OOC: Reaction Time training.

Nozomi had been pushing herself quite a bit. She was simply getting exhausted by her training. After all, the human body could only do so much, and hers wasn't exactly the picture of perfect health. Sure, she was perfectly fit for someone her age, but the health issues she had always presented a problem. It was the main reason that in the Himitsu clan she was one of the few that fell short of expectations. Because she could never be as good as her peers due to her failing health. It was problematic for a combat centered clan. Of course, that didn't stop the young girl from trying her best. She had trained day in and out as of late, and pushed herself as far as she could go. When she thought that she was done, she pushed herself even further. The only way to get better was to push the mind and body to its utmost, and then give it some more. And that was always dangerous.

Nozomi looked at her training partner. He was a teacher from the academy that had offered to train her a little bit. He smiled at her, twirling a Kunai around on his finger. "Alright Nozomi. We need to work on your reflexes and reaction time. Without the ability to dodge or react to outside stimuli, it is impossible to function as a shinobi. It is essential that you learn to improve your reaction time, as this is one of the most vital skills you can learn. Sure, it's good to be able to hit things really hard, and always good to be fast and outspeed people, but don't underestimate what natural reflexes can do. Against a stronger opponent, it's fine to be able to take his hits, but its even better to not be there when he hits. And while natural speed can definitely help you dodge, you also lose ground when you dodge. But if you can simply react to cues given, you can be where it isn't. Not only that, but if something's coming as a surprise, the better your reaction time, the better you can-" he cut off and hurled his kunai at Nozomi. She flinched out of the way, leaping to the side as it sailed harmlessly past her. "-move out of danger." he finished, smiling.

Nozomi smiled back at him. Sure, it was dangerous standing in the way of a kunai blade as he threw it, but only by putting herself in danger can shee truly force her absolute best. If she knew she wasn't in any real danger, it would slow her senses, and she was trying to be as focused as possible at the moment. Now that her mind was focused on the task at hand, Nozomi was picking up on some visual clues, watching his movements, waiting to see what he'd do next. He had an approving look in his eyes as he noticed her attentive gaze. With that, he launched into another attack, throwing  another Kunai at Nozomi, who side stepped it once again, although it grazed past her shoulder, opening a small scratch on her arm. The damage was negligable though. She'd have to do better than that. Pulling out her own Kunai, Nozomi waited for the next cue.

It didn't take long of course, and yet another Kunai was launched at her, aimed at her left thigh. Nozomi quickly brought her kunai down and the two blades just barely intercepted before it could hit her, and his blade skirted off into the corner of the room. The teacher smiled at her and nodded. "Good, now for the hand to hand." he said, and rushed forward, lashing out his arm and sending her own kunai sailing into the wall. They were now locked into a hand to hand combat, the main skill of the Himitsu clan. He was teaching her so that she would be able to react better in her spars, and that's what this was about. As the two exchanged blows, Nozomi noticed that she was starting to react quicker, noticing more and more about her teachers movements. Soon she was knocking his attacks off course. She wasn't able to attack back yet, but she was defending just as easily as he could attack.

As their spar dragged on, Nozomi felt herself tiring out quicker and quicker. Soon enough her breath grew ragged, and she started to sweat a little bit. To be honest, she couldn't ever sustain her top performance for very long. She had been born sick, and it took its toll on her stamina. Sometimes she could push past it, but the more rigorous the fight or training, the worse it was. She finally slipped up on her defense and her teacher's palm came forward and smashed into her face, knocking her onto the floor with a thud. He held his stance for a second before straightening up. "You alright Nozomi?" he asked, making sure that his young charge was safe. After all, he wasn't as rigid as her family was. He actually had some moral fibers in his body.

Nozomi nodded and sat up, breathing in heavily. "Yeah, I'm fine Sensei.... I just need a quick break, before we can begin again." she replied, standing up with a grunt. She went around the room and collected the thrown kunai from earlier, pocketing her own and handing the rest back to the teacher before sitting down again. She still wasn't good enough, but she was improving. Perhaps she'd amount to something after all.

WC: 926
Reaction Time Training: (926) 750/750 E-D

OOC: Endurance Training.
Nozomi now stood facing the teacher once again. They'd been on break for long enough, and now Nozomi had fully caught her breath and rested up enough to function again. Her teacher looked at her and contemplated for a little while before sighing a little bit. "I really hate to say this Nozomi, but you can't take a lot of hits. You're too fragile, and your stamina doesn't hold out for very long." he said, frowning. "I mean, sure, you're able to push me away long enough, and defend decently well, but that's simply by knocking me out of the way. You have to learn how to take hits and push through them. So now, we're going to work purely on your endurance." he looked at her. Nozomi frowned. Why did he hate to have to say that? She knew that she couldn't take a lot of hits. The answer would soon dawn on her though as she saw the look in his eyes. It was a pained one for what was about to happen of course. It was obvious. He was going to pound the endurance into her, and she had to simply stand there and block him, holding out as long as she possibly could. It certainly wasn't going to be a treat for her. But then again, she already knew this wasn't going to be an easy task.

Gulping, Nozomi nodded to him to proceed. She was as mentally prepared as she possibly could be, and was willing to hold out. After all, she'd suffered through painful lashings whenever she failed to meet expectations, so she wasn't a stranger to pain. No, this wouldn't be all that difficult. She hoped anyhow. Holding her arms up in a defensive stance, Nozomi simply closed her eyes. A moment or two later, and she felt an overwhelming strike on her arms and the onslaught began, with Nozomi using every bit of her ability to keep her guard up against the strikes. He certainly wasn't holding back, nor did she want him to, but he was certainly a lot stronger than she'd thought he was. In the end it appeared he'd been holding back during her reflex training, as there was no way she'd have lasted very long against him if he used this kind of force on her.

Keeping her arms crossed, Nozomi's knees buckled and she was forced to the ground, but he still never let up, his barrage relentless. He was intent on breaking her guard no matter what, and it was Nozomi's job to keep it up as long as was humanly possible. Which she also didn't think would be much longer. His strikes were relentless, like a machine simply pumping away, hit after hit, each slamming into her arms. They'd be bruised after this, that was for sure. Still, to her credit, Nozomi kept her guard up, and they continued on for what seemed like hours. In reality it was only a minute or so, but the teacher didn't even seem tired out, still pumping out blow after blow like he'd just started. In stark contrast, Nozomi's arms were getting weaker and weaker until eventually she couldn't hold up her guard anymore.

As her arms separated slightly, his fist shot right through the little gap and made contact with her chest, knocking her back, sending her flying through the air a little over a meter. "I'm sorry if I seem to be so rough, but you got to understand, its a necessary evil. Real world enemies and dangers aren't going to pull their punches when fighting you, so you've got to become stronger, and be able to take hits. Now, that isn't to say you should stand there and let people pound on you, but you do have to be able to take a hit in case you can't dodge something. After all, being a shinobi is all about learning how to adapt to any situation to complete your mission. But good job. I didn't expect you to be able to endure for so long. I was getting worried that I'd really hurt you if I kept it up any longer. But that's enough for today Nozomi." he said, and smiled. He left without further warning or saying anything else. He appeared nice, but it was in a teacherly manner, nothing more, nothing less.

Nozomi sighed. She'd really pushed herself today, but she still wasn't anywhere near where she'd like to be. Perhaps she'd take place in the Chuunin exams, and progress further through them. They seemed to be an excellent test to test her progress.

WC: 770
Endurance Training: (770) 750/750 E-D

OOC: Training Strength

A couple of days later, Nozomi and her teacher were once again back in the room for more training. It was a rather dingy room, and only had a couple of barred windows. In all honesty, the room was little more than a large cell. The lights were dull, just barely enough to light the small space. Her personal tutor stood in the middle of it, pacing as he usually did, always for a while before he even started to talk. After a minute or so of his pacing, he stopped and faced Nozomi. "Alright, Nozomi. Let's get you started on your training again. We're going to work on your strikes today. Mainly because your clan focuses so wholeheartedly on their Taijutsu. While that's a great goal and all, your reliance on that jutsu you use to suppliment weakens you, so we need to increase your physical prowess from the onset. So, if we can increase your strength, then when you're not using your jutsu you'll be good, and when you are, you'll be all the better for it. Not only will your physical strength do damage, but your jutsu technique will deal some on top of that, making you a deadly machine." he said, and stepped into a fighting stance. From the way he stood, it was as if he wasn't even intending to attack her head on, or he still had more to say at that point in time.

Correct in her assumption, Nozomi listened on as her tutor began speaking again. "The absolute best way to train up your skills is to let you attack me, much like I attacked you the other day to build your endurance. Don't worry about hurting me, I can take the hits just fine. Come at me with your hardest strikes, and we'll certainly get you all trained up Nozomi." As he finished speaking, his arms went up into a defensive pose. Nozomi was used to training on training dummies, but an actual person was better, because it allowed her to target more into specific places, and to actually feel what the experience would be like with strikes. Against an actual opponent, it was much more real. She smiled and moved into her own stance, now ready to begin.

She rushed towards him and began her assault, striking at him with all that she had. It seemed to be that he was correct, however, and not matter what she did, it didn't appear to have any sort of effect on him in the slightest. His defense was impeccable. She continued striking, powering more of her strength into the attacks, but it was still as he said, he took her hits like they were nothing. With each of her own strikes, she could feel him tensing up his muscles and tightening them to withstand her strikes. The sheer control he had was impressive, already defending against her attacks before she could even touch him. It was rather impressive, because in the end it allowed her to go full strength against him. He had no trouble whatsoever against her own attacks.

He had been correct of course. Her clan was far too focused on their Taijutsu in conjunction with their jutsu that they didn't really train their own strength all that much. In the end, that's what was of the biggest detriment of their style. It seemed that this teacher was pretty perceptive to pick up on that. In fact, it was possible that he was trying to make her better than them, but to what ends? Why would he be helping Nozomi overcome the short comings of her own clan? All he was supposed to do was train her up just enough that she wouldn't disappoint her family, but the way it was going, he was looking to go further than that. He was so focused on training her that it appeared he wanted her to surpass him. He was a Chuunin, after all, so perhaps he simply wanted her to get better so that they could train together. If she could get to his own level, then it would be a simple matter for them to spar as equals, and further train themselves.

If anything, that completely motivated her to fight to her fullest extent and so she did, giving it all that she had to give. Nozomi's strikes continued on at their full extent, and she was adding in plenty of kicks as well, pushing herself to her highest quality in strength. The more she strained her muscles, the stronger she'd be when fully recovered. In the end, she finished off the little spar, jumping and twisting, sending a kick into his arms, which sent him sliding back a couple of feet. As she stood there panting, she noticed something. He was tired as well, evidenced by his own panting. It seemed that his endurance had a limit as well, and that she'd even pushed it a little bit. Grinning, Nozomi looked at him, as he stared back, approval in his eyes.

WC: 842
Strength Training: (842) 725/725 D-D2

OOC: Speed Training

As they stood there, both of them out of breath, Nozomi more so than her Chuunin tutor, he took that time to begin speaking again. This time, he was more focused than he had been previously. "You've gotten a lot stronger Nozomi. I wasn't expecting that. Of course, not nearly enough that you'd take me down one on one, but enough to make me catch my breath while defending. It seems that you started to pour more of yourself into it as the fight grew on, because you were hitting harder near the end than you were in the beginning. Made my arms sting a bit too. Nice improvement." he complimented her, before removing his focus from her, thinking about what he was going to say next before he said it. He was pretty smart, and generally thought through what he was saying or doing before completing it. It was much nicer to have him as a teacher than her impatient father, who wanted her to be a prodigy.

"Alright, that was really good, I'll hand you that. We're done with the strength training for right now, lets focus on your speed. In this training exercise we're going to have you do one thing. I'm going to be moving around the room, and you're going to try and catch me. Simple enough exercise in theory, but in practice, landing a blow is much more important. It'll also give you a principle understanding of hitting a moving target better. In an actual fight against somebody, they aren't just going to be stationary and exchange blows with you. Sometimes you'll have to keep speed with them and be on the move. Conversely, when it comes to your opponents, if you're faster than them, remaining stationary removes an advantage your have on your opponent. Speed gives people a definite edge. The faster you are, the harder it is to see you, to react to you. And speed can possibly win you a match even if they've got the edge on you in every other skill. I've seen people beat others who were twice as strong as them simply because they couldn't be hit. Strength means little if you can't touch your opponent. 100 weak hits will still be better than 0 strong ones." he said, smiling politely.

With that out of the way, their real training could begin. Nozomi took a deep breath and then charged forward, eager to try her best to land a hit on him. As she struck out with her arm, she frowned, his head was not where it had been before. He'd moved quicker than she could hit him, simply side stepping her strike. He was certainly quicker than she was, by a fair bit. That was enough to set her off. She was now set on hitting him, at least making contact. And the Chuunin was dead set on her not landing a blow. He wasn't holding back like he had in the previous training sessions. It was evident that he wanted her to work for it, to push herself as far as she could go to hit him. Not even match his speed, but at least get a hit off. She continued trying to hit him, but his speed and reflexes were so much greater that he simply sidestepped each of her attacks. He was barely even moving from the one spot.

That's when it hit her: He'd said that fights rarely ever happened in one area, and that she should absolutely utilize her speed to its highest potential. Which meant that she shouldn't stay stationary either. From there, Nozomi started to striked at him, moving as she did so, attempting to circle him. He ducked under her arm, and she lashed backwards with her foot, hoping to catch him in the back, but he swiveled his body to the side, the kick passing by him harmlessly. Although the smirk on his face showed that he was impressed with her attempt. They continued on with their spar for a while like that afterwards, but still to no avail. Nozomi couldn't land a single hit on him. He was simply too fast for her to hit, at her current level. That's when she started to think.

Paying attention to the layout of the room, she noticed that they'd shifted from their original position, closer to a wall now. She smiled and knew what to do then. The whole reason he was blocking so well was because he was able to move easily. He had ample room. So in order to hit him, she had to maneuver him away from all of that room. She started leading him towards a corner, and just as she'd planned, he backed himself up into it. The grin on his own face let her know that he knew what she was doing and was impressed at her planning. As he was merely testing her, he let it happen, seeing how she'd manage to hit him. As he was pressed into the corner, Nozomi struck forward, her hand finally making contact with him. Or rather, his own palm.

He'd simply caught her strike, his hand having rushed up to meet her own. "That was an impressive display Nozomi. I'd say you passed that. Not only did you use your own speed, but you also applied it. Like I said, standing around does little. You've got to use the entire field to your advantage. In this case, you take a faster opponent and limit their ability to move. Once that's done, you've got the advantage. You show some promise, I like that you use your mind." he said, and released her hand, before striking forward with a palm of his own, shoving her back a few feet, causing her to fall over and land on her back. It had been a little bit of a surprise, after all, she didn't see it coming at all.

WC: 991
Speed Training: (991) 725/725 D-D2

OOC: Training Reaction Time

Nozomi sat back up, about to yell out an outburst or something, to yell and ask what his problem was, or to cry because he'd hit her for no reason, when she saw that he was laughing. While that might infuriate most people, Nozomi calmed down a little bit, as she realized that he'd had some sort of reason for doing so. "Like I said, you did good Nozomi, but for all that speed it won't do you a damn bit of good if you can't react to your opponent's own speed. Sure, you can back them into a corner, and sure you can try and strategize, but if you aren't trained enough in your reflexes, any opponent will just do what I did. Your attack will be stopped, and you'll be knocked on your bum, like you were just now. So, that brings us to part three of your training. We're going to work on your reflexes again. This time, I'm not holding back quite so much though. I'm going to help teach you how to use your instincts to avoid hits. Or react faster. Sometimes people are going to be much faster than you. You'll need to rely on your own instincts to avoid hits. That's what this is about."

He smiled at her, taking a fighting pose again. He was waiting on something, and Nozomi was slightly confused for a few seconds before she realized what it was. Oh, he wanted her to stand up. Of course, that should have been obvious. Getting back to her feet, she took a somewhat defensive pose and he nodded, ready to begin. And just like that, he was upon her. His movements and his strikes were just around where hers had been when she was attacking him, which meant he was holding back a little bit. "Remember, this is about preemptively reacting. Seeing something based on visual clues. Watch my shoulders, not my attacks. Try and figure out where I'm going to strike, and block or move before I can get there." he said, and with that began to speed up his attacks. She was almost caught completely by surprise by the burst of speed, and immediately he broke through her guard, delivering a combo of three strikes to her chest, knocking her back a couple of feet again. He continued moving forward and didn't give her much time to recover. Soon enough she was on the defensive again. She held her guard up and simply watched his movements, trying to give herself some sort of preemptive view of his actions.

Eventually, her eyes widened, and she saw it. A little twitch in his arm right before he threw his punch. The tell that he'd told her to look for. And then she moved, her first dodge on his hits since he started. After that, it became easier to read his movements. Of course, she couldn't dodge all of them, but she was doing well, dodging some attacks, blocking others, knocking some aside. She didn't take anymore direct hits after that, having fallen into the rhythm. The Chuunin had a grin on his face as he noticed that she was getting the hang of it. She was a much better learner than he'd thought she'd be. With all that her father had told him about how worthless she was, and admittedly she wasn't any prodigy, he'd expected this to be a harder job. In the end it just seemed that he had impossible standards to hold her to, and that was why he was so invested in helping her. The more he could help, the better it would be. Plus, if he could do what her father couldn't and make her into something, then of course his pay would be supplemented better. Being a private tutor was always a good thing. All she'd needed was a different teacher, an alternative method.

Ceasing his attacks, he grinned at her. "Excellent. You picked up the idea pretty quickly. I mean, after you figure it out, there's only a little bit I can do from there. You've obviously got the hang of it, so that's pretty much all I can do for you on that one. Once you're able to train up your reflexes, you'll be almost a master at it. You'll be able to notice the shifts like a muscle memory, and that'll give you a clue as to what to expect. Now, it isn't a perfect system, but all you've got to do is train it up. Eventually it'll come naturally. There are even some shinobi that don't even need their eyes to pick up clues, but can do so on hearing as well. You'll get there in time, with a lot of practice, but you've got the idea now." he said and chuckled, walking back a few steps. There was sweat on his brow, so it was obvious that this was taking its toll on him. He'd been going at it for a while. Nozomi was absolutely exhausted, panting heavily. He looked at her with prying eyes, then sighed. "Lets take a break. Rest up a little bit, and we'll continue in a few." With that said, the Chuunin moved over to a corner of the room and leaned against the wall. He obviously needed a little bit of a break as well, and they'd make the most of this one.

WC: 901
Reaction Time Training: (901) 725/725 D-D2

OOC: Perception Training

About 10 minutes later, the Chuunin tutor pushed off from the wall, rested up enough. He crossed his arms and walked over to Nozomi, looking her up and down for a moment, as if considering something. After a couple of moments, he nodded to himself, as if finally reaching a conclusion about something. "We're close to being done for the day. We're going to work on your perception now. This one should be much less stress inducing than the other trainings. I'm still giving you some time to rest up, so there isn't much need to worry about that right now. Keep on resting your body, because we'll be ending your day with some endurance training. You'll be pushed even farther than last time, so, I'll need you as rested up as possible. Okay, perception training isn't like the rest. With this, you've just got to pay attention. Like the reaction training, you'll be watching, except this time you'll instead be paying more attention and focusing on the actual things, instead of looking for vague cues. Eventually, once your perception has increased enough, you'll be able to pick out incredibly fast movement like it was normal. Even using your hearing to help you see things coming." he said, pulling out a Kunai knife.

"I want you to try and keep track of this." he started to explain as he tied a string around it. "Just follow it with your eyes, and it'll do wonders to increase your perception." he said, and hurled the kunai. Considering how quickly he'd thrown it, Nozomi wasn't even able to see it. She knew he was controlling it by sending chakra through the string, but it was simply moving far too fast for her to pick it out.

"I can't see it Sensei." she said. She rarely talked during training, so it came as a surprise to both of them when she spoke up, but she was being perfectly honest. She couldn't see it at all. It might have been different if it was a person, and larger, but in the dim light of the room, especially considering the size of the Kunai, it wasn't surprising that she couldn't pick it out.

The Chuunin simply sighed. "You can do it Nozomi. Just keep at it. Concentrate, I know you can do it. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to. Don't focus on seeing the entire thing, just focus on looking for changes. Look out at the wall, and pay attention for subtle changes that will clue you in on the path of the Kunai. Then, once you've got it, lock on. Pay attention, and follow it. It'll be much easier once you can see its path."

Nozomi nodded and did as she was told. Her eyes stopped trying to focus on the Kunai itself, and instead focused on finding its movement. As her eyes relaxed a little bit, she noticed a subtle change. It wasn't much, but it was enough. She kept on looking at the wall opposite her, and then gave a start: There it was again. The same high speed movement as before, except this time she locked onto it. It was still incredibly fast to her eye, like looking out of the window of a car, but the blur was enough for her to find the Kunai. Grinning, Nozomi pulled out her own blade.

The Chuunin had noticed that, and looked at her from his peripherals, watching her study the path of the Kunai. He half smirked, realizing she was going to attempt to knock it out of its path. Interesting response from Nozomi, one he wasn't expecting. It was enough that she'd even figured out where it was so quickly. He wasn't really holding back much on his control. Well, if she was going to play it that way, then he'd certainly have to make it much more interesting.

He altered the path of the kunai, now sending it shooting straight for her, aimed at her belly button. If it hit her, she'd be in some pain, and would definitely be injured pretty badly. He knew about her resistance to medical ninjutsu. A wound like that might prove to be fatal. Of course, it didn't matter much to him. If she died, he'd still be paid for his time, as he had most certainly trained her up a lot. And her father had told him that he didn't care what happened to her, as she was useless to him anyhow. So, her life was now in her own hands. His methods may seem cruel, but when pressed in a life threatening situation, he knew thats when the human body could push through its limits.

Nozomi's eyes widened as she saw the kunai moving towards her. She'd have to nail the timing just right. Bringing her own kunai knife up, it made it just in the nick of time, knocking her opponent's blade off course. From there, the Chuunin smiled happily. "Good, you've passed this one. Now that you've seen the trick, training it shouldn't be a problem for you anymore. Just keep at it, and soon you'll have more than a simply close call with one Kunai knife. In real battle, multiple knives, shuriken, and senbon can and will be thrown at you. And you've got to get them all, or else you may be in quite some serious danger. As a shinobi, your life is constantly on the line. Remember that." he said, and smiled, panting. He'd expended a lot of his chakra in order to maintain that until she'd picked up on its movement. They were both almost done for the day.

WC: 944
Perception Training: (944) 725/725 D-D2

OOC: Endurance Training

The Chuunin blinked as he realized he'd lost so much chakra. He was more worn out than Nozomi at this point. In fact, there was all the likelihood that he was now exhausted down to her own level. This would be a good opportunity then, as he wouldn't have to hold back, and yet at the same time, he could push Nozomi's endurance to its max. Clearing his throat, the Chuunin chuckled. "I didn't expect to be this worn out by the end of the training, honestly. The amount you've improved since we started a couple weeks ago is nothing short of extraordinary Nozomi. This will probably be the last time we get to train before the Chuunin exams, so we're going to push it as far as we can today. That's why I'd usually have ended the session by now, but I've still got one more thing to do. With whatever gas I've got left in the tank, I'm going to spar with you. We should be just about evenly matched right now, considering I'm running low on Chakra and I've been using my full skills on you from the start. So lets go, you and me. Consider this a graduation exam. It's your final test before the Chuunin exams." he panted out. He was obviously running pretty close to empty at the moment.

Nozomi nodded slightly. She too had used up quite a bit of her stamina throughout the day. Considering her illness, she knew that she'd pushed herself pretty far, and was surprised it hadn't set in yet. She'd usually be coughing up blood by now, so she knew she was getting close as well. This spar would have to have everything she had left put into it. She'd push her body as far as she could, and give it her all, so that by the time the Chuunin exams rolled around, she'd be ready for them, utterly and completely. Raising her arms into her usual stance, as if readying to utilize the technique 'The Dance of the Misty Petals', she readied herself. However, she didn't use the jutsu, as she wanted to do this without it for now. Her own strength would have to suffice, especially considering she didn't feel like shooting Chakra blades into him. her tutor also raised his own hands, balling them up into fists. e wasn't exactly a Taijutsu expert, but he was fairly sufficient in it. He'd be able to hold his own in a fight using taijutsu just fine, especially considering his physical advantages over her.

Both of them charged forward, and Nozomi was the first to strike out at him. She sent out a strike with her right arm, which he skillfully intercepted with his own arm. He sent his own right hook at her, which she easily ducked under, dropping into a sweep kick. It wasn't to any avail though, as he simply leaped over her leg, jumping back a few feet. Nozomi pushed off of the ground, pushing herself back to her starting position again, keeping distance as she righted herself again. She was already at a height disadvantage, and being low to the ground could prove dangerous in a fight. They both charged forward again, and began to exchange blows at the quickest rate they possibly could. Nozomi used everything that she'd been taught that day in order to combat him. Even as exhausted as the Chuunin was, he still fought with such skill that he wasn't an easy opponent, and she was still doing everything she could to stay in the fight. Even though he said he was running on empty, it certainly didn't appear that way to Nozomi. She was starting to slow down a little bit, her body running out of energy. She didn't have long before her illness set in and detrimented her.

Going all or nothing, Nozomi had to make her decision right there. She'd go for the end all be all right then and there. Launching herself at her tutor, she balled up her hand and launched her fist at him. He reciprocated ready to end this as well, and they both threw their punches. They both landed their hits, Nozomi cracking him square in the jaw, and the Chuunin tutor landing one right one the side of her face. Both were sent flying backwards through the air, landing heavily on the ground.

For a few moments, nobody moved, until the Chuunin managed to push himself into a sitting position. He'd knocked out Nozomi, but it had been close. His hit had done more damage simply because of his longer reach. He panted heavily. The girl had a heck of a right hook though. He smiled. She was ready for the exams. There wasn't anything else he could do for her. Standing up, he went over to her and bent down, picking the unconscious girl up. She needed some rest now, after all, the Chuunin exams weren't very far away. Limping off, he carried her away from the training room, off to the medical center to get her healed up. After all, she healed much slower than the rest of the people usually did. Something to do with her mysterious illness he remembered being told. She simply didn't have the ability to be healed quite as efficiently. With the Chuunin exams starting up soon, she really needed to make the most of her time, and heal up as best as possible. He didn't train her for so long just for her to fail the exams right from the start. Not without being at 100% anyhow.

Nozomi's thoughts swam around in her unconscious mind. They were directed towards her fight. All throughout the day and throughout her training, she'd noticed the Chuunin smiling. As if he was happy with her progress. Impressed even. Perhaps she wasn't the waste of space her father would have her believe she was. Perhaps she was worth something after all. And these exams were definitely the place to prove it. She'd show him, she'd show everyone that she wasn't a weak little girl. Sure, she was a little self conscious, but that was because she'd always been treated like dirt. Well, now she had some approval, and that gave her hope. Her thoughts didn't linger on the exams though, and soon drifted off yet again. Despite the looming threat of the exams, she couldn't help but be preoccupied in her other thoughts. Her loneliness. Nozomi was kind of sad, that in the end, her time training was over. She'd only been with him in order to train for the exams, and now that they were so close, she'd be alone again. If she could, Nozomi would slightly frown.

WC: 1122
Endurance Training: (1122) 725/725 D-D2
(1371 WC rolled over across the thread, distributed among Speed, Perception and Reaction Time for added tier up.)
OOC: Leaving Thread