Way of the Ninja

Ryu and Momiji were training together in the forest. A clang of swords echoed throughout the air.

"You're getting better..." Ryu struggled to say as he was pushing his blade against his apprentice who had suddenly increased in skill the last couple of days.

"I'm just getting started."

Momiji then jumped backwards took her hand and made it into a fiery flame and hurled herself towards Ryu. Her master dodged to the left and she followed with a sweep kick which was blocked by Ryu sticking his foot up. Quickly, her sharp blade whipped through the air towards Ryu's neck. He did a slow back flip and brought one foot up to kick Momiji in the jaw. She grabbed his foot, swept his other leg and punched at him to only punch the soft mushy ground below her.

'That slippery ninja.' Momiji thought to herself. She was interrupted when she felt a tug at the front of her shirt and a hit on her jaw and suddenly she was launched up into the air.

'He won't get me with something like this…' Momiji thought. Wiggling her arms she grabbed a hold of the super ninjas arm and kneed him in the abdomen. With a small gasp of pain Ryu loosened his grip only to regret it moments later. Momiji hurled him downwards at a high speed and he landed on his back coughing from the impact. When he opened his eyes he felt his ribs get crushed due to the fact that the young ninja had come spiraling down towards him with her knees out. She hopped off and looked down at her master and idol.

"Is that all there is to the super ninja, the one who defeated the four greater fiends and the arch-fiend?" Momiji said taunting him. After she was done the super ninja suddenly disappeared in a swirl of green leaves. Momiji tried to sense his presence but to no avail. Out of nowhere, she felt a heavy weight atop her head. Before she could react she felt an immense pain in her face from where Ryu had kicked her.

"You've always been too cocky, Momiji." Ryu said in a condescending voice looking down upon his pupil with his arms folded.

"I'm… not… done… yet..!" Momiji called out launching a punch towards Ryu's face. The super ninja caught the powerful blow in one hand and a gust of wind hit him in the face. He realized his mistake that instant. Momiji fell onto her back dragging him along with her and she kicked him high into the air, she jumped, grabbed Ryu's lower body and wrapped her legs around his upper body and head, squeezing tightly, she pointed his head towards the ground and the fell at a rapid speed towards the earth beneath them. Frantically, the Super ninja began to work his hands and freed one. He began working a ninpo. Momiji recognized this action and gave him a hard downward kick to the jaw. Ryu still holding on released a small art of the piercing void and cast the deadly technique towards the ground breaking his fall and propelling him upwards just a little bit so he could break free from Momiji's death grip and did a backflip. Skidding, he landed and looked up.

"Shall that conclude our training for today?" Ryu said bluntly.

"Got roughed up a bit and had to call it quits?" Momiji laughed as they began to walk back to the village.

"You're progressing quite nicely, you almost had me there. Too bad I went easy on you." Ryu said to her.

"Please Ryu, I know you were trying your hardest in that fight, I could see the struggle in your eyes."

"It wasn't struggle. It was the fact that you left yourself so wide open for me to strike several times. For instance, when you tried to chop of my beautiful face. You left you're right side open. I could have snapped you neck when I jumped on your head and when I got prepared to unleash my new Izuna technique."

New Izuna technique. What was he talking about? Momiji didn't care she just wanted to be praised by the man. She began a soft pout.

"Nonetheless, you did a good job. You're growing up to be quite the powerful adversary." Ryu smiled and put a hand on Momiji's head slowly rubbing back and forth with his eyes closed in a happy manner.

That made Momiji happy as she laughed and thanked him.

Suddenly all the laughter changed to shrieks, and cries of pain and horror.