Very Good! +2 to Speed

(Speed please. Thanks very much judges.)

Kaito felt someone shaking him awake as he struggled to continue the excellent nap that he was having, but to no avail, "Leave me alone old man...I said leave me alone..." he reiterated over and over again as he fought against his dream assailant. Finally waking up with a pool of sweat dripping down from the area where it had settled on his chest, Kaito awoke to see the seniors standing around him with worried looks upon their faces, "Are you okay, Saruwatari-san?" they asked him many times. Kaito looked at the ground for a couple of seconds before he looked around him once again as he put on the most assuring smile that he could muster at the moment, "I'm fine you guys...you know how sometimes dreams get the best of you" he laughed. It seemed that his story had somewhat quelled the fears of the senior students because they moved to give him space to get up and begin the last level of the training that had now been going on for the last three weeks. "Saruwatari-san, it has been an honor helping you to become stronger and we will do our best in this last training exercise!" they shouted in unison coupled with a firm salute to him.

All Kaito did in response to their admirable display of respect was to wave at them dismissively as he put a weak smile on his face, "You guys know that I have never been good at that kind of thing. Please, let's just get this last excercise done" he said. The head senior nodded his head in understanding as he stepped forward from out of the group showing that he was still the leader of the group, "For the last training you will need these" he said as he held out some weights that had the word, "Guts" written upon the side. Letting out a groan as he failed to hide his disappointment, Kaito asked the senior, "Those aren't ankle weights...please tell me that those are not ankle weights..." he continued to say in disdain even though he knew that they were indeed ankle weights. When the seniors only stood around him in a solemn silence Kaito knew that his complaints were falling upon deaf ears and that the fastest way to get through the training would be to simply put on the weights so that they could just start the training. Once he slipped them on Kaito saw a strange green light be emitted from the weights that were now attached to his ankles and then he heard the voice of the head senior begin to speak, "The next training is simply to avoid allowing any of us to capture you" the student said with a grin on his face.

Just as Kaito tried to fathom the cryptic nature of the head seniors statement, he saw that three of the other seniors had taken battle stances out of his peripherals, "Oh no, why does this always have to be so much strenuous activity?" he called out in dismay. One of the seniors immediately appeared behind Kaito with impressive speed which was on a completely new level as far as Kaito was concerned, "Some of them know how to use shunpo...Damn" he muttered under his breath. The boy reached out to grasp the back of Kaito's shikakushou and Kaito bent his knees so that he would simply leap away from the boy's reach with ease since he was faster, but as Kaito took to the air he realized that his movements were slowed dramatically. He barely managed to escape the boy's grasp only through the twist of his body in mid-air so that he landed to the left of the boy's assault; it was then that Kaito heard the head seniors voice again, "The ankle weights cut your speed and movement to half of what it is normally at its best" he finished as he came running at Kaito with his kendo stick raised in the air. Rolling quickly into a position so that he could be facing the head seniors assault Kaito wondered how he would get out of this training successful as he watched the stick cut through the air aimed at his left arm.

Quickly he planted his right arm into the ground and began putting his weight upon it so that his body was suspended horizontally in the air only being held up by the right arm which was still braced into the ground as the stick grazed the messy black hair that was Kaito's hair style. Pushing again off the right arm, Kaito moved to create some space so that he could handle the dramatic decrease in his own speed and the increase in the speed of the senior students, but he didn't have a chance as two seniors fired kido techniques at him. Narrowing his eyes Kaito realized that the kido techniques were the binding Hainawa, also known as the Crawling rope kido. The ropes of kido energy writhed through the air towards them as if they had lives of their own and Kaito began channeling reiatsu through the balls of his feet preparing to shunpo away from the kido techniques. He pushed off the balls of his feet only to find that he didn't move very far and he remembered that his ability to use shunpo was decommissioned because of the fact that his speed was now cut in half, "Oh shit..." Kaito thought as the ropes came flying towards him.

At the last second Kaito devised a plan that would allow him to escape the ropes of kido and still be able to have enough time to react to any other attacks that he was sure was coming, "I guess I am going to have to overcome this disadvantage with fast reflexes..." Kaito realized. He quickly crouched so that his fingertips were grazing the grass of the clearing and then he leaped into the air over the techniques, but he knew that he was close to being caught as the energy crackling from the ropes made his nose prickle as they passed underneath him. He continued to float upward into the air searching for the positions for all the senior students, but to his dismay he only caught view of the two students who had shot the kido at him. It was then that he sensed the reiatsu of two people above him and he glanced back into the sun to see two of the senior students coming down towards him with their academy robes fluttering in the air as if they were made of the feathers that birds used to fly. The two swung down with their sticks at Kaito, but he quickly countered this attack as he flipped around so that he was facing them and then placed his heels into the attacks that the students rained upon him. Using the momentum of the strikes Kaito was propelled to the ground at a very high speed where he landed on all fours and was about to make a move when suddenly a kendo stick appeared at his neck. "Saruwatari-san...don't think that you have finished so quickly..." the voice warned him menacingly as Kaito made sure to keep his body as still as possible.

+2 to Speed

(Speed please. Thanks judges)

Kaito narrowed his eyes as he glanced behind him, but he couldn't tell which of the seniors had him pinned at the moment, "I've got to approach this entire scenario with a lot of caution since it could be very troublesome for me..." Kaito thought as he flexed his hand muscles. While he had already come up with a scenario where he could escape the less than favorable situation he was in, Kaito also had to make sure that he was able to avoid any attempts to attack him once he managed to escape. Looking around he watched as the other seniors cautiously took steps towards him, but Kaito was most importantly looking for the head senior who was by far the most skilled of all the senior students so naturally if Kaito didn't locate him immediately then he would be looking for trouble. Spotting him to Kaito's near left, the young shinigami waited until the senior who had his kendo stick motioned for the others to come in closer and in the process slightly moved his body to the left. That was more than enough for Kaito to make his move and escape the clutches of the senior's advantage as he quickly grabbed the academy student's wrist while at the same time driving off his back foot which resulted in him launching the senior through the air.

Although Kaito had managed to get out of a tough spot, he wasn't even allowed the time to celebrate or see how the action had ended as there were already several kendo sticks flying through the air him along with their screaming student's whose faces were twisted in concentration. "Dammit..." Kaito thought as he backed away from one swing and then switched his hips so that he was facing in the opposite direction so that he could duck under the next swing, "These guy's speed is a bit too much for me while I am wearing these things..." he assessed. The head senior leaped into the air threw a kick at Kaito in an attempt to force Kaito to use his hands to block the kick which would leave the young shinigami open to the kendo strike that would be followed behind it. Even with his speed being only half of what it normally was, Kaito wasn't going to allow these guys to get the best of him with such simple manuevers, "C'mon now, don't get careless just because I have these damned anklets on!" he said brusquely as he leaped backward a couple of paces. He heard the swoosh of a kendo stick in the air as he just began to set his feet on the ground and turned to see a kendo stick once again in the process of striking him, but at the last second Kaito gathered reiatsu to the soles of his feet which he used to leap over the slash.

Kaito landed and immediately turned around to see the senior students inching towards him which surprised him since they normally took every opening that they could find to assualt him so when he watched them inch towards him rather than their usual mad dash he became curious. "What exactly are you guys planning on doing?" he asked to the seniors with his eyebrows furrowing as he watched the seniors inch towards him with the kendo sticks raised high in a position to strike when ever the need arises. Suddenly as if on cue all the seniors stopped and pointed their index fingers at him and called out, "Hado # 4, Byakurai!" in unison which was not something Kaito had been expecting to happen at the moment, but then he remembered that he had agreed to such terms. He moved quickly without using shunpo and his speed was still impressive as all the seniors saw was his silhouette as he slid quickly underneath the many different lightening shots that had been fired at him. Once he slid at the feet of the nearest senior he leaped into the air and drew his left fist back, "If you guys are going all out...it wouldn't be fair if I gave you the disservice of half assing it out here now would it?" he asked with sarcasm thick in his voice.

Suddenly out of nowhere a kendo stick flashed into Kaito vision and he was forced to abort his assault by flipping backwards to avoid the surprise assault that he had anticipated at some level, but hadn't been expecting it to come at the time that it did. "Not bad team coordination here..." he realized as he stared out at the senior students that he had been training with for awhile now, "They have truly gotten better...even though there growth is isn't necessarily as great as mine these guys are unbelievable..." he thought. When he had finished his thoughts his wits returned to him in time to see two seniors on both his right and left side and Kaito braced himself to move when the two swung their blades at him, but they surprised as they grabbed both his arms. As Kaito stared in surprise at the development of the situation he heard the footsteps of attackers closing in on him and he turned his head to face directly in front of him as the head senior and another guy rushed towards him. When the oncoming senior attackers were only moments away Kaito leaned back and then swung his momentum forward so that the two students holding his arms would fly forward giving Kaito the time he needed to escape the dangerous situation, but then he saw a foot come flying at his face as soon as he turned around.

Gathering reiatsu into into the soles of his feet, Kaito prepared to dodge the attack, but he wasn't sure that he would be able to with his speed cut into half, "At this rate...maybe there is a chance that I can use shunpo here..." he hoped as he gathered more reiatsu into his feet. The kick came at his head at a speed that Kaito could predict very easily, but the only dilemma that occurred to Kaito would be whether or not his body could react to the kick that was coming at him, "Now!" he told himself. Synchronizing his movements with the shout of his mind's eye, Kaito pushed off the balls of his feet as he flash stepped away from where the boys had tried to pin him down for the attack to the middle of the clearing even though it took a lot more effort than it normally did for him. Gathering his breath, Kaito whirled around and flash stepped to the branch of a tree, but he was immediately met by the head senior who seemed to be able to match his speed at Kaito's current level. "Kaito-san, try not be so obvious with your movements when you are at such a disadvantage..." the head senior said with a look cold fury in his eye as he swung his kendo stick horizontally at the young shinigami who was surprised by the speed of the attack.

+ 2.5!!! Yay!

(Speed please)

Kaito watched as the attack slammed into his body mercilessly, reminding him that no matter how much faster he got there was always the possibility that circumstances could change in the favor of an opponent, "Dammit...I did get careless after all..." he managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth. The other seniors looked at the head senior with worried expressions on their faces, but the leader simply waved his hand forward indicating that they continue on with the onslaught of attacks. Still trying to regain his bearing after the kendo stick had caused him to lose his breath, Kaito struggled to draw deep breaths into his lungs as the other seniors came running at him with a dire sense of conviction within each of the eyes which let Kaito know that it was time to get serious. Standing up once again, Kaito prepared himself as the first of the seniors came slashing wildly at him in diagonal fashion with no regard for the fact that Kaito might decide to counter his movements. After side stepping the first two attempts at striking him with the stick Kaito gripped the seniors wrist once he had raised both arms over his head in another slash, "You guys presume too much about me... to attack me one-on-one?...that's fucking insulting..." he said with venom in his voice.

As the last of his words escaped from his lips Kaito sensed another presence closing in from just outside of his feild of vision, "Always from the backside..." he thought as he tightened the grip on the senior that he already caught and balanced himself on the balls of his feet without turning back to see how close the person was. Measuring his breaths as he waited for the swish of the kendo stick that would give him the signal to move, Kaito watched as the senior in front of him moved his free hand from the hilt of the kendo stick and pointed his index finger at Kaito. Not showing any expression at all even though he hadn't foreseen that type of counter attack, Kaito immediately began to think of another way which he could move without having to take either attack from the two assailants. Time quickly ran out for on his thinking time as he heard grass crunch in the area just behind him as he heard the sound of a weapon cutting through the air towards him; he still kept his eyes on the senior in front of him who simultaneously called out, "Hado # 4, Byakurai!" with confidence. Allowing his instincts to take over, Kaito ducked underneath as he let go of the senior's wrist; widening his legs around the senior that he was facing Kaito now remained suspended in the air for a short amount of time as the two attacks passed over his head and into the two senior who were unprepared for the occurrence.

Driving both hands into the ground Kaito forced his body to twist into a spin as he wrapped his legs around those of the senior who was casting the kido spell and then he quickly threw his left arm out in a sweeping motion as he came out of the twist at the other senior who was swinging the kendo stick. Both of the students hit the ground next to him with shocked expressions on their faces as the events had taken place within the span of a couple of seconds, not allowing them the chance to register what had taken place. Kaito used their bewilderment to his advantage as he quickly sprung up from the ground and broke into a run so that he could create distance from the two, but his plan was thwarted quickly as he was shortly flanked on both sides by two seniors. Not sure how they would choose to attack Kaito kept running so that he could watch for any sudden movements that would force them to be out of position to catch him, but then out of no where the head senior flash stepped in front of him with the same look of fury in his eyes. "Damn...just what did I do to his guy?" Kaito wondered to himself as he braced his right leg in front of him as he watched the head senior launch himself through the space between them with the kendo stick set in a position to impale Kaito.

Using his braced leg not only to stop his momentum, Kaito was able to spring board over the head seniors attack as he flipped over the rampaging shinigami potential and the two shared a glance as they began to think about the next movements that would have to be made. Unfortunately for Kaito the two seniors that had been flanking him weren't thrown of by his evasion of the head senior's attack as they kept pace with him on the ground, completely prepared to strike should an opening appear as he landed on his feet once again. Drawing his legs underneath him quickly, Kaito prepared to leap once again since he knew that they would attack thinking that he shouldn't be able to react in time to avoid their quick strikes, but he was fooled as the two maintained leverage upon him and kept flanking him. When Kaito landed he didn't stop moving his feet because he realized that by doing this it decreased the chances that one of the seniors would be able to pin point his position and launch an attack that would be completely unavoidable for him at his current speed. Now the three fighters were running a line, the two on the outside eyeing the one in the middle with precarious attention, his every move being calculated and watched, "These leg weights do make for one helluva of a training after all..." Kaito thought as all skepticism was erased from his mind about the weights.

In an attempt to try and shake the two flanking seniors Kaito stopped, but in the same moment cut quickly to the right so that he might somehow escape the flanking position that they held him in only to be disappointed by the fact that another senior was flying towards him with a kick. Leaning his left shoulder back as he ran, Kaito managed to avoid the kick as the senior sailed by him, but now he was off balance with his arms flailing and he could almost sense that someone was going to take advantage of it in that moment. Trying to right himself as quickly as possible, Kaito flailed his arms when he saw the head seniors and three of his goonies coming at him with impressive speed, "Here he comes again...can't someone else come after me?" Kaito questioned rhetorically. Instead of trying right himself, Kaito quickly decided to allow the momentum to dictate his movement in the hopes that not having to stop on the dime will allow him enough reaction time and a good enough body position to somehow allude the three opponents that were now upon him. Two of the seniors came hurtling toward him without stopping so he was easily able to dodge their attacks by rolling between the two of them, but as he came out of his roll, he found himself face to face with the head senior's kendo stick once again.

Excellent
+ 2 to Speed

(Speed please. Thank you judges)

The kendo stick moved towards Kaito's face with speed even he had to admire because despite the fact that he had completely focused his mind's eye on the movement of the head senior, the young academy student had still found a way to strike at him. Quickly throwing his body so that he was flat upon the ground, Kaito watched as the kendo stick zoomed just out of reach of his face and in fact it was so close that small pieces of his hair fell off from the sharp reiatsu that had been swirling around the kendo stick. "What the hell are you trying to accomplish?" he asked from flat on his back as he stared up at the head senior, whose eyes were still glinting with a look of muderous intent, but Kaito only watched for a little while because suddenly a shadow appeared that blotted out the sun causing him to look up in the sky. Sighing the young shinigami leaped up from the ground and rolled away until he came to a stop a little distance away from the two students who were breathing heavily at this point. "It looks like even with just half my reiatsu I can still ha-" he started to say when he felt a drop of blood slide down his cheek in a complete contradiction of the statement that he was about to make; holding his cheek Kaito stared up at the senior students once again.

"Kaito-san-seki...don't you get that we are more like you than anyone else? You think just because we are academy students right now that our powers are at the same level as mere academy students...?" the head senior wheezed as Kaito readied himself to take a preemptive strike. Just he had predicted one of the senior students' feet stamped the ground just behind him as he braced himself when he had initially heard the stamp of the student's foot, this gave him enough time to bring his face close to the ground as he raised his legs to the student's wrist so that it was possible to grasp his sword hand. The young academy student looked down at his wrist in which he also held the sword as Kaito kept his feet wrapped tightly around the students wrist so that he wouldn't be able to do anything unless any of the other senior helped him, but Kaito also realized that he wouldn't have much longer to simply act as he wanted. By pushing off of his hands Kaito used the momentum that kept him briefly suspended in mid air and twisted his body so that his legs twisted which conversely led to the young senior losing the grip of his kendo stick that went flying through the air. Quickly regaining purchase of his footing, Kaito used a series of well executed leaps to land away where he had a view of all the seniors simultaneously as well as the student who had lost his kendo stick which was laying in the grass next to him, "One less kendo stick that is going to potentially cut me in half..." Kaito thought to himself as he regained his breath.

It wasn't so much that the fight was wearing Kaito out, but the anklets that were attached to his body at this point were beginning to have an effect upon him so he figured that it would be best to try and finish off this session as quickly as possible which meant that he would probably have to knock them out or something. "Well, guys unfortunately time isn't on my side since these things are continuously draining my reiatsu away..." he said as he rose and got into a combat-ready position, "...so since that is the case I'm going to retaliate a little bit..." he finished as he stared at the head senior. A smile of sheer joy came across the academy students face as he quickly took the opening of Kaito's explanation to start off the second wave of the attack that the senior students had begun against Kaito; this time Kaito ducked under the first slash and then grabbed the head senior's sword wrist. Concentrating on his movements to make sure they were very precise, Kaito readied himself to throw the head senior into one of the rushing attackers that was quickly closing in on his left side. As he was glancing at the position of the attacker so that he could make a decent estimation of where he would need to launch his attack he felt a pull from the head senior so he quickly turned around to see the bottoms of two feet rushing towards his head.

Having no other choice, but to let go of the head senior's wrist, Kaito moved his head to the left and avoided the double kick attack that the head senior had attempted to use upon him, but he knew that the fight wasn't over so he quickly wheeled his head around to see the other senior had his palm raised. "Hado # 31, Shakkaho!" he called out as a red sphere of kido energy gathered at the palm of his head and exploded forth towards Kaito, who had begun to dash towards the senior as the boy was releasing the kido spell. Using his mind's eye, Kaito was easily able to slow the movement of the ball of energy as it sped towards him and when it finally was directly in front of him, the young shinigami side stepped it with ease without removing his eyes from the caster of the kido. The senior must have not been expecting Kaito's movement to be so swift when he had the anklets on because by the time the senior had recovered from his shock Kaito was already upon him. "Too bad...you almost had me there..." Kaito said as he drove his shoulder into the senior in a takedown, but once the student's body hit the ground Kaito positioned himself so that his body was perpendicular to the ground and his shoulder crushed the boy's lungs.

The boy let out a gasp and flailed about a bit as the full force of the attack sent the air rushing out of his lungs which finally caused the boy to pass out from the shock of the attack as well as the effects of having the win knocked out of him, "You guys have improved at the same rate I have..." he thoughtfully reflected. His time to have deep meaningful thoughts was cut short when suddenly a kendo stick came slicing downward at him from the corner of his eye causing him to leap backward and directly into the attack of another senior who used a shoulder charge to ram into his back before he could come to balance. The unexpected attack left Kaito completely unprepared to handle the force of the charge and he fell to the ground gasping as the two seniors who had started the attack circled him menacingly in complete silence as they began calculating their next moves. "What troublesome guys..." Kaito thought as he struggled to force wind back into his being, but then he looked down at the anklets, "...and what troublesome anklets..." he further decided. Quickly leaping at the senior that had circled within his direct line of vision Kaito dodged the first feeble attempt that the senior had used to counter his movement; the sword thrust shot past Kaito's ear as he was able to adjust his body so that the attack just barely slipped past him as he used the momentum of the evasion to power the palm thrust that he threw at the senior's head knocking him unconscious.

+2 speed ^^

(Speed please.)

Kaito stared down at the senior who now laid on the ground, prostrate in his defeat at the hands of the lazy shinigami that he had once looked down upon, "I suppose it's true what they say...pride comes before a fall..." he muttered as the wind blew his hair messily into his face. With a candid expression on his face, the young shinigami looked around at the others to see if there would be anymore participants in his training, but it seemed that this would be the end of it since they could no longer handle him. "Well...it was troublesome, but in the end you guys really ended up pushing me to a level more suitable to my potential..." he said as he reached down to take off the anklets, but suddenly a shadow blocked out the light. "Eh...do you mind moving...I kinda want to get this annoying thing off as soon as possible..." he nonchalantly stated to the figure, but to his surprise it didn't budge. Standing up to his full length, Kaito realized that it wasn't an academy student that was standing in front of him, it was his old sensei, Natsumi.

"Now I see why my best students are getting hurt in some odd activities in the middle of the day" the woman whose crystal eyes gazed into Kaito's crimson eyes with absolutely no fear at all. "Eh...forgive me, Natsumi-sensei...it's just something that we have been doing for awhile, but don't worry this was the last session....I'm good now..." he waved his hands nervously as he explained the situation to her. The woman whose purple hair dangled behind her stared at him thoughfully before saying, "Why stop now? I'm sure you can get better than you currently are..." she asked him suggestively and Kaito began to get a bad feeling. "Ah...wait a minute sensei..." he started to say as he backed away from Natsumi as she stared at the kendo stick that lay precariously in the grass by her foot, "You know..." she muttered as she tapped her index finger upon her lush lips, "I think I can help" she finished. No sooner did she say that did Kaito break into a full out sprint away from her as he glanced back to see what she would do just in case he needed to change his plans about escaping; he knew his situation was as bad as it could possibly be.

As he stared back at Natsumi, he saw her flick the kendo stick from the ground to her hand using nothing, but her feet; it wasn't the fact that she did this that scared Kaito, it was the ease with which she performed the skill with that frightened him. Grasping the hilt of the kendo stick in her hand she shifted her gaze to the retreating Kaito and gave him one of her famous smiles before disappearing only to reappear seconds afterward in front of him. She flicked the kendo stick at Kaito's knee forcing him to stop running lest he run straight into the attack; with the kendo stick only inches away from his knee, Kaito was at Natsumi's mercy. "Well then, I think we should start with a training that goes a little something like this..." she said as she executed an elaborate succession of sword strikes that involved her moving nothing, but her wrist in the process. Kaito leaped backward to dodge the first two strikes, but then watched as his pants fell to his knees; it seemed there was more to the teacher's swordsmanship than just the strikes that were visible to the eye.

"Hmmm...it seems that those anklets do more than just simply lower your speed...it looks like they also decrease your foresight....interesting" she assessed as she circled Kaito several times as the boy embarrassingly pulled his pants up once more. "Ah...sensei...look...I appreciate the gesture, but...I'm really tired and you have a class to teach..." he protested as he tried to back away from the aesthetically pleasing woman, but she quickly flash stepped behind him and brought the kendo stick to his throat. "Now...I have a few exercises in mind for someone of your level and you're going to complete them without complaint, are we clear on that?" she asked menacingly so Kaito had no choice except to oblige the woman's wishes. He spent the rest of the afternoon running through agility courses that Natsumi set up as she raised the stakes by attacking him in the middle of exercises forcing him to dodge without messing up the footing on any of the courses. After several failed attempts, the young shinigami managed to get one without failing and Natsumi decided that it was time for the next one which made Kaito inwardly, but he didn't show the fierce woman his disappoint before something horrible befell him.

His next task was to run through the Sereitei with her placed on his back while she was jabbing at his feet with the kendo stick which wasn't as bad as he thought it was, but he had a very hard time completing the task with ease due to a minor technicality. Natsumi was one of the most beautiful women in Soul Society so to have her climb on his back made it quite impossible for him to focus when her anatomy was pressing every so tightly against his back causing him to stumble many times. Night blanketed all of Soul Society, saving Kaito from further abuse as the woman climbed gracefully off of Kaito's back and began to brush any debris from her teacher's kimono, "Well, that wasn't bad, but you seem to have been distracted by something..." she said completely oblivious to the effect that she had on men. "We will pick up where we left off tomorrow...you had better get it right next time..." she warned as she strolled away leaving Kaito in the middle of the market area by himself. The young third squad member was tired, bruised, sweating, and most of all completely frustrated with the progress that he made today, but then he remembered how it felt to have Natsumi on his back and he scratched his head embarrassingly as he made his way to his sleeping quarters.

+2.5 speed Kaito