Training and Protecting

Missions:

Hara had wasted almost half the day trying to promote this damn self defense class. He was, for obvious reasons, terrible at promotion. He only had a couple days to get the class on the books and done, or else it would be a failure. Something Hara did not like, and would not accept.

He pondered his predicament while having a cup of tea on one of the many benches that dotted the sparsely populated town. Tea was one of the few comforts he had found himself enjoying, and he had developed a routine of slowly preparing it every morning. He looked around the village as he steeped his tea and sipped from the simple cup he bought.

This little hidden village was interesting. At first glance it was completely empty, but on closer inspection you could see the signs of activity. The walls hid the few hundred citizens that did live here, and they used mainly side alleys to get around town. He enjoyed the quiet stillness of this place, but resolved himself to go put some fliers up at the local watering hole where most of the village congregated after a long day's work.

Once he arrived at the bar he began putting up the fliers,and He tried telling people about his class but it was to no avail, he didn’t have the knack for selling things and he certainly wasn’t impressing anyone at the moment no matter how tall and strong he looked. Luckily, opportunity presented itself in the form of a few unruly gangsters.

Hara watched as the gangsters menaced the local populace, stealing food or drinks. Jeering at anyone who dared look at them, he could tell these men had the attention of the patrons, a perfect opportunity to take that attention for himself. He walked up to the gangsters as they harassed a barmaid. Staring down at them with a menacing glare he gently moved the barmaid away and behind him.

“Oh we got a tough guy here huh, real protector. “ They laughed and began to circle him, surrounding him in a half circle as his back was pushed up against the bar. Hara could’ve been more intimidating, or said something to make them back down, but he wanted the fight. He simply stood upright, his arms at his side.There was a brief pause as the gangsters jeered at him and then moved forward to attack, one sending an errant right haymaker towards his head. Another with a knife in his hand looking to slash at his leg.

Hara deftly blocked the first punch, entangling the man's arm under his armpit before yanking him forward and headbutting him unconscious. He kicked at the wrist of the man who held the blade before quickly using the same leg to kick the man in the throat and collapsing his windpipe. A third one was left now, and he hesitated.

Hara dropped the body of the man's ally, and as he did so the gangster attempted to take a cheap shot with a kick to his head. Hara blocked the kick with his forearms before grabbing the leg and straightening it out. “Please n-” The gangster pleaded briefly before Hara slammed his elbow down, bending the leg back at a gruesome angle. The gangster screamed in pain and fell to the ground, a thick silence hung in the air as the patrons looked at Hara. He silently pulled a flier up and held it in the air, showing it to everyone,  before setting it on the bar and walking out.


The next day Hara was pleased to see a large crowd of people waiting for him at the small clearing near the village. He admired their willingness to better themselves and become stronger.

“Please make a circle” Hara said, helping them to form a makeshift ring about 20 meters in diameter. Hara decided to use this opportunity to teach his own fighting style. And he went into detail about the intricacies of angular momentum and chakra points. Halfway through though he could see the blank expressions on their faces and realized most of it was being lost on them. He sighed and motioned for someone to enter, a medium sized man about 20 years old nervously walked into the center of the circle.

“You, what is your name?” Hara said coldly

“I-I’m Kenji, sir” The man said with trepidation.

“Kenji, hit me as hard as you can in the face.”

The man hesitated briefly.

“Either you do it to me or I’ll do it to you, that's fighting Kenji.”

Kenji paled at that and nervously swung, admittedly landing an above average punch onto Hara's chin. His head barely moved and he calmly removed Kenji's hand from his face. He instructed Kenji to stay still and moved to the side, proceeding to show the ways in which Kenji’s form was subpar.

“When you throw a punch you want to generate the power from here” He roughly moved Kenji's hips in a way that showcased the torque it created on the shoulder. “Always keep your feet under you and your balance in control otherwise-” He yanked on Kenji's arm, pulling him off balance from his frozen position and bringing him to the ground. “That will happen.” He didn’t bother helping Kenji up and the man scrambled to rejoin the ring.

Hara repeated the process for kicks, making sure to emphasize snap and precision. He gave Kenji a break, instead using his own form to showcase the correct movements for kicks.

Finally, and with time waning, he showed them some ways they could incorporate elbows and knees into their fighting, and gave them some simple drills they could do with each other to improve. As they sat together at the conclusion of the class, Hara addressed them one more time.

“It is important in a fight to be willing to inflict pain, in doing so you can end the fight quickly and efficiently.” He slammed his fist into his open palm. “In a fight, it is between you and the other, a test of two wills. And, life can very much be on the line. Keep a cool head, stay focused, and always be willing to be brutal.” He nodded at the villagers as they all stood up and began to disperse. A few stayed behind to go over drills that he had taught them.

As he left the now peaceful training grounds he was surprised at the pride he felt, and considered being a teacher full time once everything was said and done, if he was still around.

[wc: 1100]

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As Hara left the training grounds lost in thought about his potential retirement plan, an unassuming man stepped out from the shadows flanked by two more taller men. Hara paused briefly and took a defensive stance in surprise. He cursed himself for being caught off guard, this place was already dulling him.

The unassuming man put up a hand in peace. “Don’t worry. I’m not here for trouble, quite the opposite actually.” He had a soft voice, but his eyes were intelligent and calculating. His clothes were unassuming but made of fine materials, and he had a finely crafted cane in one hand. The two flanking him were clearly experienced fighters, and they bristled in alertness, these men were trained.

“Get to the point.” Hara said, with skepticism in his tone.

“Very well” The man said with a hint of coldness in it. He held up a stack of 1000 ryo.

“I need you to be my bodyguard for a meeting tomorrow.”

“Get them to do it,” Hara said, nodding to the two bodyguards.

The man shook his head “Not possible, they bring too much attention and people know them as my bodyguards. They will be with my body double at a more…legitimate engagement.” Hara was intrigued by who this man was now, if he was using body doubles, this had to be an individual with a lot of enemies and a reputation to uphold.

He paused for a minute or so and considered it, to the man's credit he did not interrupt and stayed equally as quiet.

“Ok. I’ll do it.” Hara relaxed his posture.

“Great, the meeting is between a rather powerful gang, I mean to-”

Hara held up his hand. “The less I know the better. I will make sure you get out alive.” He motioned back to the training grounds. “We can meet here tomorrow for the job” He suggested.

“No, that simply won't do, the meeting is tonight.” The man replied curtly.

Hara furrowed his brow, “1500” He said equally as curtly.

The man smiled and paused briefly, staring Hara down. Hara didn’t flinch, he had stared down much deadlier and more important things.

“Fine” he finally said, and produced another 500 ryo from his breast pocket. Hara nodded curtly and proceeded to gather some pertinent information such as the meeting place and the time. The man was reluctant to share at first, but eventually acquiesced and told him where the meeting would be.

The meeting would be held at a rather large alcohol distillery on the edge of the village. Hara hastened to scout the area out before the meeting. Hara approached the distillery building, donning his ragged clothes from his time in the woods, he made a convincing drunk. He gripped a sake bottle for cover and laid on a bench nearby to give him time to see who went in and out. He used the cover of his sleep to activate his Byakugan and scan the building. Making quick notes of any exits, before focusing on the men in the building.

Hara wasn’t particularly impressed by the group, standard thugs and two bit criminals. He counted the men, the entire outfit was about 15 men. That changed when the boss appeared. It wasn’t so much him that impressed Hara but his bodyguard.

The bodyguard was a woman who stood at 5ft 10. She had sleek brown hair that went to her shoulders and bangs that cut across her forehead in a straight line. She was in shinobi attire but he couldn’t see a headband, on her leg were two serrated daggers.  She carried herself like a killer, and moved swiftly and fluidly. Hara could see her eyes scanning and always alert.He scanned her chakra and confirmed his beliefs, she too was a shinobi. She would be a problem, he thought.

The time passed quickly, and in a few hours Hara found himself in the large open space of the distillery. The men formed a large half circle around their boss, he was a large man with an enormous belly and multiple pieces of jewelry. He was crude and boisterous and it took everything in Hara not to pummel his face in. Next to him stood his deadly bodyguard.

The two men conversed for a long time, talking about business matters that Hara had no interest in. He simply stared at the shinobi opposite of him, reading her intently. She was as stoic and stone faced as him, staring back at him with defiance. Her eyes told a long and troubled story, Hara could see that in people, whether they had suffered. He liked to tell himself he could, at any rate. They had their own conversation with nothing but looks as the two bosses went back and forth on interest rates and logistics.


Everything was looking to be going well until the very end of the deal when the gangster changed the terms at the last minute.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The gangster gave a disgusting laugh “My shinobi against yours. No killing, but a friendly spar” He laughed at the word friendly and spittle went flying. Hara's employer tried to argue against it but the boss was getting angry and the situation was looking tense. They had numbers on their side, and Hara was not looking to fight all of them, not for 1500 Ryo. He leaned down and whispered something into his employer's ear.

His employer sighed and pulled another 500 ryo out, handing it to Hara. “Don’t lose,” he said.

Hara gave a slight smile and pulled the sake bottle from earlier out, his employer gave an incredulous look but otherwise didn’t move to stop him. Hara was excited to try this fighting form out, it had been a long time since he had practiced it but the sake should help.

The two shinobi took positions about 20 meters across from each other. The entire time the men were talking the woman had a dull and bored look on her face like Hara did, only  when readying to fight did she look alive and alert. Hara felt the same and his cheeks became red from the sake. He could see her falter at his new form.The Drunken Fist was unmistakable, Hara had his arms listless and hanging in front of him as he hunched over, swaying. He gave a chuckle and a small hiccup. The woman tensed her body ever so slightly, shifting her feet into a more advantageous position.

They charged each other. The flight was a short and sweet blur, she was incredibly fast. She hit Hara at every angle in quick jabs and kicks, his face getting knocked to one side only for it to get hit from another and a body shot for good measure. Hara by contrast swung wildly and in unorthodox patterns, swinging his hand only to deflect it downward at the last second and go for an elbow. At one point he fell down to dodge a kick only to spin on his back and use his head to knock her to the ground. She rolled away quickly before anything more could be done only to return with her own flying knee, hitting Hara in the chin and making him see stars.

He stumbled and looked as if he was going to fall, the female shinobi took her chance to close out the fight, leaping in the air to deliver a punch to his face. At the last second the charade dropped and Hara deftly flipped over, briefly doing a handstand and kicking her hard in the stomach with both of his feet. He could feel the air get knocked out of her lungs before she landed to the ground with a thud. To her credit she recovered quickly and took a fighting stance, anger in her eyes. She took the two serrated daggers off and chakra began to flow around them, this wasn’t a sparring match anymore.

The boss laughed like a pig and called the fight off before anything more could happen and the two ninjas looked reluctant to stop. They stood there briefly, contemplating if they should both continue to fight.  

Hara and the mysterious shinobi looked at each other briefly, Hara gave a slight bow in respect and she gave a curt nod in return.

With the boss satisfied,the deal was made. Hara wanted nothing more than to leave the presence of that slobbering gang boss. He spoke with his employer about any future jobs that might come up but otherwise left it at that. This criminal work was beginning to become routine for Hara and today was just another day in his mind.


Wc: 1450

[exit]

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TWC: 2550

Claims:

Hara wrote:
[exit]

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TWC: 2550

Claims:

Approved!