Chapter 04: Help required

Riku arrived at training ground 11 at 7:30 AM. Since he was to be evaluated, being there early to stretch and warm up was not a bad idea. It didn’t surprise him that no one was there. From what he had seen yesterday only genin and chunin use those kinds of public training ground and he doubted that those in the genin corps would come that early to train. As for the chunin? He had no idea. Maybe because it was Saturday?

Regardless he was alone and had an hour and a half to do what he wanted. So he simply practiced the academy katas (not yet having decided in what style of taijutsu he wanted but that was a thought for later). After half a dozen sets he went to the side and took out from one of his pouches on his lower back, a book. It was rather thin, a hundred pages at most and had no title. In truth it was simply a journal where the owner simply wrote whatever he wanted in it. Riku however, wrote seals on every two pages. On the page on the left was a storage seal and on the page on the right was listed what was inside.

The journal was Riku’s creation for the simple reason that scrolls were too expensive for him. Chakra paper for fuinjutsu was rather cheap in comparison to the point that hundred of them cost half the price he had to pay for a single standard scroll. Using his creativity and pondering if it was really worth the cost in ryo, Riku bought them and made the journal he currently has in hand. A hundred pages wasn’t much compared to a scroll but the advantage was that he could get access to the right storage seal really quickly. Besides, he doubted that there was any shinobi out there with a single scroll full of seals from one end to the other. It was a waste of money, a waste of time and a waste of space (scrolls having a cylindrical shape).

Sitting down he put his book on the ground and activated the very first storage seal. Out of it came a small coffee table with on top of it a box containing a brush, chakra paper, ink and an inkstone.

Setting himself down, he began working on tags he had thought about. He already had a good number of explosive tags ranging from small explosions to open a lock to big enough to destroy everything in a 5 feet radius. He also had a flash seal, creating a blinding light to disorient the enemy and create openings and finally smoke tags which as the name suggests create smoke. He had others under his belt but they were of the defensive kind and were not what he was working on right now.

What he was working on right now was three different types of tags. The first one was what he decided to name a ‘flashbang’ tag. Not only would it blind the enemy but also impair their hearing greatly. Any good shinobi could use another sense to fight if their sight was compromised. It was either their hearing or their sense of smell. A tag that fucked with the three of them was in mind but it was easier to create a tag negated two senses than three so that specific tag would come later.

The second type of tags was a more deadly version of the explosive one. With one of those only the explosion was truly dangerous in itself and that wasn’t enough for Riku. No, what he wanted was the possibility to still inflict lethal damage even if the enemy wasn’t caught in the explosion. Shrapnels were the way. That was a difficult seal to make. Unlike the smoke which was a gas, shrapnels are solid and needed to be stored and released a fraction of a second before the tag could explode to be effective. It was quite a bit of a step up from his ‘flashbang’ idea.

The third and last type was a trap. His idea was to detonate a tag when someone with a chakra signature not registered in the tag was in proximity. That was the hardest of his ideas to realize and why it would be the last to be worked on.

The first tag wasn’t difficult to make, sound was just vibrating air and air he knew well after studying it since he discovered his affinity was wind. As he was using his brush to write the final character on his last prototype of the second type of tags, he felt a change in his chakra he wasn’t responsible for. Immediately he let the brush go and released himself with a chakra spike from the genjutsu he had just been subjected to.

Once done, he pulled away from the coffee table with a backward jump and pulled a kunai out. His senses were on an all time high alert to try to locate his enemy or enemies.

“Not bad. The genjutsu didn’t even have time to take effect.” came a voice from behind him in the trees. On the spot, Riku jumped forward and spun in the air to face his opponents.

“Iruka said he was good. I guess his title of Rookie of the year is not just for show.” another voice answered the first.

“To be fair, I was so fast because your timing was awful.”  Riku explained.

“Oh Oh Oh. A wee little genin just dissed your competence in genjutsu, Izumo.”

A brown haired man, with a bandage crossing his face above his nose, appeared from behind a trunk and got down to the ground. He walked leisurely towards Riku and was soon followed by another, wearing a bandana style head protector and his right eye covered by his brown hair. Riku, still in a defensive stance, spoke up.

“Not really. I was referring to the lack of knowledge about fuinjutsu more than a lack of skill in genjutsu. When one writes a seal, they’re hyper aware of their chakra since they need to be focused on it to make sure the seal is not a failure. Casting a genjutsu at that particular moment is a sure way to fail 10 out of 10. Since no one but a seal master is insane enough to write a seal during a fight, that's a fact that isn’t well known.”

“And there aren't many seal masters around to begin with. Good to know though.” replied the one that Riku identified as Izumo.

Taking a few steps back, Riku sheathed his kunai back to his holster on his right leg and introduced himself.

“I suppose proper introductions are in order. My name is Warudo Riku, freshly minted genin. Please call me Riku.” he greeted with a short bow.

“Kamizuki Izumo, nice to meet you and Izumo is fine.” said the chunin that Riku rightly identified a few seconds ago.

“And I’m Hogane Kotetsu. Likewise, Kotetsu is fine.” The second chunin greeted then went straight. “Iruka cashed in the favor we owed him. Asked that we help you a bit.”

“Providing we find you good enough to use our time on you.” Izumo added.

“What’s the test then?” inquired Rick.

“First, an all out spar with one of us. If what we see is satisfying then we’ll see what to help you with.”

Riku nodded at that and went to seal his coffee table and his fuinjutsu tools, back into his book.

“A book? Why not a scroll?”

“Where did you find a book like that anyway?”

“A book gives access to seals faster and better and I made it myself.” Rick replied to the Chunin.

“May I take a look later?” asked Izumo.

Riku nodded and walked away a dozen feet from his two senpai. He didn’t know which would be his opponent so he was attentive as to which would move. He kept in mind the possibility that the spar would turn into a 2 vs 1. They were shinobi after all and shinobi don’t fight fair.

Kotetsu was the one who charged forward, kunai in one hand and a few shuriken in the other. He threw shuriken first and in two strides he was on Riku. The dirty blond immediately moved his feet the instant he saw the ninja stars leaving Kotetsu’s hands. Moving to position himself out of the path of the projectiles he began at the same time to weave hand seals for the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. This choice instead of the more familiar Gale Palm was to surprise his opponent. Iruka may have babbled and updated the chunin about his skills thus Riku chose a jutsu he was almost certain Kotetsu didn’t know he knew.

Another advantage was that unlike Gale Palm he didn’t need his hands to perform the jutsu. When his adversary came into striking range, a big burst of wind came from Riku’s mouth. With Kotetsu so close and the justu’s area of effect so wide, dodging was impossible. Being pushed backward a dozen feet, the chunin caught his bearing and landed on his feet and was dragged a few more paces. When he heard multiple ‘thud’ sounds coming from the ground he noticed three shuriken at his feet.

“MOVE!!”

Mentally about to ask himself how could the genin have missed his throw that badly, Riku’s yell put an end to any thought on the spot and his body reacted just in time. Just as the shuriken started to shine, he kawarimi with a log. In his new position, he heard, saw and felt three big explosions that would have probably severely injured him if he had been lucky. The total shock on his face had been interrupted when Riku suddenly appeared to his side out of nowhere and landed a palm strike right onto his left ear.

Reflexively he threw a kick to force Riku to retreat. It was a mistake however. The palm strike while not really painful had hit a point of the body important for balance.  Kotetsu’s kick was way off target and his entire body faltered, giving Riku a big opening.

Easily dodging the kick by crouching down, Riku went for another palm strike but this time to the knee of the leg supporting his opponent. With his other hand he threw two more kunais with tags on them, tracing a square pattern on the ground with the two others he had placed while he did the first palm strike.

When his left palm was about to reach the knee a kick from the side came into his peripheral vision. Clenching the muscles in his forearm to take the blow he was sent flying back half a dozen feet away. As he Looked up he made the Rat, Ox, Dog, hand seals and raised his head to watch the situation.

Kotestu was holding his left ear in his left hand while Izumo was in a defensive stance in front of him. Both were under a white squared barrier. The  new opponent used a kunai to test the chakra cage he was trapped in then sighed, seeing the results. Signaling to Riku that the test was over, the young genin deactivated the barrier.

“Is everything alright?” he asked as he walked forward.

“‘Is everything alright?’ he said. Got my ass handed to me by a fresh graduate but yeah everything is peachy.”

“To be fair, Kotetsu-san, you were not fighting me seriously. The fight would have gone way differently had you been.”

“True.” agreed Izumo.

The chunin sat down cross legged, followed by his friend, and signaled Riku to do the same. Once everyone was comfortable, he began giving the result of the evaluation but not without asking questions.

“Iruka informed us yesterday that you knew the Gale Palm.”

“That’s why I charged head on with a bit of a distraction. We wanted to see how proficient you were in it. Yet surprise, surprise you used another wind jutsu. Great Breakthrough?”

“Yes. I learned it yesterday morning from the library and practiced until noon.”

“That… was a good showing after only half a day of practice, kid.”

“Thank you. I believe it’s because wind is my affinity and I spent the last seven years practicing my chakra control tirelessly so I got the hang of it rather fast.”

“Why did you use this jutsu and not the Gale palm? Like Kotetsu said, it was a good showing but from what we understood you’re more familiar with the other.” inquired Izumo.

“I updated Iruka-sensei the day before with what I could do. That makes it a whole day to warn you about it so just in case I went with it. Even if it wasn’t perfect, Kotetsu-san was so close that it would have had an effect regardless. Also because Great Breakthrough, once the hand seals are done, do not require the use of my hands anymore. That allowed me to chain the jutsu with my explosive shuriken. That way I took advantage of Kotetsu-san's relative and fleeting weakness and didn’t break my offensive momentum, giving him no time to recover.”

Kotestu and Izumo looked at Riku for a moment, then at each other to have a silent conversation with their eyes then back to Riku.

“That was very clever. No. More than that, it was well thought out. Good tactic.”

“Excuuuuuuse me for a moment, Izumo but… Explosive shuriken? What the hell, you maniac!? Who does that?”

“I do!” Riku replied with a proud smile and a giggle. “Predictability is the death of a shinobi. When people think of explosive tags, they either have the image of the tag itself attached to a surface or a kunai. Nobody ever thinks about a shuriken.”

“Because shurikens spin and would cut the cord of the tag attached to it. Since there wasn’t any tag, I assume you use fuinjutsu?” wondered Izumo. He wanted confirmation because the concept was completely whack. Kunais were most of the time dodged whereas shurikens, because of how lightweight they were, were more often than not parried, or blocked when not dodged. An explosive shuriken would work wonders in surprising the enemy and injuring if not outright killing them.

“Yes. It’s a bit of work really. I have to first carve the seal on them then write the seal with my brush.” he replied as he picked two explosive shuriken from his right pouch and handed one each to the chunins. They looked closely at the projectiles from all angles and gave them back, Kotetsu letting out a whistle, clearly impressed.

“Okay, that explains it. We may want to make an order to you for a few but that’s a discussion for later.” Izumo announced then went back on track. “Now let’s talk about the second part of the fight. First off… How did you kawarimi right next to Kotetsu? There was nothing in this location for you to substitute with.”

“Wait, that was a kawarimi?!”

“It was. And there wasn’t nothing, there was plenty of air, Izumo-san.”

“...”

“...”

““WHAT?!””

“Yes?” asked Riku in confusion.

“You. Kawarimi. With air?!” nearly shouted Kotetsu, his mind completely blown by what he just heard.

“Yeah. The jutsu is about hurling yourself towards something while pulling that something towards you at very fast speed to make it look like you switch places instantly. Here the ‘something’ can be anything. A solid object, a liquid or a gas. Like air. It’s a bit difficult at first because air is invisible but if you train by using smoke or a visible gas, sooner or later you’d get the gist of it. It asks for a lot of focus though.”

““...””

“Okay, whatever… Definitely going to train for that later.” muttered Kotetsu.

It wasn’t low enough for Riku to not hear him however and he simply picked his journal of seals from his left pouch and opened it page 31. Activating the storage seal, a pack of thirty tags appeared.

“Here.” the dirty blonde said, handing the pack to the chunin. “The tags when activated release an inoffensive pink gas. Don’t breathe it though, you never know. Oh, and to activate it a simple ram seal is needed.”

Taking the tags and thanking him for them, Kotetsu let Izumo continue his review.

“You did two things when you arrived near Kotetsu, with your right hand you made a palm strike and with your left you threw two kunais. Let’s talk about the palm strike first. Why a palm strike? Why not a piercing shot with a kunai?”

“Because the palm strike was optimal and the use of a kunai wasn’t. In the unlikely chance that I’d surprise Kotetsu-san and hit him properly with a kunai that may have been lethal, if I just hurt him because he dodged, the wound would not have been much debilitating making my attempt useless. On the other hand, the palm strike hitting the ear would have disrupted his balance if it connected properly or if missed, would have shaken his brain a bit. Both were a better option and it was proven true when Kotetsu-san’s riposte was… er… not really precise and off target a lot. With his balance out of whack the amount of time and opportunities for me to pursue my assault was both greater and better. My second palm strike was aimed at the knee to dislocate it and practically win the exchange. You can walk out of a fight with a disabled arm but not a disabled leg.”

“Too true.” Kotetsu commented. “You really got me good. I’m still hearing a bit of whistling in my ear.”

“Sorry.” apologised Riku with a sheepish face.

“Meh it’s fine.”

“Now back to the kunais.” the other chunin inquired.

“I knew that my chances of defeating Kotetsu-san were very low from the start and basically zero if he got serious. Thus my objective was to win the fight quickly. The best method at my disposal was to trap him inside a barrier. Blows to the head are instinctively the focus of our mind when we’re attacked at this spot. Playing on the shock of the explosive shurikens and my sudden appearance by his side the focus was 100% on my right hand. Once misdirected, Kotetsu-san never noticed my left hand position in the first half of the barrier. When I went for his knee afterward he was already caught in my attack pattern. The first palm strike had hit hard and shot his balance, so Kotetsu-san was even more alert for a second strike instinctively not wanting a repeat.”

“Reinforcing my focus on your left hand and the misdirection, making even more sure that I wouldn’t pay your attention to your other hand who threw two more kunai and completed the square for the barrier.”

“Hmm.”

“The last question I have is, how did you react in time to my attack?” Izumo asked. That was actually the question he wanted to answer the most.

“Before Kotetsu-san walked forward to start the spar. I didn’t know who would be my opponent and I kept in mind that the possibility of you joining was there because Shinobi don’t fight fair. Hence I was always alert of any intervention from your part.”

Izumo nodded at that, a small smile on his lips. He looked at his friend next to him and got a nod. Turning back to Riku he gave him their verdict.

“Alright, kid. We’re satisfied.”

“Not gonna lie, that was damn impressive.” added Kotetsu.

“We’ll teach you the advanced basics skills for a shinobi. Trap making, trap detection, tracking, spying, everything you already think you know.”  “In other words, what you learned at the academy but on a higher level and we will let you get some real experience. Of course we will also teach you teamwork, that’s the most important thing in a team. More than any jutsu.”

“Speaking of jutsu, we will not teach you any. Maybe help with your taijutsu by sparring but otherwise you're on your own. However if you have any questions about the jutsus you’re practicing we will give you a few tips or advice if we can.”

“Thank you.” politely replied Riku with a short bow.

“Since there is no time like the present, let’s start with tree walking, unless you already know it?”

“I do. I’m currently on water walking. So far I can walk and jump but running is still a bit beyond my reach.”

“Then go practice until you get it down. Meanwhile, we’ll think of a training schedule for you. I’m not going to lie kid, most of the time we will give you instructions, make a demonstration and it will be up to you to work on your own. Missions and gate duty limit our free time a lot, so we can’t always be behind you or hold your hand.”

“I understand. Honestly it’s more than what I expected a day ago.”

With that, Riku got up and gave them another short bow, before he went to the river side of the training ground to practice what he had been told. As he did so, he never noticed the two chunins looking at him with seriousness in their eyes.

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?” Izumo asked his friend.

“That the jonins were high as hell when they declined to have him on their team?”

“Yes, but no.”

“That the kid will go far and if we help him properly we’d be praised for training him when the almighty jonins didn’t want him?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“...”

“We’re so going to rub their face about this.”

“You betcha your ass. Iruka really threw gold our way.”

And with those less than selfless ideas, both chunin began to plan Riku’s training.