[backdate deluge; YEAR 60-64]

[not_thedragon]

Who: Various and sundry Figures of the Past and Present
When: Year 60-64.
Where: Konoha unless otherwise indicated.
Notes: See top-levels. 8|b

Comments

[not_thedragon]

There -- the Sharingan caught the flare of intent as soon as chakra began to gather. The sand moved quickly, but it still had to deal with air resistance and the maximum velocity relatively malelable substances could achieve; Sasuke's muscles tensed before the bullets reached the wall, tearing across the curve of the wall and out of range.

If he could continue to draw out more attacks, he would have a better idea of how the sand was controlled and what kind of speed he was dealing with here. That sand shell was already an obvious obstacle, but getting close to it before Gaara could react was the first issue.

To that end, Sasuke whipped a return hail of kunai to ring around Gaara rather than strike at him, each rigged with an explosion tag to thoroughly disrupt his opponent's field of vision and hopefully require him to act on a larger scale.

[ninjasloveme]

The kunai themselves didn't trigger any kind of Defense, and Gaara paid them no attention because of it. When they ignited seconds later, he staggered a half-step from the initial inwards blast of air before the sand blocked out the explosions themselves. Not that he cared, still half-muttering and waiting for the Leaf genin to attack. Still, Sasuke's goal was achieved; the sand cut off more than half of Gaara's vision as it lingered over him, shedding charred granules and the smell of iron.

His retaliation was faster, now that he didn't have to aim; the slashes of sand that had originally been simply ammunition for the Rain twisted and morphed into huge, clawed hands that swiped along the wall all along his blind side. If he couldn't hit him, he'd catch him.

Or rather, that would catch him.

[not_thedragon]

The sand was fast -- it should have been impossible to control something so fluid and heavy with nearly instantaneous reaction times, but Sasuke could see the chakra move even as the sand blurred regular vision. And more than just the defenses around Gaara were networked through with chakra: nearly the entire desert floor was criss-crossed with it, a monstrous amount of power.

Monstrous became literal in the next moment as claws rose out of the glittering dust and swept toward him, but their movement was obviously a blind strike. They unfortunately also answered the question of how much sand his opponent could manipulate with: pretty much all of it.

Sasuke considered his options for just a moment before swiping his hands through seals and splitting into three, the two bunshin precisely created to provide as close to his real weight as possible without utilising too much chakra. Both dropped to the desert floor as Sasuke himself rushed upwards, calf muscles already protesting, and latched himself to the very rim of the arena walls to avoid the destruction below.

The bunshin split up as soon as they hit the sand, both moving at full speed -- how much could movement on the surface be managed?