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Sasuke stared at Daichi with an almost unreadable expression. Almost…

Daichi was watching every minute expression that crossed the young Uchiha's face. Daichi saw the efforts Sasuke put into concealing his emotions. As he observed, he saw the tell tale signs of someone who was furious but trying hard to keep that emotion under wraps.

"What are you doing here Daichi?" There was an aggression to Sasuke's tone that he couldn't hide.

Daichi let out a short breath. "To meditate. I had something on my mind… And… This was also where I met a friend."

Sasuke was surprised by the slight downcast expression Daichi had as he said that. He knew most people didn't come here and those who did would most probably be from the Uchiha clan.

"Who?" He couldn't help but ask.

Daichi looked at Sasuke and was contemplating whether or not to tell him. After a few seconds he made a choice.

"Ren… Ren Uchiha."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He didn't know that Daichi had befriended someone from his clan. As he stood there not knowing what to say, Daichi got up.

"I'll take my leave. Good day Sasuke." Daichi said, turned around and walked a few feet.

"Stop."

Sasuke's voice stopped Daichi in his tracks and he turned around to face the Uchiha. He said nothing and waited for the other to speak.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Fight me." He all but shouted.

It was something Daichi half expected. 'So damn predictable. He's the same. The only difference is I took Naruto's place… Something I have no interest in.'

"Sasuke, you should know the outcome of that fight already! So why?"

"I know you're stronger than me right now. But I want to know… just how much stronger you are… Fight me and don't hold back."

Daichi looked at Sasuke for a few seconds and replied. "No!"

The Uchiha gritted his teeth and quickly tossed several shuriken at Daichi. The action was much quicker than what most from the academy, even in their last year, could achieve.

But Daichi saw every move the boy made. He saw Sasuke's hands move to the pouch on his thighs and the launch of shurikens, all with clarity in slow motion. Daichi sighed and took a single kunai and parried all the projectiles with ease. Daichi kept the same nonchalant expression on his face as he looked directly at Sasuke and parried his first attack wave.

Daichi looked at the boy. "You really want to get beat up that bad?"

"Let's see you try." Sasuke entered a stance and launched himself at his opponent.

Daichi stood with his left hand folded behind his back. He parried the fast and precise strikes with just his right arm.

Sasuke launched his strikes targeting different parts of Daichi's body. When Daichi blocked his fists, Sasuke sent a fast kick. Which got blocked by Daichi's leg. No matter what tactic was used, no matter how he attacked, he couldn't land a single successful hit nor could he budge Daichi an inch from where he stood.

The one thing Sasuke noticed was that Daichi was only defending himself. Just like the last time they fought and it only made him more furious.

"Fight back!"

"I don't have to do anything you say." Daichi said as he tilted his head and dodged another fist.

Sasuke's blood boiled as he heard the cool dismissive tone in Daichi's voice. The young Uchiha was furious. He jumped back a few feet and looked at his enemy.

Daichi was in perfect condition. Unlike Sasuke he wasn't panting or sweating. He looked just as calm as he did when he meditated. Sasuke gritted his teeth. 'No. This is not over.'

He took several kunai and tied ninja wire to them and tossed them at Daichi. Instead of a straight out attack, the shuriken went around Daichi's body. At that moment Sasuke pulled the wires and the weapons changed paths. They quickly surrounded Daichi and circled him, and the wires tightened.

Daichi was trapped or so it seemed. Daichi knew what was going to happen the moment Sasuke took out the ninja wire. After all, it was the same tactic he used against several enemies in the dungeon. Yet he did nothing and let the wires trap him.

Sasuke, seeing Daichi's still calm face, went through several hand-seals. 'Fire style - Fireball Jutsu.'

The flaming ball shot out of Sasuke's mouth and got bigger and headed for Daichi. Sasuke knew there was a great chance Daichi could escape. He used the fireball jutsu so that Daichi would escape and think he(Sasuke) would let his guard down thinking the attack hit. Sasuke was counting on Daichi to attack him at that moment so he could launch a surprise counter. At least that was his plan.

Daichi saw through Sasuke's childish tactic. 'He believes that I would make it look like I got hit and then attack him from behind. And his plan is to counter attack at that time. What an amateur move. Then again this is normal for someone with no real battle experience. Real ninjas won't fall for such simple tactics.' All these thoughts quickly flew through his mind.

Daichi decided to do things a bit differently. He secretly took a shuriken from his inventory and coated it with wind chakra. 'Need to train the wind chakra nature next year. Right now I'm changing my chakra to wind nature based on the different wind jutsus I used. But the result is too crude.'

Daichi cut apart the wires and got free but the fireball was right in front of him. Daichi didn't plan on dodging. Instead he was going to face the attack head on. He quickly gathered some chakra to his right palm and vertically slashed down at the fireball. The chakra gathered in Daichi's palm was changed to fire nature before he made the move. And due to his change in chakra form and nature training, Daichi's chakra was far stronger than even some of the Jonin.

Daichi's fire chakra was more powerful and it clashed with the fireball. The struggle only lasted a second before Sasuke's fireball was split in half and in a few seconds the flames flew to Daichi's sides and fizzled out

Daichi had a slight smirk as his experiment proved successful. 'The old man told me that some in the Hyuga clan who are more attuned to chakra than others can read the chakra flow of a jutsu and are capable of dispersing the chakra in the Ninjutsu. But he also told me that this can be accomplished by someone who doesn't have the Byakugan. It will be extremely difficult without the special eyes but if someone has high sensitivity towards chakra, absolute chakra control and can understand the flow, this feat can be achieved… Looks like I'm in that rare category.'

Sasuke was shocked to see his attack be reduced to nothing like that. He unknowingly let go of the kunai in his hand and it fell to the ground. His hand had a slight tremble.

'If it was a Chunin or Jonin who did this then I would understand. But… How did Daichi… He's the same age as me… How is he so much stronger than me..?'

Sasuke's confidence and will was shaken for just a second with that display. When Daichi destroyed those flames it was as if he reduced the roaring flames of Sasuke's anger, hate and the will in his heart into a feeble smoldering fire, but at that moment the image of his parent's dead bodies came to his mind along with Itachi's words.

'My foolish brother…' The tremble in Sasuke's hands stopped.

'If you wish to kill me… curse me! Hate me!' The hands became steady and slowly clenched into a fist.

'Run away and cling to your pitiful life… And then when you have the same eyes as mine…' The flames that were about to go out in his heart came roaring back stronger than before.

'Come find me.' The steel and vigor in Sasuke's eyes returned with a vengeance.

Daichi noticed the change. It wasn't just Sasuke's expression. 'For one moment I saw him lose his confidence but… It's back. And it's not just that. His chakra… It's gotten slightly stronger.' Daichi, who was much more sensitive to the changes of a person's chakra, noticed this even though Sasuke didn't.

Sasuke bent down and picked up the kunai. He then looked at Daichi and spoke. "Daichi, no matter how strong you are… I will beat you… You wanna know one of the earliest lessons my father had taught me…?"

Daichi was silent. He didn't have the same nonchalant expression as before. He was serious as he looked at the Uchiha.

Sasuke looked at Daichi with a steely gaze and spoke. "He taught me that no matter how tall a wall stands, there is always a way… TO KNOCK IT DOWN TO SIZE!"

Sasuke threw the kunai much faster than before. Daichi, side stepped and dodged the weapon but the next second the Uchiha was in front of him. Daichi sent a punch aimed for Sasuke solar plexus but he missed. Sasuke disappeared and reappeared behind him and attacked. But Daichi could easily track him and he blocked the kick aimed for the side of his head with one hand and stopped the fist headed for his face with the other.

Daichi was shocked at the speed and the force of the punch. 'He's much faster than before and not only that he's applying chakra to enhance his speed and strength. I don't think he's even aware of it. Somehow he's subconsciously channeling his chakra to his arms and legs to make himself stronger. It's not perfect but… This guy… Someone needs at least 'tree walking' level chakra control before even attempting this but this guy… He's doing it without even realizing it… He's truly incredible.'

Both of them began exchanging blows at a rate much faster than before. This time Daichi not only defended himself but also fought back. He parried and deflected Sasuke's punches and landed several dozens of his own.

Even with Daichi fighting back like this, Sasuke was able to last much longer this time.

Daichi sensed Sasuke's chakra fluctuations. 'What's going on with his chakra… It's rapidly decreasing but… There is something else… It's getting stronger… Is he… Is he about to awaken the Sharingan?'

As Sasuke fought, he felt himself get stronger. 'I may not be able to beat you today Daichi, but I will one day. Just you wait.'

Sasuke fought as hard as he could but he couldn't injure Daichi and what's even more, the force of Daichi's blows and the speed and force of his attacks was rapidly draining his stamina. It wasn't long before a punch Daichi sent to his midsection took his breath away and sent him flying several feet back.

Sasuke landed on the ground and he laid there looking at the clouds. He didn't look like he was about to get up. A few seconds later he started to chuckle and then it turned to full blown laughter.

"Hahahaha…"

Daichi was looking at Sasuke as if he was seeing a different person. 'What the hell? Did I knock his screw loose?'

At that moment a notification popped up in front of Daichi and he was taken off guard reading it.

[Reputation increases with Sasuke Uchiha.]

'What the…?' Daichi was confused as to why the system showed the message of a reputation increase rather than a decrease.

Daichi walked near Sasuke and sat down on the ground. Neither of them spoke but it wasn't an awkward silence.

"Thank you Daichi!"

Daichi almost missed those words due to the low voice with which they were said but when he registered them his eyes almost popped out of his skull.

"Are you feeling alright Sasuke? Oh god! Did my punch do any brain damage?"

Daichi dramatically yelled and displayed a shocked expression.

"Shut up!" The scowl on Sasuke's face returned. But after a few seconds it lessened. A few seconds later he spoke.

"All this time, I trained hard but whenever I fought you, it felt like I didn't make any progress at all… I was afraid that if I couldn't even defeat you then…" Sasuke didn't elaborate and fell into silence.

Daichi looked at Sasuke with a new perspective.

A few moments later Sasuke continued. "But now I realize… That's not true at all… I have gotten stronger… It's just that you've also been getting stronger at a much faster rate than me, haven't you?"

Daichi didn't bother to answer and Sasuke wasn't looking for one. "I will defeat you one day Daichi! And then I'll be one step closer to achieving my ambition."

Daichi sat there for a few more seconds but the Uchiha didn't say anything else. He got up and was ready to leave but then looked down at the young Uchiha.

"Good luck with your goal Sasuke… And… If you want a spar with me, I'll be back here at the end of every month." Daichi said the words as he looked into Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke slightly nodded but didn't say anything else.

Daichi left the forest and a plan was slowly forming in his mind regarding his Uchiha classmate.

Author’s Note:

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