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“Anyone else wanna try their luck in the ring?!”
Team Seven watched as yet another unconscious person was dragged out of the boxing ring. Konohamaru facepalmed, wondering how in the hell they were going to complete their mission if the person they needed to get information from was standing in the ring beckoning for a new opponent.
“Maybe we can talk to him now?” Sarada suggested. “There doesn’t seem to be another person eager to step into the ring.”
“I’ll see if he’s willing to talk now.” Konohamaru nodded, stepping towards the ring.
The three genin followed their sensei towards the ring. It was when Konohamaru called to the man that he shifted to look at them.
“Excuse me, but you’re Tadashi, right?” Konohamaru opened, earning a glare from the man in the ring. “We’re Hidden Leaf shinobi and we have a few questions for you about the gang you used to be in.”
“The only talking I do is with my fists or in the ring!” Tadashi grunted in return.
“But you literally just talked to us…” Boruto grumbled, but that didn’t go unnoticed by the large man in the ring.
“You wanna say that again in the ring, kid?!” Tadashi growled, storming over towards the team.
It was when Boruto moved to hide behind Konohamaru that Tadashi got a good look at Mitsuki. It seemed that Mitsuki was standing behind Boruto the entire time so Tadashi didn’t get a glimpse at the most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on.
Boruto seemed to be forgotten about as Tadashi wolf whistled at Mitsuki, even going as far as to wiggle his eyebrows at him. Konohamaru and Sarada deadpanned, Boruto felt himself boiling in anger, and Mitsuki stood there with a smile, oblivious to the other man’s weak seduction.
“Now here’s someone I wouldn’t mind talking to outside of the ring.” Tadashi smirked, his eyes raking over Mitsuki’s body.
“If it’s all the same to you…” Mitsuki stepped up to the ring, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “I’d prefer to speak to you inside the ring.”
“Mitsuki, what are you doing?!” Sarada hissed. “That man is five times your size!”
“And I think he’s got a thing for you!” Boruto added, crossing his arms and tapping his foot like an angry child.
“Mitsuki…” Konohamaru turned to his student. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Mitsuki nodded, “We need whatever intel he has to move forward with the mission.”
“Don’t be afraid to tap out if he’s too tough, okay?” Konohamaru encouraged.
“You should be saying that to him.” Mitsuki quipped with a small smile.
Mitsuki didn’t wait for Konohamaru or anyone else to speak to him before he crawled into the ring. Mitsuki resisted the urge to grimace when he saw Tadashi nearly salivating at the sight of him removing his back pouch and kimono, revealing his tight black pants and long sleeve.
Tadashi made a show of warming up, punching the air a few times to try to intimidate Mitsuki with his fast movements. Mitsuki didn’t appear to be fazed in the slightest as he cracked his neck and his knuckles before getting into a boxing ready stance.
“You sure you wanna do this, little angel?” Tadashi taunted. “I’d hate to mess up that pretty face of yours.”
“And I’d hate to mess up your perfect boxing record.” Mitsuki countered with an emotionless smile.
Angered that Mitsuki would even dare to touch his perfect record, Tadashi threw a punch at his face. Mitsuki easily evaded the attack and responded with a swift punch to Tadashi’s face, sending him staggering back a few steps.
Tadashi raised a glove covered hand to his face, as if he was in disbelief that Mitsuki had hit him and packed that much power behind a gloveless punch. Enraged, Tadashi removed his boxing gloves and snarled at Mitsuki.
“You’re gonna regret that!” Tadashi got back into his boxing stance. “You’re gonna wish I kept my gloves on!”
“Oh? Are you finally getting serious?” Mitsuki asked, although Team Seven knew he wasn’t even trying to taunt the other man at this point.
Tadashi lunged forward and attempted to land another blow on Mitsuki, only to feel a whiff of air followed by pain in his face again. Tadashi refused to stumble back again. He remained grounded and went back to strike again, receiving the same results once more.
There was something different about Mitsuki when he was compared to all the other opponents he would face in the ring. Mitsuki wasn’t focusing on being on the offensive. He was lying in wait, hoping that his opponent would make the first move so that he could avoid it and then counter it while they were off guard.
Tadashi was persistent, Mitsuki would give him that, considering that he continued with an onslaught of attacks that failed and only were successful in causing him to get the shit beat out of him. Mitsuki didn’t know if Tadashi was persistent or if he was just plain stupid for thinking he was going to win this battle.
It wasn’t until Mitsuki became distracted for a split second when he heard Boruto asking if he should start singing Eye of the Tiger that Tadashi finally got a hit in.
“Mitsuki!” Team Seven gasped at the sight of Mitsuki receiving a punch to the face.
Mitsuki had taken a strong hit to his face but all he did was take a step back as recoil. Mitsuki moved his tongue around in his mouth before he spit blood out onto the ring.
“My parent hits harder than you.” Mitsuki spat, blood smeared on his teeth as he grinned.
Team Seven nearly gawked at Mitsuki’s response. As much as Mitsuki sounded badass saying that, it also sent red flags waving around that Orochimaru was hurting him whenever he would visit the Sound.
“You… you’ve got to be kidding me…” Tadashi was trembling as Mitsuki closed in on him. “You should be knocked out from a hit like that!”
It was while Tadashi was stuttering with his words that Mitsuki landed a combination of punches before delivering the finishing blow, knocking the boxer onto the ground. Mitsuki looked down at the man like he wasn’t even worthy of being stepped on by him.
When Tadashi failed to get up in time it was declared that Mitsuki was the winner. The referee grabbed Mitsuki’s wrist and raised his arm above his head, although the ninja didn’t seem to understand what was going on but went with it anyways.
Konohamaru walked over to the side of the ring where it was closest to Tadashi’s head. Konohamaru smirked when he saw that the boxer was finally coming to.
“So, you want to tell me everything you know about the gang you were in now?” Konohamaru snickered as his eyes flashed quickly to Mitsuki. “Or you think you want to go another couple rounds with that little angel?”
This time, Konohamaru found that Tadashi was much more willing to talk to him, and he owed it all to Mitsuki. Leave it to a genin from the Hidden Sound to strike fear into the hearts of professional boxers.
It was while Konohamaru was busy gathering intel from Tadashi that Boruto and Sarada hopped into the ring to see Mitsuki. Mitsuki glided over to the chair in the corner of the ring and sat down, his right hand enveloped in green chakra as he healed his face.
“Are you okay, Mitsuki?” Boruto asked, looking his lover over for any other injuries that he might have missed during the scuffle. “You took a pretty good hit back there.”
“Don’t worry.” Mitsuki smiled as if it was nothing, because to him it was. “I’ve taken harder hits than that.”
“Like from your parent?” Sarada questioned, wishing it didn’t sound like she was taking a jab at him or his parent.
“That’s correct.” Mitsuki agreed.
“Mitsuki… why didn’t you tell us that Orochimaru was hitting you?” Sarada dropped to her knees so she could look Mitsuki in the eyes. “We would’ve done something to help you.”
“Yeah! We’d never let anyone hurt you, you know!” Boruto quickly chimed in.
Mitsuki tilted his head in confusion, “Hurt me? What gave you the impression my parent is hurting me?”
“You-“ Boruto cut himself off so he could groan. “You literally said that your parent hits harder than that guy!”
“He does.” Mitsuki confirmed but didn’t elaborate further, causing his teammates to grow increasingly more frustrated with him.
“Then why-“
“Don’t your parents hit you when you train with them?” Mitsuki inquired, and suddenly everything made sense for his teammates. “If they don’t go all out when you spar then how can you be sure that you’re getting stronger?”
Boruto and Sarada looked at each other, sighing in relief when they realized that Mitsuki wasn’t being abused. He was just shit at clarifying that he and his parent spar together.
Anyone else would’ve been irritated with Mitsuki for nearly giving them a heart attack with his poor word choice, but Boruto and Sarada weren’t just anyone.
Boruto and Sarada had been with Mitsuki since their days in the academy. They knew that he was quite literal with the way he spoke, although these days he was beginning to understand dual meaning to his words and play around with it.
Sarada sighed, smiling, “Well, we’re glad that your parent is treating you the way you should be.”
“Of course. My parent loves me very much.” Mitsuki was beaming, always loving any opportunity he got to talk about Orochimaru.
“And he’s not the only one who loves you, you know?” Boruto grinned, pulling his teammates to their feet so that they could embrace.
It was while they were wrapped in each other’s arms that they felt another person join them. Mitsuki’s smile grew wider when he realized that it was Konohamaru who had joined them, making their group hug feel more like a family reuniting after a long day.
Mitsuki couldn’t help but feel like there was nowhere else he would rather be than here with his team, his family, tangled in a mess of limbs and love. A stray tear made its journey down Mitsuki’s face, his heart soaring in his chest.
“Yes… I know.”