"Ai, we are attacking. Enya, back us up." Kudo said, "You know, you are not our leader, so why should I listen to you?" Ai crossed her arms, looking at Kudo. "True, I am not, okay then, you can be the leader," Kudo said, motioning her to take the lead. Ai was taken aback and then smiled widely, "Okay, listen then. We are going with a triangle formation. Instead of me and Kudo being heavy hitters, we will trap him in the circle and try to contain him as long as possible. Kudo, you are the fastest, so try to go for the bells once he is distracted. Enya, try to get him with the mind implosion jutsu." Enya groaned at her words. The mind implosion jutsu was like banging your head against the ground hard. The buzzing sound of your spiritual energy exploding inside your mind was unnerving. Enya suffered headaches and vomited a lot while learning the jutsu."Okay." He said.
"Alright, let's go with that then," Kudo said as he began a set of stretches, and the others also started stretching. It was going to be a heavy taijutsu battle as they were weaker in ninjutsu and genjutsu.
Several minutes later, "Let's begin and remember this, come like you are trying to kill or else you will lose," Takao said, standing before the trio. Kudo rushed forward with heavy momentum, swinging his left fist. Takao swayed to the right, and Kudo brought up his right fist, swinging and demanding attention. Ai and Enya closed in as she went behind, and Enya completed the triangle formation. Without warning, Kudo opened his mouth, shooting two water bullets furiously at Takao. "Swoosh!" With a heavy step, Takao leaped backwards and twisted his body, dodging the water bullets that vanished into the trees. Takao now stood in the middle of the triangle; they closed in.
Enya rapidly made the Ox hand seal, "Earth style; Earth Hardening." The ground turned darker. "Not bad." Takao smiled, getting into a stance. "Come." Ai rushed in, and on the other end, Enya also closed in.
Ai drew two kunai and double-wielded, with furious slashes, she kept Takao contained, but he was easily twirling her around as he evaded her with minimal movement. Kudo advanced stealthily, and he struck from behind his chakra-enhanced kunai, aiming at the nape. Takao suddenly launched a back kick. His kick passed through the silhouette. The illusory clone collapsed. Just a foot away, the real Kudo arrived."Swoosh!" The Kunai cut the air, causing air currents. Two blows inched closer as Takao's senses went haywire…in an instant, spiritual energy exploded as he lost control, and Kudo switched targets, his free hand reaching for the bells at Takao's waist."Not bad." Takao smiled, his discomfort vanishing as Ai's Kunai struck his chest, and he exploded into a cloud of smoke. "Puff." A shadow clone.
"Damn! It was a clone. I can't see him, find him, Enya." Ai quickly stepped back, and Kudo front flipped, stepping away from the smoke. "Earth style: Head-hunter jutsu!" A pair of hands rapidly dragged Enya underground. Enya collapsed into mud as the real one appeared behind Kudo and AI. "I hardened the ground, so how?" He asked, perplexed. "You don't have enough mastery of elemental jutsu to deter a jonin," Takao said, arising from the ground. "Focus!" Ai shouted, "Fire style; scorching ray jutsu!" A beam of fire shot towards Takao while the other 2 restarted the encirclement.
Kudo didn't wait and closed the distance; he lunged a high knee aimed at Takao. Takao extended his left foot, wanting to sweep Kudo's balancing leg, but he raised it rapidly, instantly going higher while airborne, now aiming for a head-knee as Takao raised his hand, the knee connecting to bone. "Thwack!" Kudo pushed off, creating distance, instantly making the snake hand seal and inhaling deeply, "Water style: Great water bullet." A head-sized water ball shot at Takao, who had just reset his stance."Earth style: Earth wall." A wall of earth took the impact, cracking and fissures arose while Ai stood on the other side, "Fire style: Fireball."Facing the incoming attack, Takao went underground, but Enya was waiting, "Earth style: Crushing Burial." The earth hardened to a deeper brown colour as Enya poured in a lot of chakra. "I really hope that did him in," Enya said while going on alert.
"Unfortunately, no, come find me, my dear students." Takao's voice carried over the winds as the 3 immediately disrupted their chakra. Seeing as it wasn't a genjutsu, focussed on the task at hand."So, that means were fight a shadow clone the whole time?" Enya asked, depressed. "I don't know, could have been a clone from the start," Kudo said, checking their surroundings. "He has gotta be here somewhere. No sense in using the village as the test." "Ai?" Kudo turned to see her face grim; she took a deep breath. "We will find him. Let's separate to cover more ground. Kunai with a smoke bomb in the air if you find him. Contain, don't engage."
"Not sensing him, guys. Means he is good at hiding from sensors." Enya stood up. "We find tracks then." Kudo nodded, he left heading east of the training ground, Ai took west, and Enya took north, and they would converge south.
Somewhere in the trees…'Not bad. Their teamwork is rough, but at least they are willing to work together. It seems the Sarutobi is taking the lead. I will change leadership depending on missions, so it doesn't matter. The Yamanaka brat, like his clan, isn't into close combat, but he will change that, or he dies. The Tanehiko kid isn't bad, good enough physically, and has a solid grasp on water style- water bullet. Though he shouldn't make a habit of using sealess jutsu. Let's test what the academy taught you.' He thought in silence, his pulse fading slowly as if dying, his chakra suppressed and blending in so that he looked like he belonged.
In the east, Kudo came to a halt, his eyes, ears, and sight alert. He figured their sensei wouldn't hide forever, so there had to be clues. The eastern region was sparse with trees, so if he finished quickly, he could rush to the south. The entire training region was as large as 2 football(soccer) fields.
In the western region, Ai stood before the array of trees, "This is going to take time." She murmured in irritation. Clicking her tongue, she rushed in, and she walked slowly in between the trees, constantly scanning for clues. The high canopy made it difficult to make out finer details. Ai kept searching repeatedly…30 minutes later…"I don't have time for this." She said her neck was taut, veins pronounced, drawing her hands closer, she rapidly made hand seals. "Fire style: Searing Migraine!" "Boom." A chasm of fire swelled and shot forth, blazing and devouring everything in its path. Ai retreated to the clearing as she watched the trees burn. "Hmph, serves you right." She exhaled, bending down as dizziness came over her.
In the training ground, Kudo heard the explosion and immediately flickered towards the western section. Likewise, Enya left his section, and although they were rushing as fast as possible, Takao reached the clearing and sent a silent questioning gaze to Ai, but seeing her exhausted, he turned to the inferno ahead."This is gonna be a pain in my paycheck." Takao made the Tora hand seal, heaving a mouthful of air; "Water style: Great waterfall jutsu!" A supercharged wave of water rushed forth, neutralizing the fire before it could consume everything."Swoosh, swoosh." Kudo and Enya both arrived and turned to the nearly burnt-down western section of the training ground with questioning looks.
"Uhh, sensei? What happened?" Kudo asked, "Ask your teammate! You, Sarutobi girl, you can't burn down the forest. This area is not meant for large-scale fire jutsus, and you almost killed yourself, you imbecile." Takao barked, his voice rising a couple of octaves. "I'm not an imbecile! You should have fought fair. Why are you hiding then? Fight or don't, choose one." Ai huffed, turning her head sharply.
Kudo stared at the two, taken aback, "So do we continue or not?" "No, leave," Takao said. His team wouldn't have failed the test; he just wanted to observe their dispositions so he could train them better, but now he had paperwork due to a certain someone."Meet me here tomorrow for our first training session." Takao sighed as he left.
In the Hokage's office, "Ai, I taught you those jutsus for you not to destroy my village." Hiruzen sighed, watching the crystal ball. He could feel more paperwork coming and shuddered at the realization. "It's up to you now, Takao."