Master vs Student [P]

Ever since he had started as a shinobi of the leaf, the only one he had recognized as anything close to a master was Sanzen. She had taught him more than his own sensei had, and for that he had been always eternally grateful for it. Now since he had graduated and ranked up and had become stronger before, he had to test his strength against her. Using her technique, he would attempt to make the same marks on her or something similar as she had done him when he was just a genin. He didn’t plan on vengeance, no nothing like that, but he wanted her to feel the same way as he had done before, those feelings of helplessness and insecurity. He wanted her to understand from this day forward, he would no longer call her master and would treat her as an equal comrade of the leaf. And if she had chosen to cross paths with him then she would end up dead.

These new attitudes and new demeanor had been a part of his attempt to become a stronger shinobi, one not marked by emotions and feelings. The traditional style and traditional era of shinobi didn’t hold values like love on the battlefield, and if Shihouin wanted to remain true to Nasa as her lover, then he couldn’t harbor those feelings in the battlefield. He had to hold no emotion and swallow his pride if he dared to put his life on the line and win.

He was in a secluded training field. In the middle of the large clearing which measured at least a 100 meters in a circle with a thick forest almost opaque to eye sight around it. No doubt she would try to move the battlefield to the forest if he got her to kawarimi and he would probably end up spending a good amount of time dealing with tricks underground and coming from the forest. He had his lions, she had her dogs and it would be an interesting match if summons ended up facing one another. Shihouin had sent one of the cubs to her, transformed into an ordinary tabby cat with a note about its neck asking her to arrive as soon as she possibly could. He would wait there in the center of the clearing standing, letting the wind pelt against the cloth of his kimono in patience. Today could mark the day that Shihouin had become much more than her student. Maybe he would end up becoming the master.

A bright sunny day waited for Sanzen outside her apartment. Sadly, she wasn't to interested in going outside that much and was in fact searching for a good book to read. There were plenty of novels scattered across her apartment floor from the book shelf all thanks to Kutsuu. He was trashing the sanctuary quicker than a teething puppy. Sanzen didn't know what he was looking for and despite complaining, Kutsuu didn't budge. It made her wonder if he was in fact even looking for something or just throwing things for no reason; what a bother.

The slaughter of the book shelf finally came to a stop from a sudden bark coming from the living room. Kutsuu stopped and closed a book he had in his hand before he actually placed the shelves organ where it naturally belonged. With his senses alert he walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, spotting Hisoka looking back from the door. The Belgian Tervuren made eye contact for a second before proceeding to nudge the door. This could only signify for Sanzen to come, which was exactly what she did. Crossing the living room and peering through the peak hole she, or he, noticed what looked like a small tabby cat outside. Really? A tabby? With a bit of annoyance Sanzen opened the door before staring down at the cat. It appeared to have a note on it. This must have been a loyal and intelligent pet. Sanzen took the letter before reading it over and sighing.

Shihouin...

From Kutsuu's perspective, the brat was getting in his way once again; especially when requesting training. His objective would only be delayed longer. This was irritating. "Walk amongst them" was what he was told to do but through that he saw "Try to spread". Whether that was what the man meant or not he didn't care. He had an excuse to go about things and thats all he needed.

"Be there soon enough" he told the cat before he closed the door, not once offering to let it in. He got the general idea of where to go based on Shis's explanation now he needed to prepared. Maybe he would let Sanzen take over during this. Just for a breath of fresh air before sealing her again. He gathered supplies, letting her see what items and tools he grabbed, before he placed them in the pouch and tied them to her waist. Today she wore what appeared to be a blue vest and the dark gray Chunin pants. She wore the fire protective wear beneath all of this, including the socks and gloves, and wore black gym shoes like she normally had. She despised open toed feet so she had shoes crafted much like the normal ninja ones were but these were just black and covered.

Seeing that she had everything she finally exited her apartment, Hisoka following close behind, and made her way downstairs and outside. She quickly tested the light coolness of the autumn air before she took off towards the battlefield. Already she knew that some of her normal styles of fighting were eliminated unless she wished to make her techniques obvious. So, she needed to form a different plan.

She did this the whole way to the training field. The moment she appeared she dropped down from the trees and landed roughly 20 meters from Shihouin. He was dead center in the field. Seeing as how he already knew what the area called for Sanzen would have to take in all the details fast before they started. She needed to adjust any plans as well. She needed to think. Above all else, she needed to win. Was it sad that she was beginning to become uneasy fighting her own student? No. It just meant he had grown exceptionally. Seeing as how he was a Chunin now she knew it wouldn't be long when her "student" may even be her "teammate" depending on what was occurring at the time; and if she lasted that long.

"You've grown exceptionally well...I think I have said this before...." she began, her voice making her sound extremely at ease, "Let's spare the chit chat though shall we? Much like old times. Your start..."

This time he would make the first move and at the moment she was prepared for just about anything.

Sanzen had arrived, placing herself a good distance of 20m between them. The divide between them was large for ninja, and maybe she planned on covering ground or more importantly having ample time to react to techniques. He could foresee the event of cover coming into play here soon; the image of a smokescreen or something blocking his line of sight would be soon in coming. He remembered the tricks he taught her when throwing kunai and using explosive notes on them, and all of the subtle tricks she used to try to gain the upper hand with just kunai and minor tools. They usually ended up giving her the stretch over them in most scenarios.

A breeze ruffled his kimono as she spoke, and he kept his entire body calmed and ready. With his hands to his side, the sleeve of the juban would come up rapidly as several shuriken would rush towards her position. There were about three of them which sprung from his juban, expending out from the dark sleeve at a high speed. They flew roughly at the same time, but all aimed for a different place on her body. The first one had been aimed for her waist, and the second one had been aimed for her head. The third one would fly directly for her chest. This series of movements wouldn’t be hard to counter at a 20m range though.

Soon after the shuriken had been thrown, the moment they had escaped his juban sleeve, he would rush forward to close off the gap. The shoes he wore would conceal a large deal of his foot movements, only appearing to step forward or run as he wanted. Since he didn’t wear any open toed or loose fabric shoes, there wouldn’t be any subtle hints about his direction. The juban would move as he moved flapping in the wind as each step put him closer towards her direction. He planned on reaching to at least 10m away from her, with both of his hands and mind preparing his next move, both ready to react to anything she might throw at him.

First move made and it was a typical attack using tools. Sanzen was used to this, she did this as well. As her smoldering eyes turned a tad more red she quickly withdrew a single shuriken and thrust it forward about the same time the weapons were within a ten meter range. The shuriken aimed towards the underside of his shuriken as gravity pulled hers down. Around the time they were about to pass over, which would have been around seven meters from her, Sanzen thrust the shruiken up. Her own shuriken would take out all two easily due to their small sizes and the quick thrust. Plus the shuriken would naturally arch upward due to her tugging the wire back and thrusting it up. Getting into to much detail though would make the situation more complicated than what it was. Sad part of this was, she missed one. Least Sanzen knew she would take extra care to work on her weaponry skills. Maybe then her attacks would be more accurate and she wouldn't have missed the third. However, she was ready for that shuriken because once she had taken out his tools, Sanzen already had four kunai that she withdrew from her pouch.

She quickly switched hands and thrust out one kunai towards the oncoming shuriken, which would knock it off into oblivion. She then made a leap back to separate herself further from Shi while she dropped the wire and placed a kunai in both hand; one holding two. She threw these two down to where one go a meter to her and the other a meter to her right; both aimed towards the ground two meters before her. The grass very lightly shimmered; probably from dew flying off from her running. After this she then threw her remaining kunai towards the oncoming Shi; Sanzen was still leaping backwards as she tried keeping their distance. He would draw even closer, unless he stopped, and she would make hand seals while she continued to move back.

Attempting to distance herself from him for some unknown reason was bothering him, yet the clear and blank expression on his face would not show any sort of lack of content. He was just fine with dealing with things as the way they were. Recording her moves and her reactions with his black eyes, he wondered why she was resorting to wired tools so soon, and for this reason he was hesitant to see what was going on. There was no need to change the method of his attack or attempt to supplement it. The blank face he held implied that he could wait all day. Shihouin kept the range in between them to 15m now, and stopped only to make sure that he was within his target range.

When she had her kunai directed towards him, he assumed that there would be a wire on it and potentially another attack. So before it could get within about 5m of him, his hand would slip from his juban and throw shuriken at it to deflect it. In total, he would remain with 15m of her ready to attack at any moment, but at least 10m away from her awkward set up. The tomoe in his eyes appeared at one for now, and he would change it as he needed it. He would seem to stand there without a care in the world, but underneath the fabric he wore, he was ready to move. Both of the sleeves came together under his juban and hid from her sight. He could wait all day for her to make a move and didn’t mind doing so. Mind and body prepared to move, he thought through to his next move set physically and mentally, waiting on her to make a strike. She could take as long as she wanted, he would wait for her.

To get things straight before it was to late, she had not looked into his eyes even once nor did she plan on doing so. She knew he was an Uchiha. She knew the risk. She wasn't taking that chance. Especially considering this very Uchiha was now a Chunin and she didn't doubt he was well above his rank even now. He was strong, she knew this. He was also a hassle...

Sanzen saw that he had stopped and grew quite surprised. He deflected the kunai with ease, this was a bit unexpected, and the tool flew before landing two meters from Shi, tip down in the dirt. It stuck out of the ground and that was that. Meanwhile Sanzen placed herself ten meters from her two kunai, making it twenty from Shi and twenty from the forest line. She had finished her hand seals and the moment she was maybe ten meters from her kunai two clones appeared and ran towards Shi at full speed and kunai in hand. Sanzen herself eyed him with wary eyes as she morphed yet another set of handsigns.

Meanwhile, the clones honed in Shi, forming hand seals as they did. At the moment it seemed Sanzen may be wasting chakra but she was keeping herself in control and check. She still had quite a bit to work with considering the fight basically just started for real. With the attack happening another from below would soon occur.

Sanzen's dog, which she never de-summoned, had stopped at the tree line earlier before sinking beneath the topsoil and went asunder. She was waiting patiently as she listened for them to move while she sensed the vibrations. Being a dog, all this was even easier for her. When she located Shihouin, she then came up on him before suddenly popping out of the dirt and making a move to bite him on his ankle so she may hold him down. She would sink her teeth in deeper and deeper as she would hold him in place. Both clones would continue to make their approach as they finished making hand seals and prepared to attack.

Since he was reading the flow of her chakra with his Sharingan he was well prepared to move and had done so before the clones had appeared. He quickly moved back and kept moving at a set pace away from the clones presented. He watched the chakra of them and her chakra flow, analyzing it and determining just how much chakra she planned on using and what she was using it for. His senses had been focused on all parts of his body, front and back and he had been careful about what was around and more specifically what was below. He had been on his toes lightly, jumping back at set distances and never touching the ground for more than needed.

He kept a constant distance between him and the clones just over six meters , moving back in a path that was not straight nor tightly curved. When the ground underneath his feet had been disturbed to the point he could feel it, his instinct was to jump up using his toes. While simultaneously jumping up, he would throw three shuriken from his sleeve at Sanzen while waiting for her to react. These shuriken would be thrown at an enhanced speed and travel quickly towards her and cover a great distance faster than what would normally be concieved. Sanzen was not the only one to have a summon out, and if the clones planned on attacking him from his vantage point 2m in the air, they would soon deal with a full grown lion rising from the ground underneath him the moment he had went airborne. Not one for simple attacks, Shihouin had prepared this move, the next move, keeping his hands busy and his eyes focused on her movements. In his mind, something was not right yet, and figuring it out would only be a matter of time.

As Shi dealt with the clones, Sanzen finished a set of hand seals and sunk beneath the surface of the earth. She enough room to avoid the tools thrown in her direction and did so before they even got within seven meters of her. Meanwhile, the dog which had attempted to grab at Shi's foot ended up missing and thus sunk down back below he surface as well; leaving Shi with the two clones which had both stopped. Due to the sharingan's ability, Shi would most likely notice the chakra stretching from their bodies. It covered the area five meters around them and started roughly five meters before her contraption. To normal eyes they wouldn't see much but a bit of haze. So now that Shi had moved, the mist the clones were generating had spread over a distance rather than just all around as originally planned. The area was instantly a danger zone five meters from the clones stopped positions. Then it covered the ground all the way to the contraption she established roughly five meters from the clones. From the looks of things the fog wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon either.

The clone on Shi's left withdrew three kunai and waited for Shi to move as the clone on Shi's right made a few hand seals, not caring if he saw, then swiftly leaped forward a meter and planted their feet firmly on the ground. From beneath Shi he would soon be surprised by an attack he even knew, the flame pillar. It would spring up at him from beneath his feet, if he didn't move, and the other clone was ready to launch their kunai while the ground shifted ever so slightly behind him. Everything now depended on how he reacted and everyone was waiting.

The same tactics she used last time were being used on him this time. He was being forced to deal with the same situations again with her, but this only aid the situation more easy. He could watch the chakra change in the clones and watch them perform techniques as they molded hand signs. With his eyes at this stage, he didn't need to use the three tomoe to predict ahead of them, he already knew what techniques were being performed. He had copied this technique from her before, so once they had started it, he could tell then and there what was going on. She was trying to make the very floor he was under safe in order to buy time. Now that she was underground, she had wasted even more chakra. Before the eyes he carried, hiding was useless and he could watch all of the chakra activity going on as long as he had eyes in his head.

As Shihouin began his descent he knew that coming down would be useless and dangerous. If he could stay out of range of her techniques, things would only be easier for him. The only problem with that was that he couldn't exactly stay above ground unless he wanted to sacrifice something to do so. He could tell that she was wanting to push the battlefield closer to where she would have toe advantage of the forest, and so, he would decided to go along with that plan. The last time he had fought her and the battle ended up under the cover of the forest he had won. Maybe fate would repeat itself and he would win again.

Performing the hand signs needed, the lion would recognize the danger and dip its head back into the underground and hang out away from the explosion. It would quickly move away. However, before Shihouin could touch the ground a fire would erupt from underneath his feet, sending hot air everywhere, shaking his hakama. This would happen the moment the clone on the right tried to mold hand signs for a new technique. The fire had roughly occurred about a meter and a half above the ground, causing him to sky rocket upwards. If the clones were the exploding type, the flames would only help om move quicker. He would burst up at high speed, but keep his eyes on all of the chakra activity going on below him and watch it even as he flew. He would fly directly into the thick of the forest, at least a good 30 meters in before landing. Once he landed, he knew his position would be easy to spot by any ninja, so he would quickly move to a new position since he was secluded. He would keep both his hands and mind ready, preparing his next move-set based on Sanzen's actions.

This was kind of turning into a hassle. Shi seemed to never want to make things easy. Before the clone could manage an attack Shi was already making his own and performed something she basically had never seen before. This caused him to fly and soon enough he was heading towards the forest. Really? Sanzen may have been getting to anxious but now she was settling down into a calm state of mind again. She sighed some, feeeling reluctance to follow him into the forest. Both of the clones had taken the time to avoid their plans and take cover from any necessary danger; leaving the wall of low level fog to itself. It would remain their for quite a while, Sanzen made it a bit dense. She was wasting chakra again and for each move made Shi found some way to escape through the back door of her ideas. She remained calm though, but now it was time for someone else to set in.

As she remained in hiding the power of Kutsuu grew overwhelming as his soul wrapped around Sanzen's and took over. Her eyes turned a full on shade of black and her face seemed to go from a tense calm to pure calm. If one looked into her eyes now they would see an intense deadness to them. The same occurred with the clones whom after they avoided the assault, made their ways to either the right or left towards the forest. They had a lot of ground to cover but planned to make decent timing. The whereabouts of the dog Hisoka would continue to remain unknown. Sanzen began to move, staying well hidden as she soon crossed through the to the opposite side of where Shi was heading. She made sure to avoid the fog as she did, knowing it could seep through a bit underground as well, and was soon in her half of the forest. Now it felt like two sides were pitting against one another.

When she found a decent location to hide, making sure nothing was around, she took to a tree from beneath the surface of the earth and remained crouched amongst its branches; hidden by the leaves. She fell into a statue state then, her heightened senses listening in the calm forest for any disturbance.

Meanwhile, the clone on the right and clone on the left took positions in the forest in the trees. One pitted itself against the trunk with its kunai in hand (left) and the other retreated beneath the earth's surface.

The dog was where the red death lied.

Monitoring all the chakra activity was easy with the Sharingan, and he used it every now and then to conserve chakra even though it wasn’t much of a problem to hold the one tomoe the entire fight. Shihouin however, didn’t know what Sanzen planned on doing, and he really didn’t want to give her to the time to do anything. With jutsu his one tomoe and his prepared move, he watched her move towards the forested area in a secluded position. His move set would time around the time she got settled, just so she would feel uncertain that she was safe where she was. Her and her summoning animals, it didn’t matter as long as she could see where he was. Effectively, the Sharingan made earth techniques pretty much useless.

This shuriken was different form normal, in that it was much larger but not too large. Not a giant by any means, it was slightly curved like a normal shuriken hooks had been bent. It resembled more of a spinning wheel. He held it tucked in his hands as he started his attack. The first shuriken was thrown towards her, the originals position, making its way through the foliage with ease. It flew silently but quickly, and dodged leafs and tree branches as if it had been guided by some hand. Shihouin watched it and her chakra signature with carefulness. This move would be more than just a normal attack obviously and he doubted that she would assume it was just a normal shuriken toss. He prepared his next move as carefully as he could, making sure that his hands were ready and his mind was prepared to react to her, no matter what decision he made. He held his body in a way that he could maneuver against the thicket of tree branches with ease, making sure that he was at the proper height for safety, near the thick parts for silence.

With a head barely peering out of the ground, the dog's eyes watched Shi from behind. He was making his way through the trees and towards the left clone. The dog went back under just as it caught sight of her surroundings before it's plans became as undetectable as its appearance.

Meanwhile, Shi was soon onto the left clone. He made a motion to throw, causing the clone to leap up to the next branch before throwing her kunai towards Shi. Whatever he had thrown would soon embed itself into the bark where Sanzen once stood while her own tool would head at an angle. It would cross by him just two meters before him and explode from a concealed exploding tag; alerting any nearby of where he was and sending the real Sanzen towards her right. The real Sanzen would move silently and on alert through the forest until she came to the area near where the right clone was positioned. If Shi were to glance over he would see the clone moving beneath the surface of the earth in an odd manner as well.

Excluding everything else, Shi was now dealing with one of Sanzen's clones. This clone, after she threw the kunai which exploded, immediately withdrew two kunai right after the first left her hand. She would then throw one of these at Shi, only giving him a two second time to move, while she turned and made a motion to leap behind the tree trunk. Once she was there she would back up down the branch, holding her second kunai in hand, while she waited for Shi's attack.

At this range, from 100m away there was no hope that the battle would go to his influening. As ninja, they had fought too far away and the distance gap between them was too great for even a long range type support fire. Shihouin wanted to train a little more, work on some other techniques and create his variant of the exploding clone technique that he had picked up from her. There were things he needed to do as a shinobi, and sitting around with her and attempting to fight this battle over this great distance. The style of battle he was using was failing and it was taking way too much time for him to get a decent attack on her. Things were moving too slow and not quick enough for him at the moment.

Shihouin had watched the area with his Sharingan, so he knew the dog was behind him, he just didn't want to alert or confirm anything with his position in the tree. It was better if he was stealthy and nonchalant about it from Sanzen's perspective so she would come rushing into attack him other than waiting around for him to make an opening. It was this style of fighting that had been bugging him, and even though he knew the ins and outs of this particular set up of plans, he didn't want to deal with it anymore. Direct combat was something he wanted to do experience, even if little ninjutsu was involved. There was no way this was happening now.

So as soon as he had thrown his shuriken, he decided to exit, stage underground. He simply jumped from the position on the tree and fell towards the ground right foot forward, left foot behind and kept falling. He passed into the ground leaving little to notice that he had done so except for a small cloud of dust which quickly settled from the area he had jumped in. This would more than likely piss her off though, he had challenged her and now he had the audacity to back out. It would definitely make things more interesting next time around, and hopefully this would turn out better. For now, it was adieu. He had some training to do.