Chapter 6 : Fight me.
I face the last -male- Uchiha as we both step into the ring.
It was a long time coming, I have to admit: after two whole months of beating the shit out of the girls -even Hinata, who, shocker, miraculously stepped up her game after our first talk, a thing which made her very happy- during the afternoon spars, while trying to silently convey to Iruka that this was clearly beneath my time, the guy finally caved today and told the rest of the class that I was going to fight against the guys from now on.
Now, I wonder exactly what his game is, putting me against the very best of the class from the get-go, but I'm not going to complain.
I am, after all, curious as to how I currently stack up against not-so-emo-Suke in my current condition.
And if the little light of curiosity mixed with anticipation in his eyes is anything to go by, the Uchiha heir is just as curious as I am.
The both of us make the sign of confrontation under Iruka's prompting, and the show is on.
My eyes instantly narrow as I realize that the guy is fast, faster than me even right now, as I hastily duck under a straight right that would have hit my chin, before dodging the following punch from his left with a side-step.
I counterattack with a low kick that he easily dodges by making some distance, but I follow into his guard and try an offensive to see how that goes-
-and instantly sober up as I realize that his visual acuity is simply out of this world as he easily evades my follow up one-two, before blocking another low-kick by angling his leg in the appropriate way.
The back and forth carry on for a bit, until he tries to knee me in the gut by taking a step further into my guard and I'm forced to disengage.
Of course, as we keep exchanging blows, it becomes easier for me to anticipate him -[Martial Talent] being busted like that- and the fight gradually becomes more even.
That is, until he does something that I do not expect and seemingly drops every semblance of technique in favor of raw instincts.
My eyes widen as the blows become erratic, grappling attempts mixing things up regularly and breaking my own rhythm as I become hard-pressed to stay inside the ring's confines, until I have enough and feint a high-kick, forcing him to disengage once more and allowing me to jump backward to catch a breath and reevaluate the situation.
As I inhale deeply, my eyes dart in the direction of a certain blond haired protagonist.
I can't really help it: after all, his adopted brother just made use of his own fighting style -one I've regularly seen from the sidelines since the year started- to overwhelm me.
It is actually a smart move on Sasuke's part: both of us are technical fighters, and the only one who still gives him trouble in taijutsu is Naruto because he is unpredictable and doesn't get down easily.
But while he is, understandably so, used to Naruto's fighting style by now, I sure as shit am not.
Gritting my teeth, I don't let him take the initiative any further, the fact that he just changed the whole paradigm with this little stunt is already enough of an annoyance as it is, and I dash into his guard once more.
And, it is admittedly a struggle, facing him like that.
The blows are wide, incoherent, almost nonsensical, the closest parallel I can draw at the top of my head being facing a particularly determined Ork in close quarter -a notably bad idea, if my Venenum memories are anything to go by-: all aggression, very little defense and a certainty that he will beat me.
He is using superior technique to emulate raw instincts, and the guy somehow makes it work.
We trade a few more blows, not as rattling as they should be when I parry those I can't dodge because he just cannot deploy the kind of strength that he'd need to really handicap me, but still enough that it hurts, and, as I focus to block another vicious knee strikes, I overstep.
His hand clamps down on my left forearm, and my eyes widen once again.
I barely evade the three inch punch aimed at my face as he slips into my guard-
-making me miss the low-kick sweeping me out of my feet, making me fall on the ground, him following and angled to land on top of me, my back hitting the packed dirt first-
-before I explode into a storm of dead, rotten leaves, momentarily masking his vision of me while I materialize behind his back, standing up once more.
The silence is deafening around us even as my eyebrow twitches and I drop my guard.
I turn myself toward Iruka, the scarred teacher looking a bit bemused.
"I concede." I bit out, positively annoyed about the results.
In the corner of my eyes, I see that the Uchiha heir is just as pissed as I am.
"You used a jutsu." Iruka -intelligently- points out.
"I'm aware." I deadpan, "That is why I'm conceding, I've already disqualified myself by reacting on instinct. But I won't apologize for not really fancying getting pinned down by a male shinobi during a battle, sensei."
The brunet throws me an awkward look even as he rubs his nose, before gesturing to the both of us.
"Very well, Sasuke wins. The two of you, make the sign of reconciliation." he orders us, and I nod at him before turning myself back toward Sasuke-
-who isn't as pissed off as I thought he'd be anymore, and accepts the gesture even as his fangirls start to croon at 'how awesome he is!'.
"I thought you were going for something dirty." he offhandedly comments as we step outside the ring, his hands already stuffed in his pocket as he looks at me through the corner of his eyes.
"Perish the thought, Uchiha-sama," I answer blandly, "As I pointed out earlier to Iruka-sensei, it is just an instinctive reaction that I conditioned myself to reflexively enact if I happen to lose my equilibrium."
Clade Venenum training, as it turns out, can have so many applications when mixed-up with punch-wizard not-magic.
"Nn." he grunts, but it isn't dismissive, almost… approving, I dare say, "Sealless jutsu?"
"How much good does a weapon do when you cannot unsheath it in but a moment, Uchiha-sama?" I ask rhetorically.
The black haired boy angles himself just so to properly face me for the first time since we left the ring.
"How?" he asks after a beat.
"Rote repetition and meditation: trying to memorize perfectly the way chakra moves when you do the seal combination, then controlling it internally to reproduce the results." I explain casually.
That makes him pause.
"I…" he starts, hesitating for a beat, "I can't do that."
"You should ask the teacher, or even your mother, if they know any suitable exercise in chakra control, but, fair warning, it is quite the time-sink." I carry on easily, not bothering to lord it over him or something inane like that, since it would be both childish and improper, "I've only invested the time needed for this particular technique since I wanted to be able to evade blows that I had no way of dodging otherwise, but I'm afraid it isn't worth the time investment to try to do the same with all of my jutsus."
Even then, it was only a viable idea because my reflexes were out of this world since my various 'treatments', which allowed me to pull off this kind of move.
Now, a high-rank jounin or a kage level shinobi should be able to react at roughly the same speed, but, before that? Not happening.
"Still," the nearly-last Uchiha says, his eyes narrowing a tad, "You were holding back."
"Nothing against you, Uchiha-sama," I answer easily, not offended one bit by his tone, I'd be also annoyed about it in his stead, "Merely an effect of my ongoing physical conditioning."
He arches an eyebrow at me, before surreptitiously looking at my sleeves.
I smile coyly at him.
"Good eyes." I commend, before hiking one up my arm, revealing the training weights on my forearm, "A good idea if you're looking to bolster your strength and speed both, but you'll need to know what you're doing with your internal chakra control first, or you'll end up hurting yourself."
"It always comes to chakra control, then." the black eyed boys comment aloud.
"Quite so, Uchiha-sama." I answer with a nod, "From my understanding -and what I could learn in Konoha's library- very good chakra control can allow you to do a lot more with your potential than you'd do otherwise."
"Nn." he grunts his assent under his breath, before jerking his head to my forearm, "How much?"
The corners of my lips hike up minutely.
"Well…" I start, unclasping the straps immobilizing the training weights around my forearm, before letting them fall.
They impact the ground with a very heavy thud, instantly indenting it.
"...About this much, Uchiha-sama." I answer amusingly.
The Uchiha heir boggles, his eyes darting between the not-so-packed-anymore dirt and me a few times.
I giggle, before bending over to retake my 'handicap'.
When I straighten up he looks at me with a determined air.
"Fight me." he says.
I arch an eyebrow at him.
"I beg you pardon, Uchiha-sama?" I answer 'confusedly'.
"I want you to spar with me, but without those, no holds barred." he explains, one of his hands leaving his pocket to gesture at the weights I'm still holding.
I tilt my head.
"May I ask why, Uchiha-sama?" I ask calmly.
He works his jaws for a beat, before sighing.
"You're strong." he starts, "And I have a goal. I want to see how far I need to go to reach it."
The black haired boy looks at me expectantly as I hum consideringly.
"Very well, but only if we can find a referee to do this in a controlled environment, Uchiha-sama." I agree while giving him my conditions, "It wouldn't serve any of us if we got hurt."
"Nn." he grunts, before jerking his head to the side, "Dobe!"
I almost snort in laughter as Naruto instantly reacts, his eyebrow twitching.
"What, Teme?" the blond scowls in annoyance as he closes by, "Why even call me like that, we stopped doing this ages ago, believe it!"
"To get your attention." Sasuke answers shamelessly and I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep myself from losing it, "We need a referee after school, you're it."
"Eh?! Why? Didn't you beat her in the ring?" the blond asks, squinting at the Uchiha while gesturing in my direction.
"I want to see what she's capable of when not holding back, you'll see." the black haired boy not-explains.
"Fine!" the blond growls in annoyance, before looking at me and pointing, which, rude, in my direction, "Not that you won't lose, Miss Prim-and-Proper, believe it!"
I arch an eyebrow at him.
"Time will tell, Uzumaki-san, only time will tell." I answer mildly.
Needless to say, the poor boy was quite flabbergasted when I folded his adopted brother in three hits a few hours later, Hinata cheering me on from the side line.
But, if anything, the Uchiha heir took it in good grace, and has been regularly harassing me for 'training tips and ideas' ever since.
[AN: What is this? A dramatic showdown?!
Yes, yes it is, honestly, the idea tickled my fancy too much not to write it.
There's a lot of little things to unpack in there, will you catch them all?
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]