The trio sat by a tree whos' leaves have long been fallen, showing proof that the autumn air has long gone with winter approaching. In order left to right sat Maru, Hyousuke, then Kukiko, who was still bitter about finding out that Eiji was her sensei- which meant the brats that he was teaching, was her included. "Ne Eiji-kun, why are we outside?" Kukiko broke the silence, her arms crossed in annoyance for they have been sitting for about half an hour now.
"Ah that's Eiji-sensei to you now." He grinned in excitement, knowing that the young girl with snow white hair was dying internally.
"Well then Eiji-sensei," She seethed, "Why are we outside."
"Good question, we are outside to get fresh air."
She deadpanned, "Oi!" She was about to leap at him but he quickly shook his hands.
"You didn't let me finish!" The other two- Maru and Hyousuke- watched the two bicker back and forth, confused and irritated looks marking their faces. Eiji cleared his throat, "Now it's clear you three passed your exams pretty easily, but before we get to any assignments and training, we should introduce ourselves to one another."
"Eh, what do you mean?" Hyousuke closed his eyes in confusion, scratching his cheek, another habit he had that slightly annoyed Kukiko but she never bothered telling him.
"You know, the basics: your name, age, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and simply your dream for the future." The elder man exclaimed calmly.
"Why won't you go first then, Sensei." Maru stated, leaning against the tree.
"Me?" He pointed at himself and flushed a bit, "Oh well then alright. My name is Eiji Minami, I'm twenty-two years old-one of the youngest upper class jounin,"
He was cut off by a cough by Kukiko who whispered show off, causing Hyousuke to laugh at her attempts. He sent her a glare before continuing his introduction. "I like silence, training with Kukiko and eating
Aiya-nee cooking. My dislikes are when Kukiko hits me and when I don't get to eat Aiya-nee cooking. My hobbies are training, reading and teaching. My dreams for the future is to create a better reality."
"The hell you mean by that?" Kukiko deadpanned, receiving a hit on the head. "Itai, Hyou-kun~" she whined.
"Yosh! I'll go next," He ignored her and began his introduction. "My name is Hyousuke Akiyama, Maru younger cousin, age nine. I was one of the youngest in my graduating classes. My likes are hanging out and eating with Kukiko, annoying Maru by calling her Ma-sshi, and helping Oka-san cooking. I don't like bullies or people calling each other rude names. I don't have many hoodies except for training and cooking. One day I wanna make a big difference to the world and be able to help those in need."
"Nicely said, you," Eiji pointed at Maru and motioned for her to began.
She scowled a bit. "I'm Maru Akiyama, age eleven. I'm actually one of the eldest graduating students in my classes. I like training and I don't like annoying kids who babble a lot. My only hobby is training and crafting. When I get older I want to become one of the best ninjas in our village like our head leader."
Kukiko took that as a cue to start her introduction, "I'm Kukiko Akarui but most call me Kitsune... I actually have several nicknames from many people, including my family. I'm nine years old, I'll be turning ten in two months. I like my mothers cooking and training with Kohana-chan and Eiji-kun. I also like pranking my father by putting salt in his coffee sometimes. I don't like mean people or name calling. I usually do extra training with the head leader as my hobbie but I like going on walks late at night when it's snowing to calm my mind. When I get older I want people to look at me like a hero, not just some girl who's currently holding a demon inside her."
Eiji flinched at her last few words before grinning. "Alright so now that we properly introduced ourselves, there's a few things we need to discuss."
Maru rose her hand, "Is it about the missions we will get sent on?"
"Kinda, it's more about your future training together and how we all need to work together as a team. We aren't just one or two, but four. There's a reason why they placed us in teams, so we could learn to work together well enough while we go on missions."
"So are we doing some time of training today for teamwork?"
"Bingo," Eiji nodded at Hyousuke who grinned happily. "I want to see everyone's training abilities so we will have one on one rounds with me so I can see what you got alright." His eyes glistened when he saw their determined faces. "Ok then, lets start~"
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"First opponent: Maru Akiyama please step up."
As they arrive at the training grounds, Maru was the first to go against Eiji. This also gave Kukiko a chance to analyze how Maru fought. She already knew how Eiji fought, considering she also trained with him as well growing up. She knew Maru was the top of her classes, especially when it came to chakra control and hand to hand combat. It's a pity this child is on your team, a familiar voice spoke up from inside her head.
And why would you say that, the match hasn't started yet but it was about to any second.
Because now I can't kill her~
Dāku... She knew he was only kidding, but her tone warned him to not mess with her team mates. She felt like she was slowly becoming friends with Maru and she didn't want to ruin that.
"Are you ready?" Eiji called.
Maru nodded, getting into her fighting stance.
"Now remember, the match is over as soon as we land a hit on one another ok? Start!"
Eiji disappeared from their line of vision, making Hyousuke gasp in wonder. "Where did he go?" Maru seemed to stay calm but she was wondering the same thing.
He must've notice... She's really good with close combat so in order to throw her off her game... he's using that technique. Kukiko knew he was just watching from afar in a tree, seeing how Maru would handle that situation. She needs to concentrate on his chakra, but he might've already concealed it by now.
"That's not gonna work on me Sensei!" Maru chuckled before closing her eyes.
"Wow Maru must've improved her senses since last time..." Hyousuke whispered, gaining Kukiko attention.
"What do you mean?"
"Maru isn't good with Ninjutsu like me so she went ahead and started learning other techniques like close combat aka, taijutsu. Right now what she's doing is focusing her chakra into the ground to feel for nearby vibrations. If Sensei moves an inch, even smaller, she'll be able to detect where he is." He explained casually like he wasn't a big deal. "Ma-sshi basically trained herself how to detect people, even if they conceal their chakra."
Eiji cursed, also being able to head their conversation. "So she's one of those huh..."
Imayoshi was right about her being in the top of her classes, one reason why she's even on my team. Eiji was squatting down on a tree branch, but even he was started to ache from the position and he shifted slightly. Even though it was a small shift, kunai quickly came flying his way, forcing him to move from his spot. Kukiko was amazed how Maru could throw kunai at someone even with her eyes closed, guessing it was part of the whole feeling the vibrations thing. "Sensei you might as well come out and fight me, my range of vibrations is pretty large. It covers the whole village so you might as well fight like a man."
Eiji tched, She's very snarky too...
Maru took a step forward before ducking under a kick Eiji tried attempting. "So you felt me move again huh, you can't keep your eyes closed forever."
Maru opened her eyes before smirking. "One thing you haven't learned about me is how good I am at Taijutsu." She sent a round kick, trying to knock him of his feet but he simply caught her ankle and knocked her off her feet.
"You speak as if your better than me, give it a few years, you might catch up to my level." He sent her a wink, making Maru flush with anger. "Don't forget, there's something I do know about you though," Eiji quickly began forming hand signs at lightening speed.
Maru backed up a bit, shaking slightly from how fast his hands were moving. I can't even tell what signs he's making!
"Your pretty bad at Ninjutsu, so I'll use that to my advantage." Eiji stood, his hands forming signs not noticeable to the visible eye. The only one who could see the signs being made was Kukiko, since she's been long training with Eiji for many years. Eiji smirked, holding onto his wrist as bolts of electricity was being collected into his hand.
Maru gulped, "The hell... What kind of Ninjutsu is that?" The sparks of energy soon turned white, "Lighting Ninjutsu usually isn't that color!"
"Your right about that Maru, but there's something you don't know about me." He crept closer, the bolts getting stronger each second but he was able to control them so it wasn't out of control. "A long time ago, I once had the Kitsune inside me."
A few seconds passed in silence. Maru and Hyousuke was consumed in shock, not believing their sensei words. Kukiko eye twitched, also shocked that Eiji would reveal such a thing that happened years ago. "You see, when I was born, I was the only child who was born in the month of December and unlike all the other children, I was deemed different since day one."
"I don't understand... How is that possible, there's no way in hell that there's two Kitsune!" Hyousuke shouted, clenching his fists, "Kukiko wouldn't keep something like this to herself... Would she?" He glanced at Kukiko but gasped when she noticed that she wasn't even looking at him, or even paying attention to the conversation.
"I don't think she had to tell you, it's none of your business anyways kid." Eiji let the bolts slowly disappear before crossing his arms. "I was really looking forward to fighting you guys but there's obviously nothing worth my time. I mean, yeah it's cool that you can detect vibrations, even without chakra but that's not gonna save you on the battle field if you have to be still while doing it."
"So the whole point of this fight was pretty dumb." The ravenette cursed in anger as she went to stand by her cousin and her 'friend'.
"Not exactly, I can see how you fight. Even though you were the top in your classes you both use techniques that I've already seen."
"Already... seen...?"
The elder man shrugged, "I already know how Kit fights..." He gave a quick glance to Hyousuke before flinching. "As for him... He's okay, I've seen him training with Kit before."
Hyousuke grew an irk mark, teeth clenching as he yelled out, "The hell you mean by okay?! Eh, you want a piece of me?!"
"Shut up Hyou-kun, he's just kidding."
"As I was saying, yes I've already seen your type of fighting before. Believe it or not, Kohana actually can do the same thing. She's been training as a medic ninja under Isao for years, she picks up a few things herself."
"You mean... Kohana-chan can do the same thing?!"
"EH?!"
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