Chapter 24: Training Haku

AN: Hey everyone, if you didn't notice yet I thought I'd try naming my chapters instead of just having them be numbered. Hope this helps if you're ever looking to re-read a specific chapter.

Chapter 24

Haku and I sat on the grass as we waited for Hiruzen-sensei to arrive at training ground 3 as per his instructions that he gave me a few days ago. "I wonder how Maro's learning session with Hiruzen-sensei went these past few days." Haku commented aloud.

"Well, only Kimimaro and Hiruzen-sensei will know about that. We can always ask when we drop by for a visit at the hospital." I replied.

Poof!

A white cloud of smoke appeared in front of us before clearing away and revealing Hiruzen-sensei in his battle outfit. Eh? Haku and I looked on curiously. Don't tell me he's planning to fight us? We both thought. Haku and I stood up and saluted Hiruzen-sensei.

"Mn. You both are early, that's good." He said in his aged voice.

"Hiruzen-sensei, what kind of training are we doing today?" Haku asked.

"Hahaha, well you both are quite skilled already but I do have some ideas on how to help you both improve. First off, Izaya-kun. These are the scrolls that you were studying in my office that day. Since I am here I decided it would be alright to bring them out and let you take a look. I want you to continue studying these and learn as much as you can from them. Remember, if you happen to no longer need one you can go ahead and destroy it. You do this while I instruct Haku."

"Mn." I nodded my head as I took the scrolls from Hiruzen-sensei. I sat down in the lotus position and started studying the scrolls from where I left off.

"Then, what kind of training are we doing sensei?" Haku asked.

"Mn. You and Izaya are not really lacking in techniques, but rather a sufficient way to increase your chakra pool and testing out battle tactics. The best way to increase both is by pushing yourself beyond your limit and gaining sufficient experience. What better way to do so then to spar against me?" Hiruzen said.

"Ah?" Haku exclaimed in surprise. Indeed he had the same thought before, but that was sparring against his big brother not Lord Third. Although he sparred against Lord Third before that was together with both Kimimaro and Izaya, not by himself. Hiruzen walked a fair distance away and then said, "Haku, I've noticed that you've never really been placed in a situation where you were forced to truly show your real strength. You rarely need to activate your Kekkei Genkai to help you fight because you have such excellent brothers to back you up, however, this time it will only be you and I fighting each other. It is good for you to hide your true strength, but if you do that too often then it is also a bad thing since you won't have as much experience using it in battle. Once your chakra pool increases it should be fine for you to use your Kekkei Genkai more often because you would have gained sufficient strength to help protect yourself by then. For any opponent who might wish to target you due to your possession of a Kekkei Genkai, they will have to think twice about the consequences."

Haku was silent for a moment as he gave it some serious thought. Hiruzen-sensei is right. While I've practiced on my own to use my Kekkei Genkai skills I'm not sure how effective they are since I've never used them in a true fight. Very well, then since I have a Kekkei Genkai I will use it, he thought to himself. Haku walked to the battlefield and got in a battle stance.

"We will stop when I deem our training over." Hiruzen said. "Begin."

Haku dashed forward at an incredible speed with two senbon needles in his right hand. He threw it out with great velocity but Hiruzen blocked them with his own shuriken. Hiruzen jumped in the air and threw an axe kick towards Haku who dodged to the side and threw a roundhouse kick. Hiruzen blocked with both arms up and kicked with his right leg at Haku's leg that was planted on the ground. Haku grabbed two senbon needles with his left hand and stabbed towards Hiruzen's incoming leg prompting him to pull it back and jump away from Haku. Haku threw his needles only for Hiruzen to parry them with a kunai in hand. He threw the kunai and weaved the signs of Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger and said, "Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" More than 30 kunai flew towards Haku at incredible speeds.

Haku responded by forming the Tiger hand sign and said, "Ice Style Swallow Snow Storm Jutsu!" Not a moment later hundreds of icy spears in the shape of a swallow appeared around Haku and flew towards Hiruzen not only blocking the barrage of kunai but also aiming to damage him. Hiruzen quickly formed the Tiger hand sign and said, "Fire Style Fire Dragon Bomb Jutsu!" He inhaled deeply and released a powerful breath of raging fire melting and destroying all ice swallows that were heading towards him. The fire continued to destroy the swallows and travel towards Haku.

I learnt this technique not that long ago, seems it'll be helpful in this situation Haku thought to himself. He then formed the signs of Tiger, Ox, Tiger, Rat and said, "Water Style Water Bullet Jutsu!" He built up chakra in his stomach before converting it into water and releasing it from his mouth in a high pressurized form with incredible speed. As fire and water made contact a giant cloud of steam arose and both techniques cancelled the other out. Haku then quickly formed the signs of Ox, Snake, Ram and said, "Ninja Art Hidden Mist Jutsu." With the cover of the steam he activated the Hidden Mist technique to ensure Hiruzen's field of vision would remain impeded.

"Oh? Not bad, he countered me perfectly." Hiruzen said as he watched the steam dissipate only for him to realize a moment later that even though the steam was disappearing the surrounding area was only becoming more fogged. "Ah? So he used the coverage of the steam to hide the fact that he used the Hidden Mist Jutsu? Truly tactful." Hiruzen nodded to himself in approval. Not a second later Haku appeared behind Hiruzen stabbing his neck with a long senbon needle. A moment later it turned into mud prompting Haku to immediately release his needle and jump back.

"This feels like deja vu. Yamato-sensei did something similar." Haku whispered to himself. He instantly felt uneasy and jumped in the air as a pair of hands appeared beneath him and attempted to grab his ankles only to grab the air.

Eh? Good reaction speed Hiruzen thought as he missed. While in the air Haku formed the Tiger hand sign and said, "Ice Style Ten Thousand Ice Petals Jutsu!" Thousands of incredibly hard and sharp ice picks flew down to the ground towards Hiruzen at an incredible speed. Hiruzen had already appeared out of the ground and formed the hand sign of Horse, Tiger and shouted, "Fire Style Great Blaze Ball Jutsu!" He then clapped his hands together and also said, "Wind Style Passing Typhoon!" A gigantic ball of fire instantly met the torrential hail storm of ice picks and a great gale of wind instantly dispelled the Hidden Mist technique. Great admiration filled Haku as he saw Hiruzen-sensei not only counter his technique near instantly, he also dispelled the Hidden Mist technique at the same time. Noticing that his technique was being overwhelmed with Hiruzen-sensei's technique that also spanned a wide area leaving him no way to dodge while in the air, he placed both palms in front of him and said, "Ice Style Ice Barrier Dome Jutsu!"

Before the blazing fire could reach him an incredibly cold and sturdy dome of ice wrapped around Haku successfully shielding him from Hiruzen's ninjutsu. Just as Haku hit the ground in his dome of ice he placed his hands on the ground and said, "Ice Style Shattering Ice Spear Jutsu!"

Hiruzen quickly formed the Tiger sign and said, "Earth Style Great Mud River Jutsu!" A flood of mud quickly rushed under his feet carrying him down the direction of the flowing mud river allowing him to dodge Haku's ice spear technique. A bead of sweat slowly rolled down Hiruzen's forehead as he looked back at the spot he was just at which was now filled with incredibly thick and sharp ice spears. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he inwardly thought to himself, if I was just a moment later it could of been my body impaled on those ice spikes. Haku watched Hiruzen-sensei expertly dodge one of his most powerful Ice Style techniques with admiration as he started to huff and pant from his chakra usage. As he continued to take large and deep breaths he took out a senbon needle and threw it at Hiruzen who was now at the end of the mud river. Hiruzen immediately formed the hand sign of confrontation and said, "Earth Style Mud Shuriken Jutsu!"

A bunch of mud shuriken flew from the mud river and deflected the senbon needle before flying towards Haku. Crap, this technique again Haku inwardly shouted. He formed the Tiger hand sign and said, "Ice Style Crystal Wall Jutsu!" A large wall of crystalline ice appeared in front of him effectively blocking the mud shuriken. Hiruzen quickly took this chance and appeared behind Haku. Haku had predicted Hiruzen-sensei's move and reached to grab a senbon needle himself, but before he could successfully grab one Hiruzen's kunai was already placed behind Haku's head prompting him to stop.

Phew. Hiruzen let out a deep breath. He then put away his kunai and said, "Mn, you are indeed an extremely skillful shinobi. Even though you haven't gotten much chance to use your Kekkei Genkai I see that you are still deeply attuned with it. That is good. Compared to when we last fought I can sense that your chakra pool has indeed increased. With this sparring session I see that you have a formidable mind and are able to think quickly on your feet adapting to potentially perilous situations perfectly. This along with your chakra and fighting skills utilized will help you to increase the amount of stamina in your body which in turn will help you increase your chakra. You have great talent and great potential and you are still so young which means, since you already have this much chakra, skills, tactics, and techniques, you will only be even more powerful as you keep this up. Your chakra can potentially grow to be greater than my own someday, and perhaps someday soon. You are getting close to having chakra levels equal to that of Jonin already if not already at the level of Jonin level chakra.

For all of our trainings, except for the days when I will teach you and Izaya Jutsu, we will do this sort of training. If you continue to use your Kekkei Genkai then you will soon be able to activate it even faster than you already have. Your Shattering Ice Spear Jutsu is incredibly quick and doesn't require you to weave hand signs, if you had just a bit more proficiency with your Ice Style then perhaps I would not of been able to successfully dodge your Ice Spear technique. Truly remarkable. We will end our sparring here."

Haku took a few seconds to catch his breath before bowing and said, "Yes Hiruzen-sensei."

"Mn. Izaya-kun, we will end our training here today. I hope you have gleaned more insight from those scrolls. We will meet here every three days starting from now on unless I say otherwise. The next time we meet will be you and I sparring. You and Haku will continue to switch days sparring with me unless it is a theory practice day. We will end our lesson here. I will take back the scrolls with me so just visit my office when you want to read them." Hiruzen said as he packed everything away and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Phew! Haku let out a breath of exhaustion.

"Heh, shall we spar a bit Haku?" I teased.

"AH?! Now?!" He exclaimed.

"Hahaha! Just kidding. Rest here to recover. I'm going to test out some new theories of mine." I said.

"Mn." Haku nodded as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.