Aoi's tactics were working. Although his regimen was a difficult and tiresome one. Rena had returned from the hospital a few weeks ago and had her hands in Yammy's training as well. She to was a shinobi in her hay day. Yammy day by day had been training with both of his Grandparents. Aoi had taught him to withstand damage, while being able to rest lightly. This would help down the line in preventing him from being ambushed while on the battlefield. The sun was rising slowly over the horizon. Yammy was up early. He had been up for quite some time actually, sitting up in his bed. His left leg was up and he was resting his arm over it, while looking out of his bedroom window.

He wondered were his Mother was at. She was different from his Father who'd been a ghost for several years. His mother, Hikari, sent letters every so often telling Yammy of her travels. Yammy shifted his body placing both feet on the ground. The floor felt cold to his feet. It was a oddly satisfying feeling, it made him wiggle his toes some. Yammy stood and stretched, yawing loudly. A scent of biscuits drew his nose to his closed room door. 'I know the smell is real, but I'm not falling for any of their shenanigans anymore.' Yammy thought to himself, as he got dressed, throwing on a baggy pair of khaki colored joggers. There were a black pair of sneakers sitting right by his bed. Yammy threw on a pair of socks, before sliding into the sneakers.

It did so as slowly and silently as he could. He was trying to make his Grandparents think he had laid back down. When in actuality he walked over to the window. Slowly sliding the window opened Yammy looked around, seeing if his Grandfather, Aoi, was placed traps there. It appeared he hadn't, but in all honesty there could be chakra strings encasing the outside window. Either way he'd have to defend himself in the off chance Aoi or Rena were waiting on the other side of the window. As quiet as he could Yammy took a deep breath and dove through the window, with a tuck and roll. Yammy stood and looked back at the window. 'Guess they didn't do anything this time.' He thought that anyway.

Yammy turned away from the house and began dusting himself off. "If you want breakfast, I hope you last longer than my ninkin." Yammy held his head down. 'Damnit.' It was the voice of Rena. "And you have to do it wearing this weights." Yammy held his head high and placed his hand on his face. "Both his grandparents had appeared before him. One in the front and one behind. Yammy took the weights from Aoi, which consisted of a vest, ankle weights, and wrist weights. It added well over one hundred pound to Yammy. While he was doing that Rena summoned her ninkin. A pack of five dogs appeared before Rena. There were two huskies, two pitbulls, and a grey hound.

"Okay ladies and gentleman. The only thing I need you all to do today is chase Yammy, until your chakra run out. You are permitted to use earth shifting jutsu. If you catch him, bring him home immediately. He is going to be receiving penalty training, if you all win this session. Of course if he manages to outlast you all he gets off of his training regimen a little earlier." Yammy sighed because of his grandparents training methods were sometimes...extra? However once he'd heard that he could be done with training, Yammy got a little more energy. "Let's get this started already." Yammy said confidently. All five of the dogs barked in excitement. They hadn't seen Yammy since he was a child, and finally they got not only a chance to see him, but a chance to help him train. "On your mark, get set, Go!" shouted Aoi. Once he'd said go, Yammy was gone in a flash. The ninkin chasing behind him.

'These weights are pretty heavy. Having to keep evading these ninkin will get tiresome. I don't know how I'm supposed to get this done. Oh well all I can do is keep moving.' Yammy could hear the dogs running behind him. A small smile came to his face. It made him remember when he was a kid and they'd use to play like this. He could her the paws of the ninkin scrapping against the ground as they chased behind him. There heavy panting and barks echoes behind him. The grey hound, Hayai, began closing in on Yammy. It was unwise of him to run in a striaght line against him. Just before Hayai could grab hold of Yammy's shirt with his jaw, the Yams cut right. Effectively jukeing him. "Gotta be quicker than that Hayai. I'm not a kid anymore." Hayai growled playfully and barked at the rest of the ninkin as they passed him. He continued behind the pack.

The other four ninkin began spreading out. Even without looking back Yammy could hear their formation change. 'Can't let them do that. They'll for sure catch me.' Yammy did the only thing he could think of, surface walking, take to the trees, mountains, and water. Taking different path would mess up their formation at least. Yammy had been running along a mountain pass. The pass was encased by stone walls, he took to the right wall face. The huskies Demo and Kankaku broke from the formation to chase Yammy along the wall. The other ninkin remained in formation on the mountain pass.

"You think we'd treat you like a kid? We can see how serious they are about your training, Young Master." Demo, the female husky said while chasing behind Yammy. "I suppose you have a point. It's been a while since I've seen you all, and Grandma calls you all for something like this." He replied to her. Yammy didn't have a problem with his endurance, the problem was his pace. One slip up and the ninkin would catch him. He didn't even have time to come up with a decent strategy.

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Rena's group of ninken very extremely systematic. Everything they did was to gauge their opponent. Though it may seem that the group were missing their mark, they were hitting it every time. Yammy knew this and that's exactly what bothered him. They truly were a difficult bunch to handle. He need a concrete plan of action against them. It bothered him more when the clawing sounds of two of the ninken disappeared. Hesitantly he looked back, over his left shoulder. That's when he saw Sakura and Titan, the pit bull ninken, were gone. He knew that they each had a the Doton infinity.

Kankaku was still chasing behind him. While Hayai and Demo remained running along the pass. "That's not even fair." He said somewhat jokingly. He just knew they were underneath him somewhere. Sakura was the one who normally did the capturing, while Titan was the one who dug traps. 'I need to get off this wall. They could be trapping me to the trees. If I get stuck up there, they are sure to catch me. Yammy thought of his weight plus the added baggage from the weights he was wearing. If he were to take to the trees on step on a faulty branch and he'd plummet right into the jaws of the ninken squadron.  

Yammy's vision returned to its appropriate position, to ahead of him. Right when he did Yammy saw Sakura and Titan appearing just a few meters ahead of him. As quickly as he could Yammy took note to where each one of the ninken were. 'I've got no choice.' Hayai and Demo were right next to him running along the pass. Kankaku close behind him. He climbed higher up the mountain wall. All Yammy could think was continue upwards. 'I could cut back now that I think of it.' He said to himself. Yammy planted his left foot and cut right, going in the direction he came from.

The forced each one of the ninken to change direction. Only the pit bulls, Sakura and Titan, were in a good position to continue chasing Yammy without losing momentum. The other three ninken stopped their forward momentum to turn and continue their pursuit. Yammy quickly began making hi way down the stone wall. 'That wasn't a good idea. Seems like their trying to push me to a certain area.' Yammy continued back towards his home. The stone walls began to diminish, eventually becoming a ledge that stood over a forest. This time he chose too jump off of the ledge into the forest below.

The ninken squadron hesitated, who had regrouped, hesitated slightly. That was until their leader, Hayai, came flying from the ledge too continue the chase of Yammy. He barked to the rest of the ninken. "Do not forget he is to be treated as any other target. Do not hesitate, regardless of this being a simple training exercise." The other four ninken looked at each other for a brief moment, before jumping off of the ledge too follow behind Hayai. The momentum that was bringing Yammy towards the trees below kept him from looking back. He was far to focused on not mis-stepping once he hit the trees.

As Yammy hit the treeline, he aimed for the largest branch he could, given the time he had. He jumped from branch to branch making his way to the floor below. He dashed forward looking for somewhere to lay low from the ninken. His Grandmother, Rena, had a large chakra pool. He knew the ninken using chakra would expend some of their own, however he didn't know how much chakra they had. He'd put enough distance between him and the ninken to be able to hid himself, without worrying about their continued pursuit. He did the best he could to slow his breath, as he hid within a bush.

Due to the almost eerie silence of the forest, Yammy could hear when the ninken crashed into the trees. "We've lost track of him. Demo, Kankaku, you both have the best tracking abilities. Do you know his scent?" Commanded Hayai. "Roger!" The two husky said in tandem. Yammy wouldn't tell how far they were from his current position, however he did a rough estimate. 'I need to move from this spot They'll sniff me out eventually. If I can manage to get back up the mountain face, or get too some water, I may be able to give them the slip.' While Demo and Kankaku got to work on finding Yammy's scent, he'd move slowly from the bush he'd been in.

This wasn't the optimal place for him to be in either. The dense forest limited his eyesight, while it allowed for the ninken to show their hunting prowess. Yammy slowly took too the trees. He was careful with what branch he chose to perch on as he traveled through the tree tops. Yammy only picked the largest of trees to jump to, making his route much harder. There were few and they were sometimes far between. He was thankful that the ninken had yet to catch onto where he was. Yammy was moving out and in a circle. He hoped to get back to the mountain pass.

"Captain his scent is all over the place." Kankaku relayed to Hayai. "What Kankaku say is true. We can pinpoint his location, however it's going to take us a little time. It's not like he's the average enemy we face. The young Master knows somewhat how we operate." Demo added. "We might lose track of him before long. Everyone spread out. Demo and Kankaku one of you follow the lighter scents and the other the more pungent ones. Titan stay on the ground level. Try going underground, if that'll help. Sakura, you take to the trees. Given those weights focus on the more sturdy sapling. I'll trace along the mountain face. Scatter!" Barked the battle seasoned Hayai. "Sir!" The ninken dispersed from one another.

Yammy had a strange feeling, a chill ran down his spine. 'I don't have a good feeling about this." He thought to himself in a cold sweat, while a awkward smile stretched across his face. He stopped in a large bristlecone pine tree.  He knelled on one of the branches, taking a small breather. He'd more or less been moving nonstop. The weights were starting to take a toll on his body. He felt his muscles begin to ache. 'If I make it back to the house before they find me. I win...I hope. I need a nap and didn't even get a chance to eat anything yet.' Yammy felt his stomach growl in agreeance. He rubbed his belly a few times. 'Hopefully we can finish this quick.' Yammys' break lasted to long, he had heard something he hadn't in the past thirty minutes at least and that was one of the ninken, Demo, scaling through the treeline. Thinking as quickly as he could, Yammy climbed higher into the tree. A mere two branches above where he once stood.

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Demo came to a immediate halt on the branch Yammy was just perched on. She began sniffing the branch, with her red nose, which was slightly pink on her snout. Demo raised her head into the air and began sniffing. Yammy pressed himself against the branch. He hoped his altitude mixed with the pungent smell of the tree would throw off her nose. Demo et out a loud howl. It almost caused Yammy to fall from his current hiding spot. 'That was unexpected. Never mind that, she must've figured out I'm up here.' He thought pondering it for a minute. 'No knowing Demo she would come up here by now.' He refused to look down or even move. One misstep and she'd be alerted to his presence.

A few minutes passed and Demo had not moved. 'Are you serious.' Yammy starred into the sky, as he heard the footsteps of the ninkin squadron. "Captain, Yammy's scent in as strong as I've been able to pick on right here." Hayai, who's been Ground level, jumped unto the branch Demo had been standing on. The other three ninken remained on the ground. Hayai sniffed the branch and began looking around. "Titan, Sakura, Kankaku search the surrounding area. The young master couldn't have gotten far." Hayai said looking down from the branch. "Sir!" The three of them scattered, not leaving to far from the tree.

'They're going to catch wind of me eventually. What am I going to do..." Yammy held in a sigh that almost escaped his lips. He went as far as holding his breath until the wind blew. He thought about it for a brief moment. 'The weights.' Yammy carefully and slowly slid one of the weights on his wrist off. He could hear Hayai and Demo below him having a conversation. The other three hadn't returned, so all he needed to do was distract Demo and Hayai, so he could continue making his way towards the mountain pass. Without moving, Yammy threw the weight as far as he could deeper into the forest. He made sure to throw it in a way that Demo nor Hayai would be alerted to until in hit the ground. He watched as it flew through the air, narrowly missing tree branches.

The weight landed in a bush with a loud thud. Hayai immediately rushed towards the bush. Not wanting to give Yammy a chance to escape, demo followed behind Hayai. He watched the two ninken close in on the bush. Yammy took the chance too leap from the branch. 'Gotta love these loopholes. Gramps never said I couldn't take the weights off.' Yammy thought as he landed on another tree branch. He moved as quickly, yet as silently as he could. Yammy stopped at another large tree. He got to a height that would make it difficult for his scent to be picked up. Just as he reached the branch Yammy could hear footsteps running against the ground.

Suddenly the sound of running disappeared. Yammy knelled, once more holding his breath. He couldn't even hear the panting of whichever ninken it was. 'Where'd you go...' He thought to himself. Once the thought crossed his mind, Yammy heard something climbing the tree. "Found you young master!" Yelled Kankaku as he scaled the tree. 'How in the...?' Yammy thought as he jumped from the branch to the next. 'I should've went back to ground level...' Yammy began thinking. That was until Kankaku explained how he figured out where Yammy was. "You had use fooled earlier, however it was bothering me how strong your smell was in that area, yet he could find you anywhere. While your scent remained." Kankaku leaped from the tree trunk and followed behind Yammy.

Kankaku began alerting the other ninken with very specific barks. It was like he was barking a plan to them. "Just my luck I don't know what he's barking about." suddenly popping up right in front of him was Titan. The male pit bull lunged at Yammy. Reacting as quickly as he could Yammy vaulted over him. Yammy's hands landed on the back neck of Titan and pushed him down towards the ground. This slowed down his momentum allowing Kankaku to get slightly closer to Yammy. Titan caught himself by planting his paws in the tree trunk and vaulting back towards the treetops.

There was no advantage or disadvantage for Yammy in this situation. The ninken wouldn't be able to get a grasp on him, however he would not be able to shake them easily. The other three ninken soon caught up, sprinting along the ground. That being said they kept a very specific formation in dealing with Yammy. Two of them would stay close while the other three remained at some sort of distance. Thinking of his earlier actions Yammy began thinking of various combat situations. 'If this were a life or death situation, I feel as though they'd use more jutsu. Thinking of it though I've been repeating my actions in different locations. If it were more than just them and their Summoner was present. I wouldv'e been captured.'

Yammy finally realized the true point of this exercise. Much like Aoi, Rena worked in similar ways. There was a underlying lesson she had been trying to teach her Grandson, while Aoi was providing him with a means to fight back. Not only that Aoi was showing Yammy what war could be like. 'Gotta love those two. They always have some lessons that they're teaching me.' The stone wall came into sight. Yammy would more than likely be hawked in and captured by them on the straight slope. What was he to do, suddenly the idea began connecting in his mind. 'Shed this weights at the right moments and stop their momentum, while increasing mine.' Once Yammy hit the mountain face he began running up it as fast as he could. The ninken hit the wall at the same time right behind him.

Yammy's suspicions were correct. They were much faster on a flat surface. He could hear them beginning to close in on him. Right when he could feel their panting on the back of his heels Yammy shed his vest, without losing momentum. The vest went hurdling towards the ninken squadron. Due to its weight and their position, the five ninken had no choice but to evade the 'bumper'. They were in a horizontal line formation, however the three in the middle needed to evade the vest. This is was caused the group as a whole to slow. Yammy looked over his shoulder to see the idea worked. He climbed up to the mountain pass and continued towards his home. Given their delay Yammy had a good start over the ninken once they reach the mountain pass.

"Enough!" Barked Hayai. "We shall catch the young master here and now, before he reaches base." The other ninken barked in agreeance. Demo and Kankaku vanished underground, while Hayai increased his speed. Kankaku appeared in front of Yammy. His first reaction to this was to jump, however as soon as Yammy left the air Demo came leaping from the ground. Her mouth wide oen ready to bite Yammy. He stuck out his arm, where the remaining weight was, allowing Demo to grab a hod of it. Yammy quickly flipped in the air sliding his hand from the weight.

Titan created a ramp made of earth, allowing Hayai to gain more speed. Hayai lunged towards Yammy. Just as Yammy came out of his flip Hayai was behind him. The greyhound ninken took a hold of Yammy's shoulder, and dug his teeth into his shoulder. Yammy clenched his jaw, he felt a sharp pain run from his shoulder down to his hand. Using the same arm Yammy gripped the neck of Hayai, using their momentum Yammy flipped Hayai over his shoulder, slamming the ninken captain into the ground. His arm went limp after that. However Yammy continued his approach to his home.


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Hayai slammed against the ground, with a slight yelp. It pained him, however it wasn't anything the ninken captain wasn't use to. However the counter to his attack caused him to become dazed. Demo and Sakura continue the pursuit of Yammy. He could hear their hurried steps behind him. Demo, using her doton, caused a wall of earth to appear before Yammy. It was large enough and tall enough to halt his progression. He turned to look at the two ninken. "You won't escape us young master." Sakura said as the came to a stop in front of Yammy.

"Well guess I have no choice, but to face you all." Yammy said with a exasperated smile on his face. This was like one of those classic sayings. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rest of the ninken squadron caught up to Demo and Sakura. "Well now young master. You've done well in evading us up to this point. It's over now, just come with us and we'll escort you back home." Yammy's left shoulder had blood running down his arm from the wound that was there. Using his right hand he rubbed the back of his neck, letting out along over due sigh. Which slightly relaxed his body.

"Well the thing about that is I was already on my way home, before you all so rudely interrupted me. By the way Hayai this stings a lot ya know." He said sarcastically pointing to the gash on his shoulder. Hayai scoffed. "This si but part of your training Young master. It could've been worse, besides that counter was well executed and wasn't a basket of flowers...Ya know?" Hayai responded as equally sarcastic. He stepped forward more towards Yammy, becoming the closest ninken to Yammy. "Demo stay were you  are. Just in case he gets any smart ideas." Hayai said as the other four ninken began to encase Yammy.  

The slowly inched closer and closer to him. Yammy took a a knee and began removing the weights around his legs. "Might as well take these off." Once removed, the weights hit the dirt floor with a loud thud. Those were probably the heaviest weights that had been on his body. Yammy let out a sigh of relief. "That feels wonderful. I feel so much lighter and haven't even moved." Yammy stood, feeling a slight tingling sensation go through his legs. It was most likely the blood in his legs being able to fully circulate now.  He stomped his feet a few times. "Damn..." Yammy bounced up and down. "How long have we been doing this exercise?" Yammy asked as the ninken got closer.

"About 5 hours give or take." Responded Demo from the back. "Well it will continue a little while longer. I'm not done yet." In a puff of smoke Yammy disappeared from in front of the ninken right as they were about to pounce. Hayai braked in slight agitation. "Let's head back to base. He's more than likely heading that way." The stone wall was brought down and the ninken squadron continued towards Yammy's home. In a puff of smoke Yammy appeared in front of his home. He walked in through the front door and took of the weights that were around his legs. "I'm back and the ninken lost." He said tiredly. Aoi came walking from the living room.

"Looks like you had fun." He said taking note to the bloodied arm of his grandson. "Well Rena you can go ahead and call of the hounds." Aoi said with laugh in his voice. Rena came to the front, where Aoi and Yammy were. She preformed some hand seals, after which the ninken squadron appeared before them. "Good job you all. You can take it easy now, I'll be calling you all when I need you again." The ninken barked happily. "Yes ma'am." Before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. "Go get cleaned up Yammy and I'll make you something to eat." said Rena looking at the damage the training had done. "At least you only received that one wound." Yammy nodded. "Yeah that was rough...no pun intended." Rena and Aoi chuckled slightly.

Yammy went to the bathroom and got cleaned up, taking a shower, bandaging his wound, and changing clothes. He could smell the food coming from the kitchen. His stomach growled in anticipation. Yammy rubbed his stomach. "Told you training would be over soon. Time for a reward!" He said excitedly in anticipation for his Grandmothers cooking. It was mid afternoon. He moved to the dining room with a sluggish pace. His adrenaline had fell and he was feeling the affects of the weights and fatigue. His limbs felt heavy, but the shower had relaxed him some. His grandmother had made some of his favorites, however most of the meal was primed to help him regain energy, help build his muscles, and rejuvenate lost electrolytes. Aoi had eaten and was enjoying the weather on the back porch. Yammy sat down at the table, after making a full plate. "Thank You for the meal!"

Yammy dug into the meal. He even went back for seconds and eventually went to the living room to sleep off his food.

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