Just a Little bit of Side Training

With the coming of a new day came the desire to train and try to perfect what he couldn't the previous day as Suraida was walking along the streets of the Leaf towards the location that he had been specified to go to by the mysterious student who had been watching him. The streets were hustling and bustling as usual given how close to the holiday of Christmas the days were getting and he couldn't help but thinking about picking out a gift later on someday in order to give to a teacher in the academy or just to be nice to someone. It was also a pretty chilly day despite the sun that shined bright and hot above the village as he had made certain to wear a jacket in order to keep himself just a little bit toasty. Eventually he made it to the location he was invited to go to and he stepped onto a field that had all the essentials for people to get a good training exercise in. There were logs, straw effigies, a stream for water style learning, trees that provided a bit of shade, even a clock pinned to a tree that showed how long a person had been training for. This was all going to be of vital use to Suraida as he stretched his body and cracked his bones to get them loose while looking around to see if he wasn't the only one that had arrived.

He looked at the clock on the tree and saw that he was five minutes early and he figured he might as well as get a quick warmup in so that he could prepare for... whatever the student had to teach him. He had the assumption that they were mainly going to practice with shuriken as he was... less than great with them the previous day but he didn't know the girl and didn't know what her plans were. He would warm up his body by doing a few jumping jacks along with a few squats and other exercises before he looked over to the clock and saw that it had struck noon. At that moment he heard rustling all around him as he blinked and looked around at the bushes to see nothing out of the ordinary. He perked up his ears in order to try and hear any further movement but all was quiet as he stood in the center of the sunlit field waiting for something to happen... It was in fact too quiet. He reached into his pouch that was strapped to the back of his pants, pulling out a kunai and a few shuriken, as he felt a sense of impending danger from all around him.

From within the bushes he saw a bunch of shuriken fly out in arches before they bent and all started to fly towards him. He quickly twirled the kunai in his finger before catching the handle and twisting his body in order to knock the shuriken away before they could hit him. He then would target his own shuriken at one of the bushes and release one of them in it's direction causing it to twirl through the air before turning towards the bush with deadly accuracy. Suraida was actually surprised with how well he through it as he then saw a shadow hop up from within to avoid the shuriken and hide itself once more in a tree that was above. Immediately another shuriken flew out from within the leaves of the tree as it made it's way straight for Suraida who had his kunai at the ready. He knocked it out of his trajectory which caused it to fall to the ground before him which allowed him to pick it up for his own use.

"Alright..." he said as calmly as he could even though any of the shuriken that had been thrown at him could have been fatal if they hit him in the worst spots. "How about you come out instead of playing this game? I'm not in the mood to play a game of chicken with someone proving too chicken to show their face." He hoped his taunt would work against whoever it was that was attacking him and it did but not in the way that he wanted it to as multiple clones of the student he had met the previous day hopped from out within the bushes and rushed towards Suraida. 'Well...' he thought to himself as he hopped up and out of the way of their kunai. 'This isn't a good place to be in.' He flipped around in the air in order to get behind one of them as it brought a leg around in order to deliver a kick as Suraida got his arms up to catch the kick and he was blown back with his feet dragging in the dirt in order to try and stop himself.

He was backed into a nearby tree as the clones all came after him and he had to roll out of the way in order to dodge a punch before delivering his own into the gut of one of the clones. What happened was instantaneous as his punch blew a hole into the clone that caused the clone to disperse into mist before his eyes. This confirmed to him that this was no ordinary clone technique as these were actually solid in comparison to the clone technique he knew which only brought about the illusions of clones. Another clone directed another kick towards Suraida and, even though it hit him in his side, he didn't even feel it as he grabbed the leg that had kicked him and swung the clone into a tree. Again the clone dispersed into mist before evaporating into nothing yet he could see two more clones rushing towards him from within the shadows created by the trees. 'Oh give me a break!' he thought to himself as he hopped back and away from the clones in order to stop himself atop the stream of water dead in the center of the training field's clearing. He wanted to see just how many of these masked girl students he was facing and he soon got his answer.

It was amazing that a student of the academy was able to make so many of these clones as it seemed like more than 20 of them were coming his way looking to do some damage. She was wearing the same camouflage clothes she had on when he first saw her as he prepared for her next attack. He didn't know if the fact that he wasn't even hurt by the second kick was a fluke or if it was actually a drawback of the technique that was being used. He took a deep breath and got into a stance as he could see the clones running over the water in order to reach his location. He wanted to test the nearest clone to see if their kick was just as weak as the last one so he brought up his arms as he was prepared to take a kick. To his bewilderment the kick that hit his arm was weak and it felt as though a fly had landed on his arm. He thus kicked the clone away yet kept his guard up in order to prepare for another kick coming at him. This time, however, the kick had some weight as he was pushed into another set of clones.

This had to be a secret when it came to the technique as the person who actually kicked him with strength either was one of a unique set of clones that could actually hurt... or they were the real one. The clone was hiding it's hands as it kicked and hopped back into a mass of clones that made their way towards Suraida in order to deliver their own blows. He had no choice but to tank a few in order to test out his theory as he found that most of what he was hit with was completely weak. He fought with them all and managed to disperse a few before he had to prepare for an incoming attack from a clone from above the pack and this one actually had strength which caused him to sink into the water of the stream they'd been standing upon. Again, the one that he had seen was covering their hands which gave him all the more reason to believe that that was the real person blending themselves in with the crowd to deliver random attacks meant to hurt. They were trying to get him to lower his guard and they were winning.

He could see through the water clones coming at him underwater and he knew that, even though they were weak individually, more than likely if they dogpiled him underwater he'd have no chance of getting back to the surface. He swam as fast a possible back towards the surface, chakra surrounding the soles of his foot trying to propel him back towards the surface in a quick manner, as he dodged oncoming clones all while stabbing them with his kunai in order to make them disperse and lessen in number. What wound up happening, however, was that for every clone he destroyed two more took their place in order to join in the assault. It was getting tedious for him as he felt one of the new ones grab him by his shoes and keep him from going up to the surface. He kicked the hand off and waved his hands down to try and propel up to the surface but soon he felt himself get bombarded by an absurd number of clones as they grabbed him and kept him from moving any further up regardless of how many of them he destroyed or pushed off in order to get back up.

It was becoming dangerous for him as he stabbed and punched and kicked in order to try and get himself up to the surface as fast as possible but he wasn't having any luck. Before long he could feel himself losing strength and, just as he was about to drown, the clones suddenly redirected their efforts and started swimming up to the surface in order to get Suraida above the water. He gasped for air as soon as he made it to the surface as the clones let him go and dispersed by themselves as he took in breaths as quickly as he could in order to collect his senses once more. As he did so he could hear the sounds of footsteps coming towards him as the girl he had met yesterday walked along the surface of the water in order to walk towards him and stand a ways away from him. "Pro tip, newbie." she said. "When you're fighting against a horde of clones, despite how weak they are, don't fight them on top of water if you can help it. You're just asking for trouble."

He crawled up from out of the water, his chakra being channeled through his feet once more in order to keep him above the surface, as he stood up and the girl watched him from behind her mask. "Why don't you take a break and then we can continue with your training." This girl must've been about two years younger than him yet she was cool as a cucumber as she walked off the water towards a tree and sat against it with her arms folded. Suraida took in deep breaths in order to fill his lungs with the sweet air that had been deprived from him for a good long while before he moved the kunai back into his pouch and walked off of the surface as well. He would keep an eye on the girl as his thoughts were ablaze with what their endgame was as well as what they had said. 'Continue with the training?' he thought to himself as he patted one of his ears in order to try and move some water out the other. 'What training? This felt more like a murder attempt than a training session.' He sat on the ground as he tried to rest his body for whatever was supposed to come next while looking up at the sky in order to see the clouds floating by in the air.

He looked over to the girl and saw that she didn't seem to be all that tired even though she had spawned close to fifty freaking clones from the deepest pits of HFIL. He wondered if that was something he could learn but he felt he was going to need to get a lot more chakra before he could attempt at something so incredible. He took in another breath, trying to make certain he wasn't still filling his lungs with water in some dream state or something, before he got up to his feet and hopped up and down in order to get his legs and feet warmed up once more. The girl watched before stepping off the stump and walking back over to Suraida who was looking around at the effigies and thought they would make for good target practice. "Oh you won't be using those." the girl said as she continued to walk towards him before stopping a few meters short. "If we're going to train together I request that we train my way... and my way of training involves combat since that is the mode of training where it all really matters. After all your enemies won't be standing still like those effigies and logs over there. Not unless they were really stupid."

She spoke calmly yet sternly as Suraida got the sense that she had been taught this way of thinking herself from a trainer herself. It did, however, bother him why she chose him to train with rather than some other student. "So, uh..." he said as she reached into a weapon pouch and pulled out her own kunai. "What's your name anyway? And why did you want to train with me specifically? I mean don't get me wrong I'm sure you've seen my shuriken throwing so I'm pretty desperate for any training I can get thus I'm grateful that you've invited me to this... but what made you interested in wanting to get involved with me to begin with?" She looked up at him for a bit, twirling a kunai through its loop with one of her fingers, before giving a shrug.

"If I told you 'Because you're weak and I hate looking at weaklings' would that serve as an answer for you?" she said with a bit of snark which kind of hurt to hear but Suraida didn't let it get to him as she continued. "If I had to be honest with my answer, I would probably say it was because of your speech you gave in class on your first day in the academy. As Nokino sensei said, the majority of the class had no idea what they were signing up for when they joined the academy yet when you went up to the front to speak you showed a willingness to not only learn but an understanding that life was going to be hard for you from then on. Apart from everyone else in the class who dropped the ball with their own reasons for wanting to become ninja you proved to be the most interesting by far. Thus, since you're the only option I deemed worthy out of everyone else... here I am. As for your other question I will only answer it if you can manage to win against me in combat but let's be honest with each other..."

She suddenly stopped twirling her kunai and gripped the handle before disappearing in a blur and reappearing right behind him shocking Suraida with how quickly she could move. "You'll never be able to do that." she said in his ear as he heard a whooshing sound from behind and got his kunai out just in time to catch it and deflect it away. He backed off from where she was but she had already disappeared and was behind him again. "You're moving too slow. If you want to survive you have to be quick and nimble." She shouted at him from behind again as he had to duck the next kunai strike coming from behind but this gave her the opening to deliver a kick straight in his back that caused him to tumble along the ground in the dirt. He had to flip over in order to get back onto his feet before being forced to move once more by the thrown kunai soaring straight towards the spot between his eyes. He jumped up and out of the way as he soon saw the girl before him in the air with him once more as she moved too quick for him to see and her fist sank deep within his gut.

He could feel the air leave from his lungs as he couldn't believe such strength was coming from a petite looking girl. It felt as though she was dangerously close from cracking a few ribs as his body was blown back and away from her fist before clashing into the stream once again causing him to tumble along the surface before rolling onto the land on the other side. He clutched his gut in pain as he was forced to cough and was actually surprised when he saw that no blood came out of his mouth. He looked up to see the girl land gracefully on her feet before him as she picked up the knife that she had thrown which had stuck itself into the ground before reaching the stream. She put it in her pouch and sighed as she walked towards him with her hands in her pockets. "Wow... I knew you were new to this and more than likely not properly trained but I didn't think you were THIS weak." She stopped just short of him, the waves that had been formed due to his tumble not bothering her chakra infused feet in the slightest, as he got on one knee and tried to catch his breath before standing up.

She watched him struggle to his feet as she cracked her neck, looking as though the entire sequence of events hadn't affected her in the slightest, as he got back up to his feet and rubbed the spot she had punched in order to try and get rid of the lingering pain. She let out a giggle. "Though, I must say, to get back up to your feet after a punch to the gut from me is no small feat. My punches are known for putting craters in the earth. You're lucky I didn't put a hole through you." He took a few breaths in order to get the cobwebs out of his head before getting into a stance ready for the battle to continue. She shook her head. "I don't think we should continue. If we do there's a very good chance I really will kill you. As much as I'd like to train you you've proven to be too weak for the program so-"

This time the table's turned as Suraida disappeared and reappeared behind her with his own kunai at the ready. She quickly ducked from his kunai swing but this time found a foot in her own back as he kicked her away causing her to much more gracefully flip around and land straight on her feet. This time she was on the end of a flying kunai heading straight for her head before she would flip back and use a superb amount of flexibility in order to catch the kunai with the bottom of one of her soles, the chakra being channeled through them catching the kunai causing it to stick to her shoes, as she twirled her body causing her leg to fly around and 'throw' the kunai right back at him. He could see the kunai coming back towards him as he quickly brought a hand up and caught the kunai by its handle as he watched the girl flip over onto her feet before disappearing into a blue as she charged towards Suraida with a great burst of speed. The older ninja could see her movements clearly as he got into a defensive stance ready for the next attack coming his way.

With the grace of a cat the girl went for a kick with one of her legs and as Suraida went to block it she suddenly drew the leg back and away in order to try and get a punch in that Suraida hadn't prepared for. The pain of what one of her punches could do immediately rang alarm bells within his mind as his body instinctively moved itself and out of the way of her punch. He grabbed her fist next before directing an elbow straight into her face as a counterattack causing her to fly back and away clutching her mask around the nose area. Suraida stood there looking pleased with himself having finally been able to get a hit on her as she finished rubbing her face and stood up straight to look at the now proud yet still sore ninja. "I see..." she said as Suraida didn't let his guard down. "You've been holding back. You're actually much faster than you've been portraying yourself to be... Why?" The question caused Suraida to shrug as he twirled the kunai around in his finger ready to continue. She sighed as her frustration was increasing and she shook her head.

"We'll end training for the day. You need to go home and rest in order to get that hurt gut you're nursing back in good shape. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow same time... And you better go all out next time, or I'll make you regret it." With that she formed a seal with one hand before she disappeared in a puff of smoke as her presence completely disappeared causing him to be shocked by how fast she was still able to move. Nevertheless, he could no longer feel her presence anywhere in the field so he was able to finally fully catch his breath as he collapsed onto the ground and lied on his back looking up to the sky. He brought his hands up and formed the necessary hand seals in order to cause one of his hands to turn green as he rubbed it around his stomach area trying to help soothe the soreness if only just a little bit quicker. The clouds all the while passed by without a care in the world, blocking the sun every so often, as Suraida was pretty sure that it was going to rain tomorrow.

After lying there for a bit he got up and could feel that the healing jutsu he had used on his stomach had actually done a good job as he could feel less pain than usual. With that out of the way he walked over to the entrance of the field and left in order to get home so that he could recover a bit more before he had something to eat and ultimately go to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

The next day...

The day was already turning out to be... fun. High above the Leaf Village were dark clouds that dripped heavy amounts of rain onto the village along with lightning sparking all around here and there. Suraida was uncertain if he should come out to the training field for what was to come but he received a note saying "Don't chicken out just because of a little rain" which made him think the girl was crazy but also his best chance at learning how to be able to perform in extreme weather situations. Thus, on this dreary and very dangerous day, Suraida walked onto the field with all his tools, a thick rain poncho over his body with it's hood up, as he looked around to see if he had been tricked and was all alone.

He walked to the center of the field, the poncho doing what it could to protect him even as it flapped around in the strong wind causing some of his clothes to get drenched, as he kept his guard up as he knew, with this girl's MO, she might try and attack from the shadows in some way. He had a kunai out already and hidden in case he had to use it to defend himself as he could feel the wind pressing up against him from all around his body and his hearing was being affected by all the rain that crashed against the cloth of his hood. He would thus use his chakra in order to temporarily dim his vision, his eyes closing, as his ears started working overtime in order to try and fight through the sounds of the rain so he could hear potential danger. "There's no need for that." He stopped channeling his chakra into his eyes and opened them to see the girl in her own poncho set walking towards him.

His eyes were slowly getting out of their daze as he could see she was wearing a hood. From beneath the hood he couldn't get a clear look at her face but he could see, however, that underneath the hood there were two bright red spots looking in his direction causing him to wonder what exactly he was looking at. "Are you ready?" He was actually surprised by her question as he walked towards her a few steps in order to see if he could get a closer look at her eyes. Her hood tilted slightly as she became puzzled. "Something wrong?" He stopped walking upon hearing this question as the wind picked up causing his poncho to flutter heavily revealing him holding a kunai in his hand. She saw it and smirked while getting a kunai herself. "I suppose you are ready then. Do you wish to make the first move or should I?" Suraida took in a deep breath before getting into a stance and looking at her intently to detect any slight movements coming from her. He was going to need every bit of strength for this as he didn't want to prolong the battle due to the unsafe conditions they were placing themselves in.

With a dash he zoomed forward towards her as she got in a defensive stance and caught his blade in hers, her teeth gritted as he came at her with a strength she wasn't expecting. They stood there before each other, their blades pushing against each other causing sparks to slightly burn forth from the steel, as she shook her head. "So you HAVE been holding back." she said as she tightened her feet preparing to move. "Since when did you get this strong?" Suraida broke the clash and moved to the side in order to kick her from behind but as he did so he could see the bright crimson orbs under her hood move and watch him the entire time before she ducked out of the way and used her leg to trip him up. He was falling face first towards the ground as a result just as she was directing her own kick to his head but he got out of the way by bringing down his hand and using it to push himself away from the ground in order to avoid it.

He flipped around in the air and landed on his feet just as he saw the girl move in a blur towards him, rain dripping off rapidly from her poncho, before he brought his kunai down to catch her kunai. She was about to stab him in his leg but he managed to stop her from doing so though this would cause her to flip around and direct a punch towards his back which he avoided by letting go of his kunai and spinning around to avoid it. He did this quickly, however, as he managed to catch the kunai and use it again to block another kunai strike this time aimed straight for his neck. He jumped back from the attack but the girl wouldn't let up as she dashed at him causing him to have to catch her kunai yet again but this time, he put oomph into his own swing causing her to be pushed back and she hopped up into the air away from him just as he jumped back and away himself. He would flip back and around in order to kick himself off of a nearby tree's branch in order to zoom towards her once more.

The two would clash kunai with each other again and again, their bodies moving in blurs in the rain as it slicked the ground beneath them with slippery mud, as sparks would fly from the two's kunai providing the only source of light between the two students. Suraida tried to keep himself relaxed as they fought instead of letting his anxiety from the storm get to him. Anxiety in a situation like this wouldn't do anything for him but make him less efficient in the battle, cause him to make mistakes, as he couldn't help but notice how calm she was given that her stare with those crimson eyes of hers never wavered throughout the fight. He didn't know what was so special about those eyes but he could tell that they were helping her in some way. Her movements were different in that she was able to seemingly know what to do in every situation he put her in. Among the two clashing with each other one more time, the ground doing nothing to provide good traction between the two and their feet, Suraida was stumped in how he could turn the situation around and make this battle end quickly.

A bolt of lightning would determine this for them both as the bolt hit right by the two causing part of the ground to crack, the force blowing the two away, as Suraida landed hard on the ground while the girl wound up falling into the stream. He thought she would hop out of it at any moment but what wound up happening instead was the current of the stream's water proved too powerful for her as she began to be swept by it. She was trying to swim out with all her might, but the water carried her further and further the harder she struggled and the heavy poncho she was wearing wasn't doing anything to help neither. This kicked his senses into overdrive as he unlatched the poncho he'd been wearing and rushed over to the stream, his chakra quickly forming around the soles of his feet, as he stepped up onto the surface of the water and reached down to grab onto her hand. If he wasn't quick and careful either she was going to drown before he could get her out, he was going to fall into the stream in her place, or both. With both arms he tugged her body out of the water and threw her to the solid ground a short distance away before quickly hopping up and out of danger in order to see if she was ok.

His body was quickly becoming pelted by the heavy rain all around him, soaking his entire body wet with rain, as he ran over to her seeing that she had pulled down her mask in order to cough up the water that had managed to get through the cloth. "Are you ok? The lightning didn't hit us, thank goodness, but that doesn't mean the water didn't harm you in some way." She continued to cough a bit more before looking up to see him and he could now get a good look at her whole face. She had a stern look in her crimson eyes still as she tried to catch her breath. He offered a hand to her to lift her up but she pushed it away as she stood up on her own and brought her mask back up to cover her mouth. That proved to be a bad decision as she couldn't get any air to flow through the wet mask so she brought it back down with a defeated look on her face. Even her eyes lost their crimson as Suraida could see them revert to their original color.

"No one asked you to save me..." she said with a bit of annoyance before she looked at him with a scolding expression that reminded him of a teacher disciplining a student. "This is a training session meant to teach you how to handle the dangers of a combat situation in extreme weather conditions. Anything can happen at any given time and you are supposed to use every situation to your advantage. Had you not had proper control of your chakra when you went to pull me out you would've possibly been put in the same situation as your enemy." He couldn't help but chuckle and turn away from her as she got even further annoyed and curled her fists in anger. "Hey! Don't you ignore me!!" Suraida picked up his poncho and knew that it was going to be useless to put it back on again given how soaked all over he and it was now as he turned back to her with a shrug and a smile.

"Here's a lesson I have for you now, young lady..." he said as he wiped the wet hair out from his eyes. "Learn how to say 'Thank you' every once in a while." With that he turned around and made his way back towards the entrance of the field and left in a hurry in order to get back home so that he could dry up and get warm. There was a good chance that he was going to get sick either that night or the next day and he wanted to do what he could to make certain that wasn't a guarantee.

The next day...

Suraida woke up from his bed feeling a bit sore but overall not too bad from the previous day's events as he got up onto his feet and walked into his bathroom to take a quick shower to fully wake up. He quickly got his daily washing out of the way and made himself a quick breakfast in order to fuel up before he got the proper clothes on and got his pack before going out the door. Today was yet another day of the academy and he wanted to get there early to get a few notes down from class.

He walked into his homeroom class and took his usual seat, setting his bag down between his feet, before pulling out a notebook and reading over his notes to make certain that he had everything written down correctly. He picked up and pencil and began correcting a few notes as the door to the classroom opened up once more, unbeknownst to him, and a student walked by placing a piece of paper on the end next to him. He noticed it and looked up but didn't see anyone there as he shook his head in frustration and opened the paper to read what was written inside. "Come and meet me for one final time at the training field after academy dismisses. There we will settle our tie." Suraida furrowed his brow as he read the words that were written on the page and was bewildered. 'Tie?' he thought to himself as he folded the paper back up and put it in his pocket. 'What does she mean by tie?' He shrugged and went back into his notes in order to correct them as the day went on without further incident. He went through class and took a few tests that he felt good about before the final dismissal was given and he left the academy heading towards the field as requested.

He knew he was about to have to face some bs most likely when he got there but it didn't matter to him at this point. He WAS getting stronger from their training together, so it was proving to be worthwhile from him undertaking such training. He walked along the streets of the village as he usually did, the smell of the local food reaching his nostrils causing him to get hungry, as he made his way onto the now all too familiar field. It looked as though the field hadn't suffered any further damage from the weather after the fight they had as he set the pack he'd been carrying at the base of a tree and walked to the center of the field with his hands in his pockets. He looked up to the sky and was amazed by how clear of a day it now was as he was reminded once more about the power and beauty of mother nature. The air felt a bit cleaner, too, as he inhaled the fresh air and could feel his mind clearing of any tiredness he had accumulated from his classes.

"Letting your guard down already?" A voice snapped him out of his peace as he turned to see the girl walking towards him, wearing her mask as usual with her eyes still the color they were when they first met, as she stopped a few meters away from him and cracked her knuckles. "Ready to roll?" she said as he turned to face her fully. "Don't think that just because you saved me yesterday that means I'll take it easy on you. That wouldn't be a proper reward. Instead, I intend to come at you with everything I have." She blinked and suddenly her eyes changed once again as the crimson color from yesterday came back. Getting a closer look at them Suraida could see a bit of black mixed in with the crimson as she seemed to have multiple pupils in each eye. One in the center and one more along the ring of her irises. This was Suraida's chance to find out more about what her eyes were all about as she brought her hands up and formed a few hand seals quickly. "Ready or not... here I come!"

She inhaled a breath and brought a hand up as she looped her fingers and blew through them causing a ball of fire to spawn and try to engulf Suraida. He was shocked by the fire suddenly coming at him as he jumped to the side in order to avoid it, the ball of fire continuing along it's trajectory before fizzling out without causing any damage to the environment, as he landed on his feet only to see the girl had vanished. He looked around and noticed her running towards him from the water, forming another couple of hand seals, before she pulled out a kunai and swung it towards Suraida. This caused him to get his own kunai out and clash with hers once again, their eyes glaring into each other's eyes as he got a closer look at her crimson ones and still couldn't figure out what was going on, and they stood there for a little while as she formed a lone seal with her free hand causing the sounds of splashing to come from the water. He looked beyond her to see a large number of shuriken flying out of the water as they arched towards the two of them causing Suraida to panic a bit. There had to be hundreds of them!

The girl suddenly transformed before Suraida, turning into water and splashing onto the ground before him, as he had no choice but to hop back and run around the ring in order to avoid all the shuriken heading his way. 'What sort of technique is this?' he thought as he hid behind a tree hearing multiple shuriken sinking into the wood of the tree. 'I still have a great deal of learning to do it seems.' He got his kunai ready, waiting for the sounds of the shuriken hitting the tree to subside, as he suddenly heard a rustling from above him and he looked up to see a rain of kunai coming down upon him. 'Oh come on!' He jumped to the side to avoid the kunai and kept running between the trees in order to avoid the shuriken as he kept a watchful eye on them. Once they were finally done, he would hop out of the tree line and back onto the field as he would notice the silhouette of the girl jumping out from within the treetops while forming another set of hand seals.

She brought a fist back as her body fell at a rapid rate and he caught the slight glimpse of chakra surrounding her fist as he could feel the impending sense of danger coming for him if he stood there like an idiot. He thus jumped back and out of the way of the punch as she delivered a blow straight to the ground that was so powerful it splintered the ground all around them causing huge cracks to form and deform all around them. He was shocked by the level of power he had just seen as he landed on the still shaking ground and looked at her with a gulp going down his throat. She stood up slow after delivering her punch and wiped her hands clean of the dust and rock that were stuck to them before looking in his direction and giggling. "Nice job dodging that." she said as he was still shocked by the level of strength she had just displayed. "If you had stood there like an idiot thinking it was just going to be an ordinary punch... as you can see, you'd have regretted it."

Suraida stood up straight and looked at the overall damage that the punch had caused as he could see that she had indeed caused the ground to crater as it splintered all around them. He took in a deep breath to calm himself down before he looked over to her and noticed that she was forming yet another set of hand seals. "You're going to have to start fighting at some point if you want to win against me, you know?" she said as clones of herself started to come up from the cracks in the ground and rush him. He smiled at this as he knew exactly what he had to do in order to force it to stop as he got down into a rushing stance himself and moved forward in a blur towards his target: the main girl. He zoomed past the clones and had his kunai at the ready as his speed had clearly caught her by surprise and she had to bring a kunai up with both hands in order to catch his own. This would cause the clones to immediately disperse as he kicked her towards the water and ran at her with chakra focused into the soles of his feet.

With great speed he made his way back over to her as she caught herself on top of the water and got out a few shuriken in order to throw them at him with great speed. He got out his own and threw them in order to cause the shuriken to clash with each other in the air. He would then catch his own and put them back into his pouch before bringing out a kunai once more and swing it towards her only for it to be stopped as she grabbed his hand with one of her own. She had proven to be stronger than him thus he was unable to pull his hand out of her grip as she jumped up and delivered a drop kick towards his gut which he managed to block with his free arm though it didn't help the bones in his arm one bit. He was blown back a ways, his feet trying to keep him from moving too far back across the water, as he stopped just short of the ground and had to catch his breath while nursing his hurt arm. All the while she looked as though she was having trouble catching her breath as well.

He formed a few hand seals and brought a hand covered in a green glow up to his arm in order to heal it a bit faster as she watched him do so and did nothing to stop him. "Impressive." she said as she took her time to catch her breath. "You already know basic healing jutsu. That'll come in handy when you're dealing with broken bones. I'm sure that kick I gave you probably did a number on your arm so you're doing the right thing." He could certainly feel as though she had broken the bones in his arm as he rubbed his healing hand along his forearm feeling relief wash over it little by little. He took his own breaths as he did so, trying to collect his thoughts, as he tried to formulate plans to make this fighting end. 'She's such a force to be reckoned with...' he thought to himself as he stood up straight. 'And she's not even a ninja yet? It makes me wonder what kind of powerful ninja are waiting for me once I become a Genin... If I become a Genin that is.'

She also stood up and cracked the bones in her neck as she looked at him with those crimson eyes of hers. "If you want to defeat me..." she said as she formed yet another set of hand seals. "You'll have to come at me as though you intend to kill me. Any less effort will cause you to make the mistake of underestimating your opponent's own intent to kill and thus... you'll be the one who winds up dead." The water around them suddenly started to churn as he noticed it starting to form around her before shooting out towards him in the form of a dragon! He dodged to the side and out of the way in the nick of time just as a second dragon shot out from the stream of the first dragon towards him. This one he ducked as it passed over his head with no problem as he dashed forth towards the girl with a kunai once again drawn. He was starting to get really annoyed that she seemingly knew a lot more jutsu than he did. She brought up a kunai and caught his no problem before forming another set of hand seals with her free hand which caused a clone to rise up from out of the water and try to grab him.

He kicked the clone into mist by simply raising his leg behind him as he then drew a second kunai and swung it around towards her causing her to jump out of the way. He took that opportunity to throw a few shuriken her way as she twisted her body around in order to avoid them. She would land on the ground as gracefully as always as he rushed forth and slid his feet towards hers which caused her to simply jump up and out of the way while tossing her kunai at him. He would then flip around and use the same trick she had used on him their first time fighting on the field, twirling his leg around and catching the kunai with the chakra formed on his foot's sole, before he kicked his leg up and threw the kunai at her which caused her to quickly catch it which would prove to be the final act for her. With great speed he jumped after her and caught the hand that had caught the kunai causing him to shove her hand towards her shoulder sticking the kunai in deep.

She would wince from the pain and quickly punch at Suraida, his forearm once again taking the majority of the abuse from her outrageous strength, as the two fell to the ground once again winded, and wounded, from their actions. Suraida formed hand seals once more and brought a healing hand over his forearm which was now bruising from all the abuse it had taken as she herself pulled the knife out from her shoulder and formed a few hand seals in order to heal the wound. He wondered just how much chakra she had to have after everything she had just done for he was getting winded simply from healing himself yet she had formed a fireball, a bs number of shuriken, clones, punched a hole in the ground, and was now healing herself all in this one battle! Whatever training she had endured to get to this point must've been really rough for her but she clearly got stronger from it all as she stood her ground looking ready to continue fighting. Suraida, however, was not.

He took a deep breath and stood up straight once again before putting away his kunai back in his pouch and lifting his hands up. "That's it..." he said as she looked at him puzzled. "I give up. I'm no match for you." Her eyes widened a bit before shaking her head and sighing audibly. "I don't accept that." she said as she tightened her grip on the kunai she'd just pulled out of her shoulder. "Victory can only be made for the last one standing in the battle. You're clearly still standing in battle so-" In response to this Suraida sat down on the ground with his arms folded and smiled at her. "Hey! You did it! Congrats!!" She got angry at that as she balled her fists up again and glared at him. "That's not what I-" He further displayed her 'victory' by laying on the ground and looking up to the sky as she only got even angrier. "Look just take the victory and calm down. I don't have any chakra left to continue fighting you so please just... sit down or something and smile for once."

He took calm and deep breaths as he lied there, his arm pulsing with pain from everything it had been through, as he could hear her walking towards him as a kunai stuck into the ground right by his head. "Here..." she said in a clearly annoyed tone. "This is yours." She sat on the ground beside him and continued to nurse the wound in her shoulder with her healing jutsu as he took the kunai she had given him and placed it inside his pouch. "Thanks!" he said happily which caused a clearly annoyed look to flash across her eyes as the crimson that had once occupied her irises disappeared. The two would sit there and look up towards the sky which each other as she spoke once more. "You're such a weird guy. Your mood seems to change like the wind. One moment you're ready to actually take things seriously and then the next moment you laugh about your situation as though it's a joke to you..." Suraida shrugged at that psychological assessment and sat up straight as all he could do was smile at her words. "That's just who I've always been. I don't want to be some fake version of myself so... why try to change, you know?"

With that he got up to his feet and stretched his body out as he prepared to leave. He waved at her as he walked across the stream towards the field's entrance as he soon heard her call out to him one final time. "Sakurai." He stopped walking upon hearing that before turning to her with a puzzled expression. "My name. You asked for it at one point, remember?" He nodded. "I do but I also remember you saying that you wouldn't tell me your name unless I won against you. What happened to that?" She shook her head. "You DID win, though... Yesterday when you pulled me out of the water and kept me from drowning? You won the moment I let myself get caught in such a situation so... I kept my end of the bargain." Suraida smiled at that as he waved at her. "Well then I'm pleased to meet you, Sakurai. Thank you for training with me for these past few days. The training that I've gotten from this experience will be extremely valuable to me in the future I'm sure." With that he turned around and walked towards the entrance once more, picking up his pack on the way out, and moving out onto the streets of the village once again.

He would join the constantly moving crowds along the streets as he made his way through them towards a restaurant that he had his eye on and had been craving throughout the entirety of his day. He walked in and was instantly greeted by the sweet tangy smell of barbecue as he sat himself inside of a booth and order for a full plate along with some tea. This was going to prove to be the perfect setting for him to get a bit of studying in as he pulled out his notebook from the pack and set it on the table while getting a pencil out in case he needed to correct anything. The food was brought out to him as the oven in the table he sat at lit up nice and hot allowing him to cook the barbecue the way he wanted it cooked all as he read from his notebook everything that he had learned from the academy thus far. He was so close to taking the Genin Exam he could smell it... or was that the barbecue?

After having his fill of the barbecue he would pay the tab he owed as well as leave a little extra as a tip for the staff before putting his notebook back in his pack and getting up to leave. As he did he noticed that the girl had actually decided to enjoy some food herself as, across the street, he could see her enjoying what looked like some dumplings as she sat on a bench. Her mask was down as she ate which made Suraida wonder why she bothered to wear one to begin with as he couldn't see anything particularly wrong with her face to necessitate one. It wasn't up to him how she wanted to portray herself, though, as he continued down the street so that he would give her privacy. The day was fast approaching it's ending as he made his way into his home and got his sweaty clothes off in order to immediately put them in the wash. Tomorrow was going to be yet another grueling day but for now... the only thing waiting for him would be his bed.

WC 9,210

Claiming 92 stats (5 to Vigor, 17 to Speed, and 70 to Chakra). Also claiming, due to training in Advanced Training Facility, the skills Ninshu, One Handed Seals, Chakra Sensory, and Chakra Suppression (25% disc; 1,500 WC each; 6,000 total) as well as the techs Seal Sense (C rank; 25% disc; 750 WC), Flower Garden (C rank; 25% disc; 750 WC), Summoning Technique with mastery (Option 3 mastery; 25% disc; 1,500 WC), and Emotions on your Sleeve (188 WC). Total WC needed is 9,188. Would like to put remaining 22 WC into Miracle Wrinkle Cure (22/188)