The Poor People are Burning [p,nk]

The moment Wraith took a step forward, all of the body language signs and noises behind him clicked together. He was sure that if the kage wanted to execute him, it'd either be public or he'd be dead already. So, therefore, this must have some deeper purpose. At any rate, the moment Wraith took his step forward, Kozurou would turn, adopting a fighting stance with his right foot forward, he would barely be able to bring up his right hand to block the man's fist from colliding with his solar plexus, allowing the man's fist to push his hand a few inches in order to soften the momentum.

In the instant that Wraith's hand met Kozurou's, Kozurou's properly formed left fist would move from his left hip, moving for a straight sucker punch to the gut, with the palm-side of his fist facing upwards, of course. He didn't know if it would work, but he was certainly enjoying himself already. Being able to have a fight with what appeared to be a real member of the elite? This was the chance of a lifetime. Anyone that passed up an opportunity like this was an idiot. Kozurou would be focusing on Wraith, but would make sure to keep an eye out for anything else that might happen while he was at it.

Of course, as stated prior, the jab was in the likelihood of changing due to him only using it to test the waters of the boy, to truly see what he was made of and his imminent reactions. So far it hadn't been too extreme, nor too light, it appeared to be a light block to defend himself with, which was fine for Wraith. As his hand raised, Wraith allowed it passage the point where Kozurou's fingertips on his right hand were just around a foot below Wraith's jab, which instantaneously changed into something far more daunting; a lariat. The Wraith had used the momentum from pushing forward into the jab to alternate the simple opening move into the clothesline, while bearing in mind Wraith was already inside the guard of Kozurou so his arm was roughly a half foot away from the boy's throat/collarbone, his torso arching downwards a little more to allow him versatility & maneuverability in case Kozurou should try dodge so that he could follow the boy's exact path with the same move. Wraith had left the timing of this move until this point to leave Kozurou in an awkward place; does he take the attack on his arm? Does he try to escape it and risk a more brutal move? Hell, does he try to counter it again? Wraith had no clue, but he was in anticipation.. tingling. Naturally, given how Kozurou had stated not going for a punch until their hands touched, that meant that particular action would not go through for this action, so he had even less time to properly formulate an appropriate counter.

The moment Kozurou saw the man's attack change, he knew he was in for it. Lacking in battle experience as he was, he realized that his habit of looking ahead by a couple of moves meant nothing here. As Wraith's bicep was 6 inches away from Kozurou's clavicle, the boy realized that dodging was futile. He was already within striking range of the man, which meant that if he took any kind of defensive action against one limb, it would leave him open to the other three. So that left him only one option. The man's arm was so close, but at the same time, so was the rest of his body. 

Kozurou's right arm would now come up vertically as an inside block, taking the impact of Wraith's arm on the middle of his forearm, more precisely the middle of the ulnar part of his forearm. This would only dampen the impact if he had just left it there, but Kozurou still wanted Wraith to have at least some of his momentum left. At that moment, he would have already moved his left hand into position further up nearer to Wraith's right shoulder, gripping his upper bicep. As a risky move, Kozurou would then lift the man's right arm over his head, preventing it from coming down on him as he would shift his left foot forward, ahead of his right. As soon as he was clear of the right arm, Kozurou would release the arm. 

Should everything have gone well up to this point, as he did so,  he would pivot his body slightly counterclockwise and attempt to collide the pad of his left fist with the back of the man's head, having brought up his hand to around his chin level while moving underneath the man's arm. In essence, it was a sort of hammer fist attack to the back of Wraith's head in an attempt to knock him out. Kozurou's right hand was still available, but it was much farther away and unless he re-positioned his feet, he wouldn't be able to use it as well.

Given how Kozurou only notes the change when the bicep was 6 inches away from him, and given how Wraith was still accelerating upon this realisation and the coming reaction of lifting his arm, it would serve as a connection to the attack due to the boy's way of reacting to it, while also making his grab rather redundant given his lack of time to do it in with the coming action. It was fortunate for Kozurou that his speed was enough to catch the arm of Wraith with his forearm during the lariat, otherwise he would have suffered from a collapsed windpipe, and quite likely a broken spine. Carrying through with the momentum of the lariat, with the boy now helplessly tied up with his momentum, he'd stop a few steps away, using the momentum of the charge to throw Kozurou directly against a wall that wasn't too far off. Of course it wasn't enough to break through the wall, nor to even damage it much, but it was enough to show Kozurou just how deep he was when he engaged with the ANBU. Given how he took most of the force onto his forearm, his right arm would now quite likely be damaged to some extent, causing it to be less useful for the rest of the encounter.

Once the boy had recovered, Wraith would start to take steps towards him once more to begin the combat once again. The Mizukage was not satisfied until people gave everything they had, even if it were to be their last breath.

Upon seeing the boy hit the wall, Xyxer, who was currently learning a technique for Samehada, the living sword, the sword he was currently wielding and swinging like a bat, he would swing his sword even harder. Woo! He thought, woo indeed Xyxer. That had been a cool move, and a very brutal one. Perhaps, if he had leaned a bit more to the side.. he could have bat the kid back towards Wraith with Samehada, the sword he was currently using, and attempting to learn a technique with.

Gah, he was going to feel that one tomorrow, more in his arm than in his back. This man's strength was astounding, and it made him excited. He was happy because he knew for sure now that if he survived this encounter, he too would have that kind of power someday. That, and maybe even more. As Wraith began to take his first step, Kozurou would scramble to his feet, his mind racing. He would begin to circle step clockwise, getting away from the wall but at the same time maintaining a distance of about three meters between him and Wraith. If he made a big move like he had last time, he'd be punished for it again. Yet, if he let his opponent make the first move, it might also go poorly. Still, better to size up his options than to throw caution to the wind.

Should everything go normally, he would reach a point at which, if the wall he had just crashed into was at a direct South bearing from Wraith, he would now be East. He'd make his stand there, adopting a similar combat stance to the one he had before with his left foot forward this time, and his left hand brought up to about chin level and extended slightly forward, the palm of his hand facing forward, to clarify.  His right would hand limply by his side. He could still move it, but painfully. It didn't seem like he'd be using it for much else this time around. What a pain, he needed to be more careful.

Xyxer had a funny feeling that in another life, perhaps Kozurou had just tried to walk through him, but he shrugged that thought off. Instead, he saw that the boy was going to try walk through Jester, and so the Mizukage simply gesticulated to the stationary ANBU to step out of the boy's path as to not interrupt the combat that was currently ongoing

Wraith, watching his opponent simply strafe around him, didn't bother to do much at this point in time. It was clear that he was getting inside of his opponent's mind as he no longer wanted to be near him, despite Kozurou being a close combatant himself. In essence, he was forfeiting his own ability to hurt Wraith, just so that he himself wouldn't be hurt. A shinobi of Kirigakure who was.. playing it safe? He started to walk towards Kozurou once more when he chose his new combative position, observing the arrangement of his defensive posture. His right arm was clearly damaged, and so it only made sense to apply that most pressure to the side that was less capable of defending it, yet he also had to defend himself from a counter measurement on his own right.

Now a meter from the boy, there'd be a rapid change in the speed of which he approached Kozurou as his own left foot dashed further towards the boy to establish solid ground, his torso and head ducking a small distance in order to create a greater motion of travel, and while doing so his own right hand came up towards the side of his head in order to protect it from any blow the boy could offer to him, with the ability to catch any hit to his torso/abdomen region with his arm. At the same time as the defensive measure, which likely caught the center of the boy's eye due to how it was the most observable action, Wraith's left hand that was hidden by the sudden drop of his body into what was in essence, a coiled spring, had launched from it's hidden area to hook the young Chuunin in his ribs with the ferocity of a kangaroo's kick, using the muscle in his legs as well as his arm in order to drive the attack up into either his ribs or arm with more of his muscle being used in this assault. Of course, if Kozurou was to do something else that intrigued Wraith, he may decide to focus on that instead of continuing this dismantling.

Attack where they cannot defend. Fortify where they might attack. Kozurou could see some of the principles that he had learned earlier slide neatly into place, now. As he watched the man carefully, he determined that he shouldn't move directly into the opponent's guard like he had last time. It was like throwing yourself into the range of the enemy's attacks. But then, how would he move in? Attack where they cannot defend... he needed to be a place out of range of at least some of the man's limbs. As the man began to take his own step forward, Kozurou would quickly shift his left foot (which had already been his front foot) outside of the man's left foot as it was still in the air. While it was still in the air, and just before it hit the ground, Kozurou would have already shifted his left foot to the side after the initial forward movement, and at this moment it would make heavy contact with the man's left leg, sweeping it out from under him.

Should this move be successful, Kozurou would have already also used his left hand to grasp the man's left wrist as soon as it was within firm gripping range, preventing it from travelling farther with great speed or indeed, preventing it from moving much of anywhere at all. This motion would follow the man's motion downwards, preventing Kozurou from being stupid and holding the man up. Should anything happen out of the normal, Kozurou would make sure to respond accordingly.

While Wraith made his step forward Kozurou had launched his own counter measure, an attempt to sweep said leg. Wraith had noticed this sudden extension of Kozurou's leg as soon as his step was made, which left him in a precarious situation. He could stomp down onto the exposed leg of Kozurou and take him out of the fight for good, but would the honourable Mizukage be pleased with such a fight? Surely he'd punish the boy before him, and it had been a while since Wraith had found himself in the company of a taijutsu user, so he would go easy on the boy instead of taking him out permanently. As Wraith's leg was taking the higher arcing path, and Kozurou's leg was getting ready to sweep it, it would be a simple manouver of controlling the momentum he had already accumulated in the step forward to simply flick his foot forwards and upwards into the underside of Kozurou's knee, causing his sweep to lose any of the power it would have as it was essentially pried from him with the lifting attack. Of course, once that was done, he would pull his own leg back down towards himself and plant it firmly on the ground, but he didn't expect for that to happen if this male was any shell of a taijutsu user. Regardless, it was still required that he launched an attack of some sort should he prove to not be, and so that would be a simply jab with his right into the sternum of Kozurou.

Seeing the two engaged against the wall, Xyxer felt the same pump he had been getting earlier with the throw against the wall. Now, still wielding Samehada, the shark skin sword he was also holding earlier, the one he is currently learning a skill for, he'd swing the blade upwards, allowing the hefty blade to also cheer for joy at the ongoing violence. It was also cheering because it would be learning a skill.

Goddamn it. Every time he tried to make an offensive move of any sort, the man always had some kind of countermeasure. At least this time, he wouldn't be losing his leg if he acted quickly enough. As the man lifted up his leg for a kick, Kozurou would shift forward, moving his right foot forward just over the ground in a short step while at the same time attempting to slam his left shoulder into the center of the man's clavicle. Should this move connect, it would knock the man down, seeing as he was off balance to begin with. In addition, since Kozurou had taken a step forward, he would be able to push the full, sudden momentum of his body into the man and hopefully bring him to the ground. Since Kozurou's body was now invested into this sort of sideways shoulder slam, any attacks that might come from the man's right side would now only be within range of his back and/or side. Even then, it'd be pretty hard to land them while falling backwards. Kozurou's left hand would still be holding onto the man's wrist until such a point that it would start to drag Kozurou down along with the man. At that point, Kozurou would let go.

Instead of opting to resist the shoulder block of Kozurou, Wraith would roll with it to avoid most of the damage, allowing most of the damage that would have been inflicted be inflicted as a pushing force, with both of them falling backwards in the rather small area. An important thing to note that while this was happening, Wraith's foot was still tucked under and behind the knee of Kozurou, so he had full manipulation of Kozurou's left side while they fell. Due to this, Wraith lifted his left leg even further during the fall backwards, his body scrunching momentarily when they hit the floor to enact a roll. Because of this roll, and Wraith's foot controlling the left side of Kozurou, he was able to lift his leg and throw Kozurou over himself during the momentum of the roll, effectively monkey flipping him. However, he did not want to cripple the boy on the desk of the Mizukage, doing so may irritate the man, and Wraith knew best than to anger the creature that masqueraded as a human. So instead of that, Wraith controlled the monkey flip even finer to the point where he didn't use his feet to push the boy up, instead electing to use the base momentum itself so that he would be in the mounted position on Kozurou, with his grip on Wraith's wrist now broken due to the tumble they had. If that was to go through, Wraith's knees would be either side of Kozuro's torso, yet his arms weren't locked down inside his legs. While in this position, he'd send a simple jab down towards the dome of Kozurou.