Chapter 102: Sasuke''s Ordeal


    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''te here and those who did would most probably be from the Uchiha n.


    "Who?" He couldn''t help but ask.


    Daichi looked at Sasuke and was contemting 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 n. 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 ce Something I have no interest in.''


    "Sasuke, you should know the oue 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 theirst year, could achieve.


    But Daichi saw every move the boy made. He saw Sasuke''s hands move to the pouch on his thighs and theunch of shurikens, all with rity in slow motion. Daichi sighed and took a single kunai and parried all the projectiles with ease. Daichi kept the same nonchnt 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 andunched 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.


    Sasukeunched 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''tnd a single sessful 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 thest 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 ming 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 couldunch a surprise counter. At least that was his n.


    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 n 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 n on dodging. Instead he was going to face the attack head on. He quickly gathered some chakra to his right palm and vertically shed 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 shed with the fireball. The struggle onlysted a second before Sasuke''s fireball was split in half and in a few seconds the mes flew to Daichi''s sides and fizzled out


    Daichi had a slight smirk as his experiment proved sessful. ''The old man told me that some in the Hyuga n 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 aplished 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 disy. When Daichi destroyed those mes it was as if he reduced the roaring mes 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 mes 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 nonchnt 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 sr 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 andnded several dozens of his own.


    Even with Daichi fighting back like this, Sasuke was able tost 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.


    Sasukended on the ground and heid there looking at the clouds. He didn''t look like he was about to get up. A few secondster he started to chuckle and then it turned to full blownughter.


    "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 disyed a shocked expression.


    "Shut up!" The scowl on Sasuke''s face returned. But after a few seconds it lessened. A few secondster 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 borate and fell into silence.


    Daichi looked at Sasuke with a new perspective.


    A few momentster 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 n was slowly forming in his mind regarding his Uchiha ssmate.


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    Author''s Note:


    If you like my story and want to read ahead, then check out my P.a.T.R.E.0.N page. I''ve uploaded up to 30 additional chapters there.


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