He was genuinely curious. He wanted to see how strong she was—maybe her strength would surprise him.
So he got into his stance, his sword unsheathed and all.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yes."
She came in fast. No time wasted. She slashed toward his side, he blocked the strike, sparks flying everywhere. He kicked her away.
She flipped back, then ran through some handseals very quickly.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
As she landed, she launched a powerful fireball toward him. As the fireball obscured her from his sight, she created a shadow clone while she herself went underground.
Seijuro jumped away from the fireball.
Looking down at Mikoto—
Her Sharingan spun fiercely as she looked at him.
While in the air, he imbued his sword with lightning chakra before tossing it at the floor.
Thunk.
He gracefully landed on top of his sword, then ducked down, narrowly avoiding some shuriken aimed for his face.
His sword glinted in the sun.
Mikoto was all up on him. He dodged a punch, avoided a kick, threw a punch to her side—she caught it. He jumped just in time as a pair of arms from underground attempted to drag him down.
Oh nice. She was getting creative.
While in the air, he made the Ram handseal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Seijuro created six shadow clones of himself, each of them landing next to him.
"Shatter... Kyoka Suigetsu."
Mikoto tried to look away so she wouldn't see his blade, yet as she turned her gaze... she saw his sword on the floor... then... she heard the sound of glass shattering.
Fuck. He tricked her. She forgot his sword was there.
Dammit.
The second she heard the sound of glass shattering, she immediately stopped trusting her eyes—or any of her senses.
She now only trusted her gut.
As she opened her eyes again, she saw all seven Seijuros walking around her. Yet as they took a step and began encircling her, echoes of where they were remained, making it harder to tell which one was real.
Her Sharingan wasn't helping her this time.
She took out her katana and rushed toward the one right in front of her.
Using Shunshin, she swung her blade at his chest.
Seijuro blocked.
"Oh, you found me," Seijuro said calmly as he blocked her strike. Her eyes narrowed.
She immediately used his body to jump into the air, narrowly avoiding a Chidori strike.
This wasn't him. Her heart didn't skip a beat—and his scent wasn't the same. Like, sure, they kind of smelled the same, but in a sense, they didn't.
A way to explain it would be the difference between drawing one thing two times.
Like, sure they're the same, but there's a slight difference between them. There's something about them that made one more special.
And she didn't feel that with the clone.
While in the air, without weaving any seals—
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
She sent a massive fireball toward where the clone was.
Twisting her body midair—
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
She proceeded to spit a volley of small fireballs into the air—shit looked like she was ki-blast spamming the general area.
She tilted her head just in time to avoid a kunai strike.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
She heard Seijuro using a jutsu, and since she was in the sky, falling, there was no way to avoid this.
She took her sword, tossed it at a nearby tree, then used Substitution Jutsu to get out of his technique range.
Seijuro blocked her kunai attack. She rushed him, throwing a punch. He tried to block it, yet as his fist neared the strike—his instinct screamed at him.
Trusting his instinct, he dodged the attack instead.
Mikoto's fist made contact with the tree, and Seijuro watched as the tree was fucking wrecked. Like, she punched a hole right through it and that shit just splintered everywhere.
She was indeed Tsunade's student—but jeez.
Mikoto rushed at him again. He blocked her strikes. She pulled her hand back, her sword landed, she caught it—then threw a punch at him.
He smiled.
Before she felt a kunai press against her neck.
Her eyes widened.
But... she was sure she was fighting the real one.
"You've improved quite a lot," he said calmly, as the kunai pressed against her neck vanished.
"While you can tell me apart from my shadow clones, you tend to focus on me too much—ignoring my clones. All I had to do was draw the aggro," he said calmly.
Oh. So that was it.
Seijuro sighed a bit. She could tell him apart from his illusion...
This felt nice. It felt fuzzy inside.
Someone being able to see right through his illusions—that was nice.
Speaking of which—
"The academy should be ending about now. Let's go greet Kushina," he said calmly.
"What's so great about her?" Mikoto asked, a bit angry... heh, Seijuro felt like he stepped into a trap.
"Well, it's been a while, and since we all graduated, she's been left alone in the academy and I just wanted to check in," he said calmly.
This seemed to calm her down a bit. Hm.
Oh well.
POV Change
Kushina was out front—yelling at some poor sap who had definitely called her tomato again.
"You wanna see red, you little runt?! I'll show you red—!"
"Kushina."
Her head snapped toward the sound—and immediately, her fury melted into radiant joy.
"SEIJIROUUU~!"
She nearly tackled him, arms wrapped tight around him, completely ignoring the fact he was still bruised from training.
"You didn't write! Not even one letter! I thought you died in a trench somewhere!"
"Konoha has trenches?" he muttered into her shoulder.
"You know what I mean!"
Seijuro felt like death was staring at him from behind.
So he politely let Kushina go.
"You seem to be doing well."
"I am totally crushing it, Dattebane," she said excitedly.
"That's good to know," he said softly.
"Here, I brought you a gift," he said calmly.
Kushina's eyes widened a bit.
"What is it?" she asked, sounding excited.
He pulled out a seal from his bag.
"This—it's a seal. It's quite complex, but to sum it down, it denies magnetism in a certain area," he said calmly.
"Thank you, Dattebane!"
Hm. That was her tic word. How nice.
"Come on, I'm buying ramen," she said, grabbing both their wrists and dragging them off like they were luggage.
"Wait, wait—you're paying?" Mikoto blinked.
"I'm feeling generous!" she grinned.
"You never feel generous."
"Yeah, well, my friends are alive and I got money."
Ichiraku Ramen – Evening
Bowls clinked.
Laughter filled the air.
The three of them sat at the counter, chatting like nothing had changed.
He enjoyed this.
This feeling—he would protect it.
Speaking of which, he felt the Biju chakra from Kushina. Oh. She was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki now.
He would protect her—and maybe in the future, ask her for some of that Biju chakra. He'd much rather ask first.
He didn't like the idea of stealing from his friend.
She was a person... not a pawn piece.
In Seijuro's vision, only Mikoto and Kushina seemed to be themselves. Everyone else—and he did mean everyone else—looked like pawn pieces. The Jounin looked like horse pieces. Chunin were like rooks.
And the Hokage was the king. This calculating way of thinking... seemed to come naturally to him.
If Nawaki or Tsunade were here, they probably would also be normal.