SANS AUS VS ANIME
CHAPTER 2 — FIRST DRAW
The screen stayed black.
Nobody had forgotten the last word.
DEATH.
Naruto stared at it.
Then Sasuke.
Sakura.
Kakashi.
"No."
"Naruto—"
"No!"
Chakra flickered around him.
"We're not accepting that!"
Sakura grabbed his sleeve.
"You think I am?!"
Naruto stopped.
Her hand trembled around the fabric.
Across the theater, voices rose.
"Who decides?"
"Why thirty?"
"Send us back!"
Bakugo fired at the screen.
BOOM!
The explosion vanished.
Again.
"DAMMIT!"
Aizawa dragged him backward.
"Stop wasting energy."
"I'M NOT SITTING HERE!"
"Neither am I."
Bakugo went quiet.
Luffy stood.
Zoro remained beside him.
Ichigo paced once before Rukia caught his arm.
Beerus stared at Whis.
"You're certain?"
"Yes."
"You cannot leave?"
"No."
Vegeta's jaw tightened.
Then—
CLICK.
Tiny.
Sharp.
The screen returned.
No rainbow.
No warning colors.
Gray letters.
BATTLE: 01
Naruto's stomach dropped.
Yuji leaned forward.
Nami gripped Luffy's sleeve.
Midoriya stood.
Gojo's eyes remained uncovered.
The screen changed.
SELECTION METHOD:
RANDOM
NO WEIGHTING
NO EXEMPTIONS
NO REDRAW
"Random?!"
Nobara stared.
"So anybody can get picked?"
Nanami's expression hardened.
"Yes."
Zenitsu made a strangled sound.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes.
"It could choose the weakest person here."
"Or the strongest," Piccolo said.
"Or someone completely wrong for their opponent," Gohan added.
Frieza crossed one leg over the other.
"How wonderfully inefficient."
Goku didn't answer.
He was looking at Gohan.
Gohan noticed.
"Dad."
Goku looked away.
A thin white ring appeared.
It rotated.
No names.
No faces.
No indication of who was being considered.
Once.
Twice.
Faster.
Naruto stood.
Sakura stood with him.
Kakashi didn't tell either of them to sit.
The ring stopped.
ANIME COMBATANT 01
Half a second.
SASUKE UCHIHA
Naruto's mind refused it.
Then—
"NO!"
He lunged.
Sasuke vanished.
Naruto's hand closed on empty air.
He stumbled through the place Sasuke had occupied.
"SASUKE!"
"Sasuke!"
Sakura struck the empty seat.
Nothing.
No smoke.
No substitution.
No trace.
Naruto spun toward the screen.
"BRING HIM BACK!"
Chakra burst around him.
Kakashi caught him from behind.
"Naruto!"
"LET GO!"
"Stop!"
"IT TOOK HIM!"
"I KNOW!"
Naruto dragged Kakashi forward.
Then—
"Sakura."
Naruto froze.
She hadn't moved.
One hand covered her mouth.
Her breathing came too quickly.
The other remained pressed against Sasuke's empty seat.
"No…"
Naruto stopped fighting.
Not calm.
Nowhere close.
But his chakra shrank back toward his body.
Across the theater, people who didn't know Sasuke watched the three who did.
Yuji swallowed.
"They're close."
Megumi nodded once.
Luffy looked toward them.
"He's their crew."
Nami didn't correct him.
The screen brightened.
A city appeared.
Dusk.
Orange light stretched between dark buildings.
Empty windows.
Broken streetlamps.
Abandoned cars.
A four-way intersection.
No civilians.
No movement.
Sasuke stood alone in the center.
Naruto moved straight to the screen.
"Sasuke…"
No shouting this time.
Sasuke looked upward.
For one second Naruto's eyes widened.
Then Sasuke's gaze passed through the viewpoint.
He couldn't see them.
Couldn't hear them.
Naruto understood.
His hand remained against the screen.
But he stopped calling.
Sakura stepped beside him.
Kakashi joined them.
Sasuke's Sharingan was active.
Three tomoe rotated.
Rooftops.
Windows.
Alleys.
Road.
Sky.
His hand hovered near his sword.
"Where did you take me?"
Nothing answered.
The screen widened.
ARENA: ABANDONED URBAN ZONE
STARTING DISTANCE: 30 METERS
"Thirty meters," Midoriya whispered.
Bakugo glanced at him.
"Close."
"Depending on their abilities."
"You don't know their abilities."
Midoriya stopped.
"…Exactly."
The viewpoint shifted.
Thirty meters down the street—
something sat on the hood of an abandoned car.
Small.
Still.
Usopp leaned forward.
"…What?"
Luffy blinked.
"A skeleton."
Blue hoodie.
Dark shorts.
Slippers.
Hands in its pockets.
No armor.
No visible weapon.
No obvious aura.
Nothing around it moved.
Luffy pointed.
"He's like Brook!"
Robin answered immediately.
"Looking similar doesn't make them the same."
"Oh."
Nami stared.
"That is Sasuke's opponent?"
Usopp swallowed.
"Maybe he's secretly terrifying?"
Zoro's eye narrowed.
"Maybe."
Yuji stared.
"Curse?"
Megumi studied the figure.
"I don't know."
Nobara looked at Gojo.
Gojo remained silent.
"Seriously?"
"I don't know."
Yuji grimaced.
"That answer keeps getting worse."
Nanami adjusted his glasses.
"No visible weapon."
Nobara glanced at him.
"So he's unarmed?"
"No."
She frowned.
"I said no visible weapon."
Midoriya leaned forward.
"Skeletal mutation? Possibly some kind of heteromorphic—"
"Unknown," Aizawa said.
Midoriya stopped.
"Right."
"Don't turn a guess into evidence."
Shigaraki leaned back.
"So small."
Bakugo scoffed.
"Red-eyes finishes this fast."
All Might looked toward him.
"You don't know that."
"I've got eyes."
Aizawa answered.
"You know what it looks like."
Bakugo frowned.
Tanjiro inhaled.
Once.
Again.
Zenitsu grabbed him.
"Well?!"
"I don't know."
Zenitsu paled.
"You too?!"
"I can't tell what he is!"
Inosuke leaned toward the screen.
"Tiny bone man."
Tanjiro didn't laugh.
Ichigo stared.
Renji folded his arms.
"Some kind of spirit?"
Rukia looked at him.
"Based on?"
Renji paused.
"…The skeleton."
"That proves nothing."
Urahara's fan covered his mouth.
Ichigo looked toward him.
"You recognize him?"
"No."
Urahara's eyes sharpened.
"And I dislike that considerably more."
Goku leaned forward.
Vegeta remained seated.
"Well?"
Goku scratched his cheek.
"I don't feel normal ki."
Vegeta scoffed.
"Then he's weak."
Goku looked at him.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't need to."
Frieza smiled faintly.
"Still making that mistake, Vegeta?"
Vegeta glared.
"Be quiet."
Beerus said nothing.
Whis watched.
On the battlefield, Sasuke finally faced the creature.
Skeleton.
Clothing.
No weapon.
No stance.
No visible preparation.
Sasuke's Sharingan tracked its shoulders.
Hands.
Feet.
Head.
His fingers settled against his sword.
"Are you my opponent?"
The skeleton looked around.
Buildings.
Sky.
Street.
Then Sasuke.
"looks that way."
Naruto's fingers curled against the screen.
He listened.
Sasuke continued.
"Do you know who brought us here?"
"nope."
"Do you know me?"
"no."
The skeleton tilted its head.
"you?"
"No."
A newspaper scraped across the pavement.
Neither moved.
Yuji whispered,
"They don't even know each other."
Sakura's hands tightened.
Maybe that mattered.
Maybe neither wanted—
The screen produced one final line.
BATTLE 01 BEGIN
Nothing happened.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Sasuke didn't draw.
The skeleton didn't stand.
Naruto stared.
He knew that look on Sasuke's face.
Watching.
Measuring.
Thinking.
So Naruto did the same.
Sasuke's wrist flicked.
Three shuriken flew.
The first cut toward the skeleton's forehead.
Its head shifted.
Whoosh.
The second crossed lower.
One shoulder moved.
Miss.
The third passed beside its ribs and struck the car.
TING.
The skeleton hadn't left the hood.
Zoro's eye narrowed.
Bakugo stopped smirking.
Midoriya leaned forward.
Sasuke's Sharingan rotated.
The skeleton looked at the shuriken embedded behind it.
Then back at Sasuke.
"huh."
Sasuke disappeared.
Asphalt cracked.
Thirty meters collapsed.
His sword came free.
Horizontal slash—
Nothing.
The skeleton vanished.
Sasuke's blade cut empty air.
He landed beside the car.
Turned.
Thirty meters away—
the skeleton stood in the middle of the intersection.
Hands still inside its pockets.
"pretty fast."
The theater erupted.
"He teleported!"
"No, that was speed!"
"What happened?!"
"Space-time?"
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed.
Sakura looked at him.
"You think?"
"Possibly."
Vegeta scoffed.
"No."
Goku glanced toward him.
Vegeta folded his arms.
"Speed."
Kakashi looked across the room.
Vegeta continued.
"He moved before the swordsman registered it."
Goku frowned.
"I was watching."
"And?"
"I didn't see him cross the street."
"You missed it."
"I don't think I did."
Vegeta's jaw tightened.
"It's speed."
Piccolo said nothing.
Whis said nothing.
The theory remained hanging there.
Confident.
Unproven.
Naruto didn't join the argument.
His eyes were locked on Sasuke.
"He saw something."
Sakura looked at him.
"What?"
"Sasuke."
Naruto pointed.
"He's not attacking."
Kakashi's attention sharpened.
Sasuke remained beside the abandoned car.
His sword stayed ready.
But he didn't charge again.
His Sharingan stared at the skeleton.
Replay.
He had closed the distance.
His blade had approached.
The target disappeared.
No visible acceleration.
No foot placement.
No trail.
No path from one location to the other.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
The skeleton had moved.
That much was obvious.
How?
Not obvious.
Speed?
Possible.
Some kind of transportation technique?
Possible.
Illusion?
Less likely.
Something else?
Possible.
One event.
Too many explanations.
Sasuke lowered the point of his sword several centimeters.
Not surrender.
Recalculation.
Bakugo frowned.
"Why'd he stop?"
Midoriya answered before thinking.
"He doesn't know what happened."
Bakugo looked at him.
Midoriya continued.
"If he attacks the same way again without understanding why it failed, he's just giving the opponent another chance to use whatever that was."
Aizawa glanced at him.
Midoriya immediately stopped.
Aizawa returned his attention to the screen.
"Keep going."
Midoriya blinked.
Then looked back.
Sasuke shifted sideways.
Slowly.
The skeleton's skull followed him.
Sasuke stopped.
Changed direction.
The skull followed again.
No movement beyond that.
He stepped closer.
Twenty-nine meters.
Nothing.
Twenty-eight.
Nothing.
Twenty-seven.
The skeleton remained still.
Sasuke stopped.
Naruto stared.
"He's testing distance."
Kakashi nodded.
Sakura's breathing had steadied enough to speak.
"And watching when it reacts."
Sasuke took another step.
Twenty-six.
The skeleton finally moved.
Not an attack.
One foot came off the pavement.
A lazy step backward.
Twenty-seven meters again.
Sasuke stopped.
The theater quieted.
Zoro leaned forward.
Goku narrowed his eyes.
Megumi watched the distance.
Sasuke stepped forward.
The skeleton stepped backward.
The same amount.
Again.
Forward.
Backward.
Maintaining the space.
Sasuke's expression didn't change.
But he had learned something.
The creature cared about distance.
Or wanted him to think it did.
Both mattered.
Naruto's hand slowly dropped from the screen.
He couldn't warn Sasuke.
Couldn't help him.
Couldn't reach him.
So he watched.
Every movement.
Every twitch.
Every mistake.
If Sasuke looked afraid, Naruto would know.
If Sasuke found something, Naruto would know.
If something went wrong—
His fingers curled into a fist.
He refused to finish the thought.
On the battlefield, Sasuke sheathed his sword.
Several people reacted.
"What?"
"He's giving up?!"
"No," Kakashi said.
Sakura immediately understood.
"He wants both hands."
Sasuke reached into his weapon pouch.
The skeleton tilted its head.
"changing plans?"
Sasuke didn't answer.
His fingers closed around something inside the pouch.
He had one confirmed fact:
Charging blindly had failed.
One probable fact:
The opponent preferred maintaining distance.
And one unanswered question:
How had it moved?
That was enough.
Not enough to win.
Enough for another test.
The skeleton still hadn't shown a weapon.
Still hadn't attacked.
Still hadn't revealed what else it could do.
And Sasuke had stopped trying to force an answer with speed alone.
He was going to make the skeleton show him.
END OF CHAPTER 2