AN: New chapter.
"Should we really be letting this happen?"
"I think Sasuke needs this."
As much as Naruto didn't like what was going on, it was clear that Sakura didn't like it much either. Sasuke and Nana, the girl who seemed to be one the ringleaders of the group of bullies, were facing off in the middle of the training grounds.
Sasuke shed the deep blue coat he had been wearing all day, seemed set to fight in just the sleeveless white and blue shirt he wore underneath. He shared a look with Sakura and Naruto off on the sidelines, tried to offer them a silent assurance that he could do this. Sakura gave him a smile and Naruto gave him a thumbs up.
'For them. Do it for them.' He took in the sight of the two, tried to match Sakura's smile with his own shaky one.
His time spent reassuring the two nearly cost him the match when Nana attacked him.
Despite being a bully, she didn't slack off on her training.
In the blink of an eye, her slashing kunai was stopped by an identical one made of ice. The two were locked in place for a moment, eyes meeting over the blade lock.
"Tch. That same stupid trick." Nana, like most of the Uchiha, hadn't actually seen his Kekkei Genkai up close before. He hadn't needed to use it in the Academy and had only trained with Itachi, Shisui, or his teammates outside of using it on missions. Outside of a few times when he had lost control, like at the station, he avoided rising to their taunts. "What are you going to do with that little popsicle, Crybaby? Give me a cold?"
Like he tried to do every time, Sasuke didn't rise to the taunt. There was something Nana, that almost none of the Uchiha, had ever seen before in his eyes:
Pure determination.
He pushed her away and Nana barely recovered in time to turn a potential fall into a leap away. She still threw the kunai at him, watched as he deflected it off to the side. She landed on the ground a fair distance away, didn't know what to do after that clash.
'I couldn't move him.' Her attack hadn't been enough to even nudge his arm back. 'He's stronger than me? That doesn't make sense.' No matter how brief, the clash had revealed something that simply didn't make sense to her. 'I didn't give it my all but he nearly put me on the ground when he pushed me away…How?' She glanced to the ground, tried to see if there was something there. 'He must have some stupid trick at his feet. Yeah. He probably spilled something there when I wasn't looking. Some powder or something.'
It was the only explanation that made sense to her.
Some trick to hide how weak he was.
That had to be it.
He couldn't be stronger than her.
In all but a moment she had a handful of shuriken in each hand, threw them forward with a shout as she charged after them. Sasuke didn't respond with his own, dashed out of the way of the attack and closed in on Nana. She was ready for him, their brief exchange of Taijutsu proving nothing.
Even if she was tossed back by a palm thrust, it didn't prove anything.
She lost her footing. It happens. The grass here was wet. It had to be wet.
He wasn't stronger than her. He couldn't be stronger than her.
"You can't even fight right!" She wouldn't let luck trick her into thinking this Crybaby could beat her. "What? Too scared to throw out an attack?"
"…why do I even bother?" He was speaking more to himself than Nana. He shook his head at least. His next words were shouted across the space between the two. "I'm not trying to seriously hurt you Nana. I just want you to leave. So leave."
"We'll see who gets hurt, Crybaby!" She drew another kunai to each hand, charged the disgrace to the Uchiha Clan in front of her. Like last time, he mirrored her with two kunai made of ice. The ringing of their blades clashing sounded through the clearing, the two keeping pace with each other.
An attempted stab from Nana was deflected by Sasuke.
A slash by Sasuke was brought to a halt by Nana's own kunai.
In the few moments their clash lasted, dozens of strikes had to be exchanged between the two of them. Neither pulled ahead or fell behind the other. Sasuke was the one to draw back, break away from the clash and throw both of his kunai forward. Nana didn't even need to dodge out of the way of the two projectiles, both going far on either side of her.
"You idiot! Who taught you how to throw a kunai?" Nana's grin was back at the proof of the loser messing up. She tightened her hold on her weapons as she charged the Genin now without a weapon. "Maybe if you beg loud enough I won't hurt you too bad!"
She felt an unnatural cold moments before Sasuke drew back on his still extended hand, Nana instinctively activating her Sharingan to make sense of what was going on.
A thin line of Chakra ran from his hands to either side of her.
'What?'
She only had a moment to think before the two thrown kunai were suddenly striking her in the back. She didn't feel a stabbing pain, only felt cold spreading from her back to around her sides. She didn't know what was happening before she was suddenly off-balance, couldn't move her arms any further.
Sasuke let out a chilled breath as he disconnected the strings made of ice from his hands, no longer needed to channel his Chakra to the kunai of ice. They had already spread, formed into a mix between a snowflake and a shackle locked around Nana's arms and body.
"W-What is this?" Nana struggle to break free to no avail, found her movement impeded even further when the 'arms' of the snowflake only spread further. They threw her completely off balance and left her laying sideways on the ground.
"My Kekkei Genkai." Sasuke lifted his currently frosted over hands for her to see, for all of the Uchiha with her to see. "Ice-Make." He dropped his hands into his pockets, turned away from his trapped opponent. "This fight is over. You'll thaw out in a few hours."
"Like hell this is over you brat!" Nana's rage was almost palpable as she screamed at him, as she struggled to her feet. She could still barely keep herself up, teetered back and forth for a moment before managing to steady herself. "You, You can't get away with a cheap trick like this! Come back and fight me like a man Crybaby!"
"There's nothing cheap about how I beat you." Sasuke drew out one of his hands regardless, created another senbon of ice. He threw it into one of the outstretched 'arms' of the snowflake keeping Nana trapped. It instantly broke down into snow, covered the ground at Nana's feet. "But, if you want to keep going, I'll keep going."
His words only drew a frustrated growl from Nana.
"Enough joking around Nana!" Taiko finally called out from the sidelines, doubt spreading on the faces of more than one of the Uchiha who had made it their mission to make his life miserable. "Fry that little Crybaby!"
"Yeah! Show him why he's a loser!" Chie called out from next to him.
Sasuke ignored the taunts and jeers unleashed by the other Uchiha, his eyes focused on Nana and Nana alone. She paid attention at least, seemed to calm herself down with them. The familiarity of it all, of countless days of knocking the Crybaby in front of her down, of mocking him, all came back to her.
"That's right!" Nana recovered her arrogant smirk, her Sharingan focusing on Sasuke. "You don't have your Sharingan, you couldn't even become a man. All of this, everything up to now, was just dumb luck!" She almost wanted to laugh, laugh that she had almost been tricked by the brat in front of her. "You can get lucky with Taijutsu, with your little trick weapons, but there's one thing you can't do!"
With a smile, Nana began a very familiar set of Hand Seals.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
She took in a deep breath, her smile turning sadistic as she did so.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" She breathed out a massive fireball.
'She's right.' Sasuke stared down the signature attack of every member of the Uchiha Clan. Everyone but him. 'I can't do that. I can never do that.'
Her attack was smaller than Itachi's, than Father's.
'But I don't need it to beat her.'
With his Kekkei Genkai, he didn't need Hand Seals for any of his techniques. It was one of the things Itachi and Shisui had helped him discover. The only requirement was that he needed to be able to mold his Chakra.
Although he did have a preferred way to gather Chakra.
He laid the palm of his right hand on top of his fist, brought both hands to his side as he felt the temperature drop.
The fireball screamed towards him and he closed his eyes, focused.
His Chakra was his to command.
It was almost…Zen-like for a moment.
He could end this here and now with any number of techniques.
He could freeze Nana's feet to the ground, trap her in a cage of ice, extinguish the fireball with a geyser of snow. But none of them fit. At least not now. There was one technique he had for this, one he had used against Itachi's own, had based it off Itachi's own.
He lifted one of his hands up to his mouth.
He felt cold settle in his chest as he breathed in, as his Chakra took form.
"Ice-Make: Blizzard Breath!" It was his answer to the Great Fireball Technique that alluded him still.
The massive fireball clashed with a mix between a blizzard and an airborne snowball.
AN: Well that just happened.
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Peace.