Closing her eyes the moment after she saw Eiji close his own eyes, she waited for a second for the tag to stop working before opening her eyes and looking at what Eiji was doing. He appeared to be taking extra defensive measures against anything that might be coming at him from any side. Which meant he was clear open for her. She formed a few seals once more and touched the ground, this time make the ground beneath Eiji to lower itself until he was complete gone from sight, and then forming the seals again to make the earth on Eiji's left side come at him, intending to crush him in a manner that will simply make him unable to move, but not seriously damage him. Then she kept touching the ground and a moment later she vanished into it, holding out a kunai and heading in Eiji's direction at the case he managed to get out.
Of course the only possible action with him defending like that was for Kuni to attack from below. Eiji was very much aware of this. And he was ready for it. He could open his eyes again a bit more and as soon as the earth shifted he dove with it, hiding in the earth once more. The poi had hit the earth twice. In the ground Eiji formed a seal, before immediately moving upwards again. Before he could reach the surface however Kuni was there. He smiled slightly and then blew himself up, taking chucks of the ground with him, the real Eiji heading the other way.
Just barely managing to stay in the ground as the explosive clone blew himself, Kuni looked at her arm and saw it was slightly burned. It wasn't serious or even bleeding, but it meant to her that she needed to be more cautious. Looking around, she spotted Eiji moving up towards the surface, so she put the kunai away and started heading up as well, knowing he could see her and she couldn't waste any time, she formed a few seals, holding the last one until she was just about to pop above ground and then released the seal. While the real Kuni appeared above ground, a clone stayed beneath the ground, waiting for a signal.
Even though he was an earth user Eiji preferred to be above ground then in it. Besides explosions looked way less... explosive while underground. As he emerged he blinked against the light of the sun even though it was hidden behind some drabby rain clouds. Not far behind him Kuni popped up from the ground. He could see the burn on her arm and wondered if it should make him worried. Then he decided that would not be fair. She could handle herself and he would never kill her anyway. He had enough control for that. He stretches his arms for a moment and turned back to his student. The poi had already come loose from his wrists. They hit the earth a couple of times.
Putting her hand in her pouch, Kuni smiled for a moment before taking out three kunai and throwing them at Eiji's direction and then taking out another kunai and getting ready for whatever Eiji might send in her direction, while the clone moved to be directly below Eiji, with an explosive tag in her hand, slowly bringing her hand up behind him and then leaving the tag above ground before doing the seal to activate it and quickly moving away from the area, to avoid being caught in the explosion.
Still more kunai. Whatever was she going to acomplish with that really. Eiji didn't know, but almost lazy deflected the projectiles, his eyes still focused on her. But then something changed. As Kuni might have noticed Eiji's poi had been hitting the ground quite often now, especially in the area around him. He himself was perfectly aware where the little mines were seeing as he had created them and they were linked to his chakra. When she raised her hand however above the ground she came to close and triggered one of the make shift bombs burried in the rubble. Before Kuni could even detonate her own bomb Eiji's already went off, alerting him on time so that he could jump away, using the poi as a shield against the rubble. "Huh..." He said not sounding very intelligent. "Well that created a blast. You are going to blow up your sensei who uses explosives?"
As soon as the explosion from Eiji's mine went off and made him move, and Kuni knew her clone was most likely gone, she charged towards him, forming seals on the way, but holding the last one until she was close to him. She released the seal and an Earth hand would appear from Eiji's side, moving towards him with great speed while Kuni took out a kunai and threw it from the close range at him, figuring she could try and make it so he needs to defend from both attacks before jumping, thinking that they are no longer where the mines were planted, and trying to land a kick at him from above.
What Kuni didn't seem to get was that projectiles, especially those of a not that high technique, simply didn't work. Eiji seperated his hands, creating two shields in stead of the one that had stopped the most of the explosion. On one side he deflected the kunai, on the other side the earth hand was met with a metal resistance. Neither of the two came in contact with him. His eyes never left Kuni. Then there was Kuni above him. It was a good idea to distract his poi, but it didn't mean that he couldn't use his hands or more. Because she came from above she gave him a little moment to react. A moment he used to simply step backwards and avoid the first blow. Yet it got him close to her and he used the poi on his right hand to lash out to her, aiming to ensnare her with the weapon.
Seeing Eiji step backwards made her realise that it nearly worked, but she needed something to block any possible movements to the sides. Deciding it wasn't safe to wait and see what he might try to do, she formed 4 seals which ended with Monkey, making a defensive clone be ensnared by the poi and attempt to release herself for a moment before it crumbled into smaller rocks. Slightly breathing, Kuni realised that she needed to go easier on how she used her jutsus, as well as her vision became slightly blurry, due to the effects of the improved seal. Rubbing her eyes for a moment, she looked in the direction of Eiji. She had reappeared not far from him, but far enough to let her think about something. Then it came to her mind. Deciding that she won't even need to try and use a jutsu, she took out three more kunai, but instead of throwing it directly at Eiji, she threw them at the ground around him, wondering if he had previously hit the spot with his poi.
It didn't quite work, but Eiji knew that Kuni was burning to her chakra, which had always been his goal. It was all about outlasting your opponent when you fought a defensive war. He wondered how much chakra she had left as he observed her rubbing her eyes. He didn't say anything. This time he was not going to call it quits when he thought she was done. She would have to tell him that herself. Next his eyes went to the kunai that had appeared before him in the ground. He raised his eyesbrows slightly as nothing happened. Was she hoping that she could blow up the mines that lay scattered around the places where he had been walking and jumping? She would have to observe then and look well and then throw well. Could be a nice excersize, he thought suddenly as he slowed down his poi. "So?" He asked as the poi came to a halt and rested along side his body.
Letting out a small frustation noise, she formed a seal but then stopped. She felt somewhat dizzy and understood that it would take a bit to get over it. Sighing, Kuni sat down on the ground "I wanted to keep sparring with you, but whatever that Meisa woman did to my seal is bothering me now. I don't see too clearly." She said and rubbed her eyes once more "My next move was to try and use the fact you stopped moving the poi and get an earth hand to appear from right below you and grab you while I threw a blinding tag, to try and see if I can make you be blinded again for a moment and then... I'm not sure. I didn't plan three steps ahead." She said and then looked at where Eiji stood, still seeing him with blurry vision.
As soon as Kuni lowered her hands and called out to stop the fight Eiji flicked his wrists and let his weapons wrap around him before quickly walking over to his student. He kneeled down before her, a slight frown of worry spread over his face. This alteration of the seal was troubling him slightly. If it was making Kuni incapable of functioning as a shinobi then it was a problem. "Steady now," he said. "I'd say you did well. You understood clearly what my weakpoints were and were capable of thinking of attacks that made me split my attention, that made me loose my footing."
"Glad to hear so. My main aim was to try and make you move as much as possible. I figured that if I could do that, then your focus will already be somewhat lessened, seeing you would need to also ensure that you are not moving to anywhere dangerous. But I guess I didn't quite get to do that part too well." Kuni said and looked down at the ground. After rubbing her eyes a bit and blinking a few times her vision became clear again. Looking up again, she gave him a smile "You don't look good when you are worried. And don't worry, I'm sure I'll get over this thing eventually, or just get used to it. Hopefully get over it." She said and moved to sit on the ground in front of Eiji "Do you think there is anything else I need to think about while fighting?" She asked and wondered if just finding the weakpoints is enough or not.
"You can't tell me to stop worrying when my most energetic student ever told me to stop the fight." Eiji said, but he spoke it on a light tone. "As for your fighting..." The man decided to screw the fact that the ground was muddy and sat down next to her. He had to do the laundry anyway. "I'd say that your strategies all look very alike. At first your opponent may buy that thinking you stupid for using the same thing twice. But as the fight goes on your opponent might think twice about reacting the same when you pull out the, seemingly, same trick again. He might think something is up, as I did during the fight. Besides that I think you got the basics pretty much down and the only thing you can do then is get experience. Which is a good word." He said the last sentence with a smile.
Nodding, her smile grew bigger as she saw him smile to her "Well then, I guess I'll need to train for the next week. I might ask Mei or Naoko to help me train a bit if they are around. I think they wouldn't mind. But I still want to train with you, obviously. I just want to focus on training on my tactics a bit with you, seeing what you just said. That sounds alright with you?" Kuni asked and her smile grew slightly smaller. She hoped that he wouldn't mind her training with more than him, but she also knew that she now had 2 other teammates and that he also needed to pay attention to them.
"That sounds totally fine. Sounds like excellent plan. Training only with me will only train you in certain aspects anyway since I can not do everything." Eiji said. "Besides, you need some more friends around." He nudged her shoulder. "Now are you coming home with me to see how Sachi is prancing around the room? It is really adorable."
Jumping to her feet and accidently tossing a bit of mud at Eiji's shirt, Kuni's smile grew as big as it could "Of course I'm coming to see that!" She said and only afterwards noticed the muddy shirt "Oops... Sorry, Eiji-sensei. But it looks like now you really need to get a change of clothes." She said in a slightly teasing tone before starting to walk casually towards the gate, wondering if he will try and get her or not for that accident.
"You..." Eiji said pretending to sound threatening. It failed miserably however. "Watch it, or you won't get dinner tonight. And then Sachi will be sad because you aren't there and you don't want to make Sachi sad." Even though his words might sound not as happy Eiji too was wearing a smile on his face. The seal did still trouble him and he would inquire after it, but not now. Now they would just go home.
Stopping on the spot, Kuni looked back towards Eiji with tearing eyes and a frown "You...you....you won't let me see Sache if I hit you with mud again? But... It was an accident!" She said and appeared to start to cry a bit, tears running over her face before her left hand, which was partially hidden behind her back, came to the front with speed and more mud would be heading towards Eiji "That bit of mud, however, was on purpose. I'm gonna get a change of clothes and I'll meet you at home, Eiji-sensei!" She shouted to him before running off, quickly leaving the training field before he could say anything. She knew him too well and she was well aware that while he won't be too pleased about it, he wouldn't leave her outside of his house. Smiling about that fact, she headed towards her apartment, wondering what will Eiji make for dinner.