Mai got up that morning, dressed in her usual black turtle neck and loose black plant, then put on her black ninja boots and belt holding her three pouches. There was one on each hip, and on in the middle of her lower back. In the left pouch were her 6 senbon and 6 wire strings. In the right pouch were her 4 kunai, leaving the last pouch empty. Under her shirt was her clan’s mask, which she kept on her at all times. Leaving the empty house the girl headed toward the training grounds. She held her usual emotionless expression and her eyes were their usual dull, murky green color. Reaching the training grounds she moved over to one of the training dummies and started throwing kunai at it, hitting her target 3 out of four times on average. She seemed composed and calm, but there was a lonely air about the girl, one that she didn’t even know about herself.
The sun was warm over the village of Konoha as Jomei walked quietly towards the training grounds. The young genin was getting ready to do a small body training session to get in shape to be a better shinobi. The young Kurama had spent most of his training working on his mind over body, but he was prepping to change that in order to be more well rounded, yet still having his focus. Jomei was garbed in his normal attire. A black sleevless vest with cross zippers, dark baggy pants that tucked into his knee high sandals. His arms were protected to the elbow with his white leather gloves, fingerless of course. His forehead protector was wrapped tightly around his forehead, causing his thick brown locks to part around the Konoha symbol. He walked underneath a path with many trees as he arrived to the training grounds. He heard some russling once he got there and reached towards the left kunai pouch on his thigh, but remember he was in the village, and safe. Taking a small breath, he walked out to the path, seeing a girl who looked about his age and height throwing her kunai at training dummies. Being a nice guy, Jomei called out to her. "Hello there, may I join you?" He asked politely in a calm tone, trying to see who the girl was, and if he knew her from the Academy.
Mai visibly jumped at the sound of another’s voice. Whirling around, she held one of the kunai she was planning on throwing at the dummy, tightly in her hand. Seeing the boy, she examined him with her green eyes for several seconds, then lowered the kunai. “If you want, though it is rude to sneak up on people.” She added the last part as an after thought. Still watching the boy she waited for him to get closer then turned her back and once more threw her kunai. Retrieving her weapons, looked back towards the male and offered her name. “I am Mai.”
He let out a small chuckle, "Apologizes, I'm Jomei." He looked over her for a second as he walked forward. He couldn't really remember a girl named Mai from his Academy classes, nor did her stone cold face really ring a bell. Perhaps she was a year older or younger? Oh well, he thought as he got closer and faced a training dummy while standing a few feet away from her. He exhaled and looked with a serious tone at the dummy, his blue pools becoming whirlpools as he locked onto it. His hands went down into his two thigh pouches. He had five kunai and shruiken, and one smoke and paper bomb in an individual pouch. He'd quickly grip a shuriken in each hand and let them rip towards his intended target. The shurikens ended up on a perfect course, nailing the dummy in his “neck” and “heart” areas. “Nice.” Jomei muttered under his breath before going to retrieve the two tools. He’d continue this process for the next couple minutes before taking a peak over at Mai. “Uh hey Mai? I know this might sound a bit rash, but perhaps we could engage in a spar? I’d love to test my abilities that way over some accuracy throws. “Jomei explained, adding in a soft laugh after to appear friendly
Mai had gone back to her own throwing exercise, this time working on wrapping her senbon with wire strings attached to them around the dummy, when the boy asked if she wanted to spar. Thinking a moment, she nodded, putting her weapons back in their pouches and turning to face the male. “I hope you fight me like your life depends on it, Jomei.” She said taking a firm, centered stance. Holding her hand up in front of her as she bent her knees she waited for the boy to attack her. She was curious about the boy, and why he didn’t seem put off by her emotionless attitude, and thought that a spar might give her the answers she was looking for.
She had accepted his request to spar. How exciting! Jomei had never participated in a spar outside the ones they perform in the Academy, and he was certainly interested in doing one. He flashed a polite smile to her, but he didn’t think it would phase her much. She had a serious poker face to her, but he didn’t mind much. He took a few steps back to where they would be 6 feet apart from each other. He’d move his left leg back and have his body face her. He was trying to analyze her face, specifically her eyes, hoping she might look into his as well. Speaking calmly, he asked “ So Mai, jutsu or straight fisticuffs?”. He certainly wasn’t too sure how they did it outside the Academy, so he wanted to make sure he didn’t disrespect by sneak attacking with something she didn’t want to happen. Mai watched the male, keep her eyes on his own blue orbs as he watched her and got in his own stance. Hearing his question she though a moment then spoke in her usual silky smooth but smoky voice, “I think you use both in a spar, just like a real fight, but you try not to hurt or kill your opponent. Come at me how ever you want.” She then closed her eyes for a second, feeling uncomfortable with his unyielding gaze. Opening her eyes once more, life seemed to be shining just under the surface of those murky green orbs, almost like fish swimming in polluted waters. She was unaware of this, and it was most likely because she had just recently began to spar with others, and found she enjoyed the challenge.
Just what he wanted to hear. They both had eyes on each other, and with jutsu allowed, his genjutsu talents would surely snatch her away. After eye contact was made, he’d activate his technique, Genjutsu: Optic Delusory. She would see things as nothing having changed but in reality, Jomei had just taken over the battlefield without her knowing unless her genjutsu training was skilled enough to detect it. The main purpose of the jutsu was to make her mistake what she was seeing for something else. So what Jomei had done was make the dummies which were 10 feet away, appear 15 feet away. This wouldn’t be able to help him just yet, but for now, he could make it work. It would start off this fight by jumping towards her, aiming to land a heel kick to the crown of her head. If his hit were to land, it would surely do some damage and hurt the girl quite a bit. But if he missed or was countered, he made sure his body was in a sprung position, so could possibly wiggle out of a sticky situation.
She noticed that the dummies seemed to move. It was in that second she closed her eyes again and listened for the male’s attack. Feeling the wind from his kick she jumped to the left and crouched, keeping her eyes closed. As discretely as possible she pulled out one of her senbon needles, then stabbed herself in her hand. Digging the point deeply in to her hand she yelped in pain in her mind, but stayed blank faced on the outside. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she waited for the pain to dull a bit then opened her eyelids. Making sure to look at the males chest she began to form her hand seals as she inhaled. Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger “Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique” she whispered. About 11 fire balls shot from her mouth as she exhaled, each ball controlled by chakra. Dropping each fire ball in random places she aimed close to the boy, but this was only a distraction. As the fire balls fell and crashed into the ground she threw three of her remaining five senbon at the male, attempting to have one wrap around his neck, another to wrap around his torso and the third around his legs. If they managed to wrap around the boy, she would get ready to form the seals for her Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu.
She dodged his heel strike pretty well, and she seemed to be very light on her feet. However, it did throw him off that she was able to detect a genjutsu so easily when he had been so advanced compared to most with it. Perhaps it was too sudden of a change for her not to notice. Either way she bounded away and crouched down close to him. His blue eyes followed her as she stabbed her hand, breaking his genjutsu. Oh well, there is plenty more where that came from. She kept her eyes closed though, and during this time, he went for a kick to her chin. He was in too close a range not to go for an easy strike, and want to put some power into it. Since she had only moved enough to avoid the attack, not really cover some distance. Also, since she had stabbed her hand, it cost her some time to think, and of course closing her eyes would also hurt her reaction time as Jomei took a hard punt kick for her jaw. It surely had enough force to do some damage and maybe even dislocate it. If she had open her eyes by the time his foot was by her chin, it still would have been hard for her to move. She had a tiny time gap to work with.
The red-haired girl didn’t react in time, her hands raising to block his attack, but falling short by a second. She had heard the air move, causing her to react. Taking the hit to the chin, she was thrown backwards about two feet. Getting to her feet quickly, she opened her eyes once more, this time making sure not to look at the boys eyes. Instead her gaze focused on the center of his chest. Her jaw hurt, but she didn’t show any outward signs that she was in pain. Her face remained blank, and her eyes still held their dull, lifeless, murky green color. Mai wasn’t sure what to do, but she quickly decided she would try a new tactic she had been working on in private. Running full speed at the male, she closed the distance between them in seconds, she aimed an uppercut to the males chin, returning the favor, then aimed a kick at his left side. She then started a fury of seemingly random kicks and punches, all the while attempting to wrap him in wire strings. If this tactic worked, the boy would find himself wrapped in two wire strings, which would tighten when she moved back four feet, as well as any damage taken by any landed hits. If this failed she would still move back four feet, ready to defend herself. The whole time here eyes never left the boy’s torso.
He watched as his kick had landed, and prepared himself to get back into it, but she recovered quicker than he had thought. Before he could even weave a seal, she was already back on her feet. He’d start to weave the pattern he desired before she got close, but she was much faster than he was. Her fist landing a good shot as his hands landed in the Ox seal. However, he was able to get them together into Snake before her wicked side kick. Her side kick would appear to land, but right as it hit, his body would poof in a cloud a smoke, and be replaced with a log. Good ol’ substitution jutsu had paid off well. Jomei let out a small sigh that disappeared in the small breeze. That chin shot hurt, but he was sure that his chin shot did wonders too. The boy sat behind a rather wide oak that covered his whole body. His legs were crossed and he stayed silent. He was sure she must be slightly confused as to what had happened, but he kept going fast. He’d hold his hands together and activate another genjutsu. The Misty Follower Jutsu would cause ten dark shadowy versions of Jomei to appear around her except scattered like the trees. They would rise up like zombies from rocks and trees and approach her, ready to attack. Of course, they could do no physical harm to her, but they would certainly give off a spook. If she attacked one, it would simply multiply. After the shadowy versions of himself started to get close to her, Jomei would peep from outside the tree and pinpoint her location, before aiming a single shuriken at her left shoulder to cause some slight pain.
The girl growled, a sound not normally associated with the stone-faced child. It was even laughable. She felt pride rise in her chest when her upper cut hit, but that pride quickly turned into annoyance. The growl came when she hit a log with her kick. Getting into a loose fighting stance she looked around, and listened for any noise that wasn’t part of the normal surrounding nature sounds. Not hearing anything, she was caught a little off guard by the sudden appearance of the 10 clones. She wasn’t sure if this was another genjutsu, but didn’t want to risk wasting time trying to get out of it. Her palm was still bleeding from her earlier actions. Making sure not to look the clones in the eyes she attacked the one closest to her. Swiping it with her kunai, she let out an audible gasp when it multiplied. Backing up several feet, so she was in the center of the clones, she reassessed the situation. Clearly the original was not among them, and was watching her from his hiding spot. Her assumptions were soon confirmed when a Shuriken sliced through her left shoulder. Doing a quick calculation she faked holding her shoulder, as her left hand reached into her pouch and pulled out two senbon attached to a wire string each. Hiding them in her clutched fist, she turned and attacked another clone. This brought her within range of the tree she figured the shurkien had come from. As the clone multiplied, she threw the senbon, aiming to have them wrap around the tree, and the male, pinning his arms to his sides. She would then form the seals for her Dragon flame release as she kneaded her chakra in her chest. Snake → Dragon → Rabbit → Tiger, As she exhaled fire would travel over the wires, surround the tree and burn the boy. He wouldn’t be burned to severely if he hadn’t moved before her senbon had wrapped around him, but the smoke from the burning tree would definitely effect him, possible cause him to pass out from smoke inhalation. If he had moved, her eyes would follow him and she would wait for the next attack.
His attack had worked well, as he cut her, but she moved quick. She now knew his location and aimed two senbon at the tree, but they were not heading right at the tree. So, he ducked to floor level and felt them whiz around tying to the tree. Luckily he was hidden so she couldn’t see how he was ducked behind on the ground, only that he had not fled from the location. This could definitely work in his advantage. He then heard the crackles and growls of the fire coming at him. Luckily, his quick hand seals allowed him to perform another Substitution Jutsu. He had a new plan already thought up. He had switched with the training dummy in order to get close to her, but he would be nearly unseen due to the large amount of shadowy figures that still surrounded her. Jomei would act fast and pull out the big guys. Without hesitation, a purple smoke bomb would erupt after he tossed it behind a clone, mixing in with the smoke of her fiery explosion to totally blind her, luckily he had already pinpointed her pre smoke bomb and had got a kunai with an attached paper bomb. He only added a small amount of chakra since he was getting a bit low, and because he didn’t want to hurt her, only cause a concussive force to knock her out. The kunai would be aimed for her heels, and the blast radius of the paper bomb would extend 6 feet in each direction and 8 feet high. Of course after he sent all this into motion, Jomei would jump backwards in order to gather himself and get some added distance between him and the blast for safe measures. He panted a little bit. This spar was getting, no pun intended, heated. He hadn’t had a good workout like this in a while, and was sure he would walk away a stronger shinobi.
Mai knew she hadn’t captured the male when her wire strings, by the length she had to pull back to tighten them, but she hadn’t seen him move either, so she assumed he had ducked. As her jutsu burned the tree, she let a small smirk twitch on the corners of her lips. However, it soon vanished when she didn’t hear any noise coming from behind the tree. It was then that the smoke bomb went off. Closing her eyes to prevent smoke from getting in them and keeping the positions of the clones in mind, she waited, listening intently. Hearing the whiz of the kunai, she leaped forward before it even hit the ground. She didn’t escape unscaved, though, as the edge of the blast pushed her even more forward, causing her to slam into a tree. Sliding down said tree, about ten feet from her original position, she shakily got to her feet, using the tree for support. Opening her eye, which seemed to be a gleaming forest green now, she looked around. Only one of the clones was panting. She hadn’t used nearly as much chakra as the boy, and wasn’t as out of breath. She was in more pain than Jomei was. Assessing her condition, she determined she had enough chakra for one or two more jutsu’s, and that she was faster than the male. Taking a deep breath, she ignored the pain running through her body and ran at the panting clone. Reaching him in moments, she faked a right hook, and aimed her left fist at the boy’s stomach. Even if it didn’t connect she would continue to attack him. Left punch, right kick, left kick, left punch, right punch, right punch, left hook, right round house and finally a double punch, Left fist aimed at his chest and right fist aimed for his stomach. She would allow no time for him to form hand seals, only time to block her punches and kicks. Finishing her onslaught, she was breathing hard. If he had dodged all of this, she would raise her hands in surrender, as she was to hurt to take anymore damage. If he had only dodged some of them and not gone down, the same end result would been seen. If all her or most of her attacks had landed, he would most likely have had the wind knocked out of him, and be in no shape to continue.
Jomei was screwed when he saw her coming. He was able to raise his hand up to block one shot, but it was a wiff, as she began to aim for his vitals. Her fists were a fury he could not handle. She had knocked him down, and out for the count.