[Uzumaki Atagi]

The usefulness of the cup is in its emptiness

Despite the playful jab about his intelligence, Atagi appreciated Sho’s straightforwardness– taking it so personally when they had the sort of friendship and rapport to verbally jab at one another would’ve been silly, even anathema to his person. Atagi considered himself hard-nosed enough, sure, but he’d never want to end up on the other side of a pragmatism competition with Sho as his opponent.

They’re squared and sizing each other up again, the situation having been set back to ‘neutral’, with neither of them having the upper hand. Atagi’s grin manages to widen, for what seemed like the twelfth time today. ”I can’t beat you when it comes to brains, Sho! You’ve got me there, certainly.” He starts to circle the good doctor, eyes fixated on him, the distance carefully maintained like they were bound by ropes at the waist that were as taut a they could be. ”Perhaps the ends don’t always justify the means? Even for the hero.” he remarks, something that was painfully obvious to most people, apparently only just realized. Perhaps that simple reminder would later save Atagi, in spirit or otherwise. "Leave it t’you to effortlessly perceive a shadow cast by my effervescence, bahaha!” That seemed like a compliment– good natured, at the very least.

In the here and now, though; there were much more pressing concerns than philosophy and introspection. They were here to sharpen the Yamamoto's reactions. It seemed like he’d been getting better and better through their spat at spotting what Atagi was doing and then executing the proper response…but it was hard to tell. There was a way to test it, though, wasn’t there?

Atagi’s body shifts, ceasing the circling motion to instead dart for Shosuke, again. No tricks, this time, just as he’d ask, aside from Atagi’s continued usage of the Rush Stance and his natural physical aptitude. Compared to sudden changes in direction or surprise shots, the fact that the Uzumaki was headed straight for him might’ve actually been more unexpected.

He stops in front of Sho, jumping shortly and then launching into a frontflip turned axe-kick, aiming to strike the doctor’s upper body with the back of his heel; of course, just in case it does manage to land dead on, Atagi hasn’t thrown enough force or weight into it to break bones or anything, save for some sort of horrendous accident. If the Kumo-nin manages that, and the redhead already believes he will, then the Uzumaki would stick the landing and aim a jab to the chest, as a follow-up.


(Yamamoto Shosuke)

aeron at thq

Jutsu/SA’s:

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Rasshusutansu [Rush Stance]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low [Very Low to maintain]
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Fuuton
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:
This stance requires the user to use fuuton to generate a small current of wind around the body that is condensed into a visible form around the hands and feet. Activating this stance allows the user to increase the speed of their strikes and attacks, specifically for this style.