Daylight

Cole tallied up the wins and losses of his and Janaka's day-long, coital stint and concluded that a truce was in order before his hips gave out. Neither him nor the overly energetic brothel owner had much energy remaining towards the end, just limply entangled with one another in such a way that they both stayed as far away as possible from the blotches of rank liquids.

He never expected the sex to feel so... cathartic, not relieving enough to make him forget the addictive nature of the pervading smoke and viagra-esque properties of the alcohol he inbibed, or the worry that contraceptions perhaps wasn't a thing in this world; but enough to ease his worries and angst about a future in which he'd have to fight body-snatching, time-travelling, pseudo-immortal super-ninjas and aliens. As casual as the tryst between him and Janaka was, he couldn't deny that a caveman part of his brain liked the straight-forward woman - even though they just met and barely spoke a word with each other - simply because they had sex, and that was perfectly fine with him. With their dalliances he had established for himself that assisting the people of this world is something he'd want to play a part in, if only to forge potential friend- or relationships. It was one thing to talk about acquiring strength and pursuing power for the sake of strangers, but another matter entirely if you rationalised it in such a way, that you actually do it for people you had bonded with.

Then there was the purely adventurous aspect. Three days in and he'd experienced a depth to this world he never got to see; if this had been hidden from him all along, what else was there to find? But he digressed.

Funnily enough, he gained one point in Agility and one more point in Strength throughout their tussle, Janaka did not. That had proven a suspicion he had about statuses right from the beginning - his status more precisely. Videlicet, that his power grew at a breakneck pace, relative to the actual training one would normally have to undergo to see such gains. He couldn't quite quantify what the increasing numbers meant; but he swore his body was just that bit more limber than it was supposed to be, it was that bit easier to throw Janaka across the bed. Was it an inherent strength of a system-holder like him, or was he reading too much into it, and stat increases just stalled the farther up the power-ladder you went? With no answer to either question he'd have to get his head out of the gutter and get some actual work done. Which meant figuring out an exercise regimen to abuse his advantage and that did not solely consist of extramarital activities. And he knew the perfect person for the job.

A taciturn brothel scout.

Although Janaka herself would have made a great tutor, he'd much rather re-visit that option at a later date. Cole was afraid that sparring with the regenerated form of the bodacious madam would leave him as a broken husk of a man, on account of her ridiculous stats - she wouldn't have had time either, he told himself.

---

Name: Janaka

Title: Owner of The Dancing Cherry Blossom, Widow

Sex: Female

Age: 32

Level: 27

Health: 250/250

Chakra Reserve: 140/140

Vitality: 25

Chakra: 14

Strength: 21

Agility: 32

Perception: 34

Intelligence: 29

Ailments:

Emotions: Content, Rested, Intrigued

Lore: Janaka was a prospective chunin-level kunoichi, before the Nine-Tailed Beast attacked Konoha. In the attack she lost her childhood friend and fiancé to the monster's rampage, suffering a crippling blow in the aftermath that left her unable to continue work as a ninja. Janaka established her own brothel, to provide a modicum of protection for those that ended as destitute and desperate after the beast's attack.

---

Cole decided he'd keep her past under wraps until she spilled it of her own volition, or never at all. He had no desire to poke at scars and wounds like a tactless bonehead after all - not a second time, if he had anything to say about it.

While Cole was in deep contemplation on how he should approach the watchful girl, Janaka stirred. Sheets slid from her immaculate frame and gave Cole an eyeful of blushed skin. She glared hungrily at him through half-closed eyes and that was the moment Cole decided to call for a strategic retreat, away from the lioness of a woman and hitting the showers - his bruised flesh thanked him profusely. He wasn't immodest enough not to accept an offer of clean clothes: Olive green cargo pants, a white T and sandals, neither did he question where the men's wear came from.

That done with he dodged handsy 'courtesans' and avoided eye-contact with a ticked off Janaka - at the risk of his own health - over a filling breakfast and cornered a leaving Yuya.

The girl was about to slink out of the brothel, having avoided him entirely after she had led him to The Dancing Cherry Blossom. What she didn't know, was that he knew her identity as the vice-manager of the pleasure house. All it took for her to stop dead in her tracks was Cole calling out her name while she was sneaking out in her disguise.

He didn't expect her to drag his sorry ass across the entrance and over the reception desk as a black blur, but at this point he was far too accustomed to violent ninjas man-handling him. Neither was he entirely without fault. Working - even if it was part time - in a brothel was a risky proposition for a ninja-in-training. Should the truth come to light Yuya could kiss her future career goodbye.

"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey, calm down!" Not the best plea, but at least Yuya stopped choking him out. "Janaka told me who you are!" Which was a lie. "And I wondered if you could... perhaps, help me train? As recompense!" He hadn't cured her of anything, so there was no debt he could cash out on. What he did do, was appealing to the duty-bound part of Yuya, the one that was indebted to Janaka, which he helped out immensely, and in a roundabout way made her indebted to him. It was an assholish move and unfounded withal, but why else would she work here if not for some obligation or the other.

She regarded him through her mask, a quick, angry glance, and then spoke in her customary, wispy voice. "Sure. Why not." With that she let go of him and wheeled around. The admittance came so abrupt and with so little groveling on his part, that Cole was instantly suspicious of her motives. Insight would tell him why.

---

Name: Yuya

Sex: Female

Age: 14

Level: 19

Health: 160/160

Chakra Reserve: 70/70

Vitality: 16

Chakra: 7

Strength: 18

Agility: 19

Ailments:

Emotions: Irritated, Nervous, Disappointed

---

Cole didn't like the cocktail of negative emotions he was seeing... Too late now, the ship has sailed.

After a day and a half of back-breaking work he had finally left the brothel, stepping out into the bigger and badder underground plaza that was now lit by glaring, white floodlights. The footpaths had been emptied out, safe for those that were much too hammered, making themselves comfortable in whichever gully they fancied. Whenever Cole passed one of them, and only when he felt it was safe, he invoked a minor Lay on Hands - no need to miss out on experience. Instead of full-blown deliverance gracing mortal dust, he managed to keep it at a comfortable glow that could be mistaken for a cheap flashlight.

The walk was spent in silence and unmolested by the groggy inhabitants. Yuya invoked the same dispelling jutsu she used to enter and, huzzah, they were back on Konoha's surface. The midmorning sun was a breathtaking sight.

Yuya excused herself and rounded a corner into one of the many back-alleys. Cole was about to follow when he heard the rustling of clothes and decided to politely wait for her.

Out came an almost version of the Yuya he saw man the reception. She looked her age - too young to work at a brothel in other words -, with big blue eyes, a soft smattering of freckles across an upturned nose and a seriously radical, dirt-blonde mohawk. She wore baggy, black slacks and a white spaghetti-top. On earth he'd see a girl like this and imagine a teen deep into her rebellious phase, here, she looked ready to kick ass and take names.

Now that both wore clean and non-suspicious streetwear, they blended well with the hubub of Konoha's main thoroughfares. In the early noon the streets were just about to feel congested, and more often than not Cole had to dance around hawking peddlers and the wares they sprawled over the ground atop colourful quilts. Most of the stuff must have been commonplace knick-knacks to ninjas and the ordinary folk, but to Cole it was a treasure trove of impossible artifacts. From chakra fuelled puppets that began acting out eerily life-like dance performances, to sealing scrolls for everyday stuffs that made Cole doubt the physics of this world. What everyone else considered mundane, Cole was fascinated by. And it didn't take long before Yuya was fed up by his ceaseless loitering and easily pushed him along the road. For the next ten minutes the walk was much of the same and Cole almost felt like he was back on Earth, a weirdly futuristic yet also primitive Earth, but Earth nonetheless; until they entered into a large, open-air sports park.

Their goal was a stretch of packed dirt with freestanding fitness equipement strewn about, like pull-up bars, metal parallettes and dip-stations. Some were already in use, worked on by kids half his age that pumped out reps like nothing.

"What... exactly are we doing here?" Cole asked with some trepidation, watching wide-eyed as the brats muscle-up'ed without breaking a sweat.

Yuya smirked smugly. "Whaddya think? You wanted me to help you with your training, that's what I'm gonna do. But before that, I have to get a general idea of where you stand fitness-wise," She looked him up and down, with a brutaly blunt glint in her eyes. "Which can't be all that high." She cheekily whispered for him to hear. "Afterwards we'll spar for a bit."

Cole levelled a challenging stare at her. He'd make that sassy brat eat her words, but before then Yuya drilled him through sets upon sets of bootcamp-esque training, all under the scrutinizing eyes of the other park-goers. What made it worse was that Yuya breezed through the same routine she imposed on him. When he banged out ten of the cleanest pull-ups, she did twenty; when he ran a lap like an olympic sprinter, she stormed past him on her second; when he did push-ups, she was planching.

Their inofficial competition gathered some of the other locals and bets were being made. Not if he could beat her, but how badly he would be beaten. That said, among all the not so friendly ribbing by onlookers and Yuya's sardonic glee whenever he fell behind, words of encouragement were spoken freely. When he dust off the grime and dirt and nodded tiredly at Yuya to begin the next exercise, the kids spoke of a firm Nindō. "Big Bro, you can do it!", they cheered on his bungling form. Suddenly, their one-on-one competition had become group practice and Cole caught himself smiling even though he was left in the dust by every single one of the brats and made a total ass of himself. There came a point in training where you disregarded your sweat and stink - and the blisters on your naked feet because flipflops are bad running gear -, where thoughts like your bouncing belly and too tight clothes fell to the wayside. Cole had reached so far past that point he was ready to hurl.

[Strength increased by 1!]

[Strength increased by 1!]

[Agility increased by 1!]

[Agility increased by 1!]

[Vitality increased by 1!]

All said and done, the gains were nothing to scoff at and when afternoon came he managed to stay on the ninja-kids' heels in terms of fitness - Yuya not included. The children said their good-byes and Cole called up his status while he toppled to the ground.

---

Name: Cole Marin

Title:

Sex: Male

Age: 22

Health: 130/130

Vitality: 13

Strength: 15

Agility: 16

Perception: 10

---

He was thankful for the spirited scamps, if only to fire up his ego that reeled at the thought of losing to said kids. Now, if only he could figure out how to increase the ellusive mental stat. A mystery that would surely take his mind off the fact that Yuya began expertly bandaging their hands and grubby feet in wraps.

Throughout the day he had a bit of an epiphany concerning stats and their representation in the real world. In terms of raw strength, Cole actually won out against Yuya, on account of his greater weight and size. But pound-to-pound Yuya was another beast entirely. She was a world-class strongman rolled into a 5 foot 2 sass machine and Cole didn't even want to imagine how highly someone like Rock Lee or Might Guy outclassed him in that department. It was scary to think that Yuya barely compared to the Konoha 11.

Alas, the time for mercy had passed and Yuya stepped away from him, not the least bit tired whatsoever and a brilliant smile on her lips. "Ready to spar?" She asked with an innocent tilt of the head, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a boxer while she paced further away.

"We'll start reeeeaaaal slow. Don't pull your punches and don't worry about hitting pretty 'lil me, ok?" He dreaded the next few minutes.

Cole stood up, swallowed and nodded mutely.

Apart from doing a bit of martial arts in high school to keep in shape, he had no formal training, similarly he had no stance he felt good in. Settling into a high guard was all he knew how to.

Then Yuya bore down upon him.

One, two, three steps, and she crossed the gap, dashing straight and low. He barely noticed her closing in between his forearms. He kicked out with his right on sheer reflex. He saw Yuya smash onto his heel and hesitated. Bad choice.

Yuya bend around his leg like a snake and his guard was still high. She didn't rear back, she pivot left on the ball of her right foot. A blur, no, a right hook landed on his ribs. The concussive force rippled through his spleen and warning bells tolled, black creeped into his vision. The pain left him unguarded and without breath. He pulled his arms back to close that gap. Too late.

Yuya pressed the advantage. Her body coiled left again, then she twist right, over her hips and with the weight of her shoulders. A left cross thundered on his face like a sledgehammer.

His head rocked back into his neck, his nose exploded in pain, and the force ripped him from his feet. He cried out in a daze, a blinded and wounded animal. Hands grappled around his clothes, a foot hooked around his and Yuya rode him through the fall.

His back rocked against the packed dirt and took his last breath away. His head was craddled in a pair of hands. Someone spoke to him and Cole actively fought against his waning consciousness. Repose activated with a belated thought, giving him much needed clarity and Lay on Hands followed soon after.

[Repose's Level increased by 1!]

[Lay on Hands' Level increased by 1!]

[Vitality increased by 1!]

[Perception increased by 1!]

He was lying on his side, retching and sneezing blood that had drained from his broken nose into his throat. Apart from the initial pain and shock he was good to go. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I just... I-" Yuya stood over him, blanching and teary-eyed, but she wasn't at fault.

Her movements hadn't been slow, but quite deliberate, he could follow her with his eyes after all; he just hadn't taken her seriously enough and paid the price for his stupidity. Yuya had taken a quarter of his health in just two hits, in a friendly spar where she had pulled her punches, because he froze up and didn't want to hit a child - a kid that could fold him like an omelette. One of his plans in the near future saw him intervening in the battle against Zabuza and get the famous swordsmen on his side, how utterly naive. Their first exchange would have left him dead, a richochetting pebble would have brained him.

Yuya was still fussing over him, looking more disheveled than he had ever seen before.

"I'm okay." And he was - praised be Lay on Hands. "But damn, you pack a mean punch. Revenge for calling you a feet-man? Isn't that right, Feet-girl." He wiggled his bandaged toes at her.

Yuya perked up at his needling and wiped at her eyes. "You fucking dumbass." She chuckled.

She was about to call it quits when, on his request and a good bit of whining, he convinced her to keep sparing with him. No way was he gonna lose out on this double whammy of combat experience and stat gains. They would have to sound his knells before he'd stop.

He just hoped Repose and Lay on Hands could keep him alive.

(Another chapter. 2.8k words, so double the normal size. I think I'll go back to 1.5k word chapters before I burn out. Tell me what you thought of the fight scene. And before someone complains as to why he didn't use his defensive skill, why should he? He's learning the basics of fighting and only then would he combine it with his skills. Cheers.)