Ask to Join Naruto: One's Nindo

[Retro Master]

Although Kiro managed to successfully avoid the potential explosions from kunai thrown earlier, being stranded midair still meant he had played right into her hands. He was unable to avoid the two fūma water shuriken Sagisō has sent his way. The concussive force from their simultaneous explosions were enough to knock the air out of him for a brief second, causing him to drop remaining shuriken he had in his hands. This was why he had to act before she could complete whatever her intended strategy was.

Fortunately, there was still another trump card Kiro had in play. You see, before the match had begun, Kiro prepared something just in case. It was high risk, high reward. By creating a shadow clone to charge up a certain technique of his, one that would normally take too much time if he did it himself during the middle of battle, Kiro had sacrificed a good portion of chakra before the match even started. It could’ve been costly, especially if Sagisō just happened to sweep away the kunai it was transformed into. Kiro had taken another risk by leaving it out on the battlefield. It had been the same seemingly basic kunai he threw on the floor earlier. It was supposed to take Sagisō by surprise and the opportunity did arise during the brief clash with his fire wave. The large amounts of steam would cover the clone while it waited on the walls, in one of the remaining clear areas in the arena, for its moment to strike.

For the clone to have thrown the previous smoke bombs accurately in the first place, it had to be near Sagisō. Which Kiro was after it was attempting to sneak behind her beforehand. Once she had cleared all the mist in the nearby vicinity, the clone had to refrain from coming any closer until the time came to strike. Now with both Sagisō and Suigisō focused on Kiro, the clone, which could be dubbed Kira, was able to move across the wall while still concealed by the remaining mist somewhat. Of course, the blue electricity that suddenly began to coat Kira didn’t help his cover much. What did help would be the sound of the explosions that would occur from the first three shuriken that he threw towards to Suigisō. Once they exploded, the sound should be enough to cover the noise of the electricity around clone, which would allow to get the jump on Sagisō before she could complete her finishing move.

After moving towards the bottom of the wall, Kira would dash towards Sagisō at blistering speeds. Even though Sagisō was concealed by the debris she had jumped into, his eyes allowed him to see her chakra inside as well as the chakra that began to rise up from beneath. Thanks to the sound of the latest explosions and the water erupting from the ground, that should’ve been enough noise to cover his advance. The clone aimed to quickly knock Sagisō out with a strike to the back of her neck before her attack connected with Kiro. Considering her thick hair was covering the entire back of her neck, there was still a chance the simple attack wouldn’t be enough. The clone would then try to hold onto her just in case it needed to proceed with a follow up attack.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Sagisō faltered as she momentarily fell unconscious. She awoke a few seconds later, but the match had already been decided. Her mind worked itself out of the haze, trying to piece together when her opponent could've possibly set up his last attack without her notice. She failed to find such an instance and could only attribute it to her opponent's superior skill.

The Skillful star struggled to her feet, coughing into her sleeves as she did. Sagisō glanced down at the blood now coloring her fur, she likely had some internal bleeding. Then she glanced over to her opponent and nodded respectfully. Finally, she turned away and hobbled off the field, her body beaten and broken. Large swathes of skin had suffered severe burns and fragments of shattered bone jabbed at her organs, drawing debilitating pain with every breathe.

It wasn't the worst state she'd ever been in, but it was up there.

As she dragged herself off the field, she wove a single hand-seal. Within the hallway, the hidden tags she'd planted much earlier activated and shrouded the hall in concealment formations. Sagisō knew the seals would only last several seconds, so she picked up speed and surged forward. She only needed to leap over the railing and dive into the hallway, then she could re-apply her transformation and once more become a nameless face among the masses.

"A suspected Byakugan...Hmmm?"

The first sprouts of terror rooted themselves in the girl's heart as a cold, imperious voice resounded. Those roots entrenched themselves further as, almost inexplicably, Sagisō felt the air around her thicken until it was not only impenetrable, it actively repulsed her.

The Skillful Star fell back to the arena, eyes swimming nervously as they found her attacker: a tall, solemn woman in unusual robes. Her striking blue eyes belied her heritage as embroidered on her dress was a flame fan.

Sagisō gulped and her eyes narrowed, pupils faintly trembling. "Hyūga..." And by the looks of it, a highly ranked one.

This was hardly the first time the Skillful Star had been faced with a deadly and she immediately knew better than to fight. She needed to flee or barring that, buy enough time for help to arrive. Without hesitation, Sagisō chose to—'Escape!'

But it was hopeless. She had barely even twitched before her muscles had seized up, her rebellious legs dropping her onto the ground. She could hear the growing murmurs of the audience as the woman descended onto the field.

"I've got some questions to ask you," she began...her eyes lifting from Sagisō's fallen body to land on Kiro, "both of you."

The intensity in her voice was second only to the weight of her gaze and as Sagisō lifted her face from the ground she could see the trademark veins that foretold the Byakugan's activation.

"Come wit—"

The woman made to stretch forth and capture her quarry who were all too helpless to resist but she paused; and not a moment too soon as a burning red streak passed between her and Sagisō, embedding into the ground a single arrow. The arrow exploded into a cloud of ash, a small blast but more than enough to knock Sagisō a bit further away from danger.

The woman swept away the ash with a sweep of her sleeve, but as if capitalizing on that very instant where her hands would be occupied, a volley of arrows raced towards her from multiple directions. Despite the precarious position she was in, she appeared completely unfazed, her omnidirectional perception allowing her to dodge every arrow by the thinnest of margins.

The arrows pinned themselves harmlessly into the ground around her and she lifted her gaze to the sky, where the attacks had come from. There, plummeting to the ground was her attacker, falling within a hailstorm of arrows.

The Hyūga woman, however, seemed rather unimpressed. 'Surely they didn't think this would be enough to—' *~crack~*

There was a faint sound of shattered glass as a set of vials attached to the arrows hit the ground and scattered their crimson payload.

The airborne woman pointed downwards, snapping her fingers to activate her technique. The crimson liquid ignited, the formation of arrows nailed into the ground quickly formed the radius for a raging inferno that consumed the woman within. The scattered ash and whatever had been in those vials had clearly been some kind of kinder as the flames burned more vigorously than one might expect.

Back in the air, the descending woman didn't seem to be finished. Those with dojutsu or simply keen eye-sight would've been able to see that attached to each of the falling arrows was a single chakra thread, tinged red due to the fire release it had been created with. The attacker sent her chakra surging through these threads, causing the arrows to erupt into brilliant scarlet flames—like stars in broad daylight.

The chakra threads warped, their lines coming together to draw the image of a bird; like a picture formed by connecting the dots. The Phoenix was extremely life-like, reminiscent of Suna's puppetry techniques but with the jutsu itself as the puppet. Flapping its wings, the bird descended, crashing into the arena with a bright flare.

At this point, Konoha's ninja had already secured the arena's perimeter and seemed ready to join the battle at a moment's notice.

When the flames cleared the attacker could be seen on the arena's walls. She had striking eyes, framed in exotic Egyptian-style tattoos. On her back was a stringless bow—presumably the weapon she'd used to launch her assault. Now, she held in one hand a crimson short-spear, and under the other was Sagisō.

Although the exchange took some time to describe, it had occurred in a matter of seconds.

The younger girl breathed a sigh of relief, but that her relief didn't last long. A fast and speedy exchange which, given its suddenness, left almost no room for others to butt in.

"Sigh, this was my favorite dress..." The flames scattered with a burst of chakra and the Hyūga woman revealed herself to be completely unharmed; likely on account of the dusky, earthen color of her skin. "Guess I'll have to buy a new one."

They weren't out of the woods yet; in fact, things were progressing in the worst possible way.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Onoki, the Fence-Sitter, Third Tsuchikage
​

Enthralled by the fight between Kiri's Kiro and Hasa's Sagiso - two, young genin from newly cemented allies of the Stone - Onoki was otherwise suspicious of the talent they displayed; especially the...reactionary ability of the boy from the Mist. Something about it felt unnatural, although from his distance, all the Tsuchikage had to go on was a hunch. Of course, there was a reason his "new allies" had sought out the Stone after all.

The fight ended quickly, obscured in mist and explosions; muffled by the explosions, Onoki could hear the crackling of lightning, and the thudding of a body. Surely the boy hadn't --

No, of course, the girl had only been knocked unconscious. For a second, the Tsuchikage wondered about that Kiro; when all had cleared, the crowd - excited by the dramatic end to an incredible initial fight - broke out into cheers and applause. But those only lasted for a moment. Onoki's eyes focused on the Hasa girl as she moved to hallways from the arena ground. And as she did, cheers and applause turned to hushing, confused murmurs amongst the crowd. A woman bearing familiar eyes and the crest of the Hyuga had made her way, quite unceremoniously, onto the arena ground, moving like hell incarnate for the two combatants. Seeming frightened and cornered like a rat, the Hasa genin returned to the arena with nowhere to go.

"I apologize, Lords Kage," Onoki said, levitating his whole seat into the air with him, "Allow me to settle this dispute as an unbiased mediator between these villages."

Without further explanation, the floating (and still-seated) Tsuchikage rushed into the air overhead. As he moved from the Kages' tall, observation box and down to the unfurling action, one of Hasa's own stepped in, scooping up the wounded Sagiso under guise of a flashy, phoenix-y jutsu. Onoki descended onto the scene as the Hyuga woman commented on her scorched dress.

"Lady Hinagiku Hyuga," Onoki commented as he brought himself between the head of the Hyuga and those she'd made action toward -- palms extended toward both, as if silently beckoning both to regain calm composure of their actions. "I well assume you're beyond the age to be fighting in these exams. Might I ask - then - why you decided to bring it upon yourself to act alone, unnecessarily disruptive of today's exams?"

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
It didn't take long for both combatants to enter the arena. The stage had finally been set for one of Konoha's favorite pastimes. Taiyo had cracked both sides of his neck and rolled his head to loosen his muscles. Once they were loose, he began bobbing and weaving in place to hype himself up. During this process, a shit-eating grin began to grow on his face, making it clear that he was going to enjoy what was to come.

"Yo, Smiley, what's up?" Adopting a playful tone, Taiyo shouted at his opponent with hopes of getting a rise out of her, "Nice Frisbees ya got there. Though I gotta admit, I'm a little confused. I didn't think we came here to play catch." After saying his taunt, the fiery shinobi took a defensive stance, anticipating that his remarks would cause her to go on the offensive. Sato, of course, watched his pupil with intrigue as Suisei chuckled at her brother's remark. Meanwhile, Kurina was concerned by her son's behavior, contemplating how she would teach him to talk to a lady.

 

[Hecotoro]

Smiley set her eyes on her opponent and kept her small smile on her face, similar to the smile an employee gives you after you yell at them for getting your order wrong. She waited for the battle to be initiated before commencing her attack. She placed the chakrams on the right side of her waist and with her left hand threw three kunais towards Taiyo, all three aiming at his torso.

Smiley didn't stop there, she ran after the kunais, keeping her eyes on the opponent while still smiling. She armed her right hand with one chakram as she prepared to start slashing once she reached her opponents.

~~~ Asahi ~~~

"Go hunt!" Asahi said as she hid her face behind a set of cards while looking directly at Lixue, the Majestic Star and the poor soul watching her. "You have to get cards until you get a pair, I think." She grinned while throwing a small candy into her mouth. "I wonder how Sagiso and Karui are doing? They better win so we can go on missions by ourselves without supervision! By the way, I'm getting a cat in case you didn't know."

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Noticing the three kunai careening towards him, Taiyo did a forward side-flip to avoid them. Of course, he wasn't out of the woods yet, as Smiley had followed up her barrage of kunai by beginning a swinging assault starting with her right chakram. Reacting as fast as he could, the fiery shinobi pivoted to the kunoichi's left side, unleashing a back kick to her torso while doing so. The kick was meant to push her back first and foremost so greater damage could be done at a more comfortable range.

Gotta see how I can get rid of those frisbees...

 

[Hecotoro]

Smiley felt the impact on her back and was sent forward, hitting the ground with her face before quickly getting up. She set her glare on Taiyo again, she threw her chakram in a curved motion, meant to do a full circle, or get stuck in Taiyo's body. She then began making hand signals while she waited for her chakram to reach her target. As soon as she finished she jumped backwards, held her left hand to her mouth and shot a strong string of wind, made to push away anything that got in its way. Smiley then landed and prepared her second chakram, ready to charge into combat once again.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
A self-satisfied grin of relief appeared on Taiyo's face as he managed to successfully avoid Smiley's attack. Unfortunately that grin didn't have a long stay on Taiyo's face since she seemed to have recovered as quickly as she was knocked down. What's worse is that she retaliated by throwing her signature weapon at an angle that was more difficult to dodge. Additionally, there was also a gust of wind careening straight ahead of him. The fiery shinobi recognized that he couldn't dodge both attacks, so he formulated a plan as quick as possible.

Y'know what, time for something risky...

Planting his feet and focusing his mind, Taiyo decided to lean backwards on his left side, allowing his right arm to remain upward. With his right arm extended, he caught the spinning circular weapon mid-air, fortunately without messing up his hand in the process. Sato grinned as he watched his pupil perform the maneuver. A grin that disappeared once he lost his balance. Managing to keep a hold on the weapon he had snagged, the fiery shinobi quickly went to theorizing his next course of action. As soon as he realized that he had one of the weapons, he did the only sensible thing and threw the chakram out the arena as hard as he could.

"Whoopsie, hope ya didn't need that!" Taiyo mocked his opponent's predicament before staring her down in a defensive stance.

Y'know what? Let's end this, right now.

I dunno bout using it. We've only really done exercises, I don't think its time for that just yet.

We only got here cuz we took a risk. Taking another is the path to victory. Trust me on this one, alright?

Ok...

To begin, Taiyo broke his stance and brought his hands close together as if he were praying. Then, he allowed himself to focus the chakra in of the Tenketsu in his hands and his feet simultaneously. He knew that he got what he was looking for once he got a warm sensation, just like he did when he was boiling the tea. Once that was achieved, he allowed the warmth to become heat, and for the warmth to spread around him like a cloak. The result was a brightly colored flame manifesting around Taiyo. The fiery cloak flashed from red to blue and all the colors between in quick succession. Once he had taken a look around himself, he realized that he had accomplished his goal, with a smirk accompanying the steely stare.

This. Feels. Awesome.

Readopting his defensive stance from before, he taunted Smiley with a gesture inviting her to make the first move.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Hisato saw her kunai attack incoming, as it did, Hisato began to form bone gauntlets. Bone covering skin like a glove. Starting with the palms of his hands and working its way to the backs of his hands and up his fingers and down to his elbows. As his bone gauntlets formed, Hisato used the bone covering the palm of his hand to swat away the first kunai then used his gauntlets to catch the next two.

Hisato charged in and leaped and used wind release to power up his throw, Hisato threw them back as he charged at the ninja. Regardless in whether they hit or not, Hisato would try jump and grab the ninja in an attempt to throw her to the ground.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui flipped in the air, bringing her wings around to contact the kunai with the rapidly moving chakra keeping her afloat. The kunai shot away from her like rocks thrown at a live chainsaw to stick in the floor of the arena, but not before one grazed her right bicep. As she righted herself, though, unnaturally hard hands gripped her ankle and shin, pulling her off-balance for a moment. It took her a second to recalibrate, but her wings gave her leverage in the air, something Hisato was sorely lacking in. And he had come close enough for her to confirm that the white substance he controlled was indeed bone.

The medical nin refocused her chakra into the foot that Hisato held onto with his bone-armored hands, creating a veil of chakra around her lower leg that formed into a chakra scalpel. Focus on the wings abandoned, they both began to fall, but the honed chakra blade covering her right foot would slice through the bone to the skin beneath, and have point-blank access to the organs in his chest.

In the event of Hisato letting go, Karui would release her wings again to arrest her fall, and throw a kunai with an explosive tag attached down at the boy.

 

[Mango137]

“I sure hope I’m in the right place.” Bao looked around with curiosity as he arrived into what he assumed was his arena, though he wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was looking for. As the sole and somewhat underwhelming representative of Kumogakure, he figured there wouldn’t be many people coming to watch, and knew his parents weren’t going to make it since they had to prioritize running the food cart at home. Maybe it was a sense of wishful thinking that possessed him to scan the audience just one more time, but alas the most he was granted with was the three familiar children he had been watching.

Oh well, I suppose that’s a good thing. Less people watching means less pressure. He smiled and waved to the kids as he waited for his opponent to arrive.

 

[Hecotoro]

Smiley prepared her remaining weapon on her left hand and prepared to fight. A small voice in her blank mind reminded her that wind shouldn't mix with fire, so it meant she her wind wouldn't be useful to attack. The girl reached into her pouch with her right hand and threw two smoke bombs in front of her, trying to limit Taiyo's vision. She then rushed through the smoke, straight ahead. From within the smoke she threw her last three kunais towards her opponent, one after another, hoping he would be distracted by them.

Smiley then kept running emerging out of the smoke after the third kunai, throwing her chakram into the air and clenching her right fist, using wind from her feet to boost herself forward to deliver an all out punch.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Hisato Gato...~

Hisato quickly let go and jumped back as he saw the chakra scalpel attack, Seeing the explosive tag thrown, Hisato jumped back and shot several carpel bullets at Karui to set off the explosive tags while she was still within their radius. Hisato took an offensive stance deciding he would likely need to move fast and be agile for he had no clue what the kunoichi would do next.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwagakure Genin​

Stadium 5, Konohagakure​

In between bouts of puffy white clouds, the sun peaked down over the quiet stadium; the Iwagakure genin looked up and wondered if his month of training had truly been enough to get him over the wall -- or if his grip would slip and leave him falling farther than ever before.

He tried to ignore the crowd; most spectators seemed to be from what convoys had trickled over from the Stone and the Rain occupying the main stadium. Keito couldn't see them, but he could feel his father and brothers' eyes boring holes in the back of his skull. At least everyone stayed mostly in the upper ring, far away from ground level, with televised access to other fights, in case Keito's style bored them to sleep.

"Azumi Noriko of Amegakure v.s Keito Ugokasenai of Iwagakure," The sleepy-eyed Leaf chunin chosen to proctor the fight announced, projecting to the high-up audience, 'This is officially the fifth fight of the first round of your Chunin Exams Final; You two are to fight until one of you surrenders, or can no longer continue fighting. Take your proper places, and prepare for my signal to begin your match."

Keito didn't move far from where the proctor stood, but would be about ten meters away from his opponent; in place, the Iwa genin dug his bare feet into the ground and faced the genin girl meant to be his foe. With his left hand, Keito formed a fist; his right hand held in front of him, fingers together, palm facing his fist. As he brought the two together and held them out in front of his body, Keito bowed low enough to have his face parallel to the ground.

"Thank you for being my opponent today, Miss Azumi," Keito said as he straightened himself out of his bow, "May we both fight our best, and may the better of us be the winner."

The Leaf chunin held his right arm high into the air, the 'ready' part of his signal; all he had to do was swing his arm down like a hammer to a nail, and the genin would know to 'go'.

 

[Godjacob]

Contrast to her opponent, Azumi had largely been able to ignore the crowd. As if there was nobody else here but herself, and her opponent. Oh she had been aware of who was in attendance, from her own village to especially those notable names that sat in the chairs of the Kage section, but her focus had only been on the present match before her.

As the announcer called her name, she moved down to the arena itself as she opted to jump from the participant stand as she wanted to waste no time as she kicked up some dirt on her landing but soon moved to face her foe. Her gaze had been stoic if not slightly intense, not directed at this specific individual who she had not known but rather a desire to win. She needed to defeat him, there was no other result that would be deemed acceptable in her eyes. She had to prove the strength of Ame from a crowd who largely expected little of her "minor" nation.

Her focus on this almost caused her to miss the gesture from her opponent, as the Iwa ninja attempted to show a gesture of respect; bowing to her and thanking her for being his opponent, a modest gesture though Azumi would not be lying if she admitted to herself the first thing she noticed was that headband he wore. Still she managed to suppress these emotions easily enough as she acknowledged his gesture with a nod.

"Do know I intend to hold nothing back, so I expect the same from you." Azumi said, as she pulled her umbrella from her back and had it at the ready while the announce noticed that both competitors seemed prepared and with that he lowered his signal.

"Begin."​

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5, Konohagakure​

All Keito could do was nod at his foe; he hadn't been planning on holding back during the bout, but if he had any second guesses about that, well, those were put to bed. But just from the look of this girl from the Hidden Rain, the Iwa genin could tell she was quite serious about the whole affair -- maybe far more than he could hope to be. After all, at the end of the day, it was still just a test to pass or fail, right? He was just there to do his best, whatever that happened to be.

"Begin!"

The proctor waved his arm down from the sky as an added signal to start the fight. Without hesitation, Keito took a long jump backwards; being that he and Azumi had been standing in the center of the arena to start, both of them had plenty of room all around them to build a buffer space between each other if they wanted; Keito's jump took him back about another twenty meters. In the air, the Iwa shinobi bit into his thumb to draw blood -- and, as quick as he could, attempted to form the Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey and Ram hand signs.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Keito yelled out as he landed, dropping his body down low to slam his palm on the ground and complete the jutsu, enveloping the Iwa shinobi in a momentary cloudy puff of white smoke.

 

[Godjacob]

For Azumi this was more than just a test, it may have been but one at the end of the day but Azumi had something more to prove than simply her skills being worthy of ascension, but whatever personal motives she had to take this as seriously as she did she kept internally as the match soon began and the Ame-ninja went to work.

Woosh!
​

As the match began and Keito moved back, Azumi had taken the moment to toss her umbrella high into the air. The momentum of her toss caused the weapon to open up as it spun high in the air, and as it spun it began to rain dozens of projectile senbon; creating a 360 spray while Azumi remained save just underneath as she aimed to strike Keito and whatever he summoned for an opening strike as she displayed a signature Amegakure Bukijutsu for all to see.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin​

Stadium 5, Konoha​

​

The smoke cleared quickly, revealing the Iwagakure genin and a pair of Earthworms, each about Keito's size -- just under two meters in length, though stood up on on end to be of height with the summoner, though thinner than the already slender Keito. Of all the jutsu he had added to his arsenal, the Summoning was quickly becoming a mainstay in his burgeoning arsenal; oddly enough, sometimes the shinobi of the Stone felt more at home in the dirt with the worms than with his peers in their homes.

As Azumi's umbrella soared into the sky, opening up to rain deadly metal upon Keito, his summons burrowed their way underground with haste. Meanwhile, the Iwa genin himself slid his slumbering sakabatou from the sheath at his hip with a quick chhhhkk sound; frankly, he'd had enough of senbon during the Forest of Death.

Ting! Ting! Tingtingting-! The distinct sound of metal clashing against metal rang out through the stadium as the Iwa genin kept up with the opening volley; Keito wasn't sure how long the initial onslaught of senbon would last, but he'd have to find out the hard way -- lacking the time and space to make a clean jump anyway, so he was damned in a way, whether he stood still or tried to move

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi watched as her senbon fired all around her and those that had flown in Keito's direction seemed to be blocked as she managed to put pressure on him but he managed to hold strong. As the last round of needless fired in this volley the dozens of senbon flew all around her and Azumi had already moved for her next move.

From her person she fired what seemed to be a pair of kunai in each hand, the aim seemed to be on the surface to overwhelm him with projectiles as the senbon stroke from the angled air and these kunai sailed straight ahead. However, attached to these kunai seemed to be a curious item; what seemed to be small sacks, little balloons almost that had been filled with water Azumi prepared just before her match. What purpose these served was likely impossible to tell at the moment, if Keito even noticed given his more pressing concerns.

The second those kunai had been tossed Azumi jumped up in the air, she figured the worms would likely try to attack her in the air and once the umbrella finished its rounds she aimed to grab onto it in the air as she glided down away from her original spot as she kept her ears and eyes out for the worms while she sailed to a fresh spot with her weapon in tow. In this case, right on top of the tree on this field.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5​

Surviving the initial onslaught of senbon, the Iwa genin formed a quick set of seals while Azumi launched her pair of kunai; though Keito could tell there was something attached to those kunai, he had no way of knowing what they were -- at the least, he could figure they didn't look like traditional paper or smoke bombs.

Rat, Ram, Boar, Snake; Keito slammed his palms into the earth with haste.

"Earth Release: Pawns of Stone!"

A trio of slabs of hardened earth shot up from the ground; the faces turned toward Azumi were carved to look like the kanji for shogi pawns. Each piece rose just above Keito's head, about two meters wide, and 30 centimeters thick.

Thkthkthkthk! Instead of metal clashing with metal, it was the grindy clang of metal against stone.

He'd gotten his defenses up just in time to withstand the second barrage -- but now he had to worry about Azumi's airborne tendencies, and trying to get her out of her tree to his left; not to mention whatever little trick she'd attached to her two kunai from before, which themselves could be a ticking time bomb; now Keito had to hope for the moment that the defense he'd prepared stood up to the challenge.

 

[Godjacob]

Once Azumi landed at the top of her tree, she seemed to go to work in a hurry as she produced what seemed to be a sleeve of fresh senbon and had opened up a compartment on her umbrella as she seemed to be reloading while she had kept an eye on Keito.

Seemed he formed a wall to protect against her kunai, but his defense had worked to Azumi's advantage as the two balloons at the end of her kunai hung off the wall and quickly Azumi made hand signs which seemed to begin to make the water inside crackle and expand.

"Water Style: Bubble Burst Jutsu!"​

The water balloons expanded, and before long burst as a pair of small explosions rocked the side of the wall. Not enough to shatter it, but the aim had been more to destabilize the base and the force of the boom itself be enough to "tip" the slab over in order to try and have it fall back into him.

During this, Azumi finished up loading her umbrella with fresh senbon as from the current safety of her tree and once more launched her umbrella above her as senbon fired in that angled 360 spray as she aimed to capitalize on her distance and tried to overwhelm Keito on two fronts.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5​

Aware and prepared for some sort of turbulence, Keito set his feet and steadied his palms against the middle-most of his ninjutsu creations - being that the trio of stones were connected at the moment and he used the center as the initial controller for his pieces - while the Azumi's water style expanded and exploded from the rigged kunai hanging from his shogi pawns; earthy shrapnel crumbled and flew off the stone walls in chunks as the force of the blasted started to tip them back against the Iwa genin.

Focusing chakra in his palms, beads of sweat started to drip from his forehead from the struggle as he knelt to the ground against the weight of the center pawn. Then, he could feel senbon begin to thkthkthk! against his stone walls once more. At the moment he had no choice but to disconnect the two side pieces, allowing them and their weight to fall flat to the earth while Keito controlled the lessened weight of the center piece.

Thankfully, the single slab of earth itself was just the right height to fit Keito, and more than wide enough to cover him; though the force of Azumi's explosives had pushed the weight of the stone against him, Keito could still use it as cover from her projectiles while he steadied himself and prepared an initial counter-attack.

Now steadied on one knee with the stone against his left forearm, Keito waited out the projectile fire from the girl's umbrella; he just had to remember exactly where her perch was, and the trajectory of how the umbrella fired...But he had to act, quick. With chakra infused in his balled-up right fist, he reared back and punched at a weak point in the top right corner of the stone.

Crrachkk! A significant portion of the center pawn exploded outward in a mass spray of stone shrapnel, propelled by Keito's chakra-infused punch. Using the broken section of stone as a means to peak out at the action to obersve carefully, Keito realized - though he'd wanted to take out Azumi's umbrella - his aim had actually been lower -- more in the direction of Azumi herself.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi's expression had not shifted, as it seemed Keito was able to adjust his defenses even as she tried to collapse a pillar against him. This was enough to discern that Keito seemed to be a defensive specialist, which meant she needed to get him to commit on the offensive in order to get him out of his comfort zone. However, she had to focus on the current pressing matter as it seemed he found a way to not only fend off the senbon again but even strike back from his position.

Woosh!​

Clang!

Clang!!
​

Clang!!!​

Since the corner of the slab had been directed at her, Azumi jumped into the air to avoid it but as one hand reached up to grab the still airborn umbrella as it finished its round while the other had pulled a kunai from her pouch as she used it to deflect the follow up Shiruken with graceful yet purpose-filled movements. Once she had gotten a hand on the umbrella, she twisted her body to begin to glide to the side to move out of the path of other projectiles.

Azumi sensed that a random spot on the ground could be risky, given his summons had still remained hidden so she opted to move along the wall itself. In specific she worked to glide to the wall behind Keito as she focused the "link" of chakra needed to her feet and landed with a slide as she stuck to the wall and in that motion tucked her umbrella behind her back and quickly pulled a trio of kunai as she flung them down to Keito. The aim seemed to be a quick strike at his flank, but among the trio of kunai one of them seemed to have a paper wrapped around it that seemed to have a trigger seal pulled....

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5
​

As Azumi collected her umbrella and retreated to a high position along the stadium wall, Keito collected his other stone slabs he'd let fall beside him, once again forming a wide, almost u-shaped wall of carved rock to defend him.

The moment the kunai left her hands forming her next, projectile attack, Keito's worm summons burst from beneath the ground, right at the point where it met the section of wall Azumi had taken to; the worms shot toward Azumi, whipping their bodies toward her in an unusually quick slither; however, as they did so, the worms' bodies extended toward the Ame genin; they each moved in from a different side, one trying to bind her left arm, the other attempting to bind her right leg.

On the ground, Keito remained in a kneeling position as he punched toward the center of his left-most shogi pawn; instead of his chakra-infused punch sending the stone bursting out in a shrapnel blast, Keito kept the force of his blow to more of a controlled push from the direct center-mass of his jutsu creation. His goal was to intercept Azumi's projectiles before they got too close to him, although he couldn't account for the paper wrapped around one of the kunai, or the havoc it could potentially bring upon him.

 

[Godjacob]

"Water Style: Aqua Spike Jutsu!"
​

Azumi's focus intensified as the worms seemed to come into play, as it seemed her efforts to avoid the ground and burst along the wall, as that bit of the stadium cracked and they came as they tried to wrap around her. However, Azumi seemed to be ready for it.

Azumi had flashed hand signs the moment she felt the tremor, and along he belt had been a set of canteens that had been filled with water that all seemed to open up, six to be specific as each one shot a hardened stream of water that seemed to sharpen as she extended out the liquid spikes which aimed to stab at the worms as they tried to wrap around her body. Azumi aimed to damage and drive the woms off her, and if success she'd jump off the wall and aimed to use her umbrella to glide back to to the arena opposite of where Keito had been.

Meanwhile the kunai that Keito managed to deflect off his "push" had driven them from their target, but the paper slip soon burst out, which produced a blinding light! A flash bomb that aimed to burst and produce a stunning flair.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5
​

Not having predicted a flash bomb, Keito had to shield his eyes momentarily from the stunning light, shutting them tight and focusing clearly on the sounds of the battleground around him.

Meanwhile, Azumi would find Keito's worms to be harder to shake than she'd initially thought. Her Aqua Spike Jutsu pierced through the soft, juicy flesh of both earthworms attempting to bind their forms around her. However, as they were being impaled, the pair of larger worms burst into two clews of much smaller earthworms, each still aiming to latch onto the Ame genin. Even then, the earthworms were also attempting to re-attach, reforming their larger selves in the process.

Still on the ground waiting out the bright flash of his foe's flashbang, Keito - trusting his worm summons to do their job - wrapped paper bombs around the handle of several kunai in quiet preparation.

'They had to stick me up against one of the resilient ones,' Keito lamented in his head, 'I'll actually have to try, here, huh?'

 

[Godjacob]

What meddlesome creatures...​

Azumi had already twisted as she jumped but the worms seemed to come with a not so pleasant surprise as they seemed to split into smaller worms while the larger ones reattached. With one hand on her umbrella as she glided off the wall the worms charged and aimed to wrap around her body which left her vulnerable.

Her water spikes retreated to the canteens on her belt as Azumi quickly drew an item from her pouch. The worms charged and were about to close in, before an item seemed to swing as it unfolded and revealed sharpened blades.

Slash!
​

A Fuma Shuriken, known as the "demon wind" shuriken was revealed as it aimed to slash at the faces of the smaller worms, as Azumi aimed to do damage but also make momentum to push herself back which would allow her to glide away from the wall to the floor behind her foe. Her sharp eyes remained focused as she descended to the ground and landed; kicking up some dirt as her sandals dragged on the floor.

Behind the dirt, Azumi seemed to reach for something else in her pouch, but the brief cloud seemed to conceal it, but soon that Fuma Shuriken seemed to launch out, as it seemed to sail towards Keito aiming to strike the blind side.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin​

Stadium 5​

Many of the worms that Azumi hacked-and-slashed fell away, in halves that always seemed to regenerate as they fell away from her body and through the air. Those worms re-coagulated as they landed on the ground, once again burrowing underground to try and regain some sort of surprise advantage. Not every worm was dissuaded, however, by Azumi's slashing shuriken and flighty hospitality. The few that remained chose to slither up Azumi's umbrella in an attempt to disrupt her key ninja tool.

Keito otherwise remained patient as his eyesight returned to him; he'd been able to tell that his foe had left her position along the wall - likely carried by that umbrella of hers - from her brandishing a fuma shuriken, and the distinctive sound of it slicing through earthworm flesh.

As she prepared to land behind him, the Iwa genin turned to face her, gathering his explosive kunai in his right hand. With his left, hand he manipulated the chakra he'd need for his stone shogi pawns behind him. Then, landing, the Ame kunoichi kicked up a cloud of dust to conceal her movements.

"I hope you'll take me a little more seriously than that!" Keito called out, taking the moment to move from the spot he'd been standing for quite some time to that point.

He began circling around Azumi's right, pushing out with the chakra he'd built up into his left hand as he did so. The Earth Release: Pawns of Stone barreled forward from behind where Keito had been standing, still clumped together in a horseshoe-like formation, almost like they'd been thrown, although thankfully Keito didn't have to exert the same kind of force in that way. They rushed toward Azumi's landing position had been.

Thunk! Azumi's fuma shuriken shot out of the cloud, sticking dead center into the right-most shogi-pawn -- where Keito's weak side would have been, had he not started moving. Though it had enough force to pierce the pawn and slow its onslaught, the other two continued on, kicking up dust of their own as they rushed in.

Still attempting to circle around his foe, Keito followed up his minor offensive by throwing his rigged-kunai - one-by-one, though in rapid succession - at the kunoichi's feet in a horizontal line.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi had used her umbrella long enough to know when there had been something to tip its weight one way or another, in this case she noted how a couple of the smaller worms seemed to crawl up to her weapon; if she guessed, with the goal to try and shatter it or sabotage it in some fashion. However, these worms had a thinner hide than the larger ones, and Azumi aimed to use this to her advantage.

Before the dust cleared, she folded up her umbrella which aimed to press the worms against the hardened, weighted base of it and with a mighty swing slammed the umbrella on the ground; her aim was to literally smash the worms inside it from the impact of the blow which only kicked up more dirt.

The sound of the Fuma Shuriken slicing the air sounded though its target seemed to be lost as the ninja weapon struck the shogi pawn as the clumped formation came to her position. But notably, what seemed to be a wire tied around the base was revealed as Azumi used it to tug herself forward. She sailed from her dirt debris which in effect shifted her from her position where the explosive kunai had been tossed towards. Showing a degree of grace, Azumi worked to land on the shogi piece that her shuriken had been stuck on as her canteen belt seemed to be missing. With a fluid motion she had a scroll in hand and produced another belt that had extra canteens filled with water as she strapped it to her waist before she pushed off the shogi and moved as she seemed to have her eyes trained on Keito.

As she sailed in the air, using the momentum she gathered as she bounced off the shogi towards him, a few hand signs had been made but the immediate concern for her foe had been that umbrella as she raised it and seemed intent to slam it on her foe before he escaped. Her eyes told one story to Keito and the message had been quite clear.

Want her to take this seriously? He needed to give her a reason to.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5
​

Smashing her umbrella into the ground seemed to have the desired effect Azumi she was going for; she could hear softened earthworm flesh squishing as if being flattened by a hydraulic press. The worms, in turn, emitted a viscous fluid from their crushed bodies; though they couldn't control that fluid as it seeped from them, it began to creep around the interior of the umbrella, lurching toward its more mechanical parts.

Keito - in his circling motion - heard the sound of metal wire being pulled taut, and his foe flying through the air. He took the moment of her motion to form the Tiger seal.

He used the Body Flicker technique to move only a short distance; behind the rigged kunai furthest from Azumi's position at the moment (as he'd thrown them from her side in a horizontal line, one being closest to the position of his charging shogi pawns, another being on the opposite side) just on the edge of its blast radius.

Behind his own rigged kunai, Keito could tell the Ame shinobi hadn't lost sight of him, even as she landed - quite gracefully - atop his rushing earth release shogi piece; that would have to be fine with him, he figured.

Azumi charged through the air with her umbrella raised like a lance, forming hand seals. As she did, Keito's worm summon that had gone underground burst out from its hiding spot in another attempt to wrap itself around her like a living chain; behind her, the two remaining shogi pawns still charged in like stone bulls, and in front of her, Keito set off his bombs with a thundering:

BO-B-B-BOOOM!

 

[Godjacob]

Seemed Keito was full of surprises, as he used a Body Flicker technique to shift positions once more as now it seemed he was going for a multi-pronged attack. Before her but out of melee ranged was a set of explosive kunai that Keito had warped behind. The Shogi seemed to come from her rear, and if that had not been pressing enough one of those large worms burst from the ground and aimed to wrap itself around her.

However, even in mid air Azumi's expression never shifted. The focus showed no crack of worry, and while her arm was reared for a swing attempt, her other hand reached as her fingers finished the last of her hand signs just as the ground below her had began to crack.

"Water Style: Jetstream Jetsu!"
​

At once all of the canteens of Azumi's belt shot out a burst of water, water which shot and blasted against the worm below Azumi as she used this burst as moment and propelled herself into the air; she moved with the grace of a dancer betrayed only by her cold intensity as she sailed over the dangers that all converged towards her original spot, and landed right behind Keito.

Azumi had already had her umbrella extended back and took a swing, as she aimed to deliver a bone crunching blow to Keito's back before he'd adjust to her new position. The swing not only aimed to cause damage to Keito, but also intended to bat him forward right into his own explosive tags ahead of him, and into the shogi which now seemed to sail for the worm where Azumi had originally been.

This battle had shifted to a game of cat and mouse, where the one who'd be caught first would be the one to fall. The one question was, who'd end up being the cat and who'd be the captured mouse...

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5​

The worm summon took the water release jutsu directly against its body, pushed back into the earth as it tried to sail against Azumi flying mid-air; amidst the brunt force of her jutsu, the worm - near like a fish - chose to go with the current, burrowing back into now-muddied ground of the arena; wounded but not yet out of the fight in its own right.

His two remaining shogi pawns made it as far as the first explosion before their own momentum was caught and pushed against them; cracking like pawns, they stumbled and fell backwards against the ground, their pawn kanji carvings aimed toward the sky; though out of the fight, they'd done their job well enough earlier, protecting the genin from quite a bit of trouble to start the match.

Keito - through his summon - knew his foe remained unencumbered as she moved through the air over his explosions as they went off.

'The look in her eye said she was ready to end things here and now,' Keito thought with a grimace, as he shifted his right hand to the hilt of his sakabatou once more, focusing chakra in his ankles and feet.

The Iwa genin drew his blade with its distinctive tchhk, at the same time hard-pivoting on his right foot to meet the foe as she'd landed behind him, swinging her umbrella at his back.

Chnng!

With a narrow parry, Keito's sakabatou stopped Azumi's umbrella before it punched into his rib-cage; he was sure that would have been more than nasty had he been too slow. But his kenjutsu training the past month hadn't been for naught.

With his free left hand, the youngest (and one of the last) Ugokasenai let loose a hooking punch aimed for Azumi's jaw.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi would never admit it, but Keito's ability to adapt even as she answered every trap he attempted with her was worthy of some praise. Her blow was cut off by a sakabatou as sparks flew between her umbrella and his blade, as each tried to push against the other for dominance.

With the Shogi disposed of and, for this brief window at the least, the worm forced back underground, so for the time being it had truly been a one on one showdown. And Keito seemed to be ever determined, as he took a swing for Azumi's jaw with his free hand.

Her eyes widened slightly, as she quickly moved to duck from the blow as his fist sailed over the tip of her hair as she just managed to avoid having a tooth knocked out, but in that same motion she ducked her leg extended out as Azumi was not one to take a wasted motion.

Her aim was to try and sweep Keito off his feet, break the deadlock between their weapons and force him in an unfavorable position. If she proved successful in that, it'd grant Azumi the chance to stand back up, and perhaps take a swing down to his chest to try and get some damage in with that dangerous umbrella of hers.

That was of course, if she managed to knock Keito off his feet. For now Azumi's leg hoped to set this into motion with a hard swing to his ankle.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5
​

Thankfully for Keito, he'd maintained the chakra welled up in his feet and ankles from his earlier pivot to parry Azumi's umbrella; the persistent kunoichi's sweeping leg kicked out and slammed into his left ankle, and the Iwagakure genin knew he had to show his foe what the Will of Stone was. He grimaced as his leg absorbed the impact, but he managed to stay firmly stood up in spite of the blow.

With his right leg, Keito aimed to slam his knee straight into the ducking shinobi's head with as much force as he could muster.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi's eyes widened as her kick did not knock Keito off his face, but what had been a more pressing worry was knee that threatened to slam into her face as she was forced to pull an arm back to raise a guard as the knee slammed into that. Azumi winced as she moved back a step breaking the deadlock of the weapons.

Azumi worked to try and shake the sting of the blow out of her arm before she grasped her weapon and charged again. She aimed to test Keito's guard, and unleased a volley of thrust strikes as she aimed to try and hit Keito anywhere she'd be able to strike with the tip of her weapon.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin​

Stadium 5​

​

With his opponent taking a quick step back before re-engaging, Keito took the moment to calm his breathe and gather himself. He didn't have time for much more than that before Azumi was rushing in at him again, looking to pierce him with the tip of her umbrella much like a fencer might. Though his sakabatou was heavier and bulkier, he just had to avoid taking a direct prick from the Ame genin's weapon -- which was much easier said than done.

Keito - the explosions and everything else behind him well settled down - gave up several steps of ground as he fended off Azumi's attacks. Eventually, a spot opened up on his left side that proved a potential striking point for his foe's umbrella; with little choice, Keito swung his blade's opposite - and sharpened - edge up for Azumi's armpit, hoping she'd either retreat without striking, or trade blow-for-blow.

 

[Godjacob]

As Azumi pressed her attack, she seemed to be forcing Keito steps back as her relentless and ever increased tempo of thrusts worked to put the pressure on the Iwa ninja. He seemed to be moved back towards where the explosions and such had settled, though for Azumi this had been by design as she kept her attack up and tried to offer no opening for him to so much as get a breath, but it appeared Keito was full of surprises.

As she spotted an opening, Azumi saw Keito as he tried to strike back; aiming up for her armpit as it seemed he either hoped to catch her while she seemed overly aggressive or fend off a strike to that opening. Regardless Azumi shifted her umbrella to the side as she aimed to deflect and push off Keito's swing; though in that same motion she advanced as she aimed to drive a knee to Keito's now exposed gut. Her got was to deliver a blow to knock the air out of him, and force him to take a step back; right to the uneven ground that the explosions had created to shift his footing as she aimed to knock him off balance.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5​

Even as the Iwa genin tried to well up chakra in his belly, the kunoichi's knee striking into his gut felt like the trunk of a redwood being slammed full force into him; in spite of the rumbling around of an unsettled stomach acid hinting that he could maybe vomit at that very moment, Keito held his ground as best he could, even as he'd been pushed against the uneven and shattered earth. His left foot moved over the edge, and would have sent him tumbling down into a shallow ditch had it not been for the chakra focused in his feet.

With his feet steadied against uneven ground, Keito unleashed his own flurry of furious swings toward Azumi, trying to move to his right and retake even ground. Even as he did, the genin Ugokasenai built up another store of chakra -- this time in his gut, so recently removed of all its beloved breath by force.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi landed the strike but the blow seemed to not have the effect it desired. Granted it seemed to do damage, even as Keito managed to buffer the blow with what she presumed was chakra lining his body, but had failed to knock him off his feet. To make matters more complicated, it seemed that Keito had been quick to strike as he unleashed a flurry of blows with his blade as Azumi gripped the handle of her umbrella and prepared to answer in kind.

Sparks flew as Azumi matched the pace Keito swung at, and trade blows with the blade. Each hit created sparks which likely had been a visual treat for the crowd but Azumi had cared little for that fanfar. Her focus had been to perry his strikes and press forward as she tried to get Keito on his back foot once more; her years of practice with Kenjutsu on full display as she almost anticipated each strike from Keito and answered with her own.

Azumi aimed to try and strike his wrist with the tip of her umbrella, an effort made to disarm her foe though how successful Azumi proved to be with this remained to be seen.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Stadium 5​

The pair stayed in line with each other's strikes for some time, exchanging swings and sparks with an increasing - but controlled - pace; to the crowd, it must have looked like a blur of flesh and cloth and steel as their weapons played a vicious tune. During their close-quarters battle, Keito had given Azumi ground but continued to circle around so that his foe was the one facing uneven ground.

However, over time it became apparent that Keito's kenjutsu was but centimeters behind his foe's, as his parries and strikes slowed for just long enough that the tip of Azumi's umbrella poked into the flesh of his wrist on an upward swing. With another squinting grimace, Keito's sword went flying up into the air and behind him, the blade landing in the ground with a satisfying tinggggg!

Not allowing himself to miss a beat, Keito kicked up high with his left leg on his foe's follow through, hoping to catch her neck or her jaw with a heavy blow. He just needed a little more time...