As Kaguza and the Kaguya made their way through the village, Tsuneko gradually became more at ease. Though still careful with her words, not wanting to cause offense, now that she was away from the villagers she no longer felt quite as judged and carried on a casual conversation as they walked. It was sad, for it was predominantly in her head; the workers didn’t know that she possessed the bloody Kaguya name, and even if they did, it was unlikely that there would be much of a negative reaction for Konoha did not persecute those with a Kekkei Genkai as Kirigakure once did nor had her clan tried to rebel against that village. However, she did not bring up her concerns on that front and as such had no one to tell her that her fears were unfounded.

After a time, they reached the temporary housing unit where most of the ninja were still staying. Business owners had not yet returned to the destroyed village and as such there were no restaurants open to buy a lunch at. The pair would make do with the supplies that they had brought with them from Konohagakure. Normally a few ninja or workers were assigned to ‘dinner duty’ each night, but with the variant schedules of the people here, it was much simpler to just have everyone fend for themselves during the day. Being no master cook and preferring not to waste daylight, Tsuneko went for something simple and fixed a sandwich to go along with the pieces of fruit and raw vegatables that she scooped into one of the simple paperbags that were provided for the many whom preferred not to eat inside. Grabbing a water bottle, she waited for Kaguza to fix his own lunch before continuing with him out of the village.

Since they intended to train anyways, she figured that they might as well go ahead and eat where they planned to work, and why cause trouble by using jutsus in the middle of the village? So after a bit, they ended up near an old well on the outskirts of Kirigakure. It seemed to be a good spot. She paused there, “Does here work?” she questioned, interjecting into whatever conversation they were having.

Spoiler:

Kaguza made his way through the village next to Tsuneko. A quick stop at a little shed that he currently made his home, Kaguza picked up the rest of his weaponry. If he was to train why not have all his weaponry. Leaving the door of the small one room building open, it was easy for Tsuneko to see inside if she chose to remain outside. A bed on one side with a dresser next to it, held his personal items that survived the flames. The opposing wall however was no so simple, a series of weapons hung from the wall. Grabbing one at a time, Kaguza slipped them onto his personal. His two hammers hung already in his harness, the heads just behind his shoulder blades. A pair of war fans were placed just above his tail bone. His meteor hammer, he wrapped around his right forearm, and clipped the end of the chain to itself to prevent untimely unraveling. A pair of shiny hand scythes were placed on either side of his waist, the chain connecting the two, tucked into the harness. Two small pieces of wood and several small pea sized pills were slipped into his pocket. Finally a gourd hanging from a rope was tied to his belt. "Sorry for the wait, I've got a lot of stuff." Kaguza offered his apology with a smile. Closing the door, he had left a sword inside. His harness even had a sheath to carry the weapon in next to one of the hammers. It was the sword he had found in a large pile of rubble.

Finding food was simple, Kaguza never went for anything fancy. A quick sandwich and water was enough for him, though the village still didn't have much to offer. The two of them didn't talk much as they made there way to find a spot outside of the village. A sounding Tsuneko, having found a spot questioned Kaguza. "Here should be just fine. Well." Kaguza surveyed the scene. "Lets get started then." A tone of excitement was clear in his voice as he raised his leg up only to stop on the ground in front of him. A large slab of earth rose from the force, and with a second kick of his leg sent the slab flying at Tsuneko. Flying at roughly 30 mph it might prove difficult to avoid if caught by surprise. It was a strong opening move to any conflict.


Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 411/750 Words.

Chakra remaining:180/190:

Tsuneko had politely remained outside as Kaguza stopped by his house. Thinking he was grabbing a kunai or two, she was amazed as he came out with an arsenal. Somehow he not only found room for all of those weapons, but he also was able to stand under the weight of them. As someone whose only weapons were inside her body, his heavily armed appearance seemed incredibly excessive. ‘Each to their own, I suppose,’ she thought as they continued. She assumed that he was proficient in all of them, or why bother carrying all of it around? , and curiously took inventory of all of his weapons as they walked. ‘War hammers, fans, a chained thing, and scythes…He’s good for both close and long range,’ she considered. Most Genin didn’t carry around quite as much weaponry; it seemed that his extra years as a Genin hadn’t been wasted time.

Pleased that she had picked a good spot, Tsuneko was relaxed and expected that they would have lunch before starting. She was setting down her paperbag on the old stones lining the well beside her as the excitement entered Kaguza’s voice. Glancing up curiously, she saw him stomping the ground like some kind of sumo wrestler. Confused, she was completely caught off guard as the impact dislodged a chunk of earth. As that chunk went flying towards her, there was little she could do. ‘Shit.’ If she hadn’t been surprised or if they had been father apart, she could have dodged the large projectile. Instead, she had to block.

Her mother had trained her in the theory of all of the Kaguya techniques, even though her young daughter had not been able to perform them with her limited experience and chakra control. With time, Tsuneko had improved on both counts, and now she was capable of performing the third dance of the Kaguya, although she had yet to try it out. Not seeing any other option available to her in that brief moment she swung her right arm up to cover her face, focusing her chakra into the solidifying of her calcium, and praying that it would work. Four bones splintered off of her right forearm spaced from elbow to wrist along the outside (pinky-side) of her arm, curving slightly forward (towards the wrist). The bones made contact with the earth, their sharp edges breaking it apart so that she was instead covered in a shower of dirt.

It was uncertain whether the surprise on her face was still from his attack or whether it was from the fact that her jutsu worked, that she was actually capable of performing the Dance of the Larch. There was a moment of hesitation where her inexperience showed. She normally held back in the training spars that Academy students participated in so that she wouldn’t be judged by villagers who were looking to find any bloodthirstiness in a daughter of the Kaguya clan, and she had certainly never used the Shikotsumyaku in front of anyone. All of her training in her clan’s techniques was just in theory. The hesitation threw off the natural attack and defense rhythm that the dance was meant to be used in. She realized that she should issue a counter-attack, and dirt flying off of her white hair as she moved, she covered the ground between them in a few quick steps and aimed a right hook at Kaguza’s chin. The sharp bones on her forearm lengthened her reach and would make the blow, if connected, much more serious than just the blunt damage of the girl’s fist; However, the amateur hesitation before the counterattack lessened the danger of it.

Spoiler:

Seeing the slab of earth shatter upon contact, he drew one of the war fans from his harness. The war fan wasn't the same as a simple household fan, it was made of steel with brushed metal finished. From the time it was taking for her to react it was clear he caught her off guard. Opening the fan, it could serve as a shield to cover space equivalent to his torso. Even though the sparring match had just begun it was only a few moments later that Tsuneko emerged from the dust cloud his slab had created. Her arm had bone spikes protruding outwards, each had a sharp tip to them. The girl could move quickly that was for certain, she managed to close the distance and begin throwing in right hook. Raising his fan, he used it as a shield to block the punch. The metal rang out upon contact with the sharpened bones.

Tsuneko could potentially hold the advantage in close quarters combat because of the bones that she could create. Mid range combat however would pose a different set of advantages, mostly from Kaguza's perception in his favor. Aiming for a defensive kick, he aimed a swift kick aimed at her chest to throw back a fair distance to separate them. Success or not, Kaguza jumped back to increase the distance. Quickly returning the fan to it's holder, he puts his hands together. Channeling a strong Raiton chakra to his hands, a few visible electric sparks jumped from his hands. Intending to hit Tsuneko with a shockwave, he threw his hands out to either side of his body. A stream of chakra connected his hands, within a split second, long enough to be visible for a moment. A stream of lightning replaced the chakra. The arc of lightning reached out only a meter in front of his body, but the thunder that followed would prove much to cover a much larger area. With the creation of the lightning arc, a boom of thunder followed at the speed of sound. A shockwave produced by the thunder reached out to 15 meters, and would serve to push back most lighter objects, currently that would be Tsuneko herself. The roar of the thunder would put a significant distance between the two of them.

Jinrai 384/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 411/750 Words.

Chakra Remaining: 165/190:

There was a sharp screech as the bones and the war fan made contact; the curvature of the bones were such that they hit the fan before her fist did, which was fortunate, for it saved her knuckles from being beaten against the metal surface. Her shoulder slightly jarred by the impact, she was unable to extricate her arm and get it around quickly enough to block the kick. A more experienced user would likely have been able to snare his foot by growing more bones with her jutsu, but although she was quickly getting used to this dance, her adjustment period was not short enough to allow her to block his swift blow, this time anyways. Tsuneko grunted as he made contact with her ribs. Although it was a quick, defensive attack that, by necessity, didn’t have much force behind it, it sent the slender, young kunoichi stumbling back a few paces.

Tsuneko quickly regained her footing, but as she saw the electric sparks issuing from his hands, she kept the distance that he had created between them. She didn’t know Kaguza very well and had no clue of his abilities and was counting on the distance to give her time to react to whatever was coming. She knew that it would be Raiton, but the uncomfortably loud clap of thunder that accompanied his jutsu still caught her off guard, as did the shockwave that followed it. The girl was knocked backwards, her feet losing contact with the ground for a moment before rapidly backpedalling to keep her legs underneath her.

It was clear to her now that he was trying to put distance between them, and she knew that she couldn’t let this happen. Her ranged techniques were very limited. An image flashed into her mind of his chained weapons. She would have time to see them coming at this distance, but she would be forced onto the defensive, not a position that she wanted to be in. Tsuneko assumed that whatever came next would come quickly; he would not have gone through the effort to create the distance if he was going to let her close it the next minute. She couldn’t teleport in front of him, and just as she could see his attacks coming, he could obviously see her running at him; she’d have to come up with some kind of strategy.

As a Genin, her options were limited, so she opted for a simple, academy technique. A poof of white smoke billowed around her as five clones were created. Within the cover of the smoke, she switched places with one of her doppelgangers, making it appear that she was one of the clones surrounding Tsuneko, when the smoke cleared. Counting on the assumed inexperience of a Genin, she hoped that she could fool him. Having two of the replications, including the one that she had switched with, stay back but keep just within the range of her Bunshin no Jutsu; she sprinted forward in a triangular shape with two of her clones, placing herself on the left wing of the formation. She was counting on him to assume that she would not be that brazen and would have sent in three clones to test him out. If she was lucky, any defensive attack would be a weak one, because he would not want to waste much energy or chakra on clones that would evaporate from the slightest contact.

Getting the feel of the dance, she would be prepared to block any Taijutsu based attack that came at her and would attempt to keep going through it to get to Kaguza. Should the clones and herself get within striking distance, the center one would aim another hook with the boned arm towards his chin, hoping that he would judge her inexperienced enough to go for the exact same attack; the right one would be coming up on Kaguza’s left and would aim to slice him through the middle with her bones. Should they get that far, the contact will make them evaporate; but hopefully, their pseudo-attacks would distract him enough so that she could make contact with a real one. Her plan was to go low and aim for Kaguza’s right leg, her bones piercing upwards starting around his knee and going through a chunk of his thigh. Aware of his two war fans now, she was prepared to either A, if not blocked, follow through with the attack; she would complete the spinning action of her attack, reaching up to attempt to grab his right wrist and, grabbing his left shoulder with the other hand in the process, force that arm to be bent behind his back. Or B, if blocked, to rebound off of the fan, reversing the circle and using newly grown, matching bones on her left arm to slice into him from behind.

Spoiler:

As Tsuneko tumbled, Kaguza slammed an open hand into the earth and pulled out a makeshift hammer. The cloud of white smoke did bring a sense of surprise over him. Running through a list of jutsu that caused the smoke was fairly lengthy, though the appearence of 5 Tsunekos made it clear which one she used. Kaguza only had a moment to analyze his situation. It was likely that they were basic clones, so the odds hadn't changed. Based on where she stood the clones were surrounding her, it was likely that she had already changed places. Kaguza had no way to determine without doubt which one was real. Each clone held the same chance of being the real Tsuneko to him. As the clones broke of into groups, two stayed behind while the other three charged. Forty Percent chance that she stayed behind, and sixty percent chance that she was mixed into the charging group. As the three closed the gap, they split apart, he only had to block one of them. The three clones each aimed to strike different areas on his body, the chance was too small to block the real one, he had to get out. The three of them struck his body, as he erupted in a cloud of white smoke. The smoke quickly dispersed showing one of his hammers falling to the ground. He had used a Replacement jutsu at the last moment, though he didn't escape completely unscathed. Tsuneko's strike had managed to hit but only to a depth of about an inch. Blood on her bone would show the strike.

Kaguza hid behind a neaby tree with his earth hammer in hand, his leg bleeding from the minor wound. "Damn, got skewered by that one." He needed to retaliate quickly. looking over his in hand hammer, he began charging it with Raiton. He aimed to create something similar to an electric bomb, though it wouldn't explode. Channeling his strength into a powerful throw, he let the earth hammer fly. The weapon began discharging it's stored Raiton chakra, giving it the appearance of an electrical disc. Aimed at the group of three, the weapon would be destroyed upon contact, and discharge the remaining Raiton chakra into what ever it hit.

Kaminari reido 377/1000
Jinrai 384/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 411/750 Words.

Chakra Remaining: 135/190:

Tsuneko was surprised to find herself standing in a white cloud, and this time, it was not one of her own making. ‘Kawarimi no Jutsu?’ she guessed, turning as she searched for Kaguza in the clearing smoke. He was nowhere in sight. Frustrated, she thought, 'But I could’ve sworn I had him…’ Picking up the abandoned hammer with her dominant hand, she saw a bit of red. Holding up her arm and twisting it to see better, she found his blood on one of her bones. It was a small thing. From what she saw, she doubted that he would be hampered much by the injury, but it was a pleasing sight. She was successful! She could do this, after all. Her elation was soon marred by the nagging feeling of guilt and uncertainty. It was a Kiri-nin’s blood that she was excited to see. Wasn’t that exactly what the villagers had feared? That the Kaguya would turn against their village for a second time?

‘I should call this off. I only really meant to come along and watch. I never meant to hurt him.’ Her conflicting feelings were a distraction. Had she been less concerned with how she’d been judged and more concerned with the spar at hand, she would have seen the electric-charged hammer coming and easily jumped out of the way. As it was, she only saw it after it had been thrown when she was looking for Kaguza to apologize to him and stop the spar. Dropping the hammer she had picked up, she braced herself and, quickly growing a matching set of bones on her left arm, interlaced the bones on both arms to create an odd looking shield-like object. As it struck her improvised shield, the bones absorbed the brute of the element. Fortunately, being outside the body, they were essentially dry and did not conduct the electricity, and she only received minor burns on her hands and forearms from the electrical spillover due to the discharge of energy upon contact. Unfortunately, Tsuneko was a slender teenager and the force of the blow literally knocked her off her feet.

Landing heavily on her back, the breath was knocked out of her body. Staring up at the sky as her diaphragm spasmed, she forced herself to ignore the panicky feeling that accompanied the airless moment, irritated by the tears that automatically pricked her violet eyes. She was pissed: pissed at herself for wasting so many years keeping her head down when she could have been training, for allowing the same fear of judgment to distract her during a spar, and pissed at him for getting the better of her. After a moment, which seemed much longer to Tsuneko, she was able to breathe again. Rolling onto her side, she picked herself up off of the ground. Her left hand braced on her knee against the residual pain in her diaphragm, Tsuneko looked in the direction of the origin of the projectile. Assuming he was not in plain sight, when she found the likely-looking tree, she raised her right arm and fired five bone bullets, one out of each of her fingers. Her aim was to flush him out. If she was successful, the next five would be aimed at Kaguza. If he had made himself visible and showed no indication of ending their spar himself, for she had no intentions of being the one to initiate a truce now, the ten bullets would be aimed at him in sets of five with a brief pause between to adjust her aim, should he try to dodge.

Spoiler:

kaguza returned to his hiding place behind the tree after launching his attack. It was clear by the sound that his attack had made contact. Expecting a quick counter attack he made his way quickly to a different area and hid within the trees. Peeking out, he saw her lying flat on her back, maybe he over did it. His last attack was by no means a weak one, and it appeared as if she took the full brunt of the blow. Kaguza waited in hiding for her to make a move. A few moments passed that seemed longer then they actually were, before she began to get up. Her demeanor seemed to change, before she was calm and sweet, now she seemed to have fire about her. Grabbing his gourd he took a swig, as he heard the digital shrapnel hit his previous hiding spot. "She's switched to long range attacks. It'll be difficult to get close enough for an attack. I need to surprise her." A thought for a moment, and came up with a simple plan. He'd create clones the would surround her, hopefully this would provide the necessary distraction for him to get in closer. If she was prepped for long range attacks he could get in close and let off a few rounds. He didn't know what kind of speed or power her ranged attack had, though he was confident. Focusing his chakra he created his own clones, each one hiding behind a different tree. Taking a deep breath the first clone charged out into the open. Hoping her fire would be drawn towards the first clone, he himself charged out second, with similar time intervals the remaining clones appeared at rushed Tsuneko. Paying close attention to her aim, the group charged. If her aim was towards the real one, he'd spare no expense in dodging the attack. Buffing his speed with Seiden hōden (Static Discharge), he'd make a sharp brake off to the right and circle around towards her. If his luck served him well and she fired upon a clone, he'd again buff his speed. This time however his charge would be straight for her, in close range he'd attempt to land his knee against her chest. Should the attack make contact, grabbing his hammer from her would take priority.

Kaminari reido 377/1000
Jinrai 384/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 411/750 Words.

Chakra Remaining :120/190:

Tsuneko watched closely as her first volley went into and around the tree she had assumed Kaguza was still behind. A blur of movement caught her eye as she saw a Kaguza running out from behind a different tree. ‘Figures. I should’ve known he’d not be that obvious.’ Raising her arm again to take aim, she winced. Although not serious, those electrical burns were a nuisance. Until she got used to the pain, her arm movements would be slower. Luckily, shooting off finger bones did not require much movement from the arm after the initial raising, and their speed would not be affected. The delay turned out to be a good thing for it slowed her attack enough to allow her to see another Kaguza run out before she wasted all five bones of her second shot on what was now likely to be a clone. Not in the mood to deal with clones, she shot one bullet at each of the first five Kaguzas to appear. With their headlong charge, it was likely that her bullets would hit the clones, disintegrating them into a puff of smoke. Should she be successful, she would be left with two Kaguzas, the real one and one clone. Whether or not she hit her marks, the second bullet would have been aimed at the real one and his sharp increase in speed, likely from the use of a jutsu, would give him away. Seeing him increase his speed and begin to circle, she forced herself to straighten against the residual tightness in her chest and turn with him, readying herself. She recognized that her burned arms would likely not react quickly enough to block his attack, whatever it might be, but she was tired of blocking anyways.

As he approached and initiated his straightforward attack, she reacted by growing a series of five bones down her right leg and launched a roundhouse kick towards him. Hopefully, with the extended reach of the bones and the benefit of them being all along her leg, she would make contact with some part of his body before his knee made contact with her chest. It was still painful to breathe; she didn’t want to let him make that any harder.

Spoiler:

Dashing to the side as Tsuneko's aim made it's way towards him during his charge, he managed to dodge the ranged attack. Getting in close, he saw her own attack at the last moment. His own attack would cause him more harm then good if he followed through. Extending out his leg to meet her own, he jumped off her leg calling off his own attack. Landing a few feet away, he had not escaped unscathed. Several cuts running the length of his leg was the lesser of the possible outcomes, had he followed through he would have been skewered. Now having wounds on both his legs, his mobility would be hampered. Kaguza winced at the pain, he knew she wasn't likely to end the match and until he was actually injured neither would he. With his mobility less then normal he would have to fight more strategically now. This was a rare occasion for kaguza, though he trained constantly he never sparred or trained with another person. The experience showed that his training was lacking because of this. Standing for a moment, he needed a new course of action. Close quarters combat from the start was less then advantages, now it was even worse. Long range attacks were not his specialty, though mid range was within his strike range. If he could put up a distraction then he could attack at a distance, or use the distraction as an attack. Striking the ground with his fist, another slab of earth rose from the ground. With a second strike of his fist the slab went flying just the same as the beginning of the sparring match. As the earth flew towards Tsuneko, Kaguza unhooked the chained weapon wrapped around his arm. With a few swings the weapon increased it's momentum. Releasing the head of the hammer it flew behind the flying earth. With a chain of five meters, he had a fair bit of range with it. Even after the jutsu landed, Kaguza would continue to lash out with the chain weapon. As the weighted piece of metal landed, it created small craters with the ground and trees nearby. He wasn't looking to severely injure Tsuneko, though this weapon could easily do that, he sought to keep her moving till he could come up with a more reasonable method of attack.

Kaminari reido 377/1000
Jinrai 384/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 802/750 Words.

Chakra remaining:110/190:

Tsuneko was surprised to see him use her leg as a springboard to get away. The force of him pushing off knocked her off balance. Stumbling a few steps, she soon regained her balance and, glancing down, saw that she had blood on her leg, and it was not her own. Her counter-attack had been a success. It seemed that he was eager to keep his distance from her now, which was smart. Besides her Digital Shrapnel, she had next to no long-range options, as he’d apparently figured out. Seeing him stomp the earth again, she recognized the movement and knew that a slab of earth would probably follow.


Opting to dodge this time, since she had the time, the girl jumped backwards away from him so that she had more time to react, and when the predicted slab rose from the ground and began flying towards her, she dodged to the side. In her peripheral vision, she saw that following that slab of earth was the ball-and-chain weapon that she had seen him pick up from his house earlier. Following its progress, she saw it crash into an old tree, crushing a sizable chunk out of the wood. Violet eyes widened with fear, ‘If it could do that to a tree…’ The image in her head of what it could do to soft human flesh like her own was sickening. Her bones were unbreakable, but were her muscles strong enough to hold those bones defensively in front of her under the force of that weapon? She had no intentions of finding out.

Back pedaling in the agile way that shinobi were known for, Tsuneko moved herself out of range. It was a good thing that she hadn’t tried to block it, for her body was no longer to sustain the jutsus she had in use. Her body began drawing her bones back within her body, liquefying them as they moved inside, and with a ‘poof’, the clones that she had forgotten about while focusing on her opponent disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. She was trained in the Muay-Thai style of Taijutsu and could initiate one of the weaker, less versatile Kaguya dances, so she was not completely out of options, but the fact was that she was tired; the girl had rapidly used up her reserves of chakra and endurance to accommodate for the lack of training. She watched him warily, knowing that he had many weapons at his disposal, and prepared herself to react as necessary. As much as she hated it, she was back on the defensive.

Spoiler:

Kaguza lashed out with his chain weapon in hand, however Tsuneko had escaped beyond the reach of it's chain. Any attempt she showed at closing the gap would have been met with an attack had she tried, however she didn't. It was clear that the sparring match was beginning to wear on her, the same could be said for Kaguza. His constant training however made him set for drawn out periods of physical exertion. While Tsuneko suffered from early exhaustion Kaguza's leg's suffered there own wounds, thankfully the bleeding had stopped by now. His eye's took note when Tsuneko's extended bones retracted back within her body, did her jutsu have a time limit or was she running low on chakra? With her bones no longer an apparent obstacle he could take the advantage in close-quarters combat. A risk remained however, he didn't know the extent of a Kaguya's abilities. The potential of her releasing her bones as a trap when he got closer was a reality in his mind. Thankfully this wasn't a real fight, and unless one of them made a huge mistake neither of them would be hurt as a result of this fight.

Going over several routes of attack, very few of them were possible, fewer were beneficial. With Tsuneko out of range for his Meteor hammer, he had no way to make an attack at the moment. One option was stood out in his mind, he had to risk it and go for a moment of close-quarters combat. Swinging his meteor hammer around around his right forearm, he recoiled the weapon and clipped the head to his wrist, just as he usually wore the weapon. Charging forward towards Tsuneko, he pulled out his remaining hammer and one of his war fans. Choosing his weapons wisely was always important, each situation called for different tactics. In a real fight like this, his chained scythes would be the most effective, allowing him to make attacks and both close and mid range. This wasn't a real fight however, and cutting Tsuneko wasn't his intention. Bladed weaponry in training always came off as too risky to Kaguza, least for sparring matches such as these.

Getting in close, he swung widely with his hammer at Tsuneko. His leg movements were slower due to his wounds, Kaguza made up for this by making more frequent attacks then he normally would have. Holding the hammer as his offensive weapon, he made every attack with only the hammer. The war fan in his opposite hand he kept it close to his body in an open position. It was easy to tell he planned to use the fan, though he had yet too. It was likely that Tsuneko wouldn't simply avoid or block every attack made by Kaguza. This was his plan during the time of his weapon choice, he uses the hammer to lash out, while holding the fan using it as a shield to block any strikes from Tsuneko that he could. A simple technique he developed would come in handy should she take advantage of an opening in his attack.

Kaminari reido 377/1000
Jinrai 384/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 802/750 Words.
Nijū idō 518/750

Chakra Remaining :100/190:

Tsuneko watched as Kaguza put away his ball-and-chain weapon. One weapon down, but it was not as if Kaguza was lacking in options. He was like a one-man army with his personal arsenal. Next, he went back to the war hammer, apparently his weapon of choice. She braced herself against the coming attack as he came running. The cuts on his legs were apparently giving him a little trouble, as he didn’t move quite as swiftly as he had earlier. However, she knew that his attacks themselves would not be slowed by this, and she was correct.

He started with a wide swing of his hammer; the blatant nature of the attack made it easy to dodge, and she fell into a smooth movement quality, reminiscent of the movements that were often associated with the Dance of the Willow, although she didn’t initiate the actual dance. Tsuneko guessed that if any more bones pierced her skin he would extricate himself from her reach before she could do much damage and just switch to another long-range weapon; forcing him back into long-range would do her more harm than the good of maybe getting a blow or two in. As such, the only thing the girl had to rely on now was her ability to dodge, her blocking capabilities were essentially extinguished with the conclusion of the Dance of the Larch, but she could not keep that up forever or even for very long. Finding an opening between the large movements of his hammer, she aimed a punch at his open side. Tsuneko gritted her teeth against the impact but was not surprised to find her knuckles banging against his war fan as he whipped it up to block her attack; she had already been blocked by them once today.

Making a quick decision, she did not try to move out of the way of the attack that would follow; she wasn’t sure if she would even have been able to react quickly enough to completely avoid it, had she tried. Instead she raised her arm to shield her body from his hammer. Taking his heavy strike on her left forearm, her pale skin turned even whiter from the impact before quickly showing the rush of blood to the site; there was no doubt that it would raise an ugly bruise. However, she was not paying attention to injury, compartmentalizing the pain from it in the adrenaline that surged up. Her right hand moving quickly, for she only had a small window of opportunity, Tsuneko attempted to grab his arm before he could withdraw it. If she was successful in her snatch, the left hand, whose fingers she could barely feel at the moment as a result of Kaguza’s blow, would close the small distance and make contact with his arm. Those fingers would twitch, but she’d be unable to force them to grip anything at this point. However, she didn’t need to grab him with both hands for her jutsu to work; all she needed was contact. Tsuneko would send electricity down through her hands and into his arm, utilizing the Artificial Pulse in a way she never had before: to harm rather than to help. She had seen electricity jump when an AED was used in a hospital and painfully knock someone off of their feet; she was counting on her jutsu to do the same.

Spoiler:

Kaguza was actually enjoying himself, signs of exhaustion were setting in but not enough to slow him down. The day was more enjoyable that Tsuneko had yet to give up as well. The steady flow of swings kept Tsuneko on her toes as she weaved around to avoid Kaguza's strikes. Anticipating her attack he successfully blocked attack, though a slight surprise arose as she simply took the brunt of his next strike. The force of his hammer would likely fracture the bones of a normal person, however trained ninjas were different let alone a Kaguya. The strike clearly would leave a rather large bruise on her arm.

Seeing the current situation as an opening in his defense, Kaguza expected some kind of counter attack. As soon as Tsuneko began reaching for his arm, he assumed she was to use her bones again. In his mind he had fallen to the slim possibility of being in close quarters when she used her bones again. Making a quick decision, he gritted his teeth and released a discharge of electricity designed to push Tsuneko back if only a few feet. He had to take advantage of the gap before she could recover. Tossing his hammer into the air between the two of them, he quickly put his hands together. A clear charge had formed within his hands as several sparks flew from his hands, it was another Thunder Clap jutsu. Opening his hands wide, a stream of chakra formed. This was quickly replaced by an arc of lightning. Though the arc didn't reach Tsuneko, the thunder shock wave would reach both her and his mid flight hammer. The shock wave would force back most moveable objects in it's path. Taking the majority of the brunt, Kaguza's hammer was propelled at a much higher speed towards Tsuneko. However, due to the rushed state it was likely that the hammer would miss and fell a tree along it's flight.

Kaminari reido 377/1000
Jinrai 708/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 802/750 Words.
Nijū idō 518/750

90/190:

One of the perks of being a Kaguya was the ability to passively strengthen the bones within the body to avoid annoying things, such as fractures. It was a shame that her plan wasn’t as effective as her bloodline. Right before she would have made contact with Kaguza’s arm, he expelled a burst of chakra from all over his body, sending her stumbling backwards a few steps. Getting pushed around constantly was getting annoying. ‘I should get some steel-shod boots.’ The brief thought passed through her mind as Kaguza opened his hands, forming a stream of lightning through them. Remembering the gesture from before, Tsuneko assumed that the same shockwave would follow and began rapidly backing away as he began to cast the jutsu. Her decision turned out to be a good one, for the increased distance between them lessened the effectiveness of the shockwave on her. That hammer that he had thrown up in the air was hit more strongly by the force of the jutsu and went flying towards her. However, it was sloppily done, and she moved out of the way with ease. A loud crunching noise soon followed, and glancing over her shoulder, she saw that his hammer had felled a tree. Sure, her bones could survive essentially any attack, but could her organs? Not likely.

While Kaguza was getting a thrill out of the battle itself, Tsuneko’s joy would only come from a victory. She wanted to win, simple as that, and her mind was working quickly to try and figure out a way to turn this around. Her opponent had just reused two of the jutsu he had used earlier; she took this to mean that he was running towards the end of his repertoire, and there would likely be no more surprises. However, he had put her back in the same disadvantaged position that she had been in previously; she was again at risk from those ranged weapons of his, and having lost both of his hammers, he’d likely be depending upon them. She needed to close this distance once again, but what would she do when she got there? Attempting to raise her left arm, the pain that laced through it revealed that the deep bruise would hinder much of her mobility there, and without both arms, the Dance of the Willow would be off-balance and much less effective. Too bad she’d made such a do-or-die decision earlier and taken that blow; she’d really been counting on catching him and ending their spar summarily. In a ‘to Hell with it’ moment, she decided to just rely on basic Taijutsu and give it one more go.

All of these thoughts ran through her head quickly and only a brief moment after Kaguza’s hammer took out the tree behind her, she uncharacteristically sprinted forward, trying to close the gap between them before Kaguza could unhook another one of his weapons or get another jutsu together. Taking off from a few feet away, she jumped up into the air and aimed a kick at Kaguza’s chest, hoping that the momentum would lend more strength to her blow. Although the boldness of the attack was unexpected for the typically more cautious Tsuneko, the run before it did not have any particularly stealthy elements, and there was potential for her to miss. Should that happen, she would attempt to recover her footing and turn around to continue an assault on Kaguza using whatever part of her body that she could (knees, kicks, punches, elbows), but notably, her left arm, rendered pretty much useless for the intent of the battle, would not come into play. This would leave a potential opening, but since she was well aware of it, Tsuneko would be prepared to react as best as she could, should he try to take advantage of it.

Spoiler:

Kaguza had now used up little more then half his chakra reserves, the sparring match was lasting longer then he had originally anticipated. Signs of exaustion were beginning to set in, though a little fatigue and heavy breathing were a welcome feeling to someone like Kaguza. For someone who physically trains constantly it was a positive feeling, specially in a sparring match, it meant that his limits were coming up. If he could surpass his limits just a little bit today, it would be an accomplishment, he'd aim for the same feeling the next time he fought or trained. Tsuneko's last attack replayed in his mind, he didn't see any sign of her bones. Did she try to use one of her clan's jutsu or was she going for something else at that moment? He knew she had training in medical ninjutsu, was it supposed to be a medical technique? He hadn't considered her using offensive medical jutsus. A touch of anger sprouted as he had been fighting her and never considered a very broad range of ability that she could have been using, though she must not have a variety of jutsu to use if that was her first attempt at one. The thought of what the technique could have done if she had connected was frightening, not only did she have her bones but also medical jutsu for close-quarters combat. Kaguza's disadvantage seemed to increase as he came to this realization. However his own jutsu seemed to have prevented her from using whatever technique she had planned. He couldn't risk a close confrontation any more, the risk was too high. He had to maintain a distance and keep control over the fight.

Watching Tsuneko she charged straight for him, what did she have this time? Another jutsu? More bones? She wasn't being stealthy at all, this was a straight forward attack. With the risk of her bones and medical techniques he needed both hands free to dodge or redirect whatever she had coming. A few feet away she jumped into the air, she was going for a very straight forward kick. Kaguza didn't need to dodge or block this one, however taking the blow was last on his list. Stepping to the side put him in the perfect position. Grabbing her ankle with one hand, and pushing on her thigh with his other hand, he swung her around mid air. With the muscles in his waist he managed to put a great deal of effort into moving the mid air Tsuneko. Paying attention to where he was aiming he released her sending her landing more then double the length she had jumped. Taking full advantage of the situation, Kaguza reached into the earth and created another Earthen Hammer. As he had repeated his previous jutsus, he was going to repeat yet another.

Holding the hammer in the air behind himself, he began charging the weapon with a large amount of Raiton chakra. The weapon began to glow and discharge it's overflow. Using the torque generated by his body, he threw the hammer putting a great deal of spin on the weapon. Flying through the air, the stored Raiton chakra began discharging giving the rotating hammer the appearance of a large electrical disc. Upon contact the weapon would release it's full amount of Raiton chakra into whatever medium it collided with, plus being made of earth the weapon would break apart on contact with it's target. The jutsu itself was his favorite ranged attack, though the concentration of chakra itself would destroy his normal hammers. With the combination of his Earthen Hammer and Lightning Raid, his hammers were safe and he was able to perform his favorite ranged jutsu without fear of destroying his own weapons.

Kaminari reido 1004/1000
Jinrai 708/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 802/750 Words.
Nijū idō 518/750

Chakra Remaining :65/190:

A Quick Funny:

Tsuenko just couldn’t manage to catch a break. A strong hand gripped her ankle and, swinging her around, Kaguza redirected her flight, sending the girl through the air much farther than she had originally planned. Somersaulting in the air, she managed to right herself. Landing on her feet, she still slid a few more feet backwards. It seemed that the Genin had more talent for Taijutsu than training, and she learned quickly, benefitting also from having already been prepared to have to right herself, had her attack landed. She was finding that there were two things that she really didn’t like about Kaguza: him pushing, throwing, and knocking her around and those damn hammers. It felt like every time she turned around she would find herself being forced backwards and then having to deal with something being thrown at her.

This time was no different. Here came the hammer again, though this time it was his special version, the one made out of the ground itself. She could probably jump out of the way, sure, but she had a thought she’d wanted to test out. The first earth slab had fallen apart after being pierced by her bones, and the last time he threw this at her the core of the attack seemed to disintegrate upon the physical contact of hitting her block, although the electricity had spilled over past it. She did not know a whole lot about the practical use of the Doton element, but from what she had seen, she wondered if, atleast, these techniques could not sustain themselves against any contact, or especially if they were pierced. Reasoning that she’d still have time to avoid it if her idea failed, Tsuneko raised her right hand and shot two bones out of her fore and middle fingers. It was not too difficult of a target to hit as it was coming in a straight line right for her, and she did not miss. The bones struck the center of the disk, where the pivot point of the spinning hammer might be, as Tsuneko dove to the side. Hitting the floor and rolling back up to her feet, she saw the last of the bright flash of lightning going into her projectile before it disappeared.

In that moment, she was pleased with herself; she had manage to beat one of his jutsu, even if she couldn’t figure out a way to beat the man himself. Filing away the false information that all Doton based techniques would fall apart once hitting a target, she started to raise both hands to shoulder height, but stopped, grimacing as that bruise showed itself again, sending pain lacing through her arm. ‘Never choose to take a blow unless you’re using the Larch,’ she told herself, while she instead just raised her right hand to that mid-height. The gesture looked a bit odd without another hand there to complete the placating look, so she called out, “Hey, hold up! You’ve got me.”

Although his last attack did not hit home, her statement was true in that he had gotten her flat out of choices and out of energy. Her chakra supplies were not high, for sure, but the main thing was her lack of endurance. This was more physical activity than she had done for a while, and she was sweating and slightly out of breath. She shook out the tightness in her legs as she walked towards him, trying to get the muscles to stop ‘gripping’. Looking down at her arms, she assessed her injuries. ‘A few electrical burns, but nothing too bad. The bruise is nothing serious, just hurts…a lot. That’ll be annoying, but I’m sure it’s the first of many that’ll show up later.’

All in all, it was not too terrible. The worst thing was admitting that she’d lost. She simply did not have the versatility that Kaguza did in his jutsus. Basically all of her’s were close ranged and contact based. With his many ways of putting distance between them, from a shock wave to simply throwing her through the air, she didn’t see how dragging the fight out until one of those tosses cracked her head open against a rock would do her any good. She comforted herself with the idea that it was a learning experience. ‘Yeah, learning that you’re useless,’ a hyper-critical thought came into her head, and she sighed. Despite her own negativity, she had learned where her weaknesses were and more about Kaguza. As a fellow Genin, they’d likely run into each other again, and that information would be useful. She found that she liked him more for knowing his strength and that all of those weapons of his were not just play-things, so it was not too painful on her ego to give him a ‘no hard feelings’ smile as she drew near. “Well. That was… educational. Y’know, if you don’t want to share your ‘toys’ with me next time, just say so. You don’t have to hit me with them!” she teased him, easily covering up the ‘you’re a terrible excuse for a Kaguya’ feelings that her inner-self kept throwing at her.

Now that she was up close and not trying to avoid getting hit by a hammer, she was able to see the cuts on his legs. Gesturing at them with her good arm, she asked, “May I? It would be a good opportunity to practice healing in the field, and she felt that she owed it to him anyways. To the victor goes the spoils and to the winner goes the healing. Perhaps that was because the loser was often dead after a bout; Kirigakure was not known as the Bloody Mist for nothing. However, this was not a serious fight, and of course would not have come even close to that. She’d have to head by the hospital later to get some ointment for her own injuries; for some reason, when she tried to heal herself, she was unsuccessful, so it made sense to offer her ability to Kaguza since she could do nothing for herself.

Spoiler:

Kaguza watched as his favorite ranged jutsu's weakness was exploited. All the Raiton within his thrown hammer drained into Tsuneko's bone projectile. Though he knew it's flaw, he never pictured someone figuring out how to disarm it. The thrown Earthen Hammer disintigrated after that, falling to the ground as Tsuneko simply dodged the remainder of the attack. It was likely after experiencing his first performance of the jutsu that she had an idea of how it functioned and could determine how it could be disarmed. Watching for her next attack he saw her attempt to raise both arms, but failed due to his previous strike with his hammer. Speaking out she called for an end to the sparring match. Taking stock of himself, it was time to end the match. He had used up the majority of his chakra, and had open wounds on his legs that had opened back up. Though they weren't serious his legs had taken the punishment in this fight. With several cuts on his left leg and a puncture wound in his right thigh, his pants were moist with blood. He would definitely be making a trip to the hospital to be checked out and taken care of. This wasn't the first time his training would send him to the hospital, nor was this the worst he'd show up in. There were a number of times that he had simply passed out and someone found his unconscious.

As Tsuneko approached Kaguza, he could how the state she was in. Though not broken or bloody, she was battered. His last attack that made contact clearly did quite the number on her arm, but that was the purpose of his war-hammers. He used them with the intent to destroy a person's defenses and breakthrough. She even had a few electrical burns from his first Lightning Raid. Scenarios of the fight continued to play in his head for a few moments even though the fight had drawn to an end. If she had simply charged forward again with some kind of bone strike, he'd aim to block it and strike at the same time. Though with his idea of probability he'd have to put distance between them again with his Thunder Clap. Shaking his head a bit, he put any further scenarios out of his mind, the fight was over. A small pool of blood began to form as he stood. Just kinda falling over, he sat on his rear end looking up at Tsuneko. She spoke and managed to throw out a bit of humor, it was good to see she still had a sense of humor. "I apologize, I had violent tendencies as a child. Perhaps I never out grew them." Kaguza laughed as he sat on the ground, the adrenaline in his system quickly dissipating, he could feel the pain beginning to set into his legs. Kaguza nodded his head as Tsuneko offered to do a bit of healing.

"This was quite the experience, I usually don't spar with other people, let alone a Kaguya. This was quite beneficial, save for my wounds. With more experience and training you could be a very dangerous opponent to face. I'm not just saying that either. You made close-quarters combat very dangerous for me, and you have the capability to attack from a distance as well. That kind of combination for melee fighters is very potent. I've trained for seven years now, learning a wide variety of weapons, to be able to do just that." Despite his knowledge of several different weapons, his repertoire was lacking. He couldn't wield a sword with the efficiency of swordsman or hold a bow steady. Though he couldn't use them properly just yet, they were still weapons he planned to learn and use. "Looks like I'll be making another visit to the hospital after this, to be patched up properly."

This Post = 648 (Split between two jutsu)

Kaminari reido 1004/1000
Jinrai 1000/1000 Words
Tsuchi no hanmā shotto 802/750 Words.
Nijū idō 750/750

As Tsuneko drew near, she couldn’t help but notice the blood pooling beneath Kaguza’s feet before he plopped down to the dirt. The pants partially obscured the wounds on his legs from her view, but for that amount of blood to be present, she must have gotten him better than she had originally thought. Uncertain of whether his drop to the floor was from blood loss or fatigue, she was relieved that he consented. She hadn’t actually meant to do much of a number on him, but it seemed that she couldn’t help herself; Tsuneko had wanted to win and hadn’t stopped to think about the consequences using her clan’s jutsu on another person. That’s what happens when you only train in the theory of things; it’s easy to forget how damaging it can be.

Kneeling down beside him, her modesty preserved by the black shorts she wore under the charcoal-colored skirt, she started with the wound on his right thigh; it seemed to be bleeding the most and likely was the worst of them. She gently pulled the material of his pants away from the injury and inspected the wound as he began speaking. Though he tried to be a good sport and encourage her, the injury to her pride was still too sharp for her to take comfort in it. Her attention focused on his injury, she was spared having to come up with a response. However, his next casual comment was just offensive to the confidant young medic. ‘Have to make a trip to the hospital? I haven’t even started yet! Who does he think he is…Who does he think I am?’ The corner of her mouth twitched at the perceived insult, her violet eyes flicking up to his face before returning to his leg.

Irritated by her skills being dismissed out of hand, she changed her plan. Tsuneko had been thinking about using her Temporary Healing jutsu to patch him up for now before getting him to the hospital, sure, but now, feeling like she needed to prove herself, she considered a different jutsu. The Chiyute no Jutsu was a proven and effective technique, particularly for relatively small injuries such as this one. She had been practicing it on a variety of animals but had yet to try it on a person. Emboldened by his low assumption of her capabilities, she decided that this would be a perfect time to do so; they weren’t too far from town, should she make a mistake, although she did not plan on doing so. Just as a nurse will inject a shot on ‘two’ instead of ‘three’ to keep a patient from tensing up and making the injection more painful, Tsuneko did not mention that he was her first patient with this technique.

Gently, so as not to cause herself too much pain from her own injury, Tsuneko placed her left hand on top of her right, the joined hands hovering just a few inches above the puncture wound. She focused her chakra into her palms, and they began glowing the iconic green color of Medical Ninjutsu. Carefully sending the healing chakra down into the wound, it began healing from the inside out. Kaguza would feel a very brief but sharp burning sensation as any present bacteria was burned out of the area. Next would come the strange itching feeling that came with most Medical Ninjutsu techniques as the flesh began to knit itself together.

The depth of the wound and her care taken with it caused the process to take a few minutes. When she finished, she allowed the green chakra to fade away and inspected her own work. Using her right hand to slightly move the hole in his pants to see the surrounding area, it appeared that she had gotten the entire wound; there was not even a mark where the stab wound had once existed. ‘A perfect Chiyute no Jutsu,’ she praised herself, very pleased and, secretly, relieved that it had gone so well. However, she didn’t allow herself to appear more than generally pleased at a successful healing, for then he may have realized that it was not just a standard jutsu for her.

Moving around to his other side, she began work on the cuts on his left leg. They were shallow but more numerous. Readying herself, she repeated the same procedure, hovering over each cut in turn. As she went, she began moving more quickly. The first time had been slow due to the depth and her overly cautious attention to her first use of the jutsu on a human, but after having done it correctly on his worst injury, the girl had the confidence to be able to work more efficiently while still healing with the same level of proficiency. After a few minutes, her work was complete and she let the green chakra fade for the second time. Unable to maintain a conversation while focused on the healing, she finally rocked back out of her crouched position to sit more comfortably beside him. “What do you think?” she asked. Sitting there, she felt fatigue set in from the effort of maintaining the chakra for that long. Tsuneko would keep an eye on Kaguza and make sure that he didn't start acting dizzy or disoriented from the blood-loss. With the wounds healed, he'd likely be fine, though.

Spoiler:

Only after the words came out of his mouth did they register in his head that it might have insulted Tsuneko. However she still seemed willing enough to lend him a medical hand. Crouching down first at his right leg, she began her jutsu. Medical ninjutsu was an area that confused him, though he didn't try at it for very long in the past. Taijutsu and weapons were more understandable things to him. Kaguza watched intently as his wounds healed, and the flesh stitched itself back together. Upon completion he poked at where the wounds had been. A slight itch, but a perfect medical job. His pants drew his attention after fully poking at his legs, blood made them damp. The holes in his pant legs weren't an enjoyable sight either.

"Guess I don't need that trip to the hospital after all." Kaguza laughed, mostly at himself. After a fairly intense sparring match he had made a fool out of himself for under estimating Tsuneko's ability. More and more the adrenaline from the spar wore off, a slight feeling of light headedness did kick in. Laying flat on his back he looked over at Tsuneko who had sat beside him. "I could fall asleep right here. That was definitely one of my more enjoyable training sessions, we should do this again at some point." Training with an actual person was more enjoyable then practicing alone. The interaction did show him where he was weak and where he could improve. "We'll see if I can avoid your bone spikes next time." Laughing as he lay on the ground, a calm smile over his face. New ideas ran through his head, both new moves he could do in his next sparring match regardless of who it was against, and new jutsus entirely. After a few years of training alone, his ideas had slowed. Now he could see new ideas to implement.

Tsuneko watched as Kaguza looked over her work, surveying his expression more than looking at where there had once been wounds. After all, she knew that her work was good; she didn't know what he thought of it, and by extension, what he thought of her. He seemed pleased, which satisfied the girl's pride. "Perhaps just a trip to the tailor," she suggested. The lack of sleeves and pants in her attire was not just a style aesthetic; with her style of offense, she'd not be able to afford to keep herself decently clothed otherwise.

As he lay back in the grass, she was tempted to do the same, but her hunger, temporarily forgotten when Kaguza had suddenly attacked her and begun their spar, reasserted itself now that her activity had ceased. Pushing herself to her feet with her good arm, she made her way over to the well. Her fatigue and resulting heavier gate highlighted just how lightly she normally carried herself as she walked. Fetching her bag from the edge of the well and his lunch from where he'd dropped, she listened to him speak. It was odd to see him so at ease and suggesting they make this more than a one-time thing. Sure, he had beaten her, but she wasn't unconscious. 'Aren't the Kaguya supposed to be inherently treacherous? I could be scheming to gain his trust just to stab him while his guard's down,' She thought, a bit bitter, as always, by how her clan was often viewed by the civilians in the village.

When she neared him, she amiably dropped his bag onto his stomach before plopping down beside him. While pulling out her sandwich she replied goodhumoredly, "And I could definitely use the help. Obviously training by myself isn't doing the trick." After a few bites, she asked conversationally, "What made you decide to put together your own personal arsenal? Clearly, you don't have a problem using chakra." It wasn't very common for a shinobi who didn't have any problems with using jutsu to take the time to train in the use of more than one weapon. Her curiosity about his bloodline trait had yet to be sated, but as someone who was uncomfortable advertising her own abilities, she considered it rude to bring up. In fact, this was the first time that someone outside of her family had seen her use her Kekkei Genkai; it was only his surprisingky nonchalant manner that kept her self-consiousness about it down.

Truth was, those of the Myugan clan were a very open arms kind of people. Even though bar fights erupt consistently, they always seemed to laugh and have fun with the very same people they beat on. It never mattered to them what there past was like so long as they were willing to laugh and have a bit of fun. Kaguza was no different, he didn't care about the rumors regarding the Kaguya. Even if Tsuneko wanted to cause him harm she could have done it while he was laying down.

Kaguza let out a mild "Oomph" as the bag fell on his stomach. "We'll meet back here in the future then for some more sparring then." With the desire for his own food he began digging through the bag as Tsuneko began to eat. Her question did make him stop for a moment and think. "Most people don't have problems using chakra, but not every shinobi can use it the same way. In the academy I could use chakra as well as any other student, but my problem was that once it left my body I had little control over it. I could expel large amounts of chakra easily, but without control, ninjutsu is rather difficult. It gave me the idea for a couple jutsu that I didn't use in our sparring match, due to their nature. With the Academy teacher's help, I tried a number of different chakra related skills. Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Summoning, even a bit of Medical Ninjutsu. I have no aptitude for any of them, though I was quite skilled in Taijutsu. Finally they had me focus my chakra into a medium in order to perform a jutsu. My ability to control chakra was drastically different." Memories of his floundering returned to him. He truly was terrible at controlling most kind of jutsu. It did frustrate him for quite awhile because of it. "Soon as I was adept in using a medium for my jutsus, I wanted to try what ever I could get my hands on. However most people don't like it when I use their weapons, so I had to build up my own arsenal."

“It seems to be working well for you,” she replied pleasantly. Tsuneko was a bit fascinated to hear how he had worked around his difficulties. She had great control over her own chakra, as evidenced by her specializing in Medical Ninjutsu, and had not considered what challenges might arise for those that were not gifted in the same way. Ignoring their difference in age, had she met him when they were both still students and had seen his struggle, she likely would have dismissed him as a shinobi whom would not amount to much, such were her highly critical, snap judgments of people. Fortunately, since her graduation, those assumptions had been proven wrong multiple times, including once by Kaguza himself, and she was recently trying to resist those impulses. She actually found that his finding a way to still pursue his chosen profession, despite the challenges, admirable. This knowledge in addition to his genial manner and success at besting her in a spar added up to her liking her companion and looking forward to the suggested future training. Although, of course, her good opinion towards him was not the only reason to look forward to a future spar; he was someone to test herself against, and her competitive nature demanded that she find an opportunity for a rematch to redeem herself.

However, that rematch would not be today. Although it was dulled first by the adrenalin and later by the hunger, when both of those distractions were gone, she could not ignore her own hurts. The burns, though minor, were reasserting their presence and aching in her arm was becoming less ignorable. Having finished her light lunch, though the small meal seemed like little more than a snack after the exertion of the spar, while he spoke, she politely waited until he had finished his own meal before commenting, “I’m going to stop by the hospital and see if they have something for these.” She indicated the small electrical burns on her hands and forearms from the spillover of one of his jutsu. ‘Aloe would help, and perhaps some arnica for the bruise.’ “Hopefully, I'll see you sometime later,” she said, having enjoyed his company today. It was a nice day, especially by the standards of the normally overcast village, and she’d be tempted to stay out here, herself, had her wounds not been loudly protesting any further delay in treatment. She, rather stiffly, got to her feet and with a little wave headed back to Kirigakure.