Trial.

"Ready to get beaten?" Tachibana arrogantly asked Marubosi as he readied his stance against the eternal genin.

"Ha~ yeah sure.", Maruboshi said adopting a casual stance to indicate he was ready.

Tachibana circled Maruboshi trying to gauge when to attack. He kept his steps light as he did to keep his intent hidden about when he'd actually attack so he could keep the element of surprise.

Without looking at Tachibana, Maruboshi spoke calmly, "What happened to you? Scared? I thought you loved to clash fists like a real man!"

"Ha~ As if I'd be scared of an old man who's been a genin his entire life." Tachibana countered but then he added on, "And how scared are you that you can't even look me in the eye."

That seemed to have riled up Maruboshi since he turned around to look at Tachibana, except instead of eyes he was met with a cloud of dust that was tossed in his direction.

With Maruboshi blinded, Tachibana shot out towards him as his fist extended in a full-body swing that pierced the air to hit Maruboshi's chin to knock him out instantly.

*PUFF*

Tachibana's full-body swing stopped instantly when Maruboshi in spite of being partially blinded brought his hands together with his fingers interlocked to block Tachibana's punch.

Tachibana almost instantly jerked his hand backwards and tried to create distance between the to so that he could reset his stance and attack again but Maruboshi's grip was immensely powerful.

"I didn't know you were so scared that you didn't want to even look at my eyes." Maruboshi taunted with his eyes closed and a smirk on his face.

Tachibana frowned, not having expected his own lines used against him but he quickly thought of something else, "I heard a quote some time ago."

"Oh? What did you hear?"

"That in a profession where people die often, the old ones are a true treasure."

"You're praising me now? Want me to go easy on you? Make up your mind you fool." Maruboshi said pushing Tachibana away by gripping his hand and throwing him over his shoulder.

But before his back could touch the ground, Tachibana performed a contorted shift to hijack Maruboshi's blind move by changing their centre of mass.

As soon as Tachibana's feet connected with the floor he shot back as he used all his energy to jump and headbutt Maruboshi's chin.

Unable to stop a literal head without permanently hurting Tachibana, Maruboshi moved back to create distance between them.

"You're not going to open your eyes old man? What happened? Is it too painful? Maybe you should retire, you're too old to progress in ranks anyway." Tachibana said with a smile.

"Ha~ As if I need to keep them open for a newbie like you. Even with my eyes closed I need to hold back so that you don't begin crying like a baby. Don't want to bully a weak child you see."

Tachibana bit his tongue at the burn but refocused on the spar.

With a strong push, Tachibana kicked up some dirt as he rushed in Maruboshi's direction.

Maruboshi heard the push and tensed his muscles as he heard Tachibana take light steps towards him.

"A right uppercut!", Maruboshi called out and dodged by simply leaning back a little.

"A left hook.", Maruboshi said redirecting the strike by pushing Tachibana's hand.

"A spinning kick from the left.", Maruboshi called again except this time as he braced himself for the kick from the left he suddenly shifted his supported elbow to the right.

"Oohhh~ You're getting tricky.", Maruboshi commented as he felt Tachibana's kick land on his hastily set up block. It was still blocked but Maruboshi's hands tinged a little.

"Is all you're good at defence!? What happened to beating me so much that I'd cry?" Tachibana taunted calmly since he was unable to break through Maruboshi's defence.

He wanted to find some sort of mistake in Maruboshi's moves to take advantage of it and defeat him. However, a sixty-year-old veteran's battle-hardened moves seemed almost impossible to break.

"Are you sure? Don't tell me that it hurts later."

"As if I'd cry about becoming stronger."

"Stronger is it?" Maruboshi seemed to be reminiscing something and then not even a moment later Tachibana felt a sudden premonition of danger and found himself flying backwards in the direction of the small pond in the training ground.

Tachibana coughed up saliva as his breathing hitched while a stinging pain radiated outward from his chest.

'I didn't even see that!'

Tachibana sent chakra to the soles of his feet and stopped himself from trying to drag his feet over the water. 

"Old man!!-"

"What? Gonna cry about using Ninjutsu in a Taijutsu fight? I'm training you to be a shinobi, not a magician. When are you going to use all the tricks I taught you!?" Maruboshi complained with his eyes closed and a smile on his face.

Tachibana took a few deep breaths, courtesy of Maruboshi who gave him enough time to recover from the devastating punch.

Tachibana's eyes firmed and he looked at Maruboshi with all his focus.

"Oohhh~ I can feel it! Bring it on!" Maruboshi exclaimed as he taunted Tachibana with his hand.

With a kick start, Tachibana instantly ran towards Maruboshi, going to prove to him exactly why he was ready for the big missions.

Tachibana increased his speed by using charka to give himself an extra spring in each step. His body flicker jutsu wasn't perfect but he could still do this much.

As soon as Tachibana reached Maruboshi this time, he started with a full-body punch.

Maruboshi blocked the punch but his bones stung because of the force Tachibana used. Of course, Tachibana's own hands hurt quite a bit too.

'I've got to bait him into a trap to capture him.'

'But how do I trap him with the three basic academy ninjutsu?'

Tachibana and Maruboshi exchanged a flurry of punches and blocks as Tachibana thought carefully about a plan using his occasionally activating danger premonition to his advantage to drag out the fight.

And within a few moments, Tachibana played his cards.

Taking a step back, Tachibana quickly formed the three hand seals required for the clone jutsu, causing two identical clones to appear around him.

"Oh? Two clones? You caused so much noise to make them that I wanted to shut my ears."

"Hmpf. If you were honourable you'd have shut your ears when you did with your eyes." Tachibana complained.

"Getting feisty are we? Perhaps a beating is in order." Maruboshi said but suddenly stopped in his tracks.

There were three pairs of feet circling around him.

He could obviously open his eyes and tell the difference between the clones, but Maruboshi didn't want to go back on his words.

The three pairs of feet grew closer and closer as Tachibana spoke again, "Where am I?"

"Here?" one of the clones spoke.

"Or here?" Another clone spoke.

"Or am I nowhere?" Tachibana asked with a sly smile at his trap.

"Hmm…at least you know how to use clones, so that's alright. But you forget a key difference."

"A key difference? Which one?" A random clone asked.

"Your clones cannot harm me!"

"Hahahahaha~ Old man are you saying you'll take on all of us at once and then react after you find the fakes?"

"That is exactly what I'll do!" Maruboshi smiled taking on a serious stance as he waited for the imminent attack.

All the clones eyed each other and smiled as they said, "We like those odds."

The three bodies then rushed all at once towards Maruboshi, closing in on him while cocking back their fists to launch a devastating punch all at the same time.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" X3

Maruboshi ready for their attacks waited until he felt the air pressure from their attacks.

Almost instantly, Maruboshi elbowed the clone in the back.

*PUFF*

The clone vanished before it could even land its blow.

Then he punched the one on his left.

*PUFF*

And with a smile, Maruboshi extended his hand to capture the fist of the one of his right.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N : Wanted Tachibana to defeat Maruboshi in this fight but that just kept feeling so unrealistic, so I've opted to let the next chapter decide what happens in this fight.