Mend my Mind {Kakashi Hatake}

21 | faster than a speeding kunai

🌱

"Alright, Damaru, are you ready to be the fastest Genin in the village?" I asked with a grin.

"I really don't see why this is important," Damaru said. "I'm already the fastest."

"Yes, but you could be faster," I replied. "And it's my job as your sensei to make you the best you can possibly be."

Damaru sighed. "Fine, lets just get this over with."

"How have you been getting along with your chakra control? Have you been practicing?" I asked.

"Yeah. I can do trees now, but water's more difficult. Is that why we're out here?" Damaru gestured to the lake behind him.

"Partly," I said. "For this training, you'll need to be able to walk on water confidently, so we'll practice that first."

"Ugh," Damaru grumbled. "Can't I get a break? Your wedding is literally tomorrow, this can wait."

"Hm." I narrowed my eyes at my student. "Here's a lesson for you. If you keep saying 'this can wait' today, you'll say it again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, until you forget what it was that you meant to do."

"I doubt you'd forget-"

"That's not the point." I cut him off. "Plus, I have two other students to worry about as well as you. Come on."

I went in front of him onto the lake, carefully balancing my chakra so I could walk on the surface of the water. Damaru followed unsteadily, the soles of his sandals growing damp as he sank in little bits before realising and correcting his mistake.

"Not bad," I commended him. "Not a lot of Genin pick up advanced chakra control like this so quickly."

"It's like what you said about the knot in the tree," Damaru said. "If I concentrate and keep calm, I just have to adapt myself around it."

"And this is exactly why I told you that," I replied. "But you'll need to be more confident. Try running."

"On the water?" Damaru paled. "I'll fall in."

"And?" I smirked. "You can swim, right?"

Damaru scowled at me. "Alright, I'll give it a go. What do I need to do?"

I pulled a kunai out from my shuriken holster. "I'm going to throw this. You have to find it and bring it back to me before it touches the bottom of the lake."

"That's impossible," Damaru said instantly. "I'd need super precise chakra control, and an immense amount of speed, not to mention I'll get soaked-"

"Doubting, Damaru, you're doubting," I said. "It's not impossible, because your father mastered it. You don't need speed and chakra control, that's what you get out of this exercise. You probably are going to get soaked through, but that's your problem. You find a way to deal with it."

"But-"

"No buts," I said. "Be more open-minded. I know what I'm doing."

Damaru glared at me for a moment. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

"Remember, get it before it touches the bottom." I spun the kunai on one finger, then hurled it out deeper into the lake. Damaru started running as soon as it left my hand, but he was slow and clumsy on the water. He landed awkwardly with one foot, and started to sink quite rapidly before pulling himself back up and continuing.

Damaru reached a certain point on the lake, then after a moment's hesitation, dived in. He was under for a surprisingly long time, and I had to give him credit for being able to hold his breath that long. He did finally surface though, clutching my kunai in his hand. I noticed that he chose to swim over to me rather than use chakra to walk.

"I got your stupid kunai," Damaru growled. "I'm not going after it again. It's freezing."

"Well, what do you suggest?" I said, taking the kunai. "You have to have some way to improve your speed."

"I don't know, but I'm not a dog. I'm not going to play fetch."

I looked at Damaru for a moment. What he'd said had intrigued me. There was no doubt that Damaru acted cold outwardly, hence Iko's nickname for him, Icy, but looking at my student now, I could see that he hid a fire behind his eyes. I was actually reminded a little of Kakashi, who hid his passion behind a calm, easygoing demeanour.

"Alright then," I said, stowing away the kunai.

"What?" Damaru seemed surprised.

"You've convinced me. Go home, change your clothes, get dry, meet me at the base of training ground 6 in 10 minutes," I said.

Damaru didn't hesitate to sprint off the lake and race home. I watched him go with a wry smile. He wasn't so much Icy as picky about what he would and wouldn't do. Hopefully that wouldn't affect his ability to complete a mission. Then again, all he had to learn was obedience to the orders of his superiors, particularly the Hokage. Perhaps I wasn't the best person to teach him that. Maybe it would be better to teach him to have a good sense of judgement; judging when was a good time to act and when to obey. Again, something I didn't have much of myself...

Contemplating how best to teach Damaru, I began to make my way to training ground 6. It wasn't too far from the lake, so I made it a little before Damaru's 10 minute deadline. Perhaps I could ask Kakashi for help or advice. Or I could see if Teren or Kanari could tell me anything about him that might help. Or better yet, we could come up with something totally new and original...

"Hey Miyoshi-sensei, you totally didn't notice me coming. I thought a shinobi never lowered their guard?" Damaru raised an eyebrow at me.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought," I apologised with a nervous laugh. I sounded like Kakashi saying that...

"So what's the new training going to be?" Damaru asked.

"Well, first thing we gotta do is actually get to the training ground," I said.

"Up there?" Damaru looked uncertainly at the top of the cliff. "There's no way up."

"Yes there is. Think about it."

"Chakra," Damaru realised. "You want me to climb up."

"Yep. They say it's mostly for Chunin and Jonin practice, since generally Genin struggle to reach it. Still, Naruto managed when he was seven years old, I'm sure you can handle it," I said confidently.

"What if I can't?"

"There's nothing wrong with good old hands and feet," I responded cheekily. "Climb."