Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

All Stops Pulled

With a loud roar signaling not only his enraged lunge at his friends but also his inner struggle to gain back the control of his mind Laoch leaped down at his two confused teammates. The armored genin was quite fast but Mana noticed that the blue flares on his boots similar to Meiko's own sealing technique that made her boots into jet-boots was missing.

"You can't make him use his techniques, can you?" Mana questioningly glared at the Yamanaka.

Kiyomi was visibly struggling keeping complete control of her opponent but she still managed to shake her head erratically, shaking off some sweat off of her tired and twisted face.

"I don't really understand his armor, a lot of his techniques appear to be based on his armor and switches inside it, setting off sealing glyphs placed inside and such... I think we're stuck with only his physical prowess." Kiyomi concluded.

Laoch's assault was still completely successful as his massive armored arm dug deep into the team medic's gut lifting her off the ground and sending her back through a bunch of trees. While the woman clearly took damage, it wouldn't have been wise to bet that she hadn't augmented her endurance to survive such a crash.

"What the hell, you asshole!?" Clarmac yelled out as he continued to dodge Laoch's offensive taijutsu pressure. Mana possessed more intimate knowledge of evasive prowess and to her it became clear that landing a blow on someone like Clarmac would've been immensely tough for a highly physical combatant such as Laoch.

After one of such dodged blows, where the nimble Inuzuka leaped over his friend's strike that attempted to crush him into the dirt Clarmac tied his legs around his friend's arm and applied pressure on the back of his elbow that had a separate steel piece on it. Laoch yelled out in pain as a snapping sound could be heard in his arm, Mana noticed Kiyomi starting to breathe a little easier for a while.

"Aren't you in pain?" the magician wondered remembering her previously witnessed Mind Body Switch jutsu which completely transferred Kiyomi consciousness.

"No. My mind is in my body here. In fact, pain helps me because it focuses his mind on other things instead of having him fight my influence." The Yamanaka smiled.

With nimble jumps and kicks, vaults and flips Clarmac continued to completely blitz and dominate his friend. Vaulting and avoiding any attempts to grab hold of him or to pin him down with power blows while landing a kick or a quick jab when his feet got back firmly down. While his counterattacks were impressive and matching the abilities of Mana's, if not surpassing them, in that department, he still left little lasting damage on his taller and better geared friend.

"Kraken Fang!" Clarmac yelled out quickly jumping in the air and positioning himself right vertically above his teammate before beginning to spin and coating his tunneling vortex of claws and fists with water.

A dark mass crackling with red lightning blasted Clarmac away with great force, enough to disturb and interrupt his finishing attack but not quite enough to leave too much damage on him. His medical ninja teammate appeared from the rubble of trees and wiped blood off of her face. The streak of bloody crimson matched the shade of her lips and greatly contrasted the white of her pearl teeth and her pale cheeks.

"Don't fight him, Clarmac." she grunted before pointing at Kiyomi with her dyed red fingernails that looked long and sharp enough to scoop out an entire eye.

"She's got control over him. The fact that Mana's team didn't follow Laoch's offensive suggest they wish to protect their teammate – hit her to free Laoch." the kunoichi explained.

Clarmac smiled confidently before turning his glance at the trio of Team Hokage. Mana and Meiko braced for an upcoming attack. Kiyomi breathed out in pain as Laoch's mental defenses quickly returned to lay siege on her own mental foundations. Her body tensed up as her muscles began twitching erratically.