An agreed upon conflict

Sumoki had been looking for something to do for a while now. Truth be told his days of patrolling the Rukongai and it's outskirts aimlessly had become a bit dull, and ever since the last war he felt like he needed to test his mettle more often. He had grown content, and his power had thus hit a plateau. All the Vice Captains and students he once trained were slowly but surely catching up to him, and they were making their own marks on the Gotei and the idea that they'd pass him by soon was just.. it wasn't something he could sit by and watch idly. It was bad enough when Osamu did it, but the war revealed more about where he stood than he ever wanted to admit.

And that was why he was here, he held a double sided dagger in his right hand and he was currently staring at it, as though he was looking for some kind of ancient sage wisdom that was inevitably never going to come. "What should I do? Come on, tell me already!"

Unfortunately for Sumoki, the response he elicited now was similar to the one he'd been hearing for the past several hundred years..

"Only you, can prevent wildfires."

Yato had been back in soul society for a few months since his last mission and he was getting pretty restless. After his mission, he had been debriefed and granted some leave to recover, but since then, he hasn't had a shred of action outside of training with Tengetsu in their shared world. But, he hoped that a walk would be enough to clear his mind and give him some level of excitement. He made his way to the outskirts of the Rukongai, an area almost totally devoid of life on most days. He had wandered out there for the sole purpose of getting to train in the real world without having to worry about any civilians getting hurt.

As he walked through the area, he eventually stumbled upon another Shinigami who seemed to be wandering the area. The man seemed to be talking to a dagger that was held in his right hand. It was easy to assume this was his Zanpakuto's true form and he was merely conversing with its spirit. Deciding to be friendly mostly thanks to his own boredom he would approach the other shinigami, "Yo! Name's Yato, how's it going?"

Sumoki turned to face the man behind him. "Sumoki Kuma, Vice-Captain of squad two. I'm guessing you've heard of me by this point, lord knows I've heard about you."

By this point Sumoki would shake his head, holding his Zanpakuto firmly at his side as a gleam slowly began to form in his eyes. "Say, you wouldn't have happened to come out here for a fight would you have?.. I know it's maybe a long shot but I could.. really afford to knock the rust off this old thing. Get a good workout in as an added bonus.. I know it's not probably what we're supposed to be doing while out on patrol buttt.."

Sumoki inhaled, letting his body prepare itself before he'd speak again. "Well it's not like anyone interesting has to know. So what do you say Yato, care for a spar out in the middle of no where or do you have better things to do?"

Yato would nod at the man's introduction, he had heard of the Vice-Captain of the Second division. And when the other man offered a chance to fight, Yato could hardly say no, he could already feel his Reiatsu beginning to rise at the offer. "Of course we can have a friendly spar, nothing wrong with that!" He would pull Tengetsu from his back and hold it in front of himself in a combat stance, waiting for a moment, giving his opponent time to get prepared, but as soon as he saw that Sumoki was ready he would rush forwards, attempting to deliver a horizontal strike to his opponents mid section. "I'm not gonna hold back, I don't expect you to either!"

It had been too long since he got to spar another Shinigami and he was still somewhat mentally recovering from his battle during his last mission. That human was far stronger than anyone he had fought thus far and he had such unique abilities that he would need to work on improving himself to be able to challenge him again. But, until that time, Yato would practice and train and battle until he was stronger.

Sumoki's offer was accepted and this brought a small smirk to Sumoki's lips as he split his blade in two. The man ran forward, his blade was held with loose precision and Sumoki found himself able to react with relative ease. He parried the strike with one dagger, pushing it down towards the ground in a sweeping motion before Shunpoing forward with his opposite hand free to try and slash the Shinigami across the chest. Once this was done, Sumoki would Shunpo out of range and look on, curious to see if he had done any damage. Regardless of whether or not he had, he'd place a cigarette in his mouth and inhale deeply, keeping the smoke in his lungs as he awaited his opponents next move. "Come on then, let's get this show on the road eh?.. And don't worry about me holding back.. I would never dishonor a fellow Vice Captain that way, come at me!"

As the fight got underway, Yato's energy continued to increase, showing his enjoyment from the battle. The other shinigami seemed to have two daggers in his base Zanpakuto form, which was interesting. He managed to parry Yato's blade and moved to slash his chest with a shunpo, it was only from luck and his extensive combat experience that he managed to avoid the brunt of the damage, but the front of his robe was slashed. His opponent created some space and coaxed him with some words and a display of how comfortable he was by putting a cigarette in his mouth. Yato had learned some from his past experiences, and put that out of his mind. "Alright then, it is only fair that I give you my utmost strength then!"

Holding Tengetsu out horizontally, parallel with the ground, "Shine, Tengetsu!" there would be a flash of light as his blade was coated in a black reiatsu energy with blue trails. Pointing it at his opponent, he would release a bullet of reiatsu around the size, power and strength of the average bala. "Let's get this party started then!"

The mans energy began to increase and Sumoki found this to be.. curious, to say the very least. He made a mental note of it, seemingly pushing it to the back of his mind for safekeeping. Sumoki had come close to finding home with his first strike, the mans robe was now cut open and even this brought Sumoki some small measure of satisfaction. As the man entered Shikai, Sumoki figured he'd be wrong to avoid doing the same. "Very well, Choke, Hazey Tomb"

Once Sumoki said this, his body became enveloped with a layer of armor and his blades were now about 3 inches longer. The minute this transformation was complete, he dropped a ball of smoke and in a second his Reiatsu signature had disappeared. The bala level blast whizzed by Sumoki's center mass, scorching his side slightly as it passed by. Nonetheless Sumoki was motionless except for moving his field of smoke forward towards his opponent, the attempt was simple. He was going to try and goad them into him the easy way, because the hard way was going to look a lot more messy for both of them..

Yato would grin as his opponent activated their own Shikai. It was clear that this battle would be far more interesting than he had even first assumed. This though excited him all the more and his energy continued to build on this excitement. Once his opponent dropped his smoke bomb, it was obvious that the goal was to disguise his true location and draw Yato into the smoke where he would have the homefield advantage. This tactic might work normally, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be falling for it. He would have a hard time calling himself a lieutenant if he fell for such a basic trap. "You'll have to try harder than that!" he would exclaim as he leapt back more, creating more space between himself and the smoke. Holding Tengetsu in front of himself, he would allow it to levitate gently, tapping one side, causing it to spin rapidly, similarly to a fan before catching it suddenly, causing a whirlwind to spread out towards the smoke. "Hadō #58, Tenran!"

He had used this particular spell with the intention of blowing the smoke away. If this worked, he would send another Reiatsu bullet at his opponent. If it failed, he would fire a blast into one of the nearby abandoned buildings, destroying it into a multitude of rubble and other assorted debris. He would then raise his hand and thrust it towards the smoke pile, "Hadō #57, Daichi Tenyō!" The rubble and debris from the demolished house would rise and then launch themselves into the smoke as a sort of random shotgun attack. He was litterally shooting in the dark, after all.

So the spell worked to say the least, as the Hadou was cast Sumoki was forced to evacuate the location at once, heading skyward and to the left as only half his smoke was able to follow with him. The rest of it was rather obviously dispersed, and that was only going to make way for an even bigger headache. Sumoki was able to dodge the first bullet, but the shotgun barrage of nonsense was another issue entirely and it prompted a bit of a harder response. A piece of the debris immediately became lodged in Sumoki's arm, causing him to grimace before Shunpoing forward. He exhaled as he landed and a plum of smoke enveloped the area around him and Yato, and his Reiatsu was once again concealed as they were both presumably within the mound of smoke.

Sumoki's next decision was a bit simpler. Given he had closed the gap he came in from the front with a wild sideways slash at the mans chest. If he backed up, well.. Sumoki's smoke would have in that time formed into a giant ten foot tall bear, and provided Yato moved backwards he'd walk right into the waiting claws of the beast. Imagine, getting slapped by Smokey the Bear. Couldn't be me chief.

Yato would grin as his Kido had done their jobs, the first dispersing most of the smoke and drawing his opponent out of hiding and the second seeming to wound his challenger and show them he wasn't messing around. The battle was only becoming more and more interesting as his Reiatsu kept on its incline, his strength and speed now more than double what they had been at the start of the bout. It was then that his opponent landed, slamming a plume of smoke around them once more. He knew his opponent would be rushing him, well, he assumed that since its what he would do in that situation. Rushing backwards, he was going to attempt to blow the smoke away one more time, but he was caught slightly off guard by a massive smoke bear. Not knowing exactly how to react, he went with the first thing that popped into his mind.

Using his blade somewhat like a bat, he would use his Reishi blade ability, sending the force of the bears attack, converted and enhanced by his own Reishi, back at his opponent. He assumed that not only was this person strong enough to damage themselves, but would get even more damaged with Yato's power stacked onto the attack. He made sure to hold back enough to not severely wound his opponent should they take the brunt of the attack, and he would leap back creating some space between himself and where he presumed Sumoki was.

Abilities Used:

Sumoki inhaled, allowing his lungs to fill with smoke as his bear was dispersed in front of his very eyes. "Searing Ash"

As soon as Sumoki said this he expelled a large cloud of smoke where the bear once stood, it intermingled with the already present smoke and exploded in an instant. Anyone caught in the area would be on the receiving end of second degree burns at minimum, and the smoke and ash would choke them in a pretty unfortunate way. This matter was made worse of course by the fact that the explosion within the cloud itself was enough to deal roughly cero damage. Sumoki immediately followed up, rushing through the cloud to find his target, dragging the cloud with him if his opponent had opted to flee. Upon closing distance with a flash-step, Sumoki would make a horizontal slash at the mans chest, before bringing the blade up and across diagonally to defuse any potential counter.

Sumoki retreated backwards after this attempt into his smoke, figured he could continue to allow his opponent to flounder until they were weak enough for him to go for a finishing blow.

Yato wasn't given a moment to rest as he saw his opponent let loose another attack headed straight for him. It was obvious he wouldn't have time to use his reflection blade against it again, so he held up his hand, "Millón Escudo." Creating a hexagonal barrier that would block the brunt of the blast when the ash and smoke exploded, but it was put up so hastily that it broke and sent him flying backwards, giving him no time to recover he noticed Sumoki appear next to him. He barely brought Tengetsu up fast enough to slightly block the blade before he was sent crashing to the ground. Rolling and then getting back into a kneeling position he saw his opponent slink back into the smoke.

While he could feel his pool of spiritual energy was still practically full, he knew that his opponent would be able to outlast him as long as he stayed within that smoke. This only meant that Yato would need to get rid of the smoke in its entirety in order to deal with his opponent head on. He knew that this attack would leave him pretty much completely spent, but he would do his best to capitalize on any sort of opening he could create. Putting his blade to his side, he would preform a horizonal slash in front of him, unleashing a massive blast of Reiatsu towards the cloud of smoke. If it succeeded in blowing the smoke away, he would be following the blast closely as he rushed towards Sumoki attempting to deliver a diagonal slash to his chest. If the attack landed or not, he would leap backwards and fall to one knee, he didn't have much energy left after all those big flashy attacks.

Sumoki's attacks were being held off pretty well, and the mans ability to throw shit at the wall was more than a little impressive given his rank and relative power. The oncoming swipe of Reiatsu was massive, it blew Sumoki backwards with the concussive force from it alone and frankly if Sumoki hadn't Shunpo'd backwards as it happened he'd probably be worse for wear. He tried to collect himself but he was immediately confronted by Yato swinging in his direction, a diagonal slash from his sword was aimed directly at Sumoki's chest. Sumoki was able to parry it a little bit, but the blade still marred his shoulder and dealt the first real damage of the fight. Unfortunately for Yato, he was pretty much nearing his end.

The man leapt backwards and took a knee, he was clearly spent and growing tired. "Want to call it quits or do you intend to press me with whatever you have left. The choice is yours but continuing probably ends with you heading to the squad four med bay."

Letting out a heavy sigh as he attempted to catch his breath, Yato would bow his head slightly. "I concede defeat. You are a worthy opponent, someone I hope to fight again one day. I have learned a lot from our battle and I vow that the next time we face, the result will be different." Standing up, he would deactivate his shikai and sheathe Tengetsu on his back. He needed to get a lot stronger before he was ready to fight anyone with any real power. He would wait to hear whatever Sumoki had to say, and if it required his rebuttal, he would respond. If it did not, he would turn and head back towards his division hq, with the intention of getting some much needed rest and then some even more needed training. He wouldn't accept feeling such weakness ever again.

Sumoki smiled, stepping forward from the smoke as it began to disperse in all directions. "You did well Yato, you've grown a lot since your academy days. I have no problem believing that you're on your way to surpassing me, today just wasn't your day to do it."

As Sumoki finished speaking, he would place his twin Zanpakuto's back in their respective sheathes, slowly analyzing the battlefield to see if anything of note had been damaged. Thankfully for him and for Yato, the damage was confined to a largely open field and so they wouldn't really need to answer for it when they got back. As the two finished their discussion, Sumoki threw his hand in the air to wave goodbye to the man. "Farewell Yato, we'll have to do this again sometime."

-Thread end-