Inheritance

Sansetsukon

Naruto ducked under an infuriatingly casual horizontal slash, aimed at his neck. Yuugao-sensei was incredible with her katana. Every time he went to attack, she batted him aside like he was absolutely nothing. He hadn't gotten her to move from the place she started at, in the entire fifteen minutes they had been sparring for.

Wordlessly, he created a Bunshin behind Yuugao, which stabbed at her thighs with it's katana that has also been cloned. Without even looking, Yuugao simply stepped over the attack, and slammed her foot downwards with force upon the flat edge of the blade, snapping it into two. Then, with the same motion, she rotated her hips and drove her other foot into the cheekbone of the Bunshin, breaking the bone just before it dispelled. The original Naruto, at the lowest point of his duck used the momentum of his straightening body to perform an upwards vertical slash, which Yuugao sidestepped, with a hint of what could easily be mistaken for arrogance.

The blonde summoned another Bunshin on Yuugao's left side, which performed a diagonal slash across the Jonin. Yuugao turned her body slightly to face the clone; and with her blades crossed as they were in her initial stance, both blocked the attack, while at the same time moving inside the Bunshin's guard, Naruto's blade sliding forward between Yuugao's and being diverted over her shoulder. Using the momentum from her step she drove her elbow into the Bunshin's face, instantly dispelling it.

The Jonin instantly went on the attack after destroying the Bunshin, not giving the blonde any time to orchestrate his next move. Using the katana in her right she stepped towards her student and delivered a vicious strike at Naruto's midriff. Once again, the blonde parried the blow; and once again, he was forced into using both of his hands, despite the fact that Yuugao had seemed to put very little effort into the attack. However, he was not to be given much time to think about his sensei's technique, as Yuugao had already launched her next attack, a fast strike aimed straight at his left kidney. He managed to parry his sensei's attack once more, this time having to use only one hand in order to grant himself the extra flexibility needed to block fast enough. This had it's own consequences however, and his entire arm was jarred by the force of the attack.

Yuugao took full advantage of this, and aimed a kick at her student's hand, disarming him and sending his katana flying across the training ground, the clatter as it hit the floor echoing around the room.

"Naruto, we are trying to find a weapon that suits you, remember? You need to move onto the next weapon as soon as you know the one you're using isn't working, okay? Now go pick another.

The blonde bit back the protests that had immediately begun to form on the tip of his tongue. After all, he knew his sensei was right. He had been able to feel within the first couple of minutes of sparring that the katana wouldn't work for him. It forced him to alter the rhythm of his movements far too much, and as a result, prevented him from being able to string together his attacks fluidly; as well as disrupting his ability to defend and immediately try to launch a counter to keep his opponent on the back foot.

Naruto took a deep breath and looked towards the table upon which Yuugao had laid out weapons for him to try, and begun to decide which weapon he would try next.

"Hokage-sama, we have received an update from Team Kamiko."

Sarutobi turned his attention from the dwindling piles of paperwork on his desk, to his secretary, who had just entered the room.

"Ah, Team Kamiko. They were part of an escort mission to Kumo, were they not?" Sarutobi asked, his curiosity piqued. They were Chunin on a relatively simple mission, and had already sent a report detailing that they had been successful, and were returning to Konoha.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. However, they have come across an injured Sunagakure ninja, on the border to Hi no Kuni. As we are allied to Suna, the have applied emergency field treatment to the ninja. However, they believe that his injuries are too serious for him to be able to make it back to Kaze no Kuni without an escort and additional medical treatment. The Suna ninja has stated that Sunagakure is currently unable to provide their own support due to a particularly high mission load. They cannot commit further shinobi without compromising Suna's defences, and have therefore officially requested a C-rank escort mission for their shinobi"