Chapter 23: Kira vs Taka
"Hmm, nice question. Based on the evidence and signs that we've collected from the place where the disappearances occurred, there's only one person. The ninjutsu used is of lower level ones and most of the time, there was a struggle.
In the past month, the people who used that route were only chunin and genin doing C rank missions. And before you ask me what their team captain was doing, they didn't have any.
Most of us Jonin aren't free all the time. We'll take care of a team for a few months, upto two years and if they don't improve much, then that team will continue to exist but their team captain will be assigned to other teams that require their expertise like a three-man jonin team or another new team of fresh genins or teams made due to special circumstances like yours."
Kira nodded and then asked the other question that was in his mind. He didn't like taking risks and the risk increased when he didn't have the information required.
"Okay, when do we leave and is there anything else that's of importance? Like how many days it'll take and what route we'll take."
Raichi patiently answered his question, "It'll take us two weeks to get to the hidden rain village and the journey will mostly be peaceful. After all, we have two scouting ninjas in our team. We'll be leaving today, but you still have a few hours left if you wish to prepare for the mission."
Kira didn't really have anything to do so he looked at the other two.
Both Sachi and Taka stood without saying anything, which meant that they had the same thoughts as him.
Seeing the three kids that were ready to go at a moment's notice, Raichu shook his head, "You guys really... anyways, just go somewhere and learn more about each other. You might not have anything to do, but I have my daughter waiting at home. I'll go spend some time with her and then we'll meet up at the gate in the evening."
Saying that, he didn't wait for their response and left them alone.
Kira turned to look at Taka, "Hey, let's spar. That's the best way to learn about our strengths and weaknesses."
Sachi smirked when she heard his words, "Heh, you won't be able to beat him. He might be a kenjutsu user, but he's way better than me when it comes to closing distance between his opponents."
"Is that so?" he asked as he glanced at Taka who looked visibly irritated with Sachi.
"Well, if he's that good at closing the distance, then he doesn't really need ninjutsu does he?" Kira asked, fishing for more information.
Sachi shook her head, "I mean, there are some instances where it's more beneficial to use ninjutsu compared to fighting at a close range. When he fought me, he did the same thing as you and kept his distance hit me with jutsus."
"Ohhhh that's a really good strategy but even I can do the same thing. If he has nothing special under his sleeve, then I'll win for sure."
It seemed like Taka had enough as he unsheathed his ninjato and glared at Sachi, "Idiot."
Then, he shifted his gaze to Kira, "Let's fight."
"Kay, but just so you know, I was holding back against Sachi." Kira said as he walked back to the center of the training grounds before facing Taka.
In truth, he was very nervous but a part of him was also excited. He took a deep breath and exhaled, "Let's start."
And the moment he finished speaking, Taka dashed forward. It was the same body flicker technique that Sachi used, but Kira was prepared this time.
He instantly teleported to one of his kunai that were still scattered on the ground, but this time, he didn't use his self made senbon jutsu. Instead, he created the five shadow clones before sending out his bugs.
Taka didn't follow behind Kira and instead, he made a few hand seals and slapped his palm onto the ground.
He had read about a lot of jutsus, so he knew that most of the jutsus that required the used to slap their palms onto the ground were either summoning, fuinjutsu or earth release.
Not wanting to take any risks, Kira jumped backwards multiple times and created distance between them. As he jumped back, his shadow clones ran forward as they narrowly escaped the earth spikes that shot up from the ground at the place where they stood.
His kikaichu flew towards Taka along with his shadow clones while Kira watched them from behind, not having any intention of fighting him directly.
Taka had quite a bit of distance between him and the clones, so when he saw that the bugs and the clones were running towards him, he immediately made a few more hand signs and inhaled a lot of air.
'Fuck, the fireball jutsu?' Kira thought as he watched his actions from behind and immediately called back his bugs.
Indeed, his kikaichu could easily consume the chakra from the jutsu, but he didn't have enough of them to completely suppress the fire. If the jutsu was too strong, then it'd just overpower his kikaichu and burn them to crisp.
While his kikaichu hurriedly flew back to Kira, his clones teleported to the one of the many kunai that were on the ground, perfectly evading the fireball. Just as Taka used his body flicker to try and close the distance once again, one of Kira's clone teleported right in front of him with a kunai in it's hand.
With his momentum on the all time high, Taka had no other choice but to cut down the shadow clone, which vanished after leaving a puff of smoke but just as he was about to use his body flicker again, he saw the other four clones performing a series of handsigns from the corner of his eyes.
He was completely surrounded and when he saw hundreds of water senbon form behind the clones, he sheathed his ninjato and looked at the real Kira, "I lose."
Kira nodded and then sighed, "Were you holding back?"
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