Helping the Academy

Wed Mar 23, 2016 10:04 am

Spoiler:

Yoshi woke up the morning after constructing her hawk puppet. She had spent three solid days putting it together and was feeling drained. But there was no rest for a ninja of Sunagakure. She had yet to offer her services to Suna's Ninja Headquarters, they were probably on the verge of marking her down as a missing ninja! That was the LAST thing Yoshi wanted. Yoshi jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of clean capri pants and grabbed a clean shit as well. After throwing her hair up and a ponytail and tying her forehead protector loosely around her neck, Yoshi ran down the hall and out the door. She carried her puppet over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Once out in the streets, Yoshi ducked and weaved in and out of the mobs of other villagers which caused all kinds of havoc. By the time the young genin arrived to at Headquarters, she was completely out of breath.

”Yoshinaga Yumi … reporting … for … duty .. sir,” Yumi announced to the nin who was working the front desk.

The ninja at the front desk wore a flack jacket and his head was wrapped in bandages. He was signing papers and doing general office duties when the young girl burst through the door who was carrying over sized hawk on one of her shoulders. The clerk raised and eyebrow and sighed. (Just a normal day at the office!)

”On moment,” the ninja mumbled as he dug into her files. ”Yoshinaga Yumi. Hmm. You're late. I have you down that you've not yet completed a single mission, or even asked for one for that matter. Why didn't you report to me on the first day after your graduation?”

Yumi's heart skipped a beat, ”I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't know I was s-suppose to, sir. No body informed me of the procedures. I've been training. And I've just completed constructing my first puppet.”

”I see,” the ninja replied – he was clearly unimpressed. The ninja sighed once more. ”And why isn't your puppet wrapped up and placed on your back? Or better yet, why isn't it stored in a scroll? Are you that excited about showing it off?”

”N-no, t-that's not it at all. I -” Yumi paused. She was embarrassed finish the sentence but forced herself to do so regardless. ”I don't have enough money.”

”Heh, no money for bandages or sealing scrolls? I thought as much. That's because you have yet to report to me until now!” The clerk ninja shook his head. ”Well, now that you're finally here, I might as well make use of you. If you're going with the puppeteer route, then I have just the mission for you.”

Yumi nodded and awaited instructions.

”Go to the Ninja Academy here in Suna. An instructor has asked for some help in teaching a trio of students. They just so happen to be learning the art of Chakra Threads, and like you, aspire to become puppeteer ninja. This is a 'D' ranked mission. Now before you ask why it isn't ranked 'E', I will tell you. Depending on what you say to these students may have an impact on our future generation of ninja. That is all. And don't doddle with this task. Class at the academy have already begun today.”

Yumi nodded again and exited the building. She then made her way over to the ninja academy. By this point her puppet was getting very heavy to carry, so Yumi decided she would walk it like a villager would walk a dog. She received mixed reactions from the citizens of Suna. Some smiled at the sight, while others looked fearful that young ninja might attack them with it. If only she had time to explain her predicament, the reason she had it out in the first place was because she not have any money to pay for a means of carrying it! It mattered not. Soon she would be walking the familiar halls of Suna's academy. Perhaps she would run into some of her younger classmates. Only time would tell. Soon she was standing at the gates of the academy.

Yumi took a deep breath and opened the door. After she maneuvered her puppet inside the young genin stepped inside as well and closed the door behind her. The dusty halls still had their familiar smells which gave her a rush of flooded memories. Everything was coming back to her - from her first day of school to last. The clerk form the Ninja Headquarters had given the young girl a scroll which stated which instructor it was and which room he taught from. Yumi took it out and had a look at it.

Room Twenty-One B. Where is it? That one is Room Eighteen. That one is Room Ninghteen … ah, here it is, Yumi thought as she peered from around a bend in the hallway.

Yoshi peered in the classroom to see if she recognized anyone. The instructor was droning on about the different ninja villages – who the major ones were, were the minor ones where and who they looked up to, and so on. Yoshi took a deep breath and entered.

”And here we have the Land of Fire. Now who can tell me what the name of the major ninja village that exists there? …..? Oh, hello, there.” greeted the instructor.

”Hello, sir, my name is Yoshinaga Yumi. I am here teach the students who who are aspiring puppeteers,” Yumi told the instructor.

Yumi immediately grabbed the class' attention with the sight of her hawk puppet. Many of the students became vocal in their fascination.

”Ah, Yumi, I remember you. I see you've brought a puppet of your own. Okay, Mika, Toji, and Hosho, you three may go with Yumi. She will be your instructor for today. I still expect papers from you on friday. Yumi, please take care of my students.”

Yumi bowed to the instructor, ”I won't let them come to any harm, sir. You have my word.”

Yumi walked her puppet out of the classroom and slowly walked out herself and waited for the students. They were slightly younger than her judging by their size – perhaps they were nine to ten years of age. When they all gathered in the hallway, Yumi smiled and turned to face them.

”Good morning, as you may have heard, my name is Yoshinaga Yumi,” Yumi began.

They all stood in silence looking up to the young genin occasionally shooting glances at her puppet. They eventually followed suit in the greeting giving Yumi their names. Mika was a short little girl. Her hair was long, though not as long as Yumi's and was blond. It was tied up in two pigtails which tumbled just passed her shoulders. Toji was tall and perhaps the oldest of the bunch. He had a mischievous look about him that reminded Yumi of herself. And then there was Hosho. Hosho somewhat overweight his hair was cut short and was colored black. He seemed to have a black expression on his face as if caught in a lamplight on a warm summer's evening. His expression reminded her of her friend Togi.

”A ninja from the Yoshinaga clan – my dad has a katana that was made by them. He says its super sharp and that it was given to him my grandfather. One day it'll pass onto me,” Toji exclaimed.

”Did you make your puppet yourself?” Mika asked?

”I'm sure its a fine weapon indeed, Toji-san,” Yumi assured. ”This is Hawks, my puppet. And, yes, Mika-san, I made it myself. I first drew up the plans and had to parts sent to my house. Over the past few days I've been putting it together. I thought it fitting to bring it with me today, as a treat for you guys.”

”Its pretty cool. I didn't know you could make puppets take on the shapes of animals. Whas all can it do?” asked Hosho.

”You can create them to take on any shape you wish! You're only limited to your imagination. Now I came here today to help teach you how to use chakra threads and to tell you a little bit about what it means to be a ninja. So if you'll follow me, please.”

Yumi led them down to the academy's indoor training area. It was much smaller than the village's training ground, but it was quite save for young students. Medical ninja staff were always on watch in case anyone got hurt. Yumi led them to the armory to pick up some simple training puppets. She remembered how she used to come down here and practice with them. Those memories were still fresh in her mind. The quartermaster recognized her instantly and let her pass without a word. Training puppets were easy to control. They only required one chakra thread each. Yumi placed her hawk puppet in the corner and deactivated the threads that attached to it and walked the training puppets out giving one to each student and keeping one for herself. Then Yumi waved the students to gather towards the center of the training room.

”The best way to learn is by doing,” Yumi told the students. ”I want you all to spread out around me. I will show you how to produce chakra threads, and I'll go over basic operation. How does that sound?”

They students seemed nervous but eager to learn. Each stood and faced their new instructor and awaited instructions.

”Set your puppets aside for a moment. I want to take a little time to do some stretching. It is always good to stretch before you train – no matter what you're doing. Staying loose is always s good idea and reduces the risk of getting injured.”

Yumi led them in a series of basic exercises before she began her lesson.

”To produce chakra threads I want you to first close your eyes and clear your mind. Take deep breaths, breath in though your noses … and out with your mouths. Good. Now I want you to preform the tiger hand seal. You remember how to do it? Place your hands together and interlock your fingers. Now extend your pointer fingers upwards and let them touch each other. Good. The tiger seal lets you mold chakra more easily. Do you feel it forming in your stomachs? Keep molding. Now we'll try to make some threads. I want you to release some of your chakra into your arms and let it form at your fingertips. Imagine that from each of your fingers a spool of thread exists. Have you ever seen your mothers mend a par of pants for you? Have you ever seen your mother sew a button? Imagine pulling a length of 'thread' form your spools that are located at your fingertips. Don't actually use your hands, but pretend you are doing so.”

Mika was the first to succeed. It was to be expected, when using such feminine analogies. But after some one on one time with the boys, Yumi was able to get through to Toji and Hosho. All three were able to produce thin strands of light blue chakra from their fingertips. They quickly began waving them around and running a muk with them.

”Okay, okay, settle down. If you behave I'll show you how my puppet works. Did I mention it can fly? Now that you've taken your first steps, perhaps its time to try and operate a puppet. Remember, mold your chakra from your stomach. If you stop you'll run out at your fingertips and you'll lose control of your puppet. But first gather around me for a second. I will show you have to drive these things. First we'll work on moving one limb at a time. See how I'm wiggling my finger. See how my puppet's leg reacts? Now I'll move the other leg. See how I'm wiggling a separate finger entirely. The same can be said for the arms and head. Okay now you try. I want you three to spread out as far as you can. I don't want you to loose control of your puppet and hurt yourself or one of your classmates. Remember try only moving one limb at a time.”

Yumi watched the students trying to move their puppet's limbs. Yumi could tell this was a hard task. They did not yet have the dexterity to wiggle their fingers independently. Yumi knew all to well what they were going through. She noticed the frustration on their faces. The student who showed the most potential at the Yumi's task was Toji. He was almost able to move his puppet's legs separately from one another.

Hmm, if he sticks with it, I wonder what type of style he'll come up with? Will he let his puppet use his father's sword, or will he charge in and let his puppet attack from range, or will they both charge in for close combat? Interesting. I'll look forward to see him grow, Yumi though as she watched the students.

”Being a ninja is more than just learning new jutsu and getting stronger. We train so that we can protect our citizens. We are the face of this village. We are the fingers of our lord kazekoge. I hope that never have to use Hawks in a real battle. But should words and reason fail, then we need to know how to protect ourselves. We need to know how to protect others. I can see you're all struggling at this. That is good. Learning how to move your fingers separately from one another is hard and I will admit, I still haven't mastered it either. If you are serious about becoming puppeteer ninja someday then I want you to come down here and train whenever you can. If you have time after class, great. If you can get permission to come here on the weekends, great. Okay, I think that'll be all for today. I know it doesn't seem like it, but you've done well for your first try. Now help me put these puppet away. I did promise to show off my bird.”

After the training puppets were away, Yumi lead the students outside and into the academy's courtyard. From there Yumi controlled Hawks' wings and made it take to the air.

(Exit)

(WC = 2401, claiming mission complete Helping the Academy, +1000 ryo, 5 kunai, 1 explosive tag, +3 Bonus AP)

Wed Mar 23, 2016 10:44 am

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Helping the Academy

Helping the Academy

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