[center][b]Kensuke Nimatsu & Ezuri Hyuuga
Team 7[/b][/center]

Sheathing his blade again he peered around, and looked at the clone approaching him. He hesitated in cutting it in half, for it might just be the real genin himself, but when it dispersed the real Ezuri suddenly jumped towards him, or so it seemed, ready to duel him. [b]"Duel me? That isn't the purpose of this excercise. That tree over there is about 20 meters too tall however, and is in a dire need of being cut down."[/b] He said, looking at the genin. In the meantime, a shadow clone of himself was hiding in the branches of the tree, ready to intercept any attacks, should this be a distraction. And boy, he did hope it was one, because this was completely the opposite of what he wanted to see.

Ezuri was ready to fight his sensei, his muscles tensioned. He knew the jounin were no pushovers like his classmates, he found that out during his fight against Kiyomi-san last week. He made the fault to take the initiative in the fight against her without first analyzing what she was capable of. He knew he had a better chance to hit his assilant if he was on the defending side, at least, when they were more skilled them himself. [b]"The tree is too big to topple by simple ninjutsu, it can't be the real task"[/b] he quickly threw a glance at the tree again. His byakugan didn't fail to notice the shadow clone hiding in the treetops when he was examing the tree. [b]"Fight me Kensuke-Sensei and I'll show you what I'm capable of"[/b] said Ezuri with an overwhelming amount of confidence.

[b]"But that isn't the exercise, Ezuri. This tree is perfectly destroyable. It isn't as humongously thick as those around Konoha. It's just an old Oak tree."[/b] He replied, remaining in a battle stance, ready to defend his life and that of the tree. The boy in front of him disappointed him, but that couldn't be helped. The goal was cutting down the tree, but instead he was challenging him to a duel. Should he have been an enemy nin, the young Hyuga'd be long dead. He just didn't seem to grasp what this excercise was all about. Then again, it was the goal to teach them that, but he had had an idle hope somewhere that they'd know already.

The young boy didn't bet all his money on one horse, he had positioned himself so that his sensei stood between him and the tree, should his attack miss, he would at least strike the tree. Flicking his eyes up and down to also keep an eye on Nimatsu's shadow clone he thought up a battle plan. Once he knew what he would do he readied himself. He waited for just a moment before acting as his sensei didnt seem to want to make the fist move. Ezuri pretended do dash forward but jumped a few meters back and drew a kunai in a split second which he immediately hurled at the shadow clone. At almost the same time he took a shot at his sensei, who stood in front of the tree, with the eight trigrams air palm jutsu. He followed his attack at high speed, running towards his target.

At least he had some tactical insight and some speed to back up his tragical warrior disorder. However, the clone easily parried the kunai with his katana, and Kensuke himself countered the air burst with his own falcon wing. He used quite abit of chakra in it, so after overpowering the Hyuga boy's move, it'd continue going straight at him with enough force to knock a grown man off his feet. His clone threw a spread of several shuriken in the meantime to make dodging even harder, while also keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings of the tree. Kensuke himself prepared to defend the tree once more should Ezuri break through his barrage of attacks.

Of course his attacks didnt work, would he never learn? Ezuri found himselfbeing in quite a nasty position. The burst of air conjured by Kensuke flew right at him and the shuriken coming from above made clear that the shadow clone was still up as well. Dodging seemed impossible, there was only one way out [b]"Hakkesho Kaiten!"[/b] Ezuri stopped in his tracks and come to a standstill sliding. He spun around at high speed releasing chakra from every tenkensho in his body. he didnt mastered the technique fully so the defensive power was not optimal but it should be able to stop the attacks Nimatsu threw at him. 

He stopped spinning as soon as the shuriken were deflected and the air burst from the falcon wing passed harmlessly. Ezuri threw some kunai at the shadow clone. (he could easily pinpoint its position due to his byakugan) [b]"Shuriken mizu bunshin no jutsu!"[/b] The kunai multiplied by three, the clone would have a really hard time dodging this, if it was able. Ezuri focussed at Kensuke again, and on the tree behind him. He needed to get past his sensei and he figured it would be the easiest if the man came to him. Ezuri took on a defensive stance and waited for his sensei to act.

The clone noticed the incoming danger and charged his blade with chakra, firing yet another falcon wing attack directed at the kunai, which made some of them stop mid-air, but even sent several back towards the Hyuuga boy. Kensuke in the meantime just stood idle, protecting the tree. To signify he was having too much free time, he even went as far as to yawn.

Ezuri was baffled by the clones power, he never saw a clone able to withstand an attack like he just launched. and to top it off his sensei was just provoking him. anger welled up in Ezuri, he quickly took a one of his last kunai out and blocked the incoming ones with it. the chakra reserve of the young boy was nothing special, if he were to cut the tree he would need his shotei and sixteen palms jutsu. Using a little chakra he conjured up two water clones and sent them into the tree to deal with the shadow clone so he himself could deal with his sensei [b]"show me some taijutsu Kensuke-sensei, I've heard you are one of the best around when it comes to that"[/b] now that wasn't entirely true but he hoped his sensei would come at him so he would have a chance to strike at him AND the tree.

The shadow clone leaped out of the tree and engaged both water clones at the same time, before they could reach the tree. It wouldn't last long, but at least it'd buy him enough time to deal with Ezuri attacking him. Kensuke in the meantime gave the Hyuuga boy a skeptical look as he summoned another shadow clone. [b]"Well, come and try me."[/b] He said, hands in his pockets, awaiting any attacks from Ezuri. He refused to attack his students if they didn't even bother to attack the tree. After all, he didn't want to maim them or anything. Glancing at the lifeless body of the other teammate he corrected himself. Not maim them too badly. The two shadow clones he summoned joined the combat against Ezuri's water clones and quickly turned the tide. It was amusing that he said that he was renowned for his taijutsu. He was pretty surprisingly good at it, as it complemented his kenjutsu, the skill he was known for.

Ezuri's eyebrow started to twitch. It was something that happened occasionally when he was nervous or angry and right now, he was both. He looked at the two shadow clones and the puddle of water at their feet. his sensei behind them [b]"How can I even try to hit the damn tree if I cant even reach it"[b] mumbled the boy. He could never do this on his own. That made him think of his teammates, the little girl who laid unconcious at the foot of the hill and the Inuzuka girl, who never showed up. Ezuri worked up quite rage [b]"This is SO unfair!"[/b] he shouted out. Unthoughtful, leaving his defense open and let his anger fuel his attack, closing the distance between him and the shadow clones he waited till the last minute to throw a kunai at them, they could impossibly dodge or block them because it was at such a close range and high velocity. He planned to continue in a straight line to his sensei and jump in the air to use a shotei attack. He would come down roaring on top of his sensei should he not be interrupted.

The boy was pitiful. He was cursed with the same warrior-syndrome as most genin had, but in this case it was pretty bad. He let his anger influence him way too much and went for an all-out charge against his two clones, throwing two kunai at them as he charged from a very close range. However, he underestimated his attacks, as the kunai he had thrown from so close were still parried by both clones. They were clones of a kenjutsu master, and as such were used to blocking lightning fast melee attacks. A close range kunai throw was nothing more than a fast stabbing attack, and as a result quickly countered. As he attempted to charge past both clones, they stuck out their legs, attempting to make him trip him quite comically should he not dodge, which Kensuke deemed nigh impossible due to his anger.

Ezuri was surprised the clones parried his attack and cursed from the inside. his anger made him blind for the legs the clones stuck out to make him trip. He fell for the childish trick and almost fell flat on his face but he managed to stay on his feet and resumed his assault hoping he would be faster than the shadow clones if they chose to persue him.

Kensuke stepped forwards quickly while unsteahing his blade for an upwards diagonal slice charged with a falcon wing attack, enough to blast him a few meters back, while his clones ran after him. Due to the stumbling act he'd have next to no chance of blocking his sudden attack, and should he somehow take it without being blasted backwards, his sudden move forwards would make sure any attacks would have to be done hastily, and inefficiently.

With a high jump and even higher hopes Ezuri thought his chance of hitting his sensei was 100%. Kensuke proved him wrong as the man shot another falcon wing attack at him. Ezuri got hit mid-air and was blasted backwards even over the clones who tried to catch up with him. The young boy landed hard on his back, all air was pressed out of his lungs, he gasped and got up slowly. [b]"If the man is so fond of his falcon wing why wouldnt he just..."[/b] that is when he came to a sudden realisation. he was doing this all wrong from the beginning! Ezuri thought up a plan on how he could position himself between the tree and his sensei and then let Kensuke use his falcon wing. Ezuri ran back to the bushes where he conjured his 20 water clones earlier to replenish some chakra and buy himself some time to think.

Surprised by the sudden turn of events, he let the boy run. Both clones climbed in the tree and took a branch to nap on while Kensuke himself sat down, and grabbed a book out of one of his pockets. "Sojutsu in the Warring States period" It was a very interesting subject about the century long tradition of non-shinobi and their use of spears during the period of warring clans that lasted from about 50 years after the Sage's death up untill some 60 years ago, when the Shinobi nations were created. He was surprised b the boy's sudden change of mood and tactics, and simply awaited him now. His eyes scanned the paper while his ears, nose and acute sort of sixth sense, a feeling he had developped together with his killing intent sensing ability that had saved him from an ambush more than once, did the same. [b]"I'm altering the time frame of the exercise. If the tree isn't cut at 10:00 you fail the test."[/b] He added casually, knowing that he'd only have at best 30 minutes left. Perhaps that'd spur him into action.

Ezuri grumbled at the remark of his sensei what was just barely audible from this distance. He now knew what he needed to do. He conjured as many water clones as his chakra reserve allowed and sent them around around but in a bigger arc, it would take them some longer but also made them harder to notice. Ezuri observed with his byakugan and think up a tactic. As soon as he knew what he was going to do he came out of hiding, four water clones at his side and casually walked up to the tree. Another five water clones came from the right, five from the left, and the last five from behind. Kensuke could probably not tell which one was the real Ezuri and he took andvantage of that. He and his clones fanned out, zizagging to distract Kensuke and his clones from divergent movement. Kunai from every direction flew at Kensuke and the tree, aimed at the shadow clones while Ezuri and his clones kept circling around tree.

Noticing the clones behind of him and infront of him he put the book away again to take a look at them, as he seemed to make a large move right now. Some 19 water clones, a very impressive number for a mere genin. He was curious if he could match his talent for jutsu and taijutsu as a Hyuga with his tactical insight. Perhaps he'd even come close to the tree now. Considering the large amount of clones summoned he knew each one had a minimal amount of chakra to be able to overwhelm him, something that had been tried on him before. Something that never quite worked up untill now, and he was curious to see how his student would begin this fight.

The kunai flying around his ears wasn't as much of a problem, since his clones dropped from the tree and started deflecting any kunai that would hit them or eachother's backs. The fanning movement of all clones trying to distract him, with Ezuri somewhere in there, was a nice plan, if not for his dojutsu. In any case, he and all of his clones did a horizontal falcon blade attack towards the approaching horde with quite few chakra, most certainly enough to eradicate any clone, but not enough to outright kill Ezuri, should he be hit. The clones circling around the tree were easy targets in any case, and should Ezuri try anything, he had at least a dozen more tricks up his sleeve.

Ezuri and his clones foresaw the attack of their sensei. of course he was going to use the falcon, blade, that was the plan. but he used it outward, not inward. Some clones ducked, some jumped and some just weren't fast enough. about half his clones did not make it and splashed out into little puddles. Ezuri cursed form the inside. He had to step it up. He attacked each of the shadow clones with four waterclones. throwing kunai to buy time, time that was needed to close the distance. surely four of him should have the edge in taijutsu against one of him.

Ezuri and his remaining two waterclones went after the real Kensuke, or rather tried to place themselves between the tree and their sensei. If he suceeded in that he would have his clones hammer away at the tree while he would keep his sensie busy, or at least have him use the falcon blade. Ezuri hoped his plan would work out.

His pupil's mastery over the water clone jutsu was admirable, considering half of them dodge his lightning fast attack, but the quantity of clones heavily diminished the quality of them, and his clones, armed with their katana, could easily hold their own against the four weaker water clones sent at each of them. However, three versions of Ezuri charged straight at him, and he fired a falcon wave technique at them as they charged in. The wide Horizontal gust of air would be more than enough to knock down a grown-up man, and because of the widthness of the move, nigh impossible to dodge in the same way as he had done before. And should he come close somehow, he'd learn him not to underestimate a shinobi who had been considered one of Konoha's best at close combat fighting eversince he was 17.

Ezuri saw the attack coming, it was the signature move of his sensei and because of his byakugan he could react lightning fast ot the moves of his opponent. He made a sliding. his clones however were not so lucky and were hit. behind him Ezuri heard the poofing of some clones that fought Kensuke's shadow clones. two clones, one of each group split off the group and started jamming away at the three, but before they close enough some kunai from the shadow clones found them as they finished off the other water clones. Ezuri breathed heavily, this was going nowhere. "Kensuke... sensei... watashi- watashiha mitomeru (I concede)" Ezuri realized he could not defeat his sensei nor cut down the three and his plan to dodge a falcon wing that would hit the tree failed as well. he did everyhting he could. the young boy dropped to his knees, doing his best not faint of exhaustion and excessive chakra usage.

Ready to deliver a final blow to 'discourage' his perky opponent, he stopped the sword halfwayhis attack, and let the chakra from the sword dissipate as it accutely stopped right before Ezuri's face. [b]"Very well."[/b] He said, sheating his blade and dismissing his shadow clones. He stood back upright and waited untill his student would stand up again, noticing how the other genin was being dragged away by concerned bystanders. He knew she wasn't dead, and she failed the test horribly. None of his concerns. Despite being a friendly person, or rather because he was a friendly person, he was very strict concrning his students. He wanted to train them to become good, well enough to not die in a real situation where they would be clearly outmatched. The perk that has made Team 4 under his command such an asset to Konoha.

[b]"Stand up Ezuri. Despite being on your own, you did considerably well for a mere genin, straight out of the academy. Your mastery of the water clone jutsu for a Hyuga is astonishing, but nothing to be proud of yet. In any case, you passed my test. That poor excuse of a shinobi over there didn't."[/b] He told the panting genin in front of him, who was clearly at his limits. However, he was still young, and would be quickly able to fight again.

[b]"Take some rest for today. We'll meet here again tomorrow."[/b]

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The next day Kensuke rolled his shoulders as to get rid of the last stiffness in them. He had slept pretty bad and the overal clumsy stiffness was still present in his shoulders. Luckily he wouldn't have to do much excersice today. His students on the other hand... In any case, he had heard that the Inuzuke student he had initially failedfor absence had been excused by the academy due to medical reasons or something like that, and that she'd be present today. Team 2 would be joining them too today. He was curious to meet this Hayate Hyuzu from which he had heard so much from Kiyomi... Nevermind having done a small training with him in the past. It would be interesting for sure, as he had a metal-manipulating kekkei genkai.

The soft winter breeze failed to chill him as spring was on the horizon. He never fancied the winter anyways. Regardless, waiting at trainingfield 13 once more for his students Ezuri Hyuga, Hayate Hyuzu and Shisen Inuzuka, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and enjoyed the cold morning breeze. [b]"Which one of them will be late..."[/b] He muttered to himself, thinking that actually he should wonder which one of the students would actually be on time instead. 9'a clock at training field 13. The note he had delivered should have been clear enough. Problem would most likely be that they'd read it only after waking up, way too late. But maybe he was just imagining things. He had no right to judge them yet, as so far, he hadn't really gotten a decent expression from them.

What took them so long?