Shinobi Spar! Round One: Beauty vs The Beast

The afternoon sun slanted across the training yard, turning the packed dirt into a warm golden stage. The towering bamboo around the perimeter of the school cast long shadows as students gathered along the edge of the training field. Their chatter faded when Suzaku raised his voice.

"Today's class will be covering Shinobi Hand-to-Hand Combat, a traditional sparring drill that's been passed down for generations of ninja! When I call your names, you will face off against one of your classmates with myself and Myorin-Sensei serving as proctors. There aren't any restrictions but remember this is just a drill, try not to go overboard."

At the mention, Myorin makes a small wave before the both of them head towards the center of the training yard to demonstrate the lesson.

"First you face your opponent by making this one handed sign, this represents half of the two hands used to activate a jutsu and indicates your intention to fight. This is known as the Spar Sign." Suzaku says as the two teachers put up two straight fingers closed together.

"When the bout is over, you'll both extend the Unison Sign by locking your two fingers around each other's. This shows that you still acknowledge each other as comrades." Myorin explains as the pair walk towards one another, they wrap their fingers they used to make the "Spar Sign" together.

Suzaku takes out the clipboard he'd stored under his arm before reading off the names. “First we have... Momika and Mona Kyo! Please step forward!”

Momika emerged out from the crowd first, her tessen warfan snapping open with a crisp THWIP. She immediately grabbed the boys' attention as she wore her usual winning smile, fanning herself while striding onto the field. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation which craftily concealed her nerves.

"First fight? Woohoo! Lucky!" Across from the beauty, Mona somersaulted through the air before landing crouched low on the battleground, toes gripping the dirt, her tail swaying behind her with a rhythmic excitement.

From the sidelines, Nana lowered her scarf, and uncharacteristically piped up to cheer on her teacher "y-You can do it Sensei!"

“Don’t go easy on me, Monkey-girl! ♥" Momika chirped as she made the Spar Sign, placing her iron fan behind her back

Mona lips curled into a smirk as she reciprocated the Spar Sign, baring her sharp canines. "Dao! I never do."

Suzaku swung his hand down, "Begin!"

In an instant, Mona lunged forward. Crossing the distance in an instant she swung wildly at her foe, hands striking high and low, a rapid onslaught of blows aimed to overwhelm her less physically powerful classmate.

Momika in contrast, gracefully pivoted on her feet, using a dance-like display to deflect the strikes as she waved her warfan defensively.

"Wow, what a show off." Mona spouts before springing towards her buxom opponent. "I'll show you what real Taijutsu looks like!"

CLANG

The metal ribs of the tessen clash against Mona’s elbow before she unfurls her arm for a back-knuckle strike to Momika's face only to see the girl wasn't there. Employing her tessen to obscure Mona's vision, Momika twirls around her enemy, revealing her second tessen she'd kept behind the original.
'That's right. Go ahead and underestimate me. People have looked down on me my whole life!'

"Wha-!" Mona's surprised to see as Momika swipes her fan toward the back of her head before Mona lowers her center of gravity to the ground, using the momentum to counterattack into a sweeping kick.

Momika leaps back, barely dodging the kick before she glides through the air. 'Getting into your head to twist your assumptions upside down is my nindo. My shinobi way!'

Dust kicked up all around them and with a swift swing from the iron fans, the cloud of soil goes flying towards the monkey tailed combatant.

Mona shields her eyes with her hands as the blown out dust cloud enshrouds her vision. With a flick of her wrists, Momika clamps her fans shut as she begins weaving hand seals. Mona braces for the incoming jutsu but when the dust clears, she sees Momika with a burning fan, which snaps open and swings toward her.

「ILLUSORY ART: FANNING FLAME MIRAGE」

The world distorts from the heat.

All around Mona, the area becomes engulfed by a thick blurry haze. As sweat begins to drip down Mona's face, the effects of the heat hits next: Her mouth goes dry as a creeping thirst grows and sweltering air heats up her body. As Mona becomes more disoriented, Momika's figure begins to warp and stretch. The air pulsed and suddenly there were three of her, all shifting and indistinct. "Whatcha gonna do now Monkey-girl?" They all say in unison.

Mona bites her tongue in annoyance and crouches down, placing her hands into her sandals.

“Think I can't handle the heat?!” She calls out to the Momikas as she pulls off the training weights that she'd been wearing during the match. As she drops them, she moves across the battlefield before they get the chance to hit the ground, speeding towards the Momikas.

Her claw cut through one of the mirage illusions, striking the hot air. The heat burns Mona's hand before the mirage starts to reform its blurry shape.

Momika’s voice came from all directions. “Too bad. Wrong one!”

As Mona recoils from the sting of her hand, a gust of hot air slammed into Mona’s back as Momika’s released a focused burst from her tessen.

'They're not clones! Genjutsu then, huh?' Mona rolled forward with the momentum, catching herself on her hands, feet gripping the ground as she sprang back up.

The Momikas, now more numerous and spread around the field, all wave their fans toward Mona, firing bursts of near invisible scorched air. Mona races through the battlefield, flipping and somersaulting through the air to avoid all the attacks until she's built a good amount of distance between them.

As she skids to a stop she immediately places her hands together, forming the tiger hand sign.

"Enough of these parlor tricks!" Mona shouts as she starts gathering her chakra.

「NINJA ART OF BEAST MIMICRY: ALL-FOURS JUTSU」

A shroud of blue charka began to stream out from her body, Mona's knuckles cracked with power and her nails grew longer and sharpened.

She bares her fangs, grinding her teeth as she lets out a low animal growl. She closed her eyes as the bristles of her hair start to stand on end.

Her tail lashes a few times, feeling the air for disturbances. She waited and listened: The faint crunch of dirt, a subtle shift to her left.

Mona's fangs widened into a grin. “Found you!”

She dropped low, squatting reminiscent of a chimpanzee. Then she pounced, crossing the battlefield in the blink of an eye and twisting into a kick that finally connects with Momika. The maiden is hit square in the abdomen, as blood spills from her mouth she goes tumbling across the battlefield, her Genjutsu dispelling with her.

The monkey-tailed girl releases her own jutsu and straightens up on her feet.

"Teach! Its over, call the match!" Mona calls out before she begins sauntering over to her training weights.

Momika's whole body aches as she lays face down in the dirt. 'Ahhh, I'm beat. I guess that's as far as I-'

"GET UP SENSEI!!" Nana calls out from the sidelines. "YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!"

Myorin lightly touches Nana's shoulder and gives her a half hearted smile, never seeing the shy girl get so worked up before. "Nana she's already-" As the Taijutsu Sensei was about to comfort the girl, a large gasp from the crowd took her attention back to the training field.

"Good grief, what a troublesome disciple."

Nana beams with pride.

Mona turns around and is shocked to see a wobbly Momika getting back to her feet.

"I'm afraid I can't afford to look bad here. Looks like I'm not finished yet!" Momika says as she wipes the blood from her mouth with a weary grin.

"I'm surprised you've still got some fight left in you." Mona admits as she clasps her hands together into the tiger sign. "This time I'll make you surrender!"

「NINJA ART OF BEAST MIMICRY: ALL-FOURS JUTSU」

Ready for her attack this time, Momika throws down a smoke bomb. Purple smoke completely obfuscates the area around her. 'Remember the lesson...' She thinks to herself, 'Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog'

Mona breaks into the smoke ripping through Momika, only to have her transform into smoke.

"A Clone Jutsu?" Mona realizes before she's met with a flurry of hidden strikes, hitting Mona from multiple angles.

"GRAH!!" Mona shouts before leaping out from the smoke. When the smoke cleared there were there were three of Momika. All identical, all smiling, and all beckoning her towards them.

Mona tilted her head, eyes narrowing. “Are they Clones...? Or are they Shadow Clones?” She wonders aloud before she lands in a nearby tree.

All three rushed towards her at once but Mona didn’t retreat this time. "Just gotta rip through 'em to find out."

She launched off the tree in a flash, before rebounding off the ground and bouncing off another tree. Momika’s eyes darted, trying to keep track of her but Mona was moving too sporadically.

As Mona ricocheted across the training field, she got faster every time with her trajectory becoming unpredictable, completely erratic as if she were a cornered animal. Using the trees and field like launchpads, Mona began swiping at the Momikas with every pounce.

As Mona surged toward them, the three duplicates faced her head-on. One clone dissolved through her claw. Another vanished as her tail whipped through it. The third connected as Momika blocked with her tessen and launched Mona backward towards her training weights.

"Game over!" Mona claimed as she skid backwards across the training field, preparing for her next strike.

POOF!

Suddenly the training weights on the ground behind Mona transformed in a cloud of smoke to reveal another Momika doppelganger.

"Huh?! When did she-"

Before Mona had a chance to think the shadow clone barred her arms and Momika body-flickered over to her subdued opponent with a kunai to her neck.

Silence hung for a breath.

Then the girls laughed.

“Okay,” Mona said, breathing out a disappointed sigh. “That was good.”

Momika beamed. “You almost had me for a minute there!”

“Almost? I did have you, now we're even!” Mona shot back.

Suzaku stepped forward, "Winner: Momika! Now both of you make the Unison Sign."

After Momika's shadow clone dispels into a cloud of smoke, the two girls came together and formed the hand sign, resolving any ill-will between the two. Or at least, that's what Suzaku hoped they felt.

The onlooking students broke into murmurs, impressed by the intensity of the bout.

Momika after picking up her tessens, closed the fans with a flourish, bouncing lightly on her heels. Mona stretched, tail curling lazily behind her as she reapplied her training weights.

With nearly opposite styles and practically opposite dispositions, the two had a lot they could learn from each other.

But one thing was clear, on that dusty training ground they had met their match. A rival worthy of fighting again someday.