Keep up!

(Open to genin/almost graduated acad students of all types, and chuunin who were weak in Close combat and would have signed up for more training)

It was twenty minutes prior to the designated time, but the blonde haired Chuunin was already in the training ground, leaning against the same tree he and his best friend from the academy days had begun their first serious fight at. While still brisk from being in the colder season, it wasn't cold enough to see one's breath. Yet still Hayate shifted his weight against the tree, trying so hard to get the perfect "I dont care about anything I just happened to rest here" position. He had a book on some intermediate fuinjutsu his mother had insisted he read open in his left hand, perfect to use as an excuse to not talk too much to any who approached until he was ready to put it down.

He wore full gear, from the bright blue and centered headband, to the thick swordsman armor over black compression shirt, and dark pants held up by a bright blue belt, with sword hanging behind. He even had ninja fingerless gloves on, more to hide the hand bandages than for any real useful purpose. He had his half mask pulled down off his face though, scrunched up around his neck. If he was to be leading this thing, he had supposed he better be recognizable.

After informally taking charge of some of the genin missions, and now a chuunin, his first task was to help train some of the genin and soon to graduate academy students in hand to hand combat. There was some blather about how, as recent inter village champion, it would be inspirational and morale building for the up and coming ninja, and yadda yadda... but if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. His class had dominated two straight exams, and he'd be damned if the next generation lost any of the reputation Kiri currently held. Besides, the admin had hinted at a round of paired training excursions coming up, and he didn't want to get stuck with a lame genin who couldn't pull their weight just because he didn't know who had potential.

As people showed up, he'd nonchalantly great them with by simply looking up from the book, raising of his right hand in a greeting, then motion them to gather somewhere nearby and continue reading, unless they were unusually persistent, something unusual happened, or until it became time to start.

If you’re on time, you’re late, Tatsuo thought to himself as he entered the training grounds. He had always made it a point to be ten minutes early to any event in order to give himself wiggle room for unforeseen circumstances slowing him down. In this case, however, he had arrived exactly when he meant to.
 
Truth be told, Tatsuo didn’t much care for close range combat as he had never been particularly good at it. That just made this particular training session even more important. He couldn’t afford to be captured or killed on a mission simply because an enemy happened to get close to him and he couldn’t defend himself. Apparently, the instructor for today was one of the brand new Chuunin for the village who had performed extremely well in both this and the previous exams. If nothing else, he would at least get some name recognition from a noteworthy Chuunin.
 
He was wearing his default v-neck shirt with black pants and a black jacket with gloves. He even had his headband on, something he wouldn’t usually do for a simple training exercise like this. As he scanned the area, he noticed a single figure leaning on a tree and reading some book. Tatsuo made his way over and gave a slight bow of respect when he reached him. "Good afternoon, sir. I'm Tatsuo Nomura and I-" His words were cut short as the Chuunin simply waved his hand and gestured for him to move over to another area. He quickly recovered, however, and simply nodded and moved over to the place he was supposed to wait. He assumed once the other trainees arrived, the lesson would begin and their instructor didn’t seem much in the mood for socializing. That was fine, at least he had gotten his name out.

WC: 303

Oriton had appeared. He wasn't sure if he was late or early, but once the Genin heard about the training session that Hayate was having, how could he miss it? His fight at the Chuunin Exams made him look bad, made Kiri look bad. If he were to stay weak, then what was the point of being a shinobi? The first thing that the blue-haired boy thought when his eyes landed upon Hayate was that the new Chuunin looked professional. The aura that he carried with him didn't seem stern, but solid. It felt as if his new rank put him above Oriton. Would he have to treat him like he treated Xyxer, above him? Or were they still acquaintances, ones that could speak to each other like friends?

The boy moved into position as Hayate began to get everything done and wait for more people to arrive. He gave him a stout nod, "Good afternoon, Hayate."

Sukoshi left his home to what would be the first session he would take inter-skill level wise, his father had recieved the invitation on his behalf and told him to go. "This will be your first step outside of your basic training, son. Remember your place and only focus on your growth." There wasn't a wish of luck, nor any worry that he'd be hurt, when your child becomes a ninja, you must forego worrying about small things, about your child simply being hurt, because worse can still happen, especially on the path he took to and from his home and the academy. 

He got to the training grounds in decent time, silent as always, or at least usually. Had to remind the people of his impediment from time to time, at least twice on the way here. When he noticed his instructor he nodded, shedding his jacket and taking his place in a patch of barren dirt. The Chunin had a sort of air of aloofness about him, Sukoshi didn't quite understand the goal if this was intentional, even though he was decked out, armor and all it didn't seem like he took appearance too seriously, as it currently appeared as if this was a chore to be done, unless his aim was to force those who were worth his time to step forward. He then looked to his fellow students and realized eventually his inability to communicate would hinder them all, even with the deficit he had in skill, he thought himself able to do plenty. Of course he didn't recognize the makeup of the people he was surrounded by, their names, who they were, god forbid if they had to work together they wouldn't know what to do with him.

(Wc: 296)

The motley crew had finally assembled.  He was told it would be a small group, and indeed by the start time only three had shown up.  It also seemed they mostly invited fresh genin or late academy students, Hayate noticed.  If he suspected Kiri of being soft he would have guessed it was a kindness, to make his first act of leading easier without having to deal with the later genin treating him as equal.

First to arrive was a new genin he didn't know, with a brand new headband, immediately following his instructions.  Then was the still genin member of their last Exam group, who would turn out to be the experienced person in attendance.  Hayate returned his greeting "Yo, Oriton", and almost closed his book to get more of Oriton's story from the his fight and what he had been up to since he returned.  Almost.  Only the smallest twitch toward that idea happened before he realized it probably wouldn't be good for an instructor to show a close connection, favoritism, to just one person.  Instead, he kept the book open.  "We'll start in a few.  Mind waiting with him?"  Hayate gestured to the other student.  Finally, an olive skinned youth without a headband of his own made it and joined the others.

Either way, it was time.  He snapped the book shut and tossed it by the base of the tree he was leaning against, taking a step toward the three, letting them stand up/break off whatever conversations they might have had.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, fellas.  You guys got the day off from either missions" He nodded to the two ninja that were both older and taller than him.  " or classes " he looked at the younger one " because the administration asked me to run you through some close combat exercises.  I dont know how many of you have done anything besides a class spar or the running around town missions we all get when we first make genin ... but its important, no matter what your specialty.  SOMEONE in the fight is better at range, which means there's always one person who should be trying to take it to melee."

Hayate folded his arms and looked into the eyes of each person in turn as he spoke, trying to judge if any was the foolish type to make a battle into a contest, to fight the way they felt was their style instead of whatever got the job done.  "We're just trying to complete missions any way possible, right?  With whatever tool in our arsenal is best at the moment, be it a swordsman using a fireball or a great sage using 1000 years of pain.  So a ninja should try and make the fight as unfair as possible in their favor, none of this 'lets see who's the best at... whatever'  crap.  And that person the person who wants to take it to melee, spoiler alert, is probably the faster and tougher person, who can make that happen.  Theres ALWAYS someone stronger, or tougher, no matter how great you think you are.  Hayate looked down at his right hand that had now curled into a fist, remembering how it felt to punch the new ninja from Kumo.   "So you need to have melee skills in your arsenal, for when its in your best interest, and when you need to defend against it."

"So with that said, lets not waste time."  Hayate dug three ryo out of his pocket, and formed three quick handseals, ram, snake, and tiger.  His left hand was still a little stiff and ached at bending so far for the seals, no stitches broke and nothing started to bleed again, which was a good sign.  A small poof of smoke, and where Hayate had stood were now three Hayates, with clones of the original to the left and the right.  As he continued, the voice first came from the right hayate, but then drifted to the middle one, and then to the left.

"The first thing an attacker has to do is close the distance.  One of the best ways to do this is to throw a projectile, then follow that closely - though not TOO close - while advancing.  Your opponent cant strike you without first dealing with the projectile, meaning if they block it you can strike while they're finishing the block, and if they dodge it they're not setting up a counter.  Now, i'll use these ryo, but feel free to use whatever you want.  Your first job is figuring out how to deal with this. Pretty quickly." Hayate said, as the three Hayates backed off to about 5m away, taking a sideways stance, cocking back his arm.  
"Because I'm coming in 3....2....1...."

And with that the hayate's arms became a blur, moving above the reaction speeds of the ninja in front of him(125).  A coin seemed to appear in front of each of the three blonde chuunins at the same time, aimed at the navel of all three ninja before him.  He purposefully held back on the coins speed, roughly 30, to make sure they had a way to see it and respond.  The Hayate's would follow these coins forward about a meter behind them, attempting to reach forward and put a hand flat on the chest of each participant,  at the same speed.

Tatsuo glanced over as another genin made his way over to where he was sitting. It looked as though the instructor already knew this one. ”Hello, I’m Tatsuo,” he said, extending his hand. If the genin was willing to chat, he would be more than willing to talk a bit about himself, but if not then he would simply amuse himself by watching the clouds. The next student was just that: a student. Still in the Academy, this kid was probably pretty high up in his class if he had been chosen to receive a lesson here. That, or he was so desperately outclassed that he needed a special session to work on his abilities. Potential or not, he would have to judge for himself when he saw the kid in action.

As the instructor walked over, Tatsuo immediately began paying attention and trying to size him up at the same time. The chuunin certainly gave off a feeling that he knew what he was doing, which made Tatsuo even more attentive. What he was saying certainly made sense. Someone would always be trying to bring a fight into close quarters if given the opportunity. Without having been involved in any real fights yet, Tatsuo didn’t think he was good enough to say for sure he could prevent someone from getting close to him. That’s what this class was for. Like the instructor said, there’s always someone stronger, faster, or tougher than you. If you’re not prepared, a small opening could get you killed.

Melee skills were certainly not Tatsuo’s favorite, which is why he was sorely lacking. The instructor used a clone jutsu to create a trio of himself before explaining his first lesson. In order to close the distance and bring an opponent into melee range, an opening had to be created. In this case, he chose to use throwing a projectile as an example. It was a simple yet extremely effective method. Throwing something would certainly create a reaction from the opponent, assuming you were accurate that is. Whether they block or dodge, that’s time spent that they’re focused on the projectile rather than on the assailant.

While he didn’t see himself using this himself particularly often, it was certainly useful to think of how to defend himself from something like this. Which, ironically enough, was the task at hand. He barely had enough time to put a few thoughts together before the instructor’s clone was throwing a ryo at him.

Dodge or block? Dodge or block? If he blocked it somehow, he would have to figure out how to block the strike that was sure to be coming after. If he dodged, he would still have to block the follow up strike, but at least he could focus on that. With only a moment’s hesitation, Tatsuo stepped sideways and spun so that his right side was facing the direction the clone was coming from. He didn’t have to move too much since the ryo was relatively small, but he took a larger step than necessary just to be safe so that he could focus on the clone.

Now that his body was turned to the side, he presented a smaller target to aim at and he focused on attempting to use an Inside-to-Outside Block with his left hand on the incoming strike in order to move the instructor’s hand out past him and possibly leave him open for a counter strike from his own right hand. He wasn’t really expecting to land a hit on this guy, but it would be a good effort and provide him with some measure of experience.

Sukoshi waited and watched as the two genin besides him exchanged formalities, nothing the boy himself was capable of. His focus didn't leave the teacher for long, however as he began speaking about the necessities of melee prowess to a ninja, Sukoshi certainly saw the logic, if your jutsu is great but you have no space or time to mold chakra into a jutsu there was no point in trying, in times like that you have to rely on your body. Sukoshi intended to use his body from the get-go, but this also made him think about ranged techniques the same way. 

As the three clones were formed Sukoshi assumed it would be pure melee and lowered his stance to a left footed stagger, raising his left arm up and keeping his right at his midsection. As Hayate explained the strategy one would use when using a projectile to turn the tide He realized what was coming for them wouldn't be the clones, as the ryo came flying out at the three ninja Sukoshi thought quickly, his positioning meant nothing vital would be hit, given his arms had covered most of his torso he wouldn't be hit anywhere squishy, this gave him the idea to try something odd.

There are always stories of heroic and legendary ninja who have taken much worse than a kunai to the back and kept fighting, so why couldn't Sukoshi try to take whatever the man had thrown at him to the chest or arm? He charged forward at 5 speed to try and head off the clone, once he got in range, unless the pain proved too much for the mute, he rocketed a 5 strength punch right for the clone's belly button. Then again, Hayate's words echoed in the boys head. 'follow that closely - though not TOO closely.' Damn! his plan may fail. But he'd risk it to learn.

Hayate was glad he kept the countdown short.  On the count of 3 the realization hit each, and you could see the gears turning on 2 and 1, but no one quite finished a full thought.  They'd be acting according to their instincts and discovering what they are, while at the same time knowing they had the time to think and respond.

Oriton, the fastest of the bunch, was the slowest to react.  He may have the raw ability, but his instinct was lacking.  The cloned coin impacted his chest as a wisp of smoke, leaving the boy to look down at it.

On the other side, Tatsuo managed to sidestep the coin, letting it vanish into a puff of smoke past him as the boy then tried to face the charging clone.

In the middle, a fraction of a second before either ethereal coin met its end, the charging Sukoshi felt the ping of the small metal object impact on his chest, not hard, but noticeable, like a toy slingshot.

In each case the Hayate following the coin halted in unison, pulling back into a fighting stance at least a meter away from each combatant.  Tatsuo was left with nothing to fight as his and oritons opponents disappeared just like the coins, and Hayate danced backward in front of the charging sukoshi, keeping the meter distance, signaling for him to stop.

"Alright, well.... definitely a lot to work with there.  You all each found out your instinct in that situation, so thats good.  Oriton, you need to be ready for combat quicker.  Not all battles are announced ahead of time.  I know you're faster than that, I've seen it."

He gave a meaningful stare for a long moment to the fellow tournament participant, then turned to the middle kirigakurian.


"... Sukoshi, was it?  Aggression and taking the initiative is a solid instinct, if we can refine it.  And taking a small hit to deliver a finishing blow is sometimes needed."  Hayate rubbed his bandaged hand.  "But you dont want to take a kunai to the chest for nothing.  All I had to do was hop back and I'm right where i started, where as you're now bleeding out from a chest wound, assuming my weapon wasn't poisoned or covered with explosive fuinjutsu.  If you sacrifice, you have to make it worth it, or you're just giving free hits.  If you're not confident in dodging, I think deflecting/blocking the projectile might be the best move there"

His gaze continued to his right toward Tatsuo

" Tatsuo managed to escape without injury, but still left me with the initiative.  You all expected me to follow through and capitalize on what I did next, but a good opponent always leaves himself a lot of option-selects.  Like I threw the coin and left a meter buffer for me to react in after it was supposed to hit.  I could base my next move on what you did in response.  If i still liked my original plan, i could stick with it, otherwise i could just stick with the first part, the coin, and change my plan based on what you did in response."

Hayate placed his hands on his hips.

"In my opinion, an ideal response there would be a dodge, and then cut me off with something to steal my initiative, to make the flow of the battle turn in your favor.  I'm pretty locked into following the coin until it hits or you act.  If you dodge while taking an offensive action, such as turning to the side and throwing something right back or preparing handsigns, all of a sudden now I have to react to you before i can even get to my second part of the plan.  If i'd choose to continue with the original follow up and punch, like i said, you'd have hit me with whatever you did when you dodged, so I HAVE to change.  You're stealing away my options, when the whole idea of the option select is to give myself options.  So next time you respond to an attack, try and steal away the initiative by making sure that you wont get hit by what they seem to be doing, and if they follow through with it they'll get hit.  they'll have to change".

He nodded to Sukoshi.   " Taking a hit by not doing anything different than what was already accounted for can have its merits, as it locks the opponents into doing what they planned, so if you've spotted a big weakness because they assumed you'd dodge, you can go for it.  But remember, as soon as you do something, I can change my plan, so you better be sure taking the hit actually locks them into a worse situation, because in the ninja world we live in, often a hit is fatal."

" But thats all theory and a lot of talk.  And too much talk is boring.  We'll circle around to that later.  For now, lets get to some actual hand to hand.  Sukoshi, Tatuso, why dont you two pair off.  try and land a solid hit or two - nothing lethal.  Give the option select a try, where you lead with an action they HAVE to react to, and then follow with another action you can either still use if its still good, or change if you dont like their response.  And try and cut off your opponents option selects by seizing the initiative back, like with a counterstrike or something that prevents their second action from being attempted unless they want to get pummeled.  And remember, they can always take the hit you've planned if they think they can come back stronger.   Lets see what you two have got"

Hayate folded his arms to prepare to watch the two.

"Oriton, get that blood pumping, man.  Take a quick lap or a few sprints up and down the wall, and when your fighting spirit is up we'll get you in the action too."

For both Azami and Asumi each step felt like a betrayal. The novelty of living on an entirely different dimensional plane than they were used to faded right along with their only connection to their respective homes, Asami Miyamoto. When she was around, there was hope that the pint-sized chuunin could have figured out a way to return them home, but when she disappeared into thin air said hope evaporated into nothingness only to be replaced by panic-laced despair. And yet, though every mote of their existence told them that they should work on finding another way home, they could not. After all, each waking moment was spent trying to survive in this strange new mist-laden world—there simply wasn't time.

Asumi—the older, taller, and more serious of the two—spent her mornings and evenings as a bathhouse attendant. The younger Azami, on the other hand, spent her days as a grocery store cashier. Between the two of them, they barely made ends meet and kept food on the table at the cost of any semblance of free time. As such, what little free time they could steal away was often occupied by unwinding from the stress of the work day and, most dishearteningly, not spent finding a way home. So then, perhaps one might understand the guilt both felt in visiting the training grounds on their breaks as opposed to the library; for each step they took towards the seaside complex was a step away from their ultimate goal.

These excursions to the coast had become a routine and welcome part of both the women's days. Asumi did not work in the afternoons and Azami took her lunch break around the same time, so each day they would meet up to make their daily pilgrimage. Asumi normally spent this time training while Azami spent her time eating lunch; sometimes they would talk and sometimes they would simply coexist in contented silence. For both, there was something comforting in knowing that another human was going through the same adjustments they were.

Now, today, in particular, was no different than any other day. Asumi wore a white tank top and a pair of black leggings that reached down her sandaled feet; Azami, for her part, represented Komai Grocery with a forest green t-shirt under an earth-brown apron and calf-length dress of similar color to her apron; and both wore their hair in a ponytail with Azami opting to pull her bangs back in a more professional appearance and Asumi doing no such thing, lending her a messier more unkempt appearance. Looking like two mismatched sisters, the pair followed the familiar path to the sea in silence until the sound of distant voices drew them to the academy's training grounds. Normally, they had the expansive courtyard to themselves, but today would be different—not bad, just different.

Stepping into the courtyard, the pair skirted around the edges, leaving the group in the center to continue what appeared to be a training session of some sort. Collecting a bokken from the nearby academy building, Asumi made her way to the far corner of the courtyard where a few well-used practice dummies stood. Meanwhile, Azami found a seat in the same corner and began eating her baloney sandwich, often sparing a few discrete glances both at Asumi's warm-up routine and the other group of shinobi in the courtyard.

Yes, it looked like today would be one of those 'silent days'.

---
[Both Asumi+Azami's stats can be found in my signature, there is also a short character blurb in their stat pages.]
WC: 577

As the coin sailed past Tatsuo and he had brought his arm up in an inside-to-outside block, Tatsuo realized that the instructor wasn’t actually there. He had stopped a few feet out of reach, which made his movement unnecessary and caused him to take an extra second or two to get back into a fighting position. Thankfully, the chuunin didn’t look as though he was going to follow up with another attack, but was instead going to use the opportunity to continue teaching.
 
The first trainee, Sukoshi, had taken the coin to the chest in an attempt to close the distance between himself and the instructor. Tatsuo was surprised that someone would try to tank a projectile like that, even if it was just a coin in this case, although the instructor seemed to be of the opinion that Sukoshi’s aggression might serve him well in the future. He did, however, ensure that the point was made that if it wasn’t a coin then it would cause significantly more injury and possibly death for little gain in this case.
 
As the instructor turned to him, Tatsuo felt his heart fall slightly. He had indeed avoided injury, but he had still been reacting to what he had assumed would be coming next without actively evaluating the situation or trying to change it.  He had always been a more reserved person more concerned with avoiding damage than dealing it out, but clearly he would need to change his initial reactions to these sorts of things in order to actually perform well in combat. Even if he hoped to avoid combat altogether.
 
The next portion of training was apparently going to be a little practical application of the small lecture and explanation that they had just received. He would be paired up with Sukoshi to practice, which might be an interesting matchup. With his own defensive nature, someone with a more aggressive nature like Sukoshi, at least from what he had seen, would be a very different sort of fight. He would have to adapt quickly if he didn’t want to get embarrassed in front of the instructor. With a slight nod, he turned to face Sukoshi.
 
The purpose of the exercise was to practice the option select, not simply to score hits. With the differences in mindset, he would have to seize the initiative early in order to prevent himself from ending up entirely caught up in avoiding blows from his fellow genin. With that in mind, he didn’t spend any time thinking before he ran forward. As he ran, he moved his left hand in a series of one-handed hand that didn’t actually do anything in an attempt to distract Sukoshi and cause him to hesitate by trying to determine what he was doing. With his right hand, he reached down to grab a practice kunai from his belt as he watched to see what Sukoshi’s reaction would be. If he charged forward in response, he would flick the kunai toward him (50 speed) and move sideways to avoid any oncoming attack while reaching for another kunai. If Sukoshi hesitated, however, he would continue to move forward and feint a slash at his chest while he kicked out at his right ankle with his right foot.