Chapitre 114: CH_4.14 (114)
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
Inside a locker room in the underground expanse of the Ring, two men prepared for their upcoming fight in silence. As dictated by the tradition and rules, they wore simple clothing: a pair of shorts, the two-mask set that hid their identity, and a pair of arm and shin guards allowed in the weapons category.
"How do you feel?" asked Smoking Tiger.
"My dear is feeling happy today," replied the other man, Razor, as he stroked his unsheathed sword with gentle caresses.
Smoking Tiger sighed. He and Razor belonged to the same Ring team, and he had longed gotten used to the eccentric man's behavior. He wondered if it was the age difference; he could no longer understand today's youth and their antics.
"Did you go look at the fight I asked you to?" asked Smoking Tiger as he sat before Razor.
Razor nodded.
"And?"
"It ended quickly," said Razor, his eyes still admiring his sword.
The fight had indeed ended far too quickly. Smoking Tiger was there as well and wished it had lasted longer to learn more— but it was what they got, and they had to work with what they got.
"… but," Razor looked up, "I think he's easy to cut."
Smoking Tiger glanced down at Razor's sword. The blade was spotless; not even a speck of dust was allowed to mar the blade's gleam. Razor treated and maintained his sword better than anything in his life, perhaps even better than his own being itself. But all of that ended the moment Razor entered the arena. At that moment, the sword stopped being treated as an ornament and assumed the role for which it was forged— a tool of killing.
"My dear is thirsty today; I hope she'll be able to quench her thirst today," Razor's toothy smile looked horrid on his angular face.
Smoking Tiger shook his head. He turned his head to the locker room's door just a second before there was a knock on it.
Smoking Tiger grabbed his sword and stood up. It was time for the fight.
As they walked to the arena, Smoking Tiger spoke to Razor, "I hope you remember the plan."
"I take care of everything while you stand back?" said Razor.
Smoking Tiger sighed again. The actual plan was for Razor to be on the frontal offense while Smoking Tiger looked for opportune moments and lapses in concentration to get in critical strikes. It put Smoking Tiger out of the spotlight, but he didn't mind it— he got paid the same, being on the back foot reduced the risk of injuries, and while there were advantages of being in the spotlight, as long as his peers and Ring administration knew his value, he had enough bargaining power during contract negotiations.
They walked out into the tunnel and entered the caged arena amidst the cheers of the crowd there to see their fight.
"I can't get used to this," Smoking Tiger sighed as he looked at the crowd. 2v1 crowds were larger than the normal 1v1 fights. He usually only saw half of the people in the crowd, and they weren't as rowdy as they were now. The draw of 2v1 battles was crazier than anything in the Ring, even reaching the level of fights in the ninjutsu category.
"Really? I see no difference," Razor replied in a merry voice as he waved to the crowd. "Come on, old man; show the people some love. Let's get them heated up as much as we are."
Smoking Tiger wasn't heated, but a little waving wouldn't do any harm. But as he raised his arm to wave, his instincts spiked, and he looked to the other side of the arena a moment before the announcer's voice blared through the microphone.
"… SCARS!"
A man– no, a child– entered the arena. It was their opponent for the day. The fighter wore the mask with a green leaf, but whose name came from the numerous scars that riddled the boy's body. Scaring was nothing new for a shinobi, and especially not for a Ring fighter who fought in the weapons category as most people had blades as their weapon of choice, but something was odd about the scarring— a mix of battle scars and what seemed like surgical scarring— it created strange imagery.
According to the rumors and gossip floating around the Ring, he was less than fifteen years old, making him a little older than half of Razor's age and quite younger than Smoking Tiger, who had ten years over Razor.
Smoking Tiger didn't believe that Scars was fifteen even though the physique matched the claim. The reason behind it was quite simple. Why would someone as young as a fifteen-year-old who was allowed to participate and had won 2v1 fights be in the Ring in the first place? If someone could be the single fighter battling a duo at such a young age, they wouldn't be dragging themselves in the Ring.
Someone as talented as that would either be from a clan, who didn't allow their children down in the Ring— and if he wasn't from a clan, he would've been scouted by a chunin or perhaps even be part of a jonin team— those type of young genin lived a different type of life than the genin who fought in the Ring. They didn't belong in the same world.
He believed that Scars simply looked young for his age and was, at the very least, a couple years older than the rumor told him to be, and that was a soft assumption.
Smoking Tiger looked at Razor. Due to being on the same team, they knew each other's real identity, and because of that, he knew Razor was part of a chunin team and was doing quite well for himself. He was a talented young man with some unfortunate quirks that led him to enjoy fighting. If Razor dedicated his time elsewhere, Smoking Tiger believed that he would be able to advance his career. It was truly unfortunate that Razor continued to fight in the Ring.
As for an old man like himself, Smoking Tiger didn't want to risk injury in every fight. But his missus was pregnant with their fourth child, and raising children was expensive, and raising three with another on the way was more than difficult on a genin's income. He fought so that he could bring in more money to the household, give his children a good upbringing, and secure a retirement for himself and his wife— and his contract was set up in a way that he got more ryo than mission points.
"Are you ready?" asked Smoking Tiger.
"Absolutely," replied Razor, his voice tinged with a wild hoarseness as he stared at Scars.
Smoking Tiger sighed. He wanted to go back home and spend time with his children. But it was time for work.
———
.
"So, this is the Ring."
Arisu took in the other world that existed under the village.
"Uh-huh, enjoy it," Kano muttered as she got comfortable in the comfy chairs in the VIP booths that overlooked the arena. Unlike Arisu, she seemed used to it. So much so that she had gone ahead and placed a small bet on the fight they were going to watch.
It all started when Arisu couldn't get the Ring out of her mind and ended up asking Kano to show it to her. Kano agreed, and they planned to spectate an evening fight after work. They had entered through a back-alley bar that acted as an entrance to underground passages and caves that housed arenas and betting booths used by civilians and shinobi alike to watch fights and gamble on them.
"Who made these tunnels?" asked Arisu. She wondered how long it would've taken to dig out the underground
Kano shrugged. "Never bothered to look it up, and it doesn't matter." She glanced at Arisu, "You shouldn't be surprised by this. We live in a shinobi village; there are probably a hundred hidden underground structures like this of various sizes littered around the village."
Arisu couldn't deny that. She hadn't visited them, but she knew there were a couple of hidden passages on the clan grounds. If her clan had one, probably others had one, ANBU definitely had a few of their own, and so did many of the departments for their own use.
"So, who're we watching today?" Arisu asked Kano.
"Well, I asked the teller about the most interesting fight today. He told me about the 2v1 fight they're having today," said Kano, looking down as the announcer entered the arena. "It seems they don't have many 2v1 fights on the regular, so I thought we might as well watch that. It's between, uhm, Scars versus Smoking Tiger and Razor… Huh, weird names."
"Who did you bet on?" asked Arisu.
"On Scars."
"Really, why?"
"I don't know. Two versus one doesn't seem that difficult, and the odds were better if I bet on the single guy." Kano looked at Arisu, "You should've placed some money."
"Not for me," said Arisu.
"Well, your choice," said Kano. "Say, why didn't Takuma come?"
"I don't know, actually. He said something about hanging out backstage at the Kibuchi Theater and observing how the actors get ready… He does a lot of strange things," said Arisu.
A few weeks back, they were talking, and the topic of the weekend came up. Everyone was talking about what they were doing that weekend, and Takuma said he was going to open a stall at the monthly flea market and see if he could make some profit from "goods" he had collected last month— something about learning and polishing sales skills.
"Ah, that's smart," said Kano.
Arisu turned to Kano. "What do you mean?"
"Transformation Jutsu is good enough for civilians, but any shinobi who's paying attention can tell signs. That's why shinobi specializing in spy work and infiltration learn how to disguise themselves by using physical means like prosthetics and makeup. And who better to start learning from than from the people who help actors with their makeup and costumes," explained Kano.
"But you can't learn to disguise in one day, can you?" asked Arisu.
"Of course, not. Learning how to do a believable disguise takes time. But him going there and meeting the people creates connections. He gets to know people who he can go back to later when he wants to learn," said Kano.
Arisu once again felt Takuma's effort coming through from another place. It was like a race where she could feel someone breathing down her neck while trying to pass her.
"Oh, look, they're starting up," Kano said, pointing at the arena below.
Arisu looked down and saw three people in the arena. Two were standing together while another one was standing on the opposite end of the arena.
"Now, that's young," Kano commented with a frown.
Arisu looked at the fighter standing alone. That must be Scars, she thought. And as Kano pointed out, the Scars fellow was way younger than the other two fighters. He looked closer to her age.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
Chapitre 115: CH_4.15 (115)
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
The moment the fight began, Razor shot straight toward Scars without the pretense of any planning. He drew the sword out and pointed it at Scars, who armed himself with a kunai in each hand and charged for Razor.
Razor grinned behind his mask when he saw Scars taking charge and swung his sword in an aggressive downward strike that Scars took on with his kunai. Sparks flew as metal clashed. Scars pushed the sword away and immediately swiped for Razor's gut, but Razor's footwork moved faster, and he skipped an inch out of range.
With the swipe, Scars' body moved in the direction of his swing, committing him to the movement. Razor had already drawn his sword back, ready for the next move, now in a position to strike.
"Got you!" the glee oozing in his voice.
Razor thrusted the pointy end toward Scars' shoulder. He wanted to take one arm away so he could have an easier time working on his art on the 'canvas.' He wished to put on a good show and was sure that the audience would appreciate it as well.
As Scars' body moved behind his swing, his other arm shot up and forward. The blade met through the leather arm guard, and the blade sliced the surface fairly deep but didn't reach the skin— and with the upward arm movement, Scars disrupted the trajectory.
Razor clicked his tongue. He pulled back his sword in an attempt to slice through the leather and draw some blood from a skin wound, but Scars now moved faster. Scars put the weight on his back foot and struck out with his front foot for Razor's knee. The ankle dug into the kneecap and immediately hobbled Razor as his entire balance was kicked into disorder.
Scars freed his arm away from the sword and once again swiped for Razor, and this time, it worked. Blood spurted out of a cut across the chest; the wound was shallow due to Razor's last-moment desperate dodge.
Razor didn't look down at the wound as any moment away from his opponent could lead to his death; he didn't need to look down as the warm blood on his skin and pain over his chest told him all. He didn't appreciate having his body and blood used as a canvas.
As Razor tried to push away to get some space, Scars dropped the kunai in his arm and clenched it into a fist. Razor skipped back, but Scars took a swift fore step and whipped out a body punch. Razor closed his body and brought his block to stop the punch, but in the split second before the fist made contact with Razor, he was abruptly pulled away from the punch's trajectory.
Smoking Tiger pushed Razor away behind him as he faced Scars.
"This ain't going to be this easy, young buck," said Smoking Tiger.
———
.
Smoking Tiger brandished his sword as he set himself between Scars and Razor. He couldn't let his partner get taken out in the first bout of the fight— that would most definitely spell the end of the fight.
In truth, he believed Razor was an equal match to Scars. In fact, their team, too, believed that— which was why they immediately accepted when the scheduling office gave them a choice between Razor and another team member. Smoking Tiger was chosen as the aid to provide Razor with the edge he needed and, well, keep him focused and not let things get crazy.
Scars was on an impressive win streak, much more impressive when one considered he had 2v1 sprinkled among those wins. Smoking Tiger could only imagine the rising win-streak bonus he was going home with after every fight. Not only would this win give Smoking Tiger and Razor some notoriety in the Ring by taking down a big shot, but it'll also get them the incentives their team promised them.
Smoking Tiger knew that he couldn't stop Scars, which was why Razor needed to be in fighting condition.
His eyes shifted to Scars' clenched fist that he had saved Razor from. That fist was well-known in the Ring; as far as Smoking Tiger knew, Scars was the only one to use chakra augmentation in the Ring. The uniqueness of it and the damage it could do made it threatening— so much so that many had lodged complaints against Scars and had pushed for banning the chakra augmentations from the taijutsu and weapons category— but they hadn't gotten anywhere with it.
Scars was too big of a draw to restrict now. The people had seen him use chakra augmentation, and if he suddenly stopped using it, they'd be dissatisfied. And he was sure the amount of 2v1 Scars was participating in influenced the management's decision, allowing him to use something everyone else thought should've only been permissible in the ninjutsu category.
Smoking Tiger blocked and evaded a spray of shuriken from Scars but immediately jumped back in when Scars tried to bypass him to get to Razor. He slashed at Scars, who had reequipped himself with a kunai in both hands like he always did.
Smoking Tiger didn't believe he could beat Scars, but that didn't mean he couldn't hold him back. He took charge and pushed Scars back with aggressive swings that Scars effortlessly blocked, but Smoking Tiger was able to push Scars away from Razor… and he was able to create enough time.
Smoking Tiger deflected one of Scars' kunai strikes and jumped back as Scars swung the kunai only for Razor to switch in and blocked the other strike seamlessly.
"I'm back, baby!" Razor yelled with a feverous expression, blood still dribbling from his chest, but he didn't seem bothered at all. He stabbed Scars and nicked him in the shoulder.
Scars retaliated with a sudden kunai throw at point-blank range that cracked Razor's laugh, but like a madman, Razor completely ignored it and immediately left a deep gash in the back of Scars' right hand.
Smoking Tiger smiled behind his mask, and the moment he saw the gash on Scars' hand, he positioned himself on that side, and the moment he saw an opening, he lunged in with a thrust that ripped through the side of the already injured arm. The arm guard took a chunk of the thrust, but Smoking Tiger was satisfied with it. He stepped back and gave Razor the space, which immediately turned up the aggression to eleven and pressured Scars back while getting a few slashes.
"That's more like it!" Razor yelled. "Today will be a great show."
Scars hobbled back a few steps as Razor landed a solid strike to the calf and almost brought Scars to his knee.
Smoking Tiger saw an opportunity and moved in.
Scars deserved the reputation he had in the Ring as even with his shoddy balance, he parried the next slash from Razor and rolled on his back to evade the downward slash from Smoking Tiger all the while regaining the balance at the end of the backward roll.
Razor and Smoking Tiger didn't want him to recollect himself and straightaway charged in to pile more pressure on him.
And their efforts paid off as Scars froze up in the face of two assailants.
Smoking Tiger left a gash in the side with a well-placed thrust while Razor aimed a downward slash for the neck that instead caught the shoulder and dug deep due to the momentum and gravity.
'We got him,' thought Smoking Tiger.
But the next moment, faster than he had moved in the fight or the fight they had previously seen, Scars palmed Razor's sword up out of his shoulder while launching a terrifyingly quick palm strike into his stomach that launched Razor back like a cannonball.
Out of pure instinct, Smoking Tiger followed Razor— and instantly realized his mistake— he had looked away from his opponent in the middle of the fight. More importantly, he had looked away from Scars, someone who had just demonstrated that he could use chakra augmentation. Smoking Tiger hastily looked back at Scars, fully expecting to get socked in the face, but Scars suddenly jumped all the way up to the cage surrounding the arena.
———
.
"Chakra augmentation," Kano whistled. "Now, that's interesting."
She wasn't expecting to see chakra augmentation down in the Ring. There were several types of chakra augmentations that affected different attributes, depending on their use case. Many clans held some variant of chakra augmentations that suited their combat style.
Chakra augmentations weren't restricted to clan shinobi. There were plenty of augmentations in the jutsu archives— even though most of them, in Kano's opinion, weren't practically usable— but they were only usually used by chunin who specialized in combat. She was surprised to see a genin in the Ring use chakra augmentation, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be decently proficient in it.
"He could have finished the fight right there," Arisu said, shaking her head.
"That was a mistake." Kano agreed. The one named Smoking Tiger name had looked away— a grievous mistake— and Scars should've punished Smoking Tiger for it. It would've taken a single kunai stab in the right place to end the fight for Smoking Tiger. She turned at Razor, who was quaking as he attempted to get up.
Both Scars and Razor were injured, and she didn't know if either had shown their complete hand, so she couldn't predict how the fight would go between the two. Scars was the superior fighter because he was going solo, so if she had to, she would go with Scars— especially with the chakra augmentation he had shown.
"Ring fighters are good at attacking vital points." Given that they were at Ring, Kano decided she could give a quick few pointers to Arisu. It wasn't part of her responsibility, but Arisu was from the Fuma clan, Uchiha's closest allies, and she liked Arisu well enough to help her out here and there.
"It's interesting, you know," Kano said after recollecting the points of interest that had already happened in the fight until then. "Every clan has developed their combat style after years and decades of adjusting, improving, and optimizing to create something unique to them— suitable to their bloodlines and traits. Older clans like mine and yours with old roots in the Warring Era had honed their combat through true combat in the turbulent times of chaos, blood, and death.
It's that pedigree, rich culture, and tradition that makes us better than others."
Uchiha's Interceptor Style, Fuma's Shadow Windmill, and others were developed through long years of effort by entire clans that had accumulated into what they were today, and were continued to be developed by the current generation and would continue to be developed by the future generations.
Kano continued. "The Ring is doing something similar. A group of shinobi who learn from each other through repeated combat, which, while isn't exactly actual lethal combat, is dangerous enough. Each one of them brings something unique to them, even if that something isn't special, and due to the nature of combat, people learn even if they don't actively intend to.
In many ways, it's similar to how clans develop their styles. It's not as effective as the methods that the clans have perfected, and the Ring very well doesn't have the pedigree, and it's highly inconsistent due to the competitive and adversarial nature of it all— but they've, without a doubt, have created a style of combat flexible enough that it successfully becomes the foundation— a competent foundation— of so many Hidden Leaf genin that go through this.
Observe them, Arisu. Many look down at this place, and they aren't completely wrong, but you can't deny that there's something that you and even I can learn if we want to."
Arisu looked away from Kano and down at the arena. Kano didn't know if Arisu took her words seriously, many in their position wouldn't, but Kano had done her job; now, it was up to Arisu to proceed from here on.
———
.
Smoking Tiger cautiously but hastily skipped back towards Razor while keeping an eye on Scars, who remained hanging from the cage.
"Razor, how's your condition? Can you continue?"
Razor lifted his hard mask above the mouth slit in the ski mask, and spat out blood. He clutched his lower chest in agony.
"I-I can," he coughed, "fight… fight!"
'Did he break a rib?' Smoking Tiger bit the inside of his cheek. The place where Scars had punched had bruised horribly. It didn't look good. This kind of injury wasn't optimal, but if it was only as bad as it looked, Razor could continue to fight. Plus, they, too, had injured Scar, and if his time hanging on the cage and his lack of attack on Smoking Tiger, it seemed they had done significant damage.
There was a sudden burst of cheers from the crowd that made Smoking Tiger look back. Scars had dropped down from the cage and was now standing in the middle of the arena, staring at them. Beside him, Razor stood up and took his sword that Smoking Tiger had retrieved.
Smoking Tiger spoke, "I have a plan; we should—"
"Shut up," Razor snarled and recklessly charged at full speed toward Scars.
"Razor!"
"I will kill you!" Razor screamed as he drew his sword, bloodlust oozing out of him.
Scars threw a trio of kunai at Razor, who effortlessly deflected them with his sword.
"How dare you make me—" yelled Razor.
"Razor, look out!" Smoking Tiger tried to warn.
Razor hadn't noticed that right after the kunai, Scars had thrown a surujin (a rope with weights on each end) in their shadow. The rope directed by the weights caught Razor's legs and rapidly wrapped around them, snapping them together, and tripping Razor down to the ground.
Razor fell.
Scars ran toward his fallen opponent.
Smoking Tiger ran towards his partner. Alas, he was much slower than Scars. Scar reached Razor first.
Razor tried to swing his sword at Scars, who dodged and kicked him in the face. A kunai appeared in Scars' hand, and he immediately used it.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Blood spurted out of Razor's shoulder. He screamed as the same kunai dug into his side. And before he could react, Scars stabbed Razor's thigh and dragged the kunai down to the knee, leaving it there.
By the time Smoking Tiger reached them, it was clear that Razor wasn't going to be continuing the fight.
Scars looked up, and Smoking Tiger froze when he felt the cold eyes pierce him. He felt a bloodlust blast his body, and it felt like someone was stabbing his body with a hundred kunai. Compared to Razor, who was a maniac for blood, it felt on a completely next level.
He got a very real sense that there was a real possibility that things could go terribly wrong and end with his death.
He couldn't believe that he had considered Razor and Scars on the same level.
Smoking Tigers immediately jumped back and raised his hand in the air, declaring forfeit. His heart leaped in his throat when Scars ran after him with Razor's sword in his hand.
Fortunately, Scars stopped the moment Smoking Tiger declared forfeit, and a sharp horn shot blared through the arena, announcing the end of the fight.
Smoking Tiger couldn't calm his heart well past after the fight had ended.
———
.
Takuma laid with his eyes closed in the medical room while Sango treated his injuries.
He had made an egregious mistake. He had frozen during the fight. He might have very well knelt in front of his opponents and given them free swings at him. He had panicked.
In that moment when Razor and Smoking Tiger were upon him, the image of two sword-bearing fighters had overlapped with the memory of the two Hidden Frost shinobi who had almost killed him in the Land of Frost. Something in his consciousness had made the connection.
He clenched his fist. He had defeated the Frost duo; he was alive while they were dead— even if Razor and Smoking Tiger triggered that memory, it shouldn't have elicited that reaction from him. But the truth of the matter was that it did, and that fact unsettled him deeply. It didn't help that one memory dragged more memories out to the surface.
It left an undesired taste behind.
"Hey, ease your arm," Sango said, displeased.
Takuma took a deep breath and eased his body, but it didn't help ease what he was feeling.
"I found what you told me to find out," Sango said after she was done patching him up.
Takuma opened his eyes and looked at Sango.
Perfect.
This was exactly what he needed to take things off his mind.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
109 Power
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