Snow fell heavily in the early morning, piling up on the trees, their leaves, the streets, and the ground, almost ankle-deep in some places. Honestly, it was getting to be my favorite season of them all... It just made everything... great. And with another winter upon us, I knew, we were also getting closer to getting out of the Academy. We were already nine, and if everything keeps going as it is, we will stick to the original timeline, where Minato should finish it when he was ten... Which also means, when our break finishes, we should soon get a new transfer student...
That's right... Soon, Kushina would arrive. But today, my mind was on something else because it was Fuyu no Sekku, something I never knew existed until I experienced it for the first time. In short, it was the winter rest week. A whole week of no Academy, no instructors, no Mika-sensei screaming about discipline... Well, not that she ever shouted at me, but... Anyway. Most teachers left Minato and me pretty much alone, giving us lessons that were definitely at the Genin level at the least. Still, the current peace, the cold air, and the satisfying crunch of snow under my feet were just the best.
"Renji! Ready to start?" Minato called from somewhere above me, bringing me out of my thoughts, his voice muffled by the heavy snowfall.
"Yeah!" I rolled my shoulders, trying to figure out where he was.
"Timer starts... now!"
"Wait!" I groaned as I charged forward, dodging two kunai that landed where I had stood before. "You always start it without warning! That was such a cheap shot!"
"That was the warning!"
"Asshole!" I grunted with a smirk.
But he was already gone, vanished into the swirling white, leaving me with a one-minute head start.
What we were doing was like a shinobi's version of tag, and our game had become something of a routine by now. It was based on one of us being the hunter and the other the prey, with fifteen minutes a round. Naturally, the hunter is the one who chases, while the other runs, and then we would switch when the timer finally ran out. If the hunter catches the prey, that's a win... If the prey escapes, that's a win for him. As for the winter tally... For now, it's six to five in Minato's favor, and I wasn't planning to let him widen the gap. Heck no! If anything, today was the day I evened the score, because the previous reset after autumn was over, happened at forty-two against thirty-eight... Bah. I am not going to let him win that much, ever again!
As for now, I was the prey.
With my Sharingan already active, scanning the trees, the forest was quiet, my eyes searching for his trail as I landed on a branch, my feet barely disrupting the snow as I stuck to its thin surface. There... I could see the pathway he left behind, trying to calculate the direction I would run towards... It was not a trail he left there physically, but the chakra signs he used to make sure he hadn't left any footprints in the snow. Deciding to play it risky, going against what he expected, instead of doing the usual me, who is trying to hide in the forest, I leapt off a trunk, pivoting mid-air, scanning the shrubs around it, knowing it might be a trap...
Just as I did so, it turned out I was right. From nowhere, while I was still mid-air, multiple kunai flew towards me from four directions. I could calculate their trajectory, and they were aiming at vital points... ruthless! But I expected it, so I shifted my body, my limbs, letting myself spin and watched as they passed alongside my clothes, landing in the trees around us.
Then, I noticed, the moment my leg touched the ground, how the snow exploded into white powder not that far from me as his fingers appeared, reaching towards my outstretched arm to catch me. Tsk! The bastard had read me and knew I would go for a direct approach?! How can he read me so well?! With a grin on my face, knowing I could do nothing against the way Minato's brain works, not even with a Sharingan, I stretched my body to its limits as I barely dodged his grab, rolling to the side and springing up onto the nearest branch.
"You're getting sloppy!" he shouted after me.
"No, you're cheating!" I snapped back, already forming hand seals, "Setting up a trap like that?!"
"I thought you would go around it!" He yelled back as he used his own seals, and a moment later, my fireball and his concentrated air blast met in the middle, resulting in a massive explosion.
I tried to use the blinding light and the appearing mist of melting snow to disappear, but he just darted after me, flying through the explosion with reckless abandon. That was the thing about Minato that I also learned... he wasn't just fast... He was making decisions on the fly, always going for the quickest and surest way to accomplish his task. He was eerily scary when he was focusing on something, almost with... no mercy in his eyes.
While I watched, he closed the distance in seconds as I was in the middle of jumping backward off my branch, landing on another one behind me, hands sweeping out to grab the loose snow and fling it at his face. Turns out... I am the cheap one, because I watched as Minato shielded his face with an arm, just long enough for me to bolt deeper into the woods.
"You're delaying the inevitable!" he called after me, his voice way too cheerful for someone trying to murder me via tag. No wonder people had 'Flee on Sight' orders in the war... Or, well, they will have them in a few years.
"That's what they all say," I yelled back, "right before they lose!"
Just then, I heard two kunai hitting the treetunk behind me, knowing that once he was on the trail, he would catch up to me... eventually. He wasn't lying... it was inevitable, that's why he won more. Tsk! The more I focused on escaping him, the more I lost... He was faster, and I could do nothing about that... but I could make sure to slow him down to a level I could handle and run the clock out. With that, I jumped again, and Minato met me midair, finally, something he did not expect.
We clashed in the falling snow, his heel slicing toward my ribs, my knee whipping up to intercept his impromptu attack. The impact sent a shock up my leg, and we both landed in the snowdrift below, rolling apart before either of us could pin the other down.
"Close," Minato said, breath warm in the cold air, misting from his mouth. "I did not expect that."
"I still missed." I shrugged.
"You dodged." He smirked at me.
"Stop being so fast to react."
He rushed me again by then, and we traded blows as our shins cracked against each other, or our knuckles grazed each other's coats, and steam rose from our mouths. Neither of us held back, as per the rules of the game. This was agreed upon by us both, accepting the dangers of such training but also knowing... it was the only way to improve, and I wanted to improve... time was already going faster than I felt comfortable with. As I was aiming to crack his knee, I watched as he spun through the air, sweeping a leg at my head in response. My eyes following his movements, I ducked and lunged forward, aiming to shove him off balance, but... He disappeared, my leg crashing into the tree to my left, shattering its bark. Damn it! You don't even know Hiraishin yet your dodges feel like you are using it! Pushing the thoughts I had down, the moment my leg hit the tree, I twisted the rest of my body instinctively as I saw a kunai scraping the tip of my nose, landing with a thud.
Of course, my hands were already working overtime when its tip pierced the bark, raising the Tiger-seal to my mouth, breathing out a curtain of fire towards where it had come from. Despite that, he didn't hesitate, concentrating chakra in his legs and shooting upwards, jumping over it, heading towards me from above like a hawk. Canceling the jutsu, I backpedaled, dodging, deflecting his kicks, but he had gotten fast lately... worryingly fast. When he jumped behind me, landing so softly the snow barely stirred, I felt legitimate panic.
Damn it! One touch and he wins. He had already reached for the back of my collar... No! I twisted my waist, letting his fingers graze my coat but nothing more, then slid past him, watching his movements unfold, seemingly as if... he was slowing down, and after another bout of clashing, he just looked at me, gasping for air.
"Whoa," Minato blinked, "That's... new."
"What?" I asked, gasping for air, holding my arms in a defensive position, not daring to blink at him at all.
"You're eyes." He said, doing the same as me, only watching me and nothing else, "Congratulations, I guess."
"Ah..." It clicked, of course. Apparently... I had awoken the second tomoe... No wonder I could finally keep up with his speed again. Damn monster!
But I had no time to be happy or anything as he charged at me again, trying to go even faster than before. I could tell he was pushing past what he usually used and not because he was angry, but exhilarated, his eyes bright, almost like two sapphires, trying to get me at any cost.
He was having fun.
And honestly... So was I. This was like an adrenaline rush that you can't get enough of.
"Five minutes left!" I called after we separated again, and he found no grounds to hold onto me.
"Heh," Minato grinned, breathing more rapidly now. "That's still plenty."
This time, it was me who rushed at him, instead of fleeing, and we collided in another flurry of punches and deflections, following each other's rhythm like in a dance. The forest echoed with the thuds of the impacts, coming like war drums, the personal soundtrack of our fight. When I ducked, he flipped over me, and when I slid across the snow, he stomped down, cracking the ice beneath his landing spot, missing my leg as I countered with a sweeping kick that would've taken someone else's leg out. Reacting, as if he had his own Sharingan, he leapt over it, somersaulting, his hand already finishing his signs as my fire and his wind met once again, resulting in a bright explosion.
When the steaming fog disappeared, we stood facing each other, both of us panting hard... and then, I just smiled. With his perceptive mind, it was hard to trap him in genjutsu. Maybe it was thanks to the experience we had in the forest, but he developed a keen mind for recognizing what was happening, teaching himself to try to avoid falling under a genjutsu's effect... But now, I have the advantage. So, I flicked a whisper of chakra through my gaze, feeling that I had indeed developed a second tomoe...
He knew what I was trying to do when I smiled and reacted instantly, attacking me... but his hand went through me as I wasn't there anymore. I watched as he attacked, never noticing I had already moved around him, putting him under a very simple genjutsu, playing on his desire to win. By then, I was already away as the genjutsu broke, letting him free from its effect.
"Renji—?!"
"Timer's almost done!" I laughed, running.
"Not yet!"
I heard him charge after, just as fast as before, knowing he was getting exhausted, becoming reckless, sprinting across snow, still finding my trail... but it was too late!
Ten seconds...
Five...
He burst through the trees, eyes locking onto me... big mistake. My Sharingan flared once more, and for a fraction of a heartbeat, Minato saw me standing still, just a breath away from his hand as he went for it... But I wasn't. I had already moved to his left and watched as the illusion broke the instant his hand reached the fake me, and the real me grabbed his shoulder.
"Zero."
For a moment, we both stood there in the cold, saying nothing, panting like we'd run from a rampaging bijuu or something... then Minato broke the silence by laughing.
"That was… incredible," he breathed as I let his shoulder go, grinning to myself like some idiot as my Sharingan deactivated.
"I know," I said, flopping backwards into the snow, arms spread wide open. "I am incredible!"
"And boastful!" Minato lay down next to me, equally exhausted and equally as satisfied, while steam was rising from us like we were cooked dumplings in winter.
"Six-six," he muttered. "Still... I will lead it again, soon enough."
"So, who is the boastful?" I pouted, "I have the advantage now!" I added, pointing towards my eyes.
"We'll see." He grinned, "Now you can push me to be even faster. You do realize that keeping up with those eyes of yours is a damned chore in itself, no? It is scary how fast you can read everything... I have to pre-plan my moves ten actions in advance, with four variations, just to make sure I can land a punch.
"Yet you are still doing it," I said after a moment. "Of the two of us, you are more incredible because of that simple fact."
"Nah... We're getting better together," he answered, "That's what matters." He smiled at me, and after a moment, he added, "Renjiro."
"Mhm?"
"I don't think the Academy can teach us anything more... I am going to ask them to let us graduate early."
"Already?" I sat up at once.
"Hm?" He looked at me, taken aback by my sudden, nervous reaction. "Why...?"
"Well..." I tried to play it off, smiling, "I think we should wait it out... I have a feeling that next year... is going to be... fiery."
"What did you do?" He asked, furrowing his brows, sitting up in the snow, trying to read me.
"Nothing!" I raised both hands, "But trust me... You will like it..." Or her... I just couldn't say it out loud.