Reborn
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Chapter 1: What It Means
“What do you think is the most important aspect of being a shinobi?” Those were the first words my father spoke to me on the first day of my training. I remember everything about that day as if it happened only this morning. The last autumn leaves had just dropped, signifying that winter was only days away.
I remember sitting naked in the cold in the backwaters of my village, staring at my father. “Completing the mission at all cos--”
“Wrong!” Before I could even finish my sentence my father had already seen the flaw I had made and corrected it. He took out his sword, kicked me, landing me face down in the dirt and placed his sword at my neck. “My mission is to kill you as quickly as possible, without remorse, without hesitation!”
I didn't show fear at the blade at my neck, nor the tone of seriousness my father had displayed. I never felt fear back then, even to this date I've only felt fear once in my life, all the other times have been confusion. When my father first place his blade at my throat, so close that I could see my reflection in the blade, I wasn't afraid, just confused.
“Well,” I said, still staring into the magnificent blade's metal, “If that's your mission why aren't you going through with it?” That statement made my dad laugh, he put his blade back in the sheath and hit me on the back with it, leaving a moderately large cut on my back. The sheath of that sword might as well have been a very dull sword itself.
“I didn't kill you because it's against my code.” I got up and sat back down in the position I was once in, ignoring the stinging pain on my back. My father still had his smile on from his laughter but he had regained his composure rather quickly and looked at me seriously. “Do you understand now? It's common sense at this point Ryu.”
I looked at my father as he turned around heading towards a package, laid up against a tree. “So that means our code is the most important thing.”
“Why?” He asked, directly after my statement. He continued on walking towards the tree and he unwrapped the tall package, revealing a boken.
Note: Boken=wooden sword
“Well, since your mission was to kill me and you didn't do it because you said it was against your code, that means the code is more important since both mission and code contradicted each other and you chose the code over the mission.”
My father sighs as he walked back over to me carrying the wooden sword. “Well we have to start somewhere.” He mumbled to himself. It didn't take a genius to figure out that I was still wrong, however, it still confused me. Why was I wrong? He told me it was common sense and that's what I used. Not only was I confused but annoyed as hell.
I looked at my father a little angrily as he walked over towards me. “What did you mean by that?” I demanded.
“By what?” He asked, pretending to be stupidly surprised.
“You know what I mean!” I lashed out. Despite the strictness of my father during training, I still had a level of freedom with him. It was only when we started talking about the codes, that he actually became stricter. Most other times he took on the freaky philosopher or wise man act with me, expecting me to find the truth beyond the truth.
My father smiled, coming to a halt a few feet away from me. “I take it you heard what I said back there.”
“Yeah I did, so does that mean I'm still wrong?”
“No, you were right, but only half right.” He said, taking off his sheath from his back.
“Father, are you really going to arm me with a wooden sword while you use the blade?”
“No.” He tossed me the real blade and he held the boken in his hands at the ready. “You get the sword.”
I looked at my father curiously as I slung the sheath on my back. “Surely father you shouldn't have done this.”
“Think you're strong enough to take your old man already?” He said playfully.
“No, it's not fair for me to fight you with a real sword while you only use wood.”
“Ah, my poor foolish son,” he said mockingly, “Your skills are so inferior to mine that I could beat you blind folded with a pebble, even if you had a sword.” I hated being belittled. I knew that I wasn't as good as my father but when he said things like that to me it pissed me off. “Besides, it's not fair for me to start you of with that blade, which is why I did it.”
My father darted out towards, lifting his blade up and prepared to strike. I took out the sword from the sheath and, too my amazement, my hand dropped to the floor. The blade was so heavy, heavier then when it was in the sheath. My eyes widened in surprise and I looked to see my father right on top of me. He swung his sword down directly on my head. I released my blade and my father kept at me. He struck my right shoulder, right thigh, the left side of my ribs, and kicked me in the stomach.
I went several feet back on the ground and struggled to get up, coughing from the last kick to my stomach. My father was walking towards me, spinning his sword, whistling casually. “Now I won't say I told you so, you can do that yourself.”
“Why...was that sword so heavy?” I panted, trying to calm down my lungs.
“That is the sword of our ancestors, crafted from the the fang of a beast that you're actually named after.”
“But it doesn't make sense for it to be heavier outside it's sheath then inside.”
“Well, the sheath is said to be laced with the feathers of a phoenix or something like that so that could be a factor.” At that point in time, I knew my father was just being a smart ass. He never explained to me why the sword was heavy, but he did tell me how to make it lighter. “Train and it will get easier to hold.” That was an cryptic message I later found out. At that time though, I thought he meant to train holding and striking with it.
“Anyway, it doesn't matter right now anyway. We're not even going to start on kenjutsu.” I looked at him annoyed as I picked myself off the ground.
“What do you mean?!” I asked angrily. “What was the whole point of this then?”
“I thought it would be funny.” He was lying. He had a reason, but I don't doubt that he got a laugh out of it either. “Before you learn how to use weapons, you first need to learn how to use your body, for your body needs to work in harmony with the weapon. After you learn how to use the body, you must learn the anatomy of your weapon, how the hell are you going to use a weapon if you don't know how it works? Only after figuring those two things, will you learn how to use a weapon.” My father wasn't kidding at that point. He told me that we were going to start learning about the body the next day.
“Go pick up the sword.” He told me. I went and did as he asked, but as I began to put it away he stopped me. “No, extend your arms out all the way, blade up.” I turned to him with a look of 'are you ****ing serious'. When I tell you the blade felt hundreds of pounds, I mean it. I was basically dragging the blade to put it back in it's sheath.
“Well, go on!” He demanded. Another thing about my father was, when he told me to do something, he expected me to do it. Hesitation almost always resulted in a beating, although I wasn't a stranger to those either. I turned around and struggled to hold out the blade. “Shiko Dachi!” I widened my stance to meet his demands, but it only increased tension on my legs as well as my arms.
Note: Shiko Dachi is Japanese for Square stance. It's a martial term that can also be called a horse stance.
“How long do I have to do this?” I struggled to say.
My father circled me, stroking his ponytail. He was watching my arms shake and my faces cringing under the stress. He saw the goose bumps on my arms and legs from the cold, remembering I was still naked here. “Eh, give me a half hour before you come in. It's not cold enough were you can get too sick. However, I don't want you to stay out here too long, there are certain parts of your body that aren't too fond of the cold and I do want grandchildren you know.”
I was glad at that moment that the pain in my arms and legs outweighed my embarrassment from my father's words. I didn't say anything to my father because I was focused on keeping my posture. He began to pass me, when hit his head, as if he had forgotten something. “I just forgot, Ryu, today's your birthday.”
I loved my father, but there were times when I wanted to really kick his ass. At that moment he struck me three more times with the boken, once in the arms to keep them straight, on my back to keep me from crouching over, and in the head, for laughs.
“What was that for?!” I asked angrily, I was dangerously close to dropping from the weight of the blade and the pain in my body.
“You're 10 years now. I had hit you seven times already, so I had three more. See you later and pick up some firewood for the village pit tonight.” My father leaves me there and I sigh as he walks away. I began counting every second of every minute up to 30 minutes.
When my time was up I dropped to the ground with a sigh of relief and laughed hysterically. My arms and legs felt like puddles of water and I had no idea of how I was going to get home. I picked up the sheath and slid it onto the sword, put the sword on my back and began to crawl home.
It took me over an hour to get back into the village, but at least I had managed to get up on my feet half way through. As I walked into the village I saw some of my age mates and other kids looking at me. When they saw me bruised, tired, and naked they all began to laugh at me. It annoyed me but I was too tired to do anything about it.
“Hey Ryu, this fur is so warm, you should get some.” One of the boys said mockingly, gaining the laughter of the others. I walked over to him casually as he was laughing at me and I headbutted him in the face, knocking him down, but not before I took the firewood he had in his hands. The others stopped laughing quickly and I just continued on my way into the village.
“Here you go.” I passed by one of the elders in our village and dropped the ***ot into the fire pit and continued lazily on home.
“Ryu-chan, I made your bath, go wash up and put something warm on before dinner dear.” My mother's soothing voice was the first thing I heard when I entered the door. My mother was perhaps the most wonderful person in the world. She was so kind, gentle, and just as wise as my father. However, she usually justified everything he did to me. She would heal my bruises and cuts and play with me, but she always said “Your dad knows what he's doing.” And that would be the end of it. My parents were like the same person, only my mother was softer then my father and less sarcastic. Regardless, I liked it though. I loved my mother and my father both the same and there were times I preferred one over the other.
As I entered the bath, the hot water felt like a surge of quick burning pain on my cuts and bruises, but eventually it evened out to become such a soothing entity that felt like a mother's kiss on my boo-boos. I sighed a sigh of satisfaction as I soaked.
I heard my parents' voices in the background, “Don't you think you were a little hard on him the first day?” I head my mother say.
“I had to give him a taste of what to expect, considering what he's going to face in the real world, I'd say I was quite generous to him today.”
“But it was his birthday.”
“When better to start?”
“True I guess, well thankfully his cake will be ready soon. Lets just hope he's not too tired to eat.” My mouth was watering with anticipation and overwhelming hunger.
“The only thing I worry about, is if he can understand what it means to be a Hayabusa before his time comes.” I heard my father say. I didn't hear any response from my mother and it was that moment when things went completely quiet.
I heard what he wanted of me, but I didn't know what it meant to be a Hayabusa. I remember that day all too well, it was the beginning of a life that I never would understand. That first day of training was nothing compared to what I experienced later.
It was the very next day that began my troubles. I didn't know it back then how important it was, but I did feel something that day that I knew wasn't going to go away. It was the day I met Sho Ito.
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To those of you who read, comment, and/or rep thank you. This is still a rather new style of writting for me so cut me some slack lol. I hope you continue reading and liking these chapters.
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is everything else in order?
