Striving for Greatness

Kaze was feeling rather amped up and he had no clue why, it was just a normal day in Konoha but for some reason he had the urge to train. Now this was far from a bad thing, a little odd considering he had been pushed to his limits the last few days his body seemed up for another grueling day. He quickly got dressed and dashed out of his home, leaving a not on the counter to let his mother know he wouldn't be eating breakfast. That was getting to be a habit for the boy, it just seemed that he was always on the run, being a ninja even a genin was time consuming at least when you had goals and junk like Kaze. 

Walking through the streets again, he needed to switch it up this part of his day was getting a bit repetitive. Once again people of the opposite gender felt the need to stare at the handsome boy as he made his way to the training grounds. Deja vu it seemed like, except Kaze was determined to change that, taking every chance he got to speak to each person that was staring at him. You better believe it every time he made eye contact with one he tried to start a conversation, most of the time it worked much to his surprise.

After stopping several times to get to know strangers Kaze finally arrived at the all too familiar training grounds. He sat on a tree stump off to the side of one of the fields deciding it was best to wait for someone to show up than to go solo, he was up for some action. Plus this gave him a chance to eat the apple he had bought from a vendor while he was headed for his current location.

Kaneki had spent most of his day inside of the house, relaxing, which was something the boy was not often found doing. Upon leaving his house later in the day he decided to take a trip to the local shops. Each shop held things that Kaneki had been looking forward to get before he became chuunin. Weapons, clothing, and scrolls were all things he would need as an advanced ninja. The only problem was he did not have the Ryo of an advanced ninja. The truth was Kaneki was bone broke and could only afford the bare necessities. So he was stuck with his favorite hobby of the time, window shopping. Eventually he decided to leave the shop district and made his way for the training field. He had only a hand full of jutsu, no matter how he wished to look at it he still had more things he needed to practice. 

After making it to the training field Kaneki set his bag on the ground and sighed, although he was looking through the small selection of weapons in his bag he was also focusing his chakra into his feet, he learned that by building up chakra in certain places he learned to perfect his chakra control. It was not the training that caused him to do such, it was the boy nearby that had him on edge. As always the Genin had his hood pulled over his head and was hiding his snow white hair. The boy sitting not far from him, a Genin just like Kaneki, seemed like he was waiting for either a training partner or an end to his break.

Kaneki dispersed the chakra in his feet before walking over to the boy, eyeing the apple he had bought before simply looking over him. "Wanna train with me? I could use a partner." 

Kaze calmly ate his apple, a granny smith, which was delicious but he wasn't truly paying much attention to his breakfast if you could call it that. Instead his focus was on a boy who had just arrived at the training grounds, Kaze wasn't one to jump to conclusions but this guy didn't look very friendly judging from his appearance, wearing a hood in a village as sunny and bright as Konoha was just a bit odd. Still he knew from experience that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, yet here he was doing exactly what he shouldn't. Pushing his thoughts out of his head Kaze observed the newcomer once more, he was now looking in a bag he was carrying, what was in it was anyone's guess.

As far as he could tell the boy seemed a bit on edge, why he didn't know, it couldn't be from Kaze being here could it. I mean it's not like he was an intimidating person if you were just looking at him, if anything he'd probably be picked as nicest or most attractive when it comes to looks. He had a fair skin complexion, a handsome face, and bleached white hair. Yet the look the other boy had given him had just seemed to carry a bit of suspicion, so Kaze was a little surprised when he was approached and asked if he wanted to train. Not that he didn't he truly did want to train and he had been waiting for a partner, but the request wasn't asked in the nicest of ways. A mischievous look flickered through Kaze's eyes as he sized his newly found training partner up, maybe he needs a lesson in manners. "Shouldn't you give your name or at least ask for mine first instead of looking at me like that. Surely your parents taught you that." He would pause a moment to see if the stranger would indeed rephrase his choice of words, regardless if he did or didn't he would go on and introduce himself anyway. "My name is Kaze Uchiha." A clear look of pride on his face as he rose from his seated position, "I'm curious to who you are, but if you'd rather get down to business that's fine too."

Holding the half eaten apple in his mouth Kaze slipped his jacket off tossing it on the stump he had been sitting on. Following this he would take a few steps away from the other genin creating a four meter gap before resuming munching on his apple with one hand, and using his free hand to signify for the stranger to bring it on by holding his hand palm up and flicking his fingers back towards himself.

Kaneki listened to the boy introduce himself and simply remained passive to his words. While almost no one in the village knew the Itchki were a sub clan within the Senju. Kaneki's full name was Kaneki Itchki Senju, but he never felt that clans truly mattered. Even so he felt a slight irritation when dealing with Uchiha. Not just because of the bad blood in the history of the two clans but also because most Uchiha tended to be pompous and think they were better than others because of their Sharingan eyes. Either way the Genin decided to put names aside, after hearing his words he decided to introduce himself. "My name is Kaneki, Kaneki Itchki." He walked over towards the center of the training field with the Uchiha, hands in his pockets.

He saw as the boy gestured for Kaneki to come at him, but it was not that simple. Kaneki did not enjoy rushing into a beating, he examined his opponent, wondering if the boy had unlocked the kekkei Genkei of his clan. If he did Kaneki was at a disadvantage because his abilities in the wood style were basically nonexistent. The boy was not a master at taijutsu, in fact he preferred to rely on ninjutsu, so for now the best thing would be to keep the Uchiha far away from him so he could utilize his fire style. "Good luck, Uchiha." Kaneki instantly formed two hand seals with a speed of 15. Horse. Tiger. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." As he clamped his fingers in front of his lips a fireball formed and shot towards the Genin with a speed of 20. Kaneki would hope to catch the Uchiha off guard and at least come out swinging.


{WC: 291} 
-20 Ap Fire Release: Great Fireball
Ap 130/150

'Oh so he is serious I see.' Kaze thought as he watched Kaneki form a few hand signs, two that the Uchiha knew off the top of his head. It was his turn and luckily he had just finished his apple, normally not being one to litter under the circumstances he would make an exception. Now with his hands free of the apple core the boy mimicked the seals that his opponent had just formed, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." Placing his index finger and thumb around his mouth in the form of a circle he expelled his own fireball to match Kaneki's.

As the two blazing shapes raced towards each other Kaze patiently stood waiting, he wasn't going to jump ahead in this fight, no instead he would feel his opponent out. He had tried the rush in tactic before and it worked out relatively well and it was best if he honed his skills in different scenarios. Kaneki would be in for a surprise if he thought this was going to be easy, it would be far from that, but if he was a true ninja the boy would appreciate it later on. Waiting until the fireballs collided and exploded into a smoke screen he would speak, "Good luck to you as well."

Kaneki was slightly surprised by the fast reaction time of the uchiha, but never the less he knew he had to remain alert. Watching the two flaming spheres charge towards each other  the boy already began to think a step ahead. "If my fireball won't do it...maybe a change of tactic." Kaneki watched as the two fireballs met and a cloud of smoke was birthed from the collision. He heard the boy's wish of luck and as he did he began to form hand seals once more. 

Ram. Snake. Tiger. After sealing the hand signs for the basic clone technique a perfect image of Kaneki appeared right in front of him, facing the smoke screen. Kaneki decided now was the time to wait and watch, the boy leapt back and ran for a nearby tree, hiding behind it, waiting for the smoke screen to clear. As he did so he pulled a kunai knife from his pouch and clamped it between his teeth. With his hands free the Genin awaited the smoke screen to clear, hoping to see an opening. If his opponent was foolish enough to attack the clone, which he doubted, he would have an opening for another attack. 

{WC: 493}
-5 AP Clone Technique
AP 125/150

Watching the eruption of smoke Kaze blinked once activating his Sharingan allowing him to see Kaneki's chakra even through the wall of smoke. A smirk crept on to his face as he caught onto the plan of his opponent, but he had to give him credit for thinking on the fly and taking advantage of the situation. Too bad his quick thinking wouldn't do him any good, Kaze waited, watching the clump of chakra move away from the field until it became still. Once his target had quit moving the boy wove the same set of seals he had just used, pausing to take aim, again he placed his index and thumb in front of his mouth in the form of a circle. Exhaling he released a second fireball, it ripped a hole in the smoke that was already dissipating. The fiery projectile barreled toward the tree that Kaneki was hiding behind.

Kaze hoped his jutsu wouldn't do any serious harm to his fellow ninja, having to take him to the hospital wouldn't be fun. To be fair he wasn't using his most powerful techniques and the only reason he was using jutsu at all was because Kaneki had kicked the session off with one, naturally one would take that as the ok to use jutsu the rest of the fight.

Stepping forward a few step the white haired boy calmly waited to see what would happen, his sharp eyes taking in every detail. Nothing would catch him off guard especially sense the smoke had cleared out with a little help from his blazing projectile. Kaze was eager for the next step of the battle, he wanted to learn the capabilities of his opponent, maybe this guy would become a friend in the future. For now the young Uchiha would settle for learning Kaneki's skill level.

-40 AP for Fire Release: Great Fireball (This post and my last one)
-10 AP for Sharingan
230 AP Left

Kaneki had remained behind the tree, wary of what his opponent would do. What happened next was both a surprise and something he suspected. His clone, was completely destroyed by another of the enemies fireballs. Kaneki cursed softly before leaping away from the tree, throwing his hood back as he did such. He had narrowly escaped the attack, flames catching onto his jacket as he rolled away from the target area. Now the Genin was more than sure his enemy was capable of using the famous technique of the Uchiha, Sharingan. As he rolled onto the ground, dousing the fires on his jacket the boy was forced to release the kunai between his teeth. After outstretching his leg, and rolling into a three-point stance Kaneki immediately began to seal a few more signs once more. 


Tiger. Ox. Rat. Bird. Tiger. His hands moved at a speed of 15 once more, after finishing the seals he let both of his arms touch the ground, as if providing leverage. Kaneki began to shoot small fireballs from his lips, each one only several centimeters large. The first of the shots was aimed at the Uchiha's feet, hoping to allow his napalm, like flame overtake his area. The second shot was aimed directly for the Uchiha, the third and fourth were also aimed only a meter in front of the Uchiha. Kaneki knew his attack would spread like napalm if they were allowed to erupt. Even so he did not underestimate his enemy. The Genin began to build up chakra in his feet, hoping he was at least testing the Uchiha's strength. 


{WC: 761}
-14 Ap Fire Release: Exploding Flame Shot
AP 111/150

Kaze internally breathed a sigh of relief that his attack had indeed been dodged, only managing to set the boy's jacket on fire as he jumped out of the way of the jutsu. Kaneki landed in a roll dropping a kunai from his mouth. Kaze watched as the boy slid to a halt in a three-point stance before weaving a series of seals, as he finished the seals the boy placed both hands on the ground as if he was balancing himself for something. As this happened the young Uchiha took the liberty to form his own set of seals in preparation for what could only be an attack, and he was not disappointed. Four fiery projectiles were launched from his opponent's mouth all aimed in Kaze's general vicinity, while he wasn't sure what they were capable of it wasn't of any importance to him considering they had already been dealt with due to his earlier actions.

As the balls neared Kaze he reached out to touch one immediately activating his jutsu as he felt a singe from the heat. What would be seen after the projectiles erupted into a napalm like blaze was the body of what would be thought as the Uchiha whom Kaneki had been training with, only for it to erupt into smoke revealing the charred remains of a tree limb. By then Kaze would have already moved with his next plan of action, this involved the kunai that had been dropped from his opponent's mouth only moments again. The Uchiha would have used the substitution technique to avoid the fire based attack sent his way, he would have appeared only a few meters from Kaneki's current position. At this location lay the kunai, which he would pick up before throwing it at the unsuspecting genin in front of him. Being that this was training his aim was not to kill, instead he had thrown the weapon so that it would only scrape the cheek of his opponent leaving a small cut. 

Everything happened in a few seconds, nearly simultaneously Kaze doubted that his training partner would be able to devise what had happened and locate him before the kunai met it's target simply because of how well he had timed it. Right when his substitution jutsu wore off, Kaze would have already thrown the weapon Kaneki had dropped and it would be making contact with it's target maybe a second later. If the boy who had come off as a little rude managed to avoid this it would mean that he could be pushed father by the Uchiha he was fighting.

Kaneki had not expected to see the substitution technique that the Uchiha utilized, when his adversary disappeared and was replaced with nothing more than a tree limb. While Kaneki looked over the flames he saw something in his peripheral vision that caused him to stiffen, but by the time he saw his enemy it was too late, the kunai knife that he had dropped has already slid across the boy's cheek, leaving a red line of blood flowing down to his chin. The boy wiped his blood the back of his hand before smiling softly. "Awesome." His words were not sarcastic nor were they enthusiastic. The white haired Genin seemed to be enjoying himself more than usual. 

Pulling two shuriken from their places in his pouch he immediately threw them at the boy he was facing, after launching them to him he would charge forward, this time completely unarmed. Kaneki was not an expert in Taijutsu but he knew how to handle himself in close combat, as he grew closer he would leap into the air, aiming a kick for the Uchiha's shoulder. Though that would only be a distraction, he would cut his kick short, aiming a punch for the Uchiha's jaw instead. 

{WC: 965}