Nozomi stood in front of a group of genin. She smiled at them. Looking quite like any other kunoichi, Nozomi had one defining characteristic. Her eyes were unique. They were somewhat luminescent, and were supposed to be blue, but had a ring of green in the iris, as well as 3 dots ringing the edge of the ring. Her headband secured around her forehead, and wearing the uniform of Kirigakure, Nozomi looked every bit the part of a teacher today, as she actually was one this time around. It hadn't been all that long ago that Nozomi was a genin, training solo with a Chuunin tutor, but this situation was different. She was more of an all around teacher than a tutor. She had a cup of tea in her hand, and a teapot next to her. "Alrighty then. I suppose that you guys need me to train you, huh? Okay..." she said, taking a sip of the tea.

Counting off, Nozomi noticed 6 genin in front of her. Good, that was good. "Okay. Here's how our training's going to go. I'm going to sit here, and drink my tea. YOU guys, are going to fight my clones. I'll be watching you, observing. After the session is done, which is when my clones are either completely destroyed, or you can't continue fighting any longer, then I'll let you know how you did. In the interest of today's session, no ninjutsu. We're working on your physical abilities right now." she said. "Now, since I know, some of you are or plan on being jutsu specialists, and weren't prepared, that's fine. I brought some items you can use." she said, pulling out her bag with a free hand, and tossing it on the ground in front of her. "There's plenty of Kunai, Senbon, and Shuriken in there. I only have the one windmill shuriken, so first come first served on that one. If you have your own things, you can use them. If not, take your pick." she said.

Setting her tea down, Nozomi formed a hand seal quickly. "Water Style, Water Clone Jutsu." she said, and 6 copies of her formed. Her vibrant eyes dimmed down, noticeably so. Each one of the clones stepped towards a genin. "When you've selected your weapons, go after the clones. Try to hit them. They aren't going to attack too much, but they will be doing their best to defend and dodge your attacks. Whenever you're ready." she said. Making so many clones at one time sure did wind her, and drained her of a lot of chakra too, but none of these genin were anywhere close to her level of taijutsu and basic fighting. Without the ability to utilize their ninjutsu, and having to rely on their own weapons and basic attacks, they'd tire themselves out before they ever hit her clones. But then again, that was the point of this exercise. In order to improve themselves, they'd have to push themselves as far as possible. This would certainly be interesting. "You can attack separately as individuals, or you can attack in as many or as few as you'd like. There will be one clone for each of you regardless." she added.

WC: 545

-15 Chakra, Water Clone Jutsu. 185/200
10% of 185 = 18.5 per clone
Nozomi: 77/200 Chakra.
Clone 1: 18/18
Clone 2: 18/18
Clone 3: 18/18
Clone 4: 18/18
Clone 5: 18/18
Clone 6: 18/18

As Riss looked down the line of Genin, it seemed like they all looked like basic ninja, except for one tall person among them. She stared at the boy for a moment before snapping her attention back to Nozomi. She addressed them all, stating that they all wanted to be trained. Though no one answered, it was obvious that’s what they were all here for. With a quiet sigh, Riss brought a hand up and pushed a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. She needed to train herself up if she were ever accomplish personal goals and catching wind of Nozomi’s little training session was a step in the right direction.

Riss slowly over to the bag and looked inside. Many of the other Genin followed and started to quickly grab whatever they could. Of course, the single Windmill shuriken was going to be taken immediately, so she simply waited until she was able to grab the weapons without having to compete with five others. Reaching into the bag, she took a kunai, as well as two shurikens. Riss wasn’t skilled in many weapons other than the basic equipment every Genin was given. There was no complaint though, seeing as she preferred to keep a mixed style of distance and close combat. With a somewhat showy spin of the kunai, Riss gripped its handle and took an offensive fighting stance. Watching as Nozomi created her water clones, her eyes focused on the one that was spawned directly in front of her. Even though she was fighting a clone, it was a clone of a higher ranking member of Kiri. The fight wouldn’t be easy, but that’s what she was training for.

Slowly reaching behind her and grabbing one of the shurikens, Riss whipped her arm outward and threw it directly at the clone. It didn’t matter if it hit. So long as it caused a slight bit of movement or even a small distraction, it would give Riss extra time to set herself up in her attack. Dashing at the clone with her weapon at the ready, she sliced upwards, not intending to do much damage, but rather waiting for an opening. Riss had developed a habit of trying to wear down opponents to near exhaustion, rather than setting them up where she could get a strike in. By causing opponents to lose energy and chakra, she would be given an advantage and be able to take anyone down without a sweat. However, she would have to stick with simple melee attacks and refrain from relying on her Ninjutsu of Fuuinjutsu.

Total Word Count: 433:

“How the hell did I get here?”
Yngol found himself stood amongst five other Kirigakure genin. No longer was he unique, no longer was he something different. In the situation that he found himself, he was just a part of the crowd. Of course, all of that was subject to change. There wasn’t much notice at first, Yngol had awoken and gone about his morning training, the same as any other way, only half way through he was told of an open training session on the mainland at the public training grounds. He was under the impression that one of the Jounin would be training the genin. Obviously it was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up, an opportunity to test his skills against people of his rank, whilst receiving advice from someone of a much higher rank. There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation before he set off on his way to the training grounds. He had nothing to take with him, he wasn’t exactly doing well as far as finances went, his only hope was that there would be equipment supplied there.

Once he got to the training ground, he found himself rather disappointed. Where there should have stood a Jounin, hell, even a special Jounin, instead there stood a Chuunin. A one rank difference between people wasn’t much to warrant any superiority, or any right to think that they could effectively train students. They lacked the maturity, and obviously the skill. That’s why they were still Chuunin. Not to complain however, training was training, even if it was to be a little bit easier than Yngol had expected. The turnout wasn’t as great as he had hoped either, only five other genin had shown up. Were the genin of Kirigakure that stupid that they would pass up a chance for free group training? Ungrateful, weak, or unconfident in their abilities, it didn’t matter. There should never be a reason for one to turn down training. There is always room for improvement, and when a chance is put in front of you, you have to grab it.

Then again, the meager turnout could prove to be somewhat useful to Yngol. Less people around means less people that would need to be outdone. It would be far easier to show his skills in this small crowd than it would have been to do it amongst a few dozen genin. The people that he did have to outshine didn’t look particularly dangerous. There were only five of them, Yngol by far the most senior. The oldest looking genin couldn’t have been a day older than 17, with the youngest around about 14. It was rather embarrassing that a man of 23 was considered equal to these children, but the youths of the shinobi world were not to be trifled with, Yngol had a late start as far as his training went, but he intended to finish far beyond anybody else. It was best not to take these teenagers lightly, they were most likely on his level, if not even better.

The instructor, a Chuunin seemed to be rather confident in herself. She spoke assertively, never stumbling over any words. She spoke well, and had the presence of a leader. Her rank was a little bit of a let down, but she at least seemed capable of being able to teach. It was enough for Yngol. She was rather short, however, most shinobi tend to have a bigger build than her; even the females. She was extremely pale, which is strange for somebody in her line of work, being that they were often required to be in the sun for long hours. Her hair was fair, and also short, a smart move, hair tended to get in the way more often than not, and long hair was something easy for an enemy to grab. Of course Yngol wasn’t worried about his own hair. I served as a sign of his strength and battle prowess, and he wasn’t worried about someone grabbing it. The girl’s eyes were blue, a common color around these parts, yet they seemed to have some kind of a defect about them. Yngol observed her carefully, it was always best to know your enemy.

"Okay. Here's how our training's going to go. I'm going to sit here, and drink my tea. YOU guys, are going to fight my clones. I'll be watching you, observing. After the session is done, which is when my clones are either completely destroyed, or you can't continue fighting any longer, then I'll let you know how you did. In the interest of today's session, no ninjutsu. We're working on your physical abilities right now." she said. "Now, since I know, some of you are or plan on being jutsu specialists, and weren't prepared, that's fine. I brought some items you can use."  Yngol ignored her words, he would be using his weapon creation jutsu whether she liked it or not. The fact that she had brough additional items was a bonus however, The kunai and shuriken would prove extremely useful, and the larger windmill shuriken in the middle of the floor had already caught his eye. Yngol would be claiming that for sure. The fact that the girl would have the students fight clones instead of herself was somewhat of an insult, but it was a smart plan of action, an easier way of training more students.

Immediately, Yngol made a beeline for the windmill shuriken, it would be his. He pushed through two other to get it, they were weaker than he was. Surpassing them would be easier than he thought. He grabbed as many kunai and shuriken as he could carry, four of each, and stuffed them into his pocket, The clones were much faster and stronger than the genin, the only way to defeat them without using jutsu would be to gang up on them. Yngol felt the chakra run through his arm as he forged himself a large warhammer, ready to do some damage with it. He looked over to his right and saw one of the genin attacking a clone rather zealously, an easy target. She was dashing at the target and swinging her weapon rather wildly. The clone could only focus on one point of attack at once, taking it out should be easy. Yngol reached into his pocket, finding two kunai. He launched one at the clone’s neck, as fast as he possibly could, and prepared the other to throw it at wherever the clone decided to dodge. It would be able to pay attention to the girl’s attack, it would be able to pay attention to Yngol’s attack, but there was no way in hell it would be able to pay attention to both.  

Of course, Yngol had his own clone to deal with for the time being. There wasn’t a chance that he could take it on his own. His only safe bet was that the girl would return the favor to him. He swung his hammer at the clone that stood in front of him, trying to at least force it back for the time being. It was the most Yngol could do at that moment, and it would hopefully be enough to buy him a little bit of time.


[WC 1210][Total WC 1210]

Edited in Word Count

Jutsu Used:

Nozomi watched the students closely. The large one, seemed to be rather confident and selfish in his endeavors. She'd fix that later. A proper shinobi coordinated with the others. Considering his seeming ability to create weapons, his taking the Windmill Shuriken was hardly proper. Although, perhaps he knew what he was doing with it. More remained to be seen in that regard. In order for her to train them, they had to have some respect. Nothing showed respect better than showing a glimpse in the difference in skill level between them. Nozomi may have been a chuunin, but there was a reason she wasn't a genin any longer. A genin's skill didn't usually match anywhere close to a chuunin's skills. And Nozomi was far above most standard Chuunin herself. With top level endurance and strength, Nozomi's speed, perception, and reactions were even into that of what a standard Special Jounin knew.
-
Clone 1, had paired off against Riss. Riss had of course, been the first to attack. Perhaps it would have been different, and Nozomi's clone would have attacked first, but this was a training exercise after all, designed to help them hone their own skills. Because of that, they were holding off on attacking first, and letting their opponents make the first move. The clone easily dodged out of the way of the kunai. Riss's attack was fairly a basic one, just a shuriken toss. Even as the clone side jumped, however, Riss was already running forward, slicing upwards at the clone. The clone brought out one of the tanto strapped to its back, and blocked the strike on its blade. Pulling out the other tanto, the clone knocked the kunai that Yngol had thrown at it out of the air, rather than moving. Sure, it had to split its attention between the two genin, but it wasn't impossible to do so. If these genin had been at the same level as the ones Nozomi fought in the Chuunin exams, it might have found it difficult to split the attention. Striking out at Riss, to get the genin to disengage, the clone remained stationary. It was holding back on strike speeds, but it certainly wasn't when it came to blocking. This test was designed to wear the genin out, and push them to their physical limit. As long as they kept attacking, the clones would stay on the defense. If they broke off too long, however, the clones would advance.

Clone 3, had paired off against Yngol. Yngol, apparantly had a good idea. Try and split the attention of another clone off from its target to distract them. It was good in theory, but the gap between their skill levels wasn't going to be enough for him to allow Riss to get the drop on the first clone. And as Yngol threw the kunai, Yngol's clone bolted forward, kicking out at Yngol. In throwing a kunai at the other clone, he'd split his own attention between two things. Of course, Yngol had also swung out with his hammer, forcing the clone to retract its kick. Pulling out a tanto of it's own, the clone advanced toward Yngol, throwing out a series of punches and kicks. The kicks were aimed for his shins, the punches were aimed center mass, and the tanto was to be used to deflect blows from the hammer. As against Riss, it's speed of attacking was much lower than it was physically capable of, but in terms of defense, it moved as quickly as possible.

Clones 2, 4, 5, and 6, all were paired off against the remaining genin. They all employed different strategies, but as of yet, all of them seemed to be focused on their own one on ones. Some of the genin were somewhat clumsy, some held back in fear that they might hurt Nozomi, even though they physically couldn't, as they weren't fighting the real her, and some of them actually put up a decent fight. These must have already had some physical trainings, but they still weren't Chuunin Exam level of fighting yet.

Nozomi picked up her tea cup, drinking a little and examining the fights. She could form some small thoughts on the way they were fighting now, of course, but that would be pointless. She needed to see the entire thing, so she'd have to wait until the fights were over. Although these didn't have the range of shadow clones, and had to stay somewhat close to Nozomi, all physical clones departed their knowledge upon dispersal to Nozomi. She'd have experienced all of their fights herself, and learned from the clones afterwards.

WC: 773 / 1318
Chakra: 77/200
Born Ill: 1/8

Clone 1: 18/18
Clone 2: 18/18
Clone 3: 18/18
Clone 4: 18/18
Clone 5: 18/18
Clone 6: 18/18

Nozomi's and Clone's stats:
Strength: C-2 [C-3 -1]
Endurance: C-3
Perception: B Rank [C-3 +1]
Reaction Time: B Rank [C-3 +1]
Speed: B Rank [C-3 +1]

Riss’ first shuriken missed, but inconvenienced the clone ever so slightly. When her advance was stopped and her blade was locked with the clone’s for a brief moment. In this moment, she took a second to quickly analyze her surroundings. She could hear the clank of weapons and the grunting voices around her. Even though she had been one of the first to pick a clone to go after, the other Genin seemed to immediately follow the same thought. That was, all except one. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Yngol’s Kunai being thrown at the clone she had attacked. Although the attempt was appreciated, Riss simply ignored the assist. The clone was able to deflect Yngol’s kunai, but as quickly as the incoming kunai was dealt with, it took a slash at her. Knowing there was no gain from taking a hit this early, she disengaged for a quick moment before advancing once more.

An interesting thought came to Riss as she took another sideways swipe at the clone. It had to do with her style of fighting. Being versatile with both Ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu, adding the knowledge of a weapon would certainly help in the future. She wouldn’t be able to rely on the basic equipment of shurikens and kunai throughout her career as a shinobi. Not to undermine the use of them, as she rather liked using them to manage distance and quickly react to attacks. Daggers or tantos would work just as well, if not better. They would be able to be thrown for extra range, as well as keep enemies on their feet. The more Riss thought about it, the more open to the idea she became. The training session with Nozomi was proving to be more useful than she originally thought. Unfortunately, these thoughts would change as she would yet again attempt and miss a kunai strike.

With a slight grit of her teeth, Riss’ face began to turn a lighter red color. Gripping her kunai tightly, she put a fair amount of power behind a forward stab, but just like all her other attempts at breaking the clone’s defenses, it didn’t even phase the clone as it knocked her attack to the side. Her attacks weren’t getting through to the clone and she was tempted to break the rules of the training and go straight into using all the jutsus at her disposal. Her willpower quickly put a stop to the thought, thinking that if she disobeyed the rules she was given, Nozomi would be on her pretty quickly. The Chuunin had rank over her, so angering her would definitely cause some trouble. Hopping back a few meters, she took a few heavy breaths and blew the hair that was in front of her face out of her line of sight. Deeming that her assault on the clone had gone on long enough, she thought it was just about time to go on the defensive. She spun the kunai once before using her free hand to grab one of her own personal kunai. If she was going to play more defensively and try out her new thought, she would need to be able to multitask with the two kunai and check for chances to counter. Riss exhaled once to calm herself and carefully watched the clone to see if it would take the offensive.

Total Word Count 998:

The girl’s clones were no joke at all, and they made the gap that stood between genin and chuunin even mere noticeable than it already was. The other genin had unleashed a flurry of attacks onto the clone, but none of them were ever even remotely close to landing. Brushing aside all the attacks as she effortlessly glided away from them, the clone raised a tanto to block Riss’s final attack, before deflecting the kunai that Yngol had thrown. He was astonished. He hadn’t even seen the girl look in the direction of the kunai, yet she blocked it without even batting an eyelid. Such was the power of a high level chuunin. Yngol couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened. An attack dodged without the girl even looking in the direction of the kunai. It was outstanding, and served as a reminder of how far Yngol had yet to come, and how far ahead some people already were.

He’d spent too long focusing on the attacks of other people, and had allowed the clone which was assigned to him to advance on him, attempting to unleash a kick into his midriff. Luckily, the instinctive swing of his hammer had sent the clone reeling back, unable to complete it’s attack on Yngol. This gave him some time. Time. The most important part of fighting. If there isn’t enough time to do anything, the fight has been lost. Time is what was needed in order to complete tasks, time is what was needed to formulate plans, time is more important than anything else when it came to a fight, and Yngol had bought himself a few seconds of it. He took the brief moment he had to take a step back, distancing himself from the clone, even if only by a small amount. About a meter stood between them, it was enough to work with.

The whole “no jutsu” rule was a giant pain in the arse. Without it, Yngol could have ended the fight by now. He knew that physically, he couldn’t match up to his teacher. She was far too experienced, far too well trained, she was greater than him in all aspects of physicality. The only way he would have a chance of winning was if he incorporated some skill and strategy into the equation. If he had his jutsu, this would have been easy. He had spotted openings, but was unable to make the most of them without his jutsu. Perhaps this was a bad thing, maybe he shouldn’t rely on his jutsu so much. Training without them would do him a world of good. The idea that the chuunin had was good. She was teaching her students to be multidimensional, turning them into all around better fighters. Perhaps she was smarter than Yngol gave her credit for. Underestimating opponents was what lead to dark horses upsetting the big boys, and Yngol had severely underestimated his opponent, who wasn’t even an underdog in the first place. It was time for Yngol to become the dark horse.

The clone made the first move, which was great for Yngol. It meant that he would be able to find openings with less effort. The clone lunged forward, unloading on Yngol with an array of punches and kicks. The punches were aimed at his stomach, whist the kicks were aimed at his stomach. Not aiming for his head? That could prove to be a rather costly mistake. Incapacitate the opponent before they can do the same to you, that was the name of the game. The clone only had it’s left hand free, since it had reserved it’s right to guard with a tanto. There was the opening. Yngol ignored the kicks to his legs, taking them as the price of launching his next attack. The clone was strong. Yngol felt the blows hit his shin, they would definitely leave a mark. It Wasn’t going to be fun waking up the next morning. Simultaneously, while he ignored the kicks, he brought the handle of his hammer down, batting away the punches from the clone. He would have to protect his stomach, getting winded wasn’t much of an option.

As soon as the punch was blocked, he let go of the hammer with his left hand, holding it up only with his right hand. It was heavy, but he would manage. With his left hand, he grabbed the windmill shuriken off of his waist, bringing his arm across his body and with a backhanded motion he, launched it at the clones neck. The shuriken would approach the clone from the right side, flying right towards its neck. The second he released the shuriken, he grabbed his hammer with his left hand, going back to wielding it the proper way. At the very moment that the windmill shuriken was flying towards the clone’s neck from the right hand side, Yngol swung his hammer at the knees of the clone from the very same right hand side, attempting yet again to divert the attention. After completing the swing of his hammer he would let go it completely, letting it fly in whatever direction it wanted to. He would roll back, a rather difficult endeavor given his size, and launch 2 shuriken in the direction of the clone, attempting to deter any further advances.

He wouldn’t need the hammer that he had let go off, if push came to pull he could easily just create himself another. He had thrown a lot at the clone, and would be surprised if it managed to wriggle its way out of the situation, yet for some reason he expected it to do exactly that. Yngol still had more in his locker however, and was prepared for whatever situation he needed to be. The other genin were struggling with their clones somewhat, being completely outclassed. They relied on pure physical ability instead of strategy and skill. Regardless of the outcome of this battle, Yngol had learned a fair amount about fighting, and about possible future opponents also. He was learning and adapting rapidly


[WC 1014] [Total WC 2229]

OOC: Okay, so I leave the fighting in your next post for you guys. Make it as long or as short as you want, but they'll keep fighting until you're exhausted and can't fight, or you've scored enough damage on them to constitute C rank damage. Seeing as how you've E rank stats and weaponry for the most part, and most of your damage is mitigated by my endurance even should you hit, that won't be much an issue, so make it fun, make it good. It'll end with them returning to Nozomi, so no matter what, the clones won't be destroyed. Have at it. I'll use your last posts as part of my critique, so I can't do that without you guys. Training is yay ^_^

As Nozomi watched, she focused her attention on two students, who appeared to be a cut above the ordinary. She ran practices quite often, but rarely did any genin exhibit such talent on the first day of training here. That was good. It meant that diversity was becoming more of a thing these days. After all, most of the genin were starting here fresh out of the Academy. They had their basic ninja skills, but that was about it. Nozomi couldn't help but feel impressed. In fact, the other 4 clones had already tired out their opponents, who were all breathing rather heavily. It was time to step this up a little bit. Training hadn't been going on all that long, but then again, this was an intense workout, designed to push them in a combat situation. None of them were designed to be beatable.

The first step towards training up an efficient military ninja, was to break them down, purely in a physical way. Being full of yourself made you overconfident, which led to making rudimentary mistakes. Nozomi was a small girl, there was no doubt about that. But her clones were completely outclassing the genin in physical ability. No matter how good they were, they would have to work for it even to scratch the nimble girl without her letting it happen. Some people got frustrated when presented this challenge, but others kept persevering. This group seemed to have its fair share of both. Then again, she herself had dealt with the frustration of never being able to touch her teacher, a Chuunin when she had been a genin. But the thing about his method of training was that it pushed her. He held himself back to the point that he was still better than she was, but she had a chance, and could surprise him. Everytime she got closer, he'd up his level of skill and speed. She improved gradually, without even noticing, until finally she was on his level, and he wasn't holding back anymore.

With her method of training, she differed from his in that she didn't hold back in anything except attacking. They'd simply have to make do with trying to increase their own speed enough to keep up with her. Her attacks were strong, even though slower than usual. Most couldn't block. However, being hit by her would increase their body's durability. Watching her movements would help increase their perception on the field of battle, even if they couldn't see them completely. Watching her attack and dodging her attacks would help them react quicker and more efficiently. She was setting a standard, and marking a point to achieve. It was their goals to reach where she had made her standards. Once there, she was no longer needed. Some of the genin she wouldn't see again. Others she would, and they'd return for practices again and again. But as long as they learned and improved, she was doing her job correctly.

While she noticed that the others were tiring, Nozomi called a halt on clones 2, 4, 5, and 6. They dissipated into water, returning the chakra to Nozomi, whose eyes brightened as the chakra returned to her. She gained back all the experience the clones had learned from their fights, and went on to start talking to those four, leaving Riss and Yngol to continue fighting for a little longer. They had a larger grasp on things than the others had, so she'd address them later, and for now just leave them to do their own thing.
-
Clone 1 was enjoying the fight that Riss was putting it up, to be quite honest. The two girls had a similar style in their approach on combat. It was a simple hit and run style of attacking, but being light on your feet was important, especially in a fight against someone in taijutsu or with any blades. Sure, some jutsu had a totally overwhelming amount of power, and could end a fight quickly, but so could someone well versed in taijutsu, or someone with a decent weapon, who knew how to use them. After all, you hit the right place even once, and a fight was as good as over. Unfortunately for Riss, though, Nozomi was a taijutsu specialist. Even for all the girl's fancy footwork, she was in Nozomi's playing field, all the disadvantages stacked against her.

Nozomi's clone smiled slightly as Riss went on the defensive. That was good. Offensive wasn't working out, and the girl was smart enough to pull in close to herself. As good as being offensive was, it also wasted energy quickly. Defending, however, you got to retain energy, as well as work on simply dodging. A good defense could wear down a superior opponent, and then a fully refreshed shinobi would be able to fight on more even grounds. She advanced rather slowly, watching Riss pull out another kunai. Now it was two kunai against Nozomi's two Tanto. Again, that was a good idea. It was much harder to defend against two blades with only one blade. But blade to blade, it was easier, and more recommended. It expended less energy, as you didn't have to move the one to intercept both nearly as much. Noting this, Nozomi's clone went on a quick offensive. It would certainly push the girl to her utmost at this point. If her attacks would slip past the girl's guard, the tanto would stop just shy of actually cutting her, instead resting where it would strike momentarily. However, that was simply because Nozomi wasn't interested in inflicting wounds, just helping her straighten her defenses out.

-
The clone that was fighting Yngol, had noticed that this man was no stranger to combat. Indeed, he seemed to have the most combat experience out of the bunch. If he were to train up and become physically stronger, he would be a formidable enough opponent for anybody. He certainly wasn't to be underestimated, although, at the same time, he had not enough skill to take down the clone that Nozomi had pitted against him.

He was smart. He knew how to fight decently enough. But unfortunately, he telegraphed his moves. Letting go of his hammer, grabbing onto the windmill shuriken. Nozomi had all the time in the world to dodge his attacks. As he released the shuriken, Nozomi's feet left the ground, and she twisted her body sideways, spinning around as she did so to build up momentum. The windmill whizzed above her, and her free hand snapped out, grabbing the shuriken from the air, and her body continued its spin. The momentum and weight of the shuriken dragged her forward a little bit, out of the arc of the swing from his hammer, although she was still in range enough to complete her spin and lash out with her feet, using the hammer as a further springboard to gain more distance from the large man.

To stop her projectile motion, Nozomi moved the windmill shuriken down, sticking it into the ground, and halting her air motion. The size of the blade actually hid most of her body, and the shuriken that he'd launched after his own backwards roll clanged off of the larger blade. The clone stood up, pulling the windmill shuriken out of the ground and spun it around a few times, to really get it spinning. He had promise. In fact, if she had faced someone attacking like that at the Chuunin Exams, she might have faced more trouble. Unfortunately for him, and doubly so, he wasn't as physically capable as the genin she'd fought at the Chuunin Exams, and Nozomi was quite a bit more skilled than she had been at the time as well. Running forward, Nozomi's clone launched the windmill shuriken at the man, having built its spin up, and deployed it completely, showing him the proper usage of such a device, and following up with her own special blend of quick taijutsu strikes.
-
After a short while, once Riss had given her all in the fight, the clone would jump back, landing next to Nozomi. It's fight with Riss would be over then. And when Yngol's fight was deemed sufficiently finished as well, the clone there would also jump back, to stand next to Nozomi. Nozomi would step forward, to mark the fights over, and protect the clones from any attacks that might go their way. She dissipated those clones as well, returning their chakra back to her, again increasing the vitality in her eyes, making them more and more vibrant with every bit of chakra restored. Anyone who was paying attention enough could make the assumption that her eyes brightness measured how much chakra remained in the girl. She'd let them catch their bearings before addressing them, and giving her critiques. She didn't have much bad to say about them, really. But for now, she just looked at them silently. A small smile played on her lips. She'd finally found some genin of merit. Who knows? One of these might even be the next winner of the Chuunin Exams.

WC: 1520 / 2838
Chakra: 185/200
Born Ill: 2/8
Stats: Same as previous

Even though Riss was fairly skilled at dividing her attention on multiple things at once, having two kunai against the clone’s two tantos would make things slightly easier. The clone seemed to immediately go on the offensive, rushing forward and attempting a slow strike with the right tanto. Putting her right kunai up, the two blades locked. There was a heavy weight being pressed against her right side, but she remained strong and steady. It was only when the second tanto came for her did she decided to duck down and break the lock of the blades. The clone kept the attacks coming as the tantos repeatedly came for Riss. Each time, Riss blocked or dodged rather quickly. Watching carefully as the clone put power behind each swing and stab, a sequence of started to show itself. Waiting for the next attack and predicting the next swipe, she prepared herself to act. Finding an opportunity to counter attack and switch to offense, Riss gripped her kunai and took a swipe at the clone’s mid-section. Unfortunately, her kunai completely missed and her arm extended farther then she intended it to. As soon as this happened, Riss noticed she left an opening in her attack, and the clone quickly took advantage of it. With a quick swing, Riss cringed as the blade stopped a mere inch from her shoulder. After a slight pause in the flow of their fight, Riss took the chance to jump back and regroup. Knowing she would’ve gotten an injury for her mistake was eating at her slightly, but there was no way she was going to let one simple mess up work against her. It was a lessoned learned, and one that wouldn’t be forgotten any time soon. Never again would she try a counter unless she was doubly sure that she could get a hit on the opponent.

Seeing that pure defense was getting a bit risky, she decided to focus on counters and keeping pressure on, all while focusing on the clone’s movements more than her own. The clone was obviously going at a slower pace, showing that it was keeping the difficulty matched to how far Riss wanted to push herself. Riss however changed tactics so often, it was hard to predict her, but once she showed a pattern, the clone adapted almost instantly. Knowing Nozomi was a higher rank and thus had more experience, she could only assume the clone was an excellent fighter just like the one it was copied from. The way it handled the tantos gave wind that the Chuunin had a great deal of knowledge involving close combat. This led to a few thoughts. Maybe she could get a private lesson on the use of tantos or even daggers. Her thinking was quickly interrupted by the blade being swung past her head. Her ideas and questions would have to wait for now. There was plenty of time when the training was over to contemplate what to do about her own fighting style and possible training sessions. Taking her kunai and thrusting it forward, she was quickly blocked. Gritting her teeth once more, she started to heat up slightly. Nothing she was doing was working. Every time the clone took a swing with the blade, she tried her best to block it, a majority of the time she succeeded. Every time she took a swing, the clone would meet her halfway and block before she had a chance to change her action. It was getting rather irritating and Riss certainly showed it. Her face turned a lighter red due to her coming anger. Though her anger was getting the best of her, the rage seemed to channel into each of her attempted attacks. With a quick motion, she blocked the clone’s tanto, pushed it away from her and ended up piercing into the clone’s side with her available kunai. Her eyes widened as she was able to get a hit, even if it was a small and far from lethal cut. It was a lucky hit, but Riss seemed to completely ignore that as she took a small hop backwards and away from another approaching attack. The fight had gone on for some time now, leaving the clone calmly standing and Riss a good bit winded. She was tired and wasn’t going to be able to continue on much longer. Fortunately, Nozomi called her clones off before the fight continued any further.

Falling to a knee, Riss took a few quiet gasps for air. A few beads of sweat dripped off the side of her forehead and down the bridge of her nose. She had given her all in the fight, but proved to be rather fruitless when trying to get multiple hits on the clone. She was proud enough that she was able to get one lucky strike, but knew it was just sheer luck. With a deep breath, she holstered her own kunai and kept the one she borrowed in her hand. She would have to return it to the bag when she had a chance, unless Nozomi had other plans for the weapons. Pushing the hair from her face and putting it behind her ear, she stood up and made her way towards Nozomi. There was no doubt that the Chuunin would give her insight on what her strengths and weaknesses were, even if this was a simple hand-to-hand combat training. Staring at Nozomi with a squint, she noticed the color of her eyes slowly getting brighter. For a moment, she thought it was a mixture of her own exhaustion making her see things and light from the sun reflecting ever so slightly off the Chuunin’s eyes. After a second or two of staring, Riss could then see a relation between the disappearing clones and Nozomi’s eyes. It was obvious that the girl had a fair amount of chakra, especially since she was able to make so many clones. Stretching her limbs, a satisfying snap broke through the now silent training grounds. Her joints were sore from the spar with the clone, and would most likely be felt the next morning. Looking up slightly, she waited on her critique with anticipation.

Word Count 2032:

When all the fights were finished, Nozomi dissipated all of her clones. Smiling at the two of them, Nozomi took Yngol over to the side. He'd already displayed excellent ability to fight, and knowledge of certain things, so it was simpler to talk to him. His briefing was quite quick, and upon finishing speaking to him, he left. Apparently, this man wasn't keen on sticking around for very long. That was fine with her. Not everyone did. Sometimes, her training was just too much for some people. He was looking rather beat up too, considering Nozomi's clone had gone a little rougher on the larger man.

After finishing with her talk with Yngol, however, Nozomi went over to Riss. This girl was interesting. Nozomi had taken a liking to her almost instantly. They seemed to be around the same age, although Riss was a little bit taller than Nozomi was. "And as for you. Well, despite your lack of physical ability, rather slow movements, and restriction on jutsu usage, you still did extraordinarily well in your spar. You know how to sit back and take hits, blocking them closer to your body instead of meeting them head on as it is easier to move point to point in a smaller zone than it is to try and match my superior point to point movement. I was relatively surprised. Although in the end, it proved beyond you to wear down my clone's stamina, you had the correct basic idea. When fighting someone who can only utilize Taijutsu or Bukijutsu, it's simpler to wear them down, while keeping as much energy as you can held back. That's something you've already seemed to get a grasp on. Which, makes you the best of the group, in my opinion. The other Genin, simply rushed in and gave it their all. Most of them are physically superior to you. But you were the last fighter done, and that speaks volumes for your technique. It also means, you'll have gotten more out of this training, as the training lasted longer." she spoke up. She was really thinking about the fight, trying to give the best constructive criticism she could.

"As for you, I couldn't help but notice you were getting frustrated during the fight. Sure, some of that red face was from physical exertion, but some was from frustration. Yet, even faced with an almost impenetrable defense, you continued on, persevering. In the shinobi world, it doesn't matter how good of a fighter you are. Nothing matters but the mission at hand. You can't give up just because the mission looks too dangerous, because you don't think you can do it. And you have that trait. You kept pushing, and eventually scored the smallest of victories. That drive that you possess will get you far. Your basic taijutsu skills are deemed sufficient. There's not much I can tell you to help improve your skills that you don't already know. The most I can offer now, is to help you hone those skills in combat. I do these courses rather frequently, but at this point, I was thinking, maybe you'd like some private courses? I know that a one on one session, allowing the utilization of jutsu is much better for improvement, and allows a fighter's true skills to shine. I couldn't do that here because I didn't want my clones to die, and with such low chakra, I couldn't exactly combat that using them."

WC: 579/3417

Riss maintained a neutral expression as best as she could, though hints of irritation made it through on occasion. She was glad with her training, and could definitely see a fighting style shaping out, but the constructive criticism hit her a somewhat hard. Knowing to take it all in a positive way, her mind seemed to make it more insulting and nitpicky than helpful. With a deep breath and a seemingly forced smile, Riss nodded. She remained quiet during the first part of Nozomi’s opinion on her fighting. Although there were some comments that truly made her happy, she still felt as though she could have done more.

After a few minutes of listening, Riss opened her mouth to speak. “I’ve been known to have a slight issue with my rage. I try not to let it get the better of me during fights, but that spar with your clone was testing me a little. Anger sometimes helps me in situations like that though, so…” She paused, trying to think of what to say next. There wasn’t really anything new she could add. She knew her own abilities and wasn’t too sure where to lead the conversation. However, thanks to Nozomi, she had something to comment on.

Her attitude quickly changed at the mention of private courses. While fighting Nozomi’s clone, she did consider asking about such a thing, but seeing how Nozomi simply offered to teach her, it would be a rather good opportunity to train herself up. Another benefit would be the teaching style itself. Seeing as Riss had a personal goal of being a teacher one day, witnessing and going through this Chuunin’s training would be a good start. With a more sincere grin, Riss nodded. “I’d be happy to go through a private training session with you. Though, I’d like to meet before the Chuunin exams… I hear they’re coming up quick…” Riss began to lower her voice and trail off as she mentioned the upcoming exams. With a quiet shake of her head to snap out of her brief worry. “Either way, thank you for training session.” After putting her hands behind her back and bowing, Riss took her leave, heading away from the training grounds and back home.

Word Count 2406:

Nozomi smiled at the young girl in front of her. She was readily accepting of the constructive criticism, which meant she'd make for a good kunoichi one day. Unlike most, who thought the world of themselves. Like that Yngol boy, who had thought she was all that. Nozomi began packing her bag up, making a mental note that she needed to restock her supply again at some point. She had plenty of items, so it wasn't exactly a big deal, more she was going to buy better quality items. She'd been running on basic equipment for so long.

Speaking to Riss before she left, Nozomi grinned. "I'm glad you're willing to accept some private training. I think it'll be fun, and it'll give me some more experience as a teacher. I'm learning as well, so it's nice to have someone to go on this journey with. I've always wanted to be good enough to be a sensei after all. See you around Riss." she said, and shouldered her bag. That being said, Nozomi had to leave herself.

With all her students having left at this point, it was time for Nozomi to head home, take a shower, and relax a little bit. Besides, today was another day to write a letter to Kaekio. After all, she needed to tell her about her promising young students and inform her on how things were going again. Not that it mattered much, because Nozomi wasn't even sure if her girlfriend was even receiving the letters. It made her a little sad, of course, that Kaekio hadn't responded, but she wasn't going to let that deter her. She'd continue writing until Kaekio either gave her a response, or until the day she ran into her in person and she told her to stop. But until such time, she'd continue writing as if Kaekio was responding, and hope that they were reaching her, and that Kaekio was fully updated as to Nozomi's life. She cared a lot about that girl, and that was something special in and of itself, considering Nozomi's friendship wasn't easily earned, nor was her trust.

WC: 339
TWC: 3756

EXIT THREAD

Learning:
Lightning Release: Dragon Wheel 1500/1500
Lightning Release: Dragon Missile 1500/1500
Body Flicker Technique 750/750
WC: 3750
Remaining WC: 6