The Friendly Spar Part 2

She found herself back within the serene embrace of the training grounds. The forest surrounding her was like a wave of pure green sea. She remembered a time when she was worried about schedules and Lloyd's health. That her old master Atarashi was nowhere to be seen or found.She would have to scrounge around for enough money to help pay for Lloyd’s back surgery and to get him up and running again. She remembered her arms, constantly coated in a thick coating of red. It was almost as if she had permanently coated her arms in a thick coating of scarlet paint. Her arms however were allowed to enjoy the small breeze of the summer. The sun was against her arms which were now exposed, primarily due to her sleeves being rolled back. She no longer wore any bandages, instead, she was allowed to finally have her arms free. She was wearing her dark blue chunin jacket over her black protected bodysuit that covered her entire body down to her ankles and wrists. Yet her bodysuit had been slightly rolled up to allow her arms to enjoy that freedom she loved She wanted that kind of freedom, the freedom to be able to talk back. The freedom to fight for what she believed in. The freedom to speak her mind whenever she wanted. Her position as a Chunin was considered to be the start of her journey to become an elite ninja. Yet she wanted to go beyond that, she wished to go beyond everything and anything that was previously known about Taijutsu.

Yet there was this feeling of uneasiness, she felt strange. Antsy from the announcement of the Nova exams. Her fingers flexed, staring back at the training dummy that was there. It wouldn’t even provide her the enjoyment of pushing back against her blows. At this point, most things couldn’t even do that. Steel, trees, and even animals couldn’t give her the satisfaction of an all-out brawl. She had grown strong, so much stronger than before. Her understanding of taijutsu, and the phenomenon that she came to know as the Extreme Realm of Force enlightened her to new avenues of Taijutsu, along with the ability to bend and shake reality through her fists. The “Arena” of the Dojo yard was a large 50-meter radius dirt circle. With ten meters of grass splitting apart it from the rest of the tangled-up rows of trees surrounding it. A few boulders were strewn about the Dojo yard, a common exercise for herself whenever she was bored. These boulders were five meters high and four meters wide, and while their shape was rather uneven, they still would do good in the case of a makeshift projectile. All the while she stood inside of the center of the arena. Her eyes are open, her arms wide, and enjoying the sunlight. The serene feeling of the dojo yard still could not satisfy her antsy feeling tingling along her skin.

Yet she wondered if someone would come for a spar and if that person would even be able to challenge her.

Heavenly Body Stacks:2/10
Current AP:1250
Total AP:1250

Unlike a pivotal moment two years ago, Enishi Kurosawa understood why he was at the Training Grounds. At first, it was just an inclination, a sensation—a desire to meet again. Even through his lengthy expeditions among the Haven Country Borders, he always yearned to return. He always yearned to see her again. He always yearned to at least...spar with her again. He vowed to never forget the young maiden's name—well, even if he tried to erase any sort of memories he had with her, it was impossible ever to forget such an emblazoned spirit. As he strode to the training grounds, all of his recollections of him and her flowed through his mind like a barrage.

Ryumi Hiyu.

She was truly someone with a personality that he would never see again. At first glance, she may seem to be an exceedingly headstrong and naive girl who knew nothing of discourse and abstractions, but beyond such a rudimentary surface-level preconception revealed a girl who understood others so deeply and so accurately regardless of how much time she spent with them. Because she as well understood what pain and suffering was...she also knew how and why exactly it manifested in others. She saw through the Sage's facade immediately when they first met, and even reasoned that he wore plenty of other masks when speaking to others to the point that he felt a lack of true identity and wholeness. To be honest, it scared Enishi so much that she knew him so well...but at the same time, he felt drawn towards someone who could truly understand him and wouldn't judge him for it — unlike the Kamigawa scion he knew. His respect and reverence for her culminated in when she knocked him out of his stupor by cheering him on during the Nova Exams when no one else did. That's when Enishi realized that she was someone special...and worth risking his life for. Ryumi was what pushed him to eliminate the Craven Apostate, driven to the brink of death against the perilous criminal. He didn't want to die; he didn't want to lose, he never wanted to taste defeat unless it was to her.

All of his actions over these months led him to this point.

The Water Gardens were especially empty this afternoon. It was as if fate, as much as Enishi hated to admit it, was guiding him to this moment. He didn't know why, he didn't even know if it was true...but he felt as though he needed to be in the dueling sector for a big reason. But, the reason was there. As soon as he entered the arena, he saw her at the center. He couldn't help but smile; a pure, genuine expression graced his features naturally as she jogged up towards her, before slowly walking towards her as he reached within the 10-meter range.

"What a surprise! Ryumi! It's you! How have you been?!" If Ryumi paid attention to his attire, Enishi would be wearing his typical clothing and armory (as listed on his stat page), opting to wear Nise since he didn't expect to come across one of his best friends — it was merely his intuition that led him to check out the arena at this time. "Well...I shouldn't really be that surprised considering that you are quite the training freak. I assume you're training for the upcoming Nova Exams? I suppose I came to the village at the right time; I get to see you crush the competition." His signature smile remained consistent all throughout, Arondight on his right hip gleaming brilliantly. 

WC: 596

[+1 Pleiades Stacks, 1/6 Remaining]

It was moments like these, of recollection of the past, that truly allowed her to appreciate moments like this here and now. Ryumi remembered her time with Sebastian, Typhon, and Ciel. The journey towards the Grima-led tower had filled her with a sense of uneasiness when they had arrived. She remembered her body shaking with anticipation for the coming battle. Yet now, she thinks, that there was a foolish amount of concern for her life, especially now that she was here inside of the training grounds' very own dueling arena. She remembered when she had first met the young sage, wearing a mask similar to her own. The religious sector of the village had hurt her, and the rebellion of the Hoshimura had only made things worse due to her mother and father's connection to the incident, scars burning at the memory of that night. Yet Enishi, remembered the soothing feeling it brought her, she had someone she could call a true friend, a companion of sorts. Rumors had spread fast as to why she had cheered him on. Perhaps she was a lover or a friend, or because she wanted to psyche him out. Yet she had a fond feeling about Enishi, someone so alike herself it was almost. . . haunting. She would be unable to hear the sound of Enishi’s footsteps or sense him coming along. She heard the first syllable come out of his lips before turning around immediately, her hair whipping behind her as she stood. Yet what he would find on her face was a large, smug grin on her face.

“You’re gone for two whole years and all you can say is that! I thought you were dead ya bastard!” Ryumi shouted, Ryumi noted his appearance was the same. She noted the armor that he was wearing was the same that he had been wearing nearly 2 years ago. But time has flown fast for both of them. Their rises in strength would become apparent quite soon, with Ryumi nodding his head about the Nova Exams, “Of course! Crushing the competition will be a piece of cake! I’m aiming much higher than that for these Exams I can tell ya that much! But. . . I am having some difficulties with the training itself. Ya see, most of the provided equipment can’t handle me without breaking, so perhaps. . . I can have my runback with you for old time's sake?”

Her antsy feeling was replaced with potential excitement, she wanted a challenge, she wanted someone who could challenge her. Her plans for this exam weren’t just a promotion at this point, but she wanted to prove her strength above all else. As one of the few users of taijutsu in the village. She wanted to uphold those values and showcase how strong Taijutsu could be.

“Unless one of the members of the Nova Corps is too chicken to fight?~” She leaned forward, keeping her 9-meter distance from her with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Her eyes stared back at Enishi like daggers waiting to strike. She had not brought her weapon, but it didn’t matter when her whole body was one anyway.

WC:514
Heavenly Body Stack:4/10
AP:1250
TAP:1250

"You're speaking my language. I'd be glad to see how strong you have become." Enishi's smile pivoted into a confident smirk; at this moment—yes—at this very moment, Ryumi was a shinobi that he saw as an equal he could respect to go all out on. Rank meant little to him. She deserved to see him at his very best...at least, that was the greatest honor he can bestow to her as a kindred shinobi. His smirk only widened as she jokingly goaded him on, using his title as a pretense for him to accept their battle. With that being levied, Enishi didn't feel bad about showing most of his capabilities...after all, she asked for it. Putting his hands in his pockets, he replied with the typical level of sharpness he'd show to a rival such as Tsunayoshi or Morio, "Well, perhaps if you were talking to our sly Vulture, he may have conjured up a brilliant excuse not to fight you." 




Enishi stepped back immediately at full speed to even the distance, turning 9 meters into 10 meters of space dividing them in a split second. Whilst in motion, a brilliant flash of blue encased in body only to disappear, quickly revealing that his Nise skin tethering armor dissipated, only to be replaced with an armor more suitable for a serious battle. In its summoned Semi-Armored state, Walkure—the raiment of the Seraph—became his new aegis, replacing his gray and red color scheme with white, blue, and silver. But most importantly, all parts of his body were swathed in silver and blue protection armor with a silver armored cloak surrounding it. The Seraph of Hoshigakure was facing Ryumi without any shadow of a doubt.

He did not draw his weapon yet, opting to study the field and any minuscule detail Ryumi could elicit on her person before rushing into action; in a way, he was letting her have the first move to get a better understanding of how much she had improved. He also had his Chakra Sensory activated, just in case.

WC: 349
TWC: 945

AP + Stats:

Ryumi’s posture straightened the moment he responded to her goading. She had to treat this spar just like a match inside of the Nova exams. Her muscles flared with excitement at the idea of being able to fight against Enishi at full strength. Enishi’s backstep at full speed allowed the distance between them to go from 9 to 10 meters away. A mesmerizing flash of light blue enraptured Enishi in its visage. Once the blue light vanished, it would reveal Enishi inside of the remnants of what was thought to be a Seraph, an armor forged through the experiences that shaped him. An armor that showed he did not take her lightly as he did almost two years ago as his Kohei. His entire body is encapsulated with brilliant stainless steel, large grey spikes near the shoulders with blue glass orbs in the center of each spike. She still wore the pure black clothing of the skin-tight bodysuit that was given to most Shinobi. Her dark blue chunin jacket, however, would be discarded, thrown from her body, and would begin to be caught by the wind. She’d read herself immediately, her eyes staring down at the suit of armor surrounding Enishi’s body, all the while her coat would catch itself onto one of the surrounding trees.

He did not draw his sword, either as a way to gauge her reaction or because he still underestimated her. Whether or not it was one or the other did not matter to the gifted student of martial arts. Her only focus was to feel that thrill of the fight once again with a friend she had thought was lost. She only wished she could have brought her Bo-Staff with her.

But secrets were a powerful thing within a fight, and so, she’d have to hold her cards for the moment, until he decided to strike himself. Her mouth would open, breathing in a powerful intake of breath before exhaling out similarly. Her muscles flexed with an abnormal amount of strength, as she felt her heartbeat quicken. Her eyes would stare back at Enishi with an eagerness to be challenged for the first time since she had arrived back from her hunting party.

Until sparks of blue and purple would surge around her, as for the first time, she would finally be able to cut loose. Ryumi would charge forward, and sparks of blue and purple would fly past her. She would charge at Enishi from her original spot at a Power and Speed of 250. She would quickly begin to close the gap between them, barreling towards Enishi to see how he would react.
WC:441

AP+Stats:

Enishi's eyes narrowed as sparks of blue and purple surged around Ryumi. This wasn't Peacock's Spirit Blessing or anything secret technique of Hoshigakure...no...this was her genuine strength and ingenuity. Honestly, the Sage didn't know whether to feel proud or worried at this new development considering how strong he was now sensing that his friend had become. But, he wouldn't allow himself to lose composure now, as this was what made shinobi. As sparks surrounded the Hiyu Princess, the Sage powered up similarly. Instantaneously, his chakra would flare like a raging storm—an inferno of concentrated primrose energy engulfing his body like flames as they boosted his capabilities to a heightened stage. He was self-aware that Grand Chariot wouldn't be enough to face Ryumi; he could by no means hold back.

You've truly grown, haven't you?

In that instant, she lunged forward.

Reacting immediately to the galvanizing dash, Enishi weaved two sets of handseals: one through whistles aimed to amplify the main jutsu and the second through his hands simultaneously and fluidly. He never tried using this technique before, but there was a first time for everything, and he had a hunch that this would work well against close combat combatants like her. Once his handseals were completed and she would be in the process of closing the distance between them, making it rather difficult to change her direction unless she abandoned her initial strategy completely, eight chains with triangular spearheads would erupt and phase through the Seraph's armor and towards Ryumi which would close the shortening distance between them at lightning speeds close to matching her. All chains were aimed at different parts of her body; one was aimed at the base of Ryumi's neck, two aimed at opposing parts of her arms ready to flank her if she tried to move in opposite directions, another two ready to attack her thighs and restrain leg movement, and the final three were aimed in a vertical progression from her abdomen to her solar plexus, and finally her ribcage. However, the true deception came within the timing of the chain firing. The four chains aimed at her extremities were shot out instantly with no gaps in time upon activation to ensure that they would be the first ones to impact her. Yet, the last four chains aimed at her upper body extended just slightly after the first four chains did. 

Enishi did that for a specific reason.

On the off chance that the sparks Ryumi emitting were a barrier of sorts, he didn't want all of his chains to be screwed and clashed away with, so he intentionally created a brief time lag to ensure that once a potential barrier was dealt with, the other four chains would be able to attack a potentially defenseless Ryumi. 

Yet once again, there was another layer to Enishi's strategy. The first four chains aimed at Ryumi's extremities grew bright yellow, but the ones aimed at her upper body glowed cyan vampiric blue as if infected with a curse. The Seraph had applied Null Pointer to those last four chains, potentially able to shortcircuit Ryumi's entire chakra system and deactivate whatever she would have going on if they came into contact with her. Of course, while the chains could be lethal if handled by a murderous person, Enishi made sure that after the chains tried to clash with her, they would attempt to wrap around and restrain the Hiyu Princess, applying Null Pointer at maximum efficiency.

Nevertheless, depending on how things went, Enishi was ready to adapt or outright abandon his strategy on the fly should anything suspicious or surprising occur, watching Ryumi's every move.

WC: 609
TWC: 1544

AP + Stats:

A single smirk was etched onto her face upon seeing his strength. The raging storm of energy like a primrose fire dazzled her to no end, yet in the end, all of it would come down to how both of them would fight. A clash between The Sage and The Martial Artist, she knew he felt the same excitement, of finally being able to clash with him on a level where he did take her seriously, where she could take him seriously.

“ You’ve grown stronger too, Enishi Kurosawa. ”



As such, her galvanized rush forward would have been met in kind, his hand seals weaving while the faint pitch of his whistling resounded in her ears. She didn’t know what to expect from him, the most she got to see within the fight against Tsunayoshi was something she couldn’t forget, yet she knew that he had grown stronger, and he must have had something up his sleeve in case a situation like that were ever to happen. The moment she crossed 0.5 meters, eight of those triangular chains would jut out from behind his back, moving at a similar speed to how fast she was moving, she knew she had to be patient in this instance. She could reveal her trump cards in a fight against a friend, not when others could be watching and waiting. Ryumi traversed 4.5 meters, the chains closing in when she realized the differentiating colors, 5 of the chains charging forwards were a brilliant gold similar to that of the blood of a god, yet the 3 others were a turquoise green, she would have crossed another 0.1 meters, her arms would immediately come up into crossguard, allowing her eyes and head to slightly poke out, her body would lean forwards, allowing the chain to come into contact with her arms instead of her neck and blocking them as a result(and debuffing their power by 50). She would barrel through the chains, immediately coming into contact with the three chains that were aimed at her abdomen up to her solar plexus that were 0.1 meters behind that of the Golden Chains. She felt them make contact, grunting through the sudden shift, yet the chains would have no effect. Her body, which had been sculpted to be the Perfect Specimen of a user of taijutsu, would clear out the negative effects of the Null Pointer, thus, she would render Enishi’s current strategy null as well.

Ryumi would continue to barrel straight towards Enishi without stopping, her trajectory aiming to completely run over the Sage without a second thought.

WC:435

Combat Shenanigans: