Rin v. Tamwyn [Battle of the Icons]

Walking into the arena from the southwest competitor's gate was not a older man from the Uchiha Clan, but a small girl by the name of Lily Sisyphus. Not that it mattered. Very few people knew of her existence, and after this no one would remember that she was the one who would win this Battle, just that Kiri won. Her tattered cloak blew in the wind as she walked forward, the hood that was once in tatters repaired and she wore it over her head, making the ability to see her facial features hard to see. On her were sixty of her best quality knives, each carried in a slot within the cloak as well as several in various other pockets on her outfit. In addition to the hood she was wearing a simple kabuki mask over her face, the lower half under the nose and eyes removed so others could se her speak and let her look opponents in the eyes.

Kit didn't know she was here. She had gotten bored while she was in the Kiri pit and with the no-kill rule, she couldn't go all out. But then she had heard of the Icons. There she could go all out and not worry about being scolded. So she had snuck out, using her dexterity to not be spotted and got a boat ride to go and see what would happen. She probably could have made up that she wanted to see people fight, but Kit-Kit was unlikely to let her do that. When she had arrived and signed up, she was put in reserve in case anything happened to one of the fighters that was outside of the bounds of the arena, such as sickness, or, well, death. And it happened to be that sickness was what came first. She hadn't bothered to learn who it was she was replacing, and even if she did it rarely stuck.

Hopefully Kit wouldn't punish her once she found out, as even if she won Lily was probably gonna get grounded.

Lily's Stats & Stuff:

It had been quite some time since Kuro's last adventures which were not really adventures so much as just the grind of everyday life. The only real thing of note was the Raikage's coronation in that time and of course, him getting to hang out with his clan elder, Lady Shimiko at the clan's exclusive market. After that, Kuro had gotten busy with his studies again and had been that way till just a few days ago when he had been summoned by his superiors in the Kumo ninja army and informed that he would be replacing some fighter unknown to him at some tournament taking place which was equally if not more of a mystery to him. However, orders were orders and Kuro was just a no name rank and file grunt for all intents and purposes. So, naturally, he did not question this order of attendance because he knew better than to do such a foolish thing. After all, in the ninja world and especially in the hidden ninja villages, obedience to one's superiors was of near paramount importance.

Well, this is going to be...rather irksome...but oh well, I have marching orders, so off I go...

Kuro mused silently with his usual totally blank and inscrutable face even as he bowed in acknowledgement of his prescribed task. Then, he had gathered his things and set off for this arena wherein he would be participating in the upcoming fight. That brings the story up to the present when he was currently walking into the arena through the overly giant gates. As he walked forward, he realized that he was just a stand in for someone else, so he did not particularly care very much about losing...only about coming out alive, if not as intact as possible. However, in ninja battles that was hardly ever the case, the prospect making him let out a brief sigh of dejection as he resigned himself to being defeated regardless of his best or worst efforts. However, he was definitely taken aback when he met his opponent, which was not some old veteran, but some even more unfamiliar girl.

What is this? This is not what I was told at all...who is she?

For the life of him, Kuro could not figure out anything else about the girl at all, even whether she was a stand in or not like him. However, that was not important as he had more pressing matters to attend to, namely, avoiding any fatal injuries from the girl facing him as his opponent. So, he got into a basic stance several paces away from her and awaited her response or action to see what she would do and try to execute in the way of an opening gambit.

[1]

She look at the man 30 meters away from him. He was blonde, with a bland face that she was sure she wouldn't be able to remember. He looked like a lot of bad people she had killed over the years in the pit, except less scarred are more...neutral. It was a strange feeling, not like her classmates. her classmates were afraid of her, with only a few brave enough to fight that fear. She wanted to know what was behind that man's neutral face.

She briefly debated taking down the man in front of her quickly, and figured it would be best to play it safe. She was an unknown here, there was a crowd, and the more others knew of her skill, the harder it would be to catch people off-guard. Drawing four of her knives, she'd toss all four of them at him, one at his midsection, another few inches to his left, the third a few inches to his right, and the final one a few inches above his head as even non-ninja could be good jumpers. While she wanted to quickly end the battle, she didn't want to risk any spooky ninja magic to happen to her without her seeing it. If, by some chance he managed to avoid the starting four knives, she'd draw four more and wait to see what he'd do. She wanted this to be a low-effort fight, and the longer she stayed here the greater chance she'd have at being noticed by Kit-Kit. Hopefully not that long, her opponent didn't look that strong.

'I wonder what I should have after I win this fight? Ramen? Yeah ramen sounds good. Maybe I can convince Kit-Kit to buy me the ramen at the same time.'

Fight Stuff:

Apparently it was a bad move on his part to have been standing there deep in thought wondering about his opponent when he was about to fight her. As a result, he could not react in time to the knives she had just thrown at him. The one sailing above his head ended up shearing a path through his thick blond hair leaving a rather odd patch of bald skin amidst the rest of his otherwise thick blond hair. However, the others had significantly more luck in piercing him since the one aimed at his midsection caught him right in the gut while the ones to his right and left pierced right through his right and left arms, respectively. Naturally, due to the throwing velocity, the impact force, and the sharpness of the knives; he was made to bleed rather profusely, though not enough for a fatal blow.

That, in turn, caused him to utter a yelp of anguish which was very much unlike him, but then, he had never been in such a situation before as he was primarily a philosopher and not a standard warrior type. As he quickly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground due to the non-fatal but still significant blood loss, his last thoughts were quite brief

My, now this...is truly irk...some...

---

OOC:

Battle Results:

- Lily's knife attack on Kuro successful due to lack of reaction from Kuro

- First knife misses hitting his flesh, but shears off a path through his hair

- Other three knives do pierce his body successfully and cause sufficient blood loss to cause him to lose consciousness and thus lose the match.


[2]

Lily would watch in a mix of relief and disappointment at how quickly her prey went down, the fight over before it had truly begun. She'd slowly make her way over to the man, staying cautious in case he was in fact faking it, as she couldn't be too careful with ninja magic in play. But, as she eventually reached him, she'd find he wasn't moving, but not dead either. Close to it though given the amount of blood. Sighing in irritation she'd make a signal to let the onlookers know he was out for the count, and then would draw her three knives from him body, then go to pick up the fourth knife that had missed him.

Several medical ninja would come out to make sure that Kuro didn't die out here, Lily watching as they carried the boy out of the arena to be cared for. It was a poor matchup, her raw physical prowess outmatching him just like everyone else at her level. A part of her wanted to see what he could do, what would have happened if she let him make the first move, but she couldn't have let that happen, couldn't risk Kit-Kit finding out that she had substituted in for another. No, once she was declared the victor she'd go back to her own gate and begin to clean off her knives, her mind having already decided what sort of victory food she wanted to eat later today.

'I think today I'll have some ramen, maybe that'll get my blood pumping more then this match did.

{Exit, Kiri win}

It had been quite the embarrassing loss apparently for not only him but for the entirety of Kumo as well, Or at least that's what it had seemed like to Kuro as he listened to the spectators talking as they started heading out of the arena through the various designated exits all around him. He had been unconscious due to the significant but fortunately not life threatening degree of blood loss till then and had been under the care of the medical ninja stationed to care for the tournament participants in the event of serious injury.

Well that was...rather unproductive, even for a no talent like me...I suppose I should have set up at least my Substitution Technique and added Clone Technique as a defense before that girl attacked me...oh what I would not give to retire from active duty and just spend my days as a scholar or jutsu researcher...

With thoughts such as these and other related ones swirling through his mind, Kuro arose from his infirmary bed on which he had been laying till then, thanked the medical ninja, and then headed off through the exit to make his way to his transport that would take him back to Kumo. Along the way, he decided that he would stop and get some barley tea and a plate of dango to console himself before setting up his premature retirement plan.

[3]

(FAUSTEIN'S EXIT. KUMO LOST)