Chapter 312   - Ch312. Genin Vs Genin: Sasuke

"M-My n-name is P-Pete P-Peti." The mousy-looking rain genin stuttered, covering the lower part of his face with his sleeve in a show of embarrassment.

Sasuke stared at him for a long while, causing him to nervously fidget. Inwardly satisfied with how cowed his opponent seemed, Sasuke decided to break off the staring contest.

"Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." The duckbutt-haired genin introduced himself and the breeze suddenly gently ruffled his hair for an added cool effect as his eyes turned red and three tomeoes started spinning around his pupils.

The mousy-looking genin sweatdropped, clearly detecting the small surge of chakra that provided the breeze. Alas, since Anko showed him how effective seeming above your game was, Sasuke gained a flair for dramatics.

The two stilled as if waiting for a non-existent signal...

Abruptly, Sasuke's hand blurred and a kunai flew towards Pete who intercepted it with a shuriken, making the kunai spin upward. Pete was about to reach for another shuriken when he was surprised by a loud boom coming from above.

'E-explosive tag!?' He freaked out, inwardly extremely glad he intercepted it with a projectile rather than trying to block it only to be blown up.

Sasuke smirked to himself and used this brief distraction to start a rapid dash at his opponent. Knowing he couldn't possibly cover the whole distance between them fast enough to not give his opponent any time to prepare, he whipped a few shurikens and started throwing them.

Pete forcefully shook off his shock when he spotted the quickly-spinning dangerous pointy stars flying straight at him and started to deflect with his kunai. His situation wasn't great. His opponent was keeping him busy while shortening the distance between them. He couldn't really turn around and start running and trying to jump back was also not a great idea. Pete had no doubt the second his feet left the ground, multiple pointy projectiles would be thrown at him. He couldn't possibly block all of that. Not in mid-jump. The only thing he could do was try to stand his ground.

Sasuke saw the distress in his opponent's eyes, making him excited. The mousy-looking guy's body language oozed anxiety and from how lanky he was, it was obvious the boy was no great hand-to-hand combatant. Sasuke was going to break him like a twig!

'One should never panic in combat.' Sasuke mentally admonished his opponent. Contrary to his thoughts, he felt great. Finally, a real chance to prove himself in a fight!

Sasuke was almost upon Pete, pulling his arm back in preparation for a devastating jab... when Sasuke's Sharingan noticed a great change in his opponent. Pete's body stilled, all previous indications of his panic, nervosity, and uncertainty disappeared as the boy outstretched his arms with a triumphant smirk and an almost predatory look. Gone was the fidgety prey.

The world slowed down for Sasuke, his Sharingan showing him in great detail as the sleeves of Pete split, revealing two wooden canisters fastened to his wrists. The wooden canisters burst open and a spray of senbon was sent forward. At the next moment, Sasuke registered a few things.

Firstly, Pete baited him the entire time. Secondly, he was too close to dodge. Thirdly, the area of effect was too wide for him to get out of the way. Fourthly, he cursed himself for not learning any Doton technique that could create a wall.

Sasuke kicked the ground and pushed his body back, trying to widen the distance between himself and the wall of senbons flying at him. It didn't help much since the senbons were faster than him but at least he got enough time to throw his kunai at Pete, preventing him from doing anything else. Then, in one fluid motion, Sasuke whipped out a new kunai from his pouch and started to weave through the rain of senbon while stepping back while his hand blurred, blocking every senbon that would hit in a vital area with his kunai.

It took barely a few seconds until the attack was finished and when Sasuke deflected the last possible senbon, he quickly threw the kunai in his hand at Pete who was in the middle of doing hand-seals for a Jutsu, forcing him to abandon the thought and evade.

Most senbon sailed harmlessly around Sasuke and his Sharingan was a great help in helping him to evade the ones that flew in his direction. It was not enough, however. Sasuke wasn't fast enough and thirteen needles were stuck in his body. He was annoyed rather than bothered by it though. He evaded the fatal ones and deflected more than eighty percent of the remaining senbon he couldn't dodge.

Sasuke didn't have the time to pull the senbons out. His enemy would not give him such leisure. With a grunt, his hands sprang into weaving seals, and before Pete could press on with his attacks, a fireball rapidly flew in his direction.

Pete was surprised that a genin could do elemental Jutsu so proficiently and his brows creased. Genins were not supposed to know elemental techniques!

'Haa~, so this is what being from a major village means.' Pete wryly thought as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag right at the fireball.

This particular explosive tag had a very sensitive trigger so it went off the second it entered the fireball. This canceled the technique out in a bright flare of light before creating a smokescreen that obscured the unsuspecting Sasuke's vision. Worse yet, he had a Sharingan so he was even more susceptible to such an attack.

"Grah!" Sasuke tightly closed his eyes because of the suddenly intense light and tried to cover them with his hand. It was an instinctual reaction. Knowing that the fight was not yet finished and that his opponent had some dangerous tricks up his sleeve, he forced his eyes to open, the disorienting blurry world greeting him.

Pete rushed through the place where the fireball and explosive tag met, not minding the scalding temperature that licked his skin as he dashed at Sasuke through the smoke, throwing two kunai at Sasuke the second he spotted him.

Sasuke was still trying to refocus his vision to properly see but his senses were sharp enough to enable him to feel the shifts in the air and dodge the two kunais. That gave Pete the necessary time to close the distance between them, however, and Sasuke found himself barely blocking a punch aimed at his chin.

Pete spun into a kick, trying to land it on Sasuke's abdomen but Sasuke twisted his body to the side and instantly retaliated with an elbow nearing Pete's cheek. Pete pulled his head back, letting the elbow strike barely clip his nose while his right hand flipped a kunai out of his pouch and swung at Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes widened, seeing the approaching steel. He quickly reacted by kicking Pete into the left knee, making him falter which gave Sasuke enough time to step back and avoid being knifed.

Sweat rolled down Sasuke's brows and only the fact that both he and his opponent breathed hard relieved him. This was challenging and his lack of experience showed a great deal in this fight. His opponent was basically beating him with tricks and attacks that targeted his weaknesses! Sasuke realized this would require him to be a bit more... cunning.

Sasuke's eyes briefly locked with Pete's whose expression was grimacing from the kick to the knee. Not willing to give his opponent a chance to regain his balance, Sasuke sprang forward, punching Pete's chest. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Pete was expecting this and let the punch through. He could see that it was not strong enough to break bones and would only create some bruising. In exchange, Pete's hand snapped forward and counterattacked. The difference was, he was holding a kunai.

As Sasuke's punch landed, Pete's kunai buried deep into Sasuke's chest, causing Pete to show a tired smile.

Then... Pete spat blood.

Confusion obvious in his eyes, Pete looked down and his expression twisted in horror. The kunai he thought he held shimmered out of existence as he realized he had half of the kunai's blade sticking from his chest where Sasuke seemingly landed a punch.

Pete looked back at Sasuke...

"Sh-Shar-gan..." He gurgled with a horrified realization as his body gave out, making him fall forward onto his knees before it fell back with a thud.

Pete... was dead.

Sasuke chuckled before the pain from the blow to the chest and the senbons made him wince, "Sorry..." He sincerely apologized to the corpse. "I wanted to enjoy our dance more but you just had to use poisoned needles." He shook his head in genuine disappointment.

Anko might have made all of the Team Seven resistant to most poisons but that didn't mean they were fully immune. Sasuke was starting to feel aches and fatigue from all the poison in his veins. That was why he decided to end the battle so quickly.

Turning around, he was just in time to see a clone of Hinata knock out her opponent, causing relief to flood his body.

Sasuke walked towards his teammate while pulling out the pesky needles and discarding them on the ground. When he got near her, his cheeks gained a slightly pink dusting from shame as he realized that unlike him, she didn't have a scratch on herself.

"Hinata.... er, could I get a detoxifying pill?" Sasuke asked with a sheepish expression. Sage, this was embarrassing!