Close Quarters Combat Training: Tutor

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi was at the Saito Clan headquarters finishing up some paperwork. He had to delegate a new litigation between the two Hyuuga families. His elders gave him the rundown although to his understanding, their thinking was a bit out of date. He just figured this was the reason they chose a youth to help nurture into a great leader. For the most part, as of late, most of his day consisted of much reading and writing.

After completing his first process, one of Hoshi’s smaller otters came to him, reminding the boy that he was requested as a tutor. He twitched at the sound, looking to his elder with a perplexed look. His superior allowed him to do so with a nod. But before he left, he made sure to complete the task he had already started. Afterward, he wrote a letter to the otter to send out to the participants. The letter would have a greeting and a location. The time was just before sunset.

After Hoshi sent the letter he made sure to clean up at the family house. He greeted the young hyuuga’s training their eyes and techniques, he even shouted advice as he walked past. He was still getting used to this new position of leadership, but so far he had been doing well. Hoshi made his way to the meeting spot, standing alone for the moment until his student arrived. They would meet at the school, though it was after hours and most students were probably at home, but some would stay for extra curricular activities.

He looked toward the sky, noticing the sun growing closer to the horizon. Sunset was was on the cusp of taking its rule over the sky. Which meant, the students would arrive soon. And so, Hoshi grew attentive to his surroundings. He had to put his thoughts of the clan behind him for a moment, though he would jot down his final thoughts.

‘Reminder: Weave through the clan for wolves disguised as sheep. Shepherd the sheep, so that they may look to you for all they need and find their resolution within their leader. Be the light.’

“Yeah But, what do I even mean by that? I guess, in time I’ll come to understand my new thought process. I wonder, where is Eishi and Siu?”


WC 386

 

[Eishi]

Another otter, another note. It was seeming that Hoshi was becoming a focal point in my life as this was the third time I was to be under his tutelage and my second summoning for training by his mascot-sized contracted summon. Whether I liked it or not it seemed. I mean I didn’t dislike Hoshi. He seemed an okay enough guy to hang out with, but I still couldn’t see him as anything other than a cheesy manga protagonist alive in real life.

I also noticed that Siu was coming with me once more. The note didn't say that, but I was actually in contact with her more regularly as we had become friends over the past few months. It was seeming to become obvious after I heard she was also summoned here that this wasn't a coincidence. I wondered if I was getting paired off with her since the mission we collectively shared as academy students. It wouldn’t be surprising to see two up and comers as noteworthy enough to keep them training together for the most part. We've also had a bit of a meteoric rise in responsibility recently.

As I enter the courtyard, I noticed the cleanliness of this place along with how it was empty, save for the creature known as Hoshi. I took a nice breath of cool fresh air, signaled to Hoshi, trying to get his attention. If he bothered to look, I’d give him a sarcastic salute and a light smile.

“Sup, Hoshi? Done your daily million handstand pushups yet?” I asked him poking fun at his hochimon nature and their own breed of stupidity insanity passion. Expecting that Siu wasn't too far behind me to start off this session unless there was a third to the party.

 

[Siu]

By now, Siu had experienced a multitude of occurrences during her time within the shinobi world as a newly established Genin; yet tiny otters delivering messages had not been one of them. This would not be her first meeting with the young Hyuuga, for she had met him sometime ago at the obstacle course, at a time when he didn't seem to be in the most positive of moods. Yet, this would be her first experience of being tutored by him. If she were told to write a list of predicted future occurrences, this particular occurrence would have been predicted nowhere on that list.

Up until now, most of Siu's tutelage had only been under a single instructor. Therefore, training under the young Hyuuga would be an entirely new style and experience for her. It goes without saying, that an adept shinobi should strive to adapt to and learn proficiency with all styles and forms of combat; yet knowledge of that, didn't make the feat any easier. Easy or not, however, this would most likely be a valuable experience for the young Genin's future development.

As previously aware, Eishi had also been summoned to the same school grounds as her. Also, as seemed to be the case the majority of the time, he had arrived before she did once again. Raising an arm up high, she greeted the familiar young boy with a high wave and elongated, "Hiiii!" in addition to a cheery smile, some distance before reaching the two. Upon finally reaching the two, she stared at the young Hyuuga for a few seconds, a perplexed expression written upon her face. In actuality, she wasn't quite sure whether to formally greet the youth, or to casually greet him. On one hand, he was their tutor, yet on the other, he appeared a very similar age to herself. Up until now, she'd trained under older academy teachers and instructors, quite noticeably older than herself. Therefore, suddenly training under someone so close to her own age was a new and unusual experience for her. In the end, however, she opted to greet him with a formal bow. It was better to experience something unusual than to risk disrespecting others, especially simply due to their age. "Greetings Instructor!" She politely greeted in conjunction with her formal bow. "It's a wonderful privilege to be under your tutelage today!"

[WC=395 I Post 1/5]

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

It wasn’t long before someone to show up. The first was Eishi, a handicap Shinobi who wielded the spear with the resolve a hardened martial artist. Eishi arrived playfully berating the hyuuga who watched with mouth wide open before bursting into laughter. He shrugged off the thought and continued with the joke.

“It’s not a training regiment for everybody, but one million one finger push ups is actually tough.”

In the distance Hoshi heard a light voice yelling out. His eyes shifted slightly to the side zoning in on Siu. Hoshi gave an, ‘Ah’ at the sound as she approached. She closed the distance in a short time and gave Hoshi a now, who was startled at the gesture. He returned the bow of course with a smile and began to wave off her polite antics.

“Please Siu, my rank may higher than the both of you but please, look at as me as a comrade. Our training will begin after a short lesson.”

Hoshi walked in between them, his young grey eyes searching the sky for answers so it seemed. His thoughts came together like a pool of water as he smirked and slowly looked back at them.

“We are going to learn how to outsmart your opponent. Whether in battle, or, if you ever find yourself in a sticky situation. Thinking quickly and making conclusive decisions are true traits of valiant Shinobi. In combat, you must understand your opponent as fast as you can. Predict their next move, while you contemplate your own. With that you must take advantage of your opponents slip. Everyone slips, no man or woman is perfect. Ready yourselves, Eishi, Siu, you will duel each other…”

His eyes flexed with veins filled with chakra, highlighting chakra systems in neon colors and expanding his vision to thousands of meters. He turned around to the face them. He nodded at them giving them a hand sign to begin.

“Be swift and precise, and do not relent. The moment you hold back could be the moment you die.”


Wc 341

 

[Eishi]

Fight each other? I looked over at Siu before pulling out my spear with a dry smile on my face. A few hand signs later and my spear was infused with [Magnetic Control] and [Ionic Infusion] and my smile was getting bigger and bigger as I looked the weapon in hand over before letting it go to fall to the ground. It, however, hovered in place next to me for a few moments as I took my eyes off of it to look over at Siu.

“I learned a few tricks in the past few months. I was finally able to do this proficiently last night,” the spear swirled around in a circle all around me, giving a slight burst of pressure from the displaced air. It was enough for me to feel the wind, so I suspected it was impressive enough, “I think I found my calling in the metal. It feels natural to me”.

I pulled out my metal baton whenever Siu was done responding, giving her a little show of lightning by surging my chakra through it. The lightning connected from the end of the stick to the ground. I grimaced over the showing before reassuring her, “It looks a lot worse than it is, this is my non-lethal option. Though, not going to lie, it does hurt to get hit squarely and then shocked. So don’t.”

I wasn’t so much mocking her, as much as being blunt. We were Shinobis and while accidents in training did happen, I wasn’t going to go for the kill spots on what was likely to be one of my close friends. Besides, I didn’t doubt I’d hit her more than a few times. She would have to contend with my magnetized weapon that moved just as fast as it would in my hand coming in from above, all while I kept her busy up front.

I would start off the bout in just such a way. Going quickly from the front, my baton in hand as I stabbed out with a [Defensive Trust] just as my spear came crashing down from an overhead [Outer Rim] thrust. Poking at her three times, painful and overwhelming right from the get-go. I never said I wasn’t the competitive sort when it got down to it.

 

[Siu]

Siu nodded at the young Hyuuga's words to simply treat him as a comrade. Indeed, it seemed like the most simple medium. While she was glad to have received a direct answer, concerning how respectfully she should opt to treat her new instructor, for some odd reason, she still felt some need to show him some additional degree of higher respect than requested. Perhaps, it was due to her upbringing as a child, or perhaps it was simply something deeply ingrained within her morals.

As the young instructor walked in between the two Genin, gathering his thoughts in preparation for his lecture, Siu watched and listened attentively and respectfully. And then the end came.

Ready yourselves, Eishi, Siu, you will duel each other…”

"Ehhhhhh?!" She noised aloud, eyes widened with great surprise, completely caught off guard by the statement. Had she heard that correctly? She had experienced a number of arduous trainings in the past, without a doubt. Yet, a flat out duel against one of her friends, right on the spot, was something she'd never quite been requested of by an instructor before. Undoubtedly, Hoshi was immediately proving how vastly unique and different every instructor's training methods and styles were. What an interesting way to start things off.

Looking back at Eishi, he didn't to be as worried concerning the request as her. In fact, he seemed enthusiastic, if anything. Observing the youth twirl his spear about, solely through the use of chakra, was quite an impressive feat. It was also quite a discouraging feat; for her. She hadn't remembered him being able to do such a thing months ago. It brought a question to mind, concerning how much 'more' he could actually do which she was not yet aware of, bringing about even more discouragement.

As if a flying spear weren't enough, her dueling opponent then proceeded to pull out a metal baton. And as if even 'that' weren't enough, he 'then' proceed to channel lightening through the pain inducing blunt object with his chakra. Wonderful, just wonderful...
The young girl was seeing what appeared to be a far too enthusiastic dueling partner, a troubled expression written upon her face. "Hrrrnnn" She groaned in complaint, biting her bottom lip, before preparing herself in a general combat stance. Siu was not a taijutsu specialist by any means, and this young boy had far too many painful weapons ready to swing at her for her taste.

As the bout began, Siu's dueling opponent seemed to have wasted no time, being the first to come at her with his flurry of perilous strikes and swings. The sudden barrage of weaponry was, undoubtedly, intimidating for the young girl. Every strike the young boy threw, spear and baton, hit it's designated target. He seemed quite fortunate with his first initiation. However, the sudden dispersal of a large mass of paper in conjunction with final strike, would prove that theory otherwise. The large mass of paper dispersed into a multitude of projectile-shaped paper foldings which sped in every direction, far sharp enough to easily cut right through human skin like shurikens. What he had hit, unfortunately, was a paper clone. And where was Siu? Behind him, just finishing up her final handsigns, in order to send another barrage of sharpened paper projectiles flying straight towards him from the opposite side.

[WC=556 I Post 2/5]

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

The duel began and Hoshi began to see all the chakra manifest. Eishi showing quick wits manipulating a new element from before teamed with the original, lightning. Hoshi smirked as Eishi took the initiative with intimidation as a young Siu stood seemingly dumbfounded. Hoshi never moved, he only crossed his arms with eyes fixated on both Shinobi even though he didn’t have to really look at them.

Eishi showed night and desire in his showcasing his elements and ability to wield a spear with one arm as decent, if not better, than a normal Shinobi with two. He noticed the young boy’s training and becoming of a great Shinobi. On the other hand, Siu took the full brunt of Eishi’s onslaught writhing in painful scorn. Hoshi’s smirk grew even wider as he foreseen the manifestation of her chakra reacting to Eishi. It was just as Hoshi has suspected from the day he meet her in a tree. She was sweet, but deceptive and cunning like a fox.

Siu had burst into origami weapons leaving Eishi to fend for himself. She reappeared some distance away sending another flurry of origami shards hardened to tempered steel. With this Hoshi had a large smile by now.

“The Future is bright for us comrades. I can see that now. Eishi, nice work putting Siu on her heels. Siu-san, great job of taking advantage of a missed step! Heh.”

He flicked the side of his nose before he continued.

“You may be wondering why your training session is against each other, but remember one thing. You are only as strong as the fellow Shinobi next to you. We sharpen each other’s skills, so as individuals or as a team, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Eishi! What will you do now knowing the capability of Siu’s reflexes? Siu! How will you turn the tides of battle into your favor?!”

Hoshi inquired them both, suggesting they take this as serious as possible. Although it was a training exercise, it was best to experience this with comrades, rather than learn hard lesson on the battlefield.

“Predict your opponent, learn their style, learn their movement! You have to believe your enemy is at the same time attempting to outsmart you as well! Shape your fighting style to your opponent's strength and exploit their weakness!”

WC 389

 

[Eishi]

I stood there watching as the cluster of flying paper came right at my face. My spear's holy aura blocking a majority of the exploding paper, but I still felt a couple knick me. Fucking papercuts are the worst I grimaced at the one that cut right under my left eye. Hoshi said something, but I wasn't paying attention to what it was as I was pretty invested in this fight. It was beginning to feel a bit more refreshing as I felt a wound for the first time in a couple months. I streaked my finger over the cut, looking to see how much I bled onto my finger. My flying spear used [Zero Slash] to cut all of the flying projectiles down along with sending the excess power of the swing at Siu all in the meantime.

I would follow up my slash, not even closing in on Siu physically as my flying spear shot over to attack her with a rapid [Overhand strike]. Or so Siu would likely to have believed happened. I had cast [Untruth] while I had been raising my hand to my face to check for blood in a hidden movement that would make even the most experienced Shinobi proud. Truth be told, I was pretty decent at Genjutsu. I wasn't top tier, but I could fight with it effectively enough. I also did know my opponent well enough and one juicy tidbit of knowledge I knew about Siu was her weakness with Genjutsu. If this didn't catch her off guard, I didn't know what would.

As she was likely to believe the overhead strike was coming in from my flying spear, Siu would suddenly find the spear coming up from down low as I attempted to pin her with my spear using [Iron Point Prison]. If successful I would have an easy target for one of my bigger bursts. Otherwise, I'd likely have to play defensively for a round as I had just used four C rank jutsus in the span of about twenty seconds and I was suddenly feeling the drain. To say it took my breath away would be an understatement, but that was fighting for ya. Intense moments of action followed by high levels of fatigue. This wasn't my first fight and I wasn't interested in losing the momentum. Likely this was giving me a chance to catch my breath as my spear went to attack her in melee range. Only my chakra pools were really feeling the drain currently.

 

[Siu]

There would undoubtedly be a lot to reflect upon after this training. Admittingly, the young girl felt quite guilty about sending a barrage of sharpened projectiles at her own friend. Yet, he had initiated quite aggressively, and therefore aggressive retaliation could not be helped. The word's of her new instructor before the match repeated back in her mind;

“Be swift and precise, and do not relent. The moment you hold back could be the moment you die.”

No kidding...

Siu's dueling opponent had blocked most of the frontal onslaught of origamied projectiles, as well as made quick work of her accompanying onslaught from behind. Realizing the wound she'd caused after observing the young boy wipe blood from his face, greatly increased her guilt concerning her aggressive retaliation. However, there would not be much time to maintain concern for her fellow Genin, for he seemed more than willing to return an injury of his own to her. At this point, she could not help but to question, whether he was really trying to spar her, or to actually kill her. The first was the obvious answer, yet at this point, the second didn't seem to be so implausible. "What a mess.. She groaned to herself, observing the next incoming attack from the papercut youth.
Hoshi's initial praise was encouraging, yet his accompanying set of statements and advice were quite difficult to follow with this speed and intensity of combat, which required so much focus from the young Genin. Yet another thing for her feel guilty for. Though, she hadn't caught every single word he'd spoken, she'd managed to catch the vast majority and main point of his speech, shouting a anxious filled "Hai! (Yes)" in response, to at least show some form of acknowledgement to him.

The boy sent his spear flying toward her once again, for another incoming attack. The technique was admittingly quite a nuisance to deal with, for it guaranteed a constant source of offense on his end, whether he was physically occupied and out of range or not. Though, a simple overhead strike would be simple enough to deal with. Or so she thought...

Crouching downward in preparation, she quickly jumped to the side, performing what she 'believed' would be a successful dodge from an overhead strike. And then, a sharp pain was suddenly felt across the side her lead. With a short, yet high pitched cry of completely unforseen pain, the young girl's midair dodge would find itself abruptly cut short as she quickly fell to ground in response, rolling for a short distance.
With a aching groan, she rose herself up to one knee, immediately darting her attention towards the weapon of guilt, and then back at the boy. "...I!" She began. "I dodged that!" She protested, her facial expression communicating her complete bafflement concerning what in the world had just happened to her. Indeed, she probably should have trained harder in avoiding genjutsu...

[WC=489 I Post 3/5]

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

The battle betweeen the youth raged on. Eishi seemed as if he’d never relent, relishing the moment and showing no fear. Oh the other hand, Siu who fought more defensively sought to wear her opponent down with lucrative movements. Hoshi watched everything into detail, even Eishi’s Jashin style antics of ingesting his own life source. Yes, it appeared he was of a becoming to something far more than the Eishi himself had anticipated. Hoshi wondered if the big recognized his own improvement in such short time. He continued his attack with something unseen happening in the midst.

Hoshi even failed to notice from the jump, but suddenly Siu was unable to predict her opponent’s movement. Immediately the thoughts of Hoshi began to race, his right hand rising to his chin while the other supported his arm at the elbow. Eishi was going to continue despite already having pinned his opponent. He snapped once he figured it out.

“Enough!”

Hoshi would walk up to the two, he chuckled and companied his laughter with applause. He inhaled deeply and looked to the two.

“The both of you show much promise. As I said earlier, camaraderie is a sharp tool. Eishi, very slick of you to introduce a new style of fighting. Seems that genjutsu caught Siu off guard. You too are familiar with each other know? Siu, it seems your opponent knew your weakness and exploited it. What do you think?”

Wc 239

 

[Eishi]

My plot seemed to have worked out better than I had expected. I half planned for her to break free from the binding, but it seemed she wasn't focused enough to dispell the chakra that was holding her joints in place before I was able to catch my breath and continue the onslaught. I recalled my spear to me, it floated right into my holster on my back, taking me a moment to line it up. Not needing to retrieve it with my hands is so awesome! Though I will have to create an easy breakaway weapon holster. Better yet, why not just wrap some copper wire on the back of my armor? Flow some chakra through it and suddenly I have an electromagnetic strapped to my back to hold all my weapons. Fuck. Doing it. Totally doing it. I started to brainstorm some solutions to a more useful holster as I just stood there. I was also giving Siu a chance to recover, it wouldn't look good to get completely destroyed because your opponent was me after all. Just think of all the others ridicule if its known that she got beat up by a cripple I half-joked to myself.

It was then that Hoshi told us to stop. I was planning to give her the chance to take the offensive in this bout as I had already shown my own ability to pressure and attack my opponent into submission through my aggression and tenacity. Now should have been Siu's time to show off. Unfortunately, it seemed the match was going to be called by Hoshi. I pondered if I went a little too ham on Siu, but I reasoned that no, it was a competition. If I hadn't given her my all, that would've been insulting. Whatever, I don't hold any ill will.

"I resent that, It's not like I cheated or anything." I scratched the back of my head lightly smiling as I responded to Siu, "But seriously Siu, you're too easy to abuse genjutsu towards. Be happy it's me who showed you just how painful that weakness can be".

 

[Siu]

In them midst of her dueling opponent's pause, Siu had clapped her hands together in order to form the ram seal, in preparation for something, however, a sudden command was heard,

“Enough!”

With that, she quickly diverted her gaze back to the instructor, putting an abrupt cease to whatever next retaliation she had in mind. Listening quietly to both the instructor's and Eishi's explanations, Siu's previously baffled facial expression could be seen shifting into one of sudden surprise, her eyes widening somewhat upon the realization of what had actually taken place within the final sequence of events during the fight.

"Genjutsu?!" The young Genin repeated back to herself, using her newfound knowledge in order to more thoroughly reflect upon the previously unexpected occurance, taking a few moments in order to piece all the events together.

"Hrrrm." She eventually grumbled with a slightly disappointed look upon her face, as she placed two hands upon the ground, in order to push herself up to a full stand.

"I think my opponent knows me too well.." She eventually replied, her bottom lip poked out in a sort of pouty expression, "I never paid much attention to genjutsu before, but it seems like almost everyone is using it..."

Patting away the dust from her clothing, she took a few moments to examine the cut upon the side of her leg; her punishment for both her inadequacy with, and negligence of preparation against the illusionary style of combat, after all this time. The cut wasn't the most pleasant of injuries, yet it also was not anything nothing quite lethal. She pondered, however, if she had not jumped in order to dodge the misinterpreted attacked, if the result would've been the same. Folding her arms, she let out a persuaded sigh. "I guess I had no choice but to learn how to counter genjutsu now..." The statement was, undoubtedly, less than enthusiastic.

[WC=316 l Post 4/5]

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Once the commotion settled down the two combatants each relieved themselves of Stance. Before hoshi’s Interruption he could see the sudden surge of Siu’s chakra. She was preparing a full frontal assault of which, Hoshi was glad to stall for the moment. Eishi’s outburst cause the boy to raise a brow and place a hand out as if to say, ‘stop’ without words. He’d stall before speaking, hearing the two go back and forth. Hoshi sighed, and followed that with a slight snicker. He cleared his throat and stood straight up looking to Siu first.

“You’re not alone there Siu. Users of the illusionary arts may have an advantage but, increasing your overall awareness could help you. I suggest meditation during your training regiments. I myself am very susceptible to Genjutsu, although, there are ways around it if you wish to learn. Now, Eishi...”

He looked over to the nin sternly.

“Don’t get bashful. Had you not known that information prior, as you would not against a foreign enemy, this would have been a stalemate. Again, only you two could make each other stronger. The main point of my lesson is this, people like me won’t always be here for you. You must find your own weakness, and strengthen it to its maximum. There will be, may be the heavens forbid, a day where I myself will find the perfect match and face an ultimate defeat. But even then, you should seek to make it as difficult as possible. Eishi, work on your form, your impatience leads to a blind rage. You have the skill set, slow things down with your mind’s eye. And Siu, I can’t help but think you’ve held back this entire time. Doing that on the battlefield... it could be costly. The village depends on us to make decisions others cannot and perform the actions too difficult for normal people. The two of you did great. Maybe next time I around, I can actually get to teach you something, anyway. I’ll see ya guys around.”

With a turn and wave, Hoshi began to depart.

Wc 348

 

[Eishi]

“Conjecture. Nothing saying I wouldn’t have won by other means. I showed off my metallic ability because if I hadn’t, it would’ve been a bit more of a grind to win, yes. That was the point, though. Siu is basically my teammate at this point.”

I remarked shrugging my shoulders and I put away Mungos baton and collected some spare traps I had laid on the ground.

“Just think what would’ve happened if she had stepped on one of these?” I held up an explosive note that I hid in the ground under some dirt.

Once I was done collecting my things I was feeling ready to go take a nice long bath. Leaving Siu to be the last person at the scene.

[EXIT]​

<i></i>

 

[Siu]

Listening to the instructor once again, the young Genin found herself rather surprised by the fact that he also shared a similar susceptibility to illusionary techniques, such has herself. It was good to actually meet a higher rank who still was able to mutually understood her predicament. Though, there was obviously still a vast difference between their predicaments as well; considering that the young Hyuuga, unlike her, additionally knew counters.

What followed afterwards was a mixture of slight rebukes for correction and improvement, as well as encouragement. Siu found herself holding on to every word her spoke quite closely. She'd been learning a multitude of valuable wisdom lately, both as a shinobi and as a individual, and this Hyuuga, although young, also proved to be of no shortage of such wisdom. Despite his age, he spoke with the maturity of the many youth-training adults within the academy, perhaps even moreso. For many of the the adults within the academy, from what she'd experienced, mainly resorted to loud scolding, which seemed to more so for venting rage, rather than for actual improvement and encouragement of the students.

Watching Eishi have his disagreement, and later reveal his explosive note, she found herself yet again surprised. It was a revealing that really 'did' make her wonder, quite considerably at this point, whether he had a mind to duel or to actually kill her. Yet, at the same time, he was a shinobi; Therefore, perhaps it couldn't be helped. Which, brought another reflection of her instructor's words back to her mind.

"And Siu, I can’t help but think you’ve held back this entire time. Doing that on the battlefield... it could be costly. The village depends on us to make decisions others cannot and perform the actions too difficult for normal people."

Contemplating deeply upon the words for a time, she began to wonder if she'd let her guilt during the duel get the best of her, and become her downfall. Walking over to one of the remnant paper projectiles upon the ground, she picked one up and gazed at it somewhat absent mindedly. "Perhaps I should've used it..." She mumbled, somewhat regretful sounding, before also making a journey home herself. She also needed a shower.

[WC=375 l Post 5/5]

[Thread Completed]
[Exit]