Starring:
Date: March 18, 2013
Summary:
Satomi starts teaching Fudo basic Kenjutsu
"Sharp trainer, blunt impact"
Training Area #26 - Chuunin Training [Konohagakure]
Satomi has invited you on this sunny afternoon to come do some talking and training. The scroll stated she had food and drinks, and specifically requested you brought your sword. She asked him to join her in the Chuunin training ground, awaiting him at the edge of the forrest to make sure he doesn't get stopped, escorting him through. "It's sort of an exception I'm bringing you here, I want to try something."
She speaks with a warm smile as he approaches. "You held your own impressively in that last mission, though I did notice something."
5r she proceeds to be pointing at his sword. "You could use a little practice with that, and I think I know just what you need!" She smiles again, she carries her usuall backpack with her, and once they reach the middle of the training ground she sits down right in the middle. Opening her pack before sliding out a set of balls and chains. "Training weights." She says, rolling them out Fudo's way.
"Ever used these?" She asks him. They are clearly designed for use on a sword. "I don't do swordfighting myself, but I ask my f… an expert, and he gave me some pointers. So I can teach." She says, while smiling warmly again, observing Fudo with her ever analysing eyes. "But before we start, why don't you tell me about you and Yuzuna?" She says, before looking away with a content smile.
Fudo wondered why he was being summoned to the chuunin grounds, especially so soon after the mission he'd had. His back had been healed rather easily. The whip did damage, but didn't hit anything important and luckily it was only one lash to treat so he was cleared for activity soon after. He was ordered to bring the sword he used, primarily as an improvised weapon, that he kept as a keep sake of the mission. He had found that the short range of his kunai simply wouldn't do, and now… it seemed it was of importance to this training.
After arriving, he would see that Satomi was prepared, and she would explain what she was doing and why he was here… sort of. "Why does any of this require use to be here?" Fudo would ask as he moved closer and provided the simple blade to Satomi to rid how ever she wished. It seemed her father was a capable swordsman, even if she didn't want to admitt to it being him. At least that is what Fudo got from her paused word. Never the less, he was intrigued at the answer. Thoguh he raised his brow at the mention of Yuzuna. "What do you mean?" he would ask, giving nothing.
She smiles at him as he skillfully bats off the mention of Yuzuna. "Sure.." She says while applying the training weight to his sword. "There.." she says, while gently giving him his weapon back. "We're here for several reasons… one, it allows us to train without being disturbed by students or genin. Secondly, I was training here before.." She states quite simply, she forgot to mention she was playing Shogi against herself. "We're going to go through the basic movements with weights applied first, then progress into more advanced movement quickly, since you already have skills with your sword. I hope we can cover the basics really fast."
She stands up, motioning for him to do the same. "Okay, lets go through stances." She says, while standing next to him, grabbing a large stick she found along the way. "Note, I haven't used a sword before, so I'm doing this by memory." She's not an Uchiha, but she's smart. And if her father explained it she picks it up flawlessly. "There we go, position one." She says, while holding her hands together near her core, stick tightly in her hand with a basic grip, before she makes a step foreward. "Position two."
One foot in front of her, the weapon raised above her head. "Three." She says while lashing the stick down diagonally while completing two steps, twisting. "Four." She says, making another horiziontal strike. "And five." she says, while pretending to sheath the make-shift sword. "Now that's significantly more difficult with weights… trust me.." She says, while standing in front of Fudo, grabbing a kunai. "Go ahead, all five positions against me, all out… don't hold back."
Fudo merely raised a brow, but as that leg of the conversation was halted, he also left it at that. "No, i have not used any of these things, including the sword before our mission. I believe I will do so from this point forward, but before then…" Fudo would state as he took the sword back with one hand, quickly reaching forward with his other as he almost lost his balance with it outstretched like that. The weight was manageable, but it was not a comfortable weight at all to simply hold the sword with. So, they were here for privacy and convinience. That did make enough sense. Fudo would slide the sword in to his obi and watch as Satomi would begin to instruct on the movements. He watched very carefully, taking note of footing and the angle of the blade, wrists, and grip.
After she was done, Fudo nodded slowly, going over it again in his mind. He would then draw his sword when she was prepared moving in to position one as he already felt the strain of keeping the sword level while shifting his weight. He would start to go through them otions, and find that every tilt and movement of the blade and him would cause him to have to adjust and compensate, and he'd end up over doing it at times. His attacks, if they could be called that, were sloppy, unwieldy, and far from swift. HIs motions were not to blame nearly as much as his trying to combat the imbalance and over all weight of the weapon now. Training and overcoming, hand in hand.
"Good.." She simply states, letting him struggle for a first rep, simply parrying the blows by his sword, waiting for him to send in his unwieldy blows, though she's very keen on watching the movement of the sword, letting it glide off her kunai like an expert. "Perfect, again!" She says, while twirling around him gracefully, getting ready for another go.
"The weights boast your sword piercing flesh, as recovering from a strike takes far more strain. That, and it increase the muscle development, since you're used to a slightly heavier sword, though with the same dynamics as your current one." She blocks his blows again, before returning to the starter position.
"Again." She says, while letting him struggle over and over, planning to make it quite a gruesome training, for both of them that is. "So…" She says in the middle of the fourth rep, right after his third stance, rolling out of the way of his next strike. "You and Yuzuna." She smirks at him again, trying to both catch him off guard and tease him with it a little. Psst, like she wouldn't notice. Satomi has no idea that Yuzuna is at least close, so she isn't constraining her voice in any way, assuming privacy. "Again.." She simple says yet again, giving Fudo less and less pause between each rep. "We're doing ten and then you'll get a short break." She says, hoping he really feels it in his arms. "After that I'll show you the point in getting these stances right." She recalls every step she went through with her father, her old man might walk with a stick, but holding his old sword rejuvinated something in him. She was actually proud of her old man for a second there. She was practicing entirely for the benefit of Fudo, as she has no intentions of learning to work with a sword.
"Good, now I want you to do something before rep nine." She says, pausing, making sure Fudo does the same before approaching, looking into his eyes. "Focus, just look at me and completely focus. Forget about the weights, compensating everything." She says, looking for the red haze in his eyes. She knows he isn't aware he has it, but intends to at least get him used to using it before Naru beats it out of him.
"Just let your instinct guide you, close your eyes for a moment." She says, then open it and give your body free reign to do what you think is best." She says, before getting ready. "And go!" She says, this time blocking him at a far higher speed, afraid her plan might actually work, just a precaution.
Going through the motions and learning more and more about the restrictions of the weapon itself, his own body, and how even small amounts of weight changed everything, Fudo would continue on. Bringing up Yuzuna again didn't cause him to pause, but it did cause him to narrow his gaze just slightly. "Assumptions should only be used with evidence." he would say as he didn't miss a beat. Either there was nothing there to disclose i nthe first place, or she was underestimating his ability to focus on things that mattered. Fudo was not one to get flustered after all.
As the training progress, it got harder and harder. His hands began to sweat and his grip almost seemed to slip along the hilt at times. He panted a bit, his body being worn by the effort he was putting forth, only to be asked to perform at the highest levels just when he was getting closer to being at his weakest. Women and their demands… Fudo would shift the way he did things a bit, moving with the blade, allowing the weight to drive some of it's movements and merely guiding the blade as it moved instead of forcing it as he had been. He let gravity and force work with him instead of against him, and it did make his attacks sharper and more fluid, more powerful even. But his sharingan did not activate, and that was for a very simple reason.
Having performed a bit better on the last rep, FUdo would nod to that and say, "It seems the training is working." as he would move to resheathe the blade and begin his break. He would step away, opening up his yukata a bit to expose his chest to allow the wind to cool him off as he'd allow his arms to relax, rolling them a little and looking for water.
"You're doing good." She says while running her wrist past her sweaty forehead. There's something very straining about dodging a sharp blade the whole time. She reaches for her pack before taking out a simple water bottle, throwing it towards Fudo. "Here I brought some water." She says while taking a food pill and her pain medicine. She is still a bit shook up from their mission protecting the flute.
"Three minutes.. then I'll explain the next excersize." She says, while looking at her Shogi board set up in a nearby tree, smiling to herself… different kind of practice.
"I have to say your progressing is impressive." Satomi simply grabs the large stick again, walking to the middle of the fighting field. "Lets go to the next level." She says, while standing across, holding the weapon in stance one. "Blocking and ripost." She simply states. "Slowly go through the steps against me, very slowly." She says, while waiting for him to bring the weapon down, turning her up and horizontal so it catches the brunt of his strike, sidestepping and gliding the stick out with her wrists turning to the right for a horizontal strike at Fudo, stopping at his neck. "That's block one.." She says, before having him continue to three and four, blocking him by simply holding the stick out to her left, tip pointed at Fudo's face as he impacts horizontally.
"Now riposte two." She says, answering the blocked strike with a vertical strike of her own, which in essence was stance one and two. "There's an alternative called Ki" She says while getting back into position, having him make another horiziontal strike, instead of striking vertically she jabs the stick forward, stopping inches from his throat. "There.." She smiles at him while getting in position.
"Two blocks, I won't block your riposts, so please be careful." She says, before beginning to complete the five stances on him over and over again, having him block her, starting slow the first three times, pausing each time he riposts, carefully watching the sword though, ready to shoot out an emergency dodge should it be neccasery. "Good, now faster." She says, picking up speed in the fourth and fifth rep.
"Good, more!" She says, going even faster now, taxing Fudo more and more to block her with the heavy sword, at increasing speeds. Which is gruesome since the excersize meant he got more and more tired.
"We'll pause at ten again." She says, going full speed at rep eight and nine. "So where did you meet Yuzuna?" She asks Fudo curiously after rep nine, trying to hit him while he thinks.
"By chance at an undisclosed location." Yuzuna murmurs idly in answer to the 'casual' inquiry, without so much as a glance up at the pair training as she slips off the strap of her cloth knapsack to set it on the ground, against the base of a tree. The Hyuuga kunoichi had slipped in unnoticed while they were training it seems, not surprising. Nor had she felt the need to interrupt them when she had. It would have been rude after all. Her soft lips part with a small breath as her hands begin to gather the length of her long, raven hair and pull it back away from her face, pulling it up and twisting it around in her hands to pin the bun in place with a pair of ebony chopsticks. "You seem a bit curious about the matter though, Nara-san. Could it be you are just asking to throw him off?" Yuzuna turns her head just enough so her pale eyes idly glance at the other girl, perfectly masked from emotion and expression.
The training wore at him constantly. Just holding the blade was rough for Fudo after the movements because of the extra weight, but that was part of the point. He would once again pay close attention and mimic what he was taught and through mimicing he would grow in understanding and through understandign he would begin to postulate new approaches while keeping the formula the same. The only factor now was weariness. While he was not weak in any particular way, training stablizer muscles was always something that was extra effort, and he'd not been doing that in particular quite yet. Looks like he is making up for it today.
The most dangerous aspects of his riposte trainnig was his lack of control over the increasingly heavy feeling blade. He was not attacking swiftly, but it was harde for him to control his strikes out at Satomi with each rep. As the question is asked about Yuzuna and himself… and then answered by Yuzuna herself, Fudo would be distracted very briefly by noticing that Yuzuna was around at all. But as far as he was concerned, it was a micro break. It was obvious that he'd not be able to keep this up for much longer. His endurance i nthis regard simply wasn't high enough.
"Okay, one more Fudo!" Satomi says after the ninth rep. "Go untill you're broken, and then do one more!" She says, smiling at him warmly while going at him at full speed, though purposefully dodging his riposte, just in case…
"Okay good job, lets take a break here… think this is enough training for today. We'll continue soon once I have picked up on more instructions. As for you Hyuuga-san…" Satomi says, smiling warmly at her. "Your keen eyes don't seize to amaze, all-seeing both physically and mentally?" She smirks, trying to indicate that a distraction is all she was after. "He's quite imprevious, maybe I should have you waving at him from the other side next time." Satomi says with a wild smirk. Winking at Yuzuna.
"Want something to eat Fudo?" She asks, while grabbing her own stuff, taking out some herb-wrapped riceballs. "Here… brought some for you as well." She says, handing one out to him, urging him to take one. Before pulling out the few she made for herself, glancing at Yuzuna. "Here you have one too, I'm not that hungry." She says, politely handing her a rice-ball. Even though her stomach is about to organise a revolt. How could she do that to us! Her cells scream in unison.
Satomi sits down with a deep exausted sigh, emptying the last bit of water from her bottle over her face, carefully stretching her calves and arms to get the feel back into them. "There's only so much I can help you with untill we need to find you an actual trainer." Satomi says, while rubbing her shoulder. "But for now, doing the basics should be very doable." She gaze at Yuzuna curiously, while politely pointing to her left. "Feel free to sit with us… do you mind me calling you Yuzuna-san?" She asks curiously, while her eyes continuously zap to both Fudo and Yuzuna. Assumptions are there to be made, theory fits fact, not the other way around on this one.
Yuzuna loosely rolls her pale eyes before shaking her head to herself, "To observe one but not the other would be neglectful and foolish on my part as a kunoichi. Distraction is also a common tactic and its logical that you would strain him mentally in order to throw him off physically." She watches as they take a break, and Satomi goes for her bag to pull out food. Riceballs. As the other girl reaches out to set the riceball in her hand, Yuzuna lifts a brow passively. "Thank you for the offer, but I have food for later." she turns her hand to settle the riceball in Satomi's hand again. "And it sounds like you need it more in any case." Turning, she takes a few steps out before kneeling to the ground and using one of her small hands, begins to dig a small hole in the soft earth. "I suppose 'Yuzuna-san' is agreeable."
As the girls discuss the best tactics to use against boys and men alike… Fudo simply would sit and lean with food and drink in hand, and consume and drink slowly, steadily, and contentedly. His doo mwas all but spelled out just feet away, and he'd almsot ignore it as he took his break. Looking to the sword, he'd ponder over it lightly, then the females… he'd ponder over them not so lightly. Perhaps he should do the same to them if he ever finds something to teach them in some day. Physical exertion interrupted by heavy distraction to see just how much they can endure in the end. Yes… that was now a goal for the future. As Yuzuna states that "Yuzuna-san" is agreeble she supposes, Fudo does smirk just a little at that, eatting his riceball just after and letting that amusement linger just as much as the taste of the food.
Satomi nods with a faint smile. "Agreeable it is.." Satomi says while squinting her eyes for a moment. "You can call me Satomi.. or Satomi-san… whatever floats your boat." She says quite simply, looking at Yuzuna. There's something unsettling about those eyes… She then turns away awkwardly, walking up to Fudo and messing up his hair before grabbing her backpack. "I'm going back to my game of Shogi. Tomorrow training same time, I'll leave a scroll for the location." She says, while walking up into a nearby tree where she hid her game of shogi, continuing her mental struggle against herself while munching away at her own riceball. Really content the Yuzuna didin't accept it. More for me!
