Yosuke approached the scrolls, scanning the characters written on the face of the cloth covering. Each character represented a weapon, which he reasonably deduced was hidden inside the scroll's fuinjutsu. Staring at the tubular storage devices, he also noticed slight wear, indicating their heavy use.
They probably pull these out for classes all the time. Must be a thing for more advanced students. He thought absently.
At the same time, Nozomi began answering her question, one that Yosuke was very glad to avoid. Education on the various clans and their techniques seemed to be a loosely guarded secret, something you went looking for and rarely chanced upon. He paid half attention to her explanation, living in a crowded house as the oldest sibling, which produced a wonderful ability to listen to multiple conversations at once
Yosuke decided to check out the first scroll on the left, marked "Slashing". He unfurled it, revealing the delicate calligraphy inside. Remembering his lessons on fuinjutsu, he did his best to avoid staring at the text for too long and simply focused his attention on the middle-most symbols. He focused his chakra, feeling the vitalizing energy flow through his body, a sensation that never ceased to thrill him. He formed a half Ram seal with one hand while touching two fingers to the scroll; his control still wasn't good enough to move his chakra far outside his body. The seal agitated his chakra, and he used his will to push it down his arm, into his fingers, and to the scroll.
A small *poof* of smoke appeared above the scroll, before disappearing quickly to reveal a short sword. A wakizashi, Yosuke recalled. He pulled the blade from its sheath, the whole thing about the length of his forearm and hand. He inspected the weapons carefully, noting the shape of the single-bladed weapon. He stepped back from the table and took a few practice swings, doing his best to get a good feel for it. As he swung it horizontally, he noted that the reach of the blade would make it a good tool for short-range combat. He could get close enough to disrupt someone's guard or deal a few critical slashes to bleed an opponent. This thing probably hurt you pretty bad when it cuts into you; pain was always an efficient tool when fighting.
He sheathed the weapon and placed it back on the opened scroll. Hopefully, Abyss didn't expect him to know how to reseal objects. Moving on to the next scroll, labeled "Piercing", a long spear appeared from its seal, and Yosuke scrambled to pick it up before it rolled off the desk. He flashed an embarrassed smile towards the two others in the room, then moved on to testing the weapon. The shaft was tall, but likely shorter than average to accommodate Yosuke's child-sized body, and ended in a double-sided blade with a nasty point. He had to move further away from the front to practice his thrusts, showing the medium-ranged potential of the weapon. The movements came naturally to him, and he recalled the few moments his father had spent teaching him how to spear-fish.
"We don't use them anymore, haven't since we got nets and boats, but my father taught me, and his father taught him. The eldest always holds onto the tradition."
So, as he swept and stabbed through the air, a strange comfort filled his hands. Enough that he was a little sad to put the spear down, propping it against the wall instead of laying it on top of the desk. He moved through the next few scrolls rather quickly, but none of them brought the same feelings forward like the spear had. Still, as he tested the weapons inside the "Throwing" scroll, a stack of kunai, a similar (if far lesser) sense of comfort came to him. So far, in his time at the Academy, he'd spent more time practicing with these than anything else. At first, it had been because the weapons were tough for him to throw. However, as time went on, he'd grown fond of the throwing knives.
After going through all the weapons, Yosuke saw a potential style coming together in the two affinities he'd felt for the spear and kunai. The spear felt the most natural in his hands, and he felt like it presented him with a wide array of options for keeping his opponents at bay. The kunai could serve as an efficient way to hary his enemies from afar, and would be useful when the spear was too long, plus he could use hand seals with the kunai still held in his hand (something he'd have to figure out with the spear). So, without further available instructions, Yosuke moved close to the wall near the spear he'd set down as Nozomi finished her explanation.
“... until I can properly gauge my opponent's strength.”
I learned a lot there. Yosuke realized he probably should've written down some of what Nozomi had to say. Her answers seemed incredibly insightful. Maybe she'd have time after class today to share some advice or go over her answers with me?
Yosuke waited for Abyss to respond to Nozomi's answer before piping up and saying, "I've finished going over the weapons, Abyss-sensei."
[WC: 881/ 1,821/1,000 | Post 3/5]
