Eclosion Arc: Fight

Yuina waited at training ground four. The sun rose nearly an hour ago, and she basked in the sunlight that was so prominent in Konoha. One good thing was she no longer had winters to suffer through. Snow was even a rarity. A life where she could have proper vitamin D level merely from having steady access to sunlight.

She was looking at the lake when she quickly pivoted to look back at the forest. Immediately, she put all her force on her right foot to evade the oncoming kunai. She was fast enough that she was spared from the kunai hitting any vitals, but it still sliced through her shirt and sliced her arm. A trickle of blood ran down her arm to her elbow.

"If that was poisoned you would be dead." Was he amused? She didn't know what was so funny. He could have gotten her killed.

Yuina knew she said she liked to get to the point, but would a simple pleasantly hurt before throwing weaponry at her?

Her hand reached into her holster and grabbed a kunai of her own. She brought it up to her chest as she moved into a defensive position. She had little faith that he wouldn't attack again.

"You may be a shinobi in the eyes of the village, but it's not enough to be a prodigy." He said the word prodigy almost mockingly.

Orochimaru made the gap between them a few steps closer.

She didn't blink when she felt pain in her abdomen, but she momentarily felt breathless and her esophagus burned. One moment Orochimaru was across the field and the next he was in front of her with his leg out in a kicking position. Yuina adjusted her body the best she could before making an impact with the water.

Chakra pushed out of her feet to skid and skip like a pebble against the water, spraying herself in the process, until she stabilized herself in a standing position.

"Leaders must know how to use their tools. Make no mistake, they will want to use you."

Don't tell her she was going to be some figure for propaganda.

No, she could think about that later. She knew she was viewed as a tool. What mattered right now was what was in front of her. For now, she wasn't going to allow herself to be someone's punching bag. Yuina ran forward. As soon as she stepped back onto land, she made the signs for a shadow clone. It was chakra intensive, but she needed an opportunity. Making an opening would be difficult, if not impossible, but there weren't many options.

It wasn't just the gap in their experience and ranking, but everything down to her small stature created extra barriers.

"So how will you rise to the occasion?"

A punch or a kick? Direct attacks were easily blocked and countered. Orochimaru's limbs were longer, giving him greater range. He had denser bones. Better trained muscles. Unless an opportunity presented itself to attack his neck, her best option was actually to stay low and attack the knees, hoping he would stumble. It wasn't a grand plan, but it was the best she got without getting pummeled.

Yuina threw a kunai, and he caught it with his finger in the loop. It circled around and he threw it back at her clone, causing it to vanish.

"You're used to combat against those slower and weaker than you. You need a faster reaction time, and you need to be able be follow faster movements."

She dodged a punch and backed up to create distance between them. She threw a shuriken and he caught that one too.

Now he was just mocking her. Who thought it was a good idea to catch a bladed weapon?

Orochimaru had to make a name for himself somehow. He was going easy on her despite how badly she was losing. Though, if her attacks were so easy to handle, then she was doomed if she ever came across a foreign-nin.

Yuina aimed another shuriken. As predicted, he caught it again.

Then involuntarily dropped it.

Served him right. The electrical conductivity of iron was extremely high. More than a static shock. It was only natural that it would have sent an electrical voltage through his body. Unfortunately, currents flowing in a single direction had a limited chance of dealing severe damage. While surprised, he would be fine.

It created a momentary opening.

Unfortunately, Yuina still missed. She clung to the collar of her shirt to prevent choking to death as Orochimaru dangled her off the tree. Damn, he's fast. Speed. She's got to work on speed. She'd be doomed if she couldn't learn to keep up. She wondered if this was how her classmates felt when she sparred them. She was sorry!

Yuina did her best to glare up at Orochimaru as she shakily released one hand from her collar and placed a hand on him. She didn't need a jutsu to direct chakra throughout her body. Instead of pooling chakra to her feet, she channeled it to her hand, ensuring her affinity was mixed in rather than in its pure form.

Orochimaru dropped her.

She looked up. She was sure she shocked him. He even looked at his arm where she touched him, and yet he was still composed.

One day she was going to become strong enough to force him to show more emotion on that stony face of his. It didn't matter how long it took. She would get her gotcha moment and she would be proud of it.

Actually, to make sure he didn't think it was a fluke Yuina pressed her hand against the tree he still stood on. The thing about lightning was it was extremely hot. Enough of a reaction and she could….

Aha!

The tree snapped before the heat properly took effect, so Orochimaru jumped off the fallen tree. The fire she intended was late, but a few sparks smoked the wood until a small fire was created.

For the first time that day she spoke, "I… don't know how to put it out." Not without a bucket.

"I'll handle it, but what you did with your hand..."

Hm? "I just regulated my chakra. Except instead of intertwining chakra like I do when walking up a tree, I kept it isolated so that it would cause a different reaction." She still had a long way to go on chakra control if she was ever going to succeed at manipulating it to a molecular level.

No. Orochimaru didn't intertwine his chakra when walking on abnormal surfaces. His comparison would be like using chakra as a magnetic force to stick to objects. What Yuina described sounded different. Though, the possibilities of mixing or integrating chakra was an interesting prospect.

"Think about what you can do to improve. Spend the next few days accepting D-Rank Missions. I'll allow you in the lab once you've completed ten missions."

For the third time, it was like she saw someone new when looking at Orochimaru. Yuina was ecstatic. The suffering she endured that way was worth it if it meant being able to use the lab. Hopefully, she hadn't lost her touch.

Yuina headed back home. It was once she passed the park that the pain of the spar caught up to her. She wondered how often and how long she was supposed to train outside sessions. University recommended three hours for every hour of lecture – though the reality often fluctuated on how hard the materials were. She wondered if she should treat it as a 9-5 job. Maybe a 6-2? It was always better to get work out of the way and her family were early risers.

Some of that training needed to be how she could work around the limitations of her child body. It was frustration. She was inherently at a disadvantage. It was no different to how prey animals often targeted the young. There was one thing she could do as far as frontal assaults were concerned, and she was still owed a congratulation present too. Yuina sighed. She felt her to do list grow longer and longer.

She entered her home and Sakumo warily looked at his daughter who was wet and dirtied but sported an infectious grin. "I know what I want now. Can you teach me to use a tanto?" A full shaku length tanto. It would be small enough to carry around and use while giving her extra reach. Any match where someone tried to fight barehanded against a weapon equipped opponent were guaranteed to face catastrophe. A kunai was a good, useful tool, but a tanto would grant her more reach and cause deeper wounds.

Sakumo had to know how to use one. He always took that beautiful tanto of his when he went off on missions. Training with another weapon would add more to her schedule, but she wanted to bring it near the top of her priority list to prevent getting the shit kicked out of her every time.

"Okay. Shall we start now?"

That wasn't what she meant. She still needed a tanto, but she wasn't in any position to refuse and therefore accepted. Sakumo allowed her to wield his that day as he taught her proper handling.

Yuina caught Kakashi watching from his window at one point. He should have come joined them if he wanted to. Knowing him, he was playing with Pakkun instead.

She just hoped he was doing well. That Minato guy should hurry on back if he didn't want to face Kakashi's wrath.