{Somewhere in the outskirts of Ozawa Village}
{6:37 AM, 29th May 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
"...so that bandit wasn't an actual seal master, he just understood basic sealing and managed to chip away slowly at the seals protecting the hideouts?" Ren asked Hayate sensei, that explanation seemed a little far-fetched and had too many coincidences.
"Of course, do you even know how many seal masters Konoha has, just 2. How could a random bandit group have a seal master hiding in it..." Hayate chuckled.
"...alright I guess that makes sense," Ren grumbled, "what were they trying to do anyway massacring all those villagers." It still stuck a little barbaric to Ren but throughout the last year, the idea and aversion to killing in his mind had somewhat muffled out somewhat. But still killing helpless villagers just seemed wrong.
"...that Kakashi and I discussed and decided that only the higher-ups should know about." Hayate cautioned the meaning behind his words was clear, he should not read through those scrolls that he had collected from the 1st hideout.
"An ANBU squad will arrive tomorrow and take over the mission to search for any more clues about what happened. You should take the scrolls from your 'special storage scroll' and seal them into normal storage scroll for easier transfer access." Hayate hinted as they arrived at the clearing that Sasuke had found.
The last Uchiha was quite anxious for his spar and Ren was also looking forward to fighting against him, now that he had officially unlocked the Sharingan.
'According to the scrolls in the library, the Sharingan is a bloodline limit focused on enhancing perception and allows the user to see chakra, since it is just a taijutsu spar I don't need to focus on the second part but the enhanced perception might be interesting to fight against.'
Ren used {Observe} on Sasuke again and his stats hadn't changed, he still had bonus stats for INT and DEX which means when he is using the Sharingan he would both be faster and have better reflexes.
"...Come on Sasuke lemme fight first, I promise I won't beat him too bad." Naruto was whining as he sat on a tree with Hinata and Kakashi was standing on another tree.
"Shut up Dobe," Sasuke spoke as his eyes focused on Ren and Hayate walking into the clearing. The excitement in his eyes flared as his heart started beating in anticipation.
'Finally, I can test how fast a genius grows, this way I could somewhat predict how much stronger Itachi could have gotten...' Sasuke stared at the bandages wrapped around Ren's arms.
"No resistance seals," he spoke briefly, he couldn't be sure at what level Ren's resistance seals are so just in case not having them would be the ideal scenario. Ren raised his eyes and complied with that request, since Sasuke was so generous as to 'give' him a B-rank fire ninjutsu, he could humor him a little.
'Plus I still have my weights on so it's not like I'm revealing all my cards.' Ren thought as he removed the bandages on his arms and Sasuke did the same.
Hayate jumped in between the two genin and spoke, "Alright, I'll referee this spar, no lethal moves, and taijutsu only, understood?" Hayate asked amid a couple of coughs, Sasuke stared at the sick Jonin for a second before he nodded.
"Ready..." Ren nodded.
"...Fight" Hayate spoke and then he dashed back to a nearby tree, the spar didn't start instantly as both Sasuke and Ren slipped back into a neutral stance.
'He won't attack first he never does,' Sasuke thought as he scanned through Ren's stance, he looked a lot more relaxed now compared to 3 months ago with his right extended hand in front of him. Sasuke couldn't see any obvious weaknesses in Ren's guard so he went for a frontal approach.
The interceptor fist is not known for its attack capabilities, it is a taijutsu made by the Uchiha clan for its swift counterattacks with the help of the Sharingan. Sasuke wasn't in a hurry to close out the fight so he dashed straight at Ren, his speed was bordering on mid-chunin range which was quite a jump from his previous max speed.
Ren waited for Sasuke's jab to come close, he was planning to just use Strong Fist because Illusion Fist kind of doesn't work against the Sharingan.
'I mean it would work now since his Sharingan isn't fully evolved and even if he could see my movements, with his low INT he won't be able to dodge my attacks in time, but still, the Illusion fist won't work against the Sharingan.' Ren thought and he slapped Sasuke's attack away who backed away a little preparing for a counterattack.
Unfortunately for Sasuke Ren had no plans to play around, the punch was fast, far faster than anything Sasuke was ready for. He couldn't dodge the punch and had to cross his hands in front of his chest to block the punch.
'But then again unless he starts using his Shaingan, I'll keep using illusion fist.' Ren thought and his hand slowed down at the last moment, he grabbed the point of intersection of Sasuke's hands and pulled the Uchiha towards him.
Sasuke's whole stance was broken as he felt himself being pulled toward Ren, he wasn't ready for the kick that landed on his torso and he flew back and slammed into a tree. His whole back lit up in pain as he grunted.
Naruto who had just started cheering for Sasuke froze mid-cheer as he stared at Sasuke's figure with wide eyes, the difference in movement speed was palpable as Sasuke slid down the tree. After a couple of moments, he opened his eyes and stared at the stoic face of Ren. He looked into the same dark eyes, the same emotionless stare and the rage he was suppressing came tunneling out.
His Sharingan flared to life as Ren got ready for the real spar to begin, Sasuke dashed at Ren his speed crossing the High chunin barriers as he once again took the frontal approach. Ren backed away a little as a test and Sasuke instantly reacted, his arms pulled back as he took an extra step to regain his footing making sure he didn't overextend.
Ren swatted Sasuke's attack again but this time his strong punch was seen through and dodged and Sasuke swept his legs trying to dislodge his balance. Ren abandoned the attack and backed away as Sasuke followed.
'The Sharingan gives him a lot more advantages than just a boost in his speed and reflexes...' Ren calculated, he did a feint but Sasuke disregarded the whole move and punched towards Ren's shoulders.
The leg weights that Ren was wearing affected his DEX only when it came to his legs, it was like a partial debuff so his hands could still move at max speeds. He blocked and dodged while he kept trying feints.
'So muscle feints work but visual fakes don't,' Ren analyzed as he continued fighting. The Sharingan gave Sasuke a simple boost in his basic physical stats, and at the same time, it allowed him to read Ren's movements by predicting his next move based on the muscles that contracted in Ren's body.
The fight evolved into a spar of attrition when Ren figured out that muscle feints work, but he wasn't as proficient in muscle fakes as he was with visual fakes so he wasn't always successful. The advantage though still leaned in Ren's favor since he was naturally faster than Sasuke and after a couple of minutes Sasuke's Chakra consumption started increasing as his eyes and mind worked in overdrive trying to differentiate the feints.
'Interesting, so even if we leave the basic stat bonuses that the Sharingan gives, which doesn't make sense right now, the difference between Sasuke without his Sharingan active and he with his Sharingan active are two entirely different concepts.'
Ren concluded as he increased his power and speed once again he started suppressing Sasuke, he wanted to test the limits of Sasuke's capabilities but he had to dodge as Sasuke somehow managed to speed up and one of his punches managed to sneak into Ren's guard.
'Wait what?' Ren jumped back and looked at Sasuke in confusion, it took him a moment to figure out what was different, the tomoes in Sasuke's eyes were spinning as his 2-tomoe Sharingan evolved into a 3-tomoe version.
Sasuke felt the world slowing down as his eyesight became more clear, he could hear his blood pumping as he looked at Ren's movements. The hazy movements that seemed unclear to Sasuke just moments ago were now clearer. He dashed and engaged with Ren again, he could now see through some of Ren's fakes and dodge the ones that he couldn't.
The world for the first time became clear but as he sparred more he realized the feints started decreasing as Ren's speed and strength increased once more. He could clearly see the fist that clocked his temple, but his hands were unable to block it, his head couldn't tilt back in time and his eyes stared at the right hook that came closer ever so slightly.
...
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AN- Sasuke's evolution! How will the canon timeline change?
In canon Sasuke's eyes evolved when he couldn't see through Kyubified Naruto's attacks and his emotions were boiling, so I thought this made a tiny bit of sense.
I got discharged so I can focus back on writing again, hopefully, I can make up the chapters we are behind this week.
P.S- Read 18 Chapters ahead at - P.atreon.com/Version_401.