A Regretful Panopoly of Work

[Joker]

Being in a new country brought with it a number of opportunities, even if he was on edge regarding his mission. He was completely unaware, a contact that would see him later, which meant that he would have to pretend to be part of the citizenship. Really, that was rather annoying all things considered, but it was in these covert actions that ninja lived.

That is until they met a sensor.

So that left him with an awful lot of time to just work on himself. To train functionally, this was a country famed for their swordsman, and this meant he had a variety of potential opponents to match his skills against. But that had gotten dry rather soon; he wasn’t necessarily allowed within the dojos that existed at this place, so he was stuck swinging a pair of swords that were his own. He had made them with his Kokouton, the steel-like katana of light stood in his heads, hardened, strengthened, and properly sorted in this very moment; he felt like he could use it to slice through heaven itself.

He got into a stance that he had begun to associate with the Zantou, he had studied it on a whim; and got lost in it for the long term. He could feel his leg slide forward, he raised one of his swords high up in the air, with the end facing downwards, the other was low towards the ground with its tip facing towards the sky.

It was the basic stance, it was what was required; but it was nothing without the shout, he called it up from the pit of his stomach, and shouted towards the air. Kiai was what it was called, common in many sword styles, but this one here had it as necessary.

He lowered core, his knees dropped a bit; he waved his hands around slowly; his eyes fixated on the tree in front of him before he exploded into motion, his strength loaded to the greatest of extents as his muscles rippled underneath his shirt, he swung, and it cleanly sliced through the tree in front of him.

Yet it seemed that his prior Kiai had garnered a small audience.

”I wonder what that poor tree did to you?” He heard a voice say behind him, it was one he wasn’t acquainted with.

Raizou turned around, his eyes locked onto the large man that stood behind him. Even through the yukata he wore, one could see just how muscular this person was. It was all strength, or at least that was the kind of impression it gave. Raizou was pretty strong himself, he’d trained himself at least this much but he wasn’t sure he’d ever have a physique like that one.

”It was looking at me wrong.” Raizou said with a smirk; the way the man’s hand rested on his sword was rather interesting, a singular sword so it wasn’t the same as his Zantou.

”Hm…I can’t say I approve. But do as you will, but I think you’ll find there’s better opponents out there.” He said as he lowered his stance. ”Loumen Souji.” The man now known as Souji finally introduced himself.

”What? I happen to be training and a guy just shows up? Whatever, I’m Raizou, Miren Raizou.” He said as he leaned forward, both blades in hand now. It was a good opportunity to test out his swordplay, but it was oddly convenient.

”A man is practicing swordplay a stone’s throw from a dojo, and you don’t think those who’ve dedicated their life to the blade, won’t challenge him?” Souji answered just as quickly, it would be a moment through which things would be decided, that was the idea.

”Fair…Enough.” So he got into a stance, one of his blades was faced towards the floor, the other towards the sky; his eyes sharpened themselves, and held themselves on that man’s sword.

If he had to take a guess…

A flash, that was the only true way to describe the slash that headed towards his head; if he wasn’t in this stance already, if he didn’t know the range, he would have had his head on the floor, but as it stood; he could barely just parry it over his head, his hood was forcefully drawn back by the sheer force it.

It was like a gust blowing in his face, it blew anything that wasn’t rooted down in their immediate surroundings away.

There was no doubt, this man was physically stronger than himself. Raizou was strong, enough so he could throw hands with a Jounin if they were talking just strength alone. This man surpassed even that in strength.

”Shi-” It was resheathed in that moment, it was Iai just as he had expected, the foreknowledge was the only reason he was going to walk aw-

”Who said you’d walk away?” Souji smirked in that moment before the man dashed forward, it was a trio slashes; quick draws that made use of his starting stance to deliver even quicker techniques.

It was like the man was reading his thoughts, everytime Raizou went to strike it was blocked; one of his blades found itself caught in the scabbard, closed. But in that moment he turned on the spot, spun his grip, and with a back-ended grip pulled his sword free to make a cut on his opponent who backed away with little problem.

It was a subtle step, the entire style seemed to be so relaxed. Raizou had trained his efficiency, but it was world’s away from the man across from him, multiple slashes grazed his face; he could feel the burning sensation from split skin; they were mere knicks but they served as examples.

He couldn’t even swear as he would have wished too, it was wasted breath, wasted time, wasted effort. He blocked another strike that seemed to sing for his throat, but in that moment he locked his blade with the back of his opponent’s and used the other to step within the man’s range, slashing downwards with a sliding step.

Souji stepped sidewards, free’d his blade, Raizou dashed forward; using one blade for defence, but the attack never came.

It was a moment of silence, before Raizou could feel six powerful blows; two impacted against his swords throwing them away from his grip, the rest slashes at his clothes, and nicked at his skin; it was a burning pain but it was also a blessing.

It told him one thing, that this person could defeat him at any point he wanted, with ease that he was unaccustomed to. It was a necessary reminder regardless, Raizou knew that much as he fell back onto his behind. ”Ah…You destroyed me.” He said as he leaned back, wincing just a little. It was a shame he had no experience in medical jutsu, this could have been significantly more comfortable to bare with.

”I didn’t do much of anything, you’re simply using a style just as you’ve seen it. You’ve neither adapted it for your body, nor have you looked at how you can make it your own.” It wasn’t said as an insult, but rather with expressive disappointment. A scoff followed that immediately after. ”Honestly, stick to the air. A tree need not die for improvement at your level.”

”Hahaha…I can’t really complain about that one.” It was true after all, so he sat down and considered just what he could do. Just as he was going to ask a question, he could hear the sounds of geta impacting off the dirt, a man walking away. A shame, a warrior like that would have allowed him to improve by leaps and bounds.

”Not much else I can do here…” He spoke as he got up, and picked up his twin katana. They weren’t really his swords either, impermanent constructs of light metal. They lacked weight, or momentum; even the balancing was a little bit off.

He swung it forward through the air, and watched it slice at nothing. It was empty; it was hollow; but it was certainly a start.

”Two swords are rather awkward, just what the hell do I plan to do if I have to fight with a bow? Or with a kunai?” Or with his bare fists, he needed something that he could make use of regardless of what was in his hands, and for that he would have to dip his toes in a number of arts.

”I’ll think about a name some other time I guess.”

[Joker]

He liked this place, Heart Empire or whatever they called themselves. It was a fascinating state, with a fascinating state of affairs…All things above his pay grade, whether Fire country considered them dangerous, or rather better to put it, whether they had the room to consider them a threat, was the question. It was becoming more and more obvious that the scars of the war were rather deep, deeper than anyone had expected.

So in that moment, Raizou had no choice but to work on himself, another war would eventually come…But that wasn’t really why he was here. He still had to wait for that undercover ninja to give him an undercover mission. So Kouji was trying to ingrain himself on the local dojo for another day. It was one that specialized in Iaido, some might well have considered it the nation art of this nation, and people studied it with that level of zeal.

It was natural, Kouji sat there and observed it, it was a style that was exceptionally quick. It was efficient, it was fast, and it struck from an angle most people didn’t want to look at. The arc of the blade was the trickiest, humans had the instinct to look at a person’s hands, and the arc that a draw followed took advantage of that. It concealed the blade itself until the moment that it struck; which made it awfully dangerous to one not accustomed to it.

That was the first thing Raizou realized after days of observation. He practiced Zantou, so he knew about swordplay to an extent. He was seeking out his own style, but there needed to be something that combined his various forms of combat into a singular, solid, practice that suited him perfectly.

”Are you going to watch forever?” He heard the man beside him speak. Souji, the warrior who had fought him before. Raizou hadn’t made any particular progress since the last time the two of them fought, but he was certainly interested in giving battling another shot. ”Are you offering to be my sparring partner again?” He said as he turned to his right, a slight, subtle smirk danced at his lips.

”You will not grow if you learn to love the taste of defeat. One of her beginners will suffice.”

Raizou frowned, what was the point in fighting some kid? He would never be able to gain anything from that, but he stood up anyway and began to channel his chakra before he found a stick of bamboo hit in him the back of the head. ”No, you’ll use one of our wooden swords.” He said as he was handed a Bokken.

A singular one.

”Pleasure to train with you.” The one before him was a young boy, perhaps the age expected of a genin, just before the cusp of puberty. Raizou bowed before he bounced on his feet, he could feel the energy well up within him. He held his sword in front of him, whereas the boy before him held a single hand on the hilt of his sword.

”I guess I’ll start us off.” The point of this was to sharpen his technique, not just beat down a kid because he had grown stronger. He slammed his sword down; he followed the movements as his sword was rebuffed with a quick draw, but what he hadn’t expected was for the arc of the blade to flip on a dime, he saw it heading towards his neck.

He had almost tried to rebuff it with a sword that didn’t exist, but instead dodged; it was a sharp one. He could hear how it sliced through the air even though it had simply been wood. Raizou stepped back, recomposed his stance. Zantou needed two swords; but he only had one in his head, so he would have to adapt.

He knew the principle behind Iaido, but his body didn’t know the movements. But he widened out his legs, placed the bokuto by his side, and pretended to prepare for a draw. It was covered by his body; he needed to drive it up from his very ankles if he sought to recreate it.

”Turn your heel inwards, you’re gonna need to drive forward.” He heard Souji instruct beside him, Raizou did as instructed. He would take whatever was given to him, whatever wisdom someone had for him, so that he could improve even more. He needed to become the strongest version of himself.

The boy before him nodded, before the two of them faced off in identical stances. Kouji was the first to explode forward, a slash aimed for his opponent’s head, but the child before him had moved as fast. Common sense would dictate that it was Kouji’s sword that cut through the air first, but that wasn’t the case at all.

It wasn’t a matter of speed, they were evenly matched in that. It was a matter of bodily efficiency. How one moved their muscles, rotated their waists, pushed off the floor, and the arc that the sword travelled. Kouji found himself at a loss at the sword stopped an inch before his throat, his own a half foot away from his opponent instead.

”Getting beaten by a child. How sad. You should reconsider ever picking up a sword if this is the best that you can do.”

Raizou couldn’t talk back, he needed to look just where it was he had gone wrong. As he returned to his initial stance, he held his hand on the hilt of his sword, and looked at his opponent. He tried to recall just what it was that was done, what those who were more experienced had done.

Primarily, what he had seen this entire week. It wasn’t like he had to conjure up the technique from nothing, he knew it; he simply needed to drive it into his very bones. He pulled in a deep breath, his chest pumped up, his mind focused itself down. His focus settled down to a singular individual point on his opponent.

Nothing else was needed. He just needed to strike at his opponent, and Raizou settled his mind to do just that. He took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then gripped the blade so hard that it had almost cracked; he could feel the wood splinters entering his hand, but it didn’t matter.

His foot touched the ground, slid forward and it cracked beneath him just as well. The air in his lungs built up, the pressure increased, and was released into a singular Kiai. The shout was loud enough to stop all activity in this room for a moment, then he slid forward.

He didn’t know what his opponent was doing, but the moment he saw a twitch he exploded forward, his sword exploded out of the imaginary sheath he had formed in his mind, the wooden sword arced a brown crescent moon through the air; but it wasn’t stopped by choice but rather by Souji’ clasped between two hands; it was forcefully stopped.

”We try not to kill our opponent’s during a spar.” But there was a smirk on the man’s face. ”My apologies. Sorry about that kid, I got too into that one.” Kouji turned to the kid in question who pouted.

”My name is Kouji…Not Kid. I won the first two, so this one doesn’t count!” He said before he ran off, leaving Raizou there alone with who he could only presume to be the child’s father. Leaving him with a raised eyebrow but nothing else.

What a dedication to the art. To even sell your child to a single minded obsession was something that Raizou could understand, he was from a shinobi clan afterall, there was once an era where children died, and bled for the name of their family. In comparison to that, this was absolutely nothing.

”I’ll work on it later. I need to grasp that feeling again.” It felt good, but he needed to redo these movements until his muscles could recall it with the slightest of effort, so that he could get stronger and stronger every time.

”Repeat it once more. I’ll watch over you.” Souji said as he crossed his arms, Raizou had no choice but to do as he was instructed. This was an opportunity, one that he didn’t want to forsake by saying something dumb, or putting his foot in his mouth.

So he got back into the same stance; forgetting the pain in his hand, he began once more. To strive towards a stronger future.

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