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Hotarubi did note as it happened the dexterity it must have taken for Bikuta to deliver a multitude of kicks while airborne, and before Hotarubi could offer an attack back. They would rein on his chest and surrounding areas. If he had a stomach, that was. He was not expending chakra at that point to be human enough and so it was just... the feeling of knocks, and not necessarily pain. Hotarubi tried (and failed) to grab at his legs, both arms wailing and grabbing thin air. 'God I need to train my Tai more.' As they happened. And he dropped: Hotarubi looked down, only to see the sudden attack collide, much before he could defend against it. Hotarubi wasn't far behind him, but still was not quick enough. The kick would knock Hotarubi into the air, and the colliding against the earth would give Bikuta some more sensory information. Hotarubi was heavy. And then Hotarubi was staring at the sky for a few seconds. A few seconds for Red to catch his breath. And then Hotarubi would come to a stand, undeterred and unperturbed by the ordeal. Zero reaction beyond coming to a stand, and back at it again. Hotarubi hoped the intentional few seconds would provide a mental fatigue to him since he seemed undefeatable. But Hotarubi was seeing this as a loss, if anything. Hotarubi would go and dive at him, aiming for another hammer punch, if it missed would collide against the wall they were near, and a crack would be all the more apparent by the removal of his hand.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

Alright, what the hell was this guy?

Each and every one of his attacks had landed, and with a thud much louder than he might have expected, Hotarubi hit the ground and once more rose unphased.

Quickly Red’s mind began to run, the gears turning to put everything he had witnessed together to finally form something of a conclusion about just who exactly he was fighting. The durability, the feeling as though his kicks impacted more along that of a bag of sand rather than a human torso, and that’s when the smirk came.

"You’re a founder.” Red stated plainly, his eyes connecting with Hotarubi’s. "A Yamakira. One of the false bodied.” And that’s when it all made sense. He didn’t know much about the Yamakira clan aside from what he could find in public records, but he knew each member underwent a procedure held secret to their clan that turned them into something else. What, exactly, he had no way of knowing, but it was seen time and time again that despite their appearance, the Yamakira were not human. Legend even told that before Takigakure was created, the Yamakira could transform their bodies into their true form, that of a black demon made of earth and darkness… Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Another deep breath would come to Red, slowly exhaling from his nose as he tried to wrap his head around what Hotarubi might have been capable of if he’d been more trained. For now, he was at least thankful that he was facing off against a clumsy ogre, more than the demon his people were often referred to.

Even with the answer now firm in his mind, Red would do nothing to hold himself back. He would prove that you didn’t need a special bloodline or a famous clan to be strong and achieve greatness.

Now that Hotarubi was up and Red had been given a small moment to breath, he would once more launch himself at his opponent, and it seemed Hotarubi had the same idea. Both moved straight on, headed right for one another, and once more thanks to his speed, Red was able to shift his body out of the way of the brutes attack, jumping over him as the pink-haired student’s hand went straight into the wall. He could hear the crack of stone from his opponents impact, but this was no time to dwell on such things. Once he hit the ground, Red would pivot, turning with a round house kick once again to Hotarubi’s head, hoping he might finally get something of a reaction.

^{FOR I AM THE WALL AGAINST WHICH DARKNESS BREAKS}

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Hotarubi had already said his name but Red was making connections. A false body? That was the first time he had heard that but, he was correct. Hotarubi didn't grin or smirk or smile this time: the secret was meant to remain secret. Bikuta was now managing to put some severity into his strikes knowing that Hotarubi was not so easy to hurt. The kick, would be like hitting a stone wall... because he was a stone wall. Unfortunately, this was a shinobi and not a civilian and stone walls were scarcely barriers to them. The attack missed and in tandem, he was hit. It would crack something in Hotarubi, displacing his head to one side. If it had been anyone else, Red could been sure that their neck would be broken. But time for Hotarubi to shine. Rather than being deterred, he used his arm to grapple the leg that hit him before it could be removed, and hadn't even turned back to face him yet but was already making moves. He would step back, without looking and tried a haphazard elbow with his opposite arm stepping into them. That elbow was hopefully intended on the sharp edge, one that would surely hurt. His head, lopsided would stare at Red in his eyes as it began to heal, affixing his head back into the correct place with a gravelly sound, of two rocks being churned against another.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

And just as he felt he had a moment to celebrate, it seemed Hotarubi would give him another cause for concern. Though his kick held significant power behind it, enough to dishevel his opponent, Hotarubi was still left standing. Not only that, but Red had left himself open for the academy student to grapple his leg and hold him in place.

Admittedly, it was hard not to feel at least slightly deflated fighting against someone like him. Red’s strongest point was his taijutsu, and Hotarubi was quite literally like fighting a pile of moving earth and stone.

Quickly, Red would try to take advantage of his opponent by wrapping his full body around the arm that grappled his leg, but despite being more proficient in Taijutsu, his grappling seemed to need some work against someone like this. Where normally his weight would easily throw an opponent off balance with such a maneuver, allowing him to take them both to the ground, Hotarubi would once again seem unphased.

Their eyes locked, and Hotarubi had a look as cold as stone behind his eyes. Red, however, would not break away from his gaze. His expression too was still locked in the void, forcing him to stay present and in the moment. That did mean, however, that he would feel every ounce of strength Hotarubi would place in the elbow that came striking down against him. He tried as best he could to cushion the blow, but he could not deny the sheer amount of heft behind the strike.

As Hotarubi pulled his arm back from his follow-through, his head seeming to pop itself back in place, Red would take the moment to drop his own elbow strike against the arm that grappled his leg. If successful, he would try to break away and again create a bit of distance between him and Hotarubi. A strong and heavy breath would fall from him as he made his attempt, beginning to feel the fatigue from their confrontation beginning to take its toll.

"Not just yet.” He muttered to himself.

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Hotarubi was satisfied to have hit something, knowing that his Taijutsu wasn't completely wrong. But it still needed to evolve because he could not - should not rely on his superior body. The Taijutsu training would only improve with time and he would not need to rely on his earthen body so much. 'Must evolve.' Hotarubi thought to himself: the earthen body was meant to be an addition, not his lifeblood. He would be good enough without it. His arm buckled a bit, giving Bikuta the breath needed to escape from his hold and Hotarubi insulted himself for not holding a firmer grip. This was the time to apply pressure and attempt to be fast: leaning into his calves and pushed forward with his arms up to deliver swifter but weaker strikes at Bikuta, keep him moving backward. That would be, into someone else walking by. "Watch it!" They'd say before Hotarubi could even start, but it did not deter him. Arguably yet, Hotarubi was getting mentally fatigued: made of rock? Yes. This was his normal form. Physically, he was very fine and happy to keep on going. It was the use of chakra which was always the killer on him but he hoped that would change in due course.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

Once more a deep breath would come to Red, trying all he could to keep himself focused. His mind began to branch out, clinging to the idea that his opponent was simply not human. However, he would also try to remind himself that this was a simple spar. Hotarubi was an ally at the end of the day, a member of his own village, and this exercise was meant for the both of them to grow. Despite who might be considered the winner of the fight itself, there would be no loser in his own eyes. This was all just practice for something greater.

There was a rekindled focus that came through the genin at that moment, confirming in himself that Hotarubi was the perfect partner for him to test what he was really capable of. Despite him only being an academy student, there was no denying the fact that Red’s biggest strength was Hotarubi’s greatest resistance. That in and of itself was something he quite liked, objectively speaking. In the moment, however, good lord did he hate it.

Doing his best to shrug off the mental fatigue, and ignore the aches that had begun to form in his body, Red tensed his muscles and once more entered a fighting stance.

Quickly, Hotarubi would kick off from the ground, barreling past a passerby and headed straight for him. Red’s arms would come together, doing his best to absorb the blows that came his way, but he could not stop the force that pushed him on his back foot. His arms came together, intercepting each of Hotarubi’s punches, and although he might have thought that the man was holding back, it would still feel like being hit with stones. The bludgeoning echoed through his forearms with each impact, forcing him to wince, as his mind began to think of a way out of this.

If he was going to win, Red would have to be a bit cheeky. He’d have to be abstract, and not simply rely on his speed alone like he usually could. His legs were still strong, despite his fatigue, so perhaps there still was a way out.

On the first opening he saw, Red would try to tuck past one of Hotarubi’s punches, rolling to the side and deliver a kick to the side of the man’s knee, followed by another to his thigh. Fingers crossed Hotarubi would actually react to this.

^{FOR I AM THE WALL AGAINST WHICH DARKNESS BREAKS}

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Hotarubi was definitely learning from actually having a live participant that wasn't his brother, and one that was not helpful by him being torn apart by his uncle. Mentally, Hotarubi was getting worked up and bothered, and it was beginning to show by the needless movements. They were now soldiers, he and Nageku. Fights got harder. Not easier. What it appeared that Bikuta was trying was testing out Hotarubi's defences, if he were lighter and less burly perhaps Hotarubi would not have even allowed that to happen. But instead, he was not and Bikuta was again successful at fighting the stone puppet that fought back. The kicks to his thigh did produce a good effect for him. So it did appear that Hotarubi's body did fall victim to some form of logic. That was, appropriate structuring. Architecture, as it were. While Hotarubi continued to not react, he found his architecture being compromised as that knee he had hit fell to the ground, and he would try and protect himself as to not allow Bikuta to continue any onslaught on him. He would try a swinging hammer fist, but that would be telegraphed once again and easy for him to swing out the way. Bikuta just needed to maintain his demolition and would be successful in felling Hotarubi again.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

So there was a limit to how much punishment Hotarubi could take. Or, at the very least, his body still seemed susceptible to the same pain points of a normal human.

With a small note of victory in his grasp, Red would see the inch and take every addition scrap he could manage. Once brought down to his knee, Hotarubi would make a haphazard attempt to either hit or grapple red once more, which specifically though, he couldn’t quite tell as he leaned himself back to avoid whatever it was the stone monster was trying. Red would continue his assault, aiming a third kick now once more to Hotarubi’s chin in hopes to topple him over.

Depending on how the stone demon would fall, Red gave himself two options, wanting to test just how human he actually was. If his kick would simply be absorbed, leaving Hotarubi more or less as he was, the genin would position himself for a grapple, using his speed and dexterity to try and wrap his leg around Hotarubi’s neck and bring him down to the ground. On the other hand, if his kick did, on the off chance, knock him to the ground, he would make a dive for a similar result, and buckle his knee pressed down to Hotarubi’s neck.

Either way, Red was hoping to force him into a choke, and make him tap out. At this point, Red’s own stamina was wearing down, and he needed to find a way to end this quickly, or be forced to submit himself.

‘Here goes nothin’,’ Red thought to himself, lining up his kick and made a go at his finishing blow.

^{FOR I AM THE WALL AGAINST WHICH DARKNESS BREAKS}

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It knocked him back and locked him down. 'Daft bastard.' Hotarubi thought to himself. There was no oxygen going through him: he could not be poisoned in this earthen form. He breathed because it was human to him and natural, as natural as one might walk. Ultimately at this stage Bikuta was just. Better trained and faster. But it made him impeccably more pleased about his superior body. But that it burdened him as well that it was a crux on him, that he would have lost twice, three times by now. Hotarubi would have both arms grab at Bikuta's calves. The conscious choice was made that his fingers would not, rock like - dig into and try to remove the Genin's calve muscles. But instead a sordid grapple, to dig in- the other, quite unfortunately: turned into an ass punch. Not too powerful, but enough to make the said man's tooshie tighten. Aiming for the two rocks. Hotarubi had yet learn to grapple properly, bu lord forgive the man who wrestled with him in the future.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

Despite Red’s tenacity and determination, his stamina was beginning to wear. Sweat was beading from his forehead and the grip he had over Hotarubi was now slipping. It was a pointless hold, anyway, quickly realizing as he tightened his leg into the grapple that his sparring partner did not seem to require oxygen in the same fashion that he himself did. Yet another point to whatever composition the Yamakira’s body was made from.

Small grunts escaped him as Red tried his best to stay in place and force his opponent to submit, the fatigue of their back and forth wearing him down little by little.

Hotarubi did not seem down just yet, however, as his hands wrapped around Red’s leg. His fingers clenched around his calf, forcing a wince to his face, and a small grunt from the pain that burned up his leg. The same leg Hotarubi had injured before. A slight reposition, Red’s resolve slipped further, before a hammered fist came straight to his rear, forcing him out of position.

"Dammit,” Red muttered to himself.

His leg slipped from around Hotarubi, but the space gave him enough room to try and kick himself from the fellow’s grasp.

Breaths huffed from Red as he managed his escape, and despite the burning feeling inside him to persevere and continue on, his body was near his limit. This was still a spar after all, and the micro-tears in his muscles sent another pulse of fatigue through his being. A deep breath came over him, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he panted afterward, falling to his hands and knees.

Red chuckled with the thought of defeat, but it was a lesson learned, to be certain. Hotarubi was already something of a monster, and he couldn’t wait to see what the man would be capable of with proper training in the years to come. "I think I gotta call it.” He said through his staggered breath, turning his gaze back to Hotarubi with a humble smile over his face.

^{FOR I AM THE WALL AGAINST WHICH DARKNESS BREAKS}

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Bikuta kicked out of his grasp, and Hotarubi didn't waste much time in starting to get up, but moving his weight was tricky. He readied his position to continue on at Red, but the match was called. He would stand up to full height, disengaging - walking over to offer a hand to help him up. "You would've beat me several times over." Hotarubi stated, using the opposite hand to wiping his face with his the inside of his palm. Bikuta would not be learning about any of his tricks from him. Not today, and not ever. He was perturbed. "I was pretty clear minded, I suppose." He shrugged, reverting back to what they'd spoken about. Hotarubi had done a lot of thinking, but his body was moving on its own and that pleased him. It was a shame that Bikuta had not been as ruthless as some of his own clansmen would have been, which would've tore him limb from limb and rendering him a useless sack of mud. But they knew how the bloodline worked and Bikuta did not. He had done well despite the disadvantage. His jaw would clench on one side as it ground against his "teeth" on the inside of his mouth. Hotarubi didn't like losing, but that seemed all it was going to be doing. "Same time next week, eh? Gya gya gya!" Hotarubi chuffed out with some hands on his sides, guffawing loudly. Hotarubi was still a Yamakira himself.

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I WILL BE YOUR LIGHT, YOUR BEACON OF HOPE

Now that he had stopped for a moment, Red's entire body began to ache. His muscles and tendons throbbed, he could feel the slow pulse of pain radiating through every zone of impact that Hotarubi landed against him. He was a tenacious fellow, for certain, and Red knew he could take a punch, but it felt a bit different when you were fighting someone composed of whatever the hell Hotarubi was.

Despite the feeling of soreness, Red was in quite high spirits, even offering a small chuckle to his pink haired peer.

"How about next month.” Red said with a bit of a laugh, and a slight groan from the pains over his body.

He'd eventually stand, though, visibly much more relaxed than he had been before their little spar, with a much less serious expression over his face. A full display of emotion, matter of fact, a broad grin stretching from ear to ear as he moved to offer Hotarubi a hand to his feet.

"Despite the pain, I feel a lot more relaxed than I did before. Funny how meditating almost made me feel stressed about trying to relieve stress... Sparing always seems to do the trick, though.” The genin said offering a friendly grin to his comarade, a deep breath flowing through him as he felt his body washed of nearly all mental tension. "Honestly, though, we can spar whenever you want. I'm eager to see where you're at once you get out of the academy. If I keep on training with someone like you, next time I end up fighting someone made of skin and bone I might only need to land one hit.” Red said with a chuckle.

^{FOR I AM THE WALL AGAINST WHICH DARKNESS BREAKS}

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He laid there thinking about his thoughts and how it had gone - not to his own liking. The opportunity was there and Hotarubi would take it: someone he could fight against and be challenged by. Hotarubi nodded as he spoke. "Sounds good. Maybe I'll be a proper opponent next time." Maybe he hadn't said it in all too specific terms but it did portray how Hotarubi was feeling at the situation, win or not - he felt like it was a loss on part of his lack of training. But, training was the only way to get better at it. So, he would. If he felt better about fighting, Hotarubi felt worse - only in complete domination he felt that he could be happy with the outcome of a fight. But, until next time. Only a light sigh would escape his chest. But he took the hand, and would use his own strength to help him to get to his feet as well. Otherwise, it might've been a nil point for Bikuta to try and help him up. "Hm. Yeah." That was a good assessment, "Ja ne." Hotarubi would be on his way then, perhaps now fuelled to go fight something that couldn't fight back and work on his Taijutsu than to laze around. He would neither confirm nor deny Red's statement, shrugging his shoulders in the mean time. It would not be difficult for him to find Bikuta Shinichi by name next time around, he would just need to ask around. [end]