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Ninpocho Chronicles

Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.

Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.

Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.

The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.

This is Ninpocho Chronicles.

Current Ninpocho Time:

The Strength to Wield. [Tutor]

Miraku

Miraku

Ninja
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Sep 12, 2014
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Previously in their last session, Hira had mentioned his ambition for learning swordsmanship due to his father's past as a swordsman. As a young boy who had received no training before, he had a bit of a ways to go before he would be able to properly wield a sword. The first thing Raku wanted to work on for him would be his strength. Although he planned to start the boy out using wooden swords, gaining strength to be able to wield a proper sword would just make training with the wooden swords much easier. It would let him learn the proper swordsmanship etiquette and muscle memory quicker so when he was strong enough to wield a proper sword, he would be able to adjust much easier than starting from no where.

Raku had sent a message to Hira's parents letting them know to send him to the ancient forest today to meet up with Raku so that they could continue their training. Having already completed his training for the day, Raku decided to wait at the forest for the boy, as that was his usual training spot. He started later than usual, having planned to stay and wait earlier that morning. He was a little worn out from his training, but he'd still be fine to train the boy today, as he wouldn't be the one doing most of the hard work. Waiting at the edge of the forest near the pathway that led to it, Raku stood wearing a worn black tank top and a pair of plain grey pants; keeping it casual to make training easier. Attached to his belt was also his two swords which he carried with him at all times, helping him keep his balance used to having them on him at all times.

The forest was the perfect place to do some training for just about anyone. With large trees, rough terrain, and deeper within, wild animals, there was always something to do out here. For today though, they wouldn't go too deep, as he just planned to use the trees and terrain for training young Hira. Hopefully he had been keeping up with the training they had talked about last time, as it would certainly help him out here if the boy had gained some strength since last time. Though it could also be a hindrance had he been over working himself at all. Though Raku didn't figure he was the type to over work himself, probably more likely to stick to the bare minimum. If that was the case, he would soon feel how it felt to really train yourself since Raku had gone easy on him the last time with only a bit of running.

[455 WC]
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It was early in the morning when Hirateuchi woke with a start, quite the contrary to his norm of sleeping til midday. While the sun was still rising, he was putting on pair of loose pants and a tank-top, for once pushing aside one of his many kimonos for something he could more reasonably move in. Waking his body up with some stretches, he thought of where he might jog today when he realized it had been another full week since the last time he had met with Raku. The thought that he might actually be enjoying his time training with the man began to make him shudder, and he pushed out that idea by dropping down and doing a few push-ups. He had not grown a massive endurance in the week prior but it had certainly improved a significant portion compared to his old pitiful stamina.

Grabbing a snack and putting it in his mouth, he sped out of the house and began jogging towards the usual meeting spot. Hearing the commotion, his mother got up to see what might be happening. Turning the corner just as Hira left the house, she attempted to call out to tell him where Raku wanted to meet today but didn't catch him in time. With a half smile and half groggy look, she muttered to herself, "Well, at least he's got some drive now. Raku, you're doing wonders for the kid."

Jogging through the buildings near his home and out to the edge of the residential district, Hira paced himself, trying to work on not overexerting all of his strength at once. He kept going at a medium pace until eventually he came to rest near the plains where he had first met Raku. Glancing up to the sky, with his hands on his knees catching his breath, Hira noticed how beautiful of a morning it was. The sun had only halfway come up to rise beyond the horizon and a gorgeous clash or orange and blue melted his exhaustion. Ready for another length of exercise, Hira first took some time to re-stretch out his muscles. They certainly got sore quick as he hadn't been using them long and he had to make sure to keep a constant monitor over how stiff he was getting.

He thought aloud to himself, "Well, if Raku wants to work with me today I'm sure he'll be in the area. Might as well keep myself busy until he shows up." He remembered the path the pair had run last time he was here. With that the boy took off in yet another job in the direction of the forest. While his workouts weren't creative, he assumed that the development of a large and long-lasting endurance at the very least could not hurt. Wiping the sweat off his brow he continued running through the field towards the forest, this time trying to pick his pace up a little bit, eager to constantly be improving. It hadn't taken much convincing it would appear, but had certainly gotten some new motivation to improve himself. Hira wondered to himself whether he would be strong enough yet to wield a sword himself, hoping that soon he could show his father what he had been working on, but he knew deep in his heart somewhere that Raku would probably make him wait until he was stronger. With that thought in mind, he pushed himself even harder, breaking into a sprint as he reached the edge of the forest, pushing himself to his limits in an attempt to reach his goal sooner.

[WC 599]
 

Raku had been waiting for quite a bit, unsure if the boy was going to show up. Maybe he hadn't received the message he sent for them to meet up here? He wanted to wait a bit longer before taking off, when all of the sudden he could see the boy jogging around the path outside the forest, seemingly on the same route that they had taken last time they were together. Raku wasn't sure whether he was late, or it was just dumb luck that they had met up now, but he wouldn't bother thinking about it too much because the end result was the same either way.

"There you are. Been waiting a little while over here." he shouted out towards the boy, not too loud though, just enough to get the words across. Raku turned towards the boy, and walked into the middle of the path, instead of waiting off by the side like he had been for a while now. He then placed his hands in his pockets and motioned his head towards the forest, "We're gonna be training in here today." he uttered as the boy got closer, using a much more normal voice level now that he was closer. Starting his walk into the forest, hoping the boy would follow behind.

"Glad to see you're at least still training, or so I would assume by that jog. Hope you've been working hard." He chuckled, unsure whether the boy would have complied with his suggested work outs or not. "But today, we're going to be working on strength. You need that strength if you want to be able to wield a sword and move it quickly and properly." He started explaining to the boy. "Once you're strong enough, we'll start with light weight training swords to get your muscle memory up and then move to proper swords. But for today. I'm going to have you climb trees with nothing but your own strength." Raku continued, as they arrived at a spot not too deep into the forest, but far enough off the pathway that they wouldn't be disturbed. He looked up at the giant trees around him, knowing it would be tough, even for some civilian adults, but if this boy wanted to get strong, this was where it started.

"You see, normally shinobi would just walk up these trees using chakra molded into their feet to keep them attached to the tree, and body strength to keep then upright. But we need to start from the very beginning and work on physical strength first, and chakra control later once you're actually able to use your weapon." He would look down at the boy, with a smirk across his face, "Now, if you're ready, you can try to climb these trees to work on your full body strength, and I will be down here to catch you if you fall, so don't worry too much. Just try your best."

[494 WC]
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As he noticed Raku, Hira came to a brief pause, jogging in place and taking the time to catch his breath. Raku was glad he was working on his training, but today would be focused on strength instead of the cardio he had been spending all his time on. Of all the types of training, of course he would suggest the one I haven't been working on... It made sense though. He hadn't at first believed Raku about how hard it would be to wield a sword, so after their last training he had tried lifting his father's to practice, but it was far to heavy to move around without hurting himself, let alone somebody else that would be working to avoid him. He knew that Raku was right. If he wanted to use a weapon like that, he would have to get physically stronger, not just more resilient.

"Climbing trees?" Hira asked Raku with a puzzled look as they reached a deeper part of the forest. It's not that he was confused, but without knowing how to infuse chakra into his feet it seemed a very daunting task indeed. Staring at the large trees surrounding him, Hira gulped before slowly strolling up to one of them. "So all I have to do is get to the top of this, right? You're going easy on me, old man!" Wrapping his arms around the base of the tree, Hira gripped tight before trying to push his way up with his legs in an awkward display that would show he has no clue what he is doing. Trying to dig his fingers deeper into the dark bark to hold on, he felt the pain of his soon to be blisters before falling off from the two feet of progress he had made. Hira stared harshly at Raku but soon got back up on his feet and stood right in front of the tree again. He may not have worked by himself on his strength much, but he was determined to prove something to Raku.

Gripping the trunk one more time, Hira gritted his teeth and pushed himself up the base of the tree, using a few bumps near the bottom as leverage before the bark of the tree flattened out. This time he pushed and pushed, reaching four feet, five feet high and kept going. When he felt he was about to fall he grimaced, feeling the pain in his hands from holding the bark so tightly, but pushed just slightly further, reaching almost six feet. Hira tried to look down to see if Raku was underneath him but before he could confirm that he fell once again.

[WC 446]
 

It seemed Hira thought this would be an easy task, and although kids did stuff like this all the time, it definitely took some strength, and they usually climbed trees that were more crooked or small or had big protruding limbs near the base of the tree to help them climb easier. These trees were tall, quite large and didn't have branches near the bottom, so it would be quite a workout to make ones way up the trunk of this tree. Chuckling a bit on the inside to himself at Hira's exuberance, he watched as the boy began to attempt to climb the tree. He managed to get about two feet up before falling the first time, though it wasn't a big enough fall for him to need help.

As the boy got up and looked back at Raku, he did not say a word, just watched, and waited to see what he would do. The boy continued once more, gripping the the bark of the tree, trying to move himself up the trunk. Things went much better this time, as he began to move up a few feet, further and further. The boy had gotten over five feet off the ground, closing in on six when he tried to look around for whatever reason and began to lose his grip, falling. He wasn't even fully above Raku, as he stood at six foot two inches tall, the bottom of his feet at about eye level with Raku, as he dropped down. Raku reached out this time, and grabbed the boy by his collar to slow the fall, lowering his arm to bring the boy down, not completely stopping him, just slowing the pace so that he could land softer than he would have on his own.

"Not a bad start. Don't feel like you have to make it all the way up to the top today. Training is all about improving. You just need to do better than you did previously. Also knowing your limits. Though I suppose I'm not one to talk about limits." he chuckled, thinking about his reckless style of fighting. "For most people, you don't want to push yourself too far past your limits for fear of doing irreparable damage to your body." he continued, trying to at least instill a sense of urgency for avoiding such ways. Although it was his own style, he didn't think it was a style others should adopt as it was definitely troublesome.

[415 WC]
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As Raku chuckeld and helped Hira down from his not-so-far fall, the boy felt frustrated but also a bit humiliated. Time after time he failed to perform basic tasks in front of Raku. He wasn't sure it was Raku that was the issue though, it was the disappointment he felt in himself for not being able to live up to even simple expectations. With a slightly defeated look in his eyes, Hira looked towards the top of the tree, clouded by the leaves forming the canopy of the forest. "Raku, I don't get what the point of this exercise is. There's nothing on the tree to hold on to, even an adult would have trouble climbing this if they weren't a shinobi. What am i supposed to learn from this?" He figured there must have been more productive ways of training his strength than this fools errand.

Plopping a squat next to the tree Hira looked at his slightly torn hands, suppressing a few small whimpers of pain. "My father isn't getting any better and I really want to be able to learn how to use a sword as quickly as possible. I don't want to seem impatient but..." Hira stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to ramble on about his feelings to Raku any more. Shaking his head he tried once more to grip on the tree, though this time he was determined to not only use his hands, but his head. Getting to about the same six-foot point as last time, he yet again found himself at an impasse of strength. Swaying his head desperately he looked for any sign of something he could grip, and eventually he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. One section of bark near his right hand seemed to be a bit frayed. Reaching out fully, he felt around a bit before clawing at the bark. He didn't care if Raku didn't approve of his methods. If his task was to get to the top of the tree, he would do it by any means he had available to him.

Once he had clawed enough at the tree, there was a firm, albeit sharp and dangerous hold for Hira to wrap his hand around. Continuing his trend, he found more loose pieces of bark, climbing almost twice as high as his other attempts. When he reached almost twelve feet high, after clawing another section of the tree into a hold, he went to grab it but his foot slipped. His hand missed the target and landed on it from it's side, tearing a gash in his hand as he fell down from the tree. Though his fall was not a terribly long one, Hira screamed out both out of fear and from the pain that shot through his right hand.

[WC 468]
 

Raku listened as the boy began to question his methods, wondering what he was even supposed to learn from this. Letting out a slight sight, as the boy continued to speak, explaining the situation with his father and how he wanted to progress faster. Becoming a swordsman was definitely not an easy task, and Raku was trying to get Hira up to snuff as quick as possible. He also wanted the boy to figure out how own way -- learn to work out issues on his own, as Raku would not always be there to help.

Before he even finished his statement, he stopped and walked up to the tree again, trying once more. This time he seemed determined to do better. He made it up to the same height as before, a bit quicker this time. Raku watched, a step back as the boy looked around feeling the pressure as he hung there. Wondering if he would fall again, Raku smirked as the boy reached out and found something to grab onto to give him better position on the tree, and more holding room. Now he was getting it. Watching as he continued to climb, further and further, using the same method, he managed to get up to probably double the height of his previous try before he ran into any trouble. As he tried to reach for the next section, his body began to give slightly, slipping beneath him, causing hims to lose his grip and begin to fall again, this time hurting himself further.

Now that he was higher off the ground, Raku decided to jump up into the air, pushing off hard to get some distance, catching the boy by his arms part way down, and bringing him down to the ground. As he lay the boy down, he got down to his knees. He began to weave a few handseals until his hands began to glow slightly, a green hue covering them, as he placed his hands over Hira's, using his Mystical Hand jutsu to heal the wound. "That's what I'm talking about. That improvement. Learning swordsmanship, or even just being a shinobi in general isn't all about strength. You use your mind as well. You were able to figure out how to climb better, making it slightly easier on yourself, while still working out your muscles." Raku praised the child, hopefully giving him at least some confidence about his achievement.

"I know you want to learn as fast as you can, but these things take time, especially if you want to do it right." He said to the boy, as he released the chakra as the healing was done, standing up in front of him. "I'm just trying to help you improve as quickly as possible without taking shortcuts that could be detrimental to you in the future." he continued to explain, hoping the boy would understand.


[482 WC]
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Hira listened to Raku give him a compliment as he healed his hand. Of course he knew it wouldn't be easy. Hira was smart for his age, which made him cocky, but he wasn't ignorant, and that didn't make failure any easier; however, Raku's words did. For the first time since he had been told to go to the academy, somebody seemed to understand what he was going through and how to push him in just the right ways. While climbing the tree was surely to improve strength as Raku had said, he must have also clearly thought that giving Hira this near-impossible task would push not only his physical abilities but his mental ones as well. Raku was able to pick up in such a short time how Hira functioned. Or was it just that all children were as hard-headed as himself? For once he couldn't come close to having an answer, but whatever the case it didn't matter to him.

Hey umm.. thanks for pushing me. I mean, they don't really push me the same way at the academy. Maybe After a while I just thought that it wasn't for me, but you've helped me regardless of what I've done or said... old man!" While his tone reeked of sarcasm, Hira's face brightened up into a wide smile beaming at Raku. With renewed vigor, Hira once again jumped to his feet, snatching his hand away from Raku's impatiently before it was entirely healed. Jumping up and down a few times to build some steam, Hira immediately began climbing again, though this attempt could be compared to the ease of a monkey climbing a tree compared to his last few attempts. Grabbing hold of the hand rests he had made earlier, Hira climbed soon up to the same twelve foot mark he had fallen from the time before, and even surpassing it by a few feet.

"Look Raku-sensei! I'm already getting the hang of it, that was so easy!" The boy cheered from his spot on the tree. He didn't care or even notice what he had just called the man, as all he could think about was how proud of himself he was at how much progress he felt he made so quickly. Though, in his boisterous cheering he could feel himself begin to slide off his handrest, and instead of falling once again, decided he could use the extra time to work on climbing back down, following Raku's advice of learning to do thing's by himself. It was slow and clumsy, and he almost fell completely off several times, but eventually, in twice the time it took to climb up, he found himself back on the forest floor.

Hira's eyes beamed with a newfound confidence, and eagerly poked fun at Raku, while subtly trying to see if Raku would continue to train him. While their time together was always short, Hira was beginning to grow fond of spending time with him, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Perhaps what he saw in Raku, was the training time and fun that he had missed out on having with his father. "Hey old man, if don't forget your walker next time, maybe we can try and go all the way to the top!"

[WC 546]
 

Hira seemed to be getting the picture here, and quickly took back to training. It seemed the boy wanted to keep going, and didn't want to give up just yet. Raku watched as he climbed up even further than before, as the boy looked down, joyfully shouting about his achievement, even realizing when he had pushed himself to his limits, and began to come down on his own. It took him longer than it did to get up, but he made it down without falling, and that was certainly an accomplishment.

As the boy began to resume his usual cocky behaviour, along with his continued old man jokes, Raku laughed a bit, and looked down at the boy. "You did well today. I'm sure you'll be at the top of the tree in no time." he said, as he looked up to the sky, seeing where the light was coming from through the leaves above to check the time, realizing they had been out here for quite a while.

"Well. I think that's definitely enough for today. You might be a bit sore tomorrow, just try to take it easy. Do some easier strength training for a few days, and of course keep up the stamina. I would also suggest not trying this exercise of climbing trees by yourself, just in case you do fall from pushing yourself, but if you have someone around to help out, you should be okay." he continue to explain, trying to give the boy some ideas on where to go from there with training until they were to meet again. "So I'll send word on where to meet next time later in the week" he told the boy, as he began to walk slowly back towards the path, ready to head out "If all goes well, we may be able to start training with some practice swords quite soon." he teased a bit, hopefully getting the boys hopes up a bit.

[Topic Finished/Left]
[327 WC; 2173 Total WC]
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Hira noticed the changes in himself since he started training with Raku, but as little as he knew him he thought he started to see a change in Raku as well. He went from being cold and blunt when they first met to now being kind and reassuring. Perhaps Hira wasn't the only one gaining from these little meetings, he thought to himself with some sense of pride at his theory. "Alright, I'll be looking forward to it, geezer. Maybe we can put those two canes on your hip to good use!" With the the boy started jogging back in the direction he had came from earlier that day, not caring that he was sore from the climb as adrenaline pushed him forward. Sure enough, he would soon come to regret further pushing himself but that only succeeded in strengthening his resolve to become stronger by the next time he trained with Raku.

As he arrived at home, Hira dropped in his bed, panting for air and whining out loud at how sore his muscles were. Looking over to the side he saw the picture he kept next to his bed of him and his father. In the picture his father proudly held Hira in one arm, while his sword rested in his other. "Just wait for me, dad. I'll get there." With that, Hira sprawled out and fell fast asleep.

[Topic Finished/Left]
[WC 231; Total WC 2290]
 
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