Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Hmph. Arrogant children!"

Ignoring the extreme irony present in his statement, the Mysterious man faced his opponents, the accursed girl who had destroyed his beloved cape, and.........the boy who had sacrificed the documents in fear just a moment ago? How on earth had the child gone from sniveling crybaby to strategic warrior? Had the coward routine been a ruse? Did he retreat to get equipment? The latter seemed to be the case as Sypher threw a Kunai at him, a typical opening gambit for youngsters. Cause the opponent to dodge the weapon - a task he completed with ease - so that they would be caught off guard with an up-front attack, which for this boy consisted of another Kunai in hand, attempting to slice him from collarbone to hip. "Oh, no you don't!" The mysterious man growled, catching sypher's wrist as is came down to cut him, the two locked in place, the man's violet eyes, full of an enraged fire, staring down the young shinobi. "Now now, you gave me a gift. Its exceptionally rude to request that a gift be given back."
The venom in his voice was obvious, but the man kept his wits about him. He did not forget that this boy was a watershifter, who could change his limbs without even using handseals. He didn't have much time before the boy realized this as well, and escaped his grasp. Fortunately for him, the other shinobi was there.

This one did not even bother with throwing weapons, choosing instead to charge in fists first. Whoever this girl was, she was either very brave, or quite inexperienced. The Mysterious man proceeded to aim the elbow of his other arm squarely into Sypher's chest, or if he has shifted into water, what was left of his chest. In doing so, he let go of the boy's arm, his aim to knock the boy into his charging ally just as she made it to his side. Just as the boy (or perhaps, a watery splash of the boy) was sent flying to collide with his teammate, something left the girl's hand. It wasn't a weapon, nor was it any sort of explosive tool used for escape, not was it a jutsu. No, the thing that exited the girl's hands......was dirt.

"Gah, my eyes! Why would you do such a thing!" While his sight was barely hindered at all, the mysterious man's plight came from the possibility that the dirt might get caught in his eye, marring the perfect dark violet shade with a streak of ugly crimson-brown. The girl was neither brave not inexperienced, apparently she was just sneaky. Disengaging from the pair, the man backed up toward the treeline, rubbing his left eye with the corresponding hand, the eye that had actually gotten some dirt in it. "Why must you mar my beauteous visage? Are the horrors of combat not enough, that we must destroy each other's physical appearances?" The mysterious man was barely aware of his two personae - that of the intimidating thief, and that of a man with a love of fine things and moderate narcissistic tendencies - beginning to clash in the middle of battle, and worse, did not seem to care, so angry was he.

(Because your angles of attack were not specified, I had to make some assumptions. Sorry about that.)

(Strength: D
Attack Speed: C
Reflex Speed: B
Nin/Genjutsu power: E
Weapon Proficiency: D
Elements: Fire)

"And another thing! Just how do-GAH!"

The man's continued ranting was cut short by a jabbing sensation in his lower left thigh. Stopping, the man felt at the point of pain and, to his horror, discovered a kunai stuck there. The horror did not come from his injury, the tempered leather of his pants had stopped the knife from doing any harm too serious. What made his psyche crack and his heart cry out was the fact that yet another hole had been made in his precious cape. Wincing in pain, the man eased the knife from his thigh, his rage now overcoming almost all of his sense. "YOU WILL PERISH FOR THIS INSOLENCE!" He yelled, scanning the treeline for sight of his third would-be attacker. Why hadn't the kid taken care of this one? Perhaps he had overestimated his value after all.

Another kunai sailed toward his front section, but the boy he had just knocked over. The distance was short, yes, but the boy threw the kunai as he was shoved, throwing it extremely off kilter. The man let the knife sail past his face with nary an inch to spare, as the other girl came at him with a charge once again, hand now holding a weapon. The girl simultaneously reached for the documents in his hand, while taking a stab at him with her right. Ordinarily, he would simply catch her wrist as it came down, but this one seemed to have some sort of speed of her own. Instead, he took the kunai in his left hand, still fresh with the blood from his leg, and blocked the girl's own knife, locking the two in place, making no move to disengage as he put pressure on his side, forcing her backward. He held the documents high above his head in his right hand, beyond the short girl's reach. How he would have loved to counterattack at that moment, driving his foot into her kidney to bring her to her knees, but he still had the third shinobi in the trees to worry about. If worst came to worst, he could always use THAT, but........he wasn't quite that far gone yet.

(Guys, single paragraph posts do not give me enough material to work with, especially in a battle situation. If you're going to be fighting, you need to be incredibly specific, or your opponent will have to make assumptions, which I had to do now. If I were meaner, I would exploit all these grey areas to my advantage to where two of you would be beaten, which I did not, but could have done legitimately. Claire, mint, neither of you made any sort of mention of the fact that the Mysterious man shoved Sypher into cryshal as he was charging, which would've ended in some sort of heap on the ground. In addition, my post clearly states that the man moved back toward the treeline, while Sypher made no indication of moving, rendering his trip-up void. Long story short: You need longer, more detailed posts, especially in this context.)

(Strength: D
Attack Speed: C
Reflex Speed: B
Nin/Genjutsu power: E
Weapon Proficiency: D
Elements: Fire)

The man's hunch was correct: The shinobi in the trees WAS waiting to attack again. With a shove from his locked kunai, the man broke contact with Cryshal, the second knife she had pulled out driving toward what was now empty space as he seemed to dance through both blades humming through the air, the thrown one embedding itself in the soft earth of the forest, handle jutting outward. Such a beautiful display of his own marvelous skill almost caused him to gasp in amazement, but alas, he had a battle to fight with these children.

And a good thing he stayed focused, too, for he now found himself beset by three attackers, charging him head on, each one intent on taking the document scroll from his hand. Surely he could not fight with a hand holding onto such precious cargo, so he did the one thing he could think of to give him the edge he needed: He threw the scroll into the air, directly above his head and the heads of the charging genin.

Dropping the slightly bloodied kunai to the ground, the Mysterious man engaged the attackers. Rather than stay hidden within the treeline, the third member of the squad had come out of the treeline, his fist aiming to bring harm to the one feature that the man considered more beautiful than his hair: his face. "Ah, ah, ah." The man exclaimed as he leaned just far enough to the right to let the boy's fist pass an inch from his nose, grabbing his arm with both of his now free hands. "This face is far too precious to be scarred in such an ugly fashion." The man brought up his right leg, allowing himself to pivot on one foot, as he pirouetted with Zaku in his grip, using the boy's own momentum to propel him forward, throwing the child after only a quarter spin. Nothing that would keep him out of the fray, unfortunately, but enough to clear the field just a bit.

The watershifter seemed to see this opportunity as one to dive for his legs, a classic takedown in many forms of grappling and wrestling. Fortunately, the Mysterious Man was cut from a finer cloth (or so he believed), and was above fighting with such brutish tactics. His own right foot, which he had lifted in order to complete his spinning throw, came down on what he hoped would be the boy's back, stomping him into the dirt. Or should he say, into a puddle. The move, unfortunately, was one that caused him to almost lose his footing, thanks to the complicated maneuvering he had already had to employ, but a man of his grace was above tripping over his own legs.

"There is nothing you children can do that will- GAH!" The man was cut off as he felt himself fall backward, a victim of a move so simple it was embarrassing to be caught by it: A trip. For while he was a man of more grace than to trip over his own legs, the legs of others were a different matter altogether. Cryshal's leg had caught him just enough to where he was sent tripping in a most unflattering manner, his head poised to hit the ground before his back did, in a way that would surely cause a minor concussion. Looking up at the sky, his gaze drifted towards the scroll, beginning it's descent back to earth, and the three genin spaced around him. "Is this how it ends? Three children, besting me, my hair full of dirt, and the documents back in their hands?" All he could do now was hope that the earth beneath his head was soft.

(Strength: D
Attack Speed: C
Reflex Speed: B
Nin/Genjutsu power: E
Weapon Proficiency: D
Elements: Fire)