Naruto of the Seven Swords

Chapter 9

Naruto and Kisame took their stances, Naruto utilising an unorthodox and untraditional stance that just came to mind.

'Come at me with the intent to kill. Begin.' Kisame said, preparing to fight on genin-level. He would be surprised at the versatility of the blond.

Quickly, Naruto began with a basic jab, which Kisame parried by rotating the blade so that the side of the blade made contact with the pierce move. Kisame returned a pierce, but the resourceful Uzumaki layered his blade atop Kisame's and pushed it downwards, lunging at Kisame.

'Ugh.' Kisame said, as the blade grazed the side of his body, having dodged a millisecond too late. 'Not bad, kid.'

Kisame placed his blade in front of him, but before he could launch any attacks, Naruto was already on the offensive. Naruto feinted, causing Kisame to dodge to the left, but his true attack was at the direction Kisame was moving towards. Again, the wooden blade hit Kisame. Naruto slashed normally, the attack still not as effective as it should be, but the attack enticed a reaction from Kisame. Seeing his opponent's response, Naruto plunged his blade into Kisame's gut area, the wooden blade not hurting as much as a proper blade. Unfortunately for Naruto, Kisame had noticed his natural talent for kenjutsu and his ability as a beginner, causing the Old Seven Swordsman to increase his ability level to that of a chunin.

Naruto faked a jab, twirling his wrist around for a delayed attack. Naruto's blade travelled through the air towards Kisame. Kisame turned out of the way, finding himself about to be hit by Naruto's backwards slash. Naruto's sword sliced through the air, travelling from his left leg up towards his right shoulder.

'I've got you, dattebayo!' Naruto shouted, as the blunt edge of his katana separated the air around it.

Anticipating the backwards slash, Kisame's head tilted backwards, barely missing the katana. Trying to mix in lessons with the friendly spar, Kisame cocked his head sideways, taunting his opponent. 'You've got to do better than that.'

Kisame's scoff enticed Naruto's hothead into giving a reaction. The blond began furiously mixing his sloppy slashes with the backwards slashes that were more than a hundred times better, none of his attacks even touching Kisame.

'In a battle, expect psychological warfare.' Kisame advised. 'Keep your emotions in control.'

Naruto continued his useless barrage of offensive, his mind slowly absorbing Kisame's advice. As Naruto finally mixed in a jab with his attacks, Kisame struck. Kisame's blade brutally assaulted Naruto, all of Kisame's attacks met Naruto's body. In contrast with Naruto's disorganised and messy attacks, Kisame's combos decimated Naruto.

'Surrender yet?' The master asked the student, cockiness evident in his voice.

'Never!' Naruto answered confidently, having recovered from his outburst of emotions. In addition to his emotional recovery, his body had healed from the bruises thanks to his Uzumaki healing factor as well as the Nine-Tailed Fox.

'Good.' Kisame smirked, preparing himself for a second wave of attacks, but Naruto gave him no time to react.

The blond immediately launched himself into sword strikes, mixing the pierce and the slash in a downward slash that involved Naruto flicking his wrist mid swing so that the sharp point of the blade faced Kisame's chest. Kisame tried to block the new attack, but to no avail. The timing Naruto flicked his wrist could potentially vary, increasing the chance of a badly timed block which would end in the target receiving the hit.

With his quick instincts, Kisame got the timing right, and finally managed to stop one of Naruto's pierce-slash combo. Even with his sense intentionally dulled by purposely lowering his ability level, Kisame was still ever as dangerous.