𝐀 𝐒𝐞𝐚 𝐎𝐟 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 ✔️

33

"What I mean, is that by just having Itachi on the team, as well as an Aburame and Hyuga, isn't the difference in strength much too large?" Tsunade nodded at his words but kept her sly smile.

"Well, from how highly you all spoke, I wanted to see if she could beat them. If I'm being honest, she's most likely going to lose by just having Itachi in there, but if she manages to beat the others, than Maki is already stronger than the average jounin."

"Whoa!" Narutos eyes sparkled in awe. "So cool!"

Returning to the battle, Maki was still in a sword fight against Itachi. While Itachi didn't solely focus on his kenjutsu, Maki did, which was why she was more skilled and smooth against Itachi, making him retreat.

Other than her impressive new strength, Maki was also closing her eyes, Making him proudly smile knowing she was being cautious of his tsukuyomi. He could only assume she'd heard of his ability while in kumo. He did become rather famous within the great villages lately.

However, Ko, a specialist in taijutsu, gave her no chance of rest and charged straight in with his byakugan activated.

Maki kicked away and kept her eyes closed. Suddenly, her surroundings disappeared as the only thing she could hear was her racing heartbeat. She was still aware of the approaching Ko, but felt calm despite that.

She pressed her swords closer to her and began to ready her body stance. Ko raised his eyebrow in confusion, yet didn't see how she could be threatening, yet another advantage to her sword style.

"Ty..."  The young swords master could feel her chakra spike and she dashed forwards, spinning as water swirled around her body and blades and slashed against Ko.

"Phoon!"

Ko gasped at the sudden pain on his stomach and he noticed Maki had managed to cut him twice, yet the cuts weren't deep. Deep enough to cause pain and a little bleeding, but not enough to kill him.

He smiled. He should have known Maki wouldn't hurt him, she was too soft to hurt anyone.

Everyone was a little caught up to notice Maki wipe her blades on the grass and sheath them, deciding she should start using ninjutsu and Taijutsu now.

As soon as her blades were in their cases, a voice she'd been waiting for yelled out Making her flinch.

"Wood style! Wood dome!"

"Crap!" 

"Oi, language!"

"Sorry!"

Maki jumped away before the dome could encase her and brang up her only arm, forming them into two fingers.

"Earth style!" She started, watching Yugao approach after helping Ko off the field since he was knocked out. "Mud dragon!" 

The woman hadn't expected such and advanced jutsu, and barely managed to avoid it with one of her wind style moves. Without stopping, Yugao sent a slash of wind at Maki, but the girl only summoned a shadow clone to take the force of the attack.

"How is she doing that?" Narutos eyes only seemed to gleam even more, yet this time there was a certain fire in them. "Don't you need two hands to do jutsu?"

"Yes, it's quite rare to see and must be hard to master." Jiraiya praised Maki, though she was too far to hear. "Casting jutsu with one hand is usually a last resort, yet seeing as how she has only one arm, Maki is probably more efficient and used to using a single hand than we are."

"Can you do that, pervy-sage?" Jiraiya nodded, ignoring the boys nickname for him.

"Yes, but it's hard. I don't really focus on it."

"Maki's gotten so strong!" Sakura smiled. "I bet she's the strongest out of all of us!"

"No way!" Sasuke and Naruto yelled, yet the three couldn't help but snicker together in nostalgia. 

"Hey, Hey, don't forget about me." Kakashi sulked as they ignored him once again, making Tsunade laugh.

All laughs halted as Maki managed to disrupt the bugs in the Aburame with the nine tails chakra, proceeding to use one of Kuramas chakra arms to punch him out of the field and keep him down with a clone of hers.

Yugao panted as Maki took calming breaths through her nose, having practiced her breathing while training as a swords master. Finally, Maki seemed to close her eyes and enter her minds cape, where she spoke with Kurama.

"I'm just itching to get some action!" She smiled at Kurama and plopped down on his head, closing her eyes for some mental rest.

"You can take over, just wake me up when we're going against Tenzo or Itachi."

"I call dibs on Uchiha boy."

"But he can control you with Sharingan."

"The harder the challenge, the more fun it is."

"I see..." She smiled. "He's all yours then."

Maki swore she heard him squeal in excitement, but chose not to question it as Kurama usually had more mood swings than Karui... Which said a lot. How Choji would marry her in the future, She didn't understand.

It wouldn't be long before Yugao was sitting next to Ko and Yoji, watching Maki fight against Itachi... Except this time, Makis eyes were different and she had chakra bubbling around her.

Naruto flinched, feeling a stir in his belly while Jiraiya and Tsunade held their breaths, impressed by the girls control over such a beast.

"I see..." Itachi muttered, tensing up at the look in his sister figures eyes. "You are the nine tails, aren't you?"

"Correct, boy." Kurama growled with his own voice, yet none but Itachi could hear the famous demons tone. "I've been wanting to fight you since this brat was a kit, your eyes remind me of... Madara uchiha."

"Oh?" A compliment Itachi didn't really want, yet appreciated. He was basically saying Itachi was crazy strong. 

"Thank you, Kurama." Itachi smiled behind his mask, knowing Maki would appreciate him using the nine tails' proper name. "But I don't understand how that is relevant in this fight."

"It isn't," A voice said from behind, and Itachi turned in slight shock at where Maki now was. 

He wanted to slap himself. Of course this was a genjutsu!

"Now then," Kurama crouched down on all fours and growled at itachi with a devious side grin. "Show me your power, Uchiha boy!"

"Her former family swam in this kindness, yet used it against her and chose instead to inflict pain on Maki. Her true family took in this kindness, and shared their own, yet none could compare to Maki, for the girl seemed to be the very definition of it."

Sorry, I'm not the best at fighting scenes. Also, Kurama vs Itachi whos gonna win? Next fight it'll be Maki against Tenzo, but that doesn't necessarily mean Kurama won!

What do you think of how the book sounds when I add bits of it at the end of the chapter? I hope it sounds okay!

Daily reminder that you are loved <3

~LamaUzumaki