Over on another site of the field,
Takao and Kudo stood face to face, "Individual sparring, taijutsu, genjutsu, and then ninjutsu." "Come." Takao got into a stance, Kudo calmly half circled him, eyeing any opening, and seeing none, he rushed in. Keeping his distance, he threw fists, testing the guard of the clone. Seeing no opening still, he closed in, throwing hooks and uppercuts. The clone blocked comfortably but suddenly turned sharply, spinning left, dodging the front kick by Kudo.
Kudo stepped back, 'He is good. Let's do that then,' chakra flowed in his body, enhancing his muscles. He rushed in again, a furious left fist collided with the clone's guard, 'What?!' The clone reacted by skidding back with the momentum. "That's different. Intriguing." Takao nodded. This time, he rushed. He threw a left-right straight combo, which Kudo blocked, followed by a step-in uppercut. Kudo moved his head briefly, the uppercut skimming over it. He immediately grabbed Takao's hand, pulling him closer, and drove a knee toward the stomach.
Takao forcibly pulled his trapped arm down, pushed off his lead leg, rotated mid-air with almost impossible flexibility, and dropped an axe kick on Kudo. Kudo, feeling the danger, let go of Takao's arm, blocking the overhead axe kick. He stepped back, and a back spinning kick blasted the clone backwards. "Thwack!" The clone skidded, feeling the impact, "I expected you to disperse." Kudo said, drawing a kunai, "Not yet." The clone responded.
It also drew a kunai; they both rushed forward. "Clink-clang." Kunai collided in furious clashes, stabbing at each other, aiming to kill. Kudo reverse gripped and, using his free left hand, parried attacks while closing in to stab the clone. Arms flurried around, Kudo flicked the Kunai into the air, and his feet came crashing and used inching to dodge Takao's kunai. His left hand caught the kunai, and again, a heavy clashing of metal exploded in the forest. "Drip-Drip." Water droplets dripped slowly, ringing clearer than the sound of clashing metal. Takao found himself standing before a cliff of crashing waves, the crashing waves resonating with the metal clashes.
'Genjutsu: Hollow waves.' The clanking metal drew Takao in, immersing him in the genjutsu. "Release!" Takao disrupted his chakra flow, coming to the tip of a kunai, inching closer to the clone's face. "Tsk." The clone swung its head sideways, pushing its arm forward to stab Kudo. Kudo grabbed the arm in a vice grip, causing a stand still. "Not bad," Kudo said immediately. Water bullets at blank range impaled the clone, but in its place was a log.
"Water style: water bullet." He rapidly shot five bullets at Takao, covering his escape paths. "Earth style: Earth wall." "Bang-bang." The bullets hit the wall, leaving deep holes but not breaking through. Kudo had already set up his next move. "Water style: great water bullet." A massive ball of water smashed through the wall, heading for the clone. The clone turned to mud when hit by the water bullet."Earth style: Rock spears." Spears shot up from the ground, impaling the air and anything close, "Water style; water veil!" "Boom." The veil broke, but Kudo was long gone, stepping over the jagged ground, swirling moon blades shooting towards the ground.
"Earth style: Rock missile." Darts of earth pierced through the surrounding air as Kudo, mid-air, let loose a wired shuriken and tug himself towards the trees. "Gotcha." The earth darts hit him dead on, impaling the log and shredding in. "Lighting style: Chasing serpents!" Kudo supercharged the jutsu, and massive lightning serpents drilled into the ground, electrocuting everything. "Arrgh!" The clone dispersed with a puff.
Over next to the tied-up Ai, Takao spoke, "Your teammate is good; he got rid of my clone." He was a bit surprised, given that his students were genin, he expected the chakra in the clone to be enough, but clearly not. 'Lightning and water, not a bad combo.' He thought, turning his gaze to the clone approaching with a bound Enya.
A couple of minutes earlier,
Takao vs Enya; Enya stood before Takao, his palms sweaty, "Relax, I'm just testing the basics and where you need to improve. Give it your best, fundamentals: taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu." "Begin." The clone immediately distanced himself, going out of cover; the Yamanaka's mind transfer jutsu was quite the hassle. After going behind a tree, two Takao's burst forth, charging at Enya. Enya chose to stand guard, waiting for them. Enya grabbed hold of a clone's arm and pulled the clone onto the other clone. The other clone redirected and rushed in again.
Enya was weaker in close combat than Ai and Kudo. He soon found himself on the back foot of the spar. Taking out a kunai, he slashed, creating space as the clones retreated and drew their kunai.The charge in overwhelming Kudo caused him to defend; the two-clone tactic kept Enya from using his clan jutsu, and although the clone had lesser chakra, the Yamanaka weren't known for vast reserves of chakra. Of the 3, Kudo had the highest chakra directly at low chunin levels.'Genjutsu; Voracious wood jutsu.' The two clones rushed back as wooden pillars shot out from the ground, seeking to impale the clones.
"Puff." A clone dispersed as a kunai finishing its arc, redirected towards the other clone, but the clone's chakra returned from the genjutsu. 'What powerful spiritual power.' The clone marvelled inwardly, if it weren't for the other clone dispersing, it wouldn't have broken it that quickly."Earth style: Earth spear!" Multiple spears shot from the ground while Enya retreated, but the jutsu range was too wide."Earth style; Rock shield." The shield blocked the spears briefly but bought enough time for Enya."Earth style: Quicksand." The ground turned into quicksand, trapping Enya's legs, "Swoosh!" Shuriken impaled him, dispersing the mud clone. Enya, having retreated a great distance, stood heaving. Back hair taught, he raced through the trees, but the darts of earth aimed true, hitting him all over.
A dozen minutes later, a bound and bruised Enya was hoisted onto the clone's back and brought over to the clearing. Just in time to witness Kudo approaching alone and the bound Ai on the ground.
A/N: Read up to 9 chapters ahead, monthly on my Patreon, at patreon/Louis_JL1, on a 1st-tier membership.