Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Let the Boxer Beware

Neph-T, the significantly smaller of the two combatants present in the arena stared boldly at her opponent who towered in front of her, in height and in bulk. To an uninitiated eye, such a match up would've appeared completely unfair, but once the fundamental principles of martial arts came into play, oftentimes the larger opponent was on the lower end of the table. Not to mention the complete table flipping element of chakra also being in play, the fundamental force of nature that could have been utilized for various techniques and body augmentation.

Neph-T darted off, charging straight at her opponent. It was an even bolder and more shocking method of assault – a smaller opponent just mindlessly rushing at their opponent. Gasco responded with a slow, yet powerful, downwards hook that shook the very ground beneath the feet of the two and emitted a thunderous cracking sound. Neph-T blitzed with a sideways vault, moving behind her opponent before her arms pulled forward revealing an object she had pulled from her tool pouch in mid rush – a roll of bandages.

"That was amazing"! Meiko yelled out in surprise, she wasn't alone – the entire hall watching the battle rustled in awe of how masterfully the girl kept her tool concealed and how skillfully she utilized the size of her opponent's own arm to conceal her act of pulling the bandages out. Even Lord Sixth shifted his seat in excitement.

As the dark-skinned girl yanked on the bandages, they tightly wrapped around Gasco's arm and locked it behind the towering man. It was a temporary augmentation of strength, also it would've only worked for a brief heartbeat, just before Gasco recovers and reads the situation and utilizes his own strength against the girl. That would be something she would have no way of competing against.

Neph-T leaped in the air with a sharp and swift kick right to the center of the man's back. Judging from how awkwardly and grotesquely Gasco's back turned – it was a mighty and well-aimed kick that dealt some damage and really tickled some nerves. Gasco yanked on the bandage, having finally mustered enough strength to put some of his own initiatives in. His recovery speed was near instantaneous, and it seemed like getting a crushing blow planted into his spine and the excruciating pain of it was nothing of note for the giant.

Gasco threw a sharp and straight punch, the howling sound of the fist crushing air was something to awe at. Instead of getting pulled in for a crippling blow, Neph-T used a kunai to cut her string of bandages and then quickly cartwheeled back, effectively switching places with her opponent, from where they started and blocking Gasco off from the scroll that'd unseal his partner, but also blocking herself from hers.

"That's confident, maybe too confident", Kiyomi pouted her lips before turning at Mana. "Hey, you're a sensor, right? Is there anything we can't see going on"?

"I can't tell that much, I can just compare their chakra sizes and confirm that they're actually there. If we were under genjutsu I'd be able to tell you where the real enemy is. In this case, my abilities are not very useful, I'm afraid", Mana shyly admitted. As a briefly trained martial artist she was able to tell that these two were just starting out – poking each other and keeping good eighty percent of their potential in their defensive and evasive maneuvers.

"That Gasco seems like a real powerhouse. Many people would've been broken in half by a kick like that and he just bounced back effortlessly". Meiko grinned in excitement. Mana had never noticed the concept of fighting being so exciting for her friend, maybe something happened during this last week that made her appreciate it more?

"It's not his natural strength. It's his sensory, it completely shames my own. He knew where Neph-T's kick would land and he augmented just that specific area of his body, without wasting an ounce of chakra on unnecessary patches of flesh. Normally a ninja would augment their entire back in such a situation, wasting chakra and greatly raising the risk of something going wrong, like them losing their chakra manipulation, yet Gasco didn't waste a single ounce of his energy", Mana admired her total superior in sensory prowess. It looked like to Gasco Patura sensory was as natural as moving his arms and legs, like having eyes in every chakra pore of his body.