Starring:
Date: November 2, 2010
Summary:
Imota faces off against the ladder-climbing Meruin in a First World Ninja Competition semi-finalist match
"First World Ninja Competition - Whipping Winds and Scattered Silks: Imota vs Meruin"
Kusagakure — World Ninja Competition ring 1
The first Ninja World Combination. A somewhat strange title for a strange sort of individuals who strangely enough have actually come out of their fortress, compounds, and of course the shadows themselves just to strut their stuff for well, the world to see! And maybe, just maaaaybe gain a few future employers who manage to both enjoy and keep up the pace with these fast paced, efficient, and dubious shinobi. Or at least, most are while others whose appearance and talents are questionable at times.
Moving onwards! We find onimitsu once again dragged out of his pit of pathetic loathing and dispair to proctor for the up incoming match between Meruin and Imota. Unfortunatly, due to the recent damages to his armor he would appear in his more subdued street clothes with his arms crossed over his chest and a "heavy" air about him. A brief whisper that the other officials would direct Imota and Meruin to the ring as well before they each disappeared in a poof of smoke. "..Come on Onimitsu you can do it man. Just one step at a time and..*drip*..Hmm?…", The masked chuunin glances up and unfolds a hand thoughtless to catch another rain drop before it hit the ground. It would seem the competitors would have to do with a little drizzle this cool, muggy afternoon. And maybe a bit more if things don't clear up soon. Luckily for both competitors this particular arena was decked out with plenty of trees for cover from the rain, although the small river flowing through most of the arena may make render it impossible to escape getting wet either way.
After hearing his name announced, Meruin stood wordlessly, following the officials directing him towards the ring. The small child silently padded from the waiting rooms, passing through it's door to meet the glare of sunlight and the roar of the crowd that was such an assault to his tender senses. He seemed to move through a world where there was only himself, his face placid, gaze detached, walking to his designated area. Smooth gaited and soft stepped, he stopped. And he waited.
With all factors presented before him, Imota's could not help but have a prediction of how this fight would turn out. He was pitted against someone who had exceeded many of estimations. Imota had gotten a couple of things right. His body condition. His similarity to spiders.. All these things had been seemingly acclimated towards a natural, animalistic style of Taijutsu. The match with Shemri, would only prove his point. This match, would represent the Sasaki going at it, with the perverbeal opposite of his own specialty. Ironically enough, the mind behind such a specialty, had been one like his own. Calculating. Methodical. Cold. Deadened to emotion.
Imota would follow behind the guide to the ring as well, meeting at the middle, a kid whose very existance had proved something to him. In a world that had been once war torn, and now peaceful, someone like him, a child soldier, still existed. The only differences had been origin, and yet so far, these things, still seemed to make no difference. Time would only tell. "Inclimate conditions, contained within a sealed barrier. Perculiar.", would be muttered as he would eye Meruin squarely, scanning him for any changes in shape and condition. Soon the wind would start to gather about Imota, in a calm breeze. He seemed to be at the center of it all.
Still distracted by the accumalting water in his hand, Onimitsu doesn't at first notice Meruin. That is until he balls the outstretched hand into a fist and let it fall to his side. "Ah, just in time Meruin-san…and you two as well..Sasaki-san. You both by now are aware of the rules so I will not bother boring us all with a repeat of it.", He stated blandly then gave them both one final look over to make sure they were fit to fight before simply raising his hand high above him. "The semi-final match for the second bracket between Okumo, Meruin and Sasaki, Imota shall begin…*sweeps his hands down* Now!" And with that not so subtle declaration the chuunin vanishes into a designated safety zone. Even if he felt empty inside professionalism and his duty as proctor came first and foremost.
"Interesting," corrected Meruin, as though that single word proved a point and made a statement. He said no more, the proctor speaking, adressing the crowd, and so on. And then he vanished, and the two were left alone in the rain.
He watched Imota, the small boy unassuming, unphased by the sunagakure genin's sense of… importance, as though all the air rushed to touch him, to be near him as it circled. He simply stood there and waited, his hair giving a single, slow, writhe.
Just as now would have been announced, Imota, would seem to be the first to start. He strategy already in mind, and seeing that his opponent, had taken no action, it gave him more than enough oppurtunity. He would handseal, and after finishing such, numerous poofs of smoke, would billow about his frame, enshroud him, despite the breeze that seemed to envelope the area. When all smoke would be blown away from area, not Imota would be facing Meruin now, but three. They would all seem to slowly incline their heads to them, and stand facing, as to dare him to make a move. But out of the all the Fuuton Bunshin that had face Imota, had Imota been one of them.
The answer, if Meruin would be apped to discovering the boy's movement, would be no.. Imota, would have body flickered amongst the smoke, and seeked to try and, hide himself amongst all that had been going on.. He needed time, for something… Perhaps a bigger part of his strategy.. Even as he had been moving now, he would try and make things abit more… hindered for Meruin, chakra being gathered, along with handseals while he moved about the field, but only after he had managed to blend in with his surroundings.
As the smoke flew away in the whipping of the wind, Meruin was shown to stand exactly where he was, examining the trio of Imota's with his continuedly placid gaze. Times seemed to still around him, as though it's power over him had lost it's hold. But slowly… it began to press, exerting it's will over him.
Silk began to pour from the Okumo's pores — a liquidly shifting covering of fur, spreading like a rash from the right side of his face.
"I apologize…"
No movements yet.. Meruin, had been stalling for time, but would Imota have guessed that? Even in the placing where he stood now, he was still seeking to hide himself. He had moved to a less noticable area.. Shrubbery, large boulders.. a water source.. All still under the pour of rain. The boy, did not seem to try and detect Imota. Imota, under the circumstances, saw an opening he could take. The connection of his thumb and fore finger, could not separated under these conditions, as he need them for the compaction of swirling air that had now taking precedence over all. Probably even hiding at this point. The winds after all, could probably be followed to where he had now been.
A small projectile, glowing with chakra, and yet very slim, and small, had been in the whole of his concentration handsign. It was spinning now, but it only had been two thirds complete. It had been a small spike, spiraling, and hollow. A many vortex that even now, seemed to be well using of Imota's concentration. The clones that stood looking at Imota, still remained unmoving. They were only there as place holders, just incase Meruin would needlessly use stamina to try and guess which was which.
The silk had spread over the whole of Meruin's body, the small boy in the same stance he'd been at the start of the match, still watching. A secondary pair of misted eyes opened above his first, blinking once and locking onto the trio of daring enemies in front of him. His mouth opened, revealing daggers that'd sprouted from the top and bottom jaws both, pressing against his lips as he closed them again. He took in a breath and the silk along his bacl roiled and bubbled, as though fire had burned beneath it's surface. A giant spider leg, longer than he was tall and powerfully thick, shot out of his back, throwing his shoulder forward in a jerking motion. Another sprouted and two more, all raised straight above him, stretching themselves.
They lowered themselves to the ground, the motion languid and deliberate, and the limbs pushed, raising the boy's body from the ground. He stopped rising and looked down on the prey before him, spiders spreading from his arachnid legs as an encroaching pool of darkness.
Onimitsu leant a bit forward and cupped his chin thoughtfully with a small grin hidden from view. 'Truly the little shinobi aren't they? Playing it cool and by the book….Even so, his strategy is pretty obvious if he hasn't begun testing the okumo boy by now.' He thought squinting his eyes in concentration. Only a brief glance is given before he continued in a whisper, "Weathers worsening by the minute….a slow moving jutsu?" A shudder passes through him, and even the small crowd in the stands who either growing bored with the lack of flashy movements or literally bent foreward clutching the edges of their seats in antecepation.
Looking to the clones… And then Meruin's obvious beginings, Imota could see it all. He had been waiting, and not only had he been waiting, he had probably seen through the bait. It was something that would cause him to look to the clones, and with a mental command, they would be dispelled with a large poof of smoke from each. Imota, would then arise from where he had been, and the look to his jutsu. All would get a look at what all the time had been for. It was not extravagantly sized, nor had it actually been that beautiful.
In many ways, the bullet had been a mix of complexity rather than anything else. Something designed in the Sasaki's head, and then put to work. "Trajectory… 93.5 degrees.. Barometric pressure.. 44 knots…. Distance to target… 134.8 meters…" These things would be measured aloud, as the bullet would be aimed, Imota unblinking. He would line up sight with Meruin, placing his body with the center created by the touching of his thumb and middle finger. Imota would then take a deep breath, not one of nervousness, but one that would still his hands, as he would look to the kid who had been the target for this 'bullet.'
Then the wind would flux around Imota, seeming to line in two extremely fast currents, that would come from each side of him, and feed to his hands, causing the projectile to spin. Faster, and faster, it would reach 8000 rpms, until then, Imota would look, and adjust.. The bullet would then be shot letting off a loud, high pressured screech across the barrier. The air pressure within the barrier, would be sucked cleanly into a jet stream that would form simple from the bullets movement through the air itself, and with that alone, a loud 'BAAAANNGG', would emit through field.. The bullet's break through the sound barrier, only after about 3 seconds in flight.
Imota, would be pushed back with the recoil alone, as he hands would fly above him, threatening to knock his shoulders out of place. The push back would not be enough to knock him down, his curiousity being enough to keep him set to watch the effects of his attack.
Stillness… as the Imota clones vanished. Meruin's eyes closed and his chest slowly rose until it was taught with air and it stayed that way, jealously keeping what it held. And then, again, he was motionless, a silent sentinel on a sensory search for prey.
His eyes snapped open…
….He whirled around, facing Imota and his speeding bullet, as it's shriek sounded in his ears and it was near at hand. Those misted eyes settled onto the bullet in an instant.
He vanished — he reappeared, lightweight form flying through the air, his spin throwing his arachnid legs close to his body in a wildcorkscrew. He slammed into wall of the arena, the stone cracking underneath the impact. His legs of silk scrabbled drunkenly for purchase as he began to fall, but the moved with an abrupt precision once more, webbing latching him onto the wall.
And he was off, wasting no time now that his prey had been located. Arachnid legs adroit, he scuttled along the wall of the arena, his edges blurring with the speed of his travel. A large pool of darkness remained on the earth as a river of the spiders climbed up the wall on Imota's side opposite to Meruin, swiftly flying towards him, moving to bite and tear.
The boy's hands flashed through hand seals and the air around Imota thickened and condensed, a thin circle moving around him in an abruptly swift spin, moving with enough velocity to slice skin and meat and gouge bone, outside of the seals. Ropes of spider silk leapt from the arachnid legs carrying Meruin towards him, filled and lined with a caustic poison as they reached for the sunagakure genin in a frenzied hunger. The circe would close, and soon after the webbing would strike.
On closer inspection, Imota noted that Meruin, had himself, undergone what the Sasaki called, "Phase Shift One". This had been the form observed when things began in the match against Shemri. The targeting of Meruin, as well as his own lack of movement, helped the boy to observe this from afar. From this transformation, Imota expected nothing less than heightened sensory, quicker reflexes and overall speed, and for the most part, the ability to move in ways like to the beast Meruin had been akin to. A spider. But even these had been things that had already been known factors.
Imota still had his guesses.
As Meruin would appear and disappear across the field, Imota kept himself ready and unmoved. This would be in itself, an observation of Meruin's tact, in getting across the field. A measurement of speed, as the Okumo moved across the walls of the arena. Precision in his overall target aquisition. The percentage of his base qualities now, that made him both man, and spider, and the division there of. Imota eyes barely would blink. The first attack, while not a known, was predicated. He could summon and communicate with those of his breed. Remarkable. Imota would not waste his wind. He wanted to get a closer look.
His fingers would move acutely, his arms raised about him. With ever finger twitch, his own commands would be sent with chakra through steel wire. Signals, like electricity, ran in currents, and with his arms finally intertwining like a kids game of cradle, the wire would form a dome about him. The spiders would probably clime over and about the dome, seeking a weakness, but they would fine none. However… Had the been for distraction for something else? Something perhaps, not noted by the Sasaki? Probably.
Cuts would appear on his skin with the blowing of the breeze. Would Imota cut himself? Nope.. Apparently, he and the spider had shared another quality. An Affinity. Imota would look to the boy, and incline his head. No smile, though this indeed, had been just that impressive, even to promote even a move of his head. Wind was now expected from Meruin. Imota would look to the webbing, and remember just how well this particular secretion had worked on his comrade.. If left to roost about him, Imota would have no manuevarbility in such a mess. His rebuttle? Slash it all to confetti. With a yank of his fingers, the Wire, would kick up dust in its removal, before more seals would be made by the Wind Path Sasaki in a blur. The whirlwind would be mighty, his own blades of air coming into place. With ever feet of webbing sprayed, the wind would be sure to cut it to inches, and spread it about the grass and ground around the arena.
With this alone, the skirmish would be over. Or at least that part. Imota.. had felt it. He had used alot of chakra on his starting assault. Such, while calculated for, had been meaning of one thing.. He would have to conserve. He even now, showed no signs of tiring in the face he used to stare, but his own body, if not careful, would show signs. Thus would be the beginning of the real battle. "An adequate display, spider of the Hidden Mist. The only mystery now unanswered.. lies in the need for an appology. Animals normally have none for living according to instinct."
A hand would move to his side and reveal a scroll. A large poof of smoke, would plume and disappear, as a large shuriken would make its debut. Six Pronged. Similar to the Fuuma Clan's but apparently, crafted for a purpose.. Imota would let it go with a heavy grunt and a heave. It would fly and with seals, reveal 6 kunai beneath its shadow… All of these, would in turn, be connected by the fine wire which had been more than just an addition to this kids technique.. With the cloudy skies above, no light would glimmer across this steel yarn, whose weaving would attempt to net an arachnid.
Meruin's small hand whipped out, catching the six-pronged shuriken and holding it at bay. He seemed to drift lower on the wall, the six wired shuriken hiding it the first's shadow streaming past him, but he didn't let them go unmolested. He reached out with his other hand, grabbing their wires and pulling, slamming Imota against the wall.
Even as he did this, the reaching grasp of poisonous thread flew from him, following the path of the wire to reach and strike Imota. Meruin's hand lifted, tossing the special shuriken back at Imota.
Yes.. Meruin's brute nature was … entertaining. He had been using more crude means to get the best of Imota and it seemed that even more so, the Sasaki was learning something about himself.. Ninjutsu, was by no means, this simplistic. He would be pulled and slammed into the wall, but only after a moment of tug of war. Meruin's strength would obviously be the victor. He would look to the string of webbing that would be a follow up, and seem to be stuck against the wall like fly paper. When the poof of smoke would happen, Meruin would obviously know this had been a ruse.
Thus would come the point, when the special weapon of Imota would be thrown back at him. A hand wrapped in mesh wire would move up to catch it, and such, even while protected, would be bruised. It seemed Imota had been tactically out done. "Trying to trap a spider, has proved frivolous.. Restriction Release. Level One. Precautionary measures removed. Threat Level now at Orange." Imota would began to cause air to swirl about his shuriken, and after a moment, the weapon would be wrapped in its own small tornado. He would look to Meruin, and say, "Catch..", simply, and drabbly, before he would then slice his shuriken at the empty air, once, then twice, and then three times.. The slice would infuse the air with chakra, enough to criss cross 3 large blades, that would follow one after another in an attempt to ribbon Meruin.
Meruin jumped to the side, higher up the wall, a small rent opening on his arm. He jumped to the side again, lower down the wall as another parting of the skin graced his other arm. Abruptly, he picked up speed, skating along the wall, abruptly coming level with Imota.
He leapt across the ground, spider legs forming a tent around the Suna genin as the lowered the boy's body towards him, talons slashing in a rhythmic attack. His speed abruptly increased to a blur, spider's caustic silk lashing out at the boy from the sheer velocity of his strikes.
This match… such had seemed to be quite even in terms of just what each competitor could do. The last time Imota had been face to face with an opponent whom he could go head to head with, he had been leagues beneathe what had been is now known spectrum of jutsu. He had gotten enough of data to no longer be feeling Meruin out. To simple put it, he had been doing what he could now for a solid defeat. Meruin's first attack, would have been defeated merely by the evasiveness give by whirlwinds blowing from his palms. Such would propel this small boy a fair distance ahead of Meruin. But the webbing, had been a sneakier addition to the Meruin's tour-de-force, and soon he would the webbing would touch.
Its corrosive nature enough, had been good at burning most of the Sasaki's shoulder, and a portion of his chest. While his face would remain with no emotion to show, Imota, had been in pain, and because of the webbings more hidden properties, his strength had been sapped, slowing his physical movement greatly. It seemed he had finally been caught. Such would push Imota to up his ante, as now, it had been time for another assault.. Strategy… He was already planning such, and even now, the chakra he summoned, would help to push him further. A whirl of air would become rampant around his form.
Meruin watched as Imota flew backwards, webbing lashing his chest and shoulder. The small boy raised himself on his spider legs, the spider silk along his form bubbling and roiling as he narrowed his eyes, moving forward to vent his rage in a sudden, fierce scream, the sound of it reaching over even the crowd around him. A rope of that poisoned whip falling from each of his arms.
The pool of spider Meruin had left in the center of the arena that Imota had leapt backwards towards, spread silently towards the Sunagakure ninja. The Okumo charged his fellow tactician, large legs stomping the ground with excess power. Meruin leapt skywards, his arc a path that would take him right onto Imota.
It would be when Meruin reached his Apex that the pool of spiders would launch themselves at Imota, seeking to swarm over him, poisonous bites their weapon. The earth would open in front of him at the same moment, webs spraying out to cover and drag him into the pit, or to be pushed into it by the other attacking spiders.
By then, the Kirigakure genin would swing his arms down, thick caustic ropes slinging towards Imota.
Surely Imota, could have stopped himself mid air, could he not? He had been in control of the winds that surrounded him, even now!! He could easily have pushed himself in a trajectory that would put him down further off, and even set himself up for another attack. Well there are reason that need be said that allowed this state that would allow Imota's plan to work. He had been in need of make sure that Meruin, would have bait to follow. After all, you can not lure a predator in without having such. His state had only left him open in the eyes of his attacker, but in the end, Imota had been in full knowledge of where he was in the air.
The pool of spiders, would be heard chittering after him, and upon landing, they would seem to have enveloped the boy in a black shadow of legs and fur. This would indeed seem to be a confirmed hit for Meruin, enough so where even more, Meruin would probably spring his own trap. Imota waited in the shadows for what would be next. Imota, would not appear to feel the horror of seeing his dummy clone, dragged into the open grave that had been dug by the boy's kin. However, he had considers such a technique to be highly dangerous, and even now, Imota attempted to figure out the situation such a trap would have put him in. The dummy would be taken in to the pool and hole with seeming no resistance, and when this would happen, the real Wind Path Sasaki, would have been readying his first string of handseals… A trap of his own was in the works.
The moment Meruin would get into range, the dummy that had been buried alive, would be detonated! Its contents? A brand of the Suna Genin's own corrosive and poisonous acid, meant in this situation alone to give Meruin a taste of his own medicine. But this plan had not been finished… It was only the beginning. Imota would chain handseals, and soon the storm clouds above the two would part, with a downward gesture of both this small boy's hands. Wind, would blast down from above, and pin the Okumo, along with as many spiders as possible, to the ground, rupturing the ground in the area along with the torrential rain of wind. The hurricane forces would not let up..
Meruin's face remained placid, implacable as falling snow as acid exploded from his spider's trap. His hands flashed through a small number of hand seals and he was suddenly moving sideways through the air, the corrosive liquid far too slow to catch him. The genin landed lightly and turned swiftly, four eyes scanning his surroundings. They caught Imota's motion, locking onto it and charging.
Then the skies opened and poured it's sudden rage upon the world, centering on him and his spiders. Meruin vanished, along with half of his pool of darkness. The harsh winds slammed into the earth, leaving much of his exposed brood crushed, the rest dying in a pool of acid from Imota's tactics.
And then Meruin reappeared, some ten feet above Imota. His spider legs fanned out and her twisted, almost immediately moving into a momentum born spin. Silk poured from his body in a torrent, the velocity of his rotation pulling it from him in all directions.
Webbing.. It was enough to virtually bury Imota down in an encroachment of snow white silk, pure and unblemished as the begining of winter's snow. This much webbing, would seem to eject Imota back in a river, leaving him stuck to the arena wall in a sea of secretion. So much white, from such a small boy. Something like this truly had to be thought as uncanny, probably even infathomable. The light that Imota had been seeing, inspite of the dusk that had already left this field in gloom, would become darker with ever single layer of the boy's gland created substanced that covered him. He was ensnared, and silenced, after a mere moment. Imota would be alone, seemingly, with only silence, and the company of his own mind, that seemed to try and figure a way out of this… sticky situation.
Within the confines of his head, Imota was confounded by numbers, factors, knowns, unknowns, and statictics. Facts about spiders seem to swim through his head, for what would go for nearly an eternityu of strategic thinking. Nothing was working… He placed scenario, after scenario, and at the same time, he tried with all his might, to ignore the emotions.. Those things Sasaki Souichirou, had taught him to suppress. Thinking rationally at this point, was coming up with nothing but failed plan, after failed plan. These things even more so, drove Imota towards emotions for which he just could not understand. Jealousy. Loss. Shock. Depression. Excitement. Fear. All of these things would compound, and inside, his mind was being overwhelmed. The confusion of his thoughts, intermingling with depths of unexpressed emotion, would be revealed only by the burning and bubbling of a seal.
The Seal of Paths that had been inscribed on this boy's left shoulder blade, bubbled and glowed skin toned across his back. It had shown with enough light that even now, it was the only visible sign of life that would get out of the coccoon of entrapment Meruin had so easily been able to use. Soon, with all the emotions swirling about, and chaos of the same being intertwined with ration thought, his mind would do like any computer or electrical device does, when it is over come by the uncontrollable. It would short out. His mind, would go blank, almost as if to reboot. At that same exact moment, Imota's seal, would fracture, the skin for which it had been tattooed upon, now creviced and severed at key points.. Wind in torrents would swirl about the webbing, and in addition, the earth itself, would seem to flail about in rock and spikes, clawing at the gunk that had surrounded its master. Soon.. the webbing would burst about, and reveal Imota, changed.. His eyes would be alternating currents of wind and rock, and his body, would no longer walk.. He would float… levitating just a foot off the ground. Whereever he went, the earth would seem to rise in portions, falling back to its previous. All in all, around him would be in chaos… and his mind… would not be around to know a thing.
Meruin rose to the top of his tower of silk, staring at Imota as his cocoon began to glow. The explosion… the shrieking of the earth as it tore itself apart at his passing… the insanity of the air as it took in his presence… it left the boy unphased, because he knew. To the depth of him, he knew. "Your body is will soon submit."
Three shuriken, one sent after the other, flew from Meruin towards Imota.
If only Meruin had known… He had been talking to the a shell of the person he had fought.. This… person, was an unstable and directionless corruption of power. Meruin had been wise indeed to know that this had been indeed the end. As Imota had been in the air, his body, had been riddled with burns, and stripes, acid in all its layers, having burned him all over. Of course, there would be rebuttle as well. After all, power that doesn't protect itself, isn't worth it right? The first shuriken would seem to encounter a portion of earth that had been displeasing of such an action upon he who had commanded it. Thus it would be stopped. The second, would encounter the air, and that one, would seem to be carried off as fast as it came. However, the third, because Imota had not been in control, would sink into the boy's neck, and cause definite bleeding.
Such would seem to not effect Imota, who right now, had been a mess of emotions, the psychotic tone of his crying and laughing, and snarling echoing through out the place. With such the boy would reel back, his arms and hands turned in ways that seemed more creature than human, a swipe of one at the air, sending for a single blade of wind chakra, not specifically aimed at Meruin, but big enough for concern. With a "GGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAHHH!!", and an incline of his head to the rain, more blades unlike the one that been sent towards Meruin, would scatter across the field, there targets undetermined, though Meruin had be wary. With that unleashing of such, Imota would revert, and drop to the ground with a bounce and then a thud..
Meruin's arachnoid legs carried him through the gale of sharp winds, calm broken, just a bit, by Imota's unnerving inhuman cry — to him it seemed the bellow of a man broken, and he'd heard it far too many times. The boy frowned, eyes looking sad…
The onslaught came to an end, and Meruin watched Imota's body fall and bounce and stop. He lowered himself to the ground, the webbing attached to him falling away, dissolving in it's own acids. All that was left, in the end, was an eight year old boy, staring at another young boy until the proctor called a halt to the match.
He departed.
