Chapter 30: Combat Practice (2)

Fujin began analyzing his spar, 'Well ignoring the ending, the spar went quite well. However, it was mostly a mid range fight. I used Great Breakthrough jutsu and Wind Explosion jutsu for offense, Projectile Control jutsu to control the battlefield, Rock Shield jutsu for defense and Body Flicker jutsu and Earth Military Movement jutsu for dodging. Wind clones was another jutsu that could have been used, but we didn't due to the confusion it'd have created. Other jutsus didn't work in this fight.

Actually, I did try to close the distance, however my clone ensured that we never got to fight in close range as he'd be dispelled with just one hit. So I couldn't use Taijutsu or swords and I never got any opportunity to use Wind Propelling jutsu. And casting Genjutsu in such a high paced battle was just not possible with my current skills.

As for the areas of concern, it's definitely underground battles. I don't have any way to deal with an underground enemy, apart from going underground myself. But I don't have any skill in fighting underground anyways, so that'd be disadvantageous for me. Also punching on the ground to crack it open is incredibly dumb. The enemy underground just gets better access to air!

Apart from that, I also need a stronger offense. I guess I could have sent a kunai through the rock shield, but I couldn't do it with a wooden kunai. Either way, my current Ninjutsu can't crack it.

Also, I need to use Flicker more properly. Both me and my clone at times flickered too faraway. That kind of reset the tempo. I need to be able to estimate the right distance to flicker, so that I can continue my offense right away. I guess that'll take a lot of spars to get right.'

After analyzing, he summarised 'Alright, in terms of mid-range combat, I surpass most of the genins that took part in the Chuunin Exam in Naruto. Only Gaara would easily beat me and Temari and Shino might be able to compete. My speed is definitely faster than Lee with his weights on. And body flicker is probably on par with his weights off. But body flicker doesn't have the same flexibility, maneuverability or even stamina that his natural speed has.

As for my Ninjustu, Great Breakthrough jutsu and Wind Explosion jutsu are coming along really well. The Earth Release jutsus worked as I thought they would. And I'm really surprised with the high usability that Projectile Control jutsu provided. Though I can only control 8 shurikens max for the time being, it's still incredibly useful.'

He then thought about what improvements he should make, 'To improve power, I think I'd need to learn Fire Release jutsus. After all, I don't have any access to higher rank jutsus for the time being. But me being able to use 3 elements will be very eye catching. I guess I should wait till my genin squad is formed. If one of my teammates is able to use Fire Release, I can leave this for the future. Secondly, I think I should finally start learning Rasengan. And I also need to pack a lot of Explosion tags! I wonder if I could attach an explosion tag to a kunai powered by wind chakra flow. That way I could send a kunai through any defense the enemy puts up, and explode the tag when the enemy tries to dodge.

As for flickering distance, it should improve with more spars. And underground combat I'll leave for later on as I don't have access to anything that'll help me combat it. I also need to improve the way I carry my weapons. I should try to inscribe some storage seals on the weapon pouches. Maybe even go a step further and make a wristband with multiple storage seals to get what I want instantly.

Anyways, I also need to test out close range combat and see how it goes.'

He finally stopped analyzing and made another shadow clone. This time the rules were to fight in close range. So Great Breakthrough and Breakthrough jutsus weren't allowed, and staying underground for more than a few seconds also wasn't allowed. Flickering was restricted to 10 metres.

Both Fujin and his clone stood 20 metres apart, and Fujin tossed a pebble in the air. As soon as the pebble hit the ground, Fujin rushed towards his clone. However, his clone quickly prepared and launched a Wind Explosion jutsu. Fujin side-stepped the wind sphere, and continued moving towards the clone.

As soon as the clone saw Fujin side-stepping, he exploded the wind sphere. But, as Fujin had continued rushing past it, he didn't take any damage, and just felt strong winds on his back. He then slashed his sword, aiming to slice the clone's neck. The clone, not having time to grab his own swords, infused chakra in his fist and blocked it with the back of his fist. He then flickered behind and grabbed both of his swords.

Not wanting to give his clone the opportunity, Fujin threw one of his swords straight towards his clone at a very high speed. Since the clone was still in the air, he twisted his hand to face towards his left and caused a wind burst, which propelled him to the right. Fujin followed up by launching 3 shurikens on the clone and then used Wind Retrieving jutsu to get his sword back and also approached his clone.

The clone quickly used Gale Surge jutsu to defend against the incoming shurikens, and then engaged Fujin in a sword fight.

Over the past few months, Fujin had trained a lot in Kenjutsu. He had developed a combat style that was very overbearing and relentless. However, he had also trained in defending properly with the swords.

Fujin and his clone clashed repeatedly with swords. Fujin was more on the offense, whereas his clone was more on the defense and repeatedly used Wind Propelling jutsu or Body Flicker jutsu to avoid getting hit. In the next 30 seconds, the clone managed to graze his sword on Fujin's left arm and right cheek.

However, Fujin soon created an opportunity by using Wind Propelling jutsu along with Body Flicker and got a good hit on the clone, which dispelled the clone.

Fujin sighed, 'Merely a minute of fighting before the clone dispelled! Also, though I managed to dodge the 2 hits from my clone, if the clone had used a real sword, then it would have cut my skin. If the swords were enhanced by wind chakra flow, it could have left deep cuts, probably all the way to the bone. Worse, if it were poisoned, it might have incapacitated me.

So there's a lot of scope for improvement. Actually, my clone has to avoid each and every hit as he'll be dispelled. That's good, I should probably start doing the same. And then I need to see how I can maintain an all-out offense while avoiding getting hit.

There was also the issue of my clone having to block the sword strike with his fist. Even though it was infused with Chakra, I'll still take a lot of damage if I do that against a real sword. So I should try to get gloves with a metal plate on the back hand. That would give me another way of defending.

I guess my Taijutsu needs an upgrade too. While the academy style is good, it ain't enough. Right now, despite putting way less time in it, my Kenjutsu completely overwhelms my Taijutsu. I wonder which Taijutsu style will suit me more. If I don't find anything good over the next year or two, I could approach Guy and ask him to teach me his style. While he ain't dumb as many think, but manipulating him should be doable.

Speaking of Guy, I'm surprised that I haven't seen him even once! Granted that I train in only a small part of the village, it's still surprising to never have run into him in over 4 years. Then again, I haven't seen many other canon characters either. Do they gather some place elsewhere, or is Konoha so short on manpower that everyone has to constantly do missions?

Anyways, this sparring has been really good. I should continue doing it.' He then made another shadow clone and continued his spars.

Over the next 3 weeks, Fujin sparred with his clone on a daily basis. His combat skills improved greatly over this period. After 3 weeks, he stopped using wooden weapons and began using real ones. The clone however had to fight carefully, to ensure that he didn't critically injure Fujin. The spars got very risky after Fujin started using chakra flow to enhance the swords. In merely 2 months, Fujin ruined 4 swords, 13 kunais and 33 shurikens due to these spars. He ran out of the weapons he collected from the forest and had to buy from shops. In all it cost him slightly over 120k Ryo on these weapons.

However, he didn't bother with the money lost. His thoughts were, 'What's the use of having money if I don't use it to get stronger? But I guess I should be glad that I did learn Fuinjutsu. I still have over 225k Ryo left with me.'

Right around the same time when he began sparring with real weapons, he also began learning Rasengan. The first and second stages were learnt long back. He finally started on the 3rd stage. One of the biggest issues in Rasengan training was that he couldn't allow anyone to see it. If someone interrupted him or caught him training in forests and figured out his disguise, he could make up some reasons like practicing to fight while using Transformation, or that a ninja had to keep his weapons hidden and hence he planned to keep his skill hidden until there was no choice. While the reasons may cause a bad impression, he didn't care much about that. But for Rasengan, if someone caught him training that, then it'd be a big trouble. The only usable excuse he had right now, was that he could say, "I figured it out myself after reading about the fourth Hokage." However, that would paint him as an absolute Genius and perhaps earn him some visits from Root ninjas or even from Shimura Danzo himself! Not to mention that they'd keep a much stricter watch on him.

So for Rasengan, he decided to train at home. His senses had honed enough by now to realize if someone spies on him. So if he senses anyone spying on him, he could drop the Rasengan training and instead show that he was training Wind Explosion jutsu instead.

To train Rasengan, he cleared up his living room. He only left a sofa in the living room, and moved everything else into the bedroom and began the training. The compression and shaping part was quite difficult. He tried for a few hours without any success. He sighed and thought, 'Let me first do it the Naruto way.' And he made a shadow clone with 20% of his chakra. The clone suppressed and shaped the Rasengan, in this manner, he was able to learn Rasengan within a couple of hours. However, he understood that depending on a clone to make Rasengan is very inefficient and began training for Rasengan without using any clones. It took him a month and a half to get the jutsu right, but it was done!

Over the remaining few days, Fujin decided to improve his Rasengan. He wanted to reduce the amount of time required to form it and increase the amount of chakra he could put in it.