Colosseum - Round 2 - Strazio Rockwell vs Kakashi Hatake

[Storyteller]

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson shuffled passed some tiny persons en route to his new seat. For some reason, the smaller member of the Rock n' Rock Connection decided to swap sides of the arena, which meant his largest supporter (both physically and metaphorically) had to relocate his seat to get the best starting vantage point.

"Beat it, Jabroni, this is the Rock's seat," the wrestler-turned-actor demanded as he 'gently' nudged someone from his seat. "Yours is over there now."

"On who's authority?" The little person asked.

The Rock lifted his eyebrow. "What was that? What's your name?"

"My na--"

"I DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!"

With that, the displaced man started on his journey to the other side of the Colosseum, leaving the Rock to settle into his new stone cold chair. In front of him, Strazio was within distance of a piece of popcorn, but when the Rock tossed it toward the smaller man, the buttered kernel smacked into whatever invisible hocus-pocus kept the fighters in their little area.

"Beat his candy ass, Rockwell." The Rock shouted, knowing by the twitch Strazio gave off that his tag-team partner had heard him.

In the battle zone, Strazio stood before the Coruscant flags, and his adversary waited in front of Diablo's demonic standard. There was a gong, and they were both off.

Judge – Sinbad

Kakashi posts first and may do so at any time after 10 PM CDT.

Description of fight area and other information can be found here - <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://omniverse-rpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4362">viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4362</a><!-- l -->

Please refer any questions to that thread.

Word Limit: 750
Posts: 3
Time Limit: 48 hours
SP use is enabled. SP does not regenerate between rounds. Injuries may occur. Neither injuries nor SP use are factored into judgment, only the quality of writing

[Kakashi Hatake]

Kakashi secured his porcelain canine mask over his visage as he entered the battle zone, examining his would-be battlefield. The first portion of the tournament had taken place in a plain, earthen arena, symbolizing the battle that it commemorated. The scarecrow had been comfortable with this set up, having spilled blood in many such war-torn locales during his career as a ninja. The stage on which the two ‘actors’ in Camelot’s ‘play’ now stood could not be more different. The area set betwixt the sharingan-wielder and his foe was completely alien to him. An array of metal platforms of varying shapes, sizes and heights spread across a wide expanse, some topped with artillery and others with meager protective bunkers. At the bottom of this void, the silver-haired shinobi noted what seemed to be a pool of...purple slime? Kakashi needn’t to be told that splashing into that mess was likely a bad idea.

"Beat his candy ass, Rockwell!"

Hatake’s attention shifted at the exclamation, his eyes finding the source of the commotion in the crowd. A shirtless bronzed mountain of muscle stared back at him, eyebrow cocked menacingly. The ninja shook his head slowly, turning back to his foe. The white-cloaked man appeared to show annoyance at the spectator’s remark, intentionally averting his gaze.

This should be interesting.

As the gong sounded, Kakashi wasted no time in approaching this battle’s equipment. His opponent appeared to be unarmed, which did not bode well for the shinobi captain. The last round had no doubt filtered out the weaker combatants, and if the robed man had conquered without a reliable weapon, he was much more dangerous than he appeared. Glancing at his adversary, Kakashi noted a complete lack of movement, almost as if he were daring the shinobi to initiate conflict. Not one to cave to such tactics, the scarecrow quickly grabbed his gear from the rack and hopped to the adjacent platform, seeking refuge in a shabby shack.

“I had better employ some strategy this round…” Kakashi muttered, dropping his items at his feet. Outside of his foe’s scrutiny, Hatake was free to take stock of his accouterments. He had been assigned the ‘role’ of a warrior on the side of a demonic horde, his present gear reflecting said alignment. A tower shield adorn with what appeared to be nearly a dozen human skulls rested by his side, adjacent to an ancient cudgel that simultaneously cast a sinister red glow and wisps of dark smoke from cracks along its surface. He could only hope that these relics were as threatening as they seemed.

“You gonna hide the whole time motherfucker?” His adversary’s taunts echoed across the expanse, clearly audible despite the the rowdy crowd. The onlookers cheered louder at his remark, no doubt eager for bloodshed. His last battle had likely been more eventful than the copy-ninja’s own bout; the masses had chosen their side.

Kakashi ignored the jeer, formulating a vague plan of attack. With such a small chakra pool gifted to him by his omnipotent captor, the silver-haired warrior would need to improvise. He knew of many jutsu that would be useful in this instance, but none of them came cheap. With a sigh, he brought his hands together. Gotta be this one.

Rockwell grunted in frustration, leaping to a small landing adjacent to his own. He was through waiting for the masked coward; if he had to detonate the entire platform, it was fine with him. As he made to spring to the next area he finally caught sight of his foe, the shinobi leaping stealthily to another bunker.

“Hah, keep hiding. See if I give a shit.” The scarred sorcerer sneered, quickly making chase across the platforms.

His prey remained within the steel shelter, easy pickings for the pursuing participant. With another powerful leap he touched down on the platform, quickly entering the fortification. Rockwell caught sight of the surprised shinobi, snickering as his arm began to crackle with white-hot electricity. “Well, it was fun,” he mocked, letting loose a stream of destructive power on his opponent.

“The fun has just begun,” the mage suddenly heard from his rear.

Strazio’s eyes shot open as his prey’s body disappeared in a puff of smoke with an audible ping. Realizing the ruse, he spun to meet the gaze of his slippery foe, growling with frustration. Before he could move fist or tongue, the shinobi’s club crashed into the side of his skull.

Google Docs says 750. Kakashi used Shadow Clone Technique, Strazio used Shatter.

[Strazio Rockwell]

Dazed, reeling, and confused Strazio tumbled into the darkened shack. His world shattered into fractals as his mind tried to scrape together reality. Even anger couldn’t find purchase in his scattered thoughts. Strazio pressed his back against the flimsy corrugated metal, trying to use the shed as a stabilizer for his spinning world. Blood and pain filled his mouth in equal measures. The shinobi’s club had done more than just scramble the Defender's brain, it also cracked several of his teeth from their fleshy sockets. Kakashi stalked towards his opponent, ready to end the battle before it even began. The taste of blood and the throbbing pain was all Strazio needed to regain some sense of lucidity.

Strazio did the only thing he could do, he spat.

He spat a mixture of blood, phlegm, and shattered teeth at the ninja. The disgusting bloody clam splattered against Kakashi’s chest. For a moment the two stood in an awkward, pregnant silence. The blood in Strazio’s spit began to erupt violently. Sparks danced around the bloody wad, finally exploding after a moment of trepidation. The shed and twisted shards of metal went soaring through the arena. A torrential downpour of cheering busted forth from the crowd. The concussive force of the explosion slammed into Strazio's chest, ripping the breath from his lungs.

He almost wished that he was dead.

Almost.

No, what he truly wished was that he hadn’t eaten a cudgel to the side of his face. Hell, he even wished that he still had all his teeth. The explosion had ignited his cloak and sent him skidding to the edge of the platform. He fell low to the ground and gasped for air, swallowing as much precious oxygen as his lungs could hold. The Avatar fumed at the thought of getting outsmarted. The Scarecrow’s ruse had stoked a fire inside the roiling furnace of anger that was Strazio. With his first clean breath the Avatar of Anger yelled. Chunks of blood spattered onto the ground as Strazio roared in a display of frustration and pain.
His body struggled against him, but Strazio forced the damn thing to move. Slow deliberate movements punctuated the Avatar’s being. Strazio unclasped his smoldering cloak and threw it into the poisoned abyss. Another blob of bloody mucous was spat onto the scaffolding as Strazio called out to his opponent. Sloppy words fell from his swollen mouth, but the intent was clear.

“You gonna hide fo-evah? I’ll blow up thith whole fugging arena if I ‘ave to!”

A fusillade of metal stars answered his threat. Strazio’s instincts kicked in a moment too late and the shurikens bit deep into his back. A furious scream followed the shinobi’s assault. The Avatar whipped around in the direction of the attack, but found nothing except a jeering crowd. In frustration Strazio fired a bolt of raw magick across the battlefield.He hoped that a display of power would draw the ninja out of hiding.

“Over here” Kakashi taunted the pissed off mage.

Strazio glanced over his shoulder to see the ninja relaxing as if he wasn’t currently in a battle of life or death. A simple chuckle escaped Strazio’s lips as he raised his hand towards the foolish shinobi.

“I don’t know how fathst you think you are, but you can’t dodge thiths.”

Brilliant white sparks tore across Strazio’s palm, and with a grin he asked, “any lathst wordths?”

“Behind you”once again the laid-back ninja mocked.

The energy charged forth from the avatar’s palm and crashed into his target, dispersing it in a cloud of smoke. Strazio's eyes went wide and he gasped as the realization hit him. Kakashi had managed to fool the rage-fueled avatar not once, but twice. Lightning and steel sparked behind him. Panic pumped through Strazio’s veins as he scrambled for an escape. Electric sparks tore away his flesh, breaking it apart into so many tiny lightning bugs. The shinobi's blade cut through the cloud of lightning, but found no flesh. The cloud of energetic particles swallowed Kakashi as it surged past him. Every firefly took a bite of his flesh as they cascaded over him. The storm of sparks reformed into a grinning Strazio on a nearby platform.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Kakashi’s eyes sprang open in shock as his saber slashed at the stormcloud of his opponent’s roiling flesh-sparks. The masked shinobi could only scramble to raise his ossified aegus, the macabre barrier doing little to stall the pernicious pyromancer’s intense incursion. Pain danced across his flesh as the motes of molten energy tore into his skin, his body recoiling reflexively from the blast. The scarecrow soon found himself tumbling laterally, perhaps in a conditioned response to the fiery sensation now sending bolts of agony along his neurons. Whatever the case, his brain soon recognized a falling sensation as he rolled clumsily off of the platform.

This is no way for a battle to end…

Before he could further contemplate his failure, the copy ninja felt another sharp pang of agony as the raw flesh of his recently scorched shoulder struck steel. Though the cool metal was a welcome sensation, Kakashi was more pleased with the ‘not being in poison sludge’ aspect. As he got his bearings, the Anbu captain had to admit that he had never encountered an enemy with a technique quite this destructive. Moreover, his foe evidently had no qualms with turning his abilities on his own body, making himself a living weapon. It was painfully obvious why Rockwell had elected to eschew the plethora of available armaments; he did not need them.

Pain prickled across the swordsman’s body, his minimalist armor now mostly shredded by the barrage of explosive attacks doled out by his foe. His torso had taken a serious beating, though his scorched arms had not fared much better. The mage, however, had sustain a good deal of damage as well, his swollen visage a testament of this. Kakashi raised himself painfully to a seated position, his sharingan honing on the rapidly-moving cloud of sparks that was his opponent. He watched with contempt, barely hidden beneath the lip of the platform, as the sorcerer’s form again became tangible, a smirk pasted on his ravaged face.

“Hidhing again?!” Rockwell lisped, his swollen lips betraying his attempts at speech.

Hatake had to agree with the battlemage, concealment would do little to help him at this juncture. He had lost his smoldering shillelagh in his initial assault and surmised the odds of successfully re-arming himself were slimmer than he’d like. The silver-haired shinobi had to admit that the bloodthirsty battler’s strength clearly outmatched his own, but Kakashi gambled that his own strikes may continue to find purchase if he abused their difference in speed. He had managed to do so thus far, buying time and landing a few surprise strikes through use of his shadow clones, though his opponent would likely not fall for such a ruse a third time. With a smile on his face, he got to his knees, surreptitiously scooting to an adjacent platform. Maybe that’s what I need…

“Come outh, come outh!” Rockwell jeered, his breaths somewhat wheezy from exertion. He was not about to let the cowardly combatant sneak up on him again. The sorcerer savagely stalked to the edge of the platform, energy crackling across his skin.

Kakashi eyed his prowling foe from his new vantage point, consciously focusing what was left of his chakra. If he was to make a dent in the sadistic sorcerer, he would need a bit more oomph behind his blows. He tempered his resolve, energy pooling in his gut. With a deep breath the scarecrow stood from behind his cover, chokuto in hand. Kaimon; Open!

Strazio instantly caught sight of the ninja, eyeing him with a mocking gaze. “Righth, now comesth the clone bullshith.” He shook his head, raising a hand toward the silver-haired swordsman as he began to dash toward him. “I’m sthick of thath shith,” he slurred, turning away to scout for his shady foe.

A burst of chaotic energy bolted from the man’s palm as the shinobi neared, the battlemage’s gaze averted to scan in vain for his opponent. Kakashi ducked low, his enhanced speed allowing him to narrowly avoid a faceful of fire. With a swift sweeping motion, the ninja’s blade carved a broad gash across his opponent’s gut.

“MOTHERFUCKER.” Strazio roared as blood gushed from the gash. Rage quickly replaced his agony as adrenaline took over, arm snapping out reflexively to take hold of his assailant’s cinereous locks. With a guttural, animalistic roar he brought the shinobi down hard. Kakashi felt porcelain shards puncture his cheeks as the brawler slammed his face into unforgiving steel.

750 words on the nose according to Google Docs. Using Kaimon: Gate of Opening (Tier-1 Power-Up) for this post. 1/2 SP remaining.

[Strazio Rockwell]

A veritable torrent of red poured forth from Strazio’s stomach. Every survival instinct flared to life. Strazio panicked and slammed his opponent into the steel platform. Energy charged into his muscles and hot sparks pumped through his veins. The fear of death scratched at the back of the Avatar’s mind and he knew he had to get away from Kakashi. With his supercharged muscles he gripped his opponent by the back and lifted him from the ground. Another liter of flowed from his gut as he threw the shinobi away from himself. Kakashi tumbled across the arena leaving behind a trail of blood and porcelain shards. Strazio’s energy cocktail faded and the devastating mixture of exhaustion and anemia assaulted him. Trying to take a step sent his world tumbling and he fell to his knees. Heaving pained breath punctuated the sounds of gushing blood. The gash was deep and wide, it was a wicked wound that would bleed a man dry in mere moments. Around the edge of the laceration hungry white sparks danced. These lightning bugs cauterized the wound, searing the edges of arteries and veins. He staunched the majority of the bleeding. Around his neck hung the crest of Darkshire, the crest was a heavy reminder of his promise to Demitri.


“Fuck,” Strazio muttered, “I canth die.”


Shuddering and sputtering Strazio forced his defiant body to stand. His legs shook underneath him and thick blood seeped from his charred wound. He stood because he had no choice, to die here would be unacceptable. He stood because it was all he knew how to do. His village burned and he rose from the ashes and blood. His entire life was a defiant progression forward. A guttural roar erupted from deep in his gullet and cascaded across the battlefield.


Nothing would stop him.


Nothing could stop him.


The crumpled scarecrow crawled to his feet. Shattered and crumbling the canine mask fell from his face in large porcelain shards. His red eye watched Strazio, the sharingan analyzed every minute movement. Sparks crawled across Strazio’s flesh and began to wreath his arm in destructive lightning. The shinobi was already moving as the Avatar let loose a world-ending bolt of roiling magick. Kakashi slid under the attack and returned a volley of metal stars. The shuriken bit into Strazio’s leg and he yelped in pain. Several more shuriken whizzed past his head and he dove to the edge of the platform.


Frustrated at his opponent’s unwillingness to fight Strazio’s eyes scanned the battlefield for respite. Hiding wasn’t his style, but neither was eating volleys of throwing stars. He scrambled to the edge of the platform and peered over the edge. A circular landing sat below his own and in the center of the platform was a tin shed. This would be his bulwark against the ninja. Strazio gripped at his wound, covering his hand in fresh blood. Under the cover of an explosion he would escape into the shack and lie in wait. The blood started to spark and he scattered it in a wide arc around himself. Another series of explosions rocked the arena. Using the cloud of debris as cover Strazio jumped to the lower platform and hid inside the darkened shed.


An eerie silence followed the explosions. This was a risky gambit, he had no idea if Kakashi could sense his presence. Strazio’s mouth filled with cotton and his throat refused to swallow. His entire body threatened to fall apart and his heart tried to leap from his chest. The door to the shed creaked open and the silhouette of the ninja appeared in the threshold. An inhuman battle cry escape Strazio’s lungs as he charged the shinobi outside. A burst of white struck Kakashi square in the chest and his form exploded in a puff of smoke. “Not thith time!” Strazio yelled and whirled around to face the shinobi hiding in his blind-spot. Hoping to push him over the edge of the platform the Avatar charged. Surprised at the reckless aggression Kakashi raised his blade in defense. The two collided with each other and tumbled over the edge. With a thunderous slam they crashed into the poisoned ground. The toxic air chewed into their flesh.


Strazio laughed and picked himself from the ground, “I can handle the pain, can you?”

[Kakashi Hatake]

Panic.

The silver-maned shinobi could not remember when he had last felt the icy grip of alarm slither up his spine and ensnare his throat. Truthfully, it had been many years since he truly had any such a feeling. He had vowed to kill off emotion years ago, as many shinobi were wont to do in their lives as human weapons. For Kakashi, however, this choice had been made before even his first mission, upon finding his father prostrate in a pool of his own blood, kunai in hand. As years passed and his loved ones fell before his eyes, one by one, emotions were caged. Drained of remorse or concern, he became less a human and more akin to the blade he carried. He was a tool, existing purely to end lives.

As he raised himself unsteadily to his feet, the scarecrow felt the rapid pounding of his heart against his ribs. His hands shook as blood dripped from his scalp, dribbling down his cheeks and soaking into the cloth mask that obscured his mouth and nose. The pulsating sensation and nigh-blinding pain around his left eye told him the socket had been shattered by the mage’s assault; his visual prowess would be useless from here-on out. He cautiously raised a gloved hand to the injury, only to withdraw it quickly as the redoubled agony of contact nearly brought him to his knees. Breaths came rapid and shallow as yet more broken bones announced their presence, bringing with them their own brand of suffering. Kakashi was unsure if the shards protruding from his face were porcelain or bone; he lacked the time and the tolerance to find out. Poetically, his bone shield lay shattered some feet away.

The sadistic sorcerer eyed the shinobi from a few meters away, a savage smile carved into his contorted countenance. Though he had lost much incendiary ichor following the ninja’s savage strike, he stood firm, equal parts amusement and ire mixing behind his eyes. Hatake and Rockwell had left the safety of the elevated platforms, the latter having dragged the duo into the sea of caustic chemicals the ninja had noted earlier. As luck would have it, the two had landed upon a colossal metallic ‘wing’ of some futuristic spacecraft, sparing them the struggle of drowning in liquid poison. Somewhat less fortuitously, as the sharingan-wielder noticed, their landing area was itself at least partially submerged in the toxic tide, the wardrobe of each warring man soaked thoroughly in contagion as they prepared to clash once more. Kakashi could already feel the effects of the miasma that wafted from the sludge’s surface, his nausea multiplying as his skin began to burn under what remained of his clothing.

Strazio let loose a ghastly cackle, blood spraying from his lips. “I’m familiar wif pain, let’s see how YOU handle ith!” Without another word he took off, his boots splashing recklessly through the knee-deep chemical bath.

For an instant the ninja froze, terror holding him fast. His opponent seemed possessed, bent on destroying the shinobi at the cost of his own life. Whatever motivation the man had to bear down on Hatake despite his body’s imminent failure, he could not comprehend. Would the ninja die here, thrashed about by this madman before succumbing to the mauve miasma they were steeped in? Omni had promised rebirth, though Kakashi hardly had reason to trust the notion, ridiculous as it was. He knew not the mad god’s intentions nor his motivations, only that he had been taken from Konoha and plopped into an entirely new world. A world, he had been told, that served as a second chance to many. Kakashi finally felt the weight of these words as he stared down his imminent doom. A second chance… A chance to make amends with himself. To perhaps make good on his promise to Obito, in his own way.

“Too eathy!” Rockwell snarled, cocking back a crackling clasp. “You’re done!”

At the last moment the shinobi twisted his shoulders, the sorcerer’s savage strike catching him square on the bicep. The sharingan-wielder felt his arm dislocate as he was sent skipping across the toxic sea, coming to a stop just beside a familiar-looking cudgel. Kakashi clambered laboriously to his feet, grasping at the burning baton as he stood. He was battered, bleeding and poisoned, but he was far from through.

“What do you say we wrap this up,” he mocked, raising his weapon. “I’ve got a mission to complete.”

[Strazio Rockwell]

　　There was no greater drug than rage; no greater painkiller than hatred. Toxic poison seeped into Strazio’s flesh, forcing it to bubble into wicked boils. His lungs threatened to collapse as the miasma scarred and burned them. Respite came in between breaths as he exhaled the deadly fumes. The Avatar found some measure of reprieve in the thought that Kakashi lacked the resolve to survive in this hell. Reprieve was short lived as his opponent seemed calm and collected as if the searing gas was nothing more than a minor annoyance.
　　
　　Strazio took the moment of calm to tear at his blood-stained shirt, or rather what was left of it. The soft white linen was reduced to nothing more than a tattered webwork of bloody scraps and charred remains. His scarred and fevered hands tore it away, revealing the tortured and emaciated body underneath. Branded into his chest was a bright red chevron, a permanent reminder of his past and his hatred. Furious white pinpricks charged across his body, tearing into the flesh and leaving behind a small network of burns. No more words would be shared between the two, there was nothing left to say. Strazio was frighteningly close to the brink and he was all too aware of his terrifying mortality.

　　The crowd watched in ecstatic anticipation, their lust for blood would not be satisfied until death consumed the competitors. Unfortunately for the crowd, neither intended to die easily. The Defender of Darkshire lumbered forward, his bones creaked under the weight of his own body. The roiling thunderstorm of rage seethed quietly below Strazio’s skin. He had held the rage quiet for too long and it wormed its way to the surface. With a devilish roar and little regard for his own safety he charged forward. His boots kicked through the ankle-high pool of poison, splattering drops of the oily liquid into the air. Kakashi side-stepped the Avatar’s wild charge and brought the club down hard across the small of his enemy’s back.
　　
　　Refusing to break his momentum Strazio rolled with the strike and whirled around for another assault. Only complete annihilation could stop his rabid onslaught. He tackled the ninja and the two tumbled into the caustic slime. Their battle devolved into a grungy struggle of raw strength. Strazio’s fatigued muscles strained against Kakashi as the two tried to drown their opponent in the choking fluid. Energy poured into Strazio’s ravaged muscle tissue he screamed and forced the torn flesh into overdrive. He pressed against the shinobi, forcing him down into the lethal liquid. For a mere moment Kakashi’s silver-haired head was completely submerged. The caustic toxins bit at his flesh, eviscerating his soft skin.
　　
　　Fatigue hit harder than any opponent.
　　
　　Unearthly fatigue devoured Strazio. The energy that supercharged his muscles faded quicker than last time and he was left with almost nothing. Even his unbreakable resolve faltered as his grip around Kakashi’s throat slipped. The seasoned ninja took the opportunity to shove Strazio away. The mage offered little resistance as he tumbled back into the slime. He had no more energy, he was spent. Short of sacrificing his internal organs for a little bit of extra power he had nothing left to use. Strazio’s mind filled with fever and fatigue and he tried to stumble away, but found his body weak and unresponsive.
　　
　　Kakashi’s skin began to rot away from such direct exposure to the chemicals. Without medical attention he probably wouldn’t survive for more than a few minutes, but a few minutes was all that he needed to win. The silver sheen of his trusty blade twinkled just underneath the surface of the liquid miasma. He retrieved his tainted blade and turned towards the exhausted mage. Strazio thrashed into the poisoned muck, trying to force his broken body to move.
　　
　　The fear of death did little to spur his spent body into action. Neither did the crackling of lightning as Kakashi poured chakra into the steel blade. Strazio cursed himself and his weakness. He limped away from the shinobi, trying to put distance between the two. Inside his own gut he began to sacrifice strips of flesh from his organs. If he couldn’t survive than he would not allow his opponent to survive. The strips of his flesh metabolized into a meager amount of magick energy, enough for one last attack.

Used Overcharge for a second time, I take 2 points of damage, but that doesn't really matter in these fights.

[Strazio Rockwell]

　　The damaged shinobi lumbered towards Strazio. Roaring rumbling cheers erupted through the crowd. They demanded blood, they demanded that there be death. The energy in Strazio’s palm flickered to life. Pallid white sparks crawled out of his skin, proof of his survival. It was a desperate move, but desperation was all that he had. Strazio clenched his jaw tight, the pain was almost unbearable. His organs were being ripped asunder by his own destructive magicks. But the sacrifice was needed. A burst of white energy ripped from Strazio hand and pierced Kakashi’s chest. Without fanfare the shinobi toppled into the poisoned muck. The cheering crowd couldn’t have sounded farther.
　　
　　It was over. Kakashi’s limp body refused to move and Strazio was named the victor. The poison liquid drained slowly from the arena. Pained breaths entered Strazio’s ravaged lungs. Weakly he stood and immediately vomited a small portion of blood. Yes, he was so painfully alive. He stood over Kakashi and watched the slowing rise and fall of his chest. The ninja was still alive, but barely. He would not be fighting anytime soon. Without another word Strazio limped towards the exit. He had survived another round.

I have chosen to spare Kakashi, albeit with serious wounds. If he really wants to die though, that would be his choice.