Tournament of "power"

It seemed as though when Hoshi returned the duo of Zyxis and Natsume had finished their 'fight' with the clear winner being Zyxis. "Damn." Hoshi silently showed resentment at Zyxis's victory, As he would much rather have Natsume win than Zyxis in this sort of competition. Yet everything seemed o be going downhill today for Hoshi as not only did Zyxis win but he lost... At least he has some tasty tasty curry to look forward to with the lot. At least that's what he thought before Natsume decided to question how early he eats. "Hey it's never too early for curry OK! Besides I need a lot of food if i'm going to become stronger than Ryuka."

Hoshi's current goal was said as plain as possible. He wanted to become stronger than Ryuka in a small amount of time, So his body would naturally need a lot of food in order to keep up with the amount of energy lost by training.

"Thanks a lot for the Lesson earlier then Ryuka. I'll take it to heart that I should try and take people within my own element rather than their's" Ryuka's advice was solid. If he wanted to setup a game then he should be the one setting it up for his own advantage. "Trust me when I say these are spicy as hell. Given the name and all it makes sense." Hoshi wasted no time and took a mouthful bite all at once. Damn did it taste good. Unlike the others Hoshi's face didn't become red, But he was definitely feeling it. The only reason why Hoshi could take this was because of all his endurance training in the past, Though this fact didn't mean his tongue was the same as his body. "Ah Thith ith tha good thuff." His tongue was burning and yet he needed to solve the issue quickly. 

Through sheer power Hoshi thought of a way to eat the entire bowl and easily cool himself down at a rapid pace. He put down the curry bowl and put his hands together. Using the seven heavens breathing technique to it's full advantage, Increasing his lung capacity so he can breath more as he eats to cool down his tongue. A technique like this was very effective at eating the curry. Definitely not a waste at all as Hoshi began digging in like a barbaric beast at rapid speeds [113] finishing it in s matter of seconds. Even burping after he finished. "So I guess it's time for me and Zyxis to start our game then. Go ahead a pick one Zyxis." Hoshi's skin was still darkened with his eye's white as he looked at Zyxis

OOC:

Ryūka swallowed another pepper whole. He realized this was a quicker way to end the pain, even if it did end up hurting his throat quite a bit. His face slowly became pale again. "A drawing contest?" Ryūka answered Natsume, "That actually sounds fun. Let's do it. Also, I always carry a notebook and a pen.". Ryūka took out his beloved notebook and a pen. He had never competed in art before. He was more of a free-spirited artist, only ever making art when he was inspired. So forcing himself to draw might not have been the best way to use his abilities. Either way, he was always excited to spend time with fellow artists.

"So what are we going to draw? Swords? Can it be swords? Maybe dual swords?". Ryūka smiled, and shook his head, "Just kidding, I don't only draw swords, I swear... Okay let's do trees.". Ryūka quickly whipped out a drawing. It didn't actually look like a tree. It looked more like a scarecrow with a human face, which also had a fedora. "I call it the 'M'lady' Tree..." Ryūka said, as he showed the painting to his opponent at this competition. If Natsume showed her painting as well, Ryūka would smile and nod. "Okay, you win this one. You're quite talented, Natsume." he would say, flipping the page of his notebook to get ready for a second drawing. "Okay. Now, I guess I'll be the one picking, so... Let's draw... Oh! I got it! The topic of the next drawings will be: What do Kage's see in their nightmares?".

[WC: 2126]

After everything was settled down, and Zyxis gained some respect for Hoshi, and he giggled a bit at Natsume and Ryūka, he wondered what game they should play next. Now, Zyxis was no fool. Hoshi's new boost was as powerful as his, maybe even stronger, he couldn't be for sure. Regarding physical strength, he wasn't stupid enough to try to arm wrestle him or see who could break the most boards. There weren't many similarities between the two. The white-haired Genin was quiet and conserved while Hoshi was loud and brash. Zyxis thought before he spoke unlike the Taijutsu specialist, his somewhat friend.

It seemed the only thing that they had in common right now was their likeliness for spicy food and them being a shinobi. Zyxis would focus more on the ninja aspect as "spicy" wasn't a great topic to go off of for challenges. If there were something similar in what they specialized in, it would have to be speed. Something that they both needed to survive in any fight, any shinobi did. What would make it more interesting though? A game of tag or a race seemed boring.

"Hoshi," Zyxis started, eating a couple of bites of his food before he continued, "Let's play a game. We will go to the village and see who can pick up a girl the fastest and bring her to the training grounds. I think it will be fun, and they can leave right afterward. It just is the point of the game. Think you can be Prince Charming?"

The Ninjutsu specialist gave him a sly smirk and lined up by him, "The rules of the game is that whoever is the fastest to get a girl to consent to go with them to the training ground wins. I believe we'll both play fair, as there's no real way to know if there was an "okay" given, but let's see how this turns out."

Zyxis took a deep breath and got into running position as he did for every race in the Academy. "Count us down, Natsume?" If she did, by the time she reached zero, the two of them would take off. The boy wasn't stupid enough to use Soul Expulsion; it was his trump card. Once he used it, he wouldn't be able to use it for the rest of the day. He would wait his turn and use other tactics to his benefit.

Now, Zyxis could've just used a Genjutsu and got it over with right there, but where was the fun in that? When they had started, they were standing about a meter away from each other. As soon as they began, Zyxis ran through hand seal at [98 Speed] as he moved at [98 Speed]. A Clone of Zyxis would appear right in front of Hoshi, manifested together by chakra-made lightning.

As soon as it was created, Zyxis used Body Flicker and left the training grounds at [148 Speed]. The Clone would move at a Speed of [98 Speed] as it swung at Hoshi with a right-hook. If it connected, the clone would explode at [50 Speed] in lightning and paralyze Hoshi just for the duration of their match. If Hoshi tried to move past it, it would implode at [50 Speed], trying to shock him. If he countered, then it would most definitely electrocute and stun him at [50 Speed]. If Hoshi managed to dodge all of that, then the clone would self-destruct as not to waste any stamina from its owner.

He would fly into the village, and as soon as his foot hit the ground, he took a sharp right into the alley. He knew most of where the town was; he ran around it almost his whole life. It only took him about fifteen seconds to reach his house.

"Hey, Zyxis, what are you-"

"Wanna take a trip to the training grounds?"

"...I mean, I have nothing better going on."

Zyxis picked up his mother and gave her a piggyback ride as he zoomed back to the training ground. As he made it back to the training grounds, he put her down and held his arm out towards her, "This is my mother, Carilyn. Mom, these are my friends. They're also really cool shinobi like me."

Carilyn blinked as she gets was introduced to them. What was she supposed to say in this situation, "Hi there, everyone? I'm Zyxis' mom. I've heard a lot about all of you, especially whichever one of you is that Ryuka fella."

Zyxis smiled at her, "Mom, you can go back home or pick flowers or go for a run. I needed you here to help win a competition. Thank you, anyway. I love you." Carilyn shrugged. Once again, she had nothing important going on. If she were busy, she would've felt peeved. "I'll see you later, honey."

The boy would wait to see how the results turned out between Hoshi and him. Zyxis wondered if he got paralyzed and he won, if Hoshi beat him, or something else entirely happened. If he had won Zyxis wouldnt gloat, his tactics were cheap, and could be seen as under handed. Although, he never stated in the rules that they couldn't use jutsu or anything else, just they had to get a yes from a girl to arrive.


"Good job, Hoshi. You know, I think that was really fun. We should try it again sometime. But this time with some real girls and we could get spicy food too, maybe a double-date?" The joke Zyxis shared would try to mend any hurt feelings and create more pleasant ones. He really wanted to be friends with the boy.

With the two of them, Genjutsu and Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, they would be a great team. It was the attitude they had to work on.

[WC: 1,005 / TWC: 4,663]

Spoiler:

For once Hoshi was surprised in a good way about Zyxis. He seemed to like spicy foods Who would have thought this guy would like anything at all, let alone something that Hoshi also enjoyed at the same time. It was mind boggling that Zyxis liked it. Though Zyxis seems to be able to take the spices more than Hoshi thought he could. Definitely a fan of curry but also a man of sweets? That's just madness in the making with that combination of the strong taste of sugar with the taste of spices. Though even Ryuka also seemed to enjoy his curry and the only one not enjoying it was Natsume... What are the odds. 

After the hearty meal was completed by everyone else Hoshi had to try and brainstorm a fun idea for them to partake in. Yet already Ryuka and Natsume began their's with a fun little artsy like challenge, Definitely not something Hoshi could do with his inability to create good drawings. But even so Ryuka didn't seem to fair much better in the drawing compartment "Oh wow. Ryuka the invincible doesn't have the best of art skills. Hell I think even I could draw better than that... Probably not but still it's not as good as Natsume's art." Hoshi wasn't trying to aggravate Ryuka but just stated his own thoughts about their art with Ryuka's 'tree'.

Before Hoshi mentioned his 'brilliant' idea of a game being a race between the two Zyxis made a near outrageous proposal. Picking up girls?! The moment this was said to be the task Hoshi immediately grew a tad bit in size ,as the seven heavens breathing technique jutsu was still active enough to be used, to exaggerate his shock "I knew you were a womaniser Zyxis! The hell do I have to do this... Wait it's the challenge isn't it... Ah crap. Well I guess I'll have to get a girl I guess?" Zyxis lost the few points earned to Hoshi ,in terms of respect, From this challenge idea. 

The moment that Zyxis told Natsume to prepare a go Hoshi got prepared in his own way. A jutsu to use to become faster the moment they would try to begin. Once it begun Hoshi immediately started to run at his fastest speed with the breath he's made giving him amazing speed [113]. Yet once Hoshi started to run a Zyxis appeared in front of him? No matter he simply needed to past that Zyxis and reach the outside. Just to make sure he dodged Zyxis, Hoshi used the split second technique to simply dodge past the clone [168 speed] . If it was a fight Hoshi would've swung at it immediately but he needed to find a girl and quick.

Behind Hoshi once he left the clone exploded. Yet he was much faster then the explosion and the clone so it didn't effect him at all. Hoshi knew the location of exactly 0 girls really and in fact the only girls who he's known are ones to which he doesn't know the exact location of their house's. Without any leads Hoshi just sprinted around the training grounds area to try and find a girl! Any! And finally he saw one. Yes! A girl a Blonde girl! His initial impression was that he would easily win the challenge at a rapid pace. He just needed to introduce himself "Hey there. I'm Hoshi. Come with me please!" But as soon as he approached the girl she screamed in horror at him "ahahahahAHHHAHHAHHAHAAAAA! GET AWAY FROM ME! HELP ME BRANDIO!". 

Through the worry of a search for a girl, Hoshi had forgotten that his appearance was still that of a berserk individual of darkened muscles and white eye's. Even a yellow aura surrounded him. She was definitely horrified at the appearance of Hoshi ,especially since he's breathing heavily from the technique used, who was standing menacingly in her way. To which she transformed in actual form?! No it was only a mask as 'she' was no longer here and 'he' arrived at the scene. His name was Brandio. Let's face it he looked like Dio. "You thought it would be a weak female you would mug but it was I BRANDIO! Transformed as a Female in order to lure a crook like you out of hiding to attack me!" 

This scenario was incredibly awkward. "Look man I don't want trouble. I just wanna beat this prick in a tournament by bringing back a girl and." Yet he was cut off as the man in front of him decided to assault him "Here's a technique I learnt from Joel Joel." To which he followed up by screaming ororororororoor as he tried to punch Hoshi with [70/50 speed/power]. Failing to hit Hoshi he simply stood still after finishing the assault. He barely understood how He could dodge them all but the simple fact was that Hoshi was used to high speed combat from Ryuka beating all the time. "You know what I have an idea. Come with me." Hoshi cracked his knuckles as the dio looking guy immediately followed him

10 minutes later

Hoshi managed to return to the training grounds after a lengthy negotiation. "Tsk ya won Zyxis? Damn I thought for sure I would win." The blonde girl next to Hoshi immediately decided to punch him in the back of the head as his guard was down and walk away since the seven heavens breathing technique over. 

"Ah. I don't think I would like to try and pick up anymore girls today. I guess we can just see how Ryuka and Natsume have done so far." Hoshi would peer at the drawings created by Ryuka and Natsume at this moment. With a bruise on his head. That chuunin wasn't a joke but at least he's not too much of a threat either.

Approved Natsume <3

When the name "Brandio" was spoken, a loud collective "BOOOOO!" came from the village streets, muting all other sounds in the training grounds for a few seconds. The artists didn't need sounds however, so it did not effect them. Ryūka had chosen a more abstract concept to fit his area of interest better this time. 

Still, Natsume had apparently taken a more realistic approach than Ryūka expected. The sight of Kumogakure laid to waste left him speechless for a short time. He then remembered that this was a competition and he had to show his drawing as well. Due to the action going on in the other match, they probably would have missed both drawings being shown, as Ryūka on top of that made sure to hold his paper in such a way that it would be easy for Natsume to see, but nigh impossible for the other two. 

What he had drawn was hard to explain. There was a face. A familiar one at that. And a lot of words. Ramblings. Ryūka hoped Natsume understood the thought behind his abstract drawing. "You're quite talented, Natsume." Ryūka said, as he put his notebook and pen back into his jacket. "A well-deserved win.". He then turned to the boys, "You guys done with your match? So it's Hoshi vs. Natsume, Me against Zyxis?".

Zyxis watched as Hoshi strolled into the training grounds with a male. The boy raised an eyebrow in surprise and confusion. He wasn't sure if Hoshi swung that way or not, but it looked like it. Now he felt sorry for suggesting that they go for the opposite gender. Hopefully, the boy didn't get upset with him after it. Hoshi didn't respond negatively or positively to his attempt at a joke. Zyxis internally shrugged, it wasn't as if his whole life was over because of it. The two seemed to bond over spicy food so he would take the little that he could get.

By the time that they made it back, Natsume was wiping tears away from his eyes. A protective switch instantly flipped in the back of his head, and he looked towards Ryūka. The boy glared at the older Genin. He wasn't sure why she was crying, but at the same time, if it were Ryūka, he'd like to know what he did. There was nothing worse than seeing Natsume cry. He had severely damaged his skull, lightning had implemented itself in his skin, and he had been over the brink of exhaustion, but seeing her upset made his heart wrench horribly.

Zyxis then turned to look towards what Ryūka and Natsume were drawing in the first place. His eyes widened in shock at the sight. It was a barren landscape, a place where there was no sign of life. The drawing had been beautifully illustrated; he could see every stroke from her pen. Each movement told a story, so did the teardrops that soaked into her paper. The white-haired male walked over to Natsume and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder and put his head on hers, squeezing her gently.

"That's astonishing, Natsume. You're one of the most talented drawers I've ever seen, and believe me, I've read many books," The boy let go of her and pat her head, slightly ruffling her hair but not to the point where it would mess up, "You should be proud of it." The boy hoped that he had comforted her. Last time hadn't worked, and he had poured his heart out. He wished that no matter how strong he got, he had some semblance of an ability to help his friends and family when they're down. It would be amazing if Natsume were his sister.

Zyxis decided to switch the topic to something else, he didn't want her to be sad or anything like that, "We brought these woman because our goal was to find out how could bring one to the training ground fast enough. Might've been a bit insensitive to Hoshi, but hopefully not. I brought my mother. In all honesty, she looks a lot like you. If she had darker skin like yours, I'd think you were related to her cause she would look more like you."

After the Genin explained himself, he would try to look at Ryūka's drawing and give it some critique. It wouldn't have been fair to have a review of Natsu's and not Ryūka's. Although, it seemed as if the more mature Genin didn't want them to see. Zyxis didn't care much, but he felt as if he wanted to know how good of an artist he was.

Once everything had settled down again, he'd turn to Ryūka, "Looks like it's just us two now. What would you like to do? I'll think of some things as you contemplate some ideas as well." Zyxis wasn't sure how he felt about Ryūka currently. He got some vibe from him that made him feel unwanted. Maybe it was just his imagination. He would try to repair things now, and not let his emotions and mind take over. He was a shinobi, after all.

The boy scratched his chin, "I wouldn't mind doing checkers again. That's my most favorite game. We could do the trivia you suggested. Or, we could play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Eye Spy, or something silly like that.

Suddenly a good idea appeared in his head, "Since making stories would be pretty hard to judge, why don't we solve each other's riddles? Whoever solves it first wins, we'll keep going until we solve the riddle. If that's okay." If Ryūka agreed he would begin to think of something to say.

"What's fast, but can be slow at the same time? It's everywhere around us. That can massively destroy or cause enough damage to only take out a tree?" Zyxis questioned strangely and slowly as if he was a psychic. "Take a guess."

[WC: 807 | TWC: 5,470]

As Hoshi rubbed his bruising head he saw Natsume's image in an instant. A ruined Kumo. It wasn't as jarring to him as it seemed to the crying Natsume, Everything would come and go in a natural way. Though the crater was less than a natural phenomenon in that drawing of hers. If that was supposed to be a nightmare then it had failed to capture what should really matter to the kage. The people within it and not just the buildings around it, If she wanted it to be more nightmarish she would've added strewn out corpses. Compared the Ryuka's abstract and worst drawing Natsume had won, "Good job on the victory Natsume. Ryuka's natural talent at everything ends with your superior artist skills. Though something worse than a mere crater of a village would be the Kage's nightmare. The kage's biggest fears would have to be related to the people rather than buildings and though you make it assumed their dead. The fear would be more real if their was some shown." 


"Anyway Natsume I'm getting ahead of ma self. It's time for our tournament bout! I sort of lost to Zyxis..." Speaking of Zyxis he's been acting odd around him ever since he came back with the lady version of Brandio. No he mustn't of? Did Brandio change back into a man whilst he wasn't looking and Zyxis now thinks Hoshi is? No that can't be. Hoshi's not interested in either men or women so he can't be thought to swing like that. Definitely not. Zyxis is pretty much assuming his sexuality though he didn't need to negate it. In case he wasn't thinking about that.

"Well I have an idea for something Natsume. Let's just sing against each other! Come on it'll be fun to see who's the better singer!" He had to sound more enthusiastic then normal to try and convince Natsume to sing against him. Singing like idiots would definitely help get her mind off her drawing and cheer her up. The entire purpose of this tournament was too cheer everyone up, Not make them more gloomy. So his goal would be making Natsume cheer up ,since the other two seem cheer enough already, with his own effort.