Hayate shifted from tree branch to tree branch rapidly, using the shadows of the trees themselves to his advantage, in order to remain unseen by possible free roaming ninjas or any other possible distractions, there was only one thing on his mind, and that was Hayabusa.
Although he would never show it, it burned him to his very soul that he was never able to /truly/ defeat Ryu, whenever they sparred or competed against one another, Ryu was usually always the one who had the upper hand in their battles, which normally resulted in Hayate's defeat, not this time however, Hayate was determined to defeat Ryu once and for all, and prove that not only is he on Ryu's level, but that he can best him as well.
There was no animosity to be had however, he and Ryu were best friends since childhood, and aided one another many times over the years, this was merely a friendly competition between two Master Rank Shinobi's. Soon Hayate would reach his destination, a grassy valley location in the mountains, this place was a bit unique being that the grass was as green and fresh as Spring time grass, yet above the mountains were as snowy and cold as the Winter, however the scenery was the least of Hayate's concern at the moment. As Hayate walked along the valley, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, sensing a pair dragon green eyes beaming down on him from above somewhere, this was definitely Ryu he sensed.
Hayate: "Ryu...I know you're here, show yourself."
Ryu: "So you were able to detect me with just pure instinct alone...impressive."
Ryu was standing upon very edge of one of the snowy mountain tops above with his arms folded against his chest and his eyes centered upon Hayate, despite the fact that it was even colder up there than it was on the ground level, but this didn't bother him in the least as he stood there in perfect form, before spinning in place and vanishing, leaving leaves in his wake as he appeared before Hayate in the same fashion, while crossing his arms once again.
Hayate: He shook his head while gazing at him. "Enough with the games, Ryu. You know why I am here, I'm tired of being viewed as an underling to you. Like it or not, we are both Master's of our respective clans, and I demand that you show me the proper respect as such."
Ryu: His expression remained unchanged as he listened to his friend before responding. "Whether you believe it or not, Hayate. You have already gained a tremendous amount of respect from me, not only as a Shinobi, but as a Master."
Hayate: "Stop deceiving me, you and I both know you don't give me the proper respect that I deserve, you've always seen me as your shadow as opposed to your equal, well not anymore."
Ryu: Ryu simply shook his head. "You truly are delusional. I may have said some dishonorable things about you in the past, but I only said those things to push you further, and avoid making regretful mistakes. Face it, Hayate, as skilled as you may be, you are still reckless and somewhat naive."
Hayate: His words began to anger him inside, but he kept his cool. "Reckless? Naive? I am the eighteenth master of Mugen Tenshin Clan for a reason, I would not have gotten this far had I been reckless and naive as you claim. You strive for perfection as a ninja, Hayabusa. And you very well may have reached it, however there is something that even you should understand, Ryu. Perfection does not exist in this world."
Ryu: "Is that so?...You may have a point, but either way, my previous statements still stands...but if wish to prove me wrong however, then come at me with all you've got, and don't hold back."
Hayate: "Do not worry, I have no intent to...I believe we've both said enough." Hayate reached behind his back gripped the hilt of his sword drawing his signature blade, the Jinran-Maru and taking a stance with it* The only talking left to to do now is with our blades and fists.
Ryu: "Agreed." Ryu reached and gripped the hilt of his own signature weapon, the Dragon Sword, as he slowly withdrew it before drawing it out quickly, making a sheathing sound as he held it at his side. "Show me what's become of you since our last battle, do not disappoint me, Hayate." Ryu took his signature stance with his blade, and locked eyes upon the Shinobi of Wind.
Hayate then charged towards the Dragon Ninja at lightning flash speed as he prepared to clash blades with the shinobi, Ryu charged towards him as well at the same exact speed, as he raised his blade, going for a upwards slash. Hayate swung his sword as well, but from a downwards angle, as the Storm Blade clashed with the Dragon blade creating a powerful shock wave in their wake, he glared directly into Ryu's eyes as their swords clinged and sparked together. Ryu stared back into the Wind Shinobi's eyes as they continued to clash, as he soon flicked his blade upwards with his arm strength alone in order to throw Hayate off, if successful, he would then throw a kick aiming to connect with Hayate's chest.
Hayate's eyes widen at Ryu's sudden thrust, as he was forced back a bit, before grunting at the boot that met his chest that sent him flying back, but soon back flipped in midair in order to regain his footing, landing on his knee and hand as he quickly set his sights back on Hayabusa, as he was already charging towards him with incredible speed, as he jumped into the air while in mid sprint, raising the Dragon Sword above his head and gripping the hilt with both hands tightly, preparing to deliver a powerful downwards slash
Hayate looked up at Ryu while in midair as he was shooting down towards him like a falcon for it's prey, out of pure instinct he used his teleportation ability to quickly dodge the oncoming attack, as he then appeared about 10 inches away from him, quickly sheathing his sword as he began moving his arms in various directions, a misty light blue aura appearing around his arms as he did so before unleashing a powerful potent blast from the center of his hand, the technique known as the Torn Sky Blast.
As Ryu noticed the potent blast hurling towards him, he instantly vanished in an array of mist as the blast shot right past where he was previously standing the blast traveled far enough to hit the center of a small mountain, which began to crumble and collapse immediately following the impact, all that was left from where Ryu was standing was a wooden log upon the ground
As the all the smoke began to clear, Hayate's eyes widened at the revelation that dawned on upon seeing the log on the ground. {The Art of Substitution!} Ryu then appeared right behind Hayate with his Dragon Sword upon his shoulder as he shook his head in disappointment. "As I said before...reckless." Hayate couldn't believe that he fell for that same trick once again, but this fight was far from over, as he quickly gripped the hilt of the short sword that he had sheathed around his lower back, and swiftly spun backward while slashing it upwards and knocking the Dragon Sword away from his shoulder as he used the extra leverage to hop away from Hayabusa regain his posture.
Ryu's arm flung back as the short sword collided with the Dragon Sword, forcing him to back up while Hayate regained his footing, as soon as he regained his own, he charged towards Hayate once again while gripping the hilt of his blade tightly. Hayate gripped the hilt of the Jinran-Maru tightly as well, as he charged towards the opposing Dragon Ninja, never had Hayate felt this fired up he was ready for whatever was next to come.
Ryu then jumped into air while in mid sprint as, preparing to clash swords with Wind Shinobi once again. Hayate timed his jumped accordingly and jumped at the same exact time as he did, clashing his sword with Ryu's fiercely while creating sparks. Ryu' blade collided with Hayate's fiercely as well, as he seemed to slash just past him, landing on his feet behind him, he quickly turned around and charged towards him while delivering a barrage of precise and fierce slashes.
Hayate managed to blocked all of Ryu's slashes in various swift motions, while throwing in a few slashes of his own in between Ryu's slashes, sparks flying everywhere. Ryu continued his barrage of slashes even while Hayate somehow continued to block them all, soon preforming a unsuspecting spinning kick towards Hayate's gut. Hayate quickly gasped for air as he felt his foot connect with his gut, as he was too occupied with the slashes to notice the oncoming kick, as he went rolling back but quickly regained his posture, he then stood up as the Jinran-Maru began to form a storm cloud like aura around the base of the blade itself, Hayate then began to slash the blade lightning fast multiple times as the blade shot out blades of pure wind.
Ryu quickly dashed off to the side, as each wind blade missed it's intended mark, instead hitting various trees and mountain surfaces in the area, once the wind blades ceased, Ryu then began to move his arms in various directions as a fiery aura built up all around him, before centering his arms in a fireball like position as he charged the it in the center of his hands before unleashing the dragon breath-like fire ball towards Hayate.
As the giant fireball shot at him, Hayate quickly vanished from sight as the potent fireball shot past where he was, and hit a tree, which not only burned the tree completely, but sent it flying straight of it's roots, as Hayate reappeared above Ryu up top a cliff that was hanging out from the snowy mountain. "Up here, Hayabusa!" He then began to flip from edge to edge along the mountain in order to reach the top.
Ryu turned around quickly while hearing his voice, only to see him getting a head start up the mountain, to which Ryu would follow suit and pursue him up the mountain. Hayate continued his venture up the mountain before reaching the desired level, as stood there waiting for Hayabusa to arrive as well. Ryu soon arrived not even 10 seconds after Hayate reached the top first, turning his attention towards Wind Shinobi as he stood up slowly, locking eyes with him as the winter like air circulated around his body making his scarf blow in the wind. "...You've indeed grown Hayate...I believe it is time we ended this..."
"I couldn't agree more..." Hayate spoke from behind his mask, as he locked eyes with Dragon Ninja that stood before him, this was truly it. The two stared for a few more moments at each other as the cold winter air continued to circulate around them both and the sky darkened, before Ryu quickly began to shift his arms in various directions, as a misty blue aura began to circulate around his body and arms.
Hayate began forming the exact same motions as Ryu, as a misty light blue aura formed around his arms like earlier before, once he gained enough Ninpo, he unleashed the Torn Sky Blast once again, but not before Ryu unleashed his own variation of the Torn Sky Blast called the Gessen Goryu Ha, which is said to be even more powerful than the regular iteration of the Torn Sky Blast, the two's blasts clashed which lit up the entire area, even from afar the bright flash could be seen easily.
As their blasts clashed, Hayate continued to feed more energy into the blast from his hand in order to make even more potent than it normally would be, making it even rival Ryu's blast. Ryu continued to focus all his energy on his own blast as they continued to clash, feeling Hayate's blast rivaling his own, as it seemed neither could possibly best each other blasts.
As they continued to clash their blast's, it was becoming too overwhelming for Hayate to handle, as the blast suddenly cracked and released a powerful shock wave that sent Hayate flying off the mountain top and into the distance. The blast became too potent for Ryu to handle as well, once the blast cracked Ryu also went flying off the mountain, but still conscious as he finally hit the ground hard and rolled along it, landing it a grassy area.
Hayate also continued to fly while conscious, but as soon as he hit the snowy ground and rolled along it, he was knocked unconscious from the impact. Ryu was still conscious and slowly began to arise to his feet of his own will, the battle was indeed over, Ryu almost couldn't believe how powerful Hayate has truly become, he was indeed worthy of his position as master of the Mugen Tenshin Clan, and he had already done more than just gain Ryu's full respect, he now truly saw Hayate as his equal, so in the end, Hayate attained what he desired all along.