Semi Finals: Yukiko Amaya vs Kimiko Miyamoto

This topic is for these two members only, it's for the CE's and it's private.
Chance of death.

[OOC: Best of luck ]

For the first time, Yukiko approached the stadium with a little trepidation. She was as confident as she had ever been, but the time she had spent in the vilalge between matches...Speculation and even betting over the upcoming exam finals had not escaped the young kunoichi's notice. It left her with an odd feeling whenever she heard someone betting against her. She wasn't exactly shaken by these comments and bets, but she began to wonder about the kind of opponent she would be facing in her third round match.

As the Chuunin entrance guards nodded in recognition and ushered her through to the main arena, Yuki began to scan around for her opponent. She took her place at the far side of the stadium and stood aloof, as it seemed she was the first of the two to arrive. Quietly, she rather hoped her opponent would be female this time around. So far, the exams were generally populated by men and Yukiko was eager to present the spectators with a display of what the few kunoichi in these exams were capable of.

As ever, the appearance of the arena was fairly simplistic - the base of the circular wall was lined with a number of green bushes. Thick enough to hide a careful person, but capable of little else. The ground was dry and the little thin grass there was grew in patches, giving the ground a tan-and-green patchy appearance. Yuki knew that of course, it would be unfair on the other participants if the landscape changed for one or two matches, but she couldn't deny it might just up the ante of the match. To be honest, the current set up suited Yukiko and she wasn't about to complain. All there was left to do now was wait for her opponent to arrive.

[OOC: Sure will. Glad to see such a high-quality RPer as my opponent - this ought to be good.]

A wry smile crossed Yukiko's lips as she noted the mutual relief shared between herself and Kimiko that there were indeed other female finalists. She felt a strange urge to laugh at the thought, but it was not becoming of the attitude Yuki wanted to present. She was - by nature - a relatively serious and down-to-earth person, and knew that the battlefield was no place for jokes. She flashed the last of her small smile at Kimiko and nodded her head in recognition of her opponent. "Yukiko - or rather, Yuki. And yes, let's." She replied, indicating the cheering crowds surrounding the pair.

Kimiko seemed to be a fairly laid back character, her clothes and hair rather stylishly ruffled and carefree. Yuki, for her part, wore some fairly unusual items of clothing - the lightweight, opaque fabric running from her upper arm bands to her forearms, for one. Kimiko had also greeted Yuki with relative friendliness, and although glad to be facing someone who was at very least polite, the young kunoichi was careful not to be lulled into a false sense of security by this apparent attitude. She was certain that whatever personality traits Kimiko had, only the practical ones would translate to her actions in combat. The two of them were, after all, amongst the very select few who had made it this far in the exams.

The Chuunin and Special Jounin exam proctors stood at the forefront of the spectators, watching the two closely and readying themselves for an intervention if they deemed it necessary. One lone Chunnin proctor was walking out to greet Kimiko and Yuki, presumably to signal the beginning of the match. Yuki often wondered why they didn't just call down from the stands, but she surmised that it added a heightened sense of formality and procedure. The village of Konohagakure would not want to look laxadazical in front of so many foreign guests.

As the man arrived between the pair, he looked first at Kimiko and then at Yuki. Once satisfied that the two of them were able and ready to fight, he held a hand up. The hubbub from the crowd died down as they waited for the signal to begin. Yuki shuffled her feet ever so slightly, changing to a prepared-for-combat stance. Her fingers twitched in anticipation as the hung mere inches from her item pouches. "You may begin." The proctor called as he lowered his hand and swiftly retreated from the battlefield. The noise from the crowd rose up again with the start of the fight, the specific meaning of their words lost in the general roar of encouragement.

For a moment, neither girl moved. Yukiko was more wary of her opponent now than any she had met in the previous rounds. Forget that. She thought quietly to herself. He said begin, now move! Her thoughts stimulated her body into action, and in one swift movement she flicked open her item pouch with her right hand, withdrew three shuriken and whipped them viciously toward Kimiko. Her left hand, meanwhile, unclipped two unusual-looking metal knives from her belt. They were each about as long as a kunai - particularly similar in blade shape - with holes in the handles for the user's fingers to grip. The hilts, which ran across the knuckles of whomever held them, were jagged and looked somewhat menacing. As the young Genin slotted the two knuckle knives onto her hands, she darted in behind the kunai that were heading straight for her opponent.

Though she was running as fast as she could manage, the kunai were moving even faster and reached their target well before Yukiko did. It didn't come as a surprise to the young kunoichi that Kimiko defended against the metal projectiles - indeed, it was the intention of the ranged attack to probe her opponent and provide Yuki with a little information about her. Sure enough, her opponent formed hand seals in response to the attack, and a cage of vines burst from the ground to surround her. As the shuriken buried themselves in the vines and as Yukiko grew closer, she could see large and sharp-looking thorns protruding from the plant shield. It was clear that the young Genin's original plan of attack had to change, and she began to zig-zag toward Kimiko to give herself a couple of extra seconds of thinking time.

Get rid of those vines. The thoughts raced about in her head as she drew ever closer. But they're organic too. Her eyes flickered with confidence as new tactic hit her. Of course, it will still work on the vines. Make them weak, break them and attack. With a renewed idea of what she would use against this defensive technique, she held the knives up at chest-height and stretched her fingers out through the handle holes. She formed a quick couple of seals before gripped the blades again this time in a poised, attacking stance. Yuki was now only a couple of metres from her opponent, her feet digging in against the earthen dirt below as she tensed to dart in and attack.

It was a this moment that the knives began to emit a pale blue aura. Furthermore, faint wisps of a similar colour began to dissipate from the blades' edges. It was as if some otherwordly force had taken control of the weapons. Of course, Yuki knew that it was merely a poison that she was channelling into the blade, but it looked eerie enough for added effect. The original idea had been to strike Kimiko with this poison, but the cage of vines prevented any real effective taijutsu attacks. So instead, knowing that Shoukou - the poison - would work just as well on organic matter such as plants, she whipped her arm across and slashed at the vines nearest to her. Without so much as a pause, the young kunoichi spun on her foot and delivered a second slash at the other side of the vines.

A small "Ah!" escaped Yuki's mouth as a couple of the thorns tore the surface of her skin. She didn't want to afford the time to check if she was bleeding, but she couldn't feel a trickle of blood and the pain was not that great. Reacting to the thorns' presence, she kicked off from the ground and landed a good six metres away, waiting for the poison to take effect. Shoukou was a toxin that worked to absorb the water within the target. Obviously, this would only work on organic targets. Vines, fortunately, fell into that category. At the level Yuki could muster, Shoukou would have removed enough water from the vines for the young kunoichi to break them with ease after about forty-five seconds. It would, of course, take longer to affect humans. As half the time ebbed away, the Suna Genin could not be sure if Kimiko had understood what she had done. But either way, her opponent would soon be revealed. To that end, Yuki removed two exploding tags from her pouch with the tips of her fingers and held them carefully, the knuckle knives held at the base of her fingers for now.

Spoiler:

[OOC: I did read up on your character before the fight, the immunity is a pain...but I promise I won't meta-game with this knowledge. Lolz.]

The time limit before the poison took hold was fast approaching, so Yukiko attached the tags to her knuckle knives as she waited the final few seconds. The vines surrounding Kimiko began to wither, their once luscious green pigment turning a pale, yellow-green without the water the plant needed to flourish. Perfect. The young Suna Genin thought to herself as she tensed her legs, ready to move in on the attack. The ground felt firm beneath her feet as she dug in, poised for her next movements. As a rather competent taijutsu user, Yuki knew that the proper application of strength was far more effective than pure muscular power.

The vines wilted now, revealing Kimiko and signaling to the Suna kunoichi to make her move. Her opponent hopped back and began forming hand seals - she was finished a moment later. Yuki moved her foot slightly, preparing now to dodge before going in on the offensive. There was a slight tremor in the ground beneath the young Genin's feet, her reflexes urging her to move away as soon as she could. She sprang away to her left just as a number of thick vines burst from the earth below. About to attempt to deal with these, a flicker of light coming from Kimiko's direction caught her eye.

Instinctively, she took her eyes off the vines and noticed the projectiles flying toward her. Her attention elsewhere, the young kunoichi only realised that the vines had caught up with her when they gripped her right ankle and entwined themselves around it. Yuki, caught in mid-air, fell to the earth with a thud as the vines pulled her down. A far-fetched, but indeed possible counter attack struck the Suna Genin. She released the tagged knuckle knives as she hit the ground, aiming for the projectiles that were fast approaching. A stroke of luck helped her out, the metal meeting metal causing a spark to jump and ignite the tags. Of course, the projectiles were going to miss her anyway now that she was out of the way, but she had intended to use the explosion to remove the vines. This seemed to be the only way without catching herself in the explosion too.

As the paper dissipated amongst the large detonation of fire, light, heat and metal, the vines were caught by the edge of the explosion and weakened in the short but intense exposure. The heat warming Yuki's face but doing little else to hurt her, she took the opportunity to draw a kunai and slash at the vines, pulling her ankle free and stumbling to her feet. Acting quickly, she moved away from the weakened and cut vines and took a brief scan of the battlefield. As smoke drifted across the immediate area, Yuki could see the silhouette of her opponent standing a short distance from her, apparently out of the explosion's range as well. The two combatants' projectiles scattered on the ground, it seemed as if the first bout of attacks had ended. Just to give her opponent something to think about as she prepared to attack once more, Yuki whipped the single kunai at the silhouetted figure standing opposite her, the blade disappearing into the now clearing smoke.

The Suna Genin could feel a small, dull pain in her right ankle, where the vines had gripped tightly and pulled. She rolled her foot for a moment, trying to ease it back into normal movement. She winced, but decided it would hold up for now. This is no time for checking injuries, Yuki! Get on the offensive before your opponent does. She ticked herself off silently and formed a quick couple of seals, two simple clones appearing beside her almost instantly. Sending the two clones in amongst the smoke - now little more than a haze, but it would do the job well enough - Yuki used it to help confuse Kimiko as to which of the attacking people was the real one. As she approached, she channeled chakra into the muscles in her arm and fist, readying a heavy strike. If the clone tactics succeeded, she would begin the taijutsu combination.

Spoiler:

[OOC: Just to check before I post (I don't want to assume anything) - but are you leaving what happens with my chakra-enhanced punch up to me?]

[OOC: Okay, I took it into my own hands as you asked. Lemme know if you're not okay with the post.]

As the last of the smoky haze lifted, Yukiko was acutely aware of her clones dissipating nearby. She hadn't meant them to be more than a distraction and she only hoped that Kimiko didn't have the time to avoid the impending, 'true' attack. Yuki's concerns were lifted as her opponent turned her head mere moments too late, just in time to meet the Suna Genin's eyes as she drove her chakra-fuelled fist into Kimiko's solarplexus. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as the strike connected, Yuki even able to note the distinct the facial expressions of the two Genin - while she had a determined grimace plastered on her face, Kimiko revealed one of great surprise.

The sound of the strike caught up with the two kunoichi, a crashing sound echoing as Yuki ran, speeding alongside her opponent who was hurtling backward in mid-air. As soon as she overtook the Leaf Genin, she stamped her foot down on the ground to stop herself abruptly. As her body turned she leaned back and drove a kick into Kimiko's body, stopping her flight just as suddenly as Yuki had stopped running. With a graet effort, she swung her other leg up high and brought a final, axe kick straight down on Kimiko's suspended body, driving it down into the ground and cracking the earth below.

Panting now, Yuki stepped back from the form of Kimiko. She would never underestimate an opponent, but her ankle was throbbing now and she needed to strap it up. She rolled away into one of the outlying bushes, careful not to put any pressure on her weakened joint. Keeping one keen eye on Kimiko, Yuki tore a piece of cloth from her bottoms and wrapped it tightly around her swollen ankle, binding it tightly until the pain decreased. Without a word, she got to her feet - crouching so as to stay hidden - and balanced her weight out to test the strappings' strength. They held perfectly.

Unsure what had become of Kimiko, she kept her hands close together and her eyes sharp. The bushes in which Yuki was hidden gave one or two points at which she could look out on the arena, but the vision was limited. That said, they provided pretty good cover, so she was hoping the extra protection would give her the time she would need to react to any attacks on her position. The crowd was louder than it been throughout the match, and the Suna kunoichi could hear an official of some sort call for quiet. The hubbub subsided a little, which Yuki for one was very glad of. It was hard enough for the combatants at such a critical stage of the exams to survive the battles, let alone do so while distracted by a raucous crowd of spectators.

Now what...? The young kunoichi thought to herself, waiting for something to happen and for her to respond to. For all she knew, the match had finished. In truth, she doubted this was the case - Kimiko had proved to be a wily and inventive opponent thus far and Yuki was far from convinced that she wouldn't be on the counter attack soon. A minute or so had passed since the final strike of the taijutsu combination, and the Suna Genin had only just caught her breath again. The technique, whilst powerful, did fatigue her for the immediate time. She would need another minute or so before her performance reached a competent level once more.

Spoiler:

iFrom her hiding place amongst the outlying shrubbery, Yukiko could just about glimpse her opponent stirring on the ground. So, The young kunoichi thought to herself, there's more yet to come. Her vision was dreadfully hampered by the very branches and leaves that were keeping her hidden, and she could only see patches of Kimiko's form as her opponent rose to her feet and began to make indistinguishable movements. A few seconds passed, almost half a minute before Yuki caught a glance of the Konoha Genin's actions. Glinting in the sunlight, a short and curved weapon. A scythe, perhaps? The view from the bushes did not reveal any more about the weapon than the blade, but an arm and a leg standing beside Kimiko soon became apparent.

Using a clone technique at this point... Yuki knew that her opponent was taking full advantage of the Suna Genin taking cover and hindering sight. There was no way that Yuki would be able to discover which was the true Kimiko without destroying the two false ones. Admittedly, that wasn't too hard a task given the nature of the clones - they were surely simple bunshins - but it still made the hidden girl's next action more difficult. I dare not use poison until I know which is which, I cannot waste my secret techniques so idly. She thought to herself, her mind running as many possible offensive actions through her head as it could. A moment later, as Kimiko and her clones began to walk tentatively forward Yuki's eyes sparkled. It was an idea that might just work, though she would have to give up her own 'safehouse' amongst the foliage.

Moving quickly, Yuki brought her hands together and formed a rapid set of seals. A thin green aura began to pulse around her body, settling shortly after and simply glowing - the green light emanating from every inch of her form. The young kunoichi felt her muscles and her mind expand, her physical condition improved in every way. There was little time before Kimiko would notice the light of course, Yuki was certain. All she needed was to attack before the Konoha Genin did, and this wouldn't matter. Her ankle boltstered by the Genesis technique, she shot out of the bushes and hurtled toward the three Kimikos. The branches of the bushes had caught her cheek when she had burst out, and only now - just as she approached her opponent - was the slight scratch beginning ot show on her face.

Ignoring the trifling wound, she threw her arms out as if about to try and 'clothesline' Kimiko. This was not her intention of course, but merely a trick to disguise what Yuki was really doing. Her hands - extending out to each side and pointing to, though far from actually reaching, the left and right forms of Kimiko - formed a barely noticeable, single hand seal each. Immediately, two shuriken appeared in each hand and as the arms reached their full extension - the whole movement taking barely a second - Yuki whipped the shuriken toward their targets and darted in toward the central target.

Two projectiles flying at each form of Kimiko to either side, Yuki herself stepped in toward the middle form of her opponent and swung her right hand at her. The strike was meant to seem as if it would pull up short, but at the last possible second, Yuki formed another seal and her katana that was strapped to her back vanished and appeared instantly, gripped in her striking hand as it slashed across toward Kimiko. The short strike now lengthened and made more deadly by the katana, Yuki still kept an eye on the short scythe that each Kimiko was wielding - it did not look like an ordinary weapon and that troubled the Suna Genin.

Spoiler:

[OOC: Apologies, I'm getting used to a new timetable and as such my RPing has suffered.]

The sequence of moves from the Genin of the Sand had been fast, accurate and had dealt with the 'clone problem', but they had also been taxing on her concentration. Uncharacteristically, she hadn't thought about her moves beyond the slash of her katana. So it came as a shock to Yukiko that when her opponent raised a blade to block to attack, her mind suddenly became void of ideas and she faltered. The force of the metal meeting metal sent a shockwave shuddering along Yuki's arm. Unprepared for this, her grip slipped and she was forced to step aside to release the two blades that had until now been locked together. Grimacing as she did so, Yuki tried hard to keep her balance steady.

At first this seemed like it had worked out for the young kunoichi. Her movement had given her an extra second or two to regather her wits and it had opened up a gap in which she could counter attack. However, as she raised her katana to once again slash at Kimiko, her arms were overcome with a momentary ache, likely from the shockwave she had felt a few seconds earlier. Her sword still lowered, she lost her footing and stumbled as she moved in. Instinctively, she stretched out her hand and pressed it against the ground to break her fall. Gritting her teeth as she felt the harsh earth cut her palm, she turned the awkward situation around and pushed her body overhead. As she tumbled forward, Yuki tucked her sword in to her waist and a moment later got to her feet behind her opponent.

Blood trickled from the Suna Genin's hand and only now did she realise the toll the battle was taking on her. Finish this soon, Yuki. She thought furiously inside her head. At this close range, she would only need a single cut to swing the balance undeniably in her favour. She hoped, as her free hand formed hand seals, that Kimiko hadn't been paying too much attention when she had used this technique earlier in the match. Her seals finished just in time, her katana being enveloped in a green aura as it slashed at Kimiko, Yuki bringing her second hand up to the hilt to steady the blade. She was anticipating that her opponent was at least if not more fatigued than she was, particularly given the recent events in the battle.

Spoiler:

Yuki's physical strength had diminished now that the Genesis boost had faded. As her katana once again met Kimiko's scythe, she felt her muscles tighten and knew that soon she would have to use some of chakra she had held back, so as to give her body time to recover from the fatigue. As for her opponent...it seemed that she was feeling the strain too. Good. Yuki thought to herself. At least my efforts aren't entirely wasted. She gritted her teeth and parried as Kimiko did the same, the two of them trading blows skillfully and methodically, but not yet creating openings or scoring hits. With the Suna Genin's katana still pulsating with a green aura, it would be worse for Kimiko to take a hit than for Yuki to. The poison would take effect and give the young kunoichi the slight edge she needed to finish the fight.

The clanging of metal on metal echoed throughout the stadium. As the crowd looked on, seeing both combatants locked in nail-biting combat, they became silent. Their eyes followed the swordplay with rapt attention. After another minute or so, Yuki came to a quick and brave - some might say foolish - decision. She took her left hand off of the shaft of her katana and extended it up to grab Kimiko's sythe handle. She didn't wait for her grip to tighten - her arm would block the curved blade even if it slipped her grasp. With the scythe momentarily away from the glowing sword, Yukiko took her chance. Her position gae her little purchase to do any real damage, but a little snick of the poisoned blade was all she needed.

As the katana came across to score her opponent's midriff, the young kunoichi felt the sharp edge of the scythe dig into her left arm, the skin buckling under the pressure and the blade sinking half an inch into the flesh. Yuki grimaced and brought the finished slash up to push the offending weapon away. On the assumption her toxin-laced blade had nicked Kimiko, she kicked off from the ground to put a good eight or so metres of distance between the two of them. She had to buy just a little time for the poison to take effect - thirty seconds or so. "You are a worthy opponent, Kimiko-san. It's clear that this fight will take all I have to give." Though it was as stalling tactic, the young Genin meant what she had said, and affirmed this with a respectful flick of the head, nodding in recognition.

The little interplay was over now, and Yuki had to return to the battle. With a couple of quick movements and a flick of the wrist, she released three shuriken from her pouch. It was almost identical to her opening move of the match, save one difference - Yuki meant for these shuriken to be far deadlier than before. As they began their flight toward Kimiko - whom Yuki assumed was now weaker from the poison - she formed a quick set of seals and inhaled deeply. The shuriken were a few metres from Kimiko now and the Suna Genin acted accordingly. With a great exhalation of wind, she blasted the Fuuton attack across toward her opponent, tearing the earth and screaming past the projectiles. The shuriken given far greater velocity by the wind, the attack was now twofold. The young kunoichi let her muscles relax as the technique kept her opponent at bay.

Spoiler:

The moment Yuki saw Kimiko dive to one side, she pushed off from the ground and ran toward her, following her rolling movements carefully. Much to Yukiko's surprise, her opponent was not only able to avoid the combined projectile and Fuuton attack but had also managed to release a counter attack of her own, slinging four of her shuriken toward the Suna Genin. Running at such a speed, it was going to be difficult to avoid the metal stars and the kunoichi had to act fast. The shuriken were already almost upon her. She flicked her katana across her body and knocked two of the incoming projectiles away. The third and fourth were dealt with when Yuki stuck her arms forward - dropping the katana - and dove onward. It wasn't a perfect move, the last two shuriken clipping each of the Genin's shoulders and cutting the skin.

Yuki hadn't had a chance to reply to her opponent's words and assumed that Kimiko wouldn't really mind. Neither of them were here to converse anyway. For some reason, the Konoha Genin seemed unaffected by Yuki's poison. A healing, purifying technique? She thought to herself. Yukiko hadn't seen Kimiko perform any such jutsu but for now just had to accept that her poison had not taken a hold. If her opponent had some such ability or technique that neutralized Yukiko's poisons...well. That was a good half of the Suna Genin's techniques rendered useless. It was not a particularly great situation to be in, but as ever, Yukiko was determined to make the best of it and continue the fight to the end. She didn't expect any fatality to occur in this fight - the two kunoichi seemed to hold a mutual respect for one another.

The crowd was still silent in nervous anticipation of what they knew were the closing stages of the fight. Neither Genin had much physical, mental or chakra-based energy left and the fight was surely going to be over soon. It would be impossible to call who would come out on top, or even if the fight would end in a draw. The young kunoichi of Sunagakure ignored such thoughts however, and decided to simply concentrate of the present. Biting her lip as she summoned most of what stamina she had remaining, she rolled out of the dive and as she rose to her feet, she slammed one leg straight out, aiming directly toward Kimiko's solarplexus. Should the strike connect, Yuki would have to push through the physical pain and fatigue to complete the attack. Should it fail...well, she had a far-from-foolproof plan in that instance.

Spoiler:

I was forced to make a decision due to the chuunin exams needing to hurry up so teams can be set up. Plus you guys have had plenty of time, I'm sorry it didn't work out. This match was an almost impossible task to choose a winner, but it came down to Fox.

If I had to choose a grand final it would of been both of you. Sorry only one can go through.

Good Luck to both of you in your future endeavors as shinobi, the winner is Fox.