Little-Bear vs Big, Bad Wolf (Ayame)(NK)

From some place Salzem couldn't see, Ayame drew a large, sword-like shuriken in response to his punch, disappearing the instant before his fist collided with her cheek and, in exchange, his metal-clad fists had struck the sharp edge of an average shuriken. It's steel would've easily cut and got lodged in Salzem's flesh had he not been wearing his gauntlets so, instead, the steel projectile was buried in the sand a few meters away, leaving the lycanthrope seemingly alone and confused. A moment later, his head swivled around, hearing the unfurling of the massive edged weapon, watching the girl sway it back and forth slowly, rhythmically, akin to a snake-charmer who's entrancing a cobra. Though, being the knd of ninja he is, he wasn't the least bit encapsilated by the illusion. Though, what did catch him off guard, was that Ayame hid herself within a veil of purple poisonous smoke, a very effective smoke-screen indeed... It seemed that whatever she had planned, she wanted to keep it entirely a secret.

Not being the kind of guy to wait on the sidelines, Salzem rushed right on into the poisonous smoke, only to be met with a quick cut to the back. His sanguine eyes widened in surprise as cold, vengeful steel slit into his jacket, just through the flack and into his pale skin, the tip barely missing his spine and slipping just inside his ribs. The lycan fell to his knees, blood dribbling out from in between his lips as the he realized the damage, relieved to know she didn't strike any vital organs. His skin suddenly began repairing itself, mending together as one last spurt of blood escaped the wound and the lycan was back up again, more angry than anything else. His healing factor allowed it so any deep cuts or gashes would heal on their own and more serious injuries he could tank in his pack-leader form. Though, in this mist and with the awkward shape of his wolven face, he didn't want to risk taking that form. Instead, Salzem's enhanced sense of hearing spotted where Ayame landed in the sand and, at a speed of 125, Salzem took out a pair of Kunai daggers and tossed them in her general direction, one aimed at her stomach, the other at her shoulder.

Immediately upon Ayame placing her Fuma shuriken on her back, she made the ram hand seal at a speed of 105 and as soon as the boy reached for his own weapons to throw as she could see with her Yureigan, she body flickered at a speed of 175 to about 10 meters to the right. Nita darted in to retrieve the shuriken that had been dropped by the girl earlier, at her speed of 13, then running back out to the side of battle at the same speed of 13, not chancing getting hit for the moment.

Ayame lunged to the right, beginning to circle Sal at a speed of 53 at the same 10 meters distance trying to gauge what his next move would be and the damage she had done to him.

With her Yureigan she could see by his aura before she had body flickered, that his back had been injured decently, but it had healed itself as she began to anticipate an attack. That was new. She hadn't seen anyone, even with the most advanced Medical Jutsu be able to do that without even moving hardly. Whatever this boy's secret was, it was a damned good one for sure.

Ayame's stomach began to twitch again as she made the poison again, but she let it stir much longer than the other times.

Should Salzem stay still, Ayame would stop suddenly in front of Nita (even if sal would have hit her away, Nita would still retreat to ten meters away.), making the hand signs of dragon, tiger, and hare, (speed 105) in order to perform the Water Trumpet Jutsu (Scaled power 40 Scaled speed 40). Whilst the cone of water shot out from her mouth at the boy, she made the signs of Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon, to send out a web of lightning from her as well (Scaled Power 40 Scaled speed 40), hoping that one would be able to hit him and catch him off guard.

While those ninjutsu were distracting him and blocking his view of her hands, Ayame mimicked the hand signs for another substitution as Nita climbed her leg and placed the shuriken in her weapons pouch.

After Nita jumped off and began clearing the distance, Ayame released the poison mist yet again., this time throwing all of her shuriken in front of her in a direct line from Salzem to her, but yet they varied about half a meter in the width of said line of where they landed to have an equal chance of cutting both his feet.


WC: 421
TWC: 2395

2000/2000 Suiton: Snake's Mouth (Claiming 371/371) (Do not approve Yet)
1231/2000 Suiton: Water Trumpet (Claiming 421/1190) (Do not approve Yet)
0621/1000 Leaf Style: Willow (Claiming 335/606) (Do not approve Yet)
2395/3000 Poison Mist

Salzem's eyes followed Ayame's movement as she flickered out of the way of his kunai daggers, barely bothering with her little hamster-thing that went to retrieve the shuriken she substituted earlier. As the little rodant began it's way back towards it's master, Salzem began weaving the Ram sign (speed 125), disappearing and reappearing right in in the path Ayame was running to the right around his previous location (Speed 195). Now, just outside the poison cloud, Salzem could see, breath and function more normally than before when he was inside the purple smoke, making him an even greater threat than before.

Moving fast before she could let out another blast of poison, Salzem's hand would suddenly shoot forward, expanding in both muscle and length, bones snapping and reatatching in quick succession, his fingers now claws aimed to wrap around the girl's throat (speed 150, strength 20) and holding her at a good 4 feet's distance. At this strength, Ayame would be completely incapable of letting out her burst of venom (but still able to talk), preventing her from keeping him in the dark any longer. If (or if not) she were to escape his clutches, she would see that his right arm had mutated, transformed into it's were-wolven counterpart, all equipped with the 70 sharpness claws (that would cut her skin only lightly if caught), white fur and very pronounced musclemass. It was brutal, graphic, almost like that of a jugo transformation... inhuman... Salzem stared at his arm in a sort of satisfied wonder, content that this technique had worked out after so long... He couldn't even remember the last time he needed to use partial transformation... It was like an old suit he never had the opportunity to wear... It felt good!

"Huh... I can't believe I forgot I could do that..." the lycan mumbled, before letting out a mild laugh. "Ever forget you have a certain technique that might be useful one day? Well... this is it! Kinda feels... disproportionate I think...." Salzem seemed lost in thought, as if contemplating something important before returning to the moment of their spar... he needed to find Ashie... hokage's sake he forgot about her...

"Hey, Ayame. How much longer do we have to do this?" He asked, looking at her oddly. "Think you got a hang of your technique yet?"

AP 863

-8 Lycanthropy partial transformation

Ayame let him catch her, fed up with playing games. She would struggle, playing as if he really had her incapacitated, but there was far much more that she could do, considering he was only holding her by her neck. The spar would have to come to an end with him winning due to her loss of interest and him acting like he needed to go. She could still attack had she wanted to draw the battle out much further.

"Yeah, sure, we can be done if you need to go" she rasped, barely able to talk, let alone breathe. She struggled on for moments more, making every effort to get him to release his grip without further confrontation considering Salzem sounded like he really needed to go.

Although her Jutsu was not finished, she would oblige and likely give up on the Jutsu altogether, or maybe even Just train it a different time.

Assuming Sal put her down, she would bow respectfully, "Thank you for the spar, it was really fun and It pushed me to my limits. Also, thank you for letting me learn this Jutsu with you and for not being mad at me when I soaked you to get you up from your nap." She took a breath returning to an upright, well postured position. "I'll be rooting for you in the exams!" she said cheerfully, smiling wide. "I hope you will do the same, though you do not have to."

It was the sweetest gesture she could make at the moment, though she was still slightly terrified of the wolf. She deactivated her Yureigan and saw him in regular trichromatic vision. His arm was so entirely disproportionate to the rest of his body and covered in white fur. Oh god, what is he going to go into full beast mode?

Assuming Sal had powered down his special Kekkei Genkai technique, Ayame had allowed Salzem to leave, and if he did not leave first, she would turn and begin to walk back to her hotel to think about things and relax. The big day was coming up soon, and she didn't want to be caught off guard or unprepared. Eventually, she decided to go out and train one on one with Nita that night. It was a hard decision for her to make initially; sparring one on one with your closest partner and preparing last minute... but it was something that needed to be done or else she would fail miserably in the Jounin exams.

(Exit)

WC: 421
TWC: 2816

2000/2000 Suiton: Snake's Mouth (Claiming 371/371)
2436/3000 Poison Mist

(Claiming Scent Memorization of Salzem as well as 14 stats each for Nita and Ayame)

Salzem looked at Ayame strangely as she clawed at his hand, wondering why she allowed herself to get caught in his little trap, his claws around her throat, only a mere twitch away from crushing it should he so desire. Was she trying to make him feel good that he'd just caught her, that he had just taken the high ground? What was with her today? First she felt bad when she wanted to test out a technique and now that they were actually sparring, she had willingly given up any chance of winning for... what...? Because he asked if she was almost done? She was a strange one, that was for sure... Upon hearing her choaking confirmation that they were, in fact, done, the lycanthrope would lower the girl to the ground and bow his head in respect for the fight, as was common custom when battling friendlies. Ayame began thanking him for the fight, for not getting angry when she blasted him with water and Salzem just waved them all away as if it were no big deal. It gave him the motivation to get up and do something today... More or less, she did him a bigger favor than he did simply training her.

"Its nothing." Salzem said with a shrug, only just now noticing Ayame staring at his lycan arm. Suddenly self-conscious, the ninja quickly retracted the massive limb, it shrinking and melding back into it's normal human shape. Finally, the last thing she said before walking away back into the village, she wished him luck in the tournament and hoped he'd do the same.

"Count on it." the dark-haired ninja confirmed before wandering off into the village in the OTHER direction... The one time he wanted to find Ashie and he couldn't with ALL his lycan senses at his disposal... One would think they were keeping them apart intentionally...

(EXIT)

WC: 3231

Claiming 16 AP

Approved @ Both (Minus Ayame's Nita)