Kenjutsu Academy: Bonus or Burden? (IO Azami)

(OOC: previous training at http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t38668-kenjutsu-academy-infusing-is-hard#307394, contains description of academy)

Back inside the polished minimalism of the Kenjutsu academy, the 5 genin in the class were lined against the wall, not yet exhausted, but physically slightly worse for the wear.  Some in traditional kendo garb, some in their everyday ninja wear, each showed marks where blunted attacks had slipped through to hit them.  Hayate regretted the bare arms, but even his sleeveless sweatshirt did almost nothing to soften the blows.  Last week's chakra molding exercise into infusing their weapons was internally tiring, but this week after the infusions were tested they had moved on to a more physical technique, the Crescent Moon beheading.  And boy was it a tough one.

Never known as an instructor to spare the rod, the kunoichi who was their instructor had given them all a wooden kendo sword for this week. Each student took turns standing in front of the other four, and when the signal was given, all four attacked with a single swing, and it was up to the lone defender to block all attacks with one sweep.  At first it seemed impossible, and plenty of good solid hits were had, but as the students honed in on the technique stolen long ago from Kumo, eventually they each were able to pull off the quick yet wide sweep.  After all, a solo Kiri ninja should often expect to be outnumbered, and have to fight off multiple opponents.  Rarely was the real world kind enough to offer evenly matched duels....

The students were beginning to drift off one by one, to go practice or just get home.  Hayate couldn't wait to draw the hottest of baths tonight and soak some of the damage away.  He ignored the sounds of other practices happening in other corners of the room, putting away the kendo sword in the proper location, but a specific call out of his name made him turn.  He saw another adult standing next to his instructor, and in between them a regular black haired girl who...  wait, was that the girl from the Udon Shop?  What was her name again?  Asami, like the girl he just did his missions with?  No... it was close though.   He'd get it.

In the meantime all three looked at him expectantly, so he jogged over, curious what this could mean.

383 words IC

While Azami had celebrated making genin by crying herself to sleep, others had been shopping. When she finally came to in the morning, there were packages on her doorstep. Each was wrapped in plain brown paper and twine. Azami took them inside and began to unwrap them. The first package contained clothing, a white gi with a set of dark blue hakama. She wasn’t sure exactly why she needed them, given they were a bit traditional by ninja standards. Perhaps the other packages would reveal more.

The second package was long and slender with a slight curve. Inside were two objects that looked nearly the same. One was a lacquered white and the other stained a natural brown. She picked up the piece of stained wood, measuring in at over a meter long. It was obvious to her this was a practice sword. But why would she need two? She reached for the second and as she grabbed it to lift it, the wood separated to reveal a blade inside with a mirror finish.

Azami gasped, quickly sliding it back into it’s sheath with a small clack. Setting the katana aside, she opened the last package. There were a few basic ninja tools inside, but more importantly was a note. “Class starts at 4pm. Wear the clothes. Leave the katana at home. Don’t be late.” It wasn’t signed.

Later that afternoon she found herself outside the academy, dressed in her new training attire and headband. She held the practice sword awkwardly, unsure of where to put it. That was where her shark toothed instructor met her, habitual folding fan in hand.

“Today you are to train up the hill, there.”, he said with a gesture of the fan to the kenjutsu school. “Follow me.”

Up the hill the two of them went, Azami walking in awkward silence as the instructor showed her inside than bade her wait while he talked to the kunoichi that seemed to be in charge of the austere dojo. A minute or two passed before she was called over and introduced. It was briefly explained to her that she would be taking private lessons with one of the more advanced students. The female instructor then called out to a boy by name: Hayate.

As he came closer, Azami recognized him immediately, knowing straight away that this was going to be somewhat awkward. She tried to give him an apologetic look as the two instructors began explaining the situation to him. In the background she saw one of the students smack another one good with his practice sword, Azami wincing at the loud smacking noise. Standing awkwardly with her practice sword, she sure wasn’t the picture of the typical student of this dojo. Everything about how she handled her practice sword suggested she had never picked one up before and had no business doing so.

[478 words]

Azami.  That was the name.  The name of the girl he met at the festival, and the name of the girl that was going to make his life more difficult.  She had never mentioned being a ninja when they bumped into each other while he was still an academy student just a short while ago, so he was a bit surprised to see her here.  Being around his age, he thought he would have seen her somewhere around the academy.  But he didn't dwell to long on it, because after the basic explanations, Hayate's teacher grabbed his upper arm and pulled him aside, speaking privately in a low voice.

"And while yes, you should teach her enough to look respectable and not embarrass us, stick to the basics.  If its C-rank or up, get my approval first, no exceptions."  She spoke with a forcefullness, and Hayate looked from her face to the grip on his arm.  When he assented, she let go of the arm.  "Good.  Its not that I doubt you can teach her or she might EVENTUALLY be able to do them.  There are other factors in play."  Great.  Hayate would do what the village asked, of course, be he much preferred when the village asked him to hit something, instead of play games that he wasn't allowed to fully understand.  He had never been a teacher, or one to give orders, yet after becoming genin it seemed to keep happening, first with the blueprint thief and now this.

While pulled aside, he re-grabbed a practice sword he had just put back.  His teacher called out in a pleasant voice Hayate thought the woman had no business having "Alright, I'll leave you two to it."  and she left.

Hayate made his way back to Azami, who now stood alone, looking around, just waiting.  "Azami, Pleased to meet you again."  He said, in the manner of one just getting a necessary formality out of the way.  "Come on, let's go over here." He said, leading her onto the set of blue mats covering a small area in one corner of the room.


"Before we talk about anything, theres one basic thing you absolutely need to learn.  Stand with your feet shoulders width apart, holding your sword down at your side, tip to the floor".  Should she do so, Hayate would inspect the pose thoughtfully for a few seconds, his hands behind his back in the classic military "at rest" pose.  She probably couldn't see him form the handseals.  Then he would suddenly (speed 48) swing the flat of his blade at her from the side she didn't have the sword on, the wooden practice sword moving quickly enough to appear as almost a three separate swords following each other. He would attempt to catch her square in the bicep and knock her down with impact 39 (flat of the blade, non lethal, pulled down to whatever power would knock her over).

If she was knocked over, he'd smile and offer her his hand to help her up.  "So. that's actually three things.  One, that stance is absolute shit for swordmanship.  If you ever have the tip of your blade just hanging out near the floor, I'll do that every single time.  And dont test it, I will.  Any time.  If it's not sheathed and/or away, its tip is up, no exceptions.  Its a weapon, and drawing it ALWAYS means business."  He did feel a little bad for tricking her, but it was the way he was first introduced, and he figured if it worked for him... " And two, thats the power and speed you should be aiming for with every swing.  remember it.  Three, the swordsmanship school is tough, and isn't fair.  But thats about the hardest you'll get hit with the practice swords.  So if you survived that, you can survive the training without being scared.  Think you're up for it?"


652 wc  twc 1035

USED:  Flicker movement and Spanking.

She followed Hayate to the blue practice mats in the corner, away from the remaining students and their practice. She listened as Hayate explained the stance he wanted her to take, shifting her feet apart and the bokken to her right side. With the sword held in two hands, her left shoulder was placed forward, her strong side pulled back protectively. The tip of the wooden sword hovered about two inches above the ground. It almost would have been a decent stance had the sword been held level to hide its length instead of tip down. Granted her hands weren’t in the correct positions on the bokken hilt, nor were her feet in the correct alignment. It was the stance of someone who had seen some swordplay but had never undertaken formal instruction.

“Like this?”, she asked, eyes down as she surveyed her own form, making small adjustments that she imagined were necessary. Meanwhile Hayate was performing hand seals behind his back, Azami too distracted to notice the movement in his arms. When his sword came swinging around, her eyes were just coming up to make contact with his own. The flat of his bokken smacked into her bicep, his aim true. The flat wood acted like a paddle against her skin, slapping against her skin with a loud smacking sound. Like thunder, the sound shot across the dojo, reflecting off the wooden floors and smooth walls.

Azami didn’t so much fall from the force of the blow as she did crumple from the pain of the strike. She dropped the sword as she fell back, her right hand coming up to grab at the quickly reddening strip of flesh across the bicep of her left arm.

“Ow, ow, ow…”, she complained after sucking in a hissing breath. Her bokken lay on the floor, momentarily forgotten as she nursed her poor arm, which was surely going to be several shades of black and blue in a few hours. As he offered his hand to help her up, she was slow in taking it, reluctant to take her hand away from the fresh wound. She briefly considered hitting him back for his sucker punch, but quickly decided against any sort of foolish action. As bad as her arm hurt, she knew she could expect more of the same if she tried anything. She wanted none of that, so she gave him a nod instead before leaning down to pick up her bokken.

The way she held it now favored her left hand where previously she favored her right. The flesh of her bicep was currently a pink, but was already beginning to turn yellow, the bruise spreading from the point of impact. It was going to be an ugly one, that was for sure.

While helping the skinny 15 year old girl to her feet, Hayate saw the look of betrayal and brief flash of anger in her eyes.  He felt a little sheepish, perhaps he had overdone it.  "Sorry.  Thats how my first lesson went too, if thats any consolation.  Got my ass sprawled on the floor, too. It's sort of a tradition, and indoctrination.  But my instructor being hard on me HAS helped me get better." he admitted.

"Anyways, lets teach you something real.  No tricks this time."  Hayate went of the proper stance with her, explaining what to do and nudging her feet in the proper direction and angle, adjusting the sword to just the right height, squaring back the shoulders, and guiding her slowly through a proper overhead swing, inch by inch.  Once they went through it two or three times and he was satisfied, he took a few steps back and watched her go through it at full speed a few times.

"Much better.   Now, as you might already know, with swords they hurt when they hit.  Obvious i know - but that means as long as you have a decently strong swing,it's more important to be able to hit then hit a little harder.  Still with me?"  He paused to look at the shorter girl.  He was also acutely aware of keeping his sword at the ready in his left hand - he did it unconsciously now anyway, but it wouldn't do to break his own example so soon.  "So lets make you faster".  He slid the sword back into his belt.


Hayate spent some time describing the rat/boar symbol combination, and how to flow the chakra through your limbs evenly to speed yourself up.  He demonstrated it again with some windsprints across the mat, first without the tech, then applying it so the after images appeared as he sped up.  

He'd then suggest for her to try it a few times, and when she seemed to get it, try it then swing the sword.  If she was doing especially well, he'd draw his and have her try and hit him.


353 words 1388 twc

She began taking up position, Hayate pointing and nudging as he began to explain just how she was supposed to stand. Right foot forward, left foot back with toes creating an imaginary line running through them to her right heel about a foot’s distance apart. Weight was shifted forward with the left heel lifted slightly from the mat. She was to form a ‘V’ with between her thumb and pointer finger. Right hand was on top with the left on bottom, the heel of her hand even with the butt of the hilt. Pinch inward with the thumb and squeeze with the other fingers.

“But not too tight”, he warned. Azami nodded as Hayate continued with his instruction, explaining her left hand should be level with her belly button about a fist away from her body. The tip of the sword should point forward at the adversary’s neck. Shoulders back, back straight. This was the neutral position. Instruction on the strike came next, starting with footwork.

Hayate explained to her the concept of a sliding step and how both heels should be up. She’d step forward with the right, raising the bokken over her head, before stepping forward with the left. As she stepped forward, she would strike downward and once again be back in her neutral position. He ran her through the movement slowly a couple times before increasing the speed, the wooden sword whistling through it’s arc as it struck the air with confidence.

He began his speech about speed over power, Azami nodding in acknowledgement. She listened to him explain that he was going to make her go faster, demonstrating a technique she had never seen before. She transferred her bokken to her right hand as he lectured, softly shrugging her left where the yellow splotch from his strike was already spreading. The symbols where boar and rat. Simple enough. Even spread of chakra though? That was one of the worse visualizations she had ever heard of.

As Hayate prepared to demonstrate after his first wind sprint, Azami tried to nonchalantly ease herself slightly back out of his direct field of view. She thought back to the strain on her eyes, her lashes pulling back to reveal wide eyes, the green iris turning the red of frothy aerated blood from a chest wound that pieced the lungs. A single tomoe, comma in shape, appeared in the iris. Hayate appeared before her, chakra spiraling out through his core before winding its way up and down his body in waves. As he began to move, his after image and chakra seemed to flow from one to the next, each wave leaving him to become an after image as he stuttered forward, as if his body were skipping tiny segments of time and space.

As he reached the end of the dojo and made to turn around, she shut her eyes, shutting off the flow of chakra to them with a slow exhale. Hayate had made his way back to her side before she opened them once more, her green irises back to their natural state. It was her turn then. She thrust the practice sword through her obi on the left, freeing up her hands. First rat with right hand over left, then boar with its inward palms and curled fingers. She visualized the spiral of chakra spinning out from her core and washing up and down her body.

She waved her hand back and forth in front of her face, watching the after-image trail by as a smile spread on her lips.

“Neat.”, she said, ending the technique before running her hands through the seals a few more times. She activated it once more, this time checking her legs with a quick kick, her right knee coming up towards her navel before twisting to the side and pistoning out in a crisp side kick that traveled out towards the far wall thanks to a quick pivot on her left foot. The blow traveled with a quickness that she couldn’t otherwise muster, the blur of the after image following her leg back into the chamber position before lowering back to the floor.

She drew the bokken from her obi, taking back up her neutral stance as she practiced her swing while under the effects of the jutsu. She performed the strike a couple of times before he asked her to swing at him instead. She stepped back with the sliding step he had taught her, looking at him with trepidation, keeping the tip of the wooden sword pointed at his throat just in case he decided to get cheeky with another slap of his blade. She never swung though, her eyes intent on his bokken, half expecting some kind of lesson in pain to come as soon as she did.

Both bokken stayed at the ready opposite each other, first for a moment, then several more, the time seeming to stretch on.  Lithe dark haired girl, in traditional Hakama and Keikogi, squared off against the athletic boy in black pants and a sleeveless white hoodie, shaggy blonde hair exposed on top.  The two could not be more mismatched in appearance, yet were posed as perfectly still mirror images, further emphasizing the strange juxtaposition.  Finally Hayate's neutral expression he assumed when doing bladework started to frown at the edges.

"Its fine, I promise I wont hit back.  And if you manage to get hit in, i'll even buy your dinner.  That udon shop or any stall nearby."  Yes, he did remember their first meeting.  He was planning to offer at the end of the lesson anyway to make up for the earlier hit, as a good senpai should, but if he could also use it as motivation.... deception was the heart of the ninja.  He did clarify stall, however - he had his eye on a new fuma shuriken at the ninja shop, and D and E rank missions didn't exactly make one rich.  It wouldn't do to blow a chunk of that money on a fancy dinner due to a slip of the tongue.

Should she attack, he'd block to the best of his abilities.  Should she continue to not attack for at least 10 more seconds, he'd sigh and say "I guess thats fair.  We'll call the lesson over for today."  He'd perform a shallow bow, almost more of a nod, traditional of the end of a weapon fight, take a step back and return the bokken to the sheathed position, relaxing his stance(LinkToMotion).  

If the fight ends without conflict or hits, he'd offer to buy anyway, its the least he could do.  Hayate would relax significantly, and actually show more facial expressions once the lesson was officially "over".

wc 319
twc 1707

“It’s fine, I promise I-“, Hayate began to speak when Azami slid her right foot forward, bringing the bokken up and over her head as she entered striking range. Her left followed a split second later, snapping forward back to the neutral position as the bokken came down, striking towards his head in a firm stroke that meant to take him by surprise mid sentance.

That tricky b.... Hayate didn't get to finish his thought as he just barely raised the bokken in the left hand in time(spd33vs27) to block the top based attack.  His right foot ALMOST left the ground for a kick before he restrained himself, remembering his promise, and rested his weight back on it.  Well it did serve him right, this kind of IS what he just taught her.  The game was on.

Instead of just retreating, Hayate held his sword against hers and moved in closer, ducking under her right arm and turning to his right to face her the entire way, as he ended up to the rear.  "Almost.   A little dirty, but much better.  Much quicker"  He shifted his weight from foot to foot, dancing back and forth, ready for her next attack.

CLACK! Their swords collided, Hayate ducking to her right. She could see where this was going, her sword already effectively blocked to his outside, so as he ducked under she stepped back with a sliding step, turning to keep her front to him as she did so. At the end of her movement she ended up back in her neutral pose, weight on her forward right leg predominantly.

Azami listened to Hayate as he lectured, watching keenly as he began to bounce. It was clear to her that doing the same thing again would end in the same fashion. In a sword fight, she was simply outclassed. Part of her wanted to reach into her bag of tricks in order to try and shift the spar in her advantage, but she also knew this wasn’t really a spar. This was sword practice. She didn’t know if she could get one over on him even with her full skill set brought to bear, anyway.

The one thing that made her decision easy was the ache in her left arm where he had previously hit her. Pushing her luck was liable to end up with more of the same. With that in mind she drew back another step before miming the sheathing motion, sliding the bokken through her obi before bowing to him at the waist. The last flickers of increased movement bled away as she raised up, the technique at it’s end.