[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

Senshi didn't really fear the prospect of monsters. If anything, she aspired to be one of those heroic types that'd slay them. Be the warrior that saved the Princesses and all that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, Shinobi career wasn't generally that exciting as it was in her manga books or otherwise. Which was sad, considering they lived in a world full of magical powers and all that. However, considering the circumstances, as Ameko and her made their way along a wagon out in the desert terrain, it was pretty cool that they'd face literal giant lizards! She'd never really seen them before. Sucked that they were disrupting the villages though.

"Say...Ameko? What do lizards taste like?" She'd ask. "I had a cousin tell me once that it tastes like chicken. But another one said that they have their own entirely unique taste. Oh. And they said that it's gotta be seasoned a ton, and that the meat is full of cartilage, and that the best parts come from the head and tail. Oh, and that you've gotta..." Senshi had been rambling with questions and statements like this for the last few hours. Tired of the quiet game, and I spy. Whether Ameko had put herself into her quiet box or not, she at least felt happy to know that their hyena companion was always more than happy to listen!

Well. She thought anyways. 

Sitting on the wagon, taking a bite of a gummy worm, she'd harassed the cart driver almost as much as she did her comrade at arms. "Mhm!~ Lizard Kebab sounds great!"

[Warai Ameko]

The desert was beautiful, in its own savage way. Endless dunes, endless skies, and endless chatter from her younger teammate. Of course, the last part was hardly beautiful. But Ameko had learned to suffer Senshi, and at times she found herself laughing uncontrollably at the manic energy that she brought forward. There were certainly times she found herself irritated, but more often than not, the only person who was left looking a fool was Senshi. Despite herself, Ameko had warmed to the girl. Staring into the sky, Ameko pet the hyena resting by her side. The wagon rolled, and with it, so too did Senshi’s incessant questions. Ameko would answer, sometimes she would laugh uncontrollably, usually at a joke that seemingly only she understood. "Like chicken,” Ameko responded, not turning her attention back to her teammate, "But, uh, tougher and stringier, with a weird after taste. Not normally very good. Kori likes ‘em but he eats everything, don’t trust his taste.” She sniffed and chuckled to herself, "Kinda like how you once ate an old piece of raw meat. Guess you’d like to eat ‘em as well.” Ameko turned her eyes to look over Senshi, as always, the younger shinobi was munching on a piece of candy. Were her pouches filled with nothing but snacks. "You’d like lizard kebab… Where are these lizards anyway?”

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

"Like Chicken? Huh..." She says, laying flat along the wagon again. "Kori likes everything because he's a good boy!" Though, when she came to think about everything? The lizards in question were brought up. To which the driver calls, "Shouldn't be too far off along now. Kind of hard to miss. They tend to come around for shade along the rocks, or the shadows of our buildings. Try to keep cool. More active at night when they come out the caverns." Made sense, considering their large size and cold blooded nature. Momentarily pausing, she thinks on it. How dangerous these creatures can be. Then again. Senshi didn't know much about that. 

"So...We should probably come up with a plan yeah? Like, these things are so big. I don't think we're going to be able to fist fight 'em." She says musing with a blink. Imagining her throwing a punch to the side of its head. "I'd say we could use some weapons and stuff, but I dunno how good that'll do either." Trying to use her brain on that endeavor, she didn't know how hard lizard scales were really. That size wasn't everything. Snapping her fingers, she looked out to the distance.

"We should try to fight one. Cut it off from its group and see how bad it is. From there? We can wipe the things out if it's easy, or make a better plan."

[Warai Ameko]

Kori? A good boy? That was certainly a take. Granted, he’d not tried to bite anyone’s hand off in at least a few months, Ameko supposed that certainly qualified him as a good boy. At least by his standards. She still very much doubted he’d be winning any awards for his behaviour, but it was certainly an improvement. "Thanks, boss,” Ameko called back to the driver. Her attention then, in turn, drifted toward Senshi, listening to the younger girl’s plan. All things considered, it wasn’t bad. It would allow them to gather intel, and as far as she knew, intel was everything to a shinobi. It was probably everything when it came to combat full stop. If they knew the strength and weaknesses of the lizards, they’d be able to adjust their approach accordingly. "Sounds like a plan,” Ameko pressed her lips together, "If they come out at night, or in the shade, we’re more likely to find a straggler while it’s warmer out, no? Check the shade in outcrops and see if we can’t find one who’s trying to escape the heat away from the rest of the group?” Ameko’s face split into a wolfish grin, "With luck, they’ll be a bunch of pushovers and you can have one for dinner.”

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

"Probably!~" She says, listening to Ameko's thoughts. It wasn't too long before they'd get the chance to find out. For the wagon after some time makes its way towards a small town, with a few tall lining stone buildings made from sandstone, which included what seemed to be a church with a tall standing bell. As well as a lining of crops, and several wells. Along the later afternoon, Ameko could see it. The sand lizard of which seemed to be as big as a rhino, with copper and dull colored scales that shined in the glimmering light. It was a beautifully disgusting thing.

Senshi saw its massive size and was more than a little surprised? No. Intimidated might be the better word. She'd never seen a creature that large before. With seemingly sharp teeth like daggers, with its side flaps along its head spiking up as it hisses. Trudging softly through the field as it laps up a bit of water from a bucket. Looking towards a barn, it was clear that if it wanted to bust down the door, it could do so with minimal difficulty. The bleating of sheep not so far away as it makes its way closer to the herder's livelihood. That thing was pretty damn terrifying. However, gazing upon it? Senshi stands and nods her head.

"Time's up! Let's do this!" She says charging head first at the creature, without even saying a thing to Ameko. "AAAAAAH!" She says with a battlecry, as the lizard gives a side eye to Senshi, though doesn't seemingly feel intimidated enough by her to even consider her a threat. Would Ameko try to stop her whacky blonde friend? Or did she trust that Senshi had a plan up her sleeve beyond run and punch?

[Warai Ameko]

The lizard was giant, larger than Ameko had anticipated. She’d known the creature would be large, but she’d not anticipated that it would be the size of a rhinoceros. Armour-plated and ginormous, Ameko’s eyes narrowed as she tried to discern some kind of weak point. Every animal had a proverbial soft underbelly, for most, it was literally that. But this animal was something that she could not quite grasp at first glance. Given a few moments, she was certain that she’d be able to understand how to best tackle their prey. She didn’t get a few moments. Senshi ran into the fight with reckless abandon. Yuki’s head sprang up, eyes following the blonde with excitement. Ameko for her own part, watched with shock. What was she supposed to do? Surely Senshi had some kind of plan? Right? Ameko doubted that somewhat. The girl was hardly intelligent, and no doubt what she was about to do was stupid beyond measure. Ameko smirked, and relaxed herself to watch. The idea of seeing her teammate getting whacked upside the head and sent into the netherrealm would be downright hilarious. She surely wouldn’t get horribly injured or anything like that. Let the girl learn her lesson, and let her teammate get a bit of a laugh out of it. Win win, no?

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

In those next moments, Senshi never knew the thought that her friend would have found it amusing to see her fail and get hurt. Yet, it was there that she would bust out one of the most powerful jutsu within her arsenal. "Shakuton: Kajosatsu!" She calls out, and with it, from either side of her, twin glowing orbs of fire come forth and slam straight into the thing, and with it, there was a hideous, horrible cry that came forth. It's eyes widening in shock as it's blood vessels strain. Before it's eyes begin to sink. For as the balls sank into its form, the balls of energy would dehydrate all the moisture out of the thing. Nothing like a mummification. 

Her eyes scanned the build of the creature, and much like Ameko had determined that it's weak spot. It's vulnerability had to be close to the stomach. The underside. From its bloated look, it looked to be the place with the most water too. With that said? Senshi's attack worked like a charm.

Ameko could smell the scent of cooking meat, and could see all the water beginning to literally drain and dehydrate in the form of steam. As it cries out, steam exhaling from its mouth. A jutsu, straight from Senshi's ninja handbook! As horrific a sight as it might have been, Senshi's fist as it came in perhaps was a contributor to some degree, as when she punched in, the crisping pocket of air inside of it's belly sank inward as she drained the bastard of moisture in its lungs and body. Her ancestors had faced lizards just like this one before. Luckily, their jutsu was more than potent enough to deal with them. Though she never got to hear what they tasted like.

At the end? Senshi stood there, as Ameko could see the fireballs floating by her side, the lizard monster shriveled up and smoking. Before Senshi turns back towards Ameko and wiped her nose with a single finger. "They aren't so tough after all!" She says. "Heehee!~ Man. It would have been bad if I busted this out at the academy. Wouldn't it Ameko-Chan?! I've been wanting to use this jutsu for ages!"

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Shakuton: Kajōsatsu [Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Shakuton
HANDSEALS: --
DESCRIPTION:
The user creates from their body several flaming orbs of heat that resemble small suns, ones that will hover around him/her within a close proximity. These orbs rotate around the user and can be freely controlled by will of their creator to attack enemies, which is done by quickly charging towards and entering the target as conducted heat. Once an orb has been conducted, the heat immediately courses all throughout the body of the afflicted; when used on a living being all of their bodily fluids will be evaporated, leaving them as a steaming mummified corpse. This heat is difficult to block since it is energy, leaving the only true defense being Water Release techniques. However, because the orbs cannot move farther than five meters from the user's body, staying at a long distance is also an efficient defense.

[Warai Ameko]

Ameko had expected Senshi to attempt some kind of drunken attack at the lizard, only to be batted away with a single swipe of its tail. She had not expected for her teammate, and self-proclaimed younger sister, to eviscerate it with fire. How long ago had it been that Senshi had begged her for tips when it came to using katon? Now she was unleashing flaming death upon creatures ten-times her size. Shocked surprise became Ameko’s face, her eyes widening in amazement and an emotion much baser. Jealousy. She had a natural affinity for fire release, but she’d never managed anything close to that level of destructive power. The best she had ever managed was to spit fire, attacking from the wellspring within her gut. The taller of the two girls lept from the wagon, her animal companions following after her, tongues lolling about at the smell of burning meat. She had to fight not to wince at the statement as to wanting to use the jutsu. "Ages?” The wince was instead replaced with fiery animosity, "How long are you saying you’ve been able to do that!? When we met you could barely cough up smoke! Give me a break!” Breaking from her exclamation, Ameko instead huffed and turned to look at the deceased lizard. It’s belly was decreasing, likely a weak spot, or at least somewhere she’d be able to contribute. "So fire is their weakness… well that and whatever you did to its belly?” Ameko mused to herself… "How many more explodey explodes can you do?” Silently, she hoped the answer was few.

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

Was it wrong that Senshi was largely oblivious to the jealousy of Ameko? "Oh. Yeah. I couldn't then, but I trained real hard and learned this jutsu like. A week or two after that." Meaning, all the time they'd been together? Living in the same house. She could have pulled off a technique like this? "It's not fire. It's Shakuton!" She says, with the fiery orbs rotating around her, before spiralling and floating behind her back. Senshi firmly looked at the orbs, and then back to Ameko, before she wills the balls out of existence. Their flame snuffed out.

"Uhh...I think maybe...ten. Eleven times at most? I dunno. I've never really tried that hard." She'd looked at the dehydrated lizard, and with it, its eyes were sunken, evidently devoid of moisture at this point. Looking towards it, she looks towards the hyenas. "Eat up! We got a lizard feast!" She declares, clapping her hands at the thing. Heck. She wasn't even sure how she would approach butchering this thing. "I was wanting to keep this jutsu on surprise for the coming Chuunin Exam, but I figured that it was the best time to use the jutsu for real. I'm normally only supposed to use it when people's lives are at stake." What a thought.

"Pretty cool huh?"

[Warai Ameko]

"Yeah, two weeks… Ten or eleven times more…” Ameko muttered, entirely jealous and entirely petty in her response to the younger shinobi. Ameko could summon chakra, hell, she had a relatively decent reserve pool to call upon. But it just didn’t work for her, she couldn’t weave and control it with ease, it was like swimming through soup. With great frustration, she’d managed to learn a few basic ninjutsu techniques. Yet, those techniques that Senshi had learned, had used, with great ease would seemingly forever elude her. She’d been forced to put stock and reliance in her fists for as long as she could remember. She’d just need to keep working harder, keep breaking bags and bricks in hopes of achieving some sort of comparable strength to destroying animals with force of fire alone. While she was having her crisis of faith, however, her hyena companions listened to the offer of the hyperactive genin, taking to gnawing and eating away at the still-hot meat from the lizard. "Cool, very cool,” Ameko forced herself to sound at least somewhat supportive, "But it still all looks like fire to me. Call it shakuton all you want…” Shaking her head rapidly, Ameko returned to her senses, "Anyway, if you can do it eleven times more, then shouldn’t be too hard to kill the lizard left. You blow ‘em up, we’ll hunt the ones you don’t explode. Simple as can be, we can be home by sundown and be one step closer to the exams, yeah?”

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

Senshi would have frankly loved to swim through soup. Specifically either tomato bisque or clam chowder. When she was finding herself looking at Ameko and her seeming frustrations, she found herself blinking. "There's a big difference you know!" Though, considering she didn't really get to have much chance to demonstrate, she found herself looking at Ameko with a blink. Before then looking to the hyenas. "B-But...You gotta show me all of your cool jutsu too." She says, with big puppy dog eyes, looking upon her friend. Not knowing Ameko didn't have anything nearly as flashy as her own techniques. 

"Besides, you gotta earn your paycheck too ya know!~ Unless you wanna go down into their cavern and like, stomp on all of their eggs or somethin'. Ooh! Wait! Wait! Omelette! Egg Stew! Yum! Wait! No! Maybe we can like, hatch an egg or something, and train one of them. We can ride it like a big dinosaur! For real!" She says incredibly enthusiastically, as she imagines it. "We can ride it into battle, and we can make it armor, and it'll be so cool!" Spinning around in a circle, she finds herself beginning to form her arms into a ring over her head, as she gyrates her hips from side to side. Before she then twists her body sideways and swings her arms back and forth.

Ah. The cursed dance again. "What do you think? Huh? Huh?!"

[Warai Ameko]

Whatever the difference between shakuton and katon was, Ameko could not grasp it at first glance. Maybe there was something deeper to it, she’d need to keep observing to make a judgement. All she knew was that her teammate had immolated a lizard using fire, and that said ‘katon’ to her. The intricacies of different jutsu releases crossed her mind for a moment, and before she realised what was happening, Senshi was involved in another one of her chaotic and cured dances. Speaking about training a lizard as a mount and riding it into battle. Ameko nodded sagely, walked over to the younger girl, and struck the back of her head with an open palm. "We’re being paid to kill the things,” She stated plainly, "Besides, I don’t know how you’d go raising a pet. How many times have I had to tell you not to give the hyenas sour worms? And do you remember the time you did then Yuki threw up on your futon?” The memory brought back a laugh from Ameko, a rather putrid memory, but one that was funny nonetheless. Her cackling laugh broke through the desert air. "Anyway,” Ameko reached out again with her hand, this time ruffling blonde hair rather than striking, "The hyenas are way cooler than a dinosaur and you’ll get to see them fight soon. You don’t want to go make Yuki sad by replacing him, do you?” Senshi-whispering was a skill she was rapidly becoming adept in, it wasn’t too dissimilar to curtailing a rather too-excited pup.

Kyokujitsu Senshi

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

Smack! "Itai!" She says with a pout on her face. There was a moment where Ameko told her not to feed the hyenas sour worms. "I don't!...Anymore!...As much!" Ameko's laughter to Senshi was one of the most beautiful things in Suna. Next to the hyenas, the scenery, and the sight of water after a long day in the desert. Before long, she was told that she'd get to see the hyenas in action, and with it, Senshi was excited.

"I guess you're right." She says, looking to Yuki, crouching down, and kissing him along the face, and rubbing her cheek against their maw. Whilst they were still eating the lizard most likely. With that said? Senshi found that as night came? As it became cooler along the village, the sightings of the giant lizard like creatures were prevalent. They were big, and fat, and quite complacent after having terrorized this village with little issue. Senshi found herself utilizing her Kajosatsu to good effect, draining them of their moisture with her steam emitting jutsu.

As for Ameko herself? She was gifted two explosive tags from Senshi, considering she'd potentially needed some firepower for the job. Either to fight and kill some of the lizards, or maybe to go to the cavern and blow some of their eggs up. Senshi formed either three or four fireballs at a time, and proceeded to smite the lizard beasts with them, the balls sucking all the moisture out from them as they were quite literally steamed alive. Wasn't that a lovely sight?

[Warai Ameko]

Katon was Ameko’s natural element, and for what little good it did her, she was able to utilise fire in combat. Granted, her application of the element left a lot to be desired. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit hard done by when Senshi had given her the explosive tags. How long ago had she been the more experienced of the two? How had Senshi managed to surpass her so quickly, and seemingly without effort. Yes, she’d dedicated herself to physical training, but her natural affinity for her family’s shakuton, and ninjutsu as a whole, meant that Ameko felt as if she was looking at the girl’s back for the first time. Regardless, she was proud, but not stupid. She took the tags with a thank you, then set about serving as the close-quarters combatant of their little duo. Night came, and with it, so did death for the lizards. Whereas Senshi unleashed blasting jutsu from a distance, Ameko and her hyenas leapt into the fray. Furred bodies collided with scales, teeth and claw meeting and clashing. She was not as efficient in her slaughter as her Kyokujitsu teammate, but the lizard’s had soft-enough underbellies. The techniques Arashi had taught her came in handy, her hands tearing as efficiently as the claws of her hyenas. Lost in battle, Ameko found her teeth sinking into flesh on more than a few occasions, the acrid taste of reptilian blood filling her mouth before she spat it out. Swift on their feet, she and her hyenas moved rapidly underfoot, slicing at the panicked lizards fleeing death by immolation. Partway through their battle, Ameko paused, wiping the blood from her maw and finding that she had only intermingled it further with that staining her hands. "Have you found the nests yet?” She called to her teammate. The extermination could not be complete until the eggs were destroyed.

Kyokujitsu Senshi Jutsu Used SPOILER: Click to show NAME: Inu no shirushi [Mark of Dog] RANK: D CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu ELEMENT: N/A DESCRIPTION: A basic technique that is similar to that of a slashing motion, the user is capable of extending their hand in the direction of an opponent. It involves the hand being clenched slightly to the point where it's fingers are bend to resemble a shape close to that of a claw. The clawing strike strength is capable of breaking the skin, and can also act as a defensive action in redirection of a physical strike by use of the extended forearm.

[Kyokujitsu Senshi]

The battle raged, and honestly, there were so many dead lizards, it was more than this entire village could eat she thought. Or her frankly. Oh well. At least since they were mummified, it could make good jerky. Heck yeah. That sounded like a plan. She'd stretched out the food to last like, a year if they took care of it! And they could turn the organs and stuff into hyena food and all that! Though...Senshi did occasionally look out to Ameko, fighting tooth and nail, quite literally in the teeth department against the lizards. She was impressed. She didn't think she could train an animal to fight like that, and with it? She looked up to Ameko.

Never saw herself as better, but frankly was amazed by the ferocity. Though it was kind of hypocritical for her to call Senshi gross when she legitimately had a mouth full of blood. Yet, The battle came to an end! After studying the movements of the lizards and really understanding their movement patterns, as well as the hyenas, she came to in a way, better understand how her battles were fought. And as for eggs? Well. Erh. Senshi slowly came forth, approaching Ameko, except her stomach seemed...way bulkier. As if she were heavily pregnant. Her hands tucked somewhat underneath her belly. "Yeah! All of 'em taken care of! Well. Kind of. I told the villagers. So they can take the eggs or eat 'em or somethin'. Or whatever they wanna do with them."

"Not a single one left!" She says, looking at Ameko. And Ameko looking at her. And the hyenas looking at her. Before she gives a nervous sweatdrop. "I uhh...I ate a lot." She says, before they all stare at each other again. "I mean. You gotta admit. These lizards are cool. And riding one..." While Senshi was developing strides in some areas, she was still kind of slow in others. Though. Wasn't that what made Senshi loveable?