Chiko starts talking to Akimitsu.
"Two bells, three of us," he tells her. "If the two of us work together, we can probably get them."
She doesn't have time to respond before Bairei yells, "Hey! I can hear you talking!"
He lunges for you and misses the bell.
(I'm assuming they're no larger than 1" in diameter each.)
He strikes you painlessly in the abdomen with his foot as he ducks downward, having missed his first attempt for the bells, and spins, twisting around and up again with suprising grace to try to grab again, and you find his wrist between your forefinger and thumb a scant four inches from the bells.
((That's about right, no larger than one inch in diameter))
*smiles*
"Close Bairei, but you are wrong, you are learning something."
*toss him on his arse and great jumps into a tree*
"You three do have all day, maybe you should consider your options."
*Jumps out of it on the other side of it and continues his walk through the woods*
J
"Ow!" Bairei hits the ground at your feet.
"I don't need your help," Akimitsu tells Chiko coolly.
You jump into the tree, practically disappearing from the ground and appearing there to their eyes. Bairei looks around for you, and asks, "How did he get so fast?"
As you walk, Akimitsu runs quietly up beside you and slides to a stop in front of you. She looks to be in a martial arts style; in spite of her low skill level, she looks determined.
*Not getting into style, the only thing I am watching out for are thrown kunei, or Jutsu, other than that, giving the kids the opportunity to figure out what isn't going to work, and see if they can understand the value of teamwork after a few failures.*
J
She swings both her hands at you to strike, missing, then pushes at you with her left palm, followed by another straight jab miss with her right, then reads like she's striking again with both; you realize at the last instant as you have already begun moving to dodge that her right hand strike is indeed a strike, but her left is simultaneously going for the bell. It will be difficult to dodge. (She has probably impressed you.)
*I will take the hit, and shift my body, move my arms to protect the bell, I am impressed, but I also want them to learn teamwork, so I will take the hit to protect the bell. I will do muscle blocking to try to absorb the hit*
J
You begin to turn and she twists out of the strike, putting everything into stretching lithely for that bell. Her finger brushes it as it begins to enter her hand.
§
Yay for less than a second game time posts.
*I am using my Sharingan to watch her movements in slow motion, and grab her hands in such a way to let her brush the bells but not grab them, and I will twist them behind her back, not to hurt her, but to restrain her for a moment while I tumble away*
"Close, very close Akimitsu."
J
You pluck her wrist from the air and turn her around; she makes a tiny, feminine grunt of exertion as you twist her against her efforts.
You tell her how close she was, and she turns and throws a kunai for the bells, missing.
You sidestep Chiko as he tries to grab the bells on the run, and he crashes into Akimitsu. The two of them collapse into the dirt, a tangled mass of arms and legs.
*watches them, Chiko likely using Akimitsu as a distraction, getting closer to understanding, running behind a tree and hiding, for a few minutes, let them see if they can adapt, and realize that one or two of them are not going to get the job done.*
J
The two of them remain tangled up for a bit, scuffling to try to get away from one another. It ends when Akimitsu knees him sharply in the crotch, then disengages herself and climbs out from under him as he lays there on the ground groaning. She looks around for you and doesn't see you, then asks aloud, "What happens to the one of us who doesn't get a bell?"
*Smiles*
"You are ninja, you have made it through academy, you are genin. When you realize why things are done the way they are done, you will make the right choices. You ask the right question, but with the wrong frame of reference. Those are all the clues you will get."
*slips away through the brush toward the lake, and starts walking around it*
J
You walk along the lake's edge. The three of them stay behind.
About fifteen minutes later, Akimitsu is in the trees along the path to your right, Bairei is hiding in the brush ahead of you, and Chiko seems to be in the lake under the water. They seem to have organized an ambush ahead of you; your sharingan makes an ambush an impossible strategy.
*I will act as though I do not see them, if they are working together, I will give them a good fight and allow them to take the bells, that is the purpose for this exercise. To show them, they are much more powerful when working together than apart. I have no doubt that I will let them take it, between the three of them, I know they will be able to take them from me without me making it seem like I did.*
J
Bairei springs out of the brush in front of you and begins to attack you head on; at the same time, Chiko leaps out of the water and lands behind you and starts fighting you from there. As they're distracting you, Akimitsu jumps down, rolls, and goes for the bells; she misses, and Chiko goes for them, missing as well.
All three are passable in hand-to-hand combat, but you haven't seen any ninjitsu or genjutsu at this point.
*I will "fight" all three, give them a good fight and make them work for the bells, I think I have seen what I have needed to see both on their abilities and their ability to work together, noting they were better than team 7 in picking that up.*
J
Bumpage
Bumpie
After about five minutes, Akimitsu gets one of the bells. She doesn't stop; all three are fighting you and missing a lot.
*Good, I want them to think they earned this, and in a way they did, if she is still fighting after she has a bell, she is helping the others after she has what she has came for. Maybe someday they will take the bells from me with me trying my best.*
J
Akimitsu gets the other bell from you, then tosses both of the bells to the other two.
The two prospective shinobi are excited that they got them from you; Akimitsu looks unconvinced by your ruse.
She demands of you, "Why didn't you flee across the lake?"
Bairei says, "He didn't have a chance to. That was our job, remember?" He's jingling the bell.
"We distracted him. It looks like your precautions were too much." Chiko makes a final hand gesture, and numerous small splinters launch out of the bed of the lake into the air.
Akimitsu still looks unconvinced. "Alright, well, I don't have a bell," she says to you, waiting to see what that means with an apprehensive yet somewhat defiant air. She's the youngest of the three, but she apparently was major force in planning the ambush; having unknowingly taken the role of leader in the exercise, she also chose to give the bells to her team and take whatever punishment awaits the member without any bell on herself.
*smiles*
"It means you all pass. The purpose of this was to show you that through teamwork you accomplish more than when working apart. I did not flee, because what I wanted was to see if you would work together. I saw unselfishness and a team so you all pass and I will train you. Now what I didn't see was ninjitsu or genjitsu. Do any of you know any?"
J
Actually, you saw Chiko use ninjutsu (I think that's ninjutsu and not genjutsu; genjutsu is illusionary, generally, I think, or mind controlling) right at the end, when he launched all of the splinters from the lake bed with a hand gesture.
None of them know any genjutsu, and Chiko is the only one who knows any ninjutsu.
((Ok I will adjust the statement above to didn't see much ninjutsu, or genjutsu))
*Grins*
"We finished before lunch, very good, so we can move onto the next two lessons sooner. Walking up trees with chakra, and walking across water. So do any of you have experience with doing this before now?"
J
None of them have any experience with any of those things.
*Oh lord, looks like I am pulling an all nighter today and tomorrow teaching myself how to do them*
*Well we will learn how to do the walking up trees tomorrow, and we will do it until you can do it without thinking about it, then we will worry about the water. Until then I want to get to know you, your families, what ninja or abilities your family has that is rare or attributed to your family. Teamwork is key in the ninja world, and you three are under my charge to reach your full potential and defend this village. I liked what I saw out there."
*I will go first. I am not from here, and my methods are sometimes similar, and sometimes different that what other Jonin will be teaching genin. Do not put yourself against their pace or instruction. I am your guide, and you are a reflection on me. I will prepare you for the future. I came from no great family, no great position, everything I have, I worked hard for. The mission is important, but making sure all of you come back alive is just as important or more so to me. You will probably dislike me at first being as hard on you guys as I am going to be, but I think you will appreciate it in the years ahead. There are many enemies of leaf village out there, and many powerful ninja. To not prepare you to face them would be irresponsible of me.*
*pauses*
"Now you know a little about me and what I stand for, tell me about you guys and your family. I believe being prepared is the best way to start anything."
J
Bairei speaks first, gruffly. "I'm Bairei Shimizu. My family is well-known for our strength and courage."
"Shimizu?" Chiko asks. "You mean, well-known for charging headlong into impossible odds and getting slaughtered, right? Sounds like you really are as dumb as you look."
Bairei looks upset, and responds, "Shut up! And what family are you from?!"
Chiko says, "I'm of the Takaki family."
Bairei says, "You have some nerve talking about my family! Yours are a bunch of criminals!"
The two look about ready to kill each other, and Akimitsu says quietly, "I'm Akimitsu Rin. My family all died in the Third Ninja War."
Both of them stop fighting and look at her as if they feel awkward.
*To all three*
"From now on you three and myself have an additional family. Our team is a family, when we are out there on a mission, we are only going to have each other to lean on and rely on to have our backs. I don't care about family history, or what a family name says to people. Right here and right now, you three decide on how you want you and your family name to be remembered. My door is always open to you all even if we aren't on a mission. I think we had enough excitement for today, let's get some lunch, and take the afternoon off. It will be the last day of freedom for a long time, I expect you all to enjoy it."
*I will take them to my house and make them lunch, and intoducing Tan and Rid to my genin*
"This is Tan Keiharuki, of the Clan Keiharuk, and Rid Keiharuki, of the Clan Keiharuk, Rid, Tan, these are Bairei Shimizu, Chiko Takaki, and Akimitsu Rin, they are genin under my care, and they solved the teamwork puzzle earlier than I expected, although I do think we need to reinforce the teamwork part. ((If Nic, Jewel and Eria are around, and Victoria, will intoduce them as well))."
*I want them all to be comfortable, get them refreshments while I fix lunch for everyone*
J
Bairei and Chiko seem to have bonded much better with one another since their fight. During your walk to the house, both of them keep trying to ask Akimitsu about herself. She deflects their questions deftly.
Back at your place, the three are pleasant enough to the introductions; Tan isn't here at the moment. Rid tells you that she hasn't seen her all morning.
Chiko and Bairei both consume your refreshments like they have bottomless pits instead of stomachs.
Akimitsu doesn't consume hers, and Bairei asks her, "You gonna eat that?" She gives it to him.
*Grins a bit and makes each one a plate of food, keeping it light enough to be filling, but not feeling like a lead ball in your stomach.*
*To Rid* "That is interesting she didn't mention anything to me, are the kids being good for you?"
*Tells them all to be at the practice fields in the morning, keeps Akimitsu a bit after the boys left*
"You showed a lot of leadership out there, I can see Chiko and Bairei going to look for your attention, might be good for you to keep that role up. I also wanted to answer your question. The reason why I didn't flee across the lake is two reasons. The first, you three finally worked together, and I wanted you three to see the value of working together. The second is that I never was taught how to, nor to run up a tree. I assure you by tomorrow morning, I will be more than adept enough to train you three how to do so. I felt you deserved the honest answer behind your question."
J
She doesn't seem shocked that you never learned how to run up a tree or walk across water; she tells you, "I was expecting you to jump across the water, which is why I told Chiko to ready that jutsu when he said he knew a way to try to keep you from getting away that way.
"I didn't want to be a leader to them. They were at each others' throats, and I wanted to get those bells. I tried by myself and failed, and it was obvious none of us could get them alone. I got them to work together by telling them they could both have one of the bells.
"If all three of us were going to pass anyway, why did you have only two bells, sensei?" Her amber eyes are searching yours for the answer.
*smiles and nods to her*
"Well to be honest, I don't quite know what the intent of 2 bells is. It might have been to drive you against each other, it might have been incentive to get you to use all your abilities, not knowing who was going to get them. There was no guarantee you were going to work together, so it wasn't a given you would pass. Once you did, having two bells could have easily broken into infighting among yourselves. It was a technique the Hokage used on the Sannin when they were your age. Either way, you showed leadership qualities and selflessness, most ninja who are successful don't choose to be a leader, they just do what needs to be done."
J
She says, "Well, if it's for the good of the team, they do seem to listen to me more than they do to each other.
"Is that all you need me for, sensei?"
*Nods to her*
"Go out, enjoy your afternoon off, I'd say you have a tough six months ahead of you guys."
*After 15 minutes passes*
*To Rid*
"Tell Val, Tan and everyone, I have to teach myself some things in the practice fields. I will be back for breakfast and see everyone off."
*Going to go there, put my sock back on over pants and shirt ((standard for now)), and do my multiple shadow clone jutsu and learn how to climb trees with my chakra*
J
How exactly are you intending to walk on the water and trees? In order to ascribe bias.
*Trees tonight, water is tomorrow night*
*I will do it just like the show would do it. I figure it would be the easiest way, since that is the way they do it, and need to teach it, I figure both would be a B7@2 Focus Chakra to feet Tactical Movement, I do have their example*
J
Okay. You teach yourself to walk on the surface of the waer by manipulating spreading your chakra out on the surface of the water.
*Does the same skill work on the trees or is it a separate roll, which I will do?*
*Either way making as many shadow clones as I can to speed up the training process*
J
Training with multiple shadow clones will not speed up the training. I consider that it requires additional concentration and thus makes it a bit more difficult to perform the ability, but you've got a 1@2 SAL for tonight, and no amount of training in such a short amount of time is going to bring you beyond that.
Training with multiple shadow clones will not speed up the training. I consider that it requires additional concentration and thus makes it a bit more difficult to perform the ability, but you've got a 1@2 SAL for tonight, and no amount of training in such a short amount of time is going to bring you beyond that.