OMAKE: REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Part 1
Inspired by a weird dream I had
<==>
Lord and Lady Goketsu's hands clutched firmly together as they entered the gargantuan new construction in the northern lands of Fire. The facility was the latest effort to promote international cooperation and healthy (but notably less deadly) rivalries between ninja villages. This new complex, which Hazou himself had aided in constructing, could (and likely would) house all future chuunin exams, Kage summits, international training initiatives, and other exhibitions. The first formal event that would be held was one arranged by Mari herself - a global Taijutsu tournament. And Leaf would naturally be sending their best.
Leaf's tributes arrived in pairs spread over time. It wouldn't do for some "accident" to disqualify all of them right away. Lee and Haru were already inside the complex, and Hazou and Akane would be followed later by Lord Uchiha and Neji. Tsunade couldn't be arsed to come, and she grudgingly admitted her technique could use some de-rusting even if she felt like going, but Leaf would appear no less weak these next few days. Quite the opposite, as everyone knew of Tsunade, and soon the entire Elemental Nations would know about all six of Leaf's champions too.
Hazou and Akane entered the lobby, where a clerk immediately waved them over.
"Lord and Lady Goketsu - Leaf," Hazou told the clerk, flashing their custom signet ring as identification. The clerk took note, giving them each paper slips and pointing them to Leaf's quarters for the tournament.
They made their way through a cozy hallway, the smell of fresh paint and wood still lingering in the air. A lavish rug stretched across the floor, seemingly unending, and tables with statues of the fallen heroes of the Elemental Nations lined the walls, as well as artwork of important battles. The informational blurbs that sat beside them all were very careful to retain a neutral tone and praise
something about each combatant, but Hazou still questioned whether bringing up old feuds was a good idea for a project like this.
"Hazou, are you okay? You're nearly crushing my hand."
Hazou blinked and let go. "Hmm? Sorry, um…"
She snatched his hand back and nearly crushed
his hand, but in a much more affectionate way. "What's wrong?"
"I'm excited to show off what we've become, but now that we're here- not looking forward to seeing who Mist sent, I guess," he said, but as he spoke it, it didn't feel like it encompassed all of the dread that he was holding. It was like the place itself was weighing down on him.
"Sage, you don't think your mother will be competing, do you?"
Hazou paled. "I...didn't even consider that…"
Akane seemed very tempted to smack herself in the head, but kept her composure. "Hazou, it'll be fine. It's for fun anyways, remember? I know
officially we're here to promote Leaf's image and garner international cooperation. And I believe in that too. But I also believe in kicking ass without worrying about whether I'll die in the process."
Hazou smirked. "That's not very youthful of you."
"Try saying that again," she warned teasingly.
They reached their door before Hazou had a chance to reply. The moment Hazou applied the paper slip to unseal their door, Haru was before them.
"Hazou, thank the gods you're here, this
maniac-" Haru rambled, gesturing wildly at no one. He whirled around. "Oh Sage, where's he gone now?" Haru retreated to the corner in a fighting pose, his eyes wild.
Hazou glanced at Akane and shrugged, and walked in the room. He immediately caught the legs of a Rock falling from the ceiling in a surprise attack.
"You fell for it fool!" Lee proclaimed, crossing his arms and swinging them at Hazou's exposed head.
Akane caught his blow and said, "Lee, what are you doing?" as casually as was possible given the circumstances.
"We're surrounded by partners in the springtime of Youth, brimming with their passion. I can hardly contain myself! We must test each other constantly until this adventure crescendos into a climax. Come, brothers and sisters, let us grind each other into submission in preparation for this union of fellows!"
"Lee, we could get injured before the actual event. And then how could you, er, perform?" Akane replied.
Lee launched himself out of Hazou's grasp and landed on the tile floor. "An excellent observation. Perhaps the greatest test I can undergo now is to remain chaste and ready for the main event. In fact, I shall meditate for twelve, no, twenty-four hours straight, just to prove my endurance!" He ran across their sizable living room and up the stairs to a bedroom (on his hands of course).
Haru did not relax from the corner. "Akane, handling Lee is the scariest ability you have."
"Don't tell him about the nukes," Hazou said.
"...I know I'll regret asking, but what is a nuke?"
"The sound the air makes when I- never mind, you'll know soon enough," Akane said ominously, before heading up to their room to unseal their luggage. Hazou remained downstairs, picking through the kitchen's seal drawer for something to eat. He was famished from the journey, and Sage knows he'd need the energy in the coming days.
<==>
The village champions stood assembled in neat lines. Leaf was very adamant that the minor villages receive equal treatment for the purposes of the tournament, so those that chose to participate stood among the major powers in lines of their own. Twelve villages overall. Seventy-two competitors. Hazou couldn't see Mist's line, but he'd gathered who they sent from Neji. A young Kurosawa, so no Momma, though she'd doubtless be in the crowd. A Mori that was probably definitely Ami. She'd conspicuously put a lot more time into learning Taijutsu since getting dunked in a bowl of soup by Mari a
second time, in a story that had even impressed Momma. The others weren't people he had relations with, and were mostly irrelevant. The same went for the other villages. Just more obstacles to overcome.
Hinata had diplomatically requested the Hyuuga be placed at the forefront of Leaf's line, and the members of Goketsu didn't mind, as they were overrepresented as it was. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Keiko would say. Neji stood proudly at the front of their group, a glimmer of his old arrogance shining through his demeanour. It wasn't completely unwarranted. Apparently the Turtles were ruthless about training, and his Taijutsu defenses were unmatched. Even without his Byakugan, Neji was a beast, and his bloodline kept him at the top of his game.
The rest of them went without saying, too. Sasuke had always been a prodigy and his bloodline meant he could learn faster than any of them to boot. None of them knew as many styles and counterstyles as he did. Haru was a vicious offensive combatant and hit like a chakra bull in mating season. Akane's tenacity was unmatched and the simple fact was that she could outlast anyone (Shut UP Hazou's inner Mari!) Lee was either insane, or far more sane than the rest of them. There was no telling what his limits were. Literally. No one knew, or if they did, they were unwilling to share.
That left Hazou himself. After enduring just a bit too much friendly (but annoying) teasing about spending all his time saving the world the civilian way, he startled even Mari with his demand to grind his deceptive style to its peak. After a truly rigorous training arc, not even she could see through his tricky movement anymore, though he was pretty sure that so many Shadow Clone hours spent training with her maniacal teaching methods crammed back into one mind every day gave him lasting psychic damage.
And speak of the devil, Mari stood beside the other judges on a raised stone dais before them in a large auditorium packed with spectators, civilian and ninja alike. Each village was represented by a judge, and one by one they laid out the rules in a rehearsed order.
The first day would be pools. Short, simple matches to determine seeding. There would be a few rest days for any on-site medics and chakra donors to make sure everyone was at their peak, and then the main event started. A true ninja would be ready to fight under circumstances outside the norm, so seeded matches would all have some kind of twist to them, and yes, they would be extremely unfair. Should you lose a seeded match, you would be placed in Loser's Bracket, where there would be one last chance to claw your way to the finals. Eliminations from Loser's Bracket are final.
If you were knocked unconscious, you lose immediately. If the two combatants were unable to achieve a knockout, a point system would be used based on the number of landed blows and their quality. The twist of the round may also result in a variation on points or loss conditions. It wasn't stated, but Hazou suspected killing your opponent would be frowned upon. Then again, better that a few ninja die here than hundreds or thousands of people die in a war...
Jutsu use was, of course, not permitted. Anything that required a hand seal to activate was immediately banned, and would result in disqualification on use. Chakra boosting would be permitted, but shaping chakra in almost any other way would not be allowed. The bloodline rules were looser, but so long as you didn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, it was probably fine. There was some pushback regarding this due to the disparity in access to applicable bloodlines, but eventually the villages reached an agreement. They were also not permitted to bring equipment of any kind to a match, no seals, no ninja wire, no kunai.
The speech circled back from the other judges to Mari. "And don't forget the most important rule: Have fun! That, or try not to break anything important. One of those, anyway." That got some laughter from the audience. "Okay, enough talk, let's get to seeding!" Hazou was absolutely positive he caught her winking at him.
<==>
For the purposes of seeding, there would only be one judge watching each match at a time so they could run multiple fights at once. That would change in a few days, where all twelve judges would review every single seeded match.
Hazou's first match was against a girl from River. He tensed when he thought she was attacking him immediately, but she actually wrapped him in a hug. The judge, who was himself from River, gave Hazou a shrug. "Uh…" Hazou said, very diplomatically.
She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Lord Goketsu, it's just...Well, my name is Nakamura Akina. I'm clanless. Your diplomatic affairs with River let me get proper resources and access to training when I was barely scraping by as a chuunin. Now I'm here representing my village as one of their best. Thank you."
Hazou returned the smile. "Of course. Thank
you, I think I really needed to hear that." He shifted into an opening stance for Roki. "Of course, I still won't go easy on you."
She shifted into her own battle stance. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Hazou went easy on her, of course. A clanless jounin taijutsu specialist from a minor village still wouldn't be outperforming one of Leaf's best. But he was happy to hear that perhaps one day they would.
<==>
It seemed that the Pools would have him facing a person from each village, and he rolled through the other minor villages with relative ease. He fought a Cloud ninja who didn't hit very hard
but launched an absurdly fast barrage of attacks. Hazou had to step back to look for an opening in the pattern of their attacks, before snatching an arm out of the air and pulling them into a not-quite-full-strength side kick, ending the match more or less immediately.
He faced another ninja from Rock whose blows did in fact feel like rocks, but Hazou allowed it as a way to condition his opponent. Soon they were putty in his hands, and a swift leg sweep while they threw out another kick brought an end to their match as Hazou barely stopped his fist from smashing through their head. The Sand judge easily ruled in his favor.
He got a quick heal at the medic station for his bruised rib, taking a seat next to Neji and a guy from Sand village while a medic examined him up and down. He gulped down a proffered cup of chakra water, while Neji told him about the Kurosawa from Mist.
"It's utterly bizarre. Almost a total inverse of your style. His actions communicated as little information as possible, and blows hit much harder than it looked like they should've. I was caught with a hook kick out of nowhere, but the power behind it…" Neji seemed unsettled. Maybe it was just being touched by a foreigner, Hazou mused. No, he's come a long way, perhaps Neji was right to be unsettled.
"I haven't seen them around yet, but thanks for the heads up. Here's hoping they get eliminated early."
"Who?" Neji asked, confusion on his face.
Hazou's eyebrows went up. "Uh, Kurosawa? We were just talking about him."
"Ah, were we?" Neji continued, "From what I have gathered by reading lips, he is currently favored as the number one seed."
Hazou whistled. "Really? So young, and seeded as number one?"
Neji looked at him quizzically again. "What?"
"You just said Kurosawa was favored as number one seed."
"Did I?" Neji asked, face scrunching up in thought.
Neji had to leave right after for his next match, leaving Hazou to consider his words. Someone (presumably) younger than himself, becoming the number one seed in a Taijutsu tournament? And what was wrong with Neji? Did he get a concussion or something?
Hazou didn't get much time to think, as he himself had to leave for his next match - and his opponent would be from Mist.
<==>
Mari was judging this one. Joy. To make matters worse, his opponent was Ami. She gave him a neutral smile when he approached.
"Hi Hazou!"
"Hi Ami."
"That's all I get?" The disappointment in her voice felt fake, but for all he knew she wanted to come across as such because- eh, who cares.
"If you're trying to rope me into another scheme, save it for after the tournament. My energy's better spent somewhere other than trying to unravel whatever you're going to say."
Ami's obligatory facade slipped a fraction when Mari made a "tss" sound, imitating the sound of something burning, and Ami relaxed it further when she slipped into a battle stance, a confident and playful smile now on her lips. They played this game practically every time one of them annoyed the other.
Normally, Hazou didn't mind it too much, but right now, he wanted to focus on the event.
Hazou prepared his own stance, and when Mari said "Go," they pounced at each other with ferocity. Hazou dodged past her and launched a back kick as he passed. Ami landed flat and kicked his leg from the ground, sending him spinning. He landed on his feet, almost casually. He transposed a spinning kick into a sweep into placing a foot behind hers and forcing her off balance. Everything was a move within a move within a move, except sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes the punch in her face was just a punch in the face.
He batted her swings aside, feinting a counterstrike before attempting a chokehold. She pulled away and kept him out of reach with a few well placed kicks he hopped back to evade. Hazou bounced in place, staying light on his feet. He leapt up, landing with an extremely telegraphed axe kick, just to see what she would do, and she retreated further. He frowned internally. It felt like
he was the one being conditioned right now.
He punched with his left and right one after the other, and she weaved around them, a bit too slowly, as he snatched her ear and prepped a punch that was perhaps a smidge too strong. Just before he followed through, he caught a glimpse of her face, wide-eyed exactly the way Keiko was when Hazou was angry. The hesitation let her curve her neck to the side before kneeing him in the stomach and punching him directly in the center of his chest.
Hazou stumbled back, before stalking back toward her, furious, but Mari called out, "That's good enough. You guys can go get healed up now."
"How long did you practice that in a mirror?" Hazou asked through gritted teeth.
"State secret." She walked off to get healed while Hazou tried to figure out if that was a joke or not. Hazou took his sweet time going to the medic.
<==>
Sand barely gave him any trouble, which left only Leaf. Hazou was quite tired, even with regular chakra water doses, but that didn't stop him from trying his best against Haru.
Their match was more of a slugfest than one of real strategy. Hazou bobbed and weaved, attempting to wear Haru down, but he was hindered by the fact that they were both already pretty tired, and he didn't make much progress. After a minute or so of this, the Rock judge called the match and scribbled something down.
"Good match," Haru huffed.
"Mmm," Hazou replied noncommittally.
The rest of Leaf caught up to them shortly after. Akane smiled at them and asked, "How did your matches go?"
"Most of my fights went fine. Got matched up with Ami," Hazou said, still out of breath. "Mari called it before either of us were finished..." He willed to every god, even Jashin, that Rock Lee didn't reply to that. Luckily, Lee seemed to be preoccupied with watching the final spar between a River nin and a Hot Springs nin nearby.
"Ooo, I wish I hadn't missed that one! I had a duel with a girl from Hot Springs; her Tiger Style was most youthful. The impacts shook me to the bone, but I managed to push through. I won all my matches, actually," Akane said proudly. Only she could say that and not come across as boastful. Hazou would've said more if he weren't breathing so hard, so he smiled instead.
The others continued chatting while Hazou drank some water. After the only remaining spar ended, the judges convened to arrange the seeds of the tournament. The combatants were all dismissed to wash up in their rooms, but only a few actually did so initially. Everyone was too eager to see who they would be dueling two days from now.
Slowly, painfully, the judges made their way to the board, conversing with each other and referencing a sheet of paper. Hazou never knew a list would cause him so much dread. A betrayal of truly epic proportions.
Lines of chalk made their way onto a massive black board, and then names flowed, one by one. First seed, Kurosawa Yuzuru. Second seed, Goketsu Akane. By the end of it, Rock Lee ended up as third seed, Neji as fifth, Sasuke as sixth, Haru as ninth, and Hazou as eleventh. As expected, Leaf dominated the top, though not quite to the degree Hazou had hoped. Perhaps it was for diplomatic reasons? It would be pretty awkward if all the top spots were the same village.
They still hadn't announced matchups yet, though, and the disappointment on the faces of the competitors was obvious. The judges assured them that they would let them know soon. They also said that since there were 72 entrants, the first day would probably be a bye for most of the entrants, as 64 entrants would divide much more conveniently for a tournament. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer before the judges let them know who the unlucky 8 would be.
Hazou glanced at the other Leaf nin. Akane had a bright brimming smile at her performance and in anticipation of their upcoming fights, but Hazou couldn't shake an insidious sense of foreboding lurking in his heart.
<==>
A few days later, Hazou sat in the stands with the largest contingent of Leaf audience members. There were technically no assigned sections, apart from honorable seating awarded to Kage and Clan Heads, but many of the villages chose to group up anyways. Hazou didn't bother sitting in the seat provided for Clan Heads, wanting to keep a close eye on the matches rather than worry about political maneuvering.
The first match of the tournament was the first and second seed, Akane vs. Kurosawa...what were they thinking? You were supposed to match up the strong and the weak first, so the results wouldn't skew by eliminating the better combatants early. He was under the assumption they wanted to start off with a little more excitement than watching nearly S-rank combatants pummeling new Jonin into the ground instantly, but there would be time for that at, y'know, the climax of the tournament! This defeated the whole point.
Or was that just a rationalization for concern for Akane? Why should he feel so sick to his stomach? She was a more capable taijutsu user than himself by now, not to mention that they weren't really risking their lives here. For once, they could demonstrate their skill without putting their lives on the line.
Akane came out from one side of the arena, waving to the raucous crowd. She picked out Hazou and gave him a reassuring smile. He attempted one of his own, but even the Iron Nerve couldn't save it as he saw her opponent emerge from the opposite end. That gray hair was uncharacteristic of a Kurosawa, evoking something oddly primal from within Hazou's chest. Fear.
The two stepped into the center of the arena as Hazou's mind itched. A massive stone pillar was raised beneath the two fighters, about 100 feet across in a perfect circle, halting once they were about 10 feet off of the arena floor. The referee from Cloud shouted something Hazou didn't process and green and blue leapt at each other. The impact of their blows were powerful enough to shake Hazou's teeth, and he found himself clenching them.
The stone dais' radius gradually began shrinking, a painful cracking sound emerging from the earth jutsu. Akane maintained the advantage, pummeling her opponent with wide, powerful swings, completely disregarding his returning strikes. It was as Hazou was told: Kurosawa moved with what looked like completely minimal effort, as if underselling himself.
A minute of nonstop traded blows ticked by slowly, so slowly, as Hazou waited for the sandal to drop. The shrinking of the dais halted at a circle 5 feet across. Akane's sweeping kicks and blows were becoming a hindrance rather than an advantage, with so little room to maneuver. She adjusted styles, taking on a more cautious, defensive style, throwing out quick jabs and punches before returning to a guarded posture. Kurosawa stood stock still between exchanges, no bounce in his step. He barely leaned out of the way of most of Akane's attacks, or lightly redirected them with a shoulder or wrist.
Suddenly, he struck as if uncaged after one thousand years of torment. He seized her arm as it flew past him, yanking her down into his upcoming knee. A crack rang out in the air as Akane flipped upward. Kurosawa leapt into the air, stomping downward, slamming her back into the rim of the rock pillar, before she rolled to a stop on the arena floor. Judges were screaming all sorts of things, declaring the match over. Some of the Leaf-nin around Hazou were standing up and yelling, some of them were bumping him or saying things to him but he couldn't hear them.
Hazou stood, slowly, making his way down the stands, stepping up on the railing and leaping into the arena. Probably against protocol or something, but he didn't care. Astonishingly, Akane was trying to
stand up while the medics around her were furiously working to prevent this.
Noburi was snapping his fingers in her face with one hand, assessing her injuries with the other. "Do the words 'spinal injury' mean
anything to you?" Under different circumstances, Hazou might have poked fun at how Tsunade's demeanour was rubbing off on him.
Akane's opponent lingered nearby. "I want to fight Kurosawa next," he said. He sounded as if he'd only just learned to speak.
The group of ninja that had been forming a wall between Kurosawa and Akane were moments away from creating an international incident. Hazou ignored him as judges forced Kurosawa away, trying to explain that that's not how the process worked.
Akane was looking up at him, face tight with pain but smiling nonetheless. Even all these years later, she could leave him lost for words. "How'd I do?"
"You were brilliant Akane," he managed. "I'd have never lasted as long as you."
An annoying background noise that somewhat resembled Noburi murmured, "Trust me Hazou, we know," with a mischievous air.
"He called you Kurosawa," she noted. "He seems fixated on
you, Hazou."
Had he? Hazou didn't notice. It seemed hard to stay focused on that person for some reason. Hadn't the same thing been happening to Neji?
She continued, whispering, "That's why I took your place."
"Wait, what?"
"You were supposed to be the opening match. Kurosawa versus former Kurosawa… I, uh, know an insider, had them switch us." That would be Mari.
"But...why?"
"I...don't like his fixation with you. I thought he was going to try and hurt you during your match."
"Akane, he
did hurt you!"
"So what?" she said, smiling. He sighed. They'd had this kind of conversation far too many times by now, and they both knew how it would go. Might as well skip to the end. Her smile faded. "I thought I could beat him. Guess I'm not as good as I thought."
"Don't you dare start thinking that. You wouldn't even be here if you weren't the best of the best."
She started to argue but they were accosted by medics who were ready to move her, and that was that. Quick goodbye and a kiss, and she was gone.
Hazou glared in the direction of Kurosawa, noticing that he was staring at Hazou. Maybe he did have a fixation. Hazou stepped that way, only to find that he was a̶l̸r̷e̵a̸d̵y̵ ̴t̴a̶l̵k̷i̵n̷g̵ ̷t̷o̵ ̷K̸u̴r̷o̸s̴a̷w̶a̷.̶
Kurosawa's hair was grey, his eyes purple. Wait, purple? Hazou squinted squinted squinted squinted squinted at the 898$@ before him:
"You look like…"
Yagura.
"We see you," not-Yagura said. Hazou's mind ached. The Numbers floated in his mind, and he desperately tried deciphering them, as if trying to derive meaning from a dream.
"Bondwalker," Hazou said at last, but he spoke to no one. Hazou swiftly left the arena, not bothering to watch the rest of the matches for the day.
<==>
Hazou unsealed stacks of notes in his room. He had realized at one point that taking notes when he had one of his bouts of deep insight could prove helpful. If not for himself, at least for Kagome, who seemed to be immune to most of the malus associated with such things. Trying to talk to anyone else about this was completely pointless. Even if they had the strength of mind to retain the information, they simply didn't possess the Understanding to listen to Hazou properly. His words would only wash over them...
Still, as his mind grew stronger over time, he had at least become capable of reviewing his own thoughts. The lists could still cause some pain to read, but he was capable of retaining the information at least. Not that he made a habit of doing so, since it was a double-edged sword. The more you knew and saw, the more they know and see you. Preparing against these kinds of foes made them more likely to come in the first place. Not to mention the way it tickled at the hole in the back of his mind...
We see you. He'd been told explicitly. He rifled through his notes.
Well, I've seen you too.
What had he had he had he-
He breathed sharply and steeled his resolve, quieting his fears. What had he said earlier? He'd felt a pattern in the miasma… Bondwalker.
Kagome called them "Rules Lawyers" amongst other variations of "stinker". What did he have on them? Well, he knew that 495%85%((* th *I((9 and()*&" ifififif8888,,,,but could099400-_$*$? What could he do???//??/ Spoils of contracts would be permanenetnenttt if it persisted ffffK39#9--! That would mean Akane's injuries wouldn't heal… If it won this tournament, this world would retain permanent scars. And who knew when Hazou would be able to find itttttttt again? Would it follow him from engagement to engagement? Or would it return to the shadows? Shaking, Hazou quickly resealed his notes, letting his mind rest. Already, it felt like he'd lost months of progress of building up mental defenses.
Akane...how did she know? He'd likely be dead or worse if he'd fought first like he was supposed to. He wasn't sure he was durable enough to take a fall like she had. And she was probably their best chance to stop this thing! Hazou ran his hands through his hair, only to find Rock Lee strolling into the common area of their shared rooms.
"Lee! You weren't at the opening match? What are you doing in here?"
"Meditating!"
"This- this whole time?"
"Yes!"
Oh Sage, the resolve… Hazou needed some of that right now.
"Lee, this might seem random, but," Hazou stopped, taking a few breaths. He couldn't explain it all to Lee, the information would just pass over him. As he thought, Lee waited quite patiently. "There's a... foe. A foe I need to stop. I absolutely can't afford to let them go free. But I'm concerned I'm not strong enough to overcome them. What would you do?"
"I would become strong enough to defeat them."
Well, duh. "Okay...what if you didn't have the time?"
"There's always time to find strength you didn't know you had, Hazou! Strength is more than the muscle in your blows. Strength is finding every advantage and taking it. Strength is also the courage to search for those advantages in places you don't want to look." Lee's eyes scanned over Hazou rapidly, sizing him up. "But I can see in you that you've already found the strength you're searching for, and are hesitating to use it. You will not win when you don't let yourself fight at your strongest."
Wow, that was actually pretty sound advice. "I'll remember that. And thanks," Hazou said, smiling. "Good luck in the arena."
"Same to you. I hope I get to fight you at your strongest. And speaking of finding strength, I must find some sustenance after my long meditation!" He moved swiftly to their stack of sealed meals in the fridge. Hazou was about to mention Akane's injuries, but he decided to let Lee recuperate from his torpor first.
Hazou thought back to his notes. Akane may have been a better hand-to-hand fighter than him, but he did have strengths she didn't. Knowledge that she lacked. Kurosawa, Yagura - whatever that thing was - its fighting style was indecipherable. At least, it was indecipherable for someone who's mind couldn't grasp the information.
<==>
Hazou's first match of the tournament was against a ninja from Sand. He didn't even hear what her name was, as he scanned the crowd for "Kurosawa". He didn't see him, and almost missed hearing the gimmick of the round explained.
They would be dueling in a hip-deep pit of water, no water-walking allowed. Hazou spoke words of affirmation for the match, and it began.
The Sand-nin scoffed. "You seem a bit distracted, Lord Goketsu."
Hazou nodded apologetically. "You're right. I didn't mean any disrespect."
"None taken. Now shaddap and fight me," she said with a smile.
Hazou
did need to advance to handle the B0ndwaaalker, so he moved toward his opponent with little grace. Roki wouldn't be nearly as useful in an environment where he couldn't mix up his movement very well. Sure enough, only feinting with which arm he was using didn't do much to break through her defences.
He sloshed around, trying to weave, but it was exhausting and didn't gain much space for him to work with. His opponent could turn faster than he could maneuver around them. He paused, giving his burning thighs a chance to rest, catching a few fists thrown his way and pushing his opponent back.
He had a stroke of inspiration, feinting a swift blow. His opponent readied a defence, but he slammed his arm into the water, blocking out her vision. In a flash, he flared chakra through his legs, leaping up and slamming a kick into her head. She stumbled, but landing in the water without water-walking was something he hadn't practiced with the Iron Nerve. Before he could settle, she blurred forward, redirecting a missed punch into snatching his hair, slamming his face into the water. She wailed on his back while attempting to drown Hazou.
In spite of it all, he grinned below the water. She clearly didn't know much about Goketsu tradition. He conditioned her by trying to raise his head up, her hand resisting him. Then, chakra coils flaring, Hazou forced his head
down, flipping his torso as his hands touched the bottom of the pool. His legs flew through the water, feet colliding with her chest. The unexpected reversal knocked her clean out of the water, ending the match by knocking her out of bounds.
Hazou burst up from the pool, shaking his long hair. They always assumed long hair was a weakness, but since everyone targeted it, Hazou had much more practice with those situations than his attackers had.
He climbed out to raucous applause, shaking hands with his opponent, who would move to the Loser's Bracket. Akane wasn't here, of course. She was still in the infirmary, baffling the medics as her injuries remained unchanging. Hazou couldn't explain what was happening to them. But there was something else he could do, and he would do it.
<==>
The way the seeding went, his first few rounds would be cake. Because of that, Hazou's second match wasn't very noteworthy, even compared to the first. An interesting gimmick, at least. Whoever touched all four of their limbs to their opponent first won, but Hazou was simply in a different league,
whirling around his enemy and landing the necessary punches and kicks in under thirty seconds.
He knew things would not remain this easy for long, however. In fact, as he moved to the massive information slate, looking at his next opponent was a stark reminder of this reality. His next match was against Lee.
<==>
The next day, when Hazou stepped into the center of the arena, Lee gave his usual homoerotic greetings but took on a slightly more muted tone. "Have you found your courage, Hazou?"
Well, his past few opponents hadn't exactly been very taxing. He hadn't
needed any extra strength. But he had been thinking about how to approach his True Enemy… Finally, he said, "I'm not sure yet. When the times comes, I'll give it my best shot-"
Lee shook his head and cut him off. "You will know. And you won't be
able to give your best shot until you do."
Hazou was about to reply, but the judge from Sand began reading them the rules of the round, and he grit his teeth instead. If only Lee knew the scope of what this world was truly up against. Maybe he'd be more understanding of Hazou's hesitation, then. It was easy to forget about the Out, both because it could be antimemetic, and because it didn't
feel as urgent as it was with how removed from daily life that place was. A traitorous part of his mind spoke out, doubting that Lee's opinions would change even if he did know all of that…
Hazou stepped up onto a 6-foot-diameter disk, one of six arranged in a tight hexagon. Lee stepped up onto another across from him. In unison, they began spinning, but in seemingly random directions and speeds. Hazou danced on his feet, trying not to let himself get turned around immediately or lose his balance. Touching the arena floor would mean immediate disqualification from falling out of bounds.
One of the judges called out, "Go!" and they flew at each other in a rush. Hazou, of course, was feinting, adhering his foot to the disk on his right and rapidly altering course. He threw out a few kicks, testing Lee's defenses in such shaky terrain, but Lee didn't even seem to notice the change, batting aside his kicks and launching himself at Hazou once again.
Hazou released and unreleased his adhesions at random intervals, sliding around the spinning disk as Lee chased him down, throwing out swipes and kicks. What he couldn't avoid, Hazou redirected or blocked, but even when Hazou blocked his attacks, he was sustaining too much damage. He released his adhesion entirely, the momentum flinging him to another disk, and Lee leaped over with a blazingly fast, albeit telegraphed flying kick.
Hazou ducked under the attack, kicking off of Lee's back to propel himself to yet another disk. He hadn't even landed before Lee was already there, ready for him. Lee tried kicking his legs out from under him as he landed, and Hazou went with it, landing on his hands and swirling around in a wide kick. Lee flipped over it, catching a punch from Hazou mid-flip. Hazou was forced to flip with him to avoid dislocating his arm, and Lee didn't let go afterward, launching a barrage of strikes Hazou could barely lean out of the way of, bobbing left and right while awkwardly stuck to a trapped arm.
He attempted to catch Lee's arm several times but he couldn't react quick enough. Finally, he yanked to block one of Lee's blows with Lee's own arm, and Lee finally let go, spinning around to deliver a roundhouse kick straight to Hazou's head. Hazou ducked under it and pretended to deliver a roundhouse kick of his own, but as he leapt up with his other leg Lee punched him straight in the chest. Hazou barely crossed his arms in time, flying back to the other side of the hexagon, trying to catch his breath, but Lee was already there. The air shuffled rapidly with the speedy ninja's motions.
Lee was simply too fast for Hazou to maneuver around. Lee could move quickly enough to fall for Hazou's feints and still catch him afterward. Hazou needed to do more than fool him, he needed to know how he would react to the trickery… He had that capacity, didn't he? The Numbers had once told him even the most intricate social details of an angry S-ranker. They let him see. The Threads, the Paint, the Truth.
He could feel it like a pressure in his head, like a dam just waiting to burst open and flood those who dared to build beneath it. He could almost feel Lee's attacks before they came out, if he would just accept. He...couldn't do it. The pressure faded, and a solid blow from Lee removed him from the disks, and from Winner's Bracket.
It was a tight, mildly disappointed voice that told Hazou, "Thank you for letting me win."
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Not sure when I will finish part 2, but I'll be working on it plenty after finals are over. Hope you enjoyed! I tried to keep the links to fights mostly spoiler-free but sorry if something got through.
