Battle of the Bijuu (Okaru vs Griffin)

Griffin made his way through the trees, gliding along the branches. He had been assigned a mission to track down a certain mercenary who had murdered in the Mist Village. His name was Okaru Kuragari and he was a highly classified criminal and extremely dangerous. Being the Head Anbu and only jinchuuriki in the Mist Village it was his duty to hunt down the bastard. Picking up on a rather high chakra level, Griffin stopped and hid behind a tree. Looking into the clearing he noticed Okaru sitting on a rock. Perfect, he thought, this will take but a second.

Griffin created a clone and had it drop from the tree while he went around back to assassinate Okaru while his clone distracted him.

Deep in the forest, Okaru had set up camp after his latest 'adventure'. His dark messy hair hung around his face, and shadowed purple eyes constantly glanced around him. Suddenly, someone dropped down from a tree in front of him, a ninja from the Mist Village it looked to be. "Hmm? What do you want?", he asked, getting up. All was quiet around him, dusk was setting in, and he wanted to eat. So what did this guy want?

The clone smiled and said, "I'm afraid good sir you're under arrest for that little mishap in the market today." The clone was referring to the assassination of a jounin. "I suppose I'm supposed to read you your rights but that's such a drag so let's go you're coming with me." The clone put on a bored kinda face waiting for a response from Okaru. Griffin had moved into the bushes behind Okaru's encampment and had drawn his sai, ready to attack when the man moved.

Okaru chuckled at the shinobi's words. "Good sir? Wow. And what are you talking about, this 'mishap'? I honestly don't have any idea what you're talking about." As he spoke, he gave the surroundings a good look around. He then focused on the man in front of him. "Hmmm...I know you. Griffin...Something or other. Head ANBU of the Mist Village. And from what I've read, you're not stupid. Besides, I can smell you", he said, pointing to the bushes behind him, "Over there. So why don't you just disappear?"

The clone smiled and disappeared, from the bushes Griffin spoke. "Not bad, not bad at all. You obviously aren't someone to mess around with." Forming a quick string of hand signs, Griffin let loose a Thousand Birds Needle technique. "Then again neither am I."

Okaru raised an eyebrow at the man's technique as it came rushing towards him. Quickly dodging, he ducked down, and spun around a nearby tree, as the needles slammed into it. When the rain of needles stopped, Okaru appeared a few yards farther than he had originally been, his kekkei genkai released and his skin pitch black.

"Lightning huh? Quite the element. My techniques aren't nearly so flashy", he remarked, as shadow arms rose from his body, two on his back and two on his sides, beneath his arms. "So, tell me again why it is you're trying to kill me?"

Griffin didn't show any sign of surprise when the man used his kekkei genkai. He had read Okaru's file on the way and had noted his special ability, though he had to admit it was quite interesting. "Quite the ability you have there. Kill you? Who said anything about that? I'm just here to take you in, whether I'm supposed to take you in alive was never stated though." Griffin gave him a demonic grin.

"I'm not just a lightning user I have a few wind jutsus up my sleeve as well." Opening his mouth, a huge sphere of wind and chakra shot out of Griffin's mouth and straight towards Okaru. He had used the pressure damage technique, but Griffin wasn't content with just one so he fired 2 more at Okaru making dodging them quite hard.

"Ok then, why do you want to 'bring me in'?" Why wouldn't this guy just answer his simple question. He didn't have anything against the guy personally, as far as he knew he had never even met the guy. He had said something about a market...was he referring to the job Okaru had just completed?

Instantly, he was bombarded by bursts of condensed air, and without another word he threw together a string of seals, disappearing into the shadow below him. As the wind orbs tore through the air above him, Okaru traveled through the interconnecting shadows until he was beneath his opponent. From there he quickly rose out of the ground, shadow limbs formed into spears, jabbing at Griffin.

Expecting his opponent to disappear but not reappear under him, Griffin jumped upwards but a tad to late. One spear managed to cut his leg, a thin trickle of blood oozed from it. Looking down at it he said with a smile, "You got me." His smile faded when he heard the man's question. "Look buddy don't be a dumbass we both know you killed one of my men today in the market. I hoped whoever hired you is paying you well because you're going to need every penny you have to make bail and pay your medical bills."

Griffin took out his twin sai and channeled chakra into them allowing them to go into their true forms. With his wind and lightning blades out, he ran towards Okaru, jabbed one sai towards Okaru's neck and slashed with the other diagonally at the man's waist.

"I killed one of your men? I think you're mistaken. You see, if I killed one of your men...You wouldn't have known it was me", he shot back, a wolfish grin on his face. While he was a bit amused by this man's forwardness, he was somewhat insulted. Why would he take a job to kill another ninja? And a Jounin at that. A job of that level was beneath him.

As his opponent readied his two sai, Okaru rocked back onto the soles of his feet. Wind rushing from one, lightning blazing from the other. This would be tricky...Suddenly, he pounced forward, creating two more arms from his chest and another two from the bottom off his feet, launching him with terrifying speed towards Griffin, four fists sent flying his way.

Griffin smiled, the guy was funny, "In a strange way I'm starting to like you. Look, whether it was you or not doesn't concern me. I was sent to bring you in, so I'm just following orders." As the man sprouted more arms, Griffin stepped back for a moment before attacking again. Making a quick decision he met the man's arms with his sai. Jumping up and bringing both sai in a vertical motion, Griffin landed behind Okaru and two of his shadow arms came with him.

Turning on his heel, Griffin sent a chakra infused roundhouse kick at Okaru's head, a kick powerful enough to shatter bone. He also threw two shuriken at the man's body.

As the man jumped up and cleaved off two of his shadow arms with his twin blades, Okaru grinned. Not at the excitement of the fight, fights were stupid. No, he grinned at the thought of taking those blades from Griffin's corpse. Not for use by him, of course. He had his own blade for when it was needed. No, he would sell them. Weapons like that brought in some decent coin.

Before his other limbs hit the ground, he grew two more, on his back, one of which caught the kick, the other blocked the shuriken. However, it was a close thing, and the kick continued to push Okaru even after be blocked it, throwing him across the forest floor, dry leaves crackling in his wake.

Getting up, he brushed himself off, bits of dirt falling from his form. "You're starting to like me? That's funny, because I generally don't like the people who are trying to kill me. In fact, it kinda pisses me off. Nice kick, by the way. My turn." Flowing through a series of handseals, he suddenly brings a dozen shadow arms from the shadows behind Griffin, intent on snaring him, while Okaru launched his Twenty Arms Barrage technique.

Griffin made a face of small surprise when the unseen shadow hands wrapped around his being. "This could be a problem." He muttered to himself as Okaru launched an attack at him. Going through a small string of handsigns, he clapped his hands together, starting his Lightning Rod technique. A column of blue light extended down from the sky, cutting off the shadow hands and surrounding Griffin. "Sorry, but that's not happening." He extended the column, to block Okaru's attack.

As he watched his shadow arms disintegrate as they met the bolt from the blue, Okaru debated about how to make his dark limbs more durable. They could just be destroyed too easily. Mentally adding that to his to-do list, he let the severed limbs disintegrate into nothingness. As black shadowy bits drifted through the air before disappearing from sight, he sighed. "Not happening eh? Well here, I'll make you a deal. Because I have no idea why you're talking about, and because you haven't pissed me off yet, I'll give you this option. Just...walk away. Say you caught me and killed me, disintegrated me, I don't care. I just want to eat, sleep, get paid, and move onto the next job. And right now, you're kinda in the way."

Griffin just stood there for a minute a blank look on his face. Then he smiled, his smile grew even bigger, and bigger, before long he was on the ground laughing so hard his sides hurt. "Oh god that's rich, let you go!! HAHA!!! Good one!" Gathering himself back together he looked at Okaru again, this time his face was completely serious. "Look buddy I really don't give a shit that you murdered that guy. Sure it was wrong, blah blah blah, I hardly knew him and he didn't have any family anyway. The reason I tracked you down is because you have a little demon inside you just like me. I haven't had a good fight in awhile so, all I'm asking for is for you to give it your best. In the end I won't even kill you, I'll let you go."

Griffin smiled again, his teeth were now sharp and his finger nails started to grow into sharp talons. A deep gold chakra flowed from his back, encasing his body. "Comeon, show me what ya got."

Okaru watched with a somewhat bored look on his face while his opponent writhed on the ground in laughter. He figured Griffin wouldn't take the offer, but hey, bad guys were supposed to give the offer to run away. Okaru simply continued on that custom.

"You don't care that your fellow ninja was killed? Not that I killed him or anything, but still. Some Head ANBU you are. Wonder why Mako would pick a guy like you to be his second in command", he responded, a little heat in his words. Sure, he was a rogue ninja, and sure, he had killed lots of people. But it was one thing to kill, and another to speak ill of them after the fact. At least, in his mind. "Give the dead some respect."

"I'm not surprised that you know of my demon. I don't exactly hide it. Adds to the image, if you know what I mean. And if I'm correct, I believe that you have the Six Tails in you. Hate to break it to you, but I've got the Eight in me. And in case simple math is beyond you, eight beats six." As he stopped talking, purple liquid-like chakra began to ooze from the ground, surrounding his body in noxious chakra. His eyes turned to reptile-like slits, and his hands into claws. "After you."

"Happily." Griffin said in a somewhat demonic voice. Stepping forward, the ground around his feet broke as the massive amount of chakra broke it down. Running forward, Griffin made a punch to the left, but faked it and jumped into the air infront of Okaru. Spinning, he put a leg out in an attempt to smash Okaru's skull.

Okaru was prepared to block the punch with ease, but the man would have to be an idiot to attempt a simple and obvious maneuver like that. So he wasn't surprised when instead of a punch, he had to intercept a kick coming down on his head. Raising his arms in a block, he stopped the kick cold, before launching two shadow spears extending from his own arms at point blank range, directed at the mans chest.

Imidiatly after that, however, he quickly sunk into the shadow he was standing on, and reappeared flying out of the shadow the tree cast behind Griffin, completely silent, more spear arms ready to impale him.

His kick being blocked, Griffin landed back on his feet, sai still out. Cutting through both of the spears he focused his attention on Okaru again. However, Okaru had disappeared yet again, "For a man with such power you are quite the coward." Griffin called out. He sent another influx of chakra into his body, as a gold lions tail formed behind him. The release of the tail was so great that gold chakra shot out around him making a small crater. Gold chakra wings began to form on his back allowing Griffin to glide in the air, and the feathers in his hair began to spread around his entire body.

"Time to die." Griffin said in a demonic voice rising into the air with his wings. He created a gold chidori and, noticing a rather heavily shadowed area with his improved vision, dove forward chidori first.