[Hatake Suzume]

Shun was more than grateful to get a brief break from their training, which made Suzume glad that she had suggested in the first place. It was hard to remember how things had been back when she was an Academy Student, so it was good to see that she knew just how hard to push the younger shinobi. A half hour passed by in relative peace, with Shun doing some relaxing and stretches to recover her strength, while Suzume simply sat besides her, engaging in some light small talk. Eventually it was time to get back to it, and the Hatake quickly returned to her starting position, waiting for the young Nara to do the same.

"Ready to start up again? This time, I'm going to make it a bit more tricky..."

Once Shun verbally confirmed that she was ready, then the second stage of their training would begin, with Suzume opening up with an attack that was very similar to her last. Three kunai were extracted from her pouch and thrown towards Shun in quick succession, and with all the practice she had, it would no doubt be quite easy for her to evade them. That wasn't the only thing Suzume did however, once the last kunai left her hand, she took hold of her shorter tanto, Daitan-sa before closing the distance between the two, unsheathing her weapon with a fluid motion that displayed her years of practice. Once she was right up in Shun's face, Suzume let loose a powerful overhead slash, though fortunately for the young Nara, she didn't utilize the full extend of her speed. Instead, she made her movements incredibly overexaggerated and obvious, fully prepared to halt her attack if it seemed that she would actually harm the girl.

Nara Shun

[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

XI - I

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

Q U I C K  T H I N K I N G!

---

The first part of their training had been mentally exhausting. Shun didn’t think it was so hard to keep attention on the opponent. It was a lot to think about – and even at this stage she was only getting a simple training. A part of her was still stuck in the feeling. The feeling of adrenaline. The grey eyed Nara wasn’t in the business of seeking out thrills, even if her natural curiosity made it seem different. She had the Nara gene in that aspect and now understood how uncomfortable combat would make people feel. Her body would tense up and her core felt slow. On top of that, shinobi had to get over it and move quicker than usual in combat circumstances. It was something to admire – the skill to stay calm under life-or-death pressure. Shun would aspire to train herself more mentally.

”Ah! It’s time” She thought to herself while getting up together with Suzume. No matter that the first experience had been a bit challenging… Shun was quite excited. She could get closer and closer to becoming a real kunoichi. One day. One day, for sure, she would become strong and reliable – like Suzume in front of her. The thought made her hyped up to continue and a smirk played on her facial features.

”Understood. I’m ready.” The raven haired student said honestly while lowering into her knees a little and getting on lighter feet. She tried to also focus on relaxing her torso and her shoulders because she could feel tension pooling there before. The girl rolled her shoulders once while waiting for Suzume to advance.

Soon came a row of three kunai and Shun kicked off the grassy ground and hopped to her left to avoid the first one, twice back to let the second pass by in a different trajectory and, finally, to the right to avoid the third. Over the break, she had figured it’d be more useful to try and stay in the same region with projectiles to make the training a little harder on herself. A possibility to make bigger strides away would always be possible but she wanted to know what it’s like to try and stay her ground and not be moved around the field by thrown weapons – perhaps that would come in handy later in life.

”!” Suzume came at her in what seemed like just a couple seconds.

”So fast…” Yet her speed diminished as she reached Shun and the girl could tell her movements more. The young woman would take a big swing at her with one of her blades and this exaggerated movement made Shun’s eyes widen in initial surprise. The Nara didn’t think twice about it but dropped lower to the ground and kicked with her heel into the dirt hard to push herself back three times to create a distance between her and the chuunin. Her heart was still racing but she hadn’t blinked once – even if a part of her wanted to hesitate at first. To think Suzume would switch to close combat like that. It was scary but exciting. Shun knew she had already learned a lot. All she could do was keep working at it.

”Next time. I’ll be more prepared” she thought while quickly straightening up again.

---

Tag: Hatake Suzume
Shun: 496b36

[Hatake Suzume]

Once again, Shun proved that she was an incredibly capable academy student, evading the initial volley of kunai with relative ease, though it was clear that her abrupt transition to melee distance took the girl by surprise. Still, the young Nara managed to push herself back and away from the incoming tanto strike, earning her a quick flash of a smile from Suzume. A stoic expression hastily returned to the purple-haired woman's face though as her off-hand went right back to her pouch, extracting a pair of kunai and launching them one right after the other towards Shun's extremities. The speed at which she threw them was much greater than before, signalling that things were starting to get more serious.

Even before the second kunai left her hand, Suzume was closing the distance again, attempting to use the thrown projectiles to corral Shun towards her. Once she was back in close quarters, it was time for the tanto to come back into action, though this time Suzume decided to push Shun even further. Instead of a single, powerful slash, the Hatake went for two thrusts in quick succession instead, still keeping her movements and intent exaggerated, but far less than before. Even if Shun decided to back off from these attacks, Suzume would use her own footwork to ensure that she stayed close, encouraging the academy student to use lateral movements instead.

[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

XI - II

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

Q U I C K  T H I N K I N G!

---

While the smile was flattering, Shun didn’t really have the time to think about it. All her remaining will and attention, besides watching Suzume’s every move as if her life depended on it, was spent on telling herself to calm down. Her heart was pounding like a downpour on glass and She needed to continuously say the words ”Calm down.” in her thoughts to regain a foothold amidst the panic.

Her Hatake friend wasted no time to attack again and Shun’s brows knotted in a scowl. As she prepared to dodge and was trying to see a way to best dodge all of them. This time the Nara’s plan was to try and lean out of the way. She had read how much energy movements take and teachers always said to look for ways to save some, so… it made sense that smaller movements would take less energy. That would be the long-term goal. To build up the ability to dodge with small or "no bigger than necessary” movements.

However, Suzume charging at the student did startle her a little – she expected the attacks to come in turn. It was true that life wouldn’t give her many rules in battle but the girl got caught off guard for a few seconds and the last kunai cut the side of her shirt as she made a move too small. Thankfully, it looked to be just the shirt on the left side of her torso.

The raven haired girl kept her scowl and feared to blink. Her coal colored irises were tense and she kept trying to dodge whatever was coming at her. The purple haired chuunin was moving faster and Shun could feel the panic trying to pound its way back into her focus. Suddenly, her mouth was dry – or she just then noticed it was – but the girl would press through the discomfort. It was surprising how many distractions came in such situations. There must have been some way to zone in better on the task at hand.

All Shun could think of at the time was to flail to the sides for the jabs and try to move back. She avoided one of them in a clumsy move with her arms stretched up and bent her whole body in the form of a letter "c”. It looked comical, even. However, it was the best she could think of on short notice. The true horror followed when she realized Suzume is staying close to her.

”If she gets faster, I’ll be in trouble. This already took a lot of guessing. I must try to find a way to read her close combat movements better. I doubt they’ll be as huge forever.” The girl referred to the first close combat strike from the young woman. Thankfully, it had been easy to avoid because of the dramatic showing but Shun feared she wouldn’t be able to tell with subtle movements – especially since she would have to keep an eye on all of Suzume so close. The entire ninja was a weapon – not just the hands.

---

Tag: Hatake Suzume
Shun: 496b36

[Hatake Suzume]

The increase in difficulty wasn't lost on the younger shinobi as one of the kunai even managed to slice the side of her shirt, though no more. It certainly wasn't enough to warrant stopping their training, though Suzume kept that slight infraction in her mind as she continued with her melee assault. The young Nara just managed to avoid both of her stabs with hasty side movements, and the purple-haired chuunin could see some panic welling up in Shun's eyes as she didn't let her stray too far from her. Real fights and battles had ebbs and flows to them, and Suzume saw this as a perfect opportunity to insert a slight decline in intensity, especially since there had been such a close call just a moment before.

This decline came in the form of a change in styles, tanto deftly flipping in the Hatake's hand from a overhand grip to a reverse grip. The chuunin shifted her stance so her off-hand was held closer towards her opponent, and the reason why became clear just a moment later. Rather than attacking with her tanto, Suzume let loose a barrage of swift palm strikes and punches, each one aimed for Shun's upper body, with her tanto wielding hand aiding in the attack with simple punches. This gave the younger shinobi the opportunity to not only evade her attacks, but block them without fear of being cut, though she still needed to be careful when it came to the hand that still held a blade.

[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

XI - III

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

Q U I C K  T H I N K I N G!

---

"Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm..." Shun was trying to talk herself into looking at her situation without panic. A lot easier said than done.

Her heart was still beating like crazy but she could also feel herself getting used to the way it felt. Perhaps, one day, the girl would be able to keep calm despite the high-wire state her body was in? The mix of fear, mild excitement and pure adrenaline helped her hone in on the movements of her current opponent. Suzume’s slowing down was a good additive and the young aspiring ninja would begin to show signs of fluid movement.

”I think I can… I think I can see.”

Shun confirmed to herself as she would bob and weave through the barrage of attacks and even guard against a couple that came too close for comfort. She would push against Suzume’s hands to gain more of a push to avoid the next strike. The Hatake could notice that Shun only did this a few times and would try to avoid the attacks by evading alone. The girl worked hard to make herself move quicker and quicker. She was already learning how to read the movements and, in such a simple setting, would begin to predict where the already thrown strike would go so she could look out for a new one.

A small grin grew across the Nara’s lips. She was becoming a little arrogant, it seemed.

---

Tag: Hatake Suzume
Shun: 496b36

[Hatake Suzume]

The switch to blunt attacks rather than pokey ones definitely seemed to be welcomed by the younger shinobi, the reduced danger of Suzume's new assault giving Shun the confidence she needed to make decisive evasive maneuvers while still weaving in a few blocks and guards here and there. The small grin on Shun's face didn't go unnoticed though, bringing a small smile onto Suzume's face as well. It was rare for the woman to have as much fun training as she was at that moment, though she felt that the smile was a good indication of needing to restore the difficulty from before. In the midst of barrage of palm strikes and punches, the purple-haired shinobi seamlessly flipped her tanto around, once again holding it in a forward grip.

The chuunin was careful not to disrupt the rhythm of their little training session, essentially striking at the same speed and intervals as before, but now with a mixture of her blunt hand and stabs with her blade. The transition wasn't an obvious one, and there was the chance that if Shun wasn't staying vigilant, she'd get cut. But Suzume was confident that the academy student could handle the challenge, especially with the way they had been practicing up until this point.