Chapter 136: Fight [1]

It was already night by the time the three of them finally stopped. The room smelled of sweat and sex. Sakura was the first to move. Her legs shook when she stood. She gathered her clothes without looking at either of them, dressed in silence, and left. The door closed softly behind her.

Sarada sat up more slowly. Her body ached in places she tried not to think about. She reached for her clothes. Kael’s hand closed around her wrist before she could stand.

"Don’t think this was the last time," he said. His voice was quiet but firm. "I’ll fuck you whenever I want."

Sarada didn’t answer. She pulled her wrist free, finished dressing, and walked out without looking back.

Kael stayed on the bed a moment longer. A soft blue window appeared in front of him.

[Reward: Two-Tomoe Sharingan]

He dismissed it, ate a quick dinner, and dropped into bed. Sometime during the night he felt the familiar presence of Eida slipping under the covers beside him, naked as always. He was too exhausted to care. He simply slept.

Morning came. Kael stretched, washed, and headed out to the training grounds to test the new eyes. The two-tomoe Sharingan spun to life with a faint burn behind his eyelids. Colors sharpened. Motion slowed just enough to notice. He wanted to see what it could do in a real fight.

He found one sooner than expected.

Sasuke and Neji were already on the main field. What should have been a spar looked nothing like one. Sasuke’s face was twisted with anger. Fire and lightning flickered around his hands. Neji was on the defensive, Byakugan active, but he was being pushed back hard. Lee and Shikamaru stood off to the side, too far to intervene in time.

Sasuke’s hand lit up with Chidori. He lunged straight for Neji’s head.

Kael moved without thinking. He flashed in from the side, shoulder-checked Sasuke hard enough to throw the attack off course. The Chidori slammed into the dirt instead. The ground cracked and blackened in a wide circle.

Sasuke rolled and came up on his feet. His eyes locked on Kael.

"Hey," Kael said, breathing steady. "What are you doing? That could have been really dangerous."

Sasuke’s voice was cold. "So what?"

Lee and Shikamaru finally reached Neji. Blood ran down the side of the Hyuuga’s head from a shallow cut. He was conscious, but only just.

Kael grabbed the front of Sasuke’s shirt. "Tell me what the meaning of this is."

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped. "We were only sparring."

Kael glanced back at the blood on Neji’s temple. "You call this sparring?"

Sasuke shoved his hands away. "If you have a problem with how I spar, don’t get involved."

Something about the way Sasuke looked at him felt wrong. This world’s Sasuke had always been calmer, more grounded. The rage in his eyes now belonged to a different version of the man entirely.

Kael exhaled. "Okay. Stop this. Go home."

He turned away.

Sasuke shoved him hard between the shoulder blades. Kael stumbled forward two steps before catching himself.

"You don’t tell me what to do," Sasuke said.

Kael turned back slowly. "You want a fight? Then I’ll give you a fight."

A thin, sharp smile cut across Sasuke’s face. "Let’s see how much you can handle outside of bed."

The words landed strangely. Kael had no time to ask what he meant.

Sasuke’s hands already formed seals. A wide arc of fire roared toward Kael. He sidestepped by inches, the heat searing the air where his head had been. Shadow clones burst into existence around him—six, then ten. Two of them charged with Rasengan spinning in their palms.

Sasuke didn’t retreat. He met the first clone head-on, caught it by the collar, and drove a Chidori straight through its chest. The clone popped in a burst of smoke. The second Rasengan came from the side. Sasuke twisted, let the attack graze his shoulder, and answered with a second fireball that forced the remaining clones to scatter.

Kael used the opening. He closed the distance himself, Sharingan tracking every twitch of Sasuke’s muscles. Their fists met in a short, brutal exchange. Sasuke was fast, but the two-tomoe eyes let Kael see the telegraphs. He slipped a punch, drove an elbow toward Sasuke’s ribs, and took a knee to the thigh in return.

They broke apart. Sasuke’s breathing was heavier now. Blood from Neji’s earlier injury still stained the dirt nearby. Lee had moved the injured Hyuuga farther back. Shikamaru watched with narrowed eyes, already calculating.

Sasuke attacked again. Lightning gathered in his hand once more. He feinted high, then dropped low, sweeping for Kael’s legs. Kael jumped, but Sasuke was already rising into the gap, Chidori screaming toward his chest. A clone took the hit instead, vanishing on contact. The real Kael appeared behind Sasuke and drove a Rasengan toward his back.

Sasuke spun. Their attacks collided. The resulting shockwave kicked up a cloud of dust and sent both of them sliding backward.

Kael wiped blood from a cut on his cheek. The Sharingan spun faster. He could see the flow of Sasuke’s chakra more clearly now—the way it pooled in his shoulders before a strike, the slight lag when he shifted from fire to lightning.

Sasuke noticed the change in Kael’s eyes. His expression darkened.

"Those eyes," he muttered. "Of course."

He came in harder. No more testing. Fire and lightning mixed in rapid succession. Kael answered with clones and precise counters, letting the Sharingan guide his feet. One clone managed to land a solid Rasengan against Sasuke’s guard, forcing him to skid back on one knee. Before Kael could press the advantage, Sasuke’s hand snapped up. A thin wire of lightning lashed out, wrapped around Kael’s ankle, and yanked.

Kael hit the ground hard. Sasuke was on him in the next breath, knee driving into his stomach, one hand pinning his shoulder. The other hand crackled with a fully formed Chidori, the light reflecting in both their eyes.

The tip of the lightning hovered an inch from Kael’s throat.

Sasuke’s voice was low and sharp.

"You shouldn’t have slept with my mom."

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