Stage 1- Event: F
Description: Participants will wander around the island until coming across a large, swamp area. There is little natural light in the swamp, as the land is hidden beneath the canopy of the giant trees that shade the area. The swamp water functions something like quicksand, slowly dragging those that step in it down and also binding their feet, making them unable to walk out. The poor lighting, dangerous swamp water and lack of solid footing makes the terrain particularly difficult to fight in.


Scroll assignments (This information is exclusively held by each participant. Their opponents must discern who has what scroll other than their own in the thread):

Scroll of Heaven: Taede
Scroll of Earth: Bau

It wasn't like him, this jumpiness. Taede wasn't the guy to panic about these sorts of things. No, he was the person that stayed calm because there was nothing, in his mind, to worry about. But this time....oh, there was plenty to unsettle his spirit. After being briefed by the proctor of the first exam, what he could only assume was a Jounin of Kumogakure no Sato, he was taken into a private area where he was given his Scroll, the one marked Heaven (天, Ten). Ironic since he was probably stronger of body than of the mind. It was something that they were looking for....ninja that had both. (Possibly proving this point or possibly disproving, the Genin took his hitai-ate, which was normally worn as a sash, and tied it to his waist with the scroll underneath the metal....under his pants, in the front.)

Now, the proctor had said that the ninja here would be sent out with no food or supplies, except what they had on their person....it was troubling. The only food he had on his person was something that could potentially give him a serious case of food poisoning. It was the Wind Country Adamantine Pumpkin, which he had strapped to his back using some mundane twine. As they all were released onto the back of Genbu at the same time, Taede knew the relative positions of every entrant....up until a certain point. Distance made them difficult, and later, impossible to track. It was yet another thing that shouldn't have unnerved the yet-young, yet-sharp genin. He could hold his own, he knew that much. Perhaps it was best that he settle down for the day.
He had already made himself a good way past the harsh mountains that surrounded the more verdant ecosystem; a place filled with lush grass, high trees, and....oddly, for what the proctor said, not-so-vicious animals. Even more oddly, by this point the young man had not encountered a single other participant. Taede was sending out light clicks at regular intervals now that he was in the trees; Dhalsim, his pet small bird, was gliding just below the canopy layer. He fit....really, almost perfectly, into the normalcy of the beings here. His song was naught to bring alarm, and his flight was seemingly aimless; as long as the avian could hear his companion, there was no need to follow him so strictly.

He had already made it to flat ground safely, a three-meter clearing that seemed to be a sort of peninsula. At the very least, the flat ground stopped there, as water seemed to reach out from that point. It was not to say that there were not small islets of rock that jutted out, but the safest procedure would be the trees that luckily still grew out of the water. At least, for travel.... the branches were naught like the ones he'd been traversing so far, which were thick and sturdy. It was a trait of some waterlogged trees to grow more offshoots in place of growing the existing branches more....Taede was familiar with this phenomenon in some of the plants he grew, as he wasn't a master gardener. He had drowned more than a few of his photosynthetic friends.

At any rate, Taede waited for a good deal of time securing the area. By securing the area, of course, that meant simply having Dhalsim scout out the area around to see if anyone approached. At least to the bird...there was naught. The Suna-nin trusted the bird quite well, as it had nigh on the same hearing as he did, if not more specialized due to having poorer eyesight. First task: Water. He lightly scooped his hands through the surface of this fairly vast expanse of liquid



It was turbid and thick with dirt, and it almost sucked at his hands before he pulled them away quickly.....The water was not potable. Not by any means, unless he wanted to contract the botulism. There was no room in this exam for the botulism. To boot, it was not flowing water, which he knew as a basic of his survival Medical training as undrinkable; parasites and the like thrived in stagnant pools. The former, Taede's eye managed to catch, even through the cracks of light allowed to the watery floor by the canopy; they were small, but rather great in number, not a stretch of three-meters into that deep place without encountering at least a tad more light. Who knew what was living in there. It wasn't a certain, but the fen before him was an fairly likely habitat for one of the giant animals the proctor was talking about.

But...water. If he was to survive here, he needed water....and if the land didn't provide it....


He half-whispered sentence vanished from even his own hearing. This was where he wished he had brought some actually-edible rations from Suna. Taede was in possession of a good few fruit-producing plants, too....

Griping wouldn't do him any good at this point. He needed to get to the canopy... hopefully without wasting chakra. The trees at least at the boundary of the swamp were stable, and had sturdy boughs even as he ascended toward their peaks, almost 15 meters. They were sturdy...but treacherous, as even the mightiest branches still bend. Taede had to take a 3-second interval between landing on each branch and jumping up to the next. There was no wind reaching through the trees, even at his own height; the air as stagnant as the water.

But heavens behold, he found what he was looking for. It was a climbing variety, and upon looking down the tree, he could see clearly the roots winding down the host's trunk; nothing else distracted him from this, no movement or sound. Dhalsim hadn't sounded any alarm, and he hadn't heard any noises out of the ordinary, at least from his vantage point above the ground.

Nephelium lappaceum, common name rambutan; it grew well in humid, moderate-temperature environs like this. This was a meal that he had to work to earn....it was nary a difficulty for him, though. The berries, which were known for their nutritive value, had spines covering them all over; it was unlikely for the normal people to evade pricking their fingers whilst peeling or even picking these mediocre-tasting large-grape-sized fruits. Taede used his rather loose shirt as a pouch for a crop of about 15 before descending the tree; his concentration and serenity had returned, and nothing so far had spoiled it. Dhalsim, at least, had not alerted him of anything....and promptly upon the first peeling, the swiftlet returned to his side immediately for the feeding. A soft, fleeting chuckle escaped Taede as he gave the white, ovular flesh-berry that lay within the red, spiny skin. Peeling was not as difficult to Taede as it would be to others, simply due to the rambutan spines being unable to pierce or even painfully impress upon his skin in any meaningful fashion. He ate one at a time, peel and eat, peel and eat; having kept about five of them in each front pocket, both rife with sand, for a later bit of sustenance.

It was a quick meal, lasting no more than four minutes, but the Suna-nin had kept his ears open quite well. He was versed in the art of walking silently, so he knew by heart what other people were supposed to listen for....what he was supposed to listen for. Perhaps he was paranoid, but he thought he heard something. Without a second thought, he left the pumpkin at the base of a tree but taking the twine - too heavy, too much time to strap on - and dumped the leathery rambutan skins into the water. There were not enough islets to use as a sufficient platform to make it across this mire via that means alone.... Two or three were sufficient enough for more than one person to stand on, but they were far from the peninsula he had just left for the first branch of a tree on the right...it seemed the only sturdy option he could see at the moment. The movements were silent, and figure low to the ground. He wasn't exactly sure what this water was, per se, from his first encounter with it. What kind of water tugs at you...?

At any rate, he wasn't going to find out. Ten meters from the peninsula he had just evacuated and five meters to the right, behind a slightly decrepit tree; either it had low-growing branches or this place was just flooded beyond the point of seeing the base of the trunk. From what he could tell.... Nyssa aquatica or Fraxinus tomentosa...tall, rather narrow in branch-spread, fairly heavy foliage. For now, he was content to cling to multiples of the branches, one with his elbow and one each in the crook of his knees, which were still both managing a stand on the same even lower branch. He had strong joints...it was more efficient than hanging on by his hands, at any rate. He was....five metres off of the surface of the water, no worries. Dhalsim, from a chirp and click, Taede had noticed was about three meters in front of him, on a branch 1 meter higher; hopefully, he could notify his companion if anyone was coming.
He wore earth tones, and the shade of his shirt was not too dissimilar from the lighter bark on this tree (though the bark still notably darker)....perhaps he could get someone yet. His aim was only to take their scroll, nothing further. He couldn't risk anything beyond the necessary in this place.... right now, he was just focusing on centering his breathing. He wasn't panting from anything before, but he had to be calm in order to address situations....or people....that he had to come to face.

[1730]

150/150:

On my person or with me:

Bau wasn't exactly sure about what was going on as it was. He had never had competitions in his homeland or sports. They either did farming or fishing or went to war. A young man back then only was out to gain an honorable death back then so war was the inevitable for many of them. For others there was just too much rage from having lost loved ones to war or being born into it. Just living after such a loss took too much from anyone to just sit back and not seek vengeance. That was what had cost Bau his youth. His rage at his parents being lost to war and his fascination with it. His first kill had happened at an older age then many from this land but at a young age still. Then again, some had the peace of mind to think that there was no age that taking a life should happen. Now he envied those people. Innocent in their lives unaware of those who fell in battle to keep them protected. He himself had laid bleeding before his gods and had understood his own mortality. His path had to experience that in order to change direction.

These days Bau was a peaceful individual. His practice of martial arts was purely in a pursuit of knowledge and none of them were truly designed to be killing arts. Still he had appeared in these exams. His wounds recovered from but physically much less then he once had been. Still he wondered if they intended to have kids fight him. Would he be alright with taking on a child in a fight? Then again that was assuming these children were not supremely capable beings. He couldn't underestimate them and truth be told he really wanted to push himself. He wanted to see if he could keep up with these warriors. Even if they were kids there was a chance they were stronger then they appeared. Perhaps even stronger then he was. It made him a little excited. Still he would not be brutal with them. The fact that death was a possibility in these exams made him uncomfortable though. He didn't want to see anyone die during this. Perhaps in order to do so, he would need to push his way all the way to the end if not to prove himself but to make sure these kids didn't go to far.

Still he found himself wandering for a couple of hours on his own. He hadn't bothered to keep track of what direction the others had gone in or try and track them. He barely kept an eye out for the wildlife as he meandered along. He wasn't worried about not accomplishing his goal. After all he was likely to stumble across one of them eventually or they would hunt him for his scroll. To be constantly on edge and anxious would only tire him out. Instead he calmly used his stick to feel ahead of him for traps and his other hand was used to hold up his long stemmed pipe as he puffed at the sweet herb in it. Sure it would eventually make him thirsty but he wasn't exactly worried about that. For now it simply calmed him. His clothing was fairly simple. He was wearing a green set of coveralls that were a little baggy with a dark, knee length cloak left open on the front. His kunai and shuriken were tucked into an inner pocket left on the inside of his coveralls over his chest and on his left hip was his peace tied and sealed sword. His walking stick was actually a slightly lower quality boa staff but he managed. His scroll he tucked into the back pocket of his coveralls hidden under his cloak. On top of his hat was a wide brimmed striped hat that shadowed his green eyes. He had wide shoulders and was obviously hunched over but even hunched over he was at least 5'8.

Still when his stick suddenly sank or rather nearly got sucked beneath the surface of what appeared to be a puddle he paused in his smoking and looked at the end of it. Pulling it out as mud and sand clung to it loosely. He was familiar with swamp land as there was a significant amount of it were he had grown up. One step in the wrong place and you would be lucky to lose a shoe. He himself was barefoot so that was impossible anyway. Still he sighed as it made just relaxing a significant deal harder. He was too heavy for the low branches of the trees dotting the landscape to do more then simply be a launching pad for him. They would snap easily. Still he continued walking as he smoked his pipe. His stick poking ahead of him for solid ground as he calmly walked along. He hadn't noticed Taede or his bird yet as they were not really making much of a presentation. He however was just walking down a path with no attempt to conceal himself. It wasn't so much about confidence as it was that he would prefer to just be attacked and have it begin then see if anyone was a good enough hunter to find concealed individuals in a foreign forest. If someone was going to attack they would, or make themselves known and show some honor. Either way he would see if he could handle it.

927

They'd been laying in wait only for about five minutes. It was....rather a bit of serendipity, at least on someone's part; Taede wasn't so sure it was his. This was a serious problem for him....not getting a scroll meant he didn't move on. While he wasn't one of those people who were über-focused on winning - he could never understand that - he knew that he had to at least make it to the second examination. Suna didn't have many participants....his village was counting on him. After all, this exam wasn't just about oneself becoming a Chuunin or proving one's own worth. It was also a way for villages to represent themselves.

So, he would show everyone else what Suna was like.

From his comparably comfy position hidden in a tree, walking on the ground was probably a chore, even with that staff he was holding. Taede thought it prudent to at least narrow down his search.....Wait a second.

He unhooked his legs first from the branches, then his arm as he regained both his bearings and balance; he was opposite the swamp from the man he'd spotted, so it would be necessary to traverse across the swamp if he were to take the shortest possible route.....being his priority, he wasn't one to miss a short-cut if it wasn't overly dangerous.  There may have only been a few rocks large enough for more than one, but there were plenty to simply step off with, using even less than a whole foot. He had to have accomplished....five leaps, three meters laterally each. The spires he'd chosen were diagonally oriented from each other, so it was rather a pain to even try and follow with one's sight, going back-and-forth. His eventual stopping at the edge of the morass's shore was an easier place to let one's eyes rest.


At least he could tell by gait and body structure that this one was male. Quite a bit was obscured by hat and cloak alike. The response that he was given would determine his course of action.

If he was really someone unfortunate enough to get lost on Genbu, Taede would just oblige to take him along. He didn't seem too frail, despite walking with a staff....the loose clothing betrayed nothing to a rather indifferent Taede that he was physically strong. He wouldn't be a burden, at any rate. The young man remembered something that would be good to gain trust.

---

If not, however....if he was a participant....


Mid-dialogue, at the mention of his village...from the back, he undid his hitai-ate, and pulled it out from beneath his pants' waistline.


The bird fluttered and chirped at mention of his name. He would tie his hitai-ate again around his waist, this time as a sash rather than a compartment device, and drop the scroll after. Following, this, though....

---

Regardless of the answer, he reached into his pocket and extended the immediate contents.

A rather stiff horizontally-extended arm was presented toward the taller figure, holding five of the rambutan he had stockpiled for later consumption. Oh, well; he could find some more of another food. After his years of time in the mines and training in the Sands' Domain, one learned to forage.

---

Should he have a civilian or traveler on his hands, he would walk alongside until the next came. If not, he would hopefully share a small snack with him, and then would take paces away to turn back. His senses were sharp as ever; he would not be taken for a fool due his honor. Turning back to the man he'd only just met (or did he know him...?), Taede widened his legs to just over shoulder-width, one leg oriented with its leg forward and the other at a ninety-degree angle to it; both firmly on the ground, both ready for a start signal. His hands were lazily in front of him, held up as in most fighting stances, but droopy-like.
[850~

Bau let his eyes lazily snap to the side as he observed a rather strange occurrence. A young individual was making some rapid progress towards him. Three meter leaps accurately from rock to rock like it was nothing implied he was either a native to these swamps and was simply accustomed to it or he was what this land called a genin. Or hopefully a genin anyway. There were other ranks that he had issues remembering. Chunnin seemed to be one but as far as he could tell that was close to champion of genins or something? He wasn't very clear on the whole situation at hand. Still if it was a genin heading towards him then he was likely in for a fight given the setting. Still he sighed as his grip tightened on his staff a little just in case. He didn't sense any hostile intent in the young individual, he couldn't tell for sure if they were male or female yet. They moved like a male but kinda had a girls face. Either way the young man landed in his path and Bau stopped walking. Listening to the boy talk (He now knew it was a boy based on the voice). His white eyebrows raised before he stroked the scruff on his chin and yawned. He was about to start talking when the young man began talking again. Bau just blinked and watched for a second before he shook his head and chuckled. His green eyes met his smile as he talked in his thick accent.

"Aye Laddie, hold yer horses yeah? I do be one of da participants in dis ere contest. Dat said I can nay just take ye at yer word. Ye be a stranger ta me. Keep yer scroll on yeself ye hear? I wun go for it until our spar be done. Imma keep my scroll on me cause I do think it be different from dat one. And ye have a bird dat if ye was trickin me could fly away with it yeah? While da berries be a kind offer...I can nay just trust ye on dem either. But ol' Bau will have a good ole fight with ye lad. If ol' Bau wins doe, yous gotta help him read his map yeah?"

Bua smile and hopped over to the rock before planting his stick into one of the cracks near the edge. The young man took some paces away from him and took a fairly basic stance for taijutsu. He couldn't name the style but his head tilted as he looked it over. The balance was good with the feet shoulder width apart and he could step forward or backwards quickly. It certainly looked like a striking stance. Well that was nice and all. He would be facing a taijutsu user in the first round. He was eager to see the taijutsu of the area. So he would start without his stick and go in bare handed for now. He nodded as the young man took his stance and left it up to Bau to step forward. The rock was only 5 meters across any way you walked from end to end with some rather jagged edges but a mostly flat surface. It almost looked man made. Bau lifted his right hand and took his pipe out of his mouth and tapped it out before taking off his hat. He left his cloak on but placed the pipe in his hat at the bottom of his staff. Then he untied his sword and set the old piece of metal down gently like it was some sort of sacred object. With that he turned and rolled his shoulders. Standing at his full height as suddenly it became apparent that he was in fact a massive man. His knuckles clicked as he flexed his hands like claws as the air popped out of them and his green eyes peeked innocently from behind white bangs. Then he smiled and was abruptly moving at D rank speed at Taede. It seemed slow as he approached with both hands held upside down and palms out at chest level and then the moment they would clash his right hand lifted with a flutter of a cloak at D rank reaction time to try and grab at Taede's left shoulder but at the same moment in a more concealed manner his left palm shot out at D-3 reaction time. Using his movement before as a bluff about how slow he was to hopefully slam his left palm into Taede's stomach at D-2 strength.

1703

There was nothing, here. Taede was a bit vacuous at this point; it wasn't like his normal lapses in planning and fore-thought. It was almost half willful, but this state was something that just happened to him sometimes. Unfortunate, perhaps, for his situations.

"And...ye have a bird dat if ye was trickin me could fly away with it yeah? While da berries be a kind offer...I can nay just trust ye on dem either.

He absentmindly peeled one of the rambutan, and popped the white, grapelike flesh into his mouth. It was tangy, yet had a very coconut-like milky sweetness to it. After his snack, though, he hopped up on the rocks. It was almost unconscious, as innate to his gait as walking itself would be.

A left, a right, and even a front-flip landed him at the small rock island. It was not spacious by any means....Taede's paces only left him with about a meter of space behind him, approximating it.

His preparations were already made. He had nothing to don nor to doff, being barefoot and unarmed. The man, however, was content to disarm himself of the sword and walking-stick he had brought along.

But ol' Bau will have a good ole fight with ye lad. If ol' Bau wins doe, yous gotta help him read his map yeah?"

He would have stated a Sentō Kaishi at that moment, as was proper and custom, but Bau had already taken his own personal cue from Taede's stance. He was....rather sluggish in movement. For a large man like himself, stepping and bounding should have been nothing at all...or was he betraying his looks, and he was really just a normal person? It seemed odd to the young Suna-nin, at any rate....

He seemed to outstretch his hand as he moved as close as he could to Taede. It wasn't difficult to see, nor was he seemingly attempting to conceal the movement. It was, as one might think, perfectly telegraphed. There was a flaw there. Telling a defensive fighter like Taede what actions would be executed for an attack was like asking to lose. In one step, the young man had already sidestepped and ducked into the grabbing arm's reach, but not within that of the hand. The arm was outstretched, and in no position to contract for a lock of any sort.

The duck saved him from one attack, but not the other. A direct palm strike hit right where Taede would have been had he not enacted that little strafe. The palm grazed his abdominal area, mainly hitting the lower-left area as it slid across the rest. It smarted for a bit, but was nothing Taede hadn't already trained for. In the midst of evading that seeming attempt at a grapple, the young sandy-haired one would attempt one of his own; though a bit different. ol'Bau was already moving, and movement persisted until one could produce enough opposing force to stop it. Taede accelerated that movement by, however fleetingly, attempting to grab the arm that grabbed at him. He pushed it in the direction it was already going, hoping to at least get Bau off-balance. Should he have met any resistance, however, he had no qualms about letting go. If he had lost his bearings, however, Taede would take advantage of that moment, giving him a light push on the back, yet again in the direction he was already headed.

Taede was now, luckily, not as far at the edge as he was before. After his tiny escapade, he kicked off the ground only slightly, giving him about an extra foot of distance from Bau. The edge of the islet was still about 1.5 meters behind him, not any safe distance.

No matter how defensive he played this, he wasn't safe.

[680~

Bau watched with green eyes as the reaching grab was easily side stepped but at the same moment his other blow seemed to slide along the young mans abdomen. He wasn't sure how hard that blow landed but he doubted it was enough to do any real damage in his favor. Still his eyes widened as he watched the young man reach out and grab that arm, he could tell then that he had been lured near the edge for this purpose. Charging head long into something was a poor plan. Luckily he wasn't a very fast runner. The shove met resistance but then he was pushed from behind again. Regardless this wasn't his first battle. He had fought for most of his adult life. He knew to remain calm when being pushed near the edge. Instead of stumbling he threw his weight back and let his legs slide forward. His left hand reached out as he went into a sliding fall and grabbed along the surface as his feet planted down. Still he would slide to about the edge before he had lost enough momentum to slam both feet down and push off with his hand to launch himself back to his feet. Standing there he let out a sigh of relief and looked over the edge at the swamp before looking back to the boy.

"Dat was nearly the end for me there lad. Nice placement. However, even though I admit ye be smart and fast, Ol Bau has a lesson for ye. If you have de advantage, press it. Otherwise yer opponent gets ta learn from it and be better for the next round."

Bau shifted as his robes began to flutter around him. His green eyes seemed to lighten and glow as he focused himself. His resolve had shifted to no longer going half power with these kids. That last move had been full speed and full strength but it lacked resolve. It didn't have the technique behind it that Bau needed to use. Martial arts was no joke. He began to walk towards the boy. His tall form seeming to cast the boy in his shadow as his muscles tensed, veins pulsing along his arms as his fingers clenched and unclenched. He was fully prepared to begin this match for real. His mouth opened as he spoke to Taede in his deeply accented voice.

"Prepare yerself boy."

Then he stepped the remaining three steps to be just within his own reach. Careful to keep his opponents back to the edge and be out of the boys reach. The bonus to being lanky and tall was he had longer arms. This time at D-3 reaction time two hands shot out. Both hands appeared to be like claws as they flashed out full speed. One claw (The right one) went to claw Taede's chest from left shoulder to right shoulder at full strength. The other came from the opposite direction with the opposing hand to claw at Taedes abdomen from right side to left. Whether they hit or not at the last second Bau would slam his foot forward and with that forward momentum attempt to slam both sets of knuckles center mass as hard as he could.

2250

It had worked, at least momentarily. Taede had gotten away from at least most of Bau's first forward attack, and his counter was successful. He knew that his own retribution was not to be overly effective. In fact, he almost certainly had banked on his opponent being able to bounce-back from his attack. It was only the first exchange, after all. And Taede wasn't the person that finished things quickly, if he could afford a different solution. No, there was evidence in the palm strike he just took. It was almost nothing....he didn't flinch, there was no more pain than a simple slap. The Suna-nin was designed to take this sort of punishment and outlast people.

Yes, a battle with him was naught more than attrition.

His opponent had already regained his bearings, at least for the larger part of it. He had slid with the push in order to reduce its effectiveness, the ground providing just the sort of traction and friction he needed. It wasn't anything he could help, at any rate....he was already more than a few paces away from Bau. When he stood to full height again, he turned to Taede and spake again; the words muffled a tad but he made out at least some.

"....Ol Bau has a lesson for ye. If you have de advantage, press it. Otherwise yer opponent gets ta learn from it and be better for the next round."

Taede noted that he was rather odd at taking his own advice. Despite him saying it, his later actions showed a lack of full understanding of his words. He had completely forgotten that Taede, too, had gleaned something from their first exchange. And this fact....was simply that Bau was a telegrapher. He didn't make any truly elaborate motions, and his attacks seemed duly focused on offense. The young man shifted a little more to the left, giving himself a bit more leeway in terms of space he could maneuver in, a half meter.

Not only was he content to walk towards Taede at the pace of a normal gait, he even gave his opponent a "heads-up", so to speak, which naturally put the younger one on his full guard. It was thoughtful, but oddly....self-debilitating? Especially considering the fact that all the attack consisted of was a series of two swipes, executed at what appeared to be his maximum range. The only thing Taede needed to do to win was to not lose.

The attacks, at least this time, were nonlinear. However, he didn't make any attempt to conceal this attack, like that first palm strike; the only thing this had going for it was what seemed like his full capability, akin to that which assailed him earlier. He almost did a shimmy, only a few inches to the rear. It was more of a discreet slide, really; he attempted to make it look like he was getting back into his shoulders'-width footstance.

The claw attacks....Taede planned to take them full-force, whatever that meant for this. Such a raking attack at maximum range could not hurt him at all. The attacks went past him, smarting and abrading the skin beneath his shirt while catching a tiny bit against the loose fabric; they left just as quickly as they had come. A lateral attack that didn't attempt to bludgeon or cut Taede for real wasn't very effective.

He wasn't done. Taede was not occupied by the attack due to his choice to absorb the blow, and he saw the placement of his opponent's lower body. This was another one of his linear attacks. Perhaps that was what Bau was going for....distract with the first and follow with the real attack.

It wouldn't work. Weaker feints slid off of the Koizumi boy, and forward attacks were too easy to see through. He'd already placed his hands in front of him, and a double-knuckle headed his way, even as he still inched backwards during his opponent's preparations. Thus, he fell right where Taede wanted. As Bau semi-lunged to attack Taede again, his target would also move forward, seemingly also straight into the attack. Despite his foe's lecture on not using the same tactic over and over, it worked so well against him that it was difficult not to. Linear attacks were the best attacks for Taede to counter.

Into his movement, he took advantage of his own momentum. He slid his legs apart from their previous shoulder-width spacing, his own leg suddenly horizontally flush with his opponent's. It, however, was not vertically flush. Taede was far lower than his opponent to the ground, and most certainly were his hips. It was the simplest type of throw, and one of the most effective. It was so like him to recite katas to himself.....he braced his knees in the bent position, one leg outside the same forward limb of his opponent and one leg almost opposite, about 20 degrees short of a straight line. This position, however, let Taede rotate his hips any which way, which gave him an edge here.

The fists shot straight out, one of which Taede was able to again attempt to grab and pull farther than it was intended. If it was a success, the young man would continue with his attack. His left arm would shoot out to support Bau's weight against his own body, and then locking the elbow, fu. This maneuver turned Taede into a living fulcrum. A simple, unlabored hip movement was supremely effective in this case, as if it was successful, Taede could flip and throw Bau over his own body and straight into the ground with the force of momentum and gravity, using only the power of physics. This was....

---

If it was not to be, and his opponent resisted or wrested himself from Taede's grip, the Genin would do what came naturally from his low position; he could perform a leg adduction to bring his farthest leg towards his body, using the movement to power a sideways motion towards his opponent's own leg; this was a roundhouse against the fibula and the back of the patella. Normal people would aim with the front of the ankle, but Taede could attack with any part of his lower leg without fear of breaking it, thereby making his range variable.

If it hit, Taede would move around his victim, using his extended leg as a pivot point. Without any intervention, he would end up almost body-to-body, parallel with his opponent, and push him just as last time, only with a good deal more force. In this position, he had a lot farther to go to get to the edge, so simply forcing him to the ground would do more damage to his stamina.

---

Taede wasn't even breaking a sweat yet. None of his maneuvers required much physical input from his own reserves of stamina. Whatever set of counters he pulled, he would space himself further from Bau using a series of 5 single-kick-off steps, each propelling him no more than a third of a meter. He had a good meter left of space behind him again....

[1230~

Bau watched as his fingers raked along the young man in front of him. He just kind of took the lighter hits it seemed. Still with most it should of drawn blood from his fingers digging in but with this kid it only seemed to leave light marks. It caused Baus eyes to widen a little and his eyebrow to raise as he observed this. So the kid was fairly tough. Not to mention that the kid easily reacted to the visual ques presented. It wasn't that he was faster then Bau but he was focused on counters. It was typically difficult to deal with something that countered what you did regardless of momentum and strength. For that second he considered getting his stick to adjust the tempo of the fight. However he chose not to because this was still an even taijutsu match. Neither of them had picked up the pace yet and it was just a warm up spar. If he had to resort to grabbing the stick before they even picked up the pace then he was in trouble. His green eyes focused on the one in front of him instead. This boy was an obstacle for him but at the same time a perfect sparring partner for him. He just wished that they had met outside of a competition. For now he needed to overcome him.

His forward step and back knuckle was countered again as he had expected. This time he read the throw as the boy spun into it. He grabbed Bau's left arm as the strike slid forward and pulled to pull Bau into the throw. The boys other arm reached up and under Bau to lift his weight using the momentum but this was what Bau had been waiting for. Bau's right hand would reach out to attempt to grab the wrist of the arm under his stomach. If he was successful in doing so he would slam chakra into his right hand. The veins on it would raise and pulse as the bones would pop loudly. If his vice grip jutsu managed to grip down it would do so with far more force then any of his blows had done before. Regardless of whether or not his counter grapple actually landed he would throw his body weight into the throw himself. Focused on moving the balance of it into his favor.

His feet would slam down instead of his back even if off balance. However with the grip between them (Since Taede was gripping one arm and hopefully Bau was gripping the other) He would launch his right leg up the moment his foot slapped the ground. If he had the vice grip he would yank Taeda at his rising knee as even in that position his leg would rise to try and smash into center face of his opponent. He needed the rapid blow with no holds barred to land to hopefully throw his opponent off balance and cause a face injury. If none of that connected then he would be sitting there with Taede mostly grappled to him and his balance off with one leg up in the air and his body tilted to the side to manage to get the leg that high.

Chakra 135/150:

Things were starting to get however much one could call a twisting of the brain interesting. The situation evolved by the millisecond, he found; both being Taijutsu specialists, the two of them were constantly shifting, without fail moving to attempt an advantage. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. It was almost bothersome, having his counter predicted like that; his attacks' effectiveness came half from their pure nature as counterattacks. Having one's attack turned against them was enough of a psychological blow to normally throw anyone off their game, and Taede would have been experiencing that right now had he not been an expert in the field.

In any event, the flip hadn't gone as planned. His koshi gaeshi was intended to flip Bau over who he thought was the victim, quickly if not instantaenous with the movement of the actual attack. At any rate....Taede's hand was grabbed. And it was grabbed hard....harder than someone of his level should have been capable of, if he was really in the Exams. Badbadbadbadbadbadbad was the only thing that went through Taede's head right now, as pain started rushing through his left hand....even as Bau broke his fall on his feet, Taede was feeling this ever-so-badly.

And then the tug came.

He ditched his feet right when he was pulled toward his opponent, and focused his chakra as much as he could. It would be difficult for the sake of a pinpoint with so much pain, but even something messy would do here. Wind Release sped his descent as he had let his feet go down from under him, and a whoosh above from what he felt. His acceleration, however, was top-down; the tibia hit him square in the back of the scapula, and his face scraped the rock below him a bit, bleeding in slight. Whatever he did....he would not....let.....go. If he was to maintain any control over this match, he had to keep every advantage he had.

And he had to create some more. Taede responded to the upper knee with a tug of his own; certainly lesser in force, but using the forward momentum to quickly circle his arm under the knee, hopefully taking Bau's along for the ride. If he was with any type of luck, he had a one-handed and one-legged man....free for him to tip over by getting his feet a little under his knees again, which were currently both on the ground; that dodge had put him in a compromising position, but hopefully not more so than his opponent.

The genin sprung forward as best he could; it may not have been all his force, all his speed, but he could only hope the situation would allow this. If it hadn't gone according to his plan, he probably would not succeed here. Knocking down the man was only part one; it was necessary, now, to let go of the one hand and grab onto the hand that was grabbing his own. Forearm, above the wrist, ventral side; center, between the radius and ulna. I've got you....Pericardium-6 and Heart-6! Meridian Overflow!! It was just like the Shikidō practitioner to combine, whether it be his offense with defense or two disruptions at once. His first attempt was to flow chakra into both his arms, which were in contact with the offending Bau's; by increasing his own chakra flow, he could cause a temporary override in the directly adjoining Keirakukei. At the same time, the hand that grabbed his sparrer's jabbed its middle and ring fingers, respectively, into the center against the interior bone and from the outside further down from the thumb. One of these two had to work....he could feel his own bones cracking under the pressure of this grip. Either he would stop the pressure exertion via chakra, or he would agitate the nerves in the hand so badly that pain would shoot up his entire arm, with the added benefit of muddling the nervous signals to make the hand useless. If it was limp, he would the advantage using a clockwise rotation on the hand, attempting to go until it would not do so any more; this was a supinating wristlock. To avoid tendon, ligament, and even elbow and shoulder joint damage, his opponent would be forced to the ground. The pain would compel him to do so.


[755~

135:

Bau was rather shocked as suddenly there was a burst of movement far faster then the kid had moved before. His grapple and his tug had worked but the kid moved too fast for him to land his knee. The weight of the kid didn't seem enough to drop like that...perhaps Bau had managed to pull him too hard or something else was a little off there. If the kid could move like that then attempting to land a blow or dodge one would be out of the question for Bau. For that second Bau considered his grip on the boys wrist to be his only option for the time being but also his limitation. He couldn't separate himself from the boy to gather time to observe this new speed or to grab his stick. Truth be told he shouldn't of agreed to a straight up hand to hand fight to begin with...then again he couldn't remember if that was all the boy said...had the boy even made that a stipulation? He honestly couldn't recall. He doubted it though. His own pride and overconfidence had led him to put the stick to the side. He hadn't been tricked...he had been foolish.

Then suddenly he was moving in a direction he hadn't attempted to move in. His opponent had dodged his attack and had used his lack of balance against him. Bau heard his back slap against the rock and his head bounced a little. His vision rocked as his teeth clicked from the impact. The good news was he hadn't been knocked out. Nor did he lose his senses. His grip was still good but at the same time the kid was up to something. Bau recovered from the knock down as the kid slipped his hand free from his grip on Baus other arm and began to focus both his hands on Baus one arm gripping him. Holding it in a way Bau hadn't seen before. Suddenly his grip was broken! The jutsu that he couldn't break free from if he tried suddenly burst away from a simple grip. This kid had managed to break free somehow...Bau truly wanted to learn how he did that. If he had not felt respect for the kids skills before he did now. However the kid seemed to be trying to do something else to perhaps cause some damage or pain..Bau didn't really know which but the boy had opened a door for Bau by closing the other one.

Bau knew that the grapple was going to do some damage to him if he resisted it. He just didn't know how much. The thing was though, Bau couldn't feel it anyway. His experience in fights had led him to this moment and he knew when to sacrifice a hand to win a battle. They were on that platform and the boy was to his side. On the other side of the boy was just swamp and a couple of rocks. He needed to end this if the boy was going to take his arm for this move...Still Bau didn't bother to hesitate and consider the risks. He moved with his instincts saying this was what needed to be done. He threw all of his weight into a roll as his hand gripped the boy without nearly as much force as before. He let the arm the boy hand twist and bend in a way that was almost breaking and would drop most people from pain but Still Baus other hand slammed forward to grab the front of the boys pants and continued with the roll. With a mighty shout Bau would attempt to heave the boy into the rolling throw and shove wind chakra out his palms should he be able to pull the throw off. At the end of the throw which as low as they were seemed like at worst would be a couple of feet a loud bang of wind would slam from Bau's palms and launch his opponent. Should the throw be successful the burst of air would send the boy flying ten meters (Well clear of the platform) at ten meters per second. However, It would cause Baus arm to bleed from the fingernails having been dug into his arm and his pale arm turning from red slowly to blue.

3542

125/150:

It was....nigh on impossible. The man he was fighting....his pain tolerance was inhuman. It was as if he wasn't feeling anything at all....

That was it. He didn't feel....which was Taede's perfect opportunity. Bau had rolled with the push that the young man had executed...he was going up, probably as the wanderer was hoping. His arm lock had hit all the right places, but he was still moving....which was at once odd and alarming. He shouldn't have been able to move, so Taede had to think fast.

As the man's hand grasped Taede's hitai-ate, he at once moved his own from the acupressure he was executing. It wasn't working, at least how he wanted, as the man fully extended his arms, so he let go and let his right, good, hand press as well as he could against Bau's chest.



His chakra control was much better now that he wasn't under the influence of excruciating pain. A surgical injection of chakra had him hooked right under the sternum. Even those other than this one, who felt no sensation, would be unaware of the jutsu taking effect. In most cases, it was very effective on an opponent. In this case....

Taede flew. The throw was obviously augmented with chakra, as he couldn't fly that fast from the hands of any sort of lower-rank ninja.

He was a lower-rank ninja, but his techniques weren't all power. This technique....this time, it was effective on him. In three-tenths of a second, Taede was suspended in midair for only the briefest of moments, having hit the limit of his Adhesion Fist. Instantaneously, he sprang back exactly in the direction he had come from. He had attempted to speed himself up using more Wind Release of his own, to reduce the time his opponent had to react.

This was terrifying, moving this fast. Especially straight into a human being.

Taede was jarred by whatever he impacted, the momentum and rebounding having twisted him to move with his left shoulder forward. He immediately, however, fumbled about with his right hand for an arm, a leg, anything that he could twist or bend, or even just get ahold of. It was essential that he stopped Bau's movements before he got a chance to recover. If he grabbed him, he would not release. Even if his upper body was damaged, his lower was more than enough to counter any forward movement Bau would make.

If he couldn't find Bau, however, he would simply wait until he could stand, then strafe around him, preventing forward movement still. Either way, he would start breathing more deeply, focusing his chakra on knitting his own wounds shut. It had no effect thus far.

[475~

130/150:

Bau was surprised....his throw had worked. Somehow he had expected this kid to counter it yet again. In that moment kneeling there his green eyes took in the young man flying away from him. This promising individual had done well against a seasoned warrior. Such a young man had a huge amount of potential. It was a relief to see him flying and the match would be over when he....Wait...Bau barely had time to widen his eyes in alarm as the boy seemed to snap back at him mid air like a rubber band. He had missed that contact on his chest in that moment. He hadn't expected anyone to be capable of returning like that. He knew what was coming though. At that speed the damage to both of them was going to be fairly moderate. It was unavoidable though as there was no way Bau had any time to dodge that return attack. A shoulder it looked like right for his sternum. It was going to knock the air out of Bau..he knew that. So his last act and the only thing he had time for was to take a quick but deep breath. If he was going to struggle to breath he needed to have some oxygen in his system or he would fade fast.

Then the impact happened. Bau couldn't feel it but he knew as it happened it left some damage. His breath was pushed out of him in one gasp as a little bit of spit flew out with it and black spots filled his vision. Damn that was a hard hit. Still he had a plan for this too. It was less of a plan and more of a muscle memory snapping too as the collision sent them both flying back about a meter. The smash against him drastically slowing their speed but enough to do what he needed to do. His arm on the side that Taede was on would attempt to Wrap around Taede's neck in that mid air moment and if it succeeded the other hand would grasp his own wrist and pull as hard as he could to try and tighten the choke hold as best he could. If that succeeded then he would lean back at the end of the fall to try and smash his opponents face into the ground. It was his best hope for the moment as his eyes saw his stick a couple meters away...just out of reach still.

Even if the headlock failed he would gasp for air as he tried to fill his lungs. Sweat began to run down his face as he was truly struggling against this kid. He needed to find a way to end this before the fight dragged too much out of him. He had no idea just how much damage had happened to him. If he had to guess he probably had a lot of bruising along his back, feet and front as well as one of his arms. He hoped his opponent was doing just as bad. Either way even if the headlock didn't work the kid had a hold of his leg on the side that he had smashed into Bau on. He had a leg and hopefully Ol' Bau had his head. If not then suddenly a flurry of fists would fly down at Taeda's face in an effort to do as much damage as possible before the kid took his leg and did something bad to it. So either he held the kid in a choke hold and had tried to smash his face into the ground hurting his back in the process or his back had hit. If he had the choke hold both his arms were occupied and Taede had his leg. If he didn't Taede had his leg and both fists were sending rapid Hay makers at either side of his head. Four shots in total at D-3 reaction time speed.

4215

This was getting tricky, and Taede didn't like tricky. He liked simple. He liked just being able to end a fight instantly, not having to worry about himself or his opponent getting hurt. The aftermath always hurt.

So when he found himself in a headlock, he took it as a minor annoyance. His entire body's movement could bend with a simple jerk of his neck; after all, who wanted theirs broken? The stress Bau was putting on his neck, though, was little in the way of painful. It was just a physical obstruction....not just.

One that was leading him straight into the ground. A less-than-desirable outcome, to say the least....and Taede wasn't having it. As he was facing opposite Bau, the boy's body separated from his opponent's by the length of his humerus. The downward force wasn't good....he would most certainly get a decent scraping on wherever his face landed on that.

So he took it, and with it, an opportunity. He allowed Bau to move exactly as his body movements just now had portended....and he acted quickly, just as quickly as he was used to acting. A simple temporary external asphyxiation would not do anything to him, as he still had air left. Unlike his opponent, his blow was to the left shoulder, which was not necessary to breathe. Thus, his chakra control was still on-point....being regulated both by his own faculties and his continued use of it. He probably couldn't feel it in the heat of the moment, but the painful bruise he had received from his bungee-back escapade was already starting to dull.
At any rate, the Genin pulled what was probably his final stunt. A single, chakra-concentrated elbow; he flowed Water Release-natured chakra into the crook of his left, which was the closest to Bau's diaphragm. At the last moment, though, he also used the jutsu he had been continuing for all this time: his Expansion Stream. That extra oomph of speed might have made this blow worthwhile. It might have justified him taking a hit he knew he could have overpowered, albeit with another jutsu's effort.


Either way, it was already the time of impact, and Taede's face was.....well, messed up, for lack of a better term. Skin was rent from his right cheek and temple, not to mention the blood everywhere. He wasn't sure if he had cracked anything, but he couldn't worry about it.


If he'd succeeded....if he had landed that elbow into Bau's diaphragm, he could only hope that at least a window came up, one in which he could escape this blasted grapple. Should that have been the case, he would use his strength - which by now he had gauged to have exceeded Bau's - to wrest himself from the man's grasp, immediately forming a Tiger Seal with the last, smallest fingers' nails touching. His Modified hand seal would invoke a technique that would quickly stitch his face back together, although he would have to keep a hand on the cheek to allow the skin to reattach. As he healed, though, he began to twist the man's arm, quite literally. If he could get Bau in an inescapable double-arm lock, this fight would be over.

---

If it wasn't the case....He would just have to break his limits.


A tensing came in Taede's lungs, and it wasn't from his asphyxia. No, he was about to undo that little bit, using the remaining oxygen he had left. He could feel his heart pump faster, his vessels dilate. He pushed his hardest against the choke-hold, filled with a temporary vigor; at the first chance, he would take a shallow exhale-inhale, making every effort to re-saturate his blood with oxygen. If he managed to get away totally, he would make his Modified Tiger seal....he would have to fight one-handed for a short time. Whatever this man stepped to do, Taede would rush to stop him. He had a feel for what Bau's steps were like. As long as he kept on the defensive, he'd be fine.

---

In any case, he couldn't afford to lose. Not to this man or anyone else. Suna was counting on him, among others.

[740~

105 or 90/150:

Thread closed

4215

Strength, perception and Endurance D ~> D-3
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