Train to live another day! [P,NK]

Seeing Mako bring his sword around aimed at his throat, Salzem stopped immediately, as if the pause button had been pressed. Time seemed to slow down as if he had a deep moment of clarity. He tuned his body to the swords. They were an extension of his body. They were his body. He was a tool of destruction. (+20 strength and speed via Three Sword Style) Salzem ducked under Mako's sword swing, as it came around, sword cutting lightly into his forehead and leaving a small gash. At the same time, raised Olympia and One Winged Angel up in a rising cut aimed at Mako's stomach and torso, intending to leave two long jagged red lines from Mako's pelvis to his shoulders (Speed 120. Sharpness: 70 for Olympia, 120 for One Winged Angel, 70 for Katana). He wouldn't cut deep enough to do any significant damage, but enough to make him bleed and ache. Salzem wouldn't do a follow up attack, however. He would wait for Mako to make the next move.


-10 AP via Three Sword Style

[sorry about the long post, you can just read the red parts and around them mako ^^]

"Big breaths" he would repeat to himself, silently. Despite having mixed feelings about being trained by a monkey at the start, Nethero would now really be apreciating the experience. "Bigger breaths.", he would once again repeat. This time he would try the same thing. He would do the handsigns, this time faster thanks to the monkey sage showing him how he could change between the two more effectively, and would then emmit chakra in his lungs, as he would breath deeply. He would then fill his cheek, as his chakra would move from his lungs towards his mouth as he would start exhaling. The fire would spread out, then as Nethero didn't lose focus, would form into a fireball, this time with a decent size, and would then be fired (hehe, get the pun?) towards the same empty part of the training grounds. Nethero's face would be filled with excitement, as he would turn to the monkey sage, smiling. He would then make his hands joi,n in front of him, one formed into a punch, the other one seemingly holding the punch as in a way to stop the "attack" that wasn't there. He would then bow before the monkey sage, saluting him with gratitude.

"Thank you a lot, Mr. Sushma." he would say to the monkey, "This couldn't have been possible without your help. Umm, is Mr. Sushma alright? What should I call you?". He would then not be able to help himself but recall the way that the monkey sage put to words that the other Genin knew the fireball jutsu. "Of course mah boy Mako knows it."... "Mah boy?" he would think to himself, "A rather strange way to address someone who would be summoning you. Especially if you are a SAGE, and the one summoning you is just a Genin, not it is something to be ashamed of. There must be something more, some kind of special bond between these two.". The red-haired genin would not be able to help himself to think about how he was missing such special bonds, having grown up without a family or really any actual friends either. "This should not be some sort of a destiny or fate.", he would think to himself, "It is all in my hands. Or at least that is what I have to believe, if I want to ever overcome this situation. I can make friends. I don't think I am unbearable. I should not be, right?".

He would look at the other two ninja fighting each other, at such levels of speed that Nethero could track them only from time to time, and even then, slightly. "It once again comes to the fact that I am this weak, doesn't it?" he would keep thinking by himself, "Once again, the solutions of my problems rely on me becoming stronger. I am cast aside because I can not match the levels of these two shinobi here. If I did, maybe I would have been able to join them. It is not my destiny. It is my burden. A burden that I can get rid of, once I become strong enough. The burden of having grown up alone. The burden of not having been trained by powerful shinobi, but myself, not knowing enough aobut the things I should know a lot about.". He would then shake his head in a hope to get rid of these thoughts, so he could once again focus on the current situation. He would once again find himself watching the two ninja fight each other at levels he had come across before.

"They are super fast." he would say to the monkey sage, "That's how fast I want to be someday.". He would then sit on the place he has been standing for a while, "Want to meditate with me, Sushma-sama?" he would ask, as he would close his eyes. The meditation would help him get a better control of his chakra. He would not be paying attention to the fight happening a few meters away. "This would be a good opportunity for me.", he would think to himself, "I will try focusing on my inner thought, on my inner self, on my inner world, despite the sounds of the fight just few meters away. This will undoubtedly increase my focus. I can get better control over my chakra by trying this.". He would be focusing on his chakra points. He would try feeling the chakra circling through his body. As someone on his level, he could not really feel the chakra densely and easily, but weakly and slightly, because both his chakra and his perception being too weak.

He would be inside his inner world know. Walking through the non-material place that was the imagination of an 18 year old boy. He would then visualise a galaxy before his hands. The stars would be much closer than the ones he had seen night after night, when all the lights in Konoha were out and the sky was clear and filled with little shiny dots. As he had learned from the Jounin at the academy who has thought Nethero the academy techniques he had learned with not much of an ease, there were many things that could interrupt the flow of the chakra through the person's body. Stress, negative thoughts, insecurities, not being confident in himself, being scared or rather, afraid... These were all problems that could have been causing (and actually, as Nethero had expected, all of them actually causing) Nethero's chakra flow. If he wanted to really get stronger, firstly he must have destroyed these psychological barriers he has put himself, to be able get to go forward. He was having a breakthrough. Walking over the stars, he would find one whose light is going on and off repeatedly. He would know by looking at it, he would feel it in his bones. This star was Nethero. He would reach the star and hold it in his hands. "Don't worry." he would say to the little star, that was him, "All is going to get better.".

His eyes would then open, his mind returning from his land of imagination to the real world. he would notice that his chakra was flowing more comfortedly, as if some amount of the barriers that were holding up the water flow were lifted up and allowed thee journey. He would realise how important the chakra is, and oh how unique it was. He would then think about what his teacher would ahve said. Every person's chakra was unique, if one could actually learn to sense it, as most of the stronger people did, they could have recognised people from far away, they could realise how unique chakra actually was. Nethero would, after remembering these words, try to sense his own chakra more clearly. This was not so great of a challenge to him, though his senses and his chakra were still weak. What was more of a challenge though, is when he looked towards the two other ninja and started trying to sense their chakras. He would still be sitting in his meditation position, but his eyes open looking at the two ninja, trying to sense their chakra and understand the differences in them. For his luck, the two ninja had huge amounts of chakra compared to the red haired Genin himself, which should have helped him examine the situation better and easier (to some point).

Sushma watched as the fireball bursted forth from Nethero's mouth.  He was somewhat upset that the boy didn't pass out from the vast amounts of inhaling and exhaling.  He would've liked the laugh that it would've made.  The success of the boy with him however made him smile and jump up and down screaming loudly with excitement.  He climbed all around the boy leaping with excitement both little arms pumping up and down in the air and stomping his feet.  He was so small that it likely wouldn't have bothered Nethero too much. After he had calmed down he walked around and sat with his legs crossed and hands on his knees with his index finger and thumb in the shape of a circle to keep up the facade of a monkey sage.  Looking quite meditative he then said "You can call me anything you would like, though I prefer Sushma-sensei."  He held the facade momentarily then produced a cigarette from out of nowhere and placed it in his mouth lighting it going back to the meditative stance.  "Mako there used to be green behind the ears much like you when i first met him.  You got the look of a strong one about you keep with it and you could be just, as if not more powerful than these two one day,"  His words were solemn and not like his normal tone of voice and syntax.  Sushma then took a massive drag from the cigarette and blew it in Nethero's face and started laughing uncontrollably.  "Well maybe not mah boy Mako, I've trained you for 1 hour, but I keep training him everyday so you don't really have a chance.  But that boy that he's fightin, he's got sadness in his heart, and that sadness is creating darkness, and that darkness pushes his strength.  Mako has no chance today, but maybe one of these days he might."  Sushma said while he watched the battle with the concentrating Nethero.  Sushma took another drag from his cigarette and watched as Mako continued his uphill battle.


Mako watched as his quick draw technique flew out of his sheathe successfully hitting its mark, every plan Mako was making in close combat was going off without a hitch.  Though he had calculated for Salzem's speed he never would've imagined it being so fast.  Somehow the man seemed faster than Risako and Risako was the fastest opponent he had faced to date.  He watched as the blade scraped across Salzems head,  Salzem dodged the quick draw attack but Mako had still managed to cut the man and within himself he was contented.  He had managed to do something that prior to this fight, was something he thought was impossible.  He noticed Salzem going for a responsive attack a double body slash with one blade coming upward on his left side and the other blade coming up on his right.  Additionally he noticed that the two slashes were coming in but there was no indication that the mouth sword had a focused target as of yet.  Salzem must be waiting to see where Mako avoided to to then, Sal was preparing to strike with the mouth blade.  Mako still felt that the sword style had its major weaknesses but he realized that a true master of the style no longer was bound to those weaknesses.  Mako saw that the style was powerful and threatened him greatly at this close of a range.  The moment after Salzem dodged the attack Mako drew the blade back to him away from Salzem's neck.  He then flipped the blade around and proceeded to block the blade coming up on his left side.  his chakra connected with the side of the blade pushing it slightly aside which he knew he wouldn't have enough strength to entirely move the blade since Salzem would try to keep his attack fluid.

MAko used this opportunity to shift,   he had one blade coming for his left side still since Salzems left hand was on Mako's right side, so would use the block and Salzem's power to shift himself over to the outside of either blade.  He cocked his blade outside the edge of the keyblade and pulled it downward and inward using Sal's strength of attack to shift to his own right to the outside of the blades.  He had narrowly dodged and blocked and he knew a third attack would be coming for him, but for now he just waited out for Salzem's following attack having narrowly avoided the previous one.

Mako now stood to Salzem's left still very close and within a following swing attack.  He did not have time to counter strike since it took all that he had to avoid the strikes.  This was a great battle and Mako would not go down easily.

803

Salzem halted his assault there, slipping his swords into their respective sheathes before taking the one in his mouth out and doing the same. Salzem would press a finger to his forehead wound, before bringing it back and seeing a little blood. He shrugged, cracked his knuckles, and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Up till now, he had been playing around. He figured he was going to play a bit more seriously now. He got ready for his next strike before looking at the sun and noticing how much time had actually passed. He hadn't intended to stay this long...

In any case, Salzem would step out of his fighting stance and nod at Mako.

"You may be ready for the Chuunin exams." Salzem said, glancing back over at Nethero. He had forgotten about him... He would look back at Mako, nodding over at Nethero.

"Make sure he's ready as well." Salzem would then walk out of the training grounds, casually weaving signs and healing his wounds with medical Ninjutsu.

oh well... Salzem spoke internally. Suppose it's time to start packing...

(Exit unless stopped)
(WC: 2000 EXACTLY!)
Claiming 10 stats for Zeefalvora, 1000 ryo, and 2000 words to Sword Mastery

[Sorry for taking so long to post]

Nethero would listen closely to all the words spoken by the monkey sage. "So you are saying that the darkness in one's heart can help them get stronger?". He would watch the shady ninja. He would really seem the way the sage was telling him about. "Well," Nethero would say, "I can accept that statement, Sushma-sensei. But I believe the light in one's heart can guide him in a way even better; perhaps not easier but better at the end of the day. And I do not think loneliness must lead to darkness. It's about how strong the person is. Perhaps the person may have a strong, fast and fit body, but if his loneliness would have led to darkness, for me that would mean that his mind is much weaker than his body is. I do believe there are multiple "ways of the ninja". But I also believe they are all branches of one true path, and all those who give up against darkness are just plain weak.". While speaking those words, Nethero would have still been carefully watching the two other ninja, and at the same time, the monkey sage called Sushma. He would now be realising the differences in chakra even better. Meditation and focused examinations would have helped him get some kind of better bond with his senses.

"I'm sure," Nethero would think to himself, "that Sushma-sensei, Mako and the shady one all can understand and sense chakra much better than I can. That is a start for learning better, I assume. No, I know it. This must be a good start. The chakra differs between two ninja. I guess Mako and Salzem are good examples to work on, seeing as they are two very different people at heart, so their chakra feel quite different even being sensed by somebody at my level. I really can not oversee how well this day went, and how good opportunities I have had. I worked with a sage, all aside, and he thought me two jutsu I was eager to learn either way.". Nethero's thoughts would fade away with the movements. The actions from the training were no longer really dispersing his focus, but he would hear Salzem talk of the Chuunin exams so his attention would quickly move towards his words.

"Hey..." he would think to himself, "I don't need to be "made sure" I am ready, I will become ready myself, training untl that day.". Though deep down, he knew that even if it wasn't going to be Mako and Sushma-sensei every time, he needed to be trained by more experienced ninja a lot until he could have actually taken the chuunin exams. He would then realise that the shady ninja would get going. "Ummm." he would say from his back, "See you later, Salzem. IT HAS BEEN NICE TO MEET YOU!". He would have shouted the second part, in the off chance that Salzem would have been too far to not hear him clearly. He would then get up from the place he has been sitting. "Well Mako." he would say, moving towards the ninja who has just went through a massive fight. "It was a cool fight. So, I suppose you would be leaving too, as the spar is over?". He would expect that he would get going too, but would honestly hope for the opposite. Though he himself would have been feeling quite exhausted too from using too much of his chakra, and having meditated wouldn't have really helped him get a little bit of energy back, but instead, in fact, tired him even more, since would have been focusing on his own chakra, and on sensing the others' instead of just sitting and regaining his energy.

He would have still been focusing on the other man's chakra (for some reason, he considered this person a "man" even though they were the same age, perhaps it was the beard and the fact that he was much much stronger than him.). He would have now grasped some amount of knowledge towards this chakra thing. He would have been sensing them more clearly. Perhaps not seeing them visually, but still, feeling them in some way. It was quite a magical feeling. One that Nethero has never felt before and never could have expected. He would then turn to the monkey sage called Sushma (who, as it seemed, liked being called sensei). Assuming they would have bene leaving, Nethero would have wanted to thank the sage before they went away. "Sushma sensei." he would say, joining his hands in front of him and bending forwards slightly, "Thanks for everything. In the past year I have studied in the academy I didn't learn as much as I did in the last couple of minutes. Thank you a lot.". Then he would turn to the other genin. "And Mako." he would say, "Thank you too, for giving me this amazing chance to wath you battle another person. I have learned so much from you. And also, thank you for giving me this opportunity to train with Sushma sensei. It couldn't have been possible without you.". He would then offer his hand, "It has been really nice to meet you. I hope we meet once again in the future, with perhaps a closer level of strength so we can actually spar together.".

He would then flex his muscles, and yawn unintentionally. "Anyway," he would then say, "I will get going too, then.". He would not be leaving to a home where his mother would be expecting him, he would have been leaving to his empty house. So instead, he would think that perhaps he would take a walk in the streets of Konohagakure instead. Perhaps it would have better rested his body than simply going back to his house and sitting on his ass, having nothing to do. He would then simply walk out of the training grounds. "See you all later." he would say while he would be leaving, "Again, thanks for everything.".

On his way, he would have thought about how productive the day went, despite his expectations in the beginning. At the beginning of the day, he had sprinted into the training grounds, attacking the first wooden dummy on sight, punching it maniacally while screaming. And look at him now, having trained with a monkey sage and two other genin, having learned two jutsu from them, an even having gotten a better understanding and sensing of the magcal thing called chakra. He would have been at the same time feeling lucky, happy, and quite expectedly, eager to do train and train more tomorrow, the day after and the day after that. "Today was a good day." he would have thought to himself, basically put, "It was a good start. To becoming stronger and stronger.".

[EXIT]
[WC: 6007, Claiming;
30 Stats
500/500 Learned Body Flicker from Mako
1000/1000 Learned Great Fireball from Mako
2000/2000 Learned Chakra Sensory]

Sal and Nethero's exits are approved.

(Will post this evening and close out the topic)

Sushma laughed hysterically and took another hit of the cigarette that was currently dangling out of his mouth.  He then proceeded to look the boy up and down, laughing every once in  a while as Nethero continued talking about how the inner light showed through. 

"I just mean that, the guy over there is fueled by his sadness.  Thats all.  And you punk have a long way to go before you are a defender of light.  Everyone has a fuel that pushes them.  And the fuel that drives them whether it be good or evil is what makes them powerful.  I am fueled by..."  as a fart escaped from behind him filling the area with the smell of rotten bananas.  He started laughing even more and rolled around the ground.  He had dropped the cigarette and had forgotten all about it.  His laughing was so loud and obnoxious that anyone within the area would likely have thought that a small child was being attacked.  He just laid there and rolled for several minutes.  He then stood and walked over to Nethero and said, "It was nice meeting you kiddo, likely if we see each other again it will be as enemies, but i'm ok with that i didnt really like the color of your hair anyway."  Sushma said with his tongue sticking out and giving Nethero a face.  If Nethero gave any inclination to jump at the monkey, Sushma would run as fast as he cou;d back to Mako.  If not Sushma would continue picking on Nethero until he got a reaction.  When Sushma finally made his way back to Mako he climbed up Mako's shoulder grabbing a handful of cigarettes out of his belt pouch with his tail and slipped them under his ears.  "Well Mako boy its time to go home you better release me before i kill that little brat,"  his tone was serious but everyone in the area could tell he was joking.  Mako would follow his Sage monkey's advice and de summon him.  The monkey disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Mako paid little attention to Sushma during the small monkey's escapades.  Mako continued glaring at Salzem.  Something didn't seem right with the chuunin.  It wasn't anything entirely off setting to him and didn't seem like much but Mako was perceptive to people and emotions and could tell that Salzem had been through a lot at some point.  Mako didn't know what it was but he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with him. 

Mako still stood where he was holding his hand me down tanto in his left hand, sheathed.  A cigarette dangled from his mouth while a steady stream of smoke came off the end of it.  He looked at the droplets of blood he drew from Salzem as it dripped off a blade of grass.  He knew within his mind he was ready for the exam.  Cole talked highly of Salzem in reverence to the taijutsu master of the leaf,  and Cole really laid a bea tdown on Mako in their first excursion so Mako successfully getting the cut was a huge leap for him and bolstered his confidence greatly.  MAko had made great strides in several months time and he was prepared for the chuunin exams.  Though he couldn't help but be curious about Salzem.  He hoped he was ok.  Salzem wandered off and Mako finally took a moment to relax restrapping the Tanto to his leg and wheeling about to talk to Nethero.

" So nethero did Sushma help you today?" he asked. "And sorry about his behavior he can get cranky when he knows he has to go back soon.  He only likes it here for short periods of time."  Mako would go on to explain to Nethero.  Mako would walk Nethero off of the training grounds and hold small conversations with him as they exited the grounds.  Mako wanted to be a great leader in the village one day and enjoyed helping the younger students.  So any advice he could offer he liked to give. 

MAko would reflect on the day on his way back to his apartment thinking and wondering about the chuunin Salzem and thought about the future of Nethero and the village, but he knew that one day he would be the knotch pin that holds it all together.  He looked forward to that.

730

twc 4825

claiming 24 stats  finishing Iai Beheading 749/3500 before, 3500/3500 after, 2074/4000 Dancing Blade Risk