[IC] Naruto Gaiden: The Will Of Fire!! (AU)

[NanoFreakV2]

Rin was just walking to Izu as Seth showed up sending dust and rocks flying. She took position next to Izu her hopes of having more time to influence him being crushed. It was obvious Seth had a new-found motivation or will-power and simply the fact that he had made it to the training grounds so fast validated her point. There was his grand entrance too. His talk with Akio certainly motivated him, Rin thought.

She almost whispered to Izu making sure Seth was just out of earshot.
“Show-off. . . But he seems pretty strong. If I had to guess, that entrance was because of you, Izu. He might be mocking you.” Rin let out a barely audible giggle. “I think you should show him what mist shinobi are made of.” She finished with an almost alluring tone. She accentuated this by walking from Izu’s right side to the left behind his back, allowing her index to slide over Izu’s shoulders.
Rin then made sure Izu didn’t have time to question her actions as she vanished from his side, reappearing next to Hayashi. “We’re gonna want to see this.” She informed him with a smirk on her face. If the quickly improvised show she put on for Izu didn’t work, Akio’s pep talk with Seth had to. There was no turning back now and Rin knew it or atleast hoped it.

Byakugan! She wanted to observe every single detail of the ensuing fight.

[Weird Tales]

"Yes, but in this case we have very little time, which means that we have to go into overdrive and get as much done as possible" he replied to Rin. He was use to training intensely, but he didn't know about his training buddies and wanted to give them a heads up on what was to come because he would be trying to push them as much as possible. Izu simply nodded in response to Rin saying that she would catch up in a bit and saw her stay behind. He guessed that she wanted to eavesdrop on what Akio had to say to Seth. When Izu got to the training grounds he saw that Rin was already there and he guessed that she must have Body-Flickered.

"I hope your curiosity was sated because we have a lot of work to do" he said to her. Just then Seth made his dramatic entrance and Izu rolled his eyes at the show of power. He chuckled at the leaf shinobi's boast about having tricks up his sleeve.

"Theatrical entrances are for impressing the weak and easily defeated, strong opponents will use that to figure out how you fight" Izu commented. He heard Rin call Seth a showoff to him and suggest that the dramatic entrance was because of him and an attempt to mock him. The thought was almost laughable, but he wouldn't put it past the brash and foolish chuunin. Rin then suggested that he show him what was made of. Izu mad to admit that it was a nice idea, and Rin vanished before he could make a response. There was a tone to her voice that almost seemed like she was trying goad him into sparing with Seth, but he didn't mind trying to put the foolish ninja in his place.

"I guess I will. First words of advice, keep theatrics to a minimum and since you lack a bloodline technique, doing foolish stuff will get you killed against a competent shinobi" he said to Seth as slime began to ooze out of his hands and he prepared for any sort of attack.

[Rex]

Seth smiled at Izu who was ready to fight. However, Izu wasn’t someone Seth was aiming for this time. Izu would make a great challenger, but there was someone who Seth needed to confront first.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Izu. You’d be the best opponent for me because you’d keep me on my toes and I can learn a lot from your style of both training and discipline, but as it stands your more of a main course. You and I can bring out each other’s greatest abilities. However,” Seth said with a sly smile on his face before he pointed at Rin and said, “Do you honestly think I don’t know what you’re doing Rin? Here’s a tip for you in the future: Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. Did you honestly think your little plan of getting me and Izu to fight for your entertainment went unnoticed? I can’t tell you how many times I got caught stealing beer and cigarettes from stores. However, I was able to talk my way out of trouble and still got the beer and cigarettes.” Seth smile only grew. Honestly Rin, you’re dealing with someone who manipulates his surroundings to get beer and cigarettes.

“So as it stands Izu, if you don’t mind. I’d like to show Rin how pathetic her strategy really is. Besides: I’ve always wanted to see how strong a Hyuga from the Primary Branch really is,” Seth said. Alright, don’t run into battle head on. Think. You’re facing a Hyuga clan member. Strategize and I should be fine. Seth thought. In all fairness he was scared. He didn’t know if his new strategy he came up with in his head would work or would it fall apart. He wanted to be reliable and not be seen as a slacker.

[NanoFreakV2]

Rin did not expect the situation turn out like this when she ended up being challenged by Seth.
“I guess I was mistaken to think that would go unnoticed by you. Impressive.” As she was talking she was already coming up with her own plan. So far she hadn't had the chance of using her high level ninjutsu so she was ready to use them as well.

In the meantime Seth was now informing Izu that their fight would be postponed. He then proceeded to insult Rin’s ability to strategize. She was well aware of her own abilities and having them insulted caused her excitement to quickly turn to anger. Still, she knew better than to allow the anger to fuel her in combat.

“Word of caution, Seth. I’m no Jonin and I’m no trainer. I’m not as good at holding back. So you’d better be able to defend yourself.” She finished with a faint smirk. “I also expect no less from you.” Her expression changed to a serious one as she said that and immediately entered the stance typically used by gentle fist users.
She knew Seth was a hothead, but she also was obviously aware of his pep talk from Akio. She didn’t necessarily expect him to charge into battle as she witnessed when pitted against Akio. By now she had a plan but she wasn’t going to implement it right away. She had only seen Seth in combat once so she was just testing the waters.

Still in her gentle fist stance she merely stood there waiting and at the same time implying she was waiting for Seth's first strike.

[Rex]

Seth’s smile faded as he reached behind his back for a smoke bomb. He quickly slammed it at his feet and closed his eyes before it exploded. Before the smoke could fade he ran out of smoke towards Rin. His plan was to create a shadow clone to have attack Rin to see how she faired in close courters combat. Hopefully the Clone could evade her strikes giving Seth enough time to attack. Seth was known to run full steam into battle without thinking. However, this time he had a plan. Something in previous battles he never did. If he needed to, he could resort to using his Water nature style of jutsu. He rarely used it around others to keep it as a trump card. I have to think, not go all out. This should work. Seth thought as the shadow clone attacked.

[NanoFreakV2]

I was right, he’s using his head this time, Rin thought.
Seth’s current actions were clear as day as she could see right through the smoke with the help of her byakugan. She took three shuriken and threw them in such a way that their path circumvented the clone and targeted Seth himself. This would hopefully delay his main attack and provide her enough time to take out the clone first. She wasn’t going to hesitate with her attacks on the clone targeting various vital spots like the heart. She then planned to also move forward and strike Seth’s chakra pathways near the limb muscles as striking the limbs with the gentle fist could both prove to be unexpected and easier to hit than vital spots. The attack, if successful, would slightly damage the muscles but with the main intent of causing pain during his movements throughout the remaining duration of the battle.

[Rex]

The three shurikens flew into the smoke and thudded against the object in the smoke. However, when the smoke cleared, the three shurikens had pierced into. What looked like a scarecrow made of rocks and dirt. There was also a kunai pierced into the scarecrow that was emitting some of Seth’s chakra. The Shadow Clone smiled before the earth a few feet behind Rin exploded as Seth jumped out of the ground. He quickly took out three kunai and threw them at Rin.

“She should be surprised by this, however her byakugan might have seen it,” Seth mumbled. He knew her byakugan would make it hard for him to make a sneak attack, but he also hoped the small amount of chakra he left in the kunai that was in the scarecrow would make a distraction. He didn’t want to flat out jump out right behind Rin because of all the tails of her clan being able to attack chakra points. His best bet was to play it safe and attack from afar. He readied himself for Rins counter attack. The clone will be destroyed and then she’ll attack me. However, Seth thought as he took a quick glance at his feet. he had used the time underground to create his rock bitter and now He could feel it under the ground ready to spring up. it was a gamble to use it since he used it once before, but he hoped it would work.

[NanoFreakV2]

Clever, Rin thought. She was fully aware that Seth was no longer where the shuriken would hit as a chakra imbued kunai was far from being able to re-create the complex chakra pathways of a real human body. But it still worked to some extent as she momentarily lost track of Seth. Rin was quite surprised by the attack from behind. If she were to not get hit by the kunai she had to act quickly. She swiftly repurposed her main attack as the current one striking chakra pathways near the limb muscles of the clone stunning it in the process and maneuvering herself behind the clone while also pushing the clone forward between her and Seth. The Kunai hit Seth's shadow clone instead.

She then would proceed to throw her own smoke bomb. Out of the cover of smoke two clones emerged and ran to each side of Seth. Two more clones body-flickered out of the smoke. Rin knew Seth had a good awareness of his environment, as he stated so himself in their earlier conversation. She had one clone body-flicker sideways to her right, and she was pretty sure he would notice it. But he had no way of noticing the other clone that body-flickered towards the direction Rin’s back was facing. This essential put the smoke between the clone and Seth, making it impossible to see without some form of dojutsu. As the smoke dispersed, Rin remained in the center where we she stood when she defended against the Kunai attack. Her main plan was now in action. The clones to the left and right of Seth both took out a kunai and commenced a regular attack, while Rin rushed forward attempting once more to target his limb muscle chakra pathways with her gentle fist.

[Rex]

Seth’s clone disappeared in a puff of white smoke as Seth watched in amazement as Rin appeared out of the smoke unharmed. I knew she was good, but damn it. I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but I’m not giving up yet. Seth thought as he smiled. He needed a way out otherwise the two clones would flank him and Rin would get the wining strike. He hadn’t thought about using his rock bitter as a means to escape but it was that or get the crap beaten out of him.

“Rock Bitter!” Seth yelled as he slammed his hand onto the ground. The shark erupted out of the ground under Seth giving him a boost into the air. As soon as it pushed Seth from the ground it crumbled, leaving a pile of rocks on the ground. Seth quickly created hands signs before shouting, “Earth style: rock pillar justsu.” Pillars of earth rose up from the ground as Seth stepped on them to get a few feet away from Rin and her clones. Being on the defensive wasn’t something Seth liked, but he needed to create space between Rin and her clones. He landed in front of a small pond, but as he landed he slipped and fell on his back. He quickly got up and sighed.

“Well that was a thing, however,” Seth said as he looked at the pond behind him before he shook his head and added, “this is what I get for opening my big mouth.” He didn’t want to exhaust all his charka but Rin seemed to pull all the stops so he had no choice. He quickly made a few hand signs before yelling, “Earth style: Rock Viper Jutsu.” The earth around Seth began to slither like a snake as the cobra made of earth rose up round Seth and hissed. However, the snake was much smaller than before since he had used so much chakra. The snake was three feet tall and moved sluggishly like his chakra keeping it together was wavering. There was also bits of rock falling off it's body. A beat of sweat rolled down Seth forehead. Damn it, even if I can come up with a good strategy, my charka pool is limited. Seth thought.

[NanoFreakV2]

Rin was picking up on the fact that Seth’s chakra reserves were low, noting his small sized viper and hesitation. “How’s your chakra doing?” She teased him with a smirk on her face. Despite this she knew it’s time to use up some chakra herself. The previous 2 clones proceeded to once again surround him and prepared another regular attack. Rin considered what might work best against the Rock Viper. She knew earth natured jutsu were highly susceptible to lightning based ones and based on that she considered what to use from her wide repertoire of jutsu. “Lightning style: Heavenly Thunder” Rin said as she jumped up proceeding it with a few hand seals. The heel of her foot began emitting electric arcs as she did a forward flip midair to add more momentum to her hit preparing to strike his Rock Viper with the jutsu.

[King Kindred]

Arashi finally made his way home and didn't stop at the door to slip off his shoes. He felt that he didn't have the time to do that and just ran right in. His parents weren't home. His dad was probably preparing for the war and his mother was probably out helping with village reconstruction. He rushed to his room and went through his closet to find what he was looking for. He found his wrist and ankle weights where he tossed them as well as the wristbands that he used to hide the former. He wore long pants and his weights weren't thick enough to cause people to notice so he felt like he didn't need to hide them with any leg warmers or anything like that.

He put everything on and started walking out of his room. He could hear the floorboards creak beneath him as he walked. Yeah, they were just about as heavy as the day before. He finally made it back to the door and was met by the sight of his mother. She didn't like the use of weights for training so he especially had to hide it from her. He looked up at her and just now realized how much she looked like the first Hokage's rival. He knew that she was from the same clan, but he was sure that she wasn't a direct descendant. It made him wonder how big of a threat this Hashirama guy was. He couldn't really be that big of a problem if he was as old as he should be, right? He didn't know of any jutsu that could keep people young. There was always a possibility though.

He waved to his mother and rushed off. His training began now. He started running away from his home and felt the weights adding more to the training. They made him feel heavier and slower and he always felt like he could be ready to quit at any moment, but that wasn't going to happen. Arashi Uchiha wasn't a quitter. He was starting off slow in his run and slowly picked up pace as he went along. His destination was the mountains of Konoha. He was told this was where some of the greatest shinobi trained. He wanted to be one of those greats.

Arashi arrived at the base and looked up to the challenge before him. He had climbed the mountains before, but not with weights on. He tried before, but was usually worn out by the time he got to this point. This time was different. He still had the energy left to do this or at least that's what he believed. He reached behind his back with his left hand to make this even more challenging than it already was. He didn't like taking shortcuts in his training so this was going to be the way he was going to do it.

He started climbing up only using his legs and right arm. He could feel the weights bearing down on the protruded rocks on the mountain. Time seemed to drag on as he slowly made his way higher and higher. When he got to the point where he had to transition into an upside down climb he could really feel himself wanting to quit, but he couldn't. He was halfway there. If he quit now then he might as well die. He really might as well have. Climbing back down wouldn't be as easy from this point if he was already struggling. He could slip and fall to his death if he wasn't careful.

He used the recent events to motivate him. Seth wasn't the only one who left someone during the Pain Invasion. He was confronted by one of them and Sasuke appeared out of nowhere and told him to run. He hesitated, but still ran regardless. He left him there and then found out that he had died then. That crushed him. He wanted to believe that if he would have stayed then they could have defeated him together. Just thinking about it brought tears to his eyes. The tears mixed with the sweat around his face causing the mixed liquids to fall to the ground below. He continued to climb and almost slipped, but regained his balance. He couldn't die here. He had to keep moving forward. He had people counting on him.

"Big Brother Sasuke... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you there. Hayashi, Seth, Akio Sensei, Itachi, Rin, and even you Izu. I won't run away ever again. I won't leave any of you to die. I swear it..." Speaking seemed to make this even harder. He decided to shut up until he got to the top. It wasn't like these guys were there to hear him say any of it.

After a while Arashi finally made it to the top and climbed over. When he did he fell down and started to pant. He'd call this second part of training complete. It was time for part three. But a break sounded nice.

[Weird Tales]

Izu was prepared for a fight, but instead Seth saw through Rin's manipulation and challenged her to a fight. He wanted to object, but there was no stopping the match and he had to just watch. Seth was full of confidence as usual and Izu expected the same reckless attacks that he had seen Seth make before. But to his surprise Seth instead used a shadow clone to go in and attack Rin at close quarters, it looked like the chuunin had learned something. Izu was still confident in Rin's capability in handling her opponent since she was a user of the famous Kekkai Genkai the byakugan.

He watched Rin use her gentle fists on the clone and then moved to attack what she thought was Seth, but it turned out to be a scarecrow with a bit of his chakra on it. Impressive, Izu thought and watched as Seth came out of the ground and threw three kunai knives at the Hyuga shinobi. He was impressed by Rin's speed in maneuvering around the clone and having it hit by the knives instead of her. It looked like she was about to close the distance, but Seth made his Rock Bitter erupt out of the ground. It was strange seeing an earth technique take the form of an aquatic animal, but it was interesting. He saw that Seth used the jutsu as a way of propelling himself into the air.

He was trying to keep his distance, Izu thought to himself and continued to watch the fight go on, but he could see that the chuunin was running low on chakra when he used his Earth style: Rock Viper Jutsu. Rin had played it smart and used his chakra conservatively, she was now in the position to possibly defeat Seth.

“How’s your chakra doing?” Izu heard her say and he couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. Seth didn't seem to have very big chakra reserves and that was a weakness that his enemies would exploit if he didn't fix it soon. He then watched as Rin came at the Earth technique with a lightning style jutsu, which was the element's weakness. Only Seth found some way to get his chakra back up Izu couldn't see him winning this fight. It looked like his rush to prove something to Rin had blown up in his face and he was now going to pay the price for his brash actions.

"This fight's over" he said out loud, though he was speaking more to himself than to Hayashi.

[Rex]

The Rock Viper launched it’s self at Rin only to have the top of his head collide with Rin’s heel. The combination strength of her kick and lightning started to crack the rocks the viper was made of and soon it exploded into chucks of rock that were flung towards Seth. He quickly up his arms up as the chunks of rock collided with his body, sending him fling into the small pond behind him. He slowly stood up as the pond came up to his ankles but soon fell to one knee as he felt a sharp pain go through the right side of his torso. One of the rocks had collided with the right side of his ribs, which made every breath feel like knives being pressed into his side.

“Damn it, I refuse to give up. The day I give up is the day I die!” Seth said as he stood up and began to create hand signs. I don’t care how much chakra I have left! I refuse to be the reason why a team dies. Seth thought as he remembered Akio telling him about how he died in the Pain invasion. He gritted his teeth as he said, “Never again, Never again!” he finished his hand signs as the water around him began to bubble and suddenly shot into the air. The water split into three long snake-like heads.

“Water Style: Water Hydra Jutsu!” Seth mustered to say. The hydra heads where much smaller than the average Water Dragon Jutsu, but still looked fearsome. Seth was breathing heavily now as water mixed with sweat rolled down his face. Normally if one head would be cut off, two more would take its place, but with how little chakra Seth had. When one head would be severed, the whole jutsu would simply come apart. Creating creatures out of his jutus was something he did because he felt it made them unique. He hadn’t realized that doing so coasted nearly all his chakra to maintain their form. The Water Hydra was draining him of what little chakra he had left because he could feel his legs shacking underneath him. A little more, please just give me a little more time. Seth thought

[NanoFreakV2]

Rin was in absolute awe that he was able to still muster enough chakra to use such a Jutsu. “I’d like to show Rin how pathetic her strategy really is.” Her mind flashed back to the moment Seth had said that and she was still angry about the comment.
I won't allow the confidence in my abilities to falter. Rin thought and at the same time decided this was the right moment to capitalize. She had drawn out her plan finale for far too long.

Rin and the clones rushed forward. “Wind style: Vacuum Blade!” she shouted while pulling out a shuriken. As she threw the shuriken it began visibly distorting the air in a circular pattern around it. Now infused with wind natured chakra, the cutting area of the shuriken would equal that of Wind Demon Shuriken. It’s trajectory would circumvent the water dragon jutsu, targeting Seth. With Rin and the clones following shortly afterwards with their own attacks regular attacks. Rin aimed for a central leg blow to the chest. While the left and right clone lunged at his feet and head respectively, intending to strike with their kunai.

[Alan Hawke]

Akio sat with his legs crossed at the top of the rocky mountain with a teacup filled to the brim with warm soothing tea, "About time, Arashi. I was beginning to think you fell on your way up." He said in a tone that heavily suggested he was joking. He let out a smile to emphasize he was just messing with him. Akio set his cup down on the stone next to himself on the ground and reached for the tea kettle in front of him and poured some tea into another teacup, "Tea?" Akio then held the teacup outwards, offering him the relaxing beverage.

"I usually come up here to clear my head every once and a while. However, I can see you're here on a different note--to train, I presume." Akio said after making the observation Arashi was drenched from sweat due to his rock-climbing. "I'm also here for a different reason. Instead of spending time to myself or sitting up here with my wife, I've come up here to say goodbye Arashi."

The jonin's mouth edged into a small smile, "I have to go to Kumogakure for a while to help the war's intelligence division come up with strategies and all of that mess." He sighed boredly before continuing. "During the war, I will be sending you, Hayashi, Seth, Izu, and Rin on special missions--you all are Konoha's secretive task force during this war. Inoichi will mentally link me with you five in order to stay in contact over the vast distance in order to give you any orders. Any questions?" He asked, finally pausing to give Arashi a chance to respond or ask any questions.

Even though Akio entrusted Seth to become the next Hokage, he also believed that Arashi would leave a strong imprint on the world. As well as the older Uchiha on the team, Hayashi. He treated his entire team like they were family, Akio would be willing to die for them if the matter required it to happen. After saying goodbye to Arashi, he would head home and say goodbye to his wife, and leave a letter in Hayashi's residence telling him of his departure--and of course apologizing he didn't see him in person because he didn't want to interrupt his training with Rin and Izu.

[King Kindred]

Arashi didn't expect to see Akio sensei at the top, but he was actually relieved to see him. He mustered up a smile in response to his sensei's joke and took him up on his offer of tea. He probably really needed it to replenish himself from his training. He wiped his face to clean some of the tears and sweat before taking the tea. He took a few sips of it to start and listened to Akio. He didn't know that he came up here often. Maybe one day they'd end up training up here together. It would definitely be something intense if their bell training session was anything to go off of.

When Akio said that he was here to say goodbye he wondered why he was leaving and where he was going. Fortunately his mental question was answered by his sensei. He was heading to Kumogakure to help the intelligence division for the war. He wanted to come along and perhaps train along the way, but he realized how stupid that sounded and didn't bring it up. He was surprised to hear that Team 2, Rin, and Izu would be doing special missions as a secretive task force. The thought interested him, but he wasn't even sure they were ready for something like that. Team 2 might be used to working together, but Rin and Izu might not have. Though that was probably why they were training together right now. And here he was trying to train alone.

When it was time for questions he wasn't sure if he had any left. He wouldn't ask if he believed they were ready for this special job since he already knew that he'd say that they were. "No questions. Just good luck out there, sensei." He took more sips of his tea and placed it down before standing up to stretch. He had almost forgotten that he had his weights on. "I just hope that we all come back from this war safely." He knew that if he were to look at this realistically this task force of theirs had the biggest risk of danger and considering their low ranks the danger seemed like it would be even greater.

He removed his weights slowly and placed them gently on the ground. "I actually do have questions. Do you think this guy is really Hashirama? How could he still be alive and that much of a threat? Why does he want war against us? I know you probably don't know the answers, but these are still weighing on my mind."

[Alan Hawke]

"As you predicted, I don't know the answer to any of those questions." Akio answered in his signature calm voice. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon, Arashi." He set his teacup down and sighed as he marveled at the beautiful view of the village that was presented to both himself and Arashi. The jonin stood and looked down at his student, "I should probably get going. Itachi will rally you five when we need to send you on a crucial mission."

Akio turned around and prepared to leap off the mountain top--but quickly hesitated. "Before I go... There's something I need to know, and if you do not feel comfortable answering the question I fully understand." He turned his upper half towards Arashi for a moment, "Arashi.. I heard Sasuke died for you during the Pain Invasion." The Senju paused for a moment, and his tone changed to a sentimental one. "In that moment... did you awaken your Mangekyou Sharingan? I know the tragic event was hard for you and you don't like to remember it, but I need to know whether or not you awakened it." Akio had heard and seen some of the unbelievable feats one could preform with the Mangekyou Sharingan; however, he also heard that overuse of it could lead to blindness. He did not want Arashi or Hayashi to eventually go blind, so he'd usually warn them about usage of their Sharingans--but if Arashi had the Mangekyou, it would drastically deteriorate one's eye sight even worse.

[Rex]

Seth’s breathing started to slow until he began to breathe normally. The three heads of the hydra roared in unison. Their roar sounded like a leather object being scrapped against a stringed instrument. However, that’s all they did because the three heads seemed to melt back into nothing but water as they fell back into the pond creating a small mist of rain. Seth stood in the middle of the pond. It seemed he refused to give up, but on closer inspection the battle had finally taken its toll on him. His eyes had glossed over as the combination of pain, fatigue, and amount of chakra he had exhausted caused him to fall unconscious. However, His body was still on its feet like his pride kept his body from falling. Even though he was unconscious, it was like his body was a different entity that wouldn’t go down, but in this state. Seth was nothing more than an unmoving target.

[NanoFreakV2]

Rin was absolutely oblivious that Seth was unconscious at this point and her attack continued as planned.
As it turned out, the two shadow clones that kept flanking Seth were mere clones without any substance which also explained why they constantly rushed him with a kunai instead of using more powerful techniques. The clones rushing with their Kunais simply passed through Seth’s body and vanished soon after. That was the point where it became clear to what extent Rin had conserved her chakra. Seth fell right into it using his rock biter jutsu and rock pillars to avoid attacks that couldn’t even hurt him. Rin knew the balance shifted, as Seth wasted a lot of chakra in the process while Rin’s had been barely drained at that point, but she still wasn’t aware that Seth was on his last leg.

As Rin was about to strike she disappeared in a puff of smoke, as did the shuriken she had thrown. It became obvious that what Seth believed to be the real Rin was a mere shadow clone as well. However, the disappearance of that clone was not Rin’s doing. She had underestimated the amount of chakra control she required for her next attack.

From the cover of trees behind Seth and the pond he was standing in front, a number of wind chakra infused kunais with explosive tags emerged hitting the water. The wind chakra pushed the water to the side as they hit the soil underneath, ensuring that the explosive tags remained dry. The following explosions created a large wall of water and out of it emerged the real Rin at high speeds approaching Seth’s back. There was no escape from her technique at this range. “Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Si-“ she suddenly stopped herself there as Seth flew forward from the hits he had already received. Normally the muscles in the body tense up when hit by this technique as it was a combination of the Eight Trigrams thirty-two palms and a paralysis jutsu using lightning style which both close off tenketsu and disrupt signals from the brain to the muscles. But that was not the case with Seth and Rin could see that with her byakugan. She knew something was wrong but she didn’t know what to make of the situation. Instinctively her mind assessed that this was some form of trap and she scanned the surrounding area with the byakugan while maintaining a gentle fist posture, ready to defend herself in case of an attack.

[Rex]

After the attacks, Seth flew through the air and flopped onto the ground. However, Seth suddenly changed into what looked like a manikin made of dirt and stone. the earth opened up where Seth had crashed down before the fight and Seth climbed out of the hole. He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Damn Rin. If I knew you hated me this much I’d just train with Izu,” Seth said as he sighed and shock his head as he added, “I suggest we take a break and cool our heads.” Seth sighed again. He knew he wasn’t t going to win. Rin had an answer for everything he threw at her and it seemed he might have hit a chord in the beginning of the battle. However, it wasn’t a total waste. He was able to come up with a strategy and not run into the battle hot headed. Admitting defeat wasn’t something he liked, but since this was training, he could understand a strategic withdraw.

“You win Rin,” Seth said. He didn’t like admitting it and he knew somewhere down the road she’d probably remind him about, but at that moment: staying in that hole made his muscles and joints ache. Trying to maintain the Rock Manikin, Shadow Clone, and various nature animals he created caused his chakra to be low. He had enough to go for another few rounds, but he had to be smart about his decisions. The fact of the matter was: he needed to change everything about his battle tactics.