Testing Mikoto (58)

He noticed she was upset, her Sharingan slightly flaring a bit, her feisty temper reminding him of someone.

"Why do you have to go and leave me behind, dammit?" she looked frustrated. Yet, the angrier and more annoyed she looked, what seemed to be the flash of someone else would overlap with her—dark hair, yellow eyes, same annoyed look.

He blinked. He wondered who that was and why did she... not. Kushina was the one who made those flashes of memory appear more in his mind. Something about her feisty personality.

Yet now, as he looked at Mikoto, he saw those flashes—he saw them... in her.

Hm.

"You are not weak by any means," he would say softly.

She would look at him, her three tomoe Sharingan spinning in her eyes.

"Then... why can't I follow you to the Chunin Exam?" she said, looking annoyed and angry.

He would take a wooden sword and toss it to her, taking one of his own.

"Fine... if you can land one solid hit—a hit that would have been fatal if we weren't using wooden swords—I will talk to the Hokage about it."

She seemed excited, taking the sword, her Sharingan beginning to spin in her eyes.

"You better not regret it," she would retort.

"Wasn't planning on it," would be his calm reply.

Getting into the middle of the arena, she would get into her stance—and so would he.

She would take a deep breath, gazing at her opponent, making sure that her Sharingan captured everything. If even one singular thing looked off, she would know that this was a Genjutsu.

She would not fall for this.

Rushing toward him, she would begin going on the offensive, dealing as much damage as humanly possible, clashing against him over and over again.

Using her Sharingan to pay attention to his movements, his fingers—everything.

As he swung his blade at her, she would parry it, using this chance to try and get close, but he would expertly avoid her. She was unable to make any contact with him at all.

Jumping in the air, she would toss 20 or so wooden shuriken toward his location. He would block the strikes with his wooden blade, parrying each and every single one of them.

If this was a game, he would have gotten a perfect parry for each of those 20 wooden shuriken. Unfortunately, in this timeline, all he got was the simple fact that he looked nonchalant.

One of those shuriken would fly past her head. As Seijuro did a return-to-sender to her, she would easily dodge it. Her Sharingan allowed her to follow everything very, very easily.

She noticed him making a hand seal. She felt a change in his chakra... he was getting ready to cast a Jutsu—no, maybe a Genjutsu. She didn't know which one. She just knew it was something big.

"You let your guard down," his voice would come from behind her. He sounded rather calm, as if the victor of this battle had been decided a while back.

Her eyes would widen a bit. She would feel the tip of his wood pressed against her back... hm, a better way to say this—the tip of his wooden blade was currently pressed against her back.

"How?" she was stunned. When did this happen? She was paying attention to him the whole time.

"While sure, your senses are keen and with your Sharingan it's far harder to cast a Genjutsu on you than anyone else—especially with you knowing me so well... however—"

Seijuro would lower his blade a bit.

"When you're fighting me, your gaze remained on my fingers and my blade, watching for any sign of Genjutsu casting. You focused on so many details that—while yes, you can see due to your visual prowess—your brain's computing power cannot keep up."

He would look at the Uchiha. He didn't look arrogant in the slightest.

"I simply applied about as much pressure as a Chunin would... and you got sloppy. You focused so much on me, you didn't even notice that one of your own shuriken was a transformed clone of mine."

Mikoto would remember the kunai that went past her. She had made the biggest mistake when facing Seijuro—she got distracted and decided that this small kunai wasn't that important.

When fighting a trickster like Seijuro, it made you overthink stuff a lot—making you look kinda insane with the amount of scenarios you would imagine he'd put you through.

Scenarios that would have you question your sanity.

Yet, if you doubt yourself for even a millisecond, it's over. You're cooked. It's GGs. There's no ifs nor buts about it.

She had lost because she ignored a simple kunai.

"You are strong, I know that," he would say softly.

"With your Sharingan, you certainly are Chunin-level." Mikoto, at this point, was just waiting for the "but," because she knew it was coming.

Being with Seijuro for so long, she knew when a lecture was coming.

"You lack fighting experience. You are strong, but due to your lack of experience, you may die due to a rookie mistake—and I wouldn't want that," he said, holding her cheek in his hand, his voice soft as he said that.

Her cheeks would blush a bit.

"But... I wanted to do it with you. I... wanted to be a Chunin with you." Seijuro had a soft look on his face. She was just adorable.

"Let us make a promise. Rank doesn't matter. I want you to value your life above all else. I want to be able to see you after this war." He gave her a gentle smile... her cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

She completely forgot why she was mad to begin with. She was blushing and stuff.

"Promise me to stay alive too," she would say, looking at him. He would give her a gentle smile.

"Hm."

She was a nice girl to be around.