[Shouki Kumori]

Kumori did intend to patch up his foot wound a bit more thoroughly now that more light was present. As Kobashi clarified, to combat a large number of enemies on the roof, their mobility had to be at its best – biting through the pain just wouldn’t cut it, and it would likely get them killed. But at some point later, they’d finally move up the staircase again, leaving behind the shuriken that Kumori had placed for a possible descent with Hozuki on their tails.

… The roof brought to them a fragrant sea breeze. However, Kumori had no time to take in the smell, the view and the sensation of the wind on his face – the rooftop appeared empty? They’d traversed all the way up the Keep now, and according to Zaizen’s previous report, the remaining enemy troops sought the upper levels of the Keep. One possibility was that they had hid themselves in a level or two below the rooftop, intending to cut the ‘invaders’ and their escape route off by reversing the situation.

"They’re either below us, or it’s a Genjutsu…” he spoke in a low voice to his team, aiming to raise their guards as he was about to do. Kumori kept his ears open, and the moment they got up on the roof, he used his wide cloak’s privacy to perform five handseals before throwing the cloak down behind him.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kawarimi no Jutsu [Body Replacement Technique]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 5
DESCRIPTION:
After performing the necessary hand seals (one post prior to the technique's use) and locating a nearby object within a 10 meter radius (typically a log or something of similar size to their body.), the user switches places with the said object just before an attack lands, creating an optical illusion. During the small interval where they have left their opponent surprised, they may take the time to attack or flee.

[Shimizu Asuka]

Asuka was lagging a bit behind the group even as Kobashi successfully solved the puzzle and they met up with the other group of jounin. He’d wanted to do some first aid, but he didn’t think he had the time or the chakra to waste. Most of the wounds were fairly minor things anyways. Scrapes wouldn’t hinder his mobility like proper cuts might’ve. Instead, he followed his team’s lead when it was time to move up the stairs, still slightly behind them. Kumori’s assessment had him raising an eyebrow, but after seeing the man’s expression, he followed Kumori’s lead. Temporarily tucking the senbon he’d been clutching away, he used his cloak to conceal the handsigns for Kawarimi.

That dealt with, he ripped his own cloak off as well, rather distinctive coloring properly on display for the first time since they’d entered the keep. Long silver locks tumbled free, loose and unbound. Tense, the man then pulled out his senbon again, giving himself something to hold and do at least. He wasn’t capable of breaking free of Genjutsu with Kai, and the amount of pain he’d need to break himself free if it was a Genjutsu would be far too debilitating to chance it. Instead, he had to hope if it was actually a Genjutsu, his teammates would be able to break him free.

[Sourei Kobashi]

Kobashi prepared as best he could as they ascended the winding staircase, taking a moment to discreetly attach an explosive note to the inside of his palm before drawing the ninjato at his side. He could not freely use the Shibuki lest the keep become rubble, but one or two explosive notes would not do much to such a robust fortification, especially once they were on the roof with nothing to contain or concentrate the blast towards the keep itself.

As they were emerging, Kumori voiced the warning that the Hozuki could either be below or the various jounin could be captured within a genjutsu. If Kobashi had gotten a little more warning he might have tried to use kai on one of the other two, but as it was stated just before exiting onto the roof there simply wasn't time to do it, at least not without sheathing his sword which he was loathe to do when the enemy might engage them at any moment.

As the fresh air met them Kobashi planned to shift along to the right side, but otherwise hanging slightly back. The pole bearing the Kiri standard on his back needed to be protected to complete their mission technically. Beyond that it also seemed foolhardy to send all their close combatants to the front lest a Hozuki seep up from the stones behind them. While he certainly wished there was more he could do to prepare, there was little until they actually encountered the enemy.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi Shimizu Asuka Shouki Kumori

They had all wandered up now and were on guard, definitely suspicious of what was happening here. Zaizen was quick to share lowly with the group that there seemed to be individuals here, and he was quick to retaliate by infusing chakra and pouring it out as Raiton along the ground. The electricity - as it always was - was erratic and therefore managed to bounce between a few puddles, but did not hit everything that was on the roof except for maybe the slightest zap which would not be enough output to put down an entire Hozuki...

Zaizen's sensory would not change, the chakra signatures remained, though a few seemed to be dim slightly - not dead but something was different about them now, whatever it meant when signatures became a little more dim than before.

But the attack did aggravate those that were waiting, and soon after the signatures would be confirmed with bodies that backed those signatures up. Two dozen Hozuki's of varying chakra signatures, the visual was an alert, but the sound their watery bodies made becoming solid was also likely abrasive for Kumori.

With twenty four enemies to take on, and with no clear visual confirmation on the brightest chakra signatures - that was still somewhere here on this rooftop - the jounin had it cut out for them.

Five attacked Zaizen head on with their fists, five attacked Kobashi, five for Kumori, five for Ichigoni and finally four for Asuka in an attempt to force the jounin to split up their formation immediately.

SPOILER: Click to show

Posts Due: 2:30PM Monday November 27th CST

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

With his back effectively against the battlements of the keep's upper most level and his allies off to Kobashi's left it meant all the attacking Hozuki would be forced to come at him from the front or his right. Molding the necessary chakra Kobashi immediately made a combination attack. His left hand darted into a pouch containing shuriken, grabbing five to throw at the Hozuki charging him which then had some amount of chakra placed within through use of the *Heavy Stone technique. The shuriken having a greater impact would not do any more damage necessarily to the Hozuki, but Kobashi hoped that their arrogance in thinking such weapons could not really hurt them would possibly have them ignore the attack and take it, only to be surprised when it scattered much more of their water bodies than normal.

In an ideal world such deformation of their water forms would make it harder for them to dodge Kobashi's main attack. The second the shuriken left his right hand, that hand was moving up the hilt of the ninjato his right had already raised up. Taking a step forward and moving into a low stance Kobashi let loose a violent slash, letting off a *Rising Tide Fang to send a powerful shockwave forward. The lowered stance should have kept the shockwave traveling an effective trajectory to hit the Hozuki in front of him, potentially even hitting some of the other attackers depending on their positions.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Shouki Kumori]

… Kumori heard the solidification. He recognized that sound from his experience in training the likes of Kyōka, and it held true to Zaizen’s warning – likely a response to his Lightning Release Technique meant to ‘wake’ them up, luring them out of their hiding spots. At least, it was the most likely explanation… but the enemies were now aggravated.

Five Hozuki enemies immediately charged at him, and so he assumed that they were trying to eliminate their ability to team up through this formation. No more could Kumori draw from the split-second action before being hit- *POOF*

And it proved that preparing the Body Substitution Technique once more solidified the undeniable importance of being able to look a step or two ahead of your enemy. If the Hozuki aimed to hit him, with weapons or their own bare hands or a Jutsu – they’d instead be tearing through his discarded cloak without a wearer present.

Kumori used this window to weave handseals, but not to deal with his five goons – the flapping, faint wind pushed back by thrown shuriken triggered his plan, and once the handseals were cast, Kumori released his Lightning Release chakra towards the five shuriken that Kobashi had thrown at the Hozuki that were targeting him. The goal was to stun them in place with bouncing bolts of lightning between each of the five shuriken, not enough to kill but to stun and lock the five enemies in place to fully appreciate Kobashi’s Rising Tide Fang. Kumori appreciated the controlled range that this Lightning Release Technique had, only bouncing between the five shuriken and thus lessening the chance of friendly fire.

The latter would definitely be appreciated by Asuka…

[Kawarimi no Jutsu]

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kawarimi no Jutsu [Body Replacement Technique]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 5
DESCRIPTION:
After performing the necessary hand seals (one post prior to the technique's use) and locating a nearby object within a 10 meter radius (typically a log or something of similar size to their body.), the user switches places with the said object just before an attack lands, creating an optical illusion. During the small interval where they have left their opponent surprised, they may take the time to attack or flee.

Follow-Up Jutsu to support Kobashi

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Raiton: Denki Saku [Lightning Release: Electric Fence]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Raiton
DESCRIPTION:
After placing three or more metallic objects such as a kunai, swords, or metal poles around a target, the user then channels a few bolts of Raiton chakra into one of the objects, from there it will jump between the objects to form a fence of Raiton. Anything within the fence can be electrocuted. The voltage is not high enough to kill or severely injure but can cause moderate burns as well as numbness in the extremities.

[Shimizu Asuka]

Not quite a Genjutsu then, but definitely a bit worse. Hozuki, and a lot of them at that. They seemed to split off, trying to force them to break away from their companions. Knowing full well that he wasn’t able to fight Hozuki in a situation like this, the man instead hoped to slow the four coming towards him until one of his more combat oriented companions could help him. For now, though, he’d have to be enough. He didn’t have many non-Suiton techniques, which was a definite problem for him. He could only really hope Kobashi and Kumori would be able to help him when they were done with their opponents.

Weaving the sign for *Fūton: Kūki no Dangan, he kneaded the chakra in his gut to expel with concussive force. He’d aim one bullet at each Hozuki, and the last two at whichever ones were closest to him should the first wind bullets be ineffective. He was grateful Kumori had had the idea to set up a Kawarimi, and he took advantage of that now, letting the Kawarimi whirl him further away from the Hozuki- and closer to his allies. He didn’t want to be within range of those Hozuki at all.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Fūton: Kūki no Dangan [Wind Release: Air Bullets]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Fūton
DESCRIPTION:
After the formation of the Bird hand seal, the Shinobi will knead chakra in their gut. From there, the chakra will be formed into one to six orbs. When expelled, these orbs move with enough concussive force to knock the wind out of its targets. With enough power to dent wood, a hit from one these bullets to the head is enough to render a man unconscious.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kawarimi no Jutsu [Body Replacement Technique]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 5
DESCRIPTION:
After performing the necessary hand seals (one post prior to the technique's use) and locating a nearby object within a 10 meter radius (typically a log or something of similar size to their body.), the user switches places with the said object just before an attack lands, creating an optical illusion. During the small interval where they have left their opponent surprised, they may take the time to attack or flee.

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi Shouki Kumori Shimizu Asuka

Kobashi acted immediately sending out some shuriken that were at first glance easy to dodge, and well they were considering they could just liquify their bodies. But the shuriken were cast with something, which meant all five of the Hozuki felt their bodies scatter a bit more than they normally would. Coupled suddenly with Raiton they fell to the ground, not dead, but definitely a little stunned momentarily... Just enough for Kobashi's slice to carry through their bodies - however in their current blob state it meant that they weren't killed.

--

Kumori's attack was a distraction to Kobashi, but his five were not deterred just because of a replacement technique. They were quick to swerve and turn, throwing kunai and shuriken towards the old man as he sustained pain upon their allies. Then one of them ran straight for him with a punch powerful enough to really do some damage to the large grandpa and with how distracted he was with assisting Kobashi, it was likely to connect.

--

Asuka would find himself in quite the pickle, letting off four concussive blasts of futon just had the Hozuki liquify before they continued approaching the medic, one punching him, only to find a replacement technique. Asuka placed himself closer to Kumori since Kobashi was furthest away, but they were undeterred and turned themselves back toward the medic, two approaching from the sides whilst one stayed still and sent two water bullets with concussive force towards Asuka. Being boxed in, it would be a little more difficult to dodge this, and this was definitely their goal was to pick them off one by one.

SPOILER: Click to show

Posts Due: 2:40AM November 29th Wednesday CST

Kumori:
NAME: Suiton: Gosuiwan no Jutsu [Water Release: Great Water Arm Jutsu]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: Suiton
HANDSEALS: --
DESCRIPTION:
By putting the Hydrification Technique into practical use, the muscles of the arm are temporarily enlarged and strengthened. Moisture is gathered from the whole body and compressed into the entire arm, like an instant pump-up. However, because it is essential to properly control the moisture balance inside the body, this technique's degree of difficulty is very high. The technique gives the user superhuman strength, capable of breaking through both rock walls and steel doors with ease.

Asuka:

NAME: Mizudeppō: Nichō [Water Gun: Two Guns]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: Suiton
HANDSEALS: --
DESCRIPTION:
A more lethal version of the Water Gun Technique, this technique is used by members of the Hōzuki clan. After liquifying their hands, the user mimics a gun with their hands and fires two powerful streams of water from their index fingers. Able to smash through both wood and solid rock with the simplest of ease. This technique is for shorter range engagement covering approximately 10 meters in range.

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

As long as the Hozuki were in that liquid state, physical attacks did nothing to them. However, with the chakra cost of such a form, it was still a cost for them to resort to that state – it also left them vulnerable to any follow-up attacks from Kobashi should they decide to solidify right in front of him.

It was all Kumori could do before shuriken and kunai were thrown his way, forcing him to shield against some with his left arm. He couldn’t evade all of them in one dash, with blood trickling down his elbow and wrist – before he could shake those shuriken off of him, he was directly met with a devastating punch to the center of his torso, sending him sliding across the tiles and fall off the roof’s edge. Such a direct, super-powered punch hurt like hell, and it felt like internal damage was on the menu…

And for a brief moment, it truly felt like he’d lost all the power needed to brake his fall. It was a quick event, a blitzing exchange of attacks, the battle decided in the blink of an eye… but he really was losing his edge-

"!!!”

Gathering the strength he had in his right arm, he grabbed the side of the wall and braked himself with his tree-walking technique before he could reach terminal velocity. Following with coughing up blood, he first recovered his foothold on the wall, then made use of one of Asuka’s Sealing Papers prepared before.

Oh, he was old and worn out, that much was certain… but he was so much more than that, too. And he refused to let his village down like this. But he needed a moment, just a moment… to catch his breath, and clear his burning throat.

[Shimizu Asuka]

The wind bullets did nothing, the Hozuki liquefying themselves right as he shot them. Frustrated and knowing he didn’t have Raiton, Asuka watched as three of the Hozuki moved to box him in. But where had the fourth gone? But he didn’t have time to answer that question, because the Hozuki in front of him had shot off a powerful Suiton. His wind bullets wouldn’t be enough to block… he had to do something entirely different. And something different he indeed did.

The transformation was thoughtless, instinctive on his part when seeing a Suiton coming at him. Thumping to the floor as his legs fused together into a powerful scaly tail, the young man attempted to slap the water bullets out of the way with a sweep of his tail. It was risky, but he couldn’t afford to get hit normally. Water bullets could cut through solid rock, let alone his fragile human skin. But the tail slap alone didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do anything else.

Baring his teeth- sharp, a contrast to his beautiful koi tail, the young man attempted to pull out a pair of Kunai rather than his senbon. They were less accurate, but were undoubtedly a little bit stronger than the senbon and less prone to breaking under powerful techniques. It would have to be enough, or he would die here. Who would save his comrades then? Transforming on land wasn’t the best play, but it allowed his unique resistance to Suiton to kick in.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Suisei Tekiou [Aquatic Adaptation]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low - Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [Hijutsu].
ELEMENT: --
DESCRIPTION:
The core technique when it comes to the Ama’s aquatic adaptation line. It is a quite advanced form of transformation jutsu that only clan members get to learn and unlike the Henge it cannot be forcefully dispelled nor is it only a change of "looks", but actually gives the user the ability of having a real aquatic lower half. Which adds up to their other permanent abilities such as underwater breathing making them more useful. It seems like it’s some form of permanent change to the user’s gene pool once they learn it.

What this jutsu does, is basically to grow scales on the lower limbs of the user coupled with fins instead of feet and then fuse them together into a fishtail, giving the user the appearance and abilities of a mythical merfolk. While only a C-rank technique, it is a complex jutsu as it changes in seconds the lower body of a person. It consumes the needed amount of chakra when its used, but stops draining once the lower part has completely changed.

This same technique is used when the user needs to change their tail back to their legs. Each user’s tail can be of a different color and style, and it’s seemingly permanent when it comes to its design.

SAs

SPOILER: Click to show

Perfected Control (Chakra Control)
Asuka has never had huge chakra reserves like many clanned shinobi. Because of this, over years of practice and training in the medical field, he’s gained a more efficient understanding and use of his own chakra. His control is greatly enhanced, enabling him to more effectively make use of his smaller reserves.

Medical Training
Asuka was a medic long before he was a sensei, and has been training and learning for medical procedures for 16 years. His abilities and comprehension are high enough to perform basic procedures and surgeries with or without chakra, though of course chakra and jutsu usage help greatly. His understanding of medicine in general enables him to perform more complicated procedures with the aid of his chakra.

Oceanic Child
The Ama clan is one known for it’s high adaptability and overall survivability underwater. Asuka has gained a high mastery of his clan’s aquatic abilities after years as an active shinobi and avid lover of water, and because of this, can use them to an even higher degree than many of his peers. Beyond simply being able to breathe and speak underwater, or withstand the oceanic pressure, Asuka’s body is practically made for the water. As thus, while using his clan’s aquatic adaptation (and only while using his clan’s aquatic adaptation, his streamlined scales allow him a rather unique resistance to wide-scale Suiton attacks, slippery enough that lower ranked techniques simply slip past him, or cause less harm than they normally would.

Toxicology Research
As a medic, Asuka has been training for 16 years to learn to heal as many things as possible. Among the other things he has researched and learned to heal, he has studied poisons and their effects rather closely. Because of this extensive research, he is able to create antidotes for poisons, venoms and toxins he has a sample of, after observing the effects of said poison at least once. Higher ranked poisons take longer observation periods, and lower ranked poisons take less time to analyze.

Aquatic Stealth Training
Not dissimilar to the technique commonly used by ANBU everywhere, Asuka’s training with water-related activities has enabled him to create his own version of the technique. In water his stealth is all but unparalleled, making him able to move silently and efficiently. Diving into water hardly produces a ripple or even a slight noise, and underwater he’s found himself able to blend into the various shadows with ease, making it much harder to find him in deep or murky water.

[Sourei Kobashi]

While Kobashi was frustrated that the shockwave had not scattered the Hozuki more, they still had been fairly damaged by the attack that it would take them a moment to reform and so he took advantage of this as best he could.

Rushing forward with the *Accelerate Technique to the reforming Hozuki Kobashi attempted to path so that he would end up between the five he had injured and his allies to his left, hopefully placing the Hozuki between him and the edge of the roof on the right. It was proving obvious that most of his arsenal was just not potent enough to deal with the Hozuki so he had only one option at this point. Use blasts from the Shibuki which would scatter them far more than his normal techniques could, while trying to keep them small enough to not affect his teammates or the keep's structure too much.

Immediately upon reaching the first Hozuki Kobashi tossed the ninjato to his left hand and made use of the *Flash Blade Creation to bring forth the Shibuki to his right. Swinging the massive scroll at the reforming Hozuki, two of the tags were sent chakra to ignite while the rest of the blade and Kobashi's self and equipment were placed into the dense state. While he would be safe from the blast he hoped that the relatively small blast would also be blocked from affecting his allies by placing his dense state body between the others and the blast.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori Sourei Kobashi Shimizu Asuka

Kumori was knocked off the side of the building, which meant that his assailants were content for the time being and turned their attention towards Kobashi, as he had more or less taken out an entire set of them with Kumori's attack in tandem. It had been a good bit of teamwork, but they still had two more sets to take out....

It seemed that they would not need to turn their attention towards Kobashi as he would come running towards them, putting himself between allies and the Hozuki, as well as the edge of the roof where Kumori had fallen off.

They didn't know what he was doing with the sword, and almost laughed it off when the explosion occurred. The ones that were stunned were scattered by the blast, making it harder and harder for them to reform - not that they were, they were literally just blobs laying there currently. The ones who were fighting, two of the three flew backwards too late to transform their body, causing an immediate K.O and thus blob state. The three that managed to keep themselves awake moved through the heat of the explosion to try and overwhelm Kobashi, attacking three-on-one, grabbing at his arms while the third tried to liquify on the man's head to drown him.

--

Asuka would manage to smack the bullets away, but it would certainly hurt his tail since a lot of that impact would be met with his tail, liking tearing into it as he did. The kunai did not do much, as the Hozuki just liquified themselves... Though they were shocked to see the tail and beast form of the medic. It didn't stop them from moving on the now semi-immobile Ama man to do the very thing that the group that Kobashi was dealing with was doing - trying to drown him.

SPOILER: Click to show

Posts Due: 9:40PM November 30th Thursday CST

Notes: Kumori is knocked off side of building, Kobashi manages to take out most of the enemies he's dealing with but now has three Hozuki in the midst of a cooldown approaching to grab both arms and then try to drown him. Asuka is being taken advantage of in this state he is in with the Hozuki doing the exact same thing on him as they are on Kobashi.

NAME: Dekishi Mizu no Jutsu [Drowning Water Technique]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: Suiton
HANDSEALS: --
DESCRIPTION:
After liquefying a portion of his body, the user manipulates the resulting water to surround their target's head, preventing them from breathing in order to either: render the victim unconscious or ultimately kill them if the suffocation is sustained.

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

In hindsight, being flung out of their field of vision like this could prove handy. Kumori walked his way up to the rooftop again, removing the threads tying his long ponytail together and weaving one handseal. Chakra began pouring into his hair, stretching and extending it out like long tendrils twirling in the air around him. The chakra also densified them, turning his hair tendrils tough and hard as steel.

Walking up to the edge of the rooftop, he quickly witnessed their attempt at drowning his comrades- were they trying to drown Asuka? And the lad had even transformed his legs into the scaly tail of a fish… Asuka could manage longer than Kobashi could in that scenario. Therefore, Kumori’s hair tendrils immediately slithered through the air towards the globs of enemies trying to drown Kobashi, attempting to harshly beat them away as tendrils with steel-sharp ends like thousands of needles packed into ‘logs’ were trying to wipe them off. Although dealing with a Hozuki – especially those who had turned into globs of water prior – was one hell of a situation, Kumori compensated by adding plenty of force behind his hair tendrils’ attacks – knowing that Kobashi always had the ability to increase his density and ignore the harsh assault, only leaving the Hozuki behind as vulnerable targets.

And as difficult as it was to wipe off water, Kumori did his best to tighten the grip of his hairs, leaving almost no space behind where the enemies could leak through to lessen the impact. But it was only an attempt – he still had to rely on Raiton for more desirable results as before.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Ranjishigami no Jutsu - [Wild Lion's Mane Technique]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION:
Chakra poured into the user's hair will extend violently, reaching out like many dense tendrils of fibers. The hair, becoming hard and tough like steel, aims to ensnare and bind targets within thirty meters, their sharpened tips boring into their bodies as it seemingly stitches them while knotting around them. This works well to halt the movements of even massive beasts, not to mention halt several dozen shinboi at once. These tendrils are capable of shaping their ends into what appears to be a lion's mouth, filled with a maw filled with razor sharp iron-rending teeth. Hungry for blood, the beastly endings to these binding tendrils work to finish off whatever prey the user may have caught. With the amount of hair created on average, shinobi are typically able toe create up to twelve individual massed tendrils of hair.

[Shimizu Asuka]

If the situation weren’t so ridiculous, Asuka might’ve laughed. His incredulous look at the Hozuki currently attempting to drown him was all too real, but that didn’t stop him from lashing out with his kunai to attempt to slash their femoral arteries, located in the upper thigh, while they were distracted. He’d aim higher, but being on the ground and short as it was, this was the most deadly spot he could reach.

His tail ached, the impact of the water bullet having certainly caused some damage. Sending a pulse of chakra to the seal he’d prepared earlier, the familiar water jellyfish attached itself to him where he’d stuck the seal, sending pulses of healing chakra directly to his wound.

Unfortunately, he was under no illusions that his kunai strike would be enough for an instant kill. If the blow hit, it would certainly mean a quick death, but that wasn’t instant. Knowing this, he lashed his healing tail out again with all the (considerable) force that it could muster. Knocking them over, if he managed it, would help keep them away from him for long. Not that it particularly mattered while they were trying to drown him, he was a merman. Until they realized that, he was pretty much free to act as he needed to.

[Sourei Kobashi]

While Kobashi had managed to clear a few more Hozuki from the field with the blast from the Shibuki. Unfortunately other Hozuki were quick to swarm towards Kobashi, enveloping him before he even dropped the dense state. This definitely put Kobashi into something of a pickle as he was avoiding damage so long as he remained in that state, but he would be unable to attack or breath and if he did come out of it he instantly would be assaulted and still unable to breathe with them swarming him.

Thankfully for him however Kumori came to his aid, with the older man's white and grey hair extending out as he reappeared from where he had gone flying over the edge of the keep earlier. The steel like tendrils thrashed at the Hozuki swarming Kobashi like a thresher against wheat. Kobashi planned to watch for an opening when the Hozuki would be reforming to try and deactivate the dense state and slip out with a use of the *Accelerate Technique when there was an opening. It was unlikely Kobashi would be able to escape entirely unscathed, but it was certainly a better outcome than being simultaneously restrained and drowned.

Made by Riley at THQ!