He took another swig and sent the liquid down his throat with a gulp. It was pretty early but the jounin was seated at the bar in his living room having a drink. The whole episode with the village hidden in the mist -kirigakure no sato was over but anyone that knew better would have a feeling that things just wouldn't end there. There was some other reason for this invasion and even though the fire had been quenched this time, something else was sure to resurface soon. Syn hadn't heard anything about Kaekio ever since the incident and due to how high he was in the ranks of kumogakure shinobi, if he hadn't heard anything then that only meant that the raikage wasn't ready to let out information concerning the issue. Syn didn't mind, he was just about the safety of the village and the efficient performance of his own duties so if he was taking a drink this early in the morning, then he felt he had earned the freedom to do so.

Before he hit the sack the previous night, he had received a message via a messenger bird that had perched on his window. He had removed the scroll placed in the catridge attached to the bird's leg and unscrolled it. Pressing a bit of his chakra unto the surface of the scroll, the writing on the piece of paper became visible. The message was from Hisashi, one of his informants in the land of frosts - a smaller village a little off the wilderness of the the village hidden in the clouds. The message read; "Twelveth monkey, your expertise in what we both know is needed. An assassination was attempted on my life in the early hours of today and I managed to fight off this foe but she fled. I let her go and secretly tracked her to an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of the village where nobody goes. This opponent is highly skilled and I advise you to be cautious. Do this for me and our network of information would know no bounds. -6th dragon"
The message ended with a little map detailing the whereabouts of this abandoned mansion that was mentioned. Hisashi had been good to him in terms of information and favours too. Now was his chance to help him and he wouldn't back down on it. If anyone were to cut down Hisashi, that would be a great loss to Syn and it would take a while to fill the hole that would be created in the information network he had formed.

The jounin had only gone half way down the bottle and he felt that was enough. He hadn't taken enough to blur his vision or to cause him to stagger. He stood up from where he sat and returned the bottle and glass to the shelve before heading up the wooden stairs. He undressed and walked into the shower, standing under the cold water and washing himself for a few minutes. He was soon done and out of the shower, quickly drying himself and suiting up. He wore the camelio suit underneath and then a black coat and black pants along with black high soled killer boots for threading the snow or crushing creatures to death. He inserted his scrolls in pouches around his waist and checked his ninja bag to ensure all the projectiles and items were intact. He strapped his scythe to his back first and then sheathed his katana in it's scabbard. He wasn't very good with it yet but he was sure he could try. The journey to the land of frosts wasn't very far or too hectic but it would take one day at most. This time, he wasn't placing his head band above his left eye to cover his sharingan rather it was a simple leather pouch that he slid over it. This was personal business and he needed not drag the village into it.

The jounin exited his home making sure to lock it behind him. He then turned unto the path leading to the gates of the village. He was  unhindered while walking through the gates and out to the wilderness. Once he was out, he took off at moderate speeds believing there was no need to start off quick and get exhausted later. At this pace, he would get there at the required time and not be fatigued too. The journey wasn't rough and there weren't any hold ups on the way so the journey was indeed a smooth one. As soon as he got within range of the village hidden in the frosts, he pulled to a stop. There was no need to go in yet since his target was on the village outskirts. He retrieved the scroll from his pocket and checked the map, Hisashi was indeed really good with information. Syn broke to his left and then took a right as he came in range of the village outskirts. The floors were all as white as they should be. The trees covered in little specks of snow and just few houses were visible on these outskirts. It seemed as if the area had been deserted. The temperature was a bit cold but it wasn't beyond what Syn could handle.

According to the map, he took another left and few meters away was this mansion which was all covered in frost. From the outer view, it appeared as if no one had visited the place in years and this was really a good place for an assassin to hide out. She must have probably studied the house and its compartments so Syn had to be careful if he did find her here. The jounin would approach the mansion that had four floors but he wouldn't go in through the front door. He would turn to the right and around the corner, he would climb upward easily and enter the first floor of the mansion. The vast room was divided in sections and the one he would be in was covered in dust. There was a grand piano to the far right of the room, a bar adjacent to it, few furnitures and the door that led out of the room was opposite Syn. He would move towards this door while making every of his steps as silent as they could ever be.
WC:1081

Nozomi had chosen the Village Hidden in the Frost to stay hidden for now due to its close proximity to Kumogakure's main city. Not only that, but the place wasn't particularly well travelled, nor did it have any allegiance to Kumogakure, which meant it was actually the safest place for Nozomi to complete her recovery and to be able to deal with the Raikage better than she could currently. She knew that the fight with Gin had pushed her to her utmost, which meant that even though she was still recovering, she could tell how much gains she'd made. Her current abilities placed her at exactly the same level as she'd been when she'd confronted Gin, which meant that her full recovery should push her past where she was when she'd challenged Gin by quite a substantial amount. The good thing about that was that even should she fail in getting the surprise drop on Sanosuke, she would still be able to hold her own in a fight and potentially still come out on top. There were moments that her attacks had taken Gin by surprise, and for her to be able to physically stand up against that powerhouse at the time meant that Sanosuke would more than likely take the same amount of surprise, and that she'd be able to still hold her own.

The main issue at the moment was resting up. The young Jounin knew that despite the way that things had gone with Gin, she'd need to stay outside of Kumo's jurisdiction. She didn't think that Gin would have told Sanosuke that she'd had an encounter with her, or that she was planning on assassinating him, and as far as things went, Ayakashi had already withdrawn from Kumo, but even still, it didn't mean that Nozomi was particularly going to be a welcome sight in Kumo. As far as she knew, Sanosuke would probably still blame her for Kaekio's defection and "death". She didn't know that Kaekio had revealed herself, or anything of the sort. The main problem about her being in the Village Hidden in the Frost was that she didn't know any of the surrounding area, or have any personal contacts. In an effort to remain as hidden as possible and leave as little of a trace, she kept towards the more secluded area of the village, places that looked like they hadn't been frequented as much.

Through some of her own small investigations, she finally found a place that looked like it hadn't been frequented by anyone in years, and as far as anyone else knew, it actually hadn't. The mansion was rather large, and she could stay out of the cold long enough for her to recover and disappear without a trace once she felt ready to leave. She'd shacked up in the mansion and had actually been there for a few days, long enough that any trace of her having entered the building have been snowed over again and it was finally peaceful. She knew there were probably other people who utilized this place, because it was the perfect place for anyone who might find themselves hiding away from the law, but as of yet hadn't encountered anyone here. It didn't matter much, she wasn't going to stay for very long anyhow. And should anyone from the Village try and cause issues by raiding the place, she could take them. This was a small village, and even the high Jounin of these smaller villages weren't any issue for a Jounin of any of the major villages. A major village's Chuunin could actually stand against Jounin of small villages.

The thing was though, Nozomi actually took towards the first floor in order to leave quickly should she need to, as she wasn't in the village to cause trouble at all, just to rest up. It so happened that the house was warm on the inside, which meant any change in temperature was easily noticeable. As Syn opened the window, there was a rush of air from the temperature difference as the two contesting temperatures sought to reach equilibrium. Nozomi's eyes shot open as she was startled awake. The great thing about her training was that it taught her when something was wrong and even from a deep sleep she could wake up quite quickly.

Her normal gear was still on her, because she didn't want to have to abandon anything should she need to leave quickly. The only exceptions were her mask and her Katana which were uncomfortable to sleep in. They were within easy reach though, so her first reaction was to grab the mask and slide it on her face. As with most ANBU, her identity as a Hunter-nin was a key thing to hide. She pulled the Katana out from its sheathe and held the sheathe in her left hand, always one to utilize every part of her weapon as a weapon. As of yet, she made no moves, waiting and listening for any signs of movement near her. No sound came from her as she waited, but even still it wouldn't take long for anyone with reasonable skill to make their way towards where she was staying. There wasn't really anywhere for her to hide, but the floors right outside the room made sounds of their own as people walked on them, which was why she chose this room. The quickest escape for her would be the window, but she'd wait to leave the mansion until she was sure that whoever had entered the building moved past the room she was in. If they didn't though, she would fight if she needed to.

WC: 945
TWC: 945

Captured, used and disbanded. Sucked of all life and left to walk the fiery path of hell. Yet he came back though in different form, one that was new to the current world. void of all memories and bestowed with a mind that had no knowledge regarding how things operated in this world of mystery. He strived and made something out of himself. From caves to abandoned home far away in iwagakure, he moved on to construct a home for himself with skills that he had no idea was in him all along. He lived for a while in this land and learned what he could. Frequenting the libraries and purchasing books with money that he earned via different sources. He began to get it, how the current world operated. He was but a new born, learning to walk and eat and talk. He didn't give up rather he journeyed to the cloud village, making a man out of himself and then it all came back to him. Memories of who he was, the moment his eyes was locked on the sharingan of that female. How he was captured and tortured and used as an item of ritual for the revival of someone else. How bitter he felt. From that moment, he started the creation of his network hive. Reaching out to people in several countries and lands making sure that he could trust them. His hard work paid off as they soon brought him information that helped him achieve revenge. Now, his dearest informant was in danger and he would do everything within his capacity to put an end to this threat one way or the other.

Syn soon exited this room and he was met with a hall way. It was a pretty long one with several room on its right and left. Now, what room would he start with. He had to think like this person would be thinking. If he was an assassin or even if he was trying to get away from anyone, where would he hide out in a place as large as this mansion. Sure, he first thought of the last floor because before anyone would get there he would have been alerted but on a second thought it would be harder for him to get out from there. He would rather be on the first floor, the last room in the hall way that was closer to the large window that was at the opposite end of the hall way. That was it. He would move towards this room with caution, his scythe drawn out. With the open doors of other rooms, he would see that every room was big in it's own way. Each of them almost as wide as fifty meters in length and breadth and as tall as sixty meters. The mansion was big so this kinda thing was expected. If the opponent turned out to be tough indeed, Syn wouldn't have any problem bringing down the mansion on this person. That much he could do for Hisashi.

As he would keep approaching the last room in the hall way, he would stop on his light feet and look towards his left. The unsheathing of a weapon no matter how faint whoever it was tried to make it would catch his eye. His senses were trained enough as he would begin to approach still with caution. He would stop at a door and from inside, he would perceive slow breaths even though they were almost surpressed. Someone was in there and they already knew that he was here. No need to kill the fun then. With his strength that was capable of breaking bone, he would send the yellow colored door across the room and step in with his scythe drawn while hoping that the door would hit whoever had been waiting behind it. The speed at which the door would burst would hit her if she attempted to do a back flip and if Nozomi decided to duck in any direction, he would lauch his scythe at her the moment she would go airborne, aiming for her thigh or legs while reeling back his scythe at full speed and grabbing it. Better still, if she tried to slice through the door with her strength coupled with the strength of her blade and attempt to strike him, he would bring forward his scythe to par off the strike. Regardless of whatever happened, Syn would be at alert and ready to react at a moment's notice.
WC:760

There's always a silence before the storm. The seconds that passed were tense, and dragged on for what seemed like an eternity as she listened and waited. The steps drew in louder and louder, quiet as any shinobi would be able to do without the Silent Killing Technique, and yet Nozomi was still able to pick up on the cues. She was dealing with someone who wasn't just an ordinary shinobi. This was actually at least a Jounin from a major village. Silently, Nozomi cursed to herself as she realized this was going to come to a fight. So Kumo was actually hunting her down now? Did they really think that one person would be able to take her down and bring her in? The idea was funny to her, but now wasn't time for laughing. Someone must have seen her or something. Perhaps Gin or Lin had actually said something about her plans. It didn't matter though. If it was to come to a fight, then whoever it was would be in for one hell of a surprise.

Then the calm ended. Nozomi could tell she'd been discovered by the length of time the person lingered outside the door. He was just as prepared for a fight as she was. Movement was abound behind it and Nozomi readied herself for attack, launching her Katana's sheathe into the air so she could pull out some senbon from her pouches, 6 in total. 2 senbon were held in between each of her knuckles so she could launch them all quickly. Even as the door was blasted into the room, Nozomi launched herself into the air, thankful of the high ceilings in the room that allowed her to easily clear the door, which whizzed underneath her. Her Katana's blade parried the large scythe to the side, an easy and well practiced maneuver. The senbon launched towards the narrow opening of the door to keep the assailant at bay, the masked Hunter-nin never taking her eyes off of the scythe wielder's form. As the 6 needles left her hand, Nozomi redirected her now free hand to snatch the sheathe she'd tossed from the air before it could complete its fall to the ground. If all went as planned, the large clunky size of the Scythe in such small and narrow an opening would force the man to either drop the weapon to dodge her Senbon as it would be difficult for him to properly and with little time get his blade remaneuvered for another strike, or he'd end up getting hit by the needles.

The door which had passed under her had smashed through the window behind her, a rush of freezing air and the sound of splintering wood and shattering glass emanated from behind her. Nozomi didn't heed any attention to the sudden drop in temperature, rather she focused in on the fact that this man wasn't wearing any sort of village headband. Interesting to her, because that meant he was hiding any affiliation he might have so if things backfired, his village wouldn't be drawn into any problems. The only reason to suspect that that she had was her own plans on doing the same thing. However, she was currently easily identifiable as a Hunter-nin of Kirigakure, famed for their abilities to kill and assassinate even high level targets. There wasn't a shinobi of refute that wouldn't know that any Hunter-nin was capable enough to handle themselves in combat. Like the ANBU forces, they were specially trained to deal with combat situations beyond that which a normal shinobi would be expected to. ANBU were tasked in domestic affairs and the protection of their Kage, but Hunter-nin were specialized in going out and hunting down those that had been marked for death or capture, which many saw as a superior task and much more difficult.

A scythe would not be an effective weapon against this girl in even wide open space, let alone a close quarters fight like she could force it into. Even her own weapon of choice at the moment wasn't the most effective one, and she'd probably switch to her tanto blades soon if the fight continued on in the building, as they were infinitely more maneuverable in a smaller confines. She knew weapons almost as well as she could fight with Taijutsu, which she'd fully mastered at this point. Now was the time for her to press forward. As soon as she hit the ground, Nozomi would bolt forward to take advantage of Syn's scythe's awkward maneuverability. Her Katana would be used more defensively, keeping the Scythe locked in place inside the door frame, the teeth of the blade pointed away from her if possible, and her sheathe shot forward to bash at Syn's head. She was actually quite a deal weaker than him, but even so the sheathe should still cause a stunning blow if it would connect to his head.

WC: 824
TWC: 1769

Born-ill: 1/8

Stats-
Strength: B-3 [-1 Himitsu Drawback]
Speed: A [+2 Taijutsu, -2 Ankle Weights]
Endurance: A
Perception: A-1 [+1 Ace Eye]
Reaction Time: A [+1 Reflexes, +1 Kirigakure Katana, -2 Wrist Weights]

Even before his death, he had been left alone at a tender age. Given the option to fend for himself or die like a dog on the streets. The sharp claws of death had been quick to drag away his family and unfortunately for him, on the day that death came knocking on the door of his household he wasn't home. Far away in the woods was he training until he heard the danger that the birds announced and upon getting home, the deed had been done. His father, mother and younger sister all murdered in cold blood. Years of survival and being responsible for himself had made this one strong. Strong enough that he wasn't ready to be scared by the likes of whoever was in this room. Whoever they were, they had chosen the wrong target to assassinate and now their punishment had come on a full scale for their was no greater person to deliver this judgement other than the black crow.

If only first moves could determine how skilled a person was, Syn would have agreed that this person was no small opponent. Gracefully the opponent took to the air, effortlessly scaling above the destructive form of the door as it crashed through the window, scattering broken glassess and wooden splinters across the room. Immediately the opponent leaped into the air, he released his grip on the pole of his scythe and ran his fingers on the cord attached to it as the weapon soared in the air, aiming to draw blood from this person. Keeping the opponent occupied, he could see her feminine structure but her face was covered with a mask. An assassin indeed. Skillful again with her blade, she managed to parry the incoming weapon and in return threw less than a dozen needles at Syn. He knew this tactic, an assassin of her level would know that such projectiles wouldn't deal serious damage to him so it was probably to keep him occupied. To her amazement, the jounin would tug at the scythe's cord and cause the weapon to return to him in a flash as the projectiles would hit his center but fall to the ground. Thanks to his camelio suit, such projectiles were useless against his protected parts. He hadn't dodged as she would have expected and his weapon was with him too, two surprises for her but she didn't relent.

He was now in the room, seeing as she dropped to the ground and snatching her katana's scabbard before it fell to the ground. With what he saw, she was fast but not as fast as him. The distance between them was no more than ten meters as the room itself was about fifty meters in both length and breadth. He saw her charge forward as she threw her scabbard at his head. Another distraction but he was better at reacting. No need to parry with his scythe rather he just tilted his head as the object flew right past him. He would move to meet her, bringing down the scythe slantly in the form of an arc from her left shoulder to her side hoping to slice her center once he was within striking range. As he did this, his free hand- left hand would clench into a fist and attempt to blow her face, hopefully cracking her mask with immense strength and speed. If she managed to once again block or parry the strike, Syn wouldn't go on to punch her face but he would take one step back and go on the offensive with the scythe slantly raised across his chest.

WC:613

Her attacks proved to be less than effective against Syn. She'd gauged him properly, he was definitely prepared to fight here. His skills were probably on par with her own, which was certainly a rarity. The way he conducted his actions though showed her there wasn't to be any conversation in this fight, instead he was here to kill her. In a way, it was poetic, her own actions were placing her as a would be assassin herself, and now the same village who's leader she hunted had presumably sent a ninja to attack and hunt her down, while both of them operated as agents with no affiliation to their villages, disavowed of their actions should they fail or be discovered. She herself was a Hunter, but here she found herself hunted down. And now it was a battle for survival. Nozomi found herself in a bit of a conundrum. She could probably take this man out quickly were she not to hold back, but doing so would strain her even more and increase her recovery time. However, if she were to take it too lightly, she'd also end up straining herself, and potentially more injured than she'd like, also resulting in an increase in her recovery time.

For now, she'd keep herself inhibited though. It would help serve her purposes later on, as this man got used to her own speed and movement. She was certain he was currently quicker than her, and definitely he was stronger, by enough that he could overpower her in any direct contest of strength, which meant that her best bet for this fight was to keep her weights on and rely on her current talents to win this fight. It would probably be up to her mind to out think him. The more he got used to her current speed, the more it would throw him off when she suddenly switched up her speed on him. So for now, her weights would remain on, not something factored into this part of the fight. They'd be thrown in later when it mattered. She could bring the mansion down on his head, but that would draw quite a bit of attention to the village as well, which would only serve to track her location. She'd have to downplay the power of her jutsu for now, sticking to weaker jutsu that didn't cause as much damage.

Still, her preliminary attacks might have proven to be ineffective, but it did clue her into the type of shinobi she was facing. He was obviously plenty skilled at combat, especially with Bukijutsu, which meant this wasn't his first rodeo trying to take on people of her own level. Judging by the eye patch he wore, he probably wasn't infallible, but even with the perception of one eye, he had found a way to manage, which suggested he had spent plenty of time getting used to depth perception. He'd probably used his other senses to compensate for the lack of a full range of vision he had at the moment. Smart enough to wear light armor for sure, judging by the way her senbon didn't even faze him. That would be something she'd exploit for sure, he'd dodged her sheathe, meaning he had no form of protection on his head, but seemed less inclined to dodge the senbon, suggesting his armor was of a quality that she shouldn't bother using any non chakra enhanced taijutsu on. The best way for longevity in this fight would be to keep him at bay with her Katana and tanto's, as they wouldn't drain her chakra supplies, but it also meant that she could probably still affect him with her jutsu.

Hasu no Bukijutsu would be a decent technique for her to utilize in this fight, as nobody knew she'd even developed that technique other than Gin and Lin, and even Gin didn't know the extent of the blades she could create. She'd only experienced the 8 blades that Nozomi had assaulted her with, but Nozomi could get away with using the 12 weaker ones in this fight. Gin's weapons were of such a superior design and power, she'd had no choice but to use stronger bonds while creating them, but Syn's blades and strength weren't so superior that he'd break her blades with anything less than jutsu. Even still, now wasn't the time to unveil that technique, much like her weights, they'd be used only when she needed them to clench a victory decisively near the end. He could have gotten the drop on her with a powerful jutsu from the start which suggested he wasn't expecting her to be able to contend with him in a physical fight when she didn't have the element of surprise, and he felt confident he could take her in a straight up contest of blades.

Even though he was superior at the moment, the blonde's heart raced with the thrill of the fight to come. Maybe this man would prove to be a worthy adversary before he fell to her. Maybe he'd even prove to be a match for her and actually overcome her abilities, although that was less expected. As he advanced towards her, Nozomi's newly freed hand moved towards her shoulder which she kept the fine Tanto sheathed onto, and pulled it out, stepping into Syn's range and dropping to a low guard with her Katana as he brought down the Scythe. Her reasoning was certainly sound. He was closing the gap between the two of them, using the teeth of his blade to get past her guard, while keeping her at a distance. However, in doing so, he made it harder for him to fall back himself, as he was actively advancing, and once she got past the blades of the scythe, the only threat was the hilt which could be used to bash, but little else. Not only that, but with the mixture of the Katana and the Tanto, Nozomi could do her hybrid of bukijutsu and Taijutsu, allowing her to utilize the benefits of her Dragon Dance to its greatest effect.

Her body dropped lower and her stance now more suited for the Dragon's Dance, Nozomi's lunge forward would accelerate her past the three blades of the scythe, her Katana's blade whistling through the air to intercept the actual hilt of the Scythe and power it down to the ground as well as to the side, in order to get it caught into the floor, using its already downward motion and momentum to add her own strength into it and keep it going to bite into it more. Her tanto moved forward to slash at the arm that was accelerating towards her face in a quick counter attack. Were he to continue on with the punch, he'd find the tanto buried in his forearm, and if not, she'd even still lunge forward to slice at either the arm or a leg. The main principles of the Himitsu clan taught to disable the limbs before moving in for a kill. Their skills were based off the Hyuuga clan's taijutsu and was quite simply more well suited for taking down someone or assassinating them. Her own Katana would stay locked onto the hilt of the scythe to prevent him from pulling the blade out of the ground with any sort of speed, or to keep him from slicing her had it failed to bite into the ground. Now that the blades were behind her, even though they extended out far enough to get past her guard on a swing, she was perfectly defended from the weapon as long as her Katana kept it at bay.

WC: 1282
TWC: 3051

Born Ill: 2/8

Chakra: 290/290
Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Stats-
Strength: B-3 [-1 Himitsu Drawback]
Speed: A [+2 Taijutsu, -2 Ankle Weights]
Endurance: A
Perception: A-1 [+1 Ace Eye]
Reaction Time: A [+1 Reflexes, +1 Kirigakure Katana, -2 Wrist Weights]

This early in battle, a victor couldn't have been decided. The jounin was confident in his own abilities though he did not doubt the fact that there were others who could match him and many who could outclass him. He had been priviledged to stand with the raikage when the mizukage had invaded their village along with the ex- tschiukage. In that moment, the senju had felt the amount of chakra that was evaporating from them into the atmosphere and tensing him. He was no coward but a part of him was glad that the confrontation between Sanouske and Ayakashi hadn't resulted into any real fight if not, the whole of kumogakure would have suffered the brunt of the attack. The two of them wouldn't fight against each other without destroying almost every building in the village and adding to that, Akira was on stand by meaning Syn would have to deal with him if he attempted anything but could he really have taken on a kage- level shinobi? The jounin had to rethink this. It would have been better to fall on the battle field rather than to lose to a hired assassin. He wasn't going down here, there was no way that would happen.

Better with her sword than he was with his, she drew another sword and moved past the scythe as he brought it down. The weapon was large but he had the strength and speed to flail it around. As she moved past the blades to escape danger, she used the already falling momentum of the blade to her advantage as she parried it into the ground and placed her katana on the hilt stopping Syn from dislodging the weapon. Concerning the blow headed for her face, she brought her tanto in an attempt to slash at Syn's hand but the clenched fist of the jounin would speedily open into a palm as he would grab her wrist before her attempt to slash was even half way done. He would snap the wrist in an attempt to break it thereby causing her to drop her weapon or not. Her wrist in his hand and her other hand with the katana holding the scythe in place, her options would be limited as the jounin wouldn't give her a breathing space and would thrust his right leg at her lower rib with force capable of breaking bones. The way he saw it, there were only a number of moves she could attempt without using a larger scaled manuever or even jutsu. With her wrist probably snapped, she could lift the katana from the scythe's hilt and attempt to step backwards from the kick as Syn would pull the scythe from the ground with no effort and space himself about three meters away or she could receive the kick and lift her katana and attempt to slice at his leg but he would bring the hilt of the scythe to block the strike skillfully. Whatever line of attack she took, he would still give himself space from her having retrieved his cythe or not as he would reach for a smoke bomb in the pocket of his jacket and let it explode to obscure her vision.

If everything did not go as planned and she took another line of attack, he would respond accordingly but if all went successfully and the smoke bomb served it's purpose, Syn would activate the ability of his armour- bending the light reflecting off the crystals and rendering him invisble to the female. Unless her senses were far above normal or she had some higher sensory technique, she would be in for a hard time.
He would space himself up to fifteen meters to the far left of the large room from her, speaking with a voice that had no joy in it. "How does it feel.. A hunter being hunted.. Who sent you to kill Hisashi.." This was all he would say, not giving her time to ponder on the question. Syn had no idea Nozomi was a hunter nin from kirigakure. He had merely mistook her for the assassin that made an attempt on Hisashi's life.
The jounin would string together series of hand seals right after the question as he would then toss an explosive tagged shuriken towards Nozomi. The shuriken would be replicated a thousand times towards her though only one of them would be explosive. Her sword skills might be perfect but blocking a thousand projectiles without expending any chakra? He needed to see that. Once the tag got within a meter of her or if met by any opposing force, he would cause it to explode.
Depositing a bit of his chakra into the table behind him, he would watch and remain at alert.

Wc:806
Camelio suit is in locker.
-25 if successfully executed Kage shuriken
-5 for kawarimi
270/300 possibly.

jutsu:

Her maneuver to get close wasn't met with much resistance, as she knew how to close gaps better than anything else. She'd actually managed to do it to Gin despite her own attempts to stop her from advancing, and controlling the fight to a mid range one, but Nozomi was by and large a melee range fighter, excelling in close range combat. The best part about the majority of her jutsu was that they actually didn't require and hand signs, and could be activated at any point in time, regardless of the condition of her hand or ability to form hand signs. As a clan, the Himitsu were largely capable of fighting in any form of circumstance, and what made them great was not the replication and successful integration of the Gentle Fist fighting form without utilizing the Byakugan, but in fact it was the superior chakra control they exhibited. And this foolish boy had made the mistake of holding Nozomi in a Melee range once she got there. At this point she wanted information on who he was, and why someone who was such a close range fighter should have been sent after a Himitsu, so she wouldn't kill him for this, at least not immediately.

Her wrist gave way under his grip as he was without a doubt quite a deal stronger than her, especially with what her style of fighting allowed. The Dragon Dance was fantastic for maximizing her point to point movement, but it did tend to cut back on the strength of her attacks, which was great in pairing with any of her Petal Dances, since they weren't reliant on the individual's strength. Unfortunately, she wasn't particularly able to contend with his physical strength in that regard, due to her own strength, and the Tanto fell out of her hand with a *clang* to the ground. It was fine though, she had enough pain management to be able to deal with the pain, and her body was a little tougher than it might appear to be. Her wrist wasn't broken, but it was probably sprained at this point, with potential fractures. But if he thought he could get away with it without some pain of his own, the man was sorely mistaken.

Indirectly, her own actions would more than likely prevent his own planned actions, as they would greatly impede his ability to move freely. Plenty of shinobi had a fault in that regardless of how fast they were, it took time to build to their full speed, and in doing anything, plenty of tells were made that allowed for a move to be anticipated. For instance, Nozomi could tell as he was doing it that he was going to knee her in the ribs, something that would have less impact than he planned on it having, regardless of success due in part to her own ANBU armor and natural endurance. However, the kick wouldn't have the force behind it that he planned on it having, as she'd found a way to circumvent that particular flaw, and could actively make herself accelerate to her full speed. From start to finish in such small quarters, a shinobi accelerating to full speed could even be likened to the Body Flicker Jutsu, although it wasn't quite the same. Her weights may slow her down, but not enough for it to matter, and with the additional mass behind it, a body moving at 20 meters per second from a stand still was quite an impressive thing, and hard to dodge even if you knew it was coming. And Syn wouldn't have any clue.

She'd started to build up the chakra in her as her hand got caught, and her right hand released her katana only moments before she let the build up release, launching her forward. Her hand having been in a position right in front of his kidney due to how her blade had locked down Syn's scythe, her body would launch forward, more than likely ripping her hand from his grip, and even should he manage to have the kick successfully land, the force would likely only bruise her ribcage, interrupted before full completion. Her hand in the proper placement, the moment that it made contact with his kidneys, a large buildup of raiton chakra would explode from her hand, shredding the area around the kidney and blasting a hole through him, while her body would act as a heavy projectile, which would send Syn launching backwards into the table that had been behind him. A simple maneuver that if she'd been interested in killing him with would have resulted in his death. After all, Hunter-nin were all capable assassins of no small skill.

Assuming her plan went off without a hitch, as it should with no reason for someone to expect or see her movements coming, Nozomi would take a moment to collect her weapons. Kidney wounds tended to be debilitating, and with the force of a human body slamming into another body at that speeds with the addition of her weights adding to her own weight, it did tend to disorient people. Even moving around with that kidney wound would be difficult. Perhaps he was a medic and could heal that, but even so, she had enough time to at least collect her weapons, and without any way to heal, that wound was surely debilitating. Even if he could fight with it, it wouldn't be at his full capacity. She'd keep her eye on him in case he tried anything, but otherwise she'd simply sheathe her tanto and unclasp her weights. It wouldn't do to get cocky just now and let down her guard just because she'd landed a hit that could take down most people, shinobi or not. "Hunting me was a mistake. Letting me get close was a bigger one." was all she'd say for the moment, voice distorted by the mask. Her wrist and her ribs certainly weren't feeling well, but that was minor pain compared to what she'd make him feel.

WC: 1011
TWC: 4062

Born Ill: 3/8
Weights Removed: 1/5 (Weights in Locker)

-25 Lightning Execution [if her hand doesn't touch Syn's kidney, doesn't activate]
-15 Petal Propulsion
250/290 Chakra
Jutsu used:

Spoiler:

Stats-
Strength: B-1 [-1 Himitsu Drawback, -2 Dragon Dance]
Speed: S-2 [+2 Taijutsu, +4 Ankle Weights Removed]
Endurance: A
Perception: A-1 [+1 Ace Eye]
Reaction Time: S-3 [+1 Reflexes, +4 Wrist Weights Removed, +2 Dragon Dance]

Experience was a key factor in combat as well as knowledge of the surroundings and how each element affected it. Her wrist had given in to the pressure of his hand but that hadn't caused her to back down even as her tanto fell from the hand in his grip. Before he attempted to stab his foot in her torso, the female had dropped the other sword in her hand signalling that something other than what Syn had imagined was going to happen. If she had planned on receiving the full force of the kick, then there was no reason to have dropped her katana which was a very valuable weapon for someone so learned in the arts of bukijutsu like herself or if she wanted to evade it, he didn't see any reason for her to drop the blade either. This only narrowed the jounin's thought to one- she wanted to make use of the hand that occupied the katana thus why she had dropped it. Perhaps another strike or the performance of some kind of jutsu.

He had to prepare but there wasn't time to think. Reflex was all he relied on and his body had been well trained in that. As the jounin extended his foot, the kick was interrupted as Nozomi sprang forward but as his leg connected with her torso, he used the clash of his force and her speed to push himself backwards away from her hopefully avoiding whatever she had planned out. If his escape was successful, the jounin would stand few meters away from her, gasping at such a close attempt. "Too skilled for a common assassin.. Making an attempt on my client's life.." He would say.
However if hadn't escaped her attack and had as a result being slammed into the table behind him with an internal injury, he would immediately erase his presence with his armour's ability, transferring chakra to the table behind for a substitution that would come in handy and move five meters invisibly to the left as he would reach for his pocket and bandage his stomach to stop the bleeding.

Wc:361
Ooc: Will edit chakra usage

His reaction skills were quite impressive, even Nozomi had to admit that much. Kumo did train and produce some excellent shinobi, but there was still a vast difference in the prowess of a Kumo-nin and a Kiri-nin. Kaekio was cut from a different cloth, quite prodigal in her own right, and arguably superior to Nozomi's skills, but Nozomi's own tricks might have even caught off guard her lover's skills, which seemed to allow her to know what Nozomi was going to do even before she could do it. She had no way of knowing that her propulsion would more than likely best the Current Perception of Kaekio, something that even she really didn't know anything about, forcing the Ryuzoji to rely on nothing but her own Reaction Time. But Syn, he was certainly no Ryuzoji, and he didn't have the benefit of Current Perception to even help him here. He was undoubtedly fast, unfortunately the girl was a trained assassin.

Her hand made the slightest bit of contact with Syn's abdomen, and in true Himitsu fashion, it was all over for Syn. The Himitsu clan specialized in disabling people via touch, one of the reasons Nozomi had even invested time and focus into learning this technique, Lightning Execution. Granted, it was by and large for utilization with lethal blows, but well placed strikes could be used to fully disable without an instant death occurring. She had also developed a partner technique, the Salamander technique to go with it, increasing the damage exponentially to burst through even the toughest of armors or defensive techniques, but she didn't feel like utilizing it at this moment and risk potentially giving away her plans when they were focused much more on the stealthiness of her techniques rather than raw destructive potential. The trade off was justified, and her aim was true.

He went flying backwards, smashing into the table, partially propelled by his own launch away from her, further adding to his damage. The instant he disappeared from her vision, Nozomi took precautionary measures. He wanted to hide from her, but she was the true master of stealth. Forming the single handsign that it required for the stronger Predatory Concealing Mist Jutsu taught to members of the Hunter-nin, Nozomi spewed out the mist, which enveloped the room in a very short amount of time, as well as activated the Silent Killing Technique, making her completely undetectable by any means other than sight, which had been taken care of by the mist. She leaped up to the ceiling, using the Supernatural Walking Practice to stick her to the ceiling as she repositioned a few meters to the right of where she'd been. Her weapons lay discarded where she'd dropped them, as he still had some fight in him and she didn't want to risk him memorizing where she'd been and attacking that spot instinctively. He might be invisible, but he would be unable to replicate the silence of this technique, letting her regain the upper hand in their fight. Neither of them would be able to see the other, but she could still hear his movements, the shuddered breathing from the wounds and the smell of the burned flesh from her Lightning Execution, the drip of the blood that soaked through the bandages which would be quickly saturated regardless of how much he tried to cover them. She couldn't see, but she knew exactly where he was.

The layout of the room had been completely memorized by her since her stay here, and her spacial awareness was on point. A master of her forms of Taijutsu and Bukijutsu, Nozomi would be more than able to know how much her body had moved, and using that, figure out the layout of the room, as well as any positioning of herself. Keeping crouched low on the ceiling, her hair held down by her mask so it wouldn't hang down too low, Nozomi minimized herself for any large scale wide jutsu. The ceiling wasn't exactly a place most thought of attacking from, and without being able to pinpoint Nozomi's location by sight, sound, or any other sense without a sensory technique, there'd be littler chance of him finding her in the mist. The advantage here was that she'd not be able to be tracked by any means unless he was able to dispel the mist that clung to her, or had the ability to see through it somehow, or some other form of sensory to pinpoint her own location. The odds were stacked against that possibility.

*Drip* Nozomi's head swiveled silently towards the direction of the blood drop. There he was. A quick unclasp of her weights liberated the things that were inhibiting her speed, and due to the large boost of speed and reaction ability that she had, as well as her silent moving, Nozomi had already moved from her position with haste before the weights even crashed into the ground, making her way towards Syn's location using the scent of charred flesh and the tiny drops of blood leaking from the saturated bandage, as well as any noise he was making in the room, which was covered with splinters which would act as noise amplifiers. Activating one of the techniques her clan had taught her, Nozomi's hand was covered with an almost liquid like cover of chakra, of which chakra petals could vaguely be made out if one had the ability to see them. It was with the Dance of the Misty Petals that Nozomi would take Syn down with, as it removed her need to draw a weapon. Taijutsu was her main speciality, and she knew how to take people down with it non-lethally.

WC: 949
TWC: 5011

Born Ill: 4/8
Weights Removed: 1/5

-25 Predator Concealing Mist
-25 Silent Killing Technique
-5 Supernatural Walking Practice
-15 Dance of the Misty Petals
180/290

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Stats-
Strength: B-2 [-2 Dragon Dance]
Speed: S-2 [+2 Taijutsu, +4 Ankle Weights Removed]
Endurance: A
Perception: A-1 [+1 Ace Eye]
Reaction Time: S-3 [+1 Reflexes, +4 Wrist Weights Removed, +2 Dragon Dance]

He was quick to think but somehow her speeds had been greatly increased, a factor that he had not included in this fight. He was aware of the speeds she had been moving at but this, it was like she had attained maximun speeds in a matter of seconds which was hardly possible. At least he hadn't seen anyone do stuff like that. If they were fast, yea they were fast but suddenly going from 'almost as fast as he was' to faster than him.. That's some pretty high level shit. Welp, he had suffered this, he just had to prepare for the next round and as such, he wouldn't make the mistake of engaging her so close in combat without having a back up plan. Her hand had connected with his lower abdomen and a surge of chakra was sent in. An internal injury, quite fatal but no where near death at the moment but if he was going to die, he was going to drag this person to the depths of hell with him. He had been there once and it took one who had returned from the dead the courage to not fear death anymore.

As he erased his presence and moved to the left, he had erased every physical thing about him. Just as he finished bandaging his stomach, the girl made her move. She seemed ready to play this game of hide and seek. He could well see her until she exhaled a mist that enveloped the room very quickly, obstructing the vision of the senju. Well played. He wouldn't take any chances now, he would have to agree that the female already knew more about the room than he did or to creat such a jutsu, she would have some way of sensing him out. Or were they both blinded by this technique? It was a tricky one. Why not see how well she could do in long range fights. A pity the mansion would have to pay for her insolence. Speedily forming handseals, the jounin would spit out an abundance of water from his mouth, spewing it in an arc formation forward with great force capable of breaking bones and stunning anyone squarely hit by it. In this same approach, the force of the water would crush the opposing walls and cause the water to burst out of the room, conquering majority of the mist in the process and opening a new arena to the combatants.

Once the water was out of his mouth, he would form a tiger seal, little leaves sprouting from his skin and dispersing to tiny bits to form an invisible barrier seven meters from him. He would have moved five meters to the left after the barrier formed getting ready for her retaliation if she had or had not being hit by the force of the water. She had done some damage to him but he could fight through it until he dragged her down. It was endurance and will power.

-30 for exploding wave
-25 for plant sensing
215/300

Jutsu used

Spoiler:

OOC:

Spoiler:

The girl had positioned herself in the best possible way to deal with Syn's attack, and that way was simply to not be where there was anything going towards her. It was funny how rarely people tended to look up. In a way, that would prove to be this man's undoing. It was something that couldn't be refuted, this man had some measure of talent, and was probably one of the best in Kumogakure. His strength was certainly beyond Nozomi's, and his natural skills even rivaled her own, but there was a level of skill difference between the two of them that separated the two of them. He utilized a stealth suit in order to get the upper hand on his opponents, but didn't prove to actually be able to use it to its greatest effect. He was still able to be found through other means, didn't have ways to fully hide himself. But Nozomi, she didn't need that. She could track without need of anything special. She could hide from all 5 senses and even most sensory jutsu until she was ready to reveal herself. He had merely adopted stealth, but she had embraced it. She'd become an assassin, capable of killing as easily as some people could drink a glass of water.

The blast of water passed beneath her, and she could almost feel the power from the blast radiate off it, as it spanned the length of the room. He'd arc'ed it in such a way that she wouldn't be missed if she were still on the ground, but he hadn't taken into account that she had moved to the ceiling for the simple fact that he had no idea where she was. And if he had no clue now, then he was finished, because she knew exactly where he was at this point. And she was much faster than him. In a way, it was funny, he'd come after her with all the tools and powers it would take to take her down, but he didn't have the skills to actually do so because he simply wasn't able to stand to her own talent. Despite appearances of their skill being about even, there was such a gap between their abilities that they weren't even in the same class.

The water blasted out the wall, creating a giant pool outside and also washing away her weapons, but she'd collect them later. If she were utilizing the lower ranked form of the hidden mist jutsu, as Syn no doubt assumed she was utilizing, the rush of wind from the gaping hole in the wall would have been enough to unobscure her from the cover of the mist, but this was no ordinary mist. It clung to her and followed her movement, not being placed in one individual area. If one could take anything from the jutsu, it was that if you figured out how large it was and were able to hit all of it at once, you'd surely be able to hit her. But the advantage of having mist cling was that there was no knowing where she was inside it. Anyhow, Nozomi didn't need her weapons to wrap this up. The fight had been amusing for sure, but it was time to end it, she had other things to deal with.

Launching herself off the ceiling, Nozomi speed blitzed Syn, who she could still smell and it was over. The second her feet touched the ground and she attacked, she knew it was done. She didn't give him the chance to know the same thing. Her hands moved silently through the air, and within an instant, Syn's life would fizzle out, the final chapter of his life left trailing off into the dark. She paired her two jutsu, the Dance of the Misty Petals and the Dance of the Fallen Petals, inflicting massive injury with each strike, but she didn't need them all. Her first three strikes connected, aimed at his gut wound in order to stun him with that strike. She made contact, could feel the blood burst out. It was over. Her next series of strikes would be to separate his head from his body. The first hit would have done enough to take him out of the fight, but he had been trying to kill her, he wasn't planning on taking her alive, so she wouldn't pay him any sort of kindness.

There could be no resistance. Against her onslaught, he would have fallen no matter what. Her first three initiator strikes had stunned him and allowed her access to his throat, and he'd lose energy every moment afterwards. Even if he raised his hands to block, she'd just remove them and continue on. She could take all four of his limbs if she wanted to, and she only wanted the one. She stopped when she heard the thud of his body and head hitting the ground simultaneously. Deactivating her jutsu, Nozomi dropped to one knee, panting slightly as her illness was very much starting to become active again. She hadn't wanted to fight in such a manner so shortly after fighting Gin, but she didn't have much choice if she wanted to be in any shape to assassinate Sanosuke.

But she was as usual the one who walked away from their fight. His chakra dissipated fully, his body now visible and the water he'd made started to recede as well, disappearing into thin air. She moved over to his body and started to check his gear. Now that she got a look at him, she knew exactly who he was. "Syn." she said the name, recalling him from the Chuunin exams when they'd taken place in Kumo. He was another Jounin of some skill, she recalled being eager to fight him. Looks like her wait had paid off. She went back to sorting through his gear, and was pleasantly surprised with what he had. Beyond the armor which would need some fixing up before she wore it, he also had a bunch of scrolls and basic weaponry. The scrolls were her favorites, they contained a pair of sharingan. His basic weaponry included senbon, kunai, shuriken, and some other items, but the true treasures were the paper bombs. Absolutely thrilling, she'd been debating picking some up. Moving on to his other weapons, Nozomi also noted a scythe and a katana, both of at least the same quality as her own weapons. They'd make a fine addition to her collection.

But the true prize: As his head had fallen, his eyepatch had slid off a bit, revealing the true secret weapon. She knew the eye immediately, Maigo had one himself, and he had two in his scrolls as well. It was a Sharingan. She wasn't usually one to go for such things, but this one she couldn't leave, and wouldn't destroy it. Taking it out carefully so as not to damage it, Nozomi stored it in one of the scrolls, and then took time to seal back up the rest of the items again as well as the scythe and armor, with no care for what went where. After that, she collected her own items that had been washed away, and proceeded to set off. No doubt the damage to the mansion would draw attention, and she wanted to vanish before that happened.

WC: 1221
TWC: 6232

-EXIT THREAD-
OOC: Not counting Chakra atm or anything because I have permission to end this and I'm exiting anyway, so the thread is finished.

Training-
Speed: A -> A-2 [2150/2150]
Reaction Time: A -> A-3 [3450/3450]

Remaining WC: 632