Change in the making (Challenge)

Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:20 pm

Zento was sitting in his room. Looking out the window and watching the clouds roll by. He would think about what he wanted to do. He wanted to test his might. See how far he can go and push himself. His time as a genin was coming to an end with the exams coming up. But, he needed to get things moving faster. He wanted to help out the village and sitting as a basic ranked shinobi was not him doing the best he could. Zento quickly got out of bed and to his front door. Grabbing a letter and then walking into his kitchen. Grabbing a plastic bowl and a couple of old glass cups. Putting it in a bowl and grabbing a hammer. Quickly smashing the glass and pressing it with a hammer to crush the glass more. Keeping this motion going until the glass would become a powder of its form. He grabbed a small leather pouch and carefully put the powdered glass into the patch. Closing it up and keeping it as secure as possible to not let any of it escape. He would put that into a bigger pouch on his left hip. Walking out the door and closing it.

Zento would make his way to where he knew his team leader stayed. Leaving a note that simply said to meet at the training grounds. Winner takes all with his signature on it. He felt it funny to do with the thought that normally he was the one leaving Zento notes to meet somewhere. Zento Stepped onto the training grounds. Sighing and looking up at the sun at its highest point in the day. Some clouds coming over and blocking it off giving the village a nice amount of shade to cover it. Looking around, Zento could see four training logs with targets on them to practice your aim, a nice lake that lead into a forest with the village in a distance behind him with nothing really blocking the view of it other than the buildings of the village itself looking far off in the distance. He would kick his shoes off and walk over to the lake. The body of water seemed to be deep enough that if Zento jumped in it would come up to his neck. Dipping his foot in, the water was a little cold but, nothing that no one couldn't handle.

Zento walked back and slid his shoes back on. Checking his pouch holding six kunai, six senbon, the small sack, and in another pouch, 20 meter metal wire for him to use. His sleeves each holding an additional three kunai and four senbon. He wasn't sure how this match would go. But, Zento felt like it was something he wanted to do and would have fun either way.

Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:19 am

The day had finally come. Kaito was greeted with a note in the morning; he hadn't received many of those since he was a jounin, as he was usually the one delivering notes. Meeting at the training grounds, winner takes all. A challenge for his position. Kaito figured Zento had always been more than he let himself out to be; his antics the demeanor of a mad god to hide the true self that lies within. However, a pang of paranoia rang within him, a low hum white noise that reverberated within the man. Could it be Zento figured out Ghost's destiny? Rayul died shortly after; maybe he thought Kaito was hunting each one of his team members one by one and thought to take his spot before Kaifo got to him. It would be a logical conclusion, by any means. But if Zento planned on murdering Kaito, he would be forced to take appropriate measures.

He scrubbed himself clean in a soapless shower, to avoid any scents. He got clean clothes bereft of scents as well, just in case Zento was in fact a more skilled assassin than he let on, and ditched his jacket for his bare chest underneath the jounin vest, as well as standard issue pants and sandals. On his forehead, the proud headband of the Kumogakure. He took off.

He went an unconventional route so he could approach from the woods on the opposite side of the lake, carefully trekking the place so he could not be spotted before hand. When he arrived at the edge, stealthily prowling the periphery of the training grounds, he noticed a figure taking steps into the lake. If Zento wished to fight on water, Kaito would have to be sneaky about this himself. He dug into the ground, and burrowed underneath the surface, careful not to make a sound, dug a couple meters below the surface, and made his way towards the lake.

As he approached the lake, he noticed how Zento took steps back on dry land; it appeared he only went for a walk. He came closer to the surface and as Zento slid his feet into his sandals, Kaito emerged from the floor violently behind Zento, releasing his chakra into the air, which would likely capture Zento in a field of paralysis he would be powerless to fight against. As he emerged and stood on his feet, he slid his jagged claw from his sheathe and aimed a quick and cruel draw at the man's neck; better to rid himself of future challenge than spare the man and look over his shoulder forever.

In the unlikely event paralysis wouldn't take, he would dig back onto the floor.

***
WC: 450

OOC:

Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:22 pm

Zento would sit there and think for a moment on what might come next. Taking a few calm breaths and listening to the world around him. A calm yet almost silent sound from the river. He would focus on anything that might be amiss. The dirt under him. With it being a soil like ground and not a hard ground, he could feel the dirt shifting upwards a bit. His opponent was coming from underground and Zento had to act fast. Only have a second or so to respond. By the slight feeling of the shift of dirt, It was behind meaning Zento could act easier on it. Making one handseal and charging forward as fast as he could as the ground broke. Jumping forward and releasing the one hand seal jutsu he had. His soaked foot in the air behind him and in the air a little. At that moment, His footwear exploded with thousands of ice needles firing behind him at his opponent.

Zento might not be as fast as his teacher, But he knew a few tricks to make up the difference and with his teacher wanting to go in so hard for his attack, he wouldn't think to plan on having to dodge the second he came up. Zento jumped forward to escape the range of the paralyzing affects having ran into a full sprint before his teacher could get out from underground and firing off thousands of ice needles the second he would pop out of the ground. Being underground, he couldn't really see Zento or tell what he was doing. Giving Zento the edge here in the fight instead. With the little amount of water though, The needles wouldn't really be life threatening. But with most of them, it would cause a lot of damage especially covering most of the body and soft spots like the neck and eyes. He couldn't dodge the counter attack. At least not fully. With the laws of motion taking place in this fight for the jounin. Zento took all these factors into consideration. Kaito would be in a bit of a bad spot this time around instead of Zento. He blew his only chance of a sneak attack. He wouldn't get another chance again.

---

http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t23792-one-thousand-needles-of-death

Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:06 am

As Kaito burst through the floor, he interrupted his Hiding Like A Mole technique, losing his magnetic sense of Zento's actions: this would prove to be Kaito's downfall. As he emerged from the ground, his opponent had caught wind of his tactic and dashed away into apparent safety, only to be caught at the edge of his paralysis field after performing his own technique. As the redhead regained his footing, he noticed glints of light play ahead of him between himself and Zento, and as they dashed forward, his only reaction was to dash to his left; not quick enough, one of the shards of ice brushed its tip on the cornea of the redhead's eye, a pool of honey when the light of the sun inundated it, now a pool of honey tainted with blood. He quickly brought his hand to his eye as he witnessed the end of the paralysis effect on Zento, and for a moment, he wished to wrap an explosive seal to a kunai to leverage a forfeit from his teammate...

...however, the shakes of the responsibility of being a jounin, aligned with the evident lack of skill on his assassination, changed Kaito's mind. The quite literally blinding pain on his left eye showed that Kaito was not up to the task he so relentlessly plowed through. A cook turned genin turned jounin, no merit, just presence at a battlefield. In that one second, Kaito's frustrations took a hold of him, and rather than reaching for a kunai with his free left hand, while his right hand covered his now useless right eye, he reached for the shoulder strap of his vest, unequipped it, and still holding on to it he hurled it at his student, the vest falling in between the two quarreling ninja.

"Here. You want it so much, you can have it. I'm done pretending I'm something I am not. May it serve you better than it served me."

With that, Kaito turned around, and started walking away towards the edge of the forest in the direction of the village. The pain on his eye made him shake slightly, but his ears would be perked up for any suspicious movements of Zento or any weapons he might try to use. He held his hands together to weave a seal, and body flickered out of sight before Zento decided keeping Kaito alive wasn't his best option.

---
WC: 403
TWC: 853
/potential exit
Claiming 8 Chakra, 853 words towards Sound Wave Technique, -1 Jounin Flak Vest, relinquishing title of Jounin for Genin
OOC: I want to apologize publicly for my previous post in which I claimed a hit, and want to underline this was in no way intended to disrespect Zento as a player and opponent, nor abuse of my power as a member of staff. This was just a misunderstanding on my part on how combat plays out and belief it was part of how combat worked. I want also to extend my thanks to Zento and Kutari on their help in processing the mechanics of combat, both of which helped me immensely in understanding better the mechanics and showed a lot of support and teaching opportunities. Zento, congratulations, you're now a Jounin.

Thu Mar 05, 2020 1:26 pm

Zento quickly moving forward in the air. The effects stopping his movements leaving and freeing him once again. Quickly flipping forward and once his head was facing the ground and looking back at the jounin throwing his vest at him. Zento quickly grabbed a couple kunai and threw them at the vest to push it away into the air. Landing a distance away from the both of them. Using his other hand to keep his momentum up and spinning to land on his feet and facing his opponent with the missing eye. Zento getting back into a fighting position. But it seemed the battle was over. He was leaving the fight. Zento looked over at him and thought for a moment on what was going on. In one small moment, he was moved to Jounin. Accepting this for a moment and taking a deep breath. It just being only him again in the training grounds.

Zento looked over at the vest about three meters away from him. His guard still up for any last minute tricks. It was a vest. Reaching into his sleeve and pulling out his fan to fan himself off. His now exposed foot feeling the grass under his feet and kicked off his other shoe. Walking A little closer holding a few kunai and tying some wire to the ends. Throwing the kunai into different points of the vest and then tossing some wire around to work the vest in the air like a puppet. Having it look like it was floating in the middle of the training logs and opening it up to examine the vest for any tampering from a safe distance. Throwing a handful of senbon into the vest at all different points. If there was a trap in the vest, it would surely spring from that and if not, He would just have to redo his vest. Zento would leave either way. New goals in sight for the future.

(1173 words total. Rank up to jounin and claiming 11 stat points)

(Exit)

Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:17 pm

Approved.

Change in the making (Challenge)

Change in the making (Challenge)

Re: Change in the making (Challenge)

Re: Change in the making (Challenge)

Re: Change in the making (Challenge)

Re: Change in the making (Challenge)

Re: Change in the making (Challenge)