[nue masahiko]

FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER

Finally, the tenth bout of the day arrived. When he first arrived to the arena Masahiko had taken any seat he could find, but when the ninth bout ended and the proctors began preparing the arena for the tenth, he stood up and wound his way through the seated spectators until he’d somehow, without so much as throwing an elbow, ended up in the front row. He had a perfect view of the area now. The contestants entered the ring: his own student, and a Kirigakure genin with wild white hair. Cheering and jeering erupted around Masahiko but he himself was still and quiet. Despite this, he made quite a visual amongst the masses; he was dresses exceptionally well even for his standards, clad in robes of pale Yukigakure blue, and he wore his shinobi headband polished to a high sheen and prominently upon his brow. In his smooth, unblemished hands he held a small handmade sign that read, in gorgeous calligraphic handwriting: YUKI KAZU THE PRIDE OF YUKIGAKURE

OPEN -- 171

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you nue masahiko

Toru had been watching all day, first from his personal viewing suite. But, he got bored and tired of this too. So he had bid his bodyguard to follow him around the entire arena, being visible was a good way of making the people fall in love. Or so he had been told by the council. It was supposed to make him humble and 'normal'. A few had congratulated the youth on his speech as if he had prepared it as an academy student might have for a big project, others looked at him with a bit of intimidation. A child leader, it was not something one saw every day.

So, he had a way of parting the crowds, which was the case here as he now stood nearby a railing looking on as the tenth battle was announced - Kazu and Taru.

Taru was more of his interest, he wanted to see how she had improved. She had been doing well in all the other parts of the exams, but this could be different, no?

He glanced over to his right though to notice the man holding the sign.

"Your student?" Toru asked.

OWL

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG @- NPC - WORDS - - -

T

he chuunin exams were always quite the spectacle. People enjoyed coming far and wide to watch this particular round, the showing of force of shinobi against one another. It mattered not if the opponent was from your own country, from an enemy's country - all the same, it was the goal to fell them. Shuka watched all the rounds, as it was her duty to do as leader, watching the displays of skill from shinobi all around the world.

She paid particular attention when students from her own nation came up, of course. Watching how they performed here was pivotal to determining how much the other rounds had advanced them as shinobi and what their future careers would look like.

Kazu's round came and she enjoyed quietly, not engaging in any kind of display similar to his teacher, whose job it was to encourage him thoroughly.

The battle was an interesting one from the start. Many blows were traded, interesting strategies employed. Kazu made good use of his ice techniques to land several solid blows that debilitated her for the remainder of the battle, though she landed plenty of her own. The two seemed relatively evenly matched, though the young woman clearly was a jack of all trades rather than a particular master. Once Kazu was able to figure that out that he was stronger in taijutsu than her, the balance of the battle shifted.

In the end, the girl tackled him in a hug. Had they become friends during the exams? Maybe that was the reason they'd been pitted against one another for this round. The exam organizers often did things like that, she had found. Like the two members of the Himishi clan forced to face off. Testing village loyalty over personal loyalty or some such, she imagined.

Either way, Kazu had won his first round. A decent display, though she was sure trickier ones could still be on the horizon. If Kazu looked up to the stands, he might catch Shuka smiling.

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[nue masahiko]

FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER

A young man approached his left side. Masahiko gave him the barest glance, before double-taking, and realizing with no small measure of surprise that the person next to him was none other than the Mizukage. He was young, likely around Kazu’s age if Masahiko had to guess, and was a good half a foot shorter than Masahiko himself. He had a calm, unbothered aura about him, so bereft of the typical latent anxiety that Masahiko typically saw wafting off of teenagers. Like the Kage’s bodyguard, for example, who was doing a fine job of keeping his facial expression perfectly neutral, but was carrying so much tension that Masahiko feared he would snap. The young man, just a little older than the Kage himself, hovered close to his charge, his gaze constantly scanning his surroundings as if an assassination attempt could come at any moment. The Mizukage asked him a question, which took Masahiko a moment to process. "Yes,” he said, turning to offer the Mizukage a polite bow, though he strove to not take his eyes off the arena. A sly smile crept across his lips. "And I’ve just terribly embarrassed him, I fear.” His gaze slipped to the side, where he noted—Lady Shuka. "My Lady,” he said warmly by way of greeting. She seemed content to watch quietly on her own (and his palms began to sweat as he thought of what she could possibly think of one of her special jounin spending far too much time hand-making a sign), so he let her be, but he didn’t want to be rude and disregard her entirely. The proctor called the start of the fight, and Masahiko’s attention was drawn back. The Kiri genin, Taru, started things off by diving in with her kunai in hand—though she stopped short when Kazu made a brief retreat, and instead formed a thin wall of water between them. It was too thin to be defensive, too stationary to be offensive—it read like bait to Masahiko’s eye, which Kazu promptly fell for. That snap freeze jutsu of his was nasty, but he played his hand early, sending a icicle senbon flying at the water-wall and freezing it solid, whereupon it collapsed under its own weight. Kazu stayed on the offensive, dashing in to kick at her, but the girl dropped to the ground to dodge and retaliated by trying to trip him; Kazu used chakra to dodge, then backed off, both genin taking a moment to breathe after a fierce few opening seconds. "Suzuki-san seems exceptionally intelligent,” Masahiko noted idly, never tearing his eyes away from the scene. "Very strategically-minded for someone her age. It’s admirable.”

Kaguya Toru | Yuki Shuka | OPEN -- 446

[Takahashi Kurai]

Kurai had been patrolling around the spectator area since the first round. He was currently in his Junsa uniform with his headband worn sideways around his head. Resting on his back was that big butcher knife-like sword of his, the Executioner Blade ready to be used if anything were to go amiss. Through matches one through nine, Kurai was mostly focused on the surrounding area, only occasionally looking over at the fights, but once the tenth match approached, Kurai found his attention being grabbed a little more as he heard the name of one of the genin. Suzuki Taru.

Kurai's favorite non-student who actually taught him a few things regarding nature. He did recall her saying that she was going to be participating in the exams, or something along those lines. She was going up against a Yuki, but not one from his village.

Kurai was still keeping an eye out for things but as he did, he was making his way down to the first row just as things began. Kurai was a bit too distracted with the start of the fight, that when he got down to the railing, he did not notice the two leaders...and Masahiko standing there. Kurai was on Lady Shuka's left, his hands placed against the rail as he watched the two genin. The boy, Kazu he believed used a jutsu similar to the Kirigakure no Jutsu, using it to hide himself before launching another attack. Kurai rose an eyebrow at how Taru retaliated, gaining distance before drawing a bow and arrow to use some sort of bukijutsu. The fight continued, growing more interesting, and Kurai was certainly rooting for Taru despite the stern look on his face.

But from the corner of his eyes, Kurai would finally notice the Yukigakure leader. "Oh." Kurai turned, doing a bit of a bow. "My apologise." he claimed. Kurai would then notice Masahiko on the other side...and that sign which caused Kurai to scoff a little with a hint of amusement. Guess Kurai now knows who one of his students are. But Kurai did not comment on it nor did he say anything else not just because of the Yukigakure Lady's presence...but also because he finally noticed the young Mizukage who appeared to be talking with Masahiko. The last thing Kurai wanted was to be written up for seemingly slacking on the job....again, so Kurai prepared to walk away from the three to continue his patrol, but when he was preparing to head upstairs again, he stopped partway to look at the fight once more.

nue masahiko Yuki Shuka Kaguya Toru

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you @--

Toru did not reciprocate the bow, only giving the taller male a nod of acknowledgment. It was not out of disrespect, but moreso that he felt it was not necessary. Certainly, he was wearing his Mizukage robes, but it had been thrust upon him by the council. He often preferred to go without the official regalia, he felt it was pompous in some manner of speaking and also very restrictive. If something were to happen he would have to rip it all off to fight properly. Of course, there was an absurd amount of guards stationed throughout the city, and even more around where all the genin participants were staying and frequenting. All training areas, all cafeterias, it was a strict area for sure. But it was necessary for everyone's safety.

It was an interesting comment that Masahiko made regarding Taru and her age. It seemed everything was related to age. Toru, personally, always felt a small prickle of annoyance at such statements. But, he never spoke on it. He understood why people thought the way they did.

"Taru is a good shinobi, I see great potential in her." He stated plainly, and very honest. Taru and he had spent plenty of time together. She was a quirky girl, but was also well-rounded in her school of thought, and was quite open-minded. In some manner, it allowed Toru to think differently too even if he didn't believe everything she said.

Toru would take notice of Kurai, if only by the man's particular scent that he carried. He would glance to him, but otherwise not say a word. He was allowed to watch, though he was also on duty so it was a careful balance to strike in this case.

OWL

[nue masahiko]

FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER

He heard the lightest of scoffs coming from the side. A sidelong glance, long enough to observe his surroundings but brief enough to not miss any of the fight, revealed a familiar face: Kurai, in uniform, with a much bigger sword than what Masahiko had seen him with before. The slightest of smiles tugged at the corner of Masahiko’s mouth as he briefly made eye contact, but his attention swiftly returned to the arena and to the Mizukage. In retrospect he considered his words, how they might be received by a youth of fourteen years, and reconsidered. There hardly seemed to be a way to recover the moment without making it blatantly obvious that recovering the moment was what he was trying to do, and Masahiko got the impression that the Mizukage wouldn’t exactly be fond of anything even remotely resembling sycophantic behavior. A brief acknowledgement, maybe? Better than saying nothing, but no need to make a scene of it. "Of course, age is hardly an important metric here,” Masahiko said, his gaze firmly locked on the fight. "She does her village proud, which is all that should matter.” Hiding in Frost was a good technique, and this was an excellent use of it. Of course, it also shrouded the arena in mist, leaving Hiko unable to see what was happening down below. A shriek emitted from the mist, loud and long enough for him to think that it was some flavor of technique as opposed to a cry of pain; a second vague outline appeared in the frost immediately after, which Hiko supposed was Kazu. Taru leapt from the mist and onto the wall of the arena, where she nimbly dodged a familiar-looking icy white tree that shot up from beneath her feet. Less nimbly she took a hard punch to the gut, but she thought well on her feet, and she followed through with the momentum of the hit to re-position herself. Whoever this girl’s sensei was, Masahiko wanted to meet them; either Taru just had an exceptional strategic mind, or her sensei was brilliant, or both. Taru’s massive kunai struck Kazu in the leg, which Kazu threw back almost blindly, certainly not accurately—but accuracy wasn’t the point, Hiko realized a moment later. That beloved jacket of his quickly followed suit, and several icicles right behind it. The jacket exploded, an icicle struck Taru in the thigh, and the fight continued. A fistfight from there, back and forth until she spat blood onto the ground and ran straight at Kazu, looking like she was going to tackle him. Masahiko leaned forward, his grip on his handmade poster so tight he might have feared he would rip it if he’d be cognizant of it at all— ’I-I won?’ The two teenagers hugged, Kazu helped his opponent off the ground—good boy—and they went off to the proctor, the medbay. The crowd was confused but raucous; it had been a good fight, fun, and well-fought. Masahiko refrained from joining in on the cheering, he didn’t want to make a scene, but there was no hiding the proud, satisfied smile on his face. "I suspect Suzuki-san has far more than that up her sleeve,” Masahiko said to the Mizukage at his side, fully turning to the young man now that the fight wasn’t demanding his attention. He tucked his sign under his arm. "I’m very invested in seeing the rest of her fights; I imagine she’ll continue to do very, very well.”

Kaguya Toru | Takahashi Kurai | Yuki Kazu -- 588

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you @--

Toru watched and quietly scrutinized. It was interesting to see how the fight ultimately panned out. The Yuki clan was powerful, this was something he was very well aware of. There was no secret in this, as Kirigakure had its own branch of the clan and he had witnessed Hyoton first-hand before. It was no surprise that Kazu had the powers that he did, and he did a good job showing them off here in this arena it would likely net him a respectable amount of points from the judges. He and Taru had a good fight, and the camaraderie they shared at the end came as a bit of a surprise to Toru, but he was contented with it. The arena would be cleaned then for the next battle.

"She is measured, and not competitive." He remarked, and Taru was. She was an eccentric soul, but she also knew when to back down. This was very much a good trait for someone looking to become a chunin, surviving until the next day or for another battle was often the most important part of being a shinobi. But it also took a great deal of humility, most shinobi simply did not have it. Toru thought about his own exams, it was in question whether he had those traits before. There was a sense of cockiness he recalled but he knew better, to an extent... Now. Slower, more even, and measured in each step he took as a leader.

"Similarily with Kazu-san," He returned the favor of the compliment. "I'll be returning to my seat now, I sense my guard is getting nervous from my mingling," Toru commented glancing over his shoulder towards the dark-haired fuuin specialist before he gave a small nod to Masahiko, acknowledged Lady Yuki one last time before turning and walking out.

[exit]

OWL