A Pleasant Spar with Sasuke

These pieces of knowledge had been etched deep into the mind of Yashui during his nine years of compulsory education, so they were naturally no problem at all.

It seems I won't have any trouble with things like the written exams at the Ninja Academy, Yashui thought to himself, feeling secretly pleased.

However, Yashui found himself in a bind when it came to the practical subjects. He flipped through the textbooks for the practical curriculum: the first few volumes, General Guide to Muscle Training, Elementary Taijutsu, Intermediate Taijutsu, and Principles and Practice of Hand Seals, all covered how to train the body, enhance physical fitness, and basic taijutsu techniques. Yashui could handle these with ease, but there was one section that posed a real problem—the hand seal practice.

Going from being unable to form hand seals to mastering them would take at least half a year. Moreover, if he didn't master the hand seal exercises in the first few volumes, he wouldn't be able to study the later ones, such as Basic Ninjutsu, Fundamentals of Chakra Manipulation, Basic Genjutsu Application and Dispelling, and Basic Tactics.

Yashui shouldered his bag, pondering how to learn hand seals quickly, and left the school.

"Are you not going to challenge me today, you member of the Sarutobi Clan? I thought you'd come at me with the intent to kill again today." As Yashui reached the school gate, Sasuke Uchiha, dressed in a blue short-sleeved shirt, blocked his path.

Sasuke stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at Yashui with a face full of disdain.

Come to think of it, the original owner of this body seemed to have said things like, "The younger brother of the traitor Uchiha Itachi has no right to live."

Was there some mistake? The goals of these two people were completely aligned, weren't they? Furthermore, looking at the later plot, Sasuke seemed to have almost fulfilled all of Yashui's wishes.

Rationally speaking, there was absolutely no reason for the two of them to challenge each other!

But in order to keep Yashui's original life from being disrupted, Yashui nodded: "I was just about to challenge you."

Judging by Sasuke's tone, Yashui had apparently always been the one to lose, so he just needed to lose this time as well, just like before.

"Then let's go, to the Uchiha Clan's training ground." Sasuke said, walking ahead: "Don't you dare blame your loss to me on that new pair of sunglasses you're wearing."

"I wouldn't dream of it..." Yashui followed behind Sasuke, all the way to the Uchiha Clan's compound.

Because Sasuke Uchiha was still alive, and to show the village's regret over the Uchiha Clan's annihilation and their respect for the Uchiha, Konoha had kept the Uchiha compound in its original place, and people from other clans were not allowed to enter or exit at will.

Once they reached the Uchiha training ground, Sasuke couldn't wait to start the battle.

"Come on." Sasuke still had his hands in his pockets; was this the rhythm of activating his "cool-guy jutsu"?

"Then here I come." Yashui charged toward Sasuke.

It wasn't until Yashui was only two meters away that Sasuke unhurriedly took his hands out of his pockets.

"Uh..." Sasuke was knocked to the ground by a single punch from Yashui.

"..." Yashui was completely dumbfounded.

What happened? How could Sasuke be this weak? He was one of the ninjas standing at the pinnacle of the ninja world.

Yashui hadn't even activated his Sharingan; he had just thrown a punch based on instinct, and Sasuke had fallen. Could it be that he hadn't gauged his strength properly because his muscles were still sore from the recovery?

"You've become much stronger today..." Sasuke was truly worthy of being Sasuke; even after his "cool" act had been slapped down, he still put on a look as if it were all within his expectations.

"Let's continue." This time, Sasuke didn't put his hands back in his pockets.

If this was the extent of Sasuke's current strength, were they just two weaklings pecking at each other before? To have lost to a Sasuke of this caliber, just how weak must the original owner of this body have been?

With the experience from last time, Yashui grasped the trick. He slowed down his power and speed significantly, throwing his attacks in a slow, leisurely manner.

"It seems you were just performing above your limit. However, there won't be a next time." Sasuke leaped backward sharply: "Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

From Sasuke's mouth, small fireballs swept over like a machine gun. The power didn't look small, and the range and duration were quite extensive, showing that Sasuke currently possessed a decent amount of chakra.

Sasuke's problem also became apparent. His aiming method was very singular; he didn't predict Yashui's movement. This resulted in the entire "Phoenix Sage Fire Technique" just attacking the path Yashui had already walked.

Was this really the Sasuke in Yashui's memory? Sasuke's intelligence shouldn't be low throughout the entire Naruto series, so why did he feel like an idiot now that he was actually in contact with him?

After the fire from the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique faded, Yashui discovered that each of the small fireballs had hidden a shuriken inside.

"You've fallen for it!" Steel wires shimmered in Sasuke's hands: "Manipulated Shuriken Technique!"

Sasuke pulled the wires with both hands, and the shurikens, heated to a glowing red, flew toward Yashui one after another.

Seeing Sasuke like this, Yashui finally breathed a sigh of relief. This was the level Sasuke should be at. That said, Yashui didn't want to get hit by Sasuke now. Once he was entangled by those steel wires, it would mean he had lost the fight.

Even if he was prepared to lose, Yashui didn't want to lose without any grace. If he took a full combo from Sasuke, he would dirty his clothes even if he wasn't hurt. Besides, once he was truly controlled by Sasuke, who knew what methods Sasuke would use to deal with him.

Subconsciously, Yashui formed the "Ram" seal, extracted a bit of chakra, and instinctively activated his Sharingan. By observing the chakra Sasuke had attached to the steel wires, Yashui perfectly dodged every single one of them.

After his signature move was dodged, Sasuke's expression began to look ugly. Sasuke didn't know why Yashui could suddenly achieve such high reaction speed. He also couldn't see the Sharingan that had been activated only yesterday through Yashui's sunglasses.

Sasuke now appeared a bit flustered and exasperated. In his haste, he actually charged forward empty-handed and threw a punch at Yashui.

After being "hit" by Sasuke, Yashui retreated repeatedly and fell to the ground.

"Stop, I lose." Yashui quickly stopped Sasuke, who was preparing to continue his attack.

"Is that so?" Sasuke was panting; the ninjutsu he had just used was on par with the Konoha Anbu member Yashui had encountered yesterday in terms of both range and attack power. In other words, Sasuke's ninjutsu level had already reached the level of a Chunin.

What Sasuke lacked in ninjutsu was probably just the amount of chakra.

"This isn't like you. Usually, you would carry killing intent and persist until you couldn't move at all." As Sasuke spoke, his breathing finally steadied a bit.

"..." Facing Sasuke's question, Yashui didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"Today, I used a move against you that I've never shown anyone else." Sasuke actually smiled: "Because this is the last time we'll spar."

Reflected in the sunset of the dusk, Sasuke's smile had an indescribable, eerie quality.

"You must have known this too, which is why you conceded, right?" Sasuke asked.