Decades into it, Hayama still enjoyed the rush of the wind on his face, in the fractions of a second that it lasted while in the accelerated state provided by the Body-Flicker Technique.
Overuse of the jutsu had been the reason he had started leaving his hair tied up instead of the looser style he had preferred in his youth - dealing with the frizz and tangles was always so much work.
Thinking about it, that was probably the reason why it had grown so much. Tied up as it was, it wasn't often that he saw the need to cut it and when he did it was mostly because it was starting to get in the way.
Frankly, the practical thing to do would be to just shave it all off with a razor. He was confident in not letting it become a liability during combat; but there was no such thing as being overprepared as a shinobi.
Although, as he walked to the front of the Kuroyama's house, the idea was dismissed just as easily as he had dismissed it a thousand times before.
'Tsume wouldn't let me hear the end of it,' he thought, amused, a small smile on his face. His knuckles rap at the frame of the door
Knock, knock.
In response he felt a pulse of the familiar chakra from his most troublesome student, and couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.
It was quite a quaint way that the boy had found to utilize his newfound knack for sensing ninjutsu that had come about after his…transformation.
Hayama remembered with some nostalgia his own attempt years ago at doing something like this - flooding the surroundings with his Air Chakra and trying to use that to copy the innate prowess of the Hyuuga in some small measure.
The result had been blood running down his nose and eyes as he was hurriedly carried to the hospital by his teammates.
"It's open! Come in, sensei!" Called said troublesome student, after he confirmed his identity.
Hayama's eye twitched.
'So you check who it is but you don't even lock the door? What kind of security measure is that?' He questioned with a heatless glare. Letting out a huff, he turned the knob and stepped inside.
As he took off his sandals and changed them for one of the spare pairs, Hayama found his mind drifting back to the tangent it had been on.
His attempt at creating a Sensor Jutsu failed, his student's own attempt - done at a much earlier age - succeeded.
'Talent, huh…' Hayama mused as he walked into the living room, seeing two of his students seated on the couch while their host prepared something sweet smelling in the kitchen.
There was a time he would have resented such a thing.
When he was younger, when his hair was darker and his blood hotter.
It had taken years of blood, sweat, tears and bitter losses until he managed to become a Jonin.
By all rights, that was a massive accomplishment on its own. If only one in ten genin managed to become a chuunin, then less than one in ten chuunin managed to become jonin.
An elite ninja, the backbone of the village, the strongest.
Except, there were jonin, and there were jonin.
You couldn't compare the average elite ninja with one such as Hatake Kakashi, or his father, the White Fang, whom Hayama once had the pleasure of crossing blades with; one wouldn't dare to put one of the Academy instructors, all formidable ninja in their own right, on the same level as Itachi Uchiha, or one of the Sannin.
The 'strongest' were not the same, what separated them was not simply hard work, but an impassable wall named 'Talent' that he had once fiercely tried to overcome, but to no avail.
He glanced at Ren, slouching sideways on the couch, lazily holding up a flaming finger to feed Kara, the shadowy summon who had manifested its 'head' on his chest. The boy was already more proficient at Nature Transformation than he had been as a chuunin.
He took a seat, nodding in acknowledgement to his quietest student as the boy bowed to him.
Souma was yet another reflection. Hayama had not a single shred of doubt that if his past self, so proud of his swordsmanship, were to fight against the boy ten times, he'd lose.
Every single time.
And for at least eight out of the ten he wouldn't even be able to see the blade coming.
'How ironic. My first charge to follow in my footsteps as a swordsman, and the only thing I can do for him is to provide a challenge he can sharpen himself against.'
"Here, sensei," called the last of his students with a smile.
Yohei was, unsurprisingly, dressed today in the same pallet he favored for every occasion - this time, with black shorts and shirt, and a blue apron and mitts. In his hands was a tray with four wooden bowls, filled with what seemed like rice mixed in a white cream and powdered with cinnamon.
"Thank you," Hayama said with a smile as he took his, enjoying the sweet fragrance of it as he did- he could tell that besides the obvious, it was made with milk and a lot of sugar, but anything beyond that escaped him.
Taking a spoonful of it, he unconsciously kneaded a small amount of Air Chakra, cooling his breath as he blew softly at the treat before bringing it to his mouth.
He hummed in pleasant surprise at the taste.
As he did so, he couldn't help but watch Yohei from the corner of his eye - the boy, who had been looking expectantly at him, pumped his fist, only then turning to give his teammates their own portions, pausing as he saw that Ren had not only already taken and eaten his, but was already going through a second serving.
Hayama chuckled as they bickered.
If Ren and Souma were reflections of Hayama who had surpassed him at their age, then Yohei was a reflection of everything he wasn't good at.
Yang Release, Medical Ninjutsu, Summoning, Taijutsu and Sensing.
'Well, I suppose we're both equally hopeless when it comes to Sealing,' Hayama reasoned, 'But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if someday he just came up with a way to do it all the same. Probably by writing the symbols with his muscles or something equally absurd.'
If he wanted to be honest with himself, the reason he had decided to become a Jonin sensei was entirely selfish. All but an admission of defeat. He believed he had reached his limits. No matter how much he trained, he simply could not find himself improving anymore.
"Sensei, why do I get the feeling that you're thinking something mean?" Yohei asked with narrowed eyes.
Hayama looked at him in amusement, not giving any answer besides taking another spoonful of the sweet treat and eating it.
The boy huffed, and his red-eyed teammate snickered by his side, getting a glare in response.
"I've never eaten something like this," Souma interjected before it could turn into another play-fight, pointing to his bowl with a questioning look in Yohei's direction, his cheeks filled with food.
"It's sweet rice," Yohei replied simply.
Ren snorted with amusement, "How creative."
Again, Souma interrupted the brewing argument, "Can you give me the recipe?"
Yohei glared at Ren, who looked back with a challenging smirk, still, he huffed and decided to let it pass, turning back to Souma with a smile, "Sure! First thing you need to know is that you'll need a lot of milk-"
Hayama settled back and watched the three of them interacting as the same familiar feeling of pride bubbled in his chest.
He may have decided to become a Jonin Sensei for selfish reasons, but he could affirm today with full certainty that it was one of the best decisions he had ever made.
Once they all finished eating - and in some cases repeating their meals - Hayama set down his bowl on the glass table and looked at his genin, who were all looking back at him with varying levels of expectation.
"I assume you all know why you're here. Asuma-san and I had a talk, and we decided that in two days Team 5 and Team 10 will have a practice match against each other."
Predictably, Souma and Yohei looked excited at the prospect of it, while Ren seemed hesitant.
'Understandable, considering his situation.'
"Of course," He amended, calling their attention, "This will only proceed if all genin agree to it. Asuma has already gotten confirmation from his side, but beyond Yohei I have yet to know what the rest of you think of it."
He raised a hand, stopping them from speaking until he was finished, "Before we get to that, however, we need to understand the pros and cons of going through it. To start with, what do you three believe the other party stands to gain with this? Souma?"
The white haired boy furrowed his brows in consideration before speaking, "Practice for the Chuunin Exam."
Hayama nodded, "That's certainly part of it, what else?"
"Information gathering," answered Ren flatly.
Hayama gestured for him to go on.
With a sigh, the boy did so, "Out of the three of us, I'm the only one they have any real information on - my family's technique isn't well-known, but it isn't really a secret either, so they can at least find out that I use fire and illusions. But besides that, we're mostly unknowns. People may know that Souma is a swordsman because he carries his sword everywhere, but not much more than that. What is his level of skill? What style does he use? Is it even his main method of combat?" Then he rolled his eyes and pointed a thumb at Yohei, pulling it away when the blue eyed boy made to bite it, "And dumbass here is even worse. They know he has a Bloodline Limit, but what else? Is it related to his chakra? Is it related to his body? Has he learned to use it at all or does he fight in another way? There are too many unknowns, and it's very advantageous to them to try and uncover as many secrets as possible now instead of going blindly at the Exam."
Hayama nods, then turns to the last one, "Something to add, Yohei?"
The boy tilted his head and shrugged, "Nope, that's pretty much it. Ren got it right that they're going to want to get as much information as they can, especially since Shikamaru is on the opposite team. But Souma's also right that Asuma-san wants to use this match as a practice, and… well, as a motivator too, I suppose."
Hayama raised a brow at the choice of words.
Yohei chuckled, scratching his cheek, "Neither Shikamaru nor Choji are exactly the most, uh, hardworking of people," he explained, getting a snort from Ren that he ignored, "They both usually tend to take things easy. To be fair, it's not like it's a huge problem for them, they're both strong, but that's not going to cut it in the future. I think Asuma-san believes we can prove a challenge to his team on some level, even if he probably doesn't think we can beat them. But it would be enough to give them some motivation to work harder."
Hayama hummed. 'Even the talented need to put in the work if they wish to keep getting stronger. I hadn't considered this angle, but I suppose that's the kind of insight only someone who knows the other part would be able to infer.'
He was drawn out of his musings by Ren, who had turned to face his teammates with a serious look, "Then that's just another reason why we shouldn't accept this. I mean, what's even the benefit for us? We're already training hard everyday, winning or losing won't change that; we all have plenty of experienced people whom we can fight against; and any information we get from them won't be worth much more than what is publicly known. They're all clan kids, we already know what they can do."
"Assuming that all they can do is use their Hidden Technique is dangerous," Yohei rebuked, then smirked, "Besides, you really don't want to beat the team with the two Clan Heirs whose secret technique is focused on Yin Release?"
"Of course I do!" Ren protested with an annoyed look, "But it's not worth it if it ruffles the ego of people who can make my dream harder in the future."
Here, Hayama felt the need to interject.
"I know Inoichi, Shikaku and Choza personally, and I assure you that they would not be so petty. Trust me, I would never willingly put any of you in a situation where you had to lose in order to protect yourselves." Hayama swore.
The red-eyed boy looked pensive for a single moment, before a wide vicious smile grew on his face.
"In that case then fuck yes I wanna beat some Clan brats!"
Hayama shook his head in amusement as the other two started commemorating.
"Me and Asuma agreed that it would be better if neither of us helped you kids with your strategizing and preparations." Hayama explained, getting understanding nods in affirmation "So feel free to start."
Ren, who was still turned towards his teammates and feeding Kara, snapped his fingers, "First order of business should be to decide what we will and what we won't reveal no matter what, even if it costs us the match."
Souma gained an uncomfortable look at the words, but let out a resigned sigh. "As you said, it is already known that I'm a swordsman. I think it would be better to hide my Lightning Release."
"At least to some extent," Yohei agreed, patting his teammate, commiserating. "I think we may need to use it at least a bit, depending on how things go."
"Already making a plan?" Ren asked, face sceptical, but shrugged, "I can see where you're going with this, though, and I agree. In my case, like I said, they can easily find out my family's jutsu, and if Shikamaru's half as good as you think he is then he may also remember or find out my grades in the weapon-throwing classes. If that's the case, I should hide the poisons."
"I'd argue that you could also hide how much better you became at throwing weapons as well," Yohei pointed out with a raised finger, "Just because you were good at it in the Academy doesn't mean you would try to improve it after, specially since our sensei and two of us are all close-quarters combatants."
"You want me," Ren pointed to himself, "to fight against people who have been going through a training regimen that's the result of more than a century of work using just Genjutsu and Fire Release?" Ren questioned dryly.
Yohei shook his head, "Of course not!" He shot the red-eyed boy a challenging grin, "I'm telling you to win against the people who have been receiving the best training in the world for all their lives while using only half of the Hazy Radiant Flames." Then he made a face of exaggerated concern, "What? Don't tell me you can't even beat up some brats, Wimpy."
The flames in Ren's finger grew to encompass his entire hand, much to Kara's happiness as she globbed it all up. The boy's eyes seemed to glow like embers.
"You're on, bitch."
Hayama sighed as the other two chucked.
'Hiding your secrets is all well and good, but aren't you being a bit overconfident believing you can win without giving it your all?'
"Right," Yohei continued, "I suppose for me…"
"You should just hide everything." Ren shrugged.
Souma nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that's fair." Yohei chuckled. Then, raising a hand, he started counting with his fingers. "Total Concentration Breathing, Warframe, Dark Release, Sensing, and my Demons. Those are all too big advantages to let them know in advance. I also don't trust Ino not to babble about it to Sakura, and Sakura would immediately go and tell Naruto and Sasuke, which would make it a pain in the ass to deal with the two."
Ren blinked, "Sasuke, I could see, but Naruto?"
"Trust me," Yohei said simply.
The other boy looked off to the side with a scheming look, "So you're only going to use Extreme Muscle Assault?"
"Well… the classics are classics for a reason," Yohei replied in agreement with a smile, "Why?"
Ren turned to look at him with a smirk that Hayama had learned to associate with trouble.
"How do you feel about a little handicap?"
-~=~-
"Feeling anxious, Hayama-san?" Asuma teased in a well-natured voice.
The two Jonin were sitting in the wood stands of the 11 training ground - a relatively small arena-like space sitting just outside the East Gate of the Village. Down on the ground, their teams were warming up and engaging in some good old trash talking.
"Not particularly." He replied.
Asuma's eye gleamed, "Confident, then?"
Instead of answering the question, he scanned the place with a practiced eye.
It was around four in the afternoon now. Without any kind of walls, much less ceilings, the entire place was bathed in the sunlight.
Hayama gave a dry glance to his peer, "I see you chose the place well."
Asuma didn't even have the grace to look embarrassed, only chuckling around the unlit cigarette in his mouth, "I know. Shikamaru and Ino would have benefited more from fighting in the forests where they could use the obstacles to hide their attacks and maneuver around, but I thought that would be too big an advantage to my kids. This way things are more balanced."
The logic checked out, but then again…
'In a place like this Yohei's powers are reduced, while the shadows have lengthened enough to give the Nara boy plenty of material for his jutsu.'
But frankly, Asuma didn't strike him as the sort who would want to make it easier for his students on purpose, so there should be another reason in his choice being this place in particular.
Unbidden, his students' suspicions about the purpose of this event came to his mind.
'Motivation, information gathering and practice…' he mused, before blinking in realization, 'Ah, I see.'
"So this year's Chuunin Exams will have a tournament, hm?" Hayama said aloud.
Asuma sputtered, looking at him with wide eyes before he grimaced, "Ah- shit. Was it that obvious?"
Hayama chuckled, shaking his head, "I don't believe so. My students just had me in a mood for introspection, they're a good influence. Sometimes."
Still embarrassed, Asuma scratched at the back of his head "I know what you mean."
Then, more seriously and a tad apologetic he continued, "I'm sorry for the trick, it wasn't my intention to use my connection with the Hokage to cheat on this spar, I just wanted-"
"To give some experience to your genin so they are familiar with the situation when the time comes, right?" Hayama interrupted, waving it off once he got a confirming nod.
"Don't worry, we all know that information gathering is one of the keys in a shinobi's life - that you have an avenue to getting such information that others don't is just the nature of the world, saying it is unfair would be ridiculous. Besides," he shrugged, "it's not like my own kids aren't going to benefit from this, so I'll keep quiet if you do."
Asuma shot him a grateful look and nodded with a grin.
"Let's start this, then?"
"I do think it's about time."
They stood up and approached the edge of the arena, Hayama clapping to call the attention of the genin, who all turned to look at them.
"Are you ready?" He asked, getting affirmations with varying levels of eagerness. "You were already made aware of the rules, but I'll repeat them just this once. If you go outside of bounds, you are eliminated. If you faint, you are eliminated. If you are immobilized, you are eliminated. The first team to have all of their members eliminated loses. If you try to go for a dangerous hit that could either cripple or seriously injure your opponents or yourself, we'll stop you and you and your team will be immediately eliminated. We'll also bring you to the Hokage so that you can explain why you felt the need to do such a thing during a friendly spar with a fellow ninja of the Leaf."
Asuma chuckled at their faces of dismay, bringing up his lighter to light his cigar, "I think they understand it all, Hayama-san. Now, on my mark- ready, set… Start!"
As the genin started moving, Hayama's mind went back to their planning session two days ago.
-~=~-
They were once more in Yohei's house, though this time the glass table was covered not in cutlery, but with small stacks of paper filled with information pertaining to the genin of Team 10.
Ren grunted as he threw one such stack on the pile. "Right, we've already gone through this twice over. I suppose the next order of business would be defining our targets."
Yohei nodded, and Hayama could feel as the chakra he was kneading as he read through the notes in his hands quickly lessened by half - a curious thing he had noticed some time ago.
"Let's start with the worst one," He said, pointing at a picture of a boy with hooded eyes, and spiky black hair tied up, "Shikamaru. Lazy, unmotivated, dangerous, and scarily competent when he wants to be. I'm pretty sure every single one of his grades are only so low because of a mix of not caring about trying and not wanting to attract attention. While he's no Sasuke, we should assume that he's well above average on every single aspect, from hand-to-hand to throwing weapons. But the worst thing we can do is give him space and time to figure out a strategy. If we do that we'll either need to show off more than we planned on or we're fucked."
"His Hidden Technique doesn't help," Ren said with a small sigh, "Apparently, the Shadow Bind Technique can be resisted if the target is 'too strong', but that's incredibly vague. In any case, if one of us is caught in it, we're sitting ducks. To be honest, fighting him at close range seems like pure stupidity - making contact with his body will definitely make your shadows touch, and that's all he needs."
Then he grinned, looking at his teammate, "Or, well, that would usually be the case, at least."
Souma grinned back, a smaller thing, but equally eager. "So what should I do?"
Ren and Yohei looked at each other and nodded, turning back to him and speaking at the same time:
"Hit him hard and fast."
-~=~-
Before the kids can do so much as jump back or throw a kunai, a blast goes off in the arena as Souma dashes forward at blinding speed. The ground behind him craters, a result of the discharge of chakra that had been expelled from his legs as he used the Body Flicker.
It didn't actually make him faster. If anything, it made him slower than he should be using the technique normally - but that was the point.
Releasing the chakra like this, a 'trick' that Yohei had taught him, allowed Souma to go at speeds he could actually follow rather than suffering from the usual tunneling that came as a result of the jutsu. This made what was usually a pure movement-technique into a combat-viable one.
To his credit, Shikamaru was fast enough to jump back and block the slash that came at him, though Hayama attributed that partly to his fight or flight instincts, and partly to Souma hesitating to avoid a severe strike.
'He acquired some bad habits from fighting me and Yohei,' Hayama thought with pursed lips, 'I really do need to teach those kids how to hold back.'
Before Souma could press the attack, he was forced to jump back twice in order to avoid first the giant fist flying in his direction and then the flying kunai that went for his legs.
Asuma whistled, "That boy's fast. Was that the Body Flicker?"
Hayama nodded, not actually explaining it. Instead, he made his own observation, "Your genin are well trained, they reacted as well as could be expected to the sudden advance of an opponent with overwhelming speed."
Whatever Asuma was going to say in response was cut off by a shout from Hayama's most troublesome student.
"CHOJI!" Yohei shouted with a wide grin, his muscles having grown to twice their normal size as he blocked a follow up attack made by the Akimichi boy upon Souma with a punch, "YOUR OPPONENT IS ME!"
The chubby boy shook his hand in surprise at the pain he felt, his sharp eyes widening, then he was changing his gigantification from one hand to the other, raising it up to block an advance from the maniacally smiling Yohei.
-~=~-
"Alright, next on the list: Choji Akimichi." Yohei said, tapping a paper with a photo of the boy eating chips.
"The combatant of the three, mostly responsible for the attack and the defense of the other two while they set up for some kind of trap or strategy," Ren added, then shrugged, "Or at least that's what past versions of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio seem to indicate, maybe it's different for them."
"Meh, I doubt it." Denied Yohei, putting his hands behind his head, "While Ino may have preferred to be in a team with Sasuke, their parents all knew they would inevitably be together and should have trained them like such."
Ren nodded, confirming he had been thinking along the same lines. "So, strengths?"
"Power, resilience and reach." Souma summed it up.
"Yup," Yohei agreed, "No idea how it compares to my own strength, but it should be more than enough to fuck you both up if you're hit by it, anyway. And the way the Multi-Size Technique works means that he's pretty much in control of the range of conflict."
"And weaknesses?"
"The technique is a chakra hog." Yohei said immediately, "Remember when he showed it to us? Dude was tired after just a few seconds. I'm sure he's gotten much better with it after so long, but I doubt he can use it for a prolonged fight."
Ren let out a bothered sound, "I doubt this fight will take long enough for that to come in consideration one way or another. Anything else?"
"The bigger he is, the easier it is to cut," Souma offered.
Ren and Yohei exchanged glances.
"Leave it to me," Yohei said.
Ren nodded, clapping his shoulder.
Souma pouted.
-~=~-
Hayama watched the hit connect, pushing the chubby boy a few steps back, but not greatly injuring him. Moreover, the pain seemed to make the Akimichi boy madder, as he then proceeded to viciously kick at Yohei with a foot that was suddenly bigger than the both of them.
Yohei evaded the slow attack with ease, no matter how powerful it was.
He leapt over the leg with a laugh and landed on it, a fanged grin wide on his face as he went for a direct punch downwards with an arm that had become bigger, only to hit the ground and make another crater upon it as Choji rapidly retracted his limb.
Asuma made a sound of interest, "Now that's something you don't see everyday. I didn't think there was anyone in their age group who could contend with Choji in strength. Is that from his bloodline or that strange jutsu he's using?" Despite the questioning tone, it was obvious the man wasn't really asking him, rather just musing aloud. He scratched at his beard, eyes focused on the field, "Probably both. I wonder what else he can do…"
They both watched as a kunai flew in the direction of his face - only for Yohei to tilt his head back at the last moment and bite the blade by the handle, stopping it in its tracks. He turned with amused eyes to an advancing Ino, who had thrown it and was glaring at him.
Her path, however, was stopped abruptly by a shower of projectile weapons.
She turned with a growl to look at the one responsible for them, her golden hair flying.
-~=~-
"And lastly: Ino Yamanaka." Yohei said with a grin.
"Blondie, huh?" Ren said with a knowing smirk that made Yohei's smile wobble before he fixed it back into place. If the boy noticed, he didn't make note of it. "Alright, we can see you want to do this one, so go ahead."
Yohei scoffed playfully, but tellingly went ahead, "Okay, so- in the Ino-Shika-Cho, if the Akimichi are the warriors and the Nara are the strategists, the Yamanaka are the coordinators. Their Hidden Technique, beyond allowing them to take control of the bodies of a victim if the situation is right - which, by the way, I consider the least dangerous facet of it; is also supposed to allow them to link the minds of multiple people together to transmit thoughts. I don't know if Ino can do that yet, or if it's supposed to be a more advanced technique, but I don't think we should risk it. If they employ it before the match even starts then there's nothing we can do except do our best to leave her mentally unstable and take her off the fight as soon as possible."
"Right, and if the goal is to leave someone mentally unstable and quickly defeat them, then the decision of who should fight her is obvious," Ren said with a grin.
"Mhm," Souma agreed with a nod and smile.
Yohei chuckled, putting his arms around their necks and pulling them closer.
"Of course, it should be-"
-~=~-
"Eyes on me, Princess." A smirking Ren called, giving her a wink.
Asuma chuckled, "Ballsy."
'You have no idea,' Hayama answered in his mind with a smile.
"Shut up, you second rate pretty boy!" Ino shouted in response, quickly picking her own blade and focusing on him, knowing she wouldn't be able to provide assistance to her teammates without dealing with him first, "Only Sasuke-kun can call me that!"
Ren did an exaggerated wince, putting his hands over his chest in feigned hurt. As he did so, he tilted his shoulder to the side to avoid the blade which was launched in its direction, all while acting as if nothing happened.
"Oof. That hurts princess, right here in my heart," He told her with a 'pitiful' voice, then brightened up, "I bet it didn't hurt nearly as much as discovering Sakura would be sleeping with your crush, though."
Ino froze.
Ren continued with a shrug, "Yeah, I mean- they're partners, right? It's inevitable that in missions outside the village they'll be sleeping close together, maybe in the same bedroll if they go somewhere cold. After a fight, she'll be the one patching him up; she's the one who's going to see him sweaty and dirty after a hard training session. You know, just the average kind of thing that happens with teammates. I'm sure you'll go through plenty of it with Choji and Shika as well."
Asuma groaned, putting his face in his hands, "Oh, no. She's going to whine so much after this."
Hayama snorted.
The next thing they saw, Ino was doing her very best to turn a laughing Ren into a pincushion as the boy narrowly avoided her projectiles, occasionally sending out one of his own that she easily batted away or evaded.
"She's good," Hayama complimented.
And it was true, she was.
Certainly not the most impressive kunoichi he had seen at her age, but closer to the top than not. All her foundations were well rounded and despite eccentricities, she hadn't actually let herself be distracted, still keeping an eye out for the surroundings and attempting to provide assistance to her teammates - though Ren always stepped in when that happened and started pressuring her harder.
"Can't really take responsibility for that," Asuma admitted with a somewhat regretful face, "She was already brilliant when I became her sensei, all I did until now was polish up her basics some. To be honest, she's the one who needed this the least - Ino is already the most hard working of the bunch, it's just that she's focusing on her family's techniques right now, and they have a rather steep training curve."
Hayama nodded in understanding.
He himself had gone through something similar at some point. The vacuum style of Wind Release was not something one could learn in a short stretch of time.
It had been worth it, but it was one of the many bottlenecks he had faced in his life.
Shaking himself of such thoughts, Hayama focused back on the match.
Souma had gone back to pressing against Shikamaru, who was frantically avoiding his blade and parrying it away with a grimace on his face, occasionally being helped by his teammates.
The reason for his moving, however, was soon made apparent when he managed to position himself in the right position to make use of the shadows at their feet.
With no warning, the Nara's signature jutsu came to life and advanced through the floor, getting close to Souma's own in less than a moment.
Hayama averted his eyes, knowing what was going to happen.
BZZZZZZZZT!
Sure enough, accompanying the sound of static and the shouts of surprise, Hayama could see a flash of light on the corner of his eyes - waiting a moment before looking back, he saw that Souma now had his entire blade covered by a coating of Lightning Chakra.
The light produced by it worked almost like a barrier, making it pretty much impossible for Shikamaru's technique to advance.
"Oh, come on!" Shikamaru grumbled out loud.
Asuma let out a surprise laugh, putting his elbows upon his legs to incline himself forwards. "Chakra flow, huh? Well, that's a treat to see. Pity that it's being used against my students, but that should be a good lesson. I shouldn't be surprised, since he's your student, but that's a lot of control he's showing."
That it was.
Right now, rather than 'simply' maintaining a constant flow of chakra in a stable form around his blade while kneading it into Lightning Nature, Souma was adding another new layer of complexity into things by kneading that Lightning Chakra so as to make it brighter, in exchange for a loss of power.
The consequence for it, of course, was that he couldn't make any complex movements while employing the technique, since it required so much focus.
Still, it had managed to do what it was supposed to and stopped one of the enemy's victory conditions - at least for now.
Moving his eyes to another part of the Arena, he saw that Yohei was still locked in combat with the Akimichi boy - though calling it combat was a bit misleading, at least for one of them.
There was no other way of saying it, Yohei was having fun.
Hayama had already noticed previously how much the boy seemed to enjoy anything 'different' or 'abnormal'. That could go from simply oversized plants, to all manner of chakra beasts, to his own transformations - and now, it seemed, to that of others too.
He had a silly grin on his face as he did his best to push Choji to keep fighting in different ways, so that he could see more of his Multi-Form Jutsu, all the while still mounting some damage and keeping him from interfering too much with the other fights.
That wasn't to say it was effortless. Hayama could see how he also seemed to be tiring some from it all, and he did get hit occasionally, which required him to get more serious in order to avoid being launched out of the arena - it was in those moments that the Akimichi managed to lessen the pressure Souma was putting on Shikamaru.
Looking back to the last pair, the situation there was a bit different.
Ino seemed to have learned Ren's tempo and adapted to it, effortlessly weaving past any of his attacks. He soon started running out of projectiles to throw, while she kept using his own against him.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long until she managed to overcome him, and then the balance of the fight could easily change.
And she knew it too, going by the smug smile on her face.
Still, Ren tried to keep up the banter.
"Oi, oi, that's a funny face you're making, Princess. But I suppose it's better than the frown from before, I was starting to worry you'd get even more wrinkles!" He laughed.
The blonde's eye twitched, but she scoffed with a laugh, "Keep yapping, second-rate, you know you can't win this. Honestly, that's pretty humiliating, isn't it? Your teammates are doing really well, but you don't seem to have gotten any better since graduation, that's kind of pathetic."
Asuma hissed by his side, though he was smiling, "She goes straight for the jugular, doesn't she? Vicious little shit."
Hayama chuckled, "I can relate."
Ren stopped smiling and let go of the shuriken in his hand.
Ino grinned wider, "Oh my, did I strike a nerve?"
She moved to attack, making use of the apparent distraction of her foe.
Only, a moment later Ren was running towards her while laughing, and she had to frantically move aside to avoid being hit.
"You're not entirely wrong!" He exclaimed as they changed from ranged fighting to pure taijutsu, "Truth is, in a team filled with meatheads I didn't get a lot of chances to improve my throwing skills! On the positive side of things, at least my hand-to-hand improved a lot, don't you think!?"
She couldn't answer, focused as she was in fighting him off.
That was it.
Despite the difficulties, all three of his Genin were pushing back their opponents and had the tools to deal with their strengths, while striking at their weaknesses. If the match simply continued on, there was no way Team 5 would lose.
Which, of course, was exactly when things changed.
There was no clear signal - no call, no exchange of codes. Everything seemed the same as it had a moment before.
Shikamaru tried once more to use the Shadow-Binding Technique, and Souma once more countered it.
This time, however, during the moment in which Souma became sluggish because of his light trick, the Nara's shadows moved back rather than forwards, quickly slithering its way towards someone else- Yohei, who seemed rather distracted with his own fight.
Still, Souma was fast enough even then to blast forwards once more, leaving behind a shower of debris as he put himself between the jutsu and his teammate, activating the technique once more.
And that seemed to be what Shikamaru was truly waiting for.
At the same time as his shadow changed directions yet again, Choji disengaged with haste from his fight with Yohei, jumping high in the air and expanding his arm.
Rather than attacking, though, the purpose of it was to create another, wider shadow, which Shikamaru used to impulsionate his own to quickly reach the third member of Team 5, who had been guided into place by Ino.
"Shadow Imitation Technique: Complete!" Shikamaru announced with a smirk.
Hayama sighed.
That's something his genin hadn't accounted for in their planning, and because of the rule he couldn't tell them.
The Shadow Binding Technique was already somewhat old news by now - in the last decade, the Nara, proving that the Clans are never satisfied with just resting on their laurels, had created an evolution to it that allowed for more than simply paralyzing the target.
In a rush, before anyone else could react, Shikamaru was already leaping backwards - and like the shadow that follows the leaf, a surprised Ren followed suit, mimicking his movements and jumping out of the arena.
At the same time, a grinning Ino Yamanaka had gone down to her knee, close to where Shikamaru was going to land, her hands extended in the signal of her family's secret technique, a threat should either Souma or Yohei try to rush to take advantage of the moment to attack.
Asuma chuckled by his side, a proud look on his face, "They're something else, aren't they?" He bragged.
Hayama nodded, though for different reasons, "They sure are."
"And that's one less to deal with." Shikamaru said with some relief.
"Take that, Second-Rate! I don't hear your yapping, now!" Ino cheered and mocked at the same time.
Ren chuckled, but the sound was interrupted midway by a poof of smoke, and when it finished, the tone wasn't that of the red-eyed boy anymore.
"Gotcha, Princess." Yohei said from outside the Arena.
Shikamaru's eyes widened, and he turned around to see a copy of the blue-wearing boy standing where his teammate was supposed to be. Ino, as well, was looking shocked.
"What!?" She exclaimed as the clone winked at her before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Then they both froze, feeling the tip of a needle touching the back of their necks.
"He said, 'Gotcha, Princess,'" Ren repeated with a smug smirk, the flames covering his body slowly changing from their invisible state with a shimmer of light as he dismissed his genjutsu.
He scoffed, "Honestly, he did a horrible impression of me, it was irritating and insufferable. Everyone knows that I'm loveable and adorable. You should have been calling me, prince instead."
Turning his head back, Ren looked at his teammates, "Yohei! You should have all your chakra now, right? Finish this off."
Before he was even done speaking, the blue-eyed boy had already complied. His body, which was twice its normal size beforehand immediately inflated to almost five times, his clothes stretching to accompany it.
Choji, who had been caught unaware by the situation as well, didn't even have time to react before the Kuroyama missile barreled forwards at him, launching him out of the Arena.
"I believe," Hayama looked to the side at his fellow Jonin Teacher with mirth at his shocked face and the cigarette which had fallen, still burning, from his mouth to the floor. "That's our win, right?"