"Let's begin the final live-combat test of the term. Everyone come up and draw lots."
Kitazawa finished speaking and set out a lottery box.
Uchiha Sasuke shot a glance at Uzumaki Naruto, then stepped up first.
Staring at the box, he slowly reached his hand in.
No surprise—what he wanted most right now was to draw Naruto. But there were a lot of students across two classes; even with three draws, whether he'd hit that match-up came down to luck.
"Number One."
Sasuke pulled his slip and returned to the line.
"Youth! Let me get Number One!" Naruto clapped his hands together, prayed for two seconds, then walked to the box. He unfolded his slip, eyes going wide.
"It really is Number One!" he whooped. "Youth never lets me down!"
"Is it really that magical?" Nara Shikamaru glanced around, falling into thought. He smelled a whiff of conspiracy—almost certainly aimed at Uchiha Sasuke. And the only person here with the ability to rig things was… Kitazawa-sensei. Shikamaru hunched his shoulders. Good thing he wasn't the target.
"Again? Sasuke vs. Naruto?" Aburame Shino pushed up his glasses. It felt like Sasuke always drew Naruto. Did those two have some kind of fated bond?
Hyuga Neji clicked his tongue in regret. He'd wanted to meet Sasuke in the live test, but luck had never been on his side. Looked like his chance at revenge would have to wait for the Student Council selection matches.
"Will the two students who drew Number One please take the field," Kitazawa called once the drawing ended.
Sasuke and Naruto stepped to the center and faced off.
"Think Sasuke wins this time?" Yamanaka Ino brushed the bangs off her forehead. In the last few live tests, Sasuke had only ever gotten one result against Naruto—losses.
"Hard to say," Karin said, favoring Naruto a bit more.
"Not necessarily." Shikamaru laced his hands behind his head. "He is an Uchiha."
"Sasuke-kun will definitely win!" Haruno Sakura clenched her fists.
"Begin!" Kitazawa announced.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" As always, Naruto opened by splitting into fifty clones. In an instant the training ground was packed with shadow clones in green tights.
"Leaf Whirlwind!" One clone rushed in first.
Sasuke stayed ice-calm. He brought up his forearm to block the Whirlwind kick, then flicked a kunai with his right hand. It hit home and burst the clone.
"Double Leaf Whirlwind!"
"Dynamic Entry!"
Three Narutos kicked in from the front, left, and right. Sasuke still didn't flinch. He'd seen far worse in live practice with Kitazawa.
Manipulated Shuriken Technique!
Sasuke threw six shuriken at once. Under his precise control, all six hit. Each Naruto took two, then popped into smoke.
But he wasn't done. Sasuke swept his hands. The six shuriken he'd stuck into the ground jerked back into the air, yanked up by elastic cords. In a blink, the blades and their cords formed a spiderweb. Thuds rang out as nearby clones were either tripped by the cords or clipped by the returning shuriken.
In under a minute, more than half of Naruto's fifty clones were already gone.
"What is happening?" Ino gaped. "Why does it feel like Sasuke's a different person?"
"He looks… relaxed," Karin said, surprised.
"It's his fighting style," Hyuga Neji said gravely. Before, Sasuke had fought on raw instinct. Now he was scheming and sequencing—his combat was organized.
"Sasuke looks like he's memorized all of Naruto's patterns," Shino added.
"Sasuke-kun is amazing!" Sakura's eyes sparkled. The style was crisp and clean—not to mention stylish. Paired with Sasuke's cool expression, he looked even more handsome than usual.
"Looks like another round of Kitazawa-sensei's special training," Shikamaru mused. He remembered Sasuke hadn't trained with them in a while.
"Is Naruto going to lose?" Kiba Inuzuka blurted, shocked—and then buoyed. If Sasuke could transform like this after Kitazawa's training, then after his own time with Kitazawa… the Student Council tryout matches would be his stage!
"Again!" Naruto wasn't scared; if anything, he got more fired up. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A fresh puff of smoke, and the number of clones on the field swelled to a hundred—so many that just looking at them made your scalp prickle.
The old Sasuke might have found that tricky. The current Sasuke stayed calm. Kitazawa had told him: once there are too many bodies, it doesn't always add up to an advantage. A single person's hitbox is limited; out of a hundred attackers, only a few can land a blow at the same time. And you can even turn that crowd against itself.
Manipulated Shuriken Technique!
Sasuke flung six more shuriken—but this time they were wooden. They struck clones without enough edge to dispel them. Sasuke poured more force into the throws and aimed for legs. In the next second, six clones toppled. The chain reaction was instant: packed so tightly, the clones careened into each other. In the blink of an eye, only a handful were left standing.
"Is that really Sasuke?"
"He unraveled Multi-Shadow Clone with a few shuriken? That's terrifying!"
"How did he get this strong?"
Students from both classes gasped at the spectacle.
"This Sasuke feels… unfamiliar," Shikamaru muttered. Sasuke used to look calm but it was mostly an act. Now it felt real—every move made like he had the entire flow in his hands.
"What on earth did Kitazawa-sensei put him through?" Ino said, stunned. "I want that kind of training too."
"Kitazawa-sensei's trainings are tailored," Shino shook his head. "Sasuke's program might not fit you."
"The scariest one here is Kitazawa-sensei," Kiba sighed.
"Sasuke-kun's so cool!" Sakura's cheeks flushed bright red.
Neji unconsciously drew a deep breath. He'd been confident he could beat Sasuke, but after watching this bout… he wasn't so sure.
The chorus of exclamations was loud. Hearing them, Sasuke couldn't help the curl of his lips. He decided to finish Naruto with one last strike.
He formed seals and made Shadow Clones. Two copies popped into existence with a puff.
Naruto and his clones, meanwhile, were in total disarray.
"Who's stepping on my hand? Get off!"
"I… I can't breathe!"
"Bastard! Why are you sitting on me?"
"Hey—hey—get up already!"
It was Naruto's first time dealing with a mess like this, and he froze for a beat. But he didn't have time to worry about his pile of clones—three Sasukes were already in front of him.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto reacted fast and produced ten more clones. He didn't make more because the bodies sprawled across the ground were warning enough.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!
The Sasuke on the left looked ready for this exact response. The instant the new clones appeared, he spat a string of small fireballs. Seven of the ten clones popped under the barrage.
"Leaf Adamantine-Strength Whirlwind!" Seeing that, Naruto didn't have time to make more clones. He snapped a kick at the middle Sasuke. Green chakra flared up his right leg, the powerful strike howling through the air. It was the strongest taijutsu he'd mastered.
The next second, his kick hit nothing.
Body Flicker!
The middle Sasuke blurred aside and the strike whiffed.
"What?" Naruto's face fell. He hadn't expected Sasuke to have learned the Body Flicker.
"Naruto!" barked the Sasuke on the right. Naruto looked over without thinking.
Genjutsu: Bubbles!
In Naruto's sight, that Sasuke burst into a flock of crows. A tail flicked across his vision a heartbeat later, and Sasuke snapped back to normal. Naruto started to retreat, but the middle Sasuke flashed into his face.
Genjutsu: Bubbles!
Naruto blanked for an instant. The genjutsu broke quickly, but it still cost him time. The left Sasuke, right after Phoenix Sage Fire, had already queued up a second Fire Style—this time a massive fireball roared toward Naruto.
Just as it was about to hit, a wall of water surged up in front of him.
"That's enough." Kitazawa stepped in and declared, "Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."
Fair's fair—Sasuke had performed well today. Maybe he'd kept that frustration corked for too long; with Kitazawa's training on top, he punched above his weight and beat Naruto cleanly.
"Sasuke, you were awesome today!" Naruto gave him a thumbs-up. "But I'm not giving up. Betting my youth—next time I'll win it back!"
His mentality was always bright; a loss just motivated him.
"Beat me? You don't stand a chance anymore!" Sasuke couldn't hold it in—his mouth split into a grin and he burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha!" His confidence had spiked to the max. The win had felt easy—he'd just followed Kitazawa's playbook and down went Naruto.
He still hadn't dispelled his clones, which made it an infamous triple act: three Sasukes standing there, throwing their heads back and laughing. The scene was downright obnoxious.
"Naruto, there were big problems with you today. Come see me after the test," Kitazawa said, glancing over.
"Uh?" Naruto froze, a stab of dread hitting him. He wasn't afraid of much—not even the Third Hokage—yet Kitazawa spooked him. He didn't dare refuse and drooped his head in agreement.
Kitazawa smiled. He wasn't planning to scold Naruto—just to point out mistakes. After all, he could claim two-thirds of the credit for Naruto's loss today. He'd had to fulfill a task, which meant… helping Sasuke cheat. No matter. Next up was helping Naruto "cheat"—ahem, training.
[Current Mission: Help Uchiha Sasuke defeat Uzumaki Naruto once in the live-combat test.]
[Reward: Genjutsu: Shiranui.]
[Mission Completed. Reward Granted.]
Three lines flashed before Kitazawa's eyes. A flood of information poured into his head. Genjutsu: Unknown Fire, like Genjutsu: Bubbles, was cast through the Sharingan. It made the target feel as if they were being burned alive inside the illusion.
"Your turn to step down, Sasuke." Kitazawa came back to himself and looked at the still-cackling Uchiha.
Sasuke finally realized how he looked. Embarrassed, he dispelled the two clones and stepped off the field.
"Sasuke-kun, you were incredible!" Sakura and the others swarmed him. Sasuke's lips twitched upward again. Yes—that was exactly what he wanted. The adulation made him float. All those past defeats evaporated. He resolved to win everything from here on out.
Kitazawa watched him. No question—his plan was working. Sasuke was inflated enough to forget what planet he was on. If he won the Student Council tryouts, fine. If he didn't—especially in front of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi—it would be a brutal pill to swallow.
The test went on. In the second and third rounds, Kitazawa quietly tweaked things as well. Sasuke didn't run into Kurama Yakumo or Hyuga Hinata and cruised to two more dominant wins. After three straight victories, even the way he walked home had a swagger.
"Kitazawa-sensei." Compared to Sasuke's strut, Naruto trudged up with a mix of nerves and determination.
"I called you over just to review your bout with Sasuke," Kitazawa said kindly, patting his shoulder.
Naruto relaxed. "Do you know what your biggest issue was?" Kitazawa asked.
"I didn't use Multi-Shadow Clone right," Naruto said after thinking hard. He felt the turning point had been when Sasuke sent his clones tumbling and chaos broke out. He shouldn't have worried about the clones then—but it was the first time he'd faced that situation, and he'd panicked.
"Sorry, Sensei," Naruto added, sheepish. Kitazawa had taught him the technique—messing it up felt like letting him down.
"No need to apologize," Kitazawa shook his head. "You're still young and short on experience. You hit a mistake; you fix it."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei!" Naruto straightened up at once.
"Starting tomorrow, you're in my live-combat intensive," Kitazawa smiled.
"Awesome!" Naruto lit up. Of all Kitazawa's training modules, live-combat was his favorite.
"You'll do the intensive, and you're not slacking on Rasengan," Kitazawa reminded him.
"Don't worry!" Naruto said firmly. "Give me three days—I'll have the Rasengan down! Then ramen at Ichiraku is on me."
"Back to business," Kitazawa said after a beat. "Let's talk through the problems in your bout."
Time ticked by. Half an hour later, Kitazawa walked Naruto home.
"See you tomorrow, Sensei!" Naruto waved hard from the door. Kitazawa smiled and turned away.
He'd been a teacher all day; at night, it was time to switch roles and be a student. Kitazawa returned to Kurenai's place. Tsunade and Shizune still weren't back—after a few punctual days, Tsunade had relapsed into gambling and was late every night. He was used to it by now.
He took out the key and opened the door. As usual, Kurenai stood at the low table practicing the Fire Sealing Method. Kitazawa walked up, took one look at her shapely hips, and hugged her from behind.
"Interrupting me again?" Kurenai shot him a look, but she didn't stop channeling chakra. The scroll on the table filled up with formulae.
"You've almost got the Fire Sealing Method down. In a few days you should have it mastered," Kitazawa said, resting his chin on her shoulder and glancing downward.
"Which just proves I have a natural gift for fūinjutsu," Kurenai said with a smug little smile.
Kitazawa arched a brow, his gaze sliding down her neckline until all he could see was a field of pale skin—alas for the black mesh underlayer in the way.
"Let me go." Kurenai finished her practice.
Kitazawa, of course, didn't listen. He stepped back onto the sofa, flexed his arms, and drew her into his lap.
"Why aren't you working on monster strength?" Kurenai asked, settling onto his thigh.
"Tsunade-sama isn't back yet." His right hand drifted down to the smooth skin of her thigh.
"What's my second sealing technique?" Kurenai glanced at his hand but didn't push it away.
"The Four Limbs Weighting Seal," Kitazawa said after thinking. He only knew two himself—the Fire Sealing Method and the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal—but the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal wasn't suitable for Kurenai. That left the Four Limbs Weighting Seal, which he'd gotten as Karin's reward for placing top ten on the written exam.
"What does it do?" Kurenai leaned back against him, eyes narrowed with a lazy calm. She could clearly feel his warm hand lightly tracing her leg. A faint blush colored her cheeks; there was shyness there, but more than that, delight. She liked how ravenous he was for her.
Maybe… Her lips parted slightly, her breathing growing a touch heavier.
~~~
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