We're Not So Different, You and I

Ashie shuddered, both of them were moving pretty fast, but she could still see their movements as if she were watching a movie. She saw Saka's attacks missing, he might've not been fast enough, Sal leapt backwards. That's when Ashie recognized the hand seal for body flicker, and that's when she lost Saka. She glanced around the field for a few moments only seeing Sal and then Saka would appear again, she could see him expelling his chakra.

This was it, if Sal couldn't react he could be knocked back from the rotation. She was gripping her bowl nervously, so hard that the bowl was cracking in her grasp. She gasped as she released the bowl allowing it to roll off her lap and onto the side of here where she sat, making a light tapping noise, but nothing too loud to disturb the fight. They were both strong, she might be able to even tag team in, the only issue was, Ashie was definitely not fast enough to hit Sal, specially if Saka isn't fast enough to hit him without body flicker.

She thought about it, would it be wise to do it? Would it be rude? Would Saka and Sal get angry at her? Would she be putting herself in harms way? She looked up because what she saw was beautiful, the sun. It was starting to turn the sky a orange hue. The sun was setting and there weren't any trees in the way like in Konoha. Her eyes were shimmering with this beautiful view. She stood up slowly, she put her hand over her pendant and slowly whispered to herself,

"Can you two see it too? Look how beautiful this sun sets in Suna." She smiled to herself, it was a painful smile, one that said it all, she wished they were there, Navi and Echo. Even though they've probably seen the sun set a thousand times in their lives...to Ashie, this was a first.

(330)

Salzem stopped his elbow strike upon seeing Sakaiza's chakra barrier form around him as he spun. He did not take a step back to avoid the expanding barrier, rather, he raised two burning hands over his head like hammers. He clasped his hands together before swinging them down on the dome (120 strength, 185 speed). At first, the Barrier gave little resistance but it quickly gave way to Salzem's massive strength, collapsing inward on itself like a balloon who had a massive finger poking it. The barrier would collapse, leaving Sakaiza open for assault. As the barrier was closing, Salzem would throw his arms forward so that his palms were now but a few feet from the kid's face, wind beginning to coagulate between them. A moment later, a massive wind head that looked like a tiger's would shoot forward at Sakaiza with a power of 85 and speed of 50, clearing the tiny space between them in but a moment. Should this thing collide with him.... well.... lets just say that the impact and the 50 meter explosion prior (an additional 85 power) wouldn't be something to laugh at. Salzem would then, whether this attack hit or not, jump back a good few meters, allowing the flames on his fists to fizzle out and his body to relax. This spar was over as far as he was concerned. Sakaiza had improved a lot, but he either fought people that were too weak for him, or those who were way to strong. He hadn't had a true challenger since.....

His expression fell. It wasn't quite morneful as it was wistful. He remembered the days of his old friends, his students, how much fun they had. He remembered Kasai and how he lead them to victory on multiple occasions. Salzem Also remembered how much he missed his teacher. Hokage's sake, he thought he'd buried those emotions... Salzem thought he'd long since moved past the death of his old teacher and friend.... he thought that he had dealt with the pain of losing everyone... He was wrong.... Oh so wrong.... He was a master of sucking it up though. It wasn't dealing, but it served. Salzem's expression turned tough quickly again as he waited for Sakaiza to drag himself out of that attack. On second thought, he wanted to fight more. More conflict, more satisfaction, more meat to bury his pain under.

As Sakaiza had anticipated, Salzem would appear near him. Luckily for himself, the shield he created had been made just in time to protect him from the incoming attack Salzem unleashed. As Sal's fists crashed down upon Sakaiza's chakra shield, it dissipated. He had expected Salzem to be this strong, strong enough to destroy the protective barrier that he created from nothing but his speed and chakra. However as he continued to rotate, he would stop himself when he was on the side from Salzem(Dome is 4 meters in diameter, so Sakaiza's location upon the end of his rotation was 2 meters from where Salzem had broken the shield) who was now moving away from Sakaiza. But what was approaching Sakaiza and fast was what looked like a tiger's head. It was terrifying, something he had yet to see before and would not want to feel the impact of it. Therefore, he would act fast. He began flinging his arms in a rotational pattern around his body with his palms extended(Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms, 80 power, 80 health). As he did so, thin streams of chakra quickly formulated around his body and thus created another protection dome. Only this time, the dome was not strong enough to completely protect himself.

As his palms intercepted the tiger's head, they continued to rotate quickly. Yet the explosion to follow after the tiger's head contact with Sakaiza's palm could not all be shielded against. In turn, Sakaiza would cease rotating his palms and tuck and cover his head in his arms. When the explosion ended, Sakaiza had slid 2 meters back while still standing and his arms would now be burned slightly, his clothes tattered and his skin smoking slightly. Breathing heavily and staring at Salzem from across the roughly 8 meter distance between the two, Sakaiza wiped the sweat from his forehead and infused his palms with blue chakra. He then began to hover them over top of his burned forearms and called out to Salzem, "Good to see you're not holding back again! I really need the challenge! What is that that covered your fists though, it was fiery. And it burns!"


He would take the brief pause in combat to restore his burned arms. Truthfully, they weren't too much of a pain but he still wanted to heal them as soon as possible. He only hoped that Salzem would note that and respect it. He then remembered that Ashie was still there, seemingly to be slightly upset, but he wasn't sure of what.


"Hey Ash, how ya hanging in over there? Are we entertaining you enough?" he called out with a laugh, letting her know that he hadn't forgot about her despite the intense demands he was putting his body through. 

(WC: 465)

Her eyes tore away from the sun, for a moment, she saw Sal's attack get deflected by the barrier and then he moved back to send out what looked like a tiger's head, the rotation had faded due to deflecting the previous attack but Saka attempted to create another protective dome. It was smaller, no way it was going to protect him fully. He managed to deflect some of the damage but then the tiger head had exploded Ashie's eyes widened as her heart stopped for a moment. Everything was moving in slow motion she was shaking, 'no...not again!' she thought to her self. Soon her worried thoughts were quelled through seeing Saka still standing, albeit a little burned up, but still standing. She sighed out in relief as Saka was speaking with Sal, and then he had turned towards Ashie, asking her if she was entertained enough.

She shouted back, "It's a good thing I didn't join in! There's no way I'm nearly as strong as Sal, if you can't land a hit there's no way I can!" She was putting herself down again, though it was true, she could see that Sal was strong. She would just lose miserably, just like in the Chuunin exam when she fought her brother. The only reason why she ranked up was out of consolation. She still put up a fight and that's why they chose her. She looked up again at the sun, her eyes relaxed as the sun was turning the sky pink, and then red...it was amazing, she called out again.

"You guys should take some time to admire the sun. Isn't it beautiful? I've never seen a more beautiful thing, then back home at Konoha, I'd float under the water, looking up at the world from underneath." She was admiring the sunset, she just wanted to share it with her friend. She couldn't fight after all, she wasn't that courageous. Next time her and Saka hung out she'd show him what it would look like to see the world from below the water. She did that in Asgard too, her father made the Black Sea, but underneath it beauty was hiding.

(365)

Salzem's melancholy returned as Ashie made a reference to his own home village. It almost appeared as if the energy had been sucked out of him the way his shoulders deflated and his posture seemed to hunch over. The wolf glanced back at Sakaiza as he asked what was it that covered his hands and, to that, the wolf gave him a sort of dead stare that spoke of various levels of annoyance.

"Its fire, Sakaiza." His tone was flat, almost angry. It was clear Salzem was agitated. The mention of his former homeland so soon after he attempted to rebury those feelings only lead to a vengeful resurgence. Images flashed through his head and his eyes dulled, images that made him feel weak, squishy. Isshin's face was the one that popped up the most, others being Ryuuga, Reddo, and Hikari, others whom he'd never seen again and felt responsible for losing. Even if he didn't know it, the wolf blamed himself and his leaving for their deaths, even though most of them fell long before Salzem had even considered leaving the village. Salzem's breath drew heavy, even though he hadn't even used a good portion of his energy yet. His heart thudded angrily against his ribs, now the dominant physical sensation beyond that of physical pain, exhaustion or adrenalin. He felt so weak all of a sudden, his strength fading into nothing but a memory of what it once was. The faces played behind his eyes silently and, if one looked hard enough, one could probably make out the vague outline of each face as they played.

"The sun...?" Salzem repeated quietly, his arms and legs jerking slightly as they began to move again, almost as if they were literally rusty. He looked up at Ashie who seemed to be admiring the big ball of gas above, setting in the west. Salzem didn't look at it. He didn't even glance in it's direction and it hurt to do so but he didn't. His chest hurt right where his heart was. Right where it was.

"Don't look directly at it." Salzem commented, his voice having the slightest twinge of humor. "You'll get permanent damage." It was somewhat of a metaphore. Perhaps it was somewhat of a warning not to chase ambition so blindly as he had. It leads to permanent damage.

Slightly taken by Sal's comment, he didn't understand why his friend appeared to be so annoyed by his question. The two seemed to be on good enough terms, or at least good enough for Salzem to seek him out before he left the village. But Salzem seemed different as of right now, almost as if something had happened to upset him. But what could it be? It couldn't have been the spar, although the two shinobi had a high intensity fight, only one blow in total was really landed on the two of them, so it would make no sense for Sal to be upset about the fight. Unless, he was upset that he didn't hit Sakaiza more, in which case Sakaiza began to question the motives of his friend. He wondered if Salzem had sought him out in order to spar him with intentions of actually hurting him, but because Sakaiza improved so much, he wasn't prepared for it to be difficult. No, that couldn't have been it. Salzem wasn't like that, and Sakaiza knew it. He wasn't the beast he appeared to be. But what could have him so bothered?

Sakaiza let out a "Hmph," following Salzem's remarks and then refocused his attention of Ashie. He thought about her comment, not being as strong as himself or Sal. But she likely was. He could see her chakra network and it was unique, so unique that given some more training she could likely best Sakaiza and possibly Salzem one day. His head then cut to look at the sun following Ash's comment on it. It was beautiful, truly. But it was something he was used to, so perhaps he wasn't as in awe as Ash was. But still, he recognized the glimmer in her eyes. Sakaiza still wondered exactly what she meant by seeing the world underneath the water, for he had not had much experience underwater in his lifetime, but he simply brushed it off. Maybe she would explain it later.

Salzem then seemed to add his advice, causing Sakaiza to laugh slightly. Upon reflecting on his comment, Sakaiza began thinking on his friend's words. He could only assume it was Sal's cryptic way of a warning, almost as if he was saying to not dive into a goal without hesitation. And so, Sakaiza would respond in a conservative way, just enough that if Salzem was actually hinting at something deeper, he would note what Sakaiza was actually responding with.


"It will only hurt you if you're not prepared," he began, subliminally suggesting that one should be prepared for the things they strive towards in life. "Which is why sunglasses were made" concluding with a brief laugh. His laugh was soon repressed as he began to think on what he truly wanted in the world. He wanted a family, a group to call his own. He appreciated Nobu and Giichi, but it just seemed as if they were never around or when they were, it was strictly business. Then, he thought of his parents' dream: beginning a Hyuuga Clan in Sunaga. It was something he recently started to consider more, and wanted to pursue. Perhaps he could begin the clan in this village and teach them of ways that weren't so similar to the main clan in Konoha. After all, they were the ones who seemed to shun Sakaiza's family and Ash.

(WC: 564)

She was trying not to speak out of turn, trying her best not to call Sal out on his behavior. Ashie's prideful eyes glanced down at the Wolf shinobi and her dear friend, the will of fire igniting within her heart. Her will to make the world pay for what it had done to her, she gasped and shook her head. No! She was going to protect the world...right? She was going to be human with the world, and not God's tyrant daughter. She still had focused on Sal's down attitude, she had to say something, even if her tongue would get her in trouble.

"For someone who had just won the spar, you act rudely. Whether you jest with Saka or not, you show your peer respect just as I have shown you respect." She leaped from the roof focusing her chakra into her feet, when she reaches a meter in front of the roof she seems to stand on air. This was her brother's air walking technique. Slowly she stepped down as if there were an invisible stairs guiding her down onto the ground without hurting her legs. Her eyes were different, if Sal were to look at them he would notice they weren't the greyish-blue hue she once had. They were white, with black tomoes encircling her pupil. She was agitated by his moody attitude, she was having a great day, she even thought she might've made another friend along side Saka.

"I don't see any sign of you being a sand Shinobi, I may be young, but I notice a lot. Please do not take this as a sign of aggression, I am merely noticing your demeanor and mean no harm to you at all." She saw how he slumped when she mentioned Konoha, some painful memory must be burried within.

...

"I also noticed the pain in your eyes and face when I mention Konoha." She paused for a moment, knowing that what she said might cause an awkward silence and even seem to halt time for the three shinobi standing in the training grounds. She truly didn't want to hurt him further, but she wanted to know more about Sal, he didn't seem like a bad person if you got passed his exterior.

"Seems like all three of us has had some tough times there huh?" She smiled calmly towards Sal. "Whatever it is that is hurting you so bad, you need to move on from the past, you are strong now! I'm sure the people who love and care would not like to see you in pain." She looked towards Saka, she meant those words for everyone. Ashie knew her uncles wouldn't like seeing her in pain either. That's why she smiled. She smiled for them, for everyone, for herself.

She had to keep smiling, because if she didn't who would?

(478)

His teeth gritted as Ashie began saying all the wrong things to him at all the wrong times. Now, fresh out of battle, telling Salzem that he needed to show "respect" and be "respectful" just as she had to him, telling him what do do and how to do it... It made his anger swell up within him, the flames obliterating whatever melancholy he had felt before. His fur began to stand up on end, his muscles began to tense, and he began the struggle against the beast that wanted to tear her apart. It was even harder now because he was even fighting against himself to keep himself in check.

"Stop." Salzem whispered, but Ashie kept on going. She stated how she noticed his transition when she mentioned Konoha and how, no matter what pain he was feeling, he had to let that go. His teeth were now bared, snarling. He wasn't even looking at Ashie for fear if he did, he wouldn't be able to restrain himself.

"Quiet!" Salzem barked, but Ashie continued on. She went on saying that he was strong now, that he needed to reign himself in for his friend's sakes. And that was the last straw. His claws were now digging into his palms, drawing his own blood. WHAT THE HELL DID SHE KNOW!? FOOL!! SHE KNOWS NOTHING! His fur was now completely on end, his muscles flexing in his rage. WHO THE HELL WAS SHE, A STUPID LITTLE GIRL, TO TELL HIM WHAT HIS PAIN WAS WORTH!?

"ENOUGH!" Salzem roared, not loud enough for it to evolve into his shock-wave technique, but it was definitely loud enough to draw attention. He pointed a gnarled, bloody claw at the girl, his hand shaking from rage. He couldn't possibly care less if her eyes were red, grey, pink, or POLKA DOTTED! Quickly enough, the wounds on his palms began to heal, even if Salzem didn't notice them.

"You.... have JUST! Stepped over a line, there, girl." Salzem's voice trembled along with the rest of him, his breath heavy from the effort required to keep himself from gutting her like the fool that she was. His muscles were practically tearing themselves from his bones, every part of him wanted to rip this idiotic little girl to shreds. The pretentious little monkey couldn't keep her stupid observations to her stupid self... He growled deeply, but he managed to tear his gaze away, even if his senses were heavily attuned to her location, as if he intended to hunt her. He spared Sakaiza a glance that told him NOT to push this.

"I... Am Leaving." He spoke slowly, darkly, his hands still curled into fists, claws still digging into his flesh. The pain gave him something to chew on other than that girl's bones. "See you around." With that he started making his way towards the Kazekage's building. Koroshi had stated he wanted to talk to him before hie left. The wolf didn't look back as he made his way there. Good thing too. He might've hurt someone if he did.

It seemed as if Sakaiza's comment went unnoticed. Instead there was an argument breaking out between Salzem and Ash. How could they argue though? They didn't even know each other. To Sakaiza, Ash had good intentions. As a child exposed to constant rejection, it would make sense for her to want to stand up for herself and the people she cared about. Sakaiza was one of them. But the problem was that Salzem wasn't rude, it was just in his nature to be slight standoffish. So when Salzem seemed to sarcastically reply to Sakaiza, Sakaiza did not take it too deeply. But Ash did. She approached Salzem and got all in his face and began yelling. Sakaiza knew this had not been a good idea. 

"Ash, it's okay! Let him cool off!"

Sakaiza tried to call out as he noticed Salzem growing angry. Sakaiza started to approach the two, in case any altercations occurred so that he could end them. But the verbal bickering continued. Ash touched on Konoha more, which would likely upset Sal. Sakaiza did not know much of Salzem's past, but Salzem didn't know much of his. The two didn't seem to care about each other's pasts, for they enjoyed each other's presence. But Ash did not understand Salzem like Sakaiza did. Sakaiza understood him from their spars and watching Salzem fight. Sakaiza just kinda got Sal.

At this point it was too late to try to quell the dispute, so Sakaiza just let it carry on. And it did. And Salzem exploded. He said he was going to be leaving, and that he would see Sakaiza around. But Sakaiza knew not when he would see Sal since he planned on leaving soon. 

"Hey Sal..." Sakaiza would call out as Sal continued to walk away, "Keep in touch, alright? I've got to beat you one day..."


He honestly didn't want Salzem to leave but he knew he needed to calm down. There was nothing Sakaiza could do to calm Sal, but he knew him not saying much more than wanting to stay in contact with Sal would speak volumes in comparison to anything he could say.

He then turned around and focused on Ash, "Ash...are you okay? Why were you so upset at Sal? Is everything okay?"


(WC: 380)

Ashie's eyes widened, he was getting angry at her, and it took every bit of power she had not to snap back. He towered over her growling, he threatened her. She couldn't do anything, if she were to retaliate she'd get beaten...or worse. She watched as the beast tensely turned and offered a goodbye to just Saka. Of course, why would he bother saying goodbye to someone he hated? Ashie didn't even know what she did to piss him off that bad. She wanted to console him, not piss him off. Regardless of her intentions, it didn't work. He was pissed and probably wanted to maim her. As he walked away she turned her back both to Sal and to Saka. She heard him ask if she was okay, why she was upset with Sal. She wasn't upset with him, just pointed out how rude he was acting. Then tried to console him whatever pain he was feeling anyways. She couldn't answer at the moment, her shoulder were shuddering with her shaky breaths. Her tears were pouring down her face. She was having a fight with herself. The stresses of trying to be a normal shinobi and the daughter of god was starting to ware and tare on her. She took a shallow breath as she tried to keep her voice and shaking under control.

"I just wanted to help him..." She paused as her shuddering stopped, she fell into despair, she wanted to go back...to Asgard, lock herself away from the world and just be a normal girl again. That would never happen. She couldn't disappoint her father...so hear she had to stay until she died. She cringed as her uncle came to her mind, "You know, my uncle, told me that someday I'd find my strength, but...now I think he was just saying that to make me feel better about being weak...I'm going home...I don't blame you if you two never want to see me again, and if so...I guess this is goodbye..." She began to walk to the exit of the training grounds, it was a mistake to come to this world...it was a mistake to fall in love with this world...

Her will of fire was slowly growing inside her again, she'd have to sneak past Koroshi and his receptionist, that way they wouldn't see he depressed gaze.

(400)
(Exit, unless stopped.)

[twc 10,260, Claiming 51 stat points from training.]

{Claiming Tenketsu Needle D rank, Gentle Fist Palm Rotating Heaven, also Claiming the 2,000 words for Sakaiza and Salzem to recognize them for Chakra Sensory if not stopped}