Why do we Fall? (P, NK, IO)

Haru sat on the rail, on the edge of the training towers, one leg tucked up, resting on the fence, with the other hanging down. He was staring down at the streets below, watching the dull activity in the streets below. There wasn’t a lot going on, it was pretty early. The sun wasn’t even up yet. He checked his watch. 4:58. He’d better be here soon. He looked at the ground behind him. Coiled on the ground, close to him, was some thick, heavy-duty, steel cable, anchored to the rail and reinforced by Haru’s mokuton, which he had applied ahead of time, as well as training weights of varrying sizes.
 
Last night, he had shouted at Altar about earning the respect he demanded, and now, it was time for him fulfill his promise. He didn’t feel bad about telling the boy how it was, quite the opposite, in fact. He needed to learn that lesson, one way or another. Better to learn it now, when he still had so far to go. He checked his watch again. 4:59. He’d better get here soon.
 
When the boy arrived, Haru wouldn’t turn to greet him. He’d simply beckon the boy over with his left hand, not turning his head. When the boy approached him, he would begin to speak.
 

”Tie the cable to your leg. Make sure it’s tight.” He told the boy firmly, waiting for him to do so. ”Now put the weights on. I want at least three hundred pounds of weight on you, is that understood?” He would command. He waited for the boy to finish preparing before he would speak again. This was not going to be a simple jutsu lesson or cool trick that he could use in a fight. This was real training, like he had done as a genin.

Altar was out of breath. His lungs were practically screaming at him to stop, but he refused to listen, quite adamantely, in fact. He had a sense of urgence about today. Haru had told him to meet him at five o clock sharp, and Altar really didn't want to risk consequences. He had a deathly serious tone to his voice when he took off the night before.

And so, Altar wasn't exactly surprised when he was given the cold shoulder for arriving just as the clock struck five. Instead, he was pretty much expecting it. What he didn't expect was Haru's simple tone. Normally the ANBU was light hearted and enjoyable. This must've been a pretty serious matter to take the tone from his voice like that.

And so it was. As soon as Altar approached Haru, he ordered that Altar tie the cable to his leg. Altar would pick up the cable, taking a moment to inspect it, before tying it around his right leg, making it as tight a it could be without restricting blood flow. Next, Haru ordered that Altar strap at least 300 pounds of weight on. And so, he would do so, taking the various weights and adding them on until he found himself with 300 pounds strapped to himself. This was either going to be rigorous and thorough training, or Haru was planning to kill him.

Not exactly feeling like speaking, Altar simply stood with the weights, awaiting Haru's next order. This didn't exactly seem like the time or the place for a smart mouth, sarcastic comment. After all, it would only take one small push to send him to his almost certain death at this point.

Once Altar finished putting on the cable and weights, he inspected the cable. Although it was heavy duty steel, it actually was specially woven so that it had a stretch to it, allowing it to be used as a sort of bungee cord. Generally, this was used for repelling down the side of the tower with weights, but Haru found that his way was much more… thorough.
 
After preforming an inspection of Altar’s equipment, and making sure it was all put on absolutely perfectly, so as to avoid an untimely death on his part, Haru spoke to the boy.
”This is likely going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. It will be the worst pain you’ve ever endured. I honestly don’t think you’ll be able to make it on your first try. Few do.” He said, looking down over the edge of the rail. ”But I need you to trust me. If you don’t, you’re going to die.” He explained, beckoning for the boy to look down the side of the building with him.
 
”I want you to climb up onto the rail and jump.” He told Altar, gesturing towards the rail. Once he got to the rail, Haru would shout, in a drill-instructor like fashion. ”No second thoughts. Jump now! Go, Go, Go!” If Altar still didn’t jump out of fear, Haru would push him.
 
The cable would do its job, Haru saw it twang as it began to extend, causing Altar to sort of bungee further, avoiding an injury from the fall. Quickly, he would lose his momentum, dangling there by one leg. He would still be about 100 feet into the air, which left a LOT of cable for him to climb. Haru would use a taijutsu shunshin to reach around the same area Altar was in, using the wall walking technique to keep himself level with the boy, a little above him, so Altar could clearly see him.

”Now do you see how far that is? You’re going to climb up. You have until midnight to make it all the way up.” He told Altar. ”If you don’t want to lose all your progress, coil the cable around your arm to lock it in place.” He advised. ”And speaking of losing your progress, touch the wall, and I cut the cable.” He said, more menacingly.

Altar wasn't surprised at Haru's request. However, he didn't exactly want to follow it. Jumping from a tall building with three hundred pounds of weight strapped to him, with only a cable to keep him steady, didn't exactly seem like the ideal idea here. He said that if Altar didn't trust him on this, he would die. This could prove to be problematic. He didn't quite understand, but he climbed up onto the rail anyways.

Then he wondered exactly what he would be doing. Altar went to turn around, only to see Haru's hand moving to push him off the side. Altar went to move back to avoid the push, but then remembered that there was no ground behind or beneath him, and started falling.

He fell for what seemed to be an eternity, until the cable reached it's length, and snapped on his leg, restraining him and stopping his fall. By studying his surroundings, he noticed he was probably about one hundred feet up, suspended in the air. He was lucky he hadn't slammed into the building on the way down. The glass from the windowed wall might have broken and cut the cable. And that, of course, would've led to his death. He had had so many near death experiences it wasn't funny.

Altar was wondering what to do, when he noticed Haru appear next to him. Altar's face immediately contorted, anger evident.

"What the fuck, Haru? Are you trying to kill me now? Huh? So disappointed in your student that you're trying to rid yourself of me?" Altar would say, trying as hard as he could not to look upset. That failed, however, when Haru threatened to cut the able himself. Yeah, he was definitely looking for excuses to kill him. It worked perfectly, if you thought about it. He would need to make it look like an accident. A simple cable malfunction during training would be enough. Besides, no one would really miss Altar. He hadn't met many people, and most of them probably despised him anyways. He was an easy person to hate. Still, that didn't rectify killing him out of shame and disappointment.

"Y'know Haru, if you wanna off me that badly, just tell me. Not like I can do much about it besides offer you up my head." Altar would say, before idly swinging for a while. After this, if Haru had left by now, he would try to start on climbing up the cable.

He would start by curling his upper body, forcing himself up before extending his arms and grabbing onto the cable with both hands. This was somewhat easy, Altar thought. That is, before he tried for it again. This time, he would wrap the cable around his right arm, keeping his body curled, and reach for the cable, higher up this time, with his left. He grabbed onto it, trying to pull himself up. However, his grip faltered, and he slid down. This sent tiny shards of steel into his skin, and Altar would grimace at the slight pain. It wouldn't hurt for long, but it would happen every time he slid. And he guessed he was going to slide a lot. But he couldn't keep his mind on it for long. He needed to keep his mind focused on trying to climb.

So, Altar would try again, taking the same position as before, curling his upper body and grabbing the cable, wrapping it around his right arm and reaching with the left. This time, he got a somewhat solid grip, and wrapped the cable now around his left arm. He would keep at this, alternating arms every time, and he managed to get up a bit this time, before once again losing his grip and sliding down a few inches, maybe a foot. The steel shards once again embedded themselves in his arm and hand, but he couldn't focus on the pain. He needed to keep going. He wouldn't fail at this. He wouldn't allow himself to fail. Still, this was going to take a long time. It was good that Haru had given him until midnight.

Altar’s snide comment got no sarcastic response from Haru, as it usually would. Haru would simply reach up, grabbing the boy’s shirt, and pulling him in close so they were eye to eye.
”You wanted respect. If you can complete this, you’ll have it.” He said, before releasing the boy, causing him to swing from side to side like a pendulum, making it hard for him to maintain his control.
 
”If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t need an excuse. I don’t think you understand the connections I have. You’ve already tried to kill me, when we first met. I could have you declared a missing ninja and get someone else to do it for me.” He said as the boy swung. ”Or- I could just do it myself.” He said, grabbing the boy by the collar again for emphasis, throwing him back, causing him to swing again. ”Why would I pick such a complicate way to do it? No, this isn’t designed to kill you. It’s designed to teach you to survive.” Haru said to Altar, turning and walking back up the side of the building, towards the top. ”I’ll be back in an hour.” He told the boy over his shoulder as he went, continuing up until he got to the top, climbing upside down for a moment to get around the overhanging ledge that Altar was attached to.
 
He climbed up the rail and sat down once he reached the roof again. He activated his byakugan and watched Altar, tracking his progress, as he pulled a scroll from his pocket, unrolling it, and pulling a pen out to write with. He had a theory for an improved version of the Yin Healing Wound Destruction technique that he had discovered during his last training with Altar. He began to draw up the concepts, crossing a lot of things out. With chakra based techniques and weapons alike, Haru liked to draw things out so he could see them better then if he just winged it.
 
He looked down at Altar, monitoring the boy periodically as he drew. He had no idea how hard this was going to be yet. He made it a little ways up the cable, but was losing ground almost as fast as he was gaining ground. He’d soon realize all that extra weight not only made it incredibly difficult to pull yourself up without any footing, It also made you tire out much, much faster. If he thought putting midnight as the deadline made it easy on him, he’d soon find he was sorely mistaken. Midnight was pushing it, in fact.
 
The hour would pass by slowly, Haru checking his watch periodically, looking up from his work and checking on Altar. He wondered if the boy was actually strong enough to make it on his first try. Few did.
 

The city remained dark throughout the hour, activity starting to murmer below them slightly, but the city still remained mostly empty. During the day, when the sun rose, this would be quite a spectacle.

Altar was shocked as Haru threatened him more., going so far as to bring up the time they had first met, back when Altar had been young and naive. He hadn't known just what he was doing, and had almost killed the ANBU. If it hadn't been for the diamond marked on his forehead, then he would've been dead. Which brought a good point to Altar's mind. Why hadn't Haru declared Altar a missing ninja? He had almost taken his life, that was easily reason enough to have him hunted down and killed. Yet he hadn't. He had spared Altar his life. It only now sunk in exactly how much Altar owed to Haru.

So he made no further comment as he climbed back up the building, hopping back over the edge. And so Altar went to work.

And had a few attempts without much success. Oh yeah, this was gonna be fun. Soon, an hour had passed. To Altar, it seemed like an eternity. He was hanging off a building, with nothing to do but attempt to climb up the very same cable that was holding him to it. And on top of that, he had three hundred pounds strapped to his body and he had splinters all over his arms and hands. It hurt like all hell to try and grab the cable now, due to all the splinters embedded in his skin. But he had no choice but to keep going. So far, the farthest he had made it was probably about 1/10th of the way up before slipping. He was now about five feet from the bottom, unmoving. His hands were starting to sweat now, making successfully grabbing the cable and keeping a grip on it extremely hard. And to add to that, the salty water got into the small holes the splinters had created, making a small stinging sensation very apparent in his hands. It wasn't enough to add to the pain, but it was enough to be annoying. Very annoying.

Altar would once again repeat the motions, moving up the cable at an excruciatingly slow pace. He was moving, though, and that was what mattered. He noticed that the more he climbed, the more tired his arms became. He'd have to be wary of that. He couldn't rush this, he would need to take his time and take occasional breaks to rest his arms. Then his grip faltered again, his slick hands slipping on the cable and causing him to fall. His arm was so tired that the cable slipped from it as he found himself unable to will the arm to keep steady and still. This resulted in him falling back down to the bottom, back to step one. Okay, it was time for a new strategy.

Altar would let himself hang for a moment, before starting another climb back up, taking his time this time around. After all, he had until midnight.

The clock struck six-o-clock as Haru looked up from his work. He was sure by now the boy would have realized how difficult this was going to be. He had watched the boy start to make quite a bit of progress, making it about a tenth of the way up the cable, only to lose his grip and fall. He stood up slowly, rolling up his scroll, and tucking it away.
 
The sun had yet to rise, although the cold of the night was starting to fade away. The dew forming on the cable would prove just one more thing to increase the difficulty for Altar, but there was little he could do. Even in ideal conditions, this wasn’t supposed to be easy. The boy would have to just power down. Haru would begin to climb back down towards Altar, using the wall walking technique and running down the side and letting his momentum carry him, so that Altar likely wouldn’t be able to tell he was coming until he was already there.
 
He would arrive just above the boy, blurring into sight, slowing to a halt.

”It’s six-o-clock. You have eighteen hours to reach the top.” Haru informed him, folding his arms. He saw the boy’s arms, covered in shreds of metal and already beginning to turn raw. ”You’re going to run out of time faster then you think. This cable is over a mile long, Altar. You’re doing good, but understand that you can’t afford to rest for too long.” He advised the boy. ”Any problems so far?” He asked him.

Altar grimaced as he went to attempt again, only to see that Haru had appeared next to him again, warning him that he only had eighteen hours to complete the climb to the top of the cable. Well, that was somewhat disheartening. He had already wasted an hour with nothing to show for it. He felt like a fool for that, but he quickly shoved that thought out of his head. This was no time for self pity. This was a time to prove himself and get stronger. He'd need to in the end, after all.

Haru asked him if he encountered any problems. Still hanging upside down, Altar would look at him with as much of a droll stare as he could muster, what with the blood flowing to his brain and all.

"Well, my arms are ripped to bits, the cable is starting to grow dew, and my hands are all sweaty and my arms are shaking from having to carry three hundred pounds of nothing but pure weight up a sharp metal cable that seems to stretch forever. But besides that i'm fine. Promise." Altar would say, all the while trying to think of a solution to remedy this problem. He hung there for a while, drawing blanks, idly fiddling with his shirt, until the idea struck him and he felt like an idiot again. His shirt.

Altar would quickly wriggle out of his undershirt, thanking himself for buying more than a few as he ripped it in half. He would then wrap the shirt around his arms and hands, giving them protection from the metal, and preventing slips. In his eyes, it was a good idea. And it proved to work, at least somewhat.

Altar would resume climbing, hand over hand, tangling an arm at a time in the sharp cable before moving to the next step, then the next step, and the next. He was doing pretty well.

Then his arms started getting tired again. Altar remembered Haru's words, and moved to keep going, but his arm faltered and lost it's grip, and he slid down a bit on the cable. However, due to the shirt, his hands and arms only took a few splinters here and there, much unlike before. Oh yeah, that was a good idea. He couldn't deny, though, that his arms were getting tired. So, he would stop to take another short rest, before moving to climb again, taking this one step at a time. Haru had given him hours, and he damn well planned to make as much use of those hours as he possibly could.

Haru  shook his head. He almost pitied the kid for doing this to him. Still, he’d thank him later. This was some of the best training you could get, just straight up physical exertion, for a highly extended period, under extreme conditions. He thought about telling the kid it would get better, but it wouldn’t. That was too naïve, and Altar would likely see right through it and dismiss it. No, what he needed was real advice, or nothing at all.
 
”Yeah, that’s gonna happen. Think of it this way: When this is all over, whether you make it to the top or not, you’re going to see an incredible amount of physical improvement. You won’t be so fragile anymore, you’ll tire out much more slowly, and you’ll be able to dish out a lot more punishment. At this point, the sooner you get to the top, the sooner you can go home.” He said encouragingly. From what Haru had seen, Altar had three major weaknesses. His body was pretty frail, any amount of damage seemed to do much more to him, although Altar was definitely willing to get back up after taking those injuries. He tired out very quickly, and often had to rest in the combat situations he’d seen the boy in. Finally, his strength was only slightly above average. Maya had been able to crush him uncontested. Those, therefore, where the three areas they needed to work on. And all of them were physical. Haru’s specialty.
 
He had already given him a snippet, so Haru stayed there for a bit, watching him try to climb. Altar had the idea to use his shirt to stop the cable from splintering into his hands, which worked wonders for the boy. He actually managed to make some progress, before sliding back down the wire. It was definitely a mental challenge, as well. He had well over a mile to climb, and with all that weight, it was no easy task.
 
After this, Haru decided to go back up. He started to walk up the building, looking over at Altar.

”I’ll come back down in two hours. The sun should be rising soon, so the dew shouldn’t be a problem for too long.” He told Altar as he passed, going back up to the top of the tower, unrolling his scroll, and continuing his work.

Altar was glad Haru was at least trying to spark motivation for him. It helped somewhat, but the mental aspect of this form of training didn't come in to effect nearly as much as the physical aspect, and he had never been much for physical things. He had always had a small physique, and it had always been used against him. Come to think of it, Haru had probably picked up on that by now, especially when it had shown in his fight with Maya. Actually, even more now come to think of it, that was probably the purpose of this training. There was no chakra training to this. It was all purely physical. Endurance and strength training, basically.

Haru went back up, saying he'd return in two hours. He also told Altar that the sun should rise soon, so the dew wouldn't be there for much longer. That was good, as the shirt tied to his hands was already starting to get wet. If the shirt got soaked, then there was no purpose to it in the first place.

Altar would once again try to climb the cable, trying to occupy his mind from the strain and the aching of his arms. He figured a good way to do this would be too try to talk to Nekoda. She always seemed to take his mind off things. And so, Altar would concentrate, trying to bring the girl's voice into his head.

"You called, oh master?" Nekoda said, followed by a small giggle, her usual light hearted tone bringing peace to his mind.

"Really? Calling me master now? If that's the case, i'd enjoy a back massage right about now..." Altar would respond, his sarcastic voice kicking in.

"Who do you take me for? Some loose girl that isn't a part of you?" she replied, giggling again

"Oh, come on. You know I was just joking around. So, how've you been, Nekoda?" Altar would ask her, his voice deadpanning now.

"Oh, you know, same old same old. Just watching you goof around, train and such. You know how much I enjoy seeing you break your back in labor, trying to get stronger. You can be such a work horse, you know? It's either that, or you're lazy. Oh, and I kinda took note of the fact that you're suspended in air. Wanna tell me what that's all about? I was busy taking a nap." Nekoda said, giving out a fake yawn after she finished talking. Altar could just imagine her over exaggeratedly stretching out her arms as she did so.

"Oh, and i'm the lazy one? Yeah, sure Nekoda, keep telling yourself that. Anyways, Haru got me tied to a cable and three hundred pounds and tried to push me off the roof of this building. I fell and he told me I had until midnight to climb back up. It's pretty difficult, actually. Surprisingly so. You'd figure that climbing up a cable would be easy, but it's hard as fuck. So yeah, there you go." Altar would reply.

"Training again? Geez, like I said, work horse over here. If that's the case, i'll let you get back to it and i'll go back to my beauty sleep." Nekoda replied, before the sound of her humming droned in his mind, fading away before disappearing completely. Well, so much for that. He'd have to get her back for this, that was for sure.

Altar came out of that ordeal to find himself climbing up the cable. Well, that was surprising. He hadn't even realized that. He must've just kept going through talking to Nekoda, like his body was in auto pilot or something. However, he found that since he had now fully returned to consciousness, he was suddenly needed to move again, and the aches and pains in his arms had returned. And so, he fell a while, before managing to grab onto the cable in a desperate lash, so as not to fall all the way down.

Altar took a moment to survey the situation. About an hour and a half had passes, miraculously, and he had made it probably about a quarter of the way up the rope before slipping again. He was now back to his one tenth mark, and he began climbing up again, wondering when he'd reach the top.