The Lil Dragon Who Could(n't) [Hunter]

Mission:

Stats:

Spring had sprung. The color's of mother nature, which had dulled due to the cold embrace of winter's icy grasp, was finally starting to flourish and come alive again. It was a time of rebirth. Growth. Development. A time for overall change, and warmth, and everything to just live again. A clear blue sky accented this, clinging over the mountaintops, ever expanding onwards for, well, essentially forever; only a few clouds could be seen traveling ever so slowly across the vast sea of baby blue.

While the weather was gorgeous today, it wasn't like this throughout the rest of the week. With the start of spring, meant rain. And lots of it. Puddles naturally dotted the landscape, not fully having dried up from once they were created. This made bad enough conditions for merchants. Add a wannabe bandit, and things would just get down hill from there. It was for this reason, did Hiroki find himself making his way out towards the Dragon Ravine.

Not too long ago, the genin had received word from the Raikage that there was someone out along the main road causing a lot of trouble for these, already tired and stressed, traveling peddlers. All they were looking to do was simply sell their wares, but someone was nicking them. Deciding to take this on alone, Roki embraced the challenge. Ready to make his mark and truly display his strengths. Not just for his village, but also just to prove it to himself to.

About 100 meters from where most of this was occurring, Hiroki would pause very briefly. Removing the shinobi headband from around his arm, he would then place it on his forehead to conceal the seal which was sitting there. After this was secured in place, the ninja also assured that his katana was concealed beneath his red robes to help hide the fact the teen was armed. On the way there, he'd be keeping a careful eye on any potential hiding spots. Just in case there was either an ambush, or if he would need to flee for a moment. Either or, his eyes were scanning the surrounding area, just waiting for the culprit to be found.

Techs Used:
Current AP: 1335
Current HP: 300

WC: 363

Spoiler:

The Dragon, real name Ro, was a mercenary who made his living on the misfortunes of others. As one source of money dried up, Ro would venture to the far corners of the shinobi universe in search of new opportunities to extort those with no means of defending themselves. This time, The Dragon had discovered the perfect opportunity to nestle himself in a ravine which acted as an essential trade route for merchants looking to do business in the great village of Kumogakure.
 
The ravine itself was a passageway through a large mountain which provided a defense for Kumogakure to the rest of the world. The ravine was 50M in width and 200M long, with 100M tall walls on each side which were virtually impossible to scale without the means of some extraordinary power of strength. For the most part, this ravine was safe and had been used for many years as a safe travel route for merchants to bring their wares to and from Kumogakure, from the outside world. That was- until the Dragon made it his nesting ground. Now, Ro harassed and extorted any merchant or traveler who wished to pass by collecting any coin they had in return for granting them safe passage through the ravine.
 
Today had started off as good as any. The Dragon had acquired a large sum of coin from a convoy of merchants heading to Kumo through the ravine to off-load their wares in anticipation for spring. They had refused to barter at first, but after The Dragon had set fire to one of their carts, they reluctantly agreed to pay the fee to proceed, or risk losing their entire stock.
 
As good as the money was, Dragon knew it wouldn’t be long before Kumogakure would catch wind of his antics and send a shinobi to confront him. Dragon stood waiting, halfway through the ravine (100M from both entrances), observing both entrances for either more merchants to extort or for a shinobi to defeat.
 
The Dragon is a middle-aged man, in his mid-thirties. He has olive skin and long, black coarse hair along with a discolored beard. There is a large scar on his face which extends from his forehead to his chin.

WC: 371

(Good luck and have fun! If you have any questions, please feel free to DM me on the site or discord. ^_^)

The ravine was within eyesight now. It's tall walls reaching up as far possible towards the air. This ravine was large no doubt, but the trees here were still sparse in numbers. These same trees also typically formed in little cloisters too, so it wouldn't just be a single tree here and a single tree there. Instead it would be like a small group of 4 or 5 trees all within 5 meters of each other, but the next cluster would be located about 10 meters away.

Through the foliage however, the observant 18 year old did take note of some humanoid figure standing about halfway through the ravine, but it was just that. There was no guarantee that this was the person until Roki would actually make his way closer, as there was no defined details to be made from it. Even if there was just the hint of something like clothing or the glint of metal from the sun, it would've made things 10 times easier. But. A job was a job.

Continuing his March forward even more, with the only guiding light being that mysterious shadow. While doing so he would ere on the side of caution in his approach, "Could be a trap". The Kumogakuren had thought to himself. With this in mind, his hand began to reach around to the weapon pouch strapped to the back of the cloth which was used as a belt to keep the robe shut; the palm of which was placed upon the hilt.

10 meters into the ravine, about 90 meters from it's central point, Hiroki could then see the figure even slightly more now. Clothing could be definitely made out. So either it was them, or a decoy; hopefully the former, not the latter. Prowling more towards that edge of the main road, the mischief maker would then slyly begin to whistle a tune. It was a made up tune; to conceal the fact that he could simply do that instead of hand seals. The first 4 notes of this song where intended to be the handseals, after which, a seal would be placed upon the throwing knife. But, in order to keep up the ruse, he didn't stop after the 4 notes, nor was it a mere repetition of those same tones over and over again, the ones done after the seal had been formed just didn't have any true intention behind it.

Roki was now about 50 meters away, and it was clear to see. The Dragon was there. Nestled in between the main road and the right wall of the valley. His whistling had come to a halt at this point, right hand still tucked away behind his back. The low tune was instead replaced with words as the two were now 40 meters diagonally from one another. A group of four trees stood six meters to the Kumo shinobi's left, and another group of about five of them located seven meters to his right and two meters forward.

At this point, Hiroki made his way to that little group of trees, speaking up even if he had so far, somehow, gone unnoticed. "So. You must be the dragon." Now, being closer, details became more clear. Their skin tones pretty much matched, but the guy. He seemed much older than Roki? Like a bit older than what he would expect this bandit to be, but it was still enough trouble to need this. So, long story short, his opponent still wouldn't be underestimated in this instance. "You should be warned...", the black and white haired boy went began to say while removing the kunai from his pack. His right maneuvering it's way to position itself in front of his forehead protector, the seal facing inwards towards Roki so it was out of the enemies sight. After it was placed there, he went on "This is all I need." During this brief interlude, the blue eyed kid had managed to find himself so that was now about 31 meters away from the man, still directly diagonal from them.

"Now then, let's get this started with. Shall we? And do try to keep up" Hiroki would say with a smirk, teeth beaming through his lips like a wolf, hungrily about to start it's hunt. Within that same instant his right hand flung the kunai towards the Dragon, but not with the intention of hitting him. It was thrown in a manner so that when it landed in the ground, the side of the hill would be facing upwards, a seal containing a mortifying sight was inscrawled upon it. If the man's eyes had seen this, they would be subject to becoming paralyzed. While this happened, his left hand alone formed a couple of seals, after which 2 discs of lightning visible swirled into existence. One above his left shoulder, the other his right. Though they wouldn't be launched right now, he kept them around, waiting to see how he'd react.

(Thank youuuuuu!)

Techs Used: Mortifying Sight- 50 AP (base + 20 from Whistle Trigger, 75/75/30, Power/Speed/Health)
Lightning Rat Violent Quake- 35 AP (base + 5 from One Handed Seals, 75/75, Power/Speed)

Total AP: 1250
Total HP: 300

WC: 827
TWC: 1190

The day had grown still since he had raided the merchant convoy from earlier which caused The Dragon to feel uneasy. Prior to Hiroki entering the Ravine, The dragon would formulate several hand signs to place a precautionary fuinjutsu upon himself in the case that Kumo would come searching for him once they got news of the large bounty he had accrued from the merchant convoy . “It’s only a matter of time…” Ro would say to himself in a hushed tone, now formulating the hand seals for the protection seal. (Monkey -> Ox -> Snake -> Ram -> Tiger -> Horse) Upon completion of his hand seals, he would place the protection seal on the top of his right hand and activate his sharingan in both eyes.
 
Despite the sparce trees which grew within the ravine and near it, the path of view from both sides of the ravine were good enough for a trained sharingan to see through and as a figure approached from the direction of the village into the ravine, Ro would become aware of their presence, although unaware of their intentions. He watched as the figure crept closer and closer to him in an attempt to be stealthy, now 50M away from where The Dragon currently stood, which was a clear red flag for Ro, who was now convinced that this newcomer was no ordinary merchant for him to rob.
 
“I see you lurking!” The Dragon called out as the boy began to move from 50M to 40M closer to him. As he moved to clear the 10M gap, Ro would call a final warning whilst activating his Seal of Protection causing a thin barrier of chakra to surround his body, “This is your last chance, any further and I will have no choice but to attack.”
 
As the person moved from 40M away and forward to a cluster of trees, Ro would formulate hand seals (Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Tiger) and upon completion, would exhale a thin stream of fire, 6 inches wide, that quickly detached and formed into a large sphere (20M in Diameter). The sphere would travel towards the location of trees, at a slight angle, which the person was now hiding and if they did not move or attempt to deflect Ro’s jutsu, they would find themselves burnt to a crisp, along with the foliage they were lurking behind.
 
AP: 1500 - 35 Seal of Protection Placement - 17 Seal of Protection Activation - 10 Sharingan - 40 Great Fire Ball 
AP: 1398

Spoiler:

Reaching that 50 meter mark, something changed within the air. A sound. A voice rang out. Calling. Beckoning to him. Reverberating and echoing off the enclosed walls of the valley, it was undeniable as to who that man was talking to. And it was Hiroki. While this did somewhat surprise himself, there wasn't an explicit shock which shown itself upon his face.

However, this did nothing to convince the teen to stand down. There was a lot riding on this. Besides, what would be the worst that could happen? Since his presence had already been revealed however, the blue eyed boy stepped fully into view, still moving forward; yet keeping a close eye on what the dragon was actually doing within the moment. Now that they were within full view, it would be clear to see if there was any movements being made, from either person. This was all thanks to the warning call from the older, olive toned dude. A bandits threat was to never be taken lightly.

Just as predicted, when the genin edged about 10 meters forward from his last spot, the bandit had begun to act. The instant hand signs had been formed, his right hand withdrew from behind his back without the kunai in tow and started to form his own; delicate fingers moving through the intricacies of tiger, horse, boar, then ram. As the last seal was formed, the sight of what was being thrown his direction had also come to fruition. And oh, how so very lovely. They were starting things off with a bang. Or a fireball rather.

The salt and pepper colored hair which topped the youngins head began to sprawl forth, serpentining it's way all around his body until he was encapsulated in a chrysalis of hair. All done before the fireball had hit, the heat could be felt from within, but that was all that occurred from that. The tree nearby were incinerated although, the leaves caught ablaze create a small cloud of smoke from where the great fireball had collided. After Hiroki felt as if it had passed, he ended Needle Jizo, surrounded by the billowing gray cloud. This was his chance.

Before taking off in a sprint, both hands once again made the signs, dragon, boar, bird, ram, then monkey. About 2 meters of progress had been made by this point, so at the moment he emerged, Hiroki's left arm went in an arcing motion from left to right sending forth 50 senbon of lightning chakra. Not able to keep up with all 50, but following close behind, Roki would then close another 12 meter gap before the senbon would hit or miss their intended target.

Techs Used: Needle Jizo- 30 AP (80 Speed)
Chidori Senbon- 40 AP (85/85, Power/Speed)

Total AP: 1215
Total Health: 300

WC: 445
TWC: 1622

“Fool!” The Dragon would bellow, his voice booming through the ravine with the help of the acoustics provided by the large walls which surrounded them on both sides. The boy’s response to Ro’s attack had been growing their hair unnaturally long until it encompassed their body completely, but as the fireball hit the Kumo shinobi and consumed him, the fire would quickly deteriorate the boy’s defense and leave him with nasty burns which Ro hoped would lead to the end of the fight. “I do not wish to take the life of a young man who is outmatched. This is your last chance for you to leave and train to a suitable level to face me!” The Dragon bellowed once more. The Dragon could understand the foolish ambitions of a young man as he had been a wide-eyed eager youth once, but Ro had his limits and if the shinobi continued to pursue the fight, he would no longer offer him a way out and the two would fight to the death.

(Claiming 100 Damage Fire Ball hit through Needle Jizo due to 100 Power Vs 85 Power via Jutsu Clashing rules)

Spoiler:

 
If the shinobi decided to choose the path of death and advance towards him another step as opposed to fleeing, The Dragon would simply wave his hand quickly and perform a combination of 5 total horizontal and vertical hand motions, releasing invisible blades of wind, 1M apart, which would travel directly towards the Kumo shinobi mid-section in a formation where the blades would form an overlapping 'X' if they had been produced together. The blades of wind would disperse the Chidori senbon due to Ro’s wind elemental advantage over lightning and travel on to cut the boy up alive.

AP: 1398 - 10 Sharingan - 30 Zephyr Blade -17 Protection Seal Upkeep
AP: 1358

Spoiler:

As it would turn out, there must've been a lot of adrenaline rushing through him during this moment, because it wasn't until he had taken that brief second to see how the highwayman would react did he realize, that fireball must've done some serious damage. There were burns covering his arms at this point, and his robes were somewhat singed but still intact. A tingling sensation had begun to run around where the burns were at, but there was no time to focus on the pain.

Another warning from the man snapped Hiroki back to reality. "You've been terrorizing these people coming into my village, and yes while there could be several others who can take you down much easier than I, I will still fulfill my duty." So he showed clearly that there would be no backing down still. At this point the senbon were still in flight towards the other nin, but while Roki was saying that he would notice the other shinobi using more hand seals, but nothing was coming towards him. This caused for him to merely hold his ground, bracing for any potential impact. Was it a feint attack? No. His senbon dispersed? Whatever it was, he must've been out of reach for he didn't feel the need to move.

(Starting position last post was 50 m away - 10 - 2 - 12 = 26 m away)

Instead of continuing towards the old man in a straight line, he would instead run in a 15 meter arc to the Dragon's left and his own right; the arc also curved 4 more meters towards the dragon, with the ending position being directly to the Dragon's left, 22 meters away. From here, he would go on the defensive, learning from his mistake of attempting to simply rush in. Two series of signs would be woven, the first being tiger, ram, dog, tiger, bird, causing 2 lightning clones to spawn 3 meters in front of him, so that altogether they formed a triangle from an aerial perspective. The two clones would then dash forward, one heading towards the guy's front, and the other countering towards the back, both making b lines to their positions.

Once they were both within meters of him, the clone which was attacking from the rear would weave the next set of signs, monkey, hare, rat, dog, then snake. Purple smoke poured out from the clones mouth and encapsulated spread outwards into a dome shape, which was 5 meters wide, and 10 meters long. Had the man stayed within the cloud and breathed in it's toxic fumes, he would be in for a treat. The other clone would run into the cloud immune to it's effects, towards where he would be located had no movements been made. If he was indeed still there, the clone would simply attempt to act as a means to stop him from leaving the poison.

Techs Used: Lightning Clones- 40 AP (85/85, Power/Speed)
Poison Mist- 30 AP (55/55, Power/Speed)

Current AP: 1145 (Roki: 395, Clone A: 390, Clone B: 360)
Current Health: 225 (25 DR)

WC: 480
TWC: 2102

The Dragon’s brow crinkled as his keen eyes narrowed in on the shinobi before him, the smoke from the fire ball dissipating and the foliage around them that had been affected by the fire, quickly burning away. In this aftermath, the boy had failed to retreat. This truly bugged Ro. Why hadn’t the boy run when he had the chance? He surely knows that he is out matched, but still, he stays and fights? This agitation manifested into a deep scowl on Ro’s face, causing him to vaguely resemble an angry dragoy, and he bellowed out once more, this time his voice laced with aggression towards the shinobi’s foolish actions.

“Very noble of you.” Ro said in a voice of authority and respect for the one before him, “I will grant your foolish wish of an honorable death on the battlefield.”
 
The moment that the shinobi would begin to move in the direction of the Dragon’s Left, he would activate his Sharingan: Full Utilization technique, which greatly invigorated his speed and vigor for a brief period. With his eyes now locked on his target, The Dragon would move to intercept him at a range that he could burry him with his attack. The Dragon would formulate hand seals as he moved to close the distance to his target, who was now nearing their intended destination. The Dragon traveled until he was within 10M of him, regardless if he had changed his course, and once he was, the Dragon would slam his fist into the ground, sending a violent quake in multiple directions, causing the ground to splinter and cave with the intent of immobilizing the shinobi. The ground would shift 20M in front of him towards his target, and 10M to both The Dragon’s left and right.

AP: 1358 - 10 Sharingan - 17 Seal of Protection - 40 Sharingan Utilization - 30 Tearing Earth Palm = 97 AP Used
AP: 1261

Spoiler:

Everything was relatively quiet, besides the sound of Hiroki's feet moving against the ground beneath him. But, during this period of time when sprinting, another, faster pair of feet had begun to join the race. Sweat beginning to drop ever so slowly down his face, Hiroki peered to the side. The enemy was beginning to move in, and fast.

This would be a relatively easy counter, for Roki preferred close quarters. That's where most of his heavy hitters lie, so he was actually relatively grateful. A sly smirk emerging, and a surefire plan had come to mind. When the two were just about 20 meters apart, the lad would form horse, then bird, then ox, then horse, then bird again. Expanding outward with the Kumogakuren misfit at it's central point, was a dome of lightning. This would proceed to go outward until reaching 20 meters away from him on all sides. If the bandit didn't stop his movements towards Hiroki, he would find himself electrified. "What do you know of nobility?", he would send a quip back in the opposite direction as this was occurring.

To sweeten the deal as well, the sole survivor of the Shimada clan would perform some more contortions of the fingers; ram, ram, snake, tiger, bird. 15 meters directly between him and the opponent would also become an outward expanding dome, but with some key differences. The first being, this dome wasn't something which could be visually indicated at first to the naked eye. However, one would be able to pick up that there was distortions which hung through the air, making it appear as if the gravity was shifted in the area. This dome would then also expand 20 meters outwards on all sides.

Techs Used: Gigavolt- 40 AP (85/85, Power/Speed)
Singularity- 35 AP (80/80, Power/Speed)

Total AP: 1140 AP
Total Health: 225

WC: 288
TWC: 2390

Mid thread claim, using 1500 of the words from here to purchase a Hop Ticket!