Awkward Goodbyes and Punching Hello's

Ryu sat in the training grounds where he and Salzem had previously trained and where he had learned the rasengan. With each passing day the genin had attempted to learn a new jutsu and today it was time for the majestic fire destruction. There were a lot of seals required for this one, not to mention the flames had a large spread of twenty meters. 

The ninja looked around briefly, if he limited the spread of the fire he could avoid accidentally hitting anyone. Making the seals rat, ox, dog, horse, monkey, boar and tiger Ryu released an intense flame with a wide spread of fifteen meters the flames charred the sand where it impacted turning some of it into glass. The ninja lightly kicked sand over the shards to cover them up. The spread was a litte higher than I wanted, but if I keep practicing it should become easier to manipulate.

Making the seals once more Ryu brought the flames to max intensity around power 80, speed 80 while limiting the output to about twelve meters this time. The flames flickered onto the training ground sand, before being cut off when the ninja closed his mouth. "Fire is still my thing, but attacking sand is never fun." Ryu chided wiping the flames from the side of his mouth with his sleeve.   

WC: 233

Salzem's half-heartedly wandered through the sand, the terrible numbing emptiness eating away at his patience. God, how horrible did it feel that nothing mattered. It was as if everything suddenly became boring, as if things that had appeal were just as boring as a white canvas. It had helped before, so why not again? He headed into the training grounds, his shoulders slumped and his face blank. He didn't have any real motivation to fight anything, to his frustration. He thought that this was what he wanted! To destroy, to fight, to crush! That felt so good before! Ripping apart those dummies felt like the most wonderful thing... Liberating, seeing the inside of it...  No! NO! What if those thoughts transmuted to a human opponent? What if he killed the wrong person!? What then? He would be a murderer! A killer! It was all wrong.... Where were these thoughts coming from? Salzem shook his head, blinking rapidly. He had to dispel these thoughts....

Just as he said that, his eyes fell on Ryu training. He was standing behind his friend a few meters back, studying the fire with a sort of wolven enthusiasm. He wanted so bad to join in... His emptiness seemed to reverberate with a kind of primal longing, to be in the thick-of-things... To cut, slay, bite, KILL! Thats what it wanted... Thats how it would be filled... Salzem gnashed his teeth like he were chewing though a rib as he watched Ryu blast the sand with his flames. He could so easily jump on his back, bring him down and rip away at him... piece after bloody piece... Salzem's tongue echoed the salty taste of human blood that once filled his mouth many times before. Delicious.... worth it... attack him... It almost looked like he was going to struggle with the thought but... well... it was too tempting. Salzem managed to say one word before before his killing frenzy took a hold on his mind though.

"Ryu..." He managed to croak before his mind went blank and he lunged at Ryu's unprotected back, (speed 85) intending to slam him into the ground and rip into his neck with his teeth. He could almost feel it already... Whatever part of humanity that was within him attempted to struggle free but that proved fruitless. For now.

As he was looking around before making another stream of fire, Ryu heard someone call out his name. He turned around seeing the wolven form of Salzem descend attempting to strike him, they had promised that their next greeting would be a punch to the face, but this was different there was a feral look in Salzem's eyes. There was something off about this, something that caused Ryu to jump backwards at speed 100 and instinctively draw a weapon. "Hey Salzem, what are you doing?" Asked the genin nervously while looking at the wolf. He isn't acting right, but its just a gut feeling. Did something happen to him? 


WC: 109

Salzem's attack missed narrowly, causing the lycan to hit the sand instead. He lifted himself up on all fours, glaring and growling in frustration that his sneak-attack had failed. Whatever words Ryu had spoken to him were lost on the werewolf. He didn't care to translate the symbols of meaning of a race such as they. He just wanted to kill... to shred.... His lycan senses demanded he do so. Oh yes they did. He roared, creating a massive shock wave blasting toward Ryu at 60 speed and power. It would close the small distance between them in a matter of seconds, giving Ryu an exceptionally low amount of time to react. As soon as the shockwave had been created, he charged in behind it, keeping just behind the sonic wall so he doesn't get caught up in it. Should Ryu get hit, Salzem would reach out a massive, clawed hand and swipe at his face with 85 speed and 50 strength and sharpness. It would sunder his flesh and rip a nasty 3 clawed mark across his front should he hit. Oh, Salzem was feeling it now... the bloodlust, the adrenalin, in a moment like this, he couldn't even begin to remember the feeling of emptiness within him. This wild hunt he was on... it was LIFE! Salzem's enhanced senses never lost track of the genin, always attuned for the slightest movement, the smallest sound that the kid might make when he attempted escape. And attempt he shall fore even though Salzem was so determined to gore this kid, he was not blind or deaf or stupid. He knew this kid had gotten much faster since their last encounter. The dodge he had done before proved that. He also know that he wasn't in the best of positions now that his first move had failed. Salzem know that he was out-sped by this kid, but Salzem had muscle. He had techniques he had yet to show off! He had experience in dealing with those that technically outclass him. Why not continue on this hunt...? He'd just need to be cautious. And the cautious hunter always got his prey...

It seemed that at some point Salzem had lost a bit of his mind with all of the teeth gashing and growling. With the wolves mouth opening it was obvious what was about to happen the sonic howl thing was about to be released and Ryu could only hope he was fast enough to run from it. Moving the opposite direction Ryu was able to avoid the brunt of the blast, but the noise still caused his ears to ring. "What the hell is going on?" Ryu yelled over to the wolf who was running forward claws out ready to shred him, but the genin continued moving forward. He knew Salzem was a taijutsu user, so distance would be a key factor in the battle. While moving Ryu made five extremely steaming murder orbs at power 60, speed 85 and launched one of them into the direction of the lycan. The dodge would help in getting a greater distance between them, not to mention the still circling orbs could cause a lot of damage if the wolf attempted to increase his speed and attack with taijutsu.

(OOC: by special request here's Togi!)


Togi had been at one Suna's training grounds practicing his taijutsu on one of the villages many training dummies, the young Hyuuga knew that he possessed a decent speed however he had experienced first hand that there were Genin out there who were far faster than him so he would have to improve.

During his training routine Togi had become aware of chakra signatures at the the peripheral edge of his senses. One chakra signature Togi recognised instantly it was the incredibly bright, fiery and energetic signature of Ryu Reinhard in all it's unsuppressed glory while the other was a little strange. While the chakra was not as large as Ryu's it had a very dense and powerful feel to it, Togi had sensed chakra before that had a sense of risk to it but this chakra screamed danger, it was feral and it was raw and it didn't feel quite human. Togi at first was content to just observe and continue on with his training but Ryu and the feral chakra began to move in such a way that suggested that they were now fighting. Togi knew that Ryu liked to spar so this in itself was not strange but the feel of Ryu's chakra had changed that suggested whatever was happening had alarmed the young scorch user. 'Ryu senpai what have you got yourself in to now...' Togi thought to himself as he flooded his body with chakra before disappearing in a swirl of sand.

Moments later the blind Hyuuga reappeared in a near identical looking swirl of sand at Ryu and Salzem's training ground a short distance away from the blonde scorch user. As he always was the young Hyuuga was dressed in smart light grey robes  and proudly wore the Suna forehead protector fastened in place to his forehead. The lightly built ninja upon appearing slipped down low in to the taijutsu stance of the Hyuuga before speaking up. "Ryu-senpai before I jump to the wrong conclusion you are not just sparring with a summon creature again are you..." Togi declared while keeping his head pointed towards the wolf man. The Hyuuga's eyes however were not the usual white of the Hyuuga but were dull grey and lifeless looking and did not seem to be focussing on anything but merely staring off in to the distance.

'This creature is dangerous that is certain' Togi thought to himself as he focussed on Salzem. 'If I fought it alone it would surely tear me to shreds but between Ryu-senpai and I we should be able to disable it... it is just a shame that we have never actually trained how to fight together...' Togi thought to himself. 

(WC:452)

Salzem glowered at the kid as he constructed various energy orbs and launch them at him. Of course, with his enhanced senses, He was able to bob-and-weave under each one, although closely. Nice trick, but Salzem had one  as well. He clawed the chain apart that held his prayer-bead necklace, releasing its previously hidden power. Moving on their own, the beads large bounced and flew back and forth around the werewolf, 10 in total. These massive 10 inch beads slammed into the ground, flew into the sky, and back into the ground at random points. These could be equated to electrons floating around an atom's nucleus, seemingly random and without any comprehensible pattern. The cord snaked its way around the werewolf's left arm, around it only a few inches above touching his flesh. There were not even 10 meters apart now and that gave Salzem power. Without even moving, two of the beads flew straight at Ryu at blinding speeds (85, power 60) intent on smashing right through him. One targeted his face, the other, his stomach in an attempt to cut him down right there. The other eight floated around the werewolf, a wild suit of armor, ready to come to his defense whenever he needed them. The white wolf then noticed someone else who had came in on their fight. Another kid, dropping into a low combat stance as if he were planning to interupt. He snorted in amusement then focused back on Ryu. Now, he was was the immediate threat, not whoever this kid was. He charged at Ryu again (speed 85) but this time, reaching the 5 meter mark almost instantly. As soon as he reached it, the chain shot forward from Salzem's arm, lashing out at Ryu's face like a whip, (speed 85 Sharpness 60) slashing horizontally at the eyes in an attempt to blind. Likely Ryu would be able to dodge this as well but that was just fine because the struggle is what made the fight worth it. If the other kid jumped it to help this one... well... more for him.

Ryu-senpai? Don't tell me Togi's here. The ninja turned his head slightly while still running from the charging wolf to see the form of his fellow genin and sand ninja. He wanted to slam his hand into his face, but the beads Salzem had smashed into the ground seemed to be racing toward him at fast speeds he dodged one while sending one of his scorch orbs into the other. The power of the orb was probably enough to destroy the orb and continue on a path towards Salzem. "Togi this is not a summon, he is my friend. But there is something wrong with him, can you tell if he's under the effects of a genjutsu?" 


Ducking under the whip a piece of Ryu's hair fell before his eyes. As he began to realize he wouldn't be strong enough to stop the wolf at this rate he continued to move around. "Talk to me Salzem, whats going on with you?" All the ninja did was continue to dodge as the wolf continued his assault. The remaining three orbs continued to circle around Ryu's body as he moved. I could make more and use them as shields against those beads, but that would waste a bunch of chakra. I may have to use wind glaive and attack head on with rasengan, but that puts me into taijutsu range.

Togi nodded and slammed his hands together quickly forming the Tiger hand seal, while Togi did not actually require this hand seal to use the Hansho Byakugan when he was intensely focusing his chakra senses he felt more comfortable using it none the less. Directing all of his sensory powers towards the wolf-man the young Hyuuga began to analyse what he could sense. "No senpai I can not detect the presence of any foreign chakra it is extremely unlikely that he is currently under the effects of a Genjutsu" Togi relayed. What Togi did sense however was one of the strangest chakra signatures he had ever encountered. He had never felt something so wild so raw so primal. The chakra signature infront of him did not even feel fully human and that had been why Togi had questioned whether it was a summon. "His chakra though... It does not feel human..." Togi declared hesitantly. Togi however began to discern other gems of information from the wolf-man's chakra, for its size and brightness it was incredibly dense and seemed to be focused around the creatures muscles suggesting it had great physical strength and endurance. Despite the foreign nature of his chakra there was something that Togi recognised due to the fact that they both had this in common. "He has a water affinity!" Togi suddenly declared with confidence wondering if Ryu would find this information useful.

Togi's attention then drifted to the orbs that the wolf-man had released. Togi could easily sense the creature's chakra with in them and he noted how the orbs never went to far from his body. 'A short to mid range technique?' Togi thought to himself.

"Senpai what's the plan do we try and disable him?" Togi questioned as he drew out a Kunai from his pouch and began to infuse the weapon with chakra until it began to glow. If Salzem continued to chase after Ryu Togi would chuck the chakra infused Kunai in his path to block his pursuit. (Throwing speed 80 sharpness 80, health 60)

(WC:345)

Salzem withdrew the whip as Ryu dodged, a sudden movement catching his eye. Salzem turned his head just enough to see that a kunai with the light-blue aura of chakra surrounding it flying towards his back. An orb immediately responded to Salzem's command, rising in the path of the kunai, deflecting it off the surface, sending it spinning to the ground with a *klang* (health 100, speed 85). The kid just made fatal mistake, making himself known to the predator. He growled loudly at the kid but still, Ryu was more of a threat and... he was his fr..... his frie.... He couldn't quite finish that thought.... It frustrated him how much his senses clouded his mind.... the emptiness of his was gone but in its place, his lycanthrope had completely taken his body for its own amusement.... Salzem internally struggled to get his mind back in control, but it was now like trying to swim a mile through molasses. Slow and painful. The white wolf lunged at Ryu again, a simple repetitive strategy that Salzem was thankful for. If the Werewolf started mixing up his tactics, then ryu and this other kid might not last long enough... The werewolf swiped one claw at Ryu's chest (speed 85, strength 40, sharpness 50) then, with his other arm, swiped across his face (speed 85, strength 40, sharpness 50). If Ryu dodged this, two orbs would halt their random movement and through themselves at Ryu, throwing themselves just in front of Ryu's feet before springing up and striking his lower jaw in something of and uppercut fashion.