Sparring With A Teammate? (Ulkira & Tailbone, NK)

Kazuto was walking along the streets of Konoha, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a small book which he was reading as he walked. Kazuto was always one to be found with a book on him, whether he was writing something in it or if he was reading it. It was for this reason that many people called him a “bookworm” and, coupled with the fact that he was a Nara, a “smarty-pants”. Kazuto, however, didn’t exactly praise himself on being a genius, sure he may be smart, but he knew that he was no where near as smart as a Nara should be. That was the problem with being a Nara. If anyone saw a Nara, they would automatically think “Oh, he’s a Nara? He must be a genius then”. Kazuto was yet to find someone who didn’t think that when he stated his name, it was tiring having to listen to people say how all Nara were super-smart. Didn’t they realize that every one was different, that you could have a failure of an Uchiha or an imbecile for a Nara or even a thin Akimichi? Just because the majority of the clan’s members possessed similar traits didn’t mean that the entire clan would have them too.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Kazuto looked up from his book and glanced around. He was surrounded by a crowd of people shopping or heading for lunch. The noise here was quite too much for anyone to actually read a book let alone think. Grimacing, Kazuto pocketed his book in his kunai pouch and headed for the place where he knew that he would be able to read his book in peace. He trotted over to a nearby building, grabbed its water pipe with one hand and swung himself onto its roof. He turned in the direction he wished to go and began running there, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, suing the most common and fastest method of travel for a common ninja. For a few minutes he continued leaping from building to building, leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the crowd of villagers.

A few minutes later he stopped, having reached his final destination. He was standing on the grass of one of the village’s parks, a small park that was close to the Hokage Mountain. A park was usually one of the best places to go for some peace and quiet. Kazuto scanned the park, searching for the tree that had the most shade. The park was relatively small compared to the village’s Public Park, but it was still an enjoyable place with trees scattered here and there on the grass, with several flowers and boulders present as well. Spotting a large tree, Kazuto made his way over to it, his feet crunching the springy green grass under his feet. He sat down onto the grass under the shade of the tree and rested his back against the tree trunk. Reaching into his kunai pouch, he took out his book, flicking it open to the desired page and began reading it. It was, surprisingly enough, not a medical book, rather a detective story. The title on the cover of the book was enough to convey that fact, a dramatic and questioning title that was in a way had nothing to do with the plot.

Shibito had been wondering, what had happened to the team, he had saw Kazuto and Sensei a few times around the village but had yet to see Ken. He thought he would see someone as loud as Ken around but no sign, maybe he had disappeared or maybe Shibito had just not seen him around. Shibito did not know and only cared because he needed a squad to enter the Chuunin exams, he had lost last time but now there were no psycopath killer air tubey ninja's around, at least he hoped not.

Shibito had not been out of his place for a while, he had been lazy and had just spent time playing with puppets and reading a few books, but now he was kind of bored so he decided to go out and explore the leaf village. Over his few years spent in the leaf village, he had spent some time exploring but not enough to of seen everywhere. He grabbed his puppet, grabbed his pouch, put on his hooded jumper and then headed out.

He ran across rooftops which was something he enjoyed doing and headed in the direction of the Hokage mountain because he had never payed a visit to that side of the village, it was on the opposite side of the village to his home. He got closer and he saw a small park and in that park, sitting beneath a tree was none other than Kazuto. Shibito saw he was reading so he walked up to him quietly and said, "Good book?"
He leaned against a tree facing where Kazuto was and watched the Nara.

Kazuto looked up from his book as he heard the sound of grass being crunched under feet. It was his fellow teammate, Shibito Daichi, wearing his hooded jumper and holding his puppet over his shoulder. Kazuto snapped the book shut and got to his feet as the boy spoke, asking him whether the book he was reading was interesting. “Why yes, as a matter of fact it is,” answered Kazuto, holding the book to Shibito so as to show him its cover and heading. “Three-Act Tragedy” were the small white words printed across the book’s black cover beneath the small image of three coffee cups. “It’s a mystery novel, a particularly interesting one if I might add,” said Kazuto with a grin, placing the book into his kunai pouch. He looked at Shibito closely, studying him. The fact that he was a human puppet still amazed Kazuto, it was as if every ninja had to be different than others in some way.

“Say, Shibito,” spoke Kazuto suddenly as he folded his arms and pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger, “you wouldn’t care to have a little spar, would you? I don’t believe we know anything about each other’s abilities, and that’s not a very good factor in teamwork, is it?” Kazuto tilted his head sideways as he smiled politely. In truth, he didn’t give a damn as to whether he worked well with his team, all he wanted was a way to know more about what the shinobi around him could do. Being well-informed on a situation was always satisfying.

(OOC: Sorry, in a hurry. Btw, the book's real XD)

Shibito looked at the book, Kazuto stated that it was a mystery novel. Shibito wondered if that would reveal something about his teammate, maybe he enjoyed to investigate things, analyze, figure them out. Shibito smiled back at Kazuto and then Kazuto asked if he would like a spar, to figure each other out to work better together. Shibito saw no harm in some sparring apart from his last spar ended in a fellow genin's death so he would need to hold back which held him at a disadvantage. Shibito replied "Fine by me, it will be a good learning experience for us and maybe we can figure out how our abilities may compliment each other."

Shibito saw something different in Kazuto than he showed but he could not put a finger on it, he had never been the most intelligent of ninja and he may just be being paranoid, his last team had shown who they were fully and that was not actually a good thing because one was an Uchiha and the other hated Uchiha. Shibito looked at Kazuto, he was a Nara which would probably mean he is of a higher intelligence to the normal ninja. Shibito figured he had ulterior motives for the sparring session but Shibito did not care, he just wanted to see what his partner was capable of and see which one was better in battle.

Shibito decided to start the fight immediately. He made hand signs and sank beneath the ground, this was the first move in a commonly used tactic of his which he enjoyed using, he used it a few times in the last chuunin exams and it worked sometimes and sometimes did not. To follow up, he attached strings to Tomoni, made them almost invisible, and had Tomoni shoot out a volley of senbon from its wrists at Kazuto. This would probably not damage Kazuto but it would be interesting to see what happened, Shibito could see through the eyes of his puppet through the chakra connecting him to Tomoni, it was a perk of having advanced understanding of puppets but it did require some concentration.

Jutsu used:

Spoiler:

(OOC: Sorry for the wait, exams and school, you know how it is.)

Kazuto grinned as Shibito agreed to the fight, having more-or-less the same excuse for a spar as Kazuto. Kazuto backed a few paces so as to put a suitable distance between him and Shibito. Of course, for someone like him, close-range was best since the closer he was, the easier it would be for him to trap his opponent in his shadow. But he didn’t want the fight to end so quickly. He wanted to learn as much about the human puppet standing before him as he could, how many ninja were human puppets in the world? It could almost be considered an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Kazuto noticed Shibito watching him closely for a second as if he was having some thoughts about Kazuto. He’d better not be assuming that I’m a genius, thought Kazuto grimly, getting into a defensive stance. If he had a dime for how many times someone thought he was a typical Nara genius, he’d be a millionaire by now. It was one of the reasons why being a Nara pissed Kazuto off. Really, you were born in a clan with a special trait, and suddenly you’re branded for life by people assuming you had that trait.

Pulling himself free from his thoughts, Kazuto steadied himself in his stance, his right hand casually shifting towards his kunai pouch and pulling out a kunai. He twirled his index through the knife’s ring before grabbing it firmly. At the same moment, Shibito formed a few handsigns and sank into the earth. Kazuto, a Doton user himself, almost laughed in pleasure. How perfect. It would be like comparing his own skills to see just how good they were. Quick as a flash, Kazuto formed a series of handsigns which caused the earth beside him to bulge up and shape itself to mimic his appearance. The Tsuchi Bunshin copied Kazuto’s stance as it formed. His handsign speed was so fast that by the time Shibito’s puppet had straightened up and had fired its needles at Kazuto, the Tsuchi Bunshin was already formed.

Kazuto’s face broke into a grin as he brought his hands up and deflected the oncoming senbon with the metal plates at the back of his gloved hands, at the same time dodging the ones he couldn’t block with the skill and quickness of a Medical Ninja. He was lucky that he had such quick reflexes thanks to his Medical training. Of course, he wasn’t perfect, and that was why two senbon managed to nick his arms as he dodged. Once the volley of senbon had ended, Kazuto took his chance. He sent his Tsuchi Bunshin forward to distract the puppet and hopefully draw Shibito’s attention away from him. The Tsuchi Bunshin had thrown its kunai along with a trio of senbon at the puppet to draw its attention away from the real Kazuto before accumulating chakra to its feet and jumping a considerable distance away from the real Kazuto with the aid of the extra force provided by the chakra at its feet. It was a common move for a ninja, and a ninja with good chakra control could pull it off even better.

As the Tsuchi Bunshin had charged towards Shibito’s puppet, the real Kazuto had quickly performed a few more handsigns which he had completed in less than a second before he had slammed his palm onto the ground beneath him. “Doton, Retsudo Tenshou!” he cried. The earth around him began to twist and churn. If Shibito remained underground for even a second longer, he would be crushed by the force of the shifting rocks. Even if he was a puppet, his framework should still be damaged greatly. Now let’s see how he gets out of this one, thought Kazuto with a malicious smile.

Spoiler:

Shibito grinned as he managed to get Kazuto, if even slightly. He watched as Kazuto made a earth clone and thought 'Just great, out of all available elements and he had to have the same as me. This could be trouble.'
Kazuto had his clone throw kunai and senbon at his puppet, Tomoni blocked the weaponry with it's arms and the weapons remained lodged in it's arms which was not good, he had Tomoni pull out the weapons, he needed to arms to keep safe. When he looked again, the clone had leapt towards Tomoni using chakra to leap further than normal. He then noticed the earth begin to move and knew that he should move quickly. He burst out of the ground just as the area he had been lying in had been crushed. He then knew that this could get difficult, he was proving already that he could to do some damage to Shibito.

Shibito leapt back and onto a tree and said to Kazuto "Nice move there, almost had me. looks like you already got my puppet."
Shibito looked at his puppet and saw it was now in a pile, he frowned a little, this happened in every fight of his; he would get distracted and lose Tomoni early on in a fight and he had yet to have it not happen in a battle, he was suprised that he had not figured out a counter yet and was quite annoyed that he had to watch his prized possession be broken time and time again. He looked at his opponent, he had seemed quite eager about this battle and Shibito always enjoyed a good fight.

He pulled Tomoni to him using strings, he noticed that both arms would not connect and knew that he would not be of much more use in this fight but he had a plan for his next move. He and Tomoni leapt down, both standing facing each other and surrounding Kazuto and his clone. They then both spat out poison gas bombs in a wide arc to make sure they covered a good amount of ground to make it harder for Kazuto to leave. They then began to run in a clockwise circle at a high speed and then Shibito began firing senbon out of his fingers at Kazuto while tomoni kept seeping out gas, this would not harm Shibito in the slightest and if Kazuto got hurt then Shibito would rush him off to the hospital, he thought to himself that he really should carry an antidote and then thought to himself that he would if he knew how to make antidotes, he could only make poison bombs, not even normal liquid poison.

Shibito had stopped firing senbon and leapt back after 7 seconds and he had Tomoni lie down behind a tree, he was going home with Tomoni in relatively good condition and Tomoni would only get in the way now. He then waited for the gas cloud to disperse, he had kept several senbon in his arms just in case Kazuto made it out of the gas cloud and he still had other tricks up his sleeve. He smiled, he was enjoying this and had an idea that this would end better than his last spar.

Spoiler:

Shibito had survived Kazuto’s attack, which the latter was pleased to see. He wouldn’t want to be held responsible for severely wounding a fellow shinobi of Konoha, the resulting events would be far too tiresome to deal with. Shibito had leaped out of the ground and into a tree, thereby saving himself from being broken apart. His puppet, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be as lucky: its arms seemed to be incapable of connecting back to its body, something which Shibito attempted to do after praising Kazuto’s previous move. Kazuto’s mouth formed into a half-grin as his Tsuchi Bunshin landed beside him. He had managed to damage Shibito’s puppet, not exactly his aim, but still, it was good enough.

Kazuto’s grip on his kunai tightened and the Tsuchi Bunshin beside him did the same. He had gotten Shibito out from his hidey-hole, now all he had to do was render him useless. It would be a much easier job considering he was a puppet and not organic. Slicing of a limb shouldn’t cause him any pain. He could repair himself anytime. Kazuto smirked as these thoughts passed through his mind. Really, his personality surprised even him sometimes.

All of a sudden, Shibito and his puppet had lunged at Kazuto and his Tsuchi Bunshin and were now surrounding the, if you could call it surrounding. Kazuto glanced around, grinning. ”I suppose you’re going to try something comical like sticking a senbon up my butt?” he mocked, turning to face Shibito as his Tsuchi Bunshin turned to face the puppet. All of a sudden, a dark purple cloud of gas began to issue from both Shibito’s and the puppet’s mouths. Kazuto, not waiting to see what type of gas it was, reached instinctively into his kunai pouch and extracted a small breathing apparatus which he called the Breath Mask and placed it onto his face in front of his mouth and nose. Whatever effect the gas had, it clearly had to be inhaled for those effects to occur, but if Kazuto wasn’t breathing from the air, he was safe. His Tsuchi Bunshin, having done the same thing he had done, once again copied his original by using Doton no Jutsu to retreat underground just as a barrage of needles whizzed past their heads from Shibito’s direction. The cloud of gas engulfing Kazuto and his Bunshin would no doubt mean that their descent into the earth would go unnoticed by Shibito.

Both Kazutos, now underground, then began their move. The Tsuchi Bunshin headed for the spot where the puppet would most likely be. He would get underneath it and would then extend his hands out of the ground and place a few explosive tags on its legs. Almost immediately it would denote them to cause an explosion that would surely break the puppet apart as well as destroy the Tsuchi Bunshin in the process. The cloud of gas between Shibito and his puppet should make it nearly impossible for Shibito to see this, and anyways even if he could see his puppet, he wouldn’t have time to react due to the real Kazuto’s actions.

And what was the real Kazuto doing you might ask? After heading for where he thought Shibito would be, Kazuto would proceed to get underneath Shibito, but he would not do what his Bunshin would do. No, he would then launch a two snakes from his arm that would erupt out of the ground from under Shibito’s feet and would bind him before he knew it. This distraction would ensure that Shibito would be too busy to save his puppet from exploding.

(OOC: All this will occur in the 7 seconds while you’re firing your senbon.)

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

As the gas was clearing, everything was becoming more clear. He had not hit and had gave his opponent time to make a move. He was waiting for the gas to clear and he thought he could hear the ground shifting, it made sense because Kazuto was earth aligned. He moved back a bit because he was getting worried when suddenly two snakes erupted from the ground and grabbed him by the legs and he could not move. 'Damn, he got me.' Shibito thought with a grin. The grin then disappeared quickly when he heard the explosion 'Tomoni! Crap, I hope it is still in enough condition to salvage. Damnit, this guy is good but not good enough to defeat me, I know that much.

Shibito put his palms facing the snakes and then he activated his flamethrowers and covered the snakes in flame, his legs got burnt but he had built them more flameproof after they had been destroyed, as well as most of the rest of his body, by the forest fire, partly of his creation, which burnt down part of the forest of death. He then followed it up by pulling out two explosive kunai from his pockets and then after making handsigns, he sank his hands through the ground and then pulled them out, leaving the two kunai. He leapt back and activated the explosive kunai and watched as the ground exploded and rubble flew everywhere. He then thought of something, 'Oh no, this is a park and I just blew a hole out of it, damnit! I'm gonna pay for that.'

Shibito then saw his puppet as the rubble cleared and his gas had left and saw pile of burnt wood and metal, his puppet was quite destroyed. Shibito then jumped up into a tree and waited for Kazuto to emerge. Even though he would be out of money for a while paying for park repairments and puppet parts, he was enjoying this anyway and was wanting Kazuto to pull off something truely dangerous that would make Shibito put his skills to full use.

Spoiler:

For some odd reason, his snakes had decided to bind Shibito’s legs rather than his whole body as Kazuto had intended, and it was because of this that he felt no remorse as he heard the snakes being set on fire. The burning snakes released their grip on Shibito and slithered away as the human puppet’s arms dug into the ground leaving behind a pair of explosive tagged kunai. Kazuto, being underground, couldn’t exactly use any of his defensive jutsu to protect himself, so he decided that he would make his snakes pay for their failure. As the tags lit and were about to explode, Kazuto’s body was replaced by the burning snakes that Shibito had set alight. The tags exploded causing the earth in their blast radius to burst upward from the force of the blast. The explosion had mercifully saved the snakes from the pain of being burnt alive.

Kazuto, having used Kawarami to switch places with the snakes, now appeared directly behind Shibito and, before the human puppet could react, swung his arm at him in a quick horizontal slice aimed at his waist. If Shibito was observant enough, he would be able to see the glow of chakra around Kazuto's hand as it sailed to his waist. If the attack managed to hit him, Shibito would hopefully be sliced neatly in half or at least greatly damaged, but just in case this didn’t work, Kazuto had a back-up plan. As he was swinging his hand at Shibito, Kazuto’s other hand was attempting to attach a pair of explosive pouches to Shibito’s back. If his first attack failed, then Kazuto would get some distance from Shibito using Shunshin and would then detonate the pouches, blowing the human puppet’s back apart. The reason as to why he was using an explosive pouch rather than an explosive tag was to ensure that Shibito was not killed by the explosion, since the pouches only caused a small explosion compared to a tag.

(OOC: Just so you know, technically I should be able to slice you with Chakra no Mesa since Kabuto used it to cut Yamato's Wood Sasori in the manga, and you are made of wood, aren't you?)

Spoiler:

Shibito looked into the rubble and saw nothing, he had not really expected to though, he just hoped to show Kazuto he was serious. He then turned to face Kazuto swinging at him with what appeared to be a chakra surrounded hand. Shibito tried to move back but not well enough, he managed to avoid being chopped in half but the hand still cut through his waist leaving only a thin bit at the back holding him together, luckily nothing important was kept in his waist but a few centimetres higher and he would of covered Kazuto in oil, he had a reserve of fuel in his stomach area to fuel his flamethrower. Splinters flew around and Shibito fell to the ground, this reminded him of his fight with Cyrus, he had been left in a condition worse than this but still had no control over his legs. In fact, two of his fights had ended with him having no ability to walk, he was not lucky in keeping limbs or being able to walk after battles because he maybe fought too hard and payed for it.

That fall actually seemed lucky as Kazuto missed attaching pouches to his back, Shibito had no idea what was in the pouches, probably explosives, but he did not want to find out. Shibito lifted his arms, his finger opened up, and he shot out a few senbon towards the pouches which would hopefully send them flying into a tree. After that he said "Right, I'm done. All I can do now is toast you with flamethrowers or hit you with a wall and to be honest, neither are very nice and I think we both know who won this one, I mean I can't even walk anymore."
Shibito lay back and looked to the clouds, he was feeling quite happy, one reason was because if he was still fully human then he would be a retired or dead ninja by now. Another reason was because this fight had been good and had not ended with grievous bodily harm or death. Then again the fight may not be over, maybe Kazuto would like to fight more in which case Shibito was ready but he would not be able to move well, only dig through the ground and hide behind walls.

Kazuto’s attack had been a success, sort of. He had not managed to chop Shibito completely in half, though he had succeeded in cutting most of his body in half. His explosive pouches, however, had not managed to attach to Shibito due to the human puppet’s extreme luck at having fallen off the branch, thereby causing Kazuto to miss his mark. The senbon that had been launched from Shibito’s fingers at the pouches missed their mark on account of Kazuto pulling them away just in time. He didn’t want them to explode in his face. The senbon hit a branch above Kazuto and dug into the soft wood as Shibito surrendered the fight to Kazuto. Kazuto dropped to the ground in front of Shibito, his expression blank.

He was disappointed that the fight had ended so suddenly, he had been hoping for Shibito to pull of some amazing stunt to dodge his last attack. Kazuto had not been injured greatly at all, save the few light cuts he had received from Shibito’s senbon, all of which he could heal with ease. Very disappointing indeed. He bit back the desire to add insult to injury by informing Shibito how weak he seemed to Kazuto. Why unnecessarily make the human puppet hold a grudge against Kazuto?

“Well, Shibito," he began as he pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger, a smile playing across his face. “Seeing as I’m the one responsible for getting you into this situation, how ‘bout I help you out by taking you to your house?” Kazuto formed a few handsigns and the earth beside him rose up like before to form a Tsuchi Bunshin, who took his position at Shibito’s head. The real Kazuto raised his arm and pointed it at Shibito’s cut waist. A snake slithered out from Kazuto’s sleeve and wrapped itself securely around Shibito’s waist, holding the two sections together. Kazuto looked over at his Tsuchi Bunshin and nodded to it. Simultaneously, they both bent down ad grabbed the base of Shibito’s limbs, hoisting him up from the ground. “Just tell us where to go, Shibito,” said the real Kazuto lightly as they began their walk to Shibito’s residence.

Spoiler:

Shibito had missed shooting the pouches as Kazuto pulled them out of the way, Shibito had planned that as the final thing in the battle and felt sad he had missed, he now looked foolish. Kazuto came down to him and he gave this smile which slightly annoyed Shibito, he was proud of beating Shibito and was trying to subtly show it. Shibito gave a tired, light grin at Kazuto in return and then noticed that Kazuto was helping him. He made a snake wrap around Shibito's waist and then him and a clone picked Shibito up and asked him where to go to reach his house. Shibito said "It is north east from here at the wall right next to the south west guard tower, it is easy to recognise as it looks more run down than the other places around it, the windows are boarded up and the door has a large crack in it."

As Shibito was being carried towards his home he began to think 'Well, that went badly, every opponent I face seems to be very good at evading all my attacks or just blasting through them and into me with dangerous force. Argh, I need to toughen up so I can become truly strong and not have to put up with being carried back to my place in pieces.'
Shibito then said to Kazuto "First off, you're lucky that I don't weigh much and second I want to say, you are a strong fighter because you think and then make your move, I can't do that as well as you and that is why I never made it to the finals of the chuunin exams, eliminated in the second round. What I'm trying to say is that I'm happy that I will get to work with you so maybe we can share our strengths and each become better ninja, I could learn how to put my head to better use in battle and you could learn to- well I'm not sure what I have to offer, guess we will both find out together. Hahaha."
Shibito knew they were nearing his place and thought that hopefully before they reached it that Kazuto would maybe talk back and offer Shibito a little look into his personality and background, he wanted to know this ninja and talking after a bonding experience like a spar was a good way to get him to talk.

With the efficiency of a 5 star hotel, Kazuto and his Tsuchi Bunshin began heading to Shibito’s house following the directions he had given. As they walked with quick paces, the real Kazuto listened to Shibito as he complemented Kazuto on his fighting and spoke about how he himself was not very good at doing “thinking before acting”, as Kazuto liked to say. Kazuto was surprised to hear that Shibito had taken part in the Chuunin Exam and had made it to the Second Round. He, Kazuto, had made it to the semi-finals of the last Chuunin Exams he had taken, but his lack of a motive led him to forfeiting the match, and he had apparently been incapable of showing “the skills worthy of a Chuunin”, hence why he was stuck as a Genin. And here, Shibito had failed his Chuunin Exams as well. They both knew the shame of failing those Exams; they both no doubt felt a tinge of regret that they had not won.

Kazuto gave a grin as he heard Shibito saying that he was glad to have Kazuto on the same team as himself, that he hoped they would be able to help each other become better ninja than they were currently. “Well, Shibito, from what I can gather, you’re one of those people who believe that not everyone is gifted enough to think out a move and win using braisn and not brawn,” said Kazuto. “That, my friend, is incorrect. Everyone is born with enough intelligence to think something through, yes some people are better at it, but it doesn’t mean that only a select few can win by using their brains. Everyone can, all you need to do is be confident in yourself to do it and never worry that you’re not as smart as someone else. Sometimes being a genius can be a bad thing, remember. Believe it or not, but I’m actually considered to be a regular mind among my clan, perhaps it’s because I suck at Shougi.” He paused for a moment while he seemed to ponder this thought. The Tsuchi Bunshin stifled a laugh as he heard this.

They were now nearing Shibito’s house, and Kazuto was glad. With some difficulty, the Tsuchi Bunshin at the front opened the door of the house and they both entered and examined the rooms until they found Shibito’s bedroom, where they lay the human puppet on the bed. The Tsuchi Bunshin gave a wave then leaped out of the window, from where he dissolved back into mud. The real Kazuto turned to Shibito and raised his arms towards the snake, which slithered back up his sleeve. “You know, I’m surprised you haven’t asked me about my snakes. Almost everyone who sees them wonders about them. I myself find them fascinating creatures. Their poisonous capabilities are a fitting match for my Medical skills. Woops, I shouldn’t have said that.” He flexed his arm a little, cursing himself in his mind. After so many years of keeping his skills a secret from anyone who didn’t know him, and he had to go and blurt it out to someone who he might end up fighting again in the future. He would’ve kicked himself if he could.

“Anyway, you need any help fixing yourself?”

Shibito was listening to the words of his partner and he thought about what was said, he knew that Kazuto spoke the truth as he said what he did about everyone being able to think things through. Shibito could think things through at times but he was more of a spur of the moment person. He liked Kazuto for some reason, he seemed decent and he was good to talk to, he could raise someones spirits. Kazuto mentioned that he was conisdered a regular mind in his clan, Shibito was suprised at the comment but then he saw something from it. He said to Kazuto "Well maybe you're not a genius in the clan but you have something else, more special, you have wisdom and I believe that wisdom beats intelligence."

When they reached his house, Kazuto brought Shibito in and placed him on his bed and Shibito looked towards Kazuto. Kazuto then spoke some more about himself, he revealed that most people asked about the snakes he had and that their poison aided his medical abilities. Shibito thought to remember that and when he was asked if he needed help fixing himself, he replied "No thank you, I've been repairing myself for years now, kind of got good at it. As for your snakes, I just saw them as an extension of who you are, sort of like my puppet. I don't take much of an interest in animals though so the thought of asking about them never really crossed my mind. So thank you for the spar and getting me back here and I'll see you around."
Shibito then grabbed some puppet parts from his nightstand and got to work rebuilding Tomoni.

Kazuto nodded as Shibito told him he could handle his repairs. “Well, hope to see you around, Shibito,” he said with a friendly smile, then back-flipped out of the same window his Tsuchi Bunshin had jumped out of. Landing on the ground in a frog-like stance, Kazuto straightened up and began walking away from Shibito’s house, his mind full of thoughts. The friendly look that had been on his face moments ago had been replaced by a cold, calculating look.

It had been a strange event for him. While he had managed to manipulate Shibito enough to learn more about him, he felt it a little odd that he was not worried about Shibito having learned so much about him too. What was the reason for this? Was it trust in a fellow ninja of the same village, that because Kazuto had learnt about Shibito that it would be fair for Shibito to know about him as well? Kazuto stopped and looked up from his thoughts. Yes, the village’s feelings were in abundant too. “Trust your fellow shinobi, treat them as a part of your body, as a part of your soul,” his father always said to him. Kazuto grimaced. What idiocy. Trusting everyone led to your demise, anyone with half a brain could tell you that.

He continued his walk home, thinking about all he had learned from this fight. Indeed, there was much to think about.

(Topic Closed)