Journey of Change (and training) [private]

The kid wasn't paralyzed with fear as Shina had hoped, she had to give him credit for that. Better ninja than he would have simply stood rooted to the spot a the sight of such a monster. Taiyo though leapt into action, hurling shurikens her way which, though fast and sharp, seemed to be aimed not exactly in her transformed state's direction. As the result of the slightly skewed angle and her reaction time, the kunoichi was able to dodge both shuriken with relative ease, opening her mouth to emit a deafening roar as a challenge to the young man.

Her sensory could pick him up where he stood, now all that required was for her to land one pounce. Knowing that a touch was all all she would need, the girl turned beast strained her hairy ears and held out a paw in front of her, not in attack but as a form of preparation. Should Taiyo see the beast as unchallenged and not hurt it, Shina would go ahead and simply disappear where she stood, using body flicker to appear right beside Taiyo, her extended paw brushing roughly against his shoulder blade for the sealing jutsu to take place.


(AP: 400 - 10 [body flicker] - 40 [Five Elements Seal] = 350)

The roar does echo through the woods, the sound bouncing off of the trees. And, though Taiyo's heart skips a beat at the sudden, loud, and blood curdling challenge roar.

In response, Taiyo's eyes widen. From the beast's point of view, only his left eye is seen. This gives him a frightening and almost intimidating look to him. Anger is painted right on his face, plane as day, in an attempt to make himself seem just as lethal as his match.

"No matter how hungry you were, it was a mistake to choose me as your dinner." Taiyo whispers with a growl. "Between catching a squirrel and myself, I'm nowhere near worth the risk. But you chose me. That was your first mistake. The second was dodging those shuriken. You would have been better off playing dead. Maybe then, you would have gotten away with only minor injuries. Oh well..."

The words for the most part are Taiyo's own attempt at proving to himself that he is just as powerful as the colossal beast challenging him, that he is just as big of a threat to it as it is to him.

Every movement is registered and contemplated as it happens. In Taiyo's mind, he prepares for every muscle twitch as it occurs. The ears straining. The paw rising. These changes are only momentarily thought about. For each, Taiyo begins multiple scenarios at once, preparing himself for whatever may branch from the current parent moment.

The paw rises and Taiyo's eyes dash at the unusual movement.

"That things has no reason to move like that. It should be pouncing or running, not raising it's arm..." He thinks, lifting his kunai slightly. "No, I'm not ignoring that one. Probably trying to catch me off guard. Well, it's smart but not smart enough. Any another shinobi may stop to think as to why something like that is happening. I'm not any another shinobi."

The kunai posesses a speed of 80 and a sharpness of 70 as it flies through the air aimed at the lifted paw of the enemy, an easy target to strike. After throwing the ninja tool, Taiyo flicks his fuma shuriken to a close. Only one blade, the blade outward above, is visible, the others hidden behind the first.

Falling to kneel on his right knee, his left leg bent at a ninty degree angle and settled still on its sandaled foot, Taiyo slams both of his hands down onto the ground. All the while, he watches his attacker, waiting for it to dodge the coming projectile. Once there, he will begin the Tearing Earth Turning Palm Technique with the beast being the center of the jutsu. Around it, in a 5 meter radius, the ground will spiral in upon it at a speed of 20.

(AP: 250 - 20 [Tearing Earth Turning Palm] = 230 Remaining]

(467/891)
(Total Word Count: 22,618)

(Corrected)

Since there would be no pause between Shina raising her transformed paw and body flickering, Taiyo would have no target fo his otherwise expertly launched kunai (I'm going with this because Shina raised her paw with the intent to flicker in that position while Taiyo had to see it, then - through a series of logical estimation - arrive at the conclusion that the movement is unusual and therefore dangerous, than pull out the kunai. If you disagree, please let me know). The weapon whizzed harmlessly through the air as Shina's actions went through, her beast form appearing directly behind Taiyo as planned, the raised hand meeting either his shoulder should he be in the process of launching a shuriken or his head if he was already on his knee for the earth palm technique. Regardless of what he was up to, the kunoichi turned beast would succeed in touching him and her seal would go through. effectively blocking his chakra.

If everything should go as planned, she would take a running leap back, distancing herself from the male by five meters before letting out another blood curling roar. The message was clear. "Are you any good without your chakra?"

(Same AP etc as before I think)

Before Taiyo can register the 110 speed body flicker, he senses the change in his chakra system. The flow between his tenketsu become slow and labored. His hands pull the earth chakra back into his hands, no longer needing to perform the Tearing Earth Turning Palm technique, and turns while rising to stand. Facing the beast, he ignores, for the time being, his hindered chakra flow to focus more attention towards the current enemy.

Taiyo's breathing becomes deep and heavy, his brain firing on all cylinders to conjure up another strategy.

"OK, what do I know?" He begins, removing his second fuma shuriken and opening both the one in his left hand and his right hand. "For one thing, it's no ordinary animal. If I'm not mistaken, that was a ninjutsu it just used. Right after it touched me, my chakra network began having difficulties. It feels like my chakra's potency has been decreased or as if I don't have as much as I did before. Second, no living thing I've ever witnessed has been able to move that fast. I couldn't even perceive the movement, it was so quick. No doubt, that was the body flicker technique. If I knew how to perform the chakra sensing technique, I would know for sure but even without it, it's clear that this beast can manipulate its own chakra."

A bead of sweat forms on Taiyo's forehead.

"I need to finish this quickly. If it draws out, I will lose. My chakra can't continue like this for long. Hopefully, this new strategy works well enough for me to gain the upper hand." Bringing his left fuma shuriken up, he throws it at a speed of 80 and a sharpness of 90 in a curve trajectory. It flies to his left and has a direction pattern that will take between the trees and to the beast's right foot. The weapon in his right hand is struck into the ground with one of its blades while the other four remain in their own places. His right hand points towards the distant black figure and his fingers spread. From each, one bone bullet fires at a speed of 40 towards an area above the beasts head. This way, in the case that it jumps, Taiyo is sure that the bone bullets will make contact.

Finally, wheresoever the beasts decides to move, Taiyo will meet it from behind with a body flicker, moving at 65 speed, and perform the leaf whirlwind. With a strength of 55 and a speed of 55, the kick will be directed at the beasts neck, launching it forward.

(AP: 258 - 20(x2) [Ten Finger Drilling Bullets] - 10(x2) [Body Flicker] - 12(x2) [Leaf Whirlwind] = 174 AP Remaining)

(437/1,328)
(Total Word Count: 23,055)

Current Stats
Health: 60 (+20)
Chakra: 25
Stamina: 25
Speed: 40
Strength: 40

One touch was all it had taken for the kunoichi to seal away the majority of his chakra reserves. It seemed he still couldn't sense her though. Despite his prowess, he had yet to acquire some mandatory skills like chakra sensory or chakra supression, she had to admit though, the kid was down but certainly not out. Shina hadn't seem a genin this determined for a while now. His speed and reaction time was within hers so the kunoichi could see his movements a smidge before they happened. The shurikens he reached for looked non too good. Despite her transformed state, her health wouldn't be able to survive their sharpness so the kunoichi did what she could, flickered once more before any of the weapins hit her. Using the single seal, the brunette turned beast would disappear from view once again, leaving Taiyo's weapons (and bullets if he still chose to fire them) to mert only clean air.

Her flicker would be towards Toiyo, meaning one of two things would happen. If the boy flickered as she did, they would be in the same position, just reversed. If he stayed put, she would appear behind him try to land another hit, this time trying to use the self cursing seal to paralyze him where he stood.

(AP: 350 - 10 for flicker - 40 for self cursing seal if it goes through = 300)

With half of his strategy already in play, Taiyo's confidence in his success rises. Though his chakra is limited and fatigue does its enhanced damage to his body quickly, he continues to follow through with his plans.

In his mind, he still expects the enemy to move in the way which he is attempting to lure her and, upon her disappearance, assumes that a body flicker has been used so that she can dodge the projectiles sent. With his mind set solely on this one tactic, he, at the moment of realizing that his target has disappeared, follows through and does the same, reappearing five meters from the location which the beast is now.

After his high kick fails to connect with his target, Taiyo lands kneeling on his right knee, His left palms is spread upon the grass. Narrowing his eyes, he performs the Tearing Earth Turning Palm Technique.

"You can evade my attacks all you want." He whispers to himself, "Whether I'm anticipating it or not does not matter. If it's smart enough to use a ninjutsu, then it may have known that those attacks were never meant to hit. Instead of moving the way I wanted, it decided to come to me directly and hit me with another attack. I don't know if it would have had the same effects as that first technique but I have found one thing out. That is that my taijutsu is more advanced. If it were skilled in taijutsu, it would have tried to perform one already. It isn't confident in that department. There is my advantage. But I can't exploit that right now. I see another opportunity."

Being within range of his target, Taiyo spins the ground below the beast inward at a speed of 20. The trees too are ingulfed and topple over onto their sides. The edge of the circle which is the effected area of the jutsu is just before Taiyo's own feet. The trees next to him also fall towards the spiraling pit.

Standing up, Taiyo watches on to see and react to the outcome of his technique.

"The body flicker has an interval of time in which the user cannot perform the technique again. Seeing as how this beast just used the body flicker, it must be unable to move at that speed for a few more seconds." He exhales deeply, out of breath due to his actions having in increased toll on his chakra system. "Now... let's see what you'll do about this."

(419/1,747)
(Total Word Count: 23,474)

[AP: 174 - 20(x2) Tearing Earth Turning Palm = 134 AP remaining]

Shina tried to avoid Taiyo's combination, realizing too late that when she had flickered, so had he. Her grasp met nothing but air as the ground beneath her tore open, her large ungainly feet not as balanced as they would normally be, the disguised jounin dropped hard. It seemed Taiyo had used her bulk against her.

Before she could formulate a plan however, trees were coming down on top of her and all the female could do was curl up and roll awsy before the brunt of the force hit her. This would hurt like a bitch tomorrow.

As the scene cleared, Taiyo would see not the beast he'd been fighting thus far but the form of a slender, dark haired kunoichi nursing a broken wrist, curled oainfully on the ground between several prickly tree branches.

"H-help," she'd call out, looking up at Taiyo with pain clouded brown eyes.

As the dust clears and Taiyo's vision slowly returns to its full range, he stands up at the edge of the rubble. In the pit, the pointed tops of the trees all point towards the center. The ones with their foundations closer to the intended target are much more damaged, some split into pieces. The sharp pines lie scattered upon the shattered wood.

"Damn..." He thinks, looking around for the figure of the beast. With the light now being able to reach illuminate the area, he only glances from one direction to the other. "If it didn't dodge that, I don't know if it survived."

His heave breathing stops in a second, hearing a voice. To his ears, any sound is a danger be it a human voice or a snapping twig. But at the moment of hearing the plea for help, Taiyo does not register anything specific. To him, he heard a sound and that's all.

Knowing that came from below, within the pile of trees and dust illuminated by the moonlight, Taiyo turns to the spiral pit and forms the horse seal. Seeing a figure, one that cannot be an inanimate object, among the tree trunks, he forms the tiger seal, finishing his preparations for the great fireball jutsu.

Before exhaling a large ball of fire outward so as to ignite the giant pit of trees and incinerate his opponent, Taiyo finally makes sense of the sound which had triggered his actions.

"Help?" He thinks. "I couldn't have hit a human, there were no human looking silhouettes when I performed the jutsu."

Keeping the tiger seal, he slides his way down the slope of rubble with his fingers remaining close to his mouth in the case that he is still in danger. Taiyo stops his advances and stands on an extended trunk, one that has been broken from the rest of its tree. The roots of it stick out ahead of him the toes of his sandals rest upon them so that he does not fall.

He remains silent as the dust clears until the face of this kunoichi is visible. Only then do his hands fall back down to his sides. Taiyo lifts up the fuma shrunken which was next to the beast when he had performed the Tearing Earth Turning Palm Technique and snaps it closed, placing it back onto his hip strap.

Reaching out with his free right hand, Taiyo waits for the kunoichi to grab a hold of it.

(415/2,162)
(Total Word Count: 23,889)

In any other circumstances, Shina would not have accepted the help, from a Genin no less. Not even one as strong as Taiyo. But being a good shinobi meant admitting when one was beat. She had taken this boy too lightly and she would be reminded of that with every fracture in her bone.

"Can't move," she mouthed even as he extended a hand to help. Pushing her ink dark hair out of her face, the kunoichi would reveal refined but dust covered features, a big bruise purpling on the left side of her face. "M-medical jutsu," she would manage, gesturing to her broken leg. Shina was in a lot of pain but damn it the Jounin refused to cry in front of a man she'd already lost to.

"Quickly please, before I pass out from the pain," she requested, eyes watering against her will.

His expression lightens and his eyebrows loosen, tilting to show a sort of pity or sadness. He feels her helplessness. Though, from his mind, he cannot shake the question of whether or not the woman before her was the beast he had just fought with.

"Maybe she is. She probably is. I mean, I saw with my own eyes, the beast was swept with the trees and it's nowhere to be seen here." Taiyo thinks, grabbing a hold of her hand and pulling her out of the broken wood. "But if she is, that leaves me wondering whether or not that would have been enough to handle the real thing. A genuine and savage beast has the mentality of one. It would continue as long as its injury does not prevent it from fighting."

Examining her condition as she emerges from the center of the pit and laying her down past the edge of it on her back, he notices that there are minor cuts that would heal in very little time. The leg though... that would take more time. With his hands hovering above the lower leg, he rotate them in a circular motion. In a few seconds, Taiyo identifies the injury. Though there is nothing visible to tell him, he can fell the break in the bone that should be straight and in one piece. As if feeling the pain himself, he winces as his chakra seeps in and begins to heal the bone.

"I was wondering why that animal could perform a body flicker. And why its touch had sealed my chakra. No regular beast can perform ninjutsu or fuinjutsu. Also, there was no taijutsu used. A real beast would only really use physical attacks to strike the opponent." Looking up into the moonlight, Taiyo sighs. "Now, I have my answer, huh? Was it a test? Because I hold nothing against you. I'm shocked is all."

Taiyo does his best to keep a conversation going as the bone he is healing begins to become one again over time.

(341/2,503)
(Total Word Count: 24,230)

[AP: 134 (+10) - 20(x2) Basic Medical Ninjutsu = 104 AP Remaining]