Chapter 75: Chapter 73: First true fight (end)

Finally, there was no doubt that a clash between these not-so-good friends, at least if they could even be called that, was about to truly begin.

The look in both boys' eyes, was one of undying determination.

Making it clear, that the spar had been fully agreed upon by both parties, and neither felt any desire to hold themselves back anymore.

Whatever happened was still holding them back was gone.

Or any other feelings and memories they had of each other, were inconsequential now.

They had made their peace with what was about to follow next, for better or worse.

In other words, there was no longer a need for exchanging words.

Just the look in their eyes was proof enough; and told them everything they needed to hear.

As children living in a militaristic village.

A village where the main objective was to educate and produce more shinobi each passing year, children living within the said village; were quite open to the idea of handling conflict through duels or plain old brute force.

After all, shinobi have to be strong in order to carry out their missions and protect the village.

Being weak was often a measure of failure and inadequacy.

Any child aiming to become a shinobi was aware that they had to be strong and powerful.

A skillful and dutiful ninja competent in every domain, in order to fulfill every order to protect the village.

Such kind of rhetoric was normal for children everywhere, but it was far more pronounced than within shinobi villages.

Especially in the 5 great shinobi villages that had a reputation and strength to uphold or increase their advantages over other shinobi villages.

At least that much was clear to most children, who had a basic understanding of their current reality.

Though, it was far from hard to understand, since many had family or friends that died on a mission or were killed by other villages' shinobi. 

Perhaps it was the reason why so many tried to prove their strength in the guise of settling conflicts with one another.

Either be a full-on match or some sort of competition.

It was simply an accepted type of norm that occurred quite often.

Another way to describe this phenomenon would be some sort of form of the cultural norm which also influenced the behavior of those living within a shinobi village, since they were always in conflict with their neighboring countries and villages, even if they had several non-aggression pacts.

At the end of the day, it meant very little in a dog-eat-dog world.

If they could have an edge over their opponents, treaties were immediately thrown away for security, profits, and power.

The third Hokage not pursuing further bloodshed in the 3rd shinobi was enough to have the public opinion of the general populace turn against him and ultimately be forced to abdicate.

Due to how many people were discontent with the deaths of their relatives and thought that they could win the war if they just doubled down in the war efforts. 

Needless to say, that it was under such conditions that youths living in shinobi villages were raised in this world.

Still, it did not dissuade most from trying to resolve most issues they faced through some type of retaliatory action. The same was also true for the youngest of those living within those said villages, even though it was relatively peaceful when compared to other ninja villages.

Especially the village of Konoha.

Because Konohagakure was within the land of fire.

The land of fire being relatively overly prosperous, when compared with most other lands,  there was very little that the inhabitants lacked to experience joyful and peaceful lives.

Which could be hardly said to be the same for the situation of other ninja villages.

Especially Sunagakure, with was overall located in a harsh arid area, with very little water.

Making the contrast of its neighbor (Konohagakure) in the land fire all the more apparent.

Though Konohagakure could be described as rather peaceful, at least on the surface, such prosperity had to be defended from others seeking to explore the gaps the village had. And that job ultimately fell into the hands of those who had the potential and strength to defend it against all types of threats.

A supply of young bodies was ever-so-necessary for those at the top of the village, in order to maintain the ever-so-important stability.

Such a paradoxical concept, going as far as to even endanger the said so principles that the 1st and 2nd Hokage, fought so hard to create and build the current shinobi system, in order that no child would be forced to fight in wars or conflicts of interest.

Sadly, ideals have practically no place within the shinobi world, where politics are as cutthroat as within summits or on the battlefield. Much less when those same ideals could rob the party implementing them of their advantage or militaristic power.

Most children of Homura's and Uryuu's age were expected to grow up and defend/fight for the village. And although some refused to admit the harsh reality, there was no denying they were also expected to die for the sake of the village if need be; it was simply a byproduct for children growing up in that kind of environment.

Though most rarely found themselves capable of acknowledging the idea of their mortality.

Nonetheless, the children living under such conditions didn't particularly hate the fate that they were born into.

Most craved power and the agency to take control of their lives with power, and wealth, or to fulfill mandated clan duties that they could achieve by becoming shinobi.

For most, those said reasons were good enough to embrace such a lifestyle or the other paths being offered to them.

Not that all of them were entirely aware of the exact implications of what the notions of following such a path may entail for them.

At the end of the day, it was just the reality they had been subjugated by the harshness of their world.

For children that young other careers were less relatable than the one where they could become heroes by protecting their village from external threats. 

A simple byproduct of having to live in secluded villages that are always trying to one-up one another; even if that meant having to sacrifice the people fighting for them in the process or worse.

Fighting to protect their village and loved ones, was something that any child, could understand, knew, desired, and aspired to be able to do. Wherever they understood it or were not fully aware of the implications of what costs may pass if they choose to follow such doctrine offered by their village blindly.

However, adhering to such a particular mindset made them more open and susceptible to accepting conflict as part of life, in any form and in any way.

If children are taught or told from a very young age about the outside dangers that other nations may present to their livelihood or simply of the dangers awaiting the outside the borders of their village, it is normal for most to develop a fear, or become wary and resent or mistrust outsiders. Allowing them to be more willing to fight to keep what they cherish to be protected and safe.

Thus creating a perpetual cycle where the younger generation embraces conflict or at least used enough to the prospect of physical force as a truly valid form for settling disputes.

Such was the reason why when the 2 boys finally agreed to fight each other; nothing no longer mattered.

They had a clear disagreement, in order words, they were in conflict with one another.

There was no changing that now.

Thus, when they readied themselves to fight each other; there was no going back.

The context behind their decision was clear to grasp for any villager inside Konoha from a glance.

That was simply their reality, their world.

From their point of view, there was no longer a reason to hold themselves back from facing the opponent in front of them anymore.

-... (Uryuu)

-...

The silent atmosphere around them was enough for each boy to calm their spirits and focus on winning the fight.

When they realized that they would have to fight without interruptions. 

Homura and Uryuu took their fighting stance once again and started analyzing each other postures to decide on the best way to attack.

They started watching each other's movements as if they were both hawks; analyzing every fiber of their prey.

Every single twitch was enough to pull their guard up or change the way they carried themselves ever so slightly.

The tension was simply that high between both boys.

They knew that the one who made the first move would have a slight tactical advantage, but at the same time could also be the one to suffer the most from a failed attempt.

Regardless of potential failed attempts, the truth remained that one had to make a move.

Take the first step.

In order to win the fight.

- !

- ! (Uryuu)

So it was in a split moment that both shinobi in training decided to be the first ones to make the first move as a single leaf dropped on the ground in between both parties.

- (Now!) (Uryuu)

- (Now!)

As if both children had suddenly shared the same thought at the very same time, both Uryuu and Homura simply decided to rush at each other at the exact same moment.

Homura went for a straightforward uppercut while Uryuu went for a straight hook. Both boys tried to unleash their attacks toward the person right in front of their very eyes, but having both so evidently telegraphed their attacks, it was no surprise that neither attack worked.

Both easily caught and stopped each other's incoming fist that was being thrown at them with their one free hand before the moment they landed, but soon enough, the two were forced to let go of each other's hand at the same time; when they realized they couldn't shake off the other party away.

They were stuck at an impasse and chose to take some distance and try once again before attacking each other.

As they readied themselves, for another exchange of volley of attacks.

Homura being the faster of the 2 and more trained, easily took the offensive over his foe; after he had figured out most of Uryuu's attack patterns and habits during his prior exchanges with the said foe.

The only issue that he had was knowing how to properly react to his opponent's timing, in order to fully exploit his opponent's gaps in his defenses every time he switched from attacking to defending himself.

But it was far easier said than done.

Both boys were comparable in terms of strength and had more or less the same speed, however, Homura was simply slightly faster and more agile due to his training, but it didn't give him an insurmountable advantage.

Uryuu could easily react to him, no matter how fast he threw a punch toward his foe, for the most part.

Thus invalidating Homura's overall speed advantage he had.

Such a thing was simply normal, if Homura was that much faster than his opponent, he wouldn't be in his current situation.

Still, he had to use whatever he could to come out on top, be it with the use of trickery or having a few nanoseconds advantages.

It was the ninja way.

He was no longer feeling like holding back.

This time he was not going to avoid hurting his opponent but instead put all of his might into taking him down once and for all.

As painful as it might turn out to be.

So it was with renewed vigor, that Homura's attacks started to become more pronounced and he abandoned almost all intentions to guard against his opponent's strikes.

- Haaa!

He threw one punch, then those punches became a dozen, until finally in less than 10 seconds he had thrown over 50 punches at his opponent with all he had, leaving his opponent too busy to counterattack the incoming shower of punches thrown his way.

Forcing his foe to take a defensive position after defensive position due to having to stop Homura's attacks thrown at him.

So the attacks continued with Homura putting everything he had, within almost every strike.

- Kuh! (How long can he keep this going?)- Thought Uryuu as he kept defending himself.

20 seconds passed and Homura was still going at it.

Unleashing as many hits as he physically could.

The barrage of punches that Homura unleashed was so vicious, that Uryuu could only defend against most of it by taking defensive stances.

He would use feints while punching his foe to let him drop his guard and try to aim for a gap that would cause more damage but he was unsuccessful since Uryuu always made clear to protect his vitals or sensitive areas.

- (Kuh! H-He's truly strong!... He was truly holding back before... d*mn it!)- thought a shocked Uryuu who was feeling the pain from Homura's onslaught of strikes that he was busy blocking.

Every hit was expertly delivered to make sure Uryuu would have to block rather than dodge and if pressured enough Homura knew that a direct strike; would simply be a matter of time.

But the same could be said about Uryuu.

Uryuu knew that if Homura was able to deliver a direct hit on him, he would use that chance to pummel him down and win the fight for good.

Such a simple strategy was easy to guess.

He was slightly faster than himself, it wouldn't be an impossible feat for his foe.

And if the positions were reversed, he would do the same after all.

Luckily for him when Homura focuses on delivering faster blows, the power behind his attacks greatly decreases and becomes more predictable.

Nonetheless, he was surprised at how much stamina Homura had. He could only imagine how Homura, who was known for being a weakling and a coward at the orphanage had managed to get this strong.

In the past, he would always run away rather than face others or get sick easily for seemingly no reason almost every month.

Now, it was clearly a thing of the past. He had already surprised everyone who knew him during the tryouts with his performance.

So for Homura to be this strong was ultimately not outside his expectations.

However, Uryuu wasn't going to let himself be outdone, at least not when he also had a chance at winning.

Since although Homura was strong and fast, his strikes were not that powerful.

It was painful to be repeatedly hit on the same spots over and over again, but he could manage to hold on for a short while longer. 

Those strikes were more of a nuisance or more shocking than actually painful at the end of the day.

If he were to allow himself to take greater risks in trying to push back Homura, he could theoretically overturn the way of this entire duel.

That was the conclusion that Uryuu took from facing Homura.

- Kuh! (Yes...Yes this could work)- Though Uryuu as he avoided a direct hit aimed at his chest, by breaking his defense position and leaning his body backward a little surprising Homura for a short instant.

Seeing Homura's slightly dumbfounded face gave Uryuu slightly more courage in his plan. 

So Uryuu took more calculated risks and started to regain his footing in the fight.

He took a few steps back for every couple of hits that Homura would throw his way, to make sure his opponent would be forced to move further ahead while he would try to strike at him.

Making sure to disturb his foe's pace.

This would immediately create a gap within Homura's attack patterns; leaving a serious weakness and tiring him out furthermore.

Homura tried to deliver an outside crescent kick but Uryuu darted backward slightly at the very last moment, avoiding the kick directed at himself at the very last foreseen moment.

- *Huff* *Huff* (Homura)

A slightly more tired Homura seeing this became slightly more annoyed that his attack had almost worked but that he had ultimately failed to hit his foe once again.

As time went on it was clear that Uryuu's strategy was working.

The boy was slightly taller than Homura giving him an almost insurmountable advantage.

Something that even he could do almost nothing since it was purely a physical aspect.

Seeing that his strategy was slowly but ultimately paying out so far, Uryuu decided to go further ahead and implement the next step of his plan.

Next, he had to let Homura gain an advantage.

Allowing himself to be hit in some of the hardest spots within his body to strike and deliver a few blows at Homura, who had to adapt to Uryuu's changing strategy.

Each time Homura would get a hit in either he barely managed to graze Uryuu or he would hit a joint.

This continued for some time until Homura's next punch that he threw at Uryuu was blocked by Uryuu's left elbow, as he failed to hit his opponent's face.

- !(Sh*t that was close!) *Huff*-thought Homura as he evaded a low kick meant to make him fall, but he had managed to jump slightly backward in the nick of time.

Uryuu's tactics were paying off once again.

Homura was displeased with this new reversal.

For an individual with a supercomputer inside his brain, to be outsmarted was a greater insult than anything he had experienced so far.

Not that he could do anything more, calculations are just that, calculations.

At the end of the day, something either does happen or does not. 

No matter how much he tried to predict it. 

And although he was the one on the offensive, for the most part; he was always the one being getting pushed back further and it was further not helped by the pain he felt from being blocked all the time.

It was starting to seriously hurt him.

Uryuu was about slightly taller than Homura, which meant he had the advantage and Homura had to calculate every inch he took otherwise his opponent would always hit him first.

However, Homura wasn't dumb, at least when it came to fighting.

Seeing the change in Uryuu's tactics, even though he wasn't completely certain what his foe was plotting was a concerning matter for Homura.

He had to recognize that if Uryuu trained with a good teacher he would be much stronger.

Perhaps even, much stronger than himself.

A thought he didn't want to admit.

Since he was feeling more inadequate than ever.

Somehow the boy in front of him had learned how to fight, and exploit his opponent's weaknesses.

If he had trained with someone for the past few years or so Homura could understand his foe if not then either he was lacking in some areas or the boy in front of him was far more talented than he cared to admit.

Either way, in Homura's eyes Uryuu was nothing short of a natural tactical genius.

The boy knew how to adapt in a fight and use his opponent's strength against themselves.

At this age, he managed to more or less understand how to take risks within a fight and allowed himself to purposely be hit, in order to strike back at his opponent with far more force or aim at a crucial spot.

It was quite the calculated move no doubt about it, but it wasn't a great tactical choice in the long run.

Damage has a tendency to pile up and joints are not shields to be used for defensive purposes.

By using his joints to hurt Homura, he was slowly but surely hurting himself as well.

It was just a matter of time till he would break as well.

The question wasn't who was going to break, but who was going to break first.

Still, it was a worthwhile strategy to use against an opponent with superior physical stamina and combat prowess.

In other words, it was a defensive strategy that prioritize tiring the adversary first to bring the opponent to their level.

A strategy that most people who are used to fighting understand quite well, but for Uryuu to understand it so well and use it to his advantage at his age after a few exchanges against Homura was truly commendable.

It was especially effective against Homura who had always been cocky against others he deemed that he was stronger, or had a superiority complex against.

However, when he was proved wrong, he began to panic slightly panic, especially when he was been bested by someone he considered a child.

Thus why Homura almost refused to recognize that he may have made a mistake, but there was no way of denying that the boy in front of him might have had the mind of a tactical genius when it came to fighting.

He had a tactical mind and a degree of maturity that few his age had or would ever achieve.

If allowed to be nurtured by a competent sensei, one can only imagine what kind of monster he might become in the near future.

Regardless, to Homura, none of those things mattered. A new rival to challenge Homura's position as a genius had appeared.

The more geniuses and more that title became worthless, which was counterproductive to Homura who wanted to stand out more in order for his plans to come to fruition. 

And this genius was one that was far more mysterious to him than the 2 reincarnates of demi-gods.

He literally had no idea who Uryuu was or what kind of impact he would play in the future.

But he still clung to the hope that this was just a fluke.

That he was just making a mistake.

But the strike he was about to receive at that moment sent him into a downward spiral once again.

- Guh!- a noise escaped Homura's mouth, as he received a kick just a few inches away from his right kidney.

The impact sent him sliding a few inches away from his original position.

- I got you!- Yelled Uryuu, who grabbed Homura by his right arm and jumped to deliver a reverse kick to Homura's left shoulder.

- No, you don't!- yelled Homura.

Truthful to Homura's words, he managed to counter the incoming hit at the very last moment by blocking the attack by jumping and delivering a roundhouse kick of his own causing him to free his hand from Uryuu's grasp.

*PAH!*

The two boys clashed, by both delivering kicks coming from opposing directions aimed at each other; at the same time.

The locked leg belonging to each of the respective two boys felt as if they were about to shatter from the impact of the clash.

Both boys had put everything they had into delivering their respective attacks, only to be stopped by their opponents with the same amount of vigor.

The pain from the exchange was not only transmitted to the muscles, even their bones felt the impact from the friction created by their legs clashing against each other.

- Guh!

- Kuh! (Uryuu)

As soon as Uryuu landed from delivering his attack, he took some distance away from Homura while Homura did the same in the opposite direction.

Homura had managed to cancel Uryuu's strike in the nick of time but he was nowhere close to winning the fight yet.

Though he had hit Uryuu more times than he had been hit himself, he had ultimately taken far more damage than Uryuu did throughout the entire fight.

It couldn't be helped.

He was taken off guard at the beginning of the fight for not taking his opponent seriously, and later on while he was trying to distinguish patterns.

Just moving around tired him more than he cared to admit rather than regain his strength.

Furthermore, he was too busy trying to learn his opponent's moves, so that he could analyze and steal them at a later time.

However, Uryuu's attacks were so chaotic and improvised that he was having a hard time entirely following the reasoning behind his fighting style; that peculiar aspect led him to have Homura's guard being completely shattered and barely able to react to Uryuu's last few attacks.

It was an error of judgment that Homura should have been more aware of, but unfortunately for Homura; Uryuu defied all his expectations and prior knowledge.

Uryuu was self-trained or at the very least not trained in the traditional sense, whatever the case was he was far from the norm.

All the opponents that Homura had faced so far either had some amount of training in a specific fighting style that they religiously adhered to or had close to no experience in martial arts or fighting in general and as a consequence of that, they were all easily able to be defeated.

Unfortunately, Uryuu was different.

He had the physical skills and seemingly the fighting experience to make up for his lack of not having a solid foundation.

There was no real structure to his fighting style because it was his own creation or at the very least his own spin of an existing one that Homura had never encountered.

At the of the day, Uryuu was simply tied down to his familiar habits and had the fluidity to adapt to his opponent.

Once he'd seen an opening in Homura's defenses, he'd decided to break it with everything he had.

Betting everything in that single moment, in order to decide the course of the entire fight.

His strategy almost paid off.

The pain he had endured from tanking Homura's rapid volley of punches had paid off after a short while.

Which had given him the confidence to further execute his plans.

At the end of the day, it was a simple high-risk and high-reward strategy that Uryuu adhered to.

Due to him believing that he could not take Homura head-on in a full fight.

Which had put Homura at a glaring disadvantage throughout the entire fight.

He had ultimately no need to use similar tactics, Homura knew how to fight more or less, just not against an opponent he could not easily defeat.

When training against older opponents he was always the one at the end of the stick, never being able to keep up.

So he was locked with no other choice but into attacking his opponent.

Homura attacked Uryuu with all that he had and managed to counterattack most of Uryuu's strikes.

But those weren't just senseless strikes.

He chose to mainly focus on tiring his adversary once more.

It couldn't be helped he was simply faster than his foe and had the advantage of having superior analytical skills.

It was without a doubt the best way to fight an opponent who specialized in guarding and countering attacks, instead of a full-on fight with no strategies in place.

Thus, he was unable to not use his advantage to overwhelm his foe, however, quick strikes often lack the power to cause serious damage since they are too light to cause any lasting injuries.

They also lacked the leeway for him to make changes to his attack patterns. Once he had decided to throw a punch or a kick with all his might; he could hardly change the course of the strike.

Uryuu wasn't the only one who was learning to adapt to his opponent.

The thing about fighting, that is not often mentioned is that both opponents can learn greatly from each other if they pay close attention to how their opponent reacts.

And Homura was used to learning things quickly thanks to super-computing more passive side effects.

So, Homura easily started to create more strategies on how to proceed and tried to be more creative in order to circumvent his lack of striking power.

Thus instead of attacking like he had done prior, exploiting his opponent's weak spots; he switched to force his opponent to make more complex and wider moves.

The wider the range, the more tiresome he would be to cover it all.

- Kuh! (He keeps trying to hit me from all angles now! I need to take some distanc-!), Argh!- Uryuu tried to step back but got hit in his right tight by a kick dished out by Homura.

Homura had anticipated that once Uryuu would feel overwhelm he would take a step back and that is exactly what happened once he felt pressured.

-(This is nothing I can endure it!)- thought Uryuu as he paried another incoming hit from Homura by crossing his arms near his chest.

Each hit Homura landed was specially designed to make Uryuu tire out from the sheer amount of hits he could land in a short time frame, and bring him to his knees.

-*Huff* *Huff* (It's working!...I think I now know how to beat him.)- thought Homura as he managed to land another clean hit on Uryuu though it had little to no visible impact on his foe.

Though his strategy was starting to pay off, Homura was visibly getting more and more tired and he had gravely underestimated how much pain the boy in front of him could endure at the end of the day.

Struggling through the pain, Uryuu, managed to hold out, and seeing a gap in Homura's defenses for a single moment he had a chance to strike back.

- (I got him!)- thought Uryuu who was about to evade one of Homura's punches and prepare himself to strike at the location where Homura's right kidney would be from the gap in his adversary's defenses.

*Grin*- Grinned Homura as he leaned back slightly.

-?!(Uryuu)

However, it soon changed when he caught a glance at Homura's grinning face; realizing that he had made a mistake in his judgment perhaps.

The gap that was left open for Uryuu to strike at was nothing more than a ruse and him letting it purposely open in order for Homura to strike back at Uryuu.

He guessed that his opponent would not expect both of them to play the same mind game.

If Uryuu could endure so many hits and stand tall, then the same could be said for himself.

Unlike Uryuu, he only had to endure one straight hit, if he could do that he would easily win.

As both Homura and Uryuu saw an opening in each other's defenses, both went for a straight hook!

- Kuh! (It's all or nothing!)- thought Homura as he desperately tried to tighten his jaw and embrace the impact coming his way.

Seeing that his opponent had tricked him, Uryuu changed the target of where he originally planned to deliver his initial blow and prepared himself to hit the place he believed he would have a better chance of knocking out his foe... he went for the face.

-! (Let's finally see who is truly the strongest of us two!)

Homura seeing his foe aiming for his face did the same and made sure to pack a punch with everything he had, so he grabbed the ground (figuratively) with his feet as Might Guy does when he is about to execute a punch using his back and legs to their full extent.

- Haaa! (Homura)

- Haaa!

*BAM*

A loud noise escapes the two boys' surrounding area, as they both end up punching each other in the face at the same time.

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Sending both boys slightly backward by unintentionally taking a few steps away from each other, due to the pain they both felt from the impact delivered to them.

Though the hit they both felt was enough to draw blood from one another, as seen from the streak of blood coming out from their nose and mouth, the impact they felt went far beyond that; even their minds became somewhat numbed by recoil from the damage they just taken.

Leaving the two boys for a few seconds without any real thought patterns running through their brains, till they finally came back to their senses.

Practically at the same time.

- Kuh! (Cr*p! why is he so fast?!)- Thought Uryuu as he swiftly wiped the blood running down his nose with his left hand in a single quick movement.

- Guh! (T-that can't be true! Why is he so durable?!) *spit* - were the only thoughts in Homura's mind as he spat the bitter-tasting dirty blood coming from inside his mouth.

Although both boys got a clean hit on each other, neither of them expected the other to take full advantage of that..., especially at the almost exact same time.

Homura thought Uryuu was going to try to land a strike at his stomach once again, while Uryuu thought he had finally taken Homura by surprise with his counterattack.

Neither of them was right.

In fact, both of them were completely wrong in trying to anticipate their adversary's next moves.

In other words, by assuming their opponents' next moves, they both ended up getting punched in the face at the same time and almost passed out from the shock of it.

Sadly, they were both too stubborn to admit defeat this quickly, certainly not for a fight in which they were now fully invested in winning.

If Homura was in top physical condition, this fight would have been over much earlier, however, this was simply an excuse.

In a fight all is fair, and he knew that very well.

He didn't have in him the ability to admit the opposite. He simply could not back down and blame others for his own mistakes.

Even if he was in peak condition, he couldn't have predicted Uryuu was so durable.

He would have probably let Uryuu be on the attacking side while he tried to learn as much as he could in the end; creating a similar scenario to what had occurred at the beginning of the fight.

Bringing them back to square one... just with slightly better stamina and having taken less damage on Homura's end.

If he truly was the stronger of the two, he would simply have to endure through the pain and continue pressing on; until he could finally prevail over his foe.

So, he quickly regained his motivation to fight back and readied himself to strike at the boy in front of him once again, all thoughts of holding back were now truly gone as he prepared to deliver another strike.

The same was true for Uryuu, who regained his conscience at the same time as Homura. He also immediately readied himself to strike the boy in front of him once again.

- Haaaa! (I won't lose! Not to him! Especially not to him!) (Uryuu)

- Haaaa! (I will show them all that I'm the strongest! I'm tired of everyone looking down on me!)

With hearts heavy of personal reasons, both Homura and Uryuu once again rushed toward their foe full speed ahead; ready to strike back at their hated target once again.

Neither boy was trying to avoid the other's strike anymore, it was now some sort of free for all type of brawl.

Thus, hit after hit, they continued to strike each other in the face at the same time, time and time again.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

With each strike they dealt on each other, the ground beneath their feet became dirtier as more blood escaped from their bodies.

- HOMURA!- Yelled Uryuu as he swung his right fist heading straight to the object of his frustrations; located ahead of himself.

- BRAT!- Shouted Homura, as he also swung his right fist at Uryuu while he came dashing towards himself.

*BAM!!!*

The exchange that followed was far stronger than any of the previous exchanges they had shared.

The two boys finally landed a quite powerful clean strike on each other's bloody and swollen faces that almost took either of them out of the fight.

However, unlike the other previous exchanges. This time their fists remained stuck in their foe's face without either of them having the intention to remove it as they kept their eyes locked on each other at all times while they tried to gasp for air, due to how out of breath the 2 were; from having to take this much damage without having a chance to rest in order to recuperate.

- *Huff* *Huff* *Huff*

- *Huff* *Huff* *Huff*-!(Uryuu)

Unfortunately for Uryuu this time around Homura was no longer taken by surprise by his moves.

The first time he was taken by surprise and didn't think that Uryuu would be aiming so directly at him.

Uryuu was, after all, a type of smart fighter and used tricks to lure his opponents into a false sense of security which he would then exploit when his enemies were taken off guard by switching fighting styles.

This allowed him to trick Homura several times during their fight. Sadly for him; in a straightforward fight; Homura was just better trained and had a better tolerance for pain than his roommate.

So, as soon as Homura recovered enough from the initial pain from the hit he received to his face and was able to catch Uryuu off guard with a knee strike delivered to the boy's face soon after.

- GAH!!! (Uryuu)

The impact was so strong that Uryuu coughed out some blood from his mouth and closed his eyes from the amount of damage he had just been submitted to.

But Homura did not let that deter him from stopping the fight, instead, he jumped slightly and followed it by aiming a kick with his right leg at Uryuu's face.

- (I have to guard!) (Uryuu)

Uryuu immediately rushed both of his hands up to take a defensive stance in order to guard against the kick coming straight for his face.

Though his guard was immediately destroyed due to how little amount of strength he could muster in order to completely deflect the strike coming at him.

- Guah! (Uryuu)

With his hands seemingly giving up due to how much he had to endure and his stamina hitting rock bottom, he was hit in the face immediately after his guard was destroyed; but he managed to soften the blow enough as to not fall to the ground or lose his conscience instantly but was completely stunned for a couple of seconds.

Which Homura took full advantage of in order to complete his next move.

As he was falling down Homura used his right arm to grasp the ground and used it to twist his body around, which allowed him to use his right leg to deliver a spinning low kick that knocked out both Uryuu's legs off the ground sending the boy slightly flying and throwing him off balance.

At that moment Homura had no idea on how to proceed next.

He had knocked his opponent off the ground but all he did was use Guy's technique, which he used to disarm an opponent, but Uryuu was a tough one to crack; he was likely to get back up his he wasted this chance.

-!

However, in a split moment, Homura had a vision and his body immediately moved accordingly in order to replicate what he had seen.

Then immediately after, as Homura had completed his spinning kick, he kicked the ground once again, allowing his body to gain enough momentum to allow him to stand up enough to use his left arm to punch Uryuu in the stomach while he was still in the air.

Using his entire body's momentum in forcing him to get back up to strike with almost all of his weight at Uryuu

-GUAH!!!!!!!

The strike was powerful enough to break Uryuu's momentum which sent the boy flying a couple of meters away and crashing his back against a nearby tree.

Almost knocking him out.

But instead, he just dropped to the ground, once the momentum ended.

The entire event happened so fast that it was only possible in a world full of people with superhuman abilities and looser laws of physics.

Homura himself was surprised at how well it worked out, he had only used this technique on wooden logs prior and even then it wasn't complete, it lacked something.

He never in his wildest dreams, thought of using it against someone so soon, it was still far off from being completed.

Still, he was no closer to completing into through having to fight and use it in a real-life scenario.

Unfortunately, it was sadly too slow to properly work against anyone, making it easily avoidable, thus why he had to trick the opponent first but perhaps it was good enough to be used against someone who had yet to go to the academy.

Since it had somewhat worked.

Even if Uryuu was already on his last legs.

Though Homura's reluctance to use this move stemmed from him not wanting to use it until it was safe for the opponent as well.

At the end of the day, he had no real desire in hurting anyone, even if he had been hurt.

However, in the heat of the moment and wanting to win, he thought he could use it to knock out his opponent. Believing, that Uryuu was durable enough to take it.

That much was certainly true.

As it turned out to be.

- *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*!!- Uryuu got hit so hard that he could not stop himself from coughing and spat some of the salivae that had gotten stuck inside his throat.

While still trying his best to best to stand up, using all of his last amount of strength to rise up once again. 

Using one arm to give him enough strength to support his weight as he tried to use his legs to once again stand up, and used his other arm to try to alleviate the pain he felt inside his gut.

-!

Making a wary Homura fear Uryuu for the first time.

Such determination and willpower should not be possible.

By all accounts Uryuu should be out of it by now, those were what the calculations in his head were telling him, but there he was trying his best to stand up once again.

What could someone like Homura do but be at a loss as to what to feel at that very moment?

He was experiencing something that definitely something that was beyond what he thought possible.

He had heard that people in this world could increase their overall abilities with a renewed sense of conviction, but seeing it first and foremost was a different thing altogether.

Homura was almost paralyzed with a feeling of fear.

Feeling that he was about to lose.

-*Gulp*... A taken aback Homura could do nothing but fear what could happen next.

All calculations going inside his head were simply ridiculous.

Nothing made sense.

For the first time, since he had obtained that skill he had absolutely no idea how things would proceed.

- Ku...ha...(Uryuu)

As Uryuu almost managed to stand back up, he began to tremble far more than he had done in the past and soon after starts losing strength in his legs, until finally, he fell on his back. 

*puff*

-....!?- Leaving a flabbergasted Homura with a face full of confusion which then slightly became more relieved.

Unable to resist the pain and fatigue from enduring so many hits, Uryuu, finally lost all strength in his knees and ultimately fell down to the ground and breathed harder than ever before.

Seemingly unable to continue to fight.

It was Homura's victory.

Not a happy one at that, he felt that he had lost.

He may have won the fight, but he lost in everything else.

 How could that ever be called a victory, when his opponent's fighting spirit was greater than his; which almost made him almost cower in fear?

How could someone as prideful as Homura accept that kind of victory?

Him winning the fight was the only possible conclusion on how this fight would ultimately end.

He was far more trained than Uryuu, even received help from many, and had the genetics to back him up but still, it felt as if he had lost.

It felt that Homura had only managed to win due to having been ingrained with the proper foundations of taijutsu.

In fact, he only won because he knew a taijutsu technique and his opponent did not know any.

Furthermore, once Uryuu decided to discard his previous strategy and go for a straight-up fist fight he lost his only viable advantage; to his unbeknownst.

Uryuu was far better at adapting to a foe's strategy than fighting without one.

His mistake was thinking that he was stronger than Homura and betting it all on trying to outlast him.

He thought he had a chance due to Homura's punches being fast but in compensation for their fast speed, they packed very little power behind them. However, once Homura decided to sacrifice the speed of his strikes for adding more power behind each hit, the strength of his punches and Uryuu's were almost identical.

The conclusion, from a repeated direct confrontation between both boys, could only end with Homura's victory.

Homura was simply better trained and had better judgment when it came to fighting due to having knowledge of how to behave in a fight and knowing his limits.

He was able to properly predict how many straight hits he could endure, before dropping to his knees; something Uryuu could not due to his lack of experience of never having been in a real fight.

Not only that, but Homura had learned a bit of the strong fist from Might Guy.

Though he could not break bones or anything of the like, he had seen and analyzed Guy's fighting style and knew how to take down his opponents. Although deep down, Homura didn't want to cause any over-lasting damage to Uryuu; so he was still subconsciously held back even though he thought he didn't.

And although he was nowhere near the same level of mastery as Guy in his mismatched knowledge related to the strong fist; he still knew enough to know how to hit his opponent and where it would more effective to hit an enemy to tire them out. Thus, even though his level in that art was still quite poor, he wasn't going to lose to Uryuu in any way.

The problem that Homura faced during the fight lay within the strong fist style itself. Being a fighting style designed to draw more power from each strike so as to allow to break opponents' bones and such, being able to judge the precision and the amount of strength behind each strike was rather hard to perform.

Guy had shown Homura several moves but did not train him on how to properly use them, the fact that Homura was able to capture so much from it was already quite amazing to him.

But he didn't have the essence and the proper technique behind the art, it was simply a safe/mechanical reproduction of everything Guy had shown Homura.

It was overall a downgraded version of Might Guy's technique, since, unlike the Sharingan that was able to replicate a technique with near-perfect accuracy supercomputing could only offer several hypotheses behind its findings and always chose the safest alternatives to problems.

Thus why Homura's version of the strong-fist was a pale imitation, but true enough to be useful in a fight, just not against opponents better at Taijutsu than him or any true strong-fist practitioners.

Still, Might Guy was able to recognize Homura's talent from his ability to deduce so much about the art from simply watching him perform and a few tips he gave, which did correct a few key aspects of his posture.

Seeing Homura, taking such great care to apply his tips in an almost flawless manner, in order to correct for most of the basic points of the strong fist that he had gotten wrong, Guy, decided to teach him key points on how/where to hit an opponent without doing too much damage to their bodies in order to end fights without something going wrong.

He did this much since Homura was not properly trained in the arts and he was afraid that Homura might hurt others or himself by trying to copy his fighting style to the teeth without proper guidance as he had done so far.

But due to Homura's maturity and reluctance to hurt others on purpose, he was relieved that he didn't have to worry too much about the boy. But he was still worried that he might try to copy others as he had done for himself.

So they mostly decided that whenever he met Homura to give him a training regimen that would form his muscles properly so that he can handle the stress and be more flexible from trying to pull more complex moves.

That's why Homura had such a hard time-fighting Uryuu.

Uryuu was tougher than he thought and wouldn't go down even after several hits. Homura lacked the combat experience to properly fight others.

Usually, he would just use supercomputing to try to predict others' movements and knock them out, but Uryuu was too fast for Homura to implement the information he received which would only put Homura at a disadvantage.

So he had to result to using the techniques and fighting style that Guy used to have a chance to properly win the fight. However, it wasn't a proven alternative. If used improperly, against someone like Uryuu who knows what would happen?

That is why Homura had no choice but to hold back, and he had promised Guy that he would not use the strong fist against others in the academy unless he was sure it was necessary or he could control himself enough to not outright hurt his training partners.

Not that Guy was too worried.

The proctors at the academy were all at least Chunin in rank.

They could easily handle a spar between kids that hardly could control their chakra, even if they were taken by surprise or had to stop a sparring match.

Still, he could not help himself from being quite worried.

Though Guy believed that Homura was very gifted and was able to easily absorb whatever he showed to him within a small amount of time, even though his movements were quite stiff.

Which he worried that it could become quite a problem in the future.

Habits are hard to get rid of and bad habits were even worse.

It was one of the reasons as to why he didn't want to teach Homura the strong fist at this point in time.

He lacked the basics of the basics, which he could develop by learning the taijutsu taught at the academy.

Normally Guy wasn't going to teach Homura too much but seeing the boy's talent slightly reminded him of his eternal rival Hatake Kakashi.

Though, if Kakashi was a sharp blade and efficient with a very little amount of impurities.

Homura was a blade made of the roughest materials but could be as sharp as they get if polished properly.

He couldn't help but try to see how far the boy could go on his own.

But Homura's current taijutsu was just too mechanical and almost unnatural in Guy's eyes, to him they were as those performed by a puppet.

It was too stiff and a mixture of things, that made little sense to him.

Different bodies have different habits and properties. What might be the easiest or the most efficient way to learn or perform something might not be compatible with the person in question.

Guy could only think that Homura tried to copy someone else, as to explain why he arrived at such an unnatural movement set.

It was something Guy had warned Homura about, but he only now truly understood what Guy was telling him all this time.

However, at the moment all those things mattered very little to the current Homura who had crouched next to a fallen Uryuu and grabbed/partially lifted by the collar of the boy's shirt with his right hand, demanding answers.

-.... Tell me... Tell me what was it that you just tried to pull out right now or else I will knock all your teeth out so hard that you will be eating out of a straw for the next few years!- as he finished saying his threat, Homura, let go Uryuu's collar and the boy dropped once again on the dusty, hard ground.

He thought of pinning down Uryuu, but he ultimately decided against it. As Uryuu seemingly had no interest in prolonging the fight any longer and even if he did; Homura was confident in winning once again.

He was certain that nothing that happened last time would occur this time around.

It was simply a fluke.

An anomaly.

There was nothing he needed to be scared about.

However the words that would come out of Uryuu's mouth would manage to surprise him nonetheless.

- ...*murmur*...- spoke Uryuu softly while looking away from Homura.

His now disheveled hair had hidden the expression on his face, hiding the boy's emotions from being visible to others.

If Homura did not happen to catch a glimpse of  Uryuu's mouth barely moving, he'd probably have thought that the boy had said nothing whatsoever; due to how inaudible his voice had sounded.

- Hm? What!? Speak up!- Yelled a now more fed-up than ever Homura.

Patience was far from his best quality.

He just wanted to go home and rest but he was forced/coerced into entering a fight against his will.

Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to wait too long to get his answers... but, the answers he would soon get, were far from the ones he may have envisioned.

-I SAID, IT'S NOT FAIR!!!- Shouted a frustrated Uryuu at Homura.

The look on Uryuu's face was one almost of pure undiluted rage. If it were not for the tears and sadness in his eyes; one would be fooled to believe the boy was ultimately just extremely angry.

However, this was different.

This raw outburst of emotions could only be explained if the boy had been enduring some type of pain for a long time now.

- Ha!? - This outburst at himself from Uryuu confused Homura to no end.

Homura was shocked that Uryuu was this angry at himself.

It is undeniable that they fought all the time and annoyed each other quite often, but they had a rather normal relationship at the end of the day.

They weren't exactly close, but they seemed to respect and understand each other's pain to some degree.

For the calm and stoic Uryuu to yell this loudly at him and shed tears, it simply wasn't normal to him.

So for him to yell at Homura in such a manner was simply more confusing than the latter expect it to be.

- YOU SAID WE'D BE SHINOBIS TOGETHER! THAT WE'D WORK TOGETHER TOWARD ACHIEVING OUR GOALS!... BUT INSTEAD, YOU SEEMED TO HAVE ABANDONED IT FOR A WHILE!... Then, you spent your time doing nothing but playing around doing nothing m SILLY GAMES?! SUDDENLY YOU START TRAINING FOR REAL AGAIN?! NOT ONLY BUT YOU GOT THIS STRONG!?... Strong enough that people all around the village are praising you all over?! ANSWER ME! HOW IS ANY OF THAT FAIR?!!... What did I do wrong? Why did I train all this for!?... No one, no one ever sees me... I thought you did but... I was wrong.

- I-I...

-...you promised me that we'd look out for each other... but it was all a lie! I was an idiot for actually believing you...I-I wanted to make you regret it... I wanted to defeat you... but I can't.- Said Uryuu with an anguished face.

Every word that Uryuu uttered seemed to hurt him even more than the hits he had actually endured. He didn't expect to become this emotional but years of having to hold back what he wanted to say to Homura, made him unable to control himself.

He finally broke.

The academy tryouts were a shock for Uryuu.

He felt so many things. 

Things that he never expected having to feel.

Emotions that he deeply buried in a vain attempt to become stronger resurfaced as he failed to achieve his goals.

Reality was cruel to all.

He'd believe that he would be able to make himself known or at least impress a few but nothing like that occurred.

In contrast, seeing Homura, performing so well in the physical test was both painful and slightly anguishing as well.

He failed to keep up with Homura, let alone surpass him.

No matter how much he tried, to surpass the latter, he was ultimately completely ignored.

His presence seemingly meant nothing to Homura, who hadn't given him the time of day throughout the entire tryouts. It was as if his existence and efforts didn't matter.

He was literally, invisible to the person he wanted to defeat above all.

Why?

Because he had thought that they were once friends.

However, Homura's fickle nature and regaining his memories put them more and more at odds, until finally just became no different than acquaintances.

Still, Homura, in Uryuu's time of solitude and grief was one of the first people to reach out to him, however, one day he seemed to have stopped caring about him altogether.

Even during the exams, Homura had completely ignored Uryuu's existence. As if he never even considered Uryuu a challenge at all.

Or even remember the promise they had made.

All that time, all that effort amounted to nothing.

The pain of having to watch Homura pass him by to such a degree was truly a painful sight to behold.

Uryuu slightly envied Homura, but with time that envy had grown into resentment towards him.

People just seemed to like and care for Homura, in one way or another. Even though Homura was a bundle of narcissistic and other awful tendencies he seemed to always be liked by others.

One way or the other.

No one seemed to truly resent him or truly dislike him.

A lot of people seemed to be even fond of his antics and he easily managed to connect with people without even trying.

He even was the only child at the orphanage to receive a gift from the Hokage.

While Uryuu he always had a hard time getting close to others.

He never even knew where he belonged as someone born outside Konoha, with no clear recollection of his memories prior to those events.

-...(... come to think.... there was a time that this guy was always following me around...)- so thought Homura.

Homura, remembered that, unlike the other children that he had been familiar with throughout the years, Uryuu was among the ones he was mostly friendly towards at the beginning.

-(Right... he used to follow me around when he first came to the orphanage. Yeah, he was pretty much a Yakushiki kabuto's case. That is why I befriended him... Shy guys with nothing to them always turn out to be interesting or bad guy's in the making... that's what I thought at the time...It was stupid...Still, I am not sure why I did that...)

Uryuu was not like Saya and most of his other friends he had at the orphanage.

- (This guy came in at the orphanage when I was 3. He had no memories or something of the sort, and I wondered if that was something that happens a lot in this world. Blunt force or trauma to the head may erase memories like in comic books and children's programs. I seemed to remember in naruto, especially the anime several stories like that.)

Although, Uryuu's full backstory was not fully known to him. He knew that he was found near the village or at least it was somewhere close to the village within the land of fire.

The entire specifics were not something Homura was particularly certain about but it was so long ago now to him that he had all but forgotten about that chapter of his life.

Learning that he was reborn in the ninja world, in the fire nation, within a shinobi village, and a few years prior to the main event and plot of the story was too much to handle even if Homura pretended that it didn't affect him, in fact, it changed the way he interacted with people ever so slightly.

He began to put more and more distance between himself and others, he had to. If he wanted to become stronger, he'd be charged with several crimes in the future.

It was better to be alone, but Homura was incapable to truly as do as such, he saw the people at the orphanage as the closest thing to family even if he pretended otherwise.

-( He was alone and I was losing street cred, as the other kids, were growing and my height was falling short of the other boys...plus speaking the language here was not my forte, and my mind was still too ingrained with my old language

(I really wish I had an omnipotent system instead of just a dumb skill) and he was always alone. So I decided to make him into my lackey... but I don't remember making any promises to him... however, I know that I would have promised him the moon if it made me cool in his eyes and whatever else I could come up with...)

The main reason as to why Uryuu was mostly alone, besides the fact that he was an orphan.

Was due that even though, he might come from the land of fire, there was still a slight chance that he might be a foreigner.

People with unknown backgrounds aren't very welcome, in shinobi villages. They are a potential risk to the security of the village, but a necessary part for most powerful villages to maintain a powerful army and commerce afloat.

Distrust, fear, and the threat that those that are labeled as the "other" pose, is quite high in a world that sees wars every 20 years or so.

Even a child could be a useful weapon to cause harm to a village.

In this world, children with abilities such as those found in powerful kekkei genkais are easily able to eliminate a group of adults and cause damage to a large area do exist. If he or she happens to be the owner of a powerful kekkei genkai or some other nefarious power that they cannot control or hide the results could be far worse.

Those children are often feared and rejected.

Others simply await death or live lives of complete isolation and solitude.

In all honesty, those children with strong abnormal powers, are already a danger to most trained shinobi to face alone, let alone normal everyday people; it is not abnormal that they are seen by most as monsters wearing human skin.

Fortunately for Uryuu he never had to suffer too much.

The orphanage that he was lucky enough to join was not in the center of the village and the people there were all relatively friendly.

The loneliness that Uryuu has experienced throughout his short life was not knowing where to belong due to mostly having no memories.

Not that Homura knew or cared enough to realize that something was amiss in his fellow roommate. To Homura Uryuu always appeared sure of himself, if not overconfident but he himself had no real time to dedicate to others, he had his own issues.

He was so preoccupied with so many things, he wanted to be alive at the end of it all but he also didn't trust that the leaf could protect him or any of them.

So he wanted to attain greater strength above all else and as fast as possible, but when that plan mostly fell apart, he decided that he would have to resort to more drastic measures.

But he did not account that he would end up hurting others in the process even if it was involuntary. 

Regardless, he could not appease Uryuu or deny his claims.

He could not say anything to the boy in front of him.

Minutes passed and the sky started to be covered by dark clouds.

Even as the weather started to pour. 

Droplets of water enveloping both young men, now drenched by the rain.

The two boys stayed in complete silence.

As they were now, they could not go back to being friends.

Too much had been said.

Their paths could no longer cross.

...it was a sad day.

A day that Homura would remember for the rest of his life.

It was the day that he would unexpectedly cut the first bond he had with someone ever since he reincarnated.

For the first in his life, he felt empty.

Finally truly beginning to understand the weight and the consequences of his actions.

*

Sorry for the long wait, work in my place went from bad to worse, and was a bit too much on my body and trying to juggle with my actual work was a bit too much for me. I'm good, but I'll have to go to the hospital soon due to health complications I've experienced several. All should be fine, but I just wanted to inform all those who may have waited for new chaps.

Also, sorry to leave in a cliffhanger but too tired too tired to continue review had to break into 2 chaps was already past 10000 words, if you read this far sorry for any mistakes but it was too hard to have to recheck everything, gave up on finishing like 13 times. ;p *

 

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