Once the excitement died down and we had eaten our fill of ramen, I changed from my shirt to a tank top and Toku and I went outside to spar.
"The usual? First person to give up has to buy the other ramen for a month?" Toku asked, stretching her muscles.
I smiled and stretched as well. "You know it!"
After stretching, we took up our positions, ready to spar.
"And…GO!" screamed our four spectators.
In a flash I was off, expending chakra to my feet to speedily reach Toku. I charged her with a kunai but thanks to her Byakugan, she was able to dodge me.
I countered with a smoke bomb, followed by my earth style jutsu. I sank into the ground and manipulated the dirt around me till I was sure I was beneath her. I counted backwards from 3 and sent several kunai flying at her.
When I resurfaced, she was nowhere to be seen. Cautiously, l scanned the area, searching for her.
That's when I felt her presence.
Taking a breath, I sent a burst of chakra to my feet and legs and jumped just high enough to back flip over her, my hands using her head as a spring board.
When I landed on my feet, I attempted to again get her with my kunai, but she caught my wrists. I took the opportunity to drop and slide to throw her off balance. It was almost like we were dancing.
As I slid, I used my chakra to strengthen my arms. Rising up, I was able to fling Toku across the yard.
She regained control of herself and took the fall well. I readied my hand signs and blasted her with my fireball jutsu.
As I watched her body burn, it reverted back to being a rock.
The smoke then cleared and I searched for my opponent.
A kunai wizzed through the air, nearly hitting my ear. I spun around and came face to face with Toku. I watched her stance. She was going into her gentle fist position.
I smirked and met her stance. I had some degree of being able to use gentle fist, but not as well as Hyuga clan members.
Hands, feet, and chakra all collided fiercely. I was able to keep up with her movements, but it started to take a toll on my body. My fingers were aching and I was pretty sure I fractured my wrist. Close combat had never been one of my strong suits.
Toku could sense that my body wasn't able to keep up with gentle fist anymore. She continued attacking till she hit my wrist. Yep, it was for sure broken now.
"Dammit!" I yelled in pain, falling onto my butt.
Toku stood over me and smirked. "Give up?"
I sighed. "Got no choice right?"
She laughed and extended her hand to help me up.
I took it and rose to my feet. We both smiled and started brushing the dirt and sweat off our bodies.
Just then we heard slow clapping.
"Well done you two. You both fought adamantly, with the power of your youth!"
Both Toku and I rolled our eyes and Gui-Sensei's statement.
"Gui-Sensei! Guess what?" Konohamaru asked.
"We graduated from the academy!" Sekio answered proudly.
Gui-Sensei smiled proudly at the four students. "I actually already knew this. In fact, I was sent here under the Hokage's orders. She wants all graduating students to go through the rehearsal graduation ceremony, and I'm instructed to take you to the arena immediately."
"Oh, Toku, Tama," The jounin said, looking at us. "I ran into Tsume. She wanted to see you; said something about wanting help at the kennel. If I were you I wouldn't keep her waiting."
Toku and I looked at each other with apprehension on our faces. Tsume Inuzuka was the only jounin who had taken on Toku and I when we graduated from the accademy, and she was a force to be reckoned with.
You see, usually the graduating class is split up into groups of three; usually two guys and one girl. However, Toku and I earned the privilege of being the odd men out. There weren't any other guys to pair us up with to make our respective squads.
Several of the kids muttered that it was bad luck that we were the only ones without partners. Some of the jounin even seemed to think it was bad luck.
"You, kid with the kekkei genkai; you graduated, correct?" A fierce looking woman asked Toku.
Toku nodded hastily, blushing.
"And what about you short stuff?" The woman asked me.
"Yes ma'am." I answered.
"So the only hold up is the fact you don't have partners?" She continued.
Toku and I both nodded.
The woman smirked then looked at the other jounin and juunin. "I'll be their team leader, and they won't need partners. They'll do fine working together."
"Are you sure, Tsume? They'll be at a disadvantage to the rest of the teams and out in the field." one jounin protested.
Tsume scoffed. "Please. With me training them, they'll be promoted to jounin before any of the other teams make chuunin."
Everyone remained silent. She was so confident in us, even though she'd never met us before.