CH_4.27 (127)

CH_4.27 (127)

Takuma stared at his fist. The dull ache in his knuckles and wrist was surprising. He had long passed the stage where his hands would start hurting after a fight or training unless he wanted them to hurt by pushing himself. But here he was, three minutes against Hideaki had caused him to feel the sting.

He looked at the Akimichi, who was massaging his knee and had his other hand pressed against his aching abdomen. Takuma acknowledged that Hideaki was a monster in his own right. Not once had he faced an opponent in the Ring who could take beyond a few well-placed chakra-augmented strikes— they always either quit or slowed down enough for him to finish the fight. But not Hideaki. Until the very end, Hideaki was in fighting condition. If the fight continued, Takuma was confident he would've emerged triumphant against Hideaki, but long fights were undesirable.

He knew why Hideaki was able to sustain and endure his assault. He fought fire with fire— chakra augmentation with chakra augmentation. But unlike Takuma, Hideaki's chakra augmentation was superior. Takuma's self-created augmentations served a singular purpose, to increase the destructive power of strikes by discharging chakra at the time of impact. Hideaki's augmentation, on the other hand, was multi-purpose and much more versatile— it not only made him stronger; it increased his speed and improved durability— Hideaki was already all of those things, and furthering those attributes made him scarier.

Takuma had won because he was more skilled in combat and used the experience forged in the Ring to overcome superior stats.

'I can beat him even if he went all out,' he felt that from the bottom of his heart. Takuma had extensive experience with close-range combat— clearly Hideaki's strong suit, but Takuma's comfort was a mix of close-range and medium-range due to his ninjutsu collection. He didn't know Hideaki's upper limit, but he felt confident that his own upper limit was higher than his.

"I would like to apologize, Takuma," Kazuo walked to him after speaking some words to Hideaki.

"Chakra augmentation shouldn't have been allowed in this round. Hideaki broke the rules by using them first."

"I would've used it first if he hadn't," said Takuma, confused. But he immediately realized where Kazuo was coming from. There had been many complaints against Takuma (Scars) in Ring for using chakra augmentation in the weapons category; many of his opponents thought that chakra augmentation belonged in the ninjutsu category and nowhere else— but Tsubura had ignored them all, allowing Takuma to use his best weapon.

Kazuo had a satisfied expression as he nodded. Takuma was sure that the jonin was misunderstanding something, and he wasn't going to correct that misunderstanding.

"I'm glad Hideaki forgot to book the training field today," said Kazuo. "Today will give them a lot to think about." He glanced at his students with a look that showed he cared about them, or at least that he cared about how they turned out as shinobi. Which was all one could ask from a jonin teacher.

"I'm glad for it as well," Takuma replied.

Very glad, indeed.

———

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"Remember, you have five minutes," said Kazuo, "and while you're allowed to use everything, let's not damage things that can't be fixed."

Momoe gazed at Takuma in front of her. He was staring at his feet with hands in his weapons pouches, fiddling. His body language was calm, but she couldn't tell anything beyond that. He hid it well. But she had seen his fights against Aimi and Hideaki, and they had already fought twice. The first fight had barely been one with them probing each other; the second fight they had fought, but unlike against Hideaki, he had been cautious against her.Discover new chapters at novelhall.com

As Kazuo stepped back, Momoe drew her sword out of the scabbard on her back. She had a sample of what he could do from his fight against Hideaki— if he could push Hideaki, of all people, back with his bare-handed fists, then she wasn't going to let him hit her. Her sword would keep him away from her while she cut him to shreds.

"Go!"

Momoe bent her knees, building stress in her legs as she raised her sword before shooting forward like a lightning bolt. Her sword was already slicing down at him before he could even catch the blade with his eyes.

*Clang!*

Her eyes widened a fraction as her sword clashed against the twin kunai. Her eyes caught Takuma's look at her, still calm, but now there was a calculating glint behind them. The kunai forced her sword to the side as Takuma tried to kick her ankle from under her. Momoe jumped up, tucking her knees up while pushing her sword forward. Takuma tilted his head to the side to dodge the blade.

Both immediately jumped away. But only for a moment. The moment their feet set down on the ground, they snapped towards each other. Momoe deflected a kunai coming for her face, only to see a second emerge from the former's shadow. She had to contort her body out of its way, and in doing so, she gave Takuma a chance to take her feet out with a sliding tackle.

But it took more than that to hobble a competent shinobi. Momoe took control of her body by turning mid-air. Momoe flew parallel to the ground as Takuma passed under her. She knew that she had to reach the ground quickly as Takuma would be coming for her.

And that he did; Takuma dug his heel into the dirt to slow himself down before shooting in the opposite direction toward Momoe. He didn't bother to straighten himself and simply jumped head-first into her body before she could stabilize herself.

Takuma immediately positioned himself over her and started with a knee strike into Momoe's abdomen. Momoe coughed but retaliated with a head smash in his face. Takuma floundered for a moment, which was all Momoe needed. She kicked him back and used her sword for all its advantage, leaving a gash in his side. She clicked her tongue when the chainmail under his clothes presented resistance which left the wound less grave than she wanted.

To her surprise, Takuma didn't even react to the injury and smashed his fist into her face. Thankfully, it wasn't a chakra-augmented, or her face would've caved in. They further wrestled on the ground before Momoe threw him away.

For the next few seconds, neither made a move. They didn't take small steps to probe each other or try to trick each other with feints. No, they simply stayed still with their eyes fixed on each other.

Takuma broke the stillness when he began to weave hand seals.

Momoe gritted her teeth, and her grip around her sword tightened. She took in a sharp breath as chakra began to seep into her sword. A smirk crossed her lips as she heard the familiar hum in the soft shrill she had come to love hearing.

She positioned it overhead and charged forward.

Whatever Takuma was going to throw, she was going to cut through it and slice him down at the same time.

———

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Kazuo smiled when he saw Momoe assume her favorite sword stance. When he had first met her and seen a sword on her back, he had a mind to scoff, more when he heard her say that kenjutsu was her specialty. Wet-behind-their-ear genin didn't know enough to have specialties.

And he was right. Momoe wasn't skilled enough to call kenjutsu her specialty. But Kazuo could no longer scoff because he saw what she knew and realized the potential in his new student.

The sword was to Momoe, what the Gunbai was to Uchiha Madara. They were made for each other.

So, Kazuo did what any sane teacher would do. He gave her the resources needed, called in friends and colleagues well-versed in the art of kenjutsu, and had her train under them. As he had expected, Momoe bloomed. She picked up an advanced kenjutsu style and paired it with bukijutsu-class ninjutsu that suited her perfectly.

He glanced at Takuma weaving hand seals. He liked the kid, but he didn't have a chance against Momoe. The record between Momoe and Hideaki was skewed steeply in the former's favor.

Takuma's chest puffed and widened before he released a mass of high-speed water towards Momoe.

'Magnificently executed,' Kazuo thought.

But—

Momoe swung her sword down in a swift strike which split the entire water wave in two. It was as though Momoe was water repellent as not a single drop hit her— all the water mass was pushed to the side. The force behind her strike was such that an arcing wave traveled out of the swing, cutting through the continuous jet of water until it reached Takuma and ripped through his clothes and chainmail, leaving a very long cut that went from shoulder down to his mid-thigh.

"Perfection," Kazuo muttered.

Momoe rode the momentum, and straightaway launched an offense.

'Fire Release: Incinerating Wildfire!'

The chakra bubbled in her lungs as she felt her body warm up from the inside. She loved how it felt when she used the jutsu. It was pure power. Power that she had control over. She breathed out, and pure chakra transformed as fuel burst out of her mouth, igniting into a wide spray of deadly fire.

The fire burned the grass and scorched the earth as it blew toward Takuma.

Momoe picked up her sword and stood up.

When the fire blew over, there remained but scorched ground. Momoe frowned. Her first thought was that she had erased Takuma into ash, but when she looked at Kazuo, he hadn't made a move. Then it struck her, Takuma was fine. If he hadn't been, Kazuo would've interrupted the fight.

She looked to her right. He wasn't there. Then to her left. No sign. She raised her eyes to the sky. But he wasn't there as well.

Crack.

A shiver went down Momoe's spine when he heard the sound. She turned toward her back as the ground split open, and Takuma, his clothes burnt and his skin singed, leaped out of the earth. She barely had time to draw her sword and push chakra into it as Takuma emerged.

"I give up," Takuma raised a bloodied and burnt hand.

Momoe wasn't surprised. She released the tension in her body and let her sword tip touch the ground as she lowered her arm, easing the burden on the injured shoulder. She didn't realize how labored her breathing was; she could hear it over her thumping heat.

The fight was over.

Before either could as much as blink, Kazuo appeared between them.

"Both of you fought good," he said with a smile. He placed himself between them as though anticipating one of them to attack the other.

Momoe and Takuma looked at each other.

Neither of them wanted to continue.

———

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"You cheating bastard! Who is the wench that seduced you?" said Sango as she treated Takuma's wound from the spar. "You didn't fight today. How did you get these?"

Takuma looked at her. He was too exhausted to engage in jokes with her. The fight was exhausting; Momoe was probably the most formidable opponent he had faced.

"I had a spar today. The people I sparred with took me to the hospital afterward," said Takuma. But after so much time getting treated by Sango, Takuma had to book a check-up with his trusted iryo-nin to ensure the hospital had done everything properly so he could have peace of mind.

"Must've gotten your ass kicked in light sparring. Look at all of these burns, these will be a pain to heal," Sango said, lifting the bandage over the part of the burnt skin. "How did these happen again?"

"B-rank Fire Release jutsu," Takuma answered shortly. He didn't know the jutsu's name, just that it was a B-rank jutsu.

"Oh, no wonder they're so bad," she said. "Dodge next time."

He scoffed. He had dodged, only he had done it a moment late. The jutsu had once again dug out some bad memories. The moment the heat from the jutsu reached him, he remembered the Land of Frost. He had been licked by the wisps on the fringe of the same B-rank jutsu (it was stronger than what Momoe had cast)— and had to roll on the ground to extinguish them.

Takuma closed his eyes as the image of Dai's crushed head flashed through his mind.

He grunted again as Sango touched his side.

Unlike the Ring fight, he hadn't stopped cold against Momoe. But that slight delay had cost him. By the time he decided to use the Earth Release: Hiding In The Rock Jutsu, she was already three-quarters way through her hand seals. It was fortunate that his hasty hand seals were enough to activate the jutsu, or he would've been an overcooked person.

The B-rank jutsu was unexpected. He didn't think Momoe would whip out the big guns. They were both genin, but Momoe had access to a B-rank jutsu. And he was sure that she had access to more. If he had given her a chance, she would've shown him what she could truly do with her sword— something he wasn't keen on facing.

He had grown stronger since the Land of Frost, but he still had nothing to counter a B-rank jutsu like Momoe's. His C-rank defensive jutsu, Earth Release: Earthen Dome, was ripped apart by a B-rank Lightning Jutsu, which wasn't even aimed at him.

The divide between C-rank and B-rank jutsu was a canyon.

"Did you win?" asked Sango.

"No," said Takuma. He had decided to call it quits the moment Momoe had spit the first licks of fire out of her mouth.

"Do you think you'll win your first match?" Sango asked after she was done patching him up.

Takuma stood up, stretching his body, pulling on the newly treated, still healing wounds, and getting slapped on his back for it.

"I will try," he said.

If all genin in Ring's ninjutsu category were like Momoe, then the Hidden Leaf would've already conquered the world.

———

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