Tōdai yawned, stretching his arms and legs as he waited in line. Meirō always wanted to train
so early. It was kind of a pain. But, Tōdai was always there for his friend, without each other he wasn’t sure anyone in the village could’ve been as closely matched. For every time Meirō defeated Tōdai, the young Nara learned more and more about his fighting style. At this point, they were near equals though Tōdai always felt as though his luck was against Meirō. Still, what better sparring partner than one that can eke a victory out of almost all of your matches.
Meirō made Tōdai sharp, he helped the young boy hone himself. Tōdai leaned over the counter with a grin examining the dangos.
“Make sure you get extra sauce on the second one please!” He said happily tipping a few extra ryo. He had plenty of cash on him from his job at the flower shop and his mission rewards from being a Genin. Though he was definitely hopeful to get the promotion to Chunin. That came with a pay raise that he could
definitely use.
The cashier happily handed him his brown paper bag of food and Tōdai bowed deeply, thanking her, before running off down the series of tunnels that made up their village. Otogakure was certainly a different place than Kyokujitsugakure. Finally, however, the tunnels opened up and Tōdai found himself facing his old friend in a large clearing. The grass was uncut and came up to their ankles and the sun was only just rising on this beautiful day.
Hopefully this kind of weather can persist for the exams Tōdai thought to himself as he retrieved Meirō’s Dango from the bag and threw it to him when he saw him.
“Yo, you about ready?” Tōdai asked taking a large first bite of his Dango with a smile on his lips.
Staring at the sky, just below the sun, Meirō’s ears picked up the sound of someone approaching. After a few seconds he identified the gait of his friend and raised a hand. On time, a Dango flew through the air and landed in his grasp as he caught it.
“Always,” he said in response, having already absorbed a fair deal of light. Fukantai had long since ceased to work on his friend so he’d had to begin practicing a host of other tricks, though he’d really only used Fukantai on Tōdai about four times he knew the genin had seen the technique used far more on other people, with very efficient results.
After all, if Meirō was anything it was efficient.
Bringing the dango to his mouth he ate one and began chewing even as he turned to his friend and--without warning--threw a kunai wreathed in chakra directly at Tōdai’s leg. His expression was still blank as he did it and took another bite from his Dango. Man did he love them with extra sauce.
Tōdai smiled as the Dango hit his friend’s hand. Right on schedule. He immediately began channeling some chakra into his foot and tapping it against the ground. Zwerchau. His staff came up and out of his shadow, deflecting the kunai his friend had sent for his leg. It propped up his leg, in a perfect Captain Morgan pose. He rest his arm on his leg and took a bite of his second Dango, with only one left.
Their fights tended to start in similar ways, it was something of a routine of theirs. A dance of the already known until someone changed the pace. Meirō’s face remained rigid, but Tōdai knew he was enjoying the snack.
Meirō knew well about Tōdai’s techniques and some kind of trick Kagemane was never going catch his friend. To the same effect, it was almost impossible and improbably that any of his light-based techniques would do him any good. That was Meirō’s specialty.
“I guess, the exams are getting started fairly soon, huh?” Tōdai said with a knowing smile.
“Probably shouldn’t bother with the pleasantries.” Tōdai said with a full mouth. Tōdai took a bite of the last dango and holding it in his mouth. Tōdai grabbed an explosive seal from his pouch and skewered it with the dango stick, not wasting any time to throw the skewered stick at his friend with a light smile. It would land only a foot in front of him.
While his friend talked, he finished his third bite, pushing chakra through the stick, twirling it between the fingers of both hands. He trapped visible light and infrared into the object forcing it to compact inside the chakra he’d infused so as not to burn the thin stick.
“I mean, I guess,” he said, shrugging a bit, using his right arm, again to throw kunai at his friend, though this time he released three, each at a different time and angle, one flying at Tōdai’s left shoulder, another at his stomach, and a third at his foot. The one in the middle was moving slightly slower than the others and had a bright trail of light following it.
As he’d flicked out the kunai, he had let an explosive tag be summoned between his fingers, which he rolled around the stick tightly, binding it with chakra and then disguising it to the same color as the thin stick. Then he noticed the dango stick fluttering through the air in his direction and his eyes narrowed a bit. He bent his knees and lunged back and away from the stick, throwing a smoke bomb as he did so. The two would collide.
Tōdai noted his friends movements. The dance begun.
He bent his knees a little and snatched a kunai from his back twirling it around his finger in anticipation. First three kunai to deal with.
He decided avoidance was best, parrying the one aimed for his left shoulder as he moved in that direction, sidestepping the other two completely. He snagged his staff off the ground and prepared for the explosive seal to be dealt with. As the dango stick lightly pierced the soil a smoke bomb collided with it, causing the two to erupt in a voluminous amounts of smoke. Some soil and small stones spewed out of the impact crater as Tōdai’s eyes narrowed in on his friend.
He couldn’t quite make him out, which, of course, was a terrible thing when he fought against Meirō. But that also meant that Meirō would have a hard time finding him as well. Using the time that Meirō would spend recovering from jumping backwards, he took a knee and performed his special handseal.
Meirō had only recently discovered Tōdai’s usage of this technique, which would only help the young Nara’s plight. In an instant, five tendrils sprouted from the ground and Tōdai waited for the approach of his friend.
Yet, as Tōdai dodged the light that had been trailing the middle kunai suddenly scattered--as if dispersing as Meirō lost control, something Tōdai had seen plenty of times. The light followed its natural trajectory until it passed the smoke and--unseen by Tōdai--it hit Meirō’s eyes. He grinned and flicked his wrist to the left, sending the ‘slower’ middle kunai suddenly whipping towards Tōdai at his left arm. In the meantime, Meirō finished the preparation of his dango and attached a thin chakra string to it, tucking it up into his sleeve and binding it there with chakra, before he transformed an explosive tag into a kunai, and then had it detonate in the smoke, spreading it out further and blasting debris and dust at Tōdai.
Tōdai’s eyes immediately transfixed on the kunai as light dispersed from it. He couldn't help but grin as he imagined Meirō tripping in the smoke as if he couldn't find his way. But before he could laugh aloud and ask if Meirō was okay he saw the kunai drastically change directions.
“Oy, you little shit!” Tōdai called out pulling his hands up to guard himself as one of the tendrils dexterously pinned the ring of the kunai and lodged it into the ground. Once it was in the ground, Tōdai noticed that there was a chakra thread attached to the chakra thread.
Tsk. That's bad. He can see me, huh?
But with a thread was also a lead.
While keeping some amount of attention on the kunai Tōdai quickly readied his hand seal and prepared his technique. He held his hand to his side, out of view of the kunai and prepared his attack, staring into the black, dispersing smoke.
Meirō grinned, even knowing his attack had been deflected.
Damn. Oh well. He switched tacts...well, not really. Channeling chakra through the wire, he used chakra flow and chakra thread at the same time, using the conduit to send wind chakra into his kunai and amplify its cutting potential drastically. Then he used Kazaho repeatedly using the smoke--which was rising up more than dispersing outwards--to cover his rise of about 5 meters above the ground, and then he whipped the wire, using the chakra thread to amplify the motion’s strength several times, causing the kunai to slash at Tōdai again from the same side, but this time with far stronger cutting power due to the wind blade that had formed around it.
Then, knowing the wire led back to him---but had not yet given away his rise in altitude--he threw the wire down, having attached one end with a kunai so he could do so.
Finally, he threw a senbon and followed it up with three others and a dango--which was transformed to look like a senbon. All of the “senbon” appeared to have bells on them. Having accomplished his purpose he pushed wind chakra up from his body, and then backwards, making him fall down and forwards so he’d descend into the smoke cloud from the back--still unseen he preferred to stay. He had bent the light around the “dango” senbon so that it would not be visible as it flew, but he had also wreathed the other senbon with light so that it looked as if there was just an ambient brightness around the senbon in general, making it hard to pinpoint their exact location.
He noticed he was smiling, took a deep breath, and let the expression fade. Too bad a tiny smirk remained anyways.
Stubborn emotions.
This was where the real fight began. No doubt Meirō was already thinking about how to end it. The smoke began to rise, but Tōdai needed a location soon, he couldn’t let Meirō continue to poke at him like he was. So he unleashed Redoublement into the smoke. It was a tactical decision with drawbacks and benefits. The most simply draw back was it used chakra, and Meirō could use the light.
The payoff was firstly that the technique was loud as all hell, especially when it went off right in your ear. And it would illuminate a figure through the smoke for at least five seconds. That should be enough for the smoke to stop being a factor.
Tōdai let it go, but as soon as he did Meirō’s plans came into effect. The kunai sprung to life and the thread’s angle began to rise. He had to defend himself and his tendrils wouldn’t be enough as he watched the wind chakra begin to irradiate off of it. In fact, he had seen this same technique used against plenty of people before, guarding with another kunai wasn’t an option it’d get sliced through in moments. That only left retreat.
Tōdai springboarded backwards as he tried to focus on the kunai bouncing up at him. He analyzed its wild movements, controlling a kunai with chakra thread while jumping through the air was obviously difficult to do delicately. But as soon as he knew he was safe from that threat, in typical Meirō fashion he heard bells.
The bells. Come on Meirō.
Tōdai shifted his attention to his newest threat. It was incredibly difficult to see senbon coming at you due to their speed, Meirō’s fuckery, and how thin they were. The bells also turned your sound onto that and forced you to use it. Which was a terrible idea because any senbon without bells didn’t make sound, but you were listening for them anyway. Meirō had beaten him with this kind of technique before. Luckily for Tōdai, he had developed a countermeasure. He performed a handseal and threw his staff into the air, just upwards a few inches.
This was a tricky combination technique, but he had done it once in practice so it was similar enough. He kicked the staff and immediately released the Jutsu, Kageayatsuri no Jutsu. He slipped into the shadow of his staff as it traveled about fifteen feet East of his location, clattering against the floor. As soon as it touched the floor he sprung out of it. Rolling on the ground beside it. But there was no time to waste at all.
He formed the tiger handseal while further moulding his chakra into his staff, this would have to be quick. The smoke continued to disperse and Redoublement was just behind it at this point. It erupted loudly into green, white, and red light shimmering through the smoke and highlighting Meirō’s position.
He moulded the chakra into his staff and threw it as hard as he could from a crouch at the other boy, attempting to hit him or his shadow.
The senbon hit...nothing, light diffused through the atmosphere and some reached him, notifying him of his failure and of something else. His eyes widened and then it went off, not a few feet below him as he was falling. The sound was deafening and he lost focus, the smoke his only real--shit his shadow would be visible through the smoke. Quickly, though three seconds too late, he absorbed all the light from Tōdai’s technique.
He swore under his breath and lunged forwards, using light to blast his shadow behind him so that it couldn’t be easily hit.
Emerging from the smoke at high speed, he used a measure of light to keep full awareness of his surroundings, and then--having crossed only two feet--he smiled at Tōdai.
“Fukantai(不感帯 'Dead Zone')..” Shit. He’s smiling. He’s really into this. Tōdai thought, preparing himself.
“Tsk.” Tōdai said as he began to react.
Then all light was gone, just gone, a sudden descent into pitch blackness...for Tōdai, and in darkness there were no shadows. Meirō meanwhile could see his opponent with a fair amount of clarity, though they were tinged in reds and oranges, with details in odd violet hues. He could also see the staff, and he only managed to partially dodge, the weapon glancing off his shoulder. He winced, but it barely phased him. However, when the staff hit him, it didn’t make any sound at all, and neither did Meirō’s movements as he continued running straight at Tōdai--something he had never done before, for you see usually it paid to change directions the moment darkness fell, but that wasn’t Meirō’s plan.
Not
exactly.
He drew Sasu(刺す 'Sting').
Tōdai sighed.
The bastard lips clearly spelled out Fukantai. It was pretty much all or nothing from that point. As soon as the two second wait time had begun Tōdai pulled out all five of his flash bombs placing them directly behind him. He was going to get maybe a second, probably less of light from all five of them, but his shadow would easily cover the entire area. He had to act as quickly as possible as his time came.
And then, darkness.
Tōdai waited in silence and darkness for his flash bombs to go off moulding together as much chakra as possible. And preparing to pin his teammate. He would have to absorb a hell of a lot of information as well.
And then they went off.
His shadow immediately began to grow as he got a glimmer of sight back.
“Kagemane No-” But before he’d managed to get the words fully out of his mouth, Meirō
deactivated Fukantai, suddenly flooding Tōdai’s incredibly dialated pupils with
all the light.
He threw a kunai wreathed in chakra straight at Tōdai from no more than 7 feet away, propelled by a burst of wind chakra.
”...-Jutsu!” Tōdai said as he was blinded, the light all flooding in at once as Meirō released the technique. And then stabbed as Meirō, dickishly threw a kunai into his left shoulder.
“Ow.” He uttered holding onto the Jutsu as much as he could.
“Heh, Meirō looks like I actually got you this ti-” He said, attempting to bring Meirō and his own hand up to put Sting to Meirō’s chest. But he couldn’t move.
Meirō was channeling the chakra through his kunai and Tōdai was channeling chakra into Kagemane.
“Ah man, we did not just tie.” Tōdai said, refusing to release the technique.
“Bummer,” he said, but there was the barest hint of amusement in his voice as he said it.
“Want to see who can hold this position longer, or maybe we move on?” It was a question, but...it was said as if the latter was the only real option.
Huh, he was pretty happy. Tōdai watched his Meirō’s chest rise and fall and noticed his own heartbeat in his ear. Whew, they had been going pretty hard today, huh?
“Nah, I’d lose anyway I have a smaller chakra pool.” Tōdai said oversimplifying it and releasing the Jutsu from Meirō, his shadow retreating back into his own space. He waited for Meirō to stop channeling his chakra before wiping the sweat from his brow.
“Okay, we need to head to the exams pretty soon. We should grab a bite to eat and then head to the ferry!” Tōdai said.
Meirō didn’t stop, walking up to Tōdai and flicking him in the forehead before he removed the kunai, ending the technique
“Oy!” Tōdai said, flicking him back.
Amusement flashed across Meirō’s eyes and then he cast out one hand behind him as he walked in the direction of the ferry or whatever. The threads snagged his various tools--and Tōdai’s staff--and brought them to him. Without looking, Meirō threw the staff at Tōdai and stowed his weapons back in their proper places.
The two would head to the departure point with the others who would be heading to the exams and they began the trip to the island where the chuunin exams would be held. At some point on the way there, Meirō turned to Tōdai with his characteristic blank expression.
“Do you think any of them will be any good?” He asked.
With any luck by the end of this thing, we’ll both be Chunin and have fought others who were worthy of the title too.” Tōdai said, taking a moment to imagine the truly limitless possibilities that existed for them. It was going to be incredible.
“But, I don’t think they’ll be able to beat you.” He said honestly.
“I might have a harder time if I find anyone who can mess around with light like you can.” He said noting his very limited ways in which he could end a fight.
Meirō tilted his head slightly, still staring at Tōdai. He was silent for an uncomfortably long time before he spoke again, turning away as he did.
“No, you’ll be fine,” he said with no emotion, which was his equivalent of absolute confidence.
Eventually the two arrived on the island, it was certainly going to be a new experience. Of course, as usual, Meirō was more interested in business--aka finding the other genin--than he was in looking around.
“Where do you think we should look first,” he said, glancing around, his eyes scanning the crowd.
“Well…” Tōdai said scanning the area in front of them.
“If you couldn’t find any Genin no matter what you did, where would you go?” He asked rather simply. He tried not to focus on how far Meirō had come. When they first met it took nearly a month for Tōdai to get a single word out of the boy. But now, they were friends, brothers. They communicated and it made Tōdai feel a lot more confident knowing his friend would be watching him.
He made sure to commit Meirō’s tactics to memory for the next engagement. The boy barely managed to snag a tied fight, had Meirō not dissipated his last technique, Tōdai would’ve been fighting blind against a man who could see.
Meirō frowned as he felt his stomach churn a bit,
“Mmm. Actually, not worried about them. Food,” he said and then glanced at Tōdai, expecting him to lead even though they were in a totally new place, as if his friend was just the master of locating sustenance.
Their friendship was just funny like that.
“Well then food it is. Don’t want you thinking of anything else during that test, your growling stomach would make it impossible to focus!” Tōdai said cheerily ruffling Meirō’s hair pointing him in the direction that his nose thought was suitable.
“But nothing too heavy.” Tōdai said quickly as he walked in the direction of the food. His only real hint was the smell of pork, and that of course, was too heavy, but he saw a girl with a ramen bowl and that’d do.
So it was that the two found a ramen place--mostly because of Tōdai’s nose--and enjoyed a meal before heading off to see what else was going on the island.
Fun times were surely ahead.
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