Private Make a Ninja Out of You

[Ringo]

It was a beautiful day in the land of Sand, especially at Sunagakure's Residential District. Kids shouted in play as their families gathered outside for afternoon potlucks. Although it was the perfect time to engage in socialization and partake in the village's leisures, a certain determined boy remained shut in his families dojo with a mission in mind. A small flame burned in his brown eyes as he surveyed all the equipment within the room. The dojo itself was modest in size, but it was decked out with basic weaponry and training dummies. Its infrastructure appeared sturdier than the rest of the Mugen household; the walls were scratched and blackened as to reveal its endurance to intense shinobi training. Truthfully, this space was mainly utilized by Mugen Mu as he fervently honed his combat abilities. Ringo was never drawn to this battle-spirited room. Never until now.

The boy engaged in dynamic stretching and exercised controlled breathing. His black tank top was already accumulating visible sweat due to the warmness of the room and his body's unfamiliarity with purposeful, fast-paced movement. His sandals squeaked on the shining floors of the dojo as he then began to run back-and-forth in a sort of drill. After about a few minutes or so, the young student felt warmed up enough to begin his training.

"Well, not without my training buddy, of course!"

Now that he and his cousin, Kei, were in the Sunagakure's Shinobi Academy together, they both had the opportunity to grow together in strength as they strove for their village's headband. Their motivations for becoming warriors were respectively unique, but their passions were parallel. Will their grit and drive be enough to make ninja out of them?

"You ready, Kei?!" shouted a panting Ringo as if his cousin was nearby. While enthusiasm carried through his tone, the seemingly readied student also wondered if he was really prepared himself.

 

[Mugen Kei]

"I am, are you? Not getting tired already are ya?" Kei quipped as he approached from behind his younger cousin, teasingly patting the panting Ringo's shoulder as he passed barefoot onto the tatami mat flooring at the center of the room meant as a sparring space. Despite the warmth of the room, Kei only now pulled the bright cyan hoodie off over his head and tossed it to the side of the room, revealing a similarly-sweat-drenched white t-shirt. He too had been stretching and warming up, but with the addition of a few moments of meditation. It hadn't been a part of his warm-up routine in the past, but it had been mentioned by a substitute instructor at the academy in one of his classes recently and despite having the appearance of not paying one bit of attention to the poor stand-in shinobi teacher, Kei had taken lengthy mental notes that he put into practice in the Mugen family dojo. In recent months it had only really been his siblings and cousins who had seen him take his training seriously; the aloof attitude he carried into the classroom was in part true to his carefree nature, but largely a subconscious effort to save face when he inevitably failed whatever practice or drill they ran each day. Here, however, he felt safe enough to fail.

Even more than that, today he felt curious. Ringo had never been the type to initiate training, especially on a beautiful day like this one. Even when he'd declared his intention to enroll at the academy, Kei always suspected it had been more out of familial expectation than an actual desire on his cousin's part. Because of that, he'd never really seen the brunette in action, nor had they tested their mettle against one another. Muu had long been his training partner despite being leagues beneath him in ability, so Kei was curious to see how Ringo would approach combat training with this new fire inside of him. There was certainly fear mixed in - anxiety that yet another younger family member would surpass him, and this time one who hadn't even wanted to be a shinobi at that. In his meditation, though, he'd removed this thought and instead would see what he could learn from his opponent. Perhaps Ringo would more innately understand their shared bloodline, perhaps they could learn together as they both started from the bottom. Maybe, just maybe, this was a new beginning. Probably not though.

Retrieving two bokken from the wall, he extended one to Ringo before doing some warm-up swings with his own. Granted, they hadn't really discussed what they'd focus on in training this afternoon, and Kei actually didn't know if his cousin had any interest in kenjutsu. He had grabbed it moreso to keep himself from standing still; he hated getting warmed up just to stand around. "So what were you thinking?" The redhead asked before suddenly darting at a training dummy, making a few strikes against it, finishing with a completely unnecessary standing backflip to reset his position. Agility was the single thing he had going for him, a result of the extensive amount of time spent on various boarding sports through childhood. "We could run the ropes, little of everything, spar… but this is the first time you asked to train, so your choice!"

[MFT]

 

[Ringo]

"I'm definitely ready!" he responded assuredly as his cousin gave him a playful pat.

Kei appeared ready and pumped up for the training session at hand. As an extension of his warmup, Ringo bounced on his toes and punched the air with less-than-perfect form... the intention was there. Soon after, his cousin tossed him a bokken and then immediately combo'd a nearby dummy with his own. The brown-haired student mirrored his cousin and struck the post closest to him. It was also apparent in his kenjutsu stance that he was an amateur to the art of combat. The boy was self-aware enough that he figured his technique was off, but he did the best he could with what he knew so far.

Ringo jumped away from the dummy, faced his cousin, and rested his wooden sword on his shoulder. He scrunched his face and looked upward as in deep thought. "To be honest with you, Kei," he then smiled sheepishly, "I don't really have anything in mind. What do you and my brother usually do?" Although Ringo ambitiously set the appointment today with Kei to practice their skills, he had never intentionally trained before. This was his first time and he was perplexed. The small flame in his eyes still burned, maybe even brighter than before. "Maybe I should take more initiative. I don't want to waste Kei's time." Without giving him much time to respond, Ringo pointed his wooden sword at his older cousin and boldly issued a challenge.

"You can try whacking me with that, if you'd like," he offered casually. "Or you can use any jutsu you know... Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, whatever. I will try my best to keep up with you, Kei."

Did Kei know any jutsu? At this point, Ringo was in the process of learning various handseals and how to channel his chakra. He was working on manifesting his energy into an element, but he hadn't had any success yet. Maybe this would be the perfect opportunity to exercise that? He was unsure and a bit nervous, but he was determined to move forward and at least try giving his older cousin a run for his money. The student positioned himself to potentially engage in his first spar. The way he gripped his bokken and stood, again, emphasized his inexperience. If Kei were to attack him, he would try his best to stay on the defensive and deflect his attacks. He also braced himself for a blunt slice or two.

How will the older student react to his junior's challenge?

[Marked for Training]

 

[Mugen Kei]

What did he and Muu usually do, aye? A bit of everything, he supposed. Recently though, Sanbi's eldest son had become increasingly interested in their family's obscure kekkei genkai - a luxury not afforded to the red sheep of the family who still needed to master the basics before he could even hope to tap into that type of advanced technique. At least part of Kei's early struggle had been his over-eagerness, attempting to channel light jutsu after their first lesson on chakra control. Why couldn't the Mugen have an easier signature element, like the Uchiha did? He'd heard rumors that kids in Konoha would sometimes keep their parents awake with worry that they might accidentally burn the house down before they were even formally enrolled in their academy. Must be nice.

Considering Ringo's form, Kei was struck with how much his younger cousin had picked up in a short time. It wasn't perfect, no, but neither was his own. Still, his proposal certainly was a bold one - to be the one dodging, evading or countering required quite a bit more effort than to simply attempt a proper attack. Perhaps for the best, though - it would force the young Mugen to consider not only his own stance, but his opponent's as well. Maybe this type of exercise would serve as a fast track toward developing a proper fighting rhythm and quick thinking… or maybe it would cement bad habits they didn't know enough to fix yet. Who's to say; certainly not Kei. And so he nodded with an approving grin at Ringo's suggestion. If nothing else, it showed the brunette's new gutsiness splendidly.

"We'll start with these for now," Kei said as he held out his bokken, "A few simple attack-counter combinations. I'll attack, you counter, reset." Taking a few steps back, the youth would 'sheath' his wooden sword and signify the start of their spar with a bow. Then, he would begin by unsheathing and striking at Ringo with a basic jogeburi - one of the first vertical cuts taught at the academy and one Ringo ought to be able to react to well enough, though Kei would come down quicker than their rote practice routines in school. The slower pace was just to allow focus on form, and he was generally good about being mindful of keeping his left ring and pinky fingers tight and not letting his sword hang too low, but still fought the bad habit of his left elbow popping out at the end of the swing. He did a decent job on this first swing, and would continue with a few more of those before introducing more advanced and horizontal cuts into the mix, allowing Ringo opportunities to react and adapt.

Finally, when he felt that Ringo was getting the 'swing' of things, Kei would feint another cut before abruptly tossing his bokken in the air above the younger boy. This would serve as a diversion whilst he dropped his weight into his hips and swung his right foot toward Ringo's legs - a low sweep, if you will. All the while he'd been slicing at Ringo he'd been focusing on distributing his chakra to his legs, which was easier to do than pinpointing it to the bottom of his feet to walk on water (something he had yet to master). A minor test, but a good one for not only Ringo's reaction time but also Kei's control; sloppy distribution could leave them both hurting at the end if the strike met its mark.

[MFT]

 

[Ringo]

As the mini spar between the two Mugen cousins ensued, the difference in combat experience between them grew more apparent by the second. Ringo had more of a knack for battle than he initially thought, but he struggled defending himself against Kei’s confident, swift movements. It seemed his older cousin’s time trading fists with Muu over the years paid off. Now, if only this was a competition of baking desserts instead...

“Crud,” he thought anxiously as he attempted to deflect the red-headed boy’s increasingly deft strikes. Although it was apparent that Kei was going easy on his younger relative by exercising rehearsed combos, Ringo still struggled a bit. “I just need to memorize his attack patterns and use that to my advantage,” he strategized. The brown-haired student attempted to do just that. While he found some success in his plan, the other student managed to get a few hard smacks in. Kei was pulling his swings, but they hit hard enough for Ringo to wince a little in pain.

“Oof.”

The other boy soon added horizontal slashes to the mix. Ringo tightened his stance and focused on using his bokken as an extension of his arm to swat away each blow. It was clear that his new defensive stance was a bit sloppy, but he showed promise as he adapted to Kei’s evolving movements. The boy managed to block a few of strikes here and there, which felt awesome, and it drove him to keep the momentum going. His nerves began to subside with each passing second; Ringo felt like he was getting the hang of this whole ‘sparring thing’. Well, he did, until Kei feinted a blow and surprised him with a low sweep kick.

And down to his butt he fell.

With an audible thud, the boy looked up at his cousin with complete shock painting his expression. That hurt. “Dang, I didn’t see that coming... he’s good.” Ringo knew he didn’t have the luxury to dwell on Kei’s unexpected attack; he had to act now! But what could he do to recover from this? As he sat on the ground, he quickly attempted to form a single tiger seal. It appeared as if the student was trying to conjure some type of jutsu... would he shoot out wind at his cousin? Launch out fire, perhaps? As nothing visually happened from his handsign, it could have appeared like a bluff of sorts. If his plan was successful, Kei would suddenly hear his mom call out to him from the hallway. Ringo attempted to use Deception, a beginner’s audial Genjutsu, on his cousin. Fortunately for him, he just learned this jutsu in a Genjutsu-focused class recently. His fascination for the illusory arts grew since that day, so he was hoping that this new technique and method of fighting would work in his favor.

If he managed to draw his attention away for even a second, Ringo would roll back, place his hands on the floor, and launch his legs up and toward his cousin’s torso in attempt to kick him. It was a gutsy move, but he was inspired from Kei’s previous strike. Will his quick-thinking work or leave him susceptible to a counterattack?

 

[Mugen Kei]

An exciting mixture of pride and motivation filled the eldest Mugen boy after his "attack" went off without a hitch. The hit felt solid, it felt strong, and it felt good. As Ringo stared up at him from the ground, Kei couldn't help but beam the largest grin his cheeks could handle. It wasn't meant as a gloating look, and the gleeful shimmer in his amber eyes would communicate that. It was all he could do to keep himself from jumping with a fist raised to the air, a "Hoorah!" ready on his lips. The only thing that kept him grounded was the fact that this was something Muu and his other classmates had mastered a long time ago, all of them scaling trees and walking over lakes long before they graduated last year; this was the first step in a long journey forward, a journey to catch up.

So high on the rush of success, Kei didn't even notice Ringo begin his counter-strike by forming the Tiger seal. What snapped him back to reality was instead was the call of his mother from down the hall, "Kei!" Blinking, knowing they had cleaned everything up before beginning training, the redhead wondered if they had just been too loud. Reiko had more or less come around to her son's ambitions, but fighting in the home was still foreign to her after only a few months of living in her brother-in-law's complex. "Gomen, oka-san-- oof!"

The surprise from Ringo's airborne attack multiplied its force, and effectively sent him backwards as the chestnut-haired boy had hoped. One thing he probably hadn't counted on was the sudden force the pulled him backward with Kei; instinctually, the older boy had reached out and grabbed Ringo's right foot and was now taking his cousin down with him. In truth, he wasn't aware at first that he had done it; Ringo's attack had spooked him, and his hands had flown out in front of him in a fight-or-flight response to try to defend from further attacks. Still, opportunity had presented itself, and as the two tumbled toward the ground Kei yanked up on his opponents foot in an attempt send him somersaulting over his head and onto the padded tatami mat behind him.

Laying flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling, Kei panted for a moment to catch his breath before a soreness began to settle into his ribs. A smug grin crossed his lips; he outmatched Ringo in both height and weight, but he had to hand it to the kid - he could pack a punch, for sure. Rolling onto his stomach to push himself, he looked to see what had become of Ringo.

"That was gutsy, dude, super cool--" His train of thought was cut off as a certain realization set in. When he'd grabbed the bokken down, he'd neglected to close the doors back over Uncle Sanbi and Aunt Saeri's extensive katana collection. Fear and anger at his own stupidity filled his gut as his eyes snapped from the weapon display back down to Ringo, who had skidded less than a foot away from a much sharper landing. Stumbling over his feet as he launched himself toward his cousin to inspect him, relief soon filled him to know he hadn't actually thrown Ringo directly into a wall of swords. That had been much, much too close for comfort though.

"Alright, so here's a thought. How about we practice with some armor on? Not like we're gonna be in sweats and beaters out in the desert, right? Might as well get used to it." Kei suggested as he held out a hand to assist Ringo back to his feet.

 

[Ringo]

Ringo lunged forward fully driven by that dattebayo spirit; it initially appeared that his quick, improvised plan was a success. As he landed his kick on Kei, he did not expect to be countered so expertly. His cousin grabbed the foot that impacted his ribs, utilized the boy's momentum, and swung him back down toward the ground. Gritting his teeth, the boy's eyes widened as he journeyed up in the air and over toward the mat. Before landing, Ringo anticipated the pain he'd feel next.

'BAM'

Ringo was slammed on his right side. To say that he felt hurt was an understatement. As a boy who previously avoided shinobi life, which includes spars, he still wasn't used to the pain that accompanied such a sport. It took him a quick minute to recover from the shock of pain that surged through his right side. Despite this, Ringo didn't want to appear too soft in front of his cousin. His new resolve drove him to be better and do better. The boy shook it off and responded to his cousin's compliment. "Uh, thanks, Kei..." he muttered as he gathered his breath. Ringo forced a smile as he rubbed his side. He soon stood up.

His cousin then recommended that they now spar with their family's armor on. Man, Kei had a lot of energy. "Sure!" he responded. If he wanted to be get stronger, perhaps Kei's enthusiasm for becoming a shinobi and training would help accelerate that process? Looking at his armor options, Ringo instantly gravitated toward a piece that looked a bit lighter than the others. As he was a very defensive fighter, he favored gear that allowed him to move a bit better and dodge any attacks that his opponents might throw his way. Ringo slipped on the armor and turned toward his cousin. He equipped himself with his wooden sword and positioned himself once more.

"Alright, Kei, let's do this!"

 

[Mugen Kei]

Given their lengthy history as shinobi of Sunagakure, the Mugen dojo boasted no shortage of types of armor to choose from. They were, however, all a bit too large for the teenagers and clearly worn well past their prime. After looking over his options for a few moments, Kei came to settle on a well-loved kusari top - well-loved by ninjas for its light weight and the ease with which it could be worn under uniforms and other armor. Still, the chainmail cousin was certainly heavier than expected, and not at all designed for the thirteen year old who now adorned it.