Target Practice [Tutor]

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

She had time to adjust after taking a brief vacation to Konohagakure for the festival. Festivals weren't entirely her style and being inside of a nation she held nothing but absolute contempt for was a recipe for disaster. She cleared out of the village and country not too long after releasing her Flying Lantern and getting a good night's rest at the inn. A few days had passed since then before she returned to her regularly scheduled duties. There were not assassination contracts available, so the next logical step was to create a class on the fine-art of ranged weaponry -- her bread-and-butter. This was the thing she was the most proficient in, so why not teach everyone else how to use the under-utilized discipline of ranged weaponry.

The training grounds of the academy had been altered, in a way, to suit her needs. There were several tables with a large assortment of weapons from revolvers, rifles, bows, crossbows, kunai, senbon, and even slings. Any type of throwing weapon that a shinobi could conceive was placed on a series of tables for them to use. For the sake of keeping the training grounds in-tact, she rested her massive rifle against the table with a sign that said "DO NOT TOUCH" hanging from it. The rifle was just too devastating for the set-up she had. There was a rubber backstop and a series of targets lined up at different distances. Earmuffs were provided to protect the younglings' hearing.

Nozomi was equipped with her winter-weather gear to include her hat, parka, and gloves. The cry of a falcon could be heard overhead before she held out her left arm to let the bird-of-prey perch upon her arm. She waited for whomever to show up to learn the fine art of ranged weaponry.

[Tutor open -- Open to the first 3 to show up]
[OOC: Not expecting this to end this week due to being so close to the holidays so expect to wait]
[OOC: Keep track of your word-count every post!]

WC: 300 / 1500
Posts: 1 / 5​

 

[Funai Ikko]

Ikko thought he was done with exercises like this. He understood it from a logistical standpoint of course...he had been through quite a bit over the course of the past year and very little of it actually involved a whole lot of "ninja"-ing. While he was very well practiced in using a spade, that had very few actual applications now that he was back among his actual profession and his skills were, noticeably, lax compared to what he was once capable of. The most poignant drop off was likely in his ability to fight with projectiles. It was never something Ikko could really have claimed to excel at and, unlike Ninjutsu, he couldn't compensate for a general lack of training with sheer, raw power. As a result, he was most notably lacking in his ability to hit the broadside of a barn, much less a person and much much less a small target.

So despite the internal protests, angsty rebellious whining, and general displeasure and dragging himself out of bed in the morning, the Cloud Genin, shuffled toward where he was supposed to meet the "ranged combat expert." It wasn't as hard as he was expecting it to be. Despite being gone awhile, Ikko hadn't really lost his familiarity with his home as much as he had expected to and as a result, even arrived on site a little bit early, just in time to watch a rather majestic looking bird soar down and land on who Ikko presumed was the instructor's arm. It was a fairly impressive sight to be sure, but as much as he loved that bird there was something far more pressing that caught his eye. Ikko had never seen one of the contraptions referred to as a "rifle" before. Most shinobi considered them too cumbersome and the devastation that could be caused by a well placed Jutsu was more familiar and typically more flashy as well, as a result Ikko hadn't seen many ninja actually embrace that bit of technology. Always the curious type however, Ikko immediately began scooting over toward the large weapon before stopping in his tracks as a large sign sought to stymie his machinations. A small pout on his face, Ikko turned toward the Shinobi Instructor and bowed, almost mumbling his name.

"Funai Ikko...and I'm pretty sure that's entrapment..."<i></i>

WC:388/1500
PC: 1/5

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

"Actually, it's something I created," she answered in a matter-of-fact fashion. She was proud of that weapon and had racked up a large amount of kills with that piece of machinery. It even scored her a revenge kill, one that bore so much weight on her shoulders and conscience. Just the act of releasing the bullet to the only person in this world that she hated was something refreshing and savory; yet empty. A weight was lifted when the bullet passed through the man but the end result felt lacking; such was the cost of vengeance. It was that very weapon, a strange and foreign contraption that's just holding up a sign right now, that gained her the title of 'Queen of Thunder'. Not for the electrical spectacle but because of the thunderous noise caused by the bullet exiting the weapon. A distant thunder and a dead body were all that were witnessed.

Nozomi nodded her head and smiled to the child. She didn't have the names of any of her students that would attend so him introducing himself was something refreshing to see. "The name is Kanagawa Nozomi and I will be your instructor in Ranged Weaponry today," she said before walking towards the child, stopping just before him, leaving him just outside of arm's length. "Any of these weapons interest you? You have a choice between two types: Projectile-based weaponry and thrown weaponry. A projectile-based weapon is something similar to my Anti-Material Rifle. It forces a projectile to be propelled outward, using something as a medium to propel it forward. In the case of my rifle, it uses black powder. Weapons like bows and crossbows propel their projectiles through tension," she said as she walked over to a bow and arrow, stringing an arrow onto the bow and pulled the string back.

"The tension that I have upon the arrow is what forces the arrow forward," she said as she quickly aimed and let her fingers go. A high-pitched twang could be heard as the arrow zipped through the air and hit the bull's eye, directly in the center. She placed the weapon down having finished her demonstration with Projectile Weaponry.

She reached into her parka and pulled out a pair of throwing knives; both covered in a matte-black paint. "These are kunai, or throwing knives if you prefer. These require a bit more skill as you have to control the weapon's rotation and know when to release it. These are generally more skillful weapons that require a bit more concentration. But unlike a Projectile-based weapon, you can still use handseals while having these equipped," she said before throwing the twin kunai at the same target, both hitting the bull's eye at the exact same time; straddling the arrow she shot prior. She turned to look towards Ikko and nodded her head, flicking her wrist as the knives vanished from the target and re-appeared in her hand.

"In a normal battlefield, you'd normally have to worry about your ammunition or how many shots/throws you have. However, we are shinobi and don't really have to worry about such things. Just consider it as having infinite ammo. How?" she asked as she shrugged her shoulders, placing the kunai back into it's sheathe that resided just under her breasts, under her parka. "I don't know. Magic, I guess?" she said as she turned her attention to look towards the assortment of weapons on display.

"Any of these weapons look interesting to you? If so, feel free to try. Don't worry, I'll teach you how to use it," she said with a small smile upon her face.​

WC: 300 + 604 = 904 / 1500
Posts: 2 / 5

 

[Funai Ikko]

"No...I mean the sign is entrap...with the gun just...and the...nevermind."<i></i>

Ikko eyed her cautiously as he slowly stepped further forward to take in the lesson. Nozomi either knew what Ikko meant and was just messing with him, in which case explaining the joke would accomplish nothing...or Nozomi was just so literal minded that she thought Ikko was calling her weapon an entrapment...which would also make a joke useless. She also might just not have known what entrapment was, which would also render any explanation useless so it was probably best that he just drop it for now. Thankfully, Nozomi didn't seem to be expecting any kind of explanation and launched right in to her lesson, so it was pretty easy to simply slide back on track.

The scientific aspects of being a Shinobi were never things Ikko grasped especially quickly. For his first year as a ninja he could barely even read, so actually getting in to the details of how a ball and socket joint let a person fling a knife accurately or how the magic string could propel a pointy stick at someone. Those were things that Ikko could, intuitively and kinetically, understand, but if you asked him to explain in words how the pointy end of a sword goes in to the other man he'd be staring lost and confused for hours on end.

The continued explanation and demonstration however elicited another raised eyebrow from Ikko as Nozomi used words he did not expect a shinobi to say, referring to their powers as magic. Of course, they effectively were for all intents and purposes, but Ikko was still not accustomed to people acknowledging it, nor was he especially familiar with people pointing out systematic contrivances that made next to no sense in a practical setting, but like the entrapment gaffe before, he decided simply to soldier on through and stay focused on the task at hand. He had to pick a weapon. Ikko's eyes scanned the spread that Nozomi had set out for him, passing over kunai, shuriken, a bow, lingered a bit on a bunch of needles before deciding it was a little too on the nose, before resting on an array of slings that seemed just a little too impractical for a shinobi. He glanced up at Nozomi before making his decision, there was no reason for Ikko's character to be any less ridiculous at this point, and raised his finger and pointed directly at the thing he was explicitly not allowed to touch. The massive rifle. He wasn't entirely sure what she called it, an Anti-Material Rifle. It was something of a silly name to Ikko, all of these projectiles were designed to puncture a material, flesh, so they were all anti-material weapons, but Ikko didn't call the Kunai she threw and Anti-Material Kunai. All the same, it was the most impressive weapon there and probably the one that would be the most difficult for Ikko to learn to wield, especially because his aptitude with ranged weaponry was nigh non-existent...and all the same he might as well swing for the fences if he was going to swing at all.

"That one would work." <i></i>


WC: 529(917)/1500
PC: 2/5

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Nope. Nozomi was just that literal-minded. She never caught-on to the subtle intricacies of speech. She didn't have the luxury to do so in her childhood and only dedicated herself to her duty when she was returned to Kumogakure; using her hard work as a means of thanking the village for giving a killer, like her, a second chance at life. While she does have some social skills due to her work as an assassin, having to 'blend-in' to play a believable role (before killing her target), she didn't think anything of it in her own life; the life outside of killing people. So Ikko's original assumption of her being socially inept wasn't wrong.

She noticed the eyebrow at the mentioning of magic. It seemed she wasn't the only one baffled by the use of colorful language. Maybe she used the phrase wrong, which was why he had issues with it? Or was the quick run-down of how the weapons work just overloading his brain? Nozomi didn't know and just watched the boy plainly, waiting for him to choose a weapon. A single finger pointed at the massive weapon with the sign upon it. She turned her head to look at the behemoth of a weapon for a moment then looked back to Ikko. She thought about this for a moment and reached over to the earplugs and the soundproof earmuffs. She passed the earplugs to Ikko and started to put hers in. She did this slowly and deliberately so he could see how it's done.

After she put in her earplugs, she turned to grab the massive weapon, removed the sign off of it, removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and held it in her hand. "This is an Anti-Material Rifle known as the 'Thunderclap'!" she shouted out, loud enough to have her voice heard through the earplugs. "This weapon was designed to penetrate through the thickest of armor, through bunkering encampments, and even penetrate underground! This rifle uses," she said as she rattled on about the specs of the weapon.

"Now that you know what's inside, let me show you how to use it!" she said as she inserted the magazine, full of ammunition, into the weapon until it clicked. She had her trigger-finger outside of the trigger-guard and turned the weapon to it's side to show Ikko how to use the bolt action. She bolted the weapon slowly so he could see the transfer of ammunition into the chamber. "Now the weapon is hot and ready to fire!" she said, not even going over any of the attachments upon the weapon. A couple of 'small popping' noises could be heard as the sights were uncovered. She took a knee behind one of the tables, popping out the bi-pod upon the weapon and rested it down upon the table.

Before she fired, she turned to look towards Ikko and signalled to him to put on the earmuffs. After he had done so, she buried the weapon's butt into her shoulder (firmly) and planted her cheek upon the stock, getting a good eye-relief. Once she got a good eye-relief, she spotted a target down-range. Took a deep breath in, paused, and released her breath. She held her breath out and pulled the trigger. A massive bullet fired out of the weapon with a massive thunderclap, leaving behind a sonic boom that even Ikko could feel. The bullet rushed into the target that she had aimed at causing it to explode. Using quick reaction, she removed her hands from the weapon and started forming handseals to create an intense gravity over where she believed the bullet to be, causing it to fall to the ground near-instantly. She only did this so she wouldn't hurt anyone.

Removing her earplugs, she turned to look back towards Ikko. "Here is how you use this weapon, if you still wish to fire it," she said, going through the steps once more in a dry-run, carefully and slowly instructing him how to fire, clear the chamber and potentially shoot once more. After all that is said and done, she gave one final note. "Just a quick note.
Never, EVER, aim your weapon at someone you have no intention of killing." she commented before stepping aside and watching as Ikko attempt to work his way around the weapon.​

WC: 904 + 720 = 1624 / 1500
Posts: 3 / 5

 

[Funai Ikko]

Ikko's eyes lit up like the sun itself was shining out of them as Nozomi seemed to acquiesce to his desire to operate machinery considerably above his both his merit and his skill level, but all the same Ikko was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He mimicked his instructor as she handed him ear plugs that Ikko promptly placed in his ear and then placed the pair of muffs over top of them. That seemed more than a little excessive to Ikko, but he wasn't about to question instructions when she was, effectively, letting him use the weapon of her own creation, a point reiterated as she once again described it. That description even started out exciting. "Penetrate through the thickest armor!" "Penetrate Bunkering Encampments!" "Penetrate the ground!" It was just all penetration, all the time, and as a teenage boy it was a philosophy that Ikko could really get behind. However, that exciting and thrilling explanation quickly tapered off in to a lot of words, numbers, and physics that Ikko did not understand...nor did he especially want to understand. The sunlight in Ikko's eyes progressively dimmed with every syllable that escaped past Nozomi's lips as Ikko instead drifted off in to a fantasy of gripping the massive weapon in his hands and raining death upon a pack of especially gnarly looking bears...because bears deserve death upon the rains.

The light snapped back on however as Nozomi's shouting seemed to divert back to something that was relevant to Ikko, I.E. interesting as she got to the part Ikko cared about, using the Anti-Everything Rifle to punch a massive hole into something. Ikko studied her form, bracing the rear end of the weapon against her shoulder, cheek against the same rear piece he assumed to steady it and see what you were aimed at, then she inhaled, then exhaled as the trigger pulled, the release sending air through Ikko's hair and causing the strands to billow behind him in proportion to the grin on his face as the metal projectile blew through the air before the woman seemed to catch the projectile just before the target, causing the now momentum-less hunk of metal to fall harmlessly to the ground. Ikko's excitement peaked.

He watched the dry run once more than excitedly took the weapon without any semblance of hesitation, as if he would have possibly changed his mind AFTER what he just saw. He walked through all the steps she'd done previously. As Ikko was placing his cheek up against the stock, he heard the words once again and, honestly, he did register her words. Dangerous weapon, don't point it at people you don't want to be less than alive, etcetera etcetera. It wasn't that he wasn't taking it seriously, but all weapons were meant, ultimately, to kill or injure. So a weapon whose purpose was to end life wasn't exactly a novel concept for him. Unfortunately, Ikko didn't really understand the subtext beneath her words. It wasn't that this weapon killed...it was that it didn't have any other options.

Ikko had watched her, and while he felt the sonic boom, it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen a weapon just behave oddly or have elemental properties all their own. His first instinct was not "this weapon caused a sonic boom because it caused a sonic boom," as odd as that sentence is. When Nozomi's body even barely moved after firing and, once Ikko held the weapon and realized it wasn't that heavy...he assumed it was a little more bark than bite and the rest it had on the table would probably keep it steady enough. So his grip wasn't as tight as it might have needed to be, the butt not as firm against his shoulder as it needed to be, his stance not as resolute as it needed to be...and all of that didn't matter anyway. Ikko pulled the trigger at the same target Nozomi aimed for...and the bullet was not the only projectile. The recoiling force on Ikko's shoulder all but launched him into the air, dropping the rifle effectively where he was standing and leaving it to jostle violently in the bipod notch on the table and shooting the small frame of the youth through the table behind them and careening in to a nearby tool shed. Splintering wood and the crashing of metal on metal tools as the delicate balance of the shed was interrupted by the projectile child as dust and debris flew through the air. As the scene settled, a small, meek noise rose from the wreckage.

"Did I hit it?"<i></i>

WC: 775(1692)
PC: 3/5

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

And then Ikko went flying back, colliding with anything and everything behind him. She performed the same jutsu on the bullet, once again, after it hit the target, causing the bullet to slam into the ground, leaving behind an elongated hole where it entered and kicked up dirt. The bullet was like a miniature meteor colliding with the ground. She stopped the bullet but didn't stop Ikko from being pushed backwards. It seemed he learned a valuable lesson when it comes to massive firearms like the Thunderclap. Before approaching Ikko, she cleared the rifle, set the bipod down, and hoisted it upon her shoulder. He left quite the trail of destruction as he tumbled and tumbled and tumbled. There were various ranged weapons strewn about with a skid-mark upon the earth created by her student.

"Uh, I might have forgotten to mention, but you'd want to brace tightly; especially around the butt of the stock. It's got a little bit of a kick," she verbalized. She had thought the boy would perfectly mimic her tight grip around the weapon, but it seemed his dismissive attitude completely ignored that. "Want to take another shot? This time correctly? Oh, and yes, you obliterated your target. It's in pieces all over the ground," she commented, reaching out towards the skidmark named Ikkou.

Once/if she helped him up, she dusted him off and returned to the table passed the wreckage from the humanoid typhoon named Ikkou. "The nickname 'Human Bullet' would fit you perfectly," she said in her sad attempt at comedy. She set the weapon up once more. With a hand displayed, she welcomed him to take another shot.​

WC: 1624 + 276 = 1900 / 1500
Posts: 4 / 5

 

[Funai Ikko]

Ikko half stepped, half fell out of the storage shed amidst a torrent of shovels, hoes, and a rake that had firmly lodged itself in Ikko's skin in a location that they most definitely not going to discuss later. He let Nozomi help him to his feet, taking her hand and, after dislodging the rake, letting her knock the dust, soot, twigs, and possibly a concussion off of him before he, slightly wobbly at first, made his way back toward the notch the gun was now comfortably rested within, as if it didn't just launch him across the training field. Referring to Ikko as bitter did not really do it justice.

"Forgot, huh? That's okay, everyone says my head is too smooth...and too shaped like a head."<i></i>

Ikko was running his hands through his hair, along his scalp as he spoke, taking stock of the plethora of bruises forming beneath those azure locks, but despite the first attempt launching him into a bruised brain, Ikko wasn't exactly considering it a failure. Yeah, he could have held on to the gun a little more effectively, could have braced himself a bit more for the recoil, could have dug himself a little trench into the ground so he wouldn't be thrown...truth be told he had options. The important point however was that Ikko, most notably, hit his target. The rest didn't matter nearly as much. And he was gonna do it again.

Ikko stepped up to the rifle again and repeated the steps, gripping it tight, firm against his shoulder...but as he did this he was getting the sinking suspicion that it wasn't going to be enough again. Grumbling, Ikko walked to the wreckage of the table he blew through and picked up two Kunai off the ground and drove them in to the ground a few feet off from the table where the rifle was braced. Ikko stepped in front of them and pushed his feet up against the Kunai, using it as a sort of secondary stock. Ikko took his place again, tight grip, firm against the shoulder, eyes down the sight...and he fired.

Ikko blew back slightly, the kunai digging through the ground a bit against his body as his feet tried to take off again, but this time Ikko stood relatively still as the "Anti-material" bullet rocketed forward toward an especially unobliterated target, a resounding crash this time coming solely from the target exploding instead of a devastated storage shed. Ikko, shakily, stepped back from the rifle, still somewhat amazed at just how easily Nozomi handled the impact from it. It was even more mortifying if she could fire it from something other than, effectively, a seat position. That was the only deficiency Ikko could really see.

"My shoulder hurts..."<i></i>

WC: 466(2158)
PC 4/5

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

This child had perseverance, that much is certain. She continued to watch the boy and something he did actually surprised her. His lack of footing was quite painful to watch, but he dug in a pair of kunai into the ground to use as stoppers. Interesting, but quite dangerous if he didn't keep an eye on what he was doing. It's not practical during combat, for the sake of this exercise, he did show a lot of ingenuity and moxie. She placed the earplugs back into her ears and let out a little smirk; almost excited to watch him in action. She had never seen something like this before so she wanted to see how it would pan-out. She stood behind him just before he fired as a means of seeing where the bullet went and to also catch him in the event the kunai anchors didn't work.

Bang!

He let the bullet loose as it completely disintegrated the target before him. Again, she stopped the bullet's advance so that nobody got hurt by the stray bullet. Thankfully, the boy caught himself, which was a relief to her so she stepped out from directly behind him, giving him space to recovery on his own. The first comment he made was about the pain in his shoulder, causing Nozomi to smile, almost hiding a laugh. After a moment, her demeanor returned to the relatively unchanging look upon her face. "Yes, but you will get used to it," she had her share of bumps and bruises from leaning how to wield a rifle at the age of six. At least, for this student, he didn't see his sister's head get blown off for failing to shoot the rifle properly.

"You did well. Better than I did when I first used a rifle," she said as she moved to take the rifle away from Ikko's control, cleared the weapon and slung it back over her shoulder. The rifle needed cleaning after only 3 shots fired from it -- mainly due to the debris kicked up from Ikko's launching. His launching seemed to do more damage than the weapon's bullet did. She removed her earplugs from her ears and placed them upon the table. "With enough practice, you'd make a fine rifleman. Won't be killing TOO many ducks right now, but with enough practice? I'm sure you'll do fine," she said as she looked around and spotting a smaller rifle; a .17 calibur rifle. It was a pea-shooter in comparison to the Nozomi's signature weapon, but it was enough to get the job done.

"Take this. It's a lot smaller and the wind will take the rounds easier, but it's a good training rifle. I started on one just like it," she said before placing down a few credit-card sized containers of ammunition. The bullets, themselves, were about 1/3 of the size of the container length-wise. It was a varmint rifle, but it was a good start. "I'll loan this to you for now. Bring it back whenever you think you can increase the size or when you've had enough. Otherwise, nice work!" she said before adjusting the rim of her hat and started to clean-up this devastation created by the bullet named Ikko.​

WC: 1900 + 538 = 2438 / 1500
Posts: 5 / 5
[Topic Left]
[Good Job, Ikko!]

 

[Funai Ikko]

Having been spared the imagery of combustible craniums, Ikko's arm had moved up to massage the shoulder in question as Nozomi gave him what might possibly be the most infuriating response to a complaint that has ever been offered. "You'll get used it." He might also get used to being punched in the throat but it wasn't really something he wanted to make a habit out of either. Still a compliment followed afterward and compliments were something Ikko was also not used to, so it caught him a little off guard as he backed away to let Nozomi handle her rifle completely unimpeded. He smiled up at her with his trademark combination of juvenile exuberance and adorable charm as she continued the compliment. He appreciated the words even if marksmanship simply wasn't Ikko's preferred method of combat. Even if he had talent for it, he still much preferred being up close and personal with his target. As much fun as Nozomi's contraption was and as much as he could appreciate the destructive power it held, he still could tell when something just was not meant for him.

All the same, when she placed the firearm on the table and expressed its ease even if he wasn't going to be able to kill a duck any time soon, Ikko stepped up and retrieved it from her. It seemed like the child version of the weapon he just handled, kind of as if she handed him a Shuriken made out of foam. On one hand, he understood, on the other...well...lame. He grabbed a strap off of the spared table and hooked it on to the weapon before slinging it over his shoulder, gathering up the ammunition she left on the table for him which looked equally kiddie-sized comparatively. He nodded up at her, still grinning as she recommended he bring it back when he felt he was ready to handle a larger weapon, a time Ikko wasn't sure he'd ever achieve. As she had pointed out, Ikko was considerably better at BEING a bullet than he was at firing them and for the most part, he was okay with that.

"Thank you, Nozomi. I appreciate it. I'll be sure to do that when I think I can consistently. See ya!"<i></i>

And with that, Ikko turned tail and ran before Nozomi had the audacious idea of expecting him to help clean up the mess he made.

WC: 405(2563)
PC: 5/5
[Thanks Nozomi, was a bunch of fun!]
[Exit Topic]