What a Time to Grind

Honey Bunches watches the battle before him, gasping and saving his applause, the flow of the Taijutsu master entrancing him. Watching the leader of the mission head straight into danger was an interesting experience.

One could hardly tell that with each flow from one attack to the next, the Tai master would be performing the same movements, over and over again. However, as opposed to a choreographed routine, it was the familiarity with the movements that allowed him to flow as such. It seemed the main distinction in hand to hand combat was not specifically simple techniques, but also a way of life.

Mita put up a strong fight, but it was clear that he had not been raised and trained under Tai as strictly as he had in the academy. Half of his life was dedicated to honing an unusable weapon, his fists and his powers, with his strength built during the day and whittled away in the long hours through the night. Shaking his head away he sat stunned, watching Mita’s attacks flow much cleaner through a final confrontation before the spear of his hand sent Honey Bunches jumping from his seat.

He recognized the movement displayed and crossed his shoulders over his arms, unimpressed with the Tai Master’s use of his feet in this battle. Although it seemed legitimate, having four limbs against one not mastered in the art of Tai seemed to be an advantage that made him squeeze out a win, creating doubt in his mind of the true results. Honey Bunches was rooting for Mita, and he had missed the awesome kick Mita performed themself. Honey Bunches grimaced, but he would not carry the anger with him into the battle.

He watched as the mission leader went off to refresh himself. Honey Bunches glanced around for his friend, but he sighed as he was nowhere to be seen. He then turned to Kazue.

“Hey, Kaz. Kazmaniac. What did you think of that fight?” He nods his head with his response if there is one and stands up, “Let’s hope I can make him break a sweat.” Watching as Kazue got into a safe spot to watch, he nods and prepares himself for the showdown.

Taking his time making his way over to the Tai master, Honey Bunches eyed him up and down as if one was scanning a table for imperfections. The Tai master let out a booming, hearty chuckle. Honey Bunches stared at the man, watching as he began taking a stance completely separate from what he had just witnessed and tried to remark on for his fight. He didn’t let himself panic, trying to remember his training and what he had just witnessed in the previous fight.

The man seems patient and respectful, as Honey Bunches slowly forms a stance with his body turned to the side, his left arm held up with his elbow in his chest, his head protected. His arm behind him was poised ready to be on the offensive when it was needed. As the man launched at him at an amazing speed, Honey Bunches was faster, throwing the first punch. Although it may have happened first, the speed at which the tai master deflected and counterattacked sent Honey Bunches’ head thrown back from the force, holding his face and growling.


“I have no time for those not willing to show their true flame.” The Tai ninja yawns, and Honey Bunches charges at him, throwing his weight into a great tackle before struggling and elbowing the Tai nin in the face, ignorant to the opponent’s great hold on his waist. With each punch and gasp of air, Honey Bunches saw that the master was not breathing heavily, however his sights were locked.

As the scruffy man was thrown across the cushioned floor, he felt himself move through a backflip, landing on his stomach and having the wind knocked out of him.

His reflexes gave him enough time to roll quickly to the side and throw himself back towards his original roll location, just as a foot flew fast as a jet past his side.

Taking a more dynamic position, Honey Bunches quickly turned his body and started dodging around him and throwing kicks at his enemy’s legs. This would work similarly to a man throwing balance to one leg and using the momentum in the other to sweep low, any attempt to block low met with a swift punch to the head. He keeps careful track of the ‘box’ around his body. This was where he could be struck, and where he would have to keep defenses as much as possible. A muscular arm was no use if sticking outside of the box. Honey Bunches finally stumbled the man and threw a quick, accurate punch.

As this punch connected, a growl from the Tai master made Honey realize he had made a mistake, the bruise a blur as the man filled his stomach with a knuckle sandwich, giving him a knee into a powerbomb, making an example of him for the higher strength nin. Beaten and bruised, Honey Bunches began to stand before getting another swift knee to the face, throwing him 5 meters away.

Gasping for air and writhing on the ground, Honey Bunches felt a pin from the Tai master begin before he swiftly jabbed with his knee, grabbing his opponent’s legs and squirming. The grip he felt on him was almost suffocating him before that, and he saw the timer ticking as he gasped and started to look for another weak point.

Chopping at the man’s arm by his side, he followed up with snapping his elbow in the opponent’s gut and then punching him again with the same arm’s fist, throwing another to the side of his body and kicking his chest.

Honey Bunches did not realize he could move this quickly, and he could see a smirk start to grow on the old master’s worn features.

As Honey Bunches watched him, he saw in slow motion a fist heading towards his head, an invisible phantom puppeteering him into a toss that used the Tai Master’s weight against him.

He felt out of place where he found himself, on top of the Tai nin forcing his arms into a pin and crushing down on him, growling and beginning to howl at the great effort.

Honey Bunches was not strong enough, but fast enough to back away before the escape would be to his detriment.

Looking at the timer, he only had sixty seconds, and he would make the most of it.

He hissed and wished for a blade in his hand, before dropping low to the ground and leaping 5 meters forward, throwing a haymaker with one side of his body and jabbing his hand with another. He followed this with a crescent kick that his arm followed as it could, his hand landing on the mat used to propel himself into a Y kick that landed directly on the Master’s chest, his hands slamming down to attack his shoulders once more as both feet kicked his mighty sternum.

WIth his hands caught in the master’s mighty grip, he hears the bell, and sighs as the Tai master sets him down and slams a congratulatory hand on his back.


“I thought you were holding out on me, whelp. But it seems like you just need to shake off a few layers of rust.” He crosses his arms. “You used a lot of shots to the head. There are more spots on the body to target, you know.” He shakes his head, and Honey Bunches smirks.

“Head can’t block itself. Everything that you can move, Master, is a weapon.” The Tai master wiggles his ears and grins, and Honey Bunches sighs with relief at the thought of not failing. He completely ignored whether he had won or lost, as he was not interested in keeping score with this ninja. If he had his own stadium and own judges, it would be fixed anyhow.

Stepping out of the arena, he screams as he realized that he had forgotten to pick a garden worth of weeds, his aching back preventing him from doing more than shuffling around.

He dropped himself into a seat next to Mita, and sighed, ordering a water and a tea for himself and looking at the group, sweating his ass off. Before he got changed and left for the evening, he would hold a conversation, happy to explain more about himself to any of the nin who were still present. He would laugh about how the master switched stances between battles. He would also question Mita as to whether he noticed any weak points as the speaker battled, and he brought critiques to his attention as well. Honey Bunches finished this line of conversation with “And that spear hand you used at the end sent my socks off! You seem to have the will of a warrior in you, that’s for certain.”

He turns his head to Kazue, before saying nothing and heading back to the changing area, emerging with his clothes and equipment. He waves a hand to Mita as he leaves to finish a few odd jobs he had promised himself to before he had been crushed in battle.

“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other again soon. It was nice meeting with fellow shinobi, and I’ll certainly remember the lot of you.”

Honey Bunches grinned with a bit of blood in his teeth. Shuffling his legs toward the exit he leaned on the window showing the outside world, sighing as he wiped a bit of blood from his nose.

It felt as if he had been bruised badly, but he could not see his face, and as such was ignorant to it. Opening the door, he left to the outside world and would finish his tasks and drop them off.

NP: 3
1656 of 3843

[CLAIM]

3800 words claimed, 43 discarded

TECHS

1000/1000 words for Quick Draw

1000/1500 Iai Beheading
2000/2000 towards Blacksmithing, 200 earned previously and previously

Scents added: Kazue, Mitacho

STATS

72 AP gained from WC training,  110 AP from 4 E ranks,  2 D ranks,  2 C ranks, and 1 B rank

182 AP gained

MISSION REWARDS [Split between 3 people, 3,667 words required for completion]

1x leather, 1x Chameleon Scales,  22,000 Ryo,

C RANK REQUIREMENTS almost MET BAYBEEE

The fighting in the dojo was intense to watch. The old man was more of a boss than Kaz gave him credit for. It was a bad habit of Kazue to underestimate his opponent at times. The one called Mita was very skilled. The battle between him and the master looked like dancing as far as Kaz could tell. He was not the best judge of what could be considered taijutsu skills but he could still see they were a cut above normal.

At one point Kaz was holding onto the thought that Mitacho could win. As the battle made them both look equal to each other while they were fighting. Mitacho would stance, attack, and block. The old man would do the same thing at the same time. It was not till the old man poofed from his sight did Kaz understand something. The entire time the old man was going easy. As far as poor Mitacho was concerned the two of them were playing different games. The old man won the fight quickly when he got remotely serious. Kazue realized it was not because Mitacho was weak. If the two of them fight purely hand to hand he believed Mitacho would win easily.

Kazue gave a round of applause before the next fight could start. He wanted to let Mitacho know that it was okay to lose. As long as he continued to grow stronger. Kazue heard tales of too many ninja deciding to quit after not being able to handle defeat. As long as the defeat was something that could be walked away from, Kaz viewed it as a learning experience. He would consider himself to be one that could understand his strengths and weaknesses. If he was not he would have insisted on joining the fight. If he did not he would have had the snot punched out of him by the old man.

When the fight ended he heard Honey speak to him. He believed the nickname to be interesting. “The fight was actually pretty good. I did not understand a lot of it as the subtlety of hand to hand combat is lost on someone like me. You probably got a lot more out of it. You will have to slow it down and teach me what you learned.” Kaz neglected the part in which he thought of Taijutsu being barbaric and for people of lesser intelligence. Kazue had the slight feeling that he would have been dragged into the ring and pummeled if he did.

The next one to go onstage was Honey. Kazue could only hope the man did not spill some blood. He could feel his eyes trying to shift to red at the mere thought of it. It was instinct of sorts that made Kazue feel attracted to his blood. It was as if he wanted to drink it from the source. Honey was not his type by a long shot. Kazue prefered the pretty boys that could show him a good time. It would put Mitacho more up to his speed but the blood attraction was not there. Kazue fought the urge as he would not imagine Honey reacting well to being kissed on the neck ever so slowly. Before the fangs came out and he bit down into that hairy neck.

Shaking his head, Kazue forced himself back to reality. “Go Honey! You can do it.” He wanted to give the guy encouragement to cover the guilt from his dark thoughts. It was that and genuine encouragement in his own way. When he walked in with the two he already started to consider them a part of his forces. A future leader always had the ability to see things in advance.

This fight was more interesting than the previous one. Honey was blisteringly fast. Even the simple moves he made had a savage speed to them that looked as if they could summon winds. The way the battle was going if someone told Kaz that Honey could kick a mountain he would actually believe it. He himself had only just learned how to flood his system with chakra to enhance his strength and speed. Kazue calculated that most likely even doing that Honey could still run circles around him. If chakra control was his thing Kaz would reckon that speed belonged to Honey. It was interesting as Kazue believed he was weak at fighting and pretty slow. A man like Honey would be cool to team up with. It would cover some of his own deficiencies he had to look out for. If he did team up with Honey, he would also get the chance to get some of his blood.

In order to increase the closeness between the two he decided to cheer him on some more. “You can do it Honey-Senpai! Gambatte!” Kazue was becoming a sideline cheerleader as if he was at the Chunin exams rooting for Suna. If he had the ability to and the place was more appropriate he would have gotten up to start dancing. Putting forth the maximum amount of effort into his cheer.

He cheered but it made no difference in the end. Honey was fast yet still had his face punched in. The old man was simply too fearsome. He was not even handicapped from the first fight yet had enough energy to go right into the second and win. Kaz felt bad for Honey, he believed Honey looked like a wet puppy. 

He nodded and responded. “Yeah. We will meet again. It was a good fight. You will beat him next time.” He gave Honey a thumbs up as the man walked away.

The old man turned towards Kazue with a small smile on his face that did not reach his eyes. "You speak a lot for a bystander. How about you try your hand at a spar? I can go easier on you.” Kazue could not deny the old man. Even if Kazue was being mocked, he had to keep his pride as a ninja. If he denied the fight where would all his reputation go? Even if he could not win he had to fight as if his life depended on it.

“Yosh!” Kazue agreed and already started formulating the fight in his head. The old man was fast and powerful. In a straight on fight Kazue understood that he did not stand a chance. He would not cheat and use ninjutsu. He just believed his ability to plan ahead would be his greatest skill in the fight.

In his mind he would step onto the mat. The old man would throw the first punch and Kaz would side step it. He would not spend any time trying to attack. The entire match he would focus on reacting to the moves from the old man. As soon as the old man hinted at moving, Kaz wanted to react. That way he could kite the old man. Being younger and trying to use less energy the fight would swing more in his favor as the more it was prolonged. It would become a matter of time before the old man messed up. If not he could at least keep the old man to a draw. It would not be spectacular and the chances of losing would still be high. The only difference would be the fact that it increased the odds of the person after him winning. None of the young hot blooded ninjas here appreciated losing to an old man so much. As long as one of them won it would build a sense of comradery amongst them all.


Kazue stepped onto the ring. He was raring to go and put his plan into motion. “I thank you for this opportunity.” The old man simply smiled with the same smile that was not a smile. Only giving Kazue a light nod as to wish him luck. He cheered for Honey except this time the man was not here to watch his match. As the match was told to start everything went black around his field of vision.

Kazue startled awake after a set amount of time. Unsure about how long he was out or how he lost. The match only started and the old timer smacked him so hard he dropped like a sack of rice. Kazue was pretty much dragged out of the ring, embarrassing himself. Out of all the fights that went on his was the worst. It gave him a sense of shame that buried itself in his heart. The shame came with a desire to become a lot stronger. He had no way of resting the entire time. If it was the battle field his body would have already become cold. Kazue understood the saying that only with strength can one live.

“How bad was it, Mitacho?” Kazue decided to ask the only person that he knew that was still around. It may have been shameful but without learning where he went wrong. The chances of losing in another fight was just as high. The thorn in his heart could only be removed if he took the chance to learn of it. When the time came he would come back to challenge this old man again. It would be the time to reclaim his lost honor.


WC: 1,554  TWC: 2,636

Mita watched in silence as he sipped from his water at the next fight, one of the other shinobi that had shown up disappeared at some point which only meant they were not sticking around for the other missions. That was no real meat off of Mita's shoulders so he really didn't care. As the bell rung, Mita's eyes went back to the ring as he watched the old man's fight with Honey. The match itself might have been interesting from a different point of view. As the match commenced he noticed how different his fighting style was from the taller male. It was...brutish and quite honestly rough around the edges despite being able to see that he had some experience in hand to hand combat. It would be anything that Mita would use because he liked having control over each individual movement that he made. For him controlling the movement meant he had control over the basics and more importantly himself. This however....just seemed animistic. He wasn't going to speak on his fighting style but it definitely was not for him. The old man was holding his own as per usual. He was a master after all though he could see it from the very beginning that the first few moments were to test your knowledge. Mita wondered at some points what would it be like if the old man went seriously on someone, and he was going to come back eventually to figure out what would happen if he did. Looking down to his hands the thought of amplifying his training came to mind...he needed to get over this.

Their battle went on for some time and the longer it went on, the more Mita realized how fluid the old man's movements were. He had many years to actually hone his skills, but each one served a purpose. It was like he practiced the basics, slept them and bred them into every fiber of his body. No movement was wasted and he calculated everything he did. Mita honestly wanted to be a taijutsu practitioner of the same caliber. As the fight progressed he could see just how barbaric honey was in a sense. The same movement repeatedly meant wasted energy but with time the master showed his true colors. At the end of the bout he just watched as Honey left the last person would step to the forefront. Though in his honest opinion this was not going to be a long match.. True to his own understanding the other genin went down like a sack of rice and once he was dragged out he would let out a small chuckle at their question," You should honestly stick to whatever you are good at...that was really bad. Good attempt though. I will give you that," After gulping down a ninth glass of water he would stand up. Bowing to the old master he would stand up and point toward him," I'll be back for your challenge again..," and with that the old man merely chuckled and waved the two off.

With a deep sigh he would look around for a moment...maybe that other kid went to do some of the other missions. Taking a small leap he would wave to the other male to follow him," Bath house time." If the male had read the missions he would know they would be heading to the bath house not just to relax...but also to protect it. Mita might have been a little sore but he would keep a decent pace as he moved toward the one place he probably enjoy the most. When the duo arrived, Mita would do the talking and explain that they were apart of the group sent to protect the bath house. With that they were allowed free admittance and shown where they would be stationed. Mita was probably the first to get undressed and head in despite it being a mission. Within the blink of an eye he would be submerged in the hot waters as if it didn't even bother him. They were told they would be there for a few days because the suspect was thought to make their move soon. The owner had been in the area with the two ninja the whole time, but while Mita had been relaxing he had still been vigilant. He could hear shuffling behind them before the doors were busted down and a group of people came into view," Looks like they came early. Kazue looks like we have to work," as if on cue Mita stepped from the water as steam rose from his body. Turning to the first assassin that lunged at the owner, Mita would move in to grab his arm. Four audible cracks were heard before Mita grabbed the mans throat and squeezed. The body dropped just as quickly as the others looked at one another and thought. They came for this job and they would finish it.

Mita would move to take on a few more while allowing Kazue to protect the owner. However the fight would go Mita would make sure the owner was okay and the assailants were contained. When the authorities came for them Mita would sink back into the water and allow his warm body to be taken back into bliss. Mission day was over and now he could relax...and the world was going to let him.

WC: 901
TWC: 3,543/3500
[Exit]
Claiming mission rewards (will post on stat page)
35 stats
2000 words for https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t48714-blast-furnacev7#372174
1,543 words toward mastery of Great Fire Annihilation

[EXIT CLAIM]

Kazue felt his face boil after the assessment from Mita. He was very well aware of the fact that he was not great at hand to hand combat. It was just painful to hear it from one someone else. He did not pay attention as the other guy got up after gulping down some water. Kazue was wishing to the depths of his soul for the power to not embarrass himself like that again. Kazue felt a sudden heat rise from his body.

He looked up to see the other guy gone and decided to go along with him. Kazue already had missions he planned to do today. He just figured it would be nicer to tag along with someone else. The reason why his temperature was going up was attributed to the other guy being around. He called himself flaming but he viewed Mita as being a bit literal. It would make sense to him that the heat that was building up was from the other guy. It was a consultation that he gave himself. As a doctor he was twenty-five percent sure he was allowed to do that.

Kazue gingerly followed the flaming man to the bathhouse. Then he looked at his mission log. The mission was about protecting the owner from his brother. The brother that he was assuming would send an assassin to end his life. In all honesty Kazue hoped it was not true. Growing up he never had siblings. His parents could not conceive and even adopted him as an unknown porch baby because of it. Kazue used to think that if his parents did have another child they would not love him as much. His parents thought about adopting again but decided they were too old to start over. Kazue often believed if they got a little sister for him he would even spoil her. He mentioned they did not have to start over. As of now they have still not reached a conclusion.

“Mit-” Kazue was going to make small talk with the dude he came with but decided against it. The man was chillin in the bath. Kazue felt the blood rush to his face as he felt a mix of emotions. He steeled his nerves to guard against peeking, the temptation whispered in his ear like a little devil. Kazue could only barely resist, he covered his face and rushed out.

It was easier for Kazue to approach the nervous manager. “It would be easier for us to guard you if we moved to a safer location. The chances of being attacked are low but not nil.” He did not express his doubts about the man's brother trying to attack. Just for the off chance that he was wrong.

“Hiding would not make a difference. My brother knows me well. Any spots that I would be willing to hide are all known.” The man twiddled his fingers as a nervous smile painted his face. It was like when Kazue met patients that had to get complicated surgery. The man was afraid and scared. He did not believe you had to be a sensor type shinobi to notice. “I can admit such young children do not instill the most confidence in me.”

Kazue did not show the expression on his face. He had a smile on but he was greatly displeased. Today was not going well for him. Being doubted so much after getting his butt handed to him by an old man was doing wonders for his self esteem. Kazue felt his rage starting to build to the point that his blood was boiling. “I assure you. We may be young but we are great when it comes to the confines of our job. Unless we are dead you will not die.”

The man looked Kazue into the eyes. Kazue was not sure what the man thought but assumed he approved. The man simply nodded and walked back into the bathing area Mita was in. Kazue walked back as well, avoiding looking in the general direction of his easy going companion.

The sounds were heard long before they appeared. Kazue could hear the sharpened increase in beats per minute when they were near. It was one of the few perks Kazue believed he gained when the whole blood drinking thing started. As soon as the killers came through the doors, Kazue became impressed. Not by the killers as they were terrible at best. Kazue was impressed how Mitacho hopped up ready to fight.

“Sir. For your own safety stay behind me. It will be easier to guard you” Kazue was nervous as he was not good at combat but he kept the objective in mind. As he was better at support he believed it was wise to let the other guy handle the lead. If he got in the way it would lower their chances of completing the mission. A great assassin would only need a second to finish their job. No sooner had Kaz finished speaking when the sound of bones being broken could be heard.

The loss of human life would be sad to Kazue under normal circumstances. The fact that the people were murderous assassins curved any guilt he could feel. He made the note to feel sad about it later. “One down, two more to go. If the other two are just as strong, you will not need my help” Kazue was joking but did not mean it. He would never not focus on the mission.

As one of the assassins engaged with Mitacho the other managed to reach Kaz. The assassin simply focused on the manager. An anger so malevolent it was calm seeped through Kaz. It was the frustration of being ignored that broke the camel's back. It was as if a dam burst inside of his body. Kazue could almost even swear his heart had a beat for a moment. It was before he brought his nails up to the man's throat before slashing at it. A cool crisp red started to trickle down. It turned Kazue’s eyes a sharp red.

Kazue grabbed the man to throw him out of the room with both arms. “I am sorry for the little blood that trickled out. Let me finish him off away from you.” Kazue followed the man out, with Mitacho already dispatching and detaining the other assassin. Kazue believed this one was free to end. He was already heavily wounded and Kazue felt more ravenous than he ever did.

The man did not make it far. He was just outside the bathhouse building. Kazue dragged the weakened body into a side alley and feasted. He rubbed the red of his lips and headed back inside feeling great. The manager was in a corner visibility shaken but none worse to wear. One of the assassins was caught. A confession from a dirt bag like him in the future, would be the pretty bow on the mission. Kazue felt himself start to relax after realizing it. The bathhouse was picking up traction but the family was too poor to hire great assassins from another village. If they did they would not have bothered asking some genin to do it.

As Kazue started to relax he felt a funny sensation all over. He was not sure but the room felt more clear. Kazue could almost swear he could tell the amount of people currently inside the place. He did not even have to try and differentiate the heartbeats. It was like he could simply sense them. Kazue could only chalk it up to a hallucination caused by trauma and tiredness. He blamed all the people that made the day unbearable and drained him of strength.

“Alright. The mission is done. I am going to head out and report it.” Kazue did not try to convince Mitacho to leave. Kazue was simply going so he could head back home and rest properly. Hanging out not far from a captured ninja did not sit well with him. Still, he did not want to be rude. He waved over at Mitacho as he started to head out.

“Thank you for your time.” Was all Kazue could hear as he walked out the door.

WC: 1,374 TWC: 4,010/3,500



[Exit]



[CLAIM]

4,000 words claimed, 10 discarded

TECHS

2000/2000 Words to become a Pureblood
2000/2000 Words to become a Bloodlord

STATS

 110 AP from 4 E ranks,  2 D ranks,  2 C ranks, and 1 B rank

40 WC Stat distribution goes 25 for chakra, 15 for vitality. Pureblood bonus goes to speed.

MISSION REWARDS [Split between 3 people, 3,667 words required for completion]

1x leather, 1x Chameleon Scales,  22,000 Ryo,

@Mitacho Reishin @Kazue Kenkō


@Bubels
Hey, check out the discord conversation. Can't approve this for ya rn.

Thanks @daiko for the heads up!

2000 words taken out of Nature Chakra Proficiency, put towards Bukijutsu Quickdraw and Bukijutsu Iai beheading instead

@Bubels in the future, please provide links whenever doing claims. I know what techs you're talking about though. Put them on your stat page at least.