Stretching out his stiffened limbs, Takeshi finally stood. It was getting to the point where he should probably start trying to find the other members of his team. Turning to glance briefly at Shiro, he wondered how his team would get along. Something caught his eye however, and he turned back to see a figure heading towards them. Strange, he thought. It wasn't someone he recognized, but Takeshi didn't worry too much. He decided to wait for the figure to come closer. Leaning against a nearby tree, Takeshi yawned and watched the boy's approach.
Kichiro leisurely strolled onto the training grounds, easily a good half an hour early. First impressions were important, and this counted doubly so for teammates that would have his back for the coming months. It was for the same reason that his current attire was a bright red kimono with a very convincing fake sword. At first glance, the very picture of a wandering noble. Given the first thing that any team did was a spar, he would promptly turn their assumptions against them.
The idea that they might see through his disguise did not once enter his mind. While their jonin sensei might see through it Kichiro was quite confident his acting skills would fool fellow genin. Plus even if they did somehow pick up on the lie too soon, the Kimono cloth was intentionally weakened to tear in strategic places, with a basic dirt brown training Gi underneath. If need be he could ditch the disguise in an instant in favour of more practical clothes that suited his preference for taijutsu.
He knew his new team was to gather at this particular training ground but other than the name of 'Takeshi Shun' he knew little details. Thus when his gaze fell on a man in a black longcoat with the Mist plate strapped to his chest, he assumed that the man was his new teacher. From the corner of his eye, Kichiro spotted someone else on the field as well. A fellow student most likely. Showtime then. He made a formal bow precisely as ettiquette prescribed.
"Kakurenbo Kichiro reporting for duty, SIR." he announced himself, once again following protocol to the letter.
Cocking his head to the side, Takeshi stared at the newcomer for a long moment. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Well, Kakurenbo Kichiro, it is nice to meet you. But what duty is that exactly?" He raised an eyebrow curiously, and took note of the boy's attire. Everything about him screamed excess, but Takeshi couldn't help but think that it somehow fit the kid.
"Sir, to serve Kirigakure as a member of Team 2, SIR!" Kichiro responded instantly. The textbook answer really, mostly because he had not expected this question as an opener. At least the man did not question his act or expose it in any way. His posture was still rigid at attention, so he could not see if the other student was looking at him or not. He assumed she was and did not communicate to his teacher about why he was acting the way he did yet.
Not lowering his eyebrow, Takeshi took abother long look at Kichiro. Am I getting another replacement? He thought to himself, for a single moment wondering if he was truly that poor of a sensei. Standing to his full height, Takeshi crossed his arms, a playful look growing on his face. "Do I really come across as someone who desires to be called sir?" He asked the boy, the amused look still on his face. Takeshi knew nothing about Kichiro, but so far he liked the boys enthusiasm, though he was going to have to tone down the formalities. Being called sir made him feel so... old.
"It is both protocol and a gesture of respect sir. You are my superior." Kichiro replied. A bit of his true personality shone through, he did respect the man simply on the basis that he was their jonin sensei. His previous sensei had that one message drilled into their collective skulls very well.
Shiro stretched looked at her ankle "Healed quite nicely thanks to sensei" She muttered to herself. Standing up she bounced up and down testing out her ankle a little. Satisfied that her ankle was fine she looked over at the person who had approached Takeshi. He introduced himself with a bow as Kakurenbo Kichiro. Shiro walked over to Takeshi looking at Kichiro in a shy manner. He was wearing a bright red Kimono and equipped with what looked like a sword, though shiro was not much of a weapons expert so she wasn't able to tell. Shiro bowed back Kichiro looking at his feet as she spoke. "So you're are new team member then?" blushing slightly she looked at him startled "I'm sorry I never introduced myself, My name. Ummmm. My name is Shiro Konton. And you're Kichiro. Kakurenbo Kichiro. It's very nice to meet you"
Kichiro immediately snapped off a salute at her. "At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst." he responded. Idly he wondered if he was laying it on too thick.
Nah.
The fourth one to enter the trainingsfield, if you included the sensei, was Nami. After the obnoxious boy had left the graveyard she had spend a couple more minutes staring the grave of her brother before finally getting up. She had dusted of her clothes with a certain precision and had left the gloomy place. To her astonishment however she found the same obnoxious boy that had been bugging her on the trainingsfield. For a moment she could do nothing but stare at him. Really? She would have to keep up with him? Her hands searched for the note she had received in one of the pockets of her wide pants. It really said that she had to come to this field. Well, that was just great. Nami's face got blank as she walked forwards to the older man on the field who was undoubtedly her sensei. She bowed as she arrived before him, ignoring the two other students at first though she caught both of their names.
"I was told to come to this field and hand you this note,sir." She said as she offered the paper to Takeshi. "I'm Nami Tachibana." She straightened and send a look to both of the Genin.
It was good that he was standing at attention already, for otherwise Kichiro would have noticably frozen in place. The girl from the graveyard, Nami Tachibana, was on his team and she had seen him with his mask off. More than that he had given her a clear view of his capabilities as well. No, he calmed himself, the game was not up yet. The lie would only have to last up until their first spar after all. He would have to convince her his current behaviour was his serious 'on duty' face.
"Again with the sir?" Takeshi lamented, to noone in particular. Sighing he took the note from the newest arrival and read it. His eyes opened slightly wider in mild surprise. "Well Nami, it is a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the team... The ever growing team..." He was definitely a little confused as to why the Mizukage had decided to put more students on his team, perhaps she had forgotten he already had students... Oh well, Takeshi would bring it up with her later. Turning back to face the three in front of him he had to fight back a smile. They certainly were a mixed bunch at the very least. His eyes briefly moved past the three genin scanning around to see if Natsume would arrive soon.
"So..." He began, clasping his hands together in front of him. "How about you all introduce yourselves to each other?" Folding his arms across his chest, Takeshi leaned back and simply waited to see what the genin would do.
Shiro looked back at the ground blushing intensely at Kichiro's reply. When it was her turn to introduce her self she looked back at the ground and twideled with her thumbs saying quietly. " My name is Shiro Konton of the Konton Clan." Shiro ended her introduction with a short bow.
Nami assessed her other teammate as she replied to her sensei. "Thank you, si-" She bit her tongue. She had heard his words. Obviously he didn't like it when she called him sir, so she should refrain from doing that which was weird to her. Father always wanted her to call him sir, but she would have to remember that this guy was different. Spinning on her heels she faced her teammembers. Kichiro she had obviously already met and the other girl looked shy. Polite as ever Nami bowed back to her. "As I told sensei just now my name is Nami Tachibana. No clan, or at least none I know of. It is very nice to meet you Shiro and... Kichiro." With the last words she raised her head to look at the boy. Whatever he was trying to achieve with this ridiculous get up, she didn't buy it. He had seemed way more genuine on the graveyard, singing with his friends, being annoying and talkative. He still got that last part down it seemed along with being ridiculous. But as long as he was a fine ninja than she wouldn't mind him around.
Kichiro himself ignored Nami's stare for the moment. Shiro blushed. Why had she blushed? Sheer presence? Curses! His manly aura struck again. Not that this mattered into his current plan much, the persona he wore for the occasion was not the type to notice such things immediately. Time for his own proper introduction. Duty bound, honourable, and spoiled. With the possible exception of the first, around the opposite of his actual personality.
"A pleasure, miladies. As you have already heard, Kichiro Kakurenbo," at this point he bowed, " at your service." he introduced himself once again. His tone held an ever so slight simmer of arrogance that would be typical for someone raised a noble.
"Blood type oh-negative by the way." he told Shiro with a pointed look, or in other words: I am aware of your bloodline, and can donate blood if needed. His gaze shifted over to Nami.
"Nami-san, once again apologies for my earlier behaviour, such an act is normally beneath me."
Shiro's shy facade quickly dispated when Kichiro mentioned his blood type. Her Shy face and body language changed to one full of aggression. "What did you just say Kimono boy?! What makes you think I'll EVER. Need any of your blood?!" Shiro's wounds from the spar with Takeshi opened up blood boiling from the open wound illustrating her current rage.
"You think that I need you to tell me to becareful as well?! I can look after myself!" As she began to raise her fist towards Kichiro she stopped. Come on Shiro, he doesn't know anything about you. He meant nothing by it. Shrio's fist droped down to her side as she took a deep breath.
"Sorry about that, I'm quite hot blooded. Get it?" Shiro Chuckled nervously. "Let's try this again, without the shy girl act. My name is Shiro Konton. Please to meet ya." Shiro bowed to Kichiro.
"I'm very sorry for the outburst"
Kichiro raised his eyebrow slightly. When the girl moved to attack he had switched to a stance to either block or dodge whatever was about to come his way, but the sudden apology caught him off guard.
"Apology accepted. I merely thought it would be... prudent given your clan's reputation." he replied slowly. Inside he cried. Puns! So many puns! They could have had a PUN OFF! Alas that would be out of his current character. Decidedly something they should try later though. On another note he was amused to note he was not the only one who decided to wear a mask today.
What was with the outburst of emotion, Nami thought annoyed. Ninja's should be collected. They should never show what they truely feel or what they truely think. Apparantly Shiro didn't have this down as her temper flared when Kichiro offered his blood. It was a weird thing to say, that was true, but no need to get all jumpy about it. In the end Shiro perhaps was not so shy and Kichiro was still lying. She didn't believe it when he said singing and laughing with his friends was below him. So everyone was basically not telling the truth here. That was a good start. Nami decided just not to reply, but instead looked over to her new sensei. Maybe he would finally let them do something besides talking?
Watching the scene before him with mild amusement, Takeshi rolled his eyes. At least they're a spirited bunch, he thought to himself, absently scratching the back of his head. Takeshi took a thoughtful look at each of the genin, wondering how well they would ever get along. For a moment he pondered what Mika would do in this situation, but he quickly pushed that thought aside as he'd rather not have a bunch of dead students on his hands.
Takeshi cocked his head to the side as he surveyed his newest teammembers. The Kichiro fellow was trying a little too hard to keep up his act. Takeshi wasn't quite sure what the boy was trying to hide, but he had dealt with enough deceit in his time to know an act when he saw one. Shiro was... fiesty as ever, but she had managed to bring herself under control which was a good sign. Turning his attention to Nami, Takeshi realized that she was looking at him as well. This one seems quiet, he mused to himself. Nami appeared to be the straightest out of the bunch so far, but Takeshi felt like there was something more to the girl...
Letting out a loud sigh, Takeshi realized that they were probably waiting on him to give them all something to do. It was a realitvely strange situation that he found himself in, he had come to the training fields to help Shiro learn, and in the process had discovered that he apparently had two new students. Takeshi certainly hadn't planned a group training session yet... Thinking on his feet, he came up with a plan.
"Well... that was lovely. Now that you all know each other I suppose we can move on." Leaning forwards again, Takeshi stood to his full height and clasped his hands in front of him. "So, how about a team exercise to get us all warmed up?" He posed the question to the group, a bemused expression on his face.
"A team excercise sensei?" Shiro said her mind thinking back to the morning training she had already done "What kind of excercise. I've been training with my Grandmother since Dawn. But, I guess I'm up for some more training then. What did you have in mind?"
Kichiro perked up at the mention of an exercise. That was something he was ALWAYS up for. He snapped back to stand at attention again.
"Ready." he said simply, eyes shining.
Nami wondered what her sensei was thinking when he caught her glance. Whatever it was it was forgotten when sensei mentioned a team exercise. Everyone got excited. Nami quietly fixed her hair, using a long pin to tie it up into a knot. "Sounds good." She said. She was excited though. Even though she had already gotten training before it had been private. This was the start of her career as a shinobi here. That was quite something.
A grin growing on his face, Takeshi looked at the three genin in front of him and clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Well, seeing as you all seem to get along so well, you are going to have to work together to achieve the goal. And that goal is..." Takeshi paused for dramatic effect, reaching one hand into his pouch.
He grabbed the item he had brought along to train with Shiro, had she not chosen to spar instead, and withdrew it from the pouch. Holding it clenched in his fist, Takeshi wondered how well this exercise would function with only one of the required elements. "… to get this bell from me before the end of the day!" Staring around at the three genin in front of him, Takeshi revealed the bell to them, hoping that they would enjoy the exercise. Had he been aware that he would be receiving two new students today, he would have planned a better one. As it was, he was stuck with the bell exercise, albeit a simpler version seeing as he only had one bell with him.
"If you fail to get the bell from me by sundown, then you will all be punished. But if one of you manages to get the bell, that person will receive a special reward."
Kichiro placed his hands within his sleeves.
"Question, we start right now?" he asked.
Glancing at Kichiro, Takeshi paused for a moment. "Did I say go?" Takeshi asked, sounding mildly hurt. "You haven't even asked what the reward is..."
Inside his sleeves, Kichiro's hands came to a halt on the monkey seal.
"I do like surprises. Example: MITSUO!" he said as the technique activated. Hidden from view beneath his sleeves he had run through the handseals already, so all that was needed was for him to activate the illusion. A blinding flash of light emanated from his body. Kichiro knew his sensei was fast, all jonin were. Faster than the speed of light though, he doubted that. He burst forward to capitalise on the brief moments the man was blinded to make a grab for the bell. Should that fail, he'd have to pull back so he could make up a plan with his teammates.
It was this famous test. Nami had heard about it. You were supposed to pass it by using all of the team members thus learning that teamwork is better than solo attacks or something like that. Kichiro didn't seem to care, but Nami decided to help him anyway. She wasn't going to fail this if some guy was ego tripping. As soon as Takeshi said go, Nami was moving. It was probably not completely fair since he hadn't technically said that the test had started, but ninja's didn't play fair. Keeping her eyes on Takeshi, Nami started to run around him. Her sensing focussed as she pulled out several shuriken and formed at seal, infusing the things with Wind Chakra. With that she threw them to her sensei. Now she would be able to manipulate them and hopefully assault the bell with it. She had no intention to really attack Takeshi, because the attacks would probably not work anyway.
Shiro shook her head, She already had a general idea of Takeshi,'s fighting style and as a Jōnin he would definatly be a challenge to fight. She did know first hand how strong he was. "Guys becareful how you approach him!" Even though Takeshi hadn't even said go that didn't stop Kichiro who was already running head on into the fight. Shiro had already tried that but Kichiro's approach was to blind their sensei and land a hit. Shiro smiled. Clever boy She thought to herself. Shiro was thankful that the wound on her shoulder were still open from when she had raged at Kichiro. Making the necessary hand signs the blood from her open shoulder wounds formed spiked shoulder pads. The blood traveled down her shoulders to her fists forming spiked knuckle dusters. Shiro was not going head staright into the fight with Crimson lightning. She would proably hit a team mate. Instead she just watched the two charge in and waited for the moment Takeshi tried to dodge.
Interesting. Takeshi thought to himself the moment that Kichiro's mouth opened. The brilliant flash of light indeed blinded him, but Takeshi was swift to react. Clutching the bell in his fist, he briefly wondered if he was happy or disappointed with the sudden attack. On one hand Kichiro had not waited for him to say go, and as a result Takeshi had not even had a chance to move the bell from his hand. But… at the same time a shinobi used every advantage they could in order to achieve their goals. A slight smile touching his face, despite the temporary blindness, and Takeshi whipped himself into motion. He had begun spinning his body the instant that the light had blinded him, suspecting a follow-up attack. Releasing chakra from his tenketsu, Takeshi performed the great whirlwind defense technique, forming a revolving barrier that would push back anything that got within several feet of him. Though he was blinded, Takeshi could still hear perfectly fine, and so he focused on that, listening to hear his students moving around him. It was quite evident that none of them were practitioners of silent killing, not that he had expected them to be, but it made it relatively easy to make out where the genin were. He held the technique for several seconds, building up chakra for his next defense.
The instant he lowered the barrier and stopped spinning, Takeshi unleashed a wave of chidori current around his body. The lightning would lash out sporadically hitting anything within several meters of him. The current wasn't strong enough to wound any of the genin, but it was strong enough to cause numbness as well as a sharp pain wherever it struck. And if any of the students were caught within the lightning field they would most likely be paralyzed for several seconds.
Slowly, his eyes began working properly again. Takeshi still didn't have his full vision back but he could at least make out fuzzy shapes. Let's see how well they can react, Takeshi mused as he kept up the chidori current.
As Kichiro's face met the spinning barrier, he thought to himself that he really should have seen something like this coming. Reeling back he barely kept to his feet, instinctively clinging to the basic stance. The try was still worth it though, if only because it revealed not one but two of Takeshi's techniques. The spinning barrier was something he had no answer to at the moment. As for the lightning defense though, he ba rely needed to think. Two kunai were up in the air headed for his teacher's torso the moment he saw the first spark.
While the knives flew Kichiro briefly turned his attention to his teammates.
I distract, you flank? he hand-signalled to them. His illusion only impaired vision after all, so it was best not to shout out loud what they were up to.
Shiro watched Kichiro's attack bouncing of their sensei's barrier, she smiled inwardly. Head on attacks were only going to work if they could catch him of guard. Watching Kichiro she saw him signal to herself and Nami. So he wanted to be the distraction? Fine by me. She thought to herself. However she was at a disadvantage, she was a close comabtant but from what she could tell Takeshi had several defences to taijutsu and was fairly proficent in it himself. Well then she would just have to improvise. She waited to see how Nami reacted before she made her move.
Who appointed him leader? Nami thought looking to Kichiro as her shuriken flew back in several directions. Did he think he was the most experienced one of the bunch? Or the most clever? So far all he had done was set off some barrier and that surely didn't help. Not that it had damanged her or anything but they should have been planning carefully and then launch one grand scale attack to get the bell in one try. That would have been the most effective. With her hands still in the seals she had formed before she steered the shuriken back to Takeshi as she caught Kichiro's signal. He was the distraction? That was good, that meant that he could get hurt while she and Shiro could go unharmed. She sent two shuriken to launch themselves through the storm to Takeshi's hand that was holding the bell, while the other two would fly to meet her sensei's legs. Hopefully the natural avantage wind held over lightning would help the projectiles to meet their target.
Seeing Nami firing the shuriken she moved in. Activating Ligtning Crimson she speed towards their sensei aiming for his legs, should she grab them she would bring her sensei crashing into the ground with a bone breaking dump tackle following his grounding with an amplified punch to the chest with enough strength to shatter bone. The moment she entered the range of Takeshi's Chirdori she felt the paralyisis taking over. She pushed through the numbing effect, however if she did miss or even if she did hit Takeshi. Shiro would take some time to recover from the paralyisis. Shiro hoped that her speed would allow her to get the hit in and move out of the way or, failing that she would use her speed to move away from Takeshi. Hopefully her team mates would cover her after her attack.
Making out the blurry shapes of his students, Takeshi could see them moving. His vision was not yet good enough to make out the two kunai that Kichiro had thrown towards him however, and so he made no move to dodge them. The kunai travelled straight towards their target until they hit the chidori current. Once the metal kunai impacted with the current of lightning, they vibrated violently before being repelled. Takeshi's vision was still clearing, and he caught just a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye as Nami threw her shuriken towards him. Takeshi didn't bother attempting to dodge them, as he knew the chidori current would be able to stop incoming projectiles. He didn't realize however, that they were coated in wind chakra.
One of the shuriken's chakra coating was too weak to break through the chidori current, and as a result it was repelled, the other three managed to pass through and continued towards their target. The wind coating protected the shuriken against the majority of the lightning, but they couldn't fully negate the current's force. As a result, two of the shuriken were pushed off course by quite some degree, while the third was shifted only slightly. It struck Takeshi across his arm, slicing through the skin. Gritting his teeth, Takeshi glanced over at Nami… Interesting… His vision was now at about 80% and he had to turn back as he noticed Shiro charging towards him.
Despite the paralyzing nature of the chidori current, Shiro was still coming towards Takeshi with quite some speed. Waiting until the last moment, he shifted to the side and sent a vicious side kick towards the charging girl. Takeshi had coated his foot with chakra, not to add strength to the attack, but to protect himself from the hardened blood 'spikes' that protruded from Shiro's body. He had come close to getting caught by them the first time he had sparred with the girl, and he had no intention of getting caught by them this time.
Kichiro practically stood still opposite of his teacher. Almost casually he snatched one of his own kunai on the rebound out of the air. The damage to the blade showed him that punching the field would be exactly as painful as it looked. Then Nami did something that allowed her shuriken to pierce the cloak, while Shiro demonstrated that enough force would also break through. Even as he considered a dozen different tactics at once his body moved on instinct to catch Shiro as she was launched away. Deftly he grabbed her hand and with a spin straight out of a tango set her down next to him.
A plan had formed in his mind. He paid no heed to Shiro next to him, she was out of it for the moment due to the paralysis and he had nothing that could help with that. Instead he flapped his sleeves up and down before he initiated another set of handseals that ended with him making the monkey seal behind his head. Arms wide, one foot in front of the other and hips thrust forward, Kichiro posed.
"MITSUO!"
Immediately he pulled out two extra kunai as well as one of his fishing wires. In the blink of an eye the kunai were tied together at the o-ring on their end with a good 4 meters of wire between them. Then with one foot on the wire to ensure ground contact, Kichiro started on a series of rapid jabs into the electrical field. This particular wire conducted electricity, and thus functioned similar to a lightning rod. In theory the only thing Kichiro would feel would be the physical force of the field trying to repel him, and hopefully this would ensure that Takeshi paid attention to him and him alone.
He prayed Nami would take advantage quickly because Kichiro had no illusions about how long he would last once the jonin started to make an active countermove.
Shiro had expected Takeshi's counter attack to work but thanks to the numbing effect of his chidori she didn't feel his foot connect with her stomach. As she was knocked away from Takeshi she saw, out of the corner of her eye Kichiro grabbed her hand and lay her down on the ground next to him. She looked at him angrily. "I didn't need you to grab me, I would've come to a graceful landing by myself." Getting to her feet she stood staring at Kichiro defiantly. But this lasted for about 2 seconds before she collapsed back to the ground. Her body was still numb, she waited for a bit regaining her stregnth before standing. "Well I would've been fine any way" She pouted. Shiro looked around, she was not much of a ranged girl but she could make use of the land around her. Close by she spotted a few rocks lying about. Picking it up she weighed it in her hand. "This will do nicely"[\b] As blood spread to the rocks in her hand she turned these harmless rocks into spikey crimson balls. Activating Lightning Crimson she began throwing them at Takeshi. She only had three but she followed these up with ten shuriken thrown so that each shuriken came at him from each side.
What the hell was Kichiro trying to do, Nami thought. Was he stabbing the lighting strikes? What was that going to accomplish? Besides him getting hurt. She was now standing to the side of Takeshi, seeing as he had partly turned to face Shiro. What she had been able to see from her abilities was pretty interesting. At least the girl had the same idea as she had. Getting close to her sensei wouldn't work. They would only get hit. If they could get enough ranged attacks in they could maybe get Takeshi to change his tactics, dropping those lightning strikes. Following Shiro's example Nami also pulled out some more shuriken, again infusing them with wind chakra. But she wouldn't do the same thing twice, that was unwise and unlikely to work. She threw them in the same fashion, but as they left her hand, she made one seal and blew out a stream of wind. The shuriken picked up in speed and raced towards Takeshi twice as fast asbefore.
His attention had turned back to Nami immediately after Kichiro caught Shiro. At the moment, Nami's wind release was the biggest threat, and Takeshi wasn't about to make this easy for them. He heard Kichiro shout something from the side, but Takeshi wasn't about to turn and get caught by that blinding flash technique again. Looking past Nami, he noticed the forest off in the distance. Hmm... He thought to himself, before making a very slight movement, and then... he took off running. The chidori current remained in place for a second or two longer as Takeshi moved with so much speed that the current only disappated when he was about 18 meters away. The current remained just long enough to block Shiro's shuriken, but her rocks were able to punch through the lightning field as there was no metal in them for the current to block. Takeshi had moved out of range however, moving with close to his full speed in order to reach the forest without delay. After all, the purpose of this training was not to fight the students, it was to stop them from getting the bell. Let's see how they cope with this, he thought to himself with a grin as he entered the forest.
Shiro watched Takeshi dodging her rocks. She noticed specifically the ones that punched through his shield. Very interesting She thought to herself. Watching Takeshi moving out of their range she saw where he was heading, to the forest. "Guys!? I don't want to worry you but if he gets to the forest he will most likely have a great advantage over us!" Her words were to late as Takeshi moved with great speed into the forest disappearing from Shiro's view. "Great, now we have to deal with him attacking us from the shadows.'
Shiro took this brief respite to catch her breath. Her arms were beging to ache; a sign that she was over using her bloodline. Shrugging off the aches she turned to her team mates. "We're going to need a plan of attack if we want to catch him and that bell. Any ideas?"
"Well my plan was basically 'surprise blitzkrieg' and that didn't work out." Kichiro admitted with a shrug. As he feared there was no way through the barrier though his lightning rod idea worked.
"I do have another one though, but first off: Sorry, I was lying you earlier, I'm not nearly as stuck up as tried to look like at first. A trick to try and gain an advantage should we have to spar against each other, but one that is unnecessary now. Also I don't use a sword, this thing's a stage prop. My specialties are taijutsu and some genjutsu. Now then, as for plans, how's this?" Kichiro said, and made a clone. He then promptly transformed himself into Nami, accurate right down to the bit of the tattoo he had managed to spot earlier.
"Me and myself and Shiro-san go out initially with Nami-san hidden. On the way we can switch out a couple of times just to add to the confusion." he went on. It was likely Takeshi would focus on the one that could beat his lightning shield first, hence why Kichiro chose to impersonate Nami.
"I have to admit it is a good idea Kichi my man. However we do need to remember that he has a massive advantage over us being in that forest. Sure it's three against one but that one is a skilled shinobi. Oh and as for that prop, do you mind if I borrow it? I am not exactly a gifted swordsmen but all i need is something to channel my bloodline through and that there sword of yours will do nicely. If you don't mind kindly letting me take it from you that is?"[\b] Shiro had plans for Kichiros prop sword with her kekei genkai she could easily slice through Takeshi's chidori barrier.
With a shrug Kichiro tossed the prop over.
"It's wood with a lead core just so you know. I originally planned to throw it at someone so it's sturdy enough to whack someone with." he added as an afterthought.
Grabbing it she activated her Kekei Genkai. Blood slowly covered the blade turning the wooden prop into a fully fledged sword. "Well I'm tapping out here, I can maintain this and my armour so no my rocks i'm afraid. However I should be able to slice through his chidori barrier using this" Giving the blade a few test swings into a tree she was able to carve deep scars into the trees trunk. "Yeah this will work"
"You are a bad liar." Nami deadpanned as she gave Kichiro a look. Or maybe it was giving herself a look since Kichiro had taken the liberty of transforming into her. It was strange to see yourself. This was not how she acted at all. He carried himself all wrong. But whatever, the initial plan was okay except for one flaw. They wouldn't be able to find Takeshi in the forest as she was pretty sure they didn't have any sensing capabilites. She on the other hand was perfectly aware were the man was. The question was, how was she going to bring that up. She had promised Farther not to talk overly much about the sensing, but if she didn't now then they might lose the exercise.
"I can find him." She finally decided to say, not specifying how she would be able to do that. "I can direct you guys to him, hide, as Kichiro suggested, and wait for a time to strike. The forest doesn't give him as much of an advantage as he might think. Unless he moves really far away there is no way I can lose him in this range." Her eyes shot to the forest. "So let's go?"
"Merely out of shape. I have not acted in half a year and I played the class clown for over five years before that." Kichiro said as he examined her with a critical eye. He had the wrong pose he saw, too far to the left compared to the original. Also still far, far too energetic. He clasped his hands and took a deep breath. Focus. The remains of his smirk vanished and a much more focused expression settled on his face. Better, though he needed a few more steps to get down the same grace and bearing as Nami had.
"Let's go." he nodded, satisfied.
As the genin entered the large forest, they would at first notice nothing. Only Nami would be able to notice that there were now four identical chakra signatures hiding throughout the forest. Two of them were moving away with some speed, while the other two remained hidden, far apart from each other.
Upon entering the forest Nami bit her lip as she concentrated. She should have figured that her sensei wouldn't be stupid, but to use three Shadow Clones? Quite a risk she would say, but then again, as her sensei had made clear this was not about fighting as much as it was about coming up with a good strategy. "There are four of him." She said to the other two Genin. "So three shadow clones, one real sensei with bells. I think we should eliminate them one by one as stealthy as possible. We could split up but I doubt that one of us is capable of landing a hit on him while being alone. Besides seeing as he has created quite some distance between them it seems like he expects us to break up, knowing that we can't win on our own."
"Agreed." Kichiro replied. It was logical, especially since he already had the transformation and the clone going.
"I think it would be best to let Kichiro clone go first, then Shiro, then me, then Nami last as hidden reserve." he observed.
Shiro nodded, looking around her all she saw were trees. She was no sensory type ninja. Shiro was more of a punch things into submission kind of girl. On edge Shiro found herself flinching at the slightest noise. "Jesus Shiro. Pull yourself together!' She whispered this to herself as she held the blood blade in her hands. "That's all well and said but we're not going to be able to get close enough to him without him sensing us. I say we rush him and catch him off guard. In a way he has kind of doomed himself by walking into this forest. From what I can tell Kichiro you are like me and prefer close combat. We have the advantage of their being two of us. However those clones of his will quickly come to his aid the moment we seek him out. The only tactic that comes to mind for me is to beat him face to face. Sneaking up to him just wont work."
With her view and idea put on the table she waited for the others to reply. True it wasn't the best tactic, charging him straight on but Shiro was confident that they would find sneaking up on him impossible.
"Well, let's go then and move." Nami said ushering the two forward. "I'll be behind you and guide you in the right direction. You two take him down." She continued as she rushed towards the first chakra signature she could find. It wouldn't take them long to arrive and for Nami to fall back and let the others move in first. In all honestly this was not only because she could sense the others and because the others were better at close range, mainly it was because if those two dumbasses could hold him off she could get the bell when the man was distracted. Given that this would be the guy with the bell of course.
The genin made their way through the forest, closing in on Takeshi's position. Walking in front of the group, Kichiro focused his effort on remaining in character. He hadn't known Nami for long enough to know every subtle nuance and quirk, but he was betting that their sensei would be in the same boat. Kichiro's clone kept in line behind Shiro, doing his best to not give away the fact that he had no substance.
"You guys are about as quiet as a stampede..." Takeshi spoke out suddenly, sounding disappointed. The jounin was standing on a thick branch high above the genins, leaning against the tree. Sighing, he shook his head. In reality, the genins hadn't done that bad a job of moving quietly through the forest, but Takeshi was used to fighting shinobi who were masters of Silent Killing, and that had forced him to be a lot more perceptive. "So what now?" He asked, a touch of amusement in his tone as he folded his arms across his chest.
Shiro's head snapped upwards at the branch that Takeshi was standing on. "Whatever you say Sensei" Smirking she crouched down onto all fours looking up at the branch. "I know that you're really fast, but so am I. I can push my muscle to almost super human levels in fact. From what I read one of my clansmen went toe to toe with an eight gates user. They still lost but that just shows the power that I weild! And now. You get to have a taste of it. Unlike are last scuffle I was holding back but now, I'm comming at you full force!'
Activating her lighting crimson jutsu she pounced off the ground and at Takeshi leaving a large crack in the hardened earth. Her muscle screamed in pain, reflected by Shiro actually shouting in pain as well. if this didn't work then she was out of ideas. Shiro was not even sure if she would be able to stand after pushing her muscle so hard. From her own assesment of her own body she had certainly torn a muscle ruptured a vein and possibly fractured her ankle but there was no time for pain! Out strecthing her arms her aim was to perform a high speed rugby tackle off the tree and onto the floor. She had enough force to break his ribs, but only if she hit. If she missed then Shiro would certainly fly off and land somewhere far away from Takeshi.
Seeing Shiro moving in to attack, Kichiro attempted to distract Takeshi so that his teammate could take the jounin down. His clone stepped forwards and shouted, "Mitsuo!" Because it was a simple clone and incapable of actually using chakra, nothing would happen, but Kichiro hoped that his sensei would be familiar with the technique and avert his eyes to avoid the potential blindness. At the same time, the real Kichiro, pulled out two kunai and launched them towards Takeshi, hoping to cut down his ability to dodge Shiro's attack.
He would have sighed, if he had time. But instead, Takeshi reacted in a way that was unexpected. Moulding the chakra he had already prepared at his feet, Takeshi pushed himself backwards, his feet still attached to the branch. Swinging himself around the branch, Takeshi watched as Shiro sailed over top of where he just was, narrowing his eyes slightly at the technique. The girl showed promise, that was certain, but she was going to need to learn some serious control if they were ever to work properly as a team.
Coming around in a full revolution, Takeshi once again stood atop the branch. His arms folded across his chest and a fierce expression on his face. "Enough!" He shouted, using a tone far more serious than he had ever used around the genin. "This exercise is over!"
Looking around at the genin, Takeshi shook his head, disappointed. "This exercise was not about trying to defeat me in combat, it was about working together to acheive your target! Instead you let yourselves get distracted and rushed into a fight without bothering to put a plan together." Staring hard at the real Kichiro, who was still disguised as Nami, Takeshi continued. "Do not think that you could fool me so easily either." Letting out a loud sigh, Takeshi brought one hand up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Honestly... what were you thinking? Once you found out that I was a simple shadow clone, what would you have done? You've already exhausted a fair amount of chakra between the first attempt and this one. And you now have a teammate who is likely seriously injured. How were you planning on handling that!?"
Shaking his head again, he held up a hand, a sad look on his face. "You know what? I don't want to hear it. Not right now. You two go home and seriously think about what happened here today. Next time we train together I sincerely hope you are ready to work as a team, instead of as individuals. I will tend to Shiro, and make sure she doesn't suffer any more from her wounds. Now leave." Turning his head without further comment, Takeshi dropped from the tree and began making his way towards Shiro. For the second time that day, he was going to have to heal the girl's self-inflicted wounds.
Shiro had been extremely lucky. She had known that the whole charging into Takeshi head on would not work but she was surprised by how spectacularly it had failed. When Takeshi had disappeared by simply dropping down Shiro wanted to slap her face and curse her own stupidty. As she was flying high in the air she refelcted on her battle style. Shiro would agree that she was way to quick to jump into a fight and she would be feelign the results of that very soon. Gravity in this instance was not her friend, luck however was. Crashing into the canopy branches and leaves cushioned her fall. Not that she came out of the whole ordeal unscathed. Landing on her rear hard she got up massaging her sore behind. "Stupid Gravity, Stupid Sensei and stupid me." Muttering to herself she felt a sharp pain in her right hand. "Great, fractured my wrist. Though I suppose it could have been worse!" Why Shiro had decided to uttter that phrase escaped her as she smacked quickly with a dose of karma.
A loud tear came from her back. Looking around she saw her dress had caught on a sticking out branch and had ripped it from the top of her neck all the way down to her waist. "Why did I have to say anthing at all" Turning her head to inspect the damage she could see the back of her bra and her shorts showing from the back. Sighing she tried to push the too parts together but it was no use. "The one time I decide to not wear a shirt under this and this happens. Well I suppose it can't get any worse. Again she had spoken the dreaded words and karma was more then happy to answer them. Takeshi was on his way to check on her, little did he know of her current wardrobe malfunction.
Approaching the fallen genin, Takeshi found his thoughts conflicted about what to do for the future. As such he didn't notice the startled look in Shiro's eyes as he neared, nor did he factor in that the top half of her dress was torn almost entirely off. "What am I gonna do with--Oh dear." His eyes widening, Takeshi whipped back around. "Umm..." He had finally noticed that Shiro was in a rather... awkward predicament. Pulling off his tunic, Takeshi stood in his under shirt, Reaching behind himself blindly, he held out the tunic to the girl. "Here... uh... take this. And then we can see about getting you cleaned up." Sighing, Takeshi closed his eyes. Not for the first time he wondered if he were truly ready to lead a team.
Shiro wished she hadn't said anything. Takeshi appeared before her surpising Shiro, it took a moment for Takeshi to notice but when he saw he quickly span on the spot and look away. Snatching his tunic out of his hand she tied it around her chest to keep what was left of her top attached to her body and cover up her decency. "Didn't expect that to happen. Sorry Sensei. Anyway lead the way!" Shiro was more annoyed then embaressed after all everyone is naked under their clothes. Though it did give her a good idea as to how to catch Takeshi off guard if they ever spared again. Smiling to herself mischevously she followed Takeshi out of the forest...