Naruto: Princess of the Moon

CH 26: THE ABURAME CLAN

The first match was over and medics were called in to check on the Genin. Yoroi was still unconscious with no sign of waking up any time soon, so he had to be carried away on a litter.

While two medics dealt with Yoroi, a third headed toward Sasuke who was still sitting on the floor. "Uchiha Sasuke, let the medical team treat your injuries now."

"You guys are out of your territory." Kakashi stayed behind Sasuke. He knew the boy's exhaustion was due to the lack of chakra and the curse seal. It wasn't something these medics could deal with. "I'll take care of him." Kakashi kneeled, lowering his voice so that only Sasuke could hear him. "I'll go with you and seal up that curse."

Sasuke was shocked, and also reluctant. As annoying as this thing was, he didn't want to leave just yet. "Can we wait until the preliminaries are over? I want to watch the matches of those who will remain in the main battle."

"No!" Kakashi stood up, "Don't get so heated. If we let things be any further, the situation might become irrevocable. I won't accommodate you anymore. Now then, come on."

Letting Sasuke even participate in this match was the most he could do. The curse seal had to be dealt with before it became more troublesome.

Unable to argue against his sensei, Sasuke left with him quietly, holding the left side of his neck. The arena became empty save for Hayate who returned to the center of it.

Renji watched Sasuke's back as he disappeared behind the door along with Kakashi. "That technique must have really taken its toll on Sasuke-san..."

Otherwise, there would be no reason to take him away for treatment when he had no injuries. His physical and mental exhaustion and loss of chakra could be recovered with a little rest. It wasn't worth it to miss watching the skills and fighting styles of future opponents just to take care of it.

"That Taijutsu is not something just anyone can do after all." Takashi turned away from the arena once Sasuke was gone and looked at Lee, "Sempai..."

"I'm fine. I was just surprised that my technique was copied that easily after we only fought once. It's... a bit scary. That classmate of yours is really amazing."

Takashi might be a little dumb, but he wasn't that stupid. As someone who just like Lee could only depend on Taijutsu, barely able to use any of his chakra, he could understand how the other felt. "Maybe so but Sempai is still more amazing."

Lee cheerfully laughed, no longer dwelling on it, "True! By the way, Takashi-kun, did you ever share blows with him?"

"No. That was mostly Naruto's thing. I was..." his purple pools trailed to the side, falling on the back of his kunoichi teammate, "...preoccupied."

Lee followed his gaze, nodding in understanding, "So, that's how it is. Since Sasuke-kun was at the top of your class, I thought he would be your rival like Neji is mine, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I remember that you mentioned her before, the [Surname] Hime. Her scores were pretty average at the Academy but since you constantly said you wanted to beat her, she should be pretty strong."

"She is." As annoying as that was to admit. "At the Academy, she always hid her strength. It was super frustrating. Even more frustrating, I still couldn't beat her."

The first time Takashi saw [Name] was that day when she joined the Academy. At that time, Takashi and Renji, just like all the other students who came from prominent ninja clans, had been warned to take care of her and ensure nothing ever happened to her.

For Takashi, it just felt like a little spoiled princess had joined their class to play around at being a ninja and so he didn't want to bother with her. He didn't know about her brother or about all the other times that people attempted to kidnap her or take her life and couldn't understand why she was there.