Self Improvement [Private/NK]

Some would say they were rushing students through the academy these days. With only two jutsu required for graduation, no one could say with confidence that you were ready to take on the roll of a ninja. Times being as they were, they needed bodies to take simple missions that would free up more experienced candidates for more dangerous assignments. A student like Hisashi Yuhi was no one's top priority. He was a branded criminal and could not fully hide his resentment towards the people who granted them the free reign to have a ninja village at all. What he did have was the ability to mold chakra, and that was in short supply. They could no sooner refuse a willing and able candidate than Hisashi could spurn them. They needed each other.

That was where things ended though. As a genin he could perform useful tasks for the Hogokage and his administration. School time was over, but a good thief never stops learning new tricks of his trade. Hisashi had been a thief for far longer than he had been a ninja and old habits die hard. The academy held secrets he wished to know, and it never occurred to him that he could ask for them. Instead he did what was natural to him: he stole them.

With the ramping up of the ninja program, many students passed through every day. Like any place that sees lots of traffic, he could exploit that anonymity. A simple transformation technique allowed him in the door and into the library. Similar to his old days he chose his targets based on what was least likely to be missed. Always scrolls with multiple copies that looked as if they weren’t opened often. Never anything ornate or well cared for. Unlike food, he would return these when he was done as well. A small scroll could go missing for a short period without a thought. It could fall behind a shelf or just be waiting to be resorted onto their respective shelves. 

Hisashi’s returned to the loft he had taken up residence in with the money from his first mission, the scroll tucked into one of the concealed pockets on the inside of his poncho. Time to find out what he nabbed. He spread the scroll on the bare wooden floor, hunched over it as he read by the dim light streaming through a nearby window. ”Rope escape technique…?”, he thought as he looked it over. ”What kind of idiot needs a jutsu to escape ropes!”

He pounded a fist on the floor. All of that effort and this was what he got? No wonder it looked unused. He nearly rolled it back up before thinking better of it. Maybe it was stupid, but he was going to need to know more jutsu before they would send him on the higher paying missions. Perhaps even a stupid jutsu like this could help out there. Well, there was no time like the present. He would have a new mission tomorrow, and he wanted to return the scroll before then.

“Let’s see…”, he mused aloud as he took in the contents of the scroll. “You are supposed to use your chakra to untie the knots…”, he continued on reading until he came to the realization that he had no idea how to do that, and his expression fell. “What kind of instructions are those!?”, Hisashi exclaimed, on the verge of throwing the scroll before he settled back down. ”I guess what I really need is some rope.”, he thought to himself as he leaned over to look out the window. Bingo.

Clothesline wasn’t exactly rope, but it was close enough in his estimation. He brought it in off a set of rollers that was hooked between his building and the next. It wasn’t technically his, but he was only borrowing it. Besides, the neighbors were on a trip to see one of the shrines and wouldn’t be back for some time, and what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. He tied it in as many knots as he knew how to tie and then sat down with It to give the instructions a go. First you build up your chakra and then you snake it down the rope like so…

The sound of a shrieking worshiper woke Hisashi at dawn. He’d didn’t know the reason, but used the daily call as his alarm clock for a long time. He gave a stretch before sitting up groggily, taking in the morning light. The clothes line sat beside him, neatly coiled after his night of practice. He’d have to hang it back up before heading in for work. Might as well get it done and over with. Propping the window open with a stick he leaned out and slid one end through the roller before climbing onto the edge and leaping to the building next door.

One thing he could say for the training at the academy, was that it allowed him to climb and move about in ways he could have only dreamed about when he was nearly a thief. Hanging from the side of the building by the chakra centered in his feet he crouched down to make the final connections before dropping down to head in for work. Duty called.

[892 Words]

Today’s duty had been mucking stalls. While Hisashi didn’t consider himself above such work, that didn’t mean that others didn’t consider it beyond him. Using a rake a shovel is unfortunately a two handed operation, and that meant revealing the arm he liked to keep hidden under the poncho. At least he could take it off for once. The humid heat was uncomfortable as it was without the stink. He’d take any relief he could get, and it was nice to just be in his tank top for once.

Around lunch time the owner of the farm he was working on came by to offer them a meal, that was until she saw the brand on Hisashi’s arm. You’d have thought the crap they were shoveling was gold because of how concerned she became about Hisashi stealing it. The whole affair left a bad taste in his mouth an a stretch in his clothes. At least they still got paid for the work.

Ditching the degenerates he was teamed up with for the day, Hisashi headed home to get cleaned up and in a fresh set of clothes. While he might have liked to go straight to the academy for his next run at the library, smelling like pig shit would be certain to draw unwanted attention. As he showered he couldn’t help but reflect as the water dripped over him. What kind of work was mucking stalls for ninja? He knew they were big on the whole outreach thing, but the whole idea seemed ridiculous to him. Why train recruits to be in a military only to have them do the work of a farmer? The country had plenty of farmers and not enough ninja. Some things would just have to remain a mystery.

Dried and in a spare set of clothes, the Yuhi transformed into a student he had seen in the morning and took a walk through the academy. ”Let’s see, let’s see”, he thought as he walked by shelf after shelf of scrolls. Rather than look over his shoulder he took a quick glance down to a handheld mirror, looking behind him to make sure the coast was clear before he crouched down and took the scroll he had marked out on his trip this morning when he had returned the last scroll. “There you are”, he thought with a grin as he slid the scroll away into a concealed pocket in the inside of his pants. His current disguise would not survive suspicion if he tried for the pockets in his poncho.

Hisashi straightened back up after fiddling with his sandal, tucking the tiny mirror away where one might normally hide a knife in a boot. He simply walked out of the building with a polite wave and goodnight to the librarian, waiting until he was halfway home to find a secluded place to transform back into himself. The rest of the way was smooth sailing to his loft.

Over a riceball, he sat down to read the scroll. “Substitution Technique?”, he thought to himself, ”Isn’t that what the transformation technique is for?” Hisashi didn’t take too long to ponder it, finishing off his evening meal as he poured over the contents of the scroll. Upon completion he was fairly sure he had the idea down. It would require moving quite quickly and aspects similar to the clone technique to hold the false image in place long enough for him to maneuver out of the way, preferably out of sight.

“Okay, I can do this.”, he reconfirmed to himself out loud as he looked down the barrel of a kunai throwing trap he had been taught to construct in the academy. “I just throw the shuriken to break the line holding back the thrower, then I perform the substitution and I don’t get stabbed… Heh heh.” He laughed sometimes when he was nervous, this was one of those times. Practicing without anything there putting pressure on you was one thing, but trying it with a knife flying at your chest was another.

“Here goes nothing”, he said with an exhale to calm himself as he drew the shuriken from the leather pouch on his belt. He breathed in, tensed, finally threw the shuriken, and missed the line. “Hoooo…. Hoo, shit.”, he laughed a little manically as his fingers shook. “Attempt two”, he proclaimed with as much authority as his nerves would allow as he pulled a second shuriken. Even nervous, he could only miss for so long. The string broke and the kunai snapped in his direction as it was catapulted from the compressed trap.

The distance in Hisashi’s loft wasn’t great, but he did have his object very close at hand. A spare piece of wood flooring was just at his fingertips the moment he needed it, and boy did he need it right now. The jutsu did its job though, time seemed to slow as he formed the hand seals and swapped the piece of wood into place where he had been moments before. The switch was seamless, Hisashi leaving a double of himself as he moved around the side of the trap he set. The Kunai struck the board with a thunk!, transforming back into a piece of plain old wood as he drew a kunai of his own as if he were going to ambush the fake ninja that the trap stood in for.

Thing became still as the board clattered to the ground and Hisashi broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. Man, what a load off. He returned that scroll the following morning on his way out. With such primo techniques under his belt, he was a shoe in the door for the good paying missions for sure… Or at least so he thought.

[892 + 975 = 1,867]

Collecting trash and city beautification? Who was in charge of coming up with these missions!? It was like someone high up really hated him… Wait a minute. They didn’t let the royals pick out the missions and the ninja, did they? Nah, they couldn’t. That would be just silly, wouldn’t it?

Hisashi’s thought were plagued as he was stuck on cleanup duty for the second day in a row. Someone at headquarters must loathe him. Well fine by him, he didn’t like them an awful amount either, whoever they were. Keen to get off duty and to the library again, he set about increasing the pace of his work. The sooner he could be done, the sooner he could be working on a brilliant new technique. He already had the scroll chosen and even stolen a peek inside this morning. It was called the Temporary Paralysis Technique. In his mind, what could be better than the ability to paralyze your foes? Not much, that's what.

When he left his work detail he left two other genin behind, who were less motivated to finish their section early than himself. That was all the better, for today he took the form of one of them. They would be stuck out on assignment and wouldn’t accidentally blow his cover as he was making the lift. Plus he had spent the morning trying to get the hang of how he talked and moved. In the end he had picked the quieter of the two, thinking he would have to talk less if approached.

Entering the stacks, Hisashi shuffled a few crumbs onto the floor from his lunch. The crunchy bits would act as a kind of early warning system for him, letting him know if anyone was to approach from behind. A quick jaunt down the isles brought him to the scroll he had selected this morning, already carefully hidden by being tucked under the lip of one of the shelves and held in place with a simple twig placed on the lip in a corner. As he passed by he casually reached under and slipped the scroll free and into one of his many concealed pockets, taking the circuitous route to the exit with his loot.

At home he excitedly opened the scroll, having forgone picking up dinner to come immediately home. He dug into the description and instructions of the technique. It seemed to be very similar to the rope escape actually. Both used a similar method of creating a chakra cord. The rope escape used it to feel and untie knots, while the temporary paralysis technique used the same chakra rope to tie up an opponent. The chakra ropes of the temporary paralysis seemed like they would have to much more robust and numerous than the the simple cords of the rope escape.

The real issue for Hisashi was finding someone to practice on. He wouldn’t know if he was doing it right otherwise. He didn’t have a training partner though, so he headed out into the night to find the next best thing: feral dogs.

Every city has its share of pets that are set loose and go feral. It's a hazard of the trade, some would say. Hisashi had been forced to fight these feral dogs and cats for food in his youth, while digging through trash cans. He held no pity for them, having been bitten and scratched, not to mention being left hungry. Best of all, they weren’t hard to find if you were willing to go to the worst areas of the city. Hisashi certainly knew them well.

A truth of life is you can’t really know something unless it knows you back. This was true of the slums for Hisashi. He had worked for the scum midst crime bosses in his youth, not so long ago. He still much resembled the street kid he was before he became a shinobi. While he was searching for a partner to practice on, an unexpected one found him. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but he wasn’t opposed to a little revenge on the people who had made his life miserable.

“Hey, Saito!”, the call came to him as he was knocking about the back of an alley, looking for a dog. No one had called him by that last name since he became a ninja. He didn’t use it anymore, didn’t need to. Footsteps came closer as he turned to regard the familiar owner of the voice.

“Saito, we haven’t seen you around lately. The boss has been missing you and your magic fingers. Where’ve you been?”, his tone grew dark at the end. It was probably meant to frighten the ninja, too bad the owner was unaware that the once thief had a new profession.

“Oh, you know… Around.”, Hisashi responded, biding his time for the enforcer to come closer. He knew from the scroll he would have to be close enough to look in the eye. That’s right you bastard, just another couple of steps.

“Around, and you haven’t been by to see us? Saito, I’m h-”, the other man’s voice cut off suddenly, as he was swarmed in invisible ropes of chakra from his face down to his ankles. Perhaps it was the past they shared together that made the technique so potent out of the gate. The hands formed into the tiger seal under his poncho stayed still as he tilted his head to the side, as if curious.

“What’s the matter? Here, let me help you catch your breath.”, The Yuhi strolling up to him and sucker punching him in the abdomen. Even in such a short frame of time, his body had grown much stronger than in the days of his youth, something that the enforcer found out painfully as the chakra ropes released him and he fell to his knees.

“Saito is gone, you hear me? Gone. You go telling people I’m around and I’ll make sure you don’t talk ever again, you hear me!?”, Hisashi had started calmly. He didn’t notice when he had transitioned to screaming. He spun and roundhoused the down man in the side of the head and made a ran for it, the blood pounding in his ears. He wouldn’t go into work the next day.

[892 + 975 + 1,047 = 2,914 Words]

Not going into work turned out to be a mistake. When he didn’t show up, someone was sent to check in on him. That resulted in a mandatory trip to the rickety wooden hospital for evaluation, even as overcrowded as it was. He wasn’t to come back until he could produce a clean bill of health. That meant a physical. He had never been subject to such a thing in his life before; and there was a near confrontation when the doctor wanted him to take down his pants, turn his head, and cough. Though in the end, something good did come from his visit.

Upon finding nothing wrong in a normal physical sense, they turned to examining his chakra. As his file had never been on file before, they had to take a few tests to determine if everything was in order and if he had any elemental affinities. To which he responded stupidly, “Elemental what’s?”

When he left the hospital he had a bill of good health and a file to take to headquarters. Most interestly to him he found out he was a water type, whatever that meant. After dropping the file at administration he went down to the library as himself for once. He already had an excuse to be in the building after all, and he really just couldn’t care if they threw him out today. It was one of those days.

“Excuse me”, he said to one of the librarians he had seen many times while they in turn had never seen him that he knew of, “Do you have any water jutsu on file?”

Thus began the start of a very short and awkward conversation about what he was looking for, when he really had no clue. In the end he was shown to a rack and a scroll was placed into his hands.

“This one should be at your level of competence, based on the other scrolls you’ve been using. Please leave the Temporary Paralysis Jutsu scroll in the drop off box on your way out, Hisashi-kun. Enjoy your reading.”, the librarian finished with a kindly smile and returned to his desk, leaving a perplexed and embarrassed genin standing in the stacks with his scroll. They had know this entire time?

He quickly tucked away the scroll in a concealed pocket, more embarrassed about being allowed to take it than having to steal it for a day. With his cheeks blazing red he returned to his loft once again. He would have to return to work tomorrow, but that still left his afternoon open. He wouldn’t waste the time. Without delay he spread out the scroll and began reading.

Hours later he had managed to move his kunai throwing trap so that it threw down the hall and into the bathroom where the shower and tub where. He plugged up the shower to collect a fair puddle inside and armed the trap. If what he read was correct, all he had to do was solidify the water with his chakra instead of using a board this time. “This whole thing is crazy, I’m splashing water to try and stop a flying knife. It’s going to get me for sure this time..”, he thought as he took his position inside the shower.

Hisashi had the shuriken in his hand, ready to throw, when he started laughing. “I’m standing in my shower, getting ready to set of kunai trap on myself, so that I can block it with a puddle…. OF FREAKING WATER. AH-HAHA!” It was the kind of laughter that made your sides hurt, less the nervous laughter of two days ago. “Oh man, this ninja stuff is too weird. Screw it, now or never right?”, he asked the ajar shower door as he threw the shuriken.

The string severed cleanly, sending the kunai straight for him. Unlike last time, he didn’t need to grab for anything. He formed his hand seals as he started bending out of the way, the water rising up into a facsimile of him as he cleared the tub and the path of the kunai. Half a beat later the kunai struck and blew straight through the water, which fell with a splash. What struck him though was the thud! of the kunai striking the tiled shower wall and sticking there.

“That’s coming out of my deposit, isn’t it? Damn it…”, Hisashi thought as he looked at it protruding. Who knew though, if they were okay with him using the library, maybe he could get some time on the practice area as well.

[892 + 975 + 1,047 + 771 = 3,685 Words]
[Exit]

Akihana Akari wrote:
The rope escape technique hasn't been approved, and you get substitution free as a genin. <3

Ah, well the substitution thing is my bad. I should have known that, but it did provide the setup for the water technique later on, so that is fine.

The Rope Escape is listed on the jutsu directory 3.0, which is where I found it. Can I add it as a pending approval? Is there a holdup at current with its approval?

I take it the other two techniques and the stat points are fine, yes?

Akihana Akari wrote:
The rope escape technique hasn't been approved, and you get substitution free as a genin. <3

You approved it...

[Re-apping with the approval of the Rope Escape Technique]

[Training Rope Escape Technique [E Rank] 500 Words]
[Training Temporary Paralysis Technique [D Rank] 1,000 Words]
[Mastering Temporary Paralysis Technique [D Rank] 1,000 Words No Hand Seals and -6 AP]
[Training Water Replacement Technique [D Rank] 1,000 Words]
[Claiming 18 Stat Points for 3,600 Words]

Akihana Akari wrote:
Yes I did after that post. In future, be sure to claim things already approved - or wait a bit to avoid mishaps/wasted WC.

Approved <3

I'll try to be more careful in the future. I figured if it was on the Jutsu directory that it must be approved. I think that there was some back and forth on that jutsu, hence the confusion. Thanks for getting it al squared away for me. I really appreciate it.