21. Fire vs Ice

(A/n- Powerstones? 34/50 You guys are close)

"So, why am I here?" Yumi glared at Miyuki for the nth time.

"We're waiting for Yukio to bring Itachi, your peer."

"Hmph, we'll see how he matches me." It seemed Yumi was really on a high horse.

Miyuki rolled her eyes.

Still, she couldn't see who would win between Itachi and Yumi.

Both of them appeared in the clearing.

"Nii-chan, you should have told me before you body-flickered. I feel dizzy now. I guess it's my first time transporting like this."

Yumi looked at Itachi suspiciously.

Yukio smirked at Yumi. He was indirectly referring to Yumi's first experience with the body flicker (Reference to chapter 19, in case you guys forgot... 🗿).

Yumi weaved hand seals and fired an icicle at Yukio, who just tilted his head slightly. However, in the next instant, the icicle was in his hand.

Yukio let the momentum of the icicle rotate his body 360 degrees, then threw the icicle back at Yumi, who had already jumped away just as he fired it.

It seemed that was usual in their home.

Miyuki rolled her eyes, and Itachi tilted his head in confusion.

"How childish," she said.

"Is that ninja training, like how we need to stay alert or something?" Itachi asked.

"Uhh..." Miyuki was speechless.

"N—" "You pick up things really fast, as expected from you," Yukio praised Itachi.

Miyuki exchanged glances with Yumi, who was looking at her with a similar expression.

Was Yukio really serious?

It was hard to know. They might have recognized it as a joke or a clear-up line if it were Kakashi.

You never knew when it came to Yukio.

There was a reason he had fewer friends.

It wasn't due to him being a prodigy and all.

Even before he actively trained to become a ninja or was in the academy, he was... eccentric.

Well, that's a story for another time.

"Anyway, Ita-chan, you'll be under my tutelage starting today," Miyuki changed the topic.

"Right, so should I still call you Miyuki-nee-chan, or should I call you Miyuki-sensei?"

"Ahh..." Miyuki stopped speaking for a moment.

This had never happened to her before.

It was similar to getting ragged in your first year at university, but things change when you go into the second or third year, as you become the ones ragging new people.

Well, that isn't an appropriate analogy.

Maybe a more fitting analogy would be if you didn't have a little brother, but then some random kid called you nee-chan for the first time.

"Right, you should call me Sensei," Miyuki cleared her throat.

She definitely wasn't embarrassed.

She looked at the smug grin Yukio had from behind Itachi.

Yukio felt a sense of déjà vu for some reason.

He saw Miyuki's sword, covered in lightning, coming straight for his head.

He tilted his body forward and released chakra from the back of his head to quickly fall.

A better move would have been to let his body fall backwards, as that would have given him more time to dodge.

However, this was his instinct talking, as if it were a combat scenario. Falling backwards would mean a blind spot in his vision, which an enemy could exploit.

The sword passed where his head had been.

Luckily, Miyuki didn't continue to attack him, so Yukio stood straight again and formed a chakra thread, which went after the sword that had embedded itself in a poor tree's trunk.

"How childish," Yumi smirked while looking at Miyuki.

How the tables had turned.

Miyuki had a tick mark and looked at Yumi with a blank expression.

Yumi quickly changed her position and hid behind Yukio.

"Was that part of training too?"

"Yeah," Itachi looked at Miyuki, who was smiling sweetly, but to the other two, that smile was anything but sweet.

"So, what are we gonna do first?" he asked.

"We're going to test you. You have to fight her."

"Oh." Itachi looked at the girl peeking from behind Yukio.

She was definitely not thinking about whether or not to push the kunai through Yukio's heart.

"Hello, my name is Itachi Uchiha. A pleasure to meet you."

"Hmph, name's Yumi Yuki. I hope you last at least one minute against me."

"Oh, you're from the Yuki Clan? Why are you in Konoha?" Itachi asked with a confused expression. He ignored the last part.

It was better for him if his opponent was arrogant.

After all, he was part of the Uchiha Clan, so he had seen people like that.

It was rare to find humble Uchihas like him.

"I'm here to kill both of them," Yumi didn't point any fingers.

Miyuki wasn't in a good mood.

Maybe she would finally lose it and cut her finger or something.

She didn't want to become a cripple before her ninja journey even began.

"I see." Itachi really couldn't see why she wanted to kill both of them. Maybe it was a secret code he had to decode, as ninjas were supposed to be subtle and secretive.

At least that was what they were taught in the academy. They hadn't explained how experienced ninjas or Jounins behaved.

So, most of the academy students had misunderstandings like Itachi.

Their expectations—or delusions—would be shattered as they entered this line of work.

"Anyway, start now." Just as Miyuki spoke, Yumi started weaving hand seals.

Itachi started a second late and was barely able to dive sideways as an ice spike passed where his stomach should have been.

He fired a fireball at Yumi from his position on the ground.

Yumi had already started weaving another set of hand seals just after firing her first jutsu.

So, she was ready.

Fire met ice.

Surprisingly—or unsurprisingly—ice overpowered Itachi.

Itachi was barely able to use substitution jutsu in time, as the area where the jutsus collided was close to both of them due to the short distance Yumi had covered before.

Mist enveloped the entire area.

Yumi parried kunai that came at her from behind.

"Tch, how annoying," Yumi weaved hand-seals, this time slower as she was parrying kunai with her own.

She bent down and placed her hand on the ground.

She blew air on the ground, the mist flowing away from her.

"Oh, that's cool," Yumi realized that many wires were around her position.

She instinctively weaved hand-seals and then consciously chose the jutsu.

The wires lit on fire just as she released the jutsu from her mouth while rotating all around.

While she did that, kunai aimed at her from various directions.

She tapped her bracers, and a lot of water came out, immediately turning into ice, such that she was covered by an ice dome.

"Tch, you should show your face so I can beat you," Yumi said after half a minute while emerging from the ice dome.

As expected, she didn't receive any response.

Her instincts flared, and she jumped away, an explosion occurring at her feet. Her hands held kunai aimed at the ones coming from the ground.

She parried them, but they also had explosive tags on them.

She released the wind-style jutsu she was holding, blowing away as the explosion occurred, taking no damage.

Some kunai aimed at her as she blew away the explosions.

She slightly tilted the direction of the wind jutsu, changing her trajectory and dodging the kunai.

It seemed her instinct training with Yukio hadn't been for nothing.

She had finally developed at least a decent level to survive in the ninja world.

Still, she seemed to be using a lot more chakra than she would like, especially compared to her opponent, who hadn't used much.

She wasn't arrogant enough to believe that her chakra reserves were greater than Itachi's.

Okay, she might believe that, but just in case, she didn't want to underestimate him, especially since Yukio was praising this guy.

And this guy was under her archenemy. Itachi was technically supposed to be her rival.

She didn't really want to embarrass herself.

Yukio wouldn't let her forget it.

"Found you." Yumi weaved hand-seals as she sharply turned her head and fired a spike at the top of a tree.

Itachi placed both of his kunai in front of the spike, which threw him off the tree, but he was able to successfully parry the ice spike.

Now mid-air, he instinctively weaved hand-seals.

Just as he landed on the ground, he fired a fire-release jutsu at the water ball rushing his way.

The fireball and water ball met in the middle, creating mist.

Just as Itachi was about to change locations, he felt the familiar sensation of cold metal on his neck.

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A/n at time of writing – I was sleepy while writing this and noticed that in some places, I accidentally substituted Yumi and Miyuki, lol. Did I miss one error? Do tell me. I really didn't want to write this chapter, but I guess work calls. 

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A/n now- Sorry for not uploading the chapter on Tuesday, I kind of was busy and was a bit nervous about writing my first R18 chapter

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