Private/Closed Naruto AU: Roleplay

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Heh, there’s no way he could survive that- did he just survive that?!?

Zaku was surprised at the sudden change of tactics in Katuso’s part, the water shuriken’s shifted elsewhere beyond the visible range of him. Wait...I might not be able to catch up with him visually. But maybe I can audibly. Zaku closed his eyes, hearing the sound of rotating shuriken around the lava barrier, so they were accounted for, then he felt the sound of clothes rustling as something leaped up high. So he’s trying to get ABOVE my barrier huh?

“Your second rate parlor trick won’t fool me!”

Zaku removed his hands from the implacement on the ground, but they quickly were thrown up high, with the now airborne lava. The lava followed his jet stream, forming what seemed to be a lava tornado of sorts, cooling the cyclone’s tunnel around them, as to cut off escape from the sides. Meanwhile, Zaku had a nasty surprise for the bottom.

“Decapatating airwaves!!”

His implants revved up a notch higher, as he shot out blaring shockwaves of air, the type that would rip through boulders. This powerful air stream went through the lava tornado’s eye like a bulled inside a barrel, shooting up the narrow path at an alarming rate toward the defending Katsuo, who’s current trajectory was closing the distance

 

[Retro Master]

‘Ten seconds extra? That’s more than enough time...’ On the outside, it looked like Kiro had lost consciousness, drowned by the water prison. After that sly attempt to speak, quickly consuming a tiny bit of water seemed to the trick. All it took was some acting to make it look believable. If anything, the unconscious act allowed Kiro to greatly increase his focus on releasing the necessary chakra points without worry of being attacked. Due to this, Kiro’shair had slowly been floating up before Azumi had any thoughts of releasing him. As for what was to come next, Kiro lost his touch with reality and allowed himself to float freely. Relaxing his body and calming himself, Kiro focused on the chakra points, preparing for the right moment to simultaneously release them.

Kiro let his body drop to the ground as soon as Azumi dropped the prison. It did hurt, specifically his now bloody nose. ‘How many seconds? Oh right...’ As he laid face down on the ground, unmoving, Kiro counted the seconds down in his head. ‘3... 2... 1...’ Then he spoke at the last second right before the proctor could call the match. “Just kidding...” As soon as Kiro uttered the words, the sound of thunder cracking the sky was heard.

Electricity seemed to cackle around Kiro’s body as the lightning chakra cloaked him. His hair standing all the way up as his eyes opened to reveal his sharingan, glaring up at Azumi. Instead of striking out in every direction, the controlled electricity protected Kiro’s body, disintegrating the droplets of water all over him. It made him faster, stronger and... well speed was all Kiro cared about right now.

Before Azumi or the water prison could surround Kiro, he bolted out of there, crouched on one knee on the other side of the field in a split second. Kiro’s speed was now on a completely different level.

He coughed out the tiny bit of water he had allowed in as he tryed to catch his breath. He breathed heavily as he looked forward at Azumi. “S-sorry for that, b-but you should’ve let me d-die.” Kiro managed to say before he started to violently cough. There must’ve been more water than he imagined if it was this bad. Even his vision was still a bit blurry with the sharingan active. ‘It has to be the Mist messing with my eyes.’ Something didn’t seem right. All of a sudden, Kiro fell to both knees and placed his hands down in front of him as he started to cough out blood. It seemed that the lack of oxygen as well as nearly drowning had taken a toll on his body. Once he was done, Kiro looked up to face Azumi’s location with blood streaming from his mouth, his body already moving...

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi frowned, cursing as her water sphere missed its target and Kiro seemed to spring to life. Though the time Kiro took to cough out blood had been all the time Azumi needed to vanish within the security of the mist as she scanned Kiro with a cold glare.

"Typical. For all the bravado ninja of these "great" nations have they only gain advantages through acts of pure cowardice. If playing dead is the most impressive trick you have, it is a far cry from being worthy to stand on this stage. Whatever little respect I may have had for you based on your beliefs is now gone. As was your chance to save yourself." Azumi said, naturally with that same echo which made it impossible to trace where she was within the mist.

Woosh!

Soon enough, several small and fast objects flew through the air in seemingly all directions. Azumi had tossed her umbrella into the air, relying on her mist as cover once more as it spun open and fired multiple senbon in all directions. The senbon themselves, which had not been the easiest thing to see normally given their small size and speed they flew through the air, had only become more obscured by the mist itself as they scattered around the field and several of them targeted at Kiro along with possible areas he could escape to as Azumi aimed to pelt him.

Azumi herself, under the "safe spot" of the umbrella that remained hidden within the mist began to form some hand signs. Soon enough a few water tendrils began to form around her...though this was far from the usual water, as they seemed to leak from her shadow as these tendrils became liquid shadow tendrils and slithered around Azumi out of sight as Azumi prepared herself for whatever tricks Kiro had in mind.

----------
"That...that dirty coward!"

To say Tomiko had gone through quite the emotional range would have been an understatement. First, she had a look of worry when Kiro got caught though more importantly when it appeared he drowned in the water sphere. However, that worry gave way to confusion when Kiro began to spark with electricity and then just sprung to life to escape the second water prison.

At that point, confusion had turned to anger. To say Tomiko was frustrated with Kiro had been an understatement. It was clear she disagreed with his tactics as she balled her fists within her casts and glared at the screen.

I can't believe this. To think someone like him had to resort to playing possum to get out of that. Is that what it takes to be a strong ninja? NO! I refuse to believe the world of ninja are made up of cowards!

Madoka took note of this as she watched the match. Unlike Tomiko, she could see the strategic value in what Kiro had pulled. Underhanded it may have been, you do what is needed to win in these exams.

 

[Fire Mana]

Yasu watched the match with much focus, making sure to watch and analyze the movements and strategies of each side. Unlike Tomiko, he remained quiet through the match. Only the occasional sound of surprise or acknowledgment came from Yasu as he nodded his head at the screen. He was a bit concerned when he saw Kiro in the water prison, there had already been one death here and he didn't want another one. He was however jolted from his train of thought when he heard Tomiko yell at Kiro through the television. He had to agree that it was cowardly, but it worked. Yasu didn't have quite the same pride as Tomiko did, so he might have pulled something similar had he been in the same situation.

Wonder what she would have thought of me then...

Yasu sighed and spoke for the first time since the beginning of the match.

"I wouldn't exactly go to that extreme Tomiko... I agree it was cowardly, but it was also effective. If that's what Kiro had to do to win the match then it's what he had to do."

He clenched his still good hand into a fist at his side.

"I do however still want him to pay for what he did to you, I hope Azumi puts that sword in a few key places!"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

He broke out! Kai was relived, seeing him use a tactic that managed to fool Azumi, the technique stealing Xeno, using just as low of a technique to escape, practically dripping in Xeno humiliating auras. Kai three his fist in the air and shouted down.

“That’s it Kiro, Shock that Xeno filth into oblivion!!”


.........


“Excuse me.”

Entering yasu’s room, was a leaf ninja, one with a long garb draped across her face. Only her eyes were revealed with a leaf forehead protector around her waist. Most of her body was covered in a white medical garb and bandages. The only thing seen under it were her black eyes, pale face, and glowing black hair. The black hair draped into her gown.

“I’m the medical nin assigned to you...Yasu, correct? I need to apply some blood tests on you before we can proceed with blood transfusion and flesh reconstruction sessions. May I?” She said, bringing out a vial and pointing to Yasu’s bandaged hand.

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki was furiously taking notes on the last few people in the exams, even mumbling some incoherent nonsense. Taiyo looked at the Yuki-nin concerned before he turned his head and noticed the medical-nin with his tools ready and was preparing for the procedure.
"Close your eyes, and don't struggle, this will be over soon," The Leaf-nin nodded as he obeyed the medical-nin's directions, closing his eyes and keeping as still as possible as the medical-nin prepared his bonesaw.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagiso sighed, a look of both disdain and melancholy swirling in her eyes. Disdain for Kiro's method of escape, and melancholy over its success. She cringed slightly at Kai who was brazenly bursting his lungs, shouting at the top of his voice, and cursed under her breath. As she relaxed back into her chair, she folded her arms before her, once again adopting an idle expression on her face.

There was surprisingly little to do once one was no longer participating in the Chunin exams. The food was okay, and so were the drinks...but that was about it. The battles were...dangerous but not particularly exciting. She was, in fact, more concerned than she was entertained by the ongoing fights. More so the battle between her two former opponents, Katuso and Zaku. Clearly, the duo was bat-shit crazy and very intent on grasping the rank of chunin or being burned to crispy human popsicles while trying. The lava... was rather excessive... and she was honestly a bit glad she'd given up. They definitely wouldn't be able to suppress her in an outright battle, but their mentalities were rather twisted. She was fierce, but as they say, 'The weak fear the strong, the strong fear the fierce, and the fierce fear those who don't care for their lives.' She definitely wasn't interested in committing double suicide with either of them just so she could put on a flak jacket and prances around in front of genin with a shiny chunin on her yukata.

Thinking back to the previous battles... it would appear she was the only mentally stable person participating in the exams. The rest of participants were as excited as if they were on drugs, willing to risk life and limb just for another shot... psychopaths...

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai noticed something heading his way, a bendable material for him. He had no idea where it came from, but with a wave of his hand, the water crystallized and froze mid air. On closer inspection, it seemed like something was was spit out toward him. Kai turned to the offender, which of course was none other than Sagiso, which was unsurprising.

“Not so much of a dead dog, is he? Mist ninja don’t go down that easily, not even to our own techniques. But you didn’t know that, did you Xeno? Otherwise you wouldn’t have given me a bendable material.”

With a flick of his wrist, Kai flung the crystallized spit at Sagiso, which suited her right, as it was her own offence being used against her.

 

[Fire Mana]

Yasu sighed and nodded at the nurse that entered the room. He was ready for this, he just didn't want his time with Tomiko and Madoka to be interrupted.

"Yeah, we can start now."

He turned to the girls with a half smile on his face. He really didn't want to make them leave, but it would be best if the medical nin didn't have distractions.

"You two should probably go for now... I'll be better in no time, okay?"

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagiso tilted her head to the side without even looking, allowing the frozen soft drink to sail past her and shatter against the arena's railing. "A dead dog? No...more of a dying dog, but then again. Even dogs wouldn't play possum, I think...that's more common to rats. So rather than a dead dog, he'd be a dead rat no? and a drowned one at that. Then again, he's flailing quite handily, so it'd be a drowning rat, rather than a drowned rat. Though that'll be corrected soon enough. And you're right, rodent infestations are never easy to get rid off."

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro breathed heavily as he heard Azumi speak. She seemed pissed off, and she had every right to be. Unfortunately, Kiro just didn’t have the strength to respond to her words as well as locate her position. He grimaced in pain as he stood up, just in time to see a senbon fly right past him. Kiro’s head turned as he watched the senbon fly back into the Mist behind him. When Kiro turned his head back, he was met by a dozen more senbon heading his way. Kiro closed his eyes and quickly placed his arms in front of him to try and block the attack.

After a few seconds passed without feeling any damage, Kiro dropped his arms to see that he had not taken any damage. ‘What?’ Kiro looked at his hands before he realized that he was still cloaked in the lightning chakra. How was he so out of it that he had forgotten he still had lightning armor on? Kiro continued to take in as much air as he could as he tried to figure out the predicament he was in. ‘Maybe the loss of oxygen...’ That has to be the reason why he was so disoriented to the point he couldn’t even think straight. The loss of oxygen combined with the fact that Kiro’s body was still reacting to the speed at which his nervous system and neural synapses were stimulated by was not a good combination. The water that he had also swallowed seemed to be cause of the blood as well as constant coughing. No matter how fast Kiro could move or think, he still couldn’t figure a way out of the situation he was in. “Damnit!” Kiro cursed aloud, knowing that he was at an extreme disadvantage. He could barely even see with his sharingan now and with the Mist still up, it seemed hopeless.

‘Should I...’ Kiro slapped himself on his right cheek. ‘No, I will not stoop down that low as that girl. I would not dare become a hypocrite.’ For Kiro, forfeiting was not an option. If he was going to lose this battle, he would atleast keep his pride and self-respect intact. He would rather lose in battle than let Sagisō have the last laugh.

Kiro didn’t have that ‘never give up’ mentality but he wasn’t one to simply give up as well. In order to have a chance at winning, he would have to get rid of the Mist first, or atleast be away from it. Kiro may have been ashamed of having to resort to such tactics as playing possum but atleast he wasn’t cowardly enough to be hiding himself from his opponent. But it was anything to win, so everything was fair game.

In order for the Mist to dissipate, Kiro would have to heat the air up. He would have to figure a way out to that without relying on any fire style ninjutsu. With the water in his lungs as well as the lack of much needed oxygen, Kiro wouldn’t be using any fire style techniques for the rest of the battle. But there was still another nature that could heat the air up, lightning. While Kiro had lightning armor on, the Mist around him had started to slowly clear. That was good, except the fact that it was only a tiny part of the arena. Kiro wanted the whole battlefield to be somewhat clear enough to see with his sharingan.

Kiro took a deep breath as he steadied himself. He looked to his left and right before preparing to move. Looking right, Kiro began to sprint in that direction. Using his immense speed, Kiro began to circle around the battlefield, creating a ring of lightning with the trail that followed him. The blue of the lightning could be seen through the Mist as Kiro continued to run in circles. As soon as the Mist cleared up, which it was beginning too, and Azumi’s location was revealed, Kiro planned to deliver a decisive blow... hopefully he wouldn’t run out of chakra before then.

 

[Mystic Zander]

"Water Clone Jutsu!" Katsuo acted in accordance to Zaku, not giving him a moment of leeway as a clone materialized out if water. Both Katsuo rotated away from one another before kicking off of each others feet, the combined force causing his clone to burst, and launching Katsuo away from Zaku and his techniques as blistering speeds.
"Phew! That was a close one, you almost had me there." He called to Zaku in a casual tone, enjoying the pace of this battle.
"Those wind tunnels are pretty impressive, I'll need to hear the story behind them some day. They allow you incredibly power bursts if energy that can vary in power and frequency....truly a unique ability." He commented on Zaku's unique fighting style, crouching down as he spoke, the dusty earth beneath him kicking up as he let chakra flood his body.
"Perfect for test my speed!" He finished, darting off at blurring speeds once again, he began circling the lava encased boy, cast another set of hand signs.
"Water Style! Fish Spit!" He yelled, a wide stream of water shot from his mouth weakly, Hus speed causing a large ring if water to form around the lava, the two forces colliding into a giant steam cloud.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

As Katsuo practically using his clone as a stepping stool to get out of the way of his attack, Zaku couldn’t help but marvel at the idea. Heh, didn’t think of that. Using clones as a meat shield. But using a water clone surrounded by lava are going to do wonders for his chakra usage.

“Heh, you have good taste then.” Zaku spoke, his wind tunnels stopping , the lava around him continuing it’s momentum in the air for a few seconds. “Maybe you’ll hear their story sometime, but that’s to say you are around to hear it afterwards!”

The lava in the air dribbled down toward the ground, simply splattering on the ground. As Zaku was about to prepare another attack that would utilize the unique terrain, a stream of water Came his way. The stream wasn’t aimed for him however, as it seeped into the cracks underneath him that he made with the Splicing sound fall. They dribbled down and caused a lot of steam to shoot up, rock forming over the lava. Well there goes that plan. Would need another Splicing sound fall to get it back up, but he’s no doubt expecting me to do that.

Zaku then heard subtle noises amongst the steam. Steps, a steady pitter patter of footsteps. Sure Katsuo was fast, but he couldn’t quiet his own footsteps while he was running around. This would be perfect!

“I don’t need some tricks to beat you anyway, not when I have the jutsu of the future on my side! Precise Decapatating airwaves!”

Zaku lifted both of his hands up, his left one of them getting a smaller slit, as the right remained normal. The right arm shot a powerful burst of air like normal, aimed for area denial. It whipped out from the fog, acting as a guiding attack as it through a lot of steam in that direction away. It was aimed toward Katuso’s left side, but it wasn’t meant to be accurate. Meanwhile his right hand shot a powerful bullet like attack, one that Katsuo has no doubt never seen. It fired at extreme speeds, faster than a heartbeat. It was aimed directly toward his head.


.......

“Hm, dying rat you say? Your one to talk for one that quit at their only task: win. Quitters have no right to speak for those whom are still trying to win, especially if that quitter is a Xeno.”

Kai scoffed, knowing he was confident in his fellow mist ninja.

“The fact that he’s gone farther than you speaks for itself. Have you ever wondered why he has? Because the elite training of mist ninja are equal to none! That’s why you fail, and why your village will forever be under us.”

 

[kyuukestu]

"I've already put one 'elite ninja of the mist' underfoot and I don't mind putting another one down there after these exams. Besides, you say my only task is to win right? well, you're wrong, the aim of these exams isn't to win every battle, it's to get promoted to Chunin, and I think I've done enough to warrant my candidacy for the position. The fact that he's gone farther than me means nothing if he ends up half crippled like that last kid who lost his arms. On the battlefield a soldier only has two objectives, kill the enemy and survive, and I've accomplished the latter spectacularly. Those who only know how to rush forward are cannon fodder who've wasted their village's resources. The only prizes they'll receive are the grieving and tears of their loved ones. The most glorious thing about the mist is likely their seven ninja swords, and you can't even find them because their wielders defected from the village. Your village truly is equal to none, they're best at losing their own ninja. At least your new Kage is more sensible than her predecessor."

Refusing to spare Kai even a glance, Sagiso kept her eyes on Kiro's battle. Her eyes followed his movements, the fastest she'd seen among genin. Admittedly, she wouldn't be able to keep up with that sort of high-intensity movement. Though she wouldn't need to, the only thing she needed to keep up with were his attacks, and those were still well within her range. Shifting her focus, Sagiso's gaze landed on Azumi, and her brow furrowed. Although she couldn't be certain, she had an inkling of what her friend's intentions could be, and if she were correct, then this fight was all but in the bag.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi had remained where she was, senbon continued to shoot out though given the lack of screams or grunts she presumed it was ineffective. Azumi had been about to get her umbrella, before she caught a glimpse all around her; this trail that seemed to be moving in circles around her. Bits of the mist had began to fade, though given the sheer scale of it and the thickness of the mist it would take a little time. Perhaps a minute or two of interrupted momentum to generate the needed heat.

Time Azumi had not been willing to give Kiro. While hidden within the heart of the mist she held up a hand signs as her liquid shadow tendrils began to move into position. Using the mist while it remained as cover and creeping around silently with only the sounds of the senbon in the air and Kiro's own cracking electricity among the crowd murmurs. One of the liquid shadow tendrils simply laid along the path Kiro had been running through; just before the Uchiha got to that spot along his path though he'd cross over it in a moment.

Between Kiro's focus on removing the mist combined with the high speed he was running at, he'd have no way to stop himself or forward momentum and the moment he would walk over the liquid shadow tendril he'd find himself come to a halt as the self-made nature would act as a tar; pinning his feet in his spot. Given the other tendrils the chance to quickly pounce on this; as they'd aim to wrap around Kiro. His arms, waist and even around his neck to ensnare the Uchiha and give a squeeze to apply the pressure. Unlike the one used as a sacrificial pit trap, which loosened its connective tissue for the effect, these ones would tighten up and tighten the bonds to form a firm grip to deny Kiro mobility, ability to form hand signs or even reach for weapons.

It would have been a rather, unique variant of immobilizing an opponent compared to what she had seen and picked up from Takato but if Kiro's plan was to run in circles she'd be more than eager to take advantage of this.

-----------
Tomiko had been prepared to retort to Yasu's comment before the nurse explained what Yasu would have to undergo and Yasu's request and both she and Madoka understood as they got up to give Yasu the lone time he needed. Tomiko glanced back at Yasu.

"Alright, stay strong. We'll see you soon." Tomiko said before she and Madoka left the room as they traveled back to the stands and sat above where Kenji, Ino and Sakura had. Though their focus had shifted between the battles in the field and the verbal warfare between Kai and Sagiso.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai was deeply offended, turnings round and prolong his hand up on the Kanshi’s shoulder. Kai could stomach someone insulting him, but his village? No, he had to retaliate. He growled and started directly st Sagiso.

“Of course the hidden mist has the best rouges, because we have the best ninja! And we have killed them all off before, we will do them again! What has your nation amounted to? Besides being a crumbling nation that needs other nation’s men to survive! You cannot sustain your own nation otherwise! How does it feel to have a nation so weak that you require outsiders to even live?”


.......


The medical nin watched as Yasu’s visitors left, clearing her throat as she closed the door behind them. Her clothed face’s expression unknown behind her garb. She turned around to face Yasu, walking over to his wrist. She took a wet medical pad and brushed against his wrist.

“This will only hurt for a moment.”

She took a needle, and put it in his wrist, drawing out a little bit of blood. The needle slowly made it to full as she withdrew it from his body. She stashed it away, putting it into two separate vials.

“Thank you for your patience, the surgery will commence within a few minutes.”

With that, the medical nin walked out of the door. She was met with a medical team right outside of it. She handed them a single vial, and the doctor of them took it graciously. They went in shortly afterwards. The medical nin laughed slowly to herself, bringing out the remaining vial. She let her long black hair loose and ditched her disguise, as no one else was seen to be nearby. It was none other than kin.

“Tsubasa bloodline, successfully acquired.”

 

[kyuukestu]

"Well... taking pride in your failures is also a sort of accomplishment, I guess. Think what you will, our villages 'weakness' is a matter of tradition, but if it makes you feel better, yes, we require outsider's help to survive." Nevertheless, the so-called elite ninjas of the mist she'd seen weren't even qualified to take up the position of 'helpers'. If Kai truly stopped to think about it, the fact that Nadeshiko village could outright kidnap ninja from the 5 great shinobi villages and with such frequency that it'd become a tradition, spoke volumes of their power. At the very least, the 5 Kage choose to turn a blind eye to their actions rather than confront them. In fact, considering that they were both located in the land of water, the vast majority of kidnapped ninja came from the mist as it was simply the closest village. That's why Sagiso knew that the words Kai spoke were absolute bullshit. 'Of course the hidden mist has the best rouges, because we have the best ninja! And we have killed them all off before, we will do them again!' She chuckled inwardly. Quite a few of these 'killed' ninjas were very much alive and were only recorded as dead because the mist's hunter-nin could do nothing about them as they were held in Nadeshiko village. Well, the corner reserved for the men. Although she could break the news to the rather jingoistic genin, she choose not to. There was no point in harming Kai's fragile heart. Having people like him also ensured the land of water wouldn't be too weak in times of war, and she'd never been offended by his 'Xeno' insults. After all, they were from the same nation, so she obviously wasn't a Xeno.

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro had been going at such extreme speeds that he nearly suffered from an extreme whiplash when he suddenly stopped. “What?!” Kiro exclaimed as he remained still. His lightning armor was still active, so why couldn’t he move. Kiro looked down to see that he was stepping on something. ‘A shadow?’ Kiro mentally questioned as he traced the tendril back to it’s origin. Though the Mist hadn’t fully cleared, Kiro could still see a mysterious creature in the middle of the battlefield. “Wow.” That was Kiro’s only word as felt the rest of his body being locked in place by the remaining tendrils. There was nothing Kiro could hope to do now as his entire body was basically paralyzed.

Kiro snickered as he guessed what Azumi probably wanted him to. “I’m not going to just forfeit!” Kiro said as loud as his voice could go, hoping Azumi would hear him. “So come out and finish this! You won’t!” Kiro spoke an empty threat, trying to taunt her. He couldn’t believe that he had not landed a single hit on Azumi. It was truly a disgrace. In all honesty, he wanted Azumi to end her cowardice and show herself. But even then, there would be nothing Kiro could do. He had just lost to some ‘camper’, hiding in the Mist to perform her tricks. If there was one positive thing that could come out of this, it was the fact that he wasn’t beaten by skill, but rather he was simply outsmarted.

Kiro mentally cursed Hashima, slightly blaming her for the situation he was in. If their battle hadn’t been so drawn out, then Azumi wouldn’t have as long as she did to prepare. No, that was just an excuse. Even with lightning armor, he was still soundly defeated. Even though, Kiro continued to struggle as he tried to break free.

“Maybe if I...” Kiro froze as he suddenly felt his chakra level plunge, his lightning armor fading. ‘It’s over.’ Willingly, Kiro allowed the lightning to fizz out. There was no point in wasting anymore chakra. Without the curse mark’s help, Kiro was surprised by how long the armor remained stable. Had he truly believed he still had shot at winning, perhaps he would’ve relied on the curse mark. It took the armor to another level, but the after effects... Kiro was already too weak to handle much more. With all the work he had put into combining the curse mark with the lightning armor, it sucked that he hadn’t been able to showcase it, his full power.

Kiro just looked down, unwilling to forfeit, as he awaited Azumi’s next move.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi felt the liquid shadow tendrils as they locked onto their target and ensnared said target, and as if to simply confirm the capture Kiro already made a loud boast through the mist. Azumi shook her head in response to this. She'd have simply opted to not address it, but given the situation combined with Kiro's shameful display of playing possum earlier she felt the need to speak up.

"Is that right? Typical, even when the battle is over. Even with it becomes pointless to press on and only leads to needless suffering you press forward." Azumi said, her voice heard loud and clear through the mist as she began to walk forward. Soon enough, Azumi's figure was revealed to Kiro and that cold glare directed at him all too evident; even if she carefully avoided direct eye contact. Azumi glanced up at where the kage of the five great nations would be watching from as her glare only seemed to increase. As if she tried to stare literal daggers through them which the kage had taken notice of, to verifying degrees as Azumi spoke up again.

"You all must be so disappointed. Knowing that such a talented ninja among your great nation..." Azumi said, her gaze focused on Mei Terumi before it shifted to Minato.

"...and of your great bloodline is to fall to some no name trash from some irrelevant nation, huh? Well get used to disappointment, cause I am far from done!" Azumi said, and nearly shouted with a heavy layer of sarcasm before she turned back to Kiro as she held a bare palm out.

"It's funny, when I was showed the template for this technique my instructor suggested it had no use beyond just immobilizing my target. Though with some experimenting, I seem to have found a way for my mock variant to get around that limitation." Azumi said, as with the tendrils still all around Kiro's body she began to clasp her open palm. And the more she began to do this, the greater the pressure Kiro would feel from the liquid shadow tendrils as they squeezed against his body. Azumi spoke her next warning with a cold, remorseless tone.

"I will keep this going until I break every bone in your body. If you don't want your ninja career to come to an end, if you want to walk out of here alive I suggest you forfeit. I will not be generous enough to let go this time." Azumi explained quite clearly as she would aim to pile on the pressure and her tone suggested she aimed to follow through on her threat.


----------
"Man, this is getting hard to watch." Ino admitted, as for the second time it appeared that Kiro was in trouble and bound at the hands of Azumi, and if Azumi was one to learn anything she doubted he'd be so generous this time around. Kenji, Sakura, Tomiko and Madoka had similar thoughts. Though Tomiko had one of her own as she watched the ninja who nearly crippled her become seemingly helpless once more.

I..I can't believe this. He has to have some trick up his sleeve. There's no way he'll go down like this.

Kenji had a thought of his own, though it had less to do with the match and more to do with her words against the kage which had been spoken loud and clear. Seemed like she had some beef with them, though for what reason Kenji could not even begin to guess.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sighing to herself Sagisō rose to her feet, she propped up a foot against the arena's railing and prepared to jump. As her eyes locked onto the battle field, having cringed slightly at Azumi's outright hostility towards the Kage, and more importantly the villages that stood behind them, she cast a final glance towards Kai. "Is this the result of your elite training? A suicide squad?" She snorted in disgust, her eyes cold and impassive. Without another moment's notice she launched herself onto the field.

With the corners of her Yukata fluttering lightly in the wind, she landed between Azumi and Kiro. For a moment she was silent. Although she was facing Azumi, with her Byakugan active she could see Kiro clearly. "Is this your conviction? Is this all your desire amounted to? Is your pride so great you'd kill yourself before achieving any of your goals? Did your village raise you just to die? Did your mother give birth to you so she could bury her son and water his grave with her tears..? I thought...you were better than...this absurdity. Different from the others who seemed to have lost every single cell in their brains...but it seems I was wrong. I wouldn't have helped you find your way to the exams if I knew I were leading you to your death..."

Her words were slow and pronounced, filled with a somber melancholy that betrayed her disappointment. Her words were almost a mumble, only audible to the Uchiha behind her, and possibly her friend in front of her. Releasing all her misgivings in a single sigh, she focused on Azumi, locking eyes with the Ame-Nin. She stared into her eyes, before gently saying in a low voice, "You know these actions will amount to nothing, you're being too hasty... While the chūnin exams has quite the high death rate, they shinobi villages don't truly intend to send theirs genin to their deaths. If you continue with this," she waved her hand, gesturing to Kiro, "You know as well as I do that you won't be able to achieve whatever it is you desire. They'll put you to an end right after this. The five greats have a nasty habit of exterminating anything they don't like... you shouldn't be so high profile if you don't have the strength to back it up... 10 years isn't too late for revenge, but if you get yourself killed now..."

She kept her eyes locked with Azumi's, imploring the kunoichi to regain her composure. She presented her outstretched hand, gesturing for Azumi to take it. While she didn't speak, her silence conveyed her intentions. There was no longer any meaning to the match. Hopefully, Azumi would regain her cool and follow her off the arena's floor.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai couldn’t beleive his eyes. Kiro, the prodigal child of the village, falling to the likes of a cheap knock off of their own village’s technique. It was a major upset, one that may require him to pay Azumi a visit later. What was even more surprising, was that Sagiso, the one who had talked bad to Kiro all this time, came swooping to his rescue. A long winded speech surely followed, as expected. A rat on a pedistal.

“Kiro...you fool.” Kai shook his head, sitting back down, disturbed. “Kanshi, how could our own techniques beat a mist ninja? It’s like Kiro hadn’t seen those techniques before at all.”

The proctor, who was lazily watching while reading a book snapped back to reality once Sagiso stepped in. He rolled his eyes and walked onto the field before him.

“Due to interfereance of the battle on behalf of Kiro, Azumi is automatically Called the winner and will return in the final match!”

 

[Retro Master]

‘The coward finally shows herself.’ All Kiro could do was listen as Azumi spoke her words to not just the kage, but everyone in the stadium. Actually no, her words wouldn’t be just confined to the stadium. Kiro could hear the murmurs spread like wildfire in the crowd after Azumi finished speaking. It was only a matter of time before every nation heard what had transpired here and Kiro wondered if that’s what Azumi wanted. In the end, it seemed her ideals had far surpassed his.

Kiro just stood defeated, not bothering to speak or raise his head up to face Azumi. It was humiliating just being in the situation he was in. He felt weak and pathetic for the way the battle went. Now all the nations saw him as a loser who had lost to this no-name ninja from the Rain. In the end, the crowd would all probably go home happy, laughing at his failure. All the training he had endured, was it for nothing? Did it all lead to him being soundly defeated by this girl? What was the point of all those years in the cruel Mist if he couldn’t even land a scratch on Azumi? His ideals, his goals, it seemed as if they were turned into dust before his very eyes. Even with his sharingan, it felt as if he still couldn’t see the full picture. How could he hope to acclompish anything if he was so weak? Kiro allowed Azumi to begin crushing his body, unable to even speak anymore. Then Sagisō came down...

Kiro felt sick to his stomach just looking at Sagisō’s backside. Sagisō didn’t even bother to face his way as she spoke to him. He couldn’t endure the humiliation anymore and hoped it would all end soon. Her questions seemed to tear into Kiro, ripping him into pieces. Each question seemed to be the right one and Kiro had no response to any of them. Even if he wanted to, he could barely even speak.

When Sagisō started to speak to Azumi, Kiro just looked down as he listened. He would be dying soon. Kiro just awaited death as Azumi and Sagisō spoke, the crushing not nearly destroying him yet. What a failure he had been. In the end, Kiro would die a loser, respected by none. His one goal had been to show the world his strength. To show the Uchiha clan the mistake they had done when they abandoned him. It seems they were right to leave him. They were right after all, he was just a weakling without the pure drive and motivation to achieve his goals.

Even now, as he closed his eyes, Kiro could see them all looking down at him in pity. If he had another chance, Kiro would make them all look up at him in fear. He understood a bit of what Azumi meant. The people in the great nations didn’t seem to give a damn about the people that weren’t their own. But they cower in fear when those people rise up against them. ‘Pathetic.’ Kiro opened his eyes when he heard Sagisō’s last words to Azumi. Yes, it was never too late revenge. It would not come today, tomorrow, next month, or even next year, but the day will come when Kiro would have it. He looked weak now, but unlike Azumi, no one would see him coming...

Kiro did his best to look at the proctor, the shadow tendrils still restraining him. Kiro didn’t want to forfeit but he had also given up. He wouldn’t have let his lightning armor go if he knew Azumi was planning to kill him as an example. Kiro respected her for that, though he wished he wasn’t the example she was using. Kiro wasn’t done with the living yet. This was all his current desire had amounted too, but it wasn’t his desire anymore. It wasn’t his mother who would be looking at his grave with tears, instead, Kiro had already seen his mother’s grave without tears.

Kiro coughed before willing himself to speak to the proctor. “Do your job...” Kiro sucked in as much air as he could afterwards. The proctor should’ve ended the match as soon as Sagisō interrupted. It seemed as if the proctor could care less about his job. Hell, if Kiro was in his position, he wouldn’t mind letting the two fighters kill each other either. But Kiro wasn’t planning on having any broken bones, so he hoped the proctor would end the match, which he did...

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo slowly woke up, he tried getting up, but he had no luck. The amputation had been a success, of course, that meant that Taiyo no longer had the luxury of using his arms for really anything, including fighting, which would definitely hurt Taiyo long term.
"Ahh, I see you're awake, stay still Mr. Akugami, I will get a puppet master to assist you shortly," The medical-nin promised, leaving the room so Taiyo could have some alone time with his friends.
"So....how's not having arms going?" Tsuki nervously asked Taiyo, hoping that the Leaf-nin wouldn't be mad.
"Fine, I guess, no need to worry though," The armless ninja assured the girl responsible for saving his life, he didn't want her to be upset, why, well, he had no idea at the time.

 

[SageNeb]

As soon as the amputation was completed, Raiku left since he wanted to attend to Kiro's battle. He came in time to see Kiro go around in circles with Lightning Chakra Mode, get defeated, Sagiso step in, and the proctor end the match. He was behind Kai and Kanshi and heard Kai's comment, and immediately started laughing.

"Why of course he's a fool! He lost because he's weak and dumb. How he managed to stay so far surprises me. I could go on and on about how much he sucks, but I'll just tell you something. I heard about your little rambling on how your village is the best outside. Well, if there's at least something wrong about your ninja is him! He uses the techniques of others, he used my village's Sharingan and the Raikage's signature jutsu, or at least an imitation of it. He offended me by using my dojutsu and losing and probably you considering he used jutsu of outside your village to win, and still lost. Well, that's all."

Raiku began heading back to his own seat with a crazy grin on his face.

Oh I can't wait to talk to Kiro again...

Meanwhile Kanshi sighed at both Raiku and Kai.

"I'm sad to admit it, but he's partially right. He lost using other village's jutsu, and was even cowardly enough to play possum. Neither of us would do that! As for your question... well all I can say is that our village's jutsu are too powerful and unfortunately went into the hands of someone outside it."

Kanshi was trying to cheer Kai up with the last sentence, and then remembered something else.

"At least he killed that Suna scum. She tried to kill one of us, and besides that she's a member of the village that sealed the beast into me..."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Bacteria can never judge the birds in the sky.” Kai said calmly is response to Raiku. “I met you the day of the first exam, and I knew you would fail that day. And i was correct. He made it to he semifinals, a place where you were the farthest one to getting to. Your the last one here that would be lecturing on tactics of battle, as you were rejected before the battle even came.”

Upon that roasting of Raiku’s seemingly pity gashed at the mist village, he wasn’t done breaking him down and defending Kiro yet.

“He didn’t steal the Sharingan, he’s had it from birth. His family simply deserted your village, for multiple reasons no doubt. He’s simply using the tools at his disposal, and proved serious enough to kill in the heat of battle.”

Kai took note of Kanshi’s comments, and had many witty comebacks...if he were a Xeno. He would be out of order to insult a mist ninja, and a relative at that. He just pretended he hadn’t heard it.

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku stopped as he was walking and turned around, his grin still showing.

"Oh how right you are! I truly am such a horrible weakling, losing before even the second part of the exams! Truly this will be why I forever shall be known as the weakest ninja of all time! I'm so sorry for my disobedience as a Xeno animal! It's not his fault Kiro had the Sharingan of another village, I bet he would've used it against Xenos like I or not wanted it at all if he could choose! Truly I beg for your forgiveness, Kiri-nin master!"

While he was being sarcastically dramatic Raiku was pretending to swoon and then bowed down to Kai.

From hearing no response from Kai, Kanshi immediately knew he didn't like his response.

This is why I prefer killing than making people feel better...

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Now that your reconize it, accept it.” Kai said, cutting through Raiku’s saracasm. “All of us here are in a whole other level than you are, stay amongst the microbes while we acsend to the skies.”

How pathetic. This one who has achieved nothing wants to talk to me about how ‘dumb’ our semi finalist is? I’ve heard the Uchiha can be petty, but this is just sad.

“Be careful about your ideology Xeno, rock can pretend to be a diamond, but anyone would choose the diamond any day.”

 

[SageNeb]

"Your rightful thinking is simply completely correct, master. I am but of the lowest quality in the world, and since I have been too corrupted by Xenos I can't even convert to becoming a pure Kiri-nin, isn't that correct?"

Raiku decided to continue is sarcasm, as he realized that he kept on saying on how he's the worst ninja despite Raiku having literally just pretended to admit that.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi cast a glare at Sagiso. How dare she insert herself in this manner, and this almost caused Azumi to pile on the pressure against Kiro. However, she listened to her friend as she displayed her Byakugan and tried to calm her down and encourage her against "senseless" murder which Azumi internally scoffed at.

Right, as if these privileged pigs of the great nations would understand anything about mercy.

But Azumi admitted that Sagiso had a point, Kiro's death would do little for her own goal so her words combined with the proctor'd declaration were enough for Azumi to release the tendrils as they dissipated and made their way back to Azumi's shadow. Azumi cast one last cold glare at the Kage before she began to walk to the stands, Azumi passed by Sagiso as she took a moment to halt her movement before she whispered in her ear.

"I doubt I need to worry about what they think of me. I am just some venting Genin from a doormat nation in their eyes. Irrelevant. Besides, if I am silenced by them they end up proving I was right. And that is what they should be worried about." Azumi said silently to Sagiso before she began to move to the stands.

----------
The Kage observed the conclusion of the battle, though their focus had been on Azumi's words more so than even the conclusion itself.

"Hum. Just some loud mouth brat from where I stand." Ay said, as the Raikage appeared to not consider much of Azumi's words which was an attitude shared by Onoki. Though Minato watched the scene with a frown on his face. Perhaps sense of shame fell the Hokage as he understood the source of Azumi's hostility.

Seems the sins of our past have left lasting scars. I only hope she doesn't let this hatred consume her.

-----------
Azumi made her way through the crowd, as she herself heard the murmurs stirred by her outburst. Just as she figured it would, the Kage likely considered little of what she said beyond someone just venting in a hopeless situation. But if this world was to change, people needed to hear the voice of the one who intended to change it.

Naturally, she walked past Tomiko, Madoka, Kenji, Sakura, Ino in their section and soon walked near the area Raiku, Kai and Kanshi as they seemed to have an argument about Kiro and whatever these "Xenos" were or some other nonsense. Not that Azumi cared much personally as she didn't even cast a glance in their direction.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Probably the only way you could save your name from getting any more tainted than it has already become.” Kai said seriously to Raiku. “But you’d have to ditch your Xeno ways and embrace the superior way. That is, if there’s any sincere desire within your claims.”

Kai would consider himself an generous ninja, offering others a path of superiority over the lessers in exchange for undying loyalty. It beats being a part of the lessers

 

[SageNeb]

"Maybe if my whole family was dead, then I'll think about it, 'kay? Anyways, is that all you have to say?"

To be frank, Raiku was a bit disappointed that a bit of lies and sarcasm is all it needed to shut Kai up. However for people that did want him to shut up he'd be glad to teach this technique.

 

[Godjacob]

"Okay guys, okay. I think we've already heard enough talking points. You both proved your point." Kenji said, as he got up and tried to play peacemaker between Kai and Raiku while Ino and Sakura, along with Madoka and Kenji behind them looked on.

Azumi tried to find where Sagiso or Takato sat, which given Sagiso was on the field was not so simple, before she overheard the continued verbal warefare between Kai and Raiku as she moved closer to them and shook her head.

Pathetic.

"Save your breath. If you want to resolve any conflicts, then find some training field and do it there. The exams are still going on in case you both missed that." Azumi said to Kai and Raiku as she turned her gaze to Zaku & Katsuo's match and aimed to pick up valuable information from it.

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku turned to face Azumi and Kenji, his face now getting serious.

"Oh I know this bickering is pointless, I just wanted to entertain myself with this arrogant fool. I remember you, however. Before your fight started."

To this he was pointing at Azumi.

"And I heard what you said. Well... I could agree with you at least one nation so far..." to this Raiku glanced at Kai for a second before turning back to Azumi.

"But let me just tell you something. The person you just defeated already hates me just because I'm an Uchiha. And honestly I don't like it when I have a lot of enemies. I don't know whatever people from my village did to you, but I'm sorry and I hope you won't think ill of me."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai rolled his eyes at the beta Uchiha in front of him, as his passive agreessive nature was the weapon of a coward. Trying to reason with a monkey would go nowhere, so he really shouldn’t have been suprised. He was surprised however by Azumi’s entrance into the conversation. He poked Kanshi with his shoulder and gestures to her.

“Interesting technique you have.” Kai spoke. “The hidden mist jutsu I believe, and the water prison. Where would one have learned such a jutsu?”

Kai prodded in for information, as he had yet to show his fangs toward her. She was a formidable opponent, but it seemed only for that reason.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi glanced at Raiku and heard speak on an apology and express a wish he not be judged by her. Seems Raiku wanted to avoid too many people after his head, which was logical even if saying "sorry" hardly counted for what happened.

"My stigma against certain villages does not mean I am blind to know of specific exceptions." Azumi said simply enough before she turned her attention to Kai as he asked about her use of the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Seems he desired to know how she developed that technique, as Azumi kept an indifferent expression though naturally it partially cracked when she gave the Kiri-nin some backstory.

"War archives uncover many interesting accounts. Perhaps my favorite was one where a Hidden Mist assassin used such a technique to slaughter a group of our local residents on a suspicion that a Konoha spy was among their ranks. Turned out this assassin was misinformed. What an unfortunate accident." Azumi said with a touch of disdain and natural sarcasm all too clear. Azumi kept the fact that she was a collector of ninja scrolls a secret cause, this one did not need to know that additional context as far as Azumi had been concerned.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“By the sound of it, the ninja in question didn’t make it out intact. Better dead then captured I suppose. No doubt a true warrior.”

It seemed those record were the only thing they had, which Kai was relieved. If they had a defected kiri nin in their possession, that would cause chaos, a chaos that Kai would need to put down at once. But alas that was the worst case scenario.

“However, that doesn’t explain the water prison, or how you could learn these techniques so effectively after your people saw them only one time. After all your village isn’t the most...expansive...”

There must be something else. A Sharingan user that documents it all perhaps? A converted ninja? Stealing of information? I must know

 

[SageNeb]

"Right. Well I'm sorry that a Mist ninja killed your people because of their stupidity. Though it's not like I'm sure that ninja from my village didn't do the same, and if they did I am also sorry. I will say however, that I think you're gonna be the winner of this whole thing. And that's not me trying to win you over as an ally, I actually think you're a respectable, strong, smart ninja, and even if you lose you deserve the rank of Chunin. Well, that's all."

And with that Raiku headed back to his seat, waiting for Kiro to make his move. And if Kai were to try to get into an argument again, he'd just ignore the Kiri-nin.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō's smile stiffened and her hand slowly dropped to her side as Azumi strutted off the field. Seems like everyone was spitting in the face of her goodwill today... Nevertheless, Azumi would learn one way or another. If she didn't heed her advice she would simply face the consequences when her village was deemed too much of a threat and exterminated... just as many other villages and clans before her, just like Ushiogakure. Her greatest misconception was the notion that her death now would mean anything. None of those who claimed to head the ninja world were stupid, if they were to act it would be swift and with absolute certainty, a life would be snuffed out and the world would continue to spin unhindered.

Well, the extermination of one more group of people had nothing to do with Sagisō. She only really cared about Azumi's wellbeing. But seeing that she seemed to being doing rather well for herself, Sagisō pushed that to the back of her mind. Swiveling on her heels, she crouched down facing the only other person remaining on the field. Raising her eyebrow she looked down at Kiro, "So..?"

It was a simply question, but also quite complex. It question nothing, but at the same time questioned everything.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi, at the mention of that murderer being labeled a "true warrior" which was a disgusting label. The fact that Kai just twisted the knife further with the, admittedly correct, view of her nation not being expansive was not incorrect though it was salt in the wound. Not even Raiku's seemingly genuine comment about her being the likely winner of the exams could soften those bitter feelings.

"When you nation is used as the battleground for foreign wars over generations, you tend to pick up on a few things." Azumi explained, as sh was not about to give Kai the satisfaction of how she picked up the other mist-village tricks. Though the fact that a water-style jutsu was apparently "claimed" by the Mist seemed egotistical in Azumi's eyes.

"You seem to really be curious about how I picked up my jutsu. Does it bother you that I used such jutsu?" Azumi asked back to Kai.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai didn’t give a second thought toward raiku’s Words, as he himself was of no consequence to Kai, nor a threat. So Kai discarded his exclamation as irrelevant and instead focused on what’s azumi said. At least she didn’t live in a false reality where she thought the hidden rain was big or threatening. However one thing needed to be said.

“I’m troubled as much as weilding someone else’s family heirloom into battle. It’s the outside natural order for a rain ninja to use mist ninja techniques, a Ninja should not need to user a foreign power to be strong, and twice as much for a Xeno. Although it might be tempting to grasp at the superior mist techniques.”

It was as if the mist ninja that had died in whatever event that had occluded was being disgraced by his technique being passed on to a foreigner.