An Unexpected Encounter

Sakaiza had returned to the training grounds to work on his many new jutsu's. Over the last several days, Sakaiza had developed many techniques. He instructed himself on many wind techniques and felt proud of the progress he made. He recognized that he had advanced his wind release jutsu abilities quite exponentially in comparison to his previous state. He stood in the middle of the training grounds staring at the sky. It seemed as if every time that he found himself at the training grounds, his head was in the clouds. 

"I swear, the sky is always so clear above the training grounds...It's so hard to resist getting lost in it." he thought to himself. 

He didn't resist. He didn't even try. Instead, his eyes remain fixated upon the amorphous balls of water vapor waltzing through the sky. Sakaiza loved watching the sky, he could get lost it in for days. As the clouds continued to pass through the sky, they eventually blockaded the sun. Casting an ominous, continuous shadow across the entire grounds. As the sun was blocked out and it grew dark in the area, Sakaiza snapped back in. His eyes shifted from the sky to the ground and his jaw closed shut. Wiping away the small amount of drool from his chin, he looked around cautiously to ensure that no one saw. He stretched his limbs then closed his eyes, quickly followed by him assuming a centered stance. This was his way of focusing his chakra through a slight meditation-like stance. 


"Awh man, I can't remember the last time I drooled." he thought while heightening his chakra, unaware of the fact that he drooled slightly in his sleep. 

(WC: 281)

He supposed it was becoming a habit. Whenever the great white wolf entered the training grounds, people made way, either staring or running at the sight of his grotesque form as if he were on fire. Despite how inhuman he appeared, he wasn't so monsterous people had to run from him! What, with his massive 7 foot frame, his wolven face and his gargantuan claws, he was nothing a ninja isn't prepared for. At least, this is what he told himself when their eyes filled with terror. It gave him a reason to be frustrated with them, despite most being younger than 12. It was once very amusing, watching them scatter like ants. Hilarious at times at the irony. He was probably the thing they had to worry about the least, and yet, because he appeared as ugly and as evil as everything else out there, he must be like that inside. Generalization. It felled generations.

On that depressing note, Salzem made his way into the grounds, subtly grinning as everyone made way as usual. 'Twas to be expected, of course. Human cowerdice.... Ingrained deeply within their being. Salzem knew because he was once one himself. There were days where he loathed his time as one of these hairless monkeys. It embarrassed him. It hurt him to know that he was so weak before. Back then, he had to worry about so many things and that divided his strength. On those days, he felt that he was superior, on top, the ALPHA MALE! He felt that he was the strongest. One could practically see his ego swell with the beast-tainted pride that came with this form. On some days.

On other days, Salzem missed his humanity. He missed being only 5 feet tall and being able to smile without scaring himself in the mirror. He missed being able to really, truly care about someone as deeply as Kira. He missed home.... With this body, Salzem had lost crucial aspects of his compassion. No longer did he see most people as friends and family. He saw them as pack-members. They were there to help bring down a big beast, to help hunt, kill and expand. On other days, Salzem would try to clear his mind, frustration and tears clouding his vision as he failed each time. He tried to force humanity on himself, to make the memories of what he once was come! The did not.

This was not one of those days.

As Sakaiza wiped away the drool from his mouth he was approached by someone who immediately broke the concentration that he had built up. He didn't mind, for as his personality had it he was more extroverted than introverted so conversations got him excited. He broke his focus and was interrupted by a question which he had no significant answer to. "What was I looking at?" he asked slightly caught off guard by the suddenness of the interaction with this new person. Before he could get the chance to respond to him, the new guy was already waving over and calling out to someone he probably knew.

"Look man, it's really nothing.." Sakaiza started but realized it was too late for him to prevent the guy's friend from coming over. "I was just checking out the clouds. You can get a really nice look from here since nothing is blocking the view." he began. "I tend to day dream" finishing with a slight laugh. The slight smile slow receded back into his normal, reserved expression as he looked upon the person next to him. "This guy...there's something off about him..." he silently reflected. 

He then diverted his attention to the general direction in which the newcomer had been waving and shouting in. His eyes slightly widened when they finally fell upon the only clearly noticeable person, er - thing walking around the training grounds. Hilariously enough, people were frantically fleeing towards the opposite direction that the thing was walking in. "He...or she looks kind of like a wolf. But I don't know why those people are running...he's just hanging out." he thought to himself.

"So that's Sal, huh?" he let out, referring to the large, white wolf that was just lurking throughout the training grounds. It didn't seem like he meant harm to anymore, but then again a beast of that size could harm someone without intent. Sakaiza was not scared though, actually he was excited. He had never met someone or something of this nature so he could not wait to see what was in store for the near future. 

(WC: 351)

With hardly anyone around anymore, Salzem just sat himself down in the center of the grounds and begun to meditate. The action felt like a fruitless effort. There was no real way to create peace in a body that eternally craved bloodshed as play and flesh as food. A primal desire to feed until no longer possible, to destroy when he couldn't eat. It chipped away at his patience that he couldn't experience the joys of mindlessness without killing someone anymore. He was a deadly creature now and, at first, he loved it. He reveled in it. But now... when one slowly realizes what they've actually done and when that horrible sense of familiarity of your surroundings breaks in, it's torture. Old memories clouded the new, making his existence a brutal reliving of what could-have been. Most frequently replayed was when he killed his human embodiment, when he disemboweled his old form in a mad rage... The horrid shame he felt every time he saw it. Shame.... it wasn't a strong enough word. Salzem felt PAIN every time he saw it flash behind his eyes. That forsaken memory played in his head at least once a day. It was a wonder he hadn't gone mad already.

It was at this point where the white wolf noticed the sky was clouded by... well... clouds. Dark ones. Shade fell over the training grounds, enveloping the whole area in a light coat of shade. How appropriate. A moment later, he heard a familiar voice call his name. Ryu's. Could he not go anywhere without running into him? It was like.... no. Gods don't exist. He turned his head in the  direction of the sound, low-and-behold, there stood Ryu next to someone Salzem did not recognize. Didn't really matter. Ryu yelled at him to look at what the kid was looking at and so Salzem did. Right back at the kid as he looked at him. It was something between a glare and a curious gaze. He felt lazy today and, with everyone (nearly) fleeing at his presence, the training grounds seemed like an appropriate place to be. Guess not anymore. Regardless, Salzem shrugged his shoulders and turned around, not interested in staring at clouds.

As Sakaiza stared at the wolf walking on his hind legs, he noted that the wolf had glanced at him. He then realized that he had been staring at a beast that could more than likely rip his arms off if he wanted to, so he shifted his attention once more to the loudmouth guy beside him that seemed to act as a megaphone, exclaiming everything that Sakaiza said. Sakaiza did not mind though, he thought the entire situation was rather humorous. So much so that he started to doubt whether or not it was actually happening the way it seemed. "Am I still day dreaming...? Or maybe mom just put something funny in my breakfast this morning..No no, that can't be it. Maybe this is actually happening...but a giant wolf by the name of Sal just walking around the training grounds? This is weird.." he thought. "And this other guy, Ryu,he seems to take everything I say as seriously as possible. Maybe I should watch what I say around him...or maybe..."


"Yeah Sal! Y-yeah, I know Sal. We used to hang out way back in the day! Good ol' Sal!" he awfully lied. "Back in the day? I'm only 14, that was just bad Sakaiza" he thought to himself, continuing to chuckle a bit. He couldn't help but take advantage of the situation, trying to get the best laugh out of it as he could, which is why he tried pretending to know the wolf man. Right after his awful attempt at a lie, he went ahead and extended his hand out and grasped Ryu's. He shook it firmly and added, "A pleasure to meet you, Ryu. I'm Sakaiza." he let out while analyzing Ryu. "I can't say that I've ever ran into you, but by the looks of you, you don't seem to be a stranger to Sunagakure no Sato." 


Sakaiza let go of Ryu's hand then refocused his attention upon the large wolf by the name of Sal, who seemed to be leaving the training grounds. "As for Sal, now that's a different story. How do you know him?" he asked, hoping to determine the relationship between the two and figure out what exactly was going on. 

(WC: 370)

With his enhanced senses, Salzem was able to since the attack coming his way, but could do little more than turn and face it. The wind blade sliced Salzem's front open quickly, blood splattering all over his white fur as his chest-flesh was carved open, although not deeply. The unexpected attack combined with the sudden pain caused Salzem to collapse to one knee, blood slowly dripping like molasses from the gaping wound. Quickly, Salzem swiped at his unknown attacker with his claws but they rend nothing but smoke as the assassin disappeared. With this sudden movement, blood spurted from the Wolven maw, signaling his healing factor was already at work. Within a few short moments, his wounds would heal up completely, allowing Salzem to get to his feet while licking his blood off his fur. He cringed at the taste and spat it out quickly. Ugh... It tasted sour.... vile... Nothing like human blood. It was the one thing he would always remember about them. They tasted so sweet... Salzem's sanguine eyes glared over at Ryu who confessed to the crime of his sudden wound. His eyes shot daggers at the kid before he lumbered over to the both of them. Ryu stated that this strange kid knew him some how and that immediately made Salzem suspicious of him. The wolf knew not who this kid was or what he wanted. Salzem had never seen him before and somehow the kid knew him. Or not. With a slight sniff, Salzem could practically smell the lying off this kid. It was obvious that he had simply picked up his name somewhere. Somehow. Probably from Ryu. The last thing he needed was his name being spread around.

"I don't know you, kid." Salzem said flatly before turning his gaze to Ryu. "And you. You're going to pay for that later." With that. Salzem's frown curled into a small grin. "Nice attack though. Who is this?"

Ryu shook the kids hand with his fist it was very awkward. Why did he shake my fist? "Wow, are you originally from the leaf village too?" Ryu asked as the kid said he had known him for a long time. Their was a mischievous smile that indicated the ninja had seen through the lie, but wasn't going to let anyone know, instead he was going to let this guy dig a deeper hole.

"Saikiza, hmm. Did you recently graduate from the academy?" I don't remember seeing this guy around very often. With that Ryu original was looking at his clone who had kicked into the wolf. He said something about wanting him to hit the lycan with a wind jutsu, before looking back to the other genin. "Well Salzem, is my best friend. Sometimes he beats me up and sometimes I beat him up, depends on the day." 


With that said the wolf made his approach to the duo, he didn't seem overly upset by the attack and Ryu was expecting an attack to come his way. When the wolf got close he called Sakaiza's bluff and asked Ryu who he was. "Oh, this is Sakaiza. He was used as my distraction for the clone attack. I think he was in on it, he had to see my clone when I waved at you."

After asking who the kid was Salzem congratulated the genin on his attack and threatened to get him back later. "Oh, I don't doubt that." Ryu said preparing to move if the wolf were to burst forward with his speed for an attack. 

WC: 268

(hahaha definitely didn't realize that you were posting for me to fist bump you but that's hilarious)

Realizing that he was still quite zoned out and just shook Ryu's fist as if it were a handshake, Sakaiza let out a laugh. "That's one hell of a first impression, isn't it?" He joked himself, "And well I guess you could say that. My family does hail from Konohagakure no Sato, but we broke away and moved here." he said with much truth behind his words. However, Sakaiza was slightly dodging the intended question to prevent revealing his identity while keeping the joke moving forward. Yet Ryu was still digging into Sakaiza's identity, now asking when he graduated from the academy. Sakaiza figured this was a minuscule detail so he didn't mind sharing, "I actually graduated about 2 years ago."

Taking a minute to reflect on Ryu's comment on how he and Sal fought each other frequently, he let out, "So you really fight and keep up with that guy? He seems....well, savage. You two must be exceptionally strong." with awe in his voice. Just from appearance he could tell that the two ninjas interacting in front of him were probably on a different level than he, himself. The way that Ryu conversed with Sakaiza while simultaneously attacking Sal, the wolf, was just outside Sakaiza's understanding. Sakaiza fell into thought, "So these two guys are from the leaf village? I wonder what brings them here. And what's the story behind these two. I mean, one of them is a wolf. Like is that normal? And this guy is actively fighting with a wolf? Quite daring, but not impossible." he internally questioned all while shifting his eyes from Ryu to Sal. 

Now Sal was approaching Sakaiza and Ryu, and in the process he blatantly ended the joke by affirming that he did not know Sakaiza. "Well, I guess you caught me. Right? Truth be told, I didn't originally say I knew you. Ryu did, I got your name from him and asked a question. I guess to him that meant I knew you." Sakaiza said with a slight chuckle. He did not feel too worried in this engagement, although it did seem like Ryu and Sal might break out into a battle at any given moment. It was difficult for Sakaiza to try to read the dynamics between the two, but he decided to just watch how the interaction would unroll rather than attempting to predict it. "But hey, I'm Sakaiza." he said, slightly confused if he should offer a fist bump or a handshake to Sal. Instead he just offered a subtle yet friendly expression which gradually regressed, as he awaited to see if Sal would attack Ryu. "If they do begin sparring...I can't pass the opportunity..."


(WC: 448)