Training Day

We don’t have to carry it as far as I had thought. Th girl would think as she picked up a stack of logs and followed Ashi. The curse mark would begin to recede until it all was contained within the seal on the back of her neck. Once, more the girl was pale as a Kaguya. ”Thank you, for the help.” Inside the shed Kirino would stack the logs at the back following the other ninja’s instruction. Going an extra length to turn logs that seemed slightly crooked. She was a neat freak after all liking to keep things organized was an odd obsession of hers.

”No, I was not born in Konoha, but I am from the land of fire. I moved here after some less than fortunate circumstances.” It was unlikely that Kirino would go into more detail than that. After months of being in the village she had not heard word of her mother being around, maybe she was somewhere else. Hopefully, Ashi wouldn’t press the question on the subject of what happened. Kirino didn’t like to be pitied and that story was one that caused people to look down on her, as if she was someone that needed protected. The only one that can protect you is yourself, a Kaguya specialty. The best defense is an armor made of bone.

”I have been in the Leaf village for quite some time now. I moved out of my old apartment in the slums, to a much nicer one. I just had to put some work in and save my money.” Kirino would smile an idea coming to her head. Things may have started off a little rough between the two, but things were beginning to change. Maybe, the two could train together. They were in the training grounds after all, even though Ashi was reading a book Kirino suspected that the other ninja planned to train whatever was in there.


”This may seem forward, but would you like to train together after all of the logs have been moved?” The question was asked gently, so it implied a no was a reasonable response that wouldn’t upset the girl. The Kaguya was always okay with training against others, it made the time pass.  


WC: 376

Ashi nodded along with Kirino's story easily. The white-haired girl's story, though vague, was one the anbu had heard far too often. Konohagakure was not perfect, even Ashi knew that, but it was more perfect than a lot of other places in the shinobi world. As such, Konoha went through booms in population from time to time, much to Ashi's chagrin. She didn't mind people coming to the village persay. What she did mind was the fact that she, as part of the anbu, had to review each and every immigration case in painstaking detail. As of late, the worst thing she'd found were a few drug dealers who were arrested without incident—peacetime had its perks.

"That's good to hear," she commented on Kirino's economic savvy, impressive for one of her apparent age. "I assume your parents are..."

She trailed off and cast her gaze out towards a pair of shinobi in the midst of a spar. Ashi had never been good with personal issues, she'd always buried them deep inside. The result? Well, she wasn't the must tactful person when it came to the softer things in life.

"...Nevermind."

Thankfully, the pair arrived back at the chopped wood and work silenced her. The two shinobi worked for about another half an hour moving back and forth in silence. The whole time Ashi pondered she could've better approached the parent subject. Perhaps it was better to just drop it?

"Train together?" Kirino broke the silence on the way back from loading the last bit of wood. "What kind of training did you have in mind?"

From what Ashi could tell it would probably be some kind of strength or agility training. Though, one could never be too sure, best to ask. Always best to ask rather than assume; it made things easier.
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WC: 3,241

It seemed Ashi was going to press the questions on her parents, but something caused her to stop. Kirino was relieved on the inside, she didn’t want to have to recount her tale or mention that her mother was still alive. Her mother being alive was the driving force Kirino had to become strong. The girl’s were silent as they continued to move log after log. During that time, all Kirino did was think. About why she was still in the village, why she had yet to look for her mother. If finding her were truly the goal why hadn’t she looked more, talked to anyone about it. Maybe, she was afraid that deep down she wouldn’t do what she wanted. Pierce that woman’s heart with the very technique she had taught her and instead she would run into her mother’s arms and embrace her as if she were five and hadn’t suffered because of the woman.


At the very least Kirino was able to step back from her thoughts and ask Ashi to train. Kirino would giggle at the question of training together. ”Yes, together.” She would say covering her mouth a little to hide the smile. ”I can only really use taijutsu, but if you would rather train something else that would be fine. I know a little about weaponry as well, but I own no blades or armors.” To be honest though Kirino could create her own weapons from her body if she truly needed one.

WC: 249

If you really want to bond with someone try performing manual labor with them for a fair amount of time. There is something in the shared experience that can bring people closer together. On the other hand, if you already have a bad relationship it can make things worse. In the curious case of Ashi and Kirino, well, Ashi liked to think it had brought them a bit closer together. No, they weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, but acquaintances by merit of working towards a common goal? Maybe, maybe; only time would truly tell.

"I'm not awful with taijutsu myself," Ashi replied smoothly. "Though, truth be told, I'm not much a fighter; more of a teacher really."

Sure, as part of the anbu Ashi was no slouch when it came to a fight, but her true value to the black ops did not come in the form of unmatched power or skill. Rather, she earned her keep as an excellent tracker of anything with a heartbeat and a scent to follow. If the anbu needed someone found you can be sure Ashi and Chai would be the first on the scene. Not everything in the shinobi world is about fighting.

"I suppose we could spar if you'd like," she paused, she wasn't the biggest fan of fighting when she didn't have to. "Or we could focus on technique and form, which do you prefer?"

Naturally, the older woman would agree to whatever Kirino wished to do.
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WC: 3,490

”As a genin, I think my technique and form are as good as they can be.” It wasn’t a boast even if it sounded like one, it was just everything was pretty stagnant on that front. Without a higher level of training she couldn’t advance she was beyond the basics stage. ”I’ve already beaten Maloren Hyuuga and Kaguya Kotsuzui, so I don’t think my basics need work.” Kirino hoped Ashi knew those names as they had gone to the jounin exams, why they had gone the girl was not aware of. As genin fighting almost jounin level ninja seemed odd, maybe they were only going to watch. Her statement also served as a support her original statement of her form being good. The words were said gently, as to not offend the other ninja.


”Maybe it isn’t fighting skills I have to learn to reach the next level. Can you teach me how to hide your chakra?” This was a skill higher level ninja apparently had, so maybe it would be worth learning. After that they could have a spar if Ashi was still up to it. The first sentence was said gently as if to herself, but Ashi could still likely hear it with the proximity. The second was loud enough to hear even without acute hearing though.

WC: 219

Ashi nodded along with the white-haired girl's self-assessment. She'd seen and taught more than a few people like Kirino. For whatever reason, they didn't realize that there's always something to improve on and that without consistent reinforcement skill atrophies at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, in the Inuzuka's experience, one did not tell such people the error of their ways as that would only be rebuffed as a personal attack. So, Ashi remained silent on the point of the girl's skills; the way people such as Kirino learned was through personal hardship and experience, she probably needed to believe that she had effected the change within herself or it would never come.

She had no idea who the Hyuuga was and had only met the drunkard Kaguya once—she couldn't say whether the girl's feat was impressive.

Now, you might be thinking, 'what does Ashi know about arrogance?'. Well, quite a lot actually as she was not so different than Kirino a few years back. She believed that she was the best at what she did and could take on anyone. Then she joined the anbu and any arrogance was beaten out of her, arrogance compromised missions. However, her lessons learned as an operative did not truly hit home until that fateful day when the village was destroyed by a monstrous tree. Instead of staying to fight she was ordered to back down and protect civilians. To swallow one's pride is a prodigious task, but a vital one when you have more than your own life at stake.

"Chakra suppression?" Ashi asked rhetorically, it was an anbu's bread and butter. "Sure, there isn't much to it really."

Ah, what luck! Kai had mentioned suppressing one's chakra was a great exercise to become better in tune with the inner gates. The trick, from what she'd read, required more effort than a normal chakra suppression as it required feeling out the gates within one's body and essentially holding them shut. Kai's journal that while the tactic seemed easy it was quite important and lead to greater control of the gates. He stressed control on every page as without control he claimed that one could hurt both themselves and others.

"The trick is the slow the chakra in your body. As you no doubt know chakra flows through a shinobi's body at much like blood does and can be tracked with one proficient in sensory. Much of that tracking is done by sensing the movement of chakra in the body. To drop off the radar, so to speak, one needs to halt the movement of chakra or rather make it slow enough to avoid detection. For example, I find taking a few breaths helps."

To make her point Ashi took three deep breaths and both her heart rate and chakra speed dropped accordingly. She'd had many years of experience and didn't expect Kirino to pick it up right away. Furthermore, the older woman dug a bit deeper and focused on the inner gates within her. In her mind's eye she could see them and in an expert display of chakra control restricted the chakra flow from them. Interestingly, such constriction of the gates made her feel a bit light-headed.

Mental note: don't entirely cut off chakra flow from the gates.

"Now you try and don't worry if you don't get it at first."

Folding her arms across her chest the Inuzuka waited while making sure to keep tabs on the Kaguya's chakra signature.
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WC: 4,070

So, it should be pretty easy to learn then. The Kaguya would think as Ashi mentioned there not being much to the technique. Kirino would listen to every detail as she explained the technique, so chakra is like the blood that flows through you. To hide it, one must slow it down to decrease its noticeability. Decreasing its rate of flow is achieved in a similar manner to lowering ones blood pressure, a few simple breaths was the ninja’s recommendation. Kirino would stand silently as Ashi took deep breaths and exhaled. It seemed simple enough to do, next was only the attempt.

As a practitioner of taijutsu and dance, the girl knew breathing was a very important factor in many things. Taking her first deep breath the girl could feel the rush of endorphins, which kicked back up during her second, with the third she could feel her heartbeat slowing. The additional oxygen making it so that the lungs need not inflate as quickly, which in turn slowed the heart rate, due to the abundance of oxygen to be delivered to cells. With the drop in her blood pressure also came the lowering of her chakra. While it wasn’t hidden completely it had gone down a pretty significant amount (About -10).

The girl would look at her instructor to see if the technique she was learning had been successful. If, no response was given she would wait a couple of seconds before asking. ”How was that?” Depending on the Inuzuka’s answer Kirino would either try again or ask the lady for a spar.

If Ashi, told her something along the lines of no it didn’t work or it dropped a little Kirino would nod her head and try again. She would close her eyes, take in a deep breath, and continue a steady flow of breathing. Okay, so just continue it’ll get there. Your chakra will be hidden it is only a few breaths. Just like a faucet I have to turn it off when not in use otherwise it’ll continue to flow. The girls chakra signature would drop from its normal size, down to a presence only half as strong. ”I think, I am starting to get it.” She would say, then take another deep breath as she continued to focus on the task. Just a couple more breaths and I think I should be good. Kirino took a couple more large breaths, before opening her eyes.

The girl’s chakra was hidden for sure, the genin would look to Ashi for some form of guidance on whether it was a success. If Ashi were, to tell her it had been successful Kirino would smile. ”Thank you, for teaching me that.” An ability like hiding your presence may serve a huge purpose in the future. Well a huge purpose for her anyway.


The girl would then move a couple of steps forward. I wonder if taijutsu use would release my chakra flow? ”Lady Ashi, would using taijutsu reveal my chakra presence to others?”   

WC: 503
TWC: 3038

"Not good enough," Ashi responded with a shake of her head—she didn't excel at the careful art of sugar-coating her words. "Try again; I can still feel a faint flicker of chakra within you."

Ashi, on the other hand, still had her chakra suppressed. She found that, along with the slight faintness, her heartbeat spiked when she clamped down on the inner gates. It was an odd feeling. Her training as both a shinobi and special operative in the anbu had taught her complete control of her body. Yet, here she was unable to tamp down her heart rate as she tried to constrain the gates within her. How strange it felt to have no control, it almost scared her. Almost.

"Better," she conceded when the Kaguya mentioned getting a hang of it, Kirino's chakra disappeared entirely. "You could easily pass for a civilian now."

A pause as she considered her next words with care.

"You picked it up faster than most people do, I'll give you that."

She didn't want to expand the girl's ego more, but she had to give credit where credit was due. Many students had difficulty even getting to a point where their chakra started to fade. Kirino, it would seem, was partially correct in her self-assessment: she had some talent. Talent, however, could only go so far when matched against hard work and Ashi could not help but wonder if the white-haired girl had it in her—unyielding drive is a rare thing to find.

Lady Ashi? There's a first.

"Assuming you are using a pure taijutsu technique, no. That said, the concentration required to perform both can be difficult to find. Balance is key in that case. Why do you ask?"

Seeking knowledge was all well and good but it had to be done for the right reasons. Ashi'd seen many people go in search of knowledge for the wrong reasons and more than a few of them ended up six feet under. Funny how that works, right?
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WC: 4,410
[To be honest I have no idea if Taijutsu can be used while suppressed as the app is kinda vague.]

Ashi nodded once at Kirino's response. It was a reasonable response. Perhaps that was the best way to describe Ashi's impression of the girl, reasonable. Well, besides the whole vandalism thing she seemed nice enough. That said, the world probably had enough reasonable people, some unreasonability would do it some good. However, such an attribute would clearly not be found in either the younger Kaguya or the older Inuzuka.

"A spar?" Ashi hated fighting when she didn't have to as she did more than enough fighting in the context of her job. "If you insist, but..."

The woman glanced back at the tree stumps before returning her gaze to Kirino.

"Let's try and keep the collateral damage to the minimum, sound fair?"

This was, of course, a rhetorical question. There would be no damaging the training fields in any shape or form. People maintained them meticulously and Ashi respected that. No reason to make life harder for others, right?

Widening her stance and shifting her weight to the balls of her feet, Ashi prepared for whatever the genin had planned. Her left foot led creating her signature southpaw stance and her lightly balled fists raised up in front of her as if she were a boxer. In Ashi's experience, one could rely on techniques and fighting styles all they wanted. However, when it came down to it, no amount of fancy footwork could compare to being able to both dish out more and take more than your opponent, which just so happened to be the anbu's specialty.

"Please, be my guest."

To accent her words she unballed her right fist and beckoned the girl who stood three meters away forward. The carefully manicured grass would make for a solid battleground and as the Ashi motioned for the girl move a soft wind blew from behind the Kaguya's back. Its cool caress sent chills through the Inuzuka as the all too familiar tingle of adrenaline began to pulse through her body.

The Kaguya would have the first move.
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WC: 4,747