Finally out of the office. He can't believe they actually let him leave. Well, failed to make him stay would be the correct thing to say. Yup, he essentially ran away from home. He was getting way to overworked there, though. He had to do all the work that the previous kage had refused to finish. Let the next guy do it, Saizo thought to himself as his feet hit the grainy sand. Hiramekarei was strapped around one shoulder. A heavy hunk of metal. He wasn't exactly sure why he brought it. Kind of only slowed him down. He could always use it to surf the waves if he wanted to. A chakra board. It was his weapon, after all. Would be a shame if he couldn't use it for some fun every once in a while. Saizo specifically chose this beach to come to. No one was ever here. Not because it was an ugly beach, it was just an ugly beach for swimming. There were many other beaches around. This one was way to scary for parents to let their children's and pets run around and relaxing on the beach and listening to the waves just wasn't the same. The waves were far out to violent for it, the rhythm was completely off on most days. Saizo had figured out the nice days, though. He had visited this side of the island often. Did a little research and figured out the good days. All he had to do was look up and he could tell. The sand and everything not involved with the water was almost always perfect. Accept maybe the clouds covering the majority of the sun rays. The water was actually quite violent. The waves were rough, it was like a constant storm. For the normal person, it would be highly dangerous and they could lose their life. Even for ninja it could be a life threatening beach. Saizo didn't fear any water. The waves never bothered him, no matter how strong they were. It was one of his clans many blessings. No matter how much he hated his clan, he never did manage to hate swimming. Swimming was always enjoyable for him, no matter where it was. Saizo stretched his arms up and outwards, just about ready to drop Hiramekarei from his back and jump into the ocean. Saizo didn't even pay attention as to whether he had his shirt on or not. Did he even have pants on? No, he was pretty sure those were still on. He would have noticed the breeze if they weren't. Saizo walked up toe the edge of the waves, sword still on his back. The water touched his feet and he stopped. A slight breeze passed by his face. He let out a deep breath. "Simply Perfect."

WC:469

These waves, they were magnificent; perfectly unbridled and full of potentially dangerous hazards. The danger range between the waves that could give you whiplash to the large jagged rocks hidden beneath the constant swaying water surface: it would be so easy to be skewered by the unsuspecting rocks. Semasu Rankujo had no doubt that some poor fools had already died this way before the village realized how dangerous this beach really was.

Semasu was certain no one was on this beach, it was too scary for even the own village's inhabitants. Semasu was there because she felt Uchuhametsu's desire to "see" the beach; her legendary sword was sentient in a sense, always desiring to travel and "see" the unseen places. In fact, she had teleported to the village earlier that very day because the sword desired to explore Shippugakure, so here she was.

She stuffed a donut in her mouth as she scanned the beach, she stopped chewing halfway through as she noticed a lone figure standing in the beach's shore. The person was enjoying the waves against their bare feet and seemed to be unbothered by the not so far away violent waves just off the shoreline. What was interesting was that this person carried an interesting sword across their back... and they looked somewhat familiar. She began chewing her donut again and began to casually walk in the person's direction: she didn't usually share her donuts, but if the person was nice enough, she thought maybe she would share on this unusual occasion. She called out to them while she was still a distance away.

Helllooo~ Do you come to this beach often?

She recognized the person then as Saizo, formerly a Jounin who had visited Tsukigakure a while back when Semasu was just a genin during the Chuunin exams. This was a pleasant turn of events, she folded both of her arms behind her back in a playful manner as she skipped closer to him. Undoubtedly she had matured quite a bit since her days as a genin, she was quite a bit more "gifted" in her curves and bossom: a fact she was quite proud of. Even in her sexy clan, she was considered one of the top beauties; one of the most violent too.

Sometimes Semasu forgot her own strength and scarred potential boyfriends or people her clan members thought might be a good match for her; she was fine with being single though.

---

Word count- 409 words

Saizo's feet were just about ready to move again, deep in to the dark blue water till he heard a yell. Saizo didn't turn back. He knew that no one visited this beach. No villagers or ninja ever set foot on this particular beach unless it was of the upmost importance. Something that only the Umikage himself could have ordered. Saizo was certain he hadn't ordered anything, recently. Well, maybe lunch the other day. Could he count that? Probably not. Eh, he was in charge. If he wanted to count it he could count it. Maybe a traveler? No. No villager would recommend coming here, ever. They were way to nice to do something like that. Even the hooligans didn't send people to their deaths. They could have assumed the person would see the beach and easily tell it wasn't meant for swimming. Seemed unlikely. He must just be hearing things. Maybe the sea was speaking to him. It wouldn't be the first time he gave an inanimate object its own voice. He imagined the voice of the sea would have been far more refined and dignified women, though. This sounded far younger. A bit more explosive then waves. The voices in his mind were usually far more accurate than this.

"Yes. I do come here often." he said out loud, while facing the sea, still thinking that he was talking to himself. The waves moving in and moving back. He could feel the cool blue on his feet. He wasn't necessarily a stranger to striking up conversations by himself. He used to be looked at funny whenever that happened. They still do look at him weird, just in a much more respectful way, if that were possible. It was a bit tough to explain, but he no longer felt judged and persecuted whenever it happened. Perhaps it was just a way to combat his loneliness. Yes, he did hate to be alone. Human contact has always been a psychological need, after all. The need for social interactions. Probably the only thing that was depressing about the beach, was the huge lack of people around. A blessing and a curse. A double-edged beach. Almost sounded like a better name then the current one. So many names he wanted to change. Not that they were bad, he just liked giving things his own name.

The ocean breeze hit him in the face again. Such a nice breeze. Brushed straight through his hair. Rough, but soothing. It was on the borderline of face cutting and fresh winter winds. The wind had actually hit him so hard that his face turned to his side a bit. Just enough to spot someone skipping on the sand towards him.  The closer she got, the more clearly he was able to make out the appearance. It surely explained the voice he heard."Wait, Is that...?" he managed to say before his nose exploded with a downpour of blood. His hands just barely stopping it all from draining out.

WC: 502

Semasu had expected an immediate response to her calling out to the strange man. Seeing that no one else was around, a ninja would automatically assume a moderate level of precaution in this kind of situation. She was certain she had called out loud enough, but maybe he hadn't heard her? Such wasn't the case, she continued to approach the man and noted that he seemed to be talking to himself, or maybe talking to the water, or maybe the rocks on the beach? She thought it might be better to avoid contact with someone who talked to themselves in such a convicted manner, but she was too curious to move away from the interesting man.

She closed the now shortening distance with ease and soon was able to be recognized by the man; instantly blood spurted from his nose and he quickly used his hands to stop his lifeblood from draining away. This kind of reaction from men was typical, Semasu had often considered wearing less-revealing clothing and carry around a handkerchief for the poor souls... but she didn't like the idea of wearing unnecessary clothing. A handkerchief wouldn't be so bad, but she wanted all the space she could have to carry her donuts; it would be a bad day if she lost her donuts. A bad day for everyone around.

This was Saizo! She had offered him tea once in her small home after trying to force him to eat donuts with her on the beach at Tsukigakure. Share was a strong word, she had more or less forced the donut upon him... which he hadn't seem too emphatic to eat. Semasu remembered that Saizo had said he was from Shippugakure, she had even teleported a whole boat back to Shippugakure from the shore of Tsukigakure: an impressive feat.

She was happy to see him again, it had been a good while since their last meeting and she hadn't heard what happened to him afterwards. He looked good, tall and had a proud aura about him. He carried an unusual sword on his back, Uchuhametsu seemed to thrum slightly as she neared him: his sword must have had some special property for her sword to react near it.

Saizo! Long time no see! How have you been?

She wanted to asked a lot more questions, but conversations were meant to be taken casually; not at break-neck speed. She was excited to see an old friend again and could barely contain her bubbly attitude. Friends were few and far between for Semasu, most were just acquaintances she had to deal with on a regular basis. She preferred to not socialize with most people, it made killing them much less difficult: lately the only missions she had accepted had been assassination missions. She couldn't see herself killing Saizo, not unless he suddenly decided to "free" her of her insane amount of donuts she carried around in her pack.

The amount of donuts she ate on a daily basis was a startling amount; she couldn't get fat and her metabolism was very high, the Rankujo clan's appetite was right up there with the Akamichi clan. She reached into her pack as she waited for Saizo to respond; she produced two objects of the same size and shape, they were wrapped in brown paper wax. She held one out to her friend and opened the other with her other nimble hand, once the wrapping was removed- a golden glowing donut shined outward. This was a special donut she had created herself using special ingredients from several shops; lots of trial and error had gone through these donuts, if she had a lesser bloodline... she might have gotten food poisoning multiple times.

She figured friends were the best test subjects, she was fairly certain these donuts were close to "perfect" There was no need to tell Saizo these were home-made, an honest opinion is what she was expecting... he might use a lot of tact if they tasted bad, or he might try to hide the fact that they were poisoning if he knew she had made them. She smiled sincerely and tried not to look curious or overly expecting of him, he had refused her donuts in the past after all.

---

Word count- 710 words

A few tiny droplets of blood left his hand and hit the sand. The blood was spilling from in between his hands. He was no longer able to hide it even if he wanted to. (Ironically enough, I had two nosebleeds the day after that post). It felt kind of embarrassing for Saizo. He had always thought of himself as a fine and noble gentleman. A gentleman who could keep his cool in moments like this instead succumb to his mind like he was. Nothing he could do to stop it now. Saizo just held his head up high, one hand still covering his face but looking directly at his old friend. She was definitely not the same girl that he met before. Appearance wise, anyways. Her personality, just from what he had seen seemed generally the same. This was in no means a bad thing. She was quite cheery and peppy. Good traits to have. Not very professional when it came to being a ninja, but somehow she was managing, it seemed. He wasn't about to ask her how her ninja business was going, or if she was here on business either. Maybe if it was brought up later. He wasn't about to brag about being promoted or chosen to become Umikage. It would be far too rude. He liked her after all. Not in that way, though. At least he didn't think he did.

Her body was...better... then it was before? No, saying something like that would also be kind of rude, wouldn't it? She didn't seem like the kind to get angry at that sort of stuff, though. She didn't seem like the type to get angry, but women emotions were a mystery to Sai. They could be having fun one moment and crying and screaming the next. Not the good kind of screaming and crying, though. Yes, there is a good kind. No, thats not the kind I was referring to. No, I do not find that enjoyable, what kind of sicko are you? Well enough about that. How bout we never touch that subject again.

They hadn't really kept in touch since his whole trip to the Moon village and all. Strange, since he had went several times already. He met lots of people there. Lots of interesting people lived in the mixing pot. Mixing pot was an appropriate name for the village. It was more or less a stew of several different clans and villages. Even the remnants of the great Volcano village moved into it. Saizo wished he could have visited it while it was still up. It was too bad that Shippuu had destroyed it so swiftly in the war. Too bad.

She still had the same portal sword on her back. Probably how she arrived. It looked simple enough, yet so much power was hidden behind its plain appearance. He didn't feel like talking about that, either. He had to respond eventually. He should respond, anyways. "I'm doing quite well. Quite a surprise to see you here, Miss Rankujo. You weren't sent her on business, were you?" he said with a smile, hoping she would ignore any blood still present on his face. No need for him to make a big fuss about passing out, dying or anything of the sort. It was only blood, after all. No big deal.

He could almost smell the donuts. All the blood kind of blocking his sense of smell at the moment, but the bag was hard to miss. It almost seemed bigger then Hiramekarei, which was on his back, still hanging from a strap around his shoulder. Could possibly be just as heavy. Could probably make any normal person just as heavy, too. The metabolism of those guys must be amazing. You would think she would get old of the same old thing day in and day out. Even a favorite got boring every once in a while. Still, she went ahead and started snacking. Saizo was alright with it, till she offered him one.

Saizo didn't really like pastries. They just didn't sit well with him. Simple bread was the most he usually ate of it. He pushed his own personal taste for manners and toke the o-shaped thing. "Thank you." he said before taking a small bite of the golden masterpiece. Before actually eating it, he took a quick glance at it. It looked good, that much he could tell. Still, the taste of dough wasn't going to sit well in his stomach. He could probably digest a simple donut if he focused. The donut rose to his mouth slowly. Passing in between his teeth as they separated a small morsel. It dropped on to his tongue. Everything turned dark blue for a second. How could something that looked so good taste so... so wrong. Sai held in his disgust as best he could. A forced smile was all he could do to make it through the nightmare.

How did she do it. Take a bite like it was nothing. She must be some sort of monster, Sai thought for a second. A girl in the guise of a busty women. The only explanation. His eyes started to water from the taste. He was turning his entire digestive system into jelly. Letting that thing any deeper could be deadly. "So, *Cough* where did you find these treats from heaven?" he said, still trying to smile. Whatever place is selling these was probably going to be the next place on the list. It wasn't a good list to be on.

WC: 929

No, I'm not here on business; Uchūhametsu just wanted to visit the village and I thought it might be interesting for a change in scenery. I see you have an interesting weapon on your back as well, my sword was thrumming as I neared you. Is it a legendary sword perhaps?

She didn't mind discussing certain topics with Saizo, but she understood that some topics were better not discussed. Mostly for the sake of the other person than yourself, it was best to not talk because sometimes villages deemed "friends" as dangerous if they knew too much.

The donuts- the tasted perfectly fine to her, but she had used some unusual ingredients and Saizo seemed as if he was having a difficult time Enjoying them. She had expected this slightly though, other people didn't have the stomachs for her kind of food.

She inspected Saizo's sword from over his back, it seemed like a sword of importance- Semasu's blood was boiling and she wanted to test Saizo out with it. They hadn't fought last time they met, but it had always been in the back of her mind. Surely a little spar here on the beach wouldn't hurt anything?

The donuts were homemade with some odd ingredients, I wanted to see how they tasted to a normal human. I won't take offense f you puke all of it up; normally I would be offended, but you're a friend.

She way she said the word friend, was an insinuation and a foreshadow of her intentions- she wouldn't fight here and now if he didn't want to, but her blood was screaming for the rush. She shifted lightly in the sand and looked at him with a playful but serious expression- if he was a typical male, this would be all the subtle signs he needed.

---

Word count- 304

So her sword brought her her. Not a surprise. The sword did make travel a lot easier, so it was easy to see that she would have used it to make the trip. Her sword wanting her to visit. That was a bit strange. He didn't believe the sword had a mind of its own. He gave it a quick glance. A glance she most likely wouldn't have noticed. She may have mentioned it the day they met that. He probably had just pushed aside, not believing the sword could actually think by itself. If Hiramekarei had a mind of its own. He wondered what it would say. What it would want. It would be interesting. Seemed like it would also be a pain, having your weapon bossing you around. Could be worse. At least you wouldn't be alone. Always having a companion with you. He would enjoy it. Speaking of swords, she seemed to have an eye for them. Then again, Hiramekarei wasn't much of a normal sword. It did have a very... Unique shape. It stood out.
"Legendary... Well, I guess you could call it that."

Saizo placed one hand on its handle and flipped it over his shoulder. He held it in front of him. It was still covered in its bandages. It was the closest thing to a sheath that he could find. Hard to take care of it without one. It was a heavy sword. His arms felt like they would drop any second. He could see the reason for two handles on the sword. It was necessary so one could keep swinging the hunk of metal around in a fight. The donuts floated around inside his body. Not necessarily inside his digestive tract, just inside a liquified portion. The taste still lingered but he just tried not to think about it.

"No, no, the donuts were fine. I've just been kind of sick lately."

He lied, but it was a convincing lie. At least he thought it was. Of course a sick man would go to the beach, but hopefully she wouldn't think too hard about it. It was too bad he wasn't a "Normal" person, so she didn't know. Saizo hid it the first time. This time, he was far more open about it. Things have changed now. His clan no longer hung over him like a thundercloud. He had brought some honor back to his clan. She switched stances for some reason. He wasn't quite familiar with it but it seemed like she was ready to pounce on him. In a violent way, not the nice and friendly way. "You don't want to... uh, fight, do you?" he said. He was a bit hesitant, but it wasn't the first spar he had ever participated in. Maybe she just wanted to see his sword in action. He would be fine with that. As long as it didn't escalate too high. He didn't want to hurt her. He just realized that she didn't know that he was a kage, did she.

WC: 507

Semasu was eager, all ready to spar with her friend and test his skills in a spar- she wanted to show some of her own strength too. Not only was her body exceptionally gifted, her battle skills were just as much! Far too often she was viewed just from her physical features and not considered of her reputation within the village for accepting only assassination missions. A few times she had been groped by drunk men or boys too full of themselves- that always ended with a Bang and several broken bones. None of which belonged to her.

His mention of being sick bothered her though, sure her blood was running hot(so hot that if Saizo touched her right now, he could stay warm during a winter) and she wanted to fight her friend, but she had enough judgment to know when wasn't the right time. If Saizo was unable to fight due to his health, then she would resist... for now. He didn't look that sick though, he looked fairly healthy and was even visiting the beach, surely he wasn't that sick.

We don't have to spar if you think you are too feeble to contend with me. That nosebleed you had a bit ago was enough to knock a normal man on his butt.

Semasu shifted her stance again to a more eased position, but still showing interest in a fight. She didn't know Saizo was a kage, but she wouldn't have cared much anyways; surely no one would interrupt such fight. She really wanted to test out his sword, Semasu wasn't much of a sword person- but she understood the basic concept of "normal" weapons.

Her own sword was considered "normal" except for its ability to teleport and its lifelike urges to go places: she still favored the fist though, and only used her sword to gain a situational advantage over a foe or a un-characteristic stab or slash with the blade itself.

---

Word count- 326 words

Great, now he looked like a big wuss. Kind of hurt his pride a little. Maybe he would take her on. What was the point of carrying a big metal stick if you were never going to use it, eh?  He might as well let the women have what she wants and fight with her. Not really his own style, but he couldn't turn down the request. It would be far too rude. It also didn't help that she was spouting insults directed at him already. Trash talk was a part of fighting, though. He would let it slide. Normally he would let the lady go first. Would that be rude or sexist, or even both? At this time and age, with kunoichi serving alongside the men. Hmm, he was better off not asking. A warning perhaps? No, she seemed capable. She was the one who asked for it after all. She must have been ready to accept a hit. She wasn't as fragile as he thought she was. If he remembered correctly, things would get a little explosive. Hopefully the beach would only suffer some minor changes. He liked this beach a lot after all.

She wanted to see his sword in action, right? Seemed like it, anyways. It was right after she had commented on it that she toke her stance. Saizo only nodded his head and let a small smile show before his feet began to move. The distance was closed fast. His bandaged sword was big enough to block the sun. Especially when held high like it was. Both hands on the hilt. Down it came. Time to see how strong she really was. He had no doubt that she would prove to be difficult to deal with. She seemed like the stubborn type when it came to tests such as these. Hmm. She was from the Moon village, right? Maybe a visit to the kage there would be a good move. Maybe even drop in on another old friend. She was another stubborn one. Probably a bunch more stubborn then this one. It was definitely a strength for her, though. As long as he didn't have to come from the forest again. That forest was such a pain to navigate through on his own. Far worse then the any of the ones in the Hurricane country by a long shot. He preferred mist over complete darkness any day. Far less lonely.  

He wondered who the kage of such an interesting village could be. Probably someone much stronger and experience then him. A her or a he? Young or old? So many questions. Maybe Sem knew? Of course she should know who her kage is. Would she be willing to share? Maybe if he beat her. Maybe he should have made a bet with her before they had started. Then again, Saizo never won his beats. He blamed his terrible luck. Of course, those were board games, this was actual and real combat between two people. Luck only played a small part in determining the winner.

wc:510

The shift in his stance and the small smirk on his face was enough to tell her that he was seriously considering answering her teasing. Honestly she knew nothing about her friend Saizo and he knew a lot about her. He knew she used explosions and carried a sword; though not that nintaijutsu was her preferred fighting style- she would play this advantage to its best.

The real issue was that she knew very little about Saizo himself, of what jutsus he favored or even knew, nor what element he used. The only thing she knew, was that they had been slightly comparing their legendary weapons and somehow came to the conclusion they would use them in this sparring contest. Her sword wasn't exactly a battle sword, more of a support style sword- though it still served its basic purpose of hack, slash and stab.

She noted as Saizo leapt into the air and he had his sword held high over his head in both hands for a double handed blow. The appearance of the sword was fairly simple, truly quite large- but the part that bothered her was the "sheathe" just a bunch of bandages wrapped around the blade itself. Two possibilities came to her mind in that second, the most likely was that it was simply too big for any conventional sheathes: the less likely choice was that the sword constantly changed shape and therefore couldn't use any sheathes. It was a much less likely possibility, but an option that nagged in the back of her mind, she had seen a few weapons like that before, but nothing as big as this one.

His movement was too revealing however; was he going easy on her? A direct attack from above with both hands left him vulnerable to side-blows: the fact that his sword was large enough to block out the sunlight was an advantage to her, his downward strike was fully apparent to her. She drew Uchūhametsu with her left hand and held her ground- waiting for Saizo's strike to come.

Tell you what, if you win; I'll do one thing you request. If I win, you do one thing I request!

She would wait till he sword strike came down, her plan was to deflect the sword momentum with Uchūhametsu in her left hand to have Saio's sword glance harmlessly to her side- in which she would follow up with a strong leg kick off his weapon and twist into his side with a jab to his ribs.

---

Word Count- 421 words

Apparently she could read minds. Did she want the same thing? Maybe not the meet the kage part, but the desire for a favor from a friend? Actually, why waste the request on something simple like that when instead he could request something far more... pleasing. No, no, no. He was a gentleman. Asking for something like that was beneath him. He should just erase those sorts of images from his head. It was rude, even if she didn't know. He also didn't want his nosebleed to come back. Losing that much blood in one day was unhealthy for him. Maybe if he just focused on the waves behind them. No that wouldn't work. She would eventually gain the upper hand if he did it for too long. She seemed like a tricky one. Probably not above sucker punching him. That wasn't an insult. More of an observation he made. He had no real evidence to base it on, so it wasn't anything written in stone. He just thought she acted like she could do it.

It looked like swords would clash on this beach. She pulled out hers just as quickly as he crossed the distance. As his sword came crashing down on her from over his head her sword made its way to block. Not surprising. Quite expected, actually. Deflecting his sword was not nearly as easy as that. As soon as her sword even touched his, it started to glow. The bandages flew off as a stream of chakra erupted from the weapon, causing a noticeable shockwave of solid chakra. More then enough to deflect the deflection. The sword turned blue hammer was dropping down on that spot, whether she liked it or not. Maybe it was a bit excessive to release the sword, but she was probably itching to see what it could do. Hammers were just the start of the weapons and shapes this thing could make.

Actually, he had yet to experiment much with this sword of his. Never tested its Max size and length. Never tested how complicated a shape he could form. Never occurred to him to try it. It was something he would have to look into. Hopefully he wouldn't test how long it toke to flatten a women's body under a hammer. He didn't hold back, still. The only insult worse then defeat was an opponent who held back.

WC:399
350/390

Spoiler:

Her body was tensed for the strike that she had anticipated, it went terribly wrong in that moment though. A sudden build up in his chakra through his weapon was released and the large blade turned into a giant hammer. The little shockwave from the weapon's released form pushed her back slightly and caused her to lose her guard. Not that she had much of a guard in this situation, it was difficult to counter a giant hammer with a small sword like hers.

The attack was complete, Saizo had suddenly gained quite the upper-hand against her in this situation; she had subconsciously expected something like this to happen. He was an older shinobi and a higher rank, but his weapon turning into a giant hammer? Semasu was always a quick person to adapt in harsh situations, and luckily she had the perfect sword for effective counter-measures.

As she fell backwards from the release of chakra weapon, Semasu suddenly disappeared into a red rift in the air and reappeared a short distance to Saizo's left side through another red rift. It was sort of a "sucker punch" but she preferred the term "advantageous positioning" She held up her hand and released eight small red chakra orbs that shot out towards Saizo. These were compressed explosions, if they hit Saizo head on- he would suffer small bruising on the affected areas. It would have been broken bones if it was point-blank, but Semasu wouldn't go that far to win a sparring match with her friend. If Saizo managed to block with his weapon, he would be pushed back with every small explosion landed and cause mild jarring sensation to his senses and a numb hand.

Even so, Semasu had to be careful with how far she carried her sparring; she didn't mind Saizo going all out, she would block with as much potent explosions she could muster. But she couldn't go fully offensive herself for fear of her explosions doing extensive damage to his body.

---

Word count- 334

jutsu:

weapon ability:

CHakra remaining- 220/240

Saizo's eyes widened as she disappeared from his sight. The sword. Must have been. Nothing else he knew that could flawlessly move her body from her spot. She probably could have found other ways to get away, but if the powers there, might as well use it, right? Thats what he was doing with his sword after all. Though the sword lacked physical strength, its true power was in its strategical strength. Sort of like his own Kekkei Genkai. He really did like the sword. Maybe a little more then his own. Depended how far its limits were. So many things he wanted to learn. He just didn't have the time anymore. Even with his assistants helping him, he still had so much work he needed to do. Maybe it would slow down later, but those first 100 days in office were coming to an end soon. He did expect the sucker punch, but not so soon. Who would have guessed that he was psychic. Did the old man know? That must have been the reason he was chosen for the position! He finally realized his full potential.

A side attack was pretty dirty. Disrespectful and rude. If only he had done it first. Now he would seem unoriginal if he tried anything similar. Still, she was faster then he thought. At the distance they were at it seemed like he only had one choice. He jumped away from her, coming off the sand while twisting his body so he was facing Semasu. The red circles still came at him but Hiramekarei was now in between him and the attack. Each red ball hitting the chakra covered sword, sending him farther and farther back from where he was. He was hoping nothing would get damaged by the consecutive explosions. Like he said earlier, he liked this beach. He hoped they wouldn't end up destroying it. It was one thing hearing about it and another taking it head on. The vibrations of each blast shook him up a bit. Pretty dangerous to get close to her. Switch to the longsword perhaps? Maybe if this were an actual fight. To use it in a friendly spar would be over doing it. Maybe getting close is what he needed to do. Her explosions were a double edged sword, were they not? He knew enough about close range combat that he would probably be able to hold his own easy. He still had his ace up his sleeves. Saizo tried to regain his ground after the explosions stopped knocking him back. A bit too shooken up to make the next move. He wanted to see what else she could muster up.

wc 447

After releasing the attack, Semasu had somewhat second-guessed her strategy; attacking him at mid-range with explosions were somewhat effective, but his sword could be an issue. She watched carefully as he blocked her eight small explosions with the sword and was pushed backwards- a sword that could change shape could carry the flow of a battle if left unchallenged. The best strategy she could think of at the moment was to push the offensive in close-range, that was her specialty after all- against a swordsmen, it could be difficult: but not so much if you were already in their personal space... especially in their arms reach.

Seeing that Saizo recovered slowly from the aftershock of the explosions, Semasu pushed her advantage. She dashed forward with her left fist drawn back and her right fist in an open-palmed strike. Saizo's sword was still upwards in a defensive position from blocking the explosions, but it was in the form of a hammer. This shape of his weapon was to her immediate advantage, he couldn't effectively wield it in close-ranged combat without difficulty.

She leaned low under the head of the hammer and rushed towards Saizo's unguarded front center, both strikes ready to plow into his body. Her closed fist would strike for his upper torso- aimed at his chest and shoulder area. Her open-palmed strike was much lower, varying much between his naval and his solar plexus. The intend was to "wind" him and surely cause discomfort in movement, the body usually moves slower when it registers pain or discomfort. She would purposefully avoid vital spots such as the "false ribs" just at the bottom of the ribcage. A strike there could rupture the kidneys or lungs while also separating them from the spinal column.

Her strike would be quick and effective if landed properly, though her fist-punch was more of a feint for the solar plexus strike. Striking too hard could break his zyphoid process, she didn't want to kill him- so obviously her strike would be lessened. This attack was a double-edged sword however, being so close to Saizo; he could attempt to grapple her or change the shape of his weapon again. Semasu wasn't certain on the limitations of his sword, but she wouldn't know unless she tried! If her strikes landed, mainly her solar plexus strike, but also her feinted punch, both strikes would leave red "fist prints" on whatever they touched. By the time her opponent would be ready to strike, the red "prints" on Saizo's skin or weapon would explode and then a red "spirit" fist would erupt from the explosion and punch at Saizo again.

---

Word Count- 440

Spoiler:

Chakra remaining-200/240

He knew he said he wanted close combat but not that close. He needed his space too, ya know. He was still a bit shaken from the explosions, letting his sword touch the ground as one of his hands drooped by his side. Not that he couldn't lift the arm. In fact, he was just about to lift it. He just wanted to rest it a little after the shocks from the mini-booms. They didn't feel potent enough to rip off limbs, just enough to hurt. His sword seemed fine. The chakra cloak easily absorbed any damage it could have suffered. She was quick. Not too much slower then he was. Still. All that Saizo had to do was hold up a hand. It would probably be sufficient enough to push her away. Even if she dodged, the time it would take away would probably be more then enough for him to think something else up. It was a good thing she had pushed him back. Gave him better chances. Hard not to like it when the world starts working your way.

Water spiraled from his hand as his body leaned back, ready to plop on the sand. Maybe he would hit the sand before she would hit him. Would be a weird way to dodge. Not like he really needed to. He could take a punch. Or maybe it was because he couldn't take the punch? How exactly does it work when it just kind of passes through? To land a punch on a liquid. A tad harder to do. Not impossible. Wouldn't really hurt, though. From the palm of his drooping hand, a stream of water fired from his hand at the Special Jounin heading straight at him. Kind of intimidating actually. A grown women running straight at you. Must be how pop idols feel. Thats what his village needed. Pop stars. Every village would be so much greater with pop stars. And pop tarts too. It would unite the villages. A little bit anyways. Or would they be able to turn that upside down and still find away to make it a competition between the villages. Would be an interesting experiment. What other village could he trick, er, assist him in this experiment. He seemed to be too clingy to the Moon Village. He needed to get out and meet the others. He was always telling himself this, but when was he actually gonna do this?

wc: 409


340/390

Spoiler:

Had her strikes been effective, it would have given her a decent advantage; but she had underestimated Saizo. To her, this seemed easily enough to do- he seemed like somewhat of a carefree person who didn't like sharing what he was thinking about. Especially in battles! First he pretended to strike her with a sword and then turned it into a giant hammer! Now he was spraying her with a water hose like she was a bad dog or a crazy fangirl in a wild crowd riot!

Regardless of the analogies, Semasu was too close to evade properly- maybe she had been "too" close to Saizo to be effective. The stream of water hit her straight on and sent her spinning backwards and to the right side; her jutsu would still go through though- it would be effective unless something intangible like wind had negated her attack. Even now, the water near where Saizo stood had turned red in a small area- normally it would have taken the shape of a fist, but the water's constant shifting form made that impossible.

Using water was the worst possibility for Semasu though, especially on her. She stood up from the distance the water jutsu had spun her; she was soaked and she could feel it. Semasu looked down and blushed as she realized that her white clothes had once again become somewhat transparent... maybe she should choose something else to start wearing? She knew this was mostly her fault, for initiating the fight as well as wearing white clothes. Though her womanly senses screaming overwhelmed her rational side; her first thought was that it had been intentional of Saizo- he must have been a pervert. She voided that thought though, more than likely- Saizo would die just then of massive blood loss.

She did the only thing she could in that situation- make Saizo stop gawking. She raised her right fist together with her left fist in a double overhead strike and slammed them into the ground as she released an embarrassed cream- what was released was more than a girly scream however. A large wave of explosions rocked between the two friends and spiraled towards Saizo- blowing up the sandy beach and everything in between. The explosion would carry on for a good fifteen feet and water would fill up from where the land had suddenly disappeared.

Using this jutsu had not really been her intent but it was effective nonetheless. Sometimes her volatile chakra could get the better of the Rankujo clan and they did things off of impulse: thus their ever-increasing debts to Tsukigakure. She would lay off this situation though and made another movement while behind the explosions. Out she darted right behind the tail of the trailing explosion and towards Saizo- if he had managed to evade the explosion, he would either be really lucky or very talented: Semasu was not sure which it was yet. Though considering he had a good view of her transparent clothing, Semasu assumed it was luck.

She would follow through the explosion and attempt to land a solid center-mass chest kick on Saizo with her left leg; her right leg solidly in the sand for increased support and maximum momentum.

---

Word count- 539

jutsu:

Chakra remaining- 140

Saizo could hear the hose hit as his body fell on to the sand behind him. Not seeing the actual effect of his jutsu. Unsure how far she was sent back, just able to feel the movements of the sand on his back. He did however lift his head to catch a peek of the women. What he had seen was... a lot more then he expected to see of her. He hadn't noticed she was wearing all white. Clothing colour very rarely caught his eye. Unfortunately, he had noticed too late and now her white clothes looked a lot more clear then they did white. How ungentlemanly of him. No matter how much of a pervert he tried not to be, he always ended up seeing something he shouldn't have. What terrible luck. Ironic how something that millions of men worldwide would see as a blessing felt so much more like a curse to Saizo. His nosebleed returned. Blood blasting out before his head fell backwards into the sand. He was almost about to lose consciousness. So much blood lost in one day. He was going to have to visit a hospital after this encounter.

It was lucky that she had screamed, otherwise Saizo may not have gotten up to see the explosion heading straight in his direction. It forced him back up faster then a using a bucket of cold water as an alarm clock. Sure he could dodge to the sides and probably avoid it that way but that seemed like the predictable move. That's why he did it though. He figured she would unleash more explosions. Saizo had kind of upset her. Saizo and his luck with women. Sai rolled away, throwing his body back onto the ground away from the quick explosions, leaving a small trail of blood still coming from his nose. He was crouching. Keeping his body low to the ground and covering the majority of his body behind his hammer. Little did he know that she would be coming in feet first out of the smoke. With his sword, yet again between her attacks and his body. Still, he was going to feel this one.

Wc:362

His disorientation from her meteor wave had given her a solid opening for her kick, or so she thought; his sword was in between her and him. With her opposite foot solidly in the ground, she continued the kick with full force. The jolt he received would be moderate, but Semasu's attack wasn't finished. Out and around from Saizo's weapon and from behind Semasu, came two more Semasu and on both sides of him.

They would perform a back-flip as they performed a unison-kick at Saizo; attempting to launch him in the air, where the first Semasu would then run forward and use the two Semasu's on the group for added support as they tossed her into the air. As she neared Saizo's mid-air form, she would shadow his backside and grab on with both arms and wrap her legs around his legs. They would plummet towards the ground, spinning and picking up momentum- just as they would reach the ground, the Semasu that was leeched onto Saizo would explode.

The other two Semasu would stand backwards and wait to see what happened, both of her were standing at two triangular ends to the explosion, close to 90 degrees on both sides of the impact zone.

---

Word count- 206

jutsu:

Her kick, even though it hit his sword had still managed to push him back. Luckily he didn't fall over because of his low center of gravity after his squat. Smokescreens as a cover. Probably to avoid showing off anymore to Saizo through her wet clothes. Whether it was to save her from embarrassment or to save him from blood lose. They were both completely viable reasons to do so. He didn't mind not being able to see, but he did kind if mind not being able to see. See, there are somethings he wanted to see like how bad the beach and the sea were being exploded but remaining conscious was priority number one. He could, however hear the sound of bodies rip through the smoke. He knew it was coming but unsure how or from where. He wanted to swing his hammer around. Maybe clear enough smoke in order to see but it was a bit risky too. Her greatest weapon was her body. He would have to find a way to fight her without his sight. Or maybe he would have to get serious. No, he didn't want that. Sure he wasn't holding back when it came to force and speed but as far as his concentration, he wasn't completely focused.

It was amazing how she was able to turn this lovely beach into a minefield in literally seconds. Kind of scary actually. He wasn't sure he could handle it. Having to keep an entire clan of those people from blowing up the village. There her bodies flew past him. He could feel the wind hit him. Next thing he knew, he could feel what felt like shoes pass through his body, unable to lift him in the slightest. He was exceptionally trained with his clans prized technique. Its power being like second nature. Activating itself in times like these. He felt the feet pass through his watery body. He did the only thing he could think of. He swung his hammer at one of them. The shock from finding out he wasn't solid seemed like it would give him more then enough time to hit one. He didn't wind it up. He just went for the hit, adding the power after he could feel a connection. She had better vision, however. An advantage that could be the cause of his downfall.

WC: 395

Her initial but overdramatic plan had failed, she had hoped for a quick decisive end to their sparring; she needed to escape and change clothes, but that was trivial compared to her spar with the friend. If worse came to worse, she could always hit him in the head hard enough to make him forget the last day... she was pretty sure she could do that.

She was amazed as her lightning clone's kicks passed through his body; a body of water? Was he a water clone? No... she doubted a water clone could weld his sword effectively, so- this was the Hozuki. He didn't waste the opportunity to strike her clone that was too close to him, his hammer came in at the side and smacked hard.

Instantly her explosive clone ignited at the sudden smack by the hammer; the explosion rocked the area in front of Saizo. His hammer would be jarred and pushed backwards and Saizo would be blown backwards roughly ten feet. Even with his water-composed body, it would be that much easier to knock back his body. If his body hadn't been composed of water, he would have suffered 2nd degree burns, the beach where her clone had been standing was now a small crater of charred sand and glass. The explosion had heated the sand and turned it into glass in a small circle.

Now there were only two Semasu. Her clone set her stance and centered her balance as Semasu rushed forward and used the extra height to jump higher into the air that normal. She positioned herself to be behind the sun as she descended upon Saizo and her clone dashed forwards from the ground to where Saizo would be recovering from the explosion.

Her clone stopped short of the sudden rush, just a couple feet short of Saioz's position. The goal was to suddenly confuse Saizo of the intention, while Semasu herself came down in between her clone and her sparring friend; her clone stomped low to the ground and centered her gravity as she grabbed onto Semasu's arms and spun her around suddenly. Semasu's body spun around with her legs leading, her leg would strike out and release another meteor wave regardless of whether or not it touched anything.

---

Word count- 374

jutsu:

Remaining chakra- 110

Well, so much for keeping his clan and history a secret. Now she would know for sure that he wasn't ordinary. Not that it was a bad thing. Before when he was only a chunin he kind of resented his clan. Now that he had moved up in the world, his clan was no longer as hated. At least not in his village. He was respected now. Not for his clans prowess but for his own natural abilities, too. They weren't very good for sparring, though. No, sealing jutsu was far better at different tasks then fighting. Now, of course he still knew quite a few seals that could be used in a fight but again, they were either to lethal or too situational, or just plain boring. He didn't want to restrain her and wait till she gave up or something like that. Would be very ungentlemanly, too. So he wasn't going to use anything like that. He also didn't feel like he should use anything over A-Rank. S-Rank would be far too overkill on a special jounin. Even an A-Rank seemed a bit much, but he felt like she could handle it. Especially with how explosive her fighting style was. She was able to hold her own in this fight. He actually felt like she could overwhelm him.

Although she had yet to harm him, she was landing many blows that would hurt if they were hitting someone else. In a way, he was an ideal sparring partner. Unable to be harmed by the majority of techniques allowed for a lot more testing and experimenting, if you could call it that. He himself had to hold back, though. To submerge the entire battlefield under the waters was not only unnecessarily flashy but far beyond overkill. He would drown her way to fast. He also didn't want to get her any more wet. Another nosebleed probably had the potential to kill him. He wondered what his tombstone would read. Dying at such a young age from intense nasal bleeding. Didn't sound very noble or honourable. Just made him sound like a huge pervert.

Blocking the majority of the explosion with Hiramekarei, the heat of the explosion didn't affect him. Hiramekarei was durable enough to take it, too. The force was pretty big though. His body actually ripped up into pieces. His body scattered in the sand. Being absorbed like, well, water in sand. Yes, his body had split into several puddles or globe of water in the sand. Hiramekarei being tossed to a spot where he would be able to clearly find later. He wasn't planning on using it any longer. Fighting her up close was not an idea he liked. Instead he let his body or at least the several bodies of water come together within the sand. Semasu would most likely be unable to spot him under the sand. Indistinguishable from any other wet sand. He wanted to wait for a little bit before coming back up and striking. Who knew what she was doing up on the surface. Hopefully getting a new change of clothes. Maybe she would pick up Hiramekarei. She probably would be unable to use it even if she did. Not only did it weigh a substantial amount but it was no child's play to store and release chakra within the sword. It would also be rather rude of her to steal his sword while he was gone.

WC: 562

She was down a little past half chakra by now, their little spar had turned in an overly-friendly brawl, mostly of her dealing and Saizo receiving...when was he gonna turn the tables? His body had become nothing but water again and was scattered all over the sand... quite the sneaky one her friend Saizo was, he had mitigated his body into separate portions of water whenever she had struck him... so now she wasn't even sure in which direction he really was.

His weapon was just "standing" there in the sand, hammerhead down and handle up- in the back of her mind, it was tempting to take his weapon; but of course she wouldn't. It would have been all too easy to grab the handle and then teleport away with her own sword- only to become a rogue-nin or have Shippuugakure demand her head in retribution. Also, it was unlikely that she could master his odd weapon in any short amount of time to use it effectively. Even more likely, he had left it there on purpose as a trap to lure her in with tempting bait; she had little desire to step right into a trap, especially where water was involved. She looked down at her clothes and saw that the explosions had somewhat dried her clothes out- the sudden increase in temperatures had evaporated most of the moisture from her clothes and warmed her skin.

Her and her clone stood a short distance apart, side by side by facing one forwards and one backwards- this way they could guard each other's inner side and back while also not being close enough for a conventional combo counter attack.

Very clever Saizo, to think you would have such mastery over the Hozuki ability to completely conceal yourself in puddles of water.

Truly he did make an ideal sparring partner, being able to withstand grueling explosive strikes because of the aquatic ability his clan had. She only wandered what they could do with a complete mastery over the ability. On a more simple basis, the Hozuki clan was more deadly than the Rankujo clan; at least with her clan, you knew what to expect..mostly.

---

word count- 365

It always felt weird to be in multiple places at once. His body being split up in the sand. It didn't feel natural for a human being but by now he was far more accustomed to it. He could control every part of his body with no sort of delay. Saizo wasn't really tired of being on the receiving end, letting the women do whatever she wanted to him. Well, that wasn't particularly right. He was letting her try to do whatever she pleased. His body didn't really react very well to her physical and explosive attacks. From where he was he could easily connect to the ocean. A Hozuki in water was one of the harder things in life. Not impossible to beat, but not very fun to try and fight. She couldn't touch him in his current form so he was now on the offensive, wasn't he. Unless she somehow found a way to hit him. or find him for that matter. Given enough time, she could have probably thought of something. He wasn't going to give her that time, however. One of the puddles began to form what looked like a sort of hand. It had the shape of a hand but it was still water.  It resembled a hand from one of those horror movies about moving hands that walked around murdering people.

Saizo didn't want to murder anyone, but at the same time he was hoping this would hit. He didn't want it to hit Semasu, but he did want it to pierce through her. He didn't want to hit her, but the one that looked like her. Of course he didn't know which was which. So in a sort of coin flip he let it loose. A shot fired from the sand from a blind spot. The shot was heading to the one that was facing forwards. Hopefully it was the clone, but even if it wasn't, he didn't aim for any organs. In fact, he didn't aim at all. All he knew was that it was heading for her body. Where it would even hit was a mystery to him. He had no eyes after all. His body slowly started coming together, still underneath the sand. At this point he wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to beat her but at the same time he didn't want to hurt her. Seemed like quite a dilemma.
WC:404
330/390  

Spoiler:

So defeating her friend in this spar would require more than just explosions; his liquid body made It nearly impossible to prove any effective strikes. She would have to try a different plan to catch Saizo in a bad place- possibly when he solidified to attack her? Seemed too predictable to her though, the Hozuki really were a slippery bunch.

Saizo had attacked in a blind spot right between the two identical Semasus, before she even knew it; her bakuton clone had taken a solid hit and detonated. The explosion didn't really bother Semasu, t was far enough away and she had a  tolerance for explosions from growing up around them constantly. The explosion whisked her hair and warmed her skin, she shielded her eyes from the sudden increase n light as she attempted to find the point of attack.

There a short distance away, part of Saizo's body was revealed from the attacking water source... quite the slippery fellow indeed! She kneaded the chakra in her body and spat it out through her mouth into the form of mud, she shot the mud straight at Saizo's attack- aiming to land right on top of him. The mud would harden into a rock wall instantly, trapping him underneath. While he was trapped, she would rush him as he hands suddenly began to glow a yellow color and lightning blades formed around her fists.

She would strike with her left fist as she expected Saizo to be caught fast under the rock wall: if he broke free, that would give her the needed opportunity to strike at him while his body was solid...enough at least. While it was only a half-assed plan, the real goal of her strike was to see the effect her lightning blades would have against his unusual body.

---

Word count- 302

jutsu:

Remaining chakra- 90

Thank goodness he hit the clone instead of the real her. He figured it was a bit of a gamble but it ended well. She didn't seem hurt. Not even the explosion of her clone seemed to phase her. If Saizo didn't know any better it was like she was in a real fight, trying to kill him. She seemed quite serious about it all. No longer a friendly tussle among children. If the fight drew out any longer Saizo was tempted to throw in the towel and let her win. The favor wouldn't be that horrendous, would it? Probably something small like do her laundry for a week or buy her lunch. Something he wouldn't mind that much. He didn't really need the favor himself. Nothing he couldn't do himself. If he really needed something tedious done he could just get one of his assistants to do it. Actually, he had yet to find a solid assistant for himself. He had the many generic people inside the building but no specific ninja that he had given the job too. He didn't really know what he wanted. What was his ideal assistant. Hmm. A girl, probably. Maybe a really good looking guy but he'd probably prefer a girl. A pretty blonde wouldn't be that bad. In fact, he would probably enjoy that.

Mud. Yuck. It was coming straight for him too. He wasn't defenseless in his water state like she seemed to predict. See, his body could change from solid to liquid fast. Almost too fast. He could switch between the two at a moments notice. In fact it was pretty much immediately. He wasn't going to let the ball of mud pass through him, though. It would leave him wide open. Instead, out of the ground a water clone popped out of the sand. The clone was made from the water of his own body and most being water created by transforming his chakra. The clone would take the hit, being engulfed in the wall instead of his real body. But since both were made of water he would be impressed if she spotted any differences. His real body would come out behind the wall that would engulf the clone. Her lightning jutsu did sort of scare him. Although it would be hitting, and ultimately destroying his clone if she continued on her path, the fact that she had lightning nature meant that he would have to be far more cautious when up close. In fact. Fighting her up close would give him a disadvantage. Avoiding getting near her. Easier said then done.

wc: 434

310/390

Spoiler: