The Eyes Have It...

Raika Ryuutei walks into the training facility once again, though this time, she was expecting to meet with Ren, the person whom she'd met at the gate when she'd first tried to come into Konoha with Blitz and Kaida. He had had some kind of rain technique that she knew was capable of sensing others, and she somewhat wanted to know more about him and his capabilities, though she was aware that learning too much would likely be seen as something similar to an attempt at surveillance or espionage, not that that was Raika's intention.

Regardless, she'd sent Ren a note, to be delivered by a tiny monitor lizard summon with so little capacity for combat that it couldn't possibly be seen as a threat. In actuality, it looked more like a gecko or a small salamander than the beasts of her usual summoning contract with the Komodos from the Dead Swamp. She didn't want the note to seem like a serious threat for Ren, whom she'd seen use some form of glowing eye that reminded her quite a lot of the Yurei clan, even down to the colors that their eyes glowed in the dark.

This note is for Ren of the Uchiha clan. I am Raika, clan head of the Ryuutei clan. I wish to request your instruction for the purposes of the improvement of my combat ability and yours in equal measure. I will be on the second floor of the Grand Konoha Training Facility, which some have referred to as The Hot Rock on this day. Please come.

She hadn't wanted it to sound too formal or informal, in case either one was considered more rude than the other, and she also didn't want it to sound like a challenge. Raika herself sat on one of the smaller stone pillars that make up the scenery that breaks up the otherwise flat, dry-crusted land with its intense heat and very bright lighting, with her arms crossed over her chest. She was still wearing her Nemean Cloak and her Felis Bangle, with Hiramekarei's tip embedded in the stone next to her, but easily within reach. Her clothing was tattered, but actually cleaned, possibly by the rain or possibly by an actual clothes cleaning service, it was hard to say. Her long raven-black hair was behind her back, nearly long enough to reach the small of her back, and she brushes some of it while she waits. She'd heard that Uchiha men liked black hair, but that could have just as easily been a rumor among other Konohans.

A smirk would form on Ren's lips as he read the note that a small lizard delivered, he had planned to train today though it would seem that he would have a sparring partner unlike the day before. Ren tried to think of which woman Raika was of the two that had come through the gate from Kirigakure, the one that called him a pervert or the raggedy woman. Not that it really mattered to him which one it was, he was always interested in testing his skills against another. He didn't know much about the clans from Kiri, but to be once named the bloody mist, he knew that it had to hold some strong shinobi within it, and he hoped that this Raika was one of them. It would be nice to test his mettle against one of the strong ones of the mist, and it would be a nice change of pace from fighting one of his fellow Konoha shinobi, he might even learn a thing or two from this fight or spar or whatever you wanted to call it.

Ren would wear his sweetsilk cloak over his battle Kisode, using the cloak to hold many of his items within it rather than in a bunch of pouches. Singing Tempest would be in its sheath on his obi, and then there were his boots which he had not really had a chance to use since Airi had made them, though it was up in the air whether or not they would even be useful in this situation. Walking through the door to the grand Konoha training facility, Ren would head straight to the elevator and up to the second floor. His Sharingan activating as the doors opened and he made his way into the room where Raika was waiting. He was mildly surprised to see that Raika was the raggedy woman he had met, though both women seemed to have strange chakra about them, this one seemed far more interesting. His eyes training on her and her large sword that was dug into the rock as he approached, though he doubted that this was some kind of trap, he was still careful to watch for any twitches that might signal an attack.

"It seems that we are both here, however I have to ask. Why do request my instruction? What have I done that makes you think me a teacher or that I would have interest in helping you improve your abilities?" His voice was cold but not cruel, polite despite the fact that his face gave the impression that he was annoyed, his eyes boring into her as he spoke.

Raika watches as the elevator opens, but she's careful not to look into his eyes, after remembering how his eyes had glowed red during their first meeting; she remembered the Yurei's own genjutsu based on their eyes, and while she was fine with Azrael looking into her head, that was not approved for others, especially not in Konoha. She figures, being strangers, that any sudden movements from her would be like a signal that she was attacking, so instead of immediately jumping down to meet him and make the conversation easier, she just kicks one of her legs that's hanging over the edge of the rock, lightly tapping her heel against the stone as she pointedly looks at the top of his head, rather than his eyes. While Raika isn't interested in a surprise attack or an ambush the way Blitz might try, she wasn't sure what the Konoha ninja were like at all, and so she has simply chosen not to open herself up for much of anything dangerous if she could avoid it.

His questioning was cold, impersonal, and while his voice was polite, the rest of his facial expression implied that he was really rather annoyed. She's not really that clever herself, but being given a few days to think about it, she'd come up with a good reason for him to train with her; Raika figured that someone in such a prestigious clan as the Uchiha would probably find himself disinterested in likely sparring or training with someone that he likely considered his lesser, unless it could be proven to be worth his while.

"Well, for your first question, because I want to gain strength. For your second half-question, we don't have any Uchiha in Kirigakure to train against. For your final half-question, you wouldn't have any interest in helping me improve my abilities, but I've also noticed a complete lack of Ryuutei clan members for you to train against as well. This is a learning experience for both of us."

Only now does she grip one of Hiramekarei's handles, but she uses it more to help her get up to her feet on the rock. She waits a moment before tugging the tip of the blade from the stone, then dropping down off the rock while digging the claws of her free hand and both her feet into the rock to gradually slow her descent until she leaps off the pillar to the side. Raika lands in a crouch and then slowly stands upright again while turning to look at Ren's chest, once more purposefully avoiding eye contact.

"There's not even any reason for a spar right away. We can start with a conversation if you like, instead."

As Ren would watch the woman, he would pick up on the small twitches her body made as she began to move, though none of them signified an attack so he would remain still as he listened to what she had to say. As far as he could tell her answers seemed to be made honestly, though considering he had been lied to before without realizing it, it was truly hard for him to know if she spoke true or not, especially when she was so obviously trying to avoid eye contact with him. He doubted she was lying about there not being any Uchiha in Kirigakure, it was unusual for them to travel far from Konoha, and he didn't remember seeing any reports of any moving when he was doing the clan's record keeping, so on that fact he would trust her. Her notion of the Ryuutei not being in Konoha he would also take at her word, though he had not met every single person in the village, he knew that if the rest of her clan possessed strange chakra as she did, he would have noticed it. The only part of what she said that he could not be a hundred percent sure about was her reasoning for wanting his instruction, sure she said it was because she wanted to gain strength, but it could easily be that she was wanting to learn weaknesses or something else. Tengoku had spoken about Kirigakure making major land grabs, was it possible that she and her companions were actually some kind of advance team sent to sniff out weak points in their defenses and gauge the strength of the shinobi that would try to defend it when they attack, yes. However, it was also possible that he was letting his imagination get away from him, and the three had come to simply train as they said they were there to do.

After a few moments of silent contemplation as he continued to eye her, Ren would finally speak up. "You are right, I have not met any Ryuutei before you, and it would be interesting to see what you are capable of as well as get in some practice. Just as I am sure it would be a learning experience for both of us, I also know that no two Uchiha are the same. We each have our own way of fighting and handling things, I assume the same could be said about the Ryuutei. However, if I am being completely honest, I don't know if I can trust you at your word. You have made it a point to avoid eye contact, that alone tells me that you have something to hide and I like that less than being lied to. If you wish for me to trust you, I am going to need more than simply you wish to become stronger. Tell me about your clan, why does your chakra seep of energy like a Bijuu?" Ren paused for a moment before adding, "look at me in the eye when you speak to me, please. It's far easier to tell if one is lying that way, and also shows that you aren't trying to hide something."

Raika can see that her words are getting through to him as he seems to contemplate for a long moment while she deftly returns Hiramekarei to her back again and leaves it there, stuck in place with the same technique most ninja used to climb vertical surfaces using only their chakra on the bottom of their feet to grip it. The back was only slightly easier to use for that purpose than one's feet, and only because it was a far wider surface area, with an easier time to pull with enough chakra to grip onto her weapon. She hears him out when he admits to having never met any Ryuutei before her, as well as letting slip his interest in training with her, after all. Well, her assumptions had been about right, but he still seemed extremely distrustful, especially considering she wouldn't look into his eyes. But this wasn't her first man with glowing eyes that she'd spoken to, and he probably wouldn't be the last, as long as she made it back to Kirigakure alive.

"I'll tell you why my clan's chakra reeks of a bijuu, but I won't look in your eyes. They glow, too, and they even have the same color... No, I refuse to look into your eyes. Besides, what would your Airi think, you looking into another woman's eyes like that? While I highly doubt you're interested in other women, especially wild women like me, I'd rather not have Airi even guess that something improper should happen."

She's taking a very diplomatic, but slightly joking tone, careful to still keep the mood more formal than not, but a little bit of fun should be fine, she figures.

"In any case, I'm not even sure if this is true; the story of how we received this boon is legend anyway, nobody that was alive then lives today, so it may as well have not happened. Long, long ago, when the Ryuutei was feared throughout the Land of Water, the clan came upon a tailed beast, and despite many, many losses and many weeks of constant fighting, the Ryuutei clan was able to subdue the Nibi for long enough to chop off a piece of its flesh. As was ritual in those days, after the victory, the entire clan feasted on this flesh, and with every single member of the clan attaining some small piece of the bijuu's power, it has been passed down through all our kin throughout every generation."

She shrugs, having given him a very short version of the legend of how the Ryuutei gained their chakra reserves as well as the bijuu-tainted chakra. It was an old tale, told to children as young as 2 until they were considered adults when they received their names. It was perhaps true; she'd never heard of any other explanation. But it was an old story.

This Raika seemed scared of his eyes, was it because she had encountered an Uchiha or was there another clan that had similar eyes? Ren didn't know one way or the other but the fact that she refused to look into his eyes, meant that he took her words with a grain of salt. When she mentioned Airi however a small flame would burn in his eye, not that the woman standing in front of him would see it. "You do not know me or Airi enough to assume anything about us, so do not assume to know what Airi would think about you looking me in the eyes when you speak. Looking someone in the eye is a sign of respect when you speak to someone, but I guess you Kiri shinobi don't know anything about respect do you? If it is genjutsu that you are scared of, you should know we don't need eye contact for me to trap you in on. I could cast a genjutsu from you looking at my hand or even my chest if I so wished it." The last part about the genjutsu while true it was possible, Ren stating that he could do it was false. He had seen Uchiha perform such skills in the past, but Genjutsu had always eluded him. He was not much for mental games like others but there was no need to share this fact with this stranger. Though it was impossible for Ren to know if the woman was speaking true about how her chakra became the way it was, he could not say that he was not interested in testing his own ability against a demi-bijuu. The fact that she refused to look him in the eye didn't matter as much, it just meant that he didn't need to worry about trusting her, but if she wanted to spar, well that was something different entirely.

Ren would fold his hands one over the other allowing the sleeves of his Kisode to come together hiding his hands from view as he stood watching the woman in front of him, "I suppose trust and respect is too much to ask from someone like yourself, so how about we just skip the formalities and move on to the reason you asked me here today. You wish to train, I too am interested in getting some training done. So my proposal is this, we spar with the agreement that we will not kill the other, and of course we will just have to take each other's word for it, considering the fact that neither one of us trusts the other." Ren stated as he removed his hands from the sleeve and motioned to the opened area away from the rocks with his left hand, If Raika agreed to his terms, if they could be called that, then Ren would move to the area ensuring to keep a minimum of 30 meters between them before they started. Once both were in a confortable position then he would simply raise one hand to her and beckon her to come at him, his eyes locked onto her watching and waiting for the slightest movement on her advance towards him.

Raika somewhat enjoys this verbal and trust-issue-sparring - being from different villages, even allied villages, there was no reason to trust one another in any case. This would be somewhat surprising for Raika, as she would normally have much preferred physical sparring to the mental gymnastics of careful diplomatic conversation. Perhaps she had something of a knack for it, but judging by Ren Uchiha's tone, perhaps not. Still, despite his chastising, Raika still knew better than to look into the eyes of someone when she'd seen them glow before, and with her experience with the glowing eyes of the Yurei, with both Azrael and Kami showing her just how the doujutsu could be used, she didn't find his explanation entirely believable. If his doujutsu was anything like the Yurei's doujutsu, then he might be able to cast genjutsu when she's looking at any point, but the genjutsu cast from the eye was at its strongest. Still, she meets his aggressive verbal thrust with a rapid verbal dodge that allows his thrust to continue, but missing its mark.

"You are correct that I don't know yourself or Airi to any such degree. Thus, my caution is well-founded and an appropriate diplomatic response. And, just as you do not know the customs of Kirigakure, neither do I know the customs of Konohagakure, nor what shows respect. In Kirigakure, looking someone in the eyes is a sign of challenge, rather than respect, and so I am not comfortable with eye contact. Besides, if your intention was to cast genjutsu on me in such a way, you'd have done so."

While her insistence that eye contact was a sign of challenge in Kirigakure wasn't entirely true, and if Ren pushed the issue, she would likely have to try a different tack, it might just be enough to have him recognize that at least she wasn't comfortable with making or maintaining eye contact with him. Instead, Raika's eyes get drawn to Ren's hands as they come together in his sleeves, but she can tell from the lack of movement in the sleeves afterwards that he's probably not performing any handseals, so she visibly relaxes again from the slight and momentary tensing, back to a more tranquil state of body. This time his further insults on trust and respect aimed at Kirigakure in particular and on her by extension are given a swift counter-attack, showing him that she won't simply allow him to attack with impunity, but that she will at least treat him as an equal.

"I suppose respect is a one-way street in Konoha, as is trust; you expect me to trust you enough to look in your eyes, but refuse to trust me enough to believe this story I was told otherwise. Not that you should trust old legends. I told you already that it's probably not true, but it's just the story I was told."

She allows him to continue with his proposal for their spar without interruption, and she seems to take a moment to consider it, despite having asked him for the spar and training to begin with. Finally, she seems to agree, showing her toleration for these terms by moving to that specified location, then waiting for his signal, and she sees him raise a hand and beckon to her. Instantly Raika drops down to the three-legged form of her new favorite fighting style, the Bestial Blade style, with Hiramekarei's upper handle gripped in her right hand before she launches herself towards him, keeping an eye on his chest as she channels chakra through her claws, as well as throughout her entire body, allowing her claws to reach their greatest hardness possible and using the chakra in her body to greatly increase her speed and fleetness as she approaches him in a near instant, closing distance rapidly, but instead of barging directly into him, she aims at a point at his side, slightly away from him, but ready to counterattack or pivot away if he tries anything funny.

OOC:

Jutsu Used:

Raika CP: 350 - 20 (Mastery of Body: Control - Taijutsu affinity) - 20 (Bestial Blade Style) = 310

Raika stats:
Strength: B
Constitution: C (C++ with Nemean Cloak)
Stamina: S
Speed: D (B)
Coordination: B (B+ with Felis Bangle) (A++; unable to boost to S)
Intelligence: D
Perception: B

"And how do you know that I didn't already trapped you in a genjutsu?" He asked as Raika stated that if his intentions were to cast a genjutsu he would have done so already, though his tone would suggest the question was made as a joke and there was no seriousness too it.

As soon as Ren had beckon her to come at him, Raika had begun to move, though before she had even taken her first step towards him his Sharingan was already reading the miniscule movements of her muscles predicting what she was about to do. With a quick breath, Ren would release a breath of chakra infused ash that would cover the area between them before forming a string of three hand seals and releasing another breath, this time however it was pure fire. While the Dragon Fire Bullet normally has a short range, as soon as the flames made contact with the ash that he had just released the ashes ignited causing a violent explosion that should Raika be caught within would undoubtedly cause her burns and pain, but would not kill her therefore keeping his word that he would not attempt to do so. His main goal was simply keeping her at a distance as he could tell from the twitches of her muscles she had aimed to get close to him. It was likely she was a close range combatant something he had not had time to train in, so he would just have to do his best to ensure that she didn't get too close to him.

---

Chakra: 290
Sharingan: -0.8 (4 posts so far)
Ash Pile Burning: -5 (Ninjutsu Katon Affinity)
Fire Dragon Bullet: -3 (Ninjutsu Katon Affinity)

Ending Chakra: 281.2

Techniques:

Raika frowns when Ren brings up that he could have already put her in a genjutsu, and she simply shrugs. The fact of the matter was, Raika had always heard that the Konohans were mostly an "honorable" set of ninjas in this new generation. While she wasn't sure if that was an oxymoron, she somewhat assumes that they at least have some set of values that they honor among one another in a polite setting, and despite some verbal jousting, this setting was at least technically polite at the moment.

Raika is somewhat surprised when she finds herself in what seems like a dust cloud being expelled from Ren's mouth, and she rapidly changes direction, using her free clawed left hand to dig into the ground, allowing her to immediately pivot on her claws and instead dash to the side and avoid a follow-up; while Raika would have normally used the other ninja's scent to track him down even in the cloud, the ash was having a serious effect on her sensitive nose. She stops and sneezes once before the entire cloud of ash erupts into flames behind her, and she narrowly avoids becoming a cooked cat. She can tell from the heat that it wouldn't have been a deadly attack this time around, but Raika had luckily been made uncomfortable by the stinging ash.

While Raika turns back towards him, she keeps her eyes at around waist level, which thanks to her four-legged fighting style, is more natural than actually meeting his eyes. Now at a distance of 15 meters from him, she returns to her dash towards him, but instead of using Hiramekarei, she instead slashes in his direction with the claws of her left hand, though she pulls back her strike before her claws would have actually made contact with skin - instead, she was merely aiming to cut his clothing with her claws. Although doing so would likely require a bit of sewing, it obviously wouldn't cause enough damage to ruin the dress-like clothing he was wearing; it would likely be something she could even fix herself, and after the spar, she would have likely offer to do so as well, should it come to that.

"Hmph. Some of you Konoha nin think you're too clever. Getting close is a death knell for handseals, you see."

Although Raika is speaking, she keeps track of Ren's hands, watching for any movement that would require her to react at a moment's notice.

Jutsu Used:

Raika CP: 310 - 10 (Mastery of Body: Control - Taijutsu affinity) - 20 (Bestial Blade Style) = 280

Raika stats:
Strength: B
Constitution: C (C++ with Nemean Cloak)
Stamina: S
Speed: D (B)
Coordination: B (B+ with Felis Bangle) (A++; unable to boost to S)
Intelligence: D
Perception: B

As he watched Raika Raika pivot her direction ensuring she avoided the resulting explosion, Ren would form the dragon hand seal with one hand creating a Ember duplicate in front of himself before darting around the opposite direction of the resulting smoke of the explosion that Raika had moved to avoid it. While Ren used the smoke cloud of the explosion as cover, the ember clone would be left to deal with Raika's new attack. The clone would be just as fast as the true Ren, forming a single dragon half seal with one hand releasing a flaming shroud around it. It was mean for little more than a deterrent to stop others from getting close in a fight and should cause any lasting damage, just minor burns at most though her clothes would likely burn, if she pushed through it.

If Raika chose to dodge the flaming shroud that the clone created it would follow up with three more quick half seals releasing a flaming serpent that would move to chase after her, however if she pushed through the flame shroud as she went for the strike it would form the half tiger seal using its own flame to cause another explosion as it activates Flaring Embers.

Meanwhile, the true Ren would get about 25 meters from where he was originally, turning around and forming six quick half hand seals releasing a volley of 16 fireballs while the clone was dealing with Raika. With the sharingan it was easy for Ren to be able to track Raika's movements allowing him to direct them towards her, their erratic flight pattern sure to cause her some difficulty in the dodging them, though he would leave nothing to chance forming the serpent hand seal Ren would make another clone of himself though this time it would be a spark clone instead of an ember clone. Quickly darting away after the clone's creation, ensure to keep within 25 meters of both clones if the ember clone was still around but ensuring that both clones would be between him and Raika. If the ember clone destroyed itself, then he would just keep the new spark clone between them, either way he would attempt to keep distance from the woman.

---

Ren Chakra: 281.2
Sharingan: -0.2
Ember Clone: -28.1
Pheonix Sage: -3 (Katon affinity)
Spark Clone: -24.9
Ending: 225

Ember Clone Chakra: 28.1
Flaming Shroud: -5
Flame Serpent or Flaring Embers: -3
Ending: 20.1

Spark Clone Chakra: 24.9

Techs:

Raika simply ignores Ren performing handseals and encasing himself in flames in an attempt to stop her swipe, but she catches sight of one of his hands starting to form more handseals. She decides it's actually best to actually just cause damage if Ren is simply going to not take the hit as a warning, and so she goes back on her initial plan to simply scare him with slashing his clothes, and she instead drags her sharp claws along the skin of his arm, slashing a little deeper than skin deep and likely only enough that he'd need stitches, but what follows is an explosion of fire. Luckily, Raika had not been planning on stopping after the initial slice, and so she slips past the ember clone before the eruption of fire can touch her. The heat from the first flame technique has singed her clothing, but she does little more than rip that tattered sleeve off. Her clothing was already torn apart by years of use, it mattered little to her if her sleeve was gone as well. With the instinctual reaction time her body has gained, it's done nearly instantly, and she's already prepared for combat before the explosion of flame has even dissipated.

Unfortunately for Ren, Raika was now growing tired of this, and she hadn't scented him going too far away from that initial burning ash attack, so that was where she directs her fury. Raika doesn't wait to verify, she simply focuses chakra along the blade's length while she holds it in her right hand, then twists as she releases the chakra in a wide arcing swing, aiming for where she sees movement. While Raika holds nothing back on the speed of the attack, she still uses less chakra than normal, aiming to cause more blunt force damage to the opponent's solar plexus than to actually slice Ren in half, as the technique would normally do; instead, the arc of chakra was far more likely to knock the wind out of whoever it hit. At a distance of about 30 meters, the arc of chakra would have been immensely swift; if this doujutsu user was attempting to dodge it, he would likely find that quite difficult, and if he attempted handseals, it was all the better for the Ryuutei. She was already closing distance, following after her arc of the chakra blade and ready to attack in a direct hit with the first enemy's chest that she lays eyes on.

OOC:

Jutsu Used:

Raika CP: 280 - 10 (Mastery of Body: Control - Taijutsu affinity) - 20 (Bestial Blade Style) - 20 (Hiramekarei: Chakra Blade Burst) = 230

Raika stats:
Strength: B
Constitution: C (C++ with Nemean Cloak)
Stamina: S
Speed: D (B)
Coordination: B (B+ with Felis Bangle) (A++; unable to boost to S)
Intelligence: D
Perception: B

As Ren turned, he would see Raika charging forward and making contact with the clone, not stopping after her attack against it continuing on avoiding the 15 meters blast that the clone created in an attempt to get back at her. He had originally planned to perform the Phoenix sage fire technique however seeing this the thought quickly left his mind and instead he only formed the half tiger seal.

There would be a few things that would work out in Ren's favor, the first of which was the fact that Raika had not stopped after hitting the clone and continued running forward to avoid the 15 meters blast explosion, the second was the fact that her doing so took her slightly further away from him then he had been from the clone. Due to the angle he had moved from the clone based off of her movement to avoid the first explosion he had caused with the ash cloud and fire technique, if someone were to look at the three of them and Raika had not moved to attack the clone they might say the trio had made an acute triangle, with Ren's path from the clone and Raika's path towards the clone being at about a 35 or so degree angle from each other. So while he had been 25 meters from the clone, with her not stopping in her sprint forward to avoid the blast she added a little more distance between them, putting the distance at around 35 to 40 meters between them. The final thing working in his favor was his Sharingan, allowing him to be able to pick up on the minuet movements of her muscles as well as seeing the chakra accumulate in the blade for an attack.

Having already formed the half tiger handseal, Ren would wait until just as she begins to twist her body to release the arc of chakra from her blade, activating the Body flicker technique and darting off in a straight line to the left of where he was standing at a high rate through the smoke. Now moving at 100m/s,  Ren was able to easily dodge the arc, the disadvantage of the attack despite it's greater speed being the distance between the two Shinobi and the fact that it was only ten meters wide and travelled in a straight line meaning his dodge to the side put him out of its reach. Had she been able to control the arc after launching it he might not have been so lucky, but fortunately that did not seem to be the case. He could tell that she was fast and extremely well coordinated, however now with his increased speed he was be able to lengthen the distance between them despite the fact that she was running after him. Holding the half tiger seal as he ran, Ren would quickly change his direction ever so slightly to the left as he reached the end of his initial boost, allowing him to continue to move at high speeds away from Raika. The point of this was to ensure that if Raika launched another fast moving attack, that he could potentially dodge it by moving diagonally away from it. The second reason for this was because if he had turned at a 90 degree angle to make a full turn, there was the potential that Raika could cut across and catch up to him, this way allow him to adjust his direction while continuing to move away from Raika.

After the second activation of body flicker reached its end, Ren felt confident enough that he had enough distance between them now that he would form the Snake hand seal while continuing to run at his normal speed. Leaping into the air while continuing his forward momentum, Ren would twist his body to release a large surge of water that would likely crash into Raika should she still be chasing after him, the very size of the technique making it difficult to avoid. Ren would use this brief milliseconds of time to get his eyes on where Raika was to ensure the wave of water was aimed in the right direction. The aim was to wash her back with the wave putting a stop to her momentum while keeping his own, or at the very least divert her path from following him. After releasing his jutsu, he would twist his body, just before landing back on the ground taking off at a 90 degree angle from the direction he had been moving as he realized he was getting close to the wall of the building. Activating his sensory technique as he landed so that he would be able to sense her even if he couldn't see her, he would also ready himself to form the half tiger seal should he need another burst of speed. Distance was the only thing that would help him against her considering how fast she seemed to be when it came to close quarters, he couldn't take the chance on her getting close to him.

---

Chakra: 252.9 (27.9 returned due to the interruption of the techs activation)
Sharingan: -0.2
Body Flicker: -10 (2 activations at 5 chakra)
Exploding Water Wave: -10
Sensing: -0.5 (50m as I am assuming it goes off base not the sharingan boost)
Ending: 232.2

Techs:

Raika frowns when it seems he's become too clever and quick for her to easily take down, as she'd seemingly planned to do so with a single hit. Not that any of her attacks so far would have been fatal or particularly harmful, as his attacks had been. Still, now that she sees him dashing away from her, apparently trying to put an immense amount of distance between them, she instead stops where she is, a couple of meters into the dash, and she instead sits on her haunches while she watches his rapid movement in a bid to get away from her and put an immense amount of distance between them. Although she stays in her four-legged fighting style form, she raises an eyebrow and simply watches him go. If she were seated, she might have crossed one lithe but powerful leg over the other; this was the relaxed state she appears to be in. She watches him as he runs, then suddenly changes position at a distance she guesses is around 30 meters; what Ren likely doesn't know is that Raika is well aware of the use of the Body Flicker technique, although it's not entirely clear if that's the actual technique he's using or if it's something very similar.

She watches him, judging the distance he's run, and where he suddenly changed direction, and so it's quite easy for her to gather chakra from the blade, causing the chakra to cover the entirety of her massive blade. She sees him suddenly jump in the air, and she immediately reacts on instinct, swinging her blade and following the arc of his jump to catch him just befote he lands; although the arc would be quite painful, she'd made sure to hold back on them a little so that the damage would be minimal, save that he would have the wind knocked out of him as soon as he lands if it hit.

Raika smirks to herself at her plan, having noticed that he was more involved in a delaying and evading tactic, and so if she simply did not chase, he would tire himself out for little gain; it was a wise tactic among the lions to simply stalk the prey until they tire, and then ambush with ferocity.

"It seems I may have to work on my speed in order to become more effective... Thank you for the lesson, Ren Uchiha."

OOC:

Jutsu Used:

Raika CP: 230 - 10 (Mastery of Body: Control upkeep - Taijutsu affinity) - 20 (Bestial Blade Style upkeep) - 20 (Hiramekarei: Chakra Blade Blast) = 180

Raika stats:
Strength: B
Constitution: C (C++ with Nemean Cloak)
Stamina: S
Speed: D (B)
Coordination: B (B+ with Felis Bangle) (A++; unable to boost to S)
Intelligence: D
Perception: B

As Ren leapt into the air, twisting his body to release the large surge of water at Raika. He was surprised to see that she hadn't been following him as he thought, making him suddenly regret that 100 mater dash he just did, though that did not stop him from releasing the torrent of water at her. As he continued through the twist back around to land, Ren saw Raika swing her blade as she had before. Luckily, because she didn't follow him, the arc would reach no where near where he was over 100 meters away from her. Touching down on the ground Ren would come to a stop skidding and spinning himself to face where Raika was, this time even more surprised by the sight of her getting swept up in the wave. He thought due to the fact she hadn't chased after him that she would have been able to dodge it, but it was like she just stood there and took it. Though it shouldn't do much damage, and unless she swallowed water she should be fine. The wave would sweep Raika back to it's limit of 250 meters ending with a small splash before it would slowly begin to evaporate from the heat of the desert-like room.

Ren would not do anything else, though he wouldn't move closer either. He wanted distance and now he had it, better for him to maintain it rather than giving it up to rush check on her. He would however wait to ensure she was ok and could continue before he would do anything else, with the distance between them now at 250 meters he felt confident that if she were to attack from that distance he would have the time to figure something out about it and if she tried to close the distance between them then he would just continue to evade. He heard her call out something about speed and thanking him for the lesson, that at least to him she was alive.

"Yes, well it was a lesson taught to me by a friend a long time ago when I was still a lowly Genin. It is because of him that I now possess the speed I do, he drove me to the purpose of becoming faster, as I hope I have driven you." He would call out to her from the distance as he remembered how annoyed he had been with Peragus that day when he tried and tried to catch the man but he was simply too fast.

---

Chakra: 232.2
Sharingan: 0.2
Sensory: 0.5
Ending: 231.5

Raika frowns as the wave of water approaches her, and she has to leave her fighting style in order to bring her free hand up to form her Adamantine Sealing Chains into a barrier directly in front of herself, forming a spiral similar to the Uzumaki clan's emblem to ensure she doesn't take the full brunt of the attack with just her own body. That said, the wave still pushes her back a little, but with her strength matching the power of the jutsu, she doesn't move as far back as one might think. She waits until the water is no longer pushing against her shield to drop the chain barrier, giving Ren a toothy grin that, with her fangs as long and as sharp as they are, could have looked not dissimilar to a wild predator's snarl before it launches itself into its prey. While strong, the wave itself has been slow, and so she'd had at least two seconds to process the wave approaching her in order to come up with a proper defense, which her chains definitely provided. Now Raika was actually looking directly into Ren's eyes, having apparently forgotten her fear for Genjutsu among the Uchiha, and she replaces Hiramekarei on her back, allowing it to stick in place.

"Hm. Your speed certainly isn't bad and your jutsu repertoire is dangerous too. If we meet again, I hope it is not on the field of battle, Ren of the Uchiha clan."

Despite her stance, she is clearly still ready to react to any other follow up that the Konoha shinobi has planned. With her body's naturally high reflexes and reaction time, she figures she can avoid a potential second attack as long as she watches out for it. As far as Raika could tell, however, she herself has no elemental capacity; her body is better suited for physical combat. But at this range of a hundred meters, there's very little for Raika to really do but to try and close distance, or give that up and dodge until the enemy runs out of chakra.

"Hmph. Seems I'll have to work on my speed and figuring out a method of fighting someone at range..."

OOC:

Jutsu Used:

CP: 230 - 10 (Master of Body: Control upkeep - Taijutsu Affinity) - 30 (Adamantine Sealing Chains) = 190

Stats:
Strength: B
Con: C++
Stamina: S
Speed: D (C)
Coordination: B (A)
Intelligence: D
Perception: C (B)

Seeing the chains form from Raika to block the wave of water, Ren would be surprised. He thought only Uzumaki could do that, but maybe that was a misconception, maybe it was a secret of Kiri he didn't know. All he knew was that his Sharingan while able to process what she did was unable to replicate it, which caused him to frown slightly but only for a second before deactivating his doujutsu. He still had his sensory so he would know if she channeled chakra for an attack, but her stance indicated less of a desire to attack and more of a react look too it. Perhaps she was simply waiting for him to attack but at this distance and with how fast she appeared to be it would just be a waste of chakra at this point.

Raika's comment would cause Ren's smile to return and a slight chuckle to escape his lips. "I could say the same too you, I would not want to meet you in close quarters on the battlefield." He replied as he took a few steps closer still far enough away to react should she attack but he was hoping she wouldn't. Putting his trust in her some would say, "especially with that blade of yours." Ren made a small gesture to the blade now on Raika's back, "you are quite dangerous." He would add with a small laugh. As Raika mentioned working on her speed and figuring out a method of fighting at range, Ren would shrug slightly. "Best I can say is elements can be your friend," he stated with a smile. "You have shown me that I need to work on my close quarters fighting should I ever find myself boxed in, but I must ask. Do all you Kirigakure Shinobi fight close quarters or are there some that fight like I do? Because if they all fight like you, I might have to travel down there for some training."

Raika sighs with relief when she can see that Ren is relaxed at least as much as she has, in order to keep up a reaction for any possible furtherance of combat, but it seems both are simply prepared, and so she drops all of her techniques in order to take on a fully relaxed pose, her right hand on her hip as it sticks out, and visibly relaxing her own muscles to make herself clearly disinterested in any continuance of their spar. At the sound of him chuckling a bit, she returns a little rare smile of her own, one of the first true smiles she's made since coming to Konoha. Ren reminded her of Blitz, just in a very different way. It really seems like a lot of men are somewhat similar to Blitz, and very few are anything at all like Dante. The thought of Dante fills her with warmth for a moment, which she rapidly stifles. She needs to get home very soon, at this rate. Then she responds to his compliments and his apparent willingness to come to Kirigakure.

"No, even with this blade of mine, as long as Kirigakure and Konohagakure are not in an active war, we will never be dangerous to you. You have my word. As for the fighters in Kirigakure, many prefer fights in close quarters - we have our reasons for this type of combat. So long as your Hokage is permissive, you have my official invitation to come to Kirigakure, but you may have to train as the Kiri ninja do."

When she pauses, Raika gestures with her left hand at the building around them, letting off a soft scoffing noise.

"And the Kiri ninja have nothing so decadent as this."

The final sentence is filled with disdain, but also wonder, and perhaps tinged with a small amount of envy. But then she can hear her stomach growling, as it often does immediately after doing any kind of training.

"But now it seems it's time to hunt. I'll take my leave now; thank you again for the training, Ren of the Uchiha clan."

With that, she turns from him and begins walking out of the training facility, rubbing her exposed stomach slightly - she'd need to eat quite a lot to feel full again at this rate.

OOC: ATTEMPTED THREAD EXIT

Hearing that most of the Kiri Shinobi choose to fight in close quarters was more than enough incentive for Ren to decide that one day he would travel there for some training of his own, he wanted to improve his overall ability in combat and what better way than to test it against those that specialized in such matters. Ren's thoughts wouldn't last long as Raika stated her need to go hunt, he assumed it was because she was hungry and was going to mention the fact that they had restaurants in Konoha, but ultimately decided against it and allowed her to leave. Ren wouldn't leave right away, getting in some solo training before finally departing from the training facility and heading home to get some rest.

{Exit Thread}