Kuno Uchiha slammed the door behind him as he stepped out into the hot Land of Wind morning. As usual, the sun was beating down on the desert Village Hidden in the Sands, and Kuno was still dressed as if he still lived in the Land of Fire. His black pants and jacket were on, though the jacket was unzipped and blew behind him in the wind of the day. On his left hip, the young Uchiha had attached his miao dao and he had tied his headband on properly, attempting to carry his village symbol with pride despite the weight of the world that was still weighing heavily on his shoulders. He had watched his mother die in a pool of her own blood in the kitchen of their family home. And on top of that, his sister had been taken by the same people that had done it. His world had been turned upside down in that one night, but now it was time for him to push through the pain, and to bring justice down like the fist of God on whoever had done this to him and his family.

His best lead was still a group that had begun to circulate in Sunagakure no Sato very recently. Nobody knew what their goals were in the village; the only thing that even identified them as a group was the kanji for “Autumn” that was present on cloaks that he had found. One of these cloaks had been found in the hand of his dying mother, which had spurred him into honing in on his already underway investigation. After looking into some of the smaller leads that he had been able to follow up on thanks to his original work, he was able to surmise that one of this group’s hideouts was an old abandoned building in the slums of Sunagakure. He could have then taken this information to the Kazekage, or to some sort of higher ranked ninja, but he did not. Instead he had decided that he was going to be a part of the raid of this place, and so help him he would slaughter ever last person in the place if they had his sister. He was full of hate and anger and sorrow, and he needed a place to unleash those emotions.

But one thing that Kuno was not full of was stupidity; he knew that he needed help if he was going to assault this place. So, he had looked into any shinobi in the village that he thought might be willing to help in his work, and as part of those findings, Kuno had come across the name of another Uchiha who he believed would be able to assist him: Syekren Uchiha. He was a special jonin who was also the head of a squad. He was fairly well known as a powerful user of the Sharingan, which was something that grabbed Kuno’s attention over almost all else. Having recently awoken his own Sharingan, he was still getting used to using the dojutsu, and he knew that any help this man could give him would be invaluable. Kill two birds with one stone, the young Uchiha thought to himself as he rounded the corner onto a street that headed toward the Sandy Arena. He had spent the better part of the previous day looking for Syekren, but to no avail. After asking around, he had determined that the man could usually be found at the arena that Kuno was now approaching, training and teaching.

As he finally stepped into the Sandy Arena proper, the young Uchiha looked around at the people that were within. There weren’t many, but even so Kuno could not pick out which of the ninja present were Syekren Uchiha. Shaking his head, he stepped up to a man that appeared to be some sort of groundskeeper for the arena and asked him if he knew of the Uchiha in question. “Ha!” the man replied. “Know him? Why I see him almost every day around here. That’ll be him over there.” The older gentleman pointed Kuno in the direction of a man that was far separated from host of the others. Nodding and thanking the groundskeeper, Kuno began to head in that direction, approaching the man that would hopefully be his ally.

WC:728

Syekren had chosen to come to the Sandy Arena today. It was not like he had anything better to do, more that he felt a calling to the place where he spent so much of his time training. Syekren had opted to wear only his netted shinobi shirt with a single sleeve on his left, hiding an ANBU symbol tattoo, as well as black shorts, with black socks and tennis shoes to match. It was a rather hot day and while he did like his black clothing, the male didn't want to overheat. He wore his hitai-ate on his forehead, not over his left eye this time. Where his left eye used to be covered every time he was out and about, it was now uncovered to show a large scar from his eyebrow down to his cheek bone. The scar itself even went in the middle of both of his eyelids, as though he'd suffered a horrible injury in that region. Truth be told, he had, but the scar came from a transplant he'd had done a couple weeks hence, which had replaced his once missing eye.

Syekren yawned and stretched, his right arm exposed to the sun, showing an Uchiha clan symbol upon his right shoulder and just a bit below it: the symbol of sunagakure no sato imprinted permanently in the form of a scar. It was almost like a brand, as it was caused by super heated metal contacting his skin. Syekren sighed, looking at his arm, rubbing the burn scar and recalling the fateful day he'd received such a blemish on his arm. Shaking it out of his mind, he remembered what he'd come to the sandy arena for: training. He was here to get back into shape after his weeks on end of doing nothing and resting in bed to get better. Soon he would have to do missions so that he could earn some money again,  otherwise he'd not be able to afford to eat. And that could pose an issue. With a sigh, the ninja waved to the groundskeeper, making his way over towards the fenced in portion of the arena, to a spot secluded from everyone else. The special jounin patted a dummy and nodded, getting to training.

It wasn't much longer that the male who was searching for him would come to ask that very groundskeeper where he was and start to approach the Uchiha's place of training. Syekren was ignoring him for the most part as he hadn't had the polite manners to introduce himself or make his presence known. Instead, the young ninja was kicking the head of the dummy in front of him, spinning around to heel kick another with a roundhouse, then jumping to kick a third. He was working mainly with kicks, as his style of martial arts, or taijutsu, had to do with what was known as Karate.  In Karate, they focused mostly on quick fist strikes and powerful kicks to deliver bone shattering blows. While these were only training dummies, Syekren kicked hard enough to splinter the head portion of the one in front of him. He turned to see the man who had approached him and leaned forward, mule kicking the head off of the dummy he'd splintered. The head bounced off the fence and landed in the sand, staring at the sky in silent agony.

"What."

It was simple, it was quick, it was annoyed. He didn't like  being interrupted when he was training, especially by someone he didn't know.  He was not expecting someone for a spar, wasn't expecting anyone for a mission, and was not expecting a student or his squad. So what did this young man want from the special jounin? Did he want  a fight? Did he want to watch Syekren train? Or did he simply want to stare at him and annoy him while he did his training? Syekren could not think of what the guy wanted but sincerely hoped for Mystery Man that the last option was not the case. If it was, the red streaks in the stranger's hair would be drowned out by a more crimson color.

WC: 709

Kuno made sure to take in all he could about the older Uchiha’s fighting style as he approached. He watched at the man in the single sleeved netted shinobi shirt went to work on the training dummy before him. The younger Uchiha watched intently as Syekren started to unload a series of kicks on the head of the dummy. He seemed to be a taijutsu expert, judging by the beating he was giving the dummy, with its head splintering as he landed a third consecutive kick on it. It was then that the special jonin seemed to notice Kuno approach, or at least he finally acknowledged his existence at that point. He turned to face Kuno, leaning forward and delivering an aggressive mule kick to the head of the dummy which soaring from the post it was formerly attached to, bouncing off of the fence and rolling to a halt on the ground finally. "What." It was the only word that he said. No introduction, no demand for an explanation, not even a hello. Just a simple word that seemed to be more of a command than a question.

Kuno debated whether it was a good idea for him to be there in that moment. Perhaps it would be better for him to take care of his problems on his own. After all, this guy might just laugh him off. Perhaps he would say that Kuno’s problems were nothing and that he should push through them alone to become stronger? Judging by the scar on the man’s eye, he had seen his fair share of trials and tribulation to get where he was today. Gritting is teeth, Kuno shook his head and pushed his doubts from his mind, stepping up closer to Syekren and stand straight as he tended to do, making sure that he would not be looked down upon by his fellow clansman. “Hello, I’m Kuno Uchiha, a genin of the village. I’ve come here to seek out your help.” He sighed, taking in the look of the older Uchiha, hoping that he wasn’t going to turn away at any moment. His doubts continued to mount until he caught sight of the man’s exposed shoulder, which bore the symbol of the Uchiha clan, as well as that of Sunagakure no Sato. As his eyes ran over the symbols, he prayed silently that those markings still meant as much to him as they did the day they were placed on is skin, because if that was the case, perhaps he would help Kuno out of sheer camaraderie.

After examining the symbols, the young Uchiha continued. “Recently, I discovered the presence of a new gang that has decided to set themselves up in the Village Hidden in the Sands. They seem to wear cloaks that all bear the same symbol the kanji for 'Autumn.' Whether or no that is what they call themselves has yet to be confirmed, but in the end, it is unimportant. Because they have shown up only recently, the local street thugs don’t know what they want and have given them a wide berth. Upon informing the Kazekage, Midori Ningyou, of this, she tasked me with investigating further and discovering who these people are, why they are here, and where they are located within the village.” He paused then, checking himself to ensure that he would not allow his emotion to overwhelm him when he spoke the next part of the story. Once he was confident that he could continue, he relayed the tragedy that had befallen him. “Only days into this investigation, my home was assaulted while I was not home. I returned home to find my mother dying in a pool of her own blood, too far gone to be saved. She died in my arms. My sister was taken from my home, though I know not where. All I know is that in my mother’s hand was one of the cloaks with the kanji for Autumn.”

He paused and closed his eyes for a moment, channelling his chakra into them and activating his Sharingan. When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were red, and a single tomoe existed in each of them. “The pain of that experience brought me two things. My Sharingan, and a burning need for vengeance. I was able to track some of these gang members to a location in the slums nearby, but I don’t think I am painfully aware of my inexperience. I have come to you for assistance in taking down this hideout that I have found, as well as for training on how to use these eyes to my advantage. Because right now, they are only a reminder of my mother’s death.”

With that, Kuno would stop and wait for the response of the older man, hoping that was he had said would be enough to convince him to help his fellow clansman, and to crush the members of this mysterious gang under their heels.

WC:841+728=1569

Chakra (145/150):

OOC:

Syekren watched the young male examine his arm bearing the sunagakure no sato scar and his Uchiha tattoo after introducing himself as Kuno Uchiha. Syekren noticed this and moved his arm away, turning it from view and turning back to the dummies. The last time he'd met an Uchiha, he'd killed him in cold blood, and now came another who thought that he was going to be here for someone else in his clan. After what had been going on in his own home, Syekren was admittedly becoming less and less attached to the people of the Uchiha. Syekren sighed and focused flame into his hands and feet and went about punching and then kicking another dummy. Burning the wood of the dummy, splintering it as he angrily hit it while the other male spoke. The constant thudding and raging 'hyah!' had people turning their heads to find out what was going on. Even the groundskeeper seemed to be concerned about the young Uchiha bothering the special jounin. Or at least it seemed he was bothering Syekren.

When he heard the name of the kazekage, Syekren growled and spun around, kicking with his heel at the head of the current dummy he was hitting. With that kick, the head splintered and broke off, burning in flames as it hit the sand. Using the momentum from his spin kick, he leaned to the side and snap kicked the dummy from the opposite side, breaking the dummy from the post, shattering most of the body as it fell to the ground, also in flames. His fists were still clenched while he listened. Of course the Kazekage would send him to deal with something like this. Why would one more gang be his problem and not the people specialized in such things? She knew he was an ANBU and this sort of thing did not fall into the category of his job description. He turned to glare at the young Uchiha, clenching his fists harder, getting ready to tell him off, possibly swing at him. Until the male seemed as though he was trouble before continuing his story. His home had been attacked? That was a problem.. and did fall into his job description. With a sigh, Syekren stopped the flaming chakra flow.

Then the youth closed his eyes, and upon opening them, showed Syekren what he was waiting for: the sharingan. The symbol of the clan's immense love being turned to hatred or trauma. Showing that the Uchiha truly had lost something or some part of themselves. For Syekren, he'd nearly lost his life twice and found in himself weakness that he didn't dare to allow to continue to grow.  When Syekren was sure the boy had finished his story, Syekren's own iris' colors became crimson, while the pupils spun. Chakra was flowing into his eyes, the spinning forming two tomoes in the right eye, while the left had only one. He stared into the eyes of the other male, clenching his jaw a moment before he spoke. ''Should one go hunting for vengeance, they need dig two graves. I would normally turn you away, clansmen or not. You're lucky, very lucky, that I owe the Kazekage a favor." Upon saying this, he reached up to gingerly touch the scar on his left eye, and sighed once more. "So, what's the plan?" He stared expectantly at the young man, the ones who were worriedly watching going back to what they'd been doing. Altogether though, one could still feel his presence being one of an angry man.

WC: 603 + 709 =1,312

225/250:

OOC: Don't worry about it lol

As Kuno spoke to the older Uchiha, he could not help but think that the man was a little…distracted to say the least. He turned away from Kuno, and proceeded to continue with his training regiment that he had been so engrossed in when Kuno had first arrived. His hands were set ablaze with fire and his feet also burned brightly. His combinations were aggressive and through as he continued to pummel the next nearby training dummy. Nevertheless, Kuno continued with his tale through the thuds of Syekren’s strikes and the grunts of exertion that he let out once in a while. It was not until Kuno got about half way through his explanation that he realized other people had begun to turn and watch exactly what was unfolding. He stopped only momentarily, uneasy with all of the ears listening to their conversation. But he had come too far to stop now, so he continued, hoping that none of the people here were associated with the mysterious group that had killed his mother and kidnapped his sister.

When he finally reached the point in his story about the attack on his home and the awakening of his Sharingan, the older man seemed to listen. Finally, the flow of fire to his hands ceased and he turned to face the younger Uchiha. When Kuno had concluded his story, he looked up to see that Syekren’s eyes also spun. Like his own as they turned to a crimson, revealing one single tomoe and one dual tomoe Sharingan. Kuno raised an eyebrow, confused at how that had come to be, seeing as his own had awakened the same way at the same time. Before he had a chance to think more about it, the special jonin began to speak, his jaw clenched. ''Should one go hunting for vengeance, they need dig two graves. I would normally turn you away, clansmen or not. You're lucky, very lucky, that I owe the Kazekage a favor." Upon saying this, he reached up to gingerly touch the scar on his left eye, and sighed once more. "So, what's the plan?" Kuno nodded slowly to himself as he realized what must have happened to make the two eyes have different levels of the Sharingan. It seemed to Kuno that the Kazekage, being known for her proficiency in medical ninjutsu, had transplanted an eye for Syekren. Making a mental not of this, Kuno began to relate his plan, not wanting to anger the man any further, as his irritation was growing more and more evident.

“Thank you,” he said, stepping forward now that Syekren had stopped beating the training dummy for the time being. “To be honest, my plan is not a very detailed one, but I don’t believe it will need to be. The hideout is located in the slums, closer to the west side of the village. I can lead you there without issue. My hope is to infiltrate it, gather whatever information I can pertaining to the whereabouts of a leader or larger hideout, and then eliminate every last one of them. I have conducted a series of scouting excursions to it and have determined that the only reason I really need help is because of the numbers. The people guarding it should not be a big issue in terms of strength, but sheer numbers will always win out. Furthermore, the Kazekage ordered me to seek assistance should I find something of interest like this, so here I am.” He paused a moment to glance around at the other people in the area who had been watching the duo. Seeing that most of them had moved on, he felt comfortable enough to continue.

“My hope is to infiltrate this place the day after tomorrow just after dark. We can meet at the entrance to the slums closest to the administration building and go from there. Is this acceptable? I’m open to any other suggestions you may have for me.”

WC:670+1569=2239

Chakra (140/150):

Syekren listened quietly, rubbing his chin in thought. It wasn't much of a plan, to be honest. But it might work if the two of them were careful and paid attention to their surroundings. This was all dependent on whether or not the young genin before him could actually keep his head down and follow orders when it came down to it.  Syekren sighed and sat down in the sand, crossing his legs as he looked up to the sky. He personally didn't work well when it came to having a team mate, even his own squad was a bit much for the Uchiha but he could tell this kid really needed the help. The story didn't have any inconsistencies other than the fact that a gang just randomly chose his place of residence when he was not home and killed his mother then took his sister. It didn't make much sense to the ANBU operative. When it came to a murder and kidnapping, there were usually some sort of reasoning or motives to be found. In this story, Syekren couldn't find anything of the sort and it was disheartening because he felt as though he was being misled or not being told the whole story.

"Something just bothers me about this, I can't find the motive for why they did this to you. In any case, you're going to have to follow me closely and listen to my every word. If I'm to help you, I'm sure I'll probably have to protect you as well. That's something that I didn't expect to be doing, but I shall do it proudly."

Syekren sighed and stood once more, brushing himself off and looking straight at the young Uchiha before him. The kid couldn't be that weak, could he? But then again, a genin versus a gang was probably not a good idea. It reminded Syekren a lot about the missions he took at the level and how he'd fought and taken down multiple groups of people trying to harm or defect from the village. These people all fell before him, but that's only because of the training regiment he put himself through and how hard he had pushed himself to become so strong. This boy didn't seem as though he'd had to push himself for anything. Was he subject to the Uchiha 'elitism' curse? In which the Uchiha felt as though they didn't have to try as hard as everyone else? Or was he simply not presented the opportunities that Syekren had been given? Well, not really opportunities, more so the times he had been attacked and nearly killed, and the kills he had made. Syekren decided this was the best time to give him an inspirational speech.

"Look, Kuno. I once was like you, you remind me a lot of myself. I was weak and couldn't do things myself. But look at me now, I even beat the former Kazekage Suzume Koga! All you have to do is believe and feel those flames inside you. I'll help you but you need to believe in the flames of youth! Let them drive your body and soul towards the end goal of becoming the ultimate ninja! That was once my ninja way and it can become yours too! Becoming strong and protecting what you care about is what being a ninja is all about! But becoming strong to keep a promise to a friend is what my ninja way has become. I became strong to keep a promise to another clan member of ours who had died before his time. Don't let yourself lose your way!"

WC: 625 + 1,312 = 1,947

As the man before him rubbed his chin in thought, Kuno sighed and closed his eyes, deactivating his Sharingan while doing so. He opened his eyes again to see the older Uchiha also sigh before sitting down in the sand. He crossed his legs and proceeded to look up at the sky, obviously deep in thought. Kuno remained standing, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade and hoping that the senior shinobi would not tear his plan to pieces. Kuno knew it was not much of anything, but he also knew that he was tired of waiting around for the Autumn gang to discover that they were being watched. He could not let the opportunity to get some sort of information pass him by, and so he was going to do this; even if it meant rushing in head on, all on his own with only his blade for company.

"Something just bothers me about this, I can't find the motive for why they did this to you. In any case, you're going to have to follow me closely and listen to my every word. If I'm to help you, I'm sure I'll probably have to protect you as well. That's something that I didn't expect to be doing, but I shall do it proudly." The younger Uchiha watched as his new partner stood up once again and looked directly at him. Kuno nodded slowly in agreeance. He had been trying to piece together the incident himself and had come up with only one possible answer to the mystery. “I have to agree with you in terms of the missing motive. The only reasonable explanation I’ve come up with is that this gang heard that the Kazekage asked me to investigate Autumn personally. Perhaps they were trying to intimidate me. Unfortunately for them, they only succeeded in enraging me.” He paused a moment to process the other half of the statement that Syekren had made. Though he did not want to admit it, he knew that it was better for both of the Uchiha if he would just agree with Syekren. He did not want protection, but if he as honest with himself he knew that was why he was really here. He would not be able to take on the entire hideout alone, which is why he had sought out the special jonin. He needed his help, not only to clear the base efficiently, but to keep him safe. He only nodded his response, unable to completely swallow his pride.

What happened next was definitely…unexpected. As Kuno stepped back and opened his mouth to thank the older Uchiha, he began to speak himself. And the words that he said were…not what the younger Uchiha had anticipated. "Look, Kuno. I once was like you, you remind me a lot of myself. I was weak and couldn't do things myself. But look at me now, I even beat the former Kazekage Suzume Koga! All you have to do is believe and feel those flames inside you. I'll help you but you need to believe in the flames of youth! Let them drive your body and soul towards the end goal of becoming the ultimate ninja! That was once my ninja way and it can become yours too! Becoming strong and protecting what you care about is what being a ninja is all about! But becoming strong to keep a promise to a friend is what my ninja way has become. I became strong to keep a promise to another clan member of ours who had died before his time. Don't let yourself lose your way!"

Kuno’s mouth had opened when he had tried to bid Syekren farewell, and at the conclusion of the man’s speech it still hung in its open position. He tried to process everything that had been send to him at on time, but found himself overwhelmed by the speech and the emotion that he was suddenly presented with. “I…uh….” Was all that escaped his lips for a moment. Closing his mouth, he slowly went over his word in his head, trying to take in their meaning. Kuno certainly did not consider himself weak; he had killed and fought and prevailed on multiple occasions. And yet, he understood what the older Uchiha was saying. Kuno still had a long way to go, and he could not let the death of his mother hold him back from pressing on. It is not what she would have wanted, for her son to lose his way so early in life. No, what Syekren said rang true. He still had the flames of his youth on his side, as Syekren had put it, and so he had to use those to flames to his advantage. He could fuel them with his anger and need for vengeance. Those flames would burn ever higher until they consumed his mother’s murderers; he would make sure of it.

He nodded slowly, a smile growing on his face. “Thank you Syekren. I appreciate that, and I’ll take it to heart. Oh, and thank you for your help in the days to come.” With that, he bid the older Uchiha farewell and turned to leave the sandy arena, his mind swimming with thoughts of the coming battle, and of his new partner.

[Exit Thread]

WC:904+2239=3143

Training

Bukijutsu from B to A (3000/3000)

Unused WC:143

The young Uchiha stared quietly at first and stammered. He seemed baffled by the words of the older Uchiha before him. Yes, the Special Jounin had switched around how he was acting rather quickly, but everyone needed some sort of inspiration from time to time. At least, that's what experience had told Syekren. Many people were unlike him when it came to being tough as nails and inspiring themselves to do better, training hard on their own or growing stronger on their own. He didn't know exactly if it was the same for the young Uchiha male before him, but Syekren wanted to help him become stronger so that this sort of thing would not keep him from excelling or weigh him down in the future. So that he would be able to take on the gangs on his own, no matter their numbers. As a shinobi they were said to be stronger than even an army of normal men and if they could not live up to that legend then it was because of a lack of effort on their part or a lack of help to reach the levels of the storied shinobi.

Syekren watched as the male before him grew a smile and nodded, thanking him for his words and his help in the days to come. It seemed that Syekren's speech did matter somewhat to the other male and he would really appreciate it. With that, the young Uchiha turned and walked out of the arena, leaving Syekren to stand there alone. Syekren finally deactivated his sharingan, and looked up to the sky, thinking to himself. So long had it been that he'd partnered up with anyone. Sure he'd had squads, but the last time he had a partner was when his friend Matsuro was around and even then they didn't do much other than train. Taking on a gang by themselves never really crossed their minds and it may be because of that fact that there was such a crime problem in the village. Or it could be the fact that none of the kazekages ever cared to rectify the situation. It was all up in the air at the moment. Syekren cared deeply about his village but he knew that the current administration did nothing for the village to help it. The council, the daimyo, the lot of them were leeching on the village and turning it more towards a ruinous path. It was all he could do to not seethe with anger.

With a sigh, Syekren looked around the arena and thought about everything that had gone on in his time as a ninja. Truth be told it wasn't just what the kazekage had sent the boy here for. It was that he was an Uchiha with a budding sharingan just like Syekren's five years hence. When Syekren had met the spirit of his ancestor, Hao, he had those same eyes and that same fire. Syekren was reminded once more of his promise to the spirit and made a note to begin preparation to keep that promise. He would have to get a move on with training and getting stronger, but would also have to make the Uchiha name great again. Syekren waved to the groundskeeper and began to walk towards the sandy arena's exit. It was time for him to go home and begin to plan the attack on the gangs, but also to begin planning his next move to keep his promise. His time in Sunagakure no sato wasn't quite up yet, but he would need to leave for a time to travel soon and learn all that he could before returning. With a yawn, the young uchiha left the arena and went towards the administration building to enter his home.

WC: 640 + 1,947 = 2,587
EXIT

training: