Meisters of the Traveling Dojo [Shashu]

[Oginu Toru]

The newly established context of peace was a sound change from all the upheaval he remembered as a child. There was no more war or differentiating altercations that ensued. Ally vying factions unified underneath the same ideals for the time being. Although consistently safe, the young Oginu wondered what the village had left to teach him. His parents gained their skills and experience as ninja through the far cry's of spontaneous conflict that tested their limits and frequently blossomed their potential. But without so much as a shady stranger walking the streets these days, where would his defining moments potentially come from? The prospect of potentially being cooped up in the village until attaining the status of at least a journeyman ninja was unsatisfactory in his mind. Upon arriving in the Ancient Forest he could recall tales of warning and discouragement fed to him early on about the unstable and potentially hostile environment of the area.

The myriad of tall trees eclipsing the vast majority of the overcast sunlight catering to its rumored mystique. But the presence of an afterthought with any foresight of danger had no gravity on the pale boy's process. Whatever potential opposition lied ahead would only serve as the means he had been searching for to test his limits. He found no logical reasons to turn away. After hours of meandering through the coarse grounded forest he had stumbled upon what appeared to be a makeshift clearing lit with paper lanterns around a square thirty yard perimeter. In the center lied a large open air dojo, committed with hard floors, and three equidistant walls respectively. The omission of a roof and front wall seemed to be intentional as he gathered from the large travel cart adjacent to the structure that sported a sign entitled "The Traveling Dojo". Moving from the brush and into clear view his amber eyes widened as he took steps forward with childish glee plastered upon his face. This prospect couldn't possibly be real.

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Well, this doesn't actually seem that scary... Shashu picked her way among the tall birches and pines that dominated this stretch of forest, taking care to avoid making noise. The carpet of needles dampened most sound, lending an eerie feeling to the area. Shashu had ventured out here because she had heard some rumors and legends that this part of the forest was haunted by ghosts and specters, and so far her day had been pretty boring. Still...no sighting of a single ghost. You would think that they would be all over this time of year. After spending all morning and a good chunk of afternoon wandering about, she decided that her best bet would be to wait. She climbed up a tree and pulled out a book from a belt pouch, then stretched out and began to read. Maybe one will try and sneak up on me here. It would be pretty disappointing to come out here and not see any ghosts. The spot she picked being pretty comfy, Shashu dozed off pretty quickly.

Sometime later, Shashu was woken up by the sound of snapping branches and muffled footsteps. A ghost?! Looking around wildly, she spotted not a ghost, but what looked to be a boy about her age, probably a student as well judging by his clothes and equipment. Shashu sighed. Still no ghosts. Hmmm.... She eyed the boy thoughtfully. He seemed to be moving with purpose, as if he too were looking for something. I guess I'll follow him around, maybe he'll lead me to something cool. Tucking her book away Shashu followed him quietly, sticking to the tree branches and making as little noise as possible. She preferred to stay hidden until the perfect moment. Being hidden is the perfect way to find hidden secrets, after all. She followed the boy for a little ways until they chanced upon a clearing, some sort of makeshift dojo and cart taking up room in the center. Well well...what have we here? Shashu held back and waited for the boy to make his move. This could turn out to be pretty fun after all...

[OOC: Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was creatively brain-dead from staying up all night XD]​

 

[Oginu Toru]

As he etched closer his heart rate began to increase with adrenaline, although no one seemed to be present, the idea of a pit stopped dojo incited his excitement all the same. The open air dojo grew closer at increasing rates as he found himself slowly transitioning into strides. He was running. Upon closing within meters of the establishment he was abruptly cut off by what seemed at a moments glance to be a two figured blur coupled with a billow of white smoke and a strong momentous wind. Reacting instinctively, he abruptly shifted his weight backwards, falling noticeably off balance. His center of gravity would soon be reinstated after a few stumbling steps upon his heels and a balance regaining stance of combat. His fists poised in a loose perpendicular cross near his chest.

As the white smoke dissipated the two figured blur was soon revealed, proving to be two individual males roughly five and a half feet in height respectively. They adorned much more traditional black full body ninja gear replete with three quarter mask coverings that showed nothing save their steel red eyes. Each of them carried sheaths in the shape of katana affixed parallel to their lower backs. Before the young Oginu could speak, the intimidating duo relaxed upright in perfect unison prior to the slightly more robust of the two assumed the floor first.

"Congratulations! You are the first to wander upon our mobile selection. We are the Meisters of the Traveling Dojo. We offer sparring to any who stumble upon us and commit themselves as challengers in our dojo. The rules are simple. If you choose to enter you will need to defeat the both of us either one at a time or simultaneously. Killing is not permitted. Victory is determined by knockout, ring out, or surrender. You are welcome to enter alone but we recommend finding a willing partner before proceeding. How will you decide?"

[ooc] Just fyi these guys are roughly D-rank and only capable of level 1 and below tai and general ninjutsu. If you choose to participate further we will mod any coming combat that arises. Cool?​

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

A partner, hmmm? Shashu looked around and grinned. Looks like that's me! Attaching a web-strand to the branch she crouched on she quickly jumped back, then swung forward, kicking off the tree behind her. After reaching the height of the strand's arc she let go, tucking into a triple somersault and landing feet first, arms spread wide. Score. Ten points, easy. Shashu turned to Toru, lowering one hand and extending the other. "Hey, I'm Shashu, I think we met in class. Toru right?" Shashu cocked her head. "I hear you need a partner yes? It just so happens that I have some free time on my hands, so why don't we give it a go? I'm game if you are." Shashu smiled, eyes twinkling. This is definitely going to be interesting.

[OOC: Sounds fine to me! Have at thee!]​

 

[Oginu Toru]

Although the intensity of the abrupt instance had seemed to dissipate the adolescent shinobi did not let up from his guard. The sight of the heavily armed young adults before him did not seem to match the tone of the friendly request they were personally extending. It was something about their blood hued irises that he simply could not get past. All the same their offer sounded intriguing to put it mildly, but in all actuality this was the type of situation he had set out to find. Of course with no such specifics, but the principle of spontaneous conflict even if only an open challenge catered to his predisposition towards testing his limits. "These guys look tough. But to hell with it, I'll take them both on!" He exclaimed in thought, figuring he had nothing to loose, especially considering that opportunities like this almost never happened. Win or loose he'd have his limits tested, and that's all that mattered.

Before he could part his lips with a phrase of naïve confidence another figure appeared from up above. Crouching down even further he braced to react towards the unknown entity that tumbled gracefully through the air before landing perfectly on balance. The mystery behind the former anomaly had been quickly revealed as the kunoichi's familiarity was backed with the factual history that immediately escaped him. It was the eeiry silver eyed girl from Kitsune's ninjutsu class. He wasn't entirely sure how she found herself seamlessly punctual in his affairs, but he assumed it was purely coincidence. Adjusting upright from his defensive position with cautionary periphery on the so called 'Meisters' he shook her hand respectively. "Yeah, I'm Toru. I was prepared to completely ignore their suggestion for a partner, but since your game Shashu, we can enter this together." He replied after releasing his grip from their handshake and truning back towards the mysterious 'Meisters'. "Alright! Me and the girl are in and we'll take you both at once." The Meisters nodded respectively in response and swiftly retreated to the wooden floors of the open air dojo. Upon landing they unsheathed their katana and poised themselves for combat.

"Begin whenever you two are ready!"​

[MFT]

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Seamlessly punctual...that was a good way to describe Shashu, assuming one didn't know of her fondness for following people around when she found them interesting or was bored. This wasn't the first time she had lucked into something fun after tailing someone for no reason, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Case in point, this situation here. She had come to the forest seeking ghost stories but instead had found an excellent opportunity to test how far her abilities had progressed during her time here at the Academy, all thanks to following a random passer-by.

With that in mind, she turned to Toru. "Thanks for letting me join in. Chances like this don't come all that often, really, and sparring against the other students only goes so far...so let's make the most of this shall we?" Shashu reached back as she spoke, unslinging her shuriken from it's holster on her back while also discreetly slipping a hand into her belt pouch to palm a small flash bomb. Nothing like a little bang to start things off, yeah? Shashu grinned at the thought and set the blades on her shuriken spinning. "I'll go in first!" She exclaimed, tossing the flash bomb towards the two nameless fighters with a flick of a wrist from behind her back, then dashing straight towards them while tossing her shuriken straight back behind her to lodge it in a tree, it's cord trailing from her hand.

Her two opponents were too slow in reacting to the small bomb and flinched back from the flash as it exploded right before their eyes, while Shashu leaped into a spin in anticipation of the flash so as to face away from the light as it went off. Rather than strike directly, she landed behind them and yanked the cord she still held in her hand, tearing the shuriken free from the wood with a sound not unlike an ax splintering a door. Rather then strike them head on, she had opted to delay her strike in order to throw her opponents off guard. Deception and misdirection are the greatest weapons a shinobi can wield. Mislead your enemy that he knows neither where nor when the strike will come, and the battle is yours. Shashu thought, quoting her teachers at the academy. She had had that particular lesson drilled into her more than any other, and so she had taken it to heart. Dazed and blinded, her two unfortunate opponents had little time to react to a strike from an unexpected direction. They would have to have good reflexes indeed to block or dodge, else they would take a solid hit from Shashu's shuriken as it returned to her hands.

 

[Oginu Toru]

"No sweat, have at em!" He replied with a tone of overtly obvious excitement. Normally he was the one blasting forward at the drop of a hat while others conversed about strategies and tales known about their opponent which only served as needless intimidation. It simply revved him up to see another just as eager to stir things up even before he had the chance to. Shashu's weapon of choice was quite interesting to say the least, proving to be a large shuriken infused with some sort of rip cord apparatus. Showing to be much more tactically sound than he'd ever care to be the grey eyed kunoichi used a flash bomb to blind their opponents and achieve advantageous positioning seemingly unnoticed. The sharp lash of the rip cord startling the young shinobi as it sliced itself free from the large tree trunk adjacent to him with a buzzing sound most associated with a swarm of bees as it was summoned straight towards the pair of meisters.

Dazed and visually impaired the crimson eyed pair kept their composure as if putting unrelenting faith in their accomplished hours of past training. With a single tiger seal the slightly smaller of the duo channeled chakra into the rocky ground just past the wooden floor perimeters of the dojo, uprooting a small chunk of its compounds and concentrating it into a small spherical stone eye. Maintaining focus along with the tiger seal the meister remained crouched and vigilant, surveying the situation with the make shift eye before promptly relaying specific instructions to his counterpart. "Upward sword defense at twelve o'clock!" He exclaimed as his identically garbed partner swiftly poised his katana upward with a literal blind faith, effectively blocking away the large shuriken off to the side in convincing fashion. "Female enemy sighted, six o'clock!" The smaller one added as the larger meister quickly pivoted after his initial defense and bared down on the kunoichi with a heavy overhead strike aimed towards her left shoulder.

With a loud reverberated clang of clashing steel the large meisters descending blade was swiftly intercepted by the left plate of the young Oginu's Basshingu Tebukuro. He had essentially dashed straight forward towards the commotion with no regard for the enemies reaction. With all of the disruption Shashu had created the young ninja practically rushed through the 'front door', immediately passing the side of the smaller concentrating meister and cutting a steep angle to arrive at his partners defense. "Huah!" He exclaimed in exertion as he lunged forward with his outside leg, stepping into a hard straight right counter punch that landed flush into the large meisters lower sternum. It effectively knocked him back through the air, causing him to land and topple over his crouched concentrating partner, consequently terminating his crystal eye jutsu that had been maintained thus far. With painful groans the pair swiftly scrambled back to their feet with their vision and awareness now properly regained. "Huh? I could have sworn he was heavier than that. Didn't mean to knock him back that far..."

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Hmmmm. They're a good team, and they've obviously had practice fighting together. She flashed a glance at Toru, fists held before him in a ready stance. We've only had one class together and zero real combat experience....We're going to have to split them up. Leaning forward, she whispered to Toru while keeping an eye on the two meisters. "Divide and conquer. I'll split 'em up, you take em down."

With that she slowly breathed in and sharply exhaled, shooting a stream of flame between the two meisters, forcing them apart. As they dodged away from each other she dashed into the space between, formed a quick handsign, and slammed her palms into the larger meister, a burst of wind knocking him back. He flew back and slammed into the wall, temporarily stunning him. The larger meister seemed to be the more melee oriented of the two, so forcing him away seemed the best bet.

 

[Oginu Toru]

Still holding the follow through of his previous attack, reflecting the discipline of his prior training, he continued to mull over the visual and actual weight ratio he had misinterpreted. Normally he was not one to calculate anything or derive formulas for certain anomalies but this particular instance perplexed him profoundly. A young adult male that seemed at least two hundred pounds feeling at least half as much. "Perhaps I'm just getting stronger? Yeah, hopefully that's the case!" He added in thought as he continued his gaze at the scrambling meisters whilst the warm density of Shashu's breath graced his ears. She had another plan, which seemed to be a recurring theme with the young kunoichi. Although he wasn't as much for the idea of plans as he was for headlong pressure and makeshift adjustments, he was open to include a gesture of teamwork, especially after hearing his nomination to personally take down the enemy. The delicate warmth of the Shashu's breath had abruptly turned to a singeing fire, startling the amber eyed boy as the heat poised so closed to his neck and shoulder caused him to uncomfortably profile his head in the opposite direction.

"Whoa! She can use fire and wind as well. I thought her main element was that golden lightning from class?" He noted in thought as he watched Shashu separate the meisters and slam the largest one with a technique he was actually familiar with himself. His job now was to 'take them down', the part of the plan he was most keen towards. Performing a rudimentary double back hand spring the adolescent Oginu would press his feet against the back wall, finding himself parallel to the ground for a brief moment due to his absorbing momentum. As the large meister bounced violently against the adjacent wall back first as a result of Shashu's attack, he was forced airborne momentarily to soon plummet a few feet towards the ground. But before he could, the pale skinned shinobi in training had met him mid way through his descent after pushing off the wall and darting towards him with his extremities poised. "One! Two!" He exclaimed in effort as he landed an opportunistic left hook to the side of his face before sharply rotating with a follow up round house to the large meisters rib cage. The resulting force sending him into a rapid spin of agony before he would land violently unto the coarse forest ground past the perimeters of the 'pop-up' dojo.

"I think that's a ring out." He uttered with a tone of major certainty as he landed heel to butt just before the very edges of the dojo's make shift wooden flooring. Turning his gaze to Shashu and the remaining meister he poised himself to finish things up only to find their remaining opponent quickly taking the offensive towards his silver eyed counter part. Unable to provide immediate assistance in time he would call out to Shashu with an issued warning, the remaining mesiter baring down on her with his katana in hand with superior speed than either had showcased before. "Watch it Shashu!"

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

[Sorry once again for the delay, my work has been getting crazy with the holidays]

From the looks of things, Toru had taken her idea to heart with gusto, moving to take advantage of the momentary opening she had created. He quickly sprung backwards towards the back wall with a pair of handsprings, then used the wall as a springboard to launch himself at the larger meister. Oho...so he has some moves of his own. He then put that forward momentum to use landing a shot on the meister's jaw followed with a punishing blow to his chest that transferred his momentum into the meister, launching him several yards and allowing Toru to land easily withing the bounds of the makeshift dojo.

"Hehe, not bad Toru-kun." Shashu grinned as she congratulated Toru from her position in the middle of the dojo. "Watch it Shashu!" Toru shouted in warning as the smaller meister charged her, katana poised and ready for a strike. He was too close to dodge, but that was fine. She had other means of defense besides raw agility. Oh no, I didn't forget about you boya. She paused, channeling her own special chakra through her body. Not lightning...no that was her element, but it certainly wasn't unique. There were many shinobi with the lightning element...no, this was unique to her as far as she knew. Maybe there were others out there like her but...that was something to consider another time. For now, she willed her chakra to form around her, causing a white web-like substance to exude from her skin. As the meister's blade swept toward her it hardened to a hard but flexible shell-like barrier which caught the meisters blade as it bit into her shoulder, all in the span of less than a second.

"Tsk tsk." Shashu chided, relaxedly shaking her head as the meister worked to free his blade from the barrier that encased her. "Trying to sneak up on a girl? That's not-" Suddenly she spun around, launching a side kick into the meister's sternum. "Very." Shashu formed a handseal as the meister stumbled backwards, off balance but managing to stay on his feet. "NICE!" With that last word she let fly with her shuriken, the edges crackling with energy as it streaked toward the meister. Fortunately for him he had managed to free his weapon as he staggered away from her kick. The meister raised the blade before him, the razor blades of her shuriken grinding against the steel of his blade as he was forced further backward. Her weapon itself wouldn't inflict any damage, but the charge it carried would use the meister's own weapon as a conduit, surging down the blade to shock it's wielder. "All yours, Toru-kun~" She called, yanking her shuriken back from the assault.

[MFT: WC-455]​

 

[Oginu Toru]

His brow raised with sudden surprise as he noticed Shahsu's posture. Although it was clear that she recieved his warning in time, the kunoichi did not look interested in trying to dodge or even block by any conventional means. His eyes could keep up with all that was happening but his body was simply not quick enough to respond as he would have liked, still absorbing the last bits of momentum from his prior display. He started to shut his amber eyes in fear of seeing the rended flesh of his comrade that would result from the coming attack, but before his eye lids could fall a peculiar sight caught his attention. What appeared to be a white webbing swiftly poured from Shahsu's skin, effectively blocking and entrapping the meisters sword with a flexible durability.

"What the!?" Was all he could seem to think as the wheels in his mind began turning, connecting a few dots to they mystery behind the kunoichi's proven abilities. "First golden electricity webs, now actual silk webbing. Is she some sort of spider?" He deduced with a convincing probability as he leaped into action following Shashu's raiton enhanced shuriken attack. With a running slide he engaged the last meister from the ground with a rotating leg sweep that effectively flipped him airborne. Upon rising the young Oginu would finish him with a taijutsu rush consisting of a flurry of stance planted punches that dug deeply into the meisters chest. The resulting forces causing the mesiter to rattle violently before falling face first onto the dojo floor, dramatically brushing shoulders with the amber eyed student on the way down. "And I think thats a knockout, hehe."

 

[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Toru sure is on the ball when it comes to applied force. Shashu noted as Toru tore into the remaining meister. A leg sweep to knock him airborne followed by series of punches delivered fast enough to be a blur, and the meister fell flat to the floor. "And I think that's a knockout." Toru said with a chuckle and grin. Shashu tended to agree.

"One knocked clear out of the ring, and the other is in no shape to be fighting any time soon." She said with a grin of her own. She leaned against one of the walls of the dojo in a relaxed manner, not particularly winded. She had dispelled the web barrier while Toru was delivering the final blow (or blows) to the smaller meister, and not a trace remained of the silken strands. Stupid Shashu, why did you have to go and give yourself away like that? She sighed inwardly. It had been less of a conscious effort on her part, more of an instinct really, as if that was how she should naturally respond to attacks. Toru probably had questions about that, but she wasn't going to volunteer any information on the subject. He would have to ask himself, and even then it was unlikely she would share the truth with him. Her bloodline was going to remain secret until she knew more about it, regardless of other's speculation. So, let the questions come.