Sakumos eyes widened as he surveyed the fight, already determining the outcome of his son's fall; he disappeared in a burst of pure speed worthy of the title of White Fang and caught his son with one hand, while simultaneously pushing Ashura back.
He had caught Kakashi by the ankle so he lowered him gently to the ground.
"Care to tell me who won?" Sakumo said with an impassive face.
"I would've won if you didn't stop the fight."
Both boys were quiet.
Ashura knew he had won. However he almost messed up and could have seriously injured Kakashi. He should have held back more.
Kakashi's eyes remained glued to the ground for a few moments, but then he suddenly looked his father in the eyes.
"I lost. If you hadn't broken it up I could have gotten hurt.
So he won." Kakashi mumbled the last few words, as if every word caused him pain to admit it.
"I won." Ashura started. "But I didn't mean to flip him like that. I just wanted him to land on his back at first, bu-
"But you took pity on your opponent." Kiyoshi spoke.
"What? I didn-
"Yes you did. You knew you were going to win, but made a last minute decision to catch him so he didn't hurt himself, correct?"
"….Well yeah I was just gonna-"
"Kakashi."
"Uhh yeah?" Kakashi spoke up, apprehensive about jumping in the middle of the conversation.
"When you were fighting my son were you holding back?"
" Hold back? He's too freaking hard to hit! I was trying…I was trying my hardest." The boy said with a look of frustration that could be seen through his mask.
Kiyoshi looked at his son with a stern look.
"Ashura?"
"....Yes.
"Yes what?"
"Yes I was holding back." Ashura said not wanting to lie to his father.
A look of shock was on Kakashi's face, but it was soon replaced with anger.
"I didn't want to hurt him."
"So you want the both of you to die when you become ninja?" Sakumo interrupted.
"What? Of course not!"
"Ashura, it's fine to have restraint. Holding back however, is not a luxury Shinobi have." He said, while walking towards him.
"In this world men and women die everyday. Men and women who wish that they were just a little bit faster, a little stronger.
Fellow Konoha ninja die while giving it everything they have, yet you think, it's okay to hold back.
"But it's just a spar." Ashura retorted, honestly surprised they were taking this so serious.
"No. A spar is when two combatants engage in battle to learn from one another, so that when they do engage in real combat, they will be better prepared." Kiyoshi stated.
You learn nothing if you look down on your opponent from the start!" He yelled, making Ashura flinch. His father never yelled at him before.
Seeing this Kiyoshi's tone softened a bit.
"Son, I understand not wanting to hurt your opponent, especially a comrade, but you should never hold back.
Doing so not only limits you, but it also sets the other person up for failure."
"You asked me to train you and so that means you've accepted the life of a Shinobi. You either give one hundred percent or we will end your training here.
"….." Ashura was shocked. Okay, maybe he was a little arrogant, but he didn't think it would warrant this reaction.
He then looked to Kakashi to see the boy glaring daggers at him, and made a decision.
He walked in front of Kakashi and bowed.
"I'm sorry." He said with his eyes to the ground.
"It was wrong to look down on you, please forgive me."
He stayed in that bow for a few moments before he heard, "I don't forgive you."
Ashura looked up at him in disbelief.
"I won't forgive you until you fight me seriously and I hit you with a solid attack." He stated.
"Well that'll have to wait until tomorrow." Sakumo said, interrupting the two children.
"For now we have to continue with Shurikenjutsu."
"I have reserved training ground 7 for our use.
Both boys perked up at this, with Kakashi still shooting glares at Ashura.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After arriving at the training ground they all walked into the forest. After walking 200 meters in, there was a course set up with multiple targets. Upon a log sat multiple sets of shuriken and kunai.
The explanation didn't take too long for Ashura nor Kakashi.
After learning the proper way to hold and throw them, they both threw the shuriken and both hit inside the circle.
They both connected eyes, and Sakumo and Kiyoshi could have sworn they saw the flames of competition in their eyes.
Throwing shuriken faster and faster to see who could land the most in the center, and when they ran out of shuriken they threw with kunai.
Honestly this was easy for Ashura. He was used to hitting targets from impossible angles when he was Spider-man, so hitting a still target was a piece of cake.
The only reason he wasn't hitting the bullseye every time was because of his clumsy child body.
As both Boys threw their last kunai at the target they were unaware that they both had aimed for the same spot.
"Clang!"
The two kunai were both embedded into the bullseye.
"Woah!! Cool!" They both said at the same time. They both looked at each other in surprise and then looked away quickly.
"Hahaha, you two are ridiculous." Sakumo laughed, happy that his son found himself a worthy rival.
Smiling Kiyoshi started to speak, "Well that's it for today, good job. We can start heading back."
However, as they were walking out of the forest and reentering the training ground Ashura got a foreboding feeling that something was wrong.
He started to look around frantically, surveying his surroundings.
"What's wrong with you?" Kakashi asked, walking slightly behind Ashura.
Drawing the attention of the adults who were walking out in front.
"I don't know but something doesn't feel right."
"You're not fooling anybody idiot, Kakashi said, as he brushed past him moving to the front."
'Hmmm…maybe it was nothing.' Ashura thought, while watching Kakashi walk ahead of him.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
A familiar vibration at the base of Ashura skull took place and time seemed to slow to a crawl as Ashura's senses were heightened.
He saw a slip of paper underneath Kakashi's foot spark and his body was sent into motion automatically.
BOOOOOMMM!!!!!
Chapter 7: With Great Power Comes…