Goro vs Yugito

A/N: I forgot to upload this chapter, so I apologise. It doesn't effect the story too much, but it's important.

At the local training grounds, Yugito stood a few meters away from Miki and Goro, hands on her hips.

"Your goal is to attack and successfully trade taijutsu with me. Let's start," Yugito instructed.

Goro stepped forward, getting into his fighting stance, but Miki stayed back and complained, "What do you mean trade taijutsu? You're much stronger and faster than us!"

Yugito sighed, putting a hand to her face. "Obviously, I won't be attacking you with everything I've got. I'll just be giving you a little challenge. You can handle that, right?" Yugito asked.

'I'll have to avoid using my full strength. This should be easy, since she'll be attacking at a manageable pace.'

Miki nodded, a determined expression crossing her face. "Fine, let's do this!" she yelled, trying to psych herself out of her fear.

Miki stood beside Goro, assuming her fighting stance.

"Ready? Go!" Yugito shouted, dashing toward Miki. Miki raised her guard, unable to track Yugito's movements, but she still suffered a direct hit. Yugito struck her solar plexus, forcing Miki to one knee, gasping for air.

'Taking it easy? Taking it easy, my ass! She's going at full force! It looks like her only restraint is not using her tailed beast!'

Yugito shifted her focus to Goro, preparing to attack, but Miki, still on one knee and struggling to stand, grabbed hold of Yugito's leg.

Clinging to Yugito's leg for dear life, Miki yelled, "Namaki, attack!" Hearing the signal from his teammate, Goro threw three shuriken toward Yugito, aiming to hit her with one.

Goro didn't put all his strength into the throw, but it had enough power to pose a challenge, even for someone like Yugito Nii.

Extending her fingernails, Yugito used them to dislodge her sister's hands and jumped, evading the attack.

'Damn it. I didn't expect her to use that.'

While Yugito was airborne, Goro threw more shuriken. This time, instead of three, he threw two. Yugito easily evaded the first shuriken with her flexibility, but the second was different.

The second shuriken had an explosive tag wrapped around it, and the closer it got to Yugito, the closer it got to detonating. Goro watched as his simple yet clever plan unfolded. The explosion knocked Yugito back to the ground, just in time for Miki to land a punch to her face.

'Nice. This kind of plan will keep her from attacking us at full strength and force her to be more tactical.'

Yugito stood in the middle of the training grounds between Miki and Goro, her eyes darting from Goro to Miki and back again.

"You're trying to lure me into playing your game, but I won't let that happen," Yugito said.

'She's naive. We aren't luring her. No, we're forcing her to play our tactical game.'

Yugito rushed toward Goro, retracting her claws and cocking her fist back, ready to punch him.

Goro shot a glance at Miki, signaling that he wanted her to attack. Miki nodded and reached into her pouch, throwing a shuriken toward Yugito.

But instead of hitting Yugito, the shuriken flew past Goro's head, breaking his concentration.

'Argh… I overestimated her abilities. I shouldn't have expected so much from a Genin. But even if you're not good at throwing shuriken, why not attack differently? I can't believe this!'

Yugito buried her fist into Goro's stomach and followed up by delivering several blows to his torso. The pain from Yugito's punch to his liver forced Goro to adjust his movements, trying to cushion the punches.

'She isn't going easy at all. I understand she's not using her full strength, but her speed is nothing short of her actual level. The only thing keeping me in this is my sturdy physique.'

Yugito began pummeling him, now occasionally landing punches to his face. He could feel his eyes begin to swell, with blood rushing toward them.

'Ugh… What's Miki doing?!'

Miki stood back, occasionally throwing a shuriken, but her fear of getting punched again left her paralyzed.

'This… is… painful…'

Yugito's relentless assault didn't stop. Goro's muscles were starting to ache, and his temper began to fray.

'I can't do this anymore…'

As Yugito went in for another liver shot, Goro, acting out of reflex, delivered an uppercut to her jaw, causing her to stumble back.

Yugito's brain rattled, and as a result, her balance wavered. She continued stumbling back until she fell onto her backside.

'No—I didn't mean to… I let my reflexes go after suppressing them for so long. I've made a grave mistake, but it feels good not to be in constant pain…'

Yugito sat still for a moment, letting her brain recalibrate. After a few seconds, she stood back up, her fingernails extending. She pointed at Goro, her expression serious, and demanded, "Who are you?"

'...This is bad timing. If I'm caught, they'll connect me to the cemetery incident, and things won't look good for Konoha. I'll be in serious trouble!'

"What do you mean?" Goro replied, feigning ignorance.

Yugito stepped closer, getting face-to-face with Goro. She repeated, "Who are you?!"

"I'm confused. What do you mean by that? I'm Namaki," Goro answered.

Unsatisfied with his response, Yugito activated the first stage of her Jinchuriki Mode, her eyes filled with hostility as she glared at Goro.

'Fine, I'll just make you spit it out!' Yugito shouted, lunging at Goro.

"Sis, stop! Why are you attacking Namaki at full strength? You promised you wouldn't do this!" Miki exclaimed.

Yugito ignored Miki's protests and continued with the attack.

'I can't let this hit me. Looks like I have no other choice. My cover is blown.'

Goro prepared to parry her attack, but suddenly Yugito was stopped. "Get off me!" she yelled, turning to see a man with a blond goatee, blond cornrows, and shades restraining her.

"Yo, listen up, don't even try to scheme. Attacking a Genin? That's low, not supreme!" the man said, holding Yugito's arms.

'Killer Bee… Have I been saved?'

Still attempting to attack Goro, Yugito argued, "He was able to counterattack me while I was throwing my quickest punches. That's not something a Genin can do! I need to know who he is."

Goro pretended to look scared, hoping that when Bee looked at him, he'd see a frightened young boy rather than a confident Elite Shinobi.

"Your ego's blinding you, can't you see? Thinking a Genin can't dodge, that's pure vanity! What if they're sharp, and caught your flow? Read your attack pattern, now you're too slow!" Bee rebutted.

Yugito thought about Bee's words. She didn't want to admit it, but they seemed fair. "I wasn't actively changing up my attack patterns since they weren't fighting back, so it's possible… Even so, to land a counterattack, he had to have been extremely fast…" Yugito pondered.

Deactivating her Jinchuriki Mode, Yugito stopped resisting Bee's restraint. "Sorry for my behavior," she told Goro, though she still harbored some suspicion.

Goro waved his hands, signaling that he didn't take any offense from her actions.

Turning to Bee, Yugito questioned why he was at her home, surprised when he informed her that both of them had been summoned by the Raikage.

Killer Bee and Yugito both left the training grounds, leaving Miki and Goro alone.

"Sorry about that… My sister has good intentions. I just think she's on edge after the cemetery incident," Miki said.

"It's fine, you don't need to worry about it. I'll be going now," Goro replied, walking away.

Miki waved at Goro, and he returned the wave before disappearing with a flicker.

"I hope he's alright…" Miki thought.