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| - Kisei snores quietly, half-buried in the pile of leaves that served as his bedding the previous night. The shifting shadows of the canopy play against the skin of his face, and the flashing light of the sun occasionally teases his eyelid. Beginning to rouse, the young ninja flips onto his back, and his arms and legs splay in every direction as he resumes his snoring. As he sleeps, he dreams. Kisei sits up with a start, and finds himself back in the forest glade. He would have breathed a sigh of relief, except that something is lodged in his throat. He coughs up a spider- one of his spider puppets. "What? What the hell?!" He finally looks up, to the branches above him. Reclining in a care-free manner, sits an aged ninja. "I expected your awareness of your surroundings to have improved somewhat in my absence. You're still full of vulnerabilities..." Kisei stands abruptly, brushes the leaves off of him, and grins. "Yoshitsune-sensei! You're here!" The elder nonchalantly replies, "Your talents at discerning the obvious never cease to disappoint." Rather than getting down from his perch to greet his student, it appears as though the branch itself is gradually drifting down the trunk of the tree. Kisei's confused for a moment, until he sees that it's actually a kind of puppet arm that has extended itself beneath Yoshitsune, and is holding him up. "It was never a branch at all!" Kisei exclaims in surprise. "Obviously." Yoshitsune casually stands, and the puppet construct folds back into concealment among the clothes of his kimino. He appraises Kisei for a moment, before asking, "How are you holding up?" Kisei stretches out his arms tentatively. The pain is gone. "I'm feeling great, actually. Don't let my dirty clothes fool you. I heal pretty quickly, two broken arms is nothing!", he brags. "Hmm. Still reckless with your body, I see. Do you actually have any idea how close you were to death in that forest?" Yoshitsune's calm exterior becomes stony as he interrogates the young ninja. Kisei gets the feeling he messed up at some point in the discussion. "Uh, well. I was never in any great danger really. I mean, so long as I can get chakra from trees and plants and stuff I should be fine." Yohitsune shakes his head before indicating Kisei should follow him with a subtle wave of his hand. "That way of thinking is just like you, you know..." Kisei begins to smile, "and that is not a compliment. Your recklessness and lack of foresight will be your end, mark my words. Come. It is time to enact the next phase of your training." As they walk, Yoshitsune continues with his examination. "Tell me about your journey so far. Spare no detail." Kisei recounts his expedition from Kumogakure as much as he is able. The nights trudging through the rain... being attacked by bandits... stealing food from a field and sleeping under the stars... These and other stories take up the time as the two walk deeper in the forests beyond the hokage memorial. By the time they reach their destination, Kisei has already told the full length of his story. The field before them is rather unremarkable-looking. It's knee-length grasses are yellowed and lilt in the gentle breeze. In the center of the field, is a large marble boulder, easily ten feet across, atop which is a set of manacles which have been chained and bolted to the rock. Yoshitsune carefully sits down upon the lip of the boulder with a slight grunt of exertion, and turns to address his pupil. "Now that you've reviewed the events in your mind, seek out the greatest obstacles that faced you in your journey. Where did you fail?" Kisei ponders for several minutes before responding, "I failed to notice team Karui was hiding. I failed to protect my allies from danger, because I fell into a trap. I failed to protect myself from harm, because I was too intent on winning. I lost sight of what is important.. surviving. I should become more aware." Kisei thinks a bit more, before adding, "I also... I keep running out of hands." Yoshitsune quirks an eyebrow at this, and motions for Kisei to continue. "I... I can't fight to protect myself and control a puppet at the same time. When I'm using my puppets, I'm vulnerable. More than that.. when I run out of chakra, I have to use one hand to draw it from other sources, or else I can't continue fighting. Is there a way I could... I don't know... get puppet arms or something? Or maybe get more chakra without my hands?" Yoshitsune begins to chuckle and shake his head. "You know, I think there might just be such a way. Come here for a moment, let me see your arms." Yoshitsune slips a black pair of gloves across Kisei's hands. "These gloves are made from a chakra-inhibiting material. They prevent you from releasing chakra from tenketsu that have been covered." The rubbery material stretches to accomodate Kisei's hands, and stop mid-way up his forearm. "These will assist you in your chakra exercises." Leading Kisei up to the top of the boulder, Yoshitsune carefully places the manacles over Kisei's wrists, and snaps them shut. "Hey, Sensei!? What are-" Yoshitsune raises a hand to silence the indignant complaint. "Trust me, this is necessary. You can't rely on external chakra sources for this. It would only serve to distract you from your training. You have three-hundred and sixty-one tenketsu in your body. Only a small number are in your fingers and palm, and yet, the majority of your techniques are committed from them. You must learn to release chakra from all of your tenketsu. I believe you can achieve this... since your body has naturally assumed the ability to absorb chakra through them, they should be more receptive than ordinary ninjas'." Gloved, and chained to a rock, Kisei begins to feel a growing sense of dread and apprehension. "But what do you want me to do, sensei?" "Survive. I am going to leave you here, like this. When you have succeeded, return to the village. I'll find you once you do so." Yoshitsune turns to walk away, before turning back to Kisei and crouching down to meet him eye level. "What was it, you said before? Two broken arms?" His fist snaps forward into Kisei's elbows, and pain explodes from them as the joints become disconnected. "AAUUUGGGHH!!!" Yoshitsune ignores the screaming and continues his lesson. "You are too reliant on your ability. You can't assume you will have an opportunity to heal from your injuries so easily... take the pain as a lesson. Don't take unnecessary chances. Don't incur injuries just out of convenience." Yoshitsune begins his slow walk out of the forest valley. "W-wait! Sensei! Come back! Don't leave me like this! I'll die! I'll starve and die of thirst!" Yoshitsune pauses for a moment to look back at his student over his shoulder. "I believe a human can survive a month of starvation without activity... if you can't get out of those chains in that time, you aren't worthy of being my apprentice. As for the water... I wouldn't worry about that. I checked the weather prediction this morning." With that parting statement, Yoshitsune withdraws an umbrella from his robes and opens it, as the first raindrops begin to fall.
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