The Heat of Battle

[Masami Saito]

This sudden development still had Masami puzzled, and as he looked on with disdain over the state of his clone's battle with Mizuki, he couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted as well. For the longest time, he'd prided himself on cold, direct efficiency. He didn't kill, he merely generated death wherever he went; at least, that's how it had always seemed to him. “Kill” was too strong a word, emotionally. He couldn't say that he had in many, many years actually felt for one of his many victims. However, here a part of his own being stood, unable to even act in aggression against a small Genin girl. Certainly, recently a part of him began to develop regrets when it came to his past, but this small factor in the overall equation couldn't stop him in such a way. Looking off to the side, Masami checked on his clone's battle with Shouten, as the boy seemed to be deploying yet another somewhat unconventional technique, possibly in the hopes of distracting his opponent and gaining the upper hand for a counter attack, if only for a moment. Smart; Masami couldn't help but admit that having blood from the Li clan flowing through his veins must have granted the boy some skill. Turning to the fight with Daisuke, he saw that the boy was attempting to attack directly with two kunai. Masami felt sure that even an academy graduate, barely a Genin, had to recognize the terribly small liklihood that such an attack would be successful. Perhaps the boy had something else up his sleeve.

Yet still, looking back to the fight that most interested him at this moment, his lesser counterpart still stood examining the situation. Shaking his head and gritting his teeth in frustration with what he could only describe as an ineptitude that he had repressed through years of training, Masami decided that enough was enough. He was not quite ready to unleash the demon he kept caged within him, however, he could not allow such a mockery of his own image to go on. Dispersing his clones, he watched as all three of them dissolved into water right before their opponent. Daisuke may have been lucky, as the clone dissolved just as he swung to harm it with his second kunai. Masami would not pretend to understand or know exactly what his clones would do anymore, and the thought that such things were out of his control worried him. Thus, he knew that the only thing he could count on in the moment was himself. While this wasn't a matter of life or death, these children had to be properly tested, and he had a reputation to uphold. And so he stepped out into the midst of the three children, his face as blank as ever, yet his mind racing and his thoughts disconcerting.

”While I have no desire to cut your battles short, I think perhaps it is necessary that you get a feel for working with one another. While individual strength and willpower is truly the most important when it comes to looking out for oneself, you will occasionally be forced to bear the burden of a teammate. The result of this battle will determine whom I look upon as the true talent in this group, and who is merely along for the ride. Should I find none of you satisfactory, the consequence will be grave.” Finishing his rather matter-of-fact exposition, Masami glared at the three of them, a look bordering on hate lingering in his eyes. ”I will allow you the first move.”

If there was no other way to weed out those who are not worthy to be true shinobi, then Saito would crush the spirits of the unworthy. Those who are strong would pull through this confrontation, and those who are weak would falter and wither like the pathetic weaklings they were. The bell still hung from Masami's attire, its ringing a constant reminder of the stakes that these children were facing in this battle.

[Admin]

Shouten's face fell. He was infuriated now. He had exhausted all of his energy in the solo half of the test without even considering a teamwork section. He looked uneasily at Mizuki and Daisuke. Surely they would remember the fireballs aimed at them. Still, Shouten's leadership qualities took over. He needed to quickly attempt to lead the team lest they collapse into chaos.

"Hey guys! I know you don't wanna take orders from me or anything, so I'm not ordering you. However, I have a plan. Masami-sensei tends to use wind techniques less than water by far. That must mean that water is his main manipulation."

Shouten was speaking as quietly as possible. He was also attempting to put as much space as possible between him and Masami. He was also partly lying. He didn't have a plan, he was thinking on his feet and hoping it came out as a coherent plan.

"I utilize fire techniques which are obviously ineffective against water, but very good against wind. Thus, I don't wanna make you two seem like scapegoats, but I'm low on chakra. My plan is to have you two engage him first by long range so I can help you with shuriken. Daisuke, if you could recreate that lightning jutsu from before that would be amazing. Mizuki....uh, do whatever. Hopefully that should be enough to provoke him into using another water technique. If so, good, fuck his chakra. If not, good, I'll use some fire. If he doesn't, engage him in close range taijutsu. I need all the time I can get so I can produce my biggest fireball. Is that alright with you guys?"

Regardless of their answers Shouten was already daydreaming that they had agreed. That everything had gone perfectly. That Shouten stood as the leader of the greatest team in Sunagakure. That Masami Saito would lose to the prowess of three Genin.

[walkerm]

Already disorientated, the dissipation of Masami-sensei's water clone threw her for a loop. She looked around, wondering what was up, and when she saw but one Masami, the young girl made the simple logical assumption that the clones had been recalled.

"H-hey," she called out weakly, the exclamation more an acknowledgement of the clone's leaving than any real attempt to seek attention; it lacked any heat, and could easily be disregarded.

What was not so easily disregarded, was the fact that her sensei - the real one, not a clone - had stepped out into the middle of the imaginary triangle formed by the three children.

Well, shit.

The older man address the three, and Mizuki found herself staring at his face. He looked pissed, and he made sure to impart this particular bit of emotion to all three of his charges.

Rattled by her ineffectiveness of before, Mizuki made a point of glaring back at him.

Off to the side, someone shouted, and Mizuki swiveled her head to look over at where the noise was coming from.

It took her a moment to recognize that it was Shouten that shouted, and before her brain had completely caught up with what her ears were catching, the girl wondered what Shouten thought he was doing, talking about his plans when Masami could hear them. Hell, Masami was closer to Shouten than even Mizuki or Daisuke were!

Dreamer...

The girl looked over at the other boy on her team, wondering what he was up to. Same thing as she and Shouten, it seemed; standing off to the side, looking at Masami-sama.

Mizuki gave it but a moment's thought, and then she decided, what the hell. Why not. It wasn't like she had any grand, brilliant ideas, and if Daisuke did, he sure wasn't sharing.

That decided, she made her move. Where Daisuke and Shouten both possessed actual elemental techniques, she had but the most basic of graduational abilities, as well as her taijutsu and weaponry. Where they could attack from afar, Mizuki would have to close in. Which may have been just as well. If she could distract the man whilst they prepared, they might actually be able to pull off a hit!

Reinvigorated with this line of thought, the genin drew another of her kunai and darted forward, her movements sluggish at first though they picked up speed as she loosened up again.

[Daisuke Hizuhiro]

Daisuke was mid-swing against the water clone of Masami's when the intended target suddenly dispersed into the water from whence it came. With all of his weight thrown off from the swing connecting with nothing, it took a moment for daisuke to regain his composure. Once he was back in his defensive stance, Masami was appearing before them, apparently to challenge the formerly divided but currently allied team.

Daisuke still had both kunai in his hands, and it appeared Masami put himself in a situation where he would be surrounded by the genin. A handicap perhaps? Regardless, the odds seemed to be in the favor of the three. Before another thought could cross Daisuke's mind, he heard Shouten attempting to strategize vocally when it was clear Masami could hear. Either this Shouten Li was very smart and attempting to use some sort of diversionary tactic by letting the enemy know a false plan, or he was very stupid to let his plans be so easily heard.

Either way, his assessment of the elemental advantages were accurate, after all, they had seen wind and water jutsu from the jounin, and between Shouten and Daisuke, they had the correct advantages. The young genin sincerely hoped that the Li boy would have more chakra available, but at the sound if it he only had one more good shot in him, and the same could be said about the young lightning-user. If they ever had a shot, it was now, and it was not going to come again.

Just as he had a plan formulated, he noticed the girl, Mizuki, charge forward with newfound confidence. Perfect! Shouting to young Shouten, "Follow my lead!", he charged forward, performing the handsign for the Transformation Jutsu, and in a cloud of smoke, he suddenly looked the spitting image of Mizuki, and only moments later a smoke bomb was thrown from Daisuke's hands toward the center of the fray, hoping to cause enough commotion to give Shouten time to transform into Mizuki as well. Hopefully he had understood. Once the smoke clears, Masami-sensei wont know which genin is which, and since any genin could be the lightning or fire user, he wont know which jutsu he's safe to use, leaving him at a disadvantage. Just hope it works...

[Masami Saito]

As he gazed over the somewhat rag-tag group of Genin in front of him, Masami couldn't help but feel as if this moment were comical in some way. Here was a boy, Shouten of the Li Clan, who was so clearly and hopefully attempting to take control of the situation by laying out something of a plan for the rest of his group. However, in doing so, he had merely assured that Masami would understand and be able to counter action they performed. Masami noted that Shouten's analysis had focused on their elemental Ninjutsu, and it seemed as though the young boy had assume this was the only way in which he could harm them. Smirking ever so slightly at the notion, Masami decided that he would punish this boy's hubris in the most effective manner possible. However, as he'd decided on a (rather obvious) course of action, the young girl named Mizuki has charged forward, hoping to engage him in a bout of Taijutsu. This would be considered an even more ineffective maneuver, as both his speed and strength were far and away superior to the three in front of him. He had to hand it to the girl, however; there was something to be said for attempting to take the initiative, and correct mistakes others had made. Shouten had stated his thoughts out loud, and to make up for this misstep his companion had attempted to act quickly before Masami had time to completely take in his words.

Pausing mid-thought for a moment, Masami couldn't understand his sudden shift in disposition when it came to these three children. While he certainly did not see them as much more than a liability, had a compliment really just crossed his mind in regards to who he had considered the weakest of the group from the get-go? Deciding that he did not have the patience to entertain such thoughts any longer, he figured he would act on what he had observed. Daisuke had thrown up something of a dust cloud in an attempt to confuse him, and as the cloud cleared he found that Daisuke had used transformation jutsu to become the near-perfect doppelganger of Mizuki. Shouten, on the other hand, did not appear to have enough energy remaining to perform such a jutsu, and was left out of the plan. This was the result of a team in which individuals did not hold power of their own. Had they each been strong, they would have had enough power to successfully pull off this plan. Although they might not have had a very close bond, in the end all three might have lived, if only for the cleverness of their actions. However, in the end, they had failed him. And as he had said before, failure in his assessments almost inevitably leads to death.

Quick as a flash, Masami sprang forward. His speed putting that of the three Genin to shame, it wasn't exactly a difficult matter to outmaneuver them and score a few key blows. While Daisuke's plan definitely held water when considering only elemental Ninjutsu, one cannot underestimate any opponent, especially one that outmatches you as completely as in this instance. Masami was able to use only Taijutsu in his bid to take each of them out of commission. Though he could have spent an extra moment deducing which Mizuki was the real one based on the way in which they carried themselves and how they approached him in combat, in this particular situation it didn't really matter either which way. He caught the first of the two with a quick and devastating knee to the midsection, complete with the crumbling feeling of the wind getting knocked out of them. The second Mizuki (who just so happened to be Daisuke), was caught when Masami threw his guard to the side with one hand, and landed a powerful uppercut, sending him flying backward. Shouten was the last standing, and Masami caught him off guard with something of a feint attack, as he approached from the right but struck from the left, sending the youth to the ground. An unnecessarily extravagant move, perhaps, but an effective one nonetheless.

Turning from them and looking into the distance for a moment as they began to recover, he opened his mouth to once more solemnly speak. ”You underestimated the abilities of the typical Jounin. Not only that, but you believe you could go toe to toe with a warrior you know to be one of the finest of our village. For your arrogance, and your own presumptuousness, you will be punished accordingly.” Closing his eyes for a moment to gather himself, and inhaling before turning, he saw that the young girl had struggled to her feet, being that she was the first impacted. He'd planned to at the very least deliver a beat down to the youths that would be unlike any they have experienced. However, as he gazed into the young girl's eyes, Masami couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity between the two of them. He gazed at her, his expression unchanging and yet his mind racing to find the reason for this feeling, and it was not long before he found the source of this sense. In front of him, he suddenly saw all the promise that his youth had held for him; of life, happiness, satisfaction...perhaps even love, or family? He then witnessed all of these things ripped from him by his own arrogance and hatred. Turning suddenly, visibly shaken by what he had seen in his inner-mind, he looked away once more to avoid letting the three see his face in its moment of weakness.

In that moment, he knew that he could not go forward with what he had planned for the three of them. In fact, it was all he could do to remain rooted in that spot. It had been a very long time since Masami had felt the need to flee; that sort of animal instinct that causes your adrenaline to surge and your heart to pound like a jackhammer. However, when faced with the demons of his past, he felt more afraid than at any point in his career as a decorated shinobi. He needed to leave, as quickly as possible and with no explanation. Dropping what water he had on his person to the ground, he spoke in a soft voice while still attempting to sound stern.

”You pass. Find your way back.”

And with that, he was gone. Racing away from that point, and leaving the three of them behind. Running from his past, and from the monster he knew he had always been.

THREAD END