Appreciate the curl of the burl

Sun Sep 29, 2019 2:00 pm

After his last mission scraping around the grounds, Kaito felt a different appreciation for the people tending the grounds, as well as the villagers and blacksmiths. With his new found appreciation, he would do his best to keep the grounds clean, or at the very least, pick up after himself. More than that, unlike students who trained with academy materials, he would have to train with his personal, private inventory, which meant he would have to be careful and recover all materials used today.

The ground was a vast expanse of beaten dirt, with dummies and circular bullseye targets at one end, and an obstacle course he had no interest in at the other end. The dummies and target would be the focus of today’s session. The first stage of this exercise would be to test just how fast he was able to get his weapons at hand. While it was difficult to remove his tanto stealthily, he already knew how to quickly draw it with the intention to kill. There was no need to learn how to equip his tanto stealthily. However, even before drawing the tanto to deliver a one strike killing blow, it could come in handy to arm oneself stealthily, maybe draw shuriken to throw at a target to avoid their advance, or kunai to direct them in some direction, maybe an explosive tag kunai to try to deal some serious damage; even a smoke bomb to buy some seconds of distraction and use the diversion to gain the upper hand.

The two weapon pouches at his back securely kept his weaponry safe, in case he ran or hopped around in the fashion ninja were known to jump from tree to tree and rooftop to rooftop. They were flexible enough to be assessed from the external side though, if you carefully slide your fingers beneath the elastic fabric.

He did just that, pretending to hold his hands behind his back, he slid his fingers underneath the elastic fabric of the weapon pouches, and his long chef fingertips pulled two kunai rings. In a swift gesture, he threw four kunai at the same time at the target in front of him. He hit the target with three of the kunai, but only one stuck, and the one that didn’t hit the target whistled it’s way past it to sink into the floor of the woods that surrounded the training area. Kaito sighed; he might need to practice his aim a little better. He jogged into the woods to retrieve the kunai, and rejoiced that the grounds were still clean since he last did it. He got the kunai from the target, and went back to his position. Once again, he pretended to hold his hands behind his back, secretly removing two kunai with each hand, and throwing them at the target in as swift a motion as he could muster. The clanking of the kunai bothered him, but his current focus was not to properly hit the target; after all, this technique wasn’t meant to get a kill, just use the thrown objects as a distraction for the real painful attacks. Who dies of surprise kunai anyway?

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TWC: 530

Claiming: Hidden Arms Technique, reserving wordcount until thread's end for stats claiming

Sun Sep 29, 2019 2:49 pm

There is still a better way of gaining the upper hand with the simple and effective tools a ninja is afforded at the beginning of their career. That comes in the shape of the shadow shuriken technique, in which a ninja hides a shuriken in the shadow of another shuriken, effectively creating a surprise attack for whoever they are attacking. While shuriken themselves might not be the best weapons, a surprise shuriken can create just enough confusion on an opponent’s mind that he can be blindsided with a more efficient and even deadlier technique.

The trick, however, was to throw the shuriken in a fashion that one of the shuriken travelled beneath the other in an angle that hid said shuriken, and ideally, a target would avoid the first shuriken but got hit by the other. Minor distractions are still distractions, and most name-worthy ninja would barely be bothered by a shuriken sinking into their flesh. But every little advantage in a battlefield could signify victory or defeat.

He slid his fingers into the weapon pouch, and stealthily held two shuriken. He focused, and threw. Thunk-thunk. Not good enough. They should hit in quicker succession; travel almost as conjoined twins so as to be effectively hidden.

Kaito travelled the distance to the target and then back, looking at the two shuriken, singular blade sunk into the wooden boards of the target. “Heh. At least I managed to hit these two.” Quite the feature, considering he wasn’t all that all good with throwing objects yet. He retrieved them and resumed his position facing the target. His hands slid back into the pouch, and this time he divided the shuriken between the two pouches; he would try and throw four shuriken and double up the amount of times he threw the shuriken to learn the technique faster before each trip to the target. Focusing, he tried to throw first with his right hand, then his left hand.

Thunk-thunk. Thunk-thunk.

Kaito clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Still not there.” Kaito went back to the target, and once again made his way to the throwing line, stashing the shuriken appropriately to take them off easily. The one thing holding up his self-esteem was that all the shuriken struck the target perfectly so far.

He tried something different this time; he tried to throw each shuriken, individually, with each of his hands to try and mimic the intended shadow shuriken technique. He failed, miserably, the thunk-thunk a mocking reminder against the wooden targets. “Another trip.” He resumed sending shuriken with both hands, one after the other. The incessant thunk-thunk beat against his ear drums, until magically…

Tha-thunk!

“Yes!”, he exclaimed out loud. He jogged to the board, now excited with the prospect of success.

Tha-thunk! Tha-thunk!

Positively reinforced, Kaito threw his shuriken repeatedly, tracing the shuriken he threw with his eyes, trying to observe the magic happening. As an aware observer, it was easy to make out the second shuriken, hiding beneath the top one: but for an unaware person under attack, it might just be enough to successfully hit them, or at least offer a new distraction for potential exploitation.

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TWC: 530

Claiming: Shadow Shuriken Technique, reserving wordcount until thread's end for stats

Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:49 am

Exit
Claiming 5 Strength

Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:02 pm

Approved

Appreciate the curl of the burl

Appreciate the curl of the burl

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