[closed] We'll be raising our hands

[heavenly_earth]

Who: Neji and Yamyam
When: July 15th?
Where: Training field somewhere
Notes: Another branch is added to the growing trunk.


Three months since he'd passed the ANBU exam of sorts and began his training as a new recruit, and now he was to meet the shinobi that would become his mentor in Konoha's shadowed ranks. If not for the fact that he knew Izumo's code name to be Mouse, he might have it would be him. The Chuunin did assist him as a new recruit, after all. But in some respects, he was relieved. Izumo was a good man, but he lacked drive and focus and if he was brutally honest, Neji wasn't sure there was all that much to learn from him.

His mentor's code name was Lynx. A promising moniker and an even more promising reputation. The man was an ANBU Captain with a flawless mission record and also happened to be Konoha's coveted Mokuton user. He'd never met him personally, but Neji listened to gossip around HQ despite evidence to the contrary. Details were vague on more than that, but in any case, the Jounin found himself honored to have merited such a prestigious shinobi as his new mentor.

It occurred to him that after today there would be three people he referred to with such a title. Veined eyes swept the field for a chakra signature then faded, and Neji allowed himself a wry smile. The end result of such varying influences would sure be a promising culmination of skills far beyond his own singular style. Settling down in the middle of the training field, Neji breathed and expanded his awareness even while his eyes closed.

There was time, and he could wait.

Comments

[heavenly_earth]

His eyes told him the attack was a large one moments before a dozen wooden heads burst from the earth, snaking around and shooting straight at him in turns. His focus instantly became keeping track of the heads, taking in their projected paths moments before they moved and changing course to match.

Without pause, he flipped over the first head to reach him, ran along its shifting wooden spine until another two tried to ambush him from either direction. Jumping up, he let them crash together, vaulted over them to land back on the ground as the others veered upward. He gained ground, but not for long. Shadows painted the threat from above- they were many and he was one.

Neji wove into what could only be called a dance, Hyuuga's defensive manuevering that changed in flow and direction at a moment's notice. Weaving in and out of tendrils, circling around winding heads and doing everything to utilize Jyuuken's highest principle. A style made for combating multiple opponents, to weave between attacks and control the flow of combat, to use an opponent's momentum against him or his allies.

Because he didn't have any wind ninjutsu to sever them, and his blades were no match for the thick wooden pillars. Even Kaiten seemed like a flimsy defense in front of these monsters. No, he needed to break them down as much as possible and get to their creator at the first possible opening.

[mokutonno]

Yamato couldn't help the excitement and wonder that bubbled up through him at watching the other Shinobi move. He's studied the Hyuuga style as a member of Root, but seeing it first hand and personally directing the flow of combat was another thing entirely.

He tracked Neji's moves carefully, challenged every angle, each direction, worked pincer movements and figure of eights, waiting for exactly the moment he wanted.

Counting on Neji to dodge the threat above him, Yamato forced three of the four attacking pillars to land wide. They struck the ground to the left and right; the third hitting directly in front of the Hyuuga, in an attempt to funnel him backwards and into the path of a rapidly forming Mokuton figure.

Palm outstretched, the wooden figure formed into Yamato himself; poised to strike at Neji's exposed shoulder.

[heavenly_earth]

It wasn't working as well as he'd hoped, because the wooden pillars weren't human and couldn't be lured into a false sense of security. And Yamato was a spectator, watching and involved from an outside perspective. The dragons moved at his behest; snaking, unpredictable creatures unlike anything he'd previously combated, and the most he could do was circle and avoid as his eyes revealed their trajectories.

Twin pillars slammed into the earth beside him, and he fell a step back as a third blocked him from moving forward. He frowned, eyes screaming at him to turn, but did so a few moments too late. The hit to his shoulder connected and Neji hissed as he took in the cloned figure. He was lucky the strike hadn't been aimed at his blindspot and instantly slammed his palm toward its chest in an attempt to dispel it.

[mokutonno]

The clone shattered into splinters under the force of Neji's palm and Yamato smirked over his clasped hands. One for one.

Keeping the young Jounin moving and his attention divided, seemed to be a viable tactic for the moment and he was keen to capitalise on it. Leaving the majority of the pillars in their impact sights, added blind spots and obstacles around their battlefield and Yamato quietly hoped it would be enough, even as he commanded two to move.

One snaked round from Neji's right, hissing along the grass with blunt wooden maw wide and another shot from the tangle of pillars to his left, weaving closer with alarming speed.

A third loomed from above, directly behind the Hyuuga's back; mokuton clone swiftly forming between it's ears and preparing to swoop down with the rest.

[heavenly_earth]

Neji grit his teeth, trapped by the pillar in front with three others moving in swiftly. There was only one option left to him, and he would have to put his faith in it- faith and a lot of chakra.

He spun, throwing out roughly three times the amount of chakra he normally put into Kaiten just to keep the bulk of the pillars from smashing through. He still 'felt' their impact, wooden constructs splintering against his defense, losing momentum and slowing him down faster than he'd like. But he succeeded in creating an opening for himself, springing back through a series of backflips as his rotation came to a close.

His hands slammed together and twin halves of earth rose up to enclose him in a domed structure. He breathed, Byakugan eyes piercing through his new defense at Yamato on the far end of the field and a respectable distance from those pillars- at least for now. He wasn't sure how long the dome would hold up under pressure, but it gave him an edge of unpredictability.

Fingers twisted through a few more seals, and he slammed them to the ground, watching his chakra surge through the ground and come up behind Yamato in the form of dulled spikes shooting for the man's back.

[mokutonno]

Yamato forced the brunt of the pillars against Neji's defence, but it held soundly and he rallied the one left intact to pursue..
At least he would have, had the ground rumbling ominously at his back not ticked him off to the next attack and unable to maintain the jutsu and move, favoured a roll forward over his continued attack.
The dragon head halted it's strike against Neji and Yamato rolled to his feet, away from the spike's at his back and surged towards the tangle of mokuton shapes between them.

He needed to close the gap again and conserve his energy; a head on approach had mixed results but perhaps he could use what was left of the pillars to his advantage.

Vaulting up onto one of the buried dragon heads, Yamato chased the curve of it's spine, gaining ground and blurred through several signs.

Chakra split away into the base of the pillar under his feet, while the remainder carried on forward as he slid the rest of the spine to the ground, landing in a crouch with palms flat to the dirt.
As soon as his hands hands hit solid ground, Yamato forced chakra through the cracks and root pathways between them; the dirt turned dark with moisture and water churned towards the foundation of Neji's earth defence, intent on disrupting it immediately.

[heavenly_earth]

Neji cursed as he watched Yamato avoid the spikes aimed at his back, having hoped for his second point on that attack simply because taking him by surprise like that wouldn't work again. On the upside, Yamato stopped his pillar assault, and he watched his opponent rush at him, hands flying through seals faster than he could process them.

Chakra surged through the earth, darkening the soil and Neji cursed again because for the second time in a combat situation, he had no applicable use for mud. Granted he was working on a technique to take advantage of it, but he'd only just started to practice and it was far from effective.

The assault of water instantly weakened his defense, and Neji loosed the technique before the earthen structure collapsed in a wave of mud with him inside. Water rushed past his knees, soaking pants and shoes in the remains of the attack.

His hands twisted into seals, making use of the water around him, and rushed at Yamato with twin water whips in hand.

[mokutonno]

The whips he had not expected and Yamato fell back between the bases of the two pillars at his back to limit their battlefield once again.
A single seal later and he brandished a wooden replica of his standard issue katana, poised and ready for Neji's assault. He'd battled Mist-nin with similar styles, but coupled with the jounin's other abilities, he had few other options than to defend.

[heavenly_earth]

A small part of him dedicated to observation found silent satisfaction in the way Yamato perceived the oncoming threat and switched tactics, playing defensive again. But that was fine, his fighting style was fluid and easily changed between offensive and defensive.

Short-range weapon he noted, and lashed out at Yamato's arms and legs from mid-range, hoping to snare him and create an opening.

[mokutonno]

Yamato dodged the first few strikes; ducking and weaving and just barely avoiding the tangle of water aimed at his limbs.

He was pacing backwards, attempting to lead Neji back between the pillars and create a blind spot or opening he could use to respond, but found himself thoroughly on the defensive and even a little cut off via his own tactic.

Feinting to the right but dodging left, Yamato darted close, avoiding one whip, but not the other and lashed out with his katana to disrupt the water coil that had wrapped his left leg in a bid to escape.