Training out the bordom[nk][open]

Crono leaves his home, a wooden boken strapped to his right side, another boken heaved over his left, shoulder gripped loosely for support by his left hand. he had planned for some light training this morning, choosing to wield his wooden blade today, the second boken supplied should someone wish to join him.  He had figured it would make a convenient substitute for a bladed weapon during a friendly spar, allowing him to fight without holding nearly as much back in fear of harming his fellow leaf nin.

Upon reaching the training grounds, Crono found a wide open area with plenty of space. Crono removed the 2nd boken in sheathe and jammed it a few inches into the ground causing the sword to stand up vertically like a shovel in soil. drawing his left hand across his chest, Crono gripped the tsuba of the boken drawing it out quickly and suddenly. Lifting the blade up, he gripped it with both hands and began to practice. taking a single step, and slashing downward instantly. Each time, making tiny adjustments to his movements perfecting his steps and eliminating excess movement.

 [189]

Gogeta walked out of his house just in time to see Crono come out of his home with two bokens. He thought he might as well follow Crono to see what he was doing with the bokens. Gogeta let Crono get a heavy start toward where he was going and walked behind him watching his movements.

Gogeta finally found out that they were going toward the training ground. As he followed Crono into the grounds he quickly found a place to hide and see what Crono was doing. Seeing that Crono had driven one of the bokens into the ground Gogeta watched the boken and Crono closely. Gogeta notice that Crono was training and decided to watch from a different hiding place to get a better view. He quickly studied Crono's movements and thought about jumping out to join him.

 [140]

after another set of 15 sword slashes, Crono suddenly stopped. in a quick motion he quickly preformed 2 slashes. A Kesagiri[ the slantwise downward stroke to the shoulder] followed by a reverse Kesagiri. drawing the blade across the koiguchi of the saya he quickly and ritualistically sheathed the blade before sitting down on the grass. Gears of thoughts swirled in his mind. looking down at his left hand, he turned the palm upwards before averting his gaze slightly lower at the bracier.  Using his right hand he removed the leather covered bronze armor. 

"a samurai cannot be without his sword" he spoke in a low whisper. his thoughts lingering upon the lecture his brother had given him the night before. they spoke true. closing his eyes for a moment Crono began to focus his chakra into his left index finger. a slight blue aura of the infused chakra radiating faintly from his finger. placing his finger on the inside of the bracier he began to pour in his chakra, moving his finger and burning a symbol upon the inside. Crono looked at the finished result and read it aloud once more not higher then a light whisper.  "home" he smiled as he quickly slipped the bracer back onto his arm, his skin brushing against the recently singed leather. 

"well, time to try it out." he said, at a normal volume. his right hand gripping the tsuka of the blade resting on his right hip instantly placing a hidden kanji seal upon the blade that read "return". in a sudden flash of speed he preformed one of his clan's specialty techniques, the hi ryu sen[flying dragon flash] his right hand firing the sword out, hilt first across the field like an arrow. crono channeled his chakra in his wrist, activating the newly created seal on his left bracer. the seal itself glowing blue. yet unseen due to its placement on the inside of the bracer. the "return" seal on the blade vanishing as the sword suddenly begins to spin and arc across the field, returning back to crono who promptly caught the blade in his left hand in a reverse grip before preforming a few more slashes and returned it to his saya. 

 [375 | 564] placed a perminate "home" seal on left bracer. [564/1500] toward mastery of seal of return home.

Nero would have been bored not doing much for months now. His team hasn't done anything much either. He decided it was time to go to the training grounds and train at least a little, so he could at least keep his body fit, and would be ready for missions or trainings in the future.

Once he reached the training grounds, he would spot his teammate, Crono Guardia. "Hey Crono !" he wouldhave shouted, running over to him, but much slower than he used to. "Uhh... This is exactly why I should have came here sooner..." he has thought to himself while on the way. only then would he have realised the other person. "Oh, hello." he would have said, smiling, "My name is Nero Koutaishi, a Genin ranked Shinobi of the village, and also Crono's teammate. And who are you ? Oh !!" He would say once again returning to Crono, "Forgive my manners, I am not interrputing you two or anything, am I ? It's O.K. if I actually am; I can leave if you tell me to do so.".

Gogeta watched Crono stop and began to come out to join when suddenly two more slashes came out into his direction. Gogeta quickly sat back and watched as Crono sheathed his blade and sat for a moment to take his bracier off. Gogeta noticed that Crono said something and a faint light came from the bracier.

Gogeta got up and hid in taller bushes when he noticed someone walking toward the grounds. Gogeta watched as the other person started to talk toward his position. He said his name and Gogeta walked out with his hands folded and his tail wrapped around his waist. My name is Gogeta Uzumaki I too am a Genin but have yet to be on a team. He paused and unwrapped his tail sorry I just followed Crono because he looked like he was doing something creative.

Gogeta walked over to Nero and held out his hand I followed him and he came here. I watched him do some cool strikes with the sword. Gogeta went on and finally said " How about we all train I found this sword in the bushes shall we."

 [328]

[do you own/paid for that sword you "found" if not, you can't use it.] 

Crono looks over at the sound of his name being called moments after completing his technique, his right hand gripping the tsuka[hilt] of the sword on his right hip only slightly loosening once the light focused and revealed his fellow team one member, Nero, while secretly placing another return seal under his hand. A second nin stood a short distance away, revealing himself from behind some bushes. "was I being spied upon?" crono thought to himself. thinking briefly on whom would order a nin to follow him. Those thoughts were quickly dismissed as Crono realized that the newcomer was not sporting the emblem of the leaf village, either through a bandana or other medium. his own being engraved upon the saya of both of his boken as was the typical style of his clan. That information, plus the fact Crono had not met the newcomer would lead Crono to believe that this person was either A.) an outsider, or more likely B.) a Villager, or due to his presence on the nin training ground, an academy student. His eyes wandered to the tail, "and a unique one at that". He thought. 

"Nero-san" Crono's head bowed slightly acknowledging his presence, Crono had waited for the newcomer to explain himself before bowing his head to him in similar fashion. Crono's left hand reached behind him, griping the wooden katana behind him as the newcomer finished his proposal. Yanking the sheath out of the dirt, Crono tossed the sheathed boken casually toward gogeta with one hand. "Prove to me that you are worthy to wield a sword first." He looked toward Nero, a smile crossed his face. " If you are up to it , Nero-san, how about you two, versus me. I believe the challenge would be a fair one. "

[299|863  ;  863/1500 for seal of return home mastery ]

Gogeta listened to Crono talk and saw him looking toward his tail. Gogeta said calmly if you were wondering who I am then its good I tell you. He stated that he is a ninja for the leaf, as Gogeta said that he pulled his belt up to show both of them his headband, and I was heading toward the training ground when you walk out of your house and passed mine. I thought you were doing something interesting with the bokens so I decided to follow you but I soon realized you were going to the grounds too. So I hid in the bushes to watch you.

As Gogeta finished what he was saying he noticed Crono has tossed one of the bokens toward him. Gogeta caught the boken with his tail and listened to what Crono was saying. He agreed and waited for Nero's answer.

[475]

[Gogeta. There is a posting order. Please wait for your turn. Now Crono will post, then I will post again (because you went ahead and posted even though it was my turn), and then the posting order will be Crono-Me-You. O.K. ?]

"You are going to take both of us on your own ? I'd like to see that. Perhaps I can learn something from you too." Nero said, and his tone made it obvious that he meant what he has said, not mocking Crono at all. "He has more experience..." Nero thought to himself, "Our only chance is to be in a better shape than him, we we are not either... Perhaps we can outsmart him. I am not sure how smart he is. Though he was able to stand against our leader Vretiel for some time. Uhhh, I guess that may not work either, but is probably our only chance. I was once even able to fool Itami, a Genin I think was far more experienced than Crono. We may still have a chance.".

Nero then walked up to the other oen and started talking, "Hello Gogeta. It seems we are going to team up against Crono. Now. What do you specialize in ? Will you stay in a range or enter melee ?". Nero would then observe Crono. "He specialized in Kenjutsu, if I am not mistaken. I would have to get into his range... But I should be careful. He can end this spar in one blow if I give him the chance.".

"Nero-san!" Crono began to comment. "the point is to get better, not to prove who is better. If I end this in one blow, then my own training ends. It's not very constructive." Crono's confidence bordered on arrogance. Crono quickly caught himself and regained his composure. he knew better then that, humility being one of the cardinal rules of his Bushido code. Crono's eyes closed for a moment as he breathed in slowly, reciting the first few words of his families oath in his head. "As a samurai, I must strengthen my character; As a human being, I must perfect my spirit".  His eyes opened once more and looked toward his opponents, his calm stature restored. 

"And it is to that end, that I do this..." he continued from his previous statement.  quickly crono bit down on the bottom of his thumb, drawing blood.  slamming his hand down a summoning formula spread out from the impact exploding in a small puff of white smoke. as the smoke clears a humanoid frog appears now standing side by side with Crono wearing a green cloak, bronze curass, and shield on his left arm, white pants and brown boots. a long sword sheathed at his left hip. His head turned toward Crono.  "Good day, Sir Crono. Thou art summon me for another joust?" Crono shook his head. "No, not today Sir Glenn, today you are just helping to even the odds" he said, nodding his head toward the two ninja standing across from him. The air pouch in Glenn's throat inflated and deflated momentarily before glenn nodded. "Very well, when thou art ready" Glenn motioned toward Nero and Gogeta before unsheething his blade. Crono whispered to Glenn softly. "try not to break my boken" he motioned toward gogeta. Glenn only chuckled.

[298| 1161 ; 1161/1,500]

"It seems to me you have read my mind, Crono." said Nero, smiling. His smile was, as always sincere; but his red eyes and white skin made some of the people the Koutaishi has met find it creepy. "Now. Let's start this training, shall we ? As a fellow comrade of yours, I will do my best to match you during the spar so as you have said for this spar to be constructive for you too.".

"Uhhhh..." Nero thought to himself, "Only if I was capable of using the Paper Release, the signature element, bloodline of my clan, the Koutaishi... Perhaps then could I be able to be a match to my teammate. Now... As I thought of before, Crono is specialised in using weapons, and especially swords I assume; from our latest spar with our team leader... That reminds me... What happened to the other Genin of the team. That one of the Uzumaki clan... What was his name... Oh ! Habee ! Now, I wonder what the hell happened to him. He did not join that spar with the team leader either... Perhaps he has retired, died... Or even worse, went missing ?".

With those thoughts Nero would speak once again, looking at his teammate from the Guardia clan. "Yo Crono !" he would say, at the same time walking away from him for the start of the battle. He would continue as he would now be 5 meters away from the Guardia, "Have you seen Habee, or heard anything about him at all ? I mean, he did not join the team meeting in the woods either. Perhaps he has to be replaced now ?".

"Anywho." he would say, "No matter what gruesome thing could have happened to him, let's move on to the training. It's not like neither of us were close with him or anything, right ? Now, when you and Gogeta are ready, we can start the battle.".