Apparently, yes.

Seriously?

If he's practicing this hard, hand-to-hand is probably the only thing he can do. That's not great. She's competent but clearly not on this guy's level. She might have to borrow some tricks from Kankurou. Poisoned senbon, maybe. She's got a month to brush up.

She watches the rest of the day to make sure he doesn't do anything else.

He spends the afternoon sparring with his similarly-clad sensei. He's also, apparently, fast, and doesn't seem to do much other than train. 

This matchup is looking worse all the time.

...But she's getting the beginnings of a strategy.

The full moon is coming up. It's getting harder to keep Shukaku contained. She's restless, doesn't sleep well even by her standards. The girl who surrendered rather than fight keeps troubling her mind. Makes her angry. The others are watching, but they're distracted with their own plans. It's not that hard to slip away.

She goes looking for Haruno Sakura.

Team Seven goes out for a celebratory dinner after leaving the Forest of Death, then splits up afterwards, Rian going to train with her sister, Mariko with their sensei, and Sakura floating between her two teammates. She helps Mariko work on her seals, practices the body flicker and spars with Rian.

About a week after the preliminaries, Sakura's walking home from the Uchiha district after a long day of training, so late that it's pretty much nighttime. The path back cuts through one of Konoha's many parks, which is basically deserted this time of day.

But not entirely.

A gust of sand blows across the path and forms into Elieyha's shape. "You. Owe me a fight."

"I don't think so." And she body flickers away, back towards the Uchiha compound.

She's faster. She lands in front of Sakura, sand whipping out to grab ankles.

"Slow. Weak. Stop running."

"Eep!" She flickers again, up into the trees - 

- And glowing chains race at Elieyha as Mariko blurs into sight, eyes narrowed. "Hey! Leave my teammate alone!"

A wall of sand intercepts them. She turns her head to look at the interloper.

"This is no concern of yours. Depart."

"It became my concern when you decided to pick a fight with my friend."

She shakes her head dismissively. "Your time is later."

She turns away, moves after Sakura.

A chain arcing to wrap around her.

Blocked by sand again, a stiffening shell. Elieyha whirls around, a snarl painted across her face. "Now, then."

A larger stream of sand erupts from the gourd, coursing fiercely at Mariko.

Holding all the equations in her head at the same time is hard, but - 

Chains thud into the ground around her, a shimmering golden shield spreading between them.

The sand hammers down repeatedly.

It doesn't do particularly much.

Mariko flares her chakra, and chains burst from the ground at Elieyha's feet.

She jumps and avoids them, barely. Her sand retreats to form a pillow underneath her, supporting her in midair.

She draws out a thin, dense strand of sand and uses it to strike at the chains, power concentrated to a point.

She can certainly tangle the chains up, and Mariko dismisses any that get damaged, but new chains burst from her shield. There's very clearly an intent to bind Elieyha within them, from the way the chains move.

She is the cage, not the caged, and she will not be caught.

Her attacks grow fiercer. "Die," she snarls.

"Fuck you, we never did anything to you - " But her attacks are faltering, clearly chakra-intensive.

Hers do not. Shukaku is near, which is her grace and her curse, but she is almost (close, so close) past the point of caring about that.

"You exist."

A flicker - 

And a woman dressed in dark mission clothes, an Uchiha clan symbol on either shoulder, is suddenly between the two fighters. 

"That's enough of that," she says, coldly.