Hunting (Dachi Ishii)

Dachi squinted his eyes at Salzem's response. They simply did? That was a silly reason. If he had learned anything from Kasai, it was that if you were going to do something dangerous, you had better have a reason. From what Dachi understood, Kasai had died to protect a village, and to help the others in the village to become stronger. He thought this to be a very sensible reason to die, and Dachi assumed this to be the reason that he had become a spirit. After all, Dachi believed to have heard a rumor that the strongest and most true shinobi never truly die.

Shaking his head, Dachi tuned back in on what Salzem was saying, not hearing his one word response to having no family. Not that it would affect him; Dachi had already been desensitized to a lot of things in the world, even at his young of an age. That was the fault of the ninja world; everyone grew up too fast, and innocence of the mind was a legend that never was. The world would forever be a dark hell when children understand what it means to kill or be killed.

Then, however, Salzem told Dachi to hit him, and Dachi's squint turned into a look of disappointment. While it was true that fire man protected and helped Dachi, he gave no physical help. In addition to that, Dachi was not only very physically weak, but he knew no jutsu. It was not that he hadn't tried, because he had tried a lot. However, it was simply that every jutsu he attempted never truly worked. He thought that he had been born with no chakra; though this had been proven wrong through other ninja who claimed that he had the perfectly normal amount in his body. 
No, it was as if the elements themselves defied him, and ran away whenever he called upon their power.


"I can't," Dachi said, looking away and taking a breath, with a very disgruntled look on his face. "I can't use jutsu."

He had assumed that this is what Salzem had meant, as a normal punch from Dachi would be on par with throwing a pebble at a steel shield.

Salzem simply rolled his eyes at the kid's comment, showing it didn't really matter what he didn't know or what he couldn't do. He wanted to see what the kid could do. However, the werewolf wasn't blind to the kid's emotions. He was angry, impatient, tired, probably something Salzem had said had rubbed him the wrong way. He didn't quite know exactly what, or anything that anything he said could be remotely scathing, but this kid was weird so he rolled with it.

"Kid, it doesn't matter what you don't know or can't do. I want to see what you can and we'll sort out the rest later, okay?" He spread his arms wide offering his torso for the kid to punish at his leisure. He waited for the blow to come, noting the disappointment on the boy's face. He must've thought that Salzem was asking for the kid do knock him senseless or break down a wall with a stick. Little did the kid know was that some sticks are explosive. This kid might hold some hefty potential Salzem could weed out and make the world a less-of-a scary place for him. If Dachi could realize his potential, then he wouldn't be in danger anymore.

"I'm not asking you to knock me flat or hurt me. Just strike me with everything you got. Let me see what you have so I can make you stronger." Salzem encouraged. "I want to help you become something greater than what you are but I can't do that if I don't know where to start. Don't feel humiliated or embarrassed about the results." He smiled kindly at the little boy, showing off his gnarled wolven fangs. If the boy really did want to travel with him, to be his companion for a bit,he had to get him to a point where he could adaquately defend himself.

Dachi squinted again, not too sure if Salzem had understood what he had meant when he said 'he couldn't use jutsu'. Either way, the wolf wanted him to punch him, and so Dachi would do just that. Not that it would do anything, though.

"Okay," Dachi said, nodding, and slightly sighing. He was disappointed in how weak he was, but he would oblige the wolf regardless. Perhaps this was a part of an idea of training; after all, fire man had said that he was a friend. 

With that, Dachi swung at Salzem as fast and as hard as he could (20 speed, 10 power), though it was not very great. 

He wondered briefly, as his fist flew through the air, if the wolf would allow his hit to land, or if the great wolf would feel his blow at all. He supposed it didn't matter; the beast simply wanted to figure out how strong he was, and Dachi could understand that.

Salzem felt the impact of the boy's tiny hand on his stomach, although it wasn't overly powerful or anything. It left a very slight sting but, hey, Salzem had felt weaker blows before. He grinned at the kid for doing what he asked and nodded his head. His arms dropped to his side as he did some quick thinking in his head. Dachi had said that he couldn't cast jutsu and that could mean one of two things. He didn't know any or that he was physically incapable of of the stuff. Well, that meant there were two specialties he could adopt if the latter were true: Weaponry and Taijutsu. At the very least, Salzem could help him with one.

"That wasn't bad, kid." Salzem complimented him. "If you can't cast jutsu, well, at the very least I can teach you to punch things in a fancy fashion." While he joked, Salzem attempted to come up with a few techniques he could, at the very least, give Dachi something to think about and maybe try himself when they got into Suna.

"Okay, I know a trick that will give you something new in your arsenal." Salzem announced. "Its a leg-sweep known as the 'leaf gale' for whatever reason." Salzem took a few steps back and demonstrated the technique to the kid. He crouched low and swept his leg around him in a circle, kicking up sand in an unsidedown twister around him. As the dust rained back down around him, Salzem tried to brush the dry, grating earth out of his fur. "See, its designed to send a moving opponent flying." He explained

Dachi watched Salzem perform the jutsu, and stared dumbfounded. He had known that tai-jutsu existed, but the fact that he had never once even so much as considered it shocked him. For some reason, it wasn't until then, when the giant wolf make a kick, that Dachi realized that perhaps taijutsu would be better for him. After all, perhaps there was something wrong with his chakra.

He stared with resolve, as the wolf landed. It hadn't appeared so hard to him, and he believed that he could achieve it. Maybe.

Not bothering to step back himself, as his own kick radius would be nothing compared to the wolf's, Dachi tried to imitate what he had just seen. 

However, perhaps Dachi had put too much effort into the move, for he found himself launched in a backwards somersault, his leg carrying his whole weight backwards over his head, and promptly landing on his rear. He had performed a kick, and had it hit someone, it would have no doubt hurt more than his punch did, but he had not done it correctly.

"Oof," Dachi muttered, staring up at Salzem. "That didn't look so bad, did it?"

Salzem suppressed a quick laugh as he watched Dachi flip over himself attempting to preform this move. He couldn't blame him, seeing as Salzem had done a very similar thing attempting to do it himself for the first time, but that didn't make it any less funny. Salzem had suppressed his laugh, but not a quick smile as he walked over to the little kid and offered him a massive paw. He was glad to see that Dachi had the will to learn what he had to teach. At least this meant that he'd have something to focus on other than the "can't do's." The white wolf nodded his wolven head as the kid commented on how bad his performance was.

"It wasn't too bad!" Salzem smiled softly and took a step back."I noticed you put a little bit to much power into that kick. See, if you do that, the motion won't be enough to use it all up and... well... that happens." Salzem shrugged his massive shoulders as if it were not so big a deal. "This technique isn't about smashing a person. Its about throwing them off their feet." Salzem was starting to get thirsty now, his time in the desert without a swig of water was starting to take it's tole. The tip of his nose was starting to grow wet with sweat and, for some reason, a primal force was compelling him to let his tongue hang from his mouth as he breathed. Weird....

Dachi listened to Salzem, and nodded. He did understand what the wolf was saying, but he was unsure if he would be able to do it. After all, he was only just under the age of ten.

Taking a deep breath, Dachi crouched down, and let lose again. This time, however, he made sure not to over-do it. It was about knocking your opponent off their feet, or backwards, not into a different world. 

Though the performance was still sloppy, the way in which his leg swung about was much closer to how it should have been this time.

Landing on his feet, Dachi grinned, and looked up at the wolf. However, his smile was short lived, as a piercing though came to him, and of course, Dachi being so young, the words went straight out of his mouth, without any processing.

"What are you?" He asked, sincerely. "Are you a spirit, like fire man?"

Dachi believed that Salzem could have been. Spirits were rumored to come in any shape or form, but they were certainly of the unnatural. A giant wolf, of incredible strength and knowledge seemed like a likely candidate for a spirit, especially one that knew fire man, who was a spirit himself.

In fact, Dachi believed his question to make so much sense, that he decided to silently answer it to himself. Salzem must be a spirit, he knew. There were too many hints that he was one, and if he denied it, then he must just not want his identity to be revealed. 

Dachi nodded vigorously at this, though no words were actually spoken. He would stay firm in his knew belief, regardless of what the wolf said. He was certain that fire man would agree with him as well.


(sorry if that's short and kinda bad. I just got done with school, so my brain is fried, but I didn't want to keep you waiting.)

(Its all good mate. I understand if life be taking yer time.)

Salzem nodded his head in approval as the little boy managed to pull off the technique much better than last time. Although it was still a tad sloppy, a few more goes at it would clear that up nicely. The kid then asked the white wolf a question, one that wasn't expected in the least: Was he a spirit? What kind of question was that? Spirits are fiction, stories! Thats like walking up to a hyuuga and asking if they are an uchiha. It doesn't make sense. Although Salzem had the appearance of a monster, something inhuman and fearsome, he looked nothing like a ghost. He wasn't seethrough, he wasn't amorphous, Salzem couldn't do a neck-trick or make himself look like something from the abyssal plains of hell. He just was an average 7 foot tall talking wolf. He rolled his eyes, chuckling at the observability of the question. 

"Heh, no. I'm not a spirit, ghost or phantom. You just touched me, did you not? Were I a ghost, wouldn't I fade away on contact?" Salzem then looked at the boy oddly. "Why are you asking that? I mean, yeah, I look weird but I don't look ghostly."

Dachi squinted his eyes at Salzem's reply. Surely, he was a spirit; there was no other explanation for the wolf.

"A spirit doesn't have to be a ghost," Dachi said, defending his belief that Salzem must be a spirit. "They can be real. Fire man said he walked around, being real, and he's a spirit."

Dachi struggled to find the words he wanted, with his age being the limiting factor.

"Spirits don't have to be ghosts," he repeated, wrinkling his brow. "They are just strong, and... from the spirit world. They're not like people; they're stronger, and better. Something beyond people, and the world."

Dachi, however, was upset with his own explanation. He knew Salzem was a spirit, but he didn't know how to convey what he meant by spirit. They were stronger beings, uplifted and enlightened from the world, with knowledge of the beyond, and a greater purpose than most mortals knew. However, of course, those were Kasai's words, and Dachi did not know how to say it.

Still, he felt it very important that Salzem know that he is a spirit.

The white wolf only stared at the kid, shaking his head slowly.

"Listen, Dachi. I succumbed to a disease and got this way. I didn't die and I am not from this "spirit world." Salzem was starting to suspect that this was all some kind of metaphore, that this fireman didn't exist, even in Dachi's head and he was just making it up as some kind of celebrate explanation for some kind of feeling or emotion that was going through him. Something like gratitude or... whatever. Salzem knew better than to think on such an abstract concept like the undead and the realm of ghosts. What confused him though, was that Dachi was trying to convince Salzem that he was a spirit and thereby dead by extention. That was not only puzzling, but also half-way disturbing.

Salzem let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. There was no real reason to argue this any further. Sunagakure was only a little ways away and would be visible if he squinted. Perhaps a couple-minutes walk if they got moving again. With that, Salzem began his way back towards the village and motioned for Dachi to follow. He would walk in silence for a bit, milling around with the idea that he was, in fact, a ghost. Technically, he did kill himself. He tore open his own throat and dined on his own gore. He kept that to himself. No one should know about this suicide/murder. If this counted as him being dead, then yes, in a sense, he would be a spirit. He would, in fact, be the twisted representation of Salzem's human consciousness trapped in a body on earth and that made him shiver. It made him feel as if he weren't really the person he once was, although it was obvious he wasn't. It made him feel something like a copy, a monstrous reflection of a boy who just wanted to avenge his friend. Twisted and cruel was he, mutated and vile. Perhaps the fact he knew this and loathed it every second of his life made him more human than monster, but it didn't feel like it. Salzem felt... odd.