Ren's hand came up in time to deflect Itachi's kunai strike, and the metal-on-metal sound rang out again as they disengaged. Neither spoke. Neither smirked. They just moved.
Itachi pushed forward with sudden momentum, his sharingan spinning. He went low for a sweeping kick but Ren vaulted over it, flipping mid-air and aiming a crushing heel drop. Itachi flickered away, reappearing behind him and launching another barrage of shuriken, each arc-perfect, angles deceptive.
Ren's eyes caught every path. His arm moved inhumanly fast, deflecting some with his forearm guards, letting others pass inches from his sides. Then came the real attack, two shadowed projectiles launched under the cover of the first set.
Ren ducked and twisted then grabbed one from the air and flung it back. Itachi tilted his head slightly and let it pass. The second landed near Ren's foot, exploding in a burst of smoke. Ren darted back through the haze just as a kunai came flying through it, narrowly grazing his cheek.
They reset.
Itachi's hand signs blurred.
[Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique]
A wave of small but fast projectiles surged toward Ren in tight clusters. Ren clapped his hands together and stepped forward.
[Wind Style: Spiral Gale]
A quick burst of compressed air spiraled forward, colliding with the fireballs, dispersing the flames before they could scatter. But Itachi was already moving through the smoke.
Ren caught the flash of chakra behind the smokescreen and pivoted right, narrowly avoiding Itachi's blade swipe. He retaliated with a heavy roundhouse kick, forcing Itachi to block and slide back.
Ren stepped forward again.
[Chakra Enhanced Step: Flicker Pulse]
He vanished in a compressed dash, appearing just beside Itachi's left blind spot. A right hook followed, but Itachi's body blurred, he had substituted again, but not with a clone. He had flickered up into the air.
[Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique]
However, this one was larger, hotter, more direct. Ren leapt back and slammed his palms together.
[Wind Style: Twin Cutter Wall]
Twin arcs of slicing air emerged from his arms, forming a shield that split the incoming fireball in two. The remaining heat washed over him but didn't break through.
When the fire cleared, both were already moving again.
Itachi landed in front of Ren and went into close combat again. His strikes were crisp, minimal motion but perfect angle, every attack aimed to disable. Ren countered with brutal chakra-backed blocks, absorbing hits with his reinforced limbs and countering with his own enhanced punches.
A palm strike from Ren cracked the stone behind Itachi when he dodged. A side kick from Itachi slid Ren three meters across the dirt. They moved like shadows. The sound of their impacts became louder than the gasps of the audience.
Another clash. Ren went for a knee but Itachi caught it. Ren twisted and struck with his elbow but Itachi ducked. Ren spun and swept with his heel but Itachi blocked and countered with his own rising kick.
They broke apart, breathing steadily but heavily now.
Itachi's hand blurred through another set of seals.
[Fire Style: Burning Barrage]
A jutsu designed to force openings with multiple mid-sized fireballs launched in overlapping waves. It was designed to overwhelm, to break defense, not with power, but with tempo.
Ren didn't move. He waited. His eyes locked on the attack, and at the last second, he jumped.
[Wind Style: Vault Gale]
A support-type wind burst below his feet and launched him upward as the fire passed beneath. As he sailed overhead, he locked eyes with Itachi and called down his own jutsu.
[Wind Style: Shredding Dive]
A pointed gust of compressed air twisted into a spear appeared around his descending foot. Itachi jumped back, barely avoiding the full impact as Ren drove his foot into the ground, splitting stone and sending debris everywhere.
The ground cracked again. Ren landed in the crater as Itachi panted on the opposite side.
And then, without hand signs, Itachi raised two fingers. The sharingan spun.
[Ephemeral]
Ren blinked. 'Damn it!'
Itachi said nothing, only tilted his head.
Ren's genjutsu immunity to sharingan-level illusions made him one of the few shinobi Itachi couldn't manipulate that way. But the pause had forced Ren into a brief hesitation. That hesitation was enough and Ren knew this too.
Itachi flickered close again, shuriken in both hands this time, one real, one laced with a paper tag. Ren caught both and threw them back, exploding the tag mid-air to obscure Itachi's sightline.
Then he reached up and opened the [Gate of Opening].
Veins bulged slightly along his arms. Seals spread. His muscles tightened, and a faint green hue surrounded him and he vanished.
Itachi's eyes widened as Ren appeared directly in front of him, faster than before, and sent a straight punch toward his midsection. Itachi blocked but slid back.
Ren followed.
[Pulse Breaker]
It was a jab that carried a wave of chakra like a battering ram and Itachi was sent skidding across the field, forced to dig into the ground to stop.
He landed and crouched as blood dripped from his lips.
~~~
In the stands above, Itachi's family was sitting there observing the match with a few Uchiha members by their side.
When they saw the greatest pride of their clan getting roughed up almost all of them were tense despite the great and noble uchiha blood flowing within them.
Little Sasuske tightly held his mother's hand as he saw the fight, "You can't lose, big brother."
~~~
Itachi gritted his teeth and made a single hand sign.
[Fire Style: Flame Fan]
He whipped the fire across the ground in a sweeping arc. Ren slid to a stop, switched gears, as he turned off the gate and activated [Wind Style: Pressure Pulse], an invisible wall of compressed wind that parted the fire and pushed forward.
Itachi leapt up and over as Ren switched footing. He had to pace himself, otherwise Itachi would take this moment to gain the upperhand.
They collided again in mid-air.
It was fists and feet again. Raw taijutsu. Neither used chakra. Neither wasted breath.
Ren ducked as Itachi elbowed. Ren spun but Itachi blocked. Ren jumped and Itachi followed. Every clash resounded.
Then, Ren's hand opened.
[Gate of Healing] [Second Gate] a burst of energy surged through his limbs. His muscles restored, his speed increased. But the strain still wasn't enough to show.
Itachi adjusted his stance as the fight hit the final phase.
Ren charged.
His movements blurred again. Itachi's sharingan tried to track faster and faster.
Ren attacked from the side, a feint, then came from above with a downward kick but Itachi blocked it.
Ren gave a palm to Itachi's gut with a pulse of chakra and Itachi staggered.
[Crushing Knuckle]
Ren's punch grazed Itachi's shoulder, sending a shockwave through the bones.
Itachi retaliated with a flash of shuriken. One grazed Ren's cheek. Another embedded in his shoulder.
Ren didn't stop as he stepped forward.
[Third Gate: Gate of Life] open.
His aura intensified. The wind around him bent a little. His chakra surged to new levels. His body became a blur.
Itachi launched a full-power [Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bullet] a large twisting flame surged forward but Ren didn't dodge.
He stepped into it. He pushed his 86% chakra control to the absolute limit and finally formed a wind jutsu.
[Wind Style: Spiral Lance]
A high-speed wind drill wrapped around his arm as he punched through the fire. The collision exploded in mid-air.
Itachi's eyes strained but Ren emerged through the smoke and landed a knee to his stomach.
Itachi gasped but responded with a kunai slash.
Ren blocked, pivoted, and sent him crashing into the wall with a straight palm.
Itachi stood again. Bruised and Coughing. But his eyes remained sharp.
They were both breathing hard now.
Ren closed the gates.
Itachi lowered his stance.
No ninjutsu now.
Just fists.
They moved.
One last time.
Ren lunged and Itachi met him.
Punch. Block. Elbow. Duck. Kick. Counter. Sweep. Clash.
It was raw. Brutal. Exact.
And then Ren ducked under a right jab and stepped inside.
[Chakra Enhanced Uppercut: Rising Fang]
He launched a clean, powerful uppercut to Itachi's chin.
Itachi was lifted into the air.
But Ren didn't stop.
He twisted mid-move and slammed a second punch into Itachi's chest mid-fall.
Ren still didn't stop. Mid air a small grin formed on his shadowed face, then he raised his leg above his head and gave a sharp heel kick to Itachi's stomach.
Itachi gasped hard and his body twisted slightly.
Then, he finally hit the ground, hard.
Ten seconds passed but he didn't get up.
The proctor flickered in and checked his pulse then stood up and announced.
"The winner of the final match is Ren Takahashi of the Hidden Leaf."
Ren stood there, shoulders rising and falling, but still grinning, 'Hehe. Fuck the canon.'
He ignored the silent crowd and slowly walked towards the fallen Itachi and sat down besides him.
Then, the stadium erupted.
But Ren didn't hear it. His eyes remained fixed on Itachi as the medic-nin arrived.
He whispered, "That was one hell of a fight."
Saying this, he too fell on the ground, his back to the ground as he stared at the blue sky above him and thought, 'Good thing I didn't faint too, wouldn't want to make this too cliche.'
~~~
As soon as the winner was announced, different parts of the stadium erupted with their own emotions.
~~~
Nami, who had been gripping the railing since the beginning of the fight, immediately started shaking Utakata with both hands the moment Ren's name was declared. "Your student won! Your student won! Why are you not excited?! It was such an exciting match! If I were his sensei, I would've jumped on the ground and started celebrating by now!"
She didn't even give Utakata a chance to respond before she continued with even more energy, "Gosh, you're such a rock! C'mon, cheer up, shout a little, just once!"
Utakata simply sighed, watching her bubbling enthusiasm. He didn't even try to speak anymore and just stared forward, thinking, 'Maybe I should've fallen in love with someone quieter.' Then, recalling that Team 1 had yet to meet her, he sighed again. A second later, he felt a presence to his side and turned, only to find his old sensei, Jiraiya, wiggling his eyebrows at him with a grin so wide it could split a boulder.
'Ren really gave him the perfect nickname, the Pervy Sage indeed,' he thought with another long, suffering sigh.
~~~
In the Uchiha corner of the stadium, the atmosphere was like the first frost of winter, tense and cold.
One by one, the clan members began to stand and quietly file out of the area. Some did so with expressions of disappointment, others simply with blank faces.
At the center, little Sasuke Uchiha sat frozen, tears brimming in his eyes as he looked at the battlefield where his 'invincible' big brother lay unconscious.
The boy's small fists clenched.
He didn't like the ruffian Ren before, but now? He hated him.
The same boy who had teased him. Mocked him. Given him tomatoes and then defeated his brother.
Fugaku Uchiha took one last glance at his defeated eldest and the crying youngest then stood without a word, his face hard and expressionless. He didn't say a thing, didn't even glance at Mikoto as he turned and left the spectator box.
Mikoto Uchiha, sitting between her son and husband, watched them both, one broken, one crushed and whispered silently to the heavens, 'Oh, Sage above, please give me strength to keep this family together.'
Unseen by any of them, high in a hidden perch shrouded in shadows, a figure with dark hair and a green flak jacket stood watching the arena with narrowed eyes.
Shisui Uchiha.
His gaze flickered from the unconscious Itachi to Ren, who now laid quietly beside him.
'I hope Itachi grows stronger after this. Because if he doesn't…' He didn't finish the thought. Instead, he flickered away, leaving nothing but disturbed civilians behind.
~~~
In one of the hidden corners of the stadium, a man cloaked in darkness and bandages, leaning heavily on a cane, stood with his eye fixed on the battleground.
Danzo Shimura.
Without turning, he spoke aloud as if to no one in particular. "Retract all surveillance from Ren Takahashi. Increase observation on his teammates."
There was a rustle in the shadows.
"As for Itachi Uchiha…" Danzo's voice turned even colder, "I want reports, every minute every hour. I want to know what he eats, when he sleeps, and what he dreams."
With a single thunk of his cane, he disappeared into the shadows.
~~~~
{Phew, had to rewrite the fight a few times so I hope this one came out nice enough because I couldn't have done better than this.
If the fight didn't match your expectations, sorry. If it did, then pat-reon and powerstones.
You guys haven't been giving appropriate reactions, I want every one of you to comment on how the fight was, good or bad doesn't matter, it will help me more than you guys realise in the upcoming fights.}
{Any questions you might have, I'll try to answer in the comments or the next chapter, but if it's about Ren and Itachi's combat style a chapter would be coming out for that later.}
{Thanks Janeen Clarette, Faisal Al-Qassim, Durnam Davis, Wildscion, Commander Miggs, Epema, Guilherme, Grvvy, Bigbowser, Dwhateverprof and Ashywar for becoming members of my pat-reon over the days.}
{Anyway if you wanna start reading the ANBU arc soon or just want to support me then join my pat-reon}
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{STONES!!!!}