7 Training in Earnest
"If you want to be able to fight with your Nen you're going to have to be able to maintain it for a long time." Shihara said as she began to explain the type of training Katsumi would be undergoing. "You said we have about 4 days at least until the Onrya arrives if it does decide to come this way, correct?"
"Yes!" Katsumi was focused and eager.
"Ok then, for today I want you to control your Nen for 6 hours straight while you do other daily tasks." Shihara said as if it were only natural.
"Really?" Katsumi asked confused.
"Really!? What were you expecting some sort of super flashy training!" Shihara was annoyed at Katsumi's childish words.
"No! Sorry! I'll start now." Katsumi apologized with a quick bow of his head. He readied his stance.
"Hmph." Katsumi took a deep breath, then let out a deep exhale. His blue aura began to radiate from his body. He quickly controlled it to where there was just a thin blue layer of aura surrounding his body.
"Good, now take these." Shihara handed Katsumi two empty buckets, "Remember that lake that Kinto and his men brought you in from?" Katsumi nodded, "Good now go and bring back water from there."
"WHAT!" Katsumi was caught off guard.
"What, is there a problem?" Shihara's voice was terrifying. It sent chills down Katsumi's spine. He turned towards the village gate and walked off.
"Man, she's scary," Katsumi mumbled under his breath as he walked away.
"Hey Katsumi…" Shihara's voice seemed was chilling.
"Yes?" Katsumi turned his head and asked timidly.
"Make sure to keep your Nen active and controlled the whole time."
"Yes ma'am." Katsumi turned his head back quickly and walked away as fast as he could. Well it would be more accurate to say that he was marching.
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"What does she mean by daily task? If she wanted water I could just go to the river that runs through the village!" Katsumi was annoyed and mulling over what Shihara ordered him to do. He was acting like a child would but he didn't care. He had been walking for about an hour towards the lake and he was sure he still had at least another 30 minutes left. Focusing control on his Nen while walking slowed his pace quite a bit. What he didn't notice was that Shihara was up in the trees watching him to monitor him and make sure he didn't collapse or anything.
"Well he is moving slowly but it's working. The longer he can keep his Nen active the better. He seems to be keeping better control of it than I expected, it's amazing actually." Shihara was amazed, even more so by what happened next.
"Ya know, I don't plan on cheating Shihara!" Katsumi called out as he looked up towards the trees. Shihara dropped down from her perch and landed about a meter away from him.
"So, what gave me away?" Shihara was perplexed because as far as he should have known she was staying back at the village to spar with Takanashi. And she was sure she moved quietly.
"Well I think I felt you." Katsumi said without a second of hesitation. He looked towards Shihara and saw the embarrassed look on her face. "Oh sorry not like that, I meant your Nen. After walking for about 30 minutes I noticed I could feel the Nen of other living things, like the squirrels or birds. Than I noticed 1 energy that kept following me so I took a guess and it was right." Shihara was completely in awe. For Katsumi to have been able to pick up on Nen like this so fast was, well unheard of. It had taken her weeks after learning Nen to be able to sense others, and he was able to do it the day after he first awoke his Nen abilities. Not to mention the fact that he was able to maintain control over his Nen for so long.
"Well we still have a bit before we reach the lake, so we better get moving." Shihara began walking ahead of Katsumi.
"I can't walk that fast while I'm controlling my Nen so slow down." Katsumi called back to Shihara.
"If you can't catch up I'll just leave you behind." Shihara said playfully as she trotted along. While it may have seemed harsh Shihara was training him, she was trying to push him.The Onrya was coming soon, she knew that with her abilities as well as the abilities of the few other elves who knew Nen they could stop it, but she wanted Katsumi to be able to fight without relying on her, cause one day he would have to leave, and then, he would be on his own.
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It was day 2 of training, instead of bring water from the lake Shihara decided to have him bring some rocks that were the bottom that warmed the lake back to the village. Shihara had Katsumi create a hot bath at the edge of town. He first dug a hole and then he filled the bottom with the rocks that he gathered. Then he went back and forth filling the bath with water from the river.
"Good job on the bath Katsumi, though I am disappointed you decided not to join me last night." Shihara had teased him and offered for him to join her, but he turned her down, he was so tired after training he didn't want to be stressed in a bath with her.
"Yeah I guess that's a let down." Katsumi laughed nervously as he took his gaze away from hers.
"Ready to start training today?" Shihara said excitedly. Katsumi wasn't as excited, his body was sore and tense but he had already decided to push through.
"Yeah yeah lets just start."
"Ok then today, we are gonna spar!" Katsumi's spirits perked up.
"Really!?"
"Yep, you have to keep your Nen in control while you fight me. This exercise will end when you can cut me with your blade." The air became tense.
"Are you sure?" Katsumi wasn't prepared, how could he be, he never wanted to have to draw his blade against another person. If he hurt Shihara to he didn't know what he would do with himself.
"Yes." Shihara was intense, but confident. She didn't plan on fighting unprotected. She had a plan.
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"Ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Begin!" Shihara yelled to Katsumi as he drew his weapon. He was using his dagger while Shihara was using a two-handed katana. Katsumi was waiting for Shihara to draw her sword but she showed no signs of doing so.
"Fine then I'll just come to you then." Katsumi charged towards Shihara holding his dagger in front of him with a backhand grip. He kept himself calm to keep his Nen in control. He was only a couple meters away at this point, she still hadn't drawn her sword. It threw Katsumi off, but he trusted her, he trusted his teacher. He lunged for her leg with his dagger, she kicked him by the wrist and sent him flying with a strike to the chest with her palm.
"Urkk." Katsumi was sent flying. He hit his back against the barrack walls. He should have been hurt much worse. If anything he should have been on the floor coughing up blood, but he wasn't. Other than a few scrapes, he was fine.
"Do you get it now? Your Nen can be used as a protective barrier against attacks. It doesn't completely nullify the attack but it does soften the blow." Shihara's words gave Katsumi confidence.
"That's why she is making me cut her, because it won't be easy while she protects herself with Nen." Katsumi was happy, he was getting excited. This battle would be on a whole different level from any previous battles he had fought. He stood up, he readied his dagger. With his back to the wall he took off running. He ran in towards Shihara, when he was in arms reach he kicked off the ground with his left foot and dodged to the right as his foot kicked dirt in her face. It caught her off guard, but it was a trick she had seen before. She saw through his attack and instead of backing up she ducked down to her left. She dove down and punched up, she had anticipated that he would be above her, but she was wrong.
"It was a feint!" As the dust cleared she saw him. He had gone back to where he first kicked up the dirt. Waiting there with a smile on his face, he lunged in ready to slash her exposed side. Shihara was defenseless, she focused and didn't panic. She pushed off the ground with her left hand and twisted her body. She quickly drew her sword from its sheath.
"How!" She deflected it, she was covered in dirt but she was able to defend from his attack.
"That was good!" Shihara was happy. "You knew I had seen you do that trick before, so instead of going in for another attack you used it as bait, right?"
"Well not really, it sort of just felt right in the moment so I went with my instinct I turned out to make the right call." Katsumi's innocent smile made it seem like a joke. "But look, I got you to draw your sword." Katsumi was fired up.
"Well I guess that means no holding back am I right?" Shihara was getting anxious. Katsumi had lit a fire in her, and now she wanted to fight. She readied her stance with her blade in front of her. Katsumi and Shihara sparred for hours, until it was dusk.
"Whew, that's enough for today." Shihara called out to Katsumi, they both were panting covered in sweat.
"Ok." Katsumi and Shihara put there blades into their sheaths, released their Nen, said goodnight, and walked to their rooms, ready to rest and continue in the morning.
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The first light of dawn struck as their blades clashed. Katsumi's Nen a deep ocean blue, meanwhile Shihara's Nen an electric yellow. They kept at it for hours until it was about noon.
"What the hell! Is this thing dull or something?" Katsumi complained as he felt the blade of his dagger.
"Do you want a hint?" Shihara said teasingly."Cause it seems that your too dense to figure it out yourself."
"Oh shush, what is it already." Katsumi groaned.
"Think of your dagger as an extension to your Nen. Project the Nen you have on your body onto your dagger, then sharpen it." Shihara demonstrated as she slashed through the edge of a nearby tree like butter.
"Sharpen, sharpen, sharpen." Katsumi muttered to himself as he focused his Nen. His aura began to envelope his blade slowly. First from his hand onto the hilt, then it slowly began to envelope the daggers blade. It almost reached the top of the blade when it suddenly stopped. Katsumi dropped the blade clutching his right hand in pain, his aura had gone wild.
"Arhhhh" Katsumi screamed out in pain as the blood quickly fell from his hand.
"Katsumi!" Shihara ran towards the injured Katsumi screaming out in pain. His hands were bleeding, his Nen had gone wild and cut him. Shihara quickly ran inside the barracks and grabbed a set of bandages. She stopped the bleeding and wrapped both of his hands in bandages. The bandages quickly soaked with his blood but the bleeding stopped soon after.
