As my clone was investigating Kurenai my real body was dueling with Yugao.

I am sadly running out of time.
I can’t just monopolize Yugao’s time and soon practicing with Kurenai is going to take my morning schedule.

Genjutsu instead of Kenjutsu practice, is the obvious excuse for Kurenai to be chosen as my teacher.

I’m guessing her team isn’t going to show up for the Chunnin Exams.

Besides a limited overall number of slots for the exams, they probably just aren’t impressive enough when Konoha would rather focus on quality over quantity.

A Chunin Exam Chunin is fundamentally on a different level compared to your average Chunnin.

For now, I get to enjoy my last hot-blooded time with Yugao.

My Kenjutsu skills are still miles away from hers but our duels are now a lot more even.

This is due to several reasons besides my growing skills in wielding the blade.

Anko finally got me something I sorely needed.

An E-rank jutsu to disguise eye color, commonly used in missions requiring disguising during combat.

Your regular transformation jutsu starts breaking once damaged and is impossible to hold for long afterward.

This Jutsu covers the eye, only changing the color it appears to be while active.
It doesn't break unless my eye gets hit and the chakra consumption is negligible.

With this, I can finally use my Byakugan in public with minimal fear of being found out.

With my Byakugan active in combat half of Yugao’s tricks stopped working.

While my reaction time wasn’t substantially improved, a large part of combat is decided by vision.
I no longer had to turn my head to see my opponent’s limbs and moves relying on hiding behind feints and conceiling vision lost all effect against me.

I had to play it down a bit just to not seem too suspicious.

The other thing and what primarily evened the playing field was our mentality and fighting styles.

On my side, my reckless fighting style, disregarding injuries

And on Yugao’s side, her thrill and blood-seeking style, looking to injure me as much as possible.

It’s not that Yugao got weaker after our weeks of practice, it was that her style was evolving in a way that was naturally countered by mine.

This happened because Yugao’s goal wasn’t to defeat me, it was to fight me and train me, but she kept getting lost in her bloodlust and honing her aggression which played into my style.

I’m certain Yugao’s kenjutsu also improved massively against other enemies, maybe Kakasi’s Sharingan can naturally counter her but most other users would be hard-pressed under her onslaught.

My only concern is her defense hasn’t quite improved to the same level because I can’t threaten her enough when I’m the one on the proactive side of the exchange.

But it was fun…

After this long, I had to dial my senses down for my own sanity.
I was getting too accustomed to pain and feared I might fall into the hole and start chasing it.

I got used to numbing down most of the smaller pains and leaving only the biggest pains untouched.

As for Yugao, she started chasing my blood. At some point, it felt like we were just looking to have fun rather than to improve our skills and she made it her goal to get soaked in my blood.

There was also another thing I noticed with my Byakugan…

When she’d clean the blood on her face with her hand or wrist she’d secretly taste it.

I don’t know when she started that habit but it’s what led her down the path of choosing to focus on bloodletting me. 
She was looking to taste my blood as much as she could.

Sadly all good things eventually come to an end.

We were both saddened when our last day of training arrived and even finished an hour late.

“Thank you Yugao, one more time for all you've taught me.”

“It was a pleasure Yami, it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“Life as an Anbu is hard…”

“Yes, it’s a big stifling, so much time so close to death we often forget we have a life outside our responsibilities.”

“Why did you choose to join Anbu?”

“I wanted to do everything I could to protect Konoha. Why do you want to join?”

“In the end, it’s the same as you, it is what I need to do to defend the people I care about.”

“I’m sure you will be able to protect them. I do not doubt that in a few years you will surpass me as a ninja.”

“You are also included Yugao, even after my heart stops beating, I will still defend you and everyone else I care about.”

“Thank you, Yami.”

Yugao smiles but there is little more behind it.

Feelings of sympathy and comradery. Our connection steadily grew to where we could view each other more as equals than as sensei and students despite the circumstances and age difference.

I’ll take what I can for now and not risk what we have going.

“If we can, I would love to practice once we have some time.”

Yugao bites her lips, chasing idle thoughts away.

“I would love that.”

I've done all I can for Yugao for now. All that’s left is to pick up the pieces in the future.