Meeting & Training (Yumi, Alkaid, Tsubaki)

Alkaid blinked in surprise when her cousin asked about what the mist servent technique was about. It seemed that blow to the face had rattled her more then she’d though since she’d forgotten that Tsubaki didn’t really know much of anything about genjutsu.

Luckily she was saved from having to explain as Tsubaki rejected her plan by pointing out the major flaws in it. She was right, it might have worked if they where starting with the element of surprise in their favor but without it the Mizukage would see right through her illusion.

But what else could Alkaid bring to the table? She had a special ability that let her erase her presence temporarily but while it might work on the likes of her teammates someone like the Mizukage would likely be able see right thought it. Plus it had a major downside in that lowering her presence also lowered her own ability to perceive the world leaving her nearly blind. Until she raised her perception to compensate it wasn’t something she wanted to use.

Before Tsubaki could contiune on for long about how this was the Mizukage and how they they couldn’t beat him with little tricks Yumi interrupted saying that it was prudent that they dealt with Alkaid’s nosebleed first. Considering her Alkaid was currently breathing thought her mouth she had to admit Yumi had a point, the last thing she needed was to get accidentally blood down her throat in the middle of a fight and choke on it.

She watched curiously to see what Yumi would do, ready to stop her if she was going to try any ijutsu since that would simply be a waste of charka. The damage would regenerate on it’s own given some time so it was really just a matter of stopping the bleeding. It seemed Yumi was on the same page as she handed Alkaid two pieces of gaze to use. Medicine might not work with her but a bandage was a bandage and would serve just fine.

“Thanks Yumi-san.” said Alkaid with a wide grin. If this wasn’t such a serious situation she would have given the girl a hug. Taking her free hand out of her pouch to accept the offering she then quickly popped the goze into her nostrils.

Then since her hand was at her face anyway she used it to wipe away the blood that had already leaked out as best she could, taking it from her visage and slathering her katana blade with it so that it was nice and lubricated.

Listening to Yumi explain her plan Alkaid’s eyes went wide with astonishment. At most she could layer two genjutsu together, maybe three if she was really stretching it and yet here Yumi could do as many as five at once. It just went to show the difference between an amateur and an expert.

Other then the risk of them getting caught in the illusion along with the intended target is was a good plan. That many illusions at once was bound to give the two cousins an opening, they would just have to make sure they made the most of it in order to pay back Yumi’s efforts.

Alkaid glanced over the pages Yumi had indicated, skimming them just enough to pick up the gist of the techniques she wanted to use. While she was far from an expert she knew enough to extrapolate low level techniques like this without going into then nitty gritty of them. Avoiding the sound based one was simple enough to do as long as she knew it was coming and the rest was straightforward from there.

“Alright sounds like a plan. Let’s go with this.” she said as she drew her wakizashi with her left hand then moved into position so she’d be able to launch straight into her portion of the pincer attack once the signal was given.

If the goal was to split the Mizkage’s focus so they could slip an attack though his guard then two swords would server the purpose much better then one even if it meant she couldn’t cast jutsu while wielding both.

Tsubaki watched as Yumi offered the gauze to her cousin. It was good to remedy her nose bleed, rather than let it continue to leak blood all over her mouth and clothing. All it would take is a gasp and she could easily choke on her own blood which would be a minor interruption at most, but it was essential she had no distractions when taking on an opponent twice her size and six times her skill. Yumi was indeed a Genjutsu specialist, as she stated she was capable of casting several over the Mizukage as the two would conduct an assault. It was genius at surface value. Initially she planned to overload the Mizukage's perception. With Alkaid and Tsubaki's speed their could move rather quickly around the Mizukage and barrage him with physical attacks. To back this, Yumi would attack him with Genjutsu. A combination of assault would prove to be the most efficient way to dealing with any opponent. Whether it be a barrage of Taijutsu and Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu, or whatever the combination, giving a variety of elements to look after would prove to be difficult rather than having to only worry about incoming fists and kicks.

Tsubaki was now more confident now than before, fully believing they would best the Mizukage this time around. Although they stood no chance alone, at least now they would have greater odds in their favor. Tsubaki would respond with her approval verbally, followed by a double nod. "Flawless planning, Yui. By giving him a combination of attacks to deal with I'm sure he will split up somewhere, whether it be one of our physical attacks or forgetting to break a Genjutsu. Give us the signal and we'll charge in. Just make sure you have a backup. I'm not sure if he plans to go on the offense, but I have a feeling if he does he'll target you first." It was quite obvious Alkaid and Tsubaki were the "fighters" of the party. Aside from being apart of the legendary Kaguya clan, their bodies told their finesse otherwise. Tsubaki was voluptuous and well-nourished back with an athletic frame of sorts. Alkaid was just as balanced as Tsubaki was in her own regards. Yumi on the other hand looked like a sickly child with seemingly thin, transparent skin. Tsubaki felt as if she could peel it off like a candy wrapper.

Facing towards the Mizukage she would step forward, Tsubaki and Alkaid being side-by-side in front of Yumi. Tsubaki would whisper quietly in Alkaid's ear as she kept her eyes steady on their target. "I want to confuse him any way we can. After three paces we're going to cross over each other's paths and assault him from there. I'll let you pass over first." Tsubaki passed a glance at Alkaid's wakizashi. It was a nifty little blade which was ideal for close quarters encounters. Tsubaki was certain the Mizukage would focus on her attacks more than her own due to how lethal blades were compared to unarmed strikes. This meant she had to go all out as support so the Mizukage could not beat down on her cousin. She would hate herself to see Alkaid get clubbed on the nose against like she did before.

It seemed the two were going to go along with the plan Yumi had come up with. The medic smiled in response to their choice; it saved them having to try and come up with another plan. Tsubaki added her two cents tell Yumi to be careful and have a backup plan as chances were the Mizukage may attempt to attack her. It was cases like that is why Yumi carried a tanto hidden in her sash and four senbon needles concealed in her hair, all to catch an enemy off guard if they attempted to bypass her illusions and attack her head on. The medic nodded her head to the Kaguya's words and began to prepare herself. To cast five different Genjutsu one after the other while layering four of them over one another would require all of Yumi's concentration for her to cast them. The first was the sound based genjutsu, and while she cast it, Yumi would be preparing handseals for her other techniques. Luckily out of the five Yumi was planning to cast only two required the use of hand seal.

Yumi brought her hands up together forming the snake seal, nothing happened, but that was naturally as the snake seal was only the first seal of the chain. Yumi took a deep breath as she moved onto the Boar then the Snake again followed by the Dog, Tiger and ended on the Ram. Chakra began to flow through Yumi's body to affect her surroundings. Each action was performed as swiftly as Yumi's hand's could move. Lush pink lips parted and a harmonious sound like the chorus of angels seemed to sweep forth, "What I'm seeing......Is it real? What I'm feeling......Is it real? What I'm doing......Is it real? There are no regrets, satisfy my curiosities." Yumi's voice carried on the wind as she sung those few lines. The song could be carried over a twenty-metre radius, easily covering the six-meter distance. The sound was designed to infiltrate the enemy weakening their psyche and lowering perception of the world, to make them more susceptible to Genjutsu.

The moment Yumi finished the first line she inhaled deeply and smirked. Hand's temporarily separated before forming the ram sing again. Yumi appeared to exhale making her actions as visible as possible. As Yumi exhaled the medic broke the seal apart and threw her arms out to the side, the signal for the two Kaguya to attack. The chain of seals, breathing in, ram seal and throwing out her arms were all triggers to cast four Genjutsu. Out of Yumi's mouth, a thick gaseous purple cloud expanded rapidly. A poisonous mist erupted, sweeping forth blocking out Yumi, Tsubaki and Alkaid's forms, to obscure the Mizukage's vision as it grew to cover a ten-meter radius.

If the mist were broken, Nikuyo would then be greeted by the sight of thousands of tiny black flies swarming towards him as Yumi's body dissolved. The fly illusion would act as another cover to obscure Nikuyo's vision of the three Genin. If it were broken he would be then greeted by the sight of two simultaneously activated Genjustu. From Yumi's left sleeve five metallic chains would shoot forward, moving around the Kaguya's and diverging towards Nikuyo from left, right, front and two from above all with the intention to wrap around and bind him. From Yumi's right sleeve a swarm of locusts would sweep through the air moving around the chains and obscuring Nikuyo's view of the Kaguya.

The expenditure of chakra in order to cast so many techniques took a noticeable toll of the Medic, as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. The medic was panting softly from the use. To cast two C rank techniques was quite taxing on the illusionist as they consumed almost twice as much chakra as they should. A wave of warmth spread through her body as chakra began to slowly recover, and a small drop appeared back in her reserves. If Yumi pushed it she could cast two more D rank techniques, but Yumi wasn't going to do something as stupid as that. If was now up for her two comrades to do the rest.

If Nikuyo broke Yumi's first layer of Illusions and charged at her, would be ready to use her left hand to withdraw two senbon from her hair, the left side, and throw them. As she threw the senbon, Yumi would be drawing her right hand behind her back, grab the handle of the concealed Tanto and draw it with the intentions of slashing at the Mizukage, holding the blade in a reverse grip. After using what little strength she had to defend, Yumi would promptly collapse onto the ground all her strength drained from the casting of her techniques.

If he left her be, Yumi would still collapse falling onto her behind and allow her chakra reserves to recover as the series of techniques would have drop said chakra reserves down to twenty percent of their full capacity. Allowing her body to rest while the Stamina Recovery Technique did its job would allow her to regain lost stamina and be back to fighting capacity soon.

Spoiler:

Alkaid listened attentively as Tsubaki complimented Yumi on the plan and talked about how with so many attacks coming at him the Mizukage was bound to slip up. Somehow Alkaid had the feeling that they wouldn’t be able to overwhelm him so easily. Hadn’t the old man once taken out an entire building full of ninja or something? What was a one squad of face faced gennin in comparison to that? They’d be lucky to rate as his morning calisthenics

But even so they had to do something, She didn’t even want to think of the consequences if they where deemed too weak or worthless. For all she knew if that happened he might throw them into the pit to toughen them up if they managed to survive the experience. Frankly Alkaid didn’t think her odds would be good in that type of situation.

When Tsubaki told Yumi to make sure that she had a backup in case she was attacked Alkaid wondered what she could do to help if that situation arose. As a genjutsu and medical specialist the girl was paradoxical both perhaps the greatest threat to the Mizukage at the moment but also the softest target on the field. She was who Alkaid would go after first if placed in a similar situation.

Before she could think about too much Tsubaki interjected again about confusing the Mizukage as much as possible by crossing over each others paths. If she understood it right, she would cross in front of Tsubaki first and then Tsubaki would cross in front of her and then the two of them would strike.

“Right.” said Alkaid giving a little nod of confirmation. Since Yumi was going to be starting with a sound based jutsu Alkaid simply grew some bones into her ears using them as plugs to block to noise out. A subtle use of her power that wouldn’t give away the fact she had unlocked the ability to control and change her skeleton at will.

She’d leave the plugs in just long enough for the sound based illusion to be cast then retract them once the visual signal was given to attack. The moment Yumi threw her arms out Alkaid began to run. One, two, three steps and she speed up for a brief moment crossing in front of Tsubaki before falling back to allow Tsubaki to cross in front of her.

Razing the Katana in her right hand up high as she ran Alkaid brought it sweeping straight down towards the Mizukage’s left shoulder as hard as she could manage as soon as she stepped within striking range. It was doubtful she’d be able to slice all the way though that mail of his to chop it off but if she managed to disable it for the remainder of the fight it would give her team a much needed edge

At the same time she lashed out with the wakizashi in her left hand slashing vertically upwards towards the man’s throat in an attempt to cut it. She hoped that by literally going for the jugular like this he would prioritize warding her off which would let Tsubaki get some less lethal licks in.

The plan was executed flawlessly. As soon as Yumi began to sing Alkaid, being the wiser one, knew that was some sort of Genjutsu cue and began moving out. The two would move in sync starting off with a slow walk before they crossed. It was a simple maneuver that in the end worked with helping the confusion. Overloading one's perception was one way to successful land a hit. One of the Kaguya dances did just that, hence why Tsubaki agreed wholeheartedly with the plan. Tsubaki kept her eyes on the Mizukage was they moved out, the Genin moving as fast as she could to his flank. Her speed was one of her key tools in combat. It not only allowed her to stay within a close quarters range, which was her strength, but she could slip in and out of her opponent's field of vision in an instant no matter how impressive their tracking was. If her opponent did not her their eyes on her she could slip out of their vision and either flee or hit and run. The choice was hers. Today she wanted to direct as much of the Mizukage's attention to her to distract him from Alkaid.

At his opposite side she would swing her right leg over to the back of his attempting to strike the back of his knee with her shin. It was a debilitating blow if connected, the back of the knees being a soft target for physical blows. She was unsure how durable the old man was, but at the very least it would sting. Miss or hit she would continue with her next assault. After recovering from her swing she would dash making a full circle around the Mizukage keeping a tight distance, roughly three meters keeping her eyes fixed on him. It was another attempt to scramble his senses. Simple at first glance, the Mizukage did not know her next planned attack. It would be impossible for him to anticipate her next move until it occurred. She would return back to his right flank only to leap once again in the air. With enough distractions at hand she suspected he would not expect an aerial attack. She would move in a simple arc performing a somersault to gain momentum.

These aerial acrobatics were not just for show. The somersault kept her small and tight making her inaccessibly to the Mizukage until she delivered her attack, which in turn would gain a lot more impact with her speed behind it. Over the Mizukage's head like a midday sun she'd extend her right leg in attempts to drive her heel into his left temple as she'd pass over. Landing on the earth, three meters from the Mizukage on his left side she would remain in her combat stance, analyzing her target while keeping an eye on Yumi ensuring she was still a-okay.

The Stuff:

Nikuyo's head twitched up a bit in surprise at what his sensory abilities picked up. He had been watching the three of them closely, honing in on them and blocking out other annoyances in the background. His naturally sharp eyes and sense of hearing from his training in Silent Killing benefited him in spars such as this, as he could usually get a pretty good idea about what his opponents wanted to do by just reading lips and listening intently when given the time. Still, these skills didn't prepare him for the curiosity that was one of the genin seemingly regenerating chakra. Not very much in raw chakra, but a somewhat sizable portion of Yumi's meager pool of chakra. He didn't recognize the technique which intrigued him. This one was smart, it seemed.

He thought back to what Yumi had said when he first got there. She had mentioned being able to use genjutsu, and from what he could gather by examining the genin as they made their plan, she was planning on using at least one. If he had been in a better mood, the corner of his mouth may have tugged up into a smile. As it happened, he was not in a good mood. Chakra began to flow to the palms of his hands as he readied himself for whatever these three could throw at him. When the three genin turned to face him, two spikes of ice about a foot long and a couple inches around would form in his hands. Those weathered paws embraced the spikes like an old friend, with the cold from the ice being an unfamiliar feeling. It had been some time since he used his kekkei genkai, but he knew that his steel wouldn't be able to take a kaguya blade upfront. His ice, however, could survive a few blows before breaking. Both of these spikes were dulled, meant to be bludgeons more than darts.

His eyes bore down onto the first to move, the "girl" named Yumi. Her hands came together to form a handseal. His hand tightened ever so slightly as she continued through her string of seals. He felt the chakra build up, and as soon as she drew in a breath to begin speaking, Nikuyo would react. The spike in his right hand was launched at Yumi's diaphragm, meant to take the wind out of her both to interrupt her speech as well as prevent her from speaking again for a short time. The second was flicked underhanded a little after the first, aimed at her forehead. Even if she dodged the first, Nikuyo would adjust as minutely as needed to make sure the second was on track. As soon as each of these were launched, another would form to take its place in the same manner as the first two. Whatever Yumi had wanted to do, it would be delayed at least briefly which was all the time Nikuyo needed for this to be over.

He noted Alkai'd position, following Tsubaki's movements with his eyes. As soon as they were done with their cross, Nikuyo would move. His first step was towards Tsubaki, but his left hand would be launching the third spike of ice at Alkaid's chest. He relied on his sensory skill and his natural intuition for combat to aim his shot, which he figured would be enough to distract the genin for a second or two. Hell, maybe he'd get lucky and knock the wind out of her lungs too. Nikuyo matched Tsubaki's speed tit for tat, aiming to intercept her before she could even get into position to try her kick. As he got to one meter distance, his right hand flicked the spike of ice into the air in full view of Tsubaki. It was meant to draw her eyes away even for a second to let him get into her guard easier.

Whether she looked or not, Nikuyo would close the gap between them while twisting his body to his right and would throw a jab with left hand at Tsubaki's throat. That way if she looked down, he'd still hit her jaw or nose rather than her forehead. If she didn't, well, she had better block. He was keenly aware of what Kaguya were capable of though, and was on the lookout for any hints of bone spikes or other such repellents that might pop up on Tsubaki's skin without much notice. This initial jab would be followed up with Nikuyo's right hand snapping out to grab the ice spike again before bringing it down hard at Tsubaki's left collarbone. During this time, he made sure to keep tabs on Yumi and Alkaid.

He was on the lookout for Alkaid closing the gap behind him to aid her cousin, and was looking out for any buildups of chakra Yumi might try. Assuming his two attacks landed in some manner, whether cleanly or blocked, Nikuyo would raise his left leg to deliver a straight kick to Tsubaki's chest, achievable easily thanks to the height difference, to knock her away in order to turn his full attention back onto the other two genin with an about face so that they were in his line of sight. He was prepared to react to any actions either might attempt, and his sensing would help him keep mental notes of what all three were doing.





The Stuff:

Spoiler:

It seemed as if the Mizukage wasn't about to sit still and allow Yumi to cast her Genjutsu. Nikuyo formed a pair of foot-long ice spears, blunted at the tip, at least he wasn't planning to kill them. The first spear was launched towards Yumi, showing the Mizukage's intentions of rending her illusion's useless as he aimed at her diaphragm the second at her forehead. The Genin didn't panic, first cutting off the idea of performing her sound based technique in order to focus on the first ice spear being thrown her way. Immediately after the first was thrown Yumi discarded the first illusion and brought their hands into the ram seal holding it tight as the second spear was thrown. The medic decided to sacrifice the use of her arms in order to cast her techniques. Yumi brought up their left arm after breaking the ram sealing, bringing it into the path of the seals, raising it up, allowing the palm of their hand to block the first blunt ice spear, while the forearm blocked the second aimed at their forehead. A loud crack would be heard as the spears broke not only the bones in Yumi's palm but her forearm. The Genin bit their lower lip to ignore the pain.

Yumi sacrificed one arm allowing it to fall by their side, in order to cast an illusion. Te Genin would lock onto the Mizukage's form in order to cast her illusion, making use of the already circulating chakra and the ram seal they had formed previously. In the Mizukage's eyes, Yumi's body would dissolve into thousands of tiny black flies that would swarm the terrain covering a ten-meter area. Yumi would use it as a smokescreen in order to retreat five meters to increase the original distance between her and the Mizukage to eleven meters. There wouldn't be much Yumi could do at this point as the other illusions she had intended to cast required the Mizukage to see the action of her casting them and with his focusing turning to the Kaguya's their would be no point in wasting any chakra. Yumi decided to step out of the battle for now and wait for it to cool down or the Kage to make his move again.

Chakra would surge through Yumi's body as the meagre chakra reserves she possessed would begin to slowly recover, refilling by a small margin. The chakra recovery technique had activated again in order to restore Yumi's lowering reserves. The tiny amount of chakra recovered may seem insignificant to some, but to Yumi, it was a trump card. This chakra recovery technique of her's could restore chakra equal to forty percent of her reserves over time allowing her to fight or heal for longer periods of time.

Ultimately Yumi may have appeared calm on the outside but on the inside, they were revealing their true personality and he was pissed. The true Yumi was pissed off, seething mentally at the fact they had suffered a break to their arm, that would take time to heal. This would limit his research as he would have to wait for the arm to heal before being able to conduct any serious experiments.

Spoiler:

Alkaid vaguely remembered reading about how even the best laid plains didn’t survive the battlefield for long.  Even so she had been hoping theirs would have lasted a little longer, but alas the Mizukage had decided to target Yumi right from the get go before they could even begin their first move just like Tsubaki had been afraid of.

She’d been so focused on thinking of what she could do that she’d forgotten some of the things that the Mizukage could do like forming ice out of thin air. A fact she was quickly reminded of as she saw him quickly form spikes of ice into his hands. Luckily for them he was still holding back as the spikes where blunted when they could have quite easily been razor sharp had he so desired.

One second the ice was in his hands and the next they where gone faster then Alkaid could even register leaving her without any leeway to even try and attempt to help Yumi.  But even so she forged on ahead as planned anyways, rushing forward to attack only to be impacted by an ice spike to the chest just after she and her cousin had completed their cross maneuver.

Luckily for her she had taken it straight to one of her rather sturdy ribs. If it had been sharp it might have done some serious damage but because it was blunt wasn't quite as bad. She wasn't sure if it had cracked a rib or not but it would leave a nasty bruse either way. The pain was enough for her to wince for a brief momenent before she powered throught it and kept on going. In her mind the fist she had taken to the face earlier made this feel almost trival in comparison.
Her casing after him didn't seem to matter much though as the Mizukage went to close in on Tsubaki engaging her in close combat faster then Alkaid could hope to reach him.

Which wasn’t to say she wouldn’t be far behind however since while the Mizukage was faster then her it wasn’t to such a degree he’d leave her completely in the dust. Rushing after him she slashed out with her katana at the back of the Mizukage’s right shoulder blade just as he was was reaching out with his right hand to grab an ice spike he had thrown earlier.

With any luck she’d be able to interrupt his attack before he could bring the spike down on her cousins collorbone.  In either case she kept her wakizashi ready to go so that if the Mizukage turned his attention back on her she would be ready to defend herself as vigorously as possible.

The Mizukage was more aggressive than she anticipated for the spar. It was going to seem like he was not about to fight on full defense, aiming to counter and avoid their attacks, but more-so attack where he sees an opening. Tsubaki could understand the logic behind it. A cushioned training session was pointless. They were expected to get beaten, sometimes harshly like Alkaid. Tsubaki could not bare to look at her cousin with her face bloodied. Although it had mostly been wiped and dried she could only imagine how having a potentially broken nose could affect her drive for combat, let alone the training in general. Defensive animals such as porcupines and skunk have natural deterrents to ward off predators by causing pain or disgust. The same worked mostly for humans. A solid crack on the nose and getting off the first hit in general was demoralizing unless they have solidly trained discipline.

The old man was quick with his delivery, hurling javelins of solid ice at Yumi and passing one by Alkaid before he directed his attention fully to her. Tsubaki knew she could not afford to worry about her allies. Turning her head to check up on Yumi or Alkaid would result in a bloodied face. So she had to assume they were *fine* with as much comfort as that granted her. All in all it seemed like he was trying to slow down her allies so he can focus on her alone, and gradually pick each of them off one-by-one. Despite the sudden change of events she still stuck to the initial plan: disorder and destroy the Mizukage. She would ultimately be creamed if she tried to fight him one-on-one. She sized that much up from her first attempt at assault. No, she was safer picking at him from a distance and relying on her teammates to follow up with their attack.

The old man neared the princess as Tsubaki immediately switched from offense to defense, preparing to use guerrilla tactics. Stepping within notable range Tsubaki would retreat during the Mizukage's assault with a simple back flip. She would remain on contact with the ground at all times. From extending her first leg up, standing on her arms as her other leg left the ground and returning back on her feet a mere two meters back from where she initially stood. The way this was executed was with all fluidity and finesse of a young, aspiring princess. The movement had a kick to it, though. It was an attack disguised as a retreat. Due to its timing she would be able to extend her leg at the opportune time to strike the Mizukage chin with the hardened tip of her sandal.

The kick was a bit of wallop to it, though being defensive in nature it did not carry the full potential of a dedicated lateral or heel kick. In the end it would still be very likely to cause bruising and mild disorientation. That maneuver sacrificed her time, though. The Mizukage was fast on his feet just like her. If she chose to simply disengage she would have a chance to flee, or "run circles" which would be the correct solution. Back on her feet she had no choice but to stand her ground now. Though, being able to briefly observe the others it appeared they performed fairly well. Despite the Mizukage's attack, Yumi's song was in full swing and Alkaid was pursuing the Mizukage's flank with total dedication. Tsubaki had her guard up and eyes surveying the intentions of the Mizukage. It was easy fighting a single opponent. She could not imagine having to keep tabs on multiple foe. She guessed that experience came with age.

The Stuff:

Nikuyo's ears were greeted by the sound of cracking bone as his spikes made contact with Yumi. She had opted to block rather than try and dodge one of them from the sounds of it. Whatever her reasoning was did not matter to the Mizukage, as without that arm she probably couldn't weave seals. It wasn't what he had been intending, but he wasn't going to complain about it either. The other girl he threw a spike at took it directly to the ribs judging from the thud he heard once it made contact, too and was continuing after him if her encroaching chakra signature was any sort of hint. Tsubaki in front of him shifted so as to retreat backwards in some fashion as he approached her. His eyebrows twitched as he examined her body's movements to glean exactly what she would try and do, and as her weight shifted in a backwards bend he knew that she was going to try and do some sort of kick. Fancy moves again, moves he didn't have time for. Instead, he would take the shortest route to eliminating another threat rather than chasing after this one.

He stopped on a dime immediately after his toss of the spike into the air as Tsubaki began her backflip. Her kick to his chin would wind up coming short, as he would no longer be within range of it by the time her foot got up high enough to try and kick him. The old wolf whirled around, snapping the spike out of the air with his right hand and taking a step towards her as he did a one-eighty to face Alkaid. His earlier snatch than had been planned let him swing the spike down hard to make contact with Alkaid's weapon as she moved to cut at him from behind. Tsubaki would be too late coming out of her flip to be able to aid Alkaid any now. Nikuyo caught out of the corner of his eye Yumi finishing up her disintegration into a bunch of flies, but that was an issue he could deal with later. If it was a genjutsu, it was certainly... interesting. His spikes had delayed her casting of the jutsu somewhat as she was forced to defend herself luckily, so the flies weren't quite blocking out the sun yet.

Nikuyo's body twisted around to Alkaid's right side as he forced her blade across her body by slamming his spike into it to block the blow. A cracking sound resounded in the area as his ice faltered at the point of contact, but it held firm for this one blow. This placed him on her weak side, and it was a position he was most assuredly going to exploit. His left hand curled into a fist as he made his simple maneuver before swinging around in a left hook aimed directly for the right side of Alkaid's jaw. He intended to knock her for a loop this time, putting a bit more force behind this punch than he had used in his attempt at breaking her nose earlier. He followed this up by moving towards Alkaid, assuming she would turn at least slightly to the left, folding his left arm in to deliver another elbow to the back of her head to try and knock her onto the ground. It was at this blow that the flies would begin to fully obstruct his vision, more of a nuisance than anything else as he could sense all that was going on.

Nikuyo dropped his cracked spike and danced away from Alkaid, the flies following him. He remembered Yumi's comment about genjutsu, and from the odd way these things had come to exist Nikuyo thought it was a good chance they weren't real. His left hand flicked into a pouch to produce a kunai that would promptly be placed with the tip on his right forearm, making sure to keep track of the genin's chakra signatures. Moving to complete his next action would be no issue, as he could match the speed of any of the genin here. He pushed the weapon into his flesh a few centimeters, only a short distance from his elbow joint, the pain welling with the blood. The swarm melted away at this introduction of a welcome sensation to the old man, revealing the positions of all three genin. Yumi appeared to be the one in worst shape, being the only one with actual broken limbs. Assuming his strikes were met with success on Alkaid, she would likely be a bit beat up as well and probably a lot bloodier than she had been before.

The Mizukage didn't bother to wipe the blood off the point of the kunai, simply sticking it back into the pouch he retrieved it from. His head cocked to the right a bit as he examined the three of them, debating on how to proceed with this. Even before he began to speak, a drop of blood would make its way down onto the palm of his hand before dripping onto the ground near him. "It's been awhile since I've felt pain. Thanks," he said with a harsh grin. He was missing a couple teeth in the front, with plaque staining the majority of what remained. Years in the pit did not promote good dental hygiene, after all. "That plan was terrible. Not because it was bad, but because it was executed poorly. None of you know how to properly adapt to new developments while keeping the plan intact. You," he called, pointing to Yumi. "Don't ever sacrifice yourself if you can help it. Not everybody can operate alone, so if support dies then the rest of the squad dies. And YOU," he looked at Tsubaki, "you need to stop trying to use complicated attack and defense patterns. All that does is open yourself up or gets your squad killed."

Two more spikes of ice formed in his hands, indicating he was ready for more. "Yumi, stay out of this and fix yourself up. It's no fun hunting wounded prey," he commanded to her. His focus shifted to the two Kaguya girls. "You two, try again." Like before, he would keep his arms hanging by his sides as he awaited whatever the two of them wished to try.




Stuff:

Spoiler:

Yumi didn't offer a retort to the Mizukage's scoldings. She was to busy thinking about how to get a sample of his blood for testing later on. Having seen him form those ice spears peaked the scientist in Yumi and now she wanted to dissect him from head to toe, to find out what made a bloodline limit user tick. Yumi was also having these thoughts concerning her two team-mates but would hold on until she could visibly seeing them using the Shikotsumyaku. Once she could confirm with her own eyes they had the bloodline running through them, then would Yumi think of a way to acquire samples from them. The Genin was even thinking of trying to get ahold of the kunai the Mizukage had just pocketed, the same kunai he had used to slice his arm to dispel the illusion she had cast. He had not wiped the blood off, simply putting the knife away. If Yumi could get ahold of it, she could grab a sample of his genetic code for study, but it was too risky.

The medic retrieved their medikit and walked away to the side. Silently taking out a roll of bandages Yumi began wrapping them around her arm, followed by her neck creating a makeshift swing to rest the broken limb in. None of the medical techniques in Yumi's arsenal was capable of healing a broken limb, nor did she have any medicines on hand to correct the problem. As the Genin wrapped her limb up, she was still plotting against the Mizukage. Nikuyo seemed to think she was useless all of a sudden without the power to fight just because she had broken a limb. The wounded prey comment had almost made Yumi sneer, but she kept up a friendly expression merely smiling in response as if it hadn't gotten her down.

Once patched up Yumi sat on a nearby stone fifteen meters away from the trio to the right. Chakra began to spike around the medic's body as her little chakra pools began to regenerate increasing by another five percent slowly restoring them. A total of fifteen percent had been recovered within the last few minutes, and they were still recovering. Yumi would take the time to heal her chakra before making a move. After all not every technique Yumi could use required handseals, so even with one arm she was far from useless. There was such a thing as sound based Genjutsu that existed in the world.

The Genin sat patiently on the stone and wouldn't make a move until the trio began to fight again. There was one of two techniques Yumi was thinking of casting, Ode to Death, Ballad to the Rotten, Aura of Panic, Ballad of Fear, Shadow Throw, Mist Servant or even the Rippling series of techniques. The Genin raised their right hand running fingers through long black locks, allowing digits to coil around the senbon hidden there.

Once the three began to engage in battle again Yumi would act immediately. Locking onto the Mizukage's body, the single flare-up of chakra would be his only warning as from her hair two senbon needles were drawn and a fake throw was performed. The Illusion would make it appear as if Yumi had thrown the two senbon needles before she would throw the real needles aiming them at the left side of the Mizukage's head. If he dodged, Yumi hopefully would not need for the safety of her team-mates seeing as they were relatively much shorter than the Mizukage and the senbons would simply race over their heads. If it didn't work and failed, Yumi would be prepared for a follow-up. If he turned to look at her location, chakra would already be coursing through her veins to trigger a second illusion, the Rockslide Genjutsu. In the Mizukage's mind explosions would go off all around him before it collapsed hopefully throwing off his balance.

Yumi had a reason for striking, to simply show Nikuyo as a 'wounded prey', she had ways of fighting back even one-handed. The Genin was not disillusioned to believe the trick would work, believing the Mizukage would see through the little deception and break it instantly. Yumi only needed to draw his attention briefly, from there it was up to Tsubaki and Alkaid to take advantage of it. Should Nikuyo focus his attention on her, Yumi would need to think of a way to fight back or retreat unscathed. One idea was to throw out her right arm and release a swarm of buzzing locusts to distract him so that she could escape temporarily.

Spoiler:

As Alkaid rushed towards the Mizukage she could feel a burning like sensation from the spot she had been struck on her chest earlier. It seemed the damage she had taken was worse then her initial assumption. She’d thought that maybe she’d gotten off with just some brusing but the level of pain she was experiencing was enough for her to know her rib had actually been cracked.

In a way she was lucky, If she had been a normal human her rib would have outright shattered causing even more internal damage. As it was the only reason she wasn’t on the floor wreathing in agony was because she was tougher slightly tougher then average. The wound was still bothersome, but she could keep continuing to fight regardless of it at, least for a little while anyway.

Before she could close in on the Mizukage the man spun around so fast it made Alkaid’s heart skip a beat from fright because his sudden change of momentum had been so unexpected. Without missing a beat the Mizukage snatched his ice spike out of the air and brought it down hard blocking her just before her sword could bite into his shoulder.

The way he could predict her moves like that was truly frightening, but Alkaid couldn’t afford to allow that to shake her or the fight would become even more one sided then it was already. The Mizukage tried press his advantage by forcing her blade back towards her to put her into a weaker position but the blood she had slathered on her Katana earlier made his spike slip further down the blade giving her just enough leverage to hold her ground.

Regardless and her bone sword and his ice club clashed he contorted towards her right side mistakenly thinking that by holding her katana at bay she was vulnerable. Too bad for him she had been keeping her wakizash ready to defend herself for just such a situation and it was already pointed in the right direction it needed to go without her having make any adjustment.

She simple stabbed straight out as hard as she could, her wakizash would pass under her right arm aimed straight for the Mizukage’s gut even as his fist slammed into her jaw hard. He was still faster then her so matter how fast she reacted she couldn’t prevent his first strike but that was a small price to pay to exchange blows with him since at this range it would be difficult for even someone like him to avoid, especially since he was already moving towards her for a follow up coup de grace.

Alkaid saw stars flash in her eyes. She’d been socked pretty hard, hard enough to knock her jaw out of alignment. Before she could even begin to process this she was struck again with an elbow to the back of her head, sending more stars into her eyes and knocked her onto the ground just like the Mizukage had planned.

After all even IF she did manage to hit him it still wouldn’t be enough to actually stop his assault thanks to the chainmail the man was wearing and the fact that he was tough enough that a simple stab wound was more annoying then a game changer.

Alkaid’s vision swam as she lay on the ground, trying desperately to hold onto consciousness. She might have been tough but two hits to the hit in short succession was more then enough to lay her out. She could only half hear his lecture to them as he criticized their plan as if such a thing matted. The difference in power was simply too large to be overcome. No matter what plan they made and no matter how well executed it was going to fly off the rails.

She almost couldn’t help but painfully chuckle at his remark about it not being fun to hunt wounded prey. Perhaps he had a sense of humor after all given the fact he was ordering her to continue the one sided demonstration despite the rather sorry stat she was in with blood trickling down the right side of her distorted mouth.

At that was just on the surface level. He couldn’t see the fact her head was ringing or the cracked rip she had suffered before. Closing her eyes and concentrating as best she could at the moment Alkaid tried to clear her head. This was one of those times she hated the fact normal medican didn’t have any effect on her since she really could have used an aspirin right about now.

As she laid on the ground face first, her beige top now stained with dirt and blood she would have smirked if she had been able to. At least this way nobody could see as she ejected her cracked rib from her body spiking it into the ground and replacing it with a fresh one. That was one problem down, now for the next as she let go of her swords and used her hands to pop her jaw pack into place wincing in pain as she did so then spitting out a tooth that had come loose.

She was back in relatively one piece now, but nothing she did during this farce of a fight was going to bring the blood she had lost back or undo the concussive damage she had taken. Grabbing the hilts of her swords again, she used them as a crutch as she slowly and shakily got back onto her feet again, nearly stumbling back to the ground along the way.

It would be so easy to let go, to simply pass out but instead she glared at the Mizukage defiantly as she leveled her swords in defensive x formation in front of her. She didn’t have much energy left, another blow like the ones from before would surely knock her out and yet she continued to fight even knowing she was doomed to fail.

Dashing forward she switched it up, this time slashing out with her wakizash from the left while keeping her Katana ready for defense. For now all she could do was swing her sword and try and keep his focus on her so that Tsubaki could have a chance to close in on him.

Tsubaki could not be anything more than surprised. By the time she completed her back-flip, and the audible sounds of clashing, she witness the old man next to Alkaid who was now laying face first on the ground. The follow up hits were obvious done on her as the old man was in pristine condition. Alkaid and Yumi were wounded. Surprisingly, Tsubaki was left unscathed. She was unsure if it was her speed that allowed her to last thing long, or the Mizukage simply not bothering with her yet as the other two seemed like easier targets. Regardless, with the other two injured it just meant she was next for her medicine. Tsubaki was in pristine condition, not having blood drawn once or even a bruise. She was slightly dirty and a bit sweaty, but she still had a lot of energy in her. He criticized her method of attack, Tsubaki not taking a strong liking to what he had to say, her body language saying it all as she placed her hand on her hip with bitter confusion and disagreement across her face.

He has to be mad if he thinks I'm going to engage in complete close quarters. He's stronger and more precise with his movements than me. If I do I will end up like Alkaid... Tsubaki glanced over at her cousin, who was still bloodied and after being knocked in the head was rocked. Tsubaki was no scientist, but the "lost" gaze in her eyes said it all. Stupid old man. Tsubaki still gave his words some thought, as they were the only thing to think about as he continued to blab. She could not fully visualize how the battle will turn out if she tried direct combat. She imagined it would end up with her being caught and thrown just like the last time. Staying nimble on her feet had made her last thing far, though with her teammates lacking the same speed it made them sitting ducks.

The princess would sigh. She was unsure how much more Alkaid could take. She couldn't imagine being knocked around that hard and feeling as positive as she did. She was willing to fully engage the Mizukage this time. Even if she did have to get hit, it would be out of her will and not Alkaid. With all the energy she had left she could perhaps distract him enough for Alkaid to land a hit. Without having to worry about Yumi it was strictly a fight between the Kaguya and the Mizukage. Alkaid was hasty to begin as Tsubaki did not hesitate to back her up. Rushing in to the Mizukage's flank she transferred her momentum into a rotating kick with her right leg bringing her shin towards the back side of the Mizukage aiming for his kidney. Being a standard kick she kept her other foot on the ground to help her pivot and maintain balance.

Building off of her opening attack she would push off him with her leg and rotate clockwise. She would squat low bringing the same leg around for a sweeping kick driving her heel into his lower shin. In all adeptness she maintained a read on her opponent, something an experienced martial artist should never let up.

The Stuff:

Nikuyo's body reacted before the thought to do so processed in his conscious mind. Sacrificing some of the potency of his initial punch, he twisted his body earlier and more sharply than he would have to avoid Alkaid's jab with her secondary weapon. This movement was required for him to be able to smash his elbow in the back of her skull, though its early implementation meant his strikes wouldn't hit home as nicely as he hoped. Her blow came close, though unlike last time was just shy of actual contact with his armor. He continued his next few actions in much the same manner as he would have before, though the elbow would also have its power weakened slightly as the cost of evasion. The illusion was still dispersed, and he still told them all what they had done wrong. Tsubaki's body language that even one with less perception than he could glean an answer from showed her displeasure with his words, and so before he told them to try again he would give a rare bit of wisdom.

"You're never going to be in a fair fight. You either have the advantage or you don't. If you don't, make one." He said these last two words with an emphasis, as if it was a skill he expected a shinobi to possess. "Now, you two, try again," he said indicating Alkaid and Tsubaki. Alkaid had taken a beating so far, but she was still capable of standing and fighting. He didn't mind pounding on a Kaguya, as his experiences with them proved an incredible resilience on their part. It could be quite annoying, truthfully, so going as far as to knock them into unconsciousness was not out of line in Nikuyo's mind. They'd recover back to full health, eventually. Not that it truly mattered to him either way, this was still just an amusement for the old man when it all came down to it.

Alkaid staggered to her feet and spat out a tooth, causing the Mizukage to run his tongue over the gaps in his own fractured smile. Each one was a reminder of a failure on his part, each one forever remembered by him. Each was a lesson, and one he learned quickly enough he could still chew meat. She prepared herself by assuming a rather defensive posture, and was the first to make a move. Tsubaki moved in unison with her, though her speed eclipsed that of her cousin and as such she would be the first to arrive at his location. He sensed Yumi try something, but was not paying any attention to her to watch her make the false throw to trigger the illusion. However, a spike of chakra did not happen for just no reason and he began to anticipate a ranged attack, perhaps ninjutsu or a chakra enhanced projectile.

Tsubaki flanked to his left, Alkaid to the right. Nikuyo's left arm came up to defend himself from Tsubaki's first kick, the ice spike coming back hard to collide with her shin and block the kick. Alkaid arrived shortly after to aid her cousin, and after deciding Yumi hadn't used a ninjutsu but was probably trying some sort of ranged attack Nikuyo would step to his right to engage Alkaid. He found it difficult to believe Tsubaki would try to kick off of him if she had to follow him forward to do so, though if she tried Nikuyo would react by swiftly raising the ice spike and slamming it down on her knee to try and hinder her movement. Nikuyo heard the senbon fly past where his head had been previously, grateful for his natural combat instinct. The ice spike in his right hand blocked Alkaid's slash by getting inside the blade, meeting it, and him utilizing the difference in strength pushing her sword out. It would leave her vulnerable to a counter attack by the Mizukage.

While that block began, assuming Tsubaki continued her planned sweep through a different route, Nikuyo would find an answer for that. His leg snapped up as hers began to approach, moving quicker than he had before, and as her leg passed under his foot he would stomp down just as quickly in an attempt at breaking her leg. His leg would quickly bend in towards him and then fire out in a straight kick towards Tsubaki's head whether this was successful or not to try and force her away. He utilized this same heightened speed, and whether she realized it or not, Tsubaki should have considered this a honor. He recognized that his previously imposed self limits were not cutting it and stepped it up a notch. The Kaguya clan head was not as feeble as he had read, it seemed, though she was a far cry from being considered one of the clan's best. She could get there if she tried though, he could sense it within her.

Answering Tsubaki's sweep would put him on the defensive permanently with regards to Alkaid, his focus on taking the Kaguya princess out of the fight at least temporarily. That was likely a relief to the poor girl, giving her a bit of time to recover some more. Rather than a melee strike, he had to settle with flipping his second pick underhand at Alkaid's left knee to try and create an opening to more easily exploit. These two were not too frightened to engage him up close, something most shinobi in the village flat out refused to do. He had a mild degree of respect for any daring to engage him, and as such he usually made sure not to kill his opponents but treated them as if they were a warrior in their own right. Even a genin earned this token of respect if they showed the courage needed.

His right arm would remain as taut as a strained rope to keep Alkaid's wakizashi locked in a perpetual standstill where neither she nor he could used the weapon in that arm if they remained at such close range. He did not have enough time to look at Yumi, and honestly considered her mostly out of the fight. Surprising him by proving him wrong would be amusing, he had to admit, though until that happened all attention save a monitoring of her odd chakra system would be focused on the two Kaguya girls. Depending on their actions, the next part of the spar could go bad or terrible for them. Which they would choose got the Old Wolf a little excited to think about.





The stuff:

Spoiler:

Yumi's throw had failed as the Mizukage hadn't even looked in her direction and was completely unaffected by the Shadow throw. By the time the senbon arrived the old man had already moved out of the way avoiding the two needles. The medic clicked her teeth and sat on the sidelines watching the 'fight' between the three. Yumi waited it out, looking for an opening to exploit, all the while allowing her chakra reserves to recover. Chakra coursed through her veins recuperating her pitiful pools. Since the Mizukage wasn't looking in her direction the two Genjutsu she had plans to cast now became useless, so she discarded the idea. The Mizukage no doubt saw her as no threat to him in her current condition, so there was no need to even look in her direction.

Yumi reached behind her back with a right hand, reaching into the pouch hidden in the sash and withdrew four kunai holding one between each finger. Yumi kept her hand concealed behind her back and hummed as crimson hues watched the ensuring conflict. An ice spike had been used to counter Alkaid's attack, while the Mizukage attempted to take out Tsubaki by breaking a leg before aiming a blow straight at her head. In moment's Nikuyo's right arm was taken up to keep Alkaid's wakizashi locked in place. With Nikuyo's attention locked on Tsubaki and Alkaid, Yumi took the chance and kicked off the stone she was using as a chair using it for added propulsion. Yumi shot forward attempting to cross the fifteen meter's between her and Nikuyo with her tiny body. Yumi's speed nothing to fuss over as it was nowhere near that of her team-mates or even the Kage.

The moment Yumi crossed ten meters of the fifteen-meter gap she would launch the four kunai towards Nikuyo to draw his focus to them. In the middle of the charge, Yumi channelled chakra through her body to active her cells to utilise the Soft Body Manipulation Technique, while at the same time using chakra to trigger an illusion if Nikuyo was to look in her direction. If he cast his gaze onto her moving form, the Rockslide Genjutsu would trigger making explosions seem to go off around Nikuyo collapsing the ground. Yumi was far from done as using the same manipulation of the cells altered the muscular structure of her arms to make them like rubber allowing them to compress for increased strength. Yumi the moment she was only two meter's away from Nikuyo would punch the air. With the application of the Soft Body Manipulation her tiny fist would extend as her arm stretched out like rubber while the use of the Soft Body Modification V1: Malleable Muscles, Arms would increase her physical strength.

Yumi was aiming the punch towards the solar plexus located around the stomach in an attempt to knock the wind out of Nikuyo. The medic had gone on the offensive deciding to engage in hand to hand combat. She was hoping to catch the Mizukage by surprise after all Genjutsu users were known to rarely if almost never to engage an opponent in hand to hand combat.

Spoiler:

A single, green egg with red stripes appears in Yumi's possession.

A single, yellow egg with pink stripes appears in Alkaid's possession.

A single, pink egg with blue zigzags appears in Tsubaki's possession.

A single, red egg with blue zigzags appears in Nikuyo's possession.

Alkaid’s heart sank as the Mizukage evaded her sword thrust so gracefully he might as well have been a ballerina. Given the gab in speed between them it was very difficult for her to keep track of his movements and accurately target him. Having him come at her from a direction her sword had already been turned towards was the most ideal set of circumstances she could have asked for and even that wasn’t enough.

Coming up against such an extreme during this training was forcing herself to push as far as she could and she was rapidly improving in small increments but even so it felt almost like she was trying to grab the moon. No matter how far her hand stretched out it would never reach.

Well at least it hadn’t been entirely futile. The fact he’d been forced to dodge lowered the amount of force his elbow had delivered to her head which was probably the only reason she was still conscious at the moment.

As she went forward to attack Alkaid found herself blocked once again by one the the Mizukage’s ice picks. This time she didn’t have leverage or her side but luckily the Mizukage seemed more content on simply holding her at bay while he dealt with Tsubkai.

But if he thought keeping one of her swords at a standstill would be enough to actually hold her off he had another thing coming. It seemed her head was still a little loopy from the blow she had taken though since she was having trouble thinking up a plan of attack. Should she try for a kick since both her legs where free or go in with her Katana?

Before she had time to think of another idea she caught sight of the Mizukage flipping his second pick around in an attempt to strike her knee and brought her Katana in to intercept, just barely managing to ward off his strike at the last second only by virtue of the fact she’d had it in a defensive posture to start with which meant she hadn’t needed to move it much or do anything complicated in order to intercept.

Having obstructed his throw Alkaid simply smirked then leaned in as close as she could with her wakizashi still locked in place and attempted to headbutt the Mizukage square on the face.

Tsubaki's leg came around and to her surprise the Mizukage was the first to center his focus on her. She had to brace herself for continued combat. Crashing into the Mizukage's ice baton she winced in discomfort as the shin between her shin and the baton was pinched, though in total was not a demoralizing repercussion. She used her position to deliver a quick jab with the heel of her foot. Her current position, being leg in the air caught on the ice baton would be followed by her extending her forwards backing her action with her body weight. Her leg would ride down the baton perpendicular to its face driving her heel into the old man's waist. Being in such close quarters she would be surprised if he could evade it without completely exposing himself to Alkaid's oncoming attack. Then again, she would be unsure if her attack would even go noticed. The Mizukage was...well, large. Having little power in the kick due to her position and not having a whole lot of strength to back it up really did dampen the damaging potential, though at the very least it would sting his waist and push him slightly off center.

Just in that moment, something smooth and weight made its way into her bosom, something that shocked the Kaguya and forced her to retreat quickly ten meters back. Reaching in she was retrieve what would appear to be decorative egg, its shape and texture resembling as much. "Hm." She held the egg in both hands turning her attention back towards the other three.

Nikuyo was beginning to enjoy himself, strangely enough. Fighting was his one and only thing that brought him close to what one could call joy. These three had proven to be spunkier than he expected, especially the two Kaguya. Yumi still mystified him a little bit, but she had kept trying to fight despite a broken arm and the exhausion of a good chunk of her chakra reserves in such a short time. He sensed Yumi move as the three of them came into contact. Her speed wasn't exactly great, giving him more than enough time to react to the situation.

Before he started his move, however, he felt a subtle shift of the weight in the pouch on his hip. Nikuyo didn't like subtle things, especially when it came to his own weapons. Sadly for the three genin, they wouldn't have any idea what had just hit them as the Mizukage exploded into a whirlwind of movement. The way he reacted was violent, paling in comparison with what he had been doing before this. Alkaid began her headbutt as Tsubaki finished her kick, the timing of the two attacks being somewhat impressive. Nikuyo's hand snapped back around his side immediately after firing the spike at Alkaid, his body twisting just as quickly to follow that arm. It would be an almost instantaneous movement to a genin, as Tsubaki would find that Nikuyo's arm was wrapped around her leg and pulling her around into a spin.

By the time Alkaid was attempting her headbutt, a feat requiring her to jump due to the incredible difference in height, Nikuyo would have bent back a little to prepare his body for Tsubaki's weight. This time he used enough power to swing the Kaguya clan head with one arm, albeit his grasp on her leg was very firm. Tsubaki would be whipped around in a semicircle directly into Alkaid's right arm. He let go after contact was established, immediately retreating ten meters as Yumi got to her ten meter mark to make her throw. If she insisted on continuing her throw, Nikuyo would move slightly to the left to dodge the kunai. Either way, he would speak to the three genin after this retreat.

"Stop." It was simple, spoken loudly, and was to the point. The tone of his voice was harsh and unforgiving, a warning that it was a command to be obeyed. Assuming they were not fools, Nikuyo would pay them no mind and would retreive what was in his pouch. His hands wrapped around what felt like an egg. He pulled it out and looked at it, adrenaline still coursing through his body. Upon further inspection, he realized that he didn't really give a shit and would squeeze the egg until it shattered. Glitter and piece of chocolate fell onto the ground, the Mizukage looking down in disgust at the egg. He knew none of these three did it, there was no way they had enough time to try something like that. No, this was someone else. And he was going to find out who. "We're done today. You weren't complete shit, but you all desperately need to improve if you don't want to die." With that curt address, Nikuyo would turn and leave the training grounds. He had a rabbit to kill.




[Exit]

Spoiler:

Everything happened so far that Alkaid couldn’t process it until after the fact. One second she’d been going in for a headbutt and the next she found herself in a heap on the ground with her cousin Tsubaki sprawled out on top of her.

It was a situation she would have usually found mildly amusing if it weren’t for the circumstances leading up to it being very unpleasant. There was nothing quite like being beaten black and blue and then having your own family used like a gravel on you to kill the mood.

She thought they had been doing ok all things considered but it turned out the Mizukage had been toying with them from the start. She’d thought she’d been trying to face an nearly unscalable wall but it’d actually been a mountain all along. A summit she couldn’t hope to approach. The fact she hadn’t been able to score even the faintest of hits not matter how inconsequential was overwhelming frustrating.

With one bone chilling word he made it clear that this sad excuse of a training exercise was over. His tone of voice booked no disobedience. She knew to the core of her being that she had to obey him or she would die. If she tried to contiune the match He wouldn’t even think twice about bashing her skull in and then Tsubaki’s just for good measure.

She watched in confusion as the man pulled a strange shaped object out his pouch. Seemed to consider it for a moment and then ruthlessly crush it in his hand like the annoyance it clearly was to him.

His actions where unfathomable to her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to understand as he simply told them they weren’t complete shit and then left, leaving her felling hollow and empty. All she’d wanted was the man’s acknowledgment. To be told she wasn’t half bad for her age. But the difference in being told you weren’t complete shit and not half bad where worlds apart.

“Shit.” she cried in defeat as she punched the ground in frustration having dropped her swords from the impact of Tsubaki being driven into her. Improve so that they wouldn’t die? How many monsters like him was he expecting them to run up against in the future?

“Sorry Onee-sama but would you mind getting off me?” Alkaid asked to her cousin impatiently who had pulled another egg out from the strangest of places and was busy inspecting it. What on earth had that been doing hiding in her bosom? The only thing she was certain was that the Mizukage hadn’t done it. He simply didn’t have the right personality type to be pulling pranks like that.

Now that she was thinking about it she felt a strange lump between her own breasts. Reaching a hand down her shirt which was stained filthy with blood and dirt she pulled own an egg of her own. It was similar in shape to the one Tsubaki had, but the colors of both the egg and the stripes painted on it where different.

“You don’t suppose….” Alkaid started to say her words trailing off as she shot a glance over at Yumi looking straight at her chest area only to quickly dismissing the idea. If she had to describe her new teammate’s bust size the only word that rudely came to mind was washboard. It didn’t seem likely she’d be hiding much of anything there, let alone an entire egg.

“Hey Yumi you alright?” Alkaid called out in concern. She knew that the raven haired girl had taken a hit during the fight as was feeling a bit worried about the damage she might have taken. If those ice clubs had been enough to crack one of her’s ribs who knew what it would do to a normal person, especially since they didn’t have the luxury of ejected the damaged bone in question and replacing it with a healthy one

In a quick movement her leg was bound again by the man's hands, his grasp grizzly and unmoving. She was partially expecting to be thrown again. She was hoping for that, too. Being thrown was an easy situation to find herself out was. What wasn't was being used as a sandbag to beat Alkaid. Tsubaki crossed her arms in front of her to take the brunt of the impact as it did soften her collision as the rest of her body squished against Alkaid's. The result was a Kaguya dog pile, with Tsubaki being the alpha. She would sit herself up just like a dog, being on her hindlegs with her butt resting firmly secure on Alkaid's abdomen. She would turn her attention to the Mizukage as he spoke. Tsubaki was surprised and greatly relieved when he mentioned they were done. That meant they no longer had to train with the Mizukage, seeing as he only temporarily filled in for Kotsubo and that was on his own whim. Although she had her distrust towards shark boy, at the very least he didn't smell of cheese and hard liquor. And just like that, the man was gone.

Tsubaki was fairly comfortable, though Alkaid's cry for help suggested she got off. Standing upright she looked down at her cousin. Being up close and seeing the details of her being battered was unsightly. She looked like she got jumped, something someone as pure as Alkaid should never expose herself in. At the very least she was relieved she would mostly be healed by the next day, though just imaging the pain she went through was enough to soften her heart. As Alkaid checked up on Yumi, Tsubaki studied her own egg. She knew the Mizukage was fast, but not THAT fast. Tilting her head she dazed at the sky trying to remember if she place that egg there for any particular reason and perhaps forgotten about it. Though, it wouldn't be surprising if it simply got lost in there. She had remembered just last month she had her parents help search her room for a missing plushie, which happened to also wind up in her bosom. It was hard to imagine an egg, though.

She decided not to worry about it, and place it in her pocket. She was unsure when Kotsubo would return on his mission. In fact, the Genin had no details regarding any of that. With the Mizukage gone this left them to "auto-pilot" again. "Hm. I think I'm going to head home. Swing by house when you start feeling better, okay, Alkaid?" Tsubaki said this, waving to her cousin before turning the other way. She wanted Alkaid to be at full strength before they considered doing anything else. There was no sense of urgency, for now.

[Exit]

After her cousin finally got off her Alkaid let out a sigh of relief, sprawling herself on the ground and taking a moment to catch her breath.  On one hand she’d taken a pretty good beating but on the other she hadn’t used up that much energy so it seemed a waste to go home now when she’d accomplished so little actual training.

Sitting up she saw Tsubaki off with a friendly wave then took stock on her current situation.  Her red sport shorts had gotten off relatively intact. They where a bit dirty from all the times she’d been knocked to the ground but it was nothing that couldn’t be washed out.  Her beige top on the other hand was so thoroughly crusted with blood that it was a complete write off.

Right now the only people on the field where her and her female teammate Yumi. Seeing as it was just girls Alkaid felt no hesitation as she ripped her shirt off and tossed it aside like the trash it was.  Underneath was nothing but a simple cloth binding her breasts so they wouldn’t flop around while moving.  The cloth was thin and left very little to the imagination.

Luckily the blood hadn’t seeped all the way though the shirt into the bindings, but as it stood she couldn’t very well go back into town dressed like this.  It would draw too much attention to her which as a spy was something she generally she tried to avoid.

That wouldn’t be much of a problem though. Being an operative she made a habit of carrying at least one spare outfit on her.  Something that she could quick change into to make herself harder to find.  Technically any ninja could do that with a transformation jutsu but this didn’t use chakra making it very efficient, especially since it could pass though barriers that where specifically placed to detect that type of jutsu undetected.

The extra outfit she’d stuffed into her pouch today was plain looking black and white maid uniform.  Not the best suited thing to wear for intense exercise but it’d do in a pinch.  Slipping it on she  glanced at Yumi to see how she was doing since the girl had been unusual quite this entire time.

“Should I take her to the hospital?”  Alkaid wondered to herself. Not being a doctor it was hard for her to tell how badly her new found teammate had been hurt.  For now she’d simply leave her be while she trained and if Yumi hadn’t shown any signs of improvement by the time she had finished then she would have no choice but to take the dark haired girl in to be examined.

Unlike some other’s she wasn’t so heartless as to leave a comrade sitting out in the open overnight to die of exposure.  Just thinking about the people who had done that to Yuu was almost enough to make her blood boil.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself she wondered if Yumi might be able to help her with her special project to find a strong mate to strengthen her bloodline.  Alkaid wasn’t opposed to having some fun with a guy, or maybe even a girl but that and finding a strong suitor to have a child with where too entirely different things.

Since she knew almost jack about genetics having a doctor to help tell her what would and would not make good combinations would greatly help the process of weeding out the field of clans so that Alkaid could choose from the ones with the most potential and find a suitable candidate.

But before she could find a strong man she needed to become stronger herself.  She took some time to think about how the battle with the Mizukage had gone and what she was lacking. A few ideas came to mind.

First was that one of her team mates was an genjutsu specialist that used some area of effect illuions. If Alkaid had been caught in one things would have gone south quickly.  She was used to working with her cousin because they’d grown up together and it would take some time before she could have a good level of timing with Yumi.

But in the meantime a way to break out of a spell should she be caught it it’s net would do nicely.  Her handler had foreseen this situation and given her a genjutsu kai scroll to study but their group meeting had been interrupted before she could even introduce herself let alone look at the thing. Come to think of it Yumi probably still had no idea who the hell Alkaid even was.

Opening the scroll Alkaid glanced over it nodding a few times as she ready the explanation. It seemed simple enough.  All you really had to do was one seal, channel some chakra and boom the spell would be broken.  The only real downside was that the stronger the spell the more energy it would take to get out of it.  

With the way her stamina was she wasn’t going to be breaking out of much, so the best course of action was still to avoid being caught in one in the first place.  Alkaid was a spy first and a fighter second so hopefully she wouldn’t run into that sort of problem much in the first place.   If she played her cards right and didn’t get caught in the middle of information gathering most battles she entered would be ones she had heavily stacked in her favor to begin with.

- learned Genjutsu kai (978/150)

Alkaid had also brought a scroll from a certain school of sword techniques focused on duel wielding with her. Perfect for her considering she preferred to wield a katana in one hand and a shorter wakizashi in the other. A combination that had served her well in her match with the Mizukage allowing her to fend off several blows while staying on the offensive.  

But before she could start on that scroll there was something else she wanted to prefect. Of course she knew about the fighting style of her clan known as the dance of the blossom but until now she’d lacked the nessisasary skill to use it in battle.

She’d fancied herself a swordswoman for a very long time, but the truth was until recently she had been nothing but an amateur.  Anybody could wield a blade but it took someone with real kenjutu skill to do it with style.  Skill she had refined for herself in the months since graduating from the academy.  

If she’d had that before the sparring match the outcome might have been slightly different.  She’d actually touched the Mizukage’s armor at least once during the match. The extra strength and precisison from using that fighting style might have been enough to turn that touch into an actual scratch allowing her to deal damage however slight.

And so she began to dance the steps she knew by heart, her body twisting and twirling around almost like she was some sort of geisha.  Sweat dripped from her body as she went thought the routine trying to move faster and sharper with each beat of her heart.

If Yumi was still awake then Alkaid hoped she would feel appropriately honored by her performance. It was extremely rare for member's of her clan to preform this dance for outsiders, at least not ones they intended to let live afterwards.

As she danced she began to flow charka though the palm of her hands into the hilts of her swords. Made from her own flesh and blood she felt an intimate connection with them. If she’d wanted she could likely change their shape as long as they where still within her grasp but instead she simply enveloped them with her spiritual energy until they began to glow softly with a visible blue light.

As she continued to dance she smiled savagely. Now she could extend the reach of her blade without having to reveal her bloodline in the process.  A perfect skill for a spy like her to possess.  Hopefully over time she could refine the jutsu so that the extension itself wasn’t viable to the naked eye but for now it was better then nothing.

- Learning  Dance of the Blossom & Chakra flow (462/300)

Satisfied that she had a good grasp of the both her clan jutsu and the chakra flow Alkaid stopped dancing and pulled out her second scroll of the the day.  In it contained a set of instructions on not one but two different fighting styles and a few accompaning jutsu to go along with them.

Before she could learn the two handed style known as Twin divide she was going to have to start with the more basic one handed style know as Red tiger.   She wouldn’t be using this one as often naturally but it’d be good to have in the event she was disarmed or if she needed to fight while using casting jutsu with her off hand.   Being able to cast one handed seals was an extremely handy abilty for a sword user to have so it wouldn’t hurt to have know a style that utilized that.

The basic stance was simple as befitting a beginner style such as this.  Place the dominate foot forward and shift your body to the side.  Then you would use your second foot to brace yourself while the main foot was reserved for movement.   It was so straightforward that she knew she’ have to be clever while using it to avoid letting an enemy read too far into her movements.

The first jutsu was a simple upper slash.  According to the scroll it was meant more as a defensive measure to quickly block attacks coming from above but that wasn’t to say it couldn’t be used offensively as well.  Considering it had such a cool name as Slashing Sky it would be a shame not to use it to dish out some damage.  

Either way it would have been handy to have when sparing with the Mizukage since she could have blocked the ice pick he had been using easier and sooner giving her more time to counter attack.  The second technique was called Sunlight which was apropos considering what it did thought it would be more correct to call it a trick more then a jutsu.

All you had to do was angle your sword at the right angle to reflect sunlight, or really any bright light into your opponent eyes.  Well maybe it was approrate to call it a jutsu after all.  Doing it while standing still was easy enough but doing it on the fly in the heat of battle was tricker said then done and it took her over two hours of trying before she could constantly do just that.

Some more call it a dirty or underhanded, but she was a ninja and and an spy at that. Dirty and underhanded was her bread and butter. Anything that could give her an edge to clear a mission and come back alive to fight again the next day was good in her book.  Of course the jutsu didn’t end their as once the opponant was temporarly stunned by the flash of light the user would take advantage of the opening to lunge forward with a horizontal slash.

The third move Red ruby was offensive orientated. Bringing her blade up to her left shoulder she took a step forward and slashed towards where her opponents upper torso would be putting as much force as she could muster into the swing in order to maximize her ability to break thought their guard.   Great to damage someone if they where wearing armor like the Mizukage had been.  

The amount of damage it would do to an unarmored for was gruesome, it was likely she’d take a limb off it it connected or at least severally damage it.    If she couldn’t go for a killing strike during an ambush or wanted to capture a target alive this this would go a long way towards that disabling them.

The penultimate move was know as the Red crescent and was heavily counter based requiring precision timing to pull off properly.  When attacked either directly or at her weapon Alkaid would have to dodge or evade using a spinning motion that would bring her around for her own horizontal attack to the arm, leg or sides.  

She imagined herself fighting the Mizukage, dodging his ice sickle he had thrown at her at the last possible second as she side stepped it using the motion to go into the patented spin.  Turning around sharply and swiftly she lashed at with a slash aimed at where his hand had been and nicking his hand drawing a thin line of blood.

Dodge, spin, strike. Dodge, spin, strike. She repeated that process several times until she had the timing down pat to turn around as quickly as possible and counter attack.  Like a rusty knife a move like that was only effective once sharpened like this.

Last but not least was the Swallowtail.  Similar to the red crescent in concept it was also a counter move but instead of spinning the user would dodge either by sidestepping or in some case back stepping instead.  What made this move more advanced however was the target would be much more specific slashing straight out at an opponents on the inner side forearm or wrist.  

The goal was to cut just deep enough to damage the muscle within at the right dept to render the arm partially useless for carrying weapons and weaving hand-seals. Presumably without rending permanent damage. While it was generally more practical to go straight for the kill Alkaid could use see using it while capturing a resisting mark for interrogation.  

Taking a short break from her training Alkaid sat down beside Yumi and bought out a water skin from her back and took a deep gulp before holding the canister out to the other girl offering her a sip.  After all she’d just been sitting there the entire time while Alkaid had been working out and she didn’t want her teammate to get dehydrated.

Learning
- Red Tiger Style
- Zangeki no Sora ”Slashing Sky”
- Nikko ”Sunlight”
- Akai Rubi ”Red Ruby”
- Akai Mikadzuki ”Red Crescent”
- Agehacho ”Swallowtail”

(1008/1000)

Placing the canister down beside Yumi so that she could help herself is she wanted Alkaid went back to finish up her training for the day by learning the Twin divide style.   Unlike the Red tiger style this one wouldn’t take quite as long since the scroll she had consisted of the foundation of the style and two moves to go with in in contrast to Tigers five.

As the name implied it was a twin sword style requiring two blades at least the length of a wakizashi.  It focused more on unleashing a string of devestating combos over pure brute strength which was perfect for someone like Alkaid who wasn’t as quite ass strong as she was fast.

The first move Ken Hamano began with a faint where the user would thrust with one blade towards the oppositions chest while the true attack came with the second blade aimed towards the foes lower body.   That type of misdirection suited Alkaid well and she had it down within under three tries.

The other move was called Hasami Ken and was so simple Alkaid was able to preform it on the first try. Basically it was just using the two swords as a makeshift scissors.  One cut from the left while the other cut from the right and you caught the target in the middle to slice them up like sushi.  

Wrapping up her training for the day Alkaid frowned as Yumi didn’t make a move to take the water that had been offered her. If she had at least said no or shook her head that would be one thing but instead she got no response.  Was she just being ignored or was Yumi incapable of replying to her?

She could tell the black haired maiden was still breathing but when she tried waving her hand in front of her face her eyes which where still open weren’t following her hand at all.  When she looked closely she could see that pupils had a slightly clouded over look but wasn’t sure if that meant her teammate was unconscious or just lost in thought.  

“Was I being negligent to continue with my training?” Alkaid thought to herself. On one hand the match with the Mizukage proved that she really really needed these moves under her belt if she wanted to survive but on the other she was worried that she was putting Yumi in a situation similar to Yui where the lack of medical attention was putting her life in danger.

Yui and her sister Yanagi had both contracted the plauge sweeping across the land at around the same time. Both of them had fallen into a coma and yet only one of the two had woken up again so far.  

Alkaid attributed that to the fact that Yanagi had been with them when she had fallen ill and thus received immediate attention while Yui had been ditched by her team and been left to dye in a ditch, exposed to the elements for days until Alkaid had finally managed to track her down.  

Alkaid had been going to check up on them every few days ever sense. Doing her best to take care of the two girls by providing food, sprung baths and a change of cloths. Yanagi was more or less in the clear now but she was so sick with worry she had confined herself to bed anyhow since she knew how thin Yui’s lifeline had gotten. The girl had been hanging on by a preverbal string that could snap at any moment.

At that moment Alkaid had a premonition that something terrible had happened, a sinking feeling in her chest that something was very very wrong but she wasn’t sure what. For now she’d simply take Yumi into the hospital to be checked out and then go home to rest up in heal.

“Sorry Yui.” She whispered out an apology. Between the beat down she had taken and the training she had done she was simply to tired to both check in on her cousin and drag her team mate to the hospital in the same night so the check in would have to wait for the next morning.

learning
-Twin divide
-Ken Hamano
- Hasami Ken

(722/450)

Exiting with Yumi - Dropping "her" at the hospital offscreen