"NARUTO...why do you want to create a mess everywhere you go?" Sakura shouted.
Kakashi patted Sakura's shoulder and said "Sakura it's useless making him understand. Let's get the day started. At least he is training rather than sleeping till late like yesterday morning.
Sakura cursed a few more times and left. Inari was sitting on the porch outside the backdoor. He started cheering for Naruto
"You can do it Big bro Naruto. You can win." This gave the loudmouth more confidence.
After a few hours, everyone was sitting at the table having breakfast. It was 7 in the morning and Tazuna had to leave for building the bridge in an hour or so.
'This is really good. Me and Sasuke hardly eat home-cooked meals and prefer to eat at a restaurant or just instant ramen.' Yami thought when Sasuke who was sitting beside him asked "I am going to go to the jungle nearby to train. You want to come?"
Yami shrugged and said "Sure."
Guy looked at Yami and then at Tazuna while saying "I and Lee are going to help Tazuna build the bridge faster."
Lee also beamed up and said "Yes Guy sensei together we will complete the bridge in no time."
Tsunami and Inari giggled at that while old man Tazuna laughed and said "I like the enthusiasm shown by the both of you but remember that work done in haste won't be perfect."
Guy and lee nodded at that. Inari who was sitting beside his mother looked at her and asked "Mom can we go to the jungle to see them train?"
Tsunami chuckled and said "If you promise to exercise yourself." to which the Inari just nodded.
After breakfast Guy, Lee, and Tazuna left to build the bridge and the rest started going inside the nearby jungle. After a while, they came near an open area with a small lake on the side. Inari and Sakura picked many flowers on the way. Yami also took out the scroll Asuma gave him and started reading it. It was pretty simple to understand and the problem Yami was facing was also tackled in it. As they were about to split and practice on their own Naruto walked toward Yami. Neji who was walking beside Yami noticed it and showed an annoyed expression.
Sakura and Kakashi knew what was going to happen. Yami looked up and saw Naruto with a serious expression on his face.
'What is this idiot going to do now?' Neji and Sasuke thought.
"Yami I want to spar with you." Naruto said while pointing at Yami.
"Sure." Yami said. This made everyone have a shocked expression as from yesterday Yami was agreeing to Naruto like anything.
'I thought he would say no and Naruto would keep pestering but now he said yes what should I do? I can't have naruto go through what Sasuke went through.' Kakashi thought as he looked intently at Yami. Naruto had already gotten through many bad things since he was born so he didn't want Yami to add anything to the mix.
Inari was also happy to see Naruto who he looked up to fight while Tsunami was curious about all this as she had never seen an actual Shinobi fight before. Everyone started to get on one side of the open ground to give them ample space to fight. Kakashi and Sasuke walked toward Yami.
The first one to ask was Sasuke "Yami why would you accept it? You aren't petty enough to teach him a lesson or something."
Yami smiled at his brother and said "It's because Naruto isn't the type of person who listens to reason. Don't worry I won't take it too far." Seeing that his brother hasn't taken Naruto seriously made Sasuke sigh. He wasn't a detached person like the canon. Having a brother kept his soft side alive and after Yami's graduation, Naruto was the closest thing he had to a friend. They bickered every day but that's how their friendship grew and Sasuke had seen how the villagers treat Naruto.
Kakashi looked at Naruto and then at Yami and said "Yami end it fast. I don't want him to get overconfident. Ever since he has learned to make shadow clones, he has become too dependent on them." Yami nodded and Sasuke and Kakashi left the open area to join the spectators.
Inari looked to the side at Sakura and asked "Who do you think will win Big sister Sakura?"
Sakura looked at Inari who wanted Naruto to win and said "In terms of combat strength Naruto was 2nd in our class and now his ninjutsu is also improving. I have only heard about Yami being strong but never witnessed his strength myself."
Yami didn't bring his sword as he only came here to train Shurikenjutsu with wind chakra. Kakashi became the referee of the match. Naruto and Yami were standing on two ends of the open area.
'Kakashi sensei told me that Sasuke and his brother use genjutsu with the help of Sharingan. Yami doesn't seem to have activated it yet which means he is underestimating me. I should take advantage of this early on.' Naruto thought. Even after thinking all this he used his one and only known strategy.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU" Naruto shouted creating 5 clones of himself. They all looked at Yami and hoped that Yami doesn't know which one is the real one.
Yami on the other hand had a bored expression as due to his hearing he could clearly hear the heartbeat of the real Naruto. All the other ones were just made of chakra so they didn't have a heartbeat.
Inari had an awed expression seeing 6 Narutos in front of him. Neji and others knew how hard it was to create so many shadow clones.
"Yami aren't you going to make a move?" A Naruto asked. He was a clone but he acted as if he was the original.
"Fine, I'll make a move" Yami shrugged and suddenly flickered out. He appeared behind the 2nd Naruto from the right side and gave a chop on his shoulder making the Naruto lose consciousness and fall to the ground. All the other Narutos disappeared in a puff of smoke. They didn't even realize how they dispersed.
The match ended before Kakashi could even say 'START'
(When and how will Yami meet Zabuza and Haku? How will he greet them? Will they lose just like Naruto or will they know how they died?..All answers in my P@treon)
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Link in the synopsis as well.
I am also writing a novel called 'Soul Spirit Ascension' so please give it a read and shower some of those powerstones.