So here it is, winter is a terrible time for keeping on schedule. sorry for the delay.

almostinsane gave a hand for the first bit but was to busy for most of it. If (when) you see a mistake please point it out.

I really hate fight scenes, or maybe I just have a problem with movement and fight scenes have a lot of that.

Chapter 7

As I quietly ducked down to avoid the hail of blades that appeared from the darkness and slammed into the tree that was behind me, I couldn't stop the little curse that slipped out of my mouth.

We had underestimated the other team badly.

When Sensei said that Josuke and I were going to be on the same team, we had assumed that it was going to be a fairly easy thing. With Tetsuo added to the mix, the purple haired kid being a higher ranking classmate with an… eccentric… creativity with traps, we were confident that none of the other teams would be strong enough to really compete.

But it seemed that our opponents had a plan: a simple one, yes, but one that worked.

We had set ourselves into a basic formation as we moved through the forest-like training ground: Josuke in the back so the strongest fighter was protecting the weakest point, myself in the front to absorb any forward attack and Tesuo in the middle to quickly support where he was needed or to break off and start setting up his… creative… traps.

It did not really work out that way.

The first thing that hit us was the flash tags the other team had set up ahead of us, the sudden white light blinding the group for just a moment but long enough for the other team to be upon us before we had time to bring up our defenses.

We were definitely not ready for all three members of the other team to ignore me and Josuke and pounce on Tesuo as one, overwhelming him before he could hope to put up a fight. Once they were done with Tesuo, two members of the party turn to engage Josuke while the last one came at me, effectively turning the fight from a three vs three to a two vs one and a one vs one. Definitely a simple plan. But what works, works.

In most situations, this would not have been that big of a problem: Josuke was first place in the class for a reason and was more than capable of holding out in a handicap match for a while, maybe even winning depending who he was fighting.

And before today, I was pretty confident that against anyone but Saori, I would be able to beat them down in quick order and then go and back him up.

…But today….

Sensing something off, I quickly dove to the side as a boulder the size of a cow fly's past where I was standing and crashed into the tree behind me, shattering and blowing a hole in the spot it hits and making the tree topple over.

I twisted around in the air to land in a crouch, right arm raised in front of me with a handful of shuriken as my left-hand gripped the hilt that was sticking out of a plain katana scabbard that now rested at my side, right next to one of my leg holders. I set myself in a basic ready stance facing the duration of the attack.

"Oy! Bit much for a training exercise, don't you think?" was my not-at-all panicked shout (shut up) as only a little bit of cold sweat ran down my back. I was definitely not imagining the crushed wood as my own body if it had been hit, definitely not.

"You dodged didn't you?" was the far too chirpy reply that came from the enemy, sounding not even a little bit sorry for her gravely over-eager attempts at bodily harm, some people...

Facing me from across the field dressed in a light pink combat shirt and skirt combo and way more swagger then I had ever seen from her before was the redheaded kunoichi, Taura, one of Saori's followers and someone whose abilities I would have ranked as a solid 'Meh' before today.

She had a excited and annoyingly happy grin on her face as she practically skipped over to another large boulder the size of a small truck this time (there are way too many big stones in this training field for it to be natural) and started up a short sequence of seals before placing both of her hands on it. The boulder sort of blinked out and into focus like it fazed out of reality for a second. Then the ten-year-old girl picked it up like it weighed nothing.

Having kept her eyes on me the whole time , her smile changed to a cheeky smirk as she drew her arms back before chirping out a "Catch!" and flinging the boulder right at me, it again blinking in and out thing as it left contact with her body, soaring at me at the same or even greater speed as a kunai or a shuriken.

I dodged it with a simple slide and jump to the side, letting the shurikens in my hand fly at her as I did so; we were far enough away that it was easy to track, but the psychological effect of seeing the giant stone fall right where I was, digging a hole a quarter of the way into the ground, and hearing and feeling the shake of the ground as it hit might have had led to me wanting to pee myself a little but only a little.

Sadly, my projectiles did shit all, as she just picked up a dead log bigger than her as a shield, the stars sticking right into it.

…Somebody's got a new trick...

"When did you unlock your kekkei genkai, Taura-chan? Sensei might have thrown a little party if you had said something," I asked with an impressed and congratulating smile or No. 43 if you prefer, trying to stop things for a sec so I could think things out.

People who say not to talk in a fight are idiots. Talking is great if you know to only distract your opponent and not distract yourself.

"For sooo long! Like, two months now," Taura said in a voice like some great weight was lifted from her shoulders, "It was so hard to not tell anybody, but, but! I wanted to make a big reveal. So I waited till I could do a jutsu with it and then for when I was in a dramatic fight against someone strong. Like now!" she took one arm off the log and point right at me, "Sorry Shou-Kun, but I'm afraid Taira Taura is taking your spot as one of the class Oni!" And with that declaration of war, the log was above her head and ready for launch as her eyes half stayed on me, half looked around for more shit to throw.

"For fuck's sake, if one of those hit me I'm done," I thought in a panic, the idea of getting splattered still ghosting my thoughts, "Kekkei genkai are such bull, years of work to stay at the top of the class and she jumps up in strength just like that. Maybe I should just…"

Breath in…

Breath out…

Calmly, I jumped to the side as the log flew by, looking carefully at what exactly was happening. The Taira Bloodline was known as the 'Density' release, but from what little I remembered from before, I kind of felt like something else might have been going on, though as a former civil servant, I can't say I was an expert on physics even back then, but basically, the Taira make things they touch lighter or heavier before it goes back to normal after they lose contact.

Ducking under the next rock, a lot smaller than the last, I slowly started to move forward, thinking that once the intimidation factor was gone, they're not any harder to dodge then kunai and she can't throw more than one at a time, so maybe easier. A slide to the left this time, the displaced air rustling my hair as the new log moved passed.

I would be done for if I tried to block or got tagged by any of the projectiles, but it was very posable to wait her out like this. "Still," I think to myself, "I'm the one on a clock," if this became a waiting game there was far higher chance that it was going to be her back-up arriving to save the day then it was mine. So I couldn't just wait for her to run out of Chakra or things to throw.

I shot forward in a zig-zag pattern, ducking and dodging as I moved closer to her, I could see that she was starting to get a bit annoyed as the throws started coming a bit faster and less accurately. Sensing a crack I started to exploit it, giving her encouragements in a condescending voice to push her more and more to the edge, her face went red and ugly as irritation became anger.

"Wow Taura-chan, that one was super close, not like the last few, your getting way better!"

"Shut it!"

However, when I got within twenty metres and made to make a final jump to move into close quarters that expression change form anger to triumph as she dropped what she was holding and quickly pulled out a chain with a metal weight at the end from her pouch, "got you!" she howled as she swung it down at me from above the moment both my feet left the ground. She tricked me! the random throws were not her being sloppy, but her trying to get me into the right spot and distance, good for her, but…

For the hundredth time that day I found myself on my back panting for breath and feeling like a wet noddle as Kono-sensei looked down at me passively, but I was happy, the results of two years of work were starting to take shape. Instead of relying on a few half-remembered boxing tricks to spice up the Village basics, now, with the help of a skilled Jounin to take everything, to reconstruct it, develop it, and combined it into the standard to create my own style. One that I think is pretty….

"It's interesting at least," Kono-sensei stated in his bored drawl before walking over to the left side of the field and picking up the bottles we left there, coming back over and giving me mine before taking a sip out of his own.

"That's it? Just interesting," I replied, trying to not sound annoyed at years of work only getting a raised eyebrow, must not have worked as he just gave me a look before sighing like the weight of the world was on him, crouching down to give me a deadpan stare right into my eye he went on.

"Yes, interesting. What ya expect? The human body only works in so many ways, every style shares something with all the others, but are better at somethings and worst at others, it's all trade-offs. Your light on your feet, and can throw some weird angles and moves at people, using your strong back muscles to give your hits more power then they should without grounding yourself," he takes a sip before going on, "But you cant create real power like that, attacking or defending, and its very movement based, so not great if you have to stay in one spot. It's a light style, for better or worse," Getting up after saying his piece he starts to head home before adding over his shoulder.

"But it is interesting and a little weird, not a lot of Genin will have seen something like it so surprise might be on your side. Plus, when you're focused on just defending you're a slippery little br…"

A moment before the chain made contact with me I palmed a kunai and brought it above my head in a block in the same moment that I stretched my lead foot down so that the very tip of my toes were touching the ground.

The knife makes contact, the chain blinked out and in just like the rocks and logs had done before and I know in that it was at that instant too heavily to just stop, but that was fine.

Chakra traveled down my foot and into my toes on the ground where it stuck the two together, not strong enough to go up a tree, but will do for what was needed, I pulled myself down as I twisted the same foot, shifting my weight onto the back foot as it lands, and I push off the kunai. Then suddenly I was on the right of the attack as it hit the ground with a thud, most of my body did not even look like it had moved as it swayed to the new spot in a blink.

Confused, Taura reeled the chain back and made for another attack, this time straight on with the weighted end aimed for my torso.

Slide the back foot forward and out, twist the back ankle in and push forward, weight staying centred. And now I was a bit closer to her and left of the attack, again most of my body not telegraphing the movement before I was already out of the way.

A swing from the right at an angle.

One large step to the right with lead feet, shift weight to it. It missed, as the top of my body swayed out of the way. I quickly took a few steps forward.

This time it came horizontally, trying to wrap around me.

Pushing and slide forward with both feet, bending at the knees and lowering my centre gravity. And just before it hits I was under it, the chain having sailed over my head.

The fundamental point of bobbing and weaving, footwork, and swaying in boxing was to dodge hits as fast as possible without telegraphing and using as little energy as you could. Thanks to Kono-sensei and Chakra we've bought those principles to another level. Gripping the ground and reinforcing the parts of my body that took the brunt of the twisting and pushing I could now dodge most attacks with minimal movement. Sometimes with just my toes, making it seem like I'm flickering around attacks, like a leaf on the wind fluttering away inches from what has disturbed it. At least on the Genin and below level.

She continued to try to hit me while I dodged and swayed around her until finally, I got right up close. Absentmindedly, I think about grabbing the blade at my side, but decided It would be a good idea to save that trick for the next part of the battle and instead I went in with my fists.

With one final yell and look of panic on her face, Taura gave the chain one last horizontal swing, at waist height to wrap around me and to give me the least room to dodge.

Planting both feet on the ground and gripping with chakra, I leaned back so that I created an arch as it sailed over. Then from that position, I tensed and shot my left arm up as I twist my waist counter-clockwise, taking advantage of my long arms to still reach her even from the extreme angle. my swaying uppercut heading right for her chin.

I got to give it to her, even with the attack coming from a strange spot and with strange timing, Taura still managed to bring both her forearms up to protect her head, my fist still slammed in hard, but was not the fight finisher it could have been. Still, the move had left her stomach open.

Placing my other hand on the ground for balance I bought my leg up and sided kick her straight in the gut, hard. Air left her mouth with a 'wosh' as she was bent double and thrown into the side of the clearing and back into the tree-line.

Not willing to give her a second I took out another Kunai and moved after her and went for the win. But just as I was over her and about to finish it, I heard some movement in the air behind me and had to sway out of the way of a Kunai on a wire, only of the blade to turn in the air and come right for my eye.

Hastily I brought the blade in my hand up and swatted it out of the air, the kunai returning back where it came from. Looking over to where it went I saw the attacker turn to re-join their own fight, "being able to help take on Josuke and still keep an eye on us… when did you get this good Rokuro?" I thought quickly before looking back over to my opponent to see her had taken advantage of the time to grab the base… of the tree... she had knocked over earlier… oh no.

Kekkei genkai, for most it was not just the power of the technique that made them feared, but the options they gave their wielders in a bind, options others couldn't have in the same spot, and so didn't tend to think about.

The Tree blinks out and back in, and with a grunt and a yell, she swung it like it was a baseball bat. And for the first time this fight I got hit, the tree too big, too wide, and to close to avoid.

Being hit by something under the effect of the 'Lightening' part of the Taira bloodline was a bit like running into a very padded wall at high speed, but worse. It didn't really hurt like it would have if she had let go of it, but I was still knocked for a trip.

Moments later I found myself on the ground and not sure where I was. Panic and pain rising now that I had lost my focus on my calm. I tried to scramble back on to my feet as fast as it was possible, my legs like jelly and my vision having black spots in it, but then I started to stand something wrapped around me and suddenly grow so heavy that I found myself back on the ground with a thud and a groan.

"Heh, heh, got you," I heard a voice say just to the side of me, Taura was bent over panting but still stood shakily with the end of her chain in hand and the rest of it around me. She started to walk over but collapsed onto her knees a few feet away, "Wow, dizzy. That was way too big! Not doing that again," still, she looked over to me, her face peering into mine in astonishment before lighting up in joy, "I won…" she whispered to herself more than me, that didn't stop me feeling the annoyance though.

Still, look her in the eye and give her a little, sad, but sportsmanlike smile before breathing in to calm myself.

And then breathed out hard to guide a stream of purple gas right into her face.

The Poison Mist technique; Not the rarest or strongest of Justus, but very good for its Chakra cost and one of the few techniques that you can prepare beforehand and only need to activate with a pulse of Chakra in a fight, no hand-seal. And importantly, the gas I'm using, Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is non-lethal but fast acting in the right doses.

"Aaah! cough, cough." Taura screamed then started choking, crawling back and turning her head away as she tried to make a little distance, getting to her feet and then stumbled for a moment and gave her head a little shake, "wow." The first little wave of light-headedness hitting, and with the loss of concentration, her Justu broke.

As fast as possible I freed myself from the chain and was up on my feet charging her, right hand on the hilt of my sword and left gripping the katana scabbard, no holding back, no time left.

Taura, still having most of her wits about her, pulled out a Kunai and raised it in a guard to try and deflect my attack.

In one swift movement, I draw the blade and slash in one.

And out of the Katana scabbard came a ō-wakizashi, a blade A little bit smaller then Katana. A shorter reach, a faster draw.

Taura's block, having expected a slower, longer sword misses, and the Wakizashi slips past it and towards her neck.

The blade was blocked by two fingers and a thumb, stopping it dead.

Hiraoka-sensei stated in a load voice beside us, "Student Taira Taura has been eliminated." Before letting go of my sword.

Taura was still blinking in surprise as I turned and sprinted off towards the area of the other fight, not having time to stop and catch my breath. I had already lost a lot of time.

A familiar sound lets me know that the worst had happened, and I had to use my sword in one hand and a kunai in the other to block two Kunai on wires that made a pass at me.

Standing in the treeline was Saori and Rokuro. Out of the two best friends, Rokuro had over the years changed the most, the ten-year-old still had his thick glasses, but instead of having the nerdy thing going on he now had the same Chinese theme that I sort of remembered team Gai had. Wearing a white Changshan shirt with long sleeves covering his hands with puffy black pants, his hair was now in a long pony-tail. The two Kunai on wires floating out of the sleeves in front of him with the tips of their blades pointing at me gave his fighting stance a praying mantis look. Saori… could still have been that random girl you see on the roadside. Her brown hair maybe a little longer, she was little taller, her black combat dress a little more like an actual dress but still tomboy-like… she was just Saori'y like.

Both were worse for wear, cuts and tears everywhere and Saori was sporting a big black eye, but both standing against me proudly and confidently. The reason obviously the unconscious Josuke that was being carried away by another instructor.

Without any prompting, Rokuro moved forward as Saori performed a quick set of hand seals and then thrusting her hands onto, and then into the ground. "dammit, again?"

I had no time to deal with the approaching boy as I had to jump into the air and off the ground to avoid the pair of white, ghostly hands that had risen out of the earth to grab my ankles. I didn't even bother trying to cut them with my weapons, plain metal won't help with the Phantom limbs of the Makioka.

Even in the air I had no time as I had to use my Wakizashi to block the blades that zipped around me on wires and when I made it back to the ground again I had to start running as a hand from the ground went for my legs again at the same time another hand from the tree next to me gent for my neck.

I would like to say I had held out for a while, but even with my new weaving and swaying style, I did not know how to really deal with attacks I could not see coming out of any surface combined with attacks that would hone in on any openings at the same time from four directions, one at a time, I could figure something out, but together? I lasted half a minute before I tripped up and was tied down, this time with combat tape that kept my mouth shut.

Sensei had at that point appeared out of nowhere next to me with Tetsuo, Josuke and Taura beside him, the two boys bruised and battered, and the girl was trailing a little and blinking a bit too much, but they were all otherwise fine, physically at least. They all still looked in varying degrees of shame or distress, Taura had little drops of tears at the corner of her eyes despite her team winning.

After untying me Sensei had the lot of us lined up in front of him as he gave us the breakdown.

"As team A was not able to arrive at the target location to pick up the package and had in battle all of their members captured or killed, the winner of this exercise is Team B," Rokuro and Saori looked as happy as clams at the decision, but Taura still had her head down, her hair shadowing her face, "You did well team B," Sensei continued, "yes it was a simple strategy, but the best strategies are the ones that work, not the ones that are the most clever. And even if it was simple, it needed good coordination and timing, things you proved you had. Well done."

He then turned to my group and started, " Team A, while it was an ambush and much of your mistakes can be attributed to the panic and confusion created by said ambush, it was still an ambush you knew was coming. I don't know if it was arrogance, or if you wrongly assumed that nothing would happen until you already had the package, but if you all had been a bit more cautious or a bit readier to react, you might not have been hit as bad."

Here he paused to have a look at the leger that somehow had appeared in his hand before he turned to address Tetsuo, "Tetsuo-Kun, I'm afraid there isn't much I can comment on about your performance in this exercise as you were eliminated so early. But don't take that too much to heart. In theory, you should have better managed to disengage from the ambush, and we will work on how to deal with multiple opponents more in the future. But in practice, getting 'trampled' by a surprise attack by multiple enemies of similar skill level is something very few ninja can be expected to manage. The moment your teammates were too late to react you were done for. So don't beat yourself up, and just learn from it."

He turned to the next student in line here, "Josuke, overall you did well considering the handicap, and the use of clones too distracted and confuse was a good use of the basic techniques. But you're indecision on whether to go on the attack to take one of your opponents down fast or too fully defend and trust Shou-kun too win his fight and come back you up was costly. Both were correct, if not guaranteed choices, half and half was not. Remember to always commit to an action in situations like this." My friend made an unhappy face at this, but he did not say anything as he just nodded to let Sensei know he had heard. It was nice that he had learned to not talk back and argue with Sensei about these things. It was just too bad he was now definitely going to be vetting it all at me on the way home instead.

"Rokuro-kun and Saori-kun, that was excellent," He gave the two a proud look before continuing,"You have both improved greatly, and your fighting synergy and corporation was definitely the core reason for your teams win. Don't think that there were no parts where you could have improved or done better, but overall well done."

He finally turned his attention towards the last two fighters left. I could only hope that I didn't do anything too ridiculous. My opponent just shrinks even more into herself and braced.

"First of all, I want to say that I'm impressed with the use of Justus in live combat I haven't seen from both of you before," Sensei said nicely before he went on, "What I'm not impressed by is how neither of you used any of the basic three despite the fact that at several points Substitution alone would have been of great use to either of you. That especially goes for you Shou, as I know you capable of performing all of them," I winced a little at being called out like that and looked away, "There is a reason they are the Justus that every ninja in the world is expected to know, it's not enough to know them, you have to be able to use them in action." here he gave both of us a good stare to make sure we got what he was saying before moving on, "Otherwise, Shou, you did a good job of not panicking at the new skills your opponent showed and calmly figured out how to deal with the situation with the tools you had. However, you got distracted at a critical point, a bad habit of your you need to fix." Turning fully to Taura his tone and look became a little bit softer, "Outside of what I said about not using the basic three I think your showing was the highlight of the whole exercise. The improvement you show today was incredible, and besides a bit too much cockiness with your new skills at the beginning, you came at the fight with your best."

"He still, hic, beat me though…" she whispered back as the tears started falling, "I worked so hard, and planed, and waited to show everyone and, hic, it was my turn and he still won." She did not shout, but only because she was not able to around the crying. I didn't do anything wrong, but I still felt a bit bad. I was uncomfortable now anyway.

"Taura-chan… when it comes to training, the winner is not the one who won the fight," Hiraoka-sensei said gently, the strange statement making the redhead look up in confusion. "It's the one who saw the most improvement. Today you nearly beat someone you have never got close to up till now. If that's not a victory, what is?"

The young girl just stared at sensei for a moment before snorting out a little giggle, "Its funny…" she mumbled up to him.

"Oh? What its?" sensei asked back with a big smile, leaning in.

"Don't know," she replied as she started giggling a bit drunkenly now, "Just is?...huh? guys? When did you all dye your skin green?" She questioned the group, squinting at us in puzzlement before busting into more giggles.

"Six Full minutes for it to take full effect," I mused aloud, academically looking at her reactions, "She has some good resistances."

"I-I, w-what, green skin? Taura-chan are y-you ok!" Hiraoka-sensei asked in a worried voice. His confident mode disappearing before coming back with a vengeance as he glares over at me, "Shou, what did you use!"

I raised my hands up in defence, "ITS SAFE, ITS SAFE!" I yelled out quickly before he did something I would regret, "Asanka chisso doesn't have any long-term effects and it will pass through her system in around twenty minutes. She will be fine!" I glanced over at the said individual as she stared at her hands in wonder,"… She will be in a state of mild euphoria with slight hallucinations until then though…"I give him a disarming smile and a thumbs up at the end, but I don't think it helped any from the look I was getting.

"…. Just go home and don't be late for classes tomorrow, come here Taura-chan," He said with a sigh as he went to pick her up, not letting the chance for escape pass by I was already marching away from the training ground at a brisk pace. The last thing I heard was a quite, "Hey Sensei… is this real life?"

I started moving faster.

So First: Thanks to Herdo on spacebattles for coming up with The Taira Bloodline, even though I bet they don't remember it or even read the story. just giving credit where credit is due.

Second: Apparently, the wakizashi in the katana scabbard thing was an actual assassination trick, and not something I made up. weird.