Unexpectedly, Okuri pulled Taro in, bashing their foreheads together. He loosened his grip on the boy’s forearms, letting him fall to the ground. But not a moment passed before Okuri was on top of him again, pounding his face with a stream of swift, strong punches. But on the 16th punch, Okuri hit wood.
‘A substitution jutsu.’ Okuri thought as he heard Taro’s body land a fair distance behind him with a thud. He turned his head. Taro was stumbling as he dragged himself up from the dirt. Okuri turned the rest of his body to face his opponent. Within his first 4 punches, he had managed to give Taro 2 black eyes, break his nose, and cause his lips to swell. Taro coughed up a mixture of blood and broken teeth before realizing that he had nothing but gums left. Okuri recognized him as an easy victory.
“Why did it take him so long to use a substitute?” Jitsu asked absent-mindedly.
“Well, I suspect that being repeatedly punched in the face had something to do with it.” Itachi sarcastically jabbed.
Taro, woozy from the beating, struggled to form the horse, ox and ram hand signs. Okuri swiftly moved in for the kill, grabbing his hands to prevent him from completing the jutsu. But as he felt an intense charge building up in him and heard a humming noise that consistently rose in volume, he realized that he was already too late. A sick, toothless smile spread across Taro’s face as both boys’ hair began to stand on end.
A flash of light that lit up the darkened arena, a loud crack, and Okuri went flying across the arena.
Chika’s eyes widened in terror. Jitsu’s eyes widened in shock. Itachi’s eyes did not widen. Instead, he merely focused them on Okuri’s smouldering body, watching for the first twitch that would tell whether he was alive or dead.
Taro, thinking his opponent was defeated, turned his back on Okuri to hear the cheering of the crowd before him. A foolish mistake that he would soon regret.
“He’s moving.”
The girls turned to Itachi in surprise.
