To train [Tutor Maikeru]

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin summoned Maikeru to kitsune park. The student had wanted indicated they wanted training, a tutor of sort but was unclear on what kind of training he wanted. So Kenshin, donning his black workout gear, carried a couple of boxes to the training area the place he had told the student via letter to show up at.

Kenshin would set up a couple of training dummies. THey were made of metal and hay looking like a short, round scarecrow.

Kenshin would wait for the student to arrive.

"So I hear you are looking for a tutor of sorts. A formal introduction is in order. I am Yuu Kenshin Main Branch Sennin. What is it you want to learn today?" Kenshin would ask his voice neutral. He would wait and see what he would have to say before continuing.

[topic created]

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru was in a rush as he booked it through the streets of konoha. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, he was more than ready for today's training session. First the Hokage, now the main branch Senin? It felt to him like the higher ups were taking a vaunted interest in the young Uchiha boy. Perhaps though, he was just giving into his vanity. That he wanted to believe that more than its actually true. Regardless, to say the boy was excited would be the understatement of the century.

"Excuse me!" He would yell out as he parkoured over a street vendor that had found it's way into his path. Placing a hand on the cart, he leaped into the air, turning his body horizontal and kicking his legs over.

Perhaps a bit rude, but, today was a very special day and he really couldn't be late. Kenshin was already there when he arrived, the young Uchiha panting and slightly out of breath. He gained as much composure as he could, and gave a small bow, showing as much respect as he could. He had to put his best foot forward, impress this man. After all, being trained by a Senin personally could do wonders for his aspirations to become Hokage. After all, it looked great on a resume.

"Uchiha Maikeru, sir!" He called out, keeping his head low as a sign of respect. "Responding to your summon."

When Kenshin introduced himself, and laid out his question for Maikeru, it was everything he could do to keep his excitement buried. After all, this was really happening. The main branch Senin, one of the leaders of the leaf, was going to train him!

"Uh.. yes! Of course! Genjutsu is my specialty, so if we could focus on that it would probably be very advantageous. Taijutsu is probably my worst, so that might be something to focus on as well. Which do you suggest, sensei?"

(323 words)

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kesnhin would look at the Uchiha. It seemed like someone was eager. What was more he even laid out his personal strengths and weaknesses.

"Nice to meet you. Now I think we should practice taijutsu. It is something I am an expert at as well as Genjutsu. Work on your weaknesses and that will make you a more well balanced shinobi. Now the plan is simple. I want you to show me where you are. Then we will go through some training and I will see what progress you made. Now in this box you will find wooden weapons of all sorts including simple gauntlets. Pick your best weapon and show me what you can do on this dummy." Kenshin would explain simply. It was time to get to work. He would stand a little bit away and watch the student begin his grey eyes analyzing every movement.

 

[Maikeru]

"My best.. weapon.." Maikeru muttered to himself, running a hand through his messy black hair.

Honestly, he didn't use weapons. It's not that he couldn't, he'd had the same training as any academy student had and was quite proficient in most bladed weaponry. It was more that he had never acquired one to use. Though, it did raise an interesting question. If he had to choose a weapon, which one would he lean towards? He had always liked the look of a katana, or a chokuto if he was really in a pinch. He supposed he would gravitate towards those if he had to. At the moment, though, his best weapons were his eyes, and his fist.

So, that was the approach he took. He squinted his eyes at the target as his Sharingan came into focus, two tomoe swimming around his central pupil as he focused on the target dummy that the sennin had laid in front of him. It wasn't like it could fight back, but, he always felt more in control with his Sharingan, like his body sometimes responded of it's own accord. Taking a very balanced, typical stance, he brought both of his fist in front of him. He left his grip loose, not tightening his fist, preferring to tighten upon contact, using the extra force from that to strengthen his taijutsu.

As quick as he could, he took a large step towards the dummy, leading with a strong right hook at the center of it's 'chest.' He followed through by bringing his lead foot back, bringing his body low and twisting with the large uppercut he was aiming at it's adams apple, the spot boxers referred to as the 'sweet spot', the spot that would cause the opponent to almost instantly black out. As he connected, he would immediately bring his first fist back to his hips, turning again to gain power as he aimed a solid punch directly at the stomach of the dummy, ending his three punch combo.

Though it seemed impressive to Maikeru, the Sennin would probably find plenty of issues with his stance and timing. Maikeru wasn't.. inept at Taijutsu, he knew the basics of it. He just didn't spend much time training it, at least, not as much as other academy students. It was definitely his biggest downfall, and he was really hoping the training here would help with that.

(400 words)

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

The grey eyes would scan the student as he moved. There was potential. Those Uchiha eyes would serve him well. Now he just needed the practice.

"It is not a bad start. However being a little flashy aren't we? Still it is effective against those who have no taijutsu training. Let me see. I will do what you did with explanation."

Kenshin would approach the dummy and go through the motions. He did it slowly about half his normal speed. As he did he would add in his comments at certain intervals.

"Uppercuts are effective when the opponent does not expect them. When they see you drop low you may not have enough time to execute the uppercut. Imagine if it was blocked. You would be wide open. As you prepare for a combo make sure you are thinking of dodging. The stance you took between combos would leave you a solid target." Kenshin would stop as he finished the combos.

"As I have said no bad. Now I Want you to try something else. follow my movements if able. Here is another dummy. Let me set it up right quick." Kenshin would set up another dummy nearby in less than a minute "Now do what I do. We will keep doing this exercise until I say stop."

Kenshin would face his dummy and assume a stance. His left hand would be extended, his right near his face like he was holding a bow. His legs would be should length apart but based on his stance his weight would be on his back leg. As slow as he could manage Kenshin would spin on his back foot bringing his left leg around in a kick. Form the kick, Kenshin would punch out with his right leg bringing his left leg down. A left punch followed up followed by another spin this time left foot to spin kicking the dummy with the right leg. He would wash rinse and repeat this slowly at first but slowly getting faster until he was moving at a quarter of his speed. If he was still keeping up, he would go to half speed. He would see how much this student could give.

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru watched Kenshin with excitement evident in his spinning, crimson eyes. Honestly, the kata wasn't that advanced, but Maikeru was unpracticed and still a heavy novice in Taijutsu. Thankfully for him, he had the ultimate cheat sheet. The Sharingan. As he eyes watched every move that Kenshin was making, it was like his muscle memory was being rewired. The code in his brain that drove his muscles was being rewritten with every single strike that the sennin made against the makeshift dummies.

After watching a few rounds of the practice, Maikeru followed after him. He moved slower than Kenshin, by quite a far margin, but every kick of his leg made the rotation of moves more and more fluid. He began to pick up speed with each strike, faster and faster, until finally he had reached the speed that Kenshin had started at. With a final, exaggerated kick, and a large sigh of effort, Maikeru fell to his butt. He leaned back on his hands, his breaths coming in a bit more ragged and forced, but there was a happy, confident smile on his face.

"That's tough Sensei." He said, giving a small laugh "I'm sorry I fell so quickly, I'm unpracticed. But.. I think I am starting to get the hang of it. Taijutsu is much different than Genjutsu, I can't use my mind as much, and outside the Sharingan, my chakra isn't helping too much. But.. I think I'm ready to get a little bit more advanced. If you'll show me, that is."

He gave Kenshin a look of determination, a burning fire hidden behind the eyes of the Uchiha clan. He had the will of fire in him, and he wouldn't give up just because things were getting a bit tougher. Maikeru was going to master this, no matter how much effort, blood and sweat it drew from him.

(312 words)

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin would smile at the Uchiha. Yes those eyes of his would help.

"Oh it is no problem. I have been training since I was half your age. With time and practice you will catch up. And you are right. Taijutsu is much more straight forward than genjutsu which is good to get yourself out of trouble really quick. I know you Uchihas like to use genjutsu and ninjutsu and nothing wrong with that. However you are at a disadvantage. While you are busy focusing your chakra, I am already on the move and attacking so you have to make the choice of either getting hit by me or dodging and loosing your focus. And I promise you, you do not want me to punch you at full strength." Kenshin would laugh a little.

"Now you are right something a little more difficult. This is going to up the difficulty a little. We will use the same movements but with these." Kenshin would pull out from another box weighted rings that he would attach to the student's legs and arms. He would notice the weight immediately.

"Five pound weights. Now keep up if you can but don't hurt yourself." Kenshin would return to his dummy and, after attaching the rings himself would move at his quarter speed keeping an eye on the student to make sure he did not hurt himself.

 

[Maikeru]

Now, normally, five pounds probably wouldn't be that dangerous, or at least you wouldn't think. Maikeru, however, in his free time, had been studying up on the effects of this type of training. He had always lacked muscle mass compared to people his age, only helping confirm the claims of him being a.. well, a nerd. He put on the weights, a small frown of trepidation on his face as he did so. He turned to Kenshin, raising an eyebrow at the Sennin as he did so. He looked from Kenshin, then back to the weights, before he began to speak.

"Um, Sensei, isn't this training kind of dangerous? The rotational force from punching and kicking is all in the muscles and ligaments of the shoulder, groin, and knees. If I add more weight to the end of my limbs, isn't that going to add unneeded, and potentially dangerous torque to those muscle groups?" He stared at the sennin for a minute, before shrugging his shoulders. "Nevermind, ignore me, I'm a nerd. Let's get dangerous in this bitch."

Maikeru followed his teachers orders, though, going a bit slower than he usually would. Partly to the weights, partly due to his fear of harming his body during training. He trusted Kenshin, and if he said this training was how to get stronger, well, he was sure the Sennin had used these training methods himself. He didn't strike him as the type to want to hurt Academy Students, which was.. rare among teachers he had found. Regardless, he followed along with his sensei's progress, slowly speeding up each time he completed a kata. Near the end of his energy, he was moving at about half the speed which he had before the weights had been attached. Which, for someone who had previously done very little taijutsu training before this, he was pretty proud of.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, a difficult task with how heavy his arms felt at the moment, and gave the thumbs up to Kenshin.

"Alright, you weren't kidding when you said a bit more difficult. I've sweat right through this shirt, feels like I'm swimming in it at the moment."

(364 words)

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin would smile at the student.

"You can handle it. I won't give you more than you can handle. If you get injured, I know someone that can heal you real quick. Now let's begin." Kenshin would say and then he would begin himself.

The extra 5 pounds for him was nothing. He watched Maikeru struggle and then adjust like he knew he would. He would stop when the student stopped.

"Good. I think that is enough of that for now. I don't want to push you too hard." Kenshin would take the weights off himself and Maikeru. He would then produce some flasks of water and hand one to Maikeru. "Got to stay hydrated. Otherwise your body will hate you."

They would take the water break in quiet. Near the end, Kenshin would clap his hands and stretch indicating Maikeru to do the same.

"Try that set of movements again and see how fast you can go. Your body should feel a lot lighter. Notice how it feels and see if you can tell a difference." Kenshin would then start his own set. He would keep his eyes on the student to see if he needed to stop or injured himself. If he did this ok, he was going to up the challenge again.

 

[Maikeru]

Well, it appeared Kenshin wasn't the type of teacher who really liked to talk, that much become evident to Maikeru as they took their break in complete silence. He took in a deep inhale, holding it for a moment, before exhaling deeply. He was tired, for lack of a better phrase. His body wasn't use to the exertion of taijutsu quite yet, but, that would come with time. He was just thankful Kenshin was careful with the health of his students, not the same could be said for every academy teacher.

When the break was finally over, Maikeru stretched as he listened to Kenshin, trying to keep his muscles limber and prevent any tearing of them. The man seemed to know what he was talking about, which wasn't unexpected of a Sennin he supposed. All in all, Maikeru was glad that the older shinobi had taken the time to take him under his wing. With the new plans Maikeru had for his fighting style, a teacher like Kenshin would be almost exactly what he needed. After all, you couldn't rely on a sword for everything.

When it was explained to him that his movements would be lighter, Maikeru gave a few testing hops up and down. Kenshin was right, sort of. The difference wasn't incredibly noticeable, but, that was probably to be expected with just twenty pound of difference total. Regardless, it was enough that the young Uchiha could feel himself getting a bit more air time, and to notice the muscles in his legs responding just a hair more quickly to his commands.

"Yes, Sensei." He responded as instructions were given.

The moves came easier to him, both from the use of Sharingan to help his muscles quickly learn the reactions to succinctly pull them off, and from the relived weight that had been removed from him. A small smile crept onto his face as he got faster, and faster, more power coming off of every punch and kick that he delivered to the dummies. He was pretty sure he even splintered the wood on one of the blows, not having the same capability of holding back that Kenshin did.

He stood dumbfound at the small, almost innoticable crack, pride beaming within him. To anyone else, there would probably be no reaction. It could easily be chalked up to wear and tear from repeated blows, but, to Maikeru it was an accomplishment.

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin watched carefully. He saw the increase and the small smile as he fought with all his might. Oh yes, it was an improvement. Baby steps to reach the goal of improvements. Too much and it would set him back. Kenshin always had to be stopped when training from hurting himself when he was younger. Ah it brought back memories of his youth and Kenshin smiled.

As they came to an eventual halt, Kenshin would wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Good work! I can tell you noticed that little change. Now continue with this form when you want to train on your own. It will help you become more flexible and used to fighting with your fists. It will also make you less dizzy as you do it. You will need to turn fast when engaging an enemy or enemies with hand to hand combat. Getting dizzy mid combo will not end well. As an example of what you can work up to, here is an example."

Kenshin would turn to his dummy and begin punching and kicking in a quick succession. A grand total of 16 hits would connect leaving the dummy cracked in several areas. He held back a lot. He didn't want to buy a replacement dummy just yet. He had broken enough of them in the last 3 months.

"Now if you want additional training let me know. I can be found most often at the Hokage Mansion. Just ask for me. You are dismissed. Go enjoy the good weather if you don't have other classes to go to. I will mostly likely see you around."

Kenshin would turn around and begin to clean up the mess they had made. He piled all the stuff into the boxes and with little effort balanced them and carried them away, whistling all the while.

16 hit combo B Rank used
Tutor passed
topic left

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru hopped up and down for a moment, the adrenaline pumping through his body. It was true what they said about the Sennin, Kenshin was on a whole 'nother level from the teachers at the academy and the Jonin he saw walking around Konoha. As the rush of energy left, he stood watching Kenshin's combo, his jaw slightly agape. So, this was what taijutsu could really look like. Well, he would have to explore this more, wouldn't he? When he was dismissed, he gave a final bow to Kenshin, before beginning to head off.

"Thank you for the one on one attention, Kenshin-senpai. You have no idea how much it means to me.

With that, he gave another bow, probably over doing it at this point. He couldn't help it, he was excited to finally have a teacher that cared about him, and gave him the attention he needed. With that, he left, a giddy step in his walk.

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[Final word count: 1500+]