”That’s stupid, he’d listen to Kaida with a dull face "Why would we start with an attack? You only attack when you know it's going to get you ground." Aratana then watched as a gray liquid sheath crept out from under her clothes, flowing over her skin into a flexible steel layer. He then continued to watch her initial response to battle, putting all she had out on the table. Clenching her right fist, she concentrated the koton around that arm until additional steel flowed down to her gauntlet, adding yet more steel to the mix.

"Everyone starts with getting their defenses up, anyway. We need a plan that will make her defend herself so we can break through, and then attack. Right?" he’d return his attention to her, and in the moment he was going to make his response, he’d hear an insane laughter to his side, sounding like Yaru’s. As he glimpsed over, he’d see a thick fog cover the grounds around them. Soon after, he’d hear Kaida being pulled underneath the ground, and thought to himself that his allies had gone to take the first move. With this, he’d cast a ram hand seal, focusing his inner chakra to provide a barrier for him. Soon after, he went over what he knew about his allies, assessing possible combinations between them.

As he waited for the right moment to jump in, he had heard the noise that was caused by the ending impact of the thrust that executed the shadow clone, initially, this gave Aratana panic, however he soon came to the realization that his teammates may be in danger. Soon following this however, he would focus on Kaida running out of the mist towards him prior to her initially getting out, (Taijutsu, +1 Perception). As she swung her fist, Aratana quickly began to put his shifty plan into movement. Using his (+2 RT, Focused+Reflex), he’d wrap himself around Kaida’s body before focusing Taijutsu chakra into his legs. Soon after, he would jump up, and use Kaida’s back as a springboard to launch himself directly back in the direction she came from, gliding silently through the fog. I have a feeling this is her doing, he’d think to himself, referring to Mikumi Or Kaida lost it again, he’d give a sly smile to himself, before putting his hands into the bird hand seal, focusing his Fūton chakra into a sharp wind aura covering him. Soon after, he’d be coming in close to Mikumi, the aura around him shifting the fog within range of it.

Chakra:220/250

Jutsu Used:

443

The snake girl. Kaida was certain of it now. She was one of the crazy ninja. The sort that her mother would have done business with for a premium, but also had for a returning customer. First came the blinding mist. Although she could make out vague shapes through it, those shapes wouldn't help her determine whether a target was an enemy or an ally until they were very close to her. But when Yaru grabbed her from below, it came as nothing but a numbing shock to Kaida's awareness. At first, she couldn't think fast enough to respond, but then events tumbled forward, and she saw her target.

The target. The only thing that was really important about this encounter.

This was acceptable. Exceptionally rude, and it certainly illustrated pages about her "ally's" personality, but acceptable. She could work with this. She could not, however, give Yaru the benefit of the doubt. If she was willing to betray an ally so quickly, then she should be avoided in the future.

She came up from the ground swinging, but Mikumi was already dodging. The difference between them was stymieing. Strings of chakra wrapped around Kaida's limbs, pulling taut against her resistance, and forced her body into odd, stilted movements. She could see where the strings attached themselves to her, and as a Sunagakure native, understood at once the indignity she'd been subject to. She watched helplessly as her body rushed out of the mist and at the boy. Her right arm went up, and that's when Kaida had had enough.

The green-eyed girl didn't need her running raiment so badly that she was willing to give up her agency for it. The kunoichi severed her chakra connection with the metal coating her skin and it shattered away instantly, taking those disgusting chakra strings with it. But Aratana looked as though he had been waiting for this opportunity. Rather than dodge Kaida, he went straight through her, worming his body around her and using her exposed back as a springboard, sending her face-first into the dirt as he leaped away.

She hadn't come here for this. Being used as an object by her teammates. But if they were fine with using her. Her temper began to boil up, but she suppressed it as she stood up from the ground and turned around to face the mist. There was no sense in going in there. Although it wouldn't be the worst thing she could imagine, she might mistake Orochiyaru for Mikumi, and find herself guilty of the same basic betrayal the other two had perpetrated. No, she would recognize what this really was: not a sparring match against a new sensei, but an assault from three sides.

Whoever came at her out of the mist next was subject to her aggressions now. She'd disable Orochiyaru and Aratana both if necessary to approach the target. She waited and watched, focused on the mist and its silhouettes, gauntlet at the ready. She wouldn't block the first strike aimed for her; she'd take it on her body if she had to, just to get past her opponent's defenses and score a solid strike on them with Kaida's liquid steel-enhanced gauntlet.

553

Mikumi seemed to have forgotten that she only beat a clone. Orochi's snake like body could easily slither onto the surface behind her. Miku seemed busy doing some sort of forbidden human puppeteering. Orochiyaru cheered in the sight of Kinjutsu being used. Unaware that the Mokuton user had such a high ranked ability. Orochi wouldn't bother and push her palms to the ground below. Doton chakra would flow start to crumble the ground beneath Mikumi's feet even while she was still playing puppeteer. Having her hands occupied would give Orochi the opening needed to act. However, the technique was just meant to shove Mikumi in direction of the other two. Yaru knew that at least one of them was starting to attack. So, she wanted to compliment their effort by giving them a real chance in close combat. Sticking her palms into the ground again. Yaru would concentrate a relatively large amount of chakra into the earth. By the means of a terra-former technique, Yaru would start to grow some sort of Earth-Dome around Mikumi and the two remaining 'team mates'. Once the dome was formed and the hole above it closed. Yaru would instantly release the mist-technique. While Miku would find herself now in close confined space nearby two of her students. Yaru was starting to push the dome closer together. Reducing the battlefield further and further in size. Eventually forcing either of the people inside to engage each other. Also, with the mist gone, Kaida had the chance to pick whomever she wanted to fight. Just not Orochi cause the snek preferred to remain outside the earthen dome.

Orochi was pretty sure dome's structural density wouldn't really be hard to crush and escape from. It was more a psychological means to create a sudden 'earth prison' and make the people inside belief that they were trapped. Considering what she would do in such a situation would be to concentrate on the enemies that were supposedly getting closer and closer before testing one's chances on how to escape the ever shrinking earth prison. The whole spar had been pretty bizarre and the snek admitted to have added some insult to injury at some point. In a fair off-trade she promised herself not to eat either of them today. Nodding to herself, finding that a very fair trade in the depth of her endless narcissism. Orochi was pretty sure however, that this spar would soon find its end, considering that neither of it was really going like anyone had planned it. She did however find the premise of the situation quite largely amusing. Especially the part where she dragged a body along the earth and hence created a screaming incoming head. Such beauty. She would have to refine this trick. But somehow doubted that Kaida would volunteer for a second try. Peoples absolute lack in interest towards experiments and science was deeply disturbing the snake. But for now, she'd keep toying with her earth dome and see what would happen inside!

510 / 3800

Chakra 190 / 250:

Once again Mikumi was sitting in the middle of the mist now that she sent Kaida towards Aratana location and Orochiyaru seemed to be hiding somewhere watching in the back scene, after a few seconds Mikumi could feel intense air moving that was immediately followed by Aratana flying towards her while mid-air, with every inch he got closer Mikumi begun to form 1/2 cuts all around her body but otherwise were completely ineffective against her being more annoying as she would have to repair her slightly rippled clothing.

Suddenly she felt liquid under her feet and glanced down to see one of her own techniques the Earth mud river flowing towards Aratana and Kaida's direction bringing her closer, the key to this technique was to not struggle and try to get out but relax and let it take you as it was moving you right off of it, to that end Mikumi took a deep breath as she let herself fall down right into the mud dirtying herself but at the same time completely dodging Aratana's reckless assault, unfortunately for him it seems Orochiyaru was trying to help as she formed an earth dome at the same moment causing Aratana to crash right into the newly formed earth dome, Mikumi rolled off the mud and quickly got back up to see the earth dome had gotten Kaida as well albeit she was to the far side of it not moving.

Mikumi sighed heavily as this sparring session made her realize that although individual they were equipped to handle themselves somewhat, trying to get them to work as a team would actually get them killed as showed by how Orochiyaru's nature was to throw her teammates into the fry without any type of warning or prior planning, Aratana's deep planning was also a problem and the one move he did make was completely reckless, Kaida on the other hand despite her social problems was the only one Mikumi could point out as someone who was neither reckless nor like to control her squad members as pawns but the other two would need quite a bit of work compared to her.

Mikumi within the dome held up her right hand in a stop pose to Kaida and Aratana before taking out her Ninjato and with quick speed slashed the earth dome three times forming a door as the earth crumbled to the floor and then walked out re-sheathing her Ninjato while motioning the other two to follow before she whistled to make Orochiyaru come as well and told them to line up and once they did she would speak, "Well, after this spar your all capable of handling yourselves albeit on a very low level, however, the real problem is your teamwork. Aratana's need to plan is getting in the way of what really needs to be done and once he finally did so it was beyond reckless and honestly, if I was the enemy it would be easy to kill you. Orochiyaru you never attacked me directly but yet manipulated your teammates with no former planning, putting them in harm's way to the point that they could have gotten seriously hurt or worse if I was a real enemy. And Lastly Kaida, Kaida your plan you proposed at the beginning was excellent thinking in the beginning and you would have done much better if Orochiyaru hadn't thrown you in like that, and forgive me for using my own technique on you to make matters worst. Overall for all three of you I expect to see more effort in team play and hope this was an insightful sparring lesson, as agreed I will take you on a higher rank mission in one weeks time, but until then I will be doing individual lessons to train you guys so you may be better equipped but for now go rest and I'll find you when the time is right."

Just like that Mikumi's skin suddenly turned a more wooden color as her eyes hollowed out leaving nothing but a wooden corpse behind while she herself popped out of the ground 30 meters away in the forest as she made her way back home.

-Exit-

WC:684

Total WC:5,412

A-rank Jutsu: Wood Style: Cassava Curse 1,800/1,800(3,612 Words Left)

A-rank Jutsu: Water Style: Aqua barrier 1,800/1,800(1,812 Words Left)

B-rank Jutsu: Wood Release: Wrath of the capensis seed
1,350/1,350 (462 Words Wasted)

Aratana flew towards Mikumi while gliding through the fog, as Aratana arrived close enough for his plan to start to take place, Mikumi had started to form 15 1/2” cuts all along her body, however it came to Aratana’s surprise to see her completely unfazed, with her clothes just suffering minor damage from the small cuts that had hit just before.

Suddenly, in a quick moment, Aratana had noticed a mud river form beneath Mikumi’s legs, Good thinking Yaru he thought to himself as he went forward. It seemed it was a good time to use the real part of his plan, slowly he began to adjust his position in the air to rebound back into combat, however as he glanced backwards to see his trajectory a large earth dome would appear.

Aratana was able to just barely adjust his legs in time to allow the taijutsu reinforced legs to take the impact, and push himself into a safe looking pile of dirt. As he reeled himself out of it, he’d almost take a fierce approach to Mikumi, before she’d hold out her hand in the stop signal. Soon, he became aware of what was going on and he’d deactivate the jutsu that he had used. The chakras slowly dissipating and eventually returning to his body, with the eye of the storm shrinking last. He’d then line up to hear what Mikumi had to say. "Well, after this spar your all capable of handling yourselves albeit on a very low level, however, the real problem is your teamwork. Aratana's need to plan is getting in the way of what really needs to be done and once he finally did so it was beyond reckless and honestly, if I was the enemy it would be easy to kill you.” he’d listen thoughtfully, reflecting over his actions. Assess faster I suppose, plan quicker, and attack at moments notice. he’d then return his ear to Mikumi, “Orochiyaru you never attacked me directly but yet manipulated your teammates with no former planning, putting them in harm's way to the point that they could have gotten seriously hurt or worse if I was a real enemy. And Lastly Kaida, Kaida your plan you proposed at the beginning was excellent thinking in the beginning and you would have done much better if Orochiyaru hadn't thrown you in like that, and forgive me for using my own technique on you to make matters worst. Overall for all three of you I expect to see more effort in team play and hope this was an insightful sparring lesson, as agreed I will take you on a higher rank mission in one weeks time, but until then I will be doing individual lessons to train you guys so you may be better equipped but for now go rest and I'll find you when the time is right."  With someone like this on our side, seeing our errors, we might actually get somewhere he’d smile to himself. Soonafter, when Mikumi had left, he would sprint off a short distance before quickly waving over to Kaida who he had used as a springboard. As he got a good look at her he saw the colors of aggression painted on her face. Soon after, he’d wave a quick goodbye, exclaiming ”Sorry Kaida!” before sprinting off into the darkness that sheltered Konoha laughing like a little kid who had just played a great joke on someone.

As he returned home, Aratana had snuck back in through the window he typically went out of to venture through the night. He took his shoes off and felt minorly fatigued from that fight. Immediately, he’d lay himself down in bed and climb under his blanket. “Not bad today,” he’d smile, taking pride in his effort, yet yearning to grow stronger. Is there where a shinobi’s life begins? he’d ask himself, questioning further the people he had just barely met. He had hardly known anything about them, but somehow they were going to have to pull themselves together and work as a team. It all made him excited, who knew what was to come through this.

[EXIT]

Jutsu Used:

Chakra:200/250

708

Total:5332

All stats up to D (3750)
Followed by:
Reaction Time to D-3 (1175)
Endurance to D-1 (325)
Remaining words:82

True to form, something unexpected happened. It was probably Yaru again. Walls of earth rose up from the ground, enveloping Kaida, the mist, and anyone inside it. As soon as a dome had formed, the mist disappeared and the dome began to shrink, slowly pushing its inhabitants toward one another. Orochiyaru was nowhere to be seen, nearly confirming Kaida's suspicions, and that was enough for her. The snake girl had trapped her and the boy in here with Mikumi, giving them little chance to escape against the superior kunoichi. It was a stupid plan at best, but Kaida found it more likely that her teammate was trying to wear out their new teacher by throwing her allies against an enemy they could not hope to defeat so that she could take advantage of the situation later.

Rather than fight them, however, inside the dome, Mikumi held up her hand in the universal sign for "Stop." Without her armor on, Kaida found no reason to fight any further and acquiesced. Mikumi used a weapon to cut through the dome and then bid the three of them line up for debriefing. "Well," Mikumi began, and gave not only all of them a review of how well they had worked together, but what they had accomplished alone. Kaida wasn't sure, but it almost sounded as though she was being praised.

Suddenly, Mikumi's body transformed, taking on the color of wood and her eyes hollowed away, like a shed skin. It was like a puppet of some kind. The body stood there, an eerie testament to the difference between Kaida and who she thought she was focused on.

The boy smiled to himself, and then suddenly ran off into the night. He shouted an apology to her as he disappeared, leaving Kaida alone with the treacherous snake girl. Instinctively, her shoulders rose and patchy scales of steel began to form on her skin. She glared daggers at the Orochi for a moment, and then the expression slid off her face, leaving only a bored neutrality. That's right, she called herself a monster. She probably felt as though she was never accountable for her own actions. It was pathetic, really. "Have you considered the thought that you may have selected the wrong career path, dear?" she inquired, without any of the sweetness in her voice that should have accompanied the term of endearment. "Gutless behaviors are typical among vulgars, but they make for poor ninja. Anyone a cell's members can't rely on is put out eventually, and your mind is clearly too malformed to wrap around concepts like teamwork and accountability. It's almost like whoever put your brain together forgot a few parts." She explained these things as if talking to a child, clearly patronizing the other girl.

Kaida walked away from Orochi, lifting up her right hand as she began to take off her gauntlet. She gestured with the same hand as she spoke. "Don't worry too much about it tonight. I don't think we could have expected much better from your kind, anyway." She slipped the gauntlet into her pack, but stayed wary of the other girl, ready for an attack from behind. If she did attack, Kaida wouldn't dodge. With her left hand, she would grab onto the snake girl to keep her from escaping, and she still had the steel from her Imagination Forge running up and down her arm. She could easily form a small bludgeoning weapon along the length of her arm or fist strike back at Yaru with. If she were foolish enough to attack, it only takes so many rapid, steel-laced whallops to the side of the head to knock a little sense into someone.

629

The lot of them eventually aborted the sparring match just as it was about to get fun. Orochiyaru scratched the back of her head and gently touched the earth dome she had summoned. The remains of it would slowly retract back into the ground. Evenly so she would use the remaining chakra still interconnected with her doton techniques to let their damage cease from the ground and hence return the battleground back into shape. The spar was way too short for her own perferance. She barely lifted her hand in clear displeasure and boredom as Mikumi left and hissed a few times with her snake tongue. As the cute little boy said bye, Yaru couldn't but form a thick smile anyway. Waving at him. He was so cute. She wanted to cuddle him and keep him. Like a pet, or a dog… or how other big humans look after their small humans. She yawned and gazed back at Kaida whom had a very stingy glare to herself. Hmmm that's more like it. Yaru licked her lips as excitement quickly rose back in the depths of her. That stare of pure hatred. The clear visible disdain she'd hold over the snake. Extatic Yaru's body began to shiver. She would chuckle to herself and watch the girl approach her a bit. Eventually starting to bark at Yaru with a certain, very specific goal to trigger her. And triggered she was. Such absolute and unacceptable rudeness! How dare calling out the snake and looking down on her.

Yaru could feel some hairs and scales on her neck raise before returning back into shape. With her anger triggered, her view became more tunnelled on Kaida. Mixing slightly with excitement. She would stare at her opponent. Showing Orochiyaru her back. Obviously inviting the snake into close combat. But despite being triggered, emotional, maybe even psychopathic. Yaru was still and remains a smart snek. Going into close combat against the strongest defensive elements after having exhausted almost all her techniques to mess with Mikumi, that wouldn't be a very smart way to go around things. No, she wanted to play a game with the steel lady. Yaru might be just a baby snake that only recently emerged from her little vat chamber that gave birth to the little bag of giggles and insanity. But she had been already coded to be a brute heartless warrior. Turning her psyche alone into a weapon that even determined and strong-willed steel clans would have to be vary about. She already had the cells extracted from Mikumi and basically already got what she wanted today. That her supposed new team mate was so salty about the little unannounced support there… hmm well she could probably relate to getting ones pride a bit insulted there. She often didn't really think things through that far or didn't care or… was just amused at the concept of have a flying head charging at someone. She still giggled. What a wonderful technique this could become if refined…

"Hhmm fair and I actually did think of a different career at some point. What do you think? Wouldn't I be an absolutely fantastic animal tamer? Or maybe keep things simple… how about a butcher?" she would irritatingly laugh at herself in an almost hysterical way. Kaida would have still had her back turned to the snake, inviting for that melee attack that would never happen. Instead she pulled out four senbon and instantly tossed them at her opponent. Aiming specifically for the tendons on neck, throat and back. If any of the four, if not all of them would hit. They would be placed into muscle on locations that Kaida probably couldn't reach with her own arms and starting to impair certain muscle movement. Orochiyaru had not yet revealed that her actual, primary skill was medical ninjutsu. As a specialist in medicine she knew the body of her target better than they knew themselves. All the bad and weak spots that a frail human has. She would wonder how many senbon would hit the target. Wonder if Kaida was going into offensive against Orochi after the failed taunt. Orochi was still triggered however. Feeling the tunnel vision creeping up on her back as she stares at her opponent.


720 / 4520

185 / 250:

"You're not learning! You're not learning!" Benjiro cheered, laughing maniacally as he threw shuriken after shuriken at a young Kaida. She was nine, in her family home. He was a wandering nin from Kirigakure. The ninja who came out of that place made the little girl believe that it was a smoking pit of demons, constantly churning out one new killing machine and the next. Kirigakure ninja were always willing to pay the best money for the best weapons, though they often claimed that everything paled in comparison to the legendary blades of their homeland.

Kaida's mother had paid this one to teach Kaida the art of shuriken but left the nature of the lessons up to the Kiri-nin to determine. "As long as she learns the important bits," her mother had said. Benjiro seemed to think that the most important bits with the sharp ones. Kaida had been trying to dodge them for several minutes, failing and flailing as tiny weapon after tiny weapon cut a little slice through her skin. It wasn't until she was bloody and her body burned that the answer occurred to her.

* * *

With her focus centered on Yaru, Kaida had plenty of time to recognize the senbon, but not quite enough to dodge them. She hadn't planned on dodging at all, but it had suddenly become very important. She had to make a snap judgment and act on it, so she let her body do what came naturally to it: she ducked as if to dodge underneath the metal pins, and lurched toward the snake girl with all her might, turning her body to facilitate a dash. Three of the four senbon struck her, though only one of them was in quite in the place it had been aimed at. Still, having needles in the flesh at all was inconvenient and painful, to say the least. Something in her right arm wasn't moving correctly. She could hurt herself if she used that arm. If she could spare a moment to focus on it, she might have been able to figure out how to fix it, but the young kunoichi was certain she couldn't. She focused on the target, instead. Until it was taken down, she was in danger and considering that the snake girl had a screw or two loose, Kaida didn't put it past her to keep their fight nonlethal.

She sprinted for her opponent, making no motion as if to hesitate before contact, but her feet were ready to shift directions and chase the other girl if she were fast enough to avoid Kaida's initial tackle. If she made contact, great. If she didn't, it wasn't difficult to make an attempt to grab or trip the other girl. If she could get a hand on her or a leg wrapped around her, it was good enough for Kaida. Steel flowed from her arm and up her face, concentrating onto her forehead, splitting its mass between there and her right hand. If she could just get close enough, this fight would be over.

She giggled. And then she laughed, really starting to enjoy herself. It didn't matter where. All she had to do was touch Orochiyaru, and she could issue forth pure, flowing steel from her body to bind the two of them together. And then she would be free to beat on the other girl to her heart's content.

581

Yaru would take notice of her attack seemingly hitting its intended target. However, Kaida's movement altered the effect. The important, chakra infused senbon was still stuck in Kaida's flesh though which was good. Yaru would need it later on. For now, she had to cause as many surface wounds as possible while avoiding to be hit. Yaru wasn't necessarily weak but she disliked it to be actually hit for real. It often put her off her mood. After all she wasn't taking any of this serious. She could be described as nihilistic in that aspect. But the question is. As a four-year-old soul in an eighteen-year-old, ripe and almost adult body. Was it just a normal process? Would anyone become so apathetic about live if they potentially discovered to be some sort of odd lab experiment of their weird ass Clan? Would they feel vengeful? For being made a monstrosity? Or would they be thankful to be given life, existence and eventually a chance to find a meaning in it as well? Orochiyaru had none of the answers for either of these questions. On the line between being thankful to exist and vengeful to be but man-made creation and inhuman to begin with. She could probably choose to either support and raise her clan to the heights of creation? Or just completely wipe it from this plane's existence. For now, the Orochi Clan served its purpose for her. It was her mother, father, siblings. Despite having none of those for real, she had plenty of fake ones that would care for her.

She had money, luxury and all the things she could ever ask for, spoiled rotten, all simply for the sake of being alive and allowing those freaks to study her. So far, it suits her quite nicely. They were useful to her. Her personality might be anti-social. Psychopathic. Seemingly destructive. Evil. Selfish and many other bad words. But in the end. It might all just be what was necessary for her to exist in a somewhat sane and happy way? To actually abandon sanity. To actually just give into the darkness haunting her. To become the monster that they created. To fully embrace the nature of her godless existence and turn into something of absolute value and power. That was, what Orochiyaru was basically made of. But to explain it to such a simple-minded warrior like steel-gal. Probably wouldn't do any good, she'd guess. Yaru would keep her distance for now. Whenever Kaida started to approach her. Yaru would move backwards. A seemingly stoic motion would become between them. Both of them probably able to move at around the same speed. Neither of them really gaining an advantage. But that was fine for Yaru. Her personal advantage was to stay in range and make sure Kaida wouldn't manage to catch up. She needed to be wary of her using burst speed. If Kaida did, then so would Orochi, despite the tiring after effects of burst, she would do anything for now to stay at range.

While keeping distance. Yaru had however, the freedom to use projectiles still. While more difficult to aim as she had to run and move away from her opponent, it'd mean Kaida had to choose, either defend against the projectiles and potentially lose speed and distance gained, or tank the attacks and receive damage. Since the senbon seemed to have quite the well-tuned affect so far. Yaru would turn around for one second, halting shortly, tossing her six remaining senbon for Kaida's legs. Then turn around and resume moving away and fleeing from potential melee engagement. The Senbon were aimed at Kaida's inner leg muscles. Yaru shot 3 from each hand, aimed 3 at each leg. One on each side would try to hit ankle tendon, knee tendon and last but not least thigh tendon. Hitting either of those on either side could potentially impair or reduce Kaida's movement speed and give Yaru the upper hand at keeping her distance to her opponent. However, Yaru was pretty low on defense's herself. If Kaida would suddenly start to use projectiles on her own. Yaru wold have quite the hard time defending against those. She had to count on Kaida trying to remain and engage solely for melee combat. However, if Kaida was to really reach Yaru any time soon, or even hit her. It would probably mean game over for the snake. Disliking such an idea a lot. She kept her legs going at full speed.


770 / 5290

185 / 250:

Their feet formed a rhythm against the ground. The sounds of real combat, real fear, and real aggression started to come through in the music they made. Kaida could feel the impetus and the bloodlust flowing between them. Each wanted dearly to see the other fall, and that was the way she liked it. Keeping them on the run, back against the wall, scrabbling in terror to get away from her.

Every time Kaida moved for Yaru, the snake girl fled. Though Yaru's expression still read ecstasy, Kaida knew why she ran. She was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to her when the fighter caught up to the trickster. A breadth of distance formed between them, neither of them gaining ground on the other. One half of the rhythm stopped, and Yaru threw more senbon at her pursuer. Kaida juked right; three senbon meant for her right leg struck her left leg, lining up the inside of her leg, pinned to her bones.

Orochiyaru wanted crazy? Kaida had seen crazy. She could give her crazy. She laughed again, letting the pain fuel her glee. The kunoichi stopped suddenly and dropped to one knee, quickly plucking the needles out of her flesh, pulling them from bone or muscle with equal ease. A sadistic grin flashed across her face. "More," she pleaded the snake woman. "Give me more!" She dragged one of the needles across her tongue with one hand, tasting her own blood. She ran her left hand up her body and across one breast as her face flushed and she started really get into the mood. She bit her lip, gazing at the other girl with a want.

She was tired of running. She wanted to get to the good parts. But in a fight, tired didn't matter. Not until you drop. So she went on, and despite the pain her leg, surged forward off it, dashing at Yaru with all the speed she could muster. Kaida knew she wouldn't catch her, but if the snake girl were consistent at all, she would run now. To keep the distance, her saving grace, between them. The next time Yaru would change directions, though, Kaida was ready to limit her options.

Kaida wasn't trained or educated in medical ninjutsu, but she was still a genin. She had seen charts and maps of the body, and she knew where to hit someone to cause some pain and affect their mobility.

Channeling a katon charge into her left hand, she prepared a surprise for her opponent. Not even registering as a technique to her, but just an unrefined blast of soot and flame, the natural result of discharging katon from her body. She wasn't worried about its temperature or its density, as long as it looked frightening. The next time Orochiyaru dodged, Kaida would release the blast, and when Yaru stopped to switch directions, throw two of the snake woman's own senbon at the foot she stopped on.

Even if she hit, even if her plan worked at all, it wouldn't be enough to stop Yaru. At this point, they were both monsters to each other. That much was true. Orochiyaru was a snake. But Horikita Kaida? She was a dragon.

545/4,774

200/250:

Yaru's eyes widened as Kaida showed off her own batch of crazy. Licking the blood stained senbon that hurt her muscles? Interesting. She wasn't that bland and 'normal' as Yaru had depicted. Showing off her berserker mode, her battle crazy. It seemed clear as the day to Orochi that this person she was facing was relishing in ecstatic joy over the growing bloodlust within her. Maybe she wasn't as boring and tasteless as previously expected. Yaru could see her bleed and moving despite it. Pushing her powers to the edge of possible. Impressing the charmer of snakes. Yaru would pull a kunai forth. Any repelled senbon that Kaida picked up could be deflected due to the low number of them. Yaru preferred it to avoid projectiles than tank them. Despite being able to rejuvenate her shell after damage. But there was still plenty of time to reveal what absurdness she was capable of. Most of her snake techniques were still to be properly trained, failing to cast them correctly might be fatal right now. She would leave them up to the moment things would get really critical. For now, as long as the berserker lady didn't catch up with her. Yaru had the upper hand, she had plenty of projectiles to work with. Continuously seeking for openings in her opponents' movements. Kaida was still untrained in deeper combat. Her body showed a lot of vulnerable spots but then again, Orochiyaru wasn't trained enough to always hit the perfect spots either.

She would follow Kaida's movements with her eyes. As Kai tried to get some fire going, Yaru expected something nasty but then again, the chakra melded into it seemed miniscule. Orochi Clan were almost immune to fire, basically immune to lower ranked katon. Yaru could have probably just watched how the fire would surround her skin and not even leave a scratch. But she saw an opportunity in the incoming attack and wanted to use it for her advantage. As the fire was incoming for her skin, she exhaled a little gush of suiton from her lips. Letting the two elements collide and shortly cause a thick, misty gush of puffing water vapor to appear. Obscuring the vision of Kaida and potentially distracting her just long enough for Yaru to create five bunshin based clones of her own. She made sure that they were all formed in a line of sight behind and before her. Hence for Kaida it'd look like suddenly five additional orochi's would step out of one body. Since Yaru's real body moved as well it'd be extremely difficult to determine which one was the real one for now. Having fooled Kaida or not. One of the bunshin would directly move to 'attack' Kaida in means to distract her. She'd sacrifice herself in order to buy a second of time while Yaru and the remaining four clones would all split up into different directions forcing Kaida to think about which one she wanted to chase or how she's going to lower the numbers of clones quickly.

Yaru used to do this kind of mind tricks when sparing with her younger 'brother' Yachi. She was adopted by their Hebi-branch family after her creation. They were to be intended as her servants but while Yaru enjoyed comfort and servitude she enjoyed their company enough to see them as equals to her. Or at least she did so for Yachi. Orochi would smile at the fond memories of playing with her step brother. She'd now get to use the techniques she trained in sparing with him. The clones and Yaru herself would all laugh a crazy but joyful giggle. Either of them sometimes turning their heads to gaze back at Kaida potentially chasing them down. The basic goal was for Yaru to get enough distance so she could replenish her earth born attacks and then go back into the offensive and give her opponent a proper lash-down on chakra poured into their face. But Yaru could tell that her sparing 'partners' steel was about to replenish as well. Either of the elements colliding would potentially be a spectacle not in favour of Yaru. Considering that Kaida's element was without question the strongest defense in existence, she would have to be smart about it. Maybe she could pull her back underground and leave her there this time? That would be mean… she didn't forgive her for doing it the first time. Would probably be a very bad idea to try it a second time.


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Nothing, again. This wasn't working. No matter what Kaida did, planned or substituted, it seemed as though Orochiyaru had her outclassed, outsmarted and outplayed. How the snake girl had managed to be so far superior to the horned girl, she could only guess. She had trained extensively in fighting nin, and found that everyone eventually had a weakness. Close quarters combat, ranged combat, misdirection, attrition, subversion or manipulation. Until now. Yaru had no such weakness. Kaida pursued, Yaru evaded. Kaida attacked, Yaru dodged. Kaida charged, Yaru dodged again. Kaida threw senbon, Yaru effortlessly deflected them. When she used chakra, her opponent turned it against her. And the whole time, despite her best efforts to dodge and deflect her opponent's attacks, most of them were still getting through. Her breath was hot and ragged. Her limbs and injuries burned, and she had gained zero ground since they started. How could Kaida be so weak? It was almost as though she were fighting a genjutsu.

As her opponent began to set up her defenses again and split herself into multiple copies, Kaida's anger began to subside as her problem-solving skills took over. Kaida withdrew from the obscuring mist and considered her options. Perhaps she was going about this the wrong way. She knew that Yaru was angry. Anger should have impaired her judgment, but that kind of emotional manipulation was also pointless in this encounter. She thought about the katana on her back. A powerful weapon forged by the Kongo clan for the clan's own warriors to wield in times of war. She hadn't even attempted to draw it, yet. She knew better, but perhaps Orochiyaru didn't. Or, maybe the snake girl's real advantage was precognition. Kaida tried to think back to the nameless nin. To think of what he told her to do when she was presented with an opponent who was superior in every way.

Some manner of clone attacked Kaida out of the mist. It couldn't possibly be the real Yaru; she would never come at the horned girl head-on long that. The clone punched for Kaida-- she punched for the clone's fist. When the two collided, the clone vanished, but its effect was clear. The others, including the real Yaru, had run in other directions to confuse her opponent's true location.

What a smart ninja does, when presented with an obviously superior force, is use guerrilla tactics to effect a fighting retreat. No good, that wouldn't work either. Orochiyaru now had her surrounded on every side. There was nowhere to retreat to, and no way to fight. She had seen at least some of her opponent's tactics, though. Orochiyaru used primarily indirect maneuvers, with the possible exception of the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique.

Switching gears, Kaida went on the defensive. She started by storing two of the remaining four remaining senbon in her possession in her pack, wielded a senbon in each hand, and then prepared a charge of koton within her body to sheath herself in her Running Rigid Raiments again, but held off on expending that charge for now. Though her raiments did not slow her down, there was a lengthy amount of time she had to wait between uses, so she would wait until Yaru's next serious attack to make use of her technique again. Whatever came for her next, she could react to it at that time. In the meantime, she stayed mobile, moving herself toward the forest, and keeping herself ready in case any hands should erupt from beneath her. If that happened, Kaida would be ready to skewer those hands on the senbon in hers.

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Yaru was still greatly enjoying her. Her enemy seemed to have properly been lured into the observation of being weaker than her. Which of course wasn't true at all. If anything, Yaru was the physically weakling. But Orochi was a smart snake. A trickster. One to make sure that her enemy would fall exactly into the emotional frustrations and imbalances that she wished them for. Despite feeling a bit exhausted already, Yaru watched the next stage unfold and to her own surprise, Kaida didn't follow anymore. Was she that perplexed by the use of the clone technique? Or did she simply get tired of following the snake charmer around and getting nothing done? Anyhow, a change in pace would be bad for Yaru, cause the whole chasing part had been very positive and beneficial to her tactics. Slowly damaging and injuring her opponent while retaining no damage to herself. Causing a makeshift superiority in the observation of the fight. Morally destabilizing the opponent. Psychologically intimidating her and making her believe that Yaru is some sort of hyper powerful Genin that doesn't seem to have any weaknesses at all. Yaru chuckled. But only shortly. The game was over. A new one just started. She chuckled sending her clones into the offensive instead. All of the remaining ones, including Yaru herself would move towards Kaida, from different angles. Each of them faking the hand seals. However, Yaru didn't stop at one set of hand seals but made two instead. Combining two techniques to turn into a majorly more powerful version.

First the chakra would raise the earth once again not unlike Mikumi had experienced it just a few minutes ago and while it started to move Kaida backwards, Yaru would gush a water gunshot in her direction. Eventually it would hit Kaida in the face if she didn't somehow counter it. Even if she countered it. The pressure caused by the gunshot including the heavy drift backwards caused by the moving earth would most likely toss her so quickly backwards that she would thud against the wall of a nearby building or tree. Probably hurting her back in the process. At least that's how Orochiyaru imagined all of it would play out. Soon the two of them would clash with their final might and showing which of their powers was superior or not. If Kaida would fall. Yaru would toss a chakra string to sling around Kaida's left foot and pull on it to keep her on the ground or make her tumble again. If she somehow defended the tossing motions of the incoming techniques, Yaru would refrain from toying with chakra strings. Potentially using one like a whip to give a flying spank to Kaida sounded like a fun idea to snek. She enjoyed teasing her opponent, having already annoyed her past the point of where it is ok she basically had nothing left to lose about toying a bit with her. But the battle would most likely soon turn its tide against Yaru.

In the meantime. At the Hebi mansion near the Orochi compound Hebiyachi would prepare himself and one of the bigger pet snakes to go out on a walk. He would be dressed in a complete set of butler clothing and make his way to the streets of Konoha. His aim was to find his step-sister whom had not come home after her shift at the ramen store. Despite her being a free entity. The Hebi Clan was specifically tasked by the Orochi Clan to keep an eye on Yaru and make sure that she doesn't kill anyone by accident. Yachi was reluctant to see Yaru as an experiment unlike most of the snake clan. A monster even. For him it was his baby step sister whom needed protection and not rarely ended up crying in his arms if things didn't go her way. His snake eyes would squeeze together as the genin boy glared into the distance. He was pretty content that he could smell his step sister. Looking down at the large snake accompanying him, giving it a hiss and a nod. Before the two of them would slowly move and slither off into the distance. There was no hurry. They could enjoy the incoming night sky a bit as they would walk. They would catch up and find Orochiyaru eventually. She was supposed to work at the ramen shop and the big snake had echolocated her to be there. So, there was nothing to worry about. At all.

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Kaida needed to calm down. Her opponent was not perfect, just smart. The horned girl hadn't really given the attrition tactic its full run, anyway. That, and this was a spat between teammates (whether she liked it or not) in the middle of the night. Not a duel to the death at the top of Hokage Rock. Even if she managed to catch up to Yaru before her legs gave out, it's not as though she had intended on beating her opponent to a pulp. Just a few good whacks upside the head. Yaru sure was making Kaida earn them, though.

The earth rose up to meet her, and in the worst possible way. This kind of trickery reeked of the snake girl. A river of mud formed beneath Kaida and began carrying her away. Rather than fight it, she kept her focus on keeping her balance and raising her Running Rigid Raiments to prepare for whatever came next. Steel flowed from her skin, sheathing her in her best defense. Then, she turned her attention to the approaching clones. Each of them made the ox hand-seal, as if they were working together to form the earth river. One of the clones changed hand-seals and a veritable jet of water shot out from her, striking Kaida with the force of a firehose. The pressure took her off her feet, and her body struck a tree. Something in her back cracked uncomfortably. It was either the best chiropractic treatment of her life or the worst, but for the adrenaline running through her system, Kaida couldn't tell which. Her skin of steel had taken most of the impact from both the firehose technique and the tree, however.

Rather than drop to the ground, Kaida streamed chakra from her feet, and ran upward into the selfsame tree she had struck just a moment before. Something wasn't right in one of her legs. She chalked it up to the senbon Yaru had attacked with earlier and tried to push past the pain, but the leg wouldn't ascend with her. She looked down, neither rising up nor falling down the tree, and assessed the issue. A chakra string had been looped around her ankle. Ugh, she thought, nearly aloud. This technique. Again. But she wasn't about to stop just because she had been grabbed. Chakra strings went both ways.

Clinging to the tree with both arms and one leg, she hauled herself up, possibly taking Yaru with her, if she didn't let go of that string. Either way, Kaida was going up, and when she reached a branch stable enough to hold her, if that string was still there, she'd reel in her opponent like a fish. If not, she'd be free to move, jumping from one branch to the next to make space between herself and her opponent. The clones were still out there, and somewhere nearby, there had to be Yaru, too. Her plan was to give attrition its full run. If a clone came close to her, she'd try to grapple with it and give it a strong right hook or something like that. Who knew? If she got lucky, the clone she grabbed might not be a clone at all.

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Yaru knew that the tides had turned a bit, but this fight was not yet over. Still Kaida was the one taking continuous damage while Yaru remained unharmed. The snake herself was pretty confident to win this match in her favour. But Kaida's relentless endurance and her steel clad armor made sure that she kept fighting anyway. Remarkable. It didn't come by often that Yaru was impressed. Even from stronger shinobi with higher ranks she sorts of 'expected' them to be good for a certain level. For Kaida to be this enduring despite her seemingly fresh-off-the-academy feeling. Yaru would give her props for that. But Kaida went into defense, leaving Yaru to pick a new tactic. She chuckled and quickly formed the hand-seals to make her reflection clone rise once again from her own body, Yaru's very own skin cells creating the abomination of flesh. Since Kaida retreated and Yaru casually dropped her own grip on the chakra string, Yaru could use the retreat of her opponent to her advantage. Now whenever she attacked, Kaida would have no clue if it were to be one of Yaru's clones or not. So in order to psychologically fight her opponent once again, Yaru went with another trickery in tactics. First she would send two of her remaining clones to directly approach Kaida. Fists forward, either of them acting as if the were going to punch Kaida hard in the gut. Kaida would certainly find no problems dealing with either of them. But the third one to attack was different.

The third Yaru to go for Kaida's belly was a reflection clone. Massively faster and stronger than even Yaru herself. With D-3 speed and strength the hits could actually do physical dents into Kaida's steel armor. The clone itself would be able to swallow a full C-Rank damage and would not give into simple hits from Kaida's palm. The clone would keep continuously attacking Kaida and if she didn't find a way to fend her off for more than five hits, Kaida's armor would break and the clone would hit her straight into the guts with a good D-3 Strength. Yaru was meanwhile preparing herself for Kaida's armor to finally give in. She wanted to give Kaida the mercy blow that would eventually end this fight in Yaru's victory. At least she hoped so. The insane endurance of her opponent kept continuously reminding her that Kaida wasn't the type of sparing partner that would that easily fall and take a defeat. Yaru started to bite nervously on her own lip. But remained in distance and also remained well hidden behind a few trees. Going into fully blown close combat herself. She only did that sort of thing when she tended to be clearly able to win this. Whenever she could avoid being put in harms way she'd prefer to make her trickery work for her and remain at distance. Well able to defend herself at range and disappear into the ground below if needed.

Meanwhile Yachi was casually walking through the streets. Yaru's snake-brother eventually arrived at the ramen shop and would greet the old owner with a smile. The chef would give away a rather creepy glare to the huge snake that was following Yachi. But he would rapidly recognize the Hebi Clan symbol on Yachi's clothing. "Greetings old man, have you seen my sister somewhere around? I ought she did come here to work for you today?" Yachi gave away a rather creepy smile. The old man nodded. "She was here not long ago with a few of her friends… a young child… a senju and a rather feisty steel user." He would nod. "They went off a bit for training I think. Not sure where they are not. I heard them make quite a ruckus though!" he almost complained there for a second. Yachi smiled brightly, so wide that his creepy smile almost made him look less human than before. He would politely thank the old man and signal for his snake to come along. The snake hissing a few times at the ramen shop owner. Leaving the poor old guy with quite a layer of sweat on his forehead. "Fricking snake clan, creepy all the time…" he would murmur to himself until Yachi turned around despite at quite a distance, smiling at the chef whom instantly realized that he had heard him. Quickly closing the lid on his shop. "Now now, don't be angry Gorgon, lets go find sister." Yachi would smile and pet the warrior snake, then move on to look for sister Yaru.

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The trick was to stay moving. Leaping down from the branches, Kaida landed on a large stone, filled it with her chakra and leaped back up into the trees. When she dropped near the ground, the forest gave her a less busy view of her surroundings. Rather than branches and leaves obscuring her sight in every direction, she was able to spot two clones coming straight for her. That was good, in a way. Most clones had a limited range, meaning that her true opponent also had to be nearby. Still on the run from one branch to the next, Kaida decided it was time to ferret her enemy out. She changed directions, keeping an eye on the clones as they followed her and stayed out of their reach in the same way that Ororchiyaru had stayed out of hers, while also keeping the stone she'd put chakra into within about fifty feet of herself.

Or at least, that's how it was supposed to go. Somewhere mid-leap from one branch to another, a new clone appeared on Kaida's right, moving much faster than any clone ought to have the right to. It occurred to her then, that this was no clone, but Orochiyaru herself, finally taking the bait and coming for her directly. Her opponent maneuvered into position and threw a punch at Kaida's gut; she had no time to block or redirect the attack, but her armor took the blow in her stead. The power, though! Her foot slipped when the blow struck, and since she was going down either way, Kaida jumped down to the forest floor to stop herself from falling. Whatever Orochiyaru had done to herself to improve her strength like that--

Kaida didn't have time to finish that thought before Orochiyaru was already on her again. She kept the pressure on, moving with a quickness that the horned girl was completely unprepared for. She took another blow on her armor, and it threw her back several feet with the impact. Grimacing, she recounted her injuries and took stock of the situation. She could attack with the kind of destructive force necessary to stop her attacker, but without medical attention nearby, it would be irresponsible to use that weapon. Her opponent might not have cared about those kinds of considerations one way or the other, but Kaida wasn't about to take a real chunk out of her teammate over a disagreement of this size. She'd have to hold herself back and use Yaru's sudden predisposition to close quarters combat to her advantage.

Using the time and space between them, Kaida retrieved five shuriken from her pack with her right hand and a pair of kunai with her left hand and waited for her opponent to close again. Once she committed to that attack, Kaida would have to bank on the idea that though her strength and speed had been so massively increased, she would still dodge and react at the same speed. She would loose her kunai, aiming to injure her opponent's legs or feet. Of course, she was prepared for her opponent to dodge those. She would aim the kunai in such a way that there was plenty of space for her opponent to dodge left, directly into the path of her five-shuriken volley.

On the other hand, if Yaru switched tactics again and kept her distance, Kaida would only have to maintain her plan and stay moving, keeping her sightline to the stone open and her range to it close enough to make the switch in the event of an emergency.

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Yaru watched closely how Kaida escaped from her clones. Moving in the shadows of the trees to keep up with him but staying at distance. Eventually getting tired of the cat and mouse game and using her clones massive speed advantage to engage Kaida. Punches would be rained down upon the girls armor. It was unbelievable what that steel user could tank. Escaping the clones clutches again. Even tossing projectiles its way. Yaru could see how the clone evaded to the side but many shiruken were already incoming for her in her escape path. Not bad of a plan ahead from the supposedly rather simple minded steel girl. Yaru glared past the trees. The clone was still incoming for Kaida. Soon the speed would catch up. Punching Kaida hard in the armor again many times. Until the final kick would hit Kaida in the stomach and throw her back hard against the next best tree behind her. However, the shuriken were still stuck in the clone's body. And Kaida's struggles during melee had pushed some of them deeper into the clone's skin. The reflection technique received too much damage like that. Puffing into thin air just before the clone seemingly could deliver the 'final blow' to take that monster of an enduring beast out for good. Yaru was getting impatient. Giddy. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to end it. With a leap of frustration, she used the kawarimi jutsu on the senbon that was still stuck in Kaida's body.

Suddenly, out of nothing Yaru. The real one. Would appear right above Kaida. Using the supernatural walking technique, she put her legs to the tree. Her palms incoming for Kaida. Punching away down at her frame. Moving from the tree into direct offensive combat. It was about to end. Kaida would go down any minute now!

Meanwhile. Hebiyachi scratched himself on his heavily tattooed skin. Gorgon was idly slithering into the woods. Having a very specific idea where to go. Yachi wasn't sure if snakes could smell their masters like dogs or whatever. But Gorgon seemed to know the way. He would follow the rather large snake and watch it continuously snatch some snacks with insects and even a tiny bird on the way. Yachi didn't seem to mind. A big snake got to eat. Even better if it was free food from the woods. Then there was less mice they had to buy to feed them with. Yachi eventually reached the part where he could see Yaru and Kaida fighting. Yaru punching down on the steel-clad warrior. Seemingly having rather great troubles defeating her opponent. Yachi stayed back for a minute to watch this. Seemingly humoured by the view of his sister having big troubles like that. Chuckling to himself as he caressed Gorgon's scales. "Now look at that. Big, almighty Orochiyaru having troubles dealing with a simple shinobi. Serves her right. Got to get her from her high up horse once in a while, right Gorgon?" Yachi laughed. Gorgon just stoically hissed back at him. Enjoying his food filled belly instead.

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Already in the most defense-oriented position she knew, Kaida's arms worked fast and hard to deflect and parry her opponent's attacks without taking them on directly, if it could be helped. She had only the avoidance of serious damage to focus on, and it was strangely freeing. Without needing to commit to an attack against her teammate, it was like an entire portion of the fight just didn't exist anymore. She could strike at her leisure, pushing the shuriken that had already scored on her opponent's flesh even further in, twisting their knife-like blades whenever a golden opportunity presented itself.

Not that it helped that much. Despite her single-minded focus on evading further damage, Orochiyaru still managed to rain down terrible pain onto Kaida's already-injured body. She hammered into the steel carapace twice more, taking shots at what would otherwise have been the horned girl's soft sides. Finally, she delivered a powerful blow that threw Kaida against a nearby tree, shattering the steel armor on her body as her back slammed up against the trunk. And then vanished, poofing into thin air like a...

Kaida set her jaw and set herself into her defensive position again just as another Orochiyaru appeared above her. This one stood on the tree and committed to an all-out attack at Kaida's head. Glancing skyward, she saw the signs of desperation on her opponent's face and smiled.

Finally.

Slipping into a more aggressive stance, she vanished, replaced immediately by the large stone just a few feet away. Probably not the best thing for Orochiyaru's poor wrist bones. Kaida leaped into the air and brought her fists down like a hammer, aiming for the snake girl's side and kidney with all the strength she could muster, catching her between the rock and Kaida's attack. Even the tearing of her injured muscles didn't matter. If she could land but only a single blow on the object of her anger, she could be satisfied.

But that was it. If there were any climax or struggle of wills to be had after this point, it wasn't for Kaida. Her body had had enough. Whether she wanted to or not, she would slump into a pile of herself, panting hard through clenched teeth. The adrenaline would begin to wear off and the real pain would rush in. Her pupils contracting sharply... the forest spinning. She coughed into her hands. Blood spatter. "You should just keep the job you have," she told the snake girl, her voice not quite as bitter as it could be. She didn't look up to check her opponent's condition. "Better to stick with your strengths."

She would try to throw herself back against the tree, still breathing hard. Whether she made it or not was up to fate. "I'm done by the way. I'm not moving from this spot until the bleeding stops."

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And the battle was over.

Yaru found herself struck by the leg after retracting her blow against the stone replacement. She could avoid hurting her wrists but the kick that came for her mid-section. She couldn't avoid that. With her full exhaled power, Kaida her hit the snake right where it hurts before collapsing, rolling back and eventually finding herself completely… sucked dry of power. Yaru gazed away in disbelief as the pain slowly creeped up her back. Falling down to her knees as she had not felt anything alike this in months. Hebiyachi was gazing through the trees at his sister. "Did she just get hit?" he asked Gorgon as his jaw dropped. Seeing his sister kneeling there on the ground, watching her take in the pain that arched through her. "Oh boy." He said to himself as he started to make his way towards them. Before he even came close he could hear it. A loud, heart breaking gasp of pain exhaling itself from Yaru's lips. The supposedly immortal and untouchable girl starting to cry and sob like a baby as she held her side and tugged on her hip as if she was trying to make the pain go away. Hebiyachi would step past the veil of the trees. His appearance must be seemingly unusual to Kaida. The large white snake next to him even more so. Yachi winked at Kaida with a pained smile and went to Yaru. "Yadda Yadda, don't act like a baby now."

Hebiyachi smacked his fist down on Yaru's forehead. Helping her get up and gently hugging his sister before placing a kiss on her cheek. "You know you are a doctor. You can just…" he spoke, reminding Yaru that she indeed was a doctor. With a simple push of her palm to her side, the anaesthetic chakra was placed to her hip and side and the pain slowly faded. She snorted up some last tears and then just wanted to move along. "Now wait up you stuck up snake. Show some respect." Yachi exhaled rather demanding. Yaru froze up and gnarled to herself unhappily. Kaida was almost passed out gone. With a single strike of Yaru to Kaida's neck, the senbon in the steel warriors' body would be pushed out of her. Yaru obviously didn't mind being a bit rough there but alas the effect was worth the little thud. Followed soon by healing hands that were roaming over Kaida's wounds.

The steel user would probably be unable to respond much. Only catching glimpses of Yaru's face while the green glowing healing chakra would roam over her body. All and any wounds Kaida had received from this battle. By the time she fully opened her eyes. They were gone. The simple red blood spills on her clothes being the last reminders that she really, indeed had bled for this fight.

Yaru and Yachi were gone. Gone home. With an amused Yachi and a rather pride-hurt Yaru that would yet most likely have also learned a lesson or two today. It had been fun. After all.

[EXIT]

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He had been watching them. Kaida realized it as she lolled her head back against the trunk of the tree. Her vision was blurry; her eyes wouldn't focus. Her ears rang; everything sounded tinny and far away. His posture and tone were leisurely, almost friendly, but she couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

He spoke at the snake girl for a few moments, and then it looked like they would leave Kaida laying here in her own blood. Fitting, she supposed. However unwillingly, Kaida closed her eyes. When they opened again, the snake girl kneeled in front of her erstwhile adversary. Kaida could feel her muscles readjusting; the flesh swiftly knitting back together. It wasn't what she would call a good feeling, but she was familiar with medical ninjutsu. Or at least, being on the receiving end of it. Her eyes closed again.

It was one of the few interactions she had with her absentee father. Her mother had Kaida "training" against Konatsu, one of the wandering nin that the family did its business with. As far as Kaida understood it, this woman couldn't pay for the weapons she claimed she needed. Ichika had found a suitable replacement for Ryo in the form of shinobi training for her budding head-of-household replacement.

The outcome was naturally savage. Resentful at being detained by the Horikita for two weeks to pay off her debt, she ran Kaida ragged. Up before the Sun each morning, in bed well after dark, and the only meals she could take were the ones she could claim for herself from the unforgiving desert. Every day, Konatsu tormented the young girl, chastising and picking at her for being weak, slow and clumsy. It was the final three days of their training when the wandering nin declared that playtime was over.

Kaida spent those next three days running and hiding from the ninja who hunted her. She was relentless and afforded Kaida no opportunity to rest. She was not strong enough to fight back against the superior combatant, she was not fast enough to evade her, and she was not clever enough to hide for long. Each time Konatsu found her, she'd pepper the young girl with senbon, shuriken and powdered glass. On the dawn of the fourth day, Konatsu delivered the Horikita's daughter home. She was beaten, exhausted and bloodied. Her hands curled inward from the pain, and she could not move herself. Konatsu dropped her unceremoniously on the threshold of the family home and then left.

It was Itsuki who found her laying on the paving stones. Kaida drifted out of consciousness. When she awoke, she found herself laying on a bedroll. Someone kneeled over her, washing her wounds and applying medical ninjutsu. The sensation was strange. Not a nice one, but not the worst, either. Mostly, the healing made her tired.

Kaida heard her parents fighting in the next room over. Her mother, Ichika, was upset. She shouted at Kaida's father, calling him stupid and some other unsavory things. "She'll never learn to fend for herself," she remembered her mother hissing through clenched teeth. "She was nearly dead," Itsuki countered calmly. What her mother said after that, Kaida didn't catch.

Her eyes opened again. Orochiyaru and her newcomer friend were leaving. She'd be able to move in the morning, but it would hurt like hell. If she made it that long. She had lured Yaru into the forest to take advantage of its terrain features, but in her single-minded haste, she hadn't taken into account what she would do if she couldn't move after the fight. She would likely be safe through the night, but many natural scavengers made their rounds in the early mornings.

* * *

From her fitful, nightmare-filled sleep, the light of the early morning Sun woke Kaida with a start. She had been right. Everything ached. She was dizzy and nauseous from hunger. She yawned herself awake, body shaking. Glancing around, she took stock of her surroundings, checked for the sword on her back, and found herself pleased that she wasn't dead. Another morning, another opportunity to grow stronger. She gathered herself to her feet, and slowly made her way home.

EXIT

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