Hana was startled awake by an unfamiliar feeling. In her dream she imagined stern yet pretty eyes staring at her. She sat in her bed and looked around. She sighed when her little apartment looked no different than before. She laid her head back down on her soft, blue pillow. She stared at her ceiling still feeling the feeling of being watched.

Chills went down her spine. Though the sun began to rise from her window. Hana looked at the shadow on her bed. It was the shadow of a human. Hana gasped and stood up, her kunai that she had hidden under her pillow was in her hand in a second. She kept her back to her front door and her eyes on the stranger. Though, with the sun behind the person she couldn't see who they were or what they looked like.

The window opened slightly and a woman's laugh entered the room. "You weren't fast enough Hana. We'll have to fix that. Anyway would you like to come with me on a little field trip?" Hana blinked before realizing that her busty figure could only belong to her sensei. She thought about it for a moment. Stay in the village and do stupid D-ranks, or go with her sensei and possibly go on better missions, and learn strong jutsu. It wasn't a hard choice.

"Of course! I'll be ready in ten minutes!"

~Later~

It was close to noon before they were finally out of the fire country. This was Hana's first time in the wind country. Though they had barely passed their borders. The journey had been slightly quiet. With Hana staring at everything wide eyed while Ayame walked slightly ahead. Hana would point out different plants or animals and ask Ayame what the name was.

Some Hana had only seen in books while others she hadn't recognized. Like about twenty minutes ago Hana had learned what an "armidillo" was. Or what a "roadrunner was". There were a few snakes like the cobra that they had stayed away from. Hana wasn't sure whether Ayame was annoyed by her questions or not. So she began to quiet herself down and try to act more mature.

They were walking through dry patches of land. Before they hit the desert the wind had flat plains of grass and tumbleweed would pass by every so often. It had a slight beauty though the fire country was much prettier to Hana. She began to wonder why Ayame had singled her out anyway. Sasori had a stronger clan. And Tenisei was stronger period. Hana thought of herself as weaker than the other two. Never even winning a spar before.

The day passed into night again as they camped out. It was relatively calm and Hana fell right to sleep. She had never felt more safe with anyone other than her sensei.

They continued on their walk. Their journey growing hotter the closer they got to their destination. They conversed about Kenjutsu mostly. Hana being very fascinated and wanting to learn the art soaked everything Ayame said like a sponge.

It was a little past noon when they reached the small hotel. It was slightly shabby but in this heat it was welcomed by the two travelers. Hana ran inside and sat by a small pool while Ayame paid for their room. For safety issues Ayame had decided that they share a room. Though they were stuck in the room for the entire night Hana had fallen asleep quickly hoping that the next day that Ayame would teach her jutsu.

~The next morning~

It was close to eight in the morning. A bit early for Hana to be awake but she was excited. She had worked up her courage to ask Ayame to teach her some jutsu today. But once awake and dressed Hana stared at the sleeping form on the other bed. She was gorgeous. Hana was slightly jealous of her good looks. Though that wasn't what stopped her. What would Ayame do to her if she woke her up from her beauty sleep?

It took Hana almost ten minutes to make up her mind. She nudged Ayame with her hand and pinched her cheeks lightly. "S-sensei? W-will you teach me some jutsu today? As a favor? Please sensei?" she begged. She tried her hardest to sound pitiful. Hoping Ayame would agree to her wishes.

The contents of any dream Ayame had been having throughout the night was completely unknown to her in any way. It was to the point to where the woman was starting to believe that she never even had a dream in the first place instead of simply forgetting it like an average person would. This theory proved to work out best for Ayame due to the fact that she felt like her mind, body and soul were all a bit too busy to work up some sort of dream for her to go through due to this unnatural feeling at the pit of her stomach ever since leaving the village hidden in the leaves.

Describing the feeling in such things as words while, at the same time, attempting to have it make sense, was a bit difficult for her because of the complexity of it all, it simply felt like something was out of place, she wasn’t exactly sure what or if something was even out of place but this feeling just left her so uneasy that it distracted her mind, even while she slept, the feeling made sure its presence was known within her mind while she slept, the only thing in her mind being the obvious question of what this feeling was. Should she be worried due to this feeling or is it all simply her imagination? One thing was for sure though; something just wasn’t sitting right with her.

Her deep contemplation within her slumbering state was shortened, however, by a familiarly soft sound making its way through Ayame’s eardrums then heading towards her thought process and the very strange feeling of something tightening down on her both her cheeks. Letting morning curiosity overwhelm her, Ayame didn’t bother moving at all while she slowly opened her eyes by about a couple inches or so, releasing her vision from the captivity of her eyelids, though her peripherals weren’t doing so well due to her eyes not being opened all the way.

Once she was able to let her vision adjust to the sunlight, Ayame was soon able to take notice of the relatively five and a half foot figure that was appearing not too far from her own face. Once her mind, body and vision finally started to adjust to this new world called reality, the sounds of her words were finally compatible to her thoughts and she was able to hear the request Hana was attempting to make, as hard as it was to truly understand her with the low volume she was speaking.
Once the request was at last made, Ayame didn’t move a muscle nor did she change her expression to the point of even opening her eyes slightly more than she had already; she simply laid there in her sleeping mat with her body underneath the sheets and her left arm somewhere close to her head as she contemplated Hana’s rather unorthodox tone of shyness which was slightly intriguing to her to say the least. It was as if she was actually trying to sound as pitiful as possible in order to get Ayame to feel some type of sympathy of something of that nature.

It would appear that Hana was somewhat intimidated by her, probably due to the obvious admiration that she simply did not seem to have to ability to hide from her eyes when she looked upon Ayame’s direction and thought of her so much as a superior that she was afraid to ask a simple question to get on with one of the main reasons that they were even on the road in the first place, to make her stronger. Ayame was going to have to help this young girl on how to be more assertive to even her superiors if she was going to be anything but just another shinobi from Konoha and the basic part of that training was going to start at this very moment.

While continuing to keep her exact position as well as facial expression the very same way it has been since she was woken up, Ayame raised her eyes just a bit so she would be staring directly in Hana’s as she spoke in a very low yet still a stern voice. “Is that truly how you would request someone to train you? How about a mission or better yet, a promotion? The first thing you need to know, Hana, is that if you don’t start demanding to be taken seriously, then no one will take you seriously, especially as a kunoichi in a world dominated by a majority of powerful male ninja. Not to say that you shouldn’t respect authority but what’s much more important than that is respecting yourself; if you truly want to become stronger then you need to show some real intensity. Now, request some training from me again without sounding so pitiful or else you’re simply wasting my time.”

Keeping that same slightly dull expression on her face, Ayame yawned a bit after finishing her peace and rolled over to the other side of her sleeping mat, turning her back towards the teenage kunoichi. In all honesty, Ayame would normally not respond to Hana in such a rude and even disrespectful manner, but she knew that if the girl didn’t have the drive that a shinobi should carry with them every day for various reasons, be it self-confidence, the protection of other, the protection of ones ambitions or even the protection one’s own self-admiration, then Ayame training her in any form would be more or less pointless for anything that she would teach her would be too weak without her own intensity to drive it. She hoped that Hana would get the message that Ayame was trying to convey to her in the way that she was attempting to push it because if she could, then that would mean that without even making it to the training fields, Hana would be on her path to gaining the strength she needed to make it in this world.

Hana listened to Ayame. She was quiet though she felt very stupid. She just didn't want to seem like an annoying kid to Ayame. Though she still came off as a child anyway it seemed. Ayame was right. Even though Hana had a lot of respect for the older Kunoichi she did need to act differently. If Hana wanted Ayame to respect her as well and to teach her like an adult Hana needed to change her attitude.

She needed to act like she was equal to Ayame. Maybe not in skill. But she still needed to change her behavior. She wanted to become strong. She was just wasting Ayame's time at the moment. Why had she acted that way? Hana's eyes narrowed a bit as she worked up her courage.

"Ayame sensei. Would you take me out today and teach me a few new jutsu? If not I'll just go by myself and train. Perhaps I can learn from scrolls. Though with your help I would probably learn faster and we could get back on our way to our destination," her voice was even. It wasn't the same as a few moments ago when she had begged. This time it was either help me or don't. I don't really care, attitude. Yet it was still respectful for Ayame as well. Not like a snot nosed brat.

Hana turned around and packed up her few items into her light blue backpack. Then she pulled her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face during training. She pulled her sandals on and then stood up with determination in her eyes. She was going to train all day today. Even if Ayame wasn't going to help her for her earlier behavior.

If she wasn't then she would just have to prove to her how badly she wanted to become stronger. She didn't even worry about putting makeup on today. It was just going to get smeared by sweat and working out anyway. Not to mention if they found an oasis she would probably jump into the cool water without a thought to get out of the heat.

Once Hana was completely ready she turned back to Ayame.

(lol sorry bad post. >.< I couldn't think of anything else because her next actions involved how Ayame would react.)

As she laid in her position with her back turned to her student, Ayame patiently waited for a more appropriate response to her desire for training than the one Hana had given to her not but a few seconds ago. For those next couple of seconds or so, Ayame would allow the information that she had just given her to sink in for a bit while she continued to contemplate on how she should react to her own odd feeling and attempt to quickly figure out what the roots of these feelings could possibly be, be it the love of and strive to protect Konoha or something else.

Her inner thoughts were again halted once Hana finally decided to ask Ayame again if she was willing to train, though this time in a less pathetic and more assertive manner. ‘Well, she’s not quite at that level of assertiveness but it’s definitely an improvement.’ Though her attempts to put on a “I’ll get stronger with or without you” persona was admirable to say the least, she was still giving off a somewhat dependent one at the same time by going from requesting training, claiming that she’d learn herself if she didn’t and then only subtly encouraging Ayame to teach the young kunoichi.

But even with all of that in mind, it was still a start so she figured she’d work with it for now and maybe when she’s older, stronger, and wiser, she could work on her personality her own way. She listeed quietly as Hana started to get her things ready, starting from packing up her things to putting her shoes on and tying her hair in place. During this time, Ayame started privately contemplating once again, but this time, she was attempting to come up with what she was going to be teaching her considering she had limited knowledge of Hana’s abilities.

Taking in account her lack of knowledge over her own student, Ayame slowly raised her position from laying down to her sides to sitting up. At this moment, Ayame was now sitting with her right knee up, her right elbow taking a rest on top of that knee, and the sheet that was previously covering her entire body except for the head had slipped off due to the laws of gravity and was now only covering everything from the waist down, revealing Ayame’s low cut orange tank top with a white outline. Even though she was just now in bed, Ayame seemed to be immune to “bed head” for her hair was still miraculously straight for unknown reasons.

Now that she was in a position that allowed her to get a better view of everything even though her eyes still weren’t completely open, she was able to get a better understanding of what Hana’s physical attributes would tell her. From the looks of her physique, Hana did appear to have some physical training, though not to the point to where it seemed taijutsu exclusive. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were also out of the question due to her experience of seeing Gennin be more so on the skinner side of things when they specialize in that department, her own former teammate being an example of that. She could only figure that she was a tool user then, whether it was pure weaponry, that puppet thing she’s encountered a few times before or any other variation was beyond the blonde Jounin, but she figured asking a simple question to help her figure it out wouldn’t hurt. “Hana…” Ayame started in a soft voice, though not really giving off a certain tone in it. “…exactly what do you plan on learning today?”

Hana turned to face Ayame at that question. Her very busticular chest was almost hanging out of her low cut orange shirt. Hana was glad that she was straight. And a female. Otherwise if she were into women she probably would have jumped Ayame right then and there. Hana wondered how many creeps Ayame had warded off in her lifetime.

Hana had to actually think about what she was going to train for. She could have used some more ninjutsu but she was fine with the arsenal she had at the moment. For now she had really wanted to learn Kenjutsu. She needed a sword yes, but she did have money saved up for such a luxury.

She had heard that other countries had carried much finer quality swords than Konoha. It was quite rare to see a leaf shinobi run around with a sword. It was much more common to see other ninja carrying around swords from other countries.

Though if Ayame wasn't going to teach her then she might as well work on some Taijutsu. Studying Taijutsu through scrolls was just as easy as studying ninjutsu from scrolls. It was much easier than learning other skills like weaponry and genjutsu from scrolls. Though having an instructor helped much more than any scroll could.

"I was thinking that if you weren't going to teach me, then I was going to work on Taijutsu. I need to add some to my arsenal. Rather than the basics I learned from the academy. If you WERE to help me with then I would ask you to teach me Kenjutsu. It's something I've wanted to learn for a long time. Though you may be the only person with Kenjutsu knowledge that I know, it should be easier to find a master in another country."

Hana was ready and looking at Ayame. For now she wanted to learn as much as possible. The Hokage was missing. Many of the jonin and chunin were on the search for him while most of the genin were left with extra guard duty and the duty to protect the village. Hana wanted to get stronger.

She didn't have much of a goal except for becoming respected and protecting her village. She also wanted to get to chunin. The reason for this was to be equal to Mitsu. The boy she had her eyes on at the moment. He was from her own clan. Though she knew he didn't take her seriously since he was older and a chunin already. She wanted to rank up quickly.

Not to mention there was Yori who had beaten her. She wanted a rematch with the boy. He was a strong Uchiha. Though their battle was close he was still much better than herself. Tenisei too. He was strong. Much stronger than herself. He was a jerk as well. She wanted to be able to beat him.

There were so many people she wanted to surpass. People she wanted to make jealous, to respect her, among other things. She wanted to impress her sensei and Mitsu. As well as other jonin like that Nasa woman. She also wanted to help bring the Hokage back. Wherever he was.

Once Hana gave her an answer to the previous question, Ayame simply sat in that same position for about a minute while staring directly into her eyes, perhaps only slightly shifting her position to feel a bit more comfortable but never really more than about a couple inches or somewhere along those lines. Even to this minute, her expression has had yet to change from the very first time she laid eyes on the girl earlier this morning, though it was only a minute or about five or so tops since she was woken up by the training hungry gennin.

This somewhat suspenseful moment of silence was created in order to allow Ayame to contemplate on a few things before responding to what Hana was saying. Earlier, Ayame had definitely noticed that Hana wasn’t the Taijutsu exclusive type, yet she mentioned learning more about it should Ayame decide not to train her, though this would prove to be quite a difficult feat at her level even if Ayame was training her, much less if she wasn’t supervising the young kunoichi’s actions to make sure that she was performing it right and not hurting herself like Ayame’s has seen multiple shinobi, especially of gennin level, do, including herself in the past decade or so.

Next up on the short mental list Ayame made up that consisted of words from Hana’s response for her to think about was the fact that she mentioned that if Ayame had decided on teaching her today, she’d train her in Kenjutsu. This is where things grow probably in a somewhat awkward stage for both kunoichi considering the fact that, despite growing up within a completely Kenjutsu based family, Ayame has somewhat abandoned a lot of the advanced stuff that were taught to her in replacement for learning more advanced forms of Taijutsu, only keeping some of the more basic teachings within her mind that was too easy to remember for Ayame to forget. This also brought on a conclusion that Hana was a weaponry specialist in the art of Kenjutsu so it would ironically appear that Hana would be better off if she was training.

Keeping this in mind, Ayame kept the awkwardness of this realization from showing within her expression as she finally responded to Hana’s desires without so much as really using words right away. Instead, Ayame set up to spread her arms on either side of her body in order to stretch both them and her spinal cord area before placing her palms on the floor and actually standing up, letting the sheets that were covering her lower body fall off of her completely to reveal the orange short shorts she wore to bed, something that she rarely let any person know she owned, much less wore.

Keeping the bored and slightly tired eyes that seemed to be plaguing her all morning, Ayame used to her palm to wipe the sleep from her right eye and yawned before scratching an area around her ribcage while she started to head on her way to the hotel bathroom. “Gimme about fifteen minutes and we should be getting started then.” Once she made it to the bathroom, Ayame closed the door and quickly undressed herself, eager get this shower going on for she hadn’t had a proper one in over a day. After she had moved the shower curtain back in order to hop inside and turn the water on, Ayame would get a hold of her self-washing equipment and started washing her body, using this five minute opportunity of solitude to once again carefully examine the strange alarming sense that she’s been feeling lately.

After she was finished with her showering, Ayame opened the door to the bathroom, a terrain of steam escaping from it to reveal herself with a towel wrapped around her body and her hair being in a more curly style than its usually straight one. Analyzing the contents of the room in search of something as she walked out, Ayame walked towards the small coffee tabled that wasn’t too far from her sleeping mat to find the dark grey bag that held the contents of her traveling equipment she carried along for the trip. Once she picked up the bag, Ayame simply walked back to the bathroom and closed the door in order for her to dress herself properly.

Now that she was completely dressed and ready to go, Ayame emerged from the bathroom aonce again after about ten minutes to reveal herself in a blue t-shirt beneath a white jacket that was only zipped up before it reached her chest for obvious reasons, brown shorts that halfway down to her knees while holding a ninja pouch bandaged to her right leg, a rectangular shaped choker with the strap perfectly wrapped around her neck and her dark grey backpack hung on her right shoulder, marking that even though she was about to start a young girl’s training, she always found it a habit to dress in nice attire. “Alright, let’s move.” With that statement, Ayame slipped on her own shoes and picked her sword up from its mounted position right next to the door before opening it and walking out of the hotel room and area, prompting Hana to follow her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Several minutes later, the duo of kunoichi was able to find a grassy plain that was perfectly set for training with several trees being within the area that would provide good shade in this country well known for being one of the hottest around. The aroma was also a nice thing to smell given the multiple flowers that was also in the area while the sunrise from the early morning was providing a beautiful scene for them to watch all at the same time, truly a remarking and comforting place for training.

After taking a much needed few seconds to take in all of this, Ayame began to set things up for Hana’s basic Kenjutsu training by walking her way over to the nearest full grown tree and dropping her bag on its trunk, letting it lean on it while unstrapped her sword from her back and turned over to Hana’s direction with the sheathed blade held tightly within her left hand, silently letting her know that her training was about to start immediately. “I’ll let you know now that in the past few years now, I haven’t trained too much in Kenjutsu formality nor technicality so there’s not many techniques that I can teach you, but I can give you the basics that you can eventually base your own style from.”

Letting that little introduction run through, Ayame started with the instructions to the first real level of their training. “Now, the first thing I’m going to show you is a little trick I learned when I was a kid called ‘Battou’.” Ayame would then proceed to place her right hand onto the handle of her sword, taking in a deep breath before continuing her actions. While it would still appear that Ayame was holding her handle, a branch that was formerly directly above her suddenly fell to the right side of her. The next image that would appear to the untrained eye was holding her unsheathed sword while trying to shake some of the splinters from her blade.

Once she had finally shaken the splinters from her blade, Ayame held the sword out in front of her with the blade in a horizontal direction and the sharp edge pointing to the ground. “Now, it’s your turn, Hana” and with that, Ayame suddenly raised her elbow and brought it down with her full weighted strength on the dull side of the blade, effectively breaking it in two. She would then drop the handle and shake her right hand before holding out her palm towards the broken sword and concentrated a bit.

The broken sword would then disappear from view and reappear in Ayame’s now enclosed right hand, reattached and good as new despite the fact that for the next minute, it’d be weakened to that of a C ranked weapon. “Hana Kuroda… meet Hana Keikoku.” Ayame would then sheath her blade before flipping the whole sword vertically so that she was now holding the tip of the blade and the handle would be facing the young gennin before tossing in her direction in a light manner so she could catch it. “My blade will be your blade for the remainder of your Kenjutsu training.”

Ayame would then continue on with the instructions of the technique she just now performed. “Now, the mechanics behind using Battou is simple once you get the hang of it. All you need to do is get a tight grip of the blade and flex the entirety of your arm and abdomen muscles, make sure you’re completely relaxed as well, then all you need to do after you’re completely prepared is unsheathe the blade as fast as you can, creating what’s called an after image in which you move so fast that most people would see the image of an action you performed earlier, completely masking your current movements.”

Jutsu Used:

Hana honestly wondered how Ayame kept her boobs from popping out of her clothes. Did she tape them? Or did she have a special bra? Or did they just magically stay in her clothes while showing half of her breasts yet protecting her nipples from falling out? Hana was sure she would never find out.

She waited patiently for the older woman to finish her daily routines. As she waited Hana wondered what they would be doing. Would she really teach her kenjutsu? Or would she teach her something else entirely?

Once she was done she came out in a towel. Hana sweatdropped slightly. Ayame made her way back into the bathroom to get dressed. And finally she came back after another ten minutes. Hana followed her out the door and outside the hotel.

Hana's heart started pounding immediately as Ayame brought out her sword. So the training would start now? She was excited. She knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park. But she was willing to do her best.

Hana listened to what Ayame said about her only remembering the basics of her kenjutsu. Hana was a bit disappointed about it. She had wanted to learn so much. But then she thought about it for a small while. She didn't want to copy the Akira style anyway. Or even Ayame's personal style. She wanted to use her own style anyway. Not just copy someone else.

As a someone who specialized in weaponry, Hana would create her own style. It wouldn't be too hard to create a style. Once Hana got the basics and studied other styles and practiced. Yes, she was sure she could do it. Now she needed to concentrate. To learn what Ayame could teach her.

Hana watched Ayame like a hawk. Nothing would escape her eyes. Or at least she thought nothing would. Though she had moved too fast for Hana to track. The younger kunoichi just couldn't keep up. She shook her head as Ayame shook the splinters off her sword.

Though what surprised her more than anything was watching Ayame BREAK HER OWN BLADE! Hana thought she was having a nightmare. Such a beautiful weapon being broken. By none other than it's owner. She cringed as if she heard the sword scream.

Hana then blinked as the sword reformed looking good as new. Then Ayame threw the blade to her. Hana barely caught it. Still in shock of such beautiful use of chakra. This was truly a beauty of having weaponry as a specialty.
"Eh? You mean I get to use such a beautiful weapon?" Hana asked in disbelief. The sword was heavier than she expected. She almost dropped it though she held it tightly in her grip.

Hana soaked up all the information that Ayame gave her about the technique. It was quite simple. Just pull the sword out. Though probably make sure not to pull it towards the sheathe too much or else it won't go as fast. Though she needed to have enough speed. This would be the challenge.

Hana decided to get a feel for the sword first. She unsheathed it normally and swung it back and forth until her arm was used to the weight. Her right arm was her dominant arm. It was the one she was using. Once Hana had gotten used to it, she re-sheathed the blade.

She then practiced slowly unsheathing the blade. She made sure her body was perfectly relaxed as she unsheathed over and over again. She needed practice. That was half of the technique. She kept pulling it out again and again. She went faster and faster each time as well.

She didn't want to cut herself so she held the sheath loosely until she was sure she had complete control over the blade. Then she began going even faster. She finally thought she had the right stance, muscle movement, and speed. She did her best and unsheathed it the same way Ayame had. Though unfortunately without the same results.

She was fast allright. But not fast enough. Hana began growing sweaty and her right arm began to grow slightly sore. Though she proceeded. She kept going slightly faster each time she unsheathed until finally hers matched Ayame's. It had been a while but she was sure she did it right. She blinked in disbelief and did it again. Then she turned to Ayame in triumph. "I did it!"

Growing a bit more daring and confident she walked closer to the tree. She picked out a branch and then cut it the same way Ayame did using Battou. The speed was perfect. Though her cut was slightly sloppy. Not as clean cut as Ayame. But it would do for now.

Once she had tossed her pupil her sword and given the instructions for the next jutsu , Ayame took it upon herself to get a bit closer to the shade of the tree before stretching her arms out while yawning, getting prepared to at least give herself some lay down time that she’s been deprived of since this morning. After she took it upon herself to lay down under the shade of the tree leaves and branches, Ayame was immediately able to find her comfort zone in a position where she simply laid on her right side and leaned her head on her hand, which was supported by her elbow on the grass. Keeping her eyes only half opened, Ayame watched as Hana continued on with her weaponry trials. Unconsciously nodding with every right maneuver Hana did, from feeling the handle, testing her grip on it and just getting used to the sword itself, Ayame simply kept a close eye on her every move.

Remember what her first level of training in this type of jutsu was when she was but a pre-teen, Ayame reminisced on the sessions she had with her grandfather, his completely unchanged neutral expression the entire time, giving Ayame no means to go by to tell if she was performing the action right or wrong except for the occasional and barely noticeable nods from the former ANBU captain. This level of training, at first, proved to be rather difficult for Ayame due to mainly relying on brute strength to fight, which was the main reason that her grandfather had assigned her this specific technique to learn in the first place, giving Ayame three days to master in its entirety; one of the absolute worst three day training sessions she’s ever had in her life, though she did eventually get the technique down and mastered by the third day once she was able to figure out the fluidity of movement from nothing but a simply glass of water.

That was a story for another time, however, as now was the time to monitor Hana’s training session, which actually seemed to make some nice progress. Though she has yet to actually try out the technique, Ayame did notice that she was starting to get the basics down packed in her head by simply feeling through the sword and getting some quick yet slow movements to get an even better feel of how the technique was supposed to be, as opposed to when Ayame first tried it, which she did by just swinging the sword as hard as she could over and over again, causing her to receive many cuts on her own body rather than even the dummies she was supposed to perform the technique on.

After a good few hours of sheathing, unsheathing, and all that jazz, Ayame started to raise her head from her hand and open her eyes a bit more as Hana sheathed the blade once again. Though Hana had unsheathed and re-sheathed the Ayame’s sword many times before, this particular time when she sheathed it gave off a certain message that she was ready to try the technique out for real by the way she stood once it was sheathed. This interested Ayame because she was now curious on how the technique was going to be performed after so many small sessions of feeling the blade out.

The very first time Hana tried the technique, Ayame’s eyes widened as she saw her movements. Though it wasn’t done to perfection like Hana was probably aiming for, it was done to such an extent on the first shot that far pass Ayame on the first day she tried it, something that rather impressed the older kunoichi so much, that it caused her to sit up from her current position and get into an Indian style of sitting as she watched Hana’s rapidly developing progress with a now rather neutral expression. It didn’t even take too long after this for her to get the technique just right as she nearly matched Ayame’s way of performing Battou.

Once she saw this movement, Ayame’s expression stayed the exact same way as Hana started walking in her direction, stopping not too far away from the Jounín as she performed the technique once again on one of the tree branches. Giving it a few split seconds to fall, Ayame moved only her right arm as she held it up with her palm out in order to catch the branch Hana just cut off and twirled it around in her hand before stopping it in a horizontal position so she could get a good look at the way the branch was cut. Smooth, a bit raggedy around the edges but smooth enough to make it buyable on the log distribution market.

Ayame closed her eyes and smirked a little bit as she tossed the log towards the right side of her. “You did very well, Hana. A lot better than I did when I was around your age.” Standing up from her position, Ayame brushed some grass off of her before she continued to speak. “Alright, let’s get moving. It’s time to get you your own sword now.” Ayame would then nonchalantly walk towards the direction that would let them exit the field they were in so that they would be able to head back to the small town they had just come from in order to find a blacksmith shop. Once Ayame had turned her back towards Hana, she would probably notice that by the, Hana Keikoku was back in its original place that was a strap to Ayame’s back and not in her hands.
-----------------
Once they had made it back to the town, Ayame instinctively led the duo of kunoichi as they walked through the town. Ignoring the many glances, particularly towards her chest area, and subtle remarks by many of the males in the town, Ayame would eventually see a sign that stated “Blacksmith” on it that she had caught a glimpse of the first time they found their way in the town, though she was never able to get a clean look inside.

Ayame would then prompt Hana to follow her as she walked towards the door and gently pulled it open, causing a bell that was attached to the door to ring, indicating a new customer. The store looked rather nice and organized, having signs for each type of warrior and weapon category such as samurai – sword/armor, knights – lances/light swords/heavy armor and more importantly, shinobi – kunai/shuriken/ninjato/etc. Quickly leading Hana to the samurais’ sword section, Ayame noticed that they had quite an array of swords there, from cheap and chipped swords to expensive and exotic ones. Ayame simply looked towards Hana as she spoke. “Pick a sword, no matter the price, pick any sword you want.”

Jutsu Used:

Hana grew a huge grin with Ayame's praise. Her eyes shone like that of a bright star. Her grin was as wide as a cheshire cat's. Her body language was like that of a puppy. If she had a tail it would have been wagging vigorously.

She did better than Ayame did when she was younger? Hana thought that she was pretty average. Or even less than average. Even at the academy she had to practice harder than the others to get things right. She even had to study harder. Did that mean she was really good with the sword? Her heart sped up quickly. Almost like a bullet shot out of a handgun.

"Thanks!" she told the other woman. Her idol was praising her and she loved every minute of it. Though that wasn't the only good thing happening. No, Hana was going to get a sword! She almost died of pure happiness. Her OWN sword! Her very OWN! It would he HERS. She could say "This is MY sword." Oh yes, she loved the sound of that.

Hana began to follow the older woman. Though gasped when the sword left her hands and disappeared. It reappeared back on the Jonin's back. She loved Ayame's sword and hoped to get her own that would be just as amazing. She was sure she was going to love the thing.

~~~~~~~~~
Hana's heart began beating faster with each step as they caught sight of the blacksmith's shop. She wondered what sword she would get. She didn't have much money. But any sword would do for now. As long as she was able to use it in battle. Though she had heard of certain swords that had special abilities. She hoped to get one of those.

They stepped into the shop and a bell over the door rang. The smell was of metal and smoke. Most likely from the back of the shop where they would be working on making the swords with fire from the oven's. She could hear pounding of metal clanking against metal.

The man at the counter was old. Most likely the father of the owner or the owner himself. He smiled at both of them. Ayame told Hana she could get whatever sword she wanted. The price didn't matter. Though Hana wasn't about to buy one of the more expensive swords. Like a gold hilted one she was looking at. No she was going to get a moderately priced one. Even if Ayame WAS rich. She didn't want to use her like that. She had done enough just teaching her.


"Every sword has a story," the old man explained. "Some are new, some are old, some were even taken off of dead bodies back in the wars. I know all the stories of these swords. I'll be sure to give you the story of your own once you pick her out," he told Hana wisely.

She looked around. Walking past many swords. There were a few that seemed interesting. Like the one with a scratch mark on the side. Or the reversed bladed one. Or even the one with two blades attached to one handle. But only one sword caught her eye.

It was a normal sized katana. The handle and the sheath were a dark blue. Almost like ice. She pulled the sword down from the stand it was sitting on and unsheathed it. It was lighter than Ayame's and it was slightly shorter. It fit with Hana's body size easier and it would be easier to use in battle. But after a moment her fingers started to tingle.

She stared at the blade. She knew this one had to be hers. She looked at the price tag and let out a groan. It was more money than she thought it would be. She really didn't want Ayame to pay it but she didn't want to not get the sword either. With her body tensed and feeling slightly guilty the girl sheathed the sword and put it on the counter.

The man stared at the sword for a moment. Then let out a barking laugh. "Haha! I was wondering when someone would buy you Hiken! Such a wonderful sword. Especially for one such as you young lady. Hiken is a relatively young sword. She's only had one owner. Her owner before her was a weaponry specialist for Sunagakure. This was his first blade. He became the strongest swordsman from the wind country."

Hana smiled and waited for Ayame to pay for the beauty. She touched the sheath with love. "I'm glad. This will be my first sword as well. I hope she leads me to become great. Thank you very much Ayame-sensei."

As Hana started to look around for her perfect weapon, Ayame stayed in her standing position a not too far from the shelves , tapping her fingers on the wooden counter that was right next to her and relatively around half of her own size while keeping her other hand right at home within the pocket of her shorts, keeping her body leaned towards the small counter as she continued to wait while Hana converse with the other older man about getting the best sword that she would be able to work with during the rest of their training and the rest of Hana’s own kunoichi career until she was able to get a better one in the future.

Taking somewhat of an advantage to Hana’s semi trancelike state though as she awed at the blades weapons placed before her, Ayame decided to stray away from the girl, knowing full well that she was probably too distracted to even notice the missing blonde kunoichi in the first place, should Ayame decide to make a temporary escape towards her own valley of interests while Hana carefully selected suitable a weapon for future use. She would only be gone for about a minute or two anyways, it’s not like she was ready to leave her in the store by herself or anything like that.

Keeping that in mind, Ayame made sure to keep herself as quiet as she could possibly be without any outside source to help her out as she slowly slid from her position on the counter and just simply stroll her way over to the ninja section, where they had a multitude of shinobi equipment there that ranged from shuriken to sickle blades. These weapons were seemingly on the verge of being on the elite status due to how amazingly customizable they were. Chakra infused shuriken seemed to be on their popular list though as it would appear that they had quite a few of those, approximately thirty different products or so to be a bit more specific.

This different selection of custom shuriken intrigued Ayame, but what set off her level of curiosity was the materials they had within the store. Taking a look into the material subsection of the ninja section, Ayame was able to spot twenty seven different types of material that ranged from the cheap copper type to the truly expensive diamond style materials, perfect for any aspiring blacksmith to make his very own completely customized weapon. Taking into account, that Ayame was attempting to learn a bit about blacksmith in order to make some potential weapons for her clan, Ayame looked through several of the more expensive materials and picked the best five in her head before taking a hold of them and looking around for a cashier of some sort.

Seeing that Hana was still busy with her sword choosing, Ayame simply walked over to the cash register somewhere around the other side of the store. Noticing that no one was visible to her yet she could have sworn that she was hearing snoring somewhere behind the counter, Ayame knocked on the register slightly to be greeted by the sound of someone knocking their head and then the face of a middle aged man that she could only assume was the cash register. “Yeah, I’d like to buy these weaponry materials.” Ayame pulled the material tubes out onto the counter to show him while his eyes widened a bit, already knowing an estimate of what the price would be. “Are you sure, maim. This is quite expensive stuff here.” Ayame simply smiled as she leaned on the counter. “I’m sure I have the money for it.” Shrugging at this, the man simply rang the items up before announcing the price of the products, to which Ayame simply pulled out her wallet that was giving to her by her boss summon, Gamakichi, which was in the shape of a green frog, and paid the price in cash, much to the cashiers surprise.

After the items were bagged and tagged, Ayame swung the plastic bag over her shoulders as she took her time to sneak back over to her previous position right next to Hana as she seemed to have picked out her desired sword. Taking a look at the sword Hana wanted, Ayame took a mental note on its visual beauty and obvious history behind it. After the man would inform her of the price, Ayame would go back to her pocket with her free hand and pull out her wallet, to which was called “Gama” and pull out more than enough money to pay for the sword.

Ayame would then walk towards the direction of the entrance, allowing Hana to take her new sword and follow her. Before she made it to the front door, the old man called out to her. “Wait, miss, your change.” Ayame would simply respond with a smile as she raised her hand and shook her head. “Keep it.” With that, she would push the door open, the store bell making its usual sound as a man with some sort of red coat and the hood completely covering his face walked right pass her while she bumped into his shoulder a bit. “Oh, sorry man.” The man didn’t respond though and simply continued to walk into the store and go on with his business. ‘Well, rude much.’ Ayame didn’t really let it get to her too much as she continued to walk away from the store.

-------------------------
After both her and Hana went walking towards the west for about ten minutes or so until they were in a more secluded area, Ayame abruptly stopped, standing in the same direction for a few seconds before turning towards a direction in which she’d be facing Hana, an unreadable look of seriousness in her face. “Alright, Hana, I want you to use Battou on me right now.” Knowing that this random and sudden request would probably be a bit surprising to her student, Ayame gave it a second to register in her mind before she continued.

“I want you to move the fastest you can possibly can and try your best to hit me with your sword. Where you attack is completely up to you, just attack me and do it quick. I’m your sensei, right? Then you should do what I tell you.” Whether or not Hana wanted to attack her, Ayame was completely serious… and she was not taking no for an answer. Although Hana might be wondering exactly why Ayame was giving her this order, there was a significant purpose behind this that she wanted to show her, but she waited until Hana would finally comply with it.

Hana gasped as the older woman asked her to us it on her. Use Battou on Ayame? How could she? She wasn't overly amazing or anything but she could leave a scar, make her bleed to death, or even kill her if she wasn't careful. Hana pannicked though Ayame went on.

Why did she want this? Was Ayame crazy? Did she just bring Hana out in the middle of nowhere and train her in a technique just for the girl to help her commit suicide?! No that wasn't it. Hana shook her head. No, Ayame wanted her to do this for some reason. It probably had to do with the training.

She warred with herself for a few more minutes. Her thoughts raced a mile a minute. Everything was going so fast. Ayame's face was completely serious. Like the time she had seen her on the mission they went on. She had no idea what to do. She couldn't just aim for an arm either. She was sure if she failed whatever test Ayame was giving her that she would fail it if she aimed for something like an arm.

No she had to aim right for Ayame's chest. Was she going to do it? She had to. She just trusted in Ayame to either dodge or to do whatever she was going to do. She trusted the older woman more than she did any other adult. She needed to give her, her trust now.

Hana took her stance. She tied the new weapon to her left hip and got into position. She let out a slow breath and then closed her eyes. When she opened them she aimed for her chest and quickly pulled her sword out. The way she had with Ayame's sword.

Hana's sword wasn't as finely made. And it probably needed to be oiled. It was probably a point second slower than when Hana used Ayame's sword. Or it would have been if it had been as heavy as Ayame's. Hiken was extremely light and flexible. It was perfect for this attack. Hana almost smiled as she pulled the sword out and the sword quickly came at Ayame.

Ayame’s hands made their way to both sides of her waist as she waited for Hana to physically prepare herself to attack her, as well as mentally. Ayame was truly hoping that Hana would be able to handle this kind of order. The reason for that is not just the fact that Ayame had ordered it in the first place, but that Hana’s obvious cowardice towards harming her teacher was something expressing that she was the kind of emotional type that couldn’t even think of harming the ones they cared about. Though this insinuated that she was a loyal and generally good person at heart, this could be a characteristic that might possibly get her killed in battle. She was going to have to learn, by the time she makes Chuunin rank, that she needed to be able to throw away her emotions at relatively any given point if forced to.

Once she had finally mustered up the mental energy she needed to utilize the technique Ayame had recently taught her on Ayame herself, the older kunoichi smiled a little bit, though she tried not to make it too obvious considering the seriousness of the current situation, considerably happy that Hana was ready to get serious now. Ayame watched her student’s form closely as she took on her Battou stance; at least her stance was done properly. Watching Hana prepare herself physically and mentally at the same, Ayame started to cross her arms right below her chest, waiting for the exact right time to come. When Hana opened her eyes, Ayame could see the determination in her eyes marking that she was finally completely ready to perform the attack on her, making Ayame unconsciously nod as she stared into those same eyes of Hana’s.

Hana would then tighten her grip on the brand new weapon that she had just recently received. Just then, the very same split second that Hana drew just an inch of her blade, Ayame utilized all of her speed in order to quickly grab the handle of her sword and aim her fist and handle directly at Hana’s handle, putting just enough pressure on it so that, not only would her blade be forced back into its sheath, but her own strength compared to Ayame’s would prevent her from drawing her blade any longer. Utilizing the Battou technique at a speed and fluency that nearly reached at Ayame’s weighted peak, she would make the image appear in Hana’s eyes that she had drew her blade and actually hit the mark she had been aiming for, only for a second or two before reality would show her the actual events, this was the true definition of an afterimage that almost made it resemble a Genjutsu in some fashion: showing her opponent(s) an image that turns out to be false.

The most interesting thing about Ayame’s movements, though, was the way she directed her blade as she blocked Ayame’s weapon. Ayame’s blade was in a horizontal position, with Hana’s handle being contacted by Ayame’s own handle, in a direction that was the same as Hana herself. The meant that the blade of Hana Keikoku was just inches in front of Hana’s midsection in a slanted position that made of purpose so as not to actually cut her but if she chose to, she would be able to cut the young kunoichi in half.

Ayame’s eyes stared directly into that of Hana’s as this motion was complete, no emotion to her eyes or anything, just determination that resembled the eye of the tiger. After letting a couple dozen seconds or so of silence pass by, Ayame finally verbally responded to her own actions in a rather cold voice. “Congratulations… you just lost half of her body.” Ayame then withdrew her blade from Hana’s handle and waist while she started her lecture. “Your movements are still too slow or rather, just not fluid enough. When you draw your blade, you relay so completely on her physical speed that you don’t flow with the currents of your sheath and blade, but instead, try to fight against and overpower it. This causing a conflict that does in fact give you speed, but greatly limits it to the point of where a more fluid opponent could easily slip past your movements, possibly being the result of your death.”

With that speech placed within the ears of Hana, Ayame threw her sword in the air. “Just remember that your sword is not just a tool to use, it’s your partner in battle, so as such, you should work with it and not just use it or else your disharmony will cause you both to fall…” Given that the sword that was just thrown in the air was now coming down in a position where the blade was pointed directly towards the back of Ayame’s head. The kunoichi tilted her head and body just a little bit to the side so that it would perfectly slide down the sheath she had on her back. “Just like it would if you had a shinobi partner. If you need a little help on that, just think about the properties of water, shapeless yet flows so nicely with just about anything. It is very rare for something to block water because it doesn’t work against it, it simply flows right through it with no hindrance towards its speed whatsoever, so just be like the properties of water and you’ll be fine.”

With that in mind, Ayame stretched her arms backwards before intertwining her hands at the back of her head, leaning it towards them walking past Hana as she headed towards where their hotel was located. “Well, now that that’s over with, I guess we should head back over to our hotel room and prepare to head back to Konoha…” ‘… I’m still getting this weird feeling that something’s just not right over there, it’s been gnawing at me for far too long now and I think it’s finally time for me to find out what is going on once and for all.’

Hana pulled the blade out of her sheath and tried to cut Ayame. Though the blade didn't hit. It looked as if she hadn't touched Ayame and the kunoichi had just stood there. That is until a second or so later Hana looked down to see that Ayame had kept her hand on her handle and the blade was facing Hana's stomach.

Hana gasped as she noticed this. She had honestly thought she had cut Ayame. She hadn't seen this attack. She tried to work out how this happened in her head but Ayame began to speak. The younger kunoichi felt both awed an shameful. She hadnt' done what Ayame had told her to do. Though after a few more moments of thought Hana came to the conclusions that this was just another lesson though. So she didn't feel as bad.

Hana nodded as the older woman spoke. She needed more practice with battou. She had a light and flexible sword. Which most likely would make it easier for Hana to do as Ayame explained. She also watched in awe at how the jonin caught her sword in her sheathe. She wanted to become one with her own weapon. To know where her partner was and to never be parted with Hiken.

The young kunoichi stood there in thought as Ayame began to walk away. Her eyes grew more determination as she grinned. As soon as they got back to konoha she would make sure to become much stronger. She had many lessons on this short break. Now she needed to put them to use and to use these lessons to become stronger.

Hana began to run. She ran right past Ayame with a determined grin and a skip in her step. "Wahoo! Come on sensei! Let's head home! I want to practice even more now!" she yelled as she rushed towards the hotel to grab her things and set off with Ayame back to the fire country.

(Topic complete)

[Topic Completed]-Archived