Chapter 10 - Training Part 2

The next day.

Itachi meets up with Itsuki outside the dorms.

"Hey Itachi! Ready for some training!" Itsuki asks full of energy.

Itachi nods and the duo head over to the hakuda training hall. When they arrive, they notice the hall already had a few students practicing their techniques with each other.

----------

"You are wide open!" Taro says as he sends a punch flying to Kenta's ċhėst, knocking him back a few feet back before he falls.

"You are too strong..." Kenta grumbles as he begins to stand up.

Taro smiles and extends his hand to help Kenta up.

"You are definitely improving, don't worry" Taro says. "Daiyu, are you ready?" Taro looks towards Daiyu but notices she is looking towards the entrance. Taro turns around to see Itachi and Itsuki walking in. He stares at Itachi with some reservation. He sighs for a moment before turning towards Daiyu.

"Come on. Let's continue".

Daiyu looks at Taro and nods before she readies her stance. They both begin their spar.

------

"Itachi, lets begin!" Itsuki say's before he positions himself. He looks at Itachi who remains standing in place and lunges towards him. Itachi easily repels all of Itsuki's attacks while he offers pointers in between strikes.

"Your reactions are still too slow. This kick also leaves you wide open here." Itachi strikes towards Itsuki sending tumbling back. Itsuki's stay's lying on his back taking heavy breaths.

"Lets keep going" Itachi says.

Itsuki nods and gets up. He prepares his stance and charges at Itachi once again. The two once again begin to spar.

--------------

Taro finally stops sparring with Daiyu and looks towards Itachi.

"His combat experience is incredible... He doesn't even have to prepare a stance. He just counters everything." Taro thinks to himself.

"I've decided." Taro declares

Daiyu and Kenta both look towards Taro in confusion.

------------

Itachi and Itsuki finally finish their spar. Itachi still remains standing with no sign of weariness.

"That's enough for today." He looks towards Itsuki. Itsuki agrees and the two of them begin to leave.

"Itachi wait!" A voice comes from behind. Itachi and Itsuki both turn around to see Taro.

Itsuki stares doubtfully at Taro who walks over. 'I wonder what he wants?' He thinks to himself before looking over at Itachi who remains placid.

"I have a small request. I was wondering if you could have a quick spar with me?" Taro asks Itachi. Itsuki is a bit surprised to see Taro come and ask for a spar. Kenta and Daiyu are also a bit surprised to hear Taro's request. Itachi nods before heading towards the center of the room. Taro's eyes gleam with excitement as he heads over to face Itachi.

"Thank you for agreeing." Taro smiles before he readies his stance. He looks at Itachi who once again remains standing passively. 'That same position again...' He charges over towards Itachi with his fist. Itachi sees the fist coming and easily blocks it with his palm before sending a kick towards his ċhėst. Taro focuses his reiatsu towards his feet and flashes away from Itachi. He gathers his bearings and flashes once again towards Itachi, sending a flurry of punches. Taro continues using his flash step and other techniques, trying to gain the upper hand as he slowly begins exhausting himself. As they continue to spar, Taro notices that Itachi hadn't moved from his original spot. 'He remained standing in the same spot while countering all my strikes...' Taro's widens his eyes as he thinks to himself before moving back. "Itachi please try harder, I wish to see your true skill!" Taro requests solemnly.

Itachi stays quiet for a moment before replying.

"As you wish."

Taro readies himself while setting his entire concentration into the final bout. He stares at Itachi, however, just as he is about to move, Itachi appears in front him sending a kick towards his ċhėst.

'Too fast!' Taro thinks to himself before he is sent flying towards the wall.

Kenta and Daiyu both rush trying to grab Taro before he hits the wall. They don't have enough time to react as they see Taro about to hit the wall headfirst. However just as he is about to the wall, Itachi flashes next to Taro, grabbing his shihakusho and stopping him from hitting the wall. He sets him down and begins heading towards Itsuki.

"Thank you for the spar!" Taro gets up and thanks Itachi wholeheartedly.

Itachi turns around and nods before they leave the hall.

-

"Taro are you alright!" Kenta and Daiyu rush over in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I wasn't even a match. It just shows you there are hidden talents everywhere. The Shihouin are supposed to excel in close combat and speed, but look how easily he was able to deal with me. I thought he already showed his potential last time, but it looks like we've bȧrėly begun to see it. I can continue to improve by fighting against someone like him. This spar showed me many flaws in my techniques." Taro says while standing up. He begins to head towards the exit.

Kenta and Daiyu were both surprised to hear such a high evaluation from Taro. As much as they refused to believe it, they knew he was right.

"We need to continue to train!" Taro laughs as the group exits.

-------------------------

The next three days were spent with Itsuki and Itachi training together. Itachi also ran into Taro and sparred with him. After three days, it was time for Itachi to go to class. Itachi makes a hand seal and a puff of smoke appears in front of him. The smoke clears and an exact copy of Itachi is standing in front of him. Itachi nods to the shadow clone and the shadow clone makes its way towards class. He could already feel the fatigue from summoning the clone as it took up half of his reiryoku to create it. 'Today will have to be a light day.' Itachi decides that he would leave his weights in his room to lesson the strain on his spiritual pressure and he heads towards the kido training area.

Around 30 minutes later, Itachi leaves the building and heads towards the kido field.

Itachi arrives and sees no one around. He figures it is still a bit early and starts to set up paper targets on the poles. Itachi does a few minutes of shooting the targets with Hado 1: Sho.

"Uchiha! It's nice to see you again!" A familiar voice is heard calling out to Itachi. Itachi turns around to see Tatsumi.

"It certainly has Ukitake." Itachi replies as Tatsumi walks up to him.

"No need to be so formal with me. Just call me Tatsumi." Tatsumi pats Itachi on the back. "Right Itachi?"

Itachi lets out a slight smile. "Very well then, Tatsumi."

"I thought freshman had to go to class today? What's wrong? Does class bore you so much that you're ditching?" Tatsumi says jokingly.

"I'm not ditching." Itachi replies.

"Okay so last time we talked, I taught you hado so this time around I'll teach you bakudo. Which ones have you been taught already?" Tatsumi questions.

"Only bakudo 1 so far."

"Alright how about I teach you Bakudo 4: Hainawa for a start."

Itachi nods and Tatsumi faces one of the targets. He raises one of his hands up in the air.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa!" Tatsumi releases a yellow rope of reiatsu from his hand and it ensnares the pole holding up the dummy as Itachi watches intently with his sharingan activated. Tatsumi releases the rope from the pole and faces Itachi again as Itachi's sharingan deactivates.

"Okay. So the way I did it is-" Tatsumi stops talking as he sees Itachi raise his hand in the air.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa." Itachi creates a yellow rope from his hand that extends towards the pole and wraps tightly around it. He then releases the rope and then faces towards Tatsumi.

"Ready for the next one." Itachi says to Tatsumi who has a surprised look on his face. Tatsumi regains his composure shortly and replies.

"Well I guess I should have expected you to get it on your first try. Okay I'll teach you a harder one this time." Tatsumi faces towards the target again as Itachi reactivates his sharingan. Tatsumi raises his hand out with his index finger pointed. He draws a triangle in the air.

"Bakudo 30: Shitotso Sansen!" The triangle Tatsumi drew in the air materializes and shoots towards the target. It expands and pierces through the paper target in three different points, ripping it off the pole and pegging it to the fence behind it. Tatsumi releases the binding and the target falls to the ground. Itachi deactivates his sharingan as Tatsumi turns back around.

"Just go for it." Tatsumi says, already expecting Itachi to be able to perform the bakudo. Itachi steps up and raises his hand with his index finger extended and draws a triangle in the air.

"Bakudo 30: Shitotso Sansen!" The triangle materializes and pierces through the target, sending it to the fence. Itachi releases the bakudo and looks back at Tatsumi's stunned face.

"You really are one to leave people speechless. How do you learn so quickly?!." Tatsumi exclaims. Itachi remains silent and they both continue practicing their kido techniques.

"Is it possible to use multiple kido's at once?" Itachi asks.

"Yes, I heard it was possible. Some advanced practitioners can use double incantations to cast two kido spells at once. Of course, if you can't cast them at the same time, just cast them back to back." Tatsumi explained.

'So it's possible, then if I were to combine it….' Itachi thinks to himself.