As the dust and the destruction of Roh-D's most powerful sonic technique began settling down, a chilling sound of a battlecry broke out. From a cloud of rubble, sand and floating blades of frosty winter grass, a masculine figure with bleeding years, eyes and nose, tattered denim jacket and the shirt underneath and covered with bruises and intense tears all over his body dived out. The eyes of the desperate young man were brimming with determination and the desire to embrace the brutality of battle without anything being held back.
From the beginning of this match, Aozora Yushijin attempted to play this fight his own way, in his own field, by his own rules: impress the council, instead of fighting, avoid fighting on Roh-D's brutal terms instead of just fighting, show off his impressive technique which took him his current lifetime to polish and refine instead of fighting. No more. Now just fighting remained. Yushijin wished to bring the brutality, that Roh-D craved in his battles and shove it down his opponent's throat.
Yushijin swung his sword around, silver blitzes flashed wherever the massive chunk of polished and sharpened steel buzzed past his opponent's flesh before a loud clang emanated a shock downwards the blade and past its handle, continuing to pulse down and seep into Yushijin's bones as the blade got entrapped into the surgically implanted pipes of Roh-D.
The Konohagakure genin grunted in pain and let go of his sword, jumping back as his temporarily disabled hands made him unable to properly defend himself if a response came. And come it did. Roh-D lowered his hands and the air howled in the shape of sound waves getting forcefully sucked into the pipes on the genin's arms before exhaling all that air outside, bashing it against the ground beneath Roh-D's feet and throwing the genin wildly at his opponent, feet forward.
"Sonic Missile Kick!" The surgically enhanced genin roared out, throwing a flying kick that drew influence from the moveset Cloud Wrestling Federation's many talented and acrobatic performers.
Yushijin ducked under the kick, shooting his palms down and deep into the dirt while he threw his knees up, smashing them right into his opponent's back and making his yell out in pain. By this point the chakra augmentations of both combatants were slowly fleeting away, still holding, but more and more blood spraying and bone churning tragic melodies played after each strike and kick.
Right as Roh-D's body flew upwards, thrown by the tremendous force of Yushijin's kick, the Konoha genin shoved his body upwards with a soaring sky-high kick of his own, just to throw his opponent even higher into the air. Before Yushijin's feet connected with Roh-D's spine, playing it with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball playing the piano, the Kumogakure genin turned around rapidly with a swift back elbow strike that smashed his opponent back down into the dirt.
The audience was going mad, this was just the match they wanted to see, two combatants moving at break-neck speeds, stopping just for a brief moment right before they hit their opponent just to accumulate and focus their awesome power and momentum into a more awesome strike. This was just the kind of battle that Roh-D fought against Oto-B in the semifinals, those who have seen it knew that much.
Roh-D released a quick burst of soundwaves out of his pipes, jetting his body down at his opponent who managed to get back to his sword. The dark-skinned powerhouse extended his hand, attempting to grab the face of his opponent and grind it into the ground before firing off his sound jets again to drag his face across the arena. It was such a clearly telegraphed move that Yushijin countered it perfectly, twirling around the large and brimming with youthful vigor appendage of his opponent and throwing a swift slash upwards.
Blood splattered across the sandy ground as Yushijin's sword managed to get past Roh-D's skin and dig shallowly into the genin's flesh. The built up force and momentum of the blade spiraled the brawler up in the air, and Yushijin leaped after his opponent in a mad chase.
Roh-D extended his hands at the chasing opponent firing off his "Sonic Polka" technique again, sending rapid and loose sound wave projectiles to distract and lightly damage his opponent and give the genin time to recuperate but his opponent simply was no longer where Roh-D last saw him to be.
Yushijin's image flashed up to Roh-D's shocked face, who, too late, realized that Yushijin's illusion had duped him again. The silver blurs of Yushijin's blade danced their triumphant and erratic dance all over Roh-D's body while the caught off-guard genin did his best to use his surgically altered arms to defend from his opponent blade with a notable lack of success.
"Fire Style: Flame Bomb!" Yushijin shouted out as he expelled all of the remaining air from his lungs, infused with Fire Release chakra in close proximity to his injured and blacking out opponent, which immediately detonated the man-sized flame bullet.
Covered with a coat of flames, like a falling star, Roh-D crashed down on the ground, leaving a small crater and almost covering himself entirely in dirt as Yushijin landed a handful of meters farther from his opponent, bashing his knees into the ground and driving his sword into the dirt to keep himself from falling down. The Konohagakure genin was breathing heavily and it was not difficult to see how much this last attack demanded of him.
"To execute a Fire Release jutsu so close to a sword attack, with so few hand seals. It appears that Yushijin had surprised our expectations", Stea commended the young man who was doing his best to get back on his feet as his opponent laid lifeless and the overseer approached him to check on the vitals and the remaining will and ability to fight of the fallen genin.
"He held his breath inside his lungs this whole time, to attack so rapidly with a blade without breathing, then using that oxygen for a Fire Release jutsu so seamlessly… It's a combination technique all in of itself", Kiyomi noted.
"Fire Release is pretty rare and tough to work with. I always secretly hoped that I'd possess the Fire Release affinity but… Water Release is all I got", Vinda crossed her arms over her chest in a fit of jealousy and adoration of the impressive display of competition inside the arena.
"It's pretty common in the Fire Country and Konohagakure. Most villagers possess some genetic background of it and it's actually the most common Nature amongst our villagers. It's either the primary or the secondary Nature of everyone around", Mana sighed.
"And yet…" Kiyomi cheeked the magician by butting her with her elbow fondly.
"I'm glad I do not possess the talent for it. It's a very destructive nature and brings nothing but pain and blazes wherever it goes. Plus, technically, my roots are from all over the Ninja World. My ancestors didn't confine themselves to a single village so my genetical background is a mash of a bit of everything", Mana calmly stated.
"So you're basically a ninja mutt?" Erumo teased the magician.
"Yes, unlike the highly esteemed Budoki clan, my ancestors accomplished nothing of value", Mana smiled with tips of her lips teasing the lack of a clan background from Erumo's own part when she went out of her way to attack the bloodlines of others. Kiyomi could not help but break into a chuckle over it.
"It's okay, I can go on", Roh-D hurled out with an alarming amount of blood coming out from his smashed insides and his shallowly striped and streaked body. "The flames cauterized most of my wounds! I can go on!"
Yushijin looked quite amazed at his opponent's ability to shrug off pain. This surgically altered body of his must have had something to do with the amazing endurance of the genin but the Konohagakure examinee looked like he could feel how close he was of putting his opponent down for good.
"Your vitals are at a very alarming state. If you get hit again like that – you may die. Any hit you take from this point on threatens your life", overseer Oke tried to argue with and inform the darkly skinned genin but it was all in vain as he was pretty much brushed aside like a troublesome insect. It appeared that the youth would have rather died than admitted failure and that he has come this far only to fail.
"Come on! Was that the best you've got!?" Roh-D teased his opponent, who finally managed to force his body stumbling straight and pulled his sword out of the ground. Taking his sweet time to sheathe it and prepare for yet another round – one that was certainly the last one for both combatants were severely short on chakra and maybe had one or two more jutsu in them.
"I've shown you my best long ago, so have you", Yushijin closed his eyes to calm and steady his breathing. Roh-D kicked off the ground and darted off at his opponent in a mad dash as his body could no longer withstand the tremendous pressure of sound waves being used to flow throughout his body and jet him around like a madman.
Roh-D threw a powerful cross but Yushijin leaned down and grabbed his opponent's arm over his shoulder, attempting to drag Roh-D over him and slam him into the ground one or two good times to keep him down for good. Surprisingly enough, the Konoha examinee found out that attempting to move his opponent was in vain as Roh-D remained where he stood even after his most hearty yanks.
A thunderous punch sent Yushijin flying and rolling backward before the youth managed to push his body off the ground and get back on his knees to meet his opponent's madly brutal offensive. Yushijin leaned aside, avoiding another power strike only to smack the side of his arm into Roh-D's carotid but even that did not look like it would keep the powerhouse down.
Roh-D collapsed on his knees as well, deceitfully spitting some of his coughed up blood right at Yushijin's face and confusing him momentarily. The first that greeted Yushijin's eyes when he wiped the blood off of his face and out of his eyes was a glowing palm of his opponent about to unload a burst of sound waves right at his face.
"Sonic Khorumi!" Roh-D roared out.
After a brief moment of silence, the Kumogakure genin fell down and on his face, while Yushijin re-sheathed his sword, standing upright, right behind his opponent. The back of Roh-D bled out profusely as the lacking chakra resources made even the more erratic and instinctual bodily augmentations fail.
Overseer Oke rushed up to Roh-D to check his vitals.
"Don't bother, I couldn't take him getting back up and back up again so I paralyzed him all the way down his waist by cutting into his spine. He quite literally couldn't get up, even if he has the will and the guts to do so", Yushijin coldly stated.
"Well, it appears that's that", Stea smiled with satisfaction, having just seen an incredible show from two of her peers.
"Did you see that? Yushijin's the best there is!" Erumo cheered on her teammate, jumping onto the rails and madly throwing her fist up into the air and yelling her lungs out. "Even if he can get a little bit scary when he gets serious", she added, quivering for a brief moment.
"Hmmm, I wonder why Roh-D didn't break out of Last Resort again, was he that short on chakra?" Kiyomi wondered out loud.
"Possibly, or Yushijin once again surprised us. His technique supposedly allows him to manipulate the time perception of his opponents, yet he had always used it the same way – make them believe that the time has stopped completely. What he could have done, was make Roh-D believe that more time has passed than it actually has, manipulate how fast he appeared to be moving, anything of that nature. His opponent would have had to learn how to break out of each of these all over again, especially if they felt confident enough to think they nailed down Last Resort already. What Yushijin could have used could have been different enough from Last Resort that it was its own separate jutsu, given that he had five weeks to prepare, such innovation on his talents would not be outside the realm of possibility", Mana mumbled before slapping her own cheeks. She was checking just how much had her skin condition improved over the duration of this one match, Kiyomi could sense the innate worry in her friend's heart.
"Your skin has healed a great deal – the color looks normal, well, what's normal for you", Kiyomi teased her friend playfully.
"That bastard", Vinda laughed out before grinning with a monkey-like full teeth smile. "He didn't help this trick either, he refrained from using Last Resort too much after it was "broken", just to trick his opponent into thinking he had him pinned down, right before he pulled out that improved version".
"True", Mana nodded before pulling up her blindfold and crying out in pain before slipping it back down, it appeared her eyes still had a long way to heal before they could face even the gentle and chilly winter sunlight. "But Yushijin will not advance his rank, most likely".
"What do you mean, he was amazing!?" Erumo flipped out, almost jumping in to punch Mana in the face.
"He was more amazing than the Ninja Council realizes. Very few ninja specialize in illusions, it's a tricky and very unrewarding craft to work with – as all of you have pointed out already. It's unlikely that anyone in that skybox even understood what exactly Yushijin had pulled off and just how impressive it was. In the end of the day – that's what it is all about, not winning or losing, not just looking good but making them understand how good you are as well", Mana explained with frustration.
And Kiyomi understood it – it looked like everything that day was stacking up against Mana: her training resulted in massive injuries due to overtraining that may not even finish up healing before her match, due to the VIP area hosting immensely powerful ninja she was unable to use her sensory and had to keep it suppressed in order to avoid anxiety attacks, now she just found out that illusions – the core of her skill set may have been completely useless as very few ninja understood just how intricate and complex they were to work with.
It appeared that with the finals of the Chuunin Exams the village administration was less interested in repairing the arena or doing casual maintenance. Right after both examinees left, or were taken out through the passageways they entered the arena through, they were immediately replaced by the competitors in the next match – Dhaogu and Gasco Patura.
"It's a bit unfortunate how things ended up with Roh-D, isn't it?" Stea sighed, calmly observing her mighty teammate walking out into the arena and facing his opponent, whose main strength in this competition was the mostly maintained mystery surrounding his abilities. Dhaogu only briefly flashed them to avoid getting ringed out at the very last moment during the semi-finals whereas Gasco had shown his off plenty. If Gasco was anyone else, he would have been at a great disadvantage as five whole weeks of preparation time and training would have let any ninja to crazy heights against an opponent they knew so much about.
"I disagree", Mana shook her head, Kiyomi turned at her friend with such disbelief that it seemed that her friend had been switched out with a psychopath – Yushijin's actions seemed very ruthless and cold. Even Erumo was shocked to see Mana on Yushijin's side.
"You don't think paralyzing Roh-D from the waist down was an excessive attack?" Stea wondered.
"Yushijin saw his opponent's iron willpower. Roh-D was going to keep going until his final moment. It is unclear what his surgical alterations are or if he obtained new ones during this time but… They clearly had an impact on his ability to survive damage that would have knocked out anyone else. Roh-D, in the heat of battle, was not a clear judge of consequences of his own actions. I consider paralysis a more welcome outcome to accidentally killing Roh-D any day of the week", Mana explained while her blindfolded face blankly stared at an unclear point in the audience.
"Damn, you're pretty alright", Vinda grinned, just barely restraining the impulse to smack the magician's back playfully. Figuring that with her injuries and pathetic bodily state it would have actually done her harm.
"Death is a cruel end, but sometimes it is better than certain kinds of life", Stea objected. "Take it from someone who's seen plenty of lives spiraling down to its most grotesque elements".
"I disagree. As someone who defeats your opponent, one is stronger than the loser. That grants them the responsibility to protect and watch over them, not destroy them, whatever state they may be in. A broken man can still become a hero, a broken man can still inspire other misguided people, people like they themselves used to be. Destruction is only fitting for useless things and no human life is truly useless", Mana calmly replied to her opponent.
"I will enjoy settling our debate in the arena. We will let the fortune choose the winning side of the argument", Stea smiled as she looked on at her teammate, looking supremely confident in his victory. She looked with verily different eyes compared to those that Erumo looked at Yushijin with.
Erumo cheered on her friend, she was, in a way worried for him. As someone who saw a beloved person facing off against truly terrifying odds, Kiyomi knew that feeling. The feeling of trust in one's beloved but also worry over their well-being. Stea had none of that in her eyes. She looked at Gasco as if he was doing a casual chore, like taking the trash out. She clearly felt fondness or some sort of tolerance of her friend and teammate but she felt no worry over his safety nor did she worry to attempt and support him.
"Our match shall settle nothing of the sort. Truth is not by the side of one who pummels the other side to the point of no return. Are you so worried over your arguments that you need to bet them against a physically broken, weaker opponent to feel more confident in them?" Mana smiled. I, that smile Kiyomi saw something, certainty, will, what was not there when Kiyomi spoke to Mana about her convictions herself during the semi-finals.
Mana had grown, she had grown so much… If there was only such a thing as fortune, only it knew just what exactly was stirring in that mature beyond her years mind of hers. Kiyomi could only worry, not unlike she worried over Meiko five weeks ago, that Mana's injuries regenerate sufficiently before the hour of the fateful match.