Welcome to Gaia! ::

Animus smirked as he watched the poison and petals fall toward him. "This is nothing campared to my power!"

"CM: Diamond Chain Erruption!" Animus' chakra flowed into the earth, and the crystal clearing turned crimson, and began to shimmer into the air. "These crytals will tear the flesh from your skin and make you drown in your own blood!"

Hey, Animus. 'What now, boy? I'm busy.' You know how I can't really do much to affect you while in this state? 'Yes, I'm quite proud of my control over you. What of it?' I can stop you from killing all these people.

Animus laughed aloud at this. 'Really, boy, you are funny. How will you do that?' I can make you twitch. 'So?' I can make my wrist twitch.

Animus' eyes widened in realization as he involuntarily opened Arito's hand, dropping the sword. "MOTHERF-!" And his rage was cut off as Arito's expression returned. The ground stopped dissolving, but still carried deadly shards of crystal, poison, and cherry blossoms.

"This might be too much for me..." Arito thought, grabbing and sheathing the sword, not letting it linger in his hands. "Better wait for the storm to pass. I'll interrogate what's left of this mess"

Arito clapped his hands together, and slid into the trunk of one of the remaining crystal trees. If he needed to, he could crawl into the earth to avoid attack, but here, he could see what was happening. "If I don't rest, I could lose my will to Animus again. Maybe here I'll find out what this fighting is all about."

((This will probably be my only post for the day. I have to go to school today to meet my homeroom teacher.))

The kunoichi stood firm underneath the rain of sand, waiting for it to fall.
Nagase expanded the barrier a little, and reinforced it with her chakra. No piddly amount of sand was going to break through her iron defense. She looked to her other kunoichi briefly, making sure they were ready to attack. The sand fell atop the barrier with a light thump, shielding their activities from view.

The kunoichi exchanged silent nods to one another. They each had their assault prepared and their plan set into place. A few moments later, they dropped the barrier, allowing the sand to fall around them, creating a momentary smoke screen.

Chisame launched another volley of arrows at the hiding Fire shinobi, before breaking from her position at the north of the diamond. She launched herself upward into a high branch, her bow ready for another strike.
Reika and one shadow clone came flying from the cloud of dust, her hookswords held at the ready. They rushed the hollow tree where the man was hiding.
Nanami roared from inside the cloud of dust. She compressed the sand in the air into a tight ball in her palm and launched it towards the Fire Shinobi.
Mitsuko slammed her giant scroll into the ground, causing it crack open, revealing a giant, horned white tiger. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Byakko...."she said quietly. The great beast roared and pulled itself out of the ground, lightning crackling around its horns. Mitsuko hopped onto its back with one graceful motion and pointed towards the tree. The great tiger crouched down and pounced toward the concealed shinobi.


Mama-san finished tying yet another razor wire web between two trees. She was making sure to leave traps in case the shinobi pursue her. Her kunoichi on the other hand, being the intelligent Jounin they were, would expect the traps and know to disarm them. Especially the extremely observant Chisame. She kept running through the woods, hoping to reach the exit as quickly as possible. Suddenly, she came to a large clearing. She had just the trap for this area. She strung several trip wires around the perimeter of the area, each with exploding tags attached, so as to allow entry, but to prevent exiting. She then moved to the center of the make-shift arena and made three quick handsigns. "Kuroi Hanamachi: O-chaya!" She called out. Her chakra flowed into the ground, and only moments later, what seemed to be beautiful Geisha clawed their way out from under the earth. There were at least ten of them, each with a different, deadly weapon. Mama-san smiled at her creations and escaped out the back of the clearing before sealing off her escape route. As she ran, the flowery tattoo on her right arm spread, wrapping around her fingers to the tips and creeping along her chest and neck.

ni-chan jumped off of her fan and landed on the ground. "Hm?" she said aloud. 'were is he?' "How the h**l am i supposed to know?" 'geez, you could've just said 'i dont know'!!! Ni- growled in response.

ni-'s ears twitched as she listened for any sudden attacks.

"This is getting interesting," Arito thought. He was intrigued by the fighting balance of the group of female warriors. He hadn't seen a group that balanced since witnessing an ANBU strike several years earlier. He was very impressed.

The wolf-woman he had been fighting earlier was glancing around urgently. Whoever she had been fighting must be giving her a hard time. Arito wondered where the shinobi in the trees had vanished to.

This battle would be over if you had let me keep fighting... 'Ah, awake are we now?' Stupid brat, I will get you for this. That trick will never work again. 'If I'm lucky, I'll never have to ask for your power again. Besides, what good is an intelligence gathering mission if you kill all the participants?'

Arito looked back through the diamond barrier that surrounded him back to the wolf-girl. "I wonder what other tricks she has..."

Are you not worried you'll be seen? Dimond makes a better window than door. 'Not really, if they can see me, they can't shatter this much diamond, and even if they could, I can escape to another tree through the earth. All those trees you changed gives me a bit of manuverability' Hmph. It pains me to know I helped you.

Ignoring the demon, Arito looked back to the battle with interest. He hoped he could get some more information on the wolf-girl. If he was lucky, he might find something that could help with his own demon...

Arito smiled when he saw that she'd seen him. He didn't believe she could get to him, but there wasn't any good in letting her leave in boredom.

"Let's see if I can't find something for her to do."

Arito put his hand on the ground and focused his chakra into the earth. He was surprised to see how far Animus had changed the forest into diamond. "Let's see how much this demon of her's effects her abilities. Shards won't work to well with her wind and shadow jutsus... Let's see how she does with this."

Forming hand signs, Arito focused his chakra into the earth. "Earth Style: Piercing Stalagmite!" The ground, now diamond began breaking and began uprising with jagged points and edges. Great thorns erupted from the ground and trees like spears rising from the ground.

"These are too big for your wind to affect. What will you do?"

((So bored stuck in the narative can't do anything.))

"Simple...We give each other, 'rewards'. i get to kill, she gets to, well, in a way, 'devour', i suppose." she replied as she did her hand signs. Then, as the leaves neared her, she kept leaping from each thorn while her clone used a kunai to counter the leaves. when a thorn finally hit her, she disappeared and the only one left was the real one.