Pushing Ones Limits: Discovery Within

He stood in the middle of a medium sized training room, his sword drawn and striking against a wooden dummy that was starting to slowly come apart piece by piece. As he slammed his weapon into the rickety piece of equipment an arm fell off, the chain that had been attaching it clinging to the broken piece and clinking loudly as it hit the ground. Lag put away his weapon and wiped his forehead, he had been doing things like this non-stop for nearly eighteen hours. Ever since he was present for the announcement from the council of elders. Somewhere in this building was his father training with the six tails host to prepare for the battles that would be coming to their doors once again so he had to do this alone, no partner for the first time.

Lag turned around to see someone at the open door of his training room, she obviously wasn't from the village based on the way she apologized rather than jumping in for a spar and considering no guards were chasing after her she must be from the only friendly nation the hidden storm knew, Morigakure. He wiped his forehead slowly and spoke clearly. "I actually just finished here, if you're not busy I could use a sparring partner to apply this in real combat." He wasn't wasting any time here, the village had been declared in a state of war so time for chit chat was limited.

Lag looked at her and tilted his head, though he had indeed challenged her the girl seemed strangely confident in the way she gave her name. "I am Lag Kizoku. First thing to do is go to an arena rather than this cramped room." He held up his hand and a bird nearly a full foot long flew down from the rafters above and landed on him, this was Fulmine his pet storm swallow and he was a major part of Lag's tactics in battle. He walked past the girl and went down the hall to one of the locked rooms, a key was produced from his pocket and he unlocked it to enter. Inside was a circular room about a hundred feet around with concrete walls going up to the ceiling fifty feet above. It's wasn't much of an arena but it would make due considering the low power levels of both participants. The room was lit by a large amount of torches placed along the walls, lighting was decent but could flicker from time to time. Lag made his way to the middle of the room and held up his hand for Fulmine to start circling above near the ceiling, he himself just stood there in a battle stance waiting on his opponent.

As his opponent got into position his wrists became his focus points for his chakra, surging it in high quantities into them to prepare for his technique. Higher ranked shinobi wouldn't show this much but his inexperience failed him and it was highly obvious what he was doing as the blue substance started to form something around his hands. He kept his eye on Ai and Fulmine prepared for a strike soon but for now remained at the ceiling. The battle was warming up and soon it would be a true fight between ninja.

Lag finished gathering his chakra and it hardened into a pair of blue crystal blades around his wrists, they looked dangerous and they truly were as these would be just a deadly as combat knives. Ai was running around the perimeter now and he saw an opening, running opposite her along the wall and as they closed in on each other he made two strikes with his blades around her abdomen. Whether they hit or not was no concern of his, Fulmine was also preparing chakra for an attack and circling behind their opponent for a concealed strike as she was preoccupied with the human.

140/160

Jade Crystal Blade:

As Ai jumped backwards away from Lag she collide with Fumline who was coming in from that direction, his own chakra was charged and his body had been coated in raiton chakra. When girl and bird met the lightning coating would explode away from Fulmine, leaving a medium sized electrical burn on his shoulder blade, not bad enough to force her to stop her current hand seals which would result in hidden mist jutsu but she would feel it fully in a moment. The bird flew back up to the top as the mist filled the area though, he couldn't see Lag or anything else for that matter and didn't need to get in the way. Lag however calmed himself, holding one hand behind his back and the other in front of his chest as he closed his eyes and listened. Loss of vision was a major disadvantage but so long as he kept level headed he could pull through and defend.

The hidden storm (fulmine):

Ai felt the pain in her shoulder after the mist filled the room.

What was that!? The thought that she made a second mistake was really beginning to shake her. She had to keep her cool. Her adrenaline had been pumping so much it had taken her a few moments to notice the pain.

She couldn't see the wound, but upon touching it she could feel blisters beginning to form. She had been burned pretty badly.

First the gash on my stomach, and now this, she thought. I've got to get my head back in the game.

The mist had completly filled the room and even though she could only see a few feet in front of her, she was confident that both her opponent and his bird would not be able to see any better.

She began weaving her next series of hand signs, preparing for the next attack.


Chakra: 150/160

In the otherwise silent room he could hear the flapping of Fulmine's wings high above him and a very soft sound which could only be made by Ai as she was the only other thing in the room to his knowledge. He stayed still and limited his breathing to conceal his location, being in this situation was dangerous but he was playing it smart and if he played his cards right he might even be able to turn this technique against it's caster.

Ai finished her hand signs as she stood as quiet as possible hidden by the mist.

"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu," she whispered.

Out of the mist, 2 exact copies of Ai coalesced beside her. They took up a defensive stance, with Ai in the back and the two clones in front, forming a small triangle.

Immediatly, the clones and Ai began weaving more handsigns.

Spoiler:

Chakra: 130/160 (43 Usable chakra until the clones disperse and return it to me)
Clone 1 Chakra: 43/43
Clone 2 Chakra: 43/43

More sounds coming from multiple sources, none of them avian. This was odd to Lag and could mean one of several things; either his opponent had a secret partner like Fulmine, she had performed a summoning or even cast a clone technique. No matter which of these it really was he knew that they would put him at a disadvantage so he would need to start thinking of tactics and fast. He moved slowly, walking toe to heel to prevent sound and detection unless she had some kind of technique active that picked up on vibrations in the ground. Though he couldn't see anything even if he opened his eyes he was following the sounds he was hearing by volume. Staying the same distance away but at a different position relative to her like walking a circle's edge with her at the center point. He needed a plan, something that would allow him to strike, there was nothing quite ready in his head yet but he needed to act before this mist cleared otherwise whatever she had done would have full visibility in this small room against him and those weren't odds he liked. Then it hit him, he would answer her move of upping the number of things on her side by doing the exact same thing. Slowly he started to put his hands together while moving silently away room her, this plan would work well if he pulled it off so he couldn't afford to mess up and reveal himself early.

As the clones and Ai all finished their hand signs, she suddenly felt like she was making another rookie move. This might all be for nothing. After all, she couldn't see what she was aiming at and neither could the clones. Still, they had to try something. She was glad this was just a spar between her and Lag. She was learning a lot about what NOT to do and she'd make sure to thank Lag for that afterward.

They quickly changed formation so that they were standing in a single line abreast.

"Water style: Gunshot jutsu!" They all yelled in unison.

In three directions, balls of water flew from the mouths of the kunoichi and her clones. 5 balls from each at 65 miles an hour. They fired one volley in the last direction they had seen Lag. One volley went to the right of that location and the last went to the left. Together, they covered a good section of the wall that her opponent had been on, but she had no way of knowing how far he had moved. They had no idea if they would hit anything, or not, but it would be worth the try.

Ai made sure to immediately release her clones, and as she felt the chakra coming back into her, she began another series of hand signs. She was afraid if she didn't hit him, this would give away her position and she needed to be ready.

Spoiler:

Chakra: 100/160

A terrible sound of things being fired around the majority of the room made his pause after he finished his last hand seal. He hadn't been hit but by the sound of water splashing against the room's walls he could tell that if he had it would have hurt like hell and he for sure would have broken his hand sign sequence early and failed his jutsu. Luckily for him though he had been in a position behind her, he was unaware of this but that wasn't the point. During the time he had frozen in place at the sound of the aquatic bullets being fired his chakra had been sent out in front of him and hardened into a jade-green mirror the same size as him and shaped like a gigantic generic snowflake. This technique itself was near useless save for a quick and very situation-based shield he wasn't able to move but he had plans for using it. He stood in front of his mirror, opposite the side Ai was on about twenty feet away and held the seal of the ram, he was able to see only directly in front of him a short distance but that was all he needed. More chakra was being poured into this mirror as he stood in front of it, one of his more powerful maneuvers was was being prepared now and he silently congratulated himself.

120/160

Jutsu:

No groans. No yells of pain. No immediate counter attack. Just the sound of the balls of water hitting the wall.

Not a total loss, Ai thought. That just means he's in the other half of the room

Ai spun on her heals to face the other direction. The mist was beginning to thin and in a moment she'd be able to see where her opponent was, but the downside was that he would be able to see her as well.

Ai stopped the hand signs she was weaving and instead started charging and focusing chakra into her body and decided to wait for the mist to dissipate in a moment.

Chakra: 100/160

His image had been noted by the mirror and quickly it began to produce duplicates. Out of either side of the mirror stepped out a clone of the Kinzoku heir, they stood there with their crystal blades attached to their arms and preparing for the upcoming battle, no doubt that this mist would fade soon and true combat would follow. All three Lags started to do hand seals and prepare for this as well as listen for any sign of Ai but so far there was none, just waiting was left so that was what they would have to do.

90/160

Spoiler:

The mist was clear enough that she could make out shapes in front of her.

Wait!? she thought, Shapes!? Plural!?

He must have used some form of clone technique. She couldn't see clear enough to make out details but she could clearly see three shapes in the quickly disappearing mist.

Ai kept charging the chakra that she had already started charging but decided to weave hand signs too. This was about to get messy.

Chakra: 100/160

As he looke through the clearing mist he could make out where his opponent was but he didn't finish his hand seals until it was all gone. At that point all three Lag's finished their techniques at once and unleashed the jutsu they had prepared. The real lag held his hand out and a leash of lightning formed, he grabbed it and almost instantly a hound made of electricity formed at the opposite end that looked rather feral and hungry. The other clones each held out their hands and formed one giant crystal shuriken each, these weapons in addition to the blades on their wrists made them hard to deal with but what was even worse was that two more clones were taking their first steps out of the mirror and soon were fully formed for a grand total of five Lag's currently on the battlefield. On of the clones holding a giant shuriken threw it at Ai it's speed enhanced by chakra from its creation making it go extremely fast. The other clone held it's giant weapon and ran in closer to throw it at her as well, if the first projectile hit this would be very bad for her n matter what but getting hit with two of these would almsot surely end this spar. The speed and cutting edges of these shuriken though was fearsome in their own right but there was still the hound. The real Lag who had this technique active let loose the dog to attack, aimed at his opponent its claws would be almost deadly upon contact, he would make sure not to go that far though. Lag was a training hall fighter, not a killer. The two new clones started doing hand seals of their own but held back near the mirror to defend it if need be, this system would be essential in order to ensure victory and Lag had no plans to lose.

Lag 70/160
Clone 1 20/40
Clone 2 20/40
Clone 3 40/40
Clone 4 40/40

Jutsu:

The attack came with such ferocity that Ai was almost overwhelmed. She finished her hand signs quickly.

With a wave of her hand, a gust of wind forced the two crystal shuriken to turn from their trajectory in just enough of a curve to miss her and hit the wall beside her. There wasn't enough room or time to turn them back on the caster.

The lightning hound was another story all together though. She had no way to stop it and the dog hit with full force. Her body arched as she was jolted by the electricity. Her hands and arms where the brunt of the blow came blackened and blistered. She screamed in pain. It lasted only seconds, but felt like it went on for hours.

Ai dropped to the ground, panting heavily, her body twitching. She wasn't paralyzed but she was hurt.

"I'm done," she gasped. "I give up."

It was her first fight since the academy, she had learned a lot, but she knew when she was beaten. She hoped Lag would call off the dog, and stop the fight. At the moment, she was at his mercy.

Spoiler:

Chakra: 90/160

Lag held up his hand and the mirror shattered along with his clones, his opponent had given up and unlike some of the more cruel people in the world he was satisfied to stop here and take the win. He went to the door and found a worker, telling her that the girl he just fought in the room needed some medical attention for electrical burns. The woman shook her head and walked off to find one of the medical shinobi on call. He went back inside and stood in front of her to let her know what was going on. "We have a doctor coming in to look at those injuries, after they get a good look at you everything should be fine."

Lag was glad to see he hadn't caused any permanent injuries, though he hadn't shown in in combat he was still a gentle little kid. Before she got up all the way she said maybe at some point they could do this over again, he thought about it and then remembered the up coming chunin exams which he had entered and wondered if she was a participant as well. "I've actually been training like this to prepare for the exams, will I be seeing you there?"