Kaito had asked some of the students from his class to help him out with his speed training since he felt that there was still much to do in terms of increasing his ability with shunpo past the point that he had already done, "I can't believe even as hard as I worked it was all for nothing" he said as he waited for the rest of the people he had called to show up, "Although...I don't even know any of their names" he thought as he scratched the back of his head and laughed to himself. Suddenly he felt a couple of reiatsu that didn't quite reach his own, but felt a bit out of the league of shinigami, "That must be them" he thought, "...Asking senior academy students to do this may turn out to be a pain in the ass" he miserably wondered. Suddenly several silhouettes appeared behind him where he sat in a clearing he found just outside of the 8th squad barracks. He chosen this area because he knew that Kyouraku Shuusui was one of the kindest captains in the Gotei 13.

"Yo, Kaito, right?" he heard one the senior students asked him as he got up, but didn't turn around. Half-turning his head so that he could see the students he said, "Yea, unfortunately, I'm that guy". He could see the shocked looks on their faces, "What's with you guys looking so frightened of me?" he asked earnestly. Some of them squinted their eyes at him and others shook their heads at him, "So, you're really going to train for real?" he heard the leader of the group ask him. Kaito couldn't help, but laugh out loud at the question as he turned his body to completely face the 5 seniors, who have distinguished themselves as among the most talented of the academy students. While Kaito wasn't sure what level he was on compared to them, he didn't really care since the only thing occupying his mind was graduating. With that he mind he walked straight towards them in a business like manner, "Let's get this training started. I don't really have time to mess and play footsies with you guys" he said lazily. Placing himself in the middle of the circle he explained to them what the training would be, "Do you understand now?" he asked them in an authoritative voice that he normally didn't use. "Shut up, let's get going" he bluntly.

The student directly in front of him raised his hand up and extended his index finger, "Hado # 4, Pale Lightning" the kid said out loud. Kaito focused his mind as the lightening strike came towards him. Quickly gathering reishi at his feet, Kaito pressed off his feet and quickly reappeared at the other side of the circle that had been formed around him, "Not bad, but I still couldn't stick the landing" he thought as he struggled to maintain his balance after flash stepping. He didn't have time to even do that as the next academy student shot off another around of Pale Lightening at Kaito. In his off-balanced footing Kaito dashed away to the other side of the circle once again without getting himself set. "I got the hang of this somewhat" he thought as he watched as the next student gathered reiatsu to his finger and prepared to fire another shot of Pale Lightening at Kaito, "This is a little too much training for me" he contemplated as he watched the next guy prepared to shoot another shot of Pale Lightening at him.

Dodging the shot once again, Kaito ran away to the direction of the leader. As he ran towards the leader Kaito readied himself, never planting completely on his feet. He always pressed off the ball of his foot so that he could bounce in a new direction. Kaito was pretty happy about being able to escape senior academy students of their level, "Maybe there is hope for me yet" he thought. The leader quickly raised his hand up and extended his finger up, "Pale Lightening" he said calmly. Kaito couldn't help, but stare in shock at the speed with which the leader of the group reacted to him. The lightening exploded at him and he stared at it, wide-eyed until it was basically inches from his face before he gathered his wits before he rolled away just in time. He even felt the heat of the kido flash by his face as he dashed off in the direction of one of the other senior students. Kaito finally stumbled onto the ground at the feet of the other senior students, "Damn" was the only thought that shot through his mind as he quickly rolled over so that he could regain his balance quickly enough to dodge the finger that was pointing at him as he lay sprawled on the ground.

"Sorry, Kaito looks like training is over" the guy said as he smiled down at Kaito, "Pale Lightening" was last word Kaito heard before the bright flash of the kido blinded him. Kaito wasn't going to allow this to happen though and he again channeled reiatsu throughout his body which allowed him to explode up and away just in time to escape the blast of the kido technique. Finally he raised his hand in the air signaling that he needed a break, "Y-You guys, would you please give me a couple of minutes?" he asked them as he took in deep breaths as he was on all fours. Kaito was pretty bummed out that the training wasn't over since he did so much work in the first place and it made life hard for him. Things made him feel pretty downright exhausted at this point, "I have got to get myself a better method of training instead of getting hammered by these guys" he said. Kaito put his head down on the ground as he got up and dusted himself off. "I'll be ready in another 15 minutes" he told the others as he sat down onto the stone that he had been perched upon when the seniors had first arrived.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but you can't perform flash step untill your speed hits 20, sorry, if you edit it here and their and make it so you don't use flash step, then I will mark this post

+2 speed

Kaito's lungs burned as he rested on the rock that was precariously sitting at the corner of the clearing that he had chosen to train in. He felt as if the first session of training had gone well and that he would continued to get better as the training continued making it even more probable that his speed would get better as he continued to work hard with the senior academy students. "Come on, let's get this whole thing going again" Kaito said to the other academy students as he rose from his seat. The other guys walked over to where he was, returning once again to their places so that the training could start once again, "Kaito, it looks like you really have improved since the last time we saw you in class" one of the students laughed as they made their way back to their spots. "Oh, shut up" Kaito said as he walked back to the middle of the pentagon that the others had made.

Focusing his mind once again so that he would be able to react, Kaito inhaled and exhaled where he stood, "This time I will not only work on pushing off with the balls of my feet, but here I will also focus on being able to move my body at high speeds to avoid getting struck at close range" he decided before he saw one of the other students raise their arms at him. "Hado # 3, Crimson Strike" the boy called out as concentrated reishi began to gather at the boy's finger tips and at that same moment Kaito tensed his body in anticipation of the attack. Once the beam of energy was fired from the boy's had, Kaito didn't move immediately because he wanted to work on his reaction speed in this round of the training session, "Slow it down with your mind..." he thought calmly watching the light flash towards him. Finally when the beam was only a few inches away form Kaito's face, he slowed it down in his mind allowing him to move out of the way.

Watching the beam now with almost a new view of the world, Kaito saw the beam advance slowly towards him as if it were moving at the rate of a snail, "It looks like I've finally understood the concept of keeping the speed of my mind's eye" he happily realized. Moving his head only slightly to the left, Kaito dodged the beam. He felt as the heat of the attack sailed by him nearly scorching his skin on the way. Kaito narrowed his eyes as he watched as another one of the senior academy students raised their hands preparing to cast another kido spell, "From the looks of it, these guys are going to be mixing up their kido spells" he thought to himself. Suddenly after a quick utterance of an incantation Kaito heard the guy say, "Hado # 31, Shot of Red Fire" just as a flaming angry fireball came careening towards Kaito. He knew that he shouldn't wait until the last second to avoid this one since just the side effects would result in him getting burnt if he waited too long.

Quickly focusing reishi into the balls of his feet, Kaito dashed to the left, away from the fireball and directly at the foot of another student, who was preparing to cast another kido technique to hit him. "Hado # 4, Pale Lightening" he heard the boy as once again Kaito could see the reishi gathering at the fingertips of the student, "This is no good...They're increasing the level too fast" he contemplated to himself completely unenthusiastically. Forcing reishi through his muscles he prepared to dodge the attack that had become common place to him. The attack sped toward him as if it were a guided missile, but Kaito's new speed allowed him to once again slow the attack down in his mind's eye as he stared at the lightening attack coming towards him. Calculating its closeness to him, Kaito made his move slowly after he felt sure that he had come up with a good estimate of how fast the attack was moving towards him. Leaning slightly to the left he managed to move his body out of the way of the attack, but he miscalculated as the lightening attack singed part of his shoulder as it sailed past.

He clutched his shoulder as he rolled away from the boy, who had fired the attack at him. "Kaito, are you ok?" he heard the other boys ask him with worried looks on their faces. "You idiots...don't stop now I don't have time to be giving up" he said as he breathed in so that he could focus himself, "One more shot and then we can start worrying about how I'm feeling, got it?" he said as he once again as he prepared to make his stand against whatever attack was next. He heard the ring leader of the senior students begin chanting and before he could hear the chant the boy said, "I really hope you dodge this Kaito-kun..." the person said. Immediately as he turned around to face the boy, who had spoken to him Kaito heard the words, "Hado # 33, Blue Fire, Crash Down". When Kaito heard this his eyes opened wide and he turned to see a huge blue flame engulfing him, "Calm down...Slow it with your mind's eye..." he told himself as he closed his eyes for a quick second. When he opened them again the blue flame's speed had slowed down enough for him to focus reishi at his feet and figure out a direction to dodge in. Leaping up in the air, Kaito felt the intense heat that the exuded as it just barely missed him. He landed on the ground soundlessly, "Alright, time for another break guys..." he wheezed once he could manage the words.

wow...+3 speed

Struggling to his feet, Kaito rushed over to the boulder once again a bit winded than he wanted to be, "Dammit...this is supposed to be getting easier not harder..." he thought to himself. He could feel the other senior student's worried glances at him which didn't make him feel any better since he hated to be the person that everyone was worrying about. Blocking all the worried stares out of his mind, Kaito returned his focus to what had transpired some short minutes ago, "I can see it now...before their attacks were like blurs to me, but now I can slow them down with my mind's eye" The fact that he could see their attacks was no reason for him to be excited, but rather it meant that Kaito would be able to handle learning shunpo once he reached that point.

The thought of it made him quickly get over his pain and regain his breath; his recovery was faster than what he thought was possible, but he knew it would be worth it in the end. "Alright guys let's get the third round going" he announced to the senior students once again. A few grumbles and shuffles in the dirt brought them quickly back into formation and Kaito was in the center ready to begin the training once again. As usual the leader of the pack kicked things off pretty quickly as he chanted, "I am facing the muzzle of a cannon at you. You are a pistol. I am a cannon. In timing and power, my weapon surpasses your's. Have you seen... The Flying Blade Attack?, Hado # 23, 36 Pound Cannon" he yelled out. Kaito sighed as he had expected that it would unfold this way, but he quickly gathered his wits and focused on timing his bursts of reiatsu instead of just relying on being able to just completely avoid everything. "Wait...Wait...Wait" he said as the wind blade made its way to him in a hurry, "Now!" he cried in his head as he blasted reiatsu throughout his body.

His muscles now charged with reiatsu, Kaito leaned to the left and firmly planted his left hand into the ground, "Here we go" he thought as he watched the attack proceed towards him. Pushing off his hand which was dosed in reiatsu Kaito was propelled to the other side of the pentagonal figure that had been made around him for the sake of training. Timing was hard and Kaito hadn't completely escaped the wake of the attack he noticed as he grabbed at a piece of his robe that had been torn away by the attack."Geez...timing is hard, but I can get the hang of it here" he reassured himself as another kido technique came sailing at him. Again this time he waited, slowing everything down in his mind's eye, taking deep breaths so that his movements would be calculated and controlled. At the last instance the lightening attack was inches from his face and Kaito back flipped so that it zipped just inches above his nose, "I didn't even hear when the kido was cast that time" he moaned inwardly. Even as he brought his head back into position to see what was going to happen next, Kaito heard a thunderous sound at his back.

"Shit..." he thought as his eyes widened, witnessing the Black Thunder kido that was descending upon him. Calming himself he tried to come up with a strategy to dodging that kido without defending himself using kido and then he realized that he could take to the sky, but the timing would have to be perfect. "Slowly..." he said in a low voice as the dark cloud had all, but engulfed him, "Now!" he cried out as he pumped huge amounts of reiatsu into his legs which spring boarded him upward and safely away from the dangerous looking cloud of reiatsu. Just when Kaito thought he was safe, he heard a chuckling noise above him, "Kaito, don't be so lax when you are training..." one of the senior students said as he floated above Kaito. "Oh boy, this is bad..." Kaito thought as he narrowed his eyes so that he could try and counter whatever move was going to be made next.

"Hado # 13, Killerbee" he kid sneered as multiple lightening sparks formed at his finger tips and exploded towards Kaito. "Dammit..." was the only word that came to mind as Kaito pumped reiatsu through his body, "I can do this" he said as he fell back to the earth with his back facing the ground. The little buds of lightening rained down just as Kaito touched his feet to the ground, but fortunately he managed to avoid the first wave by applying huge amounts of reishi and pushing off the balls of his feet. The last thing that Kaito remembered was a buzzing noise as flashes of light struck him on numerous places on his body as he clenched his teeth and tried to absorb all the pain that was being channeled to his brain via his nervous system. Finally his mind could no longer hold on through sheer will power as he slipped into unconsciousness at the hands of the kido technique.

+2 to speed

Stirring a little, Kaito tasted grass in his mouth and that wasn't a pleasant taste for someone unconscious so he immediately rolled over and sat up spitting up the blades that had gotten into his mouth. He looked up in surprise to see all the senior students laying on the ground and as far as he could tell it seemed as if they had exerted themselves pretty heavily, "You guys were training while I was knocked out?" Kaito asked earnestly. The leader, who was perched on a rock bathing in the sun with his shirt off, turned to him and said, "Are you stupid? We just spent the last half hour trying to heal you dumb ass" he spat out. Looking down at his body, Kaito realized that he didn't feel any pain and that there weren't any injuries from the attack, but he quickly looked up. "If you guys hadn't gone overboard with the attacks then you wouldn't have had to heal me in the first place" he grunted as he made his way to his feet.

"You guys ready then?" he asked, not caring whether or not they were still tired from healing him, "It's there fault after all...taking things so seriously...I just wanna get this over with" he cried inwardly. Kaito wasn't the guy to be so adamant about getting his training done so this was going completely against his nature and he didn't like at all. The guys rose up with sinister grins on their faces, "Well, Kaito since you weren't thankful, this time around we won't be as generous with our attacks" said one of them as they walked to the formation. Kaito gulped, "On second thought...how about we switch from kido spells to you using your kendo sticks to try and slash at me?" he said. Not that it wouldn't be tough on Kaito, but it would give him more time to work on generating huge amounts of reiatsu at the designated body part quickly so that he could move faster when the time came for him to move. He watched as the senior students drew their kendo sticks and took their stances facing him. Kaito breathed out to expel any nervous energy that was within his being, "Calm...Just stay calm and analze every situation" he told himself as the first student ran at him full speed, his kendo stick raised above his head.

Kaito watched the boy's muscles and movement so that he could then adjust his own body accordingly, but then he heard a footstep behind him. Throwing a quick glance behind him, Kaito saw the swing of a kendo stick making it way for his shoulder, the same shoulder that had been burned before, "Geez...I wonder if these guys are training me or trying to kill me..." he complained mentally. Reacting quickly, Kaito let out a controlled burst of reiatsu that allow him to push off in the direction towards the first boy that was still coming at him. Kaito was heading straight for the kid that was yelling out a warrior's cry as he continued to come at Kaito with the raised kendo stick. Just as the two were close enough to strike, Kaito planted his left foot into the ground and quickly began to focus reiatsu into the balls of his feet while he watched the boy swing the kendo stick down towards him. At the last possible second Kaito allowed a burst of reiatsu out from the bottom of his left foot and he dashed right with more than enough speed to avoid the kid's attack, "I'm getting the hang of it" he thought as he slowed him self down.

Suddenly the leader of the group appeared in front of him with his kendo stick tilted toward the ground, "Shit...his stick is tilted toward the ground which means he's going to use an upward slash" Kaito worked out in the scenario in his head. Waiting for the kendo stick to be swung upwards, Kaito tensed his muscles and began circulating reiatsu throughout his body once again in preparation of the impending attack. As he had expected the leader of the senior group had amazing speed and his kendo stick flashed upwards, leaving Kaito almost know time to even react to the movement; almost no time to react. He pumped reiatsu into his legs and as he was exploding backwards, Kaito watched as the kendo stick flashed just inches away from his face in an upward motion. It seemed as if Kaito had finally managed to get a hold of the idea of body activation, but his happiness at his new found understanding quickly gave way to focus as once again a senior student came crashing down on him from above.

Kaito leaned back and pressed both hands into the ground to slow his momentum down, narrowing his eyes he watched as the kid came at him with dangerous speed. Since he hadn't completely come to a halt, Kaito decided to use his momentum to his advantage as he pressed down with his hands and brought his legs over his head in a back flip as he felt the debris from the boy crashing into the ground where he had been. Once he landed on his feet Kaito saw three of the senior students coming at him at once, the leader of the group included and it took almost all the concentration he had not to panic. "Slow them down in your mind's eye" he told himself as he closed his eyes and exhaled once to master himself. He opened his eyes and saw every muscle that tensed up as the three seniors attacked him, but he was all smiles at this point. The leader had gone for his head and Kaito ducked under the attack feeling the stick pass harmlessly over his head, but his eyes had already focused on the next attack. The other two seniors had gone for his legs, so Kaito quickly pumped reiatsu into his legs and exploded up into the air avoiding both strikes. As he sailed in the air, basking in the sun he couldn't help, but feel proud of his advancement at this level, "Looks like I'll get that bamboo blow pipe after all" he thought with a smile.

Once Kaito landed on the ground the other students circled him with their kendo sticks held low to the ground, but Kaito noticed that they were panting from that little bit of exercise, "Maybe it was too much for them to be doing after using their reiatsu to heal me..." he pondered. He was sure that it wouldn't do him or them any good if they were tired out before the training even started so he raised his hand in the air, signaling them to stop, "Let's take a break, you guys are tired and it's a waste to just keep running around out here" Kaito stated firmly. The senior students obliged his idea whole heartedly as they made their way to a spot that they could rest and Kaito moved to go back to the boulder when he saw the leader standing in the same spot eying him, "What's he thinking?" Kaito wondered as he stopped and looked at him. "Kaito, you have improved, but I've been holding back because I didn't want to hurt you when you had your attention on the others" he said. Kaito waved his hand at the guy indicating that he didn't care, "Look, that's fine and dandy, but I'm going to take a break now so just give it a rest while I go sleep" he dismissively stated to the head senior. Suddenly the head senior was in front of him, "I told you I was holding back" the senior said as he tensed his body up to slash at Kaito.

Completely caught off guard, Kaito wasn't ready at all for the senior's attack so when the senior slashed at him all he could do was move left as the kendo stick struck his right forearm. Kaito slid through the dirt a little ways and turned his focus back to the head senior, "What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to kill me?" he yelled. The head senior didn't respond to him, but instead stood up tall and once again dashed at Kaito with amazing speed; speed that was greater than anything the other students were capable of. Before Kaito could blink the senior was right in his face getting ready to launch another assault at Kaito, "Can this guy use shunpo?" Kaito observed, awestruck as the senior rained a combo of slashes at Kaito. Finally focusing himself as he recovered from the shock of the head senior's skill, Kaito slowed the movements down with his mind's eye, dodging first left, then ducking and then he rolled to the right. Scrambling to his feet quickly Kaito was almost immediately met with the image of a kendo stick slicing through the air at his head.

Pivoting on his right foot Kaito opened his body counter-clockwise allowing the attack to fall harmlessly to the earth, for an instant the senior's face and Kaito's were close; Kaito's face was twisted from the effort of dodging the vicious assault while the senior's face was devoid of any emotion. Pumping reiatsu into his legs like he did before Kaito leaped back so that he could create distance between his attacker and himself, but before he could even feel his feet touch the ground the senior had started towards him once again. "Damn...I have absolutely no time even if I slow his movements down in my mind's eye..." Kaito frustratedly thought to himself. The senior slashed at Kaito's torso, but Kaito leaped into the air and over the attack. Bringing his feet over his head, Kaito flipped himself past the senior again trying to create distance between them. Dust flew up in the air from where Kaito's feet skidded through the ground; as he was sliding Kaito began pumping reiatsu through his being once again getting ready for the senior to strike at him once again.

Once the dust cleared, Kaito was surprised to see that the senior wasn't coming at him; in fact the senior academy student wasn't anywhere in sight. Suddenly Kaito heard a footstep behind him and he turned around in time to see a wooden stick blur past his face as he took a step back to keep from getting hit by the slash aimed at his head. Kaito released the reiatsu that he had pumped in his legs and he dashed to the right, gliding over the ground as he moved at high speed towards where the rock was. To his surprise the senior student again was right in front of him with his kendo stick resting on his shoulder with that same look of complete disregard for what he was doing. Slamming his feet into the ground Kaito managed to bring himself to a halt, but it was directly at the feet of the head senior, who thrust his kendo stick down at Kaito with a whistling noise as it sliced through the air.

Bobbing his head to the left Kaito avoided being impaled by the attack, but his academy clothes that were by now dirty and muddy got pierced just at the collar. Kaito reacting quickly to the situation grabbed the kendo stick and ripped it upward, tearing his collar in the process, "I've got to keep moving or else this guy may really kill me" he thought. Leaping back Kaito prepared himself for another assault as he stared down the senior student with determined eyes as he stood crouched over panting and sweating like a dog. He barely had enough energy at this point to keep going at the rate that they were moving at and Kaito was sure the head senior knew that just as well as he knew it, but he would keep on fighting until he could no longer push himself. Just when he thought the head senior was going to attack him again, the head senior raised his hand in surrender and said, "Now we can go and rest" as he strolled past Kaito to join the other seniors.

On the boulder where he had been perched since his little skirmish with the head senior, Kaito tried to make sense of what had happened just moments before, "So this entire time, I thought that I was faster than these guys...this guy was just joking with me?" he questioned himself. Looking at his tattered academy robe, he decided to rip off the blue and white upper part of his kimono since the flailing pieces may only serve as a hindrance to his training. "Now, I'm sitting on the boulder with no shirt on and they are there laughing at how stupid that head senior just made me look..." Kaito pondered to himself. In truth he didn't care about being made a fool of since he had expected some of these guys to be better than him since they were practically already shinigami anyway; he was just a bit unhappy with the fact that he would have to continue the training for the next three days which is what they had forced upon him as an agreement of them training him. Sighing Kaito jumped off the boulder and made his way to the center of the clearing once again, "Well, by now you guys should know the routine..." he said completely bummed about his situation.

"Actually, Kaito, we came up with a new kind of training that you can do" one of the seniors said as they walked up to Kaito with a sincere grin on his face. Kaito looked at the guy quizzically, "What kind of training would that be?" he asked, a little wary of the kind of training that these guys may try to suggest to him. The guy kindly explained to him that using a tree with lots of leaves, the seniors would make a whole bunch of leaves fall down and that he, Kaito would leap down after the trees and try to collect all of them before they hit the ground. While Kaito was trying to catch all the leaves the senior students would be firing kido attacks at him, trying to make him miss his targets and lose focus of the overall objective of the training. "In short, this training is about focus, speed, and awareness..." Kaito said as he tried to comprehend the kind of training that these guys were suggesting. Running the image of the training through his mind, Kaito thought, "That is going to be impossible to actually collect all the leaves, but it would help me a lot if I can slowly over time increase the number of leaves I can get" he decided. Giving the seniors the go ahead nod Kaito made his way up to the top of the tree.

Once he made it to the top of the tree, which was a great oak making it a very tall tree, the seniors fired off kido attacks to drop the leaves from the tree. After a couple of failed attempts the leaves finally began to fall and Kaito leaped off the top branch, where he had been perched like a ninja, "Focus...Block everything else out" he told himself as he sailed towards the earth. Watching as the leaves fell to the ground, Kaito focused on the falling leaves slowing them down with his mind's eye as he reached out and grabbed the first one with relative ease, "This isn't going to be so hard after all." he told himself as he reached for another leaf. Suddenly he felt a hot sting as his hand had been struck by the kido spell, Pale Lightening, "Shit...I almost forgot that they would be firing at me as well" he scolded himself for not paying attention. Another kido came flying at him, but this time it was a Crimson Strike; pumping reiatsu throughout his body to activate it, Kaito was able to maneuver his body out of the way of the impending attack by spinning around in the air as he fell. Reaching out for the next leaf, Kaito made himself not only aware of the leaves that were falling, but also any incoming kido attacks that were flying his way.

Realizing that the leaves were falling away from them, Kaito quickly tried to come up with a strategy to speed his fall so that he could catch up with the leaves that had begun to make their distance away from him, "The tree..." Kaito immediately realized that he had a chance. Focusing reiatsu into his legs, Kaito began running on the bark of the tree so that he could catch up with the accelerating leave; he managed to snatch two more leaves as he ran down the trunk of the tree as nimbly as a squirrel would climbing a tree. Out of his peripherals, Kaito spied two kido attacks flying towards him and he leaped off the bark so that they crashed into the trunk of the tree as he glided down after the falling leaves. He had attained four out of the original 10 that were there, "Just 6 more and I have got it..." Kaito kept telling himself as the wind struck his face as he fell down the tree trunk. Another kido, this time a Shot of Red Fire, came aimed directly at his head as he was reaching for another one of the leaves, but Kaito back flipped and pushed off the bark of the tree as he fell down towards the ground once again.

Kaito reached out and managed to snatch two more leaves as the ground rushed up at him hurriedly, "I don't know if I have enough time" Kaito worried as he saw some more kido spells flying his way. He managed to duck under the next Pale Lightening and then he stopped in his tracks so that the White Lunar Spear Shot landed just in front of him, but he immediately cursed himself for doing so. Pumping large amounts of reiatsu into his legs, Kaito exploded after the last four leaves as he flew at incredible speed; he was moving so fast that his jaws were flapping in the wind from the drag of his speed. Stretching Kaito managed to snatch one more leaf as he was forced to jam his feet into the trunk of the tree so that he could slow down and not be splattered across the earth. Cursing himself, Kaito opened his palm to the senior academy students, who counted that he had missed three of the falling leaves and told him that he needed to get better still. "I can't wait til I get away from these guys so I can go, hide, and sleep" he miserably thought to himself.

oh dear god you write a lot >.<
apologies for the wait,
+3.5 speed, you have just leanred Shunpo

After the last training session, Kaito felt that he basically understood the mechanics of shunpo and he figured before they started on the final two training exercises that he should give it a try. Although he was sitting on the boulder that had become his normal perching place Kaito was sure that if he really understood the technique he should be able to use it, "Here goes nothing..." he thought in a dull manner. Gathering his reiatsu at the balls of his feet as he normally did, Kaito pressed lightly against the boulder he was sitting on and tensed his muscles up so that he could move when the time came; he was about to perform every shinigami's dream technique. Pushing off the boulder Kaito felt a light breeze and before he knew it he was in the midst of the senior students, who had been nothing short of long stone's throw away, "Yo, what's up guys?" he asked with a grin of pure satisfaction. The senior students looked at with complete awe on their faces, "Did you just--" one of the seniors started to ask him, but he quickly held up his hand to stop them from continuing, "Forget it, it was nothing" he said with a smile that forced him to close his eyes. With the same smile on his face he pointed to the head senior, "Now, why don't we test our limits out? What do you say, Mr. Star?" he asked confidently. The head senior rose to his feet and they both made their way to the clearing again; both of them tensing up for the showdown that would serve as an acknowledgment to who was better.

Kaito stared hard at the head senior, his limbs loose and ready to react to anything that the guy was going to try on him, "Last time we went at it, he all, but killed me. This time I hope its different. And I still don't whether or not he was using shunpo last time..." Kaito thought. He cleared his mind of all the worries when the head senior half crouched and unsheathed his kendo stick; Kaito crimson eye's narrowed as they tried to take in every movement that the head senior was making. Blinking only one time, Kaito found the head senior right in front of him preparing to make a strike at his head, "Dammit" Kaito thought as he ducked underneath the whistling kendo stick. Once again gathering reiatsu into the balls of his feet, Kaito flash stepped backward in order to create distance, but then he saw the head senior's image disappear. "I saw it..." Kaito thought, "He did use shunpo then..." he realized suddenly he heard a voice behind him, "You can use shunpo, Kaito, but you're still a failure. You haven't even graduated yet, you dropout." the senior said to him in an emotionless sneer. The words hit Kaito like bricks, but he didn't show it as he flash stepped to the right so that he could avoid any attempts that the head senior may have tried to make to strike him.

Stopping some distance away, Kaito wiped the sweat off his face as he looked back to see the head senior running at him with incredible speed even though he wasn't using shunpo this time, "It seems that it takes alot stamina for him too..." he observed. The senior swung his blade horizontally at Kaito legs and Kaito flipped backward in an attempt to dodge him while creating space at the same time, but as soon as he landed he was faced with the senior's vicious combo assault. The first swing was a vertical slash that probably would have split Kaito's skull, but he managed to open his body away from that and it fell ruthlessly into the ground. The senior capitalized upon Kaito focusing on the attack quickly threw a roundhouse kick at Kaito's head, but at the last second Kaito was able to lean back so that the bottom of the senior's sandal was only inches away from Kaito's face. Stumbling back from being a little off balance as a result of his effort to avoid getting struck Kaito's eyes widened a bit as he watched the head senior quickly spin and then pivot off his foot with a vicious right hook coming along with it. "Shit", Kaito thought as the punch suck into his stomach and knocked him to the ground. Bouncing through the dirt as a result of the attack Kaito tried to come up with a strategy that would allow him to counterbalance that the senior had in both speed and experience, "What can I do at this point? This guy's speed is amazing and his movements are always a tad to fast for me to keep up with..." Kaito thought as he finally was able to plant his left hand into the ground and push off of it so that he was able to establish his balance once again.

As soon as Kaito made his way to his feet, he saw another fist coming directly at his nose and all he could do was to raise his arms up in an X formation so that he could at least avoid breaking his nose in the process of being shown up by the head senior. The impact that Kaito felt sent him flying back a couple of feet before he was finally able to dig his heels into the ground so that he could once again gain control of the momentum as he looked up at the head senior, "You won't be able to outrun me if all you can do is shunpo. You're still slow and a loser" he heard from the person walking towards him. Kaito slowed his breathing and focused himself as he stared off at the head senior, "He's wrong I can do even better than what I'm doing now. Forget what he says, there's always a strategy for every scenario." Kaito thought as he willed reiatsu throughout his body. Opening his eyes once again he smiled at the head senior, "You're really quite inspiring when you try to to be." he said as he quickly used shunpo to get behind the head senior who turned his body and swung at Kaito. Without much effort Kaito was able to duck underneath the first swing, but then he watched as the senior changed his weight and it was as if Kaito could tell what every muscle was going to do, "Laziness is a good thing if you can harnessed all that untapped potential" Kaito said in a low voice as he flash stepped up and into a tree branch. As he started to feel the effects of using shunpo so much on his first day he looked back towards the ground and said, "Don't make assumptions about a person based upon their personality. Calculate before you decide to make moves, confidence without knowledge is arrogance" he said through each forced before he flash stepped back towards his boulder.

Sitting on the rock trying to catch his breath once again Kaito wasn't sure if he really had what it takes to graduate especially after what the head senior said to him; he started having his doubts about whether or not he could actually make his way to graduation with just his skills. Then he remembered that time that he was in Rukongai going through that dreadful training, he remembered why he had chosen to join the academy even though he wasn't very pleased about all the work that he was going to have to do. Smiling Kaito enjoyed the way that the sun felt upon his bare upper body as he began to get ready for the last two training sessions which he knew would push him far beyond the average levels of shunpo, as he glanced over at the senior students he could tell that they were getting ready to really give him the training of his life. "My, my, what have I gotten myself into? Getting senior students mad at me like that is really asking for trouble. My life is so troublesome" he sighed as he leaned back against the rock and enjoyed his resting period.

^_^
+2.5 speed

Kaito got nervous as he stared at the senior students, who had now huddled around their leader and were fervently discussing something, "I hope that they don't decide to kill me.." he thought as he sat on the boulder soaking in sun rays, "Maybe it wasn't that clever to insult the head senior student after all..." he concluded. It was something that he had been thinking about since the entire incident that had flared up between him and the most talented out of the group of the senior students. Deciding that it would be better to know what exactly the senior students were up to rather than to simply just wait for them to walk over and kill him without him ever suspecting a thing, "Hey...would you guys mind telling me what is going on?" he asked a bit sheepishly considering that these were all shinigami level academy students so to anger all them wouldn't be a good idea. The fact that they all stood up at once didn't make things any better for Kaito's nerves as he quickly took a step back and held his hands up to protect himself from being struck until he heard, "What are you doing?" from the head senior. Kaito pretended to scratch his head and murmured that he was doing nothing and that they should quit wasting time since he wanted to go and sleep.

The senior started off by explaining to him that they were going to blind fold him and the training would not only train his speed, but it would test his reaction, body control, and perception abilities. Kaito was still a bit suspicious about the entire training since it essentially took away one of his best abilities; which was to read the scenario and come up with many possible strategies while being able to pick the best ones. With a bit of hesitation, Kaito allowed the guys to put the blindfold over his face, "Calm down Kaito, you should be calm or else you can't complete the training to the best of your ability" he heard one of the students tell him. Once the blind fold was on, Kaito heard the footsteps of the seniors back away as he reached his hands out trying to make sense of his surroundings so that he wouldn't be compellingly caught off guard once the they began attacking him, "What have I gotten myself into?" Kaito thought. Struggling to deal with this entire training scenario, Kaito breathed out so that he could clear out his mind which would make him a much better fighter in this scenario.

Suddenly Kaito heard footsteps coming from the backside of his left ear, quickly he stilled his body as the person came crashing towards him and then preceded to make alot of noise as he swung, what Kaito guessed was the kendo stick at his leg. Kaito evaded by flash stepping up into the air so that he could give himself time to react if any of the other seniors came attacking him in lew of him dodging the first assault made upon him, but then he heard one of the senior say out loud, "Kaito, we will slow down the first couple of strikes so that you can get used to the idea". Kaito breathed out as he listened for any sounds that would give away wanton movement that didn't belong to the environment as he floated back down to the ground suddenly he heard someone chanting, ""Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws, Hado # 33, Blue Fire, Crash Down" Kaito knew where the attack was coming from, but he couldn't be sure that he could dodge an attack that bit, "This is too much..." Kaito thought as he tried to anticipate how fast the attack was coming upon him through his other senses. Finally he came up with a new way to figure out whether or not he was being attacked and not a moment to soon as the blue flame nearly engulfed him before he flash stepped up into the tree branch of a nearby tree.

By focusing his sensing ability Kaito had come up with a way to see without truly being able to see, his vision was limited to spiritual energy, but it was better than nothing. It didn't mean that he could move at the speed that he was capable of, but that was the point of the training after all, "I had better be careful. That head senior has a reason to go at me so to be caught of guard wouldn't really work to my favor..." Kaito thought to himself. Suddenly he felt a whoosh in the in the air, but it was to his left side so when he felt the force of a kendo stick striking him from the right side Kaito was completely caught off guard. Gritting his teeth so that he could bear with the pain, Kaito calmed himself once more as he reached out using his sensing ability to try and perceive any incoming attacks. Hearing the crunch of a twig behind him, Kaito immediately turned in that direction and awaiting the movement that would give him even more of a precise estimate of where the attack was coming from. Then he heard the movement of cloth right next to him which gave him enough warning to flash step away, but then as soon as he planted his feet into the ground he felt a pair of hands grab him firmly and toss into the air.

Since Kaito couldn't see he didn't really have a sense of his body positioning so he found it hard to balance himself before he landed back on the ground; as a result Kaito crashed on to the ground with a sickening thud. He got to his feet and ripped off the blindfold, "This is pointless there is no need to train like this. I'm trying to increase my battle speed, not become half-fluent in sonar" Kaito spat to the seniors. One of them shrugged their shoulders and said, "I'm with him on this one, there's no way this is gonna make him faster. We should just do that other training we talked about" he stated to the rest of the group. This amazed Kaito for some reason, "These guys don't even know what training is going to help me and what training isn't going to do me any good?" Kaito wondered worriedly, "Maybe I am a bit in over my head on this..." he grumbled as he sat down watching his sensei argue like little school girls.

Very Good!

+2 to Speed

(Speed here please. Thank you very much judges.)

Finally after much debate the seniors students came back towards Kaito seemingly ready to get on with the last two training exercises which suited Kaito just fine; the only reason that they hadn't started a couple of days ago was because of Kaito's graduation which raised many eyebrows. Having become a 3rd in the 3rd squad Kaito was somewhat of a celebrity now and the seniors regarded him with a little more respect despite the fact that he was so young, even by human standards. The head senior walked over to Kaito as they finished the discussion that they were having, "Kaito-san, would you please follow us to the middle of the clearing" he asked in a chillingly polite and formal tone that Kaito wasn't used to. Not saying anything Kaito made his way to the clearing in the stead of the senior students who now fanatically mobbed him as if he were their hero. Stopping suddenly the head senior began to explain what the next training exercise would be, "Since you are above average at shunpo we thought that it would be best if we worked on you close combat speed, Kaito-san. In truth, most of the battle is fought in close combat therefore you must learn to dodge multiple attacks at once" he finished. The rest of the seniors nodded their affirmation of the head senior's statement as they removed their kendo sticks from the sides of their robes where they normally rested, "I see so now at a standstill speed, I'm going to have to be to dodge multiple sword slashes at once" Kaito said out loud.

The head senior nodded his own head with a focused look on his face as he drew his kendo stick out as well which in turn made Kaito groan inwardly as he stared at the seniors begin to circle him in their fighting stances, "...Even as a 3rd seat...I'm still required to finish this training. Such a troublesome predicament..." he thought. Spreading his feet shoulder width apart, Kaito prepared to evade any oncoming attacks that the seniors would throw at him, "Begin!" the head senior barked out signaling the start of the training lesson. The two seniors to his immediate right took several steps towards him and Kaito also heard one pair of feet closing on him from behind so he half-turned towards them so that he could see all his attackers. The breeze that passed by them an instant before the impending assaults came, poetically reminded Kaito of the quiet before a storm as the academy students came rushing at him with the kendo sticks primed for a vicious attack. The two that had appeared from Kaito's right attacked simultaneously, swinging the blades so that there was no room for Kaito to simply move left or right to avoid their attacks, but that wasn't the only thing that Kaito had to worry about Kaito found as he glanced quickly to glance at the attacker that had come from behind him.

As if the situation was tough enough, Kaito was now also forced to dodge an attacker that was aiming for his knees essentially taking away any shot he had at simply just ducking underneath the two frontal attacks, "Geez...the guys are really working together on this one..." he observed. Sighing he quickly leaned to the left making sure to keep his arms close to his body as he did so then with the same level speed brought his legs up so that his body was now parallel to the ground for the most part. While the brunt of the damage from the attack had been avoided by the maneuver, there was still the chance that Kaito could be grazed by the attacks that were now destined to miss him so he began rotating his abdomen in a counter-clockwise motion; the opposite direct of the attacks. As he spun in the same place in the air as the attacks harmlessly passed by him, Kaito could see the shocked looks on the senior academy students faces as their sticks continued to hit nothing, but air. Landing on his feet in a crouched position, Kaito heard another pair of feet coming from his left side and he quickly opened his body towards the attacker while staying aware of any of the other senior students that would attack him.

He watched as the senior came at him with impressive speed, his legs pumping in a blur as he moved closer and closer to the crouched Kaito, "Is this the difference between a shinigami and academy student?" he thought as he watched the boy's movement that would have seemed fast to him just a few weeks ago, but now seemed so slow. Time seemed to be on his side as he could see every small adjustment that the senior made in preparation for attacking Kaito and he instantly knew that it wouldn't be hard to avoid the attack that was coming to him, but he watched carefully through narrowed eyes to make sure that he didn't miss anything. Thrusting the kendo stick at Kaito, the senior student threw all of his weight forward leaving him open to all sorts of counterattacks, at least for Kaito that was a fatal flaw that he could have taken advantage of as he planted on his right foot and spun around the student's attack with no difficulty at all. It was then that Kaito saw the head senior's lithe figure flashing through the sky with his kendo stick raised high above his head, "Even his movements are nothing for me..." Kaito realized as once again it seemed as if time had favored him over his aggressor. Stepping smoothly to the side as the attack sailed past him and into the dirt causing a flurry of dust to kick up into the air.

So the training continued with Kaito elegantly dancing through the combos and collaboration attacks that the seniors tried against him to no avail as it seemed as if their speed was simply just not enough no matter how many numbers that they threw at the newly recruited member of the third squad. As the training exercise progressed Kaito began to notice little nuances that allowed him to move not only with greater precision, but also it allowed him to move more effectively which was essentially the point of the training. "If I can stay off the heels of my feet, the time that it would take me to move out of the way of an oncoming attacked is shortened by half, granting me time to either run away or even to counterattack depending on the situation..." he concluded after several trails confirming this fact. After what seemed like hours of continually dodging the seniors desperate attempts at even catching a piece of his kimono in one of their attacks they conceded defeat and needed to take a break. Kaito was surprised when even the head senior had to take a break along with the rest of his group from the exhaustion of trying to catch Kaito, "Even you?" he asked the head senior in surprise, "...I suppose a thanks is in order here considering I don't think I would have gotten this far without your help guys" he said sheepishly as he avoided eye contact with the seniors. Then without a word he plopped down next to the group that was resting, folded his arms behind his head and drifted off to sleep.