Let's Set Things Straight... (P)

 
Kazuo would enter the market, hopefully followed by the other two, giving off a confident air, as if he had been there many times before. He would take care of some personal business as the walked, stopping and talking with a few shady looking people several times along the way to his destination. He would also point out the collection office to the boy carrying the corpse, letting him go relieve himself of the body and fill his wallet a bit for his troubles.
 
Eventually, they would arrive at the outskirts of the black market, which was currently on the borders of Kazuo’s homeland, The Land of Iron. Pine trees surrounded the clearing they had entered, and snow covered the ground. ”First of all, I’ve given you my name, but neither of you have given me yours. For a guy that claims to have standards, that’s pretty rude.” He would say, directing it mostly at Kaigo. He could tell this guy was gonna be trouble unless he made it clear he was the boss.
”Now, before I start planning with you two, I wanna see what I’m working with here.” He would say, about facing so that he was facing the other two. Kazuo’s left hand sat on the top blade of his left hip, so that if he drew the sword, he would be holding it in icepick grip. His stance would be loose, his right arm falling limp and his grip on the hilt of his blade slack.
 

”So, I want the two of you to attack me. Don’t be shy about it.” He would say. ”Well? What are you waiting for?”

Kaigo walked through the black market, stopping as Kazuo did when he conversed with others. He kept feeling eyes on him, but just kept walking. He rubbed at his throat, feeling a little thirsty. Why was it that attacking people always made him so damned parched? Kazuo stopped again, pointing to the body collection booth, so the other could drop the body off and get paid. 

They eventually had found their way to the edge of the black market, or so it seemed. They were in a clearing, surrounded by trees. The ground was covered in snow, making Kaigo give a little shiver. He had always hated the cold. Due to all this, Kaigo gave a guess that they were close to the Land of Iron. It was then Kazuo asked for his name, and partially insulted Kaigo. Once again, his hands gripped tight at his sides, but he knew that it was a bad idea to fight Kazuo at this point and time.

Kazuo then asked to see what he was working with, as he laid his left hand on the hilt of the sword strapped to his left hip, his other hand falling to his side. So, it seemed they were to fight after all. Well, fine. Kaigo ran at him, dodging from side to side. He would jump from the right side to the left of Kazuo, then bring his leg around, feigning a kick attempt. He'd then attempt to spiral his body around to his back, swinging an elbow at the back of his head, then quickly dashing back out of range.

Raian followed closely behind his two companions, they were walking through what Raian guessed to be the black market. As the walk progressed, all three were completely silent, except for Kazuo whom stopped occasionally to speak with people. This place was strange, Raian suspected that someone was going jump out and cut his throat. He knew however that this was unlikely considering the that the mere sight of him instilled fear in most enemies. 

Now the trio came upon what appeared to be a clearing surrounded by trees, Raian figured this to be the edge of the black market. The ground was covered in snow, Raian was thinking about the cold when Kazuo asked for the names of his new companions. Raian stated his name, the other man proceeded to attack Kazuo. Raian watched for a second then then he concentrated on forming his chakra into a scalpel and sharpening it. However, the scalpel turned out small and somewhat dull, it would have to do for now. Raian ran at Kazuo attempting to swing the scalpel at his chest.

Kazuo listened to Raian give his name, and visibly scowled when the other man did not give his. Was it really that difficult to give a name? When they attacked, he took note of their styles. Raian attacked with a chakra scalpel, something he had seen used by medical ninja on several occasions in his dealings with them. The other man was using taijutsu, although he seemed rather inexperienced in it, his movements were very slow.
 
Kazuo would form his own counter. Raian, who didn’t waste time zigzagging as if Kazuo were going to throw his sword at him like Kaigo did, would reach him first. Kazuo would respond by drawing his blade using his quickdraw technique, and swinging at high speeds to intercept Raian’s chakra scalpel, blocking with the blade. With his right hand, a half tiger seal would be formed. As this happened, he would draw away his left arm, leaving a ghostly arm made up of his chakra holding the blade in place, and therefore blocking Raian. Another hand would form from the same place, this arm would return to the second blade on his belt, which he would draw using the same quickdraw technique, aiming to strike Raian in the gut with his blade while his guard was left open by his other sword. If Raian could not block or dodge the attack, Kazuo would stop it just before it collided with his gut.
 
As for the other man, Kazuo still had two free hands, and he was a very good multitasker. Kazuo first lifted his free right arm defensively to block Kaigo’s kick, which turned out to be a faint. He couldn’t suppress a smile as Kaigo turned to elbow Kazuo. You did not want to turn your back on an opponent in close quarters, ever. That fancy shit that people do in movies never works in real life. To capitalize on this, Kazuo would thrust his right foot into Kaigo’s back, which would knock him forward a meter or two. Since he had no way of seeing that Kazuo was kicking, and Kazuo was moving far faster then Kaigo could, he doubted he could mount a counterattack.
 
As the boy flew forward, Kazuo made six hand seals, which he would finish just about the time that the boy landed on the ground. This would give him a very short window to react to what came next. Kazuo took in a deep breath, which, combined with the tiger seal he was forming, would let most experienced ninja know that a Katon technique was being used. Kazou would exhale, spitting out six fireballs at Kaigo. The first one would go directly at him, the next two would be aimed to the boy’s immediate right and left, and the next three would curve around the others, flying towards the boy’s left and right flanks, with the final one coming down from above him. He would have to do some incredibly intricate dodging to avoid this, and if any of them hit him, the others were almost sure to hit due to the stun from the blast.

”This is what happens when you neglect to tell people your name. They get pissed.” Kazuo would advise him sarcastically.

(-160, 90 actions remaining)

Kaigo smirked as he felt the foot collide with his back. This was what was needed, after all. Once he was flying forward, he'd catch himself on his hands, and flip forward, pushing off the ground and making solid contact with one of the many trees in the ring. After landing, he'd take a second to observe the situation. There were six fireballs all approaching him, and the man, who's name was Raian, appeared to be in a power struggle with Kazuo, who had ghost arms spouting from his body. Kazuo then made a remark about people getting pissed about names. Was a name really that important? And besides, he had no assurance that he wouldn't betray him later. After all, everyone else had.

Kaigo would keep himself steady, sliding down the tree when the balls of fire were as close as possible, without actually hitting him. Hopefully, this would cause the balls to impact on the tree as Kaigo slid down, out of harms way. He'd land on his feet, rising with a dramatic flip of his hair, as embers from the fireballs fell around him.

"My name, if it's so damned important, is Kaigo. Kaigo Resu. Now, Raian, stay back and far way from me." Kaigo would say, jumping around to get within at least 10 meters distance of Kazuo. Once he had, Kaigo would make a tiger sign, effectively blinding Kazuo, and possibly Raian if he hadn't followed his advice, using the Bringer of Darkness technique. If it worked, Kaigo would jump backwards, planning his next moves, and giving Raian some one on one time with the now blinded Kazuo, indicating to him that it was okay to move back in with a nod of his head, and pressing his finger to his lips in an indication that he should remain as quiet as possible.

Kazuo had blocked Raian's attack, this did not surprise him, Kazuo was much faster than Raian. The two were now in power struggle, Kazuo was well built, Raian could not get past his blade. Glancing upon his arms, Raian noticed ghostly arms coming off of the arms of Kazuo. This scared Raian, who had never seen this before.

Kaigo attacked Kazuo, his attack seemed to defy the laws of physics. Kazuo shot fireballs at Kaigo who jumped upward landing on a tree. Raian did not see what happened next, Kaigo seemed to slide down the tree. Suddenly Kaigo yelled at Raian to move now, Raian followed his instructions and dashed backwards, a good 15 meters away from Kazuo. Raian watched as Kaigo jumped in towards Kazuo, and he noticed the tiger seal Kaigo made. Kaigo then jumped back, nodding at Raian, seemingly an indication that he could go to attack again. Raian slashed Kazuo in the arms and legs with the chakra scalpel, unfortunately this only did a small bit of damage  because the scalpel was so dull. Realizing the scalpel was not enough Raian used a series of kicks to do a little damage, he ended with a roundhouse kick to the head.

Kazuo watched Kaigo defy the laws of physics and backflip across the field to a tree. What a showoff. And Raian seemed completely oblivious to the sword that almost slashed him across the gut. Luckily, Kazuo used his incredibly powerful muscles to stop the swing, holding it at Raian’s gut as he turned and ran like a cripple. Kazuo, wanting to see what Raian would do, simply dissipated the phantom arms, sheathing his blades. Suddenly, everything would go dark. Strange. He could still hear the wind, and could still feel the snow crunching under his feet. He was still totally conscious, but he was completely unable to see. His hands went to his eyes momentarily, and confirmed that nothing was there.
”Huh. Nice trick, kid.” He muttered into the open air. Luckily, he had an extra sense to fall back on in this situation. He would focus, detecting the chakra signatures of both Raian and Kaigo. They weren’t quite strong enough for him to detect without conscious effort, but it seemed they both had chakra pools comparable to his own. Unfortunately, his physical prowess was still far superior, mostly due to his intensely powerful muscles mentioned earlier.
 
Kaigo didn’t seem to be doing anything at the moment, while Raian’s signature was making another charge towards him. He didn’t know if he would be able to block the attack that was sure to come using his blades, so he figured another attack with Hōsenka no Jutsu Would be a good strategy.  Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger, The hand signs were complete again, and Kazou would take in a deep breath. He felt like he was getting better at this, the hand signs almost felt unnecessary, as if he could knead the katon without them. He didn’t feel quite confident about it yet, but he’d have to try it later. Perhaps even during this fight, if he felt up to it.
 

Anyways, Kazou would exhale, blasting three fireballs in Raian’s direction, sending the first one at his feet, then curving the next two around them and striking him at the sides. Kazou did all of this targeting using his chakra senses. He would then turn, blasting the next three fireballs at Kaigo, sending one directly at him, one at his feet on his right side, and one at his chest on his left side.

Kaigo smirked as Kazuo, who should really brush up on his gymnastics, compliment his genjutsu. That was only the beginning of his bag of illusions to fuck with his mind. Kaigo's face fell a bit as he noticed that Raian hadn't gotten away from Kazuo's sword slash. He seemed to have a profound lack of situational awareness. That dampened his spirits a bit, but he had to concentrate on what was important right now, and that was getting Kazuo to realize that he had potential, and could well become his equal. He may be the leader per say, but he was no greater than anyone else. In the end, everyone was a capable shinobi, and would end up as dirt and dust in the end.

When Kaigo gave the signal, Raian ran back in. It seemed that through his blindness, Kazuo had retained some form of sight, as he blasted three fireballs at Raian, and three at Kaigo. Kaigo would run ahead, jumping up and right, hopefully out of the way of the fireballs. He would then charge at Kazuo, signaling at Raian to plug his ears. Once within Kazuo's hearing range, Kaigo would circle, staying within hearing range, and form the hand signs needed for his next genjutsu. Ox → Boar → Horse, then a very loud, audible clap.
 
"Prepare to get a bad case of Cat Scratch Fever." Kaigo would say as he would clap his hands. If Kazuo heard the clap, then the Cat Genjutsu would begin. He'd soon be trapped in his mind, locked in a house with ninneko attacking him from every direction. If the genjutsu landed, then Kazuo's body in the actual world would be stilled for the duration of the genjutsu, allowing Kaigo and Raian to cripple him, strip him of his weapons, and whatever else they saw fit.

Raian was stunned to see Kazuo standing there, doing nothing. He figured Kaigo had caused this with some sort of Genjutsu, he thought about attacking Kazuo but decided against it. He then thought about attacking Kaigo, the reason he considered this was because of the cat scratch fever pun.

Raian would run at Kaigo, jumping into the air and coming down with a kick to the head of Kaigo. He would proceed with a multitude of punches to the body and head, throwing Kaigo to the ground. The thought of killing Kaigo crossed Raian's mind, he however, decided that death was to extreme a punishment for a bad pun. Raian would then say "Your puns are almost as bad as your skills in combat."

Kazuo heard a bad pun, followed by a clap from Kaigo, and felt the scene change. Under his feet, the previously frozen dirt became soft carpet. Still blind, Kazuo felt the floor and raised an eyebrow.
”What the hell?” He muttered, as a shriek of a cat sounded behind him. A metal clink was followed by a blind slash of a sword, pulled free of Kazuo’s sheathe.
 
A cat? Where were they coming from? He didn’t know, but they sure do come. This was kind of fun though, like skeet with a sword. He hoped they would keep coming for him. He didn’t know how they were doing this, but they sure were good at sneaking up on him. He hoped that this fight wouldn’t cost him anything.
 

Outside the genjutsu, Kazuo’s body stood limp, his arms at his sides, his eyes closed. The two others were fighting, which would leave him relatively safe for the moment. However, this genjutsu would be broken sooner or later, and if something had happened to Kazuo while he was trapped inside it, or, God forbid, one of them had touched one of his swords… The consequences would be absolutely horrible… Dun dun duuuuun!