Tank visits the training grounds

As Tank's first punch missed as he expected it most likely would have. His uppercut was on its way when out of nowhere Kenshin had completely stopped his punch. Before he knew what was happening he was being thrown over Kenshin's shoulder and toward a large tree. Tank smashed into the tree with a loud thud and cracked open some fo the bark then plopped onto the ground face first. He began to get up as fast as he could and locate Kenshin for his next attack. By the time he had turned around Kenshin was already on the attack. As Kenshin slid toward his left leg Tank raised his his knee to intercept what he thought was a slide kick. Then Kenshin's elbow jutted out and into his chest with more force than he had ever felt before. As the elbow struck him he would be launched bacckward into the tree that was behind. This time the force from him being launched into the tree would be much greater and cracked open the entire trunk of the tree. 

Tank would be leaning against the tree with his head hanging down and his legs slightly bent and wobbling as more cracking could be coming from the trunk of the tree. As Tank stood there in pain he would reach out and attempt to grab Kenshin before he could retreat from Tank or begin another attack. His goal was to get a hold on Kenshin and toss him agaisnt the tree forcing it to fall over and pin Kenshin between him and the trunk with Tank on top of him so he could start a sort of ground and pound assault.

Tank's attempt to grab Kenshin had failed horribly and left him open to a counter attack. As Kenshin's first landed on Tank's chin he would feel his teeth grind together and forced his head up and backward. As his head slammed against the tree he felt another strike land on his body forcing him backward into the tree that now started to crack loudly and fall backwards. As Tank and the tree fell backward He could see a flash of Kenshin lauching himself up onto a tree branch then back down at him landing both of his feet firmly onto Tank's chest. Tank's body bowed inward as Kenshin landed on him and all of the air was forced out of Tank's lungs. Once Kenshin lept off of his chest Tank would roll off of the tree trunk and down onto all fours. Tank stayed there for a few seconds gathering himself and then stood up with his back facing Kenshin. He then turned around revealing several bruises and cuts on his body with a bit of blood coming out of his mouth. "You hit a lot harder than I thought you would, I'll give you that." Tank spat some blood out of his mouth and then began moving toward Kenshin again in a more defensive posture.

Kenshin would look towards Tank with an awkward expression as he noted the damage he had already received within such a small amount of time. It was odd to say the least that this man was willing to continue pushing himself forward despite the tremendous difference in their strengths. To say the least Kenshin was a little proud of this behavior the man was showing as it reminded him greatly of himself, unrelenting in his pursuit of power down to the very last second of each battle he had been involved in. Remembering his battle with the other genin Zero he would chuckle lightly as he remembered the amount of pain he had been put through and how Tank seemed to be in that exact same situation against him. With a simple flick of his foot Kenshin would thrust himself forward directly at Tank and quickly form a single hand seal causing three perfect copies of him to form making a perfect triangle around Tank with the real Kenshin being the one directly in front of him. All three would begin quickly circling Tank making it far more difficult to discern which one was the real one as they moved at a rather fast pace compared to Tank's own speed.

Suddenly all three would suddenly turn and sprint towards Tank from several different directions, one clone being directly in front of Tank and the other coming from his left, all three of them aiming punches for his head from their corresponding sides. The real Kenshin being to his right would have his fist slam into Tank's cheek and likely send him tumbling several feet if contact was made. His smirk reemerging on his face he would continue forward to move behind Tank while he was still moving sending a swift kick to his body to send him into the air and leaping into the air Kenshin would pass Tank and with a quick spin he would strike Tank once again with his heel to send him jolting back to the ground with a great amount of force before he landed several meters away his smirk now vanished as he gave off a bored expression as he stared at Tank once again.

Tank was holding his hands up ready to guard any oncoming attacks. Then he noticed a small smirk on Kenshin's face as he stood there. Immediately afterward Kenshin burst toward him and did a single handseal. Then Tank sees two more Kenshin show up on either side of him. Before they reach him they all begin to move around him in a circle making it impossible for Tank to know which one is the real Kenshin. As they move around him Tank tightens up and braces for an incoming attack from any angle. Soon enough the three Kenshin break formation and head straight after him with Tank covering his head as much as possible. Tank gets slammed in the face from his right side by Kenshin's punch although he was slightly protected by his huge arms covering his head. Tank is sent off of his feet to his left almost completely parrallel to the ground before Kenshin shows up again kicks him with enough force to change his trajectory making him go straight up into the air. Tank winces in pain from the blows as Kenshin once again almost instantly appears above him and slams him down towards the ground. 

Tank smashes into the ground with a loud thud and a good ammount of dirt and dust puff up and into the air surrounding him. Tank lays on the ground in the worst pain he has ever felt in his life covered in bruises, scapes, and multiple cuts that are oozing blood. while he lays on the ground breathing shallow and convincing himself he still has more left in him. If given a few seconds Tank would eventually crawl onto all fours and push himself up to his feet. He staggered a bit as he stood and looked around to find where Kenshin was. Once he found Kenshin he would see that he looked bored as if Tank wasn't even worthy of being on the same planet as him or at least thats how Tank felt. He could feel the emotions of his childhood returning and he felt worthless and weak. Tank took a few steps toward Kenshin and fell down onto all fours again.  

Tank then stands up and takes a deep breath and steadies himself before charging at Kenshin with the last bit of energy he has left in an attempt to land any kind of attack. Tank would throw several punches at Kenshin the first being a right hook to the body followed by a straight left toward Kenshin's face then a flurry of jabs as fast as he could throw them. As he did all of this his vision began to blur red as from blood getting into his eyes. It stung but he would continue on regardless of whether he could see or not until one of them ended this.

Kenshin's expression of boredom would slowly shift to that of pity as he looked upon Tank as if seeing the memories of his childhood with his own eyes. Easily being able to tell the man had been through quite a lot just by the look on his face and the pain he could see in his eyes. This discovery actually being somewhat capable in shaking his resolve to just beat Tank he would watch on as he charged forward to begin his own offensive. Unable to move effectively Kenshin would begin moving his head back and forth rather sloppily in an attempt to avoid the punches only for each and every one of them to make contact forcing his head to lurch forwards and back and side to side as the blows landed. It was after the final blow that Kenshin would stumble backwards several feet before tripping over a rather small branch sending him directly onto his butt. All that was on his mind at the moment was the look within Tank's eyes and his facial expression the moment he had noticed Kenshin's boredom towards him. It was the exact same look that he had frequently held himself, a look of despair and hatred, a face no man should ever wish to wear in their life time.

Struggling to bring his mind back into the fight Kenshin would slowly bring his hand to wipe his face as he had a faintly blooded lip from the numerous strikes Tank had struck him with. It was of course at this time that Kenshin would finally stand once again, taking a defensive posture as he wished to see more of what Tank was capable of rather than outright embarrassing him and ending the fight now. His mind still frequently drifting off to the stare he was given by Tank he worried about his mental state and just how emotionally scared he was. Regardless it was something Kenshin did not wish for somebody else to live through alone as he had experienced that path for several years within his own life, his accumulated hatred still not completely vanished from him.

Tank was amazed as several of his attacks had landed on Kenshin. They were even enough to knock him back and bloody his lip. As Kenshin stood back up Tank gathered himself again calming himself from the burst he had just had. He felt revitalized to a certain extent after landing those punches, but could still feel the sorness of his body being beaten earlier. Tank hadn't noticed Kenshin being distracted so to him it felt like he had actually made a breakthrough in his fighting abilities. This giving him a bit of confidence he realized he needed to continue attacking or Kenshin would take over this battle rapidly again. Tank performed a single handseal and created two clones of himself  and ran at Kenshin in a straight line with Tank being the third one in line. The three Tank's would run at Kenshin and the first two would cut out to the left and right to attack from the side. While The front two did that the real Tank would continue running right at Kenshin. The real Tank charging Kenshin would cock back a punch from his right hand and would be the last one to arrive so that hopefully Kenshin would be off balance from the two clones fake attacks.

Kenshin would watch closely as Tank formed the same hand seal as he did earlier causing two clones to faze into existence and began moving in perfect sink with one another to formulate a rather viable strategy of confusing the enemy. The sad truth however was Kenshin would not be so easily tricked with such a technique as he knew full well the normal clone jutsu did not create solid clones and thus the copies did not create shadows as solid ones would or the original would as they were solid beings. Easily picking out the Tank with a shadow he simply ignored the others and awaited Tank's strike. Extending his left hand with an open palm he would grasp Tank's fist as it came forward and letting the strike continue forward somewhat to bring Tank closer he would raise his right arm to grasp Tank by his tricep and push upwards to force him off of his feet, guiding his body upwards with the grip he had on his fist. Quickly turning his body he would swing Tank towards the ground with a great amount of force to slam him upon the ground and immediately afterwards leap backwards focusing chakra into the soles of his feet to stick to the bark of a nearby tree.

A smile forming on his face as Tank was showing a more tactical mind Kenshin would clasp his hands together forming another hand seal causing his hair to suddenly sprout out in five long and thick strands resembling that of snakes whipping through the air, wrapping around trees and releasing the chakra within his feet he would simply hang in the air. maneuvering one of the strands upwards to grip a branch directly above him he would guide the other four towards Tank to quickly wrap around each of his limbs to restrain him and slowly lift him into the air. Slowly bringing Tank closer he would grin at him as the hairs began to spread all over his body as if forming a cocoon around his body but leaving his head untouched. "You know this likely would have been a much better fight if you were faster" he said quietly as if giving him advice on what he needed to work on.

Tank's punch was caught by Kenshin easily it seemed which quickly turned into a body slam over Kenshin's shoulder. As Tank was slammed into the ground this time instead of thrown like he was right at the start of this fight. Yet again he would land on the ground with a loud thud and pain running all the way up his back from being beaten up so much. Tank laid on his back while Kenshin went and ran onto the tree and performed his handseals to make his hair tentacles grab Tank by all four limbs and wrap him up easily over powering him. As Kenshin spoke to him it seemed as if Kenshin wanted to help him. Tank listened carefully and nodded in agreeent with Kenshin "I know, I really need to work on everything." Tank's head hung down in deafeat "I'm ready for this to be over if you wouldn't mind letting me down."

Kenshin would lightly chuckled as the strands of hair would slowly lower Tank to the ground and gently unravel themselves before going back to their original length and at that moment Kenshin would release the hand seal and drop to the ground. His posture rather relaxed it was obvious that Tank was unable to cause any real damage to him as even his strength wasn't enough to cause substantial damage to him. Slowly sliding his hands into his pockets he would begin walking away from Tank raising his left hand into the air as if waving to him as he began walking down the path back to the village. If Tank payed even little attention he would be able to plainly see the uchiha crest presented openly on the fabric of the back of his cloak. His facial expression going back to its usual blandness he would simply reenter the village and proceed to the uchiha district where he lived within an apartment building all alone.

TWC:1804
1804 words towards the claiming of earth spear 2792/3000
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