The Village People{Open to Leaf village ninja, nk}

"I wouldn't say I am all that powerful, but skilled? I am definitely skilled in many of the shinobi arts." These rather pensive words were accompanied by an appropriate shrug, which also served to remove his both hands from his pockets so that they, once again, hung loosely by his side. In all honesty, Shinji was not being modest in the least, he was by no means a powerful shinobi with a wide arsenal of jutsu at his command. Rather the Uzumaki was more proficient than the normal shinobi in the use of the narrow set of skills he did have. In the end it was these skills that made Shinji who he was and had kept him alive thus far in situations that should have probably spelled his end. However, never once had Shinji seen himself as powerful. Furthermore, perhaps more interestingly, the Uzumaki was content with where he was at in terms of relative power. Defeating opponents with a rather basic arsenal always had a certain sweetness to it. Such was Shinji's way, nothing flashy or grandiose. Instead he was simple yet brutally efficient.

{Meh, sorry for the short post. -10 ap from Solace ---->884-10= 874 ap remaining}

"Ah, so what do you say to displaying that skill of yours a bit?" he said with a small grin on his face, obviously attempting to challenge him. He did not expect to win of course, but he would indeed try his hardest to at least make it challenging for Shinji if he accepted. Slowly moving his left hand down to rest it upon the hilt of his katana he would simply stare at Shinji, hoping he would be able to sway him into a friendly fight. It was at this time that the sun had climbed much higher into the sky, nearly approaching midday and the training grounds seemed to be gaining a few new arrivals but still they would have plenty of room to battle each other if Shinji accepted the challenge.
(Sorry, posting right when I wake up is always bad)

"If you insist." A simple cool phrase that would signal the Uzumaki's acceptance of a small spar. To further match Kenshin's challenge, Shinji almost mimicked the boy to a tee, moving in sync with him. However, as opposed to bringing his left hand onto the hilt of his blade, he brought his right hand across his body such that it gently gripped the hilt. In tandem with this deliberate movement, the former kage dropped his right hand to the upper neck of the sheathe and, upon gripping the sheathe, pivoted the sheathe such that it, and the blade held within it, were perpendicular to Shinji's upright body. Of course the Uzumaki was not one to hold back and as such also took the liberty to activate the Byakugan that sat in his left eye, the distinct veins radiating from the eye socket signaling its activation-of course Shinji was not foolish enough to activate his sharingan. All this occurred in a matter of moments after which, if kenshin had not begun yet, Shinji would signal the start of this spar of sorts, "Shall we begin?" Like that it was as if a switch had been flipped in Shinji's mind he took in each detail of Kenshin and his surroundings.

In surveying his surroundings, Shinji noted a few things: for one the terrain they would be fighting on was absolutely flat covered only in grass and two the only training dummy in the immediate area of about 35 meters was the one that Shinji had recently bisected. If anything the field was a place where there was no real terrain advantage for one side or the other. Rather it would be up to either combatant to make use of their skills properly. Of course Shinji did not know much of Kenshin save for the fact that he had a sword, so he was ready for just about anything that may come his way. Though he did note that it was rather odd that Kenshin's left hand rested on the hilt of his blade-it was not exactly the orthodox way to prepare a sword draw and may offer an opening if used correctly. For now though time would tell, it was Kenshin's move.

{-10 ap from Solace and -1 ap from naturalized Byakugan, ----> 874-11=863 ap left}

Watching Shinji carefully, not even focusing on his surroundings as he knew the field like the back of his hand due to him visiting the place so often. It was a bland area to battle where few advantages could be gained through terrain if any, he knew that it would be pure skill based combat. His right hand slowly moving up to grip the collar of his cloak he would quickly rip it from his body and toss it several meters to his right where it would lay on the ground. His clothing now being visible he wore a short sleeved, high collard black shirt with a large uchiha clan symbol on its back and a large weapons pouch strapped to his lower back that carried all of his equipment minus the katana. Peering into Shinji's eyes with a firey determination to when, his onyx eyes would shift to that of a crimson red with three black tomoe emerging from his pupil and begin spinning around it several times before coming to a stop in a formation that resembled a triangle somewhat around his pupil. His ability to see chakra would show him that this man had a far larger quantity and it was also more potent, purposely burning the image of what he perceived to be the color of his chakra into his memory he intended to remember it clearly as a bright gold. His right foot slowly shifting back several inches he would lurch forward at a surprising speed, but obviously one that the man would have no difficulty reacting to. The several meters between them being covered in a short moment, Kenshin would while still closing the gap quickly unsheathe his katana in a reverse grip, one he had practiced and trained in for some time now and send a swift cut towards the mans right shoulder. With his right hand he would reach back and dig into his weapons pouch to grip a kunai that he planned to use in defense against the mans own blade, one he assumed would eventually use in the same way that he had displayed difficulty with prior to Kenshin giving him advice. His eyes shifting to look the man up and down very quickly he was obviously on high alert, expecting an impressive display of skill right out of the gate from the kage, this attacking obviously just being a way for Kenshin to test the waters for this spar, one he intended to win or at least give the man difficulty in.

-1AP from 3 tomoe sharingan -------> 247-1=246

Ah, the sweet tingle of adrenaline that surged through one's veins as a battle was about to begin, this was what Shinji had missed so much from his time as a 'regular' shinobi and it was one that he felt once again in facing Kenshin. Sure, Kenshin was not a challenge judging by his chakra level, but all it took was one misstep or mistimed feint and a novice could very easily beat a master. Kenshin would find no passion in Shinji's eyes however, rather he would see a cool indifference-those of a weathered veteran plying his trade. As Kenshin dramatically ripped off his cloak after the Uzumaki finished speaking, Shinji, likewise, ripped the blade on his side from its scabbard in a smooth quick motion and brought the blade out in front of him such that the point was directed at Kenshin's right shoulder, this would be over quickly.

Once the blade left the sheathe, Shinji's left hand turned outward such that the palm faced Kenshin, though it did remain at his side. This was a subtle movement and not really needed, as it did give away the Uzumaki's plot were one to look deeper. Along with this slight movement came a shifting of the Uzumaki's left foot back mere inches to allow for better balance. The speed at which these movements occurred would allow the former kage to attain his positioning just as Kenshin covered two meters in his bold frontal attack. At this point it was clear, assuming he continued as planned, that Kenshin was in the process of drawing his blade in a unique reverse grip, interesting. Normally the reverse grip was used in close combat situations where swinging a blade was impractical, but Shinji was intrigued to see how Kenshin would put it to use.

If Kenshin were to continue with his attack as planned, Shinji would react to his slash with a flick of his right wrist and slight bend of the arm, which turned into a well timed parry with the flat side of his blade such that the two blades would meet and bisect at the midway point on each blade making a cross of sorts, thereby protecting Shinji from immediate harm. Kenshin's blade would be the vertical part of this aforementioned cross and Shinji's would be the horizontal with his hand on the outside of the 'cross' to his right. Naturally the Uzumaki would attempt to push back on Kenshin's blade with an equal to force of Kenshin's, which would result in a deadlock between the two if Kenshin did not draw his blade back or do something to shift the scales of strength. Of course, the Uzumaki, during this clash, would not center his attention on the clashing blades, no, he would expand it and take in all of Kenshin, and his movements, ready to react if need be. Clearly this would be an interesting spar if nothing else.

{Quickdraw Jutsu: 20 ap stats on draw are +20 speed and strength, but those are irrelevant, -1 ap for Byakugan, -10 for Solace, Total: 31----> 863-31= 832 ap remaining, Sorry, lazy battle post, just wanted post at some point to keep this moving while I had the time.}

The intense clash of blades, a sound that Kenshin had come accustomed to in his time as a shinobi, it was no secret that this man had skill with a blade, but Kenshin felt no need to try and stop his parry, or rather he simply did not have time to. It was obvious that the movements were quick, but his sharingan was easily capable of capturing every minute shift in his stance and the angle of his blades approach. It was during this clash that the right hand that had reached into his pouch would instead grip a smoke bomb rather than a kunai and with a swift motion he would toss it onto the ground behind him causing it to erupt and envelope a ten meter radius around him, blocking vision between them hopefully. It was during this time that Kenshin would break away from Shinji's blade and swiftly step to the side and release his reverse grip on the blade with his left hand and instead hold it the exact way that Shinji had earlier with his right hand. Positioning it next to his left hip he would hold it as if it was still within its sheath and copying the mans exact technique, down to the slightest shift in momentum and stance. Aiming to strike the man across the chest from within the smoke he would simply await another parry or his blade simply hitting nothing, or far more unlikely, the feeling of his blade ripping through flesh. Regardless of what would occur, Kenshin would once again break away from the man as quickly as he could, backing out of the smoke as quickly as he could, his eyes shifting in all directions to try and spot where the man was so that he would not be taken by surprise. It was when he emerged from the smoke and continued ten meters back that he would jab his blade into the ground and form several hand seal in quick succession to prepare himself for what was to come next. His eyes still shifting back and forth to try and find his opponent he would try and take stock of all the information he has gathered on his opponent thus far. It was obvious that he had some degree of skill with a blade, but to what degree was not apparent and also that he had the raiton element, something that he wished he had a reasonable counter against. Another thing was that he seemed very quick, his movements before being incredibly quick, even under the watchful eye of the sharingan, this battle would obviously be a hard fought one on his side, though Kenshin refused to believe he would be taken down with ease by this man, former kage or not.


(-20 from quick draw and -1 from 3 tomoe sharingan) 246-21=225AP
(TWC: 4,113)

The element of surprise, Kenshin had it. Even a kage was not omniscient and as a result he was taken by surprise when smoke billowed from behind the younger boy. However, thanks to Shinji experience with surprise he was able to recover rather quickly and take the needed action. Sure, the smoke stung his eyes causing them to water noticeably, but it did not obscure  Kenshin from Shinji's ever watchful Byakugan as he squinted through the smoke. As a result the Uzumaki carelessly blocked Kenshin's blade-he clearly did not put much thought into the parry as he blocked Kenshin's blade with the sharp edge of his blade, which is not recommended in the least.

The result of this method was rather stunning. Instead of the sharp clang of metal on metal there would be a shrill shearing noise as Shinji's superior blade sliced Kenshin's blade clean through leaving about a foot on the blade and sending the rest of it to the grass below. This maneuver was enough to avoid bodily harm to Shinji as Kenshin no longer possessed much of a blade. It became readily evident that Kenshin was retreating from the smoke as the Uzumaki watched his chakra signature. In response to this Shinji skillfully sheathed his blade and made two unique hand seals.

The first hand seal brought forth an explosive shadow clone of the former kage that stood right next to the Uzumaki, a plan in motion and a rather explosive trap set. For now this clone would remain in the smoke, waiting. Meanwhile the second hand seal made by the real Shinji allowed the Uzumaki to travel faster than even Kenshin could probably track, the basic body flicker-an invaluable tool. Electing not to simply go after Kenshin, Shinji would body flicker to a point fifteen meters to the left of the younger boy, which got him out of the smoke plume about the time Kenshin finished his last hand seals. Facing the other shinobi, Shinji figured he might as well goad him just a bit, "Not too shabby, you really should try harder though." To further this taunt even more the Uzumaki put both his hands harmlessly in the air almost in an arrogant shrug accompanied by a slight grin. Perhaps this would be enough to set the Uchiha off, time would tell.

[Sharpness calculations: Solace vs katana sharpness: 150 vs 50 and health of katana is 50 thereby allowing for breaking upon clash]

TWC: 5054

{Clone: -40 ap, -10 ap from Solace, divide ap between clone and Shinji afterwards: total of 391 ap for each, Shinji uses body flicker 381 left for him, then -1 for both clone and Shinji, Shinji: 380 Clone: 390}

Watching as Shinji appeared at his side his gaze would shift over to him quickly, his katana that had been sliced cleanly in half being picked up from the ground he would throw it towards Shinji and charge forward. Getting within melee range he would send a swift kick towards the mans head to try and hit him, however if Shinji decided to retaliate, Kenshin would erupt into a cloud of smoke to reveal a thick tree branch, obviously a substitution jutsu. It was at this time that Kenshin would appear ten meters behind Shinji, pressing his palms together and thrusting them into the ground. It was at this instant that a five by five meter square of earth with Shinji at the center would begin sinking into the ground at a fast pace, hopefully surprising the man and causing him to descend with the earth beneath him to exactly ten meters below the surface. It was at this point that Kenshin would quickly reach into his pouch once again to grip two kunai between the fingers of his left hand and pulling them from the pouch he would quickly toss one at opposite sides of the whole. If Shinji was paying attention to the kunai at all he would notice that an explosive tag was wrapped around the handle of each kunai and almost at the same moment that they made contact with the sides of the pit the explosive tags would be set off. Hoping that Kenshin would be able to cause the walls of the pit to collapse down on Shinji he would retreat back even further, now twenty meters from the pit he had formed and nearly thirty meters from the smoke cloud he would continue looking around for safety, assuming this man was smart enough to take advantage of his form being concealed by the smoke earlier he would actually expect some kind of counter attack. Taking stock of the equipment and jutsu he had used this far there were very few things this man could know about him. One that he was capable of using the earth chakra nature and that he possessed the sharingan, two, that he had likely used up quite a large portion of his equipment which was actually very true. Deciding upon keeping the information on his own skills limited for now he resolved to staying with earth style jutsu from this point on if he could help it, though an opponent like this would not be so easily dealt with if he could not be versatile in his approach. For now Kenshin would merely hope that his previous attempt at trapping his opponent would work long enough for Kenshin to plan out another strategy to try and overcome this shinobi from Tengakure.

(-10 from moving earth core -1 from 3 tomoe sharingan) 225-11=214AP

A broken sword, so that was the shearing sound, odd. All the same, Shinji simply  side stepped the useless weapon and took quick note of the oncoming boy and simply waited for his arrival. When the boy went for a kick to the head, Shinji figured the boy was insane and made an attempt to stop the  kick with both hands with the intent to catch the kick on the way up. However, instead of feeling the impact he felt only air as a branch appeared in Kenshin's place, how annoying. Luckily, the Uzumaki was able to respond to the boy's location thanks to his byakugan and as a result was able to turn in place in time to see Kenshin smashing his palms into the ground, odd once again.

Of course this hand thrust resulted in the slow descent of Shinji into the ground. Now normally the Uzumaki could have very easily escaped the slow descent with naught but a small burst of speed and a quick use of the tree climbing technique, but what was the fun in that? After all, Shinji kind of wanted to see what Kenshin planned to do. As such the older man sunk underground in a five meter by five meter pit that stood ten meters in depth. In this time the former kage's clone had not wasted a second, the plan had originally been to simply attack Kenshin while the real Shinji taunted him. Thus, the clone at the point that Kenshin threw the broken blade, was running right for the spot where he had been making his hand seals. Unfortunately the clone was a little late, so much for precision timing, Shinji was a bit rusty.

The end result was that as Kenshin's hands touched the ground the clone erupted from the smoke bank, seven meters behind Shinji, as the real Uzumaki had, at this point, turned to face the real Kenshin. Now, the real Shinji did not react to Kenshin moving the earth itself, but the clone did. The clone followed each movement of Kenshin with his Byakugan and as such saw the tell tale sign of the boy reaching back into his ninja pouch, thus the clone mirrored this movement by reaching its right hand into the ninja pouch that was strapped on his right thigh for easy access. Drawing out 2 kunai, one of which was quickly passed to his left hand that had already moved over to quickly collect it, the clone prepared for a fairly routine exercise. To further aide in its endeavor the clone audaciously activated its 3 tome sharingan, crimson red filling its right eye like a pool.

Thus, with the aid of the sharingan, the clone was able to easily track Kenshin's movements with and thus extrapolate where and when it needed to throw the two kunai it held to save it's creator. With an eye to detail the clone would flick the two kunai into space with deadly accuracy. Each kunai was on a direct collision course with one of Kenshin's already thrown kunai, but the clone did not stop there. Immediately after throwing the kunai the clone flashed through an array of quick hand seals thereby causing the kunai thrown from his left hand to explode into 1,000 copies of itself, but not altering the flight of the original kunai nor causing any kunai to stray into the open pit.

The result of this impressive display being that Kenshin's two kunai were deflected with a loud clink such that they landed halfway between kenshin and the newly formed pit. However, now Kenshin was faced with a wall of kunai coming his way that threatened to impale him in many numerous ways that would be quite painful to say the least. The cloud of kunai spanned ten meters wide and five tall centered on a point a meter to the left of Kenshin. Upon hearing the distinctive clink of kunai deflection, the real Shinji decided it was time to get out of this pit, thus with ease he made use of the tree walking technique and walked straight up the wall of the pit. If things went badly the real Shinji would arrive on ground level once the kunai had all impacted Kenshin, hopefully they had not hit him, but this was the point at which the real Shinji emerged from the pit.

Regardless if Kenshin had been hit or not, the real Shinji would turn to face the field of kunai that would now prickle the ground. He had noticed the sharingan in his clone's eye and wondered how Kenshin would react to this, probably not well. All the same the Uzumaki was well prepared for whatever Kenshin could throw at him. He knew quite a bit about the boy already. His fighting style did not seem to match his attitude towards secrecy in the least, though Shinji did not much fancy the idea of being lowered into a pit once again-it was a rather irksome prospect.

{Shuriken Shadow Clone: -40 ap from clone, -10 from each for Solace, -2 from clone for sharingan and byakugan, -1 from Shinji for Byakugan and -1 for tree walking, Clone: 390-52=338 Shinji: 380-12=368}

TWC: 5872

It was in an instant that what could only be assumed was a clone or possibly the real Shinji burst from the smoke that Kenshin had caused earlier. It watched as he caused the ground to descend under the other and then activated the precious kekkei genkai of Kenshin's own clan, the sharingan. A rush of adrenaline showering over his body as he witnessed its activation, as well as slight anger and confusion. Had this man killed one of Kenshin's clansmen to obtain that eye, did he merely receive it from somebody who willingly let it go, or was it simply offered to him by another? All of these questions quickly went through his mind as he stared at the man as he threw two of his own kunai to deflect Kenshin's own and only moments before, a seemingly uncountable number of new kunai would simply appear into existance, likely the jutsu the man had been preparing after he threw his own kunai. It was only mere moments after the deflection that the explosive tags would strike the ground and erupt into large explosions, likely throwing a few of the kunai off their predetermined flight paths. It was as the kunai passed through the smoke of the explosion that Kenshin would form a handseal of his own, that of the shadow clone jutsu. Two clones appearing directly in front and behind of Kenshin, the one in front with the same exact posture as to shield him from the kunai he would simply wait for the shadow clone to be impaled by the multitude of blades and almost instantly after the attack ended, erupt into a cloud of smoke and disappear. It was not the most difficult jutsu to react to and defend against, but if Kenshin would have misjudged for even a second and attempted to dodge instead of block, he would have been hit and lost the battle instantly. His expression shifting to a more serious one, the determination in his eyes was obvious. Knowing now that this man possessed both the byakugan and sharingan it seemed likely that he would never be able to escape his visual perception, regardless of where he positioned himself. Knowing this he could only determine that winning this fight was nearly impossible with the huge gap in power between them but this would not hinder him from trying. The clone behind him quickly forming the ram handseal would step to Kenshin's right and burst forward through both plums of smoke at a very high speed, pulling two kunai from its pouch and holding one in each hand it would look around frantically trying to take in as much information as it could. Easily being able to spot another Shinji exiting the pit and the one in front of it that had activated its sharingan the clone would rush for the one with the sharingan and lunge towards it to stab at its chest with both kunai. Hoping that Shinji would at least be distracted for a moment, the real Kenshin would form the tiger handseal and after inhaling a large amount of air he would exhale a tremendous amount of flames which would burst through both clouds of smoke, taking on the shape of a dragons head as it went. Assuming that Shinji had attempted to block the clone, the raging fire would quickly approach from behind, hidden for most of its journey by the large cloud of smoke from the explosive tags and attempt to consume both of the clones in its flames to destroy them both.

(-30 from shadow clones, taking 2/3s of chakra for Kenshin due to one shadow clone being killed directly after creation. -30 from great dragon fire jutsu and -1 from 3 tomoe sharingan) Kenshin=92AP Clone=56AP
(TWC: 5171)