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Stunned, Kayori created an opening for his fake which thrust his sword forward with a sudden surge of speed, nearly ramming the large blade through the original's chest had he not once more relied on his battle-honed senses for a close escape. Nonetheless, the Stinger by the fake had still done its damage as the sword's blade drew a bleeding gash across Kayori's left side.

Once more back in battle, Kayori danced back and forth as he evaded the path of the sword's many advances, his Sharingan greatly aiding in his maneuverability. His wound bled freely as he moved about, every single moving muscle contributing to making it continue to bleed.

"This is it," Kayori said out loud as his left hand formed a single seal and held it. It was easy. The Kanashibari no Jutsu required a single moment of eye contact and it would hold. And with the replica charging directly at the real Uchiha, it didn't take long for Kayori to stop his opponent in his tracks, freezing him in mid-swing of his sword.

"It's over," the Uchiha muttered as he grabbed his short sword from its sheath and jammed it without any pause into the paralyzed replica's heart. There wasn't even any cry of pain or any sign that the replica understood the pain.

The blade of a large sword cut deeply into the grass and the ground beneath it, striking where Kayori had been crouching and would have cleaved cleanly through the Uchiha's skull had he not avoided it at the last minute with a push from his instinct. The attack had been sudden, without any warning at all aside from the sound of the rustling grass.

Kayori had lunged forward the moment he felt something was wrong, putting some distance between the assailant and himself to which the assailant countered by charging forward. His grip on the hilt of his sword had tightened and his arm tensed as he prepared to strike the moment Kayori was within range.

When he had lunged forward, the blonde Jounin had did it in a crouched fashion, his body low to the ground and when he had turned around to face his attacker, his expression was aghast. Eyes wide, the Uchiha quickly pulled on his short sword that was slung across his back and held it up hastily to take the full brunt of the downward swing.

As the blades connected, Kayori was jolted from his partially dumbfouded state as the impact of the clashing blades travelled up his arm. Almost releasing his short sword, the Uchiha gathered his wits and leapt back, once more putting a distance between the two.

Standing directly across him was... himself. A replica, to be exact. The other Kayori was holding the Souten Ginrou in both hands, the tip of the blade facing the right as the sword began to glow. Seeing what was going to happen, the real Kayori dashed forward, edging to his left and right rather moving in a linear direction. He knew what was coming, and before his replica could release the Kousen, the Jounin swiftly smashed the hilt's end of his short sword into his replica's face without any hesitation.

Distracted by the sight before him as he entered the area earlier, Kayori couldn't believe how inept he had been. Around his feet were the scattered and broken remains of a skeleton. Judging by the length of the bones and the skull by the edge of the pool, it seemed obvious to the Jounin that it was a human's. Every morsel of flesh, muscle, sinew had been completely removed from the bones, the dead person having served as a meal to a hungry animal as evident from the teeth marks on the surface of the bones.

A katana laid on the ground just a few feet away, half of it's blade peeking out from underneath a bush. Just what sort of fight had the owner of the sword been involved? The blade of the katana was terribly damaged. Cracks appeared all over the blade, and the edge was jagged the entire length of the weapon, as if it had been continuously smashed again and again at a hard object. A normal katana, through normal wear and tear, would only reach such a state after several years of battle.

Kayori observed the blade some more, realizing the crusted blood on the weapon's hilt. A katana with a blade that had been so terribly damaged it was beyond repair and a hilt that had been so tightly held it had drawn blood from the user's hands. The Uchiha couldn't even begin imagine what situation could have made something like that happen.

A rustling in the grass and leaves behind him roused Kayori from his deep thoughts, his sharp ears slightly twitching as he sought to utilize his ears in deciding what was approaching him and to give a false sense of surprise to his potential assailant rather than just turning around quickly.

Raising an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of the man, Kayori mentally chided himself for allowing someone to get within such close range without him noticing. Still, it wasn't too farfetched to think that the man before him was capable of hiding his presence and sneak up on the Uchiha.

Allowing the tip of his sword to rest on the soft ground beside his right leg, Kayori looked back at the man, reflecting the contempt from the man with amusement in his eyes, as one side of his mouth curved to form a one-sided smirk.

"I'm just here for a sweat out, and I know perfectly where I am," Kayori answered smoothly, putting his right hand on his blade while he balanced the weight of his body between his two legs. This man looked like a loose cannon, and he had no intention of being attacked out of the blue.

"I think that's just about right for the amount of distance between us," the Uchiha remarked as the man moved forward. Scrutinizing the fellow before him, the Jounin was sure he hadn't seen this scoundrel-looking person before in Konoha. He definitely as hell wouldn't have allowed someone with such a sly look gain the rank of Genin.

With his hands in his pockets, dressed in a simple of set of clothes consisting of a yellow T-shirt which loose round-neck collar promptly displayed his shoulder blades for all to see and a pair of khaki shorts that came just under his knees, the Uchiha walked aimlessly throughout the whole of Konoha. His forehead protector, instead of being tied around his forehead as it had always been, was slung loosely around his neck.

He had planned to spend his day idling about, hoping he could keep his good mood throughout the day. Which was a problem, for in order to really feel alive he needed the quick rush of blood through his veins and the burst of adrenaline that pumped through his blood. He wanted sweat to flow free from his body, to unleash his body into a frenzy of activity.

In his moment of undecidedness, Kayori just stood in the middle of the street, the people around him moving past him as if he was just a stone in a stream. As if his decisions were tangible objects in his palms, the Uchiha held up both hands with the palm up at his waist level at he looked from one palm to another.

One part of him wanted to just dawdle and laze around, while the other part of him prompted him to head home, grab his weapon and get the lethargy out of his body. It took less than five minutes for the Uchiha to make his decision, and it was obvious which part had triumphed as he walked in the direction of his single storey house.

Ten minutes later, the blonde shinobi exited his home appearing to have taken nothing. But the observant ones would have noticed that there was a slight bulge in his right pocket, the bulge resembling the shape of a scroll. Having locked the door to his humble residence, the Uchiha quickly took a road that led to a greener part of the village, covered in trees.

He tried to locate the clearing in the midst of a bamboo thicket that he had used to train as a Genin and Chuunin, but after one hour of combing the area, Kayori eventually gave up and settled for just any space large enough for him to swing his sword. He fished the scroll from his pocket and easily summoned his sword, a result of repetitive action.

Throughout the whole morning, the young Jounin had walked through the whole of Konohagakure. Mingling with the crowd in the main streets, hanging out at some of the stalls to chat with the owners he had known since he was kid. Every now and then, Kayori would go around town whenever he had the chance, looking up his friends and acquaintances as a way to loosen up himself and to enjoy a day free of his shinobi duties.

Kayori sat at one of the tables of a ramen store, having lunch with his best friend, Shinigi Kyoura. Most of the people he knew were the normal civilians of Konoha, the owners, shopkeepers and neighbours he had known from young. Friends that were in the same line as him were fairly few, a large portion of them unable to survive the war. The only few left was this colleague in the ANBU, a bespectacled Jounin that was of the same age.

However, in a striking contrast to Kayori's unkempt appearance, Kyou was meticulous about the way he looked. Looking more of a scholar than a shinobi, Kyou always had his hair neatly combed and was always polite. He was the complete opposite of the rough Uchiha, although that might due to him being raised by his adopted family. Kyou, like Kayori, was an orphan who had the luck of being adopted by a kind couple.

Kayori, on the other hand, had lived on his own after the death of his family just after he had made Genin rank. Most of his expenses were paid for through the fees from missions, and by scrimping and saving, the Uchiha managed to scrape through until he attained Chuunin rank and got a better life with the higher salary.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Kyou asked as he skilfully used his chopstick to place a few strands of ramen on his spoon before putting it into his mouth. Kayori, slurping down his ramen with just his chopstick as a means of bringing the noodles closer to his mouth, swallowed a mouthful before answering his friend.

The Uchiha grinned as he answered. "I was hoping you would ask. After I got back from Iwa, which I've gotten its location marked down on my world map, I took up a mission to slay some giant animals terrorizing some village."

"Giant animals?" Kyou queried as he pushed up his glasses as they slowly slid down the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, they were gorillas that were twice my height. Imagine that Kyou! I took them down easily enough though," the blonde Jounin remarked as he went back to another mouthful of his ramen. "Must have been one hell of a battle then," the raven-haired Jounin replied as he continued to finish the rest of his ramen.

"Not really. I was the one doing all the attacking. The monsters just fled when they saw me," was the distorted reply from Kayori as he spoke with his mouth full, swallowing the last of his ramen as soon as he finished his sentence. "That hit the spot."

"Yeah, I'm full from this meal too. Kayo, I think I'm gonna have to go now, there's still plenty of paperwork I have to complete," Kyou informed his friend as he placed his chopstick across the lid of his bowl and his spoon in the bowl. "The lack of manpower is really bumming me."

"You were always good as both an office and field agent, Kyou. It's been awhile since we teamed up and hopefully it will be soon."

"You won't have to wait long," Kyou said as he stood up from his seat, assuring his friend. "Anyway, gotta run now. Stacks of paper aren't gonna complete themselves."

Kayori merely smiled and watched as his childhood friend went off in the direction of the Hokage Tower in a hurried pace. He had seen Kyou at work both as an office agent and a field agent. His approach to both positions were the same. Calmly analytical, quick to weigh the consequences of the options open to him and ruthlessly swift decision making. As an ANBU operative, Kyou could have been the poster boy, the perfect assassin.

Leaving the exact amount needed to pay for the two large bowls of ramen, Kayori rose from the table and left after thanking the owner for the wonderful meal.

The sky was blue, puffy white clouds were slowly drifting across it and there was just enough shade to protect his eyes from the glowing sun. It was a beautiful day. And Kayori had the whole day to himself to spend it as he liked.

Sorry I made a mess of this. Yeah, I wanted it for my Ju Kenshi style. Thanks Apple =)