Sparring Time with Shinrin-sensei [Tutor w/Tatsuo]

[Samsara Saito]

Had it really been a whole year since he'd been to Kumogakure? The time seemed to fly by... but upon recalling events, the 10 year old Kumo genin did experience quite a great deal during that time. He'd had all sorts of training with Tatsuo, made Genin, performed a mission where he fought for his life, and been to Konoha and Tea. In both Konoha and in Tea, momentous events occurred that changed the young boy's life forever. He'd gained a spiritual connection with his ancestors, a path so carefully prepared for him fulfilled as much by chance as by fate. Meeting Kahako-sensei and her child Susumu. And now their path taking them back to Kumo, where the young genin could train with Kahako in earnest and then make Chuunin.

Thinking about Kahako and Susumu... got Saito thinking about Tatsuo again. They'd been through quite a lot, and Tatsuo had obviously been through more than the young Kumo genin understood. Circumstances both felt and unfelt, known and unknown, seemed to circle around Team 11. Saito wanted to be ready for anything that came, but that would require far more training... and the boy hadn't trained with his sensei in a little while. The absence of tutoring time with his favorite sensei suddenly stung the boy's spirit, drawing his attention to fixing the problem as soon as possible.

"Hey Shinrin-sensei!" Saito said at some point during the travel, when Ryo and Yaboi had gone off and the young Kumo genin had some time with Tatsuo. That private time began with a really accurate punch, out of nowhere, enhanced with shadows and possibly stealth if Tatsuo hadn't been paying attention. "I wanna show you something neat I've been working on!" Ready or not, Shinrin-sensei!

[WC: 295, TWC: 295/1500, PC: 1/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

It had been so long since the two had trained together so whenever they were both left alone, he wasn't really caught off guard by Saito's immediate effort to jump into action. His punch was swift, but Tatsuo had become so good at reading Saito it was hard for him to get the drop on him. Bringing up one of his fists to catch the punch, he hadn't realized just how much they sting now. When they first left Kumogakure he could've taken a punch straight to the stomach and barely flinch, something he'd probably never do with Saito again. Despite the ache in his hand he continued on, attempting to bring Saito's fist down and return with a quick jab to Saito's chest with his offhand. They had trained before but this would be the first time Tatsuo would actually put some real weight behind his punches. At one point he was afraid to injure Saito but he had grown to the point where he could take a punch.

After that short exchange, Tatsuo went to make some distance between them. "Alright, I won't hold any bars this time kid." Bringing his hands together into a hand seal, three clones poofed around him with a pocket of interdimensional smoke. Two of the clones charging straight forward to Saito in attempt to grapple him. The other clone stuck by Tatsuo trying to provide a confusion at which one was the real one. Tatsuo himself crossed his arms and watched to see what Saito could do with the clones.

As the two charged up one would go low and attempt to grab his legs, the other would try to clothsline him and bring him to the ground. Who knew if they would succeed, Saito had gotten very good at hand to hand combat but this was a pretty good test after all.

WC: 311/1500

 

[Samsara Saito]

Saito wasn't at all surprised that Tatsuo saw that attack coming, and had actually thought ahead, manifesting Tatsuo's own shadow with his shadow jutsu before attacking. The offhand counter shot sent the child away as the Jounin manifested shadow clones, two of them rushing in while one hung back. "Clones right off the bat, hmm?" So Ninjutsu isn't off-limits? Greeeeeat, it will be more fun!

Well, Tatsuo had taught him how to counter clones. The boy grinned at the test before performing what he thought would be an adequate counter: an area of effect attack. "Shadow style, Black Moon Fang!" The boy was moving even as gouts of blazing darkness radiated outward from him to destroy the oncoming clones, and as two other waves of shadow aimed themselves towards the two Tatsuos in the back, Saito appeared in the real Tatsuo's blind spot, identified by his manifested shadow. One of the shadow balls would hopefully occupy his attention from the front, while he threw a punch at the Jounin from behind, his fist covered in black, blazing shadowfire. "Fire style, Infernal Hellfire!"

I'm not gonna hold back either, sensei! the boy grinned to himself, hoping that the fire attack might work wrk against any of Tatsuo's wood-related counters. The boy was full of energy, basically busting at the seams with chakra waiting to be used. He knew he wouldn't win their spar, but that wasn't the point. Training and fun! And connecting with his sensei. That was the boy's desired prize.

[WC: 250, TWC: 545/1500, PC: 2/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo questioned just how much Saito had grown, it was obvious he had but he really wanted to test that limit. He was quick to react to his clones, a few hand seals then a few shots of shadow destroying the clones with ease. The clones had attempted to dodge but the speed of his strike even caught Tatsuo off guard, he really had grown so much under the past year. If Tatsuo was going to make this a good training session he was going to have to up the heat. A smirk appeared on his face as he entered a true battle stance, no longer just observing his clones.

When Saito attempted to strike with a fire jutsu, Tatsuo was wise enough to not react with a wooden barrier. His clone instantly jumped in the way, taking the brunt of the blow as Tatsuo himself turned to face his student. With a quick combination of hand seals Tatsuo jumped into the trees and trees around them began to grow and tremble. From the earth erupted large trees which created a realm in which Tatsuo was truly in control. Saito himself would find it hard to keep track of Tatsuo much the less actually strike at him. In the meantime Tatsuo looked to do what he did best, disable his opponent with relative ease.

Another few hand seals and he sent out a wooden dragon which sought out Saito, looking to bind him and disrupt his chakra flow. If caught by it he would find his movement was unchanged, but manifesting chakra of any type would be impossible. There was a slim chance he could break out, but that was yet to be seen.

WC: 595
PC: 2/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

As Tatsuo's clone dived in between his punch and his sensei's ribs, the boy's sense of excitement and competition spiked. He wanted to at least get a single hit in, and he'd have to think further ahead than the Leaf Jounin. Much further ahead, apparently... Whelp, I never thought it would be easy...

Tatsuo immediately emphasized the difficulty in the haphazard attack, by... literally creating a forest around himself and his student. It rose up from nothing before Saito's very eyes, and while the shock wore itself away the boy lost track of his sensei. WHOAAA, Shinrin-sensei is really going all out! While Saito couldn't be sure where Tatsuo was, he was very sure Tatsuo knew where he was. And that was a bad situation.

Fortunately, the boy had studied wood jutsu while in Konoha, and knew he had the answer. Preparing himself for an unexpected attack with another shadow jutsu, Tatsuo's wood dragon jutsu would wrap itself tight around Saito's body, only for the young genin to dissolve into nothingness; his sensei's jutsu automatically dodged, that left Saito plenty of time to burn the forest down. "Fire style! Dragon Flame Bomb!"

Channeled through shadow, the fire hydra that blossomed at the execution of the jutsu blazed black, as did the fiery torrent it exhaled on the surrounding forest. The raging flames consumed Tatsuo's trees, drawing all light into its burning midnight depths instead of giving off light as normal fire would. Not that Tatsuo would see the last of his trees turn to ash, as Saito would move to replace the Jounin's arena jutsu with his own. "Shadow Dimension, Shadow Void Jutsu!"

Now sensing Tatsuo more easily than ever before in the field of seemingly omnipresent darkness, Saito returned to melee, striking at Tatsuo from what could be any angle, hands coated in shadowy flames...

[WC: 306, TWC: 851, PC: 3/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo couldn't help but grin, even after his powerful technique Saito took no time to react with one of his own, it showed a valuable skill that a shinobi needed to possess. He watched as his wooden forest burnt away, the ash flooding towards him making his eyes water and his breathing heavy but that wasn't the last of his students onslaught. Shadows appeared from every corner and wrapped the duo in a realm which could only be described as dark.

Luckily for Tatsuo his eyes weren't the only thing he relied on to track his enemies, or in this case, Saito. However there were a multitude of factors which just made that not as easy as he'd wish. One of them being a narrowing skill gap between the two. At one point Tatsuo could've probably fought Saito with both of his arms tied behind his back while hoping on a single leg, however that was no longer the day. While there was still much Saito needed to learn, getting a hit in was not one of them.

His shadowy punch did indeed connect, however that's not to say it wasn't met without any resistance. Tatsuo himself hadn't struck at the boy, but during this whole charade Tatsuo had prepared his Armor of Thorns one of his signature techniques. As Saito's shadow fist connected with him, Tatsuo's wooden armor struck back cutting at his arm and after the first hit connect, Tatsuo knew exactly where Saito was. "You can't hide forever!" Tatsuo said as he formed a few hand seals. The fight was going good, Tatsuo was even having a bit of fun, had they been able to see each other he probably would've seen a huge grin on Tatsuo's face despite them actually being in combat.

Letting out a deep breath he focused the natural energy inside him and shouted, "Wood Style: Great Wooden Bear!" Seemingly from nowhere in the abyss of darkness rose a giant bear created entirely of wood. It charged straight towards Saito letting out a ferocious roar as it tore through the shadowy ground below it. Immediately Tatsuo regretted using the jutsu, he got caught up in the heat of things and if Saito were to take a direct hit from this thing he'd definitely be sore tomorrow.

WC: 980/1500
PC: 3/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

"Who needs to hide right now, Shinrin-sensei?" the boy called back brightly as his shadowy, flaming fists connected with his sensei over and over again. *CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!* Saito landed blow after blow on Tatsuo, the one unexpected stab up his arm as the Jounin's wooden armor spiked out with thorns compensated for and dodged or otherwise not triggered the next couple of times, though the armor's thorns twisted and wounded him once more on the last hit. Even then, the young ninja's mind raced. Not even taking a moment to revel in hitting the Leaf Jounin... there simply wasn't time for even that, the next moves had to be made. Sensei knows where I am now, and I can't keep up melee forever, his armor will eventually tear me apart.</B><i></i> The boy stopped pushing his luck and fell back, performing the handsigns for the "Active Camo" technique before smoothly executing the next part of his plan, with luck completely hidden from Tatsuo's abilities to perceive it: Will Genjutsu: False Success,<i></i> the young genin thought to himself. Outright force won't work against this guy, but maybe genjutsu might.

Engrossed in a battle mentality, the boy still could not help but notice Tatsuo's wide grin... The young Samsara could see through his own shadow jutsu, and thereby saw his sensei's bright enjoyment of their spar. The Jounin's wide smile matched Saito's own. The boy had been cheesing it the whole time, even when he took the hits from the thorn armor he simply grinned and bore the pain. Pausing for just a moment too long to appreciate the moment, he noticed his sensei's hands flowing into another wood jutsu. It was more handsigns than normal. Not good.

"Wood Style! Great Wooden Bear!" Tatsuo shouted loudly, and the earth heaved in response. A gigantic wooden beast erupted from the ground into the landscape of shadows, leaving Saito's smile simply hanging off his face with sloppy joy.<B> What a jutsu! he thought to himself, even as it unerringly turned itself to attack the genin, charging him directly. "Earth Style: Stone Guard," the boy murmurs as, in response, a large Earth golem rose up and blocked the bear's path, Tatsuo's jutsu smashing the stone guardian into smithereens but leaving the 10 year old unharmed. But even as Saito's earth jutsu blocked the bear, in Tatsuo's mind it looked like the bear had made contact and completely flattened his young student. Saito had been quick to catch his sensei's look of concern as well, and saw his opportunity... re-entering stealth himself, he let the shadow jutsu come undone as would likely happen when getting stomped by a large wooden bear... and when Tatsuo dropped his guard and showed concern for the student... that's when the boy would launch his Shadow Dragon Flame Bomb x3 at his master. That'll be just about the last of my chakra... I hope it works!<i></i>

[WC: 487, TWC: 1338, PC: 4/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo watched as his wooden bear crashed through the barrier and struck Saito. There was little doubt that it hit, but Genjutsu truly was a terrible thing. All things considered he had thought the match to be over and part of him wanted to rush over to help him but even if he was under a Genjutsu Tatsuo could tell something was wrong. Upon knocking someone out usually a jutsu like this would go away, but they were still stuck in this shadow realm. Unfortunately all that thinking took time and he found himself at the receiving end of a huge fireball.

Considering he wanted to keep his eyebrows he was quick to create a large wooden wall in which took the brunt of the force. Of course Tatsuo took some of the blast, but he was an incredibly resilient shinobi of anything. The burns were nothing and the damage little but he figured that Saito would be just out of steam after this. "You've gotten stronger." he called out into the void as he winced a bit in pain, the heat from the fire still covering his body. It was an incredible technique, one that he hadn't realized Saito was strong enough to perform such a technique. He beamed with pride as a huge smile formed on his face. "Where did you learn that one, Saito?"

He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry for going a bit overboard with that last technique, I guess you've got a few things up your sleeve too now, huh?" He was happy after all, he remembered when he had first met Saito and he had been barely able to switch his jutsu into shadow, but now he had a mastery of them much like Tatsuo did with his own wood. He would be an amazing shinobi one day, hell he was an amazing shinobi now.

WC: 1298/1500
PC: 4/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

"I just kinda... worked it out at some point? And then I saw someone do it in the tournament, and it had three heads! And saw that it had a proper name, so I figured, if I can do the three heads then I have to use the name the guy in the tournament used. Not book no jutsu..." the genin answered, panting, before simply collapsing on the ground. "That's my first time using it twice though... along with the other jutsu..." He couldn't believe he hit Tatsuo during the fight in there. They'd both went all out and it was amazing! Looking at Tatsuo, the boy saw that he really hadn't done much damage at all to his sensei, the Jounin looked a little ruffed up but that was about it. Whereas Saito was filthy and, as the boundless energy gained from the thrill of the fight finally ebbed, exhausted. He wanted to soak in a bath and then nap, and wouldn't be able to do either for a while since they only meant to take a short break. All those hits I landed... the boy looked put out for a moment as he realized how little he'd actually done, but then grins about it widely. He'd definitely improved over their first spar in Kumo. He'd actually caused Tatsuo damage!

"Yeah that bear freaked me out! Good thing I know earth jutsu! It's probably my favorite of all of them. Although I'm better at fire -- like you said with the paper! I don't think I'm a hothead though..." he finishes with a long yawn, looking up at Tatsuo in an odd combination of hyper, bouncy exhaustion. He clearly wanted to be more excited than his body would otherwise allow. Still though, he was ready to go when it was time to go, and stayed alert and on his feet until it was finally time to rest. Brave little soldier.

[WC: 320, TWC: 1658, PC: 5/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

It was incredible just how much Saito had learned in the short year. Tatsuo could barely fathom it but he was proud to have played a hand in it.

You did well kid. Tatsuo said, smiling overto him as he walked over to him and went to pat him on the head.

I’m real proud, Saito. You’re becoming a great shinobi and I’m happy to have had a part in training you. You’re also a great member of the Blazing Spirit.

We really made a mess didn’t we? He said a grin filling his face as he glanced around to the trees that were uprooted and the earth that was torn.

Sometimes I forget just how strong we’ve both gotten I can’t just play around with you anymore might lose a limb if I do that.

Tatsuo sighed and formed a quick few handseals and slammed his hands into the ground. Quickly the land around them began to repair, roots fixed trees moved upwards, looking much like it did before the shinobi used as a sparring ground.

Looks pretty good, eh? He asked as he stretched his arms above his head and let out a yawn.

Man I’m going to be all sore tommorow. Why couldn’t we have fought when we got to the village. He laughed loudly and let out a sigh as he decided it was enough time spent on that. It was about time they get back to traveling.

I think we should go find Ryo and Yaboi. He said as he lead the way to find the other two members of team 11. He hoped they wouldn’t be that difficult to find. They had only been sparring for a little while, but for Yaboi and Ryo that was more than enough time to cause a mess. Rushing off into the sunset to find them he would always remember this day, a great spar with his student.

Wc enough