The air rippled as the fabric itself unraveled and opened a pristine "cut" in the air. The fabric tear could be seen from every angle, no matter how you looked at it; it was an unusual sight. All the surrounding area of the Iron Hills, also known as Ferrum Hills; the ground was littered with patches of green grass as much as protruding rocks from deep within the ground. These natural colors couldn't compare with the color of the rift in the air, it was only there for a brief moment and then it was gone. If one hadn't been paying attention, they wouldn't have noticed the girl stepped out of the rift.

She stepped out so lightly and quickly that it seemed like it was simply another "step" across the ground for her. She has much practice with this sort of thing, the first time using Uchuhametsu had caused Semasu to fall from the sky and land hard on her bottom. Ever since then, she had continued to experiment with the legendary sword which always sought to travel to unseen places. One could consider her a "master" with this sword's abilities now, though using a sword wasn't her preferred fighting style; the sword was still very useful and served its purpose.

Nintaijutsu, the art of mixing Ninjutsu into the fluid movements of Taijutsu- it was an analogy of an eloquent dance being accompanied by music and dramatic scenery. It was art, a way of life. Well, art wasn't the best word to describe how Semasu used her abilities- very few if any other people considered explosions as an art. She enjoyed the brief but brilliant scenery the explosions created, just before they painted a completely different picture or annihilation. The brilliant flashes and the aftershock was always the best part.

Semasu knew she had a long ways to go yet, true enough that explosions were a difficult method to counter; the opposite was true as well, Bakuton was had delicately volatile nature. Without a clear understanding in the ways of the volatile chakra's flowing consistency and the erroneous factors such as emotion and intent, few could hope to master it outside of the Rankujo clan. Her clan had a extremely large pride for their bloodline, not only was it difficult to learn... but it couldn't be coped from Doujutsu users like the Uchiha's famous sharringan. Often Tsukigakure called upon the might of the Rankujo clan when there was something needed blown up or sensitive missions dealing with eliminating targets, buildings or documentation.
Wherever stealth might fail, violent and sudden explosive brutality seemed to work quite well.

Semasu Ranjuko was a rising star in her clan, not only had she gotten her hands on a legendary sword, but she had a keen understanding of the Bakuton element. Ninjutsu and Taijutsu were commonly used in the clan, and sometimes together for Nintaijutsu: few excelled at this complicated form however, and Semasu Rankujo was one of those exceptions. Her very purpose this day was to practice her Nintaijutsu.

She couldn't very well use it within the village, being that it was explosions; even in her clan's part of the village... only a small amount of explosions were permitted before the village took action to "correct" the wildly Rankujo clan. Semasu preferred to train somewhere private and not have to worry about breaking stuff, especially buildings like restaurants and item shops. Many a clan member had often repaid these shops for accidently breaking their wares.

Thus she had come to the Iron Hills, reputed for being an abandoned mine with large stores of iron beneath the ground. Here she could test her explosive nintaijutsu against the earth itself and see which faired the better. She looked around and noted an old entrance to one of the abandoned mines, she reached it within a short distance and set her pack down on a nearly flat rock. She reached into the pack and pulled out a donut wrapped in wax wrap; having a small snack before training wouldn't hurt... she couldn't get fat after all, and her metabolism always remained consistent; the secret to the extremely sexy women in her clan, even the elderly grandmothers could be mistaken for middle-aged mothers. Many men had come into the den of the Rankujos and were either scarred mentally or physically for underestimating the age and experience of her clan.

She popped the whole donut in her mouth with one bite and started towards a flat area not so far away. She inspected the immediate area and ensured herself that there were no valuable to be broken or areas which could prove hazardous to her training. After a thorough check, she was certain this was the best spot. She performed quick and practiced handseals in perfect succession; her chakra rose up from within her and began to fill her mouth. She kneaded the chakra there and then spit out the dark brown thick liquid 5 meters away.

the liquid sailed over and landed on the ground directly in front of her, there it solidified instantly into a rock wall just taller than her and several inches thick. She stood there for a moment and inspected her handiwork, the rock was solid and polished smooth; her ability to create her intended objects had been become better. This wall would provide a worthy opponent for her taijutsu alone, without battering her fists, causing cuts and bleeding. Efficiency was the key to practice, she didn't want to spend time putting on bandages that weren't necessary.

She took her starting stance, legs spread wide in a staggered pattern; her arms were stretched forward in front of her with her left fist clenched tight while her right hand was in an open palm. She steadied her breathing and envisioned the movements before she would strike.

Alright, let's go.

She felt the sudden surge of adrenaline as her back-staggered foot launched her forwards, her open-palmed strike leading her curled fist. this stance allowed her a directionally advantaged attack while also giving plenty of room to counter any downward strikes as well as upwards. She neared the wall suddenly and struck it hard with her flat palm, followed quickly by her curled fist. The wall resounded with a ringing sound, but didn't budge.

---

Word count: 1,047
Remaining chakra pool: 230pts

jutsu used:

It is time.

Today was the day that I was to test Semasu Rankujo of the reckless Rankujo family for the rank of Jounin.After all, the Jounin were comprised of the finest shinobi in the village. It was part of my duty as Oujoukage to test those that were selected. In this case, I decided to go covert. I wore a pitch-black cloak that shrouded my entire body and presence. I decided that I had to force Semasu to go all out and bring out her full potential. To do that, I had to put her in a situation where she could really die. That was when I thought of the cloak, and made the day of the test today.

The time was early morning, where not many happened to be awake, save for the restless and the vigilant. Over the past two weeks, I had the ANBU scout out the routes Semasu often took to train herself. The routes differed but the destination remained the same. She frequented the iron hills outside the village, otherwise known as Ferrum Hills. It made sense for her to train there considering the ground was far tougher and thicker in that expanse of land. After all, she couldn't very well train in the village without blowing something or someone up.

With that handy bit of information, I was able to, at leisure, determine a nice day to administer the test. The weather seemed to be perfect. Wasn't too hot, wasn't too humid, wasn't too chilly. Of course, in these harsh lands, the weather could change at any moment. The morning was the best opportunity, and I was certain Semasu noticed the same. This was one of the reasons I took interest in the girl's progress as a shinobi.

Often, she came into my office taking on an assassination for the village. This also piqued my interest, because assassinations were the only tasks she seemed to desire to take on. Perhaps her goal was to be a personal assassin or guard for someone? It made me rather curious. Yet, at the same time, I had a feeling she wasn't thinking so deeply about the tasks she took on. She seemed at ease and focused; she never wavered and she always brought back a full report on her mission. It got me excited to test her abilities for myself finally.

Another thing that piqued my interest was her usage of Nintaijutsu. The reason? Simple. Because I myself was a master of the art of Nintaijutsu. A fighting style which combines the physical prowess and accuracy of taijutsu with the elemental power of one's affinities. It was an extremely difficult thing to get used to, let alone master; often taking decades to completely master. I was curious as to whether she had the potential to develop Nintaijutsu properly.

After thoroughly analyzing the data the ANBU collected over the past two weeks, I thus set out this morning to the Ferrum Hills with one objective: test Semasu and determine her worth as a shinobi of Tsukigakure.

Even if it may not have seemed like it, this was quite a big deal for me personally. As I headed out from the office at a leisure pace, I began to think about my own progress as a shinobi of this village. When I thought about it, I really had come a very long way from when I was little. I had gained feelings of varying forms thanks to certain people. Becoming the Oujoukage was a huge milestone in my life, even though I didn't approve of it at first. It got me closer to the village as a whole. This position had allowed me to be a part of the villagers' lives as well as the lives of other shinobi. I began to feel like this was once again truly my home. I, over the years, began to change into a man who could protect his village and those within it.

However, there was still a part of me which festered and haunted my dreams and thoughts. The part of me that resented humanity and resented life as a whole. I could have been described best as a nihilist. People in the village were still hesitant in approaching me due to my appearance, but I felt it was for the best considering what my bandages concealed. Scars. Scars from too many battles I had taken on by myself, having known I was the only one able to accomplish them. That was what I was raised for: to be a killing machine for my village, and to complete tasks that no one with a heart could possibly bear. Scars covered every inch of my body from my neck to my feet, both small and large. That part of me, I knew, would linger with me the rest of my life. I had to accept that the things I had done were on my hands forever. Never to be repented for until Death was at my doorstep. Even at this moment, as I headed toward the Ferrum Hills, my blood boiled with joy at the thought of a fun fight. Whether it was a man, woman, or child, it didn't matter. Blood-thirst was a good word for it.

When I had finally arrived in the Ferrum Hills, I put on my unique cloak and headed out into the clearing at a very slow pace. I wanted Semasu to feel the ominous presence I was giving off. She needed to be prepared, even if only a little, for the fight she was about to experience. After all...


Word Count: 888

Semasu was here today to train her nintaijutsu so she could become better and someone with a name and reputation in her village; compared to all the other Rankujos in the village, it was very likely that Semasu didn't even get noticed in the village. Typically the only ones who knew her were the targets of her assassination... and they never lived to tell the tale. That was her purpose here today, she was starting out this morning with stretching and warming up her Taijutsu; she planned to spend as little as possible chakra during her warm up, she would surely need it to practice her Nintaijutsu.

After her initial strike on the rock wall, it thrummed with a vibration from the impact; her strength was relatively good, but not enough to break a rock wall with a single punch- she needed to strengthen her punches for maximum effect. She paused and inspected the rock wall, it was cracked a bit, but it would take another good solid punch or kick in the same spot to possibly break the wall. She stood back from the wall and began to stretch, she bent at her waist and touched the ground with her palms- she was flexible despite her "gifted" form, flexible was a good thing for Taijutsu.

She stretched out her muscles for a bit, performing different exercises before she was ready to practice for real. She took up her previous stance, but with her hands in a more neutral position: in one quick leap, she was airborne and did a twist as she performed an axe kick in the same spot the crack had appeared. The wall remained stationary for a moment, she landed softly on the ground in a low stance and stood up straight just as the wall cracked all along the exterior and then crumbled into a pile of rubble. She stood over the rubble and inspected her handiwork, satisfied with the broken rock wall with one well placed kick.

She sat on the rock rubble and drank from a bottle of water and wiped some sweat off her forehead, it was a mild exercise, but today was a bit hot even though it was still a bit early. It wasn't quite noon yet and the heat was already up there in the eighties. No one rarely came to this area, simply because the lack of life and anything substantially beneficial- the only surplus here was rock and unrefined metals. Those metals were useful enough, but difficult to extract and refine, so even marketers who wanted metal, rarely came here. Extricating the metals with jutsu was easier, but one needed to possess a high Doton affinity to do such a thing... and right now, Semasu lacked the proper training to do little more than mold mud into solid rock.

She had sat on the rubble for a few more minutes even though the rocks were starting to hurt her butt; she was looking in the sky and imagining what maneuver she should do next... it was quite difficult to practice against something unmoving or countering her attacks. Maybe she should invest in a kage bunshin no jutsu? Surely fighting against herself with her own skills would help her improve her own weaknesses...

She had just chugged the rest of her water down and inspected the empty bottle as she figured she would go back to the village and get some more water and maybe find someone who could teach her the shadow clone technique. She stood up and patted her butt to get the soreness out as she looked forwards, she noticed movement to her right side and turned in that direction. A peculiar sigh greeted her eyes, a stranger in a black cloak and a seasoned warrior's gait was making their way casually towards her: while this in itself wasn't too uncommon, Semasu was the only person out here and the stranger would likely have no other reason to come in her direction.

It bothered her though, at first she had assumed he just wanted to chat or maybe a spar... but his ominous intent was palpable and she could feel this stranger's desire to fight. Somehow she just knew he was wanting a fight and her blood began to boil inside her, she tried to repress it, but to no avail. At least she would remain casual until she had confirmed the stranger's intentions. When he would get close enough, she would call out, Hello there! Do you have business with me?

---

Word count- 757

As the First Oujoukage, I had to exert myself to be a role model for the future, or so I was told by an elder. Things like this were important to ascertain the battle skills of my shinobi and determine who the leaders would be if war were to break out. In this world, it was not uncommon for battles to occur, so it was smart to plan ahead of time and be ready at a moment's notice. Raised to be a machine of war, I was a master of strategy at a young age. I knew how to organize a war party, and put shinobi together who just from eye contact would work well together based on combat abilities, personality, etc. In fact, it was almost fun to draw these things out on paper and plan out outcomes of battles. I constantly engaged my brain by putting on paper different scenarios that could happen in the field. Because of that, in a sense, I understood the importance of testing shinobi. I did not want inexperienced men and women in the field wasting their lives.

Countless days and nights in the field had taught me that being weak was a hindrance to one's comrades. Those who decided to become shinobi needed to be strong and needed to know from the beginning that they may die while out in the field. The world outside home was not a place for the faint of heart. Only the strong were able to truly survive. As the Oujoukage, it was my duty to instruct the young and discipline all shinobi in the village in the ways of our world. I was not only the leader of the village, but its protector and military leader as well. My duties could be written on a scroll that did not have an end. My father raised me to be a machine. A warrior. A king on the field. I was thoroughly grateful for his teachings once I reached a more mature age. Interesting to find that I was now repaying his teachings by utilizing them in my current duties as a leader.

From what I knew of Semasu, she was from the Rankujo clan who specialized in explosives and taijutsu. Her mission success rate was near flawless, and she took tasks rather seriously. However, upon observing her in her spare time, she was quite different. Eating donuts and flirting with women were to main things I noticed most times I saw her while out on patrols. It was good to know that she wasn't entirely like me, a workaholic who stuck to his duties and didn't do much in terms of relaxation on downtime. In a way, I sort of envied the younger generations and their ability to be so relaxed. Carefree even. I never had such an opportunity in my lifetime after all. She seemed to be a heavy eater as well. Perhaps the Rankujo had a high metabolism. Being honest with myself, she likely ate triple what I ate three times per day. For certain, her capacity for food was...explosive.

Every step I took toward Semasu was heavy, my feet leaving prints in the soil through the grass. I made my intent more and more clear the closer I got, my chakra slowly leaking out from my pores; my muscles began to stretch and loosen and expand and loosen again, preparing itself for the upcoming fight. My face could not be seen from under my cloak-hood, but my eyes were fixated on my target. My face remained expressionless. All thoughts steadily left my mind; everything became focused on the task at hand. I heard Semasu's voice calling out. Of course it was directed at me. There was nobody else in the area. To speak with her, I dashed forward at full speed and stopped quietly behind her. The only way she could have seen me is if she had a doujutsu, and I knew she had no such ability. When I got behind her, I spoke clearly in a deep voice so that I could not be recognized.

"You look like a decent shinobi. I have a question, though. Why are you looking over there?"

As I finished speaking, I quietly took a few steps backward and awaited action from the woman in front of him. All of this happened within a few seconds, so I wouldn't be surprised if it took her a moment to adjust fully to the immediate situation. Then again, I could be proven wrong. The weather in the area was just right. Not too hot and not too cold. However, there were some clouds on their way from the far east, so the village might be seeing storms later on. Some time during this fight, I had a feeling there were already going to be some strong winds blowing. Otherwise, it was going to be a fairly nice morning.

Word Count: 820 words

The weather was becoming humid rather quickly; much the anticipation for a great fight. Her palms began to sweat with excitement as her body heated up and her blood began to boil due to her clan's nature . Thunder rumbled in the distance, even though it was still quite sunny where Semasu & this stranger were facing one another. The weather was a foreshadow of the fight to come and both of them knew it: Semasu had already figured out that this shinibo was intending to fight her. She knew this man desired a fight, but what after or during that? Was he intending to kill her? Defeat her and molest her? Steal her clan's secrets or maybe even turn her into a slave?

While a couple of those scenarios didn't sound so bad, she couldn't allow some random stranger to do whatever they pleased, especially to a Rankujo body. She was a proud young woman, vibrant with life and seasoned in battle and death. Her aspiration was to serve and protect the Oujakage as he lead and protected the village. If Semasu could be the first line of defense, protecting her Oujakage from assassination attempts or ambushes- then that was enough for her. She promised herself, that she would be a force to be reckoned with; to curb any lesser shinobo or assassins from attempting her Oujakage's life. She was certain, that with an accomplished and dedicated shinobi such as herself around, the up-tight leader of Tsukigakure could learn to relax a bit and enjoy the great prosperous village he was leading and bringing to greater times.

Yet this stranger, here and now... was threatening to squash her dream; or was he? Semasu couldn't know for sure just yet, but she would not go easy on this individual. He was a seasoned warrior with a proud and well-trained gait and she would not underestimate him. If the stranger underestimated her, he would be in for an explosive surprise. Whether he actually knew her or not, she couldn't know. A plan was beginning to formulate in her mind as to how she would deal with this stranger.

From a somewhat close appearance, he didn't seem to be carrying any weaons, except for maybe a shinobi's utility belt or pouch. Kunai and shurriken were a universal weapon for most all shinobi- equally useful and deadly. Against a ranged opponent, she would fair less better, but the way the shinobi walked, had tell-tale signs that he was a close-quarters kind of fighter. She smirked as his paced picked up a little, his footsteps now heavier than before- he was preparing to attack. She blinked in anticipation, readying herself for a series of strikes or maybe a sneak attack. She stared for a moment at the empty space in front of her, unsure of what happened; the cloaked man was not where he was previously standing only a split second ago. "You look like a decent shinobi. I have a question, though. Why are you looking over there?"

He was behind her! And very close too! She pivoted her dominant foot quickly and spun on her heel as she brought her opposite leg over her right side, aiming to land a solid blow to his torso. He had already moved out of her proximity however and caused her to over-compensate. The force of the kick took her spinning to the right, she slammed her foot down firmly suddenly to stop the over-balanced maneuver and crouched low to the ground. Both arms went up in a defensive stance as she inspected the stranger with a heightened form of respect. So fast! I'm not sure I can keep up with him in speed alone.. I will have to study him and learn his movements if I hope to keep up with him.

She was calm, but his speed was incredible. If he had intended to kill her, he would have already done so instead of teasing her. His goal was shady at best, or maybe he just enjoyed teasing his victims before killing them. hard to say, but his actions so far told Semasu that he had other plans than to kill her... at least yet anyways. You've got some impressive speed, Mr. Stranger... not as swift as my Oujakage, but still decent yourself.

She had returned his "praise" of decent, wondering if he was a calm and collected shinobi or quick to temper like herself. So far, she had been able to keep her bloodlust in check; it was always fun to test out an opponent's physical limits before introducing chakra molding and ninjutsu of any sort. Let's see how well he fairs against an assault himself, maybe that speed is just for show to intimidate me. Won't work! She exclaimed to herself silently as she lunged forward while crouched; he was an average-sized body build and likely weighed about the same as her. She was a melee fighter and possessed a decent set of muscles; surely his speed alone was his asset and not his physical strength. She would attempt to grab his waist in a bolt-tackle and drop him to the ground. If successful, she would wiggle her grip up his sides and pull him into a bear-hug as her legs would snake around his legs. If she succeeded, she would carefully but swiftly rotate him onto his stomach until she had reached a dominant position on his back.

Afterwards, she would grapple his arms behind him into a tight lock and press his arms up towards the middle of his upper back, attempting to break his arms at the elbows and shoulder sockets as her thighs grabbed his waist and used her weight to prevent him from bucking her off or standing up. What are you playing at, Mr. Stranger? She would ask in a serious but entertained and excited way, her voice suggesting she was having more pleasure at their close-quarters rather than being worried about dying. Her clan's bloodlust had taken over and she licked her lips, careful to keep her face away from the back of his head, incase he tried to headbutt her.

---

Word count- 1,025
Chakra remaining- 230

As I stood in place a few paces back, I observed the actions of the woman in front of me moment by moment mentally. What I had figured was correct in that it would take her a couple of moments to realize I had moved out of her range of sight. She reacted correctly, though when she attacked with a kick rather than a punch. The leg is normally longer than an arm, so if an opponent were slower than me, she may have been able to compensate for her slow reaction time with a longer reach. Her form was also quite refreshing, as it was nearly perfect. Her back remained straight when she kicked, which meant that it wouldn't have hindered her breathing which was important in keeping a relaxed body during battle. However, she put too much power into the kick which left her spinning a bit due to the momentum of the twist in her waist. This would have left her wide open if she had a less forgiving opponent. All in all, not a bad choice in that scenario on her part.

The wind was just barely starting to pick up some more when the woman had crouched low to the ground and assumed a defensive posture with a block to boot. The reason it was a bad thing was that she was crouched. Being crouched only hindered her ability to move out of harms way, which meant it would have been easy for an opponent to get behind her and take their time killing her. In my mind, I sighed deeply and I realized she lacked a real teacher to show her the errors she was making. Nonetheless, she was definitely decent for someone who purely taught themselves. It was too soon though to determine whether she was material enough for the rank of Jounin. Only one real way to find out.

The moment her body seemed to relax after crouching she spoke to me."You've got some impressive speed, Mr. Stranger... not as swift as my Oujakage, but still decent yourself." I didn't entirely know what to make of it at first. Was she trying to bluff me by shrugging off the speed I displayed? Was she trying to raise my temper by comparing me? I sighed quietly to myself so that she couldn't hear and I then thought to myself, The Rankujo really are hot-headed. I suppose it isn't really a bad thing, but this is a bit...much. After thinking it over for a moment, though, I considered it more humorous than anything because she didn't know that she was currently fighting the Oujoukage. I wanted to show this woman just how terrifying a shinobi with raw fighting potential could be. At the moment I thought that, Semasu lunged toward me. Her speed was decent for a dash but it wasn't enough to take someone off-guard. As she dashed toward me, I propelled myself toward her and hardened my muscles just a little bit with chakra. By doing this, her dash would be cut short by ramming into me head first. Dashing the way she was, unless she was very skilled with footwork, she wouldn't have time to stop her momentum, which meant crashing into my body at full force. In anticipation of that, I dug my feet into the ground and planted my weight down to my feet; then I bent my knees just a little to brace the impact. By my judgement, the advance she was trying to make would stop with the crash. If she managed to stop herself from crashing into me, I would commend her aloud and then announce my own advancement. If she did crash into me, I would use my right hand to grip her face and then throw her back several feet. The throw would be just enough force to make her a little dizzy but nothing more, though the small areas where my fingers pressed might sting a little.

In all honesty, I was hoping she would be able to stop herself and re-position herself, but at this point I had a feeling either routes were viable to happen. I would just have to wait these next moments and hope that the woman is able to meet my expectations. This is starting to get fun.

Word Count: 722

She had anticipated he would back-pedal to avoid her tackle since he was a quick one; yet to her surprise, this time he stood his ground and even positioned his heels and lowered himself into a defensive stance to take her tackle head-on. Perhaps he is a good grappler? Something isn't right about this whole situation... She began to think as she cut off her tackle halfway through, she followed it up by diving into a forward roll instead of tackling his mid-torso. As she came to lie on her back, she pushed herself up with her down-turned hands and brought both f her feet together as she kicked straight up at the stranger's chin with her feet. Her hands bringing her to a fully vertical handstand as she hoped her devious strike would clip his chin.

After completing the hand-stand kick, she would use her muscles and push herself further, allowing herself to flip backwards out of his reach and once again face him. She wouldn't say anything if her strike landed, but if he managed to dodge, she would say, You're an agile one for sure... What's your play? This man was intriguing, never before had she fought a melee fight with someone so intense and not using chakra. He was skilled in martial arts at the very least, whether he was using chakra to boost his speed or not, she couldn't tell. On her part at least, she hadn't molded any chakra yet, nor used her sword- she didn't think either were necessary yet.

She had intended for today to be training, first with her melee ability and then her chakra molding. Bumping fists with a skilled Taijutsu shinobi definitely beat punching a rock wall all day. It was good practice for her, to see how brutal her strikes were, but also to see where her own skill was lacking. She had noted that this man had missed at least two opportunities to kill her; maybe he had just ignored the opportunities, or he wasn't as skilled as she thought he was. Either way, she had to try harder- but if she focused too long on Taijutsu, her body would be too tired from the crazy maneuvers she was doing just to get a hit on this stranger. As she faced him, she would take several agile steps backwards to get a decent six meters distance between them.

She wanted him to initiate the next attack, she was doing all of the attacking and he was just teasing her, possibly trying to wear her out before she could do any serious damage. She decided, that on his next attack, she would switch over to chakra molding. See how well he could handle explosions. Once he would make his move, whether rushing straight in or trying to catch her from the side, she would leap backwards while performing several quick and skilled handseals. An indication of a jutsu was present as her mouth bulged and then spat out a large glob of mud.

This mud would be positioned between her and her foe, appearing to be a trick to hit him and slow his movements. Her real goal was simply to block his line of sight as she performed more handseals. The mud would land on the ground between them and shape into a rock wall like she had previous erected and harden. In that moment, she weaved two jutsu into a sneaky trick. As she fell back in the leap, she would shape two bakuton clones of her sthat stood where she had been previously. These clones were tangible and capable of Nintaijutsu; unless this stranger possessed a Doujutsu, he would assume that at least one of them was a shadowclone, or maybe just a regular clone. Semasu would let her clones interact with the man, see what his next move was while she observed from beneath the ground.

She had timed her movements perfectly, as the two clones appeared in front of her falling position, she would phase right through the ground before she hit it and conceal herself from sight. From there, she would witness the stranger's next attack, hoping that he would initiate more Taijutsu against the clones. If he managed a solid strike on the first clone, it would light up and explode. The second clone would take the opportunity if he tried to evade the first clone and close in the distance and self-detonate right on top of him.

---

Word count- 747
Chakra pool- 180

Spoiler: