Ten Dull Blades Are No Match for a Good Spear

[Composite Node Generation Progress: 12%.]

Chiba turned the broken Metal Wood over. Where the bone framework and wood grain intertwined was exactly where Flying Swallow had struck six times.

Bai Ye crouched beside him and used a Soft Bone spike to pry up a layer of bark.

"Your tree is glowing again?"

"It's growing new branches."

"When will it be usable?"

"I don't know."

"Then hide the seam inside the bone."

"Can't. The wood conduits need to pass through here."

Bai Ye bent the bone spike into a ring, looped it around the ruptured conduit, then restored its hardness at the other end.

"Then make the seam move. When the blade comes down, shift it aside."

Chiba watched for a moment, then pushed the piece of Soft Bone back.

"First learn how to last three moves against Asuma."

"He's coming again tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"I'll fight for you."

"If you go out, you'll be seen."

"Then I'll wear a mask."

"The Kaguya clan's bones don't recognize masks."

Bai Ye tossed the severed vine into the mud pit, rose to his feet, and walked back into the cave.

"Talk to me after you've finished losing."

Early the next morning, Asuma did not bring Flying Swallow. He only carried two wooden staves commonly used at the Ninja Academy. He tossed the longer one to Chiba and kept the shorter one for himself.

"No Wood Release today. Let me see your hand-to-hand skills first."

"You're not using chakra?"

"If I need Wind Release to fight a student with injured ribs, how am I supposed to write that in my report?"

Chiba gripped the middle of the wooden staff, bracing its end against his right arm, then tested his shoulder's range of motion twice.

"We can start."

"You've already figured out how you'll lose?"

"I came up with three ways."

"Tell me one."

"You knock my staff away, I close in, and my left fist hits your ribs."

Asuma tapped the edge of his shoe with the short staff.

"What about the other two?"

"Can't say."

"Why not?"

"If I say them, there'll only be one left."

Asuma raised a hand, signaling him to attack.

The long staff first jabbed at his chest, then swept toward his waist when it came within two feet. Chiba's left hand loosened in tandem, but he withdrew the thin roots hidden in his sleeve.

The short staff slipped beneath the long one and pressed along its shaft. The weapon in Chiba's hand veered toward the courtyard wall.

He did not fight for it. Instead, he followed the motion and closed in, driving his left fist toward Asuma's ribs.

"First one."

Asuma's knee blocked his leg in advance. The short staff flicked upward, and before Chiba's fist could get within half a foot, he had already lost his balance.

His sole dragged half a step through the mud. He drove forward with his shoulder, his right elbow slamming toward the other man's chest as well.

Asuma sidestepped, tapped Chiba's lower back with the wooden staff, then grabbed his collar with his other hand and sent him into the pit left from yesterday.

"Second one's gone too."

Chiba braced himself against the edge of the pit with one hand.

"You saw all three ways I came up with."

"Your face didn't tell me. Your shoulders did."

"Again."

"Get up first. There's mud in your bandages."

Chiba tore off the bandage around his ribs and wrapped a new layer around them.

This time, the long staff did not rush in. He circled Asuma halfway, shifting his footing several times, the tip of his staff always hovering near the other man's knees.

"Trying to drag this out until I move first?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll have a smoke."

Asuma actually tucked the short staff beneath his arm and reached for his cigarette case.

The long staff swept low along the ground, its tip kicking up mud and sand. Using the cover, Chiba cut in from the right, his left leg lashing toward Asuma's wrist.

Asuma did not block the mud and sand. He closed his eyes for an instant, yet the short staff in his hand still landed in front of Chiba's ankle.

The kicking leg struck the staff. Before Chiba could twist his waist back, his shoulder had already been pinned by Asuma's other hand.

"Third one."

"You reached for your cigarettes on purpose."

"When an enemy has a knife, he'll deliberately expose his neck too."

"Again."

"You really don't want those ribs anymore?"

"They're not broken."

"By the time they break, it'll be too late."

Chiba pulled the long staff out from the edge of the pit. A Bone Vine also extended half an inch from his sleeve.

Asuma saw it but did not stop him. He merely tucked the cigarette case back into his ninja tool pouch.

"Use it. Just don't spray poison at my face."

Metal Wood climbed along the staff, its bone framework closing around the inside. The vine tip split into four strands, each stopping where Asuma might dodge.

The first attack was cut apart by Flying Swallow.

The second time, the roots had barely broken through the ground when a short blade was already pressed against Chiba's chest.

The third time, he lasted only twelve breaths. Asuma did not even draw his blade. After stepping on one of the main vines, he followed the wood conduits to find Chiba's position and smashed his forehead with the cigarette case.

"Enough."

"I can still move."

"You can always move. That's why every time, you try to make up for it by adding another ability."

Asuma picked up the long staff from the ground and used its tip to point in turn at the Poison Vine, the bone framework, the Metal Wood, and the Root Network underground.

"Poison is useless if it can't touch a wound. Bone can hold, but it turns slowly. Metal Wood is hard enough, but it burns the most chakra while growing. The Root Network spreads far enough, but someone who knows Earth Release can still dig it out."

Chiba retracted the vines.

"Continue."

"Listen first."

Asuma flicked away cigarette ash. The gray flecks landed on the broken end of the Metal Wood and were quickly dampened by the moisture inside its conduits.

"You have many abilities, but you use them too crudely. You're like someone carrying ten blades who only knows how to chop with each one."

"Iron Claw couldn't block them."

"That's why he only has the strength of an elite genin. Against a real jonin, once your first blade is seen through, you won't have time to draw the remaining nine."

Chiba propped the severed vine across his knees and peeled apart its wooden shell layer by layer.

"How do I train?"

"For the next month, less is more. Choose one move and pack poison, bone, metal, and roots all into it."

"Only one move?"

"Eating and sleeping don't count."

"What if the opponent goes around it?"

"Then make sure he can't."

"What if they cut it apart?"

"Train until they can't cut it apart."

Stone shifted in the cave where Bai Ye was hiding. Asuma glanced in that direction, then returned his gaze to the broken vine.

"Do you know why the old man sent me instead of another jonin?"

"You're his son."

"That really doesn't sound good."

"Isn't that true?"

"It is, but he had one more reason for choosing me."

Asuma used the short staff to push aside the fine roots near his feet, clearing a place where he could stand steadily.

"I'm the only one who dares to tell the old man no."

Chiba's hand stopped at the joint in the bone framework.

"So?"

"So train without worry. I won't report your real trump cards to anyone. The training records the Hokage Tower receives will only include the parts you're willing to let them see."

"What about the person in the cave?"

"What person?"

Asuma kicked the roll of bandages that had fallen into the mud back toward him.

"I only heard a rat that knows how to fix roofs. It might be a little big, and it probably eats a lot too."

There was no more movement from the back of the cave.

Chiba caught the bandages but did not immediately wrap them around his ribs again.

"What if Danzo asks you?"

"Tell him to come find me."

"What if the Hokage asks?"

"I'll tell the old man that your Wood Release is suited for close combat and needs further observation. As for how you evolve or who you're hiding, that's the Senju clan's own business."

"What if I threaten the village?"

"When that day comes, I'll ask you first. No Anbu, and no mask."

Asuma took a blank training form from his ninja tool pouch and placed it on the broken table.

"Choose. In one month, which blade are you keeping?"

Chiba spread open his right hand. Metal Wood grew half a foot from his palm, the bone framework tightening into a perfectly straight line. Poison hid within the internal conduits, while roots at the end wrapped around his wrist.

"Not a blade."

"Then what?"

The Metal Wood continued extending forward before finally stopping twenty feet away.

"A spear."

Asuma picked up the training form and wrote only a few words in its first column.

"Then train until, one month from now, no one dares take that spear of yours."