Naruto Saigen Roleplay

The Third Training Ground was a hollowed training ground where Konoha shinobi had honed their skill for centuries. Nearly every Hokage had once been a child, fighting on this ground. Nearly every Genin had spent intimate time here training their shuriken techniques, kawarimi, and the essential to land the title of shinobi. It was positioned inside Konoha, with a mountain landscape to the north and a deep river cutting through the middle of it, a dense forest on either side. In the center was a glade with three stumps lined to either side.

A memorial stone was nearby. A granite structure shaped not to dissimilar to that of a kunai, yet still distinctly a memorial. It was a solemn note that the dead watched over this ground, and the young kept them company whilst at the same time giving every young shinobi on the field a glimpse of what would befell them if they did not keep up on their skills.

Sitting on top of one of the wooden pillars was a man with flowing, long grey locks. A cigarette poked out of his mouth. He wore a simple black yukata, a haori over it, and hakama pants. He had summoned three bright young individuals to this training ground today to give a special training- one befitting members of the hallowed org they had belonged to.

An angel on his shoulder comically shaped like a chibiko Fanho reminded him not to be to rough on the next generation. Meanwhile a creepy figure- similar to Tenzin, sat aside his other shoulder. It whispered words like "iron must be forged then sharpened" and several other dark thoughts into his ear.

The real answer was definitely the latter.

He looked up to the soon and guessed the approximate time. It was starting to set shining an orange warm grow onto the training field.

Who would arrive first?

Nakano had been targeted by the ANBU program when she was in the academy. From a young age it was obvious that she had the disposition to do what needed to be done. The only problem was controlling her. This was something that had gotten her much surveillance and deliberation about different techniques that could be used to control her. The Yamanaka mind seal had been placed on her to give her certain boundaries, but unbeknownst to anyone, Nakano had the mind seal removed during a mission, and she had failed to report it. The only thing holding her back now was herself, and that was a rather flimsy barrier. Fortunately to the village of Konoha there was Takeshi. Takeshi was a ferocious lover, more than she had been expecting and she hadn’t realized just how much her other appetites were being curbed by getting Takeshi’s attention to detail and ensuring that she was satisfied. Hyuuga Takeshi’s relationship with Nakano was still a secret at the present due to the complications of their clan, but it was also the thing that was keeping Nakano loyal to the village.

She had graduated from the initiated program, ROOT, after she had shown her development in preparation for hostilities with another country. Fortunately things did not come to the home front, but she had been more than prepared to defend the village. She passed a Chuunin exam held for herself and was even promoted to a Special Jounin due to her expertise in Iijutsu. It was arguable the thing that she was the best at, but she did have other talents as well. Nakano’s mask was the Rabbit. Usagi was the code name. Takeshi had chosen the calligraphy style lines that made the profile of the rabbit mask to be purple. She donned the mask for the first time. Her manner of dress was different from her usual gear and was instead in the all black manner of the Konoha Anbu with the Cloak. This would be her first time doing anything with a squad and anything remotely close to a mission.

Nakano had arrived early, earlier than any of her other squad mates and began surveillance of the area. She ideally would have littered the area with trips, but the issue was that other teams would use the field in between their training session so Nakano hadn’t found an opportunity to place traps. She could have placed the traps anyway, she didn’t really care about what happened to stupid genin teams, or even her comrades, but it would be an inconvenience. Yes. Inconvenience was the name of the game. It was the other thing that kept her in line. If there was no Takeshi, Nakano’s adherence to any rules predicated on whether it was more inconvenient to break the rules than to keep them, and thus far it was more convenient for her to stay in the boundaries. So, she didn’t apply any traps like what she had preferred. The other unfortunate part about this, was that she was being forced to engage in a fighting style that she really had no interest in.

A straight forward spar? This really wasn’t her style. It was her least favorite kind of engagement, it was a wonder to her that Konoha seemed to be under the habit of ordering her to engage in these little spars.

The field was glowing with a cinematic orange. Cinematic because such a scene belonged more to the cinema than to a fight between shinobi. There wouldn’t be any holding back in this spar. People would get hurt, and that included Nakano. She heard talk of the Infamous Taiga. His current bounty was 230 Ryo, at least last time that she had checked. Nakano did find the thought appealing that he might accidentally die under the assault of an ANBU squad and that she could cash in on the body using his body. Wouldn’t Konoha get mad at her? Or maybe she could sell the body to Konoha. She brushed teh fantasies away like so much sleep. In her opinion, it wasn’t likely that she would be the one to walk away with the bounty, after all she could argue that while she felt she matched anyone for their level of cunning, she lacked in the physical combat department.

This was exactly Why Nakano was hiding currently and why Nakano had used her talent with the Yamanaka jutsu to break her mind into pieces. She would embed one piece in each of her team mates minds allowing all of them to communicate wordlessly within 100 meters of each other.

’’This is Usagi, Testing connection. It might feel a little weird and take some getting used to, but this will allow us to share our thoughts with one another. We should be able to coordinate a lot better this way and we’ll be able to avoid having our strategy over heard. I’ll leave the orders to you Captain. She thought to her teammates

Ninjutsu - Mind Network Jutsu
A rank Yamanaka
After channeling the seals, the Yamanaka projects pieces of their mind in up to control/5 people. Each individual affected will be able to communicate mentally with anyone else affected by the technique, as well as with the user of the jutsu. The range of this technique is 100 meters, and anyone who wants to communicate must be in the radius. An affected person can leave and re-enter the radius and continue to communicate as before as long as the jutsu is still active.

750/750

The young spider made her way to the infamous training ground as the sun set over the village of Konohagakure, the orange sky slowly darkening as night threatened to creep in. Or at least, something that looked like Aiya - The girl had been working on the use of clone techniques, and had recently taken to adding her elemental affinity into the mix. And so, while the real Aiya waited 10 meters underground, tracking the movements of her clone via the vibrations of it's footsteps as she swam through the dirt beneath it, the clone simply approached the training ground. In it's hand, the woman's trusty staff, used casually as a sort of walking stick while she approached. Once the monument was in sight, as well as the three columns, the clone took a look around it's surroundings. Of course it noticed Taiga on the column, but it didn't take notice of anyone else. Of course, that didn't mean that she was the only one present - She had to expect that Takeshi would've gotten a head start. But this newcomer... she didn't know what to expect from them.

That is, until below the earth, the real Aiya felt a sudden twinge in her mind. Instinctively her hand moved to her head, a mild throbbing radiating through her as the voice made itself known. Mmph... Not a fan of voices in my head. But you're right, this is much more covert than even the ear pieces. This is Tsuchigumo, I'm 10 meters under the clone in front of the monument, be aware of that. I'm running blind right now, but I can feel through the earth once the man touches the ground. It was clear that Aiya was intending on using the clone as a distraction, or as a "first line of defense", to take or lead the first attack while the real Aiya intended on using the clone's movements as a shroud to ambush from within.

The clone had made it's way to the monument by now, looking down at the names while Taiga sat on the column nearby. "If these battles keep up, we may have to add more room for the names." The clone said, a lilt of sorrow to her voice. It turned it's head to look at Taiga now, it's eyes centered on the cigarette in it's mouth. "Those things'll get you, you know. I guess I made the right choice, not coming overdressed." The girl, or rather her clone, was wearing her usual attire - no spec of ANBU gear was on her person. However, the true Aiya underground was clad in her entire outfit, including the mask she had recently carved after becoming a full fledged operative - "Tsuchigumo", the Ground Spider. It was in the shape of a spider's face, with six eyes bordered by brown paint and a dark green covering the lower portion of the face.

Come on, make a move... Aiya thought idly to herself underground, waiting for some kind of signal to spring into action.

Its been a while since Noeru had worn his ANBU gear. The Senju was stood in front of a cabinet with a mannequin inside, clothed with the renowned outfit. He was looking at his mask, Kitsune, the fox. That was his name in the underground organisation. And he felt he had failed to live up to the name. There was nothing foxy about him. The failure of performance in the defence of Sunagakure, which lead to the death of the Hokage, a loss of his kidney and serious damage to Sunagakure. And he an ANBU Captain allowed himself to be captured, interrogated, and he had to be rescued by the current Hokage and one of his family members. He let out a sigh. His orders were to meet with his old squad at a specific training ground, at a designated time. An order was an order, he was still a member and had to fulfil his duties. But placing that mask on his face troubled him, he could not bring himself to place it on his face as he was not worthy of wearing it. He could not do it, he also could not show up to the training ground without it, he would have to do something about the mask.

Noeru opened the cabinet and withdrew the mask with his left hand. With his right, he took out a kunai from his holster and in one smooth motion, he cut into the mask. two cuts appeared on the mask diagonally, intercepting each other at the mid point of one another, specifically at the point where the nose was. Noeru looked at the symbolic cross that was on the mask and felt a little bit better about putting it on his face. That would be the last thing he would put on though, he had a routine for this, almost a ritual, and he loved it Few minutes later he was stood in front of the mirror fully clad in his ANBU gear, he decided to put on a black cloak as he was not sure how long they would be out there for, so it may come in handy. With his equipment all ready to go, Noeru took his leave, jumping out of his window and dashing along the roof tops of the Senju compound to then jump onto the streets of Konoha and move at maximum speed to the training grounds, taking side streets and alleyways to stay out of sight.

It did not take him long to get to the destination. From a little way away he could see two figures stood in the training ground, Aiya, and the other he did not recognise. He was unaware of a new members being allocated to his squad, but it was good to see that his squad was gaining new members, especially when they were about to face one of the strongest in the village,a Banin and his relative, Sarutobi Taiga.

As he approached the two, one of whom was nearing the ANBU outfit, he began hearing someone speak in his mind. 'Being back here feels strange, its been awhile since we fought together, Aiya' Noeru thought realising they were communicating through a Yamanaka jutsu, utilised by the new member. Noeru slowed down to walking speed as he approached. He stood in the middle of the three, with Usagi to his right and Tsuchigumo to his right. His gaze was fixated on the Banin sat on the wooden pillar, smoking a cigarette. 'He has not changed at all. Noeru thought as his eyes looked through the slits of his mask at the man. Aiya was right, eventually those would take his life.

Shortly after Noerus gaze moved to the new member, Usagi. "I'm Kitsune, glad to have you on board." Kitsune thought before his gaze moved back to the Banin. There was one more member they were waiting for, without whom they would struggle to put up a fight against Taiga. The Hyuuga, Tengu, was probably their best asset right now. With their skills being pretty unfamiliar to each other, with their teamwork being out of whack, tat team would have to work overtime to co-ordinate with each other, to actually inflict some meaningful damage and change the course of this fight. Without even realising it, Kitsune was becoming excited. This would be the first fight he was in since the Sunagakure failure, and he wanted to do his best to prove to himself that he was worthy of the mask he was wearing.

[756]

Wearing a red-faced birds mask and dressed all in black beneath a matte grey captain’s cloak, the youngest member of the squad remained still as stone. He had chosen a suitable vantage point, within the forest, across the river from Taiga with the setting sun at his back. Bow readied and arrow notched he had found a stable position, 14 meters high and 8 meters back into the foliage. With his Byakugan active he was able to determine the positions of his teammates and was fortunately within the 100-meter range of Usagi’s technique. From here he could coordinate the flow of battle and give direction to his team. Captain Tengu sighted in Sarutobi Taiga, the Legendary Bannin whom he had trained with in the past, albeit briefly. The distance was roughly 60 meters. A comfortable sniping range for the talented young Special Jounin. ‘Captain Tengu, in position, 14 meters elevation, across the river. Our target for this training exercise is a Jinchuuriki capable of phasing through and merging with physical matter including but likely not limited to; steel, stone and even flesh, though there may be a limit or a transition time between substances that we can exploit. Tsuchigumo, you’ve got the right idea. He will likely try to merge with your clone when it engages in close combat. That’s when we strike. Usagi, use suiton to envelop him and the clone both when he gets close to it. Offensive Iijutsu techniques may be effective if he gets close to you. Kitsune, I want you using Raiton as much as possible.’ He relayed to his squad. It didn’t feel right giving the order to attack just yet. This was a training session after all so he would wait for Taiga to announce the start of the spar before expecting his squad to react.

Whatever opportunities presented themselves throughout the skirmish, Tengu would be ready to take advantage of them. His intel of Taiga was a few years old, despite both being captains and having comparable clearance they weren’t required to keep a complete list of their jutsu in the Anbu archives. What he knew was not from records but rather from first-hand experience. Takeshi had only been a Genin at the time when he watched Taiga compete in the Aroma country tournament, famously defeating Karagata Shinjiro, a previously undefeated Champion of such tournaments 10 years running. There was no doubt that Taiga was among the strongest shinobi in the world. If he was serious their squad wouldn’t stand a chance, but with the right teamwork and enough restraint from their opponent they might at least be able to pressure him. The exercise after all was not a test of their strength but rather their ability to coordinate with one another. Taiga had saved Noeru and reunited their squad, now with the addition of Nakano they had the potential to become the most elite Konoha squad of their generation, if they weren’t already. He would observe Taiga, notching an arrow and the moment the man signaled the start of the training or made an aggressive motion, Tengu would give the command, ‘Engage!’, he instructed as he pulled the arrow back to full draw and began channelling chakra.

phpBB [video] Taiga had projected a seemingly lackadaisical pose and casual demeanor as he sat upon the pillar, smoking his cigarette. To the world he was known by many titles not limited to the hero of Konohagakure or the champion of fur country, but to a select few including those he had summoned here today he was known as Tanuki. The shadow beneath the fire itself; the kage (影) to the ho (火).

Tengu, Tsuchigumo, Kitsune, and Usagi.

He iterated through each of the profiles in his head that he had summoned to this field as he took a long drag and shifted the composition of his lower body to stone and wood, his thighs and bottom ever so subtly dipping into the pillar upon which he sat. Merely rolling his eyes in defiance to the comments of Tsuchigumo and Kitsune, he began to spread out his senses through the very earth beneath there feet, acutely aware that Tengu not being present was a sign that something smelly was happening here and very soon after keen to the fact that someone was hidden in the ground directly in front of him. It was likely Tsuchigumo- given their name was basically dirt spider, it would make sense.

Lowering the cigarette from his mouth, held betwexnst his two fingers Taiga let loose a slight chuckle befitting of his title of Tanuki- noting that he was dealing with a group of little tricksters. Time slowed around the man as he prepared his own little counter-assault.

Though he generally did not waste time playing with children, this group of individuals was special- not just because one of them was his cousin. Taiga believed this was the next generation of Konohagakure and had taken an individual interest in each of them. He'd just have to out-start their out-starting maneuver.

With a click of his teeth, he flicked the cigarette into the air as it spiraled up, up, and away as he nearly instantly dropped through the pillar at his full speed. He'd use the pillar first to guard against any attacks that may come from Tengu, whom he could only assume was somewhere just outside of his range waiting to skewer him with his pesky bow. Channeling chakra he plunged his arms into the earth and reinforced the ground out up to 20 meters radius (30 strength) It would be strong enough to lock down whoever it was down there who had decided it was a good place to be against him- the Earth Jinchuuriki.

Further our would be unchanged.

Finishing his technique and channeling again, he'd burst out of the pillar forward dragging out a chunk of it's material enough to form a bo-staff, and as he did so, he'd avoid using tailwind or anything complex to make it a more fairly-leveled fight. Though he had no intention of going easy on them he didn't think the exercise was useful if it ended right out the gate. Plus- he really wanted to see what level they could put up with.

As he became a blur rapidly ejecting out the pillar he would throw the staff for Usagi at [25 strength] then rush for Noeru, aiming to throw a punch directly at his face.

The cigarette, mean while, would come back down under the force of gravity as it gently smushed itself a top the pillar putting it's smolders out completely.

If Takeshi is going to snipe, I need to use CQC and stay too close to his allies to make it not worthwhile. Stay on the hallowed ground and between as many of them as I can.

The ritual of combat between generations had begun.

‘Captain Tengu, in position, 14 meters elevation, across the river. Our target for this training exercise is a Jinchuuriki capable of phasing through and merging with physical matter including but likely not limited to; steel, stone and even flesh, though there may be a limit or a transition time between substances that we can exploit. Tsuchigumo, you’ve got the right idea. He will likely try to merge with your clone when it engages in close combat. That’s when we strike. Usagi, use suiton to envelop him and the clone both when he gets close to it. Offensive Iijutsu techniques may be effective if he gets close to you. Kitsune, I want you using Raiton as much as possible.’ The captain relayed mentally to the squad. The fact that he could merge with materials meant that one would have to be wary of what was nearby. Didn’t this make most elemental jutsu useless against him? So the win condition was now created. Pin him down so that Takeshi can land a clean hit. ‘Engage!’

’Standby Tsuchigumo, I got a jutsu that will free you.’ Nakano responded via thought.

At Tengu’s instruction, Nakano was already performing the seals for the water dragon projectile. Her control was one of her best features. Her keen eyes saw Racoon’s merging with the ground, and thanks to the Mind Network technique which was still active, it could communicate at the speed of thought what exactly had occurred to Tsuchigumo. As he had finished channeling his technique, had been done with channeling her own attack a fraction of a second sooner. She was faster in this one regard it would seem. Racoon had converted the wood pillar into a bostaff and was already throwing it her way, but the benefit of this was that even though the attack was fast it still had to travel, and Nakano only needed to move an inch to avoid the attack. So an inch she moved, her focus maintained, the bo staff whizzed past her and embedded itself in a tree that was 2 meters away from her. She was already preparing for a follow up jutsu while her water dragon went to work freeing Tsuchigumo.

Thanks to the Mind Network, Nakano was already aware of Tsuchigumo exact position so there was no chance of any team killing as she had alreayd took a measure of the power she would need. Nakano’s jutsu Suiton • Water Dragon Projectile tore through the prison that Raccoon had made for Tsuchigumo with 40 strength and speed, nearly as soon as it had been created. The jutsu burrowed the 10 meters into the ground creating a tunnel that Tsuchigumo could use to escape, should she decide to Despite being a power of the Earth Genma this was not an Doton jutsu and lacked the passive of remaining, this meant that the ground would be pliable again and would be something that Tsuchigumo would be able to move through once more, the technique having been destroyed by Nakano’s stronger water technique. However, it seemed to Nakano that remaining underground didn’t seem like a good idea.

As the Water Dragon Projectile completed its task, Nakano’s next jutsu was already done. She was within ten meters of Raccoon by virtue of her being close to Kitsune and Raccoon having charged him. It was a basic Yamanaka technique. ~Ninjutsu • Thought Insertion. It wouldn’t matter if Taiga would be able to determine if the thought was inserted by her - in the heat of the moment it would be impossible to ignore and would be more than enough to create a pause as Raccoon would have to first recognize an attack on his own mind and that the thought was false information. The thought was a simple one. It was the impression that there was an attack from Tengu aimed directly in front of him as he went for his punch with Kitsune.

’Right in front of me!’ Nakano would make Taiga think. Even a second’s pause would make him lose all of his momentum. Because of the simplicity of the thought insertion Jutsu Nakano was able to perform this technique even faster than she had the water dragon projectile.

Even though Konoha was home to the Yamanaka there were few and far in between that had trained their mind to be able to resist attacks on it. She didn’t even need to take over his body. As long as she was nearby she could assault his mind directly, and even if he came to realize it he would begin to doubt his own thoughts as it would become impossible to tell in the cacophony of 4 people attacking him which thoughts were his own. Nakano’s hands were already getting ready for another jutsu.

Through the use of her chakra extensively, Nakano trained +1 Chakra Pool

750/750

~Ninjutsu • Thought Insertion
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the hand seals, the Yamanaka sends a portion of their consciousness out at a speed of [Control] and a range of 10 meters. If it makes contact with the target, the Yamanaka can insert a single thought into the target's head. Things such as "this is a bad idea", "Don't go in there" and "attack this." The target will be unable to discern where the thought appeared from if they have less Will Power than the user's Control. The user has a -1 Will Power for the duration of the technique.

*Suiton • Water Dragon Projectile
B-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user creates a dragon head of water. Once it has been created, the user can launch the three-meter diameter projectile towards a target at [Control] Speed and Strength for up to 40 meters. Following the head is a long body and tail, stretching nearly six-meters. During the course of it's travel, the user may alter the course of the dragon three times, allowing it to complete a U-turn per alteration.

Ninjutsu - Mind Network Jutsu
A rank Yamanaka
After channeling the seals, the Yamanaka projects pieces of their mind in up to control/5 people. Each individual affected will be able to communicate mentally with anyone else affected by the technique, as well as with the user of the jutsu. The range of this technique is 100 meters, and anyone who wants to communicate must be in the radius. An affected person can leave and re-enter the radius and continue to communicate as before as long as the jutsu is still active.

Underneath the rock and stone, the young Ibakuro waited for a sign of something, anything that might indicate that Taiga was preparing to attack. But the information given to her by Tengu immediately struck her. Jinchuuriki? You're kidding. How did I not know this? The woman cursed her in mind as she realized who exactly they were fighting. She obviously knew of Sarutobi Taiga, one of the two Jinchuuriki of her village, but she had never met the man before today. And she certainly didn't realize that he was Captain Tanuki. Instantly memories of Shinjiro came to her mind, and of the boy she met in the forest - Ibuku, the other from Konoha. These spirits were cropping up more often in her life nowadays, and it was becoming a nuisance. She'd have to start coming up with better ways of dealing with these sorts of things...

'This is gonna be tricky for me... I'm not sure if I can even hit him if he can just phase through matter.' Could any of them really hit this guy? Suiton, Doton, Mokuton, and of course all of their weapons were all physical matter. Tengu was right, there had to be some kind of way through that ability... But suddenly Aiya felt a brief touch on the earth above her from Taiga's position. It was time, and yet as the young Spider moved to swim through the earth towards her prey, the earth suddenly prevented her passage. 'Shit, I'm stuck!' Aiya called out through her mind to her teammates, as it seemed Taiga could also reinforce whatever he came into contact with too. Luckily, it seemed her teammates had a plan. However, as the water dragon came crashing down on the ground to break Aiya free from her earthen tomb, the immense shockwave that the impact sent through the earth may as well have been a flashbang to her sense of touch. She was effectively blind, her head rattling as the reinforcement was broken. But luckily, Takeshi wasn't.

And through the link, Aiya was able to use the perception of a Hyuuga, getting her first good look at Taiga as he rushed out of the wooden pillar towards Noeru. But Aiya was free to move the earth again, and with as much speed as she could muster she aimed to rush up through the earth to Noeru's defense. If successful, Aiya would emerge from the earth in a burst of dirt and dust, arm thrust in the sky as a white poof of smoke would bring her silver shield from her fuuinjutsu to her hand. Raising this shield against Taiga's fist, she aimed to bash shield first into the man's punch as it impacted against the center of the shield, leaning into her shield in an attempt to throw their opponent backwards. The force of her shield reflecting Taiga's own punch back into him, plus her own force pushing back at him, would hopefully be enough to send him away. She'd then poof away her shield a moment later with another channeled chakra kai, exchanging the protective piece with her bow in her left hand, and five arrows in the other.

Quickly notching all five arrows, she'd let loose all five at once, aiming to turn Taiga into a pincushion.

So this is how Takeshi sees all the time? No wonder he's so much better than me with that bow of his...

---

'Understood' Kitsune replied as the squad leader dished out the orders. Concentrating on using raiton would be a perfect way for him to get some practice in with the element. It had been a while since he learnt to use it, and there were techniques which he wanted to play around with. His gaze peered through the mask and remained fixated on Tanuki as he moved from the pillar and worked his skills to make their life more difficult. Usagi was quick to offer support to Tsuchigumo, helping her escape from the earth prison Tanuki had trapped her in. It all happened rapidly, and Kitsune was just as rapid to react. The moment Tanuki made his move, the cloaked operators hand flew into a flurry of hand signs. A moment later, his body was engulfed in roaring flames. This was his armour for the fight. Knowing he was not much of a hand to hand combatant, he had to resolve to using ninjutsu to support his weak points, and this jutsu was the result. Roaring flames that would protect him, and burn anyone who would come in contact with them. A defensive technique well done.

Kitsune was not done yet however. Once his defensive technique was set in place, his hands turned into a flurry once more, this time it was going to be an offensive technique. His right gloved hand crackled with electricity as he focussed his chakra on that point. A Moment later a ball shot out of it which took shape of a hawk withing milliseconds and swerved to the right of Tsuchigumo who had erupted from the ground in his defence, utilising her shield and size to block and slam against Tanuki, hopefully sending him backwards. This was the perfect opportunity for his lightning technique, however he knew the power behind this move as so he had to be careful.

Kitsune was able to control the hawk through a crackling strand of lightning that was connected to his crackling right hand. The hawk swerved around Tsuchigumo and remained close to the ground. Moving at rapid speeds, Kitsune controlled the bird in a way the would drive Tanuki away from them, and place itself in an area that would not harm any of his allies. The aim was to slam into the Tanuki, electrocuting him, and giving them a chance to land a meaningful blow, which Tengu was ready to deliver.

[404]

Tengu observed as his target submerged into the pillar. It would be difficult to get a clean shot against the man, perhaps a long-ranged attack was futile but it was important to test some of the teams standard tactical formations before adapting to other sequences. Tsuchigumo in particularly would likely be more of a liability than an asset against this particular opponent. Unfortunately, Taiga countered Aiya perfectly on all fronts, and as team leader Takeshi would need to find a way to overcome that.

Fortunately, his allies were quick thinkers themselves and quite capable even without direct instruction. Usagi was quick at work to break Aiya free of the earthen prison that had been formed around her. As the water dragon formed, Tengu would let loose his arrow, anticipating Taiga’s path. Holstering the bow across his back, the young man leaped into the air, wind forming against his feet as he glided through the sky and dashed across the river. He would need to be closer and limit his opponent’s reaction time, he was simply too fast and agile to contend with from long range.

As Aiya emerged and Noeru erupted in flames Takeshi’s Fuuton encased arrow would trail Taiga, aiming between his shoulder blades but ready to shift direction at the last second to follow the man or divert toward the ground in order to avoid any potential friendly fire. Flanking from the opposite side from Usagi, Tengu would strafe from a distance of about 20 meters from Taiga. And as Kitsune’s ration birds sprang into existence, the Hyuuga would draw the legendary sword, Anger, running a free hand along the side of the weapon, causing it to dismantle into hundreds of small shards. Stretching his hands outward he would launch the shards toward the hawks, intending on electrifying the cloud of shrapnel as it closed in on Taiga, aiming to only cover him in small cuts while moving around Aiya as she attempted to leap back and launch a series of arrows into the fray. Both Kitsune and Tengu were capable of powerful techniques not ordinarily used in training. This level of intensity was reserved only for sparring with Bannin-level opponents.

In the glory of combat, Taiga often felt truly at peace.

The jinchuuriki eyes sparkled with excitement as the dopamine rushed through his nervous system and flooded his body with an intense, driving energy that was soon after washed away by a wave of passion and admiration for the well-oiled combat machine before him. The four individuals had begun to move and think as one- their movements a complex symphony of actions that bled cross the lines of the page into one another, weaving the story of this battle much like an heirloom tapestry.

It wasn't perfect though... and that... was his role to play today.

His role was simply to throw the spanner of chaos into the machine. To disrupt each independently moving cog and force them to spin to their own frequency. To bring the system to its knees and see if it could respond to the failure he induced upon it, but do so without sacrificial pawns.
Today, Taiga would verify if they were a well-architected team. If they had redundant enough strategies to account for any one failure. If they had the ability to make quick decisions with long-foresight. And then, he would test for what mattered most to him. *Independence*.

Could they continue their fights cut off from the rest? Taiga had a very different philosophy than most of root- he didn’t believe in loyal, dutiful soldiers drumming to orders.
Orders were cheap-won in-sustainable loyalty. He instead prioritized the ideologically aligned assets who were capable of working fully independent, even when working in a team... if that even made sense. It was more of a gut thing.

His eyes focused on Usagi after taking brief count of the field, along with the net of sensory the ground was giving him. Rather than focus on the threat right before her she had wrongly chosen to save Tsuchigumo in the moment. This was the first arm he would twist.

In her haste to free her comrade she had focused herself into her seals. And in doing so, she had chose to ignore impending danger to focus on Tsuchigumo who had been in no immediate danger, simply just unable to be used. Meanwhile, Kitusune was more focused on performing his own large and flashy jutsu than covering for Usagi, giving Taiga plenty of time to react while continuing his approach for Kitsune.

As the pair did their jutsu, his hands two clasped together for a brief moment. He would use something simple with a lower strength to prioritize landing the hit rather than ending the fight. As Usagi did her thing with the water dragon and tried to side-step the bo staff, he'd let it happen, and when it was in range but out of her vision behind her he'd release his hands as the wooden staff suddenly exploded, it's force and shrapnel pelting into Usagi from behind.

The force was likely enough to take her off her feet but he’d avoid putting enough strength into it to make it lethal or dangerous. His goal was just to interrupt her and throw her to the side, preventing any more jutsu and creating an opening. All the while he'd still continued forward at a breakneck speed, aware of Tsuchigumo's movements in the ground below and timing his steps with careful precision around her positions and trajectory.

He began to feel the pressure in the air above the ground of the arrow as it crossed the river. It seemed Tsuchigumo, Tengu, and Kitsune were hoping to spring a trap.

With a sudden pivot he changed his trajectory entirely and stopped, as Aiya emerged out the ground, spinning on his heel as his arm became enveloped in his grey chakra, forming a large hand like shape as his fist opened to a palm. With a dance he'd move to the side avoiding the arrow narrowly on his speed, and spin out with a palm thrust ignoring Tsuchigumo and her shield, the winds itself seemingly swirling around his body as he did so.

The large 2 meter wide hand-shaped blob of chakra would be thrown with his physical force arcing around and directly into Kitsune, the Tailwind around it eating his fire cloak as the massive heavy "hand" slapped him thoroughly to the ground, launching him off his feet and towards the tree line.

Keenly aware the arrow and Tengu's eyes would be on him, he'd disappear into the ground a moment later, slipping away like a phantom and diving deep down. With Tengu and Kitsune able to put out nearly his level of force, and the sheet amount of 4 vs 1, Taiga would need to not fight them head on or it would just be a battle of attrition to him exhausting himself avoiding harm.

With Tengu moving in, he had no choice but to retreat. Had Tengu not strategically made that decision, he would of capitalized on his blows to Usagi and Kitsune to wipe all three operatives at that field then take Tengu alone. At least Tengu was proving he deserved the rank of Captain here.

Taiga would stay in the ground for now, keeping a distance of some 40m below everyone else, waiting to see what they would do... like a shark circling it's prey at open sea.