28 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 28
( Konohagakure no sato)
(Timeskip 5 years)
...
Uzumaki Clan compounds…
"Should we stop Naruto-kun?" Mito's gentle voice rang in the small training clearing of her estate. The boy in question was down on one knee, sweat dripping from his chin onto the ground below while his breaths were short and labored.
He ran a hand through his hair, slapping his hand over his forehead softly to make his blood rush go away and shook his head in defiance.
"Not yet…" he spoke silently, but the determination behind those words wasn't lost to Mito.
She smiled, seeing him dig his jet black sword into the ground for support to stand up and flicked her own sword sideways, it's shining blade glimmering in the sun along with Naruto's blade letting out a starry glimmer straight down down it's edge.
He stood up, his legs shaky but his eyes still the same defiant blue until the end. In that moment she knew how stubborn he could be, his hand raising the blade by his side to leave only it's tip touching the ground.
"Very well then, come…" she called him sternly, readying her blade in front of her while the blonde dug into the last of his strength and charged ahead, leaving a cloud of dust behind him and met her blade with a violent clang.
His eyes met hers only for a moment before he broke the engaged blades and started on a violent series of attacks on her from all sides. Sparks flew all around them, with Naruto's vicious yet precise attacks being deflected efficiently by the lady with a red handled sword in her palms in a graceful yet deadly dance.
She glanced his straight slash to her lower abdomen just by a hair length to let it pass by her side harmlessly and put her own blade's tip on his jugular with a smile.
"There, the spar's over…" she said gently, but her voice holding a hint of pride and smiled seeing his nervous gulp as he tried to say something and moved her sword back a bit only by a hair length to allow him to speak his mind.
"Is it?" he whispered, confusing her with his words when he smirked. Her eyes widened, she had seen that smirk quite a few times now, each time it meant he had something up his sleeve. She nicked his neck a little and the result was instant.
POOF…
The Naruto in front of her vanished in a cloud of smoke making her heart skip a beat and a fond smile adorned her lips when she felt the cold steel meet her sensitive neck.
Her left eye glanced back only to meet the blue one of Naruto whose face was shadowed from her angle, leaving only his right eye visible to her, and she had to say it made quite an intimidating sight to behold.
"Now it's over." he whispered calmly in her ear. Her lips curled up in an amused smile, yet the prideful look in her eyes increased twofold.
"You've grown so much Naru-chan." she spoke in her gentle and motherly voice, making his eyes soften at his mother figure when something unexpected happened.
SPLASH…
He stood there dumbfounded, completely drenched in water which dripped all over his front now. He heard the sound of seemingly melodic giggles from behind him and turned around only to see Mito sitting on the porch with a plate of cookies by her side.
Her hands held her sides as she laughed her heart out and he blinked in confusion.
"You're here…" he whispered, pointing his blade at her when his eyes widened in realization.
"Then that means…" he whispered in disbelief when her laughter came under control, not stopping but coming down so she could speak and she nodded, wiping the corner of her eye off it's happy tear.
"Hai, that was a water clone my dear disciple. Finally, you were able to beat one with all the restrictions I placed on you." she spoke proudly, motioning for him to come to her like a mother called her little one to her.
He crouched down on one knee in front of her and became quite embarrassed when she started wiping his face with the sleeve of her silky kimono with a fond smile on her face.
Her right hand cupped his cheek, rubbing it with his thumb while she looked at him with affection and pure adoration.
"You've come a long way, I couldn't be prouder." she spoke in a soft and honest voice making him turn a bit pink in embarrassment and nod timidly.
"Arigato Mito Baa-chan, it's all thanks to you." he said honestly making her smile. She patted his cheek gently before popping a cookie in his lips and motioning him to go in.
"Alright now off you go, wipe yourself off before you catch a cold." she scolded him, making him stumble in and giggled. Her hand picked the cup by her side, sipping it while closing her eyes and put it on her lap, exuding a calm aura all around her.
"How long are you going to pretend to not be here Tobirama?" she asked to thin air, smiling when she heard a tired sigh from behind her. Sure enough a moment later, the Nidaime Hokage was sitting by her side and gazing at the lush gardens of her house calmly.
"He's grown." he stated, having seen the spar from start to finish. An hour of straight forward offensive swordsmanship was impressive at the control he still had over each of his swings in the end.
He himself being a swordsman, could see a skilled one when he saw one. But he couldn't expect any less from an apprentice of an Uzumaki kenjutsu master.
"It still amazes me you taught him the ways of the sword." he spoke, taking a cup himself and filling it up for a sip. She merely smiled, waving her legs back and forth the porch happily.
"He asked for it, and I just couldn't refuse him when he asked me to teach him to be worthy enough to hold his father's sword." she answered him.
Getting a curt nod from the man. His eyes glanced at the lacquer blade lying by his side, still unsheathed and gleaming in the sun darkly yet gracefully.
"He graduates tomorrow." he stated in a matter of fact tone getting a small hum from the Uzumaki heiress.
It was the last week before team placements, an off week for all the graduates so they could do whatever they wished before they were off doing missions.
"I know, he told me he aced the Academy through and through." she spoke proudly while he nodded curtly.
"That he did…" he spoke, his mind going back to the argument they had five years ago. "…he could have been graduated long ago." he spoke as an afterthought and didn't glance to her side to know he was being glared at.
"He was ready at eight years old. The educational committee agreed seeing he outwitted a jounin back then and his knowledge far surpassed that off his peers, three years his senior as a matter of fact.
He could have been a chunin by now…" he was cut off by the Uzumaki heiress who had a look in her eyes that told him she had heard enough.
"Or he could have been dead, physically handicapped, mentally scarred from being thrusted into pressures of life not meant for him at so young an age." she retorted coldly making him sigh.
"But he wanted to, and had agreed…" he replied back instantly in his ever calm and factual tone making her eyes narrow in on him dangerously.
"What do you expect from an eight year old, peculiarly curious child when asked if he wanted to graduate and go out into a world he wasn't ready for.
Of course he agreed, but I knew better." she retorted just as fast and he narrowed his own eyes on her.
"Did you?" he asked seriously in a low voice making her words die down in her throat. She looked down at her cup, her bangs shadowing her eyes from him while she chewed on her lip nervously.
"I did what I thought was right…" she whispered, her voice wavering as if not trusting her words enough herself.
To this day she didn't know if stopping him from graduating early had caused her to unknowingly hinder his untimely growth, or truly save him from what she had feared would happen that had caused her to do so.
"And I trusted you enough to agree instantly to it and I still do…" a soft yet firm voice spoke from behind her, a pair of arms wrapping around her shoulders to feel herself being pulled in a hug from behind.
She smiled softly, rubbing the cheek now laid over her shoulder and placed a peck over it, her fears now washing away instantly.
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