Starring:
Date: March 23, 2016
Summary:
A Jounin goes over the possible uses of toxins and has the students apply the lesson immediately rather than leave the session theoretical.
"Student Training: Kenjutsu Toxins"
Land of Water, Kirigakure - Academy
As the noon hours complete, a young man that was not an official instructor would be found within the training chambers of the academy. The standard classes were broken down and segmented for a series of sessions throughout the ground, though under 'Okumo Naoya' the lesson was 'Blades and Toxins', a mandatory lesson even for those within the Shirayuki or Hozuki clans. Set along the back wall were several dozen short swords currently sheathed while in the young man's hands is a sealed decanter held half haggardly. "Good, good.. Those that arrive after I begin explaining things will be cutting subjects. Those that speak out of line will also be test subjects for the remaining students, is this clear?"
Kitaru, with that Sphere resting on top of his head, would nod lightly. The sphere would roll to keep it's perch smoothly. "Hai Sensei." He shifted on his feet a little but otherwise kept silent, watching Naoya as the others would murmur among themselves. Of course shinobi knew poisons, but no one wanted to be the subject of such. It'd make them uncertain. Kitaru didn't seem to mind. Then again, he grew up with two poisoners, so it's not like this information would be exactly new to him.
"Venom, toxins, tonics, poisons, medicine, cures.. six ways of saying the same exact thing. The only thing that differs these six things is one minor note.. dosage." Lifting his hand holding the decanter, putting it on display, a faint smile appears on his lips. Shifting hands, Naoya soon holds it within his left hand while the right draws out a single senbon from a thigh harness and holds it also on display. "I could use this same toxin to numb the pain from training, the arm dislocated the ankle twisted.. painless for several hours." Moving the thin piece of metal into the neck of the decanter, he slowly coats it further and explains, "Now.. if I aided you, you largely wouldn't be able to feel that arm of your's or your leg would be dead weight. What are the possible uses for this 'solution'? Something that would rarely kill outside of a extreme dosage?"
Kitaru mused at the question, nodding slightly and would glance at the others. While no one had a real idea, Kitaru would finally raise his hand. The sphere would roll down his back smoothly, defying gravity as fingers in the air and by his side twitched until it'd settle by his leg. Naoya had said to not speak out of turn, so he was silent with hand raised until given that permission to speak.
Drawing out the senbon, he shifts his hand and uses the tainted needle to point towards Kitaru briefly. "Seems someone knows the answer and isn't a fool. Of that.." Flaring his nostrils briefly, Naoya takes in two sudden breaths, scenting the air and nodding towards the boy's direction. "..they smell like a Doihara. Speak freely for the next minute."
Kitaru's hand would lower with a small nod. "Hai. Sensei, a paralytic poison can be put to multiple medical uses as you outlined. Numbing pain allows function despite the wound. It is also something that can be used to numb contact for a more lethal item or a hidden surgery to attempt to plant a tracking device. Numbing agents are also good when involved in interrogation and torture as you can numb enough of the limb to make them not able to move the arm, but still feel the hand, then proceed to apply appropriate tools to the fingers." Kitaru's head would tilt to the side. "If applied appropriately, it should also be able to potentially take out a sentry, a shot to the neck can numb and cause them to collapse without being able to call out for aid."
Bending his wrist inwards briefly, Naoya flicks the senbon quickly, letting it hurl past Kitaru, missing the boy by a few centimeters. The needle itself would impact the wall but only by a few millimeters, the strength behind it hardly allowed the needle to become securely lodged. "More worded than I expected, but very accurate. The lessons for torture methods is normally left for self discovery and to the ANBU agents.. Try not to cause a disturbance while within the dorms this evening." Turning to the side, Naoya flicks his wrist once again, but this time webbed tethers attach to the hilt of one of the sheaths blades behind and before yanking it back to his hand. "This decanter is filled with a solution that can paralyze the body, rendering the muscles in the limbs unresponsive. Each of you will practice preparing a blade, along with how to strike with a tainted blade. If you think this is simply a Kenjutsu lesson, you'll be sorely mistaken."
Kitaru wouldn't even flinch at the senbon going past. It would of either hit.. or not. The academy has it's own rules afterall. He does nod though. "Hai Sensei. Papa-san and Mama-sama made sure I was very well aware of what they worked with Sensei." And by the mental clock, Kitaru hit his one minute mark and would go silent. Tilting his head to the side slightly, he'd look at the poison, then the blade. With a twitch of both hands, the Sphere would roll up Kitaru's back to rest on his head again as he'd once more raise his hand.
Moving the sheathed blade under his left arm, he uses the resistance to draw the blade revealing that it was a rather dull training blade but under inspection a small section close to the tip of the blade was barbed with thin teeth a half a centimeter thick. "Each blade is like this one.. Each of you are to disperse and collect one blade for yourself. After collecting the blade you are to collect the additional body armor from the fully room, the leather armor, not the mock plated armor." Looking away from the students, Naoya focuses his eyes onto the serrated point and the ridges of the blade. Lowering the blade, he soon and carefully allows drip after drip to fall onto the blade while his sword wrist rotates gently, allowing the toxin to not pool in one spot, but trace and move around the blade, smearing it. "Now move.."
Kitaru blinks, then lowers his hand. At the command, he'd say his agreement with the rest of them. "Hai." Then head for the blades. First the training blade recovered, then the leather armor. With both recovered from the designated locations, he'd return to stand where he had been before. A slot in the Sphere opened, allowing him to plant the blade there to be held onto for the moment, as Kitaru held the armor in his arms, watching Naoya curiously.
"This armor is pad the blows of the blade's blunt edges.. save for the barbed points. The point of this next exercise isn't to wound your partner, it's to see how to avoid a blade, but also to apply a hidden assault." Shifting the tainted blade back, Naoya uses the serrated points to tap against his own neck lightly but not enough to draw blood. "If I see someone with their throat or head wounded intentionally.. the attacker will feel my true blade between their ribs." Lowering the blade slightly, he twirls his wrist, making a beckoning motion towards the students, "Each of you suit into the body armor, then one by one come up to me and taint your blade. While you tend to your blade you have permission to speak to me in a quiet tone only, not openly."
Kitaru made a face. He was going to have.. have to.. to.. *SWING* the sword?? He'd eye it sticking out of the Sphere a moment, heave a small sigh and start putting on the armor. How did Papa-san ever deal with this?? It didn't take Kitaru too long to get the armor on, although it completely rumpled the suit.. but that was for Mama-sama to worry about is what he figured. Once ready, he'd pull the blade free of the Sphere and with flickering fingers, it'd roll up to rest on his head again.
With the first of the students finishes strapping into their armor, Naoya lowers his left hand, offering the decanter to the student rather than taint their blade for them. "You should only need four drops, no less than three.. If you result in poisoning another student, you will be punished. If there is not enough to make the effect known you will be scolded." Watching the first student, he nods his head lightly as the bare minimum was taken to the blade overly slowly. Naoya at this point sends them off to the side, not permitting their chance at questioning only instructing them to "Work the toxin coating, time is limited. Your partner will be the ninth person who coats their blade properly and quickly." Milling through the line, at least three students before Kitaru over coated their blade but Naoya did not chide them, one hardly held more than two drops, questionably enough for a clear reaction.
Kitaru, along with that sphere, would wait in line. Once he reached Naoya, a small half-bow was given and Kitaru would carefully but with plenty of confidence, coat that barbed tip cleanly and correctly. No, he wouldn't be doing this in combat, however it seems this sort of instruction was something he dealt with often. "Sensei. I have kunai within the Sphere that has a similar coating. It's not exactly the same as what you described, it is more painful. Mama-sama said I could coat it, I could keep it for emergency situations. I was going to offer to show you before, why I raised my hand."
Gently shaking his head, Naoya closes his eyes, not seeming to worry about how well or poorly Kitaru was preparing his blade. With a slow exhale, he brings his blade up to his lips before parting them. At that range the boy would easily see the Okumo's mouth had been augmented, and while many swordsmen sharpened their teeth to points, he has developed fangs. From the fangs dripped a darker liquid that would hiss as it came in contact with the held blade and was more fluid than the toxin from the decanter. "I could show the toxins or even the acids that my body produces.. neither are helpful here. While this lesson is one you learned maybe since you could stand, most of your classmates are ignorants." Opening his eyes to a lidded state, Naoya runs his tongue along his lips and over his fangs, careful where the venom would drop next if it escaped. "Keep that tool safely away. If you use that gift from Akane-sensei then I'll likely have to see your name added to the 'exam' listing, even if it was in defense."
Kitaru tilted his head to the side slightly, before giving a small nod. "Hai Sensei. Although I'm not sure that would be a serious issue, I will keep it in mind. I still wanna learn stuff here." Kitaru handled the blade well, watching Naoya's own blade that had that extra poison added to it. With his own blade done, he'd once again give that small half-bow to Naoya before stepping away. He went over to those who are complete of course. He knew as well as Naoya his blade was set correctly.
With the last of the students passing by and pairing off with one another, he makes sure most of the pairings weren't even but offset, males against females were common pairs but also tall against short and the thin or the pudgy paired with more ideal students. "Conflict is never fair, you may be facing someone that is stronger, or maybe faster, possibly they are weaker than you and normally you could crush them easily. Poison.. poison throws most of the natural balance out and rewrites the rules." As he speaks, Kitaru would be pared with a student that was moderately taller than the boy but was significantly thicker and more muscled, and form how he held the blade rather familiar with using one. "You are to use trickery to humble the giants, while the giants are to not allow themselves to get too cocky with the ants before them. While an ant may be crushed insignificantly, to fall to the ant spits on your blood line. Is that clear?" is finally asked in a raised tone. Waiting a few seconds, he would nod his head and loudly say, "Begin!"
Kitaru tilted his head to the side as he'd study the partner.. enemy.. before him. The blade was flipped about as a slot in the Sphere opened up. Hilt first, avoiding touching that tip, Kitaru would insert the blade until there was a small click from within the puppet. He would bow to his partner who scoffed at him. "Hmm.. the ant scoffing at the giant." This confused the boy for a moment, enough time that the Sphere was already moving as Naoya said begin. It was fast, Kitaru's fingers dancing as they'd flick the Sphere here and there around the boy who wasn't sure which to focus on, puppeteer or puppet. He finally decided he couldn't poison the puppet and went to go after Kitaru, when Kitaru flexed his fingers wide, then close together. The Sphere snaked in, spinning suddenly and with a yelp from the enemy, that slashing blade would nip the back of the leg. Just the tip. Just enough for the poison to be considered applied. The boy growled and even with a limp, went after Kitaru anyways, of which the Sphere was always between them, always ready to take the next hit, while Kitaru watched the poison work.
Walking around the room, Naoya closes his eyes and exhales seemingly not paying attention. Along the ceiling and along several of the walls, blood stains and pain would shift, the truth was the brood was littered within the room, giving their host direct eyes onto each of the sparring pairs, at times multiple eyes on the more problem cases. Three of such spiders were watching Kitaru and his sluggish partner, who despite the numbing limb adjusted his stance. It wasn't a point of sparring but thinly veiled anger evident with the following slashes. Taking aim at his 'sparring partner', he ignored the lesson of applying toxins in favor of heavy blows at the puppet master trying to overpower the toy to pummel his target. Speaking up, Naoya says "Just because a fox has it's leg shattered doesn't mean it's harmless. This applies to victims of the snake or the hunter. When your target sets into a panic, they will either become more reckless or highly defensive. If they are defensive prepare for a counter strike at all times, if they are reckless, don't meet their force. Exploit it."
Kitaru didn't look at Naoya but knew he was talking to him. It was obvious, when put that way, what was going on. The boy was trying to outdo a machine. That's a joke, but he didn't know any better, so no harm there. Thinking fast, Kitaru's fingers went from twitching to actual seals, but if the other boy could keep up with the puppeteer's hands, it'd be surprising. When the larger boy tried to swing again, it looked like Kitaru pulled his own blade free of the sphere and went to block. In actuality it was a clone that would try to deflect the hit, while the Sphere rolled into position. The boy's blade went clean through the clone of course, stabbing into the Sphere that would lock onto it. Meanwhile Kitaru would poke just hard enough at the upper back of the enemy to add more poison to the body. He thought it'd be a spot that should render the boy paralyzed. But with the heat of combat, he wasn't so sure.
The room was barren of most things, namely carpeting or most forms of drapes as blood would splatters and drip freely from some of the students more than others. The floor was quickly becoming speckled with each successful strike and release causing blood to whip through the air but only with thin streams. Shifting his footing, Naoya disappears for a moment before appearing between a pair of students, allowing the tainted spikes to stab into his unpadded arm though it never managed to draw blood. "When did I say about strikes aimed at the neck.. or the head?" The question would prove redundant when he quickly draws up his right leg, burring his knee into the student's stomach with enough force to lift him off his heels before letting him drop to the ground. "This marks another for punishment.. Rules are law, do not question that."
Kitaru would find his opponent was as strong as he was dense, which was significant. When he struck the clone only to be resisted by the puppet, his actions froze in place from confusion. Turning slightly, he shouts "That's cheating!" only to waver. The strike lands along the back of his ribs, but it wasn't a clean blow. Falling to his knees, the larger boy put his hands to the ground and stayed in the stool like position, panting. The toxin began to affect him once again, but this time it was his lungs that began to become unresponsive. With his opponent panting to catch his breath, Kitaru wouldn't find much resistance from further strikes if he attempted them, though he could see quite a few other pairings were already finished, but some remained when similar students were pit against one another.
Kitaru frowns at the sword when he'd miss the point he was going for. Instead of the boy's muscles, now the lungs are locking up. That's no good. The Sphere would release the enemy's blade, the other child sitting down as he did made it so the sphere could roll around to Kitaru and open up a different slot. Kitaru reached in confidently and after only a moment's rummaging, comes up with a small vial of blue liquid. "Hmm.." He shakes it until it turns a dark red and nods. "There." Kitaru walks around to the front of the boy and holds it out to him. "It will help you breathe. Stop the poison. You twisted so it's affecting your lungs, not making you collapse." Kitaru shakes his head slowly. "Not the target I was going for. I do apologize."
Between being humbled by a strike that hardly hurt and being on his hands and knees in the middle of a fight, Kitaru didn't kick him in the face but pitied him. What pride the boy had been building up before then wasn't shown as he quickly snatches at the vial. Not sure how he was to inject it or pour it on himself, the boy between wheezed breaths choose to hastily start to drink the vial's contents. It wouldn't be instant, but over the next several moments, the boy's breathing was less labored, though it would be some time more before it was perfectly normal again. Lowering down, the boy's head would touch the hard floor and come to rest in a somewhat prostrated position, exhausted more from not being able to breath than the exercise. 'Thank you..' is muttered, bitterly but without prompt from anyone else. Naoya on the other hand was settling the remaining sparring matches, assuring there were no fatalities though several students were set side from the rest, namely three to the front of the class area. When the Jounin makes his rounds back to Kitaru, he would say "Kitaru-san, take your toy and move to the front of the class.. you've done enough here as is. There will be more soon though.. examples are needed to be made."
Kitaru jumped slightly as Naoya suddenly was there. He was focused on making sure the other kid didn't stop breathing. The thank you was noted but not commented on. At Naoya's order, he'd give a small half bow. "Hai, Sensei." The sphere would roll over Kitaru's blade, picking it up to deposit in his hand as it'd roll to the top of his head. Kitaru walked over to the front of the class then, pausing by the others that had been pulled out. Kitaru studied them with that intensity that was a shadowed mirror of his father, before his attention turns to the rest of the class and watching Naoya. With twitching fingers, the sphere would settle back on the ground by his feet, at the ready once again.
"Failures.." Flicking his wrist as he spoke, a pair of narrow kunai thrust into the wall above two of the students. "Too little poison is one thing, attempting to blade lock and use a blade like a club is another." Moving his hand to his thigh, Naoya opens his pouch and draws out another thin pair of blades before aiming at the next student, "The focused, mixing striking and maneuvers. Strength mixed with agility and accuracy, this is going to be needed in the field, as the task isn't always to kill but possibly to capture. This is the goal of this class.."
Turning his focus slightly, flicking his wrist, another pair of blade are thrown into the wall above another boy's head and Kitaru's. "Within a scale there is always the exceptions. Namely from the Doihara and Touketsu blood line, this is to expected, as the training they have gained is beyond this lesson. They likely began before they were old enough to be students." A soft smile appears on his face while looking at the pair and lists a finger, requesting pause. "These two are not the ideal for this class. They shall be the targets. If you wish to gain praise, then they are your rivals.. if you use underhanded methods to rival them and are exposed, then you will become a candidate for their trials. Nothing more." Turning towards the rest of the students, Naoya begins to look them over, assessing where their focus currently had been.
Kitaru once again didn't flinch when the blade was thrown his way. Instead, he'd just have a sidelong glance at the other, Touketsu, that had matched him. Or.. at least did something close to as well. Kitaru shifts on his feet then, the hard look that his father could be known for would pass over those in the classroom. No one was willing to meet it. For now. But he'd also just received praise from the Okumo, let the time pass, let the children talk.. Kitaru nodded slightly to himself, a small half-bow given towards Naoya. An acceptable lesson to him, one well earned. This wasn't to be easy, this was to be a challenge. The other students.. enemies.. have now been warned. He was shown who to watch for as well. Both the inept and the real rival for him.
"We shall see by years end will able to endure. Remember as well, if you are the best eyes will be upon you. If you are the worst, eyes will be upon you.. the difference is 'why'." Walking away and through the room, Naoya speaks but his focus was elsewhere. The ceiling continues to shift, though this time the plaster on the walls moves to rest onto the kunais buried in the wall, slowly shifting their tone to a metal like tone but without polish or gloss. With the stark contrast, it could be seen, spiders of some sort but with additional growths, almost like a partial shell to make it harder to see them.
"Those that wish to stay in the middle.. may simply be Genin until the day their throat is slit. As for those two that were the best, and for the one that is the class goal.. lay down your blades and armor, class is finished. For the pair that failed the most.. you are to clean, sharpen and then polish those blades and every single one within the storage room." Opening his eyes, Naoya looks towards the unassigned students while humming a steady tone. "The rest of you, you are to clean, sharpen and polish your own blade, store them neatly along with your body armor. Each of you have duties for herbalism. That was herbal toxin that was used, you're going to learn how to handle it and others it grows near personally.. without gloves. Dismissed."
Kitaru nodded to Naoya, chiming in along with the others, "Hai, sensei!" He'd muse and start work getting the armor off. Not that it'd really be needed since he had the Sphere with him. The blade was set within the puppet again as the armor would get removed. He frowns at the creases it put in his suit, fingering one particular one at the elbow. "Hmm." Shaking his head, he'd continue to take his time in removing armor, actually using the time to watch his rival, the Touketsu. Kitaru had a goal now.. to be that best. Not only that.. to be the one no one else tried to challenge as the win was a pre-conclusion to them.
While some of the students showed disinterest, quite a few looked rather annoyed at the pair being praised and rewarded with a half a day of lessons. While they were gathered in the room, not one of the students would attempt any action, but the pair of loosing students could be heard murmuring as one collected the swords and one set of armor while the other collected the other two sets of armor. The Touketsu that had stood beside Kitaru held onto a thin veil of calm but it was easy to see a grinning pride begin to bubble up as soon as Naoya turned his back. Little else mattered, not even seeming to notice his 'rival's' studying glances. Once the Touketsu was freed of his armor, he lingered to make sure there wasn't another order before leaving. The third 'praised' was less than prideful, if not seeming as if her pride was indirectly stabbed by being rewarded for being 'average' though sure enough, she too would disappear from the room, not to leave but towards the study hall unprompted.
Kitaru would study both. This, after all, was simply a first lesson. Finished with his armor last, it'd be bundled for the losing student to get easily. Done with that, he'd watch for a moment more, musing contemplatively. The sphere would roll, now void of the blade, to have a different hole open up. Kitaru reached in to pull out a small journal. A key produced to open it, he'd jot down some notes, re-lock it, then put the journal back in the Sphere. A last bow given to Naoya and Kitaru would leave as well, although he went for the training area of all things.
