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In the early morning when the dew still lingered on the blades of grass, three friends met at a large training field.
Takuma looked around at the few dozen shinobi of all ages who had come for their morning workouts at one of the many communal training fields that one could use at any time of the day without any reservation or slot limitations. They were crowded and had restrictions on what one could do for everyone's safety, but they were still among the most productive pieces of infrastructure built by the village.
"I must admit, this is new," he said.
"It's nice, isn't it? Great place to meet new people," Nenro said while tipping a sachet of energy powder into his water canteen.
"And new sparring partners," Masaaki added, already sweating from his warmup.
Takuma preferred quiet places for his training and had thoroughly utilised the facilities maintained by the Police Force and ANBU. Before that, he had used quaint places known to him through Maruboshi—that was probably where it had started.
During his Academy days, he had always trained alone, with Maruboshi and that became his preference.
"This reminds me of basic training," he said—training with a lot of people, though the people here were doing their own thing, while everyone in basic training was doing the same thing.
"Right, I can see that." Nenro nodded with a smile as he looked around.
"Let's go!" Masaaki shouted suddenly, smashing his fists together. Takuma winced from the sting in his ear. "I'm getting cold here. I want to start."
"We should. You ready?" Nenro turned to Takuma, who groaned under the absurd burden of his full-body weighted gear.
It was far heavier than his usual load and not something he was prepared to handle at his current level, but it was something he needed for today's special training, so he had pulled out extra weights and add-ons from the kit in the backyard shed.
"You've gotten better at it, but your tendency to trade damage is still very much present," he said, jabbing his finger at the bones in his arm. "Today, you aren't allowed to trade any damage."
"That's one way to put it," said Takuma.
Nenro shrugged with a handsome smile. "We attack, you dodge—no blocking or attacking of any kind. You evade what you can, tank everything else. Of course, it goes without saying that you shouldn't run away unless you really can't help it. This won't really make any sense if you're just running all the time."
"I'm looking forward to this," Masaaki grinned, excitement pulling on his face.
Takuma narrowed his eyes. "You just want to hit me."
He was faster than both of them. For this to be beneficial, he had to limit his overall movement, which he could've done without the weights, but the gear made it much more real, with no room for accidentally raising his speed on instinct.
"Alright, bring it, you two."
Masaaki charged at him the moment the words left his mouth and opened with a big swing that Takuma avoided by stepping back. His eyes went to Nenro, who remained at a distance, calmly walking around. Their eyes met, but Takuma couldn't get a read on what he had planned.
Nenro was always great at hiding what he was thinking.
"That's rude," Masaaki said when he saw him looking away and jumped while spinning into a hook kick. It would've been easy to block, but according to the rules, he couldn't, so he leaned away, allowing the weighted vest to pull him down.
Masaaki spun once more and landed a front kick right into his chest. He staggered back, managing to maintain his footing, only to see Masaaki leap and slam his whole body into him. In normal circumstances, it would've been a risky move with high chances of getting stabbed, but here, when one side couldn't attack, it was the obvious move. Takuma thumped into the ground, his gear taking away any chance of recovery, and he had the air absolutely knocked out of him.
"Wooh!" Masaaki yelled, psyching himself up after the takedown.
Takuma took Masaaki's hand and got pulled up to his feet with a groan. "Okay, this is going to be trickier than I thought," he said.
Reduced speed wasn't the problem. The gear didn't just make him slow; it also changed his natural balance because the weight changed how his body mass interacted with gravity. Lean one way too much, and the weights were there to pull him further down in that direction. If he didn't deliberately control his every movement, the smallest unplanned overextension could collapse his balance or outright take him to the ground.
"Again," he said.
Masaaki retreated a few steps before charging right in for another body slam, but this time, he was ready and stepped out of the way. He walked backwards while weaving his torso from side to side as the strikes came in a fury, focused on keeping himself in a good position, his feet working nonstop. Staying in place and limiting movement was better for balance, but being on the move made him harder to hit.
He flinched when a fist dug into his side and almost shuffled back on instinct, which would've put him on a weaker footing, but his muscles tensed as he seized control while taking a kick in the thigh, only to bob under a swing for his chin to regain stable movement.
A satisfied grin graced his lips. Masaaki must've noticed it because he immediately dropped into a sliding tackle. Takuma jumped to have him clear out from below, but Masaaki simply raised his foot and kicked him in the knee, forcing him to roll on landing, which was tough with the gear, but Takuma got up to his feet as quickly as possible.
Masaaki slammed his shoulder into his back as he rose, knocking him into the grass.
"Fuck," he groaned as he rolled over onto to his back.
Having Masaaki as an opponent was like playing a game on hard mode. He was a close-combat specialist who was very comfortable in melee. Most people, even if they knew the other side couldn't attack, would maintain a healthy distance as they usually do and take some time to think. He, on the other hand, was the type to take full advantage of perceived gaps right from the beginning.
Masaaki also recognised that Takuma's balance was the real problem and was using it against him. And, of course, he hit hard, so any attack from his friend sucked.
Takuma looked up as Masaaki's shadow slid across his face. "Come on, don't tell me you're already tired?"
"Of course not, you bastard," he replied to the grinning face as he was pulled up.
They continued for another half hour before they called a short break. Takuma didn't bother sitting down because he was sick of being taken down to the ground every other minute.
As it turned out, he wasn't used to people entering his personal space so aggressively. Most people he fought preferred to keep their distance after getting the taste of one of his augmented strikes. But since that wasn't a problem right now, Masaaki kept coming at him.
It was thoroughly annoying.
Having the extra weight on his body still felt unnatural, despite having already gone through this a couple of times before when he had upped the gear's load. Takuma would never be in a similar situation in real combat, but it made for excellent training because the weight forced him to compensate for the lack of natural balance with other factors, such as more footwork and better positioning.
The lack of blocking also made him acutely aware of where he was getting hit the most—some of it was Masaaki's preferences, but it was also where Takuma was leaving himself open.
"Here, drink." Nenro tossed Takuma's water canteen to him.
"Thanks."
How did she do it? Takuma thought while drinking in small sips.
He recalled the frustration he had felt against Izumi when he swung and kicked and grabbed while she danced around him with an effortless grace. He got in a few hits that she had to block or occasionally forced some distance between them when he pushed her to the edge, but their fight was mainly a masterful show of pure evasion and the sweet science.
She was always putting him at a disadvantage, making it easier for her never to give him a clean blow. He couldn't do that—not like her, not to her level—because it was neither his style, nor something he was skilled enough to do.
But he could give it a try.
After the break, Masaaki and Nenro switched places. Even though the initial plan was to have both of them come at him, the three of them quickly realised that it was an absurd ask when Takuma couldn't attack or block. Even with pure taijutsu, it would require some getting used to before he could take on both of them without turning into a human sandbag.
Nenro wasn't a melee fighter; he preferred to fight at range with ninjutsu, which gave Takuma some breathing room because he wasn't as aggressive as Masaaki. But he was intelligent and observant. He had already figured from watching Masaaki that the balance was the point of weakness. As Takuma was moving, Nenro grabbed his arm and swung him around, causing him to stagger for only a moment. Nenro kicked at his knee to worsen his balance. In haste, Takuma pulled his leg back.
He managed to save his footing, but opened himself up to Nenro, who punched him in the gut, then slapped him in the face.
"Maintain your distance!" Masaaki yelled from the side.
Takuma followed the instruction and took a step away from his usual positioning and realised that it was roughly the distance Izumi had tried to maintain when she was fighting him. For the next few seconds, he kept at that distance before finally allowing Nenro to come closer because he actually needed to face attacks to practice evasion.
He saw Nenro's weight shift onto one foot and knew he was going for a kick, so he immediately stepped in, so only the upper shin hit him instead of the foot, where most of the power was. But he was too close and thus immediately pulled back, a fist passing in front of his nose. Nenro had swung his right, so he went in that direction and placed him at his back so he would have to turn around before attacking, gaining himself a few more grains of time.
Izumi had tried to get certain attacks out of him. Positioning herself in places that would elicit a specific response from a competent fighter. He raised his arm forward to put it between them to force some distance, like he would in an unusual fight, but purposefully opened his flank, and Nenro went right in for it. Takuma, who had fought him numerous times, knew that he preferred a roundhouse kick, and when that was exactly what came in, he was effortlessly put out of the range.
"Yeah, that's it! You're doing it!" Masaaki clapped from the sidelines as any good hype man would.
With his confidence up, he tried it again. After a few failed attempts and getting a hit a few more times, he managed to bait him again and proceeded to move to his next position, where Nenro would be at a disadvantage if he went for an attack.
Only, Nenro caught on and used that baited attack to feint a low kick into a high one, hitting Takuma just below the ear. He then stomped down on Takuma's foot and smashed an elbow into his chest, toppling him.
The gentle, floating clouds seemed particularly annoying today, Takuma thought as he looked up at them. He rubbed his chest and wrinkled his nose, arching his neck up to look at Nenro, who said,
"I might not be great at taijutsu, but I've fought enough of you maniacs to know when I'm getting baited. You're particularly blatant, by the way; your eyes give it away."
"Of course," he sighed—it wasn't going to be that easy getting good at a new skill.
Masaaki came to squat beside him. "But you're getting it! And it won't be nearly this difficult when you're allowed to fight back, so keep practising. We'll help you!"
"You just want to hit me."
"I want to help you," Masaaki grinned, "but yes. Two birds, one stone."
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