Team 7

[Musashi]

Kajika SHRIEKED as the kunai whizzed by so very close to her head, and she fell right over on her tooshy.

Panting, she realized she was losing the badass image she had been trying to hold onto. Attempting to salvage it, she pulled out a kunai of her own and jumped up, facing the direction from which the first kunai had been thrown.

"Come on out!"

[Goose]

Chuusa rubs his nose and sneers, clearly frustrated that this woman is making a fool of him, and seems ready to call the whole mission quits... until he notices that Mia isn't looking at him at all, and comes to a conclusion. "If she really is blind," he thinks to himself, "then there's nothing to stop me from getting behind her and taking her out..."

The Kounotori clan is noted for it's assassin ninjas, ninjas who are even more adept than others at striking down foes in silence. While other ninjas use jitsus to complete missions or trick opponents, Chuusa's clan only utilizes techniques that can be used for the killing of civilians or other ninjas. This makes him and his family unequiped to handle typical C or B ninja missions, but ideal for the high stakes A and S rank missions that typically involve striking enemies with lethal force. And it just so happens that a mission of survival against a high-level Jounin would classify as S-rank.

Without a sound, Chuusa creeps to his feet and manuevers himself slowly behind his sensei. He has not yet unsheathed his daggers, as he not yet skilled enough to brandish them completely silent. Instead, he'll wait for the exact moment to strike, leap at his opponent, and draw his weapons.

He stands perfectly still, save for his fingers, which shake in suspense above the handles of his daggers as he waits behind his Jounin instructor. He will wait just a matter of seconds for any indication that she realizes that he has moved. If she doesn't, then he will attack. His target is Mai's throat.

[Xia]

"Well...are you going sit there behind me forever, or are you going to attack Chuusa? Being able to execute a critcal attack as fast as one can is the foundation of any good assassination. The more time you give the opponent, the more time they have to use against you."

She remains unmoving, still 'looking' down the corridor in the pitch black. Her demenor is one of someone who is watching something intently, but how could she? there is no way someone can see anything in that pitch black void.

[Princess Shiko]

Misato saw the shurikens hit the wall, heard them clatter, and did several things all at once. The following is an attempt to tabulate the events in some semblance of order. Misato:

1. Realised someone was, if not actually trying to kill her, at least trying to put the fear of Kami into her.

2. Realised that since there was a Genjutsu of some sort taking place, returning fire could harm one of her allies if it left the room..

3. Grabbed Chuusa's body, dove, and rolled, covering it for protection. This process would get her a little bloody, but if she could keep him from getting hit again, it would be worth it.

4. Scoped out the direction from which the shurikens had come, looking for the thrower..

5. Grabbed her kunai from her belt before she even realised it was in her hand, and clenched it so tightly her had started to lightly bruise.

[Goose]

Oops, plan failed. A good ninja would go back to the drawing board and think up a new plan, seeing as his attempt to sneak attack her has been foiled.

But alas, Chuusa is not a good ninja. He leaps with quickness he hasn't shown before at Mai's back, brandishing his dual daggers. He stretches out his arms to reach around her neck, land on her back, and slice her throat open.

[Xia]

Mai, with a spot of grace and fluidity, bends forward, plants her hands on the ground, and pushes out, slamming her feet into Chuusa's stomach midleap.

As he flies through the air, she resumes her stance watching down the hall, back to Chuusa.

---

Misato spots the attacker, brandishing a kunai. the attacker is dressed in standard ninja gear, mask covering the face....

[Princess Shiko]

Misato growls, covering Chuusa with her own body, and threw the kunai with deadly accuracy to pull away the mask-covering on the ninja's face. She had to KNOW who was attacking her... and already she was reaching for another Kunai.

[Goose]

Chuusa collides with a wall again, almost losing consciousness for the second time. His adrenaline from the fight keeps him awake, however, and he becomes even more frustrated. He grits his teeth, feeling insulted that she'd fight him with her back turned.

"...Just what the hell are you looking at... your opponent is ME!"

He takes off running straight at her, hurling his entire bag of throwing stars at her as a distraction to buy him the time he needs to complete the seals... They're complex and all the more difficult to do while moving, but he executes them perfectly.

"Kounotari Clan Ultimate Technique! KOKUANGYO NO JITSU!!"

To anyone peering into the hallway, pure darkness fills the cavern as it eminates from Chuusa, covering himself and everything around him. The only figure visible is Mai, the target of the high-level genjitsu, as she stands amidst an unending horizon of black. The sailing stars also become obscured in darkness, and soar straight at Mai. They are the only sound in the room itself, as Chuusa intends to run straight past Mai, turn around, and attack directly. If she could see before, she can't see now. And if she really did anticipate his attack without vision, then perhaps going completely around her and attacking her head-on might throw her off.

He has only a matter of seconds to operate, as this high-level genjitsu requires a staggering amount of chakra that his young body can only supply for a very brief period. The technique is, for the Kounotari clan purposes, designed to stun an opponent so that a finishing blow may be delivered promptly, and that's exactly what Chuusa has in mind.

[Xia]

As Chuusa runs by Mai, he hears the clang onf his shuriken clang against metal of some kind.

"Kai"

The darkness shatters around the two even before his chakra runs out. As Chuusa passes, he see's Mai crouched down, her mouth drawn in a serious expression, her right hand in front of her face, making the dispell seal. her left hand is holding her ninja-to in a reverse grip behind her back, alerting Chuusa to the fact she blocked all the shuriken with her sword. Even as he passes, she begins to pivot towards him...

---

Confronting Kajika is a ninja dressed in a standard getup, mask covering the face. The ninja hurls a kunai at Kajika with deadly precision, aiming for her head...

[Goose]

The young man is a bit surprised that she saw through his attack so easily, but changes plans on the fly. Since she has both hands occupied, he leaps from his position on Mai's left, spins in mid-air and swings a kick at her head.

"Eat this!"

[Musashi]

Kajika growls and rolls to the side, attempting to dodge. As she rolls, she pulls out the last two of her kunai, and flings them towards the mask of the ninja.

[Xia]

the ninja in front of Misato rolls out of the way to dodge, throwing a pair of kunai at her face...

---

Mai continues her pivot, ducking under his kick, chakra forming on her feet to give her an extra push, spinning out of his reach, ending up facing him. She draws up to her full height, sword down but ready.

She brings her free hand up, again into the same seal as the dispell...

[Goose]

Chuusa hits the ground on both feet, skidding to a stop. He grins.

"Finally got your attention, do I? Try this on for size!"

He spins his daggers in hand and leaps at Mai, catching them by the hilt and holding his daggers behind his back. Just a moment before he collides with her, he turns his back to her swiftly in midair, making his blades come across from her right side. This technique is part of the Kounotari tool-taijitsu, and is designed to make an opponent quite literally spill his or her guts. When the twin blades land in the opponents stomach, the user simply pulls their arms forward and disembowels the victim.

[Xia]

If you could see her eyes, she would be rolling them, seriously.

Mai moves out of Chuusa's reach, a disappointed sigh travelling through her body as Chuusa lands on the explosive note she set earlier while he was trying be fancy in the darkness.

[Goose]

Halting his attack and raising his curved daggers to his face, Chuusa grins arrogantly. This is the first time he's tried an attack and hasn't gotten clobbered because of it, and he's going to let Mai know it.

"Feeling the heat, sensei? This is what happens when you face one of the Kounotari clan! All it takes is one strike, one mistake on your part to mean the end of your life... Looks like that pressure is even enough to rattle a Jounin!"

He is bluffing. The Kokuangyo, even though dispelled early, has drained the majority of his chakra. That combined with the twin collisions to a wall he has suffered in the last hour or so has started to wear on him... he isn't entirely sure where his sensei is at the moment, hence the reason he stopped attacking. The trashtalk was just to buy time for him to regain his senses a bit.