Ninja Race: Speed Training! (Open, NK)

As he felt the ground getting closer with every second Asahi could suddenly feel the grip of the shadow being released, causing the Meijin to move around freely again. Shifting his body in a way he would be able to safely land on his two feet. The moment he succeeded his own landing he noticed Yamakura having less luck as she landed on her rear. The Meijin immediately got a déjà vu, the feeling of having already experienced the present situation when it was the exact same way he came across the young kunoichi earlier. Luckily for her it seemed she didn't take too much damage, although she started crying again due to experiencing the shock.

Stretching his legs before heading over to where Yamakura was sitting he could hear the voice of Shibata as he ran off to the so called finish. "I promise we're not all like that" he said with a gentle smile. "Can you stand up?" By now the scarred teenager had lost any interest to continue the race as his main focus was once again with the young kunoichi and trying to cheer her up. "What do you say if we have our own little race to the Ramen Shop? I'll treat you to some food and soda to lick our wounds? Imagine the look on his face when he sees us enjoying a hot meal while he just ran all by himself, for nothing." Asahi hoped his attempt at cheering up Yamakura would be successful.

Assuming the kunoichi accepted his proposal of having a fun little race to take her mind off things, the scarred Meijin prepared himself to run once more. This time as well he would wait until Yamakura started to run as it was Asahi's attention to ler her win, hoping to put a smile on her face. "Ready?" 

(WC: 308, TWC: 3170)

Shibata had dashed off, looking behind himself as he secured what he thought would be a lead, trying to check on who he thought would be gaining on him easily, his fellow Genin named Asahi, only to see neither him nor the young Yamakura gaining on him, as a matter of fact he didn't see either of them on the roof tops. A sharp pain was felt deep in the Rebel Heart's gut as he realized his lack of thinking before he acted may have caused more damage against both of his fellow Konoha shinobi than they could handle, and even if Asahi handled it well, there was no guarantee that the academy student he was trying to train with was doing well. As he jumped, turning backwards, he once more scanned over, now distracted with a distraught inducing worry that he had made a serious fuck up, beyond a simple mistake or minor accident. As he was looking back he thought about how much of a botched presentation he had made for himself in relation to the two other members of the race. It was tough for him to admit to himself, but in the young Nara clan member's heart he knew he had been a class A douche, and that he would have to apologize, as much as it would hurt, for being a dick the other two inhabitants of the land of fire. As he was sitting there, letting his mind slip to his own misdeeds as he was flying through the air, seeming to forget that this action required a large amount of concentration before learning why this was, crashing into a wall as his feet failed to catch the next roof, hitting with the brunt of his back along another store.

Shibata's body slid down the wall into another dark alley, not unlike the one he dashed up to get onto the roof that started this whole situation, and came crashing down on the hard ground, bringing great pain throughout the entire body of Shibata. Eurgh, he let out a groan before saying to himself, "Aw shite, guess this serves me about right, all that karma and stuff. Ow, just never thought that kind of cosmic payback would be such a physical pain, thought that sting in my gut would have served as more than enough." Swallowing his pride, Shibata got back up, letting out another pained noise as he stood up and started limping his way over back to the shop they started at with an eye out for the people he had left in his dust without remorse, but whose forgiveness he now was in pursuit of as he continued to feel worse and worse about what he had put them through.

(WC: 459, TWC: 3,076)

Asashi had far more luck in landing from his fall, transforming his like-a-rock falling-stance into a much more suitable pose, precisely landing on his feet with all the dexterity and agility one would expect from such a ninja! Almost comical by contrast, Yamakura would SLAM rear-first into the floor, filling her with nearly as much humiliation as it did pain, both citizen and ninja alike almost seeming to choke of their own laughter, having just enough restraint to keep it all inside!

"Oh my gosh..." Yamakura whispered, covering her face with her hands! She didn't want to see them, all those people whose eyes fell upon her like millions of tiny 1000-pound weights, they whose presence were like the fire of which the land was named, scorcing her skin with awareness of them, forcing her to acknowledge that they exist! All Yamakura wanted to do was disappear, to fade into the black like ninja were supposed to, to no longer exist within the common eye! She couldn't believe she had done something so stupid in front of so many! So stupid... stupid... stu-

"H...Huh...?"

Through her fingers, she could see Asashi standing over her,  his lips curled upwards in a gentle smile! As the sun shined over head and striking Asashi from behind, the shadows of the boy's face became more articulate, defined, allowing Yamakura to bare witness to his features with greater ease. Yes, despite his scar... or perhaps even partly because of it, Asashi was a handsome individual. The shape of his face, though asymmetrical thanks to his damaged eye, had an almost artistic chizzle to them, nothing and yet everything seeming to flow together, each detail a natural add-on and extension of the last and the next. Even his voice, perhaps one of the most abstract things about Asashi was something the young Uchiha could almost visualize, her cheeks starting to burn a little warmer as it reverberated in her ear, a soft gentle tone wrapping around the little girl as if to cradle her in security.

"...I.... Yes..." She whispered softly, her voice trembling in her throat... but no longer from the embarrassment. Her blush would only burn hotter at the man's offer... and his particular choice of words regarding their wounds! "L...lick..." She muttered inaudibly,  shaking her head, trying to get all these new, invasive... impure images out of her head! Still... she would slowly rise on shaky legs, nodding meekly, indicating she had accepted his offer! She didn't know if she could run... but Yamakura would try! Making a quick LUNGE forward... her rear would suddenly PANG with a sharp TWINGE, the poor uchiha forced forward in a disgraceful lurch... but still, she would forge ahead!

WC: 455
TWC: 4959
___________________________
Claiming 49 stats (speed)

Unsteady in her movements and even with a little bit of staggering Yamakura was able to begin the second part of the race. Hopefully this one would bring her more joy than the one from earlier. Staying close to the young girl but not making it too obvious what he was planning, Asahi started to run as well. "The pain will go away after a while, don't worry. Just try and hang on." The scarred Meijin smiled again, hoping to assure the kunoichi of the fact that everything would be alright. There was nothing wrong with having a little fun from time to time and maybe that was something Yamakura still had to realize.

Asahi could only imagine how hard it might be for a young girl to deal with the prestige and reputation of a clan as famous as the Uchiha. Living with the idea of having to be perfect, making no mistakes, no room for failure. It could explain why Yamakura was constantly trying her hardest. "You know, there will be moments in your life where you'll be faced with hardships and you won't be able to overcome them every single time. Sometimes you'll fail, make mistakes and that's perfectly fine. We're only human after all. The most important thing is to learn from those mistakes. No one is perfect, even though it's expected from shinobi like us. Don't be afraid of doing something wrong, once you learned how to do that you'll be fine." All the while he was rambling the scarred teenager noticed they had already covered quite some distance.

He wondered if she had already figured out he was holding back on purpose, his only aim to let Yamakura win and arrive at the Ramen Shop before he did. Of course Asahi didn't plan on remaining five meters behind her, that would be too obvious. So he would simply remain about half a meter to her left, close enough to catch her if she fell but far enough to make sure she got to their destination first. Assuming nothing happened the two of them would finally arrive at Ichiraku Noodle Bar. "Good job, you won!" With a smile on his face the scarred Meijin congratulated Yamakura with her victory, hoping it cheered her up even if only a little. "Why don't we sit down for a minute? All that running made me a bit tired after all" he laughed while taking his seat at one of the tables nearby. Wondering if Shibata would show up after figuring out they didn't follow him.

(WC: 426, TWC: 3596)

Shibata was wondering back to where they started when he heard a familiar voice saying, "Good job, you won!" coming from inside a Ramen Shop that caught his attention, recognizing it as the voice of the scarred Meijin he had met earlier in the day. Peaking open through the door, the Rebel Heart saw both Asahi and Yamakura getting ready to sit down at a table and order some ramen, so in a sense of shame, the young Nara clan member quickly ducked his head back out of the view of his two fellow shinobi, assessing the situation and what he was going to do. Option A, the easier option, simply leave and forget that any of this ever happened, trying to never see these guys again so that he never had to deal with the guilt of being a dick and his prideful nature taking quite the hit should he pursue option B. Option B, the harder option, but the morally upstanding one, Shibata would go inside the ramen shop and offer, eugh, the thought disgusted him, an apology, damaging his ego and his pride, but potentially salvaging the opinion of himself from the other two ninja and, while causing momentary guilt, would assist in the absolution of the Rebel Heart's misdeeds.

Shibata had to make a decision, and so he swallowed his pride and stepped through the entrance to the Ramen shop, catching again in his eyes the two people he had formerly agreed to race with. He scratched the back of his head as his face slowly turned a bright shade of red before he chirped up, speaking at first at a mutter, but then gaining his voice, "Hey guys, I just wanted to say sorry for the whole shadow possession thing back there. In competitions I know I can get quite... overly zealous and overly excited when it comes to competition so, sorry if I went a bit too far, that was my bad." The young Nara clan member took a moment to breathe before continuing, "I know you guys probably don't want to see me no more than you done already have today, but if it's a way to make up for it, I can pay for your ramen then get out of your hair, and if it's any consolation to you all, Karma was in full force as soon after I released my shadow imitation jutsu, I damn near broke my back falling down an alley, guess I got what I deserved, don't you think?" Shibata had transitioned from an awkward, guilt ridden face to one more friendly and was even cracking a significantly less devilish, more wholesome, smile as he tried his best to ask for forgiveness, something he was not used to in the slightest.

Waiting for their response, Shibata was starting to get anxious. What if they were gonna hold this over him, what if they were gonna tell the town and try and get everyone and their moms to mock the Rebel Heart... what if they wouldn't forgive him. As nice as Shibata was trying to be, he had seriously fucked up and he wouldn't blame them if they chose not to forgive him. The thought of this gave rise to a sharp pain in his gut, a pain not spurred on from his earlier fall, but instead in how truly sorry had been, and how sorry he would be should the two not find him sincere any longer

WC: 579, TWC: 3,655

As the scarred Meijin was waiting for his order to arrive he couldn't help but get the feeling another pair of eyes were staring at his back. For now he wouldn't pay all too much attention to it, perhaps the stare came from someone who had smelled the delicious food being prepared at the Ramen Shop, or maybe it simply was because he got recognized by another individual who didn't want to bother him while he was eating, or at least about to. Anyway, dinner was about to be served so Asahi's focus would be on the bowl of noodles in front of him, not minding anything or anyone around him.

While he was busy enjoying his meal the young teenager's mind started wondering about what would happen the next couple of days. Not too long from the current time did he expect to leave the village. Not certain where to go or what to do, but at least he knew the day had finally come and that was all he needed to know. Asahi was aware he was far from how strong he wished to be, but he also felt he had grown and gained enough power to handle things on his own in the case a situation would require him to do so.

When he was almost done finishing his ramen Asahi noticed Shibata had showed up. The rebel was probably the one who he could feel staring earlier but wasn't sure whether or not he should come and say hi after what happened during their race. The Nara came in and apologized, even offered to pay for their meal. "Don't worry, I can understand why you did those things. I mainly felt bad for Yamakura which is why I decided to try and cheer her up." The young kunoichi wasn't the most confident of the bunch after all, so the Meijin took it upon himself to make her feel better. 

"Let bygones be bygones. Life's too short to be bothered by these sort of things. At the end no one got hurt and that's what counts." Now that he had completely finished his meal it was time for the scarred Meijin to take his leave. "As much as I would love to catch up I have somewhere else to be soon, but I'm sure we'll run into each other soon enough. It was nice meeting you, see you guys later." And off he went. 

(Exit)

(TWC: 4003)
Claims:
- 40 stats
- 2500/2500 Soul Expulsion
- 1000/1000 Chakra Shroud
- 500/500 Storage Displacement

Shibata slapped some ryo on the table before replying to his fellow Genin, saying, "Yeah, I'm in a similar position, sorry again Yamakura," he then looked to her, regret in his eyes, trying to see if this attempt at an apology was working in the slightest. After the scarred Meijin assured the Rebel Heart that it was no big deal, not a big problem at all, reminding the young Nara that, "At the end no one got hurt and that's what counts," before responing with, "Thanks, that really helps me not feel so... well, like complete shit." The genin saw the same shinobi he was just speaking to scarf down his food before gathering his things at an extreme pace and bidding his goodbyes to the two other ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, assuring them both that he would see them later. "See ya," Shibata said, "May not have had the greatest of times together, but I sure do hope to see you around, there is a lot of shit going down and seeing a familiar face among all this chaos can be... reassuring to people like myself," before watching him walk out the door from the ramen shop.

Shibata then turned to the young kunoichi and, seeing that she was still eating her ramen, spoke up, "Heyo kid, I think I'm going to deuce on out of here, not much left for me to do in this village let alone this ramen shop. You might see me here and there, and if I'm around and you need me or want someone to train with, just give me a holler and I'll be there in no time at all, you got that? But yeah, that said I'm gonna go walk through those doors. Believe in yourself and you can become a full fledged fucking Leaf ninja in no time at all I say, no time at all." Shibata had begun to trail off to the end there, his mind obviously wandering as he just couldn't seem to focus. With all this said, the young Nara clan member left a bit of some extra ryo as a tip, then left the ramen shop, hoping that he had made amends.

TWC: 4,023
+19 speed
+17 Stamina
+8 AP from training beyond stats
Continued from Hunters Hunted
3rd Spec Fuinjutsu: (3k/3k)
Four Symbols Seal: (3k/3k)
Fuinjutsu Breaking E rank, free with spec, D rank (375/375), C rank (333/750)

Approved