Change for the better [P/Vlad]

'Fast' was the word that went through Nova's mind as she watched the large man's hands begin their movement, having been watching him the whole time. He was definitely faster than her and, judging from the strength of his grip earlier, also much stronger. Instantly, mere moments after the start of the fight, Nova could tell it was going to be a difficult one. She'd never had to fight someone both stronger and faster than her, so it was going to be unique for sure. She, unfortunately, didn't recognize the hand seals, so she had no idea what was going to come next from the boy. She did recognize the act of the boy reaching over his large body towards what was probably his weapon pouch, however.

Since the boy had stated that he'd already released the kunai as the butterflies had surrounded her face, Nova had a split second to see the boy's movements and extrapolate the angle the kunai was going to take. Even with the butterflies obscuring her vision Nova would still attempt to throw the senbon while she moved. She also managed to spot the tag attached to the kunai, but since she had no idea what a 'Flash Paper' was she didn't know to look away. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, since all her senses were soon filled with a desire to chase after these gosh-darn beautiful butterflies. These intrusive thoughts were so alien to the normally aggressive and angry Genin that it almost made her stop and wonder what the fuck her brain was doing.

Just because Nova was compelled to chase after the butterflies didn't mean that was all she wanted to do. She knew the angle that the kunai from her brief view of it before it was obscured by a billion butterflies, so while running towards the Gin (The butterflies were in front of her so that's where she's chasing) she would sidestep to the left let's say 50cm to completely avoid the kunai. Now, since Nova's sense of direction had been completely skewed by the butterflies, Nova would actually be running backwards instead of towards Gin. With their comparable speeds, Nova would end up about 2-meters away from her previous position by the time Gin had finished his own movement.

Speaking of the butterflies, what the fuck even were they? Why were these obnoxiously beautiful butterflies surrounding her face and making her chase them? It was unnatural the way she was acting. Nova had never been the type of girl to chase after pretty butterflies, even while young. She was the type to get in scraps and spend her days beating up other kids. This was completely out of character for her which left only one explanation: genjutsu. As an experiment, Nova would activate her sealless Genjutsu release whilst moving. Sure enough, Nova found herself not moving forwards as she'd anticipated, but backwards. Since she was still blinded by the kunai, Nova wouldn't change her actions and continue to move backwards.

Now, Nova was in quite a sticky situation here. She was blinded and had absolutely no idea where her opponent was since she'd been too busy chasing butterflies to listen to Gin's footsteps. Assuming the light kunai was generating light in a radius, Gin would end up out of its effects quicker and thus leave Nova at an even bigger disadvantage. Currently, Nova assumed, Gin would be closing his eyes or else suffer the blindness as Nova had done. She had one thing she could do, however, and that was one of the first ninjutsu Nova had ever learned.

So, to put things into a timeline, Nova realized she was in a genjutsu and dispelled it when she was about 50cm into her forwards-but-was-actually-backwards movement. The moment she did this, the genin would begin slowly doing hand seals for Shadow Clone Jutsu so that she would end up performing the last hand seal as Gin had finished his movement. Her shadow clone would silently shimmer into existance 50cm to the left of where Nova had been when the fight had started, but with its eyes closed. The clone, unable to see anything with its eyes closed, would take a step forward at its maximum speed of 135 to put the kunai, which had been travelling at similar speeds to Nova and thus would be around that area if we assume that Gin let loose the kunai while his arm was fully extended. This would mean the kunai would have to travel about 2.2m to reach Nova's previous position, and the single silent step the clone took would put this kunai behind it. To avoid vaguing, we'll say that the clone stepped forward in the direction that Nova had been facing when Gin had thrown the kunai, so it wouldn't accidentally step into Gin's kunai during this movement.

Now, with the kunai behind it, the clone was completely free to open its eyes without being blinded. Since the clone had silently appeared just as Gin had completed his movement, the Akimichi's eyes would still be closed at this point. Looking to take advantage of this, the clone would reach into its weapon pouch and bring out two kunai before throwing them right at Gin's large gut in one smooth motion. Since the clone's clothes were well-fitted cloth, the sound it made by doing such a movement would be minimal. Regardless, Nova's clone would be keeping a lookout for anything that may hit its blinded creator and be ready to call it out or take the hit in her stead.

Assume all actions without a stated speed are done at maximum yadda yadda.

WC: 942
TWC: 2408

AP: 1216 (10 refunded since Nova never infused her Ninjato) - 30 (Gen release) - 30 (Shadow Clone) = 1156

Nova's AP: 578
Nova's Clone AP: 578

It seemed that the Nova and her clone had made a grievous miscalculation about their current position; an easy mistake to make considering the disorientation the butterflies had caused. While she had intended to place the clone to the left of the incoming kunai, because of her mistake, the clone had spawned right in front of the kunai. Taking a step forward had only sealed the deal faster. Blinded, and thoroughly disorientated, Gin's kunai would thud against the center of her chest and remarkably the clone would not pop. The answer came instantly: It had been the gift from her parents. The armor. She'd think about the fact that her parents had saved her from embarrassment later. For now, she had to concentrate wholly on the fight.

Upon being blinded, the clone would realize that both she and her creator had been immensely stupid, and not just for the mispositioning. Nova had unlocked the ability to utilize chakra sensory soon after the fight with the assassin nearly a week prior, she had no reason to even summon the clone in the first place. In her defense, it was a new part of her kit, so it was easy to forget about. Regardless, the clone's awareness would suddenly extend out five meters the moment it became blinded and she would feel Gin's exact position.

At the same time as Gin was doing the hand seals, the clone would use her left hand to pull up the mask and hood of its armor, and the other to reach into her weapon pouch and bring out two kunai. The clone would then extend her arm fully out and, since Nova could move at similar speeds to Gin, the two kunai would leave the clone's hand just after Gin's own weapons did. Both kunai were aimed towards Gin's center of mass and hadn't been infused with any chakra so the boy couldn't use Chakra Sensory to detect them. Nova's clone had also made sure to position them in her hand so that when she threw them, the kunai wouldn't accidentally collide in their air. If Gin started to move, the clone would quickly grab another kunai with her left hand and throw one more kunai at him to intercept his movement, also not infusing this kunai with chakra so he'd have no reason to know it was coming. Finally, if Gin made an attempt to stop or change his direction in an attempt to throw off any intercepting kunai, the clone would be ready and would throw a senbon at Gin's stomach with her right hand.

The real Nova also remembered she had access to Chakra Sensory the moment she heard the impact of the kunai on her clone. The man had made a slight mistake by putting the disk on his kunai, and he had allowed Nova the chance to actually feel it coming. If he'd just thrown a regular kunai, she would have no idea it was even coming. All these thrown weapons were getting ridiculous, Nova felt, and she'd take two long steps towards Gin, clearing a meter distance in the time it took for Gin's kunai to get about 85 centimeters. The kunai would only need to travel 30 extra centimeters to get within 2.5m of Nova so, as per Gin's statement, the flash paper would light up when it was only slightly more than a meter away from Gin. While stepping forward, Nova would reach into her weapon's pouch and bring out a kunai to throw at Gin's left knee in hopes of disabling his ability to move so fast during the fight. She'd let loose the kunai the moment Gin's kunai reached within 2.5-meters of her.

Nova was thoroughly sick of all this closing her eyes and being blinded so, once the kunai left her hand she would begin to run to her right, Gin's left, at a speed of 135. Once she started running, Nova began to cycle chakra through her armor to increase its durability. If allowed to, Nova would stop running once she reached the 10-meter mark and turn around to face Gin once again, able to open her eyes and see clearly since his second kunai hadn't blinded her.

WC: 698
TWC: 3106

OOC Stuff:

Nova's AP: 578 - 10 (Chakra Infusion on armor) = 568
Nova's Clone AP: 578

Shadow Clone Duration: 2/4

Mid-thread claim:

1200 words to train 12 Vigor

900 words to untrain 9 Strength

900 words to train 9 Vigor

3000 words to train Eight Inner Gates Gate of Limit to Gate of Death

WC Claims approved. Pleease remember to post theese claims at the end of the thread as well to avoid confusion.

Gin smiled as his Kunai whizzed through the air, his eyes now open as the effects of the flash paper had expired. He observed his foe advancing on the Kunai and for a moment, he was quite impressed by her approach to the fight. Naturally, he could see the two Kunai sent in Gins direction as clear as day. As his foe had her eyes closed, Gin decided not to activate the Flash Paper that he had rigged onto the end of the previous Kunai, instead he moved 2 meters to his left at top speed, and as the additional Kunai came from the clone he would simply manover a further 2 meters to his left, avoiding it’s trajectory in its entirety. It was rather foolish for the clone to continue attacking as after all it was attacking the Akimichi with it’s eyes closed and it didn’t take a genius to spot the senbon aimed at the young Akimichis centre of mass. The glint of light, the movement of the body all contributed to rapid analysis of the clones plan of attack.

At this point, he would simply move another 2 meters to his left, now very much outside of the clones passive sensory radius. Gin initially took this action in response to the females advance towards the Kunai: “Okay. That’s enough.” He spoke out as he stood in place observing Novas footwork and general movement while raising his palms in the air.

Assuming the female stopped, Gin would go onto say “You can open your eyes now. The flash papers cleared.” the fat belly of the Akimichi almost evaporating into the air to reveal the lean, muscular body of the newest Chuunin on the block. Flashing a dorky grin he would go onto say, “Lets team up.”; his stomach rumbling in the background.

WC - 296

Claiming:

2850 / 3000 towards Water Element.

Approved