Another day of training? (P, NK)

Masaru could not quite resist the urge to smile. He had recently had his puppet smashed, that was true, but he had learnt from it, had improved the design, and, perhaps the most important thing, his skill with Chakra Threads had increased enough to allow him to use two puppets. And although his puppets were mirror images of each other, they had been designed to both be able to fight well together and on their own. He had had some thoughts about making a puppet team with one being offensive and one being defensive, but he had ultimately settled on just having two puppets of the same design, and made sure that both of them could be both offensive and defensive. He could specialize with his later puppet designs.

Another improvement, although a minor one compared to the fact that he could use two puppets at the same time, was that Masaru was now able to seal his puppets inside scrolls, instead of carrying them around on his back, which was a good thing, since Masaru intended to eventually have quite a few puppets. This meant that Masaru no longer carried around a bandaged puppet on his back, something that experienced ninja could often easily name as a puppet. He now kept his puppet stored in scrolls, which was put in pockets inside the large, white cloak nearly always covered Masaru, head excepted.

He had thought about keeping one of his puppets on his back, and then saving the second puppet for a surprise, should he get into a spar sometime, but he had ultimately decided against it. While it might provide an element of surprise, he would also be vulnerable while he activated his puppet scrolls, as if he made hand seals. It was safer to just activate both of them when the fight started. This would also allow him to use the metal chain for the puppets immediately, although he would probably hold off that for a little while in a fight. He would prefer to keep one of them somewhat close, in case that it was needed for defense.

But he might not have a chance to train those skills this day, as it would be somewhat redundant to try to train that against training dummies. For that reason, Masaru had gone over to the training grounds, hoping to be able to find another ninja with whom he could spar, or two, for that matter. The three-way match that he had with Ayumi and Kahen had been interesting, although he still did not feel like he deserved the win.

WC: 432

Hideyoshi had been discharged from the Hospital in less than a day, his body 100% better, but he walked around with the bandages over his chest anyways. His shirt was open showing the bandages and his headband was across his forehead tilted slightly to the left. His gauntlet was setting on his right arm," So Corbinek where should we go...home or some training, either way i am up for some fun and excitement after laying in a bed waiting for my body to recover. Which now that i realize it went faster than i thought it would," the voice would respond back to him with a slight chuckle," Yea..surprised this body of ours could actually withstand such a heavy attack but you have yet to disappoint me...maybe you were the right choice for this but do not get cocky just yet. For now lets go train and get this body back to normal then from there let's go figure out the next plan," nodding he would begin to walk off to the training grounds.



Seeing as his hair or eyes have not changed back yet, he was stuck with green eyes and creme colored hair for the moment, although it was not all that bad. With this he would begin to walk through the village and get a sort of strange look for whatever reason, but as he looked at his arms for a moment he could see the symbols appearing on his body," uhhh Corbinek can you tone down on the display here," as the sentence was uttered the symbols would disappear. Sighing he would take off towards the training grounds and as he arrived he would see Masaru training again. Smiling he would whistle and nod," So how's it going Masaru...learn anything new since our last meeting," he would walk closer to him and leaned on a nearby tree.

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Kahen held his head down as he walking into an unknown direction. He felt unmoved from doing anything since his last encounter with Irou. It scared him a lot, the thought of dying. Though he had never perceived it before, but the near-death experience made him think about it a lot more. As he walked his shoulders slumped downward and their was a light grey of rings beginning to form underneath his eyes. His eyes no longer held his spark of amusement they once had. "Maybe I am not as strong as I thought to be," Kahen said to himself as he looked up from his feet and saw that he was entering the training grounds.

Kahen looked into the training grounds and remembered the spar with Irou. The thoughts sent pain into his shoulder, making him wince, grabbing his shoulder. Kahen eyes began to wonder through the area until they rested on two figures. Kahen smiled when he could see the blonde hair that resembles Masaru. Kahen begin to walk into the direction of the figures to see if it was really Masaru. When he got close, he saw in fact that it was him, but he did not know the other male. Who was he? He thought as he continued to approach them.

"Hello Masaru, I hope I'm not intruding on anything," he said subdued, his face still looked like the life was sucked out of it. Kahen wondered if Masaru has gotten stronger, well, he probably has since he could've beat him last time. Kahen let out a smile and turned to the guy he did not know and withheld his in front of him. "Hello, you must be a friend of Masaru's since you are standing here talking to him. I'm Kahen and I do not believe we have met," he said as he forced a smile and was awaiting his hand to be shaken by this person.

WC:322

Ayumi was in the training ground ready to master her jutsu she has been working on since forever. She was able to extract water from plants and even use other jutsus while doing it but she still had much to learn, Senba showcased his skill so Ayumi knew she didn't master it yet. She had walked Hideyoshi home from the hospital after his injury she caused a while ago when she heard a voice resembling his from distance.

She wondered if it was actually him so she started to walk towards the voice, when she saw Hideyoshi talking to Kahen and Masaru, "Shouldn't you be resting?" she asked as she came closer to them. He was still in bandages. "You couldn't have completely healed yet."

Ayumi also greeted the other two, she had seen Masaru and sparred with her recently but it was the first time she saw Kahen since their 3-way spar. "Hey Masaru, Kahen.. it's been a while. How are you and.. how do you guys know each other?" she smiled.

WC:182

Suddenly, the training grounds were a lot more crowded than Masaru was used to. He did, however, know all of them, so he replied to each in turn, starting with the first question. “It’s going rather well for me. And yes, I have learnt a few things, and due to those things, I have improved." He said with a shrug. He guessed that Hideyoshi had meant it as if he had learnt any new techniques since last time they met, which Masaru had not. Or well, he had learnt to store his puppets inside scrolls, but that was hardly anything major. Puppeteers simply did not work that way. No, their improvements were measured by the quality of their puppets.

After that had been said, he turned towards Kahen. At first, he had merely glanced at him when he had approached Hideyoshi and Masaru, but now, when he looked at him, he blinked a few times. Was this really the boy that he and Ayumi had sparred with, and that he had helped train some illusion technique? He had been energetic then, a bit too much, truth to be told, but that energy seemed to be missing now. “Hey Kahen." He merely said to him, deciding to let Hideyoshi introduce himself, while he briefly thought about what could have happened to Kahen, since his attitude had changed like so. Well, maybe he had just been in an especially good mood the two times that Masaru had met him, and was now in a bad mood. Well, that was just one of the things that one could not find out just by thinking about it.

Lastly, he turned towards Ayumi, and involuntarily thought about the last time they had met. He had had his gambit failing, had his puppet smashed, and, ultimately, been outplayed in the endgame. She was certainly a good opponent, and he had silently marked her as somewhat of a rival. Someday, he was going to beat her in a real spar, just the two of them facing off against each other. “Hello Ayumi. I’m fine, but yes, it’s been too long. I know Hideyoshi because I met him here at the training grounds some time ago, which resulted in me getting my ass kicked.” He said with a grin. He did not see a defeat in a spar as a defeat in life. It was just another motivator to get even stronger, and a good way to learn what he needed to improve upon. For example, his fight with Ayumi, and partly the one that he had had with Hideyoshi as well, had made him realize that he needed to give his puppets a better defense which might very well save his life one day.

WC: 889 (+457)

Hideyoshi smiled and nodded for a moment," i see...is your puppet back to normal and sorry for breaking it the last time we sparred," he scratched his head slightly as he looked up to the sky. Although their last spar ended with Hideyoshi winning, but at any rate today could be a different story. As far as new technique's went, Hideyoshi had learned at least three new things and each one had a special meaning to them.

Apparently someone else had came into the picture, but this one knew Masaru either from training perhaps or maybe they were childhood friends. At any rate he did not know Hideyoshi and that was good. That meant less people knew of his skills and also meant he could pull off some interesting shit. Looking to the new boy, now identified as Kahen he would nod his head," Yo and no we haven't met before...i am kind of a ghost in the village. Not going out much or if i do i am never seen," he was being half serious and half jokingly, but for now he would keep his name to himself.

A very nice surprise came into the picture once he had heard Ayumi's voice and smiled. His body would move over to her slowly and hug her, giving her a small kiss on the cheek," Thank you for checking up on me, but i am fine...my body is stronger than it looks and the doctors only told me to wear them for today. Although my body is perfectly fine thanks to my little nurse here," looking to her and nodding. Now his attention would turn to the others, specifically the one that did not know him," so..Kahen is it?? My name is Hideyoshi, quite a pleasure to meet you however...what are you all doing here if you do not mind me asking. I know i came for some training, but how about the rest of you," his eyes would turn to Ayumi because she might have been against it.

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Kahen squinted his eyes at the male unknown to him, as he retracted his unshaken hand. It had seemed rude to Kahen but he did not mind if the male did not want to shake his hand.
A ghost you say? Well, for a ghost, you don't seem all that scary," Kahen said back to him, cathing him in his light humor. Even though Kahen wasn't in the mood for same humor, he didn't want to show his emotion to them to make them wonder if their was something wrong with him. Kahen heard light taps on the ground, indicating someone was approaching. Kahen turned his body and saw that Ayumi was approaching. Kahen looked away from her wondering if she was still mad about the whole hair pulling thing.

The Zexus took a couple steps back so all three figures come into view and watched as Ayumi and the male did something that a couple should do. The sight made Kahen want to vomit everywhere. It wasn't that he was jealous but that kind of thing made him uncomfortable. He didn't even know why it did. Maybe it was because he never had felt that way about someone, or someone has never tried to be like that with him. Kahen turned his head as they started to speak to each other. Kahen looked up when Ayumi asked them a question. She knew this Hideyoshi as well. Apparently he was no ghost as he once said before. "Well, as you can. Me and Hideyoshi has never met until just now," he said as he tried to make eye contact with both Hideyoshi and Ayumi but they were just looking at each other, which made Kahen even more uncomfortable.

"Well, erm.....I-I was just walking, unknowingly that I was headed in this direction. I guess fate has decided for all of us to meet," He said, but stuttered the first part of his sentence. He has never stuttered before. What made him do that? Kahen looked towards Masaru, "I'm sorry for you behind getting kicked," smiled. Kahen didn't like to cuss. It made him feel guilty about himself, along with a bunch of other things, especially sexual thoughts. It just made him feel disgusted with himself. Kahen looked away from Masaru towards the ground and felt a another pain in his shoulder, making him wince slightly again. He hoped him looking towards the ground would make them not notice.

WC:322+408=730

Ayumi would walk near them and get hugged by Hideyoshi, she blushed a little since she never was with him around people she actually knew. She got a little mad when Hideyoshi said he wanted to train but kept it to herself, he was intelligent enough to know when training was a good idea or not, he was the one who stopped her training when necessary after all. "Alright, if you are sure you've recovered."

She learned Masaru and Hide already met but Kahen met him here, Kahen looked a little strange stuttering and shaking a little sometimes but he wasn't such a normal type last time either and she liked not normal people so she didn't really care much. He was a good sparring partner and that's what really mattered for her, she couldn't judge him for his personality only by what little she knew.

Ayumi being the training maniac she is, threw the idea quickly which was probably in everyone's mind "Since we are all here how about a 4-way spar? Or maybe we can create teams of two, or maybe a tournament this is an opportunity we can't pass on right?" she was getting excited, last time she had lost 3-way spar by underestimating Masaru but this time she was determined to win if they wanted that. Or maybe she could team-up with one of them for the first time, that would also be interesting especially if she teamed up with Hideyoshi.

WC:437

He laughed a bit when Hideyoshi apologized for ‘breaking’ his puppet. “Oh, you did not break it. I merely detached some of its limbs so that I could use those for substitution, and later so that I might use the metal gauntlets myself. Your needles did a bit of damage, but that was quickly finished. You should have seen what Ayumi did to it. Or rather, you might not want to do it, as the attack could very well send you to the hospital. Maybe that was what got you there? That Water Dragon Technique of hers?” Masaru said with a chuckle and a smile, the chuckle because he had no hurt feelings from the match that Hideyoshi apologized for, and the smile due to the affection that the couple showed each other.

“But as for what I’m doing here, I came to train. I hoped to be able to spar with someone, but I never expected us to be four.” He told Hideyoshi, and then turned towards Kahen. “I’m not. I learned of a new way that I might lose a match, or even my life, and thus I hope to be able to not repeat that again. As I always tell myself, a defeat in training is not a defeat in life, merely a stepping stone to becoming better.” He said, while thinking about Kahen’s facial expression. Masaru thought that he had seen him wincing, or something similar to that, but he was not sure. It could just be him reading Kahen wrongly, or a trick of the light.

Lastly he thought about Ayumi’s proposals. A four-way spar would be nothing more than plain chaos, but both the ideas of a two versus two and a tournament appealed somewhat to him. He briefly eyed the other genin. Hideyoshi was still faster than him, but unless he had learnt something new since last time, Masaru had a counter to his techniques. Hideyoshi had, however defeated him in a spar before, so Masaru would like to test him against once more against him, to test his own progress. Ayumi had bested him in a spar as well, but he was still not that eager to go up against her. He still lacked a proper counter to her ultimate technique, and he did not intend to sacrifice a puppet every time that the two of them fought. He knew that Kahen used illusions, he had even helped him train with it, but he did not know how good he was with them, and he did not yet have that much experience with illusions, so if Kahen made a minor illusion, Masaru was not confident that he could spot it before it resulted in an opening of some kind.

“I would say let us make teams of two.” Masaru said, while thinking about how he would like the teams to look. If Ayumi and Hideyoshi were teamed together, they would most likely try to protect each other too much, even if it was not required. On the other hand, he would very much like to have one of them on his team. Hideyoshi due to the fact that he had been moving faster than Masaru could even see last time and Ayumi because… well, water dragon, do you need more reason? While Kahen would no doubt be a valuable asset in a team, Masaru was not sure how much use illusions would be with four people involved.

WC: 1464 (+575)

Hideyoshi smiled as he looked down to his gauntlet and smiled," well good to hear, but if i had hit the right places then maybe i could have. I do not like breaking things too much unless i have to...after all never break unnecessary things that do not belong to you or whatever my grandfather said," he nodded for a moment until he felt something crash into his leg and almost tackle him. Looking down he would see his growing bear Tibbers and smile," You wanted to come and train with me didn't you, but not this time...maybe next time me and you will go one on one," the bear grunted then went to go sit underneath a tree watching his master. Hideyoshi shook his head at Masaru as he pointed to his stomach," Giant water boomerang and i did not see that one coming. She tried to hit me with that water dragon, but lets just say i stopped her before she could use it," he said teasingly as he looked over to her. Although that boomerang did a number on him, he was still conscience and moving and in a way it made his body stronger.

Next was Kahen, who for someone that looked strong...seemed a little off. He did not know what made the boy look away from him and Ayumi but he shrugged it off for the moment and smiled," So we are all here to train, and their are an equal number of us, but who wants to be on who's team. I only know of two of your skills and abilities which puts me at a stand still and i kind of want my rematch against one of you. So who will the teams be me and Ayumi or one of you two," although whoever team he was placed on it would be fun either way. " So..how can i go about this... two long range ninja on one team could be trouble, but then again i can close the distance pretty fast. Its just the fact of how can i get past that water. Given everything i know for now i need to find a decent way to get past it," he looked deep in thought for the moment.

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