Could you spar a few minutes?

It was mid afternoon by the time Mara had actually arrived at the foot of the dense stretch of massive trees know as the Black Forest. She loved it here. It had always seemed peaceful. But ever since an incident a few years ago, everything outside village walls had seemed a bit more foreboding, a bit more dangerous.

So she wasn't surprised that the serene looking forest of her childhood memories had been replaced by one that looked darker and more suspicious, with long shadows stretching the forest's reach even farther out. Its all in your head, Mara.

She looked around. Every few minutes a Cloud Ninja would enter or leave somewhere along the treeline. She supposed it was safe enough. She was a bit older now and a bit more capable of holing her own.

She broke into a run, breaking through the treeline and then vertically up the bark of one of the massive trees. This would make for a good training location. It was spread wider than the grounds in town and it presented several angles she couldn't otherwise accomplish. After a few minutes of setting up, she finally had a set of targets arranged on the various surrounding trees. Some target practice wouldn't hurt, she supposed.

A few rounds of shuriken throws later, she had improved her accuracy a bit. It still wasn't as good as her kunai throw, certainly, but it was improving. She raced back to her throwing line, when she paused. Footsteps could be heard passing in the distance. No...they were approaching. Whoever it was, they were walking directly toward her location.

Internally, she knew she shouldn’t be afraid. Whoever this was was probably a fellow Cloud Ninja. Honestly, they were probably on their way to here to do the same thing she was. She tried to put her apprehension aside as she crept along the tree trunk, perpendicular to the ground, trying to get a peek at who was approaching.

[WC: 328]

Mara was right; someone was coming. Thankfully, it wasn't anyone with harmful intentions. Zyxis hopped through the trees, looking for an excellent place to train. Training continuously in the training grounds would've made him go crazy. He had worked out at his house, in the mountains, and all around the village. Going a bit further into the forest wouldn't hurt him, he could most definitely hold his own now. To his surprise, there was a cute girl in the clearing. She had blonde hair, pale skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. He smiled at the sight of a new shinobi, and a new friend.

A soft patter sounded out as he jumped down from the tree, his feet landing against a small pile of leaves. It was autumn, the Black Forest's trees were vacant of their leaves. Red, orange, and yellow desecrated the cold dirt, the chilly air causing his pale cheeks to turn the color of cherries, as well as his nose. 

"Excuse me," Zyxis said quietly, trying not to startle her, "Are you a Kumogakure shinobi as well?" Assuming that she confirmed her alliance with their village, he would smile and hold his right hand out, offering her his acquaintance, "I go by Zyxis, what's your name?" If this were medieval times, he felt as if he would refer to her as a fair maiden. The white-haired boy wondered how such attractive females surrounded him wherever he went; it was astonishing for him.

"Are you a Genin," He would ask. "I've been a Genin for about three months now. How has it been for you so far?"

The appearance of the young man in front of her had been a bit startling. But at the sight of a Kumogakure headband, Mara relaxed. She'd been silly to worry, just as the logical part of her brain had said. Instead of some dangerous threatening enemy, there was a kind faced boy about her age with the most striking white hair. It was so striking in fact, she almost missed his opening question.

"Oh! Uh...yeah. I'm from Kumogakure. I came out here to train a bit," Mara said, shaking off the tension. She took his hand as he extended it, shaking it. "Nice to meet you, Zyxis. I'm Mara Asano."
His cordial nature was flattering. Mara had always been an attractive girl, but do to her strange social standing in her part of town, she hadn't had many friends other than Idrina. She found herself self-consciously straightening her cloak as she talked to him, making sure its hood wasn’t disrupting her hair. She blushed slightly when she caught herself doing it. Hopefully, the cold covered any of the fresh blood flow to her cheeks.

"Yes, I'm a freshly graduated Genin," she said, providing a dramatic gesture toward the headband she wore around her waist. "I actually just made Genin a few days ago. So it hasn't been long, but it has been going well, I suppose!" She looked around at the serene looking tree line with the autumn leaves. It seemed silly to have been afraid now. "I came out here to train somewhere more widespread and destructible than the training grounds. But seeing how pretty it looks, I sort of feel guilty now."

After a pensive moment, she turned back to face him. "Were you up to anything out here? I wouldn't mind training with someone."

[WC: 297 | TWC: 625]

Any anxiety present with Zyxis disappeared as she claimed that she was a Kumogakure Shinobi. The white-haired shinobi gently grasped her hand and squeezed it to where it was a firm handshake, but nobody would get hurt by the action. He let go of her hand soon and gave her a small smile. If Mara had known that he was an Uchiha, she might've tried to hide her blush more. His vision was two times better than others; he saw her cheeks flush and as soon as it happened he gave her an even more charming smile. Now, Zyxis wasn't a playboy or anything like that. He just never got to flirt. Natsume was more like his little sister, and Hato was too old for him, and probably too good as well. The blonde-haired lady was the first one he would attempt to make any flirtation within his time of being a shinobi.

Not many people knew this about him, but he adored females. Everything about them just made him a happier person. Indeed, God's most excellent creation, "Congratulations on making it to Genin, Mara. Are you sure this is the best place to train for newfound Genin? Why didn't you go to the training grounds? You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I'm only curious." Zyxis would prefer it if she did, but it wasn't a priority.

The sound of training made him smile even more, "Sure, we can train. How about a quick spar so I can see how strong you are, new Genin Mara Asano. I'm currently more experienced than you so I'll try to hold back, come at me with all your might." Zyxis backed up to the point where the two were five meters away from each other, waiting for her to make the first move.

“Ok. I don’t want to hurt you though, so be careful,” the blonde replied. As Zyxis, backed up creating space, Mara tried to think of her best approach.  Zyxis was right. She was a more inexperienced than him, so she’d have to be creative. A straight forward rush wouldn’t work. She was fast, but not that fast.

As she assumed her position, she suddenly realized that she was putting in some extra attention to looking more prepared. She wasn’t used to having people to show off for.

Alright, girl. You’ve wasted enough time, she thought. Setting her feet she decided she’d opt for a misdirection technique. She likely couldn’t hit him head on, so maybe...

She formed a snake handseal and a moment later a spray of sparks shot from her hand toward Zyxis. “Raiton: Sparks!” They weren’t going to hurt him, but they could possibly distract him from what she’d do next. She reached into her cloak, pulling it across her chest as she raced toward him. From her pouch she drew a kunai and hurl it at Zyxis, through the fading stream of sparks.

Now was the moment of truth. Not even waiting to see if her kunai hit, she continued forward. As the cloak obscured her hands, she wove a string of handseals. This was her only real chance at beating him. Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake

[This is my first simulated combat, so let me know if I’m doing this wrong/lined up too much. She doesn’t have much in the way of offense yet, so I’m having her try to evade Zyxis’s first move.]

[WC: 234 | TWC: 859]

As soon as she made any movement, he practically disappeared from her vision. In all honesty, he had just taken a few steps, but he was now behind her. The white-haired boy simply pushed her a bit forward, canceling her every move.

"You're gonna have to be faster than that," He said with a slight grin, as he disappeared from her view again. Zyxis was aware that she would see his afterimages. The wind around her was starting to pick up in speed; soon she was left in the center of what seemed like a mini-tornado.

Pokes, flicks, and pinches rang out of the tornado. It was as if playground bullies had created this tornado. He didn't tease her or anything like that, but he made sure that each attack stung, but didn't hurt her. After the 20th "attack" he jumped backward and settled back into a fighting stance, "I'll stay still for the next attack, unless it's fatal, of course." Zyxis said, preparing himself for whatever she threw next.

Mara stumbled a bit in frustration. She’d had a whole series of moves set up in her mind, but the boy was so signinficantly faster than her, it was meaningless. She’d planned on shooting off sparks to distract him as she substituted away. Instead, she’d been lightly pushed into her own string of sparks. I really need to up my speed, she thought to herself.

The micro tornado that buffered her a moment later eroded any sense of composure she’d kept. Her hair was messy, her cloak ruffled, and her calm disrupted. Thankfully, Zyxis has been nice about it. He’d poked no fun at how thoroughly he outclassed her. Which was good because she didn’t think she could handle much more embarrassment there. 

His offer to stand still for the next attack was kind, if a bit patronizing. Not that he was wrong of course. Maybe she really shouldn’t have strayed so far from the village. 

If I’m going to hit him with anything, I’m going to need to at least follow his movements a bit, she thought to herself. She made her hand seals with determination. Rat - Boar.

She’d activated Flicker Movement giving her that slightest boost to her speed before turning to face him, hoping he hadn’t perceived the difference. She really only had one big move. If he wasn’t going to move, she’d only hit him with a stunning strike. But if he wanted to demonstrate his ability to recover, she wanted to have a shot at countering him.

With her time manipulation in place and now facing him, she whipped out her ‘big gun.’ Boar - Ram - Snake - Horse - Dragon. The lightning surged toward her white haired sparring partner with enough force to knock him on his back...theoretically.

[WC: 292 | TWC: 1151]

Zyxis smiled at the jutsu she began to use. Flicker Movement, a jutsu that he had learned as well. He merely let her attack. Zyxis was also glad to see her next thing thrown, Raiton: Jibashi. That was the first C-Rank Lightning Jutsu Zyxis had learned if he remembered correctly. The white-haired boy would stay still, knowing how powerful and fast the attack was. The lightning would fly forward and slam against his chest. It would continue to push, but like a little boy against a grown man in an arm-wrestling contest, Zyxis simply moved his arm, and the lightning disappeared into the air. Luckily, Zyxis' body was durable enough to forgo the attack as if it were nothing.

He rushed forward and lowered his strength so that he wouldn't hurt her; she would only feel the blows and slightly bruise. "Try to block these attacks," He told her, jabbing at her with [15 Strength and 20 Speed], enough to hurt her, but also she would be able to react to it. His first blow would be towards her chest, the second one towards her face, and he would attempt to sweep her legs to end the combo. He would watch to see her moves and would try to adjust accordingly to them so he wouldn't get hurt or upstaged.

Somewhere in the attack, he would say, "You're doing great Mara, keep it up." He didn't want to make her feel bad about not having the upper hand or anything along those lines; he was aware that he was pretty powerful for his age and rank. Right now, he only wanted to teach her how to fight, not bring her down.

Zyxis dismissing the jutsu was impressive to watch. She'd need to train a lot more to be able to tank a technique the way he did. She would have expected to feel more frustrated by how inconsequential her strongest move had been. Instead, she was intrigued. Just what kinds of power would she be able to achieve as time went on?

She snapped out of her musings when her sparring partner rushed forward. Based on the drastic decrease in his speed, she knew he was holding back. Flicker Movement couldn't account for this change.   "I'll try," she replied to his command. At this speed, she probably could block it. Or at least dodge out of the way of it.

The first jab came at her chest. As his hand came toward her, she attempted a block, but found his jab was stronger than she'd anticipated and it staggered her slightly. She luckily managed to react in time to dodge his next blow. His third, she avoided blocking, but guided it away from her with her hand. One more, she attempted to block, but holding her footing a little better this time.

She smiled a little bit. Sure, he was restraining himself. But the encouragement was helpful. She felt as though she'd be able to hold her own against someone her skill level. She'd distracted herself enough to miss his leg sweep. Just before it hit, she spotted it and realized he would have been able to avoid it had she not allowed her mind to wander in the middle of a fight. You need to watch that, Mara, she chided herself. If this was a real fight, you'd be dead.

As her back met the ground, she looked up at him with a friendly smirk. "Well, that was a little better at least!"

She rose to her feet, brushing the dust off her cloak and off the back of her shorts and noticing what would soon be a fresh bruise or two. Zyxis hit pretty hard. She bit her lip for a second, contemplating how she wanted to phrase her next question. He was clearly quite powerful compared to her, but his speed was what was truly remarkable. She couldn't help but wonder if there was something he could teach her.

"So...you're clearly incredibly fast. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that fast? And is there anything you can teach me to help? Other than just speed training, obviously." She didn't want to overstep. He'd been kind enough to train this much with her. She hoped he wouldn't be offended by her request to learn some of his secrets.

[WC: 443 | TWC: 1594]

[If he'd be willing, Mara would probably appreciate training on Body Flicker. Or whatever else he'd want to teach. But only if it makes sense in character or if you're willing.]

Zyxis spun gracefully from his feet after sweeping her, standing up in a fluid motion. He looked down at the blonde-haired girl with a small smile. The future of Kumogakure, a shinobi he was training by himself. He slightly flashed back to his conversation with Nobunaga; what he wanted to be and what he wanted to do for their village. Zyxis felt like this was another step on his long journey. The Uchiha held his hand out to have her grab it. If she did, he would help her up. "Great job, Mara. I forgot that you had Flicker Movement activated for a second, that could've been bad for me."

He brushed off a few stray sticks in her hair and on her shoulder. "The reason I'm so fast," He responded, placing his fingers on his chin and lightly stroking it as he looked into the air, "I was a runner before I was a shinobi. Long-distance, not short. I guess I've just trained for a while. I'm pretty fast by myself, but I also have my earring that makes me slightly faster." He gently flicked it, attempting to bring her attention to it.

The white-haired Uchiha contemplated telling her, but it would be more efficient if more people knew so he didn't have to try and hide it, "I also have my Sharingan," After being said, he blinked, and three commas appeared in his eyes, spinning, "They make me slightly faster as well. So currently, I have everything going for me I believe. What about you, you're focusing on speed as well."

He snapped, a bolt of lightning appearing and striking out at the air without any effort on my part, "As quick as lightning, I should say. It is my natural element anyway. I can help you become faster if you want. I'm not sure how massive your chakra reserves are, but the Body Flicker technique allows you to move all your chakra to enhance your muscles and make you go faster."

Zyxis seemed to blur out of existence. The only thing she would see would be the Ram hand seal, and then he would be gone from her view. What happened was he took a step behind her, the only thing she felt was a gust of wind as he moved.

"Boo," he whispered by her ear, excited for her response.