+
After noticing Shikamaru hadn't been hit by Ryuu's explosive, he was the exact opposite of thrilled. In fact, that was probably the first time I had ever seen Ryuu look annoyed.
He didn't have a bad temper. It took a lot to push him over the edge. I hadn't had the pleasantries of seeing him explode, but from what I had been told by his aunt Masumi, his sisters, and Katsu respectively, when Ryuu got angry, it was the most terrifying thing on the face of the planet.
Masumi didn't have a bad temper. From the little she told me about Ryuu's father, he didn't have a bad temper either. His mother on the other hand...
Let's just put it as planetary devastation.
That was beside the point right now. What I was trying to get at, was today might just be the day I got to see Ryuu Iwasaki blow up. With all his hand crafted explosive tags, I meant that literally too.
The third proctor, who looked like he needed a drink, placed his hand to his head and sighed deeply, closing his eyes. "I didn't even say begin... but go ham... or whatever."
I hadn't caught a lot of the preliminary fights, my dumbass choice of leaving for medical attention hindering my knowledge, but I did manage to catch a whiff of Shikamaru's signature jutsu. Even if I hadn't seen his fight, I would have known about his shadow possession jutsu from the incident at the hospital the day before anyway.
Ryuu knew about the shadow possession technique. He knew if he got caught in it too, it would be game over.
I didn't have to worry about him though. While Katsu often crafted strategies for our squad in the heat of missions, Ryuu and I weren't dimwits. We were capable of thinking for ourselves and assessing our opponents. As hard as that may be to believe for someone who hadn't seen us work together in battle.
Katsu planned everything down to what degree someone's foot needed to be turned at, and the amount of chakra someone would have at said time. It was almost migraine inducing. Personally, I hated strategizing, preferring to think on the fly instead of being confined to plans. Ryuu was somewhere in the middle of Katsu and myself.
Even if I couldn't tell what he was up to, Ryuu must have come up with some sort of plan, as he didn't waste anymore time simply standing around. Shikamaru disappeared into the clump of five or so tree's on the other side of the arena. I couldn't see him, and I didn't think anyone else could either.
Ryuu threw down a smoke bomb (what for, I still had no clue) concealing whatever the hell he was doing from our view. Once the cloud of blue smoke cleared, Ryuu stood in the center with his hands on his hips as if he had never moved. He wasn't smirking or grinning. In fact, he looked pretty damn serious, scoping out the area for anything he might have missed. His eyes drifted along the arena, before he gave a nod in confirmation to himself, and locked his gaze onto the collection of trees.
"S'he gonna do anything?" Naruto leaned over the railing and squinted at the collection of trees where Shikamaru was hiding.
I gave a shrug. "Who knows. But if he doesn't do something soon, Ryuu is going to get very, very impatient. I'm surprised he hasn't done anything yet really. Other than that smoke screen. Not sure what that was for still."
Ryuu pulled on the strap securing the massive scroll to his back and gave a 'hmph'. "Fine! You don't wanna come outta there, I'll make you come out!"
He made a couple hand signs, but at the sight of the familiar bird seal, I knew my dumbass teammate was going straight in for the kill.
"Wind style: Great gust!" Ryuu took a gulp of air and leaned back onto his haunches, before he jolted forward, wind bursting from his mouth and striking the arena. Those in the stadium who sat behind the collection of trees got the full force of wind, cries of irritation and shock coming from them.
The trees he aimed at bent over, wind forcing them into a backwards bow. Bark blew off in strips and flew into the crowd. Some even flew so far they whirled out of the stadium entirely.
I could see Shikamaru now. Thanks to Ryuu's spectacular wind jutsu, the cover the trees had given him was no more.
The Nara covered his face with his forearms and struggled to stay where he was, and surprisingly, didn't move more than a few inches backward. His footing slipped a few times, but it was definitely an accomplishment. The fact he didn't end up like those flying bark pieces was not something to scoff at.
Ryuu looked a little winded (ha—get it? Winded) but other than that, he didn't seem to have used too much chakra. He always had a massive amount of chakra reserves (another supposed gift from his mothers clan) and didn't tire easily. It would take a lot for him to get chakra exhausted, not to mention I had a good feeling the scroll on his back wasn't just for cool effect.
Now I know what you're thinking—I thought Ryuu said he had lightning chakra. Not wind. And you'd be halfway right.
You see, Ryuu actually has two chakra natures. The lucky bastard.
Lightning and wind. Similar to our Sensei, who also had those two natures. Only he didn't get the cool swift release she did.
Combining the two natures of wind and lightning gave the user the power of swift release. That was, only if you were a Jinsoku clan member. It sucked, but to each their own.
As far as I knew, I only had one nature. Truthfully I had never gone through the hassle of testing it with actual chakra paper. But I did have lightning. That was for certain.
The cluster of tree's Ryuu was aiming for took a number from his jutsu. Only a couple still stood, while others had fallen and were laying in the grass. Shikamaru took the initiative to hide behind the fallen logs now that his previous cover was no more.
Ryuu gritted his teeth. "Dammit. It didn't even do anything!"
I would have to call that a bit of an understatement.
A dark shadow suddenly shot out from the fallen tree's and made a beeline toward my distracted teammate. It crawled across the ground like an entranced snake; precisive, quick, and almost unnoticeable.
I didn't know how he hadn't sensed the sudden burst of chakra—but it was probably because he wasn't paying attention to the fight, too fixated on his failed attempt to force Shikamaru from the shelter.
"Ryuu—!" I screamed, trying to get his attention. But there was no need, the silver haired boy flipping away into a back handspring from the shadows range.
He landed on his haunches, skidding in the dirt and kicking up a dust cloud. He touched his finger tips to the ground, eyes narrowed onto the shadow that stopped moving. It twitched for a moment, before shrinking back into the tree line and returning to Shikamaru.
I shrunk back in embarrassment, the other shinobi in the alcove looking over at me from my not so subtle screaming. I scratched the side of my head and looked the other way.
Naruto sniggered. "Man, I didn't know you could be so worried about someone, Kohana-chan. But I don't think you needa be scared! I mean, I'm gonna root for Shikamaru since he's my friend n' all, but I still wish Ryuu luck! He's putting up a good fight already, 'ttebayo."
"Would you just—!" I stopped mid sentence, biting back the rude ass comment I was about to make.
Naruto may have been teasing me in the beginning, but now he was only being genuine. He wasn't being mean. Which meant... I really didn't need to be either.
I forced myself to bite my tongue, ultimately cracking a small smile. "Yeah. You're right."
It was quiet down below again. I could Shikamaru from behind the log. He sat just sitting there making this weird ass hand sign with his eyes closed. He wasn't doing anything, and I couldn't sense any chakra coming from him. It seemed Ryuu didn't either, since he had the same questioning look on his face.
Taking this as an opportunity to make a move, or at least prepare to make a move, Ryuu slid the scroll off his back and dropped it to the ground.
Shikamaru opened his eyes again and watched Ryuu with an analytical gaze. I didn't know what my silver haired teammate was up to either, so I was paying just as much attention as he was.
He made the he made the bird, ox, ram, and then the snake, before a puff of smoke rose from the scroll. He swiped whatever had been in the scroll before I could catch a glimpse of it, and made the snake sign again.
From the scroll appeared seven Ryuus.
Wait—it was clones of Ryuu.
I wasn't a chakra sensor like my boy Ryuu, but I could tell between the real thing and a clone. At least when it was Ryuu's lightning clones I could. It's chakra sizzled and zapped more than his normally did, which was more of a gentle buzz. If I focused hard enough, I could distinguish them without a problem. I couldn't tell at first glance, where any self respecting sensor could.
"Did he just summon shadow clones from that thing?!" Naruto's mouth fell open. "I thought I was the only one who could make that many...?"
I shook my head. "Those are lightning clones. They're different than shadow clones, which are made of pure chakra. Plus... I don't think he has the amount of chakra capable for making seven lightning clones in the heat of battle, when that chakra can be used somewhere else. So he made those ahead of time and sealed them into the scroll, along with the other tools he would need."
I scratched the side of my head. "Wow... that's smart... especially for him."
"Woah... sealing jutsu is pretty cool." Naruto pursed his lips in thought, before turning his head to look at me with a hopeful expression. "Say, how hard is stuff like that to learn? What'd you call it before?"
"Fuinjutsu."
"Yeah! That!"
I gave a shrug. "Who knows. I can't do it. Katsu can't. The most I can do is mooch sealing scrolls and explosive tags off of him. If you wanna learn, you're gonna have to ask the guy himself."
Ducking down behind one of the logs, Shikamaru disappeared from view again.
I groaned. "This guy is better at playing hide n' seek than fighting. Is he going to actually do anything? The most he did was show the distance he shadow can go."
"Shikamaru's never been a combat sorta guy." Said Naruto. "Though he is pretty smart. I don't think I've ever met someone who can think like he can."
I grimaced, looking down at the fight again.
Nothing had happened. And when I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. I was getting pretty fed up with the slow pace of this match. Wait—fed up was a bit of an understatement. It was making me wanna jump down into the arena myself and clobber the Nara just to get a move on.
Hey, we may have been sorta friends, but this was a professional regulated match. Not the time to dote around and take a nap. Though I could see the guy pulling a stunt like that.
Ryuu tapped his foot beside the small scratch in the ground that marked the distance Shikamaru's shadow reached. He crossed his arms and gave a huff. "C'mon and fight me already! This is so boring!"
As if on cue, the shadow snapped out from the treeline and darted straight for Ryuu.
He rolled his eyes with a scoff, not even moving a muscle. "We both know you can't reach me, pineapple-kun! Dunno' why you keep tryin' to get me with these same tricks—!"
Ryuu gasped and flung himself backwards in a very ungrateful fashion, kicking up dirt and rocks as he hit the ground. The shadow crept past the mark and continued slithering across the ground, Ryuu narrowly evading it with a sloppy roll to the side. I attempted to breathe a sigh of relief, but it was definitely too soon.
The shadow still persisted, even if I thought just maybe he had successfully evaded it.
I cringed, waiting for the phrase of 'shadow possession complete' I had heard yesterday from the Nara. But when it didn't come, I was nothing short of confused. Just what the hell had happened?! This fight was nothing but a snooze fest until the last minute or so. Talk about irregular.
Ryuu was in a handstand, paper the size of an exploding tag stuck horizontally across the shadow. He balanced on the paper, before flinging himself backward so he stood upright.
The shadow didn't retreat or move farther. It was completely frozen.
Shikamaru was in front of the log now, four out of the seven Ryuu's surrounding him. They all held a kunai of their own and pointed it toward the Nara. The remaining three lightning clones stood beside Ryuu, probably to act as another line of defense if something were to happen.
Ryuu whistled, placing his hands on his hips. "Man, you almost got me! That was a bit scary, really. You're pretty sneaky, pineapple-kun! You were waiting for the shadow to extend with the sun, huh? Man, I didn't even think of that till now."
Shikamaru grumbled and gave Ryuu a pointed stare. "I can't tell if you're mocking me, or if you're genuinely complimenting me."
"Oh, it's genuine!" He flashed him a bright smile. "But anyway, don't worry about your shadow jutsu. There's nothing wrong with it. See this tag here?"
He tapped the paper with his sandal. "This thing right here is a chakra stopper. Made it myself! That is, with the help of some books n' stuff. And a hecka' lot of practice. But because your shadow possession technique is an extension of your chakra, I decided to test it out. Sure enough it worked! Usually I just slap it on their back or something and they suddenly can't use ninjutsu. But this is the same thing."
I slapped the side of my face. "Dumbass. You just revealed how one of your major techniques work."
"That tag," began Shikamaru. "You pulled them out when you first opened your scroll, didn't you?"
"Mhm!" Ryuu gave a shrug. "Truthfully, I didn't know if your shadow jutsu was actually an extension of your chakra. I just tried it. Lucky it worked, huh!"
Shikamaru looked to the lightning clones surrounding him, took one more glance down to his shadow in a lock, before giving a sigh. "Y'know, I think I know a way to stop this. But... is it really worth the effort to keep going?"
He looked up toward the sky with a pondering expression.
I made a face.
What the absolute fuck?
He sighed, looking back at Ryuu. "Dammit."
Shikamaru raised his hand and looked over to the third proctor who's name I still did not know. "I forfeit."
Ryuu groaned. "Aw, really?! Why didn't you keep fighting?! I was having a good time."
Shikamaru shrugged. "Either way, you greatly overpower me. With your already made lightning clones, the fact my shadow possession is currently immobilized—oh, not to mention the fact you made a barrier with seals when you threw those smoke bombs. I would have gotten stuck before I could even reach you. I don't think you're dumb enough to get pushed out of the circle either."
He looked to the proctor again. "Can I be done now?"
The proctor swirled the senbon around his mouth, giving Shikamaru a long look. He raised his hand and pointed in Ryuu's direction. "Winner is Iwasaki Ryuu."
"Aww, c'mon Shikamaru?!" Naruto smacked the railing, metal vibrating under the hit. "Why'd you give up?! Man, so disappointing."
Ryuu peeled off the seal keeping Shikamarus shadow in place, sending the dark stretch of chakra receding to its castor. All seven of his lightning clones disappeared with a poof and a buzz of electricity.
The silver haired boy discarded the seal, sliding it into something on his arm, before he jogged over at Shikamaru with a grin. "I would've liked to fight you longer, but it wasn't uneventful! It was lots of fun! Good match."
Shikamaru eyed Ryuu's outstretched hand, before he took it and gave a firm shake. "Likewise."
The two turned and made their way up the stairs and into the area with other watching civilians. If I squinted hard enough, I could spot them standing by Katsu, Momo Sensei, Sakura, Choji, Ino—just a hell of a lot of people.
Hey wait a second, was that—?
"No way!" I grinned, eyes landing on my old man (who had surprisingly showed up to watch me kick this Suna bitches ass) and one of his best friends.
"Huh, what is it?" Naruto looked over at me, before following my gaze. He blinked, before making an 'o' shape with his mouth and scratching the side of his head. "Say, I recognize that guy. He's your Tou-chan, right? But uh—who's the other scary guy with him? Or actually, he doesn't look all that scary. He sorta reminds me of Kakashi Sensei."
"That, is Darui-San." I resisted the urge to wave to him, tightening my grip on the railing. "Only the coolest ninja in the Hidden Cloud! He's one of my old mans closest friends. Other than C, but C is a total buzzkill. Reminds me of Katsu, honestly."
My old man leaned against the bench Momo Sensei sat in, messing with his lighter to get a flame going. A cigarette dangled between his lips, some of his hair drifting dangerously close to the flame sprouting from the lighter.
Guess that ugly ass headband couldn't keep all his hair contained.
And Darui, the legend himself, stood beside Kenji with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The handle of his rectangular sword peaked over his shoulder, coming out just behind his textured, white hair.
When I put some thought into it, Darui and my old mans outfits were pretty similar. Only the muscle shirt Darui wore in a deep black, was a mustard yellow for Kenji. He didn't have the giant scoop collar like Darui either. But besides that, they were pretty close. So much so I wouldn't have been surprised if they went clothes shopping together and coordinated on purpose.
Actually, I think they did do that.
"Would Temari of the Sand and Akaashi Kohana please come down for their match?" The third proctor turned to look at the alcove, hands placed on his hips.
I shot Naruto a grin. "Well, guess that's my cue to kick some ass."
He gave me a big thumbs up. "You're gonna kick some ass alright! Really I was just standing here so you wouldn't be alone, but I'm gonna head over to where Shikamaru-Kun and Ryuu-Kun are."
I blinked in surprise as he gave me one last wave over his shoulder, before turning and taking off down the hall leading to the main part of the stadium where those watching were seated.
He had been standing here just for me?
"Hey! Kumo ninja!"
I looked down toward the ground, gaze narrowing in on the girl with the fan, otherwise known as Temari, giving me a nasty glare. She stabbed her fan into the ground and leaned on it. "You coming down here or what? Be such a shame if you were to forfeit. I was hoping for some fun."
I smirked.
She wanted some fun, hm?
I was down for that.
I grabbed ahold of the railing and flung myself over, much like Ryuu had done when he made his own entrance into the arena. Dust clouds kicked up under my feet as I skid down the concrete wall, before I made a smooth landing on the grass and made my way over to Temari.
She eyed me up and down, before giving a scoff. "You don't look like much."
"Neither do you." I crossed my arms, returning the gesture. "Your insults are almost as dry as the desert you live in. Is that a side of effect of overexposure?"
She narrowed her eyes, before giving me a cool smirk. "No. But it seems the lack of oxygen from living in the mountains has effected your brain development. Tell me, how high is your IQ?"
"Higher than yours, that's for sure."
The third proctor winced, stepping closer to us and outstretching his hand. "Alright, alright. Let's not banter too much and get a move on with the match. Are both participants ready?"
"Yes."
"Yup."
He stepped back to give us room, before dropping his hand to his side. "Begin!"
Not wasting a second, I whipped out my tanto and darted forward, stabbing at her chest area. She ripped her fan out of the ground and blocked my blade with the metal lining, the audible cling! ringing out.
Temari glared at me from overtop her fan, pushing back against my tanto with both hands. I didn't return the glare, instead choosing to bare my teeth and give her the nastiest mixture of a smirk and grin I could muster, before giving a sharp shove and causing her to stumble.
She may have been older than me, but I was still bigger, which gave me the advantage of having more body weight to push against her. She was probably just barely over five feet tall, whereas I was at least six inches taller than her if not more.
Since I did a straightforward attack, Temari hadn't gotten the opportunity to open her fan and cast a wind jutsu. She had no other option other than to block my stab. As long as I continued to prevent her form using that fan, I had the upper hand. She needed time to get that thing open. But I wasn't gonna give her even a second.
I ran for Temari again, this time going for her midsection. I stabbed at her, almost nicking the purple fabric of her dress, only for her to do same thing as before, slamming the fan against the tanto blade and setting off that ear piercing cling! that made me want to do nothing but cringe.
With the usage of my left hand, I continued to push against her fan. While with the other I snaked a kunai from my pouch and swung it around, stabbing at her neck.
I thought I fucking got her too—but she pulled her fan from my grip and flung herself away with lightning speed, three backhand springs putting that unfortunate distance between us.
Since I was finally far enough from her, Temari took the opportunity she had been given and whipped the fan open, all three moons displaying themselves. She held it over herself, shielding her body while peering over top the metal lining, green eyes narrowed.
Shit!
I had one shot. I needed to prevent that fucking fan from opening, but I couldn't even do that, huh?!
She gave a smug laugh. "Hmph. I had a feeling you were trying to keep me from using my fan. Didn't do a good job of it though."
"Shut the fuck up." I snapped, twirling my tanto so I held it like a massive knife. I brought it up in front of my face, blade cutting my vision in half and allowing me to focus better than before.
Temari grunted in amusement, before swinging her fan back and calling out, "ninja art: wind scythe!"
I grit my teeth at the strong currents of wind blasting across the arena, slicing at the ground, walls, my legs, arms, and even nicking my cheekbone. My feet began to slide backwards, sandals struggling to get a decent grip on the grass while such a strong force was pushing on me.
I then swung my blade, channeling my chakra. "Cloud style: blade slice!"
The tanto, channeled with my chakra, sliced through the strong currents of wind and divulged a 'v' shaped path. Wind currents split down the center of the blade and curved around my body, the most 'damage' inflicted now being the wild course of winds whipping through my hair. I was still littered with scratches from the beginning of the jutsu, clothes torn up and scratches all over my calves. But this thing couldn't do anymore damage than it already caused.
Temari clicked her tongue, snapping her fan back and canceling the jutsu.
I darted for her again with my tanto outstretched, trying to make the same move I had the first time. But she wasn't going to let me get close to her. She was starting to see the repetition in my moves, and she was going to put a stop to them.
With a loud battle cry, she swung her fan back, before whipping it around and sending massive currents through the air. These currents weren't slicing like little knives—instead they were great, powerful gusts like those you would feel high up on the mountain tops.
I grit my teeth and held my arms in front of my face, shielding my skin and eyes from the pressure. It was hella, hella strong, and I struggled to keep myself standing against such a brute force as this. The 'x' shape I made with my arms, paired with the blade of my tanto, was better than facing the brute contact with my skin. But that didn't mean I wasn't struggling.
I could go for another cloud style cut, but I didn't want to expend anymore chakra doing that than I already had. I wasn't blessed with massive reserves like Ryuu, and I didn't have any useful fuinjutsu to fall back on either. No kaboom! inducing exploding tags. Not that those would probably work on her anyway. Maybe if I got close enough to her fan I could stick it on there. But I didn't have any tags in the first place, so that didn't matter.
Temari snapped her fan shut again, signaling the end of her jutsu. She faced me with a level smirk, almost as if she fucking knew I was struggling to come up with ways to pound her ass into the ground.
Fucking strategizing. The absolute worst thing on the damn planet. Who wanted to sit around plotting every single move they were to make, down to the grain of sand? Definitely not me. Talk about boring. What were you even supposed to do when something didn't go as you planned it? That was how life was. It just didn't go according to plan. So why make a plan in the first place?
But I needed to come up with something. I needed to think. My respective EAD method wasn't gonna cut it this time around. As depressing as that was.
My eyes ran across the fan in her hand, the metal roll of chakra strings suddenly feeling a lot heavier against my hip.
Bingo.
I ran for her with my tanto outstretched for what felt like the 30th time that day, and swung for her neck. She whirled the fan around, light whoosh of wind blowing my hair back, before the same ol' clang! rang out.
Temari scoffed. "Playing that same card over and over is bound to make your opponent predict it."
I smirked. "Maybe. But maybe I have other cards to play too."
I ripped my tanto back, Temari stumbling forward in surprise. Suddenly removing myself from her—the target she had been applying heavy pressure to—ensured her fall. She needed somewhere to relive all the force she had been putting against the target, A.K.A—me.
Guess paying attention in the academy did pay off sometimes. Or just having common sense. Whatever one works.
I flicked my hand around the small metal wheel clipped to my hip, twisting it like a tiny doorknob, the chakra infused metal whirling out and entangling itself around the fan like a pretty, unnoticeable ribbon. With gritted teeth, I grabbed ahold of the wire and coursed more of my chakra into it, before pulling hard, the whirrr noise of metal retracting.
The wire snapped at the air, stolen fan flinging into my free hand while the stringy metal wound itself back up.
Temari looked at me with an open mouth, like she couldn't believe I had actually taken her fan.
I gave her a snarky grin and cocked my head to the side. "Sorry, did you want this back?"
+
authors note:
kachow! i am so bad at writing fight
scenes, but i hope it's improved even
just a little bit from when kohana
fought orohimaru in the forest of death.
that was so difficult for me to write back
then. i try to make fight scenes as
interesting as possible, while not
overpowering my oc's too much.
anyway, how do you guys feel about
ryuu and kohana's fights so far? their
fighting styles, and their strategies?
thanks for reading!
love ya!
-kat