"I think I might enjoy this for once."
Toru felt a strange sense of trepidation when he heard those words. It wasn't that he was scared of Masaru, who could be scared of the little twerp, rather he was put off by Masaru's lack of fear.
It raised alarm bells in his head, but he swiftly decided to ignore them. He had no reason to fear Masaru, and even less to believe he had a sliver of a chance at beating him.
The two of them formed the seal of confrontation and pushed towards each other. Toru started with a big haymaker. His form was loose and uncontrolled, not even bothering with using a proper technique.
Masaru took note of this and immediately decided he was going to punish that choice. Luckily, he'd progressed to the point that he could not only see Toru's attacks now, but with his chakra running through him he could react much faster.
He ducked under the haymaker and pressed two quick fists into Toru's ribs and liver, causing him to hunch over. Masaru molded chakra into his fist, storing it in his shoulder, then the elbow, then his wrist and knuckles, doing his best to reinforce them all for the force that was about to rock them.
More chakra flowed down his arm, finding its place in his fist which was rocketing towards Toru's shoulder.
Smack!
Toru grunted as the hit landed, frowning at the amount of power behind it. Masaru's body was still rather weak from only two months of training, but his chakra hat yet to stop improving, allowing him to bridge the gap between his and his peer's strength.
Masaru's eyes widened as he felt a hand wrap around his wrist, and he saw Toru's vicious grin before he was pulled towards a large fist. At the last second, he tilted his head back, reducing the damage he would take.
He felt something in his nose crunch as his head snapped back and his vision doubled, but he didn't let that get in the way. Masaru followed his budding instincts, preforming one of the many moves that Maruboshi had drilled into him time and time again.
With his left hand held in a firm grasp, he pulled on it, which Toru saw as him trying to get away so he pulled in return. Masaru hopped lightly, letting himself be pulled forward as he twisted his body, using his grabbed arm as his source of power and driving his right elbow into a specific spot on Toru's shoulder.
Yet another painful grunt left Toru's mouth as he felt the feeling in his fingers give just enough to allow Masaru to free himself.
Masaru hopped backwards and sucked in a deep breath to help his eyes clear faster, subconsciously happy that he'd actually managed to pull that move off. It was a move that called for quite a lot of accuracy in order to hit a cluster of nerves in the shoulder. His teacher had drilled many of these kinds of escape moves into him.
He'd told him many times that there were few things more important than his life.
Masaru refocused his eyes to Toru, who was frowning heavily after being hit two times in a row, and both had caused more pain than he expected to experience in the entire fight. Slowly, Toru fell into a proper stance, deciding that he couldn't take this as easy as he wanted to.
A smile spread across Masaru's face when he saw that. "What, you mad because you can't bully me anymore? I wonder who raised you like that, if I was your mother I'd have killed my-"
"YOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH RIGHT NOW!" Toru snapped, losing all semblance of composure and rushing towards Masaru.
Masaru's smile deepened even further, and he could feel his heart beating in his chest like a war drum. Despite the fact that the fight was much more dangerous now that he was being taken seriously...he was enjoying this.
"This is kinda fun!" He cackled as he weaved his way through attacks. Most of them hit him, but he was able to twist and duck in a way that limited the damage he received from them. And for the first time since arriving here, Masaru was actually having fun being beaten up.
Maybe it was the the feeling of his racing heart, or maybe he was giddy that he'd enraged the source of his frustration to such an extent, but he simply couldn't wipe the smile from his face.
His eyes flicked down to Toru's leg as the boy moved through a set of attacks. he recognised much of how Toru was moving, because a lot of it was similar to him, but he could tell that there were parts that had been changed to better suit him, and that was really what the Leaf Kata was for- a basic kata that would act as a foundation for the future and be changed as one went.
Toru had probably been taught a modified version by his clan, but Masaru could still pick apart several moves as they fought. Which gave him the courage to pull his next gambit.
He stepped back as Toru went through a kick followed by two punches. Masaru managed to slip just by the first two, then instead of retreating for the third, he stepped in to avoid the cross coming his way. Finally, chambering his leg, he slammed his foot into the inside of Toru's knee, taking a hit of his own to his gut.
The two of them were sent sliding from each other. Toru leaned to his good side and Masaru held a hand to his stomach. Still, his smile remained.
And glancing to the side only widened it when he saw the twisted look on Kotetsu's face. The man was confused, his brows pulled so close together they nearly looked like a unibrow.
Turning his focus back on Toru, Masaru decided that he needed to end this. While he was keeping up, he was definitely feeling the damage pile on. Already, nasty purple bruises were forming all over his body, especially from the direct hit he'd taken to the stomach. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he and Toru stared each other down.
"...Fuck it." Masaru lowered his hips, pushing chakra into his legs and launching himself forward.