11 Chapter 11: The Battles Conclusion.
Keitaro had been fully focused on the fight unfolding before him. He would be lying if he said he wasn't captivated by the exchange between his brother and the unknown boy, because he definitely was.
He was straining his eyes, barely being able keep up with the two of them as they fought. Yet he just couldn't bare to pull his eyes away from the spectacle before him.
He wasn't disillusioned into thinking that the two boys fighting were prodigies, or that this was a high levelled shinobi battle in the slightest. Chances are that if a qualified Genin was passing by and they saw this fight, they might burst out laughing at the two kids messing around at 'playing ninja'. But to him, every action and movement was deliberate, planned, precise and deadly.
It was like watching a dance as the two boys kept clashing back and forth. He felt his blood boil at the sight before him, and though he was excited and proud of his brother for being one of the strongest children here…He was pissed that he couldn't get in on any of the action.
He was lost in thought at the idea of he himself being there in the clearing throwing around shuriken and tossing out kunai like flowing water, ensnaring his opponent with his amazing Taijutsu and Shuriken-jutsu skills.
He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize when the fight had calmed down for a bit and was even less aware of the danger that was approaching him at high speeds. So when the shuriken sunk into his chest the abrupt pain ripped a shout of agony from his throat.
Confused as to why he had been hit, he looked once more at the fight occurring below him through his tear filled eyes. He watched as his brother stopped dead in his tracks with his eyes now focused solely on him.
He also saw as the Boy opposite his brother took advantage of the distraction to quickly weave some hand signs before spitting out a blast of water from his mouth.
He felt his heart lurch, as he screamed his brothers name. Trying to let him know that he needed to focus on his battle, yet his scream had just left his throat when his brother glanced behind himself and quickly rolled to the side, allowing the blast of water to carry on in its trajectory, dead set on a collision course with a new target. Him.
An all encompassing fear gripped him as he watch in horror as the spiralling ball of water hurtled toward him. Time seemed to slow as the water ball inched closer and closer. He wasn't disillusion with the idea of being able to simply walk it off if that ninjutsu hit him.
Unlike everyone else here, not only was he the youngest one present, he also hadn't even awakened to chakra yet. He was just a regular average three and half year old kid about to get hit by a ninjutsu technique directly in the chest, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Keitaro heard his brother scream his name but there was nothing he could do. Kentaro was too far away and none of the other kids were close enough to lend a helping hand.
Keitaro, in those last few seconds before impact, blamed himself for what was about to happen. If he'd just listened to his brother and gone to the park instead of insisting on coming to the forest with him, none of this would have happened.
In a final bid to get away from his impending doom, Keitaro did the only thing he could and jumped.
He closed his eyes and waited for the impact to hit him and yet nothing came. He opened his eyes only to realize that he'd somehow managed to dodge away from danger.
His still racing heart had barely managed to calm down, and the feeling of elation had only just started to bubble up into his chest, when he once more noticed the boy on the open field weaving hand signs. He watched as the new jutsu summoned another swirling mass of water that slammed into his brothers back before pelting him into a tree.
Keitaro didn't hesitate for a second, and immediately jumped down to the ground and ran over to his brothers crumpled body.
Thankfully, even before he managed to get there, his brother had already managed to stumble back to his feet. It was clear that he wasn't in any shape to continue fighting but at least he wasn't too injured.
The other kids quickly made their way down from the trees and surrounded Kentaro and Keitaro quickly making sure that neither of the two of them was hurt too badly before they all continued talking about the fight. They all grew quite though and silently parted when Kentaro's sparing partner made his presence known.
"Heh I guess I managed to get lucky again today Kentaro. Unfortunately for you, It would appear that I am still stronger than. But at least you have your little brother to lean on when you head on home."
The boy didn't bother to chastise Keitaro much more and instead turned to the crowd and began talking with the other kids about his glorious battle, completely ignoring the injured Kentaro.
Kentaro didn't say anything to the boy, but his clenched teeth and bawled fist were evidence enough to show how aggrieved he was. He didn't even say anything and simply turned away from the crowd of kids before he started limping away.
Keitaro watched his older brothers back as he limped away and wasn't exactly sure of what to do. Even if no one had said anything about it, it was obvious to everyone that his brother could have won the fight if Keitaro wasn't there.
Whether the boy had targeted him on purpose or not, wasn't really all that important as the end result would have been the same. His presence was a weakness that had been capitalized upon to win the battle. If he wasn't here his brother would have won.
The irrational fear that he had buried in his heart all those years ago started creeping back to the surface once more. Would his brother blame him? Would he start shunning him now that he had become a hinderance? Is this how his brothers hatred for him would start?
All sort of thoughts kept bombarding him and he felt the tears building up in his eyes, but refused to let them fall.
With his head lowered he quickly followed behind his brother and they quickly made their way out of the clearing leaving the other kids behind. The last thing that Keitaro managed to make out was one of the others talking about how the clan kids weren't that big of a deal afterall.
***
She had kept her distance and watched as the two brothers sulked away. She had wanted to comfort Kentaro, but she was well aware of the fact that he had this ridiculous idea that receiving help, no matter how little, was a sign of weakness. A really bad mentality to have given that he was hell bent on refusing to show any weaknesses whatsoever.
Especially now that he was in front of his brother.
No matter how she thought about it, it would have been the wrong move to approach him now, as it would have bruised his ego. Of course she had noticed the look on his younger brother face and she could tell that the boy was obviously blaming his brothers defeat on himself.
Still it shouldn't matter all that much and hopefully everything would work out between the two brothers.
She turned towards the boy who was still bragging about his 'glorious' win, and for a moment, her disgust at him flashed across her face before it was buried once more.
She wasn't against him trying to one up the clan kids, but the fact that he chose to only pick fights with the clan kid who was not only an outer member of his own clan, but was also in his first year at the academy spoke volumes about his 'supposed' strength.
She sighed to herself and glanced once more at the two branches of the tree that the younger brother had been sitting on throughout the fight. Specifically, she was looking at the two sets of footprints that had been stamped into the branches when the young boy managed to first dodge the D-Rank ninjutsu that had launched in his direction and then jumped down several feet through the air towards his downed brother.
None of the other kids seemed bothered at the fact that a three year old child who supposedly hadn't started training yet had managed to not only dodge a D-Rank jutsu at the last second. Nor did they seem interested in how he had managed to stay attached to the underside of the branch above him for a few seconds after he had jumped.
Much less how he managed to jump several meters through the air in his rushed attempt to check on his brother.
She hesitated for a moment on whether she wanted to hang out with the others kids for the rest of the day, but since Kentaro had already left she simply shook her head and decided to head on home. If Kentaro wasn't here why would she waste her time anyway?
Of course she could have rushed after the brothers in hopes of getting the answers to the questions that had been swirling around her head for a little while now about Kentaro's younger brother, but since no one else was bothered by those startling details …who was she to bring it to their attention?
