Elysian Ranking Exam

Brushing the silver hair from his face, Azusa would walk onto the battlefield with confidence in his step. Hands in his pockets, he would walk to a tree stump nearby and take a load off.

"God, I hope Shadow isn't my Proctor... he will make my life hell during this shit... on the other hand, he would probably ramp my rank up to Spl. Jounin or even higher..? Oh well. Looks like I'll just have to find out. Maybe I won't have to wait here long..?

××Appearing from the lake across the way, Snow would walk onto the battlefield and stare down the man that was already here. And here he expected he would be the only one trying to get a rank up today. What a drag..××

"..."

Shadow would materialize in a twist of space between the two with his arms folded. A look of curiosity would creep onto his face. This should be slightly entertaining. Shadow would grin a wicked grin.

"Give me everything you've got and I will judge your skill."

Azusa would smile. He was indeed right. It didn't take long for the action to unfold. Quickly standing and reaching in his bag, Azusa would pull out 5 rubber bands and load them all on one finger and pointed at Shadow. His pupils would turn red and a blue aura would encompass his body. It was time.

"Take this, then!!"

Releasing the rubber bands all at once, they would scream towards Shadow at high volicity. His Contract ability allows Azusa to amplify the kenitic energy of the projectiles he uses. At this point, the rubber bands have the capacity to tear through steel with ease.

Upon seeing Shadow Uchiha, Snow would do a few hand signs and within the very same instant, a massive water serpent would shoot up from the lake behind him. Shooting upwards about 50 feet, the water serpent would aim it's head down towards Shadow and make a rapid decent onto his position. Upon impact, the Serpent would explode.

"......"

Raising an eyebrow, Shadow would be rather surprised. Teaming up without saying a word to one another? Elysian Shinobi were truly linked in one way or another. He would remain motionless. As the rubber bands flew at him, large strands of lightning would surge from around him and fry each rubber band as they approached. Shadow would look up towards the water serpent.

"Fire Style: Twin Headed Fire Dragon.."

Seemingly spitting enough flames to burn down a small city, two identical flaming dragons would spiral into the sky and wrap themselves around the water serpent. The heat and convection from Shadow's flames were easily hot enough to make the water serpent evaporate... BANG!!! Upon the explosion of the water serpent, the twin dragons would seemingly explode with it. Quickly doing a dozen hand signs, Shadow would smile.

"Collaboration Style: Flaming Wooden Pillars..!!!"

Two massive wooden pillars would shoot up from the ground on either side of Azusa. The heat alone from the burning pillars would be enough to leave 2nd-3rd degree burns. Looking over towards Snow, Shadow would squint his eyes.

"...how much energy did you consume using that move..?

As the rubber bands got instantly vaporized, Azusa would be stunned that they were so easily brushed aside. Mid-thought, two massive flaming pillars erupted from the ground on either side of him. Instantly feeling the intensity of the heat, Azusa would jump back on top of the stump he was previously sitting on and do a series of flips to further increase the distance between himself and those incredibly hot pillars. Upon landing, he would begin to feel a burning sensation on both sides of his arms and legs. Luckily, his light armor took most of the heat.

"...my god..."

Snow would acknowledge Shadow's question with further strength. Snow was always the quiet type. The aftermath of the water/fire explosion would leave a slight moisture in the air due to the evaporation. He would use this to his advantage. Taking a large leap back onto the lake, Snow would try to level the playing field a little bit. Getting a good 6 feet or so from shore, Snow would be concentrating energy to the soles of his shoes. This allows him to stand on water.

"......"

Within a brief moment, two more water serpents of smaller size would shoot from the lake beneath him and fly towards Shadow. Both of the water serpents would have the same explosion aspect to them, also.

Shadow would have an annoyed look on his face. His interest in Snow continued to deepen. As the water serpents flew towards Shadow, his Mongekyou allowed him to easily predict the serpents trajectory. Utilizing his Flash Step, Shadow would dodge the serpents and appear directly in front of Snow within a fraction of a second. His gaze met Snow's as they were face to face.

"...I do believe I asked you a question..."

Grabbing the sheath of his Demon's Blade around his waist, Shadow would slam the bottom end of the hilt of the blade into Snow's chest. The force of the impact would launch him a good 50 yards away. The Elysian Training Arena's lake is a large body of water so Snow would easily still be on/in water, just much farther away from the shore. Even though the impact was enough to launch Snow so far, he would suffer only from a strong pain in his entire torso. He had made sure not to break any bones...yet.

-Looking over to Azusa, Shadow would squint his eyes. His interest in Azusa hadn't been awakened yet. Maybe he should try a new tactic.

Observing Shadow basically launch that other dude across almost a quarter of the lake, Azusa would clench his fists. It enfurated him that he couldn't really do any sort of damage to Shadow. Running towards the action but avoiding the pillars, Azusa would load up more rubber bands on his left hand and pull out a hand full of marbles as well.

"...ignore me, huh? I could use this to my advantage..."

Azusa would let all five of his rubber bands fly towards Shadow once again but he would still hang onto the marbles. He had a plan brewing.

As he was launched, the only thing that was on Snow's mind was his incredible chest pain. His flow of energy would be briefly stunned simply due to the strength of the blunt hit to his midsection. He would sink into the lake but with the sensation of water, Snow would be able to get back into the right mental state. Shadow is a very intimidating opponent. Snow would do a few hand signs as he began to run short on breath.

"...Torrent..."

All of a sudden, Snow and everything he was wearing would turn into water. Inevitably merging with the rest of the lake, Snow could be literally anywhere within the entire lake. He would wait for the opportune moment for his strike.

As the rubber bands entered Shadow's proximity, instead of being vaporized by lightning, they would seemingly be instantaneously turned into ash. Shadow was emitting large quantities of heat from all around him, it was enough heat to make the lake begin to evaporate. Inevitably creating a mist-like haze within seconds, the haze would cover the entire arena.

"..Susano'o.."

The heat that he would be emitting would whirl around Shadow with intense speeds. Seconds later, the whirlwind of heat would turn into incredibly hot crimson flames that surrounded him and took the form of a flaming ribcage and arms. Tears began to run down Shadow's left eye due to the fact that he hasn't used his Susano'o in a while. Turning towards the shore, Shadow would stare down Azusa with zero emotion on his face.

"Fine. We can play Long Range."

Upon pouring more energy into his flames, Shadow's Mongekyou would begin to spin. Suddenly, the Crimson bone structure would begin to form thousands of black flaming tendrils. These were it's muscles and armor, forged from the flames of Amaterasu, Shadow would swing both of his arms towards Azusa and 30 shuriken would fly towards him at a quick speed. Shadow's Susano'o would remain motionless for now, but the heat from its very existence would continue to evaporate the lake.

Upon seeing the barrage of small circular blades fly towards him, Azusa would have a look of satisfaction on his face. Leaping backwards and throwing the handful of marbles towards the ground where he was just standing, Azusa would create a large amount of debris in the air as the blades flew towards him still. As a portion of the shuriken would hit the large and small slabs of earth, they would either be stuck into the earth and fall to the ground. With the majority of projectiles stopped, Azusa would land and quickly pull out a Kunai and shield his torso.

*cling!* (x5)

Blocking a majority of the remaining incoming projectiles, Azusa would still be grazed multiple times due to the haze that Shadow had been creating. Staring Shadow down, Azusa would take a few deep breaths and pull a baseball sized sphere from his bag. Looking it over for a moment, Azusa would grip the sphere tighter and anger would course through his veins. Activating his Contract Ability once more, Azusa would cock his arm backwards.

"This is it... BREAKER!!!!!"

Launching the sphere towards the lake, it would travel at a blurring speed. Within a second, a wave the size of the entire body of water would fly outwards from the point of impact. In this specific moment, Azusa would be relying on Snow to attempt something. At the state he was in, continuing to use his Contract Ability would begin to become unhealthy for Azusa.

As the lake seemed to jump upwards and outwards, Snow couldn't help but to smile. Although he was still in his Torrent form, he would be able to utilize his flow of energy. As the towering wave headed towards Shadow with a decent speed, Snow's body would begin to solidify within the center of the wave. This was it. Clapping his hands together from within the wave, Snow would begin to manipulate the wave in its entirety.

"Water Style: Great Dome"

Instead of crashing down onto Shadow's position, the wave would seemingly come to a halt. The top of the wave would begin to bend and then arch over Shadow. Reaching the shore, the wave would form into a large dome-like structure that enclosed Shadow within.

"Ice Style: Blinding Blizzard"

As the water dome was established, thousands upon thousands of water drops would begin to shoot out from the inside of the dome onto Shadow's position. As the water droplets flew towards Shadow, they would solidify and elongate into ice needles. The amount of energy Snow had put into his Ice Style would be enough to densely coat the ice. With that factor, the ice would be much harder to melt.

Upon seeing the series of attacks unfold, Shadow's eyes would widen as Snow and Azusa both showed a lot of potential with their combination attacks. This was exactly what Shadow wanted to see here. As the dome of water enclosed him, Shadow would smile and close his eyes. Folding his arms, Shadow's Susano'o would burst with even more power. As the burst of power surged throughout the Susano'o, a crimson sword would take form in the right hand. Slashing vertically from one side to the other, Shadow's Susano'o would rip through Snow's water dome with ease. This would cancel out Snow's Ice attack, but wouldn't harm Snow.

"I see.."

Shadow's Susano'o would dissappear with the same quickness it appeared. Arms still folded, Shadow would open his eyes and look over at Snow, then to Azusa.

"You've both passed the Physical Exam, now, onto the real fun.. despell the Genjutsu you both have been in since the beginning.."

Within the same moment, Shadow would dissappear. The hot afternoon sun would be seemingly blocked out by something of massive proportions. The battlefield would soon begin to have a very frosty chill to it, due to the lack of sunlight. Going from day time to direct and solid darkness, the two shinobi would face a rather difficult problem because they weren't alone in this utter darkness. After around 30 seconds of pure silence, Snow and Azusa would begin to hear feint snarls from multiple locations. Upon further analyzation of the noise, a rather repetitive slithering sound could be heard and it would begin to get louder. Shadow's voice could be feintly heard in the distance.

"Alkel..Physical Manifestation.."

The snarling sounds would turn into frantic roars. The roaring beasts would seemingly be fighting the slithering beast. Moments later, the roaring beasts would drop to the ground one after another. From the sound of each *thud*, Azusa and Snow would get a decent idea as to how big these snarling creatures actually were. After the brawl, the two of the shinobi would feel a terribly evil and ominous presence in front of them. A sinister voice would echo throughout the darkness.

"Shadow.. Who are these people..? Should I slay them..?"

Seconds later, both Snow and Azusa would feel a rather strong whisp of air twirl around them. The slithering sound continued to become more audible as each second passed.

"No, no, no.. I have a greater purpose for these two.."

As Shadow spoke, the slithering sound would become almost completely inaudible. His Mongekyoū would be the only two feint glimmers of crimson within the vast void of darkness. Slowly spinning, Shadow's Sharingan would analyze the two Shinobi to his fullest ability.

¥¥ As soon as Sora exited the room in which he was being confined to, he had come face to face with some guy who immediately took the time to craft some sort of smoke which teleported him into an arena. As the black, inky smoke began to disperse, Sora made his presence known. He was sporting his dark hoodie again, his clothing was back which was good. He also took notice of the fact that he had his Sorujin around his waist. This inevitably made him smile.

His eyes soon shifted, looking around, surveying the arena. Sora took notice of three individuals. Two seemed to be in some sort of sleep-like trance. The other, he knew not who he was. Though, he had a strangely familiar chakra signature, which was surprisingly overwhelming. He decided to remain quiet, trying to get a general gist of what was going on right now. ¥¥

The overwhelming darkness added a lot of overtone to the evil presence that was before him. Concentrating deeply on what is actual reality and what isn't, Azusa would remain motionless and silent. He had an overwhelming feeling of fear throughout his entire body. Shadow did indeed have a very wide variety of ways to dominate the opponent in any form of battle. What is his weakness..!?!

"..."

Upon his loss of sight, Snow would remain calm. He knew Shadow's methods of battle due to the fact that he had fought him before. As Shadow claimed that there was a Genjutsu, Snow would be both surprised that he hadn't realized sooner and impressed.

"..when did that happen..?"

Snow would begin to sort through Shadow's mind games through deep concentration. He wouldn't remain motionless though. Collecting particles of water from the air, Snow w I uld begin to layer himself with water and small fragments of ice.

As the two were faced with none other than Alkel, Shadow would notice Sora and smile to himself. Squeezing the sheath of his Demon's Blade tightly, Shadow's eyes would seem to lock on to Sora.

"Do whatever you want with them, Alkel.. but remember that I need them alive."

~~~ ~~~

Shadow's voice echoed throughout the darkness. Moments later a single light peered throughout the darkness. Was this a way out?

Alkel: "I see.. let's start with your flesh."

Rapidly and silently, Snow and Azusa were binded by some sort of armored rope at the ankles and then the wrists. Tightly constricting their bones, the tendril-like material would feel like it had muscles that squeezed harder with each desperate attempt at escape.

~~~ ~~~

Eyes still locked into Sora, Shadow would quickly do a combination of hand signs. This was his practice at becoming a master at wood style and he wouldn't let that opportunity slip through his fingers so easily.

"Wood Style: Thick Tree Emergence!!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath Sora would begin to rumble rather violently. Moments later thick roots would begin to emerge from the ground beneath Sora and attempt to entrap him within a tree prison.

¥¥ As Sora stared over the expanse toward Shadow, trying to gauge his strength one moment, then to over-assessing the situation before him. He knew not what was going on, neither where he was. In fact, he would have thought that he was somewhere else outside of the Elysium, entirely.

He began to take steps before seeing him visually manifesting chakra to combat the two younger fellows who were opposing him.

Sora held no fear of Shadow. It was surprising, too, because he had just acquired this mechanical arm after having his original one ripped from his torso. You would wonder why he stared death in the face so frequently. ¥¥

"..."

¥¥ He soon took notice that the ground was being manipulated around him. It seemed that wood was protruding from the ground, looking to ensnare him. This would not do. Not one bit...

Chakra release...!

¥¥ Sora said, bringing his hands up into a clap. Simultaneously, he spiritually brought up five orbs of (wind?) chakra. Which spun around his body like orbiting planets. Sora brought his hands up up above his head before bringing them straight down, releasing the pressure around the orbs in a way that mimicked a rocket for lift-off. This would bring Sora into the air at a high velocity which would slow down after he hit 10 feet in the air. On the decent, Sora simply outstretched his arms, still utilizing the currents of wind, touching the ground with a burly swagger.

He stood to his feet, turned to Shadow, and pointed. ¥¥

"Yo, that was close. Watch that crap."

Throughout the immense darkness, Azusa would see a light. This would bring his hopes up slightly but that would quickly come to an end as he felt his wrists being bound. He couldn't help but to succum to his fear at this point. It felt like he was trapped in this prison for years. His mind would focus deeply on reality and begin to move his arm. The pain was excruciating but he would reach his pocket and pull out a projectile. This was his only escape from this prison and he wasn't about to let it slip from his grasp. Eyes beginning to glow a feint cyan color, Azusa would drop the small marble and it would hit his foot. The marble would fly through his foot like it was a bullet. He would wince in agony and squeeze his eyes shut.

"..."

As he was bounded by some sort of metal rope, Snow couldn't help but to sense somethin strange about Shadow's Genjutsu. Hmm.. it appears that the outcomes are all the same. The layer of ice served as a good cushion from the armored rope. Within the same moment he was bound, Snow would have a smile on his face. He had a plan but it was apparent that he wasn't going to get out of this mind game so easily. He would continue to be patient and wait out the artificial pain.

"......."

Staring Sora down, Shadow would stand tall. Hand on the sheath of his Demon's Blade, there would be a considerable amount of dark energy being emitted from the blade within the sheath. The dark energy was strong enough to physically manifest itself into a dark and inky aura around the entire sheath and hilt. If one was to be able to read auras, the conclusion would be that the darkness being emitted from the blade would be seeping into Shadow's Chakra System. Unsheathing the blade about an inch or so, the blank stare that Shadow had been keeping up with sora would still very much be there. At this moment, Shadow could feel the utter darkness that was the true Demonic Essence within his blade and within his soul.

"...It's time to die..."

Fully unsheathing the Demon's Blade with force and an undeniable sense of dominance, The green earth beneath Shadow would seemingly become decayed and baron within a flash. This was due to the enormous amount of evil energy being emitted from the blade and the user becoming intertwined with one another. Pointing the blade towards Sora in a fighting stance, Shadow would wait for his move.

(Azusa and Snow, I want you to post when I am done with Sora so you all can be ranked at the same time. Please continue to watch the topic, but only post when instructed from now on. Thanks.)

¥¥ Sora was looking toward Shadow, somehow being able to pick up on the energies being radiated from his blade. The energy was highly potent. It made Soda wonder why he was able to sense it to be so. For some reason his arm bionic arm began acting up in some weird way. Quickly, Sora clutched it, soon to notice that it was leaking out wisps of lightning. This lightning was white in color, which was rare to Sora. He had only heard rumors of different forms. The only thing he could do previous to this was increase his lightning's frequency. As of right now, he was feeling something that he couldn't control. More than likely, causing Shadow to be confused. Or, maybe he could sense the energy being emitted from Sora.

Because, high above Sora, though still connected to his soul was an ethereal being who probably made itself know to Shadow by staring deep into his soul, or whatever entity chose to pair with him.



Astra: "Sora Takudo. Our souls have been matched by fate, it seems. But, let this be known. My only objective in the end is my choice to tell you. That, in which is unlocked by a brief trial of trust. If you die, your soul shall be cast into the underworld. I can fight my way out, the question is, can you...?"

It all happened in a flash, that connection seemed to come on and off as the moments passed. But, that was the thing, this particular moment Sora felt like his presence was very small. He could perceive energies that were so potent that it could make the hairs on the back of your neck curl and die. To him, it felt like everything in and around those energies held no purpose in being there, and anyone there was already dead. Yeah, Sora felt like he had stared death in the face at that moment. To which he let out a huge breath.

¥¥

"MY SOUL WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED... UNDERWORLD, OR NOT. Just try me... And, see..."

¥¥ From that moment on, Sora removed his hood, revealing a change on his facial features. His eyes wore a black trim around them, giving him. From a personal standpoint, Sora's eyes were taken to a very high degree. He could see shadow in way clearer context, as well as everything around him. He had a literal 180 degree view now, and he felt more confident because he was becoming more aware of his offensive and defensive maneuvers. He couldn't lose today, there was no way.

...

Sora's 5 wind orbs continued to spin around his person. They had ground more ferocious in their movements, which said something about Sora's chakra system...

He forced his hands up, motioning them toward Shadow and one by one, the orbs shot off fast. Their shapes taking the form of boomerangs which all intersected at some point, maybe more than others, getting toward Shadow. They were coming in fast and had a hard encrusted which formed them. Its safe to say thay they were ready to combust and ignite, the moment the got even a whiff of the flames from Shadow.

Sora began to charge forward, following behind his Wind Boomerangs, which should have already been on their way back to him. The ones which hadn't met with Shadow's flames would come back, giving him some much needed cushion, should he need it. ¥¥

Upon seeing the white lightning in its unique glory, Shadow would lift an eyebrow slightly, almost as if he was slightly surprised at the matter. Only hesitating for a brief moment, Shadow would smile slightly. Exhaling slowly, time would come almost to a stop.-

+Within the brief second that was his exhale, Shadow would step forward and the grin on his face would get bigger and more intense. Gripping the hilt of his Demon's Blade in his right hand, Shadow would seemingly teleport to each of the orbs as they floated so blissfully within nearly suspended time. He couldn't help but to take advantage of the sheer speed he possessed. The speed that he is able to move at makes normal time seem slower. His grin would widen.

"Alas, you're still too slow."

Within a flash, Shadow would slice through each and all of the wind orbs with ease and then focus his attention towards Sora. He was indeed a unique specimen. Without any hesitation, Shadow would dart forward, seemingly moving through Sora. Eyes closed, Shadow would inhale and remain in a striking pose. Time would return to its normal pace at this point.+

Slowly opening his eyes and standing straight upwards, Shadow would grip the hilt tightly once more. Suddenly, the orbs would ignite and explode before Sora. Before he could react to what had just happened, Sora would feel a burning pain in side. A drop of dark red blood would drip off of the tip of Shadw's blade as he turned towards Sora after having his back faced to him. The explosions would create a small blast wave, causing his overcoat to flap rapidly. His hair would be blowing around but he would pay it no mind. Slowly, his Mangekyoū would begin to spin ever so gently as the flames from said explosion singed the land around it.

"It seems as if there is a separate subconscious within you.. Hmm..