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| - Opening his eyes, Shichirou rose from his position from his back onto his bottom. He glanced out of the window, expecting to see the sun that he had grown accustomed too, but nothing was visible except the rain droplets dropping from the sky above. Guess he had forgotten he returned to the Rain after spending some time in the Land of Fire. Though it seemed to not be, only a tiny bit of light seeped in-between the clouds, but not enough to truly be called a “sunny day”. Shichirou yawned, stretching simultaneously while activating the light switch beside him. Light filled the room almost immediately. He squinted, adapting to the sudden change of light in his surroundings. When light entered the room, it revealed a king-sized bed with silky, white bed sheets. In addition, the floor had nice, fluffy carpet that suggested wealth. Yep, this definitely wasn’t his room, so whose room was this? “What the hell?”, Shichirou muttered to himself, glaring at the floor with a rather dumbfounded expression. “This isn’t my room!”, he exclaimed. Suddenly, the door creaked, suggesting someone was entering and out appeared a face. It was a woman, with brown hair that was extended down to her back, soft, feminine but clearly touched up features as if she was sculpted by a master sculptor herself. Her figure, perfect. Nice ass, nice breast, nice everything really. She was stunning. Entering the room, she carried a tray of food, seemingly breakfast bearing nothing short but a smile on her visage. “Well, hello. Nice to see that you’re awake, I really must have worked you hard”, the woman exclaimed, giggling after. The hell was she talking about? Then, Shichirou remembered. Shichirou rubbed the back of his head, looking at this woman who had put the food on the nightstand next to bed and had climbed back into the bed. Rubbing her finger across Shichirou’s chest, she smirked. “I never imagined that you were as good as you proposed, I guess we have to do this more often”, she teased, kissing him on the cheek, before jumping back. “But now, I must get to work..therefore, I’ll see you later, sweetheart”, walking over to her dresser, she threw him a key, obviously being to her home. “Hope to see you later”, she winked, exiting the room. Shichirou sat in the bed dumbfounded, before looking at his breakfast. “No need to let this go to waste”, and the chowing began. A few minutes later, Shichirou exited the room, wearing his black suit that he wore the day before. Walking down the stairs, he reached the front door, locking it then leaving. In front of the home was a garden, a beautiful one with roses and flowers. Obviously, whatever “work” this lady did, she was pretty damn good at it. Suddenly, a rain shinobi ran up to Shichirou, screaming “Commander!!!!”. Shichirou sighed, “Why do you have to scream?”, he quickly inquired, rubbing his head as if he had a headache. Occasional hangover, that’s what it was. The rain shinobi looked down at the ground, rubbing his hands together in a nervous manner, “S-Sir, I apologize. I-I-I”, the shinobi was saying before being interrupted by Shichirou, “I-I-I-I-I-I-I”, the Chiyo repeated continuously, teasing the man for his inability to speak without stuttering. The shinobi turned a bright red, and with that Shichirou burst into laughter. Enough was enough in this case. He had gotten his laugh and that’s all he needed. “Just calm down. I’m not going to hurt you”, he reassured. “Now, I assume you came for another purpose?” “Oh, y-yes!” the Shinobi replied, seemingly gaining a newfound sense of confidence. He looked at Shichirou, towards him rather than the floor, and saluted. “The Commanders, well, you guys have a schedule later this week that consist of going to the meeting area!” he informed. “I was told to come inform you of this. Hibiki and the Amekagesan have already departed for the village. You and I are the only ones that remain, sir!" the shinobi continued, saluting. With a sigh, Shichirou placed his hand on his face, muttering "But, it's only been two days." Flicking his hand, dismissing the shinobi, Shichirou continued, "Just go and catch up with them. I'll be with you guys shortly." With that, the shinobi departed, leaving Shichirou to himself. Shichirou lifted off into the air, enveloping himself in a bubble which seemed to have floating-like properties. In a matter of minutes, Shichirou reached his vacation home, entered the door and had appeared before his closet. His room wasn’t fancy at all. Simple wooden floors, as if they were made out of bark. He had a twin sized bed, nothing really. Shichirou typically preferred the simple life. Plus, he could spend his money on his perverted antics. It really all worked out. “That deals with that!” Shichirou said to himself, opening his closet. Reaching into the closet, Shcihirou grabbed his standard attire, consisting of a red vest with a fir outlining elegantly worn over a green t-shirt which illuminated upon his lean muscular build, coupled by red, stylish sweatpants tailored by only the best and green and red closed toe shoes. He walked into the bathroom, placed his desired outfit on the door, as a hook was there especially to hold his clothes and stepped into the shower. He turned on the water, allowing the hot droplets to soothe his skin, the steam filling the room; a sauna for the man. The water ran down his body as if he was a smooth stream, cleansing the bacteria from his skin. Coupled with this, the soap that he had brought on his own was one that was centered around completely penetrating the pores and truly cleansing the body, leaving nothing that could potentially harm his appearance. Shichirou put his right hand on the wall of the shower, submerging his head under the waterfall of water. His thoughts wandered. He began to think about Kumogakure, the Land of Lightning, his clan, then his mother appeared in his thoughts. A woman gone before her time, someone he had loved so much that it nearly drove him insane. Everything else disappeared, and only Hibiki and Izaya remained, the last bit of hope for sanity. Forty minutes had passed and the Chiyo turned the water off, stepped out of the shower and put on his clothes. Using different types of lotions, creams, he moisturized his flesh, ensuring that his skin was in tip-top condition. He combed and brushed his hair, ensuring that every strand was perfect, brushed his teeth until they released rays of white light on their own. He stared into the mirror after his routine, simply smiling at himself. “Well, damn. Someone is quite the sexy man, are they not?” he complimented, forcing himself away from the mirror and out of the bathroom. He grabbed his wallet, thick with money that he obviously wouldn't leave in his vacation home and departed it, taking nothing but his wallet and body. One Week Earlier In Kirigakure, the village hidden in the mist, two shadows were strolling in what seemed to be fog. They were completely obscured and appeared as two black figures slightly distorted by the instability of the fog, or rather, mist. They both appeared to be almost the same height as their steps could be heard clearly. These two souls walked alone in the mist as no one was in sight other than them. They were alone and they could talk to their hearts' content. These two men were non-other than Sotto the known earth release user and S-rank shinobi as well as the best mercenary around. He strolled alongside his partner, the metal and magnet user, Aitetsu. They were hiking in the obscuration of the mist, seemingly talking or rather whispering as they didn't want anyone to eavesdrop on them. "Sotto-san, we are here solely for the bounty, correct? I believe that Kirigakure is in need of some mercenaries as they have many wanted villains that should be turned to justice. A perfect opportunity for us to strike. We are in need of financial support and I believe we should take the highest bounty we find there." said Aitetsu in a low tone as he rolled his eyes over to his partner the famous, Sotto who was known allover the land for his use of earth release. Sotto played the role of the leader when it came to him and Aitetsu. It seemed as if he gave Aitetsu orders and they were followed and carried out by him. No mistakes, failure isn't an option. The reason behind that was that Sotto was very hard to handle, although he was always calm and composed, he was very stubborn. Aitetsu was someone who didn't like conflict, so he just carried out orders in order to avoid the headache. Standing beside him was Sotto, a man that possessed great fame when it came to his name. His name was known almost everywhere in the shinobi world. The name, Sotto, it was feared allover the land by criminals and outlaws considering that he's a mercenary who despised criminals. Someone who sought peace and decided to chase it by his out methods and ways. His beliefs might not be aligned with most people, but it mattered little to the mercenary. He never altered his vision about peace as he was extremely stubborn. He was partnered with Aitetsu, a fellow mercenary who came from Amegakure, suffering from hardships as Sotto, they adapted to each other quickly and before they knew it; they became partners. Traveling the world in search for their goals. As Sotto sought out peace, Aitetsu only cared for financial gains and anything related. It was the reason behind him becoming a mercenary. Sotto rolled his eyes over to Aitetsu. "I doubt that we are in need of great financial support as we worked consistently over the course of the last few months, so I would care less about the money. However, it's nice to get a challenge. I like the idea of going after the high bounties, I'm sure they are extremely strong, and I began to grow rusty from the small fries that we get matched up against. If we weren't sparing with one another everyday, we would have grown rusty and dull. So it would be nice to get someone worthy of my time." he said as he expressed his need for combat. Something that any shinobi require. Sotto simply felt as if he wasn't getting enough action so he sought out a worthy opponent to fight. He wasn't always the guy to run after opponents to test his might, but it was something that happened occasionally. The two accelerated their walk slightly as they hoped to reach their intended location in the right time. The first destination that they were heading towards was a hotel. They needed to res their bodies from the tough journey that they went through in order to travel to the land of water and into Kirigakure. They walked inside the hotel as Sotto talked with a lady that was sitting on a desk. He paid her some money and she gave him a key. The woman seemed awfully cheerful as she tried talking with Sotto and prolonging the conversations. She was admiring his visage and his physique. Sotto's supreme intelligence and analytic skills managed to detect that as he quickly responded with "Sorry, you're not my type." he said with a casual look on his face, direct he was. It was a trait of him, he was awfully direct and concise with his speeches. He didn't sugarcoat his wording or way of speaking. He usually stated the situation as it appeared. nothing more, nothing less. The woman turned red. Sotto seemingly didn't care for that as he didn't try to make up for what he said. He took the keys to his room and went straight to bed. Leaving that woman in embarrassment. Aitetsu sighed as he apologized to the woman trying to justify Sotto's words with excuses like "He was tired from the long journey." in order to relieve some of the awkwardness that consumed the atmosphere after Sotto's bluntness. Aitetsu then paced towards Sotto as Sotto had left him behind. Sotto approached the room and opened the door, turned on the lights and searched for the bedroom. After he found it, he rested on the bed as he seemed very relaxed. His muscles was being refreshed and recovered from the tiring journey as he gazed into the ceiling before slowly closing his eyes and going to sleep. The next day, Sotto woke up early, about seven in the morning. Him and Aitetsu had some research to do in order to know their next prey. They needed to get information about the wanted criminals of Kirigakure. Their first targets were the commoners. They setoff in the village as they went into small stores asking the owners about the rumors in Kirigakure. They did that all day long until the night fell on them. They were both fatigued, not physically, but rather mentally. In other words, they were bored. Searching for bounties wasn't something that was easy for outsiders, considering that they don't know the villagers and they weren't shinobi of the village. Out of there extreme boredom, they decided to split up and take a walk in the village. If they managed to find anything, then they would have been in luck. "Well then, Sotto-san. I shall head north of here, I will try to find any reliable information for us, yet nothing is assured." said Aitetsu with an impassive look drawn on his face. Sotto tilted his head to look at Aitetsu as he stated "Very well, I'll head south from here. You know my chakra signature, with your sensory perception, finding me shouldn't be a difficult task to perform." said Sotto as both of them parted ways heading towards both the north and south of the village. Sotto sat in a common bar as he ordered a drink to get rid of his thirst. He waited for exactly half an hour before someone came and sat right beside him. It was non other than Aitetsu, his partner. He leaned in towards Sotto and said "Well looks like we have ourselves a prey to hunt." Sotto drank his drink before slamming the cup onto the table, smirking as he showed his grin. He was clearly excited as it appeared clearly on his face. He then got up and went back to his room in order to prepare for his journey. "Aitetsu, tell me, who is the target and where is he currently?" asked Sotto as he was hiking alongside Aitetsu in order to go back to the hotel. "The target is a wanted man by the name of Shichirou. The man is an Amegakure shinobi who is said to have close ties with the Amekage. Of course, we're not going to infiltrate the village hidden in the rain. We are in luck, the Amekage will set off to the land of rivers in a few days, it is likely that our target will follow him. We can capture him dead or alive." said Aitetsu as he explained the entire objective to Sotto. After making it to the hotel, Sotto changed his clothes. He wore a leather jacket that was colored black. Underneath it was a white shirt as for the lower body, he wore black skinny jeans accompanied by black shoes. He then set off towards the land of rivers in search for his target. The journey took several days, but they managed to make it to the land of rivers. Sotto stepped in the territory "Now to find that Shichirou." he said as he had already gathered information about his appearance. Shichirou had to stay somewhere, and someone like him could be noticed with ease in the village considering that he's famous for his perverted actions. Sotto went around the village asking for the man. He searched for hours until he managed to find a clue. A woman said that she saw man with the described features renting a room in the hotel that she was in. Sotto had to make sure that he was the right guy. He carried a picture of shichirou with him. A bounty poster to be exact. Sotto stayed hidden as he roamed around the area awaiting his target to come out. Finally, Shichirou appeared outside of his room. Sotto was standing on a tree branch, covered by the leaves in order to disguise his location. Sotto took a good look at the man's face and he then glanced at the picture he had in his pocket. "No doubt, it's definitely him." he said in a low tone as he disappeared from the tree branch. His speed was enough to get him off the tree banch in an instant, leaving a faded afterimage behind him. He then appeared behind Shichirou with a couple of meters. Sotto stood firmly as he kept a casual look on his face, staring at his opponent. "Well well, if it isn't Shichirou of the rain. What a nice coincidence." he said clearly avoiding the surprise attack option and awaiting Shichirou's response. Turning his attention towards Sotto, a rather muscularly defined man himself, intimidating slightly to a degree, Shichirou gave off a small smile. He examined the man to test for any actual village affiliation, but could find nothing consistent with his outfit to any other shinobi. No headband, no specific colors, nothing. Mercenary shinobi, no doubt. With just a single glance, Shichirou could determine that. That was what he was known for, his ability analyze. It was an effect of his ADHD, his ability to see someone and respond in seconds. Fixing his posture so that he faced Sotto head on, his body matching the man’s own posture, he stood up straightly with one of his hands placed directly on the lower portion of his hip. “So, you know of me, but I do not know of you,” Shichirou quickly informed. “So, who are you and why do you know who I am? Rather, I should ask, why is it a coincidence that I’m here in the middle of the forest?” he inquired, obviously expecting a hostile answer. The man was no idiot, this guy was obviously here to get revenge. That woman had a boyfriend, he could tell. No woman that hot could be single. Shichirou let out a sigh, “look man, she didn’t tell me she had boyfriend, okay. Take it up with her, but to say, she was one hell of a woman” Sotto put both of his hands in his pockets as he received Shichirou's response with a rather impassive reaction. The look on his face didn't change, he was taking things so casual. Sotto's face wasn't known to many as not many lived after facing him, in fact, almost none did. His face was described by his comrades to others. However, his name was very famous. No one in the shinobi world didn't know the name "Sotto" it was impossible for anyone to not recognize the name. He was known to have several characteristics. Blue eyes, muscular figure, short spiky and black hair. These characteristics were very clear. "I see you didn't recognize me, fine then. No, I'm not the boyfriend of a girl that you've had an interesting night with. Simply, I'm a mercenary. Sotto is my name. I think you might have heard of me." he said. Shichirou scratched the back of his scalp with his head titled slightly to the left generating a relatively common expression that was affiliated with confusion. The man, concentrating his thoughts as much as his ADHD would allow him to do, he finally let out a sigh. "Sorry pal, but I don't remember you from anywhere," the man muttered, laughing a bit out of sheer embarrassment. "I'm certain you were a cool guy. Where'd we meet again? A bar? Some strip club? Or were in Kumogakure with me during my younger years?," Shichirou inquired, putting his hand back on the bottom portion of his hip. Mercenary?, he pondered, examining the man intensely. He didn't know any mercenary shinobi particulary, well not at all. He knew that much and mercenary shinobi were well known for assassination attempts. Either Shichirou genuinely forgot this guy, or he was trying to kill him. Shichirou knew it probably the latter, but better to play stupid. "I see, well I guess I wasn't as famous as I expected." he said sarcastically. Aitetsu was sitting on a tree branch, watching the fight closely as he was told not to intervene. "Nice, he doesn't know who he is or why he's here. Now, time to fool this Shichirou." thought Aitetsu as he was sitting, hidden on the tree branch. Obscured with the leaves of the tree. He awaited Sotto to pull a trick on the man. Sotto looked at Shichirou with his cold eyes as he tilted his head slightly to face the man directly. "I'll make it short and sweet..." said Sotto. Aitetsu grinned as he awaited Sotto to deceive the man to pull a surprise attack of some sorts. "I'm here to knock the living hell out of your sorry ass." said Sotto with a rather intimidating way without roughening his vocals. Aitetsu was shocked, the look on his face was priceless as he let out a sigh "Well, I knew he was direct. However, that's just a perfect opportunity wasted." he thought. Since the beginning of his arrival, Sotto was breaking down the minerals in the ground, just as the previous Kazekage, he managed to create sand that was maintained underground. With the same hand placed upon his bottom portion of his hip, Shichirou grabbed his bubble blower from the same part of his body. A bubble blower, larger than most, stood in his hand. With a small, delightful smirk, Shichirou puckered his lips and blew air through the blower, generating five, no six bubbles that floating helplessy through the air. “Let’s see if you can kick that bubble’s ass before mine,” Shichirou responded, flicking his hand that wasn’t holding the blower. The bubbles seemingly responded to his flick immediately as they shot towards Sotto at uncomprehendable speeds for a bubble. Thirty miles per hour, maybe? Bubbles were not meant to travel that quickly, but they were. Something was wrong with this bubbles, but Sotto didn’t know that. To him, they could be acidic, poisonous, anything. Definitely abnormal though, no doubt, but the nature was unknown. Being unknown was the greatest attribute in battle, and Shichirou would use it to the best of his ability. Time seemingly slowed down when Shichirou got out his bubbles and started blowing them towards Sotto. It seemed as if time slowed down, but it was Sotto's analytic skills, he was able to analyze every move that his opponents made and utilized it in order to know the style of his opponent to counter it efficiently. "Alright ... bubbles." he thought as he followed up his chain of thoughts "Bubbles indicate that he might be a water release user, meaning that water is one of the most essential aspects for his abilities. If I would have faced him in Ame, it might have been very messy. He's firing bubbles towards me with a relatively high speed. I don't know the effect of these bubbles, I better stay clear of them." he thought. All of these ideas and analyzation taking place in only a matter of a few seconds before Sotto initiated his first move. Manipulating the sand that he had already formed underground and bringing it to the surface. He used this sand to form a wall in the way of these bubbles using his hands for better manipulation even though he could manipulate sand passively. He needed to do it with great speed in order to dodge the incoming assault. He moved his right hand slightly upwards, taking it out of his pocket as a wall of sand came to the surface from underground and seemingly formed a protective barrier against the bubbles. Sotto used his chakra to intensify the hardness of the sand and to make it highly dense so that it can sustain damage caused by the bubbles no matter how significant. The wall formed about fifteen meters away from Sotto's position taking the height of ten meters and the width of fifteen meters in an attempt to avoid all the bubbles without harm. "This barrier should do the trick. I put enough chakra in it to sustain it even if the attack carried high lethality. Now for the second step." he thought as he proceeded with his combination of attacks. Sotto used his potent chakra to manipulate the sand that he formed underground and bring it to the surface of the ground they were standing on. Sand consumed about a radius of three kilometers. Sotto's skill was enough to break down the minerals with great speed forming sand. His sand prowess exceeds that of Gaara's considering that he is more experienced with it. However, Sotto admitted that if Gaara had grown up to be his age, he would have beaten him when it came to Sand manipulation. Nonetheless, the assault wasn't over as Sotto started raising up some of the sand in the sky itself forming a sand cloud. His plan was going perfectly as he managed to utilize the environment to his advantage. The forest that they were standing in was covered with sand. Trees randomly popped out of the sand as the height was about two hundred meters. The sand beneath the feet of Shichirou gradually softened over time, causing him to move from spot to spot. The Chiyo male did nothing but smile the entire time, while keeping his eyes pinned on the mercenary shinobi in front of him. Wearing a masked armour of some sort, which looked like normal clothes to those who didn't know of his armour, it was designed to absorb chakra and to empower his physical capabilities. Amegakure's tech was well placed above the rest of the world, and this armour was the best tech the village could offer. With a snap of his finger, the bubbles inside the sand-like barrier exploded, causing the sand the barrier to burst open allowing a misty-sand to obscure the vision of the battlefield. Shichirou couldn't see Sotto, and hopefully Sotto couldn't see him through normal means. Now was his chance for a counterattack. Swinging the bubble blower, instead of blowing into it, only a few bubbles came out. Originally small, the bubbles grew into a massive size, appearing as the same height as Shichirou and Sotto themselves, who were both two fairy tall men. With another flick, Shichirou sent the bubbles into the misty sand, headed towards the direction where Sotto was prior to his little diversion. Upon reaching him, even within five mere feet, the bubbles would explode tremendously. Three Seconds, Shichirou thought, using that time as an indication on when he would set the bubbles to explode. At the speeds they were going, reaching that old position where Sotto was within three seconds was a sure thing. Distance and time were calculated into the attack, along with the explosive radius of the actual bubbles. Eight Feet was the explosive zone of such large bubbles. Shichirou sat behind the sand-like mist, simply smiling as he sent his bubbles into the unknown. The bubbles detonated, it was an option that Sotto took into account. Sand obscured the battlefield as it blocked the vision of both shinobi. Sotto was almost certain of the explosion. As the sand consumed the atmosphere that they were standing in, Sotto jumped back slightly covering his eyes so that the sand won't enter and cause him a distraction during the battle. "Done, I calculated the strength of his attack. The explosion was huge, these bubbles carry a lot of might within them. Luckily, I didn't put my entire strength into the wall, in fact I put very little chakra into it. Never expected him to be this strong." he thought, for that thought to process it took him about two seconds, enough time for Shichirou to draw his bubble blower. Sotto had three to four seconds to evade the attack. Sotto's supreme intelligence allowed him to predict that there is an attack coming. Obscuring the opponent's vision is the perfect chance to strike. He used his chakra to move the sand in order for him to view the battlefield. As soon as he cleared the sand, he found the bubbles right in front of him. Time stopped from the shock that Sotto was in, his only thought at this time was "Oh fuck me!". The bubbles detonated once more. For a split second it seemed as if they struck Sotto directly. The explosion was very large that sand from the ground went up in the air and obscured the vision once more. Shichirou had no way of knowing what happened to his opponent. Luckily, thanks to his Taijutsu training, Sotto had reflexes that doubled that of an ordinary martial arts practitioner. In the split second that he saw the bubbles, he initiated two techniques. First one, which is also considered as a primary method of defense, was his Sand Shield. This shield was enough to take hits from the strongest of assaults and the toughest of opponents without even cracking or breaking. Sotto can harden the sand to a frightening level as well as increase its density to a great degree where it is almost impenetrable. However, that wasn't the case in this attack. The only difference being that he simply had no time to react. He managed to created the shield and give it a high degree of strength considering that he witnessed the power of the bubbles. However, he could only harden it so much. The attack was so fast that he wasn't able to use the shield with its full prowess. This caused the shield to break, the successive explosions were strong enough to break through the shield as Sotto didn't harden it in time. The first explosion caused a crack in the shield, the second caused the shield to break down, yet it was still covering Sotto, with a few other explosions, the shield was broken and Sotto caught a part of the explosion. The field was completely concealed in sand particles that flew in the air covering all vision. Sotto was on the ground as he stood up slowly. Cracks appeared on his face, it was his Sand Armour. It was something that covered his skin all the time in case he got any brunt and unexpected hits. It was enough to absorb the part that he caught from the explosion as it was very strong and highly dense. The cracks disappeared as the armour regenerated by feeding on Sotto's chakra to recover once more. Sotto was unharmed as he stood up in the miniature dessert that he formed from his prowess with sand. "So he wants to play it rough, huh?" he thought. Sotto could determine Shichirou's location through Sand Sensing, an ability that granted him the power to sense the destination of anything standing on his sand, in this case, Shichirou. He began enlarging the cloud of sand in the sky by stubbly adding more sand while being unnoticed as he would use sand that's far away from Shichirou and push it into the sky to increase the size of the sand cloud. Simultaneously, Sotto was planning his next attack. He knew that Shichirou had no way of knowing if Sotto is alive or dead. He would most likely think that Sotto is a dead man by now as the explosions were huge. This gave him the element of surprise. Sotto needed to stop Shichirou in his tracks so that he could finish him off. In a few seconds, Sotto was able to visualize a combination of attacks that should be satisfactory for the situation at hand. First off, Sotto stopped Shichirou by attempting to grab his feet using the sand underneath him. He simply formed sand arms that grabbed Shichirou's feet with great speed. He made them dense and strong in order to hold Shichirou in his position for the required period of time. After doing that, Sotto used Sand Binding Coffin as he used the sand around Shichirou to try to encase him in the sand. He made the coffin very durable in case Shichirou possessed strong physical prowess, so that it would be enough to restrain him. "Let's see how will dodge this." said Sotto with a low voice as he went for the grand technique, his Prison Sand Burial. He weaved the ram hand seal in order to mould chakra as he loosened the sand under Shichirou as it began swallowing him down supposedly. The sand coffin was a method of restraining for the final technique to take place without failure. Sotto was attempting to drag Shichirou two hundred meters underground as he also increased the pressure and density of the sand that will be covering his foe. As his assault was complete and he had already buried the sand coffin that he formed about two hundred meters underground, there was a moment of silence. Sotto awaited to know if his attack succeeded or not as he had already caused great damage to the environment. The sand around Shichirou fell limp, softening almost as quickly as it had actually hardened. It smoothly dripped off of his body, revealing his smirking visage until the sand was back onto the floor, unable to be moved once more. Positioning his right foot in slightly behind the other, while bending the frontmost leg, Shichirou took off incredibly fast, speeds similar to that of a rocket. He blasted off, sand under his feet flew up into the air, becoming a foggy mist behind him. He glided across the earth; literally skating across the sand that seemed to soften up as he made contact with it. As he glided incredibly fast, headed towards Sotto, Shichirou simply swung his bubble blower, releasing tens of small, transparent bubbles; so transparent in fact that sunlight passed directly through it without giving the smallest glare, virtually making the bubbles invisible. Mentally pushing the bubbles, they shot ahead of Shichirou, undetectable visually. Within five feet, they would explode in a chain explosion. However, unlike the last attack, the bubbles divided themselves. Ten in the front, ten on each side, and some overhead to prevent him from jumping up in the air. However, if he jumped backwards, Shichirou’s momentum would easily collide with his being, hitting him with tons of force, stronger than of a kick from the strongest of foes. This was the power of his bubble, taijutsu style. Something that utilized his explosive bubbles to propel his body, turning him into a literal rocket. Sotto seemingly lost control over his sand. The sand ran down Shichirou's skin as if it was water. The grains that were supposedly augmented and hardened fell to the ground with no signs of chakra enhancement. Sotto watched as this process happened he jumped back slightly from his surprise as he thought "Interesting". Sotto was a master of analyzation. He could decipher the opponent's moves and analyze it to reach a certain conclusion. He closed his eyes for one second then opened them again maintaining his emotionless expression. His body language displayed no signs of anxiety or worry. He was simply relaxed. "Chakra Absorption" he said. Sotto knew instantly that Shichirou was using some sort of chakra draining method. It was obvious. He lost control over the sand that was supposed to be hardened by his highly potent chakra. Sotto's brilliance started acting as he put all the pieces together. He was analyzing Shichirou to simply create a counter method for his attacks. "This fucker can absorb chakra by contact, create potent explosive bubbles and he seems to be rather intelligent. The only weapon that I saw was his bubble blower. I need to stay cautious." Sotto thought as his chain of thoughts was interrupted by Shichirou's attack. Shichirou launched with great speed at Sotto as he used his bubbles to augment his velocity. He drained the chakra from the sand that was underneath him. "He's coming, and he's fast." thought Sotto. The moment he saw Shichirou swing his bubble blower, he knew that an attack was coming. The last time Shichirou used his bubble blower, he fired explosive bubbles towards him with extreme speed. He seemingly did the same motion with his arm then. Sotto knew what was coming. He initiated his ultimate defense, this time, he had plenty of time to strengthen his defense. He used his Shield of Sand in order to create a protective barrier that surrounded Sotto completely. He ran his chakra into the sand grains as he hardened the shield greatly. He knew the strength of the bubbles ninjutsu, so he decided to strengthen his shield accordingly while taking into account the option that Shichirou strengthen his bubbles more than the ordinary. All of these thoughts were analyzed and initiated in seconds as Shinobi are known for their fast reflexes. The shield protected Sotto who was completely obscured from the vision of his opponent. The bubbles hit the shield as they caused a great explosion, certainly lethal if Sotto was to take a direct hit. Cracks appeared on the shield, yet it regenerated in seconds after feeding on Sotto's potent chakra. He was completely hidden from Shichirou as he sat inside this "dome" of sand that he created. He used his sensory perception in order to locate Shichirou and his attacks. He simply sat down and began thinking, while sitting completely still as if he was emulating the earth. He continued taking from the sand on the ground and adding it to the cloud in the sky, they ground they were standing on began to become lower and lower by the second, trees began to show up once more as the sand was used to enlarge the cloud in the sky. It began to obscure the sunlight. During every second that passed, Sotto was preparing for his next assault while using the information he got from Shichirou about his fighting style. Meanwhile, the cloud grew to be incredibly large in size as it hovered over their heads. Sotto increased the density and the thickness of his shield as he simply waited for Shichirou. Patience was the key for Sotto, and it won him many battles as he would emerge victorious over his opponents using his wits. Was Shichirou like the rest? that was the true enigma. Shichirou didn't stop and within seconds he reached the sand-sphere that Sotto had secluded himself in. Wearing his armor while moving at speeds of that as a rocket, he pushed against the sand sphere's wall. Traveling at immense speeds while having a chakra absorption armor, the man tore through the sand sphere without much effort. Placing his bubble blower back on the side, it left his left hand free to attack. He lifted it in the air, allowing bubbles to seep out the back of his forearm. They exploded, propelling his left arm forward with prodigious force. He fist, covered in chakra armour, effortlessly drilled in the sand sphere while leaving traces of watery substance in distant portions, penetrating it as the rest of the sand went limp from Shichirou's body. Within seconds, he lay within the sand sphere, tearing the wall down. Sotto sensed Shichirou as he came charing towards him. "I've got to act with haste" he thought as Shichirou made contact with shield. Sotto already realized that the chakra absorption takes a few seconds to occur, approximately three seconds. he had to pull off an attack that bared great speed in order to overcome the chakra absorption issue.Using his extreme sand proficiency, he managed to fire very fast bullets saturated with his potent chakra in order to ensure that they would take much more time to absorb. He fired innumerable amounts of bullets towards Shichirou. They were all so dense and hard as they could penetrate the human flesh with ease considering the speed they were going at. After the bullet barrage came to an end, the shield opened to reveal what seemed to be Sotto. However, he was covered with Explosive Seals allover his body. They detonated covering the distance of a hundred meters. Sotto had time to prepare for his attack while he was inside the shield. It seemed like a suicidal attack, but it was far from that. The Sotto in the shield turned into sand that melted away with the explosion. While the real Sotto was out of sight. Leaving no traces of his current position. The cloud in the sky began to grow larger and larger. It was at least triple the size of Air Sand Protective Wall as he took his time in preparing it. Sotto was hiding underground. He made his way through the sand and dug into the earth below as he covered up behind him as well in order to avoid any leaking sand. He operated the battlefield from his position. The cloud kept growing bigger and bigger as he concentrated all of his chakra into manipulating the sand to add to the size of the cloud. "Everything is going according to plan. I can't restrain him with sand as he simply absorbs the chakra out of my attacks. However, this time I don't even need chakra to bury you alive. Die!" he said as the gigantic cloud that was hovering over Shichirou's head came down on his head all at once. Sotto simply took his chakra that was sustaining the cloud in the air and absorbed it, or rather, brought it back in order to not supply his opponent with chakra. This resulted in the cloud simply falling down right above Shichirou. It's size was so huge that escape was almost impossible considering that movement on the sand would be tricky as the sand underneath Shichirou is very loose. It fell on Shichirou, the force and quantity of the sand destroyed the trees in the area. It was like a natural disaster. The attack basically covered a giant area making it almost unescapable. Not to mention the explosive seals that were used as a distraction for initiating the final attack. Sotto being deeply underground, was protected from the sand. Shichirou was hit with fierce bullets, feeling the bullets pound against his armor. It hurt him! He could feel the force of the blows, spared from too much actual pain due to the absorption rate from the assault. Shichirou eventually pushed through, only to see a Sotto-like thing decorated with an incredible amount of explosive tags. “Oh, cra—“, the Chiyo man started before the explosive tags set off a chain of explosions. The sand on the ground blew into the air, dust filled the area. Shichirou came out of such an incident with a sly grin laid upon his visage. If it was one thing his suit could do was take explosive damage, considering it channeled such a force to enable Shichirou to be an active participant in taijutsu battles. “What a waste, he wasn’t in there,” Shichirou muttered, before looking upwards. The sky was falling, literally. Tons of sand fell from the sky, pouring down in utter chaos. “Burying me alive by dropping tons of sand on me huh? Wrong move…,” the chiyo man muttered as clapped his hands together. A durable bubble dome erected almost as quickly as he clapped his hands, bits and pieces emerging from every small hole in the armor to generate a large dome that encapsulated the man entirely. Leaping into the air, with the bubble still encapsulating him equally, allowing him to stay as the center of the protective dome, the sand simply rolled off of the surface of the bubble. “Only if the sand was sharp,” Shichirou muttered to himself, pushing through the falling sand until he had overcome it. With that, the bubble dissipated. By generating bubbles through the bottom of his feet, with them exploding upon creation, Shichirou generated an explosive-like flight; rocket-boots were what he dubbed them. “Time to make him come to me,” Shichirou turned, allowing his rocketboots to propel him further. He soared through the sky at immense speeds, just like that of a rocket, cutting through the clouds like a blade cuts through silk. He was headed towards Amegakure, and he was moving quickly. Sensing his escape, worked his way back to the surface. Sand grains falling from his body. "Now that's one tricky son of a bitch." he said as he manipulated a layer of sand with great speed to hover over Shichirou's head. He then fired bullets from the said layer. These bullets worked their way towards the bubble as thousands of them came raining down on Shichirou's head.
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