Chapter 123 - Training?

"Hmm, is that guy really that good?" Sarada was in the training grounds, standing with Karin and Yuzu, looking at Kisuke standing opposite Guren, holding his hat at the wind gently blowing his clothes.

"He did train our brothers," Karin crossed her hands, "And our parents respect him. Well, Dad is technically useless, so it doesn't matter who he respects, but Mom respects him, so he should be good."

Sarada scratched her cheek, hearing Karin dis her father like that, "Well, he does have an impressive air around him. Right, Yuzu?"

"Mm?" Yuzu snapped out of her daze, making sure that Sarada didn't see her worried look, pressing her lips, smiling, "Yeah, he does."

"So, Guren-kun, are you going to attack?" Urahara smiled, holding the walking stick, not even bothering to reveal his zanpakuto.

"Hm," Guren tapped his toes on the ground, taking out a scroll to summon twelve tools circling around him, "You really leave no openings."

"My, my," Urahara narrowed his eyes, looking at the twelve tools floating, seeing his eyes change, "Those eyes of yours sure have an interesting ability."

"You have a lot to learn about Ninjas," Guren fired the twelve tools, trying to attack him, but Kisuke effortlessly dodged them.

"I would love to be taught."

"Then lesson number one," Guren teleported, leaving behind a yellow flash. He appeared in the place of one of the ninja tools, throwing a punch at Kisuke, "It's not all about the eyes!"

"Hm," Kisuke pivoted on his heel, catching Guren's fist, bending his knees to jump up, dodging the ninja tools to land behind Guren, twist his arm on his back, "He-ho."

Kisuke leaned forward, trying to look at Guren's face, "That was an excellent move. What is next?"

"Pffff!" Guren burst out in laughter, covering his face, making Kisuke blank out for a moment.

"Sorry, all our enemies seem to have these Dojutsu, and all of Otsutsuki's powers are in the eyes. So it made me blush a little," Guren looked over his shoulder, punching Kisuke's nose.

Kisuke backed away, holding his nose, tears in his eyes, "Hey, that's not fair!"

"I guess that's the real lesson number 1. Ninjas are deceptive," Guren clenched his fist, causing the tools to rush towards Kisuke, who effortlessly dodged them, making strange poses.

He raised his leg, arching his back, "Ah~! That's dangerous~! What if you kill me?!"

He seemed to be dancing around, slamming the stick to take them all down, effortlessly trapping them under his walking stick, "Kids shouldn't play with these things."

"Ahh~" Guren scratched his cheek, "I would take on an Otsutsuki anytime before a skilled fighter."

"Skilled? Little old me?" Kisuke pointed at himself, laughing, flattered, "No, no. I am only so so."

"So Guren found someone as deceptive as him," Sasuke appeared behind Sarada, smiling.

"Dad," Sarada became elated seeing him standing behind her, before the bright smile turned hollow, embarrassed, "Guren is...he just likes to play around."

Sasuke patted her head, opening his Sharingan to observe Kisuke, "Hm, I can understand why Guren wouldn't want to fight against someone like that. It's easier to fight an Otsutsuki who uses his overwhelming power to appear skillful than a guy who uses as little power as necessary to be a thousand times more deadly."

"Is he really that good?" Karin looked up suspiciously, making Sasuke nod, "If you had seen Urashiki fighting and having trouble against those tools. Then you would have understood how much skill it shows just taking care of all of them so effortlessly."

Sasuke's eyes moved, seeing Guren appear below Kisuke, creating spiraling water into a sword, slashing upwards. But Kisuke grabbed his wrist, swirling him to throw him towards the tree.

Guren teleported in the position of the tool below Kisuke's stick, thrusting towards Kisuke's back, who jumped up, balancing him on the stick, "Oh, it's teleportation. In place of the tool? You do understand what that means, right?"

He tapped on the tools, scattering them, making Guren jump back, "You really think that I would use the tools that you have set traps on how to teleport."

Kisuke clapped his hands, "Haha, so you are smart like I heard. Come on, show me more of what you can do."

Guren's Sharingan turned, but Kisuke kept his eyes covered with his hat, annoying him. It was almost as if Kisuke raised his hat out of pity, letting Guren use the genjutsu.

"Hm," Kisuke looked around, seeing his surroundings change cosmos, feeling the overwhelming pressure that seemed to stifle his existence out. He widened his eyes, being covered by this strange feeling. When there was a sharp cry, it all disappeared.

He let out a sigh, holding his hat, "Hah, thank you. Benihime. That was too close to home."

Kisuke appeared in front of Guren, covering his eyes with his hand, "Now, let's get serious, shall we?"

"Ops?"

Evening,

"I hate him!!!" Guren lay on the sofa, throwing a tantrum, rolling in it, but no one was paying attention to him.

Well, out of pity, Sarada did, leaning over the couch, looking at him, "Isn't it good? Now you can learn something."

"Who wants to learn," Guren cutely pouted, curling up, staring towards the walls. It wasn't like he wasn't skilled enough to fight Kisuke, but the fact was that he couldn't fight Kisuke. He tried harder to keep his skill level at the same level when he fought against Urashiki.

But then, there was a reason why he had to bait Kisuke to come here. Among all the inventors he knew, Kisuke was one of the best. This world needed someone like that if the opponent they were facing had a much-advanced technology of their own.

He could do that too, but it would make life much easier if he had someone like Urahara alongside Katasuke to take off the burden. After all, who knows for how long had their opponent been amassing the technology. Breaking all of that down and recreating it would be too much, even for him.

"Guren..."

Guren refocused his eyes on Sarada, who gently smiled, "Yeah?"

Sarada crouched in front of him, supporting her chin on her palms, smiling, "Mm, when you make a serious face like that...you look really cool."

"Hm," Guren tilted his head, chuckling, caressing her cheek, "When you say sweet things like that. You look adorable."

Sarada kept her hands on her thighs, looking away, blushing, whispering, "Really?"