“You crazy bastard!”

The red-haired chuunin would have shouted something else, but the hilt of Ryuichi’s katana caught him across the jaw and sent him down to introduce his face to the mat, and probably buy it flowers and dinner, or maybe just skip that part entirely, considering how he was moaning into. Ryuichi raised an eyebrow, and twirled one katana, resting the other against his shoulder, tapping it against his shirt quietly. Well. That was disappointing.

“Up,” Ryuichi commanded, toeing the red-haired chuunin with his boot. He never had caught the guy’s name.

He didn’t get a coherent response either, but wasn’t really expecting one.

Guy had said he was a genjutsu-specialist. With long, thin arms, he looked the part well enough. He’d also said he wanted to spar, and Ryuichi had thought that had sounded just grand to him. He’d said as much, things had progressed, and here he was. Only he was still standing, and the other guy was getting intimate with the floor.

All things considered, this had been a rather pathetic spar.

Which wasn’t to say that the other guy hadn’t gotten any hits in. No, rather the opposite. Ryuichi’s ribs and his left elbow were throbbing smartly. They’d bruise later, because the guy might have been a decent kick-fighter if he’d actually given some thought to form and stance. To put it simply, his had sucked. ‘Telegraphing’ really hadn’t covered it. Ryuichi’d only gotten hit because he never dodged everything. It was his style not to.

Really. How this guy was in ANBU, let alone a full chuunin, with a style like that, was really beyond Ryuichi’s comprehension.

“Get up,” he repeated, nudging the guy harder, and it might have been called a kick with the amount of force Ryuichi put into it. Just maybe, and no one was looking, so no one would complain.

“You’re crazy,” the chuunin snapped, but did, (finally!) get up. “I’m going to the medic. I think you broke my jaw.”

Ryuichi frowned. “If I’d broken your jaw, you wouldn’t be talking.”

The chuunin only glared at him, and teleported away.

Which left him with no sparing partners. Damnit.