35 Academy Arc 10

Sasuke jumps back and flings three shuriken at me. Real ones. Not blunted training weapons, but sharp steel designed to take flesh and blood. I duck underneath two and narrowly lean away from the last one.

Energy flowed through my chakra pathway system, invigorating my muscles, allowing me to dash towards the Uchiha faster than he could react. A [Power Strike] enhanced fist finds its way rocketing towards Sasuke. He attempts to block it, but the speed of the punch was fast enough to snake through his guard and bury itself in his gut.

The boy flies away but manages to catch himself in mid air and land safely, albeit unceremoniously. I remove the wakizashi that was sheathed diagonally across my back and hold it up threateningly, my Sharingan eyes burning a hole through the other Uchiha's eyes.

Sasuke nurses the area where I punched him, his breaths getting more and more laboured. I might have cracked a rib with the last strike. Already, there were bruises forming on his face, and a cut had opened up near his hairlines that was pouring blood. It wasn't a serious injury, but because there are many blood vessels concentrated around our scalp, head injuries bleed a lot.

The blood flowed down and stained the right side of his face, the liquid getting into his eye and making the hard fight even more challenging with blurred vision from half his sight.

His repertoire of skills was too limited to face me, who has aces in spades and trump card upon trump card. Exhausted of chakra, he could only fall back to using conventional weaponry and taijutsu, both of which was useless against the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit.

Without a word, I quickly advanced, the wakizashi poised to cut him down. I could see the panic in his eyes as he reached back to his pouch to pull out a kunai. It was a futile resistance, both of us knew it, but at least he was still trying to fight back.

He fished out another handful of shuriken and threw them at me, but I struck them down with ease. Leaning forward, I rocketed forward in a burst of speed and reached my opponent. He was within slashing distance.

I cut down with my blade, and he narrowly avoids the first, then the second, and the third. He attempts a counter with his kunai, but I casually knock away his wrist with the pommel of my blade.

However, cutting me with his kunai was not his true intention. No, it was a just a distraction as he allows the momentum of my deflection to let him shift to the side and attempt to drive the kunai he was hiding in his other hand into my sides. Key word here being attempt.

My Sharingan eyes spinning wildly captured every single detail of his plan; the micro expressions on his face, his eyes revealing where his true target resided and the slightest twitches of his muscles. All of which revealed his objective as clearly as though I was reading a book.

Indifferently, I snapped a kick towards him that landed square on his sternum. This time it wasn't laced with [Chakra Enhancement] nor [Power Strike], otherwise his ribcage might have caved in. I still needed him alive for my purposes.

The kick saw him soaring back before landing and rolling into a bruised and battered pile of flesh.

I approached the downed Uchiha calmly and looked down on his face. He was still conscious, but it appeared that he was no longer capable of continuing. Or so it seemed. I could tell, with the help of my Sharingan, that he was merely playing possum – waiting for me to drop my guard so he could get the drop on me. I was not fooled, and he should have known that by now.

Regardless, upon sensing me loosening the tension from my body, he struck. From his resting position, he lunged at me, with surprising agility, and tried carving into my gut with the one remaining kunai still in his grip. Too bad for him however, I already anticipated his move and simply slapped away the weapon before kneeing him in the body.

The last hit finally saw him slump in pain with the wind knocked out of him. As he kneeled, gasping in pain and for breath, he froze when he sensed the cold edge of my wakizashi against his neck.

"Yield?"

Sasuke closed his eyes in resignation and nodded in affirmation.

At his surrender, a grin broke out of me and I sheathed the wakizashi. Squatting down to look at him on eye level, I placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get it next time."

Sasuke looked back at me and grunted a response before shifting from his kneeling position and sat on the ground.

"Damn it, why is this so hard!?" He asked while massaging the area I had been repeatedly striking.

"You knew this going in that it was going to be difficult. There's really no other way but to keep at it. Just be patient. It's already in you, so it's just a matter of time." I replied in consolation as I joined him in sitting.

Sasuke frowned at me, "You keep saying that, but so far all I've been doing is letting you kick my ass."

I tiled my head at that, "Okay, first off, you're not letting me do anything. I'm just that good. Secondly, I have told you my theory. Have you already forgotten it? Did I hit your head too hard?"

The boy sighed in frustration, "I know I know. The Sharingan is awakened when an Uchiha experiences a powerful emotional condition. And your theory is that-"

"On the day of the massacre, you already awakened the Sharingan. There's no way you wouldn't have given that you experienced such a… tragedy. It is likely that because you went through such a traumatic incident, your brain subconsciously suppressed the memory of your acquisition of those eyes. And so, unless you wish to experience a similar emotional devastation, the best way to trigger, or rather, reawaken those eyes is through intense battles bordering on life and death situations."

"…still seems like you just want to kick my ass though." Sasuke grumbled under his breath.

I smiled, "Well, that's half true. Even if my theory is wrong, unlikely, but suppose it is. Sparring like this with no holds barred will only improve our instincts and provide us valuable experience fighting with your life on the line. Which is why I insisted you attack with deadly intent and use sharp weaponry against me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You say that like you're not fighting with the intention to kill either."

I guffawed at that. "HA! Please, if I went at you with the intention to kill, you wouldn't last a minute. I'm already literally pulling my punches, well sometimes, and when I use any weapon I don't swing them too fast for you to avoid. Don't forget, with my Sharingan, I can see where you're moving towards and how fast you are, so I can adjust my strength and speed to the point where you can just narrowly avoid them. But don't get complacent. If you're not fighting like your life is on the line, if you're not moving as fast as possible and if you're not dodging like I truly wanted to kill you, I might just accidentally cut off an arm or a leg."

The other boy frowned, almost pouting, before folding his arms and looking away almost petulantly. "Fine, I get it. You can kick my ass. Stop bragging about your Sharingan. I'll reawaken them soon enough. Then we can have a fair match. Besides, how did you get so strong anyways? It was only a few months ago I kicked your ass during our final year examinations."

Well, that was a whole dungeon and several level ups ago, so of course I was now stronger than Sasuke. Furthermore, fighting with the Hidden Boss was rewarding not just in terms of experience or stat boosts, it also sharpened my combat instincts and greatly expanded my fight IQ. Being put in a situation where a single mistake could find myself missing an arm, leg or even a head, forced me into a state of hyperawareness.

Any martial artist, when fighting, must first process their actions and think with their brain before sending a signal down to their limbs to execute those commands. This greatly limits their reaction speed, thus hampering their maximum potential and ability to fight effectively. However, if one could conquer that intrinsic limitation and allow their instinct to take over their body so to reduce that lag, it would mean multiplying their combat effectiveness manifolds.

Letting the body move instinctually would free up the mind of the fighter to plan, strategize and analyse. That meant not allowing your instincts to run amok and swing mindlessly, but to guide those instincts with critical thinking and problem solving during the fight. The winner in any fight is not the strongest or the fastest, with some exceptions of course, but the smartest. I had yet to reach a point of harmonizing body and mind perfectly, but it could be considered that I had taken the very first step.

Mentally shaking away those thoughts, I just chuckled at Sasuke's query. "The Sharingan helps a bunch of course. And more importantly, I was using chakra to augment strength and speed."

Sasuke widened his eyes, "You mean chakra enhancement? Active chakra enhancement? That's supposed to be an advanced technique. How did you…?"

I grinned internally. I already prepared a set of answers to any questions he would have. It was only rudimentary to prepare so as to not be caught flatfooted in any such interrogations.

Outwardly however, I just rubbed the back of my head embarrassedly, "Well, if I am being honest, I used the Sharingan to observe a taijutsu spar between two chunins. I just somehow picked it up when watching them."

The Uchiha gasped softly, "Wait, weren't you the one who said you wanted to keep your lineage a secret? Why are you using our bloodline limit so flagrantly then?"

I waved off his concern, "Calm down, I was discreet about it. I made sure no one else was around, and it was only for a few moments. And remember, I'm top of the class at stealth training."

"…but still, that was an unnecessary risk don't you think? Not that I particularly mind if you revealed your ancestry to the village, but if you don't want… him… to know about it then you should at least have more self-control."

"Geez, I never have never had a mom, but I'd imagine that's what having a mom would be like. Naggy." I teased.

Widening his eyes in frustration, Sasuke turned away again, "You-! Fine, do whatever you want. See if I care."

I chuckled at his reaction. For such a broody avenger, he sure acted like a kid sometimes. I wondered if it might have more to do with a perceived brotherly connection he saw us having that acted as a substitute of the relationship he had with Itachi. Or it might just be a 'relapse' into something akin to a familial warmth and affection that he so craved yet was deprived of for so long. Sometimes I had to remind myself it was still just a few months since the Uchiha massacre, and he wasn't the older Sasuke I was more familiar with who had more time to stew in his vengeance and hatred.

Was that a good thing? That I was still unsure of. If taking Itachi's place as a surrogate brother for Sasuke dampened his edge and thus limited his potential, then I would have to draw back if I wanted him strong enough to be by Naruto's side in the final confrontation. However, there was also the possibility that it might temper his talent even further if I could train him and guide him towards a direction that did not involve Orochimaru and curse seals.

Or was that eventuality necessary after all? Who was to say I could teach him better than one of the legendary Sannin? Claiming to know more about being a shinobi than the Snake Sannin would be a ludicrous notion. Did Sasuke need Orochimaru and his guidance to realize his true potential? Or was the Sannin an obstacle, hampering Sasuke's growth to limit his strength in order for Orochimaru to have an easier time taking over his body?

Too many questions, and not enough answers. All I could do now was take a step at a time and hold myself back from forming any grand plans with the admittedly limited information I did have. The least I could do was help guide Sasuke best that I could. Whatever happens, happens.

I had also considered taking Naruto under my wing, so at the very least he would not graduate the academy deadlast. The time he spent in the academy only served to severely hamper his growth as a shinobi and led to him possessing little to no practical skill in being a ninja, with too little exceptions. However, there was too much at stake for me to act without forethought.

If Naruto doesn't fail the graduation exam, Mizuki wouldn't try to trick him into stealing the forbidden Scroll of Seals. Which meant he wouldn't be able to learn the jutsu that defined his character and formed an overwhelming majority of his repertoire. The Kage Bunshin was essential for Naruto's growth. From learning the Rasengan, nature transformation to create the Rasenshuriken, utilizing Sage Mode, to unleashing hordes of clones cloaked in the golden Ninetails chakra during the final war.

The butterfly effect would have disastrous consequences if I intervened too much to change the course of history. Even now, my existence alone would already threaten the integrity of my knowledge of future events. Not to mention revealing my Sharingan and lineage to Sasuke, and training him as I was now. All of these might have unforeseen consequences that might have a fatal effect in the final outcome of the war.

It was simply too much for me to manage all of these possibilities, so all I could do was minimize the effect I was having on the world. If that meant standing by the sidelines and watching Naruto sabotage his own education, then so be it.