Shinra placed his hand beneath the scroll and channeled chakra into it, causing a stack of explosive tags to appear in his hand. The amount of chakra emitted from this action wasn't enough for a normal sensor to notice, but Shinra's opponent this time was a sensory jōnin.
Picking up on the faint chakra signature, Yogi flickered toward Shinra's position. The moment he caught sight of his silhouette, Shinra dropped a smoke bomb from his clenched fist. A thick cloud immediately spread through the area, though Yogi had already locked onto Shinra's chakra signature.
Unlike earlier, however, Shinra didn't create distance and suppress his chakra. Instead, he began circling around Yogi at a constant speed. Unlike his sparring matches with his teammates, he didn't need to worry about accidentally injuring his opponent. For the first time since becoming a genin, Shinra intended to use everything at his disposal.
After observing Shinra's movements for several seconds, Yogi pulled a handful of shuriken from his pouch and hurled them toward the spot where Shinra would land.
'Running around in circles like this… he's preparing something. Most likely a trap.'
Though his analysis was sound, he had only guessed part of Shinra's plan. Shinra was indeed preparing a trap, but he had no intention of luring Yogi into it, it was just a smoke screen for his real target. All he needed was to force Yogi to react.
Yogi's hands flashed through several seals before he exhaled a powerful gust of wind.
'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.'
Just before the smoke cloud was torn apart Shinra formed two shadow clones to assist him in his plan. Shinra's figure became visible once more. Having already finished his preparations, he came to a stop.
'In terms of experience and skill, I'm at a massive disadvantage. The only way I'll land a hit is if I make him lower his guard.'
Shinra had already figured out the purpose behind the spar. Every action Yogi had taken so far mirrored one of Shinra's own habits. The jōnin wasn't trying to defeat him. He was forcing Shinra to confront an opponent who surpassed him in every area he considered a strength.
Yogi's eyes briefly swept across the surrounding tree line.
Explosive tags.
Dozens of them.
'So that's what he'd been doing inside the smoke.'
Yogi also noticed three Shinras standing before him, all three of them threw a kunai attached to explosive tags right at Yogi.
Then they formed the same hand seal simultaneously.
"Release."
Just before the tagged kunai entered detonation range, Yogi leapt high into the air.
The expected explosion never came.
Instead, a Shinra hurtled toward him from below at alarming speed.
The explosive-tag kunai had never been the true attack.
The remaining two Shinras had launched the third clone directly toward him.
The moment Yogi understood the plan, he threw his short blade forward.
The weapon pierced straight through the airborne Shinra.
The clone burst into smoke.
But in its place remained a jacket stuffed with explosive tags.
The two remaining Shinras weren't idle either.
Each hurled a lightning-coated kunai from opposite directions.
'If he uses Great Breakthrough to escape the explosion, he won't have enough time to avoid the kunai. If he deals with the kunai first, the explosion will catch him.'
A small smile appeared on Shinra's face.
'Now how would you escape this situation, Sensei?'
For the first time since the spar began, Yogi's expression turned serious.
The trap itself wasn't dangerous to him.
It was annoying.
Had this been a real battle, he could have prevented the entire situation simply by aggressively pursuing Shinra from the start and denying him the opportunity to prepare. However, this wasn't a real battle.
It was an evaluation.
And he wanted to see exactly how far his student had improved.
Yogi calmly formed a hand seal in mid-air.
One Shinra recognized immediately.
'Shadow Clone Jutsu.'
A second Yogi appeared in front of the original.
The clone intercepted the explosive-tag jacket just as it detonated.
A deafening blast echoed throughout the training ground, followed by even more explosions of the tags set on the trees creating a massive dark smoke in the sky.
At the same time, the real Yogi pulled a kunai from his pouch and coated it with wind chakra. The short blade instantly extended into a razor-sharp chakra edge resembling a miniature sword.
The two lightning-coated kunai reached him moments later.
Yogi's wind blade flashed.
Both kunai were knocked aside with ease.
Shinra attempted to follow up on the attack only to realize a painful truth.
'I'm already running out of chakra?'
Between the shadow clones, the lightning release, and the preparation required for the trap, his reserves had fallen far faster than expected.
He immediately dispelled the remaining clone, it barely gave him enough chakra for one final lightning kunai.
The realization only made his expression darker.
Even after everything, it still wasn't enough.
Without hesitation, Shinra tightened his grip on his sword and charged forward.
Yogi descended rapidly toward the ground.
Long before the smoke from the explosion had cleared, he had already located Shinra's position.
His hands formed a seal that didn't belong to the standard twelve.
Shinra's eyes widened.
He had seen this seal before, in one of the academy scrolls.
'Mind Transmission Jutsu.'
Shinra's body came to an abrupt stop directly beneath Yogi.
His sword slipped from his fingers and struck the ground.
Then, against his will, his arms rose upward.
Awaiting Yogi's falling body. For a brief moment, panic flashed through his mind. His body was moving and none of it was under his control.
Just as Yogi began securing control of Shinra's consciousness, he encountered something unexpected.
Resistance.
His brow furrowed.
The deeper he pushed into Shinra's mind, the greater the resistance became. At first, he assumed it was nothing more than the instinctive struggle of a shinobi refusing to surrender control of his own body. Then the pressure increased. And increased again. For a brief moment, Yogi felt as though he was attempting to suppress several minds at once rather than a single exhausted genin. The connection immediately became unstable.
'His mental capacity is actually higher than mine, a jounin?"
The next instant, it shattered.
Yogi's consciousness was forcibly expelled.
He landed lightly on the ground several meters away while Shinra staggered backward, suddenly regaining control of his body. For a moment neither of them spoke. Shinra's chest rose and fell heavily while sweat dripped from his forehead.
Yogi studied him silently.
"…Interesting."
Shinra frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The answer made Shinra more suspicious.
The jōnin, however, offered no explanation. Instead, he walked over to where his short blade had fallen and picked it up. His gaze briefly swept across the training ground. Several trees had been scorched by explosions. Chunks of bark littered the ground while smoke still rose from the remains of Shinra's final trap.
For several moments, the only sound came from the wind moving through the clearing.
Then Yogi finally spoke.
"You've exceeded my expectations."
The words caught Shinra off guard.
Yogi was quite a blunt human being who said what was on his mind most of the time, for him to be praising Shinra was a good indication of how much he had improved.
Yogi noticed his expression and snorted.
"Don't look so surprised. Most genin would have charged at me the moment they realized they couldn't win in a straight fight. You immediately started looking for another way."
His gaze shifted toward the damaged trees.
"The trap was good."
Then toward the discarded explosive-tag jacket.
"That jacket stuffed with explosive seals was an even better idea."
Finally, his eyes returned to Shinra.
"But what impressed me the most was that none of it was actually your real attack."
Shinra remained silent.
Because Yogi was right.
The explosive tags attached to the trees had never been intended to injure him.
Their purpose was simply to remove every escape route except one.
The lightning-coated kunai hadn't been the main objective either.
The entire battlefield had been designed around a single assumption.
Force Yogi into the air.
The moment he realized that, the rest of the plan became possible.
"You were trying to create an opening."
Shinra nodded.
"It was the only way."
"Exactly."
Yogi pointed at him.
"That's good, you're already thinking like a chūnin."
The praise felt considerably more meaningful than the earlier compliment.
For a shinobi, strength was important. But strength alone had never been enough to lead missions.
The ability to assess a situation and make decisions mattered far more.
Yogi's expression gradually became more serious.
"That being said."
There it was.
The criticism.
"You were right, your arsenal is terrible."
Shinra stared at him.
"…I already knew that."
"I'm serious."
Yogi gestured toward the battlefield.
"Your planning is good. Your sensory abilities are top-notch. Your swordsmanship is progressing well. But the moment you started running out of chakra, your options disappeared."
Shinra couldn't deny it.
The fight itself had proven the point.
Once the trap failed, he had almost nothing left.
Yogi folded his arms.
"You've spent the last several months polishing your strengths."
His gaze shifted toward the village.
"That's not necessarily wrong. It's one of the reasons you've improved so quickly."
Then he looked back at Shinra.
"But eventually polishing your strong aspects stops giving meaningful results, you needed to address your weaknesses."
The words caused Shinra to pause.
Because he had already begun noticing that himself.
His sensory field continued improving, his swordsmanship continued improving.
Yet his actual combat style had changed very little during the past several months.
Yogi nodded as though reading his thoughts.
"Exactly."
Several moments passed.
Eventually Shinra broke the silence.
"So are you going to teach me?"
The jōnin immediately groaned.
"Not today."
Shinra's face darkened.
Yogi ignored it.
"First We're going to figure out what you actually need."
He pointed toward the ruined training ground.
"Throwing random jutsu at you would be counterproductive." Yogi shook his head, "More techniques don't automatically make you stronger. They just give you more options."
That answer was difficult to argue with.
Yogi turned and began walking toward the village.
"Get some food. Recover your chakra. You don't need to attend today's training, but if you want to then be my guest. Tomorrow we will fix your current weaknesses."