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Midori thought about what he said and shook her head from side to side once. "Next. Can practice those later. Understand enough." It was clear by the look in her eyes that she was eager to learn something else to add to her arsenal, that hunger for knowledge that was always present showing up yet again, but this time without the taint of resentment clouding her vision. He would also know that anytime he taught her something, she practiced it on her own time until it became second nature and an instinctive part of her combat style, shifted only enough to fit seamlessly into her own fighting stances.

She waited for him to begin the demonstration of what came next, but knowing Satori, that could very easily be through live action demonstration, so she stayed ready to react to contact. She liked being on the offensive, but with Satori, it was almost impossible to back him into a corner mentally or physically, so the green haired teen wasn't going to simply launch into his traps willingly. On that same note, based on her critique from him, she should have trusted her instincts more; that cartwheel had been the perfect opportunity for a Crushing Palm, and she had hesitated.

Satori grinned softly as she made it clear she wanted to move on, nodding once in understanding before he lifted both hands up and flexed them a few times. Straightening before he would allow his chakra to flow slowly through his body the same way he had before, but instead of focusing on perception and the area around him he allowed his body to loosen up--before he suddenly flashed toward her as his chakra burst from his heels, causing the earth under them to divit.

The increase in speed wasn't quite as much as the "shoulder charge", but it made up for it by not being nearly as limiting. Satori made evidence of this by not just charging her head on, but instead suddenly altering his course at the last minute. Blurring to the side in another burst of chakra, and then another that suddenly shifted his position from directly in front of her, to instead being behind her right side. But he didn't attack, halting after clearing the distance.

"Another foundation stance. I called it 'Grace', not that it matters. It allows you to amplify your movement speed. But just like with a shoulder charge, without high focus and sensory it can give you tunnel vision," he took one step back to give Midori room as he explained this.

Midori had thought she was ready, having prepared to use the most recently learned Instinct technique to react fast enough to dodge his blow, and she was even ready for his sudden increase in speed... but not when he feinted, twice and got in behind her. She was already in mid-whirl, bringing her leg up and elbow down to guard against an attack she wasn't sure where it was aimed because he had gotten behind her so quickly she had lost track of him. When the attack didn't come, she slowed the rotation, and her eyes, which had been slightly wide in surprise, slowly returned to normal.

That was ridiculous how much of a difference that sort of speed would make... she could have found and exploited different weaknesses she saw in Satori's defenses earlier but lacked the speed and perception to do so. Listening to what he was saying, she relaxed a little bit, allowing herself to regain her stance and listen. Grace, huh? That seemed useful. How was it that with all this he hadn't come close to beating Kiyoshi yet? I mean, the man was a monster, sure, but holy hell if he didn't have a freaking arsenal of things to employ.

Satori grinned as she slowly lowered her guard before he straightened slightly.

"The concept is the same. A steady channeling of chakra through the body, but unlike shoulder charge and other techniques, you release the chakra in bursts from where you want to propel yourself giving your muscles a sudden burst of momentum and force. This means that unlike with the shoulder charge, where you're stuck to a straight line at a slightly faster speed, here you use less chakra, have slightly less speed: but far more mobility. As you saw." He chuckled before he tapped his foot once against the ground.

"Maintaining it while also using the enhanced focus may be difficult, but it will be worth it. It should increase your speed and reaction time to something comparable to my own natural level," as he explained this, Satori then motioned for her to go ahead and try the first steps herself. Praticing it a bit before the initial clash would do her good.

She nodded, thinking about what he was saying and focusing translating his instructions into her actions, thinking about what it was that she needed to do. Slowly, she lowered a bit, and the chakra began to pulse through her body, much like before, and she felt her senses sharpen, a very dull glow turning her almost black eyes to a deep sage green. She took a few more moments, focusing solely on this step before proceeding forward, looking towards a particular tree that was a short distance between where they stood and a bit past where the class was, a path that would take her in front of the class.

Stepping off, she moved extremely quickly past them caving in the earth where she had launched off from straight towards that tree, but it had been a bit much, and she had been forced to jump and twist, planting both feet off the tree and flying back towards Satori and skidding around him. Not satisfied, she dashed off again to the same place and this time managed to stop herself the way she intended, tapping the tree with a hand before dashing back and circling Satori a couple of times before skidding to a halt and twisting to face Satori.

There was an odd excitement in her eyes... one that had never reared its head before. While she had never really known it, she quickly found that speed could be addicting, and for the first time since Satori had known her, she truly looked like a child who had gotten something wonderful as a present.

Satori watched her antics with amusement as she flashed about, a hand lifting to his chin as he watched her initially to give any pointers she may need. However, instead of her getting pointers, she got a laugh of amusement as she suddenly stared at him with big excited eyes. It reminded him of the girls when they got excited with a new technique as well. It was a rare peek into the human side of her that made him chuckle.

"I'm glad you like it," he stated with an amused smile, before he would lean back and motion for her to try and use it in combat. The combination of the focus with the boost in movement speed would help her mobility tremendously. It wouldn't enhance the actual striking speed of her strikes, that was another stance, but the mobility alone would help her close the gap with him at his current base level as it was. His hands resting on his hips while he waited to see what she would come up with in her excitement.

Midori heard him laugh and she didn't even care, because that was legitimately fun in a way she hadn't experienced in years. Even as he egged her on, she turned and lowered again, facing him completely, but this time, there was a smile on her face that Satori hadn't seen used in his direction in the past year or so; the smile of a predator. She wouldn't underestimate him, because doing so would be extremely dangerous and cause her to pretty much forfeit... but she felt confident that she stood a chance finally.

This time, she would get him... she just had to find that spot and trust her instincts.

She dashed forwards, feinting left and actually stepping right, sending a couple of jabs towards his ribs with her left arm while keeping her right ready for defense and the inevitable counterattack, just trying to get used to attacking him while moving at this speed at first and taking things one step at a time. But that smile didn't move, one that bespoke that she had a plan brewing in her mind while she was testing the waters to see if she could take advantage of this newfound speed.

Satori wasn't using any techniques, just like before. He kept his hands loose and at his sides as she dashed blurred toward him. There was a difference between them here, even now. She was getting used to all of it, and focusing chakra through her body to maintain it. Satori was remaining relaxed because none of this was true for him. This was his baseline level of speed and reflexes, and frankly, if he used his senses to their fullest his reaction time was even faster.

It was due to this fact, that Satori didn't fall for the initial feint as his eyes followed her movements and instead his body swayed to the side to avoid her initial strike, before stepping back and moving his body slightly to the side as needed to dodge each motion. This was only the introduction to their little dance, but the difference wouldn't be found in her striking speed. Something she would rapidly come to realize, the technique amplified her mobility, but not her actual striking and mid-combat movements.

Satori would give her a bit more time to iron out everything for now.

It was so odd, being able to move this quickly and seeing her fists fly at their normal speed, hitting only empty air as they struck out towards his impeccable reflexes. She dashed back, creating a little distance and took in a deep breath, settling her mind... she would find an opening... but she had to attack multiple angles in rapid succession which was going to be tough... so she dashed forward and then to the side, curving as she began to circle him repetitively, watching carefully for a counter-attack. She was just out of reach, but the same was true in the sense that she couldn't strike him easily either.

She dashed a step closer and struck towards his head, then stepped back out into the circle where the dust was kicking up in her wake as she circled him like a shark. Hit and run tactics... something she had never really been able to try before. Another step towards him and she tried to sweep his feet, slipping back out of range of his counter quickly... and then she truly committed, hopefully having lured him into a sense of security as she performed a Shattering Palm towards the base of his spine from behind.

Satori grinned as she flexed her hand forward and began her hit and run tactics. Something he knew was probably incredibly new to her, but she was still doing quite well despite that. Her first blow aimed toward his head caused him to move his face to the side, watching as the fist shot past his cheek before she fell back and re-directed herself. The sweeping kick causing him to jump upward in response smoothly as it slid underneath him. The back and forth was clearly to just help her get acclimated.

When she was finally ready to take things seriously, so was he. Her body launched in from behind, and instead of spinning to parry her, or block the impact, Satori simply launched himself forward instead so the attack fell only a few inches short. His heels then dug in, before he launched himself backward toward her as his fist clenched, spinning as he flew back in her direction. His arm whipping backward causing his upper body to spin and face her, pulling his lower along. Transferring his momentum from his movement speed directly into the backhanded blow aiming an elbow at her center of mass.

It wasn't meant to hit, though that was possible. Instead, he was offering her a silent solution on her striking speed. There were ways to cause your movement speed to equal your combat speed: it just took the right movements, and those movements couldn't be incredibly precise.

Midori saw him step forwards and then fling himself backwards, turning himself into a propeller and aiming to smack her using the speed from the step as leverage. Luckily, she was already in the right position for a proper counter, and she simply rolled backwards from her position and pushed both of her feet into his chest and extended upwards, pushing off her back to extend even further and launch him into the air. Because he was airborne, there was little he could do to counter, but she was very well aware that he could make a grab for her feet and use it as an anchor point to keep from being flung.

Which is why she kept rolling, quickly tucking in her feet and curling into a ball and getting back to a standing position, and pushing off yet again to create some distance. Skidding to a halt, she would look back and see him, more than likely, performing some sort of acrobatic wonder to land on his feet, where she would push off and begin her assault again, sticking with a flurry of punches and kicks while using the speed to press her advantage, pushing him backwards if at all possible.

Satori grinned as she used the combination of her enhanced focus and mixed it with her new speed to shift her feet up in an attempt to slam them into his chest. Satori simply halted his attack the moment he noticed her begin to move and instead bent backward so that the feet went cleanly past his nose. His feet smashing into the earth with his contorted body as he used his claws to halt his movement and anchor him.

Pulling himself up using his thighs, putting him far closer than she likely initially thought. Her sudden barrage of attacks aimed at him caused a grin to form, his hands shifting into an open-palm stance that he used to smack the attacks away in rapid succession. Not fully parrying them to send her flying, purely because none of the attacks had enough force to warrant doing so intelligently. After the fifth or sixth attack, Satori shifted the defense and instead used his open-palm parry to grasp her wrist; and snap his knee upward aimed at her lower ribcage.

Rising Knee.

She had adjusted flawlessly when he hadn't been countered the way she had hoped, and instead stopped short to dodge, moving straight into her barrage of attacks that were simply looking for a hole in his defenses. She didn't find one right away, but instead found herself getting grappled, but that played into a strategy that she had been cooking up. The same hand that was caught also took a firm hold of his wrist, so now they were holding each other and she wasn't simply at his whim. The knee came, and she pushed off, launching herself high above him and using his own arm as an anchoring point she she launched up and over his head.

As she was coming back down, twisting so she would land on her feet, Midori yanked, hard, on his arm, attempting to force him to face her in any way, straight into the oncoming Shattering Palm she had aimed for that rotation. She knew he had higher reflexes, and probably would dodge it, but countering it from this angle would be extremely difficult and gave her the best opportunity. She just had to keep finding these chances and trying her best to use them, force him to make a mistake, and give her the clean blow she was trying so damn hard for.

Midori was picking up a few of his antics, though she seemed to forget that his actions weren't souly based on the idea of flipping around. But bending as well. Flexibility was one of his strongest abilities, and it was shown off her as she grabbed his arm and yanked him by it, and instead of allowing her to spin him he used that momentum and launched himself up instead. Mirroring what she'd just done so that the palm touched air.

As he landed the second flip, he remained exactly as he was, clearly amused as he didn't try to yank her by the arm or drag her about, and instead kept his hand firmly gripping her arm like a clamp. She was trying to use her new speed, but she wasn't used to fighting with it yet. So he was posing a silent question, what did a speedster do in a situation like this, where their mobility was being shot?

He was curious what her answer would be, that grin remaining on his lips.

Midori fully recognized that she wasn't nearly as flexible as he was, but she had avoided the blow all together and come up with a counter, even if it hadn't connected... she had forced him to move. Now that his claws weren't dug into the ground, she would commence the next step of her plan, because although they were fighting on equal footing in regards to speed and such, as this was a spar to be used as an example for the kids, there was one single advantage she had that she was confident in, one way she felt like she had an advantage over Satori.

Durability.

She knew this was probably a trap... he hadn't counter-attacked this time on purpose, giving him time to prepare that trap... but she had to give this a shot. It was a move she hadn't used in a very long time, but done effectively, was extremely powerful. There was no fancy technique or special chakra flow... just simple physics. Her free arm shot out with a blow aimed at his left side, and as he used his hand to counter her it would open up, snatching his arm up and entangling that too. She then would extend her arms outward, and bring her skull crashing down towards his nose, a vicious headbutt and something seldom seen.

If it worked, great... she would back off as it would daze her a little bit, but not nearly to the extent of his own. If it didn't, she would have to backpedal and try to wrench free if given the opportunity.

Midori's initial blow earned her nothing but a casual grab of his own hand, holding her by the arm knowing she would latch on desperately as she did his other. In her mind trapping his limbs was one of the most important things for her to do, understandably, but narrowing an opponents mind onto certain subjects was strength of his.

He'd spent this entire fight making her despise him slipping away from her constantly, aiming to try and pin him down, hold him in place, grab his limbs and immobilize him. Now she had what she wanted, and her head shot down toward his nose. As her head shot forward Satori... jumped.

Suddenly releasing his legs in a powerful, straight vertical jump angled toward her. The result was that as her head came smashing forward, instead of hitting him in a vital area, it hit one of the worst places it could have. Directly on his chest plate and ribs upper-section. To make matters worse, as he had angled himself toward her the momentum she had been building by drawing back was weakened considerably.

Now he was mid-air, with both his hands holding her own, using her as an anchor with his body pressed tightly against her face and head. His legs snapped around her waist like snakes, his hands released her arms and instead of holding her by the forearms and with their bodies so close, he ignored her own hands clinging to his own; as his hands snapped out taking advantage of the moment of surprise to wrap around her throat.

Satori had been curious what she was going to try, but he had to try and not laugh at what she'd come up with. To him, a headbutt was one of the worst tactics in any physical confrontation.

Shit! was about the only thought that passed through her mind as her head connected with his chest, sending her head snapping back and gently dazing her as he jumped up, wrapping around her like a snake with it's prey and using the advantage of his reach to wrap his hands around her throat. She had about four seconds, if he was going for a blood choke, so she had to react quickly, although the first second was completely wasted with trying to figure out what the hell had happened and assessing the situation, she had only one opportunity here. He had to get her off of him with everything she had or she was finished.

Luckily, with him overextended as he was, he had literally nothing in which to block her, and she leveled her gaze with him. This was the right moment to use her fury, her rage that had been building, and she pushed every drop of it into a powerful Shattering Palm aimed straight for his diaphram, center of his torso and right under the rib cage. If this worked, it would knock every ounce of air out of his lungs and cause him to loosen his grip, and she might be able to conduct a follow up move to get him off her.

She fell for it. He saw the panic in her eyes the moment his hands clenched around her throat, her hands loosened as her stunned effect hit her and she struggled to try and figure out what to do. That second was all Satori needed, and the moment he saw her eyes focus the moment before the palm came: Satori let go, more than that, he used her throat as a sprinboard. Launching his upper body backward off her throat using his arms at the same time her palm began to extend toward him. The force suddenly pressing into her throat may have done enough all on it's own, but Satori wasn't the type to take risks.

As his upper body snapped backward, her palm scraping along his stomach and abdomen due to their initial closeness, but the force dramatically reduced from his body distancing itself from her own--his legs tightened. Using the momentum he'd gained to clench his stomach toward him as his fingers snapped into the ground beneath them. His natural flexibility coming into place once more, as he tried to lift her while she was still recovering from the choking and throat-shot to smash her head first into the ground.

Her palm barely made contact as he pushed off her damn throat to dodge away from the blow, causing her to waist more chakra and choke at the same time. Time almost seemed to slow as she felt her feet lift off the ground as she had once again played perfectly into his hand, and she had a brief moment of reflection... of course it had been another trap. Looking back on it, it was painfully obvious, but that moment of panic had cost her this round. Another painful example of how Satori was superior in every way, even her surprise attacks had been anticipated and countered for the entire fight.

Suddenly, her pride reared its head... and she refused, with every fiber of her being, to let this be how this particular bout ended. Rapidly, her mind pieced together the scenario; she was already off the ground, so jumping was out. Tucking into a ball would minimize the damage but he would still have her right where he wanted her, and besides, that would be a Satori-style stunt. To hell with that. She didn't care what he would do... she cared about what SHE was going to do. She would do this her way, and for the green haired teen, there was only one way through this.

Rising Knee

She used him lifting her, and both her legs still being available, to her advantage, and tried to drive right her knee into the base of his spine and force herself closer to him, negating his leverage for flipping her over entirely. Just in case, she also prepared her hands to catch herself against the ground should he still manage in getting her flipped, using her strength to negate the damage and flexing her elbows to ensure they absorbed the shock.

Satori couldn't see the attack as his body was contorting, but he could feel the knee approaching the center of his back as it brushed his jacket. If he'd been able to see it coming, perhaps he'd of been able to counter it properly and still slam her head first into the ground. But, he hadn't anticipated her willpower to push her throat taking a jab to the throat on top of her earlier panic. She was reeling in her emotions, and he'd compliment her on that. Later.

For now, the moment he felt his jacket begin to push inward, Satori released his legs from her waist so they snapped up instead of carrying her. Less weight meaning it was a far faster flip than it would have been before, but as he escaped his legs both would aim to crack into her chest on either side of her ribcage and underarms as he went flipping forward to land facing her once more, a grin decorating his lips.

That'a girl. Surprise me.

She saw it happen... it was only because she had the mental clarity in that moment that she saw the exact moment that he was able to detect her move... right when her knee began to hit his jacket, his muscles reacted, uncoiling immediately and reacting to the impact... another missed strike, but it also gained her freedom. It came at the cost of a couple of light hits to her ribs, but compared to the damage of her face smashing into the ground, she would take what she could get, gaining some separation. She took a couple steps back, watching him carefully for his next attack, spitting once to the ground and swallowing, trying to get her throat working properly again.

That flexibility of his was something out of this world, but despite everything that just happened, a smile split her lips... she was enjoying the fight, win or lose, and she would do whatever it took to get her shot. She felt the chakra flow through her body, utilizing his Grace and sped forward, slid right and then pushed forward, guiding a speed enhanced elbow towards his frame, trying to use the speed to her advantage like he had done before. Mid-movement though she lost her entire composure as her throat clogged yet again with bile and spit, and she collapsed on her hands and knees, spitting up again. The damage to her throat was more than she anticipated, and when she tried to breathe heavily while using her Chakra, it acted up again, and she coughed and hacked onto the ground.

Satori braced for the incoming attack--but it never came. The damage to her throat had been too extensive, it was surprising she'd even managed to counter as she had. Powering through with adrenaline and willpower was impressive, but it wasn't a long-term solution either. Slowly relaxing, Satori placed his hands on his hips content to wait.

"Get it out and calm your breathing. We can take another short break. No point in training if you can't even breath properly," he smiled softly before he reached down to the canteen in his hip pouch, tossing it to her casually for her to down as he fell down into a squat. Thankfully they had only used basic D-Rank techniques, so his own stamina was more than fine.

Ryuutei benefits were good to have, in general.

She coughed a few more times, gratefully accepting the water and taking a sip, forcing it down before coughing again, focusing on her breathing. She would have to remember that one... she was tough, even by Ryuutei standards, but that was a vulnerable part of her that would need extra guarding in the future. She was just glad she found out now and not in a real fight with someone with the intent to kill, or she would probably be dead. After another sip and some slowed breathing, she slowly rotated and sat down cross legged, passing the canteen back to him. Regardless of how much chakra he had and all that, she was sure he was at least thirsty.

Her fist clenched, mind dwelling on the gap between them; she didn't blame Satori for anything because she knew how hard he worked to get where he was, but instead was aiming that blame on herself. She had thought that training relentlessly would be enough to make her able to compete, but he only continued to pull further and further away... out of reach. She wasn't giving up though, and as her hand relaxed, she eyed him with a combination of pride at what her goal was, and to fight the despair that scratched at the back of her mind that she would never measure up. The hell she wouldn't. She didn't care if she had to kill the devil himself, she would catch up to him one day.

It was a promise to herself.

Satori accepted the canteen and settled on his haunches to sip at the liquid as she settled back. The difference was combat experience and versatility, and that was about it. He had specifically fought with anyone and everyone he could for most of his life. Genjutsu specialists, tool users, Ninjutsu specialists, different bloodlines, Ryuutei, it didn't matter. If someone existed he'd tried to fight them and adapt and absorb everything that they had to offer.

Releasing a slow breath, Satori rested his chin in his palm as he watched her. Her road was a much slower one, but in the end, it would give her the patience and willpower she'd need to make it work.

"Want to learn the next stance once you've recovered a bit?" he inquired curiously with a slight smile.

Midori focused on her breathing quietly, taking note of a small whimper she happened to hear. She turned towards the kids, some of whom looked worried, and gave them a wave and a gentle smile, indicating that she was alright, and then turned towards Satori. No one was worried about him, but they didn't need to be... all this time, she had not once caught him off guard or gotten to lay a single scratch on him, and he wasn't even breathing heavily or sweating. Part of her wanted to grin, knowing a challenge when she saw it and wanting to do everything she could to accomplish her goal.

He asked about the next stance and she nodded, standing up slowly and focusing on what she needed to do... starting with getting her emotions centered again. Her rage was neatly bottled up and contained for later use... it had come in handy, she just needed to practice knowing when to use it and when to keep it back so it didn't influence her decision making. After a few more breaths, she gave him a wave; most of her chakra was intact, she just needed a bit to recover from the physical damage. She was positive that it was going to hurt for a while... unless she found something to eat... but this wasn't the time or place. She hadn't even shown that technique to Satori yet.