was going to be some huge betting going on with a majority of the civilians putting their money on the Uchiha.
However, those who knew Naruto – the shinobi council, the Jounins, as well as those who knew of his identity as Oni – were putting quite a large bet on him winning. Heck, he even asked Akido to bet on himself considering the odds against him. He was going to make a killing, literally and metaphorically.
Here he was now, leaning on a wall just before the entrance to the stadium grounds waiting for the match to commence. He was in his complete outfit and he was packed for an intense battle. Thankfully, he had the foresight to spy on Sasuke and was surprised when quite a few Chuunins and Jounins were training the boy. He knew that everyone pampered the Uchiha but this was getting ridiculous. Since he was going to be sticking to shinobi skills, he needed to be decked out properly just in case.
Naruto was brought out of his musings when he heard footsteps. He looked up to see Kakashi and Asuma walking towards him.
"Hey Kakashi, Asuma-nii. What's up?" Naruto greeted the two with a smile.
"Hi Naruto." said Kakashi with an eye-smile. "I just got back from a mission with Asuma and we heard the news that Sasuke challenged you to a shinobi duel. I'm somewhat surprised that you went along with it."
"Well, it was that or hearing the Uchiha brag about his superiority every day." Naruto said with a huff. "Besides, it's good to let go once in a while."
"You're not going to go Oni on him are you?" Asuma asked worriedly. He knew how strong his surrogate brother was, even without that sword of his. Heck, the boy was stronger than most Jounins considering what he was capable of.
"Nah." Naruto said with a shake of his head. "I'm going to stick to shinobi skills though I might cheat from time to time if I get away with it. Besides, it would make things more interesting."
"That it would. Just go easy on him alright? If you go all out on the boy, who knows what the civilian council would do. That means a lot of paperwork for dad." said Asuma with a grin before lighting a cigarette.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt him…much." Naruto said and gave the man an evil smirk which made said man shudder.
"Well, I guess it's time to start." said Kakashi when the trio heard the announcer call the fighters to the center of the stadium. "Good luck, Naruto. Make sure you win since I'm putting the A-Rank pay I got from the mission on you."
"No worries, Kakashi. Just make sure that you treat me to an eat-all-you-can ramen fest afterwards." Naruto called out as he made his way to the stadium. He barely heard Kakashi's "He's going to bankrupt me!" to Asuma making him snicker.
Naruto made his way to the center of the stadium to see Genma, a Jounin with a senbon in his mouth, looking bored. It would seem that instead of Iruka, someone of higher rank was going to officiate the match. He looked up to the Hokage box to see his surrogate grandfather looking down at him with a smile. His eyes made its way to his opponent and couldn't help but see the changes a week did to Uchiha Sasuke.
Instead of his usual gray shorts and black shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back, the boy was garbed like a shinobi. The boy was wearing shinobi pants with various pockets for storage. A black muscle shirt that showed some of the muscles he had underneath, as well as bandages wrapped around his arm and hands, as well as a pair of shinobi sandals on his feet. A tanto strapped on his back completed the outfit.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that since he didn't know Sasuke knew how to wield a weapon, much less a sword. He wondered if he might need to bring out Kenshin but decided against it.
Naruto walked over to the center of the ring with the referee and his opponent. Genma nodded at him before looking up to the Hokage.
The Sandaime Hokage stood up from his seat inside the Kage's box and walked over to the edge of the railing, looking down at everyone in the stadium, he started addressing the crowd.
"Good afternoon citizens of Konoha. We have a very rare treat today for both civilians and shinobis alike. It has come to my attention that Uchiha Sasuke challenged his fellow academy student, Uzumaki Naruto, to a shinobis duel. Despite the fact that they are still students, I decided to allow this match as a form of entertainment to all." Sarutobi announced with a smile. He immediately felt a shiver go down his spine and looked down at his surrogate grandson who was glaring at him with eyes that clearly said 'You're going to pay for that, old man'. He coughed before continuing. "Genma will supervise this match and good luck to the fighters."
Done with his announcement, the aged leader went back to his seat and lighted his pipe. He chuckled at the idea of allowing this match. Sure, he could have easily disallowed the match and tell the Uchiha to drop the whole charade since he knew that Naruto could easily clobber the kid.
However, this was the perfect time to show the village that their Uchiha Prince was nothing more than an ordinary citizen. Hopefully, this would bring down the various demands he was getting from the civilian to promote the boy without having to wait for the Graduation Exam at the Academy.
Naruto sighed and faced his opponent who was smirking at him. He didn't bother to rise to the taunt but simply put on a calm façade that he knew would infuriate the boy.
"Alright you two, here are the rules of the match. Considering that this is a shinobi duel, everything goes except for killing. Winner will be decided when the other is knocked out or incapacitated to the point that he could no longer fight. Any techniques are allowed as long as no death is dealt. Understood?" Naruto, along with Sasuke, nodded in agreement. "Good. Now on the count of three. One….two….three…BEGIN!" he shouted the last part before jumping back to avoid getting hit by whatever's coming.
It seems that Sasuke wasn't in the mood to resort to his usual taunts since he immediately dropped into his family stance, the Uchiha Interceptor style; though Naruto noticed that it was more refined compared to the last time they fought. It would seem that the boy trained since his last defeat.
Seeing that Sasuke was getting serious so early in the game, Naruto decided to do the same. He immediately settled into a basic Goken stance and gestured with his hands for Sasuke to attack. Of course, being the hot-blooded boy that he was, Sasuke launched himself forward and started attacking in earnest.
Naruto who saw that the boy was serious decided to get this over and done with. He first dodged a few of Sasuke's strikes before delivering a frontal kick that would have hit Sasuke's stomach if the boy didn't jump back.
Not wanting to waste the advantage, Naruto immediately lunged and started his own barrage of punches to keep the Uchiha on his toes. Sasuke, who must have trained quite heavily for the past few months, easily dodged the attacks or used his hands to deflect some of the blows. However, Naruto could see the boy wince when his punches were blocked since he knew that his strength was more powerful than his opponent.
Naruto overpowered one of his punches which he knew Sasuke would block. Sasuke caught the punch with his hand but visibly winced when pain shot up to his arms from the power behind the blow. Seeing the Uchiha distracted, Naruto simply jumped and swerve his body to deliver a kick that hit the Uchiha on the cheek. The boy staggered from the blow.
"I guess first hit goes to me, Sasuke-san." Naruto said calmly before going back to his Goken stance.
"Lucky shot, dobe." growled Sasuke before pulling out shurikens and throwing it at the blonde.
Naruto clearly saw the attack caught the shurikens with his fingers and threw them back with equal speed. Sasuke, not as fast as his opponent, growled and dodge the incoming projectile, flipping through hand seals. He pulled in a deep breath of air and released the technique.
"Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire!"
A mass of small fireballs flew out from Sasuke's mouth straight at the blonde in a random pattern. Naruto raised an eyebrow before using a mild application of Shinsuko to dodge the balls of fire before flipping into own set of seals.
"Fuuton: Air Bullet!"
He punched his gut and released three bullets of compressed air towards Sasuke who was wide-eyed at the counterattack flying at him. Not having any defense against jutsus, he used Kawarimi and replaced himself with a log that took the projectiles dead on, reducing it to splinters. Sasuke appeared a few inches behind Naruto finishing up the hand seals for his next attack.
"Katon: Grand Fireball!"
He blew out a giant fireball that hit Naruto at point blank range that caused a large explosion. Using the shockwave of the attack, Sasuke flipped in the air as he landed a few meters away from the impact zone before giving out a smirk. The smoke cleared revealing an empty crater. Growling, he looked around to find his opponent but was caught off guard when a voice reached him.
Naruto sensed Sasuke's chakra behind him rising at an alarming rate immediately jumped up before the fireball could hit him. Using the explosion as a distraction, he used a spirit platform to maneuver himself on top of his fellow classmate and started his own hand seals. Seeing that he was in perfect position above the Uchiha, he took in a deep breath and released his attack.
"Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!"
Sasuke looked up but it was too late. A powerful wind blast hit him dead on that made him hit the ground with such force that it caused a crater to form. He could practically feel the chakra-enhanced wind pushing at him from above painfully crushing him to the ground and making some of his bones crack from the strain. Thankfully, the wind blast stopped allowing him to push himself off the ground with some effort.
Seeing the downed Uchiha, Naruto used Shunshin to disappear from his spot on top of Sasuke to appear a few meters away from the dark-haired boy. He had a calm look on his face though if one looked closer, they could see his lips twitching in amusement.
"Still a lucky shot, Sasuke-san?" Naruto said with a smile though it was a taunt towards the Uchiha's pride.
Sasuke growled and pulled out a soldier's pill from his pouch and swallowed it. He could feel his chakra reserves being refilled since the two techniques he used against the blonde used a lot of chakra. He might be strong for an academy student but he was still a kid and he wasn't known for being a chakra powerhouse. He pulled out the tanto from his back and launched himself using his chakra-enhanced legs, putting his speed on par with a Chuunin.
Naruto saw the attack coming so he quickly pulled out a kunai to block and counter. However, he was caught off-guard when Sasuke's tanto sliced his kunai cleanly in two. He immediately jumped back while noticing the chakra coating the blade. He needed to be careful since he knew that the tanto was no ordinary weapon since the chakra was coating every single part of the blade.
"If I didn't know any better, that tanto is made from a chakra conductive metal." thought Naruto.
"So it would seem. Unlike normal chakra, the ones on the blade are more compact, making it stronger than other chakra-enhanced weapons." Kurama informed him since the fox was clearly checking out the battle through Naruto's eyes.
"You're right. I don't think my kunais could stand up to that tanto of his. Well, a weapon is useless if one doesn't get hit by it." countered Naruto, already coming up with a plan of attack.
"Afraid, dobe?" taunted Sasuke, brandishing his tanto before attacking again with a downward slash.
Naruto was prepared this time. When the slash came, he immediately took a step forward, putting him inside Sasuke's guard and let loose a three-hit punch combo that nailed Sasuke on the ribs and stomach. Charging a bit of chakra to his hands, he hit the boy's stomach with a double palm thrust that pushed the boy back with such force that he flew straight to the wall around the stadium and causing a small crater upon impact.
Seeing the tanto on the ground, Naruto walked over to it and picked up the weapon. He examined the blade and channeled a bit of his chakra to it and was rewarded from the act when the blade turned blue from the potency of his energy.
"It is made from a chakra-conductive metal. From the Uchiha symbol embedded on the hilt, I would have to say that this is a family heirloom of sorts." thought Naruto.
Naruto settled his gaze towards his opponent who managed to extricate himself from the wall and was holding on to his stomach in pain.
"Don't tell me that you're done, Sasuke-san." said Naruto with a grin.
"That was a weak attack, dobe." replied Sasuke though everyone could see that he was hurt badly. The Uchiha saw his blade in the hand of his enemy. "Return my sword to me, dobe. You don't even know how to use it."
Naruto raised an eyebrow before deciding to give Sasuke some lessons in humility.
"I don't know how to use a sword, you say?" Naruto ask with a glint in his eyes. He raised the sword above his head and channeled a bit of his chakra into it causing it to glow a bright blue. "Why don't you try this on for size, Sasuke-san."
Naruto did a downward slash making everyone who was watching sweatdrop but was surprised when an arc of blue energy was released from the swing heading towards the Uchiha who was looking at it in fear before dodging to the side. The chakra wave hit the wall where the Uchiha was before it exploded upon impact.
Everyone was looking at the blonde and the large crater on the wall where the chakra wave impacted, not believing what they saw. They gasped when they saw Naruto started swinging the tanto around causing blades upon blades of chakra rain down towards the Uchiha who was desperate dodging the attack. They were surprise when the blonde disappeared and appeared in front of the Uchiha. They were more surprised when the blonde threw the tanto to the boy who caught the blade from over his head, which was a mistake since Naruto used the tanto to create a hole in Sasuke's defense and deftly punched the boy in the stomach that made the boy double over from the pain.
Wanting to end the battle, Naruto swerved, putting himself behind the Uchiha, and promptly chopped him at the back of the head causing him to black out.
The entire stadium was covered in silence before an announcement from Genma put them out of their shock.
"Winner by knockout: Uzumaki Naruto!"
End of Chapter 18
Date uploaded: July 14, 2012
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