Kakashi had given us the day off the day before, and so we had decided to spend some time training by ourselves. I had showed up first, and was waiting at the training grounds. I saw Kougi walking over, from the east, and since it was early morning, the sun was rising behind her, and it looked like she was glowing. It was an odd sensation, I couldn't help but stare, but at the same time, I couldn't stare, she would notice, for sure. The Hyugas weren't the type to miss much. I pulled my eyes off her with some effort after waving her over, and began putting some equipment in my various pockets or holsters.
"Hey Kuji!" She said as she waved and stood a few feet away. "Getting ready to train?"
"Yeah." I tried to continue to keep my eyes off her, but I figured it didn't matter, so I looked at her and smiled. "Are you ok? That guy the other day, he didn't do anything to you did he?"
"No, he just tied me up and hung me upside down. I'm fine." She smiled widely at me as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Are you ok? He stabbed you a bunch of times, didn't he?" She was concerned, for me. I didn't know why but it made me smile.
"Yeah, he did but they were shallow, and my mom fixed me up."
"Oh, yeah she's a medical ninja, right?"
"Yeah, she is. Hey, where is Minato?" He was late as often as Kakashi was.
"I don't know, he has been spending a lot of time with his dad. He kept telling me he had some kind of new technique he would show us."
"I bet he does." I said, shaking my head. I doubted it would matter, if he wanted to spar, which of course he would. Since I had developed my sharingan, my dad had taught me a technique, and I doubted Minato could even come close.
"I've learned a few new ones too, I bet Minato will be jealous!" She laughed. I loved her laugh. Sorry, training, right.
"Really? Would you like to show me?" I asked. I was definitely curious.
"I can wait until Minato gets here." She smiled.
"Alright, well are you going to spar this time? Usually Minato and me just beat each other senseless while you watch, then we all go home."
"I think I might." Great. If we sparred, I was in a lose-lose situation. If I let her win, she'd definitely know, and she'd probably be mad that I was treating her different, but if I went 100, I could hurt her, and I had no interest in doing that. Great.
"Hey Kougi, Kujikeru." A skinny dirty-blonde haired boy walked up with his hands in his pockets. Ichijin Nara, Shikimaru and Temari's daughter, was standing there next to us.
"Didn't you have darker hair in the academy?" I asked.
"Yeah, now that we go on missions all the time instead of spending half our time inside, the sun had a little effect on it, and brought out more of my mother's hair color." He shrugged.
"It looks good!" Kougi said. She liked his hair, great. I hoped she was being polite. I had decided I was going to create a jutsu that would let me control my hormones like chakra. Essentially I'd use it all the time, and not have hormones. That would be much better.
"We were going to train, you want to join us?" I asked him. He looked up at the sky.
"Yeah I suppose. I don't know how much you guys will benefit from me being here. I'm kind of a one-trick ninja."
"That's alright!" Kougi shouted. "It'll be fine, we can just all train together!"
"If you want to, we can spar, Ichijin." I offered.
"Yeah, I guess we would have to, to train, huh?" He was definitely as lazy as his dad. What scared me was the thought that he might be as smart as his parents combined.
"Alright, lets do it. Just don't try and kill me or anything, alright?" I laughed at him, and he smirked lazily. "Let's do it!" I crouched in a fighting stance, and he sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands on each knee, his thumb and middle finger touching, like he was meditating. "Um, are you going to fight?"
"I'm ready when you are." He said, opening one eye. I had heard about his dad's thinking stance. Great.
I ran towards him, knife drawn, and threw it at him. He whipped two long thin rods from his sleeves, one in each hand, then pinned the knife between them, inches from his face.
"Woah." I said. He hadn't moved anything above his elbows, and his eyes were still closed. He threw the two rods at me, and as they flew they unfolded into two twin fans. Each had the character for shadow on them. He put his hands close together, and started doing hand signs.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" No way, he was 100 feet away, at least. The twin black beams shot out towards me. Wait, twin?
I began moving to the side. The two beams hit the shadow below the fans, and then, bolstered, shot out after me. I leapt into the air to avoid, but they followed. Oh crap. His shadows hit mine, and he allowed me to hit the ground gracefully, then held me there. Crap. He reached for his boot, and of course, I had to as well. He pulled a kunai out.
"Your kidding…" I didn't have a kunai in my boot.
"I win." He said with a lazy smile, and then released his jutsu. He walked over to where Kougi was, and then fell asleep in the grass. What a jerk. Kougi was laughing at me, and I STILL couldn't help but admire her laugh.
"Hey guys, am I late?" Minato said as he ran up, grinning madly.
"What are you so happy about?" I asked.
"You'll see!" He was practically giggling.
"Minato, let's spar." She grinned. He looked at her, confused.
"Yeah, ok."
They stood a good distance away from each other, both grinning.
"Byakugan!" they said simultaneously. Their faces changed with the odd look the byakugan had, then ran at each other. Minato charged, and held his hands together, for a sign. His left hand was forward, and vertical, with two extended fingers, and he right hand was identical, just horizontal. The fingers crossed at the middle knuckle.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted. Half a dozen Minato's ran outward from him. "Which one is the real one, Kougi?" He laughed as they ran.
"Hmm, I don't think it really matters. She drew out a scroll, and as she spun, kunai and shuriken flew out of it in volleys. One of the clones leapt in front of one of the others, and took the hits. The clones stood there, transfixed, each studded with dozens of weapons. One of them, the only unharmed one, was on his butt, staring at the others.
"Kougi, were those weapons aimed at their chakra points, or was it luck?" He said in amazement. She laughed, and the clones disappeared, as did the weapons. "That's ridiculous."
"My mom and my dad worked together on that one, just for me." She grinned madly. Tenten and Neji, their specialties combined, and it became Kougi. They took the gentle fist and added razor sharp steel to the equation. Genius.
