The Wounded Pride Of A Lion

It was a fine afternoon. The sun continued to scorch Konoha on what appeared to be one of the warmest days in the history of the village itself.

Even in this sort of conditions the educational staff of the academy did not seem to possess the slightest amount of pity for the students who were visibly struggling to endure the weather and also pay attention at the same time.

And it was on such a 'wonderful' day that a certain class teacher had found it amusing to have two students spar just outside the academy. The students in question seemed to be so fast that most of the kids could only see a red flash fusing with a dark-blue one when they clashed with each other.

"Not bad, Sasuke." Ren's mouth formed a small grin which expressed his excitement for the spar and his opponent. The 'last' Uchiha only grunted and narrowed his eyes in retaliation to the 'last' Uzumaki's actions.

Exchanging hits with the red-head never turned out that well for him, that much Sasuke had realized for a very long time. Even if he somehow pulled a draw, he'd end up with sore spots all over his body which often took days to heal if not weeks.

'His stance is as eccentric and odd as always… The moment I hit him he's already ready to counter-attack with double the strength and vigor.'

Sasuke frowned before jumping backwards just in time to dodge Ren's sweeping kick aimed at his legs. So much dust had been collected in the air that even with his eyes being excellent at following his opponent it was tough to track his position.

If it had been anyone else, they'd just be at Ren's mercy. The renowned ocular bloodline of the Uchiha was not available to Sasuke right now, but his eyesight was still sharper than most.

'If I were to judge just based on previous experience, he's probably going to try and make me lose focus for a split of a second just enough for him to make me back off this circle.'

The question was would he chose a cheap way to win, or try to win it the hard way?

Sasuke was not unfamiliar to Ren's ways. The Uzumaki was not below doing the lowest of acts simply to make him lose focus or catch him off-guard, in fact you could even say he was a specialist at that.

So the chances of him using a 'cheap' or 'dirty' method to win was not unbeknown to the red-head's arsenal.

He put effectivity about all, and this was not a spar based on merely Taijutsu, but it was to see who could push the other outside the circle. Thus, he had to remain as focused as an Eagle searching for its prey.

A gust of wind encompassing the surroundings was all it took for Sasuke to raise his vigilance to the highest level.

'It's coming…'

The dust was slowly pushed away by the wind revealing the other side of the circle. Ren was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke's eyes widened in bewilderment before he looked up and barely dodged a punch from Ren.

The red-head's eyes were shadowed by his hair, but he swore he saw his amethyst eyes beaming with violent intent. 'This bastard… He really was serious when he told me he wasn't going to go easy at all!'

It wasn't like Sasuke could really complain, he was the one who had always wanted to fight Ren at full power. Still, it was an odd scene to witness, usually it was Sasuke the one who had the advantage for most of the fight.

Ren lurched towards Sasuke in a series of unpredictable movements. Sasuke grimaced as he struggled to keep up with the multiple movements with an eccentric form which made it all more difficult.

Before Sasuke could even fully realize what was happening a fist slammed into his cheek and sent him flying, he barely managed to regain control of his lower body in the last minute and force his body to stop.

Unbeknown to Sasuke he had just escaped certain elimination by what could be described as the width of a hair.

A growl escaped his mouth as he spat some saliva.

'There is no time to be fooling around. If I lose like this then what in hell have I been doing in the last 3 years?! How in hell will I kill Itachi and avenge the clan when there is someone in the class who can toy with me like this!'

Sasuke found himself in a predicament and for some odd reason Ren did not continue to push forward. He took a stance which those familiar with the Uchiha's unique fighting style would immediately associate with offense.

This time around, it was he who took the intent to attack first. After closing the distance between the two with a quick dash he thrust one of his fists with full strength straight at Ren's head.

Iruka who was paying attention to the spar from just outside the circle shook his head with a helpless look. At the rate of improving the two had, by the time they graduated he'd be incapable of stopping the two from murdering each other. 'Perhaps next time I should bring Mizuki with me…'

Ren used his forearm to sweep Sasuke's fist to the side and threw his own fist at the boy. The Uchiha simply used his arm as a platform to launch himself in the air and explode with several kicks at Ren.

'Fuck.' Ren was overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks and was forced to move backwards. This did not discourage him as the next thing he did was slam his leg into Sasuke's abdomen.

Iruka widened his eyes, due to being a split of a second too late he was incapable of stopping the attack.

Sasuke lost all his momentum and lost any sort of strength which kept him still in the fight. His body fell onto the ground and he coughed blood mixed with saliva, something he did not notice until he put his hand over his mouth.

"Halt!" Iruka shouted as he ran to Sasuke and checked his condition and if he could walk.

The boy himself was not concerned with his injury at all and if not for Iruka holding him back, he most likely would've tried to attack Ren once again. His thirst for a fight with Ren surpassed any sort of pain he was feeling at the moment.

Iruka looked at Sasuke. The boy was gnashing his teeth while blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and the invisible gaps of his teeth, his eyes showed nothing but wild fury and desire to continue the spar.

Ren scratched the back of his head as he witnessed Sasuke act like a wild animal. He was not a battle maniac but he did enjoy a good fight and even he could feel Sasuke's desire to reach a new level; he could feel the Uchiha's body screaming at him.

"Sensei, seeing how Sasuke is not in a condition to fight, I presume I won the spar?"

Ultimately common sense won over the wish to continue the spar until neither of them could achieve the absolute victor or improvement they desired.

Iruka nodded and Ren did not even bother with the Seal of Reconciliation. In the condition his dark-blue haired classmate was he might just attack him just to prove he was superior. That was his hubris and it was something he had to fix.

He went back to his classmates who were busy staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths. Some of their eyes were filled with awe and surprise, but a good chunk was filled with anger and fury. He identified the later as Sasuke's fangirl club.

"Dude, you were so amazing out there!" As expected, the first one to break the silence was Naruto, the blond-haired hyperactive kid.

A chuckle came out of Ren's mouth as he continued to scratch the back of his head. "Well I think it would've ended up a bit more differently if we weren't restricted by a simple circle and technically, I didn't even win."

Naruto's eyes shone so brightly that he was scared they might just pop out and blind him. After a minute or two, Iruka stopped restraining and tending to Sasuke who had finally relaxed.

A sigh escaped the older man's mouth.

Sasuke took a deep breath before letting it all out, this whole situation was unbecoming of him.

"You alright dude?" An arm dropped on his neck earning a slight shiver from the Uchiha. "What do you want Ren?" Sasuke growled each word while shoving the arm away, but Ren did not mind or at least he did not show it.

"You know, I feel like we both have a lot to learn from each other, so how about we spar like this daily? No circle, no holding back, just the two of us going at each other with everything we have."

Just as he was about to refuse this idiotic idea immediately, Sasuke started to think about the positives rather than the negatives.

'The moron's idea doesn't actually sound that bad… If I could adapt to his eccentric movements perhaps, I could be one step closer to defeating Itachi.'

Instead of badmouthing the Uzumaki he simply nodded his head which made Ren smile brightly.

"Great, we can meet each other at the Senju Compound, there's lots of space we could use there and it's not like anyone will interrupt us, well sometimes the ANBU patrol that area since no one lives there, but it's mainly desolated most of the time." Ren grimaced, it felt like yesterday when he had sensed an ANBU just outside the Senju Compound and been scared shitless.

Ren waved his hand as a gesture of goodbye and walked back towards Naruto who was squinting his eyes as he looked at the duo.

".."

Sasuke stared at Ren's back as he walked away.

'I guess it's just an opportunity to get back at the tomato-head for that kick of his earlier.'

A cold expression ruled over his face. He grabbed a bottle of water and drank it.

'Uzumaki-Senju Ren, you and me have a deal. By the end of our sparring matches you'll be incapable of even matching me blow for blow. I will show you the might of an Uchiha."