The exercises were completely planned out and went from simple to complicated over the course of the two weeks. Day one was comprised of simple sparring, just so the shinobi from one village could get acquainted with the abilities of the shinobi from the other. Each shinobi would spar another shinobi for five minutes with breaks in between to recover and discuss. Only a few pairs were ever sparring at one time so the others could observe and comment.
Although the two villages had worked closely with one another during the war, many of the shinobi knew each other by reputation only. There were, after all, 80,000 shinobi from the five villages involved in the war – so what was the chance that the seven from the Leaf were familiar with the ten from the Sand? Practically nil. Also, the Sand had decided that the shinobi they wanted involved in these exercises were newly promoted chunin and jonin. There had been a plethora of promotions after the war just to make up for the enormous number of casualties suffered by Suna. As a comparison, Tsunade had sent some of her best shinobi to Suna, however, they were still very young and would match up nicely with the selected Suna shinobi.
Shikamaru actively participated in the sparring, but also served as leader of the Leaf shinobi. As such, most of the time he could be seen by Temari's side as the sparring continued over the course of the day. Temari was not active on the Suna team, but was selected as the team lead with the overall responsibility of directing, observing, and educating.
Each of the Suna shinobi was decently matched to a Leaf shinobi when sparring. However, they definitely lacked in battle and strategy experience. Each match usually ended up with the Leaf shinobi victorious, but nothing personal was ever held against the opponent, and in fact, the Suna shinobi appreciated the experience they were gaining by doing this.
Hinata showed Chisana of the Sand her Gentle Fist fighting style, ending her session with the Eight Trigams Sixty-Four Palms technique. By the time she was done, Chisana was on her backside unable to take the force of the Hyuuga family's famous move. It was after that match that Hinata was asked several questions about her kekki genkai and what its capabilities were. She gladly answered them.
Chouji was matched up with a Suna shinobi named Mausu. Chouji was still a rather large young man, but had considerably slimmed down since his earlier days as a genin. Now he was practically all muscle. Alternately, Mausu was relatively average looking, perhaps a little on the small size. The match began with taijutsu with Mausu having the upperhand – but then Chouji used his skills to grow different body parts to absolutely pummel Mausu a few times before he even realized what was going on.
A great deal of dust had been generated due to Chouji's strikes. When it cleared, Mausu was gone. Chouji looked around frantically for his opponent, but after a good 20 seconds of looking, he turned to Shikamaru and shrugged his shoulders.
Shikamaru turned to Temari, who was already smiling from ear to ear.
"So where'd he go?" asked Shikamaru.
"Oh, he's out there," answered Temari.
Suddenly, Mausu appeared behind Chouji and kicked him in the small of the back. Then he seemingly disappeared once again.
Chouji turned to face his now invisible opponent…wait, he wasn't invisible. He was just small – really, really small.
The match somehow went into pause mode while Chouji lifted up a tiny Mausu in his hands.
"That's really cool," noted Chouji.
"That's why I picked him to be your opponent," said Temari.
Chouji put the young teen back on the ground and he suddenly appeared back in his regular state.
"I am extremely useful for stealth…and in emergencies," said Mausu. "I can get into places that average-sized shinobi can't, and in case of emergencies, I can usually escape any prison or trap and get help. The only thing it isn't good for is offense unless I use it like I just did to surprise my enemy."
"Nicely done, Mausu," said Temari, essentially concluding the match.
"The next two are…," started Shikamaru.
This went on the majority of the morning and into the afternoon. By the time, they were wrapping up, only one Suna shinobi and one Leaf shinobi were left to battle.
Sasuke stepped into the clear area where all the sparring had taken place. He looked over at the Suna shinobi and could tell that some of them were whispering to each other.
Shikamaru looked at Temari, who now wore a scowl on her face.
"If it makes you feel any better, he is a different person now," said Shikamaru to Temari.
Temari looked at Shikamaru with disbelieving eyes.
"It's true," Shikamaru remarked. He tried a new stance, "I was skeptical at first, too, but he's been back several months now and has shown nothing of his previous life. He is now a dedicated Leaf shinobi, I'm telling you."
"Convince me," said Temari.
Shikamaru wasn't expecting that one. He sighed. "Bothersome," he murmured. "Dinner."
"What?" asked Temari.
"Have dinner with me tonight and I can fill you in on everything that's happened since he returned," said Shikamaru.
"Fine," Temari answered. She looked over at the ten Suna shinobi. "Kyushi, you're on next."
A blonde girl stepped out from the rest and slowly made her way across from Sasuke.
"Take it easy on her, ok Sasuke?" said Shikamaru.
"I got it," said Sasuke. He already had no intention of using his Mangekyou Sharingan in this kind of forum – it was too much chakra and effort for such a minimal task.
The match started with Sasuke jumping backwards so he could get some distance from Kyushi. Kyushi threw three kunai at her opponent, but he easily dodged by jumping high into the air. She ran and jumped to meet him mid-air, but he barrel-rolled and landed a good kick right in her gut. Kyushi fell to the ground with an oomph.
Sasuke rushed her, but she was already starting to get up. She had one foot and one knee on the ground when she paused for a second. Sasuke wondered to himself what she was waiting for because she had to know he would be on top of her in no time. He was looking right at her still figure when she suddenly turned her head and looked at him.
Sasuke felt something take hold, but he didn't know what it was. She had just done something…but what was it? His legs had quit working and he face-planted onto the ground.
"Now that won't do," said Kyushi. She went over to Sasuke and manually stood him up on his two feet.
"What did she do?" asked Shikamaru.
"It's similar to an ocular jutsu. The power does come from her eyes, but it is only temporary in its hold," said Temari. "It's like a paralyzation, but the wielder can still manipulate her target as you've just seen."
Kyushi started kicking and punching Sasuke. After each time, he would fall again to the ground and she would stand him back up again.
Suddenly, she halted mid-swing and fell to her knees.
The two sparring shinobi faced each other for a few minutes as the rest of the shinobi who were present stood there and waited for something to happen. Every so often, someone would look at Shikamaru or Temari waiting for their two leads to comment or do something.
"I've had just about enough of that," said Sasuke finally able to move his body. He brushed himself off and walked back over to the side.
Kyushi finally regained consciousness. She blinked her eyes a few times.
"Are you ok?" asked Temari.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Kyushi answered.
"You didn't show her anything horrific, did you?" asked Temari who knew exactly what had happened.
"Nah," said Sasuke. "I just gave her a tour of the Leaf village. I figured that was benign enough."
Temari turned back to Kyushi. "It would seem at sometime you were not careful enough and looked into his eyes," she said. "Sasuke is an Uchiha and wields the sharingan. He can use it as long as his eyes are uncovered. He caught you with it even while he was unable to move."
"Sorry Temari-sensei. I'll be more careful next time," answered Kyushi.
"Don't be. Today's session was all about learning about each other's capabilities. As long as each of you learned something, the day was worthwhile," said Temari. "You are all dismissed and we will report back here tomorrow."
A tour of the Leaf village? I didn't see that one coming… Temari couldn't believe Sasuke didn't expose the chunin to something more sinister. Perhaps she had been wrong in suspecting him…
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
"Ah I see," said Temari at dinner to her companion. "So you really think it's over?"
"Yeah, I really do," said Shikamaru. "…and now he and Sakura seem to be a happy couple and from what I've seen and hear through the grapevine, he's really been making an effort to make amends. He hasn't slipped up once."
"I remember when he and that group of his showed up at the Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron. He was just brutal. I have a hard time getting that Sasuke out of my mind," said Temari.
"It will take time," said Shikamaru. "You also done get to see him as often as we do in the Leaf. So the changes will be more dramatic and unbelievable to you. I think that is one reason the Hokage sent him here, even without his team."
"I was wondering about that," said Temari. She looked across the restaurant where a few shinobi from the mission happened to be sitting. She was asked to attend a dinner by a bunch of the Suna shinobi, but had to decline because of her earlier commitment to Shikamaru. However, she decided to invite them to tag along to the same restaurant and bring some of the Leaf shinobi as well. Getting comfortable with one another was another reason for these exercises and this was a perfect opportunity.
In the corner sat Kyushi, Chisana and Tsuyoi of the Sand sat with Sasuke, Chouji, and Ino of the Leaf – the others either had other things to do or wanted to get their rest in preparation for the next day.
Temari looked over at the table. It looked like the girls were chattering endlessly – apparently some common ground had been found. Chouji was stuffing his mouth while both Tsuyoi and Sasuke were mostly silent but would talk when spoken to. Temari waved Kyushi over to her when she caught her eye. Kyushi responded immediately to her superior.
"How are you all faring over there?" asked Temari.
"Oh, we're just fine!" answered Kyushi. "I really like Ino a lot. She was telling us some funny stories about InoShikaCho when you guys had just gotten together as a team."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes
"Is Sasuke saying much?" Temari asked innocently enough.
"He doesn't seem like he's a real talker. I mean, he's nice and all," said Kyushi. Then she leaned down to Temari's ear so only she could hear. "…and he isn't bad to look at either. Just look at him! He's got some good technical skills, too!"
Kyushi leaned back up and Temari dismissed her.
"What was that all about?" asked Shikamaru.
"I think little Kyushi has a bit of a crush on Sasuke," answered Temari.
"Bothersome."
OlOlOlOlOlO
Over the next three days of training, the shinobi from both villages trained with one another, teaching each other techniques and jutsu that were unknown to the other village. Sasuke taught the others various techniques relating to how to break out of genjutsus. Shino and Kiba both taught about dealing with various animals that could absorb or use jutsu. Ino's mind control could not be beaten once she had someone, but she taught the best way to avoid being taken under control in the first place once it was apparent someone with a mind control jutsu was present. The Suna shinobi did the same, though many of their techniques were not as advanced as the Leaf shinobis' since they were younger and less experienced.
As they walked away from the practice field on day four, Kiba finally caught up to an obviously annoyed Sasuke.
"So how is Kyushi today?" prodded Kiba.
"Mind your own damn business," answered Sasuke through gritted teeth.
"Whoa, sorry. I didn't know it had gotten that bad," said Kiba.
Sasuke exhaled. He knew his temper was flaring and that he needed to do a better job of keeping it under control - especially in light of the fact that this was such a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.
"Sorry," muttered Sasuke. "She just doesn't want to leave me alone and I must admit after almost a week of this, it is getting kind of old. When we form training teams, she always wants to be with me...and then when we break for meals, she is always hovering around me."
"Maybe you should just say something," said Kiba.
"I don't think it's worth it. She's young and it really is harmless," said Sasuke. "I've already made up my mind to just deal with it for the duration of the mission. Leave it to me to say something wrong and cause a worldwide incident."
"Well, if you ever need an excuse to get away, feel free to use me," said Kiba.
"Thanks," said Sasuke.
At that same moment, Kyushi was trying to catch up to the main group having taken longer than the others to pack up her gear to return to the village. Temari called her over when she was jogging past her.
"Kyushi, that was an excellent demonstration you gave today," said Temari.
"Thank you, sensei," answered Kyushi, conflicted between wanting to catch up to Sasuke and talking to her senior.
"Kyushi, I've been meaning to talk to you about something," said Temari. "I believe that you have developed feelings for one of the Leaf shinobi. Is this true?"
Kyushi turned a light pink color. "Yes, sensei. I am trying to spend as much time as possible with Sasuke Uchiha while he is here in Suna. I do like him quite a bit."
"Just a word to the wise, Sasuke Uchiha has a difficult past, the details of which you may not be completely aware of," said Temari.
"How bad can it be? He's here, after all, which means he is a trusted Leaf shinobi...and he's not that much older than I am. What could have possibly have done at his young age?" asked Kyushi.
"You have no idea," remarked Temari. Temari was still wary of Sasuke, but didn't want to completely ruin any chances he might be given by telling the Suna shinobi who were present all the details of Sasuke's past. Shikamaru had also told her about Sasuke's relationship with Sakura, though she still wasn't sure just how serious it really was. "Just...be careful. I highly recommend that you not pursue him quite so...fervently."
"Hai, sensei," said Kyushi.