Starring:
Jon, Naru, Haruko, Berii, Kuoroke, Issei
Date: February 4, 2012
Summary:
Naru and Haruko battle with a dangerous desire to win.
"First Promotion Exams - A Fight Too Far: Naru vs. Haruko"
//Sunadome Arena - Fighting Ring [Sunagakure] //
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From the ground floor of the arena, one can truly get a sense of the sheer size and spectacle of the place. At its widest point, the colosseum is nearly a mile in circumference, and the domed ceiling is roughly fifty stories overhead. Needless to say, trying to take it all in can be dizzying. The floor of the arena is made up of a number of massive rolling sand dunes, about a hundred fifty feet tall at their tallest point. In the very center of the arena, a simple, well manicured lawn of green, rather like an oasis, marks the primary battle spot. The lawn is a little larger than a standard boxing arena, and is even equipped with a small pond, no more than five feet across.
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The time has arrived. The tournament-style third round of the international promotion exams is underway. Not only a means of determining who is worthy of being lifted to new rank and responsibility, but an opportunity for shinobi of different nations to (hopefully) work out some of their animosity by BEATING EACH OTHER SILLY in a safe environment. Y'know, after making it through the somewhat more lethal second round. c.c
Saito Jon is generally in favor of stuff that reduces tension between the nations, so in addition to coming to Sunagakure to watch over some of the Kumo examinees, he's volunteered to referee a match or two in the third round. He stands down in the ring now with Scruvo perched on his shoulder. At a signal from another of the tournament staff, he lifts his voice to the crowd. "May I have your attention please! The match between Amaro Haruko of Sunagakure and Uchiha Naru of Konohagakure will begin shortly! Will the contestants please come to the center of the ring."
It was finally time for things to begin, waiting in one of the preping lobbies until the annoucements had finally summoned her to the battle field; Naru couldn't help but to feel somewhat anxious, curious as to what was to happen, and even more so that she was challenging one of her only friends in Sunagakure. "Here we go… Naru," She championed herself finally rising to her feet, wearing her traditional Uchiha garbs, Uchiha fan on her arm with the symbol of fire along the first flap of her shorts, her raven locks of hair bellowed soundly behind her as she stepped into the arena and made way towards the grassy plot of land in the front, nervous by the many eyes that stared at her from above.
" I wonder if anyone I know if watching me…" She questioned curiously, though it was very difficult to see with so many people; Turning her face to that of determination she finally reaches the center peice of the arena, approaching Jon with a slight bow of her head.
Amaro Haruko had been waiting on top of one of the stands, focusing her eyes and waiting for her match to be announced. Once such has happened, she jumped down from above, unslinging her scarf in the same movement. As she fell down, the winds picked up and she covered herself in that scarf, only then became the many prehensile ribbons become obvious.
As she landed down on the ground, she kneeled for a few moments before standing up straight; her eyes locking on Naru through a thin gap in the fabric of the scarf. The ribbons moved in the air, supported by the winds, and Haruko grinned through the cloth. "Uchiha Naru of Konohogakure. I shall show everyone present the might of the Amaro clan of the Sunagakure today. Are you to be trampled?"
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Berii, among a few others in the stands. Was she necessarily with anyone? Perhaps but, they were too busy watching what was going on below now that there was actually something going on down low anyway. So there was Berii, sitting on her seat with a large cup of strawberry soda, sipping away to the point that it'll probably be done before the two actually start fighting.
With Haruko gathering chakra and, shifting her form to some bizzare flailing cloth thing… wait a second, she knew /this/ girl too. During Berii's lazy attempt to spar others. "Hnn…"
Not much else comes from her verbally. Her eyes simply shift red and two tomoe swirl into position, now to watch this match in High-Definition.
Jon blinks at Haruko's entrance. Well, she sounds confident. Wonder if her superiors will take such flashiness as a plus or a minus in deciding whether she should be prom — "Crikey, th'trash talk is stahtin' already folks! Looks like this is gonna be an intense tangle between a couple of crusher cuties! It's the Sable Stoic versus the Ribbon Wranglah!" Of course, Scruvo has to take it on himself to act as announcer. e.e Oh well. Jon signals to the technicians, who focus their chakra and bring up the protective field around the ring. Jon takes a step back. "The match will continue until one side surrenders or I determine a victor. Begin!"
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Kuoroke leans forward slightly in his seat, and methodically takes his glasses off, replacing them with a pair of binoculars - with an arena of this megalomanic magnitude, even sitting in the fourth row, they're useful to anyone who wants to follow the motions of the fighters and doesn't have fancy red eyes to do it for them. He bites his lower lip a bit, looking simply interested and concerned about this fight in equal measure.
"I don't get trampled… Amaro Haruko," Naru speaks simply, watching as Haruko's chakra shifted and changed, she could sense alittle bit more powerful from the girl, but her eyes would be what would see the most of it. Pulling herself into stance she placed her hands together, channeling chakra throughout her body as her eyes burned into that of the sharingan, now witnessing up close what was before her, she smirks lightly and pulls a leg back for a defensive stance. " Don't forget your training…" Naru whispers quietly to herself, keeping her attention on Haruko she attempted to clear her mind and maintain her focus on the target before her. " On your mark…" Naru spoke up, mostly waiting for Haruko to make the first move.
And Haruko does make the first move, rushing forwards towards Naru; she jumps up into the sky, making a single flip and using that movement to obscure a rapidly thrown shuriken. When she lands again, she's hopefully just behind Naru, and she lashes out with two ribbons, their erratic movements forcing any watcher to take notice to the best of their abilities, and even then it may be hard to predict when exactly Haruko's ribbons will harden and strike. When they do, however, they do so near simultaniously, once from both sides.
Perhaps they were a little bit difficult to predict, however with the sharingan prediction became a little more natural and easier, spotting the attacks coming right in her direction her body moves to react almost instantly, switching away from the attacks with a well placed log, eventually the cloth managed to nip her skin but not until finally getting out of the range of her attacks once more.
Without any doubt in her mind and battle focused Naru reacted instantly for a counter attack, revealing a retractable fuuma shuriken which is creatively tossed in Haruko's direction, rushing towards her form in a rather angular motion only to reveal yet another shuriken coming from the otherside, a surprise attack from both sides.
It didn't end there though, launching herself in the air Naru attempted to control the battle complete, with a few set of hand seals she instantly began to cast her ninjutsu. "Fire Release! Fire Bullet Barrage!" She shouts out, launching a barrage of bullets to rain from above… With all these distractions, she hoped her genjutsu would hit home as well, to broaden the range of her assault…
Haruko was fast, that's for sure. She easily lept to the side of the incoming attacks; but while doing so she made themistake of looking into Naru's eyes, and she became vulnerable to the Uchiha Genjutsu. Not that she was aware of this just yet, but she did rush forward again, winds picking up around two of her ribbons, sharpening the edge even as Haruko launches them towards Naru into a single, very rapid snap. Naru might be able to trace their movements… but is she fast enough to keep up?
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Watching the fight intently is a Chuunin wearing a black jacket with the Uchiha symbol emblazoned on it's back. He doesn't seem too worried about the exchange of blows that seems to see Naru on the losing end- It was a likely start, as Issei had predicted.
"You can do it, Naru!" Issei shouted from the railing, but who knows if she heard him over all the ruckus and cheering.
Almost but not quite enough for Naru to managed, though she easily managed to slip away from the first attack the cutting winds sliced into her flesh cleanly, though for once it didnt hurt too bad, this protective field was absolutely amazing. Naru began to think more tactical, slipping away to retrieve her windmil shurikens once more to chuckle them above and under Haruko, enough to splice along her legs and down her shoulder blades, it was then her genjutsu began to take into effect, simply watching Haruko from afar, hit or miss she could feel her knees begin to buckle, if she wasn't able to resist it anyways…
- NOTE: at this point there was a dispute regarding the legitimacy of single-attack stuns used at the end of a turn, and Naru graciously allowed the effect of her genjutsu attack to be erased from the combat. For reference, it is permissible to use attack stuns at the end of a turn, although a character caught by a single-attack stun is allowed to attempt a +escape on their turn if no further attacks are pending against them. See +news CMStuns.
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Berii's eyes lazily move left and right, obnoxious sipping sounds coming from the girl though they are easily masked by the even more obnoxious people who placed bets on these fights. Each side flipping out as the battle went back and forth. What most didn't see, was that little bit of Genjutsu chakra that seeped across the field. Berii just forms a slight grin as someone commented that 'The Uchiha' was getting her 'butt' kicked.
"Neh?" Berii looks down to the cup, shakes it a bit before sighing and putting it down, having no idea how long she was sipping on ice. She continues to mentally cheer for Naru, her voice nowhere near loud enough to make the effort of yelling worthwhile.
From Sunadome Arena - Stands, With a quiet bark, a small Husky casually watches the fight from a bench, his eyes easily keeping pace with the back and forth motion. It's tail wags back and forth whenever the Uchiha seems to be holding her own, and stops as soon as Haruko gains the upper hand. "How's it looking?" Comes the voice of a young kid, walking down the stands, arms laden with snacks and two sodas. He quickly opens up a bag of chips and pours out a few in front of the Husky, placing the open soda there as well. The dog responds with two quiet yips and the boy nods, "I'm sure she's got something up her sleeve… Not often an Uchiha actually loses."
Two windmill shuriken come in towards Haruko, and she tries to leap out of the way of the first; only to be just a little too slow and be cut by it. She turns around, and the second just seems to bounce off of her cloth. Looking at Naru, she jumps up in the air again, her cloth ribbons being moved into the air as she leaps over the Uchiha, and then several of the wind and chakra sharpened ribbons rush towards Naru at an insane speed.
Naru was able to read everything, almost perfectly now at this point; Each tomoe was reading things accurately, enabling Naru to quickly and easily slip away from the attacks with a burst of fire; Maintaing her distance she smirks lightly, " Down you go…" Naru taunted, almost playfully hopefully with adequate results, suddenly Haruko could feel a surging force which would lead to pulling her back down to the ground to her knees, and suddenly Naru once again begins to charge up a ninjutsu. " Fire Release! Fire Bullet Barrage! Hopefully a spiral of bullets would slam into a hopeless Haruko would wouldn't be able to bring up her cloth in time to deflect, and once again brings up her windmil shuriken, tossing it in her direction to keep the girl on her toes. Naru was not planning on losing this battle…
The Genjutsu manages to pull Haruko to her knees for long enough for her to both recognize genjutsu is in play and to be affected by the incoming fire bullets. Once that barrage is over, Haruko rises from her knees again, and the windmill shuriken just bounces off. Haruko grins even as she's aware that there's Genjutsu in play, jumping up to repeat the same thing she did earlier; several of the ribbons lashing out art Naru from above, each sped up insanely with wind. Even as she did this, she tried to break the link that the Uchiha had made.
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Kuoroke gives a few approving nods as the Sunagakuran's attacks connect to the enemy's body, watching her motions. Her opponent's motions are similarly studied. When she kneels down, he quietly mumbles, "Come on… what are you -doing-? Come on… Come on, get back up…" When she takes the fire bullets lying, or at least kneeling down, his face twitches in empathic pain, mixed with a touch of disappointment, coupled with a topping of irritation at her failure.
Once again Naru reacted swiftly against Haruko, though her body seemed to look like it was ripped to shreds literally eventually her body exploded into the very sea of fire that had connected against Haruko earlier. Simply picking up her shuriken she turned to faced Haruko once more, determined to bring as much pain and pride of her clan as possible. "So why is it… that you are in these exams? Amaro-san?" Naru finally spoke up, daring for a little bit of insight, she raises up her wind mil once again and flings it in Haruko's direction, witnessing once again a double barrage which came at her by both sides, readily watching from a distance to react to anything the girl would throw at her.
Haruko tries to defend against the incoming windmill Shuriken, but they pierce through her defenses. "Not using Genjutsu now?" She asks. Still, it doesn't seem too bad, and she rushes forward yet again; considering her tactics, she steps back down a notch, her assault one of many ribbons that are aiming to grab Naru's limbs, hardening if they connect. Either way, Haruko would pull those ribbons towards her while approaching Naru, aiming to land a steel cloth-covered fist in Naru's gut. While this happens, one of the ribbons of Haruko aims to stab the girl for some reason.
Naru managed to swiftly gauge her way from the other attacks, however she wasn't able to keep up her defenses finally, causing her to scale back her attacks quite a bit, and get smacked straight with the cloth technique, she is forced slamming into the ground and picking up dust, but quickly jumping to her feet to pull off her next attack. " You figured out the trick huh?" She teased Haruko with a smile, her sharingan carefully looking at Haruko once more, instantly she attempted to sprout a link between the two of them. " If this is all you can do you're going to have a very difficult time finishing me off," Naru went on to taught, hands back in the dirt holstering up her might shuriken which she seemed to favor, this time it was a true triple barrage, coming in from three sides, whirl winding in arcs from above, left in right, all heading towards their designated target.
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Berii's eyes continue their recording magic, not really getting anything worthwhile from the Sunagakure ninja, as expected but, with Naru? There were at least some thing she would consider. Thus Berii's focus lies solely on her clanmate, as she seems to just keep producing the giant shuriken, waiting once more for that replacement technique. Berii could only assume that Naru stored weapons similar to her but, not a single hint of summoning use.
Though, the Sunagakure ninja manages to nail Naru again, once again with much more powerful techniques than Naru's own. Once again Berii does a simple, "Hnn." Doing her best to ignore the obscenities screamed out by a guy who is obviously putting his money on Naru. "Bweh…"
Berii just brings her fingers to her ears in an attempt to block the man out while she watches.
Of the windmill Shuriken, only the first was able to connect. Haruko leapt out of the way of the remaining ones. Still, the Genjutsu managed to be successful. "As for why I'm in the Chuunin exams? First and foremost, I am here to learn." She answers belatedly as she rushes towards the Uchiha genin. "Secondarily, I am here to test out my clan's skills against those of clans all around the world, like your own clan." And with that spoken, she jumps down to her hands and lashes out with a knee. "Finally, and the least import reason, because I want to become a Chuunin." And then she lands again, throwing a pair of Kunai towards the Uchiha.
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Issei continues to watch the fight with a smirk. He didn't need a sharingan, byakugan, other thing, or whatever to already know the outcome of this battle. The reason behind the usage of the windmill shuriken, and the other techniques. It all made sense to him.
He claps his hands, and cheers for Naru, "That's how you do it!" Shouting out, and waving a fist, "You got her on the ropes now, Naru!" He shouts this, despite those blows that landed on Naru— apparently Issei still thinks she can win.
Haruko's attacks landed nicely for the most part, nailing her and forcing her to stumble backwards, the pain of the attacks were enough to get her slightly on the ropes, causing her to shake her head and regain some focus. "That… hurt a little bit," Naru spoke with a slight grin, carefully moving back away from her combatant, it was time to replenish her resviors, placing her hands together her body began to radiate with a decent amount of chakra. " I hope you learn a lot then, I'm here to become a chuunin as well, I'm here to prove that my clan's fire still burns… You still have a chance to give up, you won't be able to defeat my heart…"
The lack of attacks made Haruko grin, as she knew what it meant. She's forcing Naru to focus on her chakra, while she herself has no such need yet. "Don't talk nonsense about your heart. And your clan's fire might burn, but does it burn strong enough?" She asks as she rushes forward, leaving it to a simple assault of one kick, one punch; and then a stab with a Kunai. It's not the most impressive of attacks, so it seems the Sunagakure genin might be preserving energy of her own…
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Kuoroke momentarily lowers his binoculars and glances back, filtering individual reactions out of the noise. Issei's shouts. The man shouting obsenities, who gets a brief, but angry, "QUIET, you!" before Kuoroke goes back to Issei, frowning slightly. There's a trick here and Kuoroke doesn't get it, and he does not appreciate this in the least. The frown growing deeper, he turns back to the fight, particularly Naru, watching intently. As intently as he is capable of.
haruko was becoming relentless and difficult to keep up with, despite her sharingan being able to see what was happening her wearyness was starting to get the best of her, still Naru wouldn't allow the other to get the best of her, she quickly began to fade away from the last technique, disappearing behind the fading of her genjutsu, though the others would probably see quite the spectale. She remering instantly behind Haruko, once again attempt to forfiet her, using her genjutsu to bring her to her knees, it was time for something big finally. " Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" She shouts out, almost literally point blank sending a massive torrent of fire in Haruko's direction…
Haruko cut herself quickly to defend against the Genjutsu, but to no luck. She was forced to kneel and accept the fireball; but even at the end of that, Haruko still seemed to be faring relatively well compared to the other Genin. "Your fire burns hot." She agrees as she rises again, leaping up and taking some distance. "But I'm still at the advantage." And that said, she throws a pair or regular shuriken, followed by one of her Kunai. "Do you really think you can still beat me? You look tired."
it was quite apparent that Naru was quickly begining to lose her touch… The kunai managed to slice her up quite a bit, slicing into her flesh though the wounds themselve wasn't entirely too bad, she could feel her energy rapidly begining to deplete along with her own will to continue. Shrugging off the attacks she let out a loud gasping sigh, blood trickling down her form while keeping her eyes on Haruko, her genjutsu finally taking place. " I'm not going to give up so forget it…" Naru quickly shoots back at her, suddenly a blades of chakra and swirling mist began to take form along Haruko's body, easily attempting to slice and shred her body to peices which would most certainly feel painful, after the assault Naru disappeared from view, from right infront of Haruko's eyes… she needed to plan this out more if she was going to win…and if she wasn't detected anyways.
Haruko recognized this from her earlier fight with Naru, the spar. She knew it was Genjutsu; yet still she couldn't defend herself against it effectively. She grit her teeth and slashed herself again, aiming to break Genjutsu link. As she did this, and being unaware of Naru's current position anyway; she focused some of her chakra to better allow her to fight when the Uchiha returned. "Genjutsu again, eh? Well then, that makes this more interesting." She didn't seem all that concerned…
With Naru being on her last legs, she had no idea she would have to be so stealthy, she panted lightly, keeping a distance from Haruko, and remained in stealth unless that genjutsu was broken. For now she brings her hands together once last time, focusing her last surge of chakra which would make her victor or be destroyed in the first rounds. " I can't lose yet… Not yet," Naru whispers quietly to herself, for one last moment bidding her time.
Haruko keeps looking around, seemingly not happy with the situation at hand. She cuts herself again in an attempt to end the Genjutsu, but as she can't find her opponent; there's not much more she can do right now but pray and hope it won't be too horrible…
Naru truly was running out of options, suddenly though she comes out of hidding, brining herself up along the sand dunes she was panting heavily, eyes very hazy to see what was going on, she made out Haruko's form though and continued to do what she did best. " I'll either wake up a winner or a loser…No more running away" Naru spoke once again, utilizing her genjutsu hoping that Haruko once again would fall flat on her knees, once again she attempted to let loose her main combo of putting down Haruko, summoning a great fire ball with the pure intent to put the battle in her favor, which was already pushed against her. " Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naru exclaims, sending a pouring amount of energy directly at Haruko, hopefully to push her to submission.
Again, Haruko is brought to her knees. And the great fireball thus has a clear shot. Looking at Naru again, Haruko sighs. "Only one person can win, and let's hope that the loser has learnt a lesson. If I have to lose, I'll have learnt mine. Clearly Genjutsu is my weak spot." and that said, she rushes forwards again, aiming to bring Naru to her knees with a barrage of ribbon attacks, three of those ribbons rushing towards Naru in a series of chakra-hardened strikes. She also has one of those cut herself while she's at it…
Naru once again feels the brunt of the attacks, feeling the slicing along her flesh, even with the protective field she felt as if she was completely drained at this point, wobbling, hazy vision, she pushed herself still, in defiance of wanting to give up. "Fire release… Fire Bullet Barrage!" Naru exclaims, sending a double dose of waves directly at Haruko, even going as far as to pick up her wind mil and chuck it at the without much precision. She feels herself fall to the floor though, looking at the sandy dunes as both hands grasped against the ground attempting to keep herself steady with energy… "Don't pass out…" Naru spoke once again… If Haruko really dodged those attacks it seemed like that was it.
Haruko managed to leap out of the way of the brunt of that assault, only some of the incoming fire hitting her in the side. Smirking through her cloth, she ran towards the Uchiha once more, and several of the ribbons lashed out, not one, not two, not three, but nearly all of them. Aided by the winds, they were rapid fast, and they descended upon Naru as though they were Naru's pending defeat incarnate. Still, there was a chance that Naru would be able to defend against it successfully…
There wasn't much of a chance of Naru defending against the attacks considering she was completely exhausted, she simply stood ther e to take the brunt of the beatings, her body instantly becoming bladded up as she collpases on the ground before her… There wasn't much else to say, she was completely drained of energy at this point…
From Sunadome Arena - Stands,
Kuoroke leans back slightly, but only takes his binoculars away for a split second to look at the reactions of the crowd. Then, he returns his attention to observing Haruko. Although the suspense is gone, he seems to be interested in how 'his' combatant will behave after the fight is over.
*POOF*, there's Jon. "Hold it! The match is over! Drop the fields!" Scruvo swoops around overhead while Jon kneels to inspect Naru's form. "Wot a battle, folks! Let's 'ear it for these fightin' fillies who gave us such a — "
"MEDICS, NOW! SHE'S CRITICAL!"
The medics, who were on their way anyhow, put a little more hustle into their approach. o.o; They roll Naru's comatose body onto a stretcher and carry her away, already massaging restorative chakra into her. Scruvo settles glumly onto Jon's shoulder, the news of Naru's condition putting a damper on his theatricism. :/
Jon watches the medical team disappear into the waiting area, then turn toward the stands. "Ladies and gentlemen, and especially the remaining contestants, this is a somber and important lesson. The protective fields here are great at preventing harm from outside sources, but they can't defend us against ourselves. Chakra depletion can be deadly. Those of you who will do battle here in the future, please, do not go past your limits."
Jon extends a stiff, formal arm in Haruko's direction. "That being said, I will now officially announce the outcome of the match. Amaro Haruko is the winner."
Haruko pants as she watches Naru go down. She's clearly exhausted herself; and she looks back up at the crowd, but more importantly, she unwraps the scarfs and puts it back, even as she rushes to follow Naru and the medics. "Will she be alright?" Haruko asks, clearly caring more about Naru than about her own victory. Only when Jon announces her victory does she realize that, yes; she has in fact won. As such, she rushes back to the arena to bow to the gathered people. "Thank you for watching everyone. And a big thank you to Uchiha Naru for being my opponent for tonight, it was a tough fight, and I think I learnt a thing or two from it."
