Second, A spar between strangers. [Private]

[Otani Ryuichi]

Ryu has traveled for another solid day at this point, by walking. Sure, any ninja worth their salt could travel the distance that he has over a much shorter time....possibly just an hour or two....but what did that matter? Right now he was traveling for himself, with the village and missing nin being a secondary thought.

So while Yoya left to look around the area after the sun set, Ryu was stripped of his coat and left his upper body in only a loose tank-top. Small black rods protruded from parts of Ryuichi's body, like some kind of weird body modification some people did for show. However, that didn't seem to be the boy's case as he punched at a tree as a form of training.

His knuckles were scraped, and nearly bleeding. His breath slightly ragged, and his onslaught of punches on the tree ceaseless. He was lost in thought while wearing the wood down bit, by bit.

The very bark on the tree, and all the surrounding evergreen had been stripped from the boy's might alone, and even now splinters would fly off with every impact. His training only stopped when he could sense a nearby presence. Could it have been the sound of a twig? The way the air felt? The opposing entity's chakra? Ryu couldn't always tell why he got these gut feelings, but sure enough they were true more than half the time.

He pulled his arms down, and scanned the area. He was prepared to face any enemies....

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi was hot on his target’s tail. It was a swift game of cat and mouse. Shadow for shadow each capable Shinobi matched each other in movement. The youth had clicked his teeth annoyed of chase. All the while, he would notice something strange about his escapee. The chakra visible through his active doujutsu, was fading the farther.

Hoshi focused an immense amount of his life energy into his eyes, slightly opening the gate of view. This teamed with his byakugan, gave him insight on his chase.

It was a clone...

Hoshi slid to a complete stop and turned around in a complete one eighty. His eyes darted left to right as he in low in the jyuuken stance. Within his radius he could only pick up one chakra source, a thick one at that. The sound of a battering ran echoed into the distance.

The youth would relax and come to a stand, yet his doujutsu was still active and he proceeded to seal the gate of view shut conserving energy.

“Could it be... That I was fooled?”

Hoshi dug into a pocket of his Hakamas and picked out a headband with a crossed out Kumo signal. With his left hand performing a hand one seal, Hoshi focused intently on the headband with his chakra sense jutsu, yet it failed. And in conclusion, Hoshi failed. His eyes lowered, the veins from his bloodline would begin waning away. Hoshi would have passed by the Shinobi training, in the woods he would have been a few hundred meters away. Hoshi quickly knelt down, reaching behind his waist into his pouch bag. He revealed a hard cover book he wrote notes in. Lastly, Hoshi tore out the page with his left hand and but the thumb of his right hand. He completed a series of seals and casted a summoning jutsu.

A tiny otter, Mizu’s youngest cousin to be exact, entered from below through a worm hole opening which sealed quickly after its arrival.

“Hey buddy. Send this back to the Sileo. “

Otter: “You failed?! Bwahahaahahahaahah!”

Hoshi quickly side eyed the otter who gasped and darted off in a misty cloud. Hoshi sighed and began to rub the bridge of his nose. Of all the otters train, that one had little hope besides a comedy stand at a low budget ramen shop. He stood up, listening. The sounds stopped, the chakra he could feel eased up, yet there was an eerie tension in the air. Hoshi began to walk over to observe.

 

[Otani Ryuichi]

Ryu straightened his stance, and left the area of trees that he had scraped up. His glowing red eyes catching every surrounding detail, and his sandals made no sound along the ground.

In time, he came closer to the opposing presence. While the feeling of the air lacked the sharp and cold tension of a ninja with intent to kill, the fact that there could be someone else was enough to give the air a sickening vibe.

Ryu focused his chakra into his eyes, closing them and thinking of that moment in Cronopolis. In the alleyways, defending a civilian as they were being beaten around by a Chuunin. Blood, bruises, tears. Then, a light as the 13 year old Ryuichi opposed the chuunin. While he lost the fight, he left with something that was tied to his blood forever....


Ryuichi opened his eyes to reveal that the Sharingan flared to life for the first time in nearly 2 years. Three tomoe spun around his pupils as he scanned the area, looking for chakra within the mess of trees....


"Gotcha." Ryu said as he caught a glimpse of moving chakra. It wasn't wildly moving, so the boy doubted it was on the chase...while on the other end, it was moving at too casual of a pace to be hiding.

His sharingan retreated into his pupils, and he began to head towards the signal that belonged to Hoshi.

Upon coming closer, Ryuichi decided to make himself known. "Yo. I'm an ally, and mean no harm. State your-...." He paused, not wanting to come off as being too ANBU-y. "Akaime Ocha. Ninja of Kumogakure. What are you doing around here?"

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Oshi scurried along with Hoshi’s message to Kaji about his pursuit. Hoshi continued on to find what sounds were disturbing the area. He was headed in the correct direction, until his target swiftly moved in silence. Without his eyes or the gate of view active, he was unknowingly advancing while becoming the prey. At this point in his career as a Shinobi, he had to be ready for anything, anywhere.

He was full focus was on whatever was up ahead. The thicker of trees began to thin out from a distance. At first glance, it could be poachers, or a shinobi like himself training. Every thought was pondered in attempt to deduct a reasoning behind it all. Suddenly, a wave of goose bumps flooded his entire body. There was neither a breeze, nor a change of temperature. Then his heart began to race, as if body foreseen what is to come and began to pump adrenaline through his body.

He knew this feeling, one he hadn’t felt in a long time. A challenge, fear, and pride.

???: ”Yo...”

Was all he heard at first from his six o’clock. Without thought, Hoshi flipped forward and contorted his body in a twist to face the person. Simultaneously through an acrobatic display to ready himself, he would QuickDraw a kunai blade tucked by his left ankle.

Upon landing the bow would slide into a low defensive stance as the youth introduced himself. Hoshi was silent at first, he examined the young warrior. Eventually he eased up to a stand with his arms at rest, Kunai still equipped in his right.

“Hoshi.”

He would answer flatly. Big blank pale eyes gazed upon the uchiha. Hoshi felt it in his gut, something about this person. He was unfamiliar, a new face while Hoshi was away. The Kunai in his right hand grew rigid from him tightening his grip. Contrarily Hoshi’s facial expression would lighten up and as his shoulders dropped, relaxing. Hoshi thought of a perfect answer for his question.

“I was... looking for someone.”

 

[Otani Ryuichi]

"Akaime Ocha."

Ryu gave his false name, a small grin forming on his face. Hoshi was clearly on-edge, meaning he was most likely looking for someone dangerous...or he could be lying entirely. Regardless, the white haired boy looked from side to side.

'If he's hunting a missing nin, I'm obligated to help him...but at the same time, there's no way to confirm if he speaks the truth, or if that headband of his isn't soaked in the blood of another owner.' He thought to himself.

In time, the boy snapped his fingers, having come up with a solution. "Whoever it is you're looking for, they aren't nearby. However, I have methods to help you in your search. If you help me with this training, and put up a good fight then I'll give you a bird's eye view. Surely that'll help find your target, no?" He proposed tapping the side of his head. "If it takes too long, then I'll simply let you off with my end of the deal. Things like this are time sensitive, after all. I'll even patch up any wounds you get in the process."