Chapter 10 A Life and Death Duel!
It was still early morning and the park was not that busy at the time. He sat on a bench overlooking the small pond in the middle. The pond only had the size of a small swimming pool — from his old world. Rasa also felt that this pond must be artificial. The edges of it look too even for it to be a natural one and you would have to dig much deeper to find ground water usually. Anyhow it must have taken a considerable effort to maintain this small pond in Suna.
The children present here are mostly of ages from four to seven. Most have already formed groups for playing and the older ones who are trying wall climbing are mostly solitary. He didn't feel like joining any of the groups — he wanted to try wall climbing but Arashi had already warned him about not going below half in chakra amount for now so he reluctantly had to give up the idea.
On the way here Arashi had an interesting suggestion for him he said "try sensing more". Not using chakra but the intuition formed from his Yin nature. Apparently his mother also had Yin affinity and had a keener sense for objects and events through her chakra nature.
The affinity has many wide applications, sensing only being one of them. Arashi had instructed him to train his natural intuition and sensing from Yin nature without using chakra for now. And Arashi's method was simple: get a feel for people, places, and environment — just try feeling without doing anything. It was that crude and simple. So Rasa decided to give it a try for now. He felt this is an extension of the games Hikari had been playing with him in the past.
He closed his eyes and started to get a sense of the surroundings. He didn't strain his mind or try to perceive something hidden. He just let his senses expand. He heard children's laughter, some playing hide and seek in the rocks, one even hiding in the rock near him he could feel his slow inhale and exhale. Some children were building sand castles — he smelled the scent of sand mixing with water which brought him a feeling of life being built.
For the first time ever, Rasa truly felt the vitality of the sand village. The desert may look empty and sparse, but it holds one of the most complex bio-domes.
Rasa stood up from the bench subconsciously and started walking around the pond. He didn't do it deliberately — just followed his gut. He sensed children and their play, he sensed their nature: some peaceful, some playful, some cunning — all but still all children. He felt nothing special from them, no hint of talent or bloodline — they didn't even have enough chakra for him to even sense properly. But they all had something Rasa had lost a long time ago. He truly felt the vibrancy of life in this sparse park, the tough environment of sand also made them strong and vigorous, not just vibrant.
Time passed slowly and he continued his wandering…finally Rasa reached a sparse area on the edge of the park. There he saw a young girl who was slightly taller than him, training with two short kunai's. The girl was mechanically following the basic movements — like thrust, stab, cut, parry — but there was an undeniable sharpness to her movement. He lacked that finesse with the blade against Arashi which this girl now possessed.
The girl suddenly looked back, catching his stare. She had green hair which was unusual even in Suna. She had a serious expression on her face — like a little adult — which made Rasa smile.
He bowed and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Rasa. I just came here by coincidence and your practice looked impressive so I just continued staring. Sorry if I was being rude..."
"You sound like an adult, what do you want now?" She replied with a straight face and a serious expression.
Rasa was kind of embarrassed hearing that from a literal child... She was supposed to respond politely to his inquiry. Now he felt he was put in a spot.
"Sorry for staring... but your practice is going well and if I'm being blunt, can you be my sparring partner?I'm not bragging or anything but It's really hard to find peers who can match me, and I see that you are quite skilled, if you don't mind that is..."
She stood there silent for a moment, not expecting his reply, but Rasa also felt she could give him a good match. It was still his uncanny intuition he developed after coming to the world. He decided to trust it this time again.
After some time of confusion she just nodded her head. This time it was his turn to be confused — was it a nod of agreement or rejection. He was truly embarrassed this time to ask again. Seeing his confusion, she kindly offered him her kunai and took two out of her pouch herself. He really wanted to quit now — Woah, girl, aren't you moving a little too fast? I only suggested a spar, not a death match with real weapons!
He eventually accepted the kunai. His shame didn't allow him to run away from a little girl. So the fight began….
The girl, whose name he didn't even know by the way, was truly vicious. She attacked his vital points without showing any mercy — her first attack was a direct stab at his kidney. He automatically realized this little girl was truly trying to kill him. Luckily he was fast enough to dodge her attacks — otherwise he would have already become a pincushion.
Rasa observed himself during the fight. Although he was stronger than her in speed and strength, he was really struggling. He felt awkward having two kunai in his hand. The girl wielded them with grace and elegance, but he could only use them as a clunky tool for blocking.
He tried to parry her attack once. She almost cut off two of his fingers as a prize. He never felt it while fighting a superior fighter like Arashi. But he now felt his inadequacy with a blade. He didn't possess the natural sharpness of Arashi or even the girl before him to become a blade master or a sword user. It was sad but this may be his reality, So he just threw away the kunai. He had the decency not to throw it towards the girl who offered it; now let's teach this brat some manners.
She didn't mind his sudden discard of the kunai. She was only focused on the goal of making him a porcupine. He really doubted whether she is an infiltrator from root. She is truly ruthless.
The safest way to win was to tire her out. He believed he could beat her by staying at a distance and she was committing all these deadly close attacks which would tire her out quickly. But he decided to just fuck it this time.
He took out two more rocks from his pouch. He had taken some backup rocks from Arashi's home. He used them temporarily to block the attacks of the girl. He also meticulously tried to apply a thin layer of chakra on the outer shell of the rock, making it a bit harder.
The fight continued in full swing and the impact from the kunai made it crumble on the inside but the rock outer shell was solid due to the thin layer of chakra he applied earlier — achieving his goal of creating a powdered present for his new little friend. When the chance arrived He took some distance from the girl deliberately — realizing he was far enough, he threw the two rocks in quick succession.
The girl vigorously tried to block them with her kunai instead of dodging them — a rookie mistake. The first rock exploded in her face, spraying powdered sand into the girl's eyes and blinding her. The next one got hit right on her face, this one also breaking apart on impact. Her green hair was now fully covered in dirt.
The rocky surprise was too much for her — she was truly disoriented now with the blow on the head and sand in her eyes. He was ready to finish the job with a kick and end the match but suddenly a fair hand came from nowhere and caught his raised kicking leg — before he could process what was happening, he was flying through the air, thrown far away!