"How tough is Hanomahal Moenaka!? After taking a devastating combination attack from the Kumogakure ninja Yoibetsu-N, he's not only just standing, but barely seems grazed at all!" the announcer hyped up the audience to dance at the sound of his drums when Moenaka spat a mouthful of blood aside and just nonchalantly smacked himself in the cheeks, pumping up for a fight. "Then again, maybe this is nothing to be surprised with, given that Hanomahal Moenaka has defeated Quill-Man during the battle royale. Someone who's proved that his slicing offensive could cut its way through even the thickest wall!"
"This toughness is all an illusion," Shige-H observed. "Taijutsu and any sort of fighting style that mimics its focus on physicality is highly reliant on the state of one's body, less so on one's chakra reserves. The moment one of these two takes too much damage, their body will collapse and they'll be left unable to use their taijutsu techniques, whereas a ninja who focuses on ninjutsu or genjutsu could use their ace techniques even when critically injured, as long as they have the chakra necessary to perform them."
"Speaking from experience?" Asuka smirked.
"I'm something of an exception. The bodies of medical ninja hold out as long as their chakra is holding out, given how their medical ninjutsu can directly sustain their bodies," Shige-H observed.
"You are fast and you hit hard," Hanomahal Moenaka admitted, wiping the traces of blood on his lips that burst from his injured throat after the devastating chop. "I'm glad I've spent the last day preparing to fight you. I figured that your ninja techniques might require a more complex approach than just rushing through it."
"I sincerely hope you didn't sprain your brain preparing," Yoibetsu-N teased his opponent before straightening his back and taunting him with a hand gesture. "Let's see if this preparation of yours wasn't a bluff."
"I'm more than a bit out of my depth here, to be honest," Moenaka admitted with a shrug, breaking his stance. "Union Ball is all about working as a team. It's about brute force and pushing through, but only by pushing through as a team. While working without my guards and fellow forwards, my options are limited. Fortunately enough, I discovered a solution."
Yoibetsu-N was about to challenge Moenaka's statement and scold him for wasting time, but when he saw Hanomahal Moenaka weaving the simple clone jutsu hand seal, he exclaimed with an unintelligible grunt in amazement. To think that in just one day, this simpleton could have learned an actual ninjutsu technique to where he'd be willing to show it to the audience.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Moenaka chanted, splitting apart into a handful of clones that then promptly split into a handful of their own doppelgangers.
"What the…!?" Shige-H jumped up from her seat. "This is ridiculous! How can someone completely unfamiliar with ninjutsu, a pro athlete, just pull out a B-Rank ninjutsu technique? They should have spent years even developing their chakra pool to where they could have pulled off a technique such as this!"
This same observation didn't seem to be lost on Yoibetsu-N either, as the last remaining ninja in the competition to become the next Sheikh of Agbarah began scanning the battlefield to spot just where the reveal of the secret behind this trick laid.
"Now, Rocky Backs!" Hanomahal Moenaka and all his clones leaned forward, prepping for the charge. With impressive synchrony, they kicked off the ground and rushed forward, clumping together into a pile of bodies that pushed each other's backs while a quartet of doppelgangers positioned themselves in the back, with one of them clutching the ball in their hands.
Standing his ground when the rushing mass of bodies with flailing, beefy limbs sticking out from the mosh pit and the danger of becoming roadkill was imminent, Yoibetsu-N still carefully scanned the incoming barrage of limbs before becoming a jolt of living lightning and vanishing from place just as the rumbling mass of charging Union Ball clones was about to stampede all over him. Yoibetsu-N blinked back into the range of vision, appearing further behind the backs of the back line of the clones.
"Damn, you're really hard to get hold of, huh?" Moenaka smirked while still being held by the horde of his clones and walking out from the cloud of dust that the stamping boots had raised from the exposed sand and gravel underneath the shattered and cracked tiles of the arena. "Oh well, I've got plenty more combinations I can still try."
"The loop really is closing around that Kumo ninja's neck, huh?" Asuka noted. "It's clear that he put stress on his body with that high-speed evasive action, taking tremendous risks to get a better look at that cloning trick. On top of that, his chakra has to sustain the Lightning Armor. He might need to take a rest or to go all-in soon enough."
"In which case, the key is if Yoibetsu-N saw through Moenaka's strategy or not," Shige-H added in observation.
Yoibetsu-N's body flickered, however, just as he was about to disappear and begin his rampage, a member of the undaunted clone back line flung the Union Ball play ball, prompting Yoibetsu-N to break his stance and blink from the range of human perception again, appearing further back with his foot placed on top of the ball.
"What a revelation! Usually, Union Ball doesn't involve throwing the ball! The game of Union Ball is about forcing one's way through the defensive line of the opposing team! By flinging the ball with the aid of an impressive throwing arm, Hanomahal Moenaka interrupted Yoibetsu-N's attack and cost him some precious time! When one is working to sustain a reinforcement technique like the Kumogakure Lightning Armor, every second is invaluable!" the announcer explained what had just happened to the audience since some spectators looked baffled as to why Moenaka would resort to such an unimpressive and lightweight attack that looked more like an insult than a genuine hit. "Now Yoibetsu-N's heel is back against the edge of the arena and his body is undoubtedly feeling the strain of the Lightning Armor! What will he do!? Will he undo the jutsu and let himself rest for a bit, risking becoming overwhelmed and eliminated, or will he keep it up and risk straining himself beyond the point where his body can keep it up with the demand?"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu, what a joke…" Yoibetsu-N cracked a grin, goofing off the tension of being cornered at the arena's edge by an entire team of one person's duplicates. "The risk paid off, I'm going to shatter your entire strategy now."
"Backhand Chop!" Yoibetsu muttered with smoke puffing out from the corners of his mouth and the Lightning Release chakra around him intensified to a sizzling burn, resembling a raging, golden fire with intermittent electrical crackles.
"Backhand Chop? You mean you're going to attack just once? What are you doing? You might not get a chance like that again?" Shige-H mumbled under her own nose, baffled by the decision of a ninja who graduated from the Ninja Academy in the same year she did. Someone she used to know. While Shige-H didn't see herself as a close friend of Yoibetsu-N, she had to acknowledge the fact that his village saw him as a useful tool. Someone trustworthy enough to hand the respected village legacy nintaijutsu technique. Someone worthy to send to this tournament to grant ownership of this land to the Raikage or the Lightning Lord and compete on their behalf.
Like a horizontal thunderbolt, Yoibetsu-N closed the distance between him and the backside line of clones and appeared in front of the exact clone that hurled the ball at him earlier. With the back of his hand, he slapped straight into the chest of Hanomahal Moenaka, emitting a booming halo of bright sparks and a crack that made the roar of thunder sound like a purring kitten. With rolled-back eyes, Hanomahal Moenaka flattened on the ground chopped down like a tree.
Instead of attacking his opponent while he was down, Yoibetsu-N vanished from place, performing a curious dance of light steps all across the arena. When he blinked back into vision, he was holding a stack of tiles, which he dropped from his hands to thud against the exposed gravel underneath. At the same time as the tiles touched the ground, the Lightning Release chakra surrounding Yoibetsu-N blinked out and the scorching, desert winds took hold of the weather as opposed to caving to the outward push of the explosive and electric aura booming from Yoibetsu-N.
"It's gone! Yoibetsu-N's Lightning Armor is gone!" the announcer called it, almost as if the match was already decided.
"Prancing around to collect tiles was a curious choice, especially if he knew he was going to release the Lightning Armor," Damisan pointed out. The only reason he spoke up was because he genuinely couldn't comprehend why Yoibetsu-N wouldn't emphasize having flattened his opponent and gained an undisputed advantage over him.
"He must have had a good reason. If Yoibetsu-N believed that he could finish Moenaka off with this attack, he'd have struck. He must have felt that defeat was still a great deal away with this lug of a guy," Shige-H replied. She felt like Yoibetsu-N missed out on an opportunity to inflict some damage, however, she acknowledged the fact that Yoibetsu-N was much more experienced in taijutsu than she was, meaning that he must have had a reason he was so cautious.
"It's not like it's over, guys," Asuka leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs and stretching her arms on the backrest frame of the spectator stands. "The Kumo ninja pummeled that burly guy some. Their match-up without the Lightning Armor is no longer as clear cut as it was before if the lug's stroking his ribs and struggling to breathe with a damaged airway."
"Hmm… You really saw through my technique. Damn, and to think I've spent a whole day learning it," Moenaka grumbled with a lightly raspy voice as he peeled himself off the ground.
"It's a bad idea to try to trick a professional liar, you know," Yoibetsu-N cracked his neck once to each side and rolled his knuckles before assuming a wrestling position. "I knew all along that you couldn't have had the chakra to perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was just a neatly done, ordinary Clone Technique. You did your best to conceal the fact that the clones weren't tangible by stomping your feet, raising a lot of noise and dust into the air, but, at a certain distance, the lie becomes impossible to conceal."
"And what about those tiles? Going to show off how many of them you can break with a punch to me?" Moenaka glanced at the neatly placed stack.
"All in due time," Yoibetsu-N replied without a hint of intimidation, although his Lightning Armor took some time off to relieve his body from the strain that was slowly juicing him.
"Forward-Guard Separation!" Moenaka exclaimed, smacking his fingers together in the standard clone jutsu hand seal position and creating an entire offensive line of doppelgangers beside him. Unlike before, this time, his stampeding line of clones spread far and wide, like a comb of human bodies, stretching across the entire arena.
Yoibetsu-N dashed off to the side, expecting to make his way through one of the illusory clones. However, he met some rugged-chested resistance. With passionate excitement decorating his face, Hanomahal Moenaka grabbed hold of Yoibetsu-N and pulled him in for a devastating headbutt before flinging him off to the side, heading straight for the ring-out area. The audience gasped and held their breaths, holding out for such an anti-climactic elimination.
A notable thud of something relatively heavy splashed into the lake and began seeping down to the bottom. Moenaka didn't linger near the edge, turning around just to face the cruel realization that his opponent was standing farther behind him. Meanwhile, the stack of tiles that Yoibetsu-N had stacked together was nowhere to be seen. At this point, the hefty stack had drowned to the bottom of the makeshift lake. Deep enough for them to no longer be visible, peering down from the surface.
"Another Substitution Jutsu!" the announcer bellowed out in an almost melodic proclamation. "Some of you might not be aware of this, but ninja go through a bit of downtime in between their substitutions! The Substitution Jutsu requires very little chakra to execute and is quite simple, however, alongside with the chakra cost, it strains the muscles in a way that prevents one from using Substitution in rapid succession, requiring one to time them just right! This is how a skilled and experienced ninja uses such an elementary technique in a way that maximizes its value on the battlefield!"
"This is ridiculous!" Moenaka threw a fit, punching his open hand with a show of his teeth. A grown man snarled like a wild animal this way. "How much more will you run and jump around me? Even when you thought you had my strategy all figured out, I caught you off-guard! It turns out that you can't tell which clone is the real one, yet…"
"You're right," Yoibetsu-N scratched the back of his head in an admission of his inferiority. "I made a folly in counting out just how deceptive your Clone Jutsu is with all that rumbling and dust. It was easier to tell the real deal apart the last time because I literally saw you fling the ball at me. However, I won't be needing to tell the real one for much longer."
"Huh? And why's that?" Moenaka grumbled.
"Because now, I'll be moving on to be the one that's on the offensive," Yoibetsu-N smirked. Snapping his fingers and spreading his legs, then driving his arms to the sides as the ground shook far too violently for Moenaka, who stood both feet on the ground, to intercept. "Lightning Armor: Level Two!"
The skies became gloomy and shrouded, surprising the Union Ball athlete that his opponent could change the very battlefield and manipulate the weather like that. The truth was that it wasn't Yoibetsu-N himself, but the violent Lightning Release chakra that electrified the atmosphere and sped up the formation of storm clouds. In just a couple of seconds, the weather went from being the standard, scorching desert heat to lightning lashing out on the horizon with dark and stormy clouds threatening to erupt at any moment.
"Yoibetsu-N… You really have become an amazing ninja," Shige-H smiled with a longing look down at her shimmering and powering-up old-time classmate. "All this time you've been playing a different game. You sensed that the pressure of your Lightning Armor had been mounting up, but you also sensed that your muscles would soon be ready for a substitution, so you weathered it out for a single snap until you flattened your opponent and collected some tiles to substitute with when your Substitution Jutsu is ready. You used the downtime between canceling your Lightning Armor with the help of Substitution Jutsu to rest up for Lightning Armor Level Two… You are something else."
"Yeah, here I thought taijutsu specialists were all numb-skulled bruisers. This guy's playing chess with his fists here…" Damisan chuckled in excitement.
An azure blue pillar of solid lightning mass crashed down, penetrating from the storm clouds like a heaven-piercing arrow smashing through an apple as a show of focus and strength alike. Unlike with Level One, Level Two Lightning Armor was light blue, sharpening the slick and curly dreadlocks on Yoibetsu-N's head to sharpen up like spikes and making his eyes into beaming blue torchlights. With a raging cerulean aura, Yoibetsu-N stepped out from the field of blue static, ready to rumble.
"Knife-Edge Chop Rush!" Yoibetsu-N puffed out with black smoke escaping his mouth, like flames from the mouth of a fire-breathing demon. This version of Yoibetsu-N proved to be faster than even a horizontal shooting lightning bolt. Yoibetsu-N vanished from place, dissolving like static electricity only to reassemble in a field of static directly in front of his opponent faster than the nerves in Moenaka's body could deliver the warning signals to his brain.
A tight clutch of his right arm locked around Moenaka's wrist as the left slammed straight into Moenaka's throat. The athlete's throat dented inward, squeezing a splash of blood from his mouth like a toothpaste tube that's been stomped on with some decent force put into it. Not about to let his opponent get off easy, Yoibetsu-N continued to pelt Moenaka's throat and upper chest area with knife-edge chops that threatened to sever his head and covered him with bruises that skipped the red swelling part and turned dark violet immediately.
After Moenaka collapsed on his back, Yoibetsu-N, still maintaining his tight clutch on Moenaka's wrist, pulled the athlete back in for a knee shot to the left jaw. The sound that resonated through the arena was like the world was just a log being split apart by a woodsman's ax. The Kumogakure ninja released the hold over Moenaka's wrist the moment the knee shot connected, sending him rolling and tumbling away and grazing across the gravel and the remaining tiles fast enough to set the arena on fire in a blazing trail and scorch the ground he grazed across.
"What a reversal!" the announcer howled, slipping off his bandana that he had modeled after the Sheikh's banner and wiping the sweat off his forehead before slipping it back onto his head to cover up his balding patch on the top of his head. "Despite being on the back foot for most of this match, Yoibetsu-N has pulled off a drastic power-up that just might put him ahead of the indomitable strongman, Hanomahal Moenaka, Mr. No More Heroes himself!"
The audience remained floored following the first few breaths after Yoibetsu-N's explosion of offense. However, the moment their brains caught up to what had happened and fully submersed in the rush of endorphins that made them light up with bliss and excitement, they roared with applause that was loud enough to jolt Moenaka awake.
"What's wrong? Feet feeling wobbly, scaredy cat?" Yoibetsu-N taunted his opponent when Hanomahal Moenaka proved to be incapable of standing back up on both feet following his awakening.