[Jūryoku Azusaki]

    As Kin can up, he was a bit surprised given how nervous she had been to come up to the front of the class prior, but once she was there, he motioned for the other student to follow. By the time the other student made their way down, Kin had already shown off her preferred grip, or at least what she assumed to be the correct answer, but waited for the second student to do similar.

"Remember, there is no wrong answer."

    At his word, the boy looked at Kin, then at Azusaki, and his grip completely reversed, with one having the weapon pointed one way and the other in a reverse grip. Nodding, he let them stand there for a moment so the class could get a good look.

"As you can see, not everyone has the same skill or the same form. If you were to put these two in a team as an example, it's likely they'd fight very different, perhaps even in complimentary ways."

    Pulling out a kunai with a flourishing spin, he reverse gripped the handle and stabbed it into the side of the dummy, away from where the two students were.

"This is my preferred usage for example. Kin, Shor, please show us one at a time how you would attack this dummy if you had to protect one another. Let's imagine you two were fighting this big angry dummy here, Shor you first, show me how you would try and incapacitate the target, then Kin please do the same after."

    The boy ran up with surprisingly little hesitation and feinted an elbow strike which caught his attention as strange, then followed it up with a thrust to the same spot. The realization hit him as he nodded, remembering he was more of a Taijutsu style fighter. Once he had backed up he got a nod of approval from Azusaki, who gestured for Kin to step up next.
    
    

[Hono Kin]

It made sense she supposed when he said there wasn't an inherently wrong or right answer here. In the case of a weapon, or martial arts, there wasn't any singular right answer. Everyone's bodily movements were different, and they were accustomed to moving in different ways. All dependent on one's build and stature. She found herself lowering her stance for a moment, to see the demonstration provided, and with it, he lashed out at the side of the dummy with the dagger. He asked for a demonstration on how they'd strike at this dummy to protect one another. Ah. Now this was something she'd been working on. How to visualize an opponent and how she'd strike upon it. What's more. Kami was she blessed!

On an actual dummy in the model of a person as opposed to the wooden target she'd been using for martial arts. Watching Shor's reaction first, he seemed very confident. However, when Kin was called? She seemed to look for a moment, at the body before her, before she looked it head to toe. Before she imagines it. An opponent that was bigger and stronger had a few vulnerable spots to exploit for her. Wrists. Groin. Throat. However, remembering her experience with her taijutsu training? She knew the higher she had to reach? The more disadvantageous. Looking at the essential dagger she held?

She closes in low, keeping her form low to the ground, before she lashes out with a horizontal slash towards the side of the dummy's knee, as she enters a pivoting sidestep, before she hops up and latches her legs onto the dummy, her free hand gripping at the back of the head as she uses the dagger to plunge into the target's throat several times. It might have looked goofy, but it was clear she wasn't looking to "fight". She was looking to assassinate. Disable the opponent's movement and get them lower to the ground, and then strike from behind, where their ability to defend was weaker.

She was just a little girl after all...

[Jūryoku Azusaki]

    There was a method to his madness here, having them hold the weapon partially to get a feel for it, attack the target knowing that it was a skill they'd need, but it wasn't the main point of the demonstration. He wanted the others to see specifically just how different these two were. He had picked the slightly bigger academy student, a little older, and then the smallest and close to youngest. The same thought process in having them grab an equally sized weapon with not so equally sized grips, showing the difference. Now with each of them attacking, it gave a chance for him to also see their preparations for attacking, but once more for the class to see just how different they were in all of these skills.

    Immediately the difference was clear, as Shor weapon in quickly, decisively, trained in close combat like this and almost certainly comfortable with his reflexes. Kin certainly felt more familiar to how he'd handle things, looking over the opponent, picking your strike, then reacting. It was near impossible to keep from grinning watching her, as she was like a tiny tornado moving around the tummy and never relenting.

"Very well done you two. Very well done."

    Even if the rest of the class didn't clap, he did towards them, genuinely looking impressed, then motioning for Shor to stand to his right and Kin to his left before he turned to address the class again.

"You see the difference in these two in size and age, but they've demonstrated the differences in fighting style as well. This is something you all need to keep in mind when you train. Your personal growth is important, but if things go as they should, fighting alone should be a rare case for decades to come for all of you."

    Turning back to the dummy, he walked over and moved it back closer to the wall but giving a few feet of room, then looked to the two and made a motion towards the seating.

"You two can sit back down, thank you."

    Making his way back to the blackboard, he picked up the chalk and began to write. Bukijutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Genjutsu

"These are the main types of jutsu in our world. Those who mainly uses weaponry; Bukijutsu. Those who fight hand to hand without the use of the others aside from minimal weapon usage; Taijutsu. These use of sealing techniques; Fuinjutsu. The use of mental and sensory impacting jutsu; Genjutsu. Ninjutsu is far more broad than the others as it can cover the use of different types of elemental attacks such as a fireball, lightning strikes, perhaps even more specialized ninjutsu such as creating strings of chakra to create puppets."

    As he explained, he wrote minimal descriptions next to each word, then turned back to the class.

"Shor and Kin demonstrated mainly Taijutsu, with weapon usage. The point is, each of you will have a focus that's different than those next to you. This could be because of the clan you come from, perhaps a modification to your bodies, intense training, maybe even all of the above, but the point is, you have to learn to not only focus on how you fight, but how your fighting style works with other types of shinobi arts."

    Putting the chalk back down he made a gesture towards the class.

"Does anyone have a question about anything we've talked about today so far?"


    

[Hono Kin]

She was learning a ton today. As the presentation came to an end, Kin again, very shyly found herself before an audience, before she'd herself depositing the rubber Kunai along her sensei's desk, but would then inch her way along, very mindful of people looking at her. Before long, as she sat down, he began to describe so many types of jutsu. She knew about the main three of course. Ninjutsu. Genjutsu. Taijutsu. Though she'd only ever seen in person two of them in action so she'd think. She'd lived around weapons her whole life, but had rarely if ever seen how they were trained with and utilized for real.

When her sensei spoke now, she flipped through her notebook and began to nod her head furiously, scribbling notes. Though she didn't really know what a sealing jutsu was. She didn't really know all the things that could be done, but he talked about shooting fireballs, and lightning bolts, and all of those other crazy things. Nodding her head again a few times, she scribbles some more notes as he expressed how everyone had a different focus. How each and every one of them were different in so many ways. Looking down, she proceeded to think about if she had anything she wanted to immediately ask her sensei.

"Who are we fighting?" Kin asked, looking up at him with big wide eyes. Now that she thought about it. She knew they were training to fight, but the better question was against who? The second question she'd ask? "When do I start?..." Looking at him with her soft and adorable face and features, it might have been wild to think about the days of the Shinobi clan wars. The days where children as young as Kin might be killed, where there was no allegiances other than those of clan. A dark thought to think about. How nice was it that Kusagakure valued its children so?

"Why?"

[Jūryoku Azusaki]

    He had expected questions to expand on the general idea of the jutsu he had described, or something about when they'd get to learn jutsu, but the first question he wasn't expecting to be asked was about who they were fighting. It was an incredibly loaded question with an incredibly difficult number of answers. There were likely an equal amount of answers even he didn't have the questions to quite frankly; one of the many reasons he was still surprised he was able to get this position given how little experience he truly had on so many subjects. 

"That's not something that's easy to answer, but I can try."

    Thinking for a moment, trying to form the words, he took a deep breath with a stereotypical thinking pose, hand to his chin and all, as he stared at the ceiling. Nodding mostly to himself, he looked down and tried giving an answer that would hopefully make some sense.

"Years ago before any of us in this room can likely recall, some of you all not even born yet, there was what was called a great shinobi war. That war has been over for a time now, so we are not technically at war, which means we aren't fully fighting anyone actively."

    Raising his hand up as if to stop any questions following that answer, he began to speak again.

"That being said, we do have other shinobi villages that we are friends with, and some we are unfortunately enemies with. There may come a time we have to fight with them. There are also wild animals you might have to deal with in order to help others be more safe, or someone outside of our village doing something that's dangerous and you might have to help capture them."

    Letting out a sigh, her second question wasn't any easier than the third, but once more he continued.

"We would hope never, in truth. Fighting can be fun to some, but it's incredibly dangerous. It's not something we want to do, but something we might have to do. This academy is the start of your training to prepare you for a time that might happen, to make sure if something does happen, that you can protect yourself, protect those in this room, in the village, in the country even. It's an important task that us as shinobi are choosing to do by becoming shinobi."

    Crossing his arms he nodded, proud enough of his answer.

"Think of it like a dangerous job, but an important one. Some people help make food, some people make clothes, we as shinobi help protect others. That is why we do what we do, not to fight for the sake of fighting, but to protect, whatever that something we are protecting is."
    

[Hono Kin]

Azusaki seemed to really think, and with it, the tone shifted to a more serious and somber one. When he spoke about the great shinobi war, how he talked about the potential for war breaking out again. To jeapordize the peace and prosperity of their nation. How he spoke of their friends, and the animals, and the other dangers of being a ninja. Kin looked on wide eyed as she paid attention to every bit of the speech, for it was deeply important for her. No notes taken, but instead, something she kept to heart. He said it then. An answer that surprised her. 

The ideal was that they would fight never. That it was dangerous. Very dangerous, and that the classes they took were to protect themselves, the village, the country. Everyone that dedicated themselves to this task, they had a duty that was beyond them. For the first time, Kin thought she understood why it was so honorable for their clan members to die in combat. Because it was for the betterment of one's clan, family, and village. To protect what was precious. It was there that Kin smiled brightly, and with her eyes closed, she says something both heart warming, and yet wrenching at the same time. A value instilled into her by the clan.

"I'd gladly give my life for that. To protect the people. The village. And my home. That sounds like a great nindo to live by. My ninja way." She said it so graciously, as if it were an honor. That was something she could die for.

[Jūryoku Azusaki]

    Her words hit him like a ton of bricks to the face, but in a way he was also incredibly proud of her for saying them. All the same, his own protective nature kicked in at her sentiment, and he gave his best bright smile to her as he walked up to her. He didn't seem to be addressing her directly but the words she said, as he looked around the room quietly. It was a long pause, but not an awkward one, as he looked at all the faces of those that were his students, his youngers, and though not all of them were that much younger than he was, he still felt a duty to them as he was a higher rank and had been doing this longer.

"That's a good thought to have as a shinobi, but as your elder it's my job to ensure you never have to. Just like it's the job of those my elder to make sure I never have to put myself in danger, and their elders, and so on."

    He never expected much of what happened in this time they were together in the classroom to happen, as much changed with each thing that was said and did, but this was certainly on another level. Having this discussion and stuck on this topic with a group that were some a few years younger and others as young as Kin. He didn't discount or discredit her feelings, but it was easy to stand up and declare your want to protect, but staring down an enemy intent on taking your life and others was certainly difficult to keep that same conviction with fear filling you. As that thought stuck in his mind, he figured it was best to keep that to himself, and tried to smile even bigger.

"If I have it my way you'll never have to get into a fight outside maybe the Chuunin exams. If I train harder enough, stay vigilant enough, then you'll all stay safe, and no doubt your brothers and sisters, parents, your other teachers all feel the same way."
    

[Hono Kin]

He spoke so lovingly, in a way that her brothers or sisters did. And with it, she thought about the world they lived in. How someday, she'd be that elder he was talking about. To protect people. To be there for the younger generation. When she looked upon him, there was a pride in being a member of this country, this village, and this classroom. Perhaps that was an issue with the Hono clan, which seemed to venerate and romantacize this idea of dying on the battlefield. No greater honor they said. How every year at their festivities, they would recite the names of their fallen dead.

Looking upon him, he declared his intent to get stronger. His intention of keeping everyone safe. "Thank you for protecting us. Sensei!" A warmth filled her as she came to bow her head and rest it along her hands as she entered a praying stance, grateful for his encouragement and his inspiring words. Azusaki had filled her with hope and inspiration, Goals for the future. Because she decided immediately that this was the kind of Kunoichi she wanted to grow up to become. Someone that would protect and guide a path to a new generation. To preserve all that her predecessors built, and to pave the road to build more in the future.

[End]

[Jūryoku Azusaki]

    Her words were simple, and a few others in the class surprisingly echoed both the words and the sentiment, which caught him off guard. All he could do was given a smile and then a bow towards the students as he took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. There had no doubt been that moment of frustration earlier but this was certainly something that made him far more proud of the students here than anything else negative that might have come out of the class today. Perhaps even at his age, his level of experience, he could make a positive difference here, even if with just a few, much like his elders had done with him.

    For a quiet moment he stood looking over the other academy students, already having a good idea of what he was in for going forward, but for now he felt what needed to be said, what needed to be taught for the day had been. 

"I believe that's all for today. You are free to go, except for those of you pointed out earlier."

    Walking towards his desk he pulled out a piece of paper for each, pre-written detention slips, and signed his name at the bottom of each. As the students were leaving he held them up and made sure to hand them to each.

"Take these to your home room and give them to the head instructor."

    With that said, he waited till they left and gathered what few things he needed to take with him after cleaning up a bit, wiping down the board, and left as well.
    

[End]