Sasubashi vs. Izanagi

[siegfried]

Sasubashi sat on the dark, thick, and high-up branch of a massive tree within the dank, humid forest.
He had been there a whole day, and his supplies were already running low. He had only killed one Konoha Genin so far, and the kid had gotten lucky enough by throwing a kunai-knife across the lining his food-supply bag, thus emptying most of his rice-cakes and other foods plummeting into the depths of the deep, quick-flowing river next to them.
He was angry at this, and was left only with some vegetables and some sushi, which he was going to have to eat soon.
Sasu ran over the operation in his mind.
He had crossed the borders of the Land of Fire alone, and managed to infiltrate his way here, to the Forest of Death.
Under orders from the top-brass of the Otogakure ninja-council, he was to disrupt the Chunin exam here, and kill off any would-be ninja prodigies from any of their rival lands.

He was taking it slow, seeing as the stroke of bad luck in his first encounter left him with little supplies, so he had to re-stock now, while there was peace.

Sasu was about to jump from the branch, when he stopped and froze in his place.
He had heard someone a little aways off. He would hide, and get ready for an ambush...

[ken]

Izanagi slammed, feet-first and with a jarring jolt against yet another gnarled tree branch, the shock traveling up his legs and rattling his clenched teeth. His right arm shot out instinctively to grasp at the ancient oak, clutching it in his bandaged hand. He took two long gulps of air, and wiped the sweat from his brow.
This so-called 'Forest of Death' was well named. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to cut through it on his way to his next task. He had hoped, if he moved quick enough, to pass through it relatively unscathed. Needless to say, his journey had not done him any kindness.
After downing the last of his water from a canteen on his belt, Izanagi swung down from his perch and landed with a dull thud on the yellow-green grass below.
He didn't move. There was something nearby.
Slowly drawing a kunai from the holster at his thigh, he tensed, span one-hundred-eighty degrees and hurled the weapon at a particularly dense clump of foliage, all in a blur.
Something was hit. And it made it rather angry.
A massive scaly abomination burst from the undergrowth - a snake, it's head well over two metres in width, fangs dripping with deadly poison - and lunged at Izanagi. He reacted as quickly as his body let him, rolling aside from the furious creature, leaving it's head to ram into the soil where he was once positioned. Taking advantage of the brief lull as the snake recovered, the hooded ninja fished inside a utility pack attached to his hip and produced a small metal orb, topped with what was clearly a fuse.
Last one, he thought, unsheathing his knife.
The snake, shaking dirt from it's snout, hissed angrily. Izanagi struck the blade edge against the rough surface of the grenade, the sparks catching the fuse which crackled dangerously.
The snake darted forward, it's jaws open wide.
Of course, Izanagi had already thrown his explosive - which did as it was told and, rather unsubtly, flashed in a ball of superheated air and blazing fire. The blast flung Izanagi to the ground, and shrapnel, soil, blood and snake skull rained from the sky.
A trio of birds chirped mockingly in the background as the crack of the explosion died in the distance.
Picking himself up and dusting himself down, Izanagi shrugged off the gory site of the squirming headless reptile. He had seen worse earlier in the day. Sighing, he quickly realized that sticking around after such a blast might not be good for him.
Sheathing his blade and securing his gear, he was about to move on when...

[siegfried]

Sasubashi watched the short skirmish between his new target and the somewhat large snake.
He had learned four things from this spectation:
One was that his new target was armed with at least a knife.
Two was that his target was a ninja, using a knife with a grenade, and the speed of his reactions. He had obviously been trained well.
Three was that this man had little use for subtlety, using a grenade on a snake was hardly the stealthiest action one could ever see.
And four was more of an assumption. The fact that this guy HAD used a grenade on a mere snake suggested he had more of them... Logically speaking. Unless the guy just liked to blow things up.

Sasubashi weighed up all these things in his mind. Grenades were rarely given to Genin, it was possible that this guy was at least Chunin level, or maybe higher. He also noticed no hitai-ate headband on his apparel. This suggested a rogue ninja.

He decided to take the initiative, and strike first, just in case this guy happened to spot him and turn hostile.

Quickly un-zipping his guitar - a semi-acoustic Fender - from its bag, he grabbed it's shoulderstrap, and jumped into a backflip all in one fluid movement.

"Ketatamashii-Ito no Jutsu!!" he wailed. Upside-down and in mid-air was an odd time to begin to cast jutsu all over the place, but it seemed the right time.
He struck a deep E power-chord. He allowed his strumming arm to rise up (down, really) and point at the target, focussing his chakra to pass through the soundwaves and direct the lashes of sound, hurtling toward the enemy...

[ken]

Izanagi was about to leave when something alerted him. He couldn't say what exactly, but it certainly wasn't ambient - a ripping, perhaps. He turned in time to witness a black blur explode from the greenery of a moss strewn branch above him, the shape flying over his head so fast that he lost sight of it for a moment. While his mind worked out the best course of action, his legs operated under instinct and got to work - and not a moment too soon.
'Ketatamashii-Ito no Jutsu!' Someone had yelled.
A split-second later, and the ground exploded, sending a column of lacerated grass and fine cut chunks of earth into the air. Izanagi, heavily stumbled by the sudden attack, lost his footing, hit the ground and rolled, recovering in a crouch and drawing his long knife from it's sheath at his waist. As the last of the debris showered from the sky, fine specks of dirt and sand clouded the clearing in a brown fog.
Izanagi's eyes darted from left to right, up and down - he couldn't see a thing, nor hear anything. He stood carefully, relieving a kunai from it's holster with his off hand, and crossing his two weapons in front of him in defense.
'Show yourself,' he called out to the dusty air, controlling his voice. He was still a little shaken after both attacks, but if someone was looking for a fight...

[siegfried]

Sasu considered his options and went over his situation.
Okay. This guy managed to dodge a quick and surprise ambush from behind. He was good.
Sasu stayed behind the tree he was leaning against.

"Show yourself," he heard the man call out to the forestry.

Surprise attacks would be useless now - the enemy was too alerted of his presence. Head-on was , perhaps, a risky game, too. Sasubashi considered the terrain involved in the inevitable battle;
It was an open area, vaguely shaped like a ring, with many roots of the trees littering the grassy floor. The ground was soggy, yet solid enough for a decent foothold, yet he would need to take into consideration the fact that slipping was a possibility. Standing on the roots would be his best option. There were some thick branches above them like a roof.

Sasu then checked his battery - something he noted he should have done before striking.
He had his guitar. The kunai and shuriken holster on his right thigh held 5 kunai and 12 shuriken. He had a single Hyorogan in his rear-left pocket - but he hoped not to use that until his return journey. An Ishigaki (stone-wall) scroll

He then decided - he'd stand out and fight this man, after all - what did he have to lose?
Well... his life of course, but Sasu pushed the possibility of losing to the back of his mind.

Leaving his guitar behind the tree, he dashed out into the open, and threw 3 shuriken at the target, while running around the perimiter or the area...

[ken]

As the fog of battle thinned and cleared, a figure launched from the cover of a tree opposite Izanagi, its features a blur. His eyes locked on the speeding target immediately; and the three shuriken it had just thrown.
All three of the razor-sharp missiles were deadly accurate - all speeding toward his centre mass at different angles and trajectories. He barely had time to react as the first projectile drew upon him - sidestepping at the very last second and spinning to a new position, his guard renewed. The remaining shuriken, along with the near-hitting first, buried themselves in a hundred-year-old tree that stretched high into the deep green hue of the forest canopy above.
As his unknown assailant rocketed a path toward him along the clearing's edge, Izanagi had but a few precious seconds to make his move - his brain went into overdrive, his eyes went wide with excitement and his muscles tensed with adrenaline. He knew from experience and training that the faster you were moving, the harder it was to perform concise evasive maneuvers - especially regarding the feet. So, he'd take advantage of that. Quickly, he anticipated his attacker's movements along the tree line and chucked his kunai, aiming for a spot just ahead of his sprinting target. The weapon dug into the soft earth with ease - leaving its rear end sticking out of the soil, ready to trip the fast encroaching attacker.
Izanagi wasn't going for the kill just yet. This random attack wasn't from a denizen of the Forest of Death, and he was curious to see exactly what he was dealing with here...

[siegfried]

Sasu noticed the enemy throw a kunai down a few feet in front of him, however he didn't have time to react.
Stumbling to slow down and avoid the kunai proved impossible, and while he was lifting his right foot, it caught on the circular hole at the end of the handle. This sent Sasubashi almost flying forward, however he was falling rapidly.
Sasu managed to counter his fall with an agile grasp of a large root using his hands, lifting his legs high, and launching himself forward in a forward-flip. He almost made it look deliberate.

Now he was a few feet above his target, and falling quickly. He produced a kunai from it's pouch, and prepaired for a close combat with a large, downward strike...

[ken]

Izanagi's kunai had done its job. His assailant tripped spectacularly, cartwheeling and recovering mid-fall, then launching himself high into the air with a powerful push. Izanagi's eyes followed his attacker as he flew up, and then watched as gravity kicked in and dragged him back ground wards at speed, brandishing another weapon in preparation for a final killing blow from above.
Izanagi braced himself, letting his instincts do their job and decide his next course of action. Sometimes, over thinking gets you killed.
As his opponent hurtled down upon him, Izanagi sidestepped at the last possible moment, letting the opportunist attack slice through nothing but air. He lashed out with his free hand, grabbing both of his enemy's wrists still gripping the kunai, and sweeped the legs from under him with his left leg the moment they made contact with the ground. He used the momentum of his attack to heft the weight of the man over and onto his back, still keeping a vice like grip on his wrists, and completed the maneuver by kneeling on his prone and winded body, his right leg bracing against the man's own two legs to keep them in check and the tip of his razor sharp knife mere millimeters away from his throat.
'Now, listen very carefully as I will only say this once,' Izanagi breathed, his heart pounding with adrenaline. 'There is a ninja exam taking place in this very forest, with lots and lots of teenage ninjas-in-training swarming the place. I am trying to get through this forest with minimal hassle, and you are making my journey all the more tiring. Now, judging by your age and your skill, I would say you belong in here about as much as I do, so let us do ourselves a favour and continue this fight elsewhere before we are caught; or you do the intelligent thing when I let you go and run at a brisk pace in the opposite direction of me. How does that sound to you, shinobi??'

[siegfried]

Sasubashi struggled. He wasent getting out of this hold by his own will.

"I would say you belong in here about as much as I do, so let us do ourselves a favour and continue this fight elsewhere before we are caught; or you do the intelligent thing when I let you go and run at a brisk pace in the opposite direction of me. How does that sound to you, shinobi??"
Sasu heard this proposition and calmed down. He had a mission to do... But he wanted a good fight, it had been a while since he had a true challenge.

"Fine. I have to ask you... Where are you from? You dont where a headband or anything to represent a village. Have you gone rogue?" Asking these questions was hard, his chest was on the solid floor, blocking most air getting to his lungs.
"And another thing...."

Sasu took a large in-take of breath.

"... Would you mind getting off me?"

[ken]

'...Would you mind getting off me?'
Izanagi cracked a smile.
'Of course,' he said, bowing his head and retracting his blade slowly. He got to his feet, and turned his back on his would-be attacker, pacing away from him toward a gnarled and impossibly huge tree trunk.
'You have potential, shinobi. I will answer your question out of respect, but do not expect a satisfying answer. I am no rogue, and I belong to no village, I assure you this. I answer only to my fathers and my peers, and I go where they tell me. They have told me to come here, and so... here I am.' He spun on his heel to face the floored Sound ninja, grinning from under his white hood, his eyes obscured. 'Apologies, but more than this I cannot say.'
He twirled his intricately marked knife in his hand and sheathed behind his back. Izanagi continued:
'I have given you a choice, shinobi. You can escape now while you have the chance, or you can continue to assault me.' He turned and launched himself onto an overhanging branch, then hopped onto another further up. 'I will wait for you at the highest point if you wish to try your luck once more. Do watch your step though.'
And with a another bow of his head, Izanagi continued his ascent, out of sight.