It had gone a lot better than he had expected it to, to be honest. Luckily for him the nose bleed had long since dried up, and his lip had stopped bleeding from the random puppet having back handed him. He was still a little peeved about that and what he had come to see the little cut as; A mark of shame. At least his was just from lack of being fast enough. Yuzu had no excuse for the risk he had put them all in. Rinao had long since reabsorbed his Eizo, and he resigned himself to quietly walking just a little behind Dameon. He felt like such a loser right about now, despite the fact they had completed their last mission. The young man hadn't really gotten to do all that much towards reaching that point. Now, raising his dark blue eyes, he blinked at the new ninja that had appeared only long enough to give the other guy an official looking note. That didn't look like it was going to be a thank you letter for keeping the spies alive and personally delivering them afterwards.

He shuffled a little closer, peering over the other's shoulder in curiosity of what it might contain. Which wasn't hard, considering he was an inch taller than than him. Rinao blinked and took a hasty step back when Dameon turned to him, pretending that he wasn't being nosy, when the first words came out of his mouth. The young man couldn't help but sigh heavily as he raised a hand to rub at his face in frustration. Well, it was to be expected at least. He couldn't say he was honestly surprised they had hardly finished one mission just to be sent out on another. It did not seem like this horrible fighting was going to let up any time soon. They could drive back the enemy today, but they would just reform their ranks and try again wouldn't they? As futile as it sounded in his head he knew he wanted to help. Though he couldn't help but look a little surprised when the last line was pointed out to him. He peered at it and huffed a little in aggravation. Apparently they hadn't bothered to remember his name.

Rinao watched him fold the note and put it away. Settling back on his heels, he reached up to absently brush his fingers across the mark on his lower lip in a thoughtful gesture. He took another step back and watched Dameon as he seemed to check through what he had on him. Eying the kunai that was taken out from the others before the words came to clarify it's purpose. Well, that was certainly thoughtful. Most of the money had been put towards living expenses since he came to Kirigakure. Weapons were just a back seat, but he was saving up. Soon definitely, he would have his own sword again. So he did not feel ashamed accepting it, thinking better of the man for his thoughtfulness and willingness to help someone who was a near stranger to him. It made him feel like this was someone he was willing to put more stock in than he had originally been willing to. He just kept proving himself over and over again as worth following.

With that they were off, and he didn't feel the need to break the anticipatory silence that hung in the air of their impending fight. He had slipped the kunai in to his jacket for safe keeping, and focused on dodging around trees and keeping up with the other shinobi. It wasn't long before they found the others where they waited in groups. His dark eyes scanned over the heads of the genin and chuunin, raking through the trees and shrubs with the same intensity he had when he was just a boy. Living out in much worse conditions than that, far away from any real civilization or realistic comforts. With nothing but that cruel old woman as company. Rinao blinked, shifted how he stood, and looked down to where Dameon was crouching with his finger to the ground. Odd, but he was sure there was some purpose to this act. His assumptions were correct as he started to speak.

Right. Give them hell. Probably for the first time since he had met the other, he turned a brilliant, eager smile on him and shook his head. The action tossed his dark, choppy bangs over his face for a moment before he reached up to push them back. Maybe this wasn't as bad as it seemed.

He didn't need to be reminded they were in a battle setting right now. Between the nervous shuffling of the others at his back and the set of Dameon's face as he scanned the tree lines was all he needed to keep his head in the game. Rinao himself wasn't one to get that worked up until he was actually fighting something. Sometimes even then he was slow to take it that seriously, and he understood that was something he needed to get out of his system quickly or have it put himself at risk. More so than he already was. Then the other was suddenly pushing forward, drawing the groups towards the impending battle, and he was hot on his trail. Not for long, however. They were separated quickly as the jutsu started firing off as was ordered by the other, but he didn't think much of it after that fact was realized. The other was perfectly capable of handling himself he was sure. It was himself who Rinao had to worry about. No sword, and just the kunai that he pulled from the pocket of his jacket and brandished in anticipation.

The scene quickly became chaos as the group he had situated himself within hit the enemy ranks. An incredible din of battle cries, screams, and rage echoed around him. Yet Rinao was calm. He dodged a strike expertly, let the enemy shinobi go off balance from his last second evasion and stumble forward, and shoved his elbow in to his back to send him to the ground to be trampled by the other ninja. Another came at him suddenly, and he barely jumped out of the way in time for a jutsu to shower the man in fire. Why couldn't they watch where they were aiming? The was a sharp tug on his pony tail, and all of a sudden he was shoved roughly to the ground face first. He struggled, twisting in the grasp against the pain of having his hair being the leverage, and had just enough time to raise the kunai up against the sword that came down on him. He deflected it, having surprised his opponent, but the other was recovering to shove the blade through his throat again.

Rinao gave a defiant growl and headbutted him as hard as he dared. It sent spots dancing frantically across his vision, but he managed to grab the others' wrist while he was dazed and twist it. The sword fell from the shinobi's grasp as he yelped in pain. With all of his strength, he shoved the other of and reverse their positions. As he went, he grabbed up the sword and didn't even hesitate as he pushed the edge through the enemy's throat with his other hand pressing against the dull edge of the blade. It was a good enough to cut deep enough for a pretty quick kill before Rinao was up and moving again with the now dead man's blade. With it in his hands, he felt a lot more efficient in this setting. The energy humming through his body seemed to set his soul on a razor thin edge as he sliced, blocked, and countered. Wielding the katana in one hand and the kunai in the other for closer encounters. Swiping across eyes and throats alike. Blinding and blooding as he carved through.

Then his luck ran out. He had miscalculated a stab, putting it through the abdomen of an enemy as one of his allies fell in to his back. The blade snapped off with a loud crack near the hilt from the jarring of all the bodies that suddenly toppled in to it. He was pulling himself from the tangle of them as as he was dragged by the wrist out from the folds. It was a female enemy who stared down at him with hope at first, then unimaginable anger as they both realized he wasn't who she was looking for. She full out tackled him to the ground as they struggled, neither skilled with Taijutsu it seemed and he with a kunai that was being fought over between them. The woman raked her nails across his face, and he felt the deep red lines welling with blood on his cheek. Just barely having missed his eyes. If she weren't running on emotion he was sure he would have lost one, if not both.

The shout came, ringing clear across the field. Look out above. He resisted the urge to do so, focusing on the ninja he was fighting at the moment. However she did look up to see what he was talking about, and that was the mistake that gave him his victory. Slicing the weapon across her throat when she looked back at him, her eyes suddenly wide in surprised. He could see her realizing that her curiosity had cost her her life. Rinao quickly pushed her away and got back on his feet. It was then that he did look up, seeing the enemy forces up in the tree tops readying their launchers. He suddenly had an idea, but it was a crazy one. His face set in a grim expression as he did his first jutsu since the battle started, and the Eizo came in to existence bright eyed and eager. Together they dodged through the broken enemy lines, hopping on to the branches of adjoining trees where puppeteers started firing off their weapons.

The Eizo was doing hand signs, and the one it surprised got a face full of Raiton chakra as it thrust it's palm forward. Energy crackling as the enemy's muffled screams took the attention of his target who made as if to turn his weapon. It was almost painfully easy to cut his throat open at that point. What he hadn't counted on were the other puppet masters nearby. One of which he barely spotted before he fire off the senbon. As he jumped out of the way, one embedded itself in his shoulder and the other grazed his upper thigh. He stumbled when he hit the ground, not prepared enough for the hasty fall. Another enemy was suddenly upon him, catching him off guard, and the Eizo would not be fast enough to help him.

The initial jarring impact of falling that far without being prepared for it was what distracted him. He wasn't looking for the one who had been shooting at him, nor whoever might have seen him fall from the attack and wanted to take revenge for the dirty trick he had just performed. In the middle of a battle like this, such things as honor and conduct didn't really apply in detailed forms. He wasn't going to sweat having done it at all later if he even remembered that particular one. Yet it was the risk he put himself at that was going to be his almost downfall again. Rinao was busy reaching up to tug the needle weapon from his shoulder, finding it difficult with it buried so deeply. Too late, the Eizo alerted him telepathically to turn around. That there was an enemy baring down on him, and he had to hurry and defend himself. His copy would not make it in time to help him. Though, it seemed he didn't need it in this instance, because Dameon was suddenly just there.

The blades collided close enough to his face that he actually leaned instinctively away upon seeing them. Then his entire body was moving away, turning around fully in the process, to give the other shinobi room to maneuver with the enemy as he recovered his steady footing. The enemy went down quickly, and he had a moment of admiring seeing the other prowess up close like this. It didn't even seem to bother him that the shinobi was covered in blood; He was pretty sure every bit of blue on him had turned black by now from it with the exception of maybe his eyes. The stinging pain in his forehead made him blink his eyes hard, shake his head, and take a deep breath to clear it again. It wasn't over yet. They were far from being finished. The other had grabbed up a katana he'd kicked in to the air, offering it to Rinao. More than grateful, he took it and tested the grip and balance. Solid enough to be of some use to him.

The words both made his expression harden and caused a light smile to crack across his mouth. Sharp as the edge of a razor as he shot the other a look. "I can't imagine why." He had tucked the kunai away, holding the sword with both hands before him and at the ready. Indeed, the enemies were piling up around them. Slowly closing in as if they were preparing to come at them all at once. Rinao wasn't going to let them get to that point. He did seals and  concentrated chakra in to one hand that he had freed, grateful he had taken the time to learn how to properly multitask, and raised it suddenly towards the wall of shinobi. The bolt of electricity shot forward from his hand, jumping through the line of them and causing momentary confusion. Some broke ranks and attacked, and he set to work with his stolen blade.

Rinao was infinitely glad for the fact he could zone out and be completely tuned in to his actions and those around him at the same time. Otherwise he might have hesitated in what he was doing, despite knowing he had a valid reason to kill these people. Besides that fact, it was very likely that outside of this hellish battle sequence many of these shinobi might have been able to take him on easily. The difference was state of mind and it's connection to one's body. His ability to adjust to the chaos with ease and take the situation in to his own control. Not full control of course, he was running on Dameon's example and by his lead in this fight now, by his body was his own. There was no surprising the young man now that he was comfortable with the unfamiliar sword's weight in his hands. His Eizo had taken up a vantage point in the trees, hidden away as it held vigilance over the fight below and alerted Rinao to the dangers he couldn't see from where he clashed metal with metal at Dameon's back.

This tactic had saved him from multiple death scenarios and gave him plenty of close calls of weapons stopped just an inch or so from his face or neck. Next to the other shinobi, the dark haired one was something like a ghost. Quiet except for the clash of metal and occasional grunts of effort and his tiring body. He had exerted himself so much in this battle that he was starting to feel the familiar aches beyond the pain of the wounds he had endured during it. It was something he was praying would wait just long enough for this to be over with. The shout to duck was instantly taken in to account, and he dropped down to the ground as close as he could get without laying down. Surprising the enemy he had been fighting who didn't seem to understand why he was suddenly crouching down. A moment later he found out why. Rinao was glad for the lack of hesitation he had, because the way the jutsu tore through the others was terrifying. And beautiful.

He was mesmerized by the sight, even though the light hurt his eyes. It wasn't until it was over and Dameon had fallen back on the ground that he took a sharp breath and blinked away the spots. Looking around, he noticed that they were alone except for the dead, dying, and their own comrades now. The enemy ran away? His body seemed to relax slightly, then he deflated and sagged forward a bit as he turned to the other shinobi smiling on the ground. Then came the frustrated shout. Rinao was frowning, blinking at the other for a moment as something like soft confusion came over his face. He reached up to try to wipe at his face to stave off the growing fuzziness, but it came away freshly red with the blood from his nose. Great. That was all he needed, another nosebleed. He frowned harder, but the fuzziness quickly turned to blackness as he swayed and slipped forward. Face down in the dirt due to passing out from over exertion.