Round 1 : Individual Fights!

[Little Alice]

Time :
A week before the Chuunin Exams,
Place :
In the previous ruins of the Sound Capital.

Short Introduction :

The first Tournament, organised by nobody other than the leader of the Konohagakure Guardians, Kiyomi Sato-Hon. This tournament has been organized soley for the reason to show who are the prime jounins of each village, nothing more than a tournament to show which jounin is worthy of being called strong, cunning or smart.

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Realize that winning isn't the goal of this tournament. Yes, it is nice to win. But it is nicer to show you're a sport and simply can show some cool stuff or tactics of your characters. Know that the general rules of combat also apply here. Don't auto-hit or dodge, unless you can back it up with logic or approval of your opponent. Other rules are that a match is ended when its clear one has the upper hand above the other and not to kill them. This means that your character(s) can't go for a kill or such. The end of a match is simply when one is knocked out or can't do anything to change the situation.


Next to that, the other rules that are shown in the rules thread.


Good luck and most of all :


Have a blast!
(No pun intended, Eiji-san....)

---

Noon,


People are walking through the ruins, created by a terrible and great battle some time ago. Now, the once beautiful city of that was once the capital of the Sound country, is nothing more but a whisper. A whisper in the country that has the name of making all kind of sounds. Because of this, the natives of the country never have want to rebuild it, simply taken the catastrophe as an important in their own history.


But meanwhile, it is being used to serve as an arena. Districts that once housed people, families and what not are now going to be used for a tournament that has never been held before. With the support of the Rice Daimyo, the Tournament of Silence is being held. A name that holds true irony. Because this will be anything but quiet. Now, the people of each match has to go to their ''arena'', needing to face another in what is a district.
Though watch out, there are myths that there are ghosts and other foul things stalking these ruins...

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*Know that other characters, that come to support somebody or look at the fights also may write here! That means that a student/relative or such may react on a fight. Such as they are watching in awe/fear or being happy how a battle goes. Or cheer for them. It might be working.~

[Little Alice]

The Fight between the two fierce Kunoichi's!
A deadly fight.

A collab between Lillydove and Little Alice.

---

Part I

SPOILER: Click to show

Walking towards the 'arena', through the ruins of the once so big city, Mika was silent. She had entered this tournament for another goal than winning. Another goal than trying to become more infamous. But she wouldn't reveal it, as it didn't matter. For now she would just do her best and see how far she would get. Entering the 'field', which was nothing more than a little square, her eyes looked around. The destroyed city, the ruins all around them. It somehow gave a sad and rather depressing image. Mika then would focus on who would be on the other side of the square. Readying herself mentually, Mika already was trying to formulate a plan inside her mind, on how she would first test out her foe and then try to take him or her down.

Nazari felt something familiar yet foreign as she took in the surroundings, the ruins of this city reminded her of the ruins of her clans home. Shaking the feeling off in the next second, she kept walking as she neared the arena, an unpleasant feeling made its home in the pit of her stomach as she got closer to her destination. She knew nothing of her opponent, she did not know the others jutsu or tactics, this was a blinde match. Once arriving at the arena, entering the small square that was to be their battle grounds, she looked around once more and found her opponent on the other side. Noticing the certain feirceness that the other kunoichi had, her stance, her expression and noticable arsenal. This would be interesting.

Narrowing her eyes, Mika noticed the opponent. A kunoichi. Slowly, like it was required, Mika formed the Seal of Confrontation. She didn't say her name or anything to her opponent. What did it matter? They both were here with one goal. To beat the other person. Not to become friends or grow some bond of friendship. No, they were going to try to hurt each other, trying to show the public, that were sitting on some make-shift tribunes who was the better. Waiting till her opponent had formed the Seal of Confrontation, Mika didn't move one muscle. Though every single one of them was ready to get moving.

The Seal of Confirmation, the seal that would start this blinde match no matter her opinion of it and no introduction of her opponent. Regardless of her personal opinion on the matter, she formed the seal after a moment of mental preparation and took a step back. Allowing her opponent, the first move. It would simply show Nazari what she needed to know bit by bit until the plan fell into place the way it always did for her.

Without wasting a second, Mika weaved several handsignals to take the first move. Raising her right hand up in the air, she kept her eyes locked on her opponent. But soon, a thick mist would cover the field, robbing both Mika as Nazari from using their eyes effectively. With the mist being summoned, Mika pulled out a kunai and went to a nearby ruine. She would use her mastery over Silent Killing to keep track where her opponent was. Hopefully she could try to ambush the woman with a general tactic.

Narrowing her own eyes, Nazari watched the handsignals with relative ease as her knowledge and memorization of mutliple Jutsu made her aware of the soon to come mist. Performing a few handsignals, she made two water clones appear beside her as she kept her eyes on the kunoichi who now had a kunai at ready position to attack her with, a sigh escaped her lips as she sent the clone to the left of her to directly attack her opponent and hopefully make some other useful information available to them, deciding to not go all out just yet and save the most usefull of her jutsu for later, she would simply lay low at the moment.

Reaching the ruin, Mika could sense that something had changed. She had heard something being 'created'. It seemed like the same sound when she made a water clone. Pressing her back against the stone, she would wait for a few moments. If it were water clones, it would mean her opponent would be somebody able to use Water Release. Not a real bother, only more information Mika could use. Peeking around the corner, the mist had fully blocked any use of the eyes. Only one meter around a person could be seen. Spinning the kunai, Mika threw the weapon towards the location of Nazari, based on sound and smell. With that done, Mika would again sneak towards another location.

A small smile made its way onto her face, the mist was now preventing any use of their eyes and would simply hide the real danger Nazari had on her person. Her arms reached down to gently pick up the panflute that she carried around her neck and put it to her lips, allowing the soft and easy notes of one of her more advanced genjutsu became form, the Lullaby of the Stars. Dulling her opponents senses and state of mind as her water clone dispersed with a splash while both Nazari and her other clone slowly advanced deeper into the mist.

Moving silently over the ruins, Mika froze. The sound reached her ears and the woman froze cause she felt strange. Like something was trying to slowly put her into sleep. Standing still for a moment, she realized it had to do with the sound. Turning herself around, Mika's right hand went to her kunai pouch. If it was the sound that was the effect she felt like she would want to go to sleep, she would try to test it out. Throwing two kunai, each with an explosive tag wrapped around the hilt, they would be aimed directly towards Nazari and her clone.

She heard a woosh, then something hitting the ground near her and both her clone and her froze. Another sound, and what smelt like a lit fuse, her eyes barely widened as she darted lightly around the kunai with the explosive tag on it and ended up further from her clone who got caught in the blast. Pausing for a moment, she let go of her flute and performed the handsignals for the Preasurized Armor jutsu, the water in the air and more water forming from the remains of her two water clones, which was why they were created. Said water, formed tightly around her body to fit tightly to her and would prove increasingly difficult to penatrate but not hinder her mobilty.

The feeling of getting dull became less. And it was with the same moment when the explosion had disturbed the sound of her opponent. Kneeling down, Mika glared in the direction of where she heard water moving. Though she couldn't hear it, she would still be able to hear every kind of movement, due her Silent Killing. The only problem was that she couldn't directly see the effects of what her opponent would do. But Mika had already a trick upon her sleeve to counter that. Using only her left hand, to form handsignals, Mika grabbed another kunai with an explosive tag. She was preparing her chakra to mould and later be ready to use the Mist Rain Technique.

Forming the same handsignals for two more water clones, she allowed herself another light step in the direction of which her opponent had originally gone. Sending her clones in two opposite directions, one to the right and one to the left to force her opponent to move as one of them through a kunai in the general direction as the oher continued to move silently about the mist. Nazari herself, moved a small bit more as she listened for her opponent. Hearing another woosh, she turned her head the direction it came from and advanced that way as her water clone dispersed again, adding to her armor, the more water added the stronger her defense became. In truth, she did not need her clones for other than to locate her opponent and make her defense stronger.

Footsteps. Mika raised her right eyebrow as she lowered herself. She was simply now leaned forward in a kneeled position. The kunai that were thrown wouldn't reach her as it seemed the woman had no expertise with Silent Killing. After all, the kunai weren't thrown like they were really aimed, judging by the sound as the kunai would hit a place that wasn't near Mika. It was time now to pull out her second technique. The Secret Technique : Mist Rain. With the coming rain, Mika would have both the mist and rain up. Ways to make sure her opponent would have it a harder time to both land a hit as well draining chakra away.

The remaining clone, took out two kunai and threw one left and the other right with the opponent somewhere in the middle of the two. Based on that, they would locate Mika and start a more purposefull approach to this fight. As the rain began to fall, her clone felt weaker and her armor lessened in density, her clone sighed and took out another kunai in which had an explosive tag attatched to it. Throwing it somewhere between the two kunai that she first threw and would let it explode, which would hide the sound of them moving and weed out Mika.

Using both her hands, to grab shuriken, she would throw it to deflect the shuriken. However, she could hear the hissing sound of a tag. Her ears slightly seemed to twitch by the sound of it as she got up and started to quickly make some back flips. Thought out of the explosion range, she could feel the warm gust of air that managed to push some of the mist back. Landing on her feet, Mika would try to reform the mist by weaving another set of one-handed signals, keeping her right hand ready in case another attack would come her way.

[Little Alice]

The Fight between the two fierce Kunoichi's!
A deadly fight.

A collab between Lillydove and Little Alice.

---

Part II

The victor is...

SPOILER: Click to show

Quickly, the clone threw two more kunai with an explosive tag attatched to it in the direction of the sound of feet hitting the ground with a pause before something else hitting the ground as well. The explosives again covered the sound of both the clone and Nazari moving in that general direction as it pushed some of the mist back, making it less thick and easier to see through. Dispersing her armor, she put her panflute to her lips and played the notes that cast the Stardust Pentagram genjutsu, soon small specks of stardust would fall from the sky as the area grew darker and colder, forming a pentagram around the mist. If she were touched by the yellow stardust, Mika would surely feel the burn of it on her skin.

Throwing two shuriken, Mika easily held off the kunai with the explosive tags. Her silent killing mastery wouldn't easily let her be fooled with such a tactic. Mika realized that her opponent was attempting to push her back or trying to uncover parts of the mist. Running without making a sound, she heard the instrument of her foe again. However, it was the main reason why Mika had set up her Mist Rain technique. It would make the technique of her opponent be drained of chakra. Without needing to fear the stardust, Mika kept on moving to another position.

Nazari took out four kunai with explosive tags attatched to them, without warning or even a sound, she hurled them at the opponent and used the sound of the explosives to disguiuse movement as she performed the hand seals for the Flash Flood Jutsu, even though it would be weakened by the technique used by her opponent but it would still be effective to the point where it would hopefully drive her opponent out of the mist. With the rain, water from the air and her water clones it would create a flood with a decent amount of force behind it.

That was it. Mika had predicted that Nazari would use explosives again. Having two shuriken ready, the Kirigakure native threw the shuriken to deflect the kunai. This would keep the explosions away from her, but bring it closer to Nazari. Both a clear warning that it wouldn't work as well that Mika wouldn't just keep on running around. With her new position, she managed to locate the positions of her opponent and her clones, Mika was about to attack them all together. Only to stop and hear some kind of water movement. It was much more than before and it seemed it would head her way. Running towards a ruine, she managed to reach a wall, because the explosions would likely drive some water back. With that, she could run up the wall and stay out of the reach of the water. Frowning, Mika wondered if the water was just around her or all over the square. That wouldn't be too much of a problem. Waiting, she would keep her position on the wall.

The water had covered the entire square now, still keeping the amount of force behind it and crashing into the wall that Mika was located on, even with the explosives separating some water it was still pretty strong. Up on top of the water, she could see the opponent and darted into the mist with her clone right behind her as she ran, she unsheated her katana and held it ready as she used the force of the water to propell herself more forcefully towards Mika as her clone attacked from the other side of Mika.

Noticing that Nazari was charging her with her clones advancing as well, Mika didn't reveal any kind of emotion. Simply she readied herself as Nazari came charging. Suddenly, she jumped, into the water. With now, it was calm and wouldn't crush her. Still, it bothered her that her mist was away, meaning she had to find another way to cover herself and attack from the unknown. And she had just the technique for that. While diving into the water, Mika's left hand started to weave signs again. As soon as she was in the water, she would vanish from normal eyesight. Using the camouflage technique, to hide herself away, she would swim away to create more distance between herself and her opponent.

Seeing Mika dive into the water that was now calm, right before disappearing from normal view, she took a deep breath. Performing her own handsingals for the Pressurized Armor jutsu, she simply would be on the defense until she felt comfortable with the situation and knowing her opponent would be out of view but still within attacking distance made her uneasy.

Swimming, Mika did now and then looked over her shoulder. It seemed her opponent wasn't trying to sniff her out. That would be good. With some meters between them, Mika formed several signals. The rain would keep draining Nazari's chakra and that of her clones and with the water around them, Mika could launch some offensive moves to her opponent as well. Water around the three Nazari's would shoot up, in strings that would try to wrap themselves around the Amegakure jounin. The Squeezing Death technique would however not suffer the draining rain. They were formed with the chakra signature of Mika, thus not weakened by anything. With trying to keep Nazari in check, Mika moved out of the water, still being invisible.

She noticed the water shooting up around her but at the moment, her armor was keeping it from affecting Nazari, as she moved her clone on top of them as she took a few steps back before pulling out a shuriken that she had ready behind her back in case Mika would try to attack her directly in person. Quickly performing the Twisted Mirrors genjutsu which would make Mika see herself in multiples that would double as time went by in which she was still trapped in.

Trapped in the genjutsu, Mika looked around. Still invisible, she had little to fear at the moment. Only the genjutsu was truly irritating and Mika wasn't one with much patience for such things. Simply forming the Kai signal, she broke through it. The Mist Rain would keep making most of Nazari's techniques weakened while her own chakra reserve would slowly decrease. Mika wondered how long it would take before the woman would try to do something about the rain. All that she had to do was to defend herself and let her technique do the dirty work.

She felt weakened by this rain, dispersing her armor and allowing herself to be submerged into the water completely, with her shuriken at ready position. She performed the Flash Flood Jutsu once more and used its force to help her manuever through the water and then surfaced at the other side of the square, performing the notes for the Siren Moon Song genjutsu, before quickly performing the notes for the Lullaby of the Stars genjutsu as she skillfully weaved her notes together to increase the strength of both genjutsu. She needed to get rid of the rain before most of her justu were weakened considerably. Heat... it would cause the rain to evaporate and be rendered useless. But with everything soaked with water, starting any kind of fire was near impossible.

That again? Sound Genjutsu? Mika had managed to evade the Flash Flood as she could see it. With jumping over the water, she had already turned around and was preparing a move of her own. Gritting her teeth, she noticed that the effects of the genjutsu were kicking in. Clenching her right hand into a fist, she managed to maintain self control. Wondering what her opponent was trying, Mika had an idea. Dispersing the chakra at her feet, she went into the water. The water would form likely a blockade against the tones of the genjutsu. Forming the Kai signal, she broke out of the genjutsu and glared in Nazari's direction. Swimming towards the bottom of the make-shift lake, Mika would strike from that position.

Once her opponent was under the water, judging by the sound of the splash and the small air bubbles coming up from a certain point, she was able to pin point the location of Mika. Performing the Water Clone jutsu handsignals, she had three clones appear and submerge themselves into the water in that area. Going in that direction from three different angles and leaving little room for escape as the real one was waiting on the top of the water.

Clones? With the amount of chakra being drained from her? Mika realized that it wouldn't be long before Nazari would be close of her chakra not enough to perform such techniques at such quanties anymore. Turning around, Mika formed several handsignals. Using the water around, she would dispose of the clones and attack Nazari at the same time. Aiming her attack upwards, straight to Nazari, Mika used her water technique. Lets see how you escape these jaws. She thought, the Great Shark Bullet technique being fired. The water would form a huge shark that would swim in a fast speed towards the real Nazari, leeching out the chakra of those who would come near it.

Seeing the great shark come at her at that speed only gave her time to perform the Replacement Jutsu, switching her with a log before unsheating her katana and coming towards it as she slashed the great shark easily. Dispersing the water that formed it as she dove into the water from where it was created at and held her katana at ready position with its point facing the bottom.

Swimming away, Mika would make it to the surface, leaving however some exploding tags. She had not imagined that Nazari would get in the water. Not caring that she had revealed herself now and then with the exploding tags, Mika kept trying to swim to the surface. There was a reason why she was suddenly hurrying up like that. An explosion outside was dangerous. But within the water? The pressure of the water wouldn't make it somehow weaker. No, explosions under water were much more powerful due some factors. Now with Nazari having lured into the water, Mika would let the tags explode. This is going to hurt you more than it hurts me..

Seeing the explosives in the water, her eyes widened at them and she flipped in the water quickly, swimming as fast her body would allow. Nearly out of it once the explosives went off, she had very little time to make it and it did not surprise her that she did not make it to the surface before it went off. Sending her out of the water along with some nasty bruises and damage, she gritted her teeth from the strain and focused herself once more. Her chakra reserve was low and using it all up would not be wise as it could be fatal, with a sigh, she readied herself to fight the remaining of this with her physical strength and little help from genjutsu or ninjutsu.

The powerful explosion underwater would also harm Mika. Only she had a trick up her sleeve to minimize the damage. One trick that Nazari had used up before. With the body replacement, Mika managed to avoid the damage she would else have suffered. Only she wouldn't have her camouflage technique up as she would come out of the water. Panting, due having to hold her breath that long, she could see the log that had suffered for her, send into the air, splintered in the air. Massaging her shoulders briefly, Mika glared in the direction of Nazari. The Mist Rain was briefly interupted by the underwater explosion, but it would continue soon enough. ''I suggest you step down now. Else I will make sure that you'll not be standing for a week.'' Mika coldly said, threatening the woman with her cold voice.

Taking a deep breath, Nazari heard the cold tone from the other woman but it did not phase her. " What you think is irrelevant to what really matters, I will not step down no matter the consenquences" Nazari said flatly as she watched Mika carefully. Taking another deep breath, she took out severl kunai and dove into the water, using its now calm quality to soothe some of the strain on her body, from within in the water she threw the kunai at the woman in rapid sucession from several different angles before using her feet to propell herself at Mika with her Katana ready and slashing just as she was in with in striking distance as her other hand reached for a kunai that she had and brought it up to her so it was ready to deflect. Both on the offense and defense for now, ready to go either way.

Pulling out a kunai, Mika looked without any emotion to how Nazari kept attacking her. The thrown kunai were slowed down due the water, making it easier for Mika to deflect the thrown kunai with her kunai. Even the speed that the woman used to come at her would be slower, again due her own water. Mika wondered why she would use such a tactic instead of facing her on top of the water, out of the pressure that kept slowing her down. Her left hand free, Mika started to form signals. Readying her kunai, Mika would deflect the slash of the woman as water around them would shoot out strings. Using her Squeezing Death technique, to immobilize Nazari, Mika quickly jumped back a bit. Skidding over the water, she focused on her technique to keep Nazari on her position to let the Rain drain her out more.

WIth her strike deflected she took another deep breath as the strings of water were wrapped around her. Knowing that it would worsen for her if she were stiff, she allowed herself to loosen up and take another deep breah as she closed her eyes, remembering that one of her clones had not direclty charged Mika like the other three had and was still usable, she got it to approach the situation and slash at the strings that bound her, with the strings of water temporary disabled she made her escape before they reformed around nothing now. Going at Mika directly with her Katana directly pointed at her and her clone using the remaining of her kunai to attack with as well as its own katana. With the combined effort, it would be difficult to evade them both.

Waiting to see what Nazari would do with her water clone, Mika took the moment she escaped to think about a way to end this. It was clear that Nazari was running out of options, only attacking with none chakra exhausting moves. While it would indeed prove difficult for Mika to avoid getting hurt by two opponents, she could play the game as well. Her chakra reserve had been kept okay with the Mist Rain leeching that of Nazari's. Forming the required handseals with one hand, to create two shadow clones, Mika threw a kunai, with a blinding tag, towards Nazari to slow her down.

Seeing the blinding tag on the kunai, she twisted in the air a bit to avoid it but her clone did not get so lucky, being slowed down while the real one kept her pace. Running out of options, she knew that she had very few jutsu that could be used to finish this or attempt to. In the end, Nazari never entered to win but to bring honor and glory to her clan even though it was in ruins, the name would go on one way or another. All those times of listening to the elders preach about the importance and glory of their clan had caused her to act with the intent of bringing good favor to her clan. Now she needed to get Mika with her katana, no sound needed sometimes for her genjutsu and then she would go from there.

Mika's two clones ran forward. Mika would observe the situation, staying at a distance with a kunai at the ready. Squinting her eyes, she was looking for an opening, to use it and finish this match. The blinded clone of Nazari would have to react fast as one of the shadow clones would go in with a quick slide, trying to make the Nazari's clone go into a defense or at least drawing it's attention. The other shadow clone would keep up a defense against Nazari and her katana. All just to stall Nazari's advancement and keeping her away from Mika, while the rain would do its vile work.

Her clone brought its own katana up to slash the area around it and keep the clones at a distance while it raced on to help Nazari close the distance between them. Deciding at the last minute, to change tactics, she did a few black flips to get away and put some distance between them to give her time to think on her new tactic. She knew that Mika would know that she used sound to cast her genjutsu, so she would use that to her advantage. Putting her flute to her lips and playing a few notes on it, ones that had no genjutsu attatched to them but would likely fool her opponent into thinking they did. In the mean time, she prepped herself for the final jutsu as it would consume the rest of her chakra.

Again sound? Much like Nazari had anticipated, Mika was thinking she would try out a genjutsu. Calmly pulling out an explosive tag, Mika attached it to the kunai. Glaring in the direction of Nazari, Mika threw the kunai towards her foe. Her shadow clones would form a defensive formation as Mika wouldn't lose her guard to a wandering water clone. Holding the kai sign, Mika would prepare herself indeed for the situation if Nazari would try to inflict another genjutsu.

Nazari did not change her expression nor did she worry, she simply changed the tune she played on her flute and put more distance between them. Gathering her chakra as her clone dispersed into water and its chakra somewhat repleninishing itself in Nazari. It was almost time, almost time for the final jutsu and hopefully end the fight between the two.

Lowering her hand, Mika noticed that the water clone dispersed. Was it due the Mist Rain? Or was Nazari plotting something. Taking a stance, from which she could run or move quickly about, she readied herself, backing further away. Her goal would to reach for a wall and stay off the water. Still in formation with her shadow clones, Mika kept her attention on Nazari and the surroundings.

It was time, putting her flute down and quickly performing the hand seals for the Multi Limb Prism, she was encased in extremely dense water that appeared to take the form of several limbs. Some of them lengthened, before shooting out at Mika and her clones, this jutsu was unescapable as the limbs would not stop until they got its target. Once that happened, it was over.

Glad that she had made some room, Mika narrowed her eyes. The chakra levels of the woman would already be low. Now with this, it was certain that this was the last effort of her trying to win this battle. Running over the water, Mika didn't look behind. Together with just one clone, she started to make it towards the walls of a house. Already, she would sense that the shadow clone left behind would be destroyed. Trying to increase the distance, thus meaning that Nazari would burn out more chakra, Mika's rain would make the technique weaker. Only one more clone left. With close to the walls, Mika's shadow clone threw an explosive tag to drive the aggresive technique back, winning some time. Just enough that Mika managed to climb up some wall and duck inside the house. Her heart was skipping beats as she would go out of Nazari's view, using the house and its room to increase the distance and chakra use of the technique.

The clone left behind was sucked into the limbs that came after it,onot only destroying it but suffocation, the limbs absorbed some of the water from around the previous attacks which slighlty added strenot tngth but nothing significant as it searched. The more they searched the more strain it put on Nazari but she could not stop now, she was close but not close enough. The limbs were losing their power the more they went on, going over to the house in which Mika was hiding and beginning to seep in through openings with no significant power behind it.

Running through the rooms, Mika slammed a door behind her. As expected the door would go down with the water limbs still trying to chase her. Turning around a corner, she noticed a limb coming through a window. ''Tch.'' Grabbing a kunai with her last explosive tag, Mika throw it towards the limb that had came through the window. As it exploded and drove the water back, Mika jumped out of the opening she had created. Landing on the streets behind the house, she rolled over the ground and quickly get on her feet. Panting a bit, she looked at how the limbs would seek the house that was void of her now. Raising her right arm, she wiped off the sweat that had been formed on her face. The rain would make the arms grow weaker and weaker, until they would then disperse. Calmly walking, she would go back inside the house, up to the second floor. Walking, still cautious, Mika would look from the opening she had used to get into the ruined building

Her vision became blurry, her arms hurt from holding the jutsu for this long but she needed to keep going and with a ragged deep breath, she sent the last of her limited and weakned jutsu back towards the house. The advance was slower, weaker and would not last much longer, she was right. The limbs dispersed within seconds of leghthening and so did the water around her. The strain on her very much a bother now, she took another ragged deep breath and do one last attack or not, the strain too much on her already exhausted body. The pain sent her to her knees as she managed to catch herself before fully hitting the ground and taking another ragged breath. She could do no more.

Hitting the ground, the rain would slowly stop. With the water flowing away as Nazari was not capable to fight anymore, Mika landed on the ground. Her eyes were nothing more than showing some cold glare. Walking towards the exhausted jounin, Mika pulled out a kunai. Spinning the weapon slowly, she was approaching the woman without saying a word. Stopping right in front of her opponent, Mika kneeled as she flipped the kunai. Slowly, she made a little cute after which she would then pat the shoulder of the woman. Maybe it would look like it was nothing, but it was a kind of respect sign towards Nazari. Holding the kunai with the bit of blood up, she would walk away as the medics would get to Nazari, bringing her away. Before she would be off the field, Mika looked over her shoulder. Then she went away.

[Shadowcatcher]

Watching the entire fight go down, Haruhi Suzumori had said not a word while her sensei was battling another kunoichi. Haruhi had finally mastered the art of controlling her mouth, and as she watched the match, she found herself learning a hell of a lot more about her sensei. One very important truth being that Haruhi had been lucky all those times she'd pissed Mika off... that she didn't 'accidently' shut her up permanently. Though at certain points throughout the match, Haru found herself wanting to scream out and cheer, she had resisted. It was a week before chuunin exams and she didn't want to act like a fool in front of the other jounin, genin, chuunin, and who knows what other rank of shinobi were here. She was mature now, and it was a goal here today to try to not look like a fool for once.

Standing next to her other sensei, Takeshi Shun, she wondered when his match would be. She had tagged along with the two of them partly because she wanted to watch the epic battles and partly because, well... she had to try to get them closer with every chance they got. At one point in the match, she nudged him with her elbow. "Yo, sensei. I'm starting to think Mika sensei is waaay out of your league." she joked with him. Surely with her help, the two would settle down soon enough. She was counting the days until the cute little green haired mini Takeshis would run around and pull her hair........

Haruhi was so wrapped up in her thoughts about being a love doctor and potentially becoming an auntie, she had missed the last few minutes of the match. By the time her green eyes actually went back to focusing on the match, it was over. Seeing her sensei walking towards them, and the other kunoichi on the ground, Haruhi finally let out a cheer she'd been holding in.

"YESSS! Alright, way to go Hayashi sensei! You were AWESOME!" she squealed as she decided to meet her halfway and run over. And as a wind blew her honey blonde hair across her face, with it went all traces of maturity as she gripped the woman in a tight hug and proceeded to barrage her with questions.

[Lesli]

Aiko Cho-Hon

Preparing..

Remembering fighting in the city, that was now a ruine, Aiko was preparing for her match. Checking her tools, she made sure some of the kunai and shuriken would be embedded in the poison she used in battles. The announcement of who was going to fight who had made her grow silent. After the announcement, she had said nothing, but went her way to prepare for the match. Her fight was against Eiji, who had became a kind of friend for her. Because of that she was feeling mixed feelings about the upcoming duel. Aiko wasn't one that would want to just challenge others or seek out battles, but she had her reasons to join this tournament. Not in order to gain more glory for herself, Konohagakure or her clan. No, she was here to make a point. That she wasn't afraid to bare her fangs or worse.

Now with her poisons ready in flask and on some kunai and shuriken, Aiko sighed. Now she was taking the bandages, starting to wrap it around her forearms. Of course it wouldn't help against some deadly techniques, but it would help against the pain if she would be rolling over the ground. The more protection without being hindered, the better in her opinion. Her bandages in place, she looked at the flak jacket and headband. Picking up the jacket, she put it on. But didn't yet closed the jacket. Staring at the headband, Aiko then picked it up in her right hand. Her right hand held the headband in a tight grip, as if it would else fall out of her hands and disappear.

Walking towards the field that would be the battlefield between her and Eiji, Aiko had a grim expression revealed on her face. She was ready to battle Eiji with everything she had.

[Little Alice]

Tournament Round 1 

Kiyomi vs Kazen

The Lightning Flash against the Fast Kazen!

SPOILER: Click to show

She was ready for this. Dressed in her Hokage Apprentice gear, which had some look down the line of an ANBU. But on her right shoulder, there was a shoulderpad that had a kanji. The kanji of Fox. With her bandanna in her right hand, Kiyomi was heading towards the field with a determined look on her face. The soft sound she could hear when she would clench her gloved hands into fists made her grin slightly. Entering the field, Kiyomi briefly looked around. The buildings that were mere ruines around the little town square reminded her of what had happened. But today she wouldn't lose control. Today she would show in the same city that she wasn't a Jinchuriki that was a danger to everybody. No, she would show that she was a bigger danger now. One that could keep herself calm and collective in the midst of battle. The white bandaged greatsword on her back softly grunted. Patting the bandaged shark blade, Kiyomi walked more to the center, wondering where her opponent was.

Kazen was nothing but nerves waiting for the entrance gate to open but once she was inside all her nerves faded like snow in a hot summer sun. The young women thought about wearing her ANBU uniform but in the end decided to wear her normal jounin clothes. Looking at all the rubble and ruines she wondered what went down here to cause all this destruction. Kazen quickly focussed her attention back to the situation at hand. She was to fight someone. Slowly walking through the streets, not showing her impressive speed, she kept a watchful eye out for her opponent.

Seeing her opponent, Kiyomi said nothing. There was no need to say anything. Feeling the need to check her gear for a last time, Kiyomi would resist that. She had to focus. All she knew was that her opponent was an Amegakure jounin. Which was to be fair, interesting. The only Amegakure jounin she had fought in her life was Eiji Emiya. Somebody that had given her a hard time. Placing her left hand on her hip, she would wait till her opponent was standing still. ''I wonder..'' She said out loud. Her voice was neutral. ''I wonder if you will be able to put a fight like Eiji-san.'' Slowly raising her right hand, Kiyomi used her left hand to lift up the facemask, to cover the lower part of her face. ''Kiyomi Sato-Hon.'' Forming the Seal of Confrontation, Kiyomi would wait till her opponent had done the same.

Cutting another corner Kazen suddenly found herself in the center of the field right in front of her opponent "I wonder... was what she said "My god!" Kazen said somewhat louder than she thought "You're just a kid!" After she said it she could have slapped herself and ragained focus, she might be a kid but she is also a jounin. Kazen did not know an Eiji. Kazen raised her right hand, her left putting on her Running glasses. "Kazen Aniru" said she while forming the Seal of Confrontation as well.

Still holding the Seal of Confrontation, Kiyomi's bright green eyes started to shift to a darker green color. She was already annoyed by the reaction of Kazen. Not letting herself getting distracted by the idiotic reaction of her opponent, as Kiyomi viewed it, she would start to radiate a large wave of killing intent. Suddenly, she would grab something out of her pouch. An explosive tag. Using her left free hand for it, she would throw it up between them before making back flips at a fast speed.

Kazen held the Seal and waited for her opponent to release it, a shiver went down her spine as she waited and a single drop of sweat formed itself on her forehead. Suddenly without any warning her opponet threw up a slid of paper whereafter it slowy made its way to the ground, doing nothing. Kazen could see it was a paper bomb If this is a trap its way too obvious even for me she thought. Her oppont started to backflip at a high speed, Kazen did the same only making two before taking out two kunai, hiding them in her sleeves.

Landing on her feet, Kiyomi started to weave handsignals at a rapid speed. Staying true to her Hon herritage, Kiyomi had finished the streak of signals in no time. Holding her right hand at her mouth, she would spit out a large ball of fire towards Kazen. Even while she was usually using other tactics to test out her opponent, using lightning most of the time, Kiyomi would go for another approach this time. Using her heightened senses, Kiyomi would observe how Kazen would react to the next coming attacks.

Kazen kept close watch at her opponent who now stopped flipping as well. She was amazed at how fast this kid could weave seals, that was quite impressive. Kazen could see the giant fireball jutsu coming before it was leaving the girls mouth and simply took a few jumps back to get out of range, throwing a kunai at her opponent as soon as the fire started to die down.

Revealing no emotion or any other expression, the killing intent would slowly keep rising. It was like a flood that would drown the place under what seemed a heavy pressure. But while her opponent wouldn't able to escape the pressure, Kiyomi easily managed to perform a side step and catching the thrown kunai. Throwning it back towards Kazen, she grabbed a small scroll out of one pocket. Her eyes kept watching the movement of Kazen, while she rolled the scroll open.

Watching the Kunai getting redirected Kazen took no time to praise the skill of her opponent, this was going to be one interesting battle. Kazen bursted off at an incredible speed running at her opponent, probably surprising her with her it. Midway she made a jump, catched the kunai and threw it back with increased speed after the 360 was finished, throwing the other kunai right after it she kept running at her opponent, closing the distance between them fast.

Raising her right eyebrow, Kiyomi simply leaned to the side to avoid the kunai as she held the end of the scrolls with her hands. Raising it up, still not moving backwards, she would wait till Kazen was too close. ''Let's dance.'' Muttering the words, out of the scrolls, fourteen swords would fly out of it. At a fast throwing speed, the swords that were being enhanced by lightning chakra would be hard to dodge with the close distance between her and Kazen. The bandaged sword on her back shivered, making Kiyomi lower herself as she dropped the scroll, ready to advance while Kazen either had to take a hit to stay close or focus on avoiding to be petrified by a lightning enhanced sword.

Kazens eyes widened, first by the astonishing easy looking dodge of her kunai than at the sudden appearance of the swords, a quick sequiance of moves made Kazen able to not get hit. A quick sidestep, slightly backwards and a strike of Kaze Katana, using a battojutsu style move. were able to dodge and block most of them. The last swords she dodged by jumping in between of them and corkscrew her way past them. Hitting the ground again she saw the girl getting ready to charge at her, Kazen jumped up on top of a ruin and started make some handseals.

Not letting herself getting distracted, she made use of the time Kazen had to dodge the swords. Weaving several handsignals again, nothing would however happen. Kiyomi was simply preparing her trap. A trap that Kazen was slowly walking in, talking in theory. Knowing that the woman couldn't see her weaving handsignals as well dodging the swords at the same time, Kiyomi straighten her back. Looking with the same cold and yet calm look in Kazen's direction, the pressure was now again raised. It would feel like something was breathing in the neck of Kazen, as Kiyomi kept her eyes locked on the Amegakure jounin. The only sound that was however produced was the lightning around the swords.

Running usually made Kazen warm but she was feeling cold, Kazen however remained surprisingly calm, she used to be an Amegakure jounin and was used to situations unfamiliar to her. She was felling kind of uneasy though but tried to shake off that feeling, as long as she remained focus on something else she could manege to be disaffected by it. She needed to focus hard, her opponent was certainly no pushover and already managed to dodge Kazens lightning fast attack and then even produce some of her own. Now towering over her Kazen was just ready weaving handseals for the Vaccum bullets technique firing them at Kiyomi before dropping backwards of the top of the roof. quickly scurriing over to another building and hiding in it, trying to come up with a good plan to counter her opponent.

With the coming wind release attack, Kiyomi's hands went to the hilt of Samehada. Kazen's attack was easily absorbed by the bandaged greatsword. After the short use of the blade, she let it fall on the ground. It shivered once before it the bandage around the mouth was ripped by the razor sharp teeth of the sentient blade. Shivering once more, it would spit out a hilt towards Kiyomi. Catching it, her eyes had never left Kazen. A sword that seemed to be made of silver was spon in her right hand as the bandaged shark blade slithered away over the ground. Seeing that Kazen went to hide inside a building, Kiyomi scoffed. ''Its no use.'' Still, she remained on her spot, still facing the building Kazen had taken refuge in. As long as she could smell Kazen, she wouldn't need to follow her.

Usually Kazen let Nazari or her superior at the ANBU made up a plan. She was way bette rof executing it than come up with one. Kazen did not knew if Kiyomi knew where she was, she supposed not but still it was not unthinkable that she did either. Kazen knew better than staying in the same spot for long. Kazen decided to use her greatest asset in battle, although she did not know if it would work, speed and taijutsu. Kazen came out of hiding and took a different longer path back to the centre of the battlefield.

Using the time that Kazen had gone away, Kiyomi decided to use it to create a more defensive technique. Kiyomi started to wonder if she would need it, but seeing that it would take five seconds, she wove the signals. By the time that Kazen would be in view, there would be a bluish aura around Kiyomi. Raising an eyebrow towards her opponent, Kiyomi let the silver blade rest on her right shoulder. Did her foe expected her to chase her through the ruins? That would be a nuisance and not what she would do. Walking backwards, she kept an eye on Kazen as she would pass the fourteen swords that were scattered over the centre of the square.

Kazen was getting serious now, it was a long time ago she fought a battle like this, usually they were over way faster. Kazen wove few handseals but waited before she used the justu, keeping it at bay untill she needed it and ran at kiyomi not using her full speed. Her right hand reaching behind her back making sure Kaze Katana was not stuck in her sheath.

When Kazen started to close in the distance, Kiyomi took a more active stance. She was standing near the blades, they positoned between her and Kazen. Narrowing her eyes, one of her eyes started to shift color. Still, she wouldn't make a move as she seemed to be waiting for Kazen to close in the distance. From a distance, Samehada was laying silent on the ground, waiting for the whistle.

Kazen kept het jutsu at her left hand and her katana in the sheath at her right while she took in the environment and kept closing the distance. Lowering herself a little bit, Kiyomi held the blade with only her right hand in a defensive manner in front of her. She could already hear Kensuke's voice telling her how to make sure to use the stance and such. Still, she would wait for the right time. Kazen was slightly annoyed by the carefree stance of her opponent although she let it not get to her as she kept running at Kiyomi still not utilizing her full speed, she kept it as a surprise to gain the upper hand if this fight would continue longer than she had anticipated.

Samehada suddenly slithered towards the center of the field. Behind her facemask, Kiyomi was grinning. Those who would watch the match and had fought her before, would by now realize that Kazen had walked into a death trap. Opening her left hand, one of the swords would suddenly approach Kazen from behind. With all the swords making the crackling sound of lightning, it wouldn't possible to hear the sword approaching her from behind. At the same time, Kiyomi suddenly charged forward, lightning creeping over the silver blade as she would lash out with a fast strike towards Kazen's mid section. Seeing that Kazen was already approaching her, Kiyomi always had one other trick up her sleeve if there was an option that Kazen would dodge this attack from two fronts.

As Kiyomi came into action Kazen grinned slightly, this was the opening she was waiting for. She got into close quarters with the girl and released the Air pressure justu from her left hand, trying to either blow the weapon out of her hands or disperse the raiton that was charged into it. She quickdrew her blade to block/stike kiyomi has her blade lost a little velocity to someting that scratched it from behind. A sword hit kazen's back with the shapd point as it penetrated her katana first. It wouls not cut deep, but would pin her own katana to her back. Just when she thougth this would be the moment is which she would take the upper hand.

Meanwhile between the audience a girl with orange hair was staring at the battle intently. At random times a grin would appear on her face as she saw Kiyomi preform some pretty great moves. Not as great as her own, of course, because she hadn't fought yet so there was nothing to compare it to. But Kiyomi was great. She was super strong. In slight awe Midori watched the girl summoned a lot of blades and use them. Midori herself had never used blades and always felt clumsy with them except of course for the hidden blade that Raspberry-sensei gave her. She was getting better with that. Slowly the girl started to drift of with her thoughts and suddenly it seemed that the battle was coming to its peak. Midori rose from her seat, with her many people. Kiyomi had to win. It had been a promise. They would make it to round 2 together. "You can do it!" She shouted to Kiyomi who would not hear that probably but that was fine. It was the thought that counted.

Standing silently in the audience, Nazari watched her friend in her match despite the medics telling her that she needed to rest somewhere else. Her response to them was her saying that what they thought was irrelevant and held no value. Looking at Kazens opponent and then at Kazen, she shook her head as the age of an opponent did not hold any important inportant information, seeing Kiyomi use some intense moves while Kazen tried her best to move around it but not completely avoid one, she flinched. Kazen... Stop wasting energy and fight already Nazari thought with a sigh. You could only run for so long, she knew that from her own match.

Kiyomi's trap!
The work of the Lightning Flash!

Narrowing her eyes, she had anticipated this. From the moment that her opponent had used Wind Release before, Kiyomi had hoped it would come to this. While the steel of Kazen's sword would hinder the blade in her back, it would be brief. The vibrations would make the steel sword pin through that of Kazen, not only thus stabbing Kazen in the back, but also pinning her own blade. Not able to brace herself for what was going to happen, the view would be taken from them. The audiance would see a big explosion as the pressured air of Kazen's technique hit the strong lightning chakra of Kiyomi's sword. A warm gust would sweep over the field as the smoke would cover the sight of both.

From one side, Kiyomi was send flying backwards, rolling over the ground. Trails of smoke were seen around her, as she laid silent and still on the ground. Samehada took his position in front of Kiyomi, but soon the blueish aura around Kiyomi would seem to flicker. Getting up, Kiyomi scoffed. Her hands were trembling a bit, but there was no damage done. The Will of the Leaf technique had taken the explosion. It was just like when she had faced Eiji-san's explosions. Using her left hand to whipe her face from the sweat, Kiyomi calmly walked to the silver blade that was laying next to her. Picking it up, she briefly spun it as well flexing the fingers of her left hand.

Kazen, surprised by her blade being stuck at her back by another sword embedded in her skin. made her unwary of the exposion. She was lucky the blast of her technique travelled a few inches when it came to contact with kiyomi's sword and caused an explosion. A chemical reaction she did not expect. The blast threw her backwards with a tremendous force, Kazen felt her skin burning but managed to spin and lands on her back. the sword pinning in her back would penetrate her if she would land on her back.

Groaning Kazen stood up, her arms trembled. once she got on her knees, she pulled the blade out of her back. pain seared through the wound but Kazen bit her lip to keep her from screaming out, the pain slowly faded awat from the wound. Kazen was all bruised by the landing and her face was burnt red by the explosion of their clashing techniques.

Kazen managed to get on her feet and picked up her blide which had a little hole in it. Her ears whistled and her eyes were having trouble seeing due to the smoke. Kazen knew this had to finish fast as she didnt have much energy left to fight. She weaved handsigns for the dragon water bullet and let it brush and cool her face before sending it at kiyomi, through the smoke caused by the exposion. Kazen would be ready for kyomi stretching her blade in front of her holding the hilt tightly with both her hands.

Not able to hear anything, Kiyomi looked around. Her eyes, still showing the dark green and grim look, were scanning the public for a person. Resting her eyes on a figure that she could see, Kiyomi's left hand went to her face mask to pull it down. Revealing a little smile, Kiyomi didn't hear the water rushing towards her. But somebody else had already taken his position. The scales ripped through the bandage as the sentient sword would shiver. While the water would rush towards Kiyomi, it wouldn't get near her as the water, created by chakra of Kazen, would be absorbed by Samehada. Turning around, Kiyomi noticed how her comrade in battle had fend of the attack. Waiting for a few moments, she then took off. Using the shark blade, who had raised himself by extending his scales, as a board, she jumped into the air. Going through the smoke, she saw Kazen.

The blade that Kazen had pulled out, suddenly moved again. In a fast swing, the blade would attempt to stab the woman in the leg or side, the lightning making the menacing sound of its approach. A grin was seen as Kiyomi clenched her left hand into a fist. Though she wasn't fond of revealing one of her most deadly techniques, taught by Jinkama Moto, she figured it would show a nice message to those who were watching. Not giving Kazen really much chance to do something offensive back, Kiyomi would throw the silver bladed sword towards Kazen. The empowering initial chakra status would make the sword being thrown at a much faster speed and power.

Kazen had been gathering chakra and was ready for Kiyomi's attack. Kazen's eyes were now different from normal, they looked.. dead. every sparkle was gone, Kazen had gone in what she and Nazari called 'ANBU mode' not a single emotions, only a killing machine. purely on instinct Kazen used the Cresent Blade attack and thus Kiyomi's two blades failed to hit the real Kazen.

Landing on the ground, Kiyomi charged at Kazen. Not holding back on her speed, she focused on her senses. Her eyes were locked on Kazen. Her nose would keep track of the burnt hair and skin of her opponent. The moment that she had made a shadow clone to evade the blades, she would noticed that the blade, with the lightning, would keep following the real Kazen. It had been close to her and would chase her down. Opening her right hand, lightning started to crackle in Kiyomi's right hand. Further lowering herself, she kept charging forwards as the lightning started to grow in her right hand.

With Kazen and her clone approaching her, Kiyomi made the lightning expand faster. Readying herself, she would use her left arm to block the attack. The blue chakra coat would hold back the steel of Kazen's blade. If however her blade was surrounded by pressured air, another explosion would follow up as the lightning in Kiyomi's hand expanded. If it wasn't surrounded by pressured air, it wouldn't be able to cut through the chakra coat technique and leave Kazen open for the flying blade.

Kazen stopped her own attack halfway and started spinning around throwing kunai in each and every direction, quickly performing Shuriken Shadow clones afterwards making herself the epicenter of about hundred kunai flying everywhere. Hitting the ground Kazen aimed at the midair Kiyomi and has time to try and soak the girl with Teppodama shots while she is not being targeted herself anymore.

Not slowing down as the kunai approached her, the grin turned into a wicked one. The blue chakra coat was made to neutralize these kind of tools. It wouldn't damage her as she kept charging towards Kazen with her speed. The flying blade was however a bit slowed down due that it would need to slice through the kunai. ''You're mine.'' Whispering the words, she raised her right hand as she made a sidewards movement. The lightning expanded in a very high speed towards Kazen. In the same fashion as how Hiron used Chidori Spear, Kiyomi used her Piercing Sparkle to attack Kazen while she was performing her own attack. Aiming the lightning to hit either the water or Kazen, something behind Kiyomi would slither over the ground.

Kazen did not have time to react to the Piercing Sparkle in time and got hit right in the chest with it, sending her to the ground completely paralysing all her limbs. Kazen closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. She had lost, sadly, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Hiron had simply watched the match without moving a muscle for some time. He was sitting besides Hayate. Watching the battle. Seeing how Kiyomi managed to keep on par with Kazen's speed, When the explosion happened, a grin came on Hiron's face. She had already prepared for it and Hiron already figured out that his adopted daughter would continue to put pressure on Kazen. Rising up as many did, Hiron watched in silent how Kiyomi looked around. The grin turned into a smile. He felt some pride in seeing how she had changed. In a manner, this was much like her Chuunin Exam match, where she had been less focused. It seemed that in the three years, Kiyomi had became on a whole different level. As she finished her opponent, Hiron frowned. He had a feeling that he would need to talk later with Kiyomi. ''Seems its over, heh.'' He said, turning half around. He would soon need to head to his own match.

Watching from the audience beside Hiron-sama, Hayate had chosen a good vantage point see the fight clearly. This was one match he hadn’t wanted to miss, and so far it had proven to be full of excitement. Cheering for what felt like the hundredth time, Hayate could not help but admire Kiyomi’s tactics. He had been the target of such maneuvers before, and so when he watched them at work against another, he realized just how ruthlessly effective they were. As the match came to what appeared to be its conclusion, Hayate jumped up, cheering once again. He watched Hiron turn, but decided that he would stay to congratulate Kiyomi once she left.

Kiyomi noticed how Kazen landed on the ground. But it was far from over. The flying blade moved in range as Kiyomi jumped up. Performing a summer sault, she would drop a heavy kick in the stomach of Kazen. Though she was well aware of no killing during the matches, she wanted to make sure that Kazen wouldn't stand up. The pommel of the blade would slam itself against a knee, using the speed and force behind to create a nasty sound of something breaking. With a quick roll, she got up and raised her right hand. The killing intent was raised to a very high level as she started to beat up Kazen without any mercy. Breaking her knees, Kiyomi was about to break an arm.

Holding the arm, she glared in the direction of Kazen. ''At the begin of the match I told you name. It is usual in my clan that we say our names before we kill our opponents. Your defeat bears now my name.'' With a fast movement, she used her knee to slam it against the elbow, again creating another nasty sound. Letting the arm of Kazen fall on the ground, Kiyomi noticed that her opponent couldn't battle anymore. Without any word, she turned around and walked away a bit from the woman. Samehada slithered towards his master, who picked him up and placed him in the sheath. Again, she looked at the crowd and noticed now more figures she knew. A little smile started to form on her lips as she would away from the field. Not even turning around to see how her opponent would be helped by the medics, Kiyomi wondered if she had made Hiron and some others proud.

A small irritating feeling made its way in the pit of her stomach as she saw the defeat of her friend, was it necessary to end the match even more so after paralyzing Kazen? Making her way down to the arena where her friend lay paralyzed, she looked down with a sad expression lingering on her face. "There is no shame in losing.." Nazari said softly before picking Kazen up and taking her safely away from the arena so the medics could fix her up.

[Mr Nim]

Tournament Round 1

Niji Yakei vs Tora Hatake!

Lightning, Swords, a Staff and Clones!

SPOILER: Click to show

Approaching the entrance to the arena, Tora thought about what made her decide to go ahead and do this. She wanted to have some time away from Kiri, so she got that. Rika wasn't around, so that was a plus. Then there was also the matter of a challange just for the heck of it. That made her smile as she entered the arena, and saw many people sitting there, waiting for the match to start. Even though she had no idea if anyone she knew was here, she still raised her hand and pointed at the Kiri headband, making a bit of cheering come from the people around. That indicated there were Kiri shinobi around, so she had a bit of support. She then looked to the other entrance and waited for her opponent to arrive, which she figured should only take a few moments.

Second to arrive but that made no difference to Niji, it just allowed them both time to gague one another in how they carried themselves and how prepared their opponent would be. This woman seemed rather confident in her actions by encouraging a cheer from the crowd by pointing to her forehead, probably trying to see what other nin from her village were there. Only a moment after Tora made this gesture did Niji step out, a calm and powerful stride as she looked towards her pre-determined foe with a hint of indifference. Unlike Tora, Niji didn't take to wearing the headband as often, so as of now her alliegance would be shrouded to her, maybe to conceal what types of techniques she'd have in store. But who knew really?

Niji chanced a small smile. "I am Niji Yakei, pleased to meet you...?" She left the end of her greeting open, asking for Tora's name in exchange of her own.

Examining her opponent, she waited for a moment as Niji introduced herself "Its a pleasure Niji. I'm Tora Hatake. Shall we begin?" She said and then did the Seal of Confrontation, waiting to see if Niji was ready to start as well.

"Hatake-san then? I believe myself to be ready." Niji quipped as she formed the Seal of Confrontation with a small smile. Despite the sword at her side, Niji gently tapped the Lightning Flash Creation seal on her sleeve, swiftly drawing out her staff and lowering herself to a more combat-ready stance. She wasn't going to be so quick on the draw as to actually make the first attack, that would be Tora's honour... Or mistake.

Tora smiled upon seeing Niji move to a fighting position and already taking out her weapon. She did a quick seal and raised her hand up high, creating a mist around herself and Niji. She then did a few more seals and Niji would quickly hear the sound of water coming at her at very high speed, while Tora would begin moving around, in the mist, making the water move as well. She also begun doing a few more seals, seemingly preparing another jutsu.

As soon as Tora had started forming the mist around the pair of them, Niji backpedalled to stay clear of the mist itself, she couldn't do with her perception being reduced in all directions due to this so she had to ensure she was outside of the cloud, at least this way there was only one direction obscured from sight. She would have to be patient, listen out for the water and evade in any way possible before she made a proper plan of counter attack... It was time to play the waiting game.

The water would suddenly stop coming at Niji, and now several kunai and shuriken would be coming at Niji's direction with enhanced speed from wind chakra. Tora used the Vacuum blade technique on them to make them sharper and faster than the average tools, wanting to see if Niji is just going to play it defensive or will she start attacking at any time. She figured that moving from her position in the mist would be unwise, but she did make sure she did not stand in the water from her previous jutsu, figuring it would be safer.

Niji dropped and rolled in an effort to evade the quick tools being flung her way, keeping up a near constant motion until they ceased before twirling her staff and pointing it'd end towards the mist. "Here, Hatake-san, a present for you." She said bluntly as the seal on the end activated and fired an assorted collection of kunai and shuriken adding up to 10 in total, she'd then begin moving again, staying light on her feet and strafing the cloud of mist, gaguing whether to chance an assault yet or not. She knew Tora used water techniques and suspected wind techniques as well due to the speed of those tools, but she couldn't be certain, all she confirmed for now was water type jutsu.

The moment the first kunai hit Tora, a cloud of smoke appeared and a log was hit with the rest of the kunai and shuriken, falling to the ground afterwards with a splash, as it fell into a puddle of water. The mist slowly vanished and Tora, who appeared above Niji, did a few seals. She then let out a burst of wind from her mouth, making her go higher into the air as water needles started appearing in the area around Niji and quickly enough started shooting all around her, except from a small hole in the area above Niji, which was where Tora escaped the jutsu from.

The mist faded from around Tora and showed Niji a log with her tools lodged in it, so she had to use that to avoid getting hurt? Not too bad for a first attack on Niji's part at least... But her current concern was the surrounding needles and Tora up above, escaping the technique that was apparently intended to take Niji out... As the needles formed Niji threw down a smoke tag and set it off to obscure her actions, she'd utilise the Replacement Technique herself now to escape from these, appearing off near the centre with her staff pointed towards Tora again, whom was still in the air. A clack sounded and part of the staff fell away on a hinge to reveal another seal which fired a volley similar to her previous one in the aim to injure her aerial opponent before she could touch ground and make a solid attempt at evasion.

Seeing Niji vanish in the smoke and reappear next to where she was previously made her smile. She stopeed the wind gust from her mouth and made water come out instead, stopping the tools with the sudden stream as she started to drop down. Soon enough she stopped the water and did a few more seals, this time sending a very strong burst of wind mixed with dust which could highly injure Niji if she did not move. She also knew that soon enough the fight would be over, if everything worked out as she planned.

Niji took off in a sprint to flank around Tora as soon as she spotted the use of seals, that was something Niji had to stop if she was going to succeed here. Avoiding the dust-laced gust would at least get her closer to Tora and within a more acceptable range for herself to work efficiently, she wouldn't yet use more of her staff's loads but she would reform the staff fully again to allow it use in combat. She'd subtly place a smoke tag onto her staff though and continue her brief rush towards Tora before throwing the weapon like a javelin, aiming to miss Tora by the smallest margin.

Watching as Niji moved and threw her staff at her, Tora noticed it was off aim, and after seeing previously that Niji had a very good aim, she knew something was up. She quickly adjusted her jutsu to be aimed at the staff, and make it move further away from her, and then also aim the jutsu at Niji once more. She was very slowly falling down now due to being half pushed up by the wind jutsu, but she also needed to do just one final thing. A few moments later she would stop the mixed wind and dust jutsu, and do a few short seals. A shadow clone would appear next to her and after both did the same seals, they would make a couple of strong wind bursts which could a tree fall off on Niji's two sides.

Niji had time to close the gap as Tora summoned a clone to assist her, heaven knows what she had planned but Niji didn't want to stick around for it, so she made a retreat and headed towards the wall. When she reached it she'd simply focus chakra to her feet, run up the wall and leap off over the duo's barricade and continue on her dash, retrieval of her staff was somewhat important, but it could wait for now, at least until she could handle Tora better. She'd keep her distance as she'd move around her foe and the clone, wanting to see what tactic they came up with now as she gripped the handle of her sword just in case she had to draw it.

Seeing the escape route Niji take, Tora and her clone both stopped the strong wind gusts and Tora would produce her Wind Release Stream again and then grab the clone's arm and spin around before sending it off, and the clone created three more clones on the way to Niji. Two of the clones threw a few kunai in Niji's direction while the other two drew a single kunai and made it have a chakra blade, pointing it at Niji and appearing to want to hit her arms.

So Tora wanted to make an assault, but not risk her own hide? To be expected, Niji herself smiled a little at this and rushed ahead to drop herself into a brief slide to dodge the thrown kunai before she got footing enough to get back onto her feet and pick up speed again, seemingly planning to take the two clones head-on. Except she would jump and artfully flip over the two, mid-flip she would draw her sword and swing out to smash through the heads of both clones and re-sheath her blade before continuing her rush, intending to close in on Tora now and feign a low swing for her leg to coax a reaction out of her before she'd really make her strike.

The two clones that were hit vanished in a poof of smoke, and the other two and Tora watched as Niji begun making her way towards Tora. One clone took out a kunai as the other grabbed the first ones arm and threw the clone towards Niji, aiming to make her stop, but at the same time, something would make a poof in front of Niji and a clone that was previously disguised as a rock would appear right on Niji's path, trying to make her trip and grab her legs. The clone coming from above would then throw the kunai, aiming to hit her right leg.

The poof just below Niji was bad, that much she knew as she felt something grabbing her legs and she didn't really have time to do anything about it aside from what she knew best. She tried to turn herself enough to fall onto her rump before reaching to grab what had her and haul it in the way of the now apparent clone throwing a kunai her way, utilising it to protect herself, the best way to make the Tora now in front of her cooperate right now would be to force her into it. Niji did this by harshly jamming her thumbs into this Tora's eye sockets, if it was the real Tora her eyes would recover before long so long as she didn't burst one...

Smiling as she saw Niji go and put her fingers in her eye sockets, the Tora that held her feet felt the pain, and tried to resist it for as long as she could, but before the clone would poof away, another Tora appeared next to the one who was holding Niji's legs and took out an explosive tag, activating it. The clone next to Niji would cover her head with her arms as the explosion was supposed to occure, and an explosion would make it poof away. The clone that was headed down at Niji's direction would land on the ground by now, attempting to land on the ground with the explosion as a cover.

Another clone hiding away? This woman was so reliant on these things and for a good reason it seemed... Removing her right hand from the Tora she was eye-gouging, she felt a jab of pain as the kunai thrown down at her previously barely missed, cutting into her leg and drawing blood. Niji grabbed the Kunai with her free hand, yanked it out of the ground and looked towards the clone that had decided to help the one grabbing her leg, spotting the tag. It couldn't be good, not even in a duel such as this. So Niji threw her weight in a lunge to slash the heel of the tagged Tora to bring her down, fluidly switching to slash the tag before attempting to stab into the neck of the clone still holding her legs.

Niji's attempt at slashing the tagged Tora worked, and made it poof away before the tag was sliced into half, defusing it. The stabbing attempt at the Tora holding her legs would not work, as the clone would let go of her legs and try to push Niji's hand infront of the kunai heading her way, while also taking out a kunai of her own to try and protect herself. The second clone, in the meanwhile, would land next to the two of them and move to try and kick Niji in the lower back.

Niji felt a pushing against her hand as she went for her stab at the clone's neck, along with the freeness of her legs meaning she could move again as the clone tried to protect itself from her attack, instead she barely managed to pull her hand away and her stab was blocked by the clone's own kunai. Not even a second after this, Niji felt the harsh kick to her back and made but an annoyed grunt as she grabbed for the wrist of the clone to try to disarm it by twisting the wrist and grabbing the kunai. She'd then try to use both in a slashing motion for the head of the clone at her legs before she could start to pick herself up to combat the other clone. Then there was only the real Tora and the last clone to worry about.

As Niji would twist the clone's wrist and make it let go of the kunai, also making that clone poof away, the other clone would put its leg on Niji's back and push her leg forward, trying to force her into the ground while the two other clones in the arena, who were watching for a few moments from the sides, would approach, one of them forming a few seals and then beginning to shoot Air bullets at Niji's direction, while the second clone took out a kunai and create a chakra blade from it, and went to try and put it against Niji's neck.

There was a foot against Niji's back, meaning she was in a compromising position and she'd have to start acting a lot harsher, so as quickly as she could she formed handseals after letting go of the kunai. And as soon as she'd finish them she'd loose her Electromagnetic Murder despite any pummelling she would sustain, hopefully it would have range enough to catch all the clones as lightning chakra would rock through the ground nearby and into anyone touching it. Thankfully her jutsu disrupted the air bullets enough so that only a few of them managed to hit home, making two sizable wounds over Niji's back and one grazing her hip, it was safe to say that she was in quite a deal of pain from those bleeding wounds.

Seeing Niji form her handseals made the two Tora clones that were still a bit away begin to move backwards quickly, while the clone was still shooting air bullets, and the second clone threw her kunai with chakra blade in Niji's direction and then both jumped up as they saw the lightning hitting the clone that had its leg on Niji's back. The clone would stand there for a moment before poofing away, and the two other clones would land back on the ground, waiting to see if Niji had another move up her sleeve as one clone kept shooting air bullets at her and the other took out a few kunai and got ready for something.

There was a surge of pain through Niji merely from being in contact with the clone that was above her, but she'd suffered worse even if it had her stunned for a brief second. As soon as she could get up she was rising to her feet and began moving again with a roll, the chakra blade of the kunai skimming what armoured padding she had and slicing a chunk away, Niji having not accounted for the chakra blade's length as she moved. She'd begin her counter attack now, grabbing a smoke tag in her pouch and pulling it out whilst attempting to activate it to try and give herself a brief moment of cover.

The clone that used the the Air bullet did not stop, and tried to focus her attack on Niji's hand that held the tag, while the second clone kept retreating backwards, performing a few seals and preparing another jutsu.

The tag would go off without a hitch at least as Niji would use the brief cover given by the smoke cloud by moving towards an edge, gripping the handle of her sword and using the swiftly-vanishing cover as time to charge herself up, taking a step forwards to bring herself just out of the smoke enough to spot the clone. She'd then rocket forwards with unexpected speed towards the clone, utilising her self-taught technique, Thunderous Iaido to try and smash through the clone and readicate the threat of the air bullets for the time being. Her next target had to be the real Tora, Niji wasn't too sure how much of this cloning crap she was willing to put up with any longer.

As Niji would go and start running towards the Air bullet clone, the other clone finished forming his seals and begun shooting frozen water darts at her direction, and the Air bullet clone just barely managed to get out the way due to its constant moving, but it did make it need to turn around while still moving backwards, this time heading in the direction of the center of the arena, with the frozen water darts being shot from its left at Niji's direction. The frozen water darts clone moved forward the center, and soon enough both would be standing at the center, next to each other, shooting projectiles at Niji and waiting to see her next move.

Only just missed, that was annoying but no matter right now, she still had the two clones to worry about as well as the original. Instead of thinking about it for now Niji decided to take note of the frozen darts flying her way and started moving again, trying to keep a steady pace as she started thinking on how to handle the two clones trying to bombard her with projectiles... If she closed in it would be easier for them to hit her, but she was sure they wouldn't run out of chakra all that soon, most ninja had enough of a chakra pool to keep their clones going for a fair while. This situation was not in her favour when one considered she had no long-range ability. Something did come to mind though, a distraction of sorts, quickly she remotely activated the smoke tag that was on her staff, placed when she'd tried to trick Tora not long ago. Hopefully the tag was intact and would go off, maybe even catch the attention of the clones, if not then she needed to think of something else whilst keeping herself from harm.

The smoke that suddenly appeared made one of the clones raise its eyebrow at the sound of the tag being blown up, but due to the fact she felt no blowback or heat, she understood it wasn't an explosive tag and kept her eyes on Niji. They would instead move to firing in a slightly different pattern, to try and catch her in the middle, with the Air bullets clone keeping her jutsu just behind Niji, and the Frozen water dart clone suddenly moved in the other direction, in a manner of two walls closing in on Niji by moving around the second clone.

Niji took note of the lack of darts, not putting thought into where they were going yet but seeing that the other clone was moving around to perhaps box her in. Although she wouldn't let that happen, she'd instead start charging herself as she began forming handseals, her worst concern was taking another of those air bullets because if the burning pain and the slight sensation of liquid running down her back was anything to go by, she shouldn't be taking any more of those things unless it was necessary. At the last possible moment she turned on the ball of her foot and began, a sharp lance of pain hitting her as she took a bullet to the chest meaning yet another gaping wound to deal with, she then exploded with speed towards the centre with the clones and would release the chakra for her Electromagnetic Murder just before arriving between them, hopefully she could stun the pair and use her sword to quickly take them out there and then with the little time she might have given herself.

It only just worked, giving Niji enough time to draw her sword and with a somewhat artistic spin, hit one and cause it to vanish in a puff with the leftover momentum allowing Niji to catch the other one as well, causing yet another puff of smoke. "I would like to assume you're done with hiding behind your clones, but that would be jumping to conclusions... Although I admit, you're kinda pretty when you're fighting." She remarked, keeping her senses aware of her surroundings in the hopes that Tora didn't get the drop on her, she even chanced a glance upwards just to be safe.

The moment Niji would look up, a poof of smoke from behind her would occur and she would feel a kunai being pressed against her spine "Make one move and you will be in more pain then you can imagine. And to ensure you will not try any tricks such as ducking, do know that doing so will earn you a straight kick from me, followed by a hit from the very short ranged between my kunai and your back. Jumping requires you to bend your knees, and doing so even by the slightest will make my kunai hit your spine cord, and that will most likely cause temporary paralyses of your lower body. As for moving to the sides, I wouldn't reccomend doing so unless you want not only your spinal cord to be cut, but also to have a nasty straight scar across a side of your back. Spinning around willl also have the same result, only making a longer scar." She said and pressed the kunai harder on the girl's spine, making it clear she wasn't joking.

Well that was unexpected, Tora was a crafty woman to say the least. Niji didn't really have any other options with all things considered. "May I put my sword back in it's sheath? I can also raise my hands to show I have no tricks up my sleeves if you so wish."

The moment Tora heard Niji offer her to put the sword back in its place, she knew Niji still had something in her trick, so she decided to just be done with it. She put a lot more pressure on the spine, most likely cutting the spinal cord and also cracking the spine a bit. Niji would most likely lose all feeling in her lower body and fall down as Tora jumped backwards twice, raising her kunai and being ready for any kind of case.

The sharp pain and the crack brought out a brief scream of pain as her legs suddenly went dead, although she didn't allow herself to fall entirely as she stabbed her sword down into the ground to give herself something to not so much lean on and more to fall onto, tensing her stomach muscles as much as she could so to protect those oh so important internal organs that could've been damaged by her little stand, holding onto the handle of the blade as well for extra support. She let go of the handle with a small grunt using her body as a cover to guise her actions, she slowly formed the handseals she needed. "I hope you know how this feels, it's not very pleasant when you can't feel your lower half..." She stated, pain dripping from her words as she finished the handseals and loosed the strongest Electromagnetic Murder she could, splitting the ground and thundering towards Tora at, somewhat unironically, lightning speeds.

Hearing the weak words of Niji made Tora instantly start moving back, as she couldn't see if the girl was doing anything. She then saw lightning coming at her, and eventually some of it had managed to hit her. She threw the kunai in her hand away and made it go into the air, using it as a partial conductor for some of the lightning, before it dropped and hit the ground. Breathing a bit due to the jutsu, she went and picked up her kunai before also putting out a small edge of her sleeve that caught fire. She then moved further away before turning back, and throwing a couple of kunai at Niji "I think we are done now." She said in a calm, and clear voice.

Niji fell off of her sword after the ground was displaced and broken by her jutsu, simply laying on her back as she just focused on breathing, as well as watching what Tora did now. She found it a bit funny when she extinguished a torched spot on her sleeve. Though of the two kunai Tora threw at her, one landed in Niji's thigh and the other skimmed her forehead, leaving a fine cut down the middle. "I believe so too, I just didn't want to let you leave without at least doing some damage to you." What followed that was a brief groan before she tilted her head forwards to look at Tora again. "Would you do me the honour of helping me out of here? There are no other tricks, I swear it." She asked, lifting and displaying her empty hands. "I would even show you a white flag, if I had one." She said in slight jest, although she didn't really have the ability to laugh right now.

Tora signaled to the medical nin to come help Niji out before doing the Seal of Confrontation "It was an honour fighting you, Niji-chan. Even though I have not been in direct conflict, I do get all of my clones memories. and you are quite the shinobi." She said before turning away and leaving the arena after she was declared to be the winner, seeing Niji have stated she would 'raise a white flag if she had one'. She did enjoy all of her clones memories and how interesting the fight was. She was looking forward to round two.

"Likewise, Hatake-san. We should meet on friendlier terms, could do with more than my sensei as company. If you're ever visiting Kumogakure come find me." Niji called back after forming the Seal of Confrontation as well, she'd be taken out afterwards and her weapons would be collected for returning to her later on, Niji was very impressed though, being able to more or less hold her own against someone who seemed to be so much stronger than her.

[Mr Nim]

On the way to the Arena...

A collab between Little Alice, Chromehound and Mr Nim

Sumamry
Someone loses their way and encounters someone they previously met.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kiyomi walked away from the field. She felt no regret or any kind of remorse. Breaking the three limbs of the opponent that was already paralyzed was just something that had to be done. Even the hard kick, that would have likely broken some ribs if Kiyomi would have used more power behind it was something she deemed neccessary. If her opponent could move, she could fight. And the goal was to make sure the other wouldn't able to fight. Without killing them. The sentient greatsword on her back shivered as he produced a soft grunt. Patting the scales, Kiyomi briefly smiled. ''You were of great help, Sharky. We made it to round 2.'' Walking furthermore, she looked around. She couldn't find a trace of Hiron or anybody in the small crowd. Thinking about it, she knew Hiron had a match of his own. That meant Hayate would likely be waiting for her. Standing still, Kiyomi kept looking around.

Dropping down in front of her, Hayate had followed her from the field, waiting until she was by herself. As he landed, he looked up, a warm smile on his face. "Congratulations Kiyomi-chan! I knew you could do it!" Hayate hesitated for a moment, part of him wanted to run forwards and hug her, but he wasn't sure how truly alone they were. This whole secrecy thing was difficult. Clenching his fists slightly to resist the urge, Hayate stood still, waiting for Kiyomi to respond.

Seeing that he was having trouble, she giggled as she wrapped an arm around his neck. Like they were best friends. Laughing out loud, she would then walk away with him. The laugh was just a facade. Once she was sure that nobody was too close or watching them, she would do a double check. Gently poking his side, she would whisper something. Just one line to assure him that she was happy. ''Love you.~'' Saying the two words, Kiyomi would look the other way as they would walk the ruined city. It brought back some memories, but they weren't that painful anymore. Though she had killed a lot of people, she understood why it had happened. And how. Luckily, it wouldn't happen again any time soon.

Walking around with a piece of paper in her hand, Kuni looked at it as she tried to figure out where Eiji-sensei and Aiko would be fighting. It felt really confusing for her to need to decided which one she will cheer one. Eiji was her briliant sensei and kind of father, while Aiko also helped her out greatly and she was a great person overall. Trying to think on who she will cheer for and slightly losing her whereabouts once more, she continued to look at the piece of paper and then bumped into someone's back, falling backwards and shaking her head slightly. Looking up, she saw the backs of two people, one of the two having their arm around the others neck "Sorry!" She said straight away, hoping the couple would forgive her.

Hearing the voice behind them, Hayate's face turned red. He was saved only by the fact that their backs were still turned. Regaining his composure, Hayate was slightly disappointed that he hadn't had a chance to reply to Kiyomi. He turned with a friendly smile however, and said, "No need to apologize." He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should pull away from Kiyomi in case they looked a little too friendly, but then he realized that it would only make things look worse.

Turning her head, Kiyomi looked with a rather annoyed expression. She had hoped to hear something back from Hayate. Releasing her arm around his neck, Samehada shivered once. But she didn't need him now. The annoyed expression changed from her face. ''Pups should watch out. You should know that by now, shouldn't you?'' Kiyomi placed her left hand on her hip as she grinned. Remembering Kuni, Kiyomi only noticed something weird. Hayate would be likely the only to pick it up as the usual bright green eyes became a bit darker. You got to be shitting me right now. Her brain tried to process what she had sensed. Samehada shivered again, this time producing a high pitched sound. As if something had made him excited. ''Hayate...'' Kiyomi didn't end her sentence.

Kuni stood up, rubbing dust of her and looking at the two. She didn't know either of them by looks, but the voice of the girl sounded familiar "Sorry, but do I know you?" She asked, and tried to see if she can remember the girl from anywhere. After that failed, she decided to try and think about what the girl said, and after a few more moments she realised something. The girl called her pup. Only girl who ever did so was.. "Lilia Hon?" She asked, sounding cautious due to the change of appearance in the girl's look.

As she pulled away from him briefly, Hayate got a weird feeling from Kiyomi. Turning to face this newcomer in front of them, it appeared as if Kiyomi and the girl knew each other... only... When the girl called Kiyomi Lilia, a shiver ran down Hayate's spine. It had brought up memories of a time long passed. He decided not to say anything as he appeared to be the odd man out. When Kiyomi spoke his name however, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Something was off.

''Kiyomi. Long story, but that is my name. What are you doing here... and why...'' Kiyomi's eyes narrowed. There was no doubt. That brief feeling. Samehada getting excited. It was just too much. And only one reason why both the feeling and Samehada had happend at the same time. ''Lift your shirt up.'' Kiyomi suddenly said with a cold voice. Already she was disgusted by the thought of what she assumed. But she wanted to be sure. If it was what she assumed, it would change something.

Raising an eyebrow, Kuni wondered for a second why did Lilia change her name to something like Kiyomi. Sounded a bit weird. But she figured some people like to change. When Kiyomi asked her to raise her shirt, Kuni raised her second eyebrow. How could Kiyomi know? It was either that she knew, or Kiyomi was very odd. Placing a hand over her belly, Kuni looked down "Another one who wants to say something about the fact I'm a Jinch now? Go ahead and say it. Won't change who I am. Kuni Sadako, Menace of Amegakure and student of Eiji-sensei!" She said in a proud voice, but somewhat quiet as well. She then raised her hand from her belly and pointed at herself. She did not care for what people thought. She knew that those who cared for her will act just the same towards her. And Eiji did so.

The command of Kiyomi's for the other girl to lift her shirt threw Hayate off. He looked away at first expecting her to lift it and not wanting to appear like a creep. But the girl simply placed her hand over her belly. The gesture seemed oddly familiar yet Hayate remained clueless for the moment. When she mentioned being a jinchuriki, his eyes darted between the two girls. Keeping his mouth sealed, Hayate waited for Kiyomi to respond. This whole situation was a little confusing...

So it was true. Kiyomi slowly raised her chin a bit. ''Why would I? Its not like I care about that.'' Kiyomi reacted with a cold tone. The sentient blade shivered again. Then it oddly stopped. ''But regardless of your titles, which I care little for as well, how are you.. pup?'' A smirk grew on Kiyomi's lips. It was both as a jest as well proving she showed no care that Kuni was a jinchuriki. But she actually thought about it. If Kuni was a jinchuriki, it would have happened between the time she had met her for the first time and now. Maybe it was what she had heard? ''Well?''

Lowering her hand, Kuni raised her eyebrow again "If you didn't care, then you wouldn't have asked me to raise my shirt, wolf." She said with a slightly teasing voice before sticking out her tongue for a moment. She then smiled to the two "Well, I am fine, and Eiji and Sachi are also doing good, in case you were wondering. In fact, I was on my way to watch Eiji and Aiko's fight, but I can't find the arena." She said and pointed at the piece of paper which was at her other hand, which appeared to have instructions on how to reach the arena, written to her by Eiji.

As the tension seemed to lessen, Hayate smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head with a hand. These two apparently had some catching up to do, but Hayate had no intention of leaving Kiyomi. This was one of the only times he would be able to be around her and he intended to stick around as much as possible. Hayate did not know enough about jinchuuriki to harbour any fear of them. Besides, Kiyomi was one, and she was awesome. That must mean that others were cool too.

Kiyomi wanted to tell Kuni she wanted to be sure as it wasn't something to talk like that, not at all in a joking matter or screaming it from the rooftops. Wondering, Kiyomi figured that she shouldn't talk too much about it. Even though she was a jinchuriki and advanced to the bond of having a healthy relationship with Matatabi, Kiyomi actually saw no need in helping another jinchuriki. Thinking back to Matatabi's words, even while they were what you could say his brethren or sisters, he also felt no need to help some of them. Why would she? ''Aunt A and Eiji-san? That sounds interesting.'' Kiyomi briefly wondered who of the two was stronger. Having fought both and also won, Kiyomi couldn't really decide between them. ''I am not sure. I am going to look at the match of Hiron with Hayate.'' Bumping his shoulder, Kiyomi grinned. ''I think I have earned my rest after getting to the second round.''

"You are participating? Well good luck in the next round!" Kuni said, sounding somewhat surprised. Kiyomi looked like she was about her age, so she wasn't too surprised by her being able to enter. Several people at her age were already chuunin, so she knew they could enter. She wondered if Kiyomi was chuunin or jounin, but decided against asking "Well, have fun with your boyfriend! I will go back into trying to figure out where the right arena is. I already been at one, but it had someone named Mika and someone else... Think her name was Nazari or something. Unsure. She was from Ame but lost, so it wasn't too interesting." She said and shrugged her shoulders before looking around, trying to see if she could spot a sign or anyone else she knew. She narrowed her eyes as she thought she saw Eiji in the distance, walking somewhere.

Raising an eyebrow on the fact that Kuni called Hayate her boyfriend, the more blunt side of Kiyomi would show up. A clear sign of pure Keiko influence. Placing her left hand on her hip, she scoffed. ''If you say he is my boyfriend, I don't want to know how many you see as a boyfriend, pup. Hayate here is my student. He is tagging along so he can learn something from the battles. As long as he pays attention.'' Kiyomi briefly wondered what was wrong. She had made it sure that it would like she and Hayate looked friends. Not even close relatives saw them as friends. Deciding that Kuni was just in her own way a tad odd, Kiyomi noticed she started to look around. ''Good luck on finding Aunt A and Eiji-san then?'' She said, not sure if Kuni was just going to run off or something. Kiyomi felt the need to say it wasn't really polite to suddenly to focus on something else while talking, but again, Kuni was odd in Kiyomi's eyes.

Looking back at Kiyomi, Kuni rubbed the back of her head "Sorry. It just looked like it when I bumped into the two of you. And if you have a student, then you must be a lot more talented then what I thought. Anyways, thanks, and have fun with watching... Hiron?" She said, trying to remember if that was the name of the person she said she was going to watch. It was either that or Hayate. But she didn't want to appear like a complete fool in front of her, so she decided to risk it. Kuni then offered her hand to shake, deciding she should head off, but not before offering a proper goodbye.

Biting his tongue during the boyfriend remark, Hayate allowed Kiyomi to deny it for him. After all, being blunt was more her strength than his. Smiling again he turned to Kiyomi. "Well sensei, we should probably get going soon. Hiron-sama's match start's soon." Turning towards the other girl he offered his hand as well. "It was nice to meet you."

With both Hayate and Kuni giving each other a hand, Kiyomi simply nodded. ''Thank you. Cya Kuni.'' Punching Hayate's shoulder, Kiyomi made a moving gesture with her right hand, which she had also used to playfully punch his shoulder. Briefly, Samehada shivered again as Kiyomi turned around. With her back to Kuni, walking towards the direction where Hiron's fight would be, the eyes of Kiyomi became darker again. She had learned something, but as she thought about it. It didn't matter that much to her.

Kuni shook Hayate's hand and gave a nod to Kiyomi, and watched for a moment as both of them went on their way. She then ran in the direction of where she thought she saw Eiji, hoping she wasn't late.

[Fieryfly]

Tournament Round 1

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A Promise of Tea

Aiko Hon-Cho vs. Eiji Emiya

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A collab between Lesli and Fieryfly

*-*

SPOILER: Click to show

A fight against Aiko. Eiji thought about this. Of all the people in the tournament he was facing of against the one person he honestly knew and considered to be a friend. How curious. It was as if something had planned this from the start. That was ridiculous of course, because those matches were selected randomly putting Jounin against Chuunin in more than one instant. Eiji shifted his headband around on his forehead as he walked to the field. He didn't really like the thing, but in some instances it could actually help. Before he could enter the terrain he encountered his opponent who seemed to have taken the same route. Eiji smiled and halted before her.

"Miss Cho." He said with a nod.

Aiko was so deep in thoughts, she hadn't even noticed Eiji. Only when he halted before he and spoke, she looked up. Smiling when seeing the person she would have to face, Aiko couldn't even think of saying anything hostile. ''Mister Emiya.'' Aiko said back, even making a polite little bow towards him. ''I want to congrulate you. I haven't been able to do that, ever since your promotion. Mister Assistant.'' Aiko said, with a very polite tone. It was actually good she had to face Eiji. Most opponents would likely begin with small talk or try to do something that wasn't original to get her scared. Like if she would be easy to be scared off, why would she then be a jounin?

EIji's smile grew slightly. "Thank you. Honestly, it came a bit as a surprise to me." He admitted. "But it is good work. How are the twins?" He asked her as if they were just meeting up for tea and weren't about to face of against each other. Even though he was totally prepared to fight her in a minute he didn't see why he couldn't be polite about it.

''They are doing fine. Both of them are already growing so fast.'' Aiko answered. The question made her think briefly of the twins. It was a bit sad that they weren't even nearby. She would have liked to see them once this all would be done. Only to remember herself, she had a way to quickly head home once she was done here. But she wouldn't like to rush it either. ''What about if we go and sit down? Maybe drink some tea? Unless you want to go and fight now.'' Aiko suggested.

So the kids were good, that was great. Eiji could remember Aiko's troubled look when he had first met her and ninjutsu was forbidden. She had been so concerned so he was glad that the two had lived and would see the future. For a moment he thought about Sachi. She too would see the future. "I know what you mean, my daughter is also growing like she is in a hurry or something." He said. "And as attractive as that offer is..." He shot a look foward to the empty street that lay before them. People were lining up, waiting for them. "I think we are expected to do something. Something more... exciting to them than drinking tea."

Following his look, Aiko nodded. The people were eager to see the two fight against each other. Which was in a way disgusting. Like they were animals, pitted to face each other in combat. But she shrugged mentally the thought off. It would be too late to back off now. That and she was anxious to fight Eiji. All she knew was that he was capable enough to become chosen as the Amekage assistant. Wondering if he would know anything about her abilities, Aiko friendly responded back. ''Before we start, I want to wish you good luck. Not that you need it, Eiji. But who ever of us win, I want to thank you for the honor you grant me by being my opponent. I couldn't wish for a more fitting friend to duel against.'' Reaching out her hand, Aiko genuinly smiled.

With another nod Eiji accepted her hand. "That goes for you too. All of it." He said. It was strange how this duel started, he thought smiling slightly. He knew Aiko was tough. She was a Jounin of Konohagakure and the wife of the former Hokage. She would not be a joke and yet he didn't feel too troubled. Even if he would lose, that was okay. He released her hand and stepped forward to the empty space. The people cheered. Eiji banned them out of his mind, he could not be distracted now because now, now they would fight.

Like Eiji, Aiko heard nobody cheering. The crowd wasn't there. All she could hear, see and smell was Eiji. For now, she would put all her attention and focus on him. Memorizing his smell, the sound of his voice and all that kind of information. Walking to her position, Aiko stared briefly at the headband she still held in her right hand. Slowly, she would put it on like regular shinobi. Not something she usually had, but she found it fitting for this match. Like she wanted to show she was from another village. ''Here we go, Eiji.'' Aiko whispered as she would form the Seal of Confrontation. For a moment, she could feel her heart skipping a beat. It was about to begin.

The same rush was going through Eiji. The fight was going to start. He followed his opponents movements and made the seal. Now they were equals on a battlefield. After he had dropped the seal Eiji's hands went to his pockets and his fingers found his weapons. His eyes never left Aiko, but, like the fight with Lilia way before, he didn't move. He did not know the extend of her capabilities and was not the person to rush in without knowing it. The hands on his pockets moved together in preparation of a seal that he expected he needed to make.

Lowering her hand, she noticed that Eiji wasn't moving in. Staying wary, she then slowly brought her hands together. Still watching Eiji. Then as fast as she could, she started to form handsignals to use the Hidden Mist technique. If she could get an advantage over Eiji, she would be able to win this easier. While weaving the handsignals, Aiko could briefly feel the rush of before again. It was like it would happen every time she thought of the moment Eiji would jump into action.

There, she started moving, forming seals. Eiji quickly removed his hands from his pockets and finished his seals. The earth beneath Aiko's feet would start to shift as an Earth Wall would try to climb up from the ground aiming to disrupt Aiko's technique. Eiji unwinded his poi as he moved foward. The iron balls spun around and smashed into the ground with every step Eiji made leaving little dents. He counted his steps carefully and watched his path even more carefully as he ran up to the woman.

Briefly Aiko was surprised. The ground was moving while she was just one signal away from finishing her technique. Focusing on her task, she managed to complete the streak. With the ground being raised, Aiko had noticed through sound and smell that Eiji was approaching her. That was bad. She wanted to attack from a distance as she wasn't sure how well she would be able to fight him in close range quarters. Jumping from the wall, backwards, Aiko would try to figure out what Eiji was doing. She clearly heard him smashing something against the ground. But what was it? Staying cautious, she moved silently away from the wall.

Mist. That was not good, but Eiji's steps didn't falter. She wanted distance, that was clear, but he wanted her up close. He was no good with fighting long range battles. No, he had to lure her close to him and fight him on his terms. However, with this mist she would know every move he was making, meaning he had to get out or find a way to disperse it. Luckily that wouldn't prove too difficult. The poi spun past his body in synchonization before he slammed them down into the wall he had just made creating a relatively large explosion that turned the mist into flying dust and debris and effectively shattered the earth before him. He would like to keep Aiko in sight if possible.

Even while standing safe from a distance and a wall of earth between them, she could see it. The mist was blown away by Eiji's explosion. Though there was still some portion left, even a half blind fool would notice that it wouldn't last long before he would have erased the mist. That was going to be a problem. Weaving handsignals, she would prepare one of her genjutsu. It was more effective if Eiji wouldn't be able to use his eyes, but she couldn't waste time to keep the mist up and preparing her next technique. Grabbing a kunai, Aiko poured some chakra into the weapon. Throwing it against a wall, she pulled out more kunai. It would take some seconds before Eiji would notice the effect he would be in. He would suffer a loud ringing noise that would thus make it impossible for him to use hearing.

The dust was settling down and Eiji hadn't changed his course. He had to catch up to her, but with this dust it was just as impossible to see as with the mist. At least she didn't have an advantage then. His ears were ringing, but Eiji figured it was an after effect from the explosion. That had happened a lot before when he had been inexperienced with using explosions. He would regain his hearing soon enough, he figured as the poi suddenly halted and wrapped itself around his hands. Within seconds he had disappeared underground using the Hiding Like A Mole technique Kuni was so fond of. As he had figured the ringing noise disappeared. Speeding through the earth he would appear below Aiko aiming to grab her feet and wrap his poi around them.

Aiko was about to run in the mist, that was left, to throw kunai towards Eiji. Only to hear something. And then his scent vanished. Skidding to a halt, Aiko was briefly surprised. Then it dawned on her. The earth wall had given her one hint. He was an Earth release user. And with the scent suddenly vanishing, it meant only one thing. Grabbing a tag out of her pouch, Aiko would place it on the ground. Then she would wait for the sound. She had to be fast. While waiting, it seemed like it was a hour. A hour before she heard it. The sound of the ground breaking as something would appear out of the surface. Jumping up, Aiko wavered. Not for her own safety, but for Eiji. In the end, she didn't use the tag. Landing on the ground, she readied herself again as well trying to sense where he would be.

The hands found not what they were looking for only... a tag! Immediately Eiji retreated hoping that he was in time, but nothing happened. There was no explosion, there was nothing. Eiji frowned as he formed a seal and then emerged from the ground about five meter to the side of Aiko. So she had predicted him to move underground and had caught him before he had been able to grab her, but didn't blow him up. Why? But he gave himself no time to think. He was closer now. The poi spun and hit the ground leaving a small trail behind as he ran towards her.

Seeing him appearing out of the ground, Aiko pulled out an explosive tag and something else out of her pouch. Regretting she hadn't blow him up, she noticed something. His weapon. It wasn't something she had faced before. Wasn't that not a toy for children? Even if it was, he made it look quite dreadful. Throwing the explosive kunai between them, she jumped backwards as well throwing something after it. It was one of her poison, the odourless poison mist. Hoping that the short distance and sudden attack would spread the poison soon enough, she didn't want to catch herself into it.

As soon as Aiko jumped something followed her from the ground. One of Eiji's explosive clones that he had created a moment before while he was underground followed the woman as she traveled up into the sky. It would appear behind her and didn't even waste time attacking. It just blew up, hopefully sending the woman fowards into her own explosion and poison cloud.

Meanwhile Eiji, having noticed the explosive tag, tried to shield himself from most of the explosion by raising an earth wall before him to stop the force. He ran up the wall to get a good view of the area, unknowingly breathing in the poison as he did so.

Her eyes widened. She heard and smelled Eiji behind her. A clone? Her head turned around as she was about to do something about it. Wanting to use her Wind Stream Technique, she realized something. Her ears picked it up sooner than her reflexes. An explosion. Feeling the warm gust, Aiko was suddenly send flying forwards, towards her own poisoned mist. That was bad. Focusing, she used her wind release technique to blow away the mist, moving it away from her as she landed on her feet, skidding forwards. Coming to a halt, she felt something warm. In her right side, there was a sharp rock. It had penetrated her side, likely being blown by the explosion with so much force it would have been much deeper if it weren't for her flak jacket. Gritting her teeth, she quickly looked up to Eiji. Her right hand went to the sharp rock, trying to yank it out.

It took Eiji a second or so to realize that his tactic had worked even better then expected. The woman had not only been blown to the ground, she was actually hurt. A part of him felt bad for it, but it wasn't life threatening and this was a fight. He blinked slowly and got his act together. Without wasting more time jumped down from his pedestal towards Aiko his poi ready to slam themselves into Aiko, or the ground if she would be so smart to move away. He would not release an explosion if he were to hit her for that would certainly shred her to bits.

Now he was going to experience something! Not sure as she had been too busy with saving her own hide, Aiko wasn't sure if Eiji was under the influence of the poison. Weaving handsignals, she took a deep breath. With Eiji being in the air, he would be at her mercy. In some kind of way. Using a stronger version of her stream, she would blow Eiji back, higher into the air as she grabbed several kunai. Aiming, the Cho would attempt to throw the weapons towards Eiji while he would be in the air.

It seemed the poi were never meant to hit the earth. With some serious Wind Release power Aiko blew him back and the poi spun helplessly through the air. Still they were spinning and at quite some speed. It felt weird to be sailing through the sky like that, but he didn't really have the time to admire it. He registered kunai coming his way and moved the poi in front of him like he had done thousands of times before to block incoming weapons. Encircling Shield was very useful. However it didn't seem to work so well now. He was too late as one kunai caught his arm, leaving a nasty cut. The rest was blocked and send back to the ground where Eiji would land too eventually. He could feel the blood trickling along his arm and winced slightly. Why hadn't he been able to block that? That was just plain weird. He had good reflexes in general. He flexed his fingers and considered them fine. However what she could do he could do to. He fished a couple of shuriken from his pouch and threw them to her as he finished a string of seals, duplicating them with the use of Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique as well as preforming one more seal.

Kuni watched with awe at the battle that was going on. Both Eiji and Aiko were brilliant fighters. She did need to let the final rings from Aiko's genjutsu get out of her head, but after doing that, she stood up and started jumping on the spot with raised hands "Go Eiji-sensei! You can do it!" She yelled to him, and tured to look at Aiko "Go Aiko! You can win this!" She then shouted to her, before deciding to just continue to shout, now looking at both of them "Go Eiji! Go Aiko! Go Eiji! Go Aiko!" She shouted, trying to make sure both of them will hear her. She wanted to make up for being a bit late to the fight, so she figured shouting to cheer them both is the way to do so.

Narrowing her eyes, Aiko again took a deep breath. Like she would fall for that! Blowing out the same strong wave of wind towards the incoming projectiles, she would turn Eiji's attack back. Only then she noticed something. Eiji wouldn't likely hear it, due the Hell Bell genjutsu. But she could hear it. And with being so focused on battling, she picked that voice up. Kuni?' For a moment, the mother instinct of Aiko alarmed her. Due fighting, she couldn't clearly realize that Kuni was cheering for them. It allowed her to let two shuriken pass the strong gust. One of the shuriken grazed the left shoulder pad of her jacket. The other left a little cut on her cheek. Alarmed by it, Aiko quickly made a short jump back. Focusing again on Eiji, she would prepare herself to make a water clone. It was vital to turn the battle more into her favor.

The barrage of shuriken had, however, hidden the true purpose of the attack. Behind the wave had appeared two Eiji's, both with poi spinning as they dug into the ground. They approached Aiko from both sides aiming to drive her the direction he wanted to. There had been a lot of running (and flying for Eiji's part) around the area and everywhere the poi had touched a little bit of chakra had been put in the ground, little mines that were ready to do their job would Aiko just come near to them. The two red haired shinobi would lash out with the poi as soon as they got in range, hopefully sending her backwards.

Using her agility, Aiko managed to keep avoiding to get hit by the poi. It was difficult, even while she used her senses to hear where the next attack was coming, she was driven back as she kept evading the attacks. It was frustrating. While staying safe from getting hit, she couldn't counter attack. Eiji and his clone weren't given her the time she needed to react back with an attack. With a quick back flip, she managed to avoid an attack as well creating some space between them. Only when she was performing another one, she turned pale. When she was still in a handstand, she had noticed something. There were strange dents in the ground. Time slowed down as her heart skipped a beat. Seeing how they had started on a flat ground, she was sure that the dent shouldn't be there. ''Shi-''

Faster than she wanted, her feet landed on the dent. Trying to jump up, Aiko felt the burning sensation. It was very hot, like her leg was on fire. Yelping, she was blown backwards, send over the ground on her back. Breathing irregular, she noticed the burnt mark on her right leg. An explosion? How? Her leg was aching with pain as she also heard a sharp whistling sound. Dammit. Need to get up. Trying to get up as fast as she could, Aiko started to weave a streak of handsignals. She couldn't afford Eiji and his clone to get near her now.

Meanwhile Eiji started to notice that something was wrong. Aiko had been hit and for a moment Eiji had paused. His tactic had been dangerous and could have her killed so he had made the mines weaker than normal, meaning her legs would still be attached to her body. Now that he stood still however getting started seemed difficult. He blinked and it seemed to take ages. The poi were zipping past him, but his eyes didn't seem able to follow them properly. What was going on? He shook his head slightly as his clone moved forwards towards Aiko faster then he himself seemed to be able to move. He followed it almost leisturely, moving to the side to dodge the line of mines that had been planted there before. The clone would attack Aiko first while the real Eiji stayed behind waiting to see how the woman would react.

Petals would seem to appear out of nowhere. Aiko's body seem to dissolve into petals. With the use of the poison, she could use the genjutsu in a much more efficient way. Now invisible for Eiji and still having blocked out his hearing with the Hell Bell Genjutsu, Aiko would move away from her last position. The pain in her leg was annoying, but she could endure it. Judging by the look on Eiji's face, he was likely expecting that something was off. First, she would take out his clone. Pulling out two shuriken, Aiko aimed the weapons at the back and neck of the clone, hoping to destroy it.

Eiji halted as Aiko disappeared the poi spinning along side him, shielding him. The clone blew up as the shuriken hit it in the back. Another cloud of dust settled over the field and Eiji shifted his formation. Instead of having the poi swing to both of his sides he changed the patern to a more complicated one where they would rotate all around his body, protecting it from every side with only very little openings. He had no clue where Aiko had disappeared to and already figured that she must have something to do with the state he was in. It was better to return to his old tactic of defending and outlasting his opponent.

Another explosion. She was from some distance, but the warm gust still reached her. Aiko quickly started to think about it. During the course of the battle, she had noticed that he used quite some explosions. But she hadn't notice any tag. Pondering on it, she knew that there was a technique that could blow up a shadow clone. Was it the same? But the dents? Shooting a look at the dents, she realized that those were explosive as well. It was without a doubt. He somehow used explosions as his way of combat. Looking at how the poi started to rotate all around his body, she couldn't ressist but to be impressed. Eiji was indeed a very skilled shinobi. Pulling out three shuriken, she didn't aim for Eiji. She aimed for the dents. And those closest to Eiji.

Where was she? Eiji scanned the field. Even though there was debris everywhere it shouldn't be so hard to figure where she had disappeared to, and yet it was. The poi were a good line of defense, but defense would do nothing if the opponent wouldn't show herself. Slowly he started to walk, circling around the middle of the area when suddenly several shuriken appeared in his vision. They would never pass shield he had set up, of that he was sure, but he was also sure Aiko was aware of that. They were aimed different and it took Eiji longer then it should be to realize what she was actualy trying to achieve. He broke formation and lashed out with his right hand to have the poi knock the shuriken away from its destinated path. He was not getting blown up by his own techniques. He made it in the nick of time and immediately pulled his hand back to return to his former position. Quickly he made several steps back away from most of the dents. That was too close for comfort, he thought absentmindedly as he tried to figure out what to do. He had to expose her, force her out. Luckily there were more dents now scattered around the field. Carefully Eiji brought his hands together, the poi still spinning and made one seal.

Within a second all the little mines would blow up.

Already standing from some distance, Aiko hadn't expected it. With the little mines being blown up, she was barely in time to raise her arms to protect her face against the dust that was whiped up by the gust of the explosions. Knowing it was to lose sight over Eiji, Aiko quickly tried to see how he was doing. Feeling disappointed that her plan to use his own mines against him didn't work as planned, Aiko knew that she had to be careful. For now she had some advantage, but she didn't want to waste it by sending technique after technique towards Eiji. Moving around, to keep herself moving, she pulled out two kunai. Attaching wire to them, she would try something out. Once she had attached the wire to the loop hole of the kunai, Aiko would throw the weapons towards Eiji. Only to make the weapons go in a different angle at the last time, using the wire.

More kunai? Somehow Eiji had expected something more. Kunai would not cut through the iron of his weapon unless they were infused with some heavy lightning chakra. So far he had gotten no indication that Aiko even possessed that nature. He was about to shift his attention away, not even interested, when the kunai changed trajectory and Eiji was reminded of Lilia, who had used the same technique once before. Wire. That was the only option. He changed his stance and moved the poi out of the way as if he was falling for the trap. The iron again grazed his arm but that was fine. The poi lashed out and wound itself around the wire in an complicated manouver and Eiji pulled his arm back. If he was right then Aiko was still holding the wire, hoping she could surpise him again. Hopefully she would be the one surpised now as he would use the wire to pull her out of hiding and closer to him.

And she was. Only too late to completely avoid getting pulled, Aiko stepped forward. Her painful leg first. Hissing, due the sudden pain, Aiko released the wire. For a moment, she was worried that he had heard her. Only to remember that his hearing was blocked. Knowing she had to move or else he would attack her last position, Aiko straighten up and bite her tongue. First she had to do something about the pain. Trying to jog away from her last location, she was considering her options.

At least he knew where she had been. He had felt resistance at his pull and immediately moved forwards, but soon he was holding the end of the wire and she was not behind it. Still, she wouldn't be able to run fast with that leg injury. His own arms were stinging. Maybe getting hit was not such a good idea. The blood made his hands slippery. That along with the strange feeling he had had for a while now and the defeaning silence surrounding him the whole fight didn't sound very promising to him. He was not a sensor and he was running out of tactics to use to find her. "How long will you keep running?" he mumbled as he ran up a piece of large falled debris.

Panting, she could hear him. Shooting a glare in his direction, she briefly saw no friend. No Eiji. Just a damn bastard who had caused the injury. I will make you bleed for that. She thought. Saying something back wouldn't help. It would be like yelling to a deaf man. Actually, that would be her own fault. Focusing again, she kneeled quickly down. It wouldn't be like she had the time of the world to do something about her leg. With a bit of bandage, she tried to treat her injury as good as possible. Ripping some bandage from her left arm, Aiko managed to at least bandage it. Straighten up, she knew what she was going to do.

Forming a handseal, Eiji could at least hear again. It wasn't about preserving her chakra. It was to make sure he would hear her words as the genjutsu, the Hell Bell, would stop. ''I think we need to end this. Right here and right now.'' Pulling out a kunai, she stood still as she would watch on how Eiji was going to react, as she had talked with a rather cold tone.

Sound. It hit Eiji like a wave and shocked him. Suddenly the public was there again, shouting, the wind was there and Aiko's voice. Disorientated Eiji looked down from his spot up high to find its owner. "That seems to be favorable for us both." He replied. Her cold tone didn't surpise him. This was no longer a battle between friends, this was a battle between shinobi. "So will you come out or stay hidden in the shadows?" He asked her as the poi slowed down and his hands moved together.

''Fine. No more tricks. No more toys.'' Slowly from the petals, she would become visible for him. Her hands moved to her pouch, which dropped on the ground after a moment. Then they went to her headband, which followed suit. ''Agree?'' Aiko wasn't sure how well versed Eiji was with taijutsu and normally she wouldn't even think about playing it fair. But in all truth, she hadn't experienced a battle like this for a long time. The pain in her leg was still present, but she had bigger things to worry about.

Eiji was inclined to say no. He didn't play fair. Ninja's didn't play fair, but it seemed Aiko was willing to come out of her hiding place because of his words. That was... convenient and he had to give her some respect for that. It was also greatly in his advantage because she would be close up to him. The poi halted completely now and wrapped itself around his wrists. He flexed his fingers. "Agreed." He said then as he jumped forwards to land a drop kick on her from above.

Moving backwards with a quick series of steps, Aiko raised her hands in a defensive manner. With use of her agiltiy, she would move in with a feint, moving her right arm like she was about to punch him. Instead, her right leg was raised in an attempt to kick him in the side. The kick connected and was painful. Eiji cursed. Where had his reflexes disappeared to? His firm stance luckily saved him from toppling over and he took hold of her leg, twisting it while bringing his own leg up to kick her other injured leg. Bending first through her leg, Aiko bite her tongue as she briefly jumped up with the injured leg she was standing on. Grabbing him, she attemped to use her weight to bring him down to the ground. He let himself be pulled over only to disappear in the ground as soon as he touched it and popping up behind Aiko trusting his hand forward to hit her shoulder, the Exploding Palm technique ready to be used.

Surprised that he went into the ground, she quickly prepared to land on her good foot. Hearing something behind her, Aiko ducked, then pressed herself backwards, using her body to slam him out of balance. Hopefully, she would be able to hit him hard with her shoulder in his chest with her surprise attack. His hand flew over her without meeting any resistance and Eiji found himself with a shoulder in his chest that slammed all the air out of his lungs. He gagged and stumbled back. His arms tingled, but he composed himself and ran up to Aiko again, feinting to the left before swiping at her injured leg again with his left foot.

Regaining her balance, Aiko took a defensive stance. When Eiji was coming at her again, she already expected him to attack her injured leg. In fact, she wouldn't even try to keep her injured leg out of the way. Clenching her right hand into a fist, she would suffer the hit. A soft sound escaped the lips that Aiko tried to keep sealed. Only then her right hand rushing towards Eiji, hoping he would try to block it with his injured arm or hit his face with her fist.

Having his face hit was not an option, he was already shaken enough as it was and he didn't need a headache added to that so he caught the fist with his right arm, wincing. The limb trembled. His other arm shot forward to grab hold of her wrist, aiming to use the Explosive Palm again to send her away. Only to be send flying backwards as well. The Blade of Wind technique would cause an explosive reaction as it came in contact with the Explosive Palm of Eiji. It had been used with Aiko's left hand, who had moved forward to block both the strike of Eiji as well trying to send him be hurled back.

The explosion covered them, but Aiko would be seen thrown backwards to smack on the ground. Breathing heavy, she could feel the bruises on her body. Next to that, the wound on her side was starting to bleed as well. Cursing herself, she tried to get up. She had to get up. Not more to win or to prove herself. But she owed it to Eiji. She wanted to make sure this would be a match that they could both be proud off. ''I.. am not done. I..'' Muttering the words, she struggled to get up.

The explosion was way more massive than it was supposed to be. Eiji followed Aiko's movements and was thrown backwards as well. For the second time the air was pushed out of his lungs as his body met violently with the earth. That. Hurt. For a moment Eiji lay still and just felt the pain. His ears rung again and his vision was blurry. Then he tried to get up, Aiko's words reaching him only partially. "Maybe..." He started before seeing Aiko struggle. Considering the state of his own body he would say there were both rather done for. He mananged to get on his knees and tried to straigthen up. It was hard. "We... I am..." He said as he tried to keep his breath even and failed. "I think we are finished. I don't think I can effectively pull another attack meaning..."

She had just managed to lift her upper body. Closing her eyes, she could hear Eiji's words. Then she laughed. It would look weird. Laughing while you were actually in a match, supposed to do anything but to have fun. ''So it is a draw?'' She asked, with a hoarse voice. Realizing that they both weren't really in a state that they could consider one of them able to continue fighting, Aiko wondered if he would be okay. She had poisoned him and it would be bad if there was something that he would be allergic to. ''To be honest, I think that I can't either.'' Slowly, she let herself lay on her back.

Aiko's laughter was received with slight surprise but then Eiji joined her. He managed to move slightly closer to her and settled down again. "So," he asked as lay back down and continued his conversation as if no fight had ever happened. "What exactly did you do to me and will I suffer lasting consequences? Because I know something is wrong when I wave my hand in front of my face and I can't follow it with my eyes."

Now she couldn't stop laughing. It was actually horrible that he was drugged or poisoned, it was just how you wanted to call it. But already now she could laugh about it. ''Don't worry, I have an antidote ready. You'll be fine.'' Aiko closed her eyes as she felt somehow at ease. ''So with both of us unable to continue. You poisoned and I am not really motivated to suffer more pain, I think can we call it for today?'' Aiko suggested. Her suggestion meant a draw. Aiko wasn't sure what the consquences would be of that. Only that she wouldn't continue fighting now. They had done their best and they were equals. Equals with Eiji. Feeling proud, she had managed to stay on par with a very capable jounin. Without needing to get angry or wanting to win. Actually, though in pain, she had found it fun.

So he was poisoned. Eiji's mind raced over the battle, rewinding it. When had he been poisoned? He couldn't recall which probably meant that Aiko had done a good job with hiding it. "Oh good." He said dropping his hand as she suggested that they could call it a day. A draw. It was not what Eiji had expected when he had entered the ring. But then again he had not expected to fight Aiko. "And let's do that. Now we only have one more problem..." He grinned slightly. "We need to let the referee know that this is it and I am not walking over there."

''Pardon my language, but he can stick his finger in a dark place of his own. I am not going there either.'' Aiko replied, laughing. Her leg was really starting to ach with pain. The medical nin were standing ready and after some seconds, they both could hear a signal. The match was over. ''May I ask you one thing, Eiji?'' Aiko decided to ask as the medical nin were approaching them. They seemed a bit careful, like they were cautious for any land mines that would be left by Eiji.

Slowly Eiji breathed out as the signal echoed across the field. With uninterested eyes he watched the medics come for them. They were stupid. Clearly he had blown up all the mines with that one attack and since they were linked to his chakra there would be none left. "Of course, besides there is not much I can do to stop you." He replied to the woman that lay next to him.

''Aside from not answering.'' She said. ''But I wanted to ask you. Do you also feel, happy?'' The question somehow seemed odd to her, but she felt happy. Happy how both of them had given their all and had put up quite the fight. A fight that hadn't started with shit talk or boasting. No, they had greeted each other on friendly terms and she was convinced they would leave on friendly terms.

Eiji chuckled slightly. Happy? He thought about it and realized, yes, he was pretty content even though he lay partly broken on the ground. It had been a good match. It had been a creative and interesting fight and in a way, yes, that made him happy. "I.... I do." He replied therefore. "How extremely enlightening."

''Isn't it?'' Aiko was lifted up by some medical nin. ''I will see you later Eiji. Remember, tea on my treat.'' The pain was starting to get annoying. Looking over her shoulder, Aiko would cast a smile towards Eiji before the few medical nin would carry her away. The battle between her and Eiji was one she would remember. Besides, she had managed to get a draw with him. The personal assistant of the Amekage. It had a good ring to it. For now she would however take it easy. Not that she had other plans.

"Tea on your treat. I would never forget that." Eiji repeated as he waited for the medical ninja to come for him. Suddenly someone would jump out of the half ruined ground and hug Eiji while looking in Aiko's direction "Bye Aiko! I hope you will feel better soon!" Kuni shouted to her and the looked at the man she hugged "Hey Eiji-sensei. That was an amazing fight. Both you and Aiko were awesome. Did you know I met Lil- I mean, Kiyomi Hon on the way over here? It was nice to see her, even if she didn't look the same. She said she was going to see someone elses fight. I think his name was Hiron. But nevermind that. How are you feeling?" She asked and let him go, looking at him in a slightly worried look.

"K-..Kuni.." Eiji struggled in the hug. It was sweet of her, but he was actually hurt. He winced slightly but still moved his arms to embrace her. "T-thank you. It was an amazing fight. Could you..." He didn't have to finish his sentence as she moved back herself. He didn't know the Kiyomi Hon she was talking about. Maybe a friend she met when she visited the Hon Estate? But he did know Hiron. He grinned slightly. He had wanted to see that match, but it seemed that he would not be able to. "I am... okay." He replied to her as the medics arrived. "And I will be even better if you let them patch me up. I'll see you in a bit okay?"

She nodded, but before letting the medical-nin approach and begin treating him, she held his hand "Feel better quickly, Eiji-sensei. I will drag you out of here if I hear that you have been seriously damaged all the way to Ame hospital, just so you will be close to Sachi. And me. But more importantly Sachi." She said and let go of his hand Plus I still need to learn so much from you. She thought to herself as she took a step back and the medical nin came and begun treating Eiji.

Eiji smiled and raised his arm to ruffle through her hair. "I'll be fine Kuni." He said. It was sweet that she was worried, but he understood and he agreed. He lowered his hand and rested it against her cheek.

"No one will die today. That is a promise."