Last Days Of Training

Inside a particular cave of Kirigakure, the damp, moist world appears to become still... its silence only disturbed by the occasional drops of water trickling down the ceiling.

At the very end of the dark cave, seated in a lotus position, Zabuza stares intently at a dim candle, lit some distance before him. *pat! A drop of water falls on top of his head, then another drops on his feet.

They don't fall continuously or follow any pattern. *pat! *pat! This time he hears two droplets fall on a nearby rock.

Just then, Yagura's voice echoes throughout the cave. "Yesterday you were in control of what to focus your senses on. The forest is filled with many kinds of sounds, and you were able to focus on a specific one. Today you don't have that luxury."

"Here, all you will hear is one sound: water droplets. That same sound will echo here time and time again. Even the buzzing of insects is absent in this hostile cave. You have to locate where the water droplets are falling from the sound they produce."

"Do that while not taking your eyes off this candle. This will be extremely hard for you to do."

Zabuza scoffs at his sensei. "How hard can it be? You may not know, but I always meditate during the night. This will be a piece of cake!"

"You mean the same meditation where I saw you snoring half the time?"

"Wa-what? Really??"

"Of course. I noticed it when we stayed overnight in that village. I was confused at first," Yagura says, smiling like a donkey as he squints his eyes. "I then wondered if it was part of your meditation."

Listening to what his sensei had to say, Zabuza takes in a long, silent breath... "Ufffff!" followed by a long exhale. 'I can't get bothered by him. I can't let him have the last laugh...'

'Half—Half the time, yes! He said I was snoring half the time, which means I was meditating during the other half.'

Satisfying his own ego, he fixes his gaze on his annoying sensei. "So, don't you have anything better to do? Are you just going to stay here trying to get some points out of a nine-year-old?"

"Just accept that you have lost, you brat! Sigh! Anyway, I obviously have better work to do than babysit you. Farewell."

As the words stop bouncing off the walls, Zabuza becomes certain of Yagura's departure. 'Today it's Utakata's turn to get some pointers from sensei after all.'

*pat!

'Ruka also said that she will be reading books about medical ninjutsu from the library.'

*pat! Pat! Pat!

"Phewww," the place becomes eerily quiet as Zabuza tries to focus on the candle lit in front of him... Pat!!

'Annoying, how am I supposed to focus with these stupid droplets having a grudge against me?'

Zabuza sweats profusely in anticipation of the inevitable fall of yet another drop. His senses have become hypersensitive to any kind of change around him. His muscles twitch at even the slightest vibration.

With every drop, the cycle repeats itself for what feels like an eternity...

......

Finally, the fifth and final day of the training had arrived.

Arms folded, Yagura called out to his students, "Starting tomorrow, we are fully required to participate in the ongoing war. Today, I want to see how much you three have grown in worth. You will each fight me individually."

"If you brats want to survive the battles ahead, you have to know your own strength and capability. Fighting a strong opponent like me, your flaws and limits will become apparent."

Zabuza is not feeling good right now. Feeling sluggish, his eyes are heavy while his brain isn't braining (AN- it's intentional).

This is not because of anything Yagura spoke, but because of the sleep deprivation he had to go through last night. Every time he tried to sleep, he would be disturbed by the unrelenting stream of noise assaulting his ears.

The three days of training his senses really did a number on his mental state. Normally, the human brain ignores most of the sounds we hear. That is why even in a noisy situation, we are able to focus. Our mind treats the sounds we don't want to hear as background noise.

Looking back...

On the second day of his training, he was introduced to being devoid of sight. He had to face unexpected attacks from his sensei while not having the sense humans rely on the most. He became a sitting duck. It was a one-sided beating...

The third day of his training, he had to navigate the forest alone, blindfolded. Sparring with his sensei inside the mist, at least he only had to cover a small, flat surface. The water surface on which they stood was flat and even, but the forest was anything but that.

The fourth day of his training was the most arduous by far... Sitting in a nearly soundless cave and having to hear only the constant and unpredictable splash! of water droplets would drive any person crazy. Such methods were used to torture prisoners, no less.

Zabuza gets a shiver down his spine. 'Although now I have learned to control my heightened senses, I haven't got a single hour of rest. How the hell am I supposed to fight in this state? Well, I guess I should look at the bright side.'

'Thankfully now I am able to sense anything in my immediate vicinity. This is the only silver lining after yesterday's training...'

"Let's see..." Yagura, observing his students for a second, decides on the first one to spar with him. "Zabuza, you are the first one..." The student had expected as much.

Like last time, they choose to spar on the water surface. But unlike last time, when Zabuza was the one on the receiving end of Yagura's attack, the roles have reversed this time around...

"I guess there's no point in gauging how deep the water goes." Zabuza makes a seal of confrontation, directly deciding to use the Hiding in the Mist Jutsu against his sensei.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu!" The jutsu fulfills its role as a thick mist covers the whole width of the river, obscuring the view of Ruka and Utakata, who were observing from the riverbank.