Sunagakure Chunin Exam: Jupiter VS Karo VS Kin

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Jupiter thought to himself as he secured his ninja headband on his forehead, touching the logo on the metal to make sure that the Sunagakure emblem was facing the right way up as he made his way into the building. He had been calling this village 'home' for only a few short while, having arrived as a refugee in search of a mentor and air conditioning. After cruising through the first stage of the Chuunin Exams - he had pulled an all nighter the night before to prepare - the Yamanaka descendant had just returned from training in the desert. Although he wore a bland expression on his tanned face, the voice in his head was jostling and restless. Training by himself could only ever get him so far. He did not remember the last time that he had the privilege of challenging another shinobi in battle. When he found out that the battle was to take place in a special arena where the participants were expected to go all out and would not suffer any permanent injuries even in the event that they were to die in the ring, Jupiter was ecstatic. The only idea that he lusted for more than spilling blood, was dying himself.

Of the three Genin to fight in combat, Jupiter was the last to arrive. As the other two Genin took their respective seats on the chairs closest to them, he would glance at the two others and then slightly nod at the proctor before taking the last available seat in the bright white room. As the proctor laid out the instructions, Jupiter would pause and stare at her blue eyes for a second. Just like Saturn's. He thought to himself and his bland expression would turn more vivid as he daydreamed about his little brother but only for a moment. Always one to be curious, he picked up and peered to inspect the headset on his chair, but his attempt to decipher anything meaningful about its inner workings was futile. He glanced at the other two again and thought they they both looked quite formidable - perhaps he came back from the desert too soon. Now I'm twice as likely to die today. He licked his lips and cracked a slight smirk. He could still taste the red wine on his lips from the rounds he had already indulged in today. Pinning his long flowing dark brown hair behind his ear, he put the headsets on as he absorbed the last of the instructions given to the three.

To Jupiter, the experience of being 'beamed up' into the simulation was a thrill. During the transition, the white bright room around him seemed to shimmer with every color in the rainbow, and flicker at impossible intervals. He heard strange sounds that he had never heard before. Upon 'opening' his eyes again, Jupiter found himself standing with his fellow Genin and opponents for today in the center of the ring. Still in awe of what he had just witnessed, his eyes darted around taking in the view of the arena. Between the archways, pathways and statues,  the thought that went into creating something like this seemed impossibly delicate. That's The Third, huh.. He must be strong. I think I've heard that he's met Jashin too. Jupiter narrated in his head as he noticed the statue of the Kazekage. When Kin formed the seal of confrontation, Jupiter was at first slightly startled - his muscles tensed ever so slightly and his pupils dilated getting ready to fight. He wasn't very familiar with many of the customs and traditions in the village. He relaxed when he recognized that it was not in fact a hand seal for a technique. When Kin spoke, Jupiter waited for him to finish and looked at both his opponents, a warm smile on his clear bronzed face. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." He preached, having rehearsed, evidently from the pace of his speech.

The tall, muscular shinobi turned around and walked slowly to his corner of the triangle, counting his steps till he reached a point 50 meters away from both of his peers. He turned around once again to face them. Looking around once more to scan his environment, he gauged the size of the ring to be about 200 meters in diameter. He had no knowledge about the abilities of either of his opponents and assumed that they would not know his own abilities either. When it came to combat, Jupiter was always one to be cautious. Especially without any knowledge about his opponents, coupled with his self awareness and honesty towards himself, he was strongly biased to believe that he was most likely the weakest of the three. Regardless, he knew his strengths and was already scheming - scheming to scheme based on the moves of his opponents. As he saw Karo sign the seal of confrontation as well, he recognized the pattern. Like this..? He wondered in his head as he stuck his fingers up - his middle and index finger glued together. He was ready to move, and he wondered if the distance between himself and the other two was safe.

Jupiter stood still in his corner, watching both of his opponents closely as the first one to move would cast a smoke bomb. He held his ground, preparing for whatever was to follow, when the red haired shinobi began to quickly cast his first set on handseals. Always one to err on the side of caution, the Genin would already immediately leap backwards by a full 40 meters at his normal speed of 46, placing the lean shinobi who had walked 25 meters from the center of the ring at a mere 35 meters from the ring's edge after covering a total distance of 65 meters after his leap. On both his sides stood stone archways placed 6 meters apart. This leap away from the center of the line between both his opponents would  effectively create a total distance of 87 meters between Jupiter and the stationary Karo, and another 87 meters between himself and the cloud of smoke cast by Kin. Earth style? He watched in awe as the river of mud beelined towards the shinobi on his right. He schemed as he slipped his right hand into one of his ninja pouches on his waist, scanning the area looking for a solution with his peripheral vision. He watched Karo waste no time performing his second technique, spitting out a ball of flames headed straight for Jupiter's thick flowing brown hair.

His dark brown eyes reflected the light from the soaring flames, but it would appear that he was now at a safe distance. Fire too? He was impressed, but a solemn expression soon overcame his brief enthusiasm. Not willing to take a chance, he hopped another 5 meters backwards as he cast a smoke bomb of his own in front of him - 2.5 meters in front of his landing spot - as his evasion made Karo's technique narrowly miss its mark. I need to get closer..  Within the shroud of the smoke that he had created, the shinobi formed a single hand seal - Ram - to spawn two identical visual apparitions of himself using Clone Technique, exactly 1 meter in front of him at 45 degree angles in both sides. From the smoke, a tall muscular figure would sprint out in a curved line along the circumference of the ring, 31 meters from its edge towards the red haired shinobi at a speed of 46 - aiming to cover a distance of 216 meters along a circular trajectory to reach the opposite side of the ring. His final destination, if successful, would place him 31 meters from the opposite edge of the ring, 139 meters from the far outer edge of the shroud of smoke, and 69 meters from the center of the circle towards the middle point between the original positions of Karo and Kin. Approaching from the right, the charge had a primary objective of pressuring Karo to move to his left, towards Kin. Behind the archway on the right, an identical figure waited in hiding, waiting for the smoke to clear and the feint to take its course before coming into play.

Behind the smoke, a third identical body acrobatically covered the remaining 30 meters to the very edge of the ring, before slipping off into its vertical slope - hopefully away from his opponents' obstructed line of sight. He infused chakra in his feet to stay upright on the vertical surface of side of the battleground. The elevation of the ring was 25 meters above the 10 meter trench, giving him ample space to run on the slope 12 meters from the surface of the trench, and 12 meters from the two dimensional plane of the surface of the battleground. From there, he sprinted to his right at his usual speed of 46 along the side of the ring, aiming to close the distance between him and his foes. It was 314 meters to the opposite end of the ring and eclipsing the puppeteer's original position in his path would place him 75 meters from the first shroud of smoke that was casted by his opponent. Although his general velocity was towards was the very opposite side of the ring, he may choose to stop in his tracks and make tactful changes to his trajectory should the circumstances change and reveal a more fruitful course of action. The bodies that ran on their leather strapped footwear showed the same solemn expression on their faces - bland while also maintaining an unwavering focus - and their long hair soared in the wind. From the slope, one was rapidly closing in on one of his opponents, hiding behind the horizon.

From behind the archway placed 90 meters away from the other two Genin, from Jupiter's original position when he had cast the smoke bomb, emerged another identical vessel - standing at 6'1 donning thick long flowing brown hair and a thicker beard of the same color. Staring at  The Lover with dark brown eyes, he had high cheekbones, a sharp jawline and a bland expression. This part of Jupiter's scheme had already been set in motion when one body dashed madly at Karo and the other's footsteps made the Akiyama heir pause and think for just a moment. As The Widow lunged in Karo's direction, the third and final piece in play made a move -  sprinting towards the thin,  dissipating smoke - which by now was all but completely withered - and the towering, robed cuboid puppet, The Lover at a speed of 46. Upon reaching within 20 meters of The Lover, a 20 meter leap forward with an open hand aimed at the body of the puppet would aim to close the distance, finally placing the puppet within arm's reach.

The first body to sprint had a longer distance to cover - running along the circumference of the circle meant there was more ground to cover than if the trajectory had been in a straight line. This was deliberate and purposeful - it was meant to buy more time and approach from a specific angle that Jupiter believed would be ideal for the plan that he had conceived. As The Widow lunged towards Karo, the red haired shinobi Karo reacted swiftly to summon a dome of fire covering a 15 meter radius around him. Whether the lunging puppet was in range or not, it remained to be seen as the moments right after were blurred and censored by the scorching heat that would follow. The soaring flames vastly incinerated the landscape around Karo, reducing the shrubbery closest to his flames completely into rubble. Further, the shrubs that were not completely reduced to ash remained aflame, making patches of the terrain harder to access without taking the proper safety precautions, thus reducing the surface area available to all of the three Genin. Specifically, the shrubs at the tip of the outer edge of the flame directly in front of Karo were still ablaze, rendering one circular area of a 5 meter radius whose outer edge lies 10 meters ahead of Karo towards the center of the ring difficult to trespass. The two 20 meter tall trees on his either side would lose all its leaves and topple over away from him on both sides, possibly compromising a last minute retreat from the lunging puppet as the falling tree now added an additional 5 meters to the danger zone. Upon collapsing, the tree that fell to Karo's right would break down into logs of varying length between 1 and 3 meters and scatter on impact, sending the smaller pieces rolling far and wide. The trunk of the thicker tree on the left would remain mostly in one piece, but it would be charred beyond recognition. The graphics could have been a little better..

On Karo's left, the approaching assailant closing in on him would still be sprinting towards him from afar while the dome expanded to its maximum distance of 15 meters, once again out of range as the circular path was designed to approach the shinobi from a roundabout route, approaching the Genin from a sharp angle. Undeterred by the heat of the flame and the cloak of aura that now shrouded Karo,  a lateral reposition to avoid the toppling tree followed by a fearless leap forward with an extended hand within 20 meters of the red haired shinobi would once again serve to close the distance, which bring the fire and earth style user within arm's reach. To Karo's left still, 10 meters behind the leaping threat, the flames would spread through shrubs and isolated trees like a forest fire, forming a 10 meter long arc of flames rapidly ascending 10 meters into the air.

Beyond the horizon, like the Sun before dawn, a Jashinist lied in wait. The commotion on the surface helped mask his movement and repositioning on the side of the elevated ring. He was now 75 meters directly behind The Lover's original position, and quiet. A thick charred piece of log rolled towards him from the surface. Its loud tumbling alarmed the shinobi soon enough to allow him to get out of the way while it splashed into the trench below. Another two logs, slightly thinner, about 1 meter long each would both come his way, but instead of immediately rolling all the way out of the ring, their tips had only barely crossed the surface above.