[Chuunin Exam] Indra v Ashura

[Ace Trainer]

The small training ground was not one often used for chuunin exams, isolated in a far off corner of the village, it had been chosen for reason - these two entrants were hosts of the village's genma. While the secret was 'out', it was still not being actively advertised, and the village did not have a strong desire to show off where the two hosts were in their development. Indra's suspicion, however was that they were also being secluded incase anything went wrong...who was to know what would happen when two genma hosts clashed?

"You know the rules", their referee would call from the side of the circular arena. All in all, it was about 30m in diameter, perfectly round and covered in sand. The training dummies had been removed, leaving it open for normal combat. Indra stood at the southernmost point, against the wooden fence that surrounded the arena, and Ashura was opposite of him.

Indra would give a soft smirk to his opponent and friend, "You ready?", he mouthed tauntingly. In truth, Ashura had been focusing much more on getting strong in a time where Indra seemed to be more concerned with his faith. This likely would not be a very fair match up, but Indra just needed to show his worth. He knew that as well as Ashura did. But the past few weeks had been especially hard on Indra, the late nights, the creeping in the shadows, the feeling of being watched, it was all starting to drag on him. In truth, Indra was slightly jealous of Ashura who did not seem to be having the same struggles with his genma. From where Indra sat, it seemed like Ashura and his genma were pals, or at least not adversarial with each other. The Shigenma was haunting Indra though, it wanted him to be miserable, it had told him as much. It was hard to find time to train when Indra felt so compelled to pray for the Light to protect him from the beast sealed with him.

His smile waivered for a moment as he thought about it. If he paled in comparison to Ashura, would they view him as a failure?

'Yes' the genma taunted inside his brain.

Shaking his head, Indra pointed at Ashura then made a 'come here' sort of motion. He needed to keep his head in the game. It was time to prove his worth.

[Niro]

Ashura's mind had been filled with thoughts of failure, regret, and self loathing since they had failed out of the international Chuunin Exams with Konoha, Kumo, and Heart. Something about a good showing being a way to prove Suna was still strong and worthy of allying with after the horrendous mishaps that had occurred during the opening salvo of Rock Country's invasion. He had thought it crazy when they were told; Ashura had barely just graduated from the academy and now they wanted him to prove to three allies an entire village's worth? The pressure was immense and every time he stepped out of his house, Ashura felt like everyone was staring at him and judging him as a failure.

A shining beacon of light in this dark time was a new summons by the council. He read the scroll as it talked about a second chance at a chuunin exam, a new chance for promotion. Ashura beamed as he read the scroll but the smile dropped just as fast as it told him his opponent.

Indra.

Out of everyone in the village, Indra was closest person he could call a friend. The boy was also a jinchuuriki just like him and held his own Phantom Beast, the Soul Genma. Unbeknownst to Ashura though, Indra hadn't had nearly as much progress with his Genma as the Hizashi had. While Janesisu was a lower maintenance Genma who preferred to sleep during the day and invade his dreams at night, Shishire haunted Indra and tormented him at every turn. Now, they'd have to fight each other to prove their worth not to someone else but to their own home.

Ashura blinked and the day of the fight was already here. Standing across from Indra at the opposite end of the 30m arena, a grim look was plastered on Ashura's face.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Ashura called back and wasted no time as he began to channel his chakra. He crouched down to the ground and slapped his left palm against it, the chakra invading the sandy floor of the arena and causing it to reshape into the form of a functional cannon. The cannon followed suite as a single projectile fired from it, aimed directly for Indra.

SpoilerShow

[Matter Reconstruction: Cannon]
C-rank Toukoujutsu
The user will channel their chakra and touch matter containing their own chakra or matter with no chakra, whether it be jutsu or simple equipment. The matter will reconstruct into a functioning cannon able to fire off 5 shots of the material it is made out of with [20] Strength and Speed.

[Ace Trainer]

It was a face-off! Ashura wasted no time to attack, transmuting the floor into a cannon, ready to fire off at Indra. The soul genma host frowned, how rude of his dear friend to do this! The cannon would fire off a single shot clear across the small arena. Indra would hop back and forth on his feet, and as the projectile closed in, Indra would jump into the air over the projectile as he pulled a kunai and flashbang out of his pouch, throwing them both at Ashura. As it closed in on Ashura, he'd perform a single kai symbol, landing on the ground and rushing forward.

He would hope that the flashbang would blind his opponent, and he would begin hand seals, and then form a small symbol with his hand as he crossed the arena, launching a blast of chakra forward at Ashura with [19] speed and strength, directly at him. He'd rush in from Ashura's left, aiming to keep himself out of range of the cannon and get close in to strike again at Ashura.

SpoilerShow

Pulse Blast
D-rank Ninjutsu
The user does a series of hand seals then thrust both hands forward with the thumbs and index fingers touching, causing a pulse of chakra roughly a meter in diameter to launch forward at [Control] Speed and Strength.

[Niro]

Yeah, he hadn't expected that to work anyway. Ashura watched Indra as he leapt over the projectile and tossed his own in turn. He responded in kind shifting his body closer to the cannon to avoid the kunai while firing off another shot, this one aimed at the flashbang, causing the two to collide midair halfway between the two shinobi. The flash didn't really bother Ashura from this distance but his ears were definitely ringing.

Keeping track of Indra, Ashura ducked behind the cannon drawing two kunai as the other boy fired off a blast of raw chakra. The cannon shook and groaned with cracks spidering all across its surface before Ashura channeled chakra once more and touched the cannon, turning it back into earth. Continuing his channel Ashura stared Indra down as he closed in and waited until the moment the dark haired boy was only 5 feet away to transmute the earth into a wall springing upwards beneath his charging feet. Now, hopefully, airborne from the surprise wall, Ashura tossed his two kunai at Indra's center mass whether he had sprung upwards or managed to keep his balance on the wall.

SpoilerShow

[Matter Reconstruction: Wall]
D-rank Toukoujutsu
The user will channel their chakra and touch matter containing their own chakra or matter with no chakra, whether it be jutsu or simple equipment. The matter will reconstruct into a 10x10x1m curved wall.

[Matter Deconstruction: Neutral]
C-rank Toukoujutsu
The user will channel their chakra and touch matter containing their own chakra or matter with no chakra, whether it be jutsu or simple equipment. The matter will deconstruct into the base elements which make up the object for use with other Toukoujutsu.

[Ace Trainer]

Indra charged onward at Ashura, clicking his teeth in frustration that the flash tag hadn't been succesful in stunning his friend-turned-foe, Tch. Ashura went on to destroy the cannon, surprising Indra but bringing momentary relief as it allowed him to take a more expedited path towards Ashura. He would rush forward, keeping on his toes to try and close in on Ashura as quickly as possible. This would leave him surprised when the ground lurched up from under him, thrusting him into the air. Every the agile shinobi, Indra would use it as a platform, trying to launch himself as high as possible to get more time to respond to any follow up attacks.

This was probably for the best because Ashura would throw two kunai into the air at Indra, forcing Indra to twist his body to try and dodge them. With little leverage, he'd be in something of an impossible position. The small amount of contorting he was able to do would allow him to take the kunai off center, instead slicing somewhat deep into his ribcage. He would groan, and as he descended he would begin channeling again, launching another blast of chakra downwards on Ashura as he fell. From behind the blast, Indra would continue on the same path, aiming to tackle Ashura who would hopefully be stunned by the attack. Neither of them were really close quarters fighters, but maybe Indra would be able to get the upper hand nonetheless.

[Niro]

The ringing in his ears had been replaced by the thunderous pounding of his own heartbeat as adrenaline coursed through his veins. He could feel the nervous energy coursing through his entire body and his breathing became shallow as his body finally realized this was a **fight**. His eyes followed Indra upwards as he used the wall as a springboard and then contorted himself to attempt to dodge his kunai.

'Yes!' Ashura mentally cheered to himself as the kunai carved itself across Indra's ribs. The other boy began to fall and the telltale glow of chakra once more surrounded him. His own eyes grew wide and rather than scramble away, he made a decision he hoped would end this quickly. He began his own channel, a moment behind Indras, and crossed his arms over his head as a form of weak defense in anticipation of another chakra blast the boy had just used on his cannon. Thankfully correct, the blast washed over him with enough force to force him onto his back on the ground.

As he fell, he slapped his left hand to the floor. Another wall rushed upwards right besides him to meet the diving Ashura hand on and cut off his tackle attempt.


[Same jutsu as previous post, 30 Spd 20 Str]

[Ace Trainer]

Indra sailed through the air like the angelic boy he was, a pristine image of greatness for his village. Ashura was on the offense, but Indra was prepared to win this battle. Or, so he thought. His attack landed flush with Ashura, whipping him back towards the ground and leaving him wide open for an attack. Reaching into his pocket as he soared forward at his comrade and opponent, Indra would scramble for a kunai in his pocket, his attention diverting for only a second. But a crucial second it would be. As Ashura released his chakra into the ground, it would rise up and Indra would look up just in time to realize he was out of time. He would tuck his head in the final moments, his body slamming into the wall Ashura had risen with a heavy THUD as he fall to the ground.

For a moment, Indra would go unconscious, the force of the impact reverberating through his body, and then he would slowly open his eyes, the world spinning above him, his lower body above his head slouched against the wall upside down. The sky would spin around his head, the single cloud in the sky doing circles above him like the flying nimbus. He let out an ineffectual, Uhhhh.", before lifting a single hand in the air, his wrist flipping about flimsily. Indicating he was surrendering, Indra would attempt to lift his head, only for it to drop back to the ground, the world around him fading to black.

Once again, Indra had failed the chuunin exams.