Sarutobi Mitsuo knew stood and took a deep drag of his smoke, closing his eyes and releasing the breath from his nose, a stream of smoke flowing out. When he did this he pictured himself using his wind chakra, which made him feel like smoking was really "training" even though he knew it wasn't. He looked around the rolling hills and smiled, enjoying the crisp breeze and watching the clouds roll over him. Today would be an exceptionally exciting day for him as today he would team up with a friend to spar against his mentor, Takeshi-sensei.

The area he had chosen was mostly clear, nothing but a few stumps and a couple of trees. He chose this area because although an open field offers no tactical advantage to you, it also takes it away from your opponent. He wanted this fight to be purely based on skill and not elements that couldn't be controlled.

He took his tanto and examined it, running his finger carefully along the blade to test the sharpness, which was just as sharp as the day that Master Hiroshi had gifted it to him. He knew that today's session would truly test his skills at Bukijutsu, as he had sworn not to use any of his ninjutsu. It had been a long time since he had fought without the use of his precious Ninjutsu and he knew that his Master wouldn't be proud of how he had let his skills slip.

Today I'll make him proud again, eh nii-san? Today I'll put my skills to the test. He threw his tanto into a nearby log for practice, hitting it square on the knot that he was aiming for. not perfect, but it'll do

He noticed one of his comrades coming towards him as he went to retrieve it...

(312)

Ukiyo ran through the dense forest, bouncing from branch to branch. She grazed leaves with her hand as she flew through the air, gently feeling their skin. Ukiyo smiled and closed her eyes. She grabbed a branch overhead and swung over it, squatting atop. Even without vision this was nothing to her; she knew every tree in these woods like the back of her hand. As she approached the edge of the forest, Ukiyo slowed down and stood on a tree at the border. Beyond this point lay the rolling hills, an area of quite dull topography, very few branches and even fewer trees. There were some scattered here and there, some stumps that stand with nothing more than their dignity intact.  Ukiyo stood atop her tree, now frowning. She hated leaving the woods, and this was no exception. Still, a chance to practice her taijutsu with a Jonin was quite valuable to her. Ukiyo hopped down from her tree and headed over to a hill she had seen a figure standing atop.

“Yo!” Ukiyo shouted as she ran up the hill hastily. She approached Mitsuo with a reserved demeanor, still resenting him for the brief encounter they had at the academy. The letter Ukiyo got had said little, as if the writer didn’t have enough time to finish it. It simply said it was from Mitsuo, where to meet, and that they ‘d be sparring a jonin. Ukiyo didn’t mind Mitsuo’s company enough to deprive her of some training, so as long as Mitsuo kept his temper down. “Mitsuo. So who’s this jonin we’re sparring?”

___
266

Takeshi was lazily making his way to the designated spot. Mitsuo, a student of his, asked to get some extra training in. Takeshi didn't want to give one student more attention than his others, but he figured a little one on one time with his students at separate times would be good. Takeshi was making his way through the woods, jumping from branch to branch without thinking about it too much. By now, jumping around in the trees like this was second nature from all his years of doing this. As he got closer to the spot, he could see that the trees were becoming low in numbers and soon enough he found himself walking instead of jumping. While walking, he reached into his pockets and took out a cigarette. He took out a lighter to light it up, and took a deep breath, sucking the smoke into his lungs. Walking closer to the spot he could see two people instead of one. Takeshi raised an eyebrow because he was only execrating Mitsuo, not another person. Walking up closer he could see that the other person was nothing more than a little girl. He took another puff of his cigarette and look at Mitsuo. Exhaling, letting the smoke come out of his lungs, he paused for a moment before looking at Mitsuo. Who is this Mitsuo. Takeshi said in a cold, emotionless voice, while turning to the girl.

Mitsuo sees Ukiyo approach him and he waves, not having seen her since his days at the Academy. He could still remember the incident where he lost his temper, turning on her and striking her without meaning to, back when they were still learning. He never meant to harm her and still felt bad to this day, so he thought he'd help her out a little bit.

"Yo Mitsuo. So who’s this jonin we’re sparring?” She said to him. He could tell by looking at her that she still wasn't overly impressed with him. Once again his temper had gotten the better of him and made him make the Sarutobi clan, especially himself, look bad.

He quickly said "Hey, look I still feel bad about what happened between us in the past. I wanted to make things a little better between..." His voice trailed off as he saw his sensei approaching. Mitsuo adjusted his glasses and could quickly see that Takeshi-sensei didn't look happy.

"Who is this Mitsuo." His voice was cold as ice and he stared daggers at Ukiyo, clearly unhappy that Mitsuo had forgotten to mention that he wanted her to join them for a sparring session.

He walked over to Ukiyo and put his hand on her shoulder, putting a serious look on his face instead of his trademark smirk and saying: "Takeshi-sensei, this is Senju, Ukiyo. She is one of the most talented Taijutsu users I've ever met, and I thought that having her around could really help me with my Kenjutsu skills as well... Seeing as you're a Jonin I thought it would be good if you didn't have to hold back as much against me...and I kind of owe her one..." His face turned red as he said these last words, looking down at the ground and letting go of her arm. He resheathed his tanto and quickly lit a smoke, more than a little stressed at the situation, dragging in deeply and exhaling to calm his nerves, imagining his training as he did so.

Crap, what have I gotten myself into this time? Sensei looks pretty pissed, eh nii-san? I think I might need stitches after this one, or at least a soak at the hot springs...I really hope Ukiyo appreciates this, I'm going to be in trouble for a long time...

(717)

The landscape was turning beautiful to Ukiyo as she took in the view from atop the hill. Hearing his sincere voice say he's sorry drew out a smile on her instantly. The day had just gotten far better it seemed. She saw who she assumed was the jounin instructor they'd be sparring with walking towards them. Ukiyo wondered why Mitsuo was starting to trail off and began staring at his mouth instinctively. It appeared to be moving slower for some reason, and it fascinated her why. She was about to pose a question, and about to sit down on the grass too actually, when she heard a man's voice.

"Who is this Mitsuo." Ukiyo's head instantly turned. This was clearly the Jounin meeting with them to spar. She nearly had to catch herself from sitting down at the tone of his voice. She wasn't put off by it, rather she didn't want to provoke him just for some comfort. She smiled widely and closed her eyes, a sign of trust among many animals. Ukiyo knew he was addressing Mitsuo and knew she had no clue what to say to this man. Ukiyo kept her eyes closed and happily awaited his reply. Suddenly she heard a footstep in the grass and her eyes jolted open. Whoops. Hehe, instincts. She turns to see Mitsuo stepping towards her and soon put his hand on her shoulder. She grins and tries to lock eyes with the Jounin before her.

"Takeshi-sensei, this is Senju, Ukiyo. She is one of the most talented Taijutsu users I've ever met, and I thought that having her around could really help me with my Kenjutsu skills as well... Seeing as you're a Jonin I thought it would be good if you didn't have to hold back as much against me...and I kind of owe her one..."
At the mention of her Taijutsu, Ukiyo knows exactly what to say. It's too good. She is sorry to Mitsuo, but besides, what is a true fight if not provoked.

"Mitsuo told me the three of us were going to dance!" Ukiyo said excitedly, as if actually talking about dancing. As Mitsuo knew Ukiyo's style of Taijutsu was capoeira. Consider us even. Ukiyo let out a tiny laugh.

___
641

Takeshi listened to Mitsuo's little speech while keeping his eyes on him. Takeshi had a problem with little kids, and tried his best to avoid them as much as possible. He know how old this girl was, but she looked young, and that was enough for him. Mitsuo also seemed to like this girl, they might have had some more history with each other. As Mitsuo spoke, he was looking at the girl with an eyebrow raised. She had a big smile on her face with her eyes closed. Takeshi didn't know what was wrong with her, maybe she was broken? Takeshi didn't understand kids these days, he never really understood them anyway. Mitsuo was giving this girl high praise, from just looking at her, Takeshi couldn't tell if she was a good fighter or not. He was finding it hard to not underestimate her, though he didn't think about it too much. He knew by now not to underestimate somebody, he learned that the hard way. It was just hard not to, looking at this girl. The only thing that Takeshi thought that was interesting was her clan name. She was a Senju, and Takeshi knew and sparred against Senju in his time. So he knew how powerful they can be.

When Mitsuo finished his speech the girl decided to say something about a dance. Takeshi raised his eyebrow at this, and found it somewhat amusing, though not visibly showing this. He took his cigarette out of his mouth and shook the ash off. He then stepped on the ash with his boot and put the cigarette back in his mouth. He then closed his eyes, and rubbed the back of his head before giving them a response. Alright, whatever. She can join in, if you think she can help you in your training, its fine by me. Takeshi looked at the girl, this time without a cold stare and more of a calm look. He walked back a couple of feet and then looked at the two. In this spar, we will only be using Taijutsu. I would like to see how you can handle yourselves in hand to hand combat. He then looked over at Mitsuo and remembered that he was a Kenjutsu user. I'll make you an exception Mitsuo, so feel free to use your blade. With that, he let them make the first move.

Mitsuo was still a little shaken up at the thought of his sensei being mad at him when Ukiyo piped in by saying, "Mitsuo told me the three of us were going to dance!" All he could do when he heard these words was stare at the ground dumbfounded, barely able to believe that she had said something so childish in front of Takeshi.

Actually, come to think of it, I think her Taijutsu specialty was Capoeria, eh nii-san? Maybe that's what she's talking about.. Maybe sensei will pick that up too...

He looked to his sensei to see his reaction and noticed that he seemed to have lightened up a little bit. Maybe he liked her sense of humor and was warming up to the young looking Senju. "Alright, whatever. She can join in, if you think she can help you in your training, its fine by me." Takeshi said before taking a few steps back, Mitsuo assumed into his fighting position. "In this spar, we will only be using Taijutsu. I would like to see how you can handle yourselves in hand to hand combat.  I'll make you an exception Mitsuo, so feel free to use your blade. He stayed in his position and waiting, clearly waiting for them to make the first move. Mitsuo looked over at his current partner and nodded before dropping his smoke to the ground and stomping on it, drawing his Tanto once more, fixing his glasses in place, and preparing to advance.

He took the Tanto in his left hand, flipping it upside down and holding it in front of himself, right palm opened and at shoulder level in front of the other hand about a foot as he moved towards Takeshi's left hand side, moving in a slightly wider arc than necessary as he prepared to strike at his sensei. This position left his right side slightly more opened than he would have liked, and he assumed that his sensei would notice this too but he would just have to hope his gamble would pay off and provide Ukiyo with the opening she would need. "It's time for some fun, Ukiyo! We can do this!"

Time to show sensei what we've got, eh nii-san? Time to make him and Master Hiroshi proud.

(1121)

Ukiyo felt offended that her comment went completely ignored. It wasn't that she wanted a reaction, she just found it rude; it was obvious Takeshi was not happy that she was joining them. He gave the impression that he could care less, but Ukiyo didn't mind. All the more reason to show him why he should care. I wonder how tough Jounin really are.. At the sight of Mitsuo preparing to engage, Ukiyo curled her hands into fists tightly, cracking her knuckles with tension. She then stretched her fingers out fully and began wiggling them as she rocked left and right slightly. She grinned excitedly and was humming in beat to her swaying. Ukiyo squatted on the ground and continued this rocking/humming, stretching her left leg out and then her right. Tanto began moving towards Takeshi's left in an arch. Ukiyo began spinning her arms around her body in rhythm with her stretches, trying to loosen her arms as well. Her mouth opened a crack as she mumble-sang a few lyrics to her tune.

As Mitsuo moved into position, Ukiyo had already figured a strategy to start things off. She hopped to the left (Takeshi’s right) while still squatting. If we wait for Takeshi to make the first move, we’ll be put on the defensive and I’m sure he has the capability of keeping us there. I’ll take his attention, and hopefully Mitsuo will follow. I don’t know if he’s faster than me, so I’ll have to go with something misleading.

"It's time for some fun, Ukiyo! We can do this!"

Ukiyo stood up and shook herself out, shouting an inaudible fragment of singing. When her shaking stopped, she wore a grin that stretched cheek to cheek, then dropped her left hand down in front of her slide into a partial split, getting very close to the ground. The distance between Takeshi and Ukiyo was about two meters.  She shifts her weight to her right foot and left hand, then pushes off her right foot up onto her left hand in a hand stand. This is cut short when she pushes off the ground with her left hand and uses the momentum of the initial push off the ground and this new push to do a half flip as quickly as possible, swinging her right leg downward towards Takeshi’s head.

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1079

Spoiler:

Takeshi watched as Mitsuo acted first with little thought. At least, that's the way Takeshi saw it, though from the looks of it, he was faster than a normal Genin. It seemed that he was a little more trained than an actual Genin, which is something that Takeshi saw during his evaluation of them. There wasn't much else that Takeshi hadn't seen already when it came to Mitsuo, unless he was training by himself and worked on some jutsu. From the looks of it, Mitsuo was coming towards Takeshi in an arc. Maybe he was trying to draw Takeshi's attention because the arc was wider than it needed to be. Takeshi watched Mitsuo to make sure he didn't do anything else with his blade, like throw it. However his attention was then drawn to the girl as she was doing something Takeshi had never seen before. She was fast, faster than Mitsuo even. Not only that she was fast, she was doing some weird movements. She did some kind of hand stand, constantly moving around. It confused Takeshi a little bit because it looked like she was performing. In all honesty, it was hard to follow what exactly she was doing. That was until he saw her leg headed straight for his face. At that moment, he easily caught her leg with his right hand. He didn't want to hold her for too long, so he just threw her to the side. He didn't throw her hard, it more of a slight toss if anything. She would be able to easily come back from that. Takeshi then prepared himself for the next barrage of attacks that was surly about to come.

Mitsuo was happy that Ukiyo was a little quicker than he was, making her way to Takeshi slightly before he did. He thought this might happen as he watched Takeshi catch her kick and toss her back, taking the split second before he let go to launch his attack. As she was still in the air and her leg in his hand, Mitsuo caught up to Takeshi, bringing his left leg in low below Takeshi's knees and bringing his right hand over to grab his shoulder, pushing down with this hand as he brought his armed left hand down to strike his sensei with his tanto in a right to left across the face strike, making it so that both of his hands would be on his left hand side and leaving his right side opened.

If his attack worked than it would have tripped his sensei as he made his strike, though were he to hit he wouldn't dirrectly strike with his blade's edge, instead striking with either the flat or aiming slightly ahead of him and striking with his wrist instead, not wishing to harm his sensei.

Hopefully this will help trip him up and give Ukiyo another opening, eh nii-san?

(1330)

Ukiyo's humming seized and she gasped as Takeshi grabbed her foot. A grab!? No one had ever countered one of her attacks so easily before; she's had people block them, sometimes even dodge, but never counter attack and certainly never a grab. So this is a Jonin's skill... As Ukiyo was held mid-air for a moment, she saw Mitsuo charge in for an attack. He was attacking Takeshi from the opposite side, as planned. Unfortunately Takeshi would have too much freedom to be taken off guard, seeing as how her attack was of no use. Ukiyo thought fast, and as Takeshi began to throw her, she allowed her body to go limp. What Ukiyo lacked in physical strength and solidarity she more than made up for with speed and flexibility; as Takeshi threw her, she swung her left leg beneath her to offset her balance in the air, then used Takeshi's throw to her advantage. As he tried to throw her, Ukiyo let her (grabbed) leg to fly behind her while her limp body stayed almost in place, essentially spinning her around 180 degrees in the air. The momentum would still carry her off, but not before she used the opportunity to take a swing at Takeshi, throwing a punch past the hand that had just grabbed her. Ukiyo made sure to swing to the left of his hand, and not the right, so as to go for a blind-spot should Takeshi turn his attention to Mitsuo.

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1326

After he tossed Ukiyo out of the way, he turned his attention back to Mitsuo who had closed the distance. He wasn't worry about Ukiyo at this very moment, chances were, she was still on the ground. He decided to focus his attention on Mitsuo because he had a blade with him. Takeshi wasn't scared of the blade, but he knew that it didn't take the sharpest edge to cut through something. He watched Mitsuo's moves carefully and watched as he positioned himself make multiple attacks. He felt Mitsuo grab his jacket in order to use his tanto to slash towards Takeshi's face. From the looks of it, Mitsuo was ready to make this attack turn into some kind of chain combo, though Takeshi wasn't going to let that happen. The moment Takeshi saw Mitsuo raise his tanto to his face, Takeshi grabbed his wrist and held it place, right before the hit actually connected. Takeshi smiled down to Mitsuo was ready to applaud his effort when, from the reflection of the blade he saw Ukiyo aiming and attack for the back of his head. This would have been a direct hit if it wasn't for Mitsuo's blade. With that, Takeshi let go of Mitsuo's wrist and ducked down into a crouched position. In that same instant, Takeshi aimed for a gut punch with his right hand on Mitsuo. Right after that, he would rise back up from his crouched position while aiming an left elbow for Ukiyo's head.

Mitsuo watched as his sensei's eyes were fixated on the blade, realizing quickly that he had seen Ukiyo's reflection in it as he moved to counter her feint. He was quite impressed that the two of them had been able to work together as well as they had in that move, enjoying the moment for just a second too long as he saw his sensei's fist coming at him. He knew he wasn't fast enough to dodge the blow entirely and so he did the sensible thing and moved to the side to try to make it only glance. His sensei was much faster than him and was still able to bruise his ribs though as he dodged and Mitsuo winced slightly. His tanto hand was still captured so he jumped and performed a double footed kick to his sensei's chest area, pushing himself off and free and flipping backwards in the process, knowing he needed to escape his sensei's clutches in order to get back into this fight. He landed back in his stance that he had used before and prepared to move in for another two pronged attack as soon as Ukiyo was ready.

(1532)

Ukiyo saw Mitsuo's blade coming in and knew that one of them would make contact. The flank created a perfect blind spot. When Takeshi saw Ukiyo's reflection and ducked, she knew she was a sitting duck. Ukiyo allowed her body to spin so she could position her feet on Takeshi's back and bounce off, though it would be a very weak push due to her current momentum. As her foot made contact with Takeshi's back, Ukiyo heard Mitsuo take a hard hit, followed immediately by the feeling of Mitsuo pushing off of Takeshi from the other side. Ukiyo strained her body to make her push off of Takeshi would be with as much force as possible, if only to give him a tight squeeze. Naturally Ukiyo overexerts her efforts, pushing with considerable force given her position, but throwing her jump off of Takeshi wild and nearly uncontrollable. She spins out and catches herself in a roll over her shoulder a few meters away from Takeshi. She tumbles on the ground ungracefully, then quickly recovers to her feet. She and Mitsuo are no longer on opposite sides of Takeshi, but are slightly closer to each other now and are each roughly them same distance from Takeshi. Fast..how do we counter his speed? I don't know Mitsuo's Bukijutsu very well, and I feel like Takeshi is more than capable of handling my Taijutsu. This is going to require something drastic. Ukiyo grinned and waved to Mitsuo,

"Yo Mitsuo! I'm going for his legs! Just uh, get him!" She yelled out and laughed a bit. Her reckless nature always seems to get the best of her. Becoming the root; sure hope this works. I guess it's better to try it here rather than in actual combat. This is gonna hurt. Ukiyo smiled widely, excited to try out a new "technique". She took a step back and stretched her legs out, getting low to the ground. She twisted a bit, then launched off the ground to do a 360 towards Takeshi in the aim of being able to land perfectly in front of him and crouching, using the momentum still to sweep his feet.

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1686

Once the hit on Mitsuo connected, Takeshi remembered that this was just a spar and these were only Genin. He didn't mean to hit Mitsuo that hard, so for a short while he felt bad. After the hit connected, Takeshi watched as Mitsuo used his chest as a spring board to put some distance in between them. Oddly enough, he felt Ukiyo do the same thing, but she did it off his back. So, they are trying to get some breathing room. Takeshi was surprised that they both had the same idea, though he wasn't sure how he felt being used as something to jump off of. In any case, they both landed near each after their little leap and the took a moment to, from what it looked like, plan something out. Takeshi found himself smiling, he didn't expect them to be so good, and they had good chemistry. It was almost like they had been on a team before, maybe they did a mission together once before? It was nice to see Genin who wasn't afraid to work as a team, which reminded Takeshi of his own squad and what he needed to with them. Takeshi would surly use this little spar as an example for future reference for later trainings. He figured that if Mitsuo and Ukiyo could work so well together, there was no real reason for his squad to not be able to. Takeshi took a moment to take a breath of fresh air as he listened to the leaves blow with the wind. He was watching the Genin carefully until he saw Ukiyo start to do stretches again.

Takeshi didn't know what Ukiyo was planning to do, though he knew that last time she did stretches, she did some weird combo. Takeshi wasn't sure what her fighting style was, since he had never seen movements like these. From what he could tell, she had to be somewhat flexible to do all these flips and handstands. Still watching Ukiyo, he saw her do a spinning flip and then she landed right next to him. Takeshi didn't know what to expect, so he prepared himself to counter some kind of punch or kick towards his upper body. To his surprise she crouched down and knocked his legs from under him. Takeshi found himself on his back in that same instant. If this was a real fight, Takeshi would have quickly got up, but he decided to lay on the ground for a bit. He figured the Genin would not be able to learn anything if they couldn't even land an attack. So he laid there and waited to see what they had planned after this little attack.

Mitsuo watched from the corner of his eye as Ukiyo clumsily made her descent and landed near him, chuckling softly at the move by the mostly graceful dancer. His eyes never fully left his sensei and he couldn't help but notice something odd about him. He couldn't help but notice that this was the first time he had truly seen Takeshi smile. He wasn't sure why but it made Mitsuo smile as well, happy to see his sensei happy. He looked to Ukiyo as she told him what she was doing, nodding his approval and preparing his next attack.

As soon as Ukiyo took off, Mitsuo pulled a Kunai into his free hand, jumping from the ground towards his sensei. He watched as Ukiyo swept Takeshi's legs and made his move when he projected where he would land. Mitsuo hurled his Tanto at Takeshi, having it land directly beside his head as a distraction as he sailed through the air and on top of Takeshi, knees planting on his chest, one hand clutching back on the tanto, and his right hand pressing the Kunai to Takeshi's throat. All he would have to do is pull the tanto across and he could finish this if that's what he was trying to do, but instead he nicked his sensei's cheek with the tanto and kept his position, kunai not moving from it's very dangerous position. Ukiyo had given him the perfect opportunity to land a lethal blow and he had to admit, they worked extremely well together for this being their first time fighting together. He wished he and his team could work like this.

"Good sweep Ukiyo!" Mitsuo smiled as a flash of determination came across his eyes and he stared into his Sensei's eyes. He knew that Takeshi could turn this around, but he welcomed the chance to see what more he and Ukiyo could do together.

(1858/2000 Kenjutsu C>B)

Ukiyo's landed in front of Takeshi, still spinning, and now with her leg swinging out right above the ground. This is gonna hurt, she thought as she braced herself. Surprisingly, her leg swung around in a fluid kick. She swept blades of grass just out of the reach of her leg with the air current her attack created. Her shin landed smoothly and rolled Takeshi's legs around it and dropped him on his back. Ukiyo was shocked; W-That's-Wy did that hit? I announced my attack, and I've already seen his speed. Did he let me hit him? No. Hm, this doesn't feel right. Retreat. She realized that now Mitsuo was on top of Takeshi. Crap. Oh well, at least I get to grapple. Ukiyo was still crouched and in her sweeping position. She looked for the fastest appendage she could grab; his leg. She dropped to the ground and pushed with her hands, scissoring her legs and sliding towards Takeshi's leg, a mere foot away. Wrap the leg and knot the root. Let's see what he's up to.

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1864

Just as Takeshi figured, they didn't waste anytime when they saw an opening. Mitsuo was the first to react to this opening by doing a flying knee drop on Takeshi's chest. While at the same time, he threw his tanto toward his head which narrowly missed, something Mitsuo probably did on purpose. On top of all that, Mitsuo even put a kunai to Takeshi's neck, this would have surly lead to Takeshi's death. The knee drop would have been uncomfortable as well, definitely opening the opportunity to do something else. Ukiyo was the last to act, maybe it was the shock of being able to knock Takeshi's legs out from under him. I guess in her situation, I would have been surprised to. Takeshi thought to himself. He was indeed impressed with the Genin, and he felt like they would be excellent on a team together. Then out of the woods came a person with bright red hair. He was smoking his cigarette with one hand in his pocket. It was Takeshi, he had managed to perform a basic academy level skill. In the moment that Ukiyo perform her 360 spin, Takeshi switched himself out with a nearby log. When he made it all the way out of the brush, Takeshi snapped his fingers and the log appeared from under Mitsuo. He then looked at both Ukiyo and Mitsuo before speaking.

You both did an excellent job. I'm impressed with your level of skill at such a young age. I could see you both becoming Chuunin very soon, so keep up with your training.

After a short pause to enjoy his cigarette, he looked back at the Genin and waited a bit to see if they had anything to say.

Technique Used:

Chakra:

Mitsuo couldn't help but be a little annoyed when he saw the log at first, though quickly realizing this was a move shinobi often only used when they felt as if their life was in danger. He had to consider the fact that he should probably be proud of the fact that Takeshi-sensei felt the need to use it now. He stood up, Kunai and Tanto at the ready, and watched as his sensei emerged from the bushes behind them.

"You both did an excellent job. I'm impressed with your level of skill at such a young age. I could see you both becoming Chuunin very soon, so keep up with your training." Mitsuo swelled a little bit with pride hearing these words, knowing that it was a big improvement from the last time he fought his sensei. He couldn't help but grin as he pulled a smoke from his pack and went to help pick up Ukiyo, offering her his hand to help pull her up.

"Well Ukiyo, I hope that was everything you wanted out of fighting a Jounin. I can't believe how well we worked together... Mitsuo turned back to his sensei and smiled again. If this had been the smoke test, would we have passed sensei?

The answer didn't matter to Mitsuo that much, what did was how good it felt to work as a team, and the knowledge that his Kenjutsu held up and he felt as though he had become stronger with it in this exchange.

(2131/2000 Kenjutsu C>B)

Ukiyo's legs made contact with Takeshi and she twists his leg in a violent knot. I got that a lot easier then- There was some rustling in the brush that caught Ukiyo's attention. She held the grip and was about to turn her head when suddenly, snap, her arms and legs fall through the air as a log is revealed beneath Mitsuo. Substitution? His technique is so advance that he was able to maintain the illusion despite the damage we had been doing. That's amazing... On her back, Ukiyo flips over onto her hands ands pushes up/slides her body into a low crouching position with one hand/elbow still resting on the ground. Takeshi stands in front of some brush smoking a cigarette and speaks,

"You both did an excellent job. I'm impressed with your level of skill at such a young age. I could see you both becoming Chuunin very soon, so keep up with your training." Ukiyo grinned. He's being kind, we lost that by a landslide. She closed her eyes and rubbed her gut, relieved that Takeshi was gentle on them. She then remembered Mitsuo took a hit earlier and turned towards him, though it was hard to look from the way she was crouching. Mitsuo was standing over her shoulder with a hand extended towards her. She takes his hand and he helps lift her up. This was rather helpful, as standing straight up from a split took a bit of muscle. He lifted her up quickly and she smiled at him.

"Well Ukiyo, I hope that was everything you wanted out of fighting a Jounin. I can't believe how well we worked together... " Ukiyo agreed. His bukijutsu is interesting, and he has a bit of skill with it. I wonder if he would want to spar for real later, I could use a lesson in handling weapons. Ukiyo was about to ask him when he turned to Takeshi and said something about smoking, but Ukiyo couldn't understand the lingo. Such strange animals. Ukiyo laughed at herself a bit under her breath and smiled, enjoying the sun on her brow now that the fighting had seized.

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2224 (Part of Taijutsu C>A)