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Naruto Saga » Hi no Kuni » Konohagakure » Round One: Kyuzo, Katsumi vs. Senju, Yokari

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Kirei

Kirei


B-rank
Round One: Kyuzo, Katsumi vs. Senju, Yokari UjMGmQZ

Located at the site of one of Konoha’s newly minted railway depots, this arena takes place atop the hustle and bustle of moving train cars. Tunnels on all sides of the arena allow trains to pass to and fro through the arena at high speeds, with each train only remaining within the battleground for a single posting round before making it necessary to jump to a new train. Chakra barrier configurations prevent contestants from leaving or entering the tunnels designed for the locomotives, and in this arena, touching the ground means disqualification.

POSTING ORDER
1 - Katsumi
2 - Yokari

24 HOUR POST TIMER BEGINS FOR KATSUMI 24 HOURS AFTER THIS POST

Katsumi

Katsumi


D-rank
For a boy who wielded deceit and subterfuge as easily as a ninja wielded a kunai, he certainly wasn't feeling his normal pang of confidence. Standing above the platform looking down on the tracks that crossed over each other, the very idea of fighting his bout across the tops of each moving train. There were 50 meters in radius pointed out in each direction with their arena built roughly in a square shape and 4 set of tracks moving in each of the major four cardinal directions. Katsumi watched during the preparation as a single train flew by at high speed, quicker than he could run on his own and knowing that not only would he lose if he hit the ground, but the chances of taking the impact of a train and giving his life for this would become real too.

A gulp pulled down his throat discretely as he turned to the proctor on his right side, diligently watching directly across to the other side of the small train yard, Katsumi knowing this was where his opponent would begin their bout at. His diligence wasn't very comforting, and as Katsumi reached back and patted the two pouches just behind him to his left side and in the center of his back to feel out the plethora of ninja tools, divided up loosely so he would have some order in the heavy pocket while doing the same with the pouch on his right, filled with his charged, explosive clay. The same for the two kunai holsters tied to his right thigh, and feeling the forehead protector proudly displaying the Iwagakure no Sato symbol. On his back, he would have his two windmill shuriken tied and folded up with the handles just behind his head so they would be easy to grab and pull apart. His breath was regular, as best as he could manage it, taking calm and controlled breathes while he could.

The calls and signals out for the match to begin, several trains began to pass by and the exam was set and timed so there would be a near consistent stream of trains weaving in and out of the tunnels past each other but without any ever really colliding. At least that was the hope, but the idea of setting a train off its tracks and ruining the entire arena of their bout was almost tantalizing, outside the repercussions that would follow suit and the trouble Katsumi would end up in, if not becoming a criminal for damage to their infrastructure. He shook the thought out of his mind, they chose the venue and as much as he hated its restricted and fast-paced environment, he knew that he would just have to deal with it.

The proctor made some statement towards Katsumi that blanked under his current musing, something along the lines of preparing himself for the match start. The proverbial countdown rang out over a makeshift loud speaker as he heard the loud piercing blast of a train's horn underneath him.

3...

2...

1...

A quick siren blasted off and the proctor made a final calling to go almost synchronized with the arrival of a train flying by at high speed, Katsumi eyeballing it out to around 30 meters per second as he gulped and felt his legs begin to move on their own. Bent knees and leaning forward, he jumped onto the box car of the train as it began to move forward. Landing on bent knee and placing his left hand to the cars top while holding his right hand to the top of the clay pouch, ready to pull a small chunk of clay off and knead it to his first jutsu depending on what happened. Katsumi would slowly pulse chakra to his feet and his single hand, holding onto the train as best he could while giving the facade that he was doing his best to keep his balance, hoping that he might trick his enemy just a little to start the fight.

On the opposite side, a similar site would appear as a train began to fly in the same direction, only taking a little under two seconds for the trains to reach the center of the arena and begin to intersect. It would only be a shorter time past that, that Katsumi's bout would begin. Ideas running through his mind as his eyes focused on the incoming train, trying to find what his opponent would be doing and how he would respond.


[758 words]

*All items in locker equipped on Katsumi's person (ninja pouches and shuriken on his back)

210/215 Chakra:

Yokari

Yokari


D-rank
The King of Fire had proven elusive as the horizon, and Yoh found his traversal of his kingdom all the more tedious, even his foray into the surreal lighthouse with Hanbei, only days before, seemed like a distant memory beneath the thoughts which clamored at the edge of reason just to be tucked away. As it was, Yokari found himself locked away in a private room, sequestered from the examination floor where he eagerly awaited the arrival of his bout, seeking the tournament out the moment word of it had reached his ears, as he tried to prove himself to Zhurong and leave the Fire King no choice but to acquiesce to the audience that Yokari so desired. No opportunity would slip through his fingers, and as cracks of light cut through the dim room, revealing to him a roaring stadium surrounding rails and train cars, shinobi with white masks watching with severe gazes, the Senju's excitement could not be contained.

Dressed naturally enough, Yoh would appear before Katsumi opposite his side of the arena, leaving from a chamber identical to the one through which his opponent had entered, grinning ear to ear as palm wrought force against his fist in a show of bravado. Gazing down, the young monk took time to observe the arena in which the two would have their battle; metal railings guiding locomotives to inevitable dismissal at the hands of tunnels dug into the walls of their stadium. Roaring spectators did nothing to dissuade Yokari's mood with trepidation or nervousness, the Senju embracing only the budding rush which boiled beneath his eyes, bright and gleaming with the thrill of merely being here, bearing witness to ancient tradition for the first time. As the two took a moment, the countdown would commence, and before his opponent made any moves, Yoh would break the silence strung between them, teenage audacity slicing through it like a sword. Sun perched high at an angle behind Yokari's back, the words rang out from his gullet as loud as he could project them, hopefully ensuring his foe would perceive them clear as the Fire Country sky.

"I gotta say, I wasn't expecting trains! Whoever you are, let's put on a show they'll never forget!"

Eliciting a thunderous roar from the audience, Yoh's cadence punctuated the siren song of tranquility's end and no sooner had Katsumi made his move to advance, the preacher, too, left his perch and descended onto the train beneath. Yoh's hands, without delay, would begin to form hand seals as the train he rode atop barreled toward the one occupied by his opponent. Both hands working through their own sequences, the Senju would aim to activate his pair of jutsu with a fraction of a second in between. The earth would rumble as the trains' forward most cars neared ten meters of one another, ripping up a basin of coiling soil and rock, manipulated by the sutra of Yoh's chakra, tearing through the steel railings and lifting high beneath the train's right-hand side. The sound of metal groaning and churning, snapping steel and sparks would echo forward as the Senju pooled chakra in his feet to sustain his balance, train car twirling upward and leaving the ground after losing its guidance, now in the hands of Yokari's Earth Flow Basin. Twisting perpendicular to Katsumi's steed, the now airborne locomotive steered by momentum and crumbling earth would find itself vacated by the Senju, who would hop deftly from its roof, readying himself with the work of his second technique concealed still within his palms, the train's momentum sending him toward Katsumi with a burst of speed that coupled it, blindingly fast he would intend to close the gap while unfurling his right arm to launch a trio of hidden seeds while the left would already form the seals necessary for the bold attack's crescendo.

Aimed for the center of Katsumi's chest, only one projectile would seek to impact him in earnest, the others would soar nearly two feet either side of his shoulders. One with the hum of nature surrounding them, the seeds would burst into thickets of slicing roots, erupting into coiled masses of wood and leaves, the edges of which were lined with paper-thin blades that would aim to lash at Katsumi's body, the two seeds either side of him hoping to entrap his biceps with their rapid growth and continue along his back to assist in covering him utterly. Meanwhile, the seed directly in front of him would merely seek to hurl itself in earnest into his center of mass, protrusions snaking to and fro to dig into his torso and neck. The combination of conserved momentum from the train and his own maximum speed propelling the projectiles even faster still, Yokari hoped, would be enough to catch his foe off guard, and indeed he thought the attack's sheer bravado would do its best to aid in this surprise as well. Simultaneous with this release, Yoh's left leg would land within striking distance of Katsumi, his airborne leap amounting to little more than the space between the phases of a heartbeat before his body would already spin, and his right leg would aim to launch into the stomach of his opponent, only a fraction after the burst of flora would ideally obscure him from view, the sheer quickness with which he could cause the plants to grow effortlessly covering the space needed to totally bury Katsumi within half a second, threatening to leave him covered head to toe in violent slashes before the Senju's blow.

The two seeds remaining in his left hand would find themselves equally affected by Yoh's cultivation, circling harmlessly around body, precision Mokuton control allowing the Senju to cover his own body as quickly as he intended to entomb Katsumi, with the seeds' slicing properties facing outward as the wood would form a shell of roots and writhing plant matter. All the while, the airborne train would find its upheaval as ceremonious as Yoh intended, arching downward on its way to crashing along the arena and coiling into a shredded heap of steam and metal.

1013

205/250:

Katsumi

Katsumi


D-rank
Their battle started out quickly, the words he called out and the cheer from the crowd instilled a small pang of annoyance or maybe disillusionment in his opponent and the confidence that carried with that kind of action. While crouched on the rooftop, his hand rummaging through the clay pouch would pull a chunk of it off, kneading it in his hand while his eyes watched carefully towards the other train, only to find his opponent ripping a trench into the ground and bringing the train itself off the rails.

The ridiculous thought in the back of Katsumi's mind was coming to life, and as he watched the train began to twist towards his own train, Katsumi emerged to his feet but staying low to the ground, keeping his body mass low and stepping forward slightly, preparing to charge the clay in his right hand which sat low near his waist with chakra while he could in preparation of his own jutsu. The surge of events left him nearly off guard, as his first up close and personal glance over his opponent, dressed normally enough and in similar appearance to Katsumi (dressed as typically as he could muster) made a quick movement to hop over to his own train. Hand signs weaved, the boy was preparing his attack before he even arrived on the train, Katsumi's forward step was undone as he leaned backwards and tried to take a step back and separate a little more distance between the two while his eyes focused on the actions in front of him.

The throw of his right hand brought Katsumi into a forward step backwards, small objects flung forward at him, maybe a distraction or something more Katsumi's focus was beginning to split between the two and his focus was drawn completely in front of him. The chunk of clay in his hand wasn't formed, his step back to separate distance was just forming as the small objects unfurled mid air, expanding rapidly into a collection of vines and plants, three in total. They drew Katsumi's attention completely as he held his arms forward loosely holding the clay in his hand but keeping his pointer and middle finger extended to try and catch away from the vines.

Catching the focal points of the vines with his hands as he stepped slightly to his left, a partial attempt to dodge but left in the space expanding by the vines, wrapping closely around his body, pulling his arms in towards his chest as he stopped in his tracks. Several incisions carrying across his arms, chest, elbows for sure. As the vines expanded the cuts built around his person, trickles of blood would expand, feeling cuts form on his triceps as he resisted against the vines in that instance and they wrapped fully into his back. The train itself would be past the midpoint of the arena and that meant that he had to act soon anyways. The thickness of the vines left him little choice, he needed to find his chance and wake up and get back into this fight.

With an intent focus, as the vines continued to expand around him and cut further across his body, Katsumi would shift within the vines, taking only a mere moment to awkwardly press his palms forward within the vines and facing forward, keeping his feet planted firmly onto the rooftop of the train due to the Supernatural Walking Practice, Katsumi would grimace as he felt more lacerations on the sides of his hands and his palm. He needed an instant to break through the vines and had to break their grip on him to escape before he would covered completely and totally at the surrender of his opponent.

Having caught the focal points of where the vines were growing in hands, Katsumi would aim to keep his palms centered on them before he would Dismantle them. Forcing chakra intensely through his palms as he had never known, it would be like a sort of vacuum of silence among the sounds of grinding steel before an instant later, the explosion would ring out violently from his hands vacant of the typical smoke and fire associated with it. Instead, a violent shockwave would spring out from his palms, aimed for the focal points of the two ensnaring vines that had taken hold of him or the thickest part of the vines that he could find, he hoped to break them in front of him and free himself by breaking them at the center and disrupting the portion that held the attack together. Even if they were wrapping around him and cutting into him, he would give himself the free room to move forward and escape their their grasp within an instant of breaking the vines themselves.

Beyond that, keeping his hands in front of him, he would also hope to use the shockwave to send his attacker back in the same movement, creating room between them. As Kyo would be launching his kick, spinning at Katsumi to land a kick on him but would be met instead with the shockwave itself, breaking his momentum suddently carrying him away if he landed within the center of the blast wave and creating the distance Katsumi so desperately desired in their fight.

For Katsumi though, he wouldn't worry too much about whether he would effectively push his opponent away and would instead take the chance when the vines were broken to jump away, stepping forward with all the energy in his body and using the latent Bakuton energy built up in his joints to accelerate his initial jump. Against the direction of the train wouldn't let him cover a huge amount of ground but with the burst of speed and his own inner-explosion, he would carry himself through the gap in the expanding vines focal point he would create and free himself to the world again. Finding the lacerations littered across his body and his clothing torn to and fro from where he'd been hit. The air streaming across his face and body would burn and sting at each and every exposed cut. He had already begun to learn from their fight instantly.

First, that his opponent was easily as brash as his words at the beginning had been. He should have known that the instant he shouted out at the beginning of the match that he would be charging in from the get-go, the fact that Katsumi expected a more passive beginning was naive. The second thing he had learned was that he needed to avoid the projectile seeds that he had thrown at him, having aimed to restrain him and end the match early through that technique.

He had to act immediately, coming only a meter or two off the ground and placing most of his distance forward along the trains distance, he would hope to find Yoh whether he was knocked back completely or saved himself from it. Katsumi would keep his Swan ready to throw directly at his opponent. Once leaving his hand, he would instantly form the Rat handseal to let the swan expand in size and take on its proper shape as well. The white creature of clay would flap its wings once before taking off quickly, exploding forward towards Yoh from in front of Katsumi at full speed, intended to explode and force him off his feet, seeing what tricks he has up his sleeve in response.


[1255 words, 2013 words total]

185/215 Chakra:

Yokari

Yokari


D-rank
Without a hitch, even better than the young Senju had expected, the unleashed seeds found the space they so desired, and at Yoh's behest, the thicket came to be in tremendous bursts of layered thorns, vines, roots, and leaves. Yokari watched as his opponent's hands shot forth, gripping at the genesis of his assault and clamping down hard while the young monk landed and pivoted his leg around the circumference of his body. Katsumi, while the Senju spun, would find himself beset upon by Yoh's technique without remorse, vines coiling around his arms nigh-immediately, slicing his fingers to the bones, edges deep enough to eviscerate the contents of his arms and wrists, blood spilling through the narrow gaps in the twisting mass of Mokuton. Unfortunately for Yoh's opponent, the extent of his injuries would not be left there, the vines deftly weaving beneath his arms and across his shoulders, all before the young man's reaction had begun.

Ripping veins and muscle tissue through the delicate flesh of his arms would be enough to put a shinobi out of commission in most circumstances, but the sheer audacity fo gripping the epicenter of thickets which sought to do the same to him had played into Yoh's intended strategy in a way that even he had not expected. By far the worst of his injuries would be sustained on his hands themselves, which would doubtless be reduced to skeletal husks, the flesh was torn away in droves as the thorns and leaves worked to rip his skin from bone and force the exams' proctor guardians to intervene, lest the boy be left for dead. Across Katsumi's shoulders, his hide and muscles would not remain unattended to by Yoh's surprisingly merciless onslaught, coils lashing at his neck and face, digging deep trenches in his cheeks and, not least, embedding themselves into the boy's external carotid artery, causing a wave of blood to unleash itself upon Katsumi's clothes and, if he was not a man of steel, likely eliciting a state of shock and desperation. Even as his hands worked weakly to mold the chakra necessary for his escape, he would find his gut impacted by the Senju's kick, unable to remedy the situation fast enough to circumvent its force adding to the cocktail of sensation assuredly coursing through his weakening body. Shoulders lacerated into flayed heaps of torn meat, cuts winding their way around his back between shoulder blades and his chest as well, it would be unlikely that the Senju's opponent would find the strength to carry on for long, and it would be nothing short of a miracle for him to utilize his arms in any fashion, barring unforeseen medical knowledge, the likes of which Yoh had employed to target arteries and slice through the tendons of his fingers and arms.

Not wasting an ounce of movement, Yoh would not stop, vines shooting from beneath his planted foot to send him hurtling to his left, circling around Katsumi's right-hand side and plowing into the ground beside the train as he would bear witness to Katsumi's gruesome injuries and attempted escape. Weakly forming the hand seals needed to propel his chakra outwards, Yoh's opponent would blast the roots forward, stepping out as vines continued to lash at his back and snake across his torso and stomach, not contingent on the point of their genesis to remain under the Senju's control and continue to thrive. It would be another such pair of roots, as Katsumi placed his first-foot forward, that would close the distance between them. Extending from the vines capturing the Bakuton user's right shoulder, and from Yoh's right hand which he outstretched as his strafe began, the two would embrace, lost lovers gripping hands once again in the midst of war unwilling to let go and becoming one, a thick trunk strung between them to tether the Senju to his opponent and keep them within ten feet of one another.

Meanwhile, a slew of seeds would drop into Yokari's left hand. As the thicket wilted away in front of him, Yoh watched, still strafing atop the canopy pillars beneath his feet, keeping him from the ground, as Katsumi burst forth and left the field. The instant that Yoh found his opponent airborne, he would unleash three of the seeds again, fanned out to intercept the trajectory of his opponent's jump while simultaneously ripping through the air and weaving together into a curved wall of thorns and roots, nearly nine feet in all directions, propelled by the Senju's command of nature to once again ensnare the airborne foe like a net thrust from the barrel of a rifle to trap a wounded animal, tether remaining coiled through it at the command of Yokari's chakra, seamlessly weaving its path around the other roots to allow his trap to stay. Accompanying this would be the release of his second projectiles, chakra infused into a single seed which would find itself dismissed at the end of his arm's arc, hurtling to the left where it would embed itself in the hull of the crashing train car, unceremoniously rattling against the top of its derailed mass. The second would leave his hand and blast into a writhing mass of tendril-roots, forming the shape of a tree where foliage would sprout on the opposite side of the roof which spread past Yokari's left, while still, he danced on the islands made for himself of leaf and bark.

Much to Yoh's delight, his opponent was not completely done for right out of the gate, managing to form the vague shape of a hand seal with skeletal fingers and the shape of white clay would develop in the air in response, as the boy found Yoh through what was likely blurring vision and searing pain. Owing to the net created between them, the bird would be forced to navigate around it in order to close in on Yoh's position, or be entangled along with its master within the confines of the Senju's prison, affording the young preacher precious extra moments to react, and with the state of Katsumi's injuries, every moment in time would draw him close to inevitable bleeding out. Whatever means the swan decided to avoid such imposition would be met with vines clawing at its wings and mass, attempting to drag it with the net rocketing, nearly as fast as the bird itself, toward Katsumi, vines reaching out arms to whip at his skin while those on his back stretched far to meet them and pull the two together, still growing in their attempt to utterly bind him.

Yoh's efforts to halt Katsumi's assault would likely leave his bird with only two options, to be bound and gagged by the Senju's efforts and explode, with Yoh near the edge of its radius, or flutter wildly in an attempt to avoid the myriad of thorns which grew like stormclouds, enticing it to weave and duck away from the boy's position to buy him extra time. Whatever the Bakuton user chose, Yoh would remain alert, wooden armor ready to react at a moment's notice if indeed it chose combustion. If Katsumi did not change his original intention, and the bird exploded where it could, without taking the time to avoid hundreds of impositions which sought to pull it back and shred its wings and body, then Yoh would weather its storm with gritted teeth, explosion rocking his body and pressing at his skin to bruise and singe the scarcely exposed flesh behind his armor, Yoh turning his body to take the brunt on his left side, sustaining the bruises and burns along his forearm, outer shoulder and tucked in thigh and shin, aiming to keep the damage localized to a defensive stance made possible by the position of his throwing arm where it would be unlikely to cause him serious harm. Firmly rooted to the ground and likely tethered to his opponent, the Senju would catch himself in a growing next of flora which would expand behind him, allowing him to collapse into a throne of Mokuton and avoid being propelled a great distance. If by some miracle, Yoh's tether had been broken, the wall of dense foliage would likely be enough to resist the force by pushing back against it. Of course, Katsumi could choose to have his jutsu navigate the perils of Yoh's rapidly advancing forest, taking a wide berth to circle around or above him outside of its effective range, then the eventual position it chose to attack from would determine Yoh's response.

With no use of his arms, sliced arteries, and massive blood loss, while still contending with the thorns unaffected by his freedom-seeking blast attempting to ensnare him utterly and already attached to his back, arms, and shoulders, it would only be a matter of time before Katsumi would be forced into inevitable defeat. Yoh would offer, if he could find the fraction of time, a single word to his opponent barked like an order across the battlefield -

"Yield!"

1546

190/250:

Katsumi

Katsumi


D-rank
The pain of it all was overwhelming, becoming almost enough to block out the physical sensation of more pain coming in, but he had enough of it, after tearing through vines he found himself in the elicit position of seeing his opponent in his peripheral to his right. Pain struck through his body again and as soon as he felt another similar lash at his back while turning to throw his Swan behind him, he knew that the attack wasn't over. It would be after his first jump that the Swan would fly straight towards the mass of vines and brush, not focused intently on any other object but cutting off his movement, the vines would grab hold of it and tear into the wings itself, an instant choice as the creature would release a violent flap in protest before rending itself in a violent explosion in the area around itself.

For Katsumi, the instant he released the swan he would shakily bring his hands together, keeping his eyes intently on the new branch arms reaching out to him as he would begin to cast more hand signs. Monkey, Dog, Tiger, Snake. The seals let off more slowly than he would have anticipated, spattering blood of mangled skin across his hands as he did his best to weave the signs, feeling the tendril snake across the upper portion of his stomach leaving further lacerations while feeling the tip of the tendril begin to snake upwards to his chest and curve to the center between his pectoral muscles. Though it would take longer than he thought, as the tendrils would be reaching near to grab hold of the rest of the vines around his body, he would feel an instant of relief from the new pain and a rush of the stagnated pain that existed within his body.

The earthen armor would flow invisibly across his person and offer him some semblance of protection from the vines and their vicious cuts. But that didn't save him, the tendril at his back had lashed out and taken hold leaving a slice horizontally across his back but interrupted by the windmill shuriken held onto, saving him nothing except wide gaps between where it lashed out and further cuts as described on his stomach and chest. Though, that was nothing compared to the pain that lingered in his hands, as he made every notion to avoid looking at his hands or the cuts he could feel so painfully. So instead of focusing on himself, in the instant his armor would provide him relief, he would look back towards his opponent and the scene in front of him, the residual effect of the Swan explosion coming to a close as he could see that Yoh braced himself against impact, taking the exterior damage of the explosion along his defensive stance as well as the mess of vines left behind. Behind him, the sound of another train horn began to blare as it was about to exit the tunnel. It only left Katsumi with about a second to act from where he was landing from his jump and seeing the tendrils lock into each other firmly.

But most curiously of the scene that really caught Katsumi's attention was the hole ripped into the vines in front of him, quickly moving to form a bowl, the idea struck in his head, that he could beat them through force! It was a fools idea and as his opponent yelled out to yield, Katsumi pulled back against the vines behind him that now connected him to the cup but to no avail as they were still too thick and his body too mangled to resist. No doubt blood would be pouring from his body in various places like a stream that was running off, he felt the pain surge again in shakey and mangled hands while his muscles and general feeling were almost just as poor. It was when the vines began to pull Katsumi back in, no doubt wanting to trap him within the net of brush in front of him that he knew what he had to do, able to feel the tendril at the front of him body wrapping around to his back now while the tendrils at his back was spreading upwards to his shoulder blades and neck again that he had to act quickly, spreading the chakra to his limbs quickly without the need of handsigns.

The movement would be quick, dragged back into the brush in nearly half a second, he would prepare his attack the instant he felt the force applied on his back to drag him in. At first, he would kick violently at the center of the plant intended to trap him, releasing a fairly small explosion by his own standards but one intended to rip a similar hole onto the one that the Swan had left while at the same time, his upper body being pulled in he would throw a wild and violent elbow without much form just above his leg to clear more space if need be. Also relying on his armor to keep him safe from the damage of the vines as he pushed his way inwards, taking probably another half second in all to be dragged in and make his quick and vagrant attacks. The one meter explosions of each kick and his elbow should have been enough to burn away the vines leashing his torso and the front of his body as well, leaving him to use the momentum of the pull towards the vines to pass through and drop on the otherside, following on a similar logic as he had done earlier, that as long as he moved forward and away from the vines, it would be more difficult for them to retain him. They hadn't dug into him, and as long as they stayed behind him and he kept moving forward, he should be able to avoid becoming totally restricted.

There was no rest for the weary though, if he found himself near enough to Yoh to make a strike, he would combine his Movements from earlier with the third explosion of chakra he could provide before making a kick directly at the boy with intent to fight it out in his eyes and pain surging through his body in a pulse once again.





If Yoh wasn't there, Katsumi would save his last explosive charge to deal with any more vines that he could catch sight of or that might lash out to grab him before he would make his next maneuver. Having his Movements available, Katsumi would turn his shoulder and find the new incoming train with his eyes, hopefully timing it so that it was nearby or about to be nearby, he would take a quick step with the energy remaining in his body to get to it, using his saved Movements from the attack to cover the distance between himself and the train car if he needed to.

In the end, whether or not he would get to make a strike against Yoh or if he would simply make his jump to the train car while keeping his eyes and attention on where Yoh would be, either recovering from the punch that Katsumi would deliver or still using his plants to move above the train cars themselves. Katsumi would land on a shakey leg and instantly hold up hands that bore intense and burning pain, spots of blood running down his arms and dripping to the ground, it would take all the resistance and endurance in his body to charge his hands with chakra while forming the Bird  hand seal before flushing his palms outwards directly towards Yoh's position.

Grunting and holding himself together as his mangled hands basically splashed together and flesh overlapped from each of his palms and fingers, he would shout out in agony as he would release a blast of Bakuton chakra from his hands. A fairly small explosion would form directly in front of Katsumi, silent then loud as it exploded and rung out on the battlefield, followed by an explosive shockwave that seemed more violent and aggressive than it should from such a small explosion. The agonizing shout would ring out against the grinding steel and sound of the train, it was all he could, all he felt he could as he began to feel it setting in.

His only goal and plan of action was to push Yoh away as far as he could from the train, aiming for a ring-out from the violent explosion, pushing him in whatever direction that Yoh was relative to Katsumi who landed off-center of the train by about a meter to its rear. Holding himself up on one knee as the slow pang of exhaustion began to set in. No, it wasn't exhaustion as he'd felt this feeling before, it was a slow creep and consumption of pain as it withered through his body. Sliding and creeping like the same vines had as they tried to capture him and hold him in place. He couldn't accept it yet, he would fight on. He wouldn't accept to yield, he would lie to himself as so many others did. He could keep going, Katsumi was alright. There's a chance he can win, that Katsumi won't fail this easily.


[1574 words, 3587 words total]

145/215 Chakra:

Yokari

Yokari


D-rank
"Should we step in?"

A question posed in the shadows, eyes watching keenly through masks marked as Konoha ANBU intently monitoring the brawl unfolding before them. Karui, a medical proctor, and the chief advisor for this bout studied Katsumi with eyes that swirled with chakra. Iryojutsu sensory methods detecting even the most subtle of Katsumi's vital signs, rapid heartbeat, severe blood loss, and more injuries to come, a merciless evisceration of his muscles and veins at the hands of the young Senju, a contestant representing no village, who fought below no banner but his own. It would be Karui's job to intervene at the moment he deemed correct to call this match, and doubtless, it would not be far from now.

"Soon. Be ready"

Freedom attained, Katsumi launched into the air, clay contorting into abstract shapes before taking on the form of a swan before Yoh's eyes. Clearly, the Senju's opponent had some skill of his own, even if he had been blindsided by the preacher's brash assault, and now his bloodstained body, leaking and close to petrification, threatened to betray him. An awkward hush took over the stands, onlookers mouths agape at the brutal display of violence, Yoh's techniques literally ripping his opponent apart before their eyes had not been the display of gladiatorial combat they had thought to witness. Coupled with this was Yoh's own sense of remorse, having not expected such a difference to spread between them, and watching the carnage wrought by his Mokuton brought pangs of sympathy to the back of the genin's mind, firing synapses, the cousin of guilt, or something like it. Years of training in his secluded sanctuary, monks and scholars teaching him to hone his natural gifts and cultivate a forest of his own creation as he fought had prepared him for battle, but not for such cruelty and violence. It was this combination of feelings and memories that lead Yoh to cry out, as the swan's body ignited into a swathe of explosive chakra, an order, no, begging for Katsumi to surrender.

Instead, the boy's defensive posture met, as he had thought, with the force of Bakuton, bruising his skin and sending him into the tower of leaves and roots that caught him, preventing his fall from the canopy. As Yoh's eyes opened, squinting, he found the image of Katsumi's hands raising, shaky, mangled digits weakly clasping in the shape of hand seals, and Yokari knew it was not over. Strength from within was something the two combatants shared between them, and Yoh's faltering expression steeled in response, lips forming the shape of a determined scowl; Katsumi would not yield, and Yoh would see this fight through alongside him, until the bitter end, such was the pact made between warriors. Nodding swiftly as a sign of their accord, Yoh launched himself forward, trees growing beneath his feet as he ran alongside the train before taking his trajectory over top of it, not abiding by the roofs of locomotives to provide him footing, merely willing an arch of flora to connect him to the tree growing to his left and allow him access. Yoh could see clearly the explosions penetrating his walls of roots and vines, breaking apart into shredded bark as wood flew in all directions, and Katsumi slid between them, dropping free of the majority of his entrapment through the spinning net of vines which hurled itself toward the arena's wall. Yoh's victory here was assured, this much he knew, it would be seconds at most before the officials surely would call this match in his favor, but Katsumi's tenacity had earned the respect of his opponent, and Yoh would give him what he desired.

Closing in on Katsumi, Yoh would bring his fist to bear before him, right-hand clenching and thrusting as a lance to impact Katsumi's cheek but finding itself bested by the weary shinobi whose leg would reach further than Yoh's arm could hope to. Crashing into the Senju's left shoulder, Katsumi's explosion would tear violently at Yoh's clothing, stripping away most of the suit which covered his chest and arm, exposing bruised skin laced with old scars and burns, as well as sutras tattooed into the boy's surface, a sign of his religious heritage. Leaving his feet, Yoh would topple through the branches at his back before they caught him, boxer's coaches slapping playfully at his arms and throwing him back toward the frey as he felt the pull of bruised muscles and minor burns searing on his chest and shoulder, adrenaline surging in response. Brash as ever, Yoh would stand and run again, making a beeline toward his foe while thick folds of leaves provided leverage atop thick trunks which left a forest in his wake. Katsumi would notice Yoh's expression, where once there was a smile, something aloof and indifferent, now remained respect and determination.

Mirroring Katsumi's desperate cry, Yoh's fist would thicken, layers upon layers of wood and leaves, blossoming flowers with razor-sharp petals culminating in a fist several feet wide which his chakra strained to propel forward, Yoh would yell out as well. The two shinobi screaming, Katsumi's chakra would unleash, destructive waves of Bakuton following an explosion in his palms, the force sending a surprised Yokari hurtling from his treetops, wood breaking apart to leave a trail of falling leaves. Flying through the air, Yoh watched the stadium become a blur, and whipped his head to the direction of his errant seed, now grown into a sizable mass of leaves and flowers, lone projectile lodged into the derailed train car far in the distance, and as his body neared disqualification, fractions of a second before skipping along the ground, the Substitution would leave a seed where once the Senju stood. Kicking up a wave of dust as the seed took on Yoh's momentum, hopping several times through the ground as the monk took his position atop the train's winding form on the opposite side of the arena as Katsumi. Standing slowly, seeds would fall from Yoh's fingers, grains of flora in an hourglass which kept track of Katsumi's time, symbolic of his predictably waning senses which surely would be blackening his vision, and soon cause him to slip away into defeat. These seeds would once again begin to grow, snaking around Yoh's form to replace the armor he had lost and expanded into a lush garden of blooming flowers and ivy, thick roots birthing tall trees as nature itself bent to the subtle twang of Yoh's chakra, strummed with expert fingers.

Eyes locked on Katsumi from across the stadium, Yoh would rise on a vehicle of trees which grew beneath him and step slowly forward, kneading the earth beneath him with their roots and feeling his network of woodland expand, leaving traces of itself all across the disfigured trainyard.

1174

170/250:

Katsumi

Katsumi


D-rank
Katsumi was able to break through the net of vines before him, quick successive explosions clearing his path as he made his way through and found his target standing before him. The silence that had fallen over the crowd made no difference to him in any way, as everything had been quiet outside the grinding of steel from the trains since the round started. As he made his way through, his chance to attack his enemy came, and burning all the energy he had in his person, he used the latent energy in his muscles and a final explosion of a kick to press into Yoh's shoulder, leaving the explosion to burn and tear away his clothes before ending with a shockwave to break his momentum and knock him back.

Immediately, Katsumi knew he needed to create distance and get onto the other train and with a final breaking of his stamina, would leap backwards and land on a single knee to the rooftop, surges of pain through his body were becoming regular and consistent. His clothes began to feel heavier as the blood poured but his Armor maintained, he was still in this, he'd landed hits now. He just needed to hold out, still playing his own game and avoiding those seeds of his. That was all it was going to take, he knew it.

So with desperation as he fumbled into his final hand seal and pressed outwards, releasing the chakra from his hands as blood would mix into the explosion. The air around him filled with the yell of someone making their final stand, he would leap for joy if he were able to as the shockwave blasted into Yoh and began to push him away from the train car. The sight of it brought hope into Katsumi's eyes as the angled shifted and he watched the boy fly backwards, carrying himself away from the train car and out of the vicinity of victory. Maybe, he'd won it, the hope built but he should have known better.

Instead, where the boy should have fallen there was a pop and cloud of smoke as a mass of trees landed and instead, a mass of trees and other plants grew in the place, obviously his doing. Katsumi fell forward onto his other knee and caught himself with his hands, blood splashed lightly from his hands but dripped heavily on the top of them and splattering in small spots from his torso and neck. His eyes would widen a second, the pain of pressure in his hands built up like a dull sensation of pressure burning deep within the tissue. It was really the first time he realized just how truly damaged he actually was, and in the mere second or so the train had carried him, he would quickly raise up his body and rest on his knees, feeling the pain in his bending legs and chest now while he held his hands up in front of him. Deep laceration that had left the muscles hardly intact at the center of his palms while the skin was flayed away and the bones themselves even exposed. His hands grew shakier and his eyes would begin to falter.

The earlier feeling of exhaustion would begin to encapsulate him as he began to lean. His heart absolutely racing now as his left eye fluttered and his body leaned to his left. Trying to catch himself but stopping himself from pressing his hand into the train car again, he leaned to the left and crashed into the top of the metal roof with a dull thud just a moment later. The train car still barreling along as Katsumi's eyes began to grow heavy, his view point focused on nothing in particular but the handprints of blood he had left in front of himself just a moment ago.





Sometime later, Katsumi would find himself fighting against his own mindset. The words beseeched his mind as he demanded consicousness! He wouldn't lose this fight, not after he'd finally found his rhthym and had an understanding of his opponent. He wouldn't! The boy demanded it and with a violent upheavel, Katsumi would burst from his position laying down, a shout in his mind as the pain and the frustration of losing would come up all at once. His eyes shifting around quickly but not before a fist would be raised up and he would attempt to get to his feet, the scene around him wildly different as he instantly disoriented himself.

A nearby shinobi nurse would grab hold of his arm and hold him still, Katsumi able to take in the note that his arms were bandaged completley from fingertip to shoulder, the room was calmly lit and fairly cool, comfortable in color. He was in some hospital room or care center or something? His mind raced as her words were the only one coming through as another entered the room,

"It's fine now, your match is over!"

Her words would continue on, but the realization would set in Katsumi's mind. He would fall back almost dazed at the notion. Kicking himself, knowing he should have kept lying to himself about being fine.


[877 words, 4464 words total]
[Exit Thread/Losing Match]

[145/215 Chakra]

Training:

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Naruto Saga » Hi no Kuni » Konohagakure » Round One: Kyuzo, Katsumi vs. Senju, Yokari

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