~Soutarou POV~
Kosuke pulled one of the swords from his back and said kindly, "Prepare yourself Soutarou-kun."
Within seconds Kosuke's kind aura disappeared, and was replaced by a sharp presence that made Soutarou's skin prickle and his hair stand on end.
Before Soutarou could even say anything Kosuke's blade rested calmly against Soutarou's neck and a red line appeared on his cheek.
'When…-?'
The Kosuke in front of Soutarou disappeared into a mirage, and only the one behind him said, "Lesson one. A shinobi's instincts are their best sense. Not their eye sight, their smell, their hearing, their touch, their taste, not even their chakra senses. A good shinobi should be able to instinctually avoid killing blows just from raw instinct."
Kosuke removed his blade from Soutarou's neck and said, "Again."
Soutarou focused and riled his chakra, and continuously disrupted his chakra all while keeping his eyes locked onto Kosuke before Kosuke charged at Soutarou in a blinding flash, his blade swinging down in a downwards cleaving movement. Soutarou grit his teeth and threw his blade up in defence before using his hand on the back of the blade as a reinforcer before Kosuke's leg swept around to Soutarou's now exposed abdomen region, before Soutarou tried to back away and Kosuke's leg dropped down and a punch jammed into his stomach.
Soutarou unconsciously spat out and heaved as he panted while collapsed on the ground.
Kosuke's voice sounded, "Lesson two. Strike first, strike fast. Never give up the momentum. In a battle between two equal opponents the one with more momentum will always win."
Soutarou panted while forcing himself up while clutching his chest before again a blade rested right on his shoulder with a disappointed sigh ringing out, "Lesson three… Never drop your guard on the battlefield, even if it seems that you have won."
Kosuke's emotionless voice bore down on Soutarou once more, "Again. We'll keep going until you drop today."
Soutarou's eyes narrowed, 'Momentum…? I see.'
Soutarou reached into his ninja pouch and grabbed a smoke bomb before slamming it downwards and rapidly forming handsigns, 'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!'
'Shadow Clone Jutsu!'
'Earth Style: Hiding Mole'
Soutarou's shadow clone charged Kosuke with its other hand, shot into its pouch, throwing a dozen or so kunai straight at the old man who just stood still and tilted his head letting the kunai pass.
'As expected…'
His shadow clone immediately engaged Kosuke only to almost immediately be dispelled realizing there wasn't any leverage or gaps he could utilize he swept towards Kosuke and charged his chakra and exploded in a 'Shadow Clone Explosion.'
Soutarou knew this wouldn't have any effect as one of the kunai then changed with a bang and a puff of smoke into Soutarou and he jammed his sword right into Kosuke's only escape route only for Kosuke to duck under the horizontal strike for his sword to aim straight for soutarou's chest.
Yet just then a hand shot out of the ground, 'Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!'
Only for Kosuke to nimbly dodge the sword and the hand that shot out of the ground and at the same time he yanked the hand only for a resounding explosion to ring out. Three bangs and puffs of smoke appeared, making Soutarou's main body that was still in the ground frown.
Kosuke reappeared on the exact spot he had been at the beginning of the session and said, "That was better. But hiding in the ground at such a depth isn't a smart idea either."
A hand grabbed Soutarou and dragged him back to the surface before a puff of smoke appeared from the hand that had grabbed Soutarou.
Kosuke then said, "Good. At least you understand one thing… We shinobi aren't Samurai. We aren't good people in general, no matter how much we dilute that blood lust with happy slogans, in the end we are killers, professional ones. So use every means you have to kill. I must say that explosion jutsu of yours is an extremely good one. It reminds me of the annoying tactics that Sunagakure used to use in the desert in the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars."
Kosuke continued, "Still as good as that strategy is… It's one that has been revealed. And unfortunately that day that you fought… Tetsuro was it? Yes Tetsuro, you failed to prevent the leaking of information and so now this stratagem of yours is revealed to the world and it loses its surprise factor."
Kosuke finished with, "In all… I'd say this time you were about a 5/10 of what you could actually do with your physicality, jutsu, and techniques. You think too long, and try to play too safe. In a real battle those who aren't willing to risk are usually the ones who die to those who do. That's not to say you shouldn't think or try to outsmart your opponent… But if you must. Do so quickly or on the fly. You aren't a Nara who can make a million plans on the fly. So stick to the basics."
"Technique. Instinct. Experience. And of course Power. But for now we'll continue only with improving your experience, technique, and most importantly instinct."
Soutarou nodded before Kosuke looked at him and said, "It's fine that you use Tobirama-sama's sword… But remember Soutarou a blade is just another means to an end. Come, let me see your resolve."
Soutarou's eyes sharpened, he immediately did something that even surprised Kosuke, he threw Aonami like a javelin straight at Kosuke. Kosuke's eyebrow twitched, but he simply twisted his body out of the way only for the sword to swing around and for Kosuke to notice a thin wire attached to the sword that had swung around him and cut off his escape routes once again, all while Soutarou hands formed hand signs and he titled his head back and spat out a massive column of water.
'Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!'
The column of water slammed into the entire training ground effectively flooding it leaving knee deep water everywhere around them. All while Soutarou had formed a clone, at the same time his main body began forming distinct handsigns.
'While I haven't learned the four handsign version of this yet… I can do the twelve handsign dumbed down version that gramps left for learning. This series of attacks will use up all my chakra… but it doesn't matter.'
'Water Style: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!'
A massive whirlpool formed on the once still water and bullets of water began shooting towards Kosuke who was now standing on top of the water watching with interest before his eyes widened and he began flickering around in order to avoid the bullets before a massive water dragon formed and shot towards him. At the same time Soutarou's shadow clone thrust its hands out and mixed in lightning style.
'Combination Ninja Art: Electrified Water Dragon Biting Explosion!'
'This next part is where it gets really sketchy! Water style manipulation don't let me down please!'
Soutarou and his clones began to swirl the water into an orb before infusing chakra into the large swirling orb of water.
'False Water Style Rasengan!'
'This shit is just swirling water that acts like the swirling water stage of rasengan combined with water style manipulation to turn into damaging water blades when smashed into a target.'
'Whatever I just used that other jutsu so I could get him into position for this one.'
For the first time that day Kosuke smiled and thought,
Kosuke formed four handsigns and responded with,
Kosuke's Water Dragon easily swallowed Soutarou's much smaller dragon before both jutsu exploded in dramatic fashion sending water everywhere before Soutarou appeared right behind Kosuke holding the orb of swirling water.
Kosuke's eyes literally bulged out of their sockets and he blanked,
That slight delay was enough for Soutarou to jam the orb towards Kosuke. Before the orb exploded in water blades that hit every direction including 'Soutarou' or rather his clone that then exploded in a puff of smoke.
Kosuke hadn't expected that type of jutsu and thus dodged a bit late.
As Kosuke regained his footing on the water, he jumped upwards as he watched in pleasant surprise as a shadow clone of Soutarou electrified the entire body of water that his Water Colliding Wave had created.
Kosuke's face lit up as he realized,
Soutarou panted leaning against a tree before a kunai gently tapped against his neck and Kosuke said, "Good momentum. Much better this time. Get up, we'll do sword drills, before the sun goes down. As for Water Style, we'll work on that after you get down the basics of Kenjutsu. I'll leave you the Konoha Body Flicker after we correct your water style."
Just as Soutarou was about to say something, Kosuke raised his hand and said, "Patience young Soutarou. I know you are feeling stressed, anxious, maybe even threatened… But in all honesty if something happens to you after all the guards and protection you have now, then Konoha itself is doomed. So rather than panicking and learning things half heartedly just for the sake of growing your jutsu repertoire, it's better to focus and to refine your learning."
"As you clearly showed moments ago. Jutsu and raw power are not something you're lacking… It's the means to convert that raw power into unadulterated combat prowess. Remember something well that an old friend of mine once told me…"
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
"The best example of this is the Third Raikage. So practice your one 'kick' over and over again until it's perfect."
Soutarou looked over at the man in annoyance before thinking, 'This damned chinese hidden master! Can't you just hand me the hidden inheritance or unlock the spirit realm and let me become Golden Core already? Or was it Nascent Soul? And damn you old man, why are you quoting Bruce Lee all of a sudden?!?'
Soutarou sighed and asked, "Who exactly told you that quote?"
Kosuke said, "A taijutsu master by the name Chen."
Soutarou's eyes twitched, 'Of course it was a guy named Chen, right? No racism or anything… But seriously?'
Soutarou sighed and hopped off the tree and jumped to an area of the ground without water and landed with a thud. Before turning to Kosuke who was standing just a bit away. Kosuke nodded and then he glanced at Soutarou's back and flabbergasted and said, "Where's Aonami?"
Soutarou said, "Huh? Oh I threw it at you remember? It's somewhere under all that water."
Kosuke slapped his forehead and angrily roared at Soutarou, "You damn brat! That sword is a piece of Konoha history! Go get it."
Soutarou scratched his head before he went and grabbed the sword. He said, "Is it that important? All gramps did with this piece of junk is stab Madara's brother to death. Even that was mainly the credit of Fly Thunder God, not this thing."
Kosuke raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm surprised you even know that, but it's not the fact of what Tobirama-sama did with that sword, it's the fact… That, its his sword. Not to mention… That sword is probably worth 300million Ryo just from raw materials. I'm sure some collector would buy it for a billion-"
Soutarou immediately interrupted, "Old man, let's go sell this sword!"
Kosuke immediately flickered over to Soutarou, swept his legs out from under him and smacked him straight on the head and said, "YOU DAMN BRAT!"
Soutarou put his hands up in surrender and muttered under his breath, "It wouldn't have mattered… I'd just tell Gramps Third to go get it back from me and we'd keep selling it and getting it back. If Gramps Third wouldn't do it, then wouldn't Danzo do it? Easy infinite money… Damn stingy old man."
Kosuke's brow twitched and he grabbed Soutarou and dragged him elsewhere…