[Training] Shibata Nara: A lesson from his father

MID THREAD CLAIM:
Shadow imitation jutsu C-rank, using 64 from here https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t44614-shibata-learning-to-control-chakra#350019 (1k/1k)

Remaining TWC in this thread: 33

Shibata studies his father as he moves across from him, making sure he studied the distance. The elder Nara told him to stand still, before forming the sign of the rat, as Shibata saw the shadow of the wisened hunter distort. At first it stretched into some sort of prolonged human, not quite the right dimensions. The fingers looked like taffy being rolled out, they seemed to be mashed together, not of definite shape, but it clearly wasn't human. It then transitioned into a line, and dashed towards the Rebel Heart in the same war scythe formation Shibata had been taught to approach a deer caught in this justu. It approached, getting thinner and thinner as it moved faster and faster. Shibata had a sudden natural panic, as although he knew his life wasn't in danger, he knew he was soon to be trapped. He started shivering and chattering his teeth in fear, and then - stillness. 
"Shadow imitation jutsu.... completed." His father said, scratching the back of his head, as Shibata copied the same action, without any say in the matter. "You may notice," he continued, "you are no longer in control of your own actions, with your shadow taken, I have also taken your movement. This is the shadow imitation jutsu, this is our clan's prestige, this is your legacy."
"Dad, I know what it is, I just never knew how it felt. What... what can I do to learn this jutsu, and how can I perfect it?" the son replied.
"I don't know if I can teach you to master this jutsu, but I can sure as hell try, and I'm confident I can teach you at least how to use it like I can. Now in order to use this jutsu, you're gonna need to prioritize knowledge. I know, this may be corny, but it's really important. A man has got to know his limitations, and this is very important as a knowing the limitations of this jutsu can be the difference between life and death, it comes with a lot of chakra control. If you know what you can do, you guarantee that you are going to catch someone, then go ahead and do it, that traps the opponent and is typically a pathway to victory. This high reward comes with an equally high risk. If you are uncertain about the success of this jutsu, however, it is best not to use it as it can leave you open to attack by others, or by a quick target."
"Got it pops, if I miss, it can be game over, so it's best to plan in a way that guarantees that my shadow connects with my opponents." Shibata said, seemingly carelessly.
"Take heed, Shibata. This is a certainty, don't think about it so nonchalantly!" his elder chided, "Now, we are going to work together on the changing the shape of your, just after a break," the father shifted from the stern attitude he previously had to a jovial one at the speed of sound as he continued, "After all, keeping this all up is tiring, why don't you try focusing your chakra for a bit, I'm going to need a second."
And so Shibata tried to form his shadow in the same shapes he saw his father. By concentrating his chakra and forming the hand seal of the rat, he started moving his shadow. It didn't start as a one hundred percent perfect, but instead with some simplistic manipulation. He could only make one arm slightly longer, then he would try again, this time stretching his head out to a pin, sparking a snide comment by his father of "Congrats, you somehow made your shadow resemble you even further than it did naturally."
"You know what, thanks old man, thank you for all your help. Jeez, it's no wonder that you never become a ninja, you could never get along with anyone. On that topic I guess it makes sense why ma left then, ha." Shibata snipped, carefully using his words to harm his father as much as possible.
"You ungrateful, irreverent, unrespectful ass! How dare you up your mother at a time like this! When I'm trying to HELP YOU, by giving you our clan's prized jutsu, that of the shadow imitation and how do you repay me? You insult me, and you bring up your mother? At a time like this? Son, if you don't give me a heart attack with this I'm going to kill you! I swear to all that you find holy you will pay for this disrespect!" the elder Nara said as he lost any sort of composure. He grabbed the chair he had been resting on previously, but had since stood up from, and pursued his child with murderous intent, caught up in rage. After the father dashed to his son faster than he had ever moved before, he held the chair up as high as he could, with the obvious intent to administer corporal punishment on the young one who he had until moments ago exclusively been receiving love from the man, but now was on the receiving end of incredible amounts of hatred from his honor defending father.
As his sire lifted a chair of impending doom, preparing to crash it on his surprised son, a thousand thoughts raced through his head. Shibata was so thoroughly surprised by his father's reaction, he thought that the mention of his mother would cripple his dad, making him just pout for a bit as some sort of way to shut him up and maybe work as a way to get some sort of retaliation for the "pinhead" comment. As the moment came closer and closer, he just held one solitary wish, a wish for his father to stop, he wished for his father to freeze, and just as he was bringing the chair down, almost instinctively, Shibata made the sign of the rat. The father stood frozen.
"Shadow imitation jutsu complete."

AP:80/100

(WC: 1000, TWC: 1033)

The two members of the Nara clan in the forest that day stood completely still. A moment passed, and Shibata released the technique, yet the both of them still stood there still, motionless. Shibata stood there, shocked beyond any belief he actually managed to properly conduct the jutsu, and just in time to save him from that impending massive headache. He was relieved, he was shocked, and he was overcome with a sense of pride as he had finally obtained the jutsu so prominent among his clan. His father had much more conflicting emotions, fighting in his mind in spirit to see which might be the more dominant one. The lightning of anger stormed across the battlefield of his emotions as the prideful earth grounded it, leaving a sea of resentment and one other thing, a flame of joy. While this flame was much smaller than the other elements, it grew strong enough to boil the sea of resentment, it scorched the prideful earth and filled the old man with an overwhelming sense of joy, burning more intense than any flame he had known. The father's face had contorted into some sort of amalgam of all the emotions that had been battling, and the tears streaking all over it did not help Shibata in his attempt to see what his father was feeling. Once the first tear fell, it was like time had been paused and only now resumed. Shibata started, "Dad, I'm sorr-" as his father dropped the chair he was holding and interrupted his son with the grandest bear hug he could muster. The younger Nara was stunned, he thought he would be beyond angry. Not only did he insult him, not only did he attack the soft spot of his mother, he also used his pa's own jutsu against him, Shibata thought he would be furious, but much to his surprise, through his father's tears, Shibata swore he could make out something his father was saying something along the lines of, "You've made me so happy, son, I'm so proud." With this being said, both men, mirroring each other, but not in a compulsory way, fell to their knees, absorbed by emotion. 

The two Nara clan members, young and old, similarly rested but from different exhaustion. The elder rested his mind from the emotional rollercoaster he had experienced, and the younger rested his body from the toil that a new jutsu takes on their endurance. After they both recovered, the father spoke up. He said, "Son, there is still daylight left, by my count we'll have the time to catch maybe 3 more deer if we're lucky, and I'd say that is one solid feast for when we get home. Now, pick yourself up, we got work to do." 

And so Shibata did exactly that. He picked himself up, dusted off his attire and got ready to properly go hunting. "Let's try out my new jutsu" Shibata said, "I'm just dying to try it out, pa."

"Very well, now make sure it follows my shadow as I approach when we find a deer, you want to make sure we catch it," the father instructed, guiding Shibata through the dense forest. "There," he whispered, "in the bushes over there, a deer. Remember, connect the shadows, catch the deer, and the rewards will be ours."

Following his father's call out, Shibata focused in on the deer, then his chakra. He honed in on the lone deer, 8 points, quite the catch, before waiting for a sign from his father to send out his shadow imitation jutsu. There! His father dashed out and so Shibata shot out his shadow directly for the deer. Just as the father got close enough to tackle the deer, it noticed the shadow approaching it and launched off as the father tried to jump on what he was assuming would be a still target, missing completely as the buck managed to dash away after noticing the shadow, and getting itself lost in the forest. With this miss, the father then proceeded to face plant on the ground where the would be meal would have been.

Shibata fully expected his father to chide him for this, filled with some sort of loud screaming, some insults to his intellect, and an overall insinuation of the son's incompetence. But, in place of this, his father just got up, dusted himself off, and laughed. Through his chuckle, he said "Welp, looks like you messed up the timing a bit and forgot to hide your shadow inside mine, remember to do that for next time and we'll get the deer for sure! I think I neglected to give you the proper perspective, how about this time you do the tying up, and I'll use my shadow imitation jutsu to keep it still. Does that work for you?"

Shibata just blinked for a while, before trying to reclaim his cool with a casual "Yeah, sure," trying his best to contain the amount of contentment gained from the approval and willingness to help of his father. Now reassured, he took out his 10 meters of wire, and prepared to tie up any deer the duo stumble across, as long as it didn't make him look like a nerd, or take too long, after all, Shibata does have plans for tomorrow, even if they are just to stare at the sky.

As Shibata twirled around the wire about his palms, the more experienced hunter of the two, papa Nara, eventually put up a hand that Shibata now realized meant a deer was near. Shibata circumspected his surroundings before locating the buck, noticeably smaller than the previous dear, only sitting at 6-points. The Nara of this forest looked to each other before giving a nod of understanding, and initiating the traditional plan for deer hunting, this time Shibata paying much more attention to each aspect of this. As he saw his father start to extend his shadow, along the war scythe path he was already beginning to run. His eyes seemed more active than normal for a reason he could not quite place. He saw the deer start to react, but by then it was too late. He realized why the shadow needed to hide in that of the one attempting to physically tie up the game. As the grappler jumped up to tackle the deer, their shadow enlarged and allowed for the nara keeping up the rat hand symbol to connect his shadow to that of the deer.
"Shadow possession... complete" said the father.
That was all his dad had to say, Shibata thought as he took the wire out and began tying up the buck, making sure to secure the antlers and the hooves before starting the trek back to the dressing station. While the two were making their way, game in toe, Shibata discussed how he was not entirely satisfied with this. "Damn," he said, "I was really hoping my first deer I successfully hunted would be... more substantial. That 8 point would have been amazing, I'm just kind of disappointed I failed the first time, and only succeeded when it was a lesser challenge."
"Hey, shut up kid, I won't be having that talk," his father said sternly, "You have got to pick yourself up. Nobody does something and has it end up perfect just because it would be dramatically appropriate, at least, not most of the time anyway."
They brought the deer to the dressing station before actually getting to the meat of the issue they had to get to. Using his father's knife, the young Shibata Nara took the life of the helpless deer. This made him feel quite guilty as taking the life of an innocent was not something he ever wanted to do, but he knew that in this case it was a necessity, he needed to get food, and thus it was a just cause. He was causing an overall positive impact. Getting down in the guts of the thing did not help these thoughts, but eventually he had it done, with decent cuts of venison he knew he would be feasting on tonight. His father then taught him how to take off the antlers of the deer using wire. The wire is to be wrapped around the base of the antler before being used to saw off said antler. Shibata sat there for about 30 minutes just taking off that first antler, but as it progressed he was getting better, and the second antler only took fifteen minute, cutting the time in half. Finally he finished with skinning the deer and stripping the leather into strips, as it was not of particularly good quality. Finishing up his first deal, Shibata was filled with satisfaction, knowing that not only had he learned a new jutsu, but his father taught him how to hunt and continue the family tradition as well.
They left the dressing station bringing the fruits of their labor back to the house, following the path that came from the village. Shibata heard something in the trees around him, and told his dad to tell go ahead of him, as he was gonna go check it out. Armed with only his wire, he went further into the forest chasing after the sound he heard, which he could swear sounded like the call of a buck. As Shibata entered these woods he saw it. It was magnificent. It's feet stood like four tree trunks leading up in majestic fur to a grand, well fed belly. The torso was grand, large yet still with definition, with a coif of white fur leading to the neck that served as a pristine pathway to the head that held a huge ten point crown of antler. Shibata was stunned by the great stag that made him feel like a child in comparison. Quickly his resolve kicked in, and he quickly realized this was the best time to use his new justu, as it was sunset, meaning each shadow was made much larger. First step he made the sign of the rat, initiating his shadow imitation jutsu, which used the shadows of the tree to hide its presence before catching the shadow of the stag.
"Shadow imitation jutsu... complete!" he said in astonishment, "I can't believe this, I got it. Pa come here quick!" 
...
There was no response
"Pa, you there?" Shibata questioned, worried.
Damn, he thought, It looks like I'm on my own for this, how am I gonna tie this big fucker up, looks like it would be hard with two people, let alone one, jeesh. He fell deep in thought, considered his weaponry and then the prey before him. Solution! He tied the wire in a 5 layer cat's cradle and approached the deer, causing the stag to do the same, and met his hands on his antlers, just as his justsu was forced to be released, he tied the antlers to his own hands using the typical kids game. Instantly the buck tried... well... bucking him off of his horns, but shibata managed to maintain his connection, channeling his strength. He called upon his chakra and managed to get a bigger sense of the situation. He used the tree walking technique to dash up a nearby tree and tied the wired from his hands to the branch, binding the stag to the tree and allowing the Nara freedom of movement, while keeping his target trapped. He slit the throat of the beast and it was finished. He took the beast back to his home where his father, astonished by the size of the creature and the fact that Shibata captured it all by himself, helped Shibata properly dress the animal, making a damn fine pelt, large enough for a human to wear, as well as quality meat that was enjoyed that night alongside the same meat of Shibata's first catch. The day ended with Shibata feeling something he doesn't often, fulfilled. He was finally satisfied, if only for a moment.

15/100 AP

(WC: 2005, TWC:3038)

END THREAD

Claiming 40 chakra using 4000 WC (including pre-midthread claim)
38/1500 Shadow Imitation Jutsu B Rank
3k/3k Shadow Gathering technique