Mission name: Combat Practice
Mission rank: C-rank
Objective: Spar
Location: Thunder grounds
Reward: 300 ryo for 1500 words.
+ 25 ryo / 100 wc, up to a maximum of +300 ryo for +1200 words.
Mission description: A genin has put up the ryo for a sparing partner. You look like you could use the training and so we've assigned you.
Mission details: Go to the thunder grounds, there he will talk to you before you can see them, then walk out behind a rock, and will bow before beginning the spar. you may not kill or maim them, but everything else is fair game.


Dropping the NPC to spar Kiriya instead.

---

@Kiriya: This is a 'little explanation' on stats and combat.

Stat rules: [x]
These rules will tell you very clearly what you (and me) can do with your current stats. The 'simple version' translates as checking the difference between your stats and mine.

- As soon as someone's stat has +4 tiers (= +1 rank) above you, there's little point trying to beat him on that matter - 99% of the time you'll simply fail.
Ex: D rank vs C-2 rank (=6 tiers difference)
- At +3 difference, it takes 1 post for the superior shinobi to win the challenge.
Ex: D-1 rank vs C rank
- At +2 difference, it takes 2 posts for the superior shinobi to win the challenge.
Ex: D rank vs D-2 rank
- At +1 difference, it takes 3 post for the superior shinobi to win the challenge.
Ex: D rank vs D-1 rank
- When equal in rank, there's no clear winner or loser unless something is done to change that. That's usually when weapons/jutsu come in to break the status quo.

Naturally, combat isn't focused on one stat, but it'll be no secret when you're facing someone who has +4 tiers in every stat above yours, that winning is going to be nigh-impossible... as long as only stats are being used.

That's why jutsu come into play. They can make or break the outcome of a fight, making stats of lesser importance than when you'd fight without using any jutsu.

Another sparring request, this time with quite a young genin. Mizuki remembered the first time she did one of those, fighting a taijutsu genin. She had lost that fight back then, young and inexperienced as she was, but she had learned a lot out of it. Her jutsu had been few and her combos incomplete, unlike her opponent who had shown to have a few well thought out tricks under his belt. She wondered if today it would be an inversed role where she had the experience and her partner was looking to grow. It was odd to say, but she wouldn't mind that. The idea of teaching others, expanding on Kumogakure's training and shinobi power by teaching them... perhaps that was exactly what her father was about, being a kenjutsu trainer at the Raiu Dojo.

Shaking her head to drive off the thoughts, Mizuki forced her mind to focus on the training at hand. For the occasion, since she knew beforehand what the mission was about, she had put on her dojo's training gi, which consisted of a simple black vest over a black shirt and ditto pants. The Raiu's clan kamon had been embroidered proudly on the right side, while the dojo's kamon was worn on the left. On the back, just a little under her neck and in between her shoulders, a small symbol only known to the members of the dojo, explained the 'path' she was currently walking - Heaven Sword Style, one of her father's more advanced kenjutsu fighting styles. In true Kumogakure style, her vest was bound with a raincloud grey sash around her waist to keep her vest in place. As usual, her katana rested against her hip, positioned to be drawn swiftly in one smooth move.

Clearing her mind of any distraction, Mizuki closed her eyes, allowing her other senses to remain aware of the environment as she picked up a light meditation while waiting for her partner to arrive.

---

333
Total: 333

The letter mission letter came the night before the actual mission. Kiriya was not surprised, this mission wasn’t granted them by the Raikage. In fact, Mizuki brought it up, Kiriya had mentioned that he was lacking real combat experience. Kiriya was so excited that he couldn’t sleep the night before. But deep down in him, he was little uneasy.

From the early stages of his childhood, Kiriya knew that nobody offers help without wanting something in return. His childhood days taught him that everything comes with a price. Having little or no real friends around him he started to value being alone. What was the reason behind Mizuki’s invitation? Maybe she wanted to measure his strength? On the other hand, there was the possibility that she was just being friendly. Kiriya’s mind just couldn’t comprehend it. It was clear that Mizuki was more skilled than him. But Kiriya would be damned if he didn’t give her everything he’s got. He wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The spar was going to happen in the Thunder grounds region, located in the outskirts of the village. For some reason, the Thunder grounds were always covered up with dark, ominous clouds from which lightning rods struck the ground. Kiriya had never been there. He had only heard stories about how dangerous the place could be.

Kiriya packed his backpack and quickly went on his way. He was wearing a black mesh t-shirt under his regular, black-colored top. He estimated that the walk would take him about one hour. His estimate was pretty close, it took him exactly fifty-six minutes to get there.

Upon arrival he saw a figure in the distance. He couldn’t clearly identify it but thought that it was Mizuki. It had to be. Getting closer and closer the image of the figure got clearer. He realized it was her when he laid eyes upon the raven black hair. She was dressed in her dojo outfit. Kiriya thought that it was quite appealing. He always liked girls that weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, especially when with training. As he got closer he noticed that she was meditating.

“You’re taking this quite seriously, aren’t you? I hope that I will learn something out of this. But don’t expect that I won’t give it everything I have.” As he was speaking, a thunder struck close to the place they were at. Kiriya just now realized how dangerous this place really was. He knew that while sparring, one should always be aware of his surroundings but this was over the top. They could legitimately get killed if they got struck by one. On the other hand he had the Child of Raijin kekkei genkai from his clan, the Kaminari. That meant he was capable of withstanding the pressure of a lightning, more than ordinary people.

---

WC - 490

There was a solemn quietude around this place as thunder clouds floated about, casting their annoyance down to earth in the form of crackling lightning. Every time this happened, there was a brief hue change before Mizuki's closed eyes. From pitch black to ... light black? It was odd to realise she could 'see' colouring despite having her eyes closed.

Then, in the harmonium of thunder and lightning, footsteps joined in not quite abiding by the unspoken rhythm there was, before a voice joined them, stating she would not have to expect him to go easy during this training. Kiriya. Opening her eyes, she turned her head to see him approach.

"Good morning, Kiriya-kun. Glad to see you made it", she greeted him, bowing briefly before him. "I wouldn't expect you to go easy. This may be training, but if you had any intention to be sloppy about it there would be little point in having this training. The only rules, so to speak, is not to kill each other and good sportsmanship."

Lightning crackled, striking a random point nearby, its light flashing in the corner of her eyes. She smiled faintly at the familiarity of it all, but as she was focused on the mission at hand, it did little more than maker her eyes blink briefly against the lightning flash. Releasing the rope that tied the sheathe of her katana to her waist, she held it firmly in her hand. She would have preferred a bokken during spars as these, but since she had none with her she'd see if fighting with a sheathed katana would be sufficient. The last thing she'd like was to wound her fellow genin.

"Do you have any questions before we start our spar?", she asked, wanting to be sure they were on the same page. If he had no questions, Mizuki would nod and take some distance before slipping in a basic kenjutsu stance.

---

326
Total: 659

Items:

There was something about the calming tone Mizuki was speaking with. Was she that confident in her swordsmanship? Kiriya’s mind was working on analyzing the situation. He had a wakizashi, which was approximately forty-five centimeters. On the other hand, his training partner, Mizuki, had a katana, which was seventy-one centimeters. The length advantage would be on her side. That also meant that Kiriya had to be closer to her in order to land a hit. Everything was on her side. She was more skillful and she had a longer sword. Kiriya thought that he couldn’t allow himself to be sloppy.

“I'm glad you asked. I was not sure about how many rounds will it have? I think that we can withstand several spars. Also I’m not sure about the rules. When does it count as a win?” Kiriya tried everything to look as calm as he possibly could have, but the raging emotions inside him were too difficult to control.

Kiriya went to the place Mizuki was standing and took of his black top. It was obvious that they would be fighting with the sheath of their weapons. It would end very badly if they didn’t use them. As Kiriya was preparing for Mizuki’s answer, his mind kept analyzing her. He wasn’t skillful enough to read her sword style. At this moment doubt covered his mind. He knew that if he didn’t deal with it, his fighting skills would greatly decrease. Takuya taught him hat one should always go into battle with a clear mind. The moment you start thinking about the consequences you’ve lost. Of course, this wasn’t a legitimate fight but it was close enough to the real deal. If Kiriya wanted to learn something from this experience, he needed to give it all he’s got.

As he waited for Mizuki’s answer, he got the rusty wakizashi, sitting on his back and handed it to her. He wanted to be clear about the sword he had. On the other hand, there couldn’t be a way that Mizuki hadn’t seen it already. She must’ve seen it on the mission they had a while back.

“I will be using this.” Said Kiriya, as he was holding the scrap wakizashi in one hand. He then proceeded handing it over to her. On the other hand, he could recognize that the blade she had on her back was something entirely different. Its sheath was covered in black leather with her name written on it in silver kanji symbols. Kiriya wasn’t familiar with Raiu dojo styles but figured that this was a great time to observe one of them. As he was thinking about the coming spar, he cleared his mind, closed his eyes and meditated for one minute. As he opened them, a crimson shine appeared in them. He was ready.

---

WC - 490 + 487
= 977

Items:

Mizuki listened to Kiriya's questions, taking a brief moment to think about an answer. Personally, she didn't bother with rounds, as training stopped the very moment either the sensei said so, or when one of the students simply couldn't go on any longer. There was no sensei here, so a certain mature insight in one's own limits was thus more crucial.

"No round limit. As soon as one feels too tired to go on or when night is about to fall, I think we should call it a day. Perhaps we could do a little warm up spar before fighting an actual match? As for a win... the opponent wins when you give up, or when a blow could have ended any real fight."

She remembered when she had fought the taijutsu shinobi how quickly she had lost that match. A single sweep, and as she had fallen on the floor, his punch ended just a few inches away from her throat. Even if no real wounds were inflicted, had he not stopped his strike, he could have shattered her wind pipe. In their case, a blade to the throat could be the equivalent, though proper disarming and the semblance of chopped off legs could do just as well...?

Kiriya proceeded to prepare himself as she replied to his questions, taking out a... rusted wakizashi? Mizuki blinked in disbelieve for a moment. She couldn't believe he was using a rusted weapon. Was he this careless with his tools, or did people care just this little about him having proper tools? Releasing her breath slowly, as she hadn't realised the sight of such a horror had made her hold her breath, she frowned clearly.

This wouldn't do.

She refused to spar with someone who would be making use of a weapon of such low quality, but as it stood, she had no wakizashi with her. She had her katana, which she was extremely reluctant to pass to someone else, and a ranton technique she could... not teach him. Right, Kiriya was not a Raiu. He would not be able to make use of Storm Release jutsu. She guessed there was little other option... no matter how much she disliked the very idea.

"Please, put away your weapon. I refuse to spar while your weapon of choice doesn't do you any credit. Do you have a kunai instead? And if not, are you able to handle a katana?"

If he had a kunai, then she'd swap her katana for her kunai as well. It would be a more dangerous as the weapon didn't have a sheathe, but the other option would be just as dangerous and not quite her favourite - to pass her katana to Kiriya while she made use of her own katana creation technique.

---

OOC: Kunai can be used without bukijutsu, while katana fall under the 'kenjutsu' sub-spec of Bukijutsu, should you be wondering.

474
Total: 1133

Kiriya stood in silence looking at Mizuki’s reactions. As he pulled out the rusty wakizashi that he called weapon, her face expression changed drastically. This was probably due to the condition of his blade. Kiriya thought that she might refuse to spar and walk away. But instead she proposed another thing – to fight with a kunai.

Kiriya came in this mission with the expectations to improve his fighting style. He imagined that he would fight with the rusty wakizashi, but Mizuki wasn’t very pleased. Her suggestion was instead to fight with kunai. On one hand, this would improve his close-combat fighting abilities but on the other, it would be more dangerous. There wasn’t a proper way to cover up the kunai so it wasn’t so sharp. If they went with this option, both of them should be extremely careful. For a moment Kiriya analyzed the situation and made up his mind quickly. They were going to spar with kunai. It was good that he packed it up in the morning, just for emergencies.

The hard truth about Kiriya’s rusty wakizashi was that he couldn’t afford a better one. He could ask his mother to buy him a new one but Kiriya knew their financial situation and didn’t want to be a burden to her. Raising a shinobi, while being a single parent, wasn’t an easy job.

“Yeah, I have a kunai in my pack. This morning, while I was packing my stuff, I almost didn’t take it. That would be a worse scenario that this. You are probably regretting that you accepted this mission with me. I will try to show my abilities to the fullest and I’ll be extra careful.”

As he was getting ready for the warm-up, he took off his top and stashed it in his backpack, leaving him with only a t-shirt made from fishnet. The cloth material of the t-shirt was perfect for these conditions. It would keep air flowing freely, thus cooling down his body. The other part of his brain was thinking about that thing that he called his blade. Mizuki’s reaction was like a hammer that struck him in the face. Deep down in him, he knew that the wakizashi was in that bad condition. He left the thinking of a new one for a later part of the day. Now he had to focus on the task at hand.

Kiriya left his belongings on the ground, while pulling out a kunai from them. Grabbing it with his right hand he then preceded going into battle stance. “May the best one win!” was the last thing he said while waiting for Mizuki.

---

WC - 997 + 455
= 1452

OOC - Sorry about the delayed response. I have an exam tomorrow and have been studying the past few days. Anyways from tomorrow I should be posting regularly.

Item:

Mizuki nodded as Kiriya stowed his rusty wakizashi away and took out his kunai. She reattached her katana to her waist and let it rest there, taking out her own kunai from her belt pouch instead. As Kiriya prepared himself, she formed the Dog hand sign to her kunai as her own preparation. Suiton chakra flowed into the weapon, shrouding its actual position to give her the advantage when attacking.

"Astral technique, Hazy Moon", she said, revealing the name of the technique, before stepping once more into a basic kenjutsu stance. In true traditional dojo etiquette, she replied to Kiriya's battle wish with her own. "Please, be gentle with me."

Once Kiriya was ready, Mizuki dashed forward to engage him in close quarter combat, making use of her kunai to parry his attacks as good as possible, while counter-attacking where she saw an opening. Should her weapon hit him, she'd be careful enough not to cut too deeply, leaving negligible wounds behind. The point to her was more to make him feel the sting or scrape of where her kunai hit rather than to wound him, even if it would draw blood to some extend due to a kunai's cutting ability. For now, she just wanted to test his combat ability so she could, if needed, adapt her own fighting to a more defensive or offensive style. To know one's opponent was important in any sort of combat, after all.

---

245
Total: 1378

Chakra 140/150:

OOC: Real life always has priority, if anything, and most people take more than 2-3 days to reply due to real life or alts. So don't worry too much about it. Good luck with your finals.

As Kiriya stood in his battle stance, Mizuki coated her kunai with suiton chakra. From his point of view, the kunai she was holding in one arm now was surrounded by a deep light blue fog. Kiriya’s mind immediately started to analyze the situation. The chakra that was surrounding it was making the blade’s mass much larger, meaning it would be harder for him to parry or evade.

As he was thinking about a proper strategy against her, Mizuki immediately dashed forward. This was real combat, if someone analyzed the situation more than needed it could lead to injury and possibly the death of him and his comrades. In a split second Mizuki was in front of him. Kiriya raised the hand with which he was holding his kunai and made a quick short strike at Mizuki’s left side. While the kunai was approaching her he quickly dashed to the left side. Kiriya learned that from Takuya. While throwing a fake punch or a strike, he quickly would change the direction of the attack.

Kiriya suddenly felt a light wound on his cheek. It looked like Mizuki had anticipated his movements. It was Kiriya’s fault, he was being sloppy, he couldn’t manage to properly evaluate the distance between them. And on the other hand there was the fog coating of the kunai, making it bigger.
Without hesitation he dropped the kunai from his right hand. The fall of the kunai wasn’t long, it only took around one second to reach his left hand below his waist. As he caught it, he made another strike vertically from right to left.

The warm-up, if it could even be called a warm-up, was intense. It was only going for about three minutes but Kiriya was having hard time breathing. Perhaps his endurance wasn’t on Mizuki’s level. Mizuki, on the other hand, was barely breathing. Her movements were like water, calm and calculated. She didn’t seem to make any excessive movements. From the first minute Kiriya knew that he was heavily outclassed in kenjutsu abilities. He anticipated that she was good but her skills had amazed him even more.

Kiriya jumped back, getting his breath steady and dashed to her again. If the strike he was throwing actually connected he would move to the left side and attempt a new one. If she had parried the strike he would then try to counter the attack.

---

WC - 1452 + 412
= 1864

OOC - I don't think I'm getting the fighting quite like it's supposed to be.

It was a strange feeling to fight Kiriya. He seemed slow for a genin. She could read his movement almost before he had acted, deflecting the strike easily as he dashed to her side. A feint, one she had somewhat expected. His next move, however, wasn't one she had anticipated. Kiriya dropped his kunai for a moment, catching it nimbly with his left hand and striking at her. However, here again, he seemed oddly slow in the execution. Shifting her right foot backward, she quickly reoriented her position and line of attack, deflecting his sneaky trick just in time.

The kunai seemed to clash against another with unbridled focus as one tried to hit the other and win the spar, but as time moved on, Mizuki could only confirm that her speed and reaction was superior to Kiriya's. She wondered if she, too, had been this slow once, in a time before she had picked up missions, sparred other shinobi and went on a B rank mission with Lin. To feel such a difference between the two of them, despite being genin, was almost surreal.

After a another quick skirmish, Kiriya dashed away to make some room, his breathing seemingly heavy already. Mizuki could feel her heart race, but this seemed more out of adrenaline rather than lack of endurance despite her notorious illness with which she was born. Allowing Kiriya his rest, she didn't pursue him. Instead, she tried to analyse and anticipate his next movement. One thing was for sure, he was using a basic form of kenjutsu much like hers. Not quite the Raiu's kenjutsu style, but not too different either.

Just as she was about to ask him something, Kiriya dashed back into the fray for another round, refusing to hold back despite his augmented breathing. Once more, despite his dash, she could read his movements too easily, parrying the attack and expecting him to dash to the side once more. He didn't seem to follow up this time, but neither did Mizuki proceed with attacks. Instead, she formed a new series of hand seals and blew out suiton chakra in the form of a bubble.

"Suiton, Bubblegum.", she revealed, giving shape to a bubble of clear water that surrounded her some 2 meters around her. She had had little opportunities to try out this jutsu before, and so decided to make use of it now. It would do little to Kiriya aside from making him wet as she'd go back and forth in an attempt to keep him at about 2 meter distance from her, but anyone with some knowledge of suiton's conductivity, or the Raiu's two base elements for that matter, should expect a raiton jutsu to synergy with the her Bubblegum jutsu. Mizuki wondered if Kiriya knew any sort of protective jutsu yet.

As she stayed on the defensive to parry Kirya's attacks, she asked him between the blows, "Don't hesitate to try out your jutsu. You do know a few techniques, right?".

---

510
Total: 1888

Chakra 125/150:

OOC: I'd say you're doing quite good, actually. You take into account stat difference and Mizuki's jutsu. Then again, I'm no expert either. Just avoid using 'time' too much. There's an unspoken equivalence that every post is about 6-10 seconds (not a rule, mind you), so no need to make it 3 minutes right away. A lot could be happening in three minutes, after all.

As Kiriya was dashing toward Mizuki she suddenly made a series of hand seals and released some sort of a jutsu. Was that the jutsu she had released on their first mission together? It didn’t look anything like it to him, nevertheless he had to stay on alert. Even more now, when he didn’t know anything about it. The only words that left Mizuki’s mouth were: “Suiton, Bubblegum.”

It was clear that Mizuki had better skills with the blade. On the other hand, Kiriya’s best weapon for this fight was his mind. His analyzing skills in particular. As he heard the words suiton he immediately started analyzing them. Sution meant water and water was the perfect conductor of electricity. He was thinking of countering the Suiton jutsu with a Raiton one. On the other hand, Bubblegum sounded like a jutsu that would make the attacked one stick to the ground or have a similar effect.
Kiriya’s plan was to make some distance between them and counter her jutsu. Mizuki’s physical abilities were superior to his and he didn’t know if he could make the distance needed. His mind was already committed, his body seemed to move on his own without much thought.

The ball of water was surrounding Mizuki and Kiriya had jumped backwards several times. He did this to dodge any attacks coming from close range. As he was jumping backwards, he suddenly stopped and made the appropriate hand signs required for his ration jutsu. “Raiton, Javelin.” Were the words that got out of his mouth, not sure that Mizuki had heard him from the distance between them.
As he waved the signs for the raiton jutsu, he started generating raiton chakra from his body.  Suddenly three spear shaped masses appeared next to his body. Two of them were by his sides, one to the left and one to the right. The third appeared above his head. The spear shaped masses were with a length of about two feet.

Kiriya suddenly released the spear-shaped chakra mass above his head directly at Mizuki. He hoped that the speed of the javelin would be fast enough to hit the water bubble. If the jutsu actually connected he would have several options. He could fire the other two javelins or could let them float around him. They could be used as a great counter-attack.

He didn’t know what to do next. He would decide that if the javelin landed or not. A split second thought and he made his mind. After he fired the first javelin he dashed right after it and would try to land a hit with his kunai from the back. If he was fast enough, Mizuki wouldn’t notice him going behind her. The perfect scenario was the one that she was focused on the javelin, flying toward her, and completely forgot about him.

---

WC - 1864 + 486
= 2350

Chakra 140/150:

It looked like Kiriya understood he made no chance in a melee fight, instead opting to fight a battle of chakra. As he made his distance to stay away from the bubble, he suddenly formed a set of familiar hand signs. Javelin? Interesting. Mizuki had once more the advantage against Kiriya since her bubble was specifically made to make ranged attacks against her harder, but she was equally curious how the raiton would interact with her suiton bubble. Even if her jutsu had no defensive purpose, since it was all around her, she wondered if there was any form of interaction at all.

Kiriya shot his first javelin, seemingly pleasing Mizuki as she was far less worried about three smaller ones than one big javelin, and jumped one meter to the side to dodge the javelin, but not too far so it would actually hit the bubble. The speed of the javelin was quite fast. Faster than she had expected. It pierced the bubble without the slightest effort, raiton chakra briefly coursing through her suiton as it searched the fastest way to the ground, missed her a fist size away and exited the bubble through the other side. In the meantime, Kiriya had dashed right behind it to reposition himself. His speed was slower than that of the javelin, but having to deal with two threats at once was a good distraction, if anything.

The real danger to her was not so much Kiriya in this case, but the two remaining javelins. She knew she could handle him, at least, and since he was fighting with a kunai, she preferred enduring a cut above the raiton's burn wounds. So as she pivoted on her foot to change her facing and reduce Kiriya's opportunity to strike in her back, she took out a senbon and infused it with raiton chakra herself - a technique Lin had taught her, Shielding Senbon. Stinging herself with the senbon, raiton chakra coursed around her at about 1 inch of her skin, ready to protect her against the javelins.

As Kiriya didn't hesitate to make the best of his tactics, Mizuki's parry came in a little too late to be fully effective, feeling the kunai pierce her training gi and cut the flesh of her left shoulder. Ignoring the wound, she flashed a brief smile. Kiriya was in melee range once more, having crossed the edges of her bubble again just for this and thus making himself wet in the process.

"Good try, but you've put yourself into a disadvantage", she stated at the flaw in his tactical move, and promptly aimed to punish that mistake with one of her own jutsu. "Raiton, Wave of Inspiration"

A simple technique, but knowing the speed with which it covered a ten meters range, Mizuki knew that this jutsu would be almost impossible to dodge as Kiriya stood within melee range of her. The damage of the jutsu would be sufficient enough to make him feel his tactical mistake, but not severe enough to put him in any real danger. After this, if Kiriya would still maintain melee combat, she'd rely on her kunai once more, but if he dashed away again, she wouldn't pursue to give him the time to recover from either burn wounds or adrenaline - the training had been quite intense already.

---

562
Total: 2912

Chakra 100/150:

OOC: Pure supplementary jutsu can't block other jutsu, hence why javelin pierced through the bubble.

Kiriya was feeling good that he landed the hit, but Mizuki was right. Was the trade-off, a hit for a jutsu, worth it? Kiriya was now standing at a disadvantage. He was in close-range to Mizuki and the jutsu she released. It was a lightning technique, but he hadn’t heard of it. The only deduction he could make was from its name. Hence, Wave of Inspiration. While he was preparing for the damage of her jutsu his mind suddenly realized something. He could barely escape if he used his wind stream technique. Upon realizing that, he committed to the strategy.

“Futon, Stream” grasped Kiriya, while turning his head to the right and directing the wind stream. But the wave’s speed was superior. If he wasn’t at melee range he could probably have dodged it. As the stream, blown from his mouth, started to push him backwards, the lightning wave caught his right hand. This resulted in his whole right arm being covered in first degree burns. The jutsu barely scraped him but left his right arm damaged. On the other side, he felt pleased that he dodged the rest of the jutsu.

His right hand was out of the fight. While he could probably hold a kunai with it, attacking would be far slower. This started as a warm-up round but Kiriya knew that they both were trying hard not to lose to each other. It was natural for a shinobi to try to win. Kiriya had the elemental and skillful disadvantage compared to Mizuki. From the looks of it, she was proficient in water and lightning techniques. Which made using them together relatively easy.

Kiriya had the two spear-shaped chakra masses floating by his left and right side. There were two options for using them. The first was to fire them at Mizuki, hoping that they would hit. The second one was to use them as a distraction. Although, he knew that Mizuki wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. He needed to come up with a better plan to use them. Not a single idea was coming to his mind.

He was pushed ten meters back from Mizuki’s current position. Kiriya quickly put a hand in the pouch, which was resting on his leg. Swiftly taking out a single shuriken and throwing it at Mizuki. He hoped that he could use this plus one of the lightning chakra spears as a distraction. The shuriken was thrown slightly to the left, he did that hoping that Mizuki would avoid it by going to the right. As the shuriken was thrown, he dashed forward. When it was in about the middle of the distance between them, Kiriya fired the lightning spear. From basic calculations he measured that it would take half the time for the spear to reach Mizuki. Kiriya thought that this combination of attacks couldn’t be avoided or counter-attacked. But he couldn’t underestimate his opponent. Not after he had seen her skills.

---

WC - 2350 + 506
= 2856

Chakra 125/150:

Items:

OOC: I hope I'm doing this right.

Much to her surprise, Kiriya dodged most of the attack using a Wind technique. Her jutsu had hit his right arm, granting her yet another strategic advantage in the long run, but she was glad nonetheless to discover his creativity had allowed him to avoid a potential loss of the fight. Still, Mizuki wondered if they shouldn't stop the fight before any serious injuries were about to be incurred, but from the looks of it, Kiriya wasn't done fighting just yet.

She wondered what he was up to. Melee was out of the question and his javelins would do her little due to her barrier, but it seemed the young genin still had a plan. Throwing a shuriken a little to the left, Mizuki sidestepped to the right only to see him dash that way and make use of the advantage by throwing a second javelin from a much closer distance. While the javelin pierced the bubble and hit almost instantaneously from this close a distance, the raiton dispersed as it collided with her own raiton shield, showing only a brief rise in electric tension upon collision. Expecting surprise on Kiriya's side, Mizuki moved to close what little of the distance was left between them, using her kunai to strike at his gut - or to be more precise, his plexus, the body's central energy point. Naturally, she'd make sure not to do any lasting damage, should her attack connect, knowing that the plexus was a sensitive spot.

---

252
Total: 3164

100/150 chakra:

OOC: Apologies for the delay :(

As Kiriya dashed towards Mizuki, quickly closing the distance, he realized that it would do him more harm than good. Kiriya’s plan was well executed but not that well thought out. He didn’t realize that closing the distance would benefit Mizuki in these battle conditions. Kiriya was worried about the arm he couldn’t use. As he was dashing toward her, he saw Mizuki’s hand moving with her kunai in it. The next thing happened in a split second. Kiriya’s dash made her kunai pierce right through his middle part of the stomach. If this had been a real fight, that would mean Kiriya’s death. As he felt the kunai piercing his gut, he couldn’t help to do anything other than to collapse. Kiriya’s mind realized that Mizuki was not aiming to do any serious damage to him. But blood was pouring out of the open wound. He didn’t want to admit it but he had lost.

“I guess I lost. Good job on turning my own plan against me. Should’ve figured out that something like that could happen. I’m glad that this wasn’t a real battle. Thanks for the sparring, I guess I still have a lot to learn.” Kiriya’s words were barely audible. Right after the attack he fainted and fell down to the ground.

After a while, his consciousness was coming back to him. He realized what had happened and smiled faintly at Mizuki. Kiriya was grateful to her, he didn’t have a lot of friends but felt that Mizuki could become one of them. He tried to stand up but couldn’t manage to do it on his own. Instead, he rolled over to one side, opening his ninja bag and taking out bondage. After a while of unsuccessful tries to wrap his core section with it he just slapped it on the wound and started waiting. It took quite some time before the blood stopped flowing out of it. In the end of the day, Kiriya was very pleased with the spar. Although he lost, he felt it as being a victory for him.

---

WC - 2856 + 362
= 3218
[Exit thread]
WC needed for mission - 1500
Training stats: speed from D-Rank to D-3 for 1700 words and 250 ryo
words left - 18

As the kunai hit Kiriya, drawing a bit of blood in the process, Kiriya suddenly collapsed and after he declared her victory, he fainted with that. A little startled, Mizuki gripped him solidly to prevent him from ending up with a huge bump as he crashed down, and proceeded to lay him down gently before kneeling in seiza next to him. She, too, felt the exhaustion of the intense combat, but she had not expected it to have this strong an impact on the genin in front of him. Perhaps she had pushed him a bit too far? After all, few were the amounts of training she'd had with other genin, making it even harder for her to gauge the difference in intensity as she had always been fighting higher ranked shinobi and been dragged into higher ranked missions. She still had a lot to learn if she'd ever be asked to teach others...

As he awakened again and stumbled around to apply some basic bandages, the effect of his exhaustion truly became apparent. He really had a hard time to apply some basic first aid, even though he had little to worry about since she had refrained herself from inflicting any sort of lethal damage. Perhaps it was just his exhaustion making things worse as it was, perhaps her lack of medical knowledge didn't quite catch the real danger. It was hard to say.

"Well fought.", she said, as he tried to stand up. "I'm sure after some meditation and a few new jutsu, you'll prove to be worthy of being a chuunin soon enough."

As Kiriya stood up, so did she. And right before he left, she bowed in front of him, saying her goodbyes as well. Remaining just a little longer on the battlegrounds, Mizuki's thoughts ran over the whole practice session of today. Even if she had won this spar, she still had a lot to learn before she'd be any good as a mentor. Soon enough she'd be a chuunin, but after that... special jounin loomed, and with it, the duties of officially teaching genin and leading squads. She sighed as she told herself she wasn't quite ready for this, and left to return home as well.

[EXIT]

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381
Total: 3545
Max Payment: 2700 wc
Remaining: 845 wc

Training: