Embracing Nature [Tutor]

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi adorned normal chuunin attire. It was a switch from his normal outfit, which was a kimono top and an apron. Hoshi wore fitted hakamas adorned in matte black to match a black dry fit. Hoshi wore a chuunin chain mail vest and on top of that a buttoned sweater with a tall collar. The sweater was unbuttoned and open to reveal the chain mail and he necklace with a pendant containing a precious stone. Tatsuo told him to meet in the forest for a camping trip. Of course the two youth had been spending an awful lot of time together since each of their returns.

Hoshi trekked into the forest, moving at a light jog. His eyes would dart left to right as he side stepped tall branches, incoming animals, and various other obstructions that would impede his path. His thoughts would race like horses on a track contemplating over and over again, the idea of camping. In his home he had a microwave, television, gaming system, an oven and toaster, a wide array of electronics. His comfort zone was far being stretched, but, that's what a Shinobi had to do, right? Hoshi would never turn down a learning experience, and so the boy kept his eyes peeled for a large enough expanse to post up site.

Eventually, after the bright burning orb in the sky had slithered about forty five degrees, Hoshi had finally came to a stop. There was a range with enough trees to provide shade, and large enough patch of flat land to build camp. Hoshi then took a seat and waited for Tatsuo to arrive. This was going to be an interesting time for sure, and the excitement would build in the youth causing a jump in his heart rate and blood pressure. A clear sigh his hyperactivity was kicking in, of which he would meditate to suppress.

Mft WC 314

 

[Tatsuo]

For all the knowledge Tatsuo lacked in more scholarly ventures, he made up with his extensive experience in nature. He never really practiced, as much as he always felt an innate connection to nature so these things just came to him. From building fires, gathering food, even determining the poison of certain berries. Usually by making himself sick as he was more of a, eat now, figure out later, kinda guy but after a few tries he's begun to realize the best ways to determine.

Tatsuo had actually been in the forest for a few hours before Hoshi arrived, preparing for the day ahead. It was always easier to start just as the sun began to rise. In the Leaf the climate was more hospitable, but the forest provided a buffer to the cold mountain air. Leaving the Ancient Forest, as the locals called it. It was warmer than most of the village as the treacherous winds were blocked by the tall thick trees.

"HOSHI!!!!!" Tatsuo ran towards the clearing that Hoshi had decided to begin his soon to be cut short meditation. Behind Tatsuo was a huge rumbling, like the whole mountain was falling down, but soon Hoshi would spot the enormous elks chasing after the boy. Overhead Tatsuo was carrying a bright red fruit, the largest and juiciest apple anyone had ever seen. "RUN!!!!" Tatsuo shouted as he ran past the pale-eyed boy. The rumbling continued to chase them through the fields. They was quite a distance between the boys and any trees so they were going to either sprint, or get trampled. "FIRST LESSON, HOW TO AVOID DANGEROUS WILD LIFE!" Tatsuo decided to begin the lesson strong, if Hoshi was going to learn how to deal with these kind of things he'd need to be ready for anything. And if anyone could get him in trouble, it'd be Tatsuo.

WC: 312
Post: 1/5

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

His eyes shot wide open. The sound of his name screeching through the distance breaking the stillness of silence. His eyes darted left to right, and the voice sounded somewhat familiar. His head turned in every direction as he slowly slid to one knee. Hoshi would begin to feel rumble in the ground, it was like that of a pseudo earthquake. The eyes of the young Hyuuga finally caught sight of Tatsuo, who was dashing at high speed. One thing he noticed was the bright red fruit he held overhead and... a raging stampede! Hoshi clenched his jaw and faced the stampede. Tatsuo beckoned him to run, exclaiming his first lesson. Hoshi nodded and weaved a few seals of the lightning and water element. He activated a high amount of chakra into
his palms and slammed it into the ground. The result was a geyser of water erupting from the ground sparkingling with few thousand jolts of lightning. The water formed a thick solid wall and condensed a hundred times over, buzzing and clicking like an electrical fence.

Hoshi then turned and began to high tail it with Tatsuo. But the boy took the trees and began to leap from branch to branch, all the while he kept eyes on the events below. This was some start to a lesson and Hoshi shook his head. He looked back at Tatsuo running around manic vibrantly colorful fruit. The youth sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose before shouting at Tatsuo.

"Hey! Some lesson this is! You said living off the land! Not running around frokbita livestock! What have you got us into Tatsuo?!"

He was talking too much and lost footing on a branch barreling over he caught himself mid air and clinging to a branch. He catapulted himself after a full rotation and kept his pace running from tree to tree.

312+314= 626

 

[Tatsuo]

"RULE ONE! NO JUTSU! YOU GOTTA LEARN THE BASICS FIRST!" he said not taking a moment to stop his sprinting, "RULE TWO, WE DON'T ATTACK THE ANIMALS UNLESS WE INTEND TO EAT, OR IN SELF DEFENSE, IN THIS CASE I STOLE THEIR FRUIT SO THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD!" The irony flew over Tatsuo's head like a jet plane. The fruit looked good and the elk seemed to have plenty, that was enough justification for Tatsuo but the elk would beg to differ.

After gathering a bit of distance between them and the stampeding hoard, Tatsuo shouted over, "Climb! Climb! Climb!" he then began to shimmy up the tree. Keeping the bright red fruit pinned between the tree and himself as he scaled up. "Don't use any chakra to help you either! What if you're caught in the forest by like.. a chakra sucking monster! You gotta be able to do these things without it." he said as he continued to climb at a suprising pace. Even without using chakra to create a grip for himself, Tatsuo had climbed so many trees in his day he could do it with his eyes closed.

Once he reached the top of the tree, he ducked down low, hiding in the thick brush of the tree. "Second lesson.. How to hide from dangerous wildlife." Tatsuo was nearly invisible from the ground and without his shouting the sounds of stampedes in the distance were clear in the otherwise silent forest. These elk were no ordinary elk, they were much larger and aggressive. They seemed to be incredibly defensive of their delicious looking fruit. They wouldn't stop until they got it back from Tatsuo. But as stubborn as ever, he hadn't planned on giving it back. In a hushed tone he said to Hoshi, "Ok if we're quiet enough, the elk will pass, and we can eat this fruit! Afterwards we can start the next lesson."

WC: 635
Post Count: 2/5

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

The wall had been conjured, and soon as it was completed it dissolved into a giant puddle of water that would trip up some of the herd. Hoshi clicked his teeth and turned around to run, lest he be trampled by the angry stampede. Tatsuo shouted out that he was unable to attack or use any chakra during this escape.

"Yeah! Thanks for the heads up!"

Hoshi would have been very sarcastic with that last statement. He continued to take off, taking back to the ground canceling the flow of his chakra. Hoshi was dashing from tree to tree, hopefully getting the herd to split up and divide itself trying to keep up with the young Shinobi. Tatsuo then exclaimed to climb a tree. Hoshi looked left to right with a dashing set of eyes looking for a tree with good leverage. His eyes caught sight of a trunk which was in jumping in height. Hoshi would leap and catch it and propel himself higher with a launch to the next branch. With hands and feet Hoshi would climb a bit higher and find a thick trunk to rest on. The next lesson was stealth, Hoshi was to hide and he rolled over to his back. He snatched up some branches with much vegetation on it to provide cover.

"Why are you even stealing fruits when there is so much food in the forest?!"

Hoshi yelled in a whispering voice underneath his breath. He started to shake his head, hopefully his cover would do the job. The leaves were completely covering his body, without chakra it was difficult to blend in with the environment. Hoshi was listening to the passing stampede, the sound of thundering hooves was a frightening cadence. His heart would be the only beat to keep up with the drumming the herd.

Wc 302 = 928

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo shook his head, he felt disgusted that Hoshi even asked such a stupid question. He couldn't scold him now but it was definitely something that'd he'd need to talk about later.

The elk sniffed around, finally losing track of the two boys. Tatsuo held his breath carefully not allowing himself to make even a peep. The few moments in which the elk tried to locate them felt like hours, but soon enough they all sauntered off into the forest failing to retrieve their precious fruit. After giving it a few moments, Tatsuo sat up happily, placing the apple in his lap and he smiled, as he beckoned Hoshi over. "The reason I took this fruit, is simple, LOOK at it!" he said polishing it's skin with the sleeve of his shirt. "It just looked to good for me to not grab. Plus they had a few hundred, I didn't think they would care too much about one." He then lifted the apple to his mouth and took a bite.

...

Tatsuo's face puckered and turned green, the inside of the fruit was filled with rot and worms. The boy spit it all out, peppering the ground below with the taint and in between holding himself to the tree and trying not to vomit he tossed the apple down onto the ground. "N-nasty.." he said in between weakened breaths. "Hoshi.. ya gotta help me.. I need water." he said over dramatically as he sprawled himself across the large branch. Tatsuo's stomach began to feel sick and he thought he would vomit, but it took all of the willpower the boy had to keep his insides.. inside. "I-if this is.. my last moment.. I want you to know.." he said cutting himself off and sticking his tongue out.

WC: 931
Post count: 3/5

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi was glued to the tree awaiting the worst. The stampeding herd continued its march below. It sounded like the crushing rumble of a vicious earthquake which soon began to die out. As the thundering faded, Hoshi finally exhaled a relieving sigh. The boy was please to have escaped the hands of the angry horde. Finally Tatsuo blurted out about the fruit and its ravenous appearance. Hoshi looked upon the said delicacy with mixed emotions. In his experience in the wild, he recalled the bright and tempting fruits to be poisonous or inedible. Tatsuo continued on until he took a bit, shortly after spewed it out from his jugular onto the floor below. Hoshi burst out into laughter.

'Tatsuo!!! You did all that work for nil!!!! BWAHAHAHAH!"

His laughter was cut short as it appeared his friend was truly feeling uncomfortable after eating such a horrid monstrosity. Hoshi even wondered why those elk were so adamant about retrieving it, he shivered thanking Raiden he hadn't tried the fruit as well. Tatsuo needed water, Hoshi nodded at the notion and jumped to the floor with a tuck and roll. While somersaulting he would quick draw his short sword, ninjato. He sliced a chunk of a tree and began to file it down with his blade into a thin shoot.

"Just a second Tatsuo!"

Hoshi pressed his ear to the ground, he was listening for the soft rumbling flow of water. If he could dig a hole deep enough and strike water, he could stick the tube inside, drain the water and purify it with a man made filter that would sift the most of the unnecessary chemicals. Hosho began digging, snatched up some leaves and jabbed tiny holes with his sword. Hoshi plunged the shoot into the ground, but not before he set an array of leaves down to filter the incoming water and beckoned Tatsuo.

"Tatsuo! Come down and drink!"

wc 320 = 1248

 

[Tatsuo]

"Is this how I die?" Tatsuo pondered, thinking back to his very short life. The pain in his stomach was rampant and the dryness of his throat was complimented by the dreariness of the situation. Normally Tatsuo had a stomach of steel, and while he was most likely going to live, he couldn't deny this would be one of his worst memories. Slipping in and out of consciousness he saw Hoshi craft a tool to gather water. When he returned with a small shoot filled of water, the last bit of energy had, Tatsuo walked over to him. Taking the shoot and drinking gingerly. With the last bit he swished it around in his mouth and spit to the side, wiping his lips. "Lesson three, recovery!" he said nodding again, as if he fixed it all himself. "You'll be a good survivalist like me some day Hoshi, ya' got a knack for it." As quickly as Tatsuo looked like he had just met death he was walking around and planning their next adventure. "You know how to build a shelter? Nowadays I just use my jutsu to make tree houses if I really need it, but back before I could use ninjut-- I mean, yeah, it's important to be able to build yourself some shelter if you're stuck somewhere. I'm sure as an Anbu it'll come in handy." Tatsuo sighed, "We can do that, or, I can show you how to make a fire without using any chakra! Which one do you wanna do?" he asked Hoshi before looking behind him, to make sure those elk were gone for good.

WC: 1201
WC: 4/5

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Tatsuo drank from the water source and became revitalized almost instantly. Hoshi chuckled at the sight and leaned back into a sitting position, resting one palm on the ground for leverage to hold himself up. Tatsuo then went on about building a structure to live it. He never really successfully built an upholding hut with just his bare hands and the findings of his environment. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head lightly as he said out embarrassed.

“Sadly, I don't know how actually. I mean I can try, but it won't last any storm or anything. But I can try.”

Hoshi would round in some shrub and branches of various sizes in height af thickness. Hoshi made a small four by four foot hut. It was nothing to be proud of, but it was rushed and in a hurry. Hoshi would squat and waddle inside to take a seat. As soon as he leaned his back on the hut it would wiggle slightly. He held his breath with a quick inhale and looked up, bracing himself. All in one snap, the hut collapsed on the ninja as he lay defeated with a sigh under the debris.

Defeated he was, eventually he would force himself to overpower the mound of debris and free himself with a push and exertion of chakra, regardless of what Tatsuo recommended. The pile would explode lightly and disperse around him as he rose taking a deep breath and shaking his head.

“Man, that was a fail. I really can't do this stuff man. I should've found better branches. I almost had it though. Almost.”

The boy snapped in frustration and rubbed the back of his head lightly with his left hand. Hoshi finally rose to his feet and dusted himself up.


Wc 298 + 1248 = 1546

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo watched carefully as Hoshi began to construct his tent. It was bound to fail from the beginning, but he opted to let Hoshi figure that out himself. He grimaced a bit whenever it fell and Hoshi responded with a few chakra blasts sending grass, branches, and debris flying throughout the small clearing they were hanging out in. He opted out of scolding Hoshi for using his jutsu, because he didn't want to disappoint him. Grinning from ear to ear, he said "C'mon, buddy. You did just fine. The first time I built a shelter it wasn't half as good as that one. Here for the most part you did alright, you've just gotta figure out which branches are the best to use. That can take a lotta practice."

After finding a large straight branch, Tatsuo placed it between two trees which conveniently had a Y shape growth. "Now that we got the main branch, we just gotta find some longer ones to place against it to make the foundation!" he said as he looked around for sticks of a similar size. "Also keep an eye out for wiry looking branches, we can use those to tie down the tops of our tree house." The planned structure wasn't huge, or meant for permanent residence, but for the day or two they'd spend outside camping it'd do. "Grab anything else you might think is useful, we'll need more than a shelter if we're gonna stay here overnight. Probably some food too.." he said almost gagging at the thought of his earlier meal. After finding a few sticks, he went to grab the wooden shoot from Hoshi. "I'm gonna go refill this, you work on the tent while i'm gone!" Tatsuo left in the same direction Hoshi went to gather water, as they'd most likely be thirsty after this was all said and done. And they hadn't even gotten a meal yet. Or at least, a fresh one.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi groaned once he realized he hadn't completed the training session yet. Tatsuo had told him to be more mindful of the material he used. Hoshi nodded and agreed, he did rush his creation a bit. Tatsuo then ran off to fetch more water leaving Hoshi puzzled with a destroyed hut. The boy sighed and rose to his feet gathering more sticks, branches, leaves of all sizes and shapes. Slowly and surely, Hoshi began to build, adding large leaves to provide shade and keep cool.

Hoshi even snagged small, bendy and flexible branches which he wrapped around corners, tying multiple branches together tightly. This added an additional sturdiness to the hut this time. Hoshi was breaking a sweat, it was now about five by seven foot. Not as tall still, but enough room to stand and lie down comfortably. Once Hoshi had finished he plopped onto the floor, laying out flat huffing and heaving. He would await Tatsuo's return, the sudden rush of perspiration drained him and increased his thirst.

He had prepared a hut, and even had some extra wood for a fire. He just needed to find a stone, flint, or something else such as really dry wood to cause the slightest spark, and nurture that ember into a campfire flame.

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo returned to the camp with more than a few containers of water, he definitely was preparing for the long haul. And hey, his wood jutsu made it easy. He was pleased to see how much work Hoshi had done with the camp. "Wow man this looks great! Told you, you'd get it on the second go." He furrowed his brows and saw that Hoshi was looking for a fire starter of some kind and he went to assist him. After scanning the ground, he found a piece of flint in a collection of gravel. After using it to start a fire, Tatsuo grabbed a few mushrooms and began to roast them by the fire. Offering a few to Hoshi he began to eat and enjoy the flavor.

The two boys would probably spend the rest of the weekend out in the forest, doing different shenanigans and learning lessons.

Whenever the two boys returned to their homes, Tatsuo hoped Hoshi had learned a valuable lesson in survivalism. Tatsuo had a lot of fun spending the whole weekend camping as he didn't have too many friends who were willing or able to waste a weekend away. I suppose it was a silver lining to not having parents. Tatsuo lacked any real authority figure in his life at this point, so he was forging his own way. The occasional lesson by Kaji kept the boy in check, but his own drive to improve was what got him out of bed every morning.