Returning home. [OPEN]

LEARNING:

Spoiler:

[0/75 Points]

In the middle of the night, with the dirt cool underneath his feet, after returning home from the failed mission, without his Porcelain Mask and his cloak torn and burned by the fires of the forest. Shizuko was finally home, his head hanging dejectedly, mumbling to himself in anger and self-hatred, he had fully blown the mission, he had not communicated with his brother and went in by himself, but Shizuko started to think, what if he could have ended this peacefully? Afterall, there were several factors that the man wasn't looking for a fight, it was just his mission, just like it was Shizuko's to retrieve her. Instead it turned into a full blown attack, the opposing team didn't even attack once, the man was right, they were acting like idiots. Shizuko learned from this, and wouldn't fail twice. He would discuss it with his brother later, but first, Shizuko needed to report the mission and then train, people were out dying for this battle, and Shizuko couldn't even retrieve a Genin.

Shizuko slowly walked through the Village gates, frustratingly nodding to the Jounin watching the entrance of the Village, he slowly walked to the Mission Post and marked it as failed, and went to the only shop open at the time, the bar. Looking exactly where the young genin was sitting, gritting his teeth as he plomped down onto a bar stool at the counter, placing a handful of Ryo on to the counter and raising his hand for a drink, one slowly being slid to him, slowly and bitterly drinking it. He was frustrated and it showed, dirty and ash all over his face and his dirt covered boots pressing against the wall of the counter. He took several shots of his drink, and then went off, waving his hand to the bartender. He headed for his Apartment, not even bothering to wash the ash off of him he fell onto his bed, gripping his headband in his right hand tightly.

As he awoke, he was in a cold sweat, not even thinking he just ran for the shower, turning it on past the scalding point, breathing heavily under all of the steam, his skin probably burning badly, he couldn't even see straight, his Sharingan burning coldly under all of the mist, immediately turning the nozzle to the lowest temperature possible. He re-clothed in his regular Genin outfit, as his other clothing had been obliterated, he'd think about fixing them later. He rushed out of his Apartment, and out of the Village, going out to train by himself far away enough so he could go all out, instead of having to contain himself. He was about three or four miles out before he stopped, stretching out and dropping his pack, [This'll do.. as he prepared various hand seals as a puff of smoke appeared and a clone of Shizuko appeared, he was going to do some target practice with his sharingan active. The clone ran off, zig-zagging around and acting as if he was dodging projectiles thrown at him. Shizuko then prepared various hand seals, releasing a large bolt of electricity out of his mouth and towards the clone, attempting to hit him whilst moving. Of course it couldn't work as the clone was moving to fast, and he wasn't thinking of where he was going..

Used:

Spoiler:

((Next time, post something in the help-wanted section about spending the EXP to learn this. I believe there's a template for it. If there isn't I'll make one. It's nothing against you learning it, as it'd be approved no problem, but I need it to be kept on record what you spent and who approved it.))

(( Apologies, I wasn't really thinking. I'll add one to the Help Section ))

Hi no Kuni. Ever since Satoshi had abandoned the Leaf Village, he had not seen this country. It had been his goal to get as far away as possible, wanting to put some distance between him and any ninja that may have been trailing him. Clearly it had been successful. With a couple years under his belt on his own, he felt safe enough to return to the country. As of late, a strong urge to visit Konoha had overcome him. It had been so long since he had seen his hometown. None of his reasons for leaving had to do with the village itself but with his own clan, so he saw no reason not to stop by. He'd keep his distance or put up a disguise and he was confident that he had the skill to escape any hairy situations he may get himself into at the very least.

Days traveling had put him only a few hours away from the village he once called home. Nostalgia began to flood him already as he became comforted by the familiar site of the Fire Country's forests. So much of his time had been spent out in these woods that he knew them quite well. In fact, he was almost positive he had been in this exact location once before. No way to be sure, but it felt that way.

As he neared the village, it donned on him that he had no idea what he'd do once he even got there. This wasn't one of his more thought out plans, that much was certain. But it was a trip he felt he needed to make. He knew not why he had this desire, but he wouldn't argue.

Up ahead, the sound of open combat broke his train of thought, snapping his attention back fully to the world before him. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as his irises brightened to an intense crimson, three tomoe forming around his pupil. Up ahead, a source of chakra could be seen through the trees. The second source was much weaker, more than likely nothing but a clone. Still, he had to be careful. His feet moved silently as he jumped into the trees, edging towards the clearing to get a view of the situation.

Sure enough, a ninja stood, fighting his own clone. Everyone had their own methods for training. Satoshi preferred to either beat up trees or spar with an actual opponent, but the latter didn't happen all too often. As his eyes focused more on the target, something else caught his attention. Black hair, red eyes... This man was an Uchiha. His eyes though... What was wrong with them? The hatred his clan had been cursed with surfaced, threatening to consume him. But he would not let it. His eyes closed and he breathed deeply, suppressing the emotions he felt entirely until he was a cold shell.

Feeling rather bold at this point, Satoshi dropped from the trees and stepped into the clearing. He kept his distance but stood with neutral posture, showing that he had no ill intentions. His own Sharingan shone brightly in the night, watching this man with interest. Though he despised his own clan, he knew that if he was an exception to the "rule" that others could exist to. This man would be given a chance.

[0/75]

As he continued at it, launching another on or two bolts of lightning at the clone from his mouth, he switched his technique, instead performing a different set of hand seals and release a giant explosion of fire towards the clone, this time he could manipulate it to follow the target, he manipulated the giant fireball into a large dragon, it spun around the clone, leaving a trail of fire before exploding, the clone was still intact. He gave it one last shot, firing another explosion of fire at the clone, this time it was directed infront of him, and not at him, exploding right in the clones face as it dissapated into smoke. He grinned that he finally had hit the target, he usually wasn't one to be so childish, or un-precise, but he had been out of combat for some time. And in case the situation that he needed a moving ranged attack came, he'd be ready. He remained calm and cool, standing in a neutral position now, his anger was released and he was satisfied, he still had more training to do, but that was easy, he just needed to get his anger out of him, his inverted Sharingan glowing brightly through all of the smoke of the explosions, small craters of earth were left around him from both types of his jutsu.

Suddenly, he tensed up, hearing the rustling in the tree's and feeling the chakra type near him, he calmly turned around in a neutral position. He noticed the mans eyes, nodding towards him. Greetings.. he bowed calmly, his eyes only being taken off the man for a second, as he rose back up, he noticed the necklace of preserved Uchiha eyes, his eyes slightly widening, not saying a word, instead just staring at him. ... he simply nodded to him, keeping a calm position, he didn't want it to turn into another fight in one day. He remained silent for an extra moment or two, I'm sure you have a good reason for those. he shrugged, jokingly saying. Hopefully I don't become apart of your collection. he chuckled slightly, even with the horrific eyes staring at him, this man could be misunderstood, and Shizuko didn't want to act as rash like his brother.

He nodded once again to the man, My name is Shizuko Uchiha.. And you are? his face remained caring and charismatic, instead of his regular zen and lackluster, his outfit was that of a Konohagakure Jounin, usually not his taste and was usually a black robe with a Porcelain mask. He simply remained staring at the man, he didn't want to alarm or make this man attack, he honestly felt no tension at this man, he just seemed.. strange, or bothered by something, and Shizuko thought he could help. He didn't seem violent like Tatsuma, instead calm and focused like Shizuko.. Not something you'd see in an Uchiha, so he just had to make sure nothing alerted this man, and with that, he'd be fine, and this wouldn't turn into anything bad or unwanted, it was a training ground, not a graveyard.

55/75. @ Kurama.

It was a few moments before this other Uchiha would even take notice of Satoshi. So caught up in his own training, he continued to fire off fireballs and lightning bolts at the clone, trying desperately to destroy the damned thing. This kid was rusty. Either that or he was just exceptionally unskilled. But it displayed something about his character to Satoshi. It showed that he was not heavily affected by the Uchiha curse. It showed that this man had the potential to be an exception just as he was. For now, this man was neither a threat nor a target, but he was not entirely off the hook.

A small smirk formed on his face as he watched the Uchiha's eyes lock onto the necklace he wore. It surely was a grizzly sight, especially for another Uchiha. It was peculiar that the boy chose not to attack, instead making a nervous joke about it. He had honestly expected to be attacked on sight.

Perhaps he wasn't too experienced. After all, it seemed to take him quite a bit to strike his own clone and now he was just freely giving up his name to a man who, in his own eyes, would be seen as a threat. Though those weren't qualities of a good ninja, they continued to prove that this man, this Shizuko, was not the typical Uchiha, and that was good.

"Kyo." He offered, giving an alias rather than his own name. Though he had committed no crimes, deserting the village was seen as one and he didn't want to just openly give away that he had been a deserter on the off-chance that this man knew his name. These days, it was tough to tell who had what information and where they had gotten it from. "Do not worry about these eyes. They deserved what came to them and you have yet to show that you deserve the same treatment." His words came as both a reassurance as well as a warning, a small but friendly smile lighting his face. With his emotions locked away, the smile was fake, but no one would be able to tell.

"A Jounin of Konoha, eh? I'd recognize your attire anywhere." He stated calmly, starting up a bit of small talk. And now began the assessment of this individual.

As Shizuko continued to show a true smile, he was returned with a fake one, reasonable, they had only just met and this man could see Shizuko as a threat or worry. He may have made a few mistakes such as giving his name away so carelessly, and not immediately attempting to make a move on this mans life, he didn't really see them as mistakes to someone of his own clan, even with the necklace of Uchiha eyes. He smirked, being treated with a first name only, and possibly not even a real name. Hello.. Kyo. he expected him to be a Missing Nin, but didn't seem like a criminal, and afterall he had never seen him in the Missing Nin Bingo Book. He continued to let off a happy smile, sweat running down his face from the heat of the fireballs he was just exposed to, but he felt like he was back in the saddle, the rust covering him and be broken off and cleaned away.

As his position turned more.. calm, his stance shifted all of his weight onto one leg instead of both of them, he thought curiously about this man. But it didn't matter much as long as the man didn't try anything threatening, Shizuko was a care-free and calm character, the only way you could start a fight with him is you did something that was pure evil in his eyes. So this man was alright so far, but even underneath his real smile and lax stance, he was very cautious of the man, but he didn't think of it too much, the Village wasn't that far incase he needed to flee or call for backup, he actually put some trust into this man, even if he had just met him. It was both a weakness, and a advantage.

As he walked around, looking at the damage he did, he turned back to the man, So Kyo.. How would you like to do some friendly sparring, and it seems like you're heading to the Village, so I can escort you afterwards as well. I am a bit rusty on combat, so we won't be doing any major attacks, so try and keep your attacks toned down and i'll do the same, eh? he waited for a response, his stance shifting back to a neutral position and his face turning serious, but still friendly, rubbing his hands together, he was ready for some training. His Sharingan was still weak and immature, and he needed to train it in his favor, as a tool instead of a crutch though, like most Uchiha.

Completed.

It was evident Shizuko was trying to hide it but trace amounts of suspicion crossed his face. It could be for any number of reasons. He could know how Satoshi truly was, he could just be generally suspicious of him, he could still be worrying about the sharingan necklace... Sitting here and trying to deduce the reason was pointless and a waste of time because it didn't even matter. The way he greeted Satoshi, especially the emphasis he put on the name "Kyo" only helped solidify the fact that Shizuko was suspicious of him. But hey, there was fun to be had in a little bit of danger, right?

This man was impressive in some light though. Here he stood, face to face with an unknown member of his own clan. A man who appeared from nowhere, stopping to observe. A man wearing a necklace of preserved eyes. But not just any eyes. The eyes of both of their clans. And yet he remained calm. It was easy to read that this Uchiha still held a bit of worry and doubt in his heart, but that much was to be expected. After all, they lived in a world dominated by ninjas and ninja were known for trickery. Still, Satoshi had to admire the way this man handled the situation. Shizuko was proving to be quite the impressive specimen, for lack of a better term.

His ears perked up like a dog at the mention of the word "spar". A genuine grin spread across his face. This was an unexpected turn of events. Could this be a genuine offer or did Shizuko have some ulterior motive? Once again it mattered not. Satoshi would oblige. He could handle himself if things went south. "A spar, eh?" He chuckled a little as his arm reached up, grasping the hilt of his massive blade and bringing it off his back. Despite the large size, he held it like it was nothing more than a harmless butter knife.

"Are you sure you can trust a stranger with that? Things can get out of hand pretty easily." He teased. As of this moment, he had no intention nor desire to harm this Uchiha. There was potential in this boy and he would explore it as deeply as he could. His sharingan seemed to literally glow as the adrenaline of a battle began to course through his veins, a dim red light illuminating his face from his eyes. The sword was held out to his side and he crouched into a battle-ready stance. He wasn't the type to make the first move unless he had to.

LEARNING:

Spoiler:

[0/75]

As his hands fell to his side, with a very real grin on his face, Shizuko had no more intention to sparr with this man to get a taste of his abilities, and a test of his own, Shizuko had a re-assuring look towards him, even if he was harmed, it didn't matter much. Shizuko actually had some trust within this man, even with the horrific memento hanging around his neck he watched the man pull his blade, and talking something about how he could get hurt, and he let out a shrug. Hopefully I can trust you enough to keep this a friendly sparring match, and not a full fledged fight to the death. he shrugged, filled with excitement of getting to duel someone of his own clan he didn't think was overly bloodthirsty, he hadn't felt this much adrenaline pumping through his veins in so long. He let out a small breath, as the tomoe of his sharingan began to twitch, and a second tomoe was spawned next to it, finally unlocking stage two of his Sharingan.


As he tossed a smoke pellet to the ground, red phosphorus began to cloud the area and Shizuko prepared a single ram hand seal, fading into the trees, he knew it couldn't stop someone with a Stage 3 Sharingan from finding his chakra, But it didn't matter, Shizuko just needed to confuse his opponent, as he was in one of the tree's he came bursting out from it, preparing several hand seals and releasing a large bolt of electricity from his mouth, directed towards Kyo. It wasn't the best strategy, but Shizuko wanted to see how he would react and how would he counter it with his own abilities. He hadn't been able to read much off of this man, so he had to watch him carefully and learn from it, he had time as he didn't feel this would be a fight to the death at all, instead a 'friendly' battle between the two.

USED:

Spoiler:

Another smirk and a simple "Hm." left Satoshi's lips at Shizuko's comment. Once again, he had no intentions of turning this spar into something more serious. But when you sparred with someone you didn't know, there was always the possibility that someone could accidentally go too far. Emotions would be pulled into the mix, namely anger, which would be terrible for these two, being Uchiha and all. They would both have to be careful. One wrong move could send this whole event in the wrong direction and the last thing Satoshi wanted was another reason to be hunted after only his first time returning to the Fire Country in years.

A smoke pellet hit the ground, red dust billowing up and masking Shizuko. Had it not been for his Sharingan, Satoshi might have missed his daring escape. The younger Uchiha darted towards the tree line, jumping into them and skirting around the clearing for a moment as he undoubtedly looked for a place to strike from. Satoshi merely stood in place, his eyes trailing his opponent. The boy stopped and jumped from the tree, lightning spewing from his maw.

Yet again another smirk lit Satoshi's face. This Uchiha was impressive. Had it not been for his sharingan, the boy might have actually snuck up on him. As the bolt of lightning came towards him, he sprung into action. He whirled around on his heels rapidly and charged towards Shizuko, sword at his side and in a low and crouched stance as he ran. Moving quickly, he ducked under the lightning before it made contact with the ground, moving towards the boy rapidly. Though they were both skilled, Shizuko's moves hinted that he was not as versed in Taijutsu as Satoshi was.

As the boy began to near his landing, Satoshi positioned himself right below. Chakra surged through his blade and the steel caught fire. With three fell swoops, he launched three separate arcs of fire into the air up at Shizuko. Maybe it was a bit too much for an opener, but that's just how he rolled.

Spoiler:

[0/75]

Shizuko was impressed by the man, he had easily evaded his attack and countered with Flame Beheading, everything was so much clearer in the Stage Two Sharingan, he had to take it farther though. Watching as three waves of fire were directed towards Shizuko, he prepared another few hand seals, feeling the Katon Chakra build up in his system, he released a large explosion from his mouth directed at the waves of fire, he formed the explosion into that one of a Dragon, attempting to use the jutsu to block the attack, and provide a distraction, landing somewhere near Kyo, he would prepare another set of hand seals. Attempting to burst from the smoke to grab Kyo with his right hand, and then focus Raiton Chakra into his free hand, in an attempt to pierce Kyo with a large bolt of elecricity.

Of course this left Shizuko extremely vulnerable to Taijutsu, he was testing Kyo's abilities, obviously this man was a bit more matured in combat than him, but it was a rush for Shizuko. His stance seemed serious, his face surprisingly blank, he was curious as to if given the chance, this man would strike Shizuko down, so far it didn't seem like that. But the fight had only just begun, sadly he had left Muramasa at home, so he couldn't show him the power of his full ability, but this felt like mere sport for Shizuko, even though after all he could be fighting a psychotic character would slays his kinsmen for their eyes, it didn't seem like it yet.. So he was quite entertained by the situation.

USED:

Spoiler:

Fighting fire with fire had never been so literal. A large fireball in the likeness of a dragon erupted from the mouth of his opponent, brushing aside the flames he had shot and crashing down upon the ground. Satoshi rolled backwards, just barely dodging the flaming explosion. That was actually pretty close. Much closer than he'd like to admit. His eyes focused on the smoke from the blast and instantly he realized there was no time to relax. Shizuko had launched himself from the fire, arm outstretched and electricity surging around his palm. Whatever he was attempting would not be pretty. It was time to act now and he had to do it fast.

He jumped back once more, dropping the massive blade at his side. His hands flew through a string of seals with incredible speed and accuracy. As he reached the final one, Shizuko was almost upon him once more. Now was the time. Bringing his hand up to his mouth, he breathed a steady flame like a dragon, first quickly creating a small wall of flame on the ground between the two and then turning his head upward, aiming towards his opponent.

Spoiler:

[0/75]

Giant craters releasing blazing smoke from all over the plains, it was almost hard to breath through all of it, Shizuko's attempts were too slow, and now Kyo had released a fireball directly towards him, it was too late for Shizuko to cancel his attack so instead, he diverted all of the chakra from his hand, to his mouth, instead of using it to pierce him with lightning, he would release a large bolt of electricity from his mouth, headed for the fireball rushing towards Shizuko, the two had become so close to each other the explosion would most likely harm both of them, and blow them away from the force of such an explosion. Shizuko would be sent flying back, however landing on his feet, he grinned at the situation, finding this fight quite a challenge. If he kept going at it like this, they'd both lose all of their chakra in no time.

Shizuko yelled at towards him, Well, this is fun and all.. But sadly we don't have infinite chakra! he panted heavily underneath all of the smoke, preparing hand seals at a quick rate, even more Katon Chakra bursting from his mouth into an explosion, this time sending two balls of fire directed at the man, he then manipulated them into the heads of dragons, coming from both left and right, this could make it so he could finally land a hit. But who knew, Kyo could easily counter with something up his sleeve, his inverted Sharingan staring deeply into Kyo's. He hadn't had a challenge like this in some time, infact he hadn't had ANY challenge in some time. But the two were burning up chakra constantly, so this could end at any moment, or they could duel it out with their fists.

45 / 75

Once again this Uchiha proved himself to be a worthy combatant. Rather than dodging, he took the offensive and shot a bolt of lightning. It collided with the fireball Satoshi had created, causing a large explosion of heat and energy. Satoshi was knocked backwards by the blast and he could feel a bit of searing pain in his arm, but a quick back flip corrected his trajectory and he landed on his feet in a crouched stance. His head lifted and he looked straight ahead to see Shizuko recovered. Two large fireballs raced forward, arcing out to either side of Satoshi as they morphed into the likeness of a dragon once more.

They arced wide, finally turning towards Satoshi again as they began to close in from either side. His quick aerial maneuvers had saved his life, else these dragons would have surely hit him. But instead he was able to perform a forward somersault which he immediately transformed into a full speed sprint towards Shizuko, picking up his sword on the way there.

He ran low and fast, his image almost becoming a blur at times as he zigged and zagged to dodge whatever projectiles Shizuko may throw at him in the mean time. As he neared the Uchiha, he flipped the sword underhand and held it sideways in front of him, leaping towards Shizuko in an attempt to slam into him with the flat side of the blade.

[45/75]

The battle raged on, Kyo completely evaded the two attacks causing more craters to be created, releasing even more smoke, Shizuko's outfit was slightly burnt from the explosion, he didn't seem to have experienced any real trauma from the prior encount..Once again missing, even with these attacks, it slightly frustrated Shizuko but he didn't lose his cool, Kyo making a near full recovery like him, Shizuko didn't bother throwing projectiles at the man, instead performing a few hand seals, waiting for him to attack, as Kyo got near and readied his attack, Shizuko was hit but instead disappeared into a puff of smoke, being replaced by a small wakizashi, instantly appearing behind Kyo, he once again attempted to grab ahold of the man and use his free hand to pierce him with lightning, Shizuko was obviously getting weary and so was this man.

What was going on in Shizuko's mind was a bit too much for words, but i'll try my best. He hadn't felt so excited in such a long time, usually people gave up after the third or fourth attack, but they were still going at it like they had infinite amounts of chakra, Shizuko was overall impressed with the man, he was acting more serious this time, he wanted to get this over so he could go back to the Village, and the man probably wanted the exact same, but the fight continued until someone gave up or couldn't keep going, it didn't matter which happened, but Shizuko didn't feel like giving up just yet. And he knew that Kyo probably felt the same..

The blade connected and Shizuko began reeling back with the force of the blow. All was not as it seemed however, as he disappeared into a puff of smoke and a wakizashi took his place, flying back far into the woods. A substitution jutsu. A simple technique he hadn't seen anyone use in ages. It was almost a juvenile trick and yet he had to applaud Shizuko in a way. Not only had he sacrificed a weapon in the process, but he had managed to trick Satoshi with such a simple technique. There was nothing that could be done as he felt the boy behind him. All he could do was brace for impact.

A hand clasped on his shoulder and a surge of electricity filled he body. He felt stunned, clenching his teeth and grunting until the surge ceased and he stumbled forward. His sword stabbed into the ground and he held on tightly, regaining his balance. "Not bad." He commented, a grin on his face. Though that blow had taken a bit of his endurance down, he was far from finished. If this were a real fight to the death, he felt he could handle at the least another hour at this rate. But this was all just estimation.

Without warning, a smoke bomb was thrown down. In the fray, he had managed to slip one out of one of Shizuko's pouches. He had been hoping for more, but this would suffice. Immediately three kunai were tossed through the smoke in a formation that would, hopefully, surround Shizuko. At the end of each blade was an exploding tag. Just as they would land, Satoshi would form the seal to detonate them.

A hit finally had landed, the blow was so bad Kyo had to use his sword to stand up, and somehow he had managed to steal a red phosphorus pellet under all of the chaos, Shizuko saw Kyo's muscle tense up, in an attempt to perform a backflip away from the pellet so he wasn't caught choking and eyes burning, Kyo would be slow and weak after a direct hit like that, so he most likely just caught himself in his own trap. Afterwards he could still see Kyo through all of the smoke, performing a last set of hand seals, he was using up so much of his chakra, it seemed he was just using the same three jutsu over again, did he really not know anymore than those at Jounin Rank? How pathetic.. He released an two explosions from his mouth, combining the fireballs into a larger form of the Dragon in an attempt to catch the weakened Kyo with his technique. This is my final attack! he shouted..

His body was starting to feel heavy, and he was shaking badly, panting under all of the smoke. Without his Sharingan, he probably wouldn't be able to see a few feet ahead of him, he had created so many craters in the area with his jutsu, he quickly had already used up all of his chakra in an offensive of high-ranked jutsus.. Kyo had been a bit smarter, using some lower ranked techniques instead to preserve chakra, the battle was intense indeed. And he got a good read off of this Kyo fellow combat-wise.. And Shizuko learned a few new things, and all he could think of now was heading back to the Village, and going to a shop to enjoy a nice bowl of Ramen for supper..

As the smoke cleared between the two of them, Satoshi's eyes came to rest on an uninjured Shizuko. Damn, this kid was pretty resilient. By the looks of it, he didn't have much left in him though. He shook and appeared weak, probably close to the end of his chakra pool. Still a significant portion of Satoshi's remained, but he wasn't here to slaughter this kid. He was a man of his word and this was nothing more than a spar. He watched the kid's hands fly through a string of seals as if it were in slow motion but he knew his hands were moving nearly as fast as his own could.

Two dragon heads of flame raced from his mouth, flying up and converging into one large dragon. Satoshi eyed it, sighing a bit at the Uchiha's words. Who shouted things like that in combat? It was so lame and cheesy. Luckily he wasn't here to judge how cool Shizuko was.

Flames engulfed Satoshi's blade once more. He took a wide footed stance, crouching and holding his sword back in preparation. He swung with a flurry of motion multiple times, sending forth wave after wave of flame. One after another crashed into the dragon's head, erupting fire in every direction and slowing the jutsu down. Still he continued the onslaught, placing a bit more chakra to keep the technique going longer than it should. Within moments, the head and the remaining waves of flames exploded, raining ash and flame down upon the ground.

Satoshi leaped backwards away from the flames, careful not to further burn himself. "You're pretty good." He called out, sheathing his massive blade on his back.

[45/75]

The two Uchiha had turned what was once a grassy and clear skied plains, into a battlefield with craters smoldering with fire and smoke so deep you couldn't see past you without some form of assistance, Shizuko began to cough heavily, only getting out the words Thanks.. Not so bad yourself.. Shall we head to the Village now, Kyo?" he was panting heavily, good thing the Village wasn't too far away so he could actually make it without a break, ash and smoke began to stain his clothes, and choke him slightly, turning in the other direction to get out of the ash-filled battlefield.. Shizuko gave a little free space in his flak jacket, so it wasn't hugging him so tightly and allowed him to breath properly.

Had Kyo been following Shizuko in his slow pace, he would ask him, "So, what brings you to the Hidden Leaf?" he asked, curious to see the reasoning behind it, Shizuko was moving slow, he had exhausted a large portion of his energy up in the duel of the two, constantly breathing heavily, hunch-backed over and arms dangling freely, Shizuko hadn't had to put up such a fight in so long, and this man was apparently going easy on him, had this not have been a friendly sparring match, it could've proved fatal for Shizuko and it would cause him to become another part of the mans collection most likely... But it didn't matter now, he was curious of what the man had to say and what his intentions were in the Village, Shizuko was focused on a few tasks for himself, nothing too important..

Completed.

The fight had gone well. It had provided a great deal of information about this Uchiha. It told of his character and his spirit as well as what kind of man he was, to an extent. He was a promising man and a potential ally at the right time. But for now, this little meeting was over. He had all he needed from this for the time being. Besides, he couldn't just exactly head back to Konoha with Shizuko. Even if he wasn't being actively pursued, it was still a danger if he recognized. For now, he would retreat.

As the Uchiha turned around, Satoshi formed a ram seal, disappearing into the treeline and fading from view.

~left

Training:

Spoiler:

(Knocking this out with word count) [0/1]

As the sun started to set, the air got cooler and the sky turned a bright pink, Shizuko's question remained unanswered as the man disappeared with a single ram seal, he shrugged it off, he wasn't too worried about the mans intentions. After all, he knew when to stop just like Shizuko, and so Shizuko didn't feel like he had to slow down, so he shrugged off the lack of energy, and mustered up his remaining chakra and performed a single ram hand seal, heading directly to his Village, as he finally arrived at the open gates, he was greeted by one of the Jounin guarding it, the Jounin noticed how worn out Shizuko was, smirkly asking Had a rough training session, Shizuko? and Shizuko simply smirked back, walking off to his apartment, as he put the key into the slock, and slid it open. He stripped off all of his clothes and walked into the shower, turning it to a suprisingly cool shower, not something Shizuko often, but after being blown away by that explosion, more heat didn't sound fun.

As he finally left the shower, he placed a towel around his waist, looking at his terribly scorched robes, and his ash covered jounin outfit.. What a mess, so he put on his casual outfit of a black, high-collared shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back, and put on a pair of tan pants, he took a look towards his blade, smirking slightly.. I guess it couldn't hurt to carry you around.. as he picked up the scabbard with the blade inside, 10,000 Cold Nights and the Mouth of a Dragon, a deadly duo. And walked out of his apartment, with his flak jacket and coat to a local tailor, sighing as he dropped them off and handed the man a handful of ryo, to clean and sew his clothes back to perfect appearence. Another kinsmen appeared and rushed to Shizuko, panting heavily, a worried look on his face. What is it? he asked the kinsmen, he replied with a stuttered speech S-Shizuko.. Tatsuma is dead.. as he looked to Shizuko, a sincere look on his face..

DEAD?!

Shizuko took a step back, his eyes widening, he rushed off to the local clan housing, noticing a large group of more of his kinsmen, looking down to a brutally beaten and eyeless corpse of his brother, he shouted out NO! as he moved closer to the lifeless body of his brother, sobbing deeply as he hung over the table that laid with his dead brother, two different men thought it would be best that he didn't see his brother like this, and escorted Shizuko outside of the building as he walked off, a shocked expression on his face, Tatsuma was dead? He had always expected that he'd go first, not his brother.. He felt slightly responsible, had he not ran off from his brother, he could still be alive.. But Shizuko couldn't deal with this like normal people would, he had no one to comfort him, so he returned to his zen face and turned a bit more serious, he had to hide his emotion, otherwise his work would be affected, he'd have time to mourn later he hoped.. He had heard news of a new trouble arising, this time he would assist in it and not fail, it was his duty as a Shinobi, and as a Jounin of the Hidden Leaf, if he ever wanted to become Hokage he'd need to train harder, and complete even more missions now.. As he retrieved his black robe and flak jacket, he went back to his apartment and re-clothed, his black robe fitting his size once again, and fully put together with a flak jacket under all of it, a porcelain mask of what appeared to be a cat with two red stripes running down the mask. And a Konohagakure Headband over the forehead of the mask, 10,000 Cold Nights sheathed to his back fittingly, as he looked at the piece of art that he had created earlier, performing a single hand seal as he faded into a flock of crows out the window, using this new ability to go to an un-disclosed location for the night..