Uchiha V.S Uchiha

Kaito placed his pen down upon the kitchen table with a grand smile on his face.

"There we go. All finished." He said, stuffing the two separate letters he had written into two different little scroll holders. Raidomaru; Kaito's precious ninken, stood next to the young Uchiha with his head cocked to the side.

"What are those for, Kai?" The pup asked as he sat still with a look of intrigue. Kaito looked down at his little friend and patted the pup on the head. As the Uchiha did so he would rise to his feet and walk over to the window where two messenger crows awaited him.

"They're letters, Raido." He replied as he began to strap the letters to the little legs of the crows. "One is for my friend Hinoishi, with whom I'm requesting a spar to test my new abilities, and the other is for Lord Kazekage." Kaito looked back at Raidomaru as he finished strapping the letters to the crow's ankles. "You remember what Lord Kazekage asked of me when he was here, right?" The pup shook his head from side to side as the crows, now with the letters strapped upon themselves, began to fly away into the distance. Kaito turned around and looked over the gear he had laid out beforehand to ensure he had everything he needed. He continued to address Raidomaru as he did so.

"He asked me to keep detailed notes on how my Wood-Release reacted with my Uchiha genetics. I've been doing so, and I've been training with it extensively, so I'd love for him to see how far I've come with it." Kaito paused his speaking for a moment and smiled. "I'd like for you to come as well, Raido. I think it's time that I show you what combat really looks like in action."

"You really mean it, Kai!?" Raidomaru asked as he began to jump around and wag his tail excitedly.

"Of course, Boy." Kaito chuckled. "Go fetch me your headband and we'll be off."



[45 MINUTES LATER...]

Kaito and Raidomaru waited patiently for Hinoishi and Guren to arrive to their room at the village's Simulation Battle Arena. Kaito had gone ahead and purchased the room upon his arrival about fifteen minutes beforehand, and he made sure to purchase Room #1; the same room in which he had lost his battle during the second round of the exams against Raiden.

He had done this on purpose, of course, as a means to allow himself to remember whom he had been then and who he was now.

The Simulation Battle Arena also had a special feature; people could request footage of past fights that had occurred there and have them be projected into the rooms upon the huge television screen inside of them. Kaito had requested that his previous fight with Raiden be broadcasted into the room so that he could show Raidomaru what all had happened during the fight.

"You see what I could've done differently there, Raido?" Kaito asked as the film came to the part where Kaito had forfeited. A hint of remorse filled his tone.

"You did everything that you could, didn't you, Kaito? It looked like he had you cornered."

Kaito shook his head from side to side.

"I did not. Not even close. Looking back on it all, I easily could've conjured up an "Imitation Black Hole" technique directly above Raiden when the two of us were in that pit. It would've sucked him in and I would probably be the one who was promoted to Chūnin by now." Kaito paused for a moment as he clenched his fists and the anger began to rise within him. He was not mad at either the Kazekage or Raiden for the latter's promotion. Quite the opposite really. He was happy for Raiden and wished the other boy the best of luck.

The only thing that he could be mad about was his lack of ability to think up a counter-offensive.

"It doesn't matter, though." Kaito said, realizing that his anger and the tainted aura around him began to make Raidomaru feel uncomfortable. The clinging of the dog's Sunagakure headband, which he wore around his neck on a bandana-like cloth, clinked as the dog slunk down to the ground and whimpered. Kaito sighed and bent down, doing his best to ease himself before patting Raidomaru on the head as he smiled grandly. "I'll just have to do better next time."

As Kaito comforted Raidomaru, Hinoishi would join the two of them in the room. He still bore the same attire that he had upon their last meeting, but this time the redhead also worse a multitude of belts. He also seemed to still carry that energetic energy about him, but something in the way that the other Uchiha addressed Kaito was a bit off.

Perhaps he had noticed that this wasn't the same Kaito as before?

"Hino!" Kaito exclaimed as he straightened himself up before bowing. "Thank you for answering my request for a spar. I've got something that I've been dying to show you." Next, Hinoishi would ask if Kaito was ready to head on into the simulator. He would nod in reply with a smirk upon his face. "Lets do this." He would form the 'Seal Of Confrontation' with his dominant right hand for a moment, locking his normal eyes with Hinoishi's before putting his hand down and walking over to the television screen. He changed the settings so that it showcased the arena as it was now, and if things went correctly, it would show Hinoishi phasing the arena in real-time. "Keep your eyes on the screen, Raido. I don't want you to miss anything."

Raidomaru nodded and rubbed himself against Kaito as the young Uchiha walked by.

"Good luck, Kai!" The pup exclaimed, a hint of nervousness in his tone.

The False Inuzuka would sit himself down in the chair opposite Hinoishi before putting on his own headset. He then allowed his eyes to close to an all-black screen...



[BATTLE SIMULATION COMMENCING...]

Kaito's eyes opened up to see a whole new world around him. It was all too familiar; a perfect circle 100 meters in diameter from the center and stamped with a bronze seal of the Sunagakure ‘Impossible Triangle’ symbol that all the village's shinobi bore upon their headbands. Surrounding the circle was a 10-meter trench of water being fed through several wall mounted spouts, the water trench convening at one end to form a 30-meter wide expanse of water. On the arena, itself are several archways, pathways, statues, trees, and shrubbery.

This was the very place he had tasted defeat once before, and he was bound and determined to not let it happen again.

Kaito, standing five meters in front of Hinoishi, would form the 'Seal Of Confrontation' again and smile.

"Same rules as the exams, Hino." Kaito addressed. "We both stand at the edge of the arena opposite each other, and the fight begins when the bell chimes. I've programmed it to go off exactly two minutes after we both entered, so we should get into position. Good luck, my friend, and may the best man win."

Kaito would await a response or reaction from his friend before nodding and retreating 25-meters behind his current position to the edge of the arena. He would quickly decide upon picking the far right corner, where the highest number of pipess were stationed to allow him more access to natural water for his Water-Release techniques.

Now, he would await the bell to chime and commence the beginning of the match...

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[Word Count (Post) - 1,264]
[Word Count (Total) - 1,264]