"Instructor Baki. I would like to ask of you to spar with Shira."
"That is a wonderful idea. Baki. You don't mind, do you?", before Baki could even have a say, elder Hana intervened not giving him any chance.
"No, lady Hana."
"Good. Let's see it then."
Baki stepped into the ring, his expression unreadable, though his eyes carried the knowledge of someone who knew the test was harsher than it appeared. Facing one of his own students was not the problem, facing him before the council's gaze, where failure meant condemnation, was.
"Shira, aren't you going to take those off?"
Shira was about to follow right behind, when a voice sounded right beside him. Turning to look he found Isan staring at him.
"Come on, are you going to fight with your weights on?"
Shira hearing this time, made him regain clarity as he looked down at his legs and found that he was still wearing his weights.
In a hurry, he started to remove the weights and let them drop softly on the hard floor, even then it caused a loud thud. Elder Hana's eyebrow arched faintly at the sound.
"Also Shira. Do your best."
Feeling a strong grip on his shoulder, just as he was standing up, Shira turned his head around and found Isan looking at him with a thumbs up in the air that was swiftly replaced by him doing a number two while carrying a serious expression when looking at him.
Understanding what he meant, Shira with an even more serious expression nodded his head and went to the ring. The sand crunching beneath his weighted steps. His hands flexed at his sides, shoulders drawn back as though reminding himself of the hours, the months he had poured into training his body.
Elder Hana folded her hands inside the long sleeves of her robe, her heavy-lidded eyes did not blink as she watched the two enter the ring.
"Begin."
There was no signal beyond her word.
Shira was the first to move, his speed immediate and startling to everyone in the training yard. His foot slammed into the ground, propelling him forward in a blur, the sand behind him scattered in a spray, his momentum breaking across the space like a wave.
Baki sidestepped cleanly, reading the movement, but the ground shook where Shira's heel drove into it. Dust curled upward, and the air carried the sharp tang of displaced sand.
Temari stiffened at the sudden speed. She had thought the desert trial against the Giant Sand Scorpion had shown Shira's limit, but it seemed that she was wrong.
Shira continued pressing, this time a sweeping kick that sliced at the air just shy of Baki's head. The force of it alone was enough to tug at the man's turban.
Baki's arm snapped upward, blocking with the ease of a veteran, though his brow tightened for the briefest instant.
The boy's strength was not ordinary, his arm tingled with numbness just from blocking the blow.
From the side, Daiana clutched a book tightly against her chest, eyes darting as she tried to track every subtle movement.
Even Hana inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment, though her features remained stoic.
Shira advanced again, a flurry of punches, each strike heavier than the last, that Baki blocked, parried or redirected.
Even then each and every clash sent vibrations through the ring, dust lifting at their feet, sand hissing as if stirred by invisible wind.
Then, with a single pivot, Shira dropped low and spun, his leg sweeping across the ground with such force it ripped a shallow trench through the sand.
Baki jumped, narrowly avoiding being taken off his feet.
Shira's began to feel a little winded, his eyes fixed on Baki he flexed his hands before surging once more.
Baki stood in his place as he blocked the incoming blow to his ribs, even though it was a solid block, the impact rattled through his forearm.
The next strike came higher, sharper, and Baki continued defending.
"Faster.", Baki said lowly under his breath, just loud enough for Shira to be able to hear him.
In response, Shira increased his speed even further, his strikes growing into a blur.
A kick snapped high that Baki caught in time before twisting, only for Shira's other leg to drive upward in a knee that nearly clipped his jaw.
The force alone in that strike made Baki let go of his leg before backing away a step, while his eyes narrowed and sharpened.
"Good.", he said, a certain tone of approval in his voice, before he advanced towards Shira in a blur similar to the boy.
His hands snapping forward, a blur of strikes, that made Shira struggle while blocking. The third one caught him across the chest, sending him staggering, followed by the fourth dug into his stomach, air bursting from his lungs.
Shira dropped to one knee, coughing hard into the sand.
'Come on Shira.', Daiana and Temari were almost praying while watching the struggling fight Shira was having.
Isan stood to the side seemingly attempting to see what was happening in the fight.
Elder Hana's eyes narrowed a little.
Shira gritted his teeth and pushed himself up again, legs trembling and his breath rasped, but his gaze had not dulled.
Just as Baki was expecting the boy to rush and attack him again, he saw him close his eyes while crossing his arms in front of him.
Eight Gates of Death: Opening Gate, release.
The ground ruptured beneath his feet as he launched forward, the sand did not scatter this time; it exploded, flaring outward in a burst.
Baki had no time to sidestep this time, as Shira's fist struck his guard, and the impact rang through the yard like stone shattering stone.
The instructor slid back, boots carving deep lines through the sand.
Gasps broke from Temari and Daiana, even her book slipped a fraction in her hands, her fingers tightening around it with sudden force.
Shira appeared everywhere at once, his movements sharp and brutal, fists and kicks crashing down in merciless rhythm.
A kick hammered Baki's thigh, another his ribs, fists raining down in quick sucession.
"Enough.", Hana said at last, her voice cutting through the sound of Shira's ragged breathing.
Baki immediately straightened, lowering his guard, while Shira froze mid-step, chest rising and failling, sweat beading across his brow as he closed the gate.
Elder Hana studied him for a long, silent moment.
"He is no shinobi", she said slowly, "but neither is he useless."