Unexpected Encounter, Please Judge!

Name: Bende Tiancai
Rank/Level: Genin/6
Rewards: Thrashing Strike, and perhaps LP if it is long enough

It was pure accident, simply.

“Ah, I won’t get drunk. Check the alcohol storage if you don’t believe me!” Tiancai had reminded his father earlier. Suspicion had risen among the parental units of the Genin. They didn’t want him dedicating his time to the Drunken Fist by getting drunk.

Now the Genin was outside in the border of the forest. His mind could not decipher the current location. Tiancai’s eyes focused on the thing he was holding in his hands. It was some type of unusual vegetation that he had never seen before.

“Whaaaat? Ha. I didn’t know that it would DRUNKIFY ME!” He laughed to himself and collapsed onto the dusty earth again, eyes closing and opening slowly while looking up at the sky through the canopy of the forest.

Stupid exotic plant; who knew what it did? Tiancai wanted to take a little break from all the training he had done in the past couple days and went outside to eat a custom-made sandwich. Suddenly, he noticed this weird looking plant several yards away from him. Sniffing it, he decided that it smelled like a green onion. Utter mistake! This started everything.

He put the leaves up to the sunlight to detect for any liquids that might be secreted like poison ivy. No, it looked like a safe plant to test out. Was it a green onion? It wasn’t a flower, but it had leaves on its stalks.

“Wow. Drunk again? Heh, cool.” The Genin spoke in fragmental sentences.

Because of a little promise Tiancai made to his father, Tiancai’s dad would be pissed off if he caused anymore trouble in the drunken state. After all, the previous encounters had left Wanju’s puppet broken and his father physically sore for the entire next day.

Tiancai chucked the remains of the plant away from him. A simple lick had gotten him into this. It enticed him to have more, that retard. Tiancai would have been happy with eating the sandwich, but his curiosity got the better of him. If nobody saw him, then he would not have to interact and get into another fight. Everything would go well after an hour in the forest alone. Eventually he would sober up when the poison ended.

Unfortunately, footsteps were approaching him this very instant. Neither Tiancai nor the person knew what was going to happen soon.

Name: Adachi Janos
Rank: Genin
Level: 5 (0/50) -edited to current level, as this was on hiatus-
Rewards:

It was a day like any other; the sun rose in the same relatively fixed position in the sky, and would surely set in the same horizon. Yes, if one was prepared to accept such broad criteria, it WAS a day like any other; robbed of uniqueness and individuality. Just like the boy walking aimlessly down the crowded street was the same as any other in the village. Just like his bones were any bones, his hardships the burden of all.

Yes, for those who believe such fallacies, it was a day like any other. Yet, no matter how logical the thoughts in his mind, Janos knew some things defied rationality. Why, many things did... People under the influence of various substances and compulsions, quantum physics, dragonflies...

Hope...

He shook his head: Such thoughts were foolish, and leading nowhere. Circular logic worked just as well as the other sort, and was far more easy to fall in to. It was like a recursive pattern, thoughts repeating over and over again until both point and sanity are lost. Though there are worse fates than losing one's mind, Janos had yet to hear of them.

He continued to walk down the street, gradually becoming more aware of his surroundings as nature reclaimed them; he had wondered to the borders of the village, lost in subconscious rehashing of old fears and remembering old tears.

These last few years...They've been better than before, better than what I've grown used to expecting out of life.

Now, the street had fallen away entirely; there was nothing but a trodden dirt pathway muffling his footfalls now. Trees hung overhead, letting several scarce rays shine through overhanging emerald canopies, creating silhouettes of shapes not seen in nature underneath the leaves' shielding layer. It was calming, somehow; the verdant green groove tranquilizing even the most pressing worries

It's been more than I could even comprehend, before I found this village... But, I guess in truth, the village found me...

---

It had been several days since the boy had last eaten. His throat was parched, his strength fading, and his knee swelling with infection. It would not be long before the will powering him dwindled with the food supply. It had been a long winter; another nearby village lost to ninja attack - another food source gone.

The wilderness was a cruel place to be a child.

The wind rasped against his chilled flesh, whispering against his visible ribs. The pain was agonizing, causing each step to be slower, more faltering; he hadn't slept in days for fear of some creature tracking him in the night. It was all he could do to keep moving.

He walked.

Endless step after step, footfall after footfall, taking him further and further to nowhere...

The forest surrounded him, seeming to grow more dense the further he walked, until...it was as if a door had opened, in front of him, into a land of plenty. He rubbed his eyes, but the mirage remained reality; he could even see two small figures coming outside.

He ran, as much as aching muscles allowed, to that glimpse of hope...

---

And here he was again. He had wandered to that same spot; that same forest with its hidden door, filled with remorse and misgivings, alone with his thoughts.

Yet...it seemed he was not alone. There was a strange boy in a nearby clearing singing strange songs and nonsense phrases, stumbling about like a fool.

Janos began to walk closer, but stopped, suddenly. He had heard about this boy, he thought; the boy who was a natural at the Drunken Fist style of combat. This could either be very dangerous, or child's play - A day like any other.

“Heehee, I am a genius! ‘Cause that’s my name! My parents…my parents…said so…” Tiancai giggled to himself.

Doof. Doof. Doof. Doof. Do-

The step of a human resounded throughout the Genin’s ears. It stopped unexpectedly and Tiancai noticed, who had been paying attention to the rhythm. Did someone spot him? He furrowed his eyebrows in disgust for a while until he was sure that no one was there. Nothing happened and Tiancai started to smile again in his drunken state.

He got up and stumbled around until he was located next to a tree. “Oh yeah…gotta learn Frontal Drill!” he sang loudly/nonsensically and punched the darkened bark. His loose arm did not cause much damage and Tiancai pulled a fit since he saw that he had not damaged the tree.

“Initial Gate, release you dumb bastard!” he raged on, again making no sense at all. He went into a mad fury and used up a decent amount of his stamina to blast the tree down to pieces. After the tree fell down Tiancai was about to break out in laughter (triumph, probably) when he saw a silhouette of a boy his height. He vainly tried to focus and made out some white hair and a puzzled look.

“Whatcha looking at? Jeez…” The boy did nothing. To Tiancai, that action meant that the boy had shrugged off his comment like he was a moron that no one should talk to. Well, in this state, the interpretation of the boy was right.

Something popped in Tiancai’s head after the other Genin still stood there. “Go away! Why you standing there? Trying to stalk me, eh?” Tiancai mumbled at first, then grew in volume. Gah, a rapist he was! In his drunken state, the Genin fumed and angrily pointed a finger at the figure.

After finding nothing to say because of his mixed-up mind, Tiancai finally snapped from the assumptions that were steadily building up inside of him. His mentality was rather unstable and changed drastically towards small and trivial events. “Leave!” He started off with a run towards the Genin and attempted a Senpuu.

The first kick completely missed and Tiancai slid across the forest ground. He stopped himself momentarily after passing the opponent, did a quick handstand and followed that maneuver with a donkey kick. Feeling the impact of his feet against flesh, Tiancai ended by lying facedown on the dirt.

He had seen it before, and he was seeing it again: It was these sort of people that wrecked the world. Uncaring, ungracious and ungrateful, their crudity destroyed the carefully laid plans of many men (and mice as well, he imagined.) The sight was inspiring, in its own way. It was an incentive. A living demonstration to not follow in the footsteps of the stumbling boy, traversing the path of intoxication and delirium.

It is a sad day when a man becomes something to be pitied rather than respected. It is troublesome when a man regresses, devolves, loses honour and pride. Janos stared in disgust and revulsion as the person before him lunged around awkwardly in a drunker stupor, nonsensical words flying like spittle.

It was depressing. He had thought the human race possessed more backbone. He had hoped to find equals, people of similar mental cohesion and drive; yet all he found was this. It was troublesome. He had realized the boy's mishmash phrasing had stopped polluting the air. He turned around; the drunkard was staring right at him.

Janos was floored. He had now noticed something he had not realized before; this delinquent was a ninja! The Konoha forehead protector on his head gleamed with what little sunlight made it through the leafy canopy.

The Genin yelled at him, rather accusingly, telling him to 'go away' and calling him things he would rather not repeat. Janos's visage was set in stone. For all his failings, he still had pride; he would not let this affront to his dignity go unpunished.

As befitting his chosen fighting style, Janos allowed the drunkard to make the first move.

His techniques were laughable; what might be, when sober, damaging Taijutsu turned into a clumsy dance. The boy's attack missed completely, leaving the other ninja stranded on the forest floor. The boy got up, though, and tried again; Janos was ready for him in ways he wasn't even aware of.

A familiar sensation build up within him; his bones were shifting, but not into the talons they had, thus far, always become. It felt like his whole arm was shifting, moving, changing. It hurt; pain such as that he had not felt for years.

He gasped wetly as the blade pierced through his palm, bone extending through his hand to become a blade. He stared in wonder at the protuberance, knowing he had inadvertantly mastered the first of the five dance forms; Yanagi no Mai.

He had studied for this, reading snips of information found in musty books piled in dark corners of the deserted Kaguya facility. He was ready to accept the gift his bones were giving him. He struck; bone slapped against feet, and the Genin was knocked back down to the dirt.

The Dance of the Willows involved fluid and precise movements, not wasting any motion, for devastating effects. He would try to do his clan proud, even though the opponent seemed not to be worthy. He waited, again, for the battle to come.

So the boy was going to seriously fight then, as Tiancai saw by his stern expression…very well. It would be another chance to see what the Drunken Fist could do for him; if it could be a trump card for future fights. Maybe even useful for the Chunin exams.

“I’ll give you whatfor!” Tiancai shouted as he got back up from his previous attack.

Whiff.

The noise caused the Genin to turn around as his opponent swung. A bone sword? Was that what blocked his kick? How could he produce it so quickly from the sheath? If there was a sheath in the first place…he couldn’t see…

In his stupefied state Tiancai’s muscles could not respond quickly enough. His drunken mind could not comprehend what the bone sword was. The blade slashed his back for the first time. Now his consciousness understood , simply, avoid that weapon! Janos struck again.

“Won’t…” Blood streamed from his back because of the movement speed and Tiancai dodged the next swing. Dance of the Willows, eh? The Pure Taijutsu boy didn’t know it, but there was a clan of the Kaguya. Bone manipulators that were fearsome and many were extinguished because under their village’s eyes, they were mutants.

“Work…” This time Tiancai pivoted on his foot and faced his opponent fully. The attack he was using took speed as a priority. Unlike most attacks, the interval between strikes was infinitesimal. The whole purpose was to attack whenever possible at the enemy. He continued dodging and matching that speed. It took stamina out of him, but…

“Again!” Zuzuzuzuzuzu. The progression of the attack was coming to an end and Tiancai got ready. The only time where an opening attack was even plausible in the Dance of the Willows was at the end when the final lunge was made and the user had to regain his poise to continue.

Now! Janos started to straighten himself and Tiancai’s foot swung with the force of all the training he had done as a taijutsu shinobi and kicked the bone sword loose from Janos’s hand. His other foot came from the other way and his posture resembled a pair of scissors shutting together. This caused the weapon to first fall out of the enemy’s grip, then when the other foot came it hit the tip of the blade and slashed at the Kaguya’s chest.

Balancing on one hand Tiancai then started his next move. He swung the foot that had recovered from action as a roundhouse kick at Janos and using his elbow as leverage he followed by jumping into the air and waiting for his opponent to respond. You just didn’t know what to expect from the elastic-suit wearing drunkard.

This was Thrashing Strike.

It was glorious. All he had hoped for, all he had dreamed about, was here, in this moment of triumph. He had mastered the first of the five martial dance formed favoured by the elusive Kaguya clan. His eventual mastery of the rest was assured, as soon as he dispatched this inferior scum. He wasn't himself, but in the heat of battle, this didn't disconcert his. He was absorbed in the movements of the fight, the perfection of the technique; deceitfully clear-minded in the midst of it all.

Regardless of his technique's apparent superiority, the stange boy rolled with every blow, dodging, and...preparing an assault of his own? During the momentary lull in the battle, the boy's foot swung, forcibly removing the bone sword from Janos's palm; the connection to his skeleton weakened due to his lack of expertise.

Janos smirked with a smugness that was not his, with a pride that was more inherited than earned. To think that taking one weapon of a Kaguya away would stop him? Sheer foolishness. He snapped his arms downward, a strange movement to anyone not familiar with his clan, as two new bone spikes emerged from the palms of his hands, and swung them to deflect his stolen weapon.

Bone rasped against bone; sparks flew as the drunken fighter sought to slay the bonechild with his own technique. Janos seemed to prove triumphant, but the strange boy launched himself into the air, most likely preparing for some strange new attack.

His limbs seemed to be everywhere, striking at every unprotected part of his body, but Janos was sure the Dance would prove superior. He struck out as well, with bones, feet, and elbows alike, each strike executed with perfect poise. He had gone beyond an adrenaline high now, lost in the majesty of the steps of the Dance.

Finally, his knee caught the boy a glancing blow on the head, hopefully either knocking him out or forcing him to his senses. Standing still again, Janos, sweating and panting with the effort of battle, brought his breathing and mind back under control. He slid the spikes of bone that would now serve as his weapon back under his skin, where they would remain.

Not particularly caring what happened to the bizarre ninja, he walked on, seeking only to recapture the nostalgia and memories that, for him, this place was steeped in. The answers he sought, answers to questions he hadn't even completely formed, did not lie in conflict here. They lay where only he himself could find them; inwards.

He had yet to learn the lesson that he did not need to live up to anything; that his life was what he made of it. That lesson, though important, would not be learned here...

(Good god, this post is horrible. Sorry, but I just really need to get this wrapped up. I'll PM you, but either way, I'm not posting here again.)

“Eh?” After all the blurred images that flashed through Tiancai’s vision from his quick and unpredictable movement, his opponent was still standing. His chest heaved as if excited and pumped with adrenaline. The drunken Genin frowned his disapproval of his enemy’s attitude towards the battle. Did he really think that he could get away with trying to sneak up on him?

Then the boy put up a familiar stance. Tiancai couldn’t recognize it in his dazed state, but his body automatically prepared itself. As the first strike passed, he finally realized that it was the Dance of the Willows. Janos’s smirk was caught by Tiancai briefly during the attack and disturbed him slightly.

Something was produced randomly from the Kaguya’s movement. Instead of swinging with his sword, his knee rose and aimed for Tiancai’s head. Oh, was that all? The speed of the attack wasn’t as fast as the steps of the dance; it did not catch Tiancai off guard at all.

But something did. The Drunken Fist style of fighting has the user label everything he wants to avoid. The mind will then send reflex shocks to the various nerves of the body to tell the user when to avoid it. However, in order to save time and more accurate approaches to the labeled opponent, the user usually does not remember to keep his surrounding areas in check while fighting.

So Tiancai threw his head back to dodge the knee and was about to seize his chance and retaliate with an upwards leg swing when he hit his head against a nearby tree. “A-“ he was going into unconsciousness. Funny how it was something that didn’t even want to harm Tiancai that ended his battle.

Now his vision had a darkened appearance to it from the blood rushing quickly to his head in order to try to restore the boy’s health status, but it would take a while. “You can go,” Tiancai muttered while sprawled. Then his eyes closed and he slept.

Judging...

I've seen better. I don't want to insult either of you, really I do not. It's just that this thing, other than a slight smile from Tiancai's drunken ramblings failed to capture me. It was like reading a battle post almost entirely and that's why I don't judge them. I just no longer find them exciting.

Like I said, I don't want to criticize the either of you, I'm just telling you my feelings on things here. I feel like an ass for stating these things, though...

Anyhow, your rewards:

Tiancai, you barely and I mean barely wrote enough to gain that technique. I'm a lenient judge and I dislike allowing people to go without their mainly desired rewards, so I'm allowing it to pass this time.

I reward you the jutsu, but no additional compensation.


------

Janos, this is going to seem harsh, but I'm going award you the jutsu and an additional 10 points of LP. This was definitely not your best work and seemed rather uninspired for you.

That's my call. You may refute it as desired.