Taro struggled to his feet and clapped his hands together, forming the serpent, boar, hare and dragon signs. “Double Dragon Totem jutsu!” The earth around him began to tremble as a thick, 3 man tall stone pillar rose from beneath his feet. Two large dragon heads with malevolent eyes, one inscribed with red fire kanji, the other with yellow lightning, were carved into the pillar. Their mouths hung wide open, as if trying to swallow the world. Taro waved his hand, and his naginata jumped into it. “Let’s see you get me up here, you slobbering demon!”
Responding to the challenge, Okuri leapt at him with blinding speed. When he came within 10 paces of the totem, the eyes of the stone dragon head glowed green, and shot balls of fire and lightning at him. By twisting in the air, he managed to dodge the first volley, but the second hit him hard in the chest. The blow sent him back to the ground, his body bouncing backwards like a skipping stone on a lake.
At first he seemed to be gravely injured, but to Taro’s horror, Okuri jumped back onto his feet on the third bounce. He shook his head, as if he was shaking off water, and turned back to the totem. Okuri snarled viciously at the great stone shaft, seeing if it would react. When it didn’t, he leapt to within 10 paces of it. The dragon eyes began to glow and, anticipating the attack, leapt circularly to the right. Imagine his surprise when the totem rotated as fast as he did!
Both the lightning and the fire struck Okuri in the face, causing him to lurch backwards. When the smoke cleared, the skin on his face had been completely burned away, exposing the muscles beneath. Okuri might have gone blind if he hadn’t kept his eyes shut. Taro laughed. “You fool! There’s no way you can get past this defence with pure speed! I’ve killed opponents that moved faster than I could see with this jutsu!”
But then Taro heard the gruesome noise that accompanied unnaturally quick regeneration. Okuri’s skin, starting on the edges of his face, grew back, tattoos and all. His eyes opened and he snarled at his opponent, enraged that he had put up such an irritable defence. He channelled his anger into his fist and smashed it into the ground.
The entire arena shook.
Okuri’s eyes widened. He smacked the ground again. The totem wobbled slightly. He smacked the ground harder. The totem wobbled more, and Taro strained to maintain his balance. His fang filled smile spreading across his face, Okuri began to beat the ground beneath him, alternating hands, sending cracks running up the walls of the arena.
