Dead Eyes (Naruto)

Part 14: Back At It

-Naruto POV-
I was training with grandpa at train ground three, we'd been going all night. It had only been a day, but I felt a lot faster already. The focus of our training was my running, while it was a lot better than before I was captured, it still had a long way to go. He was teaching me his technique to move faster and it was helping a lot.

He disappeared and my clone popped too. I turned to see Suisha running towards me. I thought she was going for a hug, but at the last second she pulled her sword and tried to stab me.

I knocked her sword off course with a punch to the flat of the blade and kneed her in the stomach, causing her to keel over. She laid on the ground trying to catch her breath.

Next was Sasuki who I saw rushing me, but I knew it wasn't her. I dispelled the genjutsu just in time to duck under two kunai.

She was nowhere to be found. I took a deep breath and briefly entered sage mode. I locked eyes with her in a tree across the clearing. "Futon: Gale step." I said.

I dashed across the clearing, I could barely keep up with my speed, but I was managing. "Blue Sky Horizon!" I called as I cut the tree down.

She jumped out of the tree and I threw a kunai at her. She knocked it off course, but I was ready for that. I jumped at her and we made eye contact. Roots grew from the ground and wrapped around my ankles. She used this as an opportunity to throw eight shuriken at me. I slashed them all out of the air and broke the genjutsu. I sheathed my sword.

I took a breath and entered Sage mode before doing a hand seal. "Futon: Bullet!" I called before blasting a wind bullet at her.

It hit her in the stomach and she fell from her new branch. Suddenly the ground started melting underneath me. I tried to break the Genjutsu, but it wouldn't work. I turned just in time to dodge a sword stroke from Suisha, despite my lower half being submerged in liquid earth. I leaned back as far as I could and grabbed her forearm. Her eyes went wide as a grin formed on my face.

I flipped her over my shoulder and put her into a one armed sleeper hold. Suddenly Sasuki shot from a tree top with a tanto. I grabbed her wrist right before the tip of her tanto made contact. I squeezed and she dropped the tanto into the liquid earth. I spun her and got her into a sleeper hold as well. I held them both there as they tried to fight me off until they both tapped.

I let them go and looked down before doing a hand seal. "Futon: Great breakthrough!" I called and blasted all the mud away, leaving only their swords behind.

I picked up Sasuki's tanto and examined it. It was low quality and made of cheap chakra steel. "Hmm... where'd you get this?" I asked.

She scratched the back of her head. "I bought it in town." She said.

I nodded slowly. "Oh and what happened to the custom one that I made you?" I asked.

She blushed. "I was practicing with it and I kind of broke it... on a rock." She said.

My eyes twitched. "Idiot... I'll make you a new one later. I have some work to catch up on anyway." I said.

She nodded. "Thank you." She said meekly.

I grabbed Suisha's sword and inspected it. There was no visible damage to it. "Any issue with it?" I asked as I popped the pins out and pulled the handle off to inspect the tang. There wasn't anything there either, so I reassembled it.

She shook her head. "None." She said.

I put her katana back in her sheath and grabbed her wrists, inspecting her palms. "No blisters or rashes?" I asked.

She shook her head. "None." She said.

I grabbed Sasuki's hands to find a blister. "That's what you get." I said before letting go.