Stepping forward onto the arena, Guren, the challenger made her first move. With a deep exhale she controlled her nerves, she channeled her unique chakra and made few hand seals to crystallize a blade directly beneath her arms.
"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Blade!"
Two green constructs materialized like oversized gauntlets, their edges were razor sharp. With a flick of her wrists, she lunged toward Yugito as the blades whistling through the air.
Yugito tilted her head, a smirk on her lips as she easily sidestepped the initial trajectory. "Ehh... now that is a style I haven't seen before," Yugito mused as her voice carrying a playful tone. "I definitely want to see more of what that jutsu can do."
Darui watched the exchange with a hand resting near his sword hilt. He wasn't worried about Yugito losing, but rather about her tendency to get carried away when intrigued. Cupping hands around his mouth, he shouted, making sure his voice reached her. "Hey! Don't go killing her by mistake!"
Yugito gave a dismissive wave behind her back before her hands blurred into a rapid sequence of seals. The air around her grew instantly suffocating, shimmering with an intense heat.
"Fire Release: Deadly Blue Flame!"
A brilliant sapphire-colored fire erupted from her mouth, roaring across towards Guren with speed just enough for her to dodge. "I would highly suggest dodging this one," Yugito warned with genuine advice.
Guren's instincts screamed at her. Realizing that engaging at close range against an unknown, high-density fire style was a definite disaster, she drove her boots into the earth and propelled herself high into the air. Mid-flight, her fingers twisted into hand seals, determined to test the capabilities of this wildly blazing blue inferno.
"Crystal Release: Shuriken Wild Dance!"
A massive volley of hexagonal crystal shuriken materialized around her, spinning furiously as they rained down on the Blue Flame. However, as the constructs reached the Blue Flame, the sheer, oppressive heat which went well over 500°C shattered her jutsu.
The extreme thermal energy instantaneously ruptured the tight molecular bonds of the hexagonal crystal lattices. The shuriken shattered into glowing dust which blew away before touching the ground.
"You've got a pretty remarkable Kekkei Genkai there," Yugito's voice low, but it didn't come from where she had been standing. "Now, let's see how your taijutsu holds up."
Before Guren's boots could even touch the dirt, Yugito vanished entirely from sight. A split second later, she flickered in Guren's blind spot.
Guren's eyes widened, but her body couldn't keep pace with her opponent's speed. Yugito delivered a swift kick straight to Guren's side abdomen. Though Yugito intentionally withheld her full strength, the force still sent Guren skidding backward, as her boots digging deep furrows into the earth before she finally stopped.
Coughing slightly, Guren pushed herself back to her feet. She raised the back of her sleeve, wiping a thin smear of blood from her lower lip as her gaze hardened. "You're strong... much stronger than Kaien, I'll give you that. But you shouldn't underestimate me."
Spreading her arms wide to form her body into T-shape, Guren locked her gaze onto her opponent. She tightened her muscles in her legs and clenching her fists as her unique chakra spiked around her limbs.
"Crystal Armor!"
Instantly, a flawless translucent sheet of pale pink crystal appeared across her like a second layer of defense, encasing her limbs in a protective shock-absorbing shell to withstand heavy physical attacks.
In an explosive burst of speed, both kunoichi vanished from their spots, streaking toward the center of the field. Yet, Yugito's speed remained entirely in another league. She crossed the distance effortlessly, preempting Guren's trajectory entirely.
Before Guren could raise her crystallized guard, Yugito's boot connected heavily with her chin. The impact forced Guren to double over, the pink armor cracked from her loss of control as she stumbled over and hit the dirt again.
Even so, Guren gritted her teeth, straining against her own trembling muscles to push herself back up.
Watching her struggle, Yugito couldn't help but smile. "You've got grit, I'll give you that much. I can see your potential." A sudden wave of excitement washed over her. "Tell you what... the moment you're promoted to Genin, I'm going to give you some exclusive, specialized classes in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu."
Yugito's glazed look took over her as she began daydreaming. She could already see the stack of Ryō in her wallet. Being an instructor for a high-profile prodigy meant she would receive hefty stipends. I am going to be absolutely swimming in money very soon, she thought gleefully.
~~
Her daydream was abruptly interrupted. Out of nowhere, a duo dropped from above, hurtling directly toward her exposed back with a pair of coordinated heavy-set kicks.
"How dare you lay a hand on a friend of KinGin and GinKin?!" they said in unison.
However, their strikes struck Yugito as she shifted back to the original form. The moment their feet made contact, Yugito's form dissolved into Blue Flame embers. It had been a flame clone the entire time.
Reacting instantly to the hazard, Darui leaped into the air, his hands forming eight hand seals.
"Water Release: Great Water Wave!"
A massive water wave crashed over the arena to put off the flames before they die.
Guren, watching the clone dissolve into blue flame, felt her stomach drop in genuine shock. "All this time... I was pouring everything I had into fighting a mere clone? Damn it," she thought.
"Hot! Hot! It burns!"
Nearby, KinGin and GinKin were desperately rolling and crawling across the muddy ground, trying to smother the clinging blue embers that had caught onto their clothes and few parts of the skin. Fortunately, the rushing water from Darui's jutsu pooled beneath them just in time to extinguish the stubborn flames after 5 minutes.
Guren rushed over to their side, dropping to her knees. "Are you two out of your minds? Why did you jump into the middle of a fight?"
As the smoke cleared from their dampened clothes, the damage they suffered became apparent. The intense heat had left severe, localized third-degree burns across their arms and shoulders.
Ginkin, wincing as he propped himself up on an elbow, managed a weak defiant grin. "Did you forget the rules of the Orphanage, Guren? We always stand up for our friends with no exceptions."
"Don't sweat it, Guren," KinGin added, his voice strained. "We always heal fast anyway. Did you forget?"
To Guren's astonishment, the blackened flesh on their bodies was unchanged. The regeneration was noticeably more sluggish compared to how quickly they usually recovered from training mishaps. Yugito's clone left a deep microscopic burns that actively resisted rapid cellular repair.
~~
A/N: It should have become obvious with I named the duo, KinGin and GinKin. Yes, they are the descendants of KinKau and Ginkaku. They grew up in Orphanage along with Guren. More on this later...
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