[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

"Well, you could always go get your sensei,” Daichi said, turning the question over in his mind. "Depends on the bully, depends on the sensei. A lot of bullies keep doing what they do because they think you’re not gonna stand up for yourself, and being brave enough to kick ‘em in the shins is sometimes all you need to handle the situation. Sometimes you fight back, and that makes the bully even more angry, so they pick on you more. I think it never hurts to let your sensei know what’s going on, and if it doesn’t stop, you can fight back.” He’d never forgive himself if Tota got detention over this, but—honestly, some people only understood the language of fists. Nothing to be done but translate for them. Tota through one of the shuriken, and it hit the target; a bit high, but that was fine. "Nice!” Daichi said approvingly. "Keep going, do your best.” At this stage, precise aim was less important than consistency; even if he wasn’t getting a bulls-eye every time, so to speak, if his groupings were tight then his aim could be adjusted. If his shuriken were flying all over the dummy, though, and not on purpose, then that was a separate issue—it meant there was a more fundamental problem with his technique. Daichi had to see to be sure.

Tota -- 227

LAIKA OF THQ

[Tota]

LITTLE TOTA

Tota looked at his new friends strong face and smiled in return to their advice. "I'll try. If it gets worse, I guess I'll talk to Asuka-sensei. I really don't know though. Won't that make it worse? They'll call me a snitch and other names. Asuka is a great sensei, but I just don't think it'll make things better" Tota said, his hesitancy permeating through his voice. He wasn't quite sure how he'd confront the situation. However he did know he wasn't ready to fight the much more skilled academy student. "There's no way I could fight him. His too strong" Tota exclaimed.

His persona quickly shifted however as they both focused back onto Tota's training, sending him into a fit of excitement. He reached for another shuriken, holding it exactly as he did before. "Watch this!" Tota exclaimed. He swung his hand forward, releasing the weapon with a similar technique he learnt at the stream earlier. The shuriken had much spin on it as it flew toward the wooden dummy. To his dismay, the weapon begun to curve through the air, sending it too high and missing its target entirely. "I guess the last one was beginner's luck" The boy said defeatingly. "Any advice?" He added.

NOTES:
E-Rank Training [2/6]

WORDCOUNT:
207

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Daichi listened carefully to Tota lay out his dilemma, and found himself at something of a loss. The kid wasn’t wrong, was the thing. Snitches get stitches and all that, and if he wasn’t confident in his ability to fight his bully, then he’d definitely lose. He didn’t want to say that, but he also wasn’t sure what to say, so instead Daichi just gave a thoughtful nod. "Let me think about it,” Daichi told the kid. "Let’s focus on training for now, and when we’re done, I might have some ideas for you.” Buy himself time to think, but be transparent about it; Tota would know if he was lying, he thought. Kids always seemed to know. This time when Tota threw the shuriken, he flicked his wrist hard like he had with the skipping stone, and the projectile spun wildly high off its trajectory. "Well, think about it,” Daichi said. "What did you do differently between the last throw and this one? Did you throw it harder, aim differently, was there something in your wrist? It looked to me like you flicked your wrist pretty hard, like skipping stones, but you know what your body was doing better than I do. And—here, you can watch me.” Daichi was hardly a bukijutsu expert, but he knew how to throw shuriken and kunai well enough to demonstrate for a student, at least. He pulled out three of his own shuriken and slid along to a target dummy two down from Tota’s, careful to keep a distance, and making sure that his technique was textbook-precise, right down to the placement of his feet and the angle of his elbows. One, two, three, he threw each in rapid succession, each one hitting center mass in a fairly tight grouping. Less tight than it used to be, though. Oof. He needed to train with weapons more. "Okay,” he said, going up to retrieve his shuriken. "Now try again.”

Tota -- 329

LAIKA OF THQ

[Tota]

LITTLE TOTA

Tota was appreciative of Daichi's words; their promise of a solution to his recent bully troubles made him grateful to have someone new he could open up to. But first the young boy would have to finish his training, and spectacularly none the less.

He still slumped in defeat at his most recent fail to hit the target, however upon hearing the more experienced shinobi's advice, Tota begun meditating with a little bit of introspection. As Daichi started his demonstration, the child's eyes fixated on everything; from their grip, their arm angle and even how they released it. Apparently the art of shuriken throwing had little in common with skipping stones; although Tota could see some similarities

When Daichi completed his show of skill, Tota eagerly took the shuriken from their hand. He took a moment to stare at the throwing weapon. Gazing at it, triggered a sudden jolt in his mind, memories back to his original bukijutsu class; the one where he failed to successful hit the target, just as he did before. However in that moment he promised to himself, during tomorrow's class he'd show his sensei what he had learnt today. Remembering what he had been taught in class and the actions observered from Daichi, Tota stretched his index finger and thumb between the each side of the shuriken. Once he was sure to have a good handle on it, Tota lifted his hand to show the Jounin his grip. "Is this how you did it?" The boy asked genuinely.

NOTES:
E-Rank Training [3/6]

WORDCOUNT:
253

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Maybe it was just the fragile mood that Tota was in, but he seemed to be getting discouraged really easily—Daichi just wanted the kid to have one win for the day, if nothing else. If they kept practicing, he was sure Tota would get the hang of it. Daichi never thought he’d be a very good teacher—and this experience wasn’t really convincing him otherwise—but it was nice to think that he could do something to make Tota’s day better. He spent so much time following the kid around, waiting for him to snap into some secret Sharingan mode that they could utilize for the village’s benefit, it was… well, it was nicer than he’d have thought, spending time with Tota one-on-one. He was a Kiri kid, even if he hadn’t been born here, and Daichi wanted to look after him. When Tota held the shuriken up, Daichi walked over to examine his grip. He held a shuriken up himself, his knuckles curving and his grip tightening automatically through years of hard-earned muscle memory. He looked from his own grip to Tota’s, and very gently made a tiny, minor edit to the kid’s finger positioning. "There you go,” Daichi said, satisfied. "Now, foot stance like this…” Again he took up that textbook-accurate stance, a closer demonstration for Tota to examine and copy. "And that should be it. Remember, the trajectory follows your wrist, right? Keep your wrist straight, it flies straight. Give it another shot.”

Tota -- 246

LAIKA OF THQ

[Tota]

LITTLE TOTA

Tota's fingers shook as he held onto the shuriken for an extended period. His small hand wasn't use to being splade so wide across the width of the throwing weapon for such a length of time. Even so, he focused heavily on steadying his hand as the older shinobi held their own shuriken up. It was clear to an observant Tota that there were very few similarities between the two's finger positions. He watched carefully to move his fingers to mimic Daichi, even so he struggled.

When Daichi reached down to Tota's grip, the boy loosened it, letting the much more experienced jounin move his little fingers into the correct position. He smiled at his teacher as they continued to help. Once Tota felt Daichi move their hand away, Tota looked down to his hand, studying the grip and positioning Daichi had helped him form. "Thank-you" the boy exclaimed.

As Daichi continued on with their lesson, showing Tota the stance his feet should be in, the eager academy student shadowed them. "I think I'm ready" Tota yelled as he set his arm behind his torso.

He listened to Daichi's last bit of advice before lunging his arm forward, and with it the side of his body. Once his finger was in line with the target, he let go and watched as the projectile flew in the air. Tota's eyes widened as he eagerly awaited the weapon to meet its mark. With a hard thump, the weapon hit the target, closer to the bullseye then his first attempt. "Yes! I did it!" He cheered.

NOTES:
E-Rank Training [4/6]

WORDCOUNT:
263

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Tota’s smaller fingers were struggling to hold the shuriken correctly, which gave Daichi warm flashbacks to his own training in Hoka no Mura—his mom showing him how to hold a kunai, the chuunin stationed at the village’s gates entertaining his questions about chakra control, endless days running laps around his dad’s farm with huge sacks of flour hoisted on his back. Meeting the Pathfinder, activating his jaakugan for the first time—it all felt like a lifetime ago, though really he hadn’t been much younger than Tota was now. A bit of effort, though, and Tota got his hand position and stance right. Daichi backed away once Tota had it under control, and watched carefully as the boy carefully lined up his shot, and let the shuriken fly. "Great work!” Daichi said, grinning at the kid. Still not a perfect bullseye, but definitely a strong improvement—a surge of pride welled in his chest. "That was awesome. Your aim was a little off, still, but that’s okay—do exactly what you just did, but try changing your angle so that it hits closer to the center of the target. Your stance was perfect, but you might need to move your arm a little more to the side, or release the shuriken a little bit later, so that it flies in a different arc. That make sense?”

Tota -- 223

LAIKA OF THQ

[Tota]

LITTLE TOTA

Listening to Daichi's validation, Tota couldn't contain his excitement any longer. Energised by his recent success, his deamour perked up and let a new found wave of motivation flood through him. He gave Daichi a quick nod before raising his arm, and forming a tight fist. "Okay, Daichi-sama! I will do my best!" Tota exclaimed to his helpful superior.

Tota quickly grabbed another shuriken and place his fingers in the same positioning as his previous throw. He took a moment to make sure they were in the correct place, before looking up at his target. Preparing himself, Tota shifted his feet wide apart and splade out his arm to the side. Feeling confident, the young boy grinned for a moment as he steadied himself and his mind.

With a deep inhale, Tota threw his arm forward at speed and only letting go of the throwing weapon once his hand pointed exactly at its target. As the shuriken left his fingertips, Tota exhaled just as deep as his previous inhale. 'This is it' Tota thought, watching the shuriken cut through the air toward the dummy.

The shuriken flew quickly, and spun to make a clear audible noise as it approached the wooden target. In no time a heavy thud could be heard; the sound of metal hitting hard wood. Tota looked at the metal dug deep into the dummy to see he had successfully managed to strike the bullseye. "YES!" Tota yelled as he jumped and jeered.

NOTES:
E-Rank Training [5/6]

WORDCOUNT:
246

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Daichi-sama. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he had to struggle to hold back a sudden surge of emotion that made the slightest hint of tears well up in his eyes. No one had ever referred to him as -sama before, and hearing it spoken so earnestly by this kid was like a very sweet punch to the gut. The improvement in the boy’s confidence just in their brief interaction was also heartwarming—he’d had a terrible day, that much was clear, and it was fulfilling to think that Daichi had helped make a difference in turning it around. His assignment had been clear: keep his distance and stay observant. But surely, in the future, he could be even more observant if he mentored the kid? Assuming his stance with much more self-assuredness this time, Tota threw his shuriken once again… It cut cleanly through the air, and hit the dummy. Tota went wild with joy, jumping and cheering his victory. "Fantastic,” Daichi said, clapping his hands together. "That was perfect, Tota. Now, I know you got this—just do that again. Here—” He jogged over, retrieving the shuriken, and passed three of them back to Tota. "Quick, simple, don’t think too hard about it. Do what you just did, three in a row. It's great that you got it—now the trick is to be able to do it again, and consistently. You got this.”

Tota -- 233

LAIKA OF THQ

[Tota]

LITTLE TOTA

Tota calmed down from his energetic high with a deep sigh; his breath visible with vapour from the cool air of sunset rolling in. The boy rubbed sweat off his brow as he relaxed for a moment. Just in the time he spent of training his throwing skills, Tota had begun working up a sweat. But all in all, the usaged of calories was showing a decent pay off, especially because of his new mentors guidance.

Again he stared wide-eyed at Daichi as they man spoke with a deep voice, congratulating the boy for his accuracy. Tota rubbed his hair back and forth, with a massive grin screwn across his face. "Thanks! Thanks! One more try?" He questioned with a crackle of his voice. 

Tota watched Daichi run toward the training target with his grin still painted on his face. He was more than excited to show off again. As the chuunin returned with three metal stars,  handing them off to the jittery boy and said to quickly throw them without thinking, Tota obliged. 

With a hastily draw and throw Tota flung the first shuriken, then the next and the next. In quick succession each piece of sharpened metal flew through the air, screeching as it approached the mark. Thud. Thud... Thud.... The boy watched as each hit with remarkable accuracy for such a novice as himself. "YAY!!" Tota once again celebrated with a leap, flying toward daichi for a high five.

NOTES:
E-Rank Training [6/6]

WORDCOUNT:
242

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Thunk thunk thunk. One-two-three, and Tota had done it—his hard work paid off. "Hell yes,” Daichi cheered, slapping Tota’s flying hand in a victorious high-five. "I knew you could do it!” He jogged off again to retrieve his shuriken; he didn’t want to leave actual live steel in the hands of an academy student, and it would be even worse to leave them lying around the academy grounds. Daichi squinted, covering his eyes with a hand as he looked overhead. It was getting late, the sun slowly but surely making its way to dusk. "Really good work today, Tota,” Daichi said, beaming. "You did great.” Objectively, Daichi knew that he should walk Tota home… but his chest was full of pride, and his stomach was rumbling, and Tota had clearly worked up a sweat trying as hard as he did to get his technique down. "Let’s get something to eat, and then I’ll walk you home,” he said. "Sound good?” It would be a good thing, Daichi told himself, if he took little Tota under his wing. Easier to keep an eye on him, right? Really make sure nothing went wrong, that nothing bad happened to him, that no one found out anything about his background. Right. If he thought it hard enough, he could almost convince himself that it was true. Almost. [fin.]

Tota -- 223

LAIKA OF THQ