A seemingly normal tiled stage, entered by combatants on each side. Walled in on all sides, this venue would appear at first glance to be completely untampered with. After 2 posts pass, or any contestant uses an earth-altering technique or attack, the earth beneath the arena will rumble - the very infrastructure is unstable! At the beginning of this change - on the post after it is triggered - the center 5m of tiles will drop into a pit far below the original floor. On the second round (after both combatants have posted), the gap will advance another 10m; on the third round the chasm will increase in width by a 15m radius. By the end of the fourth round, the entire fighting area of the stadium will be nothing but a pit, and contestants will be forced to use the Supernatural Walking Practice to avoid a fall.

The events of the last match were yet another loss on Yasubei’s resume. Even in these mock fights he still found himself getting embarrassed by, seemingly, every opponent. He’d contained his strength too much in the last fight and was declared the winner for failing to take hold of the tempo. So many times he could have grasped victory in that fight, yet he withheld and found himself unable to claim it in the end. Would this fight be any different? Was the lesson learned? In the time before the matches Yasu had done a lot of intensive research. Much of which could possibly get him labeled as a criminal in places like Kirigakure, the main reason he avoided using them. He had explored in the realms meant to be left untouched by humans. Dancing along the line that separated living and inanimate himself, Yasubei would simply apply the concepts acting on his body to those already departed for the Pure Land. That was the original concept at least.

Yasubei steeled himself to be vicious in this fight. There was little to no harm that he was capable of dealing that he was also incapable of healing. He walked calmly to the waiting area a proctor debriefing him as the genin shook his head when appropriate to acknowledge the proctor’s statements. He wondered about his next opponent and the secret techniques that they may hold. He knew that the world of ninja was vast and full of treacherous surprises. Case in point being the strange stages which the chunin exams took place on. Like the previous exam he participated in this one’s stages had tricky elements that simulated the unpredictable conditions of the real world. In one moment you’d think that you had someone on the ropes and a fraction of a second later an outside source turns an almost guaranteed victory into a total loss.

Knowing little of the traps or hidden mechanisms that were housed in the stage he was about enter, Yasubei was mildly pleased at the straight forward appearance of the battle field and the traditional stadium with stands filled to the last seat. The turn out here was significantly larger than it had been in his last fight. Even the loser's bracket seemed to have a large audience watching its fights. The snowy white hair that extended began to ripple with each step he took. Its majesty bouncing in the air effortlessly as even the lightest of movements seemingly gave his hair life as it slowly ebbed and flowed back and forth as if moved by an undetectable breeze. He gripped his fan with a relatively loose grip making his way forward slowly at a walking pace. When he reached about 30 meters he'd stop in place.

He'd simply hold up the seal of confrontation waiting for his opponent to mirror him as an orange aura grew around him, chakra pooling up to the surface of his skin. He was just as prepared as he was in his previous fight, the three scrolls hidden in his sleeves, kunai pouch at the back of his hip, and tied to his back like a backpack with its own tail was the Little Tiger. The little puppet was mostly secured by its massive furry tail of hair that now extended just short of Yasu's thighs After his opponent mirrored his seal Yasubei would reach back under his cloak revealing bare feet, off-black pants, and a thick opaque chain shirt. He'd grasp the circular center of his fuma shuriken that'd been sheathed at the small of his back beneath his cloak .

Yasu would take his first steps of the actual match as he raised the fuma shuriken just behind him. Slowly his steps would increase into a run as he'd infuse the shuriken with a negligible amount of chakra before he'd throw it at about 15 m/s second. Yasu was waiting for a block or a dodge which would normally lead to the shuriken to become lodged into the ground. This time he was going to close the distance instead of staying mid ranged. The crowd roared to life as the combat began. Them already knowing what to anticipate from the arena and excited to see how the genin would interact with it.

[WC= 691]

Chakra= 235/250:

Stats:

Current Puppet Body:

Items:

Katsumi entered into the arena followed by the proctor, making the typical assumptions about the bout as he rattled on left Katsumi reeling within his own mind. Taking a quick glance down as he slowly walked in among the cheering of outsiders ready to watch him engorge himself in combat for their pleasure. His hands were wrapped in bandages from fingertip all the way up his arms, knowing those bandages continued onto his back and down his stomach. The miracle that medical ninjutsu was saved him the ability to use his body at normal capacity but that didn't stop the feeling that coincided within him. Pulsing throughout him as he faced another match, another chance to lose or succeed but it wasn't pain or a lingering feeling that it would come again. Instead, it was the regret of his naivety that pulsed throughout his body, and like a nauseating sickness, tore through his mind as he focused on breathing calmly and prepared his strategy.

He had analyzed his position well enough, and despite the injuries, he knew that he could out think and out maneuver most of his enemies with ease but he could not, under any circumstances, get caught off guard at the start of the fight again. As Katsumi would take his place in a similar fashion as his opponent, he would get a good luck and take one final deep breath as he affirmed his own abilities within his head. Katsumi would stop when he had traveled about 40 meters inward, leaving an extra 10 meters to the center of the arena and roughly 30 meters from his opponent.

With a pause, Katsumi would take it all in and focus his senses on his opponent who waited patiently for him to make the Seal of Confrontation in return, a gesture skipped in his last match as both he and his opponent charged in. This time though, Katsumi would be ready to make something of this bout and prove himself. His fist clenched tightly as his eyes focused on his opponents and he raised his hand quickly to form the seal in return, with discipline and angst sitting heavy within him. He was ready for the fight finally. His opponent had already made the first move, glowing orange from around his person, Katsumi would immediately shift into a readied stance, setting instantly to the balls of his feet and ready to react as he could. Katsumi would match Yasubei's readiness with his own, having three ninja pouches on his person, the one behind him to the left and behind him carrying an assortment of ninja tools while the pouch on his right side would carry simply clay in it, ready to be used for his own jutsu. On his right thigh would be two pouches for kunai, ready for quick access and on his back as well he would have two windmill shuriken of his own with one having 100 feet of wire and the other having 50 feet of wire tied to it. Beyond that, the Iwagakure forehead protector would be displayed proudly on his forehead as he was dressed in plain clothes, mostly lightweight meant to offer nothing more than a breathable fabric he could move around easily in.

His opponent made the first move, which Katsumi mimiced in turn with a slight delay, reaching to quickly grab his own windmill shuriken as his opponent revealed his own, the shuriken that had 100 feet of wire tied to it. As his opponent would take his first steps, Katsumi would bend into his stance and hold his arm out to begin to spin the shuriken away from his body, letting the blade almost begin to fan the air around him as he held his left hand in front of him in a sort of guarded position. With a familiar throw, Katsumi would instantly push himself off to the right and begin moving perpindicular to Yasubei's original path. Within the first few steps, when Katsumi was sure that the original trajectory of his opponents shuriken would miss and land behind him, he would throw out his own shuriken aimed directly for the center mass of his opponent, trying to keep the wire hidden all the same while holding on to one end of it with his right hand, inconspicuously at his side.

Immediately after releasing his own shuriken, Katsumi would capitalize on a mistake he had left last time in his match, and would weave together a series of handsigns (Monkey, Dog, Tiger, Snake) all using just his single left hand before activating a thin armor of Doton chakra on top of his body. Poised with protection now, and a trick up his sleeve, Katsumi was ready to engage his enemy directly, and would begin to step forward, following in the path of his shuriken as long as it remained on target. Following his first series of moves, Katsumi would take a chunk of clay in his right hand while it held onto the wire and place it in his palm as he would focus in on his quickly closing opponent.

Regardless of his first move, Katsumi's goal would be to surprise his enemy with quick bursts of speed to counter his first move. Striking well beyond the speed that a genin should be able to due to the latent chakra in his body, and using the clay in his hand to deliver a painful strike in counter to whatever his opponent had in mind.


[922 words]

190 or 200/215 Chakra:

When Katsumi stepped onto the stage he had little on him that implied he was armed barring two pouches on either side of his hip. No clear indicatir of preference of left or right handedness. Yasubei couldn’t help but notice the bandages on his hands though. That was natural though, this was the loser’s bracket. The technique was expertly applied meaning one of a few things.

It most likely meant that his arms were injured in his last fight, the one he lost to get here and that he was treated by the on duty staff after his match, the most likely option. This would imply to Yasubei that his opponent wasn’t an iryonin, or at least not a good one, since Katsumi could’ve healed himself since then. Also maybe this might be implicative of a brash nature.

It could’ve been that the ninja was a taijutsu user though, as it wasn’t uncommon for close combat speacialists to bind there limbs to reduce damage to their limbs: bruising, swelling, split skin, and the like. If this ninja was a brawler Yasu would be in for his first close combat fight with a taijutsu specialist this match. He’d get to show of his new combat puppets in all of their glory.

The last option was that something devious lay in wait under those bandages. Even the most novice of puppeteers new all to well the threat of unseen weapons. He’d have to be wary of his opponents hands if that were the case. He wouldn’t know if there was a trap beneath the bandages until the jutsu was used though. They looked like regular, old medical bandages to Yasu he’d try to get a look beneath them if the oppurtunity arose, but for all he knew the bandages themselves could have been catalysts for a jutsu. He really just didn’t have enough information to make a conclusion.

This opponent too reciprocated the seal 30 meters, maybe 35 meters away from Yasubei himself. His focus was good, Yasu could feel weight Katsumi’s gaze. The way it trained on him might have sent chills down his spine, if he could have such sensations. His opponent rocked subtly onto the balls of his feet as the fight began, and the fuma shuriken flew towards. This was doubtlessly a taijutsu stance. It may have been something the ninja was taught in his village’s academy, as a wandering ninjafrom a land that no longer had a proper village Yasubei was unable to tell, but this definitively meant that his opponent had at least a modicum of knowledge of hand to hand self-defense. Katsumi gave Yasubei yet another reason not to hold back.

His fuma shuriken would fly just at a little over 15 m/s, thus closing the distance between the two nin in roughly 2 seconds. An amount of time Yasu acknowledged meant it would be realtively easy for his opponent to dodge though that was fine since it wasn’t his intention to hit with it, though it’d be a nice start to this bout. His opponent didn’t simply dodge though like he’d expected, he seemed familiar with the flight patterns of humble puppeteer’s weapon. Though it wasn’t easy to gauge distances at this range, he watched as the other fighter moved maybe two meters away from the shurikens trajectory. A fuma shuriken of his own whirring to life in his right hand was being prepared, there were very few genin that could effectively use a fuma shuriken. Yasubei could hear it, Katsumi may as well have spoke it to his face. “Don’t underestimate me. I’m not going to lose.”

Katsumi let the fuma shuriken loose, it reached the same speed as The Cicada’s own. This confirming, at least to Yasubei that his opponent was a tai specialist, meaning that there may be no wounds to exploit benaeth those bandages, but ninja were rarely one trick ponies. It’d take the same two seconds for Katsumi’s shuriken to get to Yasubei. Like his own this shuriken seemed to be a distraction as Katsumi initiated a series of hand seals. Yasu saw the other ninja’s hands fold into Monkey, Dog, Tiger, and then he noticed there was something trailing in the shadow of the shuriken that made his eyes dart away from his opponent for a fraction of a second. It was a wire. The ninja he was fighting was tricksy. Aesthetic. Quickly the ends of three scrolls would unfurl from Yasubei’s right sleeve. He missed the last sign, but the ninja was heading for him now following behind the fuma shuriken that was now for sure heading for his center of gravity.

Yasu slammed his fan into the ground, a slight rumble following shortly after. His opponent using his right hand again would reach into his pouch on his right hip pulling something from it and concealing it in his fist.  He’d have to deal with the shuriken first though as it was almost certainly going to get to him first. Yasubei would begin to arch backwards planting his hands firmly on the ground as he lower his center half a foot or so. Once the shuriken was within a meter of him it was well within his domain, his foot would rocket upwards, his chakra infused foot making contact with the shuriken. For the high perception spectators in the audience they watched as Yasu’s foot made contact with the first blade, skidded off, clipped the second, and angled the shuriken upwards. Everyone else would see Yasu kick the shuriken launching it with a slight flash of sparks, and send it upwards. This was not the end of the manuever though as Yasubei’s horned head would snap around over his back as he was flipping, his glorious, albino locks whipping in its wake. A beam of water would jet out his horn, cutting two and a half inches into the stone between him and Katsumi. The path of destruction created by his horn would go to the genin’s right leg slicing upwards through the genin’s left shoulde, slicing the wire attached to the fuma shuriken very purposefully in the process. The fuma shuriken would be launched directly upwards faster than it had closed in on Yasu lodging itself into the stone ceiling some thirty meters up. The genin would land a little more than a meter back from where he’d started still giving him about a second until Katsumi got to him.

As Katsumi crossed the midway point Yasu could see the ground behind the encroaching combatant crumble away into a pit in his wake. The sound of shattering stone undeniable as the massive slabs turned into dust on impact with the ground beneath. Yasu had his own impending impact to focus on though as the other genin closed in. Yasubei would defensively hold his open, left hand out in front of his face his arm imitating half of a boxing stance. Waiting for the first of his opponent’s strikes he sent chakra strings out of his back one to attach to Little Tiger and another two special ones unattached to anything at the moment as he empowered his chakra cloak  so that it would provide a sturdy, potent layer of protection for his body. He would choose not to use his movement so it wouldn’t give any signal that anything had changed. Not knowing the nature of the jutsu his opponent had used earlier.

Once Katsumi closed in though the punch was... explosive. Yasu’s eyes visibly widened as the gunshot like punch rocketed towards him. Definitively not what he expected. The punch he’d hoped to catch soaring past his defending arm into his now hair covered chest, and on contact another explosion. This time it was an actual explosion whatever was in the other nin’s hand bursting sending the hair protecting Yasu’s chest flying, but leaving him unscathed an ready to start his own assault. While he’d be unable to catch the nin’s arm mid-punch, he should be more than close enough to do so by the time Katsumi finished his swing. Yasu would grab firmly onto what he believed to be his opponent’s dominant wrist that had just impacted with his chest with his left hand. Using his right hip as a solid surface he’d slap two off the scrolls and summon two corpses for the chakra strings to attatch to.

---

The Little Tiger came to life a little before Katsumi closed into range. His command was relatively simple. As he came to life he unraveled from his backpack position, still clinging to Yasubei, and he would extend his tail out to grab Katumi’s right leg snaking past the outside of his master’s thigh to do so the was capable of extending at 20 m/s, it was a negligible amount of time for the little puppet to ravel around his opponent’s leg and take hold as Katsumi landed his punch, assuming nothing went wrong of course.

---

“Capture my opponent.” That would be all the first little beetle on a string would hear as it landed on the massive, 25 meter long snake, burrowing its way to its skull it had lead the chakra sting to its destination though and the summoned snake would roar to life though not yet under the parasite’s influence. The once, traitorous snake would lunge at the hopefully grappled target attempting to put the entire creature in its mouth leaving just the hopefully grappled arm out. Its hope was that it could keep the enemy nin in there for the remainder of the match eventually putting him to sleep as it slowly manuevered backwards away from the collapsing floor.

---

“Kill my opponent.” That would be all the second little beetle on a string would hear as it lead the chakra string to the nape of a tall woman in armor. Upon connecting the tall woman would grab a fan that once belonged to her ready to batter Katsumi with a barrage of wind projectiles should he escape the snake. The woman would slowly stay where she was avoidinbthe collapsing floor if necessary, but prioritizing the other nin with her wind blasts.

[WC= 1650/2341]
[TWC= 3263]

170/250 chakra:

Exit Thread TWC=3263