The Rogues' Spar

Nozomi found herself sitting in the training room where she had fought with Honiko, the familiarity of the training gear helping her feel a little more at home. She had spent most of her life fighting and training, so this was an environment that was more comfortable to her than most other places would be. It wasn't all that different here than in the village, since she really didn't know anybody, but she found that she missed some of her small familiarities and something was better than nothing.

She sat with her back to a wall, staring at one of the training dummies, her arms around her legs which had been pulled up close to her. Her chin rested on her knees, letting her stare forward in some amount of comfort.

Nozomi watched the dummy, which stared off into nothingness as it didn't really have eyes. She started to let her vision and imagination swirl together a little, and it shifted in form to look like Yomi, smirking at her like she always did. Nozomi scowled a little and picked up a senbon that was next to her and launched it into Yomi's face, the imaginary smirk disappearing as the senbon hit it in the forehead and the dummy once again looked like a dummy to her.

She had never lifted her head from her knees and the toss was rather lazy, but it was precise.

Nozomi, was the name she went by, Raijin thought. He had been heading towards the training room of the complex they were in. Housed with other members of the growing society he had taken upon himself to train diligently. His exploits in the attack on Kumo were sad, even as a Genin he was helpless to the people out there who could kill him easily. Upon arriving he could see a clearly down Nozomi in the facility as well. They were both branded traitors and Missing Ninja by their villages. Hunted to the far ends of the earth after their fiasco.

He only knew so little of her but she was powerful. Holding the power of a bijuu inside of her, she was expected to be a target regardless of her village standing. She would have it rough after coming to this place. Raijin only knew her and Honiko but he barely knew those two. Personal information would be kept to a minimum at first. But The Society demanded loyalty. It was a hard place to demand loyalty without even knowing the person. Raijin would have to become an open book. His Cursed clan would come to light soon enough.

Raijin walked in just as Nozomi threw a senbon at the face of the dummy without even looking. "Nice shot." He said standing at the doorway. "Training I see."

The blonde looked over at Bayushi, recognizing him as the one who had defected from Kumogakure. She didn't really know much about him particularly, but he had taken it upon himself to join up with Honiko with no prompting, so at the very least she knew he was disloyal and a traitor who would turn on a dime.

The same could probably have been said about her, but Honiko had actually directly asked her to join up, so there were some key differences between the two. Besides that, from what she gathered, he wasn't particularly skilled in combat, which was a dangerous thing from an ally who she assumed would be sent on missions with her at some point. It wasn't like she could watch his back and her own at all times.

He complimented her throw, but she brushed it off. "I've been able to do stuff like that for years. It's child's play." She replied, standing up to her full height, which was unimpressive. At 5'2" and an incredibly small weight to boot, Nozomi was a twig of a girl. "Still. I could train, if that's what you wanted to know." She didn't mind sparring with him. It would at least give her some idea of he had any potential at all, or if he was just as useless as everyone else she knew.

She lifted her hands lazily and took up a stance that could only be described as half hearted. She wasn't really feeling like giving her all against him, unless he proved that he deserved to see what she had to give herself. She would wait to see if he accepted the spar or not, and give him the first move.

There was at least one thing that Raijin had picked up from his first few weeks as a Genin. A Chuunin had once told him that, "Some people learn about others by fighting. Their fists can translate their story, if you know how to listen." Raijin wanted to see why Honiko was so interested in the Jinchuriki. Without the bijuu what else was she capable of. She stood up and she was still small compared to Bayushi who was close to six feet tall already. Nozomi scuffed at her throw saying she was able to do that for years. Impressive, seeing as Raijin could barely hit the broad side of a barn.

She put her hands up in albeit lazily, into a stance. Raijin preferred Taijutsu as he had learned that his clan was accustomed to learning. So he also assumed a stance giving her a look, "Yes, let us spar." She didn't seem it but had seen her in action and knew that she was strong. Learning his lessons with Honiko he ran forward side-stepping into a sideways kick to Nozomi's stomach.

Nozomi took an appraisal of her new opponent. He was much taller than her, which to some would indicate that he was stronger and had an advantage in this match up, but she knew that size wasn't the only thing that mattered. Experience was a much more important thing and could overcome size difference easily. Besides, even if they were both equally skilled, there were advantages that both of them had due to size, and she knew how to exploit that.

As he came in with his kick to her side, Nozomi met it rather than dodged it. For one, she knew how to mitigate power so it didn't hit full force, and in doing so she would have a decent judgement on how much power he had in general, but also she had trained against this rather basic maneuver quite a bit and knew how to deal with it like it was breathing.

As he kicked, Nozomi lifted the arm that was closer to his leg and wrapped his leg with it, pinning his leg between her side and her arm. Stepping outward but forward in the same movement, she had moved inward to reduce the force of his kick, as most of the force would have been generated by his foot, with a lesser amount up near his thighs.

She would lower herself a bit with a small sweep from her leg, aimed behind the one that kept him planted, and shove him forward with her free arm, letting go as she did so. His weight and height would serve to topple him and provide most of the force behind her attack with rather minimal effort from her, assuming she pulled it off.

Then again, she was trained, and had done the maneuver in a single fluid movement. He probably didn't know the extent to which she was proficient in taijutsu, and might not be able to keep up with her, even if she wasn't using technically proper form.

He didn't know what to expect but he should have. The Cursed One had struck first by place a side-kick towards Nozomi, who moved out of the way. Grabbing his kick and giving him a shove as she kicked her leg out sweep his last foot on the ground. In one motion she had sent him reeling backwards landing painfully on his ass. Seeing that approach didn't work, he got back up and brushed himself off. Walking back a few steps he said, "You got me there, but how about..." He assumed his real fighting stance, the Arhat Fist. He felt his muscles tighten and he looked at Nozomi knowing there was no real weakness unless he created one.

He ran forward and tried to keep her off guard with a quick jab with his right and a wide punch with his left. Giving in to the momentum of the strong hook and turned around and struck his palm out to her chest. This palm strike would be much stronger, and enough to even hurt Nozomi if it were to land.

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Arhat Fist (Strength D>C)

[Learned] Shatter Palm (C>B) -3 = 37/40

Nozomi was actually a little surprised. The boy was easily thrown off balance and recovered after a second, before he proceeded to assume a stance Nozomi was very familiar with. She couldn't believe that he was a Taijutsu user but had opted to try and attack her without it to start out with. All things considered, as he had watched her in the Dome, she would have assumed he just wasn't a Taijutsu practitioner, or at least felt confident in his abilities to not use them against her.

That wasn't the case. He had simply decided for some reason not to do so from the get go. Nozomi felt slighted, as if she was being looked down upon. He thought he was her equal or superior? He thought he could at least fight somewhat evenly against her? She could take him without even trying all that hard.

Having figured out his force already, she knew those at least we're on par with hers. Knowing how strong she could get with Arhat Fist, she knew what she should and shouldn't dodge.

As he came in, Nozomi remained light on her feet, and prepared for his quick jab, which had less energy behind it. She quickly turned, making her body a smaller target and moved her hand in a backhand motion, knocking the jab to the side and past her back. As his wife swing came in, Nozomi leaned back, letting the attack miss her entirely, and as he spun around to use his momentum, she had already followed her lean, doing a somersault backwards and away from his reach. He would find that he had connected with nothing as Nozomi gracefully planted her feet on the ground again, her hair flowing around her from the movement and rocking a little as she was ready to move again should she need to. Other than that she made no retaliation. "Stop telegraphing your attacks. The wide swing I could have ended you then and there. That left you way open."

Nozomi seemed displeased with his attempts but still managed to give him well earned critique. She had read his movements and Raijin had missed her completely. Not incredibly fast but she could move out of his attacks well enough. He simply nodded and assumed the Arhat Fist style again. This time he was would have to approach her differently, she wasn't actively attacking so his slow movements didn't give her any room to worry. He still had a couple of tricks up his sleeve. Only a short two meter distance between them he begin to inch forward towards her.

Then there was a blank expression on his face, willing his body into a spring and he bent down and sped forward as fast as he could. But could not possibly catch up to Nozomi. He quickly dashed to her side at the last second to attack her with a strong palm strike towards her back and another strong palm strike that could have knocked her backwards in the air. Where he would put his guard to up afterwards. Anticipating a counterattack by the Jinchuriki.

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Arhat Fist (Strength D>C) -3
[Learned] Slamming Palm (Strength C>B) -3
Shatter Palm -3 (Strength C>B) -3 = -28/40

The simple fact was he was just too slow to actually land a hit on her in a straight up spar. He didn't move fast in comparison to her, and he wasn't all that agile either. To her, it was like watching someone move through syrup. course, to him, her movements were probably like watching someone move faster than he could really keep track of. She knew her full motions would look like a blur to him, and that if she it was going all out he wouldn't be able to even keep track with a blur.

It made the whole thing a little infuriating. She understood why he had joined up with Honiko, as he obviously needed the strength, but she didn't understand why he was so weak. Or why Honiko had been fine with taking him along.

Her face contorted in irritation and as he sprang towards her, trying to get behind her, she interrupted, lashing out with a side kick to shove him away from her instead of letting him attack. Before the kick fully started, she'd shifted her stance to that of the Arhat Fist style, planting herself solidly and firmly to give her more power for the kick.

Using Arhat
Str: D->C

Nozomi was nimble if anything. There was no way for him to get past her defenses. After attempting to spring on to her, she turned sideways and heaved her legs upwards and struck out her foot towards. Stopping his plan a shocked expression came over his face as he pulled both his hands in front of himself. Attempting block the kick, it stopped Rajin in his tracks and caused him to brace himself. A stronger kick that before, he put his hands back into his stance. Giving her a look with renewed vigor.

But it was for show. He was starting to get tired. His breathing was becoming labored so he had to watch himself, especially dealing with Nozomi. Still Raijin needed to press on, he couldn't give up like that. The kick though blocked, did not create any space between them and so he continue on dropping low to sweep her quick feet from under her. And then jumping back on his feet to strike another Shatter palm to her stomach.

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Arhat Fist - 3
Shatter Palm -3 = 22/40

Her opponent was persistent, she would give him that much. Despite being so obviously out matched, he kept on going forward, trying his hardest to land even the smallest of blows. As she kicked him, she was rather surprised that he managed to block her in time, and that he held firm against her kick as well. Still, it had delayed his motions and full stopped him, which suited her fine.

As he tried to continue on and sweep low, Nozomi simply shifted herself backwards, lowering the leg she'd kicked out with and planting it behind her, sliding her other leg further back to reset her stance as well. It was a fluid transition between the two of them, her attack to force his defense, and her reset to avoid his sweep, her easily shifting out of his range. It was a nice dance, and as fluid and graceful as always.

She knew from his look that he was determined. She herself has that same vigorous look when she was going to accomplish something no matter what, but she could also tell from the way he drew his breath, the shortness of it all, he wasn't going to last much longer. He wasn't used to prolonged combat, and he shot through his reserves way too fast, giving his all from the get go.

Their style of fighting was similar, at least in terms of when she was actually trying. He went full force non stop, and would probably do so until he dropped. Nozomi was much the same way when she needed to be, but against this boy she held back a little. How was he to bridge the gap and be useful to them otherwise? Still, she couldn't let his hubris stand, her pride in her fighting ability was too high.

He thought he could hit her? He thought he could land a shot? Nozomi got serious for a moment. She charged forward as soon as his sweep was completed, meeting him as he rose up to try and blast her in the gut. Her arms moved at their highest rate of speed without her focus being on them or a jutsu assisting her, which was still impressive. Her left arm slammed into the side of his arm, which attempted to reach her, knocking it off course and away from her, redirecting it rather than stopping it, while her right arm launched forward and slightly downward as he was rising to slam into his chest and shove him back into the ground with the same amount of force he had tried to hit her with.

Arhat Fist - C strength
Shatter palm- B strengh

Just as he thought he had the jump on Nozomi. His naive thinking would cost him. He had never had chance to spar with someone like this before. He was a newly ordained Genin before he left the village and had not experienced loss or even success. A lot of near death experiences however. This didn't give him the chance to understand what pain was really either. For when Nozomi seemed to get serious, she showed him the inconsistencies in his approach to her.


The Jinchuriki dodged his low sweeping kick, then she was able to read his strike towards her abdomen. Which she abruptly parried to the side. The momentum carried Raijin forward and she sent a similar strike to his chest as well. Not quick enough to block it, a huge force pushed him backwards. After slamming into his chest, he could feel the wind leave him. The floor even felt comfortable after he landed with forcefully and he went sliding backwards into a weapons rack. The rack only shuttered slightly before becoming still, and Raijin lay against it. "You really are strong. I suppose that's also why Honiko wanted you. But I'll earn my place as well. Or die trying." Raijin said to Nozomi, struggling to get up with his chest pains. His breathing was labored and the pain in his chest was intense. To much to continue on battling.

"I'll beat you one day." Then if she didn't have anything else to say he would turn around and leave the training room clutching his chest.

(Exit)

A single strike at full power was all it took. He was sent backwards, unable to take the same sort of hit that he had just tried to dish out. Nozomi fell back into a relaxed stance, watching the boy to see what his next move would be.

Rather typically, he just gave up. She hadn't fought him before, but she knew the type. The weakling with something to prove but no skill to back it up. He would get stronger in order to try and surpass an obstacle. It was good, but she didn't really care one way or the other. He wasn't going to catch up to her, regardless of what he said.

"No you won't." She replied simply. Nozomi would never lose to that boy. He just wasn't her equal, and he didn't have her level of training and dedication that she'd already put in.

Still, she wouldn't begrudge him to try. If that's what he wanted to do, she would oblige and beat him into the ground every time.

-exit-