But it could not end like this. He needed to dominate the spar. He could not lose. So, he decided to not hold back. A spar with his full strength.
…
'Am I losing?'
Soon after, Asuma realised that perhaps Kurenai had underestimated Reko's strength. Even after giving it his all, Asuma could not manage to hit Reko, not a serious hit at least.
'Woah. He has good strength and endurance. No doubt. But it's an easy win for me.'
Reko seemed happy to finally battle a famous Jonin as he dominated the spar entirely. He was curious as to where he ranked in the Jonins and it turned out to be surprisingly very high.
Seeing Asuma struggling against him, finally, he decided to go for a combo attack. He hit Asuma's shoulder blades and then knee before ending it with a punch to the stomach.
The winner of the battle was clear.
Asuma, sprawled on the ground, stood up. It was too humiliating, embarrassing. Being defeated by a younger shinobi with such ease, he could not swallow the defeat.
"A good spar. Let's spar again when you are free."
With a gentle smile on his face, Reko turned around to leave. Though disappointing, the spar did help him in assessing his strength.
"Just forget it. You are too weak."
He paused as he glanced back and made the comment. There was no need to be polite.
"You!!"
Enraged, Asuma shouted at Reko. He held out his chakra blade, coated in chakra as he stood at his place.
"Shadow clone jutsu"
Three clones formed beside Reko, each of them dashed at Asuma. The first one got stabbed in the waist by Asuma, dispelling it.
However, the other two used the gap to incapacitate Asuma before teaming up to grapple and powerbomb Asuma, instantly breaking a few bones in his back.
"Hmmm. I need to treat him."
Reko stood beside Asuma as he used his techniques to check the severity of injury. The injuries were not serious, easily recoverable in a week.
There was a slight impact on the head, but nothing a medic couldn't fix.
He used Mystic palm jutsu to heal the bones properly, causing Asuma to get back up.
Asuma opened his eyes, finding Reko standing across from him. The pain from his back was non-existent.
He realised that it was Reko that treated him and wanted to apologise for his outrage earlier. It was not Reko's fault, that guy was not even aware that Asuma wanted to suppress him because of jealousy.
But before Asuma could address the topic, Reko had already left.
"Don't feel bad. Ebisu also lost to him, and pretty badly at that."
Konohamuru made a comment, trying to make Asuma feel good. However, his words were true. Even now, Konohamuru didn't know what was happening with his Jonin sensei.
Was he being beaten up? He could hear shouts and cries at times from the direction where Reko disappeared.
….
"I had expected to learn something useful from Asuma but that guy didn't seem to have something worthwhile."
Asuma did not use a jutsu or any technique special enough to intrigue Reko. If he did, then Reko could have learnt another good skill.
"He also didn't use his chakra blades properly. Not that I would have to copy something like that."
With his upgraded chakra control, he was already in the realm of Kage level shinobis. Forming a chakra blade by just chakra itself was feasible for him and chakra coating, Asuma's special move was just child's play.
"Though it's strange, to see someone like Asuma lose his cool because of a woman.
Did he notice something? Or did Kurenai say something about me?"
He was sure that it was because of Kurenai as there was no connecting link between himself and Asuma.
Why would Asuma of all people go out of his way to confront Reko? There was no bad blood between them.
A masked Anbu stepped in his room.
"Hokage summons you."
"Ohh? Sure, let's go."
'Is the training schedule going to change? Or is it a personal mission?'
Reko followed the Anbu, curious as to why Tsunade was calling for him all of a sudden.
"Hey Shizune!"
He cheerfully greeted Shizune who seemed to be in a conversation with Tsunade.
"Hey!"
Though stiff in body, Shizune did not let her nervousness show in her voice. She greeted Reko back with a smile.
"How's your training progressing? I hope you didn't play around all this time."
Staring him in the eye, Tsunade asked him seriously.
"Stronger than ever. I will probably defeat you in a year or two and become the Hokage."
'Although, I did play around a little with your personal assistant.'
Reko laughed it off, showing fake enthusiasm to become Hokage.
"Strong? Hokage? Don't go around beating Jonins like that if you dream of becoming one."
Tsunade indirectly revealed that she was aware of his spar with Asuma. It appeared that she was slightly dissatisfied with his way of handling things but she did not say much after this.
"He made a complaint? How petty! It was him who came up and challenged me out of nowhere."
Reko complained as his eyes were fixed on Tsunade's deep cleavage. He did not want to, but it was difficult to not glance at.
"I am not talking about Asuma. I am talking about Ebisu, Konohamuru's Jonin caretaker."
Tsunade ignored his gaze, already used to Reko's antics. She knew that beating him right now would not work but when they sparred… hehe.
"Ohh that? We were just training together."
'I forgot that I was using him as a dummy. I have used and perfected all my Genjutsu on him.'
Reko smiled politely, he had forgotten how much he experimented on the poor Ebisu. He could not help but feel that Tsunade was right here.
"And what training was it that you pulled him inside a Genjutsu and kept him inside for hours?"
"Anyways, how did you get so good at illusion when you have just started out?"
'How is it possible? Kurenai only assisted him for a few days a week and it's been less than a month.
It is not possible to pull Jonins into Genjutsu with that ease. Even though Ebisu is not very strong like Asuma and Kakashi, he would not be pulled into Genjutsu that easily.'
Suddenly, Tsunade's question came to his proficiency in Genjutsu. She was really curious about this.
"My immense talent is to blame here."
Reko shrugged, unwilling to answer. What could he say? He just learnt it.
Tsunade stared in his eyes, unwilling to move but Reko did not give a clear answer.
He formed hand signs quickly, demonstrating his skills. By the time he stopped, Shizune stepped up and climbed on the table before bending over seductively like a seductress.
The Anbu guards, Tsunade, Reko saw the hotness of Shizune's body for the very first time before she got back to her place and snapped out of the Genjutsu.
Finally, Tsunade let it be. It did not matter if Reko was also good at another specialisation. She just hoped that it didn't have any connection with Danzo or any other evil.
As for the Genjutsu demonstration? She decided not to comment on it, saving Shizune from embarrassment.
Shizune stood idle, unaware of what she had just done. Unaware that she was under a Genjutsu just now.
Tsunade informed Reko about the beginning of their training in the next two weeks. So, he would remain in the village at that time.
"And about Asuma, you should refrain from going that far with fellow Jonins or any leaf shinobi.
If you ever feel like wanting a beating, you can come visit me."
Tsunade warned him, and he was kind of scared as he nodded. He was still a level below Tsunade in terms of battle. And even if he was not, there was no use of angering her.
Surprisingly, Tsunade offered to assist him in training his combat. With this, he could keep training for a while until he finally reached a higher level then her, solving the problem of lack of opponents.
"Anything else?"
She asked, confused as to why Reko was still standing in the room.
"I wanted a copy of Flying Raijin technique."
He asked for it directly. He had expressed his opinions on the technique before and Tsunade was aware that he wanted it.
"Okay. Here, go now."
Surprisingly, she opened a storage scroll and pulled out the training method and handed it over to him. The Flying Raijin technique was in his hands with such ease.
'Is she happy about something? She just gave away an S rank jutsu to me like that.
Did something happen recently that I am not aware of?'
His plan was to get assistance from the shinobi who were capable of using Flying Raijin formation and then use Steal. But now that Tsunade easily handed over the technique to him, he could just learn it by himself.
He had lots of shadow clones to grind.
…
"Were you already aware that he was going to ask for it?"
Shizune seemed surprised that Tsunade had prepared the scroll before Reko visited. This meant that Tsunade was planning to give it to Reko. Probably to stop him from wasting away the time before training begins.
"It's better this way. Otherwise, he would request Danzo for the technique."
She could not let Danzo get closer with Reko. It would be problematic in the long run if Danzo happened to become closer to Reko than her.
And it did not matter to her if Reko focused on various specialisation as long as he successfully learned something from them..
With the talent he had shown in Genjutsu techniques, it would be idiotic to even stop Reko from learning more.
The situation was getting worse, enemies were everywhere. If they could get another highly skilled shinobi then it would be better for the leaf village.
"From the reports, he already surpassed Kurenai in Genjutsu. His combat skills outside of Genjutsu and Medical ninjutsu already surpasses Asuma.
If he manages to learn this technique too.."
She did not need to explain the significance of such a shinobi on the battlefield. Shizune was smart enough to analyse by herself.
'His importance in strategic battles would surpass the likes of Jiraya and me.'
'Although I was dissatisfied with his connection to Danzo, I cannot let it cause the gap between the village and Reko.
He is already very capable with Genjutsu of his. If he manages to learn everything from me…'
Also, it appeared that she was an object of desire to Reko which felt flattering.
'No matter how his character is, he does possess the talent and strength to back it up.
A little bit narcissistic but a hardworking talent nonetheless.'
Shizune also agreed with Tsunade's opinion on Reko's talent. However, seeing Tsunade compromise so much was a surprise to her.
If she knew this would happen then she would not have visited Reko to tell him Tsunade's bad opinion of him.
…
"Now that I have this technique, I can safeguard my life in this world."
As Reko checked out the content of the scroll, he kept thinking of methods to fasten his training.
The training method required him to learn the very basic signs of Fuinjutsu and then begin with sensing the signs formed by him.
The process could be long or short depending on the affinity of the user and their talents. Hopefully, his shadow clones could accomplish this step quickly with his chakra control and newly awakened sensing abilities.
As for him? He needed to find a perfect Jutsu for the remaining two Steals while he prepared another one. And for that, he needed to go around meeting with other shinobis in the village.
His targets? The shinobi with top level skills. Unfortunately, he did not have a specific technique that he wanted to take, not from the leaf village at least.
"Shadow clone jutsu"
He formed five shadow clones, leaving them at home for training as the original body himself left.
...
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