The Pressure is On! [Solo][Private]

Ayame focused her breathing. She had a day and a half before the tournament. It was the day she had been waiting quite a long time for, and her nerves were beginning to get to her. She was up against a golden-haired boy named Ichiro, who consequently was a chef, as she had seen while shopping the other day. His food looked so delicious too. Ayame shook off the thought as quickly as it had come to her. No, she was too far behind to be thinking about food.

She felt as if not only was she inferior to all the chuunin, but also to all the genin, and to prove herself, she needed to get better. Nothing she currently had was helping her to win, however, and it was unlikely she would even have a single technique that could cause her to win.

Ayame grumbled allowing Nita to jump down in front of her. “Alright Girl, I’m sorry for this, but at this point, I don’t really have a choice” Ayame muttered turning her attention from the beautiful sandy desert to the rat. The temperatures were so cold with the moon in tow, but it was still nice.

Ayame readied herself and powered up her chakra scalpel, ready to attack her beloved pet in a spar (power 29 to prevent damage to Nita). She needed to practice on a moving target, one that could fight back. One she wasn’t worried about hurting.

Ayame lunged at Nita at a speed of 53 brandishing her chakra scalpel and swiping at her rat at her max speed of 90, making it unavoidable, however, the hits wouldn’t hurt, it was just the point of making them. If she couldn’t hit Nita 200 times before the sun came up, she would not have breakfast.

“One, Two, Three” she counted in her head as Nita began to run at a speed of 25 to start, trying her best.

Given that Ayame had been at a stand-still, Nita got away relatively quickly as Ayame merely watched.

Exhaling, Ayame threw a couple shurikens at the rat, intending on them missing her entirely, but still aiming close enough to look like she was attempting to hit.

Nita understood what was going on, that they were sparring like they had when they were young, back when Ayame first moved into the apple tree when she was eight. Most rats lived for about two or five years, but those of Nita’s kind, the Nezumichi Rats, were bred to last upwards of ten and sometimes twenty years, for longevity. Back then, Ayame barely had enough strength to prevent her food from being stolen by the other orphans.

Back then, Nita had known this was the child she had been sent to find, based on scent alone. They had quickly formed a tight bond when Ayame had seen the lonely rat and offered her some of the food she had saved, becoming good at hiding things. Eventually, Nita had brought Ayame foods from the tree she lived in; Apples, to quell her hunger due to her refusing to fight back.
Then through a shared epiphany, Ayame moved out with Nita and lived in a tree, and began her training as a Ninja, so that she could defend herself. Ayame’s reasoning was to give back to the village that took her in, despite her parents’ heritage from Kiri. Nita had opposing opinions on that, but she wasn’t going to corrupt Ayame’s unique viewpoint.

Back then, Ayame would practice her Jutsu, intending to be the very best, like no one ever was. She got barely passing marks due to her nervousness and fears, but she still made it through all the struggle and turmoil.

And now here they were again, sparring. The heat must have really been getting to Ayame if she felt they needed to do this again. It had been so long.

Nita sped around and doubled back as Ayame dashed for her at a speed of 53 quickly meeting her in the middle. Nita jumped at Ayame attempting to bite her with a strength of 10 and speed of 5. Ayame quickly dodged and gained two more hits “Four, Five” before she leaped and kicked sending the rat flying. “Come on, Nita, Don’t hold back for my sake!” she yelled taking a stance. It was nothing too fancy but it was enough to show that she was serious and meant business. “I won’t be mad if you hurt me, I swear! I might be taken aback, but I won't be angry. So please come at me with everything you’ve got!”

Ayame waited a moment, then Nita clicked in rat language something she couldn’t understand; something she had never heard before. It was meant to convey a feeling of accomplishment, and nostalgia, looking back on times gone by and to how far a person, or rat, had come in an almost reminiscent way, almost as if she longed for those days back.

Then Nita charged in at full speed, gnashing her teeth menacingly. She ended up catching Ayame off guard and biting her hard enough to draw blood. Ayame shook the rat off her and jumped backward, preparing another Jutsu, however, Nita charged in again attempting to bite her.

Ayame sped off at a speed of 53, evading the rat. She stopped about twenty meters away, noticing that Nita was following her at a speed of 25. Ayame turned quickly in response, throwing the hand signs of boar and rat down at a speed of 105. Her hands changed from a sharp blue glow to a soft green glow as she healed her cut. By the time she had finished, Nita was nearly there, so she acted quickly using her lightning element to attempt a Body Pathway Derangement. When Nita jumped to try and bite her again, she side-stepped at a speed of 105 and grabbed the rat at that same speed of 105 attempting to cause her neural impulses to become confused and not be able to tell her body what to do. This failed and again Nita bit her just hard enough to draw blood again.

Ayame had to get used to the sight of her own blood or else that alone might secure her opponents a win, either by distracting her, startling her or by causing her to faint. In either case, it would mean her complete and utter failure in the exams in and of themselves.
Deciding to power down her Medical ninjutsu, again she ran at a speed of 53 away from the rat. While working up enough chakra to use her chakra scalpel again.

After leaving Nita practically in the Dust, Ayame sped up to her max speed of 105 where she powered up her chakra scalpel and doubled back to Nita, slicing at her with a power of 29, 25 times in total at a speed of 105 before she passed the rat, attempting to skid to a stop causing sand to fly around her and for her to travel more than ten meters past where she had intended to stop.

Already she could feel a slight strain on her body from the blast of Jutsu she was using, yet she pushed on because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t stand a chance against her opponents, so she pushed on.

As she stopped to catch her breath, Nita did the same, but before Ayame could rest enough, Nita was already on the prowl, nearing Ayame quickly and using her tail to spray sand all around her in both an attempt to blind her and an attempt to confuse her.

Ayame panted, “Nita, I can’t continue like this.”

Nita clicked back, “Then you will die. Real combat does not halt because you are tired or in pain. You asked me not to hold back so I will not”

Aya was shocked to hear this, especially from her partner. She knew it was true, and now she was faced with difficulty. When she had entered the academy she always knew that her life would be at risk, but she pursued and pushed forward to be able to do amazing things. To her, it was fun, almost like a game, but with very real consequences. As an innocent little child, she never realized that the life of a Ninja could or even would get so complicated. And now? Now that realization was creeping up on her. But it was far too late for her to turn back now.

“So be it” Ayame rasped, her voice weak as she attempted to dodge her rat, being able to do so with ease so long as the pain did not stop her.

Ayame, still breathing heavy waited for the rat to jump at her again, “31, 32” she counted to herself swiping the rat’s belly at a speed of 105 and power of 29. Again she had confirmed hits, reluctant to purposely injure her rat before the exams.

“This won’t be like old times… will it?” Ayame hesitantly asked as the rat ran circles around her. “The competition won’t be like a spar, and if one of us dies it’s final, isn’t it?” she muttered focused, yet nervous.

“Death in a finality in all cases, whether it be a spar or a battle. Someone stronger will intervene should it come to something like that, at least from what I’ve seen over the years. I’m not as young as I used to be, Liebling.” Nita said recalling memories she could recall from exams she had witnessed the past 17 ish years. Neither of them knew of the medical barrier at this point in time.

Ayame put her hands up to block the sand from getting in her eyes but leaving her flank open. Nita noticed this and took advantage of it, sinking her teeth into Ayame’s side and refusing to let go as blood poured out of the wound.

“Damn it,” she said, her adrenaline kicking in fast and blocking the pain. Ayame decided to use poison mist to get the rat off, therefore she focused the chakra in her tummy, making it twitch, folding the poison internally until it was heavy, sticky, and sweet. Nita, feeling the twitching knew what was about to happen and unlocked her jaw, releasing Ayame’s side.

Somehow the rat managed to make it over 10 meters away before the mist filled up the 20 meter diameter (10 meter radius) area, effectively keeping Nita out of the cloud for Ayame to calm down and work out an effective strategy.

Minutes passed with nothing coming to mind and then, suddenly it clicked. What she was doing wrong. It was… She was thinking of this as a spar, and not a battle.

The mist cleared and Ayame was ready to go. Charging back to the rat, she knew exactly what was about to go down. Quickly the two became locked in battle, exchanging blow after blow; Nita with her teeth, claws, and tail and Ayame with her chakra scalpel at a power of 29.

Swiftly dodging most of Nita’s attacks, the hits began to pile up, “81, 82, 83” she counted to herself, getting almost halfway to her planned two hundred. Nita, although she moved much slower than Ayame, was still agile on account of her not having a collar bone, but even despite that, Ayame’s hits hardly missed.

Ayame body flickered away, suddenly, at a speed of 175, then she used a ninjutsu technique again, this time, having it be Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder, or Raiton: Jibashi!, sending a wave of lightning at a scaled speed of 29 and scaled strength of 29 (to prevent injury, Ayame lowered the max values from 40 but still scaled it up based upon her chakra) .

Not only did this catch the rat off guard, it caused her to freeze up, hair standing on end, contemplating what she would do next. There really was nothing more to do than to continue on as a moving target and slight nuisance to her partner as they trained. It's not like she could strategize a method of Jutsu to use or anything, due to the fact that she could not perform such feats. She was only the magician’s assistant while Ayame stole the crowd at center stage.

Ayame continued to rush her rat at a speed of 53 hitting more confidently, sharply, as the rat still attempted to attack and dodge, still failing most of the time.  “157, 158, 159” Ayame continued, still counting hit after hit she made on the rat, still not breaking the skin and causing the rat to bleed. She was determined, already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.
They both continued on, pushing themselves to the brink of their limits; to exhaustion. Keeping Chakra scalpel going all that time was beginning to take its toll on Ayame again. “198, 199” she continued on finally reaching the point to where she couldn’t focus her energy enough to continue of with that tech, so she knew that she needed to end the spar quick before she would pass out.

Ayame focused her energy yet again on the Body Pathway Derangement she had been working on with yen prior to this training session. She needed to disrupt Nita’s nervous system, using her lightning element, quickly, sharply, but also weakly enough to where the target’s body would not feel a thing and yet strongly enough to gain the desired effect of the opponent needing to relearn how to move their own body.

At a speed of 105, she grabbed the rat, effectively transferring the desired effect onto her partner.

Once she realized what she had done, she was proud that she ended the battle, “winning” the session. She put her arms up in victory and nearly screamed in happiness and excitement.

Then, she waited for her Jutsu's effect to wear off on Nita, and then, she healed whatever injuries she may have sustained over the past few days using her Medical Ninjutsu. Nita retrieved the thrown shurikens from earlier and returned them to Ayame, shoving them in her weapons pouch before the pair began heading back to their hotel room to warm up before the sun rose, have breakfast, and then curl up on the hardwood floor with two of the pillows and the blanket to sleep comfortably. It was now 4 am and the exams were tomorrow, so she figured she'd try to get a good night’s, or day’s, sleep.

(exit)

WC: 2414

Claiming 12 Stats for Both Nita and Ayame
Claiming 1752/1752 needed to complete Body Pathway Derangement
Claiming 0564/0564 needed to complete Poison Mist
Claiming 0098/1190 toward Suiton: Water Trumpet!

Approved minus the stats for Nita