Battle at the East Gate [Open, No Kill]

"Hi. You two from afar look rather lonely. Or perhaps you're waiting for someone, hmm?" he asked.

It had been such a day.. The Hokage had found himself in the fond company of three well-endowed chicks no more than 10 years younger than him. He accidently stumbled upon their home in an imitated drunken manner, revealed his personal wealth, and had been the center of their attention as he walked around the glorious Festival to eat in one of the more glamorous restaurants. They chatted for two hours, and their table had a pile of food-wasted dishes. He had forgotten what he said, but he was sure that he made mention of his own praise of the peacemaking efforts of the Shinobi World. After that, he had lounged himself together with the women back at home, and fell asleep before he could have any late-night action with them. He woke up a hour later, and in his own sober moral decency, he quietly left their household while taking the generous opportunity to collect their perfume, so that he may promote the product back in his country.


Afterwards, the smell of teriyaki still rested in Ryuho's mouth as he walked across a rocky pathway. There were still some people out, but everyone else had already returned to their homes. "Ahh..... you old kids.. Come out and play, come out and play with me..." Ryuho mumbled as he walked. Realizing only after a moment that there was no wind, Ryuho looked up to see two ninjas some distance away from him. He appeared before them in his usual uniform, although his clothes looked dragged and untailored. They seemed to be Yukigakure ninja. Ryuho's senses were now alert, as he had the foreboding preoccupation that any veteran shinobi would get once they meet a ninja at night when everyone else is asleep. Ryuho tipped his strawhat over so they could get a better look at each other, and so he found himself looking at them with a gentle smile......

"Ho~ho, I think you must not have met the real me, Mr. Ninja. I'm just a strange, lonely foreigner from a distant country. You should not fight with a ronin like me. I don't know what this place is. However, if you consider yourself a strong man, then I will treat you to a really nice breakfast, tomorrow, okay?" Ryuho offered.

In respond to the strange man's challenge, Ryuho scratched his right cheek in utter confusion, for it seemed that this Yukigakure ninja had called him out earlier and they were supposed to meet tonight. It must have been during the Hokage's drunken stupor when he was going out with the girls. He must have caused a ruckus and ended up getting challenged by this young man to a duel. Either that, or the shinobi was confusing him for someone else, which Ryuho could not see happening, unless the imposter recognized him as the Hokage and used the Transformation Jutsu to run around causing chaos. This guy is sketchy.... I should avoid him for the duration of the Festival.... and I'm not old... but I do have a lot of chest hair... thought Ryuho. He scratched the back of his head.

Regardless, Ryuho did not like to get into fights, even if for a two-minute sparring session. He was dueling a stranger, and it was night time, with the only witness being the accomplice, who seemed to be the subordinate end of the relationship between the two. Ryuho wiggled his right hand as if giving off the message that he was "not sure", then proceed to put his hands up with a rather dumbfounded, goofy look on his face......

Junpei had adopted the battle stance, which is a telling sign that Ryuho was about to get involved in a battle. "No can do, Mr. Ninja. No matter what you do you can't-" Ryuho stopped short, as his guard went up as the Yukigakure ninja rushed towards him with both hands on his blades. He was probably a skilled swordsman, but a bloodlusted one at that, probably lacking no traditional discipline. Ryuho disliked the hot-blooded swordsmen, and secretly obtained the tendency to whip anyone with that kind of attitude.

After Ryuho made his counter attack:
"Your man is wise. Attacking strangers in the middle of the night can get you a prison sentence in this country, Mr. Ninja".

As Junpei ran towards him, the next thing Ryuho knew was that his hand was on the hilt of his left Takashi, and he had partially unsheathed it in time to block the dual sword attack from the Yukigakure ninja. Sakana had landed just two inches below Takashi's handle and Kiga had landed just half an inch below that. Yare yare.... I really hate violence! Ryuho loudly called out inside his head, wishing to end this misforgiving as soon as possible. Ryuho shifted his body a little to the right, and kept his feet firm on the ground, as he unsheathed his blade in an Iai-type attack. Using the frictional velocity generated from Takashi's edge hitting on his sheath, he intended to draw out his Takashi so he can overpower Junpei's grip on his two guards and simultaneously injure the man's left shoulder. Ryuho's Takashi would follow along its attack path after overpowering Junpei's two blades to touch his left shoulder, which will slash up some blood from him. Of course, it's just as well that Junpei would retreat from Ryuho's attack.

Ryuho's slash had missed the man's shoulder as he had withdrew both of his blades and merely took advantage of bodily tilt. Without a doubt Ryuho was dealing with a Kenjutsu master, which is unpleasant for him for he had not warmed up for this battle, and was shaken from his own lack of bloodlust and recovering soberness. Now Junpei had taken the time to build up some leverage for his impending impaling thrust, which Ryuho would have to raise his fighting morale in order to guard against, for fighting against an accomplished dual-sword user requires both of his own hands and swords.

Intuitively, Ryuho moved a foot a step back to regain his balance but also leaned forward a bit. The blade was aiming for his left shoulder area, but with such a small targeted surface area, it was easy for Ryuho to make a sidestep. He parried Junpei's thrust with a strong strike towards the left side of Junpei's Kiga (from Ryuho's eyes), which would shift Junpei's Kiga down towards Junpei's right, avoiding Ryuho altogether. At the same time, he used impressive footwork and body angle to make a similar tilt to what Junpei had done, turning his body to the left in case his counterblow failed, which allowed Ryuho to lock eyes with Junpei. Now he had the advantage, for Ryuho's Takashi was right on his Kiga, in between the tip of the blade and the hilt. They were now within range of each other, but Ryuho had particular skill in close quarters combat, that allowed him to make use of his earlier leaning forward, and propel himself towards Junpei the instant after he made the parry to launch a quick elbow strike towards the middle of Junpei's face before Junpei could finish the reach of his thrust attack. "I'm not old, Mr. Ninja" Ryuho suddenly blurted out - plainly and innocently.