"Listen guys, I'm gonna level with you here. There's like thirty of you and just me by my lonesome." Katsuo announced, his expression unphased by the platoon of criminals which surrounded him. "It's not gonna be enough. You need more guys if we're gonna throw down like this."
The crowd of thugs arrayed around him shouted and jeered at him for his observation of the odds. They didn't know who he was or how in over their heads they were. How could they?
But that was how he wanted it. Katsuo had sought out this group of thugs for a particular reason. He wanted to make a statement to a particular someone and wiping this group out was the quickest way to do that. Word on the street was that these guys had somehow wormed their way into the good graces of the Cabal, whatever that meant. The rumors said that these guys were the ones "in charge" of the Sietch as dictated by the mysterious man behind the organization that had brought Sunagakure to it's knees. And that was the reason Katsuo was here.
"Seriously. I'm trying to be fair about this. You need more men."
Developing a wild grin of challenge, Katsuo knew he'd done it that time as the first wave of criminals descended upon him shouting various insults and threats against his health. Glancing around, Katsuo took in each of their movements as they charged him in slow-motion and mentally prepared his counter-actions. The assailant directly in front of him was the unlucky first man to be taken by surprise at Katsuo's inhuman speed as the demon hunter pitched forward and appeared right in front of him using the momentum of his movement to drive his knee through the air and into the thug's face with a wet crunch. The man wasn't dead but with a broken nose that was suddenly pouring blood out over his face, he wasn't going to be getting back up again any time soon. Skidding to a stop, Katsuo's body flickered for a moment as the other thugs turned finally in recognition of the fact their target had suddenly disappeared and knocked one of their number to the ground with one strike. Their moment of clarity was short-lived and far too late however as Katsuo re-appeared at the feet of two men that had, in their hurry to rush at Katsuo, misjudged how close they were standing together and made a perfect target for a leg sweep which knocked both of them from their feet and unto their butts on the cold stone ground.
Attackers four, five and six at this point were too stunned to even move. The crowd around them had gone totally silent at the fact that three of them had been taken out so quickly and, as Katsuo re-appeared back where he'd been standing before, without even making it necessary for Katsuo to take his hands out of his coat pockets. With a shrug and a look of "told you so" on his face, Katsuo rolled his head to the side and looked over his shoulder at the closest of the remaining trio who now weren't so confident in their willingness to fight.
"More guys, see. Three of you guys went down just now and I didn't even have to use my hands. Is that really how this is gonna be? You all standing there looking like you've seen a jabberwocky while I run around and beat you up? If so, this is gonna get real boring, really fast."
As if returned to reality by his words, the three men closest to him resumed their intent to assault Katsuo as if they had no other choice. Realistically, Katsuo had no intention of letting anybody walk away from this fight without some bruises but they probably didn't know that he didn't plan on killing any of them. The display he'd just shown them made it clear that they couldn't fight him but at the speed he could move they couldn't run either. He'd just run them down and pick them off one by one. These bangers weren't combat tacticians but they knew enough to recognize that. All at once they begin to pile in at him, all hoping to be the one that got the lucky swipe that managed to take coat-guy out before he could decimate all of them.
That's better guys.
Lifting his foot as the crowd converged upon him, Katsuo gathered a mass of his modified chakra into his foot and stomped it into the ground as hard as he could. For just a moment there was a perfect stillness which was blown apart by the roar of Katsuo's attack. With a deafening crack of the air begin super-heated, the space around the demon hunter erupted into an arcing wave of shocking power that blasted it's way through each of the on-coming gang bangers and sending them flying through the air with hundreds of volts of energy coursing through their bodies. In a single horrible moment it was over; Katsuo still standing in the place he'd been standing since the rumble began with his hands in his pockets surrounded by the crowd... except now most of them were unconscious from the blast of magnetic chakra that Katsuo had released. He'd never been particularly good at Ninjutsu... but since taking in the spark of Primus he'd found a primal connection with lightning and magnetics that he'd never had before. He didn't know the handseals or anything of the sort but... the techniques just seemed to come to him in the heat of battle when he needed them. For a moment, Katsuo simply stood back and listened for the sound of any of them that might be awake and mercifully it did not take long for a pained moan to escape the lips of one of the criminals that he'd just blasted into submission from somewhere behind him. Turning and taking his hands from his coat pockets for the first time, Katsuo went from unconscious form to unconscious form looking for the man which he'd heard was still awake... or at least he hoped was still awake.
He'd gone through two crowds previously like this and failed to keep anyone awake.
Finally finding the man he was looking for, Katsuo stood over him and leaned forward as he looked down at the squirming man. He was clearly in quite a bit of pain-- the blast of magnetic chakra would do that to a man considering it probably played hell with his nervous system --but he wasn't in any actual danger. The blast wasn't nearly enough to kill a man unless they were somehow exposed over an extended period to the current. What he'd given to them was a solid taste of the voltaic energy that suffused his body now but it wasn't anything that might have potentially killed anybody. Waving his hand in front of the guy's face, Katsuo finally managed to get the thug's attention who went from being confused and in pain to terrified at the sight of Katsuo standing directly over him. From the expression on his face and the jerky non-movements that the guy's limbs were making, Katsuo reasoned that the man was more than likely trying to get his body to scuttle as quickly as possible across the ground away from the feet of the man that had just sent nearly thirty of his friends flying through the air by stomping his foot on the ground.
"H-Hey mannnn.. .. don't... k-k-k-kil.... kill ... . .. m-mee..." He stammered out at last, his limps slurring and failing him on a few syllables.
"Not gonna kill you goofball. If I was gonna do that, I wouldn't have tried to get your attention first." He explained, taking a step to close the small gap in space that the downed thug had created between them with his desperate spasms. "I've got a message for you. Want you to put the word out to anybody who'll listen."
Still the thug shifted as small amounts of control slowly begun to return to his extremities. It seemed like he was still desperate to escape Katsuo and didn't seem like he was particularly paying attention. With a shake of his head, Katsuo put his hand in front of the thug's face and snapped his fingers causing miniature bolts of lightning to jump between his fingertips, as if to remind the thug exactly what he could do.
"Hey, pay attention guy. Talking here. You listening?" Finally having gotten the thug's attention, his eyes wide with fear as he listened to Katsuo and slowly nodded his head. "Fabulous. I need you to take a message to your Cabal buddies. Put the word out that I'm looking for their leader. He and I need to have a chat about what he's doing to this city."
"W-who..'re youuu-u..?" Still having difficulties talking, it seemed like the thug needed more than just an obscure demand to take back to his bosses. Standing back up for a moment, Katsuo thought that over. What could he say that would make them pay attention? He wasn't particularly well known in Sunagakure's area. They used to call him the Iron Wolf out in the winds but that name didn't likely mean anything here nor really would his family name... and as that thought crossed his mind, Katsuo decided how to answer the criminal's question. Leaning back over, Katsuo looked him straight in the eyes before speaking giving the recovering thug an excellent look at the golden glimmer of his Zenjingan that had replaced the bright green they were normally.
"The Kazekage. Tell him I'll be waiting for him where he blew up my tower."
Without anything further, Katsuo shoved his hands back into his pockets and began to walk away from the site of the battle. There wasn't anything left for him here. Hopefully at least one of the men that had overheard his conversation with the stunned thug would take the news to the Cabal. He knew for a fact that many eyes and ears watched the battle from the side-lines, from places that he couldn't see but he'd spoken loud enough for any of them to hear. Katsuo still was pretty set in his decision not to take the mantle of leadership from Sousuke but the news of "the Kazekage" beating up gangs looking for the leader of the Cabal was sure to grab the attention fo somebody. He wasn't sure what sort of man that his mysterious leader was but he knew he'd get a good measure of him once he crossed fists with him. That was only a matter of time.
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The crowd of thugs arrayed around him shouted and jeered at him for his observation of the odds. They didn't know who he was or how in over their heads they were. How could they?
But that was how he wanted it. Katsuo had sought out this group of thugs for a particular reason. He wanted to make a statement to a particular someone and wiping this group out was the quickest way to do that. Word on the street was that these guys had somehow wormed their way into the good graces of the Cabal, whatever that meant. The rumors said that these guys were the ones "in charge" of the Sietch as dictated by the mysterious man behind the organization that had brought Sunagakure to it's knees. And that was the reason Katsuo was here.
"Seriously. I'm trying to be fair about this. You need more men."
Developing a wild grin of challenge, Katsuo knew he'd done it that time as the first wave of criminals descended upon him shouting various insults and threats against his health. Glancing around, Katsuo took in each of their movements as they charged him in slow-motion and mentally prepared his counter-actions. The assailant directly in front of him was the unlucky first man to be taken by surprise at Katsuo's inhuman speed as the demon hunter pitched forward and appeared right in front of him using the momentum of his movement to drive his knee through the air and into the thug's face with a wet crunch. The man wasn't dead but with a broken nose that was suddenly pouring blood out over his face, he wasn't going to be getting back up again any time soon. Skidding to a stop, Katsuo's body flickered for a moment as the other thugs turned finally in recognition of the fact their target had suddenly disappeared and knocked one of their number to the ground with one strike. Their moment of clarity was short-lived and far too late however as Katsuo re-appeared at the feet of two men that had, in their hurry to rush at Katsuo, misjudged how close they were standing together and made a perfect target for a leg sweep which knocked both of them from their feet and unto their butts on the cold stone ground.
Attackers four, five and six at this point were too stunned to even move. The crowd around them had gone totally silent at the fact that three of them had been taken out so quickly and, as Katsuo re-appeared back where he'd been standing before, without even making it necessary for Katsuo to take his hands out of his coat pockets. With a shrug and a look of "told you so" on his face, Katsuo rolled his head to the side and looked over his shoulder at the closest of the remaining trio who now weren't so confident in their willingness to fight.
"More guys, see. Three of you guys went down just now and I didn't even have to use my hands. Is that really how this is gonna be? You all standing there looking like you've seen a jabberwocky while I run around and beat you up? If so, this is gonna get real boring, really fast."
As if returned to reality by his words, the three men closest to him resumed their intent to assault Katsuo as if they had no other choice. Realistically, Katsuo had no intention of letting anybody walk away from this fight without some bruises but they probably didn't know that he didn't plan on killing any of them. The display he'd just shown them made it clear that they couldn't fight him but at the speed he could move they couldn't run either. He'd just run them down and pick them off one by one. These bangers weren't combat tacticians but they knew enough to recognize that. All at once they begin to pile in at him, all hoping to be the one that got the lucky swipe that managed to take coat-guy out before he could decimate all of them.
That's better guys.
Lifting his foot as the crowd converged upon him, Katsuo gathered a mass of his modified chakra into his foot and stomped it into the ground as hard as he could. For just a moment there was a perfect stillness which was blown apart by the roar of Katsuo's attack. With a deafening crack of the air begin super-heated, the space around the demon hunter erupted into an arcing wave of shocking power that blasted it's way through each of the on-coming gang bangers and sending them flying through the air with hundreds of volts of energy coursing through their bodies. In a single horrible moment it was over; Katsuo still standing in the place he'd been standing since the rumble began with his hands in his pockets surrounded by the crowd... except now most of them were unconscious from the blast of magnetic chakra that Katsuo had released. He'd never been particularly good at Ninjutsu... but since taking in the spark of Primus he'd found a primal connection with lightning and magnetics that he'd never had before. He didn't know the handseals or anything of the sort but... the techniques just seemed to come to him in the heat of battle when he needed them. For a moment, Katsuo simply stood back and listened for the sound of any of them that might be awake and mercifully it did not take long for a pained moan to escape the lips of one of the criminals that he'd just blasted into submission from somewhere behind him. Turning and taking his hands from his coat pockets for the first time, Katsuo went from unconscious form to unconscious form looking for the man which he'd heard was still awake... or at least he hoped was still awake.
He'd gone through two crowds previously like this and failed to keep anyone awake.
Finally finding the man he was looking for, Katsuo stood over him and leaned forward as he looked down at the squirming man. He was clearly in quite a bit of pain-- the blast of magnetic chakra would do that to a man considering it probably played hell with his nervous system --but he wasn't in any actual danger. The blast wasn't nearly enough to kill a man unless they were somehow exposed over an extended period to the current. What he'd given to them was a solid taste of the voltaic energy that suffused his body now but it wasn't anything that might have potentially killed anybody. Waving his hand in front of the guy's face, Katsuo finally managed to get the thug's attention who went from being confused and in pain to terrified at the sight of Katsuo standing directly over him. From the expression on his face and the jerky non-movements that the guy's limbs were making, Katsuo reasoned that the man was more than likely trying to get his body to scuttle as quickly as possible across the ground away from the feet of the man that had just sent nearly thirty of his friends flying through the air by stomping his foot on the ground.
"H-Hey mannnn.. .. don't... k-k-k-kil.... kill ... . .. m-mee..." He stammered out at last, his limps slurring and failing him on a few syllables.
"Not gonna kill you goofball. If I was gonna do that, I wouldn't have tried to get your attention first." He explained, taking a step to close the small gap in space that the downed thug had created between them with his desperate spasms. "I've got a message for you. Want you to put the word out to anybody who'll listen."
Still the thug shifted as small amounts of control slowly begun to return to his extremities. It seemed like he was still desperate to escape Katsuo and didn't seem like he was particularly paying attention. With a shake of his head, Katsuo put his hand in front of the thug's face and snapped his fingers causing miniature bolts of lightning to jump between his fingertips, as if to remind the thug exactly what he could do.
"Hey, pay attention guy. Talking here. You listening?" Finally having gotten the thug's attention, his eyes wide with fear as he listened to Katsuo and slowly nodded his head. "Fabulous. I need you to take a message to your Cabal buddies. Put the word out that I'm looking for their leader. He and I need to have a chat about what he's doing to this city."
"W-who..'re youuu-u..?" Still having difficulties talking, it seemed like the thug needed more than just an obscure demand to take back to his bosses. Standing back up for a moment, Katsuo thought that over. What could he say that would make them pay attention? He wasn't particularly well known in Sunagakure's area. They used to call him the Iron Wolf out in the winds but that name didn't likely mean anything here nor really would his family name... and as that thought crossed his mind, Katsuo decided how to answer the criminal's question. Leaning back over, Katsuo looked him straight in the eyes before speaking giving the recovering thug an excellent look at the golden glimmer of his Zenjingan that had replaced the bright green they were normally.
"The Kazekage. Tell him I'll be waiting for him where he blew up my tower."
Without anything further, Katsuo shoved his hands back into his pockets and began to walk away from the site of the battle. There wasn't anything left for him here. Hopefully at least one of the men that had overheard his conversation with the stunned thug would take the news to the Cabal. He knew for a fact that many eyes and ears watched the battle from the side-lines, from places that he couldn't see but he'd spoken loud enough for any of them to hear. Katsuo still was pretty set in his decision not to take the mantle of leadership from Sousuke but the news of "the Kazekage" beating up gangs looking for the leader of the Cabal was sure to grab the attention fo somebody. He wasn't sure what sort of man that his mysterious leader was but he knew he'd get a good measure of him once he crossed fists with him. That was only a matter of time.
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