The Sensei he needs? (P)Risako&Persona

Persona arrived at the training grounds early. Although the rain from last night and Koeda's implorement of Persona going to bed had lead to him falling asleep, he ended waking up early. His excitement simply got the better of him. He walked to the three logs that were always in the center of the training grounds area. He sat on the log in the center, taking his surroundings in. Everything was just as he had seen it the last time he was here. He remembered his friends he were here with, recalling their memories. It was time for him to grow out of those academy days. 
   Looking around Risako wasn't anywhere to be found. Persona thought that maybe she would have left something here at the training grounds in advance. He couldn't find anything here that would seem like something she would have had left behind for their training. Persona did have one thing for their training though. He took out the ball that he had pocketed from their encounter yesterday. There didn't seem anything to be extraordinary about it. He threw it up in the air and caught it on it's descent in boredom. Koeda came out, taking an interest in the ball that Persona was playing with. He wanted to play too.
   Persona threw the ball off into the distance which Koeda chased after. The squirrel was too small to bite the ball, lift it up, and bring it back to Persona that way. Koeda was smart and had his own way of bringing it back. Koeda held his nose underneath the ball, rolling the ball along the ground towards Persona's spot on the log. Persona would then pick it up and throw it again. Koeda's other method of bringing the ball back up was standing up on his hind legs and rolling it with his hands rather than his nose. This method cracked Persona up because it gave him the imagery of Koeda being a small person. 
   On the last throw Persona was willing to make, Koeda got up on both legs and heaved the ball over his head. Under the pressure of the ball, Koeda was wobbling back and forth in a zig-zag. The way Koeda was handling the ball seemed like the ball controlled Koeda's direction rather than himself. Persona fell off the middle log in laughter. "Ahahaha", laughed Persona. Koeda fell over from leaning too far to one side, the ball bouncing once it touched the ground. This in which made Koeda bounce along with it. Persona had bursted in tears. Koeda huphed, sucking in a great deal of air to make him bigger. He picked up the ball again, bringing it to Persona. Persona scooped Koeda and the ball up, a big smile on his face.
   
[WC 463]

It was with an awkward, slow gait that she found herself shambling towards the training grounds. Her plan was to test the child and see what he could do, and her faithful companion Yu had been tasked with aiding her in this endeavor. Anything not under a streetlight was rather hard to make out in the morning darkness, but our zombie pressed ever onwards, one bare foot at a time.

Upon arrival Risako could make the sound of laughter out in the distant corner of the grounds. Her first thought was that the spirits had come for her life. She shook that notion and decided that the boy must have beat her to the area. With a groan she made her way to the boy's location just as the light was first breaking over the tops of the trees. She'd greet him by saying "Good morning." She failed to take note that he would be in a positive move. How could anyone be in such a mood this early in the morning. "Before we continue, I never caught your name. We'll begin after you indentify yourself."

As always she thought it best to see to her business one thing at a time. In quick succession the woman formed a few hand seals and then struck her thumb onto one of her canine teeth. The amount of times she'd done this Sage ritual had left her thumb in a state where it was incapable of feeling anything. The nerve endings were so damaged that when blood began to spill from the digit she only became aware of it once a metallic taste permeated against her tongue. She took the offering and wiped it against her own neck, and then waited for the magic to happen.

In a poof of smoke her foxy friend had arrived. The creature was perched atop her should and immediately secured himself by wrapping his tail around her neck. He got to work doing his job and started funneling nature chakra into her body.

By now she was beginning to awaken, and she smoothed the folds over her white t-shirt with her non bloodied hand. With the same hand she retrieved a bandage from her tan knee length shorts and applied it to the appendage. Most of this was done in silence and if the boy had said anything she'd mostly just nod along to feign attention.

"I asked you to bring the ball. If you've got it, I want you to throw it at me as if it were a kunai and you were trying to kill me," she commanded. From henceforth, until noted otherwise she'd keep her eyes locked with the boys.

Persona, with a big smile on his face and both Koeda and the ball in his arms saw Risako approach the training grounds. Her walk didn't look the same as it did yesterday. The confident, straight posture she had went to a more sloped, forceful stomping. It was as if she was bracing herself against a snow storm, the way she had walked towards him. 'Not a morning person, huh?', thought Persona. He could hear her groan at the sight of him. 'It even seems like she had hoped that HE would be late so she could relax more', he continued his train of thought. Koeda's big eyes looked at the woman approaching.
   Risako greeted him, but Persona felt like it was more out of an obligated sense of courtesy. She followed up with asking for his name. 'That's right, I never had introduced myself...She had left before I ever had gotten the chance', he thought. Persona raised his fist with fire in his eyes. "I! I am Persona of the Hyuuga clan!", he said with pride. It was almost as if he had forgotten that being in the Hyuuga clan wasn't actually the happiest thing in the world. He was almost made to be a servant to his family for the entirety of his life. 
   Risako nodding un-enthusiastically bit her thumb, her blood seeping from the cut. Persona flinched at this action as it was quite gruesome to tear at a piece of you. Koeda put his tiny claws over his eyes, scared. "W-Why?", stuttered Persona. He was confused at what the woman was attempting at here. She continued with her thumb, placing it on the side of her neck. A string of lines came from it onto her skin. Persona tried to read what seemed like a seal of sort, but was interrupted as a poof of smoke emanated from it. From that exact spot, a fox came into appearance. Persona moved back more unsure if the beast was friendly or not. 
   The fox perched itself on-top of Risako's shoulder. 'I guess they are...friends?', he thought quizzically. Persona activated his Byakugan to get a closer look. There was a swirling of chakra energy around both the fox and Risako. The chakra seemed to be entering Risako's body at an alarming rate. This chakra was different from her own kind of chakra. This concept of the blending of different type of chakra left Persona even more confused. "H-How.. are you doing that?", he asked. Risako only responded with mentioning about the ball she had left for him. Persona had the ball and Koeda in his hands now. She wanted for him to throw it at her like a kunai.
   'Throwing it like a kunai straight at her, huh? That would be too easy', thought Persona. Persona curled Koeda into a ball. "Shh", he whispered so silently only an animal could hear. He shuffled the real ball with Koeda from left hand to right hand behind his back. He took up a throwing pose and launched Koeda towards Risako. While Koeda was in mid air, Persona launched the real ball towards Risako. From her line of sight she would ony be able to see the thing in front of the ball, Koeda from Persona's understanding. Persona smirked, hoping Risako would only be able to block Koeda and get hit by the real ball, unsuspecting it.

(WC 565)

Neat Risako thought, as the boy could sense sage chakra. The woman watched as Persona moved both of his hands behind his back. The disappearance of his pet was noted, and she could only assume that the animal was doing something to the ball. Eagerly her hand twitched to the center of her chest and formed the seal of confrontation the second the boy's arm moved to throw the ball. As the boy released the ball, or rather the rodent, she would raise her right hand to intercept the projectile.

Given the course of the action so far, it would be unlikely that the rodent would find himself able to perceive the invisible barrier that Risako had constructed. Thus, he would probably smack against it with a thud and would likely suffer no major injuries other than begin momentarily dazed. The rubber ball she had commanded the boy to throw would follow in the path of the squirrel shortly after, bouncing off and landing near the animal. The woman would kneel down to retrieve both the rat and the ball. Before standing, she moved Koeda to her shoulder so that if the animal wished to join the fox on its perch, it may. If not, she would keep her hand open without restricting the animal so that he may leave if he wanted.

After standing back up, she utilized an underhand motion to toss the ball back to Persona. "I thought my instructions were to act like you were trying to kill me?" Instead the boy tossed an animal at her. She raised an eyebrow at this maneuver, as it was interesting at the very least. "If I were a real opponent your pet would be gone," she reproached. She felt as if her point had been made, and wouldn't allow for much time to linger and reflect on the topic. "You may try again when you wish."

Koeda smacked against Risako's invisible barrier leaving him dazed. The squirrel began to see multiple images and swirled around in Risako's hand. When Risako had lifted him up to her shoulder he went to go join the fox. Koeda sniffed at the fox curiously, trying to figure out what he was doing. When Risako said that Koeda could have been killed, the squirrel himself didn't mind. He knew what he had been signing up for. Though Koeda would still give Persona a hard time later anyway in order to obtain for himself free acorns.
   Koeda chittered to Persona, nodding towards the fox. Persona noticed too that the fox had been extra focused. That and why would Risako call for such an animal if it didn't have anything to do with whatever jutsu he was using. A jutsu which had seemingly been an invisible barrier of sorts, noting on how Koeda smacked hard against it. Persona with his Byakugan saw the flow of energy and this seemed to similarly connect with his string of ideas. All of them must be connected; the barrier, Risako, and the fox.
   Persona wish he could cut off that flow of chakra he was seeing with his Byakugan. It was all shelled off from him however. The only thing he could do was put more power behind the ball. 'Maybe that's all he wants?', thought Persona. It was that or try to get Koeda to do his usual sneaky maneuvers, trying to mess with the fox. Persona doubt that would work, however, thinking about how Koeda failed with the noodles. 'Well..here goes nothing', thought Persona.
   Persona kicked the ball to the log which seemingly bounced back towards Persona. This allowed the ball to gain momentum. As the ball came back towards Persona, he shouted, "PALM BOTTOM." Persona smacked the ball with a twist towards Risako. The ball was spinning in fast and at a curved angle due to how it was struck. Koeda kept a close eye on both the fox and Risako to see if any unusual motions will take place this time around as the ball was launched at them. 'It's got to power through and hit now', Persona thought to himself.
 
   (WC 368)

Yu was stuck fast in his concentration. It was unlikely that she would need to enter a state in which she used vast amounts of sage chakra, but his instructions were fairly clear. He paid no mind to the rat that was placed upon his perch and carried on in his duty.

A keen eye was kept on Persona while he thought out a course of action. The whole point of this exercise was to provoke him into thinking outside the box, and at the very least he appeared to be putting thought into the request. The barrier would dissipate once she lowered her hands to her side.

The boy then dropped the ball and kicked it. Her eyes chased the ball as it travelled to a nearby log, smacking against its surface and returning to Persona. Rather than catch the ball, the student struck it with a twisting palm in Risako's direction. The spin forced upon the ball cause it to curve in trajectory towards its target. Risako twisted her torso to the right and dipped backwards. Her concentration was on the ball that just zipped past her chest, and as the air trailing behind it hit her she couldn't help but wonder if the boy had a second projectile this time around if he would have actually hit her. "Maybe I need to sharpen my skills." she thought.

Risako smiled at the imaginary attempt on her life. "Solid effort, try again," she said.

Every day for a week they'd find themselves meeting at the training grounds before dawn. Every attempt marked improvement in Persona's form, but he still had yet to land a hit. Her guidance during this time was usually light hearted with some scolding where necessary, but not a lick of what she spoke to the boy was derogatory.

Today didn't mark any significant difference from the last. The sun was still hidden behind the forest by the time she arrived. Per usual she wandered over to the logs where they'd usually met, and placed an object atop the smallest. The object was bundled in a rough cloth, the kind you might use for a sack of vegetables.

For once the woman had arrived before her student, so she took a seat on one of the other logs and waited. Risako then rolled the sleeves of her black shirt up to her elbows before checking that her armor was fastened correctly. From her person Yu was missing, as she had felt confident in her returning abilities once again.

     Persona came late to the training grounds for once. He had grown weary from all of their non-stop, hard training. Persona knew that he had improved greatly with each attempt he had made against Risako's barrier, but he never once landed a hit on Risako. 'What else could I possibly do to land that ball through Risako's barrier? I'd need to stop the flow of the chakra from the inside, or out power it from the outside and both tasks don't seem within my power range. I have to try though.', he thought. Risako stood by the logs where they usually trained by. On top of one of the logs was an object bundled in a rough cloth.


     Persona was confused to what could possibly be in the bundle of cloth. Too lazy for Persona to use his Byakugan to find out and not wanting to get scolded by his teacher he decided to ask instead. "What did you bring today, Sensei? Aren't we going to train some more? If that's the ball in there, I swear I'm going to hit you for sure this time with it.", said Persona confidently. Persona wanted to be able to overcome any obstacle and not being able to hit Risako with the ball yet seriously frustrate him. Persona remembered last night:


  ~   "AHHH", screamed Persona into his pillow. Koeda pawed at his arm in his own way of attempting to re-assure Persona. "I know. I know. It's just that I'm tired of losing. Over and over again it has been shoved into my face at the academy that I need to do better. Everyone in my family is or has been a Shinobi and I want to be able to too. Not because of anyone's pressure, but because it's my own choice. My greatest strength has been in open combat and now, with my training with Risako, I have been struggling!", said Persona. It felt to Persona that he was currently back at square one. Recently he has been having self-esteem issues on the topic of his status as an upcoming Shinobi. ~


     Persona, standing there by Risako, snapped out of his memory. He took notice of Risako's aura that was about her. That was to say, her stature, look, breathing, and other small familiarity's there were. She seemed different today, much more confident and more -- '...happy? Is she happy?', thought Persona. Whatever it was, it was more uplifting. Risako's aura caused Persona's mood to lift more as well. 'Yes, I will definitely succeed', he thought. Persona noticed Yu was missing too. It was strange to go a week with the same routine for it to suddenly end. This for some reason caused Persona to feel both happy and sad.


     "Don't think you can go easy on me! If you do you will regret it!", shouted Persona. Risako's mood change and earlier appearance didn't mean anything. Persona believed he still stood a solid chance against her. He may have been exhausted, came late, and started to lose faith, but that was all behind him now. He pulled his arm up towards the sun. "Let's do this! Take out whatever you got", he shouted. Persona's moon necklace shined under the sun and along with his hoodie strings, bounced with the shuffling of his feet.

(WC: 548)

Once she took notice of her student approaching the scene, Risako met his arrival with a quick wave. Her assumption was that he would use his byaakugan to view its contents before she could use it to surprise him. His comment about the bundle containing yet another ball produced a quiet laugh, a short huff of air exhaled through her nose. After this statement the boy appeared to be in deep though.

"Can't even say good morning first?", she teased. It was hypocritical of course since she herself was often direct and to the point of things. "Yes, we'll continue training today. I've not decided if you've spent enough time with the ball or not, but I figured it was time to take a break from that."

Risako stood from the log and stretched her arms skyward.  She was taken aback ever so slightly when he made the proclamation that she shouldn't go easy on him. After all, don't all masters take it relatively easy on their students, ramping up the difficulty of their tasks until they're ready to take them on? He challenged her to take out whatever she had. Her assumption was that he referred to the package on the log. If he was looking at her their eyes would meet, and for a moment she thought of giving him his headband as she was her original plan. The more interesting, at least to her, plan was to make him work for it for one more day.  She touched the parcel and from her fingers a small black line of text would spread, before disappearing from sight.

Risako smiled as she began to walk around Persona in a circle, maintaining her distance from him. Her right arm was drawn to her chest, forming the seal of confrontation as was tradition before sparring in Konoha. She stopped once she reached the other side of the boy, putting him between her and the package.

"Then try to open the bundle before I get a chance to kick your ass!" Despite her statements her voice lacked any malice.

     Persona's eyes drifted back and forth between Risako and the package. Risako had told him to try and open the package while she put herself at a distance from him. She made the sign of confrontation to initiate the spar. 'It had to be a ball in that package, right? How was he supposed to be motivated over getting a ball', he thought. Persona looked at everything's positions, still without activating his Byakugan. Persona was still pumped up to do training, even though he was confused by the request of him trying to open the package.
     
     "You know, Sensei... Aren't you making it a little too easy? You after all left me in a position where I'm right next to the package.", he said. Persona mirrored Risako's sign of confrontation and at this the fight for the package began. Persona instantly did a back flip, his feet landing on the ground twice before taking off in a flip high into the air. Koeda wiggled himself deeper into Persona's hoodie so he would be safe while Persona moved about at quite a speed. Of course the squirrel would come out to help if Persona called for him. 
     
     In the air, Persona's back flip turn turned into a sideways 180 degree motion. When Persona faced the package, he focused his chakra. A 24 inch arrow appeared before him, aimed at the package that was sitting on the log. "I'll end this quick!", shouted Persona. The arrow made out of wind launched at the package. 'She did say I only had to open the package, not grab it with my own two hands.', thought Persona. The arrow zoomed, wind currents flowing backwards from where it came. The ripple of the wind blew against Persona's face feeling like a nice breeze.
     
     The wind arrow would meet the package full on. On impact the package would open up, the wrapping of it would be torn to reveal the contents inside. 
 
(WC 325)

For the time being she ignored his comment on the situation being too easy. She held onto the hope that he wouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security just because she put him closer to the package. That hope was swiftly dashed when he performed the handseal and jumped into the air. Risako thought to teach him a lesson on why jumping into the air is a bad idea, but on the other hand she had been giving him a hard time for the last week. The woman waited to give him a win.

Instead her posture would relax and she returned to the same neutral stance from before the fight started. Throwing a technique at the package was smart, at least. It prevented her from using her original idea unless she wanted to get hit. That said, she was certain that wasn't a part of his plan. The arrow would pierce the cloth, tearing the bundle open to reveal a shiny metal slab peeking through the hole. Now that it had hit, his objective was accomplished.

A golden flash consumed the aura around the package that spread from the mark she left on it earlier, disappearing as quickly as it appeared and leaving Risako in its wake. She quickly yoinked the package from the log, and took a few steps back. Once her student made contact with the ground again, she would hold a hand out to signal that it was over.

"Alright, alright, you win.", she said. If the boy stopped, she'd toss him the package. "Next time don't jump, it leaves you vulnerable unless you have some way to change your direction."

If the boy unravelled the bundle he'd find the metal slab for a headband, officially marking his graduation. The choice of cloth was up to him, but it wouldn't be included with the gift she gave.