The early morning sun was as bright as ever as Anshin sat on the first row of the arena's stands, waiting for his opponent. He had recently heard a rumour that Sake was in love with his sister, albeit from her, and he wanted to see if the man who was brave enough to date his sister was strong enough to fight for her. Of course, he knew that as the kazekage she had a hundred or more men to fight for her anyway, but they were just plain soldiers. This would be the battlefield of love; Romantic VS Sibling. He had to make sure that the one who would end up with his sister wasn't just some poor pushover who had no right even calling themselves a ninja. Normally he wouldn't be this hostile towards anyone, but this was his sister's happiness at stake here. He had no problem with fighting for her happiness with that in mind.

Still, what he had heard so far was impressive. The man fought with puppets without using puppets and there were rumours that he even summoned flowers. There was a strong part of Anshin's mind that was praying that the flower summoning rumours weren't true, as even if the man was physically strong enough, he certainly wouldn't be man enough. After all, who in god's name summons flowers. What's next, picking pretty posies whilst prancing prettily and posing provocatively? Oh no, it just wouldn't do at all. Not one tiny little bit. So, naturally, he challenged the guy to a fight. What else would a big brother do in these situations, eh?

Sake had been rudely awakened by a scrawny looking kid. Sake hated being awoken ealry. The kid coneyed a message. Apparently Gin had a brother, and he wasnt too happy about Sake's love for her. He was challenging Sake to a fight at the arena. Sake thought about it for a while. He couldnt really back down, that would basically destroy his reputation, but what if he beat up the poor kid? Gin would not be too happy. Sake decided that he was going to fight, but he wouldn't take it too far. As he got up he felt his back crack, another side effect of the rock hard bench he had been sleeping on recently. Sake took a leisurely walk to the Arena, not going too fast. He wasnt really bothered about this fight too much, but he supposed it would be a good break from his training.

After quite a slow paced walk, Sake finnaly reached the arena. He causally strolled through the entrance to see a boy around his age in a pretty aggressive looking stance. From Gin he had heard a bit about this kid, Kenjutsu user, close range kinda guy. Sake smiled to himself, Sake is a long range fighter mostly, but he is by far most dangerous up close, although he can cause great damage from afar. When attacking, he tends to draw people into his traps, then he causes a great deal of damage, usually ending the fight. Sake grinned at the other boy and spoke.
"Whatsup? Im Sake, nice to meet you. I guess you're the one Im supposed to be fighting?"

Anshin's eyebrows rose as he saw the man entering the arena. He was dressed in a brown trenchcoat and some basic clothes. Their fashion style seemed to be obscenely similar, even if his pauldroned cloak was white and the man's greatcoat was brown. He smiled slightly, a little cockily, and put his hand out.
"I'm Gin's older brother and academy kenjutsu teacher, Anshin Kuroka. Pleasured to meet the guy who wants to humpbump my sister." His voice was playful but cruel, a cat playing with a mouse it had caught. His smile turned into a bit of a leer

"Judging by the look of you, you're hoping for some kind of easy victory where you don't beat me up too bad. Well, I've got news for ya kid, I ain't lost a fight I've taken part in so far, and I don't want to see you holding back because you don't want to see Gin upset. I'm her older brother, if I get beaten up protecting her then it's for a good cause. But let's get one thing straight. I don't think you have the strength to actually do it. Care to prove me wrong. flower boy?"

Sake's grin faded as he shook Anshin's hand. His tone sounded playful, but Sake knew he was trying to provoke him. Sake kept his cool and knew that if he blew his top he would lose this fight. So he put a serious look on his face and stared Anshin down. Sake had thought of about ten possible strategies for any possible situation. Sake didnt get cocky, he didnt know his opponent yet, so he couldnt assume anything, instead; he just replied.
"Just so you know, I have a PH.D in asskicking, so if you call me flower boy again I'll kick your teeth in. If you want to test my strength I'll give you a full taste of it."

Sake jumped back and took a few backsteps, spacing himself about 20 meters from Anshin. His words had no hints in them, he sounded like he meant what he said. Sake kept on staring Anshin down, giving nothing away in his facial expressions,and with that, he took fighting stance and gave Anshin the "Come at me" finger....

A PH.D in asskicking? Well, if cheesy catchphrases were exams, this man would be passing in the syllabus of being a total moron. As his opponent backstepped away, Anshin took up a combative stance, ready to fight the moment he had to. However, he had no intention of having the first blow.
"ooh, you wish to kick my teeth in? I'm so scared Sake-kun." he chuckled lightly and put a hand on his hip. "isn't there something more productive you could be doing with your time than coming up with stupid catchphrases. What are you, part of the evil league of evil? Careful doc or you're going to have to train your laughter." This was all set to make his opponent want to strike first, he had often preached in his lesson the importance of fighting with your mind, tongue and bodyThere were fights that could be settled in one blow and in those it was always important to get in first, but he could tell this one was going to be based over a long time. He took a stance that seemed more akin to taijutsu than kenjutsu and prepared to get into the fight, smiling slightly as he talked

"A true gentleman always lets the opponent have the first blow... even when their opponent is a great-coat wearing, flower-picking fool who's too big for his boots. Come, show me the strength of the Flowers, pollen boy." He teased, limbering up before the fight. There was no point getting into it if he was stiff. he was not going to follow that finger, he was not going to let it be easy on Sake. This was going to be a fight that he would have to follow with his heart and mind.

Sake didnt rush at Anshin. He didnt run at him. He didnt even quickly walk. It was a calm stroll towards him. He walked the whole 20 meters without speeding up or rushing in. He kept his blank face the whole while, not giving anything away, still keeping on his trenchcoat, despite it looking like a hindrance. As Sake reached pretty close to Anshin he swung his fist towards the side of Anshin's face. If the punch would connect, Sake would follow through with a "Flower Art: 10 Whips"

As the man was walking towards him, Anshin took a small coin out of his pocket, using it's round, frisbee-like shape to throw it as far away as he humanly could. Of course, this wasn't for fun, it was for a later move, one he hopefully wouldn't have to use. As the man got close, Anshin moved his head to the side, dodging the punch and following through with a knee to the balls, only stopping to think a moment after aiming it that if this actually connected the chance that he'd become an uncle might just drop by a few percentage. Still, he didn't see Gin as the perfect mother so it really didn't matter. After the knee was aimed, he slipped around the side, spinning so that he kept his eyes on his opponent the entire time. He didn't know if this guy had clone jutsus or not, but probably not considering his rumoured specialties.

"Have a little more enthusiasm, Sake. This is a fight over love, isn't it? You want your future brother-in-law to respect you, don't you?" he said, urging Sake to actually try in this fight. OF course, this might have been counter-productive as it would be mentioning marriage to a love-sick genin. About as wise as pouring bleach down a duck's throat.

Sake smiled as Anshin moved his head instead of jumping back. Sake knew that he would have to counter-attack, which was what he was hoping. As soon as Anshin moved his knee- which was suspiciously aimed at Sakes nuts - Sake pulled off one of his best close range Jutsu. "Dance of the Ten Stemmed Plant" The forward momentum of Anshin's attempted knee would nullify the chance of a dodge, that and the fact that he was too close to dodge back anyway. A counter attack would be almost impossible, due to being lashed repeatedly by solid chakra strings.

Jutsu Used:

As Anshin raised his knee, he saw a chakra string get created and as it wrapped around his leg, lashing him repeatedly, he just smiled, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a 10 ryo coin. Where the coin had been moments before stood a completely unhurt Anshin laughing slightly.
"oh really, what plant has ten stems? I'm no herbologist but I'm pretty sure that's impossible" he teased, before moving back, making sure to keep out of the range of those chakra strings. He had no idea how long the man'd be able to keep them up, but at this rate he was going to have to get serious and summon Kiretsu. He didn't like doing it so early in a fight, but he knew it would cut through the chakra strings like they were actual string.

75/80

Spoiler:

He had to admit, the replacement Jutsu had caught him off guard. He should have questioned it when Anshin had threw the coin, but what was done had been done. Now Sake was running, sprinting in fact, towards Anshin. The rapidly spinning chakra strings would be enough to protect him from any blows, and a bonus if he hit Anshin. Sake laughed as he ran towards the other kid, Anshin would have to flee unless he had some sort of weapon that could cut through chakra strings, Sake was fine. If he did somehow cut through the strings, Sake knew what he would do, but then again, it wouldnt be such a good idea to do something like that so early in the fight

For now, all Anshin was going to do was run. He decided that the most important thing, for now, would be to make this as big a surprise as possible, so he had to look like he had no defence. Plus, he had the perfect trap ready to beat him with. Still, it had to look realistic so he continued running, hoping that his chakra strings would thin out soon without anything to tie onto. He was a little faster than Sake due to his emphasis on a physical art, but only just enough to avoid getting cut into pieces. He was on the very edge of the net when it came to his strings and he wasn't going to risk his body for the sake of a trap. He would just have to be patient, and fast. Being fast was important

Sake let Anshin get a little lead, it was good because he knew he couldnt retain the spin for much longer. WHen the chakra strings cut out and dissipated Sake jumped back, spacing himelf from Anshin again. SOmething in his gut told him that he was hiding something, something that could change the fight. Nobody is THAT defenceless. Sake began stepping back as he jumped away from Anshin, spacing himself even more, letting Anshin make the move this time.

Now that he had the upper hand, there was something that Anshin had to do. Turning around, he charged straight for his opponent, aiming his shoulder right at Sake's chest, aiming to throw him onto the ground. If he could get him on the floor, and without a chance to summon, it would just be him and his chakra strings. Kiretsu could cut through those easily, so right now his opponent only really had summoning jutsu that he had to worry about. Besides, if he cut the stalk on the flower it would wilt, and swords were all about cutting... still, he needed to stay in the moment, and the moment involved charging head first into the enemy.

Sake smiled as Anshin charged towards him, his chest aimed at his shoulder. He thought for a brief second about using that jutsu, but decided that the time was not right. He could dodge and immediately summon, but he didnt really need his summon right now. Intead he just did the simplest thing he thought of, he summoned a chakra rope and hit the deck, rolling to the side of Anshin. As he rolled he swung the rope in the direction of Anshin's charging legs, aiming to trip him down. If Anshin would jump while he was swinging the rope, Sake would be ready, and he would raise the rope, hitting Anshin in the head. If the rope would trip Anshin, Sake would jump up from the roll and space himself yet again from Anshin, if Anshin attempted to jump the rope and it hit him in the face, Sake would come out of his roll from behind Anshin, and combo through with a punch to the back of the head and a stomp kick to the calfs, aiming to make him fall over.

jutsu used:

Anshin was running as he saw the rope and, leapt over it. As Sake raised it, he grabbed onto it and started using it to create centrifugal force, spinning it around like a hammer before letting it go, aiming to make Sake dizzy. After that, his handsigns came into motion. Serpent, Rat, Monkey, Bird! He slammed his hands on the ground and, suddenly, a huge upburst of dirt was created from the ground, blocking off the sight in everything. He could see Sake's silhouette, but now was the time for disorientating him, not for attacking. Keeping to the darkness of the earthcloud, he started teasingly talking.
"Oh, what's wrong Flower boy? Was that your best shot?" He laughed cruelly, throwing his voice so it would sound like it was from somewhere else.
"I thought Gin was dating someone with at least a little skill as a shinobi... guess I was wrong."

Chakra: 65/80

Spoiler:

As soon as Anshin grabbed the rope Sake attempted to smash it down, but the movement was already in Anshin's favor. Instead he just releasedd the rope, sending Anshin flying away from him. Which idiot would swing on a rope that someone else is controlling? Apparently that idiot. As Anshin was flung, Sake let the chakra rope dissipate, he had no need for in anymore. Now would be a good time to summon, but still, Sake didnt want to summon yet. Instead he just gave Anshin the come at me finger, ad laughed at him from afar.
"You shouldnt swing on the rope that I'm controling, your own centrifugal force is what allowed me to fling you like that, I hope you didnt graze yourself. Seriously kid, learn to think."

OOC: due to a cancelled series of events, I regain the 10 jutsu from earlier... and gain a never-dying hatred of you.

Anshin was sent rocketing and had to twist in mid-air to allow himself to land gracefully. Although this had not been his original plan, it at least looked graceful. So, as he had assumed, the rope was totally under sake's control, and what was important to remember was that touching it was very bad news. Although he didn't understand the concept that he was talking about, using his centrifugal force against him, he just accepted it as one of those stupid things that happened when chakra was involved. If it was a real rope his idea would have worked, but chakra kind of fucked with the laws of nature. A lot. He wasn't getting suckered into coming closer, that was for damned sure.

"Why don't you actually do something Sake? You can insult me all you want, but I'm just testing all your skills to see how they work. Why not summon and I'll see that skill too." The annoying thing was, as he was thrown away he was pulled out of his attack range. He could use the crackling blasts, but he wanted to save that for during his smoke field. For now he'd just have to let Sake think he was weak, then hit him when he was surprised.