It was the dead of night. So accurately described by that phrase....Iwagakure no Sato. The Hidden Stone had no one out and about, no night deals going on. Nothing. Zen felt a twinge of emptiness as he looked over the Hidden Village...he dismissed it as being tired and not thinking straight. Lately...he just hadn't been able to sleep very well. It was like so much earlier....or that's what it seemed like. Zen had trouble judging the passage of time of late....it seemed so very long ago that he had insomnia. It couldn't have been more than a couple months....but to Zen, it was like a year or two had passed. He supposed that was to be expected. His time on this planet, this glorious planet, was limited. It was only so long before...before he....

The Kyouga stood atop one of the towers of this great wall. It encompassed all of the Village Hiding-in-Stones; he was glad to say he had contributed much to the building of such a structure. It was just so...big. Zen had been though every inch of the bastion, and he still didn't feel like he'd gotten to know the place. So large....and yet so empty...it was so lonely here. He was sort of patrolling the Village anyway...Zen decided to go for a short stroll. He let his arms, which were at his sides, rise up to waist-level; a small glow enveloped the Iwa ninja for a second or two. That is, before he started doing something that most people would find impossible....it was a good thing he was doing this at night. Zen lifted off of the ground, and began flight. His mirrors stuck to him, and he solidified them; they supported his weight easily. The specula on his feet, however, gave him propulsion, so he could stay afloat in a sea of air. And so the shinobi flew, flew just as the previous Tsuchikage did. Well, he couldn't say that yet...Zen could not go much higher than he could jump off of Bastion Adamantine. Granted, that was still well above most things in Iwagakure....if anyone saw him, it would cause a panic, now wouldn't it....Zen decided to go to the Sightseeing Cliff. His silhouette against the moon would descend upon that place...somewhat lonely as well.

[381/1000]

170/200:

Jutsu training:

It was a peaceful night, like most in Iwa. Though, something in Arashi believed that that was about to end soon enough. He already gave the thought enough thinking, to be sure that he's probably right; the other villages will probably see Arashi's Kageship as a period of Iwa's weakness, and most likely strike. No matter how much Arashi questioned himself, or tried convincing himself it wouldn't happen, there was something inside him that simply knew it would. Something... Something from deep inside his sole essence, something... Something from above, you could call it. He simply knew it, without further explanation.

He was currently in the new home he was assigned to, he sold his old one for a ridiculously low price to some homeless people he saw roaming around. He needed a new shirt, so now he's got a new shirt. Everybody's happy, right? Well, he wasn't all that happy though. It was the middle of the night, and he couldn't sleep. Like, now way. His brain was going all "Sleep... Searching... Command not found. Error. Error." So yeah, he couldn't sleep. It was probably caused by him actually sleeping for ten hours during the day, at his desk... The elders and various secretaries kept bringing more and more paperwork, and Ara simply couldn't cope with it anymore. His desk was fully full with giant stacks of paperwork stacked on top and next to each other, most of it completely irrelevant. The wall on his desk was high enough for Ara to be completely hidden, so he took the chance to... Have a nap, a rather long one. He was dealing with the paperwork for at least fifteen hours straight, and still didn't make a big difference. So, he was tired as hell and simply fell asleep, nobody noticing him behind the wall of paper. When he woke up, even parts of floor were full of said papers... More and more and more... He just wanted to burn it to ashes and bail. But he gave up, and walked to his new house; which was ridiculously spacious and pretty. But there he couldn't sleep, unlike at the small hard desk in his tiny office...

So, what did he do? He decided to go out for a walk, possibly a training session to exhaust himself a bit, so maybe he could sleep. He really didn't want to stay awake until the next morning, it would be really boring. Probably even more so than filling the goddamn paperwork was. For the location of his walk, he decided to test a rather new building; The Bastion. It was basically a huge wall around Iwa, heavily reinforced even with chakra. An army shouldn't have a chance at passing through it, especially if Ara assigned men at the top of the Bastion and in the towers to protect the walls. He jumped out of his window, and set his way jumping from building to building, running swiftly, at the speed of a blur. He was there very soon, but he noticed he was not alone. There was another person, Ara wasn't sure who. Probably a guard. Ara approached the said "guard", before he mysteriously... Started levitating? Ara wasn't far from him, so he could see some mirrors forming, and the light beneath the person's feet rather clearly. Is that... Zenchi? The person was shrouded in some dark cloak of sorts, so Ara couldn't be sure.

So, what did he do? He simply took chase after the individual. He appeared to be "flying" at the direction of the Sightseeing Cliff, which was across the village. Ara couldn't jump that far, no way, so he decided to follow after the shrouded person while on ground. He leaped in the air, landing on a nearby building, and started running as swift and elegant he could, jumping several buildings in one jump. He was gaining on the shrouded person, it was obvious. He was plenty faster than the person, he arrived at the ground of the cliff before the other person. He concentrated some amounts of chakra in his feet, feeling it flow and stick to the rock, before he started running nearly horizontally to reach the Cliff just before the other person, with a dust cloud forming beneath him and where he ran. A small droplet of sweat formed on his forehead, as he spoke.

"Nice evening, don't you agree?"

749/2000

Zen's feet tapped lightly against the ground as he partially dismissed his techniques. He had been spotted, and followed no less... probably a good time to end that little charade. At least he would have some good company from....Arashi?!

So...the Tsuchikage was having trouble sleeping...Strange. Zen had taken up quite a bit of paperwork to try and ease the load on him...just how much stuff did Dengen have to deal with!? It was starting to become more and more obvious why the Rokudaime had that stroke....and Zen dearly did not want such a thing to happen to the Nanadaime, his best friend. Zen could take on part of that burden...after all, he was sort of expendable....

"Nice evening, don't you agree?"

Either way. Arashi, it seems, didn't recognize Zenchi....perhaps the Black Coat sometimes did work. Perhaps play a game with him, mm? Zen, with his back to the Earth Shadow, slowly turned; first his head, then the rest of his body, towards him. Then, just as slowly...he raised his right arm, elbow bent. His hand was poised, ready to---

Click.

Zen's fingers snapped, and instantly, mirrors appeared in a circle around the two. He was the best of the Kyouga, if there were any others, that was. The mirrors that were on him, were now with the others he had created. He brushed his coat so that it fluttered; a bit of a suggestive, challenging gesture. It wasn't hostile, it even revealed his Iwa hitai-ate. More like a friendly invitation to a fight....Arashi looked worn out. He could use a round or two. Zen didn't know if he could keep up with him...especially in the condition the two of them were in. Zen was....at less than his peak...while Arashi just seemed to get stronger. He was the Kage now....Zen would have to be careful.

[690/1000]

155/200:

ooc:

jutsu training:

It was had been a very strange day for Raishi.

First of all, he had woken up at the dead of night, his body and mind still scarred from the earlier encounter with Garugha and Gaaza at the Land of the Wolves. He had taken the jutsu scroll home with him, to study and he had slept off for the whole day.....he had been terribly exhausted, and it was not his fault considering the fact that he might as well have been run over by two speeding trucks.
He had a nightmare about.....tails. Yes, tails. He dreamt that they were strangling him. After the session of strangling, he had grown his own tail, that was then held by another tail. Literally, the other tail’s hands were holding on to his own tail. In the background, he could make out the animalistic laughter of Garugha saying, “Nooow you know what it feels like!”. Raishi had woken up in such a fright.

He had practically jumped out of bed, checking his ass to be sure that there was no sprouting tail. Much to his relief, there was no tail.
Dressing up, in his usual black sleeveless vest and black pants, Raishi climbed up to the top of his building. The village was more or less dead.....there was no sign of life everywhere that Raishi turned. Every door was locked, everybody’s lights turned off. It had seemed that even the usual flock of birds that performed their usual concerto had taken five; the village was on mute.
Due to the utter silence, Raishi could hear his thoughts perfectly, as if he was having a conversation with his inner self. He started thinking about several things; his training, his clan, all the friends he had made, the village and the Tsuchikage...He had not seen Arashi in a while, so he guessed that he had moved from his previous home that was formerly close to Raishi’s.
He wiped the beads of sweat forming in his forehead, and stood up, rather painfully. His chest felt so delicate, like s single thread of string was keeping his heart in place. He could not tilt his head without feeling the immense pain, or even look up and down. Basically, he could not move his head without feeling the searing pain in his chest. Standing up, he looked straight ahead, towards the Sightseeing Cliff. Usually, he would wake up earlier than others in the village, just to watch the rising of the beautiful sun; the sight was totally...amazing. He always looked forward to it, as it was his secret to his infinite good mood. Now looking at the desolate, lonely sky, Raishi began imagining the sun rising in his mind and begins to smile. Then he sees it.

There in the distance, about 30 or so meters away from Raishi’s house was a floating....person? If not for the fact that he had perfect eyesight, Raishi would have hesitated, but it in fact WAS a person. Raishi looked at the direction the person had been coming from and it was from the entrance of the newly built, Bastion; basically the wall surrounding and protecting the village. Raishi figured that this was possibly a imposter, who had a jutsu to lift himself off to the sky, but it wouldn’t have made sense as the person would not want to be spotted; he would have to be a total dumbass.
So quickly, yet painfully, Raishi dashed towards the floating figure heading to the Sightseeing Cliffs. Due to his current condition, he was not as fast as he usually would be, but he still caught up to the floating fellow in the air, as he was moving generally slowly. He noticed that right ahead of him was a cloud of dust that could only be left as a result of intense acceleration and a painful smile formed on the face of Raishi....it would of course be none other than Arashi, the fastest guy in the village, and the Tsuchikage. It was not a surprise that Arahsi had spotted the situation...he wondered if he too was having a bad night...

Raishi strained his eyes to looke ahead, and realised that he was in face correct....about 18 meters in front of him was Arashi, and he seemed to have talked, but Raishi couldn’t hear it over the noise of his heart thumping, hanging on the thin thread that was keeping it in his chest. He really needed to seek medical attention, but decided that it could wait till the morning. He just hoped that he could reach the mysterious figure on time.



WORDCOUNT: 767/1500

The man landed just several seconds after Arashi stopped. He didn't say anything, though, and as more time passed it was clear to Ara that he wasn't going to either. Suddenly, he could feel the ground vibrating... Strong, quick steps were approaching them. Ara could even hear them as well. Though, before he could do anything, a bunch of mirrors started forming out of his opponent's hand. They quickly flew around, and completely surrounded them in a circle/sphere shape, with large sheets of light. I already saw that in action several time... It will be hard to break through. Though, why the hell does he want to keep me here? This is some crazy shit... He brushed his cloak, to make it flutter. Arashi now understood the gesture perfectly well. This guy was asking to get pawned by nobody else but the Nanadaime Tsuchikage. And boy, Ara didn't hate it. Ara didn't hate it one bit.

Let's get this on. Arashi blinked, and in that split second he "triggered" something, deep inside his very essence. When his eyes were open again, the (few) hairs on his body curled giving him a slightly more feral appearance. He also bulked up a little, but not enough for it to really be noticed; the same as with his pupils thinning, so they would look like those of a cat per say. He also leaned forward, and bent himself in his knees. It looked exactly like a wild beast would look, if they started walking around on two legs that his. He was bent really low, and in a such position that it would even seem that his entire body is just etching for him to go on all fours, like a true beast from the wilderness. The state Ara was now in gave him far superior strength and speed than his old self, the same with endurance and his natural reflexes. It was the perfect combat power-up, Ara was indeed glad he was from the clan he was from; the Nekomotze.

With the now enhanced speed and strength, he swiftly rushed at the masked person, and as there was no more than a couple of meters between them it should be rather effective; he didn't wait for longer than a moment after his triggering before attacking. Ara would move swiftly and quickly, like a blur, and if got in range he would try to punch the figure in the head, and cross-cut, which would, if connected, launch his opponent at least several feet of the ground, as well as ensuring that his opponent would have a nice black eye the following day. It was a pretty basic attack, as Ara didn't know much of his opponent's skills; he had to start off with something that wouldn't kill the poor fellow. And that made his range of options surprisignly small... One thing was sure, though, that this fellow, if a Kyouga, was a lot more powerful than Ara's best friend, Zenchi. He was... On an entirely different level, with the entire flying thing.

Wordcount: 1273/2000

255/265:

ooc:

The mysterious figure had finally landed now, which made Raishi's work much more easier. Arashi, ahead of Raishi seemed to have stopped before the figure had, which goes to show the actual speed of the newly named Tsuchikage.
Raishi then heard the snapping of fingers; it was the dead of night and the whole world seemed to be on mute, so even the slightest sounds could be heard. The Waterfall Point that was hundreds of meters could even be heard...but just faintly.

He was nearly there now, just about 7 meters to go....then he started seeing what seemed to be mirrors forming around Arashi and the cloaked figure. Mirrors? Signature jutsu of the Kyouga clan. being that Zenchi was the only Kyoga clan member that Raishi knew, it was likely that this was him.....but why would he be making such a show at the dead of night? Besides, Zenchi had seemed to be more of a day light person from Raishi's past encounters with him. This figure, was most likely not Zenchi, as last time Raishi checked, Zenchi could not FLY!

As he got closer, sliding to stop 2 meters away from Arashi and the hooded figure, Raishi noticed several things and took them to heart in a second in what you may call, rushed notes, what he always did when analyzing. Since it was quite dark, and he was suffering from a terrible migraine, Raishi could not make up what exactly was going on.

1. Arashi looks like a shaved bear cub
2. There are several mirrors surrounding the two of them.
3. I need to sit down.,

And that's exactly what he did......he sat down there, resting on a nearby rock. His body was screaming for sleep, but he didn't want to go back to the chaotic world of roaming tails. Instead, he sat, watching the events before him. He decided that he would only go in, when it looked like Arashi was in deep trouble, and that was only if the mysterious figure was even a threat.


WORDCOUNT:1099/1500

Well. Wasn't this a lovely start to things. Arashi had gotten right down to it... his own Tsuchikage was on his way to punch him. Zen couldn't let that happen...a punch from that sort of guy would be devastating. Especially with the rather wild state he was in; the general aura about Zen's friend made him look positively feral. Good....an adrenaline rush would help Ara fall asleep. At least, Zen guessed as much; the Earth Shadow would not have much other reason to be randomly waltzing around the Stone Village, mm?

That advance had made Zenchi cautious; it would be best to drag this out as long as possible. So, he did the logical thing; he dodged. Upon seeing the wind-up for his superior's punch, Zen quickly utilized a technique he already had active....Kousoku no jutsu!
His chakra flooded back to his feet, and Zen was now just a blur. He vanished from the spot he was standing in, and reappeared at a different location. Actually, from his short time observing the surroundings, he saw...Raishi. This would be rich; nothing like rustling some jimmies. Zen, too fast to see for the normal eye--hey, he could say that, what with being a Jounin with his speed boosted--reappeared next to the Kanetsu, bypassing his own barriers (which were now invisible). He recalled the Light Screen, letting him use those precious mirrors again. He laid a hand on the young boy's shoulder, making another gesture to Arashi. All in good fun, mm? Oh, this was turning out to be quite the eventful night. If Raishi stood still, Zen would consider taking him with on another aerial stroll. Regardless if the Toku-jou was coming or not, Zen jumped into the air, subsequently levitating for show. He used an elaborate chain of mirrors to let him move at normal running speed; this would be enjoyable. Just how far would Arashi give chase....? Zen chuckled at the prospect as he headed to the atrium of the Bastion's main tower, a courtyard-type place. If he calculated correctly, no guards would be there at this hour....if Raishi was with him, he would place a mirror in front of his otherwise enshrouded eye, showing its signature multicolor. At least, he would be let in on the secret if he caught on.

[385+690, completed wordcount training!]

Arashi was running forward, pretty fast. It wasn't his full speed at this stage, but it came relatively close. His fist was inches apart from the enemies's body when he just... Disappeared? He didn't really disappear, and Ara knew that. He performed sort of a high-speed movement, of which Ara was very famous himself. He moved like a blur, and Ara could clearly see in which direction. In fact, because of his boosted reflexes at that time, the movement wasn't exactly a blur at all, he could see it pretty clearly. But, whatever it was, the opponent dodged and Arashi was displeased, not to mention unamused.

As soon as he realized what happened, Ara turned around, still sliding backwards on the rocks from the momentum of the swift charge earlier. His sandals raised the dust where they passed, and made a loud crackling noise, but it looked rather badass. To shorten the period of sliding backwards, to reduce the range between his opponent of course, Ara crouched down even deeper, and pushed his hand against the ground. As he now had three points of his body sliding and reducing the motion, he was to stop a lot sooner than usual. 50% to be precise. And it looked even more badass, which was pretty much the sole reason of doing it... Ara kind of had this feeling for awesomeness, and he would often automatically do something that looked awesome, even if there was a more efficient alternative. And that referred to combat more than anything else. With his face and body turned to wards his opponent in the small vicinity, Ara was quite shocked who he saw there. As he looked at the face, he realized it was no other than...Raishi?

He was just sitting there, resting on a rock with the opponent just besides him... It was all suddenly clear to Ara, as he figured out Rai must've been the person running just when Ara spoke his first few words with the stranger. But the stranger... Had his hand on Rai. This was a very, very direct gesture. Right. I gave him a chance. Ara was not to wait, or give another warning to the stranger. Directly threatening one of his closest friends... Yeah, that isn't going to happen. Arashi sighted, as to him the time seemed to stop, as he closed his eyes. It was in fact no more than a blink, but to him it was an entire eternity. Let's do this, Arashi. All of a sudden, an explosion of chakra occurred inside of him. Flowing it through his body, stimulating every single one of his muscles. His entire body was tingling, with him feeling like he had an nearly unlimited amount of energy, just lurking inside him, burning with flames of awesomeness. This feeling was well known to him, as it was his signature jutsu: The Roaring Red Flame. In a split second, he launched himself of the ground, right towards his opponent in a straight line. He wasn't more than four meters from Ara, so it was kind of child's-play to Ara. He could, at this speed, keep going for more than twice than that. Though, his opponent shouldn't be counted out just yet; his speed movement earlier was pretty impressive. Ara was now certain this was not Zenchi, as this dude was actually strong.

I wonder who he is, an outsider? He definitely seems like the type, coming here, and challanging me head-on. He's defintely got some serious guts. He won't have 'em for long, though, once I'm finished with him.

As Ara reached his opponent, he stopped moving his legs and tightened his fist, focusing all his strength in one single punch. He would launch his fist with the same tremendeous speed, and at that range it would be close to undodgable really, especially if you count the factor of surprise in there. The punch would, enhanced with the momentum of the Roaring Red Flame, easily cause injuries such as cracked skull and a small consuccion itself, as it was aimed at the person's face, lower forehead to be exact. Ara didn't want to kill him, or fuck up his face either. If the punch connected, his opponent would be send flying at the ground, head first with enough force to make quite a crater beneath him, and more than likely knock him unconscious. Ara was really proud with his strength, he was definitely a lot stronger now than ever before, and this simple punch proved it. If it connected, Ara would stand between the man and his friend Raishi, with his guard up awaiting what was about to happen next.

2010/2000

195/265:

Raishi was....confused.


One moment, Arashi was launching what seemed to look like a deadly blow to the suspicious fellow, and in an instance......the figure vanished?. Despite the fact that Raishi was resting on the floor, he had a terrible headache so he assumed that maybe he just couldn't see the figure in the dark due to his cloak. That was when he felt a hand on his shoulder. On a usual day, Raishi would have kicked the figure on the groin the second he even appeared behind him.....but right now he was not at his prime. He was not at HALF of his prime.
His head was spinning, the whole world seemed to slow down..... he continued looking onward and noticed that feral Arashi was closing in.........fast. Raishi had to admit, Arashi had grown stronger since the little spar at Waterfall point....it seemed like he no longer used his Claw jutsu anymore. He had certainly developed nicely....expected for a Tsuchikage despite his age...
Back to the problem at hand. He was in a terrible state to even think of fighting this guy head on, and besides, Arashi was already advancing with what looked like a devastating blow. Raishi would be wise to stay out of the way of THAT jutsu as it looked quite monstrous. So, he decided to use his first ever doton jutsu.....the double suicide decapitation technique. It seemed like after he had made up his mind, the world came out of slow mode, getting back to real time. In a split second, Raishi wove the Ram hand seal and began to sink below the ground quickly. In milliseconds, he was already deep in the earth, although he decided not to move anywhere as he was in no condition for that.

150/160:

WORDCOUNT: 1382/1500

Bad. Badbadbadbadbadbadbadbad

Okay, this had gone on long enough. Arashi was really getting serious. And that was never a good thing, when fighting was involved. Truth be told, Zen did not want his innards torn out, or anything like that. But it was too late... Ara had already launched into his signature 'teleportation' technique. Now the only thing Zen could do was...

Reflect Arts...Light Screen!

Crap. Crap nooooooooooooooooo

pewwwwwwwww


There went Zen, Mr. Shooting Star. His jutsu had failed.... The punch itself felt nothing like one of Arashi's normal ones---which by itself was already bad---but the sheer speed with which it was delivered threw Zen quite a long way.

He landed not-so-nicely, with severe bruising on his back, and he had a few major cricks in places----owowowowow

great...his shoulder was...dislocated? No, it wasn't that loose feeling. But something had happened there....greaaaat.... And to top it all off, Ara had probably broken something again...

Zen hadn't landed too far from Arashi and Raishi, so he decided to stand up and walk---with the slightest of limps---towards them.

Jutsu Training:

His punch hit. Fucking awesome. The black figure was punched flying in the air, Ara's punch landed just nicely. The figure's skull was very likely broken, and the fact that Ara was, as always, wearing his spiked gauntlets only increased the damage; the figure would probably get quite a bleeding from it too, from the metal spikes on the knuckles. Ara's sight wandered off to Raishi, next to him, who was... Sinking in the ground? And fast, as he was gone from Ara's sight just about when he saw him sinking. Smart. Stay low. This guy means business. It looked like he landed on his back, leaving a crater beneath him. Ara couldn't see everything all that well, as he was around twenty meters or so from him, and it was night...

Let's end this shit. Just then, Ara had a crazy new thought... What if he was to train... A new jutsu? Ideas poured into his mind, and in a moment he decided what he would do; his Earth Amplification technique, just... Stronger. A lot stronger. He held his hand down against the arm, as he concentrated Doton chakra into his arm, flowing it through the ground beneath him at the same time. The ground started climbing up, and sticking to his arm... After a second or so, his entire arm was like a chunk of ground, a small boulder. It wasn't pretty, but it would do, as he was connecting all the ground and rock with his chakra, it was very tough and would definitely take some punishment before being broken. Plus... Ara's arm was kind of a small boulder now, and it looked badass combined with the traces of chakra left in his hair, weaving it around and making his hair look like it's on fire. He approached the black figure, with his scary boulder, and spoke.

"Explain yourself!"

518/1500

Oh, my. Quite the weapon he had....he was Tsuchikage for a reason...."Explain yourself!"

Okay...he had recalled the mirrors from his Light Screen technique, which he had tried again. The jutsu had failed, but he still had 10 good mirrors to work with. So he did something that would both end this little skirmish and get enough adrenaline pumping through Ara that he would be able to sleep when it wore off. He did the only logical thing.

He blew himself up.

That is, he activated a technique that would probably make it look like he blew up. The Mirror Mine jutsu...two of these mirrors at his feet would do well. As Arashi approached, Zen detonated the mines, forming a one-sided explosion. Not only would it leave a sizable crater in the ground, the explosion would kick up a lot of dust. In addition, this would force Zen quite a ways up, farther than he was normally capable of jumping. The remaining specula would be used to hold him in place while he slowly descended. The trip, both up and down, would rustle the Kyouga's cloak enough to lower his hood. He gave a small, knowing smile.

140/200:

[OOC: Let's transfer to the new chakra, minus the amount we spent. =D ]

As soon as Ara got in five meters from the unknown black figure, something unexpected happened. His (or hers) feet brightly flashed, as they... Exploded? A shocked expression could be seen appearing on Ara's face, as he instantly shielded both his face and torso with the giant shield of an arm he had at the moment. It all happened so fast, that if Ara wasn't in his Inner Instincts mode it would maybe even be possible for it to look exactly like the figure blew up, perishing into nothingness. Though, Ara's current eye was just sharp enough to notice that the explosion came from the feet. He was also quite sure that the figure didn't blow itself up, due to the explosion only making a crater in the ground. It couldn't be seen, but normal explosions cause an air blast, blowing everything away. Though, this was not the case with this explosion, so it was only pure logic that the explosion wasn't directed at the air, or at all sides; only the ground beneath their feet. That, or it was only an illusion. Ara hardly ever even thinks of illusions, so it didn't come to his mind now either. Whatever was the case, the explosions rose a large cloud of dust, which made seeing the craters impossible. It took a couple of seconds for Ara to figure all of this out, and after he did the cloud was already starting to settle down, allowing for some transparency. Ara looked around after he removed his fist, which only confirmed his thoughts. The "blown up body" was nowhere to be found. Good. I want to take care of that bastard myself.

The boulder of his fist crumbled to the ground, Ara staring at it. I need some more practice... After this, Ara immediately set his guard back up. Ara didn't know where his opponent was, and that was a rather huge disadvantage. He immediately looked behind him, as that was definitely the most common direction shinobi tend to attack from if they know their opponent isn't aware of their location, for a good reason. Though, the black figure wasn't there. And Ara already scanned the entire area left or right from him, several times. So there were what, two more directions? Up and down. And the direction above Ara was a lot more probably, so he looked up; and saw the figure slowly ascending down towards the ground, though a lot slower than it would be normal... He was... Defying gravity? Whatever the case was, it all just clicked in Ara's head; the explosion launching him up, making the smoke for Ara not to see... One thing I don't understand... He had a butload of time to attack. But he didn't. Still, Ara did. He immediately leaped in the air, concentrating his Katon nature chakra in his right hand, it slowly covering his entire area below the elbow with burning flames. He leaped towards the figure in a straight line, as fast as he could, even the ground crackling beneath his feet as he parted the ground. He set his fist back, ready to strike at any time. The distance was shorter and shorter, when Ara noticed... His hoodie lowered? But the face... No. That wasn't possible. He had Zenchi's face. This was... Impossible. Zenchi would never do something like this. Plus, he wasn't that strong as far as Ara knew. There was only one way; illusion.

"YOUR ILLUSIONS WON'T WORK AT ME!!!"

So, Ara punched with all his strength, at the stranger's face. At contact he would release all the chakra from his fist into the stranger, effectively burning his skin, punching him to the ground and possibly even setting him on bloody fire. That's what you get with messing with Ara's head. He despises Genjutsu from the bottom of his heart, as it really is similar to cheating.

1206/1500

335/415:

"YOUR ILLUSIONS WON'T WORK AT ME!!!"

Goddammit, Ara.

Uptight as usual...Zen knew he had to find a way to calm the Tsuchikage down...but what?

Well, first things first. Don't die.

"Ninpō: Sattōtaru!" A makeshift name worthy of Zen's quick thinking: the Firefly Rush. He performed a rather long string of hand seals at dizzying speed; using two different-natured techniques at once was difficult. Then, he brought his hands to face-level. In his left hand, he charged Lightning chakra...in the right, he prepared Wind. A combination of his two basic techniques....his Raiton hand was in front of his mouth, similar to the Gokakyuu no Jutsu; his Fuuton hand was right in front of the other, palm up. And he blew right at Ara. He needed to distract him before....well, that hand of his didn't look too nice.

Zen expelled countless orbs of light, and sent them in Ara's direction, the young man now heading straight for him. So, Zen activated his second technique, and blew the orbs at Arashi even more forcefully.

In the end, though, it wasn't enough; Ara still managed to get his punch in. The Gale had slowed him down just a teensy bit.... it didn't detract from his pain very much, though.... He couldn't think very clearly, but he knew a secret place Ara told him about was nearby....he said groggily:

"Oh, come now...killing...here? Would...only upset your birds...."

Zen stood again, barely conscious. Man, that guy had a fist.

220/300:

As Ara got closer and closer, he saw Zenchi starting to shoot out a series of handseals; just before Ara reached him, Zenchi shot out some kind of light orbs, hundreds and hundreds of them at Ara. They didn't hurt or anything, but the really did dazzle him. But the punch landed, and actually quite nicely. It was aimed at Zen's face, from upwards towards down. Zen was launched straight at the ground, with a vicious burn across his face. Just then Ara realized that he... Couldn't really see? It was strange, but he was sure it were those strange orbs. He started falling towards the ground, violently rubbing his eyes. Oh come on fucking eyes, wooooork!!! He had already acquired quite some momentum, as he could finally open his eyes without his vision being covered with brightness and redness. His vision was still blurry, but he could see the floor; with a couple of swift and elegant flips, he landed just next to Zenchi, on his feet. Ara rubbed his eyes once again, looking around as he was disoriented. This followed him standing up, and listening to what Zen had to say.

"Oh, come now...killing...here? Would...only upset your birds...."

Ara's arm was already high in the air, rocks forming around it, swirling around at great fists. As he formed his fists, the rocks clinged to his arm, forming the same giant rock fist as before; though this one was much more precise, not to mention stronger. This was done simultaneously with the barely-standing-Zenchi speaking. Ara took a step forward, as he punched another straight punch, straight at the man's face. Milliseconds passed, as Ara heard Zen's final words. Birds... The word echoed in his head, as he was now fully aware that this in fact was Zenchi; his fist stopping no more than a couple of inches in front of Zenchi's face. Ara let go of it, rocks crumbling to the floor. As the fist was quite heavy, the momentum left Ara leaning towards Zenchi. He lost his balance aaaaaand... He started falling right at Zenchi, what would look exactly like a... Hug. Eww.

1575/1500

330/415:

Well. This would be an 'aww' moment....if Zen hadn't lost consciousness. Everything slowly faded to naught....his body obeyed him no more. His last sensation was Ara hugging him.


-Zen Mentally Exited the Thread-

Ara's pupils widened, as he instantly stepped a couple of steps back, escaping the "hug". With his mouth wide open, he tried to get his shit together. While he was thinking of what to do, Zenchi started... Falling? CRAP! With his eyes closed, and a weird relaxation in his muscles, it was obvious he was passing out. Arashi stepped forward with care, and gently caught his comrade. I'm sorry, Zenchi. I'm sorry, friend...

The moonlight shined on them, illuminating their faces. It was the only source of light nearby, the nearest houses very a bit away. With Zenchy's cold body over his back, Arashi proceeded to go for the Iwa Hospital. It was the only place to go in a time like this; his life might actually be on the line! He ran, as fast as he could, and soon reached the hospital. There, he turned Zenchi in, and had all the best doctors assigned just for him. He couldn't die, no, he must's die. It was all an accident... No, he will survive!

Arashi got out, the cold breeze sweeping over his saddened face and fire-colored hair. He was angry. Just angry. Nothing more, but angry. I... I have to get stronger. This mustn't happen ever again. It can't. He ran to his home, and grabbed a scroll he'd been studying for a while now. It was about a technique, the Subterrenian Voyage. He walked peacefully to his garden, and spent the rest of the night training it. He will never make the same mistake again.

[EXIT]

Wordcount: 1501/1500

//OOC: You happy now, Taco? 3: