Good Steel, needs good minds and good hands.

[Takahashi Aki]

The sounds of banging could be heard in the distance. It had a rhythm to it. Almost musical it was. This was the sound of industry. This was the sound of production. This is the sound that would fill the ears of the youth this fine day. The owner of this sound was the Steward. With hammer in hand he was banging away on a peice of steel, shaping what would be a tool for use in today's lesson. Teaching taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu was perfectly well and all but what was needed was the knowledge. Techniques could be channeled through a weapon if one had the ability and augments to do so. Ability had to be taught and honed. Augments had to be made by hand. One had to be of good strong mind to have the technique locked away in the mind, and to be called upon at will or when it got tough. One had to have good physical conditioning in order to create not only the weapon, but to wield it as well.

It was the Steward's undertaking today to give the youths of Sungakure if not one, but both.

Sousuke wore a head peice that had a visor to it. He would flap it up and down so he could shield his face as he worked, but when he wasn't he would flap it up so he could let company know he had their full undivided attention by staring them in the eye. He wore a chain-mesh apron of sorts. It wasn't ceremonial by any stretch of the imagination. It had been subjected to time. It had been subjected to tear. What mattered most is that it suited him for his size. He inspected the blade he was working on. He opened the visor and gazed at the blade. Off angle slightly. He returned to hammer it in the musical tone from before. Steel was as strong as the hand that made it. While Sousuke didn't look as imposing or large as his spiritual brother Toraono Kuro, he was by no means an overly frail looking man. The Steward once happy with his word would place it to the side. He would open his visor to see when the students were coming. Soon he had hoped. Sousuke did have a schedule to keep. Each day, each minute, each second he had planned.

 

[Mana]

Steps echoing along the hallway of the sandstone building, sound loud and imposing yet each bearing a large gap between indicating that someone was take large strides. As a person doing that one may expect to see an energetic or at least a positive look on the person’s countenance however it was far from that in reality. Mana let her lower lip pucker out as she would perform slow trudges down the vicinity, it was quite obvious that she was heading towards a classroom based on where she was heading but it was certain that she wasn’t in a good mood about it. After all, learning wasn’t much of her forte; she preferred a more ‘hands-on’ approach to things.

It wasn’t her most ideal things to learn nor could it said to be her worst nightmare. On a scale from combat to scorpion the subject would likely be standstill somewhere within the middle. Yet for a female who has moulded her body to be exceedingly capable for taijutsu to learn about weaponry? She’d rather attempt to snap such things than ever use one and then again it may prove to be amusing. Then again the lesson could have been about something else but judging by the sounds it seemed unlikely. Cling, cling, the sound of metal clanging against metal became clearer as the female made her way to the vicinity.

With each step closer her nerves began to tip slightly. After the entire person whom happened to be teaching would be the person whom was currently in charge of Sunagakure. Although she may not like it, it would be probably for the best if she kept on the best behaviour. Being a person whom experienced a lot of hardships at her age it wasn’t quite often she had been worried about something, but then again it was likely one of the people whom she looked up to and she was a bit nerve-wracked at whether he’d be as imitating as the rumours that spread around the academy say, something about being able to summon an army of scorpions. She shivered at the thought of being subjected to her phobia, shaking her head holding her breath and proceeding to enter the room.

A man bearing a visor, that seemed to somewhat match what she would of imagined but for his physique she was expecting taller plus it didn't help with the fact that he was in a apron. It may of not been a normal fabric one but it was still an apron in her mind. ‘He doesn’t look like he could command an army of scorpions.’ She thought in her head as she casually would make her way to a seat, noticing that it seemed the melody of metals clashing together happened to halt a moment before she entered. That did leave questions in her mind to what was happening in here, perhaps an enemy ninja came into here and he fended him off somehow. With her child-like imagination running wild she merely did a simple wave along with keeping a bit of a pesky smile on her face as she awaited for the start of the lesson.

Words: 528;​

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[Gurren]

It was bad enough that Gurren had to deal with these snobby Hidden Sand ninja, now he had to sit in a room all day with them as well. As he dragged his heels through the hall towards his class he wasn’t in any mood for their crap again today. It was bad enough they picked on him over his size, but his past was something he had no control over and for them to insult him over that was something he just couldn’t stand for. The Academy was the jumping off point for any skilled ninja, he was a pretty good athlete despite his size and was capable of holding his own in fights, not that he was specifically trained in taijutsu or anything of the like. He had a fiery passion that spurred him on and forced him to fight against the odds placed against him in this world, he would fight anyone who got in his way, and anything was better than begging people for scraps and scrounging by with stealing.

It was a world of ninja, not of thieves and Takeshi wanted to be the former. The fact of the matter was he had received no formal training, and joining the academy later than most would was another strike against him. He had to burn through this academy training, he hated the idea of sitting in a classroom learning about the finer points of hand seals and of techniques and just wanted to get out into the world and rough up some enemy ninjas. He hated being held back and pinned down, when he sat still he burned with energy, he had to be moving, had to be moving forward with his life and with his dreams. Sitting around uselessly just wouldn’t do for him.

As he entered the classroom he looked around, all kids who had teased him before with the exception of one weird looking girl. Sighing as he pulled out a chair next to her and slid into the seat next to the silver haired young girl. Placing his hands behind his head he leaned back in his chair, his short legs barely reaching the ground. Looking towards the front of the room he focused on the blacksmith looking man, that was more than likely his instructor, he wasn’t sure what a man like that would be able to teach him but he shrugged it off and frowned, at least by sitting next to this girl he probably wasn’t going to be harassed.

The room was nearly full as he was more than likely the last student who would trickle into the classroom. There was little doubt that class would begin sooner rather than later, he was just lucky he managed to get there on time.


(Training)

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke held up the blade he had finished for the class to see. "Stick them with the pointy end. Famous words. True words. That is the jist of it, but... sometimes it's not so easly."<i></i> Sousuke grinned. He placed the sword down and then lifted up the pommel. "The pommel. Sometimes you get a chance to bludgeon your foe in the head with this. Does the job just as well. I've sometimes caught an enemy or two off guard with that. Not entirely fatal, but it can knock your enemy out cold."<i></i> He placed the pommel down. "Piece of advise. Nobles like their pommels fancy, and gem incrusted. Problem is you weight the blade down too much. A blade must be balanced on both ends."<i></i> He next raised the hilt up. "Hilt. In this particular case a cross hilt. Very popular, and very useful for protecting your hands."<i></i> He placed the hilt down and raised a tassel up to be reviewed. "Sword knot. Can be attached the pommel of the blade, and the hilt. A more ... fancy sword of sword guard. Can be used in conjunction with a cross guard."<i></i> Sousuke proceeded to assemble all the parts together. He did so slowly, and took the weapon apart, only to put it back together once more. "A lot more complex that sticking the other party with the pointy end. The sword has offensive and defensive elements to it, and a very well made blade is balanced perfectly."<i></i> Sousuke held out his left hand, and his index and middle finger. He placed the flat end of the blade, in the middle part and balanced the blade just as he said.

"Weapons have names for their deeds, and their ties certain houses. Certain weapons have very distinct appearances. If I were to name this weapon, what could I call it? How could I go about making this weapon unique? It hasn't seen combat. I made it just moments ago. Anyone want to take a guess what we smiths can do?"<i></i> Sousuke turned the table now on the students. He gave them a very basic make up of a weapon. The parts of it. Sousuke balanced the weapon, and then titled it slightly and then flipped it. The weapon made three rotations before being grabbed by the handle. He pointed the blade to the ground and looked onto the bright young students to throw answers at him.

 

[Mana]

Mana rid her face of the smile as she eyed a particular boy whom sat next to her, chairs only a small distance apart however there didn’t seem to be much about him that stroked her fancy. Still, she sought it as a good idea to momentarily inspect the person, raising her brow momentarily and licking the exterior lips as if she were a beast staring at a meal. He only seemed a little bit older than her if comparing by heights and since she was a bad judge of character she couldn’t tell much about him just by looks other than the fact that he sort of bore similar eyes to hers. ‘Wonder why he chose to sit next to me?’ Mana questioned in her head, there were a few empty seats around but it was quite possible that it was just on a whim. Not minding him much, merely just passing him a playful wink to acknowledge his existence she would soon have her attention set on the front of the class, most importantly the teacher. However that didn’t seem to last quite that long, as a face showing high signs of boredom was displayed the moment the lecture had begun.

Talks about swords, most importantly the parts of it had begun and after the second sentence or two, everything felt a bit too overwhelming dull to her to comprehend. Slouching her body against the surface in-front of her, chin resting against the ledge her eyes thinned slightly as she opened her mouth to give a yawn, uncaring if her behaviour was noticed or not even forgetting about whom the teacher was but chances were due to her underestimating him based on appearances she’d simply do the same thing. ‘When is this going to end?’ Was one of the many thoughts to pass over her head, seeming to completely ignore the man’s words at this point. At the very least it would be quite apparent that she had shown a bit of interest in the appearance of the sword parts, practical things seemed to speak out to her more than words. ‘Mm, did dad ever use a sword in the past? Don't think he's ever said he has.’ The child questioned, mulling about the subject for a moment to just give a brief shrug as she let her dull amber gaze rest on the teacher once again.

Words: 391;​

​

 

[Takahashi Aki]

(I figured Gurren would have posted by now, but let's truck along. Gurren do feel free to continue posting, I'm heading out of town for the weekend)

Sousuke looked about the class. Either they were too perhaps too shy, for falling asleep on him. Either way it was time for things to heat up literally. Sousuke kept a glass orb on the desk. He took the glass orb and held it for the class to see. "What truly makes a weapon different is an augment. They come in various shapes and sizes. This one for instance is a fire augment that will boost ninjutsu... in particular fire ninjutsu. Things may get a lot warmer in here."<i></i> He removed the bottom part of the pommel and attached the orb. He held the blade up for everyone to see. Sousuke dropped the blade, caught in his opposite hand and flooded it with chakra. The blade literally ignited and burst into flames. "This particular augment cannot change at will. If you're chosen an element you should sitck with the use of that element until your combat has finished."<i></i> Sousuke swung the blade, the flames danced about. "Pulling off something like this will require you to have some knowledge of fire jutsus as a whole. Not exactly wise to be weilding a flame sword when you're not entirely capable of controlling the flames."<i></i>

"Now as you acquire more experiences in your lives you will be able to add additional augments to your weapon. I suggest you use augments that suit your fighting style. If you prefer poisons, you can enhance your weapon with an augment to allow the use of any poison type without having to apply it through its original intended use."<i></i> Sousuke offered. "Not all augments are about offensive capabilities, some of them can improve your defensive techniques as well. You can tire out an enemy, or alter your weapon to open wounds. Be mindful, just because you're fighting with a bladed weapon doesn't always mean you're pressed to commit offensive actions. Sometimes it's better to tire out a foe in the long run."<i></i> Sousuke caused the flames to retract. He held the weapon out. "Anyone want to take a swing? Anyone want to try and cause the flames to burst out once more?"<i></i> He offered.

 

[Arawe Zashi]

Zashi was not unlike other students – truth be told, he blended quite homogenously. His clothes were not particularly odd, he stood with fine posture, and kept his hands to his sides. His eyes, however, were quite separate from other academy students. He had the eyes of an eager soldier – stoic, though excitable.

He had been in the academy for a few minutes before the sound of fire led him to Sousuke. His instinct, perhaps, drove him to the smell of smoke, or perhaps it was childish intrigue. Either way, there he was, standing in the middle of the door.

”Sorry if I’m late, sir, I had to stop by somewhere important on the way here.”

He stumbled in, not particularly gracefully, making his way towards Sousuke. On his way, one could notice that he avoided making eye contact with the other students, as if they were scenes of some horrific accident. But he didn’t seem to have any animosity towards them – quite the opposite; he seemed excited to be here. In all this excitement, he had forgotten to introduce himself, or even ask who this man was, being quite clueless in regards to the people of this city.

”But uh, if you want someone to try to use that thing, I think I could!”

Possibly. He had no real experience with weapons, nor was he adept in the ways of fire. But it was a sword, how often does a student get to use one of those?

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota took his first step into the classroom...his first...very loud step. "Hellooooooooo, everyone." He waved to the classroom, an overly pleased expression on his face. Sauntering into the classroom, the huge battle-axe he had gotten to replace his small sword, wobbling around on his back. He giggled slightly, waving at everyone he passed as he made his way into the classroom. He began giggling before he just sat down at a random spot on the floor.

His large green eyes darted around the classroom, his light brown hair falling in front of his pale face, he quickly tried to blow it away, to no avail. He giggled slightly again.

"I hope I'm not late, but I'm ready to start with all my brand new best friends!" He announced to the class. "This is gonna be fun." He whispered to himself, putting a sticker on his nose.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

No one. No one at all wanted to weild a flaming sword? Was Sousuke that out of touch with the youth of today? He was only a decade and a half older than most of them. We waved the sword about. Really? Sousuke handed the flaming blade to Zashi. The intensity of the flames dying down. "Oh. I suppose I could forgive your lateness. Just this one, but only because of your enthusiasm."<i></i> A smirk appeared on Sousuke's face. "Now. Then."<i></i> Names. Names. Names. It was expected for the Steward of the realm to know the names of those within the realm. "Zashi of the House Arwae."<i></i> He announced, "Grip the handle, with the weight of this blade you should find you need not to use both hands. Tell me Zashi, do you think the crossguard to be sufficient to defend your hand when weilding this blade or do you feel the sword knot to be... mmm... necessary? Give it a few good swings, let me know how it feels. The swing and the feel of the weapon are key. They need to feel like an extension of yourself as a whole. If you don't have that feeling then the weapon is not necessarily for you... unless it is upgraded accordingly."<i></i>

Just as Sousuke finished speaking the next late attendee arrived. Sousuke's eyes narrowed upon the large wobbly axe. Sousuke pointed to it. The wobbling. It bothered him. Sousuke blinked as the new student placed a sticker on his nose. "Ah. Yes... another late one, but with another impressive attitude."<i></i> The wobbling of the axe. Oh boy. "Riyota of the House Kuromairu. You do realize weapons have holders for a reason yes? Come forward with the axe. Let me inspect it."<i></i> Axe and Sword. Two very different weapons. "Class why might the Axe not be a defensive weapon when compared to the sword? Anyone wish to take a guess as to why? The Axe is traditionally move offensive, but it has to do with... what particular elements? Not speaking in terms of the literal elements of nature, but theory and craft wise?"<i></i>

 

[Arawe Zashi]

It was surprisingly light, but the boy still gripped the hilt with both hands. Upon becoming used to it, he slowly took his hand off, letting the blade sway. It felt a bit unnatural, but it was still impressive to him.

”I don’t know, sir, it feels a bit... not quite myself.”

He gave it a few swings. It felt fine, no flaws he could point out. His hands rested below the crossguard, it fit him well, but it didn’t quite feel like him. He took a gratuitously heroic stance, imagining him, Zashi, hero of the Solar Court with this weapon in hand. Arawe Zashi, the famed Anbu Sennin of Sunagakure. Arawe Zashi, master of the blade. Now it felt a little more like him.

”But I don’t know. I really do like it, but part of me thinks it feels kind of weird. And as for the uh, the axe. Maybe the axe is too top-heavy? I mean, I’ve never used one, but. Maybe it’s too... I mean, the top of it is really big, and unless you’ve got uh... Got a nice stance and such...”

Zashi trailed off, slowly moving his eyes around the room to view Riyota. He tensed up a bit – for a while, he retreated into his own world, and forget there were other students.

”But I think it suits you!”

Zashi shifted around slowly, careful not to accidentally cut anybody with the blade.

”Riyota, huh? That’s a cool axe you have!” Zashi grinned, still avoiding eye contact. ”Well, I suppose we could be best friends. Or maybe we’ll become the bitterest rivals, eh? Souls forged in steel and all that.”

The young man snickered, still unfamiliar of how well Sunagakurians took to joking. One could still tell that Zashi was getting into the groove of Suna – of course, he enjoyed the city, but he was as close to a feral child as a civil boy could be.

[Marked for Training]
[Word Count: 323]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota took a few moments looking confused, but soon caught on, albeit slowly. He unsheathed the huge axe from the small strap that it loosely fit into. He stared at it for a few seconds. "Um...The Axe is better at hitting people because the handle is really skinny?" He guessed, holding the axe up high. This was very quickly realised as a mistake as the axe was still far too heavy for the boy. He lost balance and the axe went slamming into the floor, making quite a large CLANK "Oh...Um, oops" He blushed.

After he had retrieved his axe, Riyota took notice of another boy beginning to talk to him. He grinned stupidly and the compliment on his axe "Hehe, Thanks, I like that Sword." He pointed at the weapon. Looking back up at the boy, he laughed "Let's start as friends and see where we go from there ok? He smiled at the boy, putting a sticker on the forehead of his new friend, after which he stuck out a hand "My name's Kuromairu Riyota, but you can just call me Ri if you're feeling lazy.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke observed Zashi as he made various stances. Children. No doubt he was recreating himself in various images. "Sometimes the element needs adjusting. Not everyone is a fire user... but stances help out too. It's not a concept that the body initially gets. Leave that to time and the instruction to get the feeling right."<i></i> He wached as the two boys interact with each other. This was certainly a good means to break the metaphorical ice. It was a term his father used, Sousuke himself never understood why it was ice of all things.

Sousuke created a plasma axe out of thin air that was the same make as Riyota. "Both of you are right, but the sword cross protects your hand, where as Axe's don't have such protection... but you have a wider blade to strike with, and you can put your weight behind it more so."<i></i> He held the axe and span it, the blade was spinning about. "This is a simple defensive technique to use with the axe. Some would argue a double crescent moon axe is a better defensively. The top is larger and protects your hands if you handle it like so."<i></i> He held the axe horizontally now. "Now some augments can help out with your style of fighting. TheVanguard for instance will amplify your defensive technique. Even when you're not in a defensive stance it is still protecting you from harm."<i></i> Sousuke paused for a moment. "Zashi, Riyota step forward and bring your weapons. Let's change up some of the augments."<i></i> Sousuke would place his hand on the table. The Steward would pull out a small chest from beneath the table.

"Perhaps Riyota we can make that axe of yours a bit easier to handle maybe?"<i></i> He offered. The clank from before was resonating in the Steward's mind. It was time to show the two boys just how much an augment can change things in the field of weaponry. "Family heirloom?"<i></i> He inquired of the boy. "Tell me Zashi, what element would you rather have the weapon attuned to, do you want the edges sharper to open wounds, or do you want it to break through barriers your enemy put before you?"<i></i>

 

[Arawe Zashi]

Zashi looked at the sticker puzzlingly. ”Huh.” He grasped Riyota’s hand, eagerly shaking it. ”Thanks! Being friends is fine by me, Ri.” What a nice kid. And while he seemed as capable as a kid should be at his age, Zashi was beginning to worry about him and that axe. He supposed it was something he’d grow into, so maybe this young man knew something that Zashi didn’t. If he wanted to start training with a particular weapon, youth would be the best time.

Zashi nodded his head at his instructor. ”Yes, sir!” The ragamuffin stepped forward, sword in hand. Immediately, he considered the question, furrowing his eyebrows and causing the sticker to fall. As a child concerned with this token of friendship, he caught it, placing it on his chest while answering.

”Well. I mean, this sword is kinda light, and I wanna be able to push forward... I think I could use a little more oomf, so I’d have to go with the whole breaking barriers thing!” Zashi considered this an intelligent enough request, though not necessarily phrased with great tact. He didn’t know this man too well, but he felt like he should be using a slightly more formal tongue, against his instincts. He had a certain presence, not necessarily intimidating, but this man felt like a teacher, if that made any sense. And then, a thought occured.

”Chainmail, weapons, and he’s probably a really skilled shinobi... just who is this guy?”

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota grinned as his offer was accepted, watching the boy and the teacher discuss the weapon, he began glancing around, bored he tried to find something to do. Deciding on looking at his axe. Hmm...Defensive doesn't really sound like me Teacher-Man, you got anything else? He asked, giving the axe a light swing for effect, sure it was kinda heavy, but he could hit with it still.

He watched as the pair conversed, slowly getting more and more bored, He sat down and yawned slightly, tiredly watching the two people. Still looking his axe over, it was a large black weapon with red accents on the side the top of it adorned with the Kuromairu family crest, a black dragon biting it's own tail. He wanted some time to practice with the axe but the classroom wasn't the place to do that, excited as he was, he didn't want to break anything...well not anything he'd have to pay for.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"A light blade means it's more likely you'll hit your enemy... but certainly we will begin to have this sword adopt some more offensive attributes."<i></i> Sousuke reached into the chest and removed a small glass orb. "Power cores, or augments more commonly known as."<i></i> He would have it to Zashi to look at. Should Zashi look closely into the orb he would see a wall, and then said wall begin demolished. Seconds later the wall would be right there, and once again it would be destroyed, by a wrecking ball. "Seige."<i></i> He said in a word. "Some ninja prefer to use armour to defend themselves."<i></i> After Zashi was done looking at the glass orb, Sousuke would take it back from them, "There is traditional armour, chakra armour, and those of ancient houses can use abilities from their ancestry to defend themselves letting your weapon deal less damage. Seige will allow you to bypass some of their defenses."<i></i> Sousuke would pulled a compartment of the pommel apart and reveal slots for the glass orb to be placed into. He would placed the seige augment into the slot next to the fire elemental one before locking the pommel back up. He would then perform some hand seals and form a dummy made of rock. "Take a good few swings."<i></i> If Zashi were to swing the newly augmented blade he would find that he was cutting through the rock plated dummy with ease. "Granted of course it always won't be so simple. Some people pride themselves in their defenses, and therefore will have multiple defenses."<i></i>

Sousuke inspected the Kuromairu axe. He stroked his chin. "Trust me. I won't damage the blade. Everything I do here can be irrversible."<i></i> Once again Sousuke reached into the chest and removed another glass orb. He held it for Riyota to see up close. "Something offensive you wanted? Let's try a razor's edge. Makes it easier to cut a foe open and cause them to bleed. Sometimes a foe with lots of stamina will ... be slightly easier to defeat if they're bleeding all over the place. I've seen enemies fall from a massive loss of blood."<i></i> Sousuke would take the augment and the axe. He would grip the handle. He added the orb to the bottom of the handle. The Axe's edges would transform and become more jagged. "Nasty looking edges, don't you think? I think you can certainly open a wound with this much more easily."<i></i> He removed the orb, and the edges returned to normal. "Augments really can't change how a weapon looks and feels."<i></i> He added it on once more and handed the weapon back to Riyota.

"Now. Do the two of you want to see my weapon, and how I've upgraded it?"<i></i>

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota gasped in awe as the blade changed it's properties Cool! Cool! Can I have it teacher man? he asked his green eyes glinting in the light of the torches. The ears on his hood flopping up and down as he bounced around. Sharp Axe, Sharp Axe. He chanted excitedly. Staring at the augment happily. If he could have it, he couldn't wait to test it out.

When he finally settled down and focused he paid attention to the mans request on looking at the sword. He nodded his approval and waited to look.

Humming to himself, he glanced over at Zashi, seeing what the boy was going to do with the sword and the augment. with all the excitement, it was hard to sit still.





[I've been trying to put more description in my posts lately, but sometimes I just can't think of what to respond with :/]

 

[Arawe Zashi]

Zashi took the sphere (and later, the blade) with gusto. It didn’t feel much different to him – but the boy was a poor judge of the effectiveness of a weapon. Giving a somewhat apprehensive swing, he found it cut through the stone dummy quite easily, suspiciously easy at that. He kept his feet grounded and positioned himself, swinging at the dummy with a few novice chops. He was never really good with blades, or anything, for that matter. But something about the blade changed, and he felt more like he was wielding it, not just using it as a tool. It felt right.

”Yeah, with weapons like these, I don’t blame anybody for wanting a solid defense!”

He put his strength into a horizontal strike, underestimating the blade and swinging straight through the dummy excitedly. He smirked at Riyota, showing off the sword.

”Not bad, eh? We’ll be passing the genin exam in no time.”

((Yer fine! You shouldn’t have to elaborate if you don’t want to. If you want to though, just try elaborating on your character’s perception?? *Shrugs* ))

 

[Takahashi Aki]

(No worries Riyo, you'll get into the swing of things, just as a little reminder I'll be out of town for the weekend)

The boys thoroughly seemed to enjoy the display of augments. While Sousuke was a teacher of theory, it seemed that the practical approach was highly entertaining. "I'll let you borrow it until the end. Some of these augments are very dangerous. So... do be careful not to lose any fingers."<i></i> He warned. "Some augments have a more... visual effect, others such as seige are more about the feel. Tell me Zashi when you were cutting through the object, did you feel anything ... mmm ... in the way? Did you find less resistance to your attack?"<i></i> He inquired. The natural answer should have been no. "Remove the agument and try attacking again. I think you'll find some resistance in your target."<i></i>

A small grin manifested on Sousuke's face. "There's a bit more to being a Suna nin than just having fine weaponry. You need technique. You need knowledge. Those I'll provide, but what you must provide in return is the heart and the will to learn."<i></i> Next topic on the matter of augments. "I've shown you basic augments. I think it is time to go into the advanced augments, followed by... some basic weapon crafting lessons. Sometimes a sword or axe won't handle the job, sometimes you need to expand and make user of a hammer or a spear... which respectively bring more power to table, where as the spear will give you some range and provide you with some safety."<i></i> Sousuke retrieved from the chest a seal. "Some augments require a bit of a wind up time to use, and in return they should prove more effective."<i></i> Sousuke then seemingly out of thin air produced his own weapon, the Black Blade. Sousuke held his weapon out for them to see it, accordingly he attached the seal to the end of it. "This is a warp seal. When I make an attack I can teleport a short distance to follow up with a sneak attack. Observe."<i></i> Sousuke for a moment concentrated. His conjured his chakra and activated the warp seal. He began to execute a series of slashes, and at the end of each slash he seemingly disappeared only to relocate from a different angle. When he was done he was hanging upside down from the ceiling. "Sometimes you can truly surprise your foe, and catch them offguard. It doesn't always work mind you, but it is something to consider."<i></i>

 

[Arawe Zashi]

”Well, maybe a bit... not enough for me to notice, really.” Zashi gave a swift chop to the air, crippling his imaginary foe. ”That being said, yeah, I felt like I was cutting through butter!” Granted, the boy had never tasted butter, but the point still remained. He felt much less resistance, which was saying a lot given the target’s consistancy.

Despite all the fun of slashing through stone like Styrofoam, Zashi did as he was instructed. After a few seconds of clumsy fumbling, he removed the augment, setting it aside.

”Even without it, I’m pretty sure I can still get some damage in. The wind sees no obstacle it can’t overcome. This is the way of the Solar Court – there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished”

Zashi stepped back and slashed at the dummy, doing minimal damage, and eventually getting his sword stuck in the thing.

”... Um, sir. I got the uh. The sword is stuck.”

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota gaped in awe at all the weaponry and skill displayed in front of him, he took a few seconds to look at his own axe Apart from it being sharper now, this axe is kinda ordinary, compared to all the cool stuff here Thinking about that, he sighed lightly, taking in Sousuke's words about fine weaponry and technique. He snapped back to attention in time to see Sousuke's demonstration on the teleportation Augment That's so cool. He thought to himself, his eyes sparkling with intrigue. Watching their teacher strike the dummy, swiftly and calmly. So that's what it's like to be one of the very strongest He wondered.

He watched Zashi take a strike at the target dummy with his new sword, but when it got stuck, he couldn't help but laugh a little bit. He put a hand over his mouth but it didn't do much to mask the sound Sorry, Zashi. He thought still laughing But even you have to admit it's pretty funny.

After he had recovered from his small bout of laughing Riyota readied himself, taking another once over glance at his axe. U-um, Teacher-Man? He stuttered slightly.

Is it ok if I have a go? He asked.