Open The Normal Workout: Sitting Here Resting My Bones?

[Midori Futotta]

​

It was a beautiful day in the village. At noon the sun was hot and cloudless, the golden rays of the sun shining on the buildings. Then came a pleasant breeze, that blew a green leaf on the wind which an Oni then grabbed then ate it. The furious scowl on it's snaggletoothed monstrous face showed that it wasn't happy with the day, especially since he was one of the four demons who had to hold up a palanquin. Maru yawned sitting in his seat, fanning himself with a paper fan while his saké bowl was being filled. The fox taking a large gulp once his bowl was filled he looked out at his apprentice in front of him, folding his fan to put it in the pocket of his kimono to instead pull out a whistle, shaking it like for a moment before he brought it to his lips to blow.

Maru blew a whistle, the loud sound was enough to ring his own ears which made him cover the fox ears on top of his head. Once he recovered, he began to bark orders at his new apprentice. "ALRIGHT YOU TINY, UNIMPORTANT, SINGLE FORM, LOLI HUMAN WEAKLING!" the fox yelled at Moeka almost mimicking a drill sergeant. "TIME TO SEE IF YOU EARNED THAT HEADBAND THAT I GAVE YA! YOU ARE GONNA RUN AROUND THE VILLAGE BUILT ON THE CLOUDS 50 TIMES WITH NO REST! IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT THEN ITS 100 PUSH UPS! AND IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT 200 SIT UPS! YOU GET THE GIST, FAIL ONE, DOUBLE YOUR EFFORTS ON SOMETHING ELSE! Maru yelled, calming down then laid back in his splendid royal palanquin. The palanquin is mostly black in coloration, with golden trim lining the top and edges. Two steps lead to the seat, which has purple cushions. The purple cloth attached to the exterior of the palanquin's top was drawn and tied to the beams of the vehicle so Maru could see Moeka. The palanquin bearers, of which were four large red oni, held the vehicle up with the black bars that are on it's side.

Maru swished around his saké bowl, then took a sip from it handing the bowl behind him in which the lazy Jounin had one of his smaller Youkai LOUD pour him another drink from a saké jar so he can drink again. A bit unfair since Maru didn't need to walk if he had servants that would hold him up so he could look down upon the child. The four Oni looked at the large gapes, wondering how they would be able to hold up their commander while he drank. They needed to jump across certain portions if he wished to watch his apprentice and they'd have to run. Needless to say it could be a bumpy ride. Of course, Maru ignored this fact to continue drinking, wondering when the child would start the running.

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

Moeka winced at the sound of the whistle, covering her ears until it passed. The girl managed to sneak in an annoyed look in the brief moment before Maru began shouting, which is when she winced again and looked ready to run before he had even told her to, so the fact that he asked her to do exactly that came somewhat as a relief. When he finished barking the first set of orders, her dark ponytail fluttered in the air as she pivoted around on her foot and broke out into a run. But a few steps later she was already turning back around with a confused look on her face.

"You mean 50 laps? The village is up in the sky, how am I supposed to make a lap?!" Moeka protested.

[WC:132]

 

[Midori Futotta]

Once everything was explained, his apprentice broke out to sprint. Maru raised his hand, but before he could give the command for his Oni servants to follow the child they turned back around with a confused look on their face. The fox's eyes narrowed, slapping himself on the forehead from the needy behavior his students had shown. Any shinobi with half a brain knew that they couldn't improvise on running a lap around the place, particularly when they didn't know what to do when there is an obstacle in their way. "Jump past the gaps, use the buildings, make a platform, mess with the environment, chakra feet? You got options here kid." he stated, waving his hand around with each option to show how easy to think.

"You can't do any of that, then improvise. I'm not going to be with you on all your missions, you gotta think for yourself." Maru explained, finishing off his saké bowl before giving it to to his Youkai servants behind his set, taking the bowl so Maru could get out of his royal palanquin then got on his hands and knees to shake himself off like a wild animal. He did a cat stretch before pushing himself up to stand on his feet, his Oni collectively sighed, setting the vehicle down gently. "Might as well show you how it's done. Oh, and if I complete a lap before you're gonna be holding one side of my palanquin as punishment. One of my Oni could use a day off anyway." he shrugged continuing his stretching warm-up before he started to run.

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

The girl furrowed her brows in annoyance, her cheeks flushing red at her teacher's response to her question. When Maru stood up and began stretching, the prospect of competing against him yet again made her frustration quickly give way first to surprise, then to nervousness, and finally to hesitation. A bead of cold sweat dripped down her temple. But Moeka suddenly frowned and defiantly stomped her foot, reigniting her anger.

"Fine then!" The young ninja boldly rose to the challenge. "Tell me what route we're taking, and I'll definitely beat you there." She looked away and began tapping the tip of her foot against the rocky ground. Her eyes wandered over their surroundings, trying to mentally piece together a path across the mountainscape that both formed a circle and was traversable.

[WC:130]

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru knew that a little competition would inspire the young shinobi to do better, besides at least this way he could just run away and not answer any questions since it's more than likely the child WILL come back. The fox once he was finished with his stretching warm-ups put a hand on his chin, looking around to find a route they were going to take that would ensure his victory. His eyes came to a building that didn't look too far from where they stood but it was far enough to get the blood pumping. So now that the halfway point, began again with at least a direction in which they'd be traveling in. "you see that large gray building over there. When you pass by it, that means a circle all the way back to where my palanquin is parked." he explained, trying to actually think of an exact route to take then shrugged when he couldn't think of an exact path that would form a circle. "Meh I can't think of a route so I'll have LOUD watch over us with a crystal eye then yell at us on what path to take through our headsets. You brought a headset didn't you?" Maru asked since they usually give headsets as soon as you sign up for the main branch. If not she'd either have to figure it out or for Youkai to give her an actual signal. With the rules set, Maru whistled for his purple cyclops to zoom out of the palanquin, straighten up her hair, then waited for her orders. He told the demon servants about the game that he and Moeka were about to start playing, the cyclops nodded thinking for a moment as her tail waved in the air.

"So…. I'm like one of those dude's who yell and get excited at the race track?" the cyclops asked, then will a shrug Maru just answer. "Uhhhhh… sure! You do that!" With that, Maru gestured for his apprentice to follow him to where the starting line would be which was at the center of where they already stood leading towards a few stone steps. The cyclops created a crystal eye just like she was asked to, she imitated the excitement of a race track observer when she began to narrate as though this was some kind of game show. The small group of demons standing to the side made the scene look even more accurate as she gave each racer their very own introduction. "WELCOME DEMONS AND OTHER UNHOLY ABOMINATIONS! I HAVE A GOOD ONE FOR YOU TODAY!" yelled the loud cyclops pointing towards Maru with a dramatic flare. "COMPETING FOR AGAINST HIS APPRENTICE, YOU ALL KNOW HIM AS THE SUPREME COMMANDER OF MOUNT FEAR, IT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOXY SAGE ITS MARUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!" she cheered, one Oni elbowed the one closest to him and they began to roar with excitement! Satisfied the cyclops pointed towards Moeka continuing their Introduction. "AND HIS OPPONENT, THIS LUCKY LITTLE IMP THAT DUPED SAY… 88 DEMONS AND TURNED A FEW HEADS INTO CRISPY CRITTERS. IT'S THE UNDER DOG WHO'S LOOKING TO BE THE NEW FACE OF HER CURSED BLOODLINE! GIVE IT UP FOR MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEKAAAAAA UUUUUUUCHIIIIIIHAAAAA!!!!!" the Oni cheered in excitement again, clapping loudly so the scene wouldn't look too awkward since there were only like four of them actually watching them do this last minute race.

Nonetheless the pride of the one eyed Oni didn't waver, she actually looked to be having fun either way even if the crowd was small for now. "THESE TWO LUNATICS BOTH WILL BE NAVIGATING AND RACING AROUND THE VILLAGE BUILT UP ON THE CLOUDS. JUMPING PAST LARGE GAPS THAT'LL SEND EM FALLING TO CRONOPOLIS IF THEY ARE LUCKY OR TO HELL IF THEY DON'T PRAY ON THE WAY DOWN! MARU HERE WANTS A NEW SLA- BEARER FOR HIS PALANQUIN TO MOVE HIM ABOUT TOWN. FREE CHILD LABOR BASICALLY. MOEKA WANTS…. MOEKA….." the cyclops stopped then floated to Moeka with an angry look in it's eye. "Hey kid… you never said what you wanted if YOU win. Proving yourself useful ain't getting me ratings, make the stakes high." the cyclops waited for the child to answer what they would get if they won. Maru waved his paper fan on him while adjusting his mask on his face, seemingly having no objections to giving the child anything. He didn't have anything to worry about anyway but still the idea of a bet was something that he was interested in. So the ball was in Moeka's court, what would she want of the fox if she won the race.

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

"I don't have a radio." Moeka said. "Spin clockwise if you want me to go right, and counterclockwise if you want me to go left." She accompanied her words by spinning her hand around in the aforementioned directions.

When the demon asked her about her goal, it made her pause. The unconcerned look on her face left it quite unambiguous that she wasn't flustered about forgetting to declare her side of the bet; it seemed to be a tertiary concern for her at best. In the heat of the moment, the girl seemed quite content with winning just for winning's sake. But since she was asked to clarify anyway, Moeka began to think. It was a rare chance and a great opportunity, to ask anything from such a high-ranking shinobi. But the more she thought about it, the deeper her brows furrowed with frustration. When she finally came up with something, she regarded her opponent with an angry little smile.

"If I win, we'll swap places. I'll sit around in the palanquin and watch you follow your own dumb training program!"

Comeuppance prevailed over long term planning. With her condition loudly declared in a voice that was practically giddy, whether it was with anticipation or excitement, Moeka planted her impatiently tapping foot firmly onto the ground and slid it back across the rocky surface, lowering herself into a sprinter's stance, ready to start at a moment's notice.

[WC:234]

 

[Midori Futotta]

There weren't a lot of things to get Maru to actually become motivated to do better; but when the child said that he'll have to do the backbreaking exercises while she sat in the palanquin the eyeholes of his mask went wide. He was about to protest but LOUD once getting her answer picked up on where she left off before as though Maru already agreed to the terms. "OOOOO! LOOKS LIKE OUR SHINOBI APPRENTICE HERE WANTS TO GET OUT OF TRAINING. ALRIGHT KIDDO, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT! YALL HEARD HER RIGHT, SHE WANTS A SHOT AT THE BIG SEAT! RACERS! TAKE YOUR STATIONS!" LOUD screamed. Maru rolling with the conditions looked down at his apprentice, an impish grin curled upon his thin lips deciding to give the child a little taunt while LOUD continued to hype up the crowd. "Gonna be fun seeing you carry my ride around town, then again you'd be better in the back end of it. I'd rather not see the poor human crying like in that exam." Maru snarled, opening his fan up to the side of his face so he didn't have to see the child out of the corner of his eye and so if the child decided to insult him back it could look like he wasn't listening to her. Though he was competitive in this case, the fox couldn't help but be excited to see what other tricks his apprentice had up their sleeve. Especially when he decides to not play fair since in the real world things like honor and the shinobi way means nothing to monsters.

Where they started lead to four different paths, one in which lead out of the village built on the clouds which obviously they weren’t facing since the building that served as a checkpoint was more to the left but slightly to the front of their line of sight. To their right side was a staircase leading upwards to the nicer areas where most high ranking clans over the upperclassmen lived with numerous shops, clubs, clan houses, and all the shinobi essentials one could possibly need up there. At their left lead downwards below the clouds to the dreaded cronopolis, the further you go down the more the worse the buildings as well as the people get sort of like a reflection where you are in your social status the further down or upwards you are on this mountain where this village was built. Where they were facing was a long sidewalk spanding a few blocks to a large gap where a trolly carried people who didn’t like to travel up thousands of steps to get to where they wanted to go. The place they were at now where the middle class lived, a jungle of buildings of all different sizes surrounded them were lined up closely to one another. Most of the apartment complexes had tin roofs, some were connected for easier transportation from one building to another and despite the rather low budget looking construction; the brightly colored homes in the area looked rather welcoming.

The cyclops once giving the last of their speech had decided that it was finally time for them to get going. The crystal eye hovering above the town though not too high so Moeka could see it, the demon withdrew a flag then raised it up.
"ON YOUR MARK'S!" Maru leaned forward preparing himself to run. "GET SET!.. RUN!" no sooner did the words left the demon's mouth, Maru broke into a full sprint down the stone road. With the same competitiveness he had displayed towards the Uchiha, he ran as fast as he could kicking at the ground to bounce from building to building. Getting higher and higher so he could swing on a pipe so he could throw himself over the first large gap! Landing on higher ground, he spread his aura of dread then moved forward down a block which had a lot of clothes hanging from lines from each second story building. Moeka can choose to either take the low path if they make it past the large gap the young shinobi would find themselves in a back alley crowded by a few people as well as merchants. However, if Moeka decides to take the high ground where Maru was it would be a bit easier since the headmaster did make it a point to scare anything in his path out of the way. The race was on, where will Moeka go?

Spoiler: Moeka's choices

The Low Gound

Pros:
Away from Maru
Easier to get to
Has a tunnel to the right leading uphill getting you closer to the checkpoint

Cons:
Too many civilains around
Harder to see the cystal eye due to trees.
Easier to get lost.

The High Ground

Pros:
Won't get lost!
No Civilians I the way!
Easier to Sabotage Maru cause you can see him!


Cons:
Maru will try to sabotage you.​

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

As Maru turned away, Moeka grimaced. It was clear that she felt some shame from the way their previous competition played out, even despite her ending up as the victor in the end. But a glint in her eye showed her resolution to not let it play out that way again. The girl gritted her teeth and offered no quip in response, bracing herself for the start of the race.

Upon LOUD's signal, Moeka bolted forth like a bat out of hell. The discrepancy between her and Maru's speed was apparent from the start and the advantage didn't lie with her, but the girl nevertheless persisted in her efforts to keep up with her teacher. She went as far as to position herself directly behind him, and trailed his route in an almost identical fashion. Naturally, Moeka ended up following him to the higher levels.

But as the tide of the race would never turn to her favor at the rate things were going, the young ninja would naturally need to resort to trickery. Placing her hands together, Moeka performed a simple Genjutsu. She used False Surroundings to shift the position of the building they were using as a landmark elsewhere. The next part of her deception was to create an illusory clone that would continue to say on Maru's figurative tail on his way down the fake road, while the real Moeka would continue onwards in the correct direction.

[WC:238]

 

[Midori Futotta]

As Maru ran, he felt like something or someone was trying to mess with his mind. It was like a slight migraine with an irritation around his eyes when it first started but quickly as it came the irritation left since Maru was able to resist the low-leveled genjutsu. He looked back to see the child weaving hand seals into a clone in a failed attempt at tricking him to go down another path. The fox had to give the child credit, she had to be bold to take the necessary actions in cheating in order to get her victory. Maru would've done the same thing if he thought that he'd lose this race, and with Moeka playing dirty he might need to resort to craftiness since the fox had made the mistake of underestimating the child once in the exam.

Maru sent out his aura of dread, attempting to make the child see a horrible creature latch onto their arm which, at least in Maru’s imagination, was a worm like horse creature that had a human hand that was attached to its head. Unfortunately, he was unable to invade the child's sense of sight given that she was a Uchiha so instead decided to focus on her sense of touch instead so, if nothing else, will halt Moeka’s progress. The cloud of miasma that hung in the air behind Maru had seeped itself into the child's skin causing Moeka to freeze in place. In her reality, there was a small red plant that sprouted from the ground then grew into a full grown vampiric tree that shot out three purple vines that grabbed both her wrist and around her ankles before being jerked back. Bound to the base of the tree in the similar fashion of a crucifixion, imaginary blood dripping onto the child's face. Maru stopped for a moment to look at his handy work, pointed at the child, laughed, then went off around the block so he could consecrate on winning this race.

“OHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHATS THIS? LOOKS LIKE THE UCHIHA’S FINEST IS JUST STANDING THERE WITH HER ARMS OUTSTRETCHED LETTING MARU TAKE THE LEAD!! GUESS HE DIDN’T WANT A HUG, POOR HUMAN” LOUD announced, watching over the race to see where Maru would go next. While LOUD would love for the child to lose just watching Maru running was boring so the demon made the crystal eye flash red to signal the child to go because to her, she was just standing there letting the fox win. Meanwhile, Maru ran left into the main street that was traveling down hill then back up again to higher ground still laughing at the fact that the child was stuck trying desperately to get free.

[Ooc: Maru is able to resist Moeka's genjutsu and he's not fooled by the clone! Sabotage failed.]

[Ooc: Maru attempts to use nightmare on Moeka… it failed so in frustration he uses Tree Binding. The tree binding succeeded!]

[Ooc: Moeka if they struggle will succeed and they will be able to continue the race as though nothing happened. ;-;]

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

"Huh?!" Moeka blurted out as a strange plant sprouted out of the ground, expanding rapidly. She dashed to the side by sheer instinct, but the little flower shifted its growth to remain on top of her, and its vines and roots soon enveloped her limbs and bounded her.

"Ugh..." The girl groaned, and then realized that Maru had taken a brief moment to stop in his tracks and make fun of her. "Ugh!" She groaned again, spurring herself into a thrashing fit against her bindings. Moeka gave up on that shortly after her teacher ran away, spending a moment to try and figure out the jutsu's weakness. An idea crossed her mind, and she was quick to act on it.

Moeka attempted to place her hands together, but her restraints wouldn't allow her to do so, so she made due with closing her eyes and tensing up her body. She sent a jolt throughout her chakra system, attempting to dispel the illusion, and the disruption proved sufficient, weakening the vines just enough for her to slip away from the genjutsu's grasp.

At this point, even though the distraction was rather brief, the girl was quite far behind, and the frustration of it showed quite clearly on her enraged face. She weaved a few handseals and pulled out a kunai, briefly twirling it around her finger before grasping it firmly.

"Take this!" Moeka called out before throwing the knife out in an unconventional way, sending it spinning through the air like a shuriken, aiming at Maru's back. The attack was a trick in and of itself - she was using the projectile to deliver a touch-based genjutsu. Merely touching the kunai would temporarily cripple the target by tricking their brain into believing that their leg had been broken, but even the vibrations set off by its collision with a hard surface could trigger the debilitating illusion in a small area around the knife's fall.

[WC:323]

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru threw his head back, laughing again at the thought of poor helpless little Moeka being stuck in that illusion. Though his laughing was short-lived after he looked back to see that Moeka somehow had gotten free. Maru was disappointed that she didn't stay in the bind a little while longer, his student retaliating against his dirty trick by throwing a kunai at him. He could've easily dodged it since the child's range combat skills weren't that good but to look cool he responded by using his tail to smack the kunai off his path. "You idiot! If you can't properly throw a kunai you have no business with a headband!" he mocked the child only able to run a few steps before he felt pain shoot through him. Feeling as though he broke his leg while he attempted to outrun the child like some bad sprang. He only had a moment to curse at the child before Moeka was able to pass Maru up as he yelled clutching his damaged limb. Maru knew that the child had used that dreaded crippled genjutsu since it was the only thing that she could use against him, especially since the only physical strike acted similarly to how his miasma would affect the senses.

‘OHHHHHHHH AND THE BIG BAD FOX IS DOWN. MOEKA IS TAKING THE LEAD!!!’ screamed the excited youkai who was watching over the battle. Squinting since up ahead there was a shopping plaza coming up and using the crystal eye ninjutsu the youkai attempted to lead the child to the plaza since that was on the same path that she and maru was going. It was an outdoor farmers market where people come to sell fresh goods, it was crowded especially since it was rush hour so Moeka might have to push through people. That's if she didn't want to take the easy way out, using the rooftops instead of the street. Though the crowd was one problem the child would have to face since there was an angry fox demon she'd have to deal with.

Meanwhile with Maru, he canceled the genjutsu then shook himself as the pain in his leg still lingered on. If it wasn’t on before then it was definitely on now. ‘Okay, wanna play like that?’ Maru thought knowing exactly what to do. He sent out a pulse of miasma at the child however instead of striking her, some random civilian got the blunt end of it. Needless to say the civilian went from shopping to screaming in terror since Maru 'accidentally' made the poor civilian see an ungodly horror that would give them nightmares for weeks. He was about to send out another pulse of miasma but Maru had lost the child after falling behind so far. 'Oh common!' welp time to take things up a notch, whatever it took to win!

Ooc:
[Maru attempts to sabotage Moeka but fails to land 1 genjutsu against Moeka. Moeka is in the lead!]

[Moeka's Sabotage is a Success! Next post Moeka cannot be Sabotaged and it'll take 1 extra post for Maru to Rp taking the lead and or tied]

 

[Uchiha Moeka]

There was a look of disbelief on Moeka's face as Maru struck down the thrown kunai, triggering the effects of her Genjutsu. She dashed past him still holding that expression of shock, and it lingered for a few seconds more even as she began making solid headway as the new leader of the race. The girl then erupted into laughter; it took her this long to finally start believing that her plan had worked successfully.

Moeka leaped off the rooftops and mingled with the crowd. The screams that followed shortly after had indicated that it was a sound decision. Those sounds also put an end to Moeka's laughter as the realization that this race was not yet over seemed to dawn on her. She continued to move the crowd with a mischievous little smirk, maneuvering gracefully past the people, though not without a delay. Hidden by the commoners, Moeka placed her hands together and performed some handseals.

There was a small spark of flame that once again spooked the villagers, but it took the shape of a person within the blink of an eye. Where there was once only one Moeka, now there were two; and unlike her paltry tricks from not too long ago, this one was physically corporeal and even capable of Ninjutsu. The flame-spawned girl split off from the real one and hopped back onto the spacious rooftops, continuing the race as normal.

Meanwhile, the real Moeka kept running among the crowd, her eyes wandering back and forth between her clone, the Crystal Eye of Maru's youkai, and the people she was making her way past, whom she threatened to collide into at any given moment should her guard slip even a little.

[WC:287]