Legend

Chapter 5

Itachi planted his left foot on the ground on Naruto's right hand side; his right foot was raised high, aiming at Naruto's temple; Naruto had had his back turned against the Uchiha and was trying to turned clockwise to face the Uchiha. He turned just fast enough to see Itachi's foot plant into his face. The redhead didn't wince when the kick forced him to slide backwards slightly.

For Naruto, the fight was over. For Itachi it was just the beginning, but that all depended on Naruto.

Once Naruto took a hit while he was trying to defend, it was all over. The defence was supposed to be so perfect that nothing could pass through it. If Itachi was able to bypass it once, he would do it again and again. As such, Naruto couldn't go with this again. Not before he went back to the drawing board to get something done to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.

Naruto looked at his hands with a frown. It was disappointing that Itachi had learned him this quickly. But it was to be expected, Itachi was smart, way smarter than him. One way or the other, unless his defence was perfect, Itachi would eventually outsmart him. it made Naruto think that those blessed with genius genes had an unfair advantage over normal people like him who had to nearly kill themselves in order to gain what they had.

It took him 'years' to get better, but Itachi hadn't done so in the time he needed. If Itachi had the number of years he had when training, the Uchiha would obviously be way up his league. There was also that something called the Sharingan. Now that he thought about it, Itachi had yet to reveal it to him. The redhead shook his head. He didn't know anything about the doujutsu, but he was sure there would be something in the Uzumaki Library.

Senju Tobirama had done a thorough research on the Uchihas during his time.

"Defeat, huh?" Naruto finally said something; his tone was bitter.

He really didn't like being on the losing side.

"We can hardly call this a battle. You were just on the defence, no attack. Given the amount of time I have seen you fighting, it was only a matter of time before I could learn everything about your movements," Itachi explained lightly.

Naruto didn't attack. He figured the one reason that made him hesitant was that he didn't have that much in terms of attack. The redhead had admitted that he usually focused on defending himself rather than attacking. But Naruto was still skilled in kunai throwing. His scores equalled his in the academy. It was also strange that Naruto didn't use that if he really didn't want to attack with his hands and feet – Ninjutsu was out of the question.

"A defeat is a defeat. There is no nice way to put it. The fact is that I grew confident in the previous draws I never thought you would end up besting me," Naruto said in a calm tone: The bitterness that had been dancing in his tongue all but a memory now. He seemed to have to have accepted that he lost and that was it.

Itachi shook his head. He wasn't going to try to have an argument when he knew that Naruto wasn't going to change his mind on that matter. "Why don't we try attack then? I defend, you attack."

Naruto frowned again. "Perhaps you think that the only reason I don't attack is because of my lack of attacking skills, but that isn't because of that. There is another reason," Naruto said with his index finger raised. "Even when you're attacking, I see no opening to attack..."

Itachi smiled, inwardly. Naruto was impressive when he fought. Yet, that response has led him to fully confirm that Naruto couldn't really attack head on because he knew he would lose the moment he did so. He could only defend fully when not attacking. It wasn't that Itachi didn't make mistakes; it was that if Naruto attacked, he would be open to attack, and the redhead didn't want that. He wanted to be in a position he could attack and not be open.