The air was suffocating.  Never before had Motoichi really become so aware of the humidity in the Waterfall Country, yet today he felt it.  Getting dressed, he noticed the corners of his hotel room were just beginning to show signs of mold.  Such signs pointed to the fact that humidity was a harsh, everyday reality for these people.  Something he had never really had to experience much himself in his home, the Land of Earth.

Still, today was the mark of the quarter final section.  Others said it was the final section, the 'elite section'.  Motoichi didn't really understand what was so elite about it all.  In the end, all of them were just genin.  It wasn't like any of them were one of those mythical jinchuuriki that only mid-wives and wet-nurses told tales about to kids.  Things like bijuu, or tailed beasts, that used to plague these lands.  Now, it was only man that plagued man.

Strapping on all of his gear; his kunai, shuriken, senbon, smoke and flash bombs, metsubishi and makibishi.  All of his items he strapped along his body, some around his biceps and forearms, some along his waist and chest, others on his legs.  Everything would be loosely strapped for easy throwing and pulling out.  Small strings that kept them safely snug enough for moving around in combat without being detrimental to his speed or making any excess noise.

He put his forehead protector on, wrapping it like a bandana around his forehead.  The strap tightening with a simple double knot.  It gleamed as he stepped outside into the sunlight. Today he needed to be in his best form to win his match.




Again, Motoichi met with his individual proctor.  Yumi Otohi. Her scarf hung loosely around her neck. The fabric looked thick and with the amount of humidity, didn't seem to bother her.  It was the first thing he mentioned after she had told him to follow her.

"Isn't it too hot and sticky out to really be wearing that?" he motioned to her scarf.

Yumi only seemed to do small scoff in a retort. Leading him over to the Hero Arena. The lack of a verbal reply made him wonder what had happened between them.  The last time he'd talked to her, she'd told him her name. It seemed things were back to being proctor and contestant.

They stopped for a moment underneath the stands, in a small tunnel that opened up into the main arena.  An announcer's voice boomed and echoed in the area before them, the reverberations that made it into the tunnel distorted and unclear.  Motoichi could barely decipher what was being said.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen of the five great nations and beyond, I present to you..." the booming voice stopped and echoed for a moment, creating a dramatic pause as the crowd grew a bit less noisy in preparation for what was next to be announced.

Next to Yumi and Motoichi, came up a long, blue haired girl that looked to be still in her teens.  She looked grim and ready when she looked out into the arena.  Being only a few people within the tunnel, Motoichi quickly deducted that this was Kaekio Ryuzoji.  His opponent for today.

"KAEKIO RYUZOJI!!!" roared the announcer. The crowd lit up in an outcry.

"VERSUS.... MOTOICHI MITARASHI!!!" yelled out the announcer again. This time the crowd grew much fainter. The voice of one man's loud cheer erupted, though quickly died down once the realization of being overzealous had embarrassed the man into silence.

It was then that they entered the arena. The crowd cheering so loud and from all directions.  Noise might be a problem if they kept this up. As if reading his thoughts, Yumi reassured him.

"Don't worry, the crowd will quiet down for the fight.  It'll be such a difference, you'll think everyone's dead."
She gave a quick smile that relieved him of the worry to think over the crowd's noise.  Yumi stayed back in the tunnel, the match proctor waiting for the both of them in the center of the arena.

The arena was quite large. By appearances alone, Motoichi figured the place to be nearly 80 meters wide. It could be more or less for all he knew, he wasn't some land surveyor. Though it didn't take a land surveyor to see that a nice pond of water that lay not too far from the center of the arena would prove useful, and the same with the sparse oak trees that littered the arena's open field. Their branches looking sturdy and bulky. Perfect for a nice perch.

"Looks like you have more people betting on you to win," Motoichi said to Kaekio as they came to the center.

The match proctor announced immediately. "Congratulations for making it this far, Genin.  Now that you both are here, you may..."

The proctor leapt up in the air, retreating fiercely as he shouted out. "Begin!"

Motoichi grunted, having noticed that seven meters of grass stood between him and Kaekio.  He thought about charging forward, or maybe waiting for the girl to make the first move.  Charging would most likely be stupid, waiting for an attack would be playing into a similar situation as the last fight, which this girl had most likely seen as the fight took place in the center of the maze back when all the Genin were together and whittled down.

No, a repeat showing would be stupid. Besides, she was a completely different person than the other guy.  Space to think more would be best.

So, it was at the sound of the proctor's yelling of 'begin' that he leapt up and back, rocketing himself with all of his speed to an overhanging tree branch eight meters behind him.  It was there on the branch, that he would use the space to help him react to any attack that might come his way.

Also, just as his last battle, two kunai had slipped into his right hand. The two blades finding a pocket in between his fingers as he had flown backwards to the tree.  Throughout the whole movement, he never once moved his eyes away from the girl's figure. Motoichi was ready for whatever was thrown at him...

...or so he thought.

black leather flowed in the wind, Kaekio's cloak making her a dark and mysterious figure as she entered the arena. all of her items tucked neatly away on the inside of the cloak. with 1 kunai on the outside of her hip. she walked into her section, briefly showing her face to the proctors as she entered into the entrance. her day thus far had been spent thinking of strategies and possible scenario's for the fight about to occur, and also partially thinking about nozomi. her very serious face cracked a smile, and she blushed a little bit when she thought of nozomi. then it returned to normal as she caught of glimpse of her competitor. she pulled of her hood and let her long blue hair flow out, then she was herded next to the older man. she bite her lip in anticipation. her fight was about to begin. in only moments she would be locked in battle with this person. her face turned cold and dark. she would have to beat him. she would have to tear him apart. she needed to prove her worth. to her lover, her friends, her sensei. all of their eyes were at her at this moment. they were all expecting things from he, but she had had enough of expectations. she wanted to blow the doors off of those expectations. she was getting pumped, excited even. then She heard her name beign loudly annouced, several people screamed. they were excited for her. it almost wanted to make her burst through the doors and begin the fight now. her mind went blank now. battle strategies, scenario's wouldn't matter now. this was battle. she locked onto her opponent now while they were close. his electrical system light up the world around her. she smiled. she could win this. "Looks like you have more people betting on you to win," her opponents comment caught her off guard. had he been looking into this? now that she thought about it, alot less people cheered for him when his name was announced after hers. damn those expectations, every one was expecting him to do terrible... how did that make him feel? "Don't worry about what every one expects of you. let those people who assume your nothing die and rot in hell." her voice sounded harsh, and cruel. she hated those people that thought expectations were everything, but in all honesty she had said that mainly to convince herself more than she did it for him. then they turned, faced each other. "Begin!" was shouted. her face grew dark and a murderous expression of seriousness took a hold of her face. her opponent jumped, 2 kunai drawn. the world around her becoming a blur, the thrill of battle taking over her. she grabbed the kunai on her belt, and then when she held it in a defensive manner, it Erupted into flames. a grim smile took her face, as she threw it aiming for the neck of the man in the air. then she extend her arms, and 2 kunai went into each of her hands, she threw the 4 kunai at the man as well. 1 aiming for each of the tendons in the shoulder. the other two aiming for a soft spot in the stomach. immediately after the the kunai went flying. she began to make hand signs, then inhaling deeply, then she exhaled and a massive fireball released out of her mouth, aimed at man, weather his location be new or the same she aimed at him and the fireball was sent, reaching him in a half of a second. then she would began to run keeping exactly 8 meters away from him, but also she moved to the right, in a semi circle type pattern. she was ready for this battle, she had to win. there was no fail in this situation, she was going to win. she was going to prove to EVERYONE that she could be useful.... she would make them proud.

Chakra: -10 for Current perception (close range combat), -10 for weak fire cloak, - 15 for Great Fireball Jutsu
115 chakra left.

Justu used:

WC:676

The match began with a bang. The girl dropping into a defensive stance as Motoichi flew back to the tree branch. The kunai in her hand was set ablaze. She threw it forward while he was still in the air, the blade on course to his throat.  Seeing the danger, Motoichi tilted his head back and pulled up his ankles, moving his body's weight into his backward movement, creating a backflip that allowed the kunai to soar over his body as he flipped in the air.

Coming to a safe landing on the tree branch, he was quickly greeted with another four kunai being thrown his way from the girl.  Realizing he wasn't safe on the tree branch either, he sent a flow of chakra into the branch he was perched upon.  It seemed she really enjoyed the art of knife throwing, and already an affinity to fire was known about her.  Plus there was the fact that her throwing skills were extraordinarily accurate.

To get past the four kunai took quick thinking on Motoichi's part. Thankfully, it seemed the tosses weren't too quick, but still rather accurately thrown, allowing him enough time to properly spot the hole in between the two layers of kunai.  It seemed two were on a higher course, aimed for the top of his torso while the other two were hugged in tightly together and low for a stomach or groin shot.  Not wishing for either to harm him, he pushed up with his fleet and bent himself forward.  His body went prone in the air, aligning himself parallel to their lines of trajectory.  Just as before, the kunai sailed safely past him.

However, in his leap Motoichi took notice of the Tiger handsign being performed and an inhaling breath. Fire release was her first move, and inhaling breaths with handsigns were usually reserved for the fire release or wind release.  The speed of her next attack was so close to the time of her last kunai throw that he knew he'd still be caught in the air.

His small jump up had rendered him completely vulnerable to her attack as she launched a giant fireball towards him. The speed of which was surprisingly fast. At the time he had increased the distance to a little over fifteen meters upon the timing of her launching the fireball jutsu, yet it still reached him in less than a second.

There was no choice but to defend against it.  Although the attack itself was quick, the preparation for it was enough giveaway for him to prepare his mind for a quick defense.  Just as she went to exhale before the launch, Motoichi coated himself in a slim raiton covering to block the inevitable hit. The chakra reacting against opposing chakra in a brilliant display. The result being a wavering pillar of smoke as Motoichi landed upon the ground on all fours.

She was quick and she was lethal. He would definitely need to play things safe in this match.

The bulk of the fireball had pushed him back, the reason for having landed on the ground instead of the tree branch.  Kaekio had now started running up to him. He stood to prepare for an attack, but she kept her distance to just around the same distance as they had started; eight meters away.

A peculiar tactic to say the least.  What was the reason behind this? In order to find out if the distance mattered, there was only one direction to go.  Forwards.  Yet that would go against his initial plan of backing up and testing the girl's strengths.

Seeing her come forward, he dashed back again with great speed while keeping a steady eye on her position. He would venture further back ten meters.  This time he stayed close to the ground so as not to get caught up in the air like last time.

Upon reaching his destination of ten more meters of distance, he would face her again.  If things stayed the same, she would still be keeping up the eight meters distance.  With one jutsu already used, it was best to wait and see if she would unleash any new tricks his way. So it was that he placed a second coating of chakra upon his body, taking on a bluish hue or soft and subtle glow about him.

The waiting game seemed to have become a recent trend of his.  Motoichi wasn't so sure if he liked this about himself.  Either way, the fight was unfolding quickly for the both of them.

Chakra 125/150:

Kaekio bite her lip in disappointment her opponent had remained unscathed by everything she had thrown at him. nothing. she kept the 8 meter distance from him as he ran away from her. past the tree and a little farther, about 8 meters past the tree, she placed a hand on the tree as she past it infusing some of her chakra into it. she planned to use it for a substitution at some point.  she looked at the trees, in close detail, sensing her opponent electrical signals to make sure she didn't make a move. she probably would never see this poor poor tree up close again in her entire life. maybe no one would. the next time anyone payed any attention to it it would probably be covered in lightning. or what ever other element her opponent possessed, she had felt him expel a large amount of Raiton to block her fireball, and she had seen it too. so he had it. her weakness. he could end her. she needed to be a little less offensive, so she stepped away from eh tree about 4 meters, and then stood there 8 meters away from him, if he would run towards her she would pull out her Twin katanas and stay at least four meters away from him, keeping an eye on him. if he were to run away she would keep her 8 meter distance. if he would keep the distance from her then she would wait for him to make a move. the ball was in his court now. it was his move. and she was ready.

WC:271

OOC: sorry for the short post but 'im trying something out, bare with me

Chakra used: 15
5 for substitution
10 for current perception

Justu used:

Chakra 100

Motoichi watched the girl with added interest.  She was still keeping the eight meters of distance between the two.  And something even more interesting, she took a moment in her run to touch the tree that he had been perched on.  Someone touches a tree, big whoop, but this was a battle, a Chuunin Exam battle.  Everything needed to be picked apart about the girl's movements.

Touching the tree was not needed, it wasn't in her way nor did she try to push off it as if trying to gain speed.  Kaekio didn't seem to want to speed up, only keeping the eight meters of distance mattered to her.  So what had she done to the tree?  By the time that he had come to a stop, and thus Kaekio as well, he'd made his guess.  There were only two likely possibilities that he could foresee from her quick hand placement.  A simple fuuinjutsu technique laced on the tree, or maybe she had prepared for the use of substitution as well.

Eventually, he would figure out the truth.  Still, his first priority was to figure out how much this eight meters of distance mattered.  Immediately upon his stopping after his previous retreat, Motoichi took off in a quick run, dashing straight for her, speeding along as fast as he could go.  Upon reaching five meters away from the girl, he'd swiftly pull off a round, unidentifiable small ball of paper from his waist with his left hand and fling it to the ground in between them, all in a brief instant as he ran.

An astounding flash would then erupt as the quick toss of the ball would be fast enough to protect its identity in the small split second it appeared out of his hand and clash with the ground.  The eruption of light would be sure to dazzle the girl as she watched him with open eyes. While Motoichi would close his eyes in a quickly timed, and just slightly lengthened blink so as to protect his eyes from the moment of the blast while he continued to race forward.  He would reach within four meters immediately after the flash of blinding light, and out two sharp, black boxes lurched forward in the hunt of their beating target from the man.  They moved so fast, and with such little room to travel, that the beating target for both of the metal tools would be closed in upon in less than third of a second.

Once entering within three meters, Motoichi would protect himself for whatever counter might be thrown his way, whether it be calculated or wild.  With this attack, he would try to test her defenses and see what holes could be made, all while protecting himself as he entered such close proximity with his opponent.  Unbeknownst to Motoichi, having his raiton defense up might have possibly tipped the scales in his favor, as the lightning that spread all around his body would possibly be acting like a film, or shield of sorts, of electricity over his body's own electrical outputs.

Motoichi just hoped he hadn't sent himself to his defeat...

Chakra 125/150:

Kaekio watched as her opponent ran towards her, she pulled out her twins katana's instantly charging them both with raiton chakra, then she pointed one at her opponeant and fired a bolt, him being about 6 meters away it reached him in about 1/4 of a second, hopefully shattering his raiton shield that kaekio could still feel around him. then she would run towards him, she felt him reach into his pouch and wrap his hand around a small round object. from her academy knowledge this could only be one of 2 things, either a smoke bomb or a flash bomb, she read his electrical signals telling her that he would throw it towards the ground, there simply wasn't enough effort in the throw for it to be headed towards her. she closed her eyes before it had even left his hand. she had to assume it was a flash bang, because if she closed her eyes and it turned out to be a smoke bomb instead, then when she opened them she would still see nothing. so it was safe to say she should close her eyes because preparing for the worst is never a bad thing. her blades still charged with raiton, and her opponent about to be in range and using her Sensing abilities she could tell that he had no intentions of changing course, she would swing her swords at her opponent, using her sensory to accurately attack him. one aimed to vertically slash the tendon in his right shoulder, the sword was aimmed to horizontally slash his stomach, if these hits landed  just before her blade was about to connect she heard the bang! and opened her eyes, by the time her eyes would be open her blades would have made there cut, and she would be opening her eyes to see if it was a hit or fail. but as she opened them she felt him make a move to throw his Kunai at her, she had no time to dodge, and given the fast pace what just happened her hits hadn't registered with him, so his kunai went directly into her stomach, but both of them stopped dead in their tracks, as Kaekio's robe was ripped open, no longer protecting her, but it had done it's just to protect her from the kunai. then she would go for two more blows, her being unharmed, she would slash his neck, and thrust one sword directly into where his heart should be. and she would keep slashing and slashing each slash going for a vital spot, each sword swinging in time so it was one after the other repeatedly, if he moved she would run after him and keep slashing when he was in range.

OOC: given that your eyes were closed as well when the swords werw swung i believe the swords should hit as you would have had no idea of their impending attacks, also you were committed to throwing the kunai so it's not like you could have moved. as you stated he only took a defensive stance after the kunai were thrown. then as a 1.25 inch cut to the stomach and arm would hurt like hell you should make sure to include that in your post as a distraction, since he has no special characteristic you must consider him like a normal human, so imagine you being cut that deeply, any normal human would get distracted by that as pain is something you focus on.

WC:466 words

Chakra: 20 used for dual blue blade activation. 15 used for blue blade bolt. 10 used for current perception.

55 chakra left.

OOC:

What happened next was quite the spectacle.  Motoichi did indeed charge forward as fast he could go, even while watching things unfold before him.  The girl, Kaekio, took out her twin blades as he charged on, firing off a bolt of lightning that hit him straight on as he continued running.  The attack was quick and almost instantaneous. There was nothing he could do, nor anything he needed to do while being hit as he was nearly 6 meters away from the girl and closing in.

Raiton chakra clashed with raiton chakra as her bolt of lightning hit him.  His shield dissipated and there was a twinge of pain from the hit. Still, he pressed on, but slower now as he saw the girl was running up to meet him.  Seeing this, he slowed up but didn't change his course.  His throw for the flashbang went off without a hitch when he came to five meters away, again just as stated before and everything was going as planned.  Or so he thought, until he opened his eyes as he had shielded them from his own flashbang.

Immediately upon opening his eyes, Kaekio's swords were already in a swinging motion, their blades had been seemingly about to connect at the time of the bang from the flashbang.  Her blind attack it seemed, for her eyes were opening now as well, missed as the blades followed their path, bending around what would have been Motoichi's body had he been within reach of the swords.

However, the girl had charged fast, but he was quite aware of her movements due to his apt perception, and he had slowed down due to her new movement.  He had no intentions of crashing into her.  In fact, he still had thrown his two kunai at her at the distance of four meters in between them and when he was three meters away from the incoming girl he stopped into his defensive stance, having slowed down so much prior to allow for an easy stop.

What he witnessed next was extraordinary.  Her blades were still swinging, finishing their slashes as she was hit in the stomach by his two kunai.  The hit was odd, as he thought he had aimed for her heart, but nevertheless the attack ripped apart her cloak with no harm to her.  Taking this opening, Motoichi instantly followed up his two kunai with a barrage of ten shuriken that all shot out simultaneously from their loosely held placements about his body as he had adorned himself earlier that day, loose enough to not hinder his jutsu's use in the slightest, and they were fired out at the speed of fifteen meters per second.  His use of the jutsu Precision making the attack practically unavoidable, nor even reactable even to the mind, as she had closed in on him into two meters space between them because the girl was still running.  His attack coming without warning, as he needed to not move any part of his body for it, and having been immediately following his two kunai's hit which had deterred away the apparently bothersome cloak she had been wearing as protection.

The ten shuriken were aimed as follows: one to her left eye, one to her right eye, one aimed just three centimeters below her left eye, one aimed three centimeters below her right eye, one to the middle of her neck, one to her jugular vein on her neck, one to the middle of her right shoulder, one to the middle of her left shoulder, one to the center of her chest, and one to her mouth in hopes of hindering her from further producing another fireball from her mouth.

This attack would be then immediately followed up by a quick dodge to the left, distancing himself from the girl as she still went for the attack, and given the fast pace of what had just happened, it seemed his hits hadn't registered with the girl in the instant following his Precision's attack. Keeping the distance of two meters, her reach wasn't able to hit him.  She swung as if aiming for his neck and thrusting with the other sword as if to poke him in his heart, yet he maintained a safe distance of two meters from the girl as his attacks took their toll on her.

The girl had guts, and Motoichi definitely respected her even still.  In fact, he was still very worried she would try and continue the attack, so he was ever cautious and ready.

Chakra 115/150:

PLACE HOLDER

Kaekio felt her opponent walking towards her, however he was still moving towards her and as she ran at top speed the gap was closed in almost and instant, her eyes closed before the flash, using her kekeai genkai instead to locate and accurately, track and predict her opponents movements, then when she was within range of him, she felt him beginning to close his eyes as well, she swung her sword, the blade nearly reaching him by the time a bang was heard, before either of their eyes could be fully opened she felt her blades connect. Kaekio's eyes as opened blood was spilled. his arm was cut, as well as his gut. his tendon right above his shoulder bone cut pretty roughly. this would make her opponents arm much much harder to use, but the cut to the stomach was equally as brutal. Kaekio felt her opponents flesh tearing underneath her blade, the skin around the cuts being burned. however this didn't slow kaekio, she had seen blood before, and she knew that if she didn't continue to cut down her opponent that it could be deadly for her. using her kekai genkai abilities she was easily able to track his movements. and her neck strikes were deadly, the tendon in his neck slashed about an inch and half into his neck, hitting his carotid artery, and her sword pierces his chest, almost reaching heart, then she tore it out, these wounds could kill him quickly if he didn't receive medical attention as soon as possible, but kaekio didn't care she continue slashing and slashing, attempting to give him multiple cuts, aimming at his legs and his arms attempting to make them immobile, and she kept slicing and slicing until she finally ran out of energy, and saw that he was on the verge of death. this could be life or death for the older man, and so kaekio decided she had better give it up there, there was no way he could continue to fight, not unless he wanted to die, his blood was draining out by the moment. kaekio, deactivated the chakra in her blades and let go of his chakra signal, as she turned around and fell to her knees. this fight had nearly drained her, but she was a persistent and she had won. she think she had heard a medical team rush to the aid of motoichi, 1 ran over to her and checked her over, but she had no wounds, she was just exhausted. on her knees she sheathed her blades and struggled to stand up. the heat of the moment had made the exhaustion wait, but now she was feeling it as her eyes scanned the crowd who was now cheering for the blood bath they had just watched. a quick match to say the least, but she didn't care about most of the crowd, she was just looking for one, a cute little blonde who she hopped was watching.

OOC: you took the hit because of a few reasons, kaekio's attack wasn't blind, her kekai genkai isn't a doujustu, its a sensory, she feels eletricity, so she knew when and where to strike, also slowing down wouldn't have matter as i used my sensory tech to attack you at just the right time, my sensory techniques come with this little thing called movement prediction, so i could tell where you were going even before you moved there making impossible for me to miss a strike by my eyes simply being closed, also you didn't make any comment about moving backwards instead you continued to move forward and me moving at top speed only made me close that gap faster.so then the rest of your post is then declared void as it went under the assumption you didn't take the hit. it's like someone giving a long drawn out speech in their post, but the next person punches them 2 words into the speech that speech wouldn't have continued. so you take the hit, then you take my next hits which is nearly fatal, and your character dies in less than a minute without proper attention, so this fight is over. it was a good fight and im glad to have fought you <3 your were a tough challenge and i hope to have a rematch some day :P
-Ashley

Chakra -20 maintained blue blade, dual wielding tech, and current perception all ended this post
30 left

WC:505

Total WC: 1918

-1875 for c to c-3 perception

ok…first of all, good match

second, indeed Moto, you have done well in editing your posts to avoid any mistakes and have followed the rules very well, having listened to the concerns and amended without complaint.

However, now to give the verdict on this battle: it is indeed over, as you have obviously not read Kaekio's kkg, a mistake which has indeed cost you the match. If you have any doubts on this ruling, you can still file an appeal by PM.

This was a very good fight and I hope you guys enjoyed it.