Rin watched as the two prepared for combat. The battle seemed to start early as from Rin’s perspective they were already fighting. Firstly with an exchange of words before the physical battle would begin. She liked that because she knew that meant they would put their soul into this battle. 

Izu seemed to allow Hayashi to start first. He began with a smoke bomb thrown at his opponent, and as a result Rin narrowed her eyes and the veins near her temple bulged. [color=fff200][i]Byakugan![/i][/color] Just as she activated her byakugan she could see Hayashi preparing to use what looked like chains made of water to bind Izu, and she was fascinated by how precise he could manipulate the water to form a long chain like structure. She also took note that one of Hayashi's clone was hiding nearby, keeping away from the battle and she assumed it was that flicker she had seen earlier during Hayashi's first hand signs.

Izu’s reprisal quickly displayed his own skill. Using his kekkei genkai he made a slime shield which not only blocked the chains but also the ensuing attack. What she found most interesting was the attack following the thrown kunai. Izu spat out a slime ball that proceeded to burst on the ground sending some of the slime on Hayashi despite his attempt to block it with a shadow clone. She could clearly see the immobilizing effect it had on Hayashi, as it seemed he was unable to move due to the pain it caused. However, Hayashi had done a great job of putting some distance between him and Izu with his ‘phantom explosion’, as Rin had just nicknamed it off the top of her head, using the clone he had made earlier as distraction. She guessed he would use this time to recover from the pain the slime caused.

The same way as Rin managed to deduce the clone’s initial hiding place with her byakugan, something else caught her attention. Someone else was approaching the training grounds. [i][color=fff200]A sand shinobi[/color][/i], Rin thought. [color=fff200][i]What could[/i] she [i]be doing here?[/i][/color]