A spar between rivals

Hiroji over the past few weeks had improved substantially as a ninja, he could feel his reflexes and strength increasing to over peak performance, compared to a few weeks ago to how he was just a normal-strength kid with barely any decent jutsu, and now he has a fair amount of ninjutsu under his arsenal now. He constantly compared himself to Akihiro and realised that he technially lost to the Uchiha two times now, the first time is a friendly spar between them when they had very few jutsu and only their tools and such to rely on, which he lost. The second time was a simple competiton between them in a previous mission of delivering parcels, to which the Uchiha locked the Senju boy into a genjutsu. He took Akihiro's Genjutsu into mind and learned a new trick from his father in order to combat the Uchiha's deadly genjutsu.

With the right jutsu to counter him and with the deadly up-close Taijutsu and Ninjutsu to back him up now, he believes that in a proper match, he isn't going to lose against Akihiro this time around. He invited Akihiro up to the training grounds for a simple training session, when in reality he wanted to spar Akihiro and get a win out of it. He revised the Genjutsu Kai however and performed the handseal, which was instantly nullified as he technically wasn't in a Genjutsu right now, but when he would be put in one against Akihiro, he'd be ready for it this time.

Learned - Genjutsu Kai

Akihiro was finally arriving at the training grounds. He was once again late this time because he'd forgotten to do the dishes and his parent's wouldn't allow him to go out and practice deadly combat techniques until he was done with his house chores. Ah, the typical journey of a twelve-year-old in a world of ninjas! Alas he was finally here. Unlike Hiroji, Akihiro hadn't had a lot of time to practice his Ninjutsu or even his Genjutsu skills. Most of his time had been spent studying tactical combat and battle formations. He believed this was one of the best ways he could be useful to his team. Akihiro had been gifted with a well above average academic mind and while he knew he should train ninjutsu as well he had been focused on his studies.

His mind knew of course that he was on a practical disadvantage during this match. While the two of them had been roughly equals during their last spar this time Hiroji had clearly prepared himself and Akihiro could see that preparation reflected in the look of confidence in his face. But there wasn't much the young Uchiha could do about this. Hiroji had trained and he didn't, simple as that. All he could do was rise up to the challenge and face the situation as well as he could...Akihiro definitely wasn't going to back down now. If he lost this one, then their score would technically be even...and if he managed to somehow win then he had reasons to be proud! What mattered however wasn't the result of battle...it was what each of them would learn from it. Last time Akihiro had learned quite a lot...how much would he learn now?

"Heyo~" Akihiro greeted his friend, with his usual warm smile.

Hiroji gave a simple wave to Akihiro when he came by, followed by grabbing a shuriken from his right leg holster, giving the suggestion that he was about to throw it at Akihiro at first, he instead threw it towards a tree trunk, landing it at the tree with clear precision. He smiled at the result as a few weeks ago, he wasn't capable of landing such a perfect shuriken hit. "The missions we've been doing... I thought they were just simple chores but I realise now why they really give Genin missions like that, why the descriptions can be misleading sometimes." he'd continue to talk as he walked over to the tree, plucking out the shuriken out of the wood and planting it firmly back into his holster. "They were still dangerous in their own ways, to prepare ninja for both dangerous and non-dangerous situations despite how mundane they can be, to be ready and adaptable for any situation. I can feel the experience of those missions just riveting in me." Hiroji felt completely sure of himself with how far he's come.

He prepared a fighting stance, seemingly ready as ever to start the fated match between them. "I'm ready for you this time around, you won't get me with your wind-infused shuriken and that Genjutsu this time around." he was awfully confident in himself as previously stated, but it's clear he didn't have the patience for much chit-chat and was impatient to get this match underway, as it felt personal to him to even out the score between them as rivals.

Akihiro smiled. Of course they both understood the importance of the missions they had been doing. And while "Feeding the ox" may have benefited from the word "giant" somewhere there in between, the Genin was fully aware that their training bore fruits. It always did, they were the youngest generation of shinobi in the Leaf Village and they all had to do this kind of work. It was rewarding in its own way, despite being sometimes boring. Hiroji seemed incredibly confident and he had a reason to be so.

Akihiro's eyes followed the shuriken he threw towards the tree trunk. It was flawlessly aimed, much like the ones the young Uchiha controlled with his wind jutsu. It was clear Hiroji was going to be up to the task this time, and it would probably be even harder to catch him off guard with a Genjutsu again. Akihiro tilted his head to the side a little when Hiroji stated just that. "You're severely underestimating me. Again." he smirked. Despite being at a huge disadvantage Akihiro felt confident as well. He was also preying on Hiroji's overconfidence and need to prove himself to his rival. A battle isn't first won on the battlefield but rather on the enemy's mind and Akihiro knew that very well. Hiroji was faster, stronger and more durable than him. The Senju had a bigger arsenal as well, but Akihiro held his own weapons. "Come, I'll show you just how terrifying I can be."

Akihiro assumed the traditional duel stance once again. His right hand near his chest with half a hand-tiger seal formed. He would wait for Hiroji to assume his own stance and their duel would begin.

He gave a half-tiger seal as well to begin the duel, with his hands instantly forming away from the half-tiger seal and then into the monkey seal, forcing Hiroji's head to pull back and then back forward with a pellet-sized rock coming out of his mouth, which expanded into a boulder at an extremely fast speed heading straight for Akihiro. He didn't know if he was going too far with that jutsu or really kicking it off too fast, but he wasn't planning to take it easy with Akihiro as while Hiroji is pretty proud of his ability set now, he's not going to underestimate or take Akihiro easily this time around. He made that mistake once the first time they sparred, it wasn't a mistake he's planning to repeat.

Used: Earth Style: Stone Pistol Technique

Akihiro knew Hiroji was prepared to deal with his Genjutsu and he suspected he wasn't going to go easy on the Uchiha. He had his suspicions confirmed once Hiroji started off with his first jutsu. Akihiro knew the Senju was a versatile Doton user and he assumed the jutsu was going to be an Earth Release one. So he felt kind of off-put when Hiroji moved in a way that seemed like he was going to spew something out. It was strange...until Akihiro remembered. There weren't many Doton techniques that were spewed out from one's mouth. In fact, he only knew about one of them: Earth Release: Stone Pistol technique. It was a pretty strong and fast moving Doton jutsu so Akihiro had to deal with it quickly.

His answer was one of the strongest C-ranked Wind Release techniques. Knowing what was about to come, Akihiro quickly gathered chakra in his arm and waved it, slashing at the air while he released the Fuuton natured chakra. The result was a phenomenal jutsu called Wind Release: Slash. It didn't require a single hand-seal and it was powerful enough to slash his opponent's boulder and reduce it to little more than pebbles which went out of Akihiro's way. Additionally, after slashing the boulder the wind release technique went on towards Hiroji to slash him as well. It would certainly surprise the Senju to see one of his fastest techniques destroyed like that and Akihiro was certainly going to take advantage of that surprise factor.

As he sent the slash through the boulder and towards Hiroji, Akihiro used his free hand to wave a few hand-seals and prepared another one of his techniques.


250ish words typed out of 150 required.

Learned and Used:

As soon as Hiroji saw his large boulder getting destroyed, Hiroji quickly dived into the ground among all the chaos and as soon as he did, the hole he dug and jumped into seemingly went back into place, as if Hiroji had never dug into the earth in the first place, disappearing completely out of Akihiro's sight and effectively getting out of the course of his wind jutsu. He decided to surprise Akihiro with a new B-Ranked jutsu he learned a bit ago, and that's the shadow clone jutsu. Hiroji summoned about three clones with enough chakra to help them keep the upcost of the Mole technique going, and while Hiroji hid back underground, the clones used the magnetic forces to determine the location of Akihiro on the surface.

Suddenly, at whatever location Akihiro is at, three clones would pop out of the ground surrounding Akihiro in a triangle like formation, each in the air as all three aimed for their fists to land against Akihiro. Hiroji decided to "test" the waters after seeing that wind technique Akihiro used, and wanted to see what else the Uchiha had in his arsenal.

Used: Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique
Shadow Clone Technique

Akihiro could clearly see Hiroji sink into the ground as his boulder was crushed and the Uchiha's wind blade technique went towards him. He was quick to escape it seemed, but this was nothing Akihiro hadn't seen before. Hiroji sinking underground was one of his most common techniques and while this jutsu was much more refined than the last one he'd seen Hiroji use, it ultimately was the same thing. "Using old tricks heh?" Akihiro muttered. The battlefield had sudden gone quiet and he focused to see where the next attack would come from. Of course, Akihiro expected Hiroji to emerge from the ground as he usually did, but this time the Senju had prepared something slightly different. Akihiro's eyes opened wide due to the surprise of three Kage Bunshin emerging from the ground. He assumed they were Kage Bunshin because the three of them seemed more than prepared to attack him...and even if they weren't shadow clones Akihiro wasn't going to risk it.

By reflex, he used a very simple technique he had previously trained. Akihiro himself had come up with this one in order to make up for his short height. Ninja Art: Quick Jump was the name of the jutsu. The young sparrow focused chakra on his feet and jumped upwards just as the clones were moving in on him. He jumped and now had the three clones right below him. The hand-seals he had formed earlier were to prepare this next technique. He hadn't been planning on using it like this but Akihiro was left with no choice. With the clones well below him, he released yet another powerful C-ranked Ninjutsu towards the ground below. The Wind Release: Great Breakthrough was an incredibly wide ninjutsu with the power to tear out large trees from their roots. When shot from above it would force the Kage bunshin to hit the ground and the wind pressure alone would be enough to dispell them. Additionally, the ground itself would sink a little bit, tightening Hiroji down there and hopefully forcing him to come up. After firing off the jutsu Akihiro would land on a tree branch and make another set of hand-seals: he was preparing yet another jutsu. Hiroji could throw Kage Bunshin at him all day, but if he didn't come up soon Akihiro would raze the battlefield until he did.

400 words typed. 150 needed for custom D-rank and 150 needed for canon C-rank

Jutsu learned and used:

Thanks to the magnetic forces that allowed him to sense the surface, he could feel the ground being pierced and luckily, Hiroji was quick enough to dodge the tornado that would've forced him to go out, as he was already deep in the ground to begin with. Hiroji felt the experience of the clones pain before they were dispersed, feeling the effects of the nasty, nasty jutsu that Akihiro had launched up there. Hiroji used yet another shadow clone to test out a new technique he's been getting the hang of, if Hiroji couldn't use the Earth to win against Akihiro, he would use his other element to win this fight. Soon enough, the shadow clone popped out of the earth but this time, already came prepared with a snake handseal, with a momentous amount of water coming out of the clones mouth and surging out violent waves towards Akihiro, with the shadow clone clearly and visibly seen riding the waves.

This wasn't a jutsu Hiroji would normally use lightly as using it the village would obviously be disastrous, considering the sheer size of the jutsu and the violent waves that came with it. Hiroji wanted to see the look on Akihiro's face at the mere sight of this new jutsu, but like he planned earlier, he wasn't planning for overconfidence to be his downfall.

Learned and Used: Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave

Hiroji's tactic of sending Shadow Clones to do his risky work for him had become too predictable. Akihiro was too smart to fall for the same trick twice and from his height vantage position, he was prepared to absolutely counter any shadow clone that emerged from the ground. The technique Akihiro had prepared was one of his most powerful- if not the most powerful, Fuuton technique in his arsenal. It would certainly force Hiroji out of his hole, Akihiro was sure of it.

"Hold it...Hold it..." Akihiro carefully waited for Hiroji's attack. "Now!"He quickly noticed the pattern in his movements and was about ready to counter it as long as he kept on using Shadow Clones to do his job. And of course, he eventually did. A bit before the shadow clone emerged from the ground, Akihiro jumped from the tree where he was standing and while right there up in the air he released Wind Release: Pressure Damage perpendicularly to the ground just as the clone emerged.

The clone had used some sort of Suiton against him but Akihiro had 3 factors in his favor: The first one was gravity. The clone had to shoot his jutsu upwards towards him while Akihiro needed only to shoot downwards. The second one was the general aiming of the technique. Akihiro sort of guessed when and where the clone was going to emerge from and he had a very wide technique to aim- even if the missile was off by 20 meters it would still cause heavy damage. The missile was only off by a mere 4 meters and it was so because Akihiro wanted it to be off. The final factor was the jutsu's speed. Pressure Damage was naturally faster than Hiroji's suiton and when aided by gravity this difference only increased.

So before the Suiton jutsu could reach him, the Wind Release: Pressure Damage missile hit the ground next to the clone and exploded. It exploded in a 100 meters diameter razing everything in its path. Trees were blown off the ground, the ground itself dug up by sheer pressure and a potentially 50 meters deep and 100 meters diameter large hole was created. Depending on the soil composition the hole could be less deep, but even half that would do the job. The shadow clone would certainly have been dispersed by this technique and Hiroji would most likely be damaged from it. If the clone had seen the missile, it was when it was already close to the ground- and it would be too late for Hiroji to counter it once the clone dispelled from the pressure damage. And the Senju would not be able to sense the missile until it hit the ground, so the whole explosion would probably catch him by surprise- it was easy to feel untouchable deep down underground.

Of course, this also blew Akihiro upwards. But because he had nothing to it aside from air and also because he was more distant from the center of the explosion, the damage was kept to quite a minimum. The only danger was the fall, since Akihiro had risen 100 meters up in the air. Luckily he knew the Quick Jump wind release, which had precisely the purpose to avoid deadly falls. Akihiro could create small platforms beneath his feet and slowly approach the ground. Meter by meter. He would land eventually, assuming it was safe.

Used:
1/3 Precognition saves, B-rank Int perk

Learned Pressure Damage B-rank 558/200 words
Name: Wind Release: Pressure Damage
Rank: B
Activation Cost: 10
Range: 100 m.
Speed: B+
Element: Wind
Skill: Ninjutsu
Classification: N/A
Requirements: N/A
Parent Technique: N/A
Hand Seals: Ram
Description: A powerful wind technique where a tornado-like mass is compressed until it has a very high density and is then released. The wind pressure is raised to its highest limit, and once the technique hits the target, the resulting blast sweeps everyone off their feet. When the user casts this technique it grows into a 100 m. diameter vortex.
Weaknesses: N/A

With each second passing, Hiroji would've slowly made himself go deeper and deeper into the ground, at the cost of not sensing the surface anymore, however when he could feel his clone being obliterated and seeing the experience of the clone of his Suiton jutsu being nullified by the Uchiha's own Wind jutsu, Hiroji had some sense thanks to the clone of a dangerous attack incoming but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the full outcome of the damage, with the hole slightly forcing Hiroji to come out and damaging the earth all around, nullifying Hiroji's own jutsu as he was forced to get out of the ground and received some considerable damage from the jutsu, another factor that didn't help is that the large body of water started to fill up the massive hole from Hiroji's suiton technique. Before the water completely swarmed and blocked the view of what's happening inside the hole, Hiroji used his mole technique once more, but as soon as he could sense the majority of the water filling up the hole, as soon as he opened up the earth, he used the Hiding in Water technique to merge himself with the water.

Hiroji would remain a bit passive this round, as his shape merged with the water and unless Akihiro had some type of jutsu to sense him, which he wouldn't have and as far as he knew, Akihiro didn't unlock his sharingan yet so for all Akihiro knew, the waves simply consumed Hiroji inside the hole and Akihiro had no way of sensing otherwise. Hiroji was slightly injured from the previous attack however as to why he's playing it safe now, but he's hoping to think up of a plan before exiting the water and get him in a surprise attack.

Used: Hide like a Mole Technique
Hiding in Water Technique

Something felt wrong. The whole battlefield had grown way too quiet but Akihiro knew his opponent wasn't defeated yet. The old Hiroji was easily defeated but this one required a bit more effort to put down and certainly a lot more firepower.  Pressure Damage certainly would have damaged him but it probably wasn't enough. As he descended into a landing, Akihiro did several backflips and other acrobatics which were easy to do once he was in the air or free falling. This happened while Hiroji was busy dealing with water down in the hole he had created so Akihiro was easily able to scan the area from above to see where Hiroji was...not that he found him tho. Akihiro was growing tired of Hiroji's run away tactics. It was time to pull one of his major cards from the deck and use it properly. The Uchiha extended his chakra from above and placed an incredibly powerful illusion in the area. The fact that this jutsu required absolutely no hand-seals made it incredibly handy because Hiroji would have no reason to suspect anything. In fact, this jutsu would barely make itself noticeable.

The first thing that happened after casting this jutsu was that Akihiro landed. But he wouldn't land where Hiroji saw him landing. This powerful Genjutsu allowed Akihiro to change Hiroji's perceptions of his surroundings. By using this method Akihiro made it look like he had landed about 15 meters away from where he had actually landed. Hiroji would then see an Akihiro illusion landing on the battlefield covered in dirt and visibly wounded by his own jutsu. The illusion wouldn't do anything else for now. Akihiro had used the False Surroundings technique before, but this one was different.

This one was the Double False Surroundings. Even if Hiroji somehow managed to guess he was in an illusion and broke free from it, another illusion would immediately trigger to reveal a perfectly healthy Akihiro seemingly laying in an ambush a few meters away from the first illusion.

Meanwhile, the real Akihiro was making a set of handseals to try to deliver the final blow.

Learning B-rank jutsu 200 words required 350ish typed :
Name: Demonic Illusion: Double False Surroundings Technique
Rank: B
Cost: B
Range: 0m-50m
Element: N/A
Classification: Open
Handseals: N/A
Requirements: Genjutsu Skill, False Surroundings Technique
Description: This genjutsu is triggered by the opponent freeing themselves from the False Surroundings Technique. This illusion is layered under the original technique which must be cast prior to this one. This general area of effect can be within 50 meters of the user's location. This genjutsu allows one to trick others into mistaking the place they're in for another. This technique's main feature is that it can be cast over an extensive surface, therefore any and all who step into the illusion's area of effect will fall under the spell. This technique allows the user to sculpt and shift the area into a place of their own choosing via illusion.
Drawbacks: N/A

Hiroji was prepared for the case that he would be in a Genjutsu and wouldn't take any chances when it came to Akihiro, the guy's pretty slippery and cunning and from how he is, he would know that he would always be ten steps ahead. That's why Hiroji kept sending the shadow clones as at this point, if he didn't Hiroji would've been flattened already. He didn't like the cat and mouse game, but the point of this spar was to win, not to lose. At least that was the point until he saw Akihiro all injured and bruised up, Hiroji could've taken advantage but it felt too real for it to not be some sort of trick, as that jutsu was pretty damaging and Hiroji was a bit out of it himself. After a shape of water started to form out of the large body of water, Hiroji finally materialised as he cancelled his hiding in water technique, with his leg very slightly limping, probably as a result of the jutsu Akihiro launched.

The idea Hiroji had was that both of them were injured from this duel well enough, and out of respect for his opponent, decided to end it before one of them could get seriously hurt. He used his walking technique to walk out of the hole's water and walk up towards the illusion, offering a hand to help him back up. "I think we should have a break now, I'm injured and you're injured. I don't want our injuries to worsen any further." Hiroji would say, he'd fall for the illusion, hook, line and sinker.

Akihiro couldn't help but feel a little guilty watching his rival come out of the hole in that condition. It didn't help that he seemed to believe Akihiro was injured as well, so as soon as Hiroji approached the illusion and offered his hand Akihiro dispelled it. The second illusion would never trigger because Akihiro dispelled both techniques at the same time.

"Oh...I'm sorry." Akihiro would say, in a noticeably regretful tone. "I had never used that jutsu before. Maybe I did overdo it a bit too much..." The voice would come from behind Hiroji, where Akihiro would be found standing in perfectly good health. It was true that he knew in theory the amount of damage his Fuuton could cause, but he had only read about it in books. He had never actually seen the jutsu applied at its greatest potential. Looking around, Akihiro found a rather devastated battlefield and for a moment he was afraid of his own power. But this power was his to control and wield, denying it would be no good. "I guess we really should stop now. Do you need help getting to the infirmary?" Akihiro would ask. He was honestly feeling bad about the whole thing.

"I didn't know you were capable of using Suiton techniques now. That's amazing, very few Genin can utilize two chakra natures let alone an advanced suiton technique like you used. Could you perhaps use Mokuton to regrow the trees I blasted away?"

Hiroji seemed slightly bitter as soon as the illusion went off, to see a perfectly healthy Akihiro walk out from wherever he was hiding at. Genjutsu really was a tricky thing to tell if one was in it or not. He wouldn't hold much against him however, as they did treat this spar as a serious battle. Though he got the feeling that if Akihiro didn't stop his Genjutsu out of mercy, Hiroji would be flat on the ground right now, meaning that he would've lost... again. He'd swallow his pride for now and simply gave a shake of his head to the offer of going to the infirmary, as well as the mention of using Mokuton to restore the forest. "It's not that I don't want to, I can't use Mokuton... yet. I don't know if I have the genes in me to use it, since it's rare among the Senju Clan for one to have it, there have been Senju before who managed to have both chakra natures for Mokuton to not even unlock it at all." he'd hope to whatever high celestial being there is in the clouds there was that he wasn't one of the poor Senju cases that didn't end up unlocking Mokuton.

Hiroji then just limped outside the hole, to try a new doton technique he'd like to try in order to fix the hole. "You better stand back Akihiro, I want to try this technique to fix up the hole." with two palms slapped on the ground, there was a bit of shaking on the ground at first but in the next few seconds, huge streams of water just simply leaked out of the hole, watering Hiroji's sandals and palms, meanwhile Akihiro would've gotten his own feet wet as well if he didn't take measures to avoid getting wet beforehand, and soon enough, the large streams of water were all across the training grounds and the Earth from deep underneath the hole simply roughly patched up the large hole created by his technique.

Learned - Earth Release: Moving Earth Core

"Oh, that's too bad." Akihiro replied in response to Hiroji's remark about not being able to use Mokuton. Akihiro could really understand his struggle since he himself didn't know whether or not he had the ability to awaken the Sharingan. Many Uchihas didn't have it but there was certainly a certain discrimination within the clan towards those who couldn't awaken it. But this young Sparrow didn't mind, he was going to become the greatest ninja no matter what. Hiroji then warned him to step back because he wanted to try something and Akihiro complied. The young Genin watched carefully as his teammate utilized a large scale Doton technique to fill up the hole. Akihiro smiled with satisfaction.

"Hey, good work! Maybe you weren't able to raise trees from the ground, but I'm glad to see you can raise the ground itself and fix up things a little bit. Hopefully, the water will dry up soon enough." Akihiro remarked, noting his wet sandals. The water was all over that training ground but luckily there weren't really any other people in there since the duo had picked a rather isolated place to have their match at.

Hiroji kept standing up, as he wanted to sit down at first but didn't want to get his clothes wet on the water that's now all over the training grounds. He wondered that with his Mokuton, if it was the same case with Akihiro's sharingan. "So, I'm guessing the sharingan is the same case with you Uchiha? some of you might not even unlock it?" he'd asked, it was just frustrating to be apart of such a great bloodline in the village only to not unlock the very thing that's locked away in your blood. He plans to undergo intensive physical training at one point to unlock the full physical capabilities the Senju clan are known for but the real prize of the Senju Clan is the Mokuton.

"Well... I guess I technically lost." as much as he hated to admit bitter defeat, it's better then to delude himself into thinking that he somehow had a shot at that last second when Hiroji decided to put the fight to an end. "If you hadn't de-activated it, you could've used it to really finish me. There's no point sugarcoating it."

Akihiro nodded. "Yeah, not all Uchihas unlock the Sharingan. It is said a strong emotion is required to unlock its hidden powers, but I haven't gone through any of that. Most Uchihas unlock it by going through a near-death experience where their survival instinct pushes them to awaken their Dojutsu. Alas, I don't even know if I have what it takes. But it's okay."

The Uchiha boy then shrugged at Hiroji's remark. Unlike the Senju, Akihiro wasn't a hugely competitive person. He liked having a rival because he could measure how well he was doing compared to Hiroji but Akihiro didn't really go into their match thinking of winning or losing. He was very laidback regarding that because on one hand he was having fun and learning and on the other he was spending time with his friend. Winning or losing was just...a consequence of that. But Akihiro could certainly notice it was different for Hiroji and how the Senju Genin was a bit sad or maybe bitter for having lost their duel. Akihiro understood how he was feeling but he would never go easy on his rival. That was against the traditional sparring rules and above that it was disrespectful towards the Senju and Akihiro wouldn't have that.

"Genjutsu is arguably the hardest ninja art to fight against. It's incredibly complicated to fight back when your greatest enemy is your own mind. Ninjas spend years training their senses and brains for battle, relying on them for vital information. It's a harsh shock whenever these things are targeted and fail them." Akihiro wasn't sugar-coating anything, he was telling his honest opinion. "It's only natural to have difficulties when facing a ninja art you've barely faced before. You were trained to dodge kunais, shuriken and even in close quarters combat. But our training to deal with Genjutsu at the academy is...lacking, at best."

Hiroji just simply shrugged at the explanation, he tried his best to train his perception to find out if he's in a Genjutsu or not, but it seems like it wasn't enough as he still fell for Akihiro's Genjutsu either way... or maybe, if he didn't see Akihiro in such an injured way, he might've saw through it? the fact that he saw his Uchiha friend down and crippled on the ground is what really made him give up the fight, if it were any other type of illusion, maybe Hiroji might've had a chance.

Either way, he decided that'd be it for now as he started to exit his way out of the training grounds while limping, not turning around but putting his hand in the air as a goodbye wave of sorts to Akihiro, calling it a day. He'd train for next time, that's for sure. He learned a lot today about Akihiro, and with what he's seen he'll be prepared for the next time.

(Exit)

Akihiro shrugged. He could understand how it probably felt for Hiroji to have been defeated after having displayed such confidence and after training so hard to achieve his new powers. But like I said before, Akihiro would never go easy on Hiroji because he respected his rival way too much for that to happen. So he simple stood there watching Hiroji leave as he waved back. Despite the fact that his friend couldn't see him, Akihiro waved back as well. He didn't say anything tho, as he thought Hiroji wouldn't listen.

After Hiroji went away and out of Akihiro's sight, the young Uchiha began moving towards his own clan's district. There he would find his home and more importantly a bath. Maybe he wasn't wounded but he sure was dirty and he didn't enjoy walking around like that at all. Step by step, little by little, he would slowly walk away from the training grounds towards the inner side of the village. Today had been a good training day and he couldn't wait for their next adventure. There were still a lot of missions to do and complete, and Akihiro could barely wait to get started on the next one. The three of them, Akihiro Hiroji and Ningyo were growing at amazing rates and all due to their dedication.

[Exit]