The sun sat high in the sky above the hidden leaf village, it had only been a day or so since my engagement with senshi and Sasuke. I couldn't quite say I disagreed with his motivation, until the massacre the uchiha clan was looked down upon, scrutinized, and discriminated against by the village. Even now with only three remaining members much of this distrust was still present, senshi only wished to open the eyes of the village to the truth, the uchiha were their allies. Unable to do this legitimately, sensei was resorting to going behind the hokage. With self appointed missions and strategies for the sake of the village, I had to force these thoughts to the back of my mind so that I could focus on what I was currently doing. At the moment I was just outside of the village with tenten, the two of us were in a clearing inside the forest surrounding the leaf village. I was fulfilling a request made by Guy just a few days ago and doing what I could to help tenten, the two of us stood across from one another, wooden practice swords in hand. She had a very grounded stance and a serious look in her eyes, she held her practice sword in both hands. Holding the wooden sword out at a diagonal angle, the practice sword covered from her right shoulder to her left hip where the pommel came to rest under her hands. "Glad to see you got a proper stance for holding that sword, grounded and with a good defense position. Now let's see how well you can swing that thing around." unexpectedly tenten did not immediately charge forward to open up with an assault. Instead the girl slowly and calmly moved towards me, each step deliberately placed as she shifted to the right trying to circle around me as she closed in. Watching this I had a smile on my face, she was being very smart. Knowing how much more skilled I was then her, she had to be extremely cautious and careful with her movements. "That's it, don't just charge in blindly, study your opponent. Gage their strengths and their weaknesses, watch for their patterns and the slightest bit of movement in the shoulders." I said this as I watched tenten begin shifting around my side, I allowed this to happen and even allowed the girl to get behind me as I spoke. Only to spin around once she went to lunge forward, swinging my practice sword at the side of her neck. Tenten planted her foot and ducked down under the practice sword while slashing at my feet, causing me to leap over the wooden blade and backwards, placing several feet of distance between us. By the time my feet had touched the ground tenten had already rushed forward, dropping her practice sword down she dig the tip into the dirt before slinging said dirt towards my face. Shifting to the left and turning I let the clump of dirt fly past me as the dust obscured my vision, but not tentens chakra. As she took another slash at my right side tentens practice blade clashed with my own as I had brought my wooden sword up to defend my right side while bracing the back of the swords with what remains of my right arm. "Good, your fighting with you head just as much as your body. Staying one step ahead of your opponent is a smart, but it won't guarantee victory." With that said I shoved tentens practice sword away, leaning backward as she brought her practice sword back for a slash at my neck. Swinging my own wooden sword up along my right side, i caught tentens blade and threw it over my head as it came back. Watching tenten follow through with a spin from the parried momentum from her previous strike, I hunched forward as I leaned my stomach back to avoid the following strike across my stomach. "Your too eager to end the fight, going for death blow after death blow. A kill isn't something you can just claim, not with any ordinary opponent." I said this as I took an upwards diagonal slash at tenten once her practice sword had missed and she was wide open. She had barley managed to get her practice sword up in time to knock mine straight up into the air. Causing the wooden tip to miss her my meer inches. "It's something you have to carve out for yourself, each methodical move leading up to the final blow." I continued to give this advice to tenten as she lept back and high up into the air, hurling her practice sword down at me which I easily deflected off to the side. Her basic fundamentals were strong, but aside from that she seemed to lack the proper knowledge and experience of weapon based combat that would allow her to advance properly. Unsure of how to most effectively use her weapon as well as for what weapon is most effective for the current situation. This was made obvious as she pulled a scroll from her pouch, summoning a large bow staff from it as she fell back down to the ground. Dashing forward tenten twirled the staff around herself with violent speed, sliding along the ground tenten attempted to sweep my legs out from under me with the staff. However, stepping back and raising my foot was more than enough to avoid the shaft of wood. Leaning my head back I avoided the secondary strike as tenten stood back up, i then dropped my head down as I straightened up to duck under the third swing as tenten spun the staff around her back. Throwing my practice sword up at my left side I blocked tentens followup strike before whipping the wooden blade across my body to smack away the recovery strike tenten threw at my left side as she brought the staff back and spun it around herself once more. "Too aggressive, you need to adjust your fighting style to fit the weapon you currently wield." I said this as I lunged forward taking a powerful sideways slash at tenten, due to the distance I had just closed her bow staff was no longer effective for offense. Only allowing tenten to use the long shaft of wood to block my strike as I threw a barrage of basic slashes at her. "a bow staff is a defensive weapon, once distance is closed its only advantage has been lost. A staff is best used to keep your opponent at bay with rapid stunning strikes to the head and joints." I spoke as I continued my onslaught of slashes at tenten forcing her backwards as she desperately and barely deflected my attacks. "You've made a mistake in the heat of combat and now you have seconds to recover, how do you get out of this situation? Versatility is your strength, however that means little if you lack the proper knowledge and precision to utilize them fully." I spoke these words as my onslaught continued, forcing tenten back with each blow landed on her bowstaff. Had this been a real contest tenten would have lost, however this would have been of little aid to her training, rather i wanted to see if she could think herself out of this situation. Yet I would not give her forever. As the assault continued and tenten continued to defend her staff began to crack from repeated blows, noticing this I spun around to add just a bit more force to my final blow. However as i became flashy and turned my back to her, tenten made her move. Once my back was turned to her tenten snapped her staff in half, now in each hand she held a roughly three foot baton. Following through on my spin and final blow, tenten used the baton in her right hand to parry my practice sword up and over her head. This left me open for tenten to slam the butt of her second baton into my chest. This knocked a breath of air from my lungs allowing her to follow up with a secondary strike across my face with the baton, from here tenten lunged backwards while flinging both batons forward at me. Recovering from her second blow I straightened up, using my practice sword to swat away the incoming batons, a smile forming on my face as I rubbed my cheek where she had struck me, a smile formed on my face. "Patience and Knowledge, the only counter to greater skill. You let me get cocky so that id slip up, risky but it paid off for you." I said this as tenten pulled a scroll from her sleeve, unrolling it on the ground. "Thanks, but if you weren't taking it easy on me I don't think i would have had the opportunity." Tenten responded as a naginata emerged from the scroll with a cloud of smoke, the blade and tip of the weapon having been wrapped in a thick cut resistant cloth to avoid injury. "I said it once and ill say it again. Your greatest strength is your versatility, utilized properly you'll be able to keep your opponent off guard as your combat style constantly changes. You don't want to stick with one weapon for too long or your opponent will adapt to it." After I said this TenTen came charging forward to unleash a flurry of rapid thrusts. Slipping to the right and the left with a slight turn in each direction, allowed me to avoid the first two thrusts. As the third came in at my left shoulder, I turned to the right and leaned back slightly, letting it pass just over my shoulder. Straightening up from this, I shifted to the left and raised my left foot up, slamming it down onto the cloth covered blade that was aimed from my waist, and driving the blade into the dirt. Immediately Tenten wrenched the shaft of her weapon up into the air. This threw me off balance forcing me to take a few steps back. Tenten capitalized on this by leaping up into the air with a flip. This allowed her to swing her naginata down with tremendous force. Jumping back I avoided the cloth wrapped blade as it sank into the loose dirt, Tenten lept from the end of the naginata even higher into the air. Pulling another scroll from her sleeve, this one already unrolled. From this scroll six kuni shot forward in sets of two, aimed to fly past me on my right and left sides, each set of kuni connected by a thin string only visible by its glint in the sunlight. With an upwards slash I sent an arc of wind chakra forward, one that sliced the strings and let the kuni fly past me. Tenten fell from the air and landed before me with a chain sickle in her right hand, while she gripped the midsection of the chain with her left, rapidly twirling the weighted ball at the end. Twice Tenten whipped the chain at my ankles trying to take my feet out from under me, moving back while raising my feet up allowed me to avoid these. However as she whipped the weighted ball at my side I slung my practice sword up to intercept the chain. This let Tenten rip my weapon from my hand as she gave the chain a strong pull with both hands, now disarmed Tenten pulled a kuni from the pouch on her hip. Rushing forward she took three slashes at my torso, each one blocked by slamming my open palm into her wrist. Catching her wrist on the fourth slash I swept tenten's legs out from under her as I wrenched the kuni from her hand, placing the tip just under her chin. Tenten's form poofed away in a cloud of smoke leaving a log in her place, landing behind me as she lept from a nearby tree. Tenten placed the tip of her cloth wrapped tanto against my back, glancing over my shoulder the girl had a grin on her face as she took deep and steady breaths. "That was a smart use of substitution jutsu, just be prepared for an enemy to react. A good sensory nin like me can sense you in the tree the entire time, and can easily try to turn the tides in the decisive moment." I said this with an impressed smile as I turned around. "I think that's enough for today, you've got an amazing understanding of your arsenal, there is no question about that. However your ability to implement the variety of weaponry you have could use some work, figure out which of your weapons work best for offense and defense as well as how you can seamlessly switch between them. That's something I think I can help with, if you ever have some spare time feel free to swing by. I really don't have much going on right now." I said this to tenten as she lowered her weapon and sat down on the ground, fatigued from the hours of drills and sparring sessions I had put her through. "Thanks, I really appreciate it. Guy sensei isn't the most knowledgeable when it comes to weapons combat." Tenten said this with a short laugh before taking another breath. "So what's this I hear about Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura escorting you out of the village? Sounds like something big going on to me." Tenten asked this question as she began to seal her tanto back into the scroll she removed it from. "Just a simple delivery, I am still a blacksmith after all. As much as i don't want to admit it, they are my escorts." I answered Tenten's question with a short laugh of my own as I knew a comment or joke would surely follow. "So what you're saying is Lady Hokage doesn't think you're strong enough to make the delivery safely on your own. Guess I shouldn't be surprised by an eternal genin." Tenten said this with another laugh as she covered her mouth, it was a joke all in good jest and a well deserved one at that. "Alright get your weapons and get out of here before I decide to get a practice club instead." With that said tenten stood up and made her way about the training grounds gathering up her scattered weapons, and by the time the two of us had made our separate ways from the training grounds, the sun was lowering itself towards the treeline.
