Running Towards Genin

This was a joke. It had to be. Granted, Ryūka was aware he was unnecessarily going for a risky and flashy move. Still, where did this kid all of a sudden had the technique and the execution to pull off a block against his kick? It didn't matter now, Ryūka wasn't going to take the time to think it over. He just had to react to it. And so he did. He quickly pulled his leg back, turning around to face Zyxis, after having moved the leg away from the academy student's reach. He felt faster for some reason, which Ryūka also couldn't understand; but either way the Genin was still faster, even if a little bit less so now. The joy of the battle had left from Ryūka's face, leaving behind no other expression. His eyes were dead set on Zyxis.

"That guy..." Ryūka thought, "So he's been keeping an ace up his sleeve the whole time? Pretending he didn't know any Jutsu. He even said so himself, I'm pretty sure. How would anyone learn any Jutsu before the basic Jutsu, anyway. I wonder what else he's hiding... Wait, why is he using that handseal?". Nero and 2 of his clones rushed towards Zyxis. Ryūka was waiting for a second handseal to be made, but Zyxis didn't make any. "What?" Ryūka barely had the time to muster, before him and his clones were hit by lightning. "Mother-". It didn't interrupt Ryūka's movement though, he had powered through it, visibly angrier than before, had already reached Zyxis due to him not being knocked over by his block attack, and the short distance the student had put between them. Wasting no time, though, Ryūka punched Zyxis's face. His expression would have hopefully spelled out to him that he didn't appreciate the deceiving done in this fight he first thought to be a friendly spar.

Now he wasn't so sure though. One part of him was telling him that he was letting things escalate for no reason, and he needed to chill down. The other part of him was angry. Purely angry. He also couldn't tell where this all was coming from, why the other boy had kept a hidden trick to pull a sucker punch on him like that. Two, actually, back to back. What was this kid playing at? Why would he keep them up his sleeves from the very start. Why would he pretend to not know any Jutsu? Why would he pull them out of his hat at that very moment? But Ryūka wasn't actively thinking about any of these for now. For now, he only had one thing in his mind. Win.

As soon as his punch connected, it would turn Zyxis' body to his right and Ryūka's left, after which Ryūka kicked the back of the student, pushing him away (not aiming to hurt him necessarily, but put distance between the two after the punch. He then took a few steps out, to be about 3 meters away from the other guy. He pulled out a kunai. His expression was dead serious. He wasn't joking around. "What's your deal?" he asked, and waited for an answer.

[WC: 530,
Total: 6216]

The look on his face didn't come off as pleasant at all. Zyxis went to try and explain himself, but the boy was too quick. He could already tell this would get out of hand. The fist clocked him in the head, sending his head backward. A warm liquid slid out of his nose. Zyxis went to steady himself but received a kick.

 He stumbled forward with a frown on his face. In not even half a second those emotions vanished. He turned around to see the boy with a kunai. Okay, that's where his heart started to beat faster.

"Ryūka, please calm down." He instinctively brought his hand up and wiped at his nose. He looked down and saw the blood, tasted it. "The two jutsu I just used? That was my first time. Since this was a spar, and you've been teaching me, I didn't think you would be upset if I tried out moves I wanted to learn."

He had just realized he was quivering in his shoes when he went to move backward. Fuck him; this was not the way a shinobi should act. He wiped at his nose again. 

That was his blood. He eyed the kunai warily, prepared to use another lightning jutsu if he needed to. He didn't think Ryūka was unstable and he seemed like a very admirable guy. He didn't think he would murder him in cold blood. He hoped he wouldn't kill him.

"I'm sorry," His voice cracked. Shit, he looked like such a baby. "You didn't say jutsu weren't allowed. We used the clones one earlier. They were both E-Rank. I wasn't trying to hurt you at all."

He sighed, "Even if it was true I hid things from you, don't you think this is too much?"

He would wait to see how the boy reacted.

WC: 327

Total: 4,979 (3,229)

Ryūka didn’t like the way things escalated. From his perspective, he didn’t really have a choice though. After all, the way he was taught things, this was how a shinobi should have acted. Never underestimate anyone, always be on the lookout, if you have to be one, be paranoid rather than careless. If something doesn’t seem right, trust your instincts and look into it. Of course he wasn’t going to kill, or even hurt an academy student for something small like this, but he did want an explanation. The kid telling him to calm down and giving an explanation made Ryūka a little bit calmer. He took a deep breath. He nodded.

“Okay, I’ll buy it.” Ryūka said, put his kunai back into his pouch and continued, “For your information though, if you don’t want to get in trouble, don’t pull things like that against friends.”. Ryūka smiled again, and offered his hand to Zyxis “So… Friends?”. Ryūka didn’t know what else to say. The explanation Zyxis gave to him seemed sincere enough, even if Ryūka completely didn’t buy it. “Too much?” he thought, “For all I know you could have been someone with bad intentions. It’s not hard to get into the academy from the outside, you even could have been an agent from a different village. Sure you’re 16 to 18 years old, but for all I know, there have been younger people who have become Kage before. If you truly think this is too much, how are you going to survive in the ninja world Zyxis, are you always going to trust whoever you come across? Are you never going to look into things, worry when some things don’t add up. I guess that’s your ninja way. Neither of us can tell which one of us is the right one here… I guess we may one day see.”.

Either way, Ryūka was now convinced that the kid didn’t have any bad intentions. At least he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He still didn’t understand what he meant by it being his first time using the two Jutsu that surprised Ryūka, he believed him when the student said that he wasn’t trying to hurt him. It sounded honest enough. “I should calm down.” he thought, “Maybe he was right, maybe it actually was a little too far. It made me look like the one that escalated things. And maybe I was… I don’t know. I just became a Genin, I don’t have all the right answers for the way the ninja world works. I just trust my instincts, and the 2 years’ worth of knowledge that I have. Anyway… I hope I didn’t offend Zyxis… At least not that much…”. He waited for any reaction or answer from the Academy Student.

[WC: 467
Total: 6683]

He was sad to admit it, but Ryūka was correct. He hadn't talked to anyone before, nor had he fought someone. Suffice to say this was a learning experience for both of them. He still hadn't realized what he had done wrong. 

Maybe he should've asked before performing the jutsu? Yeah, he saw it now. Ryūka was a friend, and it seemed sketchy for him to try out the jutsu out of nowhere.

He put his hands together and tilted forward into a bow. "I sincerely apologize, Ryūka. I hadn't realized that I should have asked what was allowed and not allowed. The experimentation of the jutsu was uncalled for and out of nowhere. So for that, I apologize. I would be glad to become your friend if you would allow it." 

Zyxis forgo all notions of not being polite. He didn't want to anger Ryūka anymore, and he was satisfied with the time they spent together. Losing his first friend already would be a downer.

"I'm not sure if you want to learn it, but I wouldn't mind teaching you the Inside-to-Outside Block. I'm not sure what element you have either, but if you have the same affinity as mine, I wouldn't mind teaching you Raiton: Spark."

Hopefully, Ryūka would accept at least one of the two offers provided. He wanted to keep Ryūka and himself in good spirits for the rest of the time they were there. The sight of the kunai was not welcome.

If he agreed, he would begin to teach him Inside to Outside Block. 

"So what I did during our spar was an E-Rank Taijutsu. You're already aware of the name. It's a technique that capitalizes on high kicks and simple strikes." Zyxis would then settle into the same position he was in a few minutes ago. "You're able to have an open fist, which utilizes speed. Used for grapples and deflects, which can set up combos," He then clenched his fist shut, "Or you can go closed hand, which utilizes strength."

He shifted back to his normal standing position and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I had recently read a scroll on it. Our spar was the first time I managed to use it correctly and finally learn it."

His eyes shifted back to Ryūka's. "Sadly, it doesn't work on sharp weapons. Could be used against blunt though." Zyxis continued, "The stronger you get, the more effective it will become, and you'll be able to set up more Taijutsu moves. What's your specialty, anyway?"

"You can try it out on me if you want to," Zyxis finished, taking a few seconds to catch his breath.

WC: 472

Total: 5,451 (3701 for techniques), (903 for stats)

[We could end this topic here if you want, and start a new one afterwards. We'd both be genin, etc. etc. If so, post an exit in your next post ^^]

Zyxis seemed to have been doing all the right things, the nice things, even if in the Genin’s opinion, he was going about in a way that could quite possibly be the worst. Ryūka chuckled. “Apology accepted.” he said, “Even though you didn’t shake my hand when I offered it.”. Ryūka put his hand down. He shook his head, smiling. “It’s fine. You just don’t know. Not knowing is okay. Knowing and not doing is the real problem here, as I thought you were doing at first. It’s fine.”. It really was. Come to think of it, Ryūka had warmed up now, and he had postponed his writing for long enough now. He looked at the academy student. “So, what do you wanna do now? You want to return home, meet a few days later maybe, for another training? When are your exams, by the way?”.

Ryūka wasn’t tired. far from it. He wanted to do a lot of things. But he didn’t really know what to do now. The best course of action could have been to split up for now, both train solo, and then meet again for a spar later, when they were both a bit stronger. A part of him wanted to keep sparring, as it had been going really well until the last part where Ryūka himself had cut the spar off with a ninja demanding info, which now to think of it, probably sounded a bit like a threat. Ryūka regretted that it came off that way, but he didn’t really regret stopping the fight to ask questions. In his mind, it was what a shinobi should have done in that situation. When things didn’t add up, a ninja had to ask questions, the right ones, and then he had to theorize about possible answers, the most likely scenarios, and the worst scenarios alike. This is what being a ninja meant in the eyes of Ryūka. He had to be prepared for all possible outcomes of any danger or situation. Sure, Ryūka wasn’t in this business to become the strongest ninja to ever walk on earth, nor was it his goal to become Kage one day. It was just him, his poems, his words, and the world.

A part of him wanted to return to his writing, as he had postponed it for long enough now. He originally got out of his house that day so that he would find a quiet place to sit down and work on his writing. His notebook consisted of so many unfinished poems, after all. Even more unfinished thoughts, plans, and even a lot of one-of rhymes. Two words he had written in there because he thought they were a good rhyme, and even if they were that, they were nothing else. That’s pretty much what Ryūka himself was, as well. An unfinished person. Most of his life was blank, unknown. And the 2 years that he had lived, well they were lacking, to say the very least. He was only able to do the smallest portion of what he wanted to do, what he wanted to achieve one day. He wanted to write, that was for sure. He wanted to draw, sing, rap. He wanted to travel the world. Either way, it wasn’t time. Not yet anyway.

And part of him just wanted to sit and talk. He was a talker, more than anything else. The most enjoyable part of his day has been the two just talking about life, chakra and what else, after all. In fact, subconsciously, part of him was still thinking about the questions they had asked each other earlier. What was the origin of chakra anyway? Could the discovery of what it was actually advance the world? Or would it be like knowing what water exactly is, probably some molecules stuck together; but knowing that really doesn’t change the taste of water, or its usefulness. It was a weird question to ask out of nowhere, still. And Ryūka appreciated the fact that Zyxis did. Thinking about it, the Genin chuckled again, “So…” he said, “What do you want to do? Want to split up for now and meet later? Or do you have something else in mind?”.


[WC: 705,
Total: 7388]

It seemed as if Ryūka didn't want to learn that jutsu. He internally shrugged, it wasn't the best jutsu, but it was a jutsu. To be honest, Zyxis didn't want to leave. He still had lots of energy to spend, but it seemed as if there was nothing left for the two to do. 

They had talked, trained, and sparred. Conversing was still on the table, but Zyxis felt awkward about the issue that had just recently occurred. They had already delved into some psychological and world-breaking questions. For today, he was satisfied.

If he continued to train as an Academy Student, he would be stunting his growth. He didn't have enough chakra to learn more jutsu. Just wasting all this time to understand E-Ranks wouldn't make him a better ninja.

Once he graduates, he would focus on Chakra Control Exercises and Jutsu, and then he would come back with a sufficient level of expertise in manipulating chakra. 

As soon as he finished that, he would be able to perform all different kinds of ninjutsu, taijutsu, heck, any jutsu. D-Rank, C-Rank, B-Rank, maybe even A-Rank?

Although, he knew he wanted to learn more. His body and mind thrived to become more advanced, the more logical part of him knew. It would be better to leave and come back stronger than before. And maybe even teach Ryūka a few things if he was willing to learn them.

He felt regretful being unable to reciprocate the amount of jutsu he learned from Ryūka. He made a promise to himself that he would learn something to teach to Ryūka, just one thing would be enough. He had skyrocketed his learning speed in only a day.

Anyway, the gist of it was the benefits of leaving outclassed the perks of staying. Just look at the difference between Zyxis and Ryūka!

If they were talking about technique, it was clear that Ryūka was more advanced than Zyxis was. There was only a rank difference, and it was noticeable. If he wanted to get stronger, he couldn't waste any more time here.

"I think it would be better if we met again as Genin. That way I can work on increasing my chakra reserves and learn better jutsu alongside you." Zyxis would then turn to leave, but beforehand, he would say his goodbyes, "Next time let's set some rules before we spar, eh? Thanks for everything, by the way."

Zyxis didn't blame Ryūka for that. They were shinobi, and that's what they did. It was better to make light of the situation than not. He knew that Ryūka's decisions were for the betterment of Kumogakure.

If he were an enemy ninja and stronger than Ryūka probably wouldn't have hesitated to use the kunai he gripped onto fiercely. Being underneath his glare and knowing that if Ryūka wanted to kill him, he could've. 

He didn't want to feel like that again. That's why he had to get stronger. Afterall, the only path was forward. He would follow that path until he reached his goals. Then after that? Well, the conversation he had with Ryūka today was a start.

Finding out the origin of chakra was essentially finding the meaning of life.

Impossible.

That's made him strive to do it.

[EXIT]

WC: 549

Total: 6,000 (4,250 for techniques, 1,452 for stats)

Claims:
[7 Stats]
[Hazy Genjutsu (2,000/2,000) WC]
[Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder) (2,000/2,000) WC]
[Puppet Art: Ventriloquism (500/500) WC]

Zyx, you can use your words for techs and stats at the same time. So if you have 6,000 words. You can use 6,000 towards jutsu and 6,000 towards stats.

I did a mid-thread claim earlier. So I just wanted to make sure I didn't use WC I used before. But maybe I messed it up?

[you claimed 4652 words already, for stats

for jutsu you only used 1750

you have 1348 words for stats (6 stats 7 with the earlier 50 words)

and 4250 words to use on jutsu - keep in mind you're an AS in the topic, idk the rules for that]

Approved