Win brother! Win! (open)

[Observation thread, any comment here is regarding the fight here and to witness IC the combat.]

Seto was sitting there watching the fight as instructed. He was to set it up and invite the two while Akabayashi was away. The kage had said they had been without a deputy too long and waiting even for him was a mistake. So, he sent the two their invitations on how one of them would become deputy and how better to decide amongst two previous kage than with an old fashioned fight.

He got stuck next to some chick yelling "Win brother! Win!" With bias like that he might as well take the time to cheer on his distant relative in the other Shinkou. If Shikami wins I'll drink double tonight... you know to celebrate." He was gonna drink double anyway he just said it. This of course also got the attention of the beer servers who suggested he start now. And of course he did. Now he would just drink his two beers while the fight was beginning.

Ryusame arrived in a blur up at the edge of the stadium just as the two kage were taking their positions. Damnit, I wanted to be here for the opening ceremonies. Why am I always late to everything? he chided himself. Ah well, at least the fight hasn't started yet. He took a moment to scan the stands. Things were packed today, as was to be expected. Even though it rankled him that the two Mizukage were essentially fighting to be second in command he couldn't deny his excitement. Say what they will about the Nanadaime, at least he has an understanding of Kiri. These things should be decided with a duel.

Unfortunately the crowds still left him with the problem of where to sit. Between the fact that basically the entire village was here and security was taking up position anywhere that let them cover their blind spots with a wall he was guaranteed to be in someone's way. Being so large he was used to that but he still felt a weird mix of awkwardness and guilt at blocking someone's view of the fight. The deciding factor was a familiar face in the crowd below, and with a series of controlled falls he maneuvered down next to Izu Momochi. If he was going to be drawing the ire of the people behind him he might as well sit next to someone who was good in a fight.

"Izu-senpai! Do you mind if I sit next to you?" He would wait for permission to sit down, shooting apologetic looks at the people sitting in the row behind her all the while, and provided she didn't tell him to scram he would take a seat and try to wedge himself as far down as possible. The effort probably wouldn't do all that much to give the person behind him a clear view, but hopefully it would be enough to limit their reaction to annoyance rather than rage. His eyes would just be returning to the stage as the two Mizukage clashed in a torrent of chakra, a wave of blazing blue crashing down on a dark aura.

Concentrated on the match, Izu had activated her byakugan, wanting to see the hidden and invisible chakra prowess her own brother could do, as well as enjoy another more refined and subtle side of the fight. With her superior senses activated, she easily spoted Ryusame making his way into the crowd, barelly arriving at the start of the match. Thankfully for him, no real move happened, and the two fighters were only holding a stare of intensity between one another, waiting for the smallest oppening, the smallest movement and lack of attention to cause the start of the action in the fight.

While still focusing on it and waiting for the action to happen, Izu saw Ryusame get closer and closer in the back of her head, slowly reaching her until he arrived beside the blonde girl seat. He wasnt really subtle about it either, being tall and large, in a tightly place filled with a large crowd. But subtlety and stealth was something one would need to practice a long time before getting it right, and to the untrained senses, it would be a lost cause. Nonetheless, as he approached, and recognized Izu, she smiled with courtesy to him, being half at ease and half wanting to be left alone. Oh well. After all, Izu was a reserved person, but in this case, it was politeness to let Ryusame sit beside her, and she was already in a crowd, so might as well be beside someone she knew! Part of her uneasyness was that, contrary to usual, she wasnt dressed in a all ninja way, clad in weapons, practical clothing and under armor. She was dressed more casual, wearing a grey sweater, in a civilian way, with her hair tied in a bun instead of loose like usual.


''Sure, you can sit here. First time seeing a fight?'' asked Izu, keeping the conversation brief but polite, still asking question, but the majority of her gaze being locked onto the center of the arena.

Who are you rooting for by the way?'' asked the blonde chuunin, a trap question of course, asked with a smile of confidence, but hidden as a malicious question.

"First time seeing anything like this. The only fights I've ever seen have been on the schoolyard. And I guess there was that time I fought those water bugs, whatever they were, but I don't think that really counts." His own gaze was also fixed on the battle at hand, the clashing jutsu and his own relative inexperience making it hard for him to discern what was going on. He was so fixated on the fight that he almost missed her follow up question. Distracted or not though even he could sense the danger there.

"That's a hard one for me to answer. When Lord Fourth declared war on Hoshigakure I hadn't even started out at the Academy yet, so my understanding of what all happened is probably lacking. But from what I gather Lord Fifth was the man he intended to be his replacement before...." He trailed off, knowing that everyone knew what had come next. "Anyway, from what I've pieced together he didn't actually have the title that long. Lord Sixth took up the mantle when the enemies were at the gate. Er-" He glanced around, but if anyone was listening to him they weren't making it obvious enough for him to tell. Of course he was smart enough to know that in a ninja village everything he said should be treated as though the ANBU were listening.

"What I meant to say was that when the Star ninja showed up in response to Lord Fourth's actions, Lord Sixth was the one that went out to meet them. He made sure that the village was safe. He bled and sacrificed, and now we have peace again." Ryusame realized that he was gripping the armrest and forced himself to relax. He had never really spoken to anyone about the end of the war, not even his parents. There was surely more to the story than he knew and the pieces of information that he did have were largely filtered through the lens of schoolyard gossip. Any ninja worth his salt could guess that there was probably more to the story than what he had heard. Maybe the Fifth Mizukage had had a good reason for leaving, maybe the Sixth hadn't stood alone against the tide. What mattered to Ryusame was that, as far as he could tell, it had been Lord Sixth who had weathered the storm. That the Seventh Mizukage was willing to leave him so close to the seat of power in the Mist actually showed Ryusame that perhaps he was a man that deserved his respect.

After that terrible battle the Sixth had earned himself a new name, one that Ryusame wasn't sure he should ever use in public. The One Eyed Hyuuga. Ryusame knew that the Momochi woman half Hyuuga herself, and so he assumed that she wanted the Sixth Mizukage to win. Stemming from that he was immediately worried that she would think that he was lying to curry favor with her. "And for what it's worth," he said, dropping his voice down so that hopefully only she could hear, "I would have said the same thing to anyone I was sitting next to." It was the truth, but then he had only stated the facts as he knew them. It was hardly a bold or decisive endorsement. Ryusame fell silent, taking her lesson to heart about not asking too many questions, and strained his eyes in an effort to parse out the fight below.

''Yeah I meant real fights, schoolyards scuffs aren't what I would call fights ahaha!'' would reply Izu mockingly and laughing, thinking the man was funny to even consider that as potential fights. As he answered her other question with a complex analysis, Izu listened attentively, while still keeping her senses and chakra vision granted to her by her byakugan toward the actual combat, rooting for her brother Shiro.

After the lengthy and detailed explanations of Ryusame on who he rooted for, Izu simply nodded and opted for a more laconic answer, giving pause and timing to the discussion before replying herself.

''Me personnally, I'm rooting for Shiro. He is not only one of the person I admire here, but he is also my Sensei, or at least he used to be, when I was in a team in the past, before we lost one of our team members in a high ranking mission. I wouldnt want anyone else to want than my own brother.'' Replied seriously the blonde Momochi, her tone serious and her face not being playfull anymore, but squinting and frowning her eyebrows in seriousness. This wasnt an information she used to share with anyone, but now she was in a place in her life that it felt right to start to share this information publicaly and to be genuine with this. After all, she now lived with him, and was stronger than ever before, almost on par with Shiro himself. 

Seeing as the man didnt reply yet, probably shaken by this information, the actual fight started, and Shiro and Shikami started to dish out attacks and jutsu, dashing and clashing, which prompted the first round of excitement in the crowd and applause rom everyone eager to see where this decisive and exciting fight would lead.

Ryusame's head turned almost of its own volition towards Izu at her confession. "Lord Sixth is your brother?" He managed to control himself enough to avoid shouting like a lunatic, but the shock was still plain in his voice. Every interaction he had had with her started running through his mind. The weight of the Momochi clan's name had put him on his best behavior, but had he been respectful enough to a member of the Sixth Mizukage's family? Had he said something off color or made some terrible social faux pas? Well certainly, yes, but Izu had been forgiving enough about that. Ryusame forced himself to stay calm and turned back towards the fight. He cleared his throat and gave his best shot at keeping his voice level. "I didn't know that."

After a beat the rest of what she had said started to bleed through. Not only her brother, but her Sensei too, he thought. Before he had been fixated on learning from the Momochi, but this newest revelation transformed that into something more like an obsession. Of course part of it was the idea of becoming part of the lineage of great ninja in the village, but most of it came from the implication of what she must have learned during her training. The fearsome reputation of the Momochi coupled with the might of the Byakugan, and then honed by the Mizukage.... She's on a completely different level than me.

Her comment about losing a team member was the last to sink in. Death was a part of their line of work, and Ryusame knew that the only reason he hadn't suffered a similar loss was that he had only just started his career as a Mist ninja. Despite it being such a large part of their world he found himself at a complete loss for what to say. Still he wanted to say something, so he settled on the simplest approach. "I'm sorry to hear that you lost a team mate." The words felt hollow to him and Ryusame wished he had the wisdom to say something more profound, but it was all he had.

Below them the fight was a tidal crashing of chakra. dark purple and bright blue. At his level it was hard to comprehend what was even happening beyond the most general notions of position and movement. Beyond the power and complexity of the techniques the reaction times of the combatants was just too far beyond his own. Attack and counterattack fired off faster than he could weave handseals, churning the air with shockwaves and ripping currents of chakra. Without taking his eyes off the battle he turned slightly back towards Izu.

"This is incredible. Lord Sixth is too fast for me to follow. At least Lord Fifth is standing still, but I have no idea what those techniques are. None of my teachers ever mentioned anything like that in the Academy. Can they win in a close range battle against your brother?" He didn't know anything about the Sixth Mizukage, but based on the sword he wielded and what he knew of Izu Ryusame assumed he was a monster in close quarters combat.