A Teeny Drop of Blood

Up and Coming:

To be a criminal in such a barren place was no easy feat. The people of the Wind Country were sturdy, and would not allow themselves to be bullied by any half assed, all talk no game individual. It was no surprise that Tsutsui had started to make a name for himself then. He may have failed his academy training all those years ago and barely managed to escape with his life all when the invaders marched on the land, the price for his life being his sight, but the silver haired prodigy lived on. He adapted to the situation, and his innate gifts manifested timely, allowing him to carve a name for himself and his tribesmen at the edge of the country. Often underestimated due to the blindfold around his eyes, the refined katana always gave pause to anyone who doubted him, and eventually he proved them wrong. For the tougher crowds, there was always a small, but effective list of jutsus he could use to turn even the grimmest of odds. For a moment, he recalled how his prodigy inflamed his spirit in pride. Yet, now he used his arts on petty theft and shakedowns.

Under the beaming sun he walked, trekking the back roads of the village where the sands gave way to mud brick and clay. His footing sure, his ears captured the vibrations across that echoed and reverberated along the houses. He would look for where voices gathered, excited with bounty or perhaps alcohol, anything that indicated a good target. However, because he had already hit this village not so long ago, his targets might not be as unprepared this time. The second time around they had the tendency to pick up arms; or what could pass for arms in an area already impoverished.

Perhaps the oddest thing was the silence, though. A breeze passed through the area, tugging at his black robes and the katana roped at his left hip, his silver hair flowing at the whim of the wind. A peculiar set of footsteps was approaching. Tsutsui froze in the middle of the village’s center, a makeshift well from where water could still be drawn once in a while, if the rains in Haven Country were merciful. His ears pricked, he relaxed his posture to act at the drop of a hat; however, he needed to know who this person was before he made any foolish mistakes.

Justice may be blind, but not-- wait, actually, he was blind. Tsutsui’s pricked ears heard the skin to skin contact of hands weaving seals, how characteristic a sound it was, yet nothing seemingly took place. His body tensed as the sound resonated within his ear hammer, but the queue was not followed through. Likely a trap, then, or a seal placement. Tsutsui cursed under his breath -- he was hoping his infringements had roused nothing more than the dispatch of a rookie, but this might be a pro. Oblivious to the illusory feathers falling around him meant to bring over the watchful a sense of slumber, the teen moved his head up to the sky, as if to gaze at the stars, still keeping auditory tabs on the newcomer.

“So, what did they tell you about me?”

“It matters to me”, said the youth. The man, behind him some 20 to 30 meters away, didn’t seem to be in the mood to entertain him, and he kept his ears pricked for warning signs that he should readjust himself. “I didn’t want this to be a passionate bout. We’re both ninja. This is just business for the likes of us.”
What he said was not severely important, but rather the silence between the spoken words: every breath drawn into lungs, every motion of the body, every friction of the fibers of the armor were important to one without sight. And yet, even without moving, he could tell something sunk into his muscles and shaved away at his reserves, so minutely one not trained in the ninja arts might’ve never perceived this. But the ninja would always know. Their very being is soaked in it.

Dog, Hare, Hox, three handseals woven as deftly as he was able to, and as he turned around with an outstretched hand, water rose from the well and around Tsutsui’s stretched hand, forming a blade of flowing water, which eventually stood still. “If you kill me, I will forgive you. If I live, I will take my revenge upon these lands.” Any action that was not in keeping with his expectations would result in altered plans, but for now he welcomed the invader.

One-two-three -- a total of six one meter wide fireballs were launched from the Toad Apprentice towards the Blind Criminal, his Water Sword already faltering due to the low duration of the technique. However, the Toad Apprentice had sent the fireballs in a array; even with his Sharingan, the luminosity of the fireballs during the night would be a hard sight to see, and the balls themselves, being made of chakra, would prevent the dark haired ninja to see through to watch for the actions of the silver haired criminal.

The Toad Apprentice had stepped forward again, now being 15m away from him when he had shot the fireballs, and given that they had been shot one at time, they would be travelling in a V-Formation towards the blind man. He would take advantage of this and run forward with light feet, the fireball protecting him from being perceived by the Toad Apprentice, and make a quick hop to be able to poke the fireball with a liquified water sword which would be able to clash and burst through the fire technique, it being not only more powerful by base, but it having an elemental advantage against the fire technique.

The Water Sword would dissipate into water as it had now run its course, freeing the ninja’s hand to perform handseals and then run his hand over the water. A thick mist would immediately start forming as the handseals were done, and with the wave of his hand, water needles formed in the mist and shot towards the Toad Apprentice in a neatly packed formation in which they formed a triangular pattern in which each of the ten needles was distanced by 25cm of each other, making each side of the triangle one meter and a half when it was shot under the cover of the mist towards the Toad Apprentice. The Blind Criminal’s ears were perked for a reaction of the Toad Apprentice or possibly from the Fireballs which, if the Toad Apprentice was not able to perceive the actions of the Blind Criminal, would keep on travelling forward.

The fireballs had been loud, to be fair, but trackable. However, even before the Blind Criminal could go through the first fireball to split it open, the earth beneath the two ninja seemed to go down, him nearly losing his balance but saving it as he managed to go through the fireball uninterrupted. However, feeling the shaking of the ground underneath gave him pause, and he took an additional step forward after destroying the Fireball so the water from the blade would wet his robe, ending up at a distance of seven meters away from the Toad Warrior. It appeared the sound was much greater in front of him than all around, as if something else was happening right in front of him, something he took no time in figuring out... He had no time to spare. Rather than allowing for a mist to rise, or the water that now clung to his robes to be shot out, he performed a few handseals and crouched to slap his hand to the floor. Violently did the ground break; one meter in front of him and beyond, the ground shook, rising and falling as if a tidal wave amidst a storm. While this would allow for the section of ground to keep sinking into the floor, the Earth wall -- having been raised five meters in front of the Toad Warrior -- would be shaken and torn apart, and if the Toad Warrior was caught within the twenty meter square of shifting stone, would be sucked into the ground and crushed. Having cut himself off from being able to see what was happening, it was a dire situation to catch oneself in.