Hayashi stood there, keeping an eye on Izu's chakra, waiting for an attack. The pain on his left arm had aleviated enough for him to preform handsigns without much trouble, but he still coudln't hope to fight in close quarters. He then noticed Izu approach, with what looked like a blade on his right arm. Hayashi simply prepared for the attack, before performing handsigns and holding his position until Izu's arrival. Once Izu arrived, Hayashi's clone dove in the way and softened the blow, taking the full force of the attack and dissipating immediately.

Hayashi quickly dove out of the way, the tip of the blade catching his right shoulder and, as he moved, causing a small gash through his shoulder. Once Hayashi was out of the way, he had an opening to attack "Fire Style: Fire Ball Ju..." he began before noticing that Izu's left arm and leg had gotten burned. Hayashi remembered that this was training, not real combat, and that he shouldn't try to kill a comrade. Hayashi quickly formed new handsigns before saying "Water Style: Water Blade" and a large blade made from water, yet still very sharp, appeared on Hayashi's right arm.

Hayashi took a deep breath before charging Izu with his right arm accross his chest, preparing to swing at Izu. Once he got to Izu, he quickly went for a slash towards Izu's chest before he pulled out a smoke bomb, should it be necessary to throw it down and create some distance yet again between the two shinobi. This was a situation he needed, it was here where Hayashi could get a chance to use the Sharingan's copy feature and learn to mirror Izu, it wouldn't be 100% accurate, though, since it wasn't a full power Sharingan yet.

Izu got annoyed when Hayashi's clone interfered with his attack against the Uchiha and gave Hayashi to time to dodge, but it at least dispersed the clone in the process and he did manage to cut his opponent on the shoulder. Izu then noticed that the attack left his open for a counterattack and heard Hayashi start saying the words for a fire technique, but then he stopped. This confused Izu, was his sparing partner worried about killing him? It would take more than a fire ball technique to kill him, either way it gave him enough to time to slow his momentum and prepare himself to dodge another attack.

He then heard the Uchiha say the words of a water jutsu and created the same blade that Izu saw earlier. It looked like this would be a sword fight and Izu gladly accepted the challenge. He parried Hayashi's slash at his chest and retaliated with a quick and ferocious sequence of slashes and then he would finish with a hew aimed at the Uchiha's collar bone. Izu was a very well trained swordsmen, which was a talent that the mist ninja prided themselves in. He would keep up close and attempt to overpower his opponent with his slime blade.

If Hayashi tried to get distance between them then he would resort to more powerful Savage Slime techniques and try to close the distance between them again. As of now he had used up a small portion of chakra, but he would soon start to feel the effects of using too much ninjutsu and drain his chakra reserves, which was why he would have to make his more powerful jutsu as effective as possible against Hayashi.

Rin chuckled at the barrage of questions Hitmoi had thrown at her as she was delighted to have another curious soul in her presence. "Well let's see. To be honest, lately, life here hasn't been anything other than hard work really. Considering the destruction the village had to suffer due to the recent attack, everyone has been hard at work rebuilding it since then. And I'm pretty sure the village also looks similar too yours now, for the same reason. This is one of the few places that had survived and still has some trees that hadn't been uprooted. As for notable places to visit, well I'm sure you've already seen the great hokage monuments, also know as the Hokage Rock. Then only other noteworthy places to visit that have survived the assault would be the Memorial Stone. It happens to be near the training ground we're heading too so we could check it out after we're done with our training if you want to." They were starting to get close to the training grounds and the sound of combat began echoing through the woods. In the meantime Rin also decided to take Hitmoi up on her offer to ask her own questions. She had to satisfy at least some of her curiosity after all. "Hey, you said you came here with your brother, right? What's he like?"

Hitomi sighed as she looked to the sky and put her hands on her hips "my brother..." she said as she sighed "If you can imagine a brick...then you pretty much have my brother...he is tough, and he has an almost unhealthy love for our village... and he has no time for fun or incompetence..but he is fair, he will leave you alone as long as you do what you need to do...I think? not really sure since he is always on my case...but he has always been a push over when not on duty...weird...but hes not been in a good mood since I dragged him here...also every since the Chunin exams several years ago he has kind of doesn't like the leaf... but don't worry it wont effect his job here.." she said stressing incompetence with a sarcastic tone. Hitomi was very unsure of how to explain her brother, after a moment she realized she had rambled on. "Sorry zoned out there for a second." she said with a smile trying not to look so stupid. "but make no mistake he is not by any means a push over in battle....there is a reason he is a jonin...Back home he was fairly popular...or well unpopular depending on who you ask, thanks to his skill."

Hayashi ran towards Izu and slashed, getting parried by Izu, he was clearly a well-trained swordsman, which Hayashi wasn't. Hayashi's lack of skill in swordsmanship was clearly noticed when he sluggishly parried the first attack and dodged the second one, almost getting hit. Suddenly, he did an OK parry against the third, and then a good parry against the fourth, and then he quickly began to mirror Izu's attacks. The Sharingan began to take effect, and Hayashi had not only copied Izu, but he learned his swordsmanship through the Copy Wheel Eye.

Hayashi quickly countered Izu's next move with the same exact move with the same exact move. Hayashi quickly began to initiate his own attack sequence, using what he had learned from Izu with the Sharingan. It was a series of slashes that would be followed up with a stab at Izu's shoulder, and if that failed Hayashi still had one move he wished to try out, hoping it wouldn't be too damaging to his oponent since they were in the same squad and would probably go on missions together soon.

Izu at first thought he had the upper hand when he noticed his opponent didn't seem to be trained in swordsmanship as well as he was, but then he saw that Hayashi began to take copy his moves. He was confused at first and was trying to figure out the cause as he took quickly went on the defense to block his attacks, but one did manage to give him a light cut on the shoulder. It then came to him, it was the Uchiha's sharingan that allowed him to do that and Izu was annoyed at having his own sword techniques against him.

He decided to break off and quickly leaped away from Hayashi. Izu landed lightly on his feet and his mind raced with trying to figure out what to do next. Physical attacks would be less effective with the Uchiha's sharingan predicting and copying his movements, so he would have to take a gamble and rely on his jutsu more. He slime blade reverted back to normal slime and he began to make the hand signs for a technique.

"Savage Slime: Hard Ball" he said and then spat out a large ball of slime from his mouth. The ball hardened and was like stone and flying fast towards Hayashi. The technique would try to collide with its target and hit them with a great amount of force. Izu started to feel his chakra start to decrease a bit and he knew that he didn't have too much time. He formed three thin spike in his hand and if the Uchiha tried to dodge the jutsu then he would throw the spikes straight at the place where Hayashi would tried to move to.

Hayashi smiled, he knew he had gotten the short range combat even now that the Sharingan kicked in. He even managed to get Izu in the shoulder in his flurry of slashes, not only that but he had learned swordsmanship now. Hayashi was sure he had Izu on the ropes, and just when he was to deliver a crippling blow, Izu feel back. Hayashi felt happy since just moments earlier he was thinking of ways to stay away from Izu, should he be too good in short range, but he had made his opponent do so before him.

Suddenly, Hayashi noticed that Izu was making handsigns, but he also noticed that he was running out of chakra, they both were. Hayashi realized that he needed this to end, and fast, before he was too low on chakra to continue. He then saw a ball coming towards him, just before he dodged, though, he saw the spikes in Izu's hand. He needed to choose whether to get stabbed or broken and, in the end, stabbed seemed more pleasant. Hayashi jumped out of the way, making handsigns "Water Style: Water Chain" and a single chain of water popped out to stop the spikes.

The chain only managed to stop one spike, though, and the other two caught his right foot. He landed on his left foot, clumsily, while cursing under his breath about the pain. He knew he didn't have time to complain, though, and quickly made handsigns "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" he said as he spat out ten balls of fire towards Izu. This was the jutsu he wanted to try out, and it seemed the fight provided him with an oportunity to do so. Three of the balls flew towards Izu while the other seven spread out above and to the sides of him, to make sure he got hit.

"Sounds like an interesting guy, your brother." Rin said to Hitomi. She then chuckled out of nowhere and for no reason apparently before clarifying. "The Uchiha is starting to copy the moves of the Kirigakure shinobi." She relayed to Hitomi as they were walking. She had her byakugan active the whole time and was obseriving the battle. They were almost at the the training ground. "My kekkei genkai gives me a three hundred and sixty degree vision through objects over the distance of several kilometers. Quite nifty, isn't it?" She paused for a moment in concentration before continuing. "Looks like Izu, the Mist Shinobi, realized it and backed off. Now he's using a slime ball. It's part of his kekkei genkai as far as I know." Rin continued to observe. Should've used the chain to grab the slime ball and then deflect the spikes with it, Rin thought as she considered the tactics she would have used against Izu. By the time Hayashi was using his Phoenix flower Jutsu, the training grounds and consequently the Jutsu too was visible to Hitomi too. "Well were here. As soon as these two are done I'll introduce you to everyone."

Just as Izu had anticipated, Hayashi tried to dodge his technique and he threw the three spikes in his hand straight at the Uchiha. He then saw the Uchiha attempt to block them with his Water Chain technique, but it only managed to stop one of the spikes and the other two hit his opponent on the foot. Good, that should slow him down a bit. he thought to himself, but he still was beginning to feel his chakra drain and had to act quickly before he was put in the same situation that as Seth in the last sparring match.

Izu's attention was drawn to Hayashi making the hand signs for a jutsu and he prepared himself for the technique.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" he barely heard the technique's name, but he knew that it was some kind of fire technique. Izu watched as Hayashi released a torrent of fiery projectiles heading straight for him. It was useless trying to dodge the balls of fire and which left with only two options, either defend or counterattack. Izu chose option number 2 and quickly made hand signs for a water jutsu.

"Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" he shouted and released a powerful jet of water from his mouth. Izu knew that fire techniques were weak against water so his justu would be able to take out a few of the fireballs, but the rest had a chance of hitting, it didn't too much to him because his main target was Hayashi. The Wild Water Wave was moving at great speeds and he had poured a large amount of chakra into the technique to give more speed and power.

Izu felt himself get burned in several areas and had raised his arms to protect his face from the flames causing his arms and legs to get burned. He gave a cry of pain and quickly dropped onto the ground and rolled to put out any flames that ignited his clothing. He quickly got back to his feet feeling the bad sting of his burns and he cursed. Izu felt his chakra decrease down past its halfway point and knew that he had only enough chakra in his reserves for one last plan to achieve victory. The fight would be ending soon and he had one trick left that could work if he closed the distance between them again.

Seth threw a small ball of chocolate into the air and opened his mouth just as it landed in his mouth. He crunched on it for a few seconds before doing the same thing with another. While the battle continued, Seth had gone to the general store and picked up some chocolate whoppers and six pack of soda. He grabbed one of the glasses and twisted the cap off before chugging it down. He turn towards Rin and said, “There you are. I thought you got lost looking for our guests.” Seth looked at Hitomi and asked, “So you’re the guest Rin was talking about? Nice to meet you, Names Seth.” He placed the bottle on the ground and took two full bottles of soda out.

“You two want some? It’s really good. Some new flavor that combines vanilla and cherry,” Seth said as he offered the two the drinks and joked, “Oh, and don’t believe anything Rin says.” Seth said with a smile.

Rin was still looking to the side observing the battle as she approached Seth. "Trust me, I plan all my routes thoroughly. I won't get lost so easily." she responded to Seth following it with a chuckle. As she continued to gaze upon the match still going she noted that Izu already had been previously burned when some of the fireballs hit him through the water wave, burning him even further. This is getting a bit out of hand, she thought.

Her chain of thought was quickly interrupted by Seth offering them soda. "Oh sweet!" Rin exclaimed in joy as she took one of the soda bottles. "This thirst had been killing me since we had our match." And with that she gulped down half a bottle of soda in one go before following up on Seth’s last joke. "Speaking of it." She then turned to Hitomi, "I should probably tell you about us. You already know Seth, our team knucklehead." She laughed out loud as she said that. "Nah, I'm kidding of course. He's got the smarts, he just doesn't want to use it. I honestly don't know much about the rest really so I'll let them introduce themselves when they're done. I’m kind of the third wheel in this team as my own team is split up doing various other missions. But now . . ." she took a step closer to Hitomi and let her left arm rest on her shoulders as she continued with a giggle. ". . . We can be the third wheel together!"

Hitomi smiled. Back home people were pretty grim, most comradely was in the form of life threatening training. Half of her had wished she had been born to this village. I like it here the people are so nice... she thought as she took a bottle of soda. " Thank you very much,I am Hitomi pleasure to meet you." she said bowing slightly. Hitomi was taken back by Rin's sudden placemnt of her arm on her shoulder"Third wheel huh...I could think of worse things I suppose she thought with a smile."Yay for thrid wheels" she said with a giggle


As Hiro Neared the training area, he already knew his sister was slacking off. These weak willed leaf...not even strong enough to defend their homes... he thought [i]We struggle every day for survival...yet here they thrive in ignorance to the harsh nature of the world... their villagers live in peace and were wholly unprepared for the invasion...they deserved death...they shouldn't have returned...would have done their village a favor/i] as hiw thoughts grew darker a sudden voice sounded in his head Hiro, the nature of our way of life is harsh yes, but we live and die for our people... so that they may live ignorant to the darkness of the world... the day we forget that, or the day we forsake that oath is the day we are no longer fit to wear the headband of our village. the voice was that of a woman, of Hiro's old Sensei from the time he was a Genin. I am trying to keep to that oath...but its not easy when people become complacent

Hayashi knew the fight was ending soon, they were both hurt and running low on chakra, but there was still one more thing to try. Hayashi did some handseals and said "Water Style: Water Blade", as the blade appeared on Hayashi's right wrist. The boy took a deep breath and charged Izu, looking him straight in the eyes. He knew that this might be the final exchange between the two shinobi, and he wanted to make it count so it was now or never.

Hayashi continued to look into Izu's eyes, as he began a series of quick, and hard-hitting attacks towards all points of Izu's body. The boy's swordsmanship was now on par with Izu's since the Sharingan had allowed him to copy it. The striked were sent towards Izu stronger and faster with each attack, which was uncharacteristic of Hayashi since he'd get exhausted. Luckily, this was all a part of Hayashi's plan as he quickly went to strike Izu with his left palm, the blade dissipating, a sort of ending to all of his attacks.

Izu watched as the Uchiha made another blade of water and guessed that his opponent would try to use his sword techniques against him. He knew that it wouldn't be of any help to use his blade of slime as a counter since the sharingan would read and copy his moves. So Izu decided that he would throw caution and safety to the wind and do one last desperate attack. He was glad that the Uchiha's chakra apparently was low enough that it forced him to go back into close combat with Izu and that was what the mist ninja wanted. Izu made the hand signs for an earth technique and felt his chakra chakra drain down to very low levels, but he had enough left to pull of the technique.

"Earth Style: Earth Spear!" he said the words of the jutsu and both of his forearms and hands became insanely hard as well as his right knee. Izu charged at his oncoming foe with great speed and he looked the Uchiha straight in the eye showing nothing but determination and pure desire to win in his gaze. Using his super hard forearms, Izu managed to block a couple of Hayashi's strikes, but the rest got through and he felt extreme pain as the blade cut into his skin causing him to bleed. He gritted his teeth and tried as hard as possible to block out the horrible agony.

Once he saw an opening Izu threw out both of his hardened fist straight at the Uchiha's chest and followed up by shoving out his rock hard knee aimed right at Hayashi's gut. Izu had made his move at the exact same that Hayashi did his palm strike and unless the Uchiha did some amazing maneuverability, both of them would be hit by their attacks. Either way Izu would be bleeding a lot after the exorcise was done and he'd most likely get a good amount angry words about doing something so reckless.

Hayashi slashed away at Izu, half happy, half worried to see that some attacks got Izu bleeding. He very noticeably fought the pain, which made Hayashi realize that this had gone too far. Luckily, it seemed like this would end very soon and all of the pain would be over. Hayashi himself has spikes in his leg and some sort of still burning slime all over his arm, not to mention his shoulder which hadn't gotten much better since it was sliced open minutes earlier. His eyes met with Izu's, but Hayashi didn't have enough chakra to try to use an ocular genjutsu.

Izu's two fists connected and hurt like hell, Hayashi was sure that he had his ribs broken. The impact didn't stop Hayashi's palm strike, but it was followed up by a knee to Hayashi's gut. Hayashi gritted his teeth, preparing for impact, knowing that it was over, that it would end here. With the chakra Hayashi had left, he decided to charge it into his palm. Suddenly, he felt his palm hit Izu, and then an impact to his own chest, breaking what was left of his ribs and knocking him back into the ground, leaving him too in pain to get back up.

He knew Izu wouldn't go anywhere either, he was rather hurt and he got hit by Hayashi's palm. The chakra charge done to Hayashi's palm increased the power of the strike and added a genjutsu for sleep. The instant the opponent's upper body was hit with the jutsu, he/she would fall asleep. Hayashi simply stayed there, kneeling, gasping for breath after having his ribs broken. He turned to Izu, to check on how he was and if the genjutsu had already taken effect.

Izu was in a lot of pain, but still felt satisfaction when his fists connected with the Uchiha's ribs. He then felt Hayashi's palm connect with his face hard and broke his nose. Izu also felt something else and it was strange. His body started to feel woozy and tired. At first he thought it was the loss of blood, but there was something different to this feeing. What the hell is going on? he thought and then it hit him like a heavy weight. He had not only been hit with a palm strike, but also with a genjutsu as well.

"Damn it!" he said as his body started to shut down, his chakra reserves were depleted and he wasn't well trained in countering genjutsu. He fell onto one knee as drops of blood fell in quick succession onto the ground. Izu breathed in and out heavily and clutched at his wounded shoulder, which had been cut open by Hayashi's Water Blade. He then fell forward onto his stomach as the genjutsu caused him to lose consciousness. Izu would need some medical attention and his wounds were bleeding a good amount.

Thankfully no main arteries had been pierced, but blood loss could still be a very dangerous possibility in Izu's cause. Before he blacked out, Izu's mind went back to the times when his sensei put him and his team through a brutal exorcise and he had ended up more wounded than he was now. At least he had held his own against an Uchiha.

Seth laughed when Rin mentioned her and Hitomi where third wheels. He took another gulp of his soda before he said, “no one thinks of you as a third wheel Rin. If Akio put you with us, then you’re a valued member of team two. Same with Izu, both of you are comrades and if Akio wanted you on this team then you’re a valuable asset to our family.” Seth then laughed again and explained, “Sorry, I don’t see my team members as comrades, but as my family and as such I make sure they get back to their homes safely. Corny I know, but that’s how I feel. So don’t feel like a third wheel Rin, because you’re not.”

Seth finished the last bit of soda and then looked at Hitomi and said, “That goes for you too Hitomi. If Akio and Itachi feel you and your brother need to be with us, then you’re considered family as well. It shouldn’t matter what team your where originally with or what village you were born in. We are all ninja and as such we all strive for peace with one another. So with that said, don’t think like a third wheel but as a valued family member.” Seth looked up to see the battle had ended. It was a good fight in Seth’s eyes and Izu held his own.

“Damn, I was kind of hoping Izu would have won, but I guess that’s why many people see the Uchiha clan as the strongest. I’ll tell you what though: Izu lasted a lot longer than I would have,” Seth said before he got up and walked over to where Izu collapsed and sat down before he placed a bottle of soda next to him and said, “You did good Izu, here. Not sure if you like soda or the combination of vanilla and cherry, but you earned it.”

Hayashi managed to stand up, staggering from the intense pain in his chest and shoulder. He looked over at Izu, and he decided to speak to him, unsure of whether he'd hear him or not. "Sorry about hurting you, you're a very strong shinobi, and when you return to your sensei, tell him about this, I'm sure he'd be proud" he said to Izu, taking a look at him and the ground before noticing that he was losing lots of blood. Hayashi stood there before kneeling and trying to carry Izu on his own, but his arm hurt too much for him to try, so he out him back down.

Seth approached and placed a bottle of soda next to Izu, before saying that he had earned it. Hayashi laughed a little at this, he had earned it but it wasn't exactly the best moment for him to drink it. He stopped laughing and held his chest, remembering his broken ribs caused extreme pain when breathing or laughing. He turned to Seth, "We might want to give him that after he gets medical care" he managed to say with a weak smile. In truth they both needed to see a doctor, but Izu was in a more dire situation due to the blood he was losing.

Hayashi, holding his chest in pain, turned to look at Rin and the new shinobi. "Hey, I'm glad that you made a new friend, Rin, but I need help moving Izu to medical care since he's losing a lot of blood, and, if you don't mind, I don't want to have allied blood on my hands" he said, barely audible enough for Rin to hear. Hayashi fell down onto one knee, gasping for air while holding his chest. He hoped Rin would act fast because it hurt like hell, and Izu was in true danger. "I'd like to do this again sometime, Izu" he said, still unsure on whether he'd pick up on what Hayashi was saying or not.

Rin turned to Seth and closed her eyes while also smiling. "Thanks, Seth. That means a lot." She then watched as Seth went to give Izu a soda and in the meantime activated her byakugan. "Oh no, they're in bad shape." she said in low voice. Hitomi was likely the only one that heard with she said. I knew I should have stepped in when I noticed it was getting out of hand, Rin thought.

She ran over to the three and responded to Hayashi suggestion of making sure Izu gets medical care. "You're in no better shape than Izu is." Rin went over and lifted his left arm allowing it to rest on her shoulders as she took on most of his weight. "Seth can you carry Izu?" She then turned to Hitomi. "Hey, you heard what Seth said. You're part of the family now. So family members help each other out, right?" She said with a grin. "We could use a hand."

Hitomi Blink for a second "ah..sure." she said as she rushed over " I'm trained in medical Ninjutsu if that helps." she said quickly as she waits for what to do. prognosis From the look of it he has damaged ribs either badly cracked or even broken...it is very possible for him to puncture a lung if this continues on...while easy enough to treat by trained professional the best I could do out here is to keep him from drowning in his own blood, numerous lacerations, a lot bruising and he has over done it. He is also going to be very sore for a while... Hiro will not be pleased to find this...I hope he is not mad.