I apologize for not releasing a chapter last weekend...there were some....er...hindrances 
Anyways, it's here now and it's action packed, which I hope will make up for the delay =D Enjoy! Special thanks to the new FF king of Narutobase for edits. Congrats man! 
Btw, another second place award for Crow in the Shadows. A big thanks to all my readers who voted :hug:
Shiko’s hands were in his pockets, his shoulders slumped and his body leaned backwards slightly as a weary expression decorated his face. Anyone watching this would find it hard to believe that this was actually a fighting stance, especially considering that his opponent, Tenzo, was cutting the clear and assertive figure of a battle ready shinobi; standing on his toes with his knees bent, head craned slightly, hands raised, and a determined glint in his eyes. He looked about ready to murder his captain, and considering the two were trapped within Hoji’s signature barrier technique, Shiko would have no choice but to fight back.
The rest of the team made themselves comfortable on the grass just outside the barrier, keenly observing the two shinobi. To begin their little show, Shiko had suggested one-on-one duels, an idea which was greatly supported by Sato, who even offered to go first under the condition that his opponent be either Hoji or Itachi, preferring the latter. Hoji nearly took him up on his offer when Himura, on a playful whim, suggested that Shiko get off his lazy ass and fight himself. Seeing this insult as a challenge, the captain answered the call, only for Tenzo to step in and offer to take Himura's place.
And so, the barrier was raised and the two fighters took their positions as their teammates sat nearby. Tenzo was evidently waiting for Shiko to make the first move, though it became clear after five minutes of waiting that the Nara had no intentions of doing so, prompting him to let loose a flurry of kunai in hopes to getting him to react. Quickly, Shiko's hands vacated his pockets and relocated to his weapons pouch, from which he accumulated several small projectiles, which he aimed carefully before tossing them at the dark knives closing in on him. With several rapid clangs of steel, the two volleys of weapons cancelled each other out, and both Shiko and Tenzo formed a hand sign before they could hit the ground. The latter quickly produced several snake-like, wooden timbers, which burst forth from the ground and immediately charged Shiko, who leapt into the air to avoid capture before countering with a rather bizarre technique. Separating his hands and holding the right out towards his opponent, the sleeve of his gray shirt suddenly began to elongate, wrapping around Tenzo's body before he had time to react and restricting his ability to move so much as a finger. Just as Shiko returned to the ground, though, the restrained Tenzo vanished in a cloud of pale smoke, leaving only a rudimentary imitation of the Mokuton user in his wake. Almost immediately following this, the real Tenzo rose from the ground directly behind Shiko, placing a kunai up to his neck once he had fully surfaced.
“It’s over, Captain.” Tenzo said with a gloating smile, evidently pleased with his apparent victory. Shiko heaved a tired sigh before responding.
“I expected better from a former subordinate of Kakashi.”
As he finished this statement, several dark streaks appeared over Tenzo’s body, no doubt a product of the Nara clan's Shadow Binding technique.
“But…when?” Tenzo asked as he struggled against his immaterial bonds which, to his great surprise, were not even linked to Shiko’s shadow. It was as if they had come out of nowhere.
“It’s my little secret.” responded Shiko, returning his hands to his pockets as he ended his technique, allowing Tenzo to move freely once again.
“I guess I win, Tenzo. So, who wants to go next?”
Almost immediately, Himura offered to go against Shiko, daring the team captain to try and win as easily as he did against Tenzo. Shiko turned down his offer, though, lying that he had already exhausted most of his chakra while fighting the Mokuton user. It was then decided that Himura would fight Sato instead, since both of them were so eager to do battle. The barrier faded to allow Tenzo and Shiko through, solidifying once more after Himura and Sato entered the arena.
It was quite an interesting matchup. The two fighters were different in nearly every aspect, with one minor exception: pride. Sato lauded the dōjutsu passed down to him by his bloodline and Himura was equally proud of the kenjutsu arts bestowed unto him by his particularly harsh master. He was widely feared across the Land of Fire as the Angel of Death, while the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist style was hailed as the best taijutsu in Konoha. Indeed, there was a great deal of ego between the two of them, though it is said that pride goes before a fall, and the rest of the team was seated just outside the barrier with their eyes peeled and attention fixed on both fighters, eager to see who would drop first.
Not wasting any time, Himura let loose a blazing fireball, but Sato effortlessly edged out of its path and allowed it to roll harmlessly into the wall of Hoji’s barrier, where it dispersed into nothing. By this time, the Hyūga's hand was clawed, and an invisible but powerful burst of chakra began surging towards Himura. The Sarutobi evaded it with a sideways somersault, and just as his feet touched the ground, the blade of his sword screeched against the inner lining of its scabbard, gleaming in the sunlight overhead as it sang through the air towards Sato’s neck. A timely duck saved the Hyūga from a grisly beheading and with his opponent now at close range, he darted two fingers at Himura’s shoulder in the hopes of blocking his chakra. The Angel of Death recognized his intentions, though, and managed to shift backwards just in time to avoid the dangerous attack, unleashing a volley of chakra-coated shuriken and calling upon a squall to increase their speed as they soared towards Sato. Seeing no possibility of evading such a fast attack at point blank range, the Hyūga was forced to call upon the hallowed Kaiten defense to save him from an untimely doom. Chakra poured out from him in torrents and began whirling around him at incredible speeds, easily fending off the volley of shuriken and pushing Himura himself a short distance back—since he was unfortunate enough to be caught within the technique’s range.
Rising from the spot where he was thrown in a most undignified manner, Himura's aggravation was evident in his grisly expression, the smug look on Sato’s face—a result of his own pleasure at having dealt the first blow of the match—only served to exacerbate Himura’s anger. A cold wave of murderous intent rippled from the Sarutobi’s body, permeating through the walls of Hoji’s barrier and informing their teammates of the hatred now lurking in his heart.
“Himura, it’s just a training exercise.” Shiko called out. “Keep it simple and clean.”
By this time, the team's escapades had managed to accumulate a rather sizable audience. The blacksmith had abandoned his metalwork, the barman had emerged from his tavern, little children had cut their playtime short, and numerous other Aoran civilians had gathered just outside of the small field of grass, forbidden to proceed further by the obstinate ‘DO NOT TRESPASS’ sign.
In the blink of an eye, Himura vanished from the spot where he was standing, leaving only a cloud of scattered dust in his wake, and quickly reappeared behind Sato, sending him crashing to the ground with a swift movement of his sword. The onlookers gasped in unison, clearly oblivious to the fact that the swordsman had attacked with the blunt side of his blade, coming to this realization only after Sato rose to his feet uninjured. He glared furiously at Himura, who was now wearing a conceited look of his own, and a wave of killer intent filled the air once again, eliciting another word of caution from Shiko.
“Don’t get carried away! That’s an order!” shrieked the team captain.
It seemed that his words fell on deaf ears, though, as the two surged towards one another, a loud clanking noise thundering between them as Himura's sword collided with Sato's kunai. The weapons continued to beat against one another for several minutes on end, forming a deadly song whose notes were interspersed with several close encounters with death; Himura barely dodging a stab to the heart and Sato scarcely evading a slash on his chest. Death seemed to be just around every corner, patiently waiting to claim one of these skilled combatants. It was almost surreal how two individuals from the same village—the same team even—could turn against one another like this, pure bloodlust burning in their eyes. When the nonstop clashing finally reached its end, the suspense of which had their Aoran spectators holding their breaths, the two fighters leapt back and away from one another, realizing that they were evenly matched in close quarter combat. Strangely, though, both of them were smiling as they stood there panting, their faces gleaming with perspiration. Himura was standing in a more relaxed pose, spinning and twirling his sword in his right hand with the effortlessness of a seasoned professional.
“You’re quite skilled.” he breathed in a languid and condescending tone, which was eerily similar to Shiko’s casual tone of voice.
“You ain’t so bad yourself.” said Sato, who—having pocketed his kunai—was now standing with his feet apart and his chest inclined forward, one hand raised towards the skies behind him and the other pointed downwards in front of him; a highly lethal Hyūga stance to those familiar with it.
“Time to put an end to this. ...You’re in my range.”
Himura frowned. “So, you mean—”
“Hakke: Rokujuyon Sho!”
Sato charged forward at terrifying speed, his hair dancing wildly behind him as the veins around his Byakugan eyes throbbed uncontrollably, appearing in front of Himura in less than a second. He quickly began his onslaught, darting the index and middle fingers of both of his hands towards Himura—one aiming for his right shoulder blade and the other going for his chest—but Himura dodged it by leaping backwards, his eyes narrowed as he carefully analyzed the flowing motion of Sato’s next strike, which was executed so quickly that the interval between it and the first was infinitesimal. With the same surgically precise fingers, the Hyūga struck again, attempting once again to deliver two hits—failing once again. However, this deadly fluid dance was only just beginning. Increasing his speed to the point where he appeared as nothing but a blur to his spectators, Sato delivered four more attacks, followed by eight more, then sixteen, and finally crowning this attack with thirty-two pointed strikes executed in the space of a heartbeat. To everyone's surprise, however, Himura dodged every last one.
Exhausted from the great deal of effort put into that lethal attack, Sato dropped to one knee as he began panting profusely. His eyes were still widened, the fury that burned in them a moment earlier now replaced by utter shock. He continued to stare blankly at the unscathed Himura, who was standing roughly three meters in front of him, a enormous grin on his face after having just evaded one of the strongest techniques in his opponent's arsenal.
“Are you quite done?” questioned Himura.
“How...my attack...” Sato could only mutter.
“My turn!” declared the Sarutobi.
In that same moment, a thin coat of wind chakra began covering the blade of his sword. Pointing it towards Sato, the chakra-coated blade quickly began stretching outward towards the Hyūga's heart at startling speed. His opponent evaded it by shifting to the right, but Himura was far from finished. Swinging the blade at Sato once again, all the grass in the barrier was instantly swept in the same direction by a sudden gust of wind that his blade seemed to command, forcing the Hyūga to duck. The air was still astir with violent wind and Himura, still fixed on skewering his teammate, swung the long blade downwards. A loud crash was heard as the sword collided with the ground, flattening the surrounding grasses and leaving a deep scar where it landed, which only hinted at the gruesome death Sato had just barely escaped by somersaulting backwards in the nick of time.
“You seem to be having trouble, Sato. You know it takes a real man to admit when he’s beat. Why don’t you show some maturity?” said Himura with a sly grin.
A vein popped out on Sato’s forehead, joining the crowd of blood vessels that were already throbbing around his eyes.
“SHUT UP!” he howled fiercely before promptly resuming his panting. Himura’s speed with a blade was already hard enough to deal with when the sword was standard length, but now that it was two-meters long, it took all he could muster to barely evade it, even with the Byakugan’s incredible field of vision. The strong breeze that shook the air around them wasn’t helping much either, as dodging the weapon not only involved clearing the path of the blade, but forcefully resisting the pull of the wind which dragged in anything nearby.
“Well, if you gonna be that way,” began Himura, “then I’ll do this!”
Extending his sword out towards his right, the chakra around it suddenly began stretching out even farther, to the point where its tip met with the wall of Hoji’s Violet Flame Barrier. The barrier opposed the touch of Himura’s blade by setting it ablaze, as was the Sarutobi’s intention, transforming the tall blade of wind into a long rod of fire. The spectators surrounding the barrier gave a rapturous cheer upon seeing this, which Himura received with a smile as the wisps of flames danced ecstatically around his weapon, swaying to the praises of his adoring fans.
“It’s over, Sato!”
As Himura moved to deliver the finishing blow to his opponent, Sato's pale eyes narrowed and his expression hardened, prepared to receive his final attack.
To Be Continued
Anyways, it's here now and it's action packed, which I hope will make up for the delay =D Enjoy! Special thanks to the new FF king of Narutobase for edits. Congrats man! Btw, another second place award for Crow in the Shadows. A big thanks to all my readers who voted :hug:
Shiko’s hands were in his pockets, his shoulders slumped and his body leaned backwards slightly as a weary expression decorated his face. Anyone watching this would find it hard to believe that this was actually a fighting stance, especially considering that his opponent, Tenzo, was cutting the clear and assertive figure of a battle ready shinobi; standing on his toes with his knees bent, head craned slightly, hands raised, and a determined glint in his eyes. He looked about ready to murder his captain, and considering the two were trapped within Hoji’s signature barrier technique, Shiko would have no choice but to fight back.
The rest of the team made themselves comfortable on the grass just outside the barrier, keenly observing the two shinobi. To begin their little show, Shiko had suggested one-on-one duels, an idea which was greatly supported by Sato, who even offered to go first under the condition that his opponent be either Hoji or Itachi, preferring the latter. Hoji nearly took him up on his offer when Himura, on a playful whim, suggested that Shiko get off his lazy ass and fight himself. Seeing this insult as a challenge, the captain answered the call, only for Tenzo to step in and offer to take Himura's place.
And so, the barrier was raised and the two fighters took their positions as their teammates sat nearby. Tenzo was evidently waiting for Shiko to make the first move, though it became clear after five minutes of waiting that the Nara had no intentions of doing so, prompting him to let loose a flurry of kunai in hopes to getting him to react. Quickly, Shiko's hands vacated his pockets and relocated to his weapons pouch, from which he accumulated several small projectiles, which he aimed carefully before tossing them at the dark knives closing in on him. With several rapid clangs of steel, the two volleys of weapons cancelled each other out, and both Shiko and Tenzo formed a hand sign before they could hit the ground. The latter quickly produced several snake-like, wooden timbers, which burst forth from the ground and immediately charged Shiko, who leapt into the air to avoid capture before countering with a rather bizarre technique. Separating his hands and holding the right out towards his opponent, the sleeve of his gray shirt suddenly began to elongate, wrapping around Tenzo's body before he had time to react and restricting his ability to move so much as a finger. Just as Shiko returned to the ground, though, the restrained Tenzo vanished in a cloud of pale smoke, leaving only a rudimentary imitation of the Mokuton user in his wake. Almost immediately following this, the real Tenzo rose from the ground directly behind Shiko, placing a kunai up to his neck once he had fully surfaced.
“It’s over, Captain.” Tenzo said with a gloating smile, evidently pleased with his apparent victory. Shiko heaved a tired sigh before responding.
“I expected better from a former subordinate of Kakashi.”
As he finished this statement, several dark streaks appeared over Tenzo’s body, no doubt a product of the Nara clan's Shadow Binding technique.
“But…when?” Tenzo asked as he struggled against his immaterial bonds which, to his great surprise, were not even linked to Shiko’s shadow. It was as if they had come out of nowhere.
“It’s my little secret.” responded Shiko, returning his hands to his pockets as he ended his technique, allowing Tenzo to move freely once again.
“I guess I win, Tenzo. So, who wants to go next?”
Almost immediately, Himura offered to go against Shiko, daring the team captain to try and win as easily as he did against Tenzo. Shiko turned down his offer, though, lying that he had already exhausted most of his chakra while fighting the Mokuton user. It was then decided that Himura would fight Sato instead, since both of them were so eager to do battle. The barrier faded to allow Tenzo and Shiko through, solidifying once more after Himura and Sato entered the arena.
It was quite an interesting matchup. The two fighters were different in nearly every aspect, with one minor exception: pride. Sato lauded the dōjutsu passed down to him by his bloodline and Himura was equally proud of the kenjutsu arts bestowed unto him by his particularly harsh master. He was widely feared across the Land of Fire as the Angel of Death, while the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist style was hailed as the best taijutsu in Konoha. Indeed, there was a great deal of ego between the two of them, though it is said that pride goes before a fall, and the rest of the team was seated just outside the barrier with their eyes peeled and attention fixed on both fighters, eager to see who would drop first.
Not wasting any time, Himura let loose a blazing fireball, but Sato effortlessly edged out of its path and allowed it to roll harmlessly into the wall of Hoji’s barrier, where it dispersed into nothing. By this time, the Hyūga's hand was clawed, and an invisible but powerful burst of chakra began surging towards Himura. The Sarutobi evaded it with a sideways somersault, and just as his feet touched the ground, the blade of his sword screeched against the inner lining of its scabbard, gleaming in the sunlight overhead as it sang through the air towards Sato’s neck. A timely duck saved the Hyūga from a grisly beheading and with his opponent now at close range, he darted two fingers at Himura’s shoulder in the hopes of blocking his chakra. The Angel of Death recognized his intentions, though, and managed to shift backwards just in time to avoid the dangerous attack, unleashing a volley of chakra-coated shuriken and calling upon a squall to increase their speed as they soared towards Sato. Seeing no possibility of evading such a fast attack at point blank range, the Hyūga was forced to call upon the hallowed Kaiten defense to save him from an untimely doom. Chakra poured out from him in torrents and began whirling around him at incredible speeds, easily fending off the volley of shuriken and pushing Himura himself a short distance back—since he was unfortunate enough to be caught within the technique’s range.
Rising from the spot where he was thrown in a most undignified manner, Himura's aggravation was evident in his grisly expression, the smug look on Sato’s face—a result of his own pleasure at having dealt the first blow of the match—only served to exacerbate Himura’s anger. A cold wave of murderous intent rippled from the Sarutobi’s body, permeating through the walls of Hoji’s barrier and informing their teammates of the hatred now lurking in his heart.
“Himura, it’s just a training exercise.” Shiko called out. “Keep it simple and clean.”
By this time, the team's escapades had managed to accumulate a rather sizable audience. The blacksmith had abandoned his metalwork, the barman had emerged from his tavern, little children had cut their playtime short, and numerous other Aoran civilians had gathered just outside of the small field of grass, forbidden to proceed further by the obstinate ‘DO NOT TRESPASS’ sign.
In the blink of an eye, Himura vanished from the spot where he was standing, leaving only a cloud of scattered dust in his wake, and quickly reappeared behind Sato, sending him crashing to the ground with a swift movement of his sword. The onlookers gasped in unison, clearly oblivious to the fact that the swordsman had attacked with the blunt side of his blade, coming to this realization only after Sato rose to his feet uninjured. He glared furiously at Himura, who was now wearing a conceited look of his own, and a wave of killer intent filled the air once again, eliciting another word of caution from Shiko.
“Don’t get carried away! That’s an order!” shrieked the team captain.
It seemed that his words fell on deaf ears, though, as the two surged towards one another, a loud clanking noise thundering between them as Himura's sword collided with Sato's kunai. The weapons continued to beat against one another for several minutes on end, forming a deadly song whose notes were interspersed with several close encounters with death; Himura barely dodging a stab to the heart and Sato scarcely evading a slash on his chest. Death seemed to be just around every corner, patiently waiting to claim one of these skilled combatants. It was almost surreal how two individuals from the same village—the same team even—could turn against one another like this, pure bloodlust burning in their eyes. When the nonstop clashing finally reached its end, the suspense of which had their Aoran spectators holding their breaths, the two fighters leapt back and away from one another, realizing that they were evenly matched in close quarter combat. Strangely, though, both of them were smiling as they stood there panting, their faces gleaming with perspiration. Himura was standing in a more relaxed pose, spinning and twirling his sword in his right hand with the effortlessness of a seasoned professional.
“You’re quite skilled.” he breathed in a languid and condescending tone, which was eerily similar to Shiko’s casual tone of voice.
“You ain’t so bad yourself.” said Sato, who—having pocketed his kunai—was now standing with his feet apart and his chest inclined forward, one hand raised towards the skies behind him and the other pointed downwards in front of him; a highly lethal Hyūga stance to those familiar with it.
“Time to put an end to this. ...You’re in my range.”
Himura frowned. “So, you mean—”
“Hakke: Rokujuyon Sho!”
Sato charged forward at terrifying speed, his hair dancing wildly behind him as the veins around his Byakugan eyes throbbed uncontrollably, appearing in front of Himura in less than a second. He quickly began his onslaught, darting the index and middle fingers of both of his hands towards Himura—one aiming for his right shoulder blade and the other going for his chest—but Himura dodged it by leaping backwards, his eyes narrowed as he carefully analyzed the flowing motion of Sato’s next strike, which was executed so quickly that the interval between it and the first was infinitesimal. With the same surgically precise fingers, the Hyūga struck again, attempting once again to deliver two hits—failing once again. However, this deadly fluid dance was only just beginning. Increasing his speed to the point where he appeared as nothing but a blur to his spectators, Sato delivered four more attacks, followed by eight more, then sixteen, and finally crowning this attack with thirty-two pointed strikes executed in the space of a heartbeat. To everyone's surprise, however, Himura dodged every last one.
Exhausted from the great deal of effort put into that lethal attack, Sato dropped to one knee as he began panting profusely. His eyes were still widened, the fury that burned in them a moment earlier now replaced by utter shock. He continued to stare blankly at the unscathed Himura, who was standing roughly three meters in front of him, a enormous grin on his face after having just evaded one of the strongest techniques in his opponent's arsenal.
“Are you quite done?” questioned Himura.
“How...my attack...” Sato could only mutter.
“My turn!” declared the Sarutobi.
In that same moment, a thin coat of wind chakra began covering the blade of his sword. Pointing it towards Sato, the chakra-coated blade quickly began stretching outward towards the Hyūga's heart at startling speed. His opponent evaded it by shifting to the right, but Himura was far from finished. Swinging the blade at Sato once again, all the grass in the barrier was instantly swept in the same direction by a sudden gust of wind that his blade seemed to command, forcing the Hyūga to duck. The air was still astir with violent wind and Himura, still fixed on skewering his teammate, swung the long blade downwards. A loud crash was heard as the sword collided with the ground, flattening the surrounding grasses and leaving a deep scar where it landed, which only hinted at the gruesome death Sato had just barely escaped by somersaulting backwards in the nick of time.
“You seem to be having trouble, Sato. You know it takes a real man to admit when he’s beat. Why don’t you show some maturity?” said Himura with a sly grin.
A vein popped out on Sato’s forehead, joining the crowd of blood vessels that were already throbbing around his eyes.
“SHUT UP!” he howled fiercely before promptly resuming his panting. Himura’s speed with a blade was already hard enough to deal with when the sword was standard length, but now that it was two-meters long, it took all he could muster to barely evade it, even with the Byakugan’s incredible field of vision. The strong breeze that shook the air around them wasn’t helping much either, as dodging the weapon not only involved clearing the path of the blade, but forcefully resisting the pull of the wind which dragged in anything nearby.
“Well, if you gonna be that way,” began Himura, “then I’ll do this!”
Extending his sword out towards his right, the chakra around it suddenly began stretching out even farther, to the point where its tip met with the wall of Hoji’s Violet Flame Barrier. The barrier opposed the touch of Himura’s blade by setting it ablaze, as was the Sarutobi’s intention, transforming the tall blade of wind into a long rod of fire. The spectators surrounding the barrier gave a rapturous cheer upon seeing this, which Himura received with a smile as the wisps of flames danced ecstatically around his weapon, swaying to the praises of his adoring fans.
“It’s over, Sato!”
As Himura moved to deliver the finishing blow to his opponent, Sato's pale eyes narrowed and his expression hardened, prepared to receive his final attack.
To Be Continued
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