Chapter 17: kenjutsu 2
We find Naruto at his teams training ground, sparring with Tenten. Currently the two are working on their kenjutsu, making sure they have their basics down.
Tenten lunges at Naruto, trying to skewer him with her blade. He parry's her, and in a swift motion disarms the other genin.
"Good spar." Naruto says, handing her the sword she was using. "You two." She tells him.
"Thanks, well I better head out, I promised my mom I'd come by for her to teach me some more kenjutsu." He tells her.
Tenten nods her head. "No worries, I've gotta go watch the shop anyways, see you later Naruto!" She says as she leaves.
A half hour later Naruto arrives home to find his mom waiting for him.
"Welcome home Naruto." Kushina greets him. "Now that you're here we can begin the tortur-i mean, begin your training." Kushina says ominously.
"Now then, today I'm going to teach you two things. You've done well and have the gist of the first form down." She starts. "Today you'll be learning the second and third form. First, Is Ni no kata: Mizu Guruma, or water wheel." She tells him.
"The move itself isn't too complicated. What you'll do is leap in the air, doing a front flip, and use your momentum to release a single slash in a circular motion." She explains.
Naruto nods his head. "Ok, that makes sense mom."
"Now, I'll demonstrate it, then I want you to practice it." She tells him. As she explained, she begins running and jumps, doing a front flip. "Ni no kata: Mizu Guruma!" She calls out, performing a circular slash as she flips through the air. Kushina lands safely on the ground and then gestures for Naruto to make his attempt.
Naruto begins running and jumps, flipping through the air. "Ni no kata: Mizu Guruma!" He yells out, doing his best to copy his mom, but not quite getting the movement right.
"Again, try again. Your movement was sloppy. It needs to flow smoothly like water." She tells him.
Naruto goes again, and again. Trying several times until he gets it to Kushina's satisfaction.
"Very good, now onto the third form." She begins.
"The third form, San no kata: Ryūryū Mai, or flowing dance, is a bit more tricky." She starts. "You see, the first two forms are both just a single slash. But, the third form is different. With it, your body and blade are dancing almost, flowing like a river making multiple slashes." She explains.
"For this we'll need some targets set up." Kushina says, as she gets out some dummies for Naruto to attack.
"First, I'll demonstrate it." She tells him. Kushina grips her blade and begins flowing along each dummy, slashing her sword as she moves hitting each one.
After she resets them she had Naruto begin.
Naruto prepares himself and attempts to do it, only managing to hit the first and last dummy.
He resets himself back at the beginning and tries again, this time doing a bit better.
Naruto spends the rest of the day trying several times until he finally manages to get all of them.
The next day Naruto meets up with his team for training.
"Good morning my youthful genin." Gai says to them. "Good morning Gai sensei." They respond to him.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what we're doing today, right?" He asks. They all nod their heads.
"Today we'll be doing some heavy training to make you push past your limits, you'll each be climbing the hokage monument." He tells them.
"Shouldn't be too hard." Naruto says. Tenten nods her head agreeing.
"One handed." Gai continues. Naruto's and Tentens jaws drop, surprised that they're doing something so Insane.
"Is that even possible Gai sensei?" Tenten asks.
"Of course, why I've began Lee on this very thing recently." Gai tells her. "Just try not to fall." He tells them.
The three genin nod, and they head to the monument. Gai ties one of their arms behind their backs, making sure they can't cheat.
"The first one to the top wins and can pick where we'll eat lunch at!" Gai tells them to help motivate the three.
The three genin begin climbing, each trying to be careful not to fall.
Once they get to a fourth of the way up, Naruto loses his grip and falls down a few feet, just barely grabbing a hold on the wall again.
"Damn this is hard!" He says out loud. Sighing, Naruto continues to.
Tenten decides to take her time, not wanting to make any mistakes.
Eventually an hour passes and Lee is the first to win, with Tenten arriving soon after. Eventually Naruto gets to their as well.
Worn out, the three take a break on the top. After resting for a while, the four ninja depart to eat.
And this'll be the end of this chapter. A little short, but Naruto is making progress in his training.
As always please drop a review and make sure to let me know what you think! Feedback is always welcome.
chapter 24 is now live on my Pat re on , it's stidhamlucas999 , it's just 5 a month to read ahead. Chapters 24 onwards will be taking place in or after the canon start of naruto, so those chapters will start to be longer.
mizu no kokyū - water breathing
Ichi no kata: Minamo Giri - first form: water surface slash.
Ni no kata: Mizu Guruma - second form: water wheel
San no kata: Ryūryū Mai - third form: flowing dance