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A training ground where Konoha shinobi honed their skills. The Third Training Field was the first place Team Kakashi trained, using the bell training that even the Third Hokage used on his own students.

It is a wooded area with a river running through it. There are several clearings throughout the area.

A calm wind blew past the training area catching Vol's hair, and blowing it slightly as he sat on a tree branch looking around. Deciding this was the best place to start the training he had thought up he hopped down to the ground. Vol began stretching as he looked up the tree, and double checked that it was the tallest near-by. Focusing his chakra he moved some to his feet, and took out a kunai which he seldom used. Vol placed one foot on the tree and began his accent, but didn't get as far as he wanted. Marking the tree quickly before he fell back to the ground he slashed the tree three quarters of the way up.

"Bah... come on Vol, you can do better than that..." He told himself getting back up, and climbing back up the tree focusing hard. Getting near the top of the tree Vol barely managed to notice before he fell. A large cracking sound resonated over the training grounds as his chakra destroyed the top of the tree. Falling flat on his butt Vol rolled to the side to avoid the falling branches. "Oops... Got a little to excited there." He laughed to himself as he stood up, and saw that he had almost made it to the top.

Riku and his fox Umemaru entered the grounds noticing two other adversaries already there. He didnt speak to them though because he didnt want to be the reason the guy lost his concentration nor distract the girl from her book. So he walked to another side of the open plain where he isolated himself from the others. He started doing warm ups with Umemaru that were going to be a prerequisite fund of knowledge to the obedient training Riku had planned. Umemaru began to perform certain actions in response to certain commands Riku gave with his own hand signs. He commanded Umemaru to "Roll over, play dead, be shameful, weave in my legs, limp, heel, flip, and speak." Umemaru obeyed all of them and after they were done with the warm-ups Riku moved onto something more difficult that would probably take a person months to train there canine.

These commands didn’t come with any hand symbols. Umemaru had to listen to Riku’s voice as he said to “fallback.” and Umemaru started to walk backwards. When he got far enough Riku told him to “dodge.” as he pulled out three kunai's from his holster and threw them at Umemaru. Umemaru went to the right, then the left, then to the right again, parrying through them as he ran in a locomotion way towards Riku. Riku quickly said “counter” once Umemaru dodged the second kunai. Umemaru jumped into the air and Riku jumped back, holding his forearm out as Umemaru ferociously bit him. Riku said "drop" and Umemaru released his arm, falling to the ground. Afterward Riku rewarded him with a treat that was housed in his pocket. He kneeled down onto one knee and rubbed Umemarus back, complimenting him with a smile, “Good boy.”

Seconds later Riku heard a scream and looked over at a girl. Umemaru first instinct was to run over and see if she was safe. Rising up, Riku didnt stop him but followed a few seconds behind him. When Umemaru got next to her he started to bark, with a small hop, at the ninja who she was yelling at. The bark sounded like a squeaky toy and was nowhere near intimidating because Umemaru was still just a cub. When Riku finally reached up to the others with his hands placed in his pockets, he told Umemaru to "chill." and Uremaru calmed down but growled through his teeth. Riku said phlegmatically,"Sorry about that. He can get worked up sometimes... Is everything alright?"

Riku thought, why isnt she being a little bit more helpful. I can see if she almost had a heart attack, but the guy just fell out of a tree. Wouldn't you first need to have a heart before you can have an attack. "Are you okay man?" He asked the ninja not really wanting to, since he saw him laughing and was probably okay, but it would be the polite thing to do.

"Yep, and you must be from the Hyuuga family." He said, being able to tell from her bleached out eyes. "Im Riku" he said with a corner smile. Uremaru introduced himself by going in and out around her leg, wrapping his big bushy red and white tail around her shin. "and thats Umemaru." He said watching him be a ladies magnet again. "I think he likes you."

Chancey smiled at the guy's politeness. "It's okay, anyways, no need to bow, I'm only a member of the branch family." She leaned down to pet the cub. "I'm glad he likes me, that way he won't feel the need to scratch me," A few drops of rain splattered her hands and and announcement was being made. She heard it indistinctly say something about the hokage being dead. Scared, she followed the guy into the trees to leave the training ground. "I'm coming!" she called. I still haven't figured out his name, she thought to herself.

((-exit to funeral

Maiko walked into the woods, wishing she had some sort of target to use. She reached into the sleeves of her kimono and pulled out a length of steel wire. She grabbed a kunai from her pouch and tied the steel wire through the hoop at the end. She threw the kunai, but yanked her hand to the left, changing where the kunai slashed. She was getting bored fast, wondering if she could find someone who would be interesting in sparring with her.

Maiko heard someone approach from behind her, readying another kunai. Instead of knotting the string on the end she had the string looped around it with her holdinging the other end. She threw the kunai straight ahead of her, feeding it a bit of wire until she had no more. Suddenly she twisted her whole body as she released the end of the wire in her hand, the kunai now flying in a completely opposite direct then where she threw it previously. It hit the tree next to Zexsu, almost as if to voice a warning to him without even speaking.

"I know I wouldn't hurt you. I had lots of practice with that particular skill I did." She caught the kunai that was thrown at her, pausing for a moment when she heard the name, "Uchiha, was it? Fine, my name is Maiko Wakahisa." She have heard many things about Uchihas and their fighting abilities, perhaps this was the opponent she was looking for. She reached into the sleeves of her kimono, letting loose some more of the steel wire and letting it slid out as silently as a spider spinning a web. "Perhaps you would like to spar with me for a bit?"