CHAPTER 39
SHINSO KEN
I was walking behind Tsunade Senju as we made our way to the Hokage's private training grounds. Today was supposed to be my initiation of sorts. And so she had asked me to follow her so she could have a look at my skills.
"Tsunade-sama am I going to face you?" I asked. But she shook her head at that.
"No, I have arranged someone far more appropriate for that task, plus if I fought you myself I couldn't observe you properly." She reasoned and I was intrigued as I thought about whom I was going to face.
And soon we reached a clearing. The ground was much like the training ground I often used. But what was surprising was the people were already present. One of them I recognized. Kato Shizune, Tsunade's first apprentice, relative of her lover Kato Dan. Highly skilled med nin.
Besides her stood an ANBU. Clad in a regular ANBU outfit, with a crow mask. My eyes narrowed as I tried to recall the identity. But no name came to mind.
"It is good to see you Tsunade-sama," Shizune-san greeted her first. Then she turned and smiled at me.
"It is also good to see you Shinso-kun, I have heard quite a bit about you," she said with a smile.
"Thank you, and I hope you can take care of me in the future Shizune-san," I said with a small bow. Then Tsunade-sama spoke up.
"Crow, take off the mask. It is fine," and with her command, the mask came off. Revealing to me the face of my once classmate. Sasuke Uchiha.
"It is good to see you once again Sasuke," I greeted him. And he simply nodded back.
"All right kids, let's see what the two of you are made of. You are both going to spar until I tell you to stop and I want you to fight seriously without holding anything back," she said.
"Are you sure Tsunade-sama," I asked for clarification? But she simply nodded her head. Then I stared at Sasuke who was now looking at me with narrowed eyes. Both of us began to walk off to opposite sides of the training ground. Then we turned to face each other once more.
"Start!" Tsunade-sama shouted and we both vanished.
CLANG.
Sword struck kunai. The grinding noise of metal clashing with metal.
Our eyes caught up. Red staring into black. And I could feel a foreign chakra invade my own as my surroundings began to distort.
"KAI!" I flushed it out. But this had given him enough time as I found myself getting attacked from all four sides with a barrage of shuriken. I jumped up to avoid them, and above me stood the newly minted ANBU, hands weaving some familiar seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." And a huge ball of fire roared toward me. My own chakra was brimming as I placed my sword back in its sheath. Chakra raced through my body as I molded it to the all to familiar lightning nature.
"Lightning Style: Thunderous Calling." And I was pushed toward the incoming ball of flame. My Lightning imbued blade cleaved it in two. I could spot the surprise in Sasuke's eyes as I appeared in front of him. Three tomoe spun as he hastily blocked my successive attacks. Our exchange continued mid-air until I made hand seals with my hands still placed on the sword, and two new sets of arms morphed out of my shoulders.
"Partial Shadow Transformation Jutsu." And before he could react, there were two balls of lightning in those arms.
"Lightning style: Lightning Ball Jutsu." And I noticed the balls colliding with his body, but there was no blood or shouting as the body simply dissolved back into lightning. My eyes widened as I recognized the technique. A lightning clone.
And the clone's lightning struck me, amplified by my own attack.
"AGH!" I hissed in slight pain, as I reinforced my body with chakra. A bit of anger rose in me for not recognizing the clone. And then as I was about to land on the ground. The ground beneath me erupted. A very familiar sound of chirping assaulted my ears.
"Lightning style: Chidori." And it was a well-planned maneuver. But I had several tricks of my own. My own lightning chakra laced my sword as I pushed away from the attack.
Skidding over the ground as I regained my footing.
"Well you sure have changed since I last saw you fight," I spoke up. As Sasuke stood in front of me once more, not deigning to reply to my comment. My hand went to the scroll tied to my back, and I unfurled it open. My extra swords came out of it with a puff of smoke.
"Perhaps I should get serious now," and this time all limitations were off as chakra rushed through my coils. I could feel lightning bolts arching over my body. I noticed Sasuke gathering up quite a bit of chakra in a way that I had often sparred against. And I was shocked slightly as I recognized the technique.
The Eight Inner gates. And he vanished from my sight as he began to circle me at imperceivable speed. My eyes tried to keep up, yet they could not. Only my well-trained senses allowed me to attack his continuous attacks.
"Well, that is impressive. But it seems you must have forgotten who Lee's best friend was," and I closed my eyes for a moment. As I focused on the chakra networks in my brain. And with my precise control, I over-engaged them.
And the change was huge. As I spotted Sasuke rushing towards me with a kunai in his hands from the side. I avoided it making his eyes go wide and punched him straight in the gut.
"AGHH!" and he went barreling across the ground. Blood coming out of his mouth. I threw my swords to three corners. And they settled into the ground, with inked seals appearing on the ground.
"Do try and avoid this," I mocked as my hands went through two sets of handseals.
"Lightning style: Lightning cage." And lightning erupted from the three swords and connected with each other. Cutting off Sasuke's escape route. He had now gotten up and was looking at me with wide eyes as I finished the second set of seals.
"Lightning style: Abyss Prison." And I could feel my body race through the limited area. Moving at impossibly high speeds. Only my enhanced perception allowed me to control myself. I saw the Sharingan, moving, racing, trying to keep up. But in vain.
My attacks continuously connected. Leaving him unable to reply at all. He was now on his knees once more.
This was enough. With my next strike, this would be over. But then I saw him reach to his back he took out a sword. A completely black sword. I could see his chakra rushing through it as the sword turned red for a moment.
My senses screamed at me, much like they had when facing Shukaku. And I decided to listen to them as I changed my direction. And I noticed Sasuke trying to control the shaking in his hand. Trying as several tendrils shot out of the sword. Tendrils made out of the same pitch-black darkness as the main blade.
I evaded them, but they were increasing in number. And I could feel Sasuke's reserve deplete at a significant pace as h began to sweat profusely. I needed to get that sword out of his hand. The match was useless now. And just as I was about to rush towards him. I saw another silhouette rushing towards him.
It was Lady Tsunade, as she had simply broken through my erected barriers with sheer force. She reached Sasuke's side and punched the sword with her hand.
"SHAAA!"
BOOM. A ripple went through the ground as I was pushed back. My eyes widened as I saw the cracks in the ground reach up to my position. I looked up and saw Tsunade-sama standing by the unconscious form of Sasuke.
The sword was gone. With only its hilt visible, protruding from the ground with the cracks spreading away from it.
"IDIOT!" she berated Sasuke as she placed her hand on his head. A green glow appeared on it as she probably tried to heal whatever damage he had accumulated.
"Are you fine Shinso-kun?" and I looked back to see the worrying form of Kato Shizune as she looked towards me worriedly. I nodded my head and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Yeah, I am fine," I replied as I got up. My chakra eased up as I felt the world speed up as I evened out the supply in my brain's tenketsu. It was still not perfect and using it like this could be harmful.
Tsunade-sama stopped as she took off her hand from Sasuke's head and began to walk toward us. I was about to say something until I was suddenly assaulted by a powerful punch to my head.
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TSUNADE SENJU
"What kind of idiot messes with chakra in their brains? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? One mistake! ONE! And you could kill yourself!" she shouted at her new apprentice, as the boy hissed in pain.
"But Tsunade-sama, it was you who said not to hold back," he complained and Tsunade heard Shizune giggle, which she silenced with an emphatic glare.
"I asked you not to hold back, not kill yourself like an idiot," she tsked as the brown-haired kid still held his head in his hands.
"But I have trained for the technique Tsunade-sama. According to the texts, one can alter the channels safely with a score of ninety-seven in the chakra control test." And if it was any other time Tsunade would have been impressed by the attention to detail. But not when a fifteen year spoke of tempering with the neuronal circuitry of his brain.
"Under whose supervision did you train? Who even gave you permission to try it in the first place?" she asked, a bit flabbergasted at the notion that this was authorized. The boy just looked at her with confusion.
"Why would I need permission to train? I just trained it myself," and a part of Tsunade wanted to question the sanity of his jonin sensei and revoke their license, but she controlled herself and held herself back from hitting him again.
"Come here and let me check if you have messed anything!" he leaned forwards as Tsunade placed her hand on his head as she ran a diagnostic scan with her chakra. Thankfully, the kid had not fried his brain. Though she did notice the slight degeneration, that would heal up in a couple of hours. She assisted the healing process with her chakra. And then she raised her hand.
"You are not to use or practice that technique without my explicit permission. And if you want to train with it, do so in either mine or Shizune's presence. Understand?" she warned him with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," the boy nodded to her.
"Ok, we will return to my office and discuss the fight. I don't believe that I have to remind you about the classification protocol," she asked with a raised brow. And the boy shook his head.
"I understand," and Tsunade nodded her head.
"All right, let us take this to the office," and she spotted Hound appear beside Sasuke as the older ANBU helped the young Uchiha stand up straight as he woke up.
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In a cave deep in a land where it always rained. An orange-haired man, with chakra metal rods piercing his body, stood in front of a masked man, with a single Sharingan spinning through the hole.
Besides them, a purple-haired girl stood as well. Clad in the same black cloak as the man with chakra metal piercings.
"We have confirmed the locations of all the tailed beasts. Should we move forwards with the plan?" Pain spoke up. The masked man shook his head after a moment.
"No. Not yet. Our failures have exposed us. In our rush to capture the one and two tails, we have exposed ourselves while not even succeeding in our objectives."
And then the Konan took out a page and handed it to her.
"This is the girl you asked about. I have gathered everything about her," and she handed the man the report about a certain kunoichi. Obito took the report and read it attentively.
"Another Uzumaki! Hmm, Troublesome!"
And after a second, he burned the report to a crisp.
"Before we start, we will have to take care of her."
"Understood." And with that, he vanished from the location.
And on that night, on the graves of the fourth Hokage's wife, an extra white flower could be counted.
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