Hello my dear readers once again, here is the newest chapter and I hope you all like it. As always I appriciate your feedback in all and reviews and PMs if you have longer criquites or suggestions you would like to talk with me about, anyways lets get right into the story shall we?
Izuku cringed a bit as summer winds hit his face, his arms firmly secured around Fumai's chest as they rushed through the heavily forested mountains, the man was running at insanely high speeds as they dashed through the area that was impossible by trucks or trains, making the green haired boy think back to last Saturday.
It was well after training had finished for the day, all the residents of Ryuzanpaku that were present eating around the massive dinner table. Izuku was acting in his usual reserved way around the group of his Sensei's friends and comrades that had taken up residence long before he met Bulu. The masters of various martial arts ribbing his sensei for being too soft on him for some reason when said man coughed a bit to quiet everyone down before he looked right at Izuku.
"Ahem, so Izuku as you know this is the last year that you will be able to come over here as consistently as you do. I know that your hero training will take up a lot of your after-school time and I would not wish to detract from it in any major way." The brunette smiled at his disciple then, chuckling a bit as he almost didn't want to say the words that were coming from him.
"B-but sensei! I am nowhere near your level and...And I know I could use more of your teachings. I am sure I will have time after school to come over plenty to learn from you! I promise to keep paying the same fee that I always do to come here even if it is not as often!" Izuku looked at his master, worried he was getting kicked out of the Dojo for his dream and while he knew the man was right about it taking up most of his time, Izuku didn't want to just leave this place like that!
"Oh don't worry about that Izuku, I am just saying you won't be able to come over after school during the week, your weekends are still mine to teach you until you are fit to be called a master. That was my promise to you all those years ago when you first came here right? That I would make you a man strong enough to be a hero despite not having a quirk? Well, that has not happened yet so you are not leaving my guidance just yet." Fumai shook his head after saying that, Toshi was right he really was sounding like his old master now. Though he supposed it wasn't a bad thing to be as wise as that man.
"Anyways, in order to make up for the training that we will miss during the school year. I want to take you on a training trip this summer, the whole vacation will just be you and my training, You are ready to take yourself to the next level after all, and this trip will take you that far I promise." After giving his little talk, Fumai started to eat his wife's wonderful cooking again. Smiling as he tasted the sweet river fish and vegetables pass by his tongue on the way to his stomach, Hane always made the best meals.
"Oh, sure! My and mom didn't have any plans for this summer so I was probably going to be spending the whole time at the Dojo anyways if she would let me. Sensei what do you think I should bring with me and how much is the trip going to cost? I am sure that mom and I can scrounge up enough for it" Izuku was relieved at the fact that he wasn't getting kicked out of his second home and even a little excited at going on the trip, from Fumai's words it was clear that he would be much more ready for next springtime come the transfer exam when it was all over.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about money we can handle that part. You will need about a week and a half's worth of clean clothes with you, your web shooters and all the fluid you have currently and can make within the week leading up to your summer break. We need to focus on using those in real combat as well after all."
With an excited nod from Izuku, the next week of him fixing up his traveling bag with all the ammunition he would need for the summer and preparing for the trip began though it felt as it went by in the blink of an eye. Once the next Saturday had come along, Izuku was instructed to climb on his master's back and hold on for dear life as they took off, dashing towards the mountains of Japan, going past the limits of civilization and diving deep into the wilds where almost no one had seen.
Once the two had finally reached a clearing and finally touched down, Izuku slipped off Fumai's back with a sigh as he landed on the soft forest floor, his fall cushioned by the layers of grass and pine needles before he sat up and looked around at the green landscape before looking towards his sensei.
"So we are setting up a camp here to train? Ok, I can start putting up our tents while you prepare the food Sensei, then we can get to training right?" Getting up before stretching out his tired arms, the boy set about searching through his master's bag to only find clothing, a small knife and a few bars of soap in there.
"Oh Izuku, I didn't bring any food with us or tents. You are going to have to forage that stuff yourself if you want to get it ready, though I will let you share my fire if you want to chop up the wood for it." The father then smiled at his dear disciple's reaction to the revelation as he went about chopping a few choice branches from the nearby trees to make himself a shelter for the night.
Izuku, for his part, was dumbstruck as he watched the man carelessly go about making the structure. He didn't believe the man at first of course and searched again through all the bags he could to find that indeed, they had not brought along any typical camping supplies other than the clothing in their bags. Deciding that he was wasting too much daylight just doing this the boy carefully tread himself out into the woods in hopes of finding himself enough material to make a tent from.
"Sensei! Why did you bring us all the way out here if you weren't going to back any tents? It seems really unlike you to just forget that stuff! I am sure you did mean to bring them along right?" The disbelief was still palpable in the young man's words as he gathered up a large stick to make a pole before leaning it against one of the nearby trees for support.
"Well it wasn't really a mistake no, I myself had to go through a similar bit of training when I was around your age. Out here in the woods, with no signs of civilization or help around just surviving is grueling and hard training my boy. Thankfully you are smarter than I was at your age, took me four days just to make a shelter that could last up against the wind. After this, I can show you the place me and my master got food. The river should still be nearby if I recall..." After hearing those words Izuku paled, he likely wouldn't be getting much assistance gathering food from his master if this was supposed to be part of his training, though it couldn't be that hard to gather food out here right?
As promised, once the two had finished setting up their shelters for the next month or so Fumai led the boy through the thick forest to a swiftly moving river, the cool water running through the forest, seemingly undisturbed by any man despite what Fumai had told him before. Stepping into the water with his teacher, at first, the younger man cringed away from the icy cold feeling of it running past his feet and wondered if he had the leg strength to resist the water's flow like his Sensei was able to. After closing his eyes to focus a bit and adjust to the cool water Izuku stepped right out into the flowing water, stopping when he was about waist deep and digging his heels some into the muddy riverbed to secure himself as the swift river coursed around them.
Izuku watched as the man knocked about six small fish from the water within a few minutes before he went to get out. Assuming that this was part of the training as well, Izuku looked down into the water rushing by, grumbling as he looked all around him trying to spot any of the fish that his sensei had caught when he finally found one, he sent his arm down swiftly at where it was to knock it to shore, only for his hand to miss totally, only managing to splash himself with a load of ice cold water, sending a shiver down his spine and sending all other fish that would normally be in reach dashing away from his location.
Letting out a small curse at the situation, Izuku tried to calm himself down and waited for another opportunity, and once a fish finally looked like it would be in range of his arm he splashed his arm out at it, still intent on catching the food and missing the aquatic lifeform by just a few centimeters and sending him back to his starting position. The boy continued with his way of doing things, standing in the middle of the cold and flowing river, failing to catch any fish at all as the sun traveled its way through the sky. His stomach growling and frustration building in the boy's mind he eventually let out a final cry of frustration before leaving the river and going back to camp hungry and tired. Finding Fumai enjoying a fine meal of his fish and some herbs the man no doubt found in the forest as well.
"Oh? Are you giving up already? You do know that I won't give you any of my food right? Getting your own meals is part of our summertime training so you better figure out something to eat soon." Fumai smiled at his disciple, seeing the boy in the position his own master put him in years ago he could even see the walnuts scattered around the forest floor he had no doubt the boy would eat. The Man soon paled then as he saw Izuku put on his thinking face.
"Figure out...Figure out how to get the fish from the river." Izuku started mumbling to himself as he thought through everything he had, he clearly wasn't able to grab the fish by hand as his sensei could no he needed a tool. Would a spear work? He could fashion one out of a branch and rock but no that would require him actually hit the things and that could waste energy, energy that he had little to spare right now. Spying a long stick out of the corner of his eye another idea popped into his head and the boy dropped to the ground to start digging at it.
Fumai was silent as he watched his ward dig at the ground, now just confused as to where he was going here, his eyes widening when Izuku let out a cry of victory before holding what looked like a pale white worm up in his hand or was it a beetle larvae? It was hard to tell, after putting the thing back into the ground Fumai watched as Izuku went over to a thornbush on the edge of camp, leaning forward as he tried to figure out what the hell his student was doing, he cringed a bit seeing his student reach his hand into the bush, no doubt getting many small cuts on his hand before the young man broke off a bit of the bush and emerged with a small branch with a wicked three inch thorn that Izuku proceeded to use to stab through one of the grubs from his hole earlier. Spying a flash of light reflecting off his student's web shooters Fumai's eyes widened as he realized what the boy was doing.
Izuku pierced the small grub with his hook with a smile on his face before turning towards the stick he saw earlier and aimed his web shooter right at its tip before firing off a sizeable line and tied it off as he retrieved his stick and held it up proudly, sure it wasn't the most professional job, but this fishing rod should do just fine for what he needed it for at least as he went down to the river and cast out his fishing rod. His eyes intensely focused on the spot that he had thrown his hook into and the line, praying that he had done this right, he only had an hour to catch something before his web started to dissolve after all. The time once again started to pass for the young man as he waited for anything, if this idea of his would even work, he had no experience building a fishing rod after all, and only had gut instinct and a general idea of what to do here, but when he felt the tug on his rod and started to tug it back gently, reaching for his line to reel it in as the fish fought against his strength and tried to break the line to get itself free of the man trying to eat it. The fish itself failed in its attempts to free itself from the line and was pulled right up into Izuku's waiting hands, who was smiling a mile wide and suppressing an urge to cry out in victory before he headed off to the camp with his prize.
"Sensei I was able to do it!" Izuku proudly displayed the sizeable fish at his teacher, who chuckled awkwardly seeing the boy. Mentally cursing at himself, both for underestimating his student's intelligence for one and for never thinking of that himself when he was younger. Leaving the boy alone to cook his food, Fumai wandered off into the woods to vent to himself.
"Fuck, why did I have to have such a smart disciple? Of course, he would think of a way to get around the training exercise designed to help him develop his Seikuken. I thought he would just follow my example but no he needed to make a fishing rod. Come on Fumai think about what to do now... Maybe I should tell him outright? That might work best instead of giving him another puzzle" Leaning against a tree before sliding down the mossy trunk, Fumai let out a groan before nodding to himself, that was probably the best course of action here.
Getting up from the forest floor and walking back into the camp, he found Izuku gutting the fish with his knife, pulling out a bit of the more gross looking organs before he looked up at Fumai.
"Oh Sensei, I didn't know which parts of the fish I needed to cut out to eat so I kind of left most of them in, is that fine? I don't want to end up sick and have to go back to end our training early" Izuku looked up at the man, his hands coated in the crimson blood of the fish that dripped down onto the forest floor making Fumai chuckle and shake his head before sitting down beside his student and taking the knife out to point to a few organs he left in."
"Alright well, if you cut out the gallbladder, air sack and really dark bits of fat then you should be fine eating the rest of it after it roasts over the fire a bit and you clean your hands of the blood understand? Now once you finish cleaning up your fish and start to cook it I want to show you what we are really training at."
"Really? But Sensei weren't you saying that just surviving out here is training enough?"
"Yes and that is still true but...There was a secondary purpose to all of this that you happened to circumvent with that mind of yours which I forgot to account for this time around. So I decided the direct approach might be better." He chuckled a bit to himself as the boy ran off to clean his hands in the river again as he finished gutting the fish for his student and set it up roasting by the fire by the time Izuku returned.
"Alright now, as that roasts I want you to attack me Izuku. I know you must be hungry and tired and waiting for it to cook but just attack me with everything you have." He looked to Izuku with a serious look in his eye as he got in a simple stance before his student threw a swift jab aimed right at his face, which was deflected by his right hand easily.
"Good, now keep attacking me from every angle you can think of!" With an affirmative yes sensei. Izuku started to try and hit his teacher with everything he had, sending right and left hooks, roundhouse kicks front kicks and even a few aerial blows his master's way, each of which was deflected by an oncoming left or right hand easily by the master. As he fought Izuku kept trying it from different angles, even going from behind once or twice to be met with the same thing, the attacks feeling like they were blocked by some impenetrable shield by the master.
"Now Izuku, this is the technique we will be focusing on during our little escapade here! It is called the Seikuken, you must perform it by calming your mind and focusing on the opponent, reflecting him like a mirror using all of your senses to detect where your foe will attack from." As he spoke, Fumai kept up his technique blocking and defending all attacks from his disciple like it was second nature to him.
"Once you see your opponent attacking and their limb comes within an arm's reach you must predict where their attacking limb will be going, and then let your reflexes take over as your own arm comes up and deflects the attack off from any angle to form a perfect defense!" Deciding to let up a bit, Fuami let himself relax some as Izuku's attacks started to become even more fierce, one particularly hard and swift kick managing to penetrate through and scrape by his face.
"Though as you can see, it is possible for attacks to slip through if one if not carefully trained. This will be the technique I expect you to learn by this summer's end! While the deflection aspect will not be very useful against opponents with elemental quirks, having a calm mind and perception, as well as absolute awareness of where your limbs are, will be a vital tool for you to use." With those words, Fumai gave his student a swift jab to the stomach as he went for a jump kick, blowing the boy back towards the fire just as his fish was finishing cooking.
"Think of it as developing a pseudo-spider-sense of sorts, now are you ready to train for this? If not we will spend the summer focusing on a few other core aspects of your training but in a more intense style, if so then I want you to take off your web shooters and put them in my bag, I will only allow you to use your fishing rod when getting yourself dinner otherwise you must catch your meals by hand! Do you understand?" After that, Fumai sat by the fire, indicating that the small little "spar" they just had was over and the boy picked up his fish to start eating it, the young man taking his time to chew through the roasted flesh before taking a loud gulp.
"Yes sensei, I will train to use this technique you showed me. It sounds way too useful to not learn at all after all." Reaching down to his wrists after finishing his food, Izuku unclicked the two metal weapons, revealing the pale skin beneath to contrast with the rest of his body's healthy tan and handed them off to his teacher tenativly.
"Huh, it feels stange to have them off of my wrists when I am not about to sleep for once... Like small part of me is missing or something like that" Izuku rubbed his wrists some, they felt strangely light after all but it wasn't something that bothered him really it would take a little to get used to not having the silk ready at all times though.