Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_333

The progress with Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales to train the Yang nature transformation for Shadow Clone Jutsu wasn't going well. He was making headway through repetition, but it wasn't fast enough to achieve his goal of creating a clone by the end of his training, which was ending in two weeks. He needed a way to boost his progress and knew what could help.

"You can still back out of this," said Anko as she pulled her leg up behind her back.

"I wouldn't have called if I wanted to back off," Takuma replied as he stretched for the spar.

"Alright, let me thank you for this tension-relief session. It's going to be really hot," she joked, but the serpentine smile and the sadistic light in her eye would make anyone nervous.

But that was why Takuma had chosen Anko as a training partner. Out of anyone he could call, she was best at Fire Release ninjutsu because of her high affinity and skill, which made her an ideal fit to train Fire Dragon Scales, which was anti-fire defence. He needed real experience; holding his hand above the stove flame only did so much. And this was a woman who had casually poisoned him in the name of training, as someone who had received harsh training from Orochimaru, a man infamous for his cruel ways— she wouldn't hesitate to push him and would do it properly to maximise effects.

"Or I beat you up. I heard snake blood has special properties."

Anko grinned at the provocative words. "Look at that arrogance— because you took out some drunk oldie with a dirty trick?" she shot back, bringing up how he had taken down the jōnin.

Takuma raised his chin and stared down at her, letting the pointed words pass through him. He pulled off his shirt and threw it to the side, bearing his torso. He felt her gaze on his scars, but she didn't bring it up, and he appreciated it. She already knew about his time in the Ring, and even though the surgical scars had grown faint, they were numerous enough to be noticeable.

He weaved the hand seals, which still felt awkward on his fingers. The two energies in his body merged, creating chakra that flowed through the chakra pathway system where it transformed, gaining the Yang nature attribute and other intricate characteristics before being pushed out to every inch of skin on his body. The skin wriggled for a moment before red-brown reptilian scales resembling that of a dragon grew out from his skin. The hair on his head also transformed, giving him a bald head of scales. For a couple of seconds, it felt as though he wore a snug pair of leather gloves with some resistance on movements all over his body, but the sensation soon vanished, leaving him feeling completely natural.

He had started out by only being able to cover his arms below his elbow with scales, but he had gained enough mastery to cover his entire body—but that could only be considered the beginning.

Opposite to him, Anko weaved a practised set of hand seals. A ball of fire appeared in her palm. She swung her aggressively for a fiery rope of flaming whip to spring out in her hand. It was one of her favourite Fire Release ninjutsu, excellent for crowd control and keeping opponents at a distance; she used twin whips to wreak havoc over her enemies.

"Ready to get whipped?" she smirked.

He wordlessly charged forth. She immediately lashed out with her flaming whip that left black smoke in its trail. He rolled out of the way and threw a shuriken the moment he was on his feet. The whip scorched the top-most layer of dirt on the field as his shuriken clashed with an opposing shuriken while a second shuriken emerged from its shadows, aiming for his legs.

Takuma jumped to evade the shuriken, but as he was in mid-air, the flaming whip slammed into him. That's where the dragon scales on his body came into play, rejecting the fire's burn but only bringing it down from harsh burns to touching a hot pan for a couple of seconds. He hissed because the jutsu didn't provide any physical defence. He still felt as though a tight leather whipcord lashed him.

"You are slow," Anko commented with a glint in her eye. "That looks like some expensive new gear."

Takuma was wearing the weighted gear Gai had gifted him. He didn't have the vest on because it hid all of his torso, and he wanted to train his ninjutsu, but he still had his ankle and wrist sets on. He had more mass weighing down his body than ever, making him slow.

He exerted himself and shot toward her as fast as he could push himself at her. She lashed her whip at his feet again, but he jumped over it, closed the distance and stabbed a kunai at her. She grabbed his arm with her free hand to stop the blade. He drew strength from his lower body and fired a punch from his other hand that she blocked with her arm holding the flaming whip.

Anko's eyes bulged as she felt the force of Takuma's augmentation smash into her arm and spike through her body. Her feet were off the ground for a second as she was pushed back and stumbled to find her balance.

"I-I forgot you hit so hard, you bastard," she groaned.

H didn't give her time and launched a barrage to pressure her and steal the fight's momentum.

She raised her hands in a guard, and the flames that made her whip moved to snake around her arm. Takuma flung a kick for her head, and when she brought her flaming arm to guard, he feared that it would burn him, but his foot only felt warm when it smashed into her arm.

Anko switched to hand-to-hand combat. Her jutsu had transformed into some form of a standby state. He realised that a whip wasn't a great weapon in close quarters and that he must stick to her to gain an advantage. She tried to distance herself, but he remained in lockstep, not allowing any separation. But she was no slouch when it came to taijutsu. Takuma attacked aggressively, pushing her back on defence, but she evaded or blocked everything.

She even parried an augmented haymaker by slapping away his arm, showing she was conscious and ready for his speciality. The parry turned into a counterattack with a three-strike combo. She smashed an uppercut into his chin and ploughed a double-palm strike into his chest as he staggered and then went for an axe kick finisher.

Takuma took a last-second step back as he eyed the heel of her foot, which almost missed his head. But he had no time to relax as he saw her already in position and leap up for a spinning kick for his head that he could only block. Anko's body spun again in mid-air, and she delivered another equally powerful kick before finally landing. The second kick forced him to stumble sideways for a step, enough for her to come at him with a kuna in hand.

As the glinting blade came close to him, Takuma punched out from his hip. Anko's eyes widened as she saw and felt an invisible force slam into her chest and shoulder, destroying her momentum and balance. It was Takuma's Second Form augmentation.

He exerted himself and pulled his weighted gear to move as fast as possible to take advantage of the surprise attack by driving a powerful kick into her knee, forcing her to kneel. Anko was a beat late to raise her guard, and his fist rammed into her face, doubling her eyesight.

Takuma raised his foot and slammed her down to the ground with another augmented to the ground. But as he was about to stomp on her chest while she was down, the flame whip reappeared, coiled around his leg.

Their eyes met. Anko grinned wildly as she pulled the whip in her hand. Takuma felt his leg getting pulled from under him. His hands moved instinctually to prevent his fall as he slipped, allowing him to prop himself awkwardly.

Both fighters were now on the ground. The competition was now to see who could get up faster to make the first attack.

Takuma had managed to avoid a complete fall and was in a position for a quicker recovery, but as he tried to get up, his leg burst into flames. His eyes widened when he felt the fire's temperatures and realised that the scales wouldn't last long.

He pulled back while cutting the whip with a powerful Second Form augmentation. With no fuel to pull from, the flames disappeared, leaving behind a leg full of charred scales. He could tell that they were in bad condition and would crumble from another attack.

Anko had also gotten up. "That looks much better," she pointed at the blackened and cracked scales.

Takuma didn't respond and focused on laboured breathing. He was strained from lugging the weights around and wanted a moment of respite. He raised his hands to form the seals for Water Release: Wild Water Wave so he could keep Anko away for a moment, but she seemed to know his thoughts as she sprinted toward him when she saw him raise his hands.

He gritted his teeth and abandoned hand seals and got ready to dodge her whip, which was faster than his body. He needed to keep his distance continuously, or she was bound to get him.

But to his surprise, the whip returned to its stand-by state around Anko's arm.

His eyes shined because he would much rather be punched and kicked in close quarters than get burned by the ninjutsu whip. He focused and pulled out a kunai in one hand, ready to brawl with her, when suddenly the fire around her arm shifted and transformed into an arm-length long rigid riding whip.

Anko breached his personal space and swung the whip down. Takuma raised his hand to block and immediately felt a searing pain upon contact as the fire scorched his arm. He was startled. Although the area of damage was much smaller, he could tell that the intensity of the burns was stronger, as the fire had been concentrated in a small area.

He immediately escaped backwards.

"Don't run away now!" Anko laughed sadistically.

His trained instincts told him to take a stand and fight her—that the fire-resistant scales could take a few hits to find an opportunity to land a solid hit to turn the tide over—but that was his bad habit telling him to trade damage. He wanted to change his combat style and reduce taking damage.

Takuma bit the inside of his cheek and kept himself on the move, evading the riding whip. He recalled his spar against Mikoto and reached for the feeling he had experienced in that fight.

Look at her carefully. Takuma focused his attention on Anko. He noticed things like that she held her whip in her right hand, how riding whip-wielding differed from his recently acquired knowledge about kenjutsu, the points on his body she was aiming for, her attack rhythm and patterns, any idiosyncratic habits, and other details that caught his eye.

It immediately helped as it became slightly easier to dodge her whip.

He long knew that instincts were paramount during a fight. Conscious thinking was too slow to rely on during a fight where the body moved faster than the mind. Fighters relied on muscle memory and instincts to move through a fight, while their conscious thoughts were reserved for analysing the opponent and other factors to find a way to end the battle.

Even focusing on his enemy, as he did during Mikoto's, help, it was not ideal. He was paying too much conscious attention, practically cornering himself into tunnel vision when multiple opponents or a hidden opponent were waiting for a chance to strike.

The solution was to train his eyes to look deeper and notice things subconsciously. Doing so was easier said than done and would require battle experience.

Participating in Ring passed his mind, but the thought passed away just as quickly. He was an ANBU operative now, and the level of Ring wouldn't help him. He had to find something else.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself as he jumped to the side, only barely dodging the whip that brushed past his shoulder, leaving blackened scales that sizzled. Various spots on his body were smoking from getting grazed by the flame whip.

His body was complaining. He could feel his muscles burning from the strain put on them by the weights. Going about his regular day, following his daily training and Campbell's kenjutsu regiment, was doable with weights as he could take regulated rests, but fights were a harsh combination of aerobic and anaerobic activities, making weights cruelly challenging when facing a stronger opponent like Anko.

He knew the solution. Using Water Release: Eight Tentacles would help immediately and take away the burden, allowing him to simplify and slow his movements—but he didn't want to use them because even though it was his goto ninjutsu and extremely useful because of its versatility, he didn't want to become dependent on it.

Training pure taijutsu, which served as the fundamental base, was better for long-term progress and growth.

"Tough, isn't it?" Anko suddenly said while looking into Takuma's eyes. "Let's take a break."

She had held the whip in her right hand since the start but suddenly threw it in her left, catching him unprepared. She lunged forward and lashed the whip against the inside of his elbow.

Takuma immediately felt a searing burn, as if he had been hit at a damaged spot, even though he hadn't been hit there before.

Anko's footwork also changed, becoming more fluid, unironically reminding him of a snake's movements. She slipped to his side and struck the back of his knee, which brought the same pain as his elbow.

The hit to the knee made him stop, and in that time, she attacked his nape, which was enough to end the fight. The Fire Dragon Scale jutsu shattered, and his skin returned to normal, leaving his skin marked with red marks from damage that managed to penetrate the scales.

He wasn't injured enough to not, but he was tired that continuing on would be a fool's choice.

"So, what did you notice?" Anko looked down at him, not caring that he was wheezing on the ground and irrigating the dirt beneath him with his sweat.

Takuma stared at her in silence for a few seconds before giving an answer broken by heavy gasps every few words. "The scales provide no physical defence... The scales are much weaker at joints and where the skin stretches a lot... I think the scales also dull pain; I might underestimate the damage I take... and..."

"And?"

"... and you are bitch."

Anko smirked as though he had complimented him.

"Great, you paid attention. That's good," she said and sat down beside him.

"What's that ninjutsu's name and rank?" Takuma asked. He wasn't planning to learn Fire Release ninjutsu, but he figured he could look for something similar in Water Release to see if it would suit him.

"Fire Release: Twin Flame Whips; C-rank."

"I like how it snaked around your arm when you didn't want to use it," Takuma commented while realising that she had held back the jutsu's power or else it would've hurt much more.

"That's not part of the jutsu... I added that with shape transformation," said Anko.

"The riding whip?"

"Yup, that too."'

Takuma nodded with a sigh. There was more to becoming a "chunin-level combatant" than learning a B-rank jutsu.

During a discussion with Maruboshi about Advanced Chakra Training, he said there was more use to Nature and Shape transformation than just learning higher-rank jutsu.

Those who were smart also looked at their existing ninjutsu to see how they could modify them to suit their needs better. Most tried to push and overcharge their jutsu beyond their rank, but some people like to make clever, small adjustments within the pre-established structure of the jutsu to create something unique to them. It was supposed to be extremely tough, but when someone managed to create something perfectly suited for them, they gained a very dangerous weapon.

Takuma glanced at Anko and was reminded she would be promoted to Tokubetsu Jōnin in the next couple of years. He also wondered if she had the potential to go beyond that.

"... Aim for jōnin," he said.

"What?"

"You should aim to become a jōnin."

Anko chuckled at him before breaking into a laugh. "What's with that, so suddenly?" she asked.

Takuma gazed at her seriously. "You have the potential; you should seriously try to become a jōnin." He knew she wouldn't take him seriously, so he said something that would undoubtedly gain her focus. "No one's going to bring up the snake creep if you become a jōnin..."

That got her attention as the smile slipped away from her smile, and she gazed at him with a colder look. Just like she hit his sore spot before the fight, he poked her back. There was probably nothing more in her life than to kill Orochimaru, who had ruined her life.

"...They will fear you, thinking you might be his second coming—that maybe you will become just as dangerous as him... You will be only known as Jōnin Mitarashi Anko—and not as the Snake's student."

"Alright, stop."

"If you become a jōnin, you will have a better chance at killing him... I will help you kill him," said Takuma.

Anko pursed her lips. They both knew that becoming a jōnin wouldn't make her a match for Orochimaru, who was a monster of a different breed, but it couldn't be denied that she would have a better chance at revenge if she gained the strength and become a jōnin of the Hidden Leaf.

She sighed and waved her hand, gesturing to stop the conversation, and immediately tried to move on with a joke,

"So you won't help me if I don't become a jōnin?"

"No, I will become a jōnin and kill him in your stead. I will steal away the satisfaction of killing that bastard from you," said Takuma in the most serious tone he could muster.

He didn't know if he would ever grow strong enough to kill someone like Orochimaru, who had the resilience of a cockroach—but this wasn't him—this was about motivating her.

Some would say that it would be better for Anko to move on from her past with Orochimaru and live a life without fixating on revenge. Takuma wholeheartedly disagreed; he wanted his revenge against Kon almost more than anything in this world, and the fire in his heart would not settle until he extinguished it with the bastard's blood.

"Come on, enough resting. Get up," said Anko as she stood up, avoiding the conversation.

He didn't know if his words had any effect, but she was harder on him for the rest of their time together that day.

———

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A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. The fight was fun to write about, but I enjoyed the conversation afterwards more.

Takuma started out focusing on survival—then slowly shifted to thriving in this life—and now he is actively trying to pursue revenge; it's driving his decisions, and here he is also justifying that want of his by trying to convince others that revenge is right.

We don't know if a revenge-fueled drive is good for Takuma or anybody, but I know anything in excess is bad, so let's see how this turns out for him. I'm excited because I, too, don't know how this will affect his future.