12 - Shadow of dancing leafa

- You really have a lot of audacity! She shouted.

- Audacity ... I like that word, come on! - Karou shouted arrogantly.

The two met each other's eyes and couldn't hold back any longer, Karou thought Khaterine would be a magician, but it wasn't like he thought, she was also very good at being a fighter.

When reaching the level of an apprentice it was necessary to learn only a jutsu "completely" at the level of the acceptable. With that the body of those who learned ninjutsu did not change much, but the level of Taijutsu users reached a very high level.

Their bodies became much higher than that of a normal human, to support the expenditure that the chakra gave the cells, so a human with simply the lowest level was already much stronger than someone who cannot use any jutsu.

The level was linked to the ability to beat a beast of the same level, but even the beasts could have different levels of strength, speed and defense, the power was simply measured by a kind of beast called

"Dragon Turtle".

It was a legendary beast that lived in a great empire, its carapace was said to be indestructible, it was not the strongest of the few legendary beasts in existence, but its defense was the most notable.

As soon as the strength of beings was defined globally, due to the ability to cause damage to this carapace, several studies and comparisons were made with other beasts until they defined the 19 levels of power that were separated from the power of the beasts in the largest forest in the world. . The beast empire.

Everything mediated in the amount of damage that someone with a certain power could do to the turtle in 10 minutes, this system is not perfect at all, the turtle does not fight back, it is also a stopped target. So it was common for some people to circumvent this system, learning jutsus with a lot of power and little real functionality.

Of course, this occurred even only in that empire, in other places the level of power was defined by the person's ability to defeat the predefined beasts for that Degree, or by the jutsus they have learned so far.

Karou had learned all of this from the patriarch, so he should never let his guard down for those 1 or 2 levels below his, but neither should he fear those with 1 or 2 levels above.

In combat anything could happen, this is what Karou was now feeling in his skin fighting Katherine.

"How much strength can she release at once ?! "

As soon as the two started their combat Katherine hit him with another of his spinning blows, knocking him back against the wall. She demonstrated great mastery in combat, a skill that Karou did not yet have.

- You are too weak, it seems that the elders were right. - Katherine said.

Karou was unaffected by her offense, he got up and cleaned his clothes, despite the attacks he was not badly hurt.

"I trained to learn the Eight Gates, it's time to start fighting for real"

- I'll start ... be prepared! -

Karou started running as fast as she could around Katherine, Katherine thought it was futile, she didn't think it would change his situation at all, she could easily locate him.

Suddenly watching him run, Katherine thought her eyes were deceiving her, two, then three, it looked like there were several Karou running around her, like a post image left behind by those who reached a very high level of Taijutsu.

More and more appeared, until she was completely surrounded, she didn't think it was real, only warriors at the level of Grandmaster could run so fast that they left images behind.

Then she thought of something else ...

- An illusion! - She thought Karou was an illusionist.

Karou on the other hand was very calm, soon he made his move, all his images stopped running in circles and ran towards Katherine. In fact, Karou had gradually created several shadow clones, he just ran to mix with the clones.

Karou then attacked her, Katherine still thought it was all an illusion, so she was not ready to defend herself, so the first clone kicked her in the chin by lifting her up, followed soon after by two other clones jumping hitting her in the air lifting her still more.

After that, with the support of several clones, two more were thrown in the air, hitting one more blow on her, throwing her even higher, her body had already risen to more than 10 meters in height.

After all this Katherine was still trying to understand what was happening, she then felt a presence behind her, behind her came Karou.

- Shadow of the dancing leaf!

(Taijutsu used by Rock Lee, first in his small fight against Sasuke, he who copies his blow during the Chunin tournament against the sound ninja, is also used in the famous Rock Lee Vs Gaara fight before he uses the Front Lotus. Naruto also uses the attack, but differently in his fight against Kiba and Gaara. Karou's technique would be a mix between Naruto and Rock Lee)

Karou had not opened any gates, nor had bandages to hold the enemy properly, but he was already a good size, grabbing Katherine the two started to fall upside down, Karou started to rotate his body making them look like a whirlpool falling from the sky .

Before reaching the ground Karou released Katherine and with a somersault in the air managed to stand unharmed, Katherine on the other hand hit the hard floor, a strong breaking sound occurred. A great deal of smoke went up.

- Did I overdo it? - Karou thought looking at the damage he had done on the floor.

As a strong attack hit him in his thoughts, a large ball of water crashed into his body, even though he still had no control over changes in nature, Katherine could already use jutsus at that level.

After the smoke cleared Karou and Katherine were in pretty bad shape, they both looked very tired

"I can't move a muscle, it broke me whole" thought Katherine.

Karou had a similar thought.

"Using this stroke without the hidden Lotus cost me too much, her strength and resistance are also far superior to mine"

The two faced each other again, Karou then did something that surprised Katherine.

- It's all over, I give up. - Karou gave up.

Katherine was speechless at the time, but soon recovered.

- I do not accept this victory! - She screamed

- Well ... I can't do anything, I'm already broken and without Chakra. - Karou said moving his head, he understood that he couldn't force her and be his swordsman, so he just gave up.

She was an apprentice level warrior and mage, she was also part of the Clan, so she would not become a threat in the future.

- I still don't accept your damn!

- Let's do it like this, a tie! - Said Karou smiling.

- I do not accept that either, I want to fight you again, this time I will be ready and I will win in the right way, you are my prey. - She spoke firmly and arrogantly.

- Of course, I accept, but with one condition ... - Things had turned well for Cael.

- What? I accept anything!

- Be my swordsman!

(Note: The phrase used by Karou was exactly what Shikamaru said when he gave up his fight against temari, I thought it would be a good reference.)