Chapter 05: Sparring with Sasuke
My Life As Naruto Uzumaki - Harem Version
Chapter 05: Sparring with Sasuke
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[Third Person POV]
[Objective - Reduce Opponent DS by 80% or more.
Conditions - No jutsu allowed, no tools allowed.
Lose Condition - DS reduced by 15% or more, tools or jutsu attempted.
Difficulty - D-Rank
Rewards - Level +2, New Kunai and Shuriken Set w/sharpening tools]
[Failure will result in a loss of reputation]
Naruto viewed the specifics of his objective and sighed, "This isn't necessarily hard, but it is certainly less forgiving than I was expecting. I won't complain, though. Failing any mission always carries a negative consequence with it. Real life or game, this just happens to be both, hehe"
Iruka looked at both boys with apprehension for a moment before remembering that they were training to be shinobi, and determining that this would help them, and hopefully the other students as well. He told them to perform the sign of confrontation, waiting for both students to acknowledge and comply. Naruto did so but was lost in thought.
He was wondering why Sasuke had become so proactive in fights when his clan's style was based around countering their opponent's attacks. He understood Sasuke was angry, among other things, but he was creating way too many holes in his stance when trying to proactively probe his opponent. Not having the Sharingan really was to Sasuke's disadvantage.
Iruka observed that both boys made the sign and lowered his hand in a chopping motion, signaling the start of the match.
Sasuke wasted no time and rushed forward with the intent to show off his power and see where he and Naruto stood. He got within striking distance and threw a right hook.
Naruto came back to reality just in time to dodge Sasuke's punch, before slamming an uppercut to his stomach that doubled the boy over in pain [-80]. Naruto then followed up with a 1-2 combo and a push kick to create some distance [-140]. Sasuke recovered quickly and grew angry, pushing his offensive once more.
Naruto began to dodge his opponent's fast but telegraphed strikes. Sasuke's anger at being so easily countered consuming him, affecting his otherwise spot-on technique. Naruto wasn't sure how strong Sasuke's attacks were now, and considering that blocking attacks or getting any glancing blows would do chip damage, he did the best thing he could to avoid failing his objective. Dodge.
(Piccolo's voice rings out across the cosmos, "DODGE!!!")
As Naruto continued to dodge strikes, he kept thinking of the possible hidden conditions this objective might have. He wanted to make sure to meet them since those usually had cool rewards that proved useful to him in some way. Some conditions were related to how he inflicted damage, defended against damage, or behaved during certain parts of the battle, among other things.
Naruto heard a ding, signaling the completion of a hidden condition, and he grinned. Some conditions had multiple phases, and specific dings meant different things. The one he just heard signaled the completion of the entire condition. Which meant that he could let loose now.
Naruto baited the angered Sasuke's attack and did a perfect counter, something that worked by adding Naruto's heavy attack damage (2xSTR) and double whatever damage the opponent's attack would've dealt to Naruto.
Naruto redirected Sasuke's kick to the side and slammed his knee into Sasuke's chest [-200] before following up with two more punches [-80] that left Sasuke open for the final blow of Naruto's counter-attack. Naruto got under Sasuke and did an upward flip-kick and follow-up roundhouse kick [-160].
Sasuke broke his fall and got back up, rushing in, feeling a sense of hopelessness overpower him, tears from the pain and frustration flowing down his cheeks. Naruto hardened his heart at the range of emotions coming from Sasuke's eyes and faked a dodge, landing a right hook straight to Sasuke's cheek [-200] and landing three more punches to Sasuke's chest and face [-120], knocking him out of the ring and winning the match.
There was little satisfaction in his victory, however. Naruto believed that he shouldn't be this much stronger than Sasuke; regardless of the latter's sloppy fighting. Naruto had a short moment of contemplation before walking over to Sasuke and helping him off of the ground.
"It doesn't feel right to beat you like this, Sasuke...", Naruto said as he stared at Sasuke in the eyes. Sasuke was trying his best to hide his tears, both from pain and humiliation.
"I want a rematch, but only after you've calmed down and can fight at your best. This was not it, and it hurts to see my friend suffering so much", Naruto hugged the crying boy he'd just beaten to a pulp.
"G-*hic*-get off of me, loser-", Sasuke would protest.
It was becoming harder to reign in his emotions and the pain in his ribs wasn't helped by Naruto's caring embrace. He wanted him off of him but felt too weakened to resist.
"No, Sasuke... you're hurting, much like I've been hurting for a long time... I don't care what you say, you're my friend and I'm not going to let your anger consume you", Naruto broke the hug and looked him in the eyes.
"Let's train together, Sasuke. I can help you become stronger, and I can help take some of the loneliness away... don't force yourself to be alone...", Naruto told Sasuke, hoping he would accept.
He would force him if he didn't, but he wanted Sasuke to want to be saved. Sasuke stared at Naruto's eyes intently and eventually agreed, letting Naruto take him into the infirmary to check his wounds.
"You punch a lot harder than I remember...", Sasuke remarked.
"Well, you're not exactly a light tapper either, ya'know? I was lucky I avoided getting hit. Last time I was feeling it all the way to the end of class", Naruto observed.
The two walked in silence, a small smile on each of their faces.
The crowd of students was speechless at the effortless display of power and technique made by Naruto, and his show of camaraderie. Iruka was proud of his little brother and coughed to get everyone back on track.
Naruto would later look at his mission rewards and feel a distinct sense of surprise.
[Hidden Condition Rewards:
Complete all hidden objectives; +40,000 ryō, +2 New wardrobe options added to clothing drawer
Help Sasuke up and escort him to the infirmary; +100 admiration from Hinata Hyūga, +50 Interest and +100 Reputation with Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, +500 reputation with Iruka Umino, +500 Reputation with Ninja Academy
Convince Sasuke to be friends after defeating him; +100 Reputation, +100 Respect from Sasuke Uchiha
Complete objective without taking damage; -500 Reputation with Unknown Traitor.]
[*Player* | Lv7 - DS: 5,600/ CP: 7,700/ STR: 56/ AGI: 49/ VIT: 70/ INT: 35/ SNC: 28]
"I didn't know there was a reputation mechanic... makes sense, I remember reading in the archives that Naruto games had something similar back in the day...", Naruto thought as he looked at his prizes.
He thought that jumping two levels from that fight was overkill, but maybe the objective was supposed to be harder. He wouldn't know, and he didn't care to at the moment. He was just happy to have another friend he could spar and spend time with.
While Naruto continued to lose himself in his thoughts, he missed the strange look Sasuke was giving him throughout their time at the infirmary. Sasuke thought that more than anything, Naruto was strange. But maybe he would be able to help him grow stronger faster. He knew for certain that he needed to train harder, and Naruto was a damn strong guy, his aching stomach and ribs could attest to that.
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At some point in his academy career, Naruto had gotten Iruka to see if he could start making changes to the curriculum at the academy. It took a sparring match with Iruka and some key techniques being mentioned to get the teacher to seriously consider these changes, and Naruto couldn't have been happier.
He was still a little miffed that his clone jutsu still only worked 60% of the time by his third year at the academy, considering that all of his other techniques were flawless. He didn't have a great many, sticking to the academy three, and his sexy jutsu, but he could use them to great effect while in combat. With the one exception of his clones. They just wouldn't work consistently and it frustrated him.
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Thanks to his insistence and student interest in the ideas being presented by Naruto, the Third Hokage and Academy instructors decided to add many of the concepts and lessons that Naruto had advocated for since his first term at the academy. Iruka's input in the matter was vital in things moving forward after the latter revealed that he'd incorporated a few of the concepts into his lessons to test out the waters without making significant revisions.
[Flashback]
The Third was more than impressed and more than pleased with his grandson's development as a shinobi and a leader if this new curriculum structure business was any indication of his abilities. He'd also asked Iruka for a more in-depth report on the boy's abilities to see if his talents also spread toward practical shinobi skills. He was pleased that they did indeed but noticed that Naruto's mortal enemy seemed to be the Clone Jutsu, much like how his mother had issues with the same technique in her tenure at the academy.
The Third smiled and told Iruka to monitor Naruto's progress with the technique, telling him that if he improved to a 90% success rate, he would consider some leniency in the final exam, should the clone be the metric.
Iruka felt this to be unfair to other students and asked why, "May I ask why you would consider such an action, Lord Third?"
The third smiled, knowing Iruka's train of thought, "Well, Iruka, Naruto, being an Uzumaki possesses vast reserves of untapped chakra; powerful chakra. This makes it difficult for him to control minuscule amounts and perform techniques that require precise control."
Iruka nodded, understanding, "I see, but Sir... how much chakra are we talking about? His leaf-sticking exercise is flawless. He spins multiple leaves in different directions while still being able to move around freely. As it stands, his level of control is astounding."
The Third nodded, "Well, he should have about as much chakra as I do. He might not have access to all of it, of course, he's still growing which limits his reserves to an extent."
Iruka nodded in understanding and surprise.
The Third continued his train of thought, "But at a minimum, I'd say he's mid-chunin level at present, he's about to turn eleven if I recall, so perhaps high-chunin to low-jonin. This is a conservative estimate, of course, but it should illustrate just how far above he is from his peers."
Iruka balked at the revelation but understood where Naruto's difficulties truly lay. He grew prouder of his little brother for trying so hard to overcome this limitation.
[End Flashback]
The new curriculum was implemented in the last year of Naruto's tenure at the academy, but not all changes were added. The students learned more about things like shape manipulation, nature transformation, and more advanced chakra control techniques used by higher-level shinobi. However, not all new topics were included due to time restrictions, and many of the new topics were left for the next class. Even then, most topics were left theoretical and would not be taught at the academy level in a practical setting.
In the mean time Naruto would also eventually befriend the rest of the Rookie 9, creating stronger bonds and helping them get stronger. Along with stumbling upon what would become his favorite technique.
[Flashback]
As Naruto was training with Hinata one day during their final term, Naruto was growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of progress on his Clone Technique. He's been working on this technique for almost four years and still can't get it to work as intended 100% of the time.
Hinata was looking at Naruto's chakra network, trying to help him accurately determine how much chakra to use for his mortal enemy, as she and his friends had dubbed the technique. She saw Naruto use the right amount for the technique before a burst of red chakra came from his core, ruining the technique.
She gave him a curious look, but Naruto missed it in favor of throwing a tantrum. Naruto rarely complained or got mad, but even he had his limits, and failing to produce the expected result, even with help was getting to him more than she knew.
"Damnit! How many times is this going to keep happening!", Naruto stomped on the ground in frustration, eliciting a giggle from his self-proclaimed girlfriend.
Naruto attempted the technique once more out of spite but overloaded the jutsu, creating a perfect clone, but only one. Naruto was dumbfounded at the development and wasn't sure what he was seeing. Hinata grew curious and got closer to it, Naruto shouted at her to get away and pushed her to the side before the clone exploded violently, making a large crater in the ground and injuring both pre-teens.
Naruto had panicked at the sight of his injured friend and took her to the hospital without a second thought, only to later get chewed out by Hiashi and Iruka before the Third came to his aid.
Hinata, mad at her (not)boyfriend would deny him the hugs and affection that he'd grown dependent on, turning the young blonde hero mopey. She forgave him easily enough with a large bribe of cinnamon buns, but Naruto still looked like a kicked puppy when she talked to him. Hugs were restored and balance was achieved.
[End Flashback]
Days later Naruto would find out that he'd obtained a new technique, Clone Jutsu: Super Explosion, from a note hidden under his pillow. He had a feeling his old man had left it there for him but wasn't certain. He continued his days as normal, eager to start the 'Main Story' of his adventure.