Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Sparring
Walking home from his training, Sasuke's empty stomach growls. Fortunately, the Ichiraku Ramen shop is nearby.
"Good evening, Teuchi-san. One big miso chashu ramen please." He said as Teuchi began preparing the food.
Upon taking his seat he noticed a certain yellow haired kid next to his right, eating his full.
Naruto gulped down the ramen soup and noticed Sasuke. "Yow, Sasuke. Done with your training?"
"Oh hey, Naruto. Yeah, I was hungry so I figured why not come here."
Naruto continued eating but Sasuke noticed him lowering his pace with a troubled look on his face.
"You looked troubled. This is the first time I see you immersed deeply with your thoughts."
As soon as he said that, Naruto snapped back and just laughed it off awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
This time, Sasuke's order was finally ready and Teuchi put the bowl in front of him.
"Here's your order. Enjoy." Teuchi said with a smile.
"Thanks" and Sasuke began to eat.
"U-um. Say…" Naruto finally found some courage and finally said something.
"What's the matter?"
Naruto looked away from Sasuke and scratched the side of his face with his index finger. "U-um. I was wondering if I could join you with your training. I-I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to be your friend or anything, nor I'm admitting you are better than me. W-what I'm sayin is-"
Before he could finish and continue making more excuses, Sasuke interrupted him.
"Yeah, sure. Why not? And I want to assess my progress as well." Sasuke said without even looking at Naruto as he continued savoring the taste of his food.
"Nice!" Hearing his response, Naruto was relieved.
"A-ahem. So, starting tomorrow after your after class. Sounds good?"
Sasuke swallowed the food in his mouth and looked at Naruto. Giving a thumbs up, he said "Meet me at the playground then."
//Next day//
At the foot of the mountain, there are two kids, with completely different shades of hair, standing next to a tall tree. They just finished warming up their bodies.
"So, what are we going to do here?" Naruto asked, eager to start the training.
"For starters, we need to assess your physical capabilities first. First, give me as many push ups as you can."
"Alright."
Naruto entered the position and began doing push ups.
…
After minutes of doing push ups continuously without rest, Naruto finally dropped on the ground. He lied there for a minute and stood back up. "What's next?"
"Next, I will be striking this trunk here to shake the tree. There will be leaves falling down so your task is to grab as many leaves as you can, one at a time, before it reaches the ground. You will be given 1 minute." Sasuke explained.
"Sounds easy to me."
…
They continued with the assessment and Sasuke also proceeded with his after Naruto finished.
'I can't believe this. This is definitely cheating.' Sasuke said incredulously as he looked at Naruto who was breathing heavily on the ground. He just finished his assessment and was sweating heavily.
"345 push ups, 86 pull ups, 1.4 meter vertical jump, 28 leaves, 405 laps…That's your score, Naruto. As for me, 448 push ups, 53 pull ups, 3.7 meter vertical jump, 52 leaves, 426 laps…" Sasuke announced.
"Haha, that was pretty close. I even beat you in pull ups. I thought you've been doing this for a week now." Naruto said proudly.
"Well, you sure are not all talk after all. You have great potential, I must say." Sasuke complimented.
'I only started monkey-climbing in this mountain yesterday after realizing how weak my upper body is in doing pull up motions. Still, I was pretty confident in my numbers although it did drop after doing my maximum push ups prior. But this guy, it looks like it's only because of the stack up stress on his muscles. If not, he could have continued more once he built the necessary muscles and strength.'
Sasuke was expecting Naruto to be able to do around 20 pull ups without prior serious physical training. After all, the presence of chakra allows different mutations to occur in the body and increased physical capabilities are certainly among those. Yet, Naruto still surprised him by obliterating and quadrupling that number.
'He's really the heaven's chosen one.' Sasuke thought.
"Anyway, that's it for the day."
"No way. I can still do more." Naruto complained.
"Just rest for tomorrow. I'm already gassed out so Imma bounce." Sasuke said and waved Naruto goodbye.
…
//1 year later//
At the small clearing in the forest, two young kids are standing.
((Naruto))
It's been a year now since I started training with Sasuke. Now that I think about it, the training I did in my bed before was laughable. Literally just punching and kicking an unmoving pillow hanging under the ceiling with a rope.
As for my progress, even Sasuke was surprised. I can proudly say I'm stronger than him. He said it was because of my unusually fast recovery which allowed me to do more training by myself.
But even then, I haven't beaten him even once since we began sparring. He's really incredible when it comes to close quarter combat. My brute strength has no use against him as he just uses it to his advantage.
Well, that's why we are sparring. For me to gain experience, the same thing for him. And right now, we are doing just that.
I lifted my right hand and formed a one handed tiger seal, Sasuke did the same. This marked the start of our fight.
'I bet he's going to attack first with a punch on my face.'
As I said that to myself, I saw him launch himself towards me. Seeing his favorite left punch, I ducked slightly to the right and ready to punch him in his stomach with my left as well.
When my fist was only a breath away from him, a palm blocked my punch. I know what he is about to do but I have no way of stopping it since I'm in an off balance position after putting all of my body weight and momentum into that punch.
As the punch connected, all the momentum was transferred into his palm. The way he guided that into his body using slight movement and timing is amazing.
The momentum of my punch was used to rotate his body a whole 360 mid air. Before I knew it, a kick was unleashed with his right foot and planted on my left abdomen.
I was pushed two meters away and I can feel the pain of the spot where he hit me.
'Urgh' I growled internally.
I toughened myself and this time, I attacked first as I saw him just about to land on the ground after that turning kick.
His left foot still hasn't touched the ground yet when I appeared in front of him and my left hand ready to punch his face.
But that still wasn't enough to surprise him, as he looked me in the eye with my fist on his face point blank.
Like he's expecting my attack, he leaned on his right, with his left foot still in the air and right foot pivoted on the ground.
He is literally off balance and was about to fall but he grabbed my left arm that misses his face.
Seeing this, I thought of turning to my right and striking him with a spinning elbow. But he already regained his balance as his left foot landed behind him to counter his fall.
With a quick execution, his left grip on my left arm was released and was replaced with his right. Then, his freed left hand grabbed my face and slammed me on the ground. It was so fast that I had no way of reacting and found myself under him.
I don't know where he learned these movements but one thing for sure, his reflex and reaction speed is insane. Although I don't like thinking too much when fighting, it's different when fighting Sasuke. He's just so smooth with his moves that it irritates me. In a good way of course.
"I won this round" He said as he helped me get up.
We continued sparring for a while when a masked ninja appeared on the tree.
"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto. Hokage-sama is looking for you. Go to the Hokage office and meet him." The masked ninja said and disappeared after.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone