{Training ground #21, Konohagakure}
{05:00 AM, 25th Jan 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Ren arrived at the training ground on time and did a quick survey of the training ground, like any standard training ground, #21 had an abundance of trees with a clearing and a small lake in one corner. Ren didn't find Hayate around, and he was feeling pretty good and had a lot of energy right now after the party at the Yakiniku Q last night. It wasn't the heavy affair he was expecting so he went to sleep early and took a rest like Hayate-sensei suggested.
'I should warm up-' Ren thought but Hayate-sensei suddenly flickered in front of him, he was startled and his right leg automatically went backward anticipating an attack.
"Good response,~Cough~~Cough~ I was expecting you to be slow after what happened last time," Hayate spoke his eyes taking in Ren's posture.
"Did you have a good rest as I asked," He enquired, seeing Ren nod he continued and motioned for Ren to sit down, "Sit down we have to plan and understand each other a little more before we start training."
Ren sat down on the training ground, Hayate waited for a few more seconds before he asked, "What do you believe is your greatest strength?"
"Speed," Ren answered almost immediately this was his belief from the day he started the academy, to be faster was to be stronger.
"Speed is good," Hayate nodded, he was quite shocked last week when he saw Ren moving at high chunin-level speeds, and because of that, he was confident that he could mold Ren into at least a high chunin-level shinobi in a very small amount of time.
"But you still have a very shallow understanding of speed, come let me show you..." Hayate stood up and motioned for Ren to follow. In a moment according to Hayate's silent instructions, they both took the standard academy taijutsu stance and Hayate rushed toward Ren at a speed considerably slower than what Ren has shown.
The punch was straightforward and Ren dodged it lightly and launched a counter once again at the same blistering pace that he had shown earlier, Hayate easily dodged the punch before he did a body feint with his shoulders and punched Ren in the gut with a fast punch.
"Ugh-" Ren grunted as he endured the blow and tried to counter but Hayate was already out of his range.
"At no point was I faster than you but I still managed to sneak through your guard without using my advantage of speed," Hayate spoke as he dropped his hands prompting Ren to do the same.
'It's the same rhythm again, just like it was implied in the {Advanced Academy Taijutsu} skill scroll.'
Ren had already learned everything he could after collecting all the rewards yesterday, he had leveled up once from all the EXP, and now with all the new perks he was looking forward to the training today. Among those scrolls when he learned the {Advanced Academy Taijutsu} he realized the importance of rhythm control during a taijutsu spar.
"You are attacking in different rhythms and mixing different speeds to fool my eyes and guard into reacting slower," the same thing happened when he fought the Inuzuka chunin even when they were comparable in speed he still lost advantage every time he attacked.
"Yes," Hayate smiled, he wasn't expecting Ren to notice the differences anytime soon, "When you fought your peers you always had an immense speed advantage, so much that you probably never felt pressured by Sasuke or anyone else's taijutsu. If you could maintain that same speed advantage in front of everyone out in the field then we wouldn't be having this talk right now. But you are not fighting against just your peers every time you leave the village gates."
Hayate walked towards Ren and spoke, "Look carefully I'm going to punch your right shoulder."
Ren nodded as he got ready, he focused again and time seemed to slow down slowly, he could see Hayate sensei's muscles tensing and he immediately blocked the punch. His hands were in place but the attack never came, after half a second he saw Hayate sensei's fist move towards his guard at a fast pace and he tightened his defense again but the attack never came.
Hayate let his punch stop an inch away from Ren's shoulder and then swept his legs with a low kick. Ren landed with a thud and groaned, "Your reactions are good, way better than what I would expect from a genin or hell even a recently promoted Chunin. You were able to read my telegraphed attack that no genin would have been able to see but that reaction gave me the opportunity to play around with your defense." Hayate sat down again and Ren followed him.
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"So you see speed is not everything, it is the best weapon to have in your arsenal but without proper rhythm it is blunt." Hayate finished his explanation and waited for Ren to recollect himself.
"Understood Hayate Sensei." Ren nodded, it makes a little more sense why he was not able to gain any experience in {Advanced Academy Taijutsu} even after all the training he did the past week.
"The taijutsu style I used just now is called 'Illusion fist'. I derived it after I took the principles of my kenjutsu style and applied them to the basic principles of a more common taijutsu style called 'Strong Fist'. When mastered completely you could use someone else's reactions and reflexes to manipulate the whole fight. But you are still far away from learning it as of right now, first, we need to break your habit of relying on speed to attack and focus on improving your control of your whole body."
"Understood, Hayate Sensei." Ren bowed slightly for guidance, throughout the last week he had been a little conflicted over his decision to not be on a team. He was selfish so he chose personal strength over teamwork back then and maybe his path has become a little more difficult.
'But isn't this what I always wanted, personal strength to counter anything that comes in my way...'
"Alright get up first we'll continue to work on your physical conditioning, show me your morning routin-" Hayate paused as if sensing something.
Ren noticed his tense and in a second he figured out why, it wasn't someone he was expecting to meet anytime soon. His silver hair flowed freely in the morning breeze as Ren used {observe} almost instinctively.
[Hatake Kakashi Lv-?]
[?]
[?]
[?]
...
'What's he doing here,' Ren was stunned as he stared at Kakashi. Hayate understood Ren's dilemma so he stepped forward and asked, "Kakashi-sempai, is there something wrong."
"I just wanted to buy something from your student," Kakashi spoke, he was reading that orange book of his like always, his entire demeanor was uncaring, or at least that's how he presented himself.
"What do you want to buy Kakashi...san?" Ren knew he had to call him sensei because he was now teaching members of his graduating class, but something inside of him, maybe the shattered remains of his pride stopped him from doing so.
Kakashi finally looked up from his book, his eyes stared at Ren for a moment before he smiled and his eye curled into a pleasant arc, "The Hatake Clan were famed for their unbreakable Kenjustsu..." Kakashi pulled out a scroll from his back pouch and used one hand to throw it lightly in the air and then somehow unsealed a katana from it with the same hand.
"All that is left of my clan is a list of accomplishments and failures, plus a surplus of swords hanging around in the clan armory. I'll trade you this for four of your pesky resistance seals." Kakashi eye-smiled again as he extended the sword towards Ren, the sword was stored in a brown sheath that had a strap and could be worn over the shoulder.
'Why, the sword is surely more expensive than 3 resistance seals...' Ren thought as he opened his pouch while manipulating his inventory to pull 4 of his best resistance seals from his pouch. The exchange happened in an instant and after a nod to both of them, Kakashi flickered out of the training ground.
Ren stared at the empty spot for a moment before he turned towards the sword in his hand, he unsheathed the sword and used {Observe} to get more information.
...
[Kaminari no Tsume (Rare)]
[A Katana once wielded by the Patriarch of the Hataka clan. Hiroshi Hatake was skilled with lightning manipulation thus he tracked down a craftsman clan to get himself a sword made from chakra metal that could be used to channel his Lightning affinity thus making his attacks more deadly.]
+25% EXP while learning {Chakra Flow} when equipped.
...
Ren was surprised once again as he read through the description of the sword, upon reading that it was a sword made from chakra metal he carefully looked through the blade. All through the blade there were small blue patterns randomly covering its surface.
Hayate walked up to Ren and stared at the chakra sword, it was an incredibly precious gift that Kakashi didn't have to give, he was pretty sure that even a normal well-made sword could have gotten the same effect.
"Why?" Ren asked he was confused by the gift and he was pretty sure that he would not be able to understand Kakashi's intention so he asked Hayate-sensei.
Hayate looked in the direction where Kakashi rushed off to and then explained, "I know there is history between the two of you, but in the end, Kakashi was taught by Lord Fourth. If it is one thing he understands more than anything else then it is the fact that the village comes first no matter what. Kakashi understands his flaws, he is stubborn in the way he judges people, as are most shinobi. The sword is both an apology from him, because of his verdict last year that your career has become a little harder and the fact he didn't properly do his duty as a Jonin sensei. At the same time, the sword is a reward for you and your drive forward to continue to improve."
"Since he knows Gai-san, he knows exactly what hard work and perseverance can achieve..."
Hayate stared at the sword for another few seconds before he instructed, "Put the sword back in its sheath and store it away, remember until you properly learn how to wield the sword never show it to anyone. A chakra sword is incredibly rare and would put a target on your back when the news of you having it leaks."
Hayate sighed, Ren's training plan needed to be altered a little he threw the scroll that Kakashi used to seal the sword back to Ren and spoke, "Start warming up, I'll be back in a bit."
Watching Hayate-sensei flicker away Ren stared at the sword one last time before he stored it back in the storage scroll and then pretended to put the scroll in his pouch while storing it in his inventory. He activated his resistance seals to level 6 once again and then started running laps around the training ground.
'...Is Kakashi going to train his team using resistance seals?'
...