Chapter 14

It was the second day of the trio's journey. With the extras that Reid hunted, they wouldn't need to hunt for another few days and with Lisa storing everything, they weren't too bothered about where they set up camp.

Reid was still pondering over his mother's mysterious and hidden strength. During his brief time at the academy, he was greatly educated about the Uchiha's bloody history.

'The weak should obey the strong!'

That is the basic principle that the Uchiha follow. They naturally wouldn't accept a weak leader so the he was very curious about his mother's strength. The warriors of the clan that he had seen didn't look weak at all. If they thought they were strong enough, they would have simply challenged her for the position of clan head long ago.

'There might also be the factor that maybe the reason someone hasn't done that is because they aren't interested. That is a possibility to consider but not something that I'm willing to bet on.' His thoughts were all around the place so it wasn't surprising when he tripped on the uneven ground and almost fell.

"Something wrong Reid? You seem oddly distracted." Lisa, who had been silent for a long while, asked in concern.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just…bored." He replied, covering up his thought process. She seemed to believe him, just barely. Miko, who was listening in on the other hand, didn't fall for it.

"Hoh? Since you're bored, maybe it's time for us to start your training." She said with a knowing smirk.

'She knew!' His eyes widened a bit. She knew that he still hadn't let go of the mystery of her strength.

"Really?" He asked with disbelief. He still couldn't handle the thought that his gentle looking mother was probably a strong fighter. The disturbing thoughts didn't stop him from leveling up his skills at night and as they walked.

[Aura] and [Aura Manipulation] were now at level 10 and 15 respectively. He wondered how long it would take him to take [Aura] to level 25. He would unlock his [Semblance] and his strength would skyrocket.

He had many ideas to level it up faster. He knew he was being impatient but he couldn't help it. There were a lot of things that caused this impatience. Cinder, Ironwood, Ozpin, Salem…the relics.

'I refuse to be weak!'

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Lisa looked on from the sidelines, confused at how the situation became like this. Reid and Miko standing opposite each other, Reid with a face of total concentration and Miko with an unbothered smile.

From the little knowledge he had from [Combat Mastery], he could see a lot of blatant flaws and openings but his rational mind told him to be cautious.

Reid burst forward towards his mother with his body tense but also loose. Even when he got within striking range, she still didn't move from her position.

His fist was already a few inches away from her face when he suddenly flew backwards. It seemed as if he was pushed back by some form of repulsion but he knew better.

He skidded backwards with his arm blocking his chest as his feet dug into the earth, leaving deep tracks in the ground.

'What happened?' He looked closely at his mother. She still looked as calm as ever. As if he didn't just attack her.

"Is that all?" She asked absentmindedly. He knew she was trying to provoke him but he couldn't help but get a bit vexed.

He straightened himself up before leaping right back at her with his hands hidden behind him. His hand flew out from behind him and swung it in front of him, releasing small projectiles from his palm.

Miko raised a brow at the objects coming towards her and then…she moved! The projectiles were thrown in such a way that left only two ways to avoid them, jump or duck. She took that latter and quickly lowered herself to the ground.

Reaching that low height, she was met with Reid in front of her, a fist close to her chin and a victorious smirk on his face. She smiled gently as her hand shot up, catching his fist just in front of her.

Reid's eyes widened as his fist was caught. Pulling his arm back, he quickly recovered and aimed his heel at her midsection. With speed far above what he could react to, she caught his ankle.

"Nice plan…but you're too slow." She whispered softly in his ear as she spun around with his ankle still in her grip and threw him away into the air.

Still in motion, he righted himself midair with his arm cocked back. He launched another small object from his hand at her, this one moving much faster than the previous ones.

She quickly jumped backwards as the small object struck the ground making a small 'boom' and raising a decent amount of dust.

She landed softly a few meters away with a unimpressed look but on the inside, despite the many errors she noticed, she was immensely proud of his battle sense. She couldn't expect him to perfect right away.

She was simply keeping up the facade to test how he would react in such a situation. Mental strength was just as important as physical strength.

With the help of [Flash Step], Reid's figure burst out of the dust towards her at speed she didn't expect to come from him. Just as he reached her, he used [Flash Step] once again, moving to her left side just as she coincidentally swung her fist at his former position.

'There!!!'

He hadn't meant to but he unintentionally dodged her attack and aimed his fist at the side of her head with full power.

His fist passed where her head was with no resistance. His eyes widened in alarm as she was no longer in front of him. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on ends and tried to leap away only to feel a hand on his shoulder.

'Fast!' He thought in utter shock at her speed. He turned his neck slowly to see her standing behind him with a smile on her face and not a hair out of place.

'Earlier, it wasn't any form of repulsion. She hit me so fast I couldn't see it.' He thought remembering his first attempt for attack her. He tensed his body in preparation to retaliate only to be stopped by her voice.

"That's enough for now." She spoke simply as he reluctantly relaxed his body. He wanted to continue the fight but he didn't have a say in that.

"I didn't think this was how it would turn out." His curiosity on her strength had been soothed. He was also educated on the difference in strength between him and the strong. He knew he was weak but he didn't think it was this bad.

He had thrown stones to distract her and lure her into position only to be caught in his follow up attacks. He threw one more stone but this time he used [Aura Flow] on it, increasing it speed and destructive capability.

He had a valid reason for already having stones with him. He used them through the night to practice [Aura Flow]. Some stones couldn't take it after some time and just crumbled into pieces so he kept a lot of them in his inventory. He never thought he'd use them like this.

"Did that answer your questions?" She asked rhetorically as she watched his face twist into a pout.

"How did you use those stones like that?" She asked, despite already knowing. He contemplated telling her the truth. He was sure that she already knew what he did yet she asked this.

"I channeled aura into the stones right before I threw them. From the way you dodged earlier, I didn't doubt that you would dodge it. The dust was to create a cover for me to surprise you, obviously it didn't work." He finished, slightly petty towards the end.

The fact that he was able to plan ahead was a pleasant surprise. She didn't want him to simply be a bull, charging forward headfirst every time.

'Even I hadn't been this good at his age.' She reminisced proudly.

"You're a natural at this. We need to work on your physique and your hand to hand combat. If you do well enough, we'll move on to weapons." She said as Lisa checked on his body to make sure he wasn't injured.

He was no longer focused on what Lisa was doing, his mind was now on the notification panel in his face.

••••••••••••••••••••

[Combat Mastery has leveled up!]

[Aura flow has leveled up!]

[Throwing Mastery has leveled up!]

[Flash Step has leveled up!]

[Combat Mastery has leveled up!]

[Combat Mastery has leveled up!]

[You have gained +1 Dex and +1 Str!]

[Impromptu Mission Complete!]

[Mission Objective: Impress your mother!]

[Reward: Skill]

[You have gained…]