Chapter 22

At some point, Torio's sword glowed with chakra, and then the chakra thickened and suddenly transformed into water, covering the blade but not dripping off the blade. 

- Wow! It's Hiden! - Anzu exclaimed in surprise. I whistled. 

Meanwhile, Torio took his sword with a two-handed grip, swung it wide in front of him, and shouted out:

- Water Release: Blade Splash! 

The water blade flew at a decent speed towards Jonin, who was just standing there watching Torio's technique with interest.

Smiling, Kato Dan quickly folded the seals, took in a lungful of air, and activated the jutsu:

- Wind Release: Air Ram! 

A current of air swept away the blade and Torio, who was dragged along the ground and sealed into a tree. 

I was able to appreciate the filigree of the wind technique he had just used. Dan-sensei had calculated everything precisely, and the jutsu didn't hurt the Uchiha, only dared him. 

- I surrender," Torio said, lying on his back on the crushed grass. Jonin ran up to the boy and used the Mystic Hand Technique to heal his wounds. 

- That's pretty good, Torio-kun. There's a reason why this style of Kenjutsu is called Female Kenjutsu. You've been putting too much power into your lunges, and you've been using too much chakra, so if you want, I'll show you some exercises later to help you control your excessive power for this style," Kato Dan said as he healed the Uchiha's wounds. 

- Are you...going to teach me? - The Uchiha wondered. 

This question in turn surprised Jonin:

- Of course, it's my job," the captain of our squad explained perplexed.

Senju and I looked at each other. I nodded toward Sensei and headed for the center of the clearing.

- Aki-kun, good luck! - Anzu wished me worriedly. 

Meanwhile, the teacher carried Torio to the tree where Senju was, and then, in two leaps, he reached the clearing and stared at me expectantly.

I was planning a fight. As my mother had insisted, I wouldn't show Double Seals, but she had nothing against showing Claws. 

- Aki-kun, are you ready? - The man finally asked. The wind was ruffling his blue hair, making him look majestic and pathetic. 

- I'm coming, sensei! - With these words, I launch a swarm of shurikens, followed by kunai. The kunai collide with the shurikens in the air and change their trajectory as well. 

The man calmly walks away from the projectiles that jab into the trees behind him. He throws kunai in my direction. 

So we're circling the clearing shooting our ammo. 

- Substitution! - I'm putting my plan into action.

Almost all of my kunai carried a simple fuin seal that held logs. It's common ninja practice to prepare the arena and use the Replacement tactic, as it's sometimes called.

Where I had just stood, a log appeared with a pop, which was hit by a pair of my opponent's kunai. 

Only appearing at the spot where the sealed log kunai had recently lain, and now only a metal crumb, I throw the last of my kunai at my opponent.

- Illusory Cloning! Henge! - A successful skill passes, and I manage to combine two simple jutsu. A swarm of gnats fly away. 

*♪ Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. Clang," the man calmly repelled my projectiles and sprinted toward me. His speed was far from maximum, of course, and I'd say it was about the same as mine. 

I spread my arms out to the sides, tense my fingers. 

- Release Bio: Double Toxic Claw! 

The fingers on each of his hands were not particularly long, about ten centimeters long, straight claws of luminous lettuce chakra. Their shape is not very stable, the edges of the claws swaying slightly as if in the wind. When I use this variation of my claws, I feel like Freddy Krueger, with only a hat to match and a face to disfigure. 

- Be careful, Kato-san," I warn the teacher. I'm actually worried that he'll underestimate this technique. 

Jonin, letting me use the jutsu, moved closer to me. There was no chance of defeating Jonin in taijutsu, but I didn't need to, because it was more important to show what you could do than to defeat your teacher (although it would be nice to win, too). 

A claw strips right across the fist that's flying in my direction. The man didn't let me down, he stopped the attack in time and tried to kick me in the belly with his foot, but I shift to the side in time and start frantically trying to hit my opponent's body with my claws. I call this underhanded move the Meatgrinder. 

Kato-sensei had to break the distance to avoid getting hit by a stray punch. 

"Gotcha!" - The thought flashed through my mind, but the Concentration I'd used in time kept me from falling into the anticipation of victory. 

A swarm of gnats came out of nowhere and swarmed toward the teacher's eyes, blocking his view. I spiraled around Jonin, aiming my claws at his side. 

But that wasn't the kind of trick that could take out an experienced ninja. The teacher hummed and released a stream of raw chakra from all of his tenketsu, dispelling the illusory clones as gnats. 

Thanks to Kumagai's movement technique, I manage to evade the first strike, but the second sends my carcass flying. 

Pain shoots through the lashing hands I've managed to cover my face with. And though it hurts and hurts, it also makes me happy. I was able to get him! 

Kato Dan-san looked at his palm, which was covered with three deep cuts. 

Without letting him heal his wound, I jump up, and getting closer I activate the Light Leg skill. My weight is immediately reduced by half. Speed from the reduction of weight immediately increases, which should confuse the enemy. But I can't do anything. The foot aimed at Dana-san's groin is caught in the grip of his hands. He takes in a lungful of air and uses Ninjutsu without hand seals:

- Wind Release: Air Ram! 

A current of air carries me away. I cancel the skill to reduce the speed of flight. The world spins, my head goes fuzzy, and then the impact with the ground knocks the air out of my lungs.

In a semi-conscious state, I feel a warmth spreading through my body that washes away the pain and clears my mind. 

  + 500 experience 

- Good for you," the teacher leaning over me says quietly. 

  I get up. A sad-looking Torio sits next to me. We looked at each other. It's a shame to lose, what can I say? 

The teacher walked to the center of the clearing, where an extremely focused Anzu was already waiting for him.

- Anzu-chan, show me what you've learned over the years," Jonin began. A soft smile played on his face. 

"Those two seem to know each other. Maybe strong Jonin is our mentor because of Anzu?" - I pondered. It wasn't hard to determine that our mentor was tough. Not even my mother had such filigree chakra control, and she's a recognized genius of Ninjutsu, well, she was a genius... Not the point. Kato-sensei used exactly as much chakra as he needed to defeat me, no more, otherwise I'd be lying there with broken bones at best. 

After folding the seals, Anzu bit her finger and slammed her palm on the ground:

- The call! 

*A cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, Anzu appeared, a black slug with red lines on its body peering over her shoulder. The creature was attached to the girl's back and was happily rubbing its "face" against her cheek. 

- You called me, how great! Let's play! - The summoned slug communicated with Anzu in a clear, pleasant, boyish voice.

- Shie, we're going to fight Kato-dono now. We have to catch him! - Anzu explained while keeping her eyes on the teacher.

- Yay! Let's play battle! - shouted the slug with joy.

Anzu meanwhile folded a row of seals and said:

- Natural Art: The Balance of the Calling.

She touched her forehead with one hand, stroked the slug with the other. 

- Anzu, this technique..." the man whispered, watching as the chakra light on the girl's palms dimmed. Here she removes her hands from her forehead and the slug's head, leaving a faint green imprint of her hand.

The girl folded the seal of concentration, jumped back and spoke, Slughorn repeating after her:

- Intense separation!

With a squelch, the black slug scattered into a multitude of small slugs, which, as soon as they touched the ground, immediately flew at a fairly high speed toward Jonin. Each of the small slugs was followed by a trail of dead grass.

The man threw a pair of kunai at the approaching creatures, but they only split the slugs into two halves, which immediately fused together.

Anzu herself kept her distance with her fingers folded in a seal of concentration, the slug on her shoulder slowly growing, seemingly fueled by the girl's chakra. 

As I watch the fight, I realize that I can't do anything against Anzu. My taijutsu may be perfectly honed, but it's useless in a fight like this. Torio is also frowning, probably realizing the inadequacy of his style as well.

"I need to learn the classic nin for distance work," I concluded. Of course, my skepticism about "spitting out" jutsu hadn't gone anywhere, but for now it looked like I'd have to learn them. It was a shame about the cells, but what could I do? 

Meanwhile, Jonin was spinning and moving away from the eight slugs that were attacking him quite competently. At some point the man did not have time to remove his arm from the beast's throw, and a slug stuck to it, then the creature began to envelope his arm with its body, and a faint smoke started to billow. 

Kato Dan-san smiled. Breathed in air and:

- Fire Release: Flame Stream! 

The man exhaled a jet of fire at the slugs. Four of the eight, including the slugs engulfing the man's hand, shrank from the heat, then burned in the flames. 

"He calmly put his hand under the jutsu!" - I appreciated the teacher's determination.

Flames poured from sensei's mouth, he aimed the jet at the creatures trying to escape and roasted them in turn. 

The flames weren't very strong, I'd even say the jutsu was performed at the genin level, the jet of fire was too narrow. 

The girl, however, was not confused. She broke the clutch of her hands into a seal of concentration, placed her palm on the slug on her shoulder, and, tearing off a solid chunk of it, put it directly into her mouth! With her nose, she took in air and folded a series of seals, with Anzu's chakra waste growing paler by the second.

- Earth Release: Spit of Clay! 

She spat out a ball of clay in the direction of Jonin, who was jogging toward her. It flew at a decent speed, but not fast enough for Kato Dan-san to get out of the way. 

And just as he was dodging the projectile, a lump of clay flying near Jonin exploded with mud. The slug hit the man's face, then wrapped itself around his head. 

*Poof* - instead of Kato Dana, the slug dissolves the log. 

- Not bad," Sensei appeared in place of the leaf falling behind the girl.

- Wind Release: Air Ram! 

Like Torio, like me, Anzu was blown away and sealed into the ground. 

A few minutes later. The three of us looked sadly at the fresh and cheerful sensei, who walked back and forth in front of us and praised. 

- Well done! I was especially surprised by Anzu-chan! - Jonin laughed happily:

- There are some flaws, but we'll fix them during training. For example, Torio, you need to stop relying only on swords and use throwing weapons, and don't forget about Replacement Jutsu. A little later, we'll see what your control is, and if it's good, we'll think about Elemental Transformation. Tell me, Torio, have you been tested for the elements, or are you just honing the jutsu your mother taught you? 

- Two," the Uchiha's ears reddened for some obscure reason.

- Good, good. So, we'll check and find out your elements, I guess tomorrow after the mission," Sensei concluded. 

- Aki-kun. Excellent job with the Academic Ninjutsu. Tai is excellent, even more so, those claws of yours are quite dangerous. I understand you've decided to follow the path of nin? - The teacher had figured me out. Seeing my dumbfounded face, he explained:

- Who else but me, a tai expert, can feel your attitude towards taijutsu? You did the right thing by not giving up on taijutsu, but developing nin and tai evenly. Aki-kun, you're good, but becoming a strong ninjutsu expert is a hundred times more difficult than becoming a taijutsu master. You need to learn a wide variety of elemental jutsu, be smart enough to know when it's best to use which jutsu, and most importantly have a lot of chakra and a powerful hearth, as well as no triggering control! It's very difficult to develop both chakra replenishment rate, volume and control evenly. The worst thing is that, even after becoming a master of nin, after a lot of training, you will not be much stronger than a master of tai or universal. If you are ready to overcome difficulties, I will help you, but if not, I can make you an excellent ninja who knows all aspects of our art," Kato-san said in a serious voice.

- And not succeed at anything," I finished for him. 

- Ha-ha-ha, what a child you are! - The man smiled and patted me on the head.

I stiffened, suddenly remembering my father, who also did the same thing sometimes.

- I think I'll trust you, Kato-san. Make me Master Ning," I asked. The forgotten feeling was slowly leaving me. 

- Good. Do you know your elements? No? Then we'll check with you tomorrow," Jonin nodded his head.

Then he turned toward Anzu, who was now sitting nearby, stroking the slug nestled in her lap. 

*Gurrrrrr* - the pampered slug made strange noises.

- Anzu-chan. Your technique is good, but as I've said many times, it's too dangerous. The slightest lapse in control and it's over. You did well today. But be prepared, if you decide to use your summoning in this way, I won't spare you in training," Jonin didn't let the girl say a word, he raised his hand in a stopping gesture.

- I know you're a rank C Irenian, and I know your control is very good, but believe me, for the jutsu you've chosen to study, it's worthless! Prepare yourself, the day after tomorrow I'll give you a control training session that will make you sick and scared," Sensei threatened.

- Pfft! I'm not afraid! - The girl proudly raised her chin.

Torio and I were out of it and only shifted our gazes from one to the other.

- Great..." began Kato, but was interrupted by a hurt child's voice:

- What about me? What about me? The slug woke up.

- You're doing great, Shiye. I'll have Tsu tell your mom about your progress.

- Yay! Anzu, be sure to call me to play again! Many, many more times! I'm going home, I'm hungry! - rammed the slug and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

- Bye, Shie," Anzu said goodbye into the void. She pressed her lips together unhappily. 

- Anyway, that's taken care of. Tomorrow we'll have D-rank missions. I think we'll be able to complete two of them in time, and the day after tomorrow we'll start individual training. We have two months to get your skills up to the first C rank mission. The schedule will be as follows: one day we do the maximum number of missions, the next day we train, the next day we practice teamwork and so on in a circle. Now, let's go get something to eat! - Jonin exclaimed in a beguilingly cheerful manner. 

- Uh, can I wash and change first? - Senju asked, smoothing out her wrinkled, dirty uniform. 

Kato-san rubbed his chin, looked us over, and with a fake smile, allowed :

- Can...