Finding harbor from the rain that was lingering damply over the Hidden Leaf Village hadn't been difficult at all. A few miles out from the village had placed him in a small broken down shack, filled with uncleanliness. Animal droppings had been scattered about like seeds thrown from a farmer, weeds had crawled inside like roaches searching for food and a litter of bugs made nest in certain parts of the shack which were shrouded in darkness away from the light. It would’ve been nice and tidy if it was cleaned but the dirt made it look even smaller. The shack was no more bigger than a few meters wide and about five meters long, just enough space for one person to relax and two or three to get in tight if need be. However, the old and worn down wood cracked like splinters from a dead tree showed that it had been abandoned by its creator.

Shihouin decided to take shelter for obvious reasons, but there was also the issue of his appearance. With such loud colors on, white and red tailed cape, Jounin attire and Konoha head band he was an easy target. It was almost too weird to see someone with ‘Sandaime Hokage’ written down their back casually strolling outside of his home territory without a wonder. And of course for the very reason he’d done it, he’d decided that it would be smart for him to take a break from the open trail because apparently he had been attracting too much attention from a rowdy group of thugs.

Taking shelter allowed him to decide an evasive form of action. There were at least four ninja one of them was definitely Chuunin or Special Jounin and the other three were all genin. Had it not been for the genin making so much of a ruckus he might have not caught on as easy. Evasive maneuvers were crucial for this point in action, judging their strength would be most important. He knew their first form of attack would be to destroy the shelter…

Shihouin stood inside of the shack, head almost to the roof as he began to quickly put some hand signs together in fractions of the normal time it took. With no real source of water the jutsu was slightly difficult to gather but his affinity allowed him to use the technique. A silent mist began to collect around him like a small cloud, blurring out his tall slender figure from the damp lights that leaked through. Controlling the jutsu with skill he kept the mist within the shack allowing it to grow thicker and thicker. A blade would be needed to figuratively cut through the mist since it had been trapped in dimensions lesser than the normal range.

Situated in a bounding over watch the rag team of ninja began to calculate a basic plan to bring him out of the mist. Since they would rather not reveal their physical locations even if they knew their opponent had Sharingan, it would be best to attack from a position where they could cause some damage and force their opponent to move. So with a string of explosive tags and several kunai they aimed for the weakest parts of the shack, the cracks in the roof, the unsecure side wall and all the places with obvious mechanical wear done by weather and nature itself. As the explosive notes landed on the softer portions of wood for obvious stealth reasons, the attack went off as near instantly as it came. The mist around Shihouin began to grow thicker and thicker even spreading out more so than it did now. Moving from his position, the five by five meter of mist began to quickly slide to the main street and hold for a few seconds or so.

As the jutsu itself faded, Shihouin stood without a single scratch but a single smile smirking in the corner of his tight lips. No splinters, no dust, no smoke, no water on him at all. He stood as if he had not even realized the blast had happened or by some feat had ignored it entirely. As he stood alone with his Sharingan activated the team decided to abandon their position and move closer for a more direct form of combat. Cloaked in traditional ninja gear equipped with a ninjatou, mask and no head band attire the group stood an easy six meters before him, both sides shuffling in the off course wind.

This unprecedented attack had been for a reason unknown to the Hokage. “You all decided to attack me for what reason? Are you some mercenary group after Sharingan? What?” Like true ninja they stood without a single answer. They were positioned in a rhombus with the sp. Jounin leading the group at the top. The genin adorned his side like necessary scapegoats… Each one of them had decided that this was the proper course of action even though this man had been notorious even within his own village before being redeemed into good faith. Even if they had to die, obtaining a sharingan for whatever village paying them was the mission today.

Shihouin didn’t take too kindly to this and decided that instead of talking he should make like a ninja as well and begin attacking. They were obviously waiting on him for some reason, all of them readied in their stances with their muscles tight in the proper areas. It would be like him to normally just go ahead and fight in the order he had prompted, but this time he wanted to test his own bodies’ limits. If he could go all out here and defeat them in record time, maybe the jutsu he saw from the Sage would be possible….

Beginning battle, he started off with a fresh plate of hand signs to get things appetizing. Ram. Hare. Bird. Ti- the leader of the group threw three shuriken towards his hands and his hips forcing him to break his hand sigs and grip for tools. Regardless it wouldn’t matter. As he did so he gripped his thigh ninja pocket quickly matching with speed and accuracy throwing the same tool towards them all aimed directly for a direct clash. Within seconds the shuriken had been scattered across the wayside, spread away from the main battlefield. To follow up both groups decided to move. Shihouin moved back, still gripping a kunai in his hands as he decided to prepare his hand signs at a pace -like before- that they could keep up with.

As soon as he began to propel himself backward the genin stepped up to the plate with a direct attack, running head strong towards his position. Obviously at this point several things were up in the air. He automatically wondered what type of jutsu he had if he decided he was confident enough to directly attack anyone, much less an S Rank, and moreover Sharingan. Keeping his feet patterned, he completed the hand signs due his own speed increasing the gap about a meter before the genin could ever get good footing for all the speed he was mustering.

A physical attack from him, he removed the ninjatou from the sheath and continued to bring himself closer to Shihouin who was repositioning himself for the attack. With Sharingan, he could see subtle chakra changes to his body along with chakra spreading out over his skin from the very organ itself. As the genin approached him aiming for a sweeping leg kick with his blade to supplement, Shihouin repositioned himself and accurately placed his foot against the ground while bringing his up one for a quick heel to the face. Sharingan made this easy since he already had momentum and redirecting it while imaging his opponents next move, the proper steps and order had taken place before the genin could consciously make his own move.

His kick connected with ease as the genin rolled back on the ground a meter and stopped himself to rise up again. Apparently there had been no physical damage done. Shihouin noted the rest of the shinobi. Things began to become clearer now. As the genin stood up he realized that if he were to continue with this method he would be potentially risking his life… Playing with clones and tricks would be the smart thing to do, but Shihouin was a natural born Uchiha. And his blood was boiling.

Opening his mouth while he quickly footed himself, a black mist began to leak out from it quickly forming into what seemed to be a dark version of the Hidden Mist technique. Using Sharingan to direct this ocular ninjutsu, the cloud of mist moved over this genin opponent who had assumed that his physical jutsu to protect his body would be enough to deal with the technique. Instead of moving like he should have, he prepared another jutsu while caught in the mist, thinking that Shihouin wouldn’t supplement quickly. Once the mist got over the genin’s head, an illusion of several burning demons would cloud his mind. They would all reign hellfire over him within seconds, burning him to ashes. This illusion was no joke, high rank and no easy feat for anyone even him.

To combine such high level techniques in a quick fashion had been part of his rite as an S rank shinobi, the highest ninja in the village, the Hokage himself. Of course it was no ordinary feat and it had a considerable drain on his body but at this moment he no longer had to deal with one genin. The genin that had attacked and tried to stall was now nothing more than background art. He lay smoothly on the ground, unconscious for the rest of the fight. Each of the remaining three ninja began to realize what they were up against, but due to their previous planning they decided to stick with their plans.

Whatever. Shihouin would simply overpower them and counter them on every single move. Being about eight meters away from them now, the other genin moved from his partner’s right side and stood in front of him. His body tucked and vitalized with chakra outside of his skin. With Sharingan Shihouin could see this coming, but with the speed that his opponent was coming at he would have to focus his body into a defensive stance to deal with the attack.

As he covered the eight meters quickly, he drew his sword and attempted to pierce Shihouin’s heart in a single blow. Interrupted by kunai placed against the blade, the two opponents clashed and held for a second with Shihouin having the upper hand when it came to dealing with the attack. Using his feet, he aimed a low kick for the knee caps quickly, forcing his opponent to back off at high speeds again, this time putting distance between the two.

As he did so Shihouin began to calculate the technique with Sharingan, and analyzing what type of speed he was able to produce. Getting a handle on his speed had been something that would take multiple tries but Shihouin had another plan in mind. With his technique prepared he began to breath another mist out towards his opponent, letting it fog up, blocking between him and his opponent. The young ninja would attempt to take advantage of this, using his full force and speed combined with shunshin, vitalizing his body on a level that was way above his rank title. Appearing instantly behind Shihouin’s back, his prepared kenjutsu technique was executed as he poured his blade into his back.

This had not happened later, but only a second or two after the black mist began to pour from his mouth, leaking around the area, not even filling a 3 meters space at this point. Instead of a successful strike, a kage bunshin had been placed in Shihouin’s spot to supplement while he performed an executed another technique. Grabbing both ankles from underground, Shihouin’s chakra infused hands began to burn the heels of the shinobi. Once he caught on to his folly he substituted with a log, keeping him from taking any damage but also realizing that a direct confrontation was not going to be his best way of fighting.

The mist that began to build even more so now was moving its way towards the shinobi in question. A piece of mist would move towards his position and he would dodge effortlessly while moving again, and again. The entire process was nothing more than slow to say at least, and the field began to become covered in the black mist that seemed to linger everywhere. He was avoiding the mist for the same reason his comrade had not…. He had figured that his comrade was dead and rightfully he should. However, avoiding the mist was not the appropriate action if he wanted to kill Shihouin any time soon. He couldn’t attack his back either at all.

His handsigns were obviously quick but not quick enough for Sharingan. The chakra in his body began to vitalize and expand again, past his skin on a large level. Body flicker at this point would be stupid, and Shihouin knew what he was up to. He was planning to run straight throught the mist while focusing his chakra and cleaning his mind of any illusionary techniques while also using high speed. The dash was quick and quicker than Shihouin thought it would be, but that didn’t matter.

The mist he was using was not one meant for illusions and triggers to use Sharingan or genjutsu… It was a physical mist, a fire technique of a different kind of level, one greater than his opponent’s techniques. Since they were so low rank, testing out these jutsu was too easy since they had been dedicated to moves and single styles of combat. The only one that was going to be the issue was the Sp. Jounin that was stalling near the back. This mist was physical and burned, so as he traveled through the mist, his body soon stopped as the black mist began to char his skin to black and burn his muscles eating them at a slightly slower rate due to his chakra output. With the two of them killed in action, there were only two left.

The two remaining shinobi seemed up to battle but the special jounin seemed more hesitant now more than anything. Two of his comrades had been killed in action and things were not looking tiring on Shihouin’s side. His cold black eyes studied the scene, squinting against the sharp blades of wind that pulsed through the area. Each beady pupil beat back and forth against the sunlight and the battlefield as he began to come to a realization. Shihouin’s black mist began to fade away from the scene and his look was not pleased either. The Sharingan held strong in his eyes, a symbol of something that was not going to be removed any time soon by anyone.

He backed up a step or two and his remaining comrade followed, backing up in unison directly after his superior had done so. The pulled his left leg back and pressed the ball of his feet firmly on the ground with his heel high in the air. His abdomen tucked as he bent low, keeping his eyes dead on Shihouin’s person at all times. “We’ll be back.” The dead duo laid flat as their comrades decided not to even bag their bodies for a proper funeral at all. Each of them took off with a body flicker off towards their employer who would no doubt be highly upset at their failure. At least now, Shihouin could finish the remaining of his training within peace.

Conceptualizing another illusion out in the open like this was difficult. Even though the bodies were presumed dead, the one attacked by the illusion had not been killed outright. His motor skills along with his unconscious state of mind had knocked him out in battle making him easy target for a shuriken to the jugular. As he tried to get up, Shihouin figured that he could train his last illusion on the fellow who could barely move, no doubt who would probably fall again.

This illusion had been one realized by ancient folklore and a part of the very clan name itself. Based off of old mythology it’s pride was in its ancestry to the Uchiha and the god Tsukuyomi. Preparing the chakra for the illusion was nothing simple and only possible due to his talents with Sharingan. Forming the boar, sheep and tiger hand signs, Shihouin visually attacked his target with Sharingan, staring him directly into his eyes. The illusion began to take place and the effects were obvious.

Since the genjutsu was one where both opponents were acting inside of their illusion the hard part about this one for his opponent was knowing that he was so badly messed up. As he stood up, or tried to he fell back down again thinking that he had not gotten up properly. Trying again, the time it took to get up seemed to be too long than normal which began to work for Shihouin advantage. His sense of time and reactions were slowed down within the illusion to a considerable rate.

It meant that for an illusion of this level using it for an extended period of time would make it obvious. If he could use the illusion and then end it before his opponent could notice, then he could make use of it in active battle. The genjutsu’s practicality in battle also changed when tactics like shadow clones were presented and other battle situations. It was an illusion that he would have to use sparingly and keep on him whenever he needed it. It would be something interesting to say the least, especially for taijutsu opponents and people like Ayame.