I reached into my pouch and pulled out a few shuriken, emerging from behind Ichiban and throwing them at Guy.

The Jonin easily blocked them, but once they were dealt with, he was interrupted by a side-kick from yours truly.

We quickly locked into the usual flurry of attacks we got into when sparring. I made sure to make it such that Guy didn't feel any need to move, him being in place was needed for Kuroda's Jutsu to work.

*THUD!*

I jumped away once I heard the sound of Kuroda falling to the ground, him being heavier than usual worked in our favour.

Remembering the classic Yamanaka Jutsu from the show, I imagined a line from Kuroda to Guy who was still smiling, not a care in the world. I waited for a few more moments but nothing happened. Even though Kuroda's Jutsu should've landed based on its trajectory, Guy was unaffected.

"Lesson number 1!" I heard a voice from behind me.

Guy was standing with a wide smile on his face and hands on his hips, he flicked his eyes to Ichiban and me and addressed us both, "When using a scroll, make sure your opponents don't escape using the smoke that *YOU* provided!" he said, enunciating the "you" while looking at Ichiban.

'No way... that smoke was only there for a second! No, even less than that!' I thought, remembering how the puff of smoke obscured Guy from my vision for a fraction of a second.

There can't be two of him, so the one I was fighting all along was definitely a-

*POOMF!*

The shadow clone of Guy disappeared with a puff of smoke, almost teasing us by replicating how the real body escaped.

"Lesson number two! The Mind Transfer Jutsu doesn't work on Shadow Clones!" He said, looking at Kuroda who was now sound asleep on the grass.

'Damn.'

We lost a member of our team for nothing, I berated myself for not noticing the real body flicker away.

"And now! Lesson number three!"

*SMACK!*

I only had a moment to block before Guy's foot crashed into my body, even though I managed to soften his blow, the force of the kick launched me many metres away, tumbling and rolling in some dirt before stopping.

"Don't stay still and listen to your opponent talk!"

I heard the sound of Ichiban attacking Guy once again with a *POOMF* from a scroll, but I was in too much pain to move or look at their fight.

'Fuck... what the hell...'

That attack was beyond anything I've ever felt. With every breath I took, my ribs seemed to crack and splinter further, stabbing me from the inside. Everything inside me screamed at me to collapse on the floor and stop breathing, even if only for a moment.

Holy shit, the pain's getting worse as each second passes.

"Ohhh fuck..." I gasped out loud, noticing that some parts of my body were unable to move. The arm that blocked the hit as well as the ribs on the left side of my body refused to budge no matter how hard I tried, hell, even trying to move them using my other arm caused me to almost yelp out in pain.

'One attack? I get taken down by one fucking attack?' I thought, wincing as I tried to stand up. Inadvertently I shook the damaged areas of my body, sending lightning bolts of pain throughout my body.

'No way... I can't get fucking one-shot in our first team match...'

I managed to stand up and look at my teammates, Ichiban was now attacking Guy with a giant shuriken similar to the one Naruto transformed into against Zabuaza, he was using ninja wire to throw the shuriken and pull it back when needed. Kuroda was still sleeping.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

'Are you really going to let that bastard show you up?' I thought, aware of the fact that Ichiban was doing infinitely better than I did. Even though I knew it was due to Guy going a lot harder against me, I still couldn't let that happen.

No.

'Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.' I repeated to myself, trying to forget the pain.

I ran.

I don't know how I managed it, but the rush of blood pounding in my ears silenced any complaints I had screaming inside my head.

Noticing a small gap in Guy's defence due to blocking Ichiban's attacks, I mustered up all the force I could gather and launched a heavy strike at the back of his left knee using my one good arm.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

*SMACK!*

I was launched away further than before, this time, Guy managed to sweep my legs with his foot, and then with the same leg, strike me at my chest. The man had blocked Ichiban's attack, dodged my strike, and hit me twice within less than a second.

I felt like my chest was caved in.

The breath in my lungs stopped for a second, not knowing which way it was supposed to escape. I coughed and hacked for a few seconds before my breathing went to normal.

'He's a fucking monster.' I realised.

I can't win.

I can't even get up.

Holy shit, it really fucking hurts.

My legs were unable to move from the sweep.

The pain made even breathing an arduous task.

My left arm was still limp from blocking his attack, my right arm was the only limb that worked as it should.

I didn't know what I expected from our first day, I expected to get roughed a bit, maybe like I did during our first spar... but that little spat was nothing more than a scuffle compared to what just happened.

Certainly not as glamorous as I imagined it.

I circulated Chakra through my right arm and smacked it against a tree I landed nearby, I stuck to it and pulled myself up by using the trunk as leverage. I think the adrenalin had finally started to hit me since the pain was dulling by the second.

My mind worked faster than I thought it ever could before.

'Fucked up body, but a brain and an arm that works. What can you do Aoki?'

*BOOM!*

Explosions sounded out in the distance, Ichiban seemed to have lost any sensibilities he previously had and was now throwing whatever he had in his pouch at Guy. Smoke bombs and explosion tags galore rained down on Guy's general direction, but they all proved to be ineffective. Guy dodged every single one of them, appearing behind Ichiban without as much as a hair misplaced.

Ichiban roared in anger and grabbed a kunai off the ground, jumping at Guy with the blade in hand. I felt myself cursing my inability to do anything right now, even if I just knew a simple D-rank Jutsu, I might've been able to prevent things from getting this bad.

After wracking my brain for some time, I came to the conclusion that Ichiban and I jumping at Guy one after the other won't amount to anything. The Fuma was about to run out of gimmicks, and Guy swatted me away like a fly whenever I got close. We need something more.

I hobbled over to Kuroda, other than some Chakra he'd lost, the kid's been unaffected this whole fight. I don't know what he could do, but Ichiban and I couldn't continue by ourselves.

"Kuroda, wake up... we need you." I grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake.

The boy yawned loudly and looked at me with a fully rested smile on his face, "Eh? Oh... Aoki, did I get him?"

I resisted the urge to thwack the boy's smiling face and explained the situation, once he noticed how beat up I was, he jumped up with a concerned face and helped me stand up properly.

First off, I began by asking him to give me a summary of his specialisations. Kuroda told me that he primarily focuses on Ninjutsu and only recently started practising Taijutsus and body conditioning properly. Because we were strained for time and I could hear Ichiban's growls becoming increasingly frustrated, I didn't have the luxury of getting an in-depth description of how his Jutsus work.

"What now Aoki? Should I go and try to fight him?" Kuroda asked, looking at Guy who was completely focused on Ichiban.

"No." I nipped that horrible idea in the bud instantly.

My head started to hurt from how hard I was thinking; trying my best to form a plan making use of our limited skillset. Everything I knew, from Guy's personality to the amount of strength I could muster and the few Jutsus that Kuroda could use were kept in mind as I planned our next move.

About half a minute after Kuroda stood me up, I finally had an inkling of an idea of what to do next. I turned to Kurda and got his attention by grabbing his shoulder.

"Kuroda, I need you to do two things. First, use the Mind Numbing Jutsu on me, then follow as we run to Guy, once we reach him I want you to..." I whispered the last part of my plan to the boy's outstretched ears. Kuroda started to protest after hearing what I intended to do, but after a stern look and some coaxing, the boy reluctantly agreed.

I asked him if he had any more recommendations but he shook his head and started weaving the hand signs for the Mind Numbing Jutsu. Even if the boy lacked confidence, he was quick to listen.

"Mind Numbing Jutsu!" Kuroda whispered, placing a finger on my forehead.

Instantly, all the pain I had disappeared, furthermore, all the sensations I was feeling were also gone. The feeling of my clothes on my skin, the soft ruffle of the wind, the wetness of my mouth... all of it had vanished.

The feeling was disorientating to the extreme, the only thing that kept me on my feet was the soft yet strong thrum of my heartbeat that I felt. The pain was gone for now, but the damage was still there beneath it all.

'Thank God that his Jutsu doesn't take away everything ...' I thought, placing a hand over my beating heart. Without this sensation, I might've been too disorientated to move.

I greatly underestimated what Kuroda could do with this Jutsu, his quick summary of "It makes you feel things less," didn't do it justice.

But we're on a schedule, things like this happen.

"Follow me, don't lag behind."