Trails Of Fire V.

            A new day means a new challenge for Muu Yanagi. He was leaning over the metal rail looking over the mountains and floating clouds as they drifted by him through the expanse of blue sky. The sun was warm against his skin, and he closed his sleepy looking eyes, moving the sucker in his mouth to the opposite cheek. He was taking these few moments of rest before he went into the training building behind him. Through those sliding glass doors, which had been replaced since his last training exercise, would be another grueling challenge to put his offensive abilities to the test.
 
He was wearing his classic outfit today, A purple button down with black stripes over a long form fitting dark green under shirt that went all the way down to his fingers, which he cut our holes for. A pale yellow vest over top of the button down, but was also obscured by the Golden tie with pale yellow/mustarded colored stripes and a dark purple long coat with little golden skull buttons. It was overly fancy for most people but Muu liked the way it looked on him, and he never really much cared what others thought of him so he wore it all the same. If nothing else it made meeting or seeing him memorable to say the least. Muu opened his eyes, the lazy expression fixed on his face as he stood up, snapping himself to attention and putting his hands in his coat pockets before turning and slowly walking to the entrance of the building. He couldn’t delay it any longer; it was time to get started. The doors parted for him to pass and inside a figure stood up.
 
Dayu Iriye was waiting inside the training facility frequented by Muu. He’d been sitting in the upper training/ observation area at one of the tables waiting on Muu to arrive. Dayu was an old mentor of Muu’s, he was in fact the very same man who’d taken Muu from his home village of Senkai during it’s destruction, and had helped him and his grandmother get established in the Hidden Cloud. Dayu had been a leading factor in getting Muu into the academy and had even taken it upon himself to be the sort of guidance the very few times Muu has sought out help. But today Dayu wasn’t there for guidance as a mentor as much as he was requested to help with a particular training exercise Muu had planned that was only possible with Dayu’s particular set of skills. ’Heya Muu, its been a while, I got your message about training, but why does it have to be me? Shouldn’t you be getting assigned a team soon, they should be able to help right?”
 
Muu walked over to him and stretched his arms up to the sky, yawing and then placed his hands on his hips, casting his lazy expression at his mentor. ”Dayu-sama are you trying to weasel out of spending time with your favorite Muu? That’s make you a bad teacher you know.” Muu wasn’t really asking a question as he was stating a point to make sure Dayu wouldn’t try to get out of helping him.  It was true Muu was suppose to be getting assigned to a genin squad of his own and then he’d be assigned an official instructor or squad leader and sure with a team and a leader he’d go on missions and they’d train together but for what Muu had in mind he wanted to get out of the way before he went into his team. Mainly so he knew he had something to bring no one else would be able to offer, to make him a more valuable member so to speak.  ”Besides Dayu-sama, it has to be you. I don’t know who my squad leader will be yet, and I need the help of an advanced technique I know you know.”
 
Dayu sighed and put his right palm to his forehead, and his left hand on his hip, he was tired and out of excuses as he replied to Muu, ”Fine kid you win. What are we doing today and what technique do I know will help you?” Dayu was technically a Jonin in the village. He didn’t have a team of his own but he was on one of the advanced rescue squads the village often used to back up important mission and thus they often knew powerful or at least very useful techniques as well the shinobi themselves had impressive abilities to say the least, and Dayu was no different. But Muu had a special task for him today. ”Well, “ Muu started, stretching to the right then left as he spoke, ”I need you to use your Shadow Clone technique, specifically your Mass Shadow Clone ability and have them all fight me in the forest down there. Cool? Cool, lets get started.“ Muu stopped stretching as he finished explaining what he wanted and started to walk over to the railing at the edge of the upper observation/training area separating the man made forest below form them. He was able to place his hands on the railing before his stunned mentor was able to cough out the words to stop Muu for an explanation.
 
”Wait wait wait! Are you crazy!?  Don’t answer that, but why in the hell do you want my mass shadow clone jutsu to attack you in the first place Muu? I need an explanation for something like that kid!.” His mentor had moved with a quickness Muu wasn’t use to seeing exerted by the man, to catch up to him and grab him by the shoulder to stop him form running of into the forest. Muu sighed and answered him leaning against the railing and crossing his arms as his bored eyes drifted around idly, ”Well, im working on controlling the fast, and pinpoint control needed to get better at maintaining my chakra enhanced strength technique, so I need to fight a pretty strong opponent. You’re strong, and if there were say one hundred of you attacking me with taijutsu moves I’d have no choice but to control it or get beaten to hell by you. Make sense?”
 
Dayu scratched his head, a slightly worried expression on his face as he grudinly gave in with a loud sigh. ”Fine fine… I guess. I’m only  gonna use taijutsu though okay, and if you go unconscious the training is over or until you beat the clones. And I’m only making twenty of them. Kid you’re gonna get yourself killed with crap like this ya know?” Muu smiled, although his eyes still suggested he could fall asleep at any minute, he patted Dayu’s shoulder as he said, ”Yay yay old man, make it twenty five please and lets get started. I have some You’s to beat.” Then the young shinobi was falling backward over the railing, watching as a massive cloud of smoke proofed into existence form the railing where he once stood. Before he turned to land on the tree branches below he saw exact copies of his mentor leap over the side of the wall above and begin to pursue him. This was going to be interesting. Muu spun around and started running through the trees as he expanded his senses to feel the chakra of the clones around him, searching for the closest ones to see how much time he had before the first attacks, as he simultaneously started concentrating chakra into his legs first. 
 
 
Muu was still moving through the trees when the first clone made his move, an exact copy of Dayu-sama came rushing through the leaves to his left swinging his fist to knock Muu form the trees and slow him down so the others could catch up. But because of the sensory skills of his, Muu knew he was coming, and was able to jump up and rotate his body as the clone got close to dodge the punch, and spin around to release a devastating kick to it’s back.. Audible bones cracked and maybe even broke, as the clone’s eyes rolled back in its head and the wind was knocked from it before it was sent hurtling through the branch to the ground like a human cannonball, exploding into smoke a few meters down. Landing on an adjacent branch another clone was soon on him. It would seem that while he was able to dispel the first clone, it accomplished the task of slowing him down. The new Dayu rushed up from seemingly no where, and unleashed a flurry of punches, pressure Muu back. He was quick enough to dodge most of them without openly engaging the strong opponent outright. But he made a mistake in getting a good dodge that made the clone lose its footing for a moment, and Muu tried to throw the clone off the branch. However he wasn’t using his chakra strength and the clone was still a clone of a much stronger man, and thus it was easily able to resist Muu, and retaliate by grabbing the young ninja and tossing him back into the tree trunk. 
 
The impact wasn’t much, Muu had been thrown against trees much harder during his last training actually, but it was hard enough to jar him and shake loose a few leaves. Muu fixed his lazy eyes on the clone, which now rushed him, two other copies of Dayu landing further down the branch behind it. Gritting his teeth Muu focused his chakra precisely in his fist around the points of impact, and empowering it,  and as the clone swung its own attack, Muu ducked, delivering his own right hook to the body of the Dayu impersonation, knocking the air out of it and sending it flying back into the other two, casting them off the branch as they tried to stop their copy companion. The hit clone flew back and into another tree, shattering some bark upon impact before exploding into smoke. Muu was happy so far, but that was until wire appeared in the light around him, and the surprise lasted to long for him to react fast enough as it was pulled tight pinning him to the tree trunk behind him. He tried to move but it was pointless, the wire was pulled tighter, digging inot the wood of the tree even and barely allowing Muu room for his chest to rise and fall as he tried to breath. Clever Dayu, but Muu was stronger. More Dayu shadow clones appeared around him, as Muu channeled his chakra to his arms and legs. They advanced but Muu just pushed his arms outward, snapping the wire with ease using his chakra enhanced strength. The closet clone attacked him, hitting the boy square in the face, but he recovered and slammed his foot on the branch, snapping it like a twig under the foot of an elephant, splitting the wood and sending it and all the clones on it cascading down to the ground. Most of them were seen jumping to the sides onto adjacent branches, but Muu only needed the distraction, he didn’t expect any of them to actually be beaten by that.
 
Leaping up and around the tree, Muu was blindsided by a clone that brought both fists held together down on him, landing a hit on his shoulder and sending the airborne Muu down to earth. On the way he broke a few branches and landed on the earth with a hard thud in a cloud of dirt. It wasn’t long before three shadow clones encircled him, taking a stance and channeling chakra the lazy expression was one of serious focus, sweat breaking his brow as he concentrated on his chakra while trying to keep up with the fast paced taijutsu moves of his mentor. As the three clones began their assault, a flurry of kicks and punches, many of which landing, Muu tried to do his best to dodge and block but they were coming to fast and from to many directions for him to properly counter attack. A knee to his stomach dropped him to his knee and he saw an opening through the pain that made him close an eye. He slammed a chakra infused fist into the ground, causing the area around him to explode in rubble and knocking the clones down. Muu was up before them, and as one began to rise, he kicked it square in the stomach, his leg empowered with chakra sent the clone flying until it was reduced to smoke. The other two were up but disoriented and Muu easily dodged the first punch, countering with his own upper cut that sent the clone flying upward. More clones landed, and the one closest to Muu jumped back to prepare with the others. Muu looked around slowly, watching for movement. He counted fifteen, no… twenty… thirty? Dayu must have made more recognizing Muu’s ability. Whatever, this is what he wanted anyway, now it was time to prove he could handle it.
 
Focusing his chakra, Muu slipped off his coat, letting it fall to the ground, he straightened his golden and mustarded colored tie and let his balled fists fall to his sides. When he re-fixed his gaze ahead of him, his eyes were wide open and a grin was spread across his face as if he were a different person. He wanted to fight, he wanted to win. Chakra coursed through his arms and legs, he molded it and focused it into his fists and feet so precisely he felt like they could blow up from over packing his chakra there.  Then they came at him, rawring as they charged the young shinobi with a their own fists raised high. Muu hit the first one solidly, reducing it and the one behind it to smoke as his fist flew through them both, then a round house kick so powerful it went through three of the shadow clones.  But from behind he was pushed forward from a hit to the back, and then a knee found its home in his stomach, causing the wind to leave his lungs. Muu fell, but only to thrust his hands into the earth and tear loose a huge chunk of rock from the very ground and throw it at the mass of clones to his left. The rocked crashed through five or six of them, smoke exploding around it as the boulder rolled off in the trees. Wasting no time a clone connected a punch across Muu’s face, but Muu was determined and his adrenalin was numb the pain for the moment, and he spun on the clone with a fury he’d never used before, grabbing the Dayu look alike and repeatedly hitting it in the face with chakra strength until it was just smoke. He jumped, landing with chakra flowing in his legs and cracking the earth and popping one more clone as he landed on it. His chakra senses warned him of a chakra mass behind him, and he turned to meet it, throwing a hard left with the momentum of his turn, and he hit a Dayu shadow clone in the face, but… it didn’t fly away, it didn’t turn to smoke, it was just a good punch. Muu crack his mask of blind fighting fury in a moment of confusion and surprise, as did the surrounding Dayu’s who were attempting to keep their distance until they could go in for their turn. The moment didn’t last long before another clone came in and Muu dodged its attack only to get blindsided by another punch to the side of the face. He was able to muster more chakra to his right fist, but it was much harder this time, he could feel the chakra resisting his command to condense itself to the points he needed it to. Once more he was able to hit a clone in the face and send it hurtling back into two more, reducing them all to smoke, but another clone connected a hit to the boys ribs.
 
Stumbling back Muu was able to regain himself a little as the remaining clones group around him. There were still just so many, he was beginning to regret this idea and his ability to convince his mentor for his help. Some of the clones were in a fighting stance, ready to go at any sign of weakness, other cracked their knuckles but they all looked like they wanted a piece of the green haired boy. Muu himself was bleeding from the lip, had a growing lump on his head form a fall maybe, and multiple tiny cuts form the numerous falls, wires and probably bruises forming everywhere on his body. He felt sore everywhere and his chakra wasn’t responding to his commands at all anymore. His fists felt numb and were shaking as he tried to raise them in defense again. This was about to get to the worst part. The clones charged, and Muu didn’t stand a chance this time. They wailed on him, and beat him, getting their revenge for him destroying their allies until Muu blacked out.
 
He woke up later, Upon the observation deck with a  few bandages and ice packs on him. He sat up slowly, apparently he was laying on a table and spoted another Dayu clone! But before he could move the “clone” spoke to him, holding his hands up. ’Chill out little guys, its really me. Its all over now, you did a hell of a lot better then I thought you would but I did say it’d be over when you passed out ha” Muu looked at him through lazy eyes, one slightly swollen as he laid back down. That asshole. A few minutes later Muu was on his feet, and Dayu handed him his coat. ”That was more fun then I thought, next time you want a beating let me know kiddo!” Dayu said with a  chuckle as he ruffled Muu’s green head of hair. Muu made a sour expression as they left the training building and started down the stairs. Even though Muu was beat to a pulp, he had done a damn good job holding off the shadow clones and for that he was proud.  ”Fine, but you owe me ramen child abuser” And for the rest of the way down the stairs, Dayu tried to frantically defend himself about how he wasn’t a child abuser and he was only doing what Muu asked, but wasn't listening, only enjoying the turmoil he had caused for the man with just a simple sentence.