Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_288

Maruboshi had Takuma take a one-day break from sparring and go through a tough day of physical conditioning. He could tell that Takuma had perceived something during his fight with Nenro, and he wanted to give him time to gather his thoughts before he tested them out.

His goal wasn't to see Takuma change his combat style—one week was too short to see changes—but he wanted to kickstart the process. Somewhere along the line, Takuma had stopped experimenting with his combat style, and while that allowed him to solidify his style and gain depth and experience, Maruboshi's opinion was that he had stopped at the wrong time. He was too inexperienced and young to stop progressing with his fighting style.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maruboshi Kosuke. I am Uchiha Mikoto, a jonin of the Hidden Leaf," said Mikoto with an elegant bow, her grace evident in every movement. She wore a white top with a faint light blue shuriken print design and flared sleeves paired with dark blue, puffy hakama-styled pants. Her hands were covered with worn-out leather gloves, and she held a sheathed sword.

"The honour is mine, Lady Uchiha. Your war exploits in the Land of Rapids against the Stone shinobi are renowned to this date," Maruboshi said, polite and humble as always.

In her youth, Mikoto participated in a drawn-out conflict between Leaf and Stone in the Land of Rapids, where she earned her achievements that propelled her to the esteemed rank of jonin. When Takuma met her, he went into the archives to learn about her past, and she was prominently present in the Land of Rapids conflict.

Mikoto humbly smiled before turning to Takuma when her smile turned wide.

"Thank you for inviting me to spar. It's been so long since I have done this that I'm excited."

"I hope fighting me won't be disappointing for someone at your level," said Takuma.

"Well, I am rusty, but... I don't think I will lose even when I bring myself to your level," said Mikoto with a smirk.

Maruboshi glanced at Takuma. His student was usually calm, but he never backed down when it came to combat-related provocations. It was a sense of pride he had developed from his time as a prizefighter.

"I'm going to have you take those words back," said Takuma with his chin turned up.

"I don't think so," smiled Mikoto before skipping away to start her warm-up.

Maruboshi was happy that Takuma had such a good relationship with another mentor figure. It was good for Takuma to have people he could be open with and comfortable with. He worked too much, so he didn't have too many friends, and his personality itself was the type to have a small number of close friends, which was why Maruboshi was happy when he made close relationships with people.

"Why did you want me to fight her?" asked Takuma.

"Because she's overwhelmingly stronger than you," Maruboshi answered. He wanted Takuma to fight someone who he wouldn't be able to beat no matter what he did. He was supposed to be that opponent, but when Takuma proposed inviting Mikoto, he agreed because she would be a better option. "Even think of trading damage with her; she will make you regret it. You're facing an opponent who outclasses you in everything from weapons to experience. Everything you throw at her is bound to fail... so if you aren't going to win, you might very well take the opportunity to try out new things."

Even if Mikoto were to bring herself down to Takuma's physical level, there was a gulf of skill and experience between them that was too wide to bridge. Even though he had essentially said that winning was impossible, he knew Takuma wouldn't accept that just because he was told so—it wasn't in his nature, and he would try to win until the bitter end.

Maruboshi understood Takuma, so he knew his words would treat his words as a provocation.

He decided to pour oil into the fire. "If you can force her to use the Sharingan, I'll give you the win."

Takuma's eyes narrowed as he gazed over at Mikoto.

———
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"So you're trying to adjust your fighting style?" asked Mikoto as she faced Takuma. "Why? What's wrong with it."

"I have a tendency to trade damage to win fights," said Takuma.

"Even though you spent months learning genjutsu with me?"

Takuma felt embarrassed. Genjutsu was the direct opposite of trading damage; if trading damage was crude, then genjutsu was elegant. The truth was that while Takuma had spent a significant amount of time exploring genjutsu, he could now use his current arsenal of genjutsu through any sensory connection component. Genjutsu: Haze was a touch-based jutsu, but he could switch it to work through sight, scent, or sound and get 90% of the original effect. However, he had spent almost no time integrating genjutsu into his combat.

"I guess that will be something we will address when we resume our lessons," said Mikoto.

Takuma nodded with pursed lips and clenched his fist. He felt he hadn't been working hard enough and had let down both of his teachers.

"Let's start," said Maruboshi from the sidelines.

Takuma assumed his stance while Mikoto remained at ease. He had zero idea regarding her combat style, but he could make some assumptions based on his experience. He had worked with Uchiha Gouki in the Narcotics Taskforce, which had led them to spar a couple of times, and while the insights from then were incomplete at best, it was all he had.

Takuma made the first move with two quick jabs followed by a heavy cross. Mikoto raised her empty hand, effortlessly swatted away the jabs, and then blocked the cross with her forearm while not moving a step. Takuma turned up the aggression and went for an augmented body shot, immediately caught in Mikoto's grip. He quickly stepped back before getting right back in with a kick to the knee that she dodged by pulling her foot back and then caught a spinning roundhouse kick coming for her face with her hand.

Mikoto grinned as she pulled the leg she had caught, and Takuma felt himself being pulled off his foot. He activated his core and spun mid-air to whip a kick from his other leg, freeing him as Mikoto released his leg to block the kick.

Takuma hopped away with a frown. Mikoto had only used one hand the entire time while her other arm held her sword by her side. Her smile and relaxed posture said pages. In the short exchange, he could feel the gap between them.

Even though she was retired, he was facing a jonin.

"I wonder if I can get by using only one hand," said Mikoto in a singing voice.

Takuma almost charged her. He took a deep breath and backed a couple of steps to take a moment. After his fight with Nenro, he realised something about his fighting style. His style was based on the standard Hidden Leaf Kata as the foundation and was developed in the Ring. When he was coming up in the Ring, he studied his opponents and peers like every other fighter to create and adapt his style to win matches. He devoured any tactic and technique he deemed valuable and added them to his style.

However, why did he only do that within the Ring? Why didn't he steal from other shinobi? Did he look at them differently because they didn't forge their skills through bloody fights? He didn't know the answer, but it was probably why he stagnated after leaving the Ring. Was it because he no longer had to fight three bloody fights weekly that stopped him from progressing?

I should change that. Takuma took a deep breath and considered how to approach the fight. Instinct was an essential part of combat; things often happened so fast that there was no time to think, and that's when instinct, honed through experience and hours of practice, kicked in to move the body, be it for offence or defence. But he was trying to change his style, and he needed to actively think about what to do if he wanted to break his habit.

There's no need to go in blazing; let's set up like Nenro. Takuma walked around Mikoto as she watched him from a spot; he slowly sped up until he was running. He raised his hands and weaved hand seals, making Mikoto slightly more vigilant.

Takuma slammed his foot into the ground to stop and poured out a massive wave of water toward her. Water Release: Wild Water Wave. The scabbard clinked as Mikoto thumbed the sword's hilt guard, causing the blade to slide out; she caught it with her other hand and slashed almost too fast for Takuma's eyes, and before he knew it, the wave was bisected with the two parts forced to the sides.

The sword slash was faster than anything he had seen from Kameko, the fastest sword he knew. Takuma dashed toward her while already flowing into another set of hand seals. He eyed the sword and stopped just outside its range. Chakra flowed into his leg as he smashed his toes into the ground, spraying dirt toward her.

Mikoto pushed the dirt, heading for her face away with a slash, but the rest hit her harmlessly. She frowned, "I hadn't worn this in so long. It's already sullied—"

She turned around and launched another quick strike at the flying water, which burst upon impact but still rushed past her. She looked back at Takuma to see he had thrown four kunai into the air around him. Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The water coalesced behind his back, and four thick tentacles spurt out, snatching the kunai out of the air.

With the setup complete, he shot toward her. Eight Tentacles wasn't a jutsu that could handle a lot of weight, but after years of consistently using it in training and every battle of his life, he had reached an amount of skill where the tentacles he created were strong. He eyed the sword in Mikoto's hands. By merging eight into four, he had the confidence to contend.

The four kunai-bearing tentacles zoomed toward Mikoto in a blur. She looked calm as her sword parried and deflected the kunai onslaught barrage, but that was not the only thing she needed to worry about. Takuma stepped into a haymaker, but Mikoto side-stepped it elegantly. He pivoted on his lead foot and threw an augmented palm strike for the chest.

Mikoto's other hand moved, and the sheath deflected his palm strike.

"Ah," she uttered.

"Two hands!" Takuma exclaimed as he looked up at her smugly.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed with an amused expression, and she moved as she continued to avoid Takuma's strikes. Sparks flew around them as metal clashed while Takuma bombarded her with a quick chain of strikes, each of them failing to touch her. It was like she knew in advance where her attacks were coming from. Takuma's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up at her eyes only to see they were still onyx-coloured.

"I don't need to use my eyes," said Mikoto, sweeping Takuma's legs, but he avoided it by raising his leg.

She took a quick back step, and her aura changed as she raised her sword; her being became sharper, sending warning signals in Takuma's head. His self-preservation instincts told him to back off, but then he saw Maruboshi on the edge of his peripheral vision and thought about what he would do.

Takuma stood his ground and planted his feet firmly on the ground; trying to move away could open him up to being punished by someone as fast as Mikoto. Maruboshi had lost his leg during a mission and thus had to rebuild his footwork and combat style from the ground up to compensate for the prosthetic leg.

There is more to footwork than being quick and light-footed; a stable base is perhaps more important than anything. Takuma recalled Maruboshi and focused on his legs. What would Maruboshi do?

The sword left behind a silver streak as Mikoto stabbed at him. Takuma would've skipped back out of the range, but he stayed his ground and snatched a kunai from a tentacle to parry the stab. He would've launched a successful counter-attack if it were someone mediocre, but she flowed right into her next attack with a high spin kick, not giving him any time to retaliate.

Takuma was thrown off his feet and pushed a few feet to the side. He focused on his feet and landed with solid footing, allowing him to duck a wide slash and follow up with a roll to the side to avoid a downward swing. He got on his feet a split moment before Mikoto came after him with a quick chain of strikes. They were fast to the point he almost felt motion-sick following the sword.

As the sword came for him, he didn't continuously jump back to make distance. He made calculated moves, moving his body in conjunction with footwork while his breathing fell into sync with his movements as he evaded strikes.

His mind raced as he thought about his footwork more than he had ever done. He thought ahead about the subsequent three attacks as he dodged the current one, wondering if the move he was making now would tie his movement a few seconds later. His thoughts branched like a chess player forecasting moves, coming up with responses for all possibilities.

It was terrifying. His instincts kept telling him to make space because he was going to get cut down. His heart lurched every time he dodged a slash close enough that he could smell the sharpness of the metal. And yet, his mind remained clear—utterly occupied with a hundred thoughts—yet clear and focused.

He stayed nearby where he was in the range to make an immediate counterattack.

I see it. Takuma wasn't even sure what he saw, but he recognised that the swing coming from his shoulder was the last one before Mikoto had to take a pause to gather herself if she wanted to make another attack.

Takuma charged his fist with chakra as two tentacles deflected the sword slash. He struck out with his entire body's momentum behind the punch. It's going to hit, Takuma thought as his fist drew close to her. Just as he was about to make an impact, Mikoto jumped several feet back at the last moment.

Takuma half-stumbled on his feet as he whiffed the strike. His breathing was shaky, but he immediately resumed a stance of a solid base, and his eyes remained on Mikoto in case she came to the counter.

It wasn't a swat from her hands, a block with her arm, or even using her sheath to deflect the attack. Mikoto had jumped away because that was the only option he had given her; the timing was perfect—but Takuma wasn't thinking about any of that.

I should've used the Second Form fist. Takuma was already thinking about his mistakes and his future moves.

———

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AN: Next time on TOR— Uchiha Interceptor Fist!