Ryuji

I hear the smoke bomb behind me. Reassured by Nyoko's departure, I'm ready to deal with the threat in front of me. He's a big, tall man, looks like he's in his early 30's. Experienced. This is going to be a tough one.

He unsheathes a katana from behind his back and charges towards me. I pull out my kunai in time to block. We cancel each other out trying to push our blades towards each other. I kick him off to create some distance and begin weaving hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" I heat the chakra in the center of my chest, build it up, and release it out of my mouth. The ball of flames hurls towards the Guard.

The fireball blocks my vision, but I hear the sound of waves crashing ahead of me. When the fireball dissipates, I see a massive wall of water fall to the ground, steam hanging in the air. He used the Water Style: Water Wall jutsu to block my attack. Water Style… that doesn't bode well. Nearly all of my jutsu are Fire Style. This drastically changes my approach.

Before I can make my next move, the Guard charges at me with his katana once again, blitzing much faster this time. He slashes at my chest and I barely get out of the way. I'm forced to be on the backstep in order to make distance, but he follows up with more attacks. Moving further back isn't an option because of the house behind me, so I'm forced to move to the side in order to avoid the Guard's attacks.

I successfully dodge all of his followup sword strikes and put some more distance between us. What can I do to counter? He starts weaving seals, and I prepare to counter or dodge. He finishes the seals, yet nothing happens in front of me. What is he doing…?

The Pond! I turn to my right and see a protrusion in the pond. He used the Water Dragon Jutsu. Sure enough, a Water Dragon emerges from the pond and darts towards me with terrifying speed. I leap out of the way and it barely misses me. As I'm catching my breath, I feel two sharp pains in my left arm and one in my ribs.

I look at the left side of my body. Shuriken. I see. He used the Water Dragon as a diversion, and threw shuriken in the direction in which I dodged. He's clever. This is bad. He's far above my league. What can I do…?

My heart rate is increasing, I need to calm down and figure out what to do. I pull the shuriken out of my flesh, blood dripping from the wounds.

I need to try something more drastic. Playing it safe isn't going to work here. I reach into my pouch at my side and throw a smoke bomb to the ground, disappearing into a grey cloud. I run towards the house and run up its wall. I make it ⅔ of the way up the structure and kick off as hard as I can. I get over the top of the smoke pillar and weave signs. Good, he doesn't see me yet. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. I heat up the chakra in my chest once again and release it. This time, the fireball is much bigger.

Once again, the fireball blocks my view of my adversary. I land on the ground and within seconds, water flows in my direction. Dammit, he countered again. He knew it was coming after all. I look towards where my adversary stood, and there is a massive veil of steam blocking my vision.

The Guard emerges from the steam with his katana for the third time. I try to dodge again, but the pain in my left side hinders my movement. I'm able to avoid lethal damage, but I suffer a cut on my left cheek. What can I do? I have no plan. Nothing is working. He kicks me in the ribs where the shuriken had previously pierced me. I fall to the ground, coughing up blood. I fumble for my kunai. Before I know it, he's on top of me. He tries to come down with his blade, but I'm able to block it with mine at the last moment.

What can I do? At this rate, he's going to kill me. My heart is beating out of my chest.

What can I do? My arms are getting tired. I'm not going to be able to hold him off much longer.

What can I do? This may be it for me. I guess I won't meet Itachi. I close my eyes, still holding my kunai tightly in my grasp.

What can I do? Nyoko… I'm sorry.

What can I do…?

What can I do…? Am I… going to… die?

What can I do…?

I feel a strange sensation in my eyes. What is this…? Could it be…?

The Sharingan?

I feel a spike of adrenaline. I open my eyes and push my kunai into his katana with all the force I can muster, creating enough room for me to force him off of me. He moves backwards as I get back to my feet.

He throws more shuriken at me, but this time it seems… different. I can perceive the projectiles much better than I could before. It's as if I can see into the future, I can see where they are coming from, where they are going to be. I know how to dodge them all perfectly. Is this the Sharingan's power?

I rush in with my kunai. I'm taking charge of this battle now. His kenjutsu is good, he's able to counter all my attempts to strike him. However, I can predict what he is going to do next. I'm the one pushing the pace now. He's the one on the backstep.

I continue to push him further and further north of the estate. The Sharingan allows me to counter him flawlessly, I no longer feel any danger when engaging with the Guard. The tide is turning in my favor.

We clash once more, stalemating. I push hard and force him backwards. I've moved him far enough back. Now's my chance. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" I put everything I have into one last fireball.

"Ha! Fool! Have you really not learned!" He cries. He begins weaving signs for the Water Wall Jutsu once again.

He finishes his last seal, but nothing happens. I can see the look of fear on his face. He quickly dodges to his right to get out of the way of the fireball. Unfortunately for him, I already knew he was going to move that way, thanks to my newfound visual prowess.

I charge to where he's going to land, and I force my kunai into his abdomen with all of my strength, piercing through his clothing and his flesh. He lets out a guttural scream. "HHHUUAAaaagghhh!"

He drops to the ground. I stand over him, the victor. "You were using the pond as your water source so that you wouldn't have to make water out of your own chakra. The chakra cost is much lower when you have a body of water to use. Luckily for me, you used a lot of chakra back at the estate whenever you countered the Fireball Jutsu, as well as when you used the Water Dragon Jutsu."

He says nothing, only groaning in pain.

"That's why I drove you away from the estate. If I got you far enough away from that pond, you wouldn't be able to draw water from it. Therefore, you'd have to use far more chakra in order to generate your own water. I knew that you no longer had enough chakra to do that. I knew that you'd be forced to dodge that last Fireball instead of countering."

He looks at me with disdain.

"Thanks to these eyes, there was no way for you to escape. This battle was over the moment I awakened the Sharingan."

He coughs up blood. With his dying breath he mumbles, "Just… who… are… you…?"

I kneel close to him. "My name is…"

He looks at me intently.

"... Ryuji…"

His gaze doesn't avert as the light leaves his eyes. I can see the color, the life, draining from his face.

"... Uchiha."

His eyes widen.

"And this victory is mine."

The Guard's soul parts ways with his body. Exhaustion finally takes me over, and I collapse into the grass, losing consciousness.