The boy looked at his teacher with disdain in his eyes saying "I'm not impressed by you or these girls Sensei." Kyo smirked to himself

replying "I figured as much your the kind of guy that only respects power, am I right?" A smile stretched across Nori's face, he closed his

hands into tight fist the moment he had been anxiously awaiting had finally arrived. "I know all about your previous teacher and

teammates, I've seen the hospital records. The results of you testing your mettle against them, well Nori you came to the right team

this time." Kyo said with a stern look on his face. Mai and Yuri looked at there teacher in surprise, but, quickly got into formation. Mai ran

twenty yards to the rear of Kyo and Yuri moved to the front of her teacher. "Right, prove it." Nori said as he stood there. "You should

ready yourself Nori." Kyo suggested. "For what? I already know what's coming, you three are predictable." Nori laughed as he spoke.

"Alright." Kyo said as he bit his thumb and made hand seals. "SUMMONING JUTSU, GOTAKAMARU!" Nothing appeared as the smoke blew

away with the passing wind, "Wow, I'm amazed." Nori said in a condescending tone while laughing. "Gotakamaru!" Kyo shouted. In an

instant a mole shot from underneath Nori, who was bent over from laughter. The mole spun like a top as it blasted from under the

surface of the ground sending Nori flying backwards. Nori quickly landed to his feet unscathed, surprised nonetheless. The mole's spin

slowed in midair, it became more visible, the animal was about the size of a man. Gotakamaru made hand seals, after which it nose

dived back underground, leaving no clues that it had come from underground to begin with. Nori jumped forward, the moment the mole

resurfaced behind him, spinning more violently than before. Mud spiraled around it while it rose skyward. Nori had managed to dodge

the mole but had been sucked into the twister of mud that ascended upward. The mole stopped spinning in the center of the spiral,

Gotakamaru made another hand seal, the mud solidified into a cone and hardened. The mole appeared on the outside of the cone,

Gotakamaru leaping toward the mud structure drilling through til it was nothing more than small clumps of dirt, Nori fell to the ground in

tatters. "Get ready." Kyo said to his students. In a puff of smoke the clone of Nori dispersed, a strong wind blew across the field, Nori

appeared in front of Yuri without warning. She widened her stance to Nori's surprise, he threw a barrage of blows at her, to which she

dodged all of them swiftly. He faked a blow to the side, Yuri went to dodge low, only realizing afterward her mistake. A devilish grin on

his face Nori began to raise an uppercut that lie to close for Yuri to evade. A flash was seen coming from above as Nori canceled his

attack, retreating backwards as a volley of knives began to rain down from the sky. Mai had leapt high into the air and activated a

summoning scroll, allowing her to unleash hordes of edged weaponry. In the same moment Yuri began to run in the path of the

projectiles, Mai never changing the course of her knives continued to hurl them toward Nori. Yuri met Nori in high speed combat,

daggers wizzing past the both of them as they dodged each blade gracefully while still engaging each other in taijutsu. Mai began to

fall from the sky as her justsu died down, before leaving the clouds she pulled out a larger scroll, bit her thumb and made hand seals

saying "SUMMONING JUTSU, HOMING DANCE!" From the cloud of smoke created came to raccoons, one clinging to each side of a bladed

wheel. The raccoons attached to the wheel spun in opposite directions, as they blasted toward Yuri and Nori at such high speeds the

wind around it cut the ground below. Just when it seemed that Yuri would be sliced in half from the rear, she spun to the side allowing

the blade to pass, Nori followed evading the blade as well. The instant it passed Yuri, the wheel split in two allowing the other raccoon

to fly it's own path. The two wheels circled Nori and Yuri as they continued to fight, He noticed the blades and the look of complete

focus in the eyes of Yuri. It was as if the thought of defeating him was all she knew, the blades that rotated around them did nothing to

faze her. The wheels smashed into each other, their width was big enough to occupy the fighting space. Yuri ducked in sweeping at

Nori's legs, who had also ducked to keep his head on his shoulders. She continued to attack him from this crouched position, he could

only defend himself as he feared the hovering blades above. The wheels grinded together like gears, continuing to circle over the fight.

Until, they dropped to the ground, racing in and out in a figure eight around them. Every lap the figure eight closed in on the fighters.

Nori could feel himself getting tired, he was used to fighting a lot but not like this. Yuri seamlessly transitioned to a faster more agile

form of fighting as she dodged and ducked under the wheels while they jumped into the air occasionally. Nori began breathing hard as

he landed out of a back flip, his head lifted slowly, the whole side of his face shifted as Yuri slammed a fist into it knocking him off his

feet and toward one of the spinning wheels. Yuri dove toward Nori grabbing him around his waist from the rear and spinning out of the

wheels path. She tumbled in the air, smashing the back of Nori head on the earth's hard surface with a back suplex. Not touching the

ground herself, she used the moment to flip over stomping both feet down into his stomach. The blades followed behind her as they cut

into Nori's midsection, a block of wood lie split into three. "Gotakamaru!" Kyo yelled. The mole shoots from under the ground, spinning

toward Nori who is on the other side of the field savgely sprinting toward Mai. The sight of the mole makes Nori run harder toward her.

The blades jump at Yuri who ducks under them and takes off toward teammate. Running the outer rim of the field she avoids Kyo who

glances at her from the corner of his eye, Yuri matches his look with her own as she continues toward Mai, bladed wheels in tow. Kyo

signals for Gotakamaru to stop short. Nori closes on Mai with a spinning heel kick, she rolls to the outside of his attack throwing a knife

before and after the tumble. He sidesteps one spinning on the other, pressing forward toward her. Mai throws more knives, closing the

distance he knees her in the stomach. He stops in pain as he looks at his thigh to see a kunai, dug into it. "What!" Nori said in

confusion. The skin of the clone begins to spike out spordically and at odd angles as it expanded, bursting out thousands of daggers in

every direction. Nori dodges as many as he can, receiving cuts and scrapes from those he can't. In the midst of the scattering weapons

Yuri is seen dashing straight toward Nori, running so fast she looks as though she were moving through the knives. Nori is in awe at

the sight, as the blades reflect the sunlight onto Yuri who glows like a goddess of war. She runs through the mist of blades toward Nori,

there's no way, how? I've gotta do something, I can't go out like this, but, how does she keep up this pace? Nori thought to himself

while he jumped out of the line of fire. Nori attempted to make hand seals but Yuri was gaining speed to rapidly, the bladed wheels still

followed behind her. Yuri made a hand seal then grabbed the wrist of her other arm, dragging it along the ground. "RAKUKOJIN!" She

yelled as she closed in with an uppercut that rose a cloud of debris. In that time Mai unsummons the wheels, the dirt clouds the vision

of Nori and Yuri is seen falling down on top of him, the ground blows upward like a geyser. When the dust settles, Yuri stands in a

crater, her hand covered in blood, Nori no where to be seen. "Your a tough one, alright" Kyo said with a smirk on his face as he looks at

Nori. Standing across from the hole, Nori riddled with cuts, his clothing in tatters. He stands proudly, but, breathes heavily saying "You, .

. . turned your hand into steel? H,h, . how, how are you. . " as Nori spoke he fell to his knees in exhaustion. Yuri looked at her hand

covered in blood the skin peeling, from her dragging her hand "Yagi taught me that move, he said that since I could do ninjutsu but

don't have the patients to do too many hand seals at one time. He would help me make a technique that I could do while running. The

Falling Steel Blade is what he called it bfore we even made it. He had that kind of confidence, a steel style jutsu that I never dreamed I

could do. Once he told me it would be a steel technique I told him no." Yuri begins to cry "He persisted, it'll just take some time he said,

even after we found out that it was a kekkei tota, I wanted to quit. But, he just wanted to keep going, all we need is a faster way to

learn it, it'll come to us he said. We worked on it for months and the most I could do was make my hand hurt. He kept pushing though,

coming up with new ideas, so I could learn it faster, be more proficient, stronger. Until," Yuri raises her hand into the light of the sun as it

reflects off the gray metal of her hand. Kyo looked at his student as he wiped his eye a smile on his face, Mai with tears in her eyes also

smiled at what Yuri had achieved. Yuri cradled her metal hand as she lowered her head saying "But, this is all I can do without him, I

can't make it stretch any further or do anything else." Yuri pointed her metallic fist at Nori saying "Believe me when I tell you, I won't

ever lose with this hand, Yagi's Rakukojin!' With a look as serious as death itself Yuri promised. Nori felt her words in his heart as he felt

a rush down his spine, a twinge of fear crept into his mind as he stared into the eyes Yuri. He dropped his head as he remembered how

he had seen her as she ran through the blades that rained on them both. He didn't understand what gave her such power, such

ferocity. Nori needed to know, what did this Yagi possess that would inspire her so much. "Well Nori, you passed, how do you feel?" Kyo

asked. Nori remained silent. "I tested Yuri,Mai and Yagi the same way when they came to me originally. You find out a lot about yourself

and those around you when you think your about to be killed, it's a humbling experience. Right?" Nori stood to his feet and took a deep

breath a grin on his face, he sighed saying "Yeah, I guess your right, I look forward to are future together Sensei.