Starring:
Risu, Ryuunosuke, Usagi
Date: December 4, 2012
Summary:
Ryuu challenges Risu for her scrolls, with disasterous results.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Second Promotion Exams - Who is the Monster?: Risu vs. Ryuunosuke"
Blood Marsh - Heart of the Swamp [Kirigakure]
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Rising unnaturally out of the putrid water in the center of the marsh is a huge slab of granite stone, shaped as a rectangle framed only by large wooden posts standing tall at their respective corners of the rock. The moss covered posts themselves are decayed from time and warped from the water, many wounds from various weapon types plague their appearance..red mushrooms growing on one side. Treemoss hangs low from the canopy laden with spiderwebs; dangling from above to almost touch the surface of the water. The swampwater at the center of this marsh seems to be without the hued mist; but the waters color itself appears to be a deep dark red..possibly caused by an algae native to this area; an allure to the very name of the marsh. Worn from the use of many and more years, the granite slab seems large enough to be qualified as a primitive arena, red stains rust-like in appearance litter the slab of stone in various places and sizes; the cypress
trees' branches growing together so thick here it's almost cause for artificial lighting.
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It is Monsoon season in Kiri right now, and cold rain pours from the autumn sky, drenching everything. The area here looks a bit different than it did when the tournament started. A rather large area, perhaps 50 yards out from the stone slab is just… gone, trees sheered off at the water line, and as the water has risen a few inches due to rain, they are now just under the surface, making it appear as if the stone slab is an island in a pool of blackness. At the center of the slab, someone has set up rather blatant camp. A tent, of sorts, has been erected there more a tarp on some sticks, but it keeps the rain off of the person under it. That person who has gone so far as to make a small fire, a fire that burns feebly as there is little in the way of extra dry wood to feed it now. Behind the fire sits Risu, clad in a dark cloak, rubbing her hands and trying to stay warm. This land really has left her feeling out of sorts as she misses her desert
land greatly. She seems to be taking no action to hide, perhaps thinking no one will be out in this down pour or… not caring. It is unclear which. But with the area cleared around the stone slab it will be hard to sneak up on her unless you can breath under water.
This raging storm was harsh but given that assumption most would be trying to just make it through the storm. Ryuu on the other hand saw this as an opportunity. He moves into the canopies where the rain fall is reduced due to the thick leaves congregated at the top. But the winds still whipped through at vicious speeds. Ryuu uses a cloak of wind to aid in movement through the storm as he continues towards the heart of the swamp spotting a faint light in the distance. The young genin enters the heart of the swamp settled on a tree branch overlooking a tent made. Ryuu can see the silhouette of someone around the fire. The storm should aid in stealthy movement but Ryuu could be certain of that. He was preparing for a surprise assault watching the individual but only to wait for the prime moment for action.
The storm will aid in stealth but the large open area between the last intact trees and the stone slab will not. If Ryuu is observant he may notice that limbs are simply sheered off as if a sphere centered on the stone slab extended out and simply…. cut everything that was in it's area off. Glancing around it seems to be an almost perfect dome shape as some branches curve upwards a bit before being cut off, some trees are cut in two, half still there, creaking in the wind and threatening to topple over due to missing half their trunks. All in all it is a most strange appearance to the area, especially if Ryuu managed to examine this area earlier in the exam where the destruction had not happened yet. The figure in front of the fire, Risu, simply is doing her best to stay dry and warm, poking the fire a bit as she tries to milk out as much heat as she can from her limited stock of wood.
Did notice the change to the Heart of the Swamp although it didn't hit him instantly. He starts to notice the destruction of stones, trees and what not. It was bizarre as it was the most uniform destruction he's ever seen. It was as if a perfect radius of space was set up around the tent. The tree Ryuu was stationed on began to creak and give way to the wind. Ryuu noticed the damage to the tree's base now and grimaces. The wind blows persistently as if trying to topple the tree. Ryuu had no other choice but to become hasty in his approach. He leaves the tree and tries to approach the tent stealthily. He stays low and to the rear of the silhouette. Ryuu would first seek to destroy the tent exposing whoever was inside to the storm. If he was successful the fire would flicker out and their eyes would have to adjust to the darkness. At that particular moment Ryuu would then strike. So he first fetches a pair of shuriken from his tool pouch and hurls
them at the tent's legs where it was held down.
The tent is not well built and not well based as it rests on the stone slab, hard to put spikes into the stone to hold it into place. So…. the shuriken sever the rear legs of the tent and the whole thing is caught by the wind and lifts up…. and is carried out over the water until it crashes into a tree about 60 yards away, 10 yards of slab and 50 yards of open space between the slab and the tree in total. Risu turns around, caught off guard by the sudden removal of her tent as the downpour quickly douses her small fire, and soaks her almost instantly. A thin wisp of smoke rises from the now doused flames as Risu tries to find the source the sudden change, not even really sure if there is an attack or if the wind just caught her tent. Stupid storm, leaving things dark, in the late afternoon as it was. Risu slips to her feet in a defensive posture but… seems not to have spotted Ryuu yet.
Ryuu nods as his plan of attack seems to be going well so far. He arms himself with a kunai and quickly as the tent is taken by the wind, moves to take Risu in her moment of alarm. He would flank her and press a kunai to her neck. Ryuu didn't want to kill her so he didn't draw blood however he doesn't want Rise trying anything. He has to maintain his incognito. Depending on the successfulness of his attempt he'd give Risu a set of demands and instructions afterwards, elseways in the event of failure he'd have to take a more direct approach.
Risu only notices the approach at the last moment and… suddenly has a kunai to her neck. She feels the blade and Ryuu can feel her breath catch. The rain thunders down around the pair at the center of the stone slab as she says, just loud enough to hear over the rain, "I don't want to kill you…. please, don't make me kill you…" It's almost a pleading request, but… odd from someone who has a blade to her throat. She seems… nervous but not afraid, or if she is afraid not of the kunai at her throat. "Please… step back… I don't know… if I can stop myself otherwise…" She says, her hands tensing in front of her.
Ryuu inclines his head at Risu's request. "I don't want to kill you either." He mentions. "But you need to be still." Ryuu's voice is stoic as to not give away what he was feeling at the moment. "I'm going to search you for a blood scroll. I ask that you do not move, speak, or make any noise what so ever." he explains. "If you do then I will have to kill you." The storm raged on but Ryuu couldn't help but feel as though another was coming. She seemed to be begging for him to get away. It was so very odd but Ryuu didn't have time to think about this. "I will begin now. If you truly don't wish to kill me then you shouldn't try and resist and let me do what I need to. I'll be on my way after which."
"No." A simple word, as the hands before Risu make a sudden quick seal and before Ryuu can slice Risu's throat, a white flash has created a barrier around the girl, made of steel from the looks of it, surrounding her completely but on her left side, to which she rolls, away from Ryuu and turns to face him. There's something going on here, something not right. There was no scroll, there was no way Risu could have had a scroll with a half formed metal shape of her body almost form fitting around her just so. That white flash was odd too. Sudden and… not quite right. As if something twisted the chakra in the area as it happened. Risu stares at Ryuu, crouching slightly, a feral look in her eyes. "Flee, now… before I do…. /that/ again…." She gestures to the tree line as she glares at Ryuu.
Ryuu curses as Risu rolls away from him, her body suddenly becoming dense. The white flash wasn't lightning, there was no thunder to match it. Ryuu was thoroughly confused now. Ryuu peers at the area as Risu gestures and warns him. Ryuu blinks at Risu not quite understanding her. "That? You did that…errr this?" he looks around. He sighs "I gotta say I'm kinda glad I didn't have to slit your throat there." Ryuu smiles. "It's much more my style to see my adversary face to face." he nods. Ryuu places his kunai back in its holster and takes a stance. In this stance he gathers chakra. Ryuu then looks back to Risu. "I think I'll take my chances. I mean it's rather shameful to threaten you like that and then just leave." Ryuu smirks "I think I'll take my reward."
Risu's eyes almost burn as she stares at Ryuu and listens to his words, hears that smirk in his voice, sees that smirk on his face. Another face, another smirk flashes through her mind and she winces, jerking away as if hit. The rain pouring down starting to make Risu look more like a drowned rat than a genin. "I don't want to kill you…. I don't….." Her voice slowly raising in pitch, taking a bit of a surreal quality to it as if she's become slightly unhinged during the exams so far. "Killed him…. fool… warned him…" She looks down at her hands then makes a quick hand seal, and the hands seem coated in darkness as a streak of it suddenly shoots out towards Ryuu, shadow, shadow manipulation? No, as this streaks forward any rain that hits it simply vanishes, as the darkness streaks towards Ryuu, "Warned you, warned you…" She says, her voice cracking a bit as she eyes Ryuu to see what happens after her assault.
Ryuu eyes Risu "You don't want to kill….then why are you here?" he asks before she starts performing hand seals. The darkness of her hands led Ryuu to believe she was of the Nara clan. So when he saw her shadow streak forward he defended accordingly only to end up struck by it. There was an odd sensation and feeling as he was hit. His body felt as though it was falling apart and his essence was leaking out. But it passed, not without winding Ryuu and leaving a nice wound on his chest. Ryuu glances down at his wound then back at Risu. "Ok…that's not shadow manipulation." he confirms. Ryuu isn't dissuaded by her attack though. "You're not making sense." he states. Ryuu dips down and then dashes at Risu. He breaks off from his vector and uses his speed to suddenly flank her and attack with a few combos. Each strike is carried on the wind and enhanced with wind chakra.
Risu slowly turns as Ryuu circles around her. Each time he comes close she makes a hand seal and a white streak extends out and creates a wall, just in his way, blocking the attack. Each wall appears to be stone. Very strange. Risu watches Ryuu and with a deep breath makes a longer set of hand seals and instead of heading at Ryuu, a white streak races to above him… only this is much larger. Much much larger as a cloud of sand is created, in one big clump and starts to fall, directly over where Ryuu was. If he didn't move fast enough he'd be partially buried by the stuff in short order, and… it was heavy, likely to hurt as it fell, if he failed to get out of the way in time.
Ryuu eyes that white streak once more. This was starting to get peculiar. It was as if this girl was controlling the composition of pure chakra at times. Bringing about barriers from seemingly nowhere and there was that strange shadow attack she used. Ryuu almost forgets to try and evade her attack. "What?" he looks up thoroughly confused. Ryuu surrounds his body with wind chakra and tries to escape the range of her attack. He is unsuccessful though and is crushed under this mass of sand. His wind armor reduced the damage sustained but he was still injured greatly by it. Ryuu grumbles under the sand. "Well…this is new." he can't move freely yet. He has to dig his way out of this sand trap.
As the sand rains down, combining with the water that pours from the sky, the mass becomes a wet clumpy glob of sand, and like wet sand clings to everything around it. As Risu stares at the sand for a moment it's as if her senses come back a bit. Perhaps the sand itself providing some link with Suna for her, perhaps just the break from combat letting her think clearly for a moment. In either case she looks up slowly, then starts to walk towards Ryuu, "Isato… he was one of your village. He's dead now. I could kill you, but… that's not the point of this. And I'm tired of fighting. So here." She reaches into two pouches and pulls out two blood scrolls, "Take these, take these and tell the others of your village I didn't mean to kill him. Take them and tell those of your village…. to leave me alone." She pauses then adds, "Unless you want me to kill you right here and now instead of giving you these two scrolls." She watches as Ryuu digs
himself out, her standing on the sand a few feet away from him at this point. "Do you understand?"
Ryuu tries to free himself but only manages to get his torso half up. He listens to Risu as she explains herself. "I..Isato-san?" Ryuu's eyes widen and his fists tighten. "You killed Isato-kun!?" Ryuu slams the mucky sand and shudders. "You killed him but don't want to kill me? What kind of ho-ho is that?!" Ryuu snaps at Risu. "You didn't mean to? What the ding-dong does that mean!? If you don't want to kil then don't!" Ryuu slams his fist again. The young man was enraged that his friend was slain by this mysterious girl. "You can't bribe me with those scrolls. I don't care about those!? I came here to develop and bring honor to Konohagure." Ryuu continues to struggle. Grunting he curses at Risu "I'm sorry Isato…." Ryuu mutters holding his frustration down. Ryuu strains himself to point at Risu "You! You won't have to worry about my village coming after you. I swear you'll pay for Isato's death. I'll do it with my own hands." Ryuu makes a fist
at her now "The name's Senju Ryuunosuke, remember it!"
Risu gives a small sigh, "He wouldn't give his scroll… he fled while wounded into the swamp and I found him dead. You really shouldn't wander through the swamp when that injured." She says as she takes a few steps back, "But… you're the one who asked why I was here if I didn't want to kill… so… I guess you're right." She frowns, as darkness swirls around her hands as she makes two sets of hand seals sending out two of those dark blasts of chakra or whatever it is directly at Ryuu, "I offered…." She says softly, even as perhaps the rain might steal her words away. She did offer, she did try to explain. It isn't her fault. It's not fair…. She tried… and now… now darkness." That sane look seems to fade from her eyes as she hops back after sending those two bolts at Senju Ryuunosuke.
"Wha?" Ryuu responds as Risu explains to him Isato's death. "That…sounds like Isato." he muses to himself. Ryuu finally manages to struggle free of the sand only to succumb to the attacks of this strange adversary again. He finds his body once again feeling as though it was picked apart and sapped of strength. Ryuu was lying atop the mucky sand staring upwards. He's in pain which lets him know that he's still alive. Ryuu shifts up panting heavily after splitting up blood. "You tried? Hehehe well that's nice…" Ryuu stood up. "Trying makes it all better right? So long as you tried the end result is meaningless right?" Ryuu prods Risu. "Or maybe 'trying' is just a nicer way of saying you failed." Ryuu glares at her. "Just say it. You failed. You killed him. You gave in and you killed him. Even though you didn't want to…even though you didn't mean to, you did." Ryuu clasps his hands together and charges chakra using every ounce of willpower to
draw strength from within. "You're like a kid." he chuckles at Risu. "If you want to make a change then you better stop trying and start doing brat."
Risu watched, her mannerisms shifting, the coherent Risu slipping away. Maybe the taunting was working, maybe not. Either way, this… this thing before Ryuu was not quite right. The rain continued to pour down around the pair as Ryuu finally freed himself of the sand only to be hit. Risu's eyes narrow, and she makes a pair of hand seals. White light streaks past Ryuu to either side one after the other. Perhaps she missed? No…. no she did not miss with the white light. No. The white streaks end in a pair of Fuuma Shuriken, both spinning rapidly and streaking back towards Ryuu from odd angled directions, making them hard to avoid, especially when the original attack seemed to miss in the first place.
Ryuu spins once gallantly trying to fend away the created shuriken coming at him. Blood sprays from the sides and Ryuu stands there looking to be quite still. He lets out one breath then stumbles with blood dripping down his sides and from his mouth. Ryuu coughs once. He looks to Risu. "You…choose to be this. M-monster." he stumbles back but then falls forward laying on his stomach. There is a darkness that starts to surround him. "Isato…." he extends his hand outward trying to grasp something. Ryuu was frustrated that he had no strength here. His body wouldn't move and pain began to fade from him form. His breath became shallow as if his last breath was hurriedly approaching him. He didn't even get the change to apologize to Usagi or Ryo. Taiki-sensei as well. Ryuu growls making a fist. His greatest regret was that the majority of his life was consumed by his hatred for Madara. A shame on his parent's sacrifice. Hopefully he could find the
strength to let go of that hate in the next life.
The rain continues to pour down around Risu, now the only figure standing on the stone platform. Her posture still crouched, her eyes still feral as she watches the light dim from Ryuu's eyes, his body weaken and give out. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't how she wanted it to be. This… was wrong. Monster… She stands there for a moment straightening up, as she realizes the light has gone from her foe's eyes. The rain has soaked her… her hair matted down. She takes a half step forward, then seems to realize she's killed this boy… he's dead, and she did it. She starts to tremble, and looks straight up into the dark sky, the clouds pouring down their rain, splashing into her open eyes. Hiding if there are any tears at all from the girl, the girl who was even younger than her foe. A guttural scream comes from her as she raises her fists, the word no attempting to be formed but even that can't quite come out right. She falls
to her knees and then looks back at the body, the fuuma shuriken sticking out of it. She stares at the body in the darkness, the rain, as the water washes the blood from Ryuu's wounds, and speeds the chilling of the dead form.
It was the scream of a semi-familiar voice that tipped her off that something was going wrong. Usagi was on the move shortly after she heard it, coming from the shadowed canopy and not caring how she gets to where she's heading, via the trees most likely….at least as far as they can take her. She comes up to the platform fast, then stops as she sees the scene…Risu, on her knees and Ryuunosuke….lying in a pool of his own blood. And from the number of wounds, if he's even still conscious, far too gone for her to save. She stands there for several moments, simply looking as her face goes rather blank, and she wordlessly moves to pick up the body. "….are you harmed" is all that is said for now.
Risu doesn't respond to the new entrant to the area at first. The pile of sand that Ryuu was on might be odd, soaking up the blood as it seeped from the boy's body. Finally she looks up at the other figure, her eyes seeming glassy some how, as if she's in shock. "I… I tried to give him my scrolls. I told him if he'd just take them and go away…. but… but he wouldn't… he wouldn't go away. I didn't want to kill him…. I didn't want to kill Isato… or… or him…" She realizes she doesn't even know this other boy's name that she just killed. They never did an introduction. "I… I warned him, I did… I…" Risu is clearly shaken up as she looks up at Usagi. "He… he called me a monster…. I… I am a monster…" She looks down at her hands, not a drop of blood on them, or her. She's untouched and… and she killed this boy. She tries to wobble to her feet, "His name, what was his name, you must tell me! You have to tell me!" As she
stumbles towards Usagi as the Nara picks up the lifeless body.
Usagi's eyes narrow. 'Two' senju dead by one person. And both of them were past her in skill. The tactician was saying back off, despite that the other girl is in a semi-deranged state. She stands there for several moments, the blood soaking into her vest and clothing. She turns for a moment to head back into the jungle. "Senju Ryuunosuke. Related to the Senju Isato you apparently also killed" Her face is blank, but her eyes are twinkie near on fire. "I can't exactly say that you'll be meeting my brother now, Risu" She stands near the edge of the slab, but is half turned towards her, looking at her with near no emotion showing.
Risu sounds out the name, "Ryuunosuke… Isato…. Senju…" She looks from the body the Nara is holding to Usagi herself, "I didn't kill Isato, he fled with wounds into the swamp rather than give me his scroll… I found him dead, the swamp killed him, but… because of the wounds I gave him. But… but Ryuunosuke, I killed him. I… I did." She shakes a bit, tremors of her body as she is obviously trying to process, "You… you should go, take his body back… Isato… his body is lost but… but take this one back… He wouldn't stop. Tell them. Tell them he refused my scrolls, he kept coming… Tell them I didn't want to kill him. You'll… you'll tell them, for me? Please?" She asks, as she pleads with Usagi, "I tried to give him my scrolls, I tried to get him to go away. I told him… but he wouldn't!" Her tone cracks a bit as her voice raises. She stills a moment then says, "You… you should go… quickly… please… I… if I'm a
monster you should go. Before I hurt you. Please…."
Usagi continues to look at Risu for several moments before speaking. "I will tell them. whatever is decided is out of my hands" She turns to hop off the slab and head back into the jungle. "And I would make myself scarce until the third round. Pray you do not face Ryo in the third round either" She speaks as she walks, but stops to say. "If you seek redemption…perhaps forgiveness can be given. Turn away from the path of a monster…while you still can" After that, she'd be moving into the shadows. Her territory.
After Usagi has left, Risu looks around. The blood soaked sand, the stone slab where she tried to keep dry, the site of her battles both with Isato and now Ryuunosuke. She slowly walks, down, off the stone slab, across the water using water walking until she's at the path, the edge of the clearing she created before. Then she turns. She looks at the red hued marsh water, the namesake of the blood marsh. She looks at the granite slab, the primitive arena, that has so cursed her events here. Red stains appear across the slab and now several of them are because of her actions. She takes a deep breath and starts to concentrate. She focuses, her hands forming a series of hand seals, darkness surrounding her and then… in a wave moving outwards. As it moves, everything vanishes before it. Tree stumps hidden by the water, the water itself, digging a deep section down into the marshy land, digging out a lake of sorts. As it hits the granite slab it
continues, behind it, the slab simply is no more. As the wave finally dwindles at the far side of the area, about 150 yards in diameter of space is just gone. Water rushes in behind it, creating a lake, a deep lake, but the stone slab? The primitive arena? It's gone, as is the sand, the blood stains, all sign that Risu was ever here, wiped out in just a few moments. "I'm not a monster." She mutters, "I'm not. I tried to give him the scrolls. The swamp claimed Isato, anger claimed Ryuunosuke, well… I claim this place, finally… cleansed." She says softly. Then she turns and walks out into the swamp, looking for higher ground and a drier place to spend the night, vanishing into the mists and the rain.
Blood Marsh - Heart of the Swamp [Kirigakure]
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The heart of the marsh. Rumors of this once being a raised place with a stone slab from an ancient arena are hard to believe as the swamp here gives way now to a lake. The lake is almost unnaturally round, and deep, stretching a good hundred and fifty yards across in all directions, and if one were to measure, about as deep as well. It is as if someone had taken a giant scoop and simply removed everything here and let the water of the swamp rush back in. The swamp water at the center of this marsh seems to be without the hued mist; but the waters color itself appears to be a deep dark red, possibly caused by an algae native to this area; an allusion to the very name of the marsh. Around the lake cypress trees fight to stretch out into the open area for what sun they can get, this open area the one spot in the swamp where on a sunny day light filters in unobstructed, but around the lake darkness stretches in all directions. Tree moss hangs from
the circling Cypress trees and the canopy around the area is laden with spiderwebs that dangle down to the surface of the water itself. Some of the Cypress trees closest to the edge of the lake look like they had limbs sheered off cleanly or had chunks of their trunks or roots simply vanish if they extended into the open area circle. This open lake almost appears to be like a large pool of blood thanks to the water color, as if the very swamp bled here at some point from some mighty wound inflicted upon it.
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