บท 288: CH_8.23 (288)
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Maruboshi had Takuma take a one-day break from sparring and go through a tough day of physical conditioning. He could tell that Takuma had figured something out after his fight with Nenro, and he wanted to give him time to gather his thoughts before he let him explore it.
His goal wasn't to see Takuma change his combat style—one week was too short to see mass changes—but he wanted to kickstart the process. Somewhere along the line, Takuma had stopped experimenting with his combat style, and while that allowed him to solidify his style and gain depth and experience, Maruboshi's opinion was that he had stopped at the wrong time. Right now, he was too inexperienced and young to stop progressing his fighting style.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maruboshi Kosuke. I am Uchiha Mikoto, a jonin of the Hidden Leaf," said Mikoto with an elegant bow, her grace evident in every movement. She wore a white shirt with a faint light blue shuriken print design and flared sleeves paired with dark blue, puffy hakama-style pants. Her hands were covered by worn-out leather gloves, and she held a sheathed sword.
"The honour is mine, Lady Uchiha. Your war exploits in the Land of Rivers against the Stone shinobi precede you," Maruboshi said, polite and humble as always.
In her youth, Mikoto participated in a drawn-out conflict between Leaf and Stone in the Land of Rivers, where she earned achievements that propelled her to the esteemed rank of jonin. When Takuma met her, he went into the archives to learn about her past, and she was prominently present in in the filed on the conflict.
Mikoto humbly smiled before turning to Takuma, which was when her smile widened. "Thank you for inviting me to spar, Takuma. It's been so long since I've done this that I'm quite excited!"
He returned the smile with a smaller, more humble one. "I hope fighting me won't be disappointing for someone at your level."
"...Well, I am rusty, but I don't believe I'll lose, even if I fight at your level," said Mikoto with a smirk.
Maruboshi glanced at Takuma. His student was usually calm, but he never backed down when it came to combat-related provocations. It was a sense of pride he had developed from his time as a prizefighter.
"I'm going to have you take those words back," said Takuma, tilting his chin up.
"I don't think so," smiled Mikoto before skipping away to start her warm-up.
Maruboshi was happy that Takuma had such a good relationship with another mentor figure.. He worked too much, so he didn't have too many friends, and his personality didn't lend itself to making many friends, which was why Maruboshi was happy whenever he formed close relationships with people.
"Why did you want me to fight her?" Takuma asked him.
"Because she's overwhelmingly stronger than you," Maruboshi answered. He wanted Takuma to fight someone who he wouldn't be able to beat no matter what he did. He was supposed to be that opponent, but when Takuma proposed inviting Mikoto, he agreed because she would be a better option. "Even think of trading damage with her; she will make you regret it. You're facing an opponent who outclasses you in everything from weapons to experience. Everything you throw at her is bound to fail. You aren't going to win, so you might very well take the opportunity to try out new things."
Even if Mikoto were to bring herself down to Takuma's physical level, there was a gulf of skill and experience between them that was too wide to bridge. Even though he had essentially said that winning was impossible, he knew Takuma wouldn't accept it—it wasn't in his nature, and he would try to win until the bitter end.
Maruboshi understood Takuma, so he knew he would also treat his warning as a provocation, so he decided to pour oil into the fire. "If you can force her to use the Sharingan, I'll give you the win."
Takuma's eyes narrowed as he gazed over at Mikoto.
———
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"So you're trying to adjust your fighting style?" asked Mikoto as she faced Takuma. "Why? What's wrong with it."
"I have a tendency to trade damage to win fights," said Takuma.
She raised an eyebrow. "Even though you spent months learning genjutsu with me?"
Takuma looked away, his face growing hot.
Genjutsu vehemently opposed trading damage; if trading damage was crude, then genjutsu was elegant. The truth was that while Takuma had spent a significant amount of time exploring genjutsu and could now use his current arsenal through any sensory connection, be it sight, scent, touch, or sound and get 90% of the original effect.
However, he had spent almost no time integrating genjutsu into his combat style.
"I guess that will be something we will address when we resume our lessons," said Mikoto.
Takuma nodded with pursed lips and clenched his fist. He felt he hadn't been working hard enough and had let down both of his teachers.
"Let's start," said Maruboshi from the sidelines.
Takuma assumed his stance while Mikoto remained at ease. He had no impression of her combat style, but he could make some assumptions based on his experience. He had worked with Uchiha Gouki in the Narcotics Taskforce, which had led them to spar a couple of times, and while the insights from then were incomplete at best, it was all he had.
Takuma made the first move with two quick jabs followed by a heavy right hand. Mikoto raised her empty hand, effortlessly swatted away the jabs, and then blocked the follow-up with her forearm. Takuma turned up the aggression and went for an augmented body shot, immediately caught in Mikoto's grip. He ripped himself free and stepped back to chamber a kick to her knee.
She dodged by pulling her foot back and then caught a spinning roundhouse kick coming for her head with her hand. Mikoto grinned as she pulled the leg, and Takuma felt himself being pulled off his foot. He activated his core and spun mid-air to whip across a kick from his other leg, freeing him as Mikoto released his leg to block it.
Takuma hopped away with a frown. Mikoto had only used one hand the entire time while her other arm held that sword by her side. Her smile, her relaxed posture, that short exchange, said more about the gap between them than anything.
He understood that, even though she was retired, he was facing a jonin.
"I wonder if I can get by using only one hand," Mikoto sang.
Takuma almost charged her but he te took a deep breath and backed away couple of steps to take a moment.
After his fight with Nenro, he realised something about his fighting style. His style was based on the standard Hidden Leaf Kata as the foundation and was developed further in the Ring. When he was coming up there, he studied his opponents and peers to create and adapt his style to win matches. He devoured any tactic and technique he deemed valuable and added them to his style.
Why did he stop? Why didn't he steal from other shinobi? Did he look at them differently because they didn't forge their skills through bloody fights? He didn't know the answer, but it was probably why he stagnated after leaving the Ring. Was it because he no longer had to fight three bloody fights weekly?
I should change that. Takuma took a deep breath and considered how to approach the fight. Instinct was an essential part of combat; things often happened so fast that there was no time to think, and that's when instinct, honed through experience and hours of practice, kicked in to move the body, be it for offence or defence. But he was trying to change his style, and he needed to actively think about what to do if he wanted to break that habit.
There's no need to go in guns blazing; let's set things up like Nenro. Takuma walked around Mikoto as she watched him from the same spot; he slowly sped up until he was running. He raised his hands and weaved hand seals, making Mikoto slightly more vigilant.
Takuma slammed his foot into the ground to stop and poured out a massive wave of water toward her. Water Release: Wild Water Wave. The scabbard clinked as Mikoto thumbed the sword's hilt guard, causing the blade to slide out; she caught it with her other hand and slashed almost too fast for Takuma's eyes, and before he knew it, the wave was bisected with the two parts forced to the sides.
The sword slash was faster than anything he had seen from Kameko, the fastest sword he knew. Takuma dashed toward her while already flowing into another set of hand seals. He eyed the sword and stopped just outside its range. Chakra flowed into his leg as he smashed his toes into the ground, spraying dirt toward her.
Mikoto pushed the dirt, heading for her face away with a slash, but the rest hit her harmlessly. She frowned, "I hadn't worn this in so long. It's already dirty too—"
She turned around and launched another quick strike at the flying water, which burst upon impact but still rushed past her. She looked back at Takuma to see he had thrown four kunai into the air around him. Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The water coalesced behind his back, and four thick tentacles spurted out, snatching the kunai out of the air.
With the setup complete, he shot toward her. Eight Tentacles wasn't a jutsu that could handle a lot of weight, but after years of consistently using it in training and every battle of his life, he had reached an amount of skill where the tentacles he created were strong. He eyed the sword in Mikoto's hands. By merging eight into four, he had the confidence to contend against it for a little while.
The four kunai-bearing tentacles zoomed toward Mikoto in a blur. She looked calm as her sword parried and deflected the onslaught, but that was not the only thing she needed to worry about. Takuma stepped in and threw a haymaker, but Mikoto side-stepped it elegantly.
He pivoted on his lead foot and threw an augmented palm strike to her chest and Mikoto's other hand moved, the sheath deflecting his palm strike.
Her lips parted, dark eyes wide with shock.
"Two hands!" Takuma exclaimed as he looked up at her smugly.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed with an amused expression, and she moved as she continued to avoid Takuma's strikes. Sparks flew around them as metal clashed while Takuma bombarded her with a quick chain of strikes, each of them failing to touch her. It was like she knew in advance where his attacks were coming from. Takuma's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up at her eyes only to see they were still normal.
"I don't need to use my eyes," said Mikoto, sweeping Takuma's legs, but he avoided it by raising his leg.
She took a quick backstep and her aura changed when she raised her sword. His self-preservation instincts told him to back off, but then he saw Maruboshi on the edge of his peripheral vision and thought about what he would do.
Takuma stood his ground and planted his feet firmly; trying to move away could open him up to being punished by someone as fast as Mikoto. Maruboshi had lost his leg during a mission and had to rebuild his footwork and combat style from the ground up to compensate for the prosthetic leg.
There is more to footwork than being quick and light-footed; a stable base is perhaps more important than anything. Takuma recalled Maruboshi and focused on his legs. What would Maruboshi do?
The sword left behind a silver streak as Mikoto slashed at him. Takuma would've skipped back out of the range, but he stayed his ground instead to parry the stab with a kunai from his tentacles. It gave him a moment of reprieve, but that was it. Mikoto flowed into her next attack without a moment's pause, giving him no time to retaliate.
Takuma was thrown off his feet by a spinning kick. He focused on his feet and landed with solid footing and ducked beneath a wide slash before rolling away from the descending blade. He got to his feet an instant before Mikoto came after him with a chain of strikes.
They were fast to the point he almost felt motion-sick following them, but he made calculated moves, moving his body in conjunction with footwork while his breathing fell into sync with his movements as evading the strikes. His mind raced as he thought about his footwork more than he had ever done before. He thought ahead about the subsequent three attacks as he dodged the current one, wondering if his current move would screw him over a few seconds later. His thoughts branched like a chess player forecasting moves, coming up with responses for all possibilities.
It was terrifying.
His instincts screamed at him to put some space between himself and the blade.. His heart lurched every time he felt the cold steel against his skin and .. And yet, his mind remained clear—occupied with a hundred thoughts—but focused.
He stayed nearby where he was in the range to make an immediate counterattack.
I see it. Takuma wasn't even sure what he saw, but he recognised that the swing coming from his shoulder was the last one before Mikoto would pause to gather herself for breath.
Takuma charged his fist with chakra as two tentacles deflected the sword slash. He struck out with his entire body's momentum behind the punch.
It's going to hit, Takuma thought as his fist drew closer. Just as he was about to make an impact, Mikoto sprung back at the last moment.
Takuma stumbled on his feet as he whiffed the strike. His breathing was shaky, but he immediately resumed a stance of a solid base, and his eyes remained on Mikoto in case she came to the counter.
It wasn't a swat from her hands, a block with her arm, or even using her sheath to deflect the attack.
Mikoto had jumped away because that was the only option he had given her; the timing was perfect—but Takuma didn't think about anything besides hitting her.
I should've used the Second Form fist. Takuma was already thinking about his mistakes and his future moves.
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