Skye sighed as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the open field he found. Whenever he reached a new place that he wasn’t familiar with, he seemed to wander until he found a nice enough place to stay put. Of course, his wandering was a little more accurate than it was many years ago. He could still remember when he first arrived in Kumo. How he would walk around trying to map out the area in his head. Eventually, he got it down. Though it did take him quite a few months to fully remember where everything was. Tilting his head back, Skye took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was rare for him to find a quiet and peaceful place to simply relax. After going through the stressful ANBU test that was followed by some of the hardest missions he had ever been on, relaxation was one of the best things he could get right now. This relaxation wouldn’t last to long though given the fact that he was waiting on Sanosuke to come and help him with a bit of training. His friend was a swordsman, and a very good one. Having someone who normally deals with melee weapons would definately be able to give some him some pointers. Recently finding a slight flaw with his fighting style, learning to use a weapon properly would definitely assist his flaws. Being one to use Genjutsu as the offensive and Ninjutsu as a way of keeping people at a distance, he found it harder to push back opponents who focus more on keeping him close and giving him no opportunity to activate an illusion.

In front of Skye was a scythe. It wasn’t a grand weapon or anything, but it certainly would do some work. The reason he picked a scythe over a sword or any other weapon was it’s usefulness to him. Though he was mainly a ranged attacker, a sword would put him out of his comfort zone. With a scythe, he could get a little more reach while still keeping it close to avoid people from getting too close. Reaching a hand out and grabbing the pole of the scythe, Skye stood up and brought the weapon up with him. Gripping the weapon with two hands he took a practice swing to see how it’s weight was distributed. It was heavier near the top and took a bit of power to keep the blade pointed out. Snapping his arms back, he brought the scythe back up to it’s original position. With a grin, he dropped it down and set the bottom of the pole on the ground. Sanosuke would be there any minute, so he thought he might as well goof off until his friend arrived.

If Sano arrived, he would most likely see Skye swinging the scythe around like an idiot and overall making himself look like a fool.

Word Count: 487/1500

Another rough night in the splendid barracks of the allied shinobi forces. By splendid, Sanosuke meant that it was a complete and utter disaster. The beds were once again giving him a rough time trying to sleep at night. This was just getting impossible! There were times when Sanosuke contemplated if just sleeping on the ground would be far more comfortable than trying to get some sleep on this sorry lump of a mattress. His back was killing him from trying to sleep like this. He had to go see visits from the medics to treat his sore back. They treated him gingerly with his request; just because they put an experienced jounin like Sanosuke in the barracks that would usually house ninja of lower rank than him, doesn't mean they were particularly fond of relaxing his back muscles from stiffness. After this event of trying to battle with sleep on this sorry excuse of a mattress either two things were going to happen; he would sleep in the woods after killing this mattress in the most brutal way he could think of, or he would stomp his way to the site coordinator and take over their rooming quarters for the remainder of the war. He got up and got himself ready for another day. On him was just his usual shinobi attire along with his sword and a half that was on his back. Navi followed him out as he began walking towards the training fields.

Just the other night at the bar, Sanosuke remembered that his old friend Skye wanted to learn how to use a scythe. They were having a talk, and generally just catching up with each other from the past 5 years they haven't seen each other. Even though the bar was filled with shinobi who were drinking to drown their sorrows at the brothern they lost, the Kumo shinobi were having a ball. That's when Skye asked Sanosuke if he could teach him. Frankly Sanosuke didn't know what to tell the guy since he himself never used scythes. He couldn't tell him how to properly hold it or anything, but the jounin did know what it's like fighting people whom used scythes. It would be rough and Skye might have a disadvantage against someone with formal teachings with the scythe, but hell you had to start somewhere in this world. He got to the training field to see his friend swinging his scythe around without any discipline whatsoever. Even though he was too busy swinging that scythe around, Sanosuke knew that Skye already detected that Sanosuke was here. A sweat dropped behind Sanosuke's head as he watched Skye swing the weapon like an amateur. This is going to take a while... Sanosuke mentally dreaded as he made sure his presence was known formally to his friend.

"At the rate you're going, an undersea sponge can defeat you with nothing but a jelly fishing net." Sanosuke laughed as he teased his friend. He approached him so that he was close to Skye but at the same time out of the reach of the scythe. The perks of being skilled with melee weapons is knowing the range of weapons by just observation; a skill that's needed when fighting so you can space your attacks well for a well timed counterattack. This was one of the things that Sanosuke would teach Skye.

Skye jumped slightly and stopped mid swing upon hearing Sano’s voice. “Gah, Sano!” Quickly bringing the scythe up to it normal position, he set the bottom of it down on the ground and used it as a small support as he leaned against it. “So, uh… Sup?” Giving an obvious fake grin, he watched as his friend approached him. The slight expression Sano was giving definitely told Skye that he just got caught goofing off. With a loud sigh, he readjusted the position of the scythe and put it over his right shoulder. “Alright, I was goofing off for a second or two. Blah Blah Blah…” The tone of his voice was rather defeated, yet at the same time, sounded excited to be learning basic uses of melee weapons from someone with experience.

He could see that Sano was keeping his distance. Glancing down, he immediately noticed that his range with the scythe was limited to a good meter and a half. Smart thinking on Sano’s part, though, Skye wouldn’t really be lethal to Sano due to the amount of inexperience with weapons. “So, guess we can start with the basics and work our way up to a mock spar. That is unless you have something else in mind.” With another grin, Skye moved the scythe’s pole up and down slightly causing the upper part of the scythe to bounce on his shoulder. He was ready to go.

Word Count: 725/1500

Maybe his friend wasn't prepared after all that Sanosuke was watching him goof off with a scythe. His attention must have been so focused on trying to use the scythe that didn't realize that Sanosuke was watching the whole time amused. When he announced himself, Skye panicked and tried to rationalize him looking like a complete amateur with a weapon. Sanosuke really wished he could say there's nothing wrong with not knowing how to use a weapon. That's what any teacher would say. But Sanosuke knew that was bullshit. Inside anyone that was teaching someone how to use a weapon, no matter how prestigous they may be of a teacher, there was some part of them that would laugh their asses off at someone who could barely use a weapon properly. Sanosuke snickered at Skye's reasons why. He finally came clean, but it seemed as though he was trying to get away with he was just screwing around. But even Sanosuke knew his friend was geniuenly trying to master the scythe by himself. That wouldn't get him far at all. That's when Skye proposed that they should have a spar. It caught Sanosuke off guard at first. But then he began to think to himself that a spar might not be a bad idea after all.

"Yeah we can spar buddy. But first you might want to tighten your stance. You're open in several spots." Sanosuke said while circling around Skye. He had to make sure Skye got used to the basic weapons holding stance that could be used with generally any weapon of size. It was more defensive than offensive, but hell it was a start on Skye's part.

Skye swung the scythe down and caught it in his hands. Moving his entire body piece by piece, he put himself in a position that looked correct. With Sano walking around him and pointing out flaws of the stance, Skye adjusted himself until each position was correct. The stance he was using was completely defensive. He wasn’t looking to use this weapon for offense, but rather as a way of dealing with close combat enemies. Swinging the scythe back to his shoulder, he took a more relaxed pose. Setting the scythe back to its holster on his back for just a quick second, he quickly brought it back around and immediately struck the exact same defensive stance. First try changing from a calm position to a defensive one and he seemed to get it exact. It might have just been luck, but Skye knew it was from the discipline training he received from the ANBU back in Kumo. There, they were strict to make sure those who were there to learn understood the motions on the first attempt.

With a grin, Skye looked over at Sano and nodded once. “Done… Now what about offense? How should I swing it? Where should I aim?” The tone of Skye’s voice sounded demanding almost, like he was eager to speed his training process up more. “I know I’m going to have to arc the blade to attack, but keep it close in case I get some retaliation… Any thoughts?”


Word Count: 971/1500

As Sanosuke walked around Skye's body, he was noticing that slowly but surely his best friend was molding his body into the defensive stance of someone that would be a formidable scythe user. There were still some kinks and cracks in his form but that would be hammered out in spars. There was nothing better than experience. Sanosuke was an okay teacher, but even the weapon specialist of Kumogakure had to admit that there was no better teacher than lady experience herself. She may be a bitch but you will learn from your mistakes. Skye even got into folding his scythe and putting it back into his holster before getting it out again so that he had the correct stance into his mind. He did this a couple more times until he had the stance firmly implanted in his mind. Sanosuke smirked at that, that was very good of him to do that. The more times he did the stance, the more he would be able to do it easily without any internal commentary on wither or not he should make any bodily adjustments or not. After all, practice makes permanent. Once Skye was doing it enough times he stood there in the same stance as he was waiting for Sanosuke to make any points. “Done… Now what about offense? How should I swing it? Where should I aim?” The tone of Skye’s voice sounded demanding almost, like he was eager to speed his training process up more. “I know I’m going to have to arc the blade to attack, but keep it close in case I get some retaliation… Any thoughts?”

Sanosuke returned the smirk and went to proceed getting out his sword from his sheathe. When he did so, Sanosuke applied pressure to Skye's scythe so that his blade was pushing against his friend's shaft of the weapon. He was testing Skye' resistance to the blade. There could be some improvements, but Sanosuke nodded his approval. Retracting his sword from Skye's space, he implanted it on the ground. He proceeded with putting both of his hands resting on the pommel of his blade that he wielded for years already. "In most weapons you have to either keep it close to defend, or keep it out to attack. It's all about reflexes actually. Though for your scythe I think that it'll be something you're going to have to figure out on your own old friend." Sanosuke pursed his lips as he began thinking to himself aloud so that Skye could hear his thoughts. The last part of his sentence, Sanosuke smirked and retrieved his sword from the ground and got into his unorthodox stance of fighting. He held his sword so that it was reverse grip and held behind his back. His other hand was leveled to his face so he can guard his face. The stance would usually be taken by someone using a katana, but never a western weapon like Sanosuke was using. This would give Skye the experience of fighting an unorthodox fighter in combat; something Sanosuke was doing since he was a chuunin 5 years ago.

"The rest we'll continue with a spar. Get ready" Sanosuke warned his friend.

Holding his weapon up as Sano pushed against him, Skye tightened his stance to resist the pressure applied. The basics of the weapon came easy. After all, a weapon was a weapon. The basic thought of close combat wasn’t limited in the slightest. Whatever the user could imagine when fighting they could train themselves to do, within reason. Skye grinned as Sano retracted his sword. He knew that a spar was going to come up next.

Spinning his scythe once around and putting it into a resting position. He stretched slightly while Sano prepared as well. "The rest we'll continue with a spar. Get ready." This would be the first time he had to fight in a one on one fight with a weapon in his hand. A slight mix of nervousness and excitement started to stir up in Skye’s mind.  It was going to be a tough fight considering his friend was much more experienced than him, but he wasn’t going to hold back. The chance he had at actually wounding Sano was next to nothing. Seeing how Sano was all ready to fight, Skye took a deep breath and a single step forward.

“3, 2, 1, GO!” Skye shouted the countdown incredibly quick and leaped at Sano with his scythe in tow. Turning his waist and extending his arms, he gripped the weapon tight and gave it one good swing. It would have been aimed for Sano’s stomach. Knowing Sano could easily beat him, he didn’t hold back even slightly. The force he put behind the single swipe of the scythe was rather heavy, but a bit sloppy. He would eventually get the full use of the weapon down. There was no doubt that his attack was going to fail and possibly be countered. Because of this, Skye mentally prepared to block an upcoming counter.

Word Count: 1278/1500

3, 2, 1, GO!” Skye shouted the countdown incredibly quick and leaped at Sano with his scythe in tow. Turning his waist and extending his arms, he gripped the weapon tight and gave it one good swing. Sanosuke observed as Skye positioned his body and was making notes. He had fought a lot of scythe users during his career as a shinobi. He was comparing their methods of fighting with Skye's own method of swinging. Based off his observations, Sanosuke noticed that a majority of them made sure the were centered before anything. But how Skye was doing it, he was throwing his entire weight into the swing so that was something he had to be taught was a bad thing. Before the sparring match started, Sanosuke took notes about the measurements of the scythe; how long it was, the blade and rough estimates of how heavy the blade could be. The weight would have an impact on the revolution speed of the scythe. With those in mind, Sanosuke was easily able to see what he can do to counter Skye's obvious attempted to slash at Sanosuke's. Side stepping the slash the jounin approached his friend and batted the blade of scythe from the inside groove of the scythe's blade to send it downwards to the ground. When this was done, Sanosuke would then level his sword to Skye's neck to show that if this was an actually battle he would have been killed on the spot.

"Dead. You're throwing too much weight into your swings bro." Sanosuke noted as he got his sword away from his close friend;s neck and put it back into the ground. "When you go in for an attack, you have to be balanced before swinging your sword around. Keep your feet more sturdy like the stance I showed you and then swing."

Skye felt the the force of his swing be completely transferred to the ground. The blade of his weapon was now slightly stick in the ground and would take a bit of work to get out. Just as he realized he was in a bad situation, Sano's sword was raised up to his neck. Skye could feel a slight chill coming off of the metal before his friend lowered the sword. If Sano wanted to, he could've easily offed Skye right then and there. With a sigh, Skye gripped the pole of his scythe and yanked it out of the ground.

After listening to Sano for a moment, he brought the scythe back up to it's normal position. Taking the advice he was given, Skye readied himself. Assuming the same defensive stance he had previously learned, he gripped the scythe and took a small practice swing. It looked pretty good for the first try, though it needed much improvement. "Alright then... How about we try again? This time, I defend." Instead of blindly leaping at Sano, Skye took a more standard approach and inched closer to Sano with his weapon readied. This time, Skye would attempt to let Sano strike first and see how well he could do on a defensive standpoint. Trying a counterattack was also on his mind, but he didn't want to risk having it backfire and letting Sano stomp on his tactics.

Word Count: 1514/1500 (Training Complete = Learned Bukijutsu/Onojutsu)

It was good that Skye was taking his advice so well. Normally people learning a weapon for the first time, they would get so defensive at mistakes that they made. Normally that much pride would get someone killed because they were so stubborn to learn from their mistakes. They would fight battles without any proper teaching, in which then would lead to their very death. Skye was always someone who wasn't to be put down so easily by mistakes. Ever since the day they met when Sanosuke was a genin and Skye was a chuunin, his best friend was someone who took criticism well. That was one thing why he liked this man to be at his side at all times. Sanosuke would like nothing more than to teach him more and more about to use the scythe properly. When his friend suggested that he should try attacking him, Sanosuke reached over to his blade and hopped backwards to widen the distance between him and his friend. He needed the space for Skye to get in a proper defensive stance. With his sword leveled at Skye he got himself ready to strike.

"Get ready because here I come!" Sanosuke said before dashing over at Skye with his sword in his hand. Bringing his sword to his side, Sanosuke swung his blade so that it would be aimed to strike at Skye's side in an attempt to test out how his fellow jounin would react to a horizontal attack.