13 Seal of Confrontation

For the next couple of hours, Fuzen paid little attention to class and besides the occasional whisper to Kushina focused on developing a close-range offensive technique to compliment his speed.

Hidden underneath the desk small black patches coated areas of Fuzen's left hand making it appear smitten by some horrible disease intent on marring his otherwise unblemished dark skin.

Feeling sure he was able to hold it like this for a while Fuzen turned to Kushina.

"Do you have a pencil I could borrow?"

It took her a while as went over and discarded several pencils from her case before handing him one she thought appropriate for his use.

"Sure. However, you don't strike me as the notetaking type."

"Now what would make you think that?"

Taking hold of the pencil, he brought it to rest above one of the black patches covering his hand.

"I don't know, just a hunch –"

Noticing something wrong, she looked down at Fuzen's hands in time to see a significant part the pencil she'd given him disappear into a weird looking black smudge.

Holding it up, Fuzen inspected the pencil with great interest.

"Hmm..."

About one-third of the pencil was gone, and the end had been cut clean leaving no evidence of resistance behind. It was as if the black patches functioned as small black holes that if allowed would eat whatever fed them. An empty void ready to devour anything coming into contact with it.

"Oi, my pencil!"

Kushina's accusatory voice disrupted his thoughts, and unlike his usual self, he almost felt bad about it. Scratching the back of his head, he looked at the now much shorter pencil.

"I'll buy you a new one after class, okay?"

Folding her arms, she propped up her still growing breasts making them look a bit bigger and gave him a stern look.

"You better! Otherwise I'll..."

She grew silent and broke eye contact.

"Otherwise what? Tell me I want to know."

With her head buried down in her notes again, she answered.

"Nothing. Just buy me a new one, please."

Even though he suspected what she intended to say, Fuzen didn't call her out. The only purpose it'd serve was to make her embarrassed or even worse, cry.

Bending down low, he tried to gain her attention.

"No problem, we'll drop by a place after class where you can choose any pencil you want."

After she agreed, Fuzen leaned back and put his feet up once again. Dealing with emotional women was much like handling a bomb ready to blow. You never knew when sadness might turn to anger, and she'd attempt stabbing you or worse threaten to withhold sex.

Feeling someone's attention directed at the two of them, Fuzen glanced around the classroom until he found the source, a blond-haired boy with spiky hair near the front row.

A young Minato briefly met his eyes but caught in the act averted them back to the blackboard where Osamu was explaining the function of different shinobi formations.

Ignoring Minato, he went back to perfecting his technique by making it cover his entire lower arm and hand.

Absorbed in his task, it went unnoticed when all the other students left the classroom, and it wasn't until Kushina poked him with an insistent finger that he found it was only the two of them left. Everything was packed up and cleaned.

"Where did everybody go?"

"In the event, you paid attention you would've heard our teacher Osamu instruct everyone to meet him outside for sparring matches."

With both hands on her hips, she looked kind of cute. Fuzen liked women with a temper. It made it so much more satisfying to tame them later on.

Standing up from his seat, Fuzen gestured for her to lead the way and he'd follow from behind.

Not bothering to scold him any further she led them out to a fenced off area where all those from class had gathered beside a small circle cheering on two students sparring under Osamu's close supervision.

Joining late, Kushina discretely guided the two of them to the back of the cheering audience.

"Halt! That's enough!"

Osamu went in between the two boys sparring and made them do the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Okay! Who wants to go next?"

He searched the audience for willing students but found no volunteers.

"Listen, I've already told you guys several times before. A shinobi's taijutsu is one of the most reliable skills in their arsenal and as such neglecting it won't help any of you."

When he was close to picking a couple of students at random, Osamu saw a raised hand step through the silent crowd.

"I'm up for it..."

"Outstanding Minato! And who do you wish to be your opponent?"

Waiting, Osamu could see Minato trying to locate the one he wanted to face. It didn't take long for him to lock onto Fuzen who stood in the back talking intimately with Kushina.

"I choose Fuzen."

After hearing his decision, a tidal wave of hushed whispers moved throughout the small gathering of students until it reached Fuzen's ears.

Looking up for his conversation with Kushina, he saw Minato's eyes glued to him. While Fuzen hadn't quite expected for Minato to have the guts to challenge him, he saw no reason to refute him.

With a small wink to Kushina, Fuzen left to join Osamu and Minato in the circle.

"I assume we're only using taijutsu?" Fuzen asked for confirmation.

Osamu nodded and told them they were free to begin after they'd made the Seal of Confrontation.

The atmosphere was thick with anticipation when both of them stepped into the middle of the ring and faced each other. Minato was the best their class could offer and a renowned prodigy within Konohagakure. They were interested to see how he matched up against this mysterious student who'd overwhelmed their teacher.

Fuzen had been taught to never go easy on an opponent, not even in a spar. So, despite it being a spar he wasn't about to go easy on Minato.

After completing the gesture, Minato immediately took the offensive and initiated their fight, leaving a small cloud of dust behind.

With Minato's right fist about to connect to his temple, Fuzen surprised everybody present by not deciding to block or parry, but instead to step-in even closer and narrowly avoid the hit by bending his head.

Not giving Minato the chance to escape, he followed through with a powerful right uppercut to the midsection and when Minato's form crumpled finished it off with a quick left hook to the cheek.

Not waiting for Minato to wake up from his unconscious slumber to perform the Seal of Reconciliation, Fuzen stepped over him and went back to stand beside Kushina.

It took less than two seconds, yet the result was brutal as Minato got dominated.

Osamu was the first one to react and went to check on Minato. After finding he'd sustained no major injury, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's a wrap for today. Well fought Fuzen, though perhaps take it easier next time?"

About to leave together with Kushina, he turned around.

"I don't fight for fun."

With that said Fuzen used his 'Shadow Walk' and both of them disappeared into the ground.