Kuro was still in the process of training out in the rukongai. But he had a problem that troubled him greatly. The ways for him to train himself in solitude were limited, and didn't offer much promise at making him a lot stronger. He sat in his normal clearing wondering how he could improve even more than before. As he sat, he heard multiple noises comming his way through the surrounding forest. Was it a group of bandits? Of course with the state the Seireitei was in these days, there was almost no limit to what it could be. Kuro drew his zanpakuto just in case they weren't allies. His fears were dissolved however when the first new arrival burst into the clearing. Kuro's face broke out into a smile as he recognized Shin, the little boy that he had helped out a short while ago during his training. Shin looked well and happy today. Kuro wondered what he was here for.

"Kuro-san! We finally found you! I've been telling everyone in the village about how you helped me and my friends. After they all heard about it, they said they wanted to meet you."

Kuro sighed. Shin's excitement was a little overboard in his opinion. All he'd done was spend a few minutes of his time to drive off a couple of bandits that were chasing the children. His face widened in shock though when the people behind Shin finally appeared at the edge of the clearing. It looked like Shin must have brought more than half the people in the village with him. This seemed suspicious. There seemed to be more to this than a few adults curious of their childrens' rescuer. As Kuro tried to piece together the meaning of this crowd, one older man stepped out from the group and stood next to Shin before addressing Kuro.

"We have all heard from the children what you did for them. We do not see many Shinigami with that sort of concern and care for us members of the rougher Rukongai districts."

Kuro interrupted the man's speech. "I am originally from the roughest district of the Rukongai myself. Where a person lives makes no impact on their worth in my eyes."

The old man smiled in understanding at Kuro's words. They seemed to be a confirmation to whatever he was thinking. "An excellent answer. We are pleased that such a thoughtful person exists in the Shinigami ranks. We have come here today to offer our services to you in any way we can. The children told us that you seemed to be on a training exercise. While we may not be as strong as those in the Seireitei, we could offer you training partners and sparring experience to help you become stronger."

Kuro was amazed. He had his answer to the problem he had just been pondering. Standing up from his resting spot, he walked over to stand beside Shin and the old man and addressed the crowd of people still amassed at the clearing's edge.

"I thank you in advance for all the help you offer me. I never expected this for what I did that day, but I am deeply moved by this. I hope that I can meet the expectations of everyone here today."

Kuro's words were surprisingly met with a quick round of applause. Afterwards, the villagers all scattered in all directions. Kuro was confused until he saw what they were doing. Some where gathering wood while others set up large tents. It looked like they were turning his clearing into a massive training camp. He didn't have long to observe them however. He found himself immediately confronted by 4 large men. Their faces looked friendly enough, but there was no doubt about what they were there for. The same man that had explained the offer to Kuro stood on the side and described the exercise.

"This is a four-on-one fist fight. We ask that you do not use your sword in this sparring match. See how long you can last against these men, or try to beat all of them."

Kuro grinned as the four men took positions surrounding him. He gave a slight bow to each of them as the old man raised a hand to signal the start of the fight. As soon as the old man's hand dropped, the four opponents charged straight at Kuro from all sides. The one in front of him threw a wild punch at his face while the three others worked in unison to cut off Kuro's escape routes. Kuro met the man's fist with both of his hands, absorbing most of the blow, but being pushed back into the man standing behind him. He had to act fast, jumping up and over the waiting opponent just as he tried to grab Kuro in a bear hug type hold. These men seemed to be mainly the brawny type, but that just made things dangerous when dealing with them. He could dodge and escape their blows, but the problem was how to bring them down. He landed behind the second man and jabbed at the side of his torso, aiming for the soft spot under his ribs. The blow did stun the man, but didn't seem to do much lasting damage. As Kuro wondered what he should do next, he suddenly saw stars as he took an unexpected blow to the side of his head. The other men had snuck around outside his range of vision and surrounded him once again as he attacked his current target. The blow wore off quickly, but Kuro could still feel the light pain in his temple. He spun around on the spot and leapt fiercely at the man standing to his right. His speed being his best weapon, Kuro launched three quick punches. The first two aimed for the guy's chest, giving him a defending attitude for that area. Kuro's third punch took a different path, sailing over the man's lowered defense and striking him right in the throat. Kuro felt weird about always exploiting the same weakness on tough guys, but it was the best way to quickly defeat them without spending too much stamina. The struck man collapsed on the ground gasping for air. Kuro jumped back from the leftover three, keeping an eye on the downed man until he saw that others were moving in to help him. With that taken care of, he moved in to attack the others. They moved more cautiously this time, none of them wanting to face the same fate as their partner. Their arms were raised in similar positions that guarded their necks. Kuro smiled and dashed in low and slammed his fist into the stomach of his next target. The impact made the man double over with a sharp intake of breath. Kuro leapt up into the air and came down feet first on the man's back, smashing him into the ground. As he jumped off the man's motionless body, Kuro heard the sound of one of the other two men charging towards his back. He spun around and delivered a beautifully timed jumping uppercut into the man's chin, sending him over onto his back. Kuro then faced the last man and decided that there was no reason to conserve stamina anymore. He rushed towards him as fast as he could and launched a flurry of punches aimed at various points all over the man's front. The sudden onslaught caught the man offguard, and he could not react as Kuro hit him again and again. In a few minutes, the man fell over, completely knocked out. Kuro breathed heavilly as he sat down next to the old man who had observed the whole fight.

"That was an excellent match, but don't be so relieved that it's over. Tomorrow you have more strenuous training."

Kuro sighed in exhaustion as he rested and wondered what kind of training he'd face tomorrow.

(ooc: this thread is for fighting skill)

+ 2 Fighting skill