OPEN!: Kisame's whirlwind diplomatic tour

[noboatbigenough]

Who: Hoshigaki Kisame, and whoever wants to meet him/work with him on his mission
When: Late March-mid April ..ish? I'm flexible!
Where: Kirigakure -> Sunagakure -> Konagakure -> ??? -> profit!
Notes: Kisame has been named Kiri's official ambassador to Suna and Konoha and possibly other places. The latter is because he and his clan have been pushing for it, and the former is because Yagura is a dick and likes sending Hoshigaki to the desert.


In Kiri, before leaving

Kisame almost hadn't expected it to happen, even with the pushing Great Grandmother had been doing, and the hints he'd dropped, and the more outright pointed statements that had been calmly delivered. When it did, he was as unprepared as he could be, having been eyeing an assassination that had looked fun. Having a mission scroll shoved into his hands like that had almost pushed Kisame into being visibly off-guard. The papers were first, declaring him an official ambassador, and Kisame had to smile.

He didn't know why Mizukage-sama had suddenly decided to do it (and give it to him of all people) but he was going to have a chance to get in those spars he'd promised--

Suna. Well! Now Kisame wasn't so surprised. It would be like Mizukage-sama to give him what he was asking for but not what he wanted, though it wouldn't hurt to get some more desert training in. Kisame wasn't going to let this disrupt him.

It didn't take long for Kisame to prepare. A debriefing or two, a notice of his absence, and a little packing was all. It would be interesting, he thought, as he headed towards the travel seal.

In Suna
The desert burned, as usual, and Kisame had work to do this time. There was an escort to meet, first, and then maybe he could wrangle a tour. He'd probably already seen most of it, but seeing a native's reaction to the place could be telling.

Then there were meetings and paperwork. Kisame actually had an idea of a program that might foster closer ties and make them both stronger. He wasn't a stranger to how hard the desert was on Kiri-nin, even non-Hoshigaki ones, and he'd noticed more than one Suna-nin having trouble in return. A brief exchange for training purposes, probably of genin, would help both sides adapt better to the opposite environment. He had a Suna-nin to thank for giving him the idea, if he saw her.

And, of course, he couldn't be in Suna without hoping for another spar. The one with Sephiroth had been invigorating, and so many of the locals seemed strong. Kisame wanted to test it.

In Konoha
Konoha was as interesting as last time, and this time Kisame was himself, Samehada and all. If they didn't respect his weapon, he'd be a poor ambassador, so he'd brought the sword. That, and he hadn't wanted to leave it behind and find out one of his cousins had gotten drained close to unconsciousness after getting too close.

The official business was much the same here, though Kisame had fewer ideas on ways to improve relations. Well! Official ones, anyway. He had more than one "gift" of treats for the Hokage, and sparring was always an act of at least a minimum of trust when it happened between shinobi of different villages, so that might work in his favor.

He wondered who his escort would be this time, and if he might get to spend more time looking around, this time without the burden of reporting every little detail back.

((ooc: The top post is a general glossing of what Kisame will be doing! Put up a starter, or for something more focused, ping me and I'll write up something in post.))

Comments

[noboatbigenough]

Don't concern yourself with injuring me. Attack to kill.

[As he says that, Kisame pulls the blade around in a quick motion that is lower than it looks like, and will damage, if not remove a leg entirely if she doesn't dodge it. There's enough power behind the swing that blocking won't be the best idea.]

[abileunaspada]

[ She can't help yelping at the attack, barely managing to jump high enough to let the sword fly under her completely. It doesn't take her a moment to jump away from him, wanting to put some distance before, angrily, she musters the energy to shout at him. ]

Not for a sparring match! Just what the hell do you think will happen if we kill each other out here in Konoha's walls, Kisame!?

[noboatbigenough]

Who said anything about actual death? Part of sparring is trusting your skills and your partners' and working together to push each other to higher levels.

So, now. Come at me with your best killing intent. Push your limits. Get stronger, Adela-kun! And trust me to take your best and not die from it.

[Killing intent comes from him in waves as he charges again, sword darting like a striking snake. The slices and thrusts are hard and fast, and can, will, badly injure if she can't adequately defend.

And yet, they're not so far above her level that she shouldn't be able to. Kisame is ready to pull a blow last minute if she does make a mistake, but he's confident that she'll rise to the challenge.]

[abileunaspada]

[ She's grunting and clearly more than a little worried as she keeps dodging, but in the same stroke she knows he's holding back. He has to hold back or he really will kill her. Still she wants to protest, not wanting to kill him as she falls back to defend and simply focus on that.

But that's when something occurs to her.

Kisame is holding back because he actually has to. Adela is holding back because she doesn't want to kill him but... She know she can't, even if she does try. Not at this stage. So why is she holding back?

When she's on the branch for a tree she takes a second to take a deep breath, her shoulders shifting with it before she re-opens her eyes with renewed focus and a surprising killing intent even she wouldn't think was possible for her. Anything less, she's decided, would be an insult to him.

That's when she starts coming at him with a flurry of sword strikes, aiming for vitals with a speed and dexterity she wouldn't expect an opponent with a large sword like Samehada to be able to deflect. But Kisame is better than that, she knows, and yet she wants to try anyway - just to see how close she can get. How her best really does against him. ]

[noboatbigenough]

[Kisame can feel the killing intent rolling off of her. Finally. He meets her attack with a smile that is almost fond, instead of his usual grins that speak of violence.

She does not get through, but it forces him to obviously step up his defense. He doesn't let her keep the upper hand, though, countering viciously at just above her level. Make her work, stretch, grow. Will she defend well enough to keep her initiative?]

[abileunaspada]

[ Defending purely with sword strikes is becoming harder. It's bothering her to no end, but if she wants to be the 'victor' she'll have to show him more. And he already knows about her origins, so it's not like there's any danger in revealing just what she can do.

But a ninja doesn't exactly showcase everything they can do up front. She's falling back to the foliage for now, making herself harder to follow on purpose while she opens the draw-string bag at her waist. She'd need a second or two, but that would be enough for her to start showing Kisame something of what she had learned growing up in Konoha. ]

[noboatbigenough]

[Seeking cover while preparing a jutsu is smart. Kisame knows what it is, but knows a true opponent might not. He still pursues, but the foliage does give an advantage. It slows him down, and Kisame knows it's giving her enough time to get her metal out. He looks forward to seeing how she uses it as he finally gets clear enough to launch an attack.]

[abileunaspada]

[ It isn't just seeking cover, but her choice of cover -- for an instant the illusion that she's been hit hard by the blunt of Samehada appears, but that instant shifts to the fading image of her body into the branches of the trees. A substitution was hard to pull off with that narrow of a margin, and from her new hiding place she had to breathe a bit before attaching chakra strings to her metal.

How does she want to use it? Does she want to strike at him, or does she want to use it defensively? Ideally she'd want him on the ropes, so an offensive strike would probably be more effective, but...

Screw it. Instead of thinking about it too much, Adela bursts out behind him and, with her sword in its sheathe, begins to use her kouton to spider metal out in a thin and sharp web to strike and try to control where he retreats to. The further back from her he is the better, but her range only reaches so far... She has to be smart if she wants this plan to work. ]

[noboatbigenough]

[Kisame is almost expecting the substitution and nods in approval. That was well-used, now can she capitalize on it?

If he had Samehada with him, Kisame could locate her in the span of a few seconds, but without, he has to look. Kisame goes still to concentrate and the angle of the then web of metal catches him off guard. He let's out a strangled sound as he's overwhelmed--

And collapses into water as five other Kisames rise up from puddles that weren't there before. One is real, four are additional water clones, but all can attack, and they do. No jutsu, but the swordwork they're capable of under Kisame's control is just as deadly as his.]

[abileunaspada]

[ Five? She has to dodge five? Adela can't help feeling the pressure as she weaves through the sword strikes, keeping her distance so that she has as much manuverability as possible. She's weaving her metal with her as well, using them to form shields that deflect sword strikes she know she can't get out of the way of. Eventually her frustration with said swords shows as, not only are they tearing up her clothing, but they're getting too close for comfort!

Better to deal with Kisame unarmed.

She's shifting tactics then, getting close enough to some of the clones to use her metal to catch between his hand and the guard, intending on yanking every single one of those swords away from him. Even if only one is 'real' the momentary distraction should help. How to stop him completely though...

Whether Adela realizes it or not however, she's beginning to tire. Her stamina isn't yet good enough for a long and drawn out fight like this, especially since it's starting to drain her chakra with the control her doton is taking. Even with her cycling her chakra wherever she can, there's no way she'll last longer than a couple of minutes more at this rate. ]

[noboatbigenough]

[Kisame can spot the signs of fatigue setting in, and approves that she hasn't tapped out of the fight yet.

He allows her to take the blades from two of his clones, but only because both of them now have hands free to launch blades of wind at her instead. The blades themselves dissolve into water as soon as they lose contact with the clone, and Kisame presses attack with his real self, while the remaining armed clones move to cut off escape.]

And then she remembered the chakra rock paper scissors

[abileunaspada]

[ Crap -- she's darting more frantically, fully aware that she's wasting energy by doing so. This is not what she had in mind for the spar, and her heart's pounding in her throat as she falls back to full defense. There isn't much else she can do, not unless she figures out a way to turn the tides.

... Hm.

The spidery metal changes suddenly back to the metal spheres as she cuts her chakra off, Adela once again drawing her sword to more effectively defend herself while her free hand is available to perform seals. It's lucky that she can do this, with all that she had been taught!

That's when the ground around her evaporates into the air, rushing up as indiviual grains rather than large clumps. Her plan swiftly becomes clear - she's using it to give herself cover, but it's also absorbing any stray water she can get it to come in contact with. Hopefully, it'll work with water clones too and reduce the number of Kisames she has to deal with to one once more. ]

[noboatbigenough]

[Kisame lets the clones fall when she raises the cover. It’s not a bad idea, but he thinks she might need a reminder of the skills that Kiri is most well known for. Silent Killing will be more of a challenge with sand cover instead of water, but that’s what makes it fun. A quick series of shunshin first, to confuse his movements, and then Kisame slips into the puddle left by one of the clones just long enough to make it seem like he’s disappeared.

Then he’s moving again, silent as death and with carefully controlled movements that decrease the disturbance his presence makes in the jutsu as much as physically possible. He knows she’ll be more aware of her blind spots, so he actually approaches at an angle that usually isn’t one. How close will he get?]