Team 7

[Goose]

Chuusa swallows hard... she IS blind, right? Grimacing, Chuusa figures that she really can sense his weaponry through means other than sight or sound... either that, or she's completely anticipated his plan of attack, and has predicted his every move up till now, something that isn't beyond the capability of a jounin. He'd like to work together with the others, if only so he wouldn't have to predict THEIR movements as well as Mai's, but the both of them seem so intent on using taijitsu that he decides to use them as decoys for the time being. It seems like Misato has a plan, or something closely resembling a plan, so he'll watch from a distance and wait for his best chance to strike.

Chuusa reachs behind him into his pouch of tools, and pulls out a singe ninja star and a long piece of thin stringy wire. He hurls the star hard, aiming for the kunai that he had just thrown. The two tools collide and plop harmlessly to the ground after sailing just a bit farther. Chuusa pulls the wire around himself, holding the part in front of him in his mouth, and puts both hands back behind him, into that same bag. The gentle sound of metal lightly tapping metal is heard from behind Chuusa as he fiddles with what presumably is the string he just pulled out, but never takes his eyes off of the rock slab Mai forced out of the ground. Chuusa grins, the thin but sturdy wire glistening in his mouth, as he mumbles under his breath.

"Just stay behind your wall a little bit longer... I'm gonna smoke you out."

[Musashi]

Kajika ran to Misato and planted her foot into her teammate's cupped hands. She got into a crouch, ready to spring upwards with the toss. She held one ninja-to, and a kunai in the other hand.

[Princess Shiko]

Misato planted her feet and pushed her teammate upwards as fast as she could. She glanced over at Chuusa, trying to determine what the thusfar unpredictable ninja was going to do next.

[Goose]

"Alright, let's give this a shot..."

Chuusa pulls his hands from behind his back, and crosses his arms in front him. He holds eight small ninja stars and two kunais, with four stars and one kunai for each hand. However, each weapon is attached to a thin piece of string wire. This is a common tactic in long range tool use. It allows a skilled attacker to not only command greater control of his weaponry, but to make it return to him or her with a pull of the string. This is especially helpful when said ninja is low on projectiles, and conserving ammunition is vital.

His first move is to throw the kunai in his weaker left hand up into the air, in the direction of, but well above, the other three shinobi and Mai's makeshift rock wall. Chuusa then hurls his second kunai as hard as he can straight at the first one he threw. It clangs loudly with the first kunai in mid-air, but is struck in such a way that it makes a bee-line for the other side of the rock wall. It's high enough so that Kajika won't be nailed in the back with it as Misato pushes her up and over the wall, but if either Kajika or Mai step too far back from the other side of the wall, they'll risk being hit.

Chuusa leans back, inhaling deep, and hurls his eight stars all at once. He is aiming for either side of the rock wall, and split his attack into 4 stars on each side. If Mai steps out on either side, she'll be walking into a barrage of ninja stars. And to top it off, just before hurling the stars, but after throwing the two kunai into the air, Chuusa shouts out...

"Alright you witch, it's for real this time! Let's see how you fight three people in total darkness... I'm bustin' out the Kokuanygo and finishing you off!"

Again, he's bluffing, but he almost wishes he wasn't. If he had enough chakra to use the technique properly, he'd probably try it once he caught sight of her, but his chakra reserves are woefully low, so he's being stingy with it. However, the bluff does more than cover up the sound of the stars sailing through the air... if Mai believes that Chuusa's hands are occupied performing seals, there's no way that she could know that he has his weapons attached to strings, which would completely preoccupy his hands. That is, unless she can see the string when the weapons come upon her...

...Chuusa has more or less given up trying to discern if his opponent is capable of sight. Not because he'd like to, but because Kajika and Misato pushed the attack so hard, he figures the best time to attack is now, while the three of them are working together. Mai cannot go over the wall without running into Kajika. If she does, it would slow her down long enough for Misato to join the fight between the two of them, which gives the young genin the slightest of advantages. Chuusa believes Mai is trying to stop that from happening at all costs, as he believes that her goal in this exercise is to completely utterly crush the three of them, humbling them before their journey to become shinobi. But Chuusa doesn't "do" humble, so he's trying to at least make a good showing.

Chuusa's long distance barrage means that Mai can't escape from her left, right, or behind her, lest she tries to deflect her weapons, which would give Kajika an opening to attack. Again, if any three of them lands a blow on her, Chuusa believes, then Mai fails at completely humbling her students, which the young man wants more than anything at the moment. Completely out of escape options, Chuusa has planned Mai's escape from her own defenses from the very beginning; he thinks she is going to drop the wall into the ground as quickly as it came up, launching a direct surprise attack on whoever is infront of her, which is currently Misato, with Chuusa far behind her. This is their best chance, he figures. So long as Misato is smart enough to realize that Mai can, in all likelihood, drop that rock wall quickly back into the ground, Misato has a chance to defend herself at close range long enough from Mai's attack for either Kajika or one Chuusa's weapons to strike Mai from behind.

It's only natural to believe that a piece of rock can't be moved so easily... anyone would think that once something like that has been put in place, that it can't be moved without destroying it. That's Mai's trick to the wall, or so Chuusa thinks. He believes that Mai was counting on the three of them to assume that, and this is Chuusa's answer to her.

A bead of sweat slides down his brow, his heart racing. "Just one hit...", he repeats to himself in his head. Just one hit, and it doesn't matter how badly he and the others get the stuffing beat of them, because they landed a hit on a freakin' Jounin. Just one hit.

[Musashi]

With the added boost, Kajika was able to hop on top of the wall. She glanced back briefly to see Chuusa's attack.

Hmph. Kind of a show off, isn't he?

She leapt off of the wall, looking down to see where Mai was.

[Princess Shiko]

With Kajika launched, Misato drew her staff again, telescoping it outwards. With the wall between her and Mai, there was no fast way to get to the jounin, without leaving herself open to inevitable attack, so she instead drew herself into a fighting stance. If Mai brought the wall back down, Misato would be ready.

[Xia]

*As Kajika clears the wall and descends...she sees a crudely designed rock sculpture of Mai, flashing Kajika the Peace Symbol...oh, and did I mention the exploding notes on the sculpture? They're a sizzling...*

*As Misato drops into her fighting stance...isn't that something right at the left edge of her vision?*


*Chuusa...you could have sworn you saw something out of the corner of your right eye...*

[Princess Shiko]

Misato wheeled and hurled her kunai at where she saw the blur. Couldn't be Kajika or she wouldn't have gone OVER the wall.. not if she could go that fast. So it must be the Jounin... "Oy! Chuusa! Head's up!" Well, let's see.. not much she could do beyond that. Still, it served to stay in the fight. "I'm on my way!" She stayed there; if that was an illusion duplicate, then Kajika might still need help... but she kept an eye on Chuusa.

[Musashi]

Kajika stood staring for a moment, looking more annoyed than anything.

"...You've got to be kidding me."

Then the sizzling hit her ears and she RAN like a piggy about to be bacon'd! @____@

[Goose]

"Tsk... now what?!"

Chuusa quickly glances to his right, pulling back hard on the strings of his projectiles to keep them from potentially hitting Kajika. They'll also cover him from an attack to his side if he lets them pass him by without catching them.

He was wrong about Mai dropping the stone wall in front of them as a surprise, and he can't guess what her current attack plan is. He has no choice but to see what she has planned.

[Xia]

At this point, several things happen at once.

First off, the exploding notes placed on the Mai-statue and on the back of the barrier she pulled up explode, showing large chunks of stone towards Kajika and Misato.

Right before the explosions, a careful observer would have noticed a pair of hands retreating back into the ground below Chuusa, his shoes now tied together...