We moved a little off the main road, into a patch of flat dirt and packed earth between two buildings for our impromptu match. Of course, a couple of kids trailed after us at a distance, curious but cautious, because I hadn't invited them... But I didn't tell them to scram either. As for Minato, he hung back near Sayuri, hovering there, trying to decide whether to come closer or not, but I could tell his eyes never left Kushina's back. If someone ever bottled that look, they could weaponize it as some type of genjutsu... Throw it out and turn everyone into zombies. Shaking my head, after we stopped at our chosen little venue, I turned towards Kushina, getting a bit more focused, taking it seriously.
"Taijutsu only. Is that acceptable?" I called out as we faced each other.
"Yeah," Kushina nodded while she cracked her knuckles, "Taijutsu and grappling," she shot back. "No cheap tricks!"
"Define cheap." I raised a brow, and I heard someone else speak...
"Anything you think of," Sayuri muttered under her breath, but I ignored her with a smile.
"Keep your eyes normal," Kushina added after a momentary pause, sounding super serious.
"All right," I nodded, "Fair, no Sharingan and no ninjutsu. First clean hit wins?"
"First solid throw counts as a hit," Kushina corrected at once, not wanting to give me a chance to play dirty, "You will lie on your back soon enough!"
"Confident, aren't you?" I chuckled, looking at her.
"Datteb—" she caught herself mid-sentence, turning it into scowling. "Just shut up and fight!"
"After you," I grinned, and she took me up on it at once.
She came in fast, direct, no feints hiding in her moves, at least not one that I could detect in the way she moved her muscles. It was a straight-line attack with enough force behind it to break a normal kid in half. Huh... She wasn't joking and going all-in now! I stepped aside, deflecting her punch with my forearm, and as I did so, her strength reverberated up my bones. Holy hell... Was this how Naruto felt when he was punched by Sakura?! Why are girls this strong in this world?!
While I was dodging, her follow-up move was immediate and came as a low kick, aimed toward my ankle. I hopped back, then forward, the moment my feet touched the ground, closing the distance, trying to get on the inside where her range wouldn't be as helpful... And because I wanted to train myself against someone who was this dangerous up close. I have no experience with this type of fighting style... and I need all the training I can get! So, when I did so, she met me with a shoulder-check that felt like colliding with a train, but because I had seen her do this once, I was ready, my hands raised before my chest, dispersing the shock behind it as we broke apart.
"Nice," I said, breathing just a little harder now, shaking my arms. "You fight like you're trying to bulldoze me into the ground..."
"I will do that," she shot back at me, already moving, "eventually!"
The second exchange was messier than he first. She tried to grab my sleeve, a classic setup for a throw, but I twisted my waist out of her way, caught her wrist instead, and redirected her momentum, sending her stumbling past me. She planted her foot at once, reflexively used the stumble as a pivot, and spun, her hand grazing my shoulder, almost getting a hold of me, missing it by a hair's breadth.
We traded like that for about a minute, strike, dodge, sweep, shove, while I was getting into the rhythm of facing someone who was hellbent on grappling me. No one between us was really dominating, but one thing was obvious: I had a cleaner technique while she had more raw power. Still, underneath her wild approach, there was structure, and I could see it without my Sharingan. Someone had taught her grapples, holds, and leverage points, drilled it into her so well that she was doing it without thinking.
At one point, she ducked low, slammed into my midsection, and tried to haul me over her shoulder in a movement that felt like it had a name. Something like… Whirlpool Shoulder Drop or something... Well, I didn't have time fantasizing about it, so I bailed, letting my feet go light and twisting in the air just enough to land on all fours instead of flat on my back, dispersing the momentum behind Kushina's attack.
"That was close," Minato murmured from the sidelines, something I could catch, but had no time to respond.
"She's good," Sayuri added, sounding impressed and just a tinge worried.
"Hmph!" Kushina huffed, cheeks puffed slightly, hair sticking to her forehead, sweating, "You're cheating," she said, glaring at me, annoyed.
"How?" I panted back, actually surprised that she thought it that way.
"You keep moving where I don't want you to be," she said, as if that explained everything. "It's annoying!"
"Welcome to fighting," I moaned a little, "That's not cheating, that's how it should be!"
"Then stop it!" She launched at me again, and this time, I let her.
I saw the opening... From exhaustion and frustration, her form had fallen apart, and I could see her weight on her front leg was wrong, how her center of gravity was just a bit too forward... I leaned into it at once. Where I could launch a counterattack and hurt her, I held back, and instead just stretched out my hand, tapping her abdomen, telling her that if I desired, I could have made her cough up some blood.
That was my mistake.
Her hands moved by reflex and gripped my sleeve and collar, her hip already turning, and I hit the ground on my back with a solid thud, air rushing out of me.
"Ugh..." I moaned, feeling my spine tingle and my ribs playing the Sadness and Sorrow theme...
Worst of all, above me, Kushina also froze, staring down at me, hands still gripping my clothes.
"I… I won?" she breathed, barely believing it.
"Well..." I coughed, holding back myself from saying a catchphrase, then laughed, looking up at the blazing storm cloud looming over me. "Yep," I said in the end, not wanting to argue, "Solid throw. Congrats... Ugh..."
Her eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously, replaying the last moments, finally realizing what had happened, getting... flustered. I couldn't tell if it was out of pure anger or shame that she attacked me like that when I clearly won the match... not that it really mattered.
"Did you let me win, dattebane?"
"Nah, I let my guard down," I admitted, because lying would be dumb. I can't expect her not to use that moment to attack, as I never mentioned we should stop right before the end... It was stated that we only stop at a clean hit. "It is your win."
"..." She stared at me for another heartbeat, then slowly released her grip and stepped back, arms crossed, watching me sit up, "Hmph. Fine."
"I never saw anyone be angry about winning," I chuckled, rolling back to my feet.
She was about to say something when Minato had moved closer without quite realizing it, his eyes bright, his expression open in a way he rarely showed outside of our own combat training.
"That was amazing," he blurted out without thinking, then immediately seemed to regret speaking as her gaze flicked to him.
"A-ah... I mean, your grappling moves were on point," he stammered, his ears going pink, "It was very… efficient."
"..." Kushina simply stared at him, thrown off-balance for the third time in five minutes. "Efficient?" she repeated.
"Efficient is his word for cool," I said helpfully, "He's bad with normal words today... Apparently, you have that kind of effect on him."
"Renji," Minato hissed at me, but I just acted as if I didn't hear him.
"..." Once again, amidst her silence, Kushina's lips twitched, just barely, "You are...?" she asked him, but I was pretty sure she knew; she just... played along.
"Minato," he said at once, "Minato Namikaze."
"Minato, huh…" She eyed him up and down, "The genius of the Academy..."
"So he is famous, huh?" I grinned, already up on my feet, letting Sayuri help me dust my back off, "I am infamous while he is famous... Not a big surprise."
"You two are weird," she muttered, and then, reluctantly, she added, "...in a not-so-terrible way."
"Thanks," I chuckled, "We train together, outside the village sometimes. You want to join us?"
"If you have the strength." Sayuri added, warning her, "They are way too extreme for my taste. They invited me once, but I hadn't lasted a minute or so..." Her whole body went still while explaining it, making Minato and me blush, looking away.
Ugh... That was indeed a miscalculation on my part. I hoped that it would be just like in the show and we could help others rise above themselves, but... well... It didn't happen. We simply managed to knock her out. So I had spent about a week trying to make it up to her after that winter incident... I really felt bad about it, too...
"I see..." She muttered, looking at us two, "...why?" she asked quietly, a bit puzzled why we were offering it to her so suddenly.
"Because you're strong," I said simply, spreading my arms, "And because everyone else is an idiot about your hair, but we don't care."
"Speak for yourself," Sayuri mumbled, making Kushina's head snap towards her, "Her hair is great."
"Datte—" She started, but then she just blinked, then looked away quickly, cheeks reddening in a way that had nothing to do with anger, even if it started out like that, because she wasn't expecting Sayuri to say something so unexpected.
"You'd just… let me train with you..?" she muttered, trying to fight back her anxiousness, "Just like that, dattebane?"
"Minato?" I prompted, elbowing him because he was just standing there, and I was afraid he would start drooling.
"Yeah!" He straightened reflexively, "Training is better with more people," he said, and to his credit, his voice only shook a little. "Different styles… different perspectives, if we only do what we are familiar with, we will never improve. You'd be more than welcome!"
Listening to him, Kushina stared down at her hands, flexed them once, then glanced at us, examining our eyes, before glancing towards the street, where he beat down her bullies. I could see she was comparing us all, realizing that not everyone is like those idiots... We have too many people inside the village for that to be true. I saw the moment she recognized that...
"I'll… think about it," she said, arms folding before her chest again, not wanting to sound or look too... excited.
"That means yes," I translated, watching her flare up again.
"It does not, dattebane!"
"Whatever you say."
"Hah!" She huffed, turned half away, then glanced back at us. "Maybe," she snorted a third time. "Don't get your hopes up..."
"Tomorrow is a weekend," I looked at Minato, "and in the early morning we will have a little exercise as usual," I continued, "In the forest, north of the village, where the training posts are, but a bit further in. We'll be there at sunrise; you can come whenever."
"Sunrise?" she groaned. "Why do you people wake up so early?"
"It's Minato's fault," I said, raising my arms while Sayuri just chuckled, because she had the same reaction when I invited her, "He barely sleeps."
"I do sleep..." Minato made a noise of protest, but had nothing else to add, because he indeed slept only around four to five hours a day.
"Fine," she shrugged her shoulders, "If I wake up. And if you're lying, and I just go there early while nobody is there... I'll pound you flat, dattebane! Both of you!"
"I'd expect nothing less." I nodded my head, already looking forward to it.