Naruto: Princess of the Moon

CH 26: THE ABURAME CLAN

So, when she entered the classroom and greeted everyone, he barely looked at her. It was only when she made that move and appeared in front of Naruto that Takashi began paying attention.

That speed of hers was insane. Even he, who had been training under Guy Sensei secretly for a while now, was barely able to keep up. And that was at the time that she had just begun her training.

But after that day, she never showed that ridiculous speed again. [Name] went on as normal. She wouldn't act pampered like a princess, but she wouldn't be a good and obedient student either, causing trouble every day with Naruto and not putting much effort during class.

Everyone thought that in the end, she really didn't take being a ninja seriously and didn't care about training. If she graduated, she would just be a leisure Genin forever until she got bored.

That's what he thought also. Until he saw it.

One night, when he was heading home after training with Guy Sensei and Lee, he found [Name] sneaking around. His chakra was so weak that unless someone carefully searched, it was hard to find him, so he was able to follow her quietly from afar.

What he saw was the troublemaking princess training until she was bathed in her own sweat and blood dyed her hands and feet. She healed herself with Medical Ninjutsu, leaving her skin as unblemished as ever, then resumed training until she was all bloody again only to heal herself and get injured again. It was an unending and desperate cycle.

Looking at her train, he somehow wanted to cry. That wasn't someone who didn't care about training and didn't take being a ninja seriously. That was someone who wanted to be stronger more than anything else.

Takashi didn't know why she was hiding her strength, but he chose to keep quiet about it and never bothered her during her training. At the same time, his eagerness to fight her on even ground ignited.

He would recall that speed she showed on the first day and wondered how much further she had gotten since then. He wanted to fight her and he wanted to beat her. Since then, he would challenge her constantly at the Academy. His father would beat him for it and his classmates were left flabbergasted, but he didn't care. As long as he could test his own strength against hers, he wouldn't give up.

Unfortunately, [Name] never showed her real strength. She would carelessly refuse or play with him for a while then surrender. The frustrating part was that she would surrender after she was one step from defeating him. Takashi knew that he would for sure lose if she didn't quit in time.

That just made him want to beat her even more and he would show her a stinky face all the time because of it. For [Name], though, it was fun to watch.

Whether on purpose or not, Takashi one-sidedly made her his rival since then.

Lee wrapped an arm around Takashi's neck, pulling him to his side, "Having a rival is the best thing. And when you become teammates, needing to trust and depend on one another, that rivalry becomes an eternal friendship!"

Friendship, ka...? "Thank you, Sempai."

In the arena, Hayate was watching the other Genin, waiting for the screen on the wall to be reset. "Umm, now then... We will get right to it and begin the second match."

All eyes turned toward the screen and the rapidly changing names on it. They didn't know who would battle next and whether it would be themselves. It was unnerving. Luckily, it seemed like the screen chose faster this time.

"Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino."

On the balcony opposite to [Name] and the others was Zaku who searched around for his opponent with a scornful smirk despite both his arms being bandaged. "Which weakling is it?"