Jiro heard shout immediately. Before he heard that familiar hiss-roar of burning chakra, or felt the heat play at his back, he silently thanked his new teacher for having the courtesy to vocalize his technique. With the extra half-second of warning, Jiro could turn and see the arcing balls of fire and kick his mind into combat gear. He could feel the moments stretch, and felt his heart and breath speed alongside his perception.

The arcing flames were not accurately sighted, but Jiro had read that the Phoenix Sage jutsu could be directed mid-flight with startling rapidity. He needed to get clear and out of the open. As he kicked off the ground, diagonally away from his attacking teacher and towards the lilting boughs of the forest, he could hear his rules echoing in his mind.

[i]Distance is your friend[/i]
[i]Cover and concealment are your friends, if you know the difference[/i]

The trees promised all three, and he raced towards them as fast as his legs, and what chakra he could manage, could carry him. 

[i]If you are not shooting: communicate, prepare and run[/i]

Jiro couldn't do the first at the moment. Even if he could shout over the flames and impart some small wisdom, his teacher would hear it and process it better than his teammates. He was already doing the latter, and so there was only one thing to do. By the time he was halfway to the treeline along his risky straight-line path, he had removed a scroll from his bandoleer, channeling a drop of chakra into the first of many seals upon it, a sack of jingling pieces of metal falling into his hand. With his free hand, he affixed his earplugs, the world immediately becoming muffled and distant-sounding.

[i]Always have a plan[/i]
[i]Always have a backup plan, because the first will not work[/i]
[i]The faster the fight is over, the less shot you will get[/i]

Jiro cringed as he scrambled up one of the trees a handful of meters into the foliage. He had the barest idea of a first plan, and nothing to fall back on. Hideo would not be impressed. He knew roughly where his teacher was, and where he was in relation to the man. Jiro needed to end the fight before his teacher wore them down. Within a few seconds of entering the trees Jiro had moved around the circular clearing by approximately 60 degrees, and decided he had waited long enough. Jiro dropped to the ground and moved carefully, making as little noise as possible and staying as close to life-saving cover as he could. Four meters forward he caught sight of his teacher, where he suspected the man was remaining. He made extra-sure that none of his teammates were close enough to be endangered by an attack.

[i]Only Hits Count[/i]
[i]Accuracy is Relative, calm is better than practiced: Fear the 'Pucker Factor'[/i]
[i]If your stance is good, you're not moving fast enough[/i]

Jiro plucked one of the bullets from his pouch and began channeling chakra for a brief moment before changing his mind. He had no desire to inflict a potentially deadly wound on his teacher, as unlikely as it seemed, or waste the element of surprise, not when moving the man out of the circle was the real objective. Jiro dropped the bullet back into his pack, reclaiming the chakra he had been preparing and instead, with practiced ease, plucked a shuriken with one of his less powerful explosive tags tied to it, and threw it with all the accuracy he could manage at the jonin's feet, using his chakra to prime the short time fuse on the slip of paper.

[i]Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Chakra is cheap – life is expensive.[/i]

Two more shuriken followed, each with their own tag affixed to the metal. Jiro immediately began to retreat, not willing to risk the third degree burns he was trying so hard to not think about just to see the explosions. He dashed deeper into the woods, continuing his path around the ring of trees as fast as he could.