Just a Little Learning

Kaze made his way through the village heading for the training grounds, a place he found himself at almost constantly. Training, training, training. It was a must if he was going to be great. Any good ninja was always trying to learn new things just for the sake of it, Kaze actually enjoyed the thrill of being able to do something new after working for it. Rounding the corner he eyed his second home a tiny smile playing on his lips. 

It would be a nice day for some training, the sun was out and there was a slight breeze blowing. Not wanting to waste such a nice day the young Uchiha loosened up with a few stretches before moving on to a few punches and kicks to finish his stretching. Now that he was loose it was time to move on to his training, only he had not really thought about what today would hold. Honestly Kaze had just decided to walk up here there was no plan after that. 'What should I work on? I need to expand my arsenal but where should I start?'

The day kouse woke up to was just like any other day. Filled with unnecessary noise and bickering by his family, who were all civilians by the way. 
As soon as he could he had left home and was heading towards the training grounds. He wasn't in a good mood heading there. For the past month now, progress he made at the training grounds had all but halted. He wasn't getting any faster or stronger no matter how long he trained, it was like his body had reached its limit. He just couldn't get any better. His stamina too wasn't improving.

He remembered when he had first noticed what was happening. At first it was a surprise, but later left him depressed and that caused him to stay at home for days on end. The only times he left home was for his duties as a ninja. He never once visited the training grounds. He hadn't seen any use in doing so.
Over a week ago he had finally began to miss going to the training grounds and had forced himself to go. After he was done with training that day, there was as expected no improvements, but he had gotten better, faster in performing the rather numerous jutsus he knew. Although that wasn't exactly much, it was something.

Today he hoped was going to be better, he didn't expect it to be, but he hoped it would. He had heard someone say once. 'If one loses hope, then he might as well be damned'.

Kouse uchiha, the long haired chunin arrived at the training grounds. He firstly began his warm up session by making short sprints to see the level of his acceleration and also his top speed.
They were the same as they were last week.
He then relaxed for a minute before getting ready to go through his jutsu arsenal. He would begin performing every jutsu he knew starting from the E ranks up to the A ranks. This always tested his fitness limits and chakra levels and left him breathless and exhausted. What else could he train to do.
But before he could begin, he spotted a ninja nearby, normally he would ignore any and everyone in the training grounds, but this ninja caught his eyes...maybe because he was sure he had seen this particular ninja several times in and around the uchiha district.

"Hey there, if your not busy, how about a short spar?". Kouse would ask before he could stop himself. He was surprised at himself, he would normally never do that but today he felt different, like today's training wouldn't be a waste and he would make real improvements, or he just wanted to see how strong his fellow uchiha ninjas were.....yeah the latter was more likely.

There were plenty of things for the boy to learn, but it seemed that for every option he had to pick from there was something in the way. He did not need to learn more fire jutsu, until he knew a few lightning techniques to balance he repertoire. The only problem with that was he he had to wait for Yuki to get back from her mission. 'What to do, what to do?' Kaze's mind was working overtime in search of something for him to do, yet no matter how hare he tried he still could not come up with anything. Normally he made these decisions quickly and got right into his training but for some reason today was different.

Being so engulfed in his thoughts the boy failed to notice that he was no longer alone. The stranger's voice caught Kaze's attention snapping him back to reality, "A spar? Sure." It was like this newcomer had read his mind and was providing an answer to his dilemma. The stranger looked familiar, like he had been seen before but for some reason he could not be placed. The only way to find out who this ninja was would be to ask his name, but one should always give their name before asking for someone else's. "My name is Kaze Uchiha, may I ask who you are?" Unless his sparring partner turned out to be talkative Kaze would proceed to put a few meters between the two in preparation of their session.

After taking a deep breath the boy bent his knees dropping into a fighting stance, his arms were slightly bent as well and his feet were slightly offset. His heart was beating faster in anticipation, he could feel the blood rushing through his body as well as the low buzz of excitement building inside of him. Surprisingly he was not completely overtaken by the thrill of a fight, Kaze was still able to maintain focus. Eyeing his opponent he waited for him to make the first move, it would be interesting to see how he would start their spar.

Time would tell if it was a mistake to request to have a spar. Kouse didn't want an opponent he would easily beat down. He knew his sparring partner was an uchiha by seeing the uchiha insignia on his clothes.
Hmmm a fellow uchiha I see. Well let's see if uchiha genins still had the kind of potential he knew they used to have.
Memories of when he was still a genin flooded his mind. He had desperately pursued power. Had trained endlessly to get stronger. It was partly because of that desire he had lost his sharingan. But that didn't stop him in the least, he had kept striving to be strong, to be noticed, to make a difference... That was his dream. 
      Now a chunin..he had lost all that. He made no improvements no matter how much he trained. All he craved for now was something to get him excited. Even a little. And he hoped that this was what would do that.

"I'm kouse... Kouse uchiha". Kouse took a step back, taking the distance between them to 30 metres. "So I hope you've activated your sharingan?,...two tomoe...or three?" Kouse asked.
Kouse hoped he had activated it. He hadn't fought an uchiha aided by his eyes before. He wanted to remember what he was missing.
Locking his hands in a ram seal kouse created 4 earth clones. And with a wave of his hands he immediately went underground using hiding like a mole tech.
The first clone would perform the hidden mist jutsu making it just semi transparent, not thick enough to make the uchiha unable to see..the other two would draw their swords still sheated...rushing at their opponent with speeds of 80 and the first of the two would swing the sword at the uchihas head with speeds of 50 and strength of 30 while the other would swing the sword at speeds of 60 and strength of 30 at his feet . The fourth would blast past the uchiha with speeds of 150 using bodyflicker technique.. And would trow a punch at speeds of 60 and strength of 30 at the back of the uchihas head...all attacks if hit wont be able to cause any fatal injuries. Kouse was careful not to take things too far.

-10ap for bodyflicker, 20 ap for hidden in the mist, 20 ap for hiding like a mole tech.
522-50=470ap

He was an Uchiha, that's why he seemed so familiar. Taking a second look at the man whose name was Kouse, the boy remembered seeing him around the Uchiha district on a regular basis. How he had not been able to figure that out the moment he saw him actually bothered Kaze, maybe he should make an effort to get to know more of his clan mates. Now only should he already know all of his clan mates just because there are his clan mates but Uchiha are powerful shinobi, and as such they are valuable allies. Networking nearly always pays off, and the more people you know the better off you are.

Switching his focus back to the battle at hand he noticed that a question had been asked. "Yes, I have awakened my sharingan and at this moment it is only in the two tomoe state." Assuming that the talking was over for now he adjusted his stance sliding his back foot a little further to the rear. Kaze watched while Kouse set up his attack, by first creating clones to carry out his attack above ground while he hid underground. The four clones each had separate task as it appeared, the first created a mist, while two others rushed forward drawing their weapons, the last one seemed to be waiting to time his attack with the other clones. Kaze could have made an effort to dodge their attacks or he could be reckless like he liked to do in spars. After hopping back a few steps he proceeded to form a single hand sign before blowing out an enormous flame. The fire would engulf the entire area consuming the clones before they could execute their plan. Turning his attention towards the ground he quickly activated his sharingan so he could track the chakra emanating from Kouse while he remained underground.

Great Fire Annihilation -40 AP
Sharingan -10 AP

300 AP Remaining

The two clones nearest to kaze would immediately get engulfed in flames. While the one father behind that had attempted to perform the hidden mist jutsu would switch to performing the earth style wall. With the other clone just behind him.
The wall would just barely prevent the fire from engulfing both clones,a
The second would perform the hiding in the rain technique just as the first erected the earth wall. And would blend with the rain.
The first clone would then activate the hidden mist jutsu, and made it an extremely thick mist that made the uchiha unable to see.
With kouse underground plus the rain the clone had made, kouse knew exactly where kaze was and he would perform the head hunter jutsu right beneath kaze, grabbing his feet at speeds of 100 and with strength of 40,immediately dragging him underground.
While the clone hidden in the rain would reform a metre behind kaze at speeds of 65 and would instantly launch a punch at his back at speeds of 75 and strength of 30.


1st clone..-30 ap for earth style wall..total ap left=100
2nd clone..-30ap for hiding in the rain technique.. Total ap left=100
Kouse..-20ap for hiding like a mole upkeep,-10ap for head hunter..total ap left 80.

A small frown settled on Kaze's face as his jutsu only managed to take out the two clones nearest him. It had probably been a surprise to all four of them, unfortunately some were able to react quick enough to avoid being burnt up. It was a shame that a jutsu of such scale had not been able to get the job done, it was not the most reasonable choice but it was by far the most fun. A spar should be as fun as it is educational. The risks one would face in training compared to a real battle were fewer in number and less severe allowing for a more lax atmosphere and encouraging a ninja to try new things or take chances they normally would not.

Closing his eyes the boy deactivated his sharingan seeing that it would be nothing more than a waste. At this moment Kaze may as well have been blind his eyes would be of no used because of the mist created by one of Kisuke's clones. It was laced with chakra to nullify his sharingan, and the thickness of the mist made seeing normally impossible. He would have tried listening for footsteps but with the ran that had appeared out of nowhere, the only sound that was audible was the growing sound of falling rain. He had been placed in a situation that was very beneficial for his opponent, there were multiple ways for his fellow Uchiha to attack yet he had cut Kaze's options almost completely.

Thinking back to a previous spar the answer to how the real Kisuke was going to attack became clear. The last time someone had used an earth technique to go underground they had pulled him down into the ground from right below him. With his eyes still closed he focused all of his attention on his sense of touch, few quick hand seals in preparation and now all he had to do was wait. Since the mist was blocking everyone's sight the fact that he was holding the last sign would go unknown. It would be near impossible to miss someone forcefully grabbing your ankle especially if you were waiting on it as Kaze was. Taking his place in the ground would be one of the training dummies scattered around the training grounds.

Now out of harm's way the young Uchiha switched his focus to getting rid of the mist, the easiest way being to get rid of the clone that cast the jutsu. Forming a single seal he once again blew out a huge flame from his position atop a training dummy ten meters to the left of his previous position. Aiming was not necessary because of the size of the jutsu just pick a direction and that was the spot he had been at before using the substitution technique.

Great Fire Annihilation  - 40 AP
Substitution Technique - 5 AP

255 AP Remaining

'Well you didn't expect him to dodge that did you kouse?' Skipton invaded his mind 'no way he avoided that with both the ability to hear and see taking away from him'.
Kouse communicated with telepathy back 'either he's seen this technique before or he's a prodigy'. Kouse smiled...it was nice meeting a genin who showed talent, even if just a glimpse.
He had wanted to test kaze's battling skills and he was impressed on how he managed to counter each attack kouse hit him with. The desire to fight him left kouse and was replaced by the urge to train him..and if possible learn a thing or two from him too.

Although kouse could have easily prevented the fire attack from hitting his clones..or carried on the battle using more powerful techniques, he chose to end it...Kaze was a genin with potential and that was all he needed to know. He wasn't like some of his colleagues who'd go on, upping the scale of the battle, going harder and harder until they showed their superiority over someone, that was just stupid. He and Kaze would become friends, uchihas had to stick together after all, even if that wasn't so common nowadays.

After his clone was destroyed, kouse would come out of the ground with the clone hiding in the rain solidifying beside him.
"Alright Kaze, let's put this spar on a hold...I didn't expect you to dodge that last attack and I'll say I'm impressed." Kouse would turn and begin to stretch, going underground could be uncomfortable sometimes. 
After a minute kouse would turn back to Kaze "So is there anything in particular your looking to learn?, I may be able to offer some assistance?".

From his position atop the training dummy Kaze had a clear view of Kouse as he resurfaced. Now that that his clones and mist were gone maybe he would take a different approach to their spar. At least that was what the boy was expecting his clan mate to do, it turned out they were down with fighting for now. The abrupt stop to the spar puzzled the younger Uchiha, but perhaps there was a reason for it. It could have been a test, in that case did he pass? Fail? Then again maybe Kouse just wanted to do something else, that was probably the most logical reason.

Listening to his clansman praise him for avoiding his attack Kaze decided to keep the fact that it had been a lucky guess to himself. If he had guessed wrong the boy would have looked like a fool, but it seemed today was his lucky day.  He had just been offered help with his training and the dilemma of what he wanted to learn had been answered.

 "Thanks. You're no slouch yourself especially considering you were holding back." It was an assumption that had to be true, an Uchiha of Kouse's age had to posses more power than he had shown. It burned Kaze on the inside a bit, his competitive nature made him want people to give him their all regardless if he lost. Although he had learned that sometimes it was better to learn rather than fight, which was the case here. He had someone here offering to train him so his pride would have to take a backseat to learning. After seeing how useful the hidden mist technique had been in their spar, it made the young Uchiha wonder how much it could benefit him to learn the water element. "Since you're offering, I'd like to learn a new element. I want to learn to use water jutsu if that's now a problem. In return I could teach you something if possible."

Oh?. So he knew I was holding back? Kouse thought. Well that wasn't a surprise. It must have been really obvious.
To his request to learn the water element kouse just nodded his head. 
He would signify to Kaze to follow him. He would then walk calmly to a nearby bench where he had dropped his weapons pouch. He'd dig into it and fish out a couple of papers, turning around he would hand one to Kaze. "Alright the first step to learning a new element is gonna be achieved with this paper. I assume you've seen it before?".
When one wanted to learn a new element especially if it's their first they usually used said paper. He would pause for a moment for kaze's reply.
"Well all you have to do is channel your chakra Into it until it becomes wet. It would most likely burn up the first few times cause your already a fire element user but our goal is for it to become wet".
He would fold his hands and take a step back and would stand waiting to see what Kaze could do.


(My apologies for the late post)