Searching for a Better Path (IO)

Risako awoke that morning with a few thoughts running around in her head, the most prominent being that Taijutsu was not the way to go. After some tree trunk punching to try and make her hands more tolerant to pain, she realized that it wasn't really working.

As she threw the covers off of her, her pinky finger snagged on one of the folds, and sharp pain shot through her arm, causing her to retract said arm and cradle it as if it were a baby. She sat in bed, sort of rocking and repeatedly saying "ow" to herself over and over, the pain causing a few tears to well up in her eye. After a few minutes, she examined her finger, and realized that's she had broken it. But more than that, the repeated punching of the tree rubbed some of the skin off as well, leaving her knuckles a bumpy scabbed up mess.

She stood up and walked over to the sink, which was almost within arms reach of her bed, and washed some of the dried blood off. After a few minutes of drip drying, she scrounge under neath the cabinet in the sink looking for a bandage. After reaching behind the few cleaning supplies, she yanked it out and started gingerly, but tightly, wrapping the bandage around her hand, making sure to wrap the pinky in place.

After that, she stuck her head under the faucet and began running water. After her hair was good and soaked, she let it drip dry for a few minutes, before pulling of her half wet shirt. Discarding the shirt to the floor, she walked across the room/apartment to her dresser, and yanked the loose fitting black shirt off the top. Risako then yanked open the top drawer, and pulled out her bracers, putting them on and securing them in place. After that, as she was headed out the door, she remembered that one needed pants in order to go in public.

With thay problem fixed, and her pants securely fashioned to her waist, she would head out. Her destination was the academy, and after a short walk, and a few distractions such as food, she found her way there. Barging in, but making sure to not slam the door open this time, she found one of the academy teachers around the corner of the first hallway. After a quick bow of respect, she asked "Sir, do you have any scrolls on topics relating to the paths that ninja take?" Admittedly, she should have learned this during the academy, but besides the basic justu, you didn't need much to excel in this place.

He stopped, puzzled by the sudden appearance of a chuunin, and thought about her question for a moment. He put his hand to his chin, and thought about it for a second, before saying "Do you mean things like Ninjutsu and Taijutsu?" After a brief pause, he then said to Risako, "If so then yes. I have a brief scroll thay summarizes a few basic talents that ninja are capable of." He produced the scroll from his pockets, and tossed it to the girl. "But there's a price." Risako's heart filled with dread as she knew what was coming. "You gotta teach the next class as a guest instructor."

Risako heaved a sigh of relief, as this was something she wasn't expecting. Plus, she didn't mind spreading her knowledge around. It benefitted her with some much needed leadership practice, and the kids with some knowledge they might not learn otherwise. She pocketed the scroll, and followed the teacher in to the class room, coming face to face with a group of children not much younger than herself.

After a brief lesson on why you should avoid punching trees to strengthen your fists, the teacher permitted Risako to leave. She didn't really teach the kids much, but she managed to put the class in a generally good mood, ready for the teacher to profit off of. After exiting the classroom, Risako broke into an all out sprint out of the building, eager to read the scroll. Sure, Taijutsu was great and all, but it was also a hard and strict path. Risako hated both of those, and decided to prompt put for something better, and hopefully easier.

Risako continued running for a little while, until she found a small restaurant with an open structure. The tables sat out in the middle of a court, with nothing keeping the sun off its customers. Despite that, it seemed to get a lot business still. Risako decided to take a seat in one of the corner tables, and sprawled out the scroll on the table, reading all of the different groupings of skills on it. Of course, it opened with Ninjutsu, then Taijutsu, and so on. But one thing in particular caught Risako's eye, Fuinjutsu: the art of sealing.

From what she could tell, it was just sealing different things in other things. For some reason, that sounded both all too attractive, and similar to what was in her armor. After a quick lunch, she rushed off to find the craftsman that helped her make her bracers.

Upon bursting into his shop, his old lady wife, wide eyed, asked "Risako! What's the matter-"

Risako cut her off pretty quickly, while yes, it was rude, she felt the urge to hurry. "Gotta ask your old man something." As Risako walked to the back of the shop, where the work shop was, she could hear the old lady mutter something along the lines of "Oh that girl."

Coming around back, Risako yelled for him, "Hey! Hitachi Old man! I got a question." As Risako found him, she saw that he was kind of busy. Didn't matter, she walked in anyway.

"What do you need?" He asked. A little disgruntled, but ultimately patient enough to listen.

"Those seals you helped put in my bracers, are those fuinjutsu? If so could you teach me?" Risako was almost on the edge of her metaphorical seat. If the answer was yes, then she had likely just found a teacher.

Hitachi responded with "No. But they aren't too dissimilar." He sighed, thinking about whether or not he should teach the girl the basics. "I could teach you the basics, but you gotta promise."

Risako, being antsy, eagerly cut him off, "Promise what!?"

He smiled, "That you won't start selling goods with seals in them. That's my business."

[1008/2000 for replacing Taijutsu with fuuinjutsu]

Risako was told to sit in the front and help Hitachi's wife with shop duties until they closed. Afterward, she was called back into the work shop by the old man, whom had a ball sitting on the table. Aside from five markings around the ball nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Risako as she approached the table.

Hitachi started the session with a simple command, "Risako, I want you to try and grab the ball." He supress ed a cheeky smile, knowing full well that it would be impossible for her to do so.

Risako cocked an eyebrow, wondering just exactly how this would fit into training. Was it a trick? Did he just want to display what could be done with seals? Risako shrugged off her questions and hesitations and tried to grab the ball. About seven inches from the ball, and perpendicular to two of the seals, Risako's hand flattened out against the barrier that was formed. Refusing to give up due to risk of failure though, she continued trying to press her hand through it.

That is until Hitachi grew tired of watching the girl attempt to force her way into the seal. "Enough, Risako," he chuckled, "that is a barrier seal. It prevents a person from going through it, on either side." He then stuck his hand in and tossed her the ball. "Unless you made the seal, then you can enter or leave as you wish." He paused, until she nodded, confirming that she understood the information. "Alright then, hide that ball. Anywhere you wish." He then turned around and buried his head into his arm, "I won't peak."

Risako was still sort of confused, but she complied and went as far as to transform the appearance of the ball into a tool he had on the table. She placed the tool down and said "Alright old timer. The deed is done."

The old man scoffed, "Old timer eh?" He then reached down and picked up the tool, breaking the transformation she had placed on it.

Risako was dumbfounded, never before in her life had she seen a normal civilian who could best a ninja in wit. Not that Risako had much wit anyway. "How?"

Hitachi then leaned over the table and held out the ball, as he revealed a small dot. "That is a mark seal. It allows you track the location of something without seeing it. Fuinjutsu has more uses, though that's for you to find out on your own." He paused briefly, "let's get you started on the basics."

Risako pulled out the scroll and read off the small excerpt on fuinjutsu, "Fuinjutsu is the practice of using seals to seal different objects, chakra, etc. into another object, such as a scroll."

Hitachi responded with "Yes, but how does one achieve that?" He paused, as Risako just gave him a blank look. "It relies on various chakra patterns and calculated formulae, but the varieties and applications of the seals are nearly endless. Certainly too much for one person to learn." Risako was about to ask if he could teach her a seal, but she was interrupted. "That's all I'm telling you. If you wish to flourish in fuinjutsu, be determined enough to do it on your own."

Risako bowed and said goodbye. Sure, she wasn't quite capable of performing any advanced fuinjutsu, but at least she had an understanding of how. Actually learning how to perform them was the hard part. So she went home, and plopped down on her bed, ready to start the next day with training. This was probably something she could in her spare time while she was on gate duty afterall.

[Exit, claiming 1624/2000 towards replacing Taijutsu with fuinjutsu, 8 stats.]

Approved