[center][b]Less Useless

A collab between Genkidama (Cuco) and j8cob[/b]

[i]Summary:[/i]
Kamiria seeks out Waki Sanosuke, hoping that the famous ninja can help improve her thoroughly lacking physical prowess.[/center]

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With the intense sound of a waterfall ringing in her ears, Kamiria knew she wouldn't be able to make her way around here solely based on her hearing. As she focused herself to make use of her supplementary vision, she thought over her intentions once more. What she was here to do was to find the famous Jounin Commander, Waki Sanosuke, whom she had been told was out in this locale today. She knew her physical prowess was exceedingly deficient, and if she wanted to improve it, it was all to logical to learn from the master. With the world coming into view, she managed to spy the old man in the midst of his meditations, and callled out [b]"Excuse me, sir, but are you Waki Sanosuke?"[/b]

The older man opened his eyes as he heard his name. He was sitting on the river that the waterfall poured into, holding a meditating pose. But it would seem that he would no longer be meditating. [b]"That would indeed be me,"[/b] Waki greeted, before looking Kamiria up and down. Trying to see if he could recognize her. With a grin, he stretched his arms as if he awoke from a deep slumber and stood up onto his feet. [b]"What could bring a youngin' like you out here at this hour?"[/b] Waki asked, casually striding across the flowing water as he approached a comfortable conversation distance.

[b]"I, um...."[/b] She fumbled with her words for a moment. She felt a little awkward coming out here to simply make a sudden request like this. [b]"I know you."[/b] She quickly realised this statement sounded very silly. [b]"Your reputation, I mean."[/b] She added. [b]"You are.....a great master of taijutsu. And....."[/b] She hesitated for a few moments, and then dropped onto her knees in a prostrate position. [b]"I want you to teach me to be less useless, sir!"[/b]

Her emotion surprised Waki. The old man watched her silently for a moment, before bringing up a hand to his chin. [b]"Useless?"[/b] he questioned. [b]"What's your name, girl?"[/b] He figured out a plan, but his face took a surprisingly stern expression. [b]"Everything has a purpose and a use. Just having a name proves that."[/b] His expression folded back into a grin, before he took a few steps forward and held out a hand to help Kamiria back to her feet.

[b]"Kamiria. Kamiria Haruhino."[/b] She answered, as she took his hand. The more she thought about it, she had a feeling it might've been rude for her not to introduce herself before asking. But he didn't sound terribly bothered by it, so she hoped she was just being anxious as ever. She could tell from his words he was being contrary to her statement of her own uselessness. [b]"Sir, I have been part of a few teams so far. But each time, I....I was nothing. Just a placeholder. I neither stood out nor really contributed anything. That is why I feel I am useless. And that is why I want to improve myself."[/b]

Waki thought about her words for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders. [b]"Perhaps you don't really contribute anything,"[/b] he suggested, shaking his head. [b]"But perhaps it is because you haven't tried."[/b] He looked back at Kamiria, before glancing back at the river. [b]"Come. If you want my help, I must first teach you how to carry yourself."[/b] A small grin formed on his face as he stepped back onto the water. [b]"And that is with humble pride."[/b] He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kamiria over his shoulder, to see if she understood what he meant.

Kamiria was certainly confused by his words. She figured she had at least tried to be something, though she assumed Waki was being more metaphorical in that regard. But more than anything else, she was confused by the idea of 'humble pride'. It sounded paradoxical to begin with. [b]"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, sir."[/b] She could take a guess that he meant confidence, but she felt that was hardly humble of someone. [b]"Do you intend to explain?"[/b]

[b]"I do intend to."[/b] Waki turned to face Kamiria, holding his hands behind his back in a regal manner. [b]"You must be able to acknowledge your weaknesses and shortcomings. But also acknowledge your strength and achievements. It is with both those in mind that you can stand tall and walk far."[/b] The grin on his face returned. [b]"If one side outweighs the other, it needs to be balanced to maintain healthy character. Too many shortcomings and you feel small. Too many achievements and you feel big."[/b] He brought one hand around and raised a single finger in the air. [b]"Give me one of each that you have had in the last week. The most profound failure and most profound success."[/b]

The question was slightly difficult for Kamiria. She could think of plenty of small things to chalk up as failures, but none that would really be profound. They were trivial, not really something to claim as true failures. [b]"Oh, I guess-"[/b] She quickly silenced herself upon opening her mouth. She was about to say she felt she should've stood up to Asami when she told her to prepare to potentially act against her own Sensei. But that would've been astounding mistake to make. Ironically, she could probably claim it as a profound failure if she had opened her big mouth. [b]"Um...I guess I could say my only true failure was in doing very little with myself."[/b] It was a bit of a impromptu answer, and she hoped he wouldn't probe too deeply into her strange moment. [b]"As for my greatest success, I.....would imagine the simple fact that I finally overcame my bout of illness recently could be it."[/b]

The old man looked a bit disappointed after hearing Kamiria's success and failure. [b]"Huh,"[/b] he began, bringing his hands behind his back. [b]"That was a bit more... boring than I thought."[/b] But his grin quickly returned. [b]"Why don't we fix that, shall we?"[/b] He looked her up and down again. [b]"How well can you see?"[/b] He pointed toward his own eyes, making it clear that he picked up on the fact her vision was very limited. [b]"Though you don't necessarily need your vision for what I will teach you, it will help a little bit."[/b]

Kamiria didn't mind the fact he thought her successes and failures were boring. They were, after all. If she had let slip her first thought, then he might've changed his tune. But that wasn't something Kamiria wanted to risk. [b]"Barely at all, if I don't focus."[/b] She began, replying to his question. [b]"If I do, then I can see quite well, in a manner of speaking. But it's all so....vague. Shapes and outlines more than anything else. I can't keep it up forever, either."[/b]

[b]"That will work."[/b] Waki took a deep breath, before looking up into the sky. [b]"You said before that you believe you are a placeholder. I'm guessing if you are coming to me for help, you desire some training in taijutsu. Or otherwise how to hold your own in battle."[/b] He looked back down at Kamiria. [b]"Let me see."[/b] He held his hand out toward the girl, with his palm facing her. [b]"Throw your best punch."[/b]

It seemed they were finally getting into the territory of proper training. Kamiria didn't mind his questions, but this was what she had came here for. Of course, she figured he was about to realise just how much work he had ahead of him. She made a fist, and looked down at it. It didn't even feel very natural to her. Shaking her head, she swung at Waki's palm as hard as she could. But it was all too likely it was going to feel like the bite of a flea.

Waki shook his head after Kamiria threw her punch. [b]"I take it that you have received little training in this area, by your choice or another's."[/b] Waki retracted his hand, making it into a fist. [b]"Your form is terrible. Even if you had great strength, your technique would reduce the power of any hit landed. You have to put your whole body into it if you throw a solitary strike like that."[/b] As an example, Waki faced to their side and demonstrated by thrusting his fist forward, adding lean as he did so. After holding that pose, he stood upright again and faced Kamiria. [b]"Try to put your whole body into it. For you to properly learn taijutsu, we need to first make sure you can punch."[/b] He held his hand up again.

It all made sense as she heard him explain it. But she still imagined she was about to mess this up. Taking a few moments, she tried to visualise how he had demonstrated for her. She then swung at him, attempting to lean in the same fashion he did. But even though her fist connected, she felt herself coming off balance a little. She stumbled forward just a bit, feeling quite embarassed about it. Waki let out a sigh, before smiling. [b]"Of course you will need some practice. Now that I know where you stand, I can think about what to do."[/b] The old man brought his hand to chin again, before humming to himself for a moment.

He motioned away with his other hand. [b]"While I think of what to do, you need to warm up. You cannot achieve physical ability without training your body regularly. Give me fifty push-ups and then run to the end of the river and back."[/b] He continued thinking about this, as he did find it somewhat challenging to come up with a proper regimen for this girl. His biggest concern was her vision, but she did claim she could get around it. Perhaps having faith in her may work.

[b]"Yes, sir."[/b] She backed away from him in order to have plenty of room for her exercise. She knew she was probably going to make a fool of herself right now. Possibly more than she already had. Push ups were hardly something she had done a lot of, especially during her bouts of illness. She got through 3 of them before ending up slipping and slamming her chest into the ground. Blushing heavily, she continued her attempts, and eventually succeeded, though not before slipping up many times over. When it came time for her to start running, her arms were already aching. At the very least, she could claim to be capable of running at a fair speed. But she tired quickly, and returned to Waki quite deflated. She could only imagine he had come up with 10 different regimens in the time she took doing all this.

As she returned, Waki still remained in the same pose. [b]"Alright... I see..."[/b] he mumbled to himself, before facing Kamiria and putting his arms behind his back again. [b]"For what I have in mind to work, you are going to need to follow a specific diet and a schedule."[/b] He began to chuckle, before removing one of his hands from behind his back to make a single wave. [b]"It isn't a very demanding schedule. But training to maintain. For taijutsu to be practical, you need to be fit. And frankly, you are a bit thin. You will need more stamina and strength to make use of the skills I will teach you."[/b] He waved his hand once again. [b]"I will give you those details later, since you may want to memorize them in some way. But first things first..."[/b]

Waki relaxed himself into a fighting stance. He placed his left arm forward with his palm facing out toward Kamiria and held his right arm bent at the elbow to cover his ribs, but also had the palm facing outwards. His knees bent just enough to lower his height and he leaned forward ever so slightly. It looked like he could jump into an attack at any moment. [b]"Try to mimic this stance. This will be your basic combat position. The pose you will be in between strikes. This is to allow rapid transitions from offense to defense. If you don't have a stance, you will lack flow. And all things have a natural flow, else they will become useless."[/b] He nodded toward the river, as a sort of example.

Kamiria gritted her teeth and stood upright. Carrying on after that training would take some effort, but she intended to manage. She tried her best to mimic the stance he had made, right down to all the little details with the knees and such. [b]"Like this?"[/b] She asked between breaths. Her hands were shaking a bit, but she was still holding herself together by strength of will if nothing else. Waki closed his right hand into a fist, before thrusting it forward and bringing his left arm in. With this demonstration, he glanced back at Kamiria. [b]"Try to make a punch like this. You can follow through with your other hand as well."[/b] In the same manner, he thrust his left first forward and brought his right arm in to his side. [b]"We will be practicing this until you can get it right. One thing at a time."[/b]

While she was still a little unsteady, Kamiria followed through with the instructions as shown. She found this quite easier than doing push ups, to say the least. It was fairly basic, and she would probably manage this much without exertion if she hadn't been exercising thoroughly beforehand. With a few slow moves at first, she eventually broke into a steady pace. [b]"Is this good enough, sir?"[/b]

Waki looked at her fists as she threw her punches. [b]"It's better. Perhaps you just needed a little warming up. But then again..."[/b] He took his left hand and pointed at his back. [b]"You need to keep your back straight. Posture matters in the long run."[/b] A grin formed on his face as he resumed his fighting stance. [b]"While keeping your back straight... try to do a sweeping kick."[/b] He brought his arms in as he dropped low, before letting his arms stick out for balance as his right leg swung out and across. An attack that would trip a foe, should one had existed before him. As he stood upright, he crossed his arms. [b]"Alternate the leg you use, and stand upright after each one. That will make you exert more energy."[/b] Waki glanced over at her, before looking down at her lower half to watch her form.

Even though they were in the midst of exercises of a kind, Kamiria found herself catching her breath just a bit. Perhaps it was just a placebo effect of feeling like she was getting somewhere. In any case, she attempted to do as Waki instructed yet again. She straightened her back, and then attempted the sweeping kick maneuver. She promptly managed to ruin her balance once more and found herself hopping on one foot for a while. She caught herself, and then tried again. She wobbled, but managed to keep herself straight as she could. As she did it more and more, the more steadily she preformed the task. Never quite perfect, but no longer as embarassingly clumsily as at first. [b]"Well, sir?"[/b] She asked, feeling that the question spoke for itself.

[b]"Your body is slowly getting used to it,"[/b] Waki answered, shrugging his shoulders. [b]"I can visibly see you are performing better than you were before. But you are a long way from ready to defend yourself in the instance you are forced to use your fists."[/b] Now that he was done being blunt, he rotated to face Kamiria again. [b]"It is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but it is something that can be accomplished. Now that you know a basic striking method, try using all of them at once. Right punch, left punch, right kick, left kick. Go in that order several times as fast as you can. Ensure you keep your balance. I want you to keep doing that until you can feel a burning sensation in your muscles."[/b] A smirk formed on his face. [b]"Unlike with ninjutsu, you will feel pain when training your body. But pain is the sign that it is working."[/b]

[b]"I think I figured that out already...."[/b] Kamiria murmured, having still not fully recovered from all those push ups, even if she was managing to get into the swing of things here. This time she was instructed to combine both exercises, and so she did. It didn't feel all too difficult to get into the routine of punching and kicking. She got into another steady pace, and carried on as such. However, she was beginning to feel a little drained from everything she had done so far, both from the punching and kicking and the earlier exercise. Little by little, her movements were becoming slightly sluggish. [b]"Still doing good....sir?"[/b] 

As she began to slow down, Waki just watched on. [b]"You can keep going,"[/b] he told her, making sure to keep an encouraging voice. He had already figured this would be a challenge for her, but a challenge to overcome nonetheless. If it wasn't here, in a controlled environment, she would have to train her taijutsu in actual fights. A lesson she should never learn. [b]"Your body will be tired, but as long as your mind stays sharp you can keep going. Only when your body fails you will you actually fail. Do you want your body to fail you right now?"[/b]

[b]"Certainly not...sir."[/b] She told him. But she did have her doubts that she could keep this up. It was starting to feel as though every punch and kick was getting harder to preform, as if somene was adding weights to her legs and arms with each swing. But she kept going. If she failed here, she felt she really would be useless. Somewhere in the midst of her counting off the sequence of movements she was doing, her mind wandered for just a moment. One kick went quite awry, and caused her to topple over and fall on her side. She let out a cry, and nursed her side for a moment. But then, she gradually gathered herself and stood up straight again. She resumed her sequence of punches and kicks, even though each movement was beginning to pain her all the more.

After she fell, Waki gave no expression. It was only when she stood back up that he smiled. [b]"That's the spirit!"[/b] he suddenly raised his voice, pumping his fist as he did so. The old man took a step forward and put a hand on her shoulder. [b]"That's enough for now. Though this may seem simple and demeaning, that is because the basics will always feel that way if you know they are the basics. With diligence, you will look back on this and chuckle to yourself about how you used to be."[/b] He removed the hand from her shoulder and motioned toward the ground, before rather unceremoniously sitting down himself. [b]"Who is your sensei, Kamiria?"[/b] Waki asked first, placing his hands on his knees as he crossed his legs.

She wasn't entirely pleased to stop. She didn't want to feel as though she had reached her limit already. Then again, her side hurt something fierce, so she didn't end up objecting. She let herself rest on the ground rather haphazardly, not quite sitting just like Waki, but certainly off her feet for a while. [b]"Kazuma Atsushi, sir...."[/b] Saying the name alone reminded her of the meeting with Asami. [b]"He's not to blame for my lack of training. I can only blame myself and my illness for my shortcomings."[/b]

[b]"I wasn't assigning blame,"[/b] Waki began to explain. [b]"I was going to find out who I need to talk with. I will inform Kazuma that you will be receiving weekly taijutsu lessons from me. Also: I will inform him of your new diet and schedule, so that he may help swerve you from temptation."[/b] A smile formed on his face. [b]"But that may not be necessary, depending entirely on your willpower. I can guarantee you won't enjoy any of this, but you will love the results. It is training like that which has given me such vitality even in my old age."[/b] Waki chuckled to himself. [b]"Not that I'm old."[/b] His chuckling turned into all-out laughter at that point, but he managed to pipe himself down. [b]"Anyways, how are you feeling right now?"[/b]

[b]"I'm fine..."[/b] She began. Between the heavy breathing, and her clutching her side, it was clear she was not. [b]"...I'll manage, at least."[/b] She quickly added. The last thing she wanted was to be too much of a bother. She was already asking a lot by requesting that he train her, she certainly didn't want him to have to fuss over her as well. She made an effort to get back on her feet, and managed to do so, though she was still clearly pained. [b]"I'm sincerely grateful for you taking the time to do this for me, Sanosuke-Sama."[/b] She preformed a bow as best she could. [b]"I......if you don't mind, I think I could do to return home now..."[/b]
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