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| - "This is it! The final sparring session before the Genin exam in two days' time!" Matsuri-sensei called, a sly smile on her face. "Make sure to give it your all, 'cause it's the last chance to practise your taijutsu without consequences!" The purple-eyed boy frowned, brow furrowing as the genin exam was mentioned. He'd heard from various clan members how difficult it was (mostly the younger ones, as Sunagakure hadn't always had this Ninja Academy or genin test). The boy next to him, ever the picture of confidence, brushed his electric yellow hair out of lightning blue eyes and nodded with an easy grin. "Ne, Ren-kun, fancy a warm up against me?" Ikazuchi Kouya then cracked his fingers one by one. Renryou, who had kept meaning to tell his friend that the long yellow scarf he wore was a huge hindrance, fell silent sneakily, merely nodding. He could always use that to his advantage. "Find a partner!" The teacher called and Renryou and Kouya moved to the closest fighting arena. It was outlined with a rope as paint would simply not work on sandy ground. Once all the students had paired off and found some space, Matsuri-sensei readied her start signal. As she called out, "In your own time, start!" Kouya gestured at Renryou, "Bring it on, bandage boy!" Renryou's reply was just as rapid, "Prepare to blow your fuse!" They both stepped into taijutsu stances. Kouya pushed off of the sandy ground, leaving a trail of dust behind him as his first hurtled towards Renryou's nose. When it was within a fingerspan of Renryou's nose, Renryou raised his hand quickly, grabbing his wrist and pulling Kouya into his knee. He then forced his knee up into the stomach of the ex-Kumo boy, who wheezed and hunched over as Renryou pushed him away. Renryou had achieved the first blow, but he hadn't won yet. Kouya straightened up and leapt at Renryou again, punching towards him and the bandage boy smirked- what an idiot, making the same mistake again! As he reached up to grab Kouya's wrist, Kouya suddenly stopped, pulling his fist back and aiming a roundhouse kick at Renryou's stomach. The mummy managed to raise his arms in an 'X'-shape, and the kick slammed into his arms, sending him sliding backwards. He skidded to a halt, displacing clouds of sand, and then looked at Kouya, a challenge shining in his purple eyes. Kouya responded in kind with the same look and then the two leapt towards each other. Punch after punch slammed into Renryou's guard, and as Kouya suddenly dropped into a crouch, using a sweeping kick to knock Renryou off his feet, Renryou leapt over the kick and flew downwards towards Kouya with a double-footed kick. Kouya managed to stand up and catch Renryou's ankles, using all his strength to spin the mummy and toss him away. Renryou flew backwards and managed to somersault backwards and land on his feet. There was barely a second between the mummy's landing and Kouya's charge as they rushed each other again, trading punches and deflecting them with their arms in turn. Suddenly, Kouya's hand whizzed down to the kunai holder on his thigh and pulled out a bladed weapon, bringing it up to swipe across Renryou's bandaged forearm (which was held up in a block). Within an eyeblink, Renryou reached inside his white jacket and pulled something out in time for a loud metallic clang to be heard. Locked in a struggle, Renryou put all his might into pushing his own kunai forward, intending to break Kouya's block. Kouya held his own, keeping the block up. After a few minutes of the stalemate, both boys had the same idea and leapt backwards, putting away their kunai. It was time to move on from simple taijutsu. Kouya was the first to strike, "Raiton: Taiden Kunai no Jutsu!" He flashed through handseals- Ox, Serpent, Monkey, then threw a kunai at Renryou. However, the kunai crackled as it flew through the air and Renryou recognised it as a kunai charged with lightning. His eyes widened as it embedded itself into his chest and the lightning flashed, shocking his entire body- Renryou made the handsign for his clan jutsu, "Houtai Shibari no Jutsu!" and the bandages around his arms unwrapped of their own accord like snakes, rushing for Kouya's unprotected back as the paralysed Renryou clone collapsed into bandages. Kouya span round, hissing, "A clone!" As the bandages wrapped round his arm, he managed to grab another kunai and cut them off of his arm before running at an uncovered Renryou. He had used up the bandages around his torso and neck with the clone and was only left with the bandages on his shins and his arms, the latter of which was damaged by Kouya slashing the end off of them. Kouya called back the tendrils and as Kouya's outstretched arm came to impact in Renryou's midsection as he ran past, Renryou quickly went into a handstand and vaulted over the arm, landing in a crouch and catching Kouya's ankle with a bandage tendril. He quickly made a Ram handsign, "Houtai Doutai no Jutsu!" The bandage around Kouya's leg stiffened and as Kouya tried to pull his leg free, it tugged him back. Then Renryou shouted, "This jutsu's only really good if I can back it up! Here goes my first attempt at a jutsu I tried to learn!" Kouya's eagle eyes caught Renryou's hands forming the 'Ox' hand seal, commonly associated with Lightning jutsu and figured it out. Making his handsigns quicker thanks to his practice with them, he then grabbed the bandage, clutching it with his left hand, "Shoudengeki no Jutsu!" A small electric charge ran down the conducting bandage from Kouya to Renryou, knocking him over and loosing the bandage from Kouya's ankle, and the ex-Kumo student crowed, "That backfired there! Let's end this!" Renryou stood up, and as Kouya ran at him with a finishing blow, he formed his clan handsign, "Houtai Resshou no Jutsu!" Even as Kouya drew closer, Renryou stood stock still, and two things happened at the same time- a bandage brushed past Kouya and a fist sunk into Renryou's gut... Renryou collapsed, curled up in pain and Kouya raised a hand to his neck as a sharp pain ran through it. As Kouya looked up, eyes wide, he noticed that the other students had long since finished and were watching the pair spar. Matsuri-sensei called, "Win, Modai!" Kouya removed his hand from his neck to see crimson drops running down it. "You may have disabled Modai, but if he was aiming to kill, your artery would be spurting fountains of blood right now!" The students all groaned, "Ew!" "Gross!" "Sick!" (Matsuri-sensei was known for her graphic descriptions of fighting). Kouya frowned and Matsuri-sensei calmed him, "But it's just a paper cut, don't freak out, Ikazuchi." Renryou then got up, huffing and puffing. Kouya grudgingly offered his unbloodied hand to Modai and the pair shook hands. "Not bad, boys. For the last spar before your exam, it wasn't bad at all." Renryou and Kouya forgot their temporary rivalry and both grinned victoriously...
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