Lessons From Other Peers [Open]

Mission:

Kita Hajime's Stats:

Kita made sure that he already had the note in hand when he walked through the front doors of the Kirigakure Military Training Facility. He had been here... what? Two? Three times? It wasn't a lot, and each time Kita had come, he made tremendous leaps and bounds in his strength. He was hoping for that strength now. His eyes wandered down to the note in his hand, gazing at the amateur notice that he had drawn up at home. It was a simple bulletin, written in blue ink stating that Kita would be located within one of the sparring grounds within the facility, and was willing to trade techniques and knowledge with other shinobi, in exchange for some of his own. He had listed some of the things that he was good at in the application, including his knowledge of weaponry, his knowledge of ninjutsu, and his proficiency with the water element. With a sigh, Kita went to a nearby notice bulletin, and pinned it to the board with a nearby thumbtack. A weight on Kita's shoulder shifted closer to the notice, and a shadow leaned forward. Kita had nearly forgotten that he hadn't come here alone. His newest ninja partner would be coming along as well. "So kid, this is what we're doing today?"

Kita turned to look at his right shoulder, where a Rhesus monkey sat perched, staring at the bulletin. Technically it was more like he was wrapping himself around Kita's back and peering over his shoulder, but that was semantics. The tip of his tail had been dyed white, and eyes possessed heterochromia, with his left eye being blue, and his right being brown. Kita sighed a little and nodded, turning back to enter the depths of the facility to find the appropriate training room. He almost reached up to scratch Bobo's head, but refrained. He had to remember that Bobo was a person, not a pet. Bobo had made that very clear when he agreed to be Kita's partner. Kita nodded as they went. "That's right. I've decided that I'm not nearly as strong as I need to be, and it's time to get back to training." The pink face of Bobo peered incredulously at Kita from his perch. "What?! YOU aren't strong enough? I've seen you make copies of yourself, throw weird water waves from your mouth, and track one of our guys from half way across the island! Plus, you got that sword there. How much stronger could you possibly get? Besides, even if you could get stronger, why would you?" Kita couldn't help but smile and give a small laugh. It was amusing what Bobo thought was strong. Kita was almost entirely what he had seen of the ninja world, with Kato and Gonk being his only other experiences. He didn't realize just how much stronger shinobi could get. Kita responded as he made his way through two heavy double doors into the heart of the facility, searching for the necessary training room. "Unfortunately Bobo, as impressive as that stuff might be, I'm honestly not that strong compared to a lot of other ninja. I'm actually considered a 'Genin,' which is the second lowest ninja rank after an academy student. A lot of them can blow me away with little more than their pinky finger. A lot of them are a lot scarier than me." Kita's eyes darkened at that last mention. His mind flashed back to the incident with Yumeko. He remembered her severed body. He saw the event where he sliced her into chunks twice over when Murata dismissed his clone. He hadn't wanted to kill her, and he blamed himself that she was gone. She wasn't a good person by any means, but she didn't deserve to die. None of Kita's victims deserved to die. The thought of it left a sour taste in his mouth. The only good thing that Kita could say came out of that scenario was his desire to know whatever the hell it was that she had turned into. That's why he had purchased that book...

Bobo interrupted Kita's train of thought by tapping him on the head. He tilted Kita's head to the side with his hands to show that they had arrived at the training ground. If it hadn't been for Bobo's intervention, Kita would've walked right past it. "Geez kid, you're really distracted today. I've been with you for what, twenty minutes, and you're already wandering off!" He lightly rapped Kita on the skull, jokingly intending to get his brain working again. It was true. Earlier today Kita had picked him up from the Kirigakure Research and Development Team. Bobo was a... reward? For a mission Kita had completed earlier. "Reward, sure. They just didn't want the rest of their monkeys unionizing. I'm pretty sure what they're doing counts as slavery now that I think about it." Bobo continued speaking as Kita opened the metal door leading into the training room that they would be working in. "I gotta tell ya kid, I ain't looking forward to fighting none o' those guys that you're talkin' about. Honestly, I still think you're fibbin me. Still! It'll be one hell of a journey! I can't wait to see just how strong you'll get!" The pair entered the training room. It was a large room with tatami mats lining the walls, floor, and ceiling. In the center of the room sat a raised polished wooden platform, with stone and steel reinforcing the supports. At either side of the platform, two sets of stairs led up onto the stage, and in the center sat the symbol for Kirigakure. The room was clearly a sparring room, but that wasn't its intended purpose for the day. The room was durable and padded, meaning that the shinobi could demonstrate their techniques without worry of breaking the room. An outside training ground might have been better, but considering how cold it was outside, Kita didn't feel like freezing his butt off. Kita closed the door behind them. "Well it's not just me that's going to be improving today. We're going to be teaching you a thing or two today as well." Kita began performing the necessary hand seals to access his storage space (Storage Displacement). Small bubbles of blue light filled the air, and coalesced into Kita's waiting hand, slowly forming into a book. Bobo's eyes filled with excitement and wonder, and a large grin wormed its way through his face. He hopped down from Kita's shoulder and ran in front of the boy, practically hopping up and down with excitement. "Oh yeah! Is that what you're gonna teach me kid? Am I gonna learn how to pull things out of midair like that? Is it just dumb books that I can learn to make? OH! I know! You're going to start by teaching me to summon a book, but then you're gonna teach me how to summon bigger things later right?" Kita smiled sadly. It hurt to crush the poor monkey's dreams like this. "Not quite Bobo. We're going to be teaching you what's in this book. 'A study of Kekkei Genkai and their relation to DNA.' I think it'll be a more fun read than the title lets on." Bobo groaned audibly, and a palm rose quickly to his face. "Oh c'mon kid! That's all boring book learnin' stuff! Nobody wants to do that! Teach me the cool stuff! Teach me to do what you just did!" Kita crossed his arms and looked at Bobo sternly. "Bobo. Being a ninja isn't just about doing fancy techniques and stuff. Information gathering is an important part of the job, and that includes reading. Now, firstly we're going to read this book. I had a bad encounter with someone who had one of these 'Kekkei Genkai' and I need to know how they work. This is good practice for you to learn to gather info in the future. After this, we're going to train you to use medical ninjutsu, and basic medical ninjutsu practices." Bobo groaned loudly before crossing his arms and pouting. Kita bit his lip. Bobo didn't have much of an attention span yet, and he was focused on the glory of being a ninja instead of the actuality of being a ninja. Kita supposed that he was still in that phase himself. "Alright Bobo, I'll cut you a deal. If you get through this book and my training regimen for the day, I'll teach you ONE of my jutsu. Also, stop calling me 'kid.' I'm pretty sure that I'm older than you. Call me 'boss' instead, or even Kita." Bobo perked up instantly. "Alright kid! Er, boss. You got yourself a deal!" Bobo quickly snatched the book from Kita's hand and ran onto the stage, sitting down over the edge and began reading aloud. "Read it to me out loud Bobo. I want to make sure that you're actually reading the material" To the sound of Bobo reading aloud, Kita turned to the door and waited for another shinobi to enter his training ground.

Word Count - 1518

Jutsu Used:

"What a funny coincidence," Murata says thoughtfully as she steps into the doorway of the training room. At her side is a midnight-furred wolf with deep amber eyes, his ears pinned back in irritation. Odd charms and baubles cling to his neck in curious, twisted necklaces, accompanied by a richly-patterned length of fabric in blues and whites encircling his throat and shoulders like a scarf.

"They've gone and ruined a perfectly good monkey," the wolf sniffs derisively at the sight of Bobo. "What did they go and do to you? Have humans moved beyond the need to read their own tiresome books?"

"I remember you being so much more polite," Murata says to the wolf. "Good afternoon, Kita," her eyes drift to Bobo, "...and Kita's friend. We have followed your flier here."

"I'm trying. This place makes me angry." The wolf turns to depart. "I will return to my other charge for the time being."

Murata lets him go, stepping into the room with an apologetic smile to Kita and Bobo. She steps up on to the training ring, testing the material with her boots and taking a look around. It does seem plenty sturdy. She is fully prepared to train, dressed in her chain armor with helmet at her hip and her poleaxe on her back. She makes it a point to do most of her drills with armor on, so she remains accustomed to its weight and the small, obnoxious ways it can limit her range of motion. She has been studying up on ways to tend to her weapons and armor on her own, as this set is so important to her. This village, having such a long tradition with weaponry and armor, has offered plenty of support - one of Ms. Snapper's good friends has offered a forge for her occasional use, once she becomes confident enough to try.

"I apologize for Tadasada. He is not used to the city life." She turns towards Bobo. "Aren't you a summons as well? I have always seen you all be so concerned about propriety with one another."

---

348

Stats:

Kita had shifted to doing basic sword drills while he waited for someone to come through the door of the training room that he had set up in. His blade sang through the air as he shifted fluidly from drill to drill, bathing in the dull monotone reading of Bobo. The blade had just clattered back into its sheath, and Bobo's most recent paragraph had just ended when the door opened and Murata entered. Kita turned to meet his newest training partner, giving a large grin as he did so. "Hey Murata, nice to see you again!"

Murata and her wolf companion entered into the training room and gave their respective greetings. Bobo scoffed at Murata's wolf companion. "Buddy, I'm not sure that you want to try making fun of me when you're running around in a sweater like an overgrown Pomeranian that someone's grandma owns. Let me guess, you come running whenever your owner calls your name like a good boy, don't you wolfie?" Kita scratched his neck. Seems that the wolf had touched a bit of a nerve with Bobo. The wolf left the room and Murata turned to Bobo, asking if he was a summon as well. "Me? No, I'm not a summon. I'm this kids ninja partner, and I don't just go away when I'm not needed anymore." Bobo grinned proudly, and Kita nodded slightly. "He's more of an... animal companion. A familiar I think that they're called. Think of him like a summon that doesn't go away. Their jutsu are usually weaker than shinobi and summons, but they're still very powerful companions." Bobo's smiled once again and continued reading the book that Kita had given him. "I'm currently trying to teach him how to heal. We'll teach him jutsu a bit later, but right now it's mostly just the book learning. He's currently learning about Kekkei Genkai since I wanted to know a bit more about enemies like..." Kita's voice trailed off for a moment before continuing again like nothing had happened. "Anywho, was there anything of mine that you wanted me to teach you? My flier did mention that I was willing to swap techniques and skills, and I know a couple."

Word Count - 368 Words

Total Word Count - 1886 Words

Tadasada does not take the bait, not even sparing Bobo a passing glance as he departs. Murata is not one hundred percent certain that he even knows what a Pomeranian is.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Bobo," Murata says, hopping down from the arena, stepping to him and offering a hand for his little paw to shake.

"Was that some strange bloodline, do you think? I did notice that her chakra behaved unusually, but did not think much of it at first," she says, intrigued by the mystery. Thinking back to that mission... it reminds her of something that she's wanted to try. Murata weaves the three seals for the Shadow Clone technique, and a duplicate of her appears. Her clone hops back up to the arena, drawing Fish Eagle and giving it a few test jabs into the air, testing that the weight and feel of a duplicate is suitably realistic. It's as real as she is, so she is satisfied.

Murata's clone walks to a fair starting position on the far side of the arena from them, fifteen meters from the center point, fifteen meters from the far edge, and thirty meters from either side. It is a frighteningly large room, the raised sparring arena taking up sixty meters by sixty meters, but shinobi certainly need the space.

"Kita! Make a clone!" Murata's clone calls from across the room, cupping her hands around her mouth. The original Murata, standing much closer, does not have to raise her voice so. "This way we do not have to hold back," she elaborates, and offers him a grin of challenge as her clone dons her helmet. "Show me what you believe is worth teaching. I will judge for myself if it is worth learning."

Her clone bares her poleaxe forward in challenge, obviously ready to begin.

---

307
TWC: 655

Shadow Clone -30AP

Murata 333/348
Clone Murata 333/348

Bobo took hold of Murata's hand and shook it with great vigor, grinning widely as he did. Murata questioned whether or not Yumeko's bizarre chakra was the result of some strange bloodline, and Kita found himself shrugging. "I don't really know. I've never heard of a jutsu that lets a ninja turn themself into a monster like that, so I imagine that it's probably a bloodline. I'm hoping that book right there could give me a clue."

Something about the question sparked an idea in Murata. Her hands drifted together to form the hand seals for a shadow clone jutsu, and a perfect copy of the kunoichi appeared to the side of herself. Kita watched with interest as it made its way onto the platform and tested its weapon. A slight smile grew on Kita's face, and he turned to the original Murata with a thumb up in the air. "Impressive! I never realized that you'd learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu! You're pretty proficient with it too." Kita brought his hands together into the clone seals as well, and summoned a shadow clone of his own, grinning as he did. "I'd be willing to do a little sparring. It'll be the fastest way to learn each other's techniques. Plus, I've been itching to fight you for a while. Bobo, quit reading that book and watch the fight. You're going to see how real shinobi do combat."

Bobo and Kita both diverted their attention to the brand new clone that Kita had summoned to the battlefield, eager to see what it was that the clone was planning. It slowly walked towards the side of the actual arena platform and leaped high up into the air, flipping as it did onto a space opposite to where the other clone stood, fifteen meters from the center point and the arena edge behind itself, yet thirty meters away from the edges at its sides and thirty meters away from the other clone. It gave a sigh and shook its head, turning to its soon to be opponent. "I'm guessing that there's not going to be any mercy for a fellow clone, is there?" A chuckle emerged as a sinister smile wormed its way across the clones face. "Fine by me. I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Like this." The clones hands came together, slowly forming hand seals to the jutsu so that the clone could observe what it was doing. Dog, Hare, Ox, the clone weaved through the three seals before flicking its hand outwards, a one meter long watery blade seemingly appearing out of thin air that was a centimeter thick and a centimeter long. As it did so, it made sure to perform an additional focusing seal in its left hand as the blade formed, causing its watery sheen to become jagged and violent, whirling and splashing about as if it were composed of river rapids. "This," The clone began, "Is the Water Cutting Sword. It isn't as strong as a normal blade by any means, but it can be useful in a pinch. You might've seen that I did an additional seal while I summoned the blade as well. That's the River Cutter technique, and it increases the cutting power of a blade, as well as well as increasing its durability. Of course, it's inferior to another technique that I intend to show you later on, but we'll start easy for now." The clone's expression turned serious as it readied its new blade for battle.

Now that things were ready, it was time to test out just how skilled this other clone was. Its exact strength, speed, abilities, everything was a mystery to Kita's shadow clone. The only knowledge it had to go off of was Kita's limited knowledge of her combat capabilities. "I know that despite that armor, Murata's remarkably silent. I had best not lose track of the clone, or this will be over in a few moments." The clone slowly advanced with the blade raised to defend him should the other clone attempt to attack. When it had traveled five meters forward, it reached into its weapon pouch and drew a shuriken at a relatively low speed (80 Speed). It threw the shuriken at the enemy clone, making sure to slow it down so that the clone had some time to react to it (100 Speed). "Lets see how it reacts to a shuriken being thrown at it. Whatever happens, I can learn a bit of its capabilities."

Word Count - 753 Words

Total Word Count - 2639 Words

Jutsu Used:

Items Used:

"Watching you do it with my sensory technique up was revealing," Murata says. "It becomes intuitive."

Clone Murata watches clone Kita manifest and explain his technique in silence. She will leave the speaking to her iteration watching on the sidelines. Her own duty is to focus, and to fight.

"...she's going to take this too seriously," the real Murata says, with a sort of detached amusement. They are her own actions, but she is no longer the arbiter of them. She calls out to the clone Kita in her double's stead. "Do not worry, Kita, I am listening." She turns to Bobo. "Do you have a decent view from down there? You may feel free to climb up," she offers, allowing her arm for him to clamber up and get decent seats for the show.  

The moment the shuriken leaves clone Kita's hand and clone Murata recognizes that there is only one coming her way, she charges. Her own speed of 100 matches that of the sailing weapon, and assuming that clone Kita's actions do not give her reason to alter her trajectory, she will flash Fish Eagle forwards once she has traveled twelve meters to easily deflect the flying weapon with a subtle flick, the flat of the axe blade catching it in flight and sending it sailing away. If clone Kita has continued his ambiguously slow advance, this will place clone Murata at thirteen meters or slightly closer to him.

Clone Kita's blade of water is a one meter long sword of unknown cutting ability. The safest route of attack would, thus, be to take full advantage of her weapon's reach. As she charges, she moves her left hand to the blunt end of her weapon, keeping her right on the middle. As soon as she reaches two meters from clone Kita, all the while ready to react to likely evasive maneuvers or counterattacks, she drives the handle of her weapon forward from the base through the slackened grip of her right hand to extend its spear point forwards in its full two meter length in a bright flash of steel, aiming to drive the spearpoint through clone Kita's stomach from a safe distance. It is immediately obvious that her training in weaponry has been centered on the spear - she is utterly confident in her grip on the weapon, even with both hands momentarily holding on only by the very end.

---

403
TWC: 1058

Murata 333/348
Clone Murata 333/348

Kita couldn't help but snort at the ridiculous persona that his clone had decided to adopt for the fight. Still though, it was doing its duty of exhibiting Kita's techniques. Murata offered her arm out for Bobo to hop up on and observe the fight in greater detail, which he eagerly accepted. He clamored up onto her and situated himself on her back, clinging to her forearm and shoulder. "Thanks! Er... it was Murata? Murata! Thanks Murata." He grinned with glee and turned his attention back to the two shadow clones fighting in the ring, observing the fight with great interest. "I can't believe I get to see one of these in person! When do the big explosions happen?" Kita chuckled at that. "Just keep watching Bobo, and you may just see some. I don't think that this will be that kind of fight though." His words didn't seem to sway Bobo, who watched the fight with a giddy, childlike glee. As Kita's eyes started drifting back to the stage, his vision snagged on the tattoos that covered the right side of Murata's body. He turned his attention back to the stage for a moment, before deciding that the clone's memories would become his in a moment, he could spare a second to chat. "Hey Murata? I've been meaning to ask you for a while now. I don't mean to be rude, but I wanted to know what the tattoos on your skin mean exactly? You don't have to tell me, I was just curious." Kita watched the two clones battling it out on stage as he waited for a response, if he would get one.

The clone breathed calmly as the Murata Clone batted its shuriken aside, moving with identical speed to that of the shuriken. "Is that her top speed? I know that she isn't as far as I am after that fight with Yumeko, but I can't tell just how quick she is on her feet. I guess that I'll just have to hope that this is as fast as she goes..." The Murata Clone approached rapidly, and the clone made no sudden moves to stop its assault. Its hands shifted into a more comfortable position to stab and slash at the Kita Clone, and it only had a few moments before the clone would be on it. As the enemy clone reached two meters from the Kita Copy, it jabbed forward with its pole arm, clearly ready for anything that Kita's facsimile had prepared for it. It thought for the briefest of moments of disarming its foe when its grip looked weak on its weapon, yet the confidence in the clones eyes shut that idea down where it stood. The Kita Clone took a step back as the opposing copy stepped forward, making sure that its next set of movements were all at its maximum speed (120 Speed). Immediately after its single step back, it swung the water blade in a downwards clockwise stroke with both hands towards the tip of the weapon approaching the clones gut, slapping the tip of the weapon and the axe to the left (Kita's left, Murata's right). The clone took advantage of a feature of the river cutter jutsu, increasing the length of the blade by .5 meters to ensure the maximum distance between the two ninja, bringing the distance from 2 meters to 3.5 meters when it batted away the poleaxe in a flash of sparks (Suiton: River Cutter). It certainly wouldn't knock the weapon out of the enemy's hands, but it may give Kita's doppelgänger just enough time to do what it wanted.

The clone needed to focus. "Okay, it's as I thought. My weapon isn't going to be slicing through hers any time soon. At least... not with this blade." The Kita duplicate took another step right and back at top speed (120 Speed), hands still in the downward position that it used to bash away Murata's Shadow Clone's poleaxe. 5 Meters away and moving back farther at 120 Speed. Fast strikes were needed here. The clone flipped the blade around in place with its fingers, turning the sharp part of the blade from its previous position facing out from his left thigh, into an upward position aiming out from his body, while holding the hilt in the same position at its side. Kita slashed upwards from his left thigh towards his right shoulder with his right hand, while his left weaved hand signs. Kita sacrificed the River Cutter infusion to send a watery crescent slash towards the kunoichi clone at 75 speed in a diagonal angle, 20 meters in length, and two-dimensional in width as it moved to bisect the clone at its current position, whether or not it moved since Kita's clone parried its weapon (Suiton: River Cutter). As the blade began and finished its arc, Kita's clone was turning it into regular water once again at 70 speed and dismissing the jutsu (Water Release: Water Cutting Sword). As it reached its peak at the shoulder, it had liquidated enough to where Kita's Clone could utilize the one-handed hand signs it had been weaving, bringing its left hand back for a single brief moment before thrusting it outwards as if it were attempting to push the water towards the rival clone (Weaving and hand motion all done at 120 Speed). Blue dots of light speckled the falling water at the clone thrusted its palm forward, turning into ten, 10 Centimeter long, 1 Centimeter wide watery needles that flew outwards after the enemy at 70 Speed (Suiton: Mizu Senbon).

The time for attacking was finished for now. "Hopefully that buys me enough time. I hope that the Murata's are watching this, cause this is my strongest infusion right now." With its hands now freed, the clone backpedaled around the arena, moving away from the Murata clone while staying away from the edge at its top speed (120 Speed). It began weaving its jutsu at an identical pace (120 Speed), going quickly through the Monkey, the Horse, the Tiger, the Bird, the Snake. The hands of the clone became shrouded in mist similar to that they would find outside right now. A grin crept into the clones face as its fingers darted to the Chakra Bonding Katana at its side, pulling the blade from its sheath and coating it in the same mist that now covered its hands (Mist Stream Technique). It stopped moving around, and stood confidently with its blade. "This weapon should be a bit more sturdy for you. The Water Cutting Sword was good sure, but it doesn't compare to a real blade with the Mist Stream Technique!"

Word Count - 1114

Total Word Count - 3753

Jutsu Used:

Items Used:

"I do have something of an explosion," Murata muses in response to Bobo. "My double, please consider Gigavolt, we have a request!"

"I'll think about it!" the clone shouts back, sounding quite clearly distracted.

Clone Murata uses her forward step as an opportunity to lean further forwards and slide one hand further up her poleaxe's handle without being forced to draw it back, strengthening her grip on the polearm without compromising its range. Her movements largely synchronous with clone Kita's. As he does not seem to move further back after this point to establish his later stated distance of 3.5 meters, he must have moved back a meter and a half in that step.

Clone Murata, being 20% slower than clone Kita, presses her offensive to keep their distance closed, moving forwards all the while - moving 1.2 meters in the same timeframe as his backwards step, thus allowing him to only gain 30 centimeters on her (with their centers of mass being 2.3 meters apart), still well within her range of threat. His gut will thus be a paltry twenty centimeters from the razor edge of her weapon by the time their blades clash. Clone Kita's stated distance assumed no movement from Murata, and specifically referenced the distance between the pair, assumed here to be based on the positions of their torsos - and Fish Eagle boasts a full length of 2.1 meters. All the while, clone Murata is of course moving at her full speed, and prepared to react to any alterations in clone Kita's course.

Seeing his incoming parry circling down towards her weapon, clone Murata subtly positions Fish Eagle to catch the sword just below the widest point of the spear tip. With her grip re-established and her own sheer strength triple that of clone Kita's, his expectation of being able to halt her advance in this way is foolish. While it might end the fight right here and now for her to simply jab forwards once more, she does not know the capabilities of this water blade - it would be better to take it off of the field. Better to take this clone off the field, too, if she can manage it in the same motion - attacking at the same time as she disarms him will help overwhelm her opponent and bait out a mistake. It will also allow her to show off a technique he may be interested in.

The moment clone Kita's blade meets the speartip of the poleaxe, momentum carries it along the brief length of the blade, on a trajectory to strike the base of the poleaxe's axe head - catching in the nook between it and the spear tip. The moment the two blades make contact, clone Murata does two things. She immediately twists the poleaxe powerfully - catching Kita's blade against the turn of her weapon's steel and wrenching it from his hands, sending it careening away to clone Murata's right.

In addition, the moment the blades make contact (or the moment she notes an interruption in the parrying blade's trajectory, if he notices her preparing to catch his weapon), clone Murata's chakra surges brightly through her weapon. Sacred Spear engulfs Fish Eagle in stunning white light, a glowing facsimile of Fish Eagle's spear tip surging forward with a whistling noise at a speed of one hundred, beginning the instant she initiates the technique. With his blade likely caught by his own misguided parry, Kita will have little wiggle room - he has twenty centimeters of clearance from clone Murata's speartip to work with at the instant she begins the technique. If he cannot evade, the technique will cleanly rend its way through his abdomen and out his back, sending his experience of life back to Kita - the technique then extending brilliantly for its full thirty meters for their audience to admire. Clock's ticking.

With all of clone Kita's further actions having been contingent on the successful parry, it is likely that none of them will occur as stated, but clone Murata is prepared to react to anything that may prove her wrong in this regard.

"They are the mark of one who has renounced their commitment to nonviolence so that others may be allowed that choice," she responds easily to his question of her tattoos, eyes still on the melee taking place in the arena. "When one takes a life, their soul stays with you. You inherit a responsibility to them to make the loss of that precious life meaningful."

---

747
TWC: 1806

Murata 333/348
Clone Murata 293/348 (-40, Sacred Spear)

Kita's clone was getting amped up as its foe began to approach, anticipating the adrenaline spike to come. "The anticipation is killing me!" Then, the thought came. "That's right! Not the boss... ME! I'm not just a clone in this fight! I'm my own person! You can call me... Kitwo! Watch me Kita, I'll surpass you!" The adrenaline kicked in, and Kitwo began to truly feel alive. The artificial heart pounded in its chest as it prepared for Murata's Clone's advance.

Kitwo realized quickly that he had forgotten to account for the fact that the enemy clone was moving as well, and ended up a lot closer than he had intended, his stomach only a mere twenty centimeters from the tip of the spear. However, the mistake changed little about Kitwo's intended movements. A wicked smile covered the clone's face as it realized just how close the two were now. While the intended distance was 3.5 Meters, it was much closer to 2.2 Meters now, and while Kitwo had originally planned on bashing at the tip on the weapon with its water sword at its original distance, it would now end up far closer to the base of the polearm, being aimed around 70 centimeters from the base of the weapon, well out of the range that Murata's clone had intended to snag and disarm the weapon at (With the Fish Eagle being 2.1 Meters in length, or 210 Centimeters, the original hit was intended around the area where Murata intended for the disarm was intended to happen, at 200 Centimeters. However, due to the distance between the two being shorter than expected, at around 1.2 Meters or 120 Centimeters less than intended, the strike would end up far closer to the midpoint of the weapon at around 80 to 70 Centimeters from the base, too far back on the weapon to perform a disarming strike as the clone intended.)

By advancing in such a manner, Murata's Clone ended its disarming attempts before it had a chance to initiate them. It had intended to activate its Sacred Spear and disarming attack at the same time, twenty centimeters from the stomach of Kitwo. It raced forward at a speed of 100, and with Kita's top speed of 120, he could move 24 Centimeters in the time that it took the spear to move 20. It was aiming directly for the center of Kita's stomach, and with a combination of sheer adrenaline and a sucked in gut, Kitwo would be able to evade the thrust by a hair, taking a slight, nasty cut to his side as a reminder not to underestimate his opponent. He was lucky that he was planning to dodge out of the way anywho, or he would have been dead by now. (Average shoulder width for an adult male in the United States is 41 Centimeters. Since Murata is aiming in the dead center of the clone's gut, it would have to move 20.5 Centimeters in the time it took for the blade to get to his stomach. With a speed of 100 vs. 120, that is just enough time to get out of the way, with 3.5 Centimeters to spare. Additionally, Kita is not a fully grown adult, and is likely smaller than the measurements presented here.)

Now it was Kitwo's turn. With both of the opposing clone's hands on the spear, this was a perfect opportunity to strike. Kita's left hand came off the spear, and with his maximum speed he flicked his wrist outwards, sending a paper bomb flying into his hand (Hidden Arms). With the blade extending outwards at the rate that it was, to the length that it was, it would be a simple matter to slap the tag onto the extending weapon. As Kita narrowly dodged the extending weapon, he slapped the tag onto it before returning his hand to his position onto the water sword to continue his actions from the last post, no change occurring in his intended actions. The tag wouldn't activate now, but his intention was to blow it up once it retracted back to a normal size.

Bobo continued watching the fight with greater intensity than before, fully enraptured by the idea of a technique called Gigavolt. Kita on the other hand, was more interested in the original kunoichi than the clones. "Well... what caused you to renounce your vow? And why did you decide to become a ninja after you made such a promise?"

Word Count - 748 Words

Total Word Count - 4501 Words

Jutsu Used:

Items Used:

Kitwo misjudges his timing, sending his water blade striking against the hilt of Fish Eagle with a curious ring of steel and water, just slightly muffled by the cloth wrapping that he has sliced through. The shimmering white extension of chakra slashes through his side, scattering droplets of false blood against the tatami floor. As soon as Muratwo recognizes that she has not landed a killing blow, she withdraws the technique - extending its full length would have been merely to show off, and was conditional on the attack landing. She is eager to regain her full freedom of motion. Kitwo manages to slap the explosive note on to the spear just before it reaches its apex. As he notes, he applies it as he narrowly dodges - simultaneously - placing his position still dangerous centimeters away from the blade. It is ambiguous as to when he had started the motion, but it is clear when it had finished.

All in all, Muratwo's technique has traveled twenty-five centimeters when Kitwo slaps the tag on, presumably to the top of the spear's extension so that he does not end up with both his hand and the tag sliced in half. He could not have moved his body significantly, only seeming to retreat enough to dodge the extension of Murata's spear thus far - in the neighborhood of twenty-five to thirty centimeters himself.

Muratwo's technique retreats at its speed of one hundred, with twenty-five centimeters to cover. Kitwo's hand must travel a slightly greater distance to return to the handle of his blade of water, where it has extended outwards in that parrying attempt, and Muratwo's technique will have ended by the time both hands have returned to his weapon. As noted, he does not resume his actions from his last post until both hands have returned to the sword, so it does not seem like he will continue his retreat until that point.

The explosive tag is dubiously adhered to the end of Muratwo's weapon. It is difficult to tell with her helm covering her face, but she appears unperturbed.

With all of his actions successful as detailed, Kitwo will likely have no reason to adjust. With the timing of Kitwo's narrow dodge and explosive note placement as the most strongly detailed indicator, the two stand two and a half meters apart when he moves into his next actions - the end of Fish Eagle well within the one-meter range of Kitwo's explosive note, so it is safe to assume he will not be detonating it as of yet.

Muratwo darts forward the moment he begins to move back, chasing him as he scampers away from her. She takes one hand from Fish Eagle and brazenly charges through his attempted techniques - that River Cutter will not faze her, water pattering against her Country Borders Armor like a pleasant spring storm. She does, however, raise Fish Eagle against the incoming blade of water in such a way that it will obliterate that explosive note as her weapon slices through it. She has absolute faith in her armor, and if he has something chakra-based that is capable of defeating it, she is quite willing to sacrifice this bout of their spar to learn of it. When the blue pinpricks of light of Kitwo's Mizu Senbon form, Muratwo's free hand dashes through handseals - horse, bird, ox, horse. The smell of ozone suffuses the air as a dome of roiling electricity begins to expand from her at a speed and power of 40 (Gigavolt). The needles will rend through her technique where they pass on contact, but not stop the large dome-shaped technique as it expands. This technique is not meant to stop it, really - her armor will also take care of that.

They had each started fifteen meters from the far edge. Kitwo had moved forward five meters, initially, placing him twenty from the edge - at which point Muratwo had engaged him, and he had moved back a meter and a half, placing him eighteen and a half meters from the edge. He had slashed from his thigh up to his shoulder to loose River Cutter - that must be at least another two meters, as he had been retreating all the while. Sixteen and a half. The extension of his hand... perhaps half a meter? Sixteen.

Quite a lot is happening in a very brief time. Kitwo has only managed to retreat about four meters in this time frame, given that all of his actions have occurred at maximum speed. He has gained about 80 centimeters of distance from Muratwo - placing them three meters and thirty centimeters apart as Murata's lightning technique begins to expand from her body. It is now that Kitwo decides to change course, starting to move around the arena - with his previous inclinations, and directions not detailed, we will take it as him beginning to move to the right. If he decides to still stop and announce his technique, Murata will rapidly close the distance and cut him off to the best of her ability, immediately bringing Fish Eagle forward in another full-speed stabbing motion as soon as she reaches the magic two meter mark - this time aiming for the center of his chest.

"My vow was renounced moments after I took it," she says, sounding mildly amused, if slightly distant at the memory. On her shoulder, the memory of a cluster of young teenagers visits Bobo through Murata's Ninshu - lined up, one by one visited by a tattooed monk who places his glowing hand on their foreheads as they recite a mantra of the primacy of peace and connection... and then affirm their responsibility to fight for and protect their temple. "My adoption into my faith was contingent on my value as a warrior, and my tattoos proof that I was useless to the cause of harmony. Kirigakure was the only place that would take me."

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981
TWC: 2787

Murata 333/348
Clone Murata 258/348 (-35, Gigavolt with One-Handed Seals)