"...Hyuga nidoro and uchiha mutoyuki please step up!" dogen sensei shouts.
'.....What the hell? I'm the first one up?? against a hyuga no less. On top of that its a taijutsu only spar which means I cant use the clans famed great fireball jutsu here.....THIS IS CLEARLY A SETUP! Don't think I can't tell that behind your straight face your laughing it up dogen-sensei, I'm on to you!' I had an incredulous expression on my face as I walk forward.
Stepping into the ring, hyuga nidoro facing me with cold calmness and a touch of intrigue. 'This isn't the first time I've sparred with nidoro in general, but this is the first taijutsu only spar I've had with him. My brother in sage's children, please go easy on me damnit, I've only just assimilated mutoyuki's memories and instincts. I know you see I've been setup here...' I can only plead in my mind as i calm myself and prepare for my "first" fight.
'From what I have seen before, they are both highly skilled in taijutsu. The fight could go either way.' dogen-sensei assesses.
"the seal of confrontation, now!" dogen-sensei declares.
We both fling up the same seal at once, the seal that signifies that a duel between shinobi is about to commence.
"begin!" dogen sensei declares.
And it is with that declaration the fight kicks off. And what better way for a fight to be kicked off, than the habitual charge and immediate palm strike to the chest that nidoro likes to lead off with. 'fast! but not overwhelming fast...' I deliberate.
I instinctively dodge to the left as the strike came, the strike whooshes by me narrowly. Regaining my bearings I counter with a spin kick to the side of nidoro's torso which he dodges backwards from. 'Now because I don't have access to jutsu, nidoro can relax a bit as he doesn't need to rush me down to prevent me from finishing handsigns, taijutsu is the homefield advantage of a hyuga, but my predecessor was no slouch when it comes to this area. To get used to uchiha mutoyuki's body I'm going to have to play the long game here...nidoro I'll be using you as my whetstone, i hope you don't mind.' I strategize as the fight continues.
That momentary dodge made by nidoro was immediately followed up by another rush in, which startled me a bit but i quickly regain my composure.
Nidoro leads in with a right palm trike to my face which i deflect, my hand pushing away his palm by his wrist, he follows up with an attempted left knee to my stomach which I slap my hand down on to halt it in its place, quickly retracting his leg, nidoro immediately goes for a left palm strike to my chest which I twist out of the way of in order to counter with with a right hook to his chin that he ends up grabbing. I retract my fist instantly and backed up to avoid his counter palm thrust to my chest.
It may seem like nidoro is the one with the biggest edge in this fight but don't let that fool you. What was seen there was only the difference in fighting styles and fighting philosophy. The uchiha taijutsu style, the interceptor fist, is a style that revolves around reading and predicting your opponents next moves and either deflecting, countering or outright dodging their attacks. Its a defensive style that gets a massive upgrade when its paired with the sharingan of the practitioner. Even though mutoyuki currently has no sharingan, the key elements of the interceptor fist are always at the forefront as the style requires good base eyesight and good reaction times and reflexes to pull off.
Hyuga nidoro's style on the other hand is more straight forward. The gentle fist, a style that's made specifically to pair with the byakugan of the practitioners. The styles biggest niche is to shut down the chakra points within the body of the opponent, which is made easy to locate due to their dojutsu, with "gentle" poking and palm strikes rendering the opponents bodily functions useless. The style also does alot of internal damage to the opponent due to its nature, the hyuga can be scary in that their simple palm strikes can severely damage an organ due to the chakra fed into them through their palms.....Despite its name, the gentle fist can be a very offensive style.
The fight continues but on the sidelines...'Yuki seems slightly off today...maybe I'm imagining it' kanebiri seemed to have picked up on something but is half way through discarding it.
"They seem neck and neck heh but i believe in my good subordinate to carry through!" yojin declares with absolute pride.
"the only subordinate you have is your lack of self-awareness jin! Hahaha-" yamanaka inoue mocks and laughs at yojin as if its a common place event.
"OI WHATS WITH YOU!!....i swear...." yojin about to defend himself, stops midway and refocuses on the fight.
In the ring the two fighters continue to duke it out.
mutoyuki using delaying tactics, as if waiting for something while nidoro seems to want to end the fight.
'we haven't really hit each other once.....but its okay, I'm starting to get the hang of it-i believe i understand it now.' I deliberate as for the first time in the fight I go in with a strike meant for the gut of nidoro with my left arm which catches him a bit off guard as Yuki has only been on defense and delaying measures this entire time but nonetheless nidoro goes for a block and attempt to grab his hand for a follow up palm strike only for the offending strike to stop on a dime, retract and instantly switch to a right hook to nidoro's face which actually connects sending his head sideways disorienting him, leaving him open to a left straight kick to the gut which doubles him over allowing mutoyuki to finish off the combo with a wound up punch to the face which uplifts nidoro, sending him tumbling far away. That's right, a feint leading into a 3 piece combo from yours truly, drawing first hit for the fight.
Nidoro immediately gets up, a bit stunned that he let himself fall for that 'I'm redoubling my training after this' nidoro clenches his teeth picking himself up, ready to continue. Nidoro more cautious steps in to continue the fight. He leads in with a palm strike to Yuki's right arm which was deflected, then continues with another palm strike to the face-dodged-yuki returns a strike to nidoro's chest which was also dodged, this back and forth pattern continues until nidoro manages to lead yuki to the edge of the ring.
'.....you think I don't pick up what your trying to do nidoro.....fine lets end it!' I declare to myself.
Nidoro goes in for a left sweeping kick meant to take yuki off his feet-only for it to stop and immediately switch to a right straight kick to the upper stomach meant to send one flying. That's right a feint, with intentions clear to the spectators, not only a form of taunt but a possible fight ender by ring out. The kick connects.....
"*Gasp*" the audience at the edge of their seats.
....While the kick connects.....it only slightly pushes yuki back closer to the ring circle. That's right the kick was absorbed, the full force dissipated due to mutoyuki's turtling technique...
Before nidoro could snap out of his bewilderment his leg was grabbed before he could pull away and with a surprising twist-a literal twist-yuki pivots carrying his opponent with him, using the centrifugal force to toss nidoro outside the ring instead.
Nidoro landing on his ass outside the ring was flabbergasted.
"Hyuga nidoro is unable to continue due to ring out, the victor is uchiha mutoyuki!" dogen-sensei declares.
"Hah...." I started panting 'that was an exertion and a half. It really got my blood pumping...Overall i feel better in a fight now even though I still won, I've learned alot, if nidoro was a bit less inexperienced and a bit smarter I would of been in for a world of trouble, he could of taken advantage of my passiveness and delaying tactics in many ways and could of punished me for trying to absorb his final kick if he was quicker on the uptake, but i digress-'
"THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT YUKI-CHWAN!!" Yojin mimes.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT, IDIOT" On instinct I reply to the disrespectful honorific I was given.
"HAHAHA MAKE ME!!!" Yojin not one to back down, taunts.
"That...was a spectacle heh." Nara shikasen, ever the critical analyzer, breaks down the fight in his head to figure out the best countermeasures to both fighters tactics, skills and fighting styles but-"yawn~" he is a nara after all...
As yuki and yojin bicker inoue tagging in to double team on yojin, kanebiri quietly observes 'the strange feeling I got from yuki during the fight almost completely disappears after he lands his 3 piece combo, maybe....whatever its gone now anyway.' "yawn~." Kanebiri also seemed to be infected with nara disease.
Akimichi choge was in the middle of eating so he wasn't able to comment-more like he chose not to really, he didn't want to stop eating.....
Aburame shinjiro....remained silent, also analyzing the fight from different angles, seeing what could be improved and what could be adopted into his own fighting style.
The other no name civilian members of the class, which were not much by this point many have dropped out, were enjoying the spectacle of the fight. As simple as that.....
Dogen-sensei, an experienced chunin, thought about the fight on a deeper level. 'I have never seen mutoyuki fight like this in the beginning.....Usually he'd be quicker to go on the offensive, what was he waiting for?.....He went for a ring out too which is not something he usually does he is too confident in himself to do that. I limited his ninjutsu ability just to see what he will do. The distinct lack of aggression doesn't seem like him among other things, infact he seems more methodical than usual, it seems something has shifted. we'll see if its a one time thing or not.
"Enough!" Dogen-sensei shouts to quiet the class. "seal of reconciliation, both of you." Turning to the once bickering yuki and the recovering nidoro, he commands.
Yuki and nidoro walk up to and face each other, crossing middle and index fingers over the other's which represents the end of the duel and a promise of comradery still intact after said duel.
.....though nidoro had a definite sour expression on while doing it "hmph" That's the only thing that was heard from nidoro when they separated 'sheesh did i kick your dog or something?' I contemplate as I walk back to the spectating part of the grounds.
"I've taught you well, good job out there" yojin clasps my shoulder and states.
"The only thing you can ever teach is how to miss targets less than two meters away with kunai" I replied smugly, channeling my inner mutoyuki to avoid suspicion.
"Hey! that was only 5 times!" he complains.
"That's 5 times too much, your embarrassing yourself...." We continue to bicker.
"Kurama kanebiri and yamanaka inoue! come up now!" dogen-sensei shouts.
"ill go easy on you, I promise." inoue promises with a smirk.
"sigh~" Kanebiri acting as if she wasn't paid enough to be here, walks up to the ring.
Facing inoue, the hands of both fellow student rising for the seal of confrontation, not needing to be told what to do.
"...begin!" Dogen sensei's crisp voice rang out detailing the start of a fight...
'According to my predecessors memories, yamanaka inoue is not just your average social butterfly. She is a very talented yamanaka clan trainee, at this point she already has adequate expertise in the mind-body switch jutsu and is already making major headway in the Yamanaka's sensing abilities. Her information gathering skills are nothing to scoff at either, you need not more than a conversation with her and she would somehow manage to draw out your guarded secrets without you even realizing. As we all know, in a fight between shinobi, information is half the battle. Don't let that "popular school girl" personality fool you, that is nothing more than a mask she uses to get under your guard, inoue is nothing like ino in canon....ofcourse we are in a time of war, the time where a village needs able bodied shinobi the most, dieting and being a love-sick fangirl would be counter-productive at best.' I thought as I watch the upcoming "cat-fight".'
This time the fight kicks off with....nothing....they're just staring at each other with the most casual look imaginable.
"Damnit these two...." Dogen-sensei mutters under his breath.
"Whoever wins this fight gets a weeks supply of dango from the most popular dango shop in the village for free!" Dogen-sensei declares-
"MINE!" Barely a moment after dogen-sensei finished speaking, inoue moves in a frenzy. "NO HARD FEELINGS!" Inoue mimes.
"No you don't inoue" Barely a moment after inoue moves kanebiri moves too.
....The whole class had a collective sweat drop after that one...
Ofcourse...these 2 are basically one side of the same coin, they're both acting on the same motivation of filling their stomachs with endless treats...
'my predecessor once saw inoue put on a cheap panda costume and dance on stage for a orphanage faire all for a few sticks of dango....IS SHE A PROTOTYPE ANKO!?!?' The image stuck in my mind runs rent free.
On one side you got a lazy girl who NEEDS to be motivated to do things while on the other you got this girl who made a CALCULATED decision not to move because she knew an offer like this would eventually present itself. 'these two are insane' I cant help but think.
None the less a fight starts. Inoue goes for the first strike, a straight left jab to kanebiri's face which she barely leans out of the way from then a follow up dashing kick from inoue which kanebiri lets cruise by her by a hair and turns to intercept a right jab from inoue with her left hand, inoue continues off by going for a sharp left elbow strike to kanebiri's face which said girl blocks with a large bit of difficulty '.....how annoying....' kanebiri's thoughts projected on her face were painfully obvious to inoue who just chuckles.
They separate to catch their breaths a bit and this time kanebiri decides to go for an offensive...which she never does...
'Kanebiri's taijutsu isn't outstanding in the least, not bad by any means...just on the ends of very average. You can tell that taijutsu wouldn't be among her main trades in her ninja career, no, that goes to her talents in genjutsu and strategy. I'm sure she already knows that inoue is stronger than her in this bout. I'm sure if she could use genjutsu and the fight wasn't limited to this circular empty ring she would have already come up with a way to win the fight while expending as little effort as possible...the innovation of mankind has its roots in laziness afterall....' I deliberate...'but the determination on her face....ALL FOR SOME BOXES OF FUCKING DANGO FOR SAGE'S SAKE!!' my incredulous expression is clear for all to see.....
"I can understand them on such a great level, they're just like me...." for the first time akimichi choge pauses his eating to say something
"ah...shut it..." I respond automatically.
"hahaha-" choge laughs and immediately goes back to eating
"Jeez. If it was money I'd understand, but dango...." yojin had to comment.....
"ofcourse its money for you, peasant~" I jab humorously.
"YOU LITTLE, FRIENDS DON'T MAKE FUN OF EACH OTHERS WEAKNESSES, YOU-" yojin as always goes on a speech about friendship and what not but my focus is still on the fight.
.....Where kanebiri goes in for a overhead high kick that inoue blocks with her arms crossed above her face, inoue pushes out with her crossed arms that forces kanebiri off balance and goes for a sweep kick that puts kanebiri in the ground. Inoue proceeds to attempt a low kick to kanebiri's face for a fight ender but kanebiri rolls out of the way of, gets up and charges back in. Inoue laughs and meets the charge head on kanebiri goes in for a left low kick to Inoue's thigh which said girl deftly moves her leg away from, kanebiri shoots off a left jab to Inoue's face which was blocked by her.....but kanebiri was not finished, she then tries again......with her right fist firmly ready to deliver a strike.... inoue was slightly amused and was ready to dodge only for that fist to shift and open up punting dirt and grass into Inoue's eyes, which she wasn't expecting one bit.....
"urgh-" Inoue was about to complain but was cut off by kanebiri grappling her and forcing her onto the ground in a choke hold....
"rest now inoue...." kanebiri comments with a prideful look on her face.
"woah~ that's cut throat work....." Yojin comments.
"I'm sure they'll still be friends after this..." Nara shikasen states. ".....troublesome women" he mumbles.
"A spar is a spar, nothing more nothing less...." Nidoro comments.
I just shake my head. 'This cat-fight seems to be on its last legs and the great prize seems to be in reach....' I thought.
while kanebiri was still choking Inoue out and dogen-sensei ready to deliver the verdict of the fight, out of nowhere-
"OW-OOWW!" A scream of pain sounded out from none other than kanebiri?.....
kanebiri instinctively loosens the hold on Inoue's neck and was pushed off, there we see....massive bite marks on both arms of kanebiri!? they look like they hurt like a bitch-
"WHAT THE HELL INOUE, YOU RABID DOG!!" Kanebiri known for being quiet exclaims in shock and pain as she flashes her arms.
"NO HARD FEELINGS, BIRI-CHAN!!!" Inoue shouts, recovering from the chokehold and with tears in her eyes, dashed in instantly to deliver a haymaker punch to kanebiri's gut which causes her eyes to swim and her breathe to be taken away....If the punch was a bit more powerful kanebiri would of probably lost her breakfast too.....
With that kanebiri collapses to the ground struggling with pain and coughing up a storm while inoue posted up above her with fist cocked ready to deliver another blow.
"that's enough!" Dogen-sensei on the metaphorical bell declares "this spar goes to inoue!" Dogen-sensei clarifies.
.......Silence........
We all had a weird look on our faces-yes, even dogen-sensei-due to how this spar ended, hell most of us were kinda flabbergasted
kanebiri was beginning to recover from her coughing fit
the first one to fully recover from the shock made an un-intelligent comment.....
"Uhh.....they'll still be friends after this....I'm sure....." shikasen struggles to get out.
One of my eyes twitched and before I could say anything dogen-sensei starts talking again...
".....If possible I'd want you to to make the seal of reconciliation..." dogen sensei basically asks.
kanebiri struggling to get up holds out her trembling arm toward inoue and inoue clasps it in the seal of reconciliation ".....sorry" we heard inoue mutter they separate and both walk off one rubbing their eyes clean and the other clutching they're stomach in pain although kanebiri is not known for impressive durability or endurance of any kind she'll recover quickly enough...we're shinobi after all.
Yojin snapping himself out of his....well ya know.....walks over
"k-kanebiri....are you good" He had to ask...
"...No I'm not..." kanebiri struggles out.
"Ofcourse she isn't, you idiot-" Before I could finish, kanebiri continues....
"I just lost a whole weeks worth of dango from the best dango shop in the village...it hurts my soul" The whole class stops on a dime just to look at her...you could hear the pin drop in the drawn silence and ofcourse another sweat drop.
".....I swear to the sage-" I try to comment while still trying to recover from this revelation but was cut off by dogen-sensei.....again.
"Aburame shinjiro and hitsugami yojin, step up now!" Dogen sensei declares.
"AH! finally! my chance to shine. Time to show my improvements!" yojin mimes.
I grab his shoulder "Goodluck." was what was heard from my mouth.
"GASP. You've finally decided to become a good friend and encourage me for once" yojin says with a fake tear in his eye
".....yeah..." I say.....'what I said wasn't necessarily for the means of encouragement perse because I know for a fact that this spar will be a one-sided beat down but I'll just roll with what I was given.' I deliberate.
"Your really giving him false hope like this..." I hear kanebiri whisper. I can only make a face and say nothing.
The two challengers make it to the ring and threw up their seals of confrontation.
"....begin!" Dogen sensei looked at the two for a bit before finally declaring the start of the spar.
yojin charges in with a right hook towards shinjiro's face which was caught by him...yojin follows up with a knee to the gut, which was dodged with ease.
While yojin can be considered alot better than the average civilian when it comes to taijutsu when compared to clan trainees...he is still not there yet....
Aburame shinjiro who's clan deals in insect related jutsu is also a very good practitioner of taijutsu. with his calm and calculating mind similar to a nara's those weaker than him would be in for a nightmare.
shinjiro making the best possible decisions for the best outcomes.....simply cedes ground. Backing away to the edge of the ring...
Yojin seeing a chance, dashes in with the epitome of confidence "I've got you!"
Yojin planning to deliver a straight kick once he got close was surprised as...shinjiro also charges in towards him...
Before yojin could think, shinjiro stops on a dime with a leg outstretched which catches yojin's leg sending him tumbling forward.....out of the ring!.....
"IDIOT!" I couldn't help the second hand embarrassment of being in the same orbit of this guy.
I swear i could see dogen-sensei chuckling just now.
Yojin...couldn't bear to even talk, he was completely silent....he just got up made the seal of reconciliation with shinjiro and left. his face full of unwilling embarrassment.
"....Atleast he lasted longer than usual this time.....as expected of a civilian." Nidoro's comment drew scoffs from most of the class.
I look over to kanebiri-aaand she's not even looking-no wait she just looked away in embarrassment....
"sigh" I facepalm
"Now with that out of the way, we can move on...Nara shikasen and seiryu asami-" Dogen-sensei tries to pull a fast one and call up shikasen and a civilian girl but....
"I forfeit" shikasen, without missing a beat, states.
Ofcourse dogen-sensei had a tick mark on his forehead, as expected from a nara, but....
"forfeit denied, come up now!" Dogen sensei simple wasn't having it today....
"troublesome....." shikasen grumbled.....
There was barely anything of interest in the fight except the fact that shikasen let the civilian girl win by allowing himself to be forced out of the ring by the civilian girl.
"sigh" I could hear dogen-sensei's pain in that sigh....
Akimichi choge was set to have a spar with another civilian but.....lets be real there was nothing of interesting to see there, barely anyone paid attention to the fight and it was an easy win for choge.
the rest of the civilian fights were...lackluster to say the least there was no standout among them which is tough for them.
'There can't always be a minato. Whether its due to a lack of resources, lack of training direction or general lack of hard work in them, none of them could make a break through and be in the leagues of the clan born, which sucks for them.....glad it ain't me though heh' I can't help but think.
With the taijutsu spars over the rest of classes after lunch were purely theoretical, the boring stuff that you can't help but sleep through. Just to save my reputation and keep up my identity as mutoyuki, I stay awake through them.....kanebiri and yojin have no such issues....they've been out like a light ever since lunch and dogen-sensei didn't seem to care much-lucky them.
With classes over I quickly say my goodbyes and dash out toward the uchiha clan compounds
'I've been wanting to test out other things like my ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu for a while now and I finally get the chance.' Dashing away from the academy with absurd speed yojin and kanebiri could only look on in incredulousness.....
"does the academy look like a prison or something??" yojin commented.
"he sure is busy...." kanebiri could only chalk this up to some clan obligations happening at this moment.
.....................................
Reaching the compounds, I made it to my home and.......
.....yes, how dare I hang you guys on a cliff. I'm despicable aren't i...anyways i hope you enjoyed the fight scenes. this was a long one, I rack my brain for ways to make the fights distinct and interesting, yet unique to the characters themselves. comment your feedback if your have any and ill see you next chapter.