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“I will be out of town for the next few days. I trust you will continue to progress in your ninja training while I’m gone. We shall look to advancing your training if I see you’ve improved enough on your own.” Yukino read aloud to herself as she put the note back on the table. “It would be just like him to just disappear with so little notice.” she said to herself as she made her way to the bathroom. Using a flexible mirror that was attached to the wall, she was able to maneuver it all around her head. With this, she able to easily fix her hair in however way she wanted. Lately however, she favored the single long braid look. More so than just looks, she enjoyed the convenience it enabled. She no longer had to deal with stray hairs flying into her mouth from her training.

Yukino put her usual garb on. A long, long sleeve shirt that extended past her waist. Athletic pants that enabled her to move freely, and the standard ninja sandals that chose to make black instead of blue. While she realized that all these thing were the kinds of gear that would be recommended for the field, it suited her needs as of right now. As she continued to move up the ranks, she would acquire such items over time. Since her missions weren’t deadly by any means, she had no worry to upgrade her gear at this point in time.

Leaving her house, she turned to see her clan symbol proudly sitting in the front. Looking at it, she could feel a mixture of determination and motivation that simply came with being a Sarutobi. She carried this in mind as she made her way down to one of the training grounds that were available to ninja. While she didn’t have a clear training schedule or regimen, she knew her own defaults. While her father tried to implement a more hybrid style of taijutsu, she found herself leaning on her legs more for attacks. Using her natural speed and flexibility, it was always easy for her to simply evade. This would of course set up an opportunity to use her powerful kicks. That was her overall strategy, but it went against the traditional Sarutobi way.

While balance had always been preached, most prefered to stand up close to the enemy and using a boxing style that simply overpowered the foe. While Yukino didn’t have the natural strength or physicality to stand in place and deal shot for shot, her goal was to implement these tactics into her moveset. “Maybe I can find someone who specialized in these sort of attacks…” Yukino thought to herself. She found herself at one of the training grounds, noticing it was quite busy. “It seemed everyone is off today.” Yukino thought to herself as she took note of all the ninja around her. No one really stood out to her at first until she noticed a familiar face. “Hina? Hina!” Yukino shouted to help her voice carry over the noises of the training ground.

Coming upon the girl once again, she smiled. “Fancy seeing you here, getting some training in?” Yukino would wait for the girl to reply before continuing. “Mind if I join you?” Yukino said, her competitive flare easily noticeable in her blue eyes.

WC: 565

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It would seem as though the young, blue eyed girl had caught her future sparring partner in the middle of stretching. It had occurred to her that she hadn’t done the same, though she figured she was warmed up enough from the walk to get here. While it was hardly noticeable, Yukino caught on the possibility that Hina had forgotten her name. Her eyes narrowed for the brief moment that looked as though she had been forgotten, though her partner was able to recollect quickly enough. “How could someone have forgotten about me that quick?” Yukino thought, though the circumstances as to how they met were strange to begin with.

She watched as the woman stood up before answering her question. Yukino listened as Hina explained that she was going to attempt to use her legs for this instead of her hands, something that the young Sarutobi found interesting. “I would love to spar with you.” Yukino said cheerfully. While she smiled, the embers that were her Will of Fire were starting to rise, without the blue eyed girl even noticing.

Hina met her the young Sarutobi’s question by agreeing through actions. This action took the form of kicks that took her by surprise initially. Her first dodge was exaggerated as she was expecting a follow up of some kind. What she didn’t expect was to see Hina looking as though she struggling to continue her actions. Not because she was tired, but because it looked like she didn’t know how to balance properly on one leg. Yukino had that same problem, when she was much younger than she was now, but it took her by surprise to see someone older than her struggling. “What is her story?” Yukino thought to herself as she continued to dodge her partner’s strikes.

Having focused on striking with her legs, Yukino couldn’t help but spot the deficiencies in her partner’s form. “Is she just trying to go easy on me?” the blue eyed girl thought before the fire within her ignited against her will. “If that’s the case then..” she said aloud for Hina to hear her. Dodging another leg strike, Yukino used her speed and dexterity to flip over her partner. Landing on her other side, she placed both of her hands on the ground, and effectively pushed her whole body feet first towards Hina. If Hina was indeed holding back for Yukino’s sake, she would have to get serious fast if she wanted to avoid a double kick aimed for her torso.

This action would leave Yukino easily exposed to a counter attack, though in her own competitive spirit failed to account for that. “Come at me seriously!” Yukino would shout as her attack was executed. While she didn’t necessarily mean to the death or anything like that, she took sparring seriously. Her father had essentially made her a machine to react as if everyone was trying to hurt her, always inflicting real damage to his daughter. Due to this, Yukino didn’t know how to lightly spar, it went against the programming that was drilled into her as a child. Of course, there was no real way for Hina to know or understand all the inner working of her mind. Hopefully the woman would understand later that this is simply how things were for Yukino.

WC: 565
TWC: 1,130

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The moment her blow landed, Yukino noticed the immediate change in her opponents style. Yukino collected herself and readied herself for Hina’s answer to her call for a serious fight. While the young Sarutobi wasn’t one to be confrontational, it was within her to take sparring matches as if they were life or death. Her father embedded that within her, so it was the only way Yukino knew to respond. These thoughts were far from the blue eyed girls mind as her focus was entirely on Hina. Yukino noticed how Hina’s stance changed to be more of a boxer. It was recognizable to her as the Sarutobi were traditionally boxers, or at the very least preferred to use a similar in a fight. Her father even used the style, though he rarely employed it against his daughter, never seeing reason enough to take it that far.

Her mind clear, and training kicking in, she was able to see Hina’s strikes as she started her attack. Yukino lowered her stance slightly, hinting at the fact that she favored the use the of her legs over her hands. The lowering of her center of gravity allowed her own strikes to be swift without opening herself up to counter attacks as easily. Even with this however, Hina’s own strikes came too close together, and didn’t allow much room for Yukino to sneak in a counter. Perhaps if the young Sarutobi was more experienced, she would be able to create an opening for herself, or simply dodge without much cause for concern. This wasn’t the case as a punch grazed her cheek. Yukino wasn’t able to account for the combo that landed across her body however, falling right into Hina’s trap.

Despite how she may have looked, Hina was still formidable. Maybe that was her game, to appear weak and clumsy in order to more easily trap her opponents. Yukino had no proof of the this, so it would more than likely remain a mystery for quite a bit longer. Even though the attack landed, Yukino was able to recover quickly from it. Her body having been honed from recent events, she wasn’t as weak as she used to be. She leaped away from Hina, putting some distance between the two fighters. The fire within her burned ablaze, she was now ready to take this fight to the next level. An angry look could be easily distinguishable from anybody who seen the match. She breathed out of her mouth, relaxing her tensed muscles before looking at Hina once again.

While Yukino wanted nothing more than to show Hina what she was made of, her mother’s voice rang in her head. The fire within her seemed to quell itself as the blue eyed girl raised herself into an upright position. “Sorry about that! It seems as though I took it too far!” Yukino said as she raised a hand. While her competitive spirit wanted to cry with Yukino’s submission, her logical mind was too strong. Rather, it was more like she was scared of her mother’s wrath. She shook with the thought of what her mother would do if she found out her daughter was causing trouble for others once again. “We should do this again though!” Yukino started, a more serious expression taking over. “We’ll go all out next time.” she said simply, though anyone could feel the heat of her competitive spirit permeating from the words she spoke. She wouldn’t wait for Hina to reply, instead choosing to disengage herself from the situation before she found herself steaming once again.

~Exits Thread~

WC: 612
TWC: 1,742

Training Breakdown:

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