[h3]   [/h3][hr][h3][color=lightsteelblue]Kazuhiko Taketori[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Dusk  ||  Land of Fire Border[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent]
Signing quickly, Kazuhiko jumped out of the way of a katana’s arc, swinging his hand at the attacker as he did so. [b]Lightning Release: Thunder[/b]—arcs of lightning leapt out from his hands, latching onto the attacker’s katana and travelling down the length of the steel. The shock caused the man to drop his katana with a cry, palms stretched wide with pain, as Kazuhiko landed a kick to his face to knock him out. 

Whipping out a kunai to clash against the next katana that came his way, Kazuhiko pushed the attacker back before quickly jumping back, retreating to a short distance away. As he did, the two remaining attackers charged at him, katanas raised. When they were close enough, Kazuhiko rapidly signed his next jutsu—[b]Lightning Release: Thunderbolt[/b]—sending out multiple thin arcs of lightning that sought out the attackers’ katanas. One of the attackers was repelled, dropping his katana in alarm. The other grit his teeth, pushing through the pain to complete his swing, which Kazuhiko parried with a kunai, kicking the man’s legs out from under him. As the man fell, Kazuhiko took the chance to knock out both him and his comrade, who was in the middle of attempting to retrieve his smoldering katana. 

After checking all three of his targets, Kazuhiko straightened, glancing at his teammates. Natsuko and Hachiro were unharmed, a kunai in Natsuko’s grip, and Koharu seemed to have taken down three attackers as well. That made six attackers in all and an exact tie between them.

[color=lightsteelblue]“Good job too,”[/color] Kazuhiko said, rejoining Koharu as they walked over to Natsuko. From her pants, it was clear that the jutsu she’d used had put a strain on her. While he wasn’t as tired as his teammate, he’d been sorely disappointed by his rendition of his Lightning Release: Thunderbolt; where his Thunder version had produced a satisfactorily strong arc of lightning, his Thunderbolt rendition—perhaps on account of the number of arcs produced—had been disappointingly weak in comparison. His chakra control needed some work, he figured, and he likely needed to grind and raise his base chakra levels as well.

[color=indianred]“Now he’s your problem again,”[/color] Natsuko said, gently but firmly pushing Hachiro towards Kazuhiko and Koharu. The boy was quick on the uptake, grabbing Kazuhiko’s hand.

“You’re really strong,” he said, eyes wide as he stared at Kazuhiko, who was, after an initial second of confusion, starting to feel immensely awkward.

[color=lightsteelblue]“Koharu is also very capable,”[/color] he said at last, but Hachiro was not so easily dissuaded, even after Natsuko inserted herself into the dialogue on Koharu’s behalf. During the walk back, Hachiro’s attention was fixed firmly on Kazuhiko, forcing the genin to remain sheepishly awkward and short-spoken.
[h3] [/h3][hr][hider=Jutsu]
[hider=Ninjutsu][indent] [/indent][list]
[*]Lightning Release:
[list][*]Thunder: creates arcs of lightning that the user can direct towards a target.
[*]Thunderbolt [Needs Practice]: creates arcs of lightning that can hit multiple targets at once.
[*]Lightning Strike [Needs Practice]: creates a strong arc of lightning that can hit multiple close targets or be extended to hit a faraway one. 
[/list][/list][indent][/indent][/hider]
[indent] [/indent][/hider]
[h3]   [/h3][hr][h3][color=indianred]Natsuko Rinha[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Early Morning  ||  Land of Lightning Outskirts[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent]
Natsuko woke abruptly, snapping up to a sitting position and glancing around in alarm. She’d felt something—a push, maybe. Something a small distance off that had suddenly flared up. Trial and error during the past, however, told Natsuko that this ‘something’ wasn’t as mysterious as it felt; it was simply someone using a large amount of chakra. Her senses—however they worked—would pick up on concentrated chakra use. This uncanny intuition was helpful in cases when someone wanted to sneak up on her, like some pranksters back home who thought using simple jutsu to deliver nasty shocks or dump icy water down her back was fun. In this case, Natsuko had a feeling she knew what was going on.

A glance at Koharu, who was sleeping peacefully next to her, made Natsuko hold back from rousing her teammate. Rising carefully, she made sure to stay as silent as possible as she left the tent, but her foot caught on the tent as she stepped out, causing her to almost trip—saved by a hand that caught on the opening of the tent, which, though prevented her from tripping, definitely made enough noise to wake her teammate.

[color=indianred]“Sorry Koharu,”[/color] Natsuko whispered as her teammate shifted. [color=indianred]“Kazuhiko’s out and about at these hours, so I thought I might go find him. Want to come?”[/color]
[h3]   [/h3][hr][h3][color=lightsteelblue]Kazuhiko Taketori[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Early Morning  ||  Land of Lightning Outskirts[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent]
[color=indianred]“Kazu-chan!”[/color]

Kazuhiko straightened, panting as he turned. Natsuko and Koharu had arrived at the little clearing he’d found a little ways away from camp—just so far so that the sound didn’t travel. Though he had no idea why his teammates had awoken, especially since he knew for a fact that Natsuko adored her sleep to the point of missing meetings at times, they were awake now, so his individual training session was over.

[color=indianred]“Kazu-chan, you can’t just sneak off and train alone,”[/color] Natsuko said, pouting. [color=indianred]“We’re a team. We need to improve together! Or just you and Koharu—you two should try training together. Who knows where that might lead?”[/color] she said, nudging Koharu.

[color=lightsteelblue]“I’m just about finished anyway,”[/color] Kazuhiko said, his breaths slowing. And he was: As he was used to training alone, the arrival of his teammates meant his session was up.

[color=indianred]“Aw, don’t leave just yet,”[/color] Natsuko whined, tugging Koharu over to the boy. [color=indianred]“Let’s all train together then. I won’t tease anymore.”[/color]

Kazuhiko hesitated. The offer was tempting, but usually, their training was supervised by Minoru.

[color=indianred]“Oh c’mon,”[/color] Natsuko whined again.

[color=lightsteelblue]“Fine. But I’m holding you to that,”[/color] he said. Natsuko pouted but quickly broke into a grin.

[color=indianred]“Cool! I’ll leave you two to it then,”[/color] she said jokingly, to which both her teammates immediately protested.
[h3] [/h3][@Sunflower]