Ch.3 What it takes to Survive

Ch.3 What it takes to Survive.

         The Third stood on the water, his hand at the hair on his chin, “You need to concentrate your chakra more efficiently than the others to accomplish the same. Try again by loading an amount of charka and delivering the right amount as you go.”
         The child swam to the shore and focused his chakra again to his feet. “Hokage-sama? Why are you teaching me this stuff? I’m not in the academy yet and none of the other kids know how to tree climb.” He took a few wobbling steps before he again fell below again. “Why have these seals if you want me to use my chakra? I could do this if I could use more.”
         “Well, I had to limit your chakra a great deal so that you could become stronger when you become a ninja. You need to learn to use up all of your chakra daily in order to stay healthy.”
         “I need to use my chakra to be healthy?” The boy looked at the water before trying again. A leaf fell over his reflection and floated on the small waves. “Hay sensei! I know how to do this.” He ran over to his pile of clothes and took his green shirt to the water’s edge. With shirt in hand, he focused his energy to his feet and shirt. Very gently, he laid his shirt on the water and slowly stepped onto the center. After a few shaky moments, the boy managed to stand straight over the water. “This is easy. I told you I could do this.”
         The Third chuckled softly before commenting, “You increased the surface area and the amount of chakra you could feed into the water at once. People call me the Professor, but I can still be surprised by a novice. Maybe you should try...”
         The boy’s eyes suddenly rolled up into his head, and he almost fell through the water before the Third dashed in to catch him. Saddened, the old man signed, “I’m sorry, I can only show you the way,” before carrying him back to the village.
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         Matsu passed through the wire linked barbed wire fence’s gate, ignoring a large sign declaring no trespassing. He followed a narrow dirt trail worn between five foot thick trees. The forest widened to a roughly diamond shaped clearing with a centered lake bordered by a few uneven meters of sandy shores. Matsu stayed by the protective trees and surveyed the clearing. Satisfied that no one was going to jump out and attack him, Matsu walked over to the edge of the pond and looked into the water, considering his mud covered reflection in the water. He performed a tiger seal and watched as the splattered mud rose from his clothes and peeled away.
         He turned to the small entrance of the clearing when he heard a twig snap. Keiji came stumbling out from under the shelter of the trees, soon followed by Michiko who simply jumped among the low hanging branches. “Hay! What time do you have? I think my watch is dying.” Matsu was about to walk over and greet them except for Natsu’s sudden appearance behind him and the blow to the head. The sneak attack met no resistance as Natsu’s closed fist sunk into the trainee’s earth clone. From across the field, Keiji wasted no time in sending a ball of fire at the clone and his immobilized sensei. Natsu lifted the clone to shield his body from the blaze. As the scorched ground around him smoldered from the blast, he dropped the burning husk and drew a kunai from his flak jacket.
         “Weak. A real attack would have gone through that defense.” Natsu watch as Michiko ran towards him, making a left handed seal to focus chakra, and brandishing a thick metal suburito from the sac strung on her back. In mid-step, Michiko suddenly crossed the distance in a blur to swing her steel practice sword in a downward slash. Surprised, Natsu moved to block the blow with his drawn kunai and shove her back a step. He watched as she again focused chakra to her feet and saw that she moved her entire body across the level ground without changing her footing or shifting her weight. She flashed behind him, her sword drawn back for a powerful blow to Natsu’s kidney. He spun, dodging the swing of the heavy weapon and missed kicking the trainee before she faded back around again.
         As Natsu and Michiko continued to clash their weapons, Keiji flipped his pressure tank from his shoulder to land heavily on the ground. His left palm rested against the rounded base as he aimed with his right hand on the release valve. “Michiko, get out of the way!” Michiko saw Keiji rather than heard his yell before she finished her combo by aiming a swing at sensei’s legs, forcing him to make a small hop as she flashed out of the way. Keiji opened the valve full as Natsu landed on the ground. “How’s this for weak!” A narrow jet of super boiling water shot out as condensed steam. Natsu quickly turned, allowing his flak jacket to absorb the hot impact that tossed him far into the center of the lake.
         Natsu soon resurface by using his chakra to stand on the water. Matsu finally emerged out of the scorched soil. Finding his target, He jumped to the edge of the lake and formed a hand sign. A torrent of hard packed mud from his mouth soon formed a boulder that climbed two stories and solidified into tough clay. Matsu jumped onto the wall and finished his latest jutsu. “Earth Dragon Missile!” A fully formed earth dragon’s head emerged from the wall and opened its mouth wide. A barrage of compact clay bullets flew from the dragon’s mouth in rapid succession, directed at the lone figure on the lake.
         Natsu tore off the remains of his steam blasted jacket before drawing out a kunai in each hand. He cart wheeled sideways, his kunai deflecting incoming pellets, and zigzagged across the water to avoid the torrent of earth. When Natsu neared the shore, Michiko leaped onto the water, propelled along on twin jets of water with her suburito skimming the foam crest of waves. The volley of stones stopped when Michiko started circling Natsu in small elliptical arcs, swinging her blunt edge against any openings. Instead of blocking her attacks, Natsu dived straight down into the water and disappeared.
         Matsu shouted over his shoulder, “Keiji! It’s your turn. He’s in the water.” Keiji dash to the watery edge and dived in. Within the dark depths, Keiji placed a small rebreather to his lips and swam down. Natsu stood on the bottom of the lake, his hands bluring together. Keiji returned to the surface and pointed to an area above Natsu. Matsu saw the signal and jumped, far over the spot and brought his hands together, spiting another spout of clumped earth to drop into the water. Below, Natsu focused his jutsu to his interlocked hands and jabbed them upward like a spear. A gust of conjured wind pushed the water into a foaming pillar, forcing the fast sinking earth to the side and forming a huge water spout that knocked all three trainees closer to the shores.
         Matsu landed on the sand, whipping the moister from his face. He pulled the left side of his wet jacket open to reveal a square seal. Pressing his right hand against it, he produced a forearm wide shuriken from a cloud of smoke. A bandage extended to the shuriken’s center ring, and he started to swing the iron star over his head. When Natsu emerged from the water for a deep lungful of air, Matsu flung the weapon with the cloth trailing behind. When Natsu used a burst of chakra through his feet to hop over the projectile, but the cloth shot up and wrapped around his leg. Matsu grounded himself against the remains of his wall and forcibly swung his sensei and shuriken up into the air.
         Natsu swung the highest in the sky when the cloth yanked him earthward. Something flashed as he neared the ground. Natsu struck the earth wall with terrible force, cracking it down the middle. Both Michiko and Keiji recovered from the water in time to form a triangle with Matsu around the remains of the mound. All three stood panting as they waited. After Matsu retracted the medium shuriken and rewound the rest of the cloth, he leaped to the top and found a perfectly round tunnel with serrations leading a long way down.
         In the dark depths, a sudden flash of red light preceded a tumult of fire as Matsu back flipped off the edge of the fast baking clay. As the hell fire subsided, Keiji dug in the bag at his side and tossed a chakra sealed bomb into the blasted opening, causing a small thud underground. Michiko looked at the two boys and called over, “Do you think we went too far?”
         Before Keiji or Matsu could respond, Nasty burst out of the lake and threw a kunai at each student. Keiji ducked under his kunai, Michiko deflected her kunai, and Matsu was caught in the center of his back. He stood there a half second before the illusion faded to reveal a loose shell of cloth and bandages. A bandage partially unwrapped and removed the kunai, whipping it back at sensei. Natsu moved to catch the returning blade until a half dozen more appeared in the air around it. Natsu grabbed the leading Kunai and whirled it by the ring to deflect the following shadow kunai. One passed his guard and missed to his neck.
         The figure of cloth tossed the medium shrunken to Michiko; she shifted her Suburito to her left hand and caught the shuriken by the center with her right hand. She wrapped her fingers along the inside and focused her chakra to spin the four blades in a humming disc. Dashing forward towards sensei as the shadow kunai puffed into smoke, her Suburito connected with a clash against Natsu’s dual kunai. Natsu pulled his roll of steel wire out but subtly kept it at his side out of sight. When the spinning edges came in under his defending guard, the wire flashed from behind his leg, slicing the blade into a dozen of metal.
         Matsu said calmly from behind his sensei, “Sensei. I paid good money for that.” Natsi’s eyes widened as bandages erupted from the ground and entwined around his legs and waist. Both trainees jumped back from their tangled sensei. Keiji formed a few seals and blew through of his cupped hands, releasing a hissing cloud of boiling steam that engulfed Natsu. The vaporized water dispersed, and cleanly severed bandages fell scattered to the ground.
         “Shabby, the three of you have a lot to learn about survival. First off, never show all your tricks,” Natsu spoke from the near edge of the clearing, clapping sarcastically.
         Matsu, Michiko, and Keiji turned around and raised their weapons, ready to defend themselves. Natsu almost smirked. “Well, I suppose you all pass.”
         The three stared at Natsu in bewilderment before he continued, “Don’t look at me like that. The Fifth told me that I had to accept you three if you ever worked together effectively as a team. By some small chance, you fulfilled that meager requirement. That means I’m stuck as your captain until you quit or die. Believe me; it’s out of my hands. So, for pissing me off, I’m going to push you three harder then you can imagine. Show up tomorrow morning at the team register for your first mission.”
         The newly accepted Genins stood where they were for two stunned seconds. Michiko smiled broadly and laughed in relief. Keiji stood there grinning without the words to express his joy. Natsu shrugged and turned around to walk away under the trees, limping slightly from his pulled left knee. Matsu walked over to the lake shore where a mess of his bandages lay discarded. He bent down and examined a shard of his shrunken. The sliced edges gleamed smooth without a mark or grove. “How do I defend against something like that?”
...............
         The three genins walked in single file back to the village through the dirt path. Keiji ducked under a tree branch before speaking back at those following him, “Hay Matsu, where did you learn those earth techniques?” He had to look forward again to duck under the branches.
         Matsu kept pace at the back of the line with considerably less trouble dodging the tree limbs. “I’ve been training all week to learn those earth techniques. I even have some I didn’t use.”
         Keiji tripped on a root and cursed before answering, “I’m the one who hasn’t shown all of my tricks. I haven’t even begun to show you what I can do with my steam jutsus.” Keiji finally came out into the open and could turn to face the emerging Matsu. “Maybe we should find out which of us have the most tricks left, right here and now.”
         Michiko saw what he said and hurriedly tried to calm things, “Wait Keiji, why don’t we all just go celebrate together. You know what sensei said. We’re all genins, and we did it together.”
         Matsu watched Keiji closely as he said, “That was only because sensei’s ridiculously stronger than any one of us. Just like I am to you.” He smirked as Keiji clenched his fist.
         “Say that again.” Keiji crouched, unhooking the tank from his back.
         “Make me.” A meter of bandage unwound from each of Matsu’s wrist.
         Michiko flashed in between them and raised her monotone voice, “Stop it you guys; how about we just go to eat somewhere as a team or something. We are a team, right?”
         Both boys started to protest but their stomachs rumbled in unison, causing an awkward silence. Michiko filled the gap unimpeded by what she could not hear, “You two are impossible. We barely become genins and you two want to fight. I’m going to get some ramen, come when you two grow up.” She stomped through the fence gate and off towards the village. Keiji and Matsu looked at each other embarrassed.
         “You want to get some ramen?”
         “Yeah, I’m starving”
         “I heard.”
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         “So Keiji kept hiding in that same spot and complained we were cheating when we found him there every single game we played. Then he started throwing rocks at the first person who found him, so nobody would come and find him. After that, we just left him hiding.” Matsu told Michiko before taking a deep drink of soda.
         “I was behind that dumpster for four hours. It was dark when I got home. My parents grounded me for a week. What about you? You kept running away in the middle of games, leaving your side shorthanded.” Keiji retorted from across Michiko, slurping up some more of his noodles.
         “Would you two stop it already?” Michiko scolded as she turned to face one and then the other.
         Matsu looked at his watch before telling his two comrades, “Sorry, I have to leave. All that fighting was draining.”
         Keiji looked up at Matsu as he stood up to leave, “We’re still not done yet. After some missions, we’ll see which of us is stronger.”
         Matsu stopped at the threshold and smiled back at him, “I look forward to it,” before exiting the restaurant.
         Michiko put down her chopsticks and followed him under the awning.
         From behind the row of empty ramen bowls, the old man wiping a glass spoke over to his remaining customer. “Hay, Kid. Are you paying for those who left?”
         
……………
          Matsu jogged to the Hokage building and entered a side entrance. Along the hallway, he passed into a large round chamber with a pair of shallow pools containing a small variety of large fish and a collection of books and scrolls along the walls. A Kunoichi with a forehead protector tied over her pink hair stood next to a square stone podium as she directed medical chakra into a cod fish spread across a heavily written scroll.
         Matsu walked over to a shelf, picked up a jar, and sat down crossed legged next to one of the pools. The layers of bandages started unraveling from his arms, neck, and chest before falling into a small bundle on the floor at his side. As his bruised skin met the air, he placed his opposing hand over the blemishes. Matsu concentrated his small amount of medical skill towards healing the worst areas and clearing the complexion.
         The girl practicing on the fish lowered her hands and signed wearily before picking up the fish and turning around. She made a small sound of surprise when she saw Matsu at the pool’s edge. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.” She took a few steps closer to gently drop the suffocating fish into the pond. She saw some of the burned skin he still had around his wrists. “Where did you get those injuries? They look old.”
         Matsu looked up from his work and responded, “I get these after a while. I come here whenever the itching becomes unbearable. I can heal scratches and stuff, but anything deeper than these and I have to find someone else.” He returned his attention back to healing his shoulders.
         “How long does it take for you to bruise up like that?” Matsu purposely kept his eyes down as he shrugged in answer. He finished with most of his upper body and proceeded to unwrap the cloth from his hands, revealing continues layer of scabs that ran from his wrist to each fingernail. He unscrewed his jar of ointment and started to spread it over his hands before directing his chakra to close the open sores.
         The female ninja leaned closer to examine the scaring left after the pustules had mended over older and fainter marks. “How did you get these?”
         Matsu looked up at her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Training.”
         She stared at him as Matsu recovered his bandages and walked out of the room, leaving the jar of ointment on the shelf with a couple dozen similar containers. When he had left, Sakura looked down at her clenched fist and muttered, “So that’s the kind of training they are going through. I have to do more to catch up.” She opened her hands and crouched down to catch another fish to train on.
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