CH_4.25 (125)

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Sarutobi Kazuo stood with his arms crossed as he watched one of his students thrash around as she was pinned to the ground, desperately trying to get out of the body hold the Police Force boy had her in. Aimi was taken down before the timer hit half a minute— an embarrassing performance against a peer of the same class.

He was well aware Aimi wasn't the strongest combatant, and neither did her talents lay in the craft of violence. His bubbly student's aptitude was towards scouting and tracking. She could pick clues on a trail as though placed in plain sight and had the ability to join those signs into logical conclusions— even Momoe, the smartest of his trio, couldn't hold a candle against Aimi's natural intuition and environmental awareness.

She might not reach the level of a Hyuga with their miraculous eyes or Aburame with their bugs; Kazuo firmly believed she could do a job better than most of the Inuzuka with their ninken.

'I wished she would take combat training more seriously,' Kazuo found himself repeating the same thought once more.

If not anyone else, Aimi required adequate combat ability. Her talent ensured someday she would be alone in scouting situations deep inside enemy territory. Scouts usually operated in solitary due to the secretive nature of the task. Aimi was progressing well in the stealth department, but no one could be invisible a hundred percent of the time— one day on a mission, Aimi was bound to be found while she was scouting. That day, her combat ability would keep her alive until she could secure backup.

"Hideaki, go up," Kazuo said after Aimi tapped out of the fight.

The Akimichi stood up and confidently walked toward Takuma while smashing his big hands together.

As Aimi walked back to them, Kazuo addressed the girl. "You took it too lightly," he said, knowing that if Aimi had been serious, the result would've been different. He ignored Aimi's grumble and continued, "Always remember, any sharp blade is your friend when you find yourself in a hold like that. Don't try to claw if you can stab your way out of it."

"Yes, sir…"

"Now reflect on how you performed."

Aimi sat down beside Momoe for some post-fight retrospection, a routine he had worked hard to instill in his students. He wanted them to actively think about their performance instead of solely relying on his feedback.

Kazuo didn't forget to give feedback to their guest. "Takuma, great job with the grappling." Full-on grappling had a scarce presence on battlefields due to the presence of weapons and jutsu, which made presence on the feet so much more important, but clinching and limb trapping added to taijutsu could elevate fighting style if appropriately utilized. It was refreshing to see someone as young as his students include such practices into their combat.

Now, he wanted to see if Takuma could perform as fluidly with Hideaki as he did against Aimi. His two students had wildly different fighting styles after all.

Right from the get-go, Takuma assumed a different stance than before. The wider stance provided a firmer base with his guard raised up front and high as opposed to the more agile position he had against Aimi.

"He was your classmate?" Kazuo asked Momoe. She nodded. 'Figures,' he thought.

The change in stance made it clear that Takuma was expecting more force from Hideaki and that nimbleness would be an appropriate match for Aimi, who liked to move a lot while she fought.

"Your friend is adapting his strategy depending upon his knowledge of his opponents," he nodded in appreciation.

"Is that… special?" Momoe asked, skeptical.

Kazuo chuckled. He should've expected that sort of response from her, given that he had seen her do the same from the very beginning without realizing that not many followed the same. "It might seem common sense to you, but people are creatures of habit. We find comfort in what we are familiar with and often find change uncomfortable. Every shinobi follows a combat style that suits— which in itself is recommended— but they do themselves a disservice by getting too rigid through habits and disregarding dynamic adjustments during a battle against a foe. Every opponent is unique, and by studying them while fighting, you can gain the upper hand. A capable fighter understands not only his own strengths and weaknesses but also his opponent's— and has the ability to find ways to somehow pit your strength against their weakness.

It's inevitable that someday you'll find a foe equal to you. The one to win the fight will be the one who makes the proper adjustments and enact them. Your mind is just as important a weapon as any other— learn to use it well."

Momoe and Aimi turned to watch the fight, Kazuo's words in their mind.

———

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Hideaki predicted the fight would end well before the one-minute limit. He stretched his arms back to crack his chest as he watched Takuma assume a stance. Hideaki had forgotten about Takuma until today, but that was to be expected; Takuma didn't leave much of an impression during their academy days. All he could remember was how easy Takuma was to beat during their spars. He didn't think today would be any different. The opening spar between Takuma and Aimi came as a mild surprise, but she had bought it on herself by being stupid.

"Start!"

Hideaki didn't take charge; he wanted Takuma to come to him. Takuma, too, didn't move at the first second, but when he saw Hideaki wasn't moving, he closed the distance, taking the first charge. Hideaki took the first tentative jab from Takuma, but instead of engaging in a probing stage through exploratory strikes, he went for a big money swing for Takuma's chest.

Takuma looked surprised at the sudden 0-to-100 aggression switch but crossed his arms in time to block the rear uppercut. The punch made a heavy grunt escape Takuma as his feet lifted a centimeter from the force.

Hideaki was of the mind to pause to see Takuma come to terms with his power, but decided to follow up with a hook to put Takuma to the ground. The fight with Aimi had ended too quickly; he couldn't allow his team to be looked down at. He was going to take Takuma down faster than he had done Aimi.

Unexpectedly, Takuma managed to raise his arm to absorb the power hook. Hideaki frowned, displeased his one-two combo had failed, and went to grab Takuma's head so he could headbutt the lights out of him.

Moving quicker than Hideaki, Takuma lashed out for Hideaki's knee. It hit just right, and Hideaki's chunky leg buckled, sending a jolt up Hideaki's body. The sudden disruption proved successful as two swift palm strikes from Takuma thwarted Hideaki's attempt to grab his head before sending a lead uppercut into his jaw.

"Raawh!"

The usually taciturn Hideaki roared, sending a devastating kick into Takuma's side, which threw him to the ground, knocking the air out of him. He had a heavy frown between his brows as he pursued Takuma, seemingly wanting to beat him to the ground.

Takuma recovered as quickly as he went to the ground and jumped back to his feet, and kept his feet moving while he evaded and blocked Hideaki's onslaught of heavy strikes that undoubtedly looked like they would hurt. Hideaki pushed and pushed, his speed and power increasing every passing second. Takuma, who was once easily keeping a constant, comfortable distance was now struggling to keep Hideaki away, evidenced by the slow increase in the redirecting palm strikes and blocks replacing clean dodges.

While Hideaki was in control of the momentum, Takuma was the one with more clean hits scored on Hideaki, but every single blow of Hideaki did more damage.

"Caught you!"

Hideaki grabbed one of Takuma's arms. Takuma tried to pull it away, but the larger teen's grip and strength outpowered him. Hideaki raised his other fist with a smirk to sock Takuma in the head and ended the fight with a satisfying blow to relieve the rising frustration about not getting many clean hits on his unexpectedly nimble opponent.

However, before he could do that, the unexpected struck again. Takuma used his grabbed arm as leverage and jumped; he tucked his knees into his chest and slammed both his feet into Hideaki's chest, sending the giant tumbling away and freeing Takuma from Hideaki's grasp.

Hideaki groaned as he felt the dull pain in his chest, but it wasn't enough to keep him down. He got up and faced Takuma, who was already charging at him. Taking the challenge, Hideaki, too, took off, determined to win the exchange.

"Time's up! Stop!"

Kazuo's voice startled Hideaki. He looked at his teacher, unwilling to stop. He had no idea that the allotted minute had passed away so quickly. He looked at Takuma, who was dusting himself off.

"Takuma," he called.

When his ex-classmate looked up, Hideaki gave him a nod of respect.

There was no denying that Takuma had massively improved since they had last fought, and he had to commend him for that effort.

While he thought that, he also believed: 'I'll win the next time.'

———

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Akimichi Hideaki was better at taijutsu than him.

Takuma thought that as he walked to the side. He looked at his hands; it had been only a minute, but he could feel Hideaki's power in his bones. If the fight lasted a few minutes longer, Takuma knew he would've been taken down.

However, the fight surprised him. He had expected power from Hideaki (it wasn't the strongest he had faced, but it was up there)— but he had not anticipated the skill which backed up the power. From his experience, people with extraordinary power relied on it, partly disregarding the skill— it was human nature to lean on your strengths. Hideaki's movements were wild, but Takuma could sense the control behind everything move.

'I guess I should have accepted that from an Akimichi,' thought Takuma. The Akimichi clan were the premier users of taijutsu in the village.

However,

'I'll win next time,' thought Takuma.

Combat was never just pure hand-to-hand combat. Takuma was much better when he had access to his weapons pouch, and he was destructive when he could use his chakra augmentations, and he had proof that he could be lethal if he could use jutsu.

Takuma opened and closed his fist to quicken his recovery from the light numbness in his bones. He gave Hideaki a sideways look, promising to himself that he would show 'power' to Hideaki.

He gave Aimi and Momoe a nod as they passed him. It was their time to fight. He turned and followed Momoe with his eyes. The girl was by far the best in their class, he wanted to see how much she had improved in a year and a half and where he stood against that best.

His first Ring ninjutsu fight was nearby— and the test run he wanted to do?

He was going to use his dear classmates as that test run.

As Takuma turned away, he didn't notice Momoe turn and looked at him with an inquisitive look.

.

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