-1Kajukiro and Rai dashed at each other, ready for battle. As Rai swung his kunai at Kajukiro in a slashing motion, Kajukiro pulled out his hidden kunai and blocked Rai's attack with it. However, Rai appeared to have anticipated this move as he pulled out another kunai and swung at Kajukiro with this one instead. Reacting almost instantaneously, Kajukiro jumped over Rai's second kunai, flipped in the air, and kicked his chin, sending him flying.
Once Kajukiro was back on his feet, he dashed after Rai. Kajukiro made his attempt to slash Rai now, but Rai flipped in mid-air to get in the proper posture and blocked Kajukiro's attack. The attack went through Rai's defense but the fact that he blocked it, caused Kajukiro to miss him completely. Kajukiro continued his attack as he swung the opposite way now. Rai blocked this attack as well with his other kunai, also allowing it to break through and forcing Kajukiro to miss.
Rai landed on his feet and threw both of his kunai at Kajukiro the instant he stopped. Kajukiro spun around, pulled out his sword, sliced Rai's kunai in half, and sheathed it before he muttered, "Amateur," and continued dashing toward Rai. Kajukiro jabbed his kunai at Rai; however, Rai jumped to the side and dodged it completely. Kajukiro's kunai kept going forward and impaled the tree that was right behind Rai before his dodge. With Kajukiro distracted for the split second, Rai spotted his opportunity and punched Kajukiro, causing him to stumble away from his kunai, which was now lodged in a tree.
As Kajukiro recovered from Rai's punch, Rai couldn't help but consider that Kajukiro just may have what it takes to defeat him. After all, that kunai did come close. Kajukiro, however, got in his combative stance and noticed a very small wire coming out from under the sleeve of the hand he originally held the kunai in. Kajukiro smirked in confidence as he came up with another idea. Kajukiro got out of his combative stance, dashed around Rai, and pulled hard on the wire when the position was right, causing the wire to shoot up and cut Rai's chin, before removing the kunai from the tree.
As the wire began to zip back into Kajukiro's sleeve, Rai shouted in pain and backed away from the wire just in time, as the kunai flew past him, missing him by centimeters. The Kunai zipped back under Kajukiro's sleeve as Rai held his chin before removing his hand from it. Rai looked at his hand and noticed that it was dripping with blood from his chin. Rai shot a glare at Kajukiro and thought to himself, "This kid's clever. Judging by his expressions, he just came up with that attack in mere seconds. If I didn't back up when I did…well, it is one of the qualifications of this test to attack your sensei with the intent to kill, he's definitely take this test before."
Kajukiro kept his confident grin but decided to toe it down a bit; if he kept this up, his sensei would end up dead, and that didn't fit well with Kajukiro. After all, he wanted to defeat Rai, not kill him. Kajukiro returned to his combative stance; feeling that he should be going a little easier on Rai so as not to kill him accidentally. Rai, however, decided to take it up a notch as he pulled out another kunai and said, "You're a master of speed and intelligence, Kajukiro. However, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve as well. I must admit though, you're the only Gennin that I've ever had trouble beating in a fight."
Kajukiro kept his confident smirk and replied, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Rai-sensei; the battle's not over yet, neither of us know who will be victorious." Rai nodded and replied, "As intelligent as ever. However, I know for a fact that I will win; my kunai-style jutsu has never failed me before, and it's not likely to now." Kajukiro was still confident, he was known as a kunai master back in Hanagakure. Whatever Rai was planning, Kajukiro could handle it.
Rai dashed at Kajukiro and swung his kunai in a slashing motion. Kajukiro simply guided Rai's kunai safely away from him with his expertly performed Hanagakure-style taijutsu. As if continuing into a combo, Kajukiro shifted the hand he used to guide Rai's attack away to an offensive position and thrust it into Rai's face while jamming his other hand into Rai's wrist and controlling his wrist tendons, forcing him to drop his kunai and stumble back. Kajukiro spun around and kicked at Rai. However, Rai appeared to have known that Kajukiro was going to do this, as he grabbed his foot, stopping the attack before it could continue.
Rai threw Kajukiro behind him and begun to spin around rapidly, throwing five kunai at Kajukiro every split second, and named the technique aloud, "Storm of Kunai!" Kajukiro saw hundreds of kunai knives flying at him all at once. Keeping his composure, he managed to perform six hand seals in mid-air while flipping into landing position. Kajukiro performed the sixth seal just before lading on the ground; once he did so, he plated his hand to the ground as he slid back. The kunai were closing in as something shot out of the ground, creating a huge veil of dust that blocked all vision.
When the dust had cleared, Kajukiro was fine, as numerous giant roots covered in thorns and kunai were sticking out of the ground and cramped together in front of him. They had shielded Kajukiro from every single one of Rai's kunai. Kajukiro still had his hand planted on the ground as he gave a confident smirk and announced the name of the jutsu, "Kajukiro specialty invention one-Root Defense Jutsu!" Upon hearing the title, Rai looked rather surprised. He had done research on every single jutsu used by Hanagakure shinobi, and there was no Root Defense Jutsu anywhere on the records. This meant that Kajukiro must've invented this technique himself.
Kajukiro shifted the hand that was still planted o the ground and exclaimed, "Jutsu transition-Root Frenzy Jutsu!" As soon as he said this, the roots that had defended him, suddenly spread apart, forcing most of the kunai to fall off of them. They had the shot toward Rai, who was utterly bewildered as he thought to himself, "A jutsu transition? That's impossible! It makes no sense!" Rai jumped back and landed of the branch of a tree as the roots reached him.
He knew that the root frenzy jutsu was only a threat if he was on the ground. Once he deemed himself safe, he continued his thoughts, "This kid's giving me a run for my money. He might actually beat me. I can see why his name would be put under Jounin consideration; he's kept his composure throughout the entire battle, he's clever and cunning, he is the real deal, he is a true shinobi."
Kajukiro noticed that Rai was in a safe zone from his Root Frenzy jutsu and removed his hand from the ground, canceling out his jutsu and sending the roots back into the ground. Rai, however, stayed in the tree as he asked Kajukiro, "What was that? Root-Defense Jutsu; that jutsu is not in the list of ninjutsu or genjutsu used by Hanagakure shinobi. And another thing, what the hell's a jutsu transition? I've never heard of such a thing in all my years as a Jounin."
Kajukiro grinned and answered, "The root defense jutsu is a modified version of the root frenzy jutsu; I simply changed the properties to be defensive instead of offensive. For some reason, no other Hanagakure shinobi had thought of this, and thus, the jutsu became my own. As for the jutsu transition, well, that's rather simple as well. The root defense jutsu was originally an offensive jutsu. Since I changed its properties to be defensive instead, I can reverse the process while the jutsu itself is still in use. Then it stops protecting me and goes after my opponent, like it was originally intended for. This is what I call a Jutsu Transition."
Rai was amazed at Kajukiro's creativity and chakra control. However, he was still aware that he and Kajukiro were in a battle as he performed three hand seals and said, "Excellent work, Kajukiro-kun, you're the toughest opponent I've ever faced. However, you must remember, the fight isn't over yet and I still have a few tricks as well. Kunai style-Deadly Ground Jutsu!"
Kajukiro felt the ground shake underneath him and jumped onto the branch of the tree behind him in a successful attempt to dodge the hundreds of kunai knives suddenly sticking out of the ground. Kajukiro stared bewildered at the kunai knives for a moment, but quickly figured out how Rai had made this possible. Rai had used Kajukiro's Root Defense jutsu to bring his kunai into the ground. Before this, Rai added a bit of his chakra into each kunai he threw for his Storm of Kunai attack. This way, he was able to control his kunai, even though he's not touching them or the ground.
At the other end of the area, Rai chuckled and thought, "Come on, Kajukiro. If you figure out a way to get out of this one, I might as well recommend you to become a Jounin to Lady Tsunade myself." Rai was confident for a good reason; nobody he had ever faced was able to escape this attack, let alone survive it. Was Rai trying to kill Kajukiro? No, just looking to get back at him for the close call earlier.
Kajukiro pondered his situation for a few moments before giving a sly smirk and jumping toward Rai. Rai chuckled once more and focused even harder on his chakra. As he did this, the kunai shot out of the ground and flew toward Kajukiro. Kajukiro simply flipped up-side down, curled into a ball-like shape, and spun around rapidly. Once the kunai reached him, they simply bounced off of him on contact. Rai was astonished at the sight of this; he had doe extensive research on Hanagakure, and Kajukiro in general, but had never learned of whatever was protecting Kajukiro from his kunai jutsu.
Once the Kunai stopped coming, Kajukiro went back to his original position and landed on the ground in front of the tree Rai was on. Rai didn't say anything; the look on his face was enough to show Kajukiro what he wanted to know. Kajukiro felt obviously obliged to answer as he pulled his cloak back, unzipped the jacket he was wearing underneath, and opened it up to reveal that the entire interior of the torso of the jacket had been lined with kunai knives, giving Kajukiro hidden armor. "My dad's jacket has saved my life on several occasions, and today is no different." Kajukiro informed a stunned and frustrated Rai.
Rai jumped down from his tree, pulled out a single kunai, and dashed at Kajukiro, who quickly zipped up his jacket and pulled out a kunai hidden under his sleeve just in time to defend himself from Rai's attack. Kajukiro broke the weapon-lock and kicked Rai away. Rai stumbled back but charged at Kajukiro again, attacking him once more. Kajukiro deflected the attack with his own kunai, forcing Rai to spin around. Kajukiro spun around as well as Rai continued to attack Kajukiro in a stab-like motion. However, Kajukiro defended himself in the most unusual way as he stopped Rai's kunai with his own, tip-to-tip.
Rai was, once again, amazed at Kajukiro's skills as he thought, "His accuracy…it's incredible, I've never met anyone who was able to defend himself tip-to-tip like this; and on a single attempt too." Rai looked at Kajukiro and noticed something that made this single defense attempt of his even more amazing. He wasn't looking. Eyes closed and all, Kajukiro proved to Rai that his accuracy had gone beyond pin-point. "You may have done your research on me, Rai-sensei, but don't think that knowing what I can do will give you the win over this battle." Kajukiro commented. Rai did not reply.
Kajukiro broke this weapon lock and spun around to face Rai, only to be kicked up into the air. Rai made another attempt to perform his Storm of Kunai again, but Kajukiro wasn't about to allow him to do so, as he pulled out a black and rough-looking kunai from a belt under his cloak. Kajukiro threw the kunai at a rock near Rai. Upon striking the stone, sparks emitted and the kunai actually exploded.
The explosion wasn't deadly, but it was enough to stop Rai's attack and send him flying a couple of feet. Kajukiro landed somewhere in the trees surrounding the arena and hid in the tree line. Rai stood up and looked around, unable to fid Kajukiro anywhere. Then, from behind him, two kunai emerged and flew past him, both of them getting wedged in two separate trees in the distance.
Rai sighed with relief when he realized that the kunai had missed him. He chuckled before turning around and saying, "You--" However, before he could finish, he was stuck with a two-foot kick from Kajukiro, who used the momentum of his wire zip-line devices hidden under his cloak to increase the damage.
The zip lines were still reeling, allowing Kajukiro to push Rai into a tree. Once the attack was finished, Kajukiro yanked the two kunai out from the trees, flipped off of Rai, got in a combative position as the kunai zipped back under his sleeves, and asked, as if he knew what Rai was going to say, "Who said I was aiming for you?"
Rai's response was a weak chuckle before stepping away from the tree. Rai was honored to fight with someone who was this tough and know that he would lead the team he was on. Rai pulled out a kunai and muttered, "You're an incredible opponent, Kajukiro. Your confidence before this fight began is justifiable. However, I still have both bells and I'm still standing. This fight isn't over yet."
Kajukiro nodded and replied, "Maybe my odds would improve if there were more of me." With that, Kajukiro suddenly reached in his cloak and pulled out ten flower petals, and spread them in the air surrounding him. After this, Kajukiro performed one single had sign and exclaimed, "Kajukiro specialty invention two-Petal Clone Jutsu!" In numerous puffs of smoke, all of the flower petals became copies of Kajukiro. This time, Rai wasn't surprised. By now, he knew that Kajukiro always had some sort of trick up his sleeve.
Rai rushed into the army of Kajukiros and slashed at one of them. When the attack hit, the Kajukiro copy suddenly turned into flower petals. As Rai noticed this, he thought to himself, "Interesting, this is a lot like Konoha's Shadow Clone Jutsu; where the clone would vanish in a puff of smoke if attacked or cancelled out. However, this is obviously a flower-style version of it. However, this jutsu of his is also one I've never heard about. This kid could bring a new age of shinobi, with brand-new jutsu and even improved accuracy. He could become a legend one day."
Rai quickly spun around and stabbed the Kajukiro on his left. This one had also burst into flower petals. This was followed by a kick to another fake Kajukiro, and then a slash, followed by another slash, then a punch to the sixth one. The attack continued on in a combo formation, but the Kajukiros appeared to be fighting back.
The five Kajukiro rushed in, in an attempt to ambush Rai. However, Rai countered all of their attacks. Clearly, clones could never be as good as the original. One Kajukiro jabbed a Kunai at Rai, but Rai simply spun around to dodge it and slashed his back. Another Kajukiro tried to kick Rai, but he caught the kick and threw Kajukiro into another one. As the tenth Kajukiro charged at Rai, he simply kneed this Kajukiro in the gut, and the fake Kajukiro turned into flower petals and those petals flew in the wind with all the others.
Rai had managed to hit only the petal clones of Kajukiro as there was only one Kajukiro left. However, because he was in the middle of a combo-like attack, Rai couldn't stop himself from throwing the kunai at the final one. Kajukiro was struck in the back and began to fall when he suddenly turned into flower petals too, which quickly blew away with the wind.
Rai was stunned, but began looking around for Kajukiro when he suddenly received a kick to the head from above. He stumbled back as Kajukiro flipped off Rai's head, landed on his own feet, quickly turned around, and tackled Rai to the ground, keeping both hands pinned with one of his own, a foot to pin his legs down as well, and used his free hand to hold a kunai to Rai's throat as he turned to the bushes and shouted, "Shinji, Kenshi, now!"
Right on cue, Kenshi and Shinji ran out of the bushes and took the bells from Rai while he was down. Rai grinned more than ever as he thought aloud, "This whole fight was to make sure that they passed. You came up with this whole plan and explained it to them. They trusted you that you wouldn't get a bell for yourself, but that you would willingly fail the test just to make sure that the passed. Kenshi, Shinji, you pass."
Kenshi and Shinji were overjoyed to hear this news. However, as Kajukiro released Rai and allowed him to stand, Rai looked at Kajukiro and asked, "However, there's one thing I want to know; why fail to retrieve a bell willingly, Kajukiro? Why not take a bell for yourself in mid-fight? You certainly had plenty of chances." Kajukiro just gave a chuckle and answered, "Guess I'm just the kind of guy who's willing to sacrifice himself for his comrades."
Rai nodded approvingly before turning to the others and informing, "Well, you two managed to get the bells so you pass the objective. However, although Kajukiro didn't complete the objective, his skills in combat are far too valuable to go to waste. For this reason, I have no choice but to pass him too. So, Team Rai, the missions are swarming in, so we'll have to get started on them first thing tomorrow. Until then, return to your social lives until I summon you. Farewell." And with that, Rai vanished.
Kenshi immediately turned to Kajukiro and said, "You knew he'd pass you if you showed him you were capable. How?" Kajukiro simply smiled and answered, "Simple, the same thing worked with my old sensei." Shinji chuckled at Kajukiro's intelligence while Kenshi just stared at him adoringly. Kajukiro suddenly turned to his team and said, "Race you both to the village!" and dashed away. "Hey, no fair!" Kenshi and Shinji shouted in unison before dashing after him.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage tower, Rai was reporting his team's progress to Lady Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade, Squad 34 has become Team Rai." Tsunade asked, "So, they all passed then?" Rai nodded. Tsunade smiled happily and replied, "Excellent. I'll give you your missions tomorrow then. You may leave." Rai, however, stayed there. Tsunade looked at him and asked, "Is there something else?"
Rai nodded and answered, "I would like to request for Kunazama, Kajukiro to become a Jounin; his skills are incredible, and he even defeated me in battle." Tsunade appeared appalled by the news. However, she gave it some thought and answered, "Request denied." Rai looked shocked and her and began to argue, "But--" However, he was silenced as Tsunade shot a glare at him.
Rai flinched in fear and looked down. Tsunade continued, "If you're so sure he's capable, then put him in the Chuunin exams. I'll watch his progress first-hand and will make my decision when the exams are over." Rai nodded and replied, "Yes M'amm." and left with that. Tsunade turned to the large window behind her that overlooked the entire village and muttered, "That Kajukiro…he's drawing all sorts of attention to himself. It's only a matter of time before he becomes one of the best ninja of the five shinobi lands."