[Graded][Plotboard] First Rule of Fight Club

[Dravocn]

The unchanging expression of emotional vacancy and zero damns given still plastered on Akuma's face. The goliath's emerald green eyes were seething with a sinful wrath, as he made no attempt to go into any sort of stance, he simply stood with kunai in hand while he watched Kotaru set the boy up for target practice. Akuma's calm expression unchanging even as the boy was healed, namely because he agreed a challenge was required in order to create any semblance of progress.

As the boy was put on his feet, Akuma not even bothering to remember the name of the coward, he would keep his eyes on the boy. The Akari held his kunai, awaiting his target's natural speed to kick in. This would mean he has no way to effectively throw the kunai and hit his mark unless he somehow manages to predict the boy's movements. Even then, there would be no telling if he would catch him. He was told to throw the kunai properly... but he's not going to be able to hit his target properly. At least not yet, and not without exhausting his opponent first.

This means he'd have to exert more energy into this fight, he wouldn't have the speed to dodge, and he wouldn't have the capability to end this as quickly as he had earlier. He was going to be irritated, and he could feel the anticipation of his own failure grow. He was angry at his opponent already, to fail to this insect was an affront to him, caused only by his weakness. He needed to crush him, he needed to make sure he broke his enemy... and he had no guarantee of success.

Akuma waited, blank-faced as his mind only made him angrier, his analysis and observation combined with his understanding was not assisting in his mood whatsoever. He waited patiently, feeling his weakness and awaiting the outcome, success or failure.

[Kao]

Akari SoutaShow

• Ninjutsu: 1
• Taijutsu: 10
• Genjutsu: 1
• Stamina: 6
• Control: 2
• Strength: 5
• Speed: 10
• Instinct: 5

Kotaru had already stepped back, leaning against the tree under which Souta had been lying earlier. It was a fight between the two other Akari, and he had no intention of interfering once they started exchanging blows. His expression was calm, borderline bored now that he was out of the way, and he was watching them. Souta, meanwhile, was nervous. Akuma was huge; it was the reason he had needed the others to confront him. He knew now that he shouldn't have, especially now that Kotaru was somehow involved.

'Of all people...why did it have to be Kotaru-senpai? How does he even know Kotaru!?'

"What are you waiting for? Fuckin' start."

The jounin's voice sent a shiver down his spine. "Okay, okay. Just...okay!" Souta clenched his fists and glared at Akuma. If they wanted him to fight for real, he would! It was like Kotaru said: he was smart and clever. Maybe he didn't need the others to take down some dumb brute. The boy spread his wings and jumped up, flapping his eroshiin so that he gained height by several meters. Once he was at the apex of his jump he pulled out three shuriken And then, he charged, flying diagonally down at Akuma at nearly his full speed. At a few meters away from the giant genin he threw all three shuriken, aiming them at Akuma's chest.

[Dravocn]

The first move was made, the Eroshiin had jumped into the air and fired shuriken at him. Akuma was to use him as target practice, and as he had made clear to himself before, he wasn't going to be any good at hitting his target if his target was at their apex speed. His movements would be too slow to dodge much of any physical attacks, though it seemed the Eroshiin had decided to keep a range about him.

Throwing weapons don't tend to have the same speed as those that fire them. Akuma was a rather slow brutish figure, and since he hadn't brought out his lacrishiin, he wasn't encumbered to be any slower. He hopped to the side and rolled back onto his feet, charging like a minotaur as he threw his kunai at the flying boy. As far as Akuma figured, the boy wasn't exactly strong enough to fly or even keep altitude that well. So instead of throwing it directly at the boy, he aimed for where he should soon be.

[Kao]

A loud tsk filled the air when Akuma dodged the shuriken. He should have thrown it harder, faster. Clearly it hadn't been enough, but he wasn't deterred. He couldn't be deterred, because not only did Akuma look murderous but Kotaru was behind them and watching. He felt that if he did anything that wasn't to the jounin liking, he was in deep trouble. Souta shook the thought away and watched as Akuma followed up with an attack.

If Souta was slower, or if he hadn't been paying attention, the kunai would have hit. Akuma was smart in throwing the kunai in anticipation for where Souta would be, but Souta was no fool. At the last second he flapped his eroshiin and changed course, flying to the left and then landing on the ground. Akuma was now unarmed. Souta took the opportunity to run forward, quickly closing the distance between himself and the giant genin. With a might yell he crouched at kicked at Akuma's knees, intending to knock him off balance. Right after he kicked he would raise his fist in an uppercut, hoping to catch his larger opponent under his chin.

[Dravocn]

Akuma missed, not unexpected but it was his best shot at hitting the boy with a ranged attack at least. Failure wasn't an option, not because a jounin was watching, not because he was fighting a coward, but because he had to succeed for himself. Fear was not the driving factor here, nor was wrath, it was self-improvement. Akuma was still charging like a bull when he noticed the Eroshiin boy had begun his charge toward him as well. A speeding bullet coming toward a slow bull, this was not something that was good for him.

As Akuma saw the Eroshiin intended to begin close range combat, something Akuma wasn't shabby at, he stopped his charge. He noted the shout, something a ninja should never do, even in combat. It's a basic rule that if you shout you are informing your strikes. The next thing Akuma did was an attempt to hop over the kick and do a full rotation kick toward the boy's temple using his knee, intending to end the counter-attack by making a rough landing on the boy's leg.

As he did this he noticed the boy's fist coming up to his jaw and as he would begin to land so would the blow, knocking Akuma's head a bit upward, though hopefully landing his own attacks in the process. Akuma had to risk being hit in order to hit his speedy opponent, it is always a risk with those who are exceptionally fast, and Akuma realized this.

[Kao]

Kotaru remained behind them, watching intently. Their moves were rough to his eyes, but it was clear to him that they were doing their best to knock the snot out of the other. Souta clearly had the edge when it came to speed, but they seemed to be evenly matched when it came to their actual fighting skills. He gave a small sigh, waiting for something to change and one of them to begin to edge the other out and move close to victory. The jounin's gaze briefly moved to the kunai that Akuma had thrown, now lying forgotten in the grass, and he wondered when he would return to using kunai.

Akuma dodged the kick with a hop, but Souta's uppercut managed to find its target. There was no time to celebrate though; Akuma landed painfully on the eroshiin user's outstretched leg, and at the same time handed a kick to his temple. Souta stumbled, groaning from pain as the kick pushed him several feet back. He did his best to recover quickly and push through the throbbing pain in both his leg and head. He could only hope that his single attack had left Akuma feeling the pressure.

The kick to the temple left him dizzy. He stumbled once more, but focused enough that he was able to pull out more shuriken, two this time, and flew straight up in the air. He had the height advantage, the speed advantage. Even when the two boys fought up close, Akuma's strength didn't seem to be something he couldn't handle if he focused and braced himself enough. The blow to the head left him shaken, his vision going in and out of focus. Despite this, Souta flew into the air a few meters, flapping his wings with more vigor so that he gained height quickly. After flying vertically half a dozen meters he turned midair, throwing his shuriken right at Akuma's face. He threw the weapons with more force this time, hoping that the giant Akari would have a harder time dodging.

[Dravocn]

Akuma took the hit to the jaw, despite his determination to succeed this fight with this coward, he stumbled back as well. As his opponent was busy trying to get his barrings, Akuma did as well. Not nearly taking as long to do so as his opponent, the temple and the jaw were very different in terms of debilitation and duration. After getting his own barrings, Akuma notices that the boy was already trying to make this a more distance based fight, again their speed was their advantage, their ranged ability, not so much.

Akuma pulled out another kunai, while staring at the flying boy. He sent the kunai at the shuriken as he moved toward the kunai on the ground. The giant hoped that the disoriented boy would be caught by the recoil of either weapon when they collided. Due to his more than likely blurry vision and pulsing headache, he may not see the weapons or even be able to see the incoming familiar kunai that had been thrown at him earlier in the fight returning for a second attempt.

[Kao]

The flying kunai managed to knock one of the shuriken off track, and the other kept flying forward. Souta's second shuriken only barely missed when Akuma turned to grab the kunai from before. The eroshiin user grit his teeth and pressed forward, and when Akuma threw his kunai a second time, he changed directions midair to avoid it. Still it grazed his cheek, leaving a long cut in its wake. Getting wounded for a second time angered the boy and he growled, landing a few meters away from the giant genin.

Souta and Akuma were evenly matched when it came to their combat skills and strength, but the eroshiin had the edge with his superior strength. Unless the silent Akari could find a way to slow him down or land a decisive blow, the battle would drag and Souta had the chance to get the upper hand. Kotaru looked on as Souta seemed to try to push through his injury to his head, though it was clear to the jounin that he was still disoriented. The longer the battle went on the more he suffered; even when he landed he seemed to stumble, if only slightly. But still he fought on, taking kunai from his leg pouch this time, and the ran forward to again try to take Akuma head on.

The fact that his earlier hand to hand blow had met its target led him to believe he had a chance in close quarters combat. Unless Akuma stopped him the boy would slash for his chest horizontally left to right, following it up with a diagonal slash in the opposite direction.

[Dravocn]

Akuma was disappointed with the lack of substance to his attempt at catching the boy off guard. Apparently, the Akari's disorientation had recovered quite well. This was only a minor inconvenience. Be it as it may, Akuma wasn't prideful to say that this fight was easy, but it certainly didn't feel like this was anything close to effective training.

Akuma watched as the speedful Akari landed a bit in front of him. Taking this moment of landing to get into position, spreading his legs a bit further apart gaining and making himself sturdier. Akuma watched the boy closely as he seemed to slash wildly at him, but in a swift and rather immediate response to the first slash, Akuma jutted his fist out from nowhere. His fist directed at the boy's jaw in an attempt to stop the boy in his tracks and hopefully bring him to a stop. His enhanced durability and reflexes in his current state was hopefully enough to catch the boy in a state of confusion and weakness. Otherwise, the eroshiin's attacks would prove deep enough to hurt, though not painful enough to bring the giant down.

Jutsu UsedShow

Gift of the Tortured
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Rigid Structure]
After years of constant abuse, one develops a sort of resistance to it. It's human adaptation to get used to sensations over time. Akuma now is used to 1 inch deep cuts and lower, and bruising from blunt damage doesn't occur unless the attacker has at least 10 more strength than him. In other words, minor cuts and blunt attacks are numbed and seem to lack substance with him.

To punch brick
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Upper Body]
This taijutsu is simple in its presentation. The user keeps a makes a very swift and usually sudden swing directly into the jaw of the target. If the target isn't knocked flat on their back then they're at least staggering. 5 Strength more than the opponent's is needed to effectively use this Jutsu.

Wrecking Wall
C-Ranked Stance Taijutsu
Prerequisite: [Rigid Structure]
Carefully putting his legs a bit further apart and a slight bend in his legs, allowing a sturdier positioning. This does not hinder mobility, it causes his a firmer placement of the feet, legs, and body without making movement feel or look obtrusive. This is a rather strong and reflexive stance, meant to enhance Akuma's reaction time and durability by flexing his muscles.[/spoil]

[Kao]

Souta's attack was good, but Akuma's better. Akuma didn't try to avoid the first slash, so the kunai sliced into his clothes and tore at the skin. But before the eroshiin boy could successfully complete the second attack he was hit squarely in the jaw. It sent him stumbling backward, but Akuma's strength didn't seem to exceed his own. It hurt - a lot - but even though it left him off balance for a moment he was able to recover. The fight made one thing clear to Souta: Akuma wasn't as physically overwhelming as his stature suggested. Sure, he was strong, but during their one on one skirmish he was realizing that he never really needed his friends to take Akuma on.

The difference in the two boys wasn't in strength. Akuma's moves were more refined, more disciplined. Souta could keep up and was physically faster, that much was certain. But the eroshiin user had never trained taijutsu. His moves were wild and unperfected in comparison, and that's where Akuma would have the upper hand. Souta rushed forward again at nearly his full speed, his frustration growing, and started slashing and stabbing at Akuma's chest, arms, stomach, anywhere he could reach.

From the sidelines, Kotaru rolled his eyes. Souta's aggravation was blinding him, and from the jounin's perspective it was the beginning of the eroshiin boy's defeat. Akuma's movements showed training, discipline, while Souta's fighting style was that of a boy who trained without a real goal. He had relied too much on manipulating others instead of developing a reliable fighting style that could almost guarantee a hit. 'Won't be long now....' he thought to himself as he waited on Akuma to retaliate.

[Dravocn]

Akuma watched as his opponent had staggered back off balance from the attack, the first cut seeping through his body and creating a minor blood trickle. It tore his skin a bit, which only seemed to prove he had to do a bit more durability training. Akuma then would watch the Eroshiin begin to think, noticing the increase in self-confidence on the boy's face. This told Akuma that the boy had overestimated him before, and now is compensating by underestimating him now.

The disrespect was disregarded, keen to take advantage of the lack of faith in Akuma's abilities, Akuma made a small rotation backward as he saw the boy start to charge at him. Using the force of his attack and the momentum and speed of the Eroshiin's charging at him, he thrust his fist forward to the boy's face with a step forward and a correctional rotation forward as well. The wild fury and desperation that was within his opponent were used against him. In hopes that his fist would connect properly, Akuma remained calm and composed expecting that his clarity of mind and body would assist in his physical abilities.

For someone so large and bulky, he wasn't as stupid as most would assume him to be. He was actually fairly good at math and science, he wasn't as brutish as he seems physically and just as reserved as he sounds. Which was why he was using the science and math in hopes to calculate the power of his punch and the damage it could do to this boy if it succeeded. Another 'risk for better reward' attempt since, if he missed, it wouldn't likely go very well for him due to the wild attacks the boy has shown in this fight.

Jutsu UsedShow

Haymaker
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Upper Body]
Akuma takes a step forward, rotating his body ever so slightly to one side before shotgunning his fist forward with a simultaneous straightening of the arm and return rotation of his body and another step forward with force. Having at least 5 strength more than the target will knock the target back, having 10 more strength than the target will knock them flat on their butt.

[Kao]

Akuma hit his mark, but unfortunately for him it wouldn't have the effect he probably desired. Their physical strength was deadlocked, and Souta was barely knocked back a step or two by the impact. He was certainly cowardly, but there was no real difference in the strength of their blows. After the hit and taking only two small steps back, Souta went back to slashing and slicing at the taller genin's chest, his movements becoming a bit more focused as his confidence grew. The speed of his slashes increased greatly, reflecting Souta's superior speed, and unless Akuma could disarm him or get him to fight at a distance again, he was surely to to land a few hits and the fight could shift in his favor. Until then, Souta slashed horizontally at Akuma's chest, followed immediately and swiftly by a jab to Akuma's gut.

Kotaru watched on, noting that Souta was beginning to understand that he not only had a significant speed advantage over Akuma, but when it came to strength, Akuma wasn't necessarily physically stronger than Souta. He was simply larger. That knowledge alone made the eroshiin user more confident, and it was up to Akuma to turn the fight to his favor before Souta landed a decisive blow.

[Dravocn]

Akuma had connected the attack. The lack of power despite the momentum of the Eroshiin coming at him gave Akuma pause. Though the lack of time to reflect only insisted to Akuma that the difference in speed was still a severe advantage to the boy. So in response, Akuma could only take the attacks. He didn't move, simply watching the boy as he slashed at his chest feverishly. The kunai continued making cuts in Akuma's chest but nothing that made him flinch so much, while the child was attacking Akuma made a point to stare and do nothing.

While his external body was unmoving and non-reactive, Akuma was charging his chakra to see if he could get an advantage of his own. The Akari giant sent his chakra down to his feet, he wasn't exactly the greatest at ninjutsu but he didn't have to expend much energy in trying to generate the effects he desires. The chakra flowing from the pit of his existence down to the heels of his feet, he made a single and swift movement, stomping on the ground to send the earth crunching on the Eroshiin's feet.

After this, even if the jutsu didn't work in the way he had hoped, Akuma would attempt to use the distraction to once again to strike at the boy's temples with his fists. Responding in kind with another Haymaker while remaining in his stance. The durability he had gained from his father's abuse was something he was quite thankful for, as otherwise, this would have been a quick failure on his part... namely due to his weaknesses in combat he has yet to work the kinks out of yet.

Jutsus UsedShow

Gift of the Tortured
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Rigid Structure]
After years of constant abuse, one develops a sort of resistance to it. It's human adaptation to get used to sensations over time. Akuma now is used to 1 inch deep cuts and lower, and bruising from blunt damage doesn't occur unless the attacker has at least 10 more strength than him. In other words, minor cuts and blunt attacks are numbed and seem to lack substance with him.

*Doton • Binding Formation
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After channeling doton chakra into their foot the user will slam the ground within 3 meters of a target's feet with their heel, causing a formation of rock to shoot upwards at a speed of 6 binding the target's feet at a strength of 4.

Wrecking Wall
C-Ranked Stance Taijutsu
Prerequisite: [Rigid Structure]
Carefully putting his legs a bit further apart and a slight bend in his legs, allowing a sturdier positioning. This does not hinder mobility, it causes his a firmer placement of the feet, legs, and body without making movement feel or look obtrusive. This is a rather strong and reflexive stance, meant to enhance Akuma's reaction time and durability by flexing his muscles.

Brick Breaker
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Upper Body]
This is simple, a straight fist to the chest of the opponent with about as much force as one would expect they would need to break a wall of brick. This attack is meant to either knock the opponent back or knock the wind straight out of them. You need 5 or more strength higher than the target in order for this to work to full effect.

Haymaker
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
Prerequisites: [Upper Body]
Akuma takes a step forward, rotating his body ever so slightly to one side before shotgunning his fist forward with a simultaneous straightening of the arm and return rotation of his body and another step forward with force. Having at least 5 strength more than the target will knock the target back, having 10 more strength than the target will knock them flat on their butt.

[Kao]

Even with his superior speed, the doton technique caught Souta off guard. He didn't expect such a brute to use ninjutsu at all. From such a close distance, and since he wasn't prepared, the doton technique caught his feet, and for a moment he struggled to get out of the earth's grip. That moment was all it took for Akuma to land another punch to Souta's temple. Again, the punch wouldn't be as effective as Akuma hoped, as there wasn't much difference in their strength. It hurt the eroshiin user and sent his head spinning, but with a few quick shuffling motions of his feet, Souta managed to stay upright.

His head was throbbing. The two genin were still at a stalemate and Souta found it frustrating. Akuma's durability was formidable and he didn't react to the slices. But that didn't change the fact that Akuma was freely bleeding; if Souta could drag this out, the blood loss would get to him. Free from the doton's grip, Souta once more took to the air, flying only five feet above Akuma's head and five feet in front of him. Souta gripped the kunai in one hand, the other hand's palm against the pommel. The change in position took only a couple of seconds, but he still gave Akuma little time to react. This time when he flew forward he would slash horizontally, left to right, and he would aim closer for Akuma's throat.

[Dravocn]

The boy had been caught in the binding jutsu, though only long enough to get one punch in. The boy seemed to be reeling from the pain but pushed through in order to hover and attack from above. Akuma was getting very tired of this, and his bleeding was going to be problematic if he didn't end this quick enough to make it to the hospital. There was nothing savory or finesse about what needed to be done, he didn't have enough skill nor power to properly punish this flying Eroshiin as he wanted.

The giant, stonefaced and angry, rolled forward. He assumed the boy's speed would allow him to follow rather quickly so as soon as he was out of range for a second, he pushed his feet downward at the ground and launched himself up. Not knowing if he would be followed of if his rocketed headbutt would connect, he pulled a two kunai and spun his body, launching one kunai at the wings to clip them, and another in case he missed, keeping an eye on his opponent as much as he could.

[Kao]

To his dismay, Souta's attack to the giant's throat didn't connect. Given their proximity he thought for sure the attack would hit, but Akuma managed to roll forward and avoid the potentially deadly slice. Akuma changed his position and went for a head butt, and the move connected painfully. Souta cried out, flying backward several feet as his vision spotted, and he was disoriented enough that he didn't see the kunai coming. They hit his eroshiin one after the other, and blood poured from the wounds.

The boy tried to flap his wings to take off again, but the injuries left him unable to properly gain flight. He faced Akuma from the ground, backing up to put roughy fifteen feet between them. Now that he wasn't able to properly fly, he found himself at a disadvantage. He was cycling through his options when he heard a noise behind them, the loud sound of two claps.

"Better," Kotaru said, eying Akuma. "Still needs work, but it's an improvement from before." Kotaru hadn't moved from his spot. He had watched the two boys with waning interest, and when Akuma finally succeeded in hitting both of Souta's wings, he'd had enough. "That's enough for now. Go tend to your wounds, both of you."

"I can still fight!" Souta's face was flushed a deep red, his teeth clenched to the point that it looked painful. The fact that he couldn't easily defeat Akuma alone was clearly getting to him, and the murderous glint in his eyes intensified. Unfortunately for him, Kotaru didn't care.

"I said that's enough. It's bad enough you attacked someone outside of the compound. Consider yourself lucky that your only punishment is embarrassment." Souta looked as though he wanted to protest again, but a dark look from Kotaru silenced him. "Go. Don't let me catch you here again." Reluctantly, Souta dismissed his eroshiin, and as soon as he did so it seemed the pain from his injuries affected him more. His face paled and he turned slowly to leave. Kotaru turned his attention back to Akuma and said, "You'll bleed out if you don't get that taken care of." The jounin purposefully didn't bother to mention that he could have healed the wound himself. At that moment, the giant meant little to him, and he didn't care enough to expend the energy to heal the boy himself.

[Dravocn]

Akuma by some miracle had connected with all of his attacks, his mild disorientation from the blood loss and spinning had faded a bit so as to see the result of his victim. The large boy watched the eroshiin, it seemed to be more tattered now thanks to the attempts to clip the wings. However, there wasn't much time to examine his opponent, rather, he had his own wounds to take care of. That was the thing about his current amount of power, he wasn't anywhere near the peak of physical capability, and he hated this fact. The bleeding only reminded him of his body's vulnerability and mortality.

He watched Souta, his anger for the boy's insolence had diminished for his combat skills. Although he didn't want wings, nor cared to gain them, he would be interested in fighting the boy again. He stared at the eroshiin user, there was nothing that the wanted from the boy, if anything the boy's ability to harm him was proof that he needed more training.

Akuma rolled his neck, listening to the two Akari. The thing about blades is they leave open wounds to bleed out, rather than flood the insides of the body. One's vision would slowly seep away from them, but Akuma pressed onward toward the hospital. The large boy had a few things he needed to be done after his recovery, there was no reason for this much weakness. The problem he had was his need to entrust his body to those in the hospital while hoping that they won't eat him or let him get eaten, it wasn't a huge issue, just something to be wary of. The Akari had designated spots to conduct their clan's behaviors, but if he can be ambushed in the middle of a park in broad daylight, then clearly there were people stupid enough to conduct such things outside of their bounds.

Akuma had plenty of training that needed done, he couldn't allow this to happen again, not by those as weak as he is now. Not by cowards. Not by mindless drones conducting idiocy at the behest of those who claim to be their betters. If anything was going to get done, then his body needed to recover from its battering. Weakness was not tolerable, not even his own.