Chapter 1

The sun was high and beating down furiously on team four; Hiro Miyamoto did not like it. Him and his whole squad were in the training ground, sparing. Neru a tough red head Uchiha and Sano a nimble Zephyr were up and fighting.

Hiro and his teacher Shirro Takai were standing off to the side watching every move his squad mates made. Neru was wielding her Ninja-toe through powerful slashes and Sano was parrying with his large Naganata. Anyone watching could tell they spent to much time fighting one another or with one another because they saw through all of each others feints, tricks, and combos. The fight was dragging on in Hiro's opinion. They had been fighting for around ten minutes and neither one was hardly hurt or out of energy but this was usually around the time one of them would attempt something daring.

Of course Hiro was correct and only a moment later Sano attempted a move he called the double cross kick. It was a move he invented to utilize his speed, Taijutsu skill along with his Naganata. He came in low with the long weapon the blade facing up, then as Neru went to parry he pulled the head up missing her only by millimeters, then he took the dull side of the long pole and jammed it into the ground. He used it to prop himself up and with all his speed twisted his body and sent two kicks at her midsection. Both kicks connected right on target and sent Neru flying back several meters.

Neru went with the blow and rolled backwards onto her feet. She coughed up a little blood but had a wide grin. She closed her eyes for only a second to call upon her clans blood power the Sharingan. She had only managed to control the most base form of the Sharingan but it still gave her an edge especially against Sano who's clan also had a blood power, they could use chakra to speed up every process in there body allowing them to move especially fast on top of there already impressive speed; although it often drained stamina quickly.

Sano now had a drained look on his face, and Hiro did not blame him because going up against an Uchiha especially one who wielded the mighty Sharingan was dangerous.

Next to Hiro his Sensei Shirro nudged him on the shoulder and said

"Keep a close watch on both of them because this could get intense" then he gave a quiet chuckle. Hiro listened and concentrated fiercely on his squad mates.

Neru brought her Ninja-toe up and bent down in a low stance. Hiro knew this stance it was her favorite and he had lost to it many times. On the other side of the field Hiro watched Sano stretch his legs and spin his Naganata around himself then end the spin in a stiff downward slash. They were both now ready. Sano was always more impatient than either Hiro or Neru and Neru played that in her advantage. Sano dashed forward with all the speed he could muster through his clan's blood power. Hiro had a hard time keeping up with is comrade but he knew that Neru's eyes were following every step. Quickly and in one fluid motion Neru lunged forward and shifted her Ninja-toe from her right to left hand, the skill and precision was of a high caliber. Sano did not see it coming and would have been impaled by his squad mate's blade had there Sensei not moved in and caught the blade.

The dust settled and Hiro saw the final picture, Sano on the right blinking at an empty spot where his Naganata should have hit Neru, Sensei Shirro in the middle holding out Neru's blade, and Neru looking pissed that her thrust had been stopped and deflected despite the fact she probably would have killed Sano.

It took Hiro a moment to realize that his Sensei had moved faster than either of his comrades and much faster than Hiro himself could have seen.

Sensei Shirro dropped his grip on Neru's blade looked down at his students grimaced face and smiled then said

"Good job". She stood up straight sheathed the weapon on the scabbard that sat horizontal on her back. He knew she would be upset at him for stopping it and probably for moving faster than her eyes could follow – just like a typical Uchiha way of thinking – but if he had not then his other student would have died or at least been deathly injured. He watched as both of them swatted the dust of there dark gray tunics. The tunics were his idea they made thought it made the squad look more like a team and helped for hiding in the shadows.

He walked back to where he left Hiro standing, his eyes propped open attempting not to miss any of the action and who had probably been blown away by the speed Shirro had produced. He laughed to himself then turned and said "We are gonna take five then I want Hiro up against Neru" he turned to see the look on Hiro's face, it was priceless. He knew that after all that Hiro thought he would not stand a chance but Shirro knew that Hiro had more natural skill than either of his other students.