Back Into Things {Shigeru/Open for Spectators}

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

It's been a long, boring time since Ri had done anything worth while. No big missions, no fights, not even parties! Just the same crap he was doing before his life started getting a little interesting: Lazing around until he had to go to mandatory training, guard duty, or whatever the hell it is he gets told to do when he doesn't want to do it. The only thing that's been different is his dad taking it upon himself to teach him how to use some Nara abilities after he told him about his bloodline, and that certainly has gone anywhere fast. He never thought he'd see the day that he decides for himself that he needs to do something, but that day seems has come. Somehow. The shinobi crawled out of bed around noon, as he does every day, and got dressed. After grabbing his sword, he walked out of the door and into the village, where he hoped he would find something to do with his free time. The boy took a few minutes to grab something to eat at a stall in front of the Village's Colosseum, and stared at the large structure in front of him. At first, this sight made him feel nothing, but when it came time to grab his order, he saw the burn scar on his hand and remembered something from years ago. Somehow, he'd forgotten the first time he fought in the Colosseum. The excitement he felt, the cheering of the crowd, everything was so exciting... He just had to go again, see if that might spice things up a little.

Ri scoffed the noodles he ordered then made his way to the Colosseum to see if he could sign up for a match. He was already able to hear the cheer from the crowd inside when he was just at the stand, but the closer he got, the louder and more intense it became. It brought about a nostalgic feeling, one that put a stupid grin on the boy's face, growing with each step he took. When he finally took his first step inside the building, many people moved out of his way. After all-- no matter how skinny he is-- he was still a giant who stood at 6'6'', not exactly something you see everyday. Unless you work with our Raikage or Ookami, anyways. This made it easy to walk right up to the sign up desk and register, there was currently a fight going on, but it seemed like it would be over by the time he was set to go. Thankfully, no one else had signed up for the next spot, so he would be free to take the stage and have some fun! After signing his name on several sheets of paper that said the Colosseum was not liable for any injuries, he was taken into the staging area.

The halls grew empty as they grew closer to this place, but the noise still echoed throughout the building, building up Ri's excitement even more. He was told to wait for a few minutes and get ready, and that someone would be with him soon. Not like he didn't already know that would be the case though, he'd been through this a couple times before. Eventually, the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall as well, and a large man waved his hand to signal he should follow. A light could be seen at the end of the hall he was now being taken down, and the boy knew exactly what that light was. The same smile from before appeared on his face again as the man stopped and signaled for him to enter.

Just a few more steps, and the surface beneath Ri changed from the stony floor inside the building, to the hard sand of the Colosseum. He stared at all the faces in the crowd, wondering if he might see a familiar face. It was unlikely, but you never know. After he felt satisfied with looking through the crowd, his eyes fell upon the opposite end of the pit. The sight reminded him of a mission he'd gone on a while ago, one that didn't end well. The mission was a success, sure, but he made a huge mistake that got one of his team mates killed. The thought of that surprised the shinobi, making him wonder how he was able to come to a place like this when it reminds him of that almost traumatic event. Maybe he was just desensitized now-- after all, it is his job. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, whoever walks through that door opposite him would be his opponent, and he didn't want to disappoint the crowd.

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Things had not been right since his mission with Kubashi had gone horribly awry, and Shigeru knew that he no longer had complete control over his body. In fact, no matter how much training he did, he felt as if his grip on reality was slowly slipping away. Sometimes even his flames refused to do as they were told which scared Shigeru more than he cared to admit. His whole shinobi life those flames had been like a partner with him, both seeking a mutual goal. Now Shigeru felt far away from the flames, even if he had the constant feeling of them raging to break from his skin; it was all Shigeru could do to hold back that raging inferno. His body yearned for some kind of release. Then the idea smacked him in the face, almost bowling him over completely. Cloud had a coliseum that was open to any and all combatants. Some physical contact would definitely do him some good.

The preparations were quick, to say the least. Shigeru grabbed his chakra-hardened gloves and slipped them over his burnt knuckles. Shigeru didn’t even both to put on a shirt; throwing on a vest to pair with his pair of black pants, Shigeru bolted through his front door and out onto the streets of Kumogakure. Though they were very busy, Shigeru didn’t stop to even look where he was going; his body was a taut rope ready to split into several burnt ends. Pretty quickly, Shigeru ended up at the gates prepared for everything except the fat stack of paperwork they gave him to fill out. If he had ever been there before, this might not have happened, but Shigeru had never made it a priority to fight his comrades. However, circumstances dictated that he must do this for his own sanity. As such, he filled out the paperwork, somehow managing to not set the whole place on fire first.

The roar of the crowd filled Shigeru’s ears long before his feet touched the battlefield, but nonetheless, those sounds made his blood boil. When he started to feel like this, the Fire inside of him would also start roiling around, trying harder once again to break out. Shigeru knew it was almost time to unleash his power. His body was a faucet with a soon-to-be broken spigot. Without even pausing, Shigeru literally ran down his corridor and out into the bright and chilly Kumo day. Shigeru’s bare chest began to steam as the cold air made contact with his boiling skin. Shigeru couldn’t even be bothered to cower as he saw someone almost a foot taller than him walk out of the opposite corridor. It was time to turn up the heat.

“Hello sir! My name is Shimatsu Shigeru, and I have to apologize for what is about to happen. I can barely contain myself right at the current moment, but know that I am generally a very nice person!” With that sentiment barely out of his mouth, Shigeru let go. The flames lept out of skin and engulfed his entire body like a cloak. This time, his flame was so hot that his vest was burnt to a crisp straight away. Normally, Shigeru would have been concerned by this, but instead, a maniacal laugh leapt from his lips. Shigeru tossed his dark hair around and enjoyed the embrace of the flames shrouding him now. Then he began a lilting tune. “Fa fa fa fu… Flames will get you…”

[WC: 581/MFT]

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

This was certainly an interesting sight to see... The person that was soon to be his opponent had steam rising from his chest. Was this some kind of insane fever? Some disease that suddenly hit the country, soon to be spread through the man before him? No, that wouldn't make sense, that kind of thing would've been discovered and contained a long time ago if it were a disease that caused a fever that high. But really, what the hell could be making him give off that much heat? The shinobi's question was answered soon after he thought it, as the man across from him gave a short introduction.

"Guess I'll take your word fo-" Before he could finish mumbling that sentence under his breath, his opponent burst into flames and started laughing maniacally. Not only did that answer his question from before, it also made him happy he decided to come today. Not every day that you saw some dude get engulfed in flames and start singing about how those flames would "get you." "Well shit then..." Ri sighed, this guy was clearly wasting no time talking. His only choice now would be to do something before he found out what that fire could really do. Without another thought, the boy flew through a set of hand seals and summoned a molten cloak of chakra that looked quite similar to his opponent's. But cooler, obviously. Cause lava.

"You're not the only one with fire, let's see who's is hotter!" The shinobi exclaimed, rushing at his opponent while making another set of hand seals, which were completed by the time he reached the center of the Colosseum. Two tendrils made from fiery ashes would spew from his mouth, which he quickly grabbed and swung at his opponent. Each one was meant to wrap around the man in an attempt to burn, and hopefully bind him. Even if his attack missed, it would likely create a good enough opening for him to launch forward with his sword drawn and get a good cut in, so that's exactly what he did! Whether that attack missed or not, the boy would retreat back using the wall of the Colosseum and wait to see what his opponent would do.

After getting as close to the man as he did, Ri realized just how hot those flames were. Even with the molten cloak surrounding him, it did little to counteract the intensity of his flames. Since the fight started, the cheers and jeers from the crowd became little more than background noise, something that was far less important than paying attention to the man he would be fighting for the next few minutes, or even the next hour, there was never a way to tell how long these fights might last...

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

The Flames roared out of Shigeru like a broken tap on an overflowing faucet. Even though he could see his opponent coming towards him, sword blazing, Shigeru could not even get his body to move. The Flames fought against him moving, rooting him in place whether he wanted it or not. Shigeru struggled to regain control of his faculties as his assailant drew closer. However, Shigeru couldn’t break from this burning, stuck feeling. His limbs were lead. His chakra itself was weighing him down. He was powerless, and Shigeru knew he was going to die if he could not do anything. However, when the smoky tendrils climbed over his body, their blackness attempting to blot out the rest of his existence, Shigeru’s body reacted without him having done anything.

His body twisting, the flame cloak enshrouded him simply burning the ashy tendrils away with sheer chakra power and heat, and to Shigeru, his limbs once again felt light and airy as they should. However, the blade was coming again, this time, his arm reached out reflexively, once again Shigeru was left to wonder what was moving his body, grabbing the blade bare. Shigeru’s flames were around his hand, creating a small barrier. Though the blade bit into his hand, the pain almost an afterthought, his flames kept the damage to a minimum. With force, Shigeru simply attempted to toss his opponent back and away from his body. The man responded in kind by jumping towards the back of the arena.

Now was the time to strike, and Shigeru knew what he wanted to do; his body was not listening to what he wanted though. Shigeru had intended to fire off a Dragon Fire Blast and follow up with a Taijutsu combo, but when he attempted to start this, neither his chakra nor his body responded. Instead, Shigeru’s body jumped forward, fists pounding the ground harshly. The flames leapt from his hands and over the ground. Where the flames touched, the sand turned into glass. All those flames were little serpents of fire searching for a fresh kill. Then Shigeru’s body leapt back to its starting point and channeled all of the flaming chakra into the air in a flaming funnel. The flames only went so far, then Rirakkusu would be able to see meteoric flames falling back to the coliseum.

Shigeru knew this plan of action had been a solid one, but he had no part in making it happen. The whole time he felt as if he was being controlled by a puppeteer. It was as if his mind and body had been separated. Every time he fought to control his chakra, his chakra would push back and do what it wanted; Shigeru’s own chakra was controlling his body. This was a far shot away from what Shigeru had felt in all of his previous battles where he had full control over the flames. Never before Kubashi had Shigeru struggled to fight with his fire, and he definitely had never fought against his fire. Now, he just waited to see if what his body had done would defeat this opponent.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Ri was happy to see that his plan had worked, but it's effects didn't last long. Apparently, the flames around his opponent were hotter than his own, which meant that just using lava to fight may not be the best plan anymore. Even his follow up attack did little to his opponent, the dude just grabbed his sword and threw him back! Clearly this wouldn't be as simple as he originally thought. Before the shinobi could think of what he should do next, his opponent was already upon him, punching the sand beneath him, the flames so hot it turned to glass wherever they touched. The crowd cheered even louder than they were at this spectacle, but Ri knew that he would be in trouble if he was hit by those flames if they were that hot. The boy danced around the arena to try and avoid the fire each time it got too close, letting out small grunts each time it brushed against his skin. Soon enough, however, the onslaught ended when his opponent jumped back to where he was before and shot a funnel of flames into the sky. This was even more impressive than his last attack, and the crowd recognized that and screamed even louder than before.
[col]When the funnel split apart into what seemed like hundreds of small meteors that began raining down onto the Colosseum, the shinobi knew he had to act fast. "Fuck!" He exclaimed just as he finished a set of hand seals, summoning a large metal wall to block whatever balls of fire would have hit him. Each time one of the orbs of fire smashed against the ground, it turned even more of the sand into glass and splashed like water dripping into a larger body of liquid, spreading it even further and almost turning the whole arena into an inferno before the flames dissipated due to a lack of burnable material in the arena. "Okay, I have to admit that was impressive!" He shouted to his opponent, still hiding behind his metal barrier. There was only one thing he could think of doing now that it was clear just using hot jutsu wouldn't work against this guy, and he already had an idea of what he could do.|

[/col]

From where his opponent stood, a geyser of lava could be seen erupting behind the metal barricade. This flow of lava would soon begin to split, slowly revealing Ri's person, and not long after that a stony golem which he recently summoned from the ground. The lava slowly spread across the arena as it continued to shoot out from the ground, and it only stopped when the golem was fully formed, leaving enough to cover the entire arena when it was done spreading. Of course, when it cooled it would simply leave the arena with a rocky surface that might prove difficult to remove, but for now it would just prove to be something his opponent would need to avoid. What lava hit the golem Ri rode on, rushed through it's cracks like a river, giving it a reddish glow that would do more than make it look cool. The shinobi still had his molten cloak activated, which is the only reason he didn't burn himself to a crisp when he stood in the geyser of lava. At this point, the cheering from the crowd made it nearly impossible to hear anything going on in the fight, which did little more than irritate the hell out of the boy. He would've gone as far as yelling at the crowd if he didn't know his complaint would just be drowned out with all the noise.

He took a moment to watch the lava slowly crawling toward his fiery opponent, before crouching down to hold onto his golem as it began trudging through the pools he had just created. It was slow going, but it was the closest thing he would get to having a partner in this battle, and he knew he needed one. After making it's way around the wall of metal that stood on one end of the arena, the golem reached down and splashed some of the lava in the direction of their enemy. Ri was hoping this would prove to be enough of a distraction for him to jump off of the golem and land out of view from his opponent. After hitting the ground, he would kneel down and make a set of hand seals. "Time to test out some jutsu I've been learning." He mumbled, before his shadow began moving across the ground toward his opponent. With luck, it would connect to Shig's shadow and stop him from moving, allowing the lava, or the golem, or both! To close in on him and deal some damage.

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Shigeru still felt like a fish out of his own body even as the man summoned what appeared to be a giant golem in front of him. The lava was just a feint so that his opponent could summon the golem and perform a variety of jutsu that Shigeru obviously could not see. Shigeru wanted to rush his opponent in the early planning stage, but instead he was racked with an incredible pain; his chakra fighting against him completely, not allowing him to move at all. Shigeru was hopelessly stuck as the lava reached ever closer, and his opponent would be able to see Shigeru almost literally doubled over in pain.

It felt like his insides were on fire. His insides were literally boiling themselves, killing Shigeru as quickly as possible. On a pain scale, Shigeru would have been nowhere near a 10, not in the good direction either. His limbs felt as heavy as lead, and any attempt to reach out to the chakra ended up with Shigeru getting an inner backlash of pain. It was as if he was being ripped apart from the inside. Even as the shadow, which Shigeru noticed once it had started moving, reached out to grab his shadow, Shigeru was cemented in place. Then the shadow connected with his and time itself slowed down. The pain of the shadow possession tore a frenzied bellow from his lips, but inside of Shigeru’s body, his chakra went crazy. He could feel his chakra actively pushing against this new invader, and then Shigeru heard the tiniest of voices whisper inside of his head, “Shigeru, let go for just one moment. I am here for you.” Even though Shigeru did not know what the phantom voice meant, his mental health was in no condition to resist the second push from his chakra; his body began to once again move on its own.

Shigeru’s hands formed a set of handseals, and then he literally reached down and grabbed the invading shadow. Then with one solid pull, Shigeru ripped the shadow off of his own and sent it back to its owner. Shigeru had no idea how he had done so, but he did not have time to question it as another set of handseals were formed and the terrain of the coliseum immediately imploded so that the lava, being flung every which way, was dispersed from the immediate vicinity. Taking the offensive for a moment, Shigeru’s body threw itself towards the golem, one seal being made as his fist made contact with the golem. A seal appeared over the golem’s ‘chest’, and as Shigeru jumped back the golem disintegrated from a chakra explosion.

Shigeru’s body landed opposite from his opponent, and Shigeru could feel a moniker of control return to his own self. He did not know how these past few moments even happened; never before had he been able to use earth jutsu, and such an advanced explosion jutsu would usually be out of his control. How he had done such things made him crazed for a moment. However, his opponent still deserved his full attention, so Shigeru filed these things under ‘going to kill Kubashi for’, and attempted to return his attention to the battle. Exhausted though, Shigeru couldn’t bring himself to go on the attack, so he instead opted to ask a singular question. “So, sir, what is your name? You are quite skilled, so I would enjoy being graced with your name.”

WC: 578

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

It was surprising to see the man he was facing allowing everything that was thrown at him to just.. Do it's thing. Seemed like he was in pain for some reason, definitely not because of Ri though. He hadn't landed a single hit the entire battle, unless you count their shadows connecting because the guy was too distracted with other things to notice. Sadly, however, it didn't take too long for Shigeru to calm down and fight back a little. Somehow, the guy tore their shadows apart with his bare hands. The shinobi was unsure of how that worked, but there was no time to think about it, so he quickly jumped back to avoid whatever attack might be thrown at him. After landing again, it seemed that he wasn't the target in this case. Instead, his opponent sent all of the lava flying around the Colosseum, and vaporized his golem with one attack! Clearly, Ri was going to need to think a little more outside of the box if he wanted any chance of beating this guy. But... Not like he did the last time he was here, that was just explosive.

Once he was done stopping every single attack that was sent at him, Shigeru calmed down a little more and asked for his name. After all of that, he wanted his name. Great. "Shita Rirakkusu, just call me Ri." He responded. There was silence in the arena for some time, Ri figured he would have a second to relax while his opponent caught his breath. It worked out though, gave him enough time to think of another course of action. "Let's try something new then..." The boy mumbled as he made some more hand seals. The shinobi bent down and touched the ground with his hand, causing the sand to slowly spread across his body. This jutsu would allow him to take a bit more heat, should he need to, so he knew it could come in handy when paired with his molten cloak. After another set of seals, and identical copy of himself appeared at his side. It would be clear to the man that he had created a clone, but what type would remain a mystery for now.

Now was the time to act again, he still had some energy left in him and his opponent seemed to be taking quite the beating. Even if it wasn't because of him, it would likely open up the opportunity to get a good hit or two in. Both Ri's sheathed their swords and crouched down, launching forward soon after and slashing at the man just before reaching him. The swords were aimed at his midsection, and the boy hoped to at least get a cut in with this. It was obvious how much better his opponent was, so he assumed the man would get out of the way before his torso was separated from his legs. He hoped, anyways. After this attack, Ri would jump back once more, his clone mimicking his movement until they were side by side. "Now to follow up..." He mumbled as he made several hand seals and reached for his clone. As soon as his hand touched the chakra being, it began growing and changing shape. It's features became rough, and what was once skin became metal. When the boy lifted his hand from the chakra infused metal boulder, he left a combustive seal, then grabbed it with both hands and hurled it at his enemy.

If the boulder was allowed to get too close to his enemy, it would explode, and if it hit it may even crush him if he wasn't careful. But as he thought earlier, the gap in their skill levels was great, and everything he's thrown at him so far has failed. The only way this attack wouldn't be avoided, is if Shigeru had some kind of break down again. There was no way to tell if that would happen, however, as he seems to have gone back to "normal" at this point.

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Shita Rirakkusu. What a name. Shigeru barely had time to register and log away the name before the boy was lunging at him again, clone to the side and sword in hand. However, the flames had calmed down a little in his stomach, and as the blades closed in for just a moment they would appear to have cut deep into Shigeru’s midsection; then the body of Shigeru would implode, a wave of fire blasting over the two Ris. It would just be a taste of the elemental clone Shigeru had planned for him. Another two seconds of preparation and the clone would have been one of pure explosion. That would have left a bit of a surprise for his would-be opponent. However, the man jumped back almost as if he was unaffected by such a fiery demonstration. In fact, the man seemed to have another plan on his mind.

At that very moment, Shigeru felt a grip on his body once more. This time, the fire inside of him clutched until he was almost unconscious, but by some great grace of Raiden, Shigeru held onto his sanity and was able to only fall to one knee. Inside him, he battled for the ability to move a muscle. He could see his opponent readying some kind of metal boulder, the same kind of thing that you didn’t want hitting you square in the face; Shigeru knew that is right where that boulder would be going eventually. He just couldn’t move. Within the deepest reaches of his body, Shigeru felt some kind of presence with him. It was a familiar feeling, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was exactly. He knew that this feeling had come about because of Kubashi, and there was no way that the feeling would go away until he had another talk with that lecherous old man.

With a new direction in his mind, Shigeru took a hold of the feeling those presences gave him, and he was able to stand up with his own will. He looked up to see a giant, marked, metal boulder sailing straight towards him. Shigeru knew that he didn’t have a trick up his sleeve for such a quick reaction. Instinctively, Shigeru reached down into his chakra, and those presences where there again. His body felt strangely warm, a warmth not related to his heat, and then Shigeru’s shadow came up from underneath him and reached up, catching the boulder in its shadowy grasp. Shigeru didn’t understand exactly how this had happened. He knew that the Nara clan had extreme control over their own shadows, but he had no knowledge that he was one of them. He noted this down as another question to ask Kubashi.

After standing there for several moments admiring the boulder suspended by his own shadow, Shigeru remembered that he was still in some kind of fight. He turned towards his opponent and gave a slight shrug. “I don’t honestly know how I’m doing this, but I assume that this means I have the upper hand.” Shigeru gave the man a wink and gestured to the crowd. “They seem to be liking the show, but the question is, do you want to go on? Or should we call it a truce from here?” Depending on the man’s answer, Shigeru would either toss the boulder aside or toss the boulder at Ri; either way Shigeru was pretty happy with the result.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The boy was glad he jumped back when he did, only noticing the remains of what would have blown up in his face had he decided to stay near his opponent. Sadly, the second part of his plan didn't work quite as well as he was hoping either, as the metal boulder was simply caught. It wasn't the fact that the boulder was caught that worried him now, it was more how it was caught that bothered him. The guy was apparently a Nara, one with extreme affinity for fire. Not something he would've expected this far into the fight, he would've expected someone to reveal something like that sooner rather than later, but it was certainly dismaying. It wasn't long after all of his plans had been foiled, that his opponent was asking for a surrender. This was when he was faced with the toughest decision of the fight, and the day.

"Hmmm.. Surrender and make a fool of myself, or refuse and take a boulder to the face?" Even if the boy hated people as much as he hated bad saki, he still had an image to uphold. It wasn't every day that people say a nearly seven foot giant walking around.. It was intimidating. Humbling. Amazing, even, and he had to make sure that it remained that way. If he could take a boulder of that size to the face, and survive, he was sure to be a legend of the Colosseum! His mind was now made up, he knew what he had to do! "I refuse to surrender." He stated, sheathing his sword. He knew that, with his opponent's level of skill, there was no way that he would be able to dodge the boulder completely. There were already several factors that would aid his survival, and he put faith in their usefulness.

Soon after those words were spoken, the shadows moved. The metal boulder seemingly moved in slow motion as it flew from the shadowy hand, it's form glistening in the sun while it rotated in the air. Ri cracked a smile, accepting his fate. He knew this is what would happen when he refused his opponent's offer, it was only natural that they would take the chance they so clearly had to retaliate now that they had the energy to go on the offensive. The already massive hunk of metal inched it's way closer to him with each moment that passed, blocking out every other sight in the arena until it was finally the only thing left to see. Beautiful... Its shining glory was shaped by his hand, and now it was being used against him. But this was alright with the boy.. If such a wonderfu-

His thoughts were cut short as the force from the impact of the boulder knocked him out instantly, time began flowing normally again as Ri and his creation slammed into the wall of the arena. Some of the crowd cheered for Shigeru, while others jeered about Ri's giving up. It seemed the no matter what he did, the outcome would've been the same. Just.. One would've had less pain. Several medics were quick to respond, jumping into the pit and moving the boulder with an earth jutsu. Each expected to find a horrific sight, dismembered limbs, misplaced organs, a crushed skull. But what they found instead was amazing... The boy who had just been crushed by the boulder had no more than tattered clothing. There were several grotesque scars that could be seen on his body now, but there was no way of telling if they weren't already there before the battle started. Not only that, but the boy regained consciousness soon after they did a quick check to make sure he was alright.

The medics jumped back for a moment as the boy rose to his feet, surprised that he was even able to move around after all of that. "Well... Hate to say it, but I think that decided the winner of this fight. Good..." The boy paused for a moment and cracked his neck and back, "Goo-" At this point, the boy was frowning while trying to get the words out "Good job..." He sighed, finally. Before making his way toward the exit, Ri made sure to grab his crushed hat. It was a horrible loss, not at all worth it, but.. He was sure he would find another just like it. Hopefully. The boy turned toward the exit and waved to his opponent, "Later, Shigeru." These were the last words he said before disappearing into the dark corridor leading back into the staging area. It had been a fun fight, but now he had to go drink off the pain of both battle, and losing.

{Topic Left}