"And who are you supposed to be, boy?" Rei cockily taunted as he put his right hand on his hip and raised an eyebrow in a condescending way. In his defense, the guy's stupid mug was just asking for it.
"I am Toneri Otsutsuki, the last descendant of the brother of the Sage of the Six Paths, Hamura Otsutsuki!" Toneri proudly yet calmly exclaimed as if he completely missed the mocking undertone in Rei's question. "And I am going to kill you."
"That so?" Rei hummed, inwardly a bit disappointed that his taunting bore no fruit. Then again, if the guy let himself be consumed by rage at the very first veiled insult then that would be disappointing in its own way too. "Well, good luck with that, then." Rei shrugged.
There weren't many prospective opponents around Rei who liked to enjoy some pre-battle banter. Konan returned such an attempt with a wind-enhanced cutting paper. Tsunade liked to dash head-on during their spars, making it unable to chat before the fight. Pakura was the serious type... That left Rei only with Ringo and Mei. Ringo, however, simply refused to spar with the excuse of being too busy and as for Mei, the less one said about her the better. That was one match-up where you simply didn't want to give her time to fill the surroundings with her chakra so no banter either.
Aside from them, Rei didn't fight much these days if one didn't count paperwork and scheming. Toneri was really a breath of fresh air in his otherwise dull non-battling life.
That said, Rei's nonchalant act was not because he was arrogant. He simply felt the levels of Toneri's chakra and its density. Sure, the guy's chakra was incredibly dense and it was no wonder no one could stand up to him in the future when he deemed to lift his bony ass from his moon throne for a visit. If Rei had to rate him, he would have to put the guy on the same level as Madara and Hashirama when it came to the strength of his chakra.
But... Toneri, as he was right now, did not have Tenseigan. Heck, he didn't even have Byakugan. And as far as Rei knew, there was no bijuu-subjugating bloodline either in the man. The strength of Toneri lied in his unpredictable and unknown Jutsu and his strong chakra.
Which Rei felt wasn't threatening at all. After all, even without Blackie, Rei still had more and denser chakra than Toneri right now. The fact Toneri did not even check Rei's strength was not lost on him either. In Rei's opinion, Toneri was the perfect example of a strong guy who spent his entire life in the proverbial 'closed cultivation' and never actually fought anyone even remotely close to his power level.
'It's so obvious... the arrogance in his eyes, the demeanor of superiority... he has total confidence he could wipe the floor with me at his leisure.' Rei inwardly sighed while outwardly smirking at Toneri.
"You know..." He started speaking, making Toneri raise an eyebrow at him, "When you are about to fight somebody," Rei meaningfully paused, "you should never give him the time to prepare his offense and strike first."
The second these words left Rei's mouth, Toneri didn't have even a chance to evade as the breeze that had no reason to be present on the moon suddenly picked up and pressurized wind slammed right into Toneri's right cheek, bitchslapping him off of the castle walls into the area in front of it.
'I bet he didn't expect that.' Rei snickered. Clearly, as far as unknown and unexpected techniques went, both could play that game.
Toneri, shaken due to the sudden attack, stood confusedly up, showing that the attack didn't hurt him much despite the small bruise on his cheek adding a little bit of color to his face. The extent of the damage he suffered was a sting on his cheek and a small chance at an unlikely heart attack from shock, but that was about it.
'So... it is not only his chakra that is strong, huh? His body is also quite durable.' Rei reckoned, 'His chakra is more of the physical variety then...'
There were many bloodlines where their users had strong chakra, yet, weak bodies. Strong chakra equals strong body only applied if chakra leaned more towards the yang.
'Figures. He can survive in the vacuum of the moon so, I should have expected a strong body.' Rei settled down his thoughts and prepared for a more serious exchange since Toneri was getting out of his shock.
Toneri's eyes finally grew serious, much to Rei's satisfaction. It was not about beating his arrogance out of him anymore. No, Rei simply wanted to see Toneri's techniques and how they differentiated from the usual Jutsu.
"You will regret that." Toneri menacingly uttered, rubbing his cheek while slightly bending his knees in preparation for an attack.
Rei, who seemingly stayed indifferent to Toneri's change of state, just motionlessly stood in his place, looking at Toneri as if he found him incredibly amusing. He knew that deep inside, it ate at the guy plus it was fun pissing somebody who absolutely refused to let it show.
In one swish, Toneri leaped at Rei, becoming a blur due to the speed he reached...
And Rei, much to Toneri's surprise, sidestepped. Using the momentum from the sidestep, Rei's right hand was already on its way towards Toneri's right cheek, aiming to strike the bruise there to add to the already received humiliation but this time, it was Rei's time to be pleasantly surprised when Toneri managed to duck under his strike and in a circular movement reminiscent of the Hyuuga taijutsu style, counterattacked aiming at the center of Rei's chest.
Rei noted the faint glow of chakra build-up around Toneri's hands and instantly assumed his opponent was about to use a Jutsu to deal the maximum amount of damage in that single strike. Which meant... he needed to avoid that.
Naturally, it was far too late to dodge physically so Rei chose a different approach. Instead of dodging himself, he decided to force Toneri to abandon his attack. Swinging his fist at Toneri's chest, Rei made sure to coat it in a copious amount of lighting chakra, creating a Raikiri.
'Let's see if he has guts!' Rei thought as the world around him slowed down, Toneri's fist approaching his chest while his fist was razing its way towards Toneri's chest. He watched as Toneri's eyes gained that understanding light and showed the first bit of fear during their brief fight.
The guy noticed this would not be a cost-free attack. Sure, Rei would let Toneri land this blow but that would mean getting his by a similar attack in exchange.
Now, Rei only wanted to see how Toneri would react. Will he cease the attack and jump back or will he continue? Rei really, really wanted to know.
Toneri's fist was getting closer and closer to the point of no return and the indecisiveness in his eyes was almost palpable. At the last moment, however, Toneri clearly deemed this exchange too pricey and flawlessly flowed from attack to evasion through jumping back.
While Rei was a bit disappointed Toneri chickened out, he could respect it as it showed the guy had at least some measure of brains. After all, which idiot takes a blow head-on in order to land his own hit? Right?
'If you do that again, you are sleeping on the couch for the foreseeable future. Are we understood?' Konan's cold voice resounded in Rei's head while he got the impression his other wives absolutely agreed with her.
Rei's back instantly straightened out as he answered, 'Yes, dear.'
His wives were seldom serious and almost never controlling. They let him do whatever he wanted, to a point, and his current situation was a testament to that. That said, Rei knew when he was beaten and had to actually listen to their complaints in order to preserve that peace.
'Women...' He inwardly grumbled, trying to be quiet. 'Telepathy, pfft. Never again.'
'We heard that!' Five voices chorused together.
Apparently, even his thoughts were now compromised...
Rei turned his gaze back towards Toneri, deciding to focus on the fight. The poor lad had no idea he would serve as a way for Rei to vent his current frustration.