Naruto vs. Sasuke
Naruto glanced at the blonde princess with mixed feelings. She was obviously down with how quickly she was defeated. But he didn't really know how to go about cheering her up.
All he could do was look at her from time to time in concern as she sat on the ground and put her arms around her feet with her head rested on her knees.
Shaking his head, he just made sure to try to cheer her up after class.
For now, he'll just focus on the other spars. As well as keep an ear out so he'll know when he was up.
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After Ino and Hinata's bout, the rest were against a couple of civilians. Some were less impressive than Ino and Hinata's battle despite how the two heiress's battle only took a few seconds. Some were outright boring and others even used dirty tricks like pulling hair or throwing dirt in the other's eyes.
Naruto shook his head in disdain.
'What were these fools doing?' He thought. Do they even train?
They've all been learning taijutsu for three to four years now, have they all learned nothing? What were they even still doing here then?
At the very least there were a few that were somewhat competent. Some even making him give a bit of praise.
They were all orphans, yet why were they so much worse than him?
He sighed lightly before shaking his head. He of course knew why, they were all busy playing games like tag or playing ninja when he was training his butt off. It kind of made him envy them a bit, knowing that they could act like kids without care.
They at least had some childhood experience.
Though a few second after Naruto couldn't help but have his lips curl upwards. So what?
It was inevitable that the world only favors the skilled. Because of their slacking off, now they were at the bottom. In fact he even guessed that most of his classmates would either not graduate or die in their first missions.
Call him a cold bastard, but really, he's just stating facts.
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Near the end, there were only a few students left. So it was only fair that their sensei started to make the clan heirs spar with each other.
Unfortunately some unlucky civilian students got paired with them.
Like one student got paired up with the Akimichi heir, another with the Inuzuka dog.
Then another interesting match was the Nara heir's battle against the Aburame heir. At first the boy wanted to quit before the match even started but their sensei threatened to tell his mother, to which somehow fired up the Nara.
The Aburame clearly had an advantage but somehow the fight ended in a draw, to which Naruto inwardly praised the Nara's genius strategy.
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"For the last match, Uchiha Sasuke vs Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto also furrowed his brows at the match. He didn't like sparring with Uchiha Sasuke, as the Uchiha was too high profile. Whereas compared to him, who was too low profiled.
'I'll just exchange blows with him before throwing the towel' Naruto decided.
Since he was now ranked somewhere in the top regarding taijutsu, he can't just lose automatically otherwise he would probably anger not just the Uchiha, but his female fan base was well.
They would probably think, that he thought Sasuke was unworthy to fight him and unworthy to make him fight seriously.
Naruto knew that they were probably the most competent of their whole class. But from what he's seen of Sasuke, he knew that they were somewhere in the same playing field, if evenly matched. He had to train his butt off to get on the same level as the Uchiha, now however, he fancied himself superior.
"You two, come to the center" scar face said as the two boys nodded.
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"Well then, Shinboi Kumite, Hajime!"
As soon as the match began, Sasuke sped forward and began with the Uchiha style taijutsu. Taking initiative, he began with a right hook which Naruto easily deflected with his forearm. Not caring with how Naruto blocked with ease, he smirked as he sent an uppercut with his left.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto clicked his tongue as he backstopped before he spun and sent a kick to Sasuke's chest, to which the raven haired blocked by crossing his arms.
"Kuh!" Sasuke winced as the forced pushed him back as the soles of his feet dug the ground as he slid back.
'Is that all you got?!' Naruto smirked as he conveyed his thoughts by getting into the academy basic taijutsu stance while motioning Sasuke to come over with his fingers.
That action definitely ticked off and rubbed the Uchiha the wrong way as the boy narrowed his eyes before dashing towards Naruto. Though this time, Sasuke dashed side to side trying to get Naruto confused. Even using chakra through his feet to boost his speed.
'Heh' Naruto inwardly smirked. This would have worked on the others but unfortunately, he was a sensor. So he could roughly estimate where the Uchiha would go.
To the other students, Sasuke began to look like a blur as he blurred from Naruto's left to right before he began to circle around the red head.
'I can sense it' Naruto thought as he readied his stance.
'Now!' He thought as he ducked a spin kick before Naruto took the chance to roll to the side to create some distance. Springing up and engaged the Uchiha in hand to hand.
Both began to exchange quick blows. Though through the exchange both never really got any good hits as both would either block or deflect it.
And although Sasuke knew how to incorporate chakra into his body to strengthen some of his physical attributes, Naruto learned that the boy seemed unwilling to use it on an actual opponent, which was fair since the guy probably guessed none of his peers were as advanced as he was.
They began to exchange once again for another few minutes before Naruto felt like it was enough.
'This exchange had been going on for long enough, it's about time I lose' Naruto thought as he made it seem like he slipped up which the Uchiha also caught.
Naruto didn't block one of Sasuke's already near blow and made it hit him, 'making' Naruto stagger back giving Sasuke a perfect opportunity to win the match.
Sasuke however narrowed his eyes. The Uchiha didn't even use that 'slip up' to his advantage as he began spoke in a low voice.
"Is that all you got? I heard you beat Kiba in a flash, don't tell me this is it?" He spoke but seeing no reaction from Naruto his face darkened more as he clicked his tongue and smirked.
"Heh, so you hide your own skills, no wonder you hang out with Ino, you're both losers, weaklings with no ambition" Sasuke said as he finally decided to end the match because he was too angry to continue.
Naruto however, had his eyes hidden under the shadow of his bangs as Sasuke's last words inadvertently angered him.
He quickly dashed to Sasuke as the boy was about to end the match, making both boys attack at the same time.
Naruto appeared before Sasuke and spartan kicked him in the gut as the boy sent Naruto a left high kick to the face.
"Kah!"
"Ugh!"
Both boys winced as Naruto was sent flying outside the small white circle that was drawn by chalk while Sasuke was also sent sliding back a little. His heels digging the dirt though luckily for him he stopped right at the white chalk as his hand clenched his stomach.
*Plop!*
The sound of Naruto's back hitting the ground resounded followed by Sasuke dropping on his knees as he held his stomach in pain.
"Winner by out of bounds, Uchiha Sasuke!"
'Heh, it's what you get bastard' Naruto said as he got up, shaking his head as he was somewhat dizzy. His right cheek was somewhat swollen but he healed fast, it would be gone in thirty minutes. As for Sasuke, he would be hurting for the next couple of days.
After doing the sign of reconciliation. He looked at Sasuke that was still clenching his stomach in pain as he put both his hands deep into his pockets and turned around to go back to where Ino sat. He walked away as if he wasn't injured at all, the only indication was his semi pink right cheek as he swaggered away from his kneeled down opponent.
To all those that looked on this scene, they felt as though although he lost the match, why did it feel like he was the winner?
Meanwhile Naruto bit his lips lightly. He did not mean to attack Sasuke then, he was supposed to get hit and lose yet Sasuke's words ticked him off. He clicked his tongue as he made a mental note to practice keeping his anger in check.
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Chapter End
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