Chapter 17 - First Spar and Aftermath

The students all gathered around the middle of the training ground to prepare for today's sparring session.

Tooru stepped into the middle and scanned his students, making sure everyone is present.

"Alright, everybody remembers the rules? No lethal hits, the duel will end when I call it."

Everyone nodded and Tooru continued.

"Okay, first up is-"

"Wait! Sensei."

"Hmm?"

Tooru turned to see Mikumo raising her hand.

Mikumo had a smile on her face and placed her hand on Asuma's shoulder.

"Do you mind if the first match is between me and Asuma?"

Tooru raised an eyebrow at Mikumo's request.

"Asuma? Are you sure, Mikumo-chan? Asuma is the best student in the class."

Mikumo simply nodded.

Asuma also confidently patted his chest as well.

"Don't worry, Onizuka-sensei, I know my own power. It's only a friendly duel, no one will get hurt."

Tooru nodded nervously but agreed nevertheless.

"Alright then, first match, Mikumo vs. Asuma. Please come to the middle of the ring and do the seal of confrontation. Do you remember it, Mikumo-chan? It's the one I showed you earlier."

"Yes, sensei. I got it."

Mikumo and Asuma made their way to the center of the ring. Once in position, they did the seal of confrontation and waited for their sensei to begin the match.

The other students started cheering from the sideline.

"Asuma, if you dare hurt Mikumo-chan, I'll never forgive you! Mikumo-chan, kick his ass!"

"Asuma, you're representing us guys, so you better not lose! But if you hurt a girl I'll tell the entire school about it! Go Mikumo-chan, I believe in you, you can do it!"

A stress mark appeared on Asuma's forehead as he heard the words of 'encouragement' from the other boys.

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing! Also, make up your damn mind on who to cheer for!"

Tooru clapped his hand loudly to settle everyone down and then raised his arm to signal the two competing students.

"Alright guys settle down, let them concentrate. Asuma, Mikumo, ready...begin!"

The moment the match began Asuma took out a kunai from his pouch, while Mikumo did a swift back step and started weaving hand signs as fast as possible.

Asuma noticed this and had a surprised expression on his face.

"Ninjutsu? I thought you were a civilian, Mikumo-chan."

Mikumo simply smiled and continued carefully weaving her hand signs.

"Talking during a spar is not a good idea, Asuma-kun."

As she answered Mikumo then weaved her last seal.

Seeing this, Asuma then realized his mistake and put on a serious expression while doing a back step away from Mikumo, as he didn't know what Jutsu she was casting.

Mikumo smiled smugly upon seeing Asuma's actions.

"Big mistake, Asuma-kun. Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!" (Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique)

In front of Asuma's eyes, Mikumo's body, as well as all the other people around, melted away, leaving only him on the field.

Asuma slightly relaxed upon seeing this and chuckled.

"Not bad, Mikumo-chan. Maybe against someone else, this would have worked, but I've already learned how to dispel this genjutsu!"

Asuma performed a hand sign and swiftly yelled,

"Kai!"

After Asuma's exclamation, his surroundings started shifting again, back to before with all the other students standing in a circle, Tooru standing not too far away, and he could see Mikumo standing in the same spot as before with a difficult expression on her face.

Not wanting to give Mikumo another chance to cast any more genjutsu, Asuma dashed forward and swiftly placed his kunai against Mikumo's neck.

"This is my win, Mikumo-chan."

After declaring his win, Asuma then felt something cold press up against his neck. He then heard Tooru's voice.

"That's it! The match is over, Mikumo wins!"

"Huh?"

Asuma had a stunned look on his face before he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a voice coming from directly behind him.

"Kai."

The Mikumo in front of Asuma melted away. Asuma looked down to see a kunai pressed on his neck, holding it was the real Mikumo, who was standing behind Asuma.

"How...?"

Mikumo chuckled and removed the kunai from Asuma's neck and put it back in her pouch.

"Magen: Niju Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu. I purposely said the wrong name to fool you." (Demonic Illusion: Double False Surroundings Technique)

Asuma pouted a little and sighed.

"You got me, but this trick will only work once. Next time, I'll win!"

Mikumo chuckled a bit at Asuma's pouting.

"Asuma-kun, there is no next time in real combat. Don't underestimate your opponents just because you think they are weaker than you."

"Well...yeah I guess. You're right..."

Tooru came over and patted Asuma on the shoulder.

"No need to sulk, Asuma. It's a fact that at least for right now, you are the most skilled student in this class. However, skill isn't what always determines the victor in battle. Even a chunin can die to an exploding tag if they're not careful, understood?"

Asuma nodded firmly hearing Tooru's words.

"Good, now let me tell you what you did wrong and what you need to work on. First, as Mikumo said, there's no reason to make conversation in the middle of combat, you gave Mikumo time to finish her Jutsu will your idle chatter. Secondly, you need to learn to recognize hand signs, I'm not telling you to memorize the hand signs for every Jutsu ever, just learn the pattern so you can tell the difference between the types of Jutsu. If you were able to recognize that Mikumo was casting a genjutsu, you would have had a chance to rush in and interrupt instead of backing off."

"As for the last thing, this is more of a learning experience for you. This is the first time you've ever faced a genjutsu user, so I can't fault you for not knowing, but versus genjutsu specialists, you must always make sure you're attacking the real body of the enemy, or else you'll risk running into a trap like you just did."

Mikumo was delighted at how Tooru was able to effectively point out Asuma's mistakes, as it helped her as well.

'So for the first try, it went pretty well. Onizuka-sensei is right though, if someone realizes I'm casting a genjutsu, they will try to stop me or prepare their mind to escape it as soon as possible. If I get dragged into a physical confrontation, right now with my current skills I would lose for sure. At the very least, I need acceptable enough taijutsu and ninjutsu to be able to survive a direct confrontation. My specialty is going to be genjutsu, but that doesn't mean I have to suck at other things.'

"Alright, that's it for the first match. Asuma, Mikumo-chan, now do the seal of reconciliation."

Mikumo approached Asuma and stretch out her fingers with a smile. Asuma completed the seal of reconciliation with newfound respect in his eyes for Mikumo.

The pair returned to the sideline as everyone clapped for Mikumo.

Shizune happily jumped for joy, Kurenai and Rin clapped politely, and Obito came over to give Mikumo a high-five, to which she responded kindly.

"Mikumo, that was amazing! I didn't know you already knew how to use ninjutsu! Hey, can you teach me as well!?"

"Obito, stop talking nonsense, you want our prince Mikumo-chan to teach the last place student ninjutsu? How many years would it take for you to learn it?"

"What!? Hmph, it's just a genjutsu, I can learn it no problem!"

"You would think so since you're from the Uchiha clan, but, somehow I doubt it."

"Why you little...!"

Mikumo chuckled and then patted Obito on the shoulder.

"Alright calm down, guys, no need to tease Obito so much, he's our classmate too."

Obito turned and looked at Mikumo with teary eyes.

"Mikumo...you're actually a good guy!"

"Ahaha, I'm a girl, though?"

"Oh, that's right."

Rin came over with a smile on her face and thanked Mikumo silently in her heart.

Mikumo saw Rin's approach and curved her lips into a mischievous smile.

"Obito, are you sure you want to be so friendly with me, what if it makes your girlfriend jealous?"

"Huh? Girlfriend?"

Obito had a confused look on his face and followed Mikumo's line of sight to see a slightly blushing Rin.

"U-uh well no, uh it's not like that, uh I mean we're not like that y-."

Before Obito could finish his sentence, he covered his own mouth in fear of what he was about to say next. Rin reddened like a tomato, knowing what Obito was about to say next.

Mikumo laughed mischievously and continued.

"Oh, I see, then you wouldn't mind if I ask her out then, right?"

"WHAT!? No! You can't!"

"Hmm? Why not?"

Rin tried to open her mouth to speak up but Obito kept going before she could.

"Because Rin is, s-she is..."

"She is?"

"Okay, that's enough, Mikumo-chan. I told you to stop teasing people."

Seeing Obito's head about to blow up from how much steam is coming out of it, Kurenai came over to save him.

"Ahaha, very well, I'll listen since it's you, Kurenai-chan."

Kurenai sighed and shook her head.

Obito and Rin stood blankly together with steam coming out of their heads, too embarrassed to look at each other. The rest of the class laughed at the interesting sight, having figured out what was going on.

Tooru clapped loudly from the middle of the field to get the class back on track.

"Hey! Okay guys, enough messing around! Second match, Shizune vs. Kurenai. Please come to the field!"

"Yes, sensei!"

Shizune and Kurenai went to the field and promptly began the match. Kurenai won after a hard struggle but the two were even for most of the match.

The rest of the matches continued and there were no more interesting matches.

At the end of the day, the class had concluded and everyone went home.

Mikumo said goodbye to her classmates as she exited the academy and found Ayane waiting for her.

"Mikumo-sama, how was your first day at the academy?"

"It was great, I made a lot of friends, and won my first spar as well."

"I see, as expected of Mikumo-sama."

"Haha, no need to praise me so much, it was just a spar between kids."

Ayane nodded and didn't say more, but she had more respect in her eyes compared to before.

"Mikumo-sama, I will escort you home to your parents' house. After that, I must return to the Senju estate to attend to Towa-sama."

"Sure, thank you, Ayane."

Mikumo returned home to tell her parents about her first day at school. The family celebrated Mikumo's academy entrance and first win together.

***

Later that night, Hokage office.

"Hokage-sama, these are the results from today's spars."

Hiruzen nodded as he smoked his pipe.

"Good work, you may return."

"Yes, sir."

The Anbu member promptly left the office after he finished his task.

Hiruzen examined the results and report of the spars on his desk slowly while the moon hung overhead. As he read the report, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he sighed.

"Asuma...that kid."

Hiruzen then focused on the report of the spar.

"C-Rank genjutsu, with no prior training...? Mikumo Kashima...hmm. Just what is Towa planning by sending her granddaughter to ninja training at this time?"

Hiruzen continued to read the report about Mikumo's overall behavior and character, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Not bad. She is indeed a good seedling. Civilian family, high charisma, cheerful and caring, although somewhat mischievous. Ah, reminds me of Minato."

Hiruzen took another draw from his pipe before tapping his desk three times with his finger.

"Yes, Hokage-sama, what are your orders?"

An Anbu dressed in black appeared kneeling in front of Hiruzen.

"I want a full report on Mikumo Kashima on my desk by tomorrow night."

"Yes, sir!"

The Anbu disappeared as if he was never there.

Hiruzen turned around and stared off into the village.

"Mikumo Kashima...don't disappoint me."