Training the Academy:

Rysano Itawaka stepped out from his house to take in the weather of Kirigakure. Despite the cold mist that clung to everything, as usual, the village was already coming alive in the morning. As soon as he stepped out of his house, he was greeted by the sweet hustle and bustle that came with living near the central market of the town. He saw vendors running to and fro, attempting to get their stalls and shops all in order for the busy day ahead. One lady seemed to be having trouble carrying some large oak boxes of her product down the street, so Rysano quickly locked his door and jogged over to offer his help. The shop owner seemed very grateful and handed him the entire stack of boxes, that were now easily discernible as crates of raw fish. Although he was unprepared for the full weight of the boxes, he nonetheless took them on with a smile. He truly was happy to help anyone who needed it, and he was glad he was able to do his part, no matter how small. He knew the woman would appreciate his help greatly.

Once he had bid farewell to the shop owner and spent a good while denying the woman's insistence on tipping him for his assistance, he found a chance to relax and ponder the day ahead of him. He wondered what he might have to eat for lunch, perhaps a good soup at the restaurant he had just discovered the night prior. Perhaps he'd check if any of his friends would like to get together later. He knew his friend Ardyn would be up for it. 'Oh yeah! I promised to help train the students at the academy today!.' He remembered. He was incredibly excited to start working as a Genin and taking on missions for the village, no matter how small. He had left his house in no rush to get to the academy, so he checked a nearby clock to see if he had enough time to stop and eat before he made his way there. His heart skipped a beat when he saw how much time had passed while he was helping the lady with her fish boxes. He only had thirty minutes to make it all the way across the village!

Rysano broke out into a sprint across the damp pavement of the city. Down back alleys and across unused bridges, he took every shortcut through the town he knew of, trying to make it to his appointment on time. He ran past multiple shops, only narrowly missing one man just beginning to open his food stand. Rysano could only yell an apology back to the upset owner before continuing his run. The sweat beginning to dot his forehead, he arrived at the entrance to the Kirigakure academy. He stood for a minute before the large oak doors that led inside to catch his breath. He focused on slowing his heart rate by taking long, deep breaths and dabbed the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. The smell of the sea filled his lungs as his breathing returned to normal and he stepped through the doors to begin his lesson.

He was welcomed inside by a receptionist waiting at the front desk. “Hello! I’m Rysano Itawaka. I’m supposed to be helping to teach the students a technique today.” He said to the young woman, her eyes never glancing up from the paper in front of her. “Could you point me in the direction of the correct classroom?” The lady’s glanced flicked up to him for the first time, only for a second, her blue eyes hiding behind thick-rimmed glasses, before returning to her work.

“You’ll find the class already waiting out by the pond behind the main building.” Rysano’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. He didn’t realize he was late enough for them to already be out and ready to start. He thanked the woman quickly, who simply brushed it off, and he ran back out of the doors he had just arrived through. Once outside, he channeled some chakra into the soles of his feet and ran up the side of the building to land on the roof. He ran down the length of it to look off the edge. From his vantage point, he could see the rather large pond behind the school building, and his class of pupils waiting just on the other side of it from him. This was a perfect situation to show them an example of what he would be teaching them today.

Rysano leaped from the top of the building he was perched upon and landed on the water at the edge of the deep blue pond, sending small ripples cascading outward from where he landed. As he ran across the surface of the water towards the group of children, some of them began to notice him and were gesturing toward him for their friends to look as well. Some of them looked a little unimpressed while others seemed like they had never seen a ninja run across the water like this. As he came to rest just at the edge of the water before the class he was greeted by the teacher. “You must be Rysano. You’re just on time. We just decided to head out here a little early today.” Rysano was relieved to hear that, as he was under the impression that he was running late for his mission. The teacher turned back to the class of children. “Now students, Mr. Itawaka here has volunteered to help teach you an important technique for any ninja to know. As you can see, he is already demonstrating it for us all.” His gaze, along with the students’, turned back onto Rysano. “Take it away Mr. Itawaka.”

Rysano turned to address the class, his feet disturbing the surface of the water only slightly as he shifted his weight on to one foot. “Hello everyone! As you’ve already heard, my name is Rysano Itawaka, and I am here to teach you all how to perform the Supernatural Walking technique.” There were a few oohs and aahs from the crow when he said this, and that made him smile even more than he normally does. He remembered back to when he was just an academy student and was amazed every time he saw anyone perform a new technique he’d never seen. It felt strange to be on the other side of that coin, but it was a place he wanted to be, and he was happy he had the opportunity to help another generation of Kiri shinobi.

“So this is actually a pretty simple technique, but it does require a little bit of precise chakra control. All you have to do channel some of your chakra into the bottoms of your feet to create a sort of buffer between you and the water’s surface.” Rysano gestured down to his feet, where a layer of light blue chakra was visible on the soles of his shoes. “As long as the chakra is maintained on your feet, you’ll be free to walk around on any surface, even straight up trees!” There were a couple of verbal responses at this statement. He’d have to show them that part later. For now, he wanted to lighten the mood a little before they began trying the technique themselves. “Now one thing you will have to practice is keeping the chakra on your feet maintained while performing other tasks, because if you happen to lose that chakra…” He trailed off as he willed his chakra flow to stop and his entire body plunged into the icy water of the pond. He was instantly overtaken with the near-freezing temperatures of the water that now engulfed him. He had neglected to think about how cold the waters would be this early in the day, but it would be funny for the kids, so Rysano didn’t mind enduring a little cold for a joke.

He made his way back to the surface and pulled himself back onto his feet. Some of the children were still giggling in the back and he knew it had gone over well with them, even if the teacher seemed a little concerned for him. Shaking some of the water out of his hair, Rysano said, “And that is why you want to practice this technique enough that it becomes second nature to you, because we all know just how cold the waters can get around our village, and you don’t want to take an unexpected bath like I just did there.” The kids seemed much more interested in learning now and were eager to get started. “So, who would like to try it out first?”

As he made his way to the shore, the teacher began going over the basics of how to channel chakra to certain parts of your body, and one by one the kids began trying their hand at the new technique. Some were fast learners and nailed it on their first try, others needed a little bit of extra help understanding the concept, and Rysano was more than happy to help this group out so they could all feel good about learning something new today. After a couple hours of practice, culminating in the entire class chasing Rysano around the pond trying to catch him, he and the teacher were satisfied that the class had successfully learned the Supernatural Walking technique and Rysano’s duty was fulfilled. He said goodbye to all the children, who began asking their teacher if Mr. Itawaka could come back to teach them again soon, and began the trek back to the center of town. He had really worked up an appetite with those kids, but what he really needed was a fresh set of dry clothes. He laughed at himself as he made his way home.

[WC 1654/750]
[Mission Complete]
[Using 600 WC to spend on extra mission reward]
[Training Speed, Reaction time, Perception, Endurance E-0 --> E-1 for 300 words]
[4 Words wasted]