[Sourei Kobashi]

Standing with his arms loosely clasped behind his back and his face tiled slightly towards the sky, Kobashi found himself simply enjoying the peace he found within the nature that surrounded him and the warmth of the sun's rays upon his skin. While there was still a fair amount of mist here and there, a good chunk of it had been burned away by the sun's warmth which helped to reveal the beauty of the woods which surrounded him. Sadly the peace would not last too much longer, as the designated time he was to meet with Toru was rapidly approaching.

He had been surprised when the Mizukage had requested his assistance in training and could not entirely fathom why he had been specifically selected, only able to speculate that their mission together some time ago had left a favorable impression on the young ruler. At the very least, he hoped the Mizukage's statement that his abilities were needed for the training had been a truthful one; the small spark of paranoia in the back of his mind continuously cautioned him it might not be the case though. Regardless, all Kobashi could do was rise to the request as was expected of a subordinate and hope that the darker alternatives was truly just paranoia talking.

Idly, Kobashi's left hand moved from behind his back to run his thumb against the silver buckle holding the small cloak over his shoulders; the piece of metal holding the sealed Shibuki within it. He did not like making use of the blade for frivolous purposes, but he expected it would be needed for today's bout of training. Hopefully they would not destroy the natural beauty that surrounded them too much. . . although such was an entirely likely outcome.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

Toru had sent a request to Kobashi to train. It might have come off as a strange request, but there were few that he saw that could really challenge him in terms of combat. Kobashi, being part of the Sourei clan, was among them. No less, he had gotten some trust from Toru because he had done well on the mission they attended to together. These things together, had made Kobashi a good candidate to meet out on Crescent Lake - away from the village enough that they could terrorize the area without causing major destruction - to train.

The young leader appeared from the light mist and sunshine, mostly as a ghost. His step was naturally silent, but he knew Kobashi was already here because of his unique scent. Everyone had a unique scent signature and it was how he was able to tell if someone he knew was present or not.

"You're early." He greeted plainly, stepping up to Kobashi's side to face the lake and shining sun. The lake beautifully reflected that light, creating ripples of fractals along its surface. Moments like this really showed how gorgeous Mizu no Kuni was, something so many missed out on. Outsiders only saw them as some blood-thirsty barbarians, when they could not be further from this sort of classification.

"We should go to the deep end," Toru pointed out towards the darkest parts of the lake. If they were far out enough, they would not cause as much damage to the nature as opposed to just the water all around.

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

The Mizukage's arrival surprised Kobashi to an extent, the boy's steps utterly silent and Kobashi not currently using his one other method of detecting individuals. While his commander, Toru was indeed a boy to Kobashi who was into his thirties now. Standing there, he could remember when he had been Toru's age, also having been pushed into a position of command. He certainly empathized and did not envy where Toru found himself, hopefully the boy would come into his own, but in all honesty Kobashi more so hoped that if Toru died that his replacement would not be more problematic to his life.

The Mizukage noted that Kobashi was early, to which Kobashi gave no response. To him it seemed obvious that outside of situations which required precise timing, that arriving early was to him at least, arriving on time. Continuing to listen, Kobashi gave a nod of agreement when Toru suggested they go out towards the deeper part of the lake for their imminent confrontation. As they began their trek, Kobashi would finally speak.


"Are there any rules you would like in place before we begin? Besides the obvious of course."


While this was ultimately a spar, Toru had already made it clear to Kobashi when the request was made that they were supposed to try and push each others' limits in this fight. Admittedly Kobashi was a bit nervous, as his most devastating fighting style was difficult to control with any amount of precision; after all it was difficult to be exact when detonating explosives against an opponent who was likely equal in speed to him, if not a hair faster.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

Toru started to walk, he did not lead the two of them just walked quietly - one step behind or in front of at any given time - alongside Kobashi, one hand lazily resting against the hilt of one of his swords. He knew which one, but it did not really matter since he had no intention of drawing it yet, instead his index finger was rubbing the top of it the leather and wooden piece was soft and worn from all the years of use and from Toru's repeated rubbing of it. Not truly a tick, something he did in an idle state of mind.

"Let us do our best to not destroy the area entirely, or to destroy each other." Though based on what Toru knew of the Sourei and what Kobashi likely knew of Toru's abilities, the likelihood that they would destroy each other was fairly slim, at least in the true sense unless they went at each other with a killer's intent and Toru did not do this to allies even ones he most certainly loathed.

"I trust that you are not going to try and assassinate me in the middle of a friendly spar." He murmured, it was meant to be somewhat humorous. But Toru was not the best at humor and oftentimes his humor just came off as bland factual statement, or crude. Almost no one ever laughed at things he said. It was a work in progress, certainly.

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

Kobashi listened to the younger man attentively, nodding slightly at his statement of trying their best not to destroy the entire area. Given that they were going onto the water of the lake, it was very unlikely to occur at this point; although Kobashi was also a little disappointed at the terrain choice since it made using his enduring state a little trickier and deprived him of terrain which could have been used to his advantage.

In some ways though, the choice of where their battle would take place was a good one. Besides the reduced damaged caused to their surroundings, it did in a way make it more of a pure fight of skill between the two of them. Who knew, perhaps a fight without any interfering elements like use of terrain or bad luck of a tree falling one way rather than another would help one or both of them realize something important to fuel their improvements.

Admittedly Kobashi while somewhat nervous at some aspects of the fight, was also somewhat eager to start it. After all he had spent the last near-nine years stuck at jounin, seemingly unable to get past whatever block had settled in his development as a shinobi.

Toru's comment about trusting that Kobashi would not take the opportunity to try and assassinate the young mizukage however removed the eagerness for a moment. Kobashi's somewhat paranoia-prone mind quickly began to fly into a deluge of thoughts, wondering if this was some sort of further test of loyalty, if there was other shinobi nearby that were poised to murder him if it seemed that he planned to try and kill the mizukage or even if they were just going to kill him during the fight and write it off as an unfortunate training accident.

While his mind raced at incredible speeds, Kobashi's face remained as stoic as he could, the only tell-tale signs of his current suspicion being the slightest narrowing of his eyes, a faint frown at the corner of his mouth and an extended period without blinking while watching Toru.

Eventually however, Kobashi would finally nod towards Toru, as if to say it was a given he had no intention of doing so and in truth he had none. The young man had did nothing to him personally, had treated him with respect and hell; likely he was related to his beloved Sukiko in some distant manner. So long as Toru continued to not threaten his or his siblings' existences, then the second seat of the seven swordsmen would pose no threat to him.

Slowly Kobashi's hands moved to be behind his back, the swordsman offering a slight bow towards the Mizukage to signal he was ready to begin. Assuming that no indication was given that the fight needed to be delayed, then after a few moments Kobashi would suddenly shift into action. His hands immediately would whip forward, throwing two mild explosives forward. The first was a flash grenade thrown directly towards Toru while the second was smoke bomb, thrown high to hopefully allow the smoke to expand before the actual source fell into the water below.

As soon as that occurred, Kobashi's right hand would reach back towards the ninjato at his waist, not quite ready to pull out the Shibuki and instead wanting to get a feel for his opponent. Drawing the ninjato, it was Kobashi's plan to make use of the light and smoke to hopefully make it difficult for Toru to see which weapon he had drawn and keep the younger man on his back foot as to what he could expect from Kobashi. Taking steps forward across the water through use of the water walking technique, Kobashi would follow up the distraction with *Rising Tide Fang. Kobashi's hope was that the attack would be unexpected since the shock wave would blow away the smoke cover he had just made.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

Toru paced a reasonable way away from Kobashi, thinking nothing of his own words. Nothing of the fact that Kobashi might have felt a sense of paranoia, prompted by those very words. There was no one around, other than Toru's bodyguards watching quietly at a distance. They would not be necessary, his life - he did not believe - was in any true danger. Toru's skin had become so tough at this point, that few things posed a true threat to him.

Toru did not even see Kobashi's nod as he walked away creating distance.

He turned eventually, a swordsman face-off several meters away from each other. Toru's hand changed its position, no longer blasé and limp against the handle, he twisted his wrist grabbing onto the hilt of the bone sword hanging on his belt, his fingers tensing, his posture slightly shifting.

The young Mizukage bowed his head in return to Kobashi, offering a signal and a sign of respect. The beginning of battle.

Kobashi struck out first, two explosives, a flash bang and a smoke bomb. The flash bang caused Toru to close his eyes immediately as a flinching reaction, the smoke bomb was overhead and its contents slowly descended downwards, but it would be more diluted by the time it reached the water.

Toru in his moment of vulnerability would utilize his scent tracking, but Kobashi did not seem to be getting closer. Then, something hit the Mizukage squarely in the mid-section. It hurt - a lot - and it knocked the boy back in an impressive shockwave, he flew back.

Managing to just barely re-orient himself in the air to land on two feet, drawing upon his sword immediately then, he shot forward past the source of where the smoke had been towards Kobashi. He ran, and then used two wide steps to leap into the air to strike Kobashi from overhead, mostly trying to force the swordsman to defend, while Toru reached out towards Kobashi with his non-dominant, left hand to grab him by the wrist - like a touch of the palm - for seemingly no reason.

If he was successful, Kobashi would find something left over on his wrist - coral.

OWL

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Sangoshō no Jutsu [Coral Reef Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
ELEMENT: Coral
HANDSEALS: n/a
REQUIREMENT: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
DESCRIPTION:
Chakra is focused to a certain part of the body, usually the palms or fists. Once the powerful blow is delivered to the target, coral begins to grow from the point of contact. The coral is durable, heavy, and hard to break.

The rank determines the durability and rate of which the coral grows.

At C-Rank the coral is difficult to break with simple punches, but a powerful enough shinobi can manage it fully. The coral grows to cover an entire limb before the growth expires - takes three rotations.

[Sourei Kobashi]

While it seemed his plan to make Toru believe he was going to use the flash and smoke to advance, then upturn the assumption with the ranged shock wave had worked; the speed at which Toru recovered and launched his own counter attack definitely surprised Kobashi. The boy's raw speed was easily a match for his own with the only saving grace being the seemingly slight difference in experience given he made a jumping attack. Leaving the ground was general a cardinal sin of sorts for a swordsman, but Kobashi had to assume that there was some reason he was confident enough to do something most would consider a mistake.

Kobashi raised his ninjato, placing the back of it across his other hand, apparently preparing to catch the Mizukage's attack straight on with a block. However, the truth was not what it seemed. Kobashi rarely fought so straight forward, at least when he could freely use his abilities. The moment that the Mizukage's sword met Kobashi's and Toru's hand tried to grab hold of his wrist, they both simply moved through Kobashi as if he were a ghost upon the lake.

With his bloodline ability activated, Kobashi had lowered his density to the point where he came incorporeal, and once he had given yet another ruse, Kobashi took a step through Toru and once he was cleared of the boy would instantly solidify and make use of the *Quick Rotation technique, followed by an immediate use of the *Multiplying Thrust further made deadly by the go to *Sabre Technique.

In all honestly, Kobashi was unsure if any of the attacks would get through Toru's defense, given how little the earlier attack seemed to injure him, but he still wanted to stretch his skills as a swordsman before needing to rely on the Shibuki, although it was quickly looking like it would be the only method he had to truly injure his opponent.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

It was frustrating, the leap was meant as a distraction, to force Kobashi to defend an entire weights worth - which would normally require two hands - of a person while Toru touched to get what he wanted. But alas, his hand phased right through the other jounin, and soon enough the momentum of his leap would continue as his body would move through Kobashi, or the other way around. He landed with a roll, sweeping up to turn using Quick Rotation as well, to face the onslaught.

He knew the technique well enough, knew it, and had seen the other be used on multiple occasions. Toru could not immediately defend, but he did manage a few flicks of the sword to deflect some of the oncoming chakra and stabs. Still, his skin did not seem to take much damage at all, though each strike he felt the pain as anyone might, his breathing intensifying before finally he made the decision to leap off to the side, using one of the stabs as a point to bounce off of to help create momentum.

Out of general harms way *now* Toru let out one breath through his nose, staring at Kobashi as he weaved hand seals springing up ten shuriken from the water to send flying at Kobashi's side, though, being a bit of a dirty fighter, Toru would Body Flicker to the other side of Kobashi once again his hand reaching out to grab at the man's wrist as before.

OWL

SPOILER: Click to show

Quick Rotation

NAME: Suiton: Mizu Shuriken [Water Release: Water Shuriken]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu, Shurikenjutsu
ELEMENT:
DESCRIPTION:
The user creates 10 shuriken, made out of water, and throws them at the opponent in quick succession. These water shuriken have the same cutting power as their metal counterparts.

Body Flicker

NAME: Sangoshō no Jutsu [Coral Reef Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
ELEMENT: Coral
HANDSEALS: n/a
REQUIREMENT: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
DESCRIPTION:
Chakra is focused to a certain part of the body, usually the palms or fists. Once the powerful blow is delivered to the target, coral begins to grow from the point of contact. The coral is durable, heavy, and hard to break.

The rank determines the durability and rate of which the coral grows.

At C-Rank the coral is difficult to break with simple punches, but a powerful enough shinobi can manage it fully. The coral grows to cover an entire limb before the growth expires - takes three rotations.

[Sourei Kobashi]

As the multitude of thrusts was delivered by Kobashi towards Toru, once again the younger man's skin seemed harder than steel; even with the chakra enhanced blade Kobashi seemed to be doing more damage from just the kinetic force imparted from the strikes rather than the blade actually drawing any blood. Still, damage was damage and it was obvious that this fight would be one of attrition.

Unfortunately Toru managed to use the power behind Kobashi's own attack to aid in his moving away where the Mizukage immediately rendered handseals to launch a hail of water shuriken towards Kobashi. For half a moment Kobashi considered trying to simply knock them away with a shockwave like he had attacked Toru with earlier, but then the young Mizukage disappeared from sight. In a split second Kobashi made the decision to stop using the Water Walking technique and simply allowed himself to plunge down and into the water beneath him, narrowly avoiding a grab from Toru.

It had definitely been a smart plan on Toru's part and normally one others could not replicate without risking injury from their own water shuriken. Toru though likely had no such fears given the sheer resilience of his skin. Under the water Kobashi was in a tricky position, his maneuverability was now much more limited, his senses were dulled to various extents and worst of all he had no footing which made kenjutsu more problematic to use.

As he sunk down into the water, Kobashi quickly sheathed his ninjato in the blink of an eye and rendered three handseals while doing his best to swim using only his feet. Above him the air quickly began to fill with a heavy mist, due to his use of the *Hidden Mist technique. At this point Kobashi could only hope that the low visibility would prevent Toru from seeing him and the water he was submerged in would cover his scent enough to make distance and regain his footing some distance away.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

It was a narrow miss, one that led to more frustration on Toru's part. Though not frustration that he aired out into the world. He didn't have the time, he had to prepare his next move. This was combat, and he had to let his mind and instincts lead instead of any emotions that would crop up - and it was inevitable, emotions would always crop up. But Toru was a master of sealing them away.

The shuriken smacked him, but turned to water soon after. They were only as hard as iron. So it did not really do anything to his flesh as it would have to someone else.

Toru could not track Kobashi underwater, he couldn't smell him down there. His trail ended at his feet where he had disappeared. But, slowly the world around started to conceal itself. Fog. Another something he knew all too well. He still could not pick up on a scent from Kobashi - not until he showed up some ways away - but he was still very much out of sight.

The Mizukage remained silent though he did let out a soft exhale, sword still in hand he started to *slowly* wander across the still water towards where he presumed Kobashi had surfaced, following the scent, expecting it to get stronger as he got closer.

Still, he could not see. But Toru loved this technique, he felt right at home and he was glad that he had been the one to cast it to use up chakra. He saw opportunity to do more now.

So his right hand went through five seals and he disappeared from sight.

OWL

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu [Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: If applicable.
HANDSEALS: 5
REQUIREMENT: Kirigakure Shinobi Only | Kirigakure no Jutsu [Hidden Mist Technique] or Advanced variation | Mizugakure no Jutsu [Water Release: Hiding in Water Technique]
DESCRIPTION:
Similiarly to the hiding in water technique the user becomes the vapor all around them, effectively disappearing into the mist entirely. However, unlike the hiding in water technique, the user does not have to remain still as the fogs nature is mobile. This utilizes the Kirigakure shinobi's full deadliness, allowing them to get in close and assassinate in silence. However, being attacked, hit or have any significant physical pressure applied the user will immediately become visible. For this technique to work, there must be rather heavy mist already present in the area, or the user must cast either the hidden mist or advanced hidden mist technique.

[Sourei Kobashi]

Swimming under the water, Kobashi continued to move away from the area now filled with mist. As he made his swim, Kobashi rendered the necessary handseals for the *Water Clone technique, two apparent copies of himself appearing within the water as well.

With the clones created, Kobashi moved up to the surface and breached up into fresh air once again, slowly taking a breath in to fill his lungs. In short order he clambered above the water, using the Water Walking technique once more to procure adequate footing for himself while the clones did the same. Taking a moment after reaching the surface, Kobashi opened on of his satchels and handed both of the clones a few explosive notes.


"Stay to the edges of the mist and make a bit of noise. Try not to be too obvious. Signal me if he gets close."


The words came out as a whisper and the clones immediately moved to obey his orders. The two having draw their replicas of Kobashi's ninjato. They were meant to be one part distraction and one part suicide bomber. The remainder of the explosive notes he carried that were not on the Shibuki, he took out and wrapped them around some senbon. These Kobashi began to throw more towards the center of the mist he had made earlier. He doubted a single explosive tag would be too much damage to Toru, but if he could at least push the younger man out from the center and towards one of the clones then their explosive packages might have been able to do a bit more.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

Toru saw the senbon cut through the mist - as it was majorly disturbing it - from a nearby direction. Not wanting to take another hit from something so explosive - even if it wouldn't really do much to him in this instance - he drew upon what he had learned how to drop upon rather well, an explosion for an explosion. A shroud with a tail. Though this also pulled him fully out of his hiding spot, the tail colliding with the senbon, meant to send it back at a distance. Though that also meant giving away his potential position, he did not care too much. The explosion mitigated, though also perhaps disturbing where Kobashi was to some extent.

Then, he withdrew his tail, returning it to just where he was, taking off in the direction of where the senbon had come from, his speed in this form was something to be impressed by - if his speed was not already impressive - and he was burning up the mist all around him with the boiling hot shroud that surrounded him increasing his durability substantially despite his already seemingly impervious skin.

Some might say that he relied on this form too much, Toru would not agree... Why else pick people to train with? He needed to know how to use it well, when the real battles came.

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

What followed Kobashi's attack could only be described as utter chaos, at least with what Kobashi had envisioned happening. While some of his senbon would detonate in the mist, a few seemed to be immediately redirected towards his general position. These Kobashi was forced to render a handseal to detonate as they flew back towards him to prevent being at risk from them. Through the ball of fire and smoke however, the horrific visage of Jinchuuriki in shroud mode quickly filled his eyes.

Unbeknownst, or perhaps forgotten by Kobashi in the moment; his two water clones chased after the Jinchuuriki and played the role they were given of suicide bombers, detonating on Toru's backside which unfortunately was likely to only propel Toru forward even faster.

With little option of escape, Kobashi did the only thing he could; he channeled his chakra to activate the enduring aspect of his bloodline, mere moments before the boiling shroud of Toru made contact. The ensuing crash resounded with a large boom as the speeding mass of chakra collided with the atomically inseparable Kobashi, the force of which sent the extremely heavy Kobashi hurtling backwards end over end and down into the water with a large spray of water being left in his wake.

Below the waves, Kobashi's mind raced, trying to think of some way to deal with the enemy before him. Realistically he had two methods. Either to use the Bisection technique or to pull out the Shibuki. Kobashi opted to do the later of the two, his hand reaching to the belt buckle across his torso where the Shibuki instantly release into his hand through the use of the*Flash Blade Creation. Immediately Kobashi swam upwards with his plan to detonate a large chunk (1/4) of the explosive tags on this particular roll for the Shibuki as soon as he managed to get within five feet of the shrouded Mizukage. The explosion was likely to be quite the display of firepower and for the average shinobi would have surely been a seevere injury or death. For Toru however, Kobashi imagined it would do little other than send the young man flying for a time at best.

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[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi

The clones arriving was an unexpected piece to the puzzle as water clones - being made out of water - did not have a particularly signature scent to them unlike shadow clones that were almost total replications of their original, scent signature and all. Either way, the suicide bomber tactic worked - to an extent - and Toru was sent absolutely catapulting towards Kobashi.

The intense explosion that occurred when the two crashed was impeccable and spread the water all around, and parted some of the mist that was meant to conceal them. Toru's shroud boiled up any water that touched it with violent hissing. Kobashi flew like a statue until he sunk into the lake. Toru on the other hand, well his flight had concluded awkwardly upon collision, he basically fell into the water, held up by his water walking technique as he slowly rose from being face down in the lake as if he had faceplanted against an impenetrable wall.

A soft groan left him, not usually one to denote his discomfort, but in this case it was *quite* uncomfortable. He was up on two feet in due time, even if his brain was majorly rattled after the collision.

As he stood and regained his footing a bubbling appeared beneath his feet that he did not anticipate, but who would? The explosion that proceeded was enough to disturb the water beneath into a huge chaotic pillar and it sent Toru up into the air haphazardly. At some point he was well beyond the summoned mist, and even more than that he found himself for a moment touching the lowest clouds in the sky. It was freezing here, but his shroud was keeping him - unsurprisingly - warm. His lungs however did feel particularly at odds with him as there was almost no oxygen here.

Not one to be put down easily, he tried to use his strange moment of suspension to redirect himself legs first curling into a bit of a ball - a cannon ball - as he used the momentum of his fall downward to try and aim into the spot where he had flown up from meaning to blow Kobashi out of the water in return. A mini-meteor strategy.

In the village? There was probably no small amount of explosive sounds and rumbling from the distance, huge arcs of rainbows appearing and the earth shaking ever so slightly.

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

For the first several seconds it seemed as if Kobashi's plan had worked flawlessly. With it appearing entirely unlikely that he could actually injure Toru significantly, his next best option was to knock Toru as far away as possible and hopefully keep him wasting energy having to charge him again. . . at least, that would have been feasible if Toru was not being aided by gravity. After several moments the rule of what goes up must come down came into effect, with the Jinchuuriki splashing down several feet from Kobashi and the ensuing tidal explosion launching the Sourei up and out of the water himself.

Flipping through the air end over end, Kobashi did his best to try and correct his trajectory, but without any much to help him do so, he remained in something of a spin. Placing the sword directly in front of him, he was forced to try and detonate a small number of explosive tags while increasing his density immediately to keep from blowing himself up. The force of the explosion served as something of a counter force and helped ensure his dense form did not get buried deep into the shallow mud he landed in on the shore line.

That being said, given his desire to not overuse the dense state out of a wish to avoid the reset time as much as possible, Kobashi still came out of it part of the way through his roll. His Waruichi silk attire kept the random rocks and sticks stuck in the mud from cutting his body, but the force of the impact definitely took the air out of his lungs and left his body heavily bruised.

Gritting his teeth, Kobashi pushed himself up from the shallow water. His previously white garb was now more brown than white and of course absolutely soaked from his multiple submersions within the water. With as much steadiness as he could muster, Kobashi was turning back towards Toru who was likely recovering as well.

With none of his attacks getting through, Kobashi was in a rough spot. Either he could keep using the Shibuki to try and barrage Toru with blasts and hope one of the concussive blasts managed to convey enough kinetic force through the Jinchuuriki's armor to at best give him a concussion or some internal damage or he could burn a large amount of his chakra in an attempt to actually break through the shell.

Raising the Shibuki far above his head, Kobashi readied himself for his opponent. He decided his response would depend on what Toru decided to do. If the Jinchuuriki came at him erratically then he would wait for him to close the distance and detonate the remainder of the roll on the Shibuki to launch him far away. If the Mizukage came at him straight on as before then he planned to make use of the *Bisection technique. While he would not have typically risked using it in a spar, given the durability Toru had already shown, Kobashi somewhat doubted that even it would be able to get through much of the armor, but maybe, just maybe it's focus on breaking defenses would allow him to at least manage some sort of cut on Toru.

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