Just Another Day {P}

The cold plink of oppressive  rain relentlessly poured down on the Koga household. Resident jounin of Amegakure, Ryuu Koga, lay in bed it had been another restless night. As of late the weather in Amegakure had been stormier than usually. The concussive pounding of thunder had kept Ryuu up all night. It was not that he was scared of the weather, no far from it, rather the constant noise did not allow him to fall into a restful sleep. Luckily this morning was slightly better. Instead of raining cats and dogs it was only raining cats, but it was rain nonetheless. Summoning up all his willpower, Ryuu pulled off his sheets and got up-it was a hard fought struggle as the bed seemed to attract the young jounin by promising the sleep he so obviously lacked. Even as he pulled on some clothes going back to bed seemed like a very nice option. However, Ryuu was disciplined enough to turn his back on sleep and finish getting dressed.  Glancing around his room the jounin gave an internal shrug- he really needed to clean his room, but even that would have to wait for today was blocked out for training and that was all Ryuu would be doing today.

Shutting his bedroom door behind him Ryuu moved quietly over the old wooden floors. With the skill and experience of living in the same house for all his life he avoided each creaky board and poorly oiled hinge. Yes, Ryuu, despite being a jounin, still lived with his parents. However, they were getting on in years and even Ryuu was not coldhearted enough to simply leave his parents in their advanced age. All the same he knew that it was unwise to wake either his mother or his father and thus arrived in the kitchen in a manner true to his occupation: like a ninja. Moving quickly through his well worn routine Ryuu grabbed an apple and went on his way making sure to slide the backdoor shut behind him. Much to his chagrin the rain had elevated to a new level once again. Periodically a flash of lightning was once again. Periodically a flash of lightning was accompanied by the roll of distant thunder that could barely be heard over the omnipresent roar of rain.

Sighing to himself Ryuu glanced up at the sky and then stepped out into the downpour. In a matter of seconds the stalwart jounin was soaked to the bone. On the bright side there was no turning back. Grimacing at the cold chill the water sent through him Ryuu stepped onto the oddly bustling street. People of Amegakure had learned to live in the rain, thus the streets were bustling with merchants, vagrants, and the occasional freak who seemed to enjoy walking through the bone chilling rain. All in all everything was normal in the village hidden in the rain. The wet footsteps of Ryuu retracted a well known path to his favorite training ground. This training ground was by no means secret or well hidden. Rather it was the generic training ground of the local academy, but it was also the perfect place for a jounin to hone his skill in combat as there were always people looking for a fight. Plus, if one was not interested in an all out fight, there was always the available training instruments such as training dummies and the like.

In a matter of about ten minutes Ryuu arrived to find that the training grounds were packed for some reason. However, what was most odd was that most of the people were not training in the least. Rather they were gathered in a circle around two people who were going at it in a most violent manner. Not wanting to get too involved, but also curious as to what was happening, Ryuu got a bit closer. He could not really make out what was going on through the combination of the rain and the cheering that was erupting in loud bursts from the crowd. After watching from within the mass of people the jounin came to the conclusion that this was no normal fight. When one person was knocked out of the ‘ring’ of people another would come up and start fighting. It seemed to be a tournament of sort, which was very interesting to say the least. Wanting to get the details Ryuu yelled at the man next to him, “Hey!! What is this?!?” For a second Ryuu half considered yelling at the man again as he did not respond right away. However, after about ten seconds the man Ryuu had yelled out turned and did not really respond rather he yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, “People! We have a new challenger, a ranking shinobi from Amegakure!” The man then quieted his voice just so Ryuu could hear and spoke, “Have fun kid…” If the man mean to say anything more he could not as he was cut off by the cheers dulling and the fight in the middle coming to a stop. In an heartbeat Ryuu found himself pushed into the ring.

For a second Ryuu was not sure how the man had identitfied him as a shinobi, but that it hit him that he wore the headband of Amegakure on his head. Not really sure what he had just been pushed into Ryuu noted that the crowd had quieted as Ryuu stood on one side of the circle of people and a large well built man stood on the other. Then it hit the rather shocked jounin: he had been entered into this small battle tournament. Not even sure of the rules Ryuu turned to ask someone behind him, but the man only laughed and pointed behind Ryuu. Confused the jounin turned around only to find that the burly man who had been on the opposite side of the circle was already right next to him with a fist on track to smash into the side of Ryuu’s face. Speed was great for outmaneuvering enemies, but it would take the speed of a god or highly skilled shinobi to dodge the fist aimed at Ryuu. As such the jounin did the only smart thing: he rolled with the punches. In a flurry of movement the well built man unleash two jabs at Ryuu, both of which hit home. The first hit Ryuu on the right cheek and the second in the stomach. The second blow effectively knocked the wind out of the shell shocked jounin and put him on one knee in a matter of seconds from the pain.

At these first hits the crowd went wild with the fervor of the fight and Ryuu recoiled at the raw strength of the man. If Ryuu was anything he was well aware of his limits and he knew that he could not fight this hulking man head to head in a bullheaded fight of strength, no, this would be a fight of finesse versus brute strength, that much was clear. Thus, as the man came into deliver an elbow to Ryuu’s bent head the jounin moved faster than the man and brought a fist straight up into the jaw of the brute. This punch was by no means beastfully strong, but it was well placed and timed. In fact, it was timed so well it knocked the man off balance and backwards into the mud. Not relenting once Ryuu moved behind the man, so as he blindly smashed his hands around upon standing up Ryuu easily pushed the man into the crowd effectively ending the fight, well, or the jounin thought. It was now that he noticed that the crowd was silent again. Until after a few seconds of silence one voice rang out at Ryuu: “Hey you!! I had 200 ryo on the other guy. You cost me some serious dough!” Rather confused the jounin noticed that many people were nodding along with whomever had yelled that accusation. Getting a bit worried Ryuu noticed that the circle of people was starting to close around him.

Not leaving anything to chance the jounin made a few quick hand signs and blurred off to a nearby rooftop via the body flicker technique. Wanting to see what the mob would do Ryuu foolishly stood atop the roof and watched. However, in an almost inhuman amount of time he was found and in an instant the mob was huddled around the building on which Ryuu stood. The building itself was by no means very tall and the jounin was worried that people would start climbing it. As such he moved quickly and climbed off the roof, but alas he was not as stealthy as he would have liked, because in a few seconds the whole mod was on his tail. Naturally Ryuu did not stick around and hope that the mod simply wanted his autograph. In his expirenece a mob of angry people was usually a bad thing and a thing to avoid. And so, Ryuu broke out into an all out sprint through the streets of Amegakure.

The sound of pounding of rain and people’s feet now dominated the air. Every time Ryuu threw a quick glance behind him he could have sworn the mob was closing on him. All the running around was really starting to take a toll on Ryuu and he knew that there was no way he could keep running at this pace and hope to outlast the mob. As such he devised a plan. Plans were Ryuu’s way of moving forward, but this plan instead of moving forward had Ryuu going up. It was indeed luckily that the jounin had an expansive knowledge of Amegakure and its twists and turns. As such he ran right into a dead end alley. Well, to be fair, it was a dead end for normal people. For shinobi it was simply a slight annoyance. The alleyway was lined by buildings and made it seem as if Ryuu was about to be blocked in, but that could not be further than the truth. Rather than stopping at the dead end and backing up against the wall the jounin simply ran straight up the wall and over it. Over the rain Ryuu could hear the angered yells of the crowd as they dispersed back into the populace. Sure, they might see Ryuu again, but by that time the jounin doubted that they would want to mess with him. Now all that remained was the trek home.

Originally Ryuu had planned to train all day, but he found the brief fist fight and long distance run had left him utterly exhausted, which was unfortunate as Ryuu had wanted to practice with his ninjutsu skills a bit, but it was not meant to be. Twenty minutes later the jounin arrived at his front door and pushed the door open. Soaking wet Ryuu could not avoid making an odd squishing noise as he walked to the bathroom. Once there he stripped down and stepped into a piping hot shower. The shower seemed to melt away all the stress that was on Ryuu’s mind. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was going to be taking it easy today, well, relatively that is. After the ten minute shower Ryuu pulled on a fresh set of clothes and went to the kitchen once again. Setting some water to boil Ryuu went over to his pile of wet clothes and pulled out a slightly bruised apple-he had never gotten a chance to eat. Sighing the jounin took a bite and shook his head- it was like eating applesauce with a peel, so much for a good apple. The rest of the day for Ryuu consisting of drinking tea and relaxing. Had everything gone as it was planned Ryuu would have been out all day till dusk training himself in the art of ninjutsu. In retrospect the jounin could not complain. He had gotten some training in, sort of, and he had managed to fit in some relaxation time. All in all a day well spent.

{TWC: 2024, +10 stats & +20 JP, 'Exit'}

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