The Path To Strength [Mission - Training]

Yuudai frowned to himself, something he had found himself doing lately since he had found a legitimate reason to train, this reasoning far from the usually ones that Uchiha members had. If he had not decided to be the opposite of a stereotypical Uchiha, his reason for training may have simply been to gain more power, for it seemed those born into the clan were born with a crippling thirst for power. No, his reason for training hard was not for power but for his team. To be frank, he did not wish to be the one to drag the team behind because of his refusal to embrace the latent power he had been born with, slightly afraid of becoming like his brethren. Thus, he had taken the necessary steps into improving himself, not just for his team but for himself as well. His sudden dedication to training did not prevent him from interacting with those he shared a strong bond with, and that he was thankful for. But he spent less time with them than usually, albeit something that had to be done so that he may become better. His friends understood that.

Either way, that was not why one would find Yuudai frowning behind his mask on this particular morning. No. His annoyance was more of the fact that he had been call into a private training session with some Shinobi that had watched him train for the pass week. The message was something along the lines of ‘you need to train harder and I shall help you. Meet me at the training grounds.’ And being the kind of person that he was, he would not ignore an order from his superior, no matter how much desired to keep his training private. Why? Simply because he was working on something that he wished to keep to himself, it was two things to be exact. Anyways, upon learning his latent element affinity a couple days ago, he had went to designing his own Jutsu. A Jutsu that had been in his plans for quite sometime, and now could finally come to be.

Fire Whip, that was what the Jutsu would be called as well as that being the basic gist of the technique. It would be a simple Katon Jutsu that would result in two fire whips that extended from both his hands. A whip that he would allow him to attack his enemy without ever getting uncomfortably close to them, he being a long distance user. He greatly preferred defense over offense, and he was honestly quite sadden that he would automatically be getting Katon, but as he thought up more Jutsu within his mind, he realized the capabilities Katon had as a defensive element. He even had several defensive technique involving Katon in the works, but he would wait to build his defensive technique, instead focusing on the offensive aspect of his element. And the first step was refining Fire Whip, a Jutsu this mystery Shinobi would help him with, supposedly.

Another Jutsu Yuudai had been practicing had been a simple one that would help him greatly against Genjutsu users, albeit if he only decided to unlock his Sharingan there would really be no need to learn Genjutsu Kai. A useful ability when it comes down to dispelling oneself from Genjutsu they found themselves in. Yes, Kai would be a useful technique indeed, if only he could learn it. Despite the assistance he was receiving, he still did not like the entire situation, but he would get over it. Perhaps training with this Shinobi would allow him to learn Fire Whip faster as well as Genjutsu Kai than he would be able to alone. This Shinobi was bound to be more experience than Yuudai himself. This meeting could turn out better than he originally anticipated, and that was always a plus.

With the positives of the situation outweighing the negatives, the frown that had been upon the face of Yuudai was replaced by a smile. He continued to walk down the busy streets of what was essentially downtown Suna, an area that he lived in. He had only departed from his house about five minutes ago, but navigating his way through the masses was proving to be a daunting task. A task that did not seem worth fighting his way through the crowd, but he had been requested at the training grounds and that was more than enough for him to press onwards. Seven minutes and a couple grumbles later, he finally arrived to the less populated streets. And two minutes later, he finally arrived at his destination. Suna’s Training Grounds, the same place he had met Mei-sensei and Rubi-san. He cocked his head to the side as he examined the cracked earth of the training fields. He looked around a bit, wondering where this mystery Shinobi was, and he would soon receive his answer.

“You are late,” a male voice loudly proclaimed, as an earthen humanoid figure rose from the cracked and dry earth. Yuudai nearly jumped in surprise, having not expected the Shinobi to show himself in such a way. The earthen appearance soon gave way to a normal one, as the colors returned to the man’s being as well as attire. He was tall to say the least, it was safe to assume that he was over six feet, with messy black hair and dark blue eyes. He did not appear to be a man that one should trifle with, whoever he may be. Quite intimidating for a Genin of Yuudai’s skill level, but he would not allow his nervousness to show.

“The name is Kaname Chikara, and I shall be assisting you on your training today.” The newly dubbed Kaname announced, folding his arms across his chest as he stared down at Yuudai. It felt as if the man was trying to discern the capabilities of the Genin. It was making said Genin uncomfortable, having never been the kind of person who liked unneeded attention. Especially the attention Kaname was giving him. It was like the man was sizing him up or something, the reason unknown to the Uchiha. “You really don’t look much like an Uchiha.”

Yuudai frowned at that comment, “and what exactly does an Uchiha look like?” He would ask, clearly displeased that Kaname would dare compare him to those power hungry fools that he use to be apart of. Of course he was not like most Uchiha, he had spent his life avoiding the role of a stereotypical Uchiha. He didn’t need to be told he was not like most that were part of his lineage, and the comment made it seem that Kaname was disappointed. He briefly wondered if Kaname had believed that Yuudai was someone other than the Underachieving Uchiha, and if that was what the man was expecting, than that sucked for him. “If I am not the person you are looking for, I can always leave. I have better things to do than be compared to my power hungry brethren,” Yuudai would add.

Kaname barked in laughter, something that greatly confused Yuudai, and the poor boy was about to leave but the voice of the Shinobi stopped him. “I am sorry lad, I did not mean to insult you. Please accept my sincerest apologies.” The man would say, his apology seemingly genuine, though the man could always be a sneaky snake. “How about I help you with those Jutsu you been working on as an apology gift?” Kaname clapped his hands together, a smile upon his face.

Yuudai was now feeling even more uncomfortable, not completely sure that Kaname thought about what he was going to say before saying it. For the last sentence spouted from the mouth of the man made him seem just a little bit like a stalker. Okay, not a little bit, a whole lot like a stalker. He waited a couple seconds to see if realization would dawn on the man, but that did not look like it would be happening soon. Funnily enough, a joke his friend Ichijou liked to tell whenever someone comes up with a questionable activity popped into his head, in. I need an adult. It made him smile a little bit just remembering it, easing the tension within his body just a little bit, albeit he was still weary of Kaname. “You sound like a stalker. I don’t know how I am suppose to feel about that,” Yuudai would say. Kaname’s eyes grew wide. “But, I accept the offer for I do need help.”

“That’s great!” the man proclaimed as the smile returned to his face, Yuudai imagining the man making a mental note to think before speaking next time. “Welp our training section begins now.” And indeed at that moment, learning to wield Fire Whip and preform Genjutsu Kai became the focus of the day. To be frank, Yuudai had not been able to leave the fields until well into the night. And by than, he was tired and all he wanted to do was crash on his couch for the night, not believing he would have the energy needed to drag himself to his bed. For a lack of better words, Kaname had made sure to run the Uchiha into the ground with the grueling training. Yuudai had believed that he was doing well with his self-training, but the punishment he had received today told him that he needed to train a whole lot harder. But he was thankful towards the Shinobi for he had managed to help him learn Fire Whip and Genjutsu Kai, as well as help him unlock something he had not been planning on.

The training had started out slow, a moment to meditate so that he could become more in tune with himself, or so Kaname had said. It was suppose to also help him relax and clear troublesome thoughts from his mind, and though he was skeptical, Yuudai did it anyways. He sat on the hard, cracked ground for a good thirty minutes. During that time, he had felt boredom creep into his bones, and for a moment he thought he would spend an hour mulling over how boring meditating was and its insignificance. But, five minutes later, he found himself thinking clearer than he had in a while. Perhaps meditation was not so insignificant as he had originally thought, and took a mental note to meditate for now on.

He was so emerged into his meditation that he jumped when he heard the voice of Kaname announcing that meditation was over. Yuudai’s eyes would open, his head tilting upwards so that he may look at his superior. He sighed after a couple seconds, closing his eyes as he shifted his head downwards, using his hands to push himself from the sitting position to a standing one. Dusting any dirt that may have found their way onto his attire, he would than look into the eyes of Kaname once again, awaiting the next instructions.

“Now that your conscious has been cleared, I believe it’s time that we got down to actually learning that, uh, Fire Ro-“

“Fire Whip,” Yuudai interrupted.

“Ah! That’s right, Fire Whip and Genjutsu Kai,” Kaname would say, clapping his hands together. He did that a lot, or so Yuudai had discerned. A habit of the man perhaps, for he had done it several times within the amount of time he had known him which was not long at all. He was beginning to think that Kaname was just as nervous as he was. Now that Yuudai looked at him more, his grins did look a bit strained, as if he was trying to avoid showing something other than complete and utter joy. It made Yuudai raise an eyebrow in wonderment, but he would not question it. “Let us begin with Fire Whip,” Kaname would say loudly, snapping Yuudai out of his thought process. He nodded his head softly, quite ready to get this training over with so that he may walk away with two useful Jutsu under his belt.

The rest of that day was than spent on Fire Whip and Genjutsu Kai. Yuudai had managed to finally wield Fire Whip after an hour or two of instructions from Kaname. Genjutsu Kai came a little easier than Fire Whip. Then when those two abilities were trained and refined, Kaname had decided that he would challenge Yuudai to a spar. One that would help the Genin gain control over how he wielded his flamed whips, and that was always a plus. Ultimately it was a fight Yuudai lost though not surprising due to the gap of skill the two possessed. Kaname was a well-seasoned Jounin, and he was a Genin that just decided that he needed to become serious. There was just not way Yuudai would win the fight unless he had dumb luck. Kaname had commented several times that Yuudai should go into Genjutsu, and he took that to heart. Perhaps he would go into Genjutsu.

Anyways, the duo sparred several times. It was the last spar that Yuudai finally unlocked Sharingan, much to his surprise and to the delight of Kaname. And though the boy was exhausted and look like he would keel over, the Jounin decided that the two should continue with the spars so that he could get use to his new eyes. Thus, that was how Yuudai ended up walking the dead streets of Suna late at night, his destination his apartment so that he may get some much needed rest. Upon reaching his apartment, he would fumble with the keys before entering the building. And instead of heading to his bedroom, he flopped onto his couch, blacking out with a smile on his face.

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