Location - Old Practice Field #4
Perching on a tree branch, one hand on the katana
at his waist, Ichiro surveys the field below for
several minutes before leaping down for a closer
inspection.
Shiro had been leaning against the sole tree in the
forest clearing, which had once been a training
field for up and coming ninja, for the past hour.
Seeing Ichiro approach from the trees surrounding
the field, Shiro stands up straight, brushing his
back off and grabbing the kusarigama which waited
next to his feet. Shiro calls out, "About time you
made it here, I was beginning to think you wouldn't
show."
Ichiro bows deeply, then relaxes slightly as he
stands, "So it was a challenge from you,
Shiro-sama. Sorry to have kept you waiting, I had
a few loose ends to tie up first. I certainly hope
you weren't waiting too long."
Holding the bladed end of his weapon in his right
hand and gently swinging the weighted chain in his
left Shiro responds, "Not too long at all. I
assume you know why I called you out here today?"
Moving his right hand to the hilt of the large
sword strapped across his back and shifting his
right foot back, Ichiro says, "Based on the
contents of your letter, I can presume you wish to
test my combat abilities."
Shrugging, Shiro swings the chained end of his
weapon even faster till it is nothing but a blur,
"That is more or less the idea, I was wanting to
see how your generation of ninja were doing."
Walking slowly Shiro starts to circle Ichiro, "Just
to let you know, I won't be going easy on you."
Ichiro grins widely and says, "Good, I want to test
myself against you full force. No reason to keep
you waiting any longer." Ichiro quickly completes
a series of handseals, puffs his chest out, and
spits a massive amount of water at Shiro.
Shiro moves to the side so that the spray of water
passes within a foot of him. In the same movement
that brought him out of the ninjutsus path, Shiro
launches the weighted end of his weapon at Ichiro.
Dropping his hip and tumbling to the side of the
weight, Ichiro throws a kunai with an explosive tag
attached at Shiro.
Swinging his torso a bit Shiro alters the path of
his weapon so that the taut chain comes down at
Ichiro. Seeing the incoming projectile Shiro lets
go of his weapon completely so that it's blade is
drawn torward Ichiro and jumps to the side.
Ichiro throws his arms up to block with his
bracers, but only manages to deflect the blade
slightly, still receiving a gash across his arm.
"Nicely done, Shiro-sama." Ichiro leaps towards
Shiro, swinging his leg through the air at Shiro's
head.
Smiling, Shiro snaps and jumps back, instantly,
from various places in the surrounding woods, kunai
come flying at the spot where he was just standing.
Several kunai clank harmlessly off Ichiro's armor
as he blocks several others with his bracers.
Ichiro grimaces as some of the kunai still manage
to find their mark. A number of shuriken hurtle
out of the woods at Shiro before he even finishes
jumping. Ichiro grins as his wounds slowly close
up.
As he lands, Shiro uses his momentum to spin on his
heel so that he is facing the incoming projectiles.
Ripping a large close quarters kunai from a pouch
located on his leg Shiro manages to use it to
deflect a few kunai but the majority get through
and dig into his jacket. Dropping his kunai Shiro
grasps his sides drops to the ground and starts
coughing horrible gut wrenching coughs.
Ichiro slides back a short distance along the
ground and says, "Your health seems a bit poor for
someone who once trained as a medical nin. Or is
that just your age catching up to you?" Ichiro
begins forming handseals, "Regardless, I won't go
easy on you either." The water around Ichiro
swells up into the shape of a dragon and launches
itself at Shiro.
Rolling onto his back, Shiro flings his arms out
from his sides and throws four kunai with exploding
tags to either side of him. Landing mere feet from
him they explode, engulfing a good chunk of the
field in smoke. From somewhere within the cloud
Shiro calls out, "Not a very compassionate
youngster are you? Attacking a crippled old man
like that..."
Ichiro directs the dragon above the cloud then
straight down into the center of the smoke. "You
don't seem very crippled," Ichiro shouts, "and a
man with such a bad cough shouldn't be breathing in
so much smoke." Ichiro scans the area and leaps
into the smoke cloud.
Shiro's laughter comes from somewhere deep within
the woods, "I hope you have fun playing around in
there." From the woods comes a large barrage of
kunai into the cloud of smoke followed by three
streaking black shapes that are roughly human
sized.
A massive fireball flies out of the cloud into the
woods shortly before Ichiro leaps into the woods
behind the fireball.
The fireball completely misses Shiro as it blazes
through the forest, having been aimed in his
general direction only by sound. Snapping his
fingers Shiro calls two ninja, clothed from head to
toe in black, to either side of him and together
they go off searching for Ichiro's accomplice.
Meanwhile back in the smoke cloud, 3 hoarse cries
of "Goukakyuu no jutsu" can be heard in unison.
Through the smoke one can clearly see three large
balls of fire converging on the same spot.
Ichiro dodges the fist Goukakyuu that approaches
him, beginning his handseals as he does so. Ichiro
shouts, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" as the water
around him swirls into a massive pillar that
rockets towards the two remaining fireballs. The
pillar turns to steam as the first fireball is
completely smothered, but the second fireball
simply blazes a path straight through the heated
mist towards Ichiro. As the Goukakyuu smashes into
him full force, Ichiro turns into a large puddle
that is quickly vaporized by the fireball. The
real Ichiro rigs a small mirror to a branch with
wire, then dashes to another location amongst the
trees.
Seeing their target eliminated through the clearing
in the smoke left behind by the fireballs the three
ninja streak into the forest. Dashing through the
forest Shiro scans the area looking for even the
slightest trace of his prey. "Come out, I know you
are here."
Placing a sake bottle on the branch next to him,
Ichiro stands and hurls several explosive kunai at
the ninja around Shiro, dashing off into the woods
before notice is taken of his attack.
Seeing the explosive kunai come hurtling toward
him, Shiro snaps twice and the ninja around him
break formation. A smallish ninja to his right
takes a kunai to the arm which then proceeds to
explode, ripping his arm from his body. Sighing,
Shiro calls out, "Two, hunt down and detonate on
target two." As soon as the words are out of
Shiro's mouth, the now one armed ninja sets off at
a high speed towards where Ichiro had disappeared.
Ichiro moves through the forest to another position
from which he can watch Shiro and his companions.
Having dodged the exploding tags and having sent
his minion off on his course, Shiro drops back and
holds up his hand. Signaling for the large ninja
beside him to stop. Shiro waits for the rest of
his minions to catch up to him. The one armed ninja
now hurtling through the trees looks for any sign
of where his target might be.
A large ring of water swirls into being around
Ichiro as he rapidly forms handseals. A massive
pillar of water erupts from the ring and tears
through several trees as it bolts towards Shiro.
Shiro, seeing the pillar of water coming towards
him, snaps twice as he dives to the side and his
minion does likewise. Narrowly dodging the ninjutsu
Shiro stands up and brushes himself off calmly and
calls out "You are going to have to do better then
that." Sniffing once Shiro snaps and points at
where Ichiro is. As soon as he points at Ichiro the
large ninja runs up a tree and dashes toward his
target while pulling a large kanabo from it's
straps on his back. The pillar of water, after
rushing past and narrowly missing Shiro, shoots
into the woods and intercepts the three ninja who
were on their way to regroup. Two of the ninja are
hit by the attack and propelled backwards into
trees where they swiftly erupt into a blue flame
and explode destroying everything within 20 feet.
Drawing the large sword from his back and hurling
it at Shiro in one motion, Ichiro blazes through a
series of handseals. As he looks at the large
ninja rapidly approaching, water begins to swirl
around him again.
Yelling, "Dodge," Shiro pivots on his heel so that
the large metal blade only manages to graze his
arm, leaving a rip in his shirt and a small spray
of blood. Upon hearing his masters verbalized
command, the large ninja running in the tree tops
flings himself to the side through the trees. The
ninja who managed to survive the last blast of
water finally arrives next to Shiro and falls into
formation directly at Shiro's side.
Throwing four explosive kunai towards Shiro and the
ninja next to him, Ichiro forms a single handseal
then ducks behind a tree.
Pushing the ninja beside him away from the
exploding tags Shiro ducks down so that the kunai
skim narrowly over his head. A split second before
the explosions go off Shiro calls out, "One and
Four form up on me" and, amidst the explosions of
Ichiro's kunai, he starts dashing towards the
clearing where the whole fight started.
Shifting his weight to rapidly slide around the
tree, Ichiro moves to intercept the large ninja
before he can regroup.
Finally locking on to his target the one armed
ninja shoots towards him with a raspy excited noise
emanating from his throat.
Nearly at the large ninja, Ichiro notices the
presence of the one-armed ninja. Ichiro turns and
kicks the small ninja squarely in the stomach just
as the ninja's flesh begins to boil. Ichiro's kick
launches the ninja away seconds before the ninja
erupts in a massive explosion which sears Ichiro
and rockets him backwards through the trees.
Shiro breaks into the clearing with the large ninja
a few yards behind him and heads towards the large
tree in the middle where his weapon has been left.
Ichiro tumbles through the forest for several
seconds, taking pieces out of trees as he smashes
into them. The light burns that cover Ichiro begin
healing slowly as he lays unconscious on the forest
floor for several minutes. Shaking his head as he
gathers himself up, Ichiro groans and looks around
trying to determine where he is.
Upon reaching the tree and picking his weapon back
up, Shiro waits calmly in the middle of the field
for his opponent to show up.
Making his way back along the path of damaged
trees, Ichiro searches for his sword. Finding the
sword speared through a tree, Ichiro pulls it free
and begins searching for Shiro's trail. Following
the trail cautiously, Ichiro stops just short of
the clearing. Producing his last two bottles of
sake, Ichiro binds them together using a small
section of wire and placing a number of explosive
tags on the bottles. Ichiro hurls the bound
bottles directly at Shiro as he steps out into the
clearing.
Running backwards Shiro calls out, "Four engage the
target. Two follow me." Running forward the ninja
gets hit by the sake bottles and staggers a bit as
the flaming contents spill all over him setting him
alight before he once again resumes his charge
towards Ichiro.
Throwing one of his last explosive kunai into the
ground in front of the ninja, Ichiro forms several
handseals very rapidly and launches a spike of
water at the ninja as the kunai explodes.
The ninja staggers slightly from the force of the
blow before lunging towards Ichiro, drawing his
katana to attack as he does so.
Drawing his katana straight into the ninja's
katana, Ichiro shifts the blades away as he brings
his slightly glowing right leg around to kick the
ninja in the head. Ichiro's leg glows brighter as
it connects solidly with the ninja's head, sending
him spinning a few feet to the side.
Seeing his ninja distraction get kicked to pieces,
Shiro grins, jumps onto the back of the large ninja
beside him and says loudly "It's Showtime."
Instantly the large ninja with Shiro on his back
charges towards the tree and runs up it at break
neck speed. Upon reaching the top of the tree he
leaps into the air, and, upon reaching the height
of his jump, throws Shiro up even higher. In the
air above the field Shiro blazes through a series
of well memorized handseals. Puffing out his chest
Shiro yells out, "Goukakyuu no jutsu!" and let's
loose a fireball directly down upon the portion of
the field where Ichiro and his ninja are fighting.
Looking up, Ichiro says, "Wow," as he slams his
katana into the ground. Blazing through handseals
as fast as he possibly can, Ichiro shouts,
"Daibakufu no Jutsu," as a mass of water swirls in
front of him to block most of the massive blast.
The fireball vaporizes the mass of water in front
of Ichiro, smashing into him with somewhat
diminished power. Bracing himself against the
attack, Ichiro is torched by the heat and crushed
to the ground by the force of the explosion.
Laughing, Shiro flies through the air as he watches
his massive Goukakyuu turn the area below into a
hellish nightmare. Approaching the edge of the
forest he twists in the air and manages land
against a tree feet first. Using his hand to
stabilize himself Shiro slides down the tree using
the tree walking technique to slow down a bit.
Hitting the ground Shiro runs towards the burning
field and where he had last seen Ichiro. Upon
finding the unconscious young man, Shiro carefully
picks up the young man and carries him into the
woods.
Ichiro wakes with a start and abruptly sits up and
mutters, "Whu?" Looking around Ichiro quickly
realizes what's happened. Noticing Shiro sitting
next to him with glowing hands, Ichiro slowly forms
several handseals before a clone appears. "Fetch
the sake then go find my sword." Ichiro lies back
down and says, "I think I need to avoid anymore
head trauma for awhile," as he allows Shiro to get
back to his work.
Grinning Shiro says, "You took quite a spill there,
that would have probably killed a lesser ninja. I
couldn't see much from above other then my attack,
how did you survive?"
Ichiro says, "Sake!" as the clone emerges with the
bottle left on the tree branch. Handing the bottle
to Ichiro, the clone dashes back into the woods.
"Erm, sorry...Very, very fast handsealing...and
some luck," Ichiro says with a grin as he opens the
bottle and takes a drink.
The blue surrounding Shiro's hands gently fades
away as he removes them from Ichiro, "Sorry I am
about tapped for chakra right now, so I can't heal
you any more and no need to be apologizing for
surviving that. If you hadn't then we would both be
in a spot of trouble, and officially you would have
died in a freak library fire."
"That is kind of how I expect to go someday..."
Ichiro says thoughtfully. "Thanks for the
patchwork, I'm sure the other me can spare a bit of
chakra to finish up a bit more." Ichiro sits up
and stretches as some of his smaller wounds
continue to heal visibly then rests his back
against a tree. "Aah, yeah, that feels pretty
good." Looking to Shiro, Ichiro asks, "So, what do
you think?"
Shiro grins a disquieting grin, "I think you did a
good job to kill 3 enemy ninja, now I have to go
waste a day off explaining to their family members
that they were killed by a young hot-shot."
Ichiro grins back, "Yes, you go explain why one of
them erupted in a massive explosion for no reason,
or why another leapt in front of a wave of flaming
sake with no regard for himself or any visible sign
of delay. One could also argue that I was merely
acting in self defense after what they did to my
clone...that poor, poor clone..." Ichiro says as he
acts as if a tear is running down his face.
"Besides, their coordination and skill were rather
lacking."
Shiro picks and chooses his words carefully, "What
would you say if I told you that you hadn't killed
those ninja, that they had been dead already, and
that in fact they had been brought back to life ?"
"Well, I'd say they certainly seemed stupid
enough." Ichiro takes another gulp of sake and
says with a much harder look on his face, "That
would certainly explain why so much of the
information on you seems to have vanished though.
Jutsu like that can't be all that popular with a
lot of people...I would imagine."
Shiro chuckles grimly, "You have no idea of the
trouble this little jutsu of mine would bring me if
word got out. Of course the way I see it is that
since we ninja are no more than tools during life,
then why shouldn't we serve as tools after death as
well?"
Ichiro nods, "Perhaps I can introduce my teammate
Wanizame Taishita to you at some point. I believe
he has a similar interest in such 'tools.' I
prefer my own tools to have a little less life of
their own...unless said tool is a clone of mine.
Then they usually think closely enough along the
same lines as myself to be useful..." Ichiro puts a
hand to his chin, "Although, there have been a few
that, well, something just didn't seem to have
worked out quite right in their head during the
jutsu."
Shiro nods "Heh, you might be able to create clones
that can think and act on their own, but they still
can't leave gaping craters in the earth." he
adjusts himself against a tree and continues
"Perhaps I should meet this Taishita. By the way,
the Tsurugami family is looking for bright young
ninja like you. I can personally guarantee a swift
entry into the family if you choose to ever join
us."
"As far as clones go, I suppose that's true."
Ichiro thinks for a moment, "I suppose I'll give
some thought to your offer." Ichiro stands and
brushes himself off as his clone returns with his
katana. Ichiro bows, "I should probably be on my
way. I ought to catch back up with Taishita, and I
need to change into something a bit less...smokey."
Shiro nods "I had better be leaving as well, it
wouldn't be good for me to be caught in the area of
another large fire. Make sure you take care of
those wounds, all a ninja has is his body."
Standing up, Shiro wipes the dirt off himself and
looks down at Ichiro "If you ever need anything
look me up and I will see what I can do."
Ichiro bows again, "Thank you, Shiro-sama, I'll be
sure to do that, although I try to keep the number
of favors I owe people to a minimum. Farewell."
Ichiro takes his katana from the clone, quickly
cleans it, then sheaths it before dashing off into
the woods, closely followed by his clone.
A Challenge Accepted
Re: A Challenge Accepted
Point Awarded.