Ryuji
Madara took us straight to one of his hideouts, and it became Nyoko and I's new home. It was a cave in the side of a mountain, with walls of earth to section off portions of the interior into distinct rooms. The interior was lit by numerous torches, mounted on the walls, carefully distanced equally from one another. The light they gave off was a deep orange, giving the rooms a warm appearance, starkly contrasting the cold, unforgiving nature of a cavern. Outside of the cave's entrance, there was a dense forest to keep the hideout concealed. It's far from a perfect home, but the life Nyoko and I live isn't perfect either.
For the week following our arrival, Madara taught us more about how to best utilize our Sharingan. We began learning how to optimize our heightened perceptive capabilities, as well as become introduced to our ability to copy techniques that we witness with our Sharingan.
Nyoko and I both left our respective quarters at the same time to make our way outside for today's training session. She doesn't say a word as we walk. She's been strangely quiet ever since we were taken in by Madara. I suppose she still doesn't trust him, the reason for which I couldn't begin to understand. A couple of weeks ago, Nyoko wanted nothing more than to learn more about our heritage, our family. Then we meet Madara, who is able to connect us to those very ties, yet now she wants nothing to do with it. It's curious.
Once we reach the clearing in the forest where Madara has been teaching us, he tells us his plans for today's session.
"I hope you both are well rested. You've done well over the past week, and I would like to now put your skills to the test. You two are going to spar each other."
I look to my right towards Nyoko, and she looks pale. What could she possibly be worried about, I wondered. We've sparred each other countless times, ever since we were young children.
"Both of you, go to opposite sides of the clearing. You will begin at my word," Madara instructs.
We make our ways to the edges of the clearing, and now a fair distance separates me from my sister. I take deep, slow breaths to get ready for the match.
"Begin!" Madara exclaims.
Nyoko and I both activate our Sharingan and charge in. She throws the first punch, which I easily dodge thanks to the Sharingan's perceptive abilities. I begin to launch my counter punch, but Nyoko is able to catch it. Interesting, it's difficult to utilize the Sharingan against an opponent who also bears the coveted eyes. We continue to trade punches and kicks, but neither of us are able to land anything significant. Simple taijutsu isn't going to be effective here. I need to get some distance.
After catching one of Nyoko's kicks, rather than countering with a strike of my own, I choose to rotate my body in order to build momentum, and I hurl her across the field. Before she can regain her footing, I begin to weave hand seals. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" I begin shooting small, condensed balls of flame at her. Before any of them can get close, she begins to weave signs of her own.
"Earth Style: Rock Wall!" I charge forward. Each ball of flame crashes into the stone wall, immediately extinguishing without dealing any damage. As I approach the wall, I focus infused chakra into the soles of the feet, and climb up the wall. I assume she's using this momentary lapse in action to take a breath. I need to capitalize. I reach into my pouch and grab a spool of wire as I climb. Once I reach the top of the wall, I leap overhead. I throw the wire at Nyoko, hoping to immobilize her and end this spar early. The wire wraps around her, but before I can capitalize, she disappears in a cloud of smoke, a log taking her place. Substitution, damn.
I land and try to get my bearings. She could be anywhere at the moment, but she is likely to be trying to capitalize on my blind spot, directly to my sides or behind me. I await for the Sharingan's foresight to tell me where she will attack from.
Behind me.
I duck, and sure enough, Nyoko was hurling herself at me from behind, putting all of her force into a punch aimed for what I assume was the back of my head. That would've put me out. She flies overhead, unable to halt her own momentum. I charge forward to land an attack before she can recover. Before I can, however, she predicted my attack and countered with a picture-perfect kick directly to my stomach, forcing all of the air out of my body. I fly backwards, collapsing onto the ground. I look up, and I can see Nyoko weaving seals. I need to get up. I try to regain my footing, but I've yet to recover from the kick.
"Earth Style: Mud River!" Nyoko cries. I try to get up and dodge, but am unable to react in time. I see, she knew that she couldn't do anything to stop the Sharingan's perception, so she had to make my body unable to respond to said perception. Very clever. The river reaches me just as I get to my feet, and I can't fight the raging current of the mud. My body gets thrashed by the mud, tossing me around at its amusement.
I crash into the rock wall from earlier. I use the stability of the wall to get to my feet, but I can't escape the current. I see Nyoko weaving more signs in the distance. She finishes the seals, and the mud river hardens. She's trapped me. She's going to charge in and finish me off. I have to do something.
I have an idea. I begin weaving the seals for my heated palm technique. Once the seals are completed, I focus the heated chakra into my hands and place them on the hardened mud at my feet. It's not melting fast enough. I infuse more chakra into my hands to increase the temperature, and the mud begins to melt. It seems I may be too late, however. Nyoko has nearly reached me.
Hold on, her eyes. Her sharingan is no longer active. She used too much chakra on creating the mud river and then to harden it. She couldn't keep her Sharingan active, she won't be able to perceive my counters!
She charges in with a punch, full force, just as she did earlier. I duck down, and use my visual prowess to time my counter perfectly. Just as she reaches directly in front of me, I drive my shoulder into her gut. She falls backwards, but quickly regains her footing. Unbeknownst to her, I free my foot from the hardened mud, and deliver a roundhouse kick to the side of her head, shin to the dome. She crumples to the ground. She's done.
Nearly in unison with Nyoko hitting the ground, Madara appears between us. "It seems that this bout is finished. Congratulations, Ryuji. You are the victor." He turns towards Nyoko, who is now sitting upright. Incredibly fast recovery… That kick was stiff, and landed perfectly on the temple to boot… Nyoko is tough. "Nyoko, you had a good showing as well, you nearly had Ryuji there for a moment. It appears your stamina could use some work. Had your sharingan not deactivated, this spar could still be going right now. Perhaps, you even could have emerged victorious. There is always next time I suppose." Nyoko stares daggers at Madara.
"I recommend that you two rest for the remainder of the day," Madara said. "I have something very special planned for you tomorrow."
"What 'special plan' do you have for us?" Nyoko questions Madara.
"Tomorrow, you two will get what you wanted." Nyoko raises an eyebrow, and curiosity arises within me.
"Tomorrow, Itachi Uchiha will be here to meet you."
