A Fresh Start [Tutor]

[Miraku]

It had already been a week since Raku had first met the young boy Hirateuchi, whose parents came from the same village as him. Last they had met, they walked to Raku's favourite spot while chatting about his past as well as the young boys motives in life. It was still early in the day when Raku had finished training for the day, and returned home to clean up and relax for a little bit before heading the the spot once more. Last time he had told young Hira to meet him in that same spot a week from their original meeting if he wanted to actually train and learn properly to become a shinobi. Raku wasn't a hundred percent sure whether the boy would show up or not, but he certainly had hope. From what he had heard, the boy wasn't a fan of academy, but he also didn't seem like he wanted to be weak either, so it would be best for him to at least give such a life style a chance before turning away from it. Especially if he wanted to be able to protect that which he cared about.

Sitting in the chair in his kitchen having finished an early meal, Raku leaned back in the chair, lifting the front legs off the ground with his fingers intertwined, rested on his stomach. He sat there deep in thought about plenty of things, but the past was in the forefront at this moment. Dealing with people from his homeland had got him thinking about it a lot in the past week. Not really wanting to think about it too much, he tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, standing up and walking toward the front door, grabbing his stuff and heading out. It was time for him to get to his spot anyway.

Traveling to the more empty area of the village where a few fields laid next to the forest and a lone river which snaked it's way through the lands, a small bridge crossing it nearby. Raku arrived and walked over to his usual spot by the tree, and slunk down the tree to the ground, crossing his legs, as he awaited the boys arrival. If he were to show up today, they would have to decide the path he wished to travel, test his current standing and see where they would need to go with it next. It would definitely be interesting. Something he had yet to do with another shinobi, since the only other person he had trained was Hoshi, and he was already past this stage when he had met the boy.


[445 WC]
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[Hirateuchi]

It had already been a week since Hirateuchi had met Raku. The man was certainly pushy but for at least a moment, Hirateuchi had a glimmer of excitement at the prospect of having somebody strong personally teach him. Raku had given an offer to train the boy if they met in the same plains area by a tree that they had last spoken at. Hirateuchi wasn't entirely sure in his decision to meet back up with the man, but he knew that at the very least, he had to at least see if Raku would keep his word and be there. If he could trust Raku, maybe he could learn something from him as well.

Hirateuchi slipped into yet another one of his comfortable kimonos, too stubborn to put on any practical training gear, before leaving his home. On his way out he saw his parents, giving them a faint smile before rushing headlong through the streets of the city. Weaving in and out of the buildings on his way to the predetermined area, Hirateuchi pondered as to how he would approach Raku if he really were to be waiting there. He still wasn't even sure if he wanted to go through the trouble of training, but if Raku saw him, Hirateuchi wasn't sure the man would let him leave without showing him every last bit of strength he had. That was the sort of impression he had gotten from their first meeting, at least.

Hirateuchi darted through buildings and alleys passing the edge of the residential district once again. As he approached the meeting point, he noticed a tall figure leaning against the tree, but from a distance it was difficult to see whom it was. Creeping around, Hirateuchi found a grouping of bushes near some more trees on the outskirts of the plains area that could hide him well. Circling the area to find himself at the bushes, he dropped to a prone position just inside of them. The leaves rustled gently as he wrestled his way between them, but not loud enough to alert anyone nearby thought Hirateuchi. Peering out from this closer distance he could make out a few details of the man, notably long hair, though in the light of the sun he could not tell if it was orange or brown. From what he could make out, he was fairly certain the man was Raku, but without and solid evidence, he didn't want to go walking up to another stranger and get dragged into something else. Eyes constantly darting for more telling signs, Hirateuchi thought silently to himself about what to do.

"Well, if I go up to the man now, and it isn't Raku, I could always just say I was lost, right? No that would be too awkward... What if it is Raku, though?" The boy kept thinking to himself. It then occurred to him that Raku had never shown anything to him that would prove he truly was a strong shinobi. If Raku was going to be the one to train him, Hirateuchi figured it was only fair to get a glimpse of what Raku could do. The first step would be to see if Raku could even find him, lurking in the brush as he was. If he couldn't accomplish even that simple of tracking, then there would be no point to train with him.

[WC 565]

 

[Miraku]

Raku continued to sit there against his tree until which time that the boy would show up and get ready for some proper training. When Hirateuchi finally showed up, Raku was not expecting him to try and be sneaky. After he took his time looking around the area, he decided to get into a bush in the area and get down on the ground within it.

Raku could sense his presence as soon as he started sneaking around. The shift in the silence around him echoed faintly into the air, mismatched with the flow of the wind through the leaves all around. Raku decided he would let the boy have his fun for now, and decided to sit there calmly, not giving any tells that he could tell someone was around. In fact, the thought of messing with him a little bit came to the front of the orange haired shinobi's mind as he tried to keep a straight face with the idea of joking around with the young boy crossed his mind.

As the boy lay there in the bushes waiting, Raku also waited a minute. It seemed that the boy wasn't going to make a move or try to get any closer in that moment, so Raku decided this was the time to act. Quickly, Raku began to weave handseals while standing there, then place his palm against the trunk of the tree behind him, sending his energy through it into the ground, using his Piercing Timber jutsu to create a pillar of wood that would pop up right in front of where the boy was hiding. The pillar was a squared pillar of wood, no bark around it, slowly getting smaller towards the top, pointed and sharp as if it could impale someone if it were to come up from beneath them; though this particular one was more dull on top than usual as he didn't want to risk the chance of hurting the boy just in case he would have decided to move in the same moment.

As the pillar popped up, from the ground, Raku would use some more handseals and then begin sinking into the earth below him, as his chakra flowed from his feet into the earth, causing it to mold around his body, giving way to his body weight under the gravity of the planet causing him to sink within it while the boy would be distracted by the pillar of wood, using his Inner Earth Reflection Lure jutsu. Quickly he sunk all the way under the earth and began to move within the earth, his chakra causing the earth to move and make way for his movements. He walked in the direction of the bush that Hira was sitting in. Walking past the bottom of the pillar he had raised from the ground to the opposite side of the bush, taking that opportunity to rise from the ground behind the bush the boy was in half his body still in the ground, his arms crossed as he smirked.

"So, what're you up to hiding out in these bushes?" he asked, standing there within the loosened earth, chakra keeping it mold-able enough for him move through it freely while he kept it active. He began to rise up further through the ground as he stood there in the silence awaiting his response, as releasing the chakra caused the ground to lift up up further and further up to the surface of the ground.


[581 WC]
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[Hirateuchi]

As Hirateuchi lay waiting for something to happen, he barely caught wind of a small rumble before a wooden pillar with a narrow but blunt end came crashing through the ground in front of him. Falling backwards onto his butt and palms to avoid the possible danger, he let out a yelp of surprise at the sudden impact, not knowing quite what happened. It had to be some sort of jutsu, he reasoned to himself, but he barely had time to get the thought across before a cocky voice came from behind him with a hint of mischief hanging around it.

"So, what're you up to hiding out in these bushes?" The sudden noise had Hirateuchi jumping into fight or flight mode, leaping straight away from the point of origin. Unfortunately for him, that face-planted him straight into the wood stake that had risen up earlier. After a moment of catching his breath and muttering brazen insults under his breath, Hirateuchi peered over his shoulder, still rubbing his already red and swollen nose. Before him stood an all too familiar face adorned by long red hair, framing a signature eye patch; or perhaps the correct term would be floated since only half of his body was seemingly emerging from the ground. As he rose up to full height, earth giving way to his will, Hirateuchi sighed plaintively and rolled his eyes obviously enough for the man to notice. "Go figure it's the one-eyed old man..." Hirateuchi grumbled with as much sass as he could muster through his obvious pain and humiliation.

Turning back around towards the pillar and coming up to a rest on his knees in a kneel, Hirateuchi started to brush the dirt off his kimono before peering to the side. There was a sharp branch resting only about a foot away, likely knocked off of an already weak tree when the wooden pillar came crashing through the earth. Looking back at Raku, whom was still smirking from the trick he played, Hirateuchi very suspiciously scooted over, stating with his now commonplace mocking tone, "If my parents were going to find someone to train me they could have at least found someone who was less of a creep."

Crawling his hand over to the branch, Hirateuchi called out once again, this time with a devilish grin, "You know, the least you could do is help me up for all the trouble you put me through." Hirateuchi waited to see what Raku would do, and if he would fall for his hopefully inconspicuous trick.

[WC 425]

 

[Miraku]

Standing there behind the boy, he couldn't help but chuckle at the boys reaction. He stood there waiting for the boy to get up and get ready to do something serious for once, but the boy lay there for a moment, looking at him, and then calling him an old man. Definitely seemed odd to him, since he still wasn't that old, but he figured to a young boy, he may have seemed old. He didn't let it bother him very much, as he watched the boy turn around and get to his knees, and start looking around a bit. This intrigued Raku as he watched Hira kneel there for a bit, unsure what he was doing, or possibly planning. As the boy scooted a little bit, Raku's visible eyebrow raised slightly out of curiosity. The boy then continued talking, calling Raku a creep; probably just more general saltiness about being pranked such as he was.

"Find something on the ground there?" Raku asked, as he watched the boy messing around with his hands on the ground slowly, in a slightly awkward way that obviously wasn't him trying to get himself back to his feet. This made Raku think that the boy was either planning something, or had found something interesting, but since he had asked Raku to help him up. "Surely you're strong enough to get yourself up, right? Or do you really need my training that badly?" he joked further with the boy, trying to goad him into wanting to prove himself.

Starting to walk out to the edge of the brush again into the field, he left the boy crouched on the ground to decide for himself. "Although it's fun to mess around, we really should get started if you're serious about this. Being a Shinobi and getting strong isn't a game." He told the boy, dashing whatever plan he had concocted. Raku would have enjoyed playing around further, but this boy really didn't have the right mindset towards getting stronger yet, and he didn't want to reinforce those bad habits of joking around too much as that could easily lead to ones death in the battlefield.

"If you're truly serious about getting stronger, I need you to tell me about your current position. Whether you have done any training, have any experience, been in any fights, have any knowledge about being a shinobi, etc." he told the boy, wanting to figure out where he would need to take this training. "Knowing this stuff with give me a good idea of what I need to teach you and where we should start, if you're up for it." he finished, as he stood back in the field where he had begun, walking further into field away from the forest to give him some space, as he turned around to where the boy was previously. He stood slouched slightly, with his arm resting on the hilt of one of his swords, other hand in his pocket, waiting to hear his reactions to all that had happened.


[507 WC]
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[Hirateuchi]

"I.. I'm..." Hirateuchi tried to mutter out some words but was having trouble finding anything to counteract Raku's sudden seriousness. He did want to be stronger but would this really help him get to that point? Maybe the only reason he didn't like the academy is because he wasn't pushed hard enough. Seeing just how fast Raku was able to surprise him made Hirateuchi realize just how out of his league he was when trying to trick the man. It made him realize how powerless he'd be if somebody wanted to hurt him...

"I've practiced with my father's sword before," Hirateuchi spoke quietly, looking at the ground with a mix of shame and desperation, "but he got sick and I never got to learn how to fight using it." Hirateuchi stood up, once again brushing the dirt off his kimono, and started to follow Raku back into the field.

He pondered what experience he actually had under his belt. He had never gotten into any fights growing up, always opting to be charming and influential instead of resorting to violence. Of course that was more to empower his laziness than to protect himself, but he also saw no need fighting if it wasn't necessary. And the only things he knew about shinobi and ninjutsu came from stories passed down from his parents of missions they undertook while still living in their old village. "Raku I... I don't really have any experience fighting. I don't even know where I would begin. But I want to get stronger." Finally, with determination in his voice and beaming eyes, Hirateuchi looked genuinely at Raku. "I'd like you to help me get stronger... ummm, if it won't hurt your back old man." Hirateuchi's small moment of deliberate and heartfelt emotion quickly resorted back to his sarcastic and rude demeanor, but as he looked to his side, cheeks blushed from the sudden exclamation, he silently hoped that Raku could... no, that Raku would help him become a strong shinobi.

[WC 333]

 

[Miraku]

Raku felt a bit bad about having to change his demeanor from joking to serious so suddenly. But he knew that if he didn't, the boy would think this was a joke, and he wanted him to take this seriously. As the boy began to respond, he talked about how he had practiced with swords a bit before, but that his father wasn't well and hadn't been able to teach him anything yet. This was a good start. If his family leaned towards swordsmanship, it was probably in the boys genes to wield one, and Raku was no stranger to sword. In fact, he had two sheathed on his side in that moment; the two he kept on him at all times, at least out in public. Raku began to think a little bit as he wondered where he would start, because Hira began to continue, explaining that he really had no experience. His declaration of wanting to get stronger gave Raku hope, as he also asked him to help. It was a relief that he added the little jab at the end, showing he could be serious, but not lose his sense of humor.

Walking a few steps closer to the boy, he looked down at him. Raku placed his hand up to his chin, in a pondering look and then back down again before opening his mouth. "Well, since you have almost zero experience, we should start from the beginning. We'll want to find your strengths and weaknesses, and where you excel." He said, standing up straight once more, and turning his back to the child. "We should probably start with the most basics; that being the physical side. Shinobi should be in peak physical condition for things like movement, dodging, agility, etc. as well as for Taijutsu in general." he explained, trying to get across the many facets of physical training.

"I'm not sure how much you know about Shinobi, but there are essentially 3 different schools of jutsu: Nin, Tai and Gen. We'll want to figure out which ones you are good at, and which ones you might not be good at, and then work on your strengths and weaknesses. But before any of that, we'll want to improve your general fitness." he suggested to the boy. Taking a few steps forward, in the direction away from Hira, and then turning around to face him, he smirked. "I don't know if you work out at all or anything, but if you're gonna be a shinobi, you're going to want to start training every day. You'll start off slow, and work your way up, but it's good to get into the habit of training in order to get stronger." he questioned the boy. "To start, we'll want to work on your general traits like your stamina and speed exercise like running, push-ups, sit-ups, etc. to condition your body. Does training every day and doing stuff like this sound like something you're willing to do?"


[497 WC]
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[Hirateuchi]

"Yeah training every day doesn't sound so bad. Maybe then my mornings won't be so boring. Say Raku, I guess that means you train every day too?" Hirateuchi glanced down to Raku's side, seeing his swords hanging from his waist before continuing on. "Well if an old man can do it so can I!" Exclaimed Hira before he slammed his body to the floor in a startling display of speed push-ups. "Heck I'll start right now." 1, 2, 3... the number kept going all the way up to 12 before the boy fell over panting for air. Gasping tirelessly Hira questioned, "That musta been what, 100? 200 push-ups?" Man I'm pooped..."

Lying on his stomach Hira rolled over onto his back and let out a deep sigh, knowing that he was clearly not in anywhere near good enough shape to start training with Raku. "Guess I'm gonna have to work on that, huh," the boy stated more than asking a question. He stared into the sky at the clouds passing by, losing himself to the gorgeous scenery for just a while longer, not wanting to know if Raku was laughing or shaking his head next to him. Twiddling his fingers together, Hira pondered a question that had been lurking, waiting to be asked ever since he laid eyes on the swords Raku was carrying. "You know, I always wanted to learn to fight with swords like my father used to, but since he got sick I never got a chance to pick any of it up. I didn't wanna bother him, ya know..." Hirateuchi continued, sounding an odd mix of sad but hopeful. "I know I've been a jerk and umm... well I'm... I mean..." Hira was certainly intelligent for his age and could understand he was acting out more than usual around Raku, but even knowing that didn't make apologizing any easier. "What I mean is, I see that you carry swords around and, well... I was wondering if you could help me learn to fight using them?"

Hirateuchi sat up and looked at Raku. For the first time probably since the two had met, Hira was letting himself be a little bit vulnerable and asking with sincerity. There wasn't even a offhand comment afterwards. Hira wanted to have sword-fighting as a way to connect to his father but that dream shattered long ago. But perhaps, if Raku could help him, then he could have something to talk to his father about. Something to help him feel some of what his dad felt all those years ago when he was still strong. Hira looked straight at Raku without fidgeting, simply awaiting an answer.

[WC 444]

 

[Miraku]

Smirking a little as the boy immediately went down to the ground and started doing push-ups, obviously not pacing himself. As he slowed down and finished at twelve, obviously worn out already, Raku couldn't help but laugh at the boys joke of suggesting he was in the hundreds. "Definitely something we'll work on. But don't worry about doing a lot. You just want to pace yourself, do as much as you can without getting hurt, and slowly get better as the days go on." he suggested as he looked at the boy laying on the ground.

The boy got quite serious in that moment as he stared up at the sky, and then looked towards Raku, talking about how his father used swords, and that he was interested too. This definitely piqued Raku's interest, as he was very much into fighting with swords, and teaching someone else would be quite interested; at least he could teach the basics. "I think that would be a good idea. Though we'll have to save that for another time,
because before you wield a sword, you're gonna have to build up that strength. Swords aren't light, gotta have some muscle to lift and carry them, let alone swing them around at high speeds." he told the boy, knowing that at his current strength and size, it would be tough for him to use one properly. "As long as you keep up your training, and work towards getting stronger, I'll certainly attempt to teach you how to use one of these." he finished, patting his hand on the hilt of his sword, with a smile across his face.

"Now. Why don't we end today with some stamina training and go for a nice long run?" he suggested, waiting for the boy to get up to his feet once more, and join him. "We'll run a lap or maybe two around the entire forest if you're able to, and then you can head home for the evening." he continued, as he started walking backwards in the direction they would head. If the boy would follow, Raku would run pace with him around the forest to train his speed and stamina at the same time, hopefully pushing him a little bit, until he was tired and would be ready to go home for the night at which point he would say his goodbyes and head home himself.

[Topic Finished/Left]
[400 WC; 2430 Total WC]
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[Hirateuchi]

Hirateuchi followed Raku as he backtracked towards the forest. Catching his breath before starting, Hirateuchi started a light jog, passing up Raku to start his laps around the forest. "I know you don't have your cane so don't feel bad if you can't keep up." Not looking back, but knowing Raku would join him on the run, Hira hoped his taunt would have Raku pushing his limits to get back at him. Though something told him that's what Raku would have done anyways.

The two jogged around the forest once with ease, but a short ways into the second lap, Hira had to take a break. Lurching over, hands on his knees, he panted for air. If his push-up display was any indication, the boy was not in very good shape, and did not know how to pace himself. He knew he would have to work on that if he were to continue training with Raku. His lack of performance didn't dissuade him, though. Instead it only served to give him an even stronger sense of motivation to continue working to achieve a goal. Maybe that is what he had been missing this whole time. He didn't have any reason to get stronger but in the short time he had known Raku, the man had already shown him enough reason to work towards a better goal. Smiling the boy remarked at last, "Well, I think that's all I'm going to be able to do today, but you'd better not think about being late next week old man!." With that last response, Hirateuchi took a deep breath and started jogging again, but this time not around the forest. Not looking back or waiting for a response, he continued jogging all the way through the edge of the forest, to the plains, and through the residential district back to his home, a small smirk on his face and a determined look lighting fire to his eyes all the while.

[Topic Finished/Left]
[WC 327; 2094 Total WC]