Sparring Game (Open Thread)

There was no fondness of games in Yusuri Clypeus. In fact, the rather blank-slated girl had a large disdain of childish activity. This was of no exception to that rule. The Sparring Game. A game in which you were given sticks and partners before being left to spar. The winner was the last duo to still be standing, tools were off limits. Jutsu was off limits. But beating the absolute crap out of those around you? It was the true point of this silly little game. A game Yusuri believed was better suited for beginning academy students unlike those around her. They were all practically Genin, what was this games point? Warfare like playing grounds? Group sparring? It didn't help that they had to protect and attack with another classmate!
 Alas, Yusuri had to deal with this idiotic child's exercise. A exercise that she was honestly despising. That was new, a small spark of disdain for something. 'So that's what that felt like,' ran across the yound girl's mind as she adjusted her headphones on her head. Neither muff leaving her ears as she did so, her own stick weapon, her own resembling a staff with its length, stood proped against her body. Checking her left and right arms again, as her sleeves and everyone else's were rolled up, she read the Kanji for 'Alpha Team' which was place there so her teammate wherever they were in the line-up of students could tell who she was, friend or foe. Grabbing her staff she noticed the sticks all were either staffs, swords, clubs, or in some cases they held two different weapons. A club and a sword, two swords, two clubs, even two short staves. The combinations went on as she couldn't see every single person's weapon, or weapons.
  At the sound of the Sensei's gong Yusuri took and swung her staff in a wide 360º arc around her. This resulted in a successful hit to the jaw on her left. Even though the strike held little to no force, she could tell it would at least be a stun of some sort. Crouching as a club swung at her, Yusuri dodged and quickly sprang into the air. She was familiar with adapting to situations, much like how she adjusted between Konoha and Kiri. As she was midway through her descent she prepared she staff for a swing at the person below her spinning to pick up force for the blow as she descended in a fury of wood and flesh. The unshowing femme trying to immobilize her opponents. Her eyes searching for 'Alpha Team' member number two.

Word Count: 437 Words

Iku was on the other end of the spectrum. She thought this exercise was fantastic. Just being able to improve and reveal her strength's brought what some would call 'joy' to the young Uchiha girl. She got to learn what it would be like in a combat scenario that had a lot of dangerous ninja around. Wielding two small wooden sticks she used her speed, and flipped around, spinning her weapons. Thunks resounded when she connected her hits to the other students around her. It was simple to avoid most of their untrained, wild swipes, then to punish them with a hard thwack to the head. That was usually enough to put one down. Again she stepped back, avoiding a swipe to her stomach. The small Uchiha girl was a tiny target, and this type of exercise seemed made for her. She quickly darted back in, and swung one of her sticks at the boy's head. Successfully hitting, she watched him fall to the ground and recoil.

{167 words}

A young man with honey colored skin was pretty sure he was going to be beaten to the ground by the end of things, but right now he more than happy to have been doing as well as he was. He wasn't all that great of a fighter, but guessed he was greater than most of the others who were mostly sloppy with their dual wielding. The sloppiness of most that had chosen to wield two weapons had made hitting their exposed parts a fairly easy task with his staff. Nathan knew he would have simply gotten himself beaten to a pulp with trying to keep up with two weapons at once, which was basically being shown from those that he had beaten. Instead he went with something more suited to his longer reach, a staff. So, he kept managing to thrust into the openings that the others would leave open in their defenses while either charging towards him or by some lucky accident where he clocked them by whacking them with his stick while focusing on someone else. He would shift his staff in order to defend and normally sliding a prolonged battle of strength down his staff before clocking someone with his stick, which he had done to his last opponent.

The young uchiha had lacked the white jacket that he normally would have worn, but wanted his movement to go unrestricted for the battle. Instead he kept with a black t-shirt with the clan symbol on the back of it and a pair of shorts.

He would stumble across another part of his team after a little while. Both had their symbol placed on their arms. He smiled at the sight of a friendly instead of someone that would probably be trying to knock the teeth out of his mouth. The boy was a year older him, but only an inch taller than himself. His new found ally's head lacked any hair and seemed to be polished to give it a small shine to it. He was the quiet, but big person of class and have a good amount of meat on him though not much of it seemed to be muscle, it was no surprise that he had chosen the club. His name was, "Lee". When, Nathan asked for his full name he only had it to be repeated, so in the end the uchiha gave up while he was ahead and moved about in order to find someone else.

((258 Words))

Yusuri sighed, these opponents didn't belong in the Ninja school enviroment. Theh belonged in manual work, they were at the very least in need of far more rigous training before even becoming Genin. When they tried harder Yusuri would acknowledge that fact. Before that though, Yusuri would remain blunt like her staff. Looking around calmly, she spotted Iku and quickly closed the gap seeing no need to speak as she sent a "silent hello and lets finish this quickly" in the glance. Her staff coming down on another sad individual who would come to fall over from the hard blow. Jumping up, Clypeus searched the area of a worthier opponent than the sad goons you normally found at school. This was the cause of her finding Nathan. Pushing herself towards that spot boy stood. She knew him to be a better fighter than most everyone there. Jumping up, Yusuri took a large breathe of air as she flipped over the boys head and landed crouched back to him. "U-Chi-Ha," whispered Yusuri as she twisted about. Her body twirling, staff in a stationary position until she turned to Nathan. Lowering the staff nearly a foot she pushed forward, lashing out at a crack of a whip. Her weapon aimed right under his left shoulder blade attempting to leave a bruise or at the very least leave him incapable of combat.

Word count: 229/66&6 words

Iku was another half of the Alpha team in this exercise, not that she generally cared about that. So when her partner found her amidst the chaotic free-for-all, she merely responded with a curt nod. Barely noticeable at all. Though she assumed her partner would notice. Groaning bodies of kids felled by her hand rolled on the ground at her feet. She flourished her handy-work with spins of her dual wooden batons. Her cold coal-like eyes followed her Alpha team partner. Quickly, her boots hammered the floor, as she ran after the other girl.

Together, they cornered a boy between them. Another Uchiha it seemed. Iku didn't recognize him. That type of thing just wasn't of her concern. Acquainting herself with weaklings, that is. She quickly sized him up. He appeared younger than her, and not nearly as strong from a glance. He however did appear to be a tad bit better than the others around, so that was worthy of note. Widening her stance, she twirled her wooden weapons in a manner to show her expertise with them. She couldn't wait to leave, and become a genin. These exercises held their amusements. But one didn't get strong facing weak opponents.

{201 words}

Nathan and Lee knew well enough that the nearby groans was probably from one of the more advanced students and most likely a team already. So, they decided to simply to split up or well Nathan said that they should and Lee just ran off into some random direction. He was doing a slow jog through the area when the staff girl, he didn't remember her name, cut him of to do some weird twirling along her staff as another came along. A quick glance would give him enough time to tell him it was Iku, one of the best student's in class. He didn't have much time to take in their entrances outside of who they were because of the staff girl going on the offensive. With the attack coming he kept his hands at the one third sections of his staff and brought his staff up at an angle to hit knock the attack up and away from him. If this worked then he would try to capitalize on it by bringing in the opposite end of his staff towards the girl's thigh as he took a step forward. The whole success of the move was based on catching her off by surprise and using the brief moment of shock to time him some added time.

Lee on the other hand would still be nearby, but with the girls doing such a good job. It was hard to find any of other students outside of the random one curled up into the fetal position as they groaned in pain. Then, the sound of wood hitting wood would start to echo through the fairly silent forest and draw him towards the sound.

((282))

As her thrust was knocked up Yusuri acknowledged that her opponent wasn't another run of the mill student. Jumping upwards, she avoided the thrust narrowly leaving the strike to harmlessly hit the ground and slighty skid in the dirt every so slightly. Seeing this as a opportunity to deal the final blow she brought her arms straight up and brought her staff with it her rate of falling inertia increased her feet aiming to snap, or at least flinch out the male Ninja in Training.. Coming back down she quickly grabbed the middle section of her own staff as they approached the earth she smelt a faintness of peppers, her eyes, instincts, and reflexes all focused on the fight. Bringing the staff down upon the Uchiha boy's head, or at least in a close-up strike. Her teammate understood her from glances, so she sent out another stare, 'Let us finish this one before this gets complicated. '

Word Count:  229/ 895

Spotting the glance from her teammate, Iku knew the end of the match drew close. She followed through, by striking at her opponent's side, while he was preoccupied by Yusuri in front of him. Iku didn't believe in fighting fair. She fought to win. If he was distracted, that was his own problem. Her strike was also not without purpose. If she could 'cripple' him, by striking at his legs with cold, hard precision, then she would. A nice quick blow to end the fight was precisely what she required. Beating up on opponents could be fun, but ending a fight efficiently and quickly, was what she was all about. Iku was small, in both stature and physique, she had to capitalize on her wit and her speed to win fights. Especially against males, who were inherently larger, and much more buff. Learning one's strengths, and further progressing those strengths, was what being a ninja was all about. Just as learning your opponent's weaknesses was vital. Most couldn't match her speed. She knew that.

{174 words}

Nathan quickly brought up his staff as his hands shifted back to their original position. His body reacted on its own as he stepped back with his knees slightly bent. The connection of the two staffs made him stop dead in his tracks and would become a sitting duck for the attack coming towards him. His arms were still stuck high in the air when he caught sight of the figure rushing towards him and within the split second that his body tried make use of. He would push off the attacking staff if he had the chance to, being lucky if he hadn't just been kicked in the brief moment he took to glance at the other uchiha. This would give him some time to put up a sloppy defense as he stumbled to face her, his footing becoming to wide and losing strength in it after his quick turn. His staff was held up in the diagonal position meaning he lost the range factor that might have aided him deal with the gap between their speeds. So, with his current situation, he had his sides exposed along with his head. He had given just given his opponent more things to hit now.

Lee would just nearing the area as Iku went to attack and would be be stuck with watching his teammate get hit. He would stand there briefly to watch his ally before readying himself against the double team that would be coming his way pretty soon.

((246))

Leaving Iku Uchiha to deal with, what was sadly a one sided math, Yusuri headed for the young man's partner in this all out war. She, deep down, found Nathan getting utterly obliterated to be pretty funny considering his opponent was: one, family and two, tiny in his presence. Her throat and chest convulsed in a nonexistent laugh as she continued forth with her attack. Despite the fact this battle was honestly beyond a need to even be called difficult. It was a truly easy event, yet to even begin wearing down on the young ninja girl. Lee to her was a towering ogre of meat muscle, one she could move faster than, at least she hoped as much. Rushing forward her legs spread their wings as she practically flew over the grounds surface. Lifting her staff at a tilted angle as she approached she slammed down the pole and leaped up and over the large boy. Swiveling on her left heel she pulled back her staff and began a barrage of fast and ferocious jabs. Attacking wildly, but staying on target, hopefully her staff would land. As she did this, she dug her feet in a way so that when he turned to swing she could move out of range and into his front. Of course, it was hard to tell his movements at this point in time.

Word Count:229/1124

Iku saw her partner go to intercept the Uchiha in front of her's partner. The one in front of her decided to take up a more defensive stance, as he attempted to widen his defense. He was basically open, but he appeared to hope to negate some of the damage she would do. It thrilled her to know he was scared of her. So scared he accepted damage and hoped to just mitigate it. With a grin, she swooped in, swiping quickly at both sides, and down at his legs. It wasn't that she couldn't end this quickly, but circumstances had changed. Perhaps she'd have a bit more fun with her prey. Watching him squeal would be like music to her ears. Who cared if he was another Uchiha? That just made his thrashing all the sweeter.

{137 words}

Lee might have been big, but he could still turn around quick enough to face the smaller opponent the moment she had landed. If she had been a little lower with her jump, she would have diffidently regretted making such a move though she still might if she didn't react fast enough. The massive boy would simply toss his club at her, it flying between her upper chest and her chin, and would have a good deal of force behind it. If it connected like he wanted then the small female would be forced to defend or simply be hit, either way he would have a moment to close the distance. His would go for the most dangerous part of opponent, her weapon and keep a death grip on it before putting another hand onto it so that he could get a good hold on it. Not a moment afterward, he would jerk the staff violently to the left, his intentions to make his opponent let go or get her off balanced. If it was the first, then, he would try to hit her a few times in her midsection before stopping to make sure she would stay down. If it was the later then, he would just grunt keep swinging her around until she finally let go or did something to make him stop.

Nathan on the other would be busy getting pummeled by the other uchiha. Sadly, his attempt not to be a punching bag had failed and he fell as the blows hit his legs. He let out a small grunt as he was hit. His staff would be clenched inside of his hands while he laid on the ground. Nathan wasn't expecting much mercy from his fellow clan member, but was diffidently wasn't expecting her to enjoy it as much as she did.

((307))

Yusuri was genuinely suprised when her opponent reacted so quickly. At least, suprised for a somewhat hollow gourd of a girl. A boy of his size, despite being her age, simply bigger, in width, it was unusual to see him move that quickly. He was acknowledged as a stronger opponent than she had first believed in a moment of youthful ignorance. Utilizing her stance she moved further down and shifted to her right the club seemed to fly in slow motion. As Lee took hold of her staff she pivoted from her new position and reached for the club barely gripping the weapon in one hand, before attaching her other hand in the grip, the club still in motion and continuing to twist until the weighted, wooden, blunt weapon was reversed back upon Lee, should he of tried covering the short distance between them Yusuri's twisting would have turned her quick enough to slam the barbaric weapon and all its momentum into Lee. Should he of chosen to back up Yusuri would throw the club back at him, quickly absconding backwards. Towards Iku and Nathan where she would attempt to switch places with her teamate, picking up weapons from the battlefield at random of what was below her, diving for the weapon and then rolling back to a standing position, rushing Nathan once again. In her hands would be two.... shields. It was a odd weapon of choice, but beggers couldn't be choosers.

Word Count: 248/1367

Iku enjoyed this small exercise that the young Academy class had been presented with. Being an Uchiha, most of her marks were already above the average, but it seemed that she had surpassed most of the class -if not all, already. So this was more than play time for her, this was a time to show off. Not that she boasted much -that wasn't her style. She however, did quite enjoy reveling in her skills. For why would you get skillful to be bashful and reserved? That made no sense to her. So far, none of the other classmates had managed to even scratch her -no one's speed was quite on par to do so, and this other Uchiha in front of her was no different. With a smirk, she said something to him, while continuing to toy with her prey, her strikes continuing to hit his exposed areas, that would undoubtedly leave bruises that would not soon go away. "Enjoying yourself Uchiha? Perhaps you should fight back? Or concede."

A couple classmates got near in the hectic brawl of this very unusual exercise, and Iku took the time -for she had it, to spin a few attacks their way as well. One hit hard on the back, fell instantly, another she swung his legs out from under him and he too collapsed. Then she was back on the offensive against Nathan. Her strikes did lack power, that was something she was noticing, and it was annoying her. She would have to work on that. Her teammate decided it was time to swap partners in this dance, and she was more than happy to oblige. Quickly she rolled, and leaped with a twirl, her kick flying out at Lee's chest. The agile movement was swift, and she would've told you it was executed perfectly - though senior ninja definitely would have seen some issues with it. The boy was big - MUCH bigger than little Iku, who was smaller than even her partner. The suddenness of her attack would be the damage she would need, for her lack of power would be noticed by a bigger opponent.

{356 words}

Lee had been stuck in mid-grab as Yusuri grabbed his club, he hadn't expected her to be that fast or not to be caught by surprise by his attack. So, he quickly went to bring up his arm to defend himself from the incoming strike, it hitting him right in the forearm. It stung a good deal and gave a low grunt after it hit and with her leaving him, he would simply turn to follow. While he couldn't keep up with her, nor did he really attempt to, he could at least get a glance at where she was heading. He could quickly tell that his partner had been beaten by one of their better students and she was now moving towards him. He would be able to get a headstart due to both of them having to realize what Yusuri was planning, it probably taking less than a split second to realize it. In order avoid being kicked dead in the chest, he moved his arm in front of the kick. When, she hit, he would grunt a little before pushing her back. His hands stuck to the near the bottom of the staff and held it like a giant sword as he kept it placed in front of himself.

Nathan on the other hand was be in a good deal of pain. He had enough sense to move his limbs in the way of the strikes instead of just letting him being beaten. The comment from Iku gained her a smile glare that probably only assume her even more so. The new arrivals seemed like a godsend for him, giving him sometime to roll over onto his hands and knees before the uchiha girl was done. He was wishing that they had lasted more than a few seconds. The movement away from him and towards Lee threw him for a few seconds until he saw Yusuri dual wield shields, first time he had saw that one. He wasn't sure what she was planning to do by rushing towards him with two defensive objects and would push onto his sore arms in order to help push knees off the ground, his back being level as he readied himself to roll out of the way of her strike. His butt would hit the ground first and he would be able to quickly move into back into his original position, but just a few feet to the left.

((408))

Seeing the look of bewilderment on Nathan Uchiha's face was enough to tell her that she had him confused as to her strategy. As her feet pounded the earth Yusuri found herself ever growing closer to the next scene of combat. At least her next scene, moving her shields into a defensive format the twin wooden slab managed to completely cover her torso, left shoulder, and right hip. As she approached the Uchiha boy the quickly picked up speed to a full on sprint, as she got within range she put one arm in an out reaching stretch. Her other shield's round form managing to cover her torso. Hunkering her head down a small ways she prepared for a impact. Her upper body twisting back toward the left behind her, as she got within range she shifted with Nathan spun her body back into position and as she did for her arm dipped almost completely back onto her side and swung up in a cone like arc. If she connected she would quickly spin and attempt to connect the other shield into Nathan. If he moved to dodge out of her arm and towards her body he would be bashed by her shield there. If he moved outwards Yusuri would quickly follow suite by making a sharp turn and coming charging back at him, spinning her body so that her hands worked like enlarged hammers with the shields as the heads.

Word Count: 241/1608

Iku's kick landed square on his blocking arm. His defensive nature would help stave off some of the impact, but at least she had impacted him. When he pushed back, the dark-haired girl flipped, her white cloak flowing like a cloud, as she spun through the air, to land back on her feet, skidding a tad away from him. Her cold coal-like eyes stared him down. He almost seemed a bit better than his Uchiha partner, which was some surprise. Or perhaps she was giving this one too much credit. Again, the Uchiha girl held up her wooden weapons, just in time to notice her partner's unorthodox chosen fighting style. She was attempting to use shields in a more offensive manner, by ramming and bashing with them. Iku wasn't sure she liked such a tactic. Shields seemed weak to her. Her philosophy was offense. Why be defensive, like these two guys were, when you could be offensive and pummel your opponent into submission?

It so far had worked out for her.

No. Defensive wasn't her forte. She'd never be able to handle constant blows. So she focused on other things. Like using her small stature to her advantage, as opposed to her disadvantage. Whipping her hair, she faced Lee once more. She rushed the small distance between them, and flipped to the side, with a mid-air spin, quickly as her feet hit the floor, she darted towards his exposed side. Narrowing down, she struck with pinpoint precision, like a bird's beak pecking at prey, her two wooden weapons aimed at his side. The ferocity of her quickness would compound on the blow, and be enough to injure and wind her opponent. She was certain her speed was enough to connect a blow, before he had time to react and guard it. But even if he did, she had a follow-through, allowing her momentum to carry her onward, she'd flip up over his head, in quite a glorious fashion. Her wooden weapons aimed to slam down on the back of his neck, between his shoulders. Where he definitely would have no way of guarding. Her plan to fell this opponent almost made her smile. Good thing her agility, speed, and resourcefulness were above and beyond her fellow classmates.

Even though she was still an Academy student herself, she could tell that much. That meant she was improving. However, she would not be too cocky as to believe she had surpassed what was necessary. Still more training was needed.

{414 words}

Nathan quickly noticed the thing that was trying to hit him and spun again in order to avoid it, pushing off in order to move forwards instead of sideways. He was moving to one bad position to another bad position throughout the entire fight. Now, he had left his staff on the ground while he was avoiding the original attack. Now, with Yusuri pressing the attack, he was desperately trying to get some distance in between them. Whatever offensive he could make was no longer there due to the beating Iku had given him. Now, he just had to hope that his current opponent hadn't expected the sudden movement so that he could hopefully by able to turn and face her again.

Lee might not have been the fastest of the class or the quickest, but that was one compared Iku to anyone of their class. He was quick for his build and with his extended reach, it made him a fairly good fighter. Yet, when Iku jumped into the around, his mind already came up for a solution with her. It was obvious that she would use her speed to bulrush into him and beat him with her sticks, which would make things fairly painful for him. He had to minimize the damage. So, while she went above him, he moved a few steps forward as she sailed above him. This bought a second or so of time for him to turn around and see the Uchiha coming at him. With his longer reach, he hoped to make good hit onto her left shoulder with diagonal slash downwards.

((269))

Iku was still quite the learning young ninja. She was by no means a tactical master yet. She was by no means a great fighter yet. Still, she prided herself on pretending she was those things. In truth, she was better than most of the class. Maybe she just spent more time training then the other students? She would rather think that it was due to her overabundance of gods given talent. When her eyes spotted he was moving in on her, she couldn't help but be slightly surprised. He seemed more capable, and even quicker than the other students. His range was quite a bit farther than the much smaller girl's, but that hardly bothered Iku. In fact, most of this didn't bother her. She knew she was still faster, no matter how quick he was. As he stepped forward, to use his range on her to land a blow, she quickly sidestepped, while moving inward. Her stick weapons were aimed to hit him underneath the arm, to make swinging his own weapon a issue.

{176 words}

Yusuri felt an accomplishment, he had to roll to escape her, with her barreling charge at her foe. Of course, he could still move which meant that he could still fight if she gave him too much space. Yusuri was not fond of such luxuries for opponents. This was no exception, swiveling and digging in she slowed only enough to be able to take off again in pursuit. He body hiding behind the shields as she prepared to attack again, as she close in she spread her arms chest-length, her shields outstretched the width of the wooden slab shields vertical as she got right to him, she burst forward again this time she kept burning up her stamina rather than conserve it. It was just how Yusuri was playing this game now,she was throwing any and all caution to the wind.

Word Count: 142/1750

It was just not Nathan's day. He had spent a split second to glance at the girl behin and quickly realized that she was charging, making that whole "turning around" thing non-existent. The boy raced to keep away for his pursuer and might as well been running for his life now. He was still a little slower than he would normally have been due to the beating Iku had given to him, allowing for Yusuri to close the gap much easier than if he had ran while uninjured. In a few seconds, she'd be on top of him.

Lee on the other hand was just having a hard time. He just couldn't hit Yusuri or anyone it seemed due to their uncanny speed and agility while he himself could do a good amount of damage if he connected, but the problem was that he had to actually hit someone. Right now, it seemed like he could not even gaze one of them now. Yet, the attack from Iku would have easily connected due to him being unable to move his weapon back into position. The hit caused him to grunt and a take a small step back as he wildly swing his arm in order to make her back off.

((210))

Yusuri had him, without a doubt, no ifs, ands, or buts. At least as far as she was concerned with any of this. She hadn't really been in much of a mood to care about anything other than connecting a decisive blow. She now had the resources anyways,"All right you four. The event is being declared as finished. Please drop your weapons and return inside of class, you have all done excellent jobs. Thank you for the hard work in the game. Students if you all also could direct yourselves inside." The instructor called, the sky booming as rain gently began to fall. Yusuri was practically mad, of course she wasn't angry as that was out of her possible choices for emotion, which was limited to... jack shit. She didn't like the point in time to which they had stopped the match. Quickly raising her arm well above her head she swiveled to a stop and lowered the shields. As Nathan would come to a stop she would help him inside, "We should spar sometime, when your not beaten and practically falling over. Your not bad at all, I'm Yusuri by the way. Yusuri Clypeus, I hope we can get along well." She said giving him a smile you would expect to see on a porcelain doll. The rain only managing to land in her hair and her neck as the rest of her body was covered up heavily. That was, until she lead Nathan inside the Academy building.

Word Count: 250/2000

(Im closing this, post only if you really wish to, but only once.)