Once again, the fight resumed. The clashes of two Jonin rang out around the clearing, and this time around, Kakashi had no intention of falling for a similar trick like earlier.
He'd be losing his name as the Copy Ninja if he did so. He had to pull his weight this time around; his Genin were watching, after all.
While Sukuna was perfectly capable of ending the entire shenanigans with a single flick of his wrist, he wasn't very eager to let his technique be known to others.
After all, the shrine's stealthiness and lethality were the exact things that made it so damn overpowered. While most of the shinobi in this world couldn't counter it, there were a few—and in those cases, he would hold the advantage if they were unaware of his technique.
Not to mention, he believed that this time around, Kakashi could handle it.
"This time, take some time," he muttered to himself, seeing both Jonin duking it out. He was a bit concerned about Kakashi's chakra since Sharingan on a non-Uchiha was a total chakra hog—he knew that well.
But if it came to that, then he'd jump in.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Puff…
Smoke rose, and another batch of clones appeared, surrounding Suigetsu, punching and kicking. Sukuna even saw a clone biting. But nothing.
"Sigh… this idiot." Shaking his head, he steadily moved toward Naruto's location, who was by now panting. He had enough stamina and chakra left, mind you. He was panting because the knucklehead was shouting, trying to rage-bait his opponent all this time.
If it were anyone else, it might have worked, but Suigetsu was a bigger scoundrel than Naruto could have imagined. The water boy instead rage-baited Naruto in turn, making him go all out and lose every single time.
"Man, you're persistent. Can't you just give up already? I know you have a smaller brain, but what part of 'you can't hurt me' is so damn hard to register in that two-centimeter skull of yours?"
Even Suigetsu was a bit annoyed; never in his life had he seen a boy this knuckleheaded. Even after knowing the outcome, he still charged mindlessly.
What made the situation worse was that even his own attacks weren't hitting the blonde bastard—every damn time, it was a clone.
"In your dreams. Once I say something, then I never go back on my words. You're going down! Multi-Shadow Clone…!" Naruto shouted, and just as he was about to summon another batch of his own kind to decrease the overall IQ level of the Elemental Nations, a hand landed right on his shoulder.
"Heh… Sukuna?" Naruto blinked, seeing the pink-haired boy in confusion.
"Are you done? How long are you going to do the same damn thing again? Are you trying to rot your opponent bored to death?" Sukuna asked, grabbing the boy hard enough to tell him that he wasn't letting him waste any more time.
"But no matter what I do, nothing works on him," Naruto complained, looking very much wronged. He trained hard, very hard, but this… no one taught him for this.
What was he supposed to do here?
Sukuna almost saw a pout coming to the kid's face.
"Hai hai… this opponent is a bit of a special case. Let me handle it, okay?"
"No way! He's my opponent. I'll take him down. Go and guard Tazuna. I'll be done here in no time," Naruto denied stubbornly.
"Oi, are you two done? I'm getting bored. Just get it over with already," Suigetsu called out. Seeing the pink-haired boy come over, he thought maybe he was about to take over.
He would be happy to trade opponents by now; that blond idiot was getting on his nerves.
Sukuna rolled his eyes at both of them—both were similar kinds of idiots.
"Okay, you can have him. But how about this—give me one punch against him. I'm getting bored," Sukuna asked with a smile.
Naruto paused, looked at Suigetsu, and then, after what seemed like solving a complex puzzle, finally agreed.
"Okay, but only one punch. I'll beat him," Naruto reminded.
"No problem, just look how it's done." Grinning, Sukuna walked toward Suigetsu, who looked a bit relieved, seeing he got a better opponent.
The boy took out his sword, ready to fight to death, but before that, he saw Sukuna all but vanish from his place, only to appear right in front of him in a blink of an eye.
"What…!" Suigetsu's eyes widened a bit before he saw a giant punch rushing directly toward him.
Even after having his hydrofication power, his instincts let him guard his face on impulse. Perhaps he was just startled.
Good for him—because the next second, he saw black.
Black lightning flashed around, violently erupting from the contact of the punch, and then completely disturbed his hydrofication.
Next, he was flying back.
Suigetsu's body launched toward a nearby tree, splattering into it with a loud boom. Any more power, and it might have broken its trunk entirely.
Smoke emitted from where the crash took place, and sparks of black lightning still lingered around where Suigetsu lay—completely unconscious, defeated.
Naruto's mouth was big enough to eat the entire Nine-Tails again.
"W-Wh… Ho-How did you…" He stuttered, eyes blinking in disbelief, wondering whether he saw wrong.
But no—it was right in front of him. The enemy he worked so hard just to touch was defeated in one punch.
Just one.
"Hey… you said you'll only do one punch!" And when the shock subsided, his Naruto-ness came out.
"I know… that was only one punch, yes. I didn't lie to you," Sukuna replied with a smile.
"But but… that's different! You beat him!"
"Yes, it's a shame, honestly. I wasn't expecting him to be this weak."
"But that's not fair! He was my opponent!" Naruto pouted. The shock of Sukuna's earlier action and now having his target robbed made him mad.
Sukuna just shrugged at the pouting boy like he couldn't be bothered about it.
"Oi! Don't just leave—you defeated my enemy. You have to compensate me now!" Naruto ran behind Sukuna, who was silently leaving.
"Heh? Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?" Sukuna was speechless.
"Don't worry, I don't want much. Just teach me that black lightning technique, that's all," Naruto asked, pout gone; now he had a smile from ear to ear.
Saliva almost dripping.
Inside his mind, he was already imagining using this awesome move against Sasuke.
'Hehehe… after I beat that teme, Sakura-chan will definitely leave that bastard Sasuke and come to me…'
Sukuna could almost read the boy's mind in slow motion.
"Forget it. You can't learn that," Sukuna just waved him off to shrug the boy away.
"Heh! But why not?" Naruto was stubborn, though.
Sukuna just ignored the noisy kid, looking at the other fighters.
Both Sasuke and Sakura's fights were still going.
"Might as well give them a hand as well." He grinned, and ignoring the blonde who was now wrapped around his legs, begging for the new awesome jutsu he saw, Sukuna kicked him off and moved forward.
...
A/N : Like the casual banter here, you do thing I nailed their personality. Do tell if there is anywhere I can improve on.
xxx
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