Then Santa used a smoke bomb to conceal his body.
However, Akiko was able to pinpoint his location exactly because of his two clones.
Akiko didn't hesitate and followed Santa into the smoke screen and threw a punch at him.
Santa dodged the punch by a small inch.
He then grabbed Akiko's hand that threw the punch to restrain him but Akiko quickly backed up away and substituted his body with a log before Santa could touch him.
"Explosive tag?" Santa was shocked when he saw that Akiko had left him an explosive tag on the log.
A small explosion occurred.
"I don't think that should be enough to bring down a jonin," Akiko said as he backed away.
"Mind transfer jutsu," Santa said as he used a Yamanaka clan's technique.
"What?" Akiko was caught off guard.
He was not expecting Santa to quickly recover from the explosion or find out about his location immediately before he could even see him.
And Akiko was supposed to have an advantage in vision as he was using a sensory technique while Santa was not.
"You should not have let your guard down. You are strong enough to contend with me when it comes to skills and techniques. But you still lack experience." Akiko's body said.
Santa was now controlling Akiko's body and he was now speaking directly through Akiko's mouth.
However, at that moment Santa felt a large amount of pain in his head.
"What was that?" He said in shock.
"Mind destruction technique." Akiko's 2nd clone, who was using the mind-body transmission technique earlier said as he made a strange hand sign.
Santa was forced back into his body before he could take advantage of the fact that he was in Akiko's body.
"That was close. Thank god my clones still have their own unique Independent thoughts even when my main body was being controlled." Akiko said.
Immediately after the main body was released from the control, Akiko's clone continued to use the mind-body transmission jutsu again.
I lost a lot of chakra when I used my mind-body transfer jutsu. This might be even more troublesome than I imagined. Santa thought in his mind as he looked at Akiko.
Wait, he is a jonin that specialises in sensory ninjutsu I should try to engage in close combat as soon as possible before he starts to run away and hide from my view. Akiko thought in his mind.
He then quickly ran towards Santa.
He is probably thinking of engaging in close combat with me. His taijutsu should be much better than mine and combined with the fact that he has more chakra than me I would lose if I let him do such a thing. Santa as an experienced ninja immediately realzied that Akiko was trying to do.
He then started to run, but he was unable to match Akiko in terms of speed so he was unable to lose him.
"This is not good," Santa said as he moved from one tree to another with Akiko trailing behind him.
"With my two clones keeping an eye on him Santa should be easy to track down even if I lose my line of sight," Akiko said as he started to do some hand signs.
"Water style water waves." Akiko then used a C rank water style justu to spew water from his mouth in a waterfall-like fashion towards Santa who was running away.
Santa who was just barely in front of Akiko was unable to dodge the attack in time and was hit by it.
Santa immediately stopped and prepared to counterattack Akiko but at that moment Akiko had already closed in and started to throw a kick at Santa's face using his left foot.
Santa dodged the attack but Akiko had already followed the attack with a right hook.
Santa also blocked the attack but the moment that he blocked the attack Akiko had already followed up with another attack.
Akiko didn't back down and continued to put pressure on Santa until Santa was able to launch a counterattack.
The attack hit Akiko but it was not that powerful and lethal enough to make Akiko give up his pressure.
His punches and kicks are extremely fast and powerful. It's like I am fighting another jonin. Maybe I should stop holding back Santa thought in his mind.
Of course, as a Jonin Santa knew ninjutsu that were on A rank that could easily be used to overwhelm Akiko.
Even if Akiko was superior in terms of taijutsu, Santa's superior ninjutsu can still be used to make up for the gap in taijutsu abilities between him and Akiko.
But normally, Jonin instructors don't use such techniques simply because it would be unfair to use them against kids who have not even become a Chunin.
But at that point, Santa didn't know that he had already lost.
He has already forgotten about the fact that this was not a battle but a test where one has to grab the piece of cloth on the other's arm.
As he started to use hand signs to perform an A rank ninjutsu Akiko smiled at him.
"Santa sensei. I win." Akiko said as he showed a piece of cloth that was supposed to be on Santa's arm.
"What?" Only then did Santa realise that he had become too immersed in the fight and had already lost because he let his guard down.