Chapter 7 : "Dead."
The both of us knowing we just entered another stalemate, Sasuke and I disengage once more by jumping backward.
I take a deep breath even as a bead of sweat runs along my cheek and my eyes stay locked on the Uchiha heir, himself not looking so fresh either and panting slowly, completely tuning out the cheers and jeers of our audience.
The black haired boy is once again using pure technique, since he saw me win against Naruto three days ago, and has already deduced that I wouldn't let him dictate the rhythm this time around if he tried that particular little trick.
After all, he may ape it convincingly enough, but the blond haired boy is clearly the better of the two at the 'Anything Goes: Uzumaki Edition'-style.
We re-engage once more, dashing into each other's guard, and I'm immediately forced to redirect his straight right at the same time I jab at his throat.
He's, in turn, forced to side-step my own blow, not pulling his right arm fast enough and I clamp my hand around his wrist, his eyes instantly widening-
-and I sweep his feet under him, in a perfect mirror of the first match, except he doesn't have my own little trick, and he ends up with me leaning a knee on his belly while my right hand is at his throat in a knife-hand gesture as soon as his back hits the ground.
For a beat, the silence surrounding us is deafening as we keep staring at each other, the two of us blank-faced.
"Tsk." Sasuke clicks his tongue.
I can't help the corner of my lips from quirking up minutely at the typical emo-Suke response to being beaten in an Academy spar.
"Torika wins! The two of you, make the sign of reconciliation!" Iruka declares not even a second later, and I immediately step back while extending a hand to the last male Uchiha.
The brat has the gal of rolling his eyes before he accepts my help and lets himself get pulled up to his feet.
"T-That can't be right!" one of his -undesired- cronies yell in dismay, "Sasuke-kun is unbeatable!"
The boy in question and I trade a look, before snorting derisively in concert.
Eh, show what they know.
We make the sign of reconciliation before stepping out of the ring.
"Well done on catching up on the technical aspect, I guess." he awkwardly states, his hands in his pockets and his head downcast.
"Thank you, Uchiha-sama." I politely answer, discreetly wiping the sweat out of my forehead, "But don't start to brood on me like that: you improved too, considering how much you made me work for it. It was just my luck this time."
It wasn't. In the span of two weeks, I faced -and beat- every one of the guys -bar the famous lazybum who instantly conceded, of course- and learned the basis of their styles.
Now, I'm going to start cooking something, let's say, interesting, by gradually adding some nuggets of my Venenum training to the Academy style and what I pilfered from the clan kids.
"Nn." he not-quite grunts in agreement, his eyes a little distant, probably already replaying in his head what worked and what didn't.
Because, yes, the guy is dedicated like that when he actually loses. Was lost to the world for a good ten minutes when I won our little 'no holds barred' contest.
Some things never truly change, I guess, but at least he is milder about it and takes it as an opportunity to further his own growth.
It doesn't really surprise me when Hinata and his 'bro' walk near us a few seconds into his fugue.
I instantly halt the blond, who squints at me in askance even as I point a finger at Sasuke.
"Don't perturb him, he is thinking about the match while it's still fresh in his mind." I tell Naruto factually.
"Right, he gets like that sometimes," the whiskered boy answers while scratching the back of his head, "Never got how he managed to do that, believe it!"
I chuckle.
"Indoor voice, Uzumaki-san." I chide him while giving him a look, a gesture that has a surprising amount of effectiveness if the awkward shuffle he makes is anything to go by -Mikoto's influence, I bet-, "I mean no offense, but I gather that you aren't a big fan of meditation, correct?"
"Eh?! Nah, sitting still and all that isn't my thing! I'd rather learn cool jutsus and train with my fists, believe it!" he boisterously declares, making Hinata quietly giggle to the side.
I hum consideringly.
"Is that so?" I ask aloofly, "Maybe you're not ready to learn the secret to make any 'cool jutsus' you'll learn in the future more efficient and powerful, then."
That instantly gives the Kyuubi's host pauses.
"Eh, I've never said anything like that! I swear I'm ready to learn, believe it!" he instantly caves, even if it is while faking as much confidence as he can muster.
"Well, the secret to making your justus more 'awesome' is…" I start while deeping my head and hiding my mouth like I'm telling him a secret for real, prompting him to step closer-
-until I flick his forehead, forcing a yelp out of his mouth as his hands dart to his forehead and he gives me an angered glare-
-which instantly peters out as he sees my deadpan.
"To meditate." I drawl, before straightening back up.
"Eh?! That's it? All of that for this?!" the blond exclaims.
"B-But Torika-chan is right, Naruto-kun." Hinata hesitantly interjects before I can and, under my approving nod, carries on more confidently, "A chakra imbalance destabilizes jutsus and makes them weaker while costing more from the user, or so my father says."
"And, considering it is also written in every book on shinobi foundations, I sincerely doubt Hyuga-sama is wrong." I calmly add, our 'two actors play' having finally managed to grasp the blue eyed boy's interest, even if he looks a bit confused.
"You're strong, physically, right?" I ask him archly.
"Of course, believe it!" he instantly answers with a beaming smile.
God, that thing is powerful, I'm almost afraid to get sunburns after a few seconds.
"That means you're naturally tilted toward Yang Chakra -or Yoton if you're old fashioned, but that doesn't matter here-," I explain while closing my right fist in front of me, "As a general rule of thumb, boys tends to be Yang inclined in their natural chakra generation, that means, before starting to train. Uchiha-sama-" I discreetly point toward the deeply thinking boy, before gesturing in another one's direction, "-and Nara-sama runs contrary to that principle by being heavily Yin -or Inton- inclined, which is more often generally the case for the girls…"
Of course, at that, Naruto eyes his 'bro' and starts to dumbly chuckle.
I dope slap him, making him yelp a second time.
"Pay attention," I tut at him, ignoring his glare, "Now, the Yin chakra is also a testament of strength, not the physical one, but that of the mind, the wisdom, the intellect." I carry on while closing my left fist in front of me, next to my still held aloft right.
A light of understanding blossoms in his eyes as he directs a glance to a snoozing Shikamaru.
"I see that you get it." I nod at him, making him redirect his attention to me, "But the thing is, the vast majority of jutsus needs the shinobi to mix those two types of energy together-" I mime my hands linking with each other under Naruto's attentive look, "-in roughly equal proportion to make them work. Now, what do you think would happen, if, say, someone physically strong, and so heavily Yang inclined-" I 'enlarge' my right fist, "-tried to mix it with his underdeveloped Yin?" I ask even as I tighten my left fist even further.
For a beat, the blond keeps squinting in my fists' directions, his blue eyes occasionally going from one to another, before sighing dejectedly.
"Maaaannnn, I'll have to start doing the meditation exercises Mikoto-baasan told me to do, right?" he whines aloud, visibly already dreading it.
Hinata and I trade a look, before chuckling.
I drop my hands.
"I'm afraid you'll have to, Uzumaki-san." I agree commiseratingly, even as a certain white eyed girl gives him an apologetic smile.
"That's the reason you train like you do, Torika-chan?" the whiskered boy asks me after a beat.
"That is part of the reason." I answer with a nod, not commenting on the fact that he is rather familiar with me for some reasons, but, well, it's Naruto, and something buzzing at the back of my head tells me that propriety isn't a fight worth fighting for with him, "I'm a girl, and so started with my chakra tilted toward the Yin, plus, I'm a bit smarter than average," -not really, but maturity is a kind of wisdom, and I have a wealth of skills and knowledge belonging to an unnamed assassin etched inside my brain, so that must counts for something- "So I have to compensate by training my body to achieve an ideal ratio and make my jutsus less heavy on my chakra pool."
That, plus the fact that overwhelming strength in close quarters plus my pseudo-Sage Mode is kind of my 'Plan B' in case shit hits the fan and we have to deal with Zetsu's plot at some point.
Knowing my luck in my previous life, I'd rather be over prepared than caught with my pants down on this.
"When you think about it, that's also why they make us learn so many things not directly pertaining to the shinobi trade at the Academy," I explain while gesturing vaguely around us, "Learning new things and making us think about it-" to a certain degree, this is still a military dictatorship, after all "-develop the Yin, while exercising physically in the afternoon by learning the 'ropes' of our future profession develop the Yang."
"It's to maintain the balance, believe it!" Naruto not-quite yells, slamming a fist into his palm.
"That's also why it'll pay double if you keep studying seriously, Uzumaki-san," I elaborate further, "This way, you'll have to meditate less to achieve the same results."
Well, it's a bit of a white lie here, considering he has the Yang half of Kurama in his guts, so the guy has a long way to go before he can stabilize the situation.
But this isn't really the goal here.
No, I'm just putting him in the correct mindset for learning Sage Mode down the road and having an easier time mastering it.
After all, it's not like he is lacking chakra in the first place.
As he realizes my words, the blond frown in distaste, before sighing loudly once more.
I chuckle at his dejected reaction.
"Ano, Torika-chan?" Hinata asks after a beat while the blond is still wrestling with his newfound reality, "What is the other part of the reason?"
I blink, mentally running over the conversation in my head.
"Oh, it's because I want to become a stealth specialist, and honing the body is one of the fundamental steps to do so." I answer after parsing through what I've just said, "A good level in taijutsu helps with stealth takedowns, and always having your body to rely on when behind enemy lines is paramount to the safety of a stealth type, for when things start to go badly."
"Isn't that kind of mission particularly dangerous, though?" the bob cut haired girl -still unwilling to change her style despite my insistence, but I swear I'm getting through her- hazards.
I give her a one shoulder shrug in answer.
"Not any more dangerous than the other missions in the grand scheme of things, it can just get real dicey if you mess up." I downplay it.
Truth is, ninety percent of the time, stealth/infiltration/assassination missions belong in the 'succeed or die trying' category, but I'm not about to tell that to the kind hearted girl.
There's, after all, a reason those are primarily given to the ANBU.
Coincidentally, it's also where I want to end up, given my capabilities.
Funnily enough, the old warhawk had wanted a Mokuton user in the Leaf's special forces, and he was about to get his wish beyond the grave.
Talk about irony, eh.
"That is also why I have taken the elective on poison-making this year, and am thinking about taking the one on iryo-ninjutsu for the next one." I explain further with an idle gesture of my hand.
Hinata goes to answer, but Naruto, apparently back from his depression, beats her to it.
"Eh?! But those are so lame, believe it!" he exclaims, "What are you going to do if someone throws, I don't know, a big fireball like 'Suke can do in your face, with your poisons?"
I instantly feel incredibly offended by his question, yet keep smiling placidly.
"Uzumaki-san, look:" I tell him mildly, while hiking up my sleeve a little, showing the weights latched to my forearm, before opening my palms in front of me, "I still have my weights on, and nothing in my hands. Now, throw a punch at me."
"Eh, you sure?" the whiskered boy asks, squinting at me.
"It's just for a demonstration, don't worry about it, I'm sure." I urge him.
He gives me one last glance, before rushing toward me with a yell, aiming a direct at my face, and for an instant, it looks like it'll impact-
-until I explode in a storm of brownish, desiccated leaves, reappearing in his back, one arm stopping him right in his tracks as I snake it around him and forcefully lock him in place while the index of my other hand idly pokes his trachea.
"Dead." I blandly intone, before releasing him.
He stumbles forward, catches his balance, before looking at me wide-eyed over his shoulder.
"Or you'd be, if I was holding a poisoned kunai." I add after a bit of him gawking in my direction.
"...How?" he asks, flabbergasted.
I raise an eyebrow at his question.
"Didn't you pay attention two weeks ago, Uzumaki-san? I did the exact same thing." I ask, a bit confusedly.
"I did, believe it!" he answers emphatically, "But I thought I missed you making some hand gestures or something, but right now…"
"Training. Rote repetition until it's second nature." I answer with a shrug.
"...But that was so cool, believe it!" he gives me a big goofy grin, and my annoyance instantly melts away as something buzzes in the back of my head, but fighting it for something so minor is pointless, "What's your jutsu's name, Torika-chan?"
"A-Ah Naruto-kun, that is not something you should…" Hinata starts, but someone else interjects.
"It isn't one jutsu. It is, at least, two linked together to work as one, Naruto." Sasuke, back from his little mind-trip, answers calmly, "And, if I'm not mistaken, the basis is the Transformation Jutsu and the Replacement Jutsu."
"Eh?! That can't be, those are so lame!" the blond immediately denies with emphasis-
-until I rain on his parade, that is.
"Good guess, Uchiha-sama." I congratulate politely.
"Sasuke." he points out, finally giving me the permission to call him by his real name, "You can at least call me that if the others do, you at least deserve it."
"Very well, Sasuke-sama." I agree with a polite nod.
"...And I suppose you can too, Hyuga-san." he adds after a beat, a tad awkwardly, which amuses me greatly.
"L-Likewise, Sasuke-kun." Hinata accepts the offer a bit shyly, but with a little smile nonetheless.
I almost quirk an eyebrow up at that, because emo-Suke would have never recognized her existence in the old timeline.
But, considering that, bar me, she's the sole girl of the original cast putting in the work at the moment, I'm not too surprised that the guy who has already completed the curriculum and wishes he could be anywhere else caught it at some point.
He has, after all, nothing better to do than people-watch when he's not sparring.
"I'm still drawing a blank on the last part, though, mind telling me what it is?" he adds after a bit, giving me back his attention.
I smile coyly at him.
"Ah, I'm afraid a girl must keep some forms of secret, Sasuke-sama." I answer with a little wink, "But it's not easily reproducible, so don't worry about someone copying it."
"Nn." he grunts while narrowing his eyes.
"Eh?! Oh, come on, tell us Torika-chan!" Naruto not-quite yells instantly.
I deadpan, exchanging a glance with Sasuke.
The two of us roll eyes under the amused -if discreetly- eyes of Hinata, even as the blond starts to rant.
[AN: Nin-Nin!
A minor timeskip once more, we inch a little bit closer from the beginning of canon.
Torika vs Sasuke: round two, electric boogaloo, but this time she wins!
Torika tries her best to make Naruto a bit more studious -time will tell if it is effective or not-, Hinata gradually steps out of her comfort zone, our smoll assassin flexes a little, and a friendship and a pseudo-one are struck.
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]