Good Chemistry[p ayame, salzem]

Ayame was confused by Jace's confusing confusion, then she could tell she understood what he was on about. "Well, I live in an apple tree, so I don't technically have an address," she said softly trying to think of why she was never informed. She felt very hurt that they were not good enough for him.

Ayame sighed at his remark about the crows. "Well, crows aren't exactly an uncommon bird and are easy to tame into pets, and even if I did know it was you, how would have I known what you wanted or where you were? For all I know, that could be the postal service of Suna" she muttered. "I'm sorry for not responding... but I'm also not the only one at fault here.

His calmness didn't upset or scare her, but she did seek compromise. "I will, so long as you do something that I know it's from you or to me, perhaps a symbol of sorts"

Ayame didn't like that he was ignoring her. She didn't want to leave the village without permission, but those boys would end up getting themselves killed if she didn't go along, so she joined with the two chuunin, feeling rather frustrated by everything and staying quiet and submissive, hating herself as she feared the boys had, and not saying another word, just thinking to herself and making a mental note of what Jace wanted her to do. At least he wasn't as bad as queen trying to lead them.

She ignored the giant crow that was way too respectful, at least compared to her koi, as if it were a slave to the boy.

Provided Salzem did as he was told, she would too, refusing to respond to anyone, for she felt she would only get yelled at or talked sternly to again. It made her wonder why she even did team missions of more than two people anyway considering it happened almost every time she did one.

Salzem nodded as Jace gave his instructions, ignoring Ayame's smart-mouth as regards to the letters she had failed to receive apparently. When it came to normal life, he could stand a joke or two, maybe sling a few of his own but not on missions like this. People were dying now and people were going to die in a moment. It was no time to slack off like this was some kind of E rank mission. Salzem growled under his breath at the girl's lack of discipline and headed out of the gates first, followed by her, then Jace, their leader and supposed strategist. He had not patience for further displays of inattention and care-free attitudes, his restraint already thin from the fact this mission was even required. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was murderers and that was what they were dealing with now...

About 10 minutes in and the bloodshed was still no closer than when they had left the gates. In fact... it seemed weaker actually, as if it were moving farther away... that's strange... why would it be moving away.... He still didn't transform as that would indeed waste his energy and he wouldn't be able to take that form again in a long time if he pushed it to it's limits... He needed to conserve that... When they find their little base of operations. He still had a strong nose in his human form to be sure, sometimes it being more of a blight than blessing.

"Stop." Salzem commanded, coming to a dead halt. Something was very wrong... VERY wrong... He thought back to when he first smelled the scent of blood and fire off in the distance and by his calculations, they should be within eye-sight by now or at the very least... "Something's off... We should be able to see-"

Suddenly, 10 men erupted from the sand in a circle around the trio, 8 of them brandishing a weapon from chains to twin swords, to knives. The other two had their hands in different signs, the flow of their chakra now extremely evident. Salzem's eyes widened in shock before raising his hands defensively, realizing what had just happened. While the majority were hiding in wait beneath the surface, hidden from scent under the sand, one must've been casting a genjutsu to lure sensory types like himself into this area for an ambush while the other hid them from chakra detection by coating them all in a cloak that hid from such things.  These bandits weren't stupid... no... they knew how to fight ninja!

As this thought crossed his mind, 3 ninja facing the lycanthrope attacked from the front, all three brandishing blades and bringing them down in an overhead chop seemingly intended to split him in half. Letting out a roar surprisingly inhuman, Salzem raised his hands over his head protectively, the blades slamming against the steel of his gloves, the combined strength of the males seeming to match Salzem's by himself... If he shifted his weight one inch, the bandits would be able to rush him down... and they seemed to know this, 4 of them immediately engaging Jace from behind while the remaining 3 struck right down the middle at Ayame.

Ayame stopped when Salzem had told her to, and just like that, the men erupted from the sand. Ayame immediately tried to think of the best thing to do to avoid the damage of her group. She turned her back to Sal, and did the first thing that came to mind, making the hand signs of Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, and Dragon at a speed of 110, immediately thereafter extending her hands to either side of her, each hand sending out a web of lightning, careful not to hit her teammates.

She intended upon using Electromagnetic murder on the 6 that she could reach in the surrounding circle, the three that were attacking her, the nearest one to her that was attacking sal, whose sword had not connected with the boy yet, and two of the bandits that had started for Jace (Power and Speed Scaled to 50). She remained careful so as not to hit the boys or to hit someone who was in contact with the boys.

Ayame kept her eyes focused, confident that Sal could protect her backside easily as he could tank well. She then enabled her chakra scalpel (Scaled Power and Health 66), hoping that Jace would allow their formation to create an inner circle within the big ambush circle so that they all would have their backs covered. She changed from facing Jace directly while paying attention to both sides to now facing slightly more to the right giving Jace an opportunity to hop in there if he wanted, however, she would do as he wanted her to.

However, she was not leaving herself open by any means. She could still easily turn and clash her chakra scalpel against the bandits' blades defensively or extend her arms to block out attacks from both of her sides if they would attack before Jace decided what he wanted to do or if Jace went down a different path.

Ayame was ready for the next move, remaining vigilant to her enemies' movements and attacks.

WC: 333
TWC: 1442

Both Ayame and Salzem had agreed to the boy's orders without complaint, Sal taking the lead and the girl in the middle. After continuing for about ten minutes, the dark haired boy stopped, warning the trio that something was off. Jace knew he was right; they should have come across some sign of the criminals by now, but they hadn't. The blonde was about to ask what was up when suddenly he no longer had to. 

No less than ten men erupted from the ground surrounding them, an ambush for anyone tracking them no doubt. Jace cursed himself for not spotting this in advance, his mind racing as he took in the situation and worked on developing a counter strategy. Ten men, eight of whom were brandishing weapons and the last two seemed to be versed in ninjutsu. His sharingan eyes picked up the chakra flow and signs they were weaving instantly. These were not your average run-of-the-mill bandits; they were rogue ninja! 

Both of the enemies forming hand seals were in the group facing Jace, too far back to have been affected by the quick thought lightning attack that Ayame had used. Thankfully the two others facing him were hit, lessening the overall threat. The first formed two seals quickly and placed his hand on the ground, the sand in a 5 meter radius around the makeshift team spiraling and twisting inward like a whirlpool in an attempt to make them lose their footing and pull them underneath. The second only had one seal to make before spitting out four spherical projectiles formed with wind chakra. Two were headed at Jace and one each at the other two. The two aimed at Jace were headed for his head and abdomen, the one intended for Sal the center of his lower back where his spinal chord was and the last projectile was intended to hit Ayame in the head. 

"Watch your footing!" the blonde boy yelled as he threw two shuriken to intercept the wind bullets headed toward his teammates while simultaneously throwing a kunai aimed to be directly in between the two jutsu users, his sharingan eyes able to see the path of the enemy ninjutsu which made it possible for Jace to do this. The kunai and shuriken reached their intended targets much faster than the wind bullets had, the ninja tools moving five times faster than the oncoming attack. The instant Jace had released his thrown weapons he formed four seals quickly, waiting for the kunai to be directly in between the two enemies before he released his jutsu. In one swift movement the boy took out an explosive tag from his weapons pouch and used his teleportation technique to swap it with the kunai he had thrown, igniting the tag to engulf the enemies in a violent explosion.

"Jace-sama!" 

The flapping of large wings was heard along with the calling of the boy's name as Shiora returned and grasped his shirt with her feet, lifting him out of the sand whirlpool which had engulfed him nearly past his knees at this point and bringing him higher above the ground where he could see everything going on below. "Thank you. Keep me close so I can cover the other two." he said just loud enough for the crow to hear. She did so without question, circling the area steadily. The two that Jace thought he had handled with the explosive tags were still standing, some sort of mud-brown layer retracting from over their skin. Obviously some sort of defensive earth style technique. 

The ones that had targeted Ayame seemed to have been neutralized by her own attack while two of the three attacking Sal seemed to be pressing him had with their weapons against his gauntlets. Destroying the two ninjutsu users' line of sight to make it more difficult for them to attack the group was top priority. Ayame was safe and now had some sharp-edged chakra formed around her hands. She could aid Sal. 

"Aya! Turn around and take one of the enemies attacking Sal. Making it an even two on two would work in our favor." the boy said while also finishing three seals quickly that summoned a flock of twenty-five crows around the two ninja in the back, obscuring their vision and keeping them momentarily distracted until he could come up with a better plan on dealing with them. He performed some quick acrobatics and maneuvered himself on top of Shiora now, still circling above to watch the battle as it went on. The last thing they needed were any more surprises.



[the two ninja used tearing earth palm and air bullets. They also used earth spear to defend against the explosive tag. 6 of the 10 enemies are incapacitated thanks to aya, two are surrounded by a torrent of crows and two are holding their weapons against sal's gauntlets. Jace is in the air watching from above and Ayame has her back to Sal. I think that sums up the current situation.]

Salzem glanced back at the ground as Jace warned them about their footing, snarling in frustration as the sand had formed a vortex in the center of the battlefield, sucking in all within it's radius, including both Ayame and Jace while the lycan was out of the 5 meter radius. While his team-mates struggled with the ninja-hunting bandits, Salzem let out a deep breath, his pale skin suddenly turning red and his eyes fading into a milky white. A glowing yellow aura engulfed him and his strength increased dramatically, (strength: 95, Speed 145), now easily capable of overwhelming these whelps without any assistance from his team. With a snarl, The lycanthrope shoved the three men away. sending them end-over end backwards as he noticed the oncoming approach of a particular wind-bullet. Jace may have taken out the caster of the jutsu, but the technique was still coming. As if without a care, he stepped to the side and allowed the bullet to shoot past it's intended target, instead embedding itself in the stomach of one of the men, dropping him faster than any punch Salzem could pull. The other two didn't seem the least bit aggravated by this, and, instead, seemed almost relieved, like that guy was somehow holding them back or something. Salzem cocked his head to the side, confused, looking back only for a moment as Jace declared that Ayame actually help him. Like he needed it... He was doing well enough on his own.... And he could still smell the scent of the chakra-users, still alive and well, having survived the explosion their strategist had set off. With a speed of 150, The lycanthrope transformed into his full wolven form, letting out a howl that would stretch across for miles (his aura fading as he did so)....... Just as the bandits in front of him did the same... Salzem's eyes widened, completely caught off guard as the men in front of them contorted and grew into werewolves themselves, their fur brown instead of white, the color of a lesser werewolf.

"What!?" Salzem roared as the once-men dropped their weapons and came at him again with their claws and teeth, far faster and more deadly than they were before. His training and instincts reacting faster than his mind, the pack-leader seized the two lesser wolves by the throat with either hand and slammed them into the desert dunes, the force of which stunning them, perhaps even cracking their skulls but their wounds were healing fast... already he could smell the lack of fresh blood leaking out from within their skulls.

"DON'T HELP ME!" Salzem roared, shoving his opponents ahead of him in the sand, causing them to be buried in a pile of golden flecks, a few meters away. "Kill those chakra-users before they complete their jutsu!" If anyone was watching these two, since they survived Jace's explosion, the pair had been weaving the same signs, a long string of which completed and a long string left to go. Under their breath, one could hear them whisper the name of the signs, an ominous sound, especially in the heat of battle.

With a roar, the two werewolves erupted from the dunes they were buried in, lunging at Salzem once more, only for one to be struck in the jaw with a devastating back-hand, the other recieving a bite to the arm as the pack-leader ducked out of the way of his punch. Both recoiled, their wounds healing once more, but slower, their breath heavier, their healing-factors starting to tax them...

Ayame became confused having everyone yell at her to do something different. Ayame panicked and spit a poison out strong enough to knock out the were bandits without killing them, at a scaled speed of 55, but power scaled to 1 below their health minus the debuff from being a were, assuming they have a much lower health than Salzem. As the purple cloud engulfed the Were and the Medic, she would send her Snake's mouth Jutsu (Scaled speed and power of 40) out at the remaining two enemies, aiming for the one while using the purple poison mist as cover and watching them with her Yureigan.

"I'm not killing anyone" Ayame grumbled growing confused by all the misdirection.

WC: 118
TWC: 1460

(Sorry for short post)

By the time Jace had ordered Ayame to help Sal it was too late. The dark haired boy had already activated some strange technique, his skin turning red and a yellow aura surrounding him. He shoved away the three men attacking him like they were rag dolls, turning just in time to see the wind bullet aimed at him and dodge it easily. The enemies technique missed its intended target and instead struck one of the enemies and taking him out. Then strange chakra began to flow through Salzem's body as it rapidly twisted and contorted, finally taking the form of that white-wolf creature Jace had seen the boy use in one of his exam fights. It seemed that the blonde wasn't the only one surprised to see the remaining two enemies facing Sal do the same, their bodies becoming covered with brown fur instead of white.

The Uchiha was about to remove his teammate from the situation when the wolf-boy grabbed the two brown wolves by the throat and slammed them into the sand dunes before shoving them away and shouting for Ayame to go after the jutsu users instead. The young team leader decided that was a better idea, realizing that Salzem could take care of those two himself. He turned his attention back toward Ayame and the two jutsu users in the back that were still surrounded by the crows he had summoned, the birds not seeming to disrupt their actions at all. "Sal can handle himself, focus on those two!" he shouted down to the girl as Shiora banked to the left circling back around from above. "I'll back you up from here so just prepare whatever jutsu you have!"

He didn't know if she hadn't heard him, if it was panic from the ambush or maybe just pure inexperience, but Ayame had already spit out a purplish mist that spread 10 meters in each direction and surrounded Sal and the two brown wolf-men he was fighting. The two jutsu users were so far back that they were just out of rang from the technique though. Knowing the girl specialized in medical ninjutsu Jace could only assume that it was poison. Wasn't she aware that her teammate was going to be hit by that too!? This mission was becoming more and more complicated by the second. His mind raced, trying to decide which took priority: saving Sal from friendly fire or disabling the two jutsu users. Within seconds his decision had been made for him.

After letting out the poison mist, Ayame had refocused her attention on the jutsu users and released the water-style jutsu she had once used against him in a spar together. However her attempt would end up being futile. At the same time she had released her water snake, the ominous chanting of the seals their enemies had been making stopped and an enormous water dragon formed from one of their mouths heading right for the girl. The second jutsu user had extended his palm and released what looked like a dog made of pure lightning at the same time the water dragon was released. The two jutsu merged into one, retaining the shape and size of the dragon while gaining an armor of lightning around it and being controlled by a strand of lightning chakra extending from the lightning user's palm.

"Ayame!" Jace shouted in concern. The enemies combined attack broke through the weaker water snake like it was nothing, continuing onward toward the girl. Luckily the blonde was able to see the attack coming due to his sharingan; if it weren't for those eyes they would all probably end up dead. He formed the same four seals he had used earlier, finishing just in time. The instant the lighting-water dragon would have consumed Ayame, she was replaced by a large black feather, one that was now missing from Shiora's back. She would find herself atop the crow with Jace, safe from harm.

"Are you hurt?" the boy asked her as Shiora continued to circle the battle field, getting him within range of the two jutsu users. At this point he had to take them out before they caused any more damage. He could only hope that Sal was able to withstand the poison and hold his own until he could back him up or send Ayame to extract whatever poison had entered his body.

Before the girl could respond Jace had already finished forming two more hand seals of his own, a large 2 meter diameter fireball being released from his mouth from directly above the two jutsu users and only 5 meters away. Without hesitation he formed another six seals and launched 6 more, smaller, fireballs at the two. These were each 2 feet in diameter and three were aimed at each of the targets. There was no way they would be able to dodge or reflect his attack this time. A few moments later he saw that his attack had worked, the charred bodies of the two now lying on the sand below. "Now to help Sal..." he muttered as Shiora headed toward the dark haired boy, making sure to stay above the purple mist.

TWC: 3,337


[The enemy jutsu thing is a combination of water dragon and lightning beast. It has a speed and power of 125. Jace used switch to remove Ayame from danger. I hope this was an enjoyable post for you guys ^^]

The white-wolf snorted in contempt as the lesser creatures still stood, swaying back and forth on their feet as exhaustion began to take over. They were literally a breath away from eating dirt and he certainly wasn't going to be nice and let it happen naturally, Salzem cracked his knuckles, ready to feed both of these dogs a knuckle-sandwich when he heard an ominous hissing behind him, making him pause... His eyes widened in surprise (and fear?) as a sickly purple cloud erupted from Ayame's mouth, threatening to wash over all three of the wolves in only a few second's time.

"I told you not to help me!" Salzem muttered under his breath as his body shifted downward into his human form, his fur receding back into it's natural length and color of black, loosing much of his height and bulk as well. Pulling his mask over his mouth that would protect him from Ayame's poison, the lycanthrope would close the remaining distance between the two enemy lycanthrope and, before they could react, throw a punch into each of their stomachs, an upper-cut to the middle with both of his fists (speed 125, strength 45). The force of the blow would bring the hulking dogs to their knees, spit and perhaps a bit of vomit erupting from the doggish-maws before a metal-covered hand clasped each one of their throats, holding them at a kneeling position while the purple-fog crept forward menacingly. Salzem payed it no mind as he stared into the eyes of the beasts, the two staring up at him with a mix of hatred... and fear.

"You will answer! WHAT turned you into that!?" Salzem wasn't showing any mercy as he interrogated the pair, tightening his fingers around their throats and almost completely cutting short their oxygen supply. "Answer me, or you will die slow, and painful..." Of course, he was referring to the cloud headed their way, they lycan assuming it was enough to kill men, possibly liquefy them inside out if they were to breath it in. He knew how badly he reacted to poisons and if these shlubs were anything like him... they were just as intolerant. The wolves only smiled at him ruefully as Salzem glared down at them, one's lips moving, but only two words were audible: White..... Wolf....

Suddenly, the three of them were engulfed and, almost instantly, the lycans in his grasp began foaming at the mouth, flailing and twitching as the poison fled into their nostrils and throat, tearing them apart from the inside... or so Salzem thought. Without a care for their safety, Salzem tossed the unconscious bodies of the bandits off in some obscure direction as if they were nothing but sacks of potatoes, conteplating what that meant... white wolf...? Him.... How could that be...? He had never seen these men before- Before he could get any further, his enhanced human senses picked up a MASSIVE technique coming his way, an attack with the potential to obliterate him into squishy red bits if he didn't act now! Putting up his hands in front of him, Salzem channeled his energy into a 6x6 barrier of chakra that would form all in front of him and not a moment too soon, as a massive pillar of electrified water plowed into his defenses, cracking it upon impact! Water sprayed let and right, over and around him, and it seemed for a moment the barrier would hold... until it shattered.... Salzem was struck in the stomach with a blast of shocking water that knocked the air out of him, sending his tumbling end-over-end backwards through the cloud of poison and out into fresh air, his entire torso bruised, but not too badly...

Salzem lay in the sand, a hand over his stomach as he stared up at Jace and Ayame floating above him on some giant black bird, safe from the dangers of the poison and the attack that struck through it. He glance on down to where the jutsu users once were, their bodies curled up as flames consumed them and he grunted, satisfied with that image.

"Ugh..." He groaned as he got to his feet, his muscles in his torso cramping as he tried to use them too quickly. "What.... what was that...? Friendly fire....?" He growled up at the massive bird, of course also staring up at Ayame. "Do I.... look like.... them...?" He nodded his head towards the comatose men in the sand, their bodies long since reverted back to human.

Ayame was more than a bit miffed with Salzem at that point.

"What the heck does he think he's doing? The mission said not to kill them" Ayame said looking at the 8 passed out bodies.

She waited for Jace's crow to get lower to the ground and then body flickered at a speed of 191, taking out one of the ninjas with Body Pathway Derangement. Assuming Jace would take out the other, she would begin walking up to Salzem to Heal him with medical ninjutsu, and also looking to Jace. "You assumed our last team wouldn't work without giving us a chance, and now you've put me in a team that is so dysfunctional that I'm getting yelled at left and right to do contradictory things. Look, we either need One leader, or we need three. And we need to use teamwork." Ayame growled looking to Salzem on that word. "Logically there was no way for me to take those two out with any of my jutsu without opening myself up to a lot of potential damage, so I figured I would cover us and take out your guys to free you up, knowing that you could use your poison filtering mask to keep safe. I don't forget things like that."

Ayame was trying not to sound like she was staging a mutiny, or like she was agitated, but she was rather stating the truth as she saw it. "At least Sensei was attempting to try and help. If you wanted to dominate the mission then you both should have left me out of it. One of you should have gone alone if that's what you wanted to do. Bottom line is, I gave this team a chance, I tried to use good judgment, but if we can't work together, it's all pointless... one of us will end up dead or we will fail the mission. Or both."

After a brief moment, she gritted her teeth, "You may not like to hear it but it's my observation. I'm trying my damned hardest."

WC: 352
TWC: 1812

They had managed to subdue all of the enemies finally, Ayame apparently running to make sure one of them was definitely down even though they were all knocked out. Jace landed softly on the sand and calmly walked over to Salzem now that the fighting was over. He seemed pretty angry, and rightly so. Ayame had messed up and it didn't seem like she was fully prepared for missions of this rank just yet. 

The girl came back from whatever she was doing and started to heal the dark-haired boy while she turned to Jace and began spouting nonsense about how he didn't give their last team a chance and that this team was dysfunctionally 'yelling' at her to do contradicting things. Did she not realize that she was the problem here? Perhaps not. The blonde would certainly point that out to her. Some of what she said had truth in it, but most of it was her own opinion without seeing the situation objectively. He knew that, and knew that as her sensei it was his job to set her straight. What a bother.

Jace took a deep breath to focus himself so as not to snap on the girl before he responded. "First of all it is my job to assess the Genin sent to me and make a decision on whether or not they should be formed into a team. From what i saw you three definitely should not be on a single team. Secondly, the only flawed teamwork on this mission was when you decided to use your poison mist regardless of whether or not your teammate was within it's danger zone. A shinobi needs to be able to make split-second judgement calls during combat. Sometimes there is no easy choice to make, but they have to make it regardless." he paused now, letting the first of his words sink in before continuing.

If she decided to respond at all during the pause, Jace would stop her and continue talking regardless. He was the leader on this team and she was his student. Like it or not she had to listen to what he had to say. "Our teamwork wasn't the issue here. It was trust. I told you when we had left the village that I would act as the support and back up whoever needed it. Once you saw that Salzem didn't need any help you should have turned and focused your attention on the two jutsu users, trusting that I would not allow you to face them alone. I am the leader of this team whether you like it or not. If you aren't sure of something, get to safety and contact me for orders. Otherwise I fully expect you to assess the situation and make the right call. Do you understand me?" he ended with a clear note of authority. If Ayame had more than 'I understand' or 'yes sensei,' then Jace would simply say that they would discuss it when they returned to the village.

He waited now for Ayame to acknowledge him before saying anything else. Assuming she said that she did understand and left it at that, Jace would then tell her to make sure the enemy ninja were not in danger of dying so that they could take them back to the village for Lord Kazekage to deal with as he saw fit. Once everyone had been attended to, he would walk to each enemy in turn, open their eyes and cast a genjutsu on them using his sharingan that would keep them docile for the return trip. When finished, the blonde Uchiha would have his crow, Shiora, carry the captured 10 enemies back to the village. 

Making sure that his two teammates were following him, Jace also headed back. He would fill out the proper paperwork when he arrived and hand in the captured ninja to the proper authorities. The mission was a success, even though the team seemed to have some work to do before they would be able to act as a single unit.
[exit]

TWC: 4,016

Claiming mission rewards, 10 stats and 3,000 words training for the crow summon, Shiora