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With scarcely two meters between them, the rogue ninja seemed rather nervous, shown by the way his eyes constantly flicked warily to the sword held in Ethereal's right hand. And for good reason; at this range Taijutsu and weapon users were at their best, and the rogue no doubt assumed that this was what his opponent was, and with good reason. Who wouldn't assume they were about to be hit with a taijutsu attack when their opponent was brandishing a sword, even though Ethereal was still standing with a relatively neutral posture despite how his amethyst gaze never once wavered in the slightest from his target.

As things were, it was only a matter of time before one would initiate a first attack against the other. And since Ethereal seemed to have nearly limitless amounts of patience, the other ninja was the first to snap. Ethereal was notified of the jutsu by the forming of handseal coupled with the rogue gening taking in a massive breath. Now, being a fuuton user himself and having been forwarned of this genin's skill with the element, it was more than obvious to him what was about to be done, down to the exact jutsu. He'd already mostly expected this jutsu anyway, since his opponent's need to place some distance between them was obvious. A simple run-through of the basic skills made---"Fuuton, Daitoppa no Jutsu!" Yeah... that one.

A burst of wind leapt forth from the rogue genin's lips as he released his jutsu in the direction of his opponent, ripping into the air whatever loose sediment had been lying on top of the earthen roof that was acting as their battleground up into the air as the torrent of wind chakra made its way towards Ethereal. Who, honestly, seemed utterly unconcerned, if only for the moment. Unconcerned (or arrogant) enough to slip his empty left hand into his pocket. The reason why was revealed moments later as the boy casually swung his sword to meet the oncoming rush of wind, no more force behind it than any other strike. But, naturally, he wasn't trying to strike back at the attacking jutsu. Not with his sword at least. The unseen summoning of his own Fuuton chakra being channeled across his weapon had been the only thing signifying his block before the boy called out in response, "Kazekaeshi." in as simple a voice as one could use.

The affect was a simple clash of winds, in which each met in a powerful center vortex which easily caused both Ethereal's jacket and the rogue's scarf to whip around them in an attempt to leave their body before the winds finally settled, both nullified. Saying that the rogue was disturbed by this was a bit of an understatement, but he quickly retained control over the horrified expression that appeared on his face to glare across the roof at his opponent, then smirk after having the realization that he was likely facing off against another ninjutsu wielder. Albeit one with a sharp stick.

Next came a more serious attack, the rogue seeming to give up on trying to place distance between them in lieu of merely lashing out with an attack technique. "Match this..." the rogue muttered before returning to forming handseals. And quite the long chain of them at that, though for some reason Ethereal merely watched warily, though with a decisively more tensed posture than before.

After several moments of preparation, the rogue genin finally let out a sneer, eyes narrowing before he spat out the words, "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" At this, Ethereal's eyes widened a bit, tongue clicking against his teeth in irritation as the name of the jutsu was recognized, letting his breath hiss through his teeth as he quickly kicked his front foot into the ground, propelling his body backward as the rogue let loose a long swipe of his hand, expelling a vicious torrent of wind chakra in the direction of his opponent.

Naturally, Ethereal didn't find the rogue genin when he turned down that alleyway, nor was he expecting to. But every search had to start somewhere, and it would have been a crime if he hadn't at least given the alley a walk-through on the off chance fate would toss another gift in his lap. Sadly, this time there was no such luck. Just high earthen walls on either side, and a dust-filled dark corridor before him. It was quite the eerie sight to be honest, the kind that if shown in a horror movie, the crowd would no doubt be just waiting for the bad guy to swoop down on the unfortunate character who'd mistakenly chosen to wander through such an obvious trap spot.

Of course, that didn't actually happen. Ethereal would have welcomed the change to whip out the sword he whose sheath he was clutching securely in his left hand. It would have been far too easy if he'd been saved the trouble of looking. So, once he'd crossed through the eerily silent dusty pathway and noticed there were literally dozens of similar alleys, he decided a new approach would be necessary. That meant taking to the rooftops, which was exactly what the maroon-haired boy did after stepping back into the alleyway, using the walls and its various built-in footholds to bounce back and forth between either side before finally hitting the roof above.

Not a triumph worth any note if one was a shinobi. And next came the part where said ninja would run from roof to roof, casting quick cursory glances to the space below each gap between the buildings beneath them as they made their leap, searching for any sign of life whatsoever. When Ethereal started doing this, there were many times during which he'd have to stop and go back, to make sure a fleeting shape he'd seen down in the alley below hadn't been a human shape. A few time's he'd even spotted a human below and leaped down in front of them (usually royally scaring the piss out of the poor individual) before having to leap up and go again, never failing to find that the person down there was not what he was looking for.

As fate would have it, Ethereal wasn't destined to meet his foe on the ground. In fact, Ethereal had almost run over the poor genin. For some reason - probably the most intelligent decision the thief had made so far - he'd decided to set up a make-shift camp on a rooftop. And since by this point night had just fallen, the rogue genin was understandably trying to get some sleep. Or rather, had been before a certain red-haired genin had jumped onto his rooftop and began running across it, which naturally disturbed the otherwise silent nature of the night. That wasn't what alerted Ethereal to his target's presence, however. He might have passed by the unfortunate rogue altogether had the boy not been directly in Ethereal's path, and if he hadn't chosen to sit up right as Ethereal was about to obliviously leap over the obstacle on the ground.

Naturally, that didn't end well for either of them. The rogue genin, for one, received a nice square foot to the face while Ethereal was sent sprawling forward to crash against the earthen roof, though his blow was able to be softened by tucking his shoulder in just before the impact. Then came that awkward time when the two groaned and grumbled as they stumbled to their feet, then regarded one another coldly before finally letting lose nearly simultaneous expressions of surprise as each discovered who (or what) the other was, Ethereal spotting the physical features he'd been looking for while the rogue spotted the Suna headband woven through the other genin's belt loops.

Heaving a deep sigh to refocus his mind and prepare himself for the final stretch of his training, Ethereal shut his eyes to gather his focus after spending so much time letting his mind wander. "Final stretch..." he muttered to himself, lips barely moving, "Now to see if I can put it to practical use..." Ethereal's favorite way to fight was to make everything look as casual as possible, performing simple yet elegant dance-like motions to give his form some style while instilling the psychological blow of the possibility that he was hardly even trying. While it wasn't often that the change was actually noticeable, merely doing it was more than enjoyable enough for him. Something about exerting only casual effort while fighting just seemed to make it even more worthwhile.

As it stood, the way he'd performed his jutsu the last two times was unacceptable. For one, an opponent would hardly stand around while he prepared his technique, and for two the Cutting Wind was designed as a quick release of wind rather than a jutsu that needed a lot of prep time to perform. The sheer speed in which the technique could be executed was easily what made it worthwhile in his mind.

So, the final step was to execute it in his typical quick, casual way. Ethereal assumed a sideways stance, this time with his right foot forward, katana held out in front of him, arm out straight with the tip of the weapon elevated mere inches above the sands in a duelist style, entire body looking loose and relaxed. Even his gaze had lost the previous intensity it had held throughout the first attempt and the following success. Instead, as Ethereal visualized the phantom form of an opponent standing in the sands ahead, his gaze was filled with nothing but dismissive scorn.

Then came the lead-up to the attack, this time taking the form of the simple raising of his arm, wrist turning as his arm moved across then slowly bu his body, weapon parallel to that body for most of the rise. "Fuuton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu" Winds swirled up around him once more, lifting and throwing the sand around his body as the sword continued to rise. Then, just as his hand neared the mark where it was a just beginning to reach a foot above his head, Ethereal swung it down in a simple yet deceptively strong diagonal sweep in front of his body. The effect was instantaneous, raging swell of the winds rising up in front of him with the same fury as before, blasting his maroon hair back out of his eyes and causing deep ripples to flow across his clothing.

When the winds had died down and sands settled, Ethereal was already back in a neutral stance with his sword held, as usual, by the sheath beneath the guard, hair just beginning to settle back across his brow. His eyes weren't even on the rift in the sand this time, only flicking towards it briefly as everything stilled. That was all the regard he gaze it though before turning away to grab his jacket, slide into the sleeves, then set back off towards the village. But, anyone that listened could easily have heard the faint muttering of "Perfect..." that left his lips. That was all the mind he payed the thirty by fifteen valley formed in the sands as he walked away from it to begin his mission, now finally confident in the assuredness of his success.

Ethereal quickly got over the disappointment of failing to achieve the heights he'd been hoping for, expression fading back into its previous blank. He took his next position just past the rift and resulting wave of his first attempt at the jutsu, then assumed much the same posture as before, with the only two differences being that he now took a two-handed grip on his sword, weapon now held with the blade still angled toward the ground, yet instead of facing forward it was off to the side, and the way his feet were a bit closer than before. "Fuuton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu"

Next came the inevitable release of his attack, symbolized by the same arcing sweep of his right foot, this time in front of his body, hands swinging his weapon up and over his head to build momentum. This time his feet didn't snap together, instead just leaving his right foot forward as his expression underwent a rather large change for someone like him. His eyes widened with determined intensity, teeth gritting against the swell of sand around him as he forced the swell of his chakra to rise higher along his blade. Then came the inevitable downward heave of his blade, this time with a grunt of effort to increase the power of his swing - merely an action to further focus his mind - causing the tip of the sheathed blade to slam down against the sand, Ethereal leaning deep down over his outstretched right leg.

Once again wind swelled in front of him, this time leaping up with noticeably greater intensity than before. The heights were clearly larger, easily reaching a high of fifteen meters, thus causing the deep rift in the sand to form even deeper than before, an impression in the desert that was doubtlessly larger than its predecessor. And this time, when the winds died down, Ethereal didn't even need to walk the distance to confirm how much further it had gone. The determination that had previously flooded his face turned into a confident grin, eyes narrowing victoriously as he slowly rose back up to an upright position, amethyst gaze admiring the rift of his Cutting Wind. Not to say he wasn't going to measure it... but this time as he walked he looked far more confident in his success than he had before, that grin persisting across his lips.

Mission time. Scarcely fifteen minutes had passed since Ethereal left the Kazekage's Residence after getting his mission to track down the rogue genin criminal, and already he was standing on the fringes of the Sunagakure desert, scarcely fifty meters from the city, preparing for his training. Naturally his course to the desert had taken him by his own home, where he'd quickly swung by and grabbed his trusty katana, then set off once and for all for his training ground.

The air was quiet and peaceful, as the desert usually was - even in the near-fringes of the city like this there wasn't a soul in sight - leaving Ethereal with what he figured was the perfect opportunity to get a bit of training in. The object of today's practice wasn't to get something new, not at all. If he'd wanted to do that, he'd have waited for his teacher to accompany and teach him something, rather than striking out on his own. No, today he was out here for the sole purpose of increasing his prowess with an existing move; his personal favorite, the Kamaitachi. Cutting Wind jutsu, one he could perform without the burden of handseals, enabling it to be used even with his katana taking up a hand without having to go through the time consuming process of putting it down and picking it back up during combat.

And so, the training began, so signified by a slow, controlled change in posture. From his previous neutral stands, gripping his katana below the guard as usual, Ethereal released his hold on it briefly to lower the position of the grip and allow him to snatch it right-side-up in his hand, curiously keeping the sheath on. Next came the sliding of his feet into a wider stance, weight distributed between the forward left foot and the back right foot, though with a slight emphasis on that foot over the other, the toes of the forward facing straight ahead while those of the back were turned off to the side. The sword-wielding right hand stayed on its side of the body, arm downward but raised and curved just enough to keep the sword in a threatening position, covered tip facing forward yet still angled down towards the ground. His left hand was raised up in a guard position, his fingers forming what seemed to be the rough shape of a handsign - index and middle finger straight while the other two were halfway between straight and curled - though that was likely more out of habit than anything.

And with that, he was ready to begin. All that was left was the actual performance... "Fuuton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"

Ethereal's thoughts couldn't help but wander to just who this mystery man could be. In his minds eye, the first thing that came to mind was a tall, dark skinned man wearing a turban with eyes that swirled with the unbridled fury of the wind, sand whipping around him in a whirlwind. Of course, he banished that thought pretty quickly... while that seemed like something that would fit what one would assume the fiance of a female Kazekage would look like, it hardly fit the other sides of his leader. And... because of this, Ethereal could honestly say he didn't have a damn clue what to expect.

But, as the girl beside him had just said, he'd be finding out one day. That was more than enough for him. Ether was a patient person at heart, so he quelled his initial curiosity and gave his teacher nothing but a slow nod.

The way she addressed the newcomer blew away whatever lingering doubts he may have had. It was as though his warning had never happened, body and mind reverting completely to its previous calm. He replied to hearing of her departure with nothing but silence. At least, not until she addressed him with his farewell. "I'll be looking forward to it." he replied, grin sweeping across his face, though neither of the other two could have seen or detected it by the way his back was now to them and the flat, level tone of his voice. His only genuine smiles came when no one was looking.

And then, he was alone. As quickly as the ANBU named Serpant had come, he'd left. Taking the Kazekage in tow. All for the best, of course, but it left Ethereal quite bored. With no pleasant (if a little uncomfortable) company and an empty cup of tea, all he had left was the sky and his sword, and the latter of which hardly counted; his sword carried no particular importance other than its use as a comforting presence in his hand.

With that, Ethereal returned his hand right hand to the sheath of said sword, just below the guard in the same manner as before, then he uncrossed his legs and slowly stood up, sighing and dusting himself off with his free left hand before shoving the palm and four fingers of that hand into its corresponding pocket, leaving them thumb to hook around the outside of the fabric. His other hand likely would have followed suit, were it not for the fact that he'd then have to set his sword down. The hassle of having to pick it up again seemed like too much trouble to be worth it, and his sword was always carried. Never once had he hooked it onto his belt or his back. Having it in-hand at all times just seemed more efficient.

After lingering for several minutes, just standing there still as a statue save for those brief moments when the chilly wind rustled through his clothes and hair, Ethereal made an abrupt running leap off the roof, little warning given before he was suddenly off and on his way back towards his house.

(Exit Ethereal Loussier)