Naruto of the Seven Swords

Chapter 32

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger as he practiced his basic katas, the memory of his crushing defeat rushing over him and causing himself to become even more infuriated. He had been obliterated by that samurai, any of his attempts to fight back and counterattack utterly stopped by his opponent.

'No! I have to do better!' Naruto thought, pushing himself to work harder and improve himself so that he could win when he challenged the samurai to a rematch. After all, he stood nearly no chance against the samurai except the Nine-Tails. However, bringing out the Nine-Tails in foreign territory would cause many consequences, causing both the Land of Iron and Konoha to come after the head of Kirigakure.

Frustrated, Naruto dueled his Shadow Clone, who tried his best to replicate the samurai's moves, to no ado. With little effort needed, Naruto easily dispelled the copy of himself, causing his mood to worsen even more.

Naruto summoned another doppelganger, this one taking a bit more hits to dispel. Naruto landed one hit on his copy, before turning around and preparing another attack.

The clone attempted to return another hit, but Naruto deflected the clone's sword with the hilt of his own sword, kicking the clone's chest and sending it flying backwards. The copy was instantly dispelled, and Naruto's negative emotions came rushing back.

'Not. Good. ENOUGH!' Naruto shouted, spawning an entire horde of clones to duel him.

The clones surrounded the Uzumaki, preparing to relentlessly assault the Kirigakure shinobi, but Naruto kicked away a few of the incoming enemies, twirling Samehada around to hit more of the clones. With just a few strikes, Naruto had already dispelled more than a quarter of the clones.

Naruto leapt backwards, blowing a huge gust of pressurised wind at the clones. Half of the horde disappeared, destroyed by the powerful ninjutsu, but a few other clones remained, slightly scarred by the powerful attack.

'That won't work against that damn samurai!' Naruto cursed, before rushing at his clones again. The blond hacked through the remaining crowd of clones, mercilessly killing the duplicates of himself, before preparing to create more of them to fight.

A voice cut him short, someone calling for him from across the training ground. 'Hey, kid. Need any help?'

🌊

'So, you want my help, eh?' The man said to Naruto, looking him straight in the eye. 'To be honest, it's normal to lose to Teppeki. He's one of the strongest samurai around here.'

'How do I beat this TeppekI?' Naruto eagerly as well as nervously asked, his toes tense and his body shuddering with excitement.

'If you want to beat Teppeki, you'll need to seriously brush up on kenjutsu, because ninjutsu at your level is absolutely useless against most experienced samurai.' The man added. 'And for that, your sensei is not strong enough to refine your kenjutsu to such a level. After all, the only reason he is able to defeat us is because of his absurdly powerful overall skills...'

'You know my sensei?' Naruto asked, suspiciously staring at the man in front of him.

'Yes. Everyone in the city has heard of your arrival. Anyways, how would you like to learn under me during your trip?' The man offered, a smile gracing his face. 'My name is Tegane Tsubaki, and I am a veteran samurai of the Land of Iron.'

Naruto's face lit up, perking up at the words coming out of the man's mouth. The Kirigakure shinobi pondered about his decision for a short minute, a determination lit up within his azure eyes.

'Very well.' Tegane said, smiling brightly. 'Come into my garden. We will begin today.'

Naruto followed his newly established mentor into the garden, the huge cherry blossom tree towering over the Uzumaki. After all, his mother was a very skilled swordsman, and he would follow in her footsteps.