After a short rest to recover energy, everyone proceeded to the cave that Mei trained Kesshō in. Everyone wore a coat to ward off the winter cold and the icy winds, except Yuki and Kesshō. Though cold blooded,Kesshō could still survive in sub-zero temperatures without much trouble, and she liked the chilly breeze as well. Yuki also seemed to enjoy the cold wind and snowfall, somehow not being affected by the temperatures even when the others were, qnd being a human just like them.

There was a lot more snow compared to the day before, it was piled upto everyone's knees, and much higher than Kesshō's knees. This still proved to be no trouble for Kesshō as her feet didn't sink in the snow. Her body was too light for the area her steps covered, making it very hard for her to sink deep in the snow, though she did leave footprints in it as she simply walked on top of the snow.

The cave which they entered this time was near their usual one, not the same however, the entrance hidden behind a rock formation, enterable only from a narrow path between the rocks which Kesshō failed to notice before.

This cave, happened to be just a normal cave, something Kesshō did not expect. The only difference seemed to be the large hole in its center. Many thin stone pillars rose out of the hole, some higher, some lower. It was filled with water, how high Kesshō did not know, neither did she want to find out as it would require her to go inside. The rocks were smooth till a short distance down the top, meaning either the water once used to be that high, or they were simply carved to be that smooth. There were about thirty pillars, each at varying heights but close to the ground level, and only giving enough space to stand on one leg.

Mei tossed her coat on the ground and jumped onto a pillar and hopped to a pillar on the opposite side with ease. She didn't even stop or stumble once, being completely fearless and confident in her abilities. She beckoned Kesshō forwards with her staff, the test being conducted there. Kesshō jumped onto the first pillar, already nearly falling into the water down below.

"This is supposed to be a duel. If you fall into the water or jump onto the plain ground, away from the pillars, you lose," Mei explained. "Are you ready?" She questioned, tightening grip on her staff.

Calming her nerves, Kesshō closed her eyes and used her side-ears to navigate. Just looking at the deep hole was causing her to lose balance, if she didn't look, there was nothing to worry about as Mei informed her. Steadying herself she nodded to Mei, taking a deep breath to focus.

Mei sprung into battle without wasting any time. She swept her staff across the pillars, keeping it low, trying to knock Kesshō off her feet. Retreating to the side and dodging the attack, Kesshō retaliated with her own staff, but it wasn't long enough. Kesshō's reach was much less compared to Mei. Mei possessed every advantage over Kesshō in this type of terrain. She attacked relentlessly, keeping Kesshō from getting close enough to attack or even think of doing so.

"I expected you to use your hybrid skills," Mei mumbled.

Kesshō did not understand if she was being serious or trying to provoke her to use them.

"I am serious. In a real battle you aren't going to not use weapons that powerful, consider this a real battle, just not to the death," Mei reassured Kesshō.

Kesshō sighed and allowed her tails to help her out in this situation. With her tails out, Kesshō's balance increased greatly, solely due to their length. She doubted that Mei knew just how far Kesshō's tails could reach, so Kesshō didn't use them to attack, just for balancing, knowing if she used them for attacking no one would last for long against her in this terrain.

Kesshō and Mei jumped from one pillar to the other, dodging and blocking. Mei led Kesshō all the way up to the highest pillar, directing her path with attacks, intending to finish the battle there. Kesshō was pinned, with no escape route and not much footing as she stood on the highest pillar, near the center, the pillars closest in height being in Mei's reach.

Mei swept her staff across to knock Kesshō off, but she didn't need to. Kesshō jumped down, striking Mei's leg with her own staff as she fell. There was a yelp followed by a splash as Mei fell into the freezing waters down below. Kesshō, on the other hand, survived.

Her plan was suicidal in a real battle, but her tails didn't allow it to be. They wrapped around a pillar and swung Kesshō in a safe path before pulling her, and then Mei, up to the surface. Yuki wrapped Mei in the coat she had discarded at the start of the battle.

"Who would have thought it would end like this." Mei muttered ws she shook her head, her entire body shivering from the cold.

"From the looks of it, she has great potential for everything," Sora observed. Yuki nodded in agreement.

"What about the rest of the lesson?" Mei inquired.

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"I can take over if you don't mind." Sora proposed.

Mei nodded her agreement. Everyone returned to the fort. Kesshō, Kurai and Sora offered their coats to Mei to keep her warm, Kurai and Sora's covering her entire body and dragging behind her. When they arrived at the fort, Mei was already sneezing, having been cold and wet for too long.

"I will take her to the doctor," Yuki said leading Mei to a different direction than the garden and hall.

Kurai and Sora nodded before leading Kesshō to the small garden near the Hō-oh-no-ma. Sora stood, assessing Kesshō with his eyes while Kurai found a nice tree to sit against.

"You are perfect to learn the ways of the ninjas, a perfect ninja," Sora observed.

"Is she now?" Kurai asked.

"Yes, she is." Sora replied, slightly offended at the question. "Small, agile, sharp senses, flexible, and adaptable. Four of the many important qualities of a ninja, being small just a bonus to the rest of them."

"Mind explaining how?" Kurai asked.

"You are just asking questions that she has, aren't you?" Sora asked.

It was true, Kesshō was having those exact questions. She did have several more, but those were a couple major ones of them. Kurai nodded and Sora sighed before continuing.

"Let me answer it with a question, which is easier to hit, a fly, or a human," Sora questioned Kesshō.

She held up two fingers, choosing the second option, a human.

"Why a human? A fly is much slower than a human, humans are like six times faster than flies. In cases like these, it's the size that matters," Sora explained. "You are not as small as a fly, but you are still small, and fast. Even you have noticed how easy it is for you to dodge attacks no matter the terrain."

This was also true. Kesshō had dodged every single attack against forty opponents in the hall, and even evaded Mei during the duel, with relative ease at that.

"With that explained, let me answer another question you may have, about what I will teach you that is." Sora gestured around the garden with one hand before continuing. "In this garden, there are two ninjas excluding me, find them."

That explained to Kesshō what the strange man in the tree was doing. She had caught a human scent that drifted from slightly above ground when she got to the garden, leading to the ninja's discovery. She pointed to the tree and the ninja hidden there jumped out, landing cat-like on his feet before bowing.

"The second one?" Sora urged.

Kesshō thought for a while. She decided not to use her side-ears because it would kill the purpose of a test. After much consideration she lifted her finger and pointed to the second ninja. Kurai smiled as Sora applauded.

"Splendid. Great thinking and attention. The second ninja was indeed Kurai," Sora praised.

Kesshō lowered her finger which she had pointed at Kurai and awaited more instructions. Kurai smiled at her, not knowing how she figured it out so fast, but being proud of her nonetheless.

"You promise great potential," Sora observed. "The list of what you will be taught is long, so listen carefully. You will be taught the art of disguises, the ninja hand-to-hand combat, how to use many throwing weapons, hiding your presence in any environment, tracking skills, surviving off of things you find in the forest and hiding your tracks, the art of poisons, and every pressure point in the human body, including combinations which will knock them out within two seconds."

Kesshō already crossed a few things off the list in her mind, but had no way of telling that. She was well aware most of those won't be needed by her with the help of her camouflage, sense of smell, eyesight and ears.

"She doesn't need to learn all of that," Kurai called.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"She has skills far greater than what ninja arts can teach, in some of those, and some are simply not needed for now," Kurai explained "Teach her a bit about forest craft, pressure points, hand-to-hand combat, and how to use ninja weapons along with how to conceal them," Kurai suggested.

"As you wish." Sora shrugged, not minding it.

He turned to Kesshō and raised his right hand in front of her. Kesshō could have sworn there was nothing in his hand a second ago, but the glint was steel was unmistakable. He tossed it to Kesshō, harmlessly, and she caught it in her hands, slightly startled.

"I am sure you have an idea on how to use these." He said before throwing another one straight towards Kesshō.

She tried to catch it just like last time, but her luck ran out. She was a second too slow and missed the shuriken. It hit her on the face and bounced off, slicing off some skin and exposing her black scales, but again not damaging the scales, her skin also regenerating within a second.

"Let's practice catching and throwing," Sora offered. "Throw them towards me, and nothing to worry about, I haven't missed a single one in the last fourteen years."

Kesshō nodded and flung one towards Sora. He caught it with ease, his leather gloves helping increase the friction and reduce any pain he would feel otherwise. Seeing this, Kesshō decided to do one better, by using her claws. Her claws sprung up from her the back of her palm and attached to the back of her fingers. The five claws were sharp, prepared to slice through anything in their way, but also enough to grip on to things.

Sora seemed mildly impressed by them and Kurai raised an eyebrow, not having known about her claws yet. Still, Sora threw another one towards her, this time aimed at her eye. She closed her claws, hoping to catch the shuriken in them, but missed.

The consequences would have been painful, if not for her ever reliable tails. Seeing her in danger they appeared behind her within a heartbeat, two of them closing on the blunt sides of the shuriken, stopping it just a centimeter away from her eyes.

"They are very useful I suppose," Sora observed.

Kesshō nodded her agreement, visibly making her tails happy. This deadly game of catch continued till the end of the lesson, Sora having switched to throwing four at the same time by the end. With the help of her tails, Kesshō was able to catch all of them with ease.

The evening was fast approaching and her Taijutsu lesson about to start. Hori appeared from the Hō-oh-no-ma, unaware of everything that happened just outside a short while ago. He wasn't alone however, inside were several other students, following right behind him.

Exiting the hall they stood in a single file opposite to Kesshō, and from her morning experience, she knew exactly where this was going.