Sparring 2

Noboru and I faced each other and we both settled into our stances – his I presume to be the Konoha Academy fighting style, while I held up both hands in a loose, southpaw boxing stance.

"Ready? …Hajime!"

My opponent remained where he was as his hand stretched out beckoning me to advance, "Come on little Shinji, don't be scared. I won't hurt you.. too badly."

While I had been confident going in, the moment the fight started I felt my throat dry up immediately as I gulped down my apprehension. This is literally the first fight I had ever been in, past life or current. I could feel a bead of sweat trickling down my forehead as I took an experimental step forward.

Annoyed that I wasn't moving more, Noboru sneered, "If you aren't coming to me, then I guess I will come to you!" With that he launched himself forward at me, a punch flying towards my face.

Two things happened at that moment.

One, all of my apprehension and hesitance vanished instantly as a result of my [Gamer's Mind] kicking in. I could suddenly comprehend that despite my opponent's larger physique and presumed experience, he was still just a kid who barely had any training himself.

Furthermore, he was an orphan who was vastly inferior to children from Shinobi clans who had begun training and body conditioning from the moment they could run. And to exacerbate his own circumstances, Noboru was a childish boy who preferred to play with his friends than train more than he needed to.

Two, I attempted to move back in an effort to give myself more time to dodge the incoming attack. However, as I took the first steps, I somehow tangled up my feet and had to quickly balance myself to stop myself from falling on my butt. But as a result of my mistake, Noboru was able to capitalize on my imbalance and landed a fist on my face, knocking me down on the ground.

-32 HP!

"1 to 0, Noboru. Yo Shinji, we can still call it quits right now, you don't have to continue if you don't want to." Takumi called out.

Noboru moved back to give me space and jeered, "Oh come on, weren't you running your mouth off before?" Takumi glared at him. "Tsk. Alright, alright, yeah what he said. Don't force yourself to do something stupid you brat."

Narrowing my eyes, I picked myself back up and dusted off my shorts. "No it's okay, it was just nerves. Let me go again." Even though the [Gamer's Mind] had calmed down my anxieties, my own inexperience and clumsiness hindered me from moving like I wanted to.

I was thinking too much, and once I started overthinking, I made a stupid mistake and tripped myself. This goes to show that even the [Gamer's Mind] could only do so much to ready my mental state. If the flesh wasn't capable, no matter how composed the mind was, it wasn't enough.

"…If you're sure." Takumi once again resumed the match.

Noboru repeated his previous tactic, instantly running towards me again with his fist cocked back. I could see his smirk. Not this time.

This time, I planted my feet down, determined not to commit the same mistake again. Instead, I executed a flawless slip to the left, dodging the punch, and was able to pivot away from the opponent with my back, opening up the space to- "Oof." I grunted out as he landed a kick on my exposed sides.

-58 HP!

Shit. This wasn't playing out like I had visualized in my head. Stupid kid Noboru may be, this wasn't his first fight while it definitely was mine.

I jumped away and was grateful Noboru did not chase after me. The pain was only momentary, but I wanted to give myself some time to recover.

"Dude, I'm starting to feel bad. Just yield before you get hurt even more."

I affixed myself in my stance again and clenched my fists, "Are you going to keep talking or are we going to fight?"

Noboru rolled his eyes, "You sure can talk for someone who is getting his ass kicked."

This time however, I did not wait for him to come to me. I moved towards him first hoping to catch him off guard. He was not as careless as that however, but he did stay in place, inviting my attacks. I threw a few jabs which he easily blocked and then slipped out of the way of a counter cross from him.

I pivoted myself as I had trained before and circled around Noboru hoping to catch him at an angle, all the while keeping an eye on his legs to avoid getting kicked again. As expected, my opponent turned towards me and launched a kick at my sides again. However, this time I was ready for it. I tensed up my body and blocked the kick with my forearm, following which I threw a straight punch that caught him right in his smug face.

It was obvious he was not expecting me to retaliate at all, as he froze for a short moment after recoiling from my punch, allowing me to exploit the opening by following the first punch with two more jabs to his face and a solid, body shot that I was sure rattled his bones.

Noboru withdrew rapidly, "What the hell have you been eating, goddamn why are your hits so heavy." He spat out while nursing his lower torso.

I grinned, still feeling the reverberations from the last punch. It was the first punch he had ever thrown that actually hit another person, and the feeling was exhilarating. "Just regular push ups and pull ups, Noboru-senpai."

"Yeah right. Okay fine, brat knows how to punch but let's see how you deal with a little more speed." Noboru ran at me again, now faster than he ever was before. If I had not suspected he had been holding back before, I would have thought he just levelled up and pumped all his stats into DEX.

Instead of running straight at me, he turned diagonally and actually jumped right at me. I only took a moment watching him in mid-air before slightly dipping down, raising my front knee and pivoted my back leg while extending the front leg in a high kick towards Noboru, who as expected landed right on my foot before he fell and crumpled on to the ground.

"1 to 1, S-Shinji!" Takumi cried out; eyes still widened in surprise.

"Woah Shinji! Nice kick! And what was with that jump, Noburo ya dumbass!" Hiroki who had been watching from the side-lines cheered for me while simultaneously jeering at the fallen Noburo.

Noburo twitched on the floor and held up a hand, "T-time out, just… just give me a moment."

I eyed the crumpled up form with some concern, worried that I had been too heavy-handed to a guy who had previously been holding back to not hurt me. "You okay, Noburo-senpai?"

He shakily stood back up while nodding, holding his abused sternum. "Y-yeah you got me unexpectedly but, that was just an accident!"

Taking deep breaths to soothe his pain, he yelled out, "Let's go again, I'm ready!"

Giving a mental command, I targeted him with [Observe]

Takemoto Noboru Lv 8

HP: 1420/1680

He was moderately injured but what surprised me was the extent of the damage I did to him as compared to what he dealt me. It was not as if my STR stat could be that much higher than his. Pondering on the issue for a moment, I theorized that perhaps the numerical value of the damage shown did not accurately reflect the stats of the attacker.

That reasoning would make more sense as unlike a game, not every punch and kick would deal the same damage to an enemy, especially when landing on different body parts. A quick jab to a shoulder wouldn't be as harmful as a carefully timed counter hook to the jaw.

Since his first punch on me served more as a way to knock me off balance rather than to injure, and the second kick was more of a quick jolt rather than a cocked and fired, full power attack, it did not do as much damage as the full power ones I did on him. Added to the fact that he had been holding back for the first portion of the duel, the theory was definitely plausible.

Takumi nodded, still slightly taken aback by the ferocity of the last kick but willing to let the fight play out.

This time around Noboru did not approach me, intending to recover from the unexpected blow to his chest. Although I wanted to give the poor guy a break, I had a quest to complete and couldn't give him the time to improve his condition.

I took a few steps towards him, the previous successes emboldening and filling me with a certain degree of confidence. Noburo tightened his stance, ready for me to make the first move.

Once I was in range, I snapped out a kick that was blocked. Quickly retrieving my leg, I threw out a few quick jabs that were also ineffective. I noticed that, while he was managing to block my attacks, his response was slower, likely being in pain from the kick I had given him.

Capitalizing on his dulled reflexes, I swiftly threw out a combo before feinting on a punch while ducking down and sweeping him off his feet with an extended leg.

I checked his status with [Observe] again as Takumi cried out, "2 to 1, Shinji!"

Takemoto Noboru Lv 8

HP: 1335/1680

As I had suspected, his HP barely went down as most of my attacks were defended against and even the sweeping leg kick only served to sweep him off his feet.

Noburo quickly jumped back up again, this time glaring slightly. "Fuck. Okay, no more mister nice guy. I'm going all out now. Takumi! Let's go, c'mon!"

I moved back a few steps and readied myself once more. I could tell from his expression he was no longer taking it easy on me, which meant I had to prepare for his impending all-out assault.

"Match point. Hajime!"

Noburo charged straight at me, and since we were not as far apart this time, he looked to be quickly closing the distance. Not content with being on the defensive, I launched myself forwards as well, meeting him in the middle.

I could see it. He was angry. And that anger was clouding his judgement. He threw wild haymakers with the intention of taking my head off, and that wildness was easily exploited.

As I ducked underneath one such swing, I swung back up past his guard and held my forearm against his right bicep, preventing his next punch that would have cleaned my clock by impeding the motion of his swinging arm.

Immediately after, I rocked his momentum with a body blow using my free hand. To which he responded by grasping the back of my head with his left arm and tried to land a Muay Thai style knee on my face that I barely avoided by throwing myself out of harm's way through the open right side.

Once I rolled away and got back up, he immediately followed up with a punishing side kick that I was barely able to block.

-108 HP!

However, I was able to catch the offending appendage and moved in while lifting up his outstretched leg. The resulting loss of balance from the sudden shift in his centre of gravity allowed me to subsequently trip his other, supporting leg and get him for the third time on to the ground. And the match was over.

"3 to 1! Shinji!"

As Noburo looked up at me, his face fluctuating between being both amazed, astonished and aggrieved, I received the question completion notification.

[Quest Alert!]

Spar with Noboru!

-Land a clean shot (√)

-Knock Noboru down once (√)

-(Bonus 1) Knock Noboru down twice (√)

-(Bonus 2) Defeat Noboru in the spar (√)

-(Bonus 3) Knock out Noboru (X)

Rewards:

+100 EXP

REP increased with Takumi

REP increased with Hiroki

REP increased with Noboru

(Bonus 1) +100 EXP

(Bonus 2) +100 EXP

Congratulations! You have won your first fight! You may select a reward from the list below!

1. Skill: [Konoha Academy Taijutsu]

2. Starter set training weights

3. Skill: [Power Strike]

4. Skill: [Tough Skin]

I raised an eyebrow at the message. It has been awhile since I last received one of those first achievement reward, the most recent being when I had purchased my groceries for the first time when I moved in to the dormitory. It had congratulated me for spending money for the first time and I received the same amount of ryo that I had spent directly into my inventory. If I had known beforehand I would have bought something more extravagant, but hindsight was 20-20 I suppose.

Dismissing the notification window and putting off the selection of a reward, I reached out with a hand to help Noboru up. He paused and looked at the offered appendage for a moment before taking it and getting up.

"Holy crap Shinji, you sure pack a punch, I can tell you that. Where did you learn all that?" Noboru asked as he dusted himself off.

I was glad that the altercation did not damage our friendship, heck it might have won me some respect from the three of them if the system messages were at all accurate.

"Just picked it up here and there, you alright? I didn't hurt you too bad did I?"

Noboru winced, "The hits didn't hurt but that right there cut deep into what's left of my pride." He said, gesturing to his heart.

The other two gathered around us, "Noboru what the hell happened, you got your ass kicked by someone not even in the Academy yet!" Hiroki questioned, holding back his laughter.

Noboru glared at him, "Shove off! Don't say nothing before getting hit by that little monster."

"Kid's got moves," Takumi nodded appreciatively with new found respect for his young friend. "He might be able to show up those clan punks after all."

"Thanks guys, but really most of it was luck. Noboru-senpai was holding back and I just managed to catch him by surprise a few times."

"Damn straight! You bet your ass it was luck! Just give me 10 minutes and let's go for round two, brat!" Noboru exclaimed to our combined laughter.

Hiroki snickered, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Luck my ass. Take a hike. Let me see whether Shinji here is super strong, or you are just ass at taijutsu."

I turned to him, surprised, "Huh? You mean…?"

Hiroki grinned, "Yep! The cavalry has arrived. You're up against me next!"

[Quest Alert!]