Another day Another Shuriken

With the passing of the rain came a cold chill that blew across the Leaf forcing its citizens to close their windows and gather around their fireplaces as they enjoyed the warmth of their feasts. For ninja it was yet another day of either training or mission taking as many ninjas moved around in order to either leave the village to faraway lands or to proceed into the nearby woods to get a bit of their own training in before going on whatever their missions required of them. For the academy students it was a day of learning in the classrooms as Suraida was sat at a table with a pencil in hand looking a board or boredom being written on by a piece of chalk held by someone who did not want to be there just as much as the students didn't. He tried to be enthusiastic with his teaching, but it was proving to be a losing battle for his wits as some students were bored enough to fall asleep with their heads in their hands. Even Suraida was close to being put to sleep by the lecture as much of what was being taught were lessons he had already been taught in the past.

Other lessons showed interesting topics worth listening to such as how to properly plan the trajectory of shuriken and kunai in order to make them effective when using them against enemies. It was a bit of geometry as well as science in order to learn it all and, given that he had bought himself a set of weapons not too long ago, he intended to use them in his training next time he was out of class. He took his notes and thus studied on certain ranges and trajectories, studying the effects of power shuriken can have when thrown closer or farther from a target, as he listened to the lectures he attended in order to know more. After class was over he would go out to the training facility that he had been told about by his peers in order to practice his weapons training. He didn't bring his whole lot of shuriken as he only wished to try with a few and didn't want to potentially make a mess. He saw others younger than him training in the same way as he was about to and they seemed to either be naturals at what they were doing or they had been practicing for quite some time... He had a feeling he wasn't going to be quite so natural at this.

He picked out one of his shuriken from within one of his pockets and got into a stance to make for throwing. He focused on the target in question and tried to picture in his mind the trajectory that he would need to throw the shuriken in order for it to reach the intended target. Once he had a good picture, or so he thought, he brought his arms and wrist forward and let the shuriken fly as it soared from his hand in an arch that curved seemingly towards it's target. What wound up happening, however, was the shuriken instead curved a bit too hard as it soared straight past the large round target and clattered uselessly on the ground. He sighed seeing this as a few kids next to him laughed in his direction and he tried to ignore them as he prepared another shuriken for throwing as he focused on the target yet again and let the second shuriken loose with a bit less of an arch than before. What happened this time was the shuriken flying straight up into the air instead of travelling in the arch as he planned. It clattered along the roof of the academy before sliding down the tiles and falling back to the ground in the dirt.

He knew it was a longshot getting things down the first time or first few times. Though, as he heard the sounds of laughter from the surrounding kids, he was starting to get a bit frustrated as he picked up the last shuriken he had on him and got back into a stance. He tried to calm himself as he was the oldest of the group and that meant there was a level of maturity expected from him. However he was also still young at heart and being laughed at by people much younger than him was causing a well of jealousy to spring forth within him causing his emotions to get the better of him. Of course, that went against the teachings of one of the classes he had attended which told him that ninja were meant to be masters of their emotions and he tried to recall those teachings as he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate his focus on the target. When he felt that he was calm enough to attempt one final throw he opened his eyes and brought his arm around with a flick of his wrist causing the shuriken to travel in an arc.

What happened was either miraculous or mere coincidence as his shuriken collided with the shuriken of one of the students nearby who had just thrown their own shuriken causing them both to bounce off each other as Suraida's own shuriken travelled straight for the target and hit it dead in the center. The shuriken he had hit flew towards a completely different target from where it was originally meant to go as it also his the center of a more far off target. The kids were actually stunned by this, no longer laughing at Suraida, as he was mentally doing backflips in celebration over something that was completely out of his control. He walked over to the target he had hit and pulled out his shuriken from the straw before moving around to pick up the remaining shuriken so that he could try his luck with target practice once more. He was going to try to hit a target himself this time though the memory of the amazing ricochet shuriken was going to remain in his mind as he practiced.

He would train on that field for an hour, throwing shuriken at multiple targets over and over again, as he undertook the mannerism of repetition in order to get his throws right as he had a few that hit where he intended to hit but the majority of what he threw were misses. He couldn't keep doing this forever, however, as he could feel his arms were getting tired and he stood up from his stance and walked over to the shuriken in order to pick them up one more time. After collecting his three shuriken he dropped the shuriken into his pocket (he needed to buy himself a weapon pouch at some point) before he went over and picked up his pack in order to make his way back inside the academy as he had one last class. He had to run in order to get there on time, yet he didn't realize just how crowded the streets were going to be at this time. He zoomed past multiple people, making certain his pack didn't hit anyone or that he didn't have to push or shove anyone out of the way, as he ran through the front entrance of the academy and calmed down in order to walk through the halls instead of running like a maniac.

He walked into the classroom just on time as he took a seat at his assigned seat and waited for the teacher to get started with her lecture which seemed to involve chakra refinement and jutsu manipulation. This was going to prove an actually interesting class for Suraida as he got out his notebook and a pencil ready to start taking notes. Unknown to him there was another student attending the class with him that had been watching him closely for a good bit of time, a would be kunoichi in a mask that covered the lower half of her face that was looking at Suraida intently for some reason, as Suraida remained oblivious to her glare. It was unknown why she was looking at the dude with a seeming intent behind her stare but it went unnoticed by everyone including the teacher and Suraida throughout the entire class. Once the lesson was over Suraida packed up his notebook and made his way to the door and left back out into the hall that led to the main entrance of the academy.

He was intent on getting himself something to eat before he went straight back home. Perhaps some barbecue from the local joint he often got his favorite bits of food from. Maybe Ichiraku Ramen as he hadn't had a good bowl of ramen in quite a while? He wouldn't make it very far, however, as someone fell and landed a mere foot away from him from out of nowhere as he stumbled back a bit in shock. He saw that it was the masked student who had been watching him during the last class, unknown to him of course, and in her hand she was holding a piece of paper. "Uh..." he said still confused and a little shocked that he was being stopped in this way by a complete stranger. "Can I help you?" The girl said nothing but offered the folded paper that was in her hand to him as he took it and, without a word, she jumped up and disappeared in a haze of smoke and dust from the street dirt. Suraida coughed a bit at that, waving the dust out of his face, before he looked at the piece of paper in bewilderment and opened it up to see a single sentence. "Meet me at the training facility tomorrow at noon if you want to get better at shuriken throwing." It wasn't signed with any name as Suraida nodded his head while contemplating about whether or not he should roll the paper into a ball and forget about it. He decided not to, though, as he couldn't help but feel this was an opportunity for him to learn and thus he put it in his pocket and continued about his day.

WC 1,712

Claiming 17 stats to put 15 towards Strength and 2 towards Speed as well as the techs Ventriloquism, Discipline, Mark Seal, Cat Eyes, Sensory Deprivation, Swish and Flick, Mind Read, and Fear Pull with mastery for no hand seals (All jutsus at 25% off for being learned in advanced training facility; All E rank techs at 250 - 25% = 188 WC; 188 x 9 = 1,692 WC required)

Approved on claims