Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 19

Though he did have a pretty good guess where the blonde might have come across such a powerful style.

"I have no idea…" he lied smoothly, getting narrowed glances from his partner who had caught onto his lie but said nothing in the end. Now quite a lot interested in the fight himself and let out a small puff of smoke.

...

The sparring center

Sakumo rose an eyebrow seeing the peculiar and seemingly quite useless taijutsu stance the blonde had dropped in. It had so many holes in it that it wasn't even funny.

It would most probably need godly instincts to block all the attacks that would enter his guard virtually in no time whatsoever.

Though he kept the comments to himself, it would be an insult to question a fighter about his abilities on the style he uses.

He dropped in his own stance, legs widely stretched with both arms in a forward guard to either defend or block at virtually the same time.

The teacher saw straight through the holes in that style though didn't comment on them, quite content to watch the brat humiliate himself in front of everybody.

He pulled his hand up as a gesture to get ready and both nodded at seemingly the same time when he brought it down, the whole clearing now in thick silence to await the pending fight.

"Hajime." he finally called out, and Sakumo took this as his cue to charge his opponent head first and take the first hit and flow of the spar right from the start.

His feet jogged through the small distance between them quickly and he wanted to exploit that huge gap in his guard up front right from the beginning, and end it as quickly as he could.

He closed the distance between them quickly, slowing down when he was within arm's reach of the blonde who still stood as calm as a rock and let him come in for the strike.

Sakumo slid his right foot in to get into his guard, when Naruto mirrored his movement and slid his left foot back almost instantly negating Sakumo's attempt.

Though the silver haired boy was having none of it, as was shown when he slid his left foot in a small arc into his guard and once more Naruto slid his right foot back in the same arc to mirror his movement and render his charge virtually useless.

Sakumo finally had enough and brought his left fist near his waist and pulled it forward to Naruto's stomach which was blocked by Naruto's right palm easily. He cocked his right fist back to follow up and pulled his left back when Naruto blocked it with his left palm quite efficiently.

He twisted his body in a 360 degree motion to bring his left elbow for Naruto's gut which was caught by both of Naruto's crossed palms to brace for the force behind his blow.

Sakumo brought his left knee up to his waist and pushed it towards the blonde's right bicep who curled up his arm to block it with his forearm and put his hand behind the limb to brace for the strength behind it.

Sakumo's eyes widened in horror when he saw the blonde boy smirk ever so slightly and realized how open his own guard was now, while he was trying to penetrate his opponent's seemingly impenetrable defense.

Naruto crouched down on his right knee, circling his body in a 270 degree arc to swipe off the boy's lone right leg from underneath him, as was the counter he had read about in the scroll he had found in his grandfather's personal library section.

Only hours of practice gave Sakumo the required time to hop a little and let the not so smooth swipe pass underneath him harmlessly while he stumbled back, a little off balance which wasn't lost to the blonde.

Naruto stood up straight and rushed ahead, cocking his left fist back and pushed it forward to the silver haired boy's face.

Sakumo tilted his head to the side letting it slide past harmlessly and Naruto pulled it back following up with his right which was slapped back by Sakumo.

Sakumo saw him twist himself in a complete circle and through his previous spars at home, he knew what would follow next so he knew his chance was now.

Naruto pushed his arm in a horizontal arc to aim for Sakumo's cheek but only met thin air and his eyes widened in shock.

"Where is he-" his thought trailed off mid-way when a strong swipe from underneath him took his legs away and dropped him flat on his back. He coughed when his back and head hit the rough ground harshly, not used to the sudden blows in spars and felt his arm being caught in a hand when his eyes were closed momentarily.

Sakumo twisted his arm and threw him around, to make him fall down face first on the ground and painfully put it near his spine, getting a moan of pain from his opponent to make him stop lest he snap it.

He flicked out a kunai from his holster and placed it on the blonde's neck to signify his defeat cleanly to the instructor who called the match.

"And that's the match, Shousha Sakumo Hatake!" the teacher clapped proudly and Sakumo let the blonde's arm go.

"Pathetic…" all the attention of the crowd turned to the snide voice from the side only to see to the source being Jin himself.

"Being sprawled face first in the dirt while your opponent sits on you. Even a complete loser like you shouldn't have lost so badly to someone from outside our clan.

You really are a disgrace to the Uchiha clan, just like my father said you were…" he finished his comment making everyone around the boy laugh at the blonde's expense.

The words pierced through Naruto's chest like a hot knife and he sat up, his hair shadowing his eyes while he clenched the dirt in his fists tightly. Like always, he didn't reply back to the taunt or the laughs.

Completely oblivious to the silver haired boy holding a seal of reconciliation for him to complete behind him.

"Hey kid, you alright? You're not hurt are you?" the teacher decided to add a little salt to his wound and his voice showed more of mirth than that of concern getting another round of laughs from everyone.

"Sensei, not even a loser like him can be hurt from getting beaten in a single counter…" Akio added smugly to add to his popularity by going with the flow of the crowd and everyone snickered at his comment yet again.

Naruto stood up and walked away, completely ignoring his opponent's confused yet worried gaze on his back. He dusted his shirt clean off the dirt and walked to the tap by the side for drinking water.

He opened it up, drinking down a gulp from it before splashing some onto his face and ran his wet hand through his silky hair to make them glimmer brightly in the sun. He couldn't believe how badly he had bee beaten, but not again. This was the last time, he promised himself silently

"Hey…" a soft girly voice called out from behind him. He turned around to see Tsunade standing there with her hands behind her back and a warm smile on her face.

His hand pulled out his handkerchief and wiped off his face, staying silent to let her have her fun of taunting and making fun of him just like everyone else had done.

"Don't worry about them, you were awesome out there. And you'll definitely win next time, I know it. After all we are here in the Academy for quite some time ne?" she asked in her playful voice, making him look up surprised. She was still rooting for him?

"Aren't you here to make fun of me like the others?" he asked her in a lost voice, only to have her frown at his words.

She stomped her way towards him angrily, making him take a couple of steps back from the obviously angry girl who put her index finger on his nose to make him turn a lot more nervous than before.

"I'll let you know, I was cheering for you from start till end baka…" she scolded him, he merely averted his eyes to the side in shame at letting her down.

"And never once did I laugh with them…" she continued on with another poke to his nose to emphasize her point and he looked at her with wide eyes to see the plain conviction in her eyes and behind those words.

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