It took Sato at least ten seconds to realize that her mouth was wide open, and that she was gaping. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Surely Shinri wasn't going to be the one to teach her!

Yet the snake ninja was standing there across the clearing looking oddly triumphant, and Sato had known him long enough to understand that Shinri never looked triumphant unless he had really scored a great victory.

"There is no way that you're the one who Yoake was talking about." Sato said flatly through gritted teeth. She stared him down, eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Surprise, surprise, eh Tasogare?" Shinri said smoothly, lacing his fingers together and cracking his knuckles, "I do out rank you, though, so it's safe to say that I'm entitled to train you."

Sato almost rose to the bait set in front of her, but controlled the urge. She and Shinri may have called a temporary truce while the second part of the exam had been going on, but now that it was over there was no way that the two of them were going to be anything more than enemies. Things were starting to get back to the norm, and the norm was Shinri taunting, and Sato falling for the taunts every single time.

It wasn't going to happen again. Not today. No doubt it was Yoake's version of a test to see if they had learned anything from the trials in the second part of the exam.

What was Yoake thinking? Sato thought, scowling, She knows I can't stand Shinri, and that we'll probably end up at each other's throats within the minute. I bet she's sitting up in a tree back in forest just watching is…and having a great laugh at my expense…

These bitter thoughts whizzed around in Sato's mind as Shinri took a few more steps towards his fellow cellmate.

"I didn't know you were an expert at taijutsu." Sato said shortly.

"I expect what you don't know would fill several scrolls, Tasogare." Shinri said, a light brimming in his eyes. He was egging her on, and she knew it. It took almost all of her self-control not to slug him in the gut. She was close enough that this wouldn't have been a problem at all.

"Let's get to it then, alright?" Sato said, jamming her hands in her pockets.

"Alright," Shinri said in that same smooth voice. He stepped back a few paces, and said, "Attack me."

Sato looked up, "What?"

"Come at me, Satora. Like you want to kill me. I know you do."

Sato cocked her head, 'I don't want to kill you though."

Although the prospect now seems mighty tempting.

"Yeah, you do." Shinri said with maddening accuracy.

"No, I just want to slug you." Sato shrugged.

Shinri stopped, and sent the Tasogare a withering glare, "Just do it, Satora. Do it with conviction. Do it like I was Sasuke Uchiha. Like you're avenging your clan."

The curse scars up and down Sato's left arm flared a deep crimson red at the sound of that name. Sato's eyes were suddenly wild, but Shinri put up one hand.

"But here's the catch, Tasogare. No jutsu's.. Come at me with only your basic skills, if you have any. Come at me with every intention to kill… use that Kekkei Genkai power of yours if you must….but no chakra."

The light in Sato's curse scars flickered and died. Sato stared at Shinri blankly for a moment.

Shinri cracked a wide smile, "You don't know how, do you? You've never made a rush at anyone without a blanket of dark shadow to cover your skinny ass, eh? Doesn't surprise me, looks like we're going to have to start from scratch. Come at me, no jutsu's, no bloodline traits. Just pure strength and speed."

Sato could feel her blood boiling, and knew Shinri had planned it this way. With her Tasogare powers he was no match for her, but without them she would easily fall victim to his strength and stamina. The knowledge of this fact was burrowing into her skin.

"Whatever you say Master Hebigiru." Sato spat. She pulled a kunai from her belt, and launched herself across the clearing at her fellow cellmate, with every intention to kill.

As Sato closed in on Shinri, time slowed down as the snake ninja made a move towards her. In that moment, Sato finally realized the one drawback of her kekkei Genkai—While she could see Shinri's movements, she could not understand the methods behind them.

For a wild moment Sato thought that she had Shinri in the palm of her hand. He thrust at her midriff with two fingers, and she easily stepped them and came in closer. She didn't even have time to wipe the grin off her face as the unthinkable happened.

He came in from behind her, and even though she could still slow down his movements at will she knew he was coming faster than normal-the inhuman speed blur around his entire form was enough for her to gather this. Warning bells went off in the young Tasogare's head, and she whirled around.

Another Shinri was heading for her at the same speed foot extended in what would be a very nasty kicj The snake ninja had cloned himself in a ridiculously short amount of time, and now she had two opponents bearing down on her.

Now three. Sato's eyebrows knitted together. This third Shinri had a kunai on him. She was effectively pinned, and all three of the Shinri clones looked like they meant business

And there was nowhere for her to go.

It was all over in two seconds. Sato had managed to block the kunai of the third Shinri with her own, and sidestep the first Shinri, but her actions had left no way for her to defend against the third clone. Sato felt a terrible pain in her side as the said clone scored a fantastic kick to her side.

Sato gasped, and stumbled back. She hadn't been caught unaware, she had just simply been outwitted. The girl gingerly felt her side…no ribs had been broken but she certainly was going to be sore for a while.

"Shoddy." The real Shinri had apparently been the third one who got the kick (Sato cursed inwardly), and he was eyeing his fellow cell member with distaste in his eyes, "That was very poor. Try again. Come, Sato."

"Why do you get to use jutsu's and stuff on me, and I can't use them on you?" Sato protested, her grip on her kunai tightening.

"The world isn't fair, Sato. You'll have to live with it like the rest of us mortals." Shinri said delicately, falling into a graceful fighting stance.

Sato howled like a wounded animal, and charged the snake ninja. It took a lot of her reserve to hold back her anger, and not call her Tasogare powers to destroy the boy. Sato made doubly sure to keep an eye out for any clones.

Shinri easily dodged every single one of her knife thrusts with ease. Maddeningly the snake ninja had his hands folded behind his back, and a smug smile plastered onto his face as he danced around the clearing.

"You'll have to focus more if you want to even touch me!" Shinri said calmly after another spectacular miss, "Come again, Sato."

This time when she rushed him, he tripped her without any effort.

Sato lay there on her back panting, staring at the sky. Shinri leaned over her, and though the expression on his face was silhouetted by the sun Sato was pretty sure it was one of amusement.

"Get up. Try again."

"So much for actually teaching me anything, are you just going to beat me up and humiliate me?" Sato spat, scrambling to her feet. The kunai was still in her fist, and her knuckles white from squeezing the handle so hard, "You couldn't be enjoying this any more, could you?"

"No, but then again you never know." Shinri's tongue snaked out over his serrated teeth and he leered at her unpleasantly.

In that moment, Shinri looked so much like his father that Sato had to take a step back.

She blinked, "Shinri, you—"

"Come, Sato! Shall I make it easier for you! I wont use my hands."

Sato scowled darkly. She was sick and tired of Shinri taking advantage of her. She was tired of his taunts, his catcalls. All she wanted to do right now was pummel him into the ground, thrash him so soundly that he wouldn't even be able to crawl away.

She broke like a dam holding back a rushing river, her curse scars flared to an almost black hue, and started to spark with pure chakra overload. Screaming a harsh chord, Sato let her rage fuel her Tasogare powers until she became a towering pillar of sparking dark energy. It felt so good to vent her fury; it felt like she had finally found a comfortable niche in a wall where she could stare down at the little people who dared stand in her way.

And then she caught sight of Shinri.

Shinri neither looked alarmed at Sato's startling temper tantrum. On the contrary, he looked mildly triumphant. His hands were folded behind his back, and he smiled widely and openly up at her.

"No control, Sato. That's why you won't last a second out in the real world."

Sato bared her teeth, and considered crushing this little worm that dared stand in her path and mock her. She could, and she knew it. Right now in the height of her fit of pure chakra she could simply look at him sideways, and he would be dead. Gone. He would be to her nothing more than a groove into the face of the earth.

But something held her back even as she raised a fist to call down a devastating barrage of shadows. Something told her to contain herself. Something calmed her down enough that she could think clearly.

Was it that damned smugness in Shinri's eyes? The, 'I told you so' that was hanging unspoken in the morning air? Or was it the part of Sato that really was just a scared little girl wanting her mother and father?

Sato screwed her eyes shut, and her mind drifted unbidden back to the Dream—

Don't think about that.

Sato opened her eyes again, sensing another presence—

Or maybe the reason she really wanted to get a hold of herself was because here was Makuro sprinting out of the forest and into the clearing, waving his arms wildly in an uncharacteristically open manner.

Kuro. Sato swallowed hard, and felt her anger ebb away. Makuro…

In a matter of seconds, Sato regained her composure, and found herself back on the ground. Refusing to look Shinri's way, she nodded at her linen-clad friend.

"Hey."

"What the hell—" Makuro shook his head, "Never mind—"

"What's going on, Makuro?" Shinri asked calmly, strolling over. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "You look all worked up."

"Well, I was going to come out here and see what you were all up too, but now that I see you are about to kill each other, maybe we should just go to Konoha and see what we can see." Makuro said, his voice cutting.

"Uh…yeah." Sato's hair still was retaining a lot of static as a result of her blow up—and as she spoke she tried desperately to smooth it out again, "Why don't we…er..go to Konoha. Not like we were getting anything done here anyways."

"We can't just go waltzing into the village!" Shinri protested, slipping his kunai back onto his belt, "We're not welcome there! And besides…I'm supposed to be training Sato."

Makuro snorted, "Yeah, and we all saw how well that was going. Anyways, Yoake is welcome in Konoha and we can always claim that we're part of her entourage. " The linen-clad ninja shrugged, "And anyways I think it's a good idea to get you two into a bigger city where you won't see each other around every corner."

Sato still refused to look Shinri in the eye.

"Sounds good." She said, smiling hard, "But I need to stop back home first. I want to grab some money-I hear the ramen in Konoha is to die for."