Genin Training Gone Wrong

The sound of steel on steel resounds through a mountain. High atop some peak in a forest of stony crags the pale eyed ninja trades blows with another. The wind whips around, each one on the precipice of their respective edge, threatening to fall at a moments notice. Sweat beads on his brow as he brings his sword down onto their neck, they dip past. Its a second of adjustment as his sword changes course, diving into their side instead. They take the gouge but deliver their own into Matsu's leg. He grits his teeth before kicking and sending the enemy off. However they grab, he panics. There falling, the ground racing towards them as clouds and cliffs race up past them and . 


Paused. 


Mitsu sighs. Getting out of the figures arms he stands atop the air, walking over to the wall and the control pannel floating in the sky. A few clicks and the room returns to its stark white. Ah well. Needed to keep on his toes. He heads over to a wall, taking out his bottle of water and a small protein bar as he rests before his next go at it all. 

[196]

"Hey Miss Mitsu." The door opens as Yuri steps in hands in her jacket pockets as loose fitting sweats with a jacket made themselves her companion for the day. A slightly darker gray than her hair, only broken up by the black of her sandals. She hadn't really fought anyone besides training with her dad, so even something like showing her abilities in front of a friend was a bit of an experience. Though...she didn't expect any kind of training room like this, she was starting to feel like more and more she wasn't aware enough about the stuff she just had access to as a fellow kunoichi.


Blinking slowly, she takes a casual gait to where Mitsu is standing, it always caught her off guard how delicate Mitsu looked. The pale skin and white eyes reminding her of all those stories dad would tell of kabuki. All it would need was a few dashes of hot blooded red paint and Mitsu could be a kabuki character easy. She never got a good like, but she was wondering whether Mitsu's hands were just like her. It made her wonder about where she kept her own hands.


They were honestly kind of rough, and calloused. Years of sword and smithing had done their own work. She mostly kept her hands in her pockets nowadays, though could she say it was shame, or was it even confidence. It was more like a noncommittal sludge in her heart. It was just kind of a hassle to show off her hands, and pockets were comfy. All this thinking was starting to scratch the surface of something for Yuri, though in exchange she came off as just silently staring as she stops in front of Mitsu. If uninterrupted she tries to shake off the fog in her head again.

"So training right? You were talking about chakra infusion the last time we met. I'd been making some good progress on some training of my own but I haven't really felt as progressive as I wanted...good money though, like ya said."


WC: 345

Mitsu looks up to see whoever it was that had arrived. Ah Yuri, the new kunoichi. He'd go to stand before he is stopped dead in his tracks. Miss? Did he really look that feminine? He coughs "Uh. Well it's mister but also you do not need to use any terms like that with me. Just Mitsu is fine." He laughs it off, assuming she didn't intend to offend. 

Honestly looking at her Mitsu assumed what he assumed of most people at first glance. Commoner. But then he'd remind himself that that way of thinking would not lead anywhere good. Mitsu and her were a good contrast. Slender and soft versus hardened and callous. His black hair to her gray. His noble growth to her common rise. 

He'd carry himself as though he were a prince, not even trying to but his straightened back, the grace to his movements, the calmness to his voice and the resting look as though he were appraising whoever he spoke to. Of course none of it was a decision, it was simply how he was raised, how he was now. He'd wait for her to speak again, giving her her time to examine. 

"Chakra infusion, ofcourse. Have you got your own weapon or would you like to borrow one of my own?" By his bag lied two swords. One in a grey leather scabbard and one in a metal scabbard wrapped in black cloth.

"I'll have to borrow one, thanks." Using other swords wasn't the dearest idea to her, it was a weird mental complex she could never explain. Though she also had to stop and correct herself. He? So Mitsu was a guy? Well that was awkward. "Sorry ma'a- I mean man. So what is this place by the way? I've never seen stuff like this before. When I was a kid I just trained in a grassy field with a wooden sword."

Her eyes were drawn to the pair of swords. Of course her curiosity would be piqued, any blacksmith's child would probably be the same. In her head at least.

WC: 454

"This place is the advanced training facility. We're a hub of oceanic trade so the village and R&D have a good amount of money to splurge as you can see. This place can put you into whatever environment you could want. I haven't the faintest idea how it works but its still pretty fun." He stands up form his seat stretching his arms up high, kicking over the leather bound sword to Yuri as he goes through a few stretches. His clothing this time was not the practical kirigakure armor, instead looking like simple house robes. Expensive ones but simple ones. 

Finished stretching he takes up the black scabbard, pulling from it a vibrant blue blade. The pommel with a decoration of a dragon carved into it. "How much have you done so far then?" He'd wanna gauge her experience if any before going into it. No use treading past ground. 

[347]

"Most of it is basic sword proficiency. Well, weapon proficiency. I've started properly studying iajutsu by myself. Though honestly there's been more important stuff on my mind so I've only picked up a few things...really the biggest thing is learning a quick draw and slash. That was the best I could do in a week or so."

She didn't have a metric besides her own dad's ability and teaching to know how fast or slow things should be. All she knew was she spent alot of her hours alone meditating, or in self study when she wasn't working for money. Though she did have half an hour every day to do fun stuff. She'd never seen radio and all that stuff before. It put a smile on her face the more she thought about it. Transmitting someone's voice from far away.


"You?" She picks up the plain looking blade. The feel of the grip, the weight of the balance, the length and the make felt wrong. She didn't want to say inferior but it was like a worm in her brain. It was a weird little thing that bothered her all her life. All the weapons she used felt usable but not ideal. They weren't the right fit. Her hands squirm a little as she holds it near her hip. The pommel facing the same direction as Yuri. It was proper for Iai. The blade glints as she pulls it out of the scabbard at full speed.


There was a glint of light on steel as she quickly goes from a quick draw into stance. Sword in her right hand, held up right, with her right foot forward with her left back. The image of a 'proper' stance.


WC: 742

"Most of my experience comes from just training or sparring with my superiors." He responds as he walks around her, seeing her form. Her stiffness. "And how much do you know about your chakra control?" She'd feel light taps of metal on her legs, her arms. Mitsu nudging them to be relaxed or in slightly different areas. Then he sees how tightly she breaths. Quick, staggered. He notes it as a spot to focus later. 

"You'll need to remember. You're a shinobi. Not a samurai. We don't get to make the mistakes they do. Odds are on most missions you'll be alone and without a squad to pick you up. Training your control of chakra in ways other than your body will be one of the main things you need to learn. Most fields will offer you something in that realm. Be it Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, even Fuinjutsu has its place. You can release the form now." He tells her. Admittedly he was going off the cuff. But he figured it was good to point out. odds are her family wasn't a clan. He wondered what she'd done up to this point. Normally he'd assume someone like her was just some civilian.

"I want you infusing your chakra into the sword, I want to see how you do it."  it would be one of the simpler ways to guide her along. Help her focus what she knew even better.

[585]

That really wasn't much a lesson on how to use chakra infusion. 'Just do it.' wasn't really helpful and the nonplussed look on Yuri's face sold the displeasure. Her sword is her soul, even if the limb felt wrong the blade was still an extension of herself. Her heart, her mind, her sword all were united. Gathering her mental energy and physical energy before letting it flow through her, and then the sword itself.




Visualizing it as an extension of her body, with its own flow and its own life. The chakra runs down the blade as she encounters the first issue. No matter what she was still new to this skill, so the absolute focus she dedicated to this is focus she can't use for anything else. Where her instinctive control was lacking she had just been making up with effort. It was less than an ideal.


She had a hate and love feeling when she'd finay.understood surface walking. What this meant though was that while she was getting down the concept of chakra infusion she was still stuck standing there to do it.


WC: 639

"Honestly?" Mitsu could remember back to a certain young man he was trying to teach who had somehow dislocated his shoulder in trying to do this same jutsu "Not awful. Trust me there are many that somehow hurt themselves doing simple practice like this." He walks next  to her blace, observing the chakra flowing through and out of the blade. 

"Now what you're doing right now is simple chakra infusion. It's the easiest way to do this but also the least efficient. You're basically pouring chakra into something without giving it form. The next stage will need you to do as follows" He performs three hand signs slowly for her to see. His sword held under his arm. Tiger, Boar and then a Clap of his hands. He grips his sword. Where's her chakra was rough and unruly, edging out and leaking into the air. The chakra of Mitsu's jutsu was calm and collected. Dim along the blade but still sharp.

"This is Flying Swallow. You use the hand seals to shape the chakra while it's inside then you project it out through your hand to cling onto the blade. It's the simplest of the infusion techniques but it's the basis for many many other jutsu you'll be using. With this the chakra isnt just chakra, it isnt just strenghtening the blade. It sharpens it, it has a stable form and more power. This also acts as the basis for other jutsu to build upon" 

He then performs three additional seals, again giving her time to see each one, ram rat and tiger. These leading into the chakra along his sword becoming a harsher solid blue color and extending far past the edge of his actual sword, curving back into a scimitar shape "For example. The samurai sabre technique. Wherein you apply shape transformation to the chakra as you form it. Thus allowing it to grow longer, wider, achieve different shapes, and more. Both this and flying swallow will rely on the same principle of trusting the chakra to hold when you use it. Chakra infusion can't withstand the rigor of actually striking, it only enforced the structure of the weapon."

[946]

"I see."

Now she was actually doing basic overhead slashes. It was simple now actually, even if she had to think to infuse her chakra, as long as her bodies movements were instinctive she could focus on planning the battle and managing her own energy reserves. It was just a matter of training and instinct, something she was familiar with.


"Alright, I think I'm getting those, though I think I'd learn a little faster with more live exercises if you know what I mean."

Most of her training from her father was heavily biased towards live fighting. With wooden swords maybe but still actual fighting. In a weird way it was easier for her to imagine herself doing fighting with this in combat than just standing here. Though the real issue was learning to add this to her movements and make them natural.


"Plus I never saw you fight either. You're still a genin though so maybe none of us have. It was kind of a shock really, the academy training was a bit more peaceful than the stuff dad made me do before I got to go to the academy."

Really having her face off against wild animals as a warmup to what ended up kind of just being a school ended up making it, not disappointing, jarring.


WC:858