Karin ran away after yesterday's practice to recuperate from her mental and physical fatigue. Kouga felt a little disappointed that he had to wait until his sensei recovered before doing their first mission.
But regardless, he had an important matter to settle today.
"Nue. Open the passageway." He called out to Nue inside of him. The seal Gozu Tenno on his back flared bright, a purple dimensional portal opened in front of him.
He entered Nue's dimension. It was a dilapidated dimension with roots of trees and a stump of a big tree planted in the plain ground.
"We are going to Rinshinsho." Kouga muttered. Another portal appeared, connected directly to the Hall of Rinshinsho.
A cat-sized Nue was already waiting, seemingly happy Kouga was there and roared a little. This smaller Nue was split from Nue's main body. With improvement to Nue's constitutions and Kouga's ingenious use of Fuinjutsu, he figured out he could split Nue like this since he was essentially a chakra creature too.
Using Nue's dimension as a middle road to travel as long as the smaller Nue, called Nuekko stayed.
Kouga waited for minutes until the appointed time, and just then one of the stone doors shook and opened.
A in black jacket came in. His blue eyes were clear in the dim light.
"Boruto… you are finally here." Kouga turned to look at him.
"Yeah. Got your message from Nue." Boruto was nonchalant, hands in his pocket.
"Hey… Boruto… What's wrong? I didn't think I offended you in any way." Kouga asked genuinely.
"... Oh. You know what's wrong, Kouga." Boruto's tone turned bitter.
"I really don't…" Kouga said again.
"You are kidding me right? You had been toying with me!" Boruto came forward, his words carried a lot of resentment.
"I don't understand-"
"Yeah?! All this time when we fought, you held back didn't you?! What does that make me then? I thought you were serious with me. But you dare look down on me!" Boruto pulled onto Kouga's hoodie, bringing their faces closer.
"I… I don't look down on you Boruto." Kouga's voice turned a little weak. He just didn't expect to hear whatever Boruto was accusing him of.
"Ha? Then you just think you are superior to me then? Better than everyone else? Is that it? So you play pretend in front of me?"
"Boruto… that's not what I meant. I just…" Kouga was lost for words. He just didn't want to dishearten Boruto. And that fighting on equal footings was more beneficial for Boruto's improvement or so he thought.
But in some way, Kouga did think Boruto was weaker. Or even it was a fact. So he couldn't deny Boruto's accusation.
"Damn you… Here I thought you were seeing me as an actual opponent!" Boruto couldn't hold it anymore and punched Kouga's face!
But before it could land, Kouga stopped it with his palm almost easily.
"Do you have to do this… I don't want to fight you, not like this…" Kouga said with hesitation.
"Yeah! Fight me with all you got! If you are really a friend, you don't toy with people like this!" Boruto pushed Kouga away. His eyes contained the anger inside.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds.
"I never intended to toy with you. I want to fight you on equal footings. Like friends do…" Kouga tried to reason with Boruto.
"Shut it! What friend pretends to be weak just to let them have it easy? You make me think I catched up to you, and it turns out you are just lying to me! What did you think I would feel? You thought I was weak, is that it?"
"I don't… mean to…" Kouga felt guilty inwardly. He never meant to hurt Boruto or make him think like that. Kouga also felt guilty because he did feel Boruto was weaker than him. It's not with any feeling of pride or smugness… it's just factual observation.
"Tell me. You think I am weaker right?" Boruto asked in a confrontative tone.
"I…"
"See. You did think so highly of yourself!"
Kouga went quiet. He didn't know how to refute it.
"If you care about our friendship, fight me properly. With all you got." Boruto's tone turned a little calmer.
"I thought you were my rival… if you keep holding your punches… You just make me feel pathetic when I am here giving my all while you are just playing me." Boruto clenched his fist. His eyes never strayed from Kouga's eyes.
"Boruto…" Kouga looked at the floor for a second, thinking over things. He just wanted to have a normal friendship and give respect to him, so he held back a lot to give him a fighting chance. He didn't want to dishearten Boruto too, knowing how competitive he was.
"I understand." Kouga's voice turned firm. "I will give it my all then. I am sorry, Boruto."
"You better do, then." Boruto smiled slightly. "Come on. I want to see how much I am behind you."
"Training Hall." Kouga said with a slight smile, leading the way.
Boruto cracked his knuckles, ready for some action as he prepared himself. In the empty hall, only the two were facing each other.
"You really want me to give it my all?"
"Yeah. I hate the way you look down on me." Boruto took a kunai from his tool bag.
"Very well." Kouga's voice turned deeper, into that of Umbra. Black and purple chakra flared from his body, turning into a black suit and cloak. The air turned heavy from his leaking chakra. Vein popped around his eyes, his blue eyes glowed in blue light, the beastly pupil locked onto Boruto.
Boruto gulped feeling the terrifying pressure. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. But he kept smiling. He knew he was no match for Kouga. But, it didn't mean Kouga could just disrespect him.
"Here I come!" Shadow clone jutsu! Poof, poof! 4 shadow clones summoned by Boruto, all rushing toward Kouga!
Kouga rushed straight at Boruto, dodging the clones' attack left and right.
"So strong…" Boruto made hand seals, covering his kunai in lighting release.
"Use your sword! You trained with Sasuke in it. Show it to me."
"I will cover its edge." Kouga said calmly, creating a blade from slime like black chakra construct. But the edge was dull.
He rushed like a shadow towards Boruto, slashing his blade.
Clang! Boruto's kunai was flung out from the sheer force of Kouga's blade. And before he knew it, his sword already pressed onto his neck.
"I lost….but, again! I can keep fighting!" Boruto flickered back to create some distance and summoned more shadow clones.
Kouga smiled slightly. "I haven't used my all… you really want me to?"
Boruto smirked. "Yeah. All of it!"
"Shadow Priests, assemble…" he made a few hand seals, the 4 Symbol seal on Kouga's abdomen lit up in purple and shifted. A black pool of shadow formed beneath Kouga's feet covering a ten meter radius around himself.
And from the pool, black shadow creatures crawled out, each with a face of a white mask carrying different weapons in their hands.
The black creatures hissed and growled at Boruto.
"You… are really hiding a lot…" Boruto felt really intimidated, but he wasn't scared. He only felt excited to challenge Kouga. He wasn't offended that he's strong. He just hated that Kouga pretended to be weak just to play with him.
"A shadow has no need for recognition. My mom taught me that." No, Tsuyu never said that…
"I see. If I were you I would have made myself known. You had all these strengths-!"
Boruto dodged an attack from the shadow archer, and immediately blocked an attack from the shadow swordsman.
After deflecting the sword with his kunai, Boruto quickly threw the kunai towards Kouga assuming Kouga aren't able to move but a shadow shielder appeared in front of Kouga from the shadow trail, catching the Kunai.
"... Dammit… I had no chance at all…" Boruto bit his lips. He looked down at his feet, where the shadows already catched him and paralysed him. A sword and a spear placed on his necks.
"What are these guys? Shikadai can't do all these. He can't move when he uses his shadow technique…"
Boruto was just confused.
"The Shadow Priests each had their own consciousness, split from Beast of the Void. In short, you can think of them like shadow clones."
"Oh… I see. You had so much chakra… it's unfair." Boruto sighed.
The shadows unbound from Boruto, letting him free.
"How are you so strong?" Boruto felt Kouga was just too far ahead.
"Uh… I guess I was just lucky…" Kouga said solemnly.
"My mother gave me Nue and sealed the Beast of the Void inside of me when I was a baby… I had a Cursed Seal too, that let me use natural energy. And I carried half of my mother's divine blood… my body is stronger than most people by default..."
"A lot of my strength wasn't from my own effort… unlike you, Boruto. That's why, I think you are amazing. Really." Kouga's voice was a little low, looking down at himself. If it weren't for his fortunate circumstances of being his mother's child, he wouldn't have all this. His teachers too were willing to give all they know to him.
The words touched Boruto's heart.
"Kouga… you really… think so?"
"I do." Kouga's expression was sincere.
"You…" Boruto felt a little speechless. He didn't know Kouga thought highly of him and didn't think Kouga wouldn't see himself as amazing on the contrary.
The two were silent for a while.
"You work hard too don't you… even if you had Nue and, um, that beast something, you had to train too…"
Kouga looked up at Boruto.
"Hey, my tocchan had Kurama in him when he was born and he became one of the strongest because of his power. But he trained hard. It wasn't free power. Even if someone else had what you got, they might not even do what you could." Boruto recalled the scenes in Tsukuyomi seeing his father's hard work, the times he lost control and lost to 9 tails power.
"... Thanks." Kouga smiled slightly. A part of him did feel inadequate for the things he had because most of it felt handed down. It was also why he trained hard to be worthy of everything he had.
"Again Kouga! I am not down fighting!" Boruto took another kunai from his bag.
"Very well. I will get more serious then. My mom taught me that pain teaches the strongest lesson."
Kouga's eyes turned sharper, almost mimicking Tsuyu's own when he trained with her.
"I know medical ninjutsu, and Reibi has a powerful healing ability. We will fight for real… even if we are injured, it would be fine as long as it's not fatal. Are you ready?"
Boruto gulped his saliva, preparing himself mentally. "Yeah. Come at me!"
Kouga rushed at Boruto, his blue eyes turned cold and merciless. Howls of pain and tears echoed in the hall continuously afterwards.
***
"Ouch…" Boruto lay down weakly on the bed of the treatment room, feeling pain all over his body. Kouga wiped down the blood from Boruto's body, feeling a little worried.
"Did I overdid it?" Kouga said with a tone of apology. The stream of green light constantly poured out from his palm, pressing over the light cut on Boruto's chest. Black chakra wrapped parts of Boruto's body with many bruises of purple and blue.
"I am… okay…" Boruto said weakly, though a hint of flush on his cheeks. He was more embarrassed that he's half naked here.
"Your mom trained you like that?" Boruto said with a strain in his throat. He felt his body weak and sore all over.
"Yeah. Pretty much. I can heal really fast. My mom really went hard on me, as long as I say I can keep going we would train. On Mika too."
"No wonder you are so strong…" Boruto has seen Tsuyu's method when she trained his dad in that genjutsu world. But back then there was a war coming, and so his aunt needed to make sure they all survived but now it's quite peaceful. As for the alien threats, well, it's not even guaranteed to come in hundreds of years given the context. So it felt quite unreal for the time being, with no news whatsoever.
"Hey, so, how strong was Mika really?" Boruto asked. He squinted his eyes a little, feeling a tingling pain as his bruises heal from the black chakra coating them.
"Heh. Stronger than me. I might try to look cool and all but she's all about her fist. A punch and my Shadow Priest would be obliterated to pieces. She preferred it to be simple."
"She sounded plain. I think you are cooler-ttebasa."
"Hey, if you fight her you would understand. She could break my bone in a slap and you would never guess her hand was that strong. I think she hid her strength even better than me."
"So strong?"
"Really strong." Kouga nodded in affirmation.
"Wow. I kinda want to try to fight her…" Boruto blurted out.
"Haha. Are you a masochist? Like getting beaten up?" Kouga slapped Boruto's thigh, where it hadn't healed fully yet.
"Ouch! Hey. That hurts man." Boruto slapped his hand away, feeling aggrieved.
"Sorry sorry. I thought you liked it." Kouga sticked his tongue out playfully.
"Yeah right you better turn to Umbra. At least he's more mature." Boruto said mockingly, but there's no real sharpness in it.
"He is my shadow… while Kouga is in the light. We are mirrors showing the side of the same soul." Kouga said mysteriously.
"Oh please. This again. And what, so Aether is my shadow, the hidden reflection of my will." Boruto copied Kouga's tone, saying it cool-ly.
Kouga laughed when he heard his tone. "Yup! You get it!"
After minutes, Boruto finally healed his body fully. But he felt tired all over.
"All good now." Kouga looked at him with his dojutsu, seeing him all over to check again.
"Thanks man." Boruto wore his shirt back. "Hey… so your eyes were like Byakugan right?"
"Yup. I think so. I can see through things. But my mom said I can see in more detail, the shape and the colours..."
Boruto felt a little embarrassed suddenly, feeling Kouga's gaze. "You don't peek do you…"
"Hm? Haha. Hey, I am not a pervert. Besides, I had class." Kouga said mockingly.
"You-! What do you mean you had class!"
Kouga stuck his tongue out, his eyes looked downward. "Too small…"
"Damn you!" Boruto climbed down the bed to beat him, feeling shame and humiliation.
"Hahaha! Hey I am joking! It's average! Average!" Kouga ran away with a laugh.
"I will tell your mom you peeked!"
"Uwa!? Please don't!" Kouga turned a little panicked.
Seeing Kouga's fearful look, he smiled wickedly. "I will tell your mom!"
"H-hey! Don't! She would be mad! She will beat me!"
Boruto quickly turned around and ran off to exit ready to tell him off to his mom.
"Come back here!"
***