Training grounds, early morning.
Kitahara Kaede had just finished his final lap. Before he could even reach for his water bottle, Guy arrived.
"Kaede—!!!"
A green blur dropped from the trees.
Kaede stepped aside halfway to avoid the impact.
Guy stabilized himself and shot a thumbs-up, a flash of white teeth beaming from his smile.
"Congratulations! You're officially a Chunin!"
"Mm."
"I knew you'd pass! From the mont I saw your na on the announcent board, I increased my training load by one and a half tis. Boxing, target kicking, weighted runs, handstand push-ups..."
"You did extra training yesterday?"
"I did!"
"And today is our first sparring session."
"Correct!"
Kaede took a sip from his water bottle.
"You push yourself to exhaustion and then co to spar with soone?"
Guy's mouth opened, then closed.
His thick eyebrows knitted together. This question had clearly never occurred to him in his entire life. After three seconds, he slapped his forehead.
"You're right! I should be in peak condition for sparring!"
"Exactly."
"But if I don't train—"
"Just warm up. Don't wear yourself out, or it'll be counterproductive."
Guy froze. He pulled a palm-sized notebook from his pocket and scribbled a line.
Kaede glanced over. Since when did Guy have a habit of taking notes? And why was he recording sothing like that?
'Don't overtrain before sparring—Kaede.'
He had drawn a little fist next to it with three exclamation marks.
"...Put that away."
Guy stuffed the notebook back into his pocket and planted his hands on his hips.
"Well then—shall we head to the sparring area?"
The two walked to the open space in the center of the training ground and squared off. Kaede rotated his wrists.
"Co at ."
Guy didn't waste words. He opened with a sharp front kick, his toes cutting through the air straight toward Kaede's chest.
Kaede stepped aside, slapping the outside of Guy's calf to deflect the force. As Guy's kick missed, he used his left foot to pivot and imdiately launched a spinning back kick.
Kaede ducked, retreating half a step. Guy pressed the advantage.
Fists and feet flew in a rapid exchange, the speed increasing with every second. Kaede didn't initiate any attacks; he focused entirely on reacting.
Guy's foundation in taijutsu was undeniably rock-solid. His power, speed, and explosiveness were all the results of relentless, day-after-day grinding. His combo rhythm was precise, with almost no wasted movent in his transitions.
However, the faster he attacked, the more obvious his openings beca.
Guy leaped into the air, his right leg sweeping across—the Leaf Hurricane.
The first kick aid for the head. Kaede raised his arm to block, the impact leaving his limb numb. The second kick looped around from the opposite direction.
Kaede stepped back, the strike grazing the tip of his nose.
Guy landed, breathing slightly heavily. "Again!"
They went through two more rounds.
In the final exchange, Guy unleashed the Leaf Hurricane once more.
The first kick: Kaede blocked.
The second kick: he didn't dodge.
Kaede stepped forward, cutting directly into the gap as Guy retracted his leg. He gripped Guy's shoulder and pinned him in place.
Guy's second kick hung suspended in mid-air, unable to connect. The two were face-to-face, less than a fist's width apart.
"...I lost."
Guy was panting, but his eyes were full of excitent.
Kaede released his grip. Guy bent over, bracing his hands on his knees to catch his breath for a mont before straightening up to wipe away the sweat.
"Your defense is terrifying. I was accelerating, but it felt like you always knew exactly where my next strike was going."
"It's not that I knew. You told ."
"Huh?"
"Your shoulder moves right before you punch."
Guy stared at him, waiting for more.
"And as for the Leaf Hurricane, you recover your strength too early on the second kick. Once the first strike lands, you're too eager to shift your center of gravity back, so the second kick loses its montum. If an opponent is willing to tank the first hit and counterattack during that lull, you won't even have the room to change your move."
Guy stood still, his expression deep in thought. It took a long while before he spoke.
"Last month on a mission, I used the Leaf Hurricane against another shinobi. The first hit landed, but he caught my ankle on the second and threw ."
He looked at Kaede. "That's exactly the problem you're talking about."
"Just fix it. Don't let the power of the first kick break; let your body keep rotating and use that inertia to sling the second kick out. Don't stop in between."
Guy looked down at his legs. Then, he squatted down, pulled out his little notebook, and scribbled for half a page. Once finished, he stood up and gave a solemn bow.
"Thank you!"
"No need—"
"Two thousand tis! I'll do it until my body rembers it on its own!"
"...Suit yourself."
Looking at Guy's absurdly serious face, Kaede didn't say anything more. Teaching him these things was effortless, but this man's speed in taking notes, bowing, and setting training quotas was faster than anyone else's.
So people fake their hard work for show. Guy was not one of them.
***
At the other end of the training ground, Kakashi was performing his routine slashing drills against a wooden post.
His mask covered the lower half of his face, and his visible right eye remained fixed ahead as he carved perfectly uniform notches into the wood.
The sounds of Kaede and Guy sparring drifted over in intermittent bursts. He didn't look back.
He had heard ntions of the Chunin exams. A Genin from a civilian background had used only taijutsu during the combat portion, ending the fight in a matter of seconds. The rumors were quite wild.
Kakashi didn't take them seriously. The blade sliced through the post, sending splinters flying.
Another voice drifted over from the other side.
"—Don't let the power of the first kick break; let your body keep rotating."
Kakashi's blade paused.
He knew that Guy's Leaf Hurricane had a flaw. However, Kakashi's own path lay in kenjutsu and ninjutsu; while he could see where the problem was in taijutsu, he couldn't quite articulate how to fix it.
Yet, that boy had identified it and explained it with pinpoint accuracy.
Kakashi sheathed his sword and turned toward the exit.
"Kakashi—!!"
Guy's voice caught up to him. Kakashi stopped.
The green blur charged forward, followed by the Chunin wearing a new flak jacket. For a fleeting mont, a hint of guilt flashed across Guy's face—like a student who spends all day playing with a desk mate, only to be suddenly caught by another friend.
Still, he bead.
"Kakashi! This is Kitahara Kaede, my sparring partner! Do you want to join—"
"No."
Kakashi's gaze shifted from Guy to Kaede. He gave a slight nod, then turned and walked away.
Guy stood there, his hand slowly dropping. He didn't chase after him.
He watched Kakashi's silhouette disappear through the training ground exit. After a few seconds, he turned to Kaede. The usual boisterous smile was gone from his face.
It was the first ti Kaede had seen this expression on Guy.
"He wasn't always like this," Guy said, his voice lowered. "He lost soone very important..."
Kaede looked at the empty path leading out of the grounds and didn't respond.
Guy was silent for a mont. "I want him to get to know more people, so he doesn't always stay alone." He scratched his hair. "But it's useless. It's like this every ti."
Kaede retracted his gaze. "Just keep doing what you're doing."
Guy looked up at him. Kaede turned to walk toward the other side of the grounds.
"Sa ti next week."
Guy stood frozen for two seconds before reacting. "Right! I'll be exactly on ti!"
Kaede waved a hand without looking back.
As he walked through the training ground gates, he caught a glimpse of a shadow in the corner of his eye. No scent, no presence—it was like a sliver of a shadow growing out of the wall itself.
Kaede didn't change his pace and walked straight ahead without looking.
He had only been sought out yesterday, and today, soone was already following him.
That was faster than I expected.
User Comments
0 comments from readers