Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Redirection

Meiko punched her own palm from excitement. For some reason, this training session seemed to excite her. Maybe it was just most things that the blacksmith saw in her life. Sometimes she looked like a little ball of hype, she did have a sensitive and a little sad part of her deep inside but she rarely ever let that part shine through. The part filled with lack of confidence in her ability, having been dropped out from several teams and barely managing to graduate from the Academy by the skin of the teeth was irrelevant. Neither was the part filled with disappointment for her inability to control her chakra properly.

"So, I think in the beginning it'd be best if I showed you some basic redirection moves. From what I remember in the Academy you preferred a quick and always moving and striking style, differently from everyone you used your palms instead of fists" Meiko started the mentoring, Mana still felt hesitant that she needed these lessons but the blacksmith was a superior physical combatant with decent knowledge of taijutsu even if she didn't focus on it.

"Yeah... The knucklebones are weak, they break easily also the palm isn't as likely to kill your opponent since they inflict less direct damage but they still knock one off their feet and can break bones with enough chakra focus. Recently I switched to a kick-focused style though" Mana nodded, despite her lack of interest in this training she figured that being honest was the least she could've done.

"Well, neither of those will do. You're simply not quick enough without your chakra manipulation to utilize your movement properly" Meiko's body disappeared from Mana's line of sight, the magician turned behind her knowing the blacksmith's intent well. With a cruel grin, Meiko was standing right behind Mana. It was like the magician was living in a world with a lagging view of it, one moment Meiko was there, the next one she was behind her...

"Even when ninja don't put much effort into it at all, they can strike and kick ten or twenty times per second, they can move at speeds completely untraceable by normal people. You could train your entire life and you'd never tag a ninja"

Mana closed her eyes and sighed. "Unless you're a samurai or a mercenary..."

"That's different" Meiko nodded, "Most samurai use chakra, they just call it "Ken-ki" those that do not never rise above the peak human limit, they fight with pure technique which takes a lifetime to learn. Mercenaries use easy and cheap moves, they use high tech weaponry and various specialized methods of combat designed to fight ninja. Only a mercenary can teach you that style as I am completely unfamiliar with most of it".

Meiko showed a couple of flowing hand movements. She moved gracefully yet with speed, she didn't augment her body at the slightest yet her arms moved fast enough for Mana to have to see the movements a couple of times before she could fully get them. Even several more reps were needed before she memorized them.

"These movements work like handseals. You have to repeat them again and again and again and again before they become second nature to you, before your body automatically performs them as fast as you can while your mind can analyze other things and be focused on observing your opponent" Meiko said, apparently she was taking this whole teaching Mana how to fight without her chakra thing seriously...

Mana kept on repeating those moves, she kept repeating them for at least four hours if not more on end before sweat broke out from her forehead and her lips dried out, her tired hands could stay raised and waved around. Meiko looked displeased with the result. "You're not even closing your gap between where you are and from where we can start the actual training, we've only got six days left..."

Crushed and depressed by the lack of progress in her training and with arms that felt like they were literally filled with acid that burnt them from inside Mana went to bed that day. Meiko wanted to ask for Mana to keep on working on her moves but Kouta objected as a medical ninja, at least he said he did it as a medical ninja. He may have just felt sorry for Mana, her face must've looked so miserable. Feeling too weak for even basic training drills and then having her weakness rubbed into her face by Meiko's disappointed face.