Ashitaka v. Tamwyn [Battle of the Icons]

"Prince" Ashitaka Senju entered the arena from the southwest competitor's gate. Standing at a proud 5'3 and weighing in at a staggering 120-odd lbs, he cut a terrifying figure for anyone else around his age. Which was eleven years old. He was crowned with a mop of fluffy brown hair that seemed intent on remaining at stark odds with his serious personality and ever-darkening disposition. His attire consisted of a drab brown multilayered gi with dark green trim, boots, and belt. Uncharacteristically, he wore no weapons, only the heavy bracers which he'd claimed with the post of Senju Clan Head, which now felt much more like the shackles they resembled. The boy walked toward the center of the arena with the air of a condemned inmate facing the executioner's block; feeling as though his heart was on a chain linked to a collar by which he had to drag it along behind him.

Totally deaf to the exuberant roar of the spectating crowds, he waited for his opponent to arrive. He had been called here by some ancient command in his blood, but unlike when it first manifested in the hospital with Nyg-sensei, this time there was a semblance of a voice for him to hear and an illusion of a choice for him to make. Despite the fact that Kumo's own robes were hardly clean, let alone nearly so much as they seemed to think, it was pretty clear who was in the wrong here in the Sage's eyes. The idea that it was even enough in question to warrant being fought over like this was laughable, let alone the exact manner in which said fights were being executed. A stadium arena, of all things! This wasn't a sacred duel, it was a farce! And that only promised to further salt the wounds he was about to sustain here, and spat in the face of the very reason he'd come to lose on his country's behalf.

He wasn't sure if there was some cue he was supposed to wait for before he could ready weapons or bring jutsu to bear, so he made no aggressive or defensive signs as he steeled himself to encounter his opponent. He didn't even activate his Subharmonic Field, and given that he was staring at the ground, his opponent could sneak up on him if he wanted to. Ashitaka couldn't help but wonder why they went to such lengths to put on a show when the majority of Lightning techs he'd encountered and heard about (only half of which were in the manual) could simply end the fight in an instant, and would make for a pretty disappointing performance for any spectators present. This wasn't going to be a fight. He was just going to be hit once and die... if he was lucky, considering the current state his friends were in. Then again, given his own history with grievous wounds hadn't left a mark on him, he was much less likely to find the sweet relief of oblivion than they were.

Tamwyn entered the arena from the northeast gate of the arena, his opponent standing directly before him. The white hair man stood six feet tall and weighed in around 200 pounds. His piercing yellow eyes were the most striking thing about him and they took in the surroundings intently. He wore the armor Ryuko-sensei had made for him. It looked exactly like his regular clothing but were instead made of some of the strongest material he'd ever heard of. So the man wore a black dress shirt, with tie, a mantel that was trimmed in gold, black dress pants, black dress shoes, and his most defining article of clothing, a black bolero hat that rested upon his head. All the equipment, minus the tie, was of the high quality and it's durability was unlike anything he had ever seen except for perhaps Ryuko's own armor. He strode into the arena with his back straight, shoulders forward and a confident stride to his gait. He walked out to the cheers of tens of thousands, they wanted to see this. Wanted to see this fight occur and wanted to see blood. It was barbaric in Tamwyn's eyes and his yellow eyes flashed in annoyance as he let the feeling of being used for sport settle around him.

Before him stood a boy, he was almost a foot shorter than Tamwyn and the man grit his teeth in annoyance. He didn't like fighting children, didn't like what they had to go through at such a young age. To him it felt like a crime against humanity and images of the state that he had left that young girl from Konoha in flashed across his mind. He winced at the thought and what he hated the most about the situation was that he didn't even know the girl's name. He decided this time, this time that wouldn't be the case. He wouldn't go into combat with that boy, this child without at least knowing that. "My name is Tamwyn I have no last name, may I know your name?" He would ask, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Regardless of if the information was given Tamwyn would nod in acceptance before continuing. "I want you to know now, that I disdain this. I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to hurt anyone if I can help it. Can I convince you to back down?" He would ask, his desires open and clear. He did not want to fight this boy, did not want to use this as entertainment for people who enjoyed this kind of thing. However he wouldn't back down from this fight. He simply couldn't afford to, not after he had come so far in his own personal power for the sake of being prepared for it.

Tamwyn's sensory skill would go active, intent on learning all he could of the boy. He could plainly feel the elements of water and earth in him, and something else. However he couldn't clearly tell what that might be. A bloodline of some kind? When it was demonstrated he would be able to recognize it easily in the future. However until he did he would just have to keep in mind that he had something 'extra' up his sleeves that he could potentially bring out and surprise Tamwyn with. Tamwyn's own chakra was neutral, he wasn't making any threatening motions while he spoke. Provided Ashitaka didn't try anything of course. The Seraph of Lightning noted the distance between them, fifty meters, enough distance to speak to each other without having to completely yell across the arena. Despite not being threatening, that of course did not mean Tamwyn wasn't prepared to defend himself. He had a technique prepared and was ready to move at the slightest hint of a threat.

Ashitaka's eyes raised up to meet Tamwyn's, revealing that where once they were an ordinary brown like his clothes, they now also had a brilliant green rim around his irii that bled gently into the brown of the inner edges at odd intervals. Not being prone to looking at his own reflection, he was incidentally unaware of this change himself. In response to Tamwyn's activation of his Sensory abilities, the boy responded in kind. He learned, as he fully expected, that his opponent was a powerful Lightning user. Though, oddly, not one he had met previously. This man was, unlike the others, a pure user of the element. So much so, in fact, that there seemed to be another being within him that also embodied it. Great. This is going to hurt. A lot.

His gaze flickered all over the man's face and body as he spoke to him, watching to see if the offer of conversation was a ruse to get him to lower his absent guard. Not that he needed to move his eyes much to accomplish this, given where he stopped approaching before he started speaking. What he said surprised him as little as the element for which he was talented. Of course, just as the man couldn't possibly be a champion of the Land of Lightning without being a prominent Lightning user himself, neither could he be a proud Knight of Hakkin without that maddening self-righteousness that compelled the raitoningen to tell other people it was their own fault when they brought their boots down on their faces. That, of course, only made the necessity of how this must play out worse.

"My name is Ashitaka Inuzuka Senju." he replied with a formal bow, once again breaking character by introducing himself at the beginning of an encounter. "And don't insult me, please. I know you know that I wouldn't be here if I had a choice in the matter. I've been called here to see the will of my overrated ancestor done, and so I shall."

As he finished his response, he formed a few hand seals in extremely rapid succession and slowly spread his hands, level with his hips and palms facing Tamwyn. With a tiny surge of chakra, the wood of his bracers warped and flowed into his hands, then formed a pair of weapons: a katana in his right hand and a wakizashi in his left. A moment later, a wave of trees 5m wide and 75m tall erupted around them, all but muting the crowd as they filled an area nearly 150m in diameter. A slightly larger surge of chakra altered the nature of the weapons. The katana blackened and lost what little sheen it had as the stone coating it seemed to absorb all light that touched it. By contrast, the transparent coating of the wakizashi was almost blinding in the late morning sun. He moved into a stance that kept the shorter blade between them and the longer over his head, pointed at his opponent. His weight was evenly distributed on the balls of his feet.

"Okay look. We both know how this is going to turn out. I didn't come here expecting to win. But since you seem willing to talk, and I'm not especially eager to share the fates of my friends, I thought I'd buy us a little time."





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Stuff:

The boy's response was prompt and while he did introduce himself he seemed to be quite jaded for one so young. 'Is this the fate of child soldiers? To be so jaded? To be thrust before countless eyes and paraded around in a gladiatorial arena as if for sport?' Tamwyn had great difficulty accepting that as their reality and the idea of it made him sick to his stomach. Kids his age should be playing, or perhaps doing chores around the house for his family. Not walking the dark path of the shinobi. Not killing at the behest of others. Not watching comrades become injured and die. At the very best in Tamwyn's opinion that boy might be of age to start at the academy. But the pale haired shinobi's sensory told him more of the boy. His reserves were too large, too refined to be a student. The way he carried himself spoke of hard training to better himself. No, this 'Ashitaka' was not a student. What was his story? What had driven him to the path of shinobi? The man's yellow eyes watched the boy, warily, and analyzed him carefully.

When Ashitaka began performing seals Tamwyn would prepare a defense and counter attack but neither would appear to be necessary. The bracers on his arms transforming into weapons was certainly interesting but the wave of trees that grew around them, effectively fencing them in from the prying eyes of the crowd and muting them from and to the crowd was quite interesting. It was also extremely familiar. This was Wood Release, which meant this boy shared a similar power to that woman who had been in the assault on Moonspire. This 'Ikomiki' had used Wood Release too and had utilized it to create hundreds of clones that had proceeded to slaughter thousands of civilians. That assault had been what had led to this war in the first place. Seeing the element used here surprised Tamwyn, but not enough to actually catch him off guard. After all, he wasn't exactly a weakling himself.

The boy took a stance and then spoke. He...hadn't come expecting victory? Or at least planning to obtain it? What of these 'friends' he spoke of? Tamwyn didn't trust this boy but he was willing to at least humor him for a time. "If you attack me, I'll retaliate in kind. Otherwise we can talk until we come to an agreement on when to begin." provided his response was accepted Tamwyn would nod before speaking again. "Why didn't you come expecting to win? For that matter, what happened to your friends?". He would ask calmly, calmly crossing his arms across his chest. It was a disadvantageous position for them to be in as a ninjutsu or taijutsu user. You had to uncross them to make use of them and for the purposes of this it would hopefully seem non threatening since it obviously meant he wasn't preparing to attack him. Of course, Tamwyn didn't need hand seals to do lightning jutsu. However that didn't mean Ashitaka knew that.

stuff:

As Tamwyn lowered his guard, the boy reciprocated, albeit not to an equal extent. He knew of people like Ari who could wield ninjutsu without bothering with hand seals, and his own more powerful techs only required one or two. His analysis as a craftsman informed him that the man was wearing some very expensive-looking clothing for a fight, so he supposed that either the man was arrogant beyond reason, or that it was secretly armor of the highest order. And if he was stupid enough for the former to be the case, there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that Kumo would let him represent them here in this arena. Still, he didn't react to any of Ashitaka's actions with an outward display of imminent violence, which is why the kid chose to relax.

"You know, it kind of grates me that you're so reasonable. That you appear to have a soul. It just makes the situation we've gotten ourselves into all the worse." he sighed and lowered his head. "I don't win fights against people anywhere near my level of power, and you seem to have quite a lead on me. More importantly than that, though..."

He raised his gaze to meet Tamwyn's as he lowered his weapons further, despair radiant in his bearing.

"Hagoromo has deemed my homeland's sins to be -at least marginally- greater than yours. Having been on the receiving end of the latter personally, I'm offended that he'd think such a thing. You proudly host Jashinists, after all." he shrugged. "But of course, it's not like my opinion has ever mattered."

In response to the grown ninja's question about his friends, Ashitaka's disposition changed to one that was suspicious and searching. Why would he ask such a thing? Is he planning to trap me in some sick Genjutsu where I'm forced to wallow in my helplessness and guilt at the sight of them? Well, he's in for an unpleasant surprise if he tries going down that road.

"I don't know why you care, but in a previous mission where my Team clashed with your nation's forces while I was out helping the refugees, some utter bastard scorched both of them and left them crippled for life." he stared at the ground and started shaking visibly as he was wracked with emotions. Anger. Guilt. Grief. Rage. Pain. The kinds of things most adults weren't equipped to handle, and here he was trying to keep them in check and talk. "Ari was the prettiest girl I'd ever met. Her eyes were like storm clouds on the horizon... she had skin like chocolate and a personality like a campfire. She doesn't have eyes any more now. She's pale too, covered in scars and her pretty silver hair is slowly growing back, black as coal. She used to be so full of life, and now she spends every other week in a coma, probably trapped with her nightmarish memories of what Kiri did in Iron. If she could see her own reflection, she probably wouldn't recognize it."

He swallowed, then continued.

"Chika was really into puppets, and had pretty quick hands. We probably weren't as good of friends as we could have been, but I wouldn't have wished what happened to him on an enemy. It took me days to help him piece back together that suit of armor made in the image of his mother. And he's totally paralyzed without it, now. I'm such a failure to both of them, even more than my sensei. At least he was there. I can't even claim that, because I ran away from the fighting and tried to keep them out of it like a coward."

Ashitaka looked back up into Tamwyn's eyes, the green at the edges of his own irii becoming more vibrant by the second.

"If there is one person in this world that I hate, who I want to kill more than the Burned Man who killed all those civilians I was trying to protect and caved in my chest, it's the one who did those awful things to my friends!"



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Tamwyn would listen to the boy calmly right up until he mentioned his countries sins being at least a bit greater than Kumogakure’s and pointing out that Kumogakure hosts Jashinists. The word ‘proudly’ being in there was what annoyed the yellow eyed man and he would raise an eyebrow in response as he spoke. “Not everyone in Kumogakure likes the Jashinists kid. I myself despise them. However dislodging and removing a religious order, or forcing them to change, isn’t a thing one can do over night. Especially not when there are powerful people able to defend them should anything..untoward..happen.” He would say, speaking honestly on the matter. He remembered the day he finally gave up on his parents coming for him. Remembered the day he finally accepted that they were dead and coming to the conclusion that they had been sacrificed upon the knives of that sick and twisted religion.

When Ashitaka began to speak of his friends, his team Tamwyn would pause. He would listen intently, his eyes never leaving the boys. The despair the kid had radiated prior had seemed genuine and it felt as if this child hadn’t had anyone listen to him at all since he started his career, possibly even longer. The least Tamwyn could do, before he was going to have to fight him, was listen. When he described ‘Ari’ Tamwyn’s thought would freeze at the description of what she had looked like. The pale haired man couldn’t attest to the eyes, as she had been facing the opposite direction when he fired Kikoho, but it sounds exactly like the girl he had ambushed in the Battle of Meijing.

The girl he had never intended to hurt so badly. She had haunted his nightmares for a time after that battle, before he met Yenn. He had finally gotten over the fact that it was war, and horrible, terrible things happened to people in war. He didn’t like any of it. At the end of the day his greatest regret over the matter was that he hadn’t pulled back the ‘punch’ of his technique enough. He had held it back somewhat, keeping the lethality out of it. However it simply hadn’t mattered. Or well, he supposed it had, she wouldn’t be alive at all if he hadn’t of held it back as much as he did. However he should have held it back more, and if there was one thing about that battle that he would go back and do over again it would be that.

The description of ‘Chika’, or rather the boy's likes and hobbies would bring up the mental image of the green haired individual he had smashed out of the puppet. That puppet, that had looked remarkably like a woman and had been so good that he hadn’t been able to tell the difference at the time. ‘That puppet had been in the image of his mother?’ He thought to himself with a depressed sigh. It wouldn’t change the actions in the moment. Nothing could have changed those. He had to take down the target, both Masaru and Nyguyen had been unconscious and if he had gone forward personally after Yui had left to return Seid to Kumo then he would have had to fight both. Of course he hadn’t ended up fighting at all, as Akihiro of all people had arrived and he’d had to agree to a withdrawal. He wasn’t up to fighting both Kimiko Uchiha, and ‘The Sparrow’.

Still, the attack hadn’t been intended to paralyze the man. However he had been holding the unconscious Ari in the puppets arms so he couldn’t afford to attack the front without hitting her directly. So he had attacked the back. He hadn’t intended to paralyze him, but apparently that’s what had occurred. ‘Repercussions for one's actions.’ He would think to himself before taking a deep breath to speak. “Then the one you want to kill is already standing before you.” He would say calmly to the boy as he continued to hold his eyes to Ashitaka’s. “You won’t believe me of course, but I can say with certainty that I hadn’t intended to cause such horrid injuries to either of them. Ari, and thank you for telling me her name..had been an ambush target, and I held back the power of the jutsu I used in order to avoid killing her. Apparently, I didn’t hold back enough. I’m just glad I was able to get medical help to her so she survived.” He would say, remembering his emergency flare calling for help and the Kumogakure shinobi who came to stabilize the girl. Chika had helped from within his puppet too, but the arrival of that field surgeon had probably tipped the balance.

“Chika was an intentional attack, but I never intended to paralyze him. Of course intent doesn’t matter in the end, results do. When I attack him I was the only other conscious shinobi around with both your Kage, and the Tsuchikage unconscious nearby. My ally had withdrawn to take the wounded and so I had to either risk leaving Chika alone with both kage, or take him out to ensure there wasn’t an enemy behind me. I only hit him in the back because he was holding Ari.” He would say, his eyes never leaving Ashitaka as he described in detail the events. He didn’t know if he had heard them at all but it wasn’t like Ari would’ve been able to give a recounting. As far as he knew she hadn’t even been aware he was around. “War is a brutal thing, and I hate every moment of it. To this day I can’t help but ask why they were even on the battlefield? Ari shouldn’t have been as bad off as she was if she had been even marginally stronger. Chika hadn’t even had time to react to my movements, neither of them were ready for such a thing and yet there they were.” He would say, his tone becoming solemn. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what happened to your friends Ashitaka, and I regret the damage done to them. However I won’t apologize for trying to win the battle for my nation, and I certainly won’t apologize for this one. Not after Konoha and Kirigakure shinobi slaughtered thousands of our civilians with no cause.” He would say, his own beginning to shine with a brilliant yellow light as raiton chakra flooded his coils. His anger grew at the remembrance of watching the security feed, unable to leave the office due to legal orders that were enforced by a seal that would paralyze him if he disobeyed.

"Them? Why were you there? Do you really think that your actions in the Earth Country and those of our agents in yours have no relation to one another?" Ashitaka responded as his own Mokuton chakra flared up and his eyes became decidedly more green. "You attacked us first, uninvited to our conflict with that nation. Not your country. Not your religion. By your own admission... You!"

He didn't actually know if there was a secret military alliance between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, but everyone knew how xenophobic and proud Masaru was and it was an easy assumption to make, especially with a target for blame presenting itself. Well, now he had a focus for that anger and hate that he'd been fighting a rapidly losing battle with. And that was a serious problem, considering the nature of his purpose here. It was hard enough for grown adults to acquiesce to the inhumanly saintly demands of Hagoromo's Ninshu at the best of times, and neither of those traits applied to Ashitaka. He planted the swords in the ground and formed the Tiger hand seal, and a Wood Clone grew out of each of his feet, inverted and underground like carrots. The weapons disappeared into the ground as they were claimed by the clones, who burrowed. They started burrowing further underground while he slammed his hands into the ground where the blades once were.

Mokuton: Kanzeon Lotus King.

An army of massive wooden hands erupted from the ground starting some distance behind Ashitaka, with one each rising up on either side of him. The hands each struck the ground a short distance from where they spawned and pushed, lifting the rest of an even bigger statue out of the ground. It was in the image of a monk, and he was standing on its head as its foremost pair of arms retracted to a proportionate size and pressed its palms together before it as though in prayer. Behind it and central to the rest of the arms was a circular base from which they all appeared to grow out like some horrific bush. The monstrous creation was so tall that it dwarfed even the trees he'd previously made, restoring him to the sight of the audience, not that he cared at this point. The only thing he cared about was how he was going to fail to meet the unreasonable demands of the Sage.

"I'm about to 'not hold back enough' now. See how you like it. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be provided the best medical care available here."

As the hands moved into formation over and around the statue's head and shoulders, the ground beneath Tamwyn's feet would suddenly surge and dislocate, splitting in half and folding as a large region of it was pushed up from both sides. The boy clasped his hands together before him, and the myriad wooden palms rocketed forward at a speed that defied their size and construction by a considerable margin. They promised a savage beating and certainly delivered one to the small grove and the arena floor upon which it had been created, severely disfiguring the latter and reducing the former to a flurry of splinters. All except for the outermost ring of trees, which seemed to form a second, smaller arena within the huge one they were fighting in.

But Ashitaka was lying.

To the extent which he was capable of tracking Tamwyn's movements, he reduced the striking speed or slightly altered the course of the statue's hands to increase the man's chances of avoiding being hit. However, he was new to using these two techniques, so it fell to the Kumo nin to take action to amplify the possibility of his own defense. Regardless of how he felt, he was still painfully aware that spreading suffering did nothing to reduce the amount of it in his own heart, let alone the world. That didn't mean he had to like it, or was willing to let this man's injustices go unpunished even if he was ordered to by what amounted to God.




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"Why was I there boy? Good question, why would someone want to stand with a nation who had been released from years of subjugation and oppression only to have the nation that 'released' them proceed to attack them instead of hold to the agreement? I was there to help a nation that wasn't strong enough to defend itself help to do so from a regime that instead of holding to the agreements of it's predecessor, assaulted it for no reason other than what I can assume to be sheer and uncontrolled greed. So don't talk about how we came uninvited into your conflict. When your 'conflict' was because people that were once under your rule were free for the first time in years." He would say, his voice taking on a somewhat be sharpened tone. His eyes becoming distinctively more bright and yellow as he continued. When Ashitaka moved to plant the sword in the ground Tamwyn wouldn't even move a muscle. However six wings of lightning would coalesce upon his back. They took the form of angel wings, feathered and the top most pair were the longest at three meters long, the middle pair was two meters long and the bottom pair was only one meter long.

The technique was called 'Seraph's Brilliance' and it allowed him to fly by forming angelic wings of raiton infused chakra. The only major distinctive difference was that these wings were black, as opposed to their normal white colour. This would be due to Raijū. Who's presence seemed to colour all of his lightning jutsu black. The wings would fully form by the time the swords were halfway in the ground, being claimed by the clones that Tamwyn could sense easily from here. As Ashitaka moved to slam his hands into the ground, Tamwyn would lift off, rising high into the sky. The speed with which he could do so was only as fast as he himself could move at his normal physical best and he wasn't utilizing his Raiton Armor to assist in that regard. Not yet, not for this. He would have more than enough time to rise up to three hundred meters into the air while the hands formed behind the wooden construct and as such would be completely out of range of the assault that was intended. Judging by his eye he was completely out of range of the wooden constructs attack radius although he was cautious about possible ranged attacks. Now of course, he was visible to the crowd, only he was flying in the sky, held aloft by black wings of lightning.

Mutters of 'Blackwing' could be heard amongst them even from where he was and he nodded in acceptance of the new title to accompany that of 'Seraph of Lightning'. Still, he would look down at Ashitaka from his altitude and cock an eyebrow at the boy. "Shall we continue? I wasn't done. Why is it that you now seem hell bent on attacking me, when all I did was exactly what any shinobi would do in a warzone? Shouldn't you be targeting this frustration at whoever sent your nation, and your friends, into there in the first place? The decision to attack alone showed an inability to keep the word and spirit of it's deals at best, and a desire to violently expand and rule over all at worst. Lets not even consider the fact that they were sent in there so radically unprepared that I, a fresh Chunin at the time, was able to inflict such damage to them with casual ease. I regret what happened, but it shouldn't have happened, and trying to tell me it shouldn't have because we shouldn't have decided to try to defend a weaker nation from a stronger one is childish. You're the ones who attacked it, you're the ones who instigated." He would say from the safety of the sky, his tone venomous. To be frank he was starting to get extremely angry at the situation.

He understood Ashitaka's point of view of course. Faced with he man who had hurt his friends he lashed out. However if he was going to be a shinobi, and by the looks of the techniques he was using, a talented one, then he had to grow up out of the childish reactions of an eleven year old. Still, even if Tamwyn didn't want to fight a child he doubted this one was as weak as those two in the Battle of Meijing were. The boy could probably survive it if he decided to throw a 'punch' at him at moderate power.

Stuff:

Seeing Tamwyn sprout his black angel wings, Ashitaka stopped almost cold. Almost, because his palms striking the earth still happened, although in reality it was out of effort to catch himself. The distraction banished his clones and his hold on the form of his bracers, returning them to his forearms in the moment before the statue rose from the ground. The man flew so fast that even once the Kanzeon Lotus King reached its full height, the boy was still considerably below him. Well, that just meant that his frustration had failed to find a vent; something which he reacted to with all the aplomb and grace of a normal kid his age.

"You know, I heard our side won that battle! It's funny, you don't look like you lost a battle! Let's fix that!

The hundred hands still reached forward and down, although this time noticeably more slowly since their target wasn't on the ground. Instead of pummeling the copse of trees that weren't there a couple minutes ago, each hand grabbed hold of one of the trees as close to the outermost edge of the circle of them as they could reach, focusing primarily on the near side. The entire grove was uprooted and with their roots intertwined, all held together along with some of the dirt that was also trapped by the roots. The statue's hands snapped up, flipping the whole assembly like it was a table, if said table was 150m wide and was made upside-down. It flew at Tamwyn to the fullest extent that it was able, and while it obscured the airborne man's vision, the King was crowned.

Ashitaka knew a retaliation would be incoming at this point. His opponent's excuses made it clear that he was unapologetic for what he'd done and that would have to be rectified before he even considered submitting to the commands that had brought him here. The audience was loving the performance until those parts of the massive projectile which had failed to strike their intended target instead smashed against the barrier protecting them with a sound totally appropriate for such an eventuality. The entire stadium fell silent briefly as their faith in the barrier's power was temporarily shaken. Not that the duelists gave a damn what the spectators thought. This fight was not a performance for their benefit.

The Senju Prince watched through the central gap in the dragon-faced dome to see what Tamwyn was up to, the foremost 50 arms ready to strike at a moment's notice while the aftmost 50 simply scooped up nearby dirt and launched it at his last known location with the force of trebuchets. They repeated this rapid-fire assault for as long as there was sufficient dirt within the limits of their reach, adjusting their fire as proved necessary according to the man's movements. Since he was out of the range of his Sensory abilities, Ashitaka formed the Dog-Rat-Snake hand seals and focused the chakra that normally empowered it into his physical senses, amplifying their power. He knew these were going to put a timer on his ability to use them, but he doubted the fight was going to last long enough for it to matter. With this boost, he was able to better sort out his prey's movements and the dirt-slinging hands adjusted their accuracy.

"Your self-righteous arrogance REALLY PISSES ME OFF! To think that you still see yourselves as saviors when your people were the ones killing Earth's refugees! Who do you think you're fooling? Why do you think the world is united against you? Even those you expected to have licking your boots in gratitude have acquiesced to our leadership's mistake just to see you shiny snobs fall!"

Anger was hiding fear, but it wasn't unjustified. The situation he was in was utterly insane. To fight as a gladiator for the morale of conscripted troops in a war that few even believed in was absurd enough, but even that failed in comparison to the need to find the impossibly delicate balancing point between losing (which he was not apt to do) and not making it apparent that he either lost on purpose or was woefully unsuited to the fight. Of course, those precious few people who both knew what Tamwyn was truly capable of and the unfortunate matchup of their elements, by extension also knew the latter was very much the case. For the vast majority who didn't, however, this was probably becoming a hell of a show.



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Stuff:

The boy was obviously angry and that was good, it showed the difference between the two in general maturity and further only encased Tamwyn's beliefs of child soldiers being a horrible thing in bedrock. Ashitaka's words were spoken with hate in his tone and his efforts to attack the man were in vain. Tamwyn would steeple his hands before his chest. To any in the crowd that had seen this technique before, the motion would be instantly recognizable. It was arguably one of his most powerful jutsu, Kikoho, the very same technique he had used against this boys teammate. The very same technique that according to the boy, robbed her of her vision. It was ironic really, the technique itself was quite something to see in the end. When the boy flipped the entire forest he had created at him the Seraph of Lightning would pause for a moment in respect. The boy had talent, he hated that it was forced to the surface so young, but it was undeniably there. The flung forest was careening toward him, flipping end over end and Tamwyn simply used his wings to fly out of it's path. He only had to move at most 75m in any direction to do so after all and so the effort wasn't even much. He would drop his hands to his sides through, deciding not to Kikoho the statue or the boy yet.

The missed attack would reach the apex of it's flight before starting back down, like a bike going down on the other side of the hill. It slammed into the side of the arena, the barrier to be precise, on the exact opposite side from hm. The crash it made upon impact was thunderous and if Tamwyn hadn't just seen the barriers flawless protection himself he would have moved to protect the crowd. Yenn was somewhere in it after all, that brought a small unconscious smile to his features. His future wife, and their unborn twins. That however was a line of thought that he could not afford to have right now. The first mass of dirt and stone was heading toward him and he moved out of the way and this pattern continued, for the masses would lose the vast majority of their speed and impact force by that time and thus be easily avoided.

Then the boy would give a comment about 'his people killing Earth's Refugees' and he would freeze. The comment sent such a shock through him that he failed to dodge the next mass of dirt and stone. It impacted him at an extremely low speed and velocity but a fifty kilogram mass of dirt and stone hitting you at any speed displaced you generally unless you were braced, and he was not. It didn't actually do any harm of course, Tamwyn was made of far stranger stuff than that could reasonable do damage wise but it did scuff his cheeks a bit with small cuts, although the rest of him was absolutely fine. His armor of course kept most of the impacted stone and dirt from affecting him. It did get dirty though and that annoyed him, Ryuko crafted this for him before she disappeared and he didn't like the attire being dirty at all.

The newly dubbed 'Blackwing' would continue to dodge the dirt and stone, the statues ammunition effectively inexhaustible given it's reach and the size of the arena. However he would keep a better eye on such things and not let himself be surprised by wild allegations from children. Honestly, he should be ashamed. Still, humouring the boy would stoke the fires of his anger and cause him to make mistakes more easily. "What are you talking about? Kumo didn't attack Iwa's refugees. Why would we? We volunteered our help in the war that your nation started. We didn't force it, if Masaru wanted us to leave, we would have, period, and you're right, we did lose that battle. But, you win some and you lose some. It happens, and the moment Akihiro took the field with Kimiko Uchiha I knew I couldn't handle them both hell I'm not sure I could've taken one. So I backed out willingly at their invitation. We went to fight Iwa to ensure they had the freedom to choose who and what they fight against. I don't recall anyone assuming or expecting them to 'lick their boots'." He would say, an eyebrow raised as he poke flaws in the boys logic left and right. "I find it funny however that so far everytime your village has gone to war it's been an Uchiha in the leadership position. Are they that power hungry? Do you enjoy yipping at their heels, ready to do as 'master says? Who's going to get crippled in this war do you think? Before you fought a major village that was still trying to rebuild and 'three' Kumogakure shinobi. How many of your friends will be crippled or have their career's ended because an Uchiha decided that it was time for others to die for their power grabs?" These words were designed to incite reaction. Brushing aside the wild accusations of Kumogakure actually assaulting refugees in a country they had chosen to fight for to not control was easy enough. So was of course the idea that Ryuko had expected Iwagakure to do a damn thing except what they wanted to do. The right to make those decisions were why they fought after all.

The comments about their poor leadership decisions? The idea that a single clan seemed to hold absolute power, the continued prod at the boys anger over what happened to his friends. This war would be worse, that was a given. The entire nation had been incensed over what was now being called 'The Moonspire Massacre'. People were enrolling in the Academy to try to graduate before the war ended to help class sized were the largest they had been in years. Forges worked day and night and the training fields were packed at all hours. The war machine of Kumogakure had begun to move and the very concept of that simple fact terrified Tamwyn to his very core. A major nation, a real major nation going to battle was enough to make others stand aside, and now three were going at it. Entire landscapes would be forever shifted and changed, lives would be lost in horrible ways, friends would die, and the fate of their entire way of lives could be affected by this. No, none of Tamwyn's words had been wrong. It was a certain viewpoint of looking at things, and it was an attempt to manipulate his opponents anger, but they weren't incorrect in any way. More of his friends would die, and it was everytime that the entire nation went to conquer. that an Uchiha was in the top spot. The question now was if he could use that information in a way to direct Ashitaka's rage internally, toward his home instead. That was the question of the moment now, his yellow eyes, brilliantly glowing due to the raiton chakra in his system, would keep watch at the boy, watching for hand seals or movement that might preclude an attack or a change in tactic.

Ashitaka's jaw tightened when he noticed that his barrage was having no effect on the man other than getting him a little dirty. He also appeared to be saying something, but he was super far away and not shouting, and the boy's hearing wasn't that good. He stopped throwing dirt and thought about his situation. At the man's present distance, none of his attacks would re- no. That wasn't quite right. He did recently acquire a skill specifically suited towards striking down long-range targets, although he doubted his ability to hit one that was both airborne and as quick as Tamwyn. He was just going to have to hedge his bets.

Closing the protective dome over his head, he formed the Tiger seal and spawned a couple of clones. One formed the Ram, then Snake seals and directed its right hand at the scalp of the giant statue whose head they were all standing on, as he formed the Ox -> Boar -> Snake combination and filled his muscles with Mokuton chakra, significantly enhancing their power. As he transformed slightly, the clone that had made hand seals launched twenty arrows into the statue at their feet, just barely fast enough to stick into the wood. The next step in the process was Ashitaka forming the Snake hand seal and transforming both of his bracers into a single powerful longbow with a willow strand bowstring. Having entirely forgotten his original goals in the exclusive pursuit of violent justice, he bent down and scooped up a handful of the spawned arrows and nocked them into his new bow.

His clones moved into position and began forming hand seals, with the one who hadn't yet done anything racing through the Ox → Dog → Dragon → Rat → Dog → Boar → Snake → Tiger combination while the one with slightly lower chakra reserves made only the Tiger->Rabbit->Dog set and the original used his control over the dome to reopen it as he took aim in Tamwyn's direction with what was arguably the most powerful attack in his arsenal. Just as he was releasing the arrow, the clone to his left spoke one of his many hidden doubts.

"You know, that guy probably has a family or something." his own voice said.

In response, Ashitaka tensed as he fired, aiming slightly higher than he intended. As a consequence, the 40-strong cloud of arrows each as long as a city bus sailed largely above Tamwyn's flight ceiling, with only the lowest among them passing close enough to potentially damage his wings and hat. They would rocket past the man to savagely pummel the barrier protecting the crowd who had not quite recovered from the near fright of his prior failure to hit his target. He quickly slammed the dome shut again.

"By the Sage, why would you say that?" he shouted into his animate reflection.

"Because you have a conscience." the clone responded as it fixed him with his own trademark glare. He didn't even notice the other one poofing out of existence. "And you forgot why you're here. If you killed him here in front of everybody, you would be proving him right and you know it."

"I'm not going to sit back and let those hypocrites prance around thinking they've got the moral high ground!" he shouted at what was essentially himself. "I'm done with being weak when my friends and my village need me to be strong!"

"This isn't just about you. Entire nations are at war here. If you win, the sight of what is right will be lost the world over, perhaps forever."

"If I lose, then thousands of my allies could die with their morale, and the war will only drag on further. Righteousness is for preachers and philosophers! All that matters to me is ending this war sooner so that fewer people might die! If I have to go down in history as an icon of sin, then so be it! Nobody should be proud of what's going on in the world right now! Now get ready to make hand seals again. We're killing this fucker."

The clone quietly bowed as Ashitaka swept up another handful of arrows, then started rapidly going through the hand seals for the Shuriken Shadow Clone technique a second time as he nocked them and opened the dome enough to fire another volley at wherever Tamwyn had ended up. But instead he released the tension on his bowstring as the full weight of everything that he was facing, all that could happen as a result of his actions or inactions, bore down on him like a falling star. Four arrows fell to his feet as the dome closed again, and the clone vanished. Soon, so too did the arrows. And the bow. As it turned out, when the moment of truth came, what he was was an overgrown kid with little conviction or faith in himself. While there were times when he reached out and found someone else, they were few and far between. His bonds were weak and for the most part he felt as though he had no purpose or direction in his life.

As he curled up against the wall of the protective dome to cry, cracks spiderwebbed across it and the statue as his grip on their existence slowly faded.





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Stuff:

The boy didn't seem to be able to hear him and this annoyed Tamwyn but he moved along, in the end getting his opponent to be angry wasn't as important as winning here. Although causing the boy to be disillusioned with his own village and their leaders might have been a worthy goal to pursue indeed. Ashitaka however would realize that his barrage of dirt and stone were having no effect on Tamwyn, even with a direct hit. So the boy closed a dome around him, removing him from his line of sight. 'I don't like that at all.' He thought as he held his position in the air. At the end of the day trying to dodge early was a riskier bet than waiting to see what came at him and reacting to it. One was essentially flailing in the dark, while the other was a reasoned reaction against a known threat. When the dome opened and Tamwyn caught sight of the bow he would blink in surprise. Before moving down a bit as the boy fired. The arrow would fly through the air and expand, then become forty, adding to his surprise.

His movement as Ashitaka fired caused the arrows to miss him entirely but honestly he had seen the boy jerk just before firing. Something had happened just before the release. Either way with that jerk only one or two of the projectile had had any chance of hitting him and with his movement that chance went up in smoke. The dome reclosed around Ashitaka and his doppelgangers and Tamwyn would decide that if attacks like that were going around than it was time to kick up a notch. He still wouldn't use Lightning Release Armor, it was overkill here, however he could give the boy a 'taste' of the technique that had so grievously injured his friend. Forming his hands into a steeple once more, he would fire an enormous beam of raiton chakra straight at the statue that the boy had made. Given the angle he was firing from he wouldn't be able to get all of the statue without risking hitting the boy and he refused to hit another child with this jutsu. The 300m long and 100m diameter beam would reach the statue easily enough, Tamwyn being at the perfect height to hit it.  

The massive beam of black raiton, would slam into the statue and potentially completely eradicate it. This would essentially leave Ashitaka and his clones in a dome, with a small bit of the head still attached, careening down toward the arena ground below. Tamwyn himself would maintain his flight within the air, ensuring that  he had as much space as possible to avoid anymore potential attacks. As he waited the rain came down in sheets, soaking all under it's influence, including him. Sure, there was a barrier, but it was designed to keep lethal attacks in, not things like rain out. How? Tamwyn didn't know, it was chakra and he didn't have to explain shit. Provided the dome had crashed to the ground Tamwyn would lower himself to 100m away from it before calling out, ensuring he could be heard.

"What do you mean about Iwa refugees? Kumo didn't attack them. Why would we? We volunteered our help in the war that your nation started. We didn't force it, if Masaru wanted us to leave, we would have, period, and you're right, we did lose that battle. But, you win some and you lose some. It happens, and the moment Akihiro took the field with Kimiko Uchiha I knew I couldn't handle them both hell I'm not sure I could've taken one. So I backed out willingly at their invitation. We went to fight Iwa to ensure they had the freedom to choose who and what they fight against. I don't recall anyone assuming or expecting them to 'lick their boots'." He would call, an eyebrow raised and his tone neutral and curious. There wasn't anything sarcastic, condescending, or superior about it. He was just someone trying to understand what was said and explaining the side as he viewed it. Ashitaka of course could debate this with him if he wanted. Every moment they spent debating was a moment he wasn't spending sending lethal jutsu at a child.

Stuff:

With his field down and his back to the dome's wall, Ashitaka had no way of knowing the beam was incoming. But he still heard and felt it as it tore through the statue whose head he was sitting on. It was a truly awful sound and sensation. While not as intimate as that of his own flesh and bones burning away and cracking, respectively, it was also much louder. If he wasn't already in a pit of despair, the sensory assault would have probably stunned him, but instead they jolted him out of the darkest parts of his mind and back into reality. As the statue burst into smoldering splinters, he quickly snapped out a handful of seals.

Ram. Ox. Boar. Snake.

He knew this would make him the worst kind of target: airborne and moving slowly, but that was better than the alternative which was being dropped from 100m and shaken like the flakes in a snow globe. He placed his hands on the shattering head of the statue and forced the splinters to seal back together into a proper floor, which then rapidly grew into a giant wooden bearing with a handful of propellers reminiscent of giant versions of the seeds of a Tree of Heaven. These spun as rapidly as they were able, slowing the dome's fatally swift descent into a more smooth and gentle one. As he touched the ground, Ashitaka withdrew his hands and the entire assembly tore itself into pieces in an instant. He glared up at Tamwyn. The man was talking again.

"Don't try to lie to me about the refugees, I was there. If you're not going to tell the truth, or hear it when it's told to you, then we have nothing more to discuss. And didn't Masaru come down with the plague shortly after your team arrived? Seems like it'd be pretty hard for him to protest anything in that case."

He looked down when he processed the other things his opponent had said.

"Not me. I just lose. And lose. And lose. And lose. Where I go, my village faces defeat. Even when I tried to stop your madman, I had to be saved by outsiders or he would have killed me. Why do you think I'm here and not one of the people who you ran away from? Do you think my country supports my being here?" he glared back up at the flying man again. "With my track record, I can assure you they do not. I cursed my own people by facing you here today, likely made myself a pariah in my homeland with this public embarrassment. If not worse. And in return, you didn't even give me the dignity of pretending to take me seriously as your foe."

It was too late for him to do anything now, though. He'd already burned through about two thirds of his available chakra and he no longer had any of his foundation techniques up. There was nothing more he could do at this point with Tamwyn remaining out of reach of the majority of his typical attacks and moving fast enough to dodge his bow shots. He was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but his opponent had made a mockery of everything he'd ever tried and there was simply no point in pushing the battle any further. He bowed formally, as he had when initially greeting the grown fighter.

"I concede."

With that, he turned on his heel and began walking toward the arena gate that he'd entered through. He didn't know what awaited him back home, but the one thing he was most certain of was that it would absolutely not be a hero's welcome. He had betrayed his home country in their time of greatest need, and now everyone knew it because Tamwyn wasn't willing to dirty his own hands to finish the fight. Ashitaka wondered if he would be banished, imprisoned, or ordered to commit suicide to atone for it and frankly, he didn't know which option was worst.


[Attempted exit]


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Stuff:

Tamwyn descended as Ashitaka did, although doing so at a faster rate, landing on the ground at the same time Ashitaka arrived. This would put them only about fifteen meters away as they spoke which was plenty close enough for both to hear other over the rain and lightning and thunder. As he spoke, Ashitaka would glare up at him, given that Tamwyn was a bit taller, but the words of his response would only serve to confuse Tamwyn even more. The newly dubbed 'Blackwing' tilted his head to the side, an eyebrow raising as he let the thought settle within his mind. Ashitaka didn't seem stupid, pessimistic and still working on kicking off the anger issues and temper tantrums that childhood was made up of maybe, but not stupid. If he said he saw someone that was a potential Kumogakure shinobi, slaughtering Iwagakure Refugees than the white haired man was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about..But I'll humour you, what can you tell me about the shinobi? Are you sure he was from Kumogakure? Tell me everything you can so i can try to get to the bottom of this. If there was a Kumogakure shinobi there slaughtering civilians than it was either a rogue shinobi, or a black ops mission. Which I'd know nothing of, but I can figure out if it's true and work to see justice done if it pans out." He would say. He head would straighten and his features smoothed into one of simple 'being'. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't necessarily frowning, he kept his attention on Ashitaka, and more importantly his surroundings and sensory technique. However if the boy was willing to talk than who was Tamwyn to argue? He didn't even want to fight this kid.

He would listen to Ashitaka's next words, the bite in them at certain points as he spoke, particularly at a moment where he attacked Tamwyn's actions in Tsuchi no Kuni was ignored, mostly. However the boy seemed to be extremely downtrodden and angry over his situation. The yellow eyes man sighed at that. It seemed all he wanted was to be taken seriously and succeed. However he was a kid in a grownups world. He was doing well for himself in reality, he had a strong collection of techniques in his arsenal and he wasn't even at his prime in years. He had solid stamina reserves not too far off from Tamwyn's own, he could more or less keep track of him, and he had a hardy build thus far. However that simply wasn't enough. Part of the issue thought was the kids personality. Not that there was anything wrong with a childs personality, but it wasn't geared for, wasn't meant, for combat and warfare. When Ashitaka conceded the fight Tamwyn would blink twice in surprise. He had been lost in thought for the most part and hadn't noticed him about to speak. He would keep his senses sharp and his sensory open though. Just in case it was some sort of trick.

Sighing after the boy had bowed, he would deactivate his technique, the wings dissipating and he would look at the boy, who would hopefully stop walking. "It's hard to take a child seriously as a foe Ashitaka. It isn't my intent to insult you or your dignity. I look at you and see someone who in a perfect world would be playing with friends and not fighting in gladiatorial fights for the entertainment of thousands. I know the world isn't perfect. I know you've had to work for what you've obtained whatever your reasons for doing so might be. I know it's hard to understand, but one day you might stand in my shoes, and then, at that moment, you just might..It's...It's hard to fight children, there's so much of life they haven't experienced and an accident or a mistake can always happen. I won't deny I can't fight you seriously. I won't lie to you or patronize you about it. I'll just say I'm sorry that I can't give you at least that level of respect here. I'll also apologize...for hoping that I never get to the point where I would. With that young Konoha nin, I wish you farewell." He would say before giving him a polite bow before he too left the arena from the same gate he came in from. Ashitaka's bow being the first of the two and acting as a signal for whatever passed as an announcer to call the fight.

[Attempted Exit]

Ashitaka responded to the man's words with a sound that was not a laugh. Instead, it lay fitfully somewhere between one and a loud sob. He was always so torn like this when he found himself on the battlefield, whether he was pushed out onto it or went with something approaching his own volition. However, it wasn't the combat itself that really bothered him. The threat of injury and even death were only minor factors in the grand overarching scheme that turned every encounter into a staggering moral dilemma. If- no when- his failure here was discovered to be a deliberate undermining of his home village's the Uchihas' plot to conquer the world, it was highly likely that they'd kill him for it.

He did stop walking, though. The two were now roughly 30 meters apart.

"Mr. Tamwyn... there isn't going to be a 'one day' for me..." he said as he turned back to face the man. "Your 'mercy' here won't spare my life. Even if you should happen to catch the man with the burned face and darkness in his hand from the Chuunin Exams, it would be far too late for me to care. He was struck with a blow that shattered my binding technique and it barely fazed him. For you it will probably be like fighting a dark and twisted reflection."

He turned back and continued walking out, wondering if he'd at least be allowed to pray at the shrines that he'd sacrificed everything to open back up to the Uchihas' enemies.

"If the afterlife or reincarnation really are things... then I might see you again. If not, then I hope your justice is as pure as you think it is."

As he neared the gate, he reactivated his Sensing field. While he was sure that he was going to die anyway and whatever he did would be futile, he wanted to at least have a chance of seeing it coming.

"Goodbye."



[Exit Thread]





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Technique Activated

Sensory: Sensing Technique -0.5 CP (125m)