The time to strike was now. It took what seemed to be an extremely long time for Satoshi to make his way over to them but it was finally happening. Kato’s instructor was inching his way closer and closer into the trap, Kato wanted to strike as soon as he possibly could be he also knew that timing was nearly as important as an attack in general. Satoshi was in plain view of Kato from his (Kato’s) hiding spot, the jounin was standing just mere inches in front of his earthly snare jutsu. Time seemed to slow down in Kato’s mind. He wanted this plan to work out more than anything mostly because he wanted to prove that he could be useful in formulating and executing plans and not just be known as that teen who attacked his own team.
Satoshi’s clone took one step, now centimeters away from the nearly prepared snare. It was time! Out in the short distance in the trees a small generic but very believable bird call rang. It was produced by Kato’s clone which disappeared silently after executing the call. One, the countdown was beginning. Two Kato had his game face on, his chakra already being molded the exact way he needed it to be. Three!, the countdown was complete and now the plan was ready and waiting. On three a giant burst of dirt would occur, originating from the bush that Kato was hiding in. Within milliseconds that burst would form what is known as Kato’s Dirt Swarm jutsu. It seemed that at the exact moment of the initial explosion Tahekiko sprung from the bushes, knowing exactly where his enemy was (or at least was before the fog prevents him from seeing).
Tahekiko was easily able to go for the first punch, defiantly proving that surprise attacks have their advantages. He made sure to direct his first punch at Satoshi’s gut. If Satoshi had moved he (Tahekiko) made sure to follow up the punch with an attack with a longer range, a generic roundhouse kick. Tahekiko would try his best to try and keep Satoshi in the same general area as he remembered he was. The young genin had no way of knowing for sure where Satoshi was at this moment but he would be able to go off of memory of successful hits and the memory of his enemy’s last seen position.
Kato was able to see of this unfold and it honestly brought a smile to his face. He was able to see into the fog clearly even from the bush and took notice of how well Tahekiko stayed to the plan. While all of this unfolded Kato made sure to go straight into his Earthly Snare jutsu, the extremely short distance between the moved roots and the surface making the jutsu that much quicker. Within a second the roots broke the surface and would try to go straight for Satoshi’s left foot. Kato, unlike Tahekiko, was easily able to see where Satoshi was and could easily control the roots to go where they needed to be.
The plan currently seemed to be working. Hopefully Nadra was paying attention and could judge when to step in. Kato didn’t want to give Satoshi any ideas so he refused to say anything about it but Kato hoped that if Satoshi tried to jump out of the fog that Nadra would easily be able to land a hit on him the second he did. At this point the only play for Satoshi to go was down and even that may end up being a bad option. He’d be going directly into a collection of roots just waiting to be activated and wrap around him.
Its your move Satoshi Sensei Kato thought, with a smile. At this point Kato was confident that the roots were full with enough chakra to stay active for as long as they would need to be. If they managed to wrap around Satoshi’s foot then they would still have enough jutsu in them to at least continue around his foot for a few more inches without Kato actively being there. The hidden genin (Kato) decided now was the best time to attack. Without making a sound Kato went in for Satoshi’s left knee, trying to get a direct hit in on the knee and hopefully make Satoshi’s movement impossible or at least slower. He then would try to follow up with an uppercut even if the first punch was unsuccessful.
While putting as much power into both punches was a major priority it was overshadowed by the need to avoid Tahekiko’s punches. Kato was content with the power he was able to produce with both hits all while avoiding any potential accidental friendly fire.