Samurai Showdown With Kakashi

There I was, lost in the woods, with my legs tired and in front of an enormous and sturdy tree. I took off one of my swords from its scabbard and decided to do some blade training.

Holding one sword with both my hands and slashing a target was the usual samurai training. You would hit it from as many angles as possible, aimimg for its weak points and applying chakra on the blade to make sure you take it down. The tree itself didn't have any weak points, so I drew a man on it with my sword. So all that was left was to concentrate my chakra on my blade and...

- Let's just slash for now.

My lack of chakra control wasn't going to stop me from endlessly harassing the tree with slashes. I would aim for the head, c.h.e.s.t, joints as I was taught. From time to time the badly drawn man would get barely recognizable which forced me to draw another one to continue. It wasn't the best training spot, but it was stiil better than nothing.

Some time passed, maybe a couple hours, maybe more, and the tree was now barely standing with both sides mercilessly cut. I sat on the floor sweating, with a blunt blade and tired arms. I took off my armor, since it wasn't helping with the resting, and took the water I stored in it. I brought a couple supplies with me, I would never go for such an endeavor unprepared. I just wish I had brought a map or compass. Not that the compass would be of much help if I don't know if I had to go north or south, or the map would tell me how to get out of a forest. I really was in trouble if no one arrived to guide me.

As I was thinking that, I heard a noise.

Like footsteps on tree branches, like blades slashing through the wind. I looked in the direction of the sound, and had to swiftly move aside to dodge a shuriken.

- There's no way they were aiming at me from that distance. There must be a couple ninjas in combat now.

It shouldn't be that uncommon for a fight like this to happen. From what I heard, the ninja villages would regularly clash amongst themselves. The Land of Iron, being neutral on these matters would tend to be their point of reunion. Even then the samurai would always try to avoid being a part of any ninja business.

That's when I heard the tree making a cracking noise. After so many scratches it crumbled under its own weight. I saw a dark figure quickly step on one of the branches just in time. Once the tree fell down to the side, one of its branches, perfect to put your foot on and jump, hit the second surprised ninja in the face, making him fall down on the ground.

I watched in awe, as I saw the white-haired ninja flipping in the air, and rolling in the ground. If it was me I would definitely hit my face on the grass. He was clearly a skilled ninja. I screamed:

- Wait!

But he leapt to another branch and kept pursuing the other ninja. He didn't have the time for distractions, and if he were to stop he would definitely lose sight of his target.

I understood his decision, but this was my best chance to face a ninja, and I wasn't just going to let it get away. I started running after them. I jumped in the trees, with my arms waving back, and it didn't take long to reach him.

I jumped next to him and said:

- Hey there, could you, like, stop so I can duel you? Its pretty important for me.

- Get out of here, kid. - He said.

He had one of his eyes covered and wore the leaf village headband. I wonder how far I ran to get here? Was I really this close to the Leaf Village?

- Look, your going after that ninja, right? I'll take care of him.

I concentrated on the runaway ninja and positioned myself accordingly. I wasn't too used to using laidõ while moving, and especially not against a moving target. I had to predict his movements, if I aimed at where he was at one spot I would simply cut a branch. The moment I had my sights on him I exploded my chakra inside the scabbard and proppelled myself towards the running ninja, slashing him from the side. The runner fell down with clear pain. I tried not to fatally injure him, since I didn't know who he was, but it was enough to stop him in his tracks. I landed next to him as well as the white-haired ninja.

He wasn't yet knocked out, even trying to get back up. However, the one eyed warrior grabbed him before he could do anything, and whispered something in his ear, following it with a punch to knock him out. He opened the unconscious man's bag and took out some scrolls from it. The white haired ninja looked at me and quickly lowered his head as a show of thanks, before trying to get away.

- Wait! Did you hear what I said before?

- Kid, I can't stay here...

He looked at me with some interest, after noticing something.

- You are from the Land of Iron...

- Yes. I'm Roderick Samunashi, a proud samurai from the Land of Iron. And I ask you to face off against me.

- Never dueled a samurai before.

- Ah, so you're interested. - Great, I got his attention I might be able to get what I wanted after all. That's when I noticed something. I left my armor next to the tree that fell!

-Look, can you wait here for a bit. I just need to go get my armor and then... - I quickly stepped back avoiding a shuriken.

- A samurai with the reflexes of a ninja. - He remarked. I think he meant it as a compliment, but I didn't know how to take it. I had lost my hatred for ninjas a while back, once I found out that they are essentially the samurai of other lands, but it still stings when someone compares me to them. The ninja continued. - My name is Kakashi. I don't have much time, so let's settle this quickly.

Damn... this will be tougher than I thought.