Ganryu
Your Lovable Jackass GM
Mai cracked her neck as she walked up to the training field. She felt… really stiff. Dark circles formed under her eyes. She was already a jonin, and technically didn’t need to put in all the extra work, but she felt woefully unprepared for it. She was supposed to be an ELITE ninja, but she didn’t feel any different. Certainly not any smarter. Her last ‘smart’ gambit had made her oh so well trusted....
She didn’t feel that much stronger either. Moku could still give her a run for her money. And right now, she really needed that.
“Hey! Moku! You’d better make a good warm-up at least! Been locked in a room all day, and if I don’t get some exercise soon, feels like my arms are going to just fall off.”
She gave a small psychotic smirk as she saw her favorite training dummy. At least he didn’t cry like Hideki when hit!
Moku looked up after having folded his removed shirt. He placed it on the rocks to his side as he returned Mai’s smile. He learned last time that a shirt was…. Not wise when fighting Mai. Mostly from when she hooked him by it and threw him through several trees. It hurt, sure, but not as much as losing his favorite shirt did.
He rolled his neck and popped his knuckles as he readied himself. He knew he wasn’t nearly as fast or technically skilled as Mai, but he was more than strong and durable enough to put up a decently even fight. He also admittedly got a thrill out of not fighting with Ninjutsu now and again. It was weirdly refreshing somehow.
“Well, it sounds like you need to get tossed around a little to get your blood moving then, eh?” He grinned with false cockiness no one would fall for. “I think i can help you with that!”
“Might be a light warm-up I guess. I duuuunno.”
Mai assumed a stance she’d been working on lately. Her hands were useless without genjutsu (Which she guess was cheating. Throwing Moku through a forest was still hilarious though), so it was her footwork she focused on. Her stance had both hands slightly forward, not in a pose to punch, but in a good position to parry, and her feet in a good stance to push off in a body flicker forward.
However, despite her stance seeming ready to go, Mai seemed, uh, a little distracted by something. Or rather six things. That looked like she could grate cheese on.
Moku eyed Mai’s stance warily, unaware of her need for Genjutsu usage to use her hands. He couldn't figure why she'd take such a stance, but figured it was probably more fun to just figure out firsthand rather than thinking about it. He lowered himself somewhat, tensing strength in his legs and lower abdomen before spring towards Mai at high speed. The ground cracked from the force, and he drove a fist towards her stomach to probe a reaction. He didn't figure it'd land as obvious as it was, but maybe he'd get lucky?
The punch woke Mai up from her daydream, hitting her hard in the stomach. At least he was nice enough not to make it the chest… she’d hate to have to try and break him.
Gasping as the blow sent her back, Mai started to see red, and time started to slow down. Most people would be pissed. Mai looked excited. That punch had deeeefinitely woken her. It felt nice. Letting go of her stomach, Mai rose to position again.
“Please, sir, can I have another? Hahaha!”
She faded to black, her signature technique, reappearing in front of Moku with a knee towards his gut. He could probably take more hits than she could, but he wouldn’t enjoy them half as much!
Moku was surprised to find his hit land with how telegraphed it was. Even he wouldn't have missed that cue. Had she been distracted or something? He couldn't imagine what by. Perhaps she just let him get that hit in. Based on her reaction that made the most sense.
As she disappeared and reappeared in front of him he was once more impressed by her speed. He wasn't the fastest around by any margin, but he was still pretty light on his feet. Yet he couldn't even keep track of her when she really got moving. Thus the surprise knew took him in the gut before he knew it. He huffed a breath out, more shocked than pained, and grabbed onto her leg as she kneed him.
He gave her what he thought would look like a return crazed grin, but probably just looked goofy. “Another? Well alright!” He spun and went to toss her away from him, before dashing after her ready with a flurry of punches not aimed in any particular location.
Mai flew back, her breathing becoming more rapid, even though she couldn’t possibly be winded by this point. Then again, it was just a sign of her getting excited and losing control. Another day in the sparring with Mai.
As she landed from the throw, she braced against the impact with one foot, and used her body as a spring, bouncing back even harder against Moku’s punches with a single kick upwards to his chest to knock him back. Mai didn’t care about taking a punch or two! And this way, she was returning both her own force, and the force of his throw back at him in a foot-shaped package.
Moku landed a few solid punches while she was midair, and one after landing. Unfortunately, Moku didn't have the luxury of enough reaction time or the knowledge of a proper counter for Mai’s kick. It landed square in the center of his chest and knocked the wind out of him as he sailed back. He slid across the ground, collecting mud and scratches on his back as he went. He finally tumbled to a stop a good thirty or so feet later.
He used the momentum to roll to his feet, rubbing at the sore spot on his chest as he stood. “Damn Mai. Nice kick.” He spit a bit of blood to the side. He eyed Mai for a moment, wondering how much effect he'd had on her so far. Didn't look like much, but her berserker thing did that. Bouncing on his heels he decided to make an effort to get through even that and really make her push herself. He prepped himself, unsure how effective this next attack would be, and body flickered to her. He flicked a fist at the underside of her jaw as he reappeared.
Mai’s breathing intensified with the damage. It was getting fun! Her hidden Kekkei Genkai caused endorphins and adrenaline to explode throughout her body, giving her a shot of joy, and slowing down time. It didn’t allow rational thinking, but it did allow a berserker’s high. The fact Mai had huge bruising across her stomach, and a few hits to her arm wasn’t quite registering yet. It would make anything resembling a situp impossible for a while at the least.
As Moku body flickered toward her, Mai responded with a simple roundhouse kick.
Leaf Strong Hurricane!
Mai’s foot shot out, with enough force to shatter boulders, and send gales of winds, straight towards Moku’s ribs. Even if it missed, Mai would continue with shot after shot hoping to blow him away, no matter how much stamina it consumed.
Moku tried to turn out of his punch to take the kick across the back instead, but wasn't quite quick enough. Instead, he took part to his back and part to his ribs, tossing him to the side. His punch was turned mostly aside, only clipping the corner of her jaw as she nailed him cleanly away from her. He rolled and tumbled far more harshly this time, and heard more than felt the impacts. He ended upside down with his back against a tree.
Blinking his vision clear, he moved to stand and his back and ribs said that was a bad idea. He ignored them out of general principles and stood up anyway. Looking down he saw a large black and purple bruise on his side. “Well….ow.”
He glanced back at Mai, huffing out and pained breath as he did. He hadn't expected it to work out cleanly, but he hoped for better than that. He rolled his neck, small cracks and pops sounding in his ears as he did. Once again he tried body flickering towards her, a punch aimed for her lower jaw telegraphed clearly. This time, however, he prepared to body flicker again as he reappeared, planning to reappear behind her and deliver a punch to the middle back.
Mai cackled as the hit stuck, and immediately crouched preparing for another. She was working up a sweat very quickly. While taijutsu relied very little on chakra use, higher techniques, Mai’s favorites, did tend to be very tiring.
As Moku charged her, Mai shot up at him with a bicycle kick. She’d miss due to him flickering away immediately, but it wasn’t Mai’s strongest taijutsu for nothing.
Skybreaker!
Mai fired into the air so quickly that a vacuum was left in her wake, propelling her upward. Below her the vacuum closed, sucking in everything towards a point right below her, where Mai would deliver a single kick downward towards. The kick was aimed a little off though, Mai flinching a bit mid-delivery. A pain did wrack her stomach from the earlier punch.
Moku found his target completely absent when he punched towards her back. After a moment he found himself sucked forward and his breath pulled from him. He stumbled
forward, dropping to one knee as he did. He looked upward as an updraft blew past him. His eyes widened as he realized this was not going to be dodgeable. He had to tell her how cool this was later.
For now, though he crossed his forearms over his head to intercept the kick. As he did he felt a pain radiate up his arms, but didn't feel anything break. However, resisting the force pressed his foot and knee down hard enough to crack the ground for several feet around him. He braced and then pushed off the ground to toss her away from him as he stood fully upright again. He flexed his hands repeatedly, having lost feeling in them and his forearms. He eyed Mai warily, unsure of how to come at her this time, but sure he didn't want to just be on the defensive due to waiting too long.
Mai kicked off Moku’s arms, and landed gracefully a few meters away. Blinking, her rage subsided as she panted trying to regain her breath. She was talented in taijutsu, but her flashier moves left her drained. But it was no fun if she won instantly. It made Moku a good fight. He could take it. He could also give it, a throb in her stomach reminded her. Mai briefly considered whistling. But he wasn’t using ninjutsu, so she wouldn’t use her genjutsu. She’d just catch her breath real quick…
“Sorry ‘bout going a bit crazy earlier. You know how much fun a taijutsu match can be. Your move.”
And totally not because I’m exhausted.
Moku relaxed his guard a bit, giving Mai a more genuine smile than those from before. “No need to apologize. It's not like I haven't seen you like that in a spar session before. Though I am curious to why you aren't using your arms. Is it to motivate me by showing how easy I am to beat?” He gave a bit of a smirk but in reality, it was a brittle facade. This was another sign he had fallen behind his friends in his eyes.
Mai flinched.
“Can’t use’em most of the time. I could put chakra through my hands and force them to work, but got ‘bout 2 minutes of that a time. And hey, maybe I want to do something later today with’em. Like get dressed. Or punch out a kid. Or throw you through a tree again.” Mai then managed to smirk, and put her hands together like she was about to use them. “Also, that’s genjutsu to do it. Don’t see you breaking out ninjutsu. Looking down on a cripple are we? I’m not that frail.”
Moku seemed to sink in on himself in sudden guilt. How did he not know that? “Oh… I uhm. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I just don't use ninjutsu for our sparring because I like getting a chance to fight without it. It's like you said, it's really fun.” He mentally kicked himself for letting his inadequacy say something so insensitive. “If you want I could use some ninjutsu. You should use your hands too. Oh, and I heard about you destroying the Hoshikage! How about a demonstration of what you used for that!” He tried to perk up and maybe make up for his earlier comment.
Mai closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of smashing the meteorite against the Hoshikage, of the bright explosion, of the news she’d killed him. She made a note not to trust Moku in any game of luck, cause he just kept hitting all the wrong things by complete accident. But… well, Mai wasn’t exactly that much better was she?
And this was just a spar. No need to make any drama out of it. The two were already hitting each other over it anyways! And not like Mai could turn back time.
“Hehehe, yeah, guess I am the star killer. You should come by my shop sometime, could SHOW you what fighting him’s like.
Just gotta suppress something real quick so I don’t kill either one of us. Ain’t gunna fight you with it, but showing ya might be cool. There are eight of these.”
Mai closed her eyes and started using a genjutsu to force herself calm. She couldn’t let a single bit of bloodlust out. Then she crossed her arms.
“Gate of Opening: Open!”
Mai’s muscles bulged, becoming unladylike and frankly large.
“Gate of opening’s located in the front of the brain, its your body’s restriction on how much muscle one uses at once so you don’t tear them by accident. Unlocking it, you can use much more strength than normal.”
Her arms crossed, Mai’s breathing suddenly stabilized from the earlier pant.
“Gate of Healing: Open! Gate of Healing’s located in the back of the brain. It’s your limit on fatigue, and your body telling you how tired it is. Unlocked, you can feel energized again, even when your body is completely empty.”
Mai’s skin turned red.
“Gate of Life: Open! The Gate of Life is located in the upper Spinal Cord. Pumps up your heart, turning the skin red, and increases the blood you get, letting you use up energy a lot faster. Last of the safe… gates.”
Mai’s teeth started to grind as she had some more difficulty with the later gates, and they were also painful. Her hair started to stand on end, looking like a super saiyan with the gate.
“Gate of Pain! OPEN! At middle of spine. Dangerous gate. Muscles tear on use from the burn on them. My body can kinda handle this, but any one less experienced might not ever be able to walk again after using it.”
Mai let out a cry, her skin turning a deep red.
“GATE OF LIMIT! OPEN! It’s *gasp* in the abdomen. Starts using the chakra in your organs. Most… I… can handle…”
Mai’s skin turned back to normal as she released the gates and fell to the floor for a second.
“So yeah… used that. Really hurt. Guess hurt the Hoshikage too some… Hehehe. Guess don’t like’em cause’of who taught me them. And cause I already have control problems. Anyways, yeah. You wanna go more unrestricted? I’ll use my genjutsu to go full force, you use your ninjutsu? Unless the class has any questions.”
Moku just stood slack-jawed for a moment. The first few were awesome and he was instantly curious as to how to himself perform the gates. Though he felt guilty for asking when the latter two clearly caused her great pain. He eyed Mai with greater respect than before, not that there had ever been any lack of it.
“Yeah, I'm definitely down to less restriction. But uh… one question. If you're up for it would uhm…. Maybe..” He shifted uncomfortably for a second, unsure if asking would be insensitive. He'd already said enough stupid stuff today. “W-would you mind teaching me how to use the first gate some time?”
“I mean, at the risk of Takara Sensei hunting me down and giving me nightmares for a month, sure? The Eight Gates are kinda a kinjutsu… b-but I mean, I turned out fine...ish.
Heads up though, 1st gate makes ya super tired afterward. Learn it enough and I guess it’ll be fine. Most of my techs make me tired anyway. 5th gate I thought I was going to die. Not sure I want to know what happens after that. Guess Imma have to eventually. 8th Gate is fatal, always, though.”
Mai took a deep, soothing breath. She then whistled, and her hand instantly responded, turning to the sign of confrontation. She’d give Moku seconds to respond before rushing him, fading to black, and reappearing in front of him with an uppercut.
Moku was so occupied with running through the new information in his head that he barely began to guard when Mai attacked. The end result was Moku had no time to prep before getting clocked square in the jaw. To be fair, he knew that was on him. He shouldn't have let his fascination for learning a new jutsu distract him. On another note, his jaw was less than pleased with the punch he stupidly left himself open for. He stumbled back, spitting blood to one side before flicking a hand through the signs for Earth Spear.
His skin blackened swiftly, shining with steel hardness as the jutsu swept over his body. With another flick of his hands, he activated Subterranean Voyage. However, he only submerged one foot before canceling the jutsu. This resulted in his foot being encased in solid stone. He tensed and yanked his foot up with as much force as he could manage. The ground gave way with a groan of grating stone, and he kicked a block of earth straight at Mai.
At Subterranean Voyage, Mai backed off, she’d been hit too many times by similar jutsu. Mai responded with a Strong Leaf Hurricane, shattering the earth with her greave, and sending it back like shotgun pellets at Moku, probably doing nothing against his Earth Spear. It had cost her two things she really didn’t have much of though, time, and energy.
Mai quickly ran back towards him. Earth Spear really wasn’t a jutsu she feared. If she hit him, sure, it’d hurt her, but taijutsu was more than punches and kicks!
Moku blinked reflexively as the stone pieces hit him. They didn't cause any damage or pain of course, but reflex is reflex. He was unsurprised to find Mai running headfirst towards him. She had that crazed look that made him sure she'd hit him even if it damaged herself in the process. He tried to consider what to do, but found himself instead just running towards her instead. It surprised him to find himself doing so, but he had to admit the adrenaline rush of this fight was doing wonderful things for his mood. He tensed as he closed the distance, ready to strike or block as needed.
Mai started out the fight with a sweep as she passed, trying to knock his legs from under him.
Leaf Gale!
Earth Spear did have a few weakness she could think of. It wouldn’t make kicking his feet out from under him any harder for instance. Oh, and rabbit punches were likely to be just as effective if she could get one off. Or throws. Or pins. Or toppling a tree over on him.
All valid options.
Moku responded by further adapting the trick from earlier. Using Subterranean Voyage he sunk his legs partially underground before canceling the jutsu. He stuck fast in place, his legs rooted firmly in the ground. He then switched gears and used Fists of Flame, coating his fists in fire. This way even glancing blows will cause damage. He estimated where she would stop when she tried sweeping his feet to find they were immobile. He drove a fist down in the general area in hopes of leading his punch so she would move into it on the way by.
Mai collided with a tree it felt like with how well rooted Moku was. She was glad for her greaves, otherwise hitting him would hurt, and not in the good way like the dull throb in her stomach. Identifying the fire punches, Mai countered like she would counter Yukari, cross-checking his forearms with her own. One couldn’t allow a Hyuga to touch them and come out unscathed, even in passing, and Mai knew fire enough to know the same applied to it.
Mai did watch the flaming fist with some trepidation, however.
How can he do that without being afraid of burning himself? I… still have scars from when I tried ninjutsu. I’d much rather taijutsu.
Mai bit her lip canceling her genjutsu, she was running out of chakra too fast, and this was going to be a long fight it looked like. She could turn it back on if need be.
Moku felt a tremor run up his body as the kick connected with his leg, but he barely wavered. Good thing too, because even with Earth Spear that one would've tossed him. As Mai slapped his hands away he dissipated the fire surrounding his hands. He began flicking his left hand through handsigns as he breathed in deep. As he was he hoped it would draw her attention to his left hand. Meanwhile, he threw a punch with as much force as he could from this position, angled to try punching her away at an upward angle.
Mai saw the punch coming, and smiled as it collided head-on. Chakra radiated from her gut as he collided, but it would feel like there was a sandbag in the way of his punch as her chakra diffused the force across her entire body rather than the localized blow. Something also kept her rooted to the ground.
Titan’s Flesh
Solid Ground
Whistling, she tried to wrap her arms around his wrist and elbow. It was A LOT of chakra coming from Mai. All her techniques were generally supplementary, but it did build up.
“Handsign’s ‘tiger’. I used to use ninjutsu before, ya know. Fire kinda scares me. Draw?”
Moku’s eyes widened as he felt the chakra increase in Mai as she grabbed his wrist and elbow. That was a lot of stacked jutsu she had. To him, it seemed like she was both defending herself from his blows while building up for the winning blow. He was shocked when she instead asked to call it a draw. He blinked slowly one time, a weird visual effects with Earth Spear on.
“S-sure. Sorry about the fire, it's my most comfortable element normally.” He withdrew his legs from the ground, indirectly lifting Mai up in the process, and canceled Earth Spear. His skin lightened to normal and he gave her a small smile. “So was that a good enough workout?”
Mai stretched her back, and looked down at her right hand.
“Well, I’ve got a large bruise on my stomach, near out of chakra, and I think you got dirt on me. It was a great warmup! Wish I could do this all day and get strong for it. Tch, I hate reading, but guess I gotta finish the stupid history of the first Hoshikage.”
Mai didn’t look away from her hand. A web of burnmarks covered it.
“You know, I used to wear gloves, looks ugly. Hideki and Aiko finally convinced me not to. How DO you stand being around explosions all day? I mean, fire kinda scares me, and it's my element.”
Moku smiled initially when she said she enjoyed their spar. However, when he followed her gaze to her hands and noticed the burn marks his smile faded to neutrality and his eyes softened significantly. Now he felt especially guilty for using fire. What was with him and his stupid blunders anyway?!
He moved his eyes back to her face and tried to look less like he was bummed out, and more…. Scholarly perhaps? “Well, I don't… uh, I don't really see it like that. Ninjutsu for me is like taijutsu seems to be for you. It's….the best. I not only excel at it naturally, but I love learning it. Fire and Earth for now, but hopefully all five eventually.”
He tried putting things into sensible words despite the fact he felt more than thought about these things. “Each element to me has a sorry of…. Guiding emotion behind it. Earth is about dedication and stability. While you should have both you have to measure it accordingly or you will be too soft or too solid.”
He paused momentarily, gathering his thoughts. “Fire however…. Fire is energy, passion, a vibrant force. It can be terrifying sure, especially when used by an enemy. But when you control and guide it, when it follows your emotions and thoughts it’s…. Exhilarating in the extreme.” He paused for a long moment, eyes seemingly distant as he put himself in the right emotional state to explain. He snapped back however and his face deepened to a scarlet hue out of embarrassment over talking too much. “H-hopefully that makes sense?”
“I guess. I just don’t trust it myself. I use Taijutsu cause I can’t trust anything but my own body. I’m sure I could find something to bypass my hands if I wanted handsigns more constantly than Freedom of Movement. Ninjutsu’s blown up on me before. Genjutsu’s just a crutch I use to control myself, don’t even bother putting it on the enemy. Tools cost money. Teammates can get mad at me. But I know how I move. My body’s not going to lie to me. I’m kinda scared of messing up these days anymore, so I try to use what I can trust. Anyways, sorry, didn’t mean to get all emo on you.
So, every element, huh? You get that passionate ‘bout all of them? Well, what ‘bout the other three then?”
Moku listened intently to Mai’s words on why she chooses taijutsu. He bit his lip to stay silent throughout, despite his urge to speak after every sentence. When she finished he decided to address her talk about abilities first, instead of his own beliefs.
“Every time I pick up a tool it nearly always breaks or bends. I can't sneak or use genjutsu at even genin level. I can sense alright, but I need to train it more. Sure I can punch hard and take hits pretty much all day, but I'm not fast or technically skilled or knowledgeable about taijutsu like you or Naoki. But Ninjutsu….” His eyes glimmered just saying the word. “Ninjutsu is as easy as breathing to me. I can trust and believe in it, and change it as needed. I can learn new types and techniques and read all day about it without getting bored.”
He snapped back to reality and cast an apologetic glance Mai’s way. “No need to apologize for getting emotional. It's… definitely something I get. But…” He paused, trying to think through his words carefully. “Chakra is part of you and your body. W-with the right steps I'm sure you could at least use small ninjutsu if you like. My Fists of Flame technique for example. You should definitely be able to do that if you like. I uhm, I could yknow, help you learn. If you wanted….” He petered off and looked to the side embarrassed at his offer. Then he remembered her actual question to him, so he said his answer real quick while casting his eyes downward in further embarrassment. “Also I uh… don't have a for sure attachment to the others yet. I'd have to start working with them to find out. Umichi-sensei could teach me water maybe, and my mom could lightning. But I haven't got around to asking.”
“Aw, that’s sweet, but already messed up my chance with ninjutsu. I’ll just get better with what I got. I still so much I gotta learn. Think my brain would explode if I added anything more. ‘Sides, if I get any stronger, they might make me Hokage! And that’s your schtick, right? Maybe once I get a bit closer to my dreams I’ll let ya show me. But gotta get them done first. Huh. Maybe I can help you with yours. Know you want to get all 5 elements, and hit Hokage, anything else you have dreams of doing?”
Mai yawned as she rested by a tree. She’d called it a ‘warmup’, but in reality, she was pretty well beat.
Moku could be mistaken for a tomato based on how red he got at Mai’s words. “H-h-how did you hear about me wanting to be Hokage? I haven't told anyone about that yet!” He was sure he hadn't besides maybe the birds he always spoke to at his bedroom window. But he always told them in his….quietest….voice. Hadn't he? Of course he had, he's perfectly quiet when he needs to be! That's the lie he went with for himself.
“A-as for other goals, I want to try getting my strength under control so I can use tools and uh… not break small objects I handle. Plus I hear people with a lot of tool specialty get good at sealing. Imagine if I could seal my big jutsus into scrolls and throw them at people on the fly!” Sparkle was too weak for the shine in his eyes at the thought. It took several long moments for him to come out of that daydream.
When he did he sat on the ground across from Mai. He pondered his other dreams and realized with embarrassment there was really only one more. One all Ozaki members have once they exit childhood. They were all romantics of a shockingly high caliber, even if they….poorly attempted to hide it. He couldn't very well tell Mai that right?! Though his mom did always say be honest with girls about how you feel…
Wait! This isn't what she meant right? She meant if you like them. He didn't like Mai like that! Plus not answering all the way wasn't being dishonest, was it? N-no of course not. He waved a hand and gave a smile in what he believed was a gesture of dismissing thought. It was visibly uncomfortable and inauthentic. “B-besides that I can't think of anything else r-right now,” he lied poorly. “What about you?”
Mai was finding the tree comfortable as she laid down against it.
“Randomly found a miniature Hokage monument in the training field once with you on it. Was a pretty big hint.
Far as my dreams. I did want to lead my clan… but… there are bigger things than my clan to worry about. I do want to beat down the Mizukage, that’s a definite goal. I hate the concept of killing people though. Wonder if I can still hold onto that ideal as Mai, The Star Killer. And… Well, I… er. I want to be the Hokage’s Advisor! Problem is I wasn’t born smart. So trying everything I can to learn. Just, just a lot of work. So many things to learn.
But, oh well. As far as tools, I can’t help… but I might know someone who can. Just… do NOT drop my name. At all. In fact, if you pretend you don’t know me, I know someone who is VERY good, who might be able to help. She’s not really a good person, but if you pay her, she won’t say no. Smartest person I know, and all she does is tools. Really kinda envy her...”
Moku stopped breathing with embarrassment and fear. Had he not destroyed that after he made it?! Stupid stupid stupid! He had to lie and quick. “Uh… haha, sounds like Hideki playing a trick again! B-but yeah, I do wanna be Hokage. Though I'd appreciate if you save me a piece of the Mizukage. I'd… I'd really like to find out who killed my team and hurt me. But I don't think that's likely…. So the Mizukage will have to do.”
He immediately changed topics to not linger on THAT anymore. “Someone really good with tools…. Who doesn't like you….” He chewed his lip for but a moment before he realized. He grimaced as he asked, “You mean Nagisa, right? She's a pretty solid teammate, but I dunno if I'd be comfortable asking her to teach me until I can at least hold a kunai without breaking it, yknow?”
“Yeah… I guess… yeah….zzz...”
She didn’t feel that much stronger either. Moku could still give her a run for her money. And right now, she really needed that.
“Hey! Moku! You’d better make a good warm-up at least! Been locked in a room all day, and if I don’t get some exercise soon, feels like my arms are going to just fall off.”
She gave a small psychotic smirk as she saw her favorite training dummy. At least he didn’t cry like Hideki when hit!
Moku looked up after having folded his removed shirt. He placed it on the rocks to his side as he returned Mai’s smile. He learned last time that a shirt was…. Not wise when fighting Mai. Mostly from when she hooked him by it and threw him through several trees. It hurt, sure, but not as much as losing his favorite shirt did.
He rolled his neck and popped his knuckles as he readied himself. He knew he wasn’t nearly as fast or technically skilled as Mai, but he was more than strong and durable enough to put up a decently even fight. He also admittedly got a thrill out of not fighting with Ninjutsu now and again. It was weirdly refreshing somehow.
“Well, it sounds like you need to get tossed around a little to get your blood moving then, eh?” He grinned with false cockiness no one would fall for. “I think i can help you with that!”
“Might be a light warm-up I guess. I duuuunno.”
Mai assumed a stance she’d been working on lately. Her hands were useless without genjutsu (Which she guess was cheating. Throwing Moku through a forest was still hilarious though), so it was her footwork she focused on. Her stance had both hands slightly forward, not in a pose to punch, but in a good position to parry, and her feet in a good stance to push off in a body flicker forward.
However, despite her stance seeming ready to go, Mai seemed, uh, a little distracted by something. Or rather six things. That looked like she could grate cheese on.
Moku eyed Mai’s stance warily, unaware of her need for Genjutsu usage to use her hands. He couldn't figure why she'd take such a stance, but figured it was probably more fun to just figure out firsthand rather than thinking about it. He lowered himself somewhat, tensing strength in his legs and lower abdomen before spring towards Mai at high speed. The ground cracked from the force, and he drove a fist towards her stomach to probe a reaction. He didn't figure it'd land as obvious as it was, but maybe he'd get lucky?
The punch woke Mai up from her daydream, hitting her hard in the stomach. At least he was nice enough not to make it the chest… she’d hate to have to try and break him.
Gasping as the blow sent her back, Mai started to see red, and time started to slow down. Most people would be pissed. Mai looked excited. That punch had deeeefinitely woken her. It felt nice. Letting go of her stomach, Mai rose to position again.
“Please, sir, can I have another? Hahaha!”
She faded to black, her signature technique, reappearing in front of Moku with a knee towards his gut. He could probably take more hits than she could, but he wouldn’t enjoy them half as much!
Moku was surprised to find his hit land with how telegraphed it was. Even he wouldn't have missed that cue. Had she been distracted or something? He couldn't imagine what by. Perhaps she just let him get that hit in. Based on her reaction that made the most sense.
As she disappeared and reappeared in front of him he was once more impressed by her speed. He wasn't the fastest around by any margin, but he was still pretty light on his feet. Yet he couldn't even keep track of her when she really got moving. Thus the surprise knew took him in the gut before he knew it. He huffed a breath out, more shocked than pained, and grabbed onto her leg as she kneed him.
He gave her what he thought would look like a return crazed grin, but probably just looked goofy. “Another? Well alright!” He spun and went to toss her away from him, before dashing after her ready with a flurry of punches not aimed in any particular location.
Mai flew back, her breathing becoming more rapid, even though she couldn’t possibly be winded by this point. Then again, it was just a sign of her getting excited and losing control. Another day in the sparring with Mai.
As she landed from the throw, she braced against the impact with one foot, and used her body as a spring, bouncing back even harder against Moku’s punches with a single kick upwards to his chest to knock him back. Mai didn’t care about taking a punch or two! And this way, she was returning both her own force, and the force of his throw back at him in a foot-shaped package.
Moku landed a few solid punches while she was midair, and one after landing. Unfortunately, Moku didn't have the luxury of enough reaction time or the knowledge of a proper counter for Mai’s kick. It landed square in the center of his chest and knocked the wind out of him as he sailed back. He slid across the ground, collecting mud and scratches on his back as he went. He finally tumbled to a stop a good thirty or so feet later.
He used the momentum to roll to his feet, rubbing at the sore spot on his chest as he stood. “Damn Mai. Nice kick.” He spit a bit of blood to the side. He eyed Mai for a moment, wondering how much effect he'd had on her so far. Didn't look like much, but her berserker thing did that. Bouncing on his heels he decided to make an effort to get through even that and really make her push herself. He prepped himself, unsure how effective this next attack would be, and body flickered to her. He flicked a fist at the underside of her jaw as he reappeared.
Mai’s breathing intensified with the damage. It was getting fun! Her hidden Kekkei Genkai caused endorphins and adrenaline to explode throughout her body, giving her a shot of joy, and slowing down time. It didn’t allow rational thinking, but it did allow a berserker’s high. The fact Mai had huge bruising across her stomach, and a few hits to her arm wasn’t quite registering yet. It would make anything resembling a situp impossible for a while at the least.
As Moku body flickered toward her, Mai responded with a simple roundhouse kick.
Leaf Strong Hurricane!
Mai’s foot shot out, with enough force to shatter boulders, and send gales of winds, straight towards Moku’s ribs. Even if it missed, Mai would continue with shot after shot hoping to blow him away, no matter how much stamina it consumed.
Moku tried to turn out of his punch to take the kick across the back instead, but wasn't quite quick enough. Instead, he took part to his back and part to his ribs, tossing him to the side. His punch was turned mostly aside, only clipping the corner of her jaw as she nailed him cleanly away from her. He rolled and tumbled far more harshly this time, and heard more than felt the impacts. He ended upside down with his back against a tree.
Blinking his vision clear, he moved to stand and his back and ribs said that was a bad idea. He ignored them out of general principles and stood up anyway. Looking down he saw a large black and purple bruise on his side. “Well….ow.”
He glanced back at Mai, huffing out and pained breath as he did. He hadn't expected it to work out cleanly, but he hoped for better than that. He rolled his neck, small cracks and pops sounding in his ears as he did. Once again he tried body flickering towards her, a punch aimed for her lower jaw telegraphed clearly. This time, however, he prepared to body flicker again as he reappeared, planning to reappear behind her and deliver a punch to the middle back.
Mai cackled as the hit stuck, and immediately crouched preparing for another. She was working up a sweat very quickly. While taijutsu relied very little on chakra use, higher techniques, Mai’s favorites, did tend to be very tiring.
As Moku charged her, Mai shot up at him with a bicycle kick. She’d miss due to him flickering away immediately, but it wasn’t Mai’s strongest taijutsu for nothing.
Skybreaker!
Mai fired into the air so quickly that a vacuum was left in her wake, propelling her upward. Below her the vacuum closed, sucking in everything towards a point right below her, where Mai would deliver a single kick downward towards. The kick was aimed a little off though, Mai flinching a bit mid-delivery. A pain did wrack her stomach from the earlier punch.
Moku found his target completely absent when he punched towards her back. After a moment he found himself sucked forward and his breath pulled from him. He stumbled
forward, dropping to one knee as he did. He looked upward as an updraft blew past him. His eyes widened as he realized this was not going to be dodgeable. He had to tell her how cool this was later.
For now, though he crossed his forearms over his head to intercept the kick. As he did he felt a pain radiate up his arms, but didn't feel anything break. However, resisting the force pressed his foot and knee down hard enough to crack the ground for several feet around him. He braced and then pushed off the ground to toss her away from him as he stood fully upright again. He flexed his hands repeatedly, having lost feeling in them and his forearms. He eyed Mai warily, unsure of how to come at her this time, but sure he didn't want to just be on the defensive due to waiting too long.
Mai kicked off Moku’s arms, and landed gracefully a few meters away. Blinking, her rage subsided as she panted trying to regain her breath. She was talented in taijutsu, but her flashier moves left her drained. But it was no fun if she won instantly. It made Moku a good fight. He could take it. He could also give it, a throb in her stomach reminded her. Mai briefly considered whistling. But he wasn’t using ninjutsu, so she wouldn’t use her genjutsu. She’d just catch her breath real quick…
“Sorry ‘bout going a bit crazy earlier. You know how much fun a taijutsu match can be. Your move.”
And totally not because I’m exhausted.
Moku relaxed his guard a bit, giving Mai a more genuine smile than those from before. “No need to apologize. It's not like I haven't seen you like that in a spar session before. Though I am curious to why you aren't using your arms. Is it to motivate me by showing how easy I am to beat?” He gave a bit of a smirk but in reality, it was a brittle facade. This was another sign he had fallen behind his friends in his eyes.
Mai flinched.
“Can’t use’em most of the time. I could put chakra through my hands and force them to work, but got ‘bout 2 minutes of that a time. And hey, maybe I want to do something later today with’em. Like get dressed. Or punch out a kid. Or throw you through a tree again.” Mai then managed to smirk, and put her hands together like she was about to use them. “Also, that’s genjutsu to do it. Don’t see you breaking out ninjutsu. Looking down on a cripple are we? I’m not that frail.”
Moku seemed to sink in on himself in sudden guilt. How did he not know that? “Oh… I uhm. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I just don't use ninjutsu for our sparring because I like getting a chance to fight without it. It's like you said, it's really fun.” He mentally kicked himself for letting his inadequacy say something so insensitive. “If you want I could use some ninjutsu. You should use your hands too. Oh, and I heard about you destroying the Hoshikage! How about a demonstration of what you used for that!” He tried to perk up and maybe make up for his earlier comment.
Mai closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of smashing the meteorite against the Hoshikage, of the bright explosion, of the news she’d killed him. She made a note not to trust Moku in any game of luck, cause he just kept hitting all the wrong things by complete accident. But… well, Mai wasn’t exactly that much better was she?
And this was just a spar. No need to make any drama out of it. The two were already hitting each other over it anyways! And not like Mai could turn back time.
“Hehehe, yeah, guess I am the star killer. You should come by my shop sometime, could SHOW you what fighting him’s like.
Just gotta suppress something real quick so I don’t kill either one of us. Ain’t gunna fight you with it, but showing ya might be cool. There are eight of these.”
Mai closed her eyes and started using a genjutsu to force herself calm. She couldn’t let a single bit of bloodlust out. Then she crossed her arms.
“Gate of Opening: Open!”
Mai’s muscles bulged, becoming unladylike and frankly large.
“Gate of opening’s located in the front of the brain, its your body’s restriction on how much muscle one uses at once so you don’t tear them by accident. Unlocking it, you can use much more strength than normal.”
Her arms crossed, Mai’s breathing suddenly stabilized from the earlier pant.
“Gate of Healing: Open! Gate of Healing’s located in the back of the brain. It’s your limit on fatigue, and your body telling you how tired it is. Unlocked, you can feel energized again, even when your body is completely empty.”
Mai’s skin turned red.
“Gate of Life: Open! The Gate of Life is located in the upper Spinal Cord. Pumps up your heart, turning the skin red, and increases the blood you get, letting you use up energy a lot faster. Last of the safe… gates.”
Mai’s teeth started to grind as she had some more difficulty with the later gates, and they were also painful. Her hair started to stand on end, looking like a super saiyan with the gate.
“Gate of Pain! OPEN! At middle of spine. Dangerous gate. Muscles tear on use from the burn on them. My body can kinda handle this, but any one less experienced might not ever be able to walk again after using it.”
Mai let out a cry, her skin turning a deep red.
“GATE OF LIMIT! OPEN! It’s *gasp* in the abdomen. Starts using the chakra in your organs. Most… I… can handle…”
Mai’s skin turned back to normal as she released the gates and fell to the floor for a second.
“So yeah… used that. Really hurt. Guess hurt the Hoshikage too some… Hehehe. Guess don’t like’em cause’of who taught me them. And cause I already have control problems. Anyways, yeah. You wanna go more unrestricted? I’ll use my genjutsu to go full force, you use your ninjutsu? Unless the class has any questions.”
Moku just stood slack-jawed for a moment. The first few were awesome and he was instantly curious as to how to himself perform the gates. Though he felt guilty for asking when the latter two clearly caused her great pain. He eyed Mai with greater respect than before, not that there had ever been any lack of it.
“Yeah, I'm definitely down to less restriction. But uh… one question. If you're up for it would uhm…. Maybe..” He shifted uncomfortably for a second, unsure if asking would be insensitive. He'd already said enough stupid stuff today. “W-would you mind teaching me how to use the first gate some time?”
“I mean, at the risk of Takara Sensei hunting me down and giving me nightmares for a month, sure? The Eight Gates are kinda a kinjutsu… b-but I mean, I turned out fine...ish.
Heads up though, 1st gate makes ya super tired afterward. Learn it enough and I guess it’ll be fine. Most of my techs make me tired anyway. 5th gate I thought I was going to die. Not sure I want to know what happens after that. Guess Imma have to eventually. 8th Gate is fatal, always, though.”
Mai took a deep, soothing breath. She then whistled, and her hand instantly responded, turning to the sign of confrontation. She’d give Moku seconds to respond before rushing him, fading to black, and reappearing in front of him with an uppercut.
Moku was so occupied with running through the new information in his head that he barely began to guard when Mai attacked. The end result was Moku had no time to prep before getting clocked square in the jaw. To be fair, he knew that was on him. He shouldn't have let his fascination for learning a new jutsu distract him. On another note, his jaw was less than pleased with the punch he stupidly left himself open for. He stumbled back, spitting blood to one side before flicking a hand through the signs for Earth Spear.
His skin blackened swiftly, shining with steel hardness as the jutsu swept over his body. With another flick of his hands, he activated Subterranean Voyage. However, he only submerged one foot before canceling the jutsu. This resulted in his foot being encased in solid stone. He tensed and yanked his foot up with as much force as he could manage. The ground gave way with a groan of grating stone, and he kicked a block of earth straight at Mai.
At Subterranean Voyage, Mai backed off, she’d been hit too many times by similar jutsu. Mai responded with a Strong Leaf Hurricane, shattering the earth with her greave, and sending it back like shotgun pellets at Moku, probably doing nothing against his Earth Spear. It had cost her two things she really didn’t have much of though, time, and energy.
Mai quickly ran back towards him. Earth Spear really wasn’t a jutsu she feared. If she hit him, sure, it’d hurt her, but taijutsu was more than punches and kicks!
Moku blinked reflexively as the stone pieces hit him. They didn't cause any damage or pain of course, but reflex is reflex. He was unsurprised to find Mai running headfirst towards him. She had that crazed look that made him sure she'd hit him even if it damaged herself in the process. He tried to consider what to do, but found himself instead just running towards her instead. It surprised him to find himself doing so, but he had to admit the adrenaline rush of this fight was doing wonderful things for his mood. He tensed as he closed the distance, ready to strike or block as needed.
Mai started out the fight with a sweep as she passed, trying to knock his legs from under him.
Leaf Gale!
Earth Spear did have a few weakness she could think of. It wouldn’t make kicking his feet out from under him any harder for instance. Oh, and rabbit punches were likely to be just as effective if she could get one off. Or throws. Or pins. Or toppling a tree over on him.
All valid options.
Moku responded by further adapting the trick from earlier. Using Subterranean Voyage he sunk his legs partially underground before canceling the jutsu. He stuck fast in place, his legs rooted firmly in the ground. He then switched gears and used Fists of Flame, coating his fists in fire. This way even glancing blows will cause damage. He estimated where she would stop when she tried sweeping his feet to find they were immobile. He drove a fist down in the general area in hopes of leading his punch so she would move into it on the way by.
Mai collided with a tree it felt like with how well rooted Moku was. She was glad for her greaves, otherwise hitting him would hurt, and not in the good way like the dull throb in her stomach. Identifying the fire punches, Mai countered like she would counter Yukari, cross-checking his forearms with her own. One couldn’t allow a Hyuga to touch them and come out unscathed, even in passing, and Mai knew fire enough to know the same applied to it.
Mai did watch the flaming fist with some trepidation, however.
How can he do that without being afraid of burning himself? I… still have scars from when I tried ninjutsu. I’d much rather taijutsu.
Mai bit her lip canceling her genjutsu, she was running out of chakra too fast, and this was going to be a long fight it looked like. She could turn it back on if need be.
Moku felt a tremor run up his body as the kick connected with his leg, but he barely wavered. Good thing too, because even with Earth Spear that one would've tossed him. As Mai slapped his hands away he dissipated the fire surrounding his hands. He began flicking his left hand through handsigns as he breathed in deep. As he was he hoped it would draw her attention to his left hand. Meanwhile, he threw a punch with as much force as he could from this position, angled to try punching her away at an upward angle.
Mai saw the punch coming, and smiled as it collided head-on. Chakra radiated from her gut as he collided, but it would feel like there was a sandbag in the way of his punch as her chakra diffused the force across her entire body rather than the localized blow. Something also kept her rooted to the ground.
Titan’s Flesh
Solid Ground
Whistling, she tried to wrap her arms around his wrist and elbow. It was A LOT of chakra coming from Mai. All her techniques were generally supplementary, but it did build up.
“Handsign’s ‘tiger’. I used to use ninjutsu before, ya know. Fire kinda scares me. Draw?”
Moku’s eyes widened as he felt the chakra increase in Mai as she grabbed his wrist and elbow. That was a lot of stacked jutsu she had. To him, it seemed like she was both defending herself from his blows while building up for the winning blow. He was shocked when she instead asked to call it a draw. He blinked slowly one time, a weird visual effects with Earth Spear on.
“S-sure. Sorry about the fire, it's my most comfortable element normally.” He withdrew his legs from the ground, indirectly lifting Mai up in the process, and canceled Earth Spear. His skin lightened to normal and he gave her a small smile. “So was that a good enough workout?”
Mai stretched her back, and looked down at her right hand.
“Well, I’ve got a large bruise on my stomach, near out of chakra, and I think you got dirt on me. It was a great warmup! Wish I could do this all day and get strong for it. Tch, I hate reading, but guess I gotta finish the stupid history of the first Hoshikage.”
Mai didn’t look away from her hand. A web of burnmarks covered it.
“You know, I used to wear gloves, looks ugly. Hideki and Aiko finally convinced me not to. How DO you stand being around explosions all day? I mean, fire kinda scares me, and it's my element.”
Moku smiled initially when she said she enjoyed their spar. However, when he followed her gaze to her hands and noticed the burn marks his smile faded to neutrality and his eyes softened significantly. Now he felt especially guilty for using fire. What was with him and his stupid blunders anyway?!
He moved his eyes back to her face and tried to look less like he was bummed out, and more…. Scholarly perhaps? “Well, I don't… uh, I don't really see it like that. Ninjutsu for me is like taijutsu seems to be for you. It's….the best. I not only excel at it naturally, but I love learning it. Fire and Earth for now, but hopefully all five eventually.”
He tried putting things into sensible words despite the fact he felt more than thought about these things. “Each element to me has a sorry of…. Guiding emotion behind it. Earth is about dedication and stability. While you should have both you have to measure it accordingly or you will be too soft or too solid.”
He paused momentarily, gathering his thoughts. “Fire however…. Fire is energy, passion, a vibrant force. It can be terrifying sure, especially when used by an enemy. But when you control and guide it, when it follows your emotions and thoughts it’s…. Exhilarating in the extreme.” He paused for a long moment, eyes seemingly distant as he put himself in the right emotional state to explain. He snapped back however and his face deepened to a scarlet hue out of embarrassment over talking too much. “H-hopefully that makes sense?”
“I guess. I just don’t trust it myself. I use Taijutsu cause I can’t trust anything but my own body. I’m sure I could find something to bypass my hands if I wanted handsigns more constantly than Freedom of Movement. Ninjutsu’s blown up on me before. Genjutsu’s just a crutch I use to control myself, don’t even bother putting it on the enemy. Tools cost money. Teammates can get mad at me. But I know how I move. My body’s not going to lie to me. I’m kinda scared of messing up these days anymore, so I try to use what I can trust. Anyways, sorry, didn’t mean to get all emo on you.
So, every element, huh? You get that passionate ‘bout all of them? Well, what ‘bout the other three then?”
Moku listened intently to Mai’s words on why she chooses taijutsu. He bit his lip to stay silent throughout, despite his urge to speak after every sentence. When she finished he decided to address her talk about abilities first, instead of his own beliefs.
“Every time I pick up a tool it nearly always breaks or bends. I can't sneak or use genjutsu at even genin level. I can sense alright, but I need to train it more. Sure I can punch hard and take hits pretty much all day, but I'm not fast or technically skilled or knowledgeable about taijutsu like you or Naoki. But Ninjutsu….” His eyes glimmered just saying the word. “Ninjutsu is as easy as breathing to me. I can trust and believe in it, and change it as needed. I can learn new types and techniques and read all day about it without getting bored.”
He snapped back to reality and cast an apologetic glance Mai’s way. “No need to apologize for getting emotional. It's… definitely something I get. But…” He paused, trying to think through his words carefully. “Chakra is part of you and your body. W-with the right steps I'm sure you could at least use small ninjutsu if you like. My Fists of Flame technique for example. You should definitely be able to do that if you like. I uhm, I could yknow, help you learn. If you wanted….” He petered off and looked to the side embarrassed at his offer. Then he remembered her actual question to him, so he said his answer real quick while casting his eyes downward in further embarrassment. “Also I uh… don't have a for sure attachment to the others yet. I'd have to start working with them to find out. Umichi-sensei could teach me water maybe, and my mom could lightning. But I haven't got around to asking.”
“Aw, that’s sweet, but already messed up my chance with ninjutsu. I’ll just get better with what I got. I still so much I gotta learn. Think my brain would explode if I added anything more. ‘Sides, if I get any stronger, they might make me Hokage! And that’s your schtick, right? Maybe once I get a bit closer to my dreams I’ll let ya show me. But gotta get them done first. Huh. Maybe I can help you with yours. Know you want to get all 5 elements, and hit Hokage, anything else you have dreams of doing?”
Mai yawned as she rested by a tree. She’d called it a ‘warmup’, but in reality, she was pretty well beat.
Moku could be mistaken for a tomato based on how red he got at Mai’s words. “H-h-how did you hear about me wanting to be Hokage? I haven't told anyone about that yet!” He was sure he hadn't besides maybe the birds he always spoke to at his bedroom window. But he always told them in his….quietest….voice. Hadn't he? Of course he had, he's perfectly quiet when he needs to be! That's the lie he went with for himself.
“A-as for other goals, I want to try getting my strength under control so I can use tools and uh… not break small objects I handle. Plus I hear people with a lot of tool specialty get good at sealing. Imagine if I could seal my big jutsus into scrolls and throw them at people on the fly!” Sparkle was too weak for the shine in his eyes at the thought. It took several long moments for him to come out of that daydream.
When he did he sat on the ground across from Mai. He pondered his other dreams and realized with embarrassment there was really only one more. One all Ozaki members have once they exit childhood. They were all romantics of a shockingly high caliber, even if they….poorly attempted to hide it. He couldn't very well tell Mai that right?! Though his mom did always say be honest with girls about how you feel…
Wait! This isn't what she meant right? She meant if you like them. He didn't like Mai like that! Plus not answering all the way wasn't being dishonest, was it? N-no of course not. He waved a hand and gave a smile in what he believed was a gesture of dismissing thought. It was visibly uncomfortable and inauthentic. “B-besides that I can't think of anything else r-right now,” he lied poorly. “What about you?”
Mai was finding the tree comfortable as she laid down against it.
“Randomly found a miniature Hokage monument in the training field once with you on it. Was a pretty big hint.
Far as my dreams. I did want to lead my clan… but… there are bigger things than my clan to worry about. I do want to beat down the Mizukage, that’s a definite goal. I hate the concept of killing people though. Wonder if I can still hold onto that ideal as Mai, The Star Killer. And… Well, I… er. I want to be the Hokage’s Advisor! Problem is I wasn’t born smart. So trying everything I can to learn. Just, just a lot of work. So many things to learn.
But, oh well. As far as tools, I can’t help… but I might know someone who can. Just… do NOT drop my name. At all. In fact, if you pretend you don’t know me, I know someone who is VERY good, who might be able to help. She’s not really a good person, but if you pay her, she won’t say no. Smartest person I know, and all she does is tools. Really kinda envy her...”
Moku stopped breathing with embarrassment and fear. Had he not destroyed that after he made it?! Stupid stupid stupid! He had to lie and quick. “Uh… haha, sounds like Hideki playing a trick again! B-but yeah, I do wanna be Hokage. Though I'd appreciate if you save me a piece of the Mizukage. I'd… I'd really like to find out who killed my team and hurt me. But I don't think that's likely…. So the Mizukage will have to do.”
He immediately changed topics to not linger on THAT anymore. “Someone really good with tools…. Who doesn't like you….” He chewed his lip for but a moment before he realized. He grimaced as he asked, “You mean Nagisa, right? She's a pretty solid teammate, but I dunno if I'd be comfortable asking her to teach me until I can at least hold a kunai without breaking it, yknow?”
“Yeah… I guess… yeah….zzz...”