"Let's see you dodge this!" Koyuki said, knowing that Hattori couldn't dodge as he was freefalling through the air.
Hattori couldn't believe that he had fallen for her bait, knowing that he wouldn't be able to move out of the way to avoid her next attack.
"Fire style, Fireball jutsu!" Koyuki yelled, shooting the flames from her mouth straight down towards Hattori.
Hattori gritted his teeth and let his chakra flood his body, making his steel release as hard as he could so that he could tank the hit, crossing his arms over his face.
"Bring it!" He yelled, feeling the fire surround him before it exploded on contact with his body.
The explosion roared and the force of it smashed Hattori into the ground, lodging him in the dirt.
Hattori could feel the force as he slammed into the ground, however, the rest of him was in surprisingly good condition for taking a strong fire-style jutsu like that head-on.
"My turn!" He said, forcing his way out of the dirt before moving with blinding speed using his swift style.
Koyuki had watched her fire style connect with a direct hit, landing on the ground safely as she rolled to disperse the weight around her body.
But not a moment later, Hattori appeared in front of her, gripping her by the throat with a crushing grip, causing her to wince from the pain.
"I've got you now."
Meanwhile...
Haku had been doing his best to fight Kurōn, proving that his abilities were not normal for a chunin-level ninja, and causing Haku to grow serious in his assault.
"This guy is hiding something, and I'm going to give him everything I've got to find out what it is." Haku thought, keeping a close eye on his surroundings to see if Kurōn would give away his position.
"Behind me." Haku suddenly said, ducking under a slash from Kurōn's short blade, feeling its edge trip a brush of his hair.
Kurōn didn't waste any time and quickly spun around with a kick, slamming it into Hakus's stomach.
Haku was able to block the attack, also catching the kick before he pulled Kurōn's leg towards him, shifting him off balance so that he could slam his own kick into his face.
However, Kurōn wasn't so easy to catch off guard as he blocked the counter-attack with his forearm, pushing the kick aside before regaining his balance and throwing another combo of punches and kicks.
Haku was able to block and counter at the same time, proving that his own Taijutsu was nothing to laugh at, returning each and every attack with his own.
Kurōn was impressed with his ability and decided to kick it up a notch, ducking under a kick before sweeping Haku's leg from under him.
Haku had fallen for the attack and was knocked off his feet onto his back. However, he was quick to deal with the situation as he rolled back and flipped to his feet, seeing that Kurōn had not pressed on the attack and instead moved back, preparing hand signs for ninjutsu.
Haku quickly threw a handful of needles at him, trying to stop him from completing the jutsu.
However, the needles passed straight through Kurōn's body, revealing that it was simply an illusion.
"A clone jutsu?" Haku said, not believing he had fallen for such a simple trick.
"Water style, water dragon justu!" Kurōns voice said, coming from behind Haku, taking his off guard.
Before Haku had time to react, a large eater dragon had formed from the small river just off the training ground and was headed right towards him.
Haku was fast though, using his own hand signs to counter the attack, knowing that he could freeze the water before it became a problem.
Haku finished his hand signs and slapped both of his hands onto the ground, creating a large ice wall that stopped the water dragon in it's tracks.
"I'm not finished there!" Haku yelled, suddenly creating more hand signs, this time taking Kurōn off guard.
"He was able to stop by water jutsu l, even after I took him by surprise... And now he is about to counter me, using my own jutsu against me." He thought, feeling proud of his adopted son.
"Ice style, ice dragon jutsu!" Haku said as he finished his hand signs, causing the ice to form into a dragon before it charged toward Kurōn.
"I didn't know he could do that!" Chika said as she watched him create a huge ice dragon.
"Yeah... That's amazing." Kujira also said, impressed that he had been able to defend and counter like that.
Kurōn didn't have many options with how to deal with the ice dragon coming toward him, deciding that trying to counter it would be his best bet.
"Water dragon jutsu!" He said, again creating a large water dragon.
The dragons danced around one another before they finally clashed, roaring intensely as they fought for control.
However, it was Haku's ice dragon that won the battle, freezing Kurōn's water dragon before smashing right through it and heading towards Kurōn himself.
"I can't counter this without using my real strength... But then that will give me away for sure." Fuyōna thought, knowing that he had no other choice but to take the attack, simply crossing his arms over his face before using his acting skills.
Everyone watched as Haku's ice dragon opened its jaws before swallowing Kurōn whole, freezing all around him and trapping him in what would have been an icy grave if this was not a training battle.
Haku was also surprised that he didn't counter the jutsu at the last second, seeming to let his suspicions settle for the time being.
"Release," Haku said, forming a hand sign that caused the ice around Kurōn to start melting, eventually freeing him from it.
Kurōn opened his eyes and took a fresh breath of air, dropping to his hands and knees to catch his breath.
"Ah man, I thought that was it for me then." He said.
Haku extended his hand for Kurōn to take, helping him up to his feet before he spoke.
"That was a great fight, Kurōn. If not for my ice style, you would have won the match." Haku then said with a small smile.
"Yeah... That ice sure is handy." Kurōn said, waving his hands in defeat.
"Well, I admit defeat, you got me good." He then said, getting a nod from Haku.
Now all that was left was to see how the others were getting on in their fights. Rokuro had been totally defeated by Yuri, who had also left him tied to a tree, kicking his legs as he did his best to get free.
Koyuki and Hattori's fight on the other hand was still ongoing, and from what Haku could see, she needed his help.
"I've got you now," Hattori said as he lifted Koyuki from the ground by her neck, forcing her to fight for breath as she gripped his arms and wrists, trying to break free.
"It's no use. This is the end of the line for you." Hattori said, all too sure of himself as he held her tight, choking her so that she would soon fall unconscious.
Suddenly ice shoot from the ground, covering Hattori in a pillar of it all except for his face and his arm that he was still holding onto Koyuki.
"What in the!" Hattori yelled, not even knowing what had just happened.
Koyuki had watched the ice cover him and quickly took advantage of the situation, pulling her legs and body up as she used the ice to kick off, freeing herself from his grip before flipping back and landing in a cat-like pose.
"Darn, it... Don't tell me that Rokuro and that other guy lost already!" Hattori said, clearly angry that he had been caught so easily.
"You let your guard down, Hattori." Haku suddenly said, appearing from behind his ice pillar with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Not again!" Hattori said, trying his best to break free from the ice, however, with no luck.
"It's no use. No matter how strong your steel release is, it may be protecting you from the cold temperature of the ice, preventing you from freezing. But you won't be able to break this ice. I put a lot of chakra into this to make it strong enough to hold you." Haku explained, smiling at his victory.
"Haku!" Koyuki suddenly yelled, taking both of them off guard.
"Who is the hell said I needed your help!" She roared, marching right up to him as if she was going to punch him.
"S-Sorry, Koyuki... But it looked like you were in trouble there, and this is a team exercise don't forget." Haku said, waving his hands in his defence.
Koyuki stopped and crossed her arms over her chest, huffing instead before she turned her back on him.
"Whatever!" She said, walking away before the others all gathered around.
"Well, I guess Haku and his squad win," Kimimaro said, giving the signal for the training matches to be over.
"Yeah, yeah. Get me out of this ice will ya!" Hattori then shouted, with everyone seeming to have forgotten that he was still trapped.
"My bad!" Haku yelled, quickly undoing the jutsu as he tried to calm Hattori down.
Fuyōna watched from the sidelines, seeing just how far his students had come. He felt proud of their ability to work together and also perform on their own, already knowing how much they would need these skills to survive this war.
"I can only hope that each of them learned something from this training. After all, this is the most I will be able to do for them from here on out." He thought with a heavy heart, slowly turning his back on them while they were all still talking before disappearing from the training ground.
"Anyway, I'm starving! How about we all stop fighting now and get some more food!" Kujira shouted, trying to stop Hattori and Koyuki from going for another round.
"Yeah, I could go for that," Koyuki said, lowering her voice a little.
"Yeah... Wait a second, where is Kurōn?" Haku asked, noticing that he had already left.
"What, don't tell me that guy has already left?" Hattori said, seeming like he had a bone to pick with him.
"Hmm... He must have had something important to do if he left already." Rokuro said, seeming to make sense to the others.
"Yeah, well, when I see him next, I'm gonna make him pay for losing to you!" Hattori said, looking at Haku.
"Come on everyone, let's go and take a well-deserved break." Kimimaro then said, getting a nod from everyone as they left the training ground together.
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Alright going to end this chapter here!
That's the end of the training battle, now we can start getting into the good stuff!
As always, thank you all for your support. I hope you had a great weekend!