The battle plateau was bustling; the stands weren't exactly filled but there were groups of spectators littering them. In the actual arena, several sparring matches were going on at once - and Aikuru was in one of them. Another shinobi was sat down close to them, his nose bloodied and a smile on his face. Aikuru was facing another ninja in close combat. As his opponent brought an uppercut into his stomach, Aikuru tightened his abs to take the blow; yet the force still managed to lift him a couple of inches off the floor. Just as he hit the ground again, his foe threw a hard cross that was looking to put him on his backside. The red head quickly weaved to the left and slammed a low-kick into his opponent's thigh.

His enemy stumbled, giving Aikuru the chance to deliver a second low kick to the back of the man's knee. The second kick brought him to his knees; Aikuru quickly got close and started raining punches down on his opponent's head. His enemy quickly brought his arms up to defend before saying loudly, "Give!" Aikuru's flurry of punches stopped and lowered his guard with a triumphant laugh - revealing his face, one of his eyes looked slightly blackened and a small cut on the edge of his lip. "Hah! Boxers, you gotta work on those legs of yours." He reached down and helped his opponent up before running both hands through his hair and taking a deep breath. "Good fight."

Midnight walked into the scene with a smile on his face. He had seen what had become of the poor boxer and found it to quite amusing. It was great that the villagers were training even though there wasn't an inherent need for them at the moment. Besides that, Midnight had absolutely no qualms about men getting muscles on their body and proving their worth in sparring. It was always an enjoyable spectacle when such things happened. It seemed that this day was no different, though the person in question wasn't particularly showing off. In fact, his body was rather hidden in comparison to what he'd expected of a fighter. He's not exactly bad looking, either, Midnight thought to himself as he began to clap walking closer to the red-head.

"Hmm, boxers, those aren't my preference, but working on your legs certainly is a good idea," Midnight explained, though he wasn't talking about real fighting in the least. Before anyone could comment, he continued. "That was a wonderful fight! Encore, encore!" he cheered, slowing his clap until he had walked into conversational distance from the victor. Midnight rose a hand to his eyepatch and adjusted it slightly, though still not showing what was behind it. He hadn't quite gotten used to having an eyepatch on his face, so he occasionally had to move it around so it would stop bothering him for a while. He then folded his arms and waited for a response from the red-head.

Aikuru used his thumb to wipe a trickle of blood coming from his lip, he turned to sit down so he could give his partners a rest when he heard Midnight's voice. He turned around to see none other than the Raikage himself; he and his two sparring partners bowed respectfully. They were clearly a little surprised to see him there, as was the majority of the people who were previously watching the other sparring matches. When Midnight asked for an encore, all eyes were on the three ninja.

Aikuru looked to his two friends with a questioning gaze, and both of them nodded their heads. "Yes sir." They said simultaneously they all turned to face each other. Aikuru had a different expression to his opponents, while they were determined and looked quite serious Aikuru was smiling "Go!" Shouted the boxer who Aikuru had taken down, who then immediately charged Aikuru. The red head shot out his leg with a push kick, stumbling the boxer before he could even get in range. At that moment, the third ninja swept the boxer's legs before attempting to bring an axe kick down on Aikuru's head.

He grabbed his enemy's foot and slammed one of his powerful low kicks to take the kicker off his feet. Aikuru fell down with him, bringing a hammerfist down on the teenager's face. Though it was just a spar, the three ninja were all going at each other with some serious intensity in their blows; it begged the question if they were just trying to impress the Raikage, or were they always like this?

Midnight watched the fight continue once more, only slightly surprised that they had done what he had said. Though he was expecting idle chatter instead of an actual encore, the fact that the spar was going on again only made sense. He was the Raikage, after all. Midnight realized that it was actually a bit of a big deal that he had come to such a place, so he dropped his arms and walked backwards a bit so that he was now closer to the stands with the civilians. Since the three were getting pretty serious, it only made sense that theu would need more room to perform in. Or was that how it worked?

Midnight was able to keep up with watching their movements with ease, but knew he could never perform the moves himself. As deft with a sword as he was, he was incapable of utilizing taijutsu like the shinobi fighting in front of him. With the way his mind was worked, the movement of their bodies only made sense for the punches and kicks they threw. He could only really compare it to kenjutsu since he was not specialized in taijutsu. The rough movements of their arms and legs seemed so excessive to him. With a sword, a fight like this could have ended in only moments and with much more finesse than getting up close and personal with your body parts. Midnight pondered the idea for a moment before the red-head took the kicking fighter off his feet. How...nonlethal.

Upon further insight, it seemed to be a rather fun way to fight, though. Much unlike the way of the sword, enemies could be injured for a longer time with bruises sustained from hand-to-hand combat. Of course, there was always the typical scars and cuts from swords. Which was worse? Bone fractures and rupturing of internal organs could be dealt with taijutsu, but cleanly slicing open someone's stomach with a sword was probably just as easy. Midnight entertained himself with the comparison as the intensity of the fight grew, growing more and more curious as they continued. Lethal, potentially scarring injuries, or multiple short term annoyances? Which was better?

Midnight shook his head, clearing his mind of his thoughts. As he did this, the red-head brought a hammerfist down on the other male's face. The fight seemed to be a rather serious one at this point. While he did enjoy the fighting, he wasn't quite so fond of his villager's being too injured. "Now, I know that you men have your pride and all, but injuring a fellow villager isn't necessary. It would actually be rather inconvenient," he explained, knowing they would understand that a trip to the hospital wouldn't be all that enjoyable. Besides, why waste time in a place like that when they can be using that time to train instead. That would be a much better use of time, Midnight thought.

Aikuru's fist struck the boy's forehead, it clearly would've been much more effective if it had hit him on the nose; perhaps he was listening to Midnight even if he didn't look like he heard anything. A moment after, the boxer grabbed Aikuru by his hair and drove a left hook into his face. The redhead scrunched his face up for a moment, but forced his eyes open so he could deliver a powerful back-fist to the boxer's already beaten thigh. The stumble it caused gave Aikuru time to roll off the opponent he had mounted. The downed enemy kicked the boxer back before pushing off with his hands to get back on his feet.

After getting to his feet, Aikuru flexed and his sore jaw and got back into his muay thai stance. The boxer charged the other shinobi, who dodged a hook before driving a roundhouse into the boxer's gut to knock the air out of him. Aikuru quickly joined the two as the boxer retaliated with an uppercut to the other's chin. Apparently the last spar Midnight walked in on wasn't as decisive as it seemed when Aikuru had came out the victor; all three of the ninja were taking hard hits and none of them looked at all dissuaded in continuing the match.

While the two others fought it out, Aikuru moved behind the boxer so he could get him where he was vulnerable. First he drove a hook into into his kidney, then he followed up by stamping on the back of his leg to bring him to his knees - his opponent infront took the opportunity to kick him again so he hit the floor with a trickle of blood coming from his temple. If they weren't ninja, this would look more like an all out brawl between the three; however the extent of their injuries gave clear indication to an experienced fighter that they were pulling their attacks at least somewhat.

Aikuru quickly jumped over the downed boxer and, while midair, delivered a push kick to the guy's solar plexus. The hit not only stumbled and knocked him off balance, it hurt a lot. Once he landed, Aikuru grabbed his opponent's shirt with one hand and the back of his head with the other; he pulled his opponent down as he drove the first of his clinching-knee combo into his gut. The second was in the same place, before he finished it by driving his knee into his forehead - again it would've been so much more painful otherwise but the fighters were all expertly avoiding the facial features as to not cause permanent damage.

He tossed his opponent down and turned to see the boxer's fist smash him in the head; the hit almost took Aikuru off his feet before the boxer grabbed his shirt to keep him up while he delivered a couple of strikes to Aikuru's abdomen. He finally stepped back, Aikuru fell to his knees for a moment while clutching his stomach but he managed to get back up. The boxer came in for a final right hook, to knock Aikuru out, but Aikuru slammed his palm into the boxer's bicep to stop the attack while driving his elbow into the boxer's temple. The audience let out a hiss as the blow struck and put the boxer down. Finally, he was out cold - unlike the kicker who was still holding his forehead and stomach in pain. A short applause was given as Aikuru turned to the Raikage and did a half-bow while holding his tenderized stomach. "T-there!"

Though he came out the victor, from a sparring match where none were fighting to kill, all three fighters were bloody. Aikuru's forehead had been cut, his lip was bleeding a little more; both nostrils had bled, but it hadn't ran down his face. The bruise on his cheek was a harsh purple and was definitely going to ache in the morning.