[Yuie Junichi]

The base camp of the emergency response operations was incredibly busy, with shinobi and civilian coordinators alike flitting in and out. Merchants lined the area outside, taking the opportunity to help with this major catastrophe or, for the less scrupulous, the opportunity just to line their pockets. Suffice to say it was an overwhelming place to be.

Junichi shuffled this way and that, helping out with whatever little tasks he could. Delivering supplies, directing flows of traffic, or just standing back and doing his best to keep out of the way when the injured came rolling in. Somewhere in the med tents, Kenichi was probably hard at work patching up bruises and scrapes. Junichi was half-tempted to go find him and check on him, but he knew that distracting his brother wouldn't do anyone any good.

So that left him to idle, feeling strangely out of place and unproductive even despite all his attempts to help.

While he was waiting for the next task to come along, he happened to spot a girl, probably a little older than him, holding onto her staff with strangely intense grip, almost like she was afraid it was going to fall out of her hands or something?

He hesitated, wondering if he should approach her. The last time he'd been out of the country, at the exams, he'd learned a lot from training with Miroru and Narihira. It was probably a good idea to at least introduce himself and see if there was any wisdom the two of them could exchange... right?

When he spied the Iwagakure headband around her neck, he decided that her being an ally probably... maybe meant that things wouldn't go terribly wrong. So long as she wasn't from Takigakure, he was alright with approaching.

Taking his Shabontama in one hand, Junichi approached.

"Good afternoon. I'm Yuie Junichi," he greeted, a little overly formal, giving her a shallow bow. "Uh, I see you have a staff there. Would you mind doing a bit of warm-up training with me?"

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa was deaf to the world after returning from the mission. Her last action, while certainly correct and right and all the positive words one could think of to describe something that was in no way a wrong choice, had terrified the genin to her core. Everything about the situation told her what to do, and despite her misgivings she had done it and helped complete the mission. Now she was dealing with an overwhelming sensation of doom while thinking about all the ways that the situation could have gone wrong instead.

The medic tent, after confirming she hadn’t sustained any injuries and seemed to have avoided any sort of elemental corruption, noted her mental state and put her off to the side to observe. There weren’t enough resources right now to deal with mental trauma, what with all the injured streaming into the base and checkups being provided to those who returned from the field. It would take time and effort for her to finally calm down. Out of nowhere Tsubasa took in a deep breath and registered that she’d let her mind dwell too much on hypothetical what-if scenarios and finally relaxed the death grip on her staff she’d maintained since the final moment in the mission.

She also registered that she had a guest. With a start Tsubasa dropped her staff from suddenly numb fingers and panicked for a moment. She tried repeatedly to grab at the weapon before it fell, lightly slapping it between her hands in a comical display of un-shinobi-like panic before catching it just before it hit the ground. The silver haired girl let out a sigh of relief as she stood up and sheepishly glanced in the direction of the stranger who had approached her.

"S-sorry. I was a little l-lost in my head.” Tsubasa slowly took in the young man before her. He was shorter than her, a fact that made something in the back of her brain squirm uncomfortably, and seemed a little younger. She always marvelled at the capabilities of the younger genin in her village and that had extended to practically everyone she’d seen going out in the first wave of missions. "I-I’m Tsubasa from Iwagakure? I guess you already knew that…”

Just talking like this was causing a spike in the poor girl’s anxiety, the hand now gripping the staff tightening and loosening as she continued to slow her breathing and refocus on the here and now. "D-did you say something about training?” she asked, her voice tinged with nervous energy as she looked around to see if someone else more qualified was standing behind her or something. "I-I’m not sure I’m the right person for that.” Tsubasa’s mind was racing at the thought. Her team had somehow avoided confrontations with the katon corrupted creatures out in one of the zones earlier, she still had no real experience in an actual fight.

[Yuie Junichi]

The girl fumbled with her staff, batting it from hand to hand and almost dropping it before finally getting a handle on it again. Junichi felt really guilty about... surprising her? Had he surprised her? It's not like he approached from behind or anything, but she seemed surprised anyways, so maybe he should feel bad anyways. He was quite good at feeling bad, so it seemed the most natural conclusion, in any case.

Something about her anxiousness made her feel like a kindred spirit. Junichi wasn't blundering quite so openly, but he always felt like he was just barely managing not to, walking a careful tightrope act.

"I'm nervous, too," he confessed, even though she hadn't admitted to nervousness. It just kind of flowed off her in waves, so hopefully she knew it was obvious... He was hoping being upfront would not only calm her down but also make this conversation a little more productive. "I took a break from shinobi work for the last year, so I haven't been in a fight in a while. I think I might be really rusty... But if we warm up together, then we'll both be ready for our next mission." 

It seemed pretty rational to him, even if he was embarrassed to talk about his break. It's not like he even had a good reason for needing to take his vacation. Sure, he'd broken an arm, but it'd been patched up so fast it may as well have been forgotten. Yet he would never be able to bring himself to admit to a stranger that he'd just almost quit because he was scared, so vaguely implying he'd been off on injury leave was all he could do.

 

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa stopped and stared at Junichi for a moment. There was something oddly comforting about the way he just acknowledged her nervousness up front. Most people observed it like something that needed fixing, reached out in ways to help her calm down. But acknowledging it as something that just existed? Such an approach was more akin to some of the exercises she’d been taught back home but struggled to do when things got too stressful. His next words brought her back to reality, eyes suddenly blinking and face creasing into a frown.

"Y-you can just do that? T-take a break and not do the work?” Tsubasa was an orphan, pretty much living on her village’s generosity and constantly felt pressured to pick up work to pay back to the community that raised her. The idea of just taking a break was so foreign that sometimes she felt guilty about not going to the training grounds on her days off just to try and improve! "U-um, but if that’s the case! I might be able to help? I’m sort of new to using the staff but I thought it’d give me more options and…” the girl stood there awkwardly, eyes sort of just glazing for a moment as she struggled to find the words to finish the sentence.

"I-I’ve already done my mission here b-but if it’ll help you prepare for yours! I wouldn’t mind helping out?” she offered, voice clearly uncertain. Tsubasa very rarely felt like her skills would be useful to those around her.

[Yuie Junichi]

"Uh... You can only really take a break under certain circumstances," he admitted, though his bashfulness made it pretty clear he wouldn't want to discuss what those circumstances were. They were military, so it's not like they could just decide to quit. The academy had put him through school, so he at least owed them a couple years of work to show for it. "It's not really a- a real break. I was still helping out around the village with cleaning up rat infestations and catching stray animals and stuff." Kiddy missions, like the type usually assigned to genin who have just graduated. He wasn't going out into the field, though, and that was the important bit.

Feeling sufficiently awkward, he switched the conversation back to training, forcing himself to straighten up instead of shrinking into himself.

"But, uh, yeah, using a staff is good because it provides a lot of versatility," he said, twisting his in his hand. He took a step back out of conversational distance so he could give it a little twirl, trying to warm up. "It generates a lot of force, but also gives you good- good range, so you don't have to get too close to any sword users. That's most of why I picked it," he admitted. He also chose it because he was short, so having that little extra reach was kind of necessary if he didn't want to get hurt all the time.

"Maybe we can run through some fundamentals together?"

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

"O-oh, right.” Tsubasa gave a deep sigh of disappointment as Junichi explained what his break entailed. The blond haired boy had raised her hopes that maybe such a thing existed, and that she’d be able to take a small break to work on herself and maybe figure out what she really wanted from life, but no such luck. "Your break sounds a lot like the b-busy work I keep picking up.” She admit meekly, part of her brain wanting to add evidence to her own ineptitude so he wouldn’t waste his time without really saying anything. "S-small things to help out that need to be done. So not really much of a break.”

Despite her best attempt Junichi still seemed rather intent to practice together, and if there was one thing Tsubasa was weak to, it was genuine requests for assistance. Besides, even if all she did was make a fool of herself in front of a much more experienced staff user, at least she’d get a bit of practice with her weaker half of her weapon. "O-oh. I’m rather new. I mostly use a hammer it’s just easier? To not have it be a hammer all the time?” The silver haired girl’s words sounded extremely confused, but it was clear she knew what she was going on about.

Tsubasa had learnt to use a staff ages ago, and was able to demonstrate a rather solid grip on the weapon. Yet her fascinated stare as the Amegakure boy spun his staff around showed a potential gap in their capabilities. "T-the basics sound nice but m-maybe we should move a bit further away from the medic tent? We don’t want to cause an accident while we practice.” Though she was still stuttering a little the young woman’s voice was slowly becoming more firm the more the two talked. The strange and unexpected company of someone who seemed to understand things seemed to really help her come back from the nervous mess she was only moments before.

[Yuie Junichi]

Maybe Tsubasa was having a hard time, too, and that's why she was also only taking busywork. He didn't want to ask since that was usually really private, but it was kinda nice to imagine he'd found a kindred soul here, someone who also understood that shinobi work was constant stress. Most other people he knew treated it like this big heroism thing instead of the world's scariest job.

"A hammer does sound like it'd be hard to use all the time," Junichi agreed, thoughtful. They did kind of use similar skill sets, though. Maybe he should consider picking up a lucerne hammer and learning how to use that in a fight. It just sounded like it would really wear out his shoulders and back. He'd have to think about it.

"Oh, you're- you're right," Junichi agreed, eyeing the medical tents. He again thought about his brother, wondered if he was somewhere in there, wondered if he was doing alright. He was probably having a fun time getting to play the hero and heal people.

He turned his attention away from the tent and looked around, squinting. It was hard to find a space that wasn't occupied.

Eventually, his eyes landed on a clearing and he motioned for Tsubasa to follow.

"How about over here?" He asked. "It seems like there's room to practice without bumping into anyone else."

If she followed, he'd lead her there.

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa shrunk into herself a little at Junichi’s comment. The truth of the matter was she’d found hefting around her large, heavy hammer rather exhausting, as she wasn’t exactly a strong person in the first place. Actually using the weapon was probably the easiest part. The girl joined in the other genin’s search attempt, not really spying anywhere that’d work until he pointed somewhere out. Her attention snapped towards the clearing. Considering the rest of the headquarters area was so carefully designed she doubted it was actually a training area, but no one else seemed to be there now. They’d have to take what they could get.

"S-sounds good to me.” Tsubasa would stick close behind Junchi as they made their way over to the open space. Even if she was feeling a little calmer now, her natural desire to be close to someone who seemed to know what they were doing flaring up without her noticing. When not surrounded by too many people Tsubasa felt less like she was suffocating, and some people seem to be capable of creating a bubble of calm that she could cling to.

Once they were clear of the hustle, bustle and crowds of the busier part of the camp she did perk up a little more. "O-okay. Warming up.” With her weapon having never left her hand, except for the few moments where she’d nearly dropped it, Tsubasa simply placed her other hand on it and slid them both into a grip. The wrong grip to be precise. It didn’t look too bad, maybe something Junichi would use to initiate a long-reaching jab, but the truth was she’d automatically grabbed her weapon in a more familiar hammer grip. Upon realising her mistake she did switch to something more standard for staff-work, though she wasn’t able to keep the blush from spreading across her face.

"W-would you mind leading?”

[Yuie Junichi]

Tsubasa followed him to the clearing and then readied herself for their training. She initially gripped the staff a little low, but before Junichi could gently correct her, she noticed it for herself and adjusted her hold. He was really relieved, because he didn't want to have to correct her and end up embarrassing her. Even her blushing about it made him kind of feel bad.

"Sure, I'm okay with leading," he said, even though he was a little shy about the idea. He'd asked her to train, so he couldn't back out now. He just needed to focus on the task at hand and he'd get over it.

Shifting his staff in his hand, he took a few paces away just to make sure he wasn't too close to Tsubasa when he started moving around.

"When I'm warming up, I like to start with, uh, simple grip change-overs," he explained. He held his staff in the middle, then gave it a simple flip, using the standard hand-turn motion usually associated with it. "Just to warm up my hands and arms, since it's the most common motion we'll be doing. Then I graduate to doing spins, and passing the staff back and forth between both hands." He gave his staff a twirl to demonstrate, passing it from one hand to the other. He felt a little rough and clumsy from the disuse, but muscle memory was at least serving him well enough that he didn't drop his staff.

 

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa gave Junichi a grateful smile at his agreement to lead. She really was out of practice with true staff-work. Despite having had her weapon for a while now she’d mostly used the staff form as a transitionary weapon to build up momentum before turning it into a really big hammer. As such, even as she followed along with Junichi’s instructions, a lot of her grips reflected that. Ever so slightly off, more designed for a weapon with weight on it, and ever so slightly off when she attempted a spin or hand-swap. It wasn’t so much that she wasn’t keeping up with the boy’s instructions, more like she hadn’t done something like this to a meaningful level in a long time.

"Grip, arms, and hands. Right.” When she tried to properly emulate the twirl to hand swap the first time it was fine, but when she tried to pass it back it just seemed to slip from her hand, the fingers refusing to close properly for a moment. The same hand that had been in a death grip on the weapon not too long ago. "Oh darn it.” This time there wasn’t any real embarrassment, just a quick dash over to scoop it back up and return to her position, her hand closing and unclosing its fingers to try and feel like a hand again.

This whole exercise thing was nice. Having someone else to help direct things prevented Tsubasa’s mind from wandering into self-destructive trains of thought, and the simple mistakes were simply something to overcome, even if the very first one had made her blush. The young genin took in and let out a deep breath once comfortably back into position and attempted the twirl again. It was still a little off, still a little stiff but successful, nonetheless. "Sorry about that, please continue?”

[Yuie Junichi]

Junichi mostly focused on his own training, though he couldn't help but peek at Tsubasa's form out of the corner of his eye. She held the staff in a way that was just slightly off, clearly more comfortable with having weight on one side of it instead of the other. Junichi actually kind of understood - he was using his more standard staff for now, but his larger staff had two different weighted heads that made the counterbalance necessary for it slightly different. He always had to adjust when he transitioned from one to the other.

"It's alright. It's really easy to, uh, lose a handle on the staff. Especially when you're still getting used to it. I noticed you, uhm, grip your staff a little low. Keeping your hands closer to the middle might help you keep balance?" He offered, gently, hoping she wouldn't be too embarrassed by the recommendation.

He moved right on to their next exercise then.

"Since a lot of strikes use, uh, figure eights, I usually practice those next." He adjusted his stance, widening it slightly and fixating his attention forward on an imaginary opponent. "Both hands face the same direction, and then scoop around, shift the grip on the change to the other side..." He went through the motion slowly at first, to get himself warmed up, then gradually sped up. All the while, he was thinking about grips and techniques that might suit Tsubasa's comfort with a hammer well. Maybe he could run through a few of those options, too?

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

"Yeah, muscle memory keeps getting in the way.” Tsubasa shifted her grip once again as instructed. She really wanted to learn from someone who knew how to deal with the weapon properly, but couldn’t blame Junichi for not being a superstar teacher. The other genin was young and capable, but still a student in the grand scheme of shinobi life, just like her. "Yes. Okay. Focus, in the middle.” The silver haired genin whispered to herself as she slowly ran through the last few moments of exercises again. The staff certainly felt more stable in her hands this time.

As Junichi moved on to the next set of exercises Tsubasa paused to watch intently. The motions were distantly familiar to her, old memories of training in the academy with a wide variety of weapons returning to her the more he worked through it. They were different from hammer techniques, not needing to worry about the weight of one end pulling the motion out of control accidentally. When it was clear the young man was getting into the groove of his training Tsubasa did her best to emulate it. Hands focused on the middle, old memories of training mixed with the new visuals he’d just produced for her. Her form was far from perfect, but it was functional and that was good enough for now.

"And then I could…” Now that she was in the swing of things, Tsubasa felt like a little bit of experimentation was called for. She copied Junichi’s form again, running through the grip shift a couple of times before once again shifting back into that hammer grip and putting a small burst of chakra into Ishinotsue. This time, on a sped-up upward swing a small clump of nearby dirt and rock gathered at the end of her staff. The extra weight along with the speed of the strike would likely have been quite painful had the attack actually hit a person. It also made the swing go a little wild. The girl quickly cut off the chakra flow to the weapon in a slight panic, causing the clump of earth to drop back to the ground so she was able to bring the weapon’s movements back under control.

[Yuie Junichi]

Obviously, rock and earth flying around to the staff piqued Junichi's curiosity and pulled his attention. It seemed like she hadn't really mastered transitioning from one form to the other yet, but that was super cool. Kenichi definitely would've been impressed despite the sloppy form.

"That was really neat," Junichi praised, staring at the end of the staff. It would certainly do more damage than the element he could channel through his staff. "It seems a little hard to control the momentum..., but you corrected really quickly." That alone was impressive, since it meant she had a good handle on how to get things back under control even if she lost them. Still, it'd be good once she could handle it a little more consistently.

Junichi shifted his hold on his staff again and said,

"I was thinking, something like that might be a lot easier to control with telescoping."

He adopted a new stance, hands together in the middle. Then he slid his front hand forward to grip the top of the staff. He released with his back hand and rotated his hips to help push the staff out and forward in what would be a quite powerful strike to someone's temple.

"Once you reach the, uh, halfway point on the swing forward, pulling the dirt to it would increase the momentum and make the final impact harder."

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

This time around Tsubasa blushed at the praise. The poor girl was so self-conscious most of the time that she constantly trained alone, with the rare exception of working with her team when required. If this was how training with others always was she’d have to try and branch out her approach for sure. "I-I’m still getting use to it.” She admit sheepishly, not too sure how to handle the praise. "That’s what I meant about my hammer though. I-I just thought it’d be easier to use than it turned out.”

Even with Tsubasa voicing her worries Junichi seemed to take it in stride. The boy immediately shifted to a new stance to demonstrate yet another staff movement. The new strike seemed very compatible with her weapon’s ability and Junichi explained it as such. Tsubasa’s eyes went wide at the suggestion and immediately did her best to copy. At first she did the mauver normally in an attempt to get used to the motion, her awareness of her ever so slightly off form making the practice a necessity. Then, when she finally felt comfortable with the movements, Tsubasa sent her chakra into Ishinotsue just before the midpoint of the swing.

Once again nearby dirt flew to the staff, this time more clearly forming a small hammerhead rather than simply a clump, and accelerated the swing just as her training partner had suggested. This time around Tsubasa kept the weight there once the attack was over and attempted to adjust her stance and recover as though she were using her hammer full time again. Once satisfied she could at least manage that much Tsubasa finally allow the hammer head to crumble away and turned to Junchi with an excited grin.

"Wow! Usually I just make the head really, really big in an overhead swing but this time! That was a great idea!”

[Yuie Junichi]

Junichi watched her perform the suggested strike and was really pleased to see that it worked just like he expected. He managed to come up with an idea that worked, and might even be really helpful to someone. It made him feel accomplished in the same way that doing chores around the springs usually made him feel accomplished.

Now it was his turn to blush at the mild praise, cheeks going slightly pink as he looked down at the ground. He took a deep breath to try to force all the embarrassment out, but it didn't really work. 

"Thanks. Uhm, I thought it would go really well with the hammer. It could make a great surprise strike. The staff I usually use on the field has, uh, two big loops at the end, so even though it's not a hammer, I know some stuff about effectively making use of weighted ends." 

 He gave his basic staff a small spin in his hands.

"One of the techniques I've learned how to do is... Well, it's hard to do without an actual enemy, but I'll try to demonstrate." 

He stepped forward, swinging his staff at an imaginary target.

"You aim with one side, then... Once you hit them, you follow the rebound and whirl the staff around to strike them with the other weighted end of the staff... So something like that might be useful for you, too?"