Rasari VS Mikami

Rasari was sitting cross-legged in a small clearing in the forest on the mountainsides' of his homeland. His sword, Furui, rested on his lap while it's master contemplated the scents and sensations of the wilds. The smell of the fresh grass right after last nights rains, the beating of wings as a hummingbird hovered in search of nector. The gentle wind flowing in from the south-east, carrying a hint of smoke from the campfire Rasari had set up the night before in vain. It was all very peaceful. Then someting changed.

The birds stopped singing.

The young hunter could hear footsteps approching. They were very stealthy, whoever it was, but to his keen senses they might as well have been a marching band. No-one could hide from him. He stood, holding his sheathed sword in his left hand.

"I know you are there. Reveal yourself, and let me see you proper", Rasari called out into the wilderness. He kept all his senses open to the fullest extent. Wherever they came from, the young hunter would not be suprised.

OOC: You can be any of your characters, I just put Mikami since it's your username. ^^

Strangley he was without his Black Ops this time, alone in the woods. He was fitted in a loose white fabric with locks across the chest, and loose fitting pants that swayed and flapped in the wind. The cuffs on his arms and pants-ankle were tight, preventing his sleeves from interfering with his movements during combat. He was dressed as a typical monk or sensei, showing his superior battling skills, or skills he thought were superior than the rest. He was hoping to test the taijutsu he had learned but was also scared of it at the same time. Even though he was a stanger he did not want to kill him.

Brushing his white socked thong sandals across the leaves, Mikami held his position and was ready for the stranger to make the slighest move. They had not known each other, but through the language of combat they could find out everything about each other. Mikami preferred that over words. "Conversation is for civilians, we are shinobi, let us communicate through battle as they have done it centuries past"

Instantly Mikami took to a stance, turning his torso right as he placed his left foot on the ground in front of his body. With his left foot arched up, and toes touching the ground, his right foot stayed behind for balance and power. He folded his right arm behind his back and held his left arm at an angle up, with the back off his fingers facing towards his opponent. the wind sifted in between them, and as always, Mikami waited.

OOC: Outfit looks like this, except a bit more ninja-ish, with pockets for shuriken and such.

Spoiler:

For a little while, Rasari and his opponent just stood there, niether moving. Both were watching the other for the slightest sign, the smallest hint, that would betray an attack. The twitch of a finger, a glitering in the eyes, a shift in weight. Any of these things could be the beginning of a battle that could end in death for one or both of them. Rasari could smell the chakra of his foe, and it was very high. This man was not one that he could afford to pull his punches with.

After five minutes of waiting and watching, Rasari realised that this man was waiting for him to strike the first blow. It was not his style (that is, it was not anymore) to do this, but it appeared that if he did not, they would be here for quite some time. Slowly, Rasari drew his sword, inch by inch out of his sheath. Painstakingly, he brought his sword down through the air, turning it into diagonal slash. All these movements were very slow and resembled Tai Chi with a sword. After a few minutes of these movements, he got into a stance.

His imaged blurred and then disappeared.

He was suddenly behind the foe, his sword swiftly coming down at his neck. Should his opponent dodge or block it, many other strikes would soon be struck. This stance allowed for fast, if not paticularly powerful, attacks. Let's see how sharp his reflexes are Rasari thought to himself.

The stance-play between the was absolutely brilliant and Mikami loved every bit of it. During the slow motion of his opponents sword-play, he could feel his adrenaline rising in his body, activating his chakras and getting his body warmed up. He could feel that his opponent would be no push-over, due to the carefulness of his sword-play, and more importantly the opponents overal speed. The moment he disappeared was crucial and Mikami sort of expected his opponent to move as such. If he had of been caught by surprise, that would have taken too long to react.

Mikami began a quick mental count down in his head. He had to react quickly, without thinking about the surprise of the opponents fast movement. Before his mental clock could reach a second, his body was lurched forward by some unknown force, throwing his being about four meters or so away from his opponent. Mikami pushed his feet out for braking, sliding his white sandals up against the ground as he came to a stop. Quickly turning around to face his opponent. Bending both of his legs as his body was almost at a stop, Mikami pushed his two feet off of the ground with high speed in one step, blasting forward towards Rasari with a technique known as 'Earth Fold'. Without a secondary step meeded fo push the blast enven further, he slightly pushed his feet down on the ground to lower his speed. His eyes began to glow an intense blue as his chakras were activated. Throwing a punch at his opponents chest, he knew that if he hit, he would break ribs.

Rasari nodded his approval. The reflexes of his opponent were excellent, able to evade such a fast attack like that was not an easy task. His foe jumped through the air back at him after his dodge. He propelled himself quickly through the air at Rasari, his eyes a-glowing. The punch that his foe was throwing would smash his ribs like twigs, if not go through him altogether.

The speed which he approched started to slow, but the young man still did not move. It would seem to the inexperienced eye that he had frozen like a mouse in the gaze of a cat. But his expression had nothing like that. He looked like a hunter, patiently waiting for his prey to get into reach. When the punch was only a few inches from his chest, Rasari moved. He did not shift his weight, or even bend his legs. He just slipped out of the punches' trajectory. He glided through the air, an inch off the ground, and struck out again with his sword. As he slid over the ground, he had moved his sword to a horizontal position, aimed at the mans' stomach. The foe was going to be gutted by the momentum of his own attack.

Rasari liked the poetry of that.

He knew he had to be facing another high ranked opponent. Not only were his reflexes quick, but his movements were just as fast. He had a high intelligence as seen in his last move, but what Mikami felt he failed to realize was simple. He already knew where all his weak points were, his strengths, his weaknesses, especially the weakness of moving so fast in a straight line. He wouldn't be caught so easily, especially by his own technique. The simple reason why he had chosen Earth Fold over Mirage.

His feet had already been lingering on the ground for quite some time, so Mikami continued the thrust. He had little time to react at the time frame was dying down. With rubber like soles, the moment Mikami's full weight hit the ground and instantly stopped, he experienced a bit of pain from stopping at such a high speed. The Earth Fold technique allowed him to bounce in some cases and in other cases increase his traction and grip. It still didn't seem to be enough due to his momentum still pushing him forward, but he now had room to work with. Due to the blades horizontal angle, Mikami shifted his whole entire body towards it's opposite, and threw his arm up.

This way the the blade was no longer pointed towards his gut, but in between the space of his side and his arm. He didn't have enough slow down to completely stop, which was a good thing. He was now past the range of the sword with enough room to attack. Using his 'Mirage' technique, Mikami aimed a punch again, knowing it would be impossible for his opponent to bring up a defense with his sword. He was already close enough, at least less than a meter and a half away. With Mirage able to propel him up to high speed in 3 meters or more, the small distance between him and his opponent was nothing, if he would have used Earth Fold for bounce, the opponent might have time enough to react, but Mirage offered speed that instant and allowed his opponent no time in some cases. He was sure his punch at his chest would meet as he moved towards his opponent with blinding speed.

Rasari raised an eyebrown. His foe was agile, no argument there. He must have great control to stop and move around at the speed he was going at at such short notice. At these ranges, such movements were almost impossible to make, but his opponent was capable of them. His suprise almost cost him. His opponent was already counter attacking, too close and fast for Rasari to block with his sword. He could move his arm in the way, the weights on them giving him enough protection to withstand the blow. But they weighed him down and he doubted he would raise it in time.

He had not wanted to use his Keiji so soon, but instinct kicked in. The world seemed to slow down, his foes fist barely an inch from his chest and getting closer. He would not have even had time to make a handseal. Rasari brought up his arm fast. Even with the world slowed down to him, the punch was coming in fast. He nudged his opponents arm away a few inches and brought his sword across his chest diagonally with blade pointing down from his hand, leaning forward as he did so. He was not able to move out of the way of the attack, but by doing this Rasari would have a sharp object between himself and his foes body. Leaning forward would introduce the hilt of his sword to the bridge of the opponents nose.

Slipping out of Keiji speed, there was a flash of movement. Rasari hoped he had placed his moves correctly and that pain would not flare up to prove him wrong.

Everything had happened so fast, there was little time to react to any movements. After a big flash of light, Mikami and the stranger stood toe to toe, with the stranger with the advantage. Mikami was bleeding, with a broken nose. Blood ran down his white clothing and his chest. However, he didn't seem that much fazed by the strike. For a "businessman" an eccentric grin escape from his mouth as he put his hands up to his face, around his nose. If it weren't for him taking the nose hit, his body would have kept going forward, instead of taking the upwards direction when his face hit the hilt of his weapon. Mikami cracked his nose back in to place, sending a small rush of blood down towards the ground.

Spitting a glob of blood away from his mouth. He had already wasted enough time, but now was the time to react. He had successfully breached his opponent once, and now there was nothing but trail and error. No time for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Mikami's image blurred and disappeared from his opponents line of sight. The sound of a smoke bomb being dropped near him caused the area around his opponent to clog up. Mikami took the advantage. Channeling Ki to his right hand, he aimed a strike at the hilt of his opponents blade. With the smoke advantage the opponent might have a hard time sensing his exact whereabouts. He would guard with the hilt of he wanted to be safe, but Mikami had something else up his sleeve.

Rasari grunted with satisfaction at his foes blood seeping from his nose. The strike with the hilt had done its job, breaking the extreme close range they had been in. The first lesson the Hissori swordmasters taught their students was that the blade was not the only danger on a sword. For a second, the man stood there, wiping blood away from his face. His opponent then disappeared from sight.

With a whoosh of released pressure, Rasari was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke. The advantage was back to him again. The young hunter could easily track anyone in any condition, be it rain, fog or darkness. He did not need his eyes too hunt. As soon as the smoke appeared, Rasari began to spin on the spot. He quickly picked up speed, becoming a blur. His sword was everywhere, slashing through the air as he used his free hand to take out a scroll. The sudden gush of wind cut through the cloud of smoke, thinning it out and eliminating it while pushing back any approching attacks. Suddenly, shuriken spat out at great speeds in the general direction of his foe as he came in for his strike.

Rasari shot into the air, still spinning and spitting out shuriken. He finally slowed, sending a few Wind Blasts at his opponent for good measure before desending back to the ground. He fell practically on top of his target, stabbing down with his sword with all the force gravity had lent him at the torso of the man. If successful, his sword would not stop until up to the handguard in the mans flesh.

Grabbing a set of kunai in each hand from his pocket, Mikami was able to match the shuriken thrown down on him with the kunai in his hand. There was no trouble in doing that. However, he did have to deal with a couple of things that would be a problem. The ninjutsu coming down upon him was not that difficult to deal with, even though he did not have any Katon attacks. Defending with a few Doton based attacks that covered his hands, the opponents chakra repelled the moment to touch, which gave Mikami the realization that his opponent must have a bloodline of some sort, as to why his attacks were nulled easy.

The problem though was reacting to his falling opponent, who was quickly coming down on top of him. Mikami could not use his dodge at this angle, but he would surely be able to react in time enough. The blade of the sword tip was coming down on him, and if it met its mar, it would pierce the top of his torso and taste the warm guts of his innards. He wasn't about to let that happen. Mikami waitied until thie perfect time to dodge and commesed his attack.

Using Earth Fold, he bounced up towrads his opponent at high speed, reducing the time frame between the attack. With Mirage, Mikami channeled a surge of chakra to his legs and lower waist, and at the same time, kicked both of his feet up. Now up side down, Mikami was inches away from his opponents back, which was still coming down towards the ground. The move was similar to 'Omote Renge', as Mikami was behind his opponents backside. Throwing his fist towards his opponents back as they both fell at the same speed towards the ground, Mikami figured his opponent would have little to no time to react. However, the punch would be minor, and not its full strength. At most, it would probably bruise his back muscles for a while.

Countering most of his attacks, Rasari quickly realised that his target was no longer where he should have been. Knowing what was likely to come next, he tried to roll with the punch to rob it of power, but it still cracked into his back with decent force. The fact they were falling fast did not help matters, but Rasari still had control. About an inch from the ground, he bounced on the air. From above, it would look like he had actually hit the ground and rebounded back into the air, but it became apparent quickly that the young hunter has not hit the ground. He was in the air far higher than the force of hitting the ground would have allowed.

When he came back bown to earth, he outstreched his arms like he was about to dive into a body of water. His sword's blade was tight along his arm, it's sheath clipped to his back. Instead of impacting with the floor, he went into it, rubble flying throught the air as he bury beneath the dirt. He had been lost from sight.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Silence swept through the clearing. Until suddenly, 'Rasari' burst up through the ground, spinning like a drill sending bits of rock and dirt everywhere. The tip of his sword was darting upwards, and if not avoided would very possibly shishkebab the opponent.

His hit had been successful, but Mikami was discouraged by his attempt to make it a good hit, which had obviously failed. His opponents ninjutsu was great, and he was lucky to have an earth element. Diving into the ground to get away from his attacker was a smart move, something that Mikami himself would have done. Mikami however, continued to keep his place within mid-air. Using his 'Changing Body Mass' technique, he was able to keep himself suspended in air just as he was, upside down for a few moments.

He was debating to go after his opponent, who had taken cover underneath the earth. He had enough strength to strike the earth and root him up, but the debris from the strike would probably be used to his disadvantage since the opponent was able to manipulate Doton as well. With his strength, he would have the advantage with large rocks underground, and since Doton was his primary element, he could have the advantage in an underground fight. However, Mikami felt like sticking with his taijutsu was paying off.

With little notice, the crumbling ground gave way to a piercing-drilling noise which alerted Mikami instantly. In his upside down position, he threw his head back, looking directly at the sword that was attempting to drill a hole through his head. With his mass being low, he would be dead instantly the moment he got hit. By giving up low mass, he was able to gain a better control over his movements. Kicking his legs back as if he were on a swing, he allowed his body to drift just outside the path of the sword. He was in the way of debris from the attack, but the stone fragments that hit his chest did no real damage to him at all. As his opponents head came down, Mikami quickly channeled his fist pure of energy. He aimed a hit for the crown of his head, which was still coming up from the ground. The spinning motion would probably throw off his balance and Mikami was a 100% sure that he would not be able to react due to his rotating. If the strike met, his neck would snap, that is if he was human. Being a Doton user he sensed that it might be some sort of bunshin, but Mikami wasn't sure about that.

'Rasari' looked up at the incoming fist. It was too fast to evade. But that was not what it had in mind. Just a millisecond before the punch hit, 'Rasari' gave a small smile. The strike hit the clone with a strange splating sound and the clones body suddenly became thick mud, covering the foe head to toe as the punch continued on where the head used to be. The mud got everywhere, front and back. There was a slight whistling sound from the ground as several kunai tagged with explosive notes flew at the man.

With his chakra emissions gone, the real Rasari blurred forwards from the other side of the clearing, his sword aiming at his opponents eyes while he was distracted by the mud and the explosive projectiles.

Mikami wasn't surprised with the clone, but he was surprised with the set up that he had fallen for. Since the clone had been nothing but mud, he could tell that he had fallen for a set up. Usually the attack was meant to blind the opponent while he attacked elsewhere. With this in mind, Mikami could come up with a counter. It would involve several methods though. With the mud in going towards his face, Mikami whipped out an explosive tag, placing it right on the ground before him. Detonating the tag, the explosion pushed out on the ground next to him, sending him flying several meters back from his position. Away from the cloud, Mikami was able to see that he had more than just mud to deal with. There were shuirken whizzing towards his first part, and he was still in range by a few. Guarding with his arm, the kunai clanked up against his forearm, deflecting off of it as if he skin were steel. His body began to sink unnaturally to the ground. With his opponent in view about three meters away from him he could make his attack.

With luck, Mikami had used his Changing Body Mass technique to deflect the kunai and escape from the explosion unharmed. He had forgotten about the explosive notes on them, but as they exploded the same result happened. Nothing. With his skin being so thick and his body grounded, he was able to survive the few explosive bombs with a few burn marks on his arm. As he landed, with his original mass, Mikami threw two punches down to the ground, causing the earth to shake a bit, due to his massive power. Two debris cloud appeared in front of him, and suddenly 'Mikami' burst out from the cloud. It took a bit longer for 'Mikami' to reach Rasari, but he expected him to have enough time to react.

Rasari noted how the man was able to withstand several explosions with only a few burn marks on his arms. How he could do this, the young hunter could only guess. He seemed to be able to use certain Doton techniques, which would explain the rich, earth scent of his chakra. If this was the case, then he was most likely hardening his skin somehow to withstand the force of the blasts. If this was the case, Rasari had been given a very bad opponent for him. If the foe could harden his skin, there was not many attacks that he could throw that would hurt him. The only consilation was that whatever he did to harden his skin seemed to weigh him down, judging by how he sunk when the kunai hit him.

His target burst out of the dust clouds he had moments ago created. For what reason, Rasari could not guess, until he clashed with the man. He smelled... new. He did not possess the scent of a person who had been alive very long. The only beings who smelled like this were new born children. That, and most clones. It seemed that his opponent was planning something and had quit the field for the moment. Rasari fought with the clone, both trading eye blurring blows. He did not know what the man was planning, but time would tell. He jumped straight over the head of his foe, turning in mid air and slashing down, aiming to cleave his opponents head.

The opponent continued to prove that he would be a bother time and time again. Mikami's patience though was astounding and he would continue to wait no matter what. With his patient mind, he would plan and analyze every move that his opponent had shown him and he would use it against him. He would wait. He could surely do it after all, he was apart of the underground, the lower parts of the 'Mist'. He had no trouble in waiting.

His opponent would be in for a number if he didn't move in mid air quick enough. The bunshin obviously couldn't defend against the opponent's attacking style, even though it was Mikami's flesh and blood intellectually. As soon as the sword had been aimed for his head, it met its mark, slashing through the matter of the clone. Instantly a loud 'vuuum' picked up in the area as the clone detonated, which was a combination of several types of explosives. A smoke bomb, a flash bomb, and at least three or four explosive notes. At this close range it would probably blind his opponents senses for a short period of time, because it was those senses that seemed to be key to his power.

As the light exploded and explanded beyond the stranger, the particles in the smoke cloud that detonated began to burn up in the combustion of the explosive notes. No doubt the opponent would suffer some minor burns on his face. If he breathed the slightest he would be down. During the explosion, Mikami appeared directly behind the stranger, throwing a punch at the same area he had last time, the area on his back.

Rasari, his instincts as sharp as always, managed to pull his cloak in front of him as the clone exploded. It offered little protectsion from the concussive force of the blast, but it prevented most of the fire from melting his skin instantaniously. Just as that thought passed through his mind, the young hunter had an idea. Due to his wiry frame, the blast hurled him far from the clones' location, clearing him from the smoke that would have probably been just as deadly as the fire. Using the Bachikku no Jutsu, he managed to control his flight to some degree, landing on his feet and skidding to a halt. His hair was smoking and a lot of his face was burned. His cloak was also alite and was starting to burn his flesh through his leather chestplate, but that would not last.

When his opponent attacked from his rear flank, Rasari was expecting him. Not only had his foe already done this once (and Rasari himself had used tactics like this since he was a Genin) it was not hard to figure out where the blow would be aimed. By the time he had landed, Rasari had already unfastened the clasp of his cloak. With a shrug and an upward flick of his arms it came free, just as the fist struck him in the square of the back. Rasari felt pain flare up his spine as the strike made contact, hitting his sheath square on (which luckly robbed the blow of some of its strength). The cloak flew back onto the opponent, the fire touching his skin and entangling him.

The power of his foes strike sent Rasari flying, but he managed to once again control his flight path, sending himself flipping over to his opponents back. He held out his free hand as he went and in a puff of smoke nin-wire exploded forth from his palm, preparing to wrap around the target and pinning his arms to his side and the burning cloak to his body. The young hunter remembered the explosion his kunai had done, leaving the man unharmed but burned. Whatever technique had saved the man from the concussive force of the blast did not seem to protect him from fire.

What defense his worthy opponent could cook up at such speed and at such close quarters Rasari was very interested to see. He doubted he would be able to take another hit of such strength and get back up again.

Of course the tactic was to strike a hit while the opponent was blindsided, but anyone would know the counter to such a technique. The opponents blind spot, mainly the back, was where the opponent would attack. All that was left for the stranger to do was to set up an attack that would allow him to counter the blast perfectly. His opponent had did just that, and a little more. Mikami was growing up set with his own lack of ninjutsu, even though he didn't like using it that much. In a type of situation like this, his only Suiton techniques took too much time to prepare, or needed a water source, neither of which he had. His hand was now beginning to burn, along with the cloak that was coming for him.

He had little time to think, his skin was already over heating. A couple first degree burns would not slow him or reduce his strength, he could deal with that sort of pain, as he had before. However, he had to find away to get out of the range of the fire before it caused anymore damage. He had room from his strike about an arm length, enough space for one jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The arm length from his punch allowed him plenty of room to create a clone. The clone was faced towards him, eye to eye. As the fire began to threaten the life of the clone, it rose its legs and pushed on Mikami's stomach, sending him flying back from the blast. the smoke from the bunshin was gone, and he was back to full health. He was at a disadvantage though. Luckily he moved his elbows and his forearms instead his upper arm. A strange resistance crossed his chest as the stranger and hisself flew back. Mikami wouldn't be captured so easily though. Since they were so close and in mid-air, he could control this and use it to his advantage.

Using his Mirage technique, he channeled the energy into a spin, which allowed him to turn around and face his opponent. The wire dug into his arms and skin, causing him to bleed in a small line around his entire body. The wound was non lethal, but stung like none other. Mikami wrapped his arms around his opponent, but did not touch his body. Locking both of his hands together he executed an attack that he was sure would work. He swiftly brought his locked hands towards the same spot on his back. Throwing his head towards the strangers face, he attempted to head-butt him, with enough power to break his nose, just as he had done his. The only way out was down, but if he did move down, the locked hands behind him would hit a higher part of his spine. The higher spine, the smaller the bone, the easier the break.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Rasari was having a rather bad time. His opponent was not just skilled, but intelligent. He had managed to pull a counter for his every move, and re-counter the counters that the young hunter had pulled against him. Not only that, but the techniques that he used were extremely effective against his fighting style. Hardening his skin meant that his blade could not pierce him, and both his elements were near useless against his foe. And now he was trapped, his sword dropped when the opponent had crashed into him. It truely was a time for last resorts.

It was time to use a move that no-one alive had seen, that this guy could not possibly expect.

Rasari closed his eyes and bowed his head forward. In the dark inside his mind, he found the Seal. Help me, ancestors, so that I may vanquish my foe thought the young man, his voice echoing inside the darkness. The Seal opened...

CRUNCH!

There was a bright white flash, and Rasari's head snapped back, dazed. By bowing his head to request assasistance from his ancestors, he had manage to take the blow his opponent had been aiming for his face on the crown of his skull without even intending too. The crunch could have been his skull cracking open or his foes' nose braking (for a second time), or possibly both. The blow seemed to have done it's work on Rasari. His head lolled back and his eyes were glazed over.

But he had somehow gotten a hold on the mans encircling arms. In a vice like grip, Rasari was starting to push out against his foes' grapple. Slowly, impossibly, he pushed them open a few inches, enough room for him to pull himself up out of reach. He planted his feet on the mans' shoulders and pushed off, using a large burst of Fuuton chakra to get an extra boost and to seprate his opponent to further down the field. The young hunter landed on his feet, blood steadly leaking down his head from where the man had head-butted his skull. A cloud of dust was kicked up as Rasari burst forwards, holding out a hand. Nin-wire once more jumped forth, aiming not for the foe, but his fallen sword. It wrapped around the hilt and Rasari pulled, bringing the sword to his hand. He closed on the target.

Rasari had become a blur. His sword struck out from every angle concieveable while the nin-wire in his left hand lashed like a whip, seeking to cut and entangle a limb or neck. The strikes landed with a strength that was on par with the blows the man had been swinging at him and the sudden explosion of energy was astounding. He had become a whirlwind of destruction that lesser beings would have no chance against. But his foe was far from lesser. His foe was of much higher ranking, and Rasari knew that the man would come up with something that would push him to his limits.

OOC:

Spoiler:

I think this fight is pretty much over.