Sasuke rushed at Shika with a kunai in hand. He was surprisingly having a hard time against Shika, a classmate he never believed to be that strong.
But again, he believed the same about Naruto, and that guy had given him surprise after surprise since they started training together.
He was kind of restricted because he wasn't able to use any Jutsu or his newly awakened Sharingan.
He would have used them long ago if not for Kakashi explicitly telling him that if he lost control over the curse seal mark, he would stop the match.
What did that mean? If his teacher stopped the match in between, it would be taken as him giving up the match, and he would lose.
He couldn't have that, so he only relied on his Taijutsu.
But…
"It's time to end this fight," Shika suddenly said, confusing Sasuke for a second before he suddenly realized that he couldn't move anymore.
His eyes widened. Right now, the only parts of his body he could move were his eyes and mouth.
He struggled to look down, only to see that Shika's shadow had captured him in the Nara clan's shadow possession jutsu.
"I'll say it—give up. Let's end this here," Shika said as he slowly placed a kunai at Sasuke's neck. Now, Sasuke imitated him, but he wasn't holding a kunai like Shika, who was ready before he applied the shadow possession jutsu.
Knowing that Sasuke wasn't going to give up by himself, tough son of a bitch that he was, Shika just placed a kunai at his neck and then looked at the proctor, as if saying, "Come on, if not now, then when? After I kill him?"
Sasuke was struggling like crazy to break free of the shadow, but unfortunately for him, once shadow possession is complete, there is no way to get out of control unless the target overpowers the user.
No matter what Sasuke did, he wasn't able to break free.
"What happened?" Naruto asked Kakashi about this. As usual, he had no idea about the shadow possession jutsu.
Sakura, on the other hand, knew, and she was looking at the fight in disbelief.
"It can't be over this quick," she muttered to herself.
"Hey, Shikamaru, that's your clan jutsu, right? Tell me, tell me that there is a way for Sasuke to break free," Ino almost jolted poor Shikamaru while asking this.
Shikamaru, on the other hand, was looking at this with narrow eyes. He noticed how good Shika was in Taijutsu, but more than that, he noticed how his cousin was able to use their clan's shadow possession jutsu without even forming hand signs.
That was an advanced technique, and being able to do it in close combat like that…
Shikamaru couldn't help but ponder how strong his cousin had become.
Kurenai with Team 8 saw this and smiled, though many of their smiles were a little strange. Actually, Shika had used this trick against them before.
While fighting close combat, Shika would suddenly catch them in his shadow possession jutsu, creating an almost point-blank attack out of the blue.
Even someone like Kurenai was caught in this, as she wasn't fast enough to dodge the shadow when fighting close combat.
And this was all possible because Shika could now use his shadow without hand signs. He worked really hard to do this, though he believed that he could either because he had Yin Release or it was a byproduct of Ten Shadows.
At least he believed that other Nara couldn't do it like he did. To perform a powerful shadow clone, one needed hand signs, but not Shika.
Others were also surprised to see the fight ending just like that.
"Sigh…" Gekko Hayate sighed after seeing the so-called genius getting beaten this easily.
He was actually anticipating a good fight, but that Uchiha kid was quite a disappointment.
"Hmm, Mr. Proctor," Shika, on the other hand, was getting irritated after seeing the proctor not announcing the result even now when he literally had Sasuke's life in his hands.
Shika's calling finally brought Gekko back to his senses, and he was ready to announce the result.
Seeing this, Sasuke, who was still struggling to get out of the shadow possession jutsu, panicked.
Unknown to him, in a time of stress, his Sharingan came to life, and the curse mark flared up.
Inside his body, he suddenly heard a voice—a voice he had heard before. This voice was none other than Orochimaru's.
"You will lose. I can give you the power you want."
The voice was enticing. Sasuke at first ignored the voice and tried to push back the influence of the curse mark, but he really didn't have any way to get out of the shadow possession.
It was a pickle for him right now. If he didn't get out of the shadow possession, he would lose, and if he used the curse mark's power to break free, even then, Kakashi would stop the match—aka, he would lose.
So seeing the proctor about to announce the result, he hurriedly decided to do whatever he could. He let the curse seal take control and took the power Orochimaru gave him.
After all, there was a possibility that Kakashi was lying, but here, if he didn't break out of the shadow possession jutsu, he would lose for sure.
And then suddenly, markings started to appear on Sasuke's body, making even Shika, who had been easygoing up to now, serious. He knew what this was.
He was worried about this one, so he quickly let go of the kunai he was holding against Sasuke's neck, formed the hand sign to strengthen his shadow possession, and then felt it—the powerful chakra from Sasuke. He barely managed to hold on to the jutsu.
This was a big problem with shadow possession, if the target's chakra is much stronger than the user than he can undo the shadow possession.
If there was one place were Shika was lacking then it was chakra. He didn't had much and now Sasuke was getting his own chakra boosted by the cursed mark.
Earlier, Sasuke wasn't using chakra, so the sudden outburst of chakra from Sasuke was like a truck hitting him out of the blue.
The proctor also saw this and stopped from announcing the result. He wasn't sure what he should do right now—Sasuke was resisting, after all.
Others who didn't know about the curse mark were confused, but after seeing that Sasuke hadn't lost yet, they were still looking forward to a good fight.
But for those who knew what those markings were, they had worried faces.
Kakashi narrowed his single lazy eye, ready to take action anytime.
One person who was more eager to take down Sasuke was none other than Anko.
"Man, I knew this was going to be troublesome, but this…" Shika couldn't help but ponder as he felt his grip over the shadow possession slipping.
"Fuck… this ain't good," Shika muttered as he gave it his all to hold back Sasuke from breaking out.
Shika tried his hardest, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop Sasuke from breaking free.
Sasuke, even without the marking, was borderline Chunin, so after the curse mark flared up, Shika felt a powerful chakra, amplified by the curse mark.
Finally, after not being able to hold on any longer, he had to let go of the Shadow Possession Jutsu that he had worked so hard to maintain.
The moment Sasuke got out of the Shadow Possession Jutsu, he immediately put distance between himself and Shika, making sure to stay away from his shadow.
Earlier in the fight, he had almost forgotten that Shika was from the Nara clan. But even though he knew, Shika's attack was almost point-blank, making it nearly impossible to dodge if one was not fast enough.
Shika himself was huffing, having exhausted much of his energy, but still, Sasuke broke through.
Although technically he didn't lose any chakra, as while holding on to Sasuke, he was also absorbing enough chakra from him to sustain his jutsu.
That was the beauty of his Shadow Possession: with the ability to absorb chakra through his shadow, why shouldn't he?
On the side, Kakashi looked at Sasuke with contemplation. He wasn't sure what to do now.
He had said he would stop the match if Sasuke used the Curse Seal Power, but Kakashi himself was unsure about it.
After all, Sasuke, like other members of his team, had worked really hard to get this far, and he had even opened his Sharingan.
Kakashi was also a little worried about Sasuke's mentality. There was no doubt that Orochimaru was after Sasuke for some reason, and this troubled him.
What if his interference right now pushed Sasuke further towards defecting from the village? Then it would be like helping Orochimaru.
Kakashi pondered and then finally looked at Hokage. After all, ultimately it depended on the Hokage whether this battle would continue or not.
Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to notice Kakashi's gaze and looked at him. Understanding what Kakashi seemed to be asking, he waved his hand, signalling him not to take action right now.
This surprised Kakashi a little, but ultimately, the Hokage's order was final. So Kakashi did not act further.
---
[Shika POV]
What the hell? Why are they not intervening?
I can't help but be confused and curse their ancestors for just sitting and enjoying the show. Can't they see this guy is clearly cheating, using the power which Uncle Orochi gave him?
How is that even allowed? I can't help but look at Kakashi, who very conveniently looks away.
What the heck?
Right now, I just want to walk up to him and punch that annoying face of his, but I have to take care of Sasuke first.
I saw the curse mark, which earlier was only on one side of his body, now covering his entire body. It was clear that he was using the full power of the first stage of the Curse Mark.
Sigh.
If I didn't want to be a Chunin, I would have given up by now.
I saw Sasuke, after coming out of the restraint, start to look at me menacingly and then form hand signs.
I saw the hand signs starting with a Fire-style jutsu and frowned.
"Fire Style, Great Fireball," Sasuke shouted, and a powerful fireball shot out of his mouth, rushing right at me.
'Shit.'
Instantly, I used the Replacement Jutsu to replace myself with a log and protect myself from the flames.
I quickly formed hand signs of my own.
'Water Style, Water Bullet.' I thought in my mind, concentrating and pulling water using Max Elephant's water ability.
My three months of hard training primarily depended on this. Being able to integrate the water of Max Elephant into my jutsu meant I didn't have to waste my chakra on forming the water myself.
I knew that if there was a problem, it would be the amount of chakra. Even after learning Water Chakra Style Transformation, what is the point if I run out of chakra after performing some water jutsu?
That is why learning the water ability of Max Elephant was crucial for me.
Water-style jutsu was, of course, faster than fire jutsu, making it harder to escape, but Sasuke was much faster. With the help of his Sharingan, he was able to see the bullet coming right at him and dodge it.
Of course, that wouldn't work. The speed was almost equal, and now there was the Sharingan and the boost from the curse seal.
I wanted to remove my weights, but before I could, Sasuke vanished from his place, rushing at me with insane speed.
I stopped my action and got ready. Knowing the attack was coming, I had to block. There was no way I could dodge it, but at least I might be able to block it.
I saw the punch coming at me and blocked it with my hands. But the punch was so powerful that it knocked me back. My hands felt numb for a second.
Sasuke was only using the first stage of the curse mark, but I could see that the mark was covering his entire body, meaning he was using the full power of the curse seal.
That punch sent me flying into the wall.
"Shit, shit… gotta do something."
xxx
Here is the goal for this Week.
500+ stones for the first bonus chapter on Monday
1000+ Stones for the second bonus chapter on Sunday bonus chapter
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patre on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond
With a thud, Shika fell to the ground, his arms numb, and he was cursing internally at both Kakashi and the Hokage.
'He is too fast. I can barely cope, even if I remove my weight, but he won't let me. I need to buy some time.' Shika thought as he quickly tried to form a plan. Knowing that he couldn't handle Sasuke the way he was right now, he needed to come up with a plan quickly.
He tried to feel his numb hands again; to cast jutsu, he needed them. 'Need to buy some time.'
"What the hell, what did you do? How did you suddenly get this strong?" Shika shouted out, making Sasuke, who was ready to attack him again, stop as he looked at his own hands and just smirked.
"Hahaha… you don't need to know. Just understand this much: you can't beat me." Sasuke, getting his ego stroked and hearing that he was strong, chuckled and instead of attacking directly, responded back.
Shika, behind his back, was working really hard to recover his numb hands and circulate blood again in them with his reverse curse technique.
"Why were you holding back until now?" Shika asked. Technically, he wasn't supposed to know anything about Sasuke having the curse mark, so he could ask this question.
It's fine even if Sasuke doesn't answer; he was just buying time.
Sasuke, on the other hand, after hearing this question, didn't answer. What could he tell? But then, being the shameless boy he was, he finally opened his mouth.
"Ah, you're not even worth me using my full power."
'What the fuck?' Shika couldn't help but curse after hearing this. Hell, he might even believe this bastard if he didn't know better.
His eyes twitched with frustration, and a smile appeared on his face.
"I see. Then I believe there is no reason for me to hold back either. Kid gloves are off now," Shika replied as he instantly moved his hands. His hands already had their blood flow back and, within a split second, formed multiple hand signs.
Of course, to prevent Sasuke from copying this particular jutsu, he threw a smoke bomb to hide his hand signs.
Though he personally didn't believe that the following jutsu was something Sasuke, who heavily relied on his eyes, would copy, still, prevention is better than cure.
Sasuke, seeing this, thought that Shika was trying to hide or use his shadow against him again. So he keenly watched the area with his Sharingan.
But the next second, the area started to fill with mist.
Other shinobi seeing this was a little taken aback.
'Hiding in the mist Jutsu' Shika smiled as he formed and hid in the smoke quickly and cast the jutsu.
"Hmm hindering his sight, good choice." Hiruzen smiled a little after seeing what jutsu Shika was using because Kurenai even he knew that Shika had recreated this jutsu from the hidden mist.
Sasuke seeing the mist was taken aback, he currently doesn't have any jutsu to handle the mist. And inside the mist, his Sharingan is useless. Not to mention his Sharingan is not completely developed like Kakashi's three tomoe Sharingan.
After the mist over the area, Shika quickly changed his place and the first thing he did was to remove the weight he was wearing to even out the speed a little bit.
And while both Sasuke and Shika were blinded by the mist, people outside the mist as the mist was only covering the fighting ring right now, people were getting excited.
"Hey, what is going on? Why did the mist suddenly come up?" Naruto asked.
"Idiot Naruto, this is, of course, Shika's jutsu. He did something," Sakura shouted back.
Kakashi, who was beside them, narrowed his eyes as he knew what technique this was. It was from the Hidden Mist. Now he was wondering how Shika learned this technique.
And more than anything, why use this? This technique is useful for hiding, but the user too will lose their sight.
After all, not everyone is like Zabuza, who can, even after getting practically blind, land hits on the target.
Which is true; not even people in the Hidden Mist can do what Zabuza casually does. They don't call him a demon for nothing.
But what Kakashi didn't know was that right now Shika had the same skills and talents as Zabuza. And in the last three months of training, he had learned how to use Zabuza's skills.
Meaning that now he didn't need his dogs to help him in the mist. He still wasn't as good as Zabuza, but he could navigate his way around the mist now.
"What's going on?" Tenten asked, and Neji, beside her, used his Byakugan to see through the mist.
That was one problem with the mist; Byakugan could see through it. And right now, Shika had no way to handle that.
Hinata stiffened on seeing the mist as she remembered the last time Shika used that mist technique. It was a massacre.
The other members of Team 8 were also the same. They all learned later on what Shika did in Waves. Now, upon seeing the jutsu again, they couldn't help but frown.
Both Hinata and Neji saw that Shika was at the edge of the fighting ring and was taking off the weights he was wearing on his legs and waist.
Seeing this, both of them had their eyes widen a little. Neji, because he knew what kind of difference weights can make, and Hinata, because all this time she had been training with Shika but still hadn't noticed he was using weights.
Inside the mist, Sasuke was on defence. He found that he too was running out of time. After all, he couldn't keep the curse seal open as he pleased.
So he had to end this fight quickly, but the only problem was that his Sharingan was useless in this mist.
Seeing that he couldn't do anything by just standing there and also internally thinking that there shouldn't be any particular way for Shika to see him in this mist either.
"You know, the person from whom I copied this jutsu was called the Demon of the Mist. Let's see how effective his technique was," the voice came, and Sasuke again took a defensive position.
The next second, a kunai came flying at him from the mist, making Sasuke quickly react to dodge the upcoming attack, but that was only a decoy.
From the entirely opposite side, Shika appeared, targeting Sasuke's blind spot.
And this was all possible for only one reason. He learned from Zabuza how to move quietly so the enemy can't sense your movements.
Sasuke blocked the kunai, but due to that, he couldn't see Shika coming at him from the other side. This was another good technique he learned from Zabuza's arsenal.
Shika directly landed a punch at Sasuke's side, making him wince in pain as he used his curse Energy in that punch to buff it up.
Shika has learned that when it comes to physical power, Curse energy gives a better buff to him instead of Chakra, not taking Tsunade's chakra infuse power in this case of course.
But still Shika by no means was a physical powerhouse or he want to hurt Sasuke too much and he didn't use kunai and thus Sasuke wasn't that hurt.
And before Sasuke can get back to him, he was again gone in the mist like he was never there in the first place.
Seeing this Sasuke gritted his teeth. He truly didn't have any way to hurt Shika now.
Shika continued his normal attack on Sasuke, but there was a problem. Though this technique was good for getting a punch or two, it was really designed for killing people, which he couldn't do, of course.
'I need to land a powerful attack on him,' Shika thought after harassing Sasuke for a while. He noticed that the mist was clearing.
Maintaining mist in this place where no water is available is not only hard but also consumes too much chakra.
Shika was always conscious of his chakra. For someone who can make three shadow clones, he wasn't that bad, as long as he didn't compare himself to someone like Naruto.
There are many kids his age who don't have as much chakra as he does right now, but due to always being chakra-conscious, he was always calculating his chakra and finding ways to use it more efficiently.
He started to put his Nara brain to work and quickly came up with a good idea.
'Hmm… won't that be a little too much?' Shika pondered as he thought about his own plan but then just shook his head. Anything besides what he planned would require him to reveal more of his cards and attract more attention than he wanted right now.
He quickly took out the kunai he had and all the special explosive tags he made himself. They were extra explosive for times like this when he needed more firepower.
It's beneficial to be a Seal Master, after all.
---
Outside the mist, others were getting quite worried. It had been a little while since Shika used the mist, and now no one besides the two Hyuga could see what was happening inside.
"Asuma-sensei, what is going on? Why is there mist all of a sudden?" Ino asked, not being able to see her Sasuke-kun and glaring at Shikamaru as if he were the reason behind this.
'Troublesome.'
"This is a technique used by shinobi from the Hidden Mist. They are all excellent at concealing themselves in the mist and fighting in low visibility. Shika somehow is using their technique," Asuma replied, taking a puff on his cigarette.
"Huh…? But how did he learn that in the first place?" Ino asked in confusion.
"Well, you'll have to ask him yourself."
"Huff…"
"Tenten, you never told me that your friend was so good at hiding?" Neji, who had long deactivated his Byakugan as he was bored with how both Sasuke and Shika were fighting, asked. After all, he was a Hyuga, and a jutsu like this was completely useless to him, so he pretty much looked down on Shika.
But not Sasuke, though. In fact, Sasuke's condition kind of interested him. He saw with his Byakugan that Sasuke's chakra was tinted dark and had become much stronger after those markings appeared on him.
Tenten didn't reply. The way Neji talked kind of made her angry.
Others were thinking along the same lines. They wanted to know what was going on in the mist but couldn't see.
Unknown to all of them, Orochimaru was also there, and he was intently watching Sasuke's fight. Actually, he didn't even care about other fights; he was only here for Sasuke's fight. But now he was a little interested in Shika Nara.
The kid was in Kabuto's team and was said to be somewhat strong for a solo genin.
Orochimaru anticipated that this boy could give Sasuke a good fight, at least make him open the curse seal.
Which he did, and that was all he was anticipating from Shika Nara. But that wasn't the case. The boy was supposed to get beaten by Sasuke, but surprisingly he had a technique like the Hidden Mist under his belt.
Orochimaru was very interested in the Sharingan, so it was also normal for him to understand the limitations of the Sharingan.
The mist technique was arguably the worst matchup for someone with a Sharingan. Even Orochimaru had to accept that, in this regard, the Byakugan was much superior.
He was here to see how strong Sasuke was, but now, due to the mist, he couldn't see anything. He was getting a little angry now.
So he planned to act. Though the Hokage was right there, he still planned to take a little risk and use Wind Style to remove the mist so that he could at least see what was going on.
So, when Shika was ready to activate his plan, setting up the trap while still attacking Sasuke to make him busy, something strange happened.
A strong wind suddenly originated, and the mist was blown away, making Shika suddenly visible to Sasuke.
"What in the…" Shika was taken aback, both surprised and confused at the same time.
He didn't understand what had happened just now; after all, he knew that Sasuke couldn't use Wind Style jutsu.
Some of the good Jonin and the Hokage noticed that the wind didn't originate from the fighting ring but from elsewhere.
But Orochimaru's clone, which did this while hiding, was long gone.
They now couldn't find who did it and surely couldn't stop the fight in the middle. But still, the Hokage gave a signal for a Jonin to investigate.
Once the mist was lifted, everyone was able to see what was going on again in the fighting ring.
Sasuke, who had suffered a one-sided beating from Shika, was very angry. Though maybe his emotions were also influenced by the curse seal.
"Hmph… can you wait a little longer? I seem to be facing a technical issue with my technique right now," Shika asked nicely, hoping it might work.
Well, people in the real world don't play nice, let alone in the ninja world.
Sasuke rushed at Shika with all his speed, moving away from the targeted location where Shika had prepared the trap for him.
"Tch."
Shika muttered under his breath. Now he had to bring Sasuke back to that spot.
"Troublesome," Shika muttered, his Nara gene acting up as he rushed at Sasuke at the same time. Now that he had his weights off, he wasn't that different in speed from Sasuke.
Well, at least he believed so. He was still slower.
xxx
Here is the goal for this Week.
500+ stones for the first bonus chapter on Monday
1000+ Stones for the second bonus chapter on Sunday bonus chapter
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patre on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond
Bạn cũng có thể thích
bình luận đoạn văn
Tính năng bình luận đoạn văn hiện đã có trên Web! Di chuyển chuột qua bất kỳ đoạn nào và nhấp vào biểu tượng để thêm nhận xét của bạn.
Ngoài ra, bạn luôn có thể tắt / bật nó trong Cài đặt.
ĐÃ NHẬN ĐƯỢC