The day was hot and slightly humid.
The training area was a large open space circular in shape and filled with compact dirt. To its side there was a viewing area where the rest of the class could watch.
Most of them stood within the shade of the trees, their only chance of staying out of the glaring ray's of the sun.
Me and Naruto stood in front of each other, the excitable guy cracking his knuckles and grinning.
I was sweating my ass off but trying not to look like it.
The heat didn't help.
"Ya' ready to lose to your future Hokage?" Naruto let out, voice boisterous as always.
"Sure thing man."
He paused, the smile dropping from his face as bright blue eyes squinted.
"Wait," There was confusion on his features but also something else. "You're not denying it?"
"Denying what?"
"That I can be Hokage?"
I blinked, an image of him much older coming to mind.
His right arm in bandages, hair shorter, wearing a white cloak with the words for fire shadow on it.
"I mean, It's definitely possible." I told him with a shrug. "Crazier things have happened."
"Oh." He let out, looking at me as if seeing me for the first time before a big grin spread on his face.
"Thanks Kitsuji!"
"Does this mean you're going to take it easy on me?"
"No way." The blonde rubbed his nose. "I've gotta prove to you how strong your future Hokage is!"
I sighed, "Of course you do."
"Alright you two that's enough chit chat," Iruka butt in, allowing our banter no longer. "form the seal."
Both of us nodded and hand signed the Seal of Confrontation; a signal of combat between shinobi, before we got into our stances.
I settled into the academy taught stance, as it was what this body was used to. It was a fighting style mainly used for light jabs and agile movement.
'Wearing your opponent down while being as nimble as a leaf.' Our instructors would say.
I was passable at it at best, probably 'past me's' only saving grace.
'Past me's' always had a tough time fighting Naruto in particular though.
It wasn't because the other boy was a prodigy in the art of combat or anything, the jinchuriki's skill in the academy style was just as bad as our own.
No, it wasn't anything complicated like that. It was simply because-
"Begin."
A yellow and orange blur ran at me, closing distance quickly.
A haymaker destined to knock my lights out flying my way.
-this kid was unnaturally strong and fast.
I sidestepped, his blow flew past, allowing me to reach out and try to grab his jacket arm.
He moved low, my arm missing by a mile. A fist flew out towards my face and I barely weaved my head back in time, his knuckles brushing my forehead.
With that close save I attempted to make more space but he didn't let up, doggedly chasing me.
A flurry of punches flew at me and I dodged as best as I could until one finally got through.
I blocked it with a forearm and immediately regretted it.
*Thud.*
My arm throbbed at the impact.
Naruto paused, as if waiting for something.
Even Iruka shot me a look as if expecting me to say something.
"Ow." I let out, "Dude.. why do your punches always feel like sledgehammers?"
The blonde's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Huh? Isn't this usually where you give up and forfeit?"
"I mean, you're not wrong." I answered truthfully. "Unfortunately, I kinda need to get better at this whole taijutsu thing.. so I can't afford to just give up after the first hit anymore."
Yeah past me was kind of pathetic. He'd always been good at dodging to a degree, could even take a punch or two, but anytime he took any real damage he'd surrender immediately.
With Naruto it generally took him a single hit to give up.
This dude sure hits hard though, not gonna lie.
Naruto shot me a perplexed look before shrugging. "Alright then."
I resumed my stance but this time I circulated my chakra slowly, the familiar feeling of pins and needles with it.
Chakra enhancement was the most basic ability of ninja, the most glaring thing that separated them from civilians.
It's what made it easier to take hits, allowing ninja to get slammed through walls and tank damage that would absolutely kill a normal person.
It boosted physicality, strength and speed included, only growing stronger with practice, chakra control and capacity.
'Past me.' Could only keep it up for a couple of minutes before he ran out of chakra, and that time was even less in the middle of a fight as it utilized more energy to enhance yourself while in combat.
However, I've been training.
My capacity had increased significantly and so theoretically I should be able to last much longer than a minute or two.
When Naruto came flying in with a barrage of jabs it was suddenly easier to avoid them.
The difference was like night and day.
My limbs felt lighter, my reactions just a little quicker, allowing me to evade his strikes more efficiently.
His style was unorthodox, never sticking with one exact combo for too long as his fists flew with the speed and power of a rocket.
Power strikes, hooks, jabs and kicks were mixed up at odd times as the blond attempted to pin me down.
Each was dodged, some by a mile, others by a hairs' width but I was cutting it close.
It was a good thing his form was terrible, or I'd probably be eating dirt by now. Though mine wasn't much better to be honest.
A fist came towards my chest and I couldn't evade it so I blocked his punch again, this time with my other forearm.
*Thud*
I grimaced, still hurt, but not as bad.
I made to counter, managing to slip in his guard and landing a hook on his ribs.
He let out a huff of air but he brushed it off quicker than I would've expected.
I guess it convinced him to take things up a notch though as he was suddenly much more aggressive.
The next minute was spent doing my absolute best to dodge, but failing, and having to block instead. Each impact caused me to grunt and though nothing truly connected, I was slowly losing momentum.
Meanwhile Naruto stayed the same, not even breathing heavily as sweat dripped down my forehead.
This guy and his damned Uzumaki stamina!
Another punch flew by my face and I countered it by diverting his fist with my wrist, stepping back to give myself the leverage.
It put me in an awkward position with one leg farther out than it needed to be properly balanced.
He lashed out with a sideways kick, an attempt to hit my extended inner thigh.
I jumped backwards.
Bad move.
I didn't jump back far enough, and from the angle he was kicking-
*Crunch*
There was a white hot flash of pain. I saw stars and for a moment I thought I heard a choir singing.
""Ooooh"" multiple male voices sounded out.
I wasn't hearing any of that though, instead I dropped to the floor and grabbed at my family jewels as a wheeze left my mouth.
"Bro.." I rasped out, shooting the shocked looking blonde a betrayed look all the while tears slowly gathered in the corners of my eyes. "Why?!"
"Oh crap! Kitsuji! I'm so sorry man!"
"A-alright that's enough" Iruka stammered out, even he looked perturbed.
"Naruto, you win. I understand that it was an accident so I'm not gonna rip you to pieces for it but please, be more careful."
"I really didn't mean it! I just didn't expect him to jump back like that." I heard Naruto say, he sounded horrified.
Was kind of hard to focus on that though. I was seeing double, in fact I had black dots in my eyes as the pain overruled all coherent thought.
"You alright Kitsuji?" Iruka asked worriedly.
"Think I'm gonna puke.." I told him.
The teacher grimaced before turning to the blonde. "Naruto, since you caused the damage, take Kitsuji to the nurses office."
"You got it Sensei…uh sorry Kitsuji, bear with it a bit yeah?"
I felt a arm hook under my shoulder the other one on my back as Naruto helped me stand up.
When I managed to get back up on my feet my legs shook.
"You sure you don't want me to just carry you?" My classmate asked with a worried look.
"No," I grunted out, face pale. "Let's just go."
(Scene Change)
The walk back to the nurses office was quiet and awkward.
I didn't bother saying anything. I was in too much pain, the dull ache doing terrible things to my mood.
Naruto on the other hand was definitely feeling guilty, his normal jovial attitude nowhere to be seen.
He kept shooting me nervous glances. Every so often his mouth would open as if to say something before he'd close it.
I let out an irritated huff before shooting him a look, "dude."
"Huh?" He jumped a bit.
"Just say what's on your mind." I told him, "This pussyfooting around isn't helping."
"Uh..you're not mad?"
"No, I am." I shot him a dead look while slightly shaking a fist. "It hurts like hell! haven't you ever heard of the bro code?"
"It was an accident!" He seemed to deflate.
"Logically I know that, but that doesn't really stop the pain though does it?." I snarked.
As his head slumped even further, I sighed, forcing myself to calm down.
"Stop worrying man, I don't hate you or anything. I'm just a little salty, that's all."
Though I still wanted to punch him in the face. Crotch shots weren't cool, accident or not.
He shuffled uncomfortably at my comment, causing my wobbly legs to falter momentarily as our synchronized walk was thrown off. For a single moment, I stepped farther than I'd like to.
I winced at the movement, face growing paler.
"Please walk straight Naruto, you're the only thing keeping me from eating floor right now."
"R-right!"
As we entered the hallway to the nurses office I tried to keep a neutral face, though I grimaced every couple steps or so.
Naruto shot me a curious glance.
"So…you really think I can be Hokage?"
"This again?"
"What? You can't blame me for asking, you used to always say you didn't care."
"That's true." I admitted, past me really didn't care. "But I also never explicitly told you that it would be impossible or anything."
"Huh." He mumbled. "So all I had to do around here to earn some recognition was kick someone in the nuts?"
I shot him a dirty look.
"Don't push it, I hope I'll still be able to have kids after this."
He flinched. "Haha…right. My bad."
I waved it off as we pulled up to the nurses office door.
"Just…" I flinched as I stepped wrong and the pain flared up, the ache absolutely agonizing. "Next time aim for the face please."
"Ehehe." The blonde gave a sheepish grin before he used his free arm to rub the back of his head.
With a knock the door opened and we were greeted by an elderly man with white hair in a white lab coat. He had crows feet under his eyes and a grey flecked five o clock shadow.
"Takei Sensei, there was an incident." Naruto helpfully told the man.
"Iruka's kids?" The man rubbed his stubble with a thumb. "Training accident huh?"
"I got kicked in the balls" I deadpanned.
He shot me a look of sympathy.
"And you?" He turned to Naruto.
The blonde scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"I'm the one who kicked him in the balls."
I shot him a glare and he nervously chuckled.
"Ah i'm not injured or anything, Iruka Sensei just told me to bring him here."
He gave both of us an amused look before stepping back and allowing us to enter.
My classmate helped me onto one of the pristine white cots before bowing his head.
"Again, sorry Kitsuji."
"I said it's fine." I waved him off. "If you really wanna make it up to me buy me food later or something."
He perked up.
"Are you fine with ramen? I know a really good place."
Was he inviting me to eat at Icharakus? I can't lie, that's definitely on my to do list.
"Sounds good." I told him.
He gave a little cheer while throwing a fist up.
"Enough noise. Uzumaki, since you're not injured you can get out."
The nurse's tone was stern but not unkind.
"Right, see you Kitsuji."
"Later." I managed to get out as he exited in high spirits.
"That guy has way too much energy."
The older man shot me an amused look but didn't comment.
"Alright then, let's see what we're looking at here."
He walked over to me before doing a couple hand seals, his hands glowing green as it hovered over my nether regions.
It was embarrassing as hell but I wanted the pain to go away more than anything so I was willing to deal with it.
It helped that he was at least professional in his demeanor and I didn't have to actually take my shorts off to figure out the damage.
"Hmm, some minor bruising. I can clear it up. Stay still please."
As the green glow increased I closed my eyes.
Slowly the pain lessened and when he finished I gave a relieved sigh.
"Thank you so much." I gratefully told him.
He smiled. "No worries my boy, try not to take any more shots like that though."
"Trust me," I deadpanned. "It's the last thing on my agenda."
"I would hope so." He smiled. "Now hold out your arms, those bruises look nasty."
I glanced down at my arms, now that the pain in my bottom half was gone the aches in my limbs were a lot more apparent, on both my forearms were fist sized purple blotches. The consequences of blocking a direct attack from my resident hyperactive classmate.
I held them out to him.
Again he did a couple hand signs and the green glow appeared.
This time, as he went to heal my limbs I activated my 'Insight.'
I'd used a lot of chakra during the fight but not enough to where I wouldn't be able to utilize the ability for a few seconds.
I immediately became aware of all the broken blood vessels in my arms, along with each of the micro-tears along the muscles in my body due to the intense movement I was doing.
It was riveting to watch the technique up close, both with my eyes and my 'Insight'.
I could actually witness the veins, capillaries and arteries repair themselves, the leaked vital fluid was then slowly collected and then broken down before being redistributed in my bloodstream.
Another interesting tidbit.
With my 'insight' I could actually feel his chakra mingling with my cells. It stood out with striking clarity to my ability.
Like someone had gone over a painting with whiteout.
Impossible not to notice.
After half a minute he pulled his chakra back, the limbs healed and the foreign energy retreating from my body, exiting through my skin cells.
I turned Insight off, satisfied with the little bit I'd been able to witness.
"That's amazing." I praised and received a small grin from my compliment.
"This is nothing, you should see what Lady Tsunade can do. Why back in my time, she would have healed something this minor with just a wave of her hand."
That sounds incredible. I wish I could see her do something like that up close, I feel like I'd learn a lot from it.
"That was medical ninjutsu right?" I asked.
We'd been taught about it in the academy, though more like it was mentioned briefly when going over the tales of the Sannin, Tsunade's story particularly. Of course, I also knew about it from watching the series.
"It was," he confirmed. " interested?"
"Yes," I nodded. " I'm thinking If I can't avoid something like this again, I should at least be able to fix it myself."
"Hah, well that's one way to look at it." he then hummed before rubbing his chin. "If you're really interested, you gotta learn a lot of material related to the body before you can even begin."
"I'm willing to learn, any idea where I can pick up said material?"
"An eager one aren't ya?" He raised an eyebrow, a twinkle in his eye.
"Well if you're serious about it, just go to the hospital and ask for some basic anatomy books. You'll have to pay, of course, but these books are a lot more extensive than what you'll find at the library."
"Got it." I gave a small bow of my head. "Thanks for the advice."
"No problem. I just wish more of your generation was more interested in medical ninjutsu, it really does make a difference in the field."
He then stretched, his back giving a few pops.
"Now then, I think it's about time you get back to class. I don't wanna hear anymore complaints from Iruka about his students 'spending too much time in the infirmary.' then I already do."
I blinked.
"Shikamaru?"
He laughed before ruffling my hair.
"I'm not giving any names. Now get a move on."
"Sure thing Takei sensei." I replied while swatting his hand away from my head. "Thanks again though."
"Anytime."
(Scene Change)
As I walked back to class my mind went over the fight.
I kept thinking that there were plenty of things I could've done differently, some attacks I could've diverted better, and certain feints that I just didn't see coming. My thoughts drifted to how my last evasive attempt ended.
I shuddered.
"Yeah..I'm never trying to dodge like that ever again." I grumbled to myself.
Ignoring all the technicalities though, I knew one thing for sure about the entire experience, I got overwhelmed.
Even though we had a similar amount of skill, my opponent was faster and stronger than me, which allowed him to dominate the battle.
Low blow or not, I was losing that fight right from the get go. The fact alone that I was even able to land a punch on the blonde was more of a miracle than by any act of skill.
This isn't even taking into account that it wasn't a battle with actual jutsu either…haaah I got a lot of work to do.
I tried not to take it to heart though, as I wasn't expecting anything different.
I'd only been training for a week after all.
It just meant I had to get stronger.
I was greeted by a surprisingly warm reception from the guys of the class and a sympathetic look from Hinata.
I'd missed the spar between Ino and Sakura, only managing to catch the end of it as Sakura got the blonde girl in an arm bar, forcing her to give up.
But I did get to see everyone else spar, and well..these kids were good.
Hinata fought Shino with surprising grace, each of her movements fluid as she dodged his methodological attacks, her arms and hands were blurs to my eyes.
It only took a short while until she managed to catch him off guard with a Gentle Fist strike to the arm.
She pressed the attack, but I could tell her heart wasn't in it too much.
Even with his arm dangling to the side he continued to elusively dodge her blows, before finally he retaliated with a brutal knee to the stomach.
It slipped past her guard and nailed her in the gut hard enough to make her cough spit.
I'm pretty sure the shades wearing Aburame felt bad for doing her like that, because from there he asked her to surrender.
To which she shakily agreed.
Choji and Shikamarus' spar was more tame in comparison, but nonetheless still impressive.
The Nara's fighting style could only be summed up with one word.
Precision.
He didn't make any crazy movements, or exhibit any incredible athleticism outside the norm, but what he did do was hit every spot that he intended to.
With an almost nonchalant grace he smoothly dodged all of Choji's heavy blows, only retaliating when he was absolutely sure that he'd hit his mark.
Choji on the other hand was a tank, no matter how much damage he took, he simply shook it off and kept attacking.
There was a real fear on Shikamaru's end of being hit directly, so the guy made sure it wasn't a possibility to begin with.
Every time he retreated he forced his larger friend to expend more energy, and though Choji could hit hard like Naruto, he definitely didn't have the blonde's stamina.
Over time the Akimichi began to slow down, the heat of the day and rapid movements sapping away at his strength. When he almost tumbled over mid strike while releasing large gasps Iruka finally decided to call the match, and Shikamaru was declared the winner.
A bit sweaty, but otherwise not a scratch on him.
The cream of the crop however, was the final spar between Sasuke and Kiba.
These were technically the best taijutsu users in the class, and it showed.
Kiba was fast, strikingly fast. So fast my eyes had a hard time keeping up with it.
While Naruto had been a blur because of his explosive rushes, the blonde had been easier to keep track of due to how straight forward he was.
The Inuzuka on the other hand fought like an animal. His strikes were agile but quick, aiming at major weak points with every pass. He struck from all angles, attacking with all four of his limbs and pulling incredible acts of flexibility that made my eyebrows raise.
Sasuke though. Sasuke was built different.
Though Kiba was fast, the Uchiha was easily able to keep up. Each time a hit was blocked it was redirected, only to be followed up with vicious counters that left me feeling sympathy for his animalistic opponent.
A dropkick was diverted as Kiba was slammed into the ground.
A fist was caught, palmed, then redirected into a shoulder check that sent the Inuzuka face first into the dirt.
Kiba was systematically torn apart piece by piece as Sasuke read him like an open book and put belt to ass.
The final blow sent Inuzuka to the nurses office, as he'd tried to do a flying kick only to be dodged and elbowed in the temple.
He dropped like a stone tossed into a river.
It was an eye-opening day.
I knew for sure that I wouldn't stand a chance against anyone here barring Ino and Sakura, and these were just academy students.
At the same time… I was kind of excited.
Watching everyone else fight really put a fire under my ass.
If I focused on my hand eye coordination, reflexes and technique, I could eventually move like them right?
It was motivating to envision a version of me like that, and throughout the rest of class I was thinking about it.
When we were released at the end of the day, the only thoughts in my mind were about how much more training I needed to do.
I gotta step my game up.
On my way out the gate however I was stopped.
"Hey! Kitsuji!" I turned to look and saw a familiar blonde in orange waving at me.
"Ya still down to get some ramen with me?"
Oh yeah, It almost slipped my mind that I agreed to that.
I was kind of hungry.. but at the same time I wanted to keep this motivation train rolling.
It'd be great fuel for my workout today.
Plus working out on a full stomach generally wasn't a great idea.
"Maybe next time." I said.
"What? For real?" His shoulders slumped. "You sure? I'm paying ya' know?"
Seeing him giving me a look like a kicked puppy I awkwardly scratched my head.
"It's nothing against you dude, I just got some stuff to do." I tried to explain. "Next time you ask though I'll definitely go."
At my commitment he raised his head, blue eyes sparking with energy.
"You mean it?"
"Absolutely." I nodded. "So I hope this place you've been bragging about is good cause I'll be disappointed otherwise."
"It's totally gonna knock your socks off!" He gave me a cheesy smile and a thumbs up. "Believe it!"
I couldn't help the grin that came to my face as I heard the Iconic phrase.
"I'll take your word for it. Anyways, gotta go."
With that I turned away. "Next time alright?" I called over my shoulder. "Later Naruto."
"Sounds good!" I heard him call back. "Later Kitsuji!"
My walk home was spent contemplating the most efficient ways to get stronger.
I had a long way to go before I could fight anyone on the level of a Jonin, let alone any type of Kage level ninja.
I hope I can improve fast enough.
Chapter End.