Nightwing95comrades and brothers in arms!
A collab between Sketcher and Gerontis
Summary :
A training between Koike and Katsu, where the two try to further train and improve their skills as they prepare themselves on the coming Chuunin Exams.
Koike don on the jacket as he had prepared himself for a long day. After he walked out of his home, he wouldn't go straight towards the training fields. Instead, he decided to visit some other place first. Walking down the street, Koike looked around. He noticed that most shops and stands would soon try to sell their wares and services. Continue down the street, he would take a turn towards the Cho compound. Not that he had really anything there to do, but he wanted to buy something. He had some time before the planned meeting after all.
A hour later Koike was heading towards the training fields. He had a plastic bag with him, in which he had something for lunch. Calmly, he hummed a tune as he approached the field where he would meet up with Katsu. But he didn't notice anybody on the field at all. Deciding that he should wait, Koike walked to a tree that had been either knocked down or fallen. Putting the plastic bag down, he sat on the tree as he would wait for Katsu.
A figure swung down sideways from the branch of the standing tree near Koike. The boy's face was covered in sweat and he found himself in a rather strange position. Instead of standing upside down, he seemed to have his legs wrapped around one of the branches. A mischievous grin appeared on his face as he saw that Koike had just sat down without taking notice of his presence. He lightly dropped himself to the ground, landing on both of his feet with his heels lifted. "Morning!" he yelled.
''Weirdo.'' Koike said as his right hand had went to a handle of one of his blades. He had been surprised with Katsu's rather surprise appearance, but he hadn't lashed out as he had almost done. ''Why are you even yelling... and covered in.. sweat?'' Koike asked, raising his eyebrows as he examined the Uchiha. Really, he was one... unique example of his clan. All those tales that the Uchiha were cool and natural elite shinobi were something he couldn't believe while the one he saw as a friend was like this.
Pouting, Katsu crossed his arms. "That's not important," he said in response childishly. "Well? What kind of training did you have in mind?" he asked, his eyes sparkling. The boy was excited to be able to train with Koike once again, though he hoped it would be more like training this time. He was sure it would be. Koike had changed a lot during the last few weeks...
''If you say so.'' Lowering his hand, Koike pointed to the bag. ''If you already trained or did something, eat something first.'' Waiting until Katsu would open the bag and see the smaller bag, in which there were several pastries, he would start to explain what for training he would help Katsu with. ''I noticed that you use kenjutsu and try to infuse it with wind chakra. Which is for start good, but it doesn't have... that kind of power yet.'' Koike tried to explain. He briefly paused to think about the right words. ''What I want to help you with is something that is both chakra control training as something new. You see,'' Wrapping the fingers of his right hand around the handle of one of his blade, at his right side, Katsu would see a blue aura surrounding the tanto. ''This. That is what I want to help you with.''
While he wasn't a sensor, he could smell the delicious pastries within the bag from miles away. That's.... That's...! He quickly lunged at it and opened it up, digging his hand in as he looked at Koike before pulling out a few eclairs. Watching carefully what his friend was showing, the boy looked at him with pride. "That looks different than wind chakra," he said, putting the few surviving pastries back into the bag and closing its lid. Drawing his sword, Katsu poured his wind chakra into it, making a greyish coat. Yup.
''It is because it is pure chakra.'' Koike calmly replied. ''We can do a test. See that rock over there? Lets see which blade can be thrown deeper into the rock.'' Koike suggested as he rose up from his sit. The rock wasn't that large, around half the size of one of them. Aiming for it, Koike threw the blade. It pierced quite deeply into the rock, like it had almost nothing to hold it back when the blade went into it. ''Now your turn.''
Katsu looked down at the sword in his hand and back up at Koike. After a moment, he nodded and got ready to throw the chakra coated blade. The boy flung his arm, sending the sword flying towards the rock, planting half of the short sword into the stone, though it had still penetrated much less of the stone that Koike's. ''You see, though it is said that Wind chakra enhances the sharpness of a blade, you need to have better chakra control and experience to make it better.'' He told Katsu, walking towards the rock. Placing his hands around the handles of the weapon, he seemed to pull them out with ease. Each had a blue aura as he drew them out of the stone. ''It is called chakra flow. Ever heard of it?'' Letting the flow vanish, he would walk back and offer Katsu's sword back.
The hilt of the blade found its way into Katsu's palm from Koike's hand after the boy offered it back to him. "I think I've heard it be mentioned before," he said, thinking back to his lectures about kenjutsu. After a moment, he snapped back to reality. "Where'd you learn a technique like that?" he asked, his eyes glowing like before. ''From training and a scroll. That is what happens when you keep completing missions, then you are now and then rewarded with knowledge.'' Koike shrugged lightly. Truth be told, he wasn't that excited or proud over it. ''It is actually simple in theory. All you need to do is to figure out how to mould and move your chakra as a coat over a weapon. Like I just did.''
"A-ha," Katsu said, nodding. "So it's just like elemenal manipulation, but simpler." He looked down at his sword. Concentrating, he poured his chakra into it without transforming it, creating a weak and flimsy coat around the blade, wavy and unstable. "I don't think I got it right," he mumbled as he felt the side of the coat, seeing how it was much more blunt than his wind coating.
''What did you expect then? Instantly mastering this technique?'' Koike asked in an amused fashion. ''I have trained this over a year, but am not at the point I can extend the shape of the coating or making sharp to pierce and slash through whole boulders.'' However, he didn't say it like he was disappointed in or any kind of negative way. ''What now needs to be done is to practice it and improving your chakra control. Over some time, you will notice that the coating will be much stronger and sharper.'' Pausing, Koike nodded at the rock. ''Together with wind nature chakra, that won't be much of a problem then. So, ready to start?''
"Of course not," Katsu muttered. He looked towards Koike once more. "Eh? Start what?" he asked. ''The chakra control training. There are various ways of training it. There is the water walking, tree walking and other practices that seem normal for most, but if you combine them with a task that they can improve your chakra control.'' Koike explained. He pointed at the outskirt of the forest at the side of the field. ''We are going to use a kind of tree walking technique practice, while also training your accuracy. After all, it is always good to hone skills that don't rely on chakra.''
"I guess that makes sense," Katsu said with a sigh as he slid the blade back into its sheath. He walked towards the place Koike had pointed at, planting his foot on the bark of the tree and climbing up. As he stood upside down once more, he looked at Koike, as if waiting for instructions. Climbing up as well, Koike started to explain the training as he pulled out a kunai with his right hand. ''We will jump from bark to bark, thus forced to use swift use of the Tree climbing technique, but need to throw kunai or shuriken at the last position of the other. This means that you need to coordinate where the other has been as well aware of where you are going. Else you will be slamming yourself against a tree.''
"A sharingan's not that useful they said. Why would you ever need it they said," Katsu muttered to himself quietly. He didn't move for a moment as he remembered the one time his sight had changed. Shaking the memory away, the boy looked towards Koike, spinning to the top of the branch. "Got it," he said, pulling out two shuriken in each hand, locked between his fingers, his fists clenched. "Ready when you are."
''Cause it drains chakra and with training, you can achieve sometimes better reflexes than to rely on it.'' Koike mused. He had managed to catch on what Katsu had said, but then became serious. ''Let's do this then.'' Readying himself, Koike pushed himself away from the bark, jumping towards a bark of another tree. He would use his expertise with Silent Killing to make it easier for himself, to know where Katsu would be. Already he was trying to aim towards Katsu would jump to, which wasn't really easy.
Before pushing himself off, he waited for Koike to jump. The moment he leapt off from the branch, Katsu threw the first shuriken in his left hand towards the branch that Koike was moving towards through the air, looking at the direction he was going and at the branches in that vicinity. After that, he leapt off, jumping to a branch from behind a tree, blocking their line of sight for a moment.
For a moment Koike was smiling. The kunai had left his hand and pinned the location of where Katsu had landed. He didn't try to see if the throw of Katsu had hit mark of where he had been, but was sure his friend was capable of doing a training like this one. Landing, he noticed that a tree blocked the line of sight. That was bothersome. Quickly jumping towards another tree, Koike had to push himself harder away from the tree to try to bypass some extra length to see if he could notice where Katsu would land.
Katsu pressed his foot on the tree, not reappearing to Koike from the otherside. Instead, he ran sideways on the trunk towards the side he'd come from and leapt off, seeing Koike had jumped again. He threw the second shuriken, making its path bend, only to miss its mark. Cursing under his breath, Katsu leapt off again, grabbing onto one of the branches and swinging under it without waiting and letting go, landing on another one.
Narrowing his eyes, Koike landed as he quickly had to use the chakra to latch himself against the bark of the tree. His sight was slightly hindered by the leaves, but he swore he could hear Katsu. With the kunai he had pulled, he managed to form a coat of chakra over it as he threw it towards the location of Katsu's last location. Not waiting to hear if the kunai would land home, he jumped towards another tree.
Not looking back, Katsu moved towards the side he'd last seen Koike, glancing around frantically. Locating, Koike, he spun and threw one of the shuriken in his right hand towards his foot, making a small arc and planting it into the wood in front of it. The boy rebounded from the tree, almost crashing into it, moving towards Koike once more.
Noticing something flying towards him, Koike would perform a summersault. This forced him to move a free hand to press himself against the bark of the tree. Gritting his teeth, as he had perform a throw as well moving fast at the same time, Koike would latch chakra from his hand to the tree to not fall as his free hand threw a shuriken towards Katsu's landing. Feeling that he would hang, Koike pressed his feet against the tree to bounce himself away towards another tree.
Seeing the shuriken coming towards the branch his feet were about touch he moved his feet away from the point on the branch so that he wouldn't get hit. As the shuriken was planted between his feet, he pulled it out of the wood with his left hand and leapt, throwing the shuriken in his right hand towards the branch Koike was hanging onto. Seeing how Katsu was doing, Koike smiled again. It was going very well. Pulling out another shuriken, he twisted to land better on the bark he was soaring towards. Placing his free hand against the bark to hold better control of where he hang, he would throw the next shuriken towards Katsu's new location, while he would then jump towards another tree. However, he only jumped to one where Katsu would have a tree blocking his line of sight.
Once Katsu landed once more on a branch with a shuriken planted on it, he noticed Koike disappear behind a tree. He at least knew where Koike was going, so he decided to do a rather dirty trick himself. He quickly leapt to another tree, waiting on the side opposite of where Koike had jumped from in order to disguise himself for a few seconds when his friend would look back to see where to throw his shuriken.
''You're aware that I keep watch of you?'' Koike asked as he had been standing still. Keeping track of Katsu through his silent Killing, Koike had found it weird that he hadn't hear the sound of a projectile being thrown, like a shuriken or kunai. Standing with his hands shoved into his pockets, Koike looked from his position towards the direction of Katsu. ''At any rate, let's take a break for now, shall we?'' Koike suggested, adding something. ''I think there might be a pastrie left in the bag that we could share.'' A smile started to grow on Koike's face as he actually didn't like pastries that much.
Seeing Koike appear from his position to propose taking a break, Katsu jumped out and threw a kunai towards his feet. "No breaks yet! We just started!" he yelled, landing on the side of another tree, hanging from it by his feet and hand. To which Koike simply frowned as he looked at the shuriken that was stuck in the bark of the tree, between his feet. ''And you want to exhaust yourself with training? How will you acomplish something if you're too tired to manage to try it?'' Koike asked, looking back at Katsu, still not moving.
"Are you saying you're tired?" Katsu said with a grin. "We can take a break once we're too worn out to land the weapon correctly. Until then, we don't need it!" He had an unyielding look in his eyes, challenging Koike with its stares. "Come, now! We can still keep going!"
Removing his right hand from the pocket of his pants, Koike scratched the side of his head. ''I wouldn't mind to continue, but like I said, exhausting yourself to the point where you're barely able to continue is useless. Same as taunting me.'' Letting his arm hang at his side, Koike glanced back at the shuriken that Katsu had threw earlier. ''The way I was trained was to train, rest, train and then rest. If you exhaust yourself, you will just work yourself for one session. While if you let your body rest for a bit and then work, you can gain more in such a manner. But.'' Making a clear gesture that he was being sarcastic, Koike spoke again. ''If you think that you know better, I am all game. Then I will have that pastry all for myself.''
"You're making me sound arrogant," he said, huffing. "You'll never get tired if you take rests once every few minutes. If you don't get tired, you won't be as durable when the time comes for you to endure more tiring jobs." Katsu sighed, crossing his arms. "We can work an hour or two, take a break for half an hour then get back to work. Getting tired and exhausted is a sign of progress."
''Is it? Or is it a sign that you know when your body is reaching a limit?'' Koike asked. It seemed so far his plan was working as he had thought. Not that it was hard to lure Katsu in just talking. ''Or are you saying that limits should be pushed and stretched, is that it?'' Koike asked, tilted his head a bit to the left as he kept standing still. He made a gesture to where they had came from. ''Or are you so anxious to improve your skill that fast that you want to harm your own body in order to reach it?''
"Pushing your body to it's limit trains the body," Katsu answered, pouting, spinning another shuriken in his finger. "I'm not gonna train 'till my body gets damaged for a long time but I'm gonna push it to the limit. Y'know, I'd expected you to be more anxious to continue than to split a pastry..."
Sighing, Koike smiled. ''And I expected you to be a bit more observant. You keep talking you want to continue, but I am not holding you back am I now? Cause I stop and try to not over do it, doesn't mean you don't have to. Yet, you showed that I managed to easily distract you. Is it maybe cause of the pastry?'' Koike asked, slowly laughing as he shook his head. ''Besides, I haven't eaten unlike you. Might mind it if I eat something before we continue?''
"I guess... If you're gonna go eat, I'll work on a... I guess you could call it a technique but..." He looked down. "Don't be alarmed if you hear explosions! You'll know where to find me when you're done!" he said cheerfully jumping off the branch and moving deeper into the forest. For several moments Koike looked at the back of Katsu and then sighed out loud as a hand ran through his hair. Why? He questioned in his thoughts as he would jump up and follow Katsu.
''Are you done?'' Koike asked, wipping the sweat from his brow with his left arm. He looked at Katsu, holding a kunai in his right hand while balancing on a branch. Koike wasn't sure how long they had been training for now, but his stomach made it clear that it had lasted long enough. Flipping the kunai in his hand, Koike would sheat it back in a fluid movement.
Katsu was hanging upside down from a branch with a kunai stabbed it. With his sweat following gravity, he eyed his surroundings once more, noticing that there were quite a few branches like that. Though some of the branches had burnt to crisp when the training had gotten a bit rougher. "Yeah... Let's go take a break," he said, grinning widely.
''Glad you came to some sense.'' Koike joked as he also took a look at the field. But he was actually content on how things had went. And not just the training. ''The exams are close, you know.'' Koike said, dropping himself off the branch he was standing on. Landing on the ground, he started to dust his clothes off. There was some dust and splinters on his clothes and as he shook his head, even in his hair. Luckily not some warm ash or burning splinters of wood.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," the boy muttered, sighing. He let his feet drop from the branch and caught the ground with his palms, bending his knees and lowering them towards the ground like a spring, and then pushed himself off, landing on his feet upright. "I'm sure you'll ace it without a hitch," Katsu said, smiling. "Alright... A ten minute break once we get back to the field, hm?"
''I will go back to my study, Katsu.'' Koike said, in a rather serious tone. He thought about offering Katsu to join him, but he wasn't sure if his friend was interested even in genjutsu and poison. Maybe it was for the better if he would study alone. This time. ''Has been a long time since I trained with somebody good, except Aiko-sama. But you're close to her if I have to compare you two.'' Koike grinned a bit as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
"Oh, alright... I guess I'll train a bit more here," he said, sighing. Hearing the praise Koike had given him, a childish smile appeared on his lips. "Haha! Thanks," he said enthusiastically. "Good luck with your studies!"
''Thanks. Before I go however.'' Koike stopped as he briefly thought about it. But what he wanted to suggest wasn't that bad. In the time he had been with Katsu, he hadn't feel like he was much of a stranger to the Uchiha. ''What about meeting tomorrow?'' Koike asked. His plan wasn't to train, but just to spend time together with Katsu. Just as friends instead of team members.
"Sounds good to me," Katsu answered, holding out his arm. "See you tomorrow, then!" He'd forgotten about the worries he'd had when he had first met Koike. Having a sincere friendship like this one was pretty nice. Stretching out his arm, Koike's fingers wrapped around the wrist of the arm Katsu held out. ''Till tomorrow. Don't blow yourself up. I would hate to be the one to clean up the mess. Take care.'' Koike said, nodding slightly.