• We rounded the other side of the tree line to come to another field. Asuma began to explain rules of the battles. "First off no destroying the training grounds," I looked away into the distance, seeming as he was directing the question towards me. Then he went on to other rules that I didn't feel the need to listen to since they were so simple. "Okay now that the rules are done, I'm going to pare you up!" I looked at him, and quickly blurted out something the same time as Ino.
    "I'm not going to be pared up with her!" We both turned our heads to glare at each other. Me and Ino just kept glaring at each other, I'm sure to which that Shikamaru and Chouji felt the angry spark between me and her.
    Asuma stepped between her and I, "What's the problem?" He looked at me, but Ino answered.
    "The problem here is her!" She pointed at me, when I noticed Miki and Sho weren't behaving, they were hissing at her. "She doesn't need to be in the Leaf, she's from the Sand," Ino ranted on about from where I had came from.
    "Okay I see that's why you don't like each other now. But Ino you're also accusing a new ninja here," Asuma said. "Now Ino over there, and Akane over there," He pointed in the directions of where we would battle. "Chouji you'll be against Ino," I heard a complaining sigh come from him. "And Shikamaru you'll fight Akane," Walking over to the other side of the field, he yawned seeming like he didn't want to fight. Asuma raised his arm in a flag like gesture, "Begin!" He yelled, throwing his arm down like the beginning of a race. I watched as Ino and Chouji began their fight, and then looked back over to Shikamaru who had his hands in his pockets.
    "What aren't you going to make a move?" He questioned, not really seeming to care.
    Today instead of transforming my ferrets into the chained blades like I usually did I brought out the real ones I kept at home. Smiling I dropped both the blades only holding the chains.
    "Are you as lazy like this when you fight?" I questioned back.



    Hinata shook her head quickly, not wanting to continue the conversation. She hurried ahead to go find Kiba, and Shino followed her closely. kurenai and I sped up to follow, and we entered a glade to find Kiba on the ground, with a goat in a headlock and the rest of the team standing nearby, watching absently. Kiba looked up, still wrestling the goat. "Matsuo!! Help me!"
    Laughing, I ran over and helped grab the goat. It eventually settled down enough for us to take it back to the village, to the tearful owner who blubbered a million thank yous. Kurenai then took us to the training grounds, but stopped.
    "Oh. There's a team here already." she paused, folding her arms. "we'll train here tomorrow. You guys can still practise, if you want, but stay out of their way."
    hinata and shino went over to go practise with their shuriken, on the far side of where asuma's team - including Akane??- was training. Kiba lingered. "Want to go spar?" he asked, and Akamaru let out a happy bark from the hood of his jacket.
    "i have to go train with Kakashi-Sensei." I said, jabbing a thumb over my shoulder. "But do you want to go get ramen again, when I'm done?"
    "Sure." he beamed. Momoko chittered happily. With this "date" set up, I went to the park to see Kakashi reading on a bench. I approached him, did a double take, and glanced around.
    "Did I miss something?" I asked, half-laughing. "You're early and I'M the late one?"
    Kakashi looked up and stood, smiling as he tucked the book into his back pocket. "I didn't want you on my case again," he said, folding his arms. "Now, there's a move I'm going to teach you today..."
    "Really? Awesome!! Is it like...lightning strikes???" I dropped into a ridiculous kung fu pose. "Liken hua!! Or maybe even like a fireball, like I saw Sasuke use once, like FWOOOOOSH!!" I waved my arms over dramatically. "Or maybe-"
    He snorted. "First of all, it's Taijutsu, and second of all, you'll find out after you do your push ups."
    I sighed and dropped to the grass, to start the sets. "And I was all happy," I muttered. "Way to crush my joy, Kakashi-Sensei."
    "No problem." He walked over and set a foot on my back. "And just to make it even more challenging..."
    I grunted as he added the weight, and twisted around to glare at him, straining to do the push ups. "You wait until we spar," I growled. "I'm kicking your butt from here to the Sand."



    "Like I care," Shikamaru answered back. I made my hand signs to use a jutsu.
    "Magma style - Lava Flow!" I said allowed. The ground began to bubble like with most jutsu's, but this one so it wouldn't ruin another field. Hot earth encircled Shikamaru, he jumped in a tree branch to get way. I yawned at him, " Are you just going to dodge every attack I throw at you? Because then this won't be much fun," I said to him, starring at his position. Swinging a blade at him it cut through the thin branch, and came crashing down, with him too.
    "I'll just finish this," he then squatted down, starrign at me he seemed to be evaluating how to fight me. Waiting for him to do something, I told both Miki and Sho to go hide. Doing a hand sign or two he then, stood from his position. I just watched as nothing happened, till I saw something move next to me. Jumping backwards I looked down to see a moving shadow.
    "So this is your skill?" I told myself in a rhetorical question. I felt myself paralyze after saying that. "What the?!" I said starring at a smirking Shikamaru.
    "Well that was easy seeing as you weren't watching your back," Shikamaru told me walking towards me, my motions following his in a mirrored image. "Are you going to give up?" He asked.
    I smiled nicely, "Nope," He seemed confused by my answer. "Miki? Sho?" I asked looking for them. They then both came out hissing running at Shikamaru. Another shadow moved at them. The shadow missed seeing they were so fast. Jumping on Shikamaru's back, they stopped attacking. "What happen?" I asked starring at them on Shikamaru.
    "They got caught by my shadow," He told me simply.



    When my warmups were done, I stood and watched Kakashi. He set his hands on his hips. "Alright. This is a taijutsu move called Shadow of the Dancing Leaf..."
    "Wow. That's a mouthful." I rubbed the back of my neck anxiously. "Don't expect me to blurt that in any battles."
    He smiled slightly. "You could also call it Dancing Leaf Shadow. But it's very hard to pull off...I don't know if you can handle it."
    I glared at him, hearing the aloof tone in the last sentence. "If this is reverse pyschology..."
    "Oh, it is." he said cheerily. "And I'm about to show you how its done. But first of all..." He eyed me curiously. "Do you trust me?"
    "Um...that depends."
    "I take that as a yes." Suddenly Kakashi lashed out, and he spun in a crouch on the ground, knocking my legs out from under me. Before I hit the grass he kicked me in the back, sending me flying upwards. There was a rush of air and, turning, I saw Kakashi hovering beneath me, his body matched perfectly to mine. How was that possible?! Suddenly he was gone and I hit the ground with a bang, my breath leaving me with a loud whoosh. Kakashi was then standing nearby, eyebrow raised. Grunting, I struggled to a stand, leaning on my knees.
    "That was...kind of...neat..." I panted. "How did you do it...?"
    "You have to launch your opponent into the air first," he said. "Which is hard enough as it is. And then you have to jump up yourself, and match your posture to theirs. You can then use that advantage to launch another attack."
    "But how do you match the position?"
    "Just send me flying. You'll figure it out."
    Pursing my lips, I lunged and kicked his shin. He raised an eyebrow but didn't fall. I kicked it again, and again, before yowling, "Just jump in the air, already!"
    Smiling, he obliged, and he seemed to be floating spread eagle. I jumped up myself, and curving my body, managed to get my legs to match before the moment left, and he slammed into me, smashing me into the ground. He hurriedly twisted around and crouched beside me, helping me sit up. "You okay?"
    I touched my bloody lip, ribs searing with pain. "wonderful," I mumbled. "Let's try it again."



    Sighing in defeat, I looked back up at him. "Fine you win. Could you release me now?" His elongated shadow went back to his, and let me have control back to my body. Stretching my muscles, I walked over to were Asuma sensei was leaning against a tree.
    "So how did you hold up against Shikamaru?" He asked still looking at Ino and Chouji battling.
    My hand instantly went to the back of my head, "It went good, I think. He's really smart even though he's lazy," I commented. There was a rerustling behind us which we both ignored.
    "Oh thanks," Shikamaru said with little sarcasm in his tone.
    "Well I think I have to leave now," I told Asuma, bending down to let Miki and Sho hop on.
    "Okay then Akane. At least you didn't destroy this field," I glared at his joking face.
    "Yeah well I was holding back," I told him. "Bye," I said heading in the opposite directions I had originally come. Getting our of the brush, I saw some white hair go up in the air, and watched as a person went with it. What's this? I thought curiously.




    "Gosh dang it!"
    I wiped my mouth, spitting out blood from another failed attempt at the Dancing Leaf Shadow. Kakashi stood nearby, perfectly calm. "Maybe if you tried to kick me into the air instead of just making me jump, it would work better."
    "Fine, I'll try it." I grumbled.
    Kakashi nodded. "Then go ahead."
    Immedietly I dropped into a crouch and, mustering all my strength, swept my legs in a long half circle. Kakashi's legs flew out from underneath him and as he dropped, I tried to kick him into the air - and somehow, I managed to release a bit of chakra with my kick, sending him high into the air. Taking a deep breath, I jumped up, then, and managed to mimic his position, heart hammering. I was doing it! I was doing the Dancing Leaf Shadow! Refusing to land without getting some payback, I punched kakashi in the square of his back as hard as I could, and then in the side, the shoulder, the side, and the middle of his back again. Feeling air rushing by me, I realized I was about to land and twisted away from beneath him, skidding to a halt on my knees nearby. Kakashi landed on the ground with a loud grunt.
    And then he was a cloud of smoke.
    A hand settled on my shoulder and I turned to see the real Kakashi. "Nicely done," he said, looking...impressed! YES! This was awesome progress!! "I"m glad that was my clone out there."
    "So was that clone teaching me the whole time?"
    "No. That was the real me." He shook my shoulder slightly. "And that was an amazing example of the Dancing Leaf Shadow, Matsuo. Considering you're not that good at taijutsu..."
    "You just had to throw that in, didn't you." I grinned.
    "Of course." he smiled. "Now let's practice that move again.'
    As we moved back to the fighting positions, I saw Akane, head bobbing in the distance. Had she seen me kick my Sensei's clone's butt? Hopefully so.



    I jogged my way over to see Kakashi congratulating Matsuo on doing a good job on the tai jutsu move. I just starred for a bit, till Matsuo came over to talk. "Hey did you see what I did?!" She asked excitedly.
    "Yeah that was a really cool move. Seems like your doing well with training," I said to her, noticing how hard tired she looks, but still energetic.
    She smiled at me, "Well you seemed to be having a good time training with Asuma too!"
    "I was going to train by myself but then I was invited to join, so I didn't have any other choice," I said back. I heard a cough come from behind me, and turned to see Kakashi standing behind me.
    "I think she should get back to training," He recommended to me, seeming as I interrupted it.
    "Okay then," I told him. "Is he always so quiet when sneaking up on people and such a party pooper?" I asked Mastuo quickly.
    "Yeah just a bit," She said putting her index finger, and thumb apart from each other by about an inch, indicating how much Kakashi was like this.