CH_2.12 (043)

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Takuma yawned wide enough to fit three fingers into his mouth as he poured over the unfurled scroll that flowed down both sides of his lap onto the grass of the training field, the same he had once used with Maruboshi.

Reading complicated theory written in a jutsu scroll at four in the morning wasn't an exciting prospect to shoo away the lingering haze of sleep. But it had to be done. He couldn't outspeed Kameko, nor could he face her head-on with taijutsu, especially not against her swordplay. Whatever remaining chance of dwindling victory was slashed down to nothing when chakra-backed bukijutsu got involved.

He needed ninjutsu to create an advantage for himself. A tool that would give him a chance at grabbing victory. And Raiton: Shokku (Lightning Release: Shock) was the tool of his choosing.

Every element on the chakra transformational wheel was versatile in its own right. Earth was the reliable rock of protection under the feet. Fire burned with destructive rage. Water flowed with an elegance that could, at any moment, bring about natural disasters. Air was the ever-present resource that could be commanded to shear through anything sharper than any forged blade ever could. Lightning similarly held power ranging from malignant thunder to trickling electricity, capable of vibrating and creating a cutting force that could pierce any object.

Takuma placed the scroll to the side and walked a sufficient distance away. The jutsu, as any other, required him to weave hand seals that would guide and transform the chakra to suit the jutsu's requirement. The output, in this case, was supposed to be a bolt of lightning coming out of the hand to shock the target with damage and a short spell of paralysis.

It was perfect for him. He could fire it from a range, allowing him to disengage from close combat to some extent, and when the target was struggling from the paralysis, he could then move in close to inflict some punishment. It covered his weakness in taijutsu and gave him an offensive boost.

Weaving hand seals, Takuma channeled his chakra and pointed his arm forward. A few sparks of bluish-white lightning arced around the length of his arm and gathered in front of his palm, condensing into a bolt that shot forward, but before it could fly even a few inches, the bolt fizzled away.

Takuma clicked his tongue and jerked his hand to shake away the smoke. The jutsu wasn't working for him. While it wasn't something he was unfamiliar with as Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Jutsu) and Kawarimi no Jutsu(Substitution Jutsu) came slowly to him.

However, Raiton: Shokku wasn't like them. He had picked the jutsu reasonably quickly. The tree-walking practice had granted him enough chakra control to learn D-rank jutsu— or at least, Raiton: Shokku.

'But not enough to do it properly,' Takuma sighed. While the jutsu activated successfully, the resulting electric bolt was nothing like it should be. The thin bolt barely traveled a couple feet, and while Takuma hadn't experienced it, from the looks of it, the bolt didn't seem capable enough to do any significant damage.

With each passing week, Yoshio would announce his weekly rankings, and one team would be crowned as number one. Team-5 had aced the rankings once, which had once made them contenders for the spot in the final tournament 'representing' Yoshio. But just last week, Kameko's team had gained their second number one position in the rankings, putting them on top. And Cho's team, who had lost out to his team in tree-climbing practice, were slated to win this week(according to Taro), which would also be their second time as number one.

Team-5 needed another number one on weekly rankings to remain a contender for the final tournament— they needed to do it quickly.

And for that, he needed to win more.

———

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"Yuu and Takuma."

Okazaki Yuu grinned when he heard the other name being called out. He glanced at his opponent of the day as he strolled out to the middle of the field for the spar.

Takuma was always an opponent to fight. It meant a victory with a satisfying beatdown was in the bag. The same it had been ever since they were in the academy. Yuu had yet to lose a single fight to Takuma. Even the two times they had fought in basic training, he had swept the floor with Takuma.

Yuu smirked as he raised his hand to form the Seal of Confrontation that Takuma mimicked. Yuu didn't say anything. He waited until Yoshio turned back to walk away, and only when he got the signal to start, he spoke, knowing that everything was fair game within the confines of the spar and the sadistic piece of shit instructor won't find an excuse to swing his baton.

"Yo, Takuma. You look boring as always," said Yuu, his smirk widening. "We haven't fought much since we left the academy. I miss those days, we got to play a lot more than we do now. We had so much, neh?"

His uncle had always told him that provoking the opponents did wonders during fights. Mistakes and hasty decisions in anger were easy to exploit and deliver a solid thrashing. Mind was as important as the body during combat. Everyone in the family disagreed with his uncle. His father said that angering the opponent could make combat more aggressive and challenging to manage if not appropriately handled.

Yuu felt his uncle's words always made sense to him. Especially when he was able to get in solid hits at Hiji during their spars after provoking the Inuzuka with comments like he smelled like a dirty dog that made him sloppy. The Inuzuka clan was much stronger than the Okazaki clan; they had been there since the creation of the Leaf village— so it felt great when he got in hits at Hiji.

He also just liked the expression of anger that appeared on his opponents' faces. It was like they were telling him of their own volition that his tactics were working.

Not with Takuma thought, Yuu narrowed his eyes. Takuma had a stone flat expression on his face as he put some distance between them when Yoshio announced the start. It was always like that since Hiji, him, and their group would go play with Takuma to have some fun, Takuma never gave them any reaction no matter what they said.

It was unsatisfying to see that. But that just made the spars more entertaining because, during the fights, Takuma would struggle against them, and one could know more about the person through sparring than they could ever through simple facial expressions.

Yuu wasted no more time and lunged ahead to get in the first hit. Takuma tried to get out of the way, but Yuu's first initiative made him unable to dodge, so he raised his shoulder to absorb the kick. The contact sent Takuma spinning, stumbling a few back. Yuu saw the slight slack in Takuma's block arm and knew he had done damage, so he didn't relent and charged forward.

Takuma recovered his footwork and scurried away from Yuu, who came at him swinging. He blocked two thundering blows and was already staggering as Yuu continued to send in blow after another.

Yuu felt great. It was times like these that told him that Takuma was still the same dead last he had been in the academy. That the tree-climbing practice challenge was a fluke and that there was no way the dead last could be first in anything. Behind him, his friends gibbered and cheered in turns.

"He's done," one of them said.

"Burn him," another hooted.

Yuu was happy to oblige.

Takuma continued to be pushed back, unable to get in a single hit. He almost stubbornly kept his guard up, using his hands, arms, and legs to protect his torso or head from any of Yuu's attack. He seemed so desperate to stop the incoming attacks that he tried to unsuccessfully grab Yuu's punches and kicks.

Yuu whipped his dominant leg with all the power he could muster from his muscles, and he was sure he could see Takuma's body curve around the place on his arm where the kick made contact. A grin made its way to Yuu's face as he pulled his back, intending to get another kick from the same leg in quick succession.

But suddenly, he couldn't separate his leg from Takuma's arm for a moment, and when he pulled, Takuma got dragged along. Only for a moment, though, as the next second, his leg was back to the ground, and Takuma was swaying as he staggered on his steps.

What was that? Yuu thought. Did something on his shoe catch the fabric of Takuma's clothes?

"Fuck it," he heard a crude whisper.

Yuu couldn't think forward as Takuma sucked air into his lungs, bellowed, and ran for Yuu. The crowd cheered, and Yuu didn't move. He stood there and launched his foreleg into Takuma's chest with a front kick. Takuma folded like a book as he flew back.

*Poof!*

A thick cover of white smoke erupted in front of Yuu and obscured Takuma completely.

'What?' Yuu backed up and alarmingly looked at the smoke, his eyes darting left and right to see through the haze to locate Takuma.

Suddenly four Takumas emerged out of the smoke. They had jumped high and were coming down at him with kunai in their hands. As the smoke cleared up, six more Takuma ran out of the smoke, charging toward him.

Clones. Yuu's mind immediately identified the jutsu in front of him. How did you identify the real from the clones? Shadows! But did the clones in the air cast shadows? What if the real Takuma was among the ones in the air?

Before Yuu could do anything, one of the clones in the air came down with his foot facing his face. Yuu moved to the side to dodge, and his eyes moved to the ground— no shadow; it was a clone. He was about to lightly push the clone to release the jutsu when he heard footsteps.

Yuu immediately turned back and saw a Takuma cocking a punch toward him. He ducked and launched a punch on instinct that went through the clone. He looked around, and all Takuma were attacking him. He felt overwhelmed because he didn't know which one was the real one.

It was then that he felt a kick to the back of his head that rattled his teeth and sent him to the dirt. Before Yuu could react, he felt another kick to the side of his head that rolled him face-side up.

Yuu could no longer tell if the Takuma looking down at him were clones or if his blurry vision had multiplied many times over.

"Fuck you and that mutt," he heard Takuma say over the piercing ringing noise that had started after the second kick.

Takuma dropped to his knees and then started dropping 12-6 elbow strikes down onto Yuu's face, who had one hand pinned down under Takuma's knee while the other hand was fended off by Takuma's other hand.

Yuu couldn't even tell when everything went dark.

———

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"Stop!"

Takuma forced himself to get another elbow strike down on Yuu's bloody and battered face and stepped away from his academy bully, feeling the aches in his body from all the hits he had taken—

'All for nothing,' Takuma clicked his tongue.

"Boy you didn't hold back, did you," Yoshio said as he squatted near the quivering Yuu, who suddenly stopped shaking and went still. "Ah, got knocked out— lucky for him, his friend will take him to get treated. Right, Takuma?"

Takuma knew the rules. The assaulter would go with the injured to the medical tent without helping them. But if the latter party was knocked out, then the assaulter would need to carry them to the tent. He slung Yuu over his shoulder and stomped his way to the medical tent.

"Oh my, even his mother couldn't bear to look at him. You did a number on him, boy," Shady Guy commented after Takuma dumped Yuu on the stretcher.

Takuma didn't reply or wait and walked back to his team and sat down with his team.

"Why're you sulking? You won, you know," said Ai.

"I had to use clones!" Takuma spat. "I wasted it, dammit!"

Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Jutsu) was supposed to be a one-time surprise tactic. Overwhelming his opponent with ten or so clones who didn't know it would come as no one used Bunshin no Jutsu in fights wasn't going to work when his opponent knew that he could use that. Now that he had used it, everyone in the group knew to look out for his clone blitz.

A wasted one-time game changer— wasted.

And his experiment wasn't even successful.

Takuma wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at the ground. He needed to get better at Raiton: Shokku or find a different way to get stronger before the final tournament.

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