Fight!: The Blue Flash vs. The Shadow Hermit

He shouldn't have come back here. It brought back so many memories, both good and bad, a most bittersweet predicament. Naoki looked at the looming gates of his home and considered turning around.

Ryu was returning from a mission, when he noticed a tall and masculine man with neck length, thick curly black hair, looking at the gates of Konoha. Ryu grew anxious so he approached the shinobi and asked him, "What are you doing here ? and where are you from ? you don't look familiar now are you ? ".

Naoki at first, barely spared the tall, muscular blue haired man a glance, but he didn't want to show his back to this guy so he made a show of half turning around. "It's rude to ask other people's name without giving your own first. I was just passing through."

"Ryu- I am Ryu of Konohagakure and you are ?" said Ryu taking an awkward posture.

"Naoki." Replied Naoki simply, calm as ever.

"You are not from the village, are you ?" asked Ryu.

"And if I'm not?" Naoki answered almost rhetorically. "What will you do?"

"There's nothing I can do, but I want to know your motives. Why have you come to our village ? " said Ryu.

"I told you: I was just passing through." Naoki reiterated. "If that's all..." he trailed off, as if to dismiss him.

"Whatever, Naoki you said right ? Alright I must report it to Hokage-sama" said Ryu.

Naoki almost froze, almost. "Don't do that, kid." If they knew he was loitering around, they might try to convince him to return. He wasn't ready, the memories too fresh.

"Why shouldn't I?" asked Ryu.

"It'd be inconvenient for me." Naoki found that he was already slipping back into the mindset of a shinobi, not that it'd ever truly left him. Regardless, this brat was going to stir up trouble he didn't need.

"Well then" said Ryu taking a foreign gesture with his Flying Thunder God Kunai, which Naoki could not have possibly seen before.

Having not seen the strange kunai as he was already in the process of trying to catch him with his Shadow Sewing Technique, when he got him...What then? He wondered briefly but brushed the thought aside.

Ryu threw the kunai at Naoki, and before he could even noticed he teleported himself above Naoki and tried to stab him.

Movemovemove! His instincts practically screamed once he saw that Ryu was not behind and didn't come from below, so he must be above; and Naoki obeyed, taking a leap backwards, quickly doing the handsigns for the Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction, letting the chakra knead inside his body, convert into fire before expelling the flames from his mouth.

Through his massive volley of flame came a kunai flying past his head, suddenly Ryu appeared behind him saying "Its over!" as he used Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.

Well, that hurt. Naoki thought sarcastically in his head as the shurikens scratched at his arms and legs, but luckily not hitting anything vital. He went through the Snake, Horse and Ram and silent used the Earth Release: Binding Chains technique, unsheathing his sword. Pinning the kid down was the main priority.

"This match is going to be a battle of speed" said Ryu to himself, "the one strikes faster, wins !" he added.As he threw a Kunai towards Naoki.

Naoki moved his head out of the trajectory of the incoming kunai, just barely evading as he then used Shadow Gathering Technique to catch it before it could hit the ground and whipped it back at the younger male, his sword also aiming to pierce his shoulder, he wasn't a killer - not anymore.

The kunai he threw back was a clone and exploded shortly, before the shadow and the sword could reach him a kunai ran past Naoki's right eye and surprisingly Ryu was already at Naoki's blind spot with his technique prepared to launch and quickly he tried to strike Naoki while in close range with Chakra Sphere.

Man, what a pain. The Nara thought to himself as he used Shadow Paralysis Technique, if he was getting hit by that technique, the kid was going down with him. Petty but he blamed it on old age.

"Darn it !" shouts Ryu out of pain and annoyance.

Pressing the advantage, Naoki made eye contact with Ryu and Genjutsu: One Thousand Deaths took effect.

Ryu with his Mind's Eye of the Kagura noticed he was under a genjutsu and broke through it and used Eternal Loop on Naoki instead.

This was Genjutsu. Naoki knew it, but despite trying to use the release seal, it wasn't working.

Ryu broke through the paralyzing technique as the caster was under a genjutsu himself, he decided to finish of Naoki so he used Blue Flash Strike on Naoki.

Naoki felt pain and saw a blue flash.

Ryu walked away and said " you are a shinobi in true sense but yet you are too weak to wander around this place".

The light was leaving Naoki's eyes when he saw someone leaning over him, before he was lifted up and spirited away.

Ryu carried Naoki to his house and treated his wounds.