Chapter 13: Challenge of the Strong: Young Itachi
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When Kyosuke opened his eyes again, he found himself in the center of a huge arena. Standing opposite him was an expressionless Itachi.
Well… to be precise, it was an Itachi who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.
It wasn't that Kyosuke didn't want to challenge other, "weaker" Uchiha. The problem was, there weren't many options available at his level.
There was a young Sasuke dungeon, but by that time, Sasuke already had the strength of a Chunin and was much older than Kyosuke. Choosing him would be suicide.
Others like Shisui and Obito were the same; a five-year-old Kyosuke had no chance of defeating them.
Only Itachi had a dungeon from right after he graduated from the academy, and his age wasn't too far from Kyosuke's.
Kyosuke was five; the newly graduated Itachi was seven. With only a two-year age gap, the difference in their strength, ninjutsu, and genjutsu shouldn't be too great. So, Kyosuke still had a chance.
In fact, Itachi could have graduated from the academy at the age of six, but due to various unavoidable circumstances, he had delayed it by a year. This was information Kyosuke remembered from his past life.
This meant that the current Itachi also possessed strength infinitely close to that of a Chunin. His situation was basically the same as Kyosuke's; their young age was limiting their potential. Once that limitation was gone… Itachi's ability to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan at eleven and achieve a power level close to a Kage's spoke for itself.
Kyosuke looked at the still somewhat childish Itachi before him and was about to start with some small talk, but Itachi attacked without any warning.
And his first move was a Great Fireball over a meter in diameter. The most crucial part was that Kyosuke, without his Sharingan activated, didn't even see when he had formed the hand seals.
The wave of heat washing over him was so intense it curled his hair.
With no time to form his own hand seals, he could only hold his breath and throw himself to the side.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted behind him. Before his small body could even hit the ground, he was sent flying by the shockwave.
By the time he managed to regain his footing, Itachi's second wave of attacks had already arrived. And this time, the attack was something he also excelled at.
Several kunai flew toward Kyosuke from all sides, almost simultaneously. Before he could react, the kunai suddenly collided with each other, changing their trajectories. They came at him from extremely bizarre angles.
In his haste, Kyosuke had no choice but to activate his Sharingan, hoping to avoid this crisis. Fortunately, Itachi's mastery of kunai throwing at this age wasn't as monstrous as it would become later, which allowed Kyosuke to luckily dodge the second attack.
At this point, Kyosuke's temper was starting to rise.
This was the first time he had been so thoroughly suppressed by a "peer." The fight had been going on for nearly two minutes, and he hadn't even had a single chance to attack. While he was fuming, he couldn't help but admire Itachi's battlefield adaptability.
Little did he know, Itachi was thinking the same thing.
Just as this was Kyosuke's first time being suppressed by a peer, it was also Itachi's. Whether at the academy or within the clan, almost no one his age could withstand his first two attacks.
But when he noticed Kyosuke's Sharingan, he understood why. This boy, who looked even younger than him, had already awakened his Sharingan?
Realizing this, Itachi began to formulate a new strategy in his mind.
And at that moment, Kyosuke was also preparing to launch his own offensive.
Like Itachi, he reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out several kunai.
With a flick of his wrist, the kunai shot through the air with a sharp whistle, heading for Itachi's vital points.
Not good. As an expert in projectile weapons, even a young Itachi could clearly see that the enemy's technique was almost identical to his own. But due to his age, he had not yet awakened his own Sharingan and could only rely on experience and instinct to dodge.
After a few simple maneuvers, Itachi was inevitably hit. The wound was on his right leg.
Now, his mobility would be greatly reduced.
Seeing this, Kyosuke's lips curled into a slight smile, and he closed in on Itachi even faster.
At the same time, his hands were not idle.
Snake - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Tiger.
After completing the six hand seals, he puffed out his cheeks, preparing to release his ninjutsu. It was as if he was deliberately competing with Itachi, using the same technique Itachi had used earlier.
It was as if to prove: Anything you can do, I can do too. I can dodge your attacks, but you… you can't dodge mine.
The battle was proceeding just as Kyosuke had planned, but then, the unexpected happened again.
Itachi, who had been knocked to the ground by the kunai, had managed to complete his own hand seals in that brief moment. He unleashed his ninjutsu at almost the same time as Kyosuke.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Two jutsu of comparable size and power collided in mid-air.
Because they were so close, neither dared to withdraw their chakra output first. Otherwise, they would be instantly consumed by the flames.
Kyosuke, who had been confident of victory due to his opponent's leg injury, was now forced into a stalemate by Itachi's sudden move.
As time passed, both of their chakra reserves were rapidly depleting. Kyosuke even had to deactivate his Sharingan.
Finally, as the flames dissipated, both of them ran out of chakra at almost the same time.
Itachi had definitely gotten the better of that exchange. Not only had he turned his passive situation around, but he had also "sealed" his opponent's superior visual prowess.
Now, they could only engage in hand-to-hand combat.
"..." Kyosuke silently charged toward the young Itachi. For some reason, he was suddenly reminded of Naruto and Sasuke from the original story, forced to fight each other after running out of chakra. Their situations were so similar.
His mind was filled with these random thoughts as he threw a punch at Itachi. But without the support of chakra, his five-year-old body's attacks were much weaker than before. Fortunately, Itachi was also hampered by his leg injury, so they were evenly matched.
Damn it, another stalemate, Kyosuke cursed inwardly. He then took two steps back and stood his ground, looking at a puzzled Itachi.
"Look, we're both out of chakra, and we can't settle this with close combat. Why don't we call a truce for now?" Kyosuke said with a smile.
"A truce? You mean you're giving up?" Itachi didn't believe him easily and continued to watch him warily.
"No, no, no, how could I give up? We've already come this far," Kyosuke said, taking another two steps back to show that he genuinely wanted a truce.
Puzzled, Itachi could only watch silently for the time being, trying his best to recover his chakra.
Kyosuke saw his cautious look and smiled inwardly. No matter how much of a prodigy you are, when it comes to mental strength, you're no match for me right now.
He even had time to glance at his Spirit attribute, which was already at a high 9 points, and his chakra, which had recovered to over 30 points.
That 9 points in Spirit shouldn't be underestimated. It was probably higher than that of many Chunin. This was one of the extra benefits he had gotten from his transmigration.
After waiting a little longer, Kyosuke suddenly charged at Itachi again. As he ran, he reactivated his Sharingan. He was confident that 40 points of chakra would be enough to defeat his enemy for good.
The battle unfolded as he had expected. The injured Itachi, facing a Kyosuke with his Sharingan active, was at a complete disadvantage in less than a single exchange.
As more wounds appeared on Itachi's body, the scales of victory tipped further in Kyosuke's favor.
But as if fate itself was against him, Itachi, who was covered in wounds and at the end of his rope, began to fight back again.
Caught off guard by the sudden counterattack, Kyosuke was sent flying.
In a panic, he looked up and saw, on Itachi's blood-streaked face, a pair of crimson Sharingan spinning faintly.
Itachi had actually managed to awaken his Sharingan at such a critical moment.
"Damn it!" Kyosuke cursed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
But despite his cursing, he was no longer worried about losing. Chakra doesn't appear out of thin air. Itachi's newly awakened Sharingan would only hasten his defeat.
Sure enough, a few moments later, Itachi fell to his knees, clutching his eyes in pain. The secondary exhaustion of his chakra, combined with the pain of awakening the Sharingan for the first time, had completely robbed him of his ability to fight.
"It's finally over," Kyosuke sighed in relief, looking at Itachi's state.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, this "Challenge of the Strong" dungeon came to a successful conclusion.