[Maboroshi Chikap]

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Little wisps of cloud moved through the sky, passing under the sun and creating overcast. For minutes at a time, Amegakure enjoyed bright sunshine. A good day for outdoor lessons. No need to huddle beneath weather shelters or deal with soggy students afterwards. Still, Kap kept his umbrella folded and held against the left shoulder of his flak jacket. To trust the weather here was never wise.

"Keep working at it!” Kap said. He passed by a line of students seated in the grass next to a track. Each of them had their hands bound behind their backs by rope. Another instructor’s lesson, but they stood up front going over the general steps. Kap and a few other newer instructors supported by helping individual students.

Doing well to earn his keep was his game plan for today. He scanned the crowd and picked out a student with snowy hair. Had they been struggling or were they from the second wave that joined the lesson? Ultimately, he wasn’t sure, but they hadn’t figured things out yet.

Chikap crouched down in front of the student. With his free right hand, he adjusted the headband on his forehead and smiled at them. "How’s it going?” Getting a general gauge for the student’s demeanor and attitude towards the lesson was his first goal. So, he would pay careful attention to their reaction.
               

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Hi there!

Jinjōi Chiyo

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

Chiyo had many virtues.

Patience was not one of them. This exercise was a great pain for her, so far. She understood the rationale for it, and yet she did not, at the same time. Being a shinobi, they said, often came with a likelihood of capture. Being able to escape capture, they said, allowed one to return back home and continue serving their village. But ... what kind of shinobi would allow themselves being captured in the first place? Should they not train them better to be able to win and not get caught, instead? Or running faster, at least? These thoughts boiled inside of Chiyo's head, as she sat on the ground next to the rest, getting more and more impatient. Compared to other children here, she wore the most proper attire. A kimono and all, with a sash. Yet, she looked like the one to act most improper any moment now. The girl shifted in her place, pulled on the binds, harder and harder, at the loss of finesse. Letting the ropes dig into her skin. 

"Mrgrgr... Stupid binds, stupid techniques, stupid things... What kind of pervert ties up a bunch of kids and watches them struggle... Looking at us with those fish eyes of theirs..." - Chiyo grumbled, starting to rock her body left and right, to try and give her pushes and pulls more momentum. She felt the ropes dig into her skin, painfully. And bit her lip, trying to use the new source of pain as a distraction. 

Maybe I could tear my skin to loosen it up, and escape. Yes, that would show how tough I am. Dedication! Pain is temporary, getting out of rope is forever! Something like that... hnnnhhh...

Lunging forward, while keeping her arms behind, she moved her shoulder up to try and give it more momentum... It was at that moment that one of the instructors decided to approach and ask how she was doing. The girl was too busy on the process to have noticed him come over, until he loomed and spoke.

"Gyah!" - Chiyo yelped, and fell on her back, surprised and startled, her concentration broken. "Uhh, what did you do! I almost had it!" - she complained, wiggling on the ground to get into a sitting position. One of her sleeves hiked as she did so. Showing redness around her wrists, skin starting to get welts in a few places. Seems like her brute-forcing it wasn't working quite well!

____________

Maboroshi Chikap

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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Rope escape was always an awkward subject to teach, which is why a lot of the faculty liked to have other instructors around to make everyone feel safe. It was a vital skill for shinobi to know, lest they become an easy hostage.

Chikap’s smile went from a toothy grin to a closed mouth cat’s curl. She was frustrated and lashing out, there was some pride there. It wouldn’t serve him to defend himself. Sidestepping an assault to her ego seemed like the best move.  

"Oh, I’m very sorry,” he said. "You were doing so well. It’s amazing how far you got without even using a bit of chakra to dislocate your wrists and fingers. I just wanted to get a better look at your technique.”

He planted his umbrella onto the ground next to them, then focused a bit of chakra into his hands and bent his right wrist back. With the support of the chakra, his joints became more malleable without risking serious injury. He shook his hand, and it flopped backwards out of place, then as he ended the technique, it popped back.

"I’m sure you can do it your way, but that might be faster, you know?”

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Notes

Jinjōi Chiyo

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

"Hmpf."

Chiyo sat up straight, after kicking her legs up a few times, managing to return to the initial position, sitting. It was more ... dignified this way. But it wasn't hard to notice that the instructor's words placated her ego. She was even glowing, lightly. Indeed, she almost had it, even without the use of chakra! To think of the things she could achieve when actually using it! I kinda forgot about the dislocating part... - the girl thought to herself, as she eyed the man in front of her demonstrate the technique by dislocating his shoulder joint. It was almost unsettling to watch! Chiyo could swear she could hear the joints pop and snap under those clothes too. What a weird guy. Chikap, was it? New instructor, returning after a while. Weird name too. Foreigner? 

"What is the point of dislocating joints if the ropes are tied so tight you can't move your wrists out of them?" - she asked, tilting her head to the side, curiously. Still, she tried to replicate what she had seen, herself. Channeling chakra through her arm. But with being bound like this, it was hard to make any handseals! And the raw chakra, not tempered and controlled by the seals, was a double-edged sword! After the attempt, Chiyo felt her arm become stiff as a board, refusing to bend at all! Locked in both her elbow and shoulder joints. Her eyes widened as she panicked. Looking back at the teacher and hissing, so that others would not hear:

"Hss... wha... what did you make me do? Now it's stiff and won't budge!" - the girl complained. She couldn't feel the burning around the wrist, caused by the rope earlier. This was good. But she could also barely move the arm! Once more, she began wiggling in place, even more frenetically. Looking left and right at how other kids were doing. No way she would be outdone by them!

"Quickly, tell me what I did wrong, before I fall behind!" - she almost pleaded with her sensei. Fierceness and despair both visible in those red eyes.

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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He decided to address her out of order of her questions. Giving her the how before the why.

"Oh, you’ve almost got it,” Chikap said. "You’ve got to give ease up on the chakra a bit, and relax yourself and let it flow down into your wrists and hand joints. Imagine your chakra is a big glass of water, but you must sip it and take but a few drops. You don’t want to gulp down a bunch at once. This technique doesn’t require a lot of shaping, just a bit of restraint, ironically,” he laughed at his own joke, eyes closed.

He pulled something from his jacket pocket and held it out in his hand. It was a little piece of plywood about four inches long and two inches wide that had a ribbon tie around it. He locked eyes with Chiyo and then directed his gaze downward, hinting that she should watch. He tugged at the ribbon with his hands, it was tied tight enough that he could not slip it off.

Next, he squeezed the plywood in his hand like he was trying to snap it in half long ways. He showed her how the wood concaved and then easily slipped the ribbon off with his finger.

"Your bindings can only be as tight as the shape your wrist will allow,” he explained. "When you make your wrist more malleable, even the slightest extra space can allow you to create tension as you pull. Once you get it to the meat of your palm beneath the thumb, you can use those muscles to push a binding further apart.”

His instructions were calm and he didn't seem to speak in any sort of rush. It might have been a bit frustrating for someone in such a hurry to succeed.

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Notes go here.

@Jinjōi Chiyo

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

Calming herself down and making a deep breath, Chiyo let go of the chakra, letting her arm fall back to how it used to be.

Back to square one. As hard as it was for her to admit, she could not do it by just brute-forcing her way through. She had to be patient, and subtle. Like a swordswoman waiting for a tough opponent to give her an opening to strike. And so, she went quiet, and watched the teacher do his thing, as if he were the opponent for her to defeat. The girl's eyes widened, as she saw the ribbon slide off of it. At least, she had an example now. A plan on what to do. Chiyo nodded. Alright... lets try this your way...

She channeled chakra into her hand and wrist, instead of her arm now. The amount of chakra was much smaller now. The girl tugged on her binds. Feeling her wrist becoming limp, though not as much as she could have done. Still, it was enough to start bending fingers in unnatural ways. With a loud pop, she felt the phalanxes of her hand start to curl, one by one, so much so she could touch one half of her palm with the other. It wasn't quite like the technique showed to her, but it certainly made her wrist look smaller. She tried to pull it onto herself, to escape the binds! But whenever she did, the joint on her thumb, still in its place, prevented her from wiggling out of the ropes.

"I... I think I'm getting the hang of it... But it still won't budge..."

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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Chikap stood hallway up from his crouch and balanced on the tips of his toes to looks over the girl to see her hands at the back. She was almost there, but the chakra levels were still a bit off and she needed to let it flow through to the joints of her thumb. He came back down and smiled at her.

"You’re doing good, a very quick learner indeed,” he said. "Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths and be mindful of your thumbs. We need just a few more drops of chakra to flow in, and you’ll have it.”

He thought maybe if he distracted her a bit, she might be able to truly relax and let the jutsu take its full course. He rubbed at his chin and tried to think of something clever to say while he watched her. He couldn’t think of anything sagely, but he decided to speak anyways at the risk of her accusing him of being distracting.

"You know, I remember this one took me a few lessons to learn. I am a little jealous that you’ve gotten this far on the first try,” he said. "I tried to lie to my teacher and said that I had it on the first day, and told them I just liked having my hands behind my back. Needless to say, I don’t think they believed me, but they let me walk around like that for the rest of the day.”

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Notes go here.

Jinjōi Chiyo

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

"Hnhh... Alright..."

Chiyo breathed out, and closed her eyes, trying to focus better on the chakra flowing through her hand and fingers. Her spirits were high though. The teacher was showering her with praise, practically, telling her she was doing very good, and even sharing a story about how he was left with his arms tied behind his back when he tried to pretend he succeeded when he didn't. It made the girl giggle a bit. Teacher sure was a silly boy when he was young! It was ... kind of endearing. He was endearing, yeah. 

The girl didn't even notice that her joints in the thumbs were already loosened up by the jutsu she was attempting to perform, teacher and his silly stories were on her mind right now. Chiyo couldn't help but compare Mr. Maboroshi to other instructors in the academy. Her certainly was on the nicer, gentler side. He also had the paint on his face, which the girl first mistook for glasses without the top rim. Was he trying to paint glasses on his face? She thought glasses would suit him, he had an intelligent face. A kind that would look good in glasses, and kind of cute too. 

*POP!*

The sounds coming from behind made Chiyo open her eyes, looking distracted. She brought her hands before herself, and to her own surprise, found them free. The ropes left behind herself. The girl looked at her hands in amazement, as if wondering if this was a trick or an illusion of somekind. The joints were still displaced, but she cared little. The girl's eyes fixated on the reddish marks on her skin from her bull-headed, earlier attempts.

"I... did it. I did it! I did! Ahhs..." - she hissed, as the fabric brushed against the injured lines. This was gonna be hurting for a while.

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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He noticed that she was looking at him sort of funny. Maybe it was the markings on his face. It was simply war paint, although the genjutsu intolerance seal was printed near the top of it and hidden beneath his bangs.

"Oh, wow!” Chikap said, smiling through his teeth and holding back a wince as he looked at her fingers. She had done it correctly, but he had never gotten used to seeing limbs disjointed. He didn’t want her to know what was coming so he kept a straight face. "Hold still for a second.”

He reached forward and grabbed each hand and popped the joints back into place as if he had done it many times before in teaching this jutsu, unless she pulled away. "Heh, sorry. It’s not so bad getting them fixed back, but I was worried you might be a bit squeamish. Anyways, the only adjustment that I would probably make is a smidge more chakra to prevent the redness and soreness. Happens to the best of use though.”

He gave her a thumbs up. "Oh, don’t forget that if you perform this jutsu while someone is watching you’ll be in hot water. You don’t want to get caught trying to squirm out or with your fingers all messed up, you know what I mean?"

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If you need an edit here let me know!

Jinjōi Chiyo

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

Yatta!

Chiyo looked at her own hands strangely for a few moments, both amazed and bewildered by her joints being dislocated by the jutsu. They were ... an interesting sight to behold! She never did so before! The girl didn't even notice the teacher taking her hands to help her put the joints back into place. His hands were larger than hers. Chiyo blinked a few times, looking up, before her face briefly flashed crimson. The girl straightened out her back and pulled her hands away, and into her lap, putting one over the other.

"Yes, thank you. I am not squeamish. Not at all. No."

Chiyo sounded all prim and proper now all of a sudden, eyes closed and not looking back up. Waiting until the heart stopped racing. Mouth curled in a perpetual small frown.

"I would not be so foolish as to try it in front of someone watching me, no. But I do need to practice. Could you tie my hands behind my back again, Sensei?" - the girl asked, before moving her hands there, and waited for them to be wrapped up again. 

She did not have to, probably. The lesson was to get out of binds, then wait for the rest to finish. But Chiyo wanted to do it again nonetheless. To perfect it. Maybe to impress the teacher and show him she did not need proverbial handholding to get this done right. Or maybe the girl was just flustered by him holding her hands in the first place.

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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The instructor laughed under his breath when Chiyo said she wasn’t squeamish. Too oblivious to pick up on the student’s bashfulness, her embarassment went over his head. It was an instructor’s job to help students learn jutsu after all, so in his eyes he had done nothing out of the ordinary.

"You want to go again?” Chikap asked. Glancing towards other students still working at perfecting the rope escape technique, he worried they might need his help too. The other instructors were already helping them out. He guessed there wouldn’t be any harm in it. "Is that a good idea? You’re showing signs of straining in your face. You don’t want to use too much chakra in one day. But, if you think you’ve got it in you, sure. Why not?”

The Maboroshi bent down and picked the bindings back up and tied a knot around the back of her wrists. After he let go, he stood back up and watched Chiyo expectantly. He wanted to at least make sure that she didn’t overexert herself. Academy students had enough chakra to use jutsu multiple times, but he wasn’t sure what their class schedule had been for the day.

"Just let me know if you need to stop.”

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Notes go here.

@tag

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[Jinjōi Chiyo]

"I can do it! How can I be better than others if I don't?"

Chiyo had a bit of a perfectionist streak in her. Others were finishing the first round too, so she had to do it again to solidify her lead! And so, she eagerly accepted the binds yet again. Teacher was gentle with placing those, too, and with him towering above and behind Chiyo, he couldn't see her face, or the slight shadow of redness that it had. Perhaps the girl did not realize it yet, but she took the second turn not just to outdo the rest of the class, but to impress him as well. So, as soon as he let go, she started to try.

Closing her eyes and inhaling air into her lungs, Chiyo concentrated on both of her hands. She felt chakra leave through them, from shoulders and down all the way to her hands. The girl could feel its relaxing, numbing effects even, along her entire limbs. They felt as though made of plush. Easy to ply into whatever form one needed. With a few shifts, she felt the binds drop to the ground behind her. Much easier than they used to, during the first try! "Hu... huh? I did it again! I did it! I..."

The cheering was short-lived though, as Chiyo felt her head spin, herself - very dizzy. The teacher was right - this was taxing on chakra, for a novice academy student! And in the second attempt, she may have used too much! The girl felt losing balance, falling on her back, eyes spinning in spirals as though she were a pocket monster from a children's game of some kind. Her arms still noodly from the experience.

"Awawawawa..." 

[Maboroshi Chikap]

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Chikap raised a thumbs up towards the girl. She had it figured out. It was always awesome to see that moment where something started to really click for a student. One of the things that really made the job special.

"Chiyo right? Stay motivated like that and I’m sure you’ll graduate in no time,” the instructor said. "Make sure to get plenty of rest before you try any more jutsu today, alright?”

Seeing that the lesson was wrapping up and that some of the other instructors called in to aid in the lesson, Chikap gave Chiyo a wave goodbye and walked away to join them.

"Hey, Chikap, you going to watch the kemari game?” another instructor asked him.

"You bet,” he said.

Shortly after that, the instructor of the class dismissed all of the assistants and Chikap gave Chiyo one last wave on his way out the door. He scrambled back to the staff lounge to get his day clothes from his locker and went to change into them in privacy. After that, he was off to enjoy the relatively sunny day. It was always nice when the water works took a break. Hopefully, nobody would start practicing rain ninjutsu today.

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Fin. Lemme know if you need more lessons later

@tag

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