Lurking in the shadows,
remnants of the past,
living with sorrows,
as no names were asked.

Lies a secret hidden,
of memories untold,
to harm the present, sicken,
until the sunrays unfold,

a plant that crawls slowly,
upon the forlorn stones,
frail, alone and slightly boney,
with as only company its own moans.

There, yes, over there,
despite confrontations,
humiliations and lack of clean air,
sighs a single flower in patience,

with leaves so evergreen,
protected  by thorns all 'round,
a beautiful rose like you've never seen,
gently singing its own sound.

This land was a strange place to be in. The spider, familiar with the humid environment of the Land of Water, despised the warmth and found the ever shifting sand an annoyance to endure. The Siege of Inabayama raged full-on in the far background, the winds carrying the loudest screams and heaviest scents that marked the landscape. While Verdandi and Chigetsu had decided to take up arms in the defence of Kirigakure, driven by a certain loyalty to the humane Village, the spider-nin was not of a mind to wage a war in a foreign land. In fact, the more of these humans were slaughtered off by their own kin, the better she liked it. The unevolved species using their weapons to beat up each other to no avail. Not for power, nor for claims. All that because they wore a different sort of headband than the other. All that because their leaders were too meek, too weak, too pathetic to deal with the threats that opposed them. But that knowledge was nothing new to Haka. The strongest humans had time and time again proven to be shackled by the rules of their own society, forced to step down and protect the pathetic weaklings that were supposed to form the backbone of their sort. The strong were kept weak on purpose, the weak carried on the arms of the strong and hailed like gods. What a world.

Haka was not deaf to their words though. She had executed a few of their missions, and she had picked up the stories of the slums where humans were left to fend for themselves. Shinobi considered them weak but so far all Haka had seen was an unwavering sense for survival. These people moved the very walls that once formed their homes. They were few but men and women alike picked up just about anything that could serve as a weapon - stone, shard of glass, knife - the moment her monstrous aura draped over them like a passing shadow. Insecurity revealed itself by the hairs raising on their arms but in their eyes they held not fear. They held determination, vehemence, a subtle warming that the slightest of her movements performed with hostile intent would be replied with an equal opposing force. So used to the meek reactions of commoners, Haka felt like she had stepped into another of Sero's pocket dimension. A world so different one was obliged to forget what they knew and relearn what it offered. But this was not Sero's domain. This was Sunagakure's reality. It's hidden power only brought to the surface by those that had eradicated the masquerade of humanity.

Haka would have grinned in malevolence if she wasn't an apathetic monster driven by instinct.

Unfortunately, or perhaps luckily, she cared little for emotions. Instinct was all that mattered if one wanted to survive, intellect if one wanted to surpass the limits instinct could not recognise. There was but one sensation she wouldn't push away. Something new. A premonition, perhaps, that within these ruins she could come to understand an aspect of humans never revealed before. Something different than the desire for survival laid bare here. Something relating to these 'ruins'. Remnants of houses. Remnants considered lost to shinobi, given new life by the refugees hiding in shadows here. As the wind blew through her long, white hair, her torso adorned by the battle robe she wore ever since she had entered this war zone, calculative eyes attempted to figure out how exactly these broken homes served them.

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691

Ryu was gathering resources around the area with a fair bit of trade. The battles were raging on in the distance but he didn't care for it this time or last time. A blue eye would shift to glance towards a rather large explosion that made noise even from there. A distant echo but still. His left hand would reach up to cup his ear. As if expecting more before the noise all died off anyway. He would sigh as his hand would flex. A white glove with a blue gem on it glistening in the light over his hand. Still his robes would ward off the majority of the heat. Hooded robes made from scrap cloth. His hood was back for now since he was in she shade though. His long black hair spilling into the hood behind him. His right eye had a grey leather eye patch over it with a jackal head etched into it. Boots would push through the sand leading up into black jeans as he rose from his current position to one slightly over a small dune. His kunai was up his long sleeved shirt but his dagger was hidden in his boot. As for his right hand, it rose to his mouth to let him tear off another piece of teriyaki meat (Likely Lizard) that he had just purchased a little bit ago with a couple jars of water.

Still though he would drop down the other side as he made another deal. This one was easy, a couple of stronger more renowned thugs in the area would be helping to keep the peace during the party in return for an invite to it. Sure they would drink and eventually be no good in a fight but their appearance there would deter someone more foolish. He would only stop and talk with the two of them until his meat was gone. With that invite set in motion he would shift to move through the ruins some more. Someone around the area likely still had some sort of sound system. He would wander alone for about an hour. The stick from the cooked lizard spinning slowly between his fingers. Still a pointed stick and a part of him kept it around just for fun. The rest of him always needed fuel to burn for the fires and at this point wood held a huge amount of value for that. Still his attention would only be held onto that thought briefly.

A couple of people suddenly rushing along the road ahead of him out of an abandoned alley caught his attention. He would stop spinning the stick and grip it until he realized they weren't looking at him but at something behind them. They would brush past him and keep running for now. It would be a moment later but suddenly he would feel it just before he saw her. Someone was a slayer. He could feel the hairs on his arm and neck rising. An urge to flee and find cover filling his head. The stick snapping in his hand would bring him back. He had gripped it too tightly. Ryu would take a breath before looking ahead with one glowing blue eye. It was a young girl moving directly in his path. She looked a little out of place but people were watching and waiting all because everyone felt it. She would kill them all on the spot in exchange for a single insult. Ryu would take a breath and plant his feet. Placing himself where he was in her path. He wasn't about to back down because someone felt scary. This was his town. Still in anticipation the glove would glow and hum softly. Ready to be used.

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Her search for secrets drew attention. A foreigner invading their territory yet posing no immediate threat to their resources. Lurking in vantage points, hidden behind walls and peeking holes, humans were observing her in a similar way as she observed the ruins. Strangers merely assessing the tense situation. Haka moved on, having no interest in the survivors here, nor the desire to hunt any of them down. The discomfort of the tension would be brushed off by her apathetic nature. As she continued the path leading deeper into the heart of the slums, a single man would hold halt in the middle of the road.

One eye of his was hidden by a jackal eye patch, the other a glowing blue fixated on hers. The same determination she had felt burning upon her reflected in his watchful eye. A patched sort of robes would cover his physique, barely revealing the black jeans and boots underneath it. One hand holding a snapped stick. Perhaps in anger, most likely due to the tension her aura naturally brought forth. Haka would halt in her tracks, access to the sections behind him denied by his wordless guardianship. Was he about to fight her for passing through? Possibly so, but nothing the spider-nin could assume.

"Yes?", she would inquire, a hint he was free to express his intent and share with her what pushed him to stand in her way. Her cold, soft voice revealed no intention or emotion, the stoic face with which she gazed back at the man barring her path being much like a rigid mask worn by the wolf spider. "Are you the driving power within these ruins?"

Lord of the Slums, as it were, though such sort of humane humour usually went over Haka's head. The way he imposed himself hinted at him either being part of or being the actual force that ruled over this region. Meaning he would also defend the weaker members of his society. Human nature was not that different from animals when it came to claiming territory and attempting to defend it. Haka held no interest in claiming another's territory. Neither did she hold any interest in reporting whatever she'd find here to Kirigakure. She was here to discover secrets and claim them for her own much like she continuously tried to do that with Sero's Fuinjutsu secrets.

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The sand would be caught up slightly in a breeze as it shifted around the two of them. A single bushel would roll by between them as one shining blue eye would look into two blood red ones. He could feel it. She was dangerous. Something ached to get out of that girl across from him and when it did, it would slaughter them all. He could sense her sizing him up like a meal and it made him uneasy. Like that time he had looked directly into a high level sharingan. He knew the sensation of something ready to end him. Than again he hadn't been foreign to the concept. His lift since he graduated the academy had slipped from a prison into the slums and gang warfare. People trying to kill him had become something he expected to happen on a daily. When the village had burned he hadn't done a thing to stop it because he was less a citizen by then and more a slum lord. Now with it gone the monsters were coming up from the depths. It would be up to him to decide if the coyote would let his other kin die more or if he would show his teeth.

The issue was, he wasn't one to ask intentions when he felt a dangerous aura. Killing intent flooded off her passively so she was likely here to kill. He would look her over a moment before deciding that pale skin was not a local ninja. Another foreigner. Here to lay claim and take what she wished of them. She would speak before he did since he had been lost in thought. Asking a simple question. Yet it asked a hundred. What was his purpose? His meaning? Did he intend to stand in her path? Could he? A series of doubt but nothing that made him step back. He knew not to back down when confronted by an alpha. This was his territory and they were watching. Her next question though hit home. Was he the driving force here? Was he the power left to turn the cog? Was he all that stood between her and them? As of yet she seemed to show little interest with the others. However there was no law here. She could do as she wished with them if not for him. He thought he sensed that she was capable of doing just that.

He would tilt his head forward and glower at her before he would reply. His voice low and cold. Forcing his aura to push hers back. Not enough to push it from the area but enough to push it off of him. She would feel it of course but it gave him some ease not to feel that oppressive force. "Aye. That's me foreigner. This is my grounds. Speak ya business or get ta steppin. We a little sore towards foreigners right bout now so it ain't ideal for you to be walking through my turf. Feel me?" Just to impact his point Ryu would grip his glove into a tight fist as his aura pushed harder. Flexing out his chakra as lightning crackled around him. A blue energy trace faintly floating around him. The rocks around hims in the sand would begin to tremble before slowly dragging in an orbit around him through the sand. Making dozens of little pathways as they shifted in unison. There was a flicker of light from his blue eye a couple of times like a light turning on before it formed into a steady shine. Watching her like he intended to force her to answer him if needed. Out of all these people, more natural than most in their survival instincts, he was clearly the pack leader. A canine and an arachnid in an alley.

1271

Opposition. Interesting. Whoever this man was, he might have been the first among humans to actually attempt to fight the monstrous aura she threw around as the signature heritage of her Creator. Even stronger shinobi like Maigo, a jounin of Kirigakure, had not even done such a thing, preferring instead to allow the discomfort of her aura to cloak them rather than to oppose it. Yes, by his actions his sense for survival and inner strength revealed themselves. It welled up pretty much in the same way how the rough diamonds were unearthed as miners chipped away at the rocks. Dirty but durable. It was rare for Haka to do so but she could respect this human through his actions.

She had not come to here for his domain nor his people. She had other things to attend to. The way he was trying to defend his territory was amusing if not somewhat foreign to the arachnid since she was more of a habit that anything edible within hunting distance was a matter of 'take it or leave it'. Disregarding the strange accent he had, another of those rare features she had not often found back in humans, she would stave off her desire to test him and instead take a brief look at the origin of his disdain, the distant parade of tents and warfare prodding at the horizon. Returning her gaze, her apathy would be dropped just a small moment for a bemused smile in his direction.

"I care not for their wishes, you can keep your grounds. All I'm interested in is finding out how to bend the earth to my will."

His raised fist would not go unnoticed, his persistence to push back an aura she had little control over neither. Empty threads in her eyes. But the way the blue sparked in his eyes and touched the ground was a different story. Lightning would trail little pathways in the ground, shifting sand revealing little rocks. It quickly became obvious that he had the ability to mold chakra, raiton being one of the elements he harboured. Not an element she was interested in just yet, the arachnid never having suffered any problems with thunder and lighting passing over Spider Island. The best such natural forces did was strike down a tree, leaving the spider in her web. Even if it's destructive power was not one to be trifled with, fuuton and raiton were two elements that had yet to catch Haka's interests.

"So you harness thunder's power. Impressive.", a genuine compliment despite the general apathy she expressed. Mostly so because he had already been showing survival instinct and the ability to oppose her natural aura, less so for raiton as a singularity. Even then, all he did was to establish his dominance over the area. A dominance she acknowledged already through her telling him she cared not for the human wars or their desires to take his grounds. His power was not aimed at her personally but at the imprudence of the arrogant meddling of others belonging to his species and as such, since she had no other business here but doton, it left her disinterested still.

"Do you have other questions or will you leave me be to my search now?"

The sooner she was gone, the sooner he and his would cease feeling threatened by her aura. The rigid mind of the arachnid knew that. Would he come to realise this too, or did he have other motives to keep her from her search?

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Ryu would tilt his head at the mention of wishing to learn doton of all things. So this girl had come here to further increase the power of his enemy. Oh how Ironic. Of course he was just not willing to do that. Though there was one way to claim to go about it. Often a sensei would speed things along by putting their student into a crisis situation. Forcing them to either evolve to survive or perish. Now was that necessarily a good method? One could argue either side. Perhaps with suiton or Fuuton? Less solid types of elements that might be easier to survive. But Doton on the other hand. Now that left a lasting impression even on the lowest level jutsu. He would smirk as he would seem to sit down like he was going to fall onto thin air. The earth beneath him would raise up as a sloped slab to catch him before lowering him down to sit mere inches above the ground in a fairly relaxed looking chair. His head tilting to smirk at her with that blue eye watching. He was a little full of himself but this next part simply put amused him.

"Well look no further ittsy bittsy. Ya happened to stumble on someone proficient in just that. Thing is you ain't one of my pack. You belong to one of the others. Ya ain't the friendly type by the feel of ya so I ain't inclined to just up and teach ya. So if you wants ta learn this, Its gonna be something you gotta overcome. Feel?"

Regardless of her response he would take a breath as he focused himself. The air around them settling into an almost stillness before without warning his hands would suddenly slip into a small series of three hand seals and then touch the ground to either side of him. Now suddenly everything was moving. The street shuddered and people backed up. Some retreating to a minimum safe distance but others picked up plates of scrap metal and hid behind them. Choosing to watch from the front row with their meager defense rather than missing anything. The ground would swirl like a sink draining of water to his right, his left and directly in front of him between the girl and himself. Slowly the rock would begin to combine and form three individual forms. At first it was just masses but they began to take shape into that of canines made out of rocks. Finally all three stood and moved in place like actual dogs.

"Don't worry mate, these aren't likely to kill you. That said, if they do catch you its gonna hurt like a bitch let me tell you what."

The three dogs would snap their maws at her as if to confirm his words before he would smile at her. Still lounging in his position before he raised his right hand. Snapping his fingers at the dogs. At the sound of the unnecessary snap since they were bound by his chakra and under his control the dogs would shift. The one in front of him turning so it faced sideways and provided some partial cover over Ryu. The two to either side would suddenly take off sprinting. Crisscrossing each others paths at twenty meters a second. Sand and dust kicking up in their wake as the heavy stone dogs slammed forward. One going for a lunge to try and tackle her at chest level as the other went for a snap at her right leg. Both moving at high speeds but having to cross the distance to reach her in fairly direct lines. Not much for acrobatics.

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When Ryu spoke to reveal his doton affinity and mentioned he couldn't just give it away, instead hinting at her having to learn it the hard way, Haka remained motionless, eyes fixated on his. He had a second element to his disposal just like she had two of them. Doton. If Haka had been losing interest in the man, he now had it back. Naturally, there would be a catch to the whole exchange since she was not one of his pack. Just a stranger roaming around and about to pick up something that didn't belong to her. Though the spider's nature was such that what she'd claim would remain hers until taken back, the manipulation of earth was not something as easily taken as a weapon. In this case, she'd have to earn it. The spider wasn't sure if being put to the test by anyone else but Sero was something she could appreciate but the way he put it he made it sound like it was a matter of survival rather than a matter of 'being worth' it. So as he formed a set of hand seals and tapped the ground to create a pack of wolves, she would do something similar.

She'd take the grimoire clasped to her belt, the eight beady eyes following the movement of her hands in anticipated fear. She'd form the spider, tiger, boar hand seals with one hand before seemingly pulling strange symbols out of the book and crouched the tap the ground just as well. The gathered symbols would leave her hand with her chakra as she clasped her grimoire back in place, the chakra that fuelled the summoning technique spitting forward three large jumping spiders. Chittering to each other frantically as the katon was burning them up slowly, eyes uncertain about the presence that had invoked them or those that they'd oppose. Comical, since they were nothing different than chakra clones in nature, even if those who had never stood eye to eye with giant spiders would have a hard time spotting the difference.

"Sounds like fun.", she'd reply to his comment about their bites stinging like a bitch, leaving her words hanging as she implied a similar faith for him if her spiders would reach him. The difference being they'd not bite but blow up and leave the sting and stench of burned flesh instead.

His wolves would spread, eager for a bite. Her spiders would scream and chitter, eager to end their suffering. The wolves would run in criss-crossing each other, and one of her spiders would be given the grace of meeting them. Apparently running slightly faster than the wolves, the spider would blow up the moment they'd collide or cross each other, setting a 5m radius ablaze with its katon fuelled explosion to take out the two doton wolves. The impact of the explosion would be limited in range by the houses that gave shape to the street. As the heat and cinders would subdue, the second of her spiders would be send in to charge the Earth-shaper and his guardian pet in a straight line, whereas the third blazing spider would advance by crawling over the walls and roof of the houses.

"Are you enjoying our little game so far?", she would ask him, as the suicide squad scurried on to meet him, red eyes observing what the conclusion of their pawns would be. All the while, the arachnid would observe how her unexpected teacher would make use of any future doton abilities.

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Ryu would watch as his two canines would meet one of her flaming spiders and one would take out two. It was a bad math for him to be honest. She still had two more to his one, He would still smirk at her use of flaming spiders. Intimidating certainly but a Jackal didn't fear spiders right? Still his blue eye would dart to the two of them as they split up to run along the walls and flanking him. One defender and two attackers? This simply wouldn't do. Still she would speak to him as if amused by his efforts. She was confident in herself and mocking him. He was certain of this. A game? Is that all her trespassing was here? Onlookers were moving back after the first explosion but still watching. Chunks of his dogs scattered across the ground. The dog in front of him shifted as it seemed to bristle at her words. Yet Ryu would simply raise a hand up to his face and back through his hair as he spoke in return to her. His own amusement showing as his blue eye seemed to glow.

"Don't think your past the pawns of this game yet girlie, remember there a rooks too!"

It appeared by all means he had sacrificed the time he needed to defend. The spiders were already about to launch off the walls at him. However the ground behind him stirred and suddenly two large arms erupted forth. Crushing the two flaming spiders on the ground with only the slight sounds of their detonations under its great palm. Huge hands and arms made of rock easily three times the size of the man before her seemed to heave up a behemoth of equal proportions. A berserker humanoid and faceless thing rose to its feet as it surged up from the ground behind him. The hands would lift as it stood tall and reveal only the slight burns on the ground without a chip missing out of it. The strong servant warrior technique was a dangerous one. Its massive form stepped forward as the ground shook in its passing. Its legs moving around Ryu as it started to move towards her. Slow at first but building up speed before it was full on sprinting at her. A huge mass of rock charging her. If she looked passed it at Ryu she would see him standing there. All alone in the sandy street.

What she likely didn't see was him use the illusion clone technique to place an illusion of himself there as the servant warrior passed him. Slipping behind its left leg. His hound slipping behind its right as they kept in its blind spot from her. When its palm slammed forward to try and crush her against the ground suddenly his earth hound would appear from her left as it launched to the ground and pounced at her. Moving first. Only once it moved to draw her attention would Ryu appear behind from the other direction. Launching himself from cover as he drew his right hand back. His hand glowing blue from a mere meter from her. Both jutsu were distractions that could not be ignored all to give him an opening. He would thrust his fist forward and with it a pulse of chakra would fly out with concussive force from it. Enough power packed into it to shatter a stone wall. Not to mention bones and the like. If he landed this flanking attack it would prove worth it. That aside now that he was closer to her his martial arts could come into play.

Rooks? Haka was not that familiar with chess but she recognised the name of the pawn. The rules behind it were a different story, their linear regulations quite different from the 'game' she had expected this to be. In her eyes, it was a game because she held no killing intent. Death was not the end she was looking for, but the giant earthen man did throw in an interesting factor. The giant started to run at her, its berserker's glare leaving little to the imagination. Fine, if that thing wanted to work with killing intent in a game of chess, didn't this mean she had to find a means to take it away from the board or something?

Forming hand seals of her own as they charged forward, Haka would tap the ground and let her chakra draw the Fuinjutsu symbols inherent to her own little dominion. Welcome to run forward, the golem would find himself crumbling back to nothingness when he aimed his fist at her to crush her under his strength, her Dominion denying him the rights to strike at the Lady of this pocket domain. The Rook was gone as the Queen ate him, the cover that should have given Ryu and his pet the advantage of the surprise revoked at the same time but their strategy persisted. A flanking manoeuvre.

Ace Eye, Multitasker. Even the spider would find it hard to deal with two sides at once at such a short distance, forcing her to make a decision to which threat she'd deal with first. To her left, a hound, to her right, a glowing blue thing in the hands of the master. The decision was not difficult. Only the aftermath was uncertain. Much like a burst of chakra would blow out from the glowing glove, her chakra would burst forward in a mass of arms. Four chakra limbs would burst forward to meet Ryu in turn. Two of them would collide brutality with the chakra expulsion of his glove, two of them grasping for Ryu at 35 m/s at the short distance they were, their lethality certainly nothing less than what he had offered her.

Unable to fully block the chakra burst from the glove with her chakra arms, the hit would still propel her away into the direction of a wall, it's initial power limited in its impact yet leaving major bruises where they had struck. Crashing into the wall, the impact against it would be mitigated by her armour and leave her unscathed, upon which the pet would seize the opportunity all together to strike at her lower section, only to find itself torn to shreds by her chakra-infused leg.

Stepping out of the cracked wall, Haka would watch the aftermath of their short but powerful interaction of chakras, assessing Ryu's condition in turn after he dealt with the double-edged decision of attacking her up front. Her chakra arms would not have pursued him considering she had been distracted by the impact, instead their nigh-invisible masses lingering closer to her being.

"You play rough.", she said, eyes resting on his current position. A simple statement holding little other meaning than the conclusion she had drawn from their interaction. Very different in approach to Verdandi, his desire for close combat was the opposite from her preference to remain at range. While not impossible to deal with, she wasn't used to this as her opponents mostly died before they could spot her. "What's your name?"

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Ryu was caught off guard by the seal. Sealers. Such a massive and constant pain in any fighters ass. Every time an attack was charged up and used they simply made it fade to nothing with ease. It was aggravating for sure. Still his own attack would fly forth. Even as the stones would crumble and crash to the ground dust and sand would fly up everywhere. However he was alerted to the true error of his ways. Her features would seem to shift. Barely noticeable but he could tell. His chakra wave would slam forward kicking up an explosion of sand but he knew he was not done. He could sense her coming for him. Even as she flew back his free hand would charge up. The sand bursting from two points as something flew at him. He had wanted to save this jutsu for later and reserve himself to taijutsu and doton only but the emergency standard was there. The attacks were coming at him fast. But in the hand that had not thrown the punch the fingers would fly open. A great hound like creature of lightning would slam forth at equal speeds but only manage to collide with the arms right in front of him. Canceling each other out as both jutsu would fizzle and burst violently.

The violent interaction of the two killing jutsu would send him flying just as his own jutsu would send her. Both flying to opposite ends of the streets. However four massive attacks happened in the span of a couple of seconds in an incredibly narrows space. Dust and sand clouded the space between the two of them entirely. A cloud of debris and wind kicking it around made looking across the street impossible. Even onlookers were beginning to scatter. Still Ryu himself would go crashing back through a thin wall from the impact of the two jutsu right in front of him. Smashing him without cushion through the rubble and sending him flat on his back. He would cough a moment before rolling over onto his knee's. Damn it. He was being impetulant. Still he could fight. His body hurt but he was still up and...no wait...He grunted before feeling it coming. The power he had obtained for his own gain but knew not the control he needed over it. He clasped at his own chest but he wanted out. He was coming.

From where she stood the dust had begun to settle. Vision was returning little by little with enough that one of her level could see shapes at first and then definitions across the way. Even with her sharp eyes though it would take a moment for her to see the hole in the wall of a now useless building across the way. However in a moment it became more clear that the building itself did not house her enemy. Instead it was empty. However above her on the roof a loud yawn could be heard. If she were to look up she would see an eye patch fluttering down from a pale skinned man with red hair and a bushy tail with dog ears lounging on his belly on the roof above. Looking at her with a tilted head. His left eye was shining blue like before but his right...his right eye was red with one tomoe in it. Watching her lazily as if bored with the fight. Again he yawned before lifting a container of some sort to his lips and taking a sip. He looked comfortable and at ease in comparison. Still he would smile playfully before speaking to her. Having moved behind her in the dust with ease and speed of alarming levels.

"My my my you are trouble. Brings new ideas to the term along came a spider. Well I am not much of a Ms. Tuffet but if you insist in playing in my sand box...well dearie do let me know. It gets awful boring when he doesn't let me out. One has to cherish their freedoms eh?"

The dust settled as the two players in this violent game each stayed at their chosen side. What would be revealed was not the calm and collected man she had opposed but a seemingly completely different creature. Red hair, bushy tail and dog ears. A spinning red eye she had come to recognise as the sharingan had appeared from behind the eyepatch that fluttered down and was spontaneously grabbed mid-air by the spider-nin. She'd observe the patch like it was all part of a puzzle that had revealed itself just now, ears catching the words he spoke all the while. Strange words she was not all too familiar with. All but the sense of freedom, for as an animal herself she could only imagine what it was to be caged.

"Doton. Shapeshifting. Sharingan.", she'd say calmly, stating all of his abilities one by one. "A lot of unexpected power for a human. Your evolution beyond the limitations of your kind earns my respect."

She'd toss him the eye patch that she had grabbed mid-air, watching the damage wrought to his domain in the rougher than expected game of theirs. Taking her newfound respect for him, Haka decided this had been sufficient. There was no need to bring more destruction upon the humans whom dwelled here and lived by a similar principle. Even if they were still considered weak in the spider's eyes it looked that they had taken the first steps to reach an evolution yet to be achieved. Guided by the red-bushy man loafing about on the roof.

"I did not come to destroy your sand box. I was merely looking to find the key to bending the earth to my will. You offered me this key and so my search comes to an end. The freedom from your constraints is a battle to fight on your own but I can offer to work on a Seal that will grant you a step ahead. Your identity will no longer be denied. Your restricted power the only barrier to be broken by your will."

Running her hand through her long, white hair to brush it out of her eyes, she'd let the words sink in for a moment. Allowing him the time to think about the offer she wanted to return him for the respect he had gained in her eyes. Once her hand had run through the entire length of her hair, her red eyes would lift again to meet his.

"Your answer?"

If he'd accept the Seal, Haka would remain longer to design the Fuinjutsu Seal that would allow the Jackal's 'true form' to persist even if Ryu no longer tapped into his senjutsu chakra. The release of Jackal's identity, as it were. A combination of Fuinjutsu and Genjutsu that'd draw out the locked personality, and its looks. However, lacking senjutsu herself, the Seal would not be able to release the senjutsu nature inherent to Ryu's Sage Form. In essence, Ryu and Jackal would be one being, the use of senjutsu being the only thing left for him to unleash his 'full power'.

If Ryu/Jackal decided against the Seal, however, Haka would accept that answer just as well. It was not her concern whether or not the animal preferred a life caged within the will of his host. She would simply nod at that point, leaving his decision to be his uncontested and say her goodbyes before she'd disappear as a dispersing mist.

---

It seemed the Jackal was not interested in the offered choice, his attention elsewhere. Though the spider was generally a patient one, she was not a fool to wait eternally on an answer either. Perhaps the Jackal needed more time to think about it, and if such was the case then so be it.

"Should you reach a decision, let me know.", she'd say, leaving her offer for him to savour. She could not make his decisions after all, and the trade was fair in her eyes. He had given her what she searched for, she gave him something he could value. Perhaps they'd meet again at a later point.

[EXIT]

591+112
Total: 3580
Thread WC: 6763
- 3500 All stats: B-2 to B-3 [3500/4500]