No matter how openly he mentioned being able to use Wood Release, it seemed like so many people were surprised when they saw it for the first time. He wasn't entirely sure why that was - He wasn't a Senju, at least not to his knowledge, so having an extra release outside of a clan structure was a little unheard of. Even so, it wasn't like he was subtle about it. It had never been something that he had tried.
More than that, if Ume truly knew about him as the "Blind prince of the Yamamoto", then surely she knew about other stuff regarding his clan? The whole "Blessing from the mountain" thing? That was so heavily tied to his mokuton, so the idea that she didn't know was... well, it was weird to say the least.
Whatever the case, the two seemed to be surprisingly equally matched as Ume confronted the three clones. Despite being wildly outnumbered, she surprisingly seemed to hold her own. The kunai came in, only to be comfortably reflected by Ume's own knife, sent plinking away into the nearby dirt, sticking straight up like Excalibur from the stone.
Strangely, she didn't even seem to respond, there was no elevation of heartrate. If anything, she seemed entirely too comfortable with having her life threatened. That was... alarming, especially considering Kizumi apparently saw something valuable in her enough to send Sho to train under her.
Either way, Ume immediately made the mistake that every other shinobi seemed to make; that of assuming the wood clones were just like normal clones. Ume span from the first volley of strikes, bringing the blade in contact with the back of the first clone's head. However, when she dug it in, she would feel a great deal of resistance, causing her momentum to be lowered. What was more, as she placed the sword, another of the clones reached out, touching the clone with their palm.
In the moment of that touch, the clone's form changed. No, more accurately, it was more like the body distorted, morphed, like a photo being edited into something entirely unearthly. The "head" of the clone stretched out, back of its head twisting out and morphing with lacquer vines, wrapping around the knife implanted into the back of its skull. Best case scenario, Ume would be forced to drop her blade, worst case she'd have her hand sealed within the growing nest of wood.
As the "creature"'s head was now stretched out over far more space, the face looked appropriately disjointed and corrupted, like some sort of glitch from computer graphics. It was a horrendous thing to look at, and enough to stun someone at first glance if they weren't made of sturdier stuff.
Meanwhile, as Ume moved out to launch a roundhouse kick at one of the other clones, she might be surprised to find that they were prepared for her. Of course they were; he had been training under taijutsu specialists, and she was just an experienced fighter.
As she launched her kick, both arms of the clone shot up, forming a makeshift shield against her kick. The kick's force was enough to send splinters flying off from the impact site, a small but no less visible dent appearing in their form. Meanwhile, however, the density and immovability of the wood would send a shock of extreme pain through Ume's leg, almost as if she had just kicked a brick wall with full force.
In the gap provided by the other two, the third has already rushed in. Lowering its head and charging in, using the moment of stopped momentum and precarious footing caused by the blocked roundhouse kick to charge in, aiming to body tackle her to the floor and keep her pinned for the other two to wail on her, launching several kicks to her central frame as if they were stomping someone out in a gang fight.
Sho, for his part, remained still as he watched his clones go to work, instead simply digesting what it was she was actually saying.
"And what way is that, exactly? Cos I'm getting pretty tired of being tossed to random people across the village without an explanation.
She wants me to learn under you, but then won't do me the decency of actually telling me what it is I'm supposed to be learning. So, why don't you tell me what it actually is I'm supposed to be being taught?"