One, two, three four five six seve—nin—twelv—twent—
It was getting really hard to count how many times he had gotten hit consecutively. It was like a rhythmic beat, each punch was followed up by another, constantly juggling him around where he would inevitably end up meeting to his hard fists. Head pounding, he struggled to stay upright, not to collapse like a puppet without a puppeteer. Tai vaguely regretted challenging him to an all-out spar.
"HUAH!" Haruto shouted as he sent the last punch to finish the 30-hit combo.
"Ouch." The Headmaster, Albert, winced alongside many of his students as Tai was blown back from the force the punch exerted. The students sucked air through their teeth feeling Tai's phantom pain, unable to comprehend how Haruto's fists were moving so fast without the use of weapons or Dust.
A spray of blood, lovely crimson mist, exited his opponent's mouth as the thirtieth punch made its way through his guard and buried itself into his gut with a force not yet known to the pompadour haired blonde. Dropping to his knees, he gargled, wiping blood that dripped from his chin.
"Well, well, Tai, you're so persistent." His opponent, the boy he challenged that looked quite similar to him, leaned into his face and grinned so wide it shut his eyes. "So tenacious, so lively. You remind me much of a boy I used to know…" Still smiling, he leaned his head out of the way as Tai threw a fast punch to his cheek. Clicking his tongue at how he missed, he was glad he clenched his jaw shut just as Haruto delivered a sharp jab to his tensed face.
"… Y'know what happened to him?" Tai spat out more red to the floor, his white sparkling teeth stained vermillion. Bare feet signified that Haruto had made his way over to him but he wasn't able to say anything as Haruto had his hand, fingers, wrapped around his cheeks and squeezed his mouth into a pucker. But his grin vanished as he mumbled.
"He died." Haruto said sadly, all forms of happiness were gone from his face. Replaced instead with sadness and… pity? Tai grimaced as he heard the word "died", feeling incredibly uncomfortable. "He died playing the hero. All his friends… gone."
"Everyone needs a-a friend! Someone to—" Tai protested against his opponent's statement but choked a little on his blood, "to-to watch your back! To have fun with!"
Haruto leaned into Tai's face, a snarl marring his handsome features, whispering harshly while glaring into his eyes. In a voice full of unbridled rage,
"FRIENDS ARE ONLY GOOD FOR GIVING YOU PAIN WHEN THEY—" He paused and took a deep breath. Catching himself before he could say anymore, he calmed his features back into a neutral one. "Oh well, there's no changing the past." Haruto shrugged, before he placed a finger in the middle of his forehead. "All we can do," The finger curled backwards into his thumb, "Is adapt to the situation. That is why I don't need friends." Maybe Tai would learn his lesson on trying to call him out after speaking he had spoken his mind.
Then he flicked.
And that was how Tai found himself in the school's infirmary a day later, grinning madly.
A powerful student the same age as me?! From this day forth, you are my eternal rival, Haruto Uzumaki!
Haruto paused in his mindless drawing as the teacher rambled on and on, glancing in the general direction of the infirmary before letting out a shudder. Something didn't feel right, it was as if there was someone who had just "Mighto Gai'd" him, feeling much like Kakashi, his late mentor, at the moment. Was this karmic balance after using Dynamic Entry on those Beowolves?
"I have a bad feeling about this." he mumbled before turning back to the picture of Konoha he drew before his world imploded violently.
NEXT DAY. TAI IS OUT OF INFIRMARY AND IS READY TO ANNOY OTHER BLONDE CHILD IN HIS YEAR THAT KICKED HIS ASS.
"No." Haruto muttered, placing his hand onto Tai's face and began pushing him away from his juicy green apple. "Go away." He shooed Tai to no avail.
"Please! Let me be your best friend and ultimate rival! We can fight each other every day and—-" Haruto tuned out Tai's begging and focused on the juicy apple in his hand instead. Haruto felt uncomfortable at the sight of Tai who he assumed was this world's version of him, except a lot younger. He had been challenged by the boy after making a comment about teammates when the headmaster had singled him out, how he would work much more efficiently without them. Of course that wasn't true, he just didn't want to be involved in anyone dying.
Holy baby Kami, he swore this kid was probably some messed up love child of his and Lee's on some fanfiction website, written by some creepy ass basement dweller still living with their mother. He didn't know how to shut up, full of energy, called him his eternal rival… Well, he wasn't that enthusiastic to work out all the time for the slightest of mistakes, but nevertheless, the similarities were starting to scare him a little. He choked and puked in his mouth a little at the idea of a blonde haired boy rocking a bowl cut, thick black and mismatched coloured eyebrows that looked like giant yellow caterpillars with strangely round eyes. Even worse was that he was wearing an orange jumpsuit with green leg warmers.
"We could be on the same team! And then we could easily beat up everyone that challenges us—"
"Tai. I'm going to say this as nicely as I possibly can." Haruto spoke patronizingly to the nodding blonde. Placing both his hands on Tai's cheeks, he brought their faces close together and connected their foreheads before he spoke in a patronizing and purposefully slow way right into his face as if he were a toddler.
A toddler that had been dropped on his head… Multiple times.
"Shut–the–fuck–up. Capiche?" Each word was emphasised with crystal clear clarity in order for him to pass the message over to the smiling blonde. Tai nodded, still grinning. Haruto released the boy and leaned out, rolling his eyes as he felt the other blonde's excitement pour off him in waves. Watching as he waved mutely to a few prodigies that walked past them, "prodigies" was their nickname for joining Signal at the age of nine, whereas the norm started at twelve or thirteen, some could even skip a few years if they displayed a great amount of improvement. Haruto saw them smile at Tai waving, before flinching at the sight of Haruto's cold face biting hard into the green apple he held, the unnerving crunching noise making them walk away from Haruto and Tai at a faster pace.
Having been blacklisted from half of the student population after news of his unofficial match against Tai which most of them spectated, most students tended to leave Haruto alone in the corner of class, save for Tai who seemed happy spending time with the boy who had knocked him out for a whole day with a finger flick.
The bell rang, causing both blondes to look up at the blaring chime that resonated through the whole school. Groaning, Haruto threw the apple he was eating away, straight into an open trashcan over 6 metres away. Tai grinned, following the grumbling blonde to the amphitheatre.
"It's time to announce the pairing activity!" Haruto was then forcefully dragged against his will when Tai pulled him towards the meeting point for the first year prodigies, fluttering around in the air as if he weighed nothing.
Standing amongst the students in the dark amphitheatre, who were all dressed lavishly in a similar fashion as he was. The males in black suits lined with gold, accompanied by a blue vest and a white shirt with a red tie while the females wore long stockings as an optional component, a red plaid skirt, and a brown jacket with a tan vest and white shirt. Haruto awkwardly tugged at his uncomfortably tight collar, hoping that he could leave already. His eyes glanced over to the girl who draped a white cloak over her uniform, her eyes were closed but Haruto could tell she was concentrating on her surroundings. Interestingly, she wasn't like any of the first years he'd seen so far, being one of the special few he could count on one hand and had picked out with his sharp eyes.
Two others, with one being a girl with silver hair, a blue scarf with a cross on it and a long walking cane while the last was another girl with a pale visage, red eyes capable of demoralising the bravest of men as well as jet black hair that was slightly curled, reaching down to her lower back. He faintly recalled her as the one who had grinned as he beat up Tai.
Hiding to the side of the stage, concealed by the curtains, Headmaster Albert watched his promising new and young prodigies as they began eagerly awaiting his presence. This was the first time they had accepted so many nine year olds into the school at once. But the most promising was definitely… His eyes picked out the blonde boy who looked at everything with a dull look in his eye, standing all the way at the back, being pestered by a similarly blonde child who was grinning at the room and all its inhabitants.
Albert honestly felt that Tai would have been afraid of Haruto after the little… er—spar they had that involved Tai getting blasted right into a concrete wall from a finger flick that pulsed a large amount of energy out right as it made contact with the pompadour-haired blonde. And at that point, Albert knew that Haruto had gotten himself ostracized from around half the school for his not-so-gentle methods of knocking an opponent out. But the cheerful blonde seemed to stick to Haruto as if they had suddenly been best friends… against Haruto's will of course, who was roughly shoving Tai away as he went in for a "friendship hug".
Headmaster Albert had to give credit to Haruto though, for despite how rough he was during the match, he made over to Tai and checked on his pulse before turning away, leaving as the medics entered with a stretcher. He'd have to keep an eye on Haruto, who seemed more than happy that most of the school decided to leave him alone after the spar. But other students, bullies and trouble makers, would try to recruit the boy into their groups and he wouldn't accept having such a diamond in the rough—attitude-wise—associate with the hooligans of Signal, most of whom had bought their place in through money and power.
The very idea of a Haruto controlled by someone like Winchester made him slightly uncomfortable.
Deciding that he had spent enough time building suspense, he walked onto the stage from the curtains and smiled warmly to all the students, both good and bad.
"Good afternoon to you all, newest first years of Signal." He noted that Haruto still looked uninterested, perhaps he'd have to pull something out of his hat to surprise the blonde who was busy picking his ear and flicking it at Tai.
"Today, you'll be receiving the activity that will determine who you will be with for the next ten years of Signal!" He could see the students who were uninformed of the test getting both excited and nervous, a tension felt once every year during this time filling the air. It was a test to see if a group of people were compatible with each other, to be able to synergise in the heat of the battle to wreck absolute havoc and destruction onto the battlefield.
"As a precaution, I shall warn you that but some of you will not be paired with your teams this year, and will instead be waiting until teammates more suitable in nature arrive in Signal." Some students mumbled their agreement understanding the logic behind that while others were scared that they might be the ones left without a team for a few years.
"And without further ado, let me show you…"
The large velvet curtains separated, allowing the students to see the giant television behind it.
"…Your task to complete."
Haruto groaned aloud and slammed his head into his fists at the sight of the giant forest, overgrown with plant life and teeming with vicious animals of darkness. As the headmaster described what they were supposed to do, he began to tug at his hair violently. The pain it brought would definitely not be as bad as the mission.
They were supposed to collect some stupid ass relics in the middle of the forest and retrieve it?
Dear god. It was a fucking Chuunin Exams.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed to the skies.
Tai cheered from beside him.
"THIS IS GONNA BE AWWWEESSOMMEE!"