Black Sheep [Private]

Satori had taken both Midori and Riku on several missions now. He had tested their arsenals and minds several times and worked to ensure that the pair had the mental stability, experience, and skill to go on the mission. Now it was time to give them their final test to see if they were ready to go into the big leagues. Once Shimiko and her crew left and he was certain the village was in no immediate danger, Satori was going to the land of demons.

This test would decide if Riku and Midori were ready to come with him. If they were ready to be led on a squad by him and transfer the slaves properly. The threat was very real. If the Kumogakure ninja got too prideful, too antsy, they could very well be attacked by those scouts decorating the border. If it came down to that, they both needed to be ready for ninja combat against skilled chunin and jounin.

They needed to have teamwork, and be able to fight without relying on him to protect them, or they’d only slow him down. So he’d given them both a message, a written letter that he had an important test for both of them and that they were to meet him here in the training grounds. The tall young clan head was shirtless, the new ebony piercings decorating his skin pulsed with chakra from their enchantments as he stretched his arms above his head while he waited for them.

Crimson eyes turned toward the gate as it opened. Curious whom had arrived first, or if they had arrived together.

Midori stepped through, but Riku was in tow. The two had gotten a lot closer these past couple of weeks, and there was also the drive of a common goal; to defeat Satori one day, something they both wanted to do at this point. It gave them a reason to train together, bond, and strategize, while getting stronger all the while. Midori knew they were getting stronger, and after the last training session she had with Satori and developing her technique arsenal, she was extremely confident in her own combat ability.

She had also been studying like no tomorrow.

Iijutsu, while originally something that she had written off as something that would be impossible with the way her chakra was always so chaotic, was something of an interesting topic for her to investigate now. She was reading over all sorts of information, and not only would it allow her to truly be an asset to any team, but it would let her fight harder for longer. She was looking into ways that she could use it to adjust her full transformation too… she couldn’t deny the power of that form, but she was not a big fan of how large of a target she became that way.

And then there was the pure destructive potential of her new techniques; she could literally annihilate entire areas of landscape, meaning that in a serious fight, she was not to be taken lightly. This allowed her confidence to swell, and while she was careful not to let it blind her, she was very glad to see progress within herself. Perhaps she should challenge some of the Jounin like Satori had, although she noticed that people were far less likely to fight her because of the way Satori had beaten many of them soundly. Apparently, the fact that she was his sister, not to mention a Nature Chakra user and daughter of the Bloody Berserker of the Mist, was enough to make most people to err on the side of caution.

Quietly she nodded to Satori and waited for Riku to join them.

[1]

Riku followed Midori through the gate, letting their conversation drop. Their girl's day out had brought the two closer, making them sisters, but their plot to defeat Satori in battle had forged that bond into something that would hopefully be strong enough to withstand Satori's test. For today, the short woman had forgone her usual attire in favor of a light purple pinstripe shirt and black pants, resembling the standard Kiri ninja attire.

She had been busy like Midori, training and learning new techniques. The blue haired genin had even discovered new aspects of her bloodline. The self-improvement and discovery of the past few months had pushed Riku to become someone who was not only capable of destruction, but someone who knew how much she should tear apart and when. She had even begun to coordinate her abilities with Midori's in order to increase their destructive capacity.

The blue-haired genin felt a tingly nervousness. Had they prepared enough? Would their strategies work? How much would Satori be able to see through? And what new tricks did he have up his sleeve? She looked him over critically. His muscles seemed even more defined than Riku remembered and he had new piercings. Decorations? Or did they serve some purpose? Subconsciously, she bit the inside of her lip. Either way he looked good.

The short teen looked back up at her elder sister to help calm herself. She could admire Satori some other time. Today, they needed to kick his ass, or at least challenge him.

"Saa-kun. It's good to see you again." Riku smiled a bit. "What kind of test do you have for us?" The smile widened, showing off her sharp teeth.

[1]

Satori smiled softly as the young women approached, nodding back to Midori once before looking down to Riku as she smiled at him. His eyes softened but only for a moment before he straightened.

“The following information cannot be told to anyone else. This mission is considered top-secret and is A-Rank and can be raised up to S-Rank depending on the situation it evolves into.” With that, once he had both of their agreement, Satori’s eyes hardened.

“I’ve been given the rank of Chuunin and been told to test those I’d trust to form a squad and go to the land of demons to free the slaves the idiot Ken made, transport the citizens properly and relax tensions between the citizens there and Kirigakure. Kumo however is on guard near the land and is still showing hostile intentions. Due to the diplomatic nature of the mission and how important it is… as well as the risk of being attacked by Kumogakure ninja of any rank from chuunin to ANBU, the threat is tremendous.” His gaze slid between the two girls.

“I chose you two. But I need to know you’re both ready to take that next step. If you prove you’re ready here today and go with me on this mission, and it is a success, you’ll both be promoted to Chuunin, perhaps Special Jounin or ANBU if you desire. I’ll be raised to Jounin, perhaps Jounin Commander.” He stated this to make it clear how serious this was, and what a huge step in all their lives this could become.

“This is Kyoji’s attempt to follow the traditions and keep the other jounin quiet, while also acknowledging our skill. He’s trusted me with everything. So today, you’re both going to be fighting me… you’re going to be fighting me while I’m attacking you as if you were both my enemy.” His eyes narrowed slightly.

“That means there is a risk of serious injury doing this. I can heal pretty much anything I do to you, but there is always the risk something may go wrong. One of you may die during this test if you aren’t careful. Depending on your performance--I’ll take you, or I will leave you here and do this myself alone.” With his speech done, Satori slowly relaxed and offered a gentle smile.

“If either of you wants to back out, to wait, I will not stop you.”

Midori listened carefully, but she couldn’t help it when he stated just how important this mission they were apparently being considered for was for a single eyebrow to raise. This seemed to be a really, really important mission, but relatively quickly she regained her normal look as things began to piece themselves together in her mind. Naturally, she wouldn’t be talking about this to anyone, although truthfully outside of the group present and a couple select others, she didn’t talk much anyway.

She wanted to congratulate him for becoming Chuunin, but part of her wondered if this was born out of need more than merit. Granted, Satori could wipe the floor with most people outside the Kage himself, but… something about it felt off. This mission… the test… what was she missing? And then as he explained what the mission actually was, she suddenly understood. Riku and Midori were the people he could trust, certainly, but they also had very specific skill sets that could be extremely useful in this type of mission.

Riku, with her nigh invulnerability, stealth skills, poison and intellect were invaluable in this kind of operation where subtlety could be a determining factor… she could slip in and survey their forces quicker than anyone Midori knew, and while Satori’s nose was generally pretty good, her own wasn’t reliant on wind direction, and she was quick about thinking on her feet. She was someone he could rely on for a variety of tasks, following in Satori’s own footsteps of being a Jack of All Trades.

Midori herself, on the other hand, was the nuclear option if things went sideways. With her plethora of new techniques she could easily turn the tides against most people, not to mention turning into her transformed state was enough to frighten most ninja. Midori was the one who could easily wage war against a multitude of opponents, and would follow Satori’s orders without question. As these facts rolled through her mind, she understood the reason the Ryuutei was planning what he was… why he had chosen them specifically.

The fact that they would become Chuunin meant little to the Berserker, but was a nice bonus. Fighting Satori… well, that was what Riku and herself had been training for, what they had been planning for some time now. Their teamwork was spot on, and they were more than capable of handling most entire squads on their own. Satori coming at them like they were an enemy made her want to check with Riku, but showing such a weakness was not something she could afford… besides, she already knew her answer regardless of if Riku wanted to back out.

She had never backed down from a fight, and began to draw in her Nature Chakra without anyone being any the wiser. Cheating? No such thing. She was not about to be left behind, and considering how strong Satori was, she was going to need every advantage she could get. Midori put her hands out to her sides, fists clenched, her expression serious. “As if I could let you run off without me…” she proclaimed, her answer clear.

[2]

Riku's expression grew more serious as Satori outlined the risks of both the test and the mission. Potential conflict with Kumo ninja could be deadly if she wasn't ready. Ninja from the Land Hidden in the Clouds often had lightning nature chakra, one of Riku's few weaknesses. If someone struck her with lightning, the consequences could be more severe than that of the jar incident. Her life was positioned more precariously than the other two's lives because of that. If she couldn't defend herself properly, Riku would become a liability. On a mission as important as this, that would be more than unacceptable, it could be deadly.

The slight knit of her brow and downturn of her lips revealed that the blue-haired genin was weighing the risk of not just this spar, but the mission ahead. She needed to invest in protection against such techniques regardless of whether she passed or failed Satori's test. This had not been on the forefront of her mind she to other foci, but such an oversight wasn't excusable. Riku also knew she could be underestimating herself. She wouldn't be alone on this mission. She would be in a team, thus, her ability to support Satori and Midori on the mission and in battle was more important than her independent battle prowess. If this had been about sending her on that mission alone, Riku would have walked away.

She and Midori had been preparing for this and Satori's strength was probably one of the best tests of their teamwork and combined ability available. Failure was less likely to kill or main them here and if they weren't ready, Satori would just leave them behind.

Riku took a deep breath to calm herself. She nodded once to show her agreement.

[2]

Once both women had offered their approval, Satori’s eyes softened slightly. Then he was upon them. No warning, no begin, no get ready. This was a test to see if they were ready to go on a real mission, in the real world where they would be killed if they offered even the slightest opening. His Taijutsu sent him flashing forward in a blur of speed barely followable by either of the women, placing between both of them as his left hand extended outward to slam into Riku’s stomach at full-force.

His right on the other hand aimed to smash into Midori’s chest in a high-powered jab that put all his speed from the dash behind it. Both of these blows were not his usual Taijutsu that he trained using. They were not punches, they were jabs utilizing his claws as if they were spear tips, long razor knives that could shred through steel like paper. Shred through flesh like hot knives through butter.

Utilizing his mixture of techniques as his eyes remained focused on the pair carefully as he moved, his stance seemed to have no basis. It was as if he was remaining perfectly still and relying entirely on blending the techniques and stances abilities together through movement, momentum, and body control. Satori was entirely serious, and that didn’t mean he was going to enhance himself to his limit and then come blasting through them like some fool.

He would use as little energy as possible, following the same simulation. If this was a battle outside, you never knew when a battle was actually at its end. Even when you won a fight, a thousand more could be waiting between you and your goal. You could be poisoned, attacked, ambushed, at any time by anyone. You couldn’t just throw caution to the wind and fight all-out. That was how you exhausted yourself--and died. That fact went both ways. For the aggressor as well as the defender.

Information:

Midori noticed his eyes soften for just a moment, but the exact moment that her eyes saw the twitch of his muscles conduct movement, Midori was moving.  He had done this before; no warning starts were something she had come to expect, and the first couple of times, it had disgruntled her to no end.  But he had raised a good point at that time; the enemy wasn’t going to give her any warning, and if they did, they were idiots.  Especially against Midori, who got more dangerous the longer that a battle waged as she constantly absorbed Nature Chakra; it was her best tactic, conducting a war of attrition.

So the moment Satori moved, so did Midori; she could tell this was not going to be a time where they could afford to analyze their enemy and work on their plan.  This was a fight for survival, especially at first when Midori was so under-charged.  If she could get full of her Nature Chakra, she stood a chance of possibly winning the war of attrition, even against someone like Satori, but getting to that point was going to be a challenge.  So instead of holding back their secret plan, it was that moment of initial movement that set Midori off, already twisting her body to grab Riku in one fall swoop.  The girl was a lot harder to hurt, but she was also a fair bit slower… and their tactic required them to be literally together.

She realized as she was already in motion that Satori was blindingly fast; she barely could keep up with his movements, and outpacing him was going to be impossible.  She needed to create distance, and if she was able to switch tactics, she would have, but the problem with having a movement planned out beforehand was that, while you were able to execute it much more quickly on the drop of a dime, you also couldn’t pull out of the tactic nearly as fast.  It was a mistake, and she was going to pay for it.  Luckily, she did manage to pull off one trick to at least partially mitigate the damage; she did a partial transformation on her arm and boosted the armor of it specifically, hoping to try to keep the wound to a minimum, but even then she felt the pain lance through her shoulder.

She had gotten low enough that it wasn’t going to stop her, but as the claws sliced across her flesh and her blood flew she knew that those claws, something she had once thought she was capable of dealing with, were no joke.  Midori wasn’t going to be able to deal with those very well… but that wasn’t the point.  If she got Riku to do their tactic, she would be able to hold him off while Midori worked on her part of the plan; she didn’t like it because it meant something other than the green haired teen taking him head on, but they were here to win, not for pride.  Besides, as strong as he was coming after them, it was going to take everything they had to even have a glimmer of a chance at victory.

Barreling into Riku, she made a movement that was perfect if the watery woman was planning to use something new she had discovered about her bloodline; Midori had one hand grabbing a leg, the other grabbing an arm.

[3]

Riku barely perceived Satori's movement and began to liquefy on reflex. When she felt Midori grab on, she reacted the way they had trained. Her body came cleanly in half, Satori's hand brushing past her torso. The uncomfortable sensation of chakra drain made her shrink away and attempt to resist. Without the taller woman, Riku would have had no way to defend herself. The shirt woman was glad she and her sister had worked on this beforehand.

Her free hand grabbed onto Midori's arm, the one holding her other limb hostage, and her whole body liquefied, snaking across the taller woman's limbs as Riku retreated into her clothes.

The watery mass attached itself to Midori like a second skin and held on for dear life. Riku's voice could be heard from within Midori's bra, speaking just loud enough for the green-haired woman to hear. "Something is different about these attacks. They feel weird."

A moment later, the blue-haired ninja peeked out from Midori's collar to see what was going on. Her arms materialized around the tall woman's waist, hands ready to flip through hand seals inside Midori's shirt.

[3]

Techs:

As Midori tried to guard and paid the price in blood as his claws shredded through her thickened hide, Satori didn't hesitate. Even as they both fell back trying to do what appeared was bond together, he didn't simply halt and let them do as they wished. As they fell back, Satori was moving to give chase. Giving them no space to breathe as his position remained directly on top of them while the tall young man released another swing of his left hand aiming from Midori's right shoulder to her left hip, while his other remained drawn back prepared to guard or counter whatever the other tried.

Satori saw no reason not to keep up the pressure. They'd managed to defend against his initial attack, sort of. That meant they'd have no issue dealing with a strong chunin, and had the ability to survive, at least against one attack from a mid-end jounin which is what he was currently mimicking for them to battle. The next question was how long they could last. The tactics that they'd shifted to were understandable, and a good way to help guard one another making excellent use of Riku's bloodline.

But that's all it was. His claws would cut straight through any water that Riku created combined with his strength, even if it weakened the blows a bit, he'd still be able to wound Midori through her. They had options. Satori could think of many; but that wasn't the point here. He had to see if they had come up with the options.

Information:

Midori knew that he wasn’t going to let up, and the moment that Riku began to cling to her and was within the range of the protection for her next technique, the green haired teen was already flipping hand signs. Sure, Satori might know what this was if he memorized it from their training session, but there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that he could do about it either. Ox-Ram-Dragon-Snake – Cursed Sphere was activated as the claws came down at her again, and the shield of Nature Chakra that she barely had enough Nature Chakra to summon the shield in their defense.

His attack would break it on the first hit, but that also meant he would be subjected to the ensuing explosion of energy, something she hadn’t shown him during her training… at point blank range. She doubted it would do any serious damage, but it had taken the hit for her instead of her flesh, something she wasn’t too keen on repeating after discovering just how sharp his claws were firsthand. Her arm was normal again, having dispelled the technique, but the shield would serve its purpose; providing a moment of protection and because of the explosion, hopefully a little bit of distance.

It was Riku’s turn now; she needed to keep him at bay for a short while so that Midori could gather more Nature Chakra and start the next phase of their planned attack. She had been forced to stop outright in order to perform that technique, so she was pretty exclusively relying on the force of the explosion to get Satori off her ass. She was going to be in a bad way if he somehow hadn’t backed off or been flung.

Battle Information:

Riku began to form handseals of her own, which made Midori's clothing wiggle, but didn't reveal what she was up to. Water nature chakra began to build up in her mostly liquefied form, though this alone wasn't very revealing as almost all her ninjutsu techniques involved water. She paused momentarily when Satori set off an explosion, sending Riku back into Midori's shirt. Upon realizing that she and Midori were fine, she stuck her head out and unleashed a powerful deluge of water aimed towards Satori.

The technique was stronger than anything else the blue-haired girl had ever done in front of her fiance. Though it wouldn't surprise him much, it would hopefully help keep the man at a distance while Midori gathered enough nature chakra to transform.

The purpose of her attachment to the tall woman had very little to do with physically shielding her, in fact, Midori was protecting Riku more than the other way around. The technique allowed Riku to focus on long range ninjutsu to support Midori without her speed becoming a liability. For most intents and purposes, Midori had a live water canon stuck to her person.

Stuff:

Satori's eyes followed the movements without issue, and while Midori was busy forming handseals, Satori's claws had already landed on her. He'd been on top of her the entire time, and though the barrier would assuredly form, it wasn't before his claws raked through her other shoulder carving a line down to the top of her breast before the barrier suddenly burst forth and engulfed them both to halt Satori's assault.

The barrier smashed into his chest, causing him to skid two meters back before he halted the orb. His muscles bulding as his eyes narrowed, and instead the barrier itself was forced to form more in the other direction as it's power was matched by Satori's own. His claws on his hand that still dripped with Midori's blood ripped the shield open casually, between his physical power matching the barriers own defense and his claws being far stronger, it was of no difficulty.

Satori was prepared for the resulting explosion. It's speed was decent, it's timing was perfect, it's range was a huge boone. But it wasn't enough. The force was even weaker than the barrier before it. It washed over him and barely pushed him back an extra meter, and even that only happened due to the fact he was off-balance from the initial barrier forming and throwing off his footing.

As the explosion washed over him, Riku attempted to take advantage of the attack to fire at him, and only due to the fact he was stationary was she able to focus on him in time to take aim on him. The beam of pressurized water flashed at him at high speeds, almost as fast as his base physical speed. But unfortunetly for her, to the speed of his senses and the speed of his strikes, it was slow. Satori was already flickering back toward the pair, the short three meter distance that had been created closed in far less than a second as the spear of water flashed past his cheek. His perception allowing him to casually dodge it with ease as his right hand shot out aimed to rake across Midori's center of mass.

The extra benefit being that was exactly where Riku's "head" and "hands" were, allowing him to disrupt her own abilities to properly form handseals and speak at the same time.

Information:

Midori felt her blood spilling across her chest as the shield barely kept her from having a punctured lung, but more than that, she felt her regular Chakra leave her body as he made contact. That was dangerous; sure, Midori herself could probably be alright losing a little bit as a lot of her own techniques were fueled by her Nature Chakra, but to let that hit Riku would wind up draining her combat ability far too much to be allowed to happen more than once. Midori pushed the pain to the back of her mind and the moment that her shield was put into place, began flashing more hand-signs. Satori wouldn't be pushed back by this for long, and she could use the cover of the shield, and resulting explosion, to mask what she was up to.

The Berserker had to buy them time... at least some time and distance so that she could not only keep the bastard off of them, but give Riku more time to attack him with something a bit more effective. The water blade was just too slow; they needed something more wide-spread, but Riku wasn't stupid, she would know that and adjust accordingly, but that relied on Midori having a chance to hit him with something that was going to give her the space to do so. If that happened, maybe Riku in turn could buy her some time to charge up. Forming a shadow clone or pylon clone right now as pointless. Satori would just kill the clone before it had a chance to escape and then be right back on top of them before she could get any sort of benefit from it.

Midori made a mental note to make sure to create a new type that could take a hit for them... this fight was teaching her quite a bit about her own weakness; she was far too reliant on her Nature Chakra now. It was meant to be a backup for her Taijutsu, but with Satori's speed and claws, Taijutsu was pointless too. It was immensely frustrating, so as Satori came through the explosion, but a blur in her vision, Midori was already in motion. Her hand was already surging forward for the counter, and now she had a point of aim. It was not perfectly positioned, she had to admit, but considering the circumstance, it was the best she could get; she wanted to put it into his chest for maximum efficiency, but it wound up more towards his gut because of her rushed aim.

She vented all her frustration at her own weakness into the blast, draining every bit of Nature Chakra she had into a massive beam of Nature Chakra fired point blank before those wicked claws could reach her. It was ten feet wide and would wind up being 100 feet in length, at this range, mid-lunge, hopefully completely unavoidable. Midori had also angled it upwards so she couldn't dig his heels in and stop himself, hopefully launching him into the air and sending him far and away from them to give Riku a chance to really jack him up. She didn't like being on defense, but she didn't have enough Nature Chakra yet to compete with Satori.

Battle Information:

Riku cursed internally. Satori was on them once more, moving so quickly he was difficult to see. The small woman disappeared back into Midori's clothes to liquefy and reposition. Her hands reformed behind Midori to flip through several hand seals. Faintly, her voice could be heard from her watery body, just beneath Midori's ear as she slithered upwards, "Don't panic."

Riku engulfed Midori's entire head with part of her body, face reforming just enough for her to spew a poisonous gas directly into Satori's face. If he dodged enough to clear it, they would get a few precious seconds of time. If he powered through it, the poison would hopefully distract him at least for a moment.

The blue-haired woman resembled some sort of wraith in her semi-liquefied state, an awful face wailing at their enemy from within the partly solid mass. Watery arms wrapping around the green haired woman's mouth, nose, and eyes, upper arms clamped over her ears.

Midori could see Satori's blurred form for a few moments before the cloud of poison made it difficult to see anything. Riku tightened around her sister, silently urging her to retreat.

Info:

Satori had forced both the girls into a difficult situation, he knew that the moment Midori was forced to pull out one of her most powerful techniques. The hand that that formed chakra within it pulsed with enough energy to level a small forest. They'd already tried a pin-point attack on him, and so they were shifting to wider range attacks. A perfectly acceptable counter. As the hand closed in on him, Satori's heel ground into the dirt. He only had one foot on the ground due to her timing.

That was all the man needed however as his muscles clenched, and he lunged to the side in a flicker of speed. He didn't know the exact width of Midori's blast by heart just yet, but that was fine. Neither would an attacker in the real world. He cleared a distance he deemed safe at fifty meters to the far left, his movement speed meaning that it took him less than half a second, more than enough time to completely clear the blast before it even hit. The explosion of poisonous gas that flooded the air afterward caused his eyes to narrow slightly.

It was highly likely he wouldn't be affected by a toxin that Riku had created at her current level. But he wasn't going to risk it when there was no point. The toxic cloud flooded the area, and Satori's flickered forward to land just at its edge putting him about ten meters from the pair as his hand snatched kunai from his holster at his leg. The cloud was making it difficult to see, but not impossible in the slightest. He saw their silhouette, his keen senses and high muscle reactions kicked in, and the kunai shot through the air like a missile aimed directly at Midori's center of mass. Flashing forward like a bolt of lightning in the form of steel.

Information:

Midori didn't need any further urging to know what to do.  She couldn't see very well, but that was hardly a problem; she knew where Satori went and now that the gas was in the air, she simply held her breath and started running in the opposite direction.  She needed as much distance as possible while that mist hung in their air, stalling him, and the more distance that was created, the more time she would have to react.  She had barely started running though when Riku warned her of an incoming weapon.

She reacted instantly, using a Substitution Technique on a large boulder directly in front of her, switching places with it as the kunai smashed into the stone.  She didn't look to see what happened, firing a Body Flicker to accelerate her forward even faster.  She would need to hope that Riku could continue to attack while she ran, praying that she could keep him at bay while she gathered more Nature Chakra.  As they emerged from the mist she would need to breath though, and blubbed some bubbles into Riku to let her know that much.

Battle Information:

The forced retreat was a small victory, one made even harder to appreciate when a kunai sailed towards them.

"Move!" Riku shouted, prompting Midori to engage in a dizzying set of movements to keep them a hair's breadth away from the weapon.

As Midori slowed and bubbled, Riku receded to uncover the woman's head. A second later, her liquefied hand shoved a blood replenishing pill down the tall woman's throat. The limb retreated and Riku flipped through a few more hand seals, channeling healing chakra. The short woman retreated into Midori's clothes to focus on healing her wounds.

Riku tried not to think about how much of Midori's blood she had soaked up in favor of trying to stop the wounds from leaking any more of that precious, life-giving fluid. She prayed Midori would be able to keep them somewhat safe while she gathered nature chakra. She used a tendril of water to slip a few pills into her own mouth.

Information:

The rapid usage of techniques in an attempt to escape earned a slight smile from Satori, and as the poison began to clear, he flashed forward at high speeds once more. Dashing toward after the pair through the dispersing mist without issue, perhaps in its full force it may have made his eyes itch a bit, but as he'd assumed it was too weak to affect him. Especially now with it dispersing around the area.

They were making excellent usage of their teamwork now. Midori's strength meant hauling around Riku was working perfectly in her favor. They were able to protect one another relatively well, and though both were on the backpedal, considering Satori was using D-Rank techniques to amplify himself, however slightly, it made it clear that against a Jounin-level threat they could hold their own at least long enough to survive for a bit. But he needed to know how long exactly to make a judgment.

Watching the green glow overtake Midori, he smiled. He'd need to teach Riku some better medical techniques. But it was an excellent strategy. Healing Midori's injuries while supplementing her blood loss was a good first step. Within seconds, he was upon them all over again. Unlike Midori he wasn't limited in range by his speed as he had no reason to use body flicker. His baseline speed boosted by the Taijutsu was more than enough.

Riku would alert her of the danger he was certain as he appeared directly behind her. But Riku was also half-focused on healing. Mystic Palm was not a technique you could split your attention with easily. Her reactions would be late, Midori was facing the opposite way, but it had bought them a few precious seconds to try and recover. He had to give them that much as his left hand launched out to slam into Midori's right shoulder from behind in a blur directly behind her at her blind spot. She could probably barely hear him in time, but with his speed it would be an incredibly small window for her to try and react with, chakra flowing through his limb to drain both Riku and Midori try in one go on the slightest contact atop the danger of his claws.

Information:

Midori barely had a moment to breath for a second before a liquefied something was forced down her throat, but she almost immediately felt better, so as the liquid retreated, she merely spit and kept running.  She didn't need to know where Satori was; he was relentless, and he would be coming up on them in seconds.  She barely had enough Nature Chakra to pull off her next trick, but it was already in motion.  Her legs covered themselves in dark skin as her curse spread across them and up her back, where several cone shaped notches sprouted.  She really hoped Satori was right behind her, but a combination of enhancing her legs as much as she could and turning on a new trick she hadn't shown anyone yet was going to be a bit of a show stopper.

"Hold on!" she exclaimed, and suddenly there was a burst of chakra firing out of the cones on her back like jet engines, propelling her forward faster than should have been possible.  A combination of the fog on her mind and the blur of the landscape made her bring her arms upwards in a cross to shield her face and break anything they ran into, as she wasn't planning on being able to dodge much at this speed.  She really hoped that Riku had a good hold, as they hadn't even gone this fast during their training.  She hoped too, that this was fast enough; she didn't have much in the tank, and wouldn't be able to hold this for very long.  The healing needed to hurry so Riku could focus on offense again.

Battle Information:

Riku had been clinging to Midori for dear life during their first escape. A moment after she began healing, Riku clamped down on the taller woman in an attempt to warn Midori of the vague flicker of motion she saw. The shouted warning prompted Riku to dive to the most secure place she could find and hold on as tightly as possible. Her liquefied body squeezed Midori tightly, compressing the tall woman's chest. A squeak could be heard as the green-haired ninja ran for the hills.

Riku felt dizzy, but forced the healing chakra to keep flowing from her hands, one of the only solid parts of her body. The wounds had begun to close and soon, they would be gone, allowing Midori to fight with slightly less fear and Riku to support with more ninjutsu.

"Mi, clone? Far as possible." She asked, hoping that the creation of a clone would buy them seconds more. If they could split Satori's attention, their chances of recovery improved. Worst case scenario, he pursued them anyway and they switched places with the clone to escape.

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Well. He hadn't expected that out of Midori.

Frankly, it was an overwhelmingly risky move considering she clearly couldn't even see where she was going, but he had to hand it to her, it had let her avoid his attack entirely. If they'd been fighting a Jounin that specialized in long range, tricks, traps, or even Genjutsu this may have been bad for this. But, up to this point he'd made it clear he was mimicking a Taijutsu specialist Jounin.

As such, the decision was a sound one. The boost to her speed had allowed her to match, and even slightly surpass his own physical speed for a brief moment. Though now she was moving in a direct straight line, hitting things in the way that were slowing her as well as bombarding her with force. It wouldn't cause injuries but it certainly would confuse and shut down her mobility all the more, as well as slow her.

Still. It had been a good decision, and though he hadn't expected her to do it, it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility either. Impressed, but not surprised, Satori was already flickering after them once more and gaining with the terrain hindering her. He was certain she'd be switching out for more balance, or Riku would be doing something shortly to help her, but for now he had her once again after a few seconds of pursuit, and once he was upon her he saw no reason to change his tactics.

Right as she began to slow rapidly, Satori's claws lashed in once more to rend into Midori's right side from behind in a horizontal swing, aiming to dig into her altered back's cones and rip them wide open hindering the speed boost greatly if it landed.

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Midori knew her reserves were far too low to be able to maintain this, but the initial burst had been enough to rocket her forward with force to escape him for another moment.  As she did though, she prepared herself, because she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid another attack the same way... but a bit more time and she would be in a way better position.  Still, Satori had been relentless thus far; it was a safe bet he would be right on her ass the moment she slowed.  Turned away from him, he couldn't see the seals she flashed as she prepared her technique combination.

First, was a Replacement Technique again... replacing herself with another rock, combined with a quick Body Flicker combined with a Amplification Technique to give her some distance... but she was done running for the moment.  She could feel her wounds almost completely healed, and it was time for the counter-attack.  Riku would be back on offense, and she wasn't a slouch herself, so it was time to stop running, and at the end of her Body Flicker she twisted, turning around and dragging her feet across the ground to stop her movement.  Luckily those techniques were justified as she finally had eyes on Satori, slowed down for a moment by the boulder she had replaced herself with.

Putting up the Tiger sign, she prepared her Pylon Clone, but it was a feint.  She would apologize to Riku for using her idea as bait, but she was hoping that he would be on top of her again trying to stop her before she could use the technique; the plan in her mind was solid, as was the grin on her face.  Riku would know what this meant... because Midori only ever grinned like that when it was time to dish out some damage.

Battle Information:

Riku continued shoving as much healing chakra into her elder sister as possible, willing her wounds to close and stay that way. She would have grit her teeth if she had any at the moment. As it stood, Her eyes currently floated in liquid poking out the back of Midori's shirt. Watching Midori's back was necessary, but the sight of Satori hot on their heels was absolutely terrifying. The seriousness in his expression was chilling. She knew he wasn't going to go easy on them and that he wasn't afraid to maim either of them.

She contracted twice around Midori in an attempt to warn her of Satori's oncoming claws. In response, the green-haired woman launched them both into a dizzying series of escape techniques. Riku watched her fiance following them, hot on their trail as if they were moving in slow motion.

Finally, Midori stopped and the Mystic Palm finished its work. Finally free to help fend off Satori, Riku moved her hands so that they were out of their opponent's line of sight and flipped through the hand seals for another technique. Chakra prepared for a water technique that Satori had never seen before (it was a recent invention of hers), she twisted to face him, prepared to spit high speed watery projectiles at the man.

[8]

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