[Center][B]Kanajiro Hanamoto & Daisuke Hanamoto

[I]“Genius battle!”[/I][/Center]
[B]Hanamoto Estate
The Day of The Funeral [/B]

Kanajiro panted as he jumped back from Daisuke's latest answer to the attacks Kanajiro launched at him, sliding back across the reed mats that had been laid out in the training hall of the Hanamoto estate. Kanajiro stared at Daisuke, before standing straight up again, a moment to catch his breath perhaps, or to catch Daisuke offguard. [B]"You got stronger Daisuke.”[/B] he said, recognising the power that Daisuke had as a genius of defense. But one had to admit that they had both gotten stronger, as they had been pushing eachother more and more the past two weeks, training almost every day, even though there was never a real winner. Needless to say, the way the Hanamoto clan trained and especially the clan-head and his cousin, they both needed medical attention almost every day as well. 

As such, right now Kanajiro's right eyebrow was bleeding, a stream of blood slowly trickling down past his eyes over his cheek, dripping blood on the floor. And his knee was badly hurting too due to a kick he had received during an attack on Daisukes defense. Kanajiro's seemingly cocky expression turned into a grin, and then a laugh. Anyone that knew Kanajiro longer than a day would've known that saying such cocky things in such a manner wasn't like him at all and was clearly a joke. But meanwhile Kanajiro started forming seals again, starting up his Fiery Fist technique. Slowly his fists started getting engulfed in flames, until they were done charging and Kanajiro flicked his wrists to fully start up the technique. Unlike Daisukes weaker and more harmful version, Kanajiro's Fiery Fists did not actually harm his own hands. He let out a fierce [B]“RAAAAAAAAAAGH!”[/B] as he dashed forwards, sprinting the whole five meters towards Daisuke, jumping the last inch and cocking his arm back before sending it out to Daisukes head with a powerful strike -- it wasn't a type of strike you could just glance off and ignore.

[B]"Yoowwwa!"[/B] Daisuke howled as he felt the flames lurch at his face, licking the sweat on his forehead. Unfortunately, he'd been a little late ducking, but not fatally so. The burn continued to sting as Daisuke bent backwards as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding the full impact of his cousin's fist, though the strike did drive his knuckles across his forehead and through his white hair. Ultimately, following the duck, Daisuke dropped to the ground on his back, his skull dribbling off the reed mat they were fighting on as he grunted before forcing himself to move, before a follow up could be made. Seeing his cousin's arm still outstretched over him, not fully drawn back yet, Daisuke rolled his feet into the air, aiming for an upward kick based right below Kanijiro's jaw.

On the way up, he felt his lega trembling, already burnt today and freshly lacerated from their previous sessions. The last few days they'd been at it even harder than usual. After all, the Granite Guard wasn't a place for the soft. If the pair grew harder every time they squared off, they would be diamonds. No doubt. A mixture of blood and sweat saturated the uniform Daisuke was in. He wore the same outfit every practice session to remind himself how long his journey had already been. It seemed certain that it wasn't going to get easier.

Kanajiro noticed that his cousin went down, apparently not from the hit as Kanajiro clearly felt he hadn't connected his attack. But then again the attack was meant to mimick the Hyuga style of non-contact taijutsu while maintaining the brutal force that characterized the Hanamoto's. It seemed that Daisuke, even with his defensive style, still utilized this brutally effective style too. Kanajiro was about to send his other fist down when he noticed the foot kicking up. Rather than take the full hit he opted to arch over and cancel the Fiery Fist technique. Because he arched forward even more, he got kicked in the chest rather hard, enough to knock the air out of him forcing him to take another deep breath. But rather than allow Daisuke to retract his foot to kick again, Kanajiro quickly stepped back, regained his footing and attempted to grab the foot after which he would quickly cock his arm back and then send his open palm to Daisukes kneecap -- a very painful attack that would render the fight over if it connected and would give the first win in weeks to Kanajiro. But he knew full well that Daisuke wasn't done yet.

It was rather obvious the boys were very evenly matched, and they had come to be seen as brothers more than cousins -- the only thing that seperated them was the fact that Kanajiro was a head family member and Daisuke merely a branch member. There wasn't much Kanajiro could do about it since the only way to get rid of that was to earn the honor. While Daisuke was strong, he wasn't quite ready to be uplifted from a branch member to a head family member, as much as Kanajiro wanted to grant him this. It didn't help that Daisuke was a year older yet would have to abide by the graces and whims of a younger clan head.

Kanajiro decided that he didn't want to end the fight just yet, despite the fact that he had worked Daisuke into a corner where his defences would not work as well -- they were in close, close combat -- and instead grabbed his knee at the last moment, sparing his kneecap. He swung around and pivoted on his heels, swinging the boy around by his leg and tossing him away, before jumping in the air after him. By the time Daisuke would land he'd be able to see Kanajiro crushing down onto him with a fist aimed at his body center -- the solar plexus.

Seeing no need to thank Kanijiro for his mercy, Daisuke kept hard at work. Expecting a finishing blow to be in wait whenever he'd land, he manually changed his course. He was thrown with his back facing the ground, so he extended his arms away from his feet before kicking upward, while keeping his back straightened. The result was a lightning fast backflip that resulted in him catching solid footing faster than he would've landed. In an instant, he shook the sweat off his forehead while making a trio of handseals: Tiger, Ram, & Dragon. His fingers flowed like water down a twisting stream.

Already winded and feeling he'd about reached his limit for the time being, Daisuke decided it was time to end the battle, even if it meant he'd lose this time. He drew his right hand back before feeling it ignite. [B]"Gah--"[/B] With great haste, he snapped his arm back, whipping his hand at his cousin's incoming face. If at all possible, he preferred to grab onto the cheek of an oncoming enemy, but his cousin was no mere enemy. Having a burn on his forehead, he wasn't very concerned about being hurt by his own fire, which was already excruciating. He just didn't want to melt his closest family member's face, his own little mercy.

Kanajiro landed on the ground where Daisuke was supposed to go -- yet he wasn't there. He let out an amused [B]“Hmph.”[/B] as he was impressed by Daisukes ability to see and feel what Kanajiro was going to do even though he was being beat on, something that a shinobi definetely needed. He was definetely thinking a step ahead, something Kanajiro himself hadn't yet imprinted in his personality but Daisuke had. But rather than jump back to start his own jutsu, Kanajiro utilized the time Daisuke used to make seals -- which wasn' t very long as Daisuke was quite efficient and fast with his seals -- to step even closer and sent his hand upwards, between the two boys' bodies, then outwards towards the incoming fiery punch.

He grabbed Daisuke's arm which was being used for the fire technique stopping the hand a centimeter away from his face. [B]“Don't hold back, dear cousin.”[/B] He grinned and threw back his free arm, then pushing it forward as hard as he could, his hand opened, and a palm aimed for Daisukes face. But rather than finish the palm strike, he simultaneously applied force to Daisukes hand, forcing him to move the burning hand closer to his own face with some rapid movements, as if he was going to burn himself. But regardless of Daisukes response -- surrender, fight back or defend -- Kanajiro would stop both of his 'attacks' a centimeter away from Daisukes face and jump back. [B]“The fight is over.”[/B] he'd declare, before putting his hands on his knees and leaning forward, panting heavily after this training session. Granted, this wasn't their first sparring fight today -- they had been sparring practically all day, only interrupted by the funeral.

Daisuke's flaming hand was left, dramatically suspended, right in front of his face. As quickly as it ignited, it was extinguished, a corona of smoke signaling its disappearance. [B]"Indeed, it is. You've done very well, Kanijiro."[/B] Taking his free hand, he caressed his burns, with an agonized grimace decorating his face. It always seemed that he would regret performing his version of the move, but that was never actually the case. At this point he was somewhat used to his burns, as initially shocking as it always is. He bowed and gave a dignified grin to his cousin and clan head. [B]"I'd be lying if I said you didn't make me sweat."[/B] Picking a bottle of ointment up from the floor near the edge of the mats, he opened a bottle of ointment, drizzling a bit on his hand and patting his forehead before tossing it to his Kanijiro. [B]"Let's grab a bite."[/B]