what does char know about the old man? him saying that completely put me off my game, im snapped back to reality as the referee begins to speak
"this duel will end when either of you are knocked out or when one of you lands 10 clean hits, the latter rule will be removed once the tournament has progressed but is in place now to prevent matches from going for too long, weapons are allowed but lethal force is strictly prohibited, you may now begin."
before i can even try to scope out the fight char pushes himself forward so hard that his foot cracks the ground from the force, char strikes me right in the stomach
"1 point to char!" the ref shouts out and before i can stand back up straight im met with a knee to my nose "char 2 mikku 0!" char is much faster and stronger than i had anticipated, outsmarting him wont be an option. char swings and hits my ear and with his other fist he strikes me in the stomach again "char 4 mikku 0!" this is bad, i have to turn this around quickly or im done for. char throws 2 quick jabs at my stomach "char 6 mikku 0!" he keeps going for the stomach, its effective but predictable, he goes for another hit this time to my head, it hits my ear and i use the momentum from the hit to dodge chars next hit, he goes for another head strike but i block it with my arm and with the other i hit char in the stomach.
"char 7 mikku 1!" char has a big lead on me but if im fast i can earn some points, after i hit him his arm that had gone for the head strike dropped which leaves me with an opening to his face which i take, my fist makes contact with his jaw, hes staggered by my flurry of attacks and before he can react i hit him with an uppercut and to end my attack i hit char on the side of the head with a roundhouse kick.
"char 7 mikku 4!"
"im impressed mikku" char spits out blood and reaches into his mouth and rips out a tooth that had loosened from my attack "but youre gonna have to try harder if you want to beat me" char aims the tooth at me and flicks it with all of his strength, the tooth speeds through the air like a bullet, char speed blitzes behind me, my knees buckle as theyre kicked from behind, i have a millisecond to dodge the tooth, it grazes my ear, char goes for another hit
"replacement jutsu!" i switch places with the tooth and chars attack strikes the ground cracking the cement, im behind him now gaining the upper hand for just a second, with this window ive created i punch char in the back of the head as soon as he regains balance and then when he turns around for a sweeping strike i duck underneath it and hit him right on the cheek. char 8 mikku 6 i think to myself. in the blink of an eye char grabs my face and lifts me into the air
"youve put up a good fight but its time to end this" i kick my legs back and then forward swinging myself, my foot hits char in the chin and he releases me, i continue the motion and flip all the way around backwards landing on my feet.
"char 8 mikku 7!" ive almost tied this match, char rushes towards me but i slide between his legs getting behind him once more, but getting behind him wasnt the goal, i needed to make some distance between us so i can catch my breath for a second.
"youre slippery" char pulls a kunai out of his pocket and spins it on his finger. two can play it that way, i pull out two kunai and get in a fighting stance, the knives clutched tightly in both of my hands. "i guess its time to get serious, i didnt want to this early in the tournament but once i saw i was against the leaf village ambassador that changed things" char cracks his neck and pulls out a second kunai, "not very talkative are you"
"very talkative arent you" he laughs at this. he rushes at me slashing through the air with his kunai, it looks like frantic attacks but i can tell that this is calculated, hes guarding every possible angle i could attack at lightning speed, hes either waiting for me to attack so he can counter or hes going to get me used to his speed and the pattern of his attack and then switch it up and go for a hit when i least expect it. i feint an attack and he falls for it, stabbing towards me, if i had gone through with that attack i wouldve been dead, hes fighting to kill now, this is bad. i stab one of my kunai into his leg just barely missing an artery, i had to aim that carefully, if i had missed he couldve bled to death, i take the opportunity of his shock to hit him with an uppercut, the force is so hard that it sends him into the air, his foot makes contact with my chin, he used the same move i had against him.
"char 9 mikku 9!" this is it, we're all tied up now, next one to land a hit wins. char drops his kunai and yanks the one embedded in his leg out, he smirks at it and tosses it aside
"im done playing games" char is now directly in front of me, he moved so fast i couldnt even see it happen "dont mess with the 10 kid" char grabs my face and slams me to the ground with so much force the ground under me cracks open and theres an indent where my head is, so char is one of the 10.
"char wins!" i lost on the first round.