Dove flying higher (Max)

It seemed she underestimated the strength of Max and his threads. The thread may of been thin, but they were still made of chakra so her slash against it was in vain. With Hato unable to cut the threads as she hoped, she got slammed to the ground. It wasn't enough to knock her unconscious but it sure as hell sure and knocked the wind out of her. 

After throwing Hato to the ground, he gave more inspiring words. Why does he care so much? She thought, almost with some anger. Since she was thrown on her back, she was staring right up at the sky when she opened her eyes. The blonde konochi turned her head towards Max before rolling over to get up. "Alright, Max sensei." She finally stood up and looked at him and his puppet. "You'll start seeing the real me." Hato reached for her whip, which was to the right of her body. "If you have better puppets, I would switch to them. I don't wanna completely break this one." She smirked. What she said was the truth but she also wanted to see his other puppets if he had any. It would be kinda lame if he didn't use just dead things as weapons that are easily broken. 

WC: 214
TWC: 1604

“I’ve been waiting to see the ‘real you’ since we began this training exercise. Anything less simply doesn’t seem to be Chuunin ready.” Max would say, making sure to emphasize that he wants Hato to be ready for whatever the Chuunin Exams bring her way. She had been making a great deal of progress in a short period of time, but anything designed to test a ninja as they seek advancement to the next phase in their career is going to be difficult. There were plenty of Genin that Max knew were far more advanced than Hato had been, yet they were still not Chuunin. She would have to prove herself quite a bit for Max to think she was ready. She sought to be in the same rank as he was, and that meant she would have to be a capable opponent for the boy.
 
“I’ll keep using these ones for now. I don’t think that you would be able to handle Dread Knight, and Stein is dangerous.” Max would say, not with an arrogance but more with a simple statement of fact. Dread Knight was his strongest puppet, a fearsome monstrosity of bone and flesh. Stein was another puppet that would simply be too dangerous to use against someone in training. It was capable of killing a person with little effort from Max, and it wasn’t something that Max had complete control over. He would use such a thing against an experienced opponent, such as another Chuunin or a Jounin, but not against a Genin.
 
Hato seemed to ready a whip, a strange weapon of choice. It had plenty of reach, but in the hands of the inexperienced or those that aren’t careful it can prove to be more of a hindrance than a boon. Maybe she was better than she let on. This should be interesting.
 
“You are welcome to make the first move.” Max would say aloud, his fingers at the ready to spring into action as soon as needed.

Hato might of been bluffing a bit when saying that he should get ready for real. All part of an act, the careless nobody that Hato was trying to be. But she started to see the error of going easy and being careless on purpose, it wouldn't allow improvement. Her future intentions wouldn't be endanger if she actually showed what she got. Max explained that she would no match for Dread Knight and Stein. So that's the names of the others, I wish he'd just show me them. Wait, Can he not control his puppets powers? They can be that powerful? Impressive. Hato thought.  

After Max announces that she could make the first move. Hato dropped her five meter whip to her right side. Without hesitation, she would lift the whip and throw the hilt above her shoulder and cast the whip down onto the puppet's right shoulder, (Or whichever arm didn't have the shiv weapon on it) at a throwing speed of 71 and impact force of 47.

If contact was made on the shoulder, the impact force would, knock the right arm right off the puppet's socket. The puppet was still human, dead or alive, and had the joints of normal people. For a follow up, Hato would swing her whip to the left after breaking through the arm, towards the now open right side torso and try to strike it with the whip at same speed and impact force as before. If hit, it would launch the puppet to it's left about 5 meters. The impact force would certainly break the 10 health bones in the puppet's body 

WC: 271
TWC: 1878

Hato seemed ready, and so she would pull back her rather large whip. It almost seemed to big and unwieldy to use, but she seemed to be able to manipulate it without too much strain. Max would note that she seemed to be aiming at the puppet, and he had no idea what the whip was actually capable of, but hopefully this can be a learning experience for himself as well.
 
With a fluid motion she launched the whip at the puppet at a speed faster than Max expected, but well within his ability to both assess and react to. With a quick motion of his dexterous fingers the puppet would dash towards the woman, its speed matching the speed at which she attacked with the whip, her attack being cast in a downward motion leaving a huge window of opportunity. A whip wasn’t a very effective weapon, at least not in the eyes of Max. It required far too much effort and skill to be used in an effective fashion, and its only truly ‘dangerous’ part was at the very end, else one wouldn’t be able to put the full force of a blow into it. Plus, considering its sheer length there would likely be a very large amount of area around her that wasn’t effectively threatened, especially for this particular attack. The whip would be easily sidestepped as the puppet was much more mobile than her whip was, and the point in space where her attack was directed (the puppets left hand shoulder at a position 2 meters away) would now be behind it and to the left of the puppet. While it may be possible for her to redirect the whiplash, considering that the ‘tail’ of the whip was now past the puppet and with all of its force in a downward trajectory, it wouldn’t likely matter much, though he could see a skilled combatant potentially managing to make the most of the event.
 
Nevertheless, the now speeding puppet would be dashing quickly in range of Hato, its putrid flesh and menacing grimace all that she would sense before it drove its fist at her (speed 100, power: n/a) and fell just a few centimeters shy of her face, not striking anything but perhaps fear into her.
 
If this all occurred, Max would shake his head, “You still have a long ways to go to reach Chuunin. If you can’t beat one of my simplest puppets without me even using jutsu to compliment it, I’m afraid you won’t be able to best someone who actually has something to gain from pummeling you, such as advancement in a Chuunin Exam.”
 
Now, if she manages to surprise him with an effective counter… well, then that little speech wouldn’t be said and Max would continue to see what she was capable of.

OoC: Unlisted speeds are all matching the speed at which Hato attacked with the whip (71 speed)

WC:472

The adrenaline was a nice feel for Hato, especially when facing a strong opponent like Max. As the whip made it's down fall, the puppet showed even more speed than before to side step from the powerful whip. The impact of whip hitting the ground made a large slam against the ground. After the side step, the puppet approached Hato at a speed of 100. Hato was still able to see the puppet but it was still way faster than her. But Hato still made note of it's speed. As the puppet approached her, she swung the whip back towards herself and a bit to her right at a speed of 71. She honestly didn't think she would make before the puppet got to her, but she still flinched, moving to her left as he was heading to her right. But then the puppet stopped as Max was going to say something. The whip, which was headed towards the puppet now that it was in her original position, and now that she had moved to the left, it curved more. Hato had a chance now. She pulled the whip to her right so it would curve around the puppet. This would create a lasso effect from the puppets left side that spanned 5 meters. Where puppet was, it would wrap around the 2 meter point of the whip , leaving 3 meters of the whip to wrap around the puppets arms, holding them in tight, if struck. 

Again, if struck with the curving whip, the puppet would being wrapped around with the whip and having it's arm crushed together with the impact force of 47. Not letting the puppet escape if trapped, Hato would swing the puppet around to the right side of her in a clockwise manner, lifting it off it's feet provided that the puppet didn't weight more that 200 pounds. At the beginning of the swing, the puppet was 2 meters from her body but with it's extended length ability, she extended it 7 meters from her body about when the puppet was behind her back at the same speed she was swinging the puppet around, 71. Since Max was 7 meters from Hato, once it made a 360 rotation around her, Max would be in the rotation path. If Max didn't do anything about it, it would strike Max with an impact force of 47. 

If the strike against Max made contact, it would launch him 5 meters to his right, also causing huge damage to his body. Hato would stop swinging around the puppet and slam it to the ground to stop the momentum. She would then also run to his side to see what she could heal. 

WC: 452
TWC: 2330

The puppet would be moving in, but right as it stopped and Max started to speak his words were cut short, his hesitation creating an opening for Hato to exploit. Good, she was learning rather quickly. She would wrap her whip around the puppets torso, squeezing it and cracking bone where it first impacts. There would then be a spinning motion, in which would swing the puppet around towards Max. Luckily, Max watched as this was all going on, and as soon as he saw her swinging the puppet off of the ground and towards Max’s direction, he would extend his right arm at full speed and activate his arm’s shield (Barrier Health 30, Speed of Formation:70). Max would also brace himself with Surface Walking, keeping a firm connection to the ground. The puppet would slam into the barrier and bounced off, bringing no harm to young Max. The puppet, would land on the ground (now that it rotation had stopped) and pull hard on the whip using its legs and body (since its arms were still possibly wrapped up) in an attempt to tug her off her feet. The puppet had succumbed to a lot of damage, but until destroyed or incapacitated the puppet (much like its Zombie inspirations) would still press on, pain and injury not a limiting factor for the dead. She could of course drop the whip, but then she would be disarmed.
 
Max on the other hand would move away to the side opposite the puppets path had been, readying himself for Hato’s next actions while weaving hand seals at full speed. He would move to a position 4 meters behind her, moving around the target while out of reach from her melee attacks. She would have to keep track of both the puppet and young Max at the same time. And easy task for someone like Komon or Renji that have the byakugan, but a much harder feat for others. Once the string of seals was complete, Max would hold off on the final seal and consider something for a moment (whether Hato was watching him or not). If Hato was watching him, he would simply ending the chain and decide against the use of the jutsu. If she was watching Max, Hato would note that nothing seemed to happen. If she was not watching Max however…
 
Meanwhile the puppet would be dashing towards her, now free if she let go of the whip due to the slack of it giving enough room to slide out. If she still had the whip, well that wouldn’t change its actions, as it would still be rushing towards her in an attempt to form an offensive. The puppet was able to clear the distance between itself and Hato rather quickly, and not keeping an eye on the target was a surefire way to catch a blow to the head.
 
What would she do?

AP: 1107 - 30 (Mechanical Arm Shield) - 1 (Surface Walking) = 1076 AP left

wc: 486

Hato's counter had landed, the whip wrapped around the puppet, crushing it. As Hato swung it around, she watched Max. He pulled out his mechanical arm shield and braced himself. At first, Hato thought it would send him flying across the field with the level of impact force he was going to deal with. Once it struck the shield, it stopped the puppet, crushing it even more against the shield (OCC: I would argue that that level of damage would completely damage the puppet to unusable measures, but that just wouldn't be fun for a spar). It would then fall to the ground as the momentum was stopped. 

Max's turn. He started to move behind her while weaving hand signs. Hato would get a quick glace at his distance from her.  At the same time, the puppet would start to pull on her whip, so she let go of the whip, leaving her disarmed. This would cause the puppet to move towards her. Since they were 7 meters away, Hato had time to react. Forming her ram hand symbol at her top speed, she quickly used the body flicker technique at a speed of 90. Her destination? A meter above Max and a meter behind him. Hato would be able to see both the puppet and the user. Hato used her newest tai technique, Heavenly foot of pain. And if Max didn't evade the attack, he would find out why it was called that. She would raise her leg in the air as soon as she was above Max. Her speed had increased to 70 and the strength of her kick would be 43. 

If Max did nothing to counter or dodge the oncoming attack, he'd most likely get crushed. Not killed, just really injured. She would have to take him to the hospital. If he dodged and she hit the ground, it would cause a crack in the ground at least. 

WC: 322
TWC: 2652

AP: 150
-10 ap for Body Flicker Technique
-20 ap for Heavenly Foot of Pain
Total AP: 130

So Hato would keep an eye on Max, her gaze focused on the boy as he weaves various hand seals. What was he using? Well, Hato wouldn’t find out as the boy would simply stop his seals and not perform any jutsu. The puppet dashing towards her seemed to rattle her, and so she would form the Ram seal all by its lonesome which Max knew a jutsu that used just that. The Body Flicker technique, a jutsu he had taught her. “Let us see what she does here.” Max would silently think to himself as he watches her body become engorged with chakra and her immediate choice to rush towards the young chuunin. Now, if she had been moving REALLY fast, he might not have been able to witness the movement, but she would speed towards him at a mere 90 speed. Well that was… not what he expected. Max would hastily pull out a Kunai with his metal arm and ready himself to injure her, enough only to teach her a lesson in caution. While this was happening the puppet would move itself towards her, broken bones and all. She would find herself engaged from two sides if not careful.
 
In what feels like an eternity she would lift herself into the air with a slight hop. Did she just? If Napa were out he would reveal to her the folly of such a move by pummeling her into the ground. Taking ones feet off the ground is a surefire way to lose one’s life in a real encounter. A lesson he had passed on to Renji.
 
“You better teach her this lesson, boy!” Napa would call to him telepathically, his ears ringing as the words are sudden and jarring. Napa had been quiet for some time, but he decides to pipe up now? Perhaps he had been biding his time, watching and waiting to chime in.

“Fine,” Max would retort as he throws his kunai in a trajectory to meet with where her position would be once she was a mere meter from him and in the air. The Kunai would be aimed for her knee from underneath while she pulls up her leg for the kick, as an injury here would be rather painful and also completely cripple her form and stance. While his undead puppets might be able to shrug off such pain, the human form was much less durable. A puppet could lose a limb and think nothing of it, or be pierced through the heart without blinking an eye. Humanity on the other hand… well, Hato would be experiencing the frailty of her form.

 
If for any reason his kunai does not seem to connect, or she bears through the injury and decides to continue with her strike, she would see that Max would shift about half a meter back and allow the attack to *whiff* him and strike towards the ground, he of course still bracing himself with his metal arm in a blocking position in case he somehow miscalculated her reach. 

OoC: He doesn't throw kunai until she is winding up for an attack. All speeds and such are at full, simply for the lesson about Body Flicker and leaving the ground without means to fly/levitate/etc.

Claiming: Kunai pierces her knee, causing plenty of pain/damage and possibly ending her adventuring career.

wc: 510

Hato was in a tricky predicament. She had tried to pull an element of surprise but Max could see her movements. What he didn't remember was that she was behind Max, allowing her leg to raise up in the matter of time it took for him to turn around. Hato then went from the strike down with a powerful axe kick. 

If Max evaded the attack, her strike would hit the ground. causing it to erupt to make a sort of rock smoke screen. With the kick dealt, she would quickly rise up from the ground and head towards Max in whichever direction he went. But Hato wouldn't attack, she would stop and catch her breath, "Alright, I'm good for the sparring match." Hato would then sit down to see if Max would yield. It wasn't a trick, she had been there to train, not spar and get humiliated. Plus, she wanted to see if Her sensei had any jutsu for her to learn, she was still kinda behind in that field.  

WC: 172

TWC: 2824

Max would likely be just out of reach of the woman's powerful leg strike, so as the kick struck the ground it would kick up debris and dirt. Max would shake any dirt and dust from his head as Hato spoke of a yield. Max had no issue with this, though her stamina was a bit lacking. She already seemed winded, yet she seemed to be a primarily melee combatant. "I accept your yield, though you should consider more conditioning. At the pace we are going, I could have lasted at least another hour. As a shinobi, especially one that seeks to advance, you should really considering building up your reserves." Max would say as his damaged undead puppet would shamble over towards him holding its sliced off bone shiv. 


"Don't worry, pal. I'll fix you right up." Max would say to the creature with a smile, his tone that which you would hear as if friends were talking. 

Max would form the hand seals for his Mystical Palm Technique - Modified Ox followed by Tiger - and place his hands on the puppet. The chakra would flow, patching the wounds on the necrotic flesh of the puppet. Typically one could only use this technique to speed up the natural healing process, but Max's unique style of puppetry allows him to do such. The puppets severed arm would reattach, the bones that were cracked in its arms and torso now repairing as well.

"This is the Mystical Palm Technique. It is a rather advanced medical technique, capable of mending bone, tissue, or nerves. It rapidly speeds up the body's ability to heal on its own." Max would say to Hato, hoping that she was watching carefully. 

wc:286